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The Sunday of the Word of God in the Roman Catholic Church takes place on the third Sunday in Ordinary Time, during January. This year it falls on January 24. According to Pope Francis’ Apostolic Letter, it “is to be devoted to the celebration, study, and dissemination of the Word of God.” The United States […]The post Celebrate Sunday of the Word of God appeared first on Bible Gateway Blog.
- 2 days ago 22 Jan 21, 1:45pm -

Begin Again Reading Club Invites Readers to Enter 2021 with Hope Award-winning and bestselling author Max Lucado, who has over 140 million products in print, is inviting people internationally to start 2021 afresh, abandoning fear, worry, and hopelessness from the crises of 2020 and looking forward to personal restoration and renewal in the new year. […]The post Bestselling Author Max Lucado Hosts First Ever Online Reading Club Starting January 25 appeared first on Bible Gateway Blog.
- 3 days ago 21 Jan 21, 10:37pm -

“Do not be surprised, my brothers and sisters, if the world hates you.” 1 John 3:13 Christian persecution is at a record high globally, according to religion freedom watchdog organization Open Doors in announcing its 2021 World Watch List. It reports more than 340 million Christians now suffer high levels of persecution for their faith—even […]The post REPORT: Number of Christians Murdered for Faith Rose 60% in 2020 appeared first on Bible Gateway Blog.
- 3 days ago 21 Jan 21, 9:45pm -

This is the one-hundred-fortieth lesson in author and pastor Mel Lawrenz’ How to Live the Bible series. If you know someone or a group who would like to follow along on this journey through Scripture, they can get more info and sign up to receive these essays via email here. On March 4, 1865, President […]The post How to Live the Bible — Peace With God appeared first on Bible Gateway Blog.
- 4 days ago 20 Jan 21, 5:12pm -

By Darryl Strawberry Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths. —Proverbs 3:5–6 In the sport of baseball, a player’s mental approach to the game can largely determine success or failure. When competing against […]The post Don’t Let Your Past Direct Your Future appeared first on Bible Gateway Blog.
- 5 days ago 19 Jan 21, 11:04pm -

Bestselling author and lead pastor of ChurcHome, Judah Smith is part of a new innovative mobile app developed by Seventh Spark named Faithful.
- 2 days ago 22 Jan 21, 6:10pm -

Here are three things that happened this week, Jan. 24-30, in Church history. They include the pope affirming the Council of Trent, the birth of the first bishop of Calcutta, and the arrival of missionaries to Uganda.
- 3 days ago 22 Jan 21, 1:06pm -

In the aftermath of a contentious election season, Southern Baptist ethicist Russell Moore warned the Church against cynicism and stressed that followers of Christ must now “recover the credibility of our witness.”
- 3 days ago 22 Jan 21, 11:08am -

An ecumenical monastic order founded a few years ago with the aim of creating a space for “contemplative life” and fellowship for clergy and laity is seeing growth even with the pandemic restricting their activities.
- 3 days ago 21 Jan 21, 2:01pm -

The Summit Church in North Carolina, led by Southern Baptist Convention President J.D. Greear, said they have contracted global investigating firm Guidepost Solutions to independently review their recent hiring of Pastor Bryan Loritts who has been accused of mishandling past sex crime allegations at a previous church.
- 4 days ago 21 Jan 21, 12:38pm -

Florida pilot program could become model for other states.In his four decades as a minister, R. B. Holmes Jr. has never dealt with so much death.More than 24,000 Floridians have died from COVID-19, including more than a few of the flock that Holmes shepherds at Bethel Missionary Baptist Church in Tallahassee.“No one is immune from this,” Holmes told CT. “The thief is winning. The virus is a thief.”The black pastor is especially concerned that the coronavirus has disproportionately impacted his community and other communities of racial minorities around the state. According to statistics from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, black people are 1.4 times more likely to become infected with COVID-19 and 2.8 times more likely to die from it than white people.There are a number of possible reasons for this. The National Urban League points out that many minorities are more exposed to the virus because they work in fields that don't accommodate working from home. African Americans also tend to have more preexisting conditions—often poverty related—that put them at risk of COVID-19. On top of that, they are less likely to have health insurance.Whatever the reason, Holmes said the crisis has created an emergency for black people, and African American community leaders, especially pastors, have to find a way to respond. After one too many funerals in 2020, he felt compelled to action.“Why sit here as leaders and watch our people die and our families die?”So Holmes organized the Statewide Coronavirus Vaccination Community Education and Engagement Task Force.The group is partnering with hospitals and the state to better distribute vaccines—as they become available—through local churches ...Continue reading...
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The struggles and joys experienced by believers in 11 nations on Open Doors’ Christian persecution watchlist.More than 340 million Christians live in places with very high or extreme levels of persecution, according to Open Doors’ 2021 World Watch List. Since these believers are our brothers and sisters in Christ, we thought it might be helpful to hear from the church and those close to them in 11 different countries on how God is working—and how you can pray for them. Countries that have been ranked in World Watch List’s top 20 in its 2020 and 2021 lists are represented here. They appear in order of how they are ranked on the current list. North KoreaWe praise God: for the descendants of believers in North Korea who have kept their faith despite the relentless persecution there since 1945. for building underground churches and allowing the gospel to be shared in North Korea even though all churches there were destroyed by Communist oppression. for helping North Koreans, who are thoroughly disconnected from the outside world, to nevertheless translate, print, and share the Bible.We pray: that the sin of idolatry that deifies the leader in North Korea will cease so that all North Koreans can serve the true God. that the sins of violating and repressing human rights will be stopped so that North Koreans can enjoy and worship the God who created all of us in his image. that vital foodstuffs and other basic necessities are provided to North Koreans who continue to suffer from hunger and frigid winter weather so they can at least maintain their minimal standard of living.Submitted by Peter Lee, executive director, Cornerstone Ministries International PakistanWe praise God: for the numbers of students training in the seminaries and Bible colleges. for the many agencies discipling people in the faith. for boldness in witness by many Christians.Continue reading...
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Property dispute between Orthodox church and government that sparked mass protests in the Balkans ends—for now—with a strengthening of religious rights for evangelicals and other faiths.Europe’s second-newest nation made a second effort this week at greater religious freedom.And evangelicals in Montenegro, the Balkan nation independent from Serbia since 2006, couldn’t be more pleased.“This is a great blessing, we are out of the gray zone and drawn into legal existence,” said Sinisa Nadazdin, pastor of Gospel of Jesus Christ Church located in the capital city of Podgorica.“We were permitted before, but now we know our rights and duties.”Montenegrin evangelicals were pleased with the new law’s first iteration a year ago as well. But in between, the controversial text split Montenegro’s 75-percent Orthodox community, and nearly tore the nation apart.Controversially passed last February by lawmakers aligned with the 30-year ruling Democratic Party of Socialists (which ran the regional government when the nation was part of Serbia), ethnic Serbian politicians stormed out of the session in protest.At issue were not the general provisions of the law, which guaranteed the right to change religion, to establish religious schools above the elementary level, and to conscientiously object from military service.Replacing a 1977 communist-era law, it also eased licensing procedures and permitted foreign-born leadership and international headquarters.Rather, a clause in the religious freedom law required all religious communities to provide evidence of ownership for properties built prior to the 1918 integration of Montenegro into the Kingdom of Yugoslavia.Critics interpreted it as a challenge to the Serbian Orthodox Church.Failure to do so would transfer ownership of hundreds of ancient churches and monasteries to the state, to be regarded as part of Montenegro’s ...Continue reading...
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Untangling the evangelical QAnon connection. If the QAnon slogan “Where we go one, we go all” is to be believed, it appears that the “all” are fading into history.You see, in a stunning turn of events, Joe Biden was sworn in as President of the United States.Well, for most people this was not surprising but simply the natural result of the November election. However, for those who bought into the conspiracy theories surrounding QAnon, this was not supposed to happen.As a result, multiple news platforms are reporting that QAnon is beginning to fracture as many former influential figures are voicing their doubt or outright rejection of the movement. Typical of this broader dissatisfaction, one leader quoted in the BBC noted, "Today's inauguration makes no sense to the Christian patriots and we thought 'the plan' was the way we would take this country back."Indeed.While the potential demise of QAnon and other conspiracy theories should be relief to many, considerable work remains in addressing the destruction they’ve caused. Countless numbers were fooled, resulting in untold damage to relationships, institutions, and families. What now remains is significant amounts of anger, distrust, and shame.And, many of these were Christians—evangelical ones at that.As QAnon and other conspiracy theories begin to lose traction, pastors and church leaders face a decision. We can pretend that conspiracy theories were never really a threat to our congregation and simply move on unchanged. Or we can ridicule the foolishness of those in our congregations who were deceived by conspiracy, driving them out of the church and perhaps into the arms of whatever movement steps into the vacuum of QAnon.Or, we can engage our people refocusing ...Continue reading...
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Part 3 of Ed Stetzer's chapter from the recent release “Conversations on When Everything Is Missions”How do justice and evangelism co-exist? How do we manage to accomplish both demonstration and proclamation without repeating the perilous mistakes of the missio Dei movement of the middle last century while also avoiding an extreme restrictivism that is all faith and no works (cf. James 2:14-26)?I am what I call an integral prioritist. I believe in integral, holistic mission—both showing and sharing the love of Jesus. We need to be doing good deeds not only because God has commanded us to but also because part of the mission of the Church is to work for the betterment of our communities. Mission is not simply making disciples who affirm disembodied doctrines. Discipleship naturally produces a faith that is vibrant and active, that is rich in good works (1 Timothy 6:18). But how does justice not become the sole focus of the Church? I believe this lies in the prioritization of the unreached.Jesus speaks frequently of reaching the lost, of proclaiming that the kingdom has come and that the good news of the kingdom is that He invites men and women to be born again into that kingdom (see for example Matthew 20:28; Mark 1:38; Luke 4:18-21, 43; 19:10; John 3:16; 10;10; 14:6). The greatest injustice ever committed was our sinful rebellion toward God and the greatest justice God has brought to the earth He has done in Christ at the cross, making the way for all to find saving faith in Him. The parable of the lost sheep in Matthew 18 gives a clear reminder of God’s prioritized desire to see lost people found. That too, should be our prioritized desire. It is from this orientation that the Church then works toward justice as a means of demonstrating here and now our certain hope of the future reign of Christ. The justice ...Continue reading...
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Once upon a time, there were these strange political unicorns called “pro-life Democrats.” They were often, but not always, part of another endangered species called “blue-dog Democrats.”Most of these unique politicos were in the U.S. House of Representatives, but there were occasional — but increasingly rare — sightings in the U.S. Senate. After all, Tennessean Al Gore had an 84% rating with National Right to Life when he was a congressman, but that changed — for the most part — when he became a senator. And as vice president? Forget about it.This brings us to the thought for the day, a quote drawn from a mini-firestorm in the Democratic Party back in 2017. Here is a quote from an “On Religion” column at that time: … Democratic National Committee Chairman Tom Perez drew another bright line defining who participates in the work of his party. "Every Democrat, like every American," he said, "should support a woman's right to make her own choices about her body and her health. This is not negotiable and should not change city by city or state by state." In fact, he added, "every candidate who runs as a Democrat" should affirm abortion rights.What if that state is West Virginia?Some key Democrats quickly stepped forward in 2017 — including Rep. Nancy Pelosi — to suggest that Perez wasn’t speaking for all top Democrats. Still, the party’s stance on abortion rights and funding continued to veer further and further to the cultural and religious left, eventually causing one Joe Biden to shed the last scraps of his once “centrist” stance.This, of course, brings us to religion-beat angles in the aftermath of the Georgia earthquake, in which Democrats — Black and White — and other anti-Donald Trump voters appear to have handed the Democrats the slimmest possible control of the U.S. Senate.This brings us to Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia, a conservative Democrat and active Roman Catholic who has been endorsed by Democrats for Life, even though his record on that issue has become rather complex. He remains a throwback to the days when it was perfectly normal to be a Democrat and a cultural conservative. One can imagine the pressure he faces from establishment Democrats.Well, how many Democrats want to toss Manchin out of the party right now?
- 18 days ago 6 Jan 21, 4:00pm -

There’s a black Baptist pastor running for the Senate on Tuesday in Georgia; a Baptist who’s in a dead heat for a very contested seat.“Baptist” can mean a plurality of things, even in the Deep South.Truth is, this Baptist, one Rev. Raphael Warnock, is a complicated man. In a series of four articles about the major contenders for Georgia’s two Senate seats, the New York Times profiled Warnock in a largely uncritical piece that put the man’s take on Christianity front and center.The marriage problems and domestic violence allegations went toward the bottom of the piece. His religious credentials rose to the top. Which is not a bad thing but oddly, the other three pieces didn’t say a thing about those candidates’ faith and –- this being the Bible Belt -– one can assume they do attend a house of worship somewhere, especially the Republicans.In fact, one of the other candidates (Kelly Loeffler, a Catholic) attacked Warnock last month for some of his liberal Christian beliefs. Loeffler got some bad PR on that unwise move.Another candidate, Jon Ossoff, is Jewish and the fourth, David Perdue, is Methodist. So you got a liberal Baptist, a conservative Catholic, a Methodist and a Jew. Even USA Today understood what a field day on the religion beat this election fight is.But we will start with the Times: Mr. Warnock is betting that the time is ripe for a Black Baptist preacher in robes trimmed with kente cloth, who speaks of police brutality and voter suppression from one of the world’s most famous pulpits. While he has built a résumé that piles credential on top of credential, he has not hesitated to share personal experiences like being suspected of shoplifting and having an incarcerated brother. Republicans have tried to paint him as a dangerous radical, noting his denunciation of white privilege, his defense of Black pastors who have criticized the United States and his support of abortion rights. Incidents from his past have come under greater scrutiny, including an arrest for which the charges were later dropped and an incident last year where his now ex-wife called the police after a conflict outside her home.As the story moves on, Warnock is first identified as Pentecostal, then as an “evangelical” and then as an intern at Sixth Avenue Baptist Church in Birmingham, Ala.
- 19 days ago 5 Jan 21, 4:00pm -

OK. This is it. I promise. This is the last GetReligion #2020 Top 10 religion-news post that you’re going to see. I think. And sorry about the Kiss 2020 goodbye concert video with this post (I could not resist).Let me be clear what this is. A few of us have already written columns or posts evaluating the results of the Religion News Association poll, like this “On Religion” column that I shared here: “Of course the pandemic was top 2020 religion-news story: But which COVID-19 story?”However, each of us — when creating our own personal lists — saw the religion-news landscape through our own lens. Thus, I thought readers might enjoy seeing all of the RNA poll items — 27 news events and trends were on the ballot — and how some of us arranged them. Some readers, for example, have expressed a desire to explore what was left OFF the list and how the items were described on the official ballot. Read it all at the RNA.org website.As I said earlier, in the GetReligion podcast and post in which I shared my own ballot (“The year when religion news went viral, and that was a bad thing”), I thought the key was that the COVID-19 crisis was several stories in one. I thought the most important angle was the First Amendment fights, so I wrote: According to journalists who cover religion, this was the year's biggest story: "COVID-19 pandemic claims lives of many religious leaders and laity, upends death rituals, ravages congregational finances, spurs charitable responses, forces religious observances to cancel or go online and stirs legal fights over worship shutdowns." But there was a problem on my ballot. The RNA list included another coronavirus item focusing on religious liberty. In some cities and states, officials created pandemic regulations that claimed many institutions — from grocery stores to casinos — provided "essential services." Meanwhile, other institutions — like churches and synagogues — were deemed "non-essential." The U.S. Supreme Court eventually ruled that religious institutions shouldn't face tougher rules than secular groups and activities. It was wrong, for example, to ban masked priests from hearing confessions – outdoors, 10 feet away from masked penitents – while consumers were lined up at liquor stores.Ryan Burge, in a post this weekend, had a similar take at the top of his list, stressing First Amendment and Supreme Court issues. The key, he said, was this: “I made a list based on what I thought would have the most lasting impacts into 2021 and beyond.”So that brings us to new material from other members of the team, starting with Julia Duin. She sent me an email raising another issue with the RNA results:
- 20 days ago 4 Jan 21, 6:10pm -

A church shooting. Deadly twisters. Racial justice protests. And the biggest news in this tumultuous year: COVID-19.These were among the most memorable stories that I covered in 2020.Here is my personal year-end Top 10 list, mostly in chronological order:• Texas church shooting: A gunman opened fire at the West Freeway Church of Christ in White Settlement, Texas, killing two worshipers before an armed member fatally shot him. While the attack occurred at the end of 2019, it remained an important story in 2020. In the immediate aftermath, I covered a members-only prayer vigil, recounted minister Britt Farmer’s experience and explained why Farmer chose to talk to me. I profiled victims Richard White and Tony Wallace. Later, I moderated a panel discussion on church shootings. And I wrote about the church’s emotional return to its auditorium.• Women in the church: My Christian Chronicle colleagues and I produced an in-depth package of stories on women’s roles in Churches of Christ. I focused on two distinct congregations: an Arlington, Texas, church that embraces traditional gender roles and a Los Angeles church that has added female elders.• Tennessee tornadoes: On my last flight before COVID-19 grounded me, I traveled to Middle Tennessee to report on tornadoes that cut an 80-mile swath of death and destruction. I highlighted the leading role that Churches of Christ played in the disaster relief effort. I interviewed a church teen who was serving her community while grieving her 4-year-old friend, Hattie Jo Collins. I covered the funeral for a Christian family killed in the storm. And I reflected on how sadness gave way to gladness on the Sunday after the tornadoes.• COVID-19: As of this moment, the global pandemic has killed 1.8 million people around the world.
- 20 days ago 4 Jan 21, 2:00pm -

THE QUESTION:Why is January 1st New Year’s Day?THE RELIGION GUY’S ANSWER:There’s a religious angle here, as with almost any major aspect of human culture past and present. Our January 1 observance stems from ancient paganism. The numbering of “2021,” as with every year, reflects the global reach of Christianity. And the specific day everyone reckons to be January 1 was fixed by the Catholic Church during the Reformation and Counter-Reformation hostilities.Alongside this conventional calendar, many faiths observe their own religious new years by calculations apart from the January 1 tradition.The perpetually valuable Encyclopaedia Britannica tells us that worship of the Roman god Janus, with his festival (on January 9th, not the 1st) in the month eventually named for him was practiced even before the legendary founding of the city of Rome in 753 B.C. Janus was the animistic divinity of doorways (januae) and archways (jani). The idea of auspicious entrances and exits, endings and beginnings, eventually applied to turn of the year. January 1 officially replaced March 1 as the start of Rome’s year in 153 B.C..Due to this pagan background, much of Christian Europe came to reject January 1 observances and celebrated the new year on Christmas Day or March 25, the feast of the Annunciation (the angel Gabriel’s message to Mary that she would bear the divine Son).The year is the length of time the earth makes one circuit around the sun, but the day upon which a year begins is an arbitrary choice. In 46 B.C., Julius Caesar kept Rome’s January 1 starting point but reworked the “Julian calendar” to better fit with astronomy. The Julian system gained widespread use all the way until A.D. 1582, when Pope Gregory XIII ordered the “Gregorian calendar” cleanup that is universal today.The Julian system figured that a year lasts roughly 365 days plus 1/4 of a day, so it added one day in the “leap year” every four years.
- 21 days ago 3 Jan 21, 7:00pm -

John MacArthur has returned to the pulpit at Grace Community Church after about a month-long absence that began in the midst of an alleged COVID-19 outbreak at the church. The 81-year-old pastor apparently is recovering from an illness, but did not specify the nature of that illness.At the beginning of the service Sunday, MacArthur greeted the congregation. After struggling to clear his throat and catch his breath, MacArthur pointed to his chest and said, “It’s in there still, so, you’re going to get it, later this morning.”MacArthur Greets His Congregation at the Beginning of Sunday’s Service:MacArthur had last preached at Grace on December 20. 
- 1 day ago 23 Jan 21, 7:56pm -

Faithful America, which claims to be the largest online community of Christians putting faith into action for social justice, has posted an online petition calling for the firing of Franklin Graham from Samaritan’s Purse and the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association (BGEA).The petition, which has garnered more than 24,500 signatures, claims that Graham has betrayed the mission of both groups by spreading “discredited election conspiracy theories” and “white nationalist terrorism,” which it says led to the riot at the U.S. 
- 2 days ago 22 Jan 21, 11:02pm -

Jen Hatmaker was “proud” to offer the final prayer in the liturgy for the inaugural interfaith prayer service Thursday hosted virtually by the Washington National Cathedral.The popular Christian author, speaker and podcaster has also apologized for it — at least for the first line of the prayer, which began, “Almighty God, you have given us this good land as our heritage.”“He didn’t. He didn’t give us this land. We took this land by force and trauma,” Hatmaker wrote later on social media. 
- 2 days ago 22 Jan 21, 6:05pm -

The church of Southern Baptist Convention President J.D. Greear today announced it is hiring a third party to investigate Executive Pastor Bryan Loritts’ handling of sex abuse at a previous church.As The Roys Report first reported in June, eyewitnesses at Fellowship Memphis, where Loritts served as a senior pastor, alleged that Loritts covered up sex crimes at the church 10 years ago.Aware of these allegations, Greear’s Summit Church hired Loritts as an executive pastor on June 1. 
- 4 days ago 21 Jan 21, 4:48am -

American churches have long been concerned about retaining the young people who have grown up in their pews. But research shows churches are looking in the wrong place. Parents are the key factor in whether a child embraces his parents’ faith. A recent study I published in the academic journal Sociology of Religion shows yet another predictor: religious conservatism.Using data from the  National Study of Youth and Religion, I find that when parents identify as religious conservatives, their young adult children (ages 23-28) attend church more often and report higher levels of faith.  
- 4 days ago 20 Jan 21, 2:11pm -

Life Issues Institute in the Ministry Spotlight, and a Deep Dive Into The Dave Ramsey Story
- 2 days ago 22 Jan 21, 3:32pm -

MinistryWatch has added salary information for 2,865 senior leaders to the profiles of its database.  These salaries come from the Form 990s of 558 ministries.
- 2 days ago 22 Jan 21, 2:52pm -

The Summit Church said it believes Pastor Bryan Loritts acted in good faith and was “pastorally responsible” while dealing with sexual abuse allegations at his former Fellowship Church in Memphis 10 years ago, but announced it has hired an independent firm to investigate the matter further.
- 2 days ago 22 Jan 21, 2:38pm -

The Rev. Ed Litton, an Alabama pastor known for his work on racial reconciliation, will be nominated for president of the Southern Baptist Convention this summer.
- 2 days ago 22 Jan 21, 2:22pm -

On today’s program, the annual March for Life is going virtual this year amid concerns of COVID.  We also have a deep dive into Ramsey Solutions, the company behind the popular money guru Dave Ramsey.  We begin today with news that a Christian crowd-funding site was used to finance the efforts of the Proud Boys […]
- 3 days ago 22 Jan 21, 1:27am -

The Rev. William B. Lawrence examines the claims of Scriptural authority by violent protesters who stormed the U.S. Capitol.
- 3 days ago 21 Jan 21, 4:35pm -

After setting United Methodist church work aside, the Rev. Martin Thielen reaches out to skeptics and struggling Christians, offering help and solidarity.
- 3 days ago 21 Jan 21, 4:28pm -

Though COVID-19 changed the lives of many, leaders of a United Methodist diaconal facility in North Macedonia, have been able to provide care without interruption.
- 5 days ago 19 Jan 21, 3:34pm -

As the migration crisis continues, Europe “is becoming a fortress” where desperate people are being turned away, says a United Methodist pastor in Germany.
- 5 days ago 19 Jan 21, 3:16pm -

On the occasion of the 92nd birthday of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., the Rev. Reginald Lee, pastor of Mt. Zion United Methodist Church, penned a birthday letter to the civil rights icon.
- 9 days ago 15 Jan 21, 6:48pm -

Protesters from Siberia to St. Petersburg to Moscow took to the streets of Russian cities on a bitterly cold Saturday to condemn the arrest of opposition leader Alexei Navalny. Russian police arrested more than 3,000 protesters across the country, including Navalny’s wife, Yulia, in Moscow.What’s behind the protests? Navalny, 44, was poisoned and went into a coma on Aug. 20. He was transferred to a hospital in Berlin, and tests showed he had been exposed to a Soviet-era nerve agent. He returned to Russia on Jan. 17 and was arrested. He could face more than three years in jail for alleged fraud and money laundering—charges Navalny says are politically motivated. Navalny has campaigned against corruption in the government of President Vladimir Putin. Supporters of Navalny have called for protests again next weekend.Dig deeper: Read Rachel Lynn Aldrich’s report in The Sift about accusations that high-level officials in Russia ordered Navalny’s poisoning.Image: Category: Political UnrestArticle Title: Russian police arrest pro-Navalny protestersKeywords: RussiaPutinProtestCrimeAuthor: Tim Lamer
- 1 day ago 23 Jan 21, 11:06pm -

Christians in a politically charged climatePoliticsTheologyDonald TrumpGovernmentQuestions to ask as tensions ratchet up GovernmentWaldemar KohlHow are we to respond—in this overly sensitive, divided, and politically charged climate—to a society that needs to know Jesus’ love?  I think it starts with us doing some serious self-reflection on where our priorities lie, and even where our heart is. A few overarching questions I would ask:Are we focused on love?  The world will know us by our love for each other (John 13:35), and how we love those who disagree with us—or who even curse us and persecute us (Matthew 5).  I’m not seeing this among some prominent Christian leaders. In all manner of social and public discourse right now—on issues ranging from mask-wearing, to equal rights, to respect for due process or respect for authority—there appears to be deep anger, outrage, a “call for blood” even! What about Paul’s admonition to “let your reasonableness be made known to everyone” (Philippians 4:5)? Is our love growing cold (Matthew 24:11-13)? I want to understand my more liberal (or more conservative) neighbors—maybe even learn something new, or change my opinion—as I focus on loving them.What is our battle?  This leads me to my second point: What are we fighting against? Why is there so much resentment and anger? We know that we are not at war with flesh and blood, but against spiritual powers of darkness and evil (Ephesians 6:12). Our behavior (speaking very broadly) would suggest we are at war with anyone who thinks differently about very earthly matters. I’m sensing from many Christians I know a strong undertone of condemnation of anyone who dares question their political beliefs, their political candidate, and anything their candidate says and does. Any information, “facts,” or insightful arguments that do not support what they believe to be true are grounds for mockery and disdain. (This is true on both sides, but shouldn’t believers be different?) Is it realistic to think all truth only comes from one party or one person? Does it stand to reason that anything offered by the “other side” is inherently false? And even if it were that black and white, on what are we focusing our fight? Our battle is against the devil, and for the souls of man. Our focus should be on living out the gospel, loving others because of the eternal glory set before us (2 Corinthians 4:17-18). Which kingdom are we pursuing? If we were Christians anywhere else in the world, we would struggle less with the melding of nationalism and faith. As it is, the church in the United States—in my opinion—has a dangerous emotional and spiritual bond with conservative political power. They are not one and the same. Jesus was clear, “My kingdom is not of this world.” If it were, He would have fought more like we’re fighting today—for power and control. Listening to the leaders involved in the Jericho March, you would think that the president is our messiah and we are fighting for his kingdom on earth. Anything that pulls us away from our focus on God’s eternal kingdom, or draws on our passion and energy to preserve worldly possession or influence, plays into the devil’s hands. Let us vote our conscience for the leaders we believe are best able to govern our country. But let our hearts and minds pursue the eternal kingdom, not a kingdom of any kind on earth.Are we guarding against deception? I do not read the Bible enough, nor am I praying in the Spirit as much as I should be, given these end times. I am increasingly aware of my susceptibility to false teaching and deceptive spirits as I read about how far a Christian leader can stray from his “first love.” We must absolutely test the spirits (1 John 4:1) and submit everything to God’s Word (Colossians 3:16) in order not to be deceived by the lust of the world (1 John 2:16).  The idols of my heart are a constant battle. Like all Christians who are also human, I do not always have Christ preeminent in my heart and mind. For some reason—unique to this time in history, and to this political climate, and to this leader—the Church is diverting much of its focus from God’s kingdom to political power. More than any time in my life, many of us threw our commitment and loyalty toward Donald Trump, to the point of even defining what is true by his standard. Some Christians claimed that any authority other than his was from the devil! This, I’m afraid, may be the fulfillment of verses such as 2 Timothy 4:2-4: “For the time will come when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths.”  I fear we may be following in the path of the Corinthian church that struggled with worldliness, heresies, and battled “party spirit,” which Paul decried (1 Corinthians 3:1-4, 21-23).Waldemar Kohl is a consultant who lives with his wife Ann and their five children in Hampton, N.H.PoliticsWhirled Views
- 1 day ago 23 Jan 21, 4:11pm -

Radio and television host Larry King, who interviewed tens of thousands of subjects, including presidents, Hollywood celebrities, athletes, and world leaders, died Saturday. He was 87.How did he become famous? Lawrence Harvey Zeiger, born in the Brooklyn borough of New York to Jewish immigrants, became Larry King when he landed his first radio job as a disc jockey in Miami in 1957. His boss thought Zeiger sounded “too ethnic,” and noticed an ad for King’s Wholesale Liquors in an open newspaper on the desk.Known for his personable and straightforward style, he credited his ability to talk with anyone, whether a prime minister or bus driver, to his insatiable curiosity. Larry King Live premiered on CNN in 1985 and became a mainstay of American television for 25 years. He welcomed everyone from the Dalai Lama and Mikhail Gorbachev to Elizabeth Taylor and Frank Sinatra.King married seven women (one of them twice). His last marriage to Shawn Southwick lasted more than 20 years before he filed for divorce in 2019. He cited religious differences—she was a devout Mormon and he an “agnostic atheist”—as one reason they didn’t get along.Obsessed with the afterlife, King often asked about faith in interviews. In his book Powerful Prayers, co-authored with Rabbi Irwin Katsof, he questioned influential people about how they talk to God. On a CNN special, King said he wanted to live forever, and was public about his wish to be cryogenically preserved.King’s estranged wife and three of his five children survive him.Image: Category: TVArticle Title: Larry King, TV interview virtuoso, has diedKeywords: ObituariesObituaryTelevisionMediaCultureAuthor: Jenny Rough
- 1 day ago 23 Jan 21, 2:35pm -

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said senators can balance confirming President Joe Biden’s executive nominees and holding former President Donald Trump’s impeachment trial. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said she plans to send the impeachment articles to the Senate on Monday.When will the trial start? Once the Senate receives the articles of impeachment, it is supposed to start the trial right away. But Schumer and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., agreed to begin the proceeding during the week of Feb. 8. That gives Senate Democrats more time to focus on confirmations. With the Senate split 50-50, at least 17 Republicans would need to vote against Trump in order to convict him of inciting insurrection on Jan. 6. In the House, 10 GOP lawmakers voted to impeach. Some Republican senators argue impeaching a president after he leaves office is unconstitutional. Democrats are seeking a conviction that would allow them to bar Trump from holding office again.Dig deeper: Read Josh Raimundo’s account in The Stew of what he saw at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6.Editor’s note: WORLD has updated this report since its initial posting.Image: Category: PoliticsArticle Title: Trump impeachment trial has a start dateKeywords: PoliticsImpeachmentSenateWhite HouseCapitol RiotAuthor: Rachel Lynn Aldrich
- 2 days ago 23 Jan 21, 3:09am -

Corrugated sheets, twisted windowpanes, and concrete rubble littered streets where many buildings once stood in the city of Mamuju on Indonesia’s Sulawesi island. A shallow 6.2-magnitude earthquake rattled the island just after midnight on Friday as many people slept.Nurwardi, manager of operations at Mamuju’s West Sulawesi General Hospital—the only clinic that survived the earthquake—said people steadily flocked to makeshift tents to receive care. “Many patients do not want to be treated inside the hospital because they’re worried about another quake,” he told the AFP news agency. “Many need surgery but we have limited resources and medicine.”The earthquake killed at least 90 people, the majority of them in Mamuju, and nearly 300 others sustained serious injuries. Aid workers this week continued to search for survivors and try to access cut-off villages. The quake came in the wake of several other disasters in the country, including the COVID-19 pandemic.The earthquake destroyed more than 1,000 homes and other buildings, including the governor’s office and a shopping mall in Mamuju. Thousands of people slept outdoors this week for fear of aftershocks. Nearly 30,000 displaced people moved to shelters in Mamuju and its neighboring district of Majene.A father of three who identified himself as Robert told the Associated Press he was at Mamuju’s Mitra Manakarra hospital when the earthquake began. The rattling bed woke him up, and he pulled out the drip from his hand before running out. “I cried when I saw the hospital where I was being treated collapse with people still inside,” he said. “I could have died if I got out late.”Didi Hamzar, the disaster agency’s director of preparedness, said rescuers have pulled at least 18 survivors from collapsed buildings. The region set up a navy hospital ship and field health centers to bolster the medical response. The International Red Cross deployed seven ambulances and first-aid teams to the region. Mark Baker, the director of disaster response with Water Mission, told me his team also sent in a mobile unit to deliver clean water to affected communities. The aid group is also assessing the needs before setting up permanent water treatment systems.Doni Monardo, Indonesia’s disaster agency chief, said authorities would set up COVID-19 testing sites at the camps. Indonesia has recorded more than 927,000 infections and more than 26,000 deaths, the highest in Southeast Asia. Security officers patrolling with loudspeakers reminded people to observe health protocols as markets and gas stations slowly reopened this week.Indonesian President Joko Widodo mobilized the military and police to aid the rescue and relief operations and pledged more government support during a Tuesday visit to Mamuju: “Soon the central government will rebuild, then for collapsed houses, the government will help for those that were heavily damaged.”The archipelago nation sits on the “Ring of Fire,” an arch of fault lines in the Pacific Basin, and experiences frequent earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, and tsunamis.Other disasters have struck the country as well. On Monday, Widodo visited southern regions on Borneo island, where flooding last week killed at least 15 people and forced thousands of people to flee their homes. On Jan. 9, a deadly landslide on Java island buried about 40 people. The same day, a Sriwijaya Air jet crashed into the Java Sea, killing all 62 people on board.“The people of Indonesia inspire the world community as an example of extraordinary resilience,” said Dr. Vlatko Uzevski, emergency response leader for the nonprofit Project HOPE, which is also responding in Sulawesi. Associated Press/Photo by Hassene Dridi Police officers face demonstrators in Ettadhamen City near Tunis, Tunisia, on Tuesday. Tunisian youths return to the streetsYoung Tunisians have gathered on the streets of the capital city of Tunis and other cities since Friday, throwing Molotov cocktails at security forces and holding posters that read, “Employment is a right, not a favor.” The demonstrations began after the government imposed a nationwide coronavirus lockdown on Thursday, the 10th anniversary of the ouster of authoritarian President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali during the Arab Spring. Authorities have arrested more than 600 people and deployed troops across several cities, defense ministry spokesman Mohamed Zikri said.One-third of Tunisia’s youth remain unemployed, and the pandemic has worsened the country’s economic crisis. Tunisia has recorded more than 177,000 COVID-19 infections and more than 5,600 deaths. Prime Minister Hichem Mechichi acknowledged the growing frustration but condemned the looting and violence: “Your voice is heard, and your anger is legitimate, and it is my role and the role of the government to work to realize your demands and to make the dream of Tunisia to become true.”Amnesty International urged security forces to refrain from using excessive force. —O.O. Associated Press/Photo by Rahmat Gul The site of a gunmen attack in Kabul, Afghanistan, on Sunday. Violence persists in AfghanistanGunmen killed two women Supreme Court judges in Afghanistan last week, the latest in a string of assassinations targeting civilians. The women were driving to their office in the capital city of Kabul when gunmen riding motorcycles opened fire on their car, said Ahmad Fahim Qaweem, a spokesperson for the Supreme Court. Police launched an investigation.Attacks in recent months have targeted government officials, activists, journalists, and prosecutors. The Taliban denied any involvement. The Islamic State claimed responsibility for a November attack on Kabul University that left 22 people dead and 22 others wounded.The latest violence came two days after the United States said the U.S. troop level in Afghanistan reduced to a record low of 2,500, a stipulation in the U.S.-brokered peace talks. —O.O. Getty Images/Photo Alfredo Zuniga/AFP Women and children displaced by attacks in northern Mozambique attend a meeting at the Centro Agrrio de Napala. Freed captivesDefense forces in Mozambique’s terrorism-ridden northern province last week rescued 21 hostages abducted by extremists. Authorities said the insurgents captured the 15 women and six children from Matemo island and used them to transport looted goods.One of the women, Maisha Ambasse, counted up to 30 insurgents and said they planned to take the captives to a Koranic school. Bernardino Rafael, general commander of the police force, said the defense forces knew the terrorists’ location and launched a “smart attack” to rescue the hostages.A local rebel group called Ahlu Sunnah Wa-Jama started attacking the port town of Mocímboa da Praia in October 2017. Insurgent attacks in the oil-rich region have killed more than 1,000 civilians and displaced more than 500,000 people. On Wednesday, the United Nations called for expanded health and nutrition programs for the affected communities. —O.O. African tales go digitalThe African tradition of oral storytelling passed down to family members and communities could soon be available online. Herman Chinery-Hesse, a Ghanaian entrepreneur who established the country’s largest software company, created Afrikan Echoes to bring the continent’s tales to an international audience.The new audiobooks app, set to launch in March, will initially feature up to 50 unpublished African tales translated to Swahili, Yoruba, and other African languages. They include Frank Karefa-Smart’s story of his time working in New York during the civil rights movement and across West Africa at the time of the diamond trade. “We would like a situation where non-Africans can listen to African stories told by Africans, in an African way,” he told CNN. —O.O. Image: Deck: The country struggles to rebuild after the latest in a string of disasters this yearCategory: InternationalKeywords: InternationalIndonesiaAsiaEarthquakeDisasterCoronavirusTunisiaAfricaProtestPolitical UnrestHealthAfghanistanMiddle EastTerrorismMozambiqueArtsCultureSlug: InternationalArticle Title: Earthquake hits already devastated IndonesiaAuthor: Onize OhikereDigital Branding: World TourHide from Archive?: 0
- 2 days ago 22 Jan 21, 10:52pm -