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Pope Francis is heading to secular Sweden to mark the 500th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation, a remarkably bold gesture given his very own Jesuit religious order was founded to defend the faith against Martin Luther's "heretical" reforms five centuries ago.

At the conclusion of a historic ecumenical celebration in Lund, Sweden, Pope Francis and the general-secretary of the world's Lutheran churches agreed to work together for a shared Eucharist. Pope Francis and the global Lutheran leader have jointly pledged to remove the obstacles to full unity between their Churches, leading eventually to shared Eucharist. They made the commitment in a joint statement signed before a congregation of Catholic and Lutheran leaders at the conclusion of a joint service in Lund, Sweden, to commemorate the 500th anniversary of the start of the Reformation. The statement was signed by Pope Francis and...

ROME — At first, Pope Francis did not want to celebrate a Catholic Mass in Sweden in order to preserve Monday’s ecumenical witness at the joint Catholic-Lutheran commemoration of the Reformation in Lund, he revealed in an interview released today. He later changed his mind after reflecting on his role as pastor of the Catholic community, and in response to a request from the local Church. But he put the Mass on the following day, Tuesday, in order to “avoid confusing” the ecumenical event with the Catholic one. The pope revealed his decision-making process in an interview with the Swedish...

For 80 years, the Deseret News has not entered into the troubled waters of presidential endorsement. We are neutral on matters of partisan politics. We do, however, feel a duty to speak clearly on issues that affect the well-being and morals of the nation. Accordingly, today we call on Donald Trump to step down from his pursuit of the American presidency. In democratic elections, ideas have consequences, leadership matters and character counts. The idea that women secretly welcome the unbridled and aggressive sexual advances of powerful men has led to the mistreatment, sorrow and subjugation of countless women for far...

Hillsong NYC pastor Carl Lentz has struck a nerve. The pastor took to Facebook Sunday to explain why his church — made up of Hillsong’s NYC campuses — will not be using the phrase “all lives matter.” Instead, Lentz wrote, his church will be saying “black lives matter.” The pastor wrote: At THIS church, we are not saying ‘all lives matter’ right now because this is a logical assumption that most reasonable people agree with. All lives are not at risk right now. We ARE saying BLACK LIVES MATTER. Because, right now, black lives apparently are worth LESS on our...

As a follow up to a previous message entitled "The Canary in the Coal Mine", John ramps up the rhetoric this week with his update entitled "The Canary is on Life Support." As many may know, miners used Canaries to warn them of increased levels of dangerous gas in the mine shafts. Due to the canary's elevated respiration rate and faster metabolism, it would react to fatal levels of dangerous gasses long before human life would be lost. It was an "early warning system" per se. It is clear that our Prophecy Update Canary is in intensive care as the...

RICHMOND, Virginia, July 26, 2016 (LifeSiteNews) – Pro-abortion Democratic Vice Presidential candidate Senator Tim Kaine received a standing ovation at his parish on Sunday and several Catholic priests praised his nomination. Meanwhile, as Catholics call for Kaine to be denied Communion in accord with the Church’s laws, his bishop in the Diocese of Richmond has issued a statement saying that Catholics have a duty to determine their own worthiness “through an upright and informed conscience.” Kaine and his wife were “like every other married couple going to church on a Sunday morning — if every other couple were met by...

The assembled Presbyterians no doubt thought they were being wonderfully open-minded and ecumenical; they did not realize that Wajidi Said was openly proselytizing for Islam. “Lead us on the straight path” is straight from the Fatihah, the Opening, the Qur’an’s first chapter and the most common and oft-repeated prayer in Islam. Islamic scholars identify the straight path with Islam itself. And in invoking “Abraham, Ishmael, Isaac, Moses, Jesus and Muhammad,” Said sounded beautifully ecumenical himself to the ranked Presbyterians, aglow in their bloomin’ primness, but in reality he was reflecting the Islamic belief that those figures and the other Biblical...

Veteran Vatican journalist Sandro Magister argues that Pope Francis is preparing the way for Protestants and Catholics to share the Eucharist, in an essay for L'Espresso. Magister points to an article in La Civilta Cattolica, the influential Jesuit journal, that argues the Pope's advice to a Lutheran woman represented a change in papal teaching, similar to the change that Pope Francis introduced in Amoris Laetitia regarding the reception of the Eucharist by Catholics who are divorced and remarried. The Pope is not suggesting an outright change in Catholic doctrine, the Civilta Cattolica article contends, but is taking "small steps forward"...

At the end of the general audience in Saint Peter’s Square on Wednesday, Pope Francis spoke affectionately with a Dutch priest who had gained permission to present him with a compilation of funeral homilies about the theme of homosexuality. After the short meeting, Father Pierre Valkering, a parish priest from the diocese of Haarlem-Amsterdam, told the press that he had been “profoundly touched” by the Pope’s welcoming attitude. Gay websites in the Netherlands gave prominence to the meeting, underscoring the way Pope Francis went out of his way to show his affection and interest for Fr. Valkering and his work....

I thought Christians were supposed to pray to God. When did they become Islamic? I'm quitting my local Presbyterian church for sure. This was announced in the latest Presbyterian Church USA, 'The Layman', their internet news letter.

Chaos Frank opened his trap again... Francis: “Great Majority” of Marriages today are Invalid because People don’t realize it’s indissoluble — but “Fidelity” in Cohabitation = Real Marriage! [UPDATE 17-JUN-2016 18:01 UTC: Vatican edits official transcript, changes Francis’ actual words “a great majority of” into “part of”. In either case, however, the fundamental problem remains: Francis believes sacramental marriages are invalid if people do not know or understand that marriage is permanent for life — how many such cases there actually are, is insignificant; the point is that Francis admits the principle! And he furthermore believes that fornication with only...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Senate unanimously backed President Barack Obama's nomination of Eric Fanning as secretary of the Army on Tuesday, making him the first openly gay leader of a U.S. military service branch. Fanning previously worked as undersecretary of the Air Force and chief of staff to Defense Secretary Ash Carter.

Russell Moore says the belief that the United States is a Christian nation in the respect of being a divinely ordained country is "theological liberalism." In a video posted to YouTube on Tuesday, the head of the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention tackled the question of whether or not the U.S. is a Christian nation. "If what you mean by that is a nation in which most of the people profess to be Christians, then certainly the United States of America was and is a Christian nation," said Moore.

And he said unto them, It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in his own power. But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.(Acts 1:7-8)I have taken you, my readers on a very truncated tour of what I believe to be the causes of the death of the Charismatic movement. I have no problem believing that God did indeed...

What do you get as a by-product of the previous fifty years of Apostasy as developed in the Charismatic World? You get Bill Johnson, Bethel Church and the Jesus Culture band!The following is a chapter from my recently revised book, BewareThe New Prophets-a Caution regarding the Prophetic Movement. . Chapter 8 Experienced Based Christianity What would you think of a Bible school that sends young people out to literally prostrate themselves on the graves of deceased preachers so that the students can absorb “the anointing” that lingers on the graves? What about a church in which a mist con- taining...

All ye beasts of the field, come to devour, yea, all ye beasts in the forest. His watchmen are blind: they are all ignorant, they are all dumb dogs, they cannot bark; sleeping, lying down, loving to slumber. Yea, they are greedy dogs which can never have enough, and they are shepherds that cannot understand: they all look to their own way, every one for his gain, from his quarter. Come ye, say they, I will fetch wine, and we will fill ourselves with strong drink; and to morrow shall be as this day, and much more abundant.( Isaiah 56:9-12)Jeremiah...

Then if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is Christ, or there; believe it not. For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect. Behold, I have told you before. Wherefore if they shall say unto you, Behold, he is in the desert; go not forth: behold, he is in the secret chambers; believe it not. For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son...

If there arise among you a prophet, or a dreamer of dreams, and giveth thee a sign or a wonder, And the sign or the wonder come to pass, whereof he spake unto thee, saying, Let us go after other gods, which thou hast not known, and let us serve them; Thou shalt not hearken unto the words of that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams: for the Lord your God proveth you, to know whether ye love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul.( Deuteronomy 13:1-3)Again he said, Therefore hear the word of...

Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.(Matthew 7:21-23)I was struck one day, while reading this sober passage from the Sermon on the Mount, that these words of...