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“So Much Better Now” Are you Sure? by Jim Elliff     The pain has been excruciating, the hours and weeks arduous. The cost to the spouse and family who love her has been gladly expended, but jobs and daily responsibilities will necessarily decrease the hours for the daily vigil now. Added to it all of this is the treatment cost itself, sending up in smoke years of saving.“Mother is so ill,” they say to concerned friends. “We know it will be such a relief for her when she dies.”What? So much better when she dies? Not if she...

[SNIP] The 12 steps are so deeply ingrained in the United States that many people, including doctors and therapists, believe attending meetings, earning one’s sobriety chips, and never taking another sip of alcohol is the only way to get better. Hospitals, outpatient clinics, and rehab centers use the 12 steps as the basis for treatment. But although few people seem to realize it, there are alternatives, including prescription drugs and therapies that aim to help patients learn to drink in moderation. Unlike Alcoholics Anonymous, these methods are based on modern science and have been proved, in randomized, controlled studies, to...

March 17, 2015Tuesday of the Fourth Week of Lent   Reading 1 Ez 47:1-9, 12 The angel brought me, Ezekiel,back to the entrance of the temple of the LORD,and I saw water flowing outfrom beneath the threshold of the temple toward the east,for the façade of the temple was toward the east;the water flowed down from the right side of the temple,south of the altar.He led me outside by the north gate,and around to the outer gate facing the east,where I saw water trickling from the right side.Then when he had walked off to the eastwith a measuring cord...

I’m all for generous giving, and I’m all for taking care of ministers of the gospel, but I will not be sending Creflo Dollar $300 to help him buy a $65 million jet for his ministry. The very thought of it is obscene. On a manipulative video now removed from his website, the narrator explains how Pastor Dollar’s ministry is touching people worldwide and how the old private jet they’ve been using for years has become unusable, also explaining how it is actually dangerous to fly. Now, we are told, in order to travel around the world, he needs a...

[Editor’s note: The Elder Board of City Church in San Francisco, formerly in the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA) and now in the Reformed Church in America (RCA), released a statement on changes of how it will minister to those who are considered a part of the LGBT community. This is a response to this statement; the full statement follows the response.] Dear friend, I’m so sorry. Thanks for forwarding this letter from City Church this morning. You’ve been a good friend and I want to speak to you plainly. This stuff breaks my heart. The letter makes it sound...

For an explanation of what follows, see the previously posted introduction to this series.Calvin discerned four basic claims in Rome's teaching on Scripture as discovered in the canons and decrees of the Council of Trent. The first claim was comprised in the opening sentence of the first decree of that Council's fourth session (the 'decree concerning the canonical scriptures'). That sentence reads: The sacred and holy, ecumenical, and general Synod of Trent -- lawfully assembled in the Holy Ghost, the same three legates of the Apostolic See presiding therein -- keeping this always in view, that, errors being removed, the purity itself...

(CNN)You would have to be made of stone to not be moved by President Obama's address on the 50th anniversary of the march on Selma last Saturday. His tribute to the "plain and humble people...coming together to shape their country's course" was poetic and principled, timely and true -- a fitting way to honor those who marched in support of voting rights in 1965. But perhaps the most striking lines from this historic speech concerned the inherent patriotism of righteous protest: "What greater expression of faith in the American experiment than this, what greater form of patriotism is there than...

March 16, 2015Monday of the Fourth Week of Lent    Reading 1 Is 65:17-21 Thus says the LORD:Lo, I am about to create new heavensand a new earth;The things of the past shall not be rememberedor come to mind.Instead, there shall always be rejoicing and happinessin what I create;For I create Jerusalem to be a joyand its people to be a delight;I will rejoice in Jerusalemand exult in my people.No longer shall the sound of weeping be heard there,or the sound of crying;No longer shall there be in itan infant who lives but a few days,or an old man...

YORBA LINDA — Walk into Mark Hanson’s church and nobody will greet you. The guys hanging around the foyer might even make fun of what you’re wearing, or your haircut. A sign over the entrance reads, “Grab a seat in the back and shut up. Nobody cares what you think.” Welcome to Jerk Church. “You know these guys,” says Hanson, the pastor and founder. “They sit with their arms folded the whole time, leave during the altar call, criticize the pastor, snort when other people state their opinions and never create lasting bonds of friendship. Their wives are always really...

Background while you get ready for church

March 15, 2015 - Fourth Sunday of LentFourth Sunday of Lent    Reading 1 2 Chr 36:14-16, 19-23 In those days, all the princes of Judah, the priests, and the people added infidelity to infidelity, practicing all the abominations of the nations and polluting the LORD’s temple which he had consecrated in Jerusalem. Early and often did the LORD, the God of their fathers, send his messengers to them, for he had compassion on his people and his dwelling place.But they mocked the messengers of God, despised his warnings, and scoffed at his prophets, until the anger of the...

March 14, 2015Saturday of the Third Week of Lent    Reading 1 Hos 6:1-6 “Come, let us return to the LORD,it is he who has rent, but he will heal us;he has struck us, but he will bind our wounds.He will revive us after two days;on the third day he will raise us up,to live in his presence.Let us know, let us strive to know the LORD;as certain as the dawn is his coming,and his judgment shines forth like the light of day!He will come to us like the rain,like spring rain that waters the earth.” What can I...

ATLANTA (AP) — The ministry of a prominent Georgia megachurch pastor and evangelist who teaches that God wants to bless the faithful with earthly riches is seeking donations to buy a luxury jet valued at more than $65 million.

Majesty unspeakable, my soul desires to behold Thee. I cry to Thee from the dust. Yet when I inquire after Thy name it is secret. Thou art hidden in the light which no man can approach unto. What Thou art cannot be thought or uttered, for Thy glory is ineffable. Still, prophet and psalmist, apostle and saint have encouraged me to believe that I may in some measure know Thee. Therefore, I pray, whatever of Thyself Thou hast been pleased to disclose, help me to search out as treasure more precious than rubies or the merchandise of fine gold: for...

A CHRISTIAN IS ONE WHO BELIEVES on Jesus Christ as Lord. With this statement every evangelical agrees. Indeed there would appear to be nothing else to do, since the New Testament is crystal clear about the matter. This first acknowledgment of Christ as Lord and Saviour is usually followed by baptism and membership in a Protestant church, the one because it satisfies a craving for fellowship with others of like mind. A few Christians shy away from organized religion, but the vast majority, while they recognize the imperfections of the churches, nevertheless feel that they can serve their Lord better...

Whenever the word "nations" is mentioned in the Bible, one should understand where God is coming from when He speaks of them. The Nations of the Earth were: - Conceived in a concerted, godless rebellion (Gen 11:1-9, Rev. 17:5, Acts 17:26). - Born (brought forth) in divine judgment (Gen 10, 11:1-9, Rev 17:5, Acts 17:26). - Reared (raised) in godless unbelief and ignorance (Acts 17:26 -30, Rom 1:18-32, Eph. 2:1-3,11,4:17). - Lived out in carelessness, depravity and violence (Matt 6:6, Acts 14:14-16, Rom 1:24-32, Eph. 2:11,4:17, 1 Thess. 4:5, 1 Peter 4:3, Rev 6:4-8, 13:1-10, 18:23-24). - Terminated in vanity,...

1.) The King James Bible and/or Protestant Bible contains 39 Old Testament books and 27 New Testament books. Roman Catholics include all of these books within their sacred canon, with the addition of other books not included within the Protestant Canon. The Coptic Bible contains more books than all of the aforementioned (including the 27/39) and books that Roman Catholics believe to be canonical - and some other books. 2.) The First Council of Nicaea in 325 AD issued the Nicene Creed, adhered to by almost all Christians (Roman Catholics, Greek Orthodox, Protestants and Coptics) with the exception of a...

Christian theology in the American Church has seen no greater evolution than in the last 10 years. In fact, what the American Church has faced, particularly the Mainline Church, has probably been best described as a devolution or deconstruction of the “faith once received.” Another first, the culture has followed the American Mainline, particularly the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) and the Episcopal Church (TEC) in redefining human relationship, sexuality, and marriage. Dr. Del Jacobson, retired professor from Luther Seminary in Saint Paul, MN long ago outlined what the evolution of ideas or movements look like in Church and...

March 13, 2015Friday of the Third Week of Lent    Reading 1 Hos 14:2-10 Thus says the LORD:Return, O Israel, to the LORD, your God;you have collapsed through your guilt.Take with you words,and return to the LORD;Say to him, “Forgive all iniquity,and receive what is good, that we may renderas offerings the bullocks from our stalls.Assyria will not save us,nor shall we have horses to mount;We shall say no more, ‘Our god,’to the work of our hands;for in you the orphan finds compassion.” I will heal their defection, says the LORD,I will love them freely;for my wrath is turned...

Do you feel guilty? What about ashamed and down? I’ve got some good news from Romans 8:31-39 for you. It’s all good news…and only good news. God is in control. The good news of God’s government. “What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?” (Romans 8:31). God is the sovereign Ruler of the universe and I work for him. That’s why you don’t hear me whining. That’s why I don’t beg for Jesus. That’s why I don’t manipulate or put guilt trips on people. I just do what he told...