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Pray For Our American Heroes and Our Nation Stand Firm New International Version (NIV) Psalms 33:20-22 Our soul waits for the LORD; he is our help and our shield. For our heart is glad in him, because we trust in his holy name. Let your steadfast love, O LORD, be upon us, even as we hope in you.

Ignore the Critics Today's Scripture “When Peter went up to Jerusalem, the circumcised believers criticized him.” (Acts 11:2, NIV) Today's Word from Joel and Victoria One time, Jesus was in the temple. It was on the Sabbath, their day of rest. He saw a man with a withered hand. Jesus simply said, “Stretch forth your hand,” and immediately, the man was healed. The religious leaders, the Pharisees, were there and didn’t like Jesus. Even though He did something great, they ridiculed Him for doing it on the Sabbath, the day of rest. No matter what you do, some people...

The Forgiveness of God " In Him we have…the forgiveness of sins… —Ephesians 1:7 " Beware of the pleasant view of the fatherhood of God: God is so kind and loving that of course He will forgive us. That thought, based solely on emotion, cannot be found anywhere in the New Testament. The only basis on which God can forgive us is the tremendous tragedy of the Cross of Christ. To base our forgiveness on any other ground is unconscious blasphemy. The only ground on which God can forgive our sin and reinstate us to His favor is through...

Pope Francis is drawing rock star raves for softening the Vatican's image on such issues as homosexuality, capitalism and divorce, but his celebrated tolerance doesn't seem to extend to dissenters within the church, whose conservative revolt came to a halt when the pontiff exiled their de facto leader to obscurity. A recent meeting of bishops unleashed what one Vatican watcher called “a tsunami of conservative backlash" against the pope when it followed an agenda that sought to revisit long-held doctrine on controversial social issues. The most vocal critic was American Cardinal Raymond Burke, who described the Church under Francis as...

There are more important things in life than politics. One of those things is happening as I write. Most of the world is oblivious to it. The press corps has completely ignored it. But it may be one of the most consequential events in the early twenty-first century. It is called Humanum. In Rome, at the Vatican, an interfaith gathering is occurring to discus marriage. Leading voices in the Buddhist, Jewish, Hindu, Mormon, Muslim, and Christian communities have gathered to support and strengthen each other in the struggle against growing anti-faith norms toward marriage and family. Pope Francis opened the...

Princeton University law professor Robert P. George ROME — So far, Pope Francis’ most significant internal opposition has come from conservative Catholics alarmed over what they see as playing fast-and-loose with Catholic doctrine. This week, however, an all-star lineup of conservatives gathered in Rome has come to the pope’s defense. “I am a conservative politically,” said Princeton University law professor Robert P. George, considered one of America’s most prominent Catholic commentators. “But I’m a Pope Francis Catholic, which is simply to say that I’m a Catholic.” Harvard law professor and former US Ambassador to the Holy See Mary Ann...

Another day, another stunning blockbuster report that … Jesus was married! And to Mary Magdalene! The latest version of this meme comes from Simcha Jacobovici, an author and filmmaker who is famous for promoting stunning theories about Jesus that on further review often turn out to be dubious. Jacobovici’s new claim that he has decoded an old text that reveals Jesus and the Magdalene were married and had two kids (and she was a “co-deity” with her husband) came out this month and has also been widely dismissed. But as happened earlier this year with the so-called “Gospel of Jesus’s...

Southern Baptist ethicist Russell Moore and megachurch pastor Rick Warren denounced the sexual revolution at a Vatican conference Tuesday and encouraged Christians to not waver on the Biblical truth about sexuality and marriage. "Western culture now celebrates casual sexuality, cohabitation, no-fault divorce, family redefinition, and abortion rights as parts of a sexual revolution that can tear down old patriarchal systems," said Moore, who is the president of the Southern Baptist Convention's Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission during the "Complementarity of Man and Woman" colloquium led by Pope Francis. "The Sexual Revolution is not liberation at all, but simply the imposition...

Churches in a Maryland county are being offered tax breaks for incorporating environmentalism into their sermons. In Prince George’s County, 30 pastors have started preaching ‘green’ ministries to avoid extra taxes, the Washington Post reports. The taxes depend on the acreage for all property owners, including churches, as part of Maryland’s “storm water remediation fee.” Reverend Nathaniel B. Thomas of Forestville New Redeemer Baptist Church said he attempted to challenge the fee and said: "Once Uncle Sam finds a way to take your money, he doesn’t stop.”Thomas acknowledged the people of his congregation have higher priorities than the environment, such...

Bishop James Conley of Lincoln, Nebraska, has announced that Mass will be celebrated ad orientem in the diocsean cathedral during Advent, to remind the faithful of the symbolism of facing East. Explaining the move, Bishop Conley writes: But the symbolism of facing together, and awaiting Christ, is rich, time-honored and important. Especially during Advent, as we await the coming of the Lord, facing the east together—even symbolically facing Christ together at the altar and on the crucifix—is a powerful witness to Christ’s imminent return.

Hugh Hewitt Argues Against the Afterlife and God's Reward Hugh Hewitt, Salem Radio host and establishment GOP par exellance (famous for being a Romney acolyte and biographer) was just on the Dennis Prager show arguing that a person's morality is unaffected by their belief or non-belief in the after life or Heaven or Hell.  Prager, Jewish and a fellow Salem host, argued the opposite.  I didn't recognize Hugh's voice and at first thought it was a liberal caller sparring with Dennis, saying that whether or not one believes in the after life has no bearing in whether they act in...

It looked like a chilling scene from a Last Days, anti-Christ-takes-over-the-world disaster movie. Hundreds of Muslims take over America’s most notable church, prostrate on their prayer rugs as their unified chant echoes out in full volume: “There is only one god, he begets not and I bear witness that Muhammad is His only servant and Apostle."

Sweet Hour of Prayer! Or Not? How do You Experience Prayer? By: Msgr. Charles PopeHow do you think of prayer? Is it another thing you “have to do” among many other things on your list? Or is prayer a time when you refrain from doing? Is prayer a requirement you regret or a rest you relish? What is prayer for you?The danger in answering questions like these is that we may answer them the way we think they “should” be answered rather than in an honest way. Many struggle with prayer and experience it with a lot of negativity: boredom,...

November 20, 2014Thursday of the Thirty-third Week in Ordinary Time    Reading 1 Rv 5:1-10 I, John, saw a scroll in the right hand of the one who sat on the throne.It had writing on both sides and was sealed with seven seals.Then I saw a mighty angel who proclaimed in a loud voice,“Who is worthy to open the scroll and break its seals?”But no one in heaven or on earth or under the earthwas able to open the scroll or to examine it.I shed many tears because no one was found worthyto open the scroll or to examine...

The mentality that thinks in terms of marketing Jesus inevitably moves toward progressive distortion of him; the pursuit of the next emotional round of experience easily degenerates into an intoxicating substitute for the spirituality of the Word. There is non-negotiable, biblical, intellectual content to be proclaimed. By all means insist that this content be heralded with conviction and compassion; by all means seek the unction of the Spirit; by all means try to think through how to cast this content in ways that engage the modern secularist. But when all the footnotes are in place, my point remains the same:...

Pray For the Peace of Jerusalem Jobs In The Bible Soldier (New International Version (NIV) 10 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. 11 Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. 12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. 13 Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to...

World renowned evangelist Rev. Billy Graham, the founder and chairman of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, said that our children are growing up in a “lawless and wicked age,” infused with the “philosophy of the Devil, who says, ‘Do as you please.’” Further, rearing children in this culture is difficult because “we have taken God out of our educational systems and thought we could get away with it,” said Rev. Graham. “We have sown the wind, and we are now reaping the whirlwind. We have laughed at God, religion and the Bible.” Reverend Graham’s commentary, first broadcast in August 1955,...

In Latin America, they're pulling millions of faithful away from the Catholic Church. But the pope has only words of friendship for them. This is his way of doing ecumenism, unveiled here in two of his video messages by Sandro Magister ROME, November 19, 2014 - With the mastery for which it is known all over the world, the Washington-based Pew Research Center has conducted a survey on a massive scale that gives substance to a fact that was already known in general terms, the startling decline of Catholic membership in the Latin American subcontinent:> Religion in Latin America. Widespread...

Be Still and Know Today's Scripture “He says, ‘Be still, and know that I am God...’ ” (Psalm 46:10, NIV) Today's Word from Joel and Victoria In our world today, most people are used to having constant activity: computers, cell phones, television, email, video games. There’s nothing wrong with any of that, but the Bible tells us that we need to stop and be still so we can focus on knowing God. This is especially true during the difficult times. When you are facing a challenge, it’s easy to want to run to a friend or talk about it...

“When He Has Come” " When He has come, He will convict the world of sin… —John 16:8 " Very few of us know anything about conviction of sin. We know the experience of being disturbed because we have done wrong things. But conviction of sin by the Holy Spirit blots out every relationship on earth and makes us aware of only one— “Against You, You only, have I sinned…” (Psalm 51:4). When a person is convicted of sin in this way, he knows with every bit of his conscience that God would not dare to forgive him. If...