Taylor Swift's new album, The Tortured Poets Department, has garnered criticism from faith leaders who have taken to social media this week to express their distaste with the lyrical content that they believe mocks God and Christians.?

Let us not give up meeting together—even when we disagree.Recently, a woman at my church approached me with a question borne out of genuine curiosity. She asked, “You’re a female theologian. Why did you choose to come to our church when women aren’t allowed to preach here?”Since much of my work as a Bible scholar is public, it is no secret that I support women’s full participation in ministry, including in church leadership. So I wasn’t surprised that someone happened to notice my convictions did not match our church’s practice on this issue.It’s a good question, and one I’ve wrestled with regularly—since, at present, I don’t feel I’m able to serve our church in all the ways that God has called and equipped me. I so long for the body of Christ to embrace the gifts of all its members, not only here but around the world. But as CT’s April issue reminds us, the global church is far from united on what women can and can’t do in church.Still, I was glad my friend asked me about our family’s decision-making process, because it’s face-to-face conversations like this that prevent polarization. The role of women isn’t the only issue that divides us today. Approaches to racial reconciliation or diversity initiatives, our posture toward climate change, and politics—particularly when there’s another contentious presidential election in sight—are all areas that threaten to fracture our faith communities.According to The Great Dechurching, a recent book by Jim Davis, Michael Graham, and Ryan P. Burge, people are leaving the church in unprecedented numbers. Forty million Americans who used to attend church no longer do—that’s 16 percent ...Continue reading...

The government plans to close its porous border with Myanmar to boost security, separating ethnic groups that straddle the boundary.Ngamreichan Tuithung runs a Christian boarding school that sits right at the border of India’s Manipur state and Myanmar. Amazing Grace Mission School is based in Wanglee Market, a small Indian town, and serves around 150 students from Myanmar and 6 from India.Since Myanmar’s 2021 coup, the school has become a safe haven for parents wanting to send their children away from the violence of the war raging on in Myanmar. To Tuithung, it’s an opportunity to share with students and parents “about God’s love and how God is taking care of us.”For decades, some parents in Myanmar (also known as Burma) have been able to easily send their kids to school in India, thanks to a government policy that allows citizens of either country living within 10 miles of the border to freely enter the other country without a visa. Many tribal communities share ethnic ties, familial bonds, and a way of life transcending territorial boundaries. Tuithung, who is from the Naga ethnic group, grew up in India but has many relatives in Myanmar. Because of their close ties, he can speak Burmese and visits them often.However, all this will change as the Indian government proceeds with its decision to close the international border between India and Myanmar, which shares boundaries with four Indian states: Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Manipur, and Mizoram. India’s home minister Amit Shah says the action is needed to “ensure the internal security” and “to maintain the demographic structure” of northeastern India as the war in Myanmar continues. Plans include constructing a fence and implementing a surveillance system.Tuithung believes that even with tightened borders, the government will provide ...Continue reading...

The rage of the mob is a poor substitute for real community.This piece was adapted from Russell Moore’s newsletter. Subscribe here.As Columbia University and other elite campuses erupt into protests against the United States’ diplomatic and military support of Israel’s war against Hamas, US Sen. John Fetterman denounced the antisemitic speech of some of these protesters, remarking on the social platform X, “Add some tiki torches and it’s Charlottesville for these Jewish students.”Whatever one thinks of Fetterman’s analogy or of the Israel-Hamas war, we would do well to listen to the common ring of the Charlottesville chant, “You will not replace us! Jews will not replace us!” with the one recorded this week on the Columbia campus: “We have Zionists who have entered the camp!”An observer might have asked in Charlottesville, “What Jews are trying to replace you?” The white nationalists there would no doubt have told such a person that a shadowy cabal was seeking to import immigrants, to commit “white genocide.” Just so, another observer might ask at Columbia, “What Zionists have entered your camp?” Israeli military forces? No. The “Zionists” in question are Jewish students—one wearing a Star of David—attempting to walk on campus.At one level, the video of the students chanting seems almost farcical, like a parody out of an old episode of Portlandia. The leader yells out a sentence; the followers repeat it back—even to the point of repeating back, in unison, “Repeat after me.” Does that part really have to be repeated? Well, kind of; that’s part of what happens in a chant. The message is not reasoned discourse. The rote nature of the repetition ...Continue reading...

Do activists often invest their work with religious significance? All the more reason for Christians to be discerning co-laborers.I love nature documentaries, especially those narrated by David Attenborough. Whether watching with my children or on my own, I love seeing the majesty of the snowy Alps or kelp forests.But I’ve noticed that in recent years, nearly every somber vignette of a species struggling on the edge of survival ends with a call to action. Viewers are beckoned to take responsibility for causing a poor animal’s plight and to consider how they can fix things before the species is gone forever.I understand the impulse to believe that animals’ struggles should move humans to action. However, it is the ethics informing the narrator’s pleas that seem a bit muddled.By many documentarians’ admission, the species we marvel at on screen have emerged out of eons of struggles to survive and adapt to their surroundings. Sometimes, the narrators even remind us that this process has resulted in countless prior species disappearing into extinction.Whether you believe in a young or an old earth, in God’s hand or in meaningless physical forces guiding history, we can all agree that change, death, and selection favoring adaptability are features of life on earth. Witnessing it in real time makes for compelling television drama, but the moral indictment that you and I contribute to grave evil when one of these species goes extinct does not seem to square with the documentarians’ worldview.What compels us to see polar bears possibly going extinct in terms of moral right and wrong? If we take human action out of the equation, isn’t history littered with the bones of countless species that have gone extinct? Are not humans and their actions part of nature?A robust theology of creation careIf we listen closely, ...Continue reading...

A recent article made the bold claim that feathers are one of evolution's greatest inventions. But what proof did they offer?

Israelis Mark Passover Under Shadow Of War, Absence Of 133 Hostages Still In Gaza The Jewish holiday of Passover began in Israel on Monday evening (22nd), with families around the ... Read MoreThe post News Digest — 4/23/24 appeared first on The Friends of Israel Gospel Ministry.

IDF Spokesman On Hostage Video: ‘Until Hamas Frees Hostages We'll Pursue Them Everywhere' IDF Spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari responded Wednesday evening (24th) to the video published by the Hamas ... Read MoreThe post News Digest — 4/25/24 appeared first on The Friends of Israel Gospel Ministry.

Passover Eve: 3 Wounded In Ramming Attack In Jerusalem, Terrorists Flee The Scene Three pedestrians were wounded in a ramming attack in Jerusalem on Monday morning (22nd) Israel Police reported. ... Read MoreThe post News Digest — 4/22/24 appeared first on The Friends of Israel Gospel Ministry.

A recent article made the bold claim that feathers are one of evolution's greatest inventions. But what proof did they offer?

Pastor Gene Jacobs of Real Life Ministries Silver Valley, who was found dead in a mountainous area south of Pinehurst, Idaho, on Tuesday evening, died from an apparent “self-inflicted gunshot wound,” local police said as his church mourns their loss.

Radiant Church, host of the two-day Arise Shine Conference for pastors and leaders set for Kalamazoo, Michigan, next month, has scratched worship musician Jeremy Riddle from the annual event's lineup as he faces spiritual abuse allegations from his time at Dwelling Place Anaheim.

A recent article made the bold claim that feathers are one of evolution's greatest inventions. But what proof did they offer?

Pastor Mark Driscoll left the stage at a megachurch men's conference after he criticized an earlier sword-swallowing performance by Alex Megala (America's Got Talent 2013, Britain's Got Talent 2016), which he likened to something that someone might see at a strip club.

By Tyler Durden Whatever happened to the WEF?? One minute they were everywhere in the media and now they have all but disappeared from public...Cashless Society: WEF Boasts That 98% Of Central Banks Are Adopting CBDCs

By Michael Snyder According to the absurd numbers that the government feeds us, the unemployment rate is very low and there are lots of jobs...Why Are There So Many Americans Who Can't Find A Job Even Though They Are Desperate To Be Hired?

Dennis Quaid reveals why he's hoping his new sports drama film “The Long Game" will counteract some of the negative content emerging from Hollywood.

DNA: The transforming principle as a code and its discovery in the genesis of germs

Egypt has presented a new plan for a hostage deal to Israeli officials, according to a Ynet exclusive report on Thursday.? IDF Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi and head of the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) Ronen Bar, who visited Cairo on Wednesday, did not comment on the Egyptian plan, according to the report.? Later on Thursday, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich commented on the report in a post on X. "This is actually an offer of complete surrender on Israel's part and a complete victory for Hamas. An existential danger to the State of Israel. Will not happen. Point," he wrote.? זו למעשה הצעת כ? יעה מוחלטת של ישראל ו? יצחון מוחלט של חמאס. סכ? ה קיומית למדי? ת ישראל. לא יהיה. ? קודה. pic.twitter.com/Az90RZokAe— בצלאל סמוטריץ' (@bezalelsm) April 25, 2024This is a developing story.

Israel Air Force jets struck a Hezbollah military structure in the Aalma El Chaeb area in addition to launch posts and terror infrastructure in the Kfarchouba area in southern Lebanon, the military said on Thursday.? The IDF further stated that it had attacked various areas of southern Lebanon to eliminate a threat.The military added that several launches had been identified crossing from Lebanon throughout the day in the areas of Arab al-Aramshe and Mount Dov.IDF strikes Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon. April 25, 2024. (Credit: IDF Spokesperson's Unit).

A two-state solution will be done through direct negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority and will not be under Hamas control, National Security Spokesperson John Kirby said Thursday aboard Air Force One.Kirby reiterated the administration's stance that Hamas keeps wanting to "move the goalpost."? "They can end the war now," Kirby said. If they really believed in a state for the Palestinian people, they wouldn't have violated the ceasefire that was in effect on the sixth of October; they'd lay down their arms, and they'd let the hostages go."?

Israel is ready to consider a new proposition that will see Hamas release 20 hostages instead of 40, as it had previously demanded, according to Israeli media on Thursday, citing senior officials.? In turn, Israel will reportedly have to allow displaced Gazans to return to the northern part of the strip.This is a developing story.?

The Israeli government has requested a delay in the debate on the draft law and the response to the appeals on the issue, according to Israeli media on Thursday.? Member of Knesset Avigdor Liberman commented on the decision in a post on X. "Instead of internalizing the situation in which the State of Israel is, and the importance of service in the IDF, the government submitted another request to postpone the discussion on the conscription law.""I expect that the additional lagging out of a political consideration will be outrightly rejected by the Supreme Court," he added.? במקום להפ? ים את המצב בו מדי? ת ישראל ? מצאת, ואת חשיבות השירות בצה״ל, הממשלה הגישה בקשה ? וספת לדחות את הדיון על חוק הגיוס.א? י מצפה ש? סיון המריחה ה? וסף מתוך שיקול פוליטי-קואליציו? י, ידחה על ידי בית המשפט העליון על הסף.— אביגדור ליברמן (@AvigdorLiberman) April 25, 2024The Movement for Quality in Israel and Israel's Defensive Shield stated on response, "The government's request for a postponement is another blatant attempt to evade responsibility, and to ignore the Supreme Court ruling and the government's duty to enforce equal conscription ? Instead of acting without delay for equal recruitment, the government is once again trying to buy time to protect its political interests at the expense of those who do serve."Narrow political considerations must not be allowed to prevail over the good of the country and the rule of law. Every day of postponement damages national resilience and places a burden on those who serve. The time has come for yeshiva students to bear part of the burden, like every other young person in Israel. The petitioners ask the Supreme Court to reject this request, which has no grounds, and to rule in favor of justice and equality," the statement concluded.This is a developing story.

Apple has rejected Spotify's new version of its iOS app with in-app pricing information for users in the European Union, the audio streaming firm said on Thursday.The Swedish company submitted a new version of its app to Apple with basic pricing and website information, which is a minimum requirement under the European Commission's ruling in its music streaming case, it said in a post on X on Wednesday.Spotify said the Cupertino, California based-Apple rejected its update in a response directly sent to the company.Apple and the European Commission did not immediately respond to Reuters requests for comment."Apple has once again defied the European Commission's decision, rejecting our update for attempting to communicate with customers about our prices unless we pay Apple a new tax. Their disregard for consumers and developers is matched only by their disdain for the law," a spokesperson for Spotify said in a statement.In March, Brussels fined Apple with 1.84 billion euros ($1.97 billion) for thwarting competition from music streaming rivals via restrictions on its App Store, marking its first ever EU antitrust penalty, following a 2019 complaint from Spotify.Earlier this month, Apple also announced measures that would let music streaming apps on its App Store in the European Economic Area to inform users of other ways to purchase digital services, as it looks to comply with a European Union mandate.Under Apple's proposal, Spotify and other streaming services can include link to their websites to inform users of payment options outside its App Store. However, Spotify said in the new version submitted to Apple it did not include the in-app link.

Deputy Chairman of Hamas in Gaza, Khalil Al-Hayya, claimed that Israel has a plan to "permanently occupy" 20% of the Gaza Strip during an interview with the Saudi newspaper Asharq al-Awsat on Thursday.This is a developing story.