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A young woman in India who lost both of her hands in a bus accident received limbs from a darker-skinned male donor. Years later, the skin of her transplanted hands has lightened. Her transplanted hands came from a 21-year-old man who died after a bicycle crash. Over the next year and a half, physical therapy improved Siddanagowder's motor control of her arms and hands, which gradually became leaner than they were at the time of the transplant. But there was another unexpected change: The skin on her new limbs, which had been darker because the donor had a darker complexion,...

Author and pastor Tim Keller, who planted a church in New York City that grew to 5,000 attendees and who pioneered work in urban ministry, died Friday after a three-year battle with pancreatic cancer. He was 72. Keller and his wife Kathy launched Redeemer Presbyterian Church in Manhattan in 1989 and watched as it grew to a weekly attendance of thousands. Keller was known for his staunch yet winsome defense of orthodoxy in the liberal bastion of New York City. He defended the exclusivity of the gospel and the biblical definition of marriage and even engaged with critics on social...

As to Raquel Welch, thank you for your many condolences. She was a wonderful lady and a fine Christian. The children have taken it a bit hard as they have many fond memories. I’ll tell you a few things the usual sources won’t tell you. First, she was a serious Christian and church member. Many people (maybe most people) do things when they’re young or make decisions they think better of later in life. Because she did also she had great grace and understanding for every person. This is a great testimony of her hope in Christ. She had no...

Estelle Harris, who hollered her way into TV history as George Costanza’s short-fused mother on “Seinfeld” and voiced Mrs. Potato Head in the “Toy Story” franchise, has died. She was 93. As middle-class matron Estelle Costanza, Harris put a memorable stamp on her recurring role in the smash 1990s sitcom. With her high-pitched voice and humorously overbearing attitude, she was an archetype of maternal indignation. Trading insults and absurdities with her on-screen husband, played by Jerry Stiller, Harris helped create a parental pair that would leave even a psychiatrist helpless to do anything but hope they’d move to Florida —...

A man, woman and their service dog used the emergency slide to slip out of an airplane that was preparing to take off from LaGuardia Airport on Monday morning. The passengers opened a cabin door, activating the slide, and took off as the Delta flight bound for Atlanta, Ga., was taxiing out of the runway at around 10:55 a.m., according to law enforcement sources and an airline spokesman. Antonio Murdock, 31, told Port Authority cops that his post-traumatic stress disorder was triggered on the plane, the sources said.

COLUMBIA — Richland County Council Vice Chairwoman Dahli Myers has been indicted on public corruption charges that allege she used her government credit card to cover personal trips to Greece, Georgia, Illinois, Detroit and Nashville, among other inappropriate expenses. The 24-count indictment, issued by the state grand jury late Thursday, charges Myers with using public money for personal spending sprees at Sam’s Club, Barnes and Noble, Verizon and Staples. The Hopkins resident, who was first elected in 2016, had taxpayers foot bills for premium chocolates, repairs to her personal cell phone and gifts for friends, according to the 24-page filing....

Today’s Scripture: Psalm 145:17 “The Lord is . . . kind in all his works.” The apostle John said, "God is love" (1 John 4:8). This succinct statement, along with its parallel one, "God is light" (1 John 1:5; that is, God is holy), sums up the essential character of God, as revealed to us in the Scriptures. Just as it is impossible in the very nature of God for him to be anything but perfectly holy, so it is impossible for him to be anything but perfectly good. Because God is love, an essential part of his nature is...

Today’s Scripture: Romans 8:13 “If by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.” We have died not only to sin’s guilt but also to its reigning power in our lives. Although sin as an active principle is still with us, it can no longer reign supreme in our lives. We’re united to Christ, and his Spirit has come to reside in us. We’ve been delivered from Satan’s power and given a new heart (Ezekiel 36:26; Acts 26:18). However, as believers we experience a tension that’s like a tug-of-war. Paul described it in Galatians...

The federal government can’t take our money and give it to Joel Osteen or Robert Jeffress or Paula White—even in the wake of a pandemic,” I wrote back in May. But that’s exactly what Trump’s Small Business Administration has done by giving Paycheck Protection Program funds to churches. Paula White’s church took in between $150,000 and $350,000, Jeffress’s church grabbed between $2 million and $5 million and, now we know that Osteen’s megachurch pocketed $4.4 million. Other megachurches snagged millions of taxpayer dollars. As time passes, the inevitable abuses are coming to light. One megachurch televangelist even bought a private...

Full article at link Introduction: While multiple vaccines are undergoing clinical trial across the globe, we yearn for an FDA approved drug to protect us from the devastating pandemic for the time being. This study aims to determine the effectiveness of Ivermectin when administered as pre-exposure prophylaxis for COVID-19. Method: An observational study, with 118 healthcare providers who were enrolled purposively, was conducted in a tertiary hospital in Dhaka from May 2020 to August 2020. The subjects were divided into experimental and control groups; and the experimental group received an oral monthly dose of Ivermectin 12mg for 4 months. Both...

Hundredfold Reward, by Grace Today’s Scripture: Matthew 19:29 “And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters . . . for my name’s sake, will receive a hundredfold.” In the verses immediately preceding the parable of the workers in the vineyard in Matthew 20, Jesus promised a "hundredfold" reward, or ten thousand percent, to "everyone" who has sacrificed for Jesus’ sake. God’s rewards to us will not only be of grace, but will indeed be gracious—that is, generous beyond all measure. So the grace of God in our service to him does not negate rewards but rather makes them...

Abstract BACKGROUND: SARS-CoV-2 infection (COVID-19) is a potentially lethal disease that may progress into severe respiratory distress syndrome requiring ventilatory support. While azithromycin (AZI) and hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) are considered similar to placebo in COVID-19, other drugs such as ivermectin (IVER), are being repurposed to treat this pandemic. This study was designed to assess the effects of ivermectin on duration of febrile illness and disease outcomes in mild-to-moderate COVID-19 infection in a community setting. METHODS: In this case-control study 95 suspected patients of mild-to-moderate COVID-19 were included. The controls (Group-A) received AZI+HCQ for seven days while the cases (Group-B) received IVER+AZI+HCQ...

Today’s Scripture: Romans 4:8 “Blessed is the man against whom the Lord will not count his sin.” We’re free from both the guilt and the reigning power or dominion of sin in our lives. But of what use is this information to us? How can it help when we’re struggling with persistent sin patterns and see ourselves giving in to sinful desires? Here’s where Paul’s instructions in Romans 6:11 can help us: "In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus" (NIV). Paul isn’t telling us to do something but to believe something....

Today’s Scripture: 1 Corinthians 10:13 “God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability.” Jesus taught us to pray, "and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil" (Matthew 6:13). Here we see two requests: that we not be led into temptation, and that we be delivered from the evil one. Because we know from James 1:13 that God does not tempt anyone, the first part must be understood as a request that God will not providentially bring us into the way of temptation. It is the prayer of the believer who sees...

Today’s Scripture: Romans 6:11 “Consider yourselves dead to sin.” The guilt of our sin in Adam resulted in our being given over to sin’s dominion as a penal consequence. When a judge sentences a convicted criminal to five years in prison, that sentence is the penal consequence of his crime—analogous to what God did to Adam and all his posterity. Part of the penal consequence of Adam’s sin was being delivered into sin’s bondage. When the prisoner has served his five years, his penal consequences are over. The broken law no longer has a claim against him. In that sense...

Today’s Scripture: 1 Corinthians 16:13 “Be watchful.” With all the enemies from the world and from Satan arrayed against us, and a guerrilla army of flesh within our own hearts, how can we effectively watch against the temptations that constantly beset us? The old adage "The best defense is a good offense" is good advice for watching against temptation. The best offense is meditation on the Word of God and prayer. It’s surely no coincidence that they’re the only two spiritual exercises that we are encouraged to do continually. We’re to meditate on God’s Word "day and night" (Psalm 1:2),...

Dead to Sin’s Guilt and Dominion Today’s Scripture: Romans 6:7 “For one who has died has been set free from sin.” "What shall we say then?" the apostle Paul asked in Romans 6:1. "Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound?" If we’re justified freely by God’s grace through the work of Christ, doesn’t more sin increasingly magnify God’s grace? "By no means!" responded Paul. "How can we who died to sin still live in it?" (Romans 6:2). Paul’s response is not an impatient "how could you think such a thing?" Rather, as he demonstrated in the verses...

Today’s Scripture: Matthew 7:1 “Judge not, that you be not judged.” It’s easy to become judgmental toward anyone whose opinions are different from ours, then to hide our judgmentalism under the cloak of Christian convictions. Paul wrote, "Stop judging one another regardless of which position you take." Then he added, "Who are you to pass judgment on the servant of another? It is before his own master that he stands or falls. And he will be upheld, for the Lord is able to make him stand" (Romans 14:4). Basically, Paul was saying, "stop trying to play God toward your fellow...

Today’s Scripture: Romans 11:35 “Who has given a gift to him that he might be repaid?” Every aspect of our ministry is by the grace of God. We’re unworthy to minister, but God considers us worthy through Christ. We’re inadequate to minister, but God makes us adequate through the powerful working of his Holy Spirit. We’re not naturally given to self-sacrifice, but God gives us that spirit by his grace. All is of grace. No human worthiness or adequacy is required or accepted. Such a strong, biblical emphasis on God’s grace apart from human worth or adequacy leads to the...

LEXINGTON, S.C. — Lexington police now believe a man killed a 72-year-old woman during an argument over what to do about feral cats. Chief Terrence Green said Friday Sean Eric Malahy, 49, is charged with murder in the death of Judy Burnett. The incident happened Thursday afternoon on West Main Street near a shopping center in downtown Lexington. Officers say prior to the shooting incident, Burnett had gotten into an argument about feeding feral cats with a witness who was with Malahy. Officers say Malahy got into an argument with Burnett which turned into a physical fight. During this fight,...