Commentary, analysis and opinion.

Tragic toll of divorce on kids highlighted by new book

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Christian News Network posted a report Christian Institute (CI) penned on the toll divorce takes on children. The soon to be released book has many quotes from kids who’ve experienced divorce. For example, one 15-year-old shared that “Some days I would randomly break into tears and other days I’d get angry and pretend not to know why. I have been struggling with behaviour at school.”  According to CI, research shows that “children whose parents split up and chose new partners were more likely to experience social, educational and health problems than those whose families remained intact, even when there was conflict between the parents.” Here’s the story:

child-cryingThe heartbreaking effects of divorce on children have been highlighted by a new book, which gives them a platform to share their experiences.

‘Splitting Up: A Child’s Guide to a Grown Up Problem’, produced by leading family law firm Mishcon de Reya, includes testimonies from children and teenagers whose parents have divorced.

Family breakdown has long been known to negatively affect the social, educational and health outcomes of children.

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Discernment Ministry – A Biblical Defense

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From Berean Research:

DiscernersThere is no shortage of critics in the evangelical community who oppose those of us involved in what is called an online discernment ministry (ODM).  Our well-meaning brethren often take “discerners” to task for reporting on false teachers and apostate movements within the visible Church.  Moreover, we are chastised for being too focused on negative things, or being judgmental, hurtful, even hateful. Worse, some of us have lost friendships with those who complain that they’re tired of reading about wolf sightings.  Some go so far as to say that ODM is not biblical.

Pastor Gary Gilley of Southern View Chapel wrote about this issue back in 2009 where he stated:

Despite the clear mandate given throughout the Scriptures concerning the necessity for biblical discernment and critique, most continue to be critical of the whole concept.  Ironically, those who preach most tenaciously the need for tolerance are themselves intolerant of those who seek to faithfully follow God’s directives in this matter.

Pastor Gilley offers a biblical defense for the role of ODM in the Church.

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Wild horses should be killed or sold, government board decides

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Unlike wolves, horses do not wantonly kill and eat cattle, sheep, elk and other wildlife; however, they are native to America, and a national treasure of biodiversity. You will never hear any government land management group say, “Kill all the grey wolves.” So, what gives here? Where is the love for biodiversity?  This dichotomy proves the scam that the BLM (et. al.) simply wants every inconvenient thing off  ‘their’ land. The wolves and grizzly bears that they have methodically planted are a natural cleanser of the land – they scare people away, drive ranchers out of business and eat other wild game with abandon. When all that is accomplished, the wolves will be marked for extinction just like the horses. ⁃ Technocracy News Editor

Fox News has the story:

Wild horsesThe U.S. government is coming under fire from animal rights activists amid concerns that almost 45,000 wild horses could be euthanized in an attempt to control their numbers.

Last week the Bureau of Land Management’s National Wild Horse and Burro Advisory Board recommended that the Bureau euthanize or sell “without limitation” excess “unadoptable” horses and burros in the BLM’s off-range corrals and pastures.

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Code Orange: The Ironic Parallel Meaning

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In a piece over at Pulpit & Pen, Richard Haas reports on pastor-prophet Steven Furtick’s annual heresy-fest “Code Orange Revival.” COR is twelve nights of “celebrity preachers, loud worship music and subsequent emotional highs.” A caller to Haas’ podcast suggested that he investigate the name “Code Orange.” And so he did that. Following is what he came up with:

 

Code Orange RevivalThe ten-day heresy revival event called the “Code Orange Revival” hosted by Elevation Church, and Pastor Steven Furtick is well under way. This year’s event started on September 9th and will finish this Sunday the 18th. As typical Steven Furtick has lined up some of the most talented in Scripture-twisting and the exploitation of God’s Word, these gurus of abstraction include Christine Caine, Louie Giglio, Craig Groeschel, Carl Lentz, Darius Daniels, John Gray, Levi Lusko, and even Joyce Meyer. Each one of these speakers being talented of their own accord in the art of Scriptural perversion.

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Decision Making & “I Have a Peace About It”

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Eric Davis of The Cripplegate offers several things Christians must consider before using personal peace to determine God’s will for their lives.  One piece of advice Pastor Davis offers is that “we need to stop saying, ‘Because I have a peace about X, X is God’s will.’ Instead, let’s say something like, ‘I have prayed about X, attempted to study X with sound hermeneutics, approached my spiritual shepherds, who will not flatter me but love me with the truth, about X for advice. And, though it’s a battle inside and this is the harder decision, I think that I need to submit to Scripture on this issue so as to submit to God. And may my good God help me do so in faith.’”

peaceA professing Christian was in a rough marriage for many years. It came to the point where they felt as if they could not take it anymore. Divorce entered the thoughts. They sought counsel from other Christians. Some opened Scripture, some didn’t, and some prayed. Though no biblical grounds for divorce, it came to the point where they could not see how God would want them to be unhappy in marriage. The marriage did not bring feelings of peace and comfort. So, they went through with the divorce on the grounds that both they and their close Christian friends “had a peace about it.”

Perhaps you’ve said it. “I have a peace about it.” Sometimes it takes on a different form. “I have prayed about it, so it’s God’s will.” Or, “I have a peace about it, so God is calling me to…” Those words are often-assumed gateways to what God wants me to do in the throes of life. But, is my “peace” God’s enthusiastic permission slip for my “it”? Is my prayer and peace heaven’s approval for whatever “it” may be in my life?

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We Must Never Forget

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In 2015, The Center For Medical Progress released undercover videos showing Planned Parenthood executives negotiating prices for harvested organs from aborted babies. After viewing the videos, conservative columnist George Will, who was clearly incensed, opined that one of the many videos showed a “salad-nibbling, wine-sipping Planned Parenthood official explaining how ‘I’m going to basically crush below, I’m going to crush above’ whatever organ (“heart, lung, liver”) is being harvested.”

So that the American people never forget this scandal, SBC Voices is encouraging groups to host prayer vigils at local Planned Parenthood clinics on October 15, 2016, #ProtestPP.

Planned Parenthood 2I remember the outrage. How could anyone do such a thing as this? The images captured on video for all the world to see.

The date was July 14, 2015. The Center for Medical Progress released the first of its many disquieting videos regarding the deplorable practices of Planned Parenthood regarding the trafficking of baby body parts harvested from the barbaric abortion “services” they provide.

I was not the only one outraged by what I saw. For the next several weeks more equally horrifying videos would be released. The discussions on Twitter and Facebook were, to say the least, intense. Amid all these discussions, a few pro-life organizations came together to help organize people across the country into groups to publicly and peacefully protest the abortion and trafficking baby parts practices of Planned Parenthood. They took on the hashtag #ProtestPP.

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This World Is Not Our Home

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Jeremiah Johnson is alarmed by how easy it is for believers, including himself, “to be caught up in the cares of this world and to follow the worrying, fearful pattern of unbelievers.”  We worry, we fret, we involve ourselves in all sorts of worldly endeavors and tend to put aside what is eternally important.  In this blog post over at Grace to You, Johnson reminds committed Christians that this world is not our home. He writes:

PlanetDo you know anyone who is not worried about the future? Maybe they’re afraid of contracting the Zika virus, or cancer, or any of the other diseases dominating headlines these days. Perhaps they’re bracing for another global financial crisis, or the next terrorist attack. Or maybe they’re just caught up in concerns over the coming election, and what it means for the future.

No matter where you look, there is reason to be concerned about the state of the world today, and what tomorrow holds.

But should those concerns dominate in the hearts of believers? Should God’s people be worried about the ills of this world and how to fix them? Or do our affections and energies belong elsewhere?

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When “Liberty” Forces 18 Girls Into a Single-Stall Shower Room

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showerAccording to James Gottry of The Daily Signal “On Wednesday, Alliance Defending Freedom filed a federal lawsuit on behalf of high school students and parents, asking the court to strike down a Minnesota school district policy that empowers a male student to enter the girls’ locker room and disrobe.”

Later in his piece, Gottry reminds us that this sort of thing would have been unthinkable just a few short years ago, moreover “these tile-floored, plastic-stalled, chrome-fixtured, and (formerly) sex-specific sanctuaries are now ground zero for experiments in the subjective theory of gender.”

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9/11 Anniversary: 10 Lessons Learned From the 15-Year “Long War”

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Over at The Daily Signal, research fellow at The Heritage Foundation, Steven Bucci, offers 10 lessons we could learn from 9/11.

ground-zeroHaving been in the Pentagon on 9/11, it does not seem as if it was 15 years ago that our lives and national trajectory were changed so much.

For those who have been in the middle of it all, the time has gone swiftly. To many others, it is ancient history. Some interns at The Heritage Foundation were only as young as 4 and 5 years old on that chaotic day. That said, what lessons could we learn from the trial of the Long War? Here are 10 worth considering.

  1. Every nation is vulnerable, and democracies are even more so.The optimism and freedoms of America make it open to attack. The 9/11 terrorists came here using programs designed to introduce America to the world. In the past, the two great oceans that flank our shores protected us from direct attack. The globalization of everything has made that moot. Americans can be attacked just like everyone else.

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Priscilla Shirer & Women’s Bible “Mis-studies”: When Your Church Doesn’t Care About Your Soul (Or The Scripture)

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priscilla-shirer-2-2Bud Ahlheim of Pulpit & Pen warns of the abominable teaching that’s coming to a church near you — perhaps even the church you attend!  “This is a reminder about the danger of Shirer,” says Ahlheim.  “It does not take much discernment to recognize her as a false teacher with toxic teaching. If Christ’s presentation of the antithetical “two paths” is correct (Matthew 7:13) – and, OF COURSE, it is – Shirer’s anti-orthodox, anti-Biblical teaching falls on that undesirable, though emotionally appealing, wide path. She promotes a contemplative, emotions-based, mystical form of faith that is completely foreign to ‘the faith once for all delivered to the saints.’”  (Jude 3)

Priscilla Shirer promotes extra-biblical revelation.  In other words, she teaches that God speaks to believers personally, privately and specifically.  So, with this in mind let’s listen to what Bud Ahlheim has to say on the controversial teaching that believers have an inner ability to hear God’s voice that has become so popular among charismatics.

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Open Letter to David (and now Tim) Barton from a Christian Historian

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david-barton-2Many people are unaware that controversial Christian historian David Barton (more on the controversy here) holds some highly unbiblical views.  His beliefs are largely from the apostate New Apostolic Reformation. Barton also has a close association with New Age Mormon Glenn Beck and appears regularly on Word of Faith heretic Kenneth Copeland’s Believer’s Voice of Victory.  So it’s no surprise that liberals like Warren Throckmorton regularly use their blogs to discredit David Barton — and rightly so. In a recent blog post over at Patheos, he quotes from an open letter to David and Tim Barton penned by Grace College history professor Jared Burkholder.  According to Throckmorton the letter was written:

[I]n response to the Barton’s claim that Christian historians don’t rely on primary sources (see these links for more on the Bartons’ claim). The letter begins:

Dear David (and now Tim) Barton,

Maybe you can clarify something for me. Why do you continue to insist that because you read primary sources you have a unique voice when compared to professional Christian historians like me, who you say fail to make use of original sources?

I am hardly the first to be annoyed by this, but suffice it to say this is utterly incomprehensible to me. Primary sources are to historians what hammers are to carpenters; what keyboards are to composers; what language is to writers. They are the tools of our trade, the most basic implements we learn to use.

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Utopia is Burning: Burning Man Festival 2016

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What is the meaning of Burning Man?  According to Dr. Peter Jones of truthXchange it “seems to be impermanence (as the 70 foot “Man” being burned at the end of the week seems to suggest), a principle deeply entwined with Buddhism. Impermanence becomes for burners an annual reminder of the transience of life, the eternal return of Osiris.”  The festival is supposed to be about “love, happiness, sharing, giving and appreciating.”  But as Dr. Jones reveals, not everyone who attends is all that “loving.” In fact, some burners are vandals. He writes:

burning-manWhen his ship, The Beagle, docked in Southern Australia in 1831 on the way to the Galapagos Islands, Charles Darwin, one of the leading intellectual skeptics of his day, witnessed naked Aboriginal natives dancing themselves into delirium all night long. In his diary, Darwin wrote that he found this animistic display “a most rude, barbarous scene.”

Times have changed. This year 70,000 people have thronged to the annual countercultural Burning Man Festival in the Nevada desert. Leading hi-tech worthies like Google founders Larry Page, Sergey Brin, and chairman Eric Schmidt, and Jeff Bezos, CEO of Amazon, along with celebrity visitors like Katy Perry (31), socialite Paris Hilton (35), and British actress and model Cara Delevingne (24) now find such “rude, barbarous scene[s]” totally normal and perfectly cool. These contemporary definers of popular culture have thrown off even the outward standards of public decency dear to Charles Darwin. Burning Man sets the agenda for popular culture. In acts of shameless self-expression, they abandon all inhibition and wander around naked in the desert doing ecstasy and acid, visiting the anonymous-sex-orgy dome (open 24/7), joining in fire dancing, yoga, and meditation. No one is allowed a hint of judgmentalism.

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Alcoholic Pastor, Perry Noble, Says He Will Return To Ministry

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Not so fast, says Jeff Maples of Pulpit & Pen.  “Let’s be clear,” he warns, “if God is ever going to use Perry Noble for ministry, the first thing Perry Noble is going to have to do is repent.”  What sins has he committed that he must repent of?  According to Maples, for sinning against God and “misrepresenting him all those years he was pretending to be a pastor.” Likewise, “He needs to repent for all of his false teachings. He needs to repent for leading countless thousands upon thousands of his followers astray, away from the truth and into the darkness. He needs to repent to his family for being a hypocrite, a liar, and a bad leader. And he needs to turn to Jesus Christ in full faith and submit himself to the absolute final authority of Scripture and find a solid, bible-believing church to submit to for teaching and training in righteousness.”

perry-noble-2Perry Noble recently told his Facebook followers that he has completed alcoholic rehab, and would return to ministry–eventually. Noble, the man who is credited with single-handedly building the seeker-friendly Southern Baptist megachurch, Newspring, in Anderson, SC, was fired from his church. Noble is well known for his faulty biblical exposition, unsound theology, and an anger streak that could bring out the worst in anyone. He says,

I spent 30 days in a treatment facility in Arizona from mid-July until mid-August. Being in that place allowed me to come face to face with issues from my past as well as my current struggle, and placed me in a place to successfully overcome my overmedication via alcohol.

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“Socialism of the 21st Century” Collapses in Brazil. Here’s Why It Failed

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Over at The Daily Signal James M. Roberts of The Heritage Foundation examines why socialism has failed in Latin American countries.  He writes:

socialismWith the Senate impeachment vote to remove from office former President Dilma Rousseff, Brazilians joined a lengthening line of Latin Americans who have soured on the populist, corrupting, and impoverishing policies of “21st Century Socialism.”

Faced with its disastrous consequences, people in some neighboring countries had already turned the page and moved on. Argentina wised up late last year and installed center-right President Mauricio Macri after more than a decade of misrule by the Peronist Kirchner family.

Earlier this year, Peruvians voted for a 78-year-old center-right economist to get them back on track. And in Caracas, Venezuela, tens of thousands took to the streets demanding the removal of the brutally fascistic regime put in power by one of 21st Century Socialism’s founding fathers, the late Hugo Chávez.

Brazil, government spending programs championed by Rousseff and her socialist mentor and predecessor, “Lula” da Silva, only managed to pull Brazilians out of poverty temporarily, through cash transfers and welfare benefits that ended up nearly bankrupting the country and plunging it into its deepest recession since the 1930s.

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Transgender: Truth and Compassion

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Alan Shlemon of Stand To Reason offers a biblical perspective on how to balance truth with compassion when responding to people about the transgender issue.

transgender9Imagine a woman telling you, “I’m transgender. Please call me Michael.” It’s obvious she’s female, but she’s asking you to call her by a man’s name. What do you do?

Many people today reject the notion that gender is a fixed trait based on biology. Rather, they believe gender is a flexible trait based on society. As feminist and social theorist Simone de Beauvoir wrote, “One is not born, but rather becomes, woman.”?1 Anatomy, therefore, is not destiny. One can choose what gender one wants to be.

Though this sounds counterintuitive, the culture is buying it. They are sympathetic to the plight of transgender people. They believe “Michael” is a man trapped in a woman’s body and they’re willing to accommodate the transgender perception.

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Not “Tired,” but Tried and True!

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There are some naysayers in the Christian community who have come out against online discernment ministries (ODM’s) as they feel the work “discerners” do is, in their view, unbiblical. Amy of Berean Research, a popular discernment blog, disagrees.  In this piece, she explains the purpose of ODM’s and why pointing discouraged and confused believers in the right direction has helped them discover Truth.  Because of ODM’s, many people who were once caught up in a cult, false teaching, and idolatry say they’ve been set free.

Sheep butting heads “For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths.”  — 2 Timothy 4:3-4

I recently heard someone lament that discernment reporters always trot out the same tired old Scripture verses to defend why they report all the negative things that today’s Bible teachers teach and do that aren’t lining up with Scripture. I thought it a strange thing, to tell Christians that using the Word of God as a basis for following His commands to be discerning and defend the true faith as being a bad thing.

When Jesus’ disciples asked Him what would be the signs they could look to as the end of the age, the first thing Jesus did was to warn them not to be deceived. (You can read about that here.)  His words were to the believers and true followers. Yes, it seems that true Christians CAN be deceived, or Jesus wouldn’t have warned us to take care not to be.

Why do reporters write about those in our times who are twisting Scripture? Is it because we are hateful, or singularly focused on negative things?  No. I believe that discerning Christians need to be Bereans to continually search Scriptures to make sure they are following the truth rather than what sounds almost true. But here’s the problem: They are not being taught how to do that by their leaders. Instead, their leaders are giving a nod of approval to false teachings and teachers.

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Does Jeremiah 29:11 Apply to Us Today?

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For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. (Jeremiah 29:11)

Greg Koukl of Stand to Reason answers the question.  He explains why “we should never read just one Bible verse to understand it’s true meaning and purpose. We need to read the context.”

How Liberal Judges Took Control of 70 Percent of US Appeals Courts

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According to Philip Wegmann of The Daily Signal:

JudgingOn the campaign trail in 2008, Barack Obama promised to fundamentally transform the United States of America. After nearly eight years as president, he has delivered on one front by reshaping the federal judiciary.

That revolution has been comprehensive, dramatic, and under the radar.

When Obama entered the Oval Office, liberal judges controlled just one of the 13 circuits of the U.S. Court of Appeals. Fifty-five successful presidential nominations later, liberal majorities now control nine of those appeals benches, or 70 percent.

Outside of legal circles the transformation of the influential federal appeals courts has gone largely unnoticed, though.

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Depression & the Ministry – Part 1

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Eric Davis of The Cripplegate has written a thought provoking piece for spiritual leaders who sometimes experience “the dark guest within.” Davis offers 5 reasons why our church leaders may go through times of sorrow. Sorrow is almost inherent to the ministry, says Davis who pastors a church in Jackson Hole, WY. In part 2 he addresses the reasons that often lie behind sorrow experienced in the ministry, considers some of them, and then draws conclusions.

“Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me?” (Psalm 42:5).

These are not the words of a spiritual infant. They are not the cries of a neophyte believer. This was a spiritual leader, involved in the daily ministry of the word of God to the people of God. Even so, his struggles with sorrow are deep.

It’s no secret: spiritual leaders can battle with depression. The more pastors I talk to, the more common this seems. I’ve worked jobs from lumber mills to heavy construction to engineering to research labs, and I have never encountered sorrow in those like the pastorate. Pastors, if you struggle with sorrow, chances are, things are pretty normal. Christians, chances are, your pastor has, or will have, bouts with soul-sorrow. It’s just normal.

And we need to avoid parochial conclusions when it comes to battles with sorrow. The presence of depression does not always mean the presence of raging sin. Strong saving faith and deep discouragement are often found in the same soul. Ed Welch has rightly said, “It is a myth that faith is always smiling. The truth is that faith often feels like the very ordinary process of dragging one foot in front of the other because we are conscious of God” (Depression: A Stubborn Darkness, 31). Jeremiah had his bouts (Jer. 9:1-2, Lam. 3:48). Elijah probably did too (1 Kings 19:4). Though Paul always rejoiced, he was also sorrowful (2 Cor. 6:10). The great apostle even experienced “great sorrow and unceasing grief” (Rom. 9:2). And Jesus was a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief (Isa. 53:3). Likely he could have been diagnosed with clinical depression by the standards of our modern psychiatrists. Charles Spurgeon said, “No sin is necessarily connected with sorrow of heart, for Jesus Christ our Lord once said, ‘My soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even to death.’ There was no sin in him, and consequently none in his deep depression.”

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“Mother Teresa” Declared a Saint by “Pope Francis” After Being Credited With Miracles in Death

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Christian News Network has a quote from Mike Gendron of Proclaiming the Gospel Ministries that some folks will find hard to believe.  Nevertheless, what Gendron says is true:

Mother Teresa did not believe or proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ as the only way of salvation.  She encouraged Hindus, Muslims and Buddhists to be better Hindus, Muslims and Buddhists. She never pointed people to Christ as the only savior, mediator and redeemer. Instead she taught a bizarre ‘pseudo-pantheism’ in which she believed Jesus was present in everyone.

In her piece for Christian News, Heather Clark reveals a whole lot more about the controversial Catholic nun:

Mother TeresaAgnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu, also known as “Mother Teresa,” was declared a venerated saint on Sunday after she met the Vatican’s requirement of being credited with the purported healing of two people through what Roman Catholics believe is her intercession in death.

“[A]fter due deliberation and frequent prayer for divine assistance, and having sought the counsel of many of our brother bishops, we declare and define Blessed Teresa of Calcutta to be a saint, and we enroll her among the saints, decreeing that she is to be venerated as such by the whole church,” Jorge Bergoglio, also known as Pope Francis, declared at the Vatican before an estimated crowd of 120,000 people on Sunday.

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Take a look at CRN’s research paper on Roman Catholicism

Are We Brainwashing Our Children?

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In this piece over at Answers In Genesis, Dr. Tommy Mitchell asks: Are Christians unscientific? Is it brainwashing to teach children the truth about God and the Bible? What exactly is brainwashing anyway? Dr. Mitchell explains:

Children prayingHave you ever been told that your children are Christians only because you brainwashed them? Have you been accused of keeping your children from understanding “real” science by brainwashing them with the Bible?

Educators and other “experts” who embrace evolution declare that children taught to reject an evolutionary worldview will never understand the world around them. Many say that such children will be academic failures. Children will grow up to be unproductive citizens of the modern world, these experts warn, if they do not accept molecules-to-man evolution over millions of years as fact.

Secularists often claim that children who reject evolution have been “brainwashed.” Is this really true? Are some children being brainwashed? If so, is it Bible-believing Christians who are doing the brainwashing?

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Western Christians’ Bible reading crisis

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Professing Christians are not reading their bibles as much as they used to — and some Christians don’t read it at all.  Beth Stolicker of Mission Network makes a good case as to why Christians must read and memorize Scripture.  As Christians “we need to be able to recall full Scriptures, the redemption story, and the Bible’s full frame. That’s hard to do if Christians are only familiar with a few verses here and there.”  Stolicker offers tips to engage with God’s Word:

BibleWhen was the last time you picked up your Bible and spent time reading more than a couple of verses? If it’s been a while, you’re not alone.  

An unfamiliar crisis

Today, the average American adult’s attention span lasts for about 12 minutes. But, this isn’t a long enough time to really suck the marrow of life from Scripture’s bones. Chief Executive Officer at Biblica, Carl Moeller shares some insight.

“Christians, just like others in the culture, don’t read as much as they used to. And, this is a real crisis when we as evangelical Christians base our faith on the teachings of God’s Word,” Moeller explains.

“If we’re not reading God’s Word, it’s going to be very difficult for us to understand what He wants from us and how He wants us to live.”

There are Christians living without religious freedom, striving to memorize entire books of the Bible. Yet, some of us with religious freedom struggle to open ours. As Western Christians, have we lost, to some extent, what it means to live for Christ? To seek Him above all things in the midst of our busy, rushing, stressful days? Have we become a Martha instead of a Mary?

Possibly.

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Greg Laurie’s Continuing Slide Into Apostasy

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CRN has warned you about Calvary Chapel rock star Greg Laurie for quite some time (here).  Many other discernment bloggers have alerted the evangelical community as well.  In a piece over at Pulpit & Pen, Jeff Maples offers numerous reasons why Bible believing Christians must flee from the so-called evangelist.  According to Maples, “With Greg Laurie, it isn’t about sound doctrine and a solid Gospel message that saves–it’s about “filling the stadiums with youth” to “bring about revival.” It’s a numbers game. It’s about “uniting denominations” into a single, watered-down, inoffensive, ear-tickling, man-pleasing entertaining religion of harmonious solidarity.”  Maples continues:

WOLF IN SHEEPS CLOTHINGGreg Laurie has been a prominent figure in Christendom for quite some time. He is the senior pastor of Harvest Christian Fellowship in Riverside, CA, one of the largest churches in America. Many have touted him as being the next Billy Graham. In the likeness of Billy Graham’s crusades, Laurie has invested endless efforts in his Harvest Crusades since the early 1990’s, reaching audiences in the hundreds of thousands at every event. Laurie’s popular style of watered-down preaching and making the adulterated Word of God more palatable to the world has helped his empire grow tremendously, and transform Laurie into a celebrity.

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Ask Not for Whom the Volcano Erupts; It Erupts for Thee: A Response to David Gushee

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Albert Mohler, president of Baptist Theological Seminary responds to David Gushee, a “progressive evangelical” who penned a piece for Religion News Service arguing that the “middleground” is disappearing on LGBT rights.  Recently we posted Professor Denny Burk’s response entitled “The Disappearing ‘Middleground’ and the Coming Conflict” which you will find here.  Not surprisingly, Gushee’s article caused quite a stir in the evangelical community.  Shortly thereafter Gushee took on his critics, Dr. Mohler being one of the most prominent.  In the blog post he wrote he reveals the following:

Volcano lavaWhen those on the receiving end of Gushee’s stern advice complained about both the tone and the substance of his essay, he responded with a second essay in which he offered this analogy: “I was saying: ‘Watch out, I notice that volcano over there is smoking ominously, and if it erupts, hot molten lava will wash over you.’ I was not saying: ‘I hope that the volcano erupts, and hot molten lava washes over you.'”

He was merely describing and predicting, he insisted, not at all prescribing what should happen. But there is a big problem with that defense. The language and framing that he deploys in both of his articles (and in his recent book projects as well) clearly imply that conservative Christians are a menace to the cause he champions. He has described evangelical Christians as the last major hold-outs on the road to full LGBT equality, and he claims to be a full convert to the LGBT cause. (emphasis added)

Later in the article Dr. Mohler declares: “Professor Gushee’s warning has been both delivered and received. His words clarify where we stand, and I agree that the earth is shaking under our feet.”

We urge you to read Dr. Mohler’s piece in its entirety and then share it far and wide.

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With Redefinition of Marriage, America’s Very Survival Is at Risk

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Lynn Wardle, writer for CNSNews, warns: “When marriage is de-valued or marginalized all of society is at risk. When families are weakened, our entire society, our freedoms, our prosperity, and our way of life also are endangered.”  Wardle writes:

It is not unlikely that future scholars of social history will identify the public policy controversies in the United States concerning the legal meaning of marriage as the defining social issue for this generation of Americans.  Certainly, it has been one of the most, if not the most, divisive, contentious, and fervently debated issues in America during the first sixteen years of the twenty-first century.

Supporters of the legalization of so-called same-sex “marriage” will note that by the time the Supreme Court of the United States decreed in June 2015 in Obergefell v. Hodges, 576 U.S. __, 135 S.Ct. 2584 (2015), that all American states (and, by clear implication, the federal government as well) must permit and recognize same-sex marriage, same-sex couples already could marry in more than two-thirds of the states.

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