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  M E R I D I A N     M A G A Z I N E Have You Been Born Again?By Brent L. TopAt a large gathering of Latter-day Saints several years ago, something was said to me by one of the guests that both surprised and troubled me.  The speaker was addressing the important doctrinal topic of salvation by grace and spiritual rebirth--being "born again." After the talk was completed, one of the people in attendance approached me with this question, "We don't believe that stuff, do we?"The "we" in his question meant Latter-day Saints, and the "that stuff"...

Evangelical Christians living in Jerusalem on Sunday voiced unflinching support for presumptive Republican nominee John McCain, and heaped praise on his surprise selection of Alaska Governor Sarah Palin as his running mate. "McCain has a depth of understanding of foreign policy - including in the Middle East - which makes him the best choice for Israel," said Michael Mott, a native of Colorado who has lived in Israel for the past 12 years. McCain's choice of Palin was a "strategic move" that "blew away" last week's Democratic National Convention, he said, adding that it was certain to win him more...

In 1943 during WW2, an army Sgt., Ed Davis, was working in Iran near the Turkish border, in charge of locals hired by our army to build a road through Iran to the Soviet border, which would carry supplies to the Soviets instead of flying them in. In short, Ed did a tremendous favor for a little Kurdish village near Ararat. His workers were mostly Kurds and the chief of the village came to Ed and asked if he would like to see Noah's Ark. He said the summer on the mountain had been hottest in many years and the...

The denial of the One True Church:"John to the seven Churches that are in Asia..." Rev 1:4 "Anyone can see from the very beginning of Christianity that there were many denominations, for the Bible is 'very clear' to show us this in that verse, and in many others!" This is what I have been told by those who refuse to believe that the Catholic Church is the one true Church which Jesus Christ founded. It is too bad that non-Catholics cannot understand the fact that all of those Churches were founded by the Apostles who were all infused with the...

Democrats have invited more than two dozen religious leaders to pray or speak at their upcoming conventioin with a notable exception: Denver Archbishop Charles J. Chaput, a policy wonk and the leader of Colorado's largest religious denomination. Several Catholics, including former Colorado state Sen. Polly Baca, "Dead Man Walking" author Sister Helen Prejean, social justice lobbyist Sister Catherine Pinkerton and Pepperdine University professor Douglas W. Kmiec, are on the program. Organizers are also flying in Greek Orthodox Archbishop Demetrios from New York to give the opening prayer Wednesday. But Archbishop Chaput's only contact with the convention has been a meeting...

The founder of Operation Rescue, Randall Terry is in Denver today to distribute his organization’s new flyer, “Is it Immoral to Vote for Obama for President?” His mission for the visit is simple: “hand out 100,000 copies of the brochure, ‘Is it Immoral to Vote for Obama for President?’ to Catholics and Evangelicals. It has a profoundly jolting effect on readers, explained Mr. Terry. Mr. Terry and his staff are recruiting volunteers to help with the distribution from Tuesday 8/19 – to Sunday 8/24. They will go to malls, shopping centers, streets, and churches to hand out the brochure. “It...

It’s all over the net. All kinds of talk about Anglicans swimming, put on swim trunks, taking the plunge, testing the waters, dipping the toe, crossing over, etc. It will be a wonder if the Tiber can handle the traffic as well as it handles the copious references to the metaphor … if they all come.Those who do come are deserving of a hearty welcome from those of us standing along the shore. They certainly will have paid a hefty price in strained and even lost friendships as they have made a momentous and meaningful journey to the Catholic...

15-July-2008 -- Catholic News Agency   Religious Voters Favor McCain, Poll Claims Princeton, Jul 15, 2008 (CNA).- A new Gallup Poll claims to show that registered voters who say religion is important in their lives tend to support presumptive Republican presidential nominee Sen. John McCain by a margin of 50 to 40 percent, while those who say religion is unimportant to their lives tend to support presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Sen. Barack Obama by a margin of 55 to 36 percent. About two-thirds of the registered voters surveyed by Gallup said that religion is important to them. According to...

An open letter to Mr. Stephen A. Baldwin, Actor, and “born again” Christian. Dear Mr. Baldwin, Praise God, you have become a strong voice in winning souls for Jesus as one who has experienced the saving grace of the Redeemer. May you always use your notoriety to spread the Good News. It has been my experience that when an individual submits themselves to Christ, they undergo a deep conversion of heart. A tremendous weight is lifted, and they receive a sense of inner peace and joy. There is also the need to share this wonderful experience with others in the...

Good reasons exist not to support Mitt Romney as John McCain's running mate, but religious grounds should not be one of them, asserted the Standard-Examiner's lead editorial on Aug. 5 ("The campaign's religious bigotry"). The "B" word was repeatedly used to describe evangelical Christian leaders dead-set against Romney due to his Mormon faith. Their opposition was called a "sour rationale" done in "a rather un-Christian manner," and it was also suggested that Mike Huckabee's supporters should "put aside their prejudices against the Mormon faith." It would be wonderful if voters made their decisions only on the issues, but it has...

< snip > Understanding Evangelicals One of the most frequently reported on groups of voters is evangelicals. Most media polls use a simplistic approach to defining evangelicals, asking survey respondents if they consider themselves to be evangelical. Barna Group surveys, on the other hand, ask a series of nine questions about a person’s religious beliefs in order to determine if they are an evangelical. The differences between the two approaches are staggering. Using the common approach of allowing people to self-identify as evangelicals, 40% of adults classify themselves as such. Among them, 83% are likely to vote in November. Among...

Evangelicals: Change of Heart toward Catholics Evangelicals have been going through a major change of heart in their view of Catholicism over the past 15 years or so. In the 80’s when I was in college I lived in the Biblebelt and had plenty of experience with Evangelicals–much of it bad experience. The 80’s was the height of the “Are you saved?� question. In Virginia, the question often popped up in the first 10 minutes of getting to know someone. As I look back, Isurmise that this was coached from the pulpit or Sunday school as it was so well...

I recently visited a local Bookstore and in the Religion section noted the following title “They like Jesus but Not the Church: Insights from Emerging Generations”. In a quick review of its contents, I saw nothing new. This claim emerges repeatedly in some Christian circles, the notion that you can separate Jesus from His Church. The very concept would have seemed nonsensical to the early Christians and it still should to those who choose to stand on their shoulders and carry forward the fullness of Christianity into a waiting world... The very notion that we can “shop” for a church...

Judged on the basis of the Reformed confessions and the classic reformed of theology of the 16th and 17th centuries, there can be no doubt that the Reformed theology, piety, and practice, is evangelical. The great difficulty in this discussion is that, in our time, the word the evangelical no longer denotes what it did in the 16th have the 17th centuries. Since the 18th century, and particularly since the middle of the 19th century, the word of evangelical has come to denote what I call ”the quest for illegitimate religious experience” (QIRC). By that I mean to say that...

At the start of every presidential race, the Democrats perform a masochistic ritual. They promise to take a stand in Dixieland, get in touch with their inner NASCAR, sweet-talk the Southerners with a heavy emphasis on faith and flag. The aim, every time, is to capture some of those states and thereby clinch the election. Care to guess how well the Democrats have fared lately? Eleven Southern states compose the Old Confederacy. The last Democratic nominee, John Kerry, won zip and lost 11. The previous nominee, Al Gore, won zip and lost 11. Indeed, all the Democratic nominees since 1980...

This is a Gospel video, with a balloon message and is created with scenic pictures of autumn and the song is, “ Higher “, sung by: Evangelist Ezekiel Cash.

A Watertown pastor suspected tonight of having sexual contact with a child. KSFY obtained these court documents which lays out the case against Dennis Hayes. In documents released by Watertown Police, we're told the suspected contact happened last Friday when Hayes took a juvenile boy he had been mentoring from the "Southwest Youth Services Center" in Magnolia, Minnesota to a library in Luverne, Minnesota. The boy claims during the drive to Luverne, Hayes held his hand and told him he loved him. While at the Luverne library, he claims Hayes rubbed his back outside his shirt. During the drive back...

Autumn Balloon is a message video of the soon return of Jesus Christ for his Church.

Autumn Balloon is a message video of the soon return of Jesus Christ for his Church. Song of this video is, “One Day”, sung by Evangelist Ezekiel Cash.

The Catholic Church’s teaching on papal infallibility is one which is generally misunderstood by those outside the Church. In particular, Fundamentalists and other "Bible Christians" often confuse the charism of papal "infallibility" with "impeccability." They imagine Catholics believe the pope cannot sin. Others, who avoid this elementary blunder, think the pope relies on some sort of amulet or magical incantation when an infallible definition is due. Given these common misapprehensions regarding the basic tenets of papal infallibility, it is necessary to explain exactly what infallibility is not. Infallibility is not the absence of sin. Nor is it a charism...

Is William Wilberforce your ancestor? What does it mean to be an evangelical? Decade after decade new declarations and explanations emerge, and some are mouthfuls of mush. But the latest, titled "An Evangelical Manifesto: The Washington Declaration of Evangelical Identity and Public Commitment," scheduled for unveiling on May 7 by a group including Leith Anderson, president of the National Association of Evangelicals, and leading lights Rick Warren, Os Guinness, Dallas Willard, Timothy George, and Richard Mouw, is likely to do some good. Although "manifesto" is an arrogant-sounding word, this one's confessions are credible, its hopes holistic, and its goals generous....

Ah, spring. Fresh flowers, fresh leaves, fresh leases on life...and, in step with a tradition dating back to around 2004--the year when Christian "values voters" reportedly seized our fragile nation's helm--there's also a fresh crop of new books unabashedly bashing evangelicals. Leading the pack is "The Family: The Secret Fundamentalism at the Heart of American Power," which is yet another entry in the behind-the-scenes, just-like-Skull-and-Bones Christian conspiracy genre. Luckily for yawning readers, there's also a newer, cuter, echoes-of-Jon-Stewart form of Christian-bashing on the 2008 market, which involves shelving the drama, loading up on the irony, going undercover and making merciless...

They were not the most confident lot, this group of early followers of the One who was crucified and then raised from the dead. Even though they had seen Him defeat the final enemy, death, they were afraid as they gathered in that upper room. Right before He ascended He had promised that He would not leave them orphans but would send another comforter once He returned to the Father. He told them they would receive power from on high and be able to continue His work on earth until He returned. In that Cenacle, along with His mother, they...

The Holy Father addressed representatives of other Christian communities during an ecumenical encounter at St. Joseph's Church, New York, 18 April 2008. Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ, My heart abounds with gratitude to Almighty God - "the Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all" (Eph 4:6) - for this blessed opportunity to gather with you this evening in prayer. I thank Bishop Dennis Sullivan for his cordial welcome, and I warmly greet all those in attendance representing Christian communities throughout the United States. May the peace of our Lord and Savior be...

One of the fundamental principles of Christianity is that nothing is sacred. No thing. No part of creation is God. God is separate from the creation. Creation is only to be respected (made holy) as the handiwork of our God. It is never to be worshiped. This is why western civilization holds nothing sacred. Not king, not country, not flag, not clergy. This is the basis of our freedoms. The first ammendment rights are based on this idea. This is where the founding fathers got this stuff. Fundamentalist evangelicals violate this basic principle every time the put the printed Bible...

April 7 - Rosalind Moss Former Jew and Evangelical Christian A rolled-away stone gathers Moss: from Judaism to CatholicismHow does a Jewish person of faith convert to Catholicism? To judge by Rosalind Moss’s eighteen-year journey into the Church, the answer is . . . very slowly. Raised in Brooklyn, in a conservative Jewish home with one older brother and one younger sister, Moss never even considered that she would ever be anything other than Jewish. “It’s what I was. We were God’s people. That was my identity,” says Moss. “We waited for the Messiah to come,” adds Moss, “but...

On Sunday, Likud opposition leader Binyamin Netanyahu described Christian Zionists as Israel’s best friends: This is a friendship of the heart, a friendship of common roots, and a friendship of common civilization. The comments came at an Evangelical event in Jerusalem organized by the San Antonio, Texas-based Christians United for Israel and led by evangelical Pastor John Hagee. There’s always a lot of grumbling about the Jewish-Evangelical alliance in support of Israel.

WASHINGTON, March 31 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Pope Benedict XVI will lead an ecumenical prayer service April 18, at St. Joseph's Church in the Yorkville area of Manhattan. Participants at the service will include 250 national and local Protestant and Orthodox Church leaders. St. Joseph's Church was built in the 19th century by the immigrant German community that settled in the area and today serves a diverse population. A Sunday Mass is still celebrated in German. The pope will address the group after a reading from Paul's letter to the Ephesians (4:1-6) and before the congregation prays the Lord's Prayer. At the...

What is Sola Scriptura? "We believe in the Bible alone and the Bible in its entirety as the sole rule of faith for the Christian!" You may have heard these words or something very similar to them from a Fundamentalist or Evangelical Protestant. They are, in essence, the meaning of the doctrine of Sola Scriptura, or "Scripture alone," which alleges that the Bible – as interpreted by the individual believer – is the only source of religious authority and is the Christian’s sole rule of faith or criterion regarding what is to be believed. By this doctrine, which is one...

My first personal encounter with the Blessed Virgin Mary happened while I was a student at an Evangelical Anglican seminary in England. I had been brought up as an Evangelical and found my way into the Anglican church. There I was preparing for ordination. A Catholic friend who was a Benedictine oblate suggested that I might like to visit a Catholic Benedictine monastery. While there I told one of the monks that during a time of contemplative prayer I had sensed God’s presence in a very real, but feminine way. The femininity disturbed me because I knew God isn’t feminine....

When I read of Deal Hudson’s outreach and encounter, I rejoiced. It shows that the work of authentic ecumenism continues. Deal used a difficult situation to make progress with another Christian.

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — An evangelical group that wants to reshape the movement's political reputation for being focused on opposing abortion and same-sex marriage is hoping that a series of meetings stressing its roots in women's suffrage and abolition will help it break out of the mold. The stated goal of the first three-day "justice revival," one of several to be held around the country, is to tackle poverty in the city through a collaboration with Big Brothers Big Sisters. But the broader idea is to energize the relatively small liberal end of the evangelical spectrum by linking religious faith...

Seeing the Secular Light by: Malcolm A. Kline, March 18, 2008 College professors trying to make young Evangelicals see the secular light might be making some headway, at least, according to the more left-leaning of these people of faith. “The majority of young Evangelicals polled say that James Dobson and Pat Robertson do not speak for them,” Dr. Robert Jones said in a conference call on March 10.... “There are 5% more Democrats and 10% more independents.” Jones, the author of Progressive and Religious, spoke in a teleconference organized by the Center for American Progress.... “Young Evangelicals do not agree...

Sen. John McCain Washington DC, Mar 9, 2008 / 02:01 am (CNA).- Exit polls from the Republican primaries in Texas and Ohio illustrate that evangelicals voted overwhelmingly for Mike Huckabee, though McCain was already dubbed the “presumptive nominee”, reports Cybercast News Service.  Analysts predict that McCain will have to win the support of evangelicals to win the presidency in November.MSNBC’s exit polls showed that in Texas, 60% of those who attend church more than once a week voted for Huckabee while only 33% supported McCain.  Ohio demonstrated a similar trend with 54% of church attendees choosing Huckabee and 45%...

Fasting, and giving up chocolate and favorite pastimes like watching TV during the 40 days before Easter are practices many evangelical Protestants have long rejected as too Catholic and unbiblical.But Lent -- a time of inner cleansing and reflection upon Jesus Christ's sufferings before his resurrection -- is one of many ancient church practices being embraced by an increasing number of evangelicals, sometimes with a modern twist. The National Community Church, which has three locations in the District and one in Arlington County, updated the Lenten fast by adding a Web component: a 40-day blog, where participants from as far...

Saturday night in midtown Manhattan, and 25 college students are packed into the living room of a small apartment. The festivities are about to get underway, and in this demographic, in this town, that typically means mind-altering substances, which segue to deafening music, which ultimately leads to nudity. That's not happening here. There isn't a bong in sight, or a drop of liquor. Just 7Up and Edy's ice cream. And when the student in charge of this shindig says it's time for the evening to begin, he doesn't bust out a cooler of Smirnoff Ice. He asks everyone to bow...

SACRAMENTO, CA (CNS) - Rosalind Moss, an author who is an Eternal Word Television Network TV host and one of the network's radio hosts, announced Feb. 13 that she is starting a new community of sisters in the Archdiocese of St. Louis with the permission of Archbishop Raymond L. Burke. The new group will be called the Daughters of Mary, Mother of Israel's Hope, she told an audience of more than 200 at the Catholic Breakfast Club of Sacramento. Moss, 65, said she hopes to move to St. Louis within a few months, intends to fulfill as many of her...

Image courtesy of istockphoto.com. click for info Born Again Voters No Longer Favor Republican Candidates February 4, 2008 (Ventura, CA)One of the most reliable constituencies of the Republican Party in recent years has been born again Christians. A new national survey of likely voters conducted by The Barna Group, however, shows that the Republicans have lost the allegiance of many born again voters. The November election is truly up for grabs - and if the election were held today, most born again voters would select the Democratic Party nominee for president, whoever that might be. Born Again Voting Pattern...

Hong KongTrappist priest Rev. Nicholas Kao Se-Tsien, Hong Kong’s oldest man, who recited the rosary devotion 15 times a day for world peace every day from 1932, has died at the age of 110. Father Kao was a member of the Trappist monastic community in Hong Kong, and he was believed to be the oldest Chinese priest in the world. His superior, Dom Anastasius Li, said Father Kao died peacefully in his sleep on Dec. 11 in Hong Kong, having been well prepared for his last day. The Roman Catholic priest witnessed turbulent changes in China from the day he...

I live in a beautiful rural valley of 700 people in eastern Idaho and after I came to live here I found out that Utah isn’t the only place that is fifty percent Mormon. As a compulsively inquisitive geo-political junkie I decided to look through the Book of Mormon so I could learn a little about the belief of my neighbors. As with any outsider looking into another’s faith, I found many outlandish passages that would require faith to swallow, however, this is a characteristic that all religions share. What I have learned of my Mormon neighbors in the years...

Pastor convicted of soliciting sex from teenager Associated Press WEST CHESTER, Pa. - A Philadelphia pastor who has condemned homosexuality and was known for using a bullhorn to preach to passers-by at colleges was convicted Wednesday of soliciting sex from a teenager. Jurors deliberated for 3 1/2 hours before convicting the Rev. Craig Stephen White of criminal solicitation to commit involuntary deviate sexual intercourse and related offenses. White, 40, who faces a minimum of three years on the most serious charge, showed no reaction, and neither did his wife. His mother wept and said, "He's innocent; he's innocent." Chester County...

Monrovia - An evangelical pastor described the atrocities he and his men committed during the Liberian civil war, including magical rituals that involved slaughtering children and eating their hearts. Joshua Milton Blahyi spared no details on Tuesday as he told Liberia's Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) of his years with one of the most feared militias of the war. Dressed in an immaculate suit, Blahyi, 37, said it was for the TRC to decide whether he should be given an amnesty or prosecuted. "I am willing to go to court if necessary," he said. "And I will repeat just what...

NEW YORK (Catholic League) - On January 7, an anti-Huckabee skit trashed Jesus on a radio show, “Fair Game with Faith Salie.” It aired on KCPW, Utah’s National Public Radio station. Here is a transcript of the offensive segment: [Woman’s voice]: And now another Huckabee family recipe leaked by his opponents. [Male Voice]: Tired of bland unsatisfying Eucharists? Try this Huckabee family favorite. Deep-Fried Body of Christ--boring holy wafers no more. Take one Eucharist. Preferably post transubstantiation. Deep-fry in fat, not vegetable oil, ladies, until crispy. Serve piping hot. Mike likes to top his Christ with whipped cream and sprinkles....

Secular America looks at the rise of Mike Huckabee and fears the growing influence of evangelical Christians in the political process. This evangelical Christian columnist fears it too, for exactly the opposite reason. Huckabee’s win in the Iowa caucuses, and his sudden viability as a candidate for the Republican presidential nomination, owes to one thing and one thing only. Large numbers of evangelical voters are looking for someone to represent their values, and Huckabee is the only candidate who seems to do so.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Duncan Hunter Accepts GodVoter.org Endorsement December 29, 2007

Romney's Speech Strengthens Theologian's Endorsement Wayne Grudem believes evangelicals should promote religious liberty by being willing to vote for candidates who have different beliefs. Interview by Sarah Pulliam | posted 12/07/2007 09:25AM If as evangelicals we are going to support the principles on which our nation was founded, then we need to defend the principles of religious liberty. That means that non-evangelicals are not only full citizens but eligible for office as well. I would hate to see us come to the point where we would essentially be saying non-evangelicals are welcome to be citizens but we will never ever...

This is a big one folks. In a Brody File exclusive, we've found out that Paul Weyrich, the former co-founder of The Moral Majority has endorsed Mitt Romney for President. The Brody File has the press release. Read below: Today, Paul Weyrich, Chairman and CEO of the Free Congress Research and Education Foundation, announced his support for Governor Mitt Romney and his campaign to be our country's next President. Paul Weyrich is one of the premier leaders in the conservative movement, having founded the Heritage Foundation and the American Legislative Exchange Council. "As he travels across the country, Governor Romney...

Dr. Don Wilton, Former President Of The South Carolina Baptist Convention, Endorses Gov. Romney Friday, Oct 19, 2007 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: Kevin Madden (857) 288-6390Boston, MA – Today, Dr. Don Wilton, the immediate-past President of the South Carolina Baptist Convention, announced his support for Governor Mitt Romney and his campaign for the presidency. Dr. Wilton's endorsement is another indication of Governor Romney's growing support among faith and values leaders in South Carolina and across the nation. "I am proud to stand alongside Governor Romney as he pursues our nation's highest office. His values are my values – protecting the sanctity of...

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Lost in the coverage of Harry Reid's pilgrimage to Salt Lake City this week was this small paragraph from the Desert Morning News... Reid also told reporters the Republican Party has been driven by evangelical Christians for 20 years. "They are the most anti-Christian people I can imagine, the people from the Christian far right." Let that statement sink in for a minute.