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THREE PROPHETIC PARALLELISMS CONCERNING ISRAEL. By Rev. JAMES C.SMITH, of Dufftown (At the Glasgow Conference, June, 1894.) To understand the the Old Testament you must understand Israel; to understand the New Testament you must study the Church. The great subject of the Bible is sin, and the great doctrine of the Bible is the putting away of sin by the grace of God. All other subjects fall under this great line of study. If the Bible casts its teaching in any special form or mould more than another, it is in the form of parallelism, and this is one of...

"THE PURPOSE OF THE AGES." By The Rev. Dr. Bullinger (At the Nottingham Conference, May, 1894. As published in THINGS TO COME – A Journal of Biblical Literature for August, 1894.) The one great and blessed feature of these prophetical conferences is that Christ is the center of them, and Christ the object they bring before us. Their great object is to glorify Christ, and that also is the special work of the Holy Ghost. Christ is the living Word, and we assembled here to learn from the written Word. This Word has many different titles, and each title brings...

Few things warm my heart more than a story about political incorrectness and cigars. Love these guys. Dutch smokers are flocking to a religious movement known as "The Only and Universal Smokers Church of God" following a ban on tobacco smoking indoors. Michiel Eijsbouts, founder and "Smokelighter" of the church he founded in 2001, has insisted that the Dutch smoking ban in place does not apply to members of his church under national and European human rights legislation. "We think we have all the marks of a religion," he said. "We will have to find out what the secular...

Smoking ban leads to new religion Wednesday 16 July 2008Café owners in the Netherlands are joining religious movement known as the One and Universal Smokers Church of God, the Telegraaf reports on Wednesday.‘We stand firmly behind the church’s teachings and that is smoking,’ Cor Busch, owner of the former Lindeboom café in Alkmaar told the paper. ‘Smokers are being discriminated against… but a beer and a cigarette belong together.’ Smoking has been banned in Dutch bars since July 1. Several dozen bars have joined the movement which claims the Dutch constitution and European rules give it legitimacy under the...

There is a belief abroad in many conservative circles that the U.S. is "a Christian nation". This belief is found in perhaps its most extreme form in the Mormon doctrine that the Constitution of the United States is a divinely inspired document. Less extreme versions hold that Christian piety was an shaping influence on the thinking and writing of the Founding Fathers, and Christianity therefore has (or ought to have) a privileged position in the political and cultural life of the U.S. The Mormon doctrine is unfalsifiable. But claims about the beliefs and intentions of the Founding Fathers are not,...

Presidents “It is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey His will, to be grateful for His benefits, and humbly to implore His protection and favor.” GEORGE WASHINGTON Commander-in-Chief in the American Revolution; Signer of the Constitution; First President of the United States “We have no government armed with power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion. Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.” JOHN ADAMS Signer of the Declaration of Independence; One of Two...

Why We Need to Plant New Churches… Nationwide According to the January, 1996 Gallup Princeton Religion Report, there are an estimated 195 million unchurched in the United States. During the last ten years the total combined membership of all Protestant denominations declined by 9.55%, nearly 4.5 million people, while the population of the U.S. increased by 11.4%, or more than 24 million.(4) In 1991, 49% of those polled said they attended church regularly. In 1996, only 37% said they did.(5) Evangelical churches have failed to gain an additional two percent of the American population in the past fifty years.(6) In...

An Islamist group has sent threatening letters to Assyrian churches in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul, asking them not to cooperate with US forces. The letter sent by The Batallion of Just Punishment, Jihad Base in Mesopotamia, also opposes the establishment of a sectarian Assyrian-Christian police force, reported the Assyrian International News Agency on Wednesday. "We caution and warn anyone who tries to rob us through dealings with the Americans or through the spreading of American forces and/or police to protect the Holy Shrines in the Islamic Republic of Iraq, that these shrines would remain target of the freedom...

NEWS RELEASE MONDAY, JUNE 30, 2008 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CATHOLIC ACTION LEAGUE MOURNS CLOSING OF HOLY TRINITY CHURCH The Catholic Action League of Massachusetts today mourned the closing of the venerable Holy Trinity church in Boston's South End. The parish was suppressed today by a decree of Sean Cardinal O'Malley, Archbishop of Boston. The last masses were celebrated yesterday, June 29th, on the feast of Saints Peter and Paul. Holy Trinity was the last German Catholic parish in New England, and was one of only two venues in the Archdiocese which offered weekly Sunday celebrations of the Traditional Latin Mass....

Just minutes ago, conservative Anglicans announced what they are calling “The Jerusalem Declaration,” which states their intention to erect a new “fellowship of confessing Anglicans.” "We grieve for the spiritual decline in the most economically developed nations, where the forces of militant secularism and pluralism are eating away the fabric of society and churches are compromised and enfeebled in their witness…Sadly, this crisis has torn the fabric of the Communion in such a way that it cannot simply be patched back together."... The declaration is the unanimous product of the bishops and archbishops meeting here in Jerusalem, whose dioceses together...

Thank God for church ladies with typewriters. These sentences appeared in church bulletins or were announced in church. ---------------- The Fasting & Prayer Conference includes meals. ------------------------- The sermon this morning: "Jesus Walks on the Water." The sermon tonight: "Searching for Jesus." ------------------------- Our youth basketball team is back in action Wednesday at 8 PM in the recreation hall. Come out and watch us kill Christ the King. -------------- Ladies, don't forget the rummage sale. It's a chance to get rid of those things not worth keeping around the house. Bring your husbands. ------------------ The peacemaking meeting scheduled for today...

Black Congregations Feel Marginalized by UproarA vast distance separates Obama from the church he quit last month, as hurt feelings continue to fester on both sides. Obama, his patience exhausted by the most recent controversial remark from a pastor, said in late May, "Our relations with Trinity have been strained." And some of the church's 8,000 members -- as well as some other black pastors -- feel abandoned, betrayed and misunderstood after their contentious turn in the national spotlight. This was not how it was supposed to be. Obama, the biracial presidential candidate who has pledged to unite Democrats and...

"Oldest Church" Discovery "Ridiculous," Critics SayMati Milstein in Rihab, Jordan for National Geographic NewsJune 13, 2008 A Jordanian archaeologist's announcement this week that he had uncovered the world's first Christian church in an underground cave drew surprise and skepticism from experts in Jordan and beyond. The Jordan Times earlier this week quoted archaeologist Abdel-Qader al-Housan, director of the Rihab Center for Archaeological Studies as saying, "We have uncovered what we believe to be the first church in the world, dating from 33 A.D. to 70 A.D." Al-Housan later told the Associated Press that he discovered a cave beneath St. George's...

Baptisms in the Southern Baptist Convention have fallen to a 20-year low, a trend that is setting off alarm bells in America's largest evangelical denomination.

A new report released on Sunday, exactly two months ahead of the Beijing Olympic Games, details the current Chinese Government’s crackdown on unregistered Christians, including the funding of a campaign to eradicate house churches throughout China. The report, entitled “China: Persecution of Protestant Christians in the Approach to the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games”, by Christian Solidarity Worldwide and China Aid Association, provides information on different tactics used by the government to restrict the religious freedom of Christians. CAA said that in May, two independent sources reported that the Chinese Central Government was providing funding to the Ministry of Public Security...

He sued after his high school held the ceremony in a Baptist church TRENTON, N.J. - A Muslim student who sued because his public high school graduation ceremony was held in a Baptist church has received an apology from the largest school district in New Jersey and assurances that it will not hold future events in houses of worship. Bilal Shareef said he had to skip his 2006 graduation from West Side High School because his religious beliefs prohibit him from entering buildings containing icons of God. "I was forced to choose between honoring my education and my faith, and...

AMMAN (AFP) — Archaeologists in Jordan have unearthed what they claim is the world's first church, dating back almost 2,000 years, The Jordan Times reported on Tuesday. "We have uncovered what we believe to be the first church in the world, dating from 33 AD to 70 AD," the head of Jordan's Rihab Centre for Archaeological Studies, Abdul Qader al-Husan, said. He said it was uncovered under Saint Georgeous Church, which itself dates back to 230 AD, in Rihab in northern Jordan near the Syrian border. "We have evidence to believe this church sheltered the early Christians -- the 70...

Belgium's dwindling churches to be converted into mosques By Bruno Waterfield in Brussels Last Updated: 12:38AM BST 09/06/2008 Churches in Belgium are to be turned into mosques as Christian congregations decline while Muslims demand more places to worship. Philip Heylen, Antwerp's deputy mayor, has called on the city to "break the taboo" over the many empty and unused churches. "It's a looming issue yet it seems impossible to have a debate about this," he said. "Churches were built as places of worship and they should not be used as shopping malls. We've had a positive response from members of the...

Massive collection of Trinity United Church of Christ Bulletins from 2005 to the present day.

In a very "ah, screw it!" kind of moment, Barack Obama finally washed his hands of Trinity Church of Christ of which he had been a member for some 20 years. Or tried to at least. Below is the text of his speech: :::insert B.S. here::: As you can see, it was quite eloquent and served as a rather stirring explanation as to why the same man who just two months ago could "no more disown his pastor than he could disown the black community" can somehow suddenly disown his entire church. Smooth move, Barry. Very genuine this "new politics"...

CHRISTIANA, Del. - May 25, 2008 (WPVI) -- A man opened fire at a church fundraiser in Christiana, Delaware Sunday night. It happened around 7:00 at the Christiana Hilton, located at 100 Continental Drive in Newark, Delaware, during a function held by the Saint Mary Coptic Church. A 50-year-old man from Philadelphia was shot in the head. Police say the suspect was in attendance at the fundraiser and opened fire at the conclusion of the victim's presentation to the group.

I was being interviewed on talk radio a couple of weeks ago when the “talent” turned the discussion to my faith and my thoughts on the state of the Church in America. I’m sitting there thinking, “You invited me on your show to talk about school violence and student stupidity, and now we’re talking about Jesus? Okay, whatever. God is one of my favorite topics, and as long as I get to plug my latest book, A Time to Clash, 757 times in the next 15 minutes, I’m good.” So, I informed my host that my faith was stonkin’ and...

Obama Effectively F-Bombed His Own Church with Improper Campaign Speech The Internal Revenue Service has cleared the United Church of Christ of accusations that it violated its tax exempt status by hosting Barack Obama’s “A Politics of Conscience.” The IRS’s letter to the United Church of Christ cites the same points that we did: even though Barack Obama’s “A Politics of Conscience” contained campaign-related content, the UCC did everything possible to prevent the Obama campaign from misusing its resources for electioneering. It would therefore be hardly fair to hold the United Church of Christ accountable for Barack Obama’s decision to...

Church attendance in Britain is declining so fast that the number of regular churchgoers will be fewer than those attending mosques within a generation, research published today suggests. The fall - from the four million people who attend church at least once a month today - means that the Church of England, Catholicism and other denominations will become financially unviable. A lack of funds from the collection plate to support the Christian infrastructure, including church upkeep and ministers’ pay and pensions, will force church closures as ageing congregations die. In contrast, the number of actively religious Muslims will have increased...

It’s The Theology Stupid!!! Watch the whole film to see the breaking news and completely understand Black Liberation Theology and How OBAMA embraces it!!!! BREAKING NEWS IN THIS FILM * Obama in 2007 admits Trinity is a Black Separatist Church * Reverend Otis Moss III calls white people the enemy * Obama says attacking everything white is a successful strategy * Obama warns of Quite Riot in Black Community * Farrakhan calls Barack Obama the Messiah * James Cone says white people cannot be Christians

[Placed in the public domain, copying and widespread circulation are encouraged] Obama’s Sword of Damocles: October Surprise Won’t Surprise UsLooming Scandal Will “Toricelli” Barack Obama After Democratic National ConventionThe Democratic Party’s superdelegates, even those who have endorsed Barack Obama, need to do some serious reconsideration between now and the convention. Should Obama become the nominee, the Democrats are likely to find themselves in the same situation as they did with Robert Toricelli (D-NJ) in 2002. As described by Wikipedia (more information at the Washington Post http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A20602-2001May12), In the middle of an increasingly competitive race against Republican Doug Forrester, Torricelli decided...

A conservative legal-advocacy group is enlisting ministers to use their pulpits to preach about election candidates this September, defying a tax law that bars churches from engaging in politics. Alliance Defense Fund, a Scottsdale, Ariz., nonprofit, is hoping at least one sermon will prompt the Internal Revenue Service to investigate, sparking a court battle that could get the tax provision declared unconstitutional. Alliance lawyers represent churches in disputes with the IRS over alleged partisan activity. The action marks the latest attempt by a conservative organization to help clergy harness their congregations to sway elections. The protest is scheduled for Sunday,...

Incident in Ankara marks seventh threat of violence in past four months. ISTANBUL, May 7 (Compass Direct News) – Three men, one of them armed with a gun and wearing gloves, threatened a Protestant church and its pastor in the Turkish capital city of Ankara yesterday. The culprits fled in a car before police could be summoned. The attempted attack marked the seventh incident in the past four months of threatened violence against Turkey’s tiny Protestant community, most of whom are former Muslims who converted to Christianity. Shortly before 6 p.m. Tuesday (May 6), three men drove up in a...

Ministers said they heard in Mr. Wright’s language “the same kind of passion and hyperbole as the Hebrew prophets,” said the Rev. Richard Wagoner of Union Congregational Church, a United Church of Christ church in St. Louis Park, Minn. Clergy members have cited the prophet Amos, who cursed all the nations, saving his harshest words for his own. But many congregants heard something different, Mr. Wagoner said, and were angry about Mr. Wright’s sermons. After his speech at the National Press Club, more frustration surfaced. “Many in our congregation are resonating with Obama’s talk of raising the discourse and that...

What Did the Early Church  Believe and Preach After Jesus' Death? Suppose you could invite one of the original twelve apostles to your church this weekend. Can you imagine what it would be like to entertain Peter in your worship services? How do you think he would react to what he saw?Would this apostle approve of your denomination's practices?Or is it just possible that he would tell you that some of your most cherished beliefs were in error? How would you feel if he stood up and loudly proclaimed that your church was a promoter of heresy? What if he...

Obama opens a can of worms THE BLACK CHURCH | On the verge of making history, Obama opens a can of worms April 30, 2008 MARY MITCHELL marym@suntimes.com Well, it is likely that Sen. Barack Obama won't be going back to Trinity United Church of Christ. On Tuesday, Obama responded to the Rev. Jeremiah Wright's ill-timed defense by condemning his former pastor's fresh comments as "ridiculous," "outrageous" and "appalling." "When he states and then amplifies such ridiculous proposition as the U.S. government somehow being involved in AIDS, when he suggests that Minister Farrakhan somehow represents one of the greatest voices...

The Rev. Jeremiah Wright will deliver a sermon at a Dallas church Sunday, one of the first by Obama's former pastor since a media firestorm erupted over controversial clips from his older sermons. Wright will serve as guest pastor at Friendship-West Baptist Church in honor of the Rev. Frederick Haynes' 25th anniversary as the church's senior pastor. Haynes, who has called Wright his mentor, is a finalist to be the next head of the NAACP. Wright will speak during the 8 a.m. and 10:45 a.m. services. Media cameras are being banned from the event in order to prevent Wright's remarks...

Mysterious church and palace from the beginning of the 1st millennium A.D. discovered by Polish archaeologists in Sudan Archaeological site in SelibAt the beginning of this year, archaeologists from Warsaw University, headed by Dr Bogdan Żurawski discovered the remains of an Early Christian church and an even older palace. "During research in the area of Selib, a village located on the right bank of the Nile, between the 4th and 3rd cataract, the remains of a building erected on the plan of a huge rectangle were found. It soon turned out that this was one of the most unique churches...

The fastest-growing faith in America is no faith at all. And now some atheists think they need a church. It seems unlikely that many of the 850 or so people at the Society for Ethical Culture on a recent Saturday night believed that God was still extant. But evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins, author of The God Delusion and possibly the most famous atheist in the world, was not taking any chances. He gave a PowerPoint presentation driving home that religion does not meet any of the standards of basic scientific inquiry, before casually flicking away a few of His last...

We remind our readers that Jeremiah Wright’s accusation that Israel created an “ethnic bomb” to kill Black people and Arabs was first exposed at IsraPundit [http://www.israpundit.com/2008/?p=551]. Now we bring you more fresh revelations of anti-Israel hate speech from Barack Obama’s pastor of 20-plus years. With regard to the following, the United Church of Christ has ties to the Sabeel Ecuminical Liberation Theology Center, which refers to the creation of Israel (NOT the occupation of the West Bank and Gaza, the creation of Israel) as the Nakba or “catastrophe.” Trumpet Magazine The Israelis have illegally occupied Palestinian territories for almost 40...

WASHINGTON - Pope Benedict XVI presided over a Mass celebrated in 10 languages Thursday, calling the United States a land of opportunity and hope but decrying that the nation's promise has been left unfulfilled for some. At the first public Mass of his U.S. pilgrimage, Benedict mixed praise for the American experience with an effort to touch consciences, something he has been doing since the start of his trip on Tuesday. More than 45,000 people filled Nationals Park on a clear spring day, as the pope, wearing scarlet vestments, led the service from an altar erected in centerfield of the...

The Tarek ibn Ziyad Academy, a public charter school in Inver Grove, MN that “offers tuition-free education to all students upon admission” is in full swing with Islamic centered traditions at taxpayer’s expense. The Minneapolis Star Tribune reported that the school serves halal food- Islamic permissible food-and that students participate in ritual washing and prayers. It offers Islamic studies and requires students to study Arabic as a second language. The school’s calendar also reflects that it is closed for an entire week in October in observance of the Muslim holiday of Ramadan.

There's a new blog devoted to discussion of this book: www.thefaithfuldepartedbook.blogspot.com

ABC News: Christian S-x: Holy and Hot I have abbreviated the headline so that those with filters won't have the post blocked. http://abcnews.go.com/US/story?id=4651272&page=1 Yes, it's really that bad now. This morning I was sifting through a raft of incoming news alert emails that detailed the perilous state of the American economy with jobs being slashed across the country, the new terrorism threats, the continuing societal breakdown that has damaged the lives of countless millions of children in America's cities, and so forth and so on. Enter the Christians. The headline on ABC News this morning read this way: Christian S-x:...

If you think about it, the fact that Obama lumped the perceived religion of the white, rural Pennsylvanian with “antipathy toward those not like them”--that is, racism, bigotry and anti-immigration (sic)--makes perfect sense.* The latter is bad and so is the former—if one is observing from the perspective of Black Liberation Theology. In Obama’s mind, the religion clung to by the “average poor white Pennsylvanian” is BLT’s demonic “white” Church. The "white" Church is the tool of oppression for all—including poor whites—and should be shaken off just like other social maladies. Just like anti-immigration (sic) and racism. One will note...

The Bush administration said yesterday that it plans to start using the nation's most advanced spy technology for domestic purposes soon, rebuffing challenges by House Democrats over the idea's legal authority. Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said his department will activate his department's new domestic satellite surveillance office in stages, starting as soon as possible with traditional scientific and homeland security activities -- such as tracking hurricane damage, monitoring climate change and creating terrain maps. Sophisticated overhead sensor data will be used for law enforcement once privacy and civil rights concerns are resolved, he said. The department has previously said...

At the open-air mass in St. Peter's on April 2, the third anniversary of the death of John Paul II, Pope Benedict XVI spoke movingly – he brought mist to the eyes of our little group of visiting Americans – of John Paul's life, and the meaning of his suffering. "Among his many human and supernatural qualities he had an exceptional spiritual and mystical sensitivity," said the pontiff, who knew John Paul long and intimately. (Those who hope for swift canonization please note: "supernatural." Benedict the philosopher does not use words lightly.) He spoke of the distilled message of John...

Dear Senator Obama: Our common denomination, the United Church of Christ, has a suddenly serious legal and financial problem with the Internal Revenue Service. You, personally, are the cause of this problem. Candidly? I think you owe it to those of us who are your fellow congregants to help repair the damage that you have done. ...UNSURPRISINGLY, ALL OF THIS resulted in a complaint being filed with the IRS following your presentation. In addition to your speech and the stories featured by the UCC's own website, the complaint cites numerous media accounts describing your appearance as a campaign event. This...

Can you imagine a public school founded by two Christian ministers, and housed in the same building as a church? Add to that -- in the same building -- a prominent chapel. And let’s say the students are required to fast during Lent, and attend Bible studies right after school. All with your tax dollars. Inconceivable? Sure. If such a place existed, the ACLU lawyers would descend on it like locusts. It would be shut down before you could say “separation of church and state,” to the accompaniment of New York Times and Washington Post editorials full of indignant foreboding,...

Lois G. Lerner, Director Exempt Organizations Division Internal Revenue Service 1111 Constitution Ave., N.W. Washington, D.C. 20224 Dear Ms. Lerner, I am writing to encourage the Internal Revenue Service to investigate the United Church of Christ (also known as “Executive Council of the General Synod of United Church Of Christ"), a 501(3)(c) non-profit religious entity that seems to have run afoul of federal tax law banning political campaign intervention. On Saturday, June 23, 2007, U.S. Senator and Presidential candidate Barack Obama spoke before the national biennial gathering of the United Church of Christ at the Hartford Civic Center in Hartford,...

In addition to widening revelations about racist and/or anti-Semitic hate speech not only from his pastor, his associates like Al Sharpton, and even bloggers at his official campaign Web site, there are very credible allegations that he misused the tax exempt resources of the United Church of Christ to promote his candidacy: a malicious and self-serving action that may put his own church’s tax-exempt status in jeopardy. The story centers on "Obama’s General Synod speech prompts IRS to investigate UCC’s tax-exempt status," which is posted at the UCC’s own Web site. [http://www.ucc.org/news/obama-speech-in-2007-prompts-1.html] The Internal Revenue Service has notified the United...

Divorce and abortion are offences in the sight of God, Pope Benedict XVI charged Saturday, while calling on the Catholic Church to be merciful to those who had experienced such events. "The ethical judgement of the Church on divorce and abortion is clear and well-known," he told participants in a Catholic congress on marriage and the family. "They are serious offences... which violate human dignity, inflict deep injustice on human and social relations and offend God himself, guarantor of conjugal peace and origin of life," he said. However he added that there were people who had committed such "errors" but...

Episcopal parishes awarded property, assets By Julia Duin April 4, 2008 A Fairfax circuit judge has awarded a favorable judgment to a group of 11 Anglican churches that were taken to court last fall after breaking away from the Episcopal Diocese of Virginia in late 2006. In an 83-page opinion released late last night, Judge Randy Bellows ruled that Virginia's Civil War-era “division statute” granting property to departing congregations applies to the Northern Virginia congregations, which are now part of the Nigerian-administered Convocation of Anglicans in North America.

No more mosques, says senior Synod member By Jonathan Petre, Religion Correspondent Last Updated: 2:20am BST 02/04/2008 A senior lay member of the Church of England's "Parliament" has called for a ban on the building of more mosques in Britain. Alison Ruoff, a long-standing member of the General Synod, said that new mosques should not be built in this country while Islamic states continued to persecute Christians. The former magistrate, who was one of the strongest critics of the Archbishop of Canterbury's speech on Islamic law earlier this year, added that sharia would be introduced into Britain "if we don't...