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Baghdad (AsiaNews) - A series of car bombs targeted seven Chaldean and Orthodox churches of Baghdad tonight. The worst hit church is the Chaldean Church of St Mary, in Sharaa Philistine, where the patriarchal vicar of Baghdad, Mgr. Sleimon Wardouni officiates. The car bomb exploded on the road that runs alongside the church and left four dead and dozens wounded many seriously. The other churches, because of their distance from the road, suffered slight damage and some wounded, other churches have not reported damage to people or buildings. The other churches targeted were: the Chaldean Church of Saint George in...

A well-seasoned, self-confessed “church addict” who has tasted both the joy and pain of being a church pastor recently completed a humorous yet painfully honest book on the ten most common mistakes pastors make that keep their churches from growing. Pastor Geoff Surratt, who had pastored a small, rural church with under 100 members and is now part of a megachurch with over 10,000 attendees on a given Sunday, shares his insight in his latest book Ten Stupid Things That Keep Churches From Growing. Before diving into the top 10 mistakes, Surratt made sure to clarify that the purpose of...

When a gunman went on a spree at New Life Church back in December of 2007, security guard Jeanne Assam stepped in and took down the shooter before he could take any more church members' lives. Assam has only spoken a few times in public about what happened that day. Thursday night she told her story to members of the Pikes Peak Firearms Coalition. She says a lot of what happened that day hasn't been told. She says she actually wasn’t even supposed to be working on that Sunday as a security guard at New Life. She planned to take...

The Political Gap That Divides Generations Susan Fikse, Issue Number 24, July 2009 Kim is a 25-year-old Christian, a nurse who graduated from Calvin College in Grand Rapids, Mich. She voted for President Bush in 2004 and characterizes herself as pro-life. With just that information, it would be easy to categorize Kim as a conservative Republican. But in November, she cast her vote for Barack Obama. She was not alone.Survey data shows that while fewer than a quarter of white evangelicals between 30 and 64 supported Obama, that number increased to a third for white evangelicals under 30. Kim’s reasons for...

In response to a question from The Washington Post regarding finding a home church, President Obama had this to say: “Michelle and I decided that we would wait a few months after arriving before we made a decision on this, partly — let’s be blunt: I mean, we were pretty affected by what happened at Trinity and the controversy surrounding Reverend Wright,� said the president. “That was deeply disturbing to us, and it was disappointing for us personally. It made us very sensitive to the fact that as president the church we attend can end up being interpreted as speaking...

I was asked to write a brief history of the Church of the Incarnation, in Highlands. North Carolina, for a local magazine. The piece was intended to be about the building itself, which is on the National Register of Historic Places, and was built in 1896. But you cannot research the history of a church without also researching the history of the people who brought that church into being. Of the dozen people who formed the congregation for this church, one was Sarah Whiteside Norton. She was the first non-native American child born in the Highlands area, the daughter of...

Ancient Find Proves Christ's Words?Archaeologists have unearthed in Jordan what they believe to be the first Christian church in the world. Dating back almost 2,000 years to sometime between 33 AD to 70 AD, the church, which is actually a cave, was found underneath Saint Georgeous Church, which itself dates back to 230 AD, in Rihab in northern Jordan near the Syrian border. Agence France Presse and The Jordan Times report that the church is thought to have sheltered the world's earliest Christians from persecution and certain death. "We have evidence to believe this church sheltered the early Christians--the 70...

State Attorney General Richard Blumenthal has advised ethics officials to drop an investigation of whether a protest rally and other actions by the Diocese of Bridgeport constitutes lobbying, saying that the lobbying law is too broad and could violate freedom of religion in this instance. Blumenthal said at a press conference Tuesday afternoon that it's possible the church's activities fall under the lobby registration law — the diocese, for example, might have spent over the threshold of $2,000 booking buses to take parishioners to a rally at the Capitol in March to protest a bill that would have dramatically changed...

Last night, the Northwest Baptist Church, in Toledo, OH, held a rally celebrating the right to keep and bear arms, and spreading the message that the exercise of that right is in no way incompatible with Christian values. The rally will point to numerous biblical references claiming Jesus Christ would support second amendment rights. "We're just informing our folks you got to be able to protect yourself and what does the Bible have to say about it. We know our constitution. But this is the final authority here above our Constitution is the word of God," said Reverend Andrew Edwards...

WEST TOLEDO (WTOL) - A rally will be held Monday, June 29 in west Toledo in support of the right to bear arms. Sponsors say they are worried about the Obama administration's view on gun control, even though there's been no new restrictions. The rally will point to numerous biblical references claiming Jesus Christ would support second amendment rights. "We're just informing our folks you got to be able to protect yourself and what does the Bible have to say about it. We know our constitution. But this is the final authority here above our Constitution is the word of...

The Bible calls the Church "the Body of Christ." Today, that body is bleeding profusely, says a Christian author and sought-out speaker. "The next generation of believers is draining from the churches, and it causes me great personal and professional concern," said Ken Ham, founder and president of Answers in Genesis and a Young Earth creationist. Hoping to shed light on what he believes is a monumental problem, Ham enlisted the services of America's Research Group to study why young people were leaving. The results, published in Already Gone, will shake many churches to their very core, Ham states in...

For the past five months, White House aides and friends of the Obamas have been quietly visiting local churches and vetting the sermons of prospective first ministers in a search for a new - and uncontroversial - church home. Obama has even sampled a few himself, attending services at 19th Street Baptist on the weekend before his inauguration and celebrating Easter at St. John's Episcopal Church.

Bread trailer stolen from a church By Christina Hernandez, WINK News Story Updated: Jun 26, 2009 at 7:47 PM EDT LEHIGH ACRES, Fla. - Stealing from charity - it's hard to believe anyone would do that, but it happened at a church in Lehigh Acres. The Faith Evangelical Lutheran Church helps out struggling residents every week, but Friday morning, it was a lot harder to do that. The church does something called 'free bread day' for those in need every Friday morning. Thursday night, the trailer the donated bread is loaded into went missing. Chuck Emery volunteers at the church...

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — For one day, at least, it was OK to pack heat in church. More than 200 people answered gun-toting Pastor Ken Pagano's call to celebrate the Second Amendment at New Bethel Church in Louisville on Saturday. There was just one rule for the several dozen who brought their guns along: No bullets. ---------------------------cut---------------------------- "I just believe in the right to protect ourselves," said Liz Boyer, who had a bright pink Glock in a black holster at her side. The 41-year-old isn't a member of the church but teaches a class on gun safety for women at a...

Why does the Catholic Church teach that there is "no salvation outside the Church"? Doesn’t this contradict Scripture? God "desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth" (1 Tim. 2:4). "I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father, but by me" (John 14:6). Peter proclaimed to the Sanhedrin, "There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved" (Acts 4:12). Since God intends (plans, wills) that every human being should...

Ayn Rand was an atheist. According to her one-time associate Barbara Branden, Rand became an atheist at age thirteen. Branden records Rand writing in her diary at that age: "Today I decided to be an atheist." Branden then reports her as later explaining, "I had decided that the concept of God is degrading to men. Since they say that God is perfect, man can never be that perfect, then man is low and imperfect and there is something above him – which is wrong." [Branden, PAR, p. 35.] Branden continues that Rand's "second reason" is that "no proof of the...

A pastor in the US state of Kentucky has told his flock to bring handguns to church in what he says is an effort to promote safe gun ownership. Pastor Ken Pagano told parishioners to bring their unloaded guns to New Bethel Church in Louisville for a service celebrating the right to bear arms. He said he acted after church members voiced fears the Obama administration could tighten gun control laws. When the service began, some 200 people were present, AP news agency said. "We are wanting to send a message that there are legal, civil, intelligent and law-abiding citizens...

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) - A gun-toting Kentucky pastor says it's OK to pack heat at church _ at least for one day. Ken Pagano asked his flock to bring their unloaded handguns _ in holsters _ to New Bethel Church in Louisville for a celebration of the Second Amendment. When the event got under way a little after 5 p.m. Saturday, about 200 people _ many carrying small firearms _ sat in the Pentecostal church sanctuary. "We are wanting to send a message that there are legal, civil, intelligent and law-abiding citizens who also own guns," Pagano said in greeting...

Bringing new meaning to the term "wearing your Sunday best," a pastor in Kentucky is encouraging his parishioners to strap a holster to their church clothes today and proudly display their weapons. Pastor Ken Pagano of the New Bethel Church in Louisville has declared today -- June 27 -- as "Open Carry Celebration" day, to promote responsible gun ownership. Pagano told ABCNews.com: "As a Christian pastor I believe that without a deep-seeded belief in God and firearms that this country would not be here. I'm not ashamed of that fact. I'm proud of it." Pagano said no one will be...

A Texas pastor has discovered a unique way to help others in the sour economy. Toby Slough is pastor of Cross Timbers Community Church, in Argyle, Texas. Earlier this year, as the offering plate was circulated, Pastor Slough told the congregation to take money if they were suffering financially. That day, the church reported its largest offering ever. Since then, the non-denominational church has given out half a million dollars to members and non-members. Slough says the concept was tough at first, especially for those who needed the money. But now, he notes, the congregation has responded beyond all expectations....

War is hell.” So said Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman. By the time Sherman retired from active duty, that saying had become virtually synonymous with his name. Sherman’s contempt for war was well-known throughout most of his career as a soldier. A month after the Civil War ended, when Sherman was at the height of his fame and the pinnacle of his success as a soldier, he wrote to a friend, “I am sick and tired of fighting.” He was not yet finished fighting, however. He spent the next 14 years as commanding general of the United States Army. Those years...

CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Vandals spray painted graffiti and cut the head of a statue outside Saint Ann’s Catholic Church on Park Road Monday night. Police are investigating the damage. A police report values the statue at $3,000 and puts the total damage at $4,500. Parishioner Don Millard opened the building Monday morning for mass, and discovered the statue. He told Newschannel 36 Jesus’ heart and hands were spray painted in red. The head was missing. Vandals also broke windows at the school building on the parish property, and spray painted “vulgar” words inside the church building. It is under construction....

The gospel in America, generally speaking, has suffered a serious reduction (i.e., knowing some facts about Jesus, making a personal decision for Christ based on these facts, and that this constitutes the full extent of the gospel message and mission). I also argued that such reductionism is not consistent with the Scriptures and that this reduction of the gospel has dramatically altered the modern Christian’s conception of his purpose and mission away from the biblical prescription. In the wake of such an audacious charge, the admonition given in Jeremiah seems a fitting place to begin my defense of these claims:...

MEDIA ADVISORY, June 16 /Christian Newswire/ -- This week, a letter is being hand-delivered to every member of the United States Senate imploring conservatives to join Senator Jim DeMint's filibuster of the pending Hate Crimes bill, which would criminalize preaching the Gospel and put preachers in the crosshairs. The letter explains that, in its current form, the Hate Crimes legislation would: "Silence the moral voice of the Church" -- "Punish principled dissent from the homosexual agenda" -- "Be a savage and perhaps fatal blow to First Amendment freedom of expression" -- and "Empower the left and encourage it to move...

What does the age of the Earth have to do with the exodus of young people from American churches? Ken Ham, known for his Answers in Genesis creation-science ministry, says a major study he commissioned by a respected researcher unveils for the first time in a scientific fashion the startling reasons behind statistics that show two-thirds of young people in evangelical churches will leave when they move into their 20s. The study, highlighted in Ham's new book with researcher Britt Beemer, "Already Gone: Why your kids will quit church and what you can do to stop it," finds church youth...

The Roman Catholic Church relies on the Connecticut Catholic Conference to lobby lawmakers at the Capitol. The conference is a registered lobbying group, so everything is aboveboard. But it's not that simple. It never is. The Office of State Ethics and Attorney General Richard Blumenthal are pondering a new assault on the Catholic Church. It would be the second this year; Judiciary Committee co-chairmen Andrew McDonald, D-Stamford, and Michael Lawlor, D-East Haven, tried a few months ago to revolutionize the financial management of churches by turning out the church hierarchy in favor of lay boards. Essentially, the church is "guilty"...

On the night of December 12, 2008, the Wasilla Bible Church was set ablaze by arsonists. At the time, several women and children were inside working on a craft project. They were alerted to the fire when the alarm began sounding, by that time, the front of the church was engulfed in flames. Firefighters began arriving shortly after 9:40 p.m. It took crews from several local communities until 5 a.m. to fully extinguish the blaze. The fire caused close to $1 million in damages. It did not take long for investigators to determine that the fire was an act of...

Services were moved to the parking lot of a Rainier Beach church after a naked man smashed through a window Saturday, spattering HIV-positive blood inside and leaving a trail of destruction through the house of worship. Officials believe the 46-year-old suspect was high on PCP during his unholy rampage through the Unity Church of God in Christ - and now the church interior is considered a bio-hazard because of the tainted blood inside.

It's one thing to pack for a picnic. A church picnic. It's quite another, to pack...heat. The pastor of a church near Louisville, Kentucky has triggered quite a controversy after encouraging his flock to carry firearms, at a church picnic scheduled for tomorrow, "Honestly, I would really like to see this mushroom into a Thunder over Louisville, where we are just inundated with civil-minded responsible gun owners." Pastor Ken Pagano is a former Marine weapons instructor who says he wants to promote responsible gun ownership. He says without the Second Amendment, the right to bear arms, there would be no...

The Connecticut Office of State Ethics (OSE) is poised to investigate and penalize the Diocese of Bridgeport for having the temerity to exercise at least four of the five sections of the First Amendment (religion, speech, assembly, petition). The story begins earlier this year when Connecticut State Senator Andrew McDonald proposed legislation (S. 1098) that would have forced the Catholic Church, contrary to the church’s doctrine, to relinquish control of parish finances (for those from congregationalist traditions who may not be aware of the organization of Catholic Churches, the Catholic Church, by doctrine, is very hierarchical, with Bishops responsible for...

Open Carry Celebration, June 27th 2009 In Celebration of July 4 and our rights as Americans, New Bethel Church will be hosting an OPEN CELEBRATION CHURCH service for all who support 1st and 2nd Amendment rights. It will be held on Saturday June 27th, the weekend before July 4th. It will begin at 5PM and picnic food will be served. We are asking responsible handgun owners to attend this service openly wearing their sidearm. This will be a Cold Range Carry meaning handguns must be unloaded and in a secure holster. Area gun store/firing range owners will be invited to...

VALLEY STATION, KY (WAVE) - Church shootings have been in the headlines for the past few years, so when a local church announced that it is asking people to bring guns to church we wanted to know why. Most people consider church a sanctuary, a place of peace. But recently, church shootings have been in the headlines. Last Sunday, Kansas abortion Dr. George Tiller was shot and killed while ushering at his church. In March, an Illinois pastor was killed and two parishioners injured after a gunman opened fire during Sunday services. In July 2008, a gunman killed two people...

There’s a church in Valley Station that is promoting Independence Day by encouraging its members to bring a gun to church, and to bring a friend with a gun to church. You can enter a raffle, for just a dollar, to win your very own handgun. And local gun shops are invited to come, TO CHURCH, and stand before the congregation and do a commercial about their stores. Now all this activity is being promoted through a mail campaign that an alert South End reader told us about. You can find details on the New Bethel Church website. Is anyone...

SAINTE MERE EGLISE, France -- It was the middle of the night and the town of Sainte Mere Eglise was on fire. Occupied by the Germans since June 18, 1940, the town had survived several allied air raids. A stray incendiary bomb from one of those raids had set a building near the town square on fire and it was spreading. The townspeople formed a chain to ferry water from the pump in the town square to the fire. At about 1:30 a.m. that day -- June 6, 1944 -- the sky filled with hundreds of American paratroopers from the...

The sudden crush of worshipers packing the small evangelical Shelter Rock Church in Manhasset, N.Y. — a Long Island hamlet of yacht clubs and hedge fund managers — forced the pastor to set up an overflow room with closed-circuit TV and 100 folding chairs, which have been filled for six Sundays straight. In Seattle, the Mars Hill Church, one of the fastest-growing evangelical churches in the country, grew to 7,000 members this fall, up 1,000 in a year. At the Life Christian Church in West Orange, N.J., prayer requests have doubled — almost all of them aimed at getting or...

ODINTSOVO, May 30 (Itar-Tass) - Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and Patriarch of Moscow and All-Russia Kirill on Saturday took part in a foundation stone laying ceremony of a church complex in a settlement in the Odintsovo district of the Moscow region. Taking part in the ceremony were also the parishioners and local residents. Putin came to the place of the church complex driving his Volga GAZ-21 car. After the ceremony the prime minister and patriarch rode in the car to the Moscow region residence of the RF head of government in Novo-Ogarevo.

QUINCY — For the fourth time in nine months, the gay pride flag flying outside the Church of the Presidents has been vandalized. The flag was stolen last August, and again last September. Two months later it was burned, and this week it was stolen yet again. The pastor, the Rev. Sheldon Bennett, said the rainbow flag was taken sometime Monday night, after the church office closed. The flag flies outside the Parish Hall entrance to the church on Washington Street in Quincy Center. It’s a symbol of the congregation’s support for equal rights for gays, lesbian, bisexuals and transgendered...

Shrinking mainline Protestant denominations are turning to marketing to help stem decades of membership losses and stay afloat. The United Methodist Church recently unveiled a $20 million rebranding effort aimed at attracting younger members to the large but diminishing Protestant group. The new ads will appear over the next four years as part of the denomination's "Rethink Church" campaign. The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America has invested nearly $1.2 million over the past two years launching a similar branding effort based on the theme, "God's Work, Our Hands." The denominations are trying to bounce back from losses that began...

“There is no plan B” I said to my evangelical Protestant friend. “The Lord has not changed His mind. His work continues through His Body, His Church, of which we are all members through our Baptism”. This exchange came at the end of a lengthy conversation initiated by him. He was hungering for a deeper life, in his words, “in the Lord.” A long time participant in the pro-life movement, he was first touched by the writings of Pope John Paul II and is a real fan of his successor, Pope Benedict XVI. He is moved by the Pro-Life witness...

Right wing warriors cause damage to the churchExtreme rhetoric also threatens abortion reduction policies. May. 15, 2009 Vincent Miller The images out of Notre Dame are similar to what transpired at Georgetown when President Obama spoke here: students were enthusiastic to hear from a president whose election was both a watershed moment in American history and a turn from the destructive and divisive politics of the recent past, while angry protesters at the gates denounced a betrayal of Georgetown's Catholic character. If their apocalyptic shouts win no converts their cause, they are still quite successful in equating abortion with the...

"...Only a fully battle-equipped Church will be capable of meeting the challenges of the aggressive pagan culture that imbues every aspect of social and political life nowadays. The prevailing pagan culture is not only demon-worshipping but it is resolute in its determination to destroy all vestiges of the social kingship of Jesus Christ and is rapidly executing hostile takeovers of our families. Militant faith, in the grand traditions of the exorcist-like priest saints (Saint Francis Xavier, Saint John Vianney, Saint Edmund Campion, etc.), will save the culture and the Church. Nothing less." "Lest we lose hope for a restoration...

A Lansing-area church has filed a lawsuit against protesters who disrupted 1 of their services last year. The Lansing State Journal reports Friday that Mount Hope Church of Delta Township filed suit against a radical gay activist group called Bash Back! in federal court in Grand Rapids this week. Bash Back! claims to have disrupted a service at the church on November 9. Members shouted "It's OK to be gay" and "Jesus was a homo" at the bewildered congregation inside the church. The suit seeks nominal damages and an injunction to prevent future protests. A Bash Back! Web site says...

WASHINGTON, May 15, 2009 – For the last five years, the California-based troop-support group, Their Angels, have met every first Saturday, monthly, to pack civilian care packages and write letters of support to send to deployed troops. On May 2, the volunteers brought together 100 people in honor of Military Appreciation Month. Army Sgt. First Class Luis Green talks to Their Angels volunteers at the Military Appreciation Month ceremony held at Hilltop Church of Christ in Richmond, Calif., May 2, 2009. The volunteers expressed their gratitude to Green for his service.   (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. “We...

Like so many of my Israeli friends, I too have been disappointed with the pope's visit to Jerusalem this week, and not just because of the road closures and traffic snarls. No, the big disappointment is over the message delivered by Pope Benedict XVI during his visit to Yad Vashem - the most important leg of his Holy Land pilgrimage, from a Jewish perspective. His background as a conscript in the Hitler Youth and German army in World War II demanded something more personal and contrite from this particular pontiff. It was not enough to just say he was grateful...

Plano, TX (May 12, 2009) – Liberty Legal Institute announced today that the Internal Revenue Service found that pastors who gathered in 2006 for a series of public policy conferences had every right to do so and that the organizers of the events did not violate any tax laws that govern non-profit organizations. “This liberal attempt to intimidate pastors has backfired,” said Kelly Shackelford, chief counsel of Liberty Legal Institute which represented event organizers. “There is now a clear IRS statement outlining these pastors’ events and approving them as valid under the law.” In January 2008, the IRS began its...

Anglican Friends of Israel is dismayed at the Resolution on the Middle East passed by the Anglican Consultative Committee in the name of all Anglicans on 9 May 2009. Once again, Anglican representatives have singled out Israel for criticism without placing her actions in context or directly addressing the Palestinian contribution to the conflict. Thus the Resolution calls on Israel to lay down all measures which protect her citizens fromArab terrorism whilst failing to demand that Palestinian leaders meet anyof the obligations placed on them by UN resolutions, such as therequirement to dismantle their terrorist networks. Israel is falsely accused...

As for You and Your House, Will You Serve the Lord? America is at the cross roads of self destruction or revival By Pastor Phil Magnan San Diego, Ca. May 11th, 2009 America is at a crossroads and we must without reservation repent of the destructive course that we as a nation have pursued. Will we as a nation continue to avoid facing the horrific nature of legalized abortion in which thousands of small children are torn apart out of the comfort and protection of their mother’s womb? Will we as a nation continue to turn a blind eye to...

Confession time. It always bugs me when I see a politician darken the doorway of a church. This is counterintuitive, of course. I mean, here's the one door politicians should darken more frequently, in my opinion. Most politicians need a whole lotta churchin'. But the reason it bugs me is I always wonder if they're darkening that door for sincere spiritual reasons, or for photo ops. Too often it's proven to be the latter, not the former. The distinction can generally be made by how many news cameras are on hand and how much the politician smiles and waves. I...

“The roots of hip-hop subculture are demonic, and are similar to other subcultures with an antiestablishment, “Down with the man” mentality. Fatherless-ness, rebellion, oppression, anguish, poverty, violence, and other negative influences created this subculture.” – G. Craig Lewis G. Craig Lewis gets real about the Rap and Hip-Hop subculture in the world. The devil is trying to erase lines that divide holiness from godlessness – and he’s using hip hop to do it. So says G. Craige Lewis, founder of EX Ministries. Lewis is shouting from the rooftops about the Satan’s strategy to infiltrate the Church of Jesus Christ with...

Is the Swine Flu disease a prophetic sign of a sick church infected with religion's lukewarmness? The Swine Flu gradually is becoming a problem for the Center for Disease Control (CDC). Reports say we are at the beginning of a new pandemic. A pandemic is an epidemic of infectious disease that spreads through populations across a large region. As of right now there are 91 known cases of the Swine Flu with a two year old boy just reported dead in Texas, claiming its first victim on US soil. The CDC released stock piles of the Tamiflu vaccine which slows...