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CP VOICES | FRIDAY, JULY 29, 2022
By Jeff King, Op-ed contributor

Every year, 200 million Christians across the world suffer some level of persecution. It’s an issue on which the press is mostly silent, and the Western Church is largely asleep.

Religious persecution can come in different forms — from government, radical religious groups, and culture itself. They all manifest in various ways. Sadly, as this year’s Persecutor of the Year Awards Report proves, the persecution of Christians is more prevalent and geographically dispersed now than at any other time in history.

In America, with COVID restrictions having closed churches and cancel culture becoming widespread, the West is experiencing a level of government overreach and religious discrimination that is reminiscent of the totalitarian, Marxist regimes which persecute minority groups. The Western Church needs to wake up and recognize that these mindsets are already parked on its doorstep and persecution is not far behind.

We live in a country where the Christian faith is no longer automatically respected and religious discrimination is common. Take, for example, Coach Kennedy vs. Bremerton School District, the recent case brought to the United States Supreme Court in which the former’s constitutional right to pray in public was challenged. And, not so long ago, the government imposed ultra-strict regulations on churches in the name of COVID-19, while deeming other institutions essential.

An attack on our religious freedom has been brewing for a long time — and now it's here. What we're experiencing in America and in some of the other Western democracies is persecution. It’s political and driven by a lot of hate. Throughout the country, outspoken Christians are regularly demeaned and targeted for their beliefs. Academics and social groups ridicule Christians, calling them hateful, bigoted, privileged, and other labels.

Religious freedom is a potent set of rights because it encompasses freedom of speech, assembly and conscience — and that's why it’s tied to democracy and is so important to hold up. But defending spiritual liberty should not be viewed as only the government’s domain. People of all faiths should act and organize to expose and shame oppressors both in the U.S. and around the world.

The problem in America, where we don't see as much blatant Christian suffering, is that most don't realize how bad it is in many places around the world — nor do they know what to do about it. Yet we cannot let our fear cause us to do nothing.

International Christian Concern (ICC) just released its 2022 Persecutor of the Year Awards Report, which highlights the countries, entities and individuals with the worst records of religious persecution through 2021. The report is developed by ICC’s team of in-house analysts and overseas staff who provide the organization with first-hand accounts of persecution and increasingly dangerous conditions around the world.

The 2022 report reveals that Nigeria is one of the deadliest places on earth to be a Christian. It was just a few weeks ago that gunmen fired weapons and detonated explosives inside of a Catholic Church, resulting in the death of 22 people and leaving 50 people injured. Since 2000, exposure to Islamic fundamentalist ideologies has seen the rise of Fulani militias, which have killed tens of thousands of Christians and left many more homeless.

Afghanistan, North Korea and Iran have also experienced significant increases in acts of persecution committed against
Christian populations. In these countries, it can come in the form of executions and beheadings or indirectly, in the form of systematic discrimination. Violence is on the rise, as is government regulation of religion, assault on houses of worship and blasphemy laws.

While Christians around the world are suffering so brutally, religious persecution is not taken seriously by our comfortable churches in the United States. Christians in the West must wake up, take advantage of the liberty that remains in America, be deeply rooted in their faith and get their networks in place to prepare for an inevitable upswing in religious persecution. The threat isn’t as “far away from home” as we might think.

Jeff King is President of International Christian Concern (ICC) and one of the world's top experts on religious persecution.
https://www.christianpost.com/voices/the-threat-of-religious-persecution-isnt-as-far-as-we-think.html

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BY JOSHUA ARNOLD/FRC MAY 24, 2022

Is the outrage feigned or uninformed? That's one question after the Louisville Courier Journal declared they were shocked -- shocked -- to discover Christian teaching at the Christian Academy of Louisville (CAL). While the school received no complaints, a Twitter user reportedly acquainted with a parent whose child was upset by the assignment tweeted screenshots with the commentary "Shameful. #stopthehate."

"With the attention... even the language surrounding it," said David Closson, director of the Family Research Council's Center for Biblical Worldview at Family Research Council on "Washington Watch," "you would think that this is something nefarious, some sort of bombshell."

Instead, it's simply "a Christian school, in an elective Bible class, encouraging their students to think about what God's word says on the issue of homosexuality," he said. "Newsflash for those who are really going crazy about this: this is what Christians have believed for 2,000 years."

Middle schoolers were instructed to "write a letter to a friend of your same gender who is struggling with homosexuality," assuming not a casual acquaintance but a close friend. "The aim of your letter should be to lovingly and compassionately speak truth to the person you're talking to in a way that does not approve of any sin. Instead, TRY TO PERSUADE THEM OF THE GOODNESS OF GOD'S DESIGN for
them." Three points to communicate "from the Bible, reason, and your personal friendship" were:
- that God's design for them is good
- that homosexuality will not bring them satisfaction
- that you love them even though you don't approve of their lifestyle

"As believers, we need to really know what our Bible says and be able to articulate it in a winsome manner," said Closson. "That's exactly how this particular assignment was presented."

"Washington Watch" host Joseph Backholm agreed the disproportionate response highlights "the ignorance of the press... because nobody inside the church is surprised by this." He read off "scare quotes" which the media "lifted out of the assignment, presented to the public, and said 'aren't you outraged by this?'" "Everyone in Louisville, Kentucky, knows that the slant that the Courier-Journal takes is liberal," responded Closson, who lived there for five years. Gone are the days of objective reporting; today, ostensibly straight news stories have a not-so-secret agenda. Consuming news without a critical eye is a sure way to be led along by the worldview of whomever you read. Whenever possible, it's helpful to obtain news from a source with a worldview you trust, or at least with a bias that isn't hidden.

"This is the world we live in now," said Backholm. "If this hasn't happened to us yet, it's going to and we need to be preparing for that moment." Peter warned first-century believers that the world will "speak against you as evildoers" (1 Peter 2:12), "revile your good behavior in Christ" (1 Peter 3:16), and "malign you" because "they are surprised when you do not join them in the same flood of debauchery" (1 Peter 4:4).

Like Christians today, Peter's audience seemed to face slander and ridicule, far more pervasive and enduring forms of persecution than violence. "Do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you" (1 Peter 4:12), he told them.

Given the culture's hostility, Closson said Christian pastors, teachers, and school administrators must "double down" on teaching what God's word says. "We can no longer take for granted," he said, "that even people in our churches... understand what we would call a biblical sexual ethic." If pastors don't preach from the parts of the Bible that address those topics -- Romans 1, 1 Corinthians 6, 1 Timothy, Genesis, Leviticus -- how will they learn?

After the controversy broke, CAL didn't back down, but rather grounded their response in the Word of God. "We believe that God created the marriage covenant to be between one man and one woman (Gen. 1:27, Gen. 2:24). We believe that sex is a good gift of God, to be celebrated within the confines of the marriage covenant, agreeing that all other sexual expressions go against God's design (1 Cor. 6:18, Gal. 5:19)."

Of course, Christians must speak the truth in love (Ephesians 4:15). The credibility of our gospel witness is tarnished if we can't lovingly apply our faith to other cultural issues. "A lot of angry Christians out there... do a disservice to all of us," said Closson, and particularly to the name of Jesus Christ. CAL's statement continued, "We believe that all individuals are created in the image of God and therefore should be treated with compassion, respect, dignity, and love at all times even in disagreement."

Communicating the truth in love involves kind, winsome words. It involves our facial expressions and body language -- involuntary responses based upon what's in our hearts. "Know a couple of verses that you can just quote on what the Bible says on issues related to marriage and sexuality," Closson suggested, "quote Psalm 139 or Luke 1" on the personhood of the unborn. "We can never apologize for anything the Bible teaches, but we do need to be loving."

If you know your evangelism skills are lacking, be encouraged. Hear enough testimonies, and you'll discover that God can save people through even the poorest presentations. Do you believe that the Word of God holds "the words of eternal life" (John 6:68)? Then you don't have to be ashamed or fearful or timid. "Do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord, nor of me his prisoner," Paul told Timothy, "but share in suffering for the gospel by the power of God" (2 Timothy 1:8).

If Paul's protégé Timothy struggled to be bold, we shouldn't be surprised to find the same struggles today. If you're not sure where to begin, one good place to find lots of biblically grounded resources is at frc.org/worldview.

Speaking by the Spirit of God, Peter promised, "after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you (1 Peter 5:10). For now, we face trials and persecution in the world. One day, we will see Jesus face to face. No matter how challenging living as a Christian is, we can rejoice because of our glorious hope in Christ.

Originally published at Family Research Council - reposted with permission.
https://www.prophecynewswatch.com/article.cfm?recent_news_id=5376

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BY JONATHON VAN MAREN/BRIDGEHEAD.CA
JULY 28, 2022

We are watching trans activists engage in a grand game of gaslighting with our entire culture, and nearly the entire elite class is playing along with it. Gaslighting is the practice of making someone question their own reality; the term is derived from the 1944 film Gaslight, in which a husband manipulates his wife into believing that she is mentally unstable in order to steal from her.

Trans activists and their allies are doing something similar--they are lying with breathtaking brazenness in an attempt to silence our sanity and, eventually, mentally assent to the new world they are attempting to create. Let me give you three recent examples of this.

Exhibit 1 is this tweet from the Toronto Police Department, reading: "News Release - Missing Woman, Ryerson Avenue and Bathurst Street area, Isobella Degrace, 27." This seemingly innocuous statement went mega-viral, being retweeted over 10,000 times. That is because the attached photo is obviously of a man--a bearded man with nary a single feminine feature to be seen.

This fellow isn't "passing" for female, and nobody who sees the photo thinks he is. I'll bet the peon who sent the tweet doesn't even believe this guy is a woman. But this is your brain on ideology--the tweet blandly combines a photo and a description that doesn't match. What is a woman? Not that guy, that's for sure.

Exhibit 2 is a recent MSNBC interview with Joe Biden's Assistant Secretary for Health, Rachel Levine. Rachel Levine is also a man, and obviously so. His name used to be Richard, and he changed it; he also wears his hair long and usually wears a skirt. Levine was on MSNBC to advocate for Biden's radical transgender polices, and he stated that the Administration wished to "empower" children to get "gender affirmation surgery."

That is the phrase progressives now use instead of "sex change surgery" in order to better reflect their ideology--because the castrations and double mastectomies and other mutilations are in the service of affirming the gender these children are, rather than changing to the sex they believe themselves to be. See what they did there? Biden puts a cross-dressing four-star admiral on TV to support sex changes for kids--and we're all supposed to nod along.

Exhibit 3 is, somehow, even more egregious because it is straight out of Orwell's 1984: Merriam-Webster has added to their definition of female: "having a gender identity that is the opposite of male." By literally changing the terms of the debate, trans activists can ensure
that they control the outcome because words mean what they decide they mean, just as reality and biology can be redefined on a whim.

I've checked a few other dictionaries, and Merriam-Webster appears to be the only one that's made the change so far--but the others will be sure to follow suit. After all, Webster's literally changed the definition of "sexual preference" just to ensure that a Democratic senator's point was accurate after the fact.

Individually, these things may seem small. But collectively, they are reshaping the culture around us, brick by brick. The relentless drip-drip-drip of gender ideology on police posters; on TV; in the dictionaries--wears down cultural resistance. The consistent violence being done to objective reality begins to acclimatize us to the bizarre, the false, and the Lie. Eventually, we lose our ability to be shocked.

Slowly, the new language no longer jars us. And then, eventually, it all begins to seem normal. Bearded women. Men in skirts. Children undergoing surgery and beginning lifelong regimens of drugs. That is why these seemingly small incidents are, when you zoom, out, important to call out and important to reject--because of where they are taking us.

Originally published at The Bridgehead - reposted with permission.
https://www.prophecynewswatch.com/article.cfm?recent_news_id=5484

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May 9, 2022 by Andy Roman
Advent Messenger

The Jesuit Cardinal Jean-Claude Hollerich, S.J. is the President of the Commission of Bishops’ Conferences of the European Union (COMECE). This is the Vatican-led agency that represents Pope Francis in the European Union. On May 9, 2022, Cardinal Jean-Claude Hollerich, S.J. announced that the “Catholic Church in Europe will continue to be a faithful and honest companion” on the road to “European unification.” [1] Cardinal Hollerich called for the unification of all of Europe in his letter. Working to unite Europe is “nothing to be feared,” he said, but “should be embraced with courage and determination.” He went on to say that in order for this process to succeed, changes must be made based on “shared values,” and that Rome is willing to play a key role in bringing about those changes. What are these anticipated changes?

Notice what the top Jesuit leader outlined:

“As Church we are ready to play an even more active role in it. Most of the proposals and ideas of the Conference concern the environment and climate change, the digital transformation, a strong social market economy and the role of the EU in the world. Now that the Conference has handed the baton to the institutions of the European Union, expectations are high that they will be able to deliver on these ideas and proposals. Europeans wish a respectful, responsible, social and sustainable economy. [1]

Is the Church prepared to participate actively in policies relating to the environment, climate change, digital transformation, a strong social market, and a sustainable economy? Are these the common values of the new global order? The writing is on the wall. The Jesuits are indicating that they are prepared to take command and lead us in international policies that would fundamentally alter our world forever.

They are ready to impose their will on government leaders in regards to climate policies (Laudato Si’) and the economy (Fratelli Tutti). Fratelli Tutti, as you may recall, advocates for the creation of a global economy that abolishes private property and enforces the “universal destination of the earth’s goods.”

“I would observe that ‘the Christian tradition has never recognized the right to private property as absolute or inviolable, and has stressed the social purpose of all forms of private property’ … The right to private property can only be considered a secondary natural right, derived from the principle of the universal destination of created goods” (Fratelli Tutti #120).

“The right to private property is always accompanied by the primary and prior principle of the subordination of all private property to the universal destination of the earth’s goods, and thus the right of all to their use.” (Fratelli Tutti #123). “On Sunday, our participation in the Eucharist has special importance. Sunday, like the Jewish Sabbath, is meant to be a day which heals our relationships with God, with ourselves, with others and with the world. Sunday is the day of the Resurrection, the ‘first day’ of the new creation, whose first fruits are the Lord’s risen humanity, the pledge of the final transfiguration of all created reality. It also proclaims ‘man’s eternal rest in God’ … And so the day of rest, centered on the Eucharist, sheds it light on the whole week, and motivates us to greater concern for nature.” (Laudato Si’ #237).

Rome is prepared to use its political clout to promote policies that promote Sunday in their new economy, which will usher in tyranny. They are bringing about their changes in a very subtle and hidden manner. The ultimate aim is to increase papal power and influence around the world. Who cares what happens to the people, their private property or individual rights, as long as Rome triumphs and becomes dominant. As long as Catholic operatives and diplomats control world politics, there will never be peace, harmony, unity, or progress in any country.

The Jesuit Cardinal Hollerich closes his letter with the following frightening statement:

“The Catholic Church, its successive Popes since Pius XII, the European Bishops, religious orders, and many Christian movements of laity have never stopped to wholeheartedly embrace the process of European unification and its underlying values. Expressing sometimes reservations on isolated policy matters issues cannot change this. On this 9th of May we wish to encourage the political leadership in the institutions and Member States of the European Union to take up the new challenges and opportunities ahead.” [1]

We are witnessing one of the major fulfillments of Bible prophecy in recent times as the beast of Revelation 13 seeks to unite Europe around its common shared values. The aim for unity appears to be on track. It may succeed for a short while, but it is certain to fail in the end. This disunity will occur not as a result of our own knowledge or reasoning, but as a result of our faith in Bible prophecy. “And whereas thou sawest the feet and toes, part of potters’ clay, and part of iron, the kingdom shall be divided; but there shall be in it of the strength of the iron, forasmuch as thou sawest the iron mixed with miry clay. And as the toes of the feet were part of iron, and part of clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong, and partly broken.

And whereas thou sawest iron mixed with miry clay, they shall mingle themselves with the seed of men: but they shall not cleave one to another, even as iron is not mixed with clay.” Daniel 2:41-44.

For centuries, emperors, generals, dictators, popes, politicians, and globalists have all tried in some way to unite Europe into one great superpower. All of these efforts, however, have failed. “They shall not cleave one to another,” God’s word says, so Europe cannot and will not be united. Those who have attempted to unite Europe have never been able to comprehend why their efforts have failed. Charlemagne, Louis XIV, Napoleon, Wilhelm II (Kaiser Bill), Hitler, Jean Monnet, or Jesuits like Cardinal Jean-Claude Hollerich, S.J., have all tried and failed to unite Europe. It may appear to come together for a brief moment, but iron cannot be mixed with clay, so it will eventually fall apart.

Is it disheartening to know that man’s plans will ultimately fail? Certainly not. This gives us reason to be hopeful. Our hope is in God’s promises, not in men, because God’s word continues to tell us that Christ will return in the days of a divided Europe:

“And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever.” Daniel 2:44.

Europe and the entire world will be united one day, but only when Christ returns. God will establish a kingdom that will last forever on the ashes of the old earth, and there will be no more wickedness, tyranny, oppression, war, violence, hate, or sin. Praise God!

Sources [1] https://www.comece.eu/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/05/2022-05-09-Statement-President-Europe-Day.pdf
http://adventmessenger.org/top-jesuit-cardinal-and-president-of-the-comece-the-church-is-ready-to-play-an-even-more-active-role-in-the-unification-of-europe-climate-change-digital-transformation-and-a-strong-sustainable/

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Amarillo Globe-News
DOUG HENSLEY
June 5, 2022·4 min read

It can sometimes be a curious path that leads to becoming a published author. Just ask David Ritchie, lead pastor at Amarillo’s Redeemer Christian Church.

Earlier this year, his book “Why Do the Nations Rage? The Demonic Origin of Nationalism,” appeared, making a remarkable journey from master’s thesis research to a thoughtful 150-page look at nationalism from a biblical and theological perspective.

The project has benefited from excellent timing. Ritchie wrapped up his research as the pandemic took hold in 2020 and then turned in the rough draft of his thesis on the morning of Jan. 6, 2021, to a professor in Washington, D.C. After what happened later that day, the professor told him turning it into a book would be a good idea.

“My professor said it was a timely and needed perspective right now,” Ritchie recalled. “There was a lot of material out there on nationalism, but not a lot from the perspective of a pastor asking how to locate this force in our world theologically. I’m grateful to have the opportunity. It surprised me that it came out of one of the most challenging times of ministry I have ever known — the turmoil of the pandemic.”

Ritchie came to faith when he was a sophomore at West Texas A&M University while reading the biblical book of Romans in his dorm room. “I felt like if this gospel is as true and powerful as the Bible was showing me, I wanted to give my entire life to seeing it go forward.”

In the years since, he has been devoted to ministry and has watched as the church he leads has steadily grown into a thriving fellowship of believers.

That has certainly kept him busy, but as nationalism has become more discussed and evident, Ritchie also thought the book would offer a helpful viewpoint from a pastor who had taken a deep dive into the phenomenon.

“Something I noticed more than ever before is I was seeing Christians who were more seemingly eager and able to naturally share their political ideals and political values and political narrative they felt was best for the nation,” he said earlier this week, “but at the same time not being willing to naturally or effectively through an overflow of heart share the Christian gospel.”

What Ritchie decided to explore was the why and how in cases on both the left and the right, “politics has become our functional good news we’re most willing to share with neighbors.”

From Ritchie’s perspective as a pastor, this is important. He has been in full-time ministry for 18 years with the last 10-plus serving Redeemer. He is an Amarillo native with deep roots in the region (one side of the family can be traced back five generations in the Amarillo-Canyon area).

“This is my place and my people,” he says of his pastoral role. “I am deeply called to minister to these people.”

The book that grew out of the thesis grew out of Ritchie’s interest in the Apostle Paul’s New Testament epistles in which he talks about “powers and principalities or rulers and authorities,” depending on translation. Without giving too much away, the book explores the contours of nationalism, which, Ritchie said, can be traced biblically to the tower of Babel incident recorded in Genesis 11.

“It is sometimes surprising to people that I am not unpacking American nationalism,” Ritchie said. “It is a critique of the broad phenomenon of nationalism in all of its forms. It has a spiritual dimension to it, but also how consistently nationalism uses Christian categories of doctrine to advance its message.”

Ritchie said nationalism is distinct from patriotism. “Patriotism is a rightly ordered love for one’s nation, an extension of godly love for neighbor,” he said. “Nationalism is when that loves becomes ultimate and your vision of nation becomes something of ultimate loyalty. Then you have an idol on hand with a spiritually charged element to it.”

For the most part, the book has resonated, and Ritchie has been invited to present a paper on the topic at an upcoming meeting of the American Academy of Religion.

“It’s been well received in academic circles as far as interest in what a pastor has to say about this issue from a biblical perspective. People in my own community have been supportive all along the way.”

Doug Hensley is associate regional editor and director of commentary for the Globe-News.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/hensley-amarillo-pastors-thesis-became-105204968.html

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By Nicole Alcindor, CP Reporter
CP CHURCH & MINISTRIES | THURSDAY, MAY 12, 2022

Pastors should be using their time in the pulpit to preach about Jesus, not pontificating about the latest comments made by talking heads on Fox News or MSNBC, said Pastor H.B. Charles Jr., citing Colossians 1:28.

Charles, who pastors Shiloh Metropolitan Baptist Church in Florida, preached a sermon at the Together for the Gospel (T4G) Conference held on April 19-21 in Louisville, Kentucky.

The 49-year-old pastor, whose church has two locations — Jacksonville and Orange Park — emphasized that “what a man preaches is always more important than how he preaches [because] the goal is soundness of speech, not the smoothness of style.”

“The Bible is about Jesus, and our preaching should be about Jesus. We don’t need talking heads in the pulpit giving us their takes on whatever the news of the week is from Fox News or CNN or MSNBC. When we get together on the Lord’s day, we need news from another network,” Charles proclaimed.

Charles said he understood that there are many reasons why pastors might want to preach about current events. But the distraction of the week's headlines can make it easy for pastors to focus on the busyness of the world, and, as a result, they could end up forgetting about both their salvation and that of whom they serve.

“If we are not careful, the never-ending busyness of [that kind of] ministerial work makes us prone to become unimpressed with the Gospel. There are too many dirty dishes, if you will, to clean up,” Charles stressed.

“Brothers, you cannot faithfully serve the Gospel if you do not personally savor the Gospel. So I would challenge us. Do not forget the significance of your salvation.”

Pastors “have an infinitely greater reason to rejoice” because of Jesus’ grace and the power that comes from “the Holy Spirit sent from Heaven [that] empowers Gospel preaching.’”

Earlier in his sermon, Charles preached on 1 Peter 1:10-12, a letter written by Peter, an apostle, to Christians about not forgetting their salvation by allowing themselves to be distracted by the day's events.

“I suggest to you brothers that this apostolic letter is a pastoral manual. Consider this text, how the Apostle Peter speaks to troubled Christians, not preoccupied with the events of the moment, but begs them to look up and remember the significance of their salvation,” said Charles.

“Peter reminds us that grace fills Scripture from Genesis to Revelation. … Salvation, he reminds us, is by the grace of God. Grace is an attribute of God."

Charles pointed to the Old Testament book of Jonah, telling the ministry leaders that “you can't understand Jonah Chapter 1 without understanding Jonah Chapter 4.”

“In Jonah Chapter 4, remember, Jonah tells God why he ran. He says in Jonah Chapter 4 verse 2: ‘This is why I made my haste to flee to Tarshish. For I knew that you are a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and relenting in disaster,’” Charles said.

“Jonah’s right. Grace is essential to who God is and how God works. It is how God saves. … For the glory of God, salvation is a grace from start to finish. And Peter highlights this reality in the writings of the prophets. Sure the writings of the prophets were filled with warnings of judgment. But Peter says: ‘grace was the prophets’ message.”

The T4G conference featured sermons from multiple notable preachers before an audience of church leaders from all 50 states and more than 60 countries, according to organizers.

The theme for this year’s conference was “Last Word,” as organizers said that this would be the final T4G gathering.

Mark Dever, pastor of Capitol Hill Baptist Church in Washington, D.C., and one of the T4G organizers, wrote in the official Conference Guide that it was “a tremendous privilege to steward these gatherings for the last 16 years.”

“And we are excited to welcome you one more time to the mix of messages, singing, praying, panels, books, and fellowship that have marked these gatherings,” Dever wrote.

“Thanks for making this investment in the unity of the Spirit by uniting together in edification based around the truth. May God continue to make it bear fruit to his glory.”

https://www.christianpost.com/news/hb-charles-jr-preach-the-gospel-of-jesus-not-fox-or-msnbc.html

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The Ledger June 6, 2022·

Teach history as it actually happened

A group in Polk County has tried to remove certain books from the schools. Critical Race Theory has been used as a reason to try to remove some books.

CRT is a scholarly theory examining the intersection of race, society and law in the U.S. CRT has never been a part of the curriculum in Polk County public schools. CRT has been misconstrued as anything that teaches about social and racial justice. All parents should want their children to learn history as it actually happened. This would include learning about the history of slavery, Reconstruction, Jim Crow and Civil Rights activism.

I am a 78-year-old white woman. In the late 1960s I learned what I had not learned before: the influence of racist ideology on our institutions and on my own thinking. Did this learning lower my self-esteem? No. Did this learning cause me to feel guilt? No. What it did was make me more sensitive to the social/racial situation in our country, and to the need to examine my own behavior and thoughts. I have continued learning about systemic racism; I am glad to be open to these learnings, and thus help resolve these issues.

Dorothy Schwartz, Poinciana
https://www.yahoo.com/news/voice-people-teach-history-actually-122401752.html

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By Nicole Alcindor, CP Reporter
CP CHURCH & MINISTRIES | TUESDAY, MAY 10, 2022

John Piper, founder and teacher of DesiringGod.org and chancellor of Bethlehem College & Seminary, took the stage at the Together For The Gospel conference to warn that some pastors avoid preaching about the importance of holy living because they live secret, sin-filled lives.

“Some pastors avoid preaching on the urgency and necessity of holiness because their own secret lives are morally compromised," the 76-year-old pastor contended. "They are wasting time on trifles. They are watching movies that fill their minds with worldliness and ungodliness. They are dabbling in pornography or worse."

“They are dishonest in their financial dealings. They continually overeat in bondage to food. They neglect the teaching of their children in things of the Lord and they don't pray with their wives. They are starting to medicate with wine at night, which they once called ‘freedom.’ Their casual mouth has become crude. … And they are becoming second-handers [by] using other people's sermons.”

The T4G conference took place in Louisville, Kentucky, from April 19 to 21. The event featured sermons from multiple preachers and was attended by pastors from “over 25 denominations, all 50 states and 62 nations,” for the purpose of hearing God’s Word in order to edify, uplift and “grow in the Gospel of Jesus Christ,” as stated on its website.

This year's conference marked the final T4G after 16 years of the biannual conference.

During his sermon, Piper said some pastors only preach about how Jesus’ sacrificial shedding of blood means that there is grace for forgiveness. He said many of the pastors in such scenarios often avoid sharing sermons about how grace is also supposed to conquer sin and should lead to holier living.

“[Some pastors] have grown weary of fruitful Bible study. … Is it any wonder that these pastors preach grace to forgive and not grace to conquer anyone? There's no mystery there,” Piper preached.

“They lift high the cross covering all their sins and never make the biblical connection with the crucified One. … He was crucified to conquer your pornography. He was crucified to conquer your laziness. He was crucified to conquer our gluttony. He was crucified to conquer our dishonesty. He was crucified to bring back the joy of creating your own sermons.”

Piper warned about pastors who tend to “avoid anything approaching the kind of preaching that would confront people with their sin and would risk making them unhappy.”

“There are pastors that are so deeply infected with the coddling culture that we live in [within] contemporary America. They're not only hypersensitive to being offended, but in the pulpit, they're fearful of stirring up anybody's displeasure,” he emphasized.

“There are reasons for this reluctance to preach the urgency of holiness, and one of them is deep-seated insecurity in the pastor, [that they never grew out of]. Our insecurities can come from a lot of different places.”

Piper inferred earlier in the sermon that some pastors might only preach about grace and not on the “urgency” of Christians living holy lives because they “simply have not seen the connection between the sin burying work of Christ and the sin killing work of the Christian.”

The theologian added that some pastors struggle with being “reluctant to press the conscience of their people with biblical demands for holiness because they fear the rebuke of Jesus.”

“To such pastors, I would plead [with you] that you not try to address a real biblical danger in an unbiblical way. The point of this message is that the Christian fight for holiness is connected to the forgiveness of sins in a gloriously unique Gospel way,” he said.

“No other religion in the world comes close to what I'm talking about. In the connection between the sin-bearing work of Christ, finished, perfect, effective and the warfare that you have against sin. … Brothers, get to know this strange, wonderful, unique Gospel dynamic for how to move from the sin-bearing work of Christ to the sin-killing work of the Christian and show your people. … Show your people how to live it.”

The pastor added that some religious leaders are “fearful” of being labeled “conservative, fundamentalist, progressive or woke.”

“They’re going to avoid any kind of biblical command that would put them in some camp that they don’t want to be a part of. That’s bondage,” Piper said.

“For example, they’re not going to deal with racial discrimination because they’re going to get called woke. They’re not going to deal with modesty or nudity in movies because they’re going to get called fundamentalist. They’re not going to deal with the fact that we are citizens of heaven before we’re citizens of America because they’re going to be called unpatriotic by the veterans in the congregation.”

According to Piper, there is a solution to the “bondage” of insecurity that many pastors face today.

“The remedy for this kind of bondage to the opinions of others is first: become more like Jesus. … Don’t you want to be free like that?” Piper asked.

“And the second part of the remedy is to be so radically committed [to] all that the Bible teaches so that just when people think that they have you pegged and in some camp, you bring something out of your Bible treasure that just throws them totally off balance. … You got to displease everybody sometimes, or you’re probably not getting it right.”

Earlier in the sermon, Piper said he urges church leaders and pastors “to get to know your insecurities really well.” He noted that when a pastor knows their insecurities, they are able to overcome any bondage that involves fear rooted in being overly fixated on pleasing others.

“Be honest about [your insecurities] and dig deep into sovereign grace. And if necessary, get a counselor to help you so that you become a free person; free from bondage to people-pleasing,” he advised.

https://www.christianpost.com/news/john-piper-on-why-some-pastors-have-morally-compromised-lives.html?clickType=link-most-popular

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BY JONATHON VAN MAREN/BRIDGEHEAD.CA
MAY 21, 2022

I have been working through Douglas Murray's new book The War on the West lately, and have been struck once again by the sheer lunacy of the civilizational self-loathing our elites perennially engage in. Has there ever been a society that was led by those who hate so much of it?

As Murray pointed out in a previous book, The Strange Death of Europe, there's nothing wrong with studying, revisiting, and discussing historical injustices -- but to say that a nation has done bad is quite different than saying it cannot do good. That, as it happens, is where we are.

The latest example of this stupidity comes to us from Cambridge University, which has just launched a new course titled "Decolonizing the Ear." The purpose of this course is to strain our musical inheritance through the sieves of imperialism, colonialism, and class -- leaving, one suspects, not much left over.

According to The Telegraph, the course purports to examine how "Empire ... affected our understanding of what constitutes 'music'" and also how "genres like opera seem particularly susceptible to racialized representations." Additionally, classical music specifically is likely "complicit ... in projects of Empire and neoliberal systems of power."

Students will presumably pay actual money that they have borrowed or been given by their parents to listen to an instructor maul Mozart and Haydn in order to deconstruct a "musical establishment that was leveraged in the service of patriarchy, class aspiration, and imperial expansion." Rather than learning music and how to engage with it, these kids will be taught how to tear it down.

By the time the biographies of Bach and Beethoven are dissected, I'm sure plenty of problematic tidbits will be uncovered in addition to their original sin of "whiteness." This will allow both professor and students to feel morally superior, which is of course the point. There are only two problems with the "progressive" view of education: Everything they don't teach, and everything that they do teach. One school district in Illinois, for example, has overhauled its curriculum to infuse it with gender theory, teaching pre-kindergarten children about transgenderism, "breaking the binary," made-up pronouns such as "ze" and "zir"; by third grade, kids learn that white, European "colonizers" forced a "Western and Christian ideological framework" on non-whites and also "forced two-spirit people to conform to the gender binary."

Prior to that, presumably, the forests were teaming with transgender tribespeople, free from the heteronormative colonialists headed their way.

Meanwhile, the School District of Philadelphia encouraged educators to go to a conference on "BDSM," "kink," "trans sex," and "banging beyond binaries" in 2021.

But despite all that -- and there are depressingly large mountains of other, similar material -- columnist Anthea Butler took to MSNBC to pen an opinion piece warning about ... homeschooling, which she says is a plot by evangelicals to kill the public schools (and keep them away from all that good stuff about banging or breaking beyond the binaries, which they won't learn at home).

She also (of course) said that homeschooling has "insidious" racist roots and began largely in opposition to integration. Christians, she warns, "saw homeschooling as a way to cut the government out of educating Christian children and prepare them to take their place in a theocratic government." Disappointingly, she didn't include any juicy evidence about these dictators-in-waiting.

It takes a true dedication to delusion to survey the public education system and higher education and conclude that homeschoolers are the problem. Those kids, by the way, are learning about classical music, and literature, and the glories of Western civilization as well as the injustices and the horrors.

Students who are taught to hate their civilization cannot be expected to maintain it or defend it, and the gender-confused, indoctrinated kids emerging from the public schools are going to be the problem. But if you're a progressive, this is all wrong.

You've got to decolonize your ears, queer the kids, and sneer at the inheritance build by the blood, sweat, and tears of scores of previous generations.

Originally published at The Bridgehead - reposted with permission.
https://www.prophecynewswatch.com/article.cfm?recent_news_id=5372