Saturday, October 24, 2020 at 11:06 AM GMT

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Christian Related News, Articles, Opinions for October 2020

Look to Scripture, Not the Pope, for God’s View on Sexuality, Southern Baptist Leaders Say

Leaders of the nation’s largest Protestant denomination on Wednesday said Scripture – and not words from the pope – determine what is true about marriage and sexuality.

Their comments came the same day news broke about a new documentary, Francesco, in which Pope Francis discussed homosexuality and same-sex civil unions.

“Homosexuals have a right to be a part of the family. They’re children of God and have a right to a family. Nobody should be thrown out, or be made miserable because of it,” he said, according to Catholic News Agency.

He added, “What we have to create is a civil union law. That way they are legally covered.”

Catholic News Agency (CNA) said the pope’s comments were not about same-sex marriage but instead about a legal recognition short of marriage that would grant benefits of marriage. Even so, it would be a first: “While Pope Francis has previously discussed civil unions, he has not explicitly endorsed the idea in public before,” CNA said...More

I am a free black woman. Why I won't vote Democrat this year

My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge [of My law, where I reveal My will]. Because you [the priestly nation] have rejected knowledge, I will also reject you from being My priest. Since you have forgotten the law of your God, I will also forget your children - Hosea 4:6 (AMP)

While growing up south of the Mason-Dixon Line during the '70s, there were a few things I could count on seeing inside all of my family members’ homes: pictures of Jesus, Abraham Lincoln, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and John F. Kennedy Sr.

During my childhood, my community was immersed in church, Sunday school, vacation Bible camp, weekly revivals, etc. You name it, the children were expected to be there, even when our parents were not...More

Pope Francis endorses civil unions for same-sex couples

Pope Francis has called for the creation of civil union laws that would help same-sex couples create families as “children of God,” challenging a previous conclusion by the Catholic Church that endorsing such unions would be an “approval of deviant behavior.”

“Homosexual people have a right to be in a family. They are children of God and have a right to a family. Nobody should be thrown out or be made miserable over it,” Francis said in a documentary, called “Francesco,” that premiered Wednesday in Rome, the Catholic News Agency reported.

“What we have to create is a civil union law. That way they are legally covered. I stood up for that,” Francis, whose comments came as he reflected on pastoral care for those who identify as LGBT, added.

The documentary by Oscar-nominated Director Evgeny Afineevsky, which highlights the life and ministry of Pope Francis, is...More

6 COVID-19 controversies in churches today

They contact our team daily.

They want to make the right decision, but it seems that any decision gets them in trouble.

Pastors in churches around the world are, like all of us, navigating a new reality. It’s not a new normal; it is truly a new reality.

These pastors, of course, have never been confronted with these types of controversies. They love their church members, but the church members are not always loving them back.

Here are the six most common controversies we are hearing from pastors as they contact Church Answers. The list, of course, is not exhaustive nor is it mutually exclusive...More

Christian Girls Become Target for Sex Traffickers

Last month, U.S. Attorney General Bill Barr announced that more than $100 million in federal grants will go to fighting human trafficking, according to the Associated Press. Task forces, as well as nonprofits helping survivors, will receive the grants to continue their work.

“This is one of the top enforcement priorities of the department and we’re on the forefront of this fight,” said Barr in Atlanta with presidential adviser Ivanka Trump and Republican Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp.

The announcement came only a few months after the Trump administration awarded the Justice Department with an additional $35 million to provide safe housing for trafficking survivors.

Georgia’s governor and his wife, Marty Kemp, have made the abolition of sex trafficking a priority in their state.

“The governor and the first lady here have been second to none in the nation in taking this fight on and working closely with the federal government and I really appreciate that,” Barr said.”...More

China bans copying of hymns, punishes Christians who print religious materials

China has been tightening restrictions on the distribution of religious materials in recent months by threatening fines, the closure of printing shops, or even imprisonment for selling Christian books or allowing customers to photocopy hymns.

Bitter Winter, a publication that monitors religious liberty violations in China, reports that this month, Chinese Communist Party officials in Luoyang, a prefecture-level city in the central province of Henan, searched a local printing house for banned religious materials.

“Any religious content makes the issue political, not religious. Although banners on the streets say people are allowed religious beliefs, the only faith they can practice freely is that in the Communist Party,” a store manager told Bitter Winter.

Because inspections are “too rigorous,” the manager said he refuses to print religious materials.

“They checked my storehouse, scrutinized all records, and even looked at paper sheets on the floor, to see if they have prohibited content,” the manager told Bitter Winter. “If any such content is found, I’ll be fined, or worse, my business will be closed.”...More

'I Pray for Everyone Grappling with COVID-19': Melania Trump Details Her Experience with COVID-19

First Lady Melania Trump is speaking out on her personal experience and recovery from COVID-19 after she and her husband, President Donald Trump, tested positive in early October.

In an official statement, Melania explained that following the diagnosis, she immediately thought of their 14-year-old son, Barron Trump, who initially tested negative. A later test, however, came back positive but he showed no symptoms. Fortunately, the teenage Trump would test negative again.

“In one way I was glad the three of us went through this at the same time so we could take care of one another and spend time together” she wrote in the statement. “He has since tested negative.”

Regarding her experience with COVID, the First Lady explained that she had “minimal symptoms” of the disease, including body aches, a cough and headaches, and extreme fatigue...More

Wikipedia bans editors from expressing support for traditional marriage

Wikipedia has decided to restrict its editors from expressing opposition to same-sex marriage on its platform ­— a decision that comes months after co-founder Larry Sanger said the site’s neutrality policy was “dead.”

Volunteers who write and edit Wikipedia’s articles can no longer include on their profile page any “userbox” — a badge expressing their beliefs — that is against gay marriage. For example, one such userbox states, “This user believes marriage is between one man and one woman.”

The decision was made after a recent discussion where “predominantly left-wing editors” argued such a stance was “discriminatory” and against site policy, according to Breitbart.

The discussion began after an editor, Adam Cuerden, suggested that just one userbox be deleted, calling it “pretty explicitly homophobic” and citing a site guideline prohibiting “inflammatory or divisive” content in userboxes. Soon, he suggested that other userboxes in favor of traditional marriage should also be deleted...More

Why does Facebook discriminate against gays?

Presidential candidates get all the love. Just kidding. “Love,” of course, is the wrong word. What Presidential candidates get is all the attention.

Why does Facebook treat gays unfairly? Why does it put them in a special class, telling them they must remain gay even if they want to change? Why does Facebook suppress the stories of those who have changed – and are much happier for it – rather than give them the space to choose for themselves?

You might say, “Are you crazy? You have this all wrong. Facebook is standing with the gay community, protecting them from hate speech and exposing ‘conversion therapy’ as dangerous. That’s why Facebook has removed the pages of so-called ‘ex-gay’ organizations.”

Of course, I’m quite aware that Facebook is acting in cooperation with LGBTQ leaders. That’s been an open secret for years.

But there is no question that Facebook is doing a disservice to that very community by censoring the stories of those who once identified as LGBTQ but do so no longer. On what possible grounds should their pages be removed? This is unethical and unfair...More

Ballot initiatives of 2020: abortion, marriage, sex ed

Presidential candidates get all the love. Just kidding. “Love,” of course, is the wrong word. What Presidential candidates get is all the attention.

The Presidency matters, of course, and voters should know as much as possible about the character, the party, the policies, and the likely people each candidate will bring to the highest office in the land. At the same time, for almost all of us, this election features incredibly important decisions all the way down the ballot.

For example, Amy Coney Barrett might have a new appreciation for the importance of Senate races. Or, ask Colorado State Troopers if their lives have changed since a particular ballot initiative passed in 2016. Or, ask the parents of Loudon County (VA) school children if school board elections make a difference.

At a time when, as Nebraska Senator Ben Sasse observed in his book Them, our natural appetites for community, belonging, and meaning are increasingly being satiated by politics instead of religion, Americans are voting on a wider spectrum of issues. At the local level, our ballots decides more than just what taxes we pay, what resources schools receive, which roads are fixed, and the size of the police force. Today, our votes determine what behavior is incentivized by the state, what worldview is taught as fact in our schools, and in some places, which laws police will enforce...More

Understanding Christian martyrdom reveals mystery of cross

I would like to share some personal experiences that I believe can be of help to many Christians who have not understood how powerful the Old Rugged Bloody Cross is. In my nineteen years in Christ, I had some confusions and doubts that became more complicated as I searched for answers to many questions about Christianity but the revelation of the mystery of the cross answered them all.

I had persistently asked God why He could not protect His servants. I expected God to arise and fight for the Nigerian Christians but He remained silent. I wept profusely when I saw the video of how the chairman of Michika local government area, Adamawa state chapter of Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Lawan Andimi, was beheaded. His killing discouraged me so much that I wondered if these missionary risks were worth taking for a God who cannot protect His own.

I was bathing in the dysphoria of this killing when the Lord took me into a journey of scriptural insightful voyage that revealed the mystery of the cross to me. I came to know that Lawan Andimi was one of the most privileged Christians whom God has prepared to officiate as king, priest, and judge in the millennium rule (Revelation 20:4). I had no option than to send a posthumous congratulatory message to him for his martyrdom...More

Standing firm in an age of weaponized information

Conservative candidates for public office must not only run against a human opponent, but also must withstand a massive left-oriented consensus establishment that weaponizes information.

“Those who tell the stories rule society,” said Plato centuries ago.

“Whoever controls the media, the images, controls the culture,” said Allen Ginsberg more recently.

Neil Postman, in his book, Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business (Penguin Books, 1985), argued that “TV is turning all public life (education, religion, politics, journalism) into entertainment.” The result is that “image is undermining all forms of communication, particularly the written word.”

Further, “our bottomless appetite” for TV is leading to an “information glut” so that “what is truly meaningful is lost and we no longer care what we’ve lost as long as we are being amused,” added Andrew Postman in his introduction to his father’s book...More

Yes: The church belongs in politics

Does politics belong in the church? During this political season we are facing what many Americans believe to be the most important election in the history of this nation. If that’s true, as I believe it is, the question of the Church’s role in the political process is extremely important.

But, some pastors are reticent. They ask, “does politics have a place in the Church?”

My answer would be, “No, politics does not belong in the Church,” but I would quickly add, emphatically, that, “But the Church also belongs in politics!”

Jesus taught us to, “Render therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s” (Matthew 22:21). But he never said that we should give to Caesar the things that belong to God.

When we think about all the unsavory characters in the media, Hollywood, and the bowels of government today, it often seems as if the great truths and moral standards we’ve believed in for so long are suddenly “out of date.” The political left has been telling us for decades that our views are “too narrow.” They say people of faith are a tiny minority, all alone, a minor class of rustics, rubes, and “deplorables,” and our numbers are too small to make much difference in the modern world. Well, I beg to differ...More

COVID-19-related mental health disorders will cause increased suicides, drug overdoses: researchers warn

Amid a dramatic increase in suicide over the last two decades, a number of faith leaders have weighed in on whether or not those who commit suicide are condemned to hell.

A second wave of devastation stemming from the novel coronavirus pandemic including soaring suicides and drug overdoses is imminent with the declining mental health of communities, medical researchers warn and it is expected to disproportionately impact the poor, older adults, blacks and Hispanics.

The warning came in Mental Health Disorders Related to COVID-19–Related Deaths published in The Journal of the American Medical Association on Monday. The article was authored by NYU Grossman School of Medicine researchers: Dr. Naomi M. Simon from the Anxiety and Complicated Grief Program; Dr. Glenn N. Saxe from the Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, and Dr. Charles R. Marmar from the Center for Alcohol Use Disorders and PTSD...More

Last of 21 Christians martyred by ISIS in Libya finally laid to rest after 5 years

The remains of a Ghanaian Christian beheaded by the Islamic State terrorist group on a Libyan beach in an execution video in 2015 has finally been laid to rest in Egypt.

Cairo-based journalist Farid Y. Farid reported on Sept. 29 that the body of Matthew Ayariga was finally laid to rest alongside the 20 Coptic Christians who were beheaded beside him on a beach in Sirte, Libya, in a video released by the jihadi death cult in February 2015.

Farid provided a link to an article by Watani Newspaper, an Egyptian weekly newspaper widely read by Coptic Christians. The article reports that the families of the Coptic Christians celebrated the remains of the martyr.

“We collapsed with great joy because the martyr Matthew is dear to us, and he is one of our children because he was martyred with our children and adhered to his Christ,” a mother of two of the martyred Coptic Christians told Watani News. “We thank our master because He succeeded in returning the remains of the martyr so that he would be next to his [brothers] in the church.”...More

Archbishop Condemns Priest for Performing a Sex Act on His Church's Altar with Two Women

A federal judge quoted Hebrews 10:25 as he ruled against Mayor Muriel Bowser’s restriction on outdoor church services of more than 100 people, allowing Capitol Hill Baptist Church in Washington, D.C., to resume in-person outdoor services.

“It is for the church, not the District or this court, to define for itself the meaning of ‘not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together,’” Judge Trevor McFadden, a Trump appointee, wrote, quoting the New Testament’s Epistle to the Hebrews, according to The Washington Times.

“Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching,” reads the verse.

In late September, the church had filed a complaint in federal court, arguing that the city had violated the First and Fifth Amendments to the U.S. Constitution and the Religious Freedom Restoration Act...More

Judge cites scripture in rebuke of Mayor Bowser’s worship restrictions

Friar Travis Clark, a 37-year-old priest of Sts. Peter and Paul in Pearl River in New Orleans, was removed from his position after filming himself having sex with two dominatrix women on a church altar, The Christian Post reports.

The Archbishop of New Orleans, Gregory Aymond, condemned him in a statement uploaded to YouTube.

In his statement, which also makes mention of another priest, Pat Wattigny, who was removed from his post for a different reason, Aymond describes Clark’s act as “demonic,” stating, "What has happened concerning Pat Wattigny and Travis Clark is unacceptable, it's sinful, and it cannot be tolerated." He also went on to say, "Let me be clear. Both were removed from ministry immediately and will never serve again in Catholic ministry."

Reportedly, Travis Clark, with two sex workers, outfitted the church’s altar with stage lighting in order to record themselves being intimate with one another. While the shooting was happening, a local passerby saw the lights, alerted the police and, upon looking in the window, witnessed the sex act...More

Gambia’s New Sharia-Friendly Constitution Fails. But Christians Are Still Concerned.

Though pleased with the draft’s overall democratic reforms, leaders are frustrated that “Christian rights do not matter” in the West African nation.

Instead, the English-speaking, sliver-shaped West African river nation—known for Muslim-Christian coexistence—will return to the 1997 constitution instituted by former dictator Yahya Jammeh and amended by him more than 50 times to entrench his power.

One year before being deposed in 2016 by popular protests, Jammeh declared Gambia to be an Islamic state.

The new draft constitution would have imposed term limits on the president, guaranteed religious freedom, and forbidden any future declaration of a state religion.

Muslims make up more than 9 in 10 Gambians, totaling 2 million. Lamin Sanneh, the Muslim-born Gambian theologian who died last year, praised his nation’s participation in a tradition of “pacifist Islam.”

Yet many of the nation’s Christians, who comprise only about 5 percent of the population, still feel like they dodged a bullet...More

'Christianity Doesn’t Belong in China': Communist Officials Demand Churches Replace Crosses with Nation's Five-Pointed Star

Persecution of Christians in China by the Chinese Communist Party has continued to rage on, despite COVID-19 restrictions.

Local officials have removed crosses from the rooftops of hundreds of churches, religious liberty magazine Bitter Winter reports.

In August, Two Chinese Christian Councils in a county managed by the prefecture-level city of Jiujiang in Jiangxi Province ordered over 70 affiliated churches to replace all cross symbols from their official seals with China’s five-pointed star.

According to Britannica, the Chinese flag and national emblem features one large star surrounded by four small stars, which represents the CCP as the guiding force of the nation.

Additionally, the star is used in all other state-run institutions...More

Trump Says Catching COVID-19 was a 'Blessing from God'

On Wednesday, President Trump imparted his experience to COVID-19 noticing that at last coming down with the infection was “a blessing in disguise” since it uncovered what he guarantees is an incredibly successful treatment alternative.

“For me, I walked in, I didn’t feel good, a short 24-hours later; I was feeling great — I wanted to get out of the hospital. And that’s what I want for everybody,” Trump said in a video posted on Twitter. “I want everybody to be given the same treatment as your president, because I feel great. I feel, like, perfect.”

“I think this was a blessing from God that I caught it,” Trump declared. “This was a blessing in disguise. I caught it, I heard about this drug, I said, ‘let me take it’ … and it was incredible the way it worked,” he included...More

Armenians Fight to Hold Ancient Homeland Within Azerbaijan
Is the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict a Christian-Muslim conflict, or simply politics?

Fierce fighting has broken out in the Caucasus Mountains between the Caspian and Black Seas, pitting Christian Armenians versus Muslim Azeris.

But is it right to employ their religious labels?

"Early Sunday morning [Sept. 27], I got a call from our delegate in the capital city [Stepanakert]," said Harout Nercessian, the Armenia agent for the Armenian Missionary Association of America (AMAA).

"He said they are besieging Stepanakert. It is a war."

One week later, the battling proceeds. In question is command over the Armenian-dominant part enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh, home to 170,000 individuals in a Delaware-sized precipitous locale inside Azerbaijan.

Over 200 people have reportedly died, however Azerbaijan has not released its number of casualties...More

'Thankful to God' – The Bible Gets Translated into Its 700th Language

The number of full Bible translations hit 700 as of late, albeit because of the speed at which interpretations have been delivered, nobody is certain which one was the first to arrive at the imprint.

Wycliffe Bible Translations and the American Bible Society both praised the news, saying it's a significant achievement in propelling the gospel. The 700 all out includes total Bibles with each of the 66 books deciphered. Fractional interpretations, (for example, New Testaments) are excluded.

James Poole, chief overseer of Wycliffe Bible Translators, said the achievement "speaks to the huge work that Bible interpreters are doing over the world."

"Each time we know about the Bible being converted into another dialect, we realize that implies that unexpectedly the individuals in that language gathering can completely get to the total image of God's story," Poole said. "It's acceptable to make a stride back and acknowledge what this 700th Bible methods: 5.7 billion individuals who communicate in 700 dialects currently have the Bible in the language that addresses them best. That is a striking figure and keeps on developing."...More

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Tomorrow Today Yesterday Archives

Surviving Drought Bible in a Year: Jeremiah 3–5, 1 Timothy 4 The one who trusts in the Lord . . . will be like a tree planted by the water. Jeremiah 17:7–8 Today's Scripture & Insight: Jeremiah 17:5–8 In April 2019, a suburban neighborhood in Victorville, California, became buried in tumbleweeds. High winds pushed the rolling thistles into the development from the adjacent Mojave Desert where the plant grows. At maturity, the pesky weed can grow to up to six feet in height—a formidable size when it releases itself from its roots to “tumble” with the wind to scatter its seeds. Tumbleweeds are what I picture when I read Jeremiah’s description of a person “whose heart turns away from the Lord” (Jeremiah 17:5). He says that those who draw their strength from “mere flesh” will be like “a bush in the wastelands” and be unable to “see prosperity when it comes” (vv. 5–6). In sharp contrast are those who put their trust in God instead of people. Like trees, their strong, deep roots draw strength from Him, enabling them to remain full of life, even in the midst of drought-like circumstances. Tumbleweeds and trees both have roots. Tumbleweeds, however, don’t stay connected to their life-source, causing them to dry out and die. Trees, on the other hand, remain connected to their roots, enabling them to flourish and thrive, anchored to that which will sustain them in times of difficulty. When we hold fast to God, drawing strength and encouragement from the wisdom found in the Bible and talking to Him in prayer, we too can experience the life-giving, life-sustaining nourishment He provides. By: Kirsten Holmberg Reflect & Pray How has God sustained you in times of drought? What can you do today to drive your roots more deeply into relationship with Him? Life-giving God, You’re my sustainer. Thank You for giving me what I need to navigate my struggles and hardships.

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Top Daily Devotional Tweets from @DailyDevsOnline

These are the most viewed daily devotional tweets per month culled from the daily devotional messages served on this website daily. Everyday, a snippet of each daily devotional message is tweeted on our twitter account. It gives us an idea of the more popular daily devotional tweets and messages among readers per time.

August 2020

The Good Seed Daily Devotional for Wednesday, August 12, 2020
by GBV Dillenburg GmbH

The tribe of Levi enjoyed a privileged position among the people of Israel. God had sanctified them for Himself, selecting them from the nation for His service. They were responsible for the tabernacle, God’s dwelling among His people. The people always...Full devotional details

July 2020

Our Daily Bread Daily Devotional for Wednesday, July 22, 2020
by RBC Ministries

A Wide, Sweeping Grace
Alexa, Amazon’s voice-controlled device, has an interesting feature: it can erase everything you say. Whatever you’ve asked Alexa to do, whatever information you’ve asked Alexa to retrieve, one simple sentence (“Delete everything I...Full devotional details

June 2020

Our Daily Bread Daily Devotional for Sunday, June 7, 2020
by RBC Ministries

In Need of Rescue
A teenager named Aldi was working alone on a fishing hut anchored about 125 kilometers (about 78 miles) off Indonesia’s Sulawesi Island when heavy winds knocked the hut off its mooring and sent it out to sea. For forty-nine days, Aldi...Full devotional details

May 2020

Our Daily Bread Daily Devotional for Monday, May 4, 2020
by RBC Ministries

Eclipse
I was prepared with eye protection, an ideal viewing location, and homemade moon pie desserts. Along with millions of people in the US, my family watched the rare occurrence of a total solar eclipse—the moon covering the entire disk of the sun...Full devotional details

April 2020

The Good Seed Daily Devotional for Tuesday, April 21, 2020
by GBV Dillenburg GmbH

In 1932 two Christians undertook a long journey through the Libyan desert. It took them from the north-west of Sudan through Egypt to the far east of Libya. A caravan of fourteen camels transported their luggage: food, indispensable water and a precious...Full devotional details

March 2020

Our Daily Bread Daily Devotional for Tuesday, March 31, 2020
by RBC Ministries

Inheritance Isn’t Earned
“Thanks for dinner, Dad,” I said as I set my napkin on the restaurant table. I was home on a break from college and, after being gone for a while, it felt strange to have my parents pay for me. “You’re welcome, Julie,” my dad...Full devotional details

February 2020

Our Daily Bread Daily Devotional for Monday, February 24, 2020
by RBC Ministries

Liberated by Jesus
“I lived with my mother so long that she moved out!” Those were the words of KC, whose life before sobriety and surrender to Jesus was not pretty. He candidly admits supporting his drug habit by stealing—even from loved ones. That life...Full devotional details

January 2020

The Good Seed Daily Devotional for Monday, January 27, 2020
by GBV Dillenburg GmbH

A fresh start
Many people are haunted by their past. They cannot get over disappointments and plague themselves with reproaches. During sleepless nights they constantly think: “If only I hadn’t done such a stupid thing!...Full devotional details

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