Leaving Christianity: Christian leaders offer some antidotes but it's not that simple

Growing up, Essie Horn wasn’t much different than many young girls raised in an evangelical Christian home.

She attended church, sometimes Presbyterian, other times nondenominational, with her family, in addition to receiving her K-12 education at a small Christian school. Her college education took place at a small, private Christian college located in the hills of Tennessee, where she felt her faith “really grew” after she grasped her “own depravity and grace.”

“I considered myself a Christian my whole life,” she recalled.

But as Essie entered adulthood, something shifted.

How to Pray Huge Prayers—And See Dramatic Results

For years, even as a pastor, Brian Phipps found it difficult to pray for big things in his life. He wanted to influence the kingdom in a big way, but didn't know how to pray it into existence.

What he discovered was that he needed simply to follow the message of obedience in Luke 16:10 of "he who is faithful in what is least is faithful also in much."

In UN address, Holy See voices support for ceasefire in Yemen

A nationwide ceasefire is essential to ease the suffering of the people of Yemen, which has been in a civil war since at least 2014, said the Holy See’s permanent observer to the U.N. on Tuesday.

“Children are starving; access to clean water is scarce; the economy continues to struggle severely; those who cannot flee the front lines of war remain cut off from basic supplies and humanitarian workers are impeded to operate in some areas,” said Archbishop Bernardito Auza, permanent observer of the Holy See to the United Nations, describing the situation in Yemen.

Priest in N Ireland urges pro-choice politicians not to receive Holy Communion

A priest in Northern Ireland has exhorted pro-choice politicians not to receive Holy Communion, and Catholic voters not to vote for pro-choice candidates or parties, after legislation expanding abortion access in the region took effect this week.

“To be publicly pro choice-abortion is irreconcilable with being a faithful Catholic. Therefore, such persons should not approach the Holy Eucharist. If they do so, they are committing the mortal sin of sacrilege,” Fr. Patrick McCafferty, parish priest at Corpus Christi in Belfast, said in an Oct. 21 Facebook post.

'Belief in Genesis ... incompatible with human dignity,' British tribunal claims

In the novel “Bleak House,” Charles Dickens introduces us to Harold Skimpole, a man who seems charming and reasonable but is quickly revealed to be a mooch and a parasite. Skimpole lives comfortably off of his friends. Even worse, he believes he’s entitled to the standard of living his friends provide, giving no thought at all to what it took to make his life comfortable in the first place.

Western culture is Skimpole-like. In other words, we take ideas such as freedom and human dignity for granted, without ever stopping to think about where those ideas came from in the first place.

Just ask Dr. David Mackereth who, for 26 years, worked for Britain’s National Health Service, mostly in Accident and Emergency wards. By all accounts, he was an excellent doctor.

Hillsong Pastor Explains Why You Should Let Your Child Trick-or-Treat, Despite Warning: ‘Spiritual Darkness Is Surrounding Everything’

It’s that time of the year again. Christian parents everywhere enter into a discussion of whether or not to allow their kids to go trick-or-treating.

Nathan Finochio, author and pastor at Hillsong Church, is tackling the topic this year, arguing that the word of God allows Christians to redefine everything.

Questions raised as Satanic Temple asks to hold meeting at Naval Academy

US Naval Academy.

As an outside group is asking to hold “satanic religious services” at the U.S. Naval Academy, questions have arisen as to its actual motives for doing so.

The Satanic Temple (TST), a group recognized as a church by the Internal Revenue Service, has threatened legal action against the U.S. Naval Academy if Midshipmen are not allowed to hold “satanic services” on campus as members of other religions are allowed to do.

When Demons Dare to Manifest in Your Church

Many pastors today are alarmed when Christians manifest with demons in their church. Others escort them to the back so they don't disrupt the service. But what would Jesus do?

Watch this video and sound off.

Muslim-majority UAE commits to rebuilding 2 churches destroyed by ISIS in Iraq

Father Thabet Habib evaluates the inside of a burned out church right in Karamles, Iraq right after the town's liberation from the Islamic State in October 2016.

The Muslim-majority United Arab Emirates announced plans this week to help rebuild two Christian churches destroyed by the Islamic State and said it's the first national government in the world to help rebuild Christian churches in postwar Iraq.

UAE has expanded its collaboration with a United Nations initiative called Revive the Spirit of Mosul. The initiative is an international effort to reconstruct Iraq’s once second-largest city ravaged by the Islamic State’s reign of destruction in the Nineveh region. 

According to a press release, a new agreement reiterating UAE’s support for the initiative was signed at the U.N.'s Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization headquarters in Paris on Sunday.

Partaking of God's Holiness

Our outward behavior, regardless of how good it is, does not bring us holiness. Apart from the Spirit of Christ within us, we have no capacity for holiness on our own because God's holiness flows into us through the Spirit of Christ. Holiness from God facilitates our good outward behavior. This implies that our primary objective is to open ourselves up to be partakers of God's holiness (see Hebrews 12:10-15). Holiness comes from trusting in God (Psalms 86:2). Our trust in Jesus Christ brings us His Spirit; and we cannot bypass trusting in the Son in order to receive God's holiness because it flows into us through the Spirit of His Son.

4 Things You Must Do if You Want to Hear Holy Spirit's Voice

If we want to know the purpose for our life, we must go to the source—to the God who created us. God's Holy Spirit is the one who reveals His mysteries to us, and if we are hungry to discover our purpose, He is willing to disclose it. He will show us the truth of who we are and the reason for our existence.

There is a significant difference between the process of "discovering" something and the process of receiving revelation. Discovering involves acquiring knowledge through studies, research, experiments, statistics and so on. It also refers to seeking out what is unknown. Receiving revelation, on the other hand, is a supernatural process in which our spiritual senses are opened to God and our understanding is enlightened.

UN set to elect slave state to human rights committee

United Nations Offices in Geneva, Switzerland, home of the UNHRC.

Mauritania, the west African nation where slavery remains a widespread practice, is expected to be voted on to the United Nations’ Human Rights Committee on Thursday.

According to its website, the UNHCR is “an inter-governmental body within the United Nations system responsible for strengthening the promotion and protection of human rights around the globe and for addressing situations of human rights violations and make recommendations on them.”

Do Most 'Christians' Need Deliverance?

I came across some Barna Research statistics that were absolutely shocking.

In this video, I share those statistics and pose a serious question: Do most Christians need deliverance from lying spirits and doctrines of demons? With these beliefs, are they even saved?

5 Ways to Spot a False Prophet

Some Christians fear that if we accept revelation beyond the Bible, we are open to false prophets. This is a valid concern, but we hope that some examples will help give some context for real versus counterfeit words from God. Here are five key ways to recognize false prophets:

Vatican City security head resigns after confidential memo was leaked

Pope Francis and Domenico Giani walk together on Oct. 13 at the Vatican.

The head of the Vatican City State’s national police force has resigned, after a confidential internal memo was leaked to the press that announced the suspension of some Vatican officials and employees and restricted their access to the Vatican.

The suspended officials were connected to an Oct. 1 raid of some Vatican offices, part an unspecified investigation overseen by a prosecutor, called the “promoter of justice” in the Vatican City court system.

Anything that threatens Communism is a target, Chinese human rights advocate says

Chen Guangcheng speaks at the Catholic University of America, Oct 9, 2019. Credit: Catholic University of America

 A Chinese human rights activist and former political prisoner has called for renewed focus on the country’s practices of mass detention, religious oppression, and reports of organ harvesting.
 
Speaking at an event Wednesday, Chen Guangcheng told listeners at the Catholic University of America that there is no doubt about the Communist regime’s determination to hold onto power by any means necessary.

“Human rights have declined and today are very bad,” Chen said of the current situation in China. The ruling Chinese Communist Party is “afraid of losing power,” he said, and so “anything that threatens its power will be a target for violence.”

US attorneys ignoring Trump's orders to prioritize religious liberty

Repeatedly, during his campaign for President in 2016, President Trump promised to protect religious freedom, gaining broad support from both the evangelical community and conservative Catholics in the process.  And repeatedly, during his presidency, President Trump has taken actions showing that he takes that promise seriously.   In the last few weeks, liberals were demanding that the President make climate change the focus of U.N. meetings in New York, but President Trump chose instead to make religious liberty his focus at the September 2019 meetings.

Seventeen months ago, we at Public Advocate decided to check into whether the perpetual bureaucracy — aka the Swamp — was implementing — or ignoring — President Trump’s religious liberty reforms.  Here is what we found.

Over 200,000 Students to Proclaim Jesus on Football Fields Across USA

Fellowship of Christian Athletes' student-led events focusing on prayer, worship and a commitment to Bible reading are set for Wednesday, Oct. 9, on 500-plus fields nationwide.

Some sports stories can unfortunately take on a negative focus, as headlines pinpoint matters such as locker room unrest, player indiscretions or holdouts on salaries.

But the national and international story of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes' (FCA, www.fca.org) Fields of Faith is laser-focused on the positive—that God is good all the time and that He is raising up a young generation to see the world transformed by His Son, Jesus Christ.

Virginia law requiring ultrasound before abortion upheld by federal judge

A pregnant woman getting an ultrasound scan.

A Virginia law requiring women to undergo an ultrasound before having an abortion and for there to be a waiting period has been upheld by a federal judge.

An additional measure holding that only physician can perform the procedure was also upheld.

Two other disputed laws — one of which mandated all second-trimester abortions to be carried out in a licensed outpatient hospital and the other requiring abortion clinics that perform first-trimester abortions to meet the same criteria as general and surgical hospitals — were struck down, multiple reports say.

After Vatican raid, 5 officials and employees suspended

An Italian news magazine has reported that five Vatican employees have been suspended following an Oct. 1 raid of offices within the Vatican’s Secretariat of State.

An Oct. 2 internal memo from the government of the Vatican City State conveyed that the five employees have been “suspended from service.” The memo was published by L’Espresso.