Topic: Let God Arise I [Open Heavens 5 Monday March 2018] Memorise: “Thou shalt arise, and have mercy upon Zion: for the time to favour her, yea, the set time, is come.” – Psalm 102:13 Read: Psalm 68:1-3 (KJV) 1…
(Photo: REUTERS/Yuri Gripas)Visitors stand in line outside the Supreme Court in Washington, U.S., November 27, 2017.
Christianity is a faith with a long and detailed history, with numerous events of lasting significance occurring throughout the ages.
Each week brings the anniversaries of great milestones, horrid tragedies, amazing triumphs, telling tribulations, inspirational progress, and everything in between.
Here are just a few things that happened this week, Mar. 4-10, in Church history. They include the death of Martin Niemoller, the publication of America’s first religious magazine, and a Supreme Court ruling against religious instruction in public schools.
America’s First Religious Magazine Released – March 5, 1743
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(Photo: Public Domain)Popular eighteenth century evangelist George Whitefield, (1714-1770).
This week marks the anniversary of when The Christian History, colonial America’s first magazine devoted primarily to religious issues, was published.
Printed in Boston and released every Saturday, The Christian History was a byproduct of the First Great Awakening, a time of large-scale spiritual revival in the British colonies of North America.
“The Christian History was modeled on revival magazines such as [George Whitefield’s]…
Please my God heals me spiritually, physically, mentally, financially and all the areas of my life; and delivers me completely and gives me a complete victory over all my enemies in Jesus’ Name. Amen.
(Photo: Azusa Pacific University)Students converse on the campus of Azusa Pacific University in Azusa, California in 2017.
While most Christian colleges in the United States have been predominantly white institutions, there is an ongoing movement within Christian higher education to diversify student and faculty bodies to ensure that the diversity in God’s Kingdom is reflected in His schools.
More than eight out of 10 students (82.2 percent) who attended schools affiliated with the Council of Christian Colleges and Universities in 1999 were white. But today, the white students on the nearly 140 campuses affiliated with the CCCU in the United States only account for about six out of every 10 students (62.2 percent in 2016).
A difference of two students per every 10 students took much work among CCCU administrators who recognized the lack of diversity was a problem. Those efforts were evident at this year’s CCCU quadrennial International Forum, held Jan. 31–Feb. 2 in Grapevine, Texas.
The forum featured a number of speakers and panel discussions focusing on issues of diversity and inclusion within one of the world’s largest associations of Christian colleges.
“Back [at the 2006 CCCU International Forum] there were very few sessions offered on…
A short walk from the Dutch Reformed-turned-Anglican church in historic Melaka are the 16th century ruins of a Catholic church from when this part of Malaysia was a Portuguese colonial outpost.
Know as St. Paul’s, the originally Roman Catholic church, once under the control of the Jesuits, dates to 1521 and was gradually enlarged over the ensuing decades. St. Francis Xavier even founded a Jesuit school here in 1548. It would also serve as an important staging ground for missionaries to Japan and China.
When Melaka, or Malacca as it was called until recently, became Dutch in 1641 the church became a Dutch Reformed house of worship until the construction of the present-day church in the 1750s. This in turn became Anglican after the British gained Dutch colonial possessions in the Far East.
Today, St. Paul’s is an open-air ruin — the roof, windows and doors are long gone, though the walls are in surprisingly good condition.
What makes this a must-visit when church crawling across Southeast Asia are the historic tombstones scattered throughout the ruined church.
Some of them are centuries old, dating to the earliest period of Portuguese occupation.
It’s definitely not something you would expect in Malaysia.
And if you speak Latin, you should understand the inscriptions.
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Just a week after the Florida school shooting where 17 people died, hundreds of people bought AR-15 rifles to the building of the World Peace and Unification Sanctuary to renew wedding vows in a ‘Perfection Level’ blessing.
The Unification Sanctuary group was founded on claims that the current pastor’s father, Rev Sun Myung Moon, had an encounter with Jesus at the age of 15. They now refer to Rev Moon as ‘True Father’.
This event was pre-planned and featured members wearing crowns with bullets in, women in white and men in suits who told reporters that rifles were “just a form of protection” and that is was a “loving” and “peaceful” ceremony.
Advertising the event on their website, the group wrote: “Blessed couples are requested to bring the accouterments of the nation of Cheon Il Guk, crowns representing the sovereignty of Kings and Queens, and a “rod of iron,” designated by the Second King as an AR15 semiautomatic rifle or equivalents such as an AK semiautomatic rifle, representing both the intent and the ability to defend one’s family, community and “nation of Cheon Il Guk.”
Guests are also informed though that if they cannot “purchase and legally transport such a “rod of iron” because of laws barring the purchase of such weapons, or other reasons, couples are invited to purchase a $700 gift certificate from a gun store, as evidence of their…
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