Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam is pleading with Liberty University’s president to reconsider a move reopening the campus during the COVID-19 pandemic, saying it’s risking lives and sending students the wrong message.

Liberty University President Jerry Falwell, Jr. said this week the campus would reopen for students and employees, although classes would continue to be given online.

As of Thursday, 460 people statewide had tested positive for the coronavirus and 13 had died.

“We have heard too many mixed messages around the country about COVID-19, and this is yet another example,” Northam said at a press conference. “Our message has been clear and it will continue to be clear: Stay home unless you have to leave for essential reasons. We appreciate our colleges and universities making accommodation for students with special cases. But that is very different from inviting students to leave their homes and come back to campus.”

Northam also quoted Scripture.

“As we are told in First Corinthians, ‘It is required that those who have been given a trust must prove faithful,’” he said, referencing 1 Corinthians 4:2. “Proving faithful means providing clear and consistent guidance. And it means respecting the duty that Liberty University has to its students, its staff, the Lynchburg community in which it is located, and our commonwealth.”

Source: Christian Headlines

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In a message on Sunday, Pastor David Jeremiah questioned the biblical implications of COVID-19 as a sign of biblical prophecy.

“Is there a connection between COVID-19 and the End Times?” Jeremiah, pastor of Shadow Mountain Community Church in El Cajon, California, asked in his Sunday sermon, according to The Christian Post.

“Are we living in the last days before the return of Jesus Christ?” he questioned.

“Is all that is happening to us at this moment a sign that the world is coming to an end? How do we know if the coronavirus is a sign?”

The founder of Turning Point Radio and Television Ministries defined a “biblical sign” as an “event or a symbol or an object or a place, or a person whose existence indicates something important on God’s plan for the future.”

While he affirmed Jesus’ words of future signs, Jeremiah also acknowledged that Jesus said no one knows the “day or hour” of His return.

“If someone tells you they know when Jesus is coming back,” he said, “you can tell them absolutely that’s not possible.”

Jeremiah then points to six signs indicated by Jesus to determine “if we’re in that time.”

The signs include deception by false Christs, disputes and warfare among nations, deliverance of believers to tribulation, the defection of false believers and the declaration of the Gospel to the whole world.

“Is this a sign of the Second Coming of Christ? I cannot say with any sense of certainty that it is. But neither can I say with any certainty that it is not. It could be the early evidence of number three on Jesus’ sign list, the coming of pestilence,” Jeremiah urged.

Jesus refers to what will happen at the end of the age as a “pestilence” (Luke 21:11).

According to Merriam Webster, pestilence is defined as a “contagion or infectious epidemic that is virulent and devastating.”

“That’s a pretty good description of what’s going on right now,” Jeremiah said.

“Jesus said this pestilence would arrive like ‘birth pains,’” he continued. “This means that it will increase in frequency and intensity in the time leading up to His return.”

He added that increased future outbreaks will “impact more people, and be more deadly. This is what the coronavirus threatens to do.”

Source: Christian Headlines

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An Argentine court has upheld the criminal conviction of a gynecologist who had refused to abort the baby of a rape victim almost three years ago. 

Dr. Leandro Rodriguez Lastra received a 14-month suspended jail sentence. In addition, he was also told by the court he couldn’t hold public office for a period of 28 months, according to the bioethics news website BioEdge. 

Back in 2017, the 19-year-old victim was in her fifth month of pregnancy after being sexually abused by a relative. She first tried an abortion drug, but it failed. She was referred to Dr. Lastra, who at the time was the head of gynecology at a local hospital.

Lastra told the court the proposed abortion posed a risk to both the unborn child and the mother. However, the judges presiding over the case responded that the only requirement necessary for the legal termination of a pregnancy was a formal request from the victim, according to BioEdge. 

Abortion until the 20th week of gestation is legal in Río Negro when a pregnant woman is found to have been raped, according to the Buenos Aires Times. 

The child was born and was later given up for adoption.

TO HAVE YOUR VOICE HEARD ON ABORTION – GO HERE TO PROTECT THE UNBORN.

In a divided opinion, two of the judges on the panel said Lastra was guilty of the crime of “failure to comply with the duties of a public official.” 

Lastra’s lawyer told BioEdge the ruling could be overturned by the Argentinean Superior Court.

The verdict, he said, “is a mere ideological expression that shows that they did not look at anything in the trial, in fact, they practically do not cite the witnesses or anything that happened there. It’s as if they didn’t see it. …if the Superior Court or the Court applies the law, as it should, we will be able to overturn this ruling.”

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SOURCE: The Urban Alternative

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Welcome to The Reasons to Believe podcast, episode #170. My name is Daniel Whyte III, president of Gospel Light Society International.

Our Reasons to Believe Scripture Passage for today is Hebrews 4:12. It reads, “For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.”

Our Reasons to Believe quote for today is from John Newton. He said,
“Precious Bible! What a treasure
Does the Word of God afford!
All I want for life or pleasure,
Food and Medicine, shield and sword;
Let the world account me poor—
Christ and this, I need no more.”

Our Reason to Believe powerpoint today is titled “The Bible: Myth or History?, Part 2” from “The Handbook of Christian Apologetics” by Peter Kreeft and Ronald K. Tacelli.

The authors continue with the first part of this chapter subtitled, “Connections among the Bible, miracles and the resurrection.”

4. Another technical meaning, unusual outside professional circles, is that of a projection of human consciousness out onto reality. In this sense, Kant’s theory of knowledge (“the Copernican revolution in philosophy,” as he called it) is the claim that all human knowledge is myth. In a narrower sense, dreams are myths if while we are dreaming we take them for objective realities.

5. A much broader, but still technical and professional, use of myth is “any story meant to articulate a worldview.” This sense would include both literally true and fictional stories, but it is usually used with the connotation of fiction.

6. A last sense, also quite broad and quite technical, used in literary more than biblical circles, is that of a Platonic archetype in story form, a universal truth about human life expressed in a story. The story is usually fiction, but not necessarily. Christ’s resurrection, even if factual, would also be a myth in this sense, as the pattern for our resurrection.

When it comes to biblical studies, the major controversy is between the demythologizers and orthodox Christianity. Demythologizers claim that all or most of the miracle stories in the Bible are myths in all six of the above senses. Orthodox Christians often agree that the Bible contains myth in senses 1 (sacred story), 3 (parables), 5 (worldview) and 6 (archetype), but not senses 2 (unreal) or 4 (projection).The bottom line is miracles, especially the resurrection: did they really happen or not? This simple question is not the only legitimate question, and consideration of differently nuanced senses of myth is quite proper, but not if it obscures the primary, simple question.

It is important at the outset to clarify the logical order and relationship among the three issues of demythologizing, miracles and the resurrection, because this relationship is often put backwards by those who argue against a literal resurrection and against miracles on the grounds that the Bible is myth, not history. The logic goes the other way: if the resurrection really did happen, then the assumption that “miracles don’t happen” is refuted; in that case, the miracle stories in the Bible can be history, not myth.

Let us put the logical point in a different way. To argue that the resurrection didn’t really happen because the Bible is myth begs the question. For when unbelievers are asked why they think the Bible is myth rather than history, they say it is because it is full of unbelievable miracle stories like the resurrection. This is arguing in a circle. It is arguing that the resurrection is myth because the Bible is myth, and the Bible is myth because it contains obviously mythical miracle stories like the resurrection.

Lord willing, we will continue looking at this topic in our next episode.

—PRAYER—

Now, if you are listening today, and you do not know the Lord Jesus Christ as your Saviour, allow me to show you how.

First, accept the fact that you are a sinner, and that you have broken God’s law. The Bible says in Romans 3:23: “For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.”

Second, accept the fact that there is a penalty for sin. The Bible states in Romans 6:23: “For the wages of sin is death…”

Third, accept the fact that you are on the road to hell. Jesus Christ said in Matthew 10:28: “And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.” Also, the Bible states in Revelation 21:8: “But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.”

Now this is bad news, but here’s the good news. Jesus Christ said in John 3:16: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” Just believe in your heart that Jesus Christ died for your sins, was buried, and rose from the dead by the power of God for you so that you can live eternally with Him. Pray and ask Him to come into your heart today, and He will.

Romans 10:9-13 says, “That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. For the scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed. For there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek: for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him. For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.”

Until next time, my friend, please keep in mind these reasons to believe. God bless!

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TBILISI, GEORGIA – On a Wednesday afternoon, in an ancient village northwest of Georgia’s capital Tbilisi, more than 100 youngsters met several days here to learn how to have deeper and more meaningful encounters with Jesus Christ.

Guram Imerlishvili leads an effort to encourage young Georgians to accept Christ as Lord of their lives.

“I think if you want to have a harvest in this country, you need to be focused on this new generation,” he said. “If you really love Georgia, if you really love your culture, if you are all about your country, you need to be closer to Jesus because Jesus loves more my country.”
 
Once part of the communist empire and often called the “Riviera of the Soviet Union,” Georgia is nestled between the Caucasus Mountains and the Black Sea. 

Turkey and Armenia flank its southern border. To its east is Azerbaijan and Russia is to the north. As one of the world’s oldest Christian countries, more than 80 percent of Georgians belong to the Orthodox Church. 
 
Yet, Guram says many don’t know Christ personally.
  
“We never go deeper to [a] real-life relationship with Jesus,” he said.

For several years he and his wife, Maya, have led School Without Walls, a program helping young men and women become sold out for their faith. 
 
Having an Impact for Christ on a Generation

“We have been holding these camps for 13 years now and from the beginning, the goal was to teach young people Christian values. Values that will change their lives in a deeper way and impact generations to come,” said Maya Imerlishvili, Guram’s wife.

Guram often shares his journey to show how God redeems and transforms broken lives.
  
To understand Guram’s passion for reaching Georgia’s young generation, you really have to understand his past. When he was 19 years old, he decided to leave Georgia and moved to Athens, Greece, where he says he got involved in the wrong company, started a nightclub and lived, according to his words, a life that was wild and free.
 
“I was fully swallowed by sin,” Guram said.

Although he grew up in the Orthodox Church, he really didn’t know Christ. He smoked, drank, and partied hard with the wrong crowd. 
 
“I Know There is Hope for My Nation”

“I was hoping that Jesus was a real person, but I was not sure and I was very afraid if Jesus is real, that means hell is real and that means my destination is hell,” he recalled.

After years of wild living and feeling empty, Guram says he finally decided to give his heart to Christ.
  
“He gave me [a] revelation that there is more and since I met Jesus Christ I know that there is hope for my nation; now I am not hopeless, now I know that everything is possible with Jesus Christ.”
 
It’s a transformational message that resonated with many camp attendees.

“It is not easy to live in this world and strive for what is invisible,” said Mirian Tabagari, a camp attendee. “Which no one has seen. Which you have never seen either. But when you have evidence in your heart that you are a Christian, you have the power to overcome sins, passion, hatred, selfishness and doubt.”

The Importance of a Personal Relationship with Christ

For others like Tako Beruashvili the meetings are a time of renewal.

“I approach the Lord with renewed intensity when I leave here. I feel like I’m ready to go out into the fight again. I am so filled with Holy Spirit,” Tako told CBN News.

This was Beso Bujiashvili’s first evangelical camp. As a member of the Orthodox church, Bujiashvili says he learned the importance of a personal relationship with Christ.

“I have thought about God many times but I have never been able to put myself in the way of Christ,” Beso said. “In these five days, I learned that I need to spend more time to get to know Him.”

That’s music to Guram’s ears. He prays that one day these young men and women will transform their nation of Christ.
 
“I have definite hope that my country will shine for Jesus Christ and that we will be light for many nations around us.”

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SOURCE: The Urban Alternative

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