 | The Blaze: 10 Tenets of The Communist ManifestoManifested In American Life
Considered the playbook, the framework, the founding document of Communism, it is argued that no other political volume has altered the course of history more than Karl Marx and Friedrich Engel’s tiny yet effective blueprint for the proletariat. Commissioned by the Communist League, Marx and Engels laid out their analysis of capitalism and class struggle while supposedly offering economic and socio-political “solutions” rooted in what they called science. While every instance of Communism attempted around the globe has since failed abysmally and without exception, proponents still cry that Marx’s inviolable political and economic theories were simply “improperly executed” and thus, if true to the Manifesto, Marxism is, in itself, “perfect.” A little known fact, however, is that these champions’ premise is based on a flawed narrative, as Karl Marx in fact falsified much of the data he used to support his untenable political and economic system. MORE |  | | | |
Justin Buzzard: That Idol That You Love, It Doesn’t Love You Back
Everyone has to live for something and if that something isn’t the one true God, it will be a false God–an idol. An idol is anything more important to you than God. Therefore, you can turn even very good things into idols. You can turn a good thing like family, success, acceptance, money, your plans, etc. into a god thing–into something you worship and place at the center of your life. This is what sin is. Sin is building your life and meaning on anything (even a good thing) more than God. MORE | One News Now: Majority Sees Abortion as Morally Wrong
Though a recent survey shows the numbers are a little lower, America continues to be pro-life. National Right to Life Committee (NRLC) president Carol Tobias says the results of Rasmussen's survey of 1,000 people are mixed. "Forty-seven percent of Americans believe abortion is morally wrong most of the time," she reports. "Thirty-six percent think abortion is morally acceptable in most cases. That is a little lower than many polls show." Despite the mixed results, those with a pro-life view remain... MORE | U.N. Chief Calls for Universal
Access to Abortion &
Contraception for Teen Girls
United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said Monday that millions of girls -- teenagers and younger -- need access to abortion and contra- ceptives in order to “avoid unintended pregnancies, unsafe abortions and sexually transmitted infect- ions.” “Sixteen million adolescent girls become mothers every year, and every day, more than 2,000 young people contract HIV,” Ban said. MORE | | | | |
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| Friday, April 27th, 2012 | Joel Osteen Says Romney Is a Christian; Obama Is Too
Joel Osteen, the popular megachurch pastor from Houston, appeared Tuesday afternoon on CNN's "The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer" and said that he considers both presumed GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney, a Mormon, and President Obama to be Christians. Osteen, when asked about Romney's faith, said the former Massachusetts governor is indeed a Christian – which is a similar statement to the one he made in January. " MORE | | NEWS ITEMS OF INTEREST TO CHRISTIANS | Europe's Bleak Economy Spawns 'Lost Generation'
...What some call a recession is, in countries like Portugal, Greece, and Spain, a full blown depression that is hitting young people and the elderly the hardest. | Feds Would Halt Kids From Doing Farm-Related Chores
A report by The Daily Caller says the U.S. Department of Labor is in the process of putting the "finishing touches" on a rule that some agriculture experts fear would undermine a good work ethic instilled in youngsters by working on a farm. | Televangelist Creflo Dollar Sells Manhattan Condo
You can watch Creflo Dollar and his wife Taffi spreading the Word of God on TV seven days a week, but one place you won’t see the televangelists any more is at their 25 Columbus Circle condo. The Dollars, preachers of the prosperity gospel and leaders of Georgia-based World Changers Church, have sold the two-bedroom condo on the 67th floor... | Obama Touts Work on Behalf of Gays on Campaign Website
President Obama may not be planning to publicly embrace same-sex marriage before the election, but he is touting his accomplishments on behalf of the gay community on his campaign website. | Christian Ministry Reaching Japan's Private, Secular Society Through Internet
Jesus.net Japan, an Internet-based evangelism ministry with an arm in the U.S., will be observing Internet Evangelism Day on April 29, which is set to draw attention to the ever-expanding role the web plays in today's world. | Fla Judge Declares State Worker Drug Testing Unconstitutional
A federal judge declared Gov. Rick Scott's order requiring drug testing for some 85,000 state workers unconstitutional Thursday, saying the governor showed no evidence of a drug problem at the agencies to warrant suspicionless testing. | Egypt Plans 'Farewell Intercourse Law'
Egyptian husbands will soon be legally allowed to have sex with their dead wives - for up to six hours after their death. | Technology Divide Putting Nation's Kids at Risk?
America's youngest generation appears to be experts when it comes to the latest technology.
From cell phone apps & Facebook to iPads & iPhones, parents are finding it hard to keep up. | Terry Jones Vows Again to Burn Qurans, This Time for Youcef Nadarkhani
Pastor Terry Jones has once again threatened to burn Qurans, this time in protest of Iran's continued imprisonment of Pastor Youcef Nadarkhani. The Florida minister, whose previous protests attracted violent reaction, explains why he is again taking a controversial stance. | Oprah Winfrey Confesses Christ During NYC 'Lifeclass' Tour?
Oprah Winfrey recently professed to being a Christian during one of her widely broadcast programs, which has been taken as evidence by some of her faith in Christ. Others, however, remain skeptical. | EEOC's 'Gross Distortion' of Civil Rights Act Includes Transgenders
A conservative attorney is outraged that the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has ruled that federal law protects transgendered individuals from employment discrimination. | Bible Translator Criticized Over Muslim Compromise
One of the largest Bible translators in the world has agreed to an independent review of its policies after criticism over how it handles the terms "God the Father" and "Son of God" in some translations. | Miss. Gov Says Dems' 'Life Mission' Is Kill Unborn
Mississippi's Republican governor had harsh words for Democratic lawmakers in his state, saying their life's goal was to kill the unborn. | | | | CULTURAL AND RELIGIOUS EDITORIALS | Larry Elder: 'Religion' Now a Campaign Issue
By making Mitt Romney's Mormonism an issue, the Obama campaign has "reopened" the issue of religion -- and that's good news for the Romney campaign. | American Thinker: But What About Justice for Zimmerman?
...Most Americans desire a fair and just outcome when it comes to this tragedy. But Lord help us if the evidence proves Zimmerman innocent. If Zimmerman is ruled not guilty and allowed to walk, I foresee Rodney King-type riots in the streets. | American Thinker: Why Israel Should, and Probably Will, Attack Iran
The Holocaust weighs heavily on Israel and its leaders. Everyone knows the story of Jewish organizations pleading for help but helpless before the indifference of those in a position to make a difference. This history discourages looking at the world through rose-colored.... | Sharper Iron: The New Age of Parental Authority
Parental theory has undergone a paradigmatic shift in the last half century or so. Older baby-boomers in particular bear witness to the wide pendulum swing in our society’s prevailing opinion concerning acceptable parental expectations for children. | La Shawn Barber: Christians, Aliens, Foreigners, and Strangers
...How should Christians respond in the so-called illegal immigration debate?...Scripture misapplication notwithstanding, Christians certainly are called to be compassionate, but are we called to welcome lawbreakers? | Dennis Prager: Why America Is Still the Best Hope
...There are three big ideas — or religions, if you will — competing for humanity’s allegiance: Leftism, Islamism, and Americanism. I argue that the American value system — what I call “the American Trinity” — is the best system ever devised for making a good society. | David Solway: Global Warming -- Half Politics, Half Religion
Far too many of our so-called climate “experts” are not so much dispassionate scientists or rational thinkers as they are pedestal theorists and instinctual religious crusaders, generally on the Left. It is no surprise that Christiana Figueres invoked the Mayan moon goddess... | American Thinker: Big Brother's Next Target -- Your Car
Many are quite concerned about Senate Bill 1813, a massive piece of legislation supposedly devoted to transportation issues...it appears that the potential law may be used to measure the size of your carbon footprint each time you get behind the wheel. | Marvin Olasky: Doubting Darwin
The sky is falling! Many interest groups and journalists raced to tell that to the public when a modest but important bill became law in Tennessee early in April. The law instructs.... | Get Religion: RG3 & a Tiny Glimpse of Faith
...Griffin, you see, is not shy when it comes to talking about his faith. At the same time, there has been an element of mystery to it. For example, when and why did he begin celebrating touchdowns by making the sign of the cross? | Get Religion: Time 100’s Fab List
...Does the list measure real influence? Depends who you ask. And the profiles are a little strange, written by people who tend to have their own message to send. | Get Religion: Mr. Osteen Goes to Washington
...The big headline seems to be Osteen’s statement to CNN that he considers Mitt Romney, who is Mormon, a “brother in Christ.” Godbeat pros Eric Marrapodi and Dan Gilgoff feature a handful of Osteen nuggets in an informative and entertaining post on CNN’s Belief Blog. | Albert Mohler: The Deep Limitations of Digital Church
Do you go to the Internet for church? Cathy Lynn Grossman of USA Today reported this week on the increasing use of digital technology by churches. This trend is not new, of course, but some of the developments she traces are fresh and innovative... MORE | | | | MINISTRY & SCRIPTURE RELATED ARTICLES AND ESSAYS | David Cloud: The Rebellion of Korah
A group of men led by Korah rebelled against Moses and Aaron and charged them with exalting themselves above the congregation (Num. 16:1-3). This is a strong warning against rebellion toward God-ordained authority. Compare Hebrews 13:7, 17. | Thom Rainer: Leadership and Entitlement
...In the world of clinical psychology, individuals with an obsessive sense of entitlement are diagnosed as having narcissistic personality disorder. Of course, narcissism is an inordinate fascination with oneself or excessive self-love. It is vanity at its worst. It is entitlement. | Joel J. Miller: Nourishing Your Mind
In our present time and culture it is easy to undernourish our minds. So many of our pursuits involve entertaining but generally unenlightening pastimes. It’s the mental equivalent of high-calorie, low-nutrition food. But our intellects are meant for more than… | Gospel Coalition: The FAQs -- Are Mormons Christian?
"Are Mormons Christian?" Since the 1820s, when Joseph Smith founded the religious movement, evangelicals and other orthodox Christians have answered with a resounding "no." Over the past decade, though, many Americans have begun to provide a different response. | Edmondson: Church Staff – A Totem Pole or Bicycle Wheel?
....How would you define your ministry at this church?” She hesitated before saying, “I’m the low man on the totem pole. Even the janitor gets more respect than I do.” | Jonathan Leeman: Discipline and Caring for the Sinned-Against
"I believe the process of church discipline saved my life. When my marriage unexpectedly fell apart, my church held up the gospel before my eyes through the process of church discipline. When my wife abandoned me, my elders didn't." | Jesse Johnson: Jesus the Evangelist
One of my favorite books on evangelism is Jesus the Evangelist, by Richard Phillips. It is a collection of sermons Phillips preached at his Presbyterian church through the Gospel of John. These sermons focus on John 1, 3, and 4, and examine the evangelism of Jesus. | Nathan Busenitz: Does Calvinism Kill Evangelism?
...Pardon the anachronism, but it is no accident that the most “Calvinistic” chapter in the Bible (Romans 9) is partnered with the most “evangelistic” (Romans 10). | Daniel Darling: 5 Words for Millennial Christians
...We are a generation characterized by action, by activism, by new resurgent interests in orthodoxy and theology. In many ways, it’s a great time for the church. But with every movement comes pitfalls and cautions. And so as a young leader, I just wanted to offer five words leaders in my generation may want to consider. | R.C. Sproul, Jr: 3 Simple Ways to Encourage Your Pastor
Pastors are human too. That means, of course, that they sin, but it also means that they have ordinary human needs. While no one joins the ministry in order to receive riches or accolades, honor or power, while shepherds are called to serve others rather than themselves, such doesn’t mean that they are not given to discouragement. | Church Leaders: 6 Culture-Changing Trends You Can't Afford to Ignore
....churches are seldom on the cutting edge when it comes to addressing demographic trends. Here are six dramatic trends that are not being addressed adequately by local churches, church networks, or denominations. If we continue to ignore these trends for another decade, churches will continue to see an erosion of members, attendance, and relevance.... | Julian Freeman: It’s a Strange Thing Being a Pastor
Being a pastor is a strange thing. We proclaim a message with the power of God to change people, but we can’t even change ourselves. We call others to perfection, as Jesus did, but our lives are full of imperfection. We must shepherd like the Shepherd though we’re just one of the sheep. MORE | | |
/////////////| Thursday, April 26th, 2012 | | | | NEWS ITEMS OF INTEREST TO CHRISTIANS | Poll: Very Religious Voters Favor Romney, Less Religious Favor Obama
Voters with high levels of religiosity favor Mitt Romney, while voters who are moderately religious or nonreligious favor President Barack Obama, according to a new Gallup poll. | Report: Feds to Ban Children From Farm Chores
Department of Labor is poised to put the finishing touches on a rule that would apply child-labor laws to children working on family farms, prohibiting them from performing a list of jobs on their own families’ land. | Voice of the Martyrs President Comments on Tom White's Apparent Suicide
The Voice of the Martyrs' president released a statement Wednesday acknowledging the apparent suicide of the nonprofit's late executive director, Walter Thomas "Tom" White, amid allegations that he had molested a young girl. Authorities have also shared with The Christian Post details in the case against White, who left behind a wife and two children. | Teens Getting Drunk Off Household Items
The list of everyday items some teens are using to get high is growing. First misusing cough syrup, then huffing household items like paint thinner and hair spray, now young people are getting curious with hand sanitizer. | Atheists Waging War on Soldiers Memorial
A national atheist organization is demanding that a Rhode Island city remove a cross from a 91-year-old memorial honoring hometown soldiers who paid the ultimate sacrifice... | Scientists Clone Sheep Using Fat From Worm
Chinese scientists have cloned a genetically modified sheep containing a "good" type of fat found naturally in nuts, seeds, fish and leafy greens that helps reduce the risk of heart attacks and cardiovascular disease. | Free Speech for Everyone ... Except Clergy
A Catholic bishop in Illinois is waiting for a response from the IRS concerning comments made during a recent sermon. Thomas More Society will defend the church, if requested. | Atheist Group Wants Memorial Cross Removed From RI Fire Station
An atheist organization is demanding that a Rhode Island city move a memorial cross from public property, deeming it a violation of the Establishment Clause. | Settlement in Mojave Cross Case
A federal judge has approved a land-swap to settle a lawsuit over a remote site in the Mojave National Preserve where war memorial crosses have been erected for decades. | Chaplains Want Clarity from Air Force
The Chaplain Alliance for Religious Liberty is expressing its concern over a pending decision by Air Force officials to remove Bibles from the checklist of items required in on-base lodging rooms. | More on the Liberal Girl Scouts
A devout pro-life Catholic group has produced a video to provide more proof on how the Girl Scouts is aligned with liberal causes. | University Police Do Nothing to Stop Desecration of Crosses in Pro-Life Display
Campus police stood by as students placed condoms over thousands of tiny crosses as part of an approved university "art project," according to a pro-life student at Western Kentucky University | World Mag: Training Pastors In Prisons
The prison guards at the California Rehabilitation Center (CRC), a Level II correctional facility in Norco, Calif., rushed in when they saw a group of inmates submerging a man’s head in the communal sinks, thinking they were preventing a race-related murder. | Religious Freedom In School Choice
Alliance Defense Fund has filed a brief with the Colorado Court of Appeals in defense of the Douglas County voucher program and religious freedom. | | | | CULTURAL AND RELIGIOUS EDITORIALS | Marvin Olasky: Christ At Commencement
"Congrats, seniors, this will be a heck of a graduation." That's how a New York University press release breathlessly announced the commencement snaring of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor. Other schools swoon over presidents: Barack Obama will speak at Barnard College (Columbia University) and Bill Clinton at little Columbia College in S.C. | Timothy Dalrymple: Chuck Colson and Prison Fellowship
...If prison ministry taught me anything, it’s that there is a profound, unique and undeniable transformative power in the gospel of Jesus Christ...Chuck Colson, I believe, understood this. He had sinned on a massive scale. He was brought from the loftiest heights to the depths. | American Spectator: The Mob in Mobile
Last Saturday night at 8:20 p.m., when the white Matthew Owens was beaten into critical condition by a mob of dozens of black neighbors, Al Sharpton and the New Black Panthers got what they wanted: a white victim, any white victim, in payback for the killing of Trayvon Martin. May God have mercy on their miserable souls -- because the rest of us should shun them mercilessly from all decent society. | | | | MINISTRY & SCRIPTURE RELATED ARTICLES AND ESSAYS | Challies: On Books and True Ownership
I have a love-hate relationship with e-books. Among the issues I’ve grappled with most is that of ownership: Which option offers the greater sense or reality of ownership? Is there greater ownership in having a physical copy of a book I can hold in my hand and file on my bookcase, or in having that book available to me anywhere in the world in electronic format? | Kent Brandenburg: James 5:14-20 and Unconventional or Alternative Medicine
...Christians should thank God for and use the best available resources that medical science makes available....Christians should not employ, recommend, or do anything other than oppose and warn against all New Age "medicine." | Ch. Today: Why Jane Goodall Thinks Chimps May Have Souls
....What makes us special? People say maybe we have a soul and chimpanzees don't. I feel that it's quite possible that if we have souls, chimpanzees have souls as well. Other people say, "What about religious behavior? Do chimps show any signs of that? | Glenn Prescott: Calvinism vs. Arminianism -- Has There Been Enough Said?
Sometimes I believe that people are more interested in arguing over Calvinism vs. Arminianism than sharing Jesus...For the life of me, I cannot understand why there is such an insistence to the point of broken fellowship by some to either be entirely in one camp or the other. | Dan Delzell: Don't Attempt Relationships or Marriage Without Jesus
Relationships can get very messy. Perhaps you already have firsthand experience in that area. The only Person I know who has the ability to clean up the mess is Jesus Christ. In fact, He also has the power to help a man and woman stay out of a bunch of stuff that will.... | Ben Reed: Pastors, Keep Your “Gray” Areas Off the Stage
...Don’t raise gray issues to the level of black-and-white. When you do, you’re speaking authoritatively where God has chosen to be silent...Not ground on which I want to find myself. | Tim Keller: Hypocritical Leadership
Perhaps the greatest dilemma of the pastor – or any Christian leader – is the danger of hypocrisy. By this I mean that, unlike other professionals, we as ministers are expected to proclaim God’s goodness and to provide encouragement at all times. | Gene Veith: The Three Stages of Error
Charles Porterfield Krauth was an American Lutheran theologian of the 19th century. His bookThe Conservative Reformation is a classic of theology and church history. You may perhaps have heard what he said about the three stages of error.... | Jesse Johnson: Was John the First Baptist?
Was John’s baptism the first baptism the world knew? Commentators are not quite agreed on the history of Christian baptism. Obviously Christians baptize, and obviously Jews don’t. But was John the Baptist the first to actually baptize? Or were the Jews doing baptisms in the inter-testamental period? | Kevin DeYoung: The Old Testament Is a Story of Providence
The story of the Old Testament is nothing if not a story of divine providence. On every page, in every promise, behind every prophecy is the sure hand of God. He sustains all things, directs all things, plans all things, ordains all things, works all things after the counsel of his will. MORE |
//////////| Wednesday, April 25th, 2012 | Liberty U Responds To Romney Controversy, Angers Students
Liberty University reacted over the weekend to a brewing controversy over the fact that the evangeli- cal school has selected Mitt Romney, a Mormon, to speak at the school’s graduation. In a statement from Chancellor Jerry Falwell, Jr., the school says that the complaints have significantly died down and that many of those complaining “had no affiliation with the university.” MORE | | NEWS ITEMS OF INTEREST TO CHRISTIANS | Most Recent Graduates Face Grim Jobs Outlook
Most college students graduate with high hopes that they'll land a great job with good benefits and pay. But the reality for half of graduates is very different. | College-Age Millennials Are Becoming Less Religious
Younger Millennials (ages 18-24) report significant levels of movement from the religious affiliation of their childhood, mostly toward identifying as religiously unaffiliated, according to a new survey from the Public Religion Research Institute and Georgetown's Berkley Center. | Social Security Disability Trust Fund Will Be Depleted in 4 Years, Report Finds
Medicare and Social Security are running out of money sooner than previously thought, according to the annual report of trustees of the Medicare and Social Security program. The report highlights the need for reforms to maintain solvency of the programs. | Voice of the Martyrs Head Reportedly Killed Self Amid Molestation Probe
After it was revealed last Wednesday that The Voice of the Martyrs' Walter Thomas "Tom" White had been found dead at the Christian ministry's Oklahoma headquarters, it was reported days later that the executive director had possibly committed suicide amid an investigation into allegations that he had molested a young girl. | Executive Orders and Federal Laws
As a federal appeals court is deciding whether President Obama violated federal law in using tax dollars for human embryo research, one attorney notes that even the president is required to abide by the laws. | Mitt Romney Adds Openly Gay Adviser to Team; Mormon Beliefs Questioned
Likely Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney has named an openly gay man to his team of campaign advisers on national security and foreign policy issues in a move that is drawing criticism from some conservatives questioning his Mormon beliefs. | Homosexuality on UMC's Docket
Nearly 1,000 delegates representing 12 million church members are on hand in Tampa for the start of the 11-day 2012 United Methodist General Conference, where homosexuality is the top issue of controversy. | Russell Crowe to Star in Noah's Ark Movie
Oscar winner Russell Crowe will play Noah in an upcoming film based on the well-known biblical story. Paramount and New Regency Pictures agreed to produce the movie, saying it will be a "close adaptation" of Noah's "divine mission" in the Bible. | Marion Jones On Meeting God in Prison Following Drugs Scandal
Track and field star Marion Jones has met God while serving time for perjury. Jones' fall from public grace in 2007 was highly publicized after she admitted to lying to federal agents about her use of performance enhancing drugs prior to the 2000 Summer Olympics. | Muslims Burn Down Catholic Church in Sudan
Hundreds of Muslims incinerated a Catholic church complex in the capital Khartoum amid growing hos- tilities between the Arab-dominated Muslim government of Sudan and the newly independent, pre- dominantly Christian nation of South Sudan. MORE | | | | CULTURAL AND RELIGIOUS EDITORIALS | Why Will the Fed Turn America Into a Prison Camp?
There has been no society in the history of the world that has ever been 100% safe. No matter how much money the federal government spends on "homeland security", the truth is that bad things will still happen. Our world is a very dangerous place and it is becoming increasingly unstable. MORE | Barnabas Piper: Christian Goods and Appreciating the Best
Christians like investing in cultural goods simply because they are “Christian.” From literature to music to football, many of us have our tastes shaped by the beliefs of the producer of a... | Cal Thomas: The ‘New’ Charles Colson
...Unlike Nixon, who sought to transform himself by his own political strength and for an earthly agenda, Colson was transformed by a higher power and not by his own efforts. First, though, he had to descend to the depths. | American Spectator: The Secret Service & a Lost Sense of Duty
....But the Secret Service is not the GSA...It's a law enforcement agency, an intelligence agency and it has close connections to the military. It and the rest of the law enforcement community have a lot in common with the military in terms of culture, mindset and -- most importantly -- sense of duty. | Thomas Sowell: Who Is 'Racist'?
Whatever the ultimate outcome of the case against George Zimmerman for his shooting of Trayvon Martin, what has happened already is enough to turn the stomach of anyone who believes in either truth or justice. | Gene Veith: The New Religion of Kopimism
A Swedish religion whose dogma centers on the belief that people should be free to copy and distribute all information—regardless of any copyright or trademarks—has made its way to the United States. Followers of so-called “Kopimism” believe copying, sharing, and improving... | US Citizen Guilty of Insulting Islam
Last October, Ernest Perce was marching in a Halloween parade in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania, dressed up as a zombie version of the prophet Mohammed when he was physically confronted by Talaag Elbayomy, a Muslim immigrant who found his costume offensive. MORE | The Taliban’s Poisoning of Afghan Schoolgirls
In a recent effort to prevent their attendance at school, the Taliban poisoned nearly 150 Afghan schoolgirls, marking just the latest atrocity in a litany of barbaric acts the Islamist terror group continues to inflict upon women and girls of Afghanistan. MORE | | | | WOMEN'S ISSUES | Gloria Furman: The Pastor's Wife and Her First Love
...Ministry can be overwhelming with its complex web of relationships and bouts of intense busyness. Factor in cultural complications and various seasons of life and you've got a recipe for potential anxiety, discouragement, and fatigue. | Stephanie Perrault: Getting a Degree and Staying Home
....According to the Pew Research Center, only 12 percent of the American public believe it’s best for mothers of young children to work full time. Four-in-10 believe part-time work is best, while 42 percent say it’s ideal for moms to stay home. | | | | MINISTRY & SCRIPTURE RELATED ARTICLES AND ESSAYS | Trevin Wax: When You Should Flee Your Church
...Are there times when a Christian should not submit to their church’s leadership? Yes...No one should immediately leave a church simply because something or someone has offended them. But when abuse is taking place, one ought to flee for the following reasons... | Gospel Coalition: Why Theology and Youth Ministry Seldom Mix
....We live in a society where we have relegated the teen years to something of a carefree vacation, protected from consequences and responsibilities. | Mike Lee: I’m Thankful For Christian Funerals
While there is a sense that death isn’t the way things are supposed to be, there is also a preciousness to the death of a saint of our Lord Jesus Christ. One of the occupational requirements of a pastor is to be acquainted with sickness and death. From hospital visits to funeral home visits, pastors know sickness and death up close and personal. | Paul Tripp: The Man Behind the Ministry
...We are calling people God will call into hardship for their redemptive good and for his glory. We are calling people capable of losing their way, capable of self-deception, and tempted to be self-sufficient and self-righteous....So we must get to know---really know---the people we put into positions spiritual leadership and care of God's people. | Justin Taylor: Chronological Snobbery and the Spirit of Our Age
J. I. Packer describing the heretical spirit of our age, which holds that: the newer is the truer, only what is recent is decent, every shift of ground is a step forward,and every latest word must be hailed as the last word on its subject.C. S. Lewis called it “chronological snobbery” |
////////////////////////// | Larry Elder: If Mormonism Is
Fair Game, So Is Jeremiah Wright....By making Romney’s Mormonism an issue, the Obama campaign has, as trial lawyers like to say, “reopened” the issue of religion. The Romney campaign can therefore revisit the Rev. Jeremiah Wright and Obama’s close relationship to him. True, Obama apparently severed ties to Wright, but Obama did so only after the very salvation of his first presidential campaign depended upon it. Wright, Obama’s pastor for some 20 years, was described by Obama as his “spiritual advisor.” Wright married the Obamas, baptized their children and blessed their home. MORE | David Cloud: What's Wrong With
Most Soul Winning Courses?Since attending Bible School in the 1970s, I have gone through several evangelistic courses and found them to contain many helpful things. Yet something is wrong with the standard technique, because all too often they produce a host of empty professions, and hopefully we know that an empty profession of faith that doesn’t change the life is not biblical salvation. I read about a pastor who reported 4,000 professions in five years of ministry, but the church only grew from 98 to 100. MORE |  | World Mag: Do We Really Need
Obama’s $50 Light Bulb?...One of President Obama’s policy pillars is “energy independence.” Leaving aside the fact that no one has ever made a convincing case for self-sufficiency in any sector of the economy, this administration’s bias toward “green” technologies is highly questionable. First of all, our tax code is already as porous as the Swiss cheese in my sandwich. It has been distorting market signals, reducing economic efficiency, and destroying jobs for decades. We don’t need more loopholes; we need to close the existing ones. MORE |  | | Boomers Face Impoverished RetirementAging Baby Boomers got some jolting news on Monday when the U.S. government said the Social Security retirement program is on track to go bankrupt three years earlier than expected if reforms are not made. Unless Washington politicians, who have been at war with each other over government spending priorities and federal budget deficits, can decide how to put Social Security on a sound footing, retirees’ pension checks would start running out in 2033, according to an annual report. The Baby Boomers — those 78 million Americans born between 1946 and 1964 — started retiring last year. MORE |
Churches May Be Forced to Rent
Their Facilities to Gay CouplesThe city of Hutchinson, Kan., is mulling over a proposed law that would force some churches in the community, regardless of their religious convictions, to rent their church halls to gay couples for events. The proposal came about after the Kansas Equality Coalition encouraged the Hutchinson City Council to add gender identity and sexual orientation to the city's human relations code. The law would make it illegal for churches that rent their facilities to the public to prevent anyone from renting their facility based on sexual orientation or gender identity. MORE | | Stephen Altrogge: 3 Questions To Ask Before You Post On FacebookFacebook and Twitter can be fantastic tools for communication, encouragement, laughter, playing Farmville, posting pictures of your cute dog “Eloise”, and general rollicking goodness. But, like every good gift, there can also be a dark side to social media. An unhelpful side. A sinful side. Here are some questions to ask yourself before you post something on Facebook or Twitter. Is It True? Prov. 18:17 says, “The one who states his case first seems right, until the other comes and examines him.” When posting something as fact, we need to ask ourselves, “Do I know the whole story?” and, “Is it possible that there is another side to this story?” MORE |  | | Experts Warn Europe-Like Crisis Is Around the Corner For U.S.As the days go by, the U.S. national debt steadily goes up. Since 2007, it has been increasing at a pace of $397 billion a day. If that doesn't worry you, consider what's happening in Europe. This week, the Dutch government gave up after not being able to come up with a plan to bring down their deficit. Some experts warn if the United States doesn't take care of business soon, America will be going down the same path....How to handle the nation's debt is a... MORE | | Robert Crosby: From Watergate to the Pearly Gates - Remembering Colson....Five months after resigning his government post, Colson made contact with Tom Phillips, chief executive at Raytheon and also a new professing Christian. Colson clearly had one item on his agenda for this meeting—lining up some potential legal work with his company. Phillips, however, noted another kind of "opportunity" in the meeting, a chance to share Christ with someone he felt was in deep spiritual need. He actually read some quotes to Colson from C.S. Lewis' Mere Christianity and asked if he could pray with him. The passages Phillips read from the book were on the subject of pride, something Lewis refers to as "The Great Sin." It caught Colson's attention.... MORE |
Weekly Standard:
Charles Colson, 1931-2012It’s widely reported that Charles Colson once said he'd walk over his grandmother to get Richard Nixon elected to a second term. In the Nixon White House he was considered smart, effective, and ruthless—Nixon's "hatchet man." Then came Watergate, a prison sentence, and a conversion nearly as dramatic as St. Augustine’s or St. Paul’s. Mr. Colson— who passed away at the age of 80—was among the most consequential Christians of the last 35 years. MORE | | Challies: The Legacy of Charles ColsonI don’t mean to be a curmudgeon and I don’t mean to be insensitive, truly. Perhaps there are rules that govern these things, and I am violating them, or maybe I am just missing some vital piece of information. I don’t know. But I have been to a wide variety of Christian blogs and news sites reading the obituaries and memorials and remembrances of Charles Colson and have been surprised to note that they are have been very nearly uniformly, unabashedly positive. I am not convinced that we are doing right here. MORE |  | Am. Spectator:The Perfect
Storm of LiberalismA professional collapse inside the several departments and agencies of the United States government created by a decades-long erosion of standards. An erosion fed by all manner of deadly liberal obsessions from racial quotas to political correctness to an addiction to lawsuits, the toler- ance for a culture of out of control spending, wildly improper personal behavior, and more. This deadly combination is now surfacing repeatedly in scandals as seemingly different as those engulfing the Secret Service, the GSA, the U.S. military, the Department of Justice, and every other tentacle of the federal government imaginable. MORE | | Am. Thinker: Inventing Muhammad?Why would it matter if Muhammad never existed? Certainly the accepted story of Islam's origins is taken for granted as historically accurate; while many don't accept Muhammad's claim to have been a prophet, few doubt that there was a man named Muhammad who in the early seventh century began to claim that he was receiving messages from Allah through the angel Gabriel. Many who hear about my new book Did Muhammad Exist? ask why it would matter whether or not Muhammad existed -- after all, a billion Muslims believe he did, and they are not going to stop doing so because of some historical investigations. MORE |
/Brian Croft: How Does a Younger
Pastor Disciple Older Members?...Yet, there are other examples where the younger are not to shy away from challenging the older with the Word of God and the call to godly living. Paul exhorts Timothy not to let anyone look down on him for his youthfulness, but to be an example to all who believe (1 Tim. 4:12). Likewise, Paul exhorts Titus to teach older men and women to live godly and to mentor the younger (Titus 2:1-10). So then, seeing the biblical imperative for a pastor to teach, disciple, and shepherd both young and old in the church, we must acknowledge the challenges that a younger pastor faces when pursuing to disciple one old enough to be his grandparent. MORE | | Thomas Kinkade in DenialWhen the newly renovated Billy Graham Library in Char- lotte, N.C., was reopened in 2010, the single most dramatic work of art inside was a 15-by-31-foot mural called "The Cross," painted by Thomas Kinkade. In a video explaining the work, Kinkade speaks of the commission (by Franklin Graham) as "a moment of divine inspiration" and says that the painting offers viewers "a glimpse of a heavenly realm." Humble as the Graham Library may be in comparison, it's hard not to see in this painting and its creator a faint echo of the Sistine Chapel and its own heroic muralist. MORE | Michael Horton: Scripture-Twisting
On the Campaign Trail? Raise your hand if you’re offended by politicians and church leaders using the Bible like a wax nose. On the left bank, there is the well-worn battery of references to Jesus and the rich young ruler, the command to “render unto Caesar,” and the last judgment where the sheep and goats are separated. As the Washington Post poses the question: “Jesus said, ‘Whatever you did for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me.’ In a time of economic turmoil and record poverty levels, are tax cuts for the wealthy moral?” MORE | | MSNBC Host Condemns Romney to HellRepublicans wondering whether Mitt Romney's political adversaries will use Mormonism against him got yet another answer to their question Thursday when MSNBC host Martin Bashir read from Mormon scriptures to condemn Romney to damnation for "lying" about Barack Obama's jobs record. Bashir was discussing Romney's oft-stated accusation that the president promised the stimulus would keep unemployment below eight percent. In fact, top officials of the incoming Obama administration, not Obama himself, made that predication not long before Inauguration Day. Attributing the position to Obama, Bashir said, is a lie worthy of eternal damnation. MORE |
 | Jared Wilson: The Challenges In
Church Replanting In New EnglandNew England is now the least-churched, least-reached area of the United States, making it America’s most needy mission field. Yet missional church planters are not flocking here. There are likely some good reasons for that. And I am loathe to ascribe it to lack of interest, necessarily, because every week I receive emails from men who feel called to minister in New England. Most of these do not believe they are called or gifted to plant churches. (I sympathize, because I am neither called nor gifted to be a church planter either.) So they ask about existing churches needing pastors. Are there churches here in need of pastors? MORE | David Cortman: Does Freedom of
Religion Equal Freedom of Worship?It may not have even caught your attention. It may not appear to be that different. But when people, especially the current president of the United States, intentionally replace the words "freedom of religion" with "freedom of worship," is it just a distinction without a difference, or is it a major change about which we need to be concerned? In order to explain what amounts to tremendous differences between the two phrases, let me offer a recent example. MORE |  | | Atlantic: Is Facebook Making Us Lonely?Yvette Vickers, a former Playboy playmate and B-movie star, best known for her role in Attack of the 50 Foot Woman, would have been 83 last August, but nobody knows exactly how old she was when she died. According to the Los Angeles coroner’s report, she lay dead for the better part of a year before a neighbor and fellow actress, a woman named Susan Savage, noticed cobwebs and yellowing letters in her mailbox, reached through a broken window to unlock the door, and pushed her way through the piles of junk mail and mounds of clothing that barricaded the house. Upstairs, she found Vickers’s body, mummified, near a heater that was still running. Her computer was on too... MORE |
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