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February 11, 2015Wednesday of the Fifth Week in Ordinary Time    Reading 1 Gn 2:4b-9, 15-17 At the time when the LORD God made the earth and the heavens— while as yet there was no field shrub on earthand no grass of the field had sprouted,for the LORD God had sent no rain upon the earthand there was no man to till the soil, but a stream was welling up out of the earthand was watering all the surface of the ground—the LORD God formed man out of the clay of the groundand blew into his nostrils the breath...

President Obama, during his National Prayer Breakfast speech, Thursday: "No god condones terror. No grievance justifies the taking of innocent lives or the oppression of those who are weaker of fewer in number." All people at all times and locations have the right to defend themselves from terror. Despite Obama's words that have clearly angered people, we can see the following as an example: Christians within the confines of the Byzantine Empire had a right to defend themselves from Muslims who terrorized them, but we all know that Pope Urban II could in no way possible know that anyone who...

The former chief financial officer of Trinity Broadcasting, the nation’s largest Christian broadcasting network, has filed a lawsuit against her former company and its top bosses for allegedly threatening her with a loaded gun when she objected to “unlawful distributions” of $100 million to themselves and others. The lawsuit was filed Jan. 29 by Brittany Koper, the granddaughter of TBN founder Paul Crouch Sr., who died last year, and her husband, Michael Koper, against Trinity Christian Center, International Christian Broadcasting, Matthew Crouch, Janice Crouch and John Casoria. Brittany Koper was TBN’s CFO and treasurer until she was fired in 2011,...

UK Minister's Car Insurance Says Jesus Bumper Stickers Violates Policy, Could Lead to Canceled Coverage An elderly British minister was warned by her car insurance company that her auto coverage could be voided because of the Jesus-phrased decals that she put on her vehicle. The Rev. Wena Parry, a 75-year-old minister of Independent Congregational Church in South Wales who loves to drive around with phrases like "Christ is My Lord," decaled onto her car, told BBC that she was informed in a letter from her insurance provider, Age UK Insurance, that putting such "modifications" on her car violated her auto...

LOS ANGELES – Much of the audience attending the Grammy Awards on Sunday donned light-up devil horns for the opening performance of the annual event—a presentation of the AC/DC hit “Highway to Hell.” “Party time/My friends are gonna be there too/I’m on the highway to Hell,” the Australian rock band blared out as flames blazed on the jumbotron behind them, along with pyrotechnic effects. “Hey Satan/Payin’ my dues … I’m on the highway to Hell/Don’t stop me.” The group had been introduced by rapper LL Cool J, as the audience stood to their feet. “To kick off the 52 second...

JERUSALEM – Over 100 tablets that date back to the times of Nebuchadnezzar’s rule in Babylon, now modern-day Iraq, have been placed on display in Jerusalem as a further testament to the reliability of the Scriptures. The palm-sized tablets, which provide a glimpse into the lives of the Jews during the time they lived in exile in Babylon, had been discovered in Iraq and held by a UK-based Israeli collector. The artifacts contain writing in the ancient akkadian cuneiform script and detail transactions, trades and contracts between Jews in approximately 500 B.C. They also trace at least one Judean family...

No, and yes. The Bible does not have specific text that suggests that the Bible alone is our final authority in all matters of faith and practice. Those who delight to point this out, however, typically Roman Catholics and the eastern Orthodox, typically miss the point. First, their energies more often than not are aimed at the Anabaptist error that we call solo Scriptura. Here the person affirms that all he needs is himself and his Bible. The wisdom of the church in history, the community of believers, are all deemed irrelevant to understanding the things of God. Solo scriptura...

 February 10, 2015Memorial of Saint Scholastica, Virgin    Reading 1 Gn 1:20—2:4a God said,“Let the water teem with an abundance of living creatures,and on the earth let birds fly beneath the dome of the sky.”And so it happened:God created the great sea monstersand all kinds of swimming creatures with which the water teems,and all kinds of winged birds.God saw how good it was, and God blessed them, saying,“Be fertile, multiply, and fill the water of the seas;and let the birds multiply on the earth.”Evening came, and morning followed–the fifth day. Then God said,“Let the earth bring forth all kinds...

Restoration of the soul cannot begin without a confrontation with the truth. It is through truth your condition is brought to light. And from this confrontation, a decision must then be made to continue in it, or to change it. When the right decision is made, restoration can then begin. And what does restoration begin with? Trust. What happens to the components of the soul from there will take on a new and dynamic nature, as we will explore on this edition of Making Sense with Rob Case. powered by podcast garden

Mr Tawfiq said: "It's not that I went looking for Islam. Islam came looking for me. "I loved my former life and my work, but now I've found a peace that I never knew before." Mr Tawfiq explained that he made the decision to leave the priesthood when he realised how lonely he was. "I left my job, but not the Catholic religion," he said. "I had no intention of changing my faith. That wasn't part of the plan at all." "My Christian faith slid away slowly and Islam became more and more important. "I play down my Catholic priesthood,...

Pope Francis has ordered 300 umbrellas left behind by tourists to be distributed to Rome's homeless to get them through a spate of unusually wet weather. The umbrellas had been left behind by tourists visiting the Vatican museums, Sistine Chapel and St Peter's Basilica. On Friday the Vatican also formally opened new facilities in St. Peter's Square where homeless people will be offered free showers, toiletries, shaves and haircuts.

PRESIDENT OBAMA, like many well-read inhabitants of public life, is a professed admirer of Reinhold Niebuhr, the famous mid-20th-century Protestant theologian. And more than most presidents, he has tried to incorporate one of Niebuhr’s insights into his public rhetoric: the idea that no society is innocent, and that Americans in particular need to put aside illusions about our own alleged perfection. The latest instance came at last week’s National Prayer Breakfast, when the president, while condemning the religious violence perpetrated by the Islamic State, urged Westerners not to “get on our high horse,” because such violence is part of our...

Let’s continue the experiment we began in the previous meditation. Study the excerpts from the apostle Paul that accompany this reading. Does this sound like a man who believed the law of God has no place in the Christian life? Read Paul’s writings carefully and you will find a man whose heart longed for the law of God as much as David’s. The law drives us to the gospel. The gospel saves us from the curse of the law, but in turn directs us back to the law to search its spirit. The law of God is still a lamp...

Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith.-Heb. 12:2 Let us think of our intelligent plain man mentioned in chapter six coming for the first time to the reading of the Scriptures. He approaches the Bible without any previous knowledge of what it contains. He is wholly without prejudice; he has nothing to prove and nothing to defend. Such a man will not have read long until his mind begins to observe certain truths standing out from the page. They are the spiritual principles behind the record of God's dealings with men, and woven into the writings of...

February 9, 2015Monday of the Fifth Week in Ordinary Time    Reading 1 Gn 1:1-19 In the beginning, when God created the heavens and the earth,the earth was a formless wasteland, and darkness covered the abyss,while a mighty wind swept over the waters. Then God said,“Let there be light,” and there was light.God saw how good the light was.God then separated the light from the darkness.God called the light “day,” and the darkness he called “night.”Thus evening came, and morning followed–the first day. Then God said,“Let there be a dome in the middle of the waters,to separate one body...

The internet blinked in disbelief today after a BBC programme held a serious discussion on whether Jesus and Buddha were aliens from other planets. The 23-minute segment on the BBC's The Big Questions TV show tackled the question: "Have beings from other planets guided our religions?" The discussion on Sunday included the head of the Aetherius Society, which believes that Buddha, Jesus and Krishna came from outer space. (snip) "It will be no surprise to the followers of those religions who've long believed that life - possibly not as we know it - exists elsewhere in the galaxy. Life which...

Years ago I became fascinated with the questions of Jesus. It occurred to me that if Jesus was asking a question, it must be an important one. In fact, depending on our response, they could be life-changing questions.

During Thursday’s National Prayer Breakfast in Washington, NASCAR great Darrell Waltrip shared his Christian testimony with the thousands gathered, including Barack and Michelle Obama and the Dalai Lama, stating that he thought he was once a pretty good person, but “good people” go to Hell without Christ. Waltrip, a NASCAR Hall of Fame recipient with 84 wins, spoke about the importance of coming to Christ and becoming a new creature before approximately 4,000 attendees, which hailed from 170 countries worldwide. He spent most of his talk sharing his story of how God changed his life from being a man that...

DEARBORN, Mich. – A former contractor for Ford Motor Company has filed a religious discrimination complaint, alleging that he was fired for speaking against the company’s support of homosexuality. Thomas Banks has worked as a design and release engineer for Ford since 2011—that is until last August when he was fired on an accusation that he had violated the company’s “anti-harassment” policy for responding to an email employee newsletter from the company. The newsletter contained an article regarding the 20th anniversary of Ford’s Gay, Lesbian Or Bisexual Employees advocacy group (GLOBE). Banks replied with a comment to express disagreement.

In John 8:34 Jesus underlined the bondage in which we are held by nature. On the other hand, He spoke about the freedom into which He brings sinners by grace: “If the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed” (John 8:36). How could the Son set them free? Because of who He was. He was the Son who has been sent into the world by the Father. He knew the Father’s plan. He had the most intimate relationship with the Father. He had heard everything the Father had said, and He came with this message of good news:...