After years of disagreement and the departure of thousands of churches, the change passed without debate.United Methodists meeting for their top legislative assembly Wednesday overwhelmingly overturned a measure that barred gay clergy from ordination in the denomination, a historic step for the nation’s second-largest Protestant body.With a simple vote call and without debate, delegates to the General Conference removed the ban on the ordination of “self-avowed practicing homosexuals”—a prohibition that dates to 1984.With that vote, the worldwide denomination of some 11 million members joins the majority of liberal Protestant denominations such as the Episcopal Church, the Presbyterian Church (USA), the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, and the United Church of Christ, which also ordain LGBTQ clergy.“We’ve singled out one group for discrimination for 52 years,” said Ken Carter, bishop of the Western North Carolina Conference. “And we’ve done that on an understanding of homosexuality whose origins came when it was understood to be a disease and a disorder.”That, he said, has now changed. “Increasingly,” he said, “people see that God’s spirit is in gay and lesbian people.”The morning vote on the motion was part of a larger series of calendar items voted on in bulk. They also included a motion barring superintendents, or overseers, from punishing clergy for performing a same-sex wedding or prohibiting a church from holding a same-sex wedding, though the actual ban on same-sex weddings in churches has yet to be voted on.The vote on the calendar items was 692–51, or about 93 percent in favor.After the vote, LGBTQ delegates and their allies gathered on the floor of the Charlotte Convention Center to sing, hug, cheer, and shed tears. ...Continue reading...

An ancient codex, containing perhaps the earliest complete versions of Jonah and 1 Peter, goes up for auction in June. Will it disappear?One of the oldest books in existence, which contains what is perhaps the oldest complete versions of Jonah and 1 Peter, is going up for auction in June. The sale of the Crosby-Schøyen Codex has scholars excited to talk about its uniqueness—and nervous about whether it could go into private hands and disappear.The Crosby-Schøyen Codex is a primary example of the invention of books, which coincided with the spread of Christianity, said Eugenio Donadoni, a specialist in books and manuscripts at Christie’s London, which is auctioning the codex. The growth of Christianity spurred the need to “maximize the text you can write down and transmit … around the Mediterranean,” Donadoni said.Before codices appeared in roughly the third century, scrolls “for several thousand years were the primary vehicle for transmitting literature,” said Brent Nongbri, an expert in early Christian manuscripts and a professor at the Norwegian School of Theology.Codices were a technological advancement that “that wouldn’t be surpassed until the discovery of the printing press,” Donadoni added. Donadoni just finished touring the codex for potential buyers in New York and Paris before returning it to London, where it will be auctioned on June 11. About the codex he said, “I’ve never seen anything like this.”A single scribe wrote out the texts of the codex on papyrus leaves in Sahidic Coptic somewhere between A.D. 250 and 350, according to carbon dating of the codex conducted in 2020. That means it’s likely the text was written before the late-fourth-century councils, when the canon of Scripture began to be established.“This is being used at a time when ...Continue reading...

Victim says she wants accountability more than money.Hillsong Church Australia’s legal settlement with a former student who was groped by a worship leader fell apart on Thursday when the survivor refused to sign a non-disclosure agreement.“I will not give up my voice,” Anna Crenshaw, daughter of Pennsylvania megachurch pastor Ed Crenshaw, told Australian reporters. “This has never been about money for me but about justice and accountability.”According to lawyers, one condition of the agreement was a joint statement saying the church reported the assault immediately. Crenshaw claims Hillsong—embroiled at the time in a scandal over founder Brian Houston’s failure to report his father Frank’s sexual abuse of a young boy—actually waited four or five months to contact police.Crenshaw was studying at Hillsong College in 2016 when Jason Mays, an administrative staff member and volunteer worship leader, put his hand on her inner thigh. The young woman—18 at the time—got up to leave, but Mays, 24, grabbed her, wrapped his arms around her waist, and touched her legs, butt, and crotch, according to a statement Crenshaw wrote several years later.“He lifted up my shirt and was kissing my stomach,” Crenshaw, now 26, said in a TV news interview. “So I’m just, like, stuck there with this guy groping me.”Crenshaw did not immediately report the incident because, she said, she was ashamed.She also didn’t believe she could report Mays to human resources, because the department was run by Mays’s father. Two years later, a counselor pushed her to report to someone, and Crenshaw went to the head of pastoral care, who said, “I’m sure he’s really sorry,” according to ...Continue reading...

Victim says she wants accountability more than money.Hillsong Church Australia’s legal settlement with a former student who was groped by a worship leader fell apart on Thursday when the survivor refused to sign a non-disclosure agreement.“I will not give up my voice,” Anna Crenshaw, daughter of Pennsylvania megachurch pastor Ed Crenshaw, told Australian reporters. “This has never been about money for me but about justice and accountability.”According to lawyers, one condition of the agreement was a joint statement saying the church reported the assault immediately. Crenshaw claims Hillsong—embroiled at the time in a scandal over founder Brian Houston’s failure to report his father Frank’s sexual abuse of a young boy—actually waited four or five months to contact police.Crenshaw was studying at Hillsong College in 2016 when Jason Mays, an administrative staff member and volunteer worship leader, put his hand on her inner thigh. The young woman—18 at the time—got up to leave, but Mays, 24, grabbed her, wrapped his arms around her waist, and touched her legs, butt, and crotch, according to a statement Crenshaw wrote several years later.“He lifted up my shirt and was kissing my stomach,” Crenshaw, now 26, said in a TV news interview. “So I’m just, like, stuck there with this guy groping me.”Crenshaw did not immediately report the incident because, she said, she was ashamed.She also didn’t believe she could report Mays to human resources, because the department was run by Mays’s father. Two years later, a counselor pushed her to report to someone, and Crenshaw went to the head of pastoral care, who said, “I’m sure he’s really sorry,” according to ...Continue reading...

When Zikaron BaSalon, a grassroots initiative in which individual Holocaust survivors address small groups, opened up registration for participants, sign-up was very low.

"We are making tremendous efforts. We have already returned half, when people didn't believe we would return anyone, and I can tell you that we are determined to bring back everyone," Netanyahu

When war broke out on October 7, Israel's hospitals faced shock and astonishment, with medical centers learning lessons and adapting to a possible confrontation with Hezbollah.

A physician who faced the specter of losing his license over his helping women try to save their unborn children exhorted pregnancy help professionals at the 2024 Heartbeat International Annual Conference to stay the course in doing the right thing when it come to standing for life. “Never, ever get tired of doing what is […]The post Pro-Life Doctor Shares How He Saved Babies From Death in the Middle of the Abortion appeared first on LifeNews.com.

An ancient codex, containing perhaps the earliest complete versions of Jonah and 1 Peter, goes up for auction in June. Will it disappear?One of the oldest books in existence, which contains what is perhaps the oldest complete versions of Jonah and 1 Peter, is going up for auction in June. The sale of the Crosby-Schøyen Codex has scholars excited to talk about its uniqueness—and nervous about whether it could go into private hands and disappear.The Crosby-Schøyen Codex is a primary example of the invention of books, which coincided with the spread of Christianity, said Eugenio Donadoni, a specialist in books and manuscripts at Christie’s London, which is auctioning the codex. The growth of Christianity spurred the need to “maximize the text you can write down and transmit … around the Mediterranean,” Donadoni said.Before codices appeared in roughly the third century, scrolls “for several thousand years were the primary vehicle for transmitting literature,” said Brent Nongbri, an expert in early Christian manuscripts and a professor at the Norwegian School of Theology.Codices were a technological advancement that “that wouldn’t be surpassed until the discovery of the printing press,” Donadoni added. Donadoni just finished touring the codex for potential buyers in New York and Paris before returning it to London, where it will be auctioned on June 11. About the codex he said, “I’ve never seen anything like this.”A single scribe wrote out the texts of the codex on papyrus leaves in Sahidic Coptic somewhere between A.D. 250 and 350, according to carbon dating of the codex conducted in 2020. That means it’s likely the text was written before the late-fourth-century councils, when the canon of Scripture began to be established.“This is being used at a time when ...Continue reading...

The widespread outrage over Kristi Noem's book should awaken moral responsibility—not just toward pets but for one another.This piece was adapted from Russell Moore’s newsletter. Subscribe here.Decades ago, before he was a nationally recognized face, Stephen Colbert featured a “Better Know a District” segment on his show The Colbert Report in which he would parody a far-right cable news host as he interviewed members of Congress, trying to get them in awkward situations for comedic effect.In his interview with John Yarmuth, then a congressman from Louisville, Kentucky, Colbert referenced Yarmuth’s past life as a debater on local television. He challenged Yarmuth to show his debating chops by instantly debating the opposite side of a question of Colbert’s choosing. The stance Colbert chose to take was that throwing kittens into a wood chipper was a bad thing to do—and he then pointed to Yarmuth to argue the other side—that sometimes, throwing kittens in a wood chipper is the right thing to do.The joke, of course, was that no decent human being, much less a politician seeking votes from a majority of the population, would ever want to be seen making the case for throwing kittens in a wood chipper. This past week, South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem proved that, as much as the American public has shifted on all kinds of issues, there still isn’t much of a constituency in this country for “Throw Kittens in the Wood Chipper”—or, more accurately in this case, “Shoot Puppies in the Head.”In fact, many people have noted that this might be the most united that Americans of both parties and all tribes have been of late—all in expressing revulsion at Noem’s self-disclosure in her memoir that she “hated” her 14-month-old dog Cricket. When Cricket wasn’t ...Continue reading...

Why the church has struggled to address mental illness well and how we can care better.Nearly five years ago, a high-profile pastor—one who had shared bravely and publicly about his battle with depression—took his own life. In the days after his death, a call circulated widely on social media platforms for clergy with mental health issues to be removed from their posts.I understand the motivation. The argument was made out of a concern to prevent similar tragedies. But as a pastor who has endured chronic mental torment, the simplistic appeal struck me as an example of the widespread clumsiness within the church when it comes to addressing mental illness. Prominent Christian teachers, most recently including California author and pastor John MacArthur, have denied diagnosable conditions such as OCD and ADHD even exist.In my own ministry, my struggles with anxiety and OCD have proven to be unexpectedly fertile soil for connecting with people. Opening up about the brokenness in my mind has led to deeper relationships as God took the affliction that initially felt to me like pure deficit and put it to work. His strength, as he tells us, shows up in our weakness (2 Cor. 12:9).So I find it heartening to see the increased attention to mental health and compassion for mental illness in our culture. Christian resources addressing the intersection of faith and mental illness are also proliferating, providing theologically grounded pathways to better care. And there are countless examples of congregations powerfully demonstrating the love of Christ to those in mental anguish.Still, the stigma accompanying mental illness persists, and in church settings, the issue is often complicated further by ignorance or misguided theology. Clergy tend to be the “first responders” ...Continue reading...

After years of disagreement and the departure of thousands of churches, the change passed without debate.United Methodists meeting for their top legislative assembly Wednesday overwhelmingly overturned a measure that barred gay clergy from ordination in the denomination, a historic step for the nation’s second-largest Protestant body.With a simple vote call and without debate, delegates to the General Conference removed the ban on the ordination of “self-avowed practicing homosexuals”—a prohibition that dates to 1984.With that vote, the worldwide denomination of some 11 million members joins the majority of liberal Protestant denominations such as the Episcopal Church, the Presbyterian Church (USA), the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, and the United Church of Christ, which also ordain LGBTQ clergy.“We’ve singled out one group for discrimination for 52 years,” said Ken Carter, bishop of the Western North Carolina Conference. “And we’ve done that on an understanding of homosexuality whose origins came when it was understood to be a disease and a disorder.”That, he said, has now changed. “Increasingly,” he said, “people see that God’s spirit is in gay and lesbian people.”The morning vote on the motion was part of a larger series of calendar items voted on in bulk. They also included a motion barring superintendents, or overseers, from punishing clergy for performing a same-sex wedding or prohibiting a church from holding a same-sex wedding, though the actual ban on same-sex weddings in churches has yet to be voted on.The vote on the calendar items was 692–51, or about 93 percent in favor.After the vote, LGBTQ delegates and their allies gathered on the floor of the Charlotte Convention Center to sing, hug, cheer, and shed tears. ...Continue reading...

A professor explains why examining a school's doctrinal statement isn't enough.When I speak at churches around the country, the conversation after my talks often turns to the state of Christian higher education. I’m a professor at a Christian institution, and Christian parents and grandparents want to know where high school graduates can go to have their faith deepened rather than undermined. These concerns have only become more pressing given the ongoing rise in young people wandering away from the church and describing their religious convictions as “nothing in particular.”The question many Christians have for me is which colleges are “safe” or “real” Christian schools, which usually means those that have a truly conservative theological ethos. For those who aren’t familiar with the world of Christian higher ed, it can be difficult to identify these schools from outside the campus community, and parents often (reasonably) conclude an institution’s stance on human sexuality is the simplest indicator of a college’s commitment to Christian orthodoxy.LGBTQ questions are indeed important, and they can serve as a proxy for an institution’s broader theology. But by itself, this isn’t a reliable formula for finding a good Christian college. A school may stake out a bold position on sexuality and yet capitulate to what I’d suggest is the most overlooked and therefore most insidious threat to Christian education in America right now.It’s not progressive theology. It’s a pervasive consumerist anthropology.Theological anthropology concerns our assumptions about the nature and purpose of humanity. And by “consumerist anthropology” I mean the belief—often subconsciously held—that ...Continue reading...

After years of disagreement and the departure of thousands of churches, the change passed without debate.United Methodists meeting for their top legislative assembly Wednesday overwhelmingly overturned a measure that barred gay clergy from ordination in the denomination, a historic step for the nation’s second-largest Protestant body.With a simple vote call and without debate, delegates to the General Conference removed the ban on the ordination of “self-avowed practicing homosexuals”—a prohibition that dates to 1984.With that vote, the worldwide denomination of some 11 million members joins the majority of liberal Protestant denominations such as the Episcopal Church, the Presbyterian Church (USA), the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, and the United Church of Christ, which also ordain LGBTQ clergy.“We’ve singled out one group for discrimination for 52 years,” said Ken Carter, bishop of the Western North Carolina Conference. “And we’ve done that on an understanding of homosexuality whose origins came when it was understood to be a disease and a disorder.”That, he said, has now changed. “Increasingly,” he said, “people see that God’s spirit is in gay and lesbian people.”The morning vote on the motion was part of a larger series of calendar items voted on in bulk. They also included a motion barring superintendents, or overseers, from punishing clergy for performing a same-sex wedding or prohibiting a church from holding a same-sex wedding, though the actual ban on same-sex weddings in churches has yet to be voted on.The vote on the calendar items was 692–51, or about 93 percent in favor.After the vote, LGBTQ delegates and their allies gathered on the floor of the Charlotte Convention Center to sing, hug, cheer, and shed tears. ...Continue reading...

? Temple Baptist Church - 5-1-2024John 15:17-25? Introduction:? A.? ? The Lord is giving some last words to His disciples just prior to going to the Cross.? ? 1.? If they kept His commandments and continued to abide in Him, the world would hate them in His stead and take their wrath out on them.? Tonight, we will take a short look at why the world hated Christ so much and now hates the Christian.? 2.? Peter would deny Christ thrice shortly for fear of retribution from the crowd who took Christ.? B.? In these verses, Christ reiterates His command that we should love one another.? Spiritually, we are all that we have outside of Christ.? Though they still hate Christ, He now sits at the right hand to the Father and there is nothing that they can do to Him.? We MUST be there for each other.? C.? I preach quite a bit on loving the brethren because the world and Satan are doing their best to divide us.? “Divide and Conquer” is a biblical principle that Satan knows full well:? Matthew 10:36? And a man's foes shall be they of his own household.? Mark 3:25? And if a house be divided against itself, that house cannot stand.? D.? Christ wanted His disciples to know what would happen to them and why it would be so.? Their persecution would be linked to obeying Christ's commandments.? 1.? Verse 17.? They had the human option of not obeying so as to not draw attention to themselves.? In that case, they would not be identified and persecuted.? 2.? If they obeyed Christ's commands, they would be easily identified and singled out for persecution.? 2 Timothy 3:10-12? But? thou hast fully known? my doctrine, manner of life, purpose, faith, longsuffering, charity, patience,? (11)? Persecutions, afflictions, which came unto me at Antioch, at Iconium, at Lystra; what persecutions I endured: but out of them all the Lord delivered me.? (12)? ? Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.? E.? Let us look at what Christ said to the disciples as he gave them reasons for persecution.? ? 1.? Christ wanted His disciples to know that they were in the right Company!? “If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you.”? Acts 2:1? And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place.? Hebrews 10:24-25? And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works:? (25)? Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.? 2.? Christ wanted them to know that they were not of the world.? “If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world.”? 1 John 4:4-6? Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world.? (5)? They are of the world: therefore speak they of the world, and the world heareth them.? (6)? We are of God: he that knoweth God heareth us; he that is not of God heareth not us. Hereby know we the spirit of truth, and the spirit of error.? 3.? Christ wanted them to know that He chose those who believe to be His.? “but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you.”? 2 Thessalonians 2:13? But we are bound to give thanks alway to God for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth:? 4.? Christ wanted them to know the fellowship of His suffering.? ” Remember the word that I said unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you;”? 1 Peter 4:16? Yet if any man suffer as a Christian, let him not be ashamed; but let him glorify God on this behalf.? 5.? Christ wanted them to know that the world rejected His word.? “if they have kept my saying, they will keep yours also.”? Revelation 1:9? I John, who also am your brother, and companion in tribulation, and in the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ, was in the isle that is called Patmos, for the word of God, and for the testimony of Jesus Christ.? 6.? Christ wanted them to know that they hated them because of His name.? “But all these things will they do unto you for my name's sake, because they know not him that sent me.”? Philippians 2:10-11? That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth;? (11)? And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.? 7.? Christ want them to know that He exposed their religion as false.? “because they know not him that sent me.”? 2 Corinthians 4:4? In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.? Ephesians 6:12? For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.? 8.? Christ wanted them to know that they hated Him because He exposes their sinfulness.? “If I had not come and spoken unto them, they had not had sin: but now they have no cloke for their sin.”? Romans 5:12-15? Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:? (13)? (For until the law sin was in the world: but sin is not imputed when there is no law.? (14)? Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam's transgression, who is the figure of him that was to come.? (15)? But not as the offence, so also is the free gift. For if through the offence of one many be dead, much more the grace of God, and the gift by grace, which is by one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many.? 9.? Christ wanted them to know that the works they hated would be done by His followers.? “If I had not done among them the works which none other man did, they had not had sin: but now have they both seen and hated both me and my Father.”? Ephesians 2:10? For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.? 10.? Christ wanted them to know that they hated Him because He fulfilled the Scripture.? “But this cometh to pass, that the word might be fulfilled that is written in their law.”? When we fulfill scripture, they will not like us either.? John 19:36? For these things were done, that the scripture should be fulfilled, A bone of him shall not be broken.? 11.? Christ wanted them to know that they hated Him for no good reason.? They just hated Him!? “They hated me without a cause.”? Luke 23:41? And we indeed justly; for we receive the due reward of our deeds: but this man hath done nothing amiss.? 12.? Christ wanted them to know that He was still their Friend in persecution.? John 15:14? Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you.? Romans 8:29? For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.? James 4:4? Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.

A radical pro-abortion ballot initiative nullifying all common-sense protections for the unborn will appear on the November ballot. There are several reasons why it should not — primarily because it is a political ruse to enshrine abortion on demand into the Florida constitution on the pretext that it is necessary for women's “health” when, in […]The post OBGYN Professor: Abortion “Harms Women,” It's Not Necessary for Their Health appeared first on LifeNews.com.

In the heat of the Great Panic of 2020 (COVID-mania), the UN started signing up publishers around the world to support its globalist narrative regarding...Flashback: When The UN Launched ‘SDG Publishers Compact' In October 2020

This article was originally published by Michael Snyder at The End of the American Dream.? What would you do if the power grid where you...Why Everyone Needs To Prepare For The Day When Devastating Cyberattacks Take U.S. Power Grids Down

By Tyler Durden Just when you thought you’ve already witnessed a lifetime’s worth of examples of the government being excellent capital allocators with your tax...Have Fun Staying Poor: Washington Announces $45 Million Subsidy For Low Income Families To Buy EVs

By Tyler Durden Just when you thought you’ve already witnessed a lifetime’s worth of examples of the government being excellent capital allocators with your tax...Have Fun Staying Poor: Washington Announces $45 Million Subsidy For Low Income Families To Buy EVs

By Tyler Durden Just when you thought you’ve already witnessed a lifetime’s worth of examples of the government being excellent capital allocators with your tax...Have Fun Staying Poor: Washington Announces $45 Million Subsidy For Low Income Families To Buy EVs

In a new interview with Time magazine, former President Donald trump reaffirmed his new states' rights position on abortion. The GOP presidential hopeful said he fully supports states making the legislative policy decisions when it comes to abortion. He confirmed he would not intervene when states protect babies from abortions. Asked about the specifics of […]The post Trump Says He Won't Intervene When States Protect Babies From Abortions appeared first on LifeNews.com.

An article published in? The Washington Post? Monday morning appeared to acknowledge “errors” in the process of in-vitro fertilization (IVF) which “are rarely made public.” The? analysis piece? titled “Most IVF errors go unreported, experts say,” described IVF practices as “opaque.” “When a storage tank at a San Francisco fertility center imploded, 4,000 human eggs and embryos were damaged […]The post Liberal Media Admits IVF Has “Errors” That are “Rarely Made Public” appeared first on LifeNews.com.

Evolutionists' favorite word gets dragged into situations that don't involve speciation.

But true liberty, in art and in life, is created by constraints.Taylor Swift answers to no one.Not music industry executives: Her songs returned to TikTok in the middle of a licensing dispute between the app and her label.Not mayors: When she graced their cities during her Eras tour, they declared days in her honor.Not the international community: A Singapore-exclusive stop in Southeast Asia sparked a row between the city-state and nearby Thailand and the Philippines. The Japanese embassy issued a statement about her Super Bowl travel plans.And Swift doesn’t plan on stopping anytime soon. She announced new music within minutes of winning her latest Grammy for album of the year.You might take all this as proof of Swift’s business genius, nothing personal. But in her latest album, The Tortured Poets Department, there’s definitely an “above it all” attitude. These songs are snarly. America’s sweetheart may have nothing left to prove. But she certainly has scores left to settle.Swift is hardly a stranger to revenge. This is the songwriter, after all, who brought us lyrics like “It’s obvious that wanting me dead / Has really brought you two together.”But TTPD broadens her aggression and scorns the prospect of reconciliation. A small-town girl takes on her community over a controversial love affair and trolls her parents with a joke pregnancy announcement. A depressed performer boasts sardonically about how well she can sell happiness to frenzied fans. A woman seethes at being seen as a problematic starlet by her new boyfriend’s circle.There’s a track suspiciously similar to an Olivia Rodrigo song (the two singers have a rumored feud). The title of another appears to name-drop Kim Kardashian, an older nemesis.Critics agree that ...Continue reading...