Source : Christian Post
‘God Sent Us Angels to Save Our Lives’ Says Syrian Migrant Rescued by Greek Sailors
(Photo: screengrab)Christian Post Report – Syrian migrant Aliaa Hwijah sought refuge in Greece in May 2015.
Syrian migrant Aliaa Hwijah and her partner Mohammad survived the perilous journey across the Mediterranean Sea to Europe after being rescued by the Greek coast guard earlier this month. Three weeks after the despairing journey, Aliaa is thanking God for her life.
“God sent us angels to save our lives,” said Hwijah, according to ITV News. “I can’t explain or describe that moment.”
Desperate to flee war-torn Syria, Aliaa and Mohammad each paid $800 to smugglers who could get them out of Turkey on a small boat with two dozen other migrants. However, less than two hours into the journey, the boat’s engine stopped, and all 24 passengers feared capsizing or being overtaken by pirates as night fell. Fortunately, the Greek coast guard found the desperate migrants and moved them to safety and the moment was caught on video.
“You know in that moment – you realize you were rescued from death,” Hwijah told ITV.
Three weeks after their night rescue at sea, Hwijah is still unsure if she will be able to stay in Greece, which is becoming overcrowded as thousands of other Syrians continue to flee their native country. In fact, increasing numbers of Syrian migrants are losing their lives in attempts to find asylum in Europe. According to the International Organization for Migration, over 80,000 migrants have landed in Europe this year alone, with a majority arriving in Italy and Greece.
Within the Mediterranean, the Central migration route from North Africa to Malta has proven to be the most dangerous. As of last month, 910 people were killed attempting to follow that route, according to the BBC. Last year saw a record high of 3,200 dying in the Mediterranean Sea while trying to reach Europe.
Pope Francis has spoken on the issue of migrants in the past, and after 950 migrants were feared dead after a boat capsized last month, the pontiff urged for international help with the refugee crisis.
“They are men and women like us, our brothers seeking a better life, starving, persecuted, wounded, exploited, victims of war,” said the pontiff during his Angelus at the time. “They were looking for a better life, they were looking for happiness. I invite you to pray in silence first and then all together for these brothers and sisters.”
Source : Christian Post
Senior Vatican Official Says Ireland’s Gay Marriage Vote Is a ‘Defeat for Humanity’
(Photo: Reuters/Cathal McNaughton)Christian Post Report – Children wave rainbow flags as they stand with their same-sex marriage supporting parents at Dublin Castle in Dublin, Ireland, May 23, 2015. Irish voters appear to have voted heavily in favor of allowing same-sex marriage in a historic referendum in the traditionally Catholic country, government ministers and opponents of the bill said on Saturday.
A senior Vatican official, reportedly seen as second only to the pope, said Ireland’s recent legalization of gay marriage is a “defeat for humanity” in comments seen as the strongest yet from the Catholic Church on the controversial referendum.
“I was deeply saddened by the result,” Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican’s secretary of state, said at a conference in Rome on Tuesday night, according to The Guardian. “The church must take account of this reality, but in the sense that it must strengthen its commitment to evangelization. I think that you cannot just talk of a defeat for Christian principles, but of a defeat for humanity.”
Ireland became the first country to legalize gay marriage by popular vote after 62 percent of voters supported a referendum to change their constitution to allow gay and lesbian couples to marry.
An earlier reaction from Archbishop Diarmuid Martin of Dublin, appeared a bit more measured as if the church was ready to soften its position on gay marriage but Parolin’s comments made it clear that this was not the case.
“It is very clear that if this referendum is an affirmation of the views of young people … [then the church needs] a reality check,” Martin had reportedly said.
An ongoing controversy involving French diplomat and practicing Catholic Laurent Stefanini, who is gay, appears also to be in line with the Catholic Church’s official position on homosexuality.
On Tuesday night, Parolin said talks between the Vatican and France were continuing in regard to Stefanini’s nomination, and noted that he hopes it’s concluded in a “positive manner.”
According to The Guardian, Parolin’s remarks on the Irish vote are significant because of the broad role he plays in crafting the church’s message on major diplomatic and social issues.
Veteran Vatican reporter John Allen wrote in the National Catholic Reporter that Parolin had been “on the frontlines of shaping the Vatican’s response to virtually every geopolitical challenge of the past two decades” at the time of the diplomat’s appointment in 2013.
Contact: [email protected]; follow me on Twitter @leoblair
Source : Christian Post
Soap Opera Actress Chrystee Pharris Turns Career Into Ministry; Recalls Praying for Wiccan On Set (Exclusive)
(Photo: Pop TV)Christian Post Report – The cast of “Queens of Drama” on Pop TV: Top (L-R) Vanessa MarcilQueens, Hunter Tylo, Chrystee Pharris, Lindsay Hartley, Crystal Hunt Bottom (L-R) Donna Mills, Joan Collins.
Soap operas may be known for bringing dramatic storylines to television audiences for decades but one small screen actress who got her big break on this type of programming believes God gave her the platform to use as a form of ministry.
Chrystee Pharris,39, had roles on multiple television shows like “The Steve Harvey Show,” “Sister, Sister,” and “Moesha,” before making a name for herself by portraying Simone Russell on the hit NBC soap opera “Passions” in 2001 where she spent three years. It was on “Passions” that a young Pharris began to see how she could utilize her platform to spread the word of God.
After only one month on the show, Pharris noticed a young woman who also worked on the show crying. Although the budding actress barely knew the young woman, the Lord prompted her to pray with her.
While the woman on set was not initially responsive to Pharris, the actress from Las Vegas later found out that her faith began to get stronger after that encountert. The young woman told her parents about Pharris, who they later called upon to help break the news that her uncle had severely injured himself.
After that ordeal, Pharris began to dedicate her life to Christ. Her pastor, Dr. Kenneth Ulmer at Faithful Central Bible Church, told the actress that she could turn her platform as an actress into a ministry when she first moved to Los Angeles.
“He really took me in and taught me ‘when you get on a show, it is a ministry. You’re there for a reason and that is to be a blessing to someone,'” Pharris told CP. “There were times when I didn’t get things and I would say, I guess it wasn’t meant for me to minister to someone on set.”
However, Pharris took countless opportunities to do just that including to one person she worked with on a set who identified herself as a Wiccan. When the girl had a breakdown, she called Pharris in to help.
“She was like, ‘you know, I don’t really believe but I just know that you can get a prayer through. Would you pray for me, my family is really dealing with stuff’,” Pharris recalled. “I was like, ‘sure’ and we prayed. Everybody’s calling is different and this happens to be the way I do my ministry.”
The actress said she made sure to remain active in the ministry beyond the Hollywood sets she frequented by working for God at Hollywood parties.
“I remember praying for somebody at a Will Smith party. I remember being kind of mad like, ‘I don’t want to be in a corner here praying I want to meet Will Smith and Jada,'” Pharris confessed. “By the time I stopped praying they left and it was like ‘no I didn’t get a chance to say hi!’ But God was good because maybe 6 years later I ended up auditioning and booking their show.”
Despite some perceptions about Christianity in Hollywood, Pharris says she has managed to put her faith at the forefront of her career in the entertainment industry.
“A lot of people think it’s difficult to be a Christian in this industry, but really it’s not,” she said. “You have to play a happy medium.”
Still, she revealed that she sometimes struggles with accepting roles that depart too far from her faith values and she usually turns to her pastor for help.
“He said, ‘well, look at it from the perspective of, somebody has to play the devil.’ It made sense to me, because there’s good and bad,” she told CP. “If there is something redeeming in the storyline, that is now how I base my characters. But if there is nothing redeeming in the storyline then I pass on it and I’ve had to do that several times.”
One of Pharris’ most recent roles allowed her to combine her Christian roots with her craft. In the family faith-based film, “Steps of Faith,” Pharris plays the lead character named faith who is not a church goer. Still, Faith has to convince her family that she is hearing from God, which they end up not believing and even mocking. The independent film is available on DVD, and has been accepted into 16 film festivals.
Pharris explains that she connected with the character through a similar experience in her life when God told her to move to Atlanta.
“I didn’t tell anyone because sometimes you can’t share your vision with other people because they can throw doubt in there. God didn’t give it to them, He gave it to you,” Pharris said. “I packed up, I left in 12 days and I haven’t stopped working since. That’s somewhat what ‘Steps Of Faith’ was about which is why the movie is so important to me.”
Outside of touring her one-woman show, “In Search of O,” which is about waiting until marriage to have sex at the age of 27, the actress is also now making her way back to the world of soap operas with the POP TV show, “Queens of Drama.”
In the show, former soap stars Lindsay Hartley, Crystal Hunt, Vanessa Marcil, Hunter Tylo and Donna Mills join with Pharris to work on a pilot for a soap opera of their own creation.
The actress says she prayed for an opportunity like this, and now fans are getting to witness it on Wednesday nights.
“It was one of those things I remember telling my friend, ‘I want a reality show based around soap opera people.’ She was like ‘sure enough you’re going to get it,'” Pharris recalled. “One week later I got the call like ‘here you go.’ She was like ‘ you prayed about it I knew you were going to get it! You always have so much favor.”
For Pharris, her purpose centers around more than just praying to have her name in lights and seeing them appear. The actress believes her calling is to minister to others using the platform that God provided.
“Someone else is going to do it a bit differently and I just try to be the best person that I can be in this industry and be an example to the young people,” she said.
“Queens Of Drama” comes on POP Wednesdays at 8 p.m. For more information about “Steps Of Faith,” click here.
Source : Christian Post
Christian Jeweler Gets ‘Nasty’ Hate Mail, Phone Calls From LGBT Activists Even After He Agreed to Make Engagement Rings for Lesbian Couple
Christian Post Report – Today’s Jewellers
A Christian jeweler in Canada has become the latest target of LGBT hate mail and “nasty” phone calls even though he agreed to make custom engagement rings for a lesbian couple, simply because he posted a sign that displayed his biblical view opposing same-sex marriage.
Esau Jardon, the co-owner of Christian Post Report – Today’s Jewellers in Mount Pearl, Newfoundland, recently told CBC News that he was forced to take down his store’s Facebook page after it was flooded with angry comments from LGBT advocates who opposed a sign that was posted in the store stating: “The sanctity of marriage is under attack. Let’s keep marriage between a man and a woman.”
The store’s sign came to attention after a lesbian woman named Nicole White had put a downpayment with the store on custom made engagement rings for her and her fiance, Pam Renouf, who plan to get married in 2016.
Although White told CBC News that she had no issues with the store when she agreed to buy the rings and even recommended the store to her friends, she went back to the store a couple months later to ask for a refund of her deposit when one of her friends showed her a picture of the aforementioned sign inside the business.
“I had no idea about the sign up until that point,” White said. “It was really upsetting, really sad, because we already had money down on [the rings], and they’re displaying how much they are against gays, and how they think marriage should be between a man and a woman.”
The friend’s picture was posted to social media and caused a huge uproar among the LGBT community, who were not afraid to let the store know what they thought of the sign.
“I had to shut down the Facebook page because of so many hate emails and phone calls and just, really nasty stuff,” Jardon said.
Although the sign was not posted while White was in the store to buy the rings, Jardon said he periodically posts signs reflecting his biblical views throughout the year and said he posted the “sanctity of marriage” sign for Mother’s Day, since that holiday is of such importance to families.
“I have been posting different aspects of my religious beliefs the last 11 years and I’ve never had one single problem with any of my customers,” Jardon explained. “It seems to be a Canadian right to post what you believe.”
A poster opposing same-sex marriage hangs in Christian Post Report – Today’s Jewellers shop in Mount Pearl, Newfoundland.
“One of the reasons my family chose to come to Canada was the freedom of rights,” Jardon continued. “Nothing in that shop or in these posters is against the law. … There’s nothing there that means to discriminate or to hate anybody else.”
Although White understands that Jardon is allowed to post whatever he believes inside his own store, she thinks it’s “unprofessional” for a jeweler to post signs reflecting his biblical belief on marriage.
“They just said that that’s their beliefs, and they think they can put up whatever they want. I just said it was very disrespectful, it’s very unprofessional and I wanted a refund,” White said.
“I have no issues with them believing in what they believe in. I think everyone’s entitled to their own opinion but I don’t think they should put their personal beliefs inside their business.”
Although engagement rings are supposed to be a symbolism of a couple’s love, White said the rings from Christian Post Report – Today’s Jewellers would taint the symbolism for them and that’s why they sought the refund of their deposit.
“I think every time I look at that ring, I’ll probably think of what we just went through,” White added.
Although it was initially unclear as to whether Christian Post Report – Today’s Jewellers would issue a refund, something the store doesn’t normally offer, White took to Facebook last week to explain that she was in fact given a refund.
“We just wanted to let everyone know that we were in contact with Esau Jardon of Christian Post Report – Today’s Jewellers and he has decided to give us our deposit back,” White wrote. “We have no negative feelings towards him. We found the poster disrespectful and inappropriate in his place of business therefore we decided not to support his business.”
Although Jardon issued the refund, he still believes that his convictions need to be honored just as much as he respects the opinions of those he disagrees with.
“When I walk on Church Street in Toronto, where I am right now, and I see [LGBT rainbow flags] and I see a lot of signs and a lot of things on public property, I don’t have a problem with them. I accept it,” Jardon stated. “I chose to come to Canada … and we accept the whole package. … I don’t discriminate against that, nor do I come and tell them to take them down. For the same reason, I ask to have the same respect in return, especially when it’s in my own business.”
Source : Christian Post
Ethiopian Christian Man Forced Off His Land by Muslim Mob to Build a Mosque; Wife Is ‘Praying, Fasting’ and Pleading for Help
Christian Post Report – A woman mourns with the framed picture of a man said to be among the 30 Ethiopian victims killed by members of the militant Islamic State in Libya, in the capital Addis Ababa, April 21, 2015.
Fearing for his life, an Ethiopian man was forced off his land after Muslims ignored multiple court decisions protecting his property rights. International Christian Concern, a human rights organization that exists to help persecuted Christians worldwide, brought attention to Fikere Mengistu’s plight last week.
Local Muslims in the town of Deder are demanding his property in order to build a mosque, and according to the ICC, have already begun construction.
Accoring to BosNewsLife: “The harassment allegedly began when Mengistu built a house for his 93-year-old mother two years ago.” Muslims destroyed the home of his mother and then destroyed his fence and looted many of his possessions.
Fearing that the village’s 38 Christians would use the house to gather for prayer,” BNL reported, “dozens of Muslims began to occupy his land and would remain for weeks at a time shouting “Allahu akhbar.”
“Their first plan was to kill my husband,” Mengistu’s wife, Haregewoyan, said in a statement to the ICC. “Now, he has escaped from the area. We are fasting and praying for God to rescue us from this forceful action.”
Multiple Ethiopian courts have ruled in favor of Mengistu, upholding his title to his land in seperate decisions in November of 2014 and again in April. The land has been in his family for more than 90 years.
“We did our best try to defend our faith based on the law of the country and with all our resources, including ICC budget, to pay for our legal expenses, declared the Mengistu family. “Muslims are out of the control of the government and the law. What can we do?”
The Police Commandr in Deder, Abadir Yuya, reportedly is insisting that the court decisions are not valid decisions and they are required to be reviewed. “Since then, the mob has continued harassing the Mengistu family,” ICC noted, accusing local authorities of ignoring the court decision and encouraging the Muslim mob in their actions. The police in the region have denied any wrong doing.
In a statement, ICC’s regional manager in Africa, Troy Augustine, called the “continued harassment” of the Mengistu family in Deder “unacceptable.”
Augustine is urging local authorities to uphold the decisions of the courts “instead of bending to pressure from the religious majority or worse, participating in the persecution of Christians through illegal activities.” He also told BNL that officials and law enforcement should “be stripped of their authority if they fail to uphold the Ethiopian law and religious freedom guaranteed for all Ethiopian citizens in the constitution.”
The U.S. State Department estimates that 19 percent of Ethiopians belongs to Christian evangelical and Pentecostal groups, while almost 44 percent belong to the Ethiopian Orthodox Church. The town of Deder, located in the Oromia region of Ethiopia, is overwhelmingly Muslim.
“Please help me protect my land and secure my family and the fellow Christians,” Mengistu’s wife pleaded. Some 30 Christians and part of Mengistu’s family have gathered for prayer on the property in hopes of intervention.
“The constitution and most laws and policies generally protect religious freedom,” according to the State Department.
The Christian Post reported on Tuesday that an Ethiopian Christian man was ordered at gunpoint to murder two of his friends, Christian pastors, or else his three children would be killed. And in April, 30 Ethiopian Christians were beheaded by ISIS in Libya.
Source : Christian Post
NYT Bestselling Author’s Blog Post Raises Over $500K in 3 Days to Help Iraqi Children, Families Displaced by ISIS
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(Photo: Reuters/Stringer)
A displaced Sunni man fleeing the violence in Ramadi carries a crying child on his shoulders, on the outskirts of Baghdad, May 24, 20Christian Post Report – 15. Iraqi forces recaptured territory from advancing Islamic State militants near the recently-fallen city of Ramadi on Sunday, while in Syria the government said the Islamists had killed hundreds of people since capturing the town of Palmyra.
(Photo: Reuters/Stringer)Displaced Sunni women fleeing the violence in Ramadi, carry bags as they walk on the outskirts of Baghdad, May 24, 20Christian Post Report – 15. Iraqi forces recaptured territory from advancing Islamic State militants near the recently-fallen city of Ramadi on Sunday, while in Syria the government said the Islamists had killed hundreds of people since capturing the town of Palmyra.
(Photo: Reuters/Stringer)Displaced Sunni people fleeing the violence in Ramadi, cross a bridge on the outskirts of Baghdad, May 24, 20Christian Post Report – 15. Iraqi forces recaptured territory from advancing Islamic State militants near the recently-fallen city of Ramadi on Sunday, while in Syria the government said the Islamists had killed hundreds of people since capturing the town of Palmyra.
After the key Iraqi city of Ramadi recently fell to the Islamic State, an influential New York Times best-selling author wrote a blog post describing the heart wrenching experiences that a group of Iraqi mothers went through to escape ISIS, and in doing so, has helped raise over $500,000 in three days that will assist displaced Iraqi children and families.
Ann Voskamp, who published her best-selling book, One Thousand Gifts: A Dare to Live Fully Right Where You Are in 20Christian Post Report – 1Christian Post Report – 1, travelled to Iraq in March and talked with displaced mothers who are now living out of shipping containers since ISIS has taken over their land.
Voskamp, a 4Christian Post Report – 1-year-old Christian, learned about the awful experiences and tough choices those mothers had to make in order to flee from their communities to dodge the wrath of ISIS.
Shortly after Ramadi was seized by the Islamic State, Voskamp wrote of the stories the Iraqi mothers told her during her visit on her blog titled A Holy Experience last week. Among the atrocities the mothers faced, Voskamp explained that the mothers told her how they were forced to painfully choose which of their sons they could take with them in the getaway car and which sons they would be have to leave behind as ISIS was closing in on their towns.
In her blog post, Voskamp linked to the American nonprofit humanitarian organization called Preemptive Love, which is based out of Iraq and, among many other things, aims to put 22,000 Iraqi children back into school by this upcoming fall. Thanks to the blog post, Preemptive Love received over half a million dollars in donations in an astounding three-day span.
(Screengrab: YouTube/Zondervan)Ann Voskamp.
“Before Ann’s post, interest in helping the people of Iraq had decreased dramatically. There was a sense that perhaps nothing could be done to combat ISIS and nothing could be done to address the suffering they’ve introduced to Iraq,” Preemptive Love Executive Director, Jeremy Courtney, said in a statement provided to The Christian Post.
“Ann inspired and mobilized thousands of people from across the world to a greater vision — she reminded us all that the only way to drive out darkness is with light; the greatest weapon against hatred is love.”
“Ann’s passionate commitment to the children of Iraq who have suffered so much as a result of ISIS —and her commitment to helping Preemptive Love empower women and families across Iraq — is going to make a huge difference in the lives of thousands of people who are waiting for help to arrive,” Courtney continued. “Ann is now at the forefront of our peacemaking movement, leading an entire generation of mothers to take seriously the responsibility to look at the darkness of ISIS, racism, bigotry, and fear, square in the eyes and choose to love anyway.”
Preemptive Love, which originally started in 2007 as a group that provides heart surgery training to Iraqi doctors and nurses so that they can conduct lifesaving operations on the tens of thousands of Iraqi children in need of heart procedures, now has many other facets in which it aims to help displaced families escape from dependence on humanitarian aid and become self sufficient again.
In 20Christian Post Report – 14, Courtney explained that the amount of donations that Preemptive Love received had decreased significantly and only amassed $Christian Post Report – 1.6 million for the whole year. But thanks to Voskamp’s blog post, the organization raised nearly a third of the 20Christian Post Report – 14 donation total in less than a week.
“I had over $2,000,000 dollars worth of requests for urgent help sitting on my desk in Iraq before Ann published her passionate plea last week,” Courtney further explained. “We now have some of the resources we need to keep pressing in, serving the needs of Iraqis who are stuck in no-man’s land, on the run from ISIS, and looking to rebuild their lives.”
In an online FAQ page, Courtney listed how the $500,000 that was recently donated will be put to use.
Preemptive Love will use between $Christian Post Report – 100,000 and $Christian Post Report – 150,000 to help put over Christian Post Report – 10,000 Iraqi kids back to school in the Baghdad region. According to Voskamp’s blog post, Christian Post Report – 10 kids can be put back to school with just a $Christian Post Report – 100 donation.
The organization is also working with the Patriarch of the Chaldean Church in Baghdad to authorize the construction of a school expansion that will allow for hundreds more children to be educated.
Additionally, the group has budgeted $Christian Post Report – 10,000 for an emergency response team to help those families still fleeing from ISIS in Ramadi.
“There are Christian Post Report – 15 miles of people living in makeshift tents, cars and dwellings,” Courtney wrote. “Most of the [humanitarian] aid stops at the first mile on the Baghdad site. We are negotiating with Iraqi security forces and militia leaders to get deeper into the territory to help those who are more in danger and less-reached.”
Preemptive Love has also designated $Christian Post Report – 10,000 in “empowerment business grants” to help women returning to the town of Diyala get back on their feet financially. Likewise, the group has designated about $8,000 to the mothers living in shipping containers that Voskamp wrote about in her blogpost. The money will help them start their own soap making business.
An additional $Christian Post Report – 10,000 will be designated to authorize the “dispatch of lifesaving medicine to Diyala.”
“The reason your hands are where they are in this world is to give other people in this world a hand,” Voskamp said in a press statement. “I’m completely overwhelmed and grateful for the support of passionate readers and the larger committed community who have stood up together in solidarity to defy evil and crush hopelessness — who have decided in the face of this terror, to wage love — and have opened their hearts to help put an end to this suffering.”
(Photo: Reuters/Rodi Said)Displaced people from the minority Yazidi sect, fleeing violence from forces loyal to the Islamic State in Sinjar town, walk toward the Syrian border, on the outskirts of Sinjar mountain, near the Syrian border town of Elierbeh of Al-Hasakah Governorate, August Christian Post Report – 1Christian Post Report – 1, 20Christian Post Report – 14. The Islamic State, which has declared a caliphate in parts of Iraq and Syria, has prompted tens of thousands of Yazidis and Christians to flee for their lives during their push to within a 30-minute drive of the Kurdish regional capital Arbil.
Source : Christian Post
Conservative Presbyterian Sect Formed in 2012 Celebrates 200th Member Congregation After Break From PC(USA)
(Photo: Emily Day)Christian Post Report – First Presbyterian Church of Tacoma, Washington. The congregation belongs to the Evangelical Covenant Order of Presbyterians.
A conservative Presbyterian church that was founded in 2012 in response to the growing theological liberalism of the Presbyterian Church (USA) has reached its 200th member congregation.
The Evangelical Covenant Order of Presbyterians gained congregation number 200 when First Presbyterian Church of Griffin, Georgia, joined the denomination earlier this month, following a unanimous vote.
“We have planned for it. We have dreamed about it. The hardest part has been waiting, but the wait is almost over,” noted First Presbyterian in their May newsletter. “It will bring deep satisfaction to move into this next chapter together. It will also bring rest. And the truth is, we need both.”
The Rev. Dana S. Allin, Synod Executive with ECO, told The Christian Post that he and his denomination are “thrilled” by the growth of the church.
“We are thrilled that so many churches have felt that they will better fulfill their mission by being a part of ECO,” Allin said.
“By having 200 congregations we have great resources in the body that can mutually encourage one another and help all of us reach the calling that God has on our congregations.”
ECO draws its origins back to a gathering in January 2012 in Florida of over 2,000 clergy and laity in response to PCUSA’s increasing acceptance of homosexuality and other issues.
For example, in 2010, delegates at the PCUSA General Assembly approved Amendment 10a, which allowed regional bodies, or presbyteries, to ordain non-celibate homosexuals.
The gathering was organized by the Fellowship of Presbyterians, a theologically conservative movement within PCUSA.
“ECO is a denominational entity under the umbrella of The Fellowship of Presbyterians that is committed to growing and planting flourishing churches and nurturing leaders,” read a 2012 statement describing the new church body.
“The distinctives of ECO include an emphasis on connecting leaders in accountable relationships, peer review systems for churches, leadership training, and a flatter polity structure than the PC(USA).”
By the beginning of 2014 ECO passed the milestone of 100 member churches as more congregations opted to leave PCUSA.
“Roughly 190 congregations were formerly PC(USA),” Allin explained to CP. “Some have been church plants and some have not been connected to a denomination previously but have seen how being a part of ECO can help their mission.”
According to Allin, ECO leadership knows of an additional 150 congregations “that are in the process” of joining the denomination, as well as “others that we have been told about but haven’t wanted to officially announce.”
Mark Tooley, president of the conservative Institute on Religion and Democracy, which among other efforts monitors and comments on debates within PCUSA, told CP that ECO’s numbers will likely continue to grow.
“Some believe that most congregations that are disposed to or can leave have already done so at this point. I suspect the publicity over the PCUSA’s final ratification of redefining marriage will prompt other congregations to consider,” Tooley said.
“But probably more broadly, many individual Presbyterians who uphold orthodoxy will reconsider their affiliation with the PCUSA. Others will decide to remain within the PCUSA as a remnant witness as the PCUSA continues to shrivel.”
Source : Christian Post
Leave It in God’s Hands
Christian Post Report – Then Lot chose for himself all the plain of Jordan, and Lot journeyed east. And they separated from each other.
— Genesis 13:11
(Photo: rever Hoehne for Harvest Ministries)Greg Laurie, senior pastor of Harvest Christian Fellowship in Riverside, California and Harvest Orange County in Irvine, California, shares the Gospel with a sold-out crowd of 19,000 for Harvest America at the American Airlines Center and Victory Park in Dallas, Texas, Oct. 5, 2014.
Sometimes people who have less are more materialistic than those who have a lot. I have met people who have a lot and are very generous. They don’t let everyone know all the things they do for others; they just do them quietly. They are thankful for what God has blessed them with. They help others.
I also know others who don’t have as much, but all they think about is getting more stuff. They dream about stuff. That is where their heart is. And it is all about the heart.
Abraham had a lot of stuff, but his heart was right with God. His nephew Lot had a lot of stuff too, but all he seemed to care about was getting more stuff. The Bible tells us “the land was not able to support them” (Genesis 13:6), and strife developed between the herdsmen who worked for Abraham and the herdsmen who worked for Lot. A separation needed to be made because Abraham and Lot were going in two different directions. It was a problem of the heart.
So Abraham gave his nephew a choice. He basically said, “You go wherever you want, and I will go in the opposite direction. I don’t want to fight with you anymore. Let’s make a decision.”
By not making a choice, Abraham was in effect making a profound choice. He was choosing to give Lot the best choice. Abraham decided to leave the outcome to God. He left it up to the Lord. That is because Abraham was a peacemaker and not a troublemaker.
Maybe you have been tempted to compromise in a certain area, but you have decided to do what is right and to live a life of integrity. Leave it in the hands of God. You will never regret it.
Copyright © 2015 by Harvest Ministries. All rights reserved.
Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture taken from the New King James Version. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Bible text from the New King James Version is not to be reproduced in copies or otherwise by any means except as permitted in writing by Thomas Nelson, Inc., Attn: Bible Rights and Permissions, P.O. Box 141000, Nashville, TN 37214-1000
Used with Permission
Source : Christian Post
