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Backsliding: Last words on the matter
Editor’s note: A few weeks ago, on March 14, we published an article by George Stiekes called, “Do We Still Believe in Backsliding?” He sent that out as a devotional on March 11 and I was moved to repost it. Bro. Stiekes has been a friend since he pastored in Washington state some years ago.…
Do We Still Have God’s Words? The Preservation of Scripture (Part 2)
The previous post explored four observations from which we can infer the necessity for a doctrine of preservation: the divine act of Scripture, the express purpose of Scripture, the inherent authority of Scripture, and the divine purpose of God to glorify himself among all the nations. This post turns to a more direct question: Does…
Abortion Is on Your Ballot: What Can You Do?
What is the leading cause of death worldwide for the fifth year in a row? Abortions – 44.6 million in 2023, destroyed three times more human beings than the second place killer, communicable diseases. Even in the U.S., where the Supreme Court found (in June 2022) that there is no constitutional right to abortion, the…
Anti-Semitism is Horrible Sin
Some things have to be repeated over and over. This is one of them. Respect of persons is a sin. Racism is a sin. And for the same reasons, anti-semitism is a sin. There are basic biblical principles that apply here. Choices of blessing and cursing belong to God, not man. God’s choice to bless…
We Thought We “Hung the Moon”
My kids’ history and science lessons recently coincided to study the landing of the first man on the Moon on July 20, 1969. It was fascinating to again read about and then re-watch Neil Armstrong’s first “small step for man,” and “giant leap for mankind.” Armstrong’s famous first footprint in the fine dust of the…
Hard Isn’t Bad, or Is It?
How often do we use the argument “hard isn’t bad!” when facing a challenging situation? Our children struggle with their schoolwork, or chores, or an intense sports game, and we encourage them by saying that this challenge will help them improve. Our friends face a hard decision in life, and we remind them that it’s…
Interesting Headlines From Around the World
In The News
SBC lost over 1,200 churches in 2022, data shows | Church & Ministries News
The Southern Baptist Convention, the United States’ largest Protestant denomination, lost more than 1,200 member churches in 2022, according to a recent data analysis from LifeWay Research. According to the analysis of the SBC’s 2022 Annual Church Profile published Tuesday, Lifeway found that, from 2021 to 2022, 1,253 congregations were no longer part of the…
Editor’s Notes: War with Hamas pushes Israelis closer to their Faith – The Jerusalem Post
Tefillin [phylacteries worn during prayer] and morning prayers, occasionally Mincha [afternoon prayer] and Arvit [evening prayer], observing Shabbat, adhering to a six-hour wait between consuming meat and dairy, reciting Birkat Hamazon [the blessing after meals], blessing every food and drink consumed throughout the day, increasing acts of charity, saying the Asher Yatzar [blessing recited after…
DOJ Funded Censorship Database Targets Christians, Gateway Pundit, Ron Paul Forums – Foundation for Freedom Online
A research project at Youngstown State University in Ohio, funded by a Department of Justice grants program, is scooping up millions of posts from Americans, storing them in a vast database, and analyzing them to identify common patterns of speech that can then be targeted for censorship. Targeted groups include conservative website The Gateway Pundit,…
Opinion Pieces
Can public school students learn the Bible? Here’s how we do it
The red bus arrives at Beechwood Elementary School in Whitehall, Ohio, throughout the day. About 15 students pile on each time, then it drives a few blocks to a church down the street. For the next 40 minutes, the students learn basic biblical teaching alongside virtues such as honesty, integrity and kindness.When the lessons are…
Life and Books and Everything – Where Have All the Fundamentalists Gone? | RSS.com
With two smart British historians—one from Oxford (Andrew) and one from Aberystwyth (David)–and one curious American pastor (Kevin), you might say that this episode puts the “fun” back in fundamentalism. How did fundamentalism become a pejorative putdown? Are evangelicals and fundamentalists really all that different? What is a fundamentalist anyway? And, to paraphrase Harry Emerson…
Why I am now a Christian – UnHerd
In 2002, I discovered a 1927 lecture by Bertrand Russell entitled “Why I am Not a Christian”. It did not cross my mind, as I read it, that one day, nearly a century after he delivered it to the South London branch of the National Secular Society, I would be compelled to write an essay…
Home & Family
It’s Not Politics: Fatherhood Decline Causing Rise of Religious Nones | RealClearReligion
But, in the years since we met this couple in the early 2000s, some sociologists, pundits, Christian thinkers, and church leaders have been persuaded by the idea that politics – particularly socially conservative politics – is playing a major role in driving the societal-wide decline in church participation. But the evidence doesn’t bear this out.…
Why marriage matters
If a cohabiting couple is reluctant to get married because they say “a piece of paper doesn’t change anything”, their reluctance is a sign they don’t even believe their own claim. If it doesn’t change anything, why not go ahead and get married? It seems they actually realize that the piece of paper does mean…
Most women who abort say they would rather not; | The Hill
Sadly, two-thirds said their decision to abort violated their own values and preferences. Their “choice” was, it turns out, not really what they would have wanted. In fact, a full 24 percent described their abortion as “unwanted” or “coerced.” Source: Most women who abort say they would rather not; Congress can help them | The…