A Metro Detroit man recently shared how the death of his Chocolate Labrador Retriever helped bring people to church.

Buddy the dog was known for his favorite yellow raincoat as he walked with owner John Karakian throughout the communities of Novi, Walled Lake, and Wixom over the past 12 years.

Regardless of weather conditions, walking outdoors was Buddy’s favorite activity.

After his dog’s death last March, Karakian continued their walking routes while handing out photos of the two of them along with tickets to an Easter production at Brightmoor Christian Church, where Karakian attends.

To Karakian’s surprise, there was a positive reception as he received phone calls, messages, and over 60 sympathy cards. Moreover, memorials for Buddy were set up in front of Karakian’s house.

One day, a police officer – having not seen Karakian around for some time – paid the former dog owner a visit. As Karakian shared that Buddy had passed away, the conversation became spiritual when he asked the officer, “do you think he’s in heaven?”

“Next thing you know, we’re talking about Jesus,” Karakian adds.

At the Easter production, Karkian didn’t think anyone would show up, but many did, noting that they were there for Buddy.

Karakian recognized people “from more than a decade of walks with his chocolate lab”. Moreover, he knew their faiths from previous spiritual conversations, ranging from Hindus, Muslims, Buddhists, Jews, and even Atheists. Additionally, Christian women with non-Christian husbands attended.

Despite the great turnout at the Easter production, Karakian heard the Lord say, “You’re not done yet, keep sending those letters out.”

Karakian was initially reluctant as he told God, “I can’t be walking around telling everybody my dog died”. He feared that people were “going to think I need a psychiatrist.”

But as he shared with CBN News, “God had a plan.”

“You do the walking, and I’ll do the talking”, God told Karakian.

Karakian spent the 7 months walking on the usual routes hand-delivering more custom-made cards of Buddy. Included would be 400 “Buddy tickets” to his church’s Christmas program last winter.

Source: Christian Headlines

All Content & Images are provided by the acknowledged source

The Trump administration has sided with a Christian wedding photographer in her fight against a Louisville, Ky., ordinance that could force her to photograph same-sex weddings.

The Department of Justice filed a “Statement of Interest” in federal court Feb. 27, citing the U.S. Constitution, Supreme Court precedent and even James Madison in arguing that the government cannot compel photographer Chelsey Nelson to “photograph, provide photography editing services for, and blog about weddings of which she does not approve.”

“Forcing Ms. Nelson to … participate in a ceremony that violates her sincerely held religious beliefs invades her First Amendment rights,” the DOJ brief says.

At issue is a Louisville ordinance that makes it unlawful “for a person to deny an individual the full and equal enjoyment of the goods, services, facilities, privileges, advantages, and accommodations of a place of public accommodation, … on the ground of … sexual orientation,” according to the original suit filed on her behalf by Alliance Defending Freedom.

The city of Louisville has acknowledged Nelson would be in violation if she declined a request from a same-sex couple to photograph their wedding.

“The Supreme Court has made plain that the government cannot ‘[compel] individuals to mouth support for views they find objectionable,’” the DOJ brief says.

Nelson, who owns Chelsey Nelson Photography, has said she will provide her services to any individual regardless of sexual orientation but will not photograph same-sex weddings because of her deeply held Christian beliefs.

Source: Christian Headlines

All Content & Images are provided by the acknowledged source

Joe Biden won primaries in Michigan, Idaho, Mississippi, and Missouri last night and is now “marching to the Democratic presidential nomination,” as CNN reports. However, today’s news is dominated not by politics but by the escalating coronavirus epidemic.

Here’s an odd example: security personnel in Australia are guarding racks of toilet paper. An Australian newspaper even printed eight extra pages in a recent edition—emergency toilet paper, it explained. Retailers in the US and Canada have also begun limiting the number of toilet paper packs customers can buy in one trip.

Toilet paper doesn’t provide extra protection against coronavirus. It’s not typically a staple of impending emergencies. So, why the hoarding?

Psychologists explain that people resort to extremes in times of panic. Images of empty shelves cause us to think we need to rush out and buy what is selling out. It’s also natural to want to overprepare. And such preparations allow us to feel a sense of control over what feels like an uncontrollable crisis.

As one counselor says, hoarding toilet paper gives people “the feeling that they had done everything that they could.”

Toilet paper hoarding is not the only way people are attempting to gain control over this crisis.

The CDC tells us to wash our hands frequently, lathering soap on our hands for at least twenty seconds. To track the time, they suggest that we hum the “Happy Birthday” song twice. CNN has improved their advice with a list of songs from each decade we can sing while washing. It begins with “Jailhouse Rock” by Elvis Presley and concludes with “Truth Hurts” by Lizzo.

A group of elementary school students has created an automated disinfectant dispenser built from Legos. The robot dispenses alcohol disinfectant while a recorded voice shouts, “Washing hands is super.”

At the other end of the financial spectrum, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation joined with two other charities on Tuesday in pledging up to $125 million to help speed the development of treatments for the virus.

And an increasing number of people around the world are choosing to self-quarantine to protect themselves from others and others from themselves.

Such measures are ways to do what we can do. In the face of this epidemic, people feel that they are responsible for protecting themselves and those they care for.

Absent from the cultural narrative so far as I can tell, however, is a call to trust in a power greater than ourselves.

Self-reliance is an expression of the secularism of our day, which frees secular people from living under the authority of others but comes at a price: there are no authorities to which they can turn in times of need.

If we don’t trust our leaders in government, business, or religion to be reliable and honest, how can we trust them with something like a deadly viral epidemic?

China is blaming the US for the disease, while others are blaming China. Some are blaming the president (a New York Times columnist went so far as to call the disease “Trumpvirus”). Others are blaming his critics.

Source: Christian Headlines

All Content & Images are provided by the acknowledged source

At Bethel, a Pentecostal megachurch based in the city of Redding, California, the faithful emphasize spiritual gifts such as healings and modern-day miracles, but church leaders say they also believe in wisdom and modern medicine.

That’s why, as the coronavirus continues to spread across the nation, Bethel officials said they are taking precautions in the way it conducts its ministries.

The church is discouraging Bethel School of Supernatural Ministry students — who evangelize to strangers as they learn to pray and to heal the sick — from visiting health care settings.

Bethel Church spokesman Aaron Tesauro told Religion News Service by email that although the church believes “in a God who actively heals,” students are not encouraged to visit health care settings at this time. Tesauro also said church policy only allows people to visit a hospital at the invitation of someone in the hospital.

Several mission trips have also been canceled, Tesauro said.

Tesauro said Bethel has been in contact with Shasta County Health and Human Services and is following guidelines and recommendations of the U.S. State Department and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The church is urging its members to wash their hands often, stay home if sick, avoid touching their face with unwashed hands and to clean and disinfect objects they’ve touched, among other things.

“We believe that wisdom, modern medicine and faith are meant to work together, and express the value for each in the pursuit of continued health and healing,” Tesauro said.

As of Tuesday night, Bethel had not canceled the nine church services it holds each week. Tesauro said 6,300 adults attend those services on average.

Richard Flory, senior director of research and evaluation at the University of Southern California’s Center for Religion and Civic Culture, said the church can recognize science as a God-given thing. Oftentimes, he said, miracle healing is “reserved for extraordinary circumstances.”

Source: Religion News Service

All Content & Images are provided by the acknowledged source

ORLANDO, Fla. (BP) — Meredith Cook has been named chair of the 2020 Southern Baptist Convention Committee on Committees, SBC President J.D. Greear announced today (March 11).

Greear also announced his appointment of Marty Jacumin, pastor of Bay Leaf Baptist Church in Raleigh, N.C., as vice chair.

The Committee on Committees will assemble in Orlando, Fla., just prior to the SBC’s June 9-10 annual meeting sessions to nominate members of the Committee on Nominations who, in turn, will nominate trustees for the boards of SBC entities in 2021.

Greear, pastor of The Summit Church in the Raleigh-Durham, N.C., area, told Baptist Press, “I have been aware of Meredith Cook’s great leadership for many years.”

Cook lives in Houston with her husband Keelan, who serves on staff with the Houston Baptist Association. They are members of Neartown Church, a Southern Baptists of Texas Convention (SBTC) church plant.

“It is a joy to see Meredith Cook appointed chair of the Committee on Committees for the Southern Baptist Convention,” noted Jim Richards, executive director of the SBTC. “… Our prayers and support are extended to her as she takes on her historic assignment.”

Cook holds a Master of Divinity in Missiology from Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary (SEBTS) and serves as an editor and writer for multiple missions and ministry organizations.

“I’m honored to serve our convention as chair of the Committee on Committees this year,” Cook said. “It is a task I take seriously and I prayerfully look forward to working with Dr. Greear, Marty Jacumin, and the rest of the committee. Please pray for us as we prepare for the upcoming convention, that we would honor the Lord and keep the Gospel above all as we serve.”

Jacumin has served as pastor of Bay Leaf Baptist Church since 2007. He earned his Master of Divinity and Doctor of Philosophy degrees from SEBTS, where he also serves as an adjunct preaching professor.

Source: Baptist Press

All Content & Images are provided by the acknowledged source

J.D. Greear is president of the Southern Baptist Convention and pastor of The Summit Church in Raleigh, N.C.

DURHAM, N.C. (BP) — I am a Baptist pastor. The church I lead may be known for a lot of things (and should be known for a lot of things), but one of the most critical elements of our theology centers on that often controversial word — Baptist. We make a big deal out of baptism.

Making a big deal out of baptism tends to draw some objections. I’ve heard a lot of them, most of which boil down to one basic question: What’s the big deal about baptism, anyway?

Here are four truths that shape the way we view baptism:

1. Baptism publicly declares your repentance.

There are many people in the South who get baptized but never repent. Maybe someone convinced you that you could accept Jesus as Savior without surrendering to Him as Lord — like He was a salad bar, where you can take the parts you want and leave the ones you don’t. But all throughout Scripture, we see that to be baptized is to repent. Baptism symbolizes us walking out of the wilderness of our sin and into the new life of faith and obedience.

If your life did not radically change when you got baptized, then it was not a baptism of repentance. You just got wet in front of a bunch of people.

2. Baptism is by immersion.

There are two reasons why we submerge people.

First, that’s how they did it in the Bible. Take John the Baptist, for instance. He wasn’t standing on the shore of the Jordan River with a cup, sprinkling water on people’s heads; he brought them into the river. He was dunking people.

The Greek word for “baptism” literally meant to plunge, soak or dip. The English translators didn’t know exactly how to translate that word (or perhaps they were afraid to take a stand), so they just transliterated it. The Greek Baptizo simply became “baptize.”

“Baptism” wasn’t actually a religious word at all. Sometimes they used it for people who drowned or ships that went down at sea. We even have a recipe for pickles recorded by a Greek physician named Nicander. He says, literally, “bapto (as in, dip quickly) the cucumber in water, and then baptizo (as in, immerse and let it soak) in vinegar.” And then he said, “Your pickle will be filled with the Spirit and speak in tongues.” (OK, I made that last part up.)

Second, we submerge people because of what it symbolizes. When you bury people, you don’t sprinkle dirt on them. You put them into the ground. In baptism, we are being buried with Jesus “by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life” (Romans 6:4).

Source: Christianity Today

All Content & Images are provided by the acknowledged source