While many refer to New York v. Trump as a “hush money” case, guest host Jeff Stein says that’s actually […]

A recent set of? New York Times? / Siena polls show that nearly one in five registered voters from six swing states, including many Catholics, did not vote in the 2020 presidential election. The? polls? surveyed respondents from the battleground states of Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin. Of those registered voters, 18% said they did not vote […]The post Poll Shows Many Conservative Catholic Voters Didn't Vote in 2020, We Must Fix This appeared first on LifeNews.com.

A new book seems oddly outraged that CRT skeptics take its arguments seriously.Last year I joined a group of Christian leaders, Black and white, on a tour of the National Museum of African American History and Culture located in Washington, DC.Even though I’ve read quite a bit about slavery and Jim Crow, I was still physically and emotionally disturbed by the visual depictions of the systemic and violent ways in which people of color were treated for centuries of American history. There is no sugarcoating this history. It was (and is) an offense against God, with ripple effects that continue to shape our national life.In the past decade, conversations on racism have become more heated, reaching a fever pitch in 2020 with the killing of George Floyd at the hands of a Minneapolis police officer.One outcome of the resulting ferment of protest and denunciation was renewed attention to critical race theory (popularly known as CRT), a controversial legal theory once confined to the academic world and now increasingly mainstreamed and popularized in public life, including many of our leading institutions.Books like White Fragility by Robin DiAngelo or How to Be an Antiracist by Ibram X. Kendi rose to the top of bestseller lists in 2020 and after. Corporations, government entities, and even churches began implementing steps drawn from these and other popular works. Evangelical publishers churned out books in this spirit as well.Some Christian leaders have defended the use of CRT as a helpful analytical tool. Others have criticized it as a totalizing worldview opposed to biblical Christianity. This debate has divided many Christians, exhausted many pastors, split many organizations, and convulsed our politics.Seeking to bring sanity and clarity to this ongoing conversation is ...Continue reading...

Māori Christians in New Zealand bristle at newly translated portions of the Bible that use the names of local deities.Last year, Bible Society New Zealand (BSNZ) released a 109-page booklet with 10 Bible passages published in a contemporary Māori translation for the first time. The version used the names of atua Māori, or Māori gods and deities, in place of words like heaven, earth, land, and sea. Genesis 1:1, for example, says that in the beginning, God made Rangi-nui (Sky Father) and Papatūānuku (Earth Mother) instead of rangi and whenua respectively.The changes, meant to appeal to younger Māori, stirred debate. While some readers praised the changes (“The terms are more relatable,” wrote one respondent in a BSNZ survey), many, including Māori theologians and church leaders, decried the use of atua Māori in the Scriptures as “twisted” and “blasphemous.”The aim of publishing He Tīmatanga (A Beginning) was not to present a final translation but to offer a draft for feedback, said Clare Knowles, translation coordinator at BSNZ. Publishing these passages was part of an effort that began in 2008 to “retranslate the entire Bible into Māori [in] today’s language.”While Māori speakers in New Zealand have a Bible translation in their language, it was last revised in 1952. The most recent edition in 2012 mainly focused on reformatting the text with updated paragraphs, spelling, and punctuation, but the content has largely remained the same since missionaries first translated the Bible into Māori in the 19th century.“Imagine if the only English translation we had was the King James Version. … This is a bit like the situation with Te Paipera Tapu, the Māori Bible,” Knowles wrote in an article promoting He Tīmatanga.In New Zealand, about 8 percent of the population speak Māori, ...Continue reading...

By John Whitehead & Nisha Whitehead “Whether the mask is labeled fascism, democracy, or dictatorship of the proletariat, our great adversary remains the apparatus—the bureaucracy,...A Nanny State Idiocracy: A Tale of Too Many Laws and Too Little Freedom

By Derrick Broze What exactly is a “Smart City” and how does it relate to a “15-minute city”? And what does any of this have...Understanding Smart Cities, 15-Minute Cities, and How We Win

Deconstruction is about tearing down, opposing, and moving away from? rather than? towards? anything or, for that matter, Anyone. At stake is whether we live in a world where it is possible to truly know truth and its Author, or not.?

Like any good father, it is because God loves us that he warns us away from all that is not best for us.

In an interview on the "Dr. Phil Primetime" show on Friday, Israeli Prime Minister Prime Benjamin Netanyahu hopes that he and President Joe Biden can resolve their differences regarding the war in Gaza after Biden withheld some weapons from Israel.

Federal prosecutors are trying to prove that Bill Hwang committed massive market manipulation through his investment firm Archegos. His defense says he was trading like anyone else on Wall Street.Bill Hwang brought a book by Dietrich Bonhoeffer to court to read during jury selection.And during opening arguments on Monday, his Christian connections from New York packed out a courtroom to support him.He had given his investment firm a Christian name, held Wall Street Bible readings, and distributed millions to evangelical charities.But federal prosecutors at Hwang’s highly anticipated criminal trial are accusing the billionaire of being a mob boss mastermind rather than a humble evangelical investor following his convictions.Hwang has been charged with tens of billions of dollars’ worth of securities fraud. In a packed courtroom in lower Manhattan on Monday, the prosecution claimed his investment firm Archegos Capital Management was an “organized criminal enterprise,” like a mob operation. Hwang faces decades in prison.The blockbuster trial is expected to last eight weeks and will include witnesses from the Christian world in New York. Andy Mills, the former president of The King’s College, who also served as CEO of Archegos and as chairman of Hwang’s foundation, will testify for the defense.Hwang and his wife, Becky Hwang, are the sole backers of the $528 million Grace and Mercy Foundation, which supports ministries in New York and around the world.Many of Hwang’s former employees at Archegos are Christians—like Jensen Ko, who, after the collapse of Archegos, started a new investment fund called AriseN. And Archegos was named for a Greek word used to describe Christ as the “author” of our salvation (Heb. 2:10) and the “prince” of life (Acts 3:15).Archegos fell apart in March 2021. It bought up massive positions in a few companies using borrowed ...Continue reading...

Asian Christians must navigate ethical dilemmas in everyday life. This recent book can help.There are rules to follow in every culture, particularly in Asia, where many children must bear the responsibility of maintaining harmony within the home and familial structure. To deviate from the norms or traditions of any Asian society requires a bold willingness to try to demonstrate to one’s fellow citizens what is and is not working in their culture. As a Christian living or ministering in an Asian context, how can one manage these complex situations?The contributors to Asian Christian Ethics, an anthology published in 2022, grapple with the challenges Asian Christians face in their particular social contexts, often characterized by strictly defined societal ranking and hierarchy, religious violence against Christians, or suffering among marginalized groups. The theologians, pastors, and missiologists who authored this volume come from the Philippines, Malaysia, China/Hong Kong, Singapore, Sri Lanka, and Korea, plus one perspective from Palestine. The writers, many of whom studied in the West and are familiar with Western ways of thinking, provide valuable insight into Asian mindsets.Each chapter begins by examining what Scripture teaches on a particular social issue. Then the writers draw on their expertise to address the ethical challenges surrounding that issue within a specific cultural context.Marriage and divorceIn “Water Is Thicker Than Blood,” Bernard Wong offers insights on the changing views of traditional marriage. He notes that divorce has become more prevalent in Asian society (though not yet as normalized as in Western cultures) and that young adults are waiting longer to get married, with over 90 percent of 20-to-24-year-olds still single in Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, and ...Continue reading...

The West has long been obsessed with China. In the 19th? century, the Middle Kingdom was dominated and debauched by Western trading companies, backed by Western militaries, pushing drugs into China. Remember the? Opium Wars?? Those uppity Chinese had the effrontery to destroy the British India Company's opium and try to eradicate addiction. That was China's? century of humiliation. […]The post China's Massive Underpopulation Crisis: China's Birth Rates are 50% Below Replacement Rate appeared first on LifeNews.com.

In the country's most secular state, tiny congregations have made a big impact by their disaster response.For weeks, Tárik Rodriguez had been working on bringing a guest preacher and worship leader from across the country to help his church celebrate its third anniversary. In 2021, Rodriguez and a small team launched Viela da Graça Igreja in Novo Hamburgo, a small city in Brazil’s most southern province, Rio Grande do Sul.Then, it started raining.The floods have done more than interrupt the small Reformed congregation’s celebratory plans. They’ve devastated the community. The storms that began at the end of April struck Rio Grande do Sul’s most densely populated areas and have killed at least 116 people. Around 130 people are still missing. The high water has closed roads and even the airport, which has grounded flights until May 30. As of Friday, May 10, nearly 400,000 people have been displaced from their homes and 70,772 are in public shelters.Some of those have found their way to Viela da Graça, which is located on higher ground and has been largely protected from a water breach. Since May 4, Rodriguez and members of the 75-person congregation have been hosting around 50 people in a two-bathroom, 3,500-square-foot building.“As Christians, we needed to open our doors,” Rodriguez says. “And that’s what we did.”Beyond the bathroom constraints, the situation has been less than ideal. There are frequent power cuts (1.2 million people have been affected by outages) and the building has lost access to both running and potable water because the sanitation company cannot treat the dirty floodwaters. A nearby residential condominium, which gets its water from a well, has provided drinking water and showers.Continue reading...

The popular series about Jesus is now available in 50 languages with plans for 550 more.The film was familiar but the language was new for Come and See CEO Stan Jantz.As he sat in a theater in Warsaw, he looked around the room and saw people laughing and crying in the same places he had laughed and cried when he watched The Chosen, the popular streaming series that tells the story of Jesus through the eyes of the disciples. That was the moment of truth for Jantz. The real test for a translation—going beyond accuracy alone—is whether it connects with human hearts.“Translation also has to be beautiful,” Jantz told CT. “It’s an art as much as it is a science.”Come and See has dubbed or subtitled The Chosen into 50 languages so far. The group has plans to do the same for 550 more languages.No TV show has ever been translated into that many languages. Few shows are dubbed more than a handful of times, even in an era where viewership of translated programs has dramatically increased, thanks to streaming services’ global business plans. Netflix can dub shows into about three dozen languages but mostly works in French, German, Polish, Italian, Turkish, Castilian Spanish, Latin American Spanish, and Brazilian Portuguese. Some very popular shows are remade in another language, like Suits, which has Japanese, Korean, and Mongolian versions.Baywatch, starring David Hasselhoff and Pamela Anderson, has been translated 34 times. That was the record, until Come and See started turning out dubbed versions of The Chosen. There’s not a lot of profit in dubbing, so for-profit efforts will only go so far. A nonprofit like Come and See can do more.The group wants to reach 1 billion people with the show, so The Chosen can connect people to Jesus and bring them to faith. Come and ...Continue reading...

Federal prosecutors are trying to prove that Bill Hwang committed massive market manipulation through his investment firm Archegos. His defense says he was trading like anyone else on Wall Street.Bill Hwang brought a book by Dietrich Bonhoeffer to court to read during jury selection.And during opening arguments on Monday, his Christian connections from New York packed out a courtroom to support him.He had given his investment firm a Christian name, held Wall Street Bible readings, and distributed millions to evangelical charities.But federal prosecutors at Hwang’s highly anticipated criminal trial are accusing the billionaire of being a mob boss mastermind rather than a humble evangelical investor following his convictions.Hwang has been charged with tens of billions of dollars’ worth of securities fraud. In a packed courtroom in lower Manhattan on Monday, the prosecution claimed his investment firm Archegos Capital Management was an “organized criminal enterprise,” like a mob operation. Hwang faces decades in prison.The blockbuster trial is expected to last eight weeks and will include witnesses from the Christian world in New York. Andy Mills, the former president of The King’s College, who also served as CEO of Archegos and as chairman of Hwang’s foundation, will testify for the defense.Hwang and his wife, Becky Hwang, are the sole backers of the $528 million Grace and Mercy Foundation, which supports ministries in New York and around the world.Many of Hwang’s former employees at Archegos are Christians—like Jensen Ko, who, after the collapse of Archegos, started a new investment fund called AriseN. And Archegos was named for a Greek word used to describe Christ as the “author” of our salvation (Heb. 2:10) and the “prince” of life (Acts 3:15).Archegos fell apart in March 2021. It bought up massive positions in a few companies using borrowed ...Continue reading...

The champion of “native missions” trained more than 100,000 evangelists but got in trouble for financial mismanagement.Athanasius Yohannan, who built one of the world’s largest mission organizations on the idea that Western Christians should support “native missionaries” but got in trouble for financial irregularities and dishonest fundraising, died on May 8. He was 74 and got hit by a car while walking along the road near his ministry headquarters in Texas.Born Kadapilaril Punnoose Yohannan and known for most of his ministry as K. P., Yohannan founded Gospel for Asia in 1979. Over the next 45 years, the organization trained more than 100,000 people to preach the gospel and plant and pastor churches in India, Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka, and other places in Southeast Asia, according to a recent ministry report. Gospel for Asia raised as much as $93 million in a year and in 2005 reported it was supporting about 14,500 indigenous evangelists and pastors in same-culture and near-culture ministry. Christians in the US were asked to give $30 per month to support them.“If we evangelize the world’s lost billions … it will be through native missions,” Yohannan wrote for CT. “The native missionary is far more effective than the expatriate. The national already knows the language and is already part of the culture. In many instances, he or she can go places where outsiders cannot go.”Yohannan’s death was mourned by Gospel for Asia, the church that he started and served as metropolitan bishop, and prominent political leaders in India.“He will be remembered for his service to society and emphasis on improving the quality of life of the downtrodden,” Prime Minister Narendra Modi wrote on social media. “May his soul rest in peace.”Both the governor of Kerala and the ...Continue reading...

Long-shot campaign needs 15,000 signatures for the chance to get on the ballot.Eye-catching election placards are popping up across the European Union. They appear overnight in public squares and in front of train stations, along the Autobahn and the Champs-Élysées and many lesser-known rues, strassen, and calles.With bright colors and bold slogans, each promises to make a difference in the European Parliament, if only passersby will vote for their party in the upcoming election.“Make Europe strong,” says one.“Make it happen,” urges another.And there’s a new slogan for a new party in Spain: “United in values, guided by faith.”The sign asks people to vote for Fe, Infancia, Educación, y Libertad (Faith, Childhood, Education, and Liberty) or FIEL, a new, explicitly evangelical Christian party. The party’s candidate for the European Parliament may not actually appear on ballots in June, though. Before Juan José Cortés can stand for election, FIEL needs 15,000 signatures by May 12.“We are at a crucial moment,” party president Salvador Martí wrote in a recent campaign letter. “Your signature is essential so that we can continue in the battle, and so that together we can work for a better future for all.”Martí acknowledges this is an uphill battle. Many experts say it’s basically impossible to build a new party from scratch out of a tiny religious minority. Evangelicals make up about 2 percent of the Spanish population. There are fewer than 5,000 evangelical congregations in the whole country, even with the recent increase in evangelical immigrants.“We do not want to settle for the obstacles that say that it is not possible to build a party built by citizens like you and me ...Continue reading...

A dozen states could vote on the issue come November. Rosie Villegas-Smith was spending a Saturday handing out flyers with volunteers from Voces Unidas, a pro-life nonprofit, when she noticed a group gathering signatures.The woman who approached her never mentioned the word abortion, only referring to women’s rights, but she quickly realized what they were campaigning for: a ballot measure on expanding abortion access in Arizona in the November elections.The southwestern state is one of up to a dozen across the country that will vote on abortion later this year, part of the continued reshaping of the legal landscape following the reversal of Roe v. Wade.Arizona’s measure would enshrine the right to an abortion in the state’s constitution, overriding its current 15-week ban and allowing the procedure at any point in a pregnancy if a health care provider determines it is necessary to protect either the life or the physical and mental health of the mother.The state has been in a back-and-forth over abortion policies for weeks, with pro-life groups ramping up efforts to reach out to women who may be considering abortions and to voters who may consider supporting expanding abortion access.Last month, Arizona’s top court ruled that an 1864 law prohibiting abortion could go into effect as a result of the reversal of Roe v. Wade. The controversial ruling came under fire nationally; even former president Donald Trump and other high-profile Republicans suggested it went too far. Vice President Kamala Harris slammed the law as putting women in a “state of chaos and cruelty caused by Donald Trump.”A legislative repeal narrowly passed the state Senate 16–14 after two Republicans crossed the aisle to side with Democrats. ...Continue reading...

The popular series about Jesus is now available in 50 languages with plans for 550 more.The film was familiar but the language was new for Come and See CEO Stan Jantz.As he sat in a theater in Warsaw, he looked around the room and saw people laughing and crying in the same places he had laughed and cried when he watched The Chosen, the popular streaming series that tells the story of Jesus through the eyes of the disciples. That was the moment of truth for Jantz. The real test for a translation—going beyond accuracy alone—is whether it connects with human hearts.“Translation also has to be beautiful,” Jantz told CT. “It’s an art as much as it is a science.”Come and See has dubbed or subtitled The Chosen into 50 languages so far. The group has plans to do the same for 550 more languages.No TV show has ever been translated into that many languages. Few shows are dubbed more than a handful of times, even in an era where viewership of translated programs has dramatically increased, thanks to streaming services’ global business plans. Netflix can dub shows into about three dozen languages but mostly works in French, German, Polish, Italian, Turkish, Castilian Spanish, Latin American Spanish, and Brazilian Portuguese. Some very popular shows are remade in another language, like Suits, which has Japanese, Korean, and Mongolian versions.Baywatch, starring David Hasselhoff and Pamela Anderson, has been translated 34 times. That was the record, until Come and See started turning out dubbed versions of The Chosen. There’s not a lot of profit in dubbing, so for-profit efforts will only go so far. A nonprofit like Come and See can do more.The group wants to reach 1 billion people with the show, so The Chosen can connect people to Jesus and bring them to faith. Come and ...Continue reading...

Federal prosecutors are trying to prove that Bill Hwang committed massive market manipulation through his investment firm Archegos. His defense says he was trading like anyone else on Wall Street.Bill Hwang brought a book by Dietrich Bonhoeffer to court to read during jury selection.And during opening arguments on Monday, his Christian connections from New York packed out a courtroom to support him.He had given his investment firm a Christian name, held Wall Street Bible readings, and distributed millions to evangelical charities.But federal prosecutors at Hwang’s highly anticipated criminal trial are accusing the billionaire of being a mob boss mastermind rather than a humble evangelical investor following his convictions.Hwang has been charged with tens of billions of dollars’ worth of securities fraud. In a packed courtroom in lower Manhattan on Monday, the prosecution claimed his investment firm Archegos Capital Management was an “organized criminal enterprise,” like a mob operation. Hwang faces decades in prison.The blockbuster trial is expected to last eight weeks and will include witnesses from the Christian world in New York. Andy Mills, the former president of The King’s College, who also served as CEO of Archegos and as chairman of Hwang’s foundation, will testify for the defense.Hwang and his wife, Becky Hwang, are the sole backers of the $528 million Grace and Mercy Foundation, which supports ministries in New York and around the world.Many of Hwang’s former employees at Archegos are Christians—like Jensen Ko, who, after the collapse of Archegos, started a new investment fund called AriseN. And Archegos was named for a Greek word used to describe Christ as the “author” of our salvation (Heb. 2:10) and the “prince” of life (Acts 3:15).Archegos fell apart in March 2021. It bought up massive positions in a few companies using borrowed ...Continue reading...

A first cohort of scholars consider whether God is calling them to executive leadership.Ted Song wears many hats.He is the chief innovation and intercultural engagement officer at John Brown University and the head of the engineering department at the evangelical school in Northwest Arkansas. He’s a dad to three daughters, an elder and college minister at his church, and a student earning a law degree to learn more about the rules and regulations governing higher education.Song also has his eye on another potential hat.Last year, he joined the first cohort of presidential fellows at the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities (CCCU), exploring a call to lead an evangelical school.“If presidency is God’s calling, great,” Song said. “If God wants to use a person as a president of a Christian college, great. But that can also happen in the classroom or on an athletic field. I want to remind myself and also remind my students that we always need to go back to our mission.”Song is one of three evangelical academics who have joined the CCCU’s yearlong program to prepare for the possibility of becoming a Christian college president. The other two members of the inaugural group are Keith Hall, vice president for student belonging at Azusa Pacific University, and Sarah Visser, executive vice president for student experience and strategy at Calvin University.“Each one of these fellows is outstanding,” said Shirley Hoogstra, president of the CCCU. “There’s always turnover in senior leadership, and we want to make sure that we are equipping groups of people to be available for those positions … to be ready in the event that a call comes from God to move into the next level of leadership.”The presidential training program launched in ...Continue reading...

By Aaron Kheriaty Nothing can have as its destination anything other than its origin. The contrary idea, the idea of progress, is poison. — Simone...The Latent Fascism of Today's Anti-Fascists

A Pennsylvania pastor praised God for what he called a "miracle" after an F1 tornado ripped off the roof of his church as about 100 people worshiped inside on Saturday evening, and everyone survived without any significant injuries.

It wasn't only because of missionaries from the West, says a Tongan Australian theologian.Christian overseas missionaries were more successful in Oceania—the region spanning the Pacific Islands, Australia, Papua New Guinea, and New Zealand—than anywhere else in the world.In particular, people in the Pacific Islands (which include Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Vanuatu, Tonga, and more) were receptive to the gospel because “their ancestors’ strong beliefs in a divine presence and in the afterlife made them very open to Christian faith,” wrote Jacqueline Ryle, a contributor to the 2021 reference volume Christianity in Oceania. Tongan Australian theologian Katalina Tahaafe-Williams says her research reveals the same: The growth of Christianity in the region was not because of white Europeans but rather due to Indigenous missionaries who translated Christianity in a way that made sense to locals.Tahaafe-Williams, who lives in Sydney, served as the Indigenous coeditor for the book alongside prominent global Christianity scholars Kenneth R. Ross and Todd M. Johnson.“Our goal was to recruit Indigenous writers from all over the region to contribute to this volume,” she explained. “It was my task to connect with potential authors, theologians, leaders, and church members from the Pacific Islands … we were very committed to finding, however challenging it might be, authors who were part of that particular culture, thereby making the work very authentic.”CT Global books editor Geethanjali Tupps spoke with Tahaafe-Williams on why Christianity flourished in the Pacific Islands, how migration patterns have impacted the church, and why the region shouldn’t serve as the poster child for climate change issues.Continue reading...

The popular series about Jesus is now available in 50 languages with plans for 550 more.The film was familiar but the language was new for Come and See CEO Stan Jantz.As he sat in a theater in Warsaw, he looked around the room and saw people laughing and crying in the same places he had laughed and cried when he watched The Chosen, the popular streaming series that tells the story of Jesus through the eyes of the disciples. That was the moment of truth for Jantz. The real test for a translation—going beyond accuracy alone—is whether it connects with human hearts.“Translation also has to be beautiful,” Jantz told CT. “It’s an art as much as it is a science.”Come and See has dubbed or subtitled The Chosen into 50 languages so far. The group has plans to do the same for 550 more languages.No TV show has ever been translated into that many languages. Few shows are dubbed more than a handful of times, even in an era where viewership of translated programs has dramatically increased, thanks to streaming services’ global business plans. Netflix can dub shows into about three dozen languages but mostly works in French, German, Polish, Italian, Turkish, Castilian Spanish, Latin American Spanish, and Brazilian Portuguese. Some very popular shows are remade in another language, like Suits, which has Japanese, Korean, and Mongolian versions.Baywatch, starring David Hasselhoff and Pamela Anderson, has been translated 34 times. That was the record, until Come and See started turning out dubbed versions of The Chosen. There’s not a lot of profit in dubbing, so for-profit efforts will only go so far. A nonprofit like Come and See can do more.The group wants to reach 1 billion people with the show, so The Chosen can connect people to Jesus and bring them to faith. Come and ...Continue reading...