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Religion & Culture (Religion)

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  • 'Fasting, confession prayer:' Orthodox churches fight drop

    04/23/2017 2:32:43 PM PDT · by vladimir998 · 15 replies
    PITTSBURGH TRIBUNE-REVIEW and The Associated Press ^ | April 22, 2017 | Stephen Huba & Michael Walton
    The bright blue cupolas atop SS. Cyril & Methodius Orthodox Church are an unmistakable landmark in Jeannette — symbols of a parish once home to more than 50 Russian families. In Monessen, families used to fill folding chairs beside packed church pews during Sunday services at St. Michael Antiochian Orthodox Church. Not so today. Not at St. Michael, not at SS. Cyril & Methodius and not at many other Orthodox churches in southwestern Pennsylvania.
  • Proverb A Day, Proverb 23 [Prayer and Meditation]

    04/23/2017 9:54:59 AM PDT · by OneVike · 8 replies
    Bible NKJV ^ | 900 B.C. | Solomon
    Proverb 23 (NKJV) Listen to Your Father 01 When you sit down to eat with a ruler, 00 Consider carefully what is before you; 02 And put a knife to your throat 00 If you are a man given to appetite. 03 Do not desire his delicacies, 00 For they are deceptive food. 04 Do not overwork to be rich; 00 Because of your own understanding, cease! 05 Will you set your eyes on that which is not? 00 For riches certainly make themselves wings; 00 They fly away like an eagle toward heaven. 06 Do not eat the...
  • Catholics to become largest group of churchgoers in Scotland

    04/23/2017 5:36:14 AM PDT · by vladimir998 · 15 replies
    Catholic Herald (U.K.) ^ | 4/21/2017 | Staff Reporter
    Researcher says that, if trends continue, more Catholics than Presbyterians will be in church on Sunday The Catholic Church is likely to become the largest churchgoing denomination in Scotland. Figures from the 2016 Scottish Church Census reveal that the Catholic Church and Church of Scotland both make up 35 per cent of the churchgoing population, but that the Catholic proportion is expanding.
  • Daily Light on the Daily Path for April 23 [Morning] [Bible-Themed Devotional*]

    04/22/2017 9:11:39 PM PDT · by givemWatts · 2 replies
    The Holy Scriptures | King James
    The Lord was my stay. Truly in vain is salvation hoped for from the hills, and from the multitude of mountains: truly in the Lord our God is the Salvation of Israel. The Lord is my Rock, and my Fortress, and my Deliverer; my God, my Strength, in whom I will trust; my Buckler, and the Horn of my Salvation, and my High Tower. Cry out and shout, thou inhabitant of Zion; for great is the Holy One of Israel in the midst of thee. The angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear him, and delivereth them....
  • Daily Light on the Daily Path for April 22 Evening [Bible Themed Devotional*]

    04/22/2017 1:29:19 PM PDT · by givemWatts · 5 replies
    The Holy Scriptures | King James
    Great is Thy mercy toward me: and Thou hast delivered my soul from the lowest hell. Fear Him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. Fear not: for I have redeemed thee, I have called thee by thy name; thou art Mine. I, even I, am the LORD; and beside Me there is no Saviour. I, even I, am He that blotteth out thy transgressions for Mine own sake, and will not remember thy sins, - They that trust in their wealth, and boast themselves in the multitude of their riches; none of them can by...
  • Proverb A Day, Proverb 22 [Prayer and Meditation]

    04/22/2017 8:49:10 AM PDT · by OneVike · 6 replies
    900 B.C. | Solomon
    Proverb 22 (NKJV) The Value of a Good Name 01 A good name is to be chosen rather than great riches, 00 Loving favor rather than silver and gold. 02 The rich and the poor have this in common, 00 The LORD is the maker of them all. 03 A prudent man foresees evil and hides himself, 00 But the simple pass on and are punished. 04 By humility and the fear of the LORD 00 Are riches and honor and life. 05 Thorns and snares are in the way of the perverse; 00 He who guards his soul...
  • Daily Light on the Daily Path for April 22 <u>Morning</u> [Bible Devotional]

    04/21/2017 8:54:32 PM PDT · by givemWatts · 5 replies
    The Holy Scriptures | King James
    If his offering be a burnt sacrifice of the herd, let him offer a male without blemish: he shall offer it of his own voluntary will. And he shall put his hand upon the head of the burnt offering; and it shall be accepted for him to make atonement for him. God will provide Himself a lamb for a burnt offering. — Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world. — We are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. — A ransom for many. No man taketh it...
  • Forgiveness: Muslims Moved as Coptic Christians Do the Unimaginable

    04/21/2017 5:01:45 PM PDT · by marshmallow · 65 replies
    Christianity Today ^ | 4/20/17 | Jayson Casper
    Twelve seconds of silence is an awkward eternity on television. Amr Adeeb, perhaps the most prominent talk show host in Egypt, leaned forward as he searched for a response. “The Copts of Egypt … are made of … steel!” he finally uttered. Moments earlier, Adeeb was watching a colleague in a simple home in Alexandria speak with the widow of Naseem Faheem, the guard at St. Mark’s Cathedral in the seaside Mediterranean city. On Palm Sunday, the guard had redirected a suicide bomber through the perimeter metal detector, where the terrorist detonated. Likely the first to die in the blast,...
  • Daily Light on the Daily Path for April 21, 2017 Evening [Bible Devotional]

    04/21/2017 11:36:53 AM PDT · by givemWatts · 8 replies
    The Holy Bible | King James
    April 21, 2017 EVENING Enoch walked with God. Gen. 5:22 Can two walk together, except they be agreed? Amos 3:3 Having made peace through the blood of his cross.... You, that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled in the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in his sight. Col. 1:20-22 In Christ Jesus ye who sometime were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ. Eph. 2:13 If when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death...
  • Proverb A Day, Proverb 21 [Prayer and Meditation]

    04/21/2017 9:23:25 AM PDT · by OneVike · 4 replies
    Bible NKJV ^ | 900 B.C. | Solomon
    Proverb 21 (NKJV) The LORD Considers the Heart 01 The king's heart is in the hand of the LORD, 00 Like the rivers of water; He turns it wherever He wishes. 02 Every way of a man is right in his own eyes, 00 But the LORD weighs the hearts. 03 To do righteousness and justice 00 Is more acceptable to the LORD than sacrifice. 04 A haughty look, a proud heart, 00 And the plowing of the wicked are sin. 05 The plans of the diligent lead surely to plenty, 00 But those of everyone who is hasty,...
  • America Prayer Vigil 4/21/2017 [Prayer]

    04/21/2017 5:20:01 AM PDT · by JustaCowgirl · 49 replies
    APV Prayer Team ^ | 4/21/2017 | FR Prayer Team
    Please join us in prayer for our country and our leaders. They feel your prayers and need them. Pence Tells Florida Megachurch ‘We Feel It’ When People Pray for President Trump 'We feel it' When people pray for President Trump
  • Terrorist Attack Against the Greek Orthodox Monastery of St. Catherine [Sinai]

    04/20/2017 7:12:50 PM PDT · by marshmallow · 5 replies
    Agenzia Fides ^ | 4/19/17
    Cairo (Agenzia Fides) - Gunmen opened fire on an Egyptian police checkpoint near Saint Catherine's Monastery in Sinai late on Tuesday, April 18, killing one policeman and wounding four officials. ISIS claimed responsibility for the attack. After an exchange of gunfire, the attackers fled the scene, and some of the gunmen were wounded in the shootout. The monks in the Monastery, which is several kilometers from the checkpoint, had only heard the sound of gunfire, confirming that the assault did not cause damage to the monastic community. According to Egyptian media, that contacted the spokesman for the monks, Father Gregorios,...
  • Still Shrouded in Mystery

    04/20/2017 10:51:49 AM PDT · by NYer · 45 replies
    Crisis Magazine ^ | April 20, 2017 | K. V. TURLEY
    It was sometime in the late 1970s—or was it the early 1980s? The priest in charge marched us to the school’s lecture theatre where we were soon plunged into darkness as a large screen lit up.This was no Hollywood fare, however, but a film about the Turin Shroud. To this day, I can remember sitting there, mesmerized by what looked and sounded like any well-made television documentary but which seemed to suggest that the relic was more, much more, than merely an object of piety.The film in question was The Silent Witness (1978). It was the work of David...
  • Proverb A Day, Proverb 20 [Prayer and Meditation]

    04/20/2017 7:44:45 AM PDT · by OneVike · 1 replies
    Bible NKJV ^ | 900 B.C. | Solomon
    Proverb 20 (NKJV) Wine Is a Mocker 01 Wine is a mocker, 00 Strong drink is a brawler, 00 And whoever is led astray by it is not wise. 02 The wrath of a king is like the roaring of a lion; 00 Whoever provokes him to anger sins against his own life. 03 It is honorable for a man to stop striving, 00 Since any fool can start a quarrel. 04 The lazy man will not plow because of winter; 00 He will beg during harvest and have nothing. 05 Counsel in the heart of man is like...
  • Pro-Francis Posters Go Up in Rome, Striking a Different Chord

    04/19/2017 12:59:23 PM PDT · by marshmallow · 7 replies
    Catholic News Agency ^ | 4/18/17 | Hannah Brockhaus
    Vatican City, Apr 18, 2017 / 07:58 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Just two months after Pope Francis faced intense backlash for his reforms when critical posters were plastered around Rome, a new set went up around the city over Easter, this time praising the Pope for his commitment to mercy and inclusion. “Thank you Pope Francis! For your true Christian engagement with love and mercy, as demanded by Jesus so often in our Holy Bible.”This was the phrase written on some 300 posters that were hung April 14 around Rome’s city center and near the Vatican, and which will remain until...
  • Catholic Guilt(y) [Catholic Caucus]

    04/19/2017 10:48:47 AM PDT · by ebb tide
    The Torch of Faith ^ | April 19, 2017
    Catholic Guilt(y) Torch of The Faith News on Wednesday 19 April 2017 - 03:33:29 | by admin Notwithstanding his position as the Catholic Archbishop of Dublin, we hear that Diarmuid Martin used his Good Friday Way of the Cross, as well as his Easter Sunday sermon, to disparage the Catholic Church and faithful. And so, the faithful who attended those ceremonies hoping to enter prayerfully into the Easter mysteries, were instead exposed to the spectacle of their local Davos-attending prelate describing Catholicism as a ''faith of prohibitions'' and a ''religion of fear''. Having bemoaned the Church's past treatment of single...
  • PopeWatch: Global Tolerance Initiative

    04/19/2017 9:33:04 AM PDT · by ebb tide · 4 replies
    The American Catholic ^ | Donald R. McClarey
    PopeWatch: Global Tolerance Initiative Wednesday, April 19, AD 2017 Donald R. McClarey One aspect of this Pontificate is how many odd events have occurred during it. A recent example: Just two months after Pope Francis faced intense backlash for his reforms when critical posters were plastered around Rome, a new set went up around the city over Easter, this time praising the pope for his commitment to mercy and inclusion. “Thank you Pope Francis! For your true Christian engagement with love and mercy, as demanded by Jesus so often in our Holy Bible.” This was the phrase written on some...
  • ISIS: The Embodiment of Islam (Contrary to what the many apologetic Muslims in the West offer)

    04/19/2017 6:43:37 AM PDT · by SeekAndFind · 3 replies
    American Thinker ^ | 04/19/2017 | Shari Goodman
    For the last few years, the world has been subjected with increasing regularity to bloody terrorism waged upon innocent civilians worldwide by the Islamic State in their holy war against all non-believers. Their warfare, once reserved and contained within the Middle East, is now a battlefield in the streets of Paris, Brussels, London, New York, Orlando, Boston, Sydney, and San Bernardino, and many other cities. Here in the West, the many Muslim Brotherhood front groups such as CAIR (Council on American Islamic Relations, ISNA (Islamic Society of North America), and MPAC (Muslim Public Affairs Council) would have us believe that...
  • The awe-inspiring beauty of Armenian Christianity in Iran

    04/18/2017 2:55:50 PM PDT · by NYer · 8 replies
    Aletelia ^ | April 18, 2017 | Daniel Esparza
    Bedkhem Church's intricate decoration makes it one of the jewels of Isfahan. The Bedkhem (Bethlehem) Church is an Armenian Apostolic church in the Julfa quarter in Isfahan, Iran. The city itself, Isfahan, is nicknamed Nesf-e Jahān, “Half of the World,” so that puts this church “in the center of the world.”Armenians have had a presence in what is modern-day Iran for thousands of years, interacting with the ancient Persian empire and, later on, with Shia Muslim rulers. In the early 1600s, the ruler Shah Abbas I forced Armenians out of what had been considered their ancestral lands and relocated them...
  • Proverb A Day, Proverb 18 [Prayer and Meditation]

    04/18/2017 12:52:11 PM PDT · by OneVike · 3 replies
    Bible NKJV ^ | 900 B.C. | Solomon
    Proverb 18 (NKJV) The Name of the LORD Is a Strong Tower 01 A man who isolates himself seeks his own desire; 00 He rages against all wise judgment. 02 A fool has no delight in understanding, 00 But in expressing his own heart. 03 When the wicked comes, contempt comes also; 00 And with dishonor comes reproach. 04 The words of a man's mouth are deep waters; 00 The wellspring of wisdom is a flowing brook. 05 It is not good to show partiality to the wicked, 00 Or to overthrow the righteous in judgment. 06 A fool's...