Muslim prayer room at Catholic high school in Michigan sparks debate

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According to Fox News:

Some parents outside Detroit were questioning a Catholic high school’s decision to allow a special room for Muslim students to pray, Fox 2 reported Wednesday.

Brother Rice High School, an all-boys school in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, reportedly granted a request from Muslim students to use the religious reflection room throughout the day. Roughly a dozen of the school’s 800-plus students are Muslim, according to WXYZ.

One unnamed parent told the news station the room was “unconscionable,” arguing that her son’s paid Catholic education would be “undermined.” Fox 2 reported receiving similar criticism.

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House budget bill funds Planned Parenthood, reduces UNFPA funds

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LifeSiteNews reports:

The House’s new Speaker has unveiled a $1.67 trillion budget that fully funds Planned Parenthood for the next nine-and-a-half months.

The budget comes five months after a series of videos showed Planned Parenthood officials haggling over the price of unborn baby parts, as well as appearing to discuss illegal partial-birth abortions and illegal modifications to abortion.

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Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy- laden, and I will give you rest

Posted by ∙ ∙ In Devotion/Teaching

3 “ Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. (Matthew 5:3 NASB)

From the time God saved me in 1986 until He shoved me out of our church in Olathe, KS back in 2006 when it began going Purpose Driven, I was immersed in a form of evangelicalism that can best be described as the pastors and leadership of the churches we belonged to teaching and preaching in such a way so as to make all of us uncomfortable with how much we served and how much we gave. They even twisted it in such a way to say that to mature and grow so you can hear the voice of God Christians must make themselves uncomfortable, get busy, then God will speak to them. My brethren, this is not grace, this is not Gospel, it is pure Law. Our Lord has some good news for refugees from this sort of bondage. View article →

Mark Driscoll Listed as Director of Newly Incorporated The Trinity Church in Phoenix

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Mark DriscollWarren Throckmorton of Patheos informs us that shamed former pastor Mark Driscoll is in the process of starting a new church in Phoenix, AZ. In July Driscoll confirmed his move to Phoenix but said there are “no concrete plans for ongoing local church ministry as of yet.” Five months later he is listed as a director of The Trinity Church. According to Throckmorton:

The next big thing appears to be just around the corner.

Mark Driscoll is listed as a director of recently registered The Trinity Church in Phoenix, along with Randall Taylor and Jimmy Evans. The address is the same UPS store listed as the Mark Driscoll Ministries address (the church has a different box number):

Mark Driscoll Ministries 21001 North Tatum Blvd Ste 1630-527 Phoenix, AZ 85050

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Word of Faith False Teacher Joyce Meyer’s Shocking Doctrine and Heresy

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From Berean Research:

For those who haven’t heard this before, Christian celeb Joyce Meyer is a false teacher. In 2011 Fran Sankey of Tower of Truth Ministries and host of Test All Things radio broadcast discussed Mrs. Meyer’s unbiblical and problematic teaching on her program. We’re posting the transcript, which is well worth the read for anyone who is in the dark about this woman. To listen to the show, scroll down to the end for the link. Sankey begins with some background on Mrs. Meyer and then fills us in on the reasons that some of her teaching is considered heretical. You don’t have to take Sankey’s word for it. Listen to the sound clips of Joyce Meyer she has provided.

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Washington Times slams president for “scandal of enormous proportions”

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According to Christian Examiner:

President Obama’s indifference to Christian persecution in the Middle East is part of a “scandal of enormous proportions,” the editorial staff of the Washington Times has written in a scathing rebuke of the administration.

“Expressions of concern by the leaders of the West are few. The fact is that Christians face more persecution, in more countries, than any other religious group,” the editorial said before launching into an attack on the president’s human rights record with respect to Christian refugees from Syria.

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Wheaton College Suspends Hijab-Wearing Professor Who Declared “We All Worship Same God”

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Christian News Network reports:

A prominent Christian-identified university in Illinois has suspended an associate political science director after she posted photos of herself wearing an Islamic hijab this past week, stating that she was doing so to show solidarity with Muslims.

“Wheaton College faculty and staff make a commitment to accept and model our institution’s faith foundations with integrity, compassion, and theological clarity,” the college said in a statement on Tuesday. “As they participate in various causes, it is essential that faculty and staff engage in and speak about public issues in ways that faithfully represent the college’s evangelical Statement of Faith.”

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What is Contemplative Prayer?

Posted by ∙ ∙ In Devotion/Teaching

19 καὶ ἔχομεν βεβαιότερον τὸν προφητικὸν λόγον, ᾧ καλῶς ποιεῖτε προσέχοντες ὡς λύχνῳ φαίνοντι ἐν αὐχμηρῷ τόπῳ, ἕως οὗ ἡμέρα διαυγάσῃ καὶ φωσφόρος ἀνατείλῃ ἐν ταῖς καρδίαις ὑμῶν, 20 τοῦτο πρῶτον γινώσκοντες ὅτι πᾶσα προφητεία γραφῆς ἰδίας ἐπιλύσεως οὐ γίνεται· 21 οὐ γὰρ θελήματι ἀνθρώπου ἠνέχθη προφητεία ποτέ, ἀλλʼ ὑπὸ πνεύματος ἁγίου φερόμενοι ἐλάλησαν ἀπὸ θεοῦ ἄνθρωποι. (2 Peter 1:19-21 NA28)

19 And we have something more sure, the prophetic Word to which you do well in paying attention to it as to a lamp shining in a dark place until day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts, 20 knowing first that every prophecy of scripture is not of ones own interpretation. 21 For no prophecy was ever brought by the will of man at any time, but men spoke from God being carried along by the Holy Spirit. (2 Peter 1:19-21 translated from the NA28 Greek text)

In these days where post-modernist thinking has contaminated nearly everything including deeply into the visible church, we must have clear understanding of what Contemplative Prayer, or CSM, really is. Some seemly very solid Christian leaders give it a pass as if it is just another form of Christian meditation, but is it? Let’s see. View article →

McDonald’s, Target top sponsors of 2015 anti-family programming

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According to Christian Examiner:

Wendy’s, Coca Cola and Walmart were among the most responsible advertisers in 2015 by supporting positive programming, while Microsoft, McDonald’s and Target were among the least responsible advertisers, according to the Parents Television Council’s annual “best and worst” advertisers list.

The companies on the “best” list demonstrated a “willingness to support positive TV programming,” while the “worst” companies “supported TV shows that routinely feature sex, violence, and profanity” and “have not responded to calls to reevaluate their sponsorship behavior,” PTC said.

The “worst” list contains some surprising names, especially for families who don’t track commercials. McDonald’s, for example, is generally thought of as a family-friendly restaurant thanks to its Happy Meals and indoor play areas. But it made the “worst” list after a one-year hiatus. It also was on the 2012 and 2013 “worst” lists.

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LGBT Activists Fight State Law That Protects Believers Against Gay Marriage

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Mark David Hall of The Daily Signal writes:

Gay marriageHistorically, Democrats and Republicans have agreed that religious liberty is a core American value that should be protected whenever possible. Yet over the past decade, this consensus has come under increasing assault from the left.

A recent manifestation of this hostility to people of faith is a Dec. 9 lawsuit challenging a North Carolina statute (known as Senate Bill 2) that accommodates state magistrates and clerks whose sincere religious objections prevent them from solemnizing or licensing certain marriages allowed by law. According to Equality North Carolina, an LGBT advocacy group that plans to draw attention to the lawsuit along with the Campaign for Southern Equality, the law “allows magistrates who do not believe in marriage equality to renounce their judicial oath to uphold and evenly apply the United States Constitution.”

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Montana Judge Denies Polygamist’s Request for “Marriage Equality” in Striking Down Bigamy Law

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According to Christian News Network:

A judge in Montana has halted the lawsuit of a polygamist who sought “marriage equality” after was denied a license to tie the knot with a second woman.

As previously reported, Nathan Collier, 46, went to the Yellowstone County Courthouse in July with his partner Christine to seek a second marriage license.

As the U.S. Supreme Court had just opined days earlier that homosexuals should be able to “marry,” he stated that if the court really believes in equality, then he should have the right to marry as he wishes as well. Collier cited language from dissenting Chief Justice John Roberts, who stated that the “gay marriage” ruling “would apply with equal force to the claim of a fundamental right to plural marriage.”

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The lovingkindness of God endures all day long

Posted by ∙ ∙ In Devotion/Teaching

For the choir director. A Maskil of David, when Doeg the Edomite came and told Saul and said to him, “David has come to the house of Ahimelech.”

1 Why do you boast in evil, O mighty man? The lovingkindness of God endures all day long. 2 Your tongue devises destruction, Like a sharp razor, O worker of deceit. 3 You love evil more than good, Falsehood more than speaking what is right. Selah. 4 You love all words that devour, O deceitful tongue. 5 But God will break you down forever; He will snatch you up and tear you away from your tent, And uproot you from the land of the living. Selah. 6 The righteous will see and fear, And will laugh at him, saying, 7 “Behold, the man who would not make God his refuge, But trusted in the abundance of his riches And was strong in his evil desire.” 8 But as for me, I am like a green olive tree in the house of God; I trust in the lovingkindness of God forever and ever. 9 I will give You thanks forever, because You have done it, And I will wait on Your name, for it is good, in the presence of Your godly ones. Psalm 52:1-9 NASB

No matter how far away from the light the visible Church drifts into apostasy and darkness, we must remain faithful and understand that God is sovereign. Those God gives over to their idolatry are spiritually blind. They cannot see that while they believe they are serving God they are actually walking in rebellion. It seems that at this time God is placing me in a position of reflection on His grace and His love and that neither of them will ever fail. We must pray for those in darkness and never stop telling them the truth. Perhaps God will have mercy on them and call them to come out of the Scarlet Woman, from darkness into the light. View article →

Ole Miss renames Christmas a “Hotty Toddy Holiday”

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Christian Examiner reports:

In an effort to be more inclusive, Ole Miss is excluding the word “Christmas” from its annual Christmas event.

“We really wanted to change the atmosphere from last year and that would explain the name change,” Kayp Maye, co-director of special events for the university’s Student Activities Association, said in an interview with News Watch 99.

For the previous six years, the celebration has been called “A Grand Ole Christmas,” but now it will be called “Hotty Toddy Holiday,” perhaps a reference to an Ole Miss football cheer or to the beverage hot toddy.

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Wheaton College Professor Comes Out Wearing Hijab, Quotes “Pope Francis”: “We All Worship Same God”

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According to Christian News Network:

A professor at a prominent Christian university in Illinois posted photos of herself wearing an Islamic hijab this past week, stating that she was doing so to show solidarity with Muslims.

Larycia Hawkins is an associate political science director at Wheaton College, one of the most renown Christian schools in the world. On Thursday, she posted two photos of herself wearing a hijab, and stated in a lengthy explanation that she plans to wear it everywhere she goes during the Advent—including at the Christian college and to church.

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What can believers do that will endear their hearts unto Christ?

Posted by ∙ ∙ In Devotion/Teaching

14 And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth. John 1:14 NASB

All genuine Christians are involved in some form of spiritual conflict. They are tempted to doubt their salvation because of spiritual warfare or they are being tempted to turn aside for some fleshly “diversion” or they are tempted to compromise in some fashion in a way that would be an act against conscience, et cetera. Some reading this have contacted me for prayer because of family or health issues. We are all in desperate need of our hearts being strengthened in the resignation of ourselves unto the Lordship of  Jesus Christ. All genuine believers need their affections as the Bride of Christ to be stirred up and made more apparent to their regenerate hearts. How is this done? What can believers do that will endear their hearts unto Christ? View article →

“I’m a warrior for the babies” Planned Parenthood suspect declares in court

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The Washington Post reports:

“I’m guilty,” Robert L. Dear announced at his first in-person court appearance since he allegedly fired on a busy Planned Parenthood clinic in Colorado Springs three weeks ago, killing two civilians and a police officer in the assault and subsequent shootout with police.

Dear, 57, now faces charges on 179 counts of murder, attempted murder and other crimes.

But on Wednesday, startling those in the small Colorado courtroom, a handcuffed Dear declared, “There is no trial.”

“I’m a warrior for the babies,” he said.

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John 3:16 no longer one of the most popular verses for sharing

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According to Christian Examiner

YouVersion, a digital Bible app that works on every device, just shared its 2015 statistics, including its most shared verses by country—and John 3:16 isn’t one of them.

YouVersion is celebrating its 200 million downloads, 1,200 Bible versions, and 900 languages, a staggering increase from the 12 versions and 2 languages it offered when it was launched in 2006 by LifeChurch.tv, based in Oklahoma.

What God is doing through YouVersion is incredible—changing mobile devices into Bibles that people carry with them everywhere they go,” Bobby Gruenewald, pastor and innovation leader at LifeChurch, told Christianity Today.

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And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done

Posted by ∙ ∙ In Devotion/Teaching

28 And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done. 29 They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, 30 slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, 31 foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. 32 Though they know God’s righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them. (Romans 1:28-32 ESV)

28 Καὶ καθὼς οὐκ ἐδοκίμασαν τὸν θεὸν ἔχειν ἐν ἐπιγνώσει, παρέδωκεν αὐτοὺς ὁ θεὸς εἰς ἀδόκιμον νοῦν, ποιεῖν τὰ μὴ καθήκοντα, 29 πεπληρωμένους πάσῃ ἀδικίᾳ πονηρίᾳ πλεονεξίᾳ κακίᾳ, μεστοὺς φθόνου φόνου ἔριδος δόλου κακοηθείας, ψιθυριστὰς 30 καταλάλους θεοστυγεῖς ὑβριστὰς ὑπερηφάνους ἀλαζόνας, ἐφευρετὰς κακῶν, γονεῦσιν ἀπειθεῖς, 31 ἀσυνέτους ἀσυνθέτους ἀστόργους ἀνελεήμονας· 32 οἵτινες τὸ δικαίωμα τοῦ θεοῦ ἐπιγνόντες ὅτι οἱ τὰ τοιαῦτα πράσσοντες ἄξιοι θανάτου εἰσίν, οὐ μόνον αὐτὰ ποιοῦσιν ἀλλὰ καὶ συνευδοκοῦσιν τοῖς πράσσουσιν. (Romans 1:28-32 NA28)

The word translated as “debased” in the ESV rendering of Romans 1:28 is the Greek word ἀδόκιμον. This anarthrous adjective means, “unapproved, unworthy, spurious, or worthless.” In the context of Romans 1:28 it is speaking of those who do not have a sense of pending judgment. They have a reprobate, abominable mind that is abhorred by God and men who do know God’s truth. The word “mind” here is νοῦν. This anarthrous noun is the intellectual faculty of the natural man, applicable to God or Christ (Romans 11:34; 1 Corinthians 2:16), employed in practical judgment, capable of being good or evil, and of being regenerated, the mind, the reason, the reasoning faculty. View article →

Yezidi Leader Tells Congress: “Because We Are Not Muslims…We Are Being Burned Alive”

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CNS News reports:

Chaldean and Yezidi leaders described the genocide of their people at the hands of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) to members of Congress Wednesday at a hearing on assisting victims of ISIS.

“Because we are not Muslims, and because our path is the path of peace… we are being burned alive,” Mirza Ismail, chairman of the Yezidi Human Rights Organization-International, told members of the House Subcommittee on Africa, Global Health, Global Human Rights, and International Organizations.

Ismail went on to describe the desperate plight of the Yezidis, an indigenous ethno-religious group from Kurdistan who are being targeted by ISIS because they are not Muslim.

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Transgender AND Transager: 52 Year-Old Father Lives as a 6 Year-Old Girl

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According to MRCtv:

Forget being transgender like Caitlyn Jenner or transracial like Rachel Dolezal, there’s a new “trans” frontier: people who are transage.

In an interview with the gay news site The Daily Xtra, Stefonknee (formerly Paul) Wolscht details his struggles with being a male-to-female transgender person.

The Daily Xtra video, however, glosses over a tiny bit of important information about Wolscht: he thinks he is actually a six year-old girl—not just a woman, but a six year-old girl—stuck in the body of a 50-something man.

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Preacher’s “Emotional Harm” Conviction for Quoting “Wrong” Scripture on Homosexuality Overturned

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Christian Research Network reports:

A street preacher in the UK who was charged with making “homophobic” remarks and was ordered to pay a fine for his speech, including to a man to whom he quoted Scripture from the book of Leviticus, has been vindicated of his conviction of causing “emotional harm.”

As previously reported, Mike Overd, a street preacher for five years, was accused of speaking against homosexuality and Islam last June and July on two separate occasions. He was leveled with two charges of using threatening and abusive words and a charge of causing racially or religiously aggravated harassment, alarm or distress under the Public Order Act.

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New Vatican document reflects on relations between Catholics, Jews

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From Berean Research:

In a piece over at Catholic News Service – an important read – Cindy Wooden writes:

Catholics are called to witness to their faith in Jesus before all people, including Jews, but the Catholic Church “neither conducts nor supports” any institutional missionary initiative directed toward Jews, says a new document from a Vatican commission.”

How God will save the Jews if they do not explicitly believe in Christ is “an unfathomable divine mystery,” but one which must be affirmed since Catholics believe that God is faithful to his promises and therefore never revoked his covenant with the Jewish people, it says.

More in a moment.

Keep in mind that the apostate Roman Catholic Church (RCC) can say anything it wishes because they say that they alone have the right to interpret Scripture. The RCC “claims to be the one true Church as established by Jesus and His apostles. However, an examination of the doctrines upheld and taught by the RCC demonstrates that it stands in contrast with – and even in opposition to – biblical Christianity. (Source)

As you will see in this piece, it matters not to the Pontifical Commission for Religious Relations with the Jews that the Bible makes it abundantly clear that faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of Christ. The RCC conveniently ignores the Apostle Paul’s very words: “if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.” (Romans 10:9, 10) And they ignore verse 13, where Paul confirms that the Old Testament promise that “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved” is fulfilled in the Lord Jesus Christ.

Even worse, the RCC also chooses to ignore the words of Jesus in John 14:6: “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”

“No one” bears repeating.

Now, continuing where we left off:

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Influence of Churches, Once Dominant, Now Waning in South

Posted by ∙ ∙ In Opinion ∙ ,

According to Jay Reeves of the Associated Press:

Prayers said and the closing hymn sung, tea-drinking churchgoers fill Marble City Grill for Sunday lunch. But hard on their heels comes the afternoon crowd: craft beer-drinking, NFL-watching football fans.

Such a scene would have been impossible just months ago because Sunday alcohol sales were long illegal in Sylacauga, hometown of both the actor who played TV’s Gomer Pyle and the white marble used to construct the U.S. Supreme Court building. While the central Alabama city of 12,700 has only one hospital, four public schools and 21 red lights, the chamber of commerce directory lists 78 churches.

Yet few were surprised when residents voted overwhelmingly in September to legalize Sunday alcohol sales. Churches lacked either the heart or influence to stop it.

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Homosexuals File Suit to Challenge Law Allowing Judges to Opt-Out of Officiating “Gay Weddings”

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According to Christian News Network:

Several homosexuals in North Carolina have filed suit to challenge a law that was passed this year that allows judges to opt out of officiating “gay weddings” because of their religious convictions.

As previously reported, S.B. 2 was introduced earlier this year by Sen. Phil Berger, R-Rockingham, to allow magistrates to recuse themselves from officiating over the services, as well as to permit register of deeds workers to opt out of issuing licenses due to religious objections.

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