The name “St. Patrick” is commonly associated with green beer, shamrocks, and deeds such as casting the snakes out of Ireland.

But few know the incredible true story behind the indomitable man credited with singlehandedly bringing Christianity to Ireland.

Hitting theaters on St. Patrick’s Day, March 17, the new docudrama “I Am Patrick: The Patron Saint of Ireland” sheds new light on the life, ministry, and incredible sacrifices of St. Patrick.

“By the end of the movie, you’re going to know Patrick. You’re going to know what his life was like, and you’re going to hear it in his own words,” Executive Producer Gordon Robertson told The Christian Post. “I want to change everyone’s perception of St. Patrick. I want them to meet the man behind the legend.”

“We’ve gotten lost in the shamrock; St. Patrick’s Day has become a cultural thing as opposed to, why do we celebrate this day on March 17? Most people don’t know that it was established to commemorate the day of Patrick’s death. It was originally a day to honor and to remember and to grieve a great man of God who had been taken. We’ve gotten away from that.”

Starring “Lord of the Rings” star John Rhys-Davies, “I am Patrick” digs past legend and myth to tell the story of the famed missionary using historical reenactments, expert interviews, and Patrick’s own letters and writings, including The Confession of St. Patrick and Letter to Coroticus. 

Through a series of flashbacks, viewers meet Patrick in 5th century Britain, where he is living a comfortable life as the son of a government official. Despite being part of the Roman Catholic Church, his faith didn’t mean anything to him until he was kidnapped by pirates at the age of 16 and enslaved in Ireland.

For six years, Patrick was forced to work as a shepherd in perilous conditions. During this time, Patrick’s faith was strengthened, serving as a source of sustenance and encouragement. Through divine intervention, Patrick managed to escape slavery and was reunited with his family in Britain. However, it was there he experienced a prophetic dream calling him to take Christianity back to the land of his captivity.

Against the wishes of his family and the Church, Patrick returned as a missionary bishop to Ireland, where he converted thousands to Christianity.

“God spoke to him and told him to become a missionary to the very people who once enslaved him,” Robertson said. “I think the film really does a great job of portraying how hard it was for Patrick, based on what he wrote in the ‘Confession,’ to leave his mother, to leave his father, to leave his position, to leave all that he knew, to go back to the very people who had persecuted him.”

SOURCE: Christian Post, Leah MarieAnn Klett

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The 16 Dead Sea Scroll fragments housed at the Museum of the Bible in Washington, D.C., considered its most prized possessions, are modern forgeries, independent researchers have found.

“The Museum of the Bible is trying to be as transparent as possible,” the museum’s CEO Harry Hargrave said, according to National Geographic. “We’re victims —we’re victims of misrepresentation, we’re victims of fraud.”

The Advisory Team of Art Fraud Insights, whose services were hired by the museum for a thorough physical and chemical investigation of all 16 pieces, unanimously concluded that none of the textual fragments housed in the museum are authentic. All the fragments show “characteristics that suggest they are deliberate forgeries created in the twentieth century with the intent to mimic authentic Dead Sea Scroll fragments.”

“The new findings don’t cast doubt on the 100,000 real Dead Sea Scroll fragments, most of which lie in the Shrine of the Book, part of the Israel Museum, Jerusalem,” National Geographic clarifies. “However, the report’s findings raise grave questions about the ‘post-2002’ Dead Sea Scroll fragments, a group of some 70 snippets of biblical text that entered the antiquities market in the 2000s. Even before the new report, some scholars believed that most to all of the post-2002 fragments were modern fakes.”

The substrate of the Museum’s scroll fragments — except one — appears to be “leather rather than the surface tanned and untanned parchment that is characteristic of the authentic Dead Sea Scrolls,” the report said. “The degraded condition of the fragments reinforces our theory that modern writing was applied to small scraps taken from archeological deposits of leather. Through elemental and molecular analysis, we further found that the raw skins of the leather substrates for the MOTB fragments appear to have been lime-depilated, a technology that postdates the original Dead Sea Scrolls.”

SOURCE: Christian Post, Anugrah Kumar

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A Christian philosophy professor at a state university in southern Ohio who was punished for objecting to using opposite sex pronouns when addressing a trans-identified student is appealing his case.

The appeal comes after a federal judge dismissed the lawsuit of Nicholas Meriwether, who argued that Shawnee State University unlawfully disciplined him after he refused to accede to the demands of a male student by referring to him as a woman and using female pronouns.

Meriwether is being represented by Christian legal group Alliance Defending Freedom, which specializes in religious liberty and First Amendment law.

“Professors don’t give up their First Amendment freedoms simply by choosing to teach,” said ADF Senior Counsel Travis Barham, in a Thursday statement.

“Public universities have no business trying to force people to express ideological beliefs that they do not hold. Dr. Meriwether remains committed to serving all students with respect, but he cannot express all messages or endorse all ideologies. When the university tried to force him to do this and then punished him for exercising his rights, it violated the First Amendment.”

Barham believes the magistrate both misinterpreted and misapplied the law.

“The district court should not have adopted her recommendations and dismissed the case,” Barham explained.

“That’s why we’re asking the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit to reverse both rulings and allow Dr. Meriwether to continue pursuing justice.”

Meriwether’s ordeal began in January 2018, during a political philosophy class he was teaching wherein he replied to a male student’s question by saying, “Yes, sir.”

SOURCE: Christian Post, Brandon Showalter

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Some churches including Southern Baptist congregations in Kentucky say they have no plans to shutter amid the new coronavirus epidemic despite a request from Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear urging houses of worship to close temporarily Wednesday to help prevent community spread of the deadly virus.

“We know this is community spread and we need to get ahead of it,” Beshear said in a statement on the virus. “It is important for everybody out there to be calm, practice good hygiene and reduce the risk of exposure for themselves and others.”

Kentucky Baptist Convention Executive Director-Treasurer Todd Gray told Baptist Press that despite the governor’s request, many of their churches plan on staying open while taking steps to limit community spread of the virus.

“It appears that most Kentucky Baptist church leaders are planning to carry on with their regularly scheduled services unless things change between now and Sunday,” Gray said. “Several Kentucky Baptist pastors will urge additional precautions by asking those who are sick to please stay home and those who are concerned to feel free to also stay home.”

On Thursday, WLOU radio station callers 60 years old and older told WAVE 3 News and St. Stephen Baptist Church media coordinator Krystal Goodner that they planned on attending church this weekend because they are covered by their faith.

“We will be there praising the Lord like we should be,” one caller said.

Goodner noted that when it comes with people and their faith in Kentucky, “you do not mess with church!”

She said St. Stephen Church will be enforcing CDC guidelines and encouraging members to wash their hands, but it doesn’t appear they will shutter like some churches that will grant the governor’s request to close temporarily.

The Rev. Steve Willis, senior pastor at First Baptist Church Ashland, told WCHS that while the Bible tells Christians to obey secular governments, his church will have to weigh the governor’s request appropriately. For now, however, his church plans on staying open with precautions.

SOURCE: Christian Post, Leonardo Blair

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CEO of Sight & Sound Theatres Matt Neff announced at the premiere of their highly anticipated show “Queen Esther” that they prayerfully decided to postpone shows due to the coronavirus. 

“As you probably know, there’s quite a world event happening around us, in the world in the U.S. as well. I’m talking about this virus we’re hearing so much about and we take it seriously. We’re concerned about those who have been impacted by it. We continue to be praying around God’s wisdom, provision and healing in this moment because He’s faithful to provide that,” Neff said Friday.

With 434 performances scheduled for its nine-month run, the 2,000-seat theater in Sight & Sound’s Pennsylvania location is halting performances of their newest production, “Queen Esther,” which was already 70 percent sold. The show sold over 550,000 tickets but after Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf issued an announcement strongly urging gatherings of more than 250 people not to happen, they felt it best to comply with the governor’s advice.

“We took that to the Lord in prayer and together as a team, what we discern the Lord’s wisdom would be is to say, ‘OK, we believe passionately in honoring the authority He’s placed in our lives and when we honor those authorities, He provides grace,’” Neff stated.

“We decided to carry on for the premiere tonight. Then when the public is supposed to start coming Saturday, we’re actually going to close our doors for Saturday for a week, monitor it and see what the situation requires after that.

“That was not an easy decision but with that decision, we experienced unbelievable grace and peace because when you trust our Father, you can rest in the midst of storms in the midst of threats in the midst of attacks of the enemy. So we know this show truly is here tonight for such a time as this. This team has worked unbelievably to be ready for you guys tonight.”

SOURCE: Christian Post, Jeannie Law

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