Wedding venue refuses to host interracial couple because of owner’s Christian beliefs

In a now viral video filmed at Boone’s Camp Event Hall in Booneville, Mississippi posted by the groom’s sister, LaKambria Welch, the supposed owner of the venue said we “don’t do gay weddings or mixed race because of our Christian race, I mean our Christian belief”.

 

In the video posted on Saturday, Welch begins to ask the woman, “Well, we’re Christians as well so, what in the Bible tells you that?” but the woman interrupts her, saying, “Well, I just don’t want to argue my faith.

“We just don’t participate, we just choose not to,” she said.

 

On Monday Boone’s Camp Event Hall apologised on Facebook before taking the page offline.

In the post the owner said growing up in Mississippi she was taught that people are supposed to stay “with your own race” but that after speaking with her pastor and researching the Bible she realised that her views were in fact unbiblical.

“I began to think about the history of my learning this and where it came from. I was unable to recall instances where the Bible was used giving a verse that would support my decision,” she said.

“I have for many years stood firm on my Christian faith not knowing that biracial relationships were NEVER mentioned in the Bible!”

She added:…

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Pensioner attacks chaplain over cathedral’s golf course

Michael Feeney was spotted outside Rochester Cathedral in Kent with his dog. Visiting chaplain Margaret Moore went over to him, and as reported by The Sun, he then “grabbed her lightly by the throat.” 

67-year-old Feeney, from Rochester, returned an hour later, smelling of alcohol and launched a foul mouthed rant inside the cathedral in front of dozens children. 

 

 

Medway magistrates heard Feeney then confronted verger Joseph Miller and “tried to strike him.” 

When police arrived to arrest him, he told them: “I was in the cathedral and they were playing mini golf. That’s just not right.” 

Visitor numbers have doubled since the temporary nine-hole golf course was installed in the nave.  

Yesterday, Feeney’s lawyer, Ghulam Humayun said his client told him: “This is a place of worship and they are turning it into a leisure centre.” 

Feeney apologized, saying “I am extremely sorry. It’s a one-off thing. I try to be a nice person to everybody and I am sorry about that.” 

He admitted engaging in indecent behaviour in a church and common assault. 

Feeney was given a 12-month conditional discharge and ordered to pay £85 costs and a £21 victim surcharge.  

  

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Nigerian official confirms Leah Sharibu, captured by Boko Haram, is alive

The federal government said it continues the negotiations with Islamic State West African Province (ISWAP), a breakaway faction of Boko Haram, about Leah’s release.

The statement said: “Lines of communications remain open with the kidnappers, ISWAP, to secure the release of Leah Sharibu. Contrary to false reports, she is alive – [we have been] given assurances by our security agencies – and the government is committed to her safe return, as well as all other hostages to their families.”

 

Leah was abducted along with over 100 of her classmates from the Government Girls Science and Technical College in Dapchi, Yobe state, on 19th February 2018.

While the others were released within a month, Leah, the only Christian in the group, remains in captivity as she was ordered, but refused, to give up her faith.

In October 2018, ISWAP announced that it will keep Leah as a slave for life.

UK Christian charity Open Doors, which supports persecuted Christians, said it’s shameful Leah still hasn’t been rescued, but the update brings some hope.

Dr Matthew Rees, Head of Advocacy at Open Doors UK and Ireland, said: “Leah Sharibu was kidnapped because she is a girl and held captive because she is a Christian. She embodies the incredibly vulnerable position of Christian women in northern Nigeria.

“It is outrageous that Leah remains in captivity, abused as a PR tool and…

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Seven Things We Can Learn from Attractional Churches

By Chuck Lawless

The debate between being an attractional or missional church continues. I’m not a fan of a church that is ONLY attractional, but I do think we can learn some things from the attractional approach:

  1. Have an intentional strategy to reach people. Too many churches are neither attractional nor missional because they have little commitment to reaching the unchurched anyway. An attractional approach is at least an intentional start.
  2. Think about the unchurched. You might argue that the attractional approach gives too much attention to them, but it does focus on non-believing people that the Lord loves. It pushes us to be outwardly focused.
  3. Promote excellence. The consumerism of the attractional approach may go too far, but it nevertheless requires us to strive for excellence. Far too many congregations act as if a shoddy, ill-prepared worship service is pleasing to the Lord.
  4. Keep moving people in the direction of evangelism. Few believers will ever share the gospel verbally, but perhaps inviting others to church is at least a move in that direction. An attractional model requires us to consider the spiritual state of others – a first step toward evangelism.
  5. Demand strong communication. Attractional approaches don’t work if the delivery of the message is poorly done (and, of course, I’m assuming here that the message is clearly the gospel).
  6. Apply the gospel. Hearers need to understand how to apply the gospel to their lives during the rest of the week, and strong preaching takes…

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Christian activists arrested at London arms fair

Members of Christian Climate Action were amongst protesters at the Defence and Security Equipment International Fair (DSEI), an event which connects governments and national armed forces around the world with the arms industry and is hosted at London’s Excel Centre. 

The protesters were arrested on Tuesday morning as they plotted to disrupt the biggest arms fair in Europe from setting up. 

  

Angela Ditchfield, one of those arrested, said: “As the climate and ecological emergency worsens, more and more people will be queuing up to profit from social collapse and warfare.  

“As Christians we are compelled to resist this injustice and show solidarity with the victims of war.” 

Christian Climate Action

 

The DSEI arms fair begins next week and will host 1600 exhibitors. The guest list includes military delegations from 67 countries.

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Australia Considers New Religious Freedom Bill following Firing of Christian Rugby Player

Australia Considers New Religious Freedom Bill following Firing of Christian Rugby Player



A proposal in Australia would protect people who express their faith outside of the workplace.


According to Reuters, the proposed legislation comes just a few months after Rugby Union International’s Israel Folau was fired from his post for posting on social media that hell awaited “drunks, homosexuals, adulterers, liars, fornicators, thieves, atheists and idolaters.”



Attorney-General Christian Porter said the legislation would allow Australians to express their faith on places like social media as long as the comments do not cause financial damage to their employer.


“Australia has a strong anti-discrimination framework with specific protections for people against discrimination on the basis of their age, sex, race and disability,” Porter said in a speech in Sydney.


“This draft bill released today extends those protections to provide protection for people against discrimination on the basis of their religion or religious belief, or lack thereof.”


The legislation will be introduced into parliament in October. The proposal does not address whether religious schools may hire and fire staff based on marital status and sexual orientation. Supporters of religious schools believe that the law should mandate those rights for religious schools.


“The situation is seen as urgent by many and it has been deferred,” said Michael…

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Hurricane Dorian Batters the Bahamas, Is Expected to Move towards North Carolina

Hurricane Dorian Batters the Bahamas, Is Expected to Move towards North Carolina



Hurricane Dorian has continued to devastate vast swathes of the Bahamas as it edges west towards the east coast of America.


The vicious weather front has caused an absolutely staggering level of flooding across the series of islands, with the Grand Bahama International Airport and the town of Marsh Harbour on Abaco Island being completely submerged in water.


As it arrived in the region, the hurricane had whipped up winds of over 185 mph and built into a lethal category five storm, according to the BBC. Unfortunately for residents of the Bahamas, Dorian is not moving on very quickly. Indeed, the most recent update from the US National Hurricane Center (NHC) located Dorian just north of Grand Bahama, which is home to roughly 50,000 people – the storm has moved just 12 miles in an entire day.


Authorities in the Bahamas have logged countless distress calls, with many desperately trying to escape flooded homes.


“We stuck right here, please pray for us,” one woman could be heard saying in a video shared by WFLA reporter, Josh Benson. “Pray for Abaco, please, I’m begging you. My baby is only four-months-old. Our apartment building.. the whole roof came off.”


Fox News reported incidents including a 5-month-old baby stranded on a roof and a grandmother who was forced to cut a hole in a roof to escape rising floodwaters with her six…

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Remains of Sri Lanka suicide church bomber exhumed after protests

Police spokesman Ruwan Gunasekara says the remains were removed from Kalliyankadu cemetery in the presence of a judge, a medical officer and police and were taken to a hospital mortuary.

They will remain there with police protection until the government provides a new burial site.

 

An official last week said the remains consisted only of a head, but Mr Gunasekara said they also included some other body parts.

Hundreds of people had protested against the burial of Mohamed Azar, who attacked Zion Church in Batticaloa town, killing 27 people and wounding more than 70 others.

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Skydiver Survives 200-Foot Fall following Mid-Air Collision, Says Jesus Saved His Life

Skydiver Survives 200-Foot Fall following Mid-Air Collision, Says Jesus Saved His Life



A skydiver says he fully trusted God when he and another skydiver collided with each other mid-air in a 2017 accident.


Korey Fisher told CBN News in a recent interview that he first began following God in 2011. In an effort to gain self-confidence and build a closer relationship with God, Fisher turned to skydiving.


“I thought to myself ‘This is closer to what I imagine God wants us to live like’, this – experiencing this, uh being alive. It’s about being alive,” Fisher said.


Then in November 2017, Fisher, by then a certified skydiving instructor, collided midair with another diver.


“I only saw the individual for about half a second before the collision, in that half a second I literally remember thinking, ‘I’m dead.’ I just remember accepting it. There was nothing I could do.”


Both skydivers fell more than 200 feet before hitting the ground. By the grace of God, both survived.


“I tried to move and couldn’t, and then passed back out,” Fisher recalled. “The next thing I know they’re putting me in a helicopter, but it was evident I was dying.”


Fisher was taken to a nearby hospital with a broken neck, 12 broken ribs and massive internal injuries.


“They told us that there had been an accident that he had been catastrophically injured and that we needed to come to the hospital right away,” Fisher’s mom Ria told CBN…

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Pastor removes Harry Potter books from Catholic school due to risk of ‘conjuring evil spirits’

Rev. Dan Reehil sent an email to the parents of students at St Edward Catholic School in Nashville, Tennessee and informed school staff about his decision.

According to the vicar, the email states: “These books present magic as both good and evil, which is not true, but in fact a clever deception. The curses and spells used in the books are actual curses and spells; which when read by a human being risk conjuring evil spirits into the presence of the person reading the text.”

 

Harry Potter is a seven part fictional book series about the adventures of a young wizard and his friends at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

Rev Reehil said he consulted exorcists in the US and Rome before making his decision to remove the books.

Rebecca Hammel, the superintendent of schools for the Catholic Diocese of Nashville, said the pastor had the final say in the matter because the Catholic Church doesn’t have an official stance on the issue.

“Each pastor has canonical authority to make such decisions for his parish school,” Hammel said. “He’s well within his authority to act in that manner.”

Hammel added that she does not know what prompted their removal, but the fact that the school opened a new library may have been a factor.

“I know that in the process they were going through and kind of weeding out some of the content in hopes of sprucing it up and improving the…

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