A federal judge ruled Thursday that Wheaton College students who were barred from evangelizing in a downtown Chicago park must be allowed to exercise their First Amendment rights until the legal dispute is resolved. 

Judge John Robert Blakey, an Obama appointee, ruled in favor of four students who attend the evangelical higher education institution. Blakey granted a preliminary injunction against a set of rules that govern the city’s 24-acre Millenium Park.

The student plaintiffs are part of the Chicago Evangelism Team sponsored by the Wheaton College Office of Christian Outreach with the mission of proclaiming the Gospel “in the city of Chicago to whomever we find there.” The group often meets on Friday nights to travel downtown to share the Gospel.

In September, the students filed a lawsuit, stating that they were barred by security from evangelizing at Millennium Park, which hosts a range of activities from concerts, dance performances, theater and other shows throughout the year.

The students sought an injunction against the park’s stated rules. Among other things, the park bans “disruptive conduct” and “passing out of written communications.”

In his order, Blakey argued that the city prohibits “reasonable forms of expression in large areas of the park” and that the city’s defense of the park policy “rests upon its misapplication of the government speech doctrine.”

“The City contends that, by curating art and programming, it exercises permissible government speech making its restrictions immune to First Amendment attack because the rules further such government speech,” the judge wrote. “This Court rejects the City’s flawed reading of this important doctrine.”

According to the judge, the government speech doctrine recognizes that “the government may also engage in speech and that the First Amendment does not regulate government speech as it does private speech.”

Blakey explained that courts apply the government speech doctrine in two limited contexts. One context, the judge wrote, is when the government itself speaks. The second, he added, is when the government appropriates public funds to transmit a message through private speakers.

“Neither of those situations are present here,” the judge noted in the order. “This case does not involve the appropriation of public funds to transmit a message through private speakers. Nor do movants challenge the government’s own speech.”

SOURCE: Christian Post, Samuel Smith

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A Coptic martyrs museum has opened in Egypt to commemorate the 21 Christians beheaded by the Islamic State on a Libyan beach in 2015 because they refused to renounce their faith in Christ.

The world was shocked after the Islamic State released an execution video on Feb. 15, 2015, showing the decapitation of nearly two dozen migrant workers, 20 of whom were Christians from Egypt and one who was a Christian from Ghana.

The video was titled: “A Message Signed With Blood to the Nation of the Cross.”

On the fifth anniversary of that horror, Coptic Bishop Bevnotious of Samalout inaugurated a new museum that honors those killed.

According to the online magazine Cairo Scene, the new museum is housed in the Church of the Martyrs of Faith and Homeland.

The church, built in the poor village of Al-Aour in the Minya governate, opened in February 2018 on the third anniversary of the execution video’s release. The church’s construction was funded by the Egyptian government, which is led by President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi.

Al-Aour is the village where 13 of the workers killed in the video were from. The church has become a pilgrimage site for many Christians since it is the final resting place for the 21 martyrs.

The museum will include a documentary panorama that will teach viewers about how the 21 men were kidnapped and executed. The museum also features a shrine with the remains of the martyrs and the coffins that transported them from Libya to Egypt.

A Catholic press agency reports that the museum features exhibits on the victims’ lives.

In addition to the museum, a memorial honoring the martyrs was also inaugurated.

The memorial features a 13-foot tall statue of Jesus Christ with His arms outstretched, open to the statues of the 21 victims kneeling before Him, seen here.

In the widely shared execution video from 2015, the victims were shown kneeling in a line before their captors right before they were beheaded. Their bodies were then thrown into a mass grave. Their bodies were later discovered by Libya’s interior ministry in 2017.

As Egypt ranks as the 16th worst country in the world when it comes to Christian persecution on Open Doors USA’s 2020 World Watch List, Coptic Christians have on many occasions faced discrimination and persecution in the Muslim-majority country.

Several attacks against Coptic Christians over the years have gained international headlines.

In May 2017, 29 Copts were killed while traveling to a desert monastery in Minya when their bus was attacked by Islamic radicals. A similar bus attack occurred near the same monastery in November 2018 in which seven were killed and at least 20 were injured.

SOURCE: Christian Post, Samuel Smith

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The views expressed in this commentary do not necessarily reflect those of BCNN1. Opinions expressed are solely those of the author(s).

In his book The Cross of Christ, John Stott said that the “the fact of suffering undoubtedly constitutes the single greatest challenge to the Christian faith.”  What is the problem of evil? It is the apparent conflict or contradiction between the existence of evil, suffering, and the existence an all-powerful, all-knowing, and ever-present God who is also perfectly good. As the problem goes, such a God would stop evil and suffering, if He existed. Another form of the problem of evil focuses on the amount of evil, suggesting that while God may have good reason for some evil, surely the amount of evil we experience makes it unlikely that the God of Scripture exists.

Why is this argument such a challenge to the Christian faith? For many people, the argument is not about the logical inconsistencies, probability, or deductive logic. For most people, the problem of evil is about a sick child, an experience of abuse, personal exposure to horrific and traumatic evil, or perhaps the hurtful actions of Christian leaders. The problem of evil often boils down to our inability to reconcile our belief in a good and loving God with our experience of sin, suffering, and evil.

There are smart people who have offered lengthy defenses of God against the problem of evil. Such a defense is called a theodicy, and you can check out the free will defense by C.S. Lewis or Alvin Plantinga, or Gordon Clark’s view of sovereign decree.

My point here is to help ministers answer this question by turning the question back on the person who is raising the objection. As Christians, we need to give an account of why evil exists. The good news is that the problem itself makes sense because we know who God is, we know what evil is, and we know why it is a problem. An atheist, however, is raising the problem of evil; but if there is no God, why is evil, evil?

SOURCE: Christian Post, Adam Groza

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Welcome to Episode #59 of Preparing for the Inevitable – A Podcast on How to Handle Trouble, Suffering, Pain, and Death.

I am your host, Daniel Whyte III, president of Gospel Light Society International. This podcast will help you get ready to face the inevitable unpleasant things that will happen in your life — things like trouble, suffering, sickness, and death — the death of people you love and your own death. Trouble, suffering, and death are common threads that run throughout all of humanity. They are inescapable. You will never meet a person who has not, is not, or will not experience these terrible things in life. Yet, we attempt to hide from these inevitabilities, to pretend they don’t exist or that they won’t happen to us. Our world is filled with news of people dying, children suffering, entire government systems and organizations enduring trouble and turmoil, but we tend to see these as things that only happen to “other people” and never to us. Trouble, suffering, and death come equally to all people, of all races, from every socio-economic status, of every religion, in every country of the world. It makes us all equal. This podcast will show you how to accept these realities of life, and not just cope, but face trouble, suffering, and death in your own life and in the world with confidence, courage, class, and most of all, with faith, hope, and charity.

The Bible says in Psalm 23:4: “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.”

The featured quote for this episode is from C.S. Lewis. He said, “I thought I could describe a state; make a map of sorrow. Sorrow, however, turns out to be not a state but a process.”

Our topic for today is titled “Grief and Mourning, Part 11: No Road Map” from the book, “The Art of Dying: Living Fully into the Life to Come” by Rob Moll.

“Grief just is. There aren’t necessarily rights and wrongs,” says Rob Bugh, pastor of Wheaton Bible Church in Wheaton, Illinois. A trim and energetic man, Bugh is still holding back the depth of his pain.

Despite years as a pastor, Rob discovered grief anew when, three months after a close friend died, Rob’s wife, Carol, was diagnosed with cancer. Grief, Rob said nine months after Carol’s death, is an “emotional, visceral response to pain, suffering, tragedy and death.”

Carol’s death came just eleven months after her diagnosis, and that time was filled with doctor’s visits, hospital stays, long- distance travel to specialists, and trips to the emergency room.

Rob says he was unprepared for the turn his life was taking. “One of my closest friends and my wife, they’re both getting horrific news. Their cancers are different, but they’re ravaging their bodies. And they’re brutal. How do you wrap your mind around that?”

“I’m in ministry,” Rob says. “I take care of people going through this, but I really never thought this would happen to us.”

Carol had turned fifty, and on a regular doctor visit she asked about some bleeding in her stool. Doctors performed tests, and the diagnosis was a rare form of rectal cancer. It was aggressive, and the Bughs fought it aggressively. But, as Rob says, they never received good news. Eventually they started running out of options. They continued trying new treatments, visiting doctors, seeking and hoping for a cure.

“Early on,” Rob says, “you’re 100 percent fighting.” But slowly, “There’s a growing awareness that God may be up to something else than bringing about healing.” They didn’t stop treatments, they continued hoping for a cure, yet gradually the realization dawned that there may be none. “There’s this resignation that comes,” Rob says. “Now you know what the gospel describes at Gethsemane when Jesus says, ‘Take this cup from me.’ That was a passage I prayed over and over, ‘God take this from us. Take this cancer from us, but not my will but thy will be done.’ ”

The final three months were hectic and incredibly stressful, and the couple had little time to talk about Carol’s death. And the end came much quicker than they had expected. Two days before Carol died, the family took her home and brought in hospice. And then, “all of a sudden it was all over.”

If the Lord tarries His Coming and we live, we will continue looking at “Grief and Mourning” in our next podcast.

Let’s Pray —

Dear friend, please understand that after you die, you will be ushered into one of two places to spend eternity, Heaven or Hell. Here’s how you can be sure that you will not go to hell and suffer eternal damnation forever and rather have a home in Heaven when you die. The Bible says, ”Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved.” Here’s how you can be saved from sin and hell and have a home in Heaven when you die in more detail.

1. Accept the fact that you are a sinner, and that you have broken God’s law. The Bible says in Ecclesiastes 7:20: “For there is not a just man upon earth that doeth good, and sinneth not.” Romans 3:23 reads: “For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.” In fact, I am the chief of sinners, so don’t think that you’re alone.

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

3. 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.” The Bible says 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.”

4. Accept the fact that you cannot do anything to save yourself! The Bible states in Ephesians 2: 8, 9: “For by grace are ye saved through faith: and that not of yourselves: it is a gift of God. Not of works, lest any man should boast.”

5. Accept the fact that God loves you more than you love yourself, and that He wants to save you from hell. 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.”

6. With these facts in mind, please repent of your sins, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and pray and ask Him to come into your heart and save you this very moment. The Bible states in the book of Romans 10:9, 13: “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 whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.”

Dear friend, if you are willing to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation, please pray with me this simple prayer: Heavenly Father, I realize that I am a sinner and that I have done some bad things in my life. For Jesus Christ sake, please forgive me of my sins. I now believe with all of my heart that Jesus Christ died for me, was buried, and rose again. Lord Jesus, please come into my heart and save my soul and change my life today. Amen.

If you believed in your heart that Jesus Christ died on the cross, was buried, and rose again, allow me to say, congratulations on doing the most important thing in life and that is accepting Jesus Christ as your Lord and Saviour! For more information to help you grow in your newfound faith in Christ, go to Gospel Light Society.com and read “What To Do After You Enter Through the Door”. Jesus Christ said in John 10:9, “I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture.”

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The views expressed in this commentary do not necessarily reflect those of BCNN1. Opinions expressed are solely those of the author(s).

One of the most talked about commercials in the days following the Super Bowl this year was an unexpected message, for some, from President Donald Trump. In the ad, an emotional Alice Johnson is surrounded by family members and friends as she emerges from federal prison after 21 years. “I am free to hug my family! I’m free to start over! This is the greatest day of my life. My heart is bursting with gratitude and I want to thank President Donald John Trump.” But Alice Johnson’s story is not unique. This week President Trump pardoned 11 more people who had served prison sentences for high-profile crimes.

These are admirable acts of clemency and commutation that set an example for criminal justice reform in this country. As people of faith, we believe that all human life matters at all stages, from the moment of conception to natural death. And as believers in the transformative power of the gospel of Jesus Christ, we believe that no life – no matter how marred by sin – is beyond redemption and transformation.

That’s why we’re also excited to celebrate recent news that President Trump has appointed Pastor Tony Lowden as executive director of the Federal Interagency Council on Crime Prevention and Improving Reentry. Lowden is the first black pastor at Maranatha Baptist Church in Plains, Georgia – best known as the church where former President Jimmy Carter attends and teaches Sunday School.

Founded in 2018, the council brings together experts from different government agencies to strategize on how to heal our nation’s criminal justice system and empower the formerly incarcerated to start their lives afresh. Despite recent reforms, our nation’s criminal justice system remains one of the most punitive in the world.  The United States incarcerates more people per capita than any other nation in the world, with a total of 2.3 million people locked up in a federal or state prison, local jail or some other kind of facility.

Our justice system also fails to equip those reentering society to return to a stable life upon their release; a 2018 report from the Justice Department revealed that 83% of state prisoners who were released in 2005 were re-arrested at some point in the following nine years. It’s a system that’s not only ineffective, but wasteful: A 2017 study found that it cost taxpayers $182 billion each year.

SOURCE: Christian Post, Timothy Head

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MADISON, Wis. (RNS) — Emma Brown didn’t know Pres House was a church when she walked in.

The University of Wisconsin-Madison freshman had seen a sign for free ice cream at the Gothic Revival building at the heart of the university’s campus and decided to check it out.

Inside, she met one of its two pastors and found herself surprisingly emotional when the topic of homesickness came up.

That initial conversation led Brown, who came to Madison from Chicago, first to a Sunday worship service at Pres House, the campus ministry of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A), and later to Freshman Connection, a weekly opportunity for first-year students to connect and talk about faith.

Now she’s at Pres House five days a week.

“I kept showing up,” she said.

Pres House sits at the heart of the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus between the St. Paul’s Catholic Student Center and a monument dedicated to innovation and tolerance.

Pres House, the campus ministry of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. RNS photo by Emily McFarlan Miller

On a recent unseasonably warm February day, students zipped past on bikes and skateboards and blasted music in front of the library just across the street. They took their chances wandering out on the still-frozen Lake Mendota, visible from the mall in front of the Pres House building.

“Find yourself among friends,” read one sign in the Pres House windows.

The Presbyterian campus ministry started in 1907 and grew leaps and bounds during the “heyday of religion” in the first half of the 20^th century, according to the Rev. Erica Liu, who leads Pres House with her husband, the Rev. Mark Elsdon.

The ministry was innovative for its time, holding several services every Sunday and empowering students to lead as its elders and deacons.

The Rev. Erica Liu speaks during worship Feb. 2, 2020,
at Pres House, the campus ministry of the Presbyterian
Church (U.S.A.) at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
RNS photo by Emily McFarlan Miller

But by 2000, Pres House had fallen on hard times.

The Presbyterian student ministry was shuttered and had been replaced by an ecumenical ministry that met in its building. The Synod of Lakes and Prairies of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) was considering selling off the property.

But the Pres House board wasn’t ready to give up. So the board called Liu and Elsdon to revive the campus ministry.

“As we got to know the opportunity, it was like, wow, you know, this could be really quite an adventure,” Liu said.

They started out by going back to basics and focusing on the core of the ministry — helping people connect with one another.

Source: Religion News Service

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The views expressed in this commentary do not necessarily reflect those of BCNN1. Opinions expressed are solely those of the author(s).

Texting and teens seems to be an inseparable pairing. Working with teens can be fun and also frustrating — especially when slang seems to be their primary language among one another. Their desire for independence has them trying to exclude parents, teachers, and those who are helping shape their lives and encourage them to make wise choices. Their texting slang has a meaning all its own.

We all would agree our teens face enormous challenges and distractions — but working alongside parents, church youth leaders, and those dedicated to youth helps make the journey easier. Axis is an organization helping adults connect better with the kids in their world.

Much of the teen slang is an innocent way to text quickly and impart messages that are quickly understood. But Axis also shares some Red Flag slang that adults need to be more wary:

1. Addy: Which is short for Adderall — the medication used to treat ADHD

2. Catfish: Someone pretending to be someone they’re not on social media, either for dating or sexual purposes.

3. D: Short for d*** She just wants the D

4. DTF: Down to F***

5. FWB: Friends with benefits

SOURCE: Christian Post, Karen Farris

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