Pastors John MacArthur and Andy Stanley, who are both influential Christian leaders, presented dueling advice on how churches should respond to government restrictions amid the pandemic this week, with MacArthur urging pastors to open because the supposed need for indefinite lockdowns is a “lie,” while Stanley recommended cooperation.

Both MacArthur, who leads Grace Community Church in Sun Valley, California, and Stanley, who leads North Point Community Church in Alpharetta, Georgia, shared their thoughts on the controversial issue during a Q Session discussion with moderator and Q Ideas founder Gabe Lyons on Wednesday.

MacArthur, who’s been locked in an ongoing public dispute with Los Angeles County over his decision to hold indoor Sunday morning worship services for his thousands of members, argued that while it’s “crystal clear that God has ordained government,” he will no longer aid and abet the “lie” of the ongoing lockdowns in response to COVID-19.

“Being a pastor means you’re a truth teller. That means you’re truth teller when it comes to the Bible….

Vice President Pence on Thursday told a gathering of pro-lifers that the pro-life cause is “winning in America” and that the nation is on the cusp of restoring the “sanctity of life back to the center of American law.”

But Pence also warned the audience that Joe Biden, if elected, could reverse much of the pro-life advances made under the Trump administration.

“For those of us who cherish the extraordinary progress that we’ve made in this movement, the stakes have never been higher,” Pence said.

God, he said, is on the side of pro-lifers.

Pence made the comments at Christ Baptist Church in Raleigh, N.C., as part of the “Life Wins!” multi-state tour with the Susan B. Anthony List. Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of the organization, interviewed Pence on stage during Thursday’s event.

“The Democratic Party has become the party of abortion on demand, late-term abortion, taxpayer funding of abortion,” Pence said. “And you even had a governor in the state of Virginia that actually openly defended infanticide on a radio broadcast. You had Democrats in the state legislature in the state of New York who were cheering at the passage of a bill that allowed for a baby to be aborted right up until the moment of birth. And then here in North Carolina, I know you actually had a governor that vetoed a bill that would outlaw late-term abortion.”

Pence noted that…

The Mississippi government will soon be voting to decide if they will replace the confederate battle emblem on their flag with a magnolia and the phrase “In God We Trust,” the Associated Press reports. The move came after citizens and legislators decided to re-evaluate the flag’s racial connotation.

The vote came down to either the Magnolia or a shield with wavy lines representing water. The new flag design will be put on the November ballot. If it is accepted, then it will become the new state flag. But if it isn’t, the design process will start over again until the people vote on a design they like as a replacement.

Mississippi has been having a series of race protests in recent years, and the state’s population is 38% Black. Many in the north and south see the confederate flag as a symbol of racism, though some southerners don’t see it that way. But the biggest push to retire the flag, which happened two months ago, was from a combined effort from various businesses, religious groups, educational groups, and sporting groups.

According to CBN News, the new flag design was created with a love for the state of Mississippi and the desire to create something that appeals to everyone in mind. The new design is even excepted to feature diamonds to represent the historic presence of the Native American tribes there. It was the collaborated effort of 5 Mississippi…

China’s communist government has expanded its ban on Christian funerals in recent months, continuing to use laws prohibiting religious activities outside of churches to also outlaw religious-themed ceremonies for the dead, according to a new report.

Bitter Winter first reported on the ban in January with examples of bans on Christian funerals in the provinces of Henan, Hubei and Zhejiang. In August, Bitter Winter said the prohibition on Christian funerals had continued to spread throughout those regions and also was being implemented in the province of Liaoning.

The Ethnic and Religious Affairs Committee of Dandong, Liaoning, issued an order banning “private religious activities outside religious venues,” according to Bitter Winter. Funeral homes can be inspected under the order.

“In July, the Religious Affairs Bureau summoned church directors to inform them that congregations were not allowed to hold services for the deceased, and preachers were banned from hosting wedding and funeral ceremonies,” said a preacher in Liaoning who leads a Three-Self congregation. “Any clergy member who holds such services or ceremonies will be dismissed and punished.”

Churches that are part of the Three-Self Patriotic Movement are legal but face severe restrictions on their freedoms.

In Yongcheng, Henan, a Christian-themed funeral was halted mid-service.

“If I hold religious…

Israeli archeologists recently made a groundbreaking discovery in Jerusalem when they unearthed a rare set of well-preserved column heads, also called capitals, believed to be a part of a mansion during the First Temple Period.

“This is a very exciting discovery. This is a first-time discovery of scaled-down models of the giant Proto-Aeolian capitals, of the kind found thus far in the Kingdoms of Judah and Israel, where they were incorporated above the royal palace gates,” Yaakov Billig, Director of Israel Antiquities Authority’s excavation, said. “The level of workmanship on these capitals is the best seen to date, and the degree of preservation of the items is rare,” he added.

A video on the City of David Ancient Jerusalem’s Facebook page captures the excitement of the researchers as the artifacts are being uncovered. The column heads were excavated at the Armon Hanatziv promenade in Jerusalem and the excavation was headed up by the City of David Foundation and the Israel Antiquities Authority.

According to CBN News, the stone artifacts found from the dig were originally created out of limestone. Each column capital features an ancient symbol dating back to the biblical Kingdoms of Israel and Judah.

The same ancient symbol can be found on Israel’s contemporary five shekel coin.

It is believed by researchers that the ancient estate was erected between the period of kings…

Just over a week after civil unrest erupted in Kenosha, Wisconsin, over the controversial police shooting of Jacob S. Blake, a Lutheran bishop said the nation needs to repent of its racism, which is a “toxic poison that is harming us all.”

“We can choose to regard the events of recent days as an aberration and as an exception to the rule and we can work hard to restore things to how they used to be and get back to ‘normal.’ Or we can choose to recognize that what we used to call normal was not only killing our siblings who are black and brown it was hurting all of us,” Rev. Paul D. Erickson, bishop of the Greater Milwaukee Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, said at a prayer vigil held at Grace Lutheran Church in Kenosha Wednesday.

“What we need is a time of radical change and transformation. But before that can happen we need an honest assessment of how we got to where we are. So in our tradition, in the Lutheran confessional tradition we often begin our worship services with a time of confession in which we are invited to…

The suspect of a fatal shooting of an activist was shot and killed as Federal agents attempted to execute an arrest warrant.

According to BBC, Michael Reinoehl was shot and killed after attempting to flee from police in Lacey, Washington. According to the U.S. Marshals Service, Reinoehl was shot by police after he pulled a gun on them.

Police had issued a warrant for Reinoehl after the 48-year-old was believed to have shot and killed a Donald Trump supporter at a protest in Portland, Oregon on Aug. 29, Fox News reports.

Reinoehl, an Antifa sympathizer, had previously insisted that he had acted in self-defense when he shot and killed Aaron Danielson, a supporter of the Patriot Prayer group. Conversely, Danielson’s friend Chandler Pappas, a witness to Danielson’s death, insisted that his friend was targeted by rioters.

“I had no choice,” Reinoehl told Vice News regarding the killing. “I mean, I, I had a choice. I could have sat there and watched them kill a friend of mine of color. But I wasn’t going to do that,” he said.

On Thursday, officers acted on an arrest warrant for Reinoehl in Lacey, Washington, a city about 120 miles away from Portland.

Thurston County Sheriff’s Lieutenant Ray Brady said police were conducting surveillance on the area when they saw Reinoehl leave an apartment and get into a car.

“The information we have at this time is that the subject was armed,” Brady said. “There…

President Trump released a letter Thursday to the pro-life community, touting his accomplishments for the movement over the last four years and pledging to continue fighting “in the trenches for unborn children and their mothers” if reelected.

The letter, released by the Trump campaign, also compares his record on the issue to that of Democratic nominee Joe Biden. The letter was written to “pro-life leaders and activists.”

“As I seek re-election this November, I need your help in contrasting my bold pro-life leadership with Joe Biden’s abortion extremism,” Trump said. “The Democratic Party unequivocally supports abortion-on-demand, up until the moment of birth, and even infanticide – leaving babies to die after failed abortions.

“Joe Biden’s embrace of this extreme position is most evidenced by his support for taxpayer funding of abortion-on-demand. Forcing taxpayers to pay for abortions is an abhorrent position that must be defeated at the ballot box. Joe Biden has doubled down on these positions with his selection of abortion extremist Kamala Harris as his running mate,” Trump said.

“With your help, I will win re-election, ensuring we have another four years to fight in the trenches for unborn children and their mothers.”

Trump says in the letter that his administration has transformed the judiciary, halted federal Title X funding to Planned…