This is Daniel Whyte III, president of Gospel Light Society International with the Whyte House Daily Devotional Bible Reading Episode #63. Where I read three chapters of the Holy Bible in the King James Version a day with my family as a part of our family devotions, to encourage you to read the Holy Bible in a year’s time. We are using a modified version of the Five Day Bible Reading Plan. It is modified because we read the Bible everyday and not just five days a week. The benefit of using the Five Day Bible Reading Plan is: you can read the entire Bible in a chronological reading plan that helps the Bible make sense. Today we are reading Leviticus 2, Psalm 143 and Luke 14.

Patrick Henry said, “The Bible is worth all the other books which have ever been printed.”

Mark Twain said, “It ain’t those parts of the Bible that I can’t understand that bother me, it is the parts that I do understand.”

Leviticus 2
1 And when any will offer a meat offering unto the Lord, his offering shall be of fine flour; and he shall pour oil upon it, and put frankincense thereon:

2 And he shall bring it to Aa’-ron’s sons the priests: and he shall take thereout his handful of the flour thereof, and of the oil thereof, with all the frankincense thereof; and the priest shall burn the memorial of it upon the altar, to be an offering made by fire, of a sweet savour unto the Lord:

3 And the remnant of the meat offering shall be Aa’-ron’s and his sons’: it is a thing most holy of the offerings of the Lord made by fire.

4 And if thou bring an oblation of a meat offering baken in the oven, it shall be unleavened cakes of fine flour mingled with oil, or unleavened wafers anointed with oil.

5 And if thy oblation be a meat offering baken in a pan, it shall be of fine flour unleavened, mingled with oil.

6 Thou shalt part it in pieces, and pour oil thereon: it is a meat offering.

7 And if thy oblation be a meat offering baken in the fryingpan, it shall be made of fine flour with oil.

8 And thou shalt bring the meat offering that is made of these things unto the Lord: and when it is presented unto the priest, he shall bring it unto the altar.

9 And the priest shall take from the meat offering a memorial thereof, and shall burn it upon the altar: it is an offering made by fire, of a sweet savour unto the Lord.

10 And that which is left of the meat offering shall be Aa’-ron’s and his sons’: it is a thing most holy of the offerings of the Lord made by fire.

11 No meat offering, which ye shall bring unto the Lord, shall be made with leaven: for ye shall burn no leaven, nor any honey, in any offering of the Lord made by fire.

12 As for the oblation of the firstfruits, ye shall offer them unto the Lord: but they shall not be burnt on the altar for a sweet savour.

13 And every oblation of thy meat offering shalt thou season with salt; neither shalt thou suffer the salt of the covenant of thy God to be lacking from thy meat offering: with all thine offerings thou shalt offer salt.

14 And if thou offer a meat offering of thy firstfruits unto the Lord, thou shalt offer for the meat offering of thy firstfruits green ears of corn dried by the fire, even corn beaten out of full ears.

15 And thou shalt put oil upon it, and lay frankincense thereon: it is a meat offering.

16 And the priest shall burn the memorial of it, part of the beaten corn thereof, and part of the oil thereof, with all the frankincense thereof: it is an offering made by fire unto the Lord.

Psalm 143
A Psalm of Da’-vid.
1 Hear my prayer, O Lord, give ear to my supplications: in thy faithfulness answer me, and in thy righteousness.

2 And enter not into judgment with thy servant: for in thy sight shall no man living be justified.

3 For the enemy hath persecuted my soul; he hath smitten my life down to the ground; he hath made me to dwell in darkness, as those that have been long dead.

4 Therefore is my spirit overwhelmed within me; my heart within me is desolate.

5 I remember the days of old; I meditate on all thy works; I muse on the work of thy hands.

6 I stretch forth my hands unto thee: my soul thirsteth after thee, as a thirsty land. Se’-lah.

7 Hear me speedily, O Lord: my spirit faileth: hide not thy face from me, lest I be like unto them that go down into the pit.

8 Cause me to hear thy lovingkindness in the morning; for in thee do I trust: cause me to know the way wherein I should walk; for I lift up my soul unto thee.

9 Deliver me, O Lord, from mine enemies: I flee unto thee to hide me.

10 Teach me to do thy will; for thou art my God: thy spirit is good; lead me into the land of uprightness.

11 Quicken me, O Lord, for thy name’s sake: for thy righteousness’ sake bring my soul out of trouble.

12 And of thy mercy cut off mine enemies, and destroy all them that afflict my soul: for I am thy servant.

Luke 14
1 And it came to pass, as he went into the house of one of the chief Phar’-i-sees to eat bread on the sabbath day, that they watched him.

2 And, behold, there was a certain man before him which had the dropsy.

3 And Je’-sus answering spake unto the lawyers and Phar’-i-sees, saying, Is it lawful to heal on the sabbath day?

4 And they held their peace. And he took him, and healed him, and let him go;

5 And answered them, saying, Which of you shall have an ass or an ox fallen into a pit, and will not straightway pull him out on the sabbath day?

6 And they could not answer him again to these things.

7 And he put forth a parable to those which were bidden, when he marked how they chose out the chief rooms; saying unto them.

8 When thou art bidden of any man to a wedding, sit not down in the highest room; lest a more honourable man than thou be bidden of him;

9 And he that bade thee and him come and say to thee, Give this man place; and thou begin with shame to take the lowest room.

10 But when thou art bidden, go and sit down in the lowest room; that when he that bade thee cometh, he may say unto thee, Friend, go up higher: then shalt thou have worship in the presence of them that sit at meat with thee.

11 For whosoever exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.

12 Then said he also to him that bade him, When thou makest a dinner or a supper, call not thy friends, nor thy brethren, neither thy kinsmen, nor thy rich neighbours; lest they also bid thee again, and a recompence be made thee.

13 But when thou makest a feast, call the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind:

14 And thou shalt be blessed; for they cannot recompense thee: for thou shalt be recompensed at the resurrection of the just.

15 And when one of them that sat at meat with him heard these things, he said unto him, Blessed is he that shall eat bread in the kingdom of God.

16 Then said he unto him, A certain man made a great supper, and bade many:

17 And sent his servant at supper time to say to them that were bidden, Come; for all things are now ready.

18 And they all with one consent began to make excuse. The first said unto him, I have bought a piece of ground, and I must needs go and see it: I pray thee have me excused.

19 And another said, I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I go to prove them: I pray thee have me excused.

20 And another said, I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come.

21 So that servant came, and shewed his lord these things. Then the master of the house being angry said to his servant, Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in hither the poor, and the maimed, and the halt, and the blind.

22 And the servant said, Lord, it is done as thou hast commanded, and yet there is room.

23 And the lord said unto the servant, Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled.

24 For I say unto you, That none of those men which were bidden shall taste of my supper.

25 And there went great multitudes with him: and he turned, and said unto them,

26 If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple.

27 And whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after me, cannot be my disciple.

28 For which of you, intending to build a tower, sitteth not down first, and counteth the cost, whether he have sufficient to finish it?

29 Lest haply, after he hath laid the foundation, and is not able to finish it, all that behold it begin to mock him,

30 Saying, This man began to build, and was not able to finish.

31 Or what king, going to make war against another king, sitteth not down first, and consulteth whether he be able with ten thousand to meet him that cometh against him with twenty thousand?

32 Or else, while the other is yet a great way off, he sendeth an ambassage, and desireth conditions of peace.

33 So likewise, whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple.

34 Salt is good: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be seasoned?

35 It is neither fit for the land, nor yet for the dunghill; but men cast it out. He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.

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PRAY
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When I was a teenager I wanted to get wisdom and knowledge, so I set out the read the big family Bible that many families had in those days. But I couldn’t get past Genesis 2 before I got bored with reading the Bible. I found out later in life that you have to believe on Christ and get saved before you can understand the Bible. So here is how I became a Christian and how you can too:

First, accept the fact that you are a sinner, and that you have broken God’s law. The Bible says in Romans 3:23: “For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.”

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

Third, accept the fact that you are on the road to hell. Jesus Christ said in Matthew 18:8: “Wherefore if thy hand or thy foot offend thee, cut them off, and cast them from thee: it is better for thee to enter into life halt or maimed, rather than having two hands or two feet to be cast into everlasting fire.” Also, the Bible states 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.”

Now that is bad news, but here’s the good news. 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.” Just believe in your heart that Jesus Christ died for your sins, was buried, and rose from the dead by the power of God for you so that you can live eternally with Him. Pray and ask Him to come into your heart today, and He will.

Romans 10:9 & 13 says, “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.”

If you believe that Jesus Christ died on the Cross for your sins, was buried, and rose from the dead, and you want to trust Him for your Salvation today, please pray with me this simple prayer: Holy Father God, I realize that I am a sinner and that I have done some bad things in my life. I am sorry for my sins, and today I choose to turn from my sins. For Jesus Christ sake, please forgive me of my sins. I believe with all of my heart that Jesus Christ died for me, was buried, and rose again. I trust Jesus Christ as my Savior and I choose to follow Him as Lord from this day forward. 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.”

If you accepted Jesus Christ as your Savior today, please email me at [email protected] and let us know. There is some free material that we want to send you. If you have a prayer request, please e-mail that to us as well, and we will pray for you until you tell us to stop.

God loves you. We love you. And may God bless you.

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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 Andy Stanley’s recent sermon on politics, one statement really stood out. He said, “I have found it very difficult to stay away from the topic of religion in church, but I have found it very easy to stay away from the topic of politics in church.” 

How can pastor Stanley find it “easy to stay away from the topic of politics in church,” but I find it extremely difficult? In my opinion, failure to recognize diverse gifts may explain why many people are divided on the issue of religion and politics. For instance, Jack Graham, John MacArthur, James Dobson, James Robison, Franklin Graham, Jack Hibbs, etc. have different ministries, but all fall under the umbrella of Christian service. God creates, within each of us, varying desires, talents, and levels of interests. If God has called a man to preach and teach His Word, that will be his passion. If God has called a Christian to pursue politics, that will be his or her passion, and so on.

Problems arise when we become judgmental and fail to respect our differences. Activists should not expect everyone to share their passion for politics, and those who believe Christians should stay out of politics must understand that God clearly calls some Christians to the political arena. God established the concept of government, why would He not desire godly leadership? Granted, there will always be a moral divide in America, but this should not deter us from making a difference. It took years for America to reach this state of moral decay; it may take years to recover. But on the flip-side, I have noticed that many mega-church pastors seem to be more concerned about not upsetting the status quo. The question all pastors need to ask is, “Are we pleasing God or men . . . are we watchmen or cowards? As we prepare sermons, are we tip-toeing around difficult topics or hitting them head on?” Our job is to love as well as convict. I believe that America is in the state we are in today because of the silent pulpit. Gone are the days when Alex de Tocqueville visited America and saw “pulpits aflame with righteousness.” Here is a sermon clip that Fox News picked up about this very thing.

As I often say: There is a very troubling trend in the evangelical church as a whole. Today, the truth is often neglected, watered-down, or avoided altogether in the hope of not offending members and building a large audience. Judgment is never mentioned; repentance is never sought; and sin is often excused. We want to build a church rather than break a heart; be politically correct rather than biblically correct; coddle and comfort rather than stir and convict. When we fail to proclaim God’s Word faithfully, we run the risk of “encouraging sin” and “perverting the words of the living God” (cf. Jeremiah 23). Students of Scripture understand that God uses governmental leaders to accomplish His purposes and plans. We cannot remain silent. The silent pulpit is not God’s pulpit. Here is a recent message I gave on abortion, When the Weak are Destroyed by the Powerful.

We are not voting for parties or people but for principles. What direction will those running for office take us? is the question we all should be asking. Our leader is to protect, administer justice, defend the nation, and allow religious freedom. The church is to care for the people, guard the Word of God, and serve as the conscience of the nation. You may want to commit this paragraph to memory before 2020.

Granted, activists should not expect everyone to share their passion for politics, and those who believe Christians should stay out of politics must understand that God clearly calls some Christians to make a difference in Washington. God established the concept of government, why would He not desire godly leadership?

Although my primary calling is preaching, I thank God for Christians who are involved and who influence America’s political climate. I wish that there were more. As the moral and cultural war rages between our shores, the need to be awakened from our spiritual slumber has never been greater. “Where the battle rages, there the loyalty of the soldier is tested” (attributed to Martin Luther). This battle is for the very soul of our nation. It’s our choice — stand or fall.

SOURCE: Christian Post, Shane Idleman

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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).

The Kobe Bryant tragedy reveals the revolting irony of the woke culture and its ceaseless campaigns for secularism and relativism. The woke among us denounce absolutism, especially in its religious form, and decry judgmentalism as puritanical injustice, but sadly have forgotten the enormity and extravagance of grace.

No one can be more religiously accusatory as an irreligious woke leftist.

Two thousand years ago the religious establishment was appalled that Jesus of Nazareth claimed the authority to forgive the sins of others. Eliminate belief in the Judge who is qualified to declare that mercy triumphs, and there is no grace.

Through the Holy Spirit, Paul wrote that

God’s law was given so that all people could see how sinful they were. But as people sinned more and more, God’s wonderful grace became more abundant. So just as sin ruled over all people and brought them to death, now God’s wonderful grace rules instead, giving us right standing with God and resulting in eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. (Romans 5:20-21 NLT)

No wonder the woke among us who deny transcendent love can be so graceless.

And that brings us to the tragedy that struck Kobe Bryant, his daughter, and seven others who died in the helicopter crash on January 26.

The smoke had hardly cleared before a Washington Post reporter tweeted a reminder of a 2003 case in which Bryant was accused of rape — later dropped. Another individual who classified himself as a “moral philosopher” wrote that we should not “pretend that the world has lost some kind of moral hero” in light of Bryant’s alleged sins. A starlet from Hollywood — the woke holy land — lamented the grief experienced by Kobe’s family, but in the same expression called him a “rapist.”

The graceless wokes want us to know how “honest” they are in looking at the “whole” man. The woke today with their inquisitional sermonizing at grand award events where they celebrate themselves and their self-righteousness remind one of the religious establishment Jesus described as being clean and sparkly on the outside while grimy on the inside. (Matthew 23:25)

“Any public figure is worth remembering in their totality even if that public figure is beloved and that totality unsettling,” wrote the Washington Post scribe.

The extravagance of grace is both shocking and amazing. No one can stand before the Judge of the universe without it. The good news of the New Covenant that God makes with humanity is that the Judge Himself has come down from the bench and entered the execution chamber in the place of the offender.

SOURCE: Christian Post, Wallace Henley

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Bethany Christian Services, the largest Christian adoption agency in the United States, said it will soon end international adoptions and will instead focus on supporting children in their home communities.

In a blog post, Bethany Christian Services revealed that its international adoption accreditation will expire in 2021. After that, it will no longer accept new applications.

“Our decision to phase out international adoption is not a criticism of the program, but a reflection of our desire to serve children in their own communities,” wrote Kristi Gleason, the vice president for global services at Bethany Christian Services, in the Jan. 21 post.

“The future of adoption is working with local governments, churches, and social services professionals around the world to recruit and support local families for children and to develop and improve effective, safe in-country child welfare systems. Through these efforts, we served more children around the world in 2019 than we previously served in a single year.”

According to its website, Bethany assisted in 15,000 adoptions over the course of the last four decades. In the blog post, Gleason noted that international adoptions to the U.S. dropped from nearly 30,000 children in 2004 to just over 4,000 in 2018.

The dip in numbers is not due to a lack of evangelical interest, however.

“In the last decade, international adoption practices have dramatically changed around the world,” Gleason wrote. “Nations like Russia, Guatemala, and Ethiopia have closed their doors to international adoption altogether. Other countries have changed their laws and practices, making it nearly impossible to adopt children internationally. In some places where we once helped hundreds of children find loving homes, we now process fewer than a dozen adoptions each year.”

SOURCE: Christian Post, Leah MarieAnn Klett

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A U.S. Department of Education regulatory reform officer has assured the nation’s Christian colleges that the agency is taking several steps to protect the religious liberty of their institutions and students, including a proposed rule currently up for public comment.

Robert Eitel, the senior counselor to Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos, spoke at the Council for Christian Colleges & Universities Presidents Conference on Capitol Hill Wednesday.

“The secretary is committed to respecting your convictions and free exercise of religious beliefs that our Constitution has protected,” Eitel told the audience gathered in the Dirksen Senate Office Building. “The freedom of religion is more than simply freedom. It is much more. In fact, Secretary DeVos says the First Amendment doesn’t exist to protect us from religion. It exists to protect religion from the government.”

Eitel, a lawyer who previously served as vice president for regulatory compliance for several post-secondary institutions, detailed various ways the administration is trying to ensure that faith-based institutions are not disadvantaged because of their religious mission.

He pointed out that President Donald Trump “set the table” for promoting religious freedom across all federal agencies with an executive order in 2017.

Also, the U.S. Supreme Court’s Trinity Lutheran ruling in 2017 and then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ 2017 memorandum on religious liberty have “laid the groundwork” for DeVos to propose important changes to the department’s regulations and rules, he added.

Last year, the department proposed a new rule to change accreditation regulations under the Higher Education Act. The final rule is set to go into effect this July. Eitel highlighted a few provisions in the rule that are of note to Christian higher education institutions.

“The takeaway is this,” he said. “An accreditation agency may not use as a negative factor the fact that you are a faith-based institution, that you have a religious mission.”

Concern was raised by Christian college leaders in 2018 after one accreditation agency proposed a new policy that would have removed a requirement for the agency to take into account institutions’ “specific and diverse” missions when assessing the schools’ commitment to diversity.

Eitel said the new rule defines what a religious mission is under the Higher Education Act.

“Congress mandated that agencies respect the diversity of missions in institutions, including religious missions. But there is no definition. We provided one in our regulation,” he said.

He explained that the definition of religious mission as defined by the rule is: “the published institutional mission that is approved by the governing body of an institution of postsecondary education that includes, refers to or is predicated by religious tenets, beliefs or teachings.”

“What is important there is this: There are several regulatory references … that relate to how accreditation agencies handle the issue of religious mission in schools. There are mandates in the regulation that require accreditation agencies to ensure consistency in decision making when it comes to faith-based institutions. There are also provisions related to procedures for submitting an application for recognition by accrediting agencies in the department and how the department [enforces] those regulations.”

Eitel said that the department is in the process of consulting with accreditation agencies about how they can comply with the new rule.

“We intend to enforce this aspect … in our own review of accreditation agencies,” he stated.

SOURCE: Christian Post, Samuel Smith

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Emmy Yang is a Theology, Medicine, and Culture Fellow at Duke Divinity School and a medical student at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. The views expressed in this commentary do not necessarily represent those of BCNN1.

From its epicenter in Wuhan, China, the current coronavirus outbreak is stoking fear and disrupting travel and business across the globe. More than 150 people have died from the virus in China alone, and more than 8,000 are infected across 20 countries—exceeding the SARS epidemic in 2003.

Citizens in Wuhan, a major central city comparable to Chicago, are under lockdown by the government and public activities have come to a standstill, including annual celebrations for Chinese New Year (which began on January 25). Chinese Christians, in Wuhan and China at large, have faced difficult decisions about whether to join the millions of Chinese who return home to visit family (as is customary during the lunar holiday season), to flee from the mainland, or even to gather for regular Sunday services.

But are followers of Jesus right to flee an epidemic when people are suffering and dying?

In the 16th century, German Christians asked theologian Martin Luther for a response to this very question.

In 1527, less than 200 years after the Black Death killed about half the population of Europe, the plague re-emerged in Luther’s own town of Wittenberg and neighboring cities. In his letter “Whether One May Flee from a Deadly Plague,” the famous reformer weighs the responsibilities of ordinary citizens during contagion. His advice serves as a practical guide for Christians confronting infectious disease outbreaks today.

First, Luther argued that anyone who stands in a relationship of service to another has a vocational commitment not to flee. Those in ministry, he wrote, “must remain steadfast before the peril of death.” The sick and dying need a good shepherd who will strengthen and comfort them and administer the sacraments—lest they be denied the Eucharist before their passing. Public officials, including mayors and judges, are to stay and maintain civic order. Public servants, including city-sponsored physicians and police officers, must continue their professional duties. Even parents and guardians have vocational duties toward their children.

Luther did not limit tending the sick to health care professionals. In a time when Wuhan faces a shortage of hospital beds and personnel, his counsel is especially relevant. The city, one of China’s largest with a population of about 11 million, is in the process of rapidly constructing two new hospitals to accommodate growing crowds of coronavirus patients. Lay citizens, without any medical training, may find themselves in a position of providing care to the sick. Luther challenges Christians to see opportunities to tend to the sick as tending to Christ himself (Matt. 25:41–46). Out of love for God emerges the practice of love for neighbor.

But Luther does not encourage his readers to expose themselves recklessly to danger. His letter constantly straddles two competing goods: honoring the sanctity of one’s own life, and honoring the sanctity of those in need. Luther makes it clear that God gives humans a tendency toward self-protection and trusts that they will take care of their bodies (Eph. 5:29; 1 Cor. 12:21–26). He defends public health measures such as quarantines and seeking medical attention when available. In fact, Luther proposes that not to do so is to act recklessly. Just as God has gifted humans with their bodies, so too he has gifted the medicines of the earth.

What if a Christian still desires to flee? Luther affirms that this may, in fact, be the believer’s faithful response, provided that no emergency exists and that they arrange substitutes who will “take care of the sick in their stead and nurse them.” Notably, Luther also reminds readers that salvation is independent of these good works. He ultimately tasks them to decide whether to flee or to stay during plagues, trusting that they will arrive at a faithful decision through prayer and meditation on the Scriptures. Participation in aiding the sick arises out of grace, not obligation.

Source: Christianity Today

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