ALL CHURCHES NEWS BLOG

Wednesday, 27 January 2016

The Myth of The Dysfunctional Family

A jealous brother murders his brother. A power-hungry son subverts his father's authority because he wants his throne and his concubine. And another set of jealous brothers sell their brother into slavery.
Welcome to the families in the Bible! These families have murderers and kids that rebel way beyond having an all-night party while you're out of town or taking the family car on a joy ride. Cain killed Abel. Absalom wanted his dad's concubine and his throne. Joseph's brothers sold him into slavery and faked his murder.
Despite the murders and the corruption, God walked with them and talked to them.

A Milwaukee man who authorities said was planning to kill dozens of people in a mass shooting at a Masonic temple has been arrested and charged with possession of two machine guns and a silencer, federal officials said on Tuesday.
Samy Mohamed Hamzeh, 23, told two people who turned out to be FBI confidential sources that he planned to carry out the shooting at a Masonic temple in Milwaukee in an attack that would be "known the world over" and in order to "ignite broader clashes," the U.S. Department of Justice said in a statement.
Authorities did not indicate whether Hamzeh is a U.S. citizen.

The five children of a Pentecostal couple in Norway were taken from their family because their parents spanked them, not because of their religious faith, according to a lawyer close to the case.
Ruth and Marius Bodnariu lost their children to Norway's Barnevernet or children's services last November in a case that has attracted world-wide attention.

Pastor Saeed Abedini has returned to Boise, Idaho, and has been reunited with his two young children, however, local news stations are also reporting that his wife, Naghmeh, has filed a domestic relations case.
"Saeed is here in Boise," Naghmeh told KTVB, confirming that Abedini arrived in Boise on a private plane Tuesday afternoon. "He had a great reunion with the kids.

The Archbishop of Canterbury has warned of the dangers of caricature and prejudice, saying they can "lead to violent persecution and genocide" in a statement on Holocaust Memorial Day.
He urged followers to "take responsibility ourselves", particularly in speaking out "against those who would diminish others through caricature and cheap political point scoring".
Justin Welby's comments will be widely interpreted as a call to resist Islamophobia, as he urged followers "not just to remember but to act". In a post on his Facebook page, Welby said the memorial day was "a searing indictment of our collusion in the evil of others through our silence".
"In the world we inhabit, the searchlight of an active media illuminates the dark recesses of the caricature, simplistic criticism and ridicule that leads inexorably to the dehumanising and degrading treatment of others," he wrote.
"History shows clearly that, unopposed, this can lead to violent persecution and genocide.
"But we're not called to be passive observers and silent accomplices to discrimination.

"So he shepherded them according to the integrity of his heart and guided them by the skillfulness of his hands" (Ps. 78:72).
David had a powerful combination of heart and skill. All leaders need a similar combination of character and competency. It's been said many times with wide variations, that our competency will open doors for us and our character will keep us there.
A heart condition that tends to show up most when under pressure is excuse making.

Barriers restricting faith schools must be abolished, a leading education charity has said.
The New Schools Network (NSN), which helps establish free schools, has said the cap on places allocated by religion should be relaxed to release "significant untapped potential" among faith schools.
Under current rules, faith groups setting up free schools can only give priority on the grounds of religion to 50 per cent of its places.
However NSN director, Nick Timothy, said the limits prevented "high-calibre school providers creating the much needed places that parents want".
The charity, which is partially funded by the Department for Education (DfE), said faith-based schools were "more popular with parents" and have a "proven track record of delivering high-quality education".
However,

The pro-life movement is the world's last hope, but it also must continue to grow in faith, says the winner of a prestigious pro-life award.
"What we are doing is truly, I believe, the last great hope for our beloved America and the hope for the rest of the world," stated 40 Days for Life national director David Bereit at last week's 2016 Law of Life Summit.
Bereit, the recipient of this year's Law of Life Achievement Award, chosen by peers in the pro-life movement and awarded to those who have suffered in service of the cause, also said the current inroads being made in the pro-life movement are the beginning of the end to abortion.
The Law of Life Achievement Award is presented the day before the March for Life at the Law of Life Summit, which gathers pro-life leaders, activists, and students in Washington, D.C. to collaborate and establish goals for defending human life via law and the media,

God loves gay people. God loves people. God loves us so much, He sent His son to die on the cross for us so that we could be restored to relationship with Him. The Bible teaches us God dislikes some behaviors and hates others, but that He loves people. He loves you!

I recently wrote a book titled, Gay Awareness, because I want people to be aware of God's heart towards them, homosexuality and those who experience same-sex attraction.

On Tuesday Libby Lane recounted her consercration as the Church of England's first woman bishop.
"A year ago I was on the early morning train up from London to York for what turned out to be a momentous day. I spotted a number of clergy, decked out in their full garb, and two women vicars sat across from me, giggling the whole way. The excitement was palpable: this was what we'd been waiting for. (And not just because Adrian Chiles called me 'yet another under-dressed Christian woman' live on the radio. I wasn't wearing a coat.)"
The consecration of the Church of England's first woman bishop Libby Lane at York Minster was magnificent.

Movies could be one of the strongest influences on young minds in the 21st century, if not the most. With movie titles like 10 Rules for Sleeping Around, Three Night Stand and Knocked Up, it's no surprise our world is falling deeper and deeper into self-destruction. Young women are a huge target audience that studios want to hit, and the amount of deception that they feed growing girls is absolutely shocking. Here are five common, false messages that young girls are falling prey to and need to fight against.
1. Outward Beauty is What Matters
Beauty is something that little girls are taught at such a young age, and it sticks with them throughout their teenage and adult years.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Tuesday slammed Israel's settlement activities as "provocative acts" that raise questions about the nation's commitment to a two-state solution amid growing Palestinian frustration over nearly 50 years of occupation.
The Palestinians want an independent state in the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem, areas Israel captured in a 1967 war.

Japanese Emperor Akihito has urged the younger generation to "keep alive the memories of the Second World War" and the hardship that followed, as a way of avoiding conflict amid growing maritime tension in the East and South China Sea.
Akihito, 82, who met Philippine President Benigno Aquino privately at the start of a four-day state visit, expressed remorse over atrocities in the region by the Japanese imperial army 70 years ago.
The emperor wanted to remind young people who had not experienced the war not to forget the hardship it brought to both Japan and other Asian countries, his press secretary, Hatsuhisa Takashima, told reporters in the Philippine capital.
"It's a thing which should not be repeated again," Takashima added.

The U.S. Supreme Court will not consider banning the death penalty.

On Monday, the justices turned down a death row prisoner's appeal to do away with capital punishment altogether.
Attorneys for Shonda Walters, convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to death nearly 10 years ago, asked the court to consider the constitutionality of the death penalty to determine if it violates the Eighth Amendment prohibiting "cruel and unusual punishment."
A Christian opponent of the death penalty made his case at the March for Life last week.
Ron Sider, with Evangelicals for Social Action, pointed out that God spared Cain, the first murderer, and that Jesus defended a woman caught in adultery, which was punishable by death under Mosaic law.

Study: Stress of Alzheimer's Wears Hardest on Spouses

Caring for a loved one with Alzheimer's disease isn't easy under the best of circumstances, but it may be much more stressful for spouses and people who suffer from depression, a Finnish study suggests.
Researchers followed 236 family caregivers of Alzheimer's patients for three years after the diagnosis. Caregiving appeared to be much more stressful for people who were married to the patients or who suffered from depression when the study began.
"Even minor depressive symptoms at the beginning of caregiving are a significant predictor of psychological distress during the years of caregiving," lead study author Tarja Valimaki of the University of Eastern Finland said by email.
The findings suggest that spousal caregivers should receive mental health evaluations at the time that their loved one is diagnosed with Alzheimer's, Valimaki added.
"Alzheimer's disease patients' home care is reliant on caregivers, and it is not reasonable for spousal caregivers to put their own health at risk due to the caregiving," Valimaki said.
Alzheimer's disease is an irreversible, progressive brain disorder that slowly destroys memory and thinking skills and eventually, the ability to carry out the simplest tasks.

There's £33 million at stake, and it may all hang on an ill-advised jeans wash.
A winning National Lottery ticket from January 9 may be invalid because the person who bought it put it through the washing machine and crucial information is illegible.
Of course, it may not be the winning ticket after all; Camelot has still to decide. And since news of that story broke, hundreds of other people have come forward with similar stories about their ticket being lost, damaged or stolen. It could be you – or you, or you.
If the ticket really was bought by the jeans-wash lady and she doesn't receive the money, you have to feel for her. Most of us never come close to such untold riches.

"The Lord your God is in your midst, a Mighty One, who will save. He will rejoice over you with gladness, He will renew you with His love, He will rejoice over you with singing" (Zeph. 3:17).

Growing up, I never felt beautiful. We didn't have much money, and all my clothes—except one new outfit every year—came from yard sales. A few times my mom tried to cut my hair herself and my long locks ended up at my ears, and after my baby teeth came in, my adult teeth came in crooked.
The worst year was sixth grade.

A minority Muslim group has been ordered to convert to Sunni Islam or face expulsion in Indonesia.
The move by Bangka-Belitung, made up of two main islands off South Sumatra, is the latest in a series in which religious minorities including Christians and Shi'ite Muslims have faced harassment and complained of a lack of protection.
"The Ahmadiyah have a right to live in Bangka," Fery Insani, a senior official in the local government, told a reporter.
However he said:

The Catholic League's Bill Donohue is outraged over Bill Maher's latest assault on decency.
"When serial anti-Catholic bigots Bill Maher and Seth MacFarlane get together, it is a surefire recipe for new lows in tastelessness. And that's what we got on HBO last Friday night, as MacFarlane appeared on Real Time with Bill Maher," Donohue said.
Maher had told the Family Guy creator, "...you're so lucky that you do cartoons, because the things you get away with in cartoons," and proceeded to list some of his jealousies.
The example he chose was the repugnant Dec. 7, 2014, episode of Family Guy. Titled "The 2000-Year-Old-Virgin," the episode defiled Jesus.
"I saw your show, it was a repeat, I know," Maher recounted.

Dave Davidson has become a fixture of American presidential politics, even if some of the candidates might not know his name.
He's the "Photo Guy."
With a GoPro camera strapped to his head, usually broadcasting what he's doing to the rest of the world via Periscope, you can find him at almost every political campaign stop in Iowa.

Pope Francis has met with Iran's President Hassan Rouhani in a private audience at the Vatican.
Rouhani is on a four-day visit to Italy and France aimed at building diplomatic and commercial relationships.
The visit follows the enactment of a historic nuclear deal which saw Iran demolishing much of its capacity to produce weapons-grade nuclear material in return for a lifting of the sanctions that have crippled its growth.
The meeting at the Vatican was the first between a Pontiff and an Iranian leader since 1999.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has called for religion to be a bridge between people, rather than a wedge, at a conference focussing on religious minorities and their rights in Muslim countries.
During the conference entitled "The Rights of Religious Minorities in predominantly Muslim Lands: Legal Framework and A Call To Action", Ki-moon emphasised that "inter-faith dialogue is necessary and urgent".
"Religious leaders have responsibility to help heal differences in their communities.

Pope Francis' message for Lent 2016 was released yesterday by the Vatican.
The Pontiff focuses on mercy and attacks those "who consider themselves rich" in a message entitled "I desire mercy and not sacrifice" (Matthew 9.13).
He opens by discussing how God's "love story" with his people "culminates in the incarnation of God's Son". However, Francis then goes on to criticise those he describes as the "real poor".
"God's mercy transforms human hearts; it enables us, through the experience of a faithful love, to become merciful in turn," he says.
"In the light of this love, which is strong as death (cf. Song 8:6), the real poor are revealed as those who refuse to see themselves as such.
"They consider themselves rich, but they are actually the poorest of the poor.

Olympics allows ‘transgender’ men to compete as women without genital surgery

So-called male-to-female transgender athletes, already allowed in the Olympics since 2012 after castration and two years of hormone therapy, will be allowed in the Rio Olympics without surgery as long as their testosterone levels have been below male levels for a year, the International Olympic Committee has ruled.
The decision was made by a panel of scientists, human rights lawyers, and doctors in November and revealed in the last week.

A male pornography "star" who has been repeatedly accused of rape won two “Porn Oscars” at the Adult Video News (AVN) Awards Saturday in Las Vegas.

James Deen was "honored" with two AVN awards for pornography. He had been nominated for 33 "Porn Oscars."

In 2015, Deen was accused of forcible rape by porn star Stoya, Deen's ex-girlfriend.

Peter the apostle warned about false prophets among believers and false teachers who would "secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Lord who brought them, bringing swift destruction upon themselves" (2 Pet. 2:1).
It appears we're seeing this Scripture fulfilled, in part, right before our very eyes. Jim Rigby, pastor of St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church in Austin, Texas, used his social media platform to mockingly share some bad news with his flock.
"Apparently, because I don't believe in a literal resurrection, I'm not really a Christian. This unfortunately also means I won't be going to heaven with many of you," he writes sarcastically, going on to say that while his family is enjoying a heavenly banquet, "I will be screaming in unending torment along with Jews and Democrats and the evil college professors who teach evolution."
Rigby's satirical post continues, bemoaning the embarrassment of being a Presbyterian minister bound for hell.

In Part 1 of this series, we explored what beyond sexual relationships is left for relationships between men and women in the church. We see there is quite a bit, though you wouldn't always know it in conservative evangelical churches. In Part 2, I talked about the need to practice the discipline of seeing past a woman's looks to the image bearer underneath. I think many leaders in the church don't understand the harm done to a woman who loves God who is regularly seen as a temptation and threat simply because she is beautiful.

An underground church containing frescoes that may date back to the 12th century has been discovered in the Cappadocia region of Turkey.
The church was found during excavations for an urban housing project in the central Anatolian province of Nevşehir and local authorities say it could become a major Christian pilgrimage site.
According to Nevşehir's mayor, Hasan Ünver, the frescoes depict the Ascension and the Last Judgment.
"We know that such frescoes have so far never been seen in any other church," he said, adding that preliminary studies show the church might date back to the 5th century AD.
The church is part of a complex of dwellings and other structures created in the soft rock of the area, close to the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Cappadocia.

Ofsted inspectors can downgrade schools for allowing staff and pupils to wear a face veil if it is a "barrier from learning", its chief inspector has announced.
Sir Michael Wilshaw has written to all inspectors instructing them to mark down institutions "if they judge the wearing of the veil is acting as a barrier to learning and to positive social interaction".
Under the new policy,

A handful of new TV shows are laced with somewhat religious themes.
Actors Rob Lowe and Jenna Fisher star in You, Me and The Apocalypse on NBC. The show's premise is that the world will soon end from the threat of an 8-mile comet heading toward Earth.
A group of mismatched characters, including a priest who drinks and swears, a nun and twin brothers who run a cyber-terrorist organization, are trapped safely in a bunker under the Earth's surface.
The nun and the priest set out to investigate biblical prophesies surrounding the end times, including false messiahs and even an antichrist.
True religion? Not so much. It premiers January 28.
The show Mercy Street premiered Jan. 17 on PBS.

A bomb attack claimed by Islamic State in the Syrian government-controlled city of Homs killed at least 24 people on Tuesday.
The governor of Homs said the first of two explosions was caused by a car bomb which targeted a security checkpoint.

Members of St. Paul's Episcopal and Anglican Cathedral on Fifth Avenue learned this week that the congregation's former dean has been removed from the Episcopal Church's clergy as discipline for at least one undisclosed offense.
Parishioners received a letter dated Wednesday from San Diego Bishop James R. Mathes informing them of the disciplinary actions against Scott Richardson, 60, who left the cathedral in 2012 to serve as rector at St. Mary the Virgin in San Francisco. He resigned from his position late last month.

Richardson's wife, Mary Moreno Richardson, who is also a member of the Episcopal Church's clergy, remains a priest in good standing, according to the church.
"Obviously, this is a grave matter with serious consequences," Mathes wrote.

Abortion and promiscuity. Planned Parenthood and "slut shaming." I was reminded on this, the 43rd anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court's disgraceful Roe v. Wade abortion-on-demand opinion, how inexorably linked are America's abortion death culture and her ongoing sexual revolution.
As the story goes, Winston Churchill was talking with a socialite: "Madam, would you sleep with me for 5 million pounds?" he asked.
"My goodness, Mr. Churchill," she replied. "Well, I suppose we would have to discuss terms, of course."
Churchill: "Would you sleep with me for 5 pounds?"
Socialite: "Mr. Churchill, what kind of woman do you think I am?!"
Churchill: "Madam, we've already established that. Now we are haggling about the price."
Today's "progressives" would accuse Churchill of "slut shaming." That's a relatively new euphemism wherein liberals paradoxically try to shame into silence those who call a spade a spade.
While she would certainly frame the demonstrable connection between abortion and promiscuity in different terms, feminist author and psychologist Valerie Tarico is well aware of the correlation.

Megachurch Pastor Robert Jeffress of the 12,000-member First Baptist Church in Dallas says he believes Republican 2016 presidential frontrunner Donald Trump would make "a very effective president" and charged that Christians don't have to sell their soul to vote for him.
Jeffress, who was with Trump on the campaign trail in Iowa, Saturday, stopped short of endorsing the candidate, but pointed out that there is a reason why he was leading in the most recent polls.
"I am not officially endorsing any candidate but I was happy to pray at Mr. Trump's events on Saturday in Iowa and also to introduce him.

Accidental births are not unexpected conceptions that have led to babies; they are abortions that have failed. The term sounds innocent though, almost lovely. But on the cusp of our government writing a law to enact a 2015 Supreme Court of Canada decision opening up physician assisted death in our country, it was the irony that compelled me to write.
In 1969, abortion was de-criminalized in Canada. The procedure was restricted to only cases of rape, incest and saving a mother’s life.

When people see a tree, they see the fruit on the tree, the leaves or lack thereof on the tree, they see birds in the tree, the trunk of the tree, they see everything that is above ground and many people respond to what they see above ground. But people are like trees: It is easy to see, correct, criticize or compliment what we see on the surface, but what many fail to recognize is the source of the fruit, the leaves, the everything that has to do with a tree. The reason a tree exists is the root system that is below the ground.

"Not that I have already attained or have already been perfected, but I follow after it so that I may lay hold of that for which I was seized by Christ Jesus. Brothers, I do not count myself to have attained, but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead" (Phil. 3:12-13).

Here are 10 keys to breaking the habit of mediocrity:

U.S. Senator Rand Paul has introduced a bill that would provide equal protection for the unborn child.
The "Life at Conception Act" aims to protect the right to life of each born and unborn child under the 14th Amendment.

The European Union edged closer on Monday to accepting that its Schengen open-borders area may be suspended for up to two years if it fails in the next few weeks to curb the influx of migrants from the Middle East and Africa.
Shorter-term dispensations for border controls end in May. EU migration ministers meeting in Amsterdam decided they may be extended for two years – an unprecedented extension – because the migrant crisis probably will not be brought under control by then, according to the Dutch migration minister, who chaired the meeting.
Some ministers made clear such a – theoretically temporary – move would cut off Greece, where more than 40,000 people have arrived by sea from Turkey this year, despite a deal with Ankara two months ago to hold back an exodus of Syrian refugees.

Pope Francis asked Protestants and other Christian Churches for forgiveness for past persecution by Catholics as the Vatican announced on Monday he would visit Sweden later in the year to mark the 500th anniversary of the Reformation.
Speaking at an annual vespers service in St Paul's Basilica in Rome attended by representatives of other Churches, he asked "forgiveness for the un-gospel like behaviour by Catholics towards Christians of other Churches".

Almost every person can remember an occasion as a child when no amount of persuasion from our mom or dad could convince us to change our opinion.
Our peers had told us what was true, but nothing was going to change our belief—only to discover later on what we had believed was misinformation or worse, we had believed a lie.
Accurate reporting and a free press are critical to the well-being and the sustaining of liberty for an individual and for a nation.

Christian refugees who have fled ISIS in Iraq and Syria are practising their faith in secret now they live in a Muslim-majority nation, according to a Turkish reporter.
When civil war in Syria broke out in 2011, thousands fled to neighbouring Turkey. The number of refugees swelled following the uprising of so-called Islamic State, and the UN High Commissioner for Refugees says that tens of thousands of Iraqis are now also seeking refuge in Turkish towns and cities, alongside 1.9 million Syrians.
Thousands of Armenians, Syriacs and Chaldean Christian refugees are now living in small Turkish cities including Amasya, Erzurum and Yozgat.
One family who fled Iraq in 2014 said that they pretend to be Muslim in public.

Zac Goldsmith: I am not too rich to be mayor

Zac Goldsmith has insisted he is not too rich to be mayor of London.
In an interview with journalists the multi-millionaire Tory hopeful said he did not think his wealthy background precluded him from relating to Londoners from poorer boroughs.
"In order to be able to help people you need to be able to empathise, you have to care and you have got to be able to solve their problem," he said. "I don't think you have to have a direct experience of each of those problems to help people."
Goldsmith, who has been MP for Richmond Park and North Kingston since 2010 and is now the Conservative candidate to be Mayor of London, is the beneficiary of a trust fund worth an estimated £300 million.

For years I used a simple illustration to emphasize the importance of getting our priorities right in life. I told how, in my rush to get dressed first thing in the morning, I usually put the second button in the first buttonhole. Then, after buttoning the rest of the buttons, I could see that my shirt was out of alignment and that I looked like a nerd because of the first mistake.
The lesson is clear: If we miss the top priority, all other priorities will fail to fall into place. I feel as though I can speak from authority on this subject since I have missed the top button in life at least as many times as I have missed the number one priority.

Pope Francis is to meet the Iranian president this week, and has said he hopes it will mark "a definitive step toward a more secure and fraternal world".
President Hassan Rouhani is making his first trip abroad since financial sanctions imposed on Iran by the US, EU and UN were lifted in return for the country curbing its nuclear programme.
During the meeting, the Pope and Rouhani are expected to discuss human rights. Executions in Iran – strongly opposed by the Vatican – have increased since Rouhani took office in 2013.

Secularist campaign groups are to be prevented from making "vexatious" complaints against faith schools about their admissions, the Department for Education announced today.
Education Secretary Nicky Morgan said the government is taking further steps to simplify the school admission system. She said the government aims to unclog the admissions system "by stopping objections to a school or local authority's admissions arrangements from outside the local area."
This means only local parents will have a say on admissions to their local schools, and will help local authorities to ensure they are fair.

I'm on my seventh day of bed rest as I write this.
Did you know that you could seriously injure a rib, perhaps even crack a bone or tear a muscle ... from coughing? Not to scare you. I've had plenty of colds and viruses over nearly 33 years of life, but this has never happened. So I think it's a pretty rare thing. But truth be told, it's had its excruciating moments.
So I know you're wondering what one does for seven days in bed, right? I wish I could tell you, but really, I don't even know where the time went.

We are about three weeks into 2016, and we are witnessing things that we have never seen before. There were two emergency market shutdowns in China within the first four trading days of this year, the Dow Jones Industrial Average has never lost this many points within the first three weeks, and just yesterday we learned that global stocks had officially entered bear market territory. Overall, more than $15 trillion of global stock market wealth has been wiped out since last June.

Wagering on sports isn't morally wrong, most Americans say—but nearly half think it should be illegal anyway.
And as millions nationwide manage their fantasy sports rosters, Americans straddle the fence on whether heavily advertised daily games by companies such as FanDuel Inc. and DraftKings Inc. should be banned.
A new study from Nashville-based LifeWay Research shows widespread belief that sports gambling is morally acceptable.

Four suicide bombers killed about 25 people in a village in Cameroon's Far North region on Monday, a local official said, the most deadly in a string of recent attacks in an area beset by violence connected to Islamist militant group Boko Haram.
Two bombers struck the Bodo central market while others hit the town's main entrance and exit points, the official said.
"There was a quadruple suicide bombing in the village of Bodo this morning. There are around 25 deaths and several wounded," he said.

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Wednesday, 27 January 2016

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