Look who's spreading blood libel lies

A man wearing a kippah waits for the start of a demonstration against anti-Semitism at Berlin’s Brandenburg Gate, September 14, 2014.

The blood libel is one of the most hateful and destructive lies launched against the Jewish people over the centuries. While it takes on many different forms, it boils down to the false accusation that the Jews would kidnap and kill a non-Jewish child (or adult), using the victim’s blood for some ritual purpose. In the last week, it has raised its ugly head once again.

Do You Understand the Real Meaning of Holiness?

When a man has come to the place where his love for Christ has surpassed his desire for all else, only the presence of God will satisfy him, and the will of God becomes his delight. It is in this place of satisfaction that true consecration is born. If a person's longings are satisfied in Christ, he no longer desires the bitter taste of sin. But without this divine fulfillment, there is an endless search for satisfaction for which the pleasures of sin provide a temporary but attractive solution.

Have you ever noticed that things taste so much better when you're hungry? But after you have eaten and you're full, you could walk right past a buffet of delicious delicacies and not have the slightest desire for them. Proverbs 27:7 says it this way: "The full soul loathes a honeycomb, but to the hungry soul every bitter thing is sweet."

Why business needs Christian leaders

Christian business leaders often wonder how best to manage in a way that glorifies God.  Those bold enough to lead businesses these days face immense challenges.  Millennials make new demands compared to their parents and grandparents.  Global business, artificial intelligence and robots all shift jobs away from our friends and neighbors.  Data security, privacy, diversity and equality present ethical challenges for which no one really knows the answer.  Senior executive salaries have grown far faster than the typical worker, creating a historic earnings gap.  Each of these challenges call on Christians to lead their organizations in a way that reflects their faith.  Alas, both Christian and non-Christian business leaders have too often turned a blind eye to unethical behavior in order to further the financial goals of their organizations. Too many business leaders have signaled to the world that winning on the business battlefield is separate from faithful service to God.

Why Praying in Tongues Is Key to Hearing Holy Spirit

One key to growing closer to God in our walk with Him is praying in tongues, says Pastor Bob Yandian. It's in this practice that we hear the Holy Spirit the clearest, he says. There was a time Paul heard clearly from the Holy Spirit to turn and go a different direction on one of his missionary journeys (Acts 16:6-10), and Yandian says this supernatural direction came from Paul speaking in tongues while praying.

"Pray in tongues, and when you do, you hear from the Holy Spirit," Yandian says. "But we often want to make our own decisions. And Paul says in the Scriptures, 'in everything, by prayer and supplication.' So there should be praying in the Spirit a lot more, mainly for the guidance of the Holy Spirit."

Jonathan Cahn Reveals Stunning Mysteries that Show 'Fingerprints of God'

New York Times' bestselling author Jonathan Cahn released his new book The Oracle: The Jubilean Mysteries Unveiled this fall, and readers worldwide were amazed at his much-anticipated work that reveals centuries-old mysteries tying directly to today's events.

"What if I told you of a mystery that began thousands of years ago and yet operates in the modern world, guiding, synchronizing, conforming all human events, directing the actions of leaders, the courses of nations and of world history itself—to bring about its appointed purposes," Cahn said. "It may seem hard to believe—but it's real. The mystery begins on a mountaintop in a desert thousands of years ago and is determining events of our modern world. How could something from ancient times be determining what's happening now? That is the mystery."

1 of 4 kidnapped Nigerian seminarians released after suffering serious injuries

Seminarians abducted from Nigeria's Good Shepherd Major Seminary.

A Nigerian seminarian who was abducted this month was freed by his kidnappers after 10 days in captivity. Three seminarians kidnapped with him remain in captivity.

The freed seminarian, who has not yet been identified, is being treated at a Catholic hospital in Kaduna, Nigeria. The extent of his injuries is unclear, but he is being treated in the hospital’s intensive care unit.

Signs and Symptoms of Demonic Manifestations

How can you tell if a person is manifesting a demon? We need to look at and study character traits, habits, motions or actions that are unlike them or are abnormal.

When you are still waiting for your spiritual discernment to increase, you can take the knowledge you have obtained and use it for natural discernment.

India: Hindu extremists protest 114 foot tall Jesus statue amid escalating persecution

Christians in India are seeking to erect the nation’s tallest statue of Jesus despite objections by Hindi groups who say one of their gods lives on the hill designated for the project.

Hundreds of hardline Hindus gathered to protest a planned Jesus statue that will rival Rio de Janeiro's "Christ The Redeemer" for its size, claiming the structure will go “against the spirit of communal harmony.”

On Monday, members of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, the hardline parent organization of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party, staged protests in the southern state of Karnataka's Ramanagara district, the Times of India reports.

Top three reasons people reject Christianity

In my experience, there are three top stumbling blocks or “turn-off’s” of Christianity that I see surface time after time with both non-Christians and believers who struggle in their faith. Although there are certainly other issues that crop up, here are the ones – from least to most problematic – that I’ve seen over and over again.

Unanswered Prayer

Near the end of the movie God’s Not Dead, the atheist college professor who has attacked and ridiculed his Christian student’s faith throughout the film admits that it was his mother’s death from an illness and his unanswered prayers for her healing when he was young that drove him to atheism. When he converses with a pastor who attempts to comfort him, the pastor says that God sometimes says ‘no’ to our prayers. The professor then with anguish utters something that is to me one of the most poignant statements in the film:

How You May Unwittingly Invite a Demonic Stronghold Into Your Life

Do you need deliverance from demonic strongholds or wrong mindsets?

We cannot and must not blame everything on a demon. We have responsibility for the mindsets we take on and the freedom we need to receive.

So often we relate the word deliverance to demonic entities infiltrating our soul. The definition of deliverance from American Dictionary of the English Language, Webster's Dictionary 1828, is, "release from captivity, slavery, oppression or any restraint." We can hold ourselves in captivity by wrong mindsets.

Nebuchadnezzar Spirit Rising in the Prophetic Movement

I've seen a troubling trend in the prophetic movement—a spirit of divination is masquerading as the Holy Spirit. There's such a fascination with the gifts of the Spirit in this hour—particularly the gifts that know something and the gifts that say something—that many don't stop to consider the spirit behind the words or the motive of the person releasing the impressive prophetic utterance.

Time and time again, I've seen people's jaws literally drop when someone can tell them when their birthday or their name (or the last four digits of their bank account number... scary!). People will stand for hours watching people operate in prophetic gifts, perhaps hoping they are next to receive a revelation. Sadly, a failure to unknowingly judge the source of the gifts of the Spirit leading many to idolize diviners instead of the divine one.

Case in point: I recently saw one prophetic pretender manifest with what looked like King Nebuchadnezzar madness in an online video. He was singing mocking words about curses and vindication with a crazed look in his eyes that grieved my spirit.

The number of people who laughed and cheered him on in the lunacy was not only shocking, it was yet another confirmation of the lack of discernment in the body of Christ—and how many blindly follow personalities instead of following the person of the Holy Spirit wholly.

Who Was Nebuchadnezzar?

Over the past 20 years, I've seen many troubling manifestations of the Nebuchadnezzar spirit—the spirit that was on the king who lost his mind in Daniel 4 after he took the glory that belonged to God:

At the end of the twelve months he was walking about the royal palace of Babylon. The king spoke, saying, "Is not this great Babylon, that I have built for a royal dwelling by my mighty power and for the honor of my majesty?"

While the word was still in the king's mouth, a voice fell from heaven: "King Nebuchadnezzar, to you it is spoken: the kingdom has departed from you! And they shall drive you from men, and your dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field. They shall make you eat grass like oxen; and seven times shall pass over you, until you know that the Most High rules in the kingdom of men, and gives it to whomever He chooses" (Dan. 4:29-32, NKJV).

Click here to read the rest of Jennifer's article.

This Roman church was a gift from Catholics around the world to Leo XIII

There are many Catholic churches in Rome, but few can boast of having been built through the contributions of Catholics around the world as a gift to the pope.

San Gioacchino ai Prati di Castello is an exception.