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“There are more witnesses, more martyrs in the Church today than there were in the first centuries,” said Pope Francis last week. He decried the persecution but added “The Church grows thanks to the blood of the martyrs. This is the beauty of martyrdom.”His words are proving true around the world.ChinaChina used to be an example of the triumph of atheism — atheists came to power there and in the Soviet Bloc, in the 20th century but China is fast becoming an example of the triumph of Christianity in the 21st.The government is not taking it lightly.You may have...

The Mystery of the Copper Scroll By Chris Mitchell CBN News Middle East Bureau Chief Saturday, July 11, 2009 JERUSALEM, Israel - In 1947, a Bedouin shepherd wandered the hills of Qumran in search of a missing sheep. He threw a stone into a cave, hoping to drive the lost animal outside. Instead, the sound of shattered pottery drew the shepherd inside the cave. There he stumbled on the greatest archaeological find of the 20th century: the Dead Sea Scrolls. The Copper Scroll In the years that followed, archaeologists found eleven caves and more than 900 documents here at Qumran....

One of the basic principles of modern architecture is “form follows function.” In other words, ask what a building is for and you will know how it should be built. When you are building a garage or an office building or a hospital or a school things a fairly straightforward: a garage is to protect a car and store things. An office building is a place where people work safely and efficiently. A hospital has to have everything necessary for the health care, treatment and comfort of its patients. That’s easy enough.Architects will quibble about the “form follows function”...

Gordon College President D. Michael Lindsay thrust the college into the spotlight a week ago by signing a letter to President Barack Obama requesting that he exclude religious institutions from an executive order barring organizations that take federal money from discrimination in hiring based on sexual orientation. Now the Christian college on the North Shore faces scrutiny from the body that accredits colleges and universities in New England. Gordon’s action — and the ensuing media coverage — has put the college on the agenda for the September meeting of the New England Association of School and College’s higher education commission....

I read this at NRO: Senate Democrats’ Religious-Freedom Deprivation BillUnder the guise of “protect[ing] women’s health from corporate interference,” the bill that Senate Democrats are proposing in response to the Hobby Lobby ruling would deprive religious entities of all religious-liberty protections against having the HHS mandate directly imposed on them. Specifically:1. The bill would apply to employers generally, not just (as the bill’s short title would suggest) to “corporate” employers. Subsection 4(a) would make it unlawful for any “employer that establishes or maintains a group health plan for its employees” to “deny coverage of a specific health care item or...

[Guest blogger Todd Unctuous is top commentator for MSM. With a degree in Media Studies from Scranton Community College, Todd writes for many papers and websites, and is known for his incisive writing, objective reporting and razor sharp comment.] As we prepare to celebrate the Forth of July vacation this weekend I am deeply concerned to find that a small group of rich white Christian men are persecuting women in their businesses by denying them proper health care. I have heard that the owner of Hobby Lobby insists that his female employees sign a contract assuring him that they are...

Proverb 11 (NKJV) The Folly of Wickedness01 Dishonest scales are an abomination to the LORD, 00 But a just weight is His delight. 02 When pride comes, then comes shame; 00 But with the humble is wisdom. 03 The integrity of the upright will guide them, 00 But the perversity of the unfaithful will destroy them. 04 Riches do not profit in the day of wrath, 00 But righteousness delivers from death. 05 The righteousness of the blameless will direct his way aright, 00 But the wicked will fall by his own wickedness. 06 The righteousness of the upright...

The Pope's visit to the church is likely to be 'extremely quick' (CNS) Pope Francis will pay a brief “private visit” to the Italian church of a Pentecostal pastor he knew from Argentina, a Vatican spokesman has said.The visit to the Evangelical Church of Reconciliation in Caserta, about 130 miles south of Rome, “is under study and likely would take place July 26″, said Fr Federico Lombardi.Fr Lombardi said the Pope knew the church’s pastor, Giovanni Traettino, from Buenos Aires, where the Pentecostal pastor participated in ecumenical events with Catholics, especially Catholics belonging to the charismatic renewal movement. The then-Cardinal...

The Vatican has announced plans for a thorough review of media operations, designed to streamline the Vatican’s systems of public communications, improve coordination among different media offices, and exploit opportunities offered by new social media. At a July 9 press conference Cardinal George Pell, the prefect of the Secretariat for the Economy, announced that Lord Christopher Patten, a veteran British politician, would chair an expert committee studying the Vatican’s media efforts. The committee will be asked to submit a plan for reform of the Vatican’s public communications. The Vatican’s public communications are currently divided among several different offices: the Vatican...

Courtesy of the very funny folks at CatholicMemes.com.Who saw this coming? The papal craziness hits a new high on Sunday, July 13 — OMIGOSH, it’s 7/13, and Pope Francis was elected on 3/13/13, and my mind is blown — when Argentina goes up against Germany in the finals of the FIFA World Cup of Soccer/Football, in Rio de Janeiro, host city for Francis’ triumphal “Pope-acabana” phenomenon at 2013 World Youth Day.Some are even calling it the Pope Cup and hashtagging it #PopeCupSunday.The Catholic world now faces a dilemma of intercontinental proportions.Team Benedict XVI or Team Francis? And if you...

What does it take to produce the first-ever papal high-five? A meeting with American televangelists, apparently. The gesture came during a three-hour meeting of Pope Francis and Texas televangelists Kenneth Copeland and James Robison, just weeks after the pontiff met with televangelist Joel Osteen and other religious leaders. At the June 24 meeting, Robison said he was so moved by Pope Francis’ message of the gospel that he asked the translator to ask Francis for a high-five. The pope obliged, raised his arm and the two men smacked hands. The televangelists are among some wealthier U.S. evangelicals who have recently...

All of Hollywood’s jaws dropped when Actress Dolores Hart announced that she would be leaving Beverly Hills behind to enter the convent as a novice. To be fair, who could blame them? Her colleagues couldn’t believe this young actress – at the peak of her career with several box office hits under her belt – was going to “throw it all away!” Of course, we know that Dolores hart certainly wasn’t “throwing her life away!” Nevertheless, many of us secretly want to know what led her to make such a dramatic decision! That’s why Doug Keck is hosting a...

When I say this is a prophecy I don’t want to suggest that I have had some sort of supernatural vision. This is not a prophecy in that sense, but a prophecy because prophets not only sometimes have supernatural revelations, but they are people who are also able to see the big picture, understand the times and circumstances and know the past so they can therefore predict the future.So here is my prediction: the vocations crisis in the Catholic Church in the United States is over.Here’s why: Fifty years after the revolution of the Second Vatican Council we are moving...

Muslims advocates gathered at the California state capitol. Photo courtesy of the Council on American-Islamic Relations CA. Sacramento, Calif., Jul 10, 2014 / 04:07 am (CNA).- Proposed California food safety rules for butchering animals have raised concerns among the state’s Muslims, who say the rules would prevent them from practicing their religious beliefs. “Religious freedom is an important issue for all Americans. It is at the core of the freedoms our country was founded on and a value we pride ourselves on,” Zahra Billoo, executive director of the Council of Islamic Relations’ San Francisco Bay Area Office, told CNA July...

“He executes justice for the fatherless and the widow, and loves the sojourner, giving him food and clothing.” Deuteronomy 10:18 (ESV)Christians are used to hearing people say “it’s the Christian thing to do.” Most often, it is by people deeply hostile to Christianity who say it. I get this all the time — even more so since I announced I am going to seminary. Liberals with no sense of Christianity want to tell Christians how they must behave and, by and large, hate us when we behave as Christians. Now, I know many of you do not share my faith....

The Catholic Church in the Philippines is encouraging members who are medical workers to refuse to implement a newly-approved birth control law, an official said on Thursday.MANILA: The Catholic Church in the Philippines is encouraging members who are medical workers to refuse to implement a newly-approved birth control law, an official said on Thursday. It is the latest move by the powerful church hierarchy in the largely Catholic Philippines against a law that took effect this year, compelling the state for the first time to provide free condoms and contraceptive pills. "Pastoral guidance" issued by bishops this week explains how...

Many actually believe they have been actually reading proverbs all along from chapter 1 to 9, but in fact those 9 chapters were originally written more as an introduction to proverbs, whereas chapter 10 is where Solomon's Proverbs actually begins. There are proverbs in the first 9 chapters, but not in the same way as the rest of the book. From here on forth, most of the proverbs are short an pithy, with two sentences in one verse. These verses correspond with each other by an opposition of terms and sentiments. The second verse is contrasted with the first...

Most Americans are deeply appreciative that our nation has welcomed millions of immigrants throughout our history. But is it possible to sustain a practice whereby social services are freely provided to anyone who can sneak across the border? Does such a practice ever reach a tipping point where it becomes self-defeating and detrimental to everyone in the nation? What does a community look like when there are not enough federal, state or local funds to meet the basic needs of the poor? Should limits ever be set on who gets to come across the border to America? Compare it to...

U.S. government officials were caught off guard by the recent rapid rise of ISIS in Iraq and Syria and its plan to establish a sharia-ruled caliphate state.Either they weren’t getting enough intelligence from their agents in the field, or else they lacked the framework for processing the information. Since the American Embassy in Baghdad has some 15,000 employees and since we can assume that this includes a sizeable contingent of intelligence gatherers, a problem with the framework is the more likely explanation. The framework is built around the assumption that Islam is a religion of peace, and that the...

In any discussion about the future of religion in America, especially as it relates to stalled growth in churches and denominations, those outside our religious communities find one theory especially compelling. This is the idea: that young Evangelicals are frustrated with Christian orthodoxy’s strict standards of sexual morality. We’re told that these young Evangelicals will soon revolutionize our churches with liberalized views on same-sex marriage, premarital sex, gender identity, and so on. But a new study by a University of Texas sociologist finds that Evangelical Christians ages 18 to 39 are resisting liberalizing trends in the culture. The suggestion of...