Jesus once said: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He has anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed” (Luke 4:18).
This is Good News for the poor. This is Good News for the suffering. This is Good News for the blind. Christ can indeed cope with the social and political problems of the world. The world today offers many “saviors,” but none of them saves to the uttermost. The world today offers many panaceas, but they cannot reach to the depths of our depravity. The world today offers many shortcuts to what it considers salvation, but to be truly saved we must be reconciled to God. Give your life to Jesus Christ today. Receive Him as your Lord and Savior. And whatever personal problems you may have, and whatever great problems may face the world, you can find help, and you can make your contribution to this generation by making your commitment and your decision for Jesus Christ. Let His joy, His peace, His love, dominate your life. Billy Graham http://billygraham.org/decision-magazine/april-2015/the-risen-christ-a-message-from-billy-graham/?SOURCE=BD154YDV3&utm_source=DecDevo4.15.15&utm_medium=bgemail&utm_campaign=bgemailnewsletter
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By Craig Manners
28th June 2015 The world is awash with problems, brokenness, false saviours, empty dreams, promises which offer much but deliver little. Yet in the midst of life's stormy waters, when you really need one desperately, there is a lifeboat, but only one and His name is Jesus. There are many seats in this lifeboat, the entry price has been paid by Jesus himself, and entry is available freely to all those who call on His name. That's all. No perfection required. No good deeds. No works. No dress code. No sacrifice. No offering. Nothing but a contrite heart, an honest admission of your need, and a turning toward the one who made us and away from the wrong behavior of your past. Don't worry, God Himself will help you to do this, as He knows you can't do it on your own. Cry out to Jesus and He will then bless His people beyond their wildest dreams. "Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, answered and said . . . Be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods."-Daniel 3:16, 18
The narrative of the manly courage and marvellous deliverance of the three champions, is well calculated to excite in the minds of believers firmness and steadfastness in upholding the truth in the teeth of tyranny and in the very jaws of death. Let young Christians especially learn from their example, both in matters of faith in religion, and matters of uprightness in business, never to sacrifice their consciences. Lose all rather than lose your integrity, and when all else is gone, still hold fast a clear conscience as the rarest jewel which can adorn the bosom of a mortal. Be not guided by the will-o'-the-wisp of policy, but by the pole-star of divine authority. Follow the right at all hazards. When you see no present advantage, walk by faith and not by sight. Do God the honour to trust Him when it comes to matters of loss for the sake of principle. See whether He will be your debtor! See if He doth not even in this life prove His word that "Godliness, with contentment, is great gain," and that they who "seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, shall have all these things added unto them." Should it happen that, in the providence of God, you are a loser by conscience, you shall find that if the Lord pays you not back in the silver of earthly prosperity, He will discharge His promise in the gold of spiritual joy. Remember that a man's life consisteth not in the abundance of that which he possesseth. To wear a guileless spirit, to have a heart void of offence, to have the favour and smile of God, is greater riches than the mines of Ophir could yield, or the traffic of Tyre could win. "Better is a dinner of herbs where love is, than a stalled ox and inward contention therewith." An ounce of heart's-ease is worth a ton of gold. Charles Spurgeon Some quotes for you to quote:
“Even a dog barks when his master is attacked. I would be a coward if I saw that God's truth is attacked and yet would remain silent.” John Calvin “During times of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act.” George Orwell “The further a society drifts from the truth, the more it will hate those that speak it.” George Orwell “When the whole world is running towards a cliff, he who is running in the opposite direction appears to have lost his mind.” C.S. Lewis “When all is said and done, reality always has the last word. The truth will always out. Standing up to falsehood, lies, and crazy ideas is never an easy task.” Os Guinness “In Germany they came first for the Communists, and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Communist. Then they came for the Jews, and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Jew. Then they came for the trade unionists, and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a trade unionist. Then they came for the Catholics, and I didn’t speak up because I was a Protestant. Then they came for me, and by that time no one was left to speak up. Martin Niemoller “Freedom is lost gradually from an uninterested, uninformed, and uninvolved people.” Thomas Jefferson "We are called to be the people of the truth, even when the truth is not popular and even when the truth is denied by the culture around us. Christians have found themselves in this position before, and we will again. God’s truth has not changed. The Holy Scriptures have not changed. The gospel of Jesus Christ has not changed. The church’s mission has not changed." Al Mohler “All God’s giants have been weak men, who did great things for God because they believed that God would be with them.” Hudson Taylor “They parade their sin like Sodom. They do not hide it. Woe to their soul! For they have brought disaster upon themselves.” Isaiah 3:9 “The ultimate test of a moral society is the kind of world that it leaves to its children.” Dietrich Bonhoeffer “No man is entitled to the blessings of freedom unless he be vigilant in its preservation.” General Douglas Macarthur “Your lack of faith – disturbs me!” Darth Vader 'The Silencing'
Kirsten Powers Stands Up and Speaks Out By Eric Metaxas Open debate, tolerance and honest disagreement are under attack. There’s a reason for that, and one voice on the left has had enough. My friend Kirsten Powers is looking for a fight. Let me explain. Kirsten, a popular Fox News contributor and USA Today columnist, has just released a new book called “The Silencing: How the Left Is Killing Free Speech.” The intriguing thing here is that Kirsten herself is a lifelong member of the left. But it bothers her that many of her fellow liberals these days would rather force conservatives to shut up than actually have an open debate with them. Kirsten has always believed, as she writes in her book, that “the fundamental liberal values” include “free speech, debate, and dissent.” And that’s what I meant by “looking for a fight.” She believes, and I agree with her, that it’s better to have a good, substantive argument out in the open than to simply try to silence one’s opponent. But as she documents in “The Silencing,” there’s a new breed of liberals taking over—a breed that she herself dubs “the illiberal left”—and these people are all about the silencing. The illiberal left wants journalists fired for not holding the “correct” positions on hot-button social issues. They complain of feeling unsafe and uncomfortable in class if their professors teach the wrong authors or use the wrong phrases. They charge all same-sex marriage opponents with bigotry and try to shut down their businesses. They claim that pro-life women aren’t really “women” at all, and can’t be trusted to vote the right way on “women’s issues” or anything else. In short, the illiberal left’s answer to everything that doesn’t fit their narrow worldview is “Shut up.” Demonization and dehumanization are their tools, and they wield them every chance they get. As Kirsten herself told me when I interviewed her on “The Eric Metaxas Show,” she started to notice this pattern while doing research for her columns at USA Today. She’s come under attack herself, just for working at Fox News, even though she continues to represent a liberal point of view there. (“Guilt by association” is another favorite technique with the illiberal left.) But as Kirsten told me, this isn’t about her. She’s more concerned about what’s happening on a national level, to all the people who don’t have access to the outlets that she has and are easy to silence before they ever even get a chance to speak. It’s on their behalf that she’s speaking out. As Kirsten writes, “Debate and persuasion should be the default response when someone encounters a person who does not share their view, not demands that the other person change their position or be pushed to the margins of polite society.” Amen. I’m deeply grateful for her honesty and integrity in standing up to those on her own side and insisting on fair treatment of those they disagree with. And I especially like her proposed solution to the problem of misunderstanding and intolerance: “We should all make efforts to invite people who hold different views into our worlds. . . . Now, go make some unlikely friends.” I’m proud to have Kirsten Powers as my unlikely friend, and I hope you’ll read “The Silencing.” Come to BreakPoint.org, click on this commentary, and we’ll link you to it. Freedom is lost gradually from an uninterested, uninformed, and uninvolved people. Thomas Jefferson
Fading are the world’s best pleasures,
All its boasted pomp and show, Solid joys and lasting treasures None but Zion’s children know. John Newton (verse 4 of his hymn “Glorious Things of You Are Spoken” New York City is Post Secular and Highly Religious Tuesday, June 9, 2015
By Anthony Bradley Add Comment Large cities in the northeast like Boston, New York, Newark, Philadelphia, and so on, are often caricatured as wastelands of non-religious, unchurched, overtly secular theaters. Caricatures of this type seem odd given the fact that many of America’s oldest religious institutions are actively operating in those regions. One of my friends is quick to point out that every week people sit on church pews in northeastern churches that older than many states out west. For example, by looking at the Christian presence in the New York City area alone, research shows that the northeast might not be as religiously barren as many believe. I recently contacted Tony Carnes, editor and publisher of A Journey through NYC Religions1, to set the record straight on the New York City area. Since 20102, Carnes and his team have visited thousands of religious houses of worship, from all religious traditions cataloging the religious activity in New York City. In light of what he and his team have seen on the ground, Carnes has come to the conclusion that the best description of New York City is that it is a “post secular” city—a condition somewhere between a secular and sacred. Within the Christian tradition alone Carnes reports, in the past two years there has, at times, been one new evangelical church founded every Sunday in Manhattan3. “By September 2009,” writes Carnes, “there were 197 evangelical churches in Manhattan Center City, the part of the city below 125th Street on the West Side and 96th Street on the East Side. A majority were founded since 1988, 40% since 2000. The number of congregates in Manhattan Center City has tripled in ten years.” Outside of Manhattan Center City, the number of evangelical and Pentecostal Christians is much greater and often goes unreported. Many of the churches outside of New York’s most expensive neighborhoods are populated by minorities and immigrants from Asia, Latin American, and Africa where Christianity is currently exploding. In all boroughs of New York City, the evangelical and Pentecostal Christians are growing. Carnes says that overall, “evangelical/Pentecostal Christians make up between 16-21%4 of the city, depending on how you count.” Roman Catholics5 make up about 36% of the metro New York population, and over 40% in New York City proper. Orthodox6 Christianity is present as well in New York City in smaller numbers. In sum, in the total metropolitan New York City area (including the suburbs), Christians of all types make up 63 percent7 of the population. In fact, according to Carnes, “Nones8,” the nonreligious, in NYC are less likely to be found here than in other major cities, including all areas of the South. While these numbers obviously do not presume that all of those who identify as “Christian” have deeply rooted faiths and are actively involved on a weekly basis in parish life, it does call into question if calling New York a “secular city” is entirely accurate. In fact, New York City is such a hotbed of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam that New York’s mayor Bill De Blasio9 has found himself in a position of championing religious liberty. What, then, is New York, and other large northern cities like her? They are religiously plural, politically progressive, “post secular” cities. |
Craig MannersWhile much of what is written in this Blog may currently appear to be counter-cultural, given our post-truth culture, it is in no way counter-human beings. I am always for people no matter what they think, do, or may have done in their past. Where I put forward ideas or debate against certain ideology, behaviour, ideas, movements, politics, I remain very much on the side of the human beings even though I may be opposed to their worldview, behaviour and politics. Such opposition is generally out of concern for the ultimate consequences of such behaviour or ideas, especially for children. |