What's behind much of the modern environmental movement, especially the panic around climate change? Well, it's the idea that mankind is God.

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 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?

Family and friends of Grammy-winning artist Mandisa will celebrate her life Saturday during a funeral service at a Brentwood, Tenn., church that will be live-streamed.

A question many people ask about the ark is, “How could Noah build something so large and sophisticated?”

Fellow musicians have reflected on the passing of fellow Christian artist Mandisa Hundley as police provided an update on their investigation into the 47-year-old's April 18 passing.?

Martin Scorsese's new Jesus film might feature actor Andrew Garfield, who gained international recognition for his performance as Spider-Man in multiple films.?

Gospel artist Kirk Franklin is drawing the ire of conservative Christians in Jamaica for gyrating and flexing his biceps while ministering in a tank top and shorts at “Fun in the Son,” ? a popular annual gospel concert sponsored by Best Dressed Chicken, a brand of the company, Jamaica Broilers Group, which is well-known for their commitment to Judeo-Christian values.

How does the earth's shape relate to the origin of the universe, the earth, life, and man?

Western countries have propped up the Iranian economy because of their own selfish and naïve interests, and have continued to release billions of dollars to fund the regime, as the Biden Administration did again in November, following a similar release of billions in what Iranians called the #IranHostageDeal.

Yeshiva University, the flagship Modern Orthodox institution in New York City, has re-opened its admissions process as pro-Palestinian encampments, many of them explicitly pro-Hamas, have raised safety concerns for Jewish and Israeli students.? The school will reopen its portal for undergraduate applicants, Berman said, and he has reserved places in a special track to pursue an undergraduate degree through some courses in Israel and others in the United States.? ? "We have also heard from top-tier faculty across the country who are feeling uncomfortable on their current campuses and are interested in being part of an institution whose core values align with our own," Berman added. "As we continue to expand, we are creating new faculty positions in a number of fields."?

Yemen's Houthis targeted the MSC Darwin ship in the Gulf of Aden, the Iran-aligned group's military spokesman Yahya Sarea said in a televised speech on Thursday, as Houthi forces have staged attacks on shipping in the Red Sea region for months in solidarity with Palestinians fighting Israel in the Gaza war.

A Palestinian civil defense team on Thursday called on the United Nations to investigate what it said were war crimes at a Gaza hospital, saying nearly 400 bodies were recovered from mass graves after Israeli soldiers departed the complex."There are cases of field execution of some patients while undergoing surgeries and wearing surgical gowns at the Nasser Medical Complex," the civil defense forces said at a press conference, without presenting any evidence.Palestinian authorities have this week reported finding hundreds of bodies in mass graves at Nasser hospital, the main medical facility in central Gaza, after Israeli troops pulled out of the city of Khan Younis.Bodies were also reported to have been found at the Al Shifa hospital in northern Gaza, which was targeted in an Israeli special forces operation.UN rights chief Volker Turk said on Tuesday he was "horrified" by the destruction of the Nasser and Al Shifa medical facilities and by the reports of the mass graves, according to a spokesperson.The Israeli military said claims by Palestinian authorities that the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) had buried the bodies were "baseless and unfounded."It said forces searching for Israeli hostages had examined bodies previously buried by Palestinians near Nasser hospital and had returned them after they had been examined."The examination was conducted in a careful manner and exclusively in places where intelligence indicated the possible presence of hostages. The examination was carried out respectfully while maintaining the dignity of the deceased," it said in a statement.Israel has denied killing those found in the graves and has released footage they say shows Palestinians digging these graves before the IDF operation.The Palestinian Civil Defense Team accused Israel of burying a number of bodies in the Nasser complex in plastic bags at a depth of 3 meters (10 ft), where they quickly decomposed concealing evidence of its "crimes," including torture, it said.The office of the prosecutor at the International Criminal Court in The Hague is investigating both sides in the Israeli-Gaza war, including the events of October 7 and their aftermath.Chief Prosecutor Karim Khan has said his team is "actively investigating any crimes allegedly committed" in Gaza and that "those who are in breach of the law will be held accountable."

Iraq had hanged 11 militants sentenced to death on terrorism charges, local security officials said on Thursday.The executions were carried out on Monday at a prison in the southern Iraqi city of Nassiriya, and all those executed were Iraqi nationals, said a prison police officer and a local security official. They declined to be named because they were not authorized to speak to the media.They said the 11 men were convicted of joining the Islamic State militant group and taking part in "terrorist actions."In a report issued on Wednesday, Amnesty International raised concern that many more people may have been executed in secret, given a "disturbing lack of transparency" regarding executions in Iraq in recent months.Iraq has put hundreds of suspected jihadists on trial and carried out several mass executions since defeating Islamic State fighters in a US-backed military campaign in 2014-2017.

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.

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.

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.

A federal judge on Thursday rejected Donald Trump's bid to throw out a $83.3 million defamation verdict in favor of the writer E. Jean Carroll, who said the former US president defamed her after she accused him of raping her decades ago.US District Judge Lewis Kaplan in Manhattan said Trump was not entitled to a new trial, or judgment as a matter of law.

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.?

US Senator Bernie Sanders released a statement on Thursday addressed to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, accusing the Israeli leader of labeling criticism of Israel antisemitic in order "to distract us from the immoral and illegal war policies of your extremist and racist government."? The statement came in response to a video posted by Netanyahu to X on Wednesday, addressing ongoing pro-Palestinian demonstrations, many of which are explicitly pro-Hamas, at university campuses in the United States.? In the video, Netanyahu "equated criticism of his government's illegal and immoral war against the Palestinian people with antisemitism," the statement said.?

Today is Earth Day. For some, this is a day to remind others to plant trees, reduce pollution, or clean up trash. But for many this is almost a religious day.

Many people view mankind is a blight on earth and we're responsible for everything bad that's happening to our planet. But what's the biblical worldview?

What's behind much of the modern environmental movement, especially the panic around climate change? Well, it's the idea that mankind is God.

Beyoncé's right. Whether listening to Cowboy Carter or reading theology, diversity is a good thing.I wasn’t planning to listen to Cowboy Carter, the eighth studio album from American singer and songwriter Beyoncé. I’ve always had a love for her music—but country has never been my thing.Plans changed when I started to read what people were writing about the record, from comments on social media to reviews in major publications. Their reactions were bitter, even cruel. “Beyoncé’s ‘Cowboy Carter’ isn’t a country album. It’s worse,” proclaimed one review in The Washington Post. “Beyoncé has chosen to do Dolly Parton karaoke,” writes the reviewer. “She sounds like she’s doing Wild West bedroom cosplay in outer space.”“The lefties in the entertainment industry just won’t leave any area alone, right?” asked an interviewer on a One America News program. “They’ve got to make their mark, just like a dog in a dog walk park,” responded the interviewee.It’s not that Cowboy Carter is exempt from criticism. Its genre-blending experimentation won’t be to everyone’s taste. Some listeners may have reservations about Beyoncé’s departure from her earlier pop and R & B records. That’s fine. Music, like all art forms, is subjective. Thoughtful critique can serve as a means for musicians to grow as artists, and to engage audiences in meaningful ways.But that’s different from implying that Beyoncé can’t and shouldn’t sing country music simply because of who she is: not a white man from a rural small town, but a Black woman raised in Houston. A “stay in your place” undercurrent cuts through how critics have spoken about her ...Continue reading...

How the keeper of the beat is adapting to shifts in worship music.It was a church drummer’s worst nightmare. In the middle of a service, David Wagner was playing “Heaven Invade” with his worship band when his in-ear monitors stopped working.Wagner posted a clip on Instagram of what happened. It includes the audio that should have been coming through in his monitors: a mix of the sound from the band, some added reverb, and of course, the click track—a repetitive tapping sound that keeps time, usually sounding for each beat. Halfway through the video, one of the vocalists—his wife—passes him a new pair of headphones.The role of the worship drummer has changed a lot over the past 20 years. In addition to the evolving sound of worship music—moving away from rock and toward electronic dance music— drummers have adjusted to new production setups, becoming the person on stage who makes sure that musicians and tech are fully in sync.Since the rise of contemporary worship bands during the late 1990s, many churches have adopted technologies that were once reserved for live concerts in stadiums and large auditoriums, where musicians needed in-ear monitors and click tracks due to crowd noise and echoes.For veteran church drummers, these changes are pushing them to develop new skills and to adapt their approach to the music. Some say these shifts are making drumming more boring, lower stakes, and monotonous. Others are finding that new tools allow them to be creative, to explore using their instruments in different ways, and to experience new freedom as worshipers on stage—even if they are behind a Plexiglas cage.Wagner, who has been a drummer for 12 years, moved to a church in Murray, Kentucky, that uses in-ear monitors (IEMs) about 3 years ago. ...Continue reading...