Why Did Jesus Weep?
School to teacher: ‘God’s not allowed’
By Michael Carl
For 25 years, math teacher Bradley Johnson at Poway High School near San Diego took advantage of a 30-year school policy and hung patriotic posters with sayings such as “God bless America” in his classroom.
But then school officials ordered Johnson to take down the banners, even though other teachers were allowed to keep anti-religious slogans such as John Lennon’s “Imagine,” Buddhist prayer flags and images of Black Muslim leader Malcolm X.
So he went to court, and now the case is on its way to the highest court in the land.
More … http://www.wnd.com/2012/01/school-to-teacher-gods-not-allowed/ Continue reading
Court: ‘Tolerance is a two-way street’
The Sixth Circuit has ruled in favor of Christian graduate student Julea Ward, who almost three years ago was expelled from a university counseling program for her religious beliefs.
In a strongly worded opinion earlier today, the Sixth U.S. Circuit of Appeals reversed a district court decision in favor of Eastern Michigan University, sending it back for trial along with this message: “A reasonable jury could conclude that Ward’s professors ejected her from the counseling program because of hostility toward her speech and faith ….”
As part of her counseling practicum course in early 2009, Ward had been assigned a potential client who was homosexual and was seeking affirmation of that sexual orientation. Because she was unwilling to violate her own religious beliefs in the context of the counseling relationship, Ward was permitted to refer the client to another counselor — but was told to remain in the counseling program she would have to undergo a “remediation” program that would help her “see the error of her ways.”
When Ward refused, a faculty committee dismissed her from the program. In her subsequent lawsuit, a district federal court ruled in favor of EMU — a ruling that has now been reversed.
More … http://www.onenewsnow.com/Legal/Default.aspx?id=1524394&utm_ Continue reading
Complaints from radical Muslims shut down documentary
The trailer for the documentary titled The Third Jihad opens with these words: “The document states that their work in America is kind of a grand Jihad in eliminating and destroying the Western Civilization from within.”
The Third Jihad is produced by the New York City-based Clarion Fund. The video has created a stir since the New York Times reported that the film was shown to nearly 1,500 New York Police Department officers as part of their counter-terrorism training. But the department stopped showing the documentary after the Council on American-Islamic Relations complained about the film. A CAIR spokesman says, “It defiled our faith and misrepresented everything we stood for.”
Claire Lopez is a former CIA officer who is now a senior fellow with the Clarion Fund. She says the truth about CAIR must be told.
More … http://www.onenewsnow.com/Culture/Default.aspx?id=1523672 Continue reading
For The Love Of The Truth
To acknowledge that the church often needs to fight for truth is not to suggest that the gospel–our one message to a lost world–is somehow a declaration of war. It most certainly is not; it is a manifesto of peace and a plea for reconciliation with God (2 Corinthians 5:18-20). Conversely, those who are not reconciled to God are at war with Him all the time, and the gospel is a message about the only way to end that war. So ironically, the war to uphold the truth is the only hope of peace for the enemies of God.
Continue reading
School: Student can’t oppose gay adoption
Source, with permission: http://www.bpnews.net/bpnews.asp?id=37042&ref=BPNews-RSSFeed0126
By Todd Starnes/Fox News & Commentary
NEW YORK (BP) — A 15-year-old Wisconsin boy who wrote an op-ed opposing gay adoptions was censored, threatened with suspension and called ignorant by the superintendent of the Shawano School District, according to an attorney representing the child.
Mathew Staver, the founder of the legal group Liberty Counsel, sent a letter to Superintendent Todd Carlson demanding an apology for “its unconstitutional and irrational censorship and humiliation” of Brandon Wegner. Continue reading
German Lawmakers Sign Petition Calling for Release of Pastor Yousef Nadarkhani
A commission in the German Bundestag (the national parliament) recently gathered signatures from Parliament members in a petition for Nadarkhani’s release, local media have reported. Parliament members reportedly asked the Iranian government to overturn Nadarkhani’s death sentence and to… Continue reading
Evidence of corporate decline
UNITED STATES – Six prominent employers in the Northwest — five of them based in Washington, one in Oregon — have voiced their support in a brief letter for SB 6239 and HB 2516, two pieces of legislation that… Continue reading
Labour MP backs right of parents to smack
Source (with permission): http://www.christian.org.uk/news/labour-mp-backs-right-of-parents-to-smack/
BRITAIN (The Christian Post) – Parents should not be stigmatised if they choose to smack (or “spank” in the US) their children, a Labour MP has said.
David Lammy, the MP for Tottenham in London, backed the right of parents to smack their children and criticised those who claim it is abuse, commenting: “There’s a big difference between abuse and parenting.” Continue reading
What Does It Mean: ‘Let Not the Sun Go Down Upon Your Wrath’?
Oxford professor: equality trumping religious freedom
Lillian Ladele
Source, with permission – http://www.christian.org.uk/news/oxford-professor-equality-trumping-religious-freedom/
ENGLAND (The Christian Institute) – A senior academic from the University of Oxford has said courts in the West are putting equality issues before the right to religious freedom.
Professor Roger Trigg, a leading figure in the university’s philosophy and theology faculties, made the claim after studying recent cases in the UK, USA, Canada and mainland Europe.
He identified a trend towards curtailing religious freedom in favour of other social priorities such as non-discrimination. Continue reading
Vanderbilt Univ. Christian Group Says It’s Being Forced Off Campus
Law Professor Carol Swain told The Christian Post Tuesday that CLS has amended its constitution to comply with college policies prohibiting clubs from precluding someone from a leadership positions based on his or her beliefs.
However, Swain said the group must draw the line when it comes to some biblical principles and responsibilities.
“We’ve drawn the line at the restriction that Christian organization leaders could not require leaders to lead Bible study and worship,” she said. “When you cannot require your leaders to lead Bible study and worship then it ceases to be a Christian organization.”
Bottom line, Swain said, is if Vanderbilt University does not reinstate past protections of campus religious groups’ religious freedom then it will be forced to leave the school.
Lawsuit aims to remove cross from water tower
Another entry in the “Frivolous lawsuits to attack Christianity” department:
Source, with permission: http://www.bpnews.net/bpnews.asp?id=37033&ref=BPNews-RSSFeed0125
WHITEVILLE, Tenn. (BP) — To show support for a Tennessee town facing legal action against a cross atop its water tower, area residents carried a 12-foot cross nine miles to Whiteville, where it was presented to city representatives during a rally that drew about 350 people.
The effort was organized by Jimmy Sain, a member of First Baptist Church in Bolivar, Tenn., where the Jan. 21 walk originated.
The controversy, which has drawn local and national attention to the town of 3,000, has brought Whiteville residents together, several residents told the Baptist & Reflector newsjournal of the Tennessee Baptist Convention.
Many homes and businesses in Whiteville bear crosses to show support for the cross on the water tower.
A federal lawsuit against Whiteville is being pressed by the Freedom From Religion Foundation, a nonprofit group based in Wisconsin which represented a complainant that the town is displaying “a patently religious symbol such as a Christian cross on public property,” according to an article on the foundation’s website. Continue reading
Church leaders unite against change in organ donation law
http://www.christian.org.uk/news/church-leaders-unite-against-change-in-organ-donation-law/
WALES (The Christian Institute) – Church leaders in Wales have united to criticise “ill-judged” proposals for a system of presumed consent for organ donation.
Currently those who wish to donate their organs opt in by signing an organ donor register.
But the Welsh Government wants to switch to a system of presumed consent, and it is currently consulting on the proposal. Continue reading
And Nothing But The Truth
God never intended His people to worship Him apart from the use of their minds. Real spirituality begins with a precise understanding of truth. Yet I see much of contemporary Christianity heading down the paths of mystical experience and fantasy. Continue reading
Nigeria neglecting persecuted Christians
A Christian leader in Nigeria believes the murder of more than 80 Christians is just the beginning of a campaign of religious cleansing in the North.
More … http://www.onenewsnow.com/Persecution/Default.aspx?id=1520926
School: Let him who ‘screams loudest’ get his way
Officials of a Wisconsin school have censored a student’s editorial column printed in the city paper and “sincerely” apologized for his words in support of natural mother-father adoptions.
Both sides of the adoption issue were presented in separate articles,… Continue reading
Pakistan: Asia Bibi’s accuser is said to have admitted that his charges are phony
According to a story monitored by the ASSIST News Service, Qari Salam, who accused Bibi of blasphemy charges, which resulted in a jail sentence and possible hanging, is reported to have “ostensibly” regretted filing a blasphemy charge against the… Continue reading
Abraham: The Old Testament Pattern of Saving Faith
Romans 4:1-8
There was a little girl who secretly and quietly had saved up enough money to buy her father a present for Father’s Day. But when she had all her money collected, she was very concerned and so she went to her mother and said, “I can’t be going down town every month to make payments. Mother, is there a store where they let you pay for the whole thing at once?”
That’s the kind of question a child would ask. And it is also true that there are religions in the world, in fact all false religions believe that you buy your salvation on some kind of an installment plan. You pay a little bit as you go. Good works offered to God each month, each week, each day, but nothing could be further from the truth. Salvation doesn’t come on the installment plan. The price was fully paid at once by Christ and the gift of salvation is given at once by Christ to the penitent and believing sinner. Continue reading
A Father’s Letter to a Son in the Confederate Army
July 17, 1861
My Dear Son:
It may have seemed strange to you that a professing Christian father so freely gave you, a Christian son, to enlist in the volunteer service. My reason was that I… Continue reading
7 Reasons Why I Believe the Bible is the Word of God
THE BIBLE IS the Grand Charter of Christianity. To undermine, discredit and reject the Bible is to undermine, discredit and reject Christianity. Christianity is rooted and grounded upon the Bible and if the foundations be destroyed what will Christians do?
The popular assertion of present-day shallow thinkers that their Christianity rejects the Old Testament but accepts the New is, to say the least, unrealistic, for the New Testament is based on the Old. Both are inseparably united and of necessity when one is rejected the other also must be refused. What the seed is to the plant so is the Old to the New. How can the plant be received and the seed which produced it rejected? Continue reading
Nokia ringtone during concert of classical music (viral video)
In the pattern of Bible Truth For You sometimes posting non-Christian content if we think the item is entertaining or humorous, this video is of a classical violinist’s reaction when someone’s mobile phone rang during a recital. (80 secs.)
North Korea tops persecution World Watch List 2012, Islamic countries dominate list
The World Watch List (WWL) is a ranking of 50 countries where persecution of Christians for religious reasons is worst.
Each year, extensive research is completed, using questionnaires, news reports, interviews and country visits, and a point value is given to each country according to the findings.
The research covers persecution of Christians of all denominations in the entire country, and the focus is on persecution for their faith, not for political, economic, social, ethnic or accidental reasons.
The 2012 Open Doors World Watch list has a familiar look to it, with North Korea topping the list for the tenth year in a row. However, it is the Islamic countries that are most prominent on the list, consisting of 9 out of top 10, and 38 out of the top 50.
Does the Bible Teach Us to Pester God with Prayer?
Police Beat, Arrest Evangelist in Sudan
KHARTOUM, Sudan, January 20 (CDN) — Police this week beat and arrested a church leader in Khartoum, sources told Compass.
Evangelist James Kat of the Evangelical Church of Sudan was arrested on Tuesday morning (Jan. 17), with officers… Continue reading
Tebow-a-phobia (why do people hate him)?
ALEXANDRIA, La. (BP) — Tebow-a-phobia is a psychological disorder that has affected many throughout the United States in recent months. Quite a few fans of the National Football League, and even those who aren’t fans of professional football, possess the irrational emotional condition.
Persons possessing the disorder are characterized by an intense hatred of Denver quarterback Tim Tebow. Accompanying the negative emotion is the uncontrollable urge to take every opportunity to publically denounce and deride the Bronco signal-caller.
More … http://www.bpnews.net/BPFirstPerson.asp?ID=37010
Just a Laugh #001
“’Please accept my apologies but I have no money to send to you or your cause, but I do suggest that you write to a friend of mine who is both wealthy and philanthropically minded. His name is Nicholas Parsons.’ And I give his address, and a stamp just to help it on its way.”
~ Peter Jones on how he replies to begging letters, 14th February 1998.
What Does the Bible Say About Money?
What is the Extent of the Authority of Church Leadership?
The silliest pro-abortion argument ever (is one you hear all the time)
“We can’t legislate morality.”
You look around for a candid camera. Is this an elaborate joke? No. Someone actually said that. Again. You sigh. And you type this:
Really? We can’t legislate morality? What do you call it when we tell people they can’t murder? Rape? Steal?
Let’s do some Criminal Justice 101, shall we? There are two types of laws: malum in se and malum prohibitum. Malum in se is a Latin phrase meaning “wrong in itself.” Most of us feel that murder is wrong, therefore there is a law against it. Malum prohibitum means something is wrong because it is prohibited. For example: in the United States we have to drive on the right side of the road, not because driving on the left is inherently evil (I’m lookin’ at you, England!) but because good order meant we had to pick one side. Because we’ve picked right, if you drive on the left, you’re gonna get stopped. Try it, you’ll see.
Read more … http://www.lifesitenews.com/news/the-silliest-argument-ever-is-one-you-hear-all-the-time?
The ‘Prosperity Gospel’ Is Peddled by Magicians
Have you noticed the significant number of ministers in recent decades who have been promoting magic in their teaching? They truly believe that their very words contain the power to create and change reality around them. They teach people that man has the ability to speak things into existence the same way that God spoke the world into existence. They have been deceived into believing they have this power within themselves and in the words they speak out loud.
Read more … http://www.christianpost.com/news/the-prosperity-gospel-is-peddled-by-magicians-67499 Continue reading
The ugly American history of eugenics is exposed
By Evan Lenow
FORT WORTH, Texas (BP) — Most Americans live with the belief that we are the greatest society in the world. Our roots stem from proclamations “that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by… Continue reading
Religious liberty takes hit in new homosexual ‘marriage’ suits
OCEAN GROVE, N.J. (BP) — A series of lawsuits and a new court ruling are fresh examples of how laws granting marriage benefits to gay couples can end up squashing religious liberty, says a Christian attorney involved in one… Continue reading
The Gospel in an abortion culture
by Russell D. Moore
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (BP) — As the anniversary of the Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision approaches, most Christians recognize, and rightly so, the loss of millions of unborn human lives. What we often forget is… Continue reading
Use of Sharia ‘courts’ increasing in UK
BRITAIN (The Christian Institute) – The use of Sharia ‘courts’ is on the increase in Britain with thousands using Islamic law to settle disputes, according to the BBC.
The news comes as a leading barrister claims that Sharia law… Continue reading
GPs to bid for ‘gay-friendly’ plaque in NHS-backed scheme
BRITAIN (The Christian Institute) – GP surgeries will be judged on how ‘gay-friendly’ they are to patients in a new scheme backed by the NHS in the North West.
But Christians in the medical profession in other parts of… Continue reading
Bishops slam shops for failing to stock Christian Easter egg
BRITAIN (The Christian Institute) – Two Church of England bishops have criticised retailers for failing to support the country’s only Christian Easter egg, despite evidence of widespread demand.
The chocolate egg comes in a box which carries an explanation… Continue reading
Punished: Mayor who criticised Halloween
BRITAIN (The Christian Institute) – A church-going former mayor in Warwickshire who declined to take part in a Halloween event has been found in breach of equality rules for upsetting pagans.
Tom Wilson, who is a member at Manor… Continue reading
Section 5 amendment needed to ‘roll back’ offence culture
BRITAIN (The Christian Institute) – The Public Order Act must be reformed because of its “corrosive” effect on free speech, according to a senior figure at a civil liberties organisation.
Mike Harris, head of advocacy at Index on Censorship, said it was not the role of police officers or magistrates “to protect citizens from insult”, and called on Government ministers to “roll back the culture of offence” in Britain.
“A good start”, he argued, would be removing the word “insulting” from Section 5 – a change backed by organisations including The Christian Institute and the National Secular Society. Continue reading
Landmark US court ruling for church freedom
(The Christian Institute) – In a landmark ruling the US Supreme Court says churches, not the Government, should control the employment of ‘ministers of religion’.
The unanimous ruling is a blow to President Obama, whose administration wanted the ruling to go the other way.
The case centers around a former teacher at a church school who was dismissed for insubordination and “regrettable” conduct to church leaders. Continue reading
Westminister Abbey Choir: Praise My Soul the King of Heaven (music video)
Westminster Abbey Choir
Lyrics
Praise, my soul, the King of Heaven;
To His feet Thy tribute bring!
Ransomed, healed, restored, forgiven,
Who like me His praise should sing?
Praise Him! praise Him!
Praise the everlasting King!
Praise Him for His grace and favour,
To our fathers in distress!
Praise Him still the same for ever,
Slow to chide, and swift to bless!
Praise Him! praise Him!
Glorious in His faithfulness!
Father-like, He tends and spares us;
Well our feeble frame He knows.
In His hands He gently bears us,
Rescues us from all our foes,
Praise Him! praise Him!
Widely as His mercy flows!
Angels, help us to adore Him;
Ye behold Him face to face:
Sun and moon, bow down before Him;
Dwellers all in time and space,
Praise Him! praise Him!
Praise with us the God of grace! Continue reading
What About Christians & the Desire to Worry?
Did Jesus Really Exist?
Common Parent Traps
If you’ve been a parent for any time at all, it shouldn’t come as much of a surprise that your child came into the world with an insatiable faculty for evil. Even before birth, your baby’s little heart was already programmed for sin and selfishness. The inclination toward depravity is such that, given free reign, every baby has the potential to become a monster. Continue reading
What About ‘Salvation’ & ‘Lordship’?
Living ‘Under The Influence’
All people like to be happy — to be exhilarated with joy, to feel good, and to be on top of everything. There’s nothing wrong with that. God wants joyous, excited, happy, and uplifted people. The problem lies in how happiness is generated. Some people think they’ll find it in a liquor bottle or in a narcotic. But neither of those is the Christian’s source of joy.
Ephesians 5:18 says, ‘Be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess.” Paul doesn’t try to prove that drunkenness is incompatible with Christianity, he simply gives the command. Once a person becomes a Christian, he says goodbye to the life he once lived in drunken debauchery–the party life is to have no place in a believer’s life. Continue reading
Glad: Immortal, Invisible (music video)
Glad (a Capella)
Lyrics
Immortal, invisible, God only wise
In light, inaccessible, hid from our eyes
Most blessed, most glorious, the Ancient Of Days
Almighty, victorious, Thy great name we praise
Unresting, unhasting and silent as light
Nor wanting, nor wasting, Thou rulest in might
Thy justice like mountains, high soaring above
Thy clouds which are fountains of goodness and love
To all life Thou givest, to both great and small
In all life Thou livest, the true life of all
We blossom and flourish as leaves on the tree
And wither and perish but naught changeth Thee
Great Father of glory, pure Father of light
Thine angels adore Thee, all veiling their sight
All praise we would render, o help us to see
‘Tis only the splendor of light hideth Thee
‘Christian’ Priests Fight In Bethlehem
(Friday Church News Notes, January 6, 2012, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143)
It happened again last year. A fight broke out in December in the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem between rival groups of Greek Orthodox and Armenian priests and… Continue reading
What is ‘Casting Pearls Before Swine’?
What’s Wrong With Most Soul Winning Courses?
Since attending a bible school in the 1970s, I have gone through several evangelistic courses and they contain many helpful things.
But something is wrong with the standard technique taught in these courses, because all too often they produce a host of empty professions, and surely we all know that an empty profession of faith that doesn’t change the life is not biblical salvation. Continue reading