This is Daniel Whyte III president of Gospel Light Society International with The Scripture & the Sense Podcast #438, where I read the Word of God and give the sense of it based on an authoritative commentary source such as the Bible Knowledge Commentary or Matthew Henry Commentary. This podcast is based upon Nehemiah 8:8 where it says Ezra and the Levites “read in the book in the law of God distinctly, and gave the sense, and caused them to understand the reading.” The aim of this podcast is that through the simple reading of the Word of God and the giving of the sense of it, the church would be revived and the world would be awakened.

Today we are reading Amos 4:1.

Hear this word, ye kine of Bashan, that are in the mountain of Samaria, which oppress the poor, which crush the needy, which say to their masters, Bring, and let us drink.
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That was Amos 4:1. Now here is the sense of it.

The Matthew Henry Commentary reads:

What is got by extortion is commonly used to provide for the flesh, and to fulfil the lusts thereof. What is got by oppression cannot be enjoyed with satisfaction. How miserable are those whose confidence in unscriptural observances only prove that they believe a lie! Let us see to it that our faith, hope, and worship, are warranted by the Divine word.

The Bible Knowledge Commentary reads:

In the second message Amos declared that God would exile the upper-class women because of their economic exploitation, and judge the nation as a whole for its religious hypocrisy and obstinate refusal to repent, despite His repeated chastisements. The upper-class women were called cows of Bashan. Bashan, in Transjordan east of the Sea of Kinnereth (Galilee), was famous for its lush pastures, and its well-fed cattle. Amos accused the rich women of being equally pampered, insisting that their husbands continually supplied them with intoxicating drinks. The word for “husbands” is not one of the common Hebrew terms for husband, but a rare word meaning “master” or “lord”. Amos scorned those husbands who were supposed to be “masters” but who in reality meekly obeyed like servants. The only way they could support their wives’ expensive tastes was by ruthlessly exploiting the poor and the needy. (Though the women are said in 4:1 to do the oppressing, apparently they did so by domineering their husbands.) The words oppress and crush describe threats and physical harassments used to squeeze money from the helpless.
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Thank you for listening to the Scripture & The Sense Podcast. Remember to read the Word of God each and every day and pray without ceasing to God for wisdom to understand it and apply it to your life. Most importantly, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. Please stay tuned for a complete presentation of the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ so that you can get your soul saved from Hell to that wonderful place called Heaven when you die. May God bless you and keep you is my prayer.

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WASHINGTON – In the face of increasing public health concerns over the spread of coronavirus, some Christians are responding with Bible verses like 2 Timothy 1:7 to calm the growing panic.

It reads, “For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.“

But many houses of worship also have practical solutions, like adjusting communion practices or live streaming sermons, to limit the potential of COVID-19 from spreading through communities of faith.

DC officials are urging hundreds of parishioners who attend Christ Church Georgetown to self-quarantine after its lead preacher tested positive for coronavirus.

The church had already suspended services and activities as a precaution. The preacher, the Rev. Timothy Cole, remains hospitalized in stable condition in a Washington-area hospital while his wife and two kids are in self-quarantine.

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The Holy See is also taking preventive measures. In an extraordinary move, Pope Francis delivered mass via video Monday morning. The live stream was intended to show solidarity with people who are suffering from the virus.

The Vatican made a similar move Sunday to discourage typically large crowds from gathering in St. Peter’s Square. The pope did, however, briefly pop his head out of the iconic window to wave to the sparse crowd.

Fear is also gripping neighboring France, which now trails Italy with the second most coronavirus cases in Europe.

On Sunday, the government announced it will ban gatherings that exceed 1,000 people.

The new precautionary rule could shut down Paris Christian Center, which welcomed fifteen new converts at its weekend service.

“Many churches have decided to close their service,” Dorothée Rajiah, senior pastor of Paris Christian Center, told CBN News contributing correspondent Chuck Holton. “If the government asks us to shut down our service, we are ready to stream from our website and from YouTube.”

In Greenwood Village, Colorado, parishioners at St. Peter Lutheran Church ditched the traditional handshake in favor of elbow and fist bumps during the Passing of the Peace. 

The church took extra measures for communion, too.

“We’re trying to be careful to make sure our communion servers have their hands well clean and that people know how to be careful and thoughtful when they receive the bread and the wine,” said Dave Risendal, pastor of St. Peter Lutheran.

Last week in Bethlehem, the Church of the Nativity—the site where many Christians believe Jesus was born—shut its doors as a precaution.

And after shuttering Islam’s holiest site, Saudi Arabia temporarily re-opened the Grand Mosque in Mecca for Muslim pilgrims Saturday.

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Once again India’s majority Hindu population has taken another swing at the country’s minority Christian community.  This time, a statue of Jesus Christ was removed from a Christian cemetery after complaints from non-local Hindus.

“It is very sad, unfortunate and regrettable that the police, bowing to the pressure of a few outsiders, have forcefully removed the statue of Lord Jesus,” Archbishop Peter Machado wrote March 4 in an article for AsiaNews. 

“It is a blow to the communal harmony of the people in our villages and also a violation of the religious freedom guaranteed to us by the Indian Constitution,” Machado said.

The Catholic News Agency (CNA) reports the 12-foot tall statue was taken down March 3 from Mahima Betta cemetery in Doddasagarahalli, more than 30 miles north of Bangalore in India’s Karnataka state.

Machado told the CNA that Christians have been visiting the cemetery for the last 30 to 40 years “without any difficulty,” and “there is absolutely no problem from local people to our burials, nor our prayers and devotions on the hill.”  He said the difficulties arose just in the last week or so from people from outside creating tension by spreading false rumors that the cemetery was being used for conversions.

“The local villagers have publicly said that the presence of Christians and their prayers are absolutely no problem for them and, this being the case, why should some outsiders come and disturb the harmony of the village?” the archbishop asked.

Machado called on the government to investigate the allegations instead of interfering with the religious tenets of Christians by yielding to outside groups.

The archbishop said Christians love peace, “obey the rules of the country”, and “render their selfless service to the nation in the best possible ways, irrespective of caste, color or religion.”

“The Christians of Bangalore consider the forceful removal of the statue of Lord Jesus at our legally allotted burial ground at Doddasagarahalli as unacceptable and are greatly shocked and we condemn this high-handed action of the local authorities,” he told CNA.

Machado asked that the Christ statute be reinstalled immediately and that the authorities take action against the perpetrators. 

Since 2014, India’s ruling political party, the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party has become hostile to religious freedom for minority religions. 

As CBN News reported, a pastor of a local house church in the village of L.B. Patnam village, Andhra Pradesh in India was attacked and injured after he found several local residents trying to build a wall in front of his home to block people from attending services.

It was the latest incident by Hindu villagers against the pastor and his wife. The villagers are angry at the presence of a Christian church in their community.

India ranks number 10 on Open Doors USA’s 2020 Watch List of the world’s top persecutors of Christians. 

As CBN News also reported last month, the President and Mrs. Trump visited India for two days. It’s the world’s largest democracy.

CBN News International Correspondent George Thomas has spent a lot of time covering Christians in India over the past several years. While appearing a recent edition of CBN’s Newswatch program, Thomas said Trump needs to read Open Doors USA’s report. 

“Under the leadership of Narendra Modi, we have seen widespread attacks against Christians led by Hindu radicals. And it’s been devastating. From big cities to small remote villages and towns, Hindu radicals have gone on the rampage attacking churches, attacking Christians,” Thomas explained.

“All these village pastors, all they want to do is tell people about Jesus Christ and these mobs of Hindus would come and attack them. That’s why Open Doors has declared India the tenth worst place in the world to be a person of faith, specifically to be a Christian,” he noted.

Thomas told viewers he believed what the president did was stagecraft since you don’t want to criticize or call out the government official standing next to you.

“Hopefully, behind the scenes, behind closed doors, hopefully, the president has been forthright with Mr. Modi and has really pressed him on the issue of religious freedom in India,” Thomas said. 

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A United Nations “special expert on freedom of religion” says its time for the world’s leading religions to submit to the authority of the UN and its human rights bodies, even though critics say those bodies are laced with fringe, leftist views.

It’s all about who should have the final say on issues of law and policy, and the  UN expert is saying the UN’s ideas should override the beliefs of mainstream religions.

The Center for Family and Human Rights (C-Fam) reports Ahmed Shaheed, who is the UN Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or Belief, wrote about how religion and gender equality have reached a clash point in his annual report. Download the report here. 

“I firmly reject any claim that religious beliefs can be invoked as a legitimate ‘justification’ for violence or discrimination against women, girls or LGBT+ people,” said Shaheed. To be clear though, mainstream Christianity doesn’t call for violence or discrimination anyone, even though some opponents of orthodox Christian belief have tried to characterize it that way.

Shaheed then tries to flip the “freedom of religion” upside down saying “the right to freedom of religion protects individuals and not religions as such.” 

He then contends that laws based on traditional morality, which are often religious, should be repealed if they conflict with the opinions of human rights scholars and UN experts.

“States have an obligation to guarantee to everyone, including women, girls, and LGBT+ people, an equal right to freedom of religion or belief,” he said, “including by creating an enabling environment where pluralist and progressive self-understandings can manifest.”

To achieve this end, laws criminalizing unnatural sexual behaviors and abortion would need to be annulled. 

Shaheed makes clear that he knows that religious teachings about the sanctity of life and sexual morality have influenced the creation of laws in some countries that restrict abortion and homosexual behavior. And C-Fam reports that while he doesn’t directly call on Christianity or other religions to change their doctrines, he does cite the work of scholars who have worked to promote “progressive” reinterpretations of faith traditions.  

“The notion of ‘LGBT rights,’ a concept that has only recently entered the parlance of scholars, and which has no international consensus, much less a formally accepted definition, is treated by the report as a given. In contrast, religious traditions, some dating back thousands of years, are treated as subordinate,” according to C-Fam.   

Last week, a joint statement was presented from pro-life and pro-family groups who accuse Shaheed of ignoring the rights of unborn children and the conscience rights of health care professionals who object to being forced to participate in abortions, C-Fam reported. 

The Special Rapporteur position held by Shaheed is a voluntary position, and while his reports are nonbinding, they reflect ongoing efforts to push far-left ideology within the UN. 

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The Rev. Walter Kim, inaugurated as the new president of the National Association of Evangelicals, called on its members to address questions about their identity with a commitment to the common good.

“This movement is confronting an identity crisis and it’s not just the mild sort of growing pains,” said the Asian American theologian, noting the country’s deep divides, because of which people on opposite poles of the political spectrum sometimes can’t even talk to each other.

“The challenges are real and they have to be confronted with honesty,” he said during the Wednesday (March 4) inauguration speech in the nation’s capital, “but not with fear.”

Kim was chosen in October as the successor to Leith Anderson, who had been NAE’s president since 2006. In addition to the inauguration, the ceremony at the Capital Turnaround venue owned by National Community Church featured the installation of new NAE officers. John Jenkins, the African American senior pastor of Maryland’s First Baptist Church of Glenarden, is its chair; and former Wesleyan Church General Superintendent Jo Anne Lyon is its vice chair.

“Leith had a vision that the evangelical movement would reflect the diversity of the church in heaven — ethnic diversity, gender diversity, theological diversity,” outgoing NAE Board Chair Roy Taylor told Jenkins and Lyon. “And it was at Leith’s initiative that you were added to the board.”

The Rev. Walter Kim speaks during his inauguration as
the new president of the National Association of
Evangelicals at the Capital Turnaround venue in
Washington, Wed., March 4, 2020. RNS photo by Adelle
M. Banks

The ceremony included worship music led by singers of Jenkins’ black megachurch and a benediction from the Rev. Samuel Rodriguez, president of the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference.

Kim, who is a minister of both the Presbyterian Church in America and the Conservative Congregational Christian Conference, is the former lead minister at Park Street Church, a Boston congregation that was influential in the founding of the NAE. He will retain his current pastorate at Trinity Presbyterian Church in Charlottesville, Virginia, as he serves in the presidential role.

He cited words from Jesus in the Gospel of Luke and a speech by President Abraham Lincoln near the close of the Civil War — given 155 years to the day before Kim’s inauguration — in an address in which he spoke of proclaiming the gospel and bridging divides.

“We evangelicals, we are those who have our eyes fastened onto Jesus, our ears attentive to the proclamation that ‘this day the Scripture has been fulfilled,’ and in our hearts we say ‘Hallelujah’ if we’re Pentecostal, ‘Thanks be to God,’ if we’re Presbyterian,” Kim said, drawing laughter from the audience of about 350 people.

Taylor was also recognized by Wheaton College President Philip Ryken of Illinois as the NAE’s longest-serving board chair, and one who early on had to deal with the sudden departure of Ted Haggard, who was caught in a sex and drug scandal involving a male escort.

Singers from First Baptist Church Of Glenarden Praise Team perform during the installation ceremony for new National Association of Evangelicals officers at the Capital Turnaround venue in Washington, Wed., March 4, 2020. RNS photo by Adelle M. Banks

“It took a lot of courage, wisdom, vision for the future to navigate those stormy waters, to bring Leith Anderson back for a second term as president of the NAE,” said Ryken about the decision to replace Haggard with his predecessor. “I’ve heard Roy mention a couple of times that Dr. Anderson saved the NAE twice. He couldn’t have done it without a holy accomplice.”

Now, Kim, an NAE board member since 2013, takes the helm of the organization, reminding the organization with 40 member denominations that it remains committed to “gospel truth and gospel justice” as they work together.

“We are good news people compelled to transform, by God’s grace, our national narrative of racism into the gospel narrative of reconciliation,” he said. “We are gospel people who believe that the good news is still good news. May the Lord permit the NAE to play some small part in that.”

Source: Religion News Service

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The President of Uganda, Yoweri Kaguta Museveni, joined more than 3,000 people on Sunday (1 March) at St Paul’s Cathedral in Namirembe for the installation of Stephen Kaziimba as the ninth Archbishop and Primate of the Church of Uganda. Primates from eight other Anglican Communion primates, including the Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby; as were leaders from other Christian Churches.

President Museveni told the congregation that the model of unconditional forgiveness through Jesus’ death and resurrection provided a better hope for Africa than the cycle of revenge that is so much a part of African traditional religion. He spoke of the uniqueness of Christianity through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead and the hope of resurrection for those who trust in Jesus Christ.

In the days prior to the service, the retiring Archbishop of Uganda, Stanley Ntagali joined staff at the provincial secretariat to greet the then-Bishop Stephen on his arrival in Namirembe. During a meeting at the provincial office, Archbishop Stanley presented Bishop Stephen with a Handover Report detailing the state of the Province.

During the service, there was a legal and ceremonial handover as Archbishop Stanley handed the Provincial Staff to Archbishop Stephen prior to the new archbishop being seated in the Primatial Chair.

Music as the service comprised of traditional Anglican hymns alongside spontaneous outbreaks of Tukutendereza – the traditional hymn of the East African Revival.

Quoting Jeremiah 17.9-10, the newly installed Archbishop laid out the priorities for his term as Archbishop. He called for a full conversion of head, heart, and hands; and committed himself to fulfilling Vision 2025 – the Church of Uganda’s strategic plan – whose mission is “to proclaim the Gospel in accordance with Christ’s commission to make disciples of all nations.”

“When we do this,” he said, “then I believe we will see our vision fulfilled. We will see the Church of Uganda become a faster growing sustainable Christ-centred church.”

Source: Anglican News Service

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