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Fix Your Gaze Today's Scripture “Let your eyes look straight ahead; fix your gaze directly before you.” (Proverbs 4:25, NIV) Today's Word from Joel and Victoria What are you looking at today? Not in the natural, but with your spiritual eyes. In other words, what is in the forefront of your mind and heart? Are you constantly dwelling on your problems or things that have happened in your past? In the natural, you will move in the direction that your eyes are looking. In the spiritual, it works the same way. Whatever you focus your mind and heart on,...

Discovering Divine Design " As for me, being on the way, the Lord led me… —Genesis 24:27 " We should be so one with God that we don’t need to ask continually for guidance. Sanctification means that we are made the children of God. A child’s life is normally obedient, until he chooses disobedience. But as soon as he chooses to disobey, an inherent inner conflict is produced. On the spiritual level, inner conflict is the warning of the Spirit of God. When He warns us in this way, we must stop at once and be renewed in the...

In an audio message released on November 13, a man identified as Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the leader of the Islamic State, pledged that his group will continue its conquests and vowed to bring jihad to Rome. “The crusaders’ missiles will not stop our advance on Rome,” al-Baghdadi promised. He urged Muslims: “Make the volcanoes of jihad erupt everywhere.” The mention of “crusaders’ missiles” was evidently a reference to reports that al-Baghdadi had been killed or at least seriously wounded by an American cruise-missile strike. The message from the Islamic State appeared designed to belie those reports.

November 14, 2014Friday of the Thirty-second Week in Ordinary Time    Reading 1 2 Jn 4-9 [Chosen Lady:]I rejoiced greatly to find some of your children walking in the truthjust as we were commanded by the Father.But now, Lady, I ask you,not as though I were writing a new commandmentbut the one we have had from the beginning:let us love one another.For this is love, that we walk according to his commandments;this is the commandment, as you heard from the beginning,in which you should walk. Many deceivers have gone out into the world,those who do not acknowledge Jesus Christ...

opular portion of the Bible is a verse urging readers not to be anxious, according to data released from online book seller Amazon. The online retailer recently released a list of the most popular passages from its most popular books. Amazon's most popular books include The Hunger Games, The Harry Potter Series, Pride and Prejudice, and the Bible. It found that the commonly highlighted portion of the Bible is Philippians 4:6-7. In the verses, the apostle Paul admonished the church, "Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to...

VATICAN CITY (RNS) In his latest bid to ease the suffering of the poor — and upend the expectations of the papacy — Pope Francis plans to build showers for the homeless under the sweeping white colonnade of St. Peter’s Square. Three showers are to be built into refurbished public restrooms provided for Catholic pilgrims along the marble columns leading into the historic basilica, which was completed in 1626. The Vatican’s deputy spokesman, the Rev. Ciro Benedettini, said Thursday (Nov. 13) that the project was a joint initiative of the pope and Archbishop Konrad Krajewski, the papal almoner who distributes...

Flourish Like a Palm Tree Today's Scripture “The righteous shall flourish like a palm tree...” (Psalm 92:12, NIV) Today's Word from Joel and Victoria Have you ever seen a palm tree in the midst of a great storm? That tree may be bent so far over that it’s almost touching the ground, but when the wind finally stops, that palm tree bounces right back up. What’s interesting is that while that palm tree is hunched over under the pressure of the storm, it is actually becoming stronger. See, the reason God said we’d flourish like a palm tree is...

Faith or Experience? " …the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me. —Galatians 2:20 " We should battle through our moods, feelings, and emotions into absolute devotion to the Lord Jesus. We must break out of our own little world of experience into abandoned devotion to Him. Think who the New Testament says Jesus Christ is, and then think of the despicable meagerness of the miserable faith we exhibit by saying, “I haven’t had this experience or that experience”! Think what faith in Jesus Christ claims and provides— He can present us faultless before the...

As the new essay unintentionally hits the fan, Mormons are reeling and responding with their classic denials, claim of victim-hood and their typical repertoire of logical fallacies. Soon, their favorite defender, the straw man argument will be in full regalia, culminating in a passive aggressive indirect platitude statement (such as doubt your doubts, you have to go around the BOM, etc.) in the next general conference to which members will cling to for life. Already I have been contacted by members with their "straw man babies". So I have compiled a list of the quorum of the 15 straw men...

NAIROBI, Kenya (RNS) A row between the Catholic Church and the government over a tetanus vaccine aimed at women in their childbearing years has clergy urging people to shun the injection, saying it’s a stealth population-control ploy. On Tuesday (Nov.11), the bishops appearing before the parliamentary health committee said they had tested the vaccine privately and were shocked to find it was laced with a birth control hormone called beta human chorionic gonadotropin. “We are calling on all Kenyans to avoid the tetanus vaccination campaign because we are convinced it is indeed a disguised population control program,” said Bishop Paul...

Scandal has rocked the Vatican for the second time in a week. On Thursday (September 25), officials confirmed Pope Francis had sacked Bishop Livieres, head of the Paraguayan diocese of Ciudad del Este. Livieres is suspected of protecting a priest believed to have sexually abused young people. His dismissal followed the arrest two days earlier of former archbishop Josef Wesolowski, who is accused of paying for sex with children during his time as papal ambassador in the Dominican Republic. Pope Francis, has vowed to take a zero-tolerance policy on clerics who abuse minors. The pontiff approved Wesolowski’s arrest and earlier...

Seven Proofs for the Natural Immortality of the Human Soul The late Dr. Antony Flew—perhaps the greatest among atheist thinkers of the last 100 years—came to faith in God largely through his studies in philosophy and, most especially, science, as he recounted in his book written with Roy Abraham Varghese, “There is a God: How the World’s Most Notorious Atheist Changed His Mind.”It was in 2004 that Dr. Flew rocked the world with his confession that he had come to believe in God. He made clear that he accepted deism, and not the God of the Bible, or of...

November 13, 2014Memorial of Saint Frances Xavier Cabrini, Virgin    Reading 1 Phlm 7-20 Beloved:I have experienced much joy and encouragement from your love,because the hearts of the holy oneshave been refreshed by you, brother.Therefore, although I have the full right in Christto order you to do what is proper,I rather urge you out of love,being as I am, Paul, an old man,and now also a prisoner for Christ Jesus.I urge you on behalf of my child Onesimus,whose father I have become in my imprisonment,who was once useless to you but is now useful to both you and me.I...

Bestselling novelist Jerry B. Jenkins has ended his formal effort to train the next generation of Christian writers. "Unfortunately, I’m not as happy as I look here, despite that my seven-year-old Thai grandson Max shot this picture of me," wrote Jenkins on his Christian Writers Guild (CWG) homepage, "because you’ve found my [website] just as I’m shutting down the Guild after 14 years of ministry."

Jim's father had been an alcoholic for thirty years. During all those years, Jim's mother, and later Jim and his young wife, had prayed that God would heal him, but with no apparent result. Jim's father refused to admit that he had a problem with alcohol, and stalked out in anger if anyone mentioned religion to him. One day Jim heard me speak about the power that is released when we begin to praise God for everything in our lives instead of pleading with Him to change the circumstances that displease us. Jim brought home a recording of my message...

Build on the Rock Today's Scripture “The Lord is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer; my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge...” (Psalm 18:2, NIV) Today's Word from Joel and Victoria When you go through difficulty in life, one of the ways to keep the right perspective is to take a moment to look back over your life and remember what God has done for you. Remember how He made a way when you didn’t see a way. Remember how He opened doors that should have never opened. Remember how He put you in just...

The Changed Life " If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. —2 Corinthians 5:17 " What understanding do you have of the salvation of your soul? The work of salvation means that in your real life things are dramatically changed. You no longer look at things in the same way. Your desires are new and the old things have lost their power to attract you. One of the tests for determining if the work of salvation in your life is genuine is— has God changed...

Washington, DC—Conservative religious voters made up as big a percentage of the electorate as ever, backing Republicans at least as strongly as ever in the midterm election according to exit pollsreleased following Tuesday’s voting. White evangelicals were 26 percent of the electorate this year, 78 percent voting Republican, up from 2010, when they were 25 percent of the electorate and 77 percent voted Republican, and 2006, when they were 24 percent of the electorate and 70 percent voted Republican. White Catholics were similarly unchanged: they made up 19 percent of the electorate this year, 60 percent of whom voted Republican,...

(Statement of William J. Murray first released in 1999) My mother, brother and daughter were murdered by fellow atheists. There is no getting around the evidence. For almost three years the national atheist organization my mother once led has claimed she left the country with a large amount of money. This was false and I will tell you in this letter why they told this lie over and over again. First, I want to talk to you about spiritual matters that the general media does not understand. My mother was not just Madalyn Murray O’Hair, the atheist leader. She was...

November 12, 2014Memorial of Saint Josaphat, Bishop and Martyr    Reading 1 Ti 3:1-7 Beloved:Remind them to be under the control of magistrates and authorities,to be obedient, to be open to every good enterprise.They are to slander no one, to be peaceable, considerate,exercising all graciousness toward everyone.For we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, deluded,slaves to various desires and pleasures,living in malice and envy,hateful ourselves and hating one another. But when the kindness and generous loveof God our savior appeared,not because of any righteous deeds we had donebut because of his mercy,he saved us through the bath of rebirthand renewal...