Polaroid Launches Instagram Camera

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Polaroid Launches Instagram Camera

Polaroid, a company that’s synonymous with old-school instant cameras, is bringing its products into the social media age with the Polaroid Socialmatic. Now available for preorder through Amazon, the Socialmatic combines a classic instant camera with the ability to upload your photos to your favorite social media platforms — including, yes, Instagram.

The camera, which is a dead ringer for that Instagram app icon on your smartphone, features a 14-megapixel main camera and comes with a 2 MP rear camera for taking selfies, because of course it does.

Thanks to its Android operating system and 4.5-inch display, the Socialmatic can also be used as a kind of smart camera, so you can browse the Web and access your email.

Perhaps more importantly, though, you can download your favorite social media apps including Facebook, Twitter, and, of course, Instagram, so you can upload your photos to the web as soon as you’re within range of an available Wi-Fi signal.

The Socialmatic also includes built-in Bluetooth and GPS, so you can connect the camera to your smartphone, as well as add location data to your images, which means you’ll easily be able to see where they were taken.

And with 4 GB of onboard storage, and a microSD card slot that lets you add an additional 32 GB of space, you can save a massive number of photos and videos on the Socialmatic.

The camera pumps out 2 × 3 photos that Polaroid says are water-resistant and smudge-proof, which is a huge improvement over those runny instant photos of yore. Stacks of photo paper for the Socialmatic are also fairly cheap at $15 for a stack of 50…Read More

polaroid instagram 2

Source and Original Content by Yahoo

Gospel Singer Andraé Crouch Hospitalised

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Gospel Singer Andraé Crouch Hospitalised

The “Let the Church Say Amen” Celebration Tour tribute concert has been cancelled after legendary Gospel artist and pioneer Andraé Crouch was unexpectedly hospitalised on December 1.

Riverphlo Entertainment, the company in-charge of the celebration tour, decided to pospone the performances and told ticket holders they can contact the venues for the events new schedules, according to a Nashville Publicity Group press release.

Family members of Crouch assured his fans that the Gospel artist is not in any form of danger.

“Andraé is talking and alert and resting comfortably,” Sandra Crouch, Andraé’s sister said in a statement. “On behalf of Andraé and the Crouch family, we appreciate your prayers for a quick and speedy recovery.”

Crouch, 72, has recently faced various health problems, including diabetes and cancer.

Crouch is a singer, a songwriter and producer, and is inducted in the Gospel Music Hall of Fame.

From 1975 to 1994, Crouch won seven Grammy Awards and from 1977 to 1997, he bagged six Dove Awards. Together with his music accolades, he has also worked in the movie industry with films like “A Time To Kill,” “The Color Purple” and “The Lion King.”

The celebration tour, comprised of an all-star cast, was supposed to begin on December 6 and pay tribute to Crouch’s contribution to the Gospel music industry. Top Gospel artists to be featured in the tour includedMarvin Sapp, CeCe Winans, Marvin Winans, Rance Allen, Israel Houghton, Marcus Cole, Gerald Albright, Keith Staten, Leon Timbo and Vonnie Lopez.

The Riverphlo company has decided to push the the concert back to April or May next year and promised ticket holders that it would announce a new schedule before Christmas.

Source and Content by Christian Today

Hip Hop Artiste Speaks on the Importance of Tithing; Credits God’s Favor for His Successes

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Hip Hop Artiste Speaks on the Importance of Tithing; Credits God’s Favor for His Successes

Rapper and actor LL Cool J appeared on Hot 97 in New York City for an interview last week where he discussed elements of his personal faith including his tithing.

When asked about his over 20 years career in the world of hip-hop and how he’s been able to maintain relevance all these years with his music and acting in shows such as NCIS, he credited God and also discussed the importance of giving, more specifically tithing.

“I mentioned earlier longevity, versatility and originality,” LL Cool J said. “What I didn’t mention was spirituality and believing in God.

He continued: “Every dime I get, no matter what it is, I give 10 percent to the church. I’m a life-long tither. I believe strongly in giving. I believe you got to have that faith. And I’ve seen it work in my life, because as much as people in the world like to take credit and claim to be geniuses, at the end of the day there’s a higher power than you, and you got to answer to that power.”

The interview also revealed that the hip-hop pioneer and legend attends Greater Allen African Methodist Episcopal Cathedral in Jamaica, Queen, New York, which is pastored by former Democratic congressman Floyd Flake.

LL Cool J further commented that he’s “unique” and “an anomaly” in the hip-hop industry because he’s been able to maintain his career while others are no longer in the business.

“I’ve been blessed to be able to transcend eras,” he said. “That’s like a blessing. I’m kind of an anomaly. I’m unique in that way. Sometimes the stars line-up. God gives people favor in different areas, and in that particular area he’s just blessed me to be able to relate consistently to all different generations.”

LL Cool J will be joining another self-proclaimed anomaly as he will be performing alongside Lecrae at this year’s Christmas in Brooklyn event in Brooklyn, New York, on Dec. 19. The show will feature other hip-hop legends, including LL Cool J’s former Def Jam label mates Run DMC.

Source and Original Content by CP

New Movie: ‘The Christmas Secret’

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New Movie: ‘The Christmas Secret’

The author of the best-selling book “The Christmas Shoes,” and the subsequent hit TV movie, Donna VanLiere is returning to television this holiday season with “The Christmas Secret.”

Based on VanLiere’s novel of the same title, the film offers a similar message of hope, faith, and perseverance as “The Christmas Shoes,” which held audiences spellbound in 2002. In fact, “The Christmas Shoes” spawned an entire franchise including sequels and additional TV movies. Discussing the latest addition to the “Christmas” franchise, VanLiere said “The Christmas Secret” will harken the holiday spirit when it airs on Hallmark’s Movies & Mysteries Channel on Dec. 7.

“The same rang true for this book that has been for the other books,” the New York Times best-selling author told CP. “It’s the sense that there are difficulties and challenges and there is great pain, because none of us get through life without bumps and bruises along the way, but by that last page I always want the reader to know that hope is alive.”

The author, whose career is molded by her faith, explained that her own difficulties in life would be unbearable without her beliefs.

“They always say write about what you know,” she said. “I am not a theologian, but I do know there has been pain in my own life, difficulties, and very many lows in my own life, but if I didn’t have hope it would be extremely difficult to face those challenges.”

VanLiere went on to recall an unforgettable email from a fan of the “Christmas” series who revealed that her spouse became a Christian after reading “The Christmas Shoes.”

“You know the email that really sticks out to me the most. I have received a lot over the years, but this particular email was a woman who said, ‘I was the Christian in our marriage; I married someone who wasn’t a believer. This book turned his life around,'” VanLiere recounted.

“What touched him in such a way?” VanLiere mused. “I don’t know what it is. We can’t question matters of the heart or what brings people to God, He can use anything, He can use a pair of shoes. That really hit home … this book brought someone to God, such a simple little book. I don’t question the simple things anymore because God really does use a sunrise, sunset, blooming flower, pages of a book to bring someone to Him. That email made a lasting impression on me.”

“A Christmas Secret” follows the life of Christine Eisley, a single mom who is down on her luck and desperately seeking stable ground for her family. Through prayer and perseverance, Christine not only turns her luck around, but also finds true love just in time for Christmas.

“The Christmas Secret” premieres Sunday, Dec. 7 at 9 p.m. ET on the Hallmark Movies & Mysteries channel

Source and Original Content by Christian Post

Grammy Awards 2015 Recognizes Christian Gospel Artistes

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Grammy Awards 2015 Recognizes Christian Gospel Artistes

The nominees for the Grammy Awards arrived on Friday, offering recognition to leading Christian artists in a variety of categories this year.

Among the Best Gospel Album nominees is Erica Campbell with “Help,” her debut studio album, Ricky Dillard & New G with their album “Amazing,” and William McDowell with “Withholding Nothing: Live.”

“OMG!!! @TheGrammys yaaaaayyyyy!!! So honored to be nominated for Best Gospel Album!! #HELP,” Campbell posted on Twitter on Dec. 5.

Rounding out the category is Smokie Norful with “Forever Yours” and Anita Wilson with her album “Vintage Worship.” Each artist took to their own Twitter pages as well.

“Wow! Thank you @TheGrammys!! Grateful for the nomination for Best Gospel Album! #ForeverYours,” Norful shared with his thousands of Twitter followers.

For her part, Wilson wrote, “GOD IS INCREDIBLE!!! Congrats to ALL the nominees! Yay!”

The Gospel Album category is not the only Grammy Award to recognize Christian artists this year. Country music legend Glen Campbell who documented his fight against Alzheimer’s is also nominated this year for his song “I’m Not Gonna Miss You” in the Best Country Song category. Lecrae also scooped a nomination this year for Contemporary Christian Performance/Song for “The Messenger.”

Furthermore, Christians have been making history at the Grammy Awards recently. In 2012, Lecrae won the Grammy for Best Gospel Album with his album “Gravity,” becoming the first purely hip-hop artist to ever win the award.

Meanwhile, other Grammy nods went to artists such as Sam Smith and Beyonce who each received a total of five nominations. Taylor Swift, Iggy Azalea, Sia, Meghan Trainor, and Hozier are also up for Grammy Awards this year. The late Joan Rivers earned a nomination for best spoken word album for “Diary of a Mad Diva” as well. For a full list of nominations, visit here. The Grammy Awards will air live on Feb. 8 from Los Angeles’ Staples Center.

Source and Original Content by Christian Post

Video: US Church Holds #BlackLivesMatter Protest

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Video: US Church Holds #BlackLivesMatter Protest

Trinity United Church of Christ took matters into their own hands to march in light of the police brutality that is trending media.

Church Welcomes Matt and Grace Huang After Nearly 2 Years In Qatar

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Church Welcomes Matt and Grace Huang After Nearly 2 Years In Qatar

A standing ovation erupted inside the Lake Avenue Church in Pasadena during Sunday morning service as Matt and Grace Huang were called before the congregation.

The Asian American couple, who were detained in Qatar for almost two years before recently being cleared in the death of their 8-year-old daughter, hugged their two young sons, as some parishioners’ eyes filled with tears. The couple’s captivity drew international headlines.

They thanked the crowd of more than 2,000 for their prayers and support.

Coming back and worshipping with fellow Christians is “just something that we longed for – for so long,” Matt Huang told the parishioners, gathered in a sanctuary aglow with holiday lights. He described the pair’s battle for freedom as having “taught us patience,” adding that they are discovering “amazing, hidden blessings” God bestowed on them “through this crisis.”

“To have you home is the greatest Christmas present that we could ever, ever have,” Senior Pastor Greg Waybright said. He compared the couple’s plight to false accusations faced by Jesus, urging his congregation to keep turning to God for refuge and strength.

The Huang saga began with their arrest in January 2013, when officials in Doha, the capital of Qatar, accused them of starving their adopted daughter to death, with the intent to sell her organs on the black market. Authorities refused to accept their explanation that Gloria died from an eating disorder complicated by the childhood hunger she suffered in her native Ghana.

The Huangs spent nearly a year in jail, as their adopted sons, now 7 and 12, bounced around in foster care until they were able to return to the U.S. to stay with their maternal grandmother. Meanwhile, authorities convicted their parents of child endangerment, despite a botched autopsy and without sharing any evidence with the defendants.

Being in legal limbo cost Matt Huang, an engineer sent to Qatar to help with building new infrastructure for the country’s 2025 World Cup, his job and mounting legal bills eventually forced the couple to sell their San Gabriel Valley home to pay off debts. From the start, their representatives at the Los Angeles-based David House Agency, an expert in managing international crisis, called their case “a tragic cultural misunderstanding” in a nation where Western-style adoptions and cross-cultural families are extremely rare…Read More

Source and Original Content by BCNN1

Arcbishop Spoiling for a Fight with PM over Food Banks

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Arcbishop Spoiling for a Fight with PM over Food Banks

The Archbishop of Canterbury is heading for a row with the Government over calls for a £150 million State-funded system of food banks to help feed the poorest people in Britain.

Shocked by the suffering of those going hungry in the UK, Archbishop Justin Welby wants the Prime Minister, David Cameron, to accept European funds to support food banks and other measures to help those falling through the net as the austerity measures bite.

Writing in the Mail on Sunday, the Archbishop calls for more to be done to help hungry families.

Tomorrow, Archbishop Welby will launch a Parliamentary report that calls for a new public body, Feeding Britain, to be set up and for bigger food banks to distribute more free food and advise people on benefits and home budgets.

The inquiry, set up earlier this year with financial backing from the Archbishop’s charitable trust, has taken evidence on the extent and causes of hunger in Britain, the scope of provision to alleviate it and draws comparisons with other Western countries.

It is headed jointly by Labour MP Frank Field and the Bishop of Truro, Tim Thornton, a passionate supporter of food banks. Archbishop Welby has been involved throughout and according to the Mail on Sunday, the report pays tribute to “the support he has given throughout our inquiry.”

Writing in the newspaper, Archbishop Welby said food was being wasted at “astonishing” levels across the UK and that hunger stalks large parts of the country.

Families were being forced to turn to food banks to make ends meet even when they were in employment.

He admitted it was less serious but still said the plight of a family who turned to a food bank in Britain shocked him more than terrible suffering in Africa because it was so unexpected.

“In one corner of a refugee camp in the Democratic Republic of Congo was a large marquee. Inside were children, all ill. They had been separated from family, friends, those who looked after them. Perhaps, mostly having disabilities, they had been abandoned in the panic of the militia attack that drove them from their homes. Now they were hungry…Read More

Source and Original Content by CT

Pope Francis Sends Video Message to Christian Faithfuls in Iraq

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Pope Francis Sends Video Message to Christian Faithfuls in Iraq

Pope Francis has thanked Iraqi Christians for giving witness to Christ in the region.

The Holy Father has released a video message for believers in the country who are being targeted by Islamic State militants.

Tens of thousands have been forced to flee their homes by the extremists who are trying to set up a Caliphate ruled by strict Islamic law.

Pope Francis said: “I wish I could be there with you but since I am not able to travel there I am here with you this way.

“I am very close to you during these difficult times.

“I thank you for the witness you are giving and I know how much suffering there is in this witness. Thank you. Thank you so much.

“It seems like they do not want the presence of Christians in these places but you are there giving witness to Christ.”

Source and Original Content by Premier Christian News

Franklin Graham Speaks on the Islamic Religion

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Franklin Graham Speaks on the Islamic Religion

The son of Billy Graham who now heads his father’s evangelistic organisation has described Islam as a “religion of war” and urged Christians to attempt to convert Muslims to their own faith.

Franklin Graham, the fourth of Billy Graham’s five children, said he had not softened his stance since he controversially referred to Islam as a “very wicked and evil religion” in the wake of the 9/11 attacks in 2001 that brought down the World Trade Centre in New York.

More recently, he criticised The Episcopal Church’s National Cathedral in Washington for permitting its first Muslim prayer service. On his Facebook page he wrote: “It’s sad to see a church open its doors to the worship of anything other than the One True God of the Bible who sent His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, to earth to save us from our sins.”

His views contrast with those of the Pope, who on his recent three-day visit to Turkey was moved to pray alongside Grand Mufti Rahmi Yaran in Istanbul’s Blue Mosque. Beside working to build better relations with Muslims, Pope Francis is also reaching out to evangelicals, a move which came about because of his friendship with the late Bishop Tony Palmer, a charismatic of the Communion of Evangelical Episcopal Churches.

Franklin Graham told Christian Today that his own views on Islam remained the same as in 2001.

“I have not changed my opinion at all.” He said he looked at Islamic State, at the Taliban and Boko Haram and thought: “This is Islam. It has not been hijacked by radicals. This is the faith, this is the religion. It is what it is. It speaks for itself.”

He added: “I think it is very important that we do all that we can to try to share God’s love with Muslims because they have no hope outside of dying in Jihad. I want them to know, you do not have to die for God. God died for us. He sent His Son to die for us. We do not have to kill ourselves to please God. I want them to know that they can have eternal life.”

Islam itself had not changed at all in 1500 years, he added. “It is the same. It is a religion of war.”

He said he was “sad” that Muslims in the Washington cathedral had “turned their back on the Cross” to worship “another God”. Graham said: “The God of Islam is not the same God of the Judaeo-Christian faith. “The God that we worship in Christianity is a God that has a Son. To Islam, that is blasphemy, to say that God has a son. Therefore, they do not worship the God that we worship.”

Franklin Graham has made an international impact as head of Samaritan’s Purse, a charity whose international relief projects include Operation Christmas Child, where churches and individuals fill shoeboxes with gifts that are donated to children in more than 100 countries…Read More

Source and Original Content by CT

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