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A couple of weeks ago, I happened to think of the NEA and went to their site. That was where I happened to learn officially what I'd already suspected for awhile, that the most segregated schools in America weren't in the South. This is the NEA headline giving me the official news: "The Most Segregated Schools are in the South, right? Wrong." When I clicked on the link, though, what I received instead of the story was "Page not found," (which still, to this point, anyone can see since all is still the same to this point). The other news...

I don't normally care what a person believes when it comes to one's faith, well I do but I don't argue with them. Last night though .. I was outraged! Am I the only one to have heard the program?

April 7, 2014Monday of the Fifth Week of Lent    Reading 1 Dn 13:1-19, 15-17, 19-30, 33-62 In Babylon there lived a man named Joakim,who married a very beautiful and God-fearing woman, Susanna,the daughter of Hilkiah;her pious parents had trained their daughteraccording to the law of Moses.Joakim was very rich;he had a garden near his house,and the Jews had recourse to him oftenbecause he was the most respected of them all. That year, two elders of the people were appointed judges,of whom the Lord said, “Wickedness has come out of Babylon:from the elders who were to govern the people...

"Catabaptists" is Calvin's term for "Anabaptists" - the sixteenth century radicals who basically wanted nothing to do with the earthly state, and did not encourage concern for the office of a magistrate or (in this case) the monarch. Calvin is keen to demonstrate to the King that Protestants, whilst critical of religious matters, are of a different stripe. Protestants prove loyal citizens, regularly pray for the King, demonstrate courage and fortitude as both citizens and soldiers and are the salt of the earth. Calvin is speaking of himself in these closing lines of the preface; speaking, let it be said,...

Christians have flocked to defend a church in eastern China after Communist Party officials claimed it was an "illegal construction" and announced plans to demolish it Thousands of Chinese Christians have mounted an extraordinary, round-the-clock defence of a church in a city known as the 'Jerusalem of the East' after Communist Party officials threatened to bulldoze their place of worship. In an episode that underlines the fierce and long-standing friction between China's officially atheist Communist Party and its rapidly growing Christian congregation, Bible-carrying believers this week flocked to the Sanjiang church in Wenzhou hoping to protect it from the bulldozers....

The idea of practicing virtue to help and respect others is not absent from any part of the world. It is a basic law found everywhere. Therefore, no one has an excuse to not follow it. If we ever expect to have peace in the world, this is certainly where we can begin. The importance of this was well stated by Mohandas Gandhi: "To injure a single human being is to injure those divine powers within us, and thus the harm reaches not only that one human being, but with him the whole world." This makes it clear that whatever...

The Collision of God and Sin ". . . who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree . . ." —1 Peter 2:24 The Cross of Christ is the revealed truth of God’s judgment on sin. Never associate the idea of martyrdom with the Cross of Christ. It was the supreme triumph, and it shook the very foundations of hell. There is nothing in time or eternity more absolutely certain and irrefutable than what Jesus Christ accomplished on the Cross— He made it possible for the entire human race to be brought back into a...

His Agony and Our Access "Jesus came with them to a place called Gethsemane, and said to the disciples . . . . ’Stay here and watch with Me’" —Matthew 26:36, 38 We can never fully comprehend Christ’s agony in the Garden of Gethsemane, but at least we don’t have to misunderstand it. It is the agony of God and man in one Person, coming face to face with sin. We cannot learn about Gethsemane through personal experience. Gethsemane and Calvary represent something totally unique— they are the gateway into life for us.It was not death on the cross...

April 6, 2014Fifth Sunday of Lent   Reading 1 Ez 37:12-14 Thus says the Lord GOD: O my people, I will open your graves and have you rise from them, and bring you back to the land of Israel.Then you shall know that I am the LORD, when I open your graves and have you rise from them, O my people!I will put my spirit in you that you may live, and I will settle you upon your land; thus you shall know that I am the LORD.I have promised, and I will do it, says the LORD. Responsorial...

A member of a group sent this to me in response to a previous posting: Weird to suggest scripture on your side. Jesus made fun of people who accumulate wealth. Nothing in bible suggests Jesus would oppose inheritance or income tax. So many people pretend to be bible scholars without reading the bible. Bible explains unequivocally that all the early Christians lived as communists. So raise he'll about the need for no income or inheritance taxes if you want. You might be right. But you are a liar if you claim Jesus is on your side. New pope seems to...

Full Title: Pay No Attention to That Man Behind the Curtain! Roman Catholic History and the Emerald City Protocol In the field of Reformation studies, Professor Brad Gregory is somebody for whom I have immense respect.  Those outside the discipline of history are possibly unaware of the ravages which postmodernism brought in its wake, making all narratives negotiable and fuelling a rise in interest in all manner of trivia and marginal weirdness.  Dr. Gregory is trained in both philosophy and history and has done much to place the self-understanding of human agents back at the centre of historical analysis.  Thus,...

April 5, 2014Saturday of the Fourth Week of Lent    Reading 1 Jer 11:18-20 I knew their plot because the LORD informed me;at that time you, O LORD, showed me their doings. Yet I, like a trusting lamb led to slaughter,had not realized that they were hatching plots against me:“Let us destroy the tree in its vigor;let us cut him off from the land of the living,so that his name will be spoken no more.” But, you, O LORD of hosts, O just Judge,searcher of mind and heart,Let me witness the vengeance you take on them,for to you I...

U2 frontman Bono talks about faith and life

"In the days after Noah hit theaters, people opening the Noah story in Genesis 6 increased about 300% in US & 245% globally on @YouVersion," reported YouVersion on Twitter on Tuesday."Visits to the #Noah story in Genesis 6-9 at Bible Gateway saw a 223% increase over the previous weekend," tweeted Bible Gateway on Thursday.In addition to YouVersion, an app of the Scriptures which hit 100 million downloads last summer, and the website, BibleGateway, Google trends also showed spike in substantial increase in search queries for the Old Testament text. Commenting on the spike in Genesis traffic, Patton Dodd, the editor-in-chief of the...

Does Inaction Politicize the Faith? By Kristina Johannes Friday, 04 April 2014 I recently had lunch with a friend who is a revert to the Catholic faith. Now fervently Catholic, she has maintained the fiery and no nonsense evangelical spirit she picked up during her Protestant sojourn – one of the many reasons I enjoy spending time with her. This particular day she wanted to know why something hasn’t been done about politicians who support abortion or other practices that directly contradict the faith, and then are able to present to the public what amount to Catholic selfies. She...

April 4, 2014Friday of the Fourth Week of Lent    Reading 1 Wis 2:1a, 12-22 The wicked said among themselves, thinking not aright:“Let us beset the just one, because he is obnoxious to us;he sets himself against our doings,Reproaches us for transgressions of the lawand charges us with violations of our training.He professes to have knowledge of Godand styles himself a child of the LORD.To us he is the censure of our thoughts; merely to see him is a hardship for us,Because his life is not like that of others,and different are his ways.He judges us debased;he holds aloof...

Nearly 1,000 parents gathered at Charlotte Catholic High School on Wednesday night to air complaints about a recent speech to students by a nun who made what many considered inflammatory comments about gays and lesbians, divorce and single parenthood. So many parents lined up to speak that the meeting with high school officials, the school’s chaplain and the Diocese of Charlotte’s vicar of education lasted more than an hour longer than scheduled. Though the gathering was closed to the media, texts and tweets from parents inside the school gym cast the meeting as often heated, with emotions running high on...

April 3, 2014Thursday of the Fourth Week of Lent    Reading 1 Ex 32:7-14 The LORD said to Moses,“Go down at once to your peoplewhom you brought out of the land of Egypt,for they have become depraved.They have soon turned aside from the way I pointed out to them,making for themselves a molten calf and worshiping it,sacrificing to it and crying out,‘This is your God, O Israel,who brought you out of the land of Egypt!’The LORD said to Moses,“I see how stiff-necked this people is.Let me alone, then,that my wrath may blaze up against them to consume them.Then I...

After Rumspringa (running around) is over, the Amish young person returns after being gone for two years, and agrees to live according to the Amish ordnung (rules for living) pertaining to clothing, trnasportation, electrical appliances/power, etc, how do Amish bishops, ministers and deacons deal with the inward person(s) that none can see? Which is a greater threat to an Amish person's salvation - the "English" or the carnal man/sinful nature that we (Christian or non-Christian still possess and have to deal with until we are are glorified in heaven? The Apostle Paul: I do the things that I don't want...

April 2, 2014Wednesday of the Fourth Week of Lent  Reading 1 Is 49:8-15 Thus says the LORD:In a time of favor I answer you,on the day of salvation I help you;and I have kept you and given you as a covenant to the people,To restore the landand allot the desolate heritages,Saying to the prisoners: Come out!To those in darkness: Show yourselves!Along the ways they shall find pasture,on every bare height shall their pastures be.They shall not hunger or thirst,nor shall the scorching wind or the sun strike them;For he who pities them leads themand guides them beside springs of...