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Dear prayer partners, Our dear marysecretary had a successful kidney transplant surgery early this morning. Her pastor reports: "From: Jerry S. Subject: Mary's Surgery Date: Friday, November 6, 2009, It is 4:45 am we just got home the hospital; Mary’s surgery went well, she now has a new kidney and the doctor seemed please with the results. Thank you very much for your prayers and please keep them up because there is a long road to recovery, also keep Richie in your prayers that he can get some rest. You prayer warriors are much appreciated, may God’s blessing be upon...

Religion and Families Allie Winegar Duzett, November 5, 2009 Studies of the past decade’s religiosity “can be boiled into good news and bad news,” said Annette Mahoney of Bowling Green State University at a recent Heritage Foundation conference, Religious Practice and the Family: What the Research Says. “The bad news is that almost no research has been done on how religion operates when problems are not prevented,” she said, adding that “the good news is that religion does matter for families.” Mahoney explained that religion tends to help people in “maintaining any family relationship, traditional or not, such as being...

The archdiocese that covers our nation's capitol, has warned of new a new proposal that could cause the end of faith institutions. The proposed "Religious Freedom and Civil Marriage....

Nothing on the copyrighted website can be clipped to display here. It came to me not as an advertisement, but as an uplifting message. It makes a valid statement about our history and society.

This week sees the opening on various cinema marquees of the film Collision: a buddy-and-road movie featuring last year's debates between Pastor Douglas Wilson, who is a senior fellow at New St. Andrew's College, and your humble servant. (If I may be forgiven, it's also available on DVD, and you can buy our little book of exchanges, Is Christianity Good for the World?) Newsweek's reviewer beseeches you not to go and see the film, largely on the grounds that it features two middle-aged white men trying to establish which one is the dominant male. I would have thought that this...

Reality tells us there are only two religions in the world. There is the religion of human achievement, the religion of works, the religion of the flesh, the religion that says you can be good enough, holy enough, religious enough, spiritual enough. And there is the one other option, the religion of divine accomplishment, the religion of faith, grace, mercy and not of the flesh but of the Spirit and they do not mix. The scribes and the Pharisees were the architects of and the purveyors of and the exemplars of a religion of human achievement. Their salvation and acceptance...

"Why would we ever align ourselves with the constant drone of demeaning rhetoric coming from talk radio and television? We are not called to castigate sinners, we are called to be Jesus in their midst. The world around us hears our murmuring concerning the economy and liberal politicians and Hollywood activists, but do they hear that we stand by grace alone and that before Christ entered our lives we were every bit a sinner as were they? We sit high and aloof in the official press box and observe and critique the lost culture, basking in our situation as if...

by Emanuel A. Winston, Middle East Analyst & Commentator thelastcrusade.orgIn Tanach (the Jewish Bible), it speaks about the Nations of the North assembling and descending upon Israel in a conquest of savage killing. In the Prophecy the attacking Nations from the North succeed in occupying, first the lowlands along the sea and then they begin to ascend the foothills toward Jerusalem. They succeed with much carnage, raping, killing until the earth heaves; the skies turn black wherein a man cannot see to the end of his arm. This phenomenon speaks of volcanic ash so dense that nothing can be...

Despite a large public outcry over its decision to censor Bible verse banners held by high school football cheerleaders on the playing field, a Georgia school board is refusing to change its mind. However, the controversial policy has compelled many students to passionately defend their free-speech rights and proclaim their Christian beliefs.

Controversy Erupts as Catholic Bishop Asks Pro-Gay Bishop Not to Enter His Diocese By Peter J. Smith MARQUETTE, Michigan, October 13, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) - A public controversy has erupted between two bishops of the Catholic Church in the United States, with one of the youngest bishops in the country publicly taking on one of his own colleagues in an effort to defend the Church's teachings on homosexuality and other issues. Marquette Bishop Alexander K. Sample, 49-years-old and one of the youngest US Catholic bishops, recently banned Bishop Thomas Gumbleton, 79, a retired auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Detroit and...

...as Christians, we have been forced into a tolerance that has handicapped us in such a devastating way that unless we make some serious changes, we may never see the freedom that Christianity once knew in America. What exactly do I mean? We have been urged to be tolerant of other religious faiths such as Muslim, Atheist, Buddhism, and other newer evolving religions, as well as cults. We have been forced, or allowed ourselves to be forced into, being tolerant of behaviors that blatantly defy the Law of God, which is what Christianity is based on. Some may argue that...

Statistics indicate that around two-thirds of children who grew up in conservative churches are now leaving by the time they reach their twenties. What seems to be the problem? The pattern of young people leaving the church is different than it was even in some recent generations, where it was more temporary. It now appears, in the lives of millions of young people raised in our churches, to be a rather permanent alienation from the church and from the truth claims of Christianity. Their worldview was evidently not shaped adequately by biblical truths such that they were able to withstand...

Augustine: young earth creationist--theistic evolutionists take Church Father out of context --snip-- Augustine was not vague about the age of the earth, the historicity of Adam and Eve as our first ancestors, or the events in the Garden of Eden and the worldwide flood later in Genesis. However, his doctrine of creation was complex...

“Wherefore whoever shall eat this bread, and drink of this cup of the Lord, unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord.” 1 Corinthians 11 Verse 27 Now that’s heavy! The Corinthian’s were characterized for their unruly behavior at their agape´ suppers. Some were irreverent and self centered in their manners. There were divisions among them in the church. Some ate without thought for others who went hungry and humiliated those who had nothing… and then they proceeded to take part in the Lord’s Supper.

Return to the Article October 04, 2009Unexpected Outgrowths of the Tea Party MovementBy Lloyd Marcus Is God back? While watching the Glenn Beck program, three women, yes I said three, boldly proclaimed their Christianity and how their decision to follow Christ has affected their politics. Other than religious programs, people do not talk about their faith on TV without being portrayed as fanatics or nut cases. It was truly refreshing. Could this mean God is back from exile from the public square? Another Beck show guest was a black man, Charles V. Payne, founder, CEO and Chief Analyst of...

First off. Our marriage is great. We love eachother so very much. My wife gave birth to twins in December 08. Obviously we stay very busy and most of our focus is on the girls. We were both raised in a christian home. We were both christians when we met. Our faith was something that we had in common from the start and it was very important to the development of our relationship. I never had any doubt she truly believed even though she was more intellectual in her thinking. Over time she has seemed more secular in her thinking...

Bruce Feiler September 25, 2009 Where Have All the Christians Gone? The number of people who claim no religious affiliation, meanwhile, has doubled since 1990 to fifteen percent, its highest point in history. Christianity is plummeting in America, while the number of non-believers is skyrocketing. A shocking new study of Americans’ religious beliefs shows the beginnings of a major realignment in Americans’ relationship with God. The American Religious Identification Survey (ARIS) reveals that Protestants now represent half of all Americans, down almost 20 percent in the last twenty years. In the coming months, America will become a minority Protestant nation...

I remember the bleak day I realized I had enough food for two more days. I had no money and no job. How would I take care of my four young sons? I tried to pray, but fear hung suspended in my mind and choked any semblance of words. I wanted to cry, but realized that once I started, the tears might never end. Single parenting and children who had more needs than I could fill paralyzed my thoughts.

Well, that's one way to look at it. Writing in Haaretz, Orna Coussin praised Yom Kippur (the Jewish Day of Atonement that began Sunday night and ended Monday night) as the ultimate green holiday. Coussin is a secular Israeli and was expressing her appreciation for the fact that everyone is obliged to travel by foot on Yom Kippur. All traffic stops in Israel. No cars, busses, trains, or taxis clog the streets on that day. The shops and offices are closed and the city is given over to pedestrians. "Last year, on Yom Kippur," she exults, "carbon monoxide levels fell...

Obama was “appointed by God”, we are instructed by a man boasting academic credentials. Writing in the Orlando Sentinel, Jeremy Levitt, “associate dean for International Programs and a distinguished professor of international law at Florida A&M University College of Law in Orlando,” makes this case at the conclusion of a rambling attack on critics of ObamaCare and the right in general: I would remind the far right what the Apostle Paul wrote, " ... there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God." Hence, Obama is the U.S. president and leader of the...

The Conqueror of death and the grave is our Refuge in the times of life’s storms and trials! We have nothing to fear! I am he [The Lord Jesus Christ] that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death (Rev. 1:18). “May we allow Almighty God’s great out working in our lives - for His will and glory - to consume our trials, adversities and dilemmas; and not our trials, adversities and dilemmas consume us!” GFP I.F. Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors...

Here is a poll question that would like to know what religion we Freepers consider ourselves.What Religion Are You Freeper? I know that most Freepers consider ourselves to be a Christian, but there are many of you Freepers who tend to keep your religion to yourselves and basically stick to the political issues. However, inquiring minds would like to know, and it would only take few seconds to answer the poll question.

The passing of Senator Edward Kennedy was truly the end of an era. He had been extolled as the "lion of the Senate." Understandably, given the impact of his life, the news media were filled with stories about Kennedy, his family, his trials and tribulations and his contributions. I was most surprised to read that a month before his death Senator Kennedy had written a letter to Pope Benedict XVI, which was delivered to him by President Obama. As a practicing Catholic, I took great interest in Kennedy's thoughts about his Catholicism at the end of his life.

For Immediate Release September 5, 2009 Historic Event Made it alive While experts said it was impossible, after surviving 7,000 miles of open ocean the Brown brothers stepped off their tiny open fishing boat at 6:40 pm, London Time, Friday, September 4, 2009 at the Limehouse Marina in downtown London making world history by setting several world records, The Smallest Powerboat to Cross The Atlantic, The First Flats Boat to Cross the Atlantic, and the Longest Ocean Voyage in a Flats Boat. The tiny open fishing boat, an Intruder made by Dream Boats in Hudson Florida, separates itself from other...

The biggest problem with the Book of Mormon is that it exists, says Sen. Bob Bennett...The Republican senator from Utah is the author of "Leap of Faith," which was recently released by Deseret Book...Bennett didn't like the way the Book of Mormon was represented in media coverage leading up to the 2002 Winter Olympics... "The tenor of the articles that kind of started me on this was that no one of any intelligence could believe the incredibly outlandish story about angels and gold plates, that any person with the slightest bit of education would reject this out of hand," he...

Origination Origination comes from Me not a book or verse yes from relationship for as my Word ( Jesus ) I knew you before you were formed is a deep depth not easily understood . So do not put any graven image before ME for I AM God Alone and no paper bound hard or soft , scrolled or spoken comes before Me alone , for as Moses saw the light so must you to " Truly " be saved says The Lord of hosts for the great cloud of witnesses witness Me first in " spirit " and this...

In Texas this week former Colts NFL coach Tony Dungy talked about faith and Michael Vick's return to the NFL. Dungy who visited Vick while he was in prison on the dog fighting conviction asked Vick: "I asked Michael, 'Where was the Lord in all of this?' because I wanted to know about his personal faith in Jesus."

Iran: Women: We Love Christ! UPDATE: On Aug. 8, Marzieh and Maryam were summoned to an Iranian court and ordered to deny their faith verbally and in a written statement, according to The Voice of the Martyrs contacts. Marzieh and Maryam were pressured to recant their faith after the chief interrogator recommended they be charged with apostasy. Praise God, they stood firm and replied, “We love Jesus. We will not deny our faith.” VOM contacts reported the deputy prosecutor, Mr. Haddad, aggressively questioned the women during the court proceedings. Haddad asked them if they regretted becoming Christians. They replied they...

Contrary to the popular stereotypes about gays, a recent study from The Barna Group reveals some surprising insights about gay spirituality. The study shows that there are both similarities and differences when comparing the spiritual beliefs of homosexuals and heterosexuals. "People who portray gay adults as godless, hedonistic, Christian bashers are not working with the facts," said George Barna, Barna Group founder and a best-selling author of numerous books about faith and culture on the Barna Group Web site. "A substantial majority of gays cite their faith as a central facet of their life, consider themselves to be Christian, and...

CAN-DO-USA -> Free the First Amendment Committee Salt and Light   …the Supreme Court’s cases involving the religion clauses are hopelessly complicated and riddled with inconsistent conclusions. But there is one conclusion we can draw: The Supreme Court has simply abolished your right to the free exericse of your religion in public. And unless the courts are called to account on this, religious freedom in this country is seriously damaged. (Mark Levin, Men in Black, pgs. 35-36) If you are a “School Official� for Santa Rosa County School system, your religious freedom is much more than seriously damaged; it is...

I waited patiently for the Lord. (Psalm 40: 1) Be patient… Patience is a virtue...Patience, Patience, Patience! Having patience is really difficult! Isn’t being patient (waiting on God) much harder than walking out in our faith? It seems that some of us have been waiting forever for our circumstances to change. We can feel trapped. And feeling trapped makes us wonder what is actually going on behind the scenes, and why aren’t our circumstances changing? Even though I suffer with having a rare form of Muscular Dystrophy, I can sit here and say that God has been quite merciful and...

...Patterns In Irrationality A first obvious common point in all the justifications for government: they all suppose that government somehow provides some kind of goods for free, without any costly counterpart. The existence of this pattern among statists is not anything new; we libertarians even have a mantra to dispel this pattern: TANSTAAFL [28]. However, what is remarkable is that all statist justifications include this pattern, albeit sometimes in a less than obvious way... ...Ultimately, what government is supposed to bring is some kind of a warranty that evil won't happen; some special sense of security.... ...A second pattern that...

Rita Wilson: Why I Love My Greek Orthodox Faith Friday August 7, 2009 In a video interview with Sally Quinn, producer of "On Faith" at The Washington Post, actress and producer Rita Wilson (one half of a Hollywood celebrity super couple with Tom Hanks) shares why she loves the Greek Orthodox faith ("I love my church. I find the Greek Orthodox Church a sort of a wonderfully moderate, accepting faith."), her brief period as a reborn Christian during her teenage years, and what gives her life the most meaning. Some highlights from the interview include: When you were growing up,...

Resurrecting Religion It was a commonplace of the late 1960s that religion was obsolete and that modern 20th-century people had no need of faith. "Is God Dead?" Time asked in 1966, and books such as The Gospel of Christian Atheism seemed to prove that religion was something modern people could confidently ignore. In the 1990s, books such as Francis Fukuyama's The End of History and the Last Man explained to intellectuals that religion was as dead as Communism (or history). The Economist even decided to commemorate the millennium by publishing God's obituary. But in our century, religious news is, more...

Daily bombardments from the world rattle and destroy the faith of the men and women of God. It is sad to say that many are now shipwrecked on the rocks of unbelief and self-pity. Satan in his attempt to overrule truth (reality), absolutes and the Eternal Person of God seeks to destroy the love and dedication of God's children. The Bible states: Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour (1 Peter 5:8), and: For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against...

Hebrews 5:8 8Although he was a son, he learned obedience from what he suffered Guess what? Life is messy, it is hard, and it can be painful at times. However it is at these times that we find out how deep our faith is. It is during the height of our struggle that we will truly find where our strength lies. We learn from our mistakes, and that is the key. These hardships that are placed in our path are not the atonements for past sin, as much as they as opportunities for us to change course, see truths that...

In my seventieth year I find myself in a very peculiar position. Raised a Quaker, I lost my faith in my early twenties and it has never returned. I think of myself as an agnostic on deities and ultimate meanings and that sort of thing. With respect to the main claims of Christianity - loving god, fallen nature, Jesus and atonement and salvation - I am pretty atheistic, although some doctrines like original sin seem to me to be accurate psychologically. I often refer to myself as a very conservative non-believer, meaning that I take seriously my non-belief and I...

AUGUST 15, 2009 A Different Kind of Miracle on the Hudson After he saw a helicopter and a plane collide, a priest discovers a family's faith JONATHAN MORRIS I know now it wasn't happenstance that I was on the shores of the Hudson River last weekend, when a small plane collided with Capt. Jeremy Clarke's helicopter, taking his life and the lives of eight others on a clear Saturday afternoon in August. As I whispered a prayer after his helicopter plunged into the Hudson, others around me scrambled to call 911 and ran to the edge of the piers to...

I seem to be spending more time under the broom tree as I get older. I have finally come to see that place as a holy place, a place of invitation, in an unfolding loving plan of God in my own life. It is under those “broom trees”, when I feel the least able to continue the struggle and surrender myself to the One who always sends His messengers, that I find the sustenance I need for the journey of life and learn the ways of living faith. Many people have heard of the dramatic encounter between the great Old...

his list is based on responses to a Gallup Poll that asked a cross-section of Americans if religion is an “important part” of their lives. 1. Mississippi 85% 2. Alabama 82% 3. South Carolina 80% 4. Tennessee 79% 5. Louisiana 78% 6. Arkansas 78% 7. Georgia 76% 8. North Carolina 76% 9. Oklahoma 75% 10. Kentucky & Texas (tie) 74% ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ HUMAN EVENTS is the news source President Reagan called his "favorite newspaper" and we still hold high the Reaganesque principles of free enterprise, limited government and, above all, a staunch, unwavering defense of American freedom.

When Cpl. Darron Dale tucked a rosary inside his flak vest, he never imagined the close call that lay ahead. In a firefight with the Taliban in Afghanistan's Helmand province in late July, the M240B machine gunner on Dale's team was shot in the foot. "I'm hit! I'm hit!" the gunner called. Dale bounded forward to take over the gun, as other Marines pulled the wounded comrade to safety. But as Dale moved he was shot three times in his back armored plate. "It threw me to the ground," said Dale, of 3rd Platoon, Echo Company, 2nd Battalion, 8th Marine...

What does it mean to be an idolater? Idolatry may seem like a sin that modern people do not commit. But idolatry is not just bowing down to idols; it is trusting in what one has made, and therefore, in one’s own power as creator or sustainer. If we say we worship God but put our trust in bank accounts, homes, businesses, and organizations, then we are idolaters “Yes, they knew God, but they wouldn’t worship him as God or even give him thanks. And they began to think up foolish ideas of what God was like. As a result,...

ANN ARBOR, Mich.—College students who major in the social sciences and humanities are likely to become less religious, while those majoring in education are likely to become more religious. But students majoring in biology and physical sciences remain just about as religious as they were when they started college. Those are among key findings of a University of Michigan study on the connection between college attendance, college major and religiosity released this week (July 27) by the National Bureau of Economic Research. The study, funded by the John Templeton Foundation, is based on long-term data from the Monitoring the Future...

WAUSAU, Wis. (AP) -- A central Wisconsin man charged with killing his daughter by praying instead of taking her to a doctor read from the Bible while testifying Thursday that he couldn't seek medical help without disobeying God

AUSAU, Wis. — A Wisconsin man accused of killing his daughter by praying instead of seeking lifesaving medical help considered her illness "a test of his faith," a prosecutor told jurors Saturday. Dale Neumann, 47, is a "full-Gospel Christian," who did not know his 11-year-old daughter had diabetes, his defense attorney said. There's also not "a shred of evidence" Neumann knew his prayers would fail to help his daughter or cause her death, the lawyer said. Neumann is charged with second-degree reckless homicide in the 2008 death of his daughter Madeline Neumann, called Kara by her parents. His wife, Leilani,...

Questionnaire: Are you Catholic or Protestant? Before reading the following essay on justification by faith..., we invite you to answer 10 questions. They are simple questions about justification by faith. In surveys to date, this questionnaire has demonstrated the startling fact that a very large proportion of Protestants are more Catholic than Protestant in their concept of justification. Please record your answers to the 10 questions. In each of the following 10 choices, mark either (a) or (b), whichever is correct. 1 (a) God gives a man right standing with Himself by mercifully accounting him innocent and virtuous. (b) God...

Dearest, Beloved, and Everlasting God; It the past, it has been wonderfully nice to talk to you on my knees in prayer and it has always been a divine blessing to talk to you about the values of life and the fullness of family; my Beloved God Almighty, it has always seemed like you have had such great wisdom and optimism to give throughout the very fibre of my being! I know that it has been years since I actually set down and wrote you a letter through prayer from the heart; yet, I have at times been afraid to...

ROME -- Some things are beyond parody. In announcing that Barack Obama is more Catholic than the pope, Newsweek takes the cake. The piece, written by Kathleen Kennedy Townsend for the magazine's Web site, in anticipation of last week's presidential-papal meeting, asserts: "(The pope and the president) politely disagree about reproductive freedoms and homosexuality, but Catholics back home won't care, because they know Obama's on their side. In fact, Obama's agenda is closer to their views than even the pope's." Townsend, like many a commentator, misses something essential: There is a truth to which the pope subscribes. The whims American...

Most of those reading this article will easily remember the story. We heard it so many times when we were children we could repeat the beginning: “Chicken Little was in the woods one day when an acorn fell on her head. It scared her so much she trembled all over. She shook so hard, half her feathers fell out. Chicken Little: "Help! Help! The sky is falling! I have to go tell the king!" The story proceeds through many different encounters and ends with the little chicken learning the lessons of courage and the practicality of good preparation for every...

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