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May 7, 2015Thursday of the Fifth Week of Easter    Reading 1 Acts 15:7-21 After much debate had taken place,Peter got up and said to the Apostles and the presbyters,“My brothers, you are well aware that from early daysGod made his choice among you that through my mouththe Gentiles would hear the word of the Gospel and believe.And God, who knows the heart,bore witness by granting them the Holy Spiritjust as he did us.He made no distinction between us and them,for by faith he purified their hearts.Why, then, are you now putting God to the testby placing on the...

Wisconsin city’s statute, enacted last month, is believed to be the first of its kind in the US: ‘Religion was protected, so non-religion should be, too’While conservatives in Indiana and Arkansas were explaining last month why their new religious objections laws weren’t invitations to discriminate against gays, the leaders of Wisconsin’s capital city were busy protecting the rights of another group: atheists. In what is believed to be the first statute of its kind in the United States, Madison banned discrimination against the non-religious on 1 April , giving them the same protections afforded to people based on their race,...

There are plenty of Catholic, Episcopal, Lutheran and Methodist churches in Dayton, Ohio, where parents could have an infant child baptized. But one local couple wanted Rodney Kennedy to baptize their 7-month-old son, even though they knew there was one hurdle to overcome: Kennedy is pastor at First Baptist Church in Dayton.And Baptists — both generally and specifically — do not baptize infants.“We knew that asking Rod, he might say no,” said Lucas, the boy’s father who requested only his first name be used in this article.But Kennedy did not say no, and during worship on Sunday, April 19, he conducted his...

May 6, 2015Wednesday of the Fifth Week of Easter    Reading 1 Acts 15:1-6 Some who had come down from Judea were instructing the brothers,“Unless you are circumcised according to the Mosaic practice,you cannot be saved.”Because there arose no little dissension and debateby Paul and Barnabas with them,it was decided that Paul, Barnabas, and some of the othersshould go up to Jerusalem to the Apostles and presbytersabout this question. They were sent on their journey by the Church,and passed through Phoenicia and Samariatelling of the conversion of the Gentiles,and brought great joy to all the brethren.When they arrived in...

With the Cold War with the USSR fading into memory, including those under 40 mostly having no meaningful memory of it, has it gotten safe for atheists/communists to promote their beliefs, as they wouldn't have dared to up through the eighties? Seems so. The public could use some reminding and educating on the Cold War. This isn't even ancient history.

For those who hold to traditional Christian theology, explaining what happened to Jesus on the cross doesn’t take long: Humans are sinful…sin makes God angry…God requires a sacrifice to quell God’s anger…God sent his son Jesus to be that sacrifice. So, on the cross, God killed (or perhaps just permitted) the execution of Jesus in order to satisfy God’s anger against sinful humanity. Got it? Good. That settles it. Actually, that doesn’t settle it if you’re Tony Jones, a theologian and author of “Did God Kill Jesus? Searching for Love in History’s Most Famous Execution.” He argues that notions of...

You know it’s not going to be good when a 10-page letter of complaint breaks off in the middle and says, “But wait, there’s more.” That’s the case of a letter from officials with Liberty Counsel that was sent to Polk State College in Florida about the “pervasive anti-Christian bias” a teacher, Lance Russum, imposes on students. The letter demands a “full and independent review of Mr. Russum’s behavior and course content,” an appropriate grading of a 16-year-old student’s assignments, which earlier were given “zero” grades because of her beliefs, “a written apology” and assurances that future courses “will be...

WAKE, N.C. — A Christian legal organization has filed a federal lawsuit against a public library in North Carolina after officials denied use of the facility for a lecture simply because the presentation was considered to be “religious instruction.” Liberty Counsel, which has offices in Virginia, Florida and Washington, D.C., regularly conducts lectures throughout the country on the role of Christianity in the founding of America. In March 2013 and November 2014, the group sought to use the Cameron Village Regional Library in Wake, N.C. to present a lecture. However, it was denied both times. According to a complaint filed...

"As an American and as a prisoner for Christ I have spent many hours praying and crying out to God for revival for this great nation. We all hope for the success of our nation and for America to be blessed, but without revival there can be no true success or blessing... I would like to ask you to join me in repenting and praying for revival. Me from inside of these prison walls and you on the outside."–Pastor Saeed Abedini (Iran)—This Thursday not only marks American Pastor Saeed Abedini's 35th birthday, but the National Day of Prayer as well....

Inclusivity is a word the Roman Catholic Women Priests (RCWP) organization is built upon. The movement began in Germany in 2002 with seven women who were ordained on the Danube River by an Argentine Catholic bishop who cut his ties to Rome and began a church he believed would be more progressive. Those women chose ex-communication by Rome, which, simply put, is like leaving a club you were never allowed to join. So they started their own branch of the club and there are now 208 women priests worldwide, following Saturday's ordination. "We are obedient to the Holy Spirit and...

May 5, 2015Tuesday of Fifth Week of Easter    Reading 1 Acts 14:19-28 In those days, some Jews from Antioch and Iconiumarrived and won over the crowds. They stoned Paul and dragged him out of the city,supposing that he was dead.But when the disciples gathered around him,he got up and entered the city. On the following day he left with Barnabas for Derbe. After they had proclaimed the good news to that cityand made a considerable number of disciples,they returned to Lystra and to Iconium and to Antioch.They strengthened the spirits of the disciplesand exhorted them to persevere in...

Why do Christian churches meet and worship on Sunday? After all, doesn’t the fourth commandment clearly say “the seventh day is the Sabbath of the LORD your God?” So is Sunday worship just a Christian tradition? Did we not want to get mistaken for Jews? Or perhaps there was a church council that met to decide the day should be moved? Well no, none of those is the reason that Sunday became the day upon which Christians worship. Sunday worship was not fixed by a church council and as William Perkins points out, “The church, has no power to ordain a Sabbath.” The only...

May 4, 2015Monday of the Fifth Week of Easter    Reading 1 Acts 14:5-18 There was an attempt in Iconiumby both the Gentiles and the Jews,together with their leaders,to attack and stone Paul and Barnabas.They realized it,and fled to the Lycaonian cities of Lystra and Derbeand to the surrounding countryside,where they continued to proclaim the Good News. At Lystra there was a crippled man, lame from birth,who had never walked. He listened to Paul speaking, who looked intently at him,saw that he had the faith to be healed,and called out in a loud voice, “Stand up straight on your...

When some of us expressed fear of what we saw and heard about the protests against religious-rights laws, many people either saw no issue or condemned us for being alarmist or hate-filled Christians. It is time for well-meaning people to think this through. Hillary Clinton said last week culture and religious beliefs “have” to be changed to achieve women's rights. Is that just feel-good rhetoric, or does she really mean it? If so, what does it imply to say religious beliefs “have” to be changed? We don’t need to discuss theology. At its foundation this isn’t about theology at all,...

In this Easter Season, we continue to reflect on how the risen Lord Jesus minsters to us and supplies our needs. Last week we considered him as our shepherd. This week we learn how He is the vine and we the branches on the vine, wholly dependent on Him for everything. As we consider how he cares for us as his disciples, we need to rescue the word “care” from its rather sentimental modern sense. True care does not merely include more pleasant things such as giving food and shelter and other basic needs. Sometimes care involves difficult things necessary...

May 3, 2015Fifth Sunday of Easter    Reading 1 Acts 9:26-31 When Saul arrived in Jerusalem he tried to join the disciples,but they were all afraid of him,not believing that he was a disciple.Then Barnabas took charge of him and brought him to the apostles,and he reported to them how he had seen the Lord,and that he had spoken to him,and how in Damascus he had spoken out boldly in the name of Jesus.He moved about freely with them in Jerusalem,and spoke out boldly in the name of the Lord.He also spoke and debated with the Hellenists,but they tried...

A CELEBRATED AMERICAN PREACHER once advanced the novel theory that the various denominations with their different doctrinal emphases served a useful purpose as gathering places for persons of similar temperaments. Christians, he suggested, tend to gravitate toward others of like mental types. Hence the denominations. Undoubtedly this is oversimplification carried to the point of error. There are too many persons of dissimilar temperaments in every denomination to support such a sweeping classification. Yet I believe that we have here an instance where an error may serve to point up a truth, the truth being that temperament has a great deal...

This day our hearts approve with gladness what our reason can never fully comprehend, even Thine eternity, O Ancient of Days. Art Thou not from everlasting, O Lord, my God, mine Holy One? We worship Thee, the Father Everlasting, whose years shall have no end; and Thee, the love-begotten Son whose goings forth have been ever of old; we also acknowledge and adore Thee, Eternal Spirit, who before the foundation of the world didst live and love in coequal glory with the Father and the Son. Enlarge and purify the mansions of our souls that they may be fit habitations...

May 2, 2015Memorial of Saint Athanasius, Bishop and Doctor of the Church    Reading 1 Acts 13:44-52 On the following sabbathalmost the whole citygathered to hear the word of the Lord. When the Jews saw the crowds, they were filled with jealousyand with violent abuse contradicted what Paul said. Both Paul and Barnabas spoke out boldly and said,“It was necessary that the word of God be spoken to you first,but since you reject itand condemn yourselves as unworthy of eternal life,we now turn to the Gentiles. For so the Lord has commanded us,I have made you a light to...

What happened on Pentecost? What are the implications of what took place on Pentecost for the church today? What expectations ought Christians to have for the work of the Holy Spirit in their own lives and the lives of others? Christians today continue to be divided, sometimes deeply, over the answers to these questions. During the 2015 B.B. Warfield Memorial Lecture Series we will examine the Bible for the sound and reliable answers it alone provides.