Anthony Bradley: The South is Being Transformed by Christian Forgiveness

by Anthony B. Bradley – June 27, 2015

During Dylann Roof’s first court appearance after the June 17 murder of nine worshippers at the Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina, several families of the victims offered forgiveness to man who did not deserve it.

Why were they so quick to forgive? The families were simply exercising a fundamental Christian virtue. In so doing, they possibly changed the South forever in the process as Confederate flags and symbols are removed from state buildings across the South.

When we suffer injustice, the human heart craves revenge, vindication and retaliation. These are also desires Christ came to save us from. Christians are commanded to respond to injustice with forgiveness. This principle is central to Jesus’ teaching in the Lord’s Prayer: “Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.” (Matt 6:12). Immediately after this prayer, Jesus tells his disciples, “For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.” (Matthew 6:14–15)

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Prepare for Muslim extremism as we prepared for WW2 says former defence chief

By Hannah Furness, Ben Farmer and Matthew Holehouse – 23 June 2015

Britain must stop “sleepwalking” and prepare to tackle Muslim extremism as seriously as it planned for the Second World War, a former head of the Armed Forces has warned.

Lord Richards of Herstmonceux said extremism poses a “real threat” to the world and condemned dithering politicians too reluctant to lead the way.

Warning that Islamic State militants would wreak a “hell of a lot of damage” in the coming years, he argued the Armed Forces risk being left “on the back foot” by leaders who fail to plan properly.

“I think the problem is that we have not seen that we need to approach this issue of Muslim extremism as we might approach World War Two back in the 30s,” the former Chief of the Defence Staff said.

“This is a real threat to us and we’re sleepwalking in the way we’re approaching it.”

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Pakistan’s government won’t abolish blasphemy law because it “fears the reaction of extremists”

June 25, 2015 By Robert Spencer – Jihad Watch

All over the world, the principle is being reinforced: terrorism works. To get what you want, threaten violence, and the “free world” will jump to comply with your wishes.

And Archbishop Coutts’ brother bishops in the U.S. are pursuing an illusory and self-defeating “dialogue” even to the extent of silencing those voices that speak honestly about the root causes of the Muslim persecution of Christians. They are heading the Church in the West off a cliff, and will bear the responsibility for that.

“Pakistan’s ‘fear of extremists’ prevents abolition of blasphemy law,” by Felipe Avillez and Abigail Frymann Rouch, The Tablet, June 24, 2015:

The Government of Pakistan might be willing to abolish the country’s draconian blasphemy law, if it were not for the fact that it “fears the reaction of extremists”, the President of the Pakistani Bishops’ Conference said.

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Franklin Graham: God Will Judge President Obama

6/25/2015 Jennifer LeClaire – Charisma

Franklin Graham doesn’t shy away from bold political statements—and he often disagrees with the Obama administration’s moves.

Graham, though, does agree with at least one thing Obama said recently. Unfortunately, Obama being right is all wrong for Bible-believing Americans.

“President Barack Obama was right about one thing in the speech he gave at a Gay Pride event he hosted in the White House yesterday. He said, ‘There has been an incredible shift in attitudes across the country.'”

Graham agrees, but he’s quick to note that it’s definitely not a shift for the good of America. The shift in attitudes to which Obama referred, he noted, is the moral decline we are seeing manifest daily around us.

“Accepting wrong as right—accepting sin as something to be proud of,” Graham said. “Yes, that’s definitely a shift. Should we be surprised that he thanked the LGBT community for all that they had helped him accomplish during his time as president?”

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You must watch this one – Thumbs up for ABC Q&A having a balanced panel on Gay Marriage

Dear family & friends in Christ, Finally the ABC Q & A program had some common sense to air a balanced view and discussion on Gay Marriage. This interview is…

Continue ReadingYou must watch this one – Thumbs up for ABC Q&A having a balanced panel on Gay Marriage

Queen meets survivors & liberators of Bergen-Belsen concentration camp

By Gordon Rayner, Chief Reporter, in Bergen-Belsen, – 26 Jun 2015

In a quiet room where the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh sat entirely alone at the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp, one simple message, left on a piece of paper by a recent visitor, summed up the personal tragedies among the mass graves outside.

Written in English, it said: “If I could live my life again I would find you sooner.”

The sheer scale of the atrocity committed at Bergen-Belsen risks reducing the human loss to a series of statistics; 70,000 dead, 30,000 of them Jews, 20,000 of them Soviets.

But here was a handwritten note that brought home to the Queen and others with no personal connection to the site that each of the jumbled bodies bulldozed into the grass-covered barrows that dominate the landscape was a unique individual who lived, who loved and who was cherished by others.

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If Pastors Don’t Stand and Preach the Truth, America Will Fall

If Pastors Don’t Stand and Preach the Truth, America Will FallShane Idleman – Christian Post – July 15, 2015

A paraphrase that is often attributed to Alexis De Tocqueville—a Frenchman who authored Democracy in America in the early 1800s, helps to open this letter: “I looked throughout America to find where her greatness originated. I looked for it in her harbors and on her shorelines, in her fertile fields and boundless prairies, and in her gold mines and vast world commerce, but it was not there.”

“It was not until I went to the churches of America and heard her pulpits aflame with righteousness did I understand the secret of her success. America is great because she is good, and if America ceases to be good, America will cease to be great.”

Over the last few decades, Americans have seen the destruction of the institution of marriage between a man and a woman, the removal of God’s Word in several areas, and the blatant murdering of millions of babies. This is an indictment against America and the pulpit is partially responsible – our silence speaks volumes.

The pulpit regulates the spiritual condition of God’s people which affects the nation. A lukewarm, sex-saturated culture (and church) simply reflects the lack of conviction in the pulpit as well as the pew.

Sadly, many pastors are exchanging truth for passivity, boldness for cowardliness, and conviction for comfort…they are not aflame with righteousness. We aim to be motivational speakers rather than preachers of righteousness.

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More Muslims from Britain trained as terrorists than ever before, says MI5

June 12, 2015  By Robert Spencer

MI5 apparently refers to them as “Britons.” The Telegraph certainly does. Neither one shows any indication of realizing that none — absolutely none — of these Islamic jihadis has anything but contempt for Britain, and none — absolutely none — of them think of themselves as “Britons.” British authorities should be asking themselves why, after all their pandering, all their accommodation, all their demonization of opponents of jihad terror, they have more jihad terror than ever. But that is the one question they will not and dare not ask.

“More Britons trained as terrorists than ever before, says MI5,” by Tom Whitehead, Telegraph, June 11, 2015:

There are more Britons trained in terrorism than at any point in the country’s history in a growing threat to national security, MI5 has warned.

The Security Service said the number of UK-linked suspects involved in or exposed to terror training or fighting with fanatics is “unprecedented”.

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Rifqa Bary details transformation from Islam to Christianity

By JoAnne Viviano – The Columbus Dispatch – May 19, 2015

A woman who said she feared for her life after she converted from Islam to Christianity as an Ohio teenager has written a book through which she hopes to inspire girls and women who are desperate for freedom.

Rifqa Bary, 22, gained national attention in 2009 when she ran away from her northeast Columbus home to Florida, saying her father had threatened to kill her.

The book Hiding in the Light: Why I Risked Everything to Leave Islam and Follow Jesus tells her story. It was released on Tuesday by the WaterBrook Press division of Penguin Random House.

“Writing this book was so painful. I wept so much reliving everything again, and my hope is to save others who read it, to shed hope and light, and that it would cause other people to see that you can leave, that there is hope,” Bary, an evangelical Christian, said on Tuesday in a telephone interview.

“Even though I’ve had so much loss in my life, I’ve experienced more joy and love than I ever dreamed of, and I found that to be in my faith in Jesus Christ.”

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Academic World Rocked by Discovery: The Free World Owes the Church for the Great Magna Carta

Teresa Neumann : Jun 22, 2015 : Bill Muehlenberg – Barbwire

“The Church… was central to the production, preservation and proclamation of the Magna Carta. The cathedrals were like a beacon from which the light of the charter shone round the country, thus beginning the process by which it became central to national life.” –David Carpenter

(United Kingdom)—As the world celebrates the 800th anniversary of the Magna Carta—the historic British document that provided a modern foundation for freedom and instigated the West’s long march toward democracy—news from the world of science and archaeology has turned academics on their heads. (Photo via Barbwire.com)

A report in The Medievalists, noted that the question of who all were involved with the document has been “a conundrum that has puzzled scholars for centuries” but now has been discovered.

Originally, it was assumed that the equal-rights document approved on June 15, 2015, by King John was an entirely secular venture.

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Power of Love: MSNBC Reporter Overcome by Charleston Crowd Singing Gospel Songs during Shooting Suspect’s Arraignment

Aimee Herd : Jun 22, 2015 : YouTube.com, MSNBC

…They’re singing a Gospel song?… and you heard from the family members …of those who were lost… You can see the outpouring of support for this community; it goes all the way down the street…”

EDITOR’S NOTE: What an incredibly powerful testimony of God’s love and forgiveness the people of Charleston are showing the world! It’s obviously having a great impact on secular media who expected the worst, and instead, found themselves covering the message of the Gospel being lived out in front of them. Thank you Charleston. -Aimee Herd, BCN.

(Charleston, SC)—While covering the arraignment for Charleston shooting suspect, Dylann Roof, MSNBC reporter Thomas Roberts suddenly choked up as he described the inspirational scene before him at a vigil which took place at the same time.

Roberts seemed astounded as he reported how the shooting victims’ family members had spoken one-by-one to the 21-year-old suspect, telling him they’d forgiven him for killing their loved ones.

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Great win for Traditional Marriage in Parliament / Thanks PM Tony Abbott

Dear family & friends in Christ, Thank you so very much for praying and standing in the gap against homosexual marriage. Your prayers were definitely answered. On several news outlets…

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Jerusalem Bishop: ‘There is a real escalation in anti-Christian violence’

Lucinda Borkett-Jones Christian Today Features Editor 22 June 2015

A Catholic bishop in Jerusalem has said the arson attack on an historic church near the Sea of Galilee last week is symptomatic of the growing threat of anti-Christian violence from extremist Jews.

Thursday’s attack on the Church of the Multiplication of the Loaves and Fishes, in which two people were treated for smoke inhalation, is the second time the church has been targeted in the last 18 months. Last April an altar and a cross were also desecrated.

Bishop William Shomali, Auxiliary Bishop of the Patriarchate of Jerusalem, told Aid to the Church in Need: “There is a real escalation in anti-Christian violence: from a small fire which leaves little damage, to a bigger fire, and finally to an arson attack which is intended to produce major damage and even killing,” he said, adding: “We are allowed to ask: What will come next?”

The bishop acknowledged that the violence was likely perpetrated by “a very small and aggressive group”.

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Iranian Muslim Interrogator Surrenders Life to Jesus Christ Thanks To Witness of Christian Prisoner

By Leah Marieann Klett (news@gospelherald.com) Jun 09, 2015

Open Doors is encouraging Christians in Iran to be brave and continue their ministry work despite ongoing persecution. The organization is also urging Christians worldwide to pray for and support believers in Iran, and for the persecution to subside.

An Iranian interrogator known for persecuting religious minorities surrendered his life to Jesus Christ after a Christian woman locked in solitary confinement shared the Gospel with him, Open Doors USA reports.

Noushin, a house church leader in the predominantly Muslim country, was arrested for her faith and forced into solitary confinement for three days.

“I wasn’t ready to go to prison,” she told Open Doors. “I knew it was a dirty place, a place where people are tortured and locked up in solitary confinement. I was afraid that I would be so fearful that I would give up all the names of the members of house church. I even feared that I would deny my faith if they tortured me.”

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The Only Comment on Dylann Roof’s FB Photo Will Bring You To Tears

By Benny Johnson | - 2oth June 2015 Dylann Roof committed a heinous act on Wednesday night, killing nine at a church in Charleston. His ominous Facebook profile photo is…

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