Apr. 13, 2016
BLOOMBERG
The U.S. Supreme Court got a mixed reaction from the Obama administration and religious groups to its unusual proposal to resolve a clash over employee insurance coverage for contraceptives.
JPMorgan Chase & Co., Bank of America Corp. and three other major U.S. banks failed to persuade regulators they could go bankrupt without disrupting the financial system and could now face a tighter leash from Washington after government agencies used one of the most significant post-crisis powers bestowed under the Dodd-Frank Act.
Sales at U.S. retailers unexpectedly fell 0.3 percent in March; raising concern consumer spending is losing momentum.
About 39,000 landline workers from Verizon Communications Inc.’s largest labor unions walked off the job Wednesday after failing to reach agreement on a new contract with the phone giant by a 6 a.m. deadline.
U.S. charges of workplace discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender employees jumped 28 percent last year, reflecting a new openness to discuss sexual orientation as the Supreme Court granted same-sex couples the right to marry.
A majority of credit cards in the U.S. now contain a chip designed to add more security — yet most payment terminals at retailers can’t read the new technology. And the situation isn’t going to improve anytime soon.
AP Top Stories
A 60-year-old British man who went missing for several weeks in late March, was confirmed to have been killed in China, the Hong Kong police said in a statement after being notified by Chinese authorities.
The United Nations said Wednesday that one of its staff members had been captured by pro-Russian rebels in Ukraine’s separatist east. The UN is carrying out a humanitarian mission in the war-torn republics of Lugansk and Donetsk.
An elderly Christian woman has been caned in a conservative Indonesian province for selling alcohol, the first time someone from outside the Islamic faith has been punished there under strict religious laws.
Kenyan police will deport 45 Taiwanese to mainland China where they face investigation for fraud, Chinese state media said on Wednesday after Taipei blasted Beijing for “abducting” its citizens.
Amid ominous warnings about threats to pollinators and the food crops they make possible, garden-care giant Ortho said Tuesday it will stop using a class of chemicals widely believed to harm the most important pollinators of all: bees.
Saying he received lots of “feedback and suggestions and opinions” about a law he signed that limits LGBT protections, North Carolina’s governor has ordered anti-discrimination rules be expanded for state employees.
Many British Muslims do not share the values of non-Muslim fellow Britons on issues like homosexuality, according to a controversial poll that has sparked a debate about integration and multiculturalism.
Scientists from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory have determined climate change is actually causing the tilt of the Earth’s axis to change. Using satellite data, the scientists found as global climate change causes ice sheets across the planet to melt, releasing their water weight, the Earth’s polar motion has stopped wobbling toward Canada and is now wobbling toward England.
Italy’s coast guard says more than 2,000 migrants have been rescued in a single day in 17 different operations in the Mediterranean Sea.
If you still have the “it’ll never happen to me” perspective on fraud, here’s a stat that might persuade you to change your view: ATM card skimming incidents increased 546% from 2014 to 2015.
BBC
Food shortage fears over a drought in southern Africa have prompted Malawi to declare a state of national disaster and Mozambique to issue a “red alert”.
A judge in New Jersey has ruled that Republican presidential hopeful Ted Cruz is a “natural-born citizen” under the US constitution and may run in the state’s primary elections in June.
The Saudi authorities have moved to curb the powers of the notorious religious police, or “mutawa”. Members of the Committee for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice will no longer be permitted to chase suspects or arrest them. They must instead report observations to security forces personnel.
A judge in China has ruled a gay couple cannot register as married, in the country’s first case of its kind.
Venezuela’s Supreme Court has overturned an amnesty for jailed opposition leaders approved by the opposition-controlled parliament.
Senior German conservative politician Andreas Scheuer has said German must become the language of the country’s mosques and that foreign funding from Turkey and Saudi Arabia must stop.
WND
A band of religious groups has united to fight off what they see is a steadfast creeping of atheist voices into the nation’s military that has led to blanket removal of Bibles from several U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs medical clinics and at least one Air Force base.
A flood of Muslim refugees from Syria, an average of 358 per week to be exact, is expected to arrive in the United States between now and the end of the fiscal year on Sept. 30.
Top News – 4/13/2016
Magnitude-6.9 earthquake strikes Myanmar
The magnitude-6.9 quake struck at a depth of 135 kilometers (84 miles), 396 kilometers (246 miles) north of Myanmar’s capital, Naypyidaw, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. Residents in Myanmar’s main city of Yangon panicked after the quake struck, but authorities there said there were no immediate reports of injuries or damage.
Bible may be older than previously thought, hi-tech analysis indicates
Using cutting-edge computerized image processing and machine learning tools, the TAU team analyzed 16 inscriptions unearthed at an excavation in the remote fort of Arad, and deduced that the texts had been written by at least six authors. The content of the inscriptions disclosed that reading and writing abilities existed throughout the military chain of command, from the highest echelon, all the way down to the deputy quartermaster of the fort.
With Official Recognition, Uganda’s Jews One Step Closer to Returning Home
The recognition paves the way for Uganda’s Jewish community to become eligible for Israeli citizenship under Israel’s Law of Return. The recognition also will allow members of the community to obtain visas from Israel’s Interior Ministry in order to study at yeshivas (Jewish schools) in the Jewish state.
Jordan Seals Off Muslim Brotherhood Headquarters
The Jordanian government is taking steps to contain any potential radical Islamist uprising before it starts. Jordanian police evacuated staff on Wednesday and sealed the building housing the headquarters of the Muslim Brotherhood in Amman.
Apple has secret buildings named after Greek gods
Apple has quietly bought and leased a bunch of buildings and named them after Greek deities, according to a report today in the Silicon Valley Business Journal based on documents filed with city governments.
Passover Sacrifice to be reenacted facing Temple Mount next week
….the organizers decided to move the event this year to the more spacious location of Mitzpeh Beit Orot, between Mount Scopus and the Mount of Olives, near Emek Tzurim, which faces Judaism’s holiest and most relevant site for the occasion, the Temple Mount. The reenactment will take place next Monday, just four days before the prescribed time of the Paschal Offering.
Measurement of Universe’s expansion rate creates cosmological puzzle
Data from galaxies such as M101, seen here, allow scientists to gauge the speed at which the universe is expanding. The most precise measurement ever made of the current rate of expansion of the Universe has produced a value that appears incompatible with measurements of radiation left over from the Big Bang1. If the findings are confirmed by independent techniques, the laws of cosmology might have to be rewritten.
Rescued Japanese spacecraft delivers first results from Venus
After an unplanned five-year detour, Japan’s Venus probe, Akatsuki, has come back to life with a bang. On 4–8 April, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) presented the first scientific results from the spacecraft since it was rescued from an errant orbit around the Sun and rerouted to circle Venus, four months ago. These include a detailed shot of streaked, acidic clouds and a mysterious moving ‘bow’ shape in the planet’s atmosphere.
In Libya, Islamic State struggles to gain support
Packed into a battered car, a family of nine joined the steady flow of residents fleeing Islamic State’s Libyan stronghold of Sirte. They were heading to a nearby town to pick up essentials: cash, medicine and food.
Has Seventh Plague of Biblical “Fire and Ice” Appeared in the Middle East?
A video posted on Sod1820, a religious Hebrew-language website, shows a group of people gathered in amazement around the source of a flowing spring in the desert on the border between Iran and Afghanistan. The reason for their shock is immediately apparent: large flames shoot out from the hole in the sand from which water flows.
Jewish Wedding Secretly Held on Temple Mount Under Nose of Muslim Waqf
The ceremony, which the Temple Institute described in a Facebook post that has since been removed (a cached version is still available), was only the second such ceremony to take place on the Temple Mount in over 2000 years, said the Institute.
Yellow fever spreads to DR Congo, kills 21
An outbreak of yellow fever has killed 21 people in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the World Health Organization (WHO) says, linking some cases to an outbreak in neighbouring Angola. In a statement, the WHO said the deaths had occurred in January to March, with 151 suspected cases recorded. There was, it said, a “serious risk of further spread of the disease” in DRC.
Iran’s Special Forces reportedly suffering heavy losses in Syria
Since they were dispatched to Syria to buttress the Assad regime’s forces in lethal battles over the northern city of Aleppo in mid-March, Iran’s Special Forces have reportedly been suffering heavy casualties. On Tuesday, the al-Qaida affiliated Nusra Front…in the strategic village of al-Eis in southern Aleppo, released a video purportedly documenting the Iranian forces fleeing from the battlefield.
Analysis: Saudi-Egypt deals part of Gulf effort to unite Sunnis against Iran
Recently signed agreements between Saudi Arabia and Egypt appear to be part of a broader Saudi effort to build a regional Sunni alliance against Iran, yet the results of such an alliance are still lacking. …However, in terms of a broad military alliance that could prove effective against Iran and its allies, Saudi success is debatable.
Why Boko Haram’s use of girls as suicide attackers has jumped
As Boko Haram sharply boosts its use of girls as suicide bombers, it may be revealing a growing vulnerability to military pressure, experts say. Boko Haram, an Islamic extremist group based in Nigeria, grabbed global attention two years ago when it abducted nearly 300 Nigerian schoolgirls in the town of Chibok. Now, it is upping the ante, sending 44 children last year on suicide missions against civilians in Nigeria, Cameroon, Chad, and Niger.
It Begins: Obama Forgives Student Debt Of 400,000 Americans
Joining the ranks of “broke lawyers” who can cancel their student debt, “Americans with disabilities have a right to student loan relief,” now according to Ted Mitchell, the undersecretary of education, said in a statement. Almost 400,000 student loan borrowers will now have an easier path to a debt bailout as Obama primes the populist voting pump just in time for the elections.
29 German soldiers have joined ISIS, army may contain dozens of jihadist sympathizers
German counter-intelligence believes that at least 29 former soldiers from the country have left to join Islamic State in Syria and Iraq. An internal report also revealed that 65 active soldiers are being investigated for alleged jihadist sympathies.
The US economy is facing an ‘impossible trinity’ that will be a nightmare for investors
In a note out Tuesday, Rineesh Bansal, an analyst at Deutsche Bank, wrote that the US economy was striving to achieve three outcomes: higher wages, more inflation, and higher profits. The problem is that it can pick only two.
Top Headlines – 4/13/2016
- China trade surprise gives stocks a lift (Read More)
- JPMorgan profit hurt by drop in investment banking revenue (Read More)
- About 40,000 Verizon workers launch strike (Read More)
- Regulators Set to Reject Some Big Banks’ ‘Living Wills’ (Read More)
- More Startups Are Getting Lower Valuations Than Joining the Billion-Dollar Club (Read More)
- Closures and court cases leave Turkey’s media increasingly muzzled (Read More)
- PBOC Seen Averting Cash Shortage as $155 Billion Leaves Market (Read More)
- Mossack Fonseca Says It’s Cooperating After Panama Office Raids (Read More)
- Tax-Rule Changes Ripple Widely (Read More)
- VW says management bonuses to be cut significantly (Read More)
- IMF Sees No Cause for Japan to Intervene Now in Currency Market (Read More)
- China Steelmaker Misses 3rd Bond Payment as Defaults Spread (Read More)
- Syrians vote for parliament as diplomacy struggles (Read More)
- Who Loses the Most From ‘Brexit’? Try Goldman Sachs (Read More)
- Coal Slump Sends Mining Giant Peabody Energy Into Bankruptcy (Read More)
- In Libya, Islamic State struggles to gain support (Read More)
- Inside the Nondescript Building Where Trillions Trade Each Day (Read More)
Palestinian UN draft calls to resolve final status issues within a year
Palestinians say push for U.N. rebuke of Israel settlements aimed at peace
Abbas says ‘urgent’ need for UN resolution on Israeli settlements
Former IDF Chief of Staff pushes PA peace deal
Clinton: ‘Unfair’ to put onus on Israel for peace talks failure
Haniyeh: The ‘intifada’ changed the balance of power
Livni tells UN chief: ‘No justification’ for terror
Palestinian leader tightens grip with new decree
‘Hamas wants to succeed Abbas as much as Fatah figures do,’ Ya’alon says
Hamas operatives fear entering tunnels, believe Israel behind collapses
Lebanon car bombing kills Palestinian Fatah official
Palestinians campaign for convicted terrorist Barghouti to receive Nobel Peace Prize
Rivlin to meet with spiritual leaders of all faiths, call to maintain calm at Temple Mount
Temple Institute claims it held secret Jewish wedding on Temple Mount
‘Jews of Uganda’ get official recognition for aliyah
Analysis: Israel and the Saudis covert ties
Israel issues pre-Passover travel warnings, stressing Turkey
Israelis warned of ‘increase in brazen terror attacks around the world’
Italian PM claims conflict with Iran over recognition of Israel
Israel gives blessing to Egypt’s return of Red Sea islands to Saudi Arabia
US reconsiders scale of its peacekeeping mission in Sinai
US admits it plans to withdraw Sinai peacekeepers
White House reaffirms commitment to Sinai peacekeeping
Pentagon wants drones to replace some US troops in Sinai
Iraq: UN fears hunger in besieged Iraqi city of Falluja
Assad has taken Russia ‘hostage,’ and what comes next could be ‘the worst this war has seen’
Syria’s Partial Cease-Fire Shows Signs of Crumbling
ISIS seizes most of Yarmuk from Al Qaeda
Americans dropping ‘cyber bombs’ on ISIS
U.S. Military Campaign Takes Toll on ISIS’ Cash Flow
Most young Arabs reject Isis and think ‘caliphate’ will fail, poll finds
US State Dept official: Islamic State numbers lowest in 2 years
29 German soldiers have joined ISIS, army may contain dozens of jihadist sympathizers – report
ISIS in control of 80%-90% of Palestinian refugee camp
Human rights groups sound alarm over safe zones for Syrian refugees
Syrian refugees in Lebanon at growing risk of slavery
Amsterdam airport partly evacuated in security alert, man detained
Why are world powers unable to stop Boko Haram?
Kidnapped to kill: How Boko Haram is turning girls into weapons
Child bombers used by Boko Haram increases 10-fold: UNICEF
EU parliament chief warns of bloc’s ‘implosion,’ says people lost trust in ‘entire institutions’
Pressure builds on Obama administration to declassify 9/11 report
Swiss banker whistleblower: CIA behind Panama Papers
‘Panama Papers’ law firm raided by organized crime prosecutors
Taxpayer info at risk from cyberattacks as Tax Day nears?
Obama to forgive the student debt of 400,000 permanently disabled people
WHO: 10% of world’s population suffers from depression, anxiety
Treating anxiety, depression can help global economy, study says
Venezuela: the land of 500% inflation
Worried IMF cuts world growth forecast, warns over Brexit
Big oil and gas stock skyrockets 61% in 2 days
Oil prices fall on profit-taking, oversupply worries
Japan prepares for release of tritium from Fukushima plant
5.4 magnitude earthquake hits near Fais, Micronesia
5.3 magnitude earthquake hits near Fais, Micronesia
5.2 magnitude earthquake hits near Port-Olry, Vanuatu
5.2 magnitude earthquake hits West of Macquarie Island
5.2 magnitude earthquake hits near Madimba, Tanzania
5.1 magnitude earthquake hits near Fais, Micronesia
5.1 magnitude earthquake hits South of Africa
5.1 magnitude earthquake hits the Northern Mid-Atlantic Ridge
5.0 magnitude earthquake hits West of Macquarie Island
Reventador volcano in Ecuador erupts to 22,000ft
Popocateptl volcano in Mexico erupts to 19,000ft
Fuego volcano in Guatemala erupts to 16,000ft
Sinabung volcano in Indonesia erupts to 14,000ft
Tenggar Caldera volcano in Indonesia erupts to 13,000ft
Waves of rain to threaten multi-day flooding event in central US
Softball-Sized Hail Pummels North Texas During Severe Weather; 1 Killed in Arkansas Storms
Thousands Of Dead Fish Have Washed Up In Chile And No One Knows Why
Congress sends Obama bill on Zika drug development
Amid Cosby case, California may end statute of limitations for rape
Air France’s gay stewards rebel over flights to Iran
Teacher gets suspended after quiz asking kids sexual orientation, gender identity
Christian Student Expelled for Quoting Bible in Facebook Post Opposing Gay Marriage Loses Appeal
Church of Norway Approves Gay Marriage After 20 Years of Debate
Lutheran Church Falls Into Same-Sex Marriage Deception
Bibles are being removed from Missing Man tributes at VA clinics and military bases. Why?
ACLU Attempt to Force Catholic Hospital to Perform Abortions Hits Roadblock
Why the Arch of Triumph of Palmyra is being recreated in London – 1,800 years after it was built
Eric Metaxas – Why Cremation is Pagan, Burial is Christian
Todd Bentley posts “proof” of angel feathers and gem stones
Jesus asks “What Do You Want Me to Do for You?” says Victoria Osteen
Here’s why members of this creepy cult of screaming Christians keep getting arrested
The elite are fleeing major cities around the globe at a staggering rate. In fact, the Chicago Tribune is reporting that approximately 3,000 millionaires left the city of Chicago alone during 2015. The same study discussed in that Chicago Tribune article found that 7,000 millionaires left Paris, France last year. So why is this happening? Why are thousands of millionaires suddenly packing up and moving away from the big cities? Could it be possible that they have many of the same concerns that “preppers” do about what is coming? (Read More….)
Should public facilities continue to offer separate bathrooms for men and women? In 2016, this has become a political “hot potato” that is causing emotions to run high on both sides of the debate. Many liberals consider the push for gender-neutral bathrooms to be on the cutting edge of the civil rights movement in the United States. Meanwhile, many conservatives consider separate bathrooms for men and women to be a matter of basic moral decency. What both sides of the debate can agree on is that this is an issue that is not going away any time soon. Gender-neutral bathrooms are popping up in public places all over America, and the Obama administration has even installed one in the White House. Unfortunately, these gender-neutral bathrooms can have some very serious unintended consequences as you will see below. (Read More…)
Prophecy in the News Update Video
The Coming Bible Ban – Bill Wilson
ALA says the top three reasons cited for challenging books are that the material is considered sexually explicit, contains offensive language, and the material is unsuited to any age group. There is, however, another reason that has propelled this particular book to the top ten list of those challenged to be banned from libraries and schools across America. Religious content. The results are shocking.
Watching the end of Western civilization unfold
I’ve been writing about what was to come from the moment the two Israeli reservists were lynched in Ramallah in 2000. I saw the handwriting on the sky long before 9/11.
Actually, I’ve been fighting for Israel since the early 1970’s. Back then, I knew that the UN-led scapegoating would lead to something far, far worse–but I did not foresee the end of Western Civilization–and by its own multi-culturally relativist hand.
How The Left Twists The Gospel Into Socialism
“Young Christians are confusing individual Christian compassion and the church’s role and responsibilities in public life, with the government providing entitlements and expanding welfare programs,” she says. Faithful supporters of Sen. Bernie Sanders are just being “lazy Christians” if they think socialism will take care of society’s problems. “We should be doing and acting rather than having the government provide more,” she continues.
The Daily Discovery (April 13, 2016)
ARTICLES I LIKE FROM AROUND THE WEB:
(Click title to go to full article)
The Privilege of Addressing God as “Father” – “Go with a group of Christians and listen to them pray in a home prayer meeting or Bible study, and invariably as Christians pray out loud one after another will address God how? They’ll start their prayer by saying, ‘Father,’ or ‘our heavenly Father.’ It’s the most common expression that we as Christians use to address God. And why not, when our Lord taught us to pray, He said, ‘When you pray’ say what? ‘Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed by Thy name.’ What could be more basic to Christianity than to address God as Father?”
#firstworldchristianity – “I think I have finally pinned down what annoys me to no end about the female “Bible” teachers that are so popular today (aside from the fact that they are wolves in sheep clothing, false teachers, leading people astray, etc. etc.): All they care to offer people is a very weak, very watered down, very false first world Christianity. For example, Lysa TerKeurst…
Contradictions: Did Abraham Really Live to a “Good Old Age”? – “After reading Genesis 11:10–26 and the genealogy of Shem and his descendants, there appears to be a contradiction in Genesis 25:8, which states that Abraham lived to a ‘good old age.’ Considering that Shem, his great-grandfather of nine generations earlier, lived to within a few decades of Abraham’s death and Eber, Abraham’s great-grandfather of six generations earlier, actually outlived him, how can we reconcile this seeming contradiction? How can Abraham be said to have lived to a good old age when there were people much older than him still alive at the time of his death?”
How and Why You (Yes, You!) Should Pray for T4G – “Maybe we are growing too accustomed to these Reformed mega-conferences. If that’s the case, we should think back to the time—it was only a few years ago—when there appeared to be an inverse relationship between a conference’s attendance and its doctrinal soundness. For many years it was true that the conferences that held to Reformed theology were sparsely attended. But then something happened and today we can choose from any number of great conferences centered around proclaiming the deepest truth.”
Back to the Basics: Apologetics Pt. 1 A Historical Perspective – “Apologetics is one of the most misunderstood and misused terms in the modern evangelical church. Too often it has come to mean having a contentious disagreement with an unbeliever (or especially a professing atheist) and clobbering them in the argument. But that is not apologetics! That is simply trying to sanctify obnoxious behavior. So what is apologetics? In short, it is believers giving an answer for the hope that is within them. But the long answer is a little more involved, but still basic to the Christian life. So I want to kick off a little sub series on apologetics as part of our back to the basics series here on Parking Space 23. My hope it will be a blessing to you and more importantly you will come away with the knowledge that apologetics is a Christian imperative and that the goal of every apologetic encounter, is not a won argument, but a repentant sinner won to the cause of Christ.”
SERMON:
John MacArthur – Mass Defection (T4G 2014)
VIDEOS:
The Sinner’s Prayer Only Hurts People
The View’s Feminist Priorities.
“All death can do to the believer is deliver him to Jesus. It brings us into the eternal presence of our Savior.” – John MacArthur
A La Carte (April 13)
Libraries Struggle to Remain Relevant
WORLD reports on the struggles libraries face as they attempt to stay relevant in a digital world.
Thinking? Conference 2016
If you are in or near Toronto, be sure to think about coming to the Thinking? 2016 conference which takes place next weekend.
Sitting In God’s Lap to Slap Him In The Face
“What’s being described here is that this other person is borrowing something from God in order to then argue against him. They’re borrowing something that only fits in the Christian world view to then argue against that world view, which is actually kind of a circular argument.”
To Every Tribe
I’m so glad there is a new episode of Dispatches from the Front. And I’m so glad that Westminster Books has a sale on it. Don’t miss these DVDs!
Be Grateful Without Comparing
Bar abase Piper discusses gratitude. “While there is a sense in which we should be jarred into gratefulness by the reality that others have it worse than we do, these kinds of statements are a pretty horrid kind of instruction on gratitude.”
Top 10 Most Challenged Library Books
“Last year, the American Library Association (ALA) fielded 275 formal challenges to materials in school libraries—a record low. Making the top 10 list of challenges for the first time: the Bible.”
This Day in 1742. 274 years ago today, Handel’s famous oratorio Messiah premiered in Dublin’s Fishamble Street Musick Hall. *
What’s the Point of Christian Conferences, Anyway?
“If conferences can be messed up and can lead me to idolatry, why should I even consider going?”
Malcolm Gladwell Got it Wrong
“The 10,000 hour rule” – enshrined in Gladwell’s bestselling 2008 book Outliers – holds that mastery in any field can be achieved with 10,000 hours of practice. But Ericsson, a Florida State University researcher who has spent his career breaking down the science of what makes people extraordinary, says Gladwell missed the point.”
Worship is designed to remind you that in the center of all things is a glorious and gracious king, and this king is not you. —Paul Tripp
Links I like
Kindle deals for Christian readers
- Preach by Mark Dever and Greg Gilbert—$2.99
- Brothers, We Are Not Professionals by John Piper—$2.99
- Recovering Redemption by Matt Chandler and Michael Snetzer—$2.99
- Creature of the Word by Matt Chandler, Josh Patterson and Eric Geiger—$2.99
- The Church by Mark Dever—$2.99
- Reviving the Black Church by Thabiti Anyabwile—$2.99
- Exalting Jesus in 1&2 Timothy and Titus—$2.99
- What is Reformed Theology by R.C. Sproul—$4.99
- The Conviction to Lead by Albert Mohler—$4.99
- Jesus: The Only Way to God by John Piper—$1.99
- Willing to Believe by R.C. Sproul—$2.99
- Why Believe the Bible by John MacArthur—$2.99
- The Promises of Grace by Bryan Chapell—$2.99
- Follow Me by David Platt—$4.99
Be Grateful Without Comparing
Barnabas Piper:
Building gratitude on the foundation of comparison is a structure doomed to crumble. All the mortar between the bricks isn’t, in fact, thankfulness. It’s superiority. I have something someone else doesn’t. I am something someone else isn’t. It is implicit arrogance that is being created and a false kind of gratitude. Your kids become thankful, not for the dinner served, but that they aren’t starving in Africa . . . which is right close to thinking they are better than those from Africa.
When C.S. Lewis Was Wrong
Aaron Earls:
Part of what made C.S. Lewis so brilliant was how insightful he was about culture. This lead him to be phenomenally prescient of future cultures, but in one key instance his assumptions about society proved false.
Five Reasons Leaders Must Encourage
Eric Geiger:
If you read any leadership book, you are likely to be encouraged to encourage the people you lead. If you have served with an encouraging leader, you know the impact the encouragement makes on the morale of the team, the focus of the people, and the commitment to one other. Here are five reasons leaders must encourage.
How Negativity Refines Us
Zack Barnhart:
But there is a more subtle, muted message that grows out of this kind of teaching. It’s a line of thinking that, surprisingly, has little to do with bank accounts or chintzy social media hashtags. The problem with this one particular message is that it sounds really good on the surface — and it even feels right. But when we dig deep into the true gospel, the “gospel of God” as it is often called, we will see that it misses entirely what we have been called to as saints of Christ Jesus. Here is their idea, summed up into one quotable phrase:
“You cannot expect to live a positive life if you hang with negative people.”
What’s the Point of Christian Conferences, Anyway?
Chris Martin:
This week, Together for the Gospel is being held in downtown Louisville. This time next year, The Gospel Coalition will be held in Indianapolis. Between now and then, dozens, if not hundreds of large, evangelical conferences will take place across the United States, and really throughout the world.
How to Talk to Terrorists
Mike Wittmer:
Sunday night at church I met a man who is a former missionary in Muslim countries and is now living in Grand Rapids. He teaches math at our community college and remains in contact with his indigenous brothers and sisters in Iraq, Syria, and Mali.
He said several of his Christian friends have been killed by ISIS, but that others immediately step forward and take their place. He mentioned Benjamin Tessougue, a Malian who broadcast this message over the radio after receiving his second death threat from ISIS (If you have read Tertullian’s Apology [197], you will recognize a similar defiant love in Benjamin’s message). This broadcast seems to have impressed the ISIS members, and Benjamin believes they are now protecting his life. I post it here to encourage us to pray for our persecuted brothers and sisters and to remind us how to be a faithful presence in our culture.
Check Out
Blogs
25 Incredibly Useful Free Sites And Services | Fast Company
“Save time, protect your privacy, stash some cash, and more with these no-cost wonders.”
5 Little Things You Can Do to Be More Productive | Time Management Ninja
“It’s not always the big things that impact your productivity. In fact, when it comes to time management, it is often the little things you do.”
Theology Conferences Part I of II: A Brief How-To Guide | Adam Johnson, The Scriptorium Daily
“If you are interested in an academic career, welcome to the world of conferences. For all their weaknesses, these are one of the main heartbeats of the academy. Over two posts, I will do my best to pass along what I have learned, thus speeding up the learning curve.”
Why Write New Books When There are Good Old Ones? | Ryan McGraw, Meet the Puritans
“So, should the church keep writing books today? Manton would say ‘yes.’ Why? Because we need to use every means possible to combat the darkness of sin, because we will continue to gain fresh discoveries of God’s glory in Christ, because believers need to be godlier, and because truth needs defending.”
4 Questions for Women Considering Seminary | Mary Willson, TGC
Not an argument for females in office but for well-trained women in other important roles within a congregation.
Five Reasons Leaders Must Encourage | Eric Geiger
“If you read any leadership book, you are likely to be encouraged to encourage the people you lead. If you have served with an encouraging leader, you know the impact the encouragement makes on the morale of the team, the focus of the people, and the commitment to one other. Here are five reasons leaders must encourage.”
Job’s Miserable Counselors: How Not to Counsel | Bob Kelleman, RPM
“I often learn best from how not to do something. So, we can learn how not to be a compassionate biblical counselor from the bad example of Job’s ‘miserable comforters’ (Job 16:2) ‘Miserable’ means troublesome, vexing, and sorrow-causing. They were the opposite of ‘comforters’– a word that means consoling, sympathetic, feeling deeply the hurt of others.”
New Book
Church Revitalization from the Inside Out by Robert D. Stuart
Kindle Deals
For your non-Kindle book buying needs please consider using Reformation Heritage Books in the USA and Reformed Book Services in Canada. Good value prices and shipping.
Take the Risk: Learning to Identify, Choose, and Live with Acceptable Risk by Ben Carson ($0.99)
Portraits of Faith: What Five Biblical Characters Teach Us About Our Life with God by Joel R. Beeke ($2.99)
John Newton: From Disgrace to Amazing Grace by Jonathan Aitken ($4.99)
Planting, Watering, Growing: Planting Confessionally Reformed Churches in the 21st Century edited by Daniel R. Hyde and Shane Lems ($2.99)
The Conviction to Lead: 25 Principles for Leadership That Matters by Albert Mohler ($3.82)
Pakistan’s Schoolbooks Deliver ‘Public Shaming’ to Christians
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Featured Blogs
Our Time is Short
What is The Gospel?
God made everything out of nothing, including you and me. His main purpose in creation was to bring him pleasure.
The chief way in which we as humanity do this is through loving, obeying, and enjoying him perfectly.
Instead of this, we have sinned against our loving Creator and acted in high-handed rebellion.
God has vowed that he will righteously and lovingly judge sinners with eternal death.
But God, being merciful, loving, gracious, and just, sent his own son, Jesus Christ, in the likeness of man to live as a man; fulfilling his perfect requirements in the place of sinners; loving, obeying, and enjoying him perfectly.
And further, his son bore the eternal judgment of God upon the cross of Calvary, as he satisfied the eternal anger of God, standing in the place of sinners. God treated Jesus as a sinner, though he was perfectly sinless, that he might declare sinners as perfect.
This glorious transaction occurs as the sinner puts their faith (dependence, trust) in the Lord Jesus Christ as their substitute. God then charges Christ’s perfection to the sinner, and no longer views him as an enemy but instead an adopted son covered in the perfect righteousness of his son.
God furnished proof that this sacrifice was accepted by raising Jesus from the dead.
God will judge the world in righteousness and all of those who are not covered in the righteousness of Christ, depending on him for forgiveness, will be forced to stand on their own to bear the eternal anger of God.
Therefore, all must turn from sin and receive Christ Jesus as Lord.
What Is the Gospel?
There is no greater message to be heard than that which we call the gospel. But as important as that is, it is often given to massive distortions or over simplifications. People think they’re preaching the gospel to you when they tell you, ‘you can have a purpose to your life’, or that ‘you can have meaning to your life’, or that ‘you can have a personal relationship with Jesus.’ All of those things are true, and they’re all important, but they don’t get to the heart of the gospel.
The gospel is called the ‘good news’ because it addresses the most serious problem that you and I have as human beings, and that problem is simply this: God is holy and He is just, and I’m not. And at the end of my life, I’m going to stand before a just and holy God, and I’ll be judged. And I’ll be judged either on the basis of my own righteousness–or lack of it –or the righteousness of another. The good news of the gospel is that Jesus lived a life of perfect righteousness, of perfect obedience to God, not for His own well being but for His people. He has done for me what I couldn’t possibly do for myself. But not only has He lived that life of perfect obedience, He offered Himself as a perfect sacrifice to satisfy the justice and the righteousness of God.
The great misconception in our day is this: that God isn’t concerned to protect His own integrity. He’s a kind of wishy-washy deity, who just waves a wand of forgiveness over everybody. No. For God to forgive you is a very costly matter. It cost the sacrifice of His own Son. So valuable was that sacrifice that God pronounced it valuable by raising Him from the dead – so that Christ died for us, He was raised for our justification. So the gospel is something objective. It is the message of who Jesus is and what He did. And it also has a subjective dimension. How are the benefits of Jesus subjectively appropriated to us? How do I get it? The Bible makes it clear that we are justified not by our works, not by our efforts, not by our deeds, but by faith–and by faith alone. The only way you can receive the benefit of Christ’s life and death is by putting your trust in Him–and in Him alone. You do that, you’re declared just by God, you’re adopted into His family, you’re forgiven of all of your sins, and you have begun your pilgrimage for eternity.
The Gospel In A Nutshell
Now, with regard to this rule of faith—that we may from this point acknowledge what it is which we defend—it is, you must know, that which prescribes the belief that there is one only God, and that He is none other than the Creator of the world, who produced all things out of nothing through His own Word, first of all sent forth; that this Word is called His Son, and, under the name of God, was seen “in diverse manners” by the patriarchs, heard at all times in the prophets, at last brought down by the Spirit and Power of the Father into the Virgin Mary, was made flesh in her womb, and, being born of her, went forth as Jesus Christ; thenceforth He preached the new law and the new promise of the kingdom of heaven, worked miracles; having been crucified, He rose again the third day; (then) having ascended into the heavens, He sat at the right hand of the Father; sent instead of Himself the Power of the Holy Ghost to lead such as believe; will come with glory to take the saints to the enjoyment of everlasting life and of the heavenly promises, and to condemn the wicked to everlasting fire, after the resurrection of both these classes shall have happened, together with the restoration of their flesh. This rule, as it will be proved, was taught by Christ, and raises amongst ourselves no other questions than those which heresies introduce, and which make men heretics.
Tertullian, “On Prescription Against Heretics,” Chapter XIIl
Ravi Zacharias explains the gospel in two minutes:
The Gospel on 5 Fingers
Can you explain the gospel in 30 seconds? In one minute? In five minutes?Here’s one way I have found helpful. The five main components of the gospel can be remembered on 5 fingers of one hand. Here they are:
1) Jesus’ birth
2) Jesus’ life
3) Jesus’ death
4) Jesus’ resurrection
5) Jesus’ ascension
Obviously each point can be elaborated on depending on how much time you have. Here’s the short version:
1) Jesus’ birth – Jesus, God himself, the creator of the universe, the Messiah, became a human being – took on flesh, and was born of a virgin.
2) Jesus’ life – Jesus lived a life of perfect obedience to his Father. Though he was tempted in every way as we are, he never once sinned.
3) Jesus’ death – on the cross, Jesus himself took all our sins and paid for them. God the father counted all our sins to Jesus as if he himself had personally committed them. Then Jesus bore God’s wrath towards sin – the punishment we deserved – as a substitute for us.
4) Jesus’ resurrection – within 3 days, Jesus rose physically from the dead, proving that his sacrifice for sins have been accepted by God, since the punishment for sin was death. Jesus was seen by numerous people after he rose including 500 at one time (1 Corinthians 15).
5) Jesus’ ascension – Jesus ascended physically into heaven where he reigns as King of kings and Lord of lords. And someday he will return to the earth.
That’s the gospel, the good news, and if we believe in Jesus Christ and this good news and call upon him he will save us from our sins and give us eternal life.
That’s a simple way to remember the gospel – five fingers. Even a child can do it. So ask God to give you opportunities to share his good news today.
Ready to start your new life with God?
Who do you think that I am?
With that brief question Jesus Christ confronted His followers with the most important issue they would ever face. He had spent much time with them and made some bold claims about His identity and authority. Now the time had come for them either to believe or deny His teachings.
Who do you say Jesus is? Your response to Him will determine not only your values and lifestyle, but your eternal destiny as well.
Consider what the Bible says about Him: Read more
Resource Links
CanIKnowGod.com is a website inspired by LifesGreatestQuestion.com, with new content, images, audio and video that will help you understand more about who God is and how to know Him. The site is mobile responsive and has an infinite scroll which makes for a very user-friendly experience. After you indicate a decision on CanIKnowGod.com, you are directed to a page that details what it means to have a new and transformed life through Jesus Christ. There’s even a Facebook page for daily updates, encouragement and scripture sharing.
Look to Jesus
Have you ever felt a little lost and wished there was a quick-start guide to your relationship with God? This is it!
30 Day Next Steps
John Beckett, a leading Christian businessman, has written a series to read over 30 days for new believers.
New Believers Guide
The New Believer’s Guide is a series of articles designed to show you how to walk in the new life Christ has given you— a life of faith and freedom.
Jesus Booklet
Jesus is the Savior of the world. Discover who Jesus is today in this series.
About Christianity
Know Jesus Christ and your life will be transformed
The Perseverance (Security) of the Saints
Notice all the Scripture references!
It is not just a handful of texts that teach the perseverance of the saints: the entire gospel sustains and confirms it. The Father has chosen them before the foundation of the world (Eph. 1:4), ordained them to eternal life (Acts 13:48), to be conformed to the image of his Son (Rom. 8:29). This election stands (Rom. 9:11; Heb. 6:17) and in due time carries with it the calling and justification and glorification (Rom. 8:30). Christ, in whom all the promises of God are Yes and Amen (2 Cor. 1:20), died for those who were given him by the Father (John 17:6, 12) in order that he might give them eternal life and not lose a single one of them (6:40; 17:2); he therefore gives them eternal life and they will never be lost in all eternity; no one will snatch them out of his hand (6:39; 10:28).
The Holy Spirit who regenerates them remains eternally with them (14:16) and seals them for the day of redemption (Eph. 1:13; 4:30). The covenant of grace is firm and confirmed with an oath (Heb. 6:16–18; 13:20), unbreakable like a marriage (Eph. 5:31–32), like a testament (Heb. 9:17), and by virtue of that covenant, God calls his elect. He inscribes the law upon their inmost being, puts his fear in their heart (Heb. 8:10; 10:14ff.), will not let them be tempted beyond their strength (1 Cor. 10:13), confirms and completes the good work he has begun in them (1 Cor. 1:9; Phil. 1:6), and keeps them for the return of Christ to receive the heavenly inheritance (1 Thess. 5:23; 2 Thess. 3:3; 1 Pet. 1:4–5).
In his intercession before the Father, Christ acts in such a way that their faith may not fail (Luke 22:32), that in the world they may be kept from the evil one (John 17:11, 20), that they may be saved for all times (Heb. 7:20), that their sins will be forgiven them (1 John 2:1), and that they may all be where he is to behold his glory (John 17:24). The benefits of Christ, which the Holy Spirit imparts to them, are all irrevocable (Rom. 11:29). Those who are called are also glorified (8:30). Those who are adopted as children are heirs of eternal life (8:17; Gal. 4:7). Those who believe have eternal life already here and now (John 3:16). That life itself, being eternal, cannot be lost. It cannot die since it cannot sin (1 John 3:9). Faith is a firm ground (Heb. 11:1), hope is an anchor (6:19) and does not disappoint us (Rom. 5:5), and love never ends (1 Cor. 13:8).
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