Actor on a Quest to Save Christmas

-
0
Actor on a Quest to Save Christmas

In an interview with Assist News Service founder, Dan Wooding, for his Front Page Radio show, Cameron shared about his latest movie, “Kirk Cameron’s Saving Christmas,” that will open in select theaters on November 14, 2014, for two weeks only.

The popular actor said he thinks Christmas is the most important holiday of the year. “I love Christmas,” he said. “I love everything about it. It’s my favorite time of year—I just love when all the Christmas cookies are being baked, love the smell of chestnuts being roasted over a fire. I love Christmas trees and the Christmas carols setting up the nativity, everything. But Christmas is falling on hard times these days.

“It seems more and more commercialism and secularism is pushing ‘the Baby in the manger’ to the back seat. And while many might like to see Christmas deleted from the calendar, I think that Christmas ought to be put front and center especially at this time of year.”

Cameron then commented that his new feature film, which he says, is going to teach people a lot about the true meaning of Christmas.

“This is a story about my sister who is throwing a Christmas party at her house and everyone’s having a great time—except her husband who is sitting in his car in the driveway sulking and complaining that all the decorations and festivities are not what Christmas is all about. And so I go out to the car and teach him how to see Christmas through new eyes…Read More

Source and Original Content by BCN

Steps to Putting That Sin to Death

-
0
Steps to Putting That Sin to Death

It’s a battle we all must fight. It’s a battle we all must fight from this moment until the moment we die. It’s a battle fraught with discouragement and setbacks, yet a battle we all can and must win. It’s the battle against sin.

All throughout the New Testament we are told to put our sin to death. For example, in Colossians 3 Paul says, “Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry.” How do you do that? How do you stop a sin, and how do you stop an especially stubborn and deep-rooted sin? Is there any hope? I want to track with John Owen here (via his great work Overcoming Sin and Temptation) and give a list of 9 things you need to do to overcome sin. Consider that sin that is prevalent in your life and then consider each of these 9 steps.

#1. Evaluate

Evaluate whether your sin is especially serious and deep-rooted. You have heard it said that “all sin is the same,” and there is a sense in which this is true—every single sin alienates you from God. However, some sins are more serious than others because they bring more serious consequences. The most serious sins are the ones that have gone so deep that they are now habitual; your subconscious habits now lead you to sin again and again. Consider your sin. Is it manifested in your habits? Do you sin almost an auto-pilot? Is it easier to sin than to do what is right? If it is, your sin is especially deep and you will need an extra measure of God’s help to battle it and overcome it.

#2. Fill

Fill your mind and conscience with the guilt, the weight, and the evil of your sin. Sin always tries to convince you that it isn’t very serious and that it is not worth worrying about. “Come on. Others have sinned worse. This is just a little sin. You deserve this.” But God wants you to know that your sin is eternally serious and absolutely worth worrying about. You need to consider just how dangerous your sin is, how it dishonors God, how it calls upon God to discipline you, how it makes you less useful in the Lord’s work, and even how it may show that you are not saved at all. Let that sin sit heavy in your mind and soul. Never succumb to the temptation to minimize it.

#3. Load

Load your conscience with the guilt of your sin. Compare your sin to God’s law, to what he demands of you and promises you can have if only you take hold of righteousness. Feel the guilt that you have incurred. Consider how patient and kind God has been with you in allowing you to go on without striking you down for your sin. Consider all the ways he has been gracious to you. Look to the gospel, not for forgiveness yet, but for the ultimate picture of the cost of your sin. See Christ suffering for your sin and don’t turn away your gaze. Feel all of that. Feel the weight, the guilt of it.

#4. Long

Long for deliverance from the sin. Now you are in the right frame of heart and frame of mind to desire deliverance from that sin. When you know and feel the weight of your sin, you will want to put that sin to death for the best reasons. You will no longer hate that sin merely out of fear of consequences or fear of shame or embarrassment. Now you will rightly see the cost and guilt of your sin, and you will long to be delivered from it so God can be glorified in you. Long for it. Pant for it. Cry out for it.

#5. Consider

Consider how this sin is amplified by your nature or constitution. You need to consider whether there is something in your makeup that makes you especially prone to this sin. Some people come from whole families of alcoholics and it may be that there is some kind of predisposition to addiction within them. Or perhaps you were sinned against earlier in life and the sins that were committed against you seem to make you especially prone to a sin of your own. Though these things may be true, you cannot allow them to excuse your sin. Instead, allow them to further convince you of your weakness and your desperate need for God’s strength. Being predisposed toward a certain sin puts the burden on you to fight even harder against it, to destroy it even more completely, and to be especially vigilant in watching out for its reappearance.

#6. Contemplate

Contemplate the occasions in which this sin breaks out and guard against them. Now think about the times when you fall into this sin. What are the occasions? What happens right before you sin? What are the habits or patterns that lead to it? Think about these things, know what you do before you actually commit the sin, and stop the downward spiral long before it gets to the point of sinning. You never commit a big sin without first sliding down a long and slippery slope of little sins. So consider those little sins, identify the patterns, and learn to stop the little sins…Read More

Source and Original Content by CP

Religious Freedom Restoration Act Under Increasing Attack

-
0
Religious Freedom Restoration Act Under Increasing Attack

The Religious Freedom Restoration Act is under increasing attack since the U.S. Supreme Court’sHobby Lobby decision that granted “closely-held” businesses an exemption from the birth control mandate, religious freedom lawyers claimed at the Federalist Society’s annual National Lawyers Convention.

In response to the Hobby Lobby case and possible religious exemption cases citing it, there may come a “softening” of the decision by judges over the coming years, explained members of a panel event on Thursday on the topic of religious liberty.

Kim Colby, senior counsel at the Christian Legal Society, said to those gathered that since the Supreme Court’s decision in Burwell v. Hobby Lobby, Inc., efforts to undermine religious exemptions have increased.

“Throughout 2014 we’ve watched attacks on RFRA and on religious liberty itself gain new intensity,” stated Colby, “in the Spring, state RFRAs were vilified in Arizona, Georgia, and Mississippi” over efforts to exempt businesses from having to patron gay weddings if their owners hold religious objections to the practice…Read More

Source and Original Content by CP

Christian Fighters Hoist Flag Above Town Recaptured from ISIS

-
0
Christian Fighters Hoist Flag Above Town Recaptured from ISIS

The residents of a pre-dominantly Christian Assyrian hamlet in northern Iraq are bravely holding off the Islamic State after driving the militants out a few weeks ago.

Bakufa was taken over by the Islamic State along with 22 other villages nearby in a frighteningly efficient offensive across the region during the summer.

While many of the residents were forced to flee to Kurdish towns and cities elsewhere, the Iraqi Kurdish peshmerga fighters successfully reclaimed the village and have now established a militia of volunteers to stand guard around the clock, the Associated Press reports.

The militia goes by the name of Dwekh Nawsha, meaning “self-sacrifice” in Assyrian, and is made up of around 70 volunteers.

The Associated Press reports that the militiamen must provide their own weapons and are relying on Christian charities abroad and wealthier members of the Iraqi Assyrian community to survive.

Now the flag of the Assyrian Patriotic Party has been hoisted over the village and the hope is that the militia will be able to hold off any further attacks from the IS so that all the villagers can return home… Read More

Source and Original Content by Christian Today

Middle East Christians Appeal for Pope’s Help

-
0
Middle East Christians Appeal for Pope’s Help

Middle Eastern Christian leaders have appealed to the Pope to help find two bishops who were kidnapped in Syria last year.

Pope Francis met leaders of the Eastern churches in Rome this week, in a meeting organised by the Focolare movement. There Theophilos Kuriakose, metropolitan of the Syriac-Orthodox Church of Antioch, asked the Holy Father to intervene during his visit to Turkey this month.

Aleppo’s Syriac Orthodox Archbishop Mar Gregorios Yohanna Ibrahim and the Greek Orthodox Archbishop Boulos Yazig were kidnapped in April last year, and are believed to be held by anti-Syrian government forces.

At the meeting Pope Francis held the metropolitan’s hand and, according to the latter, he said “I am deeply united with you, and I pray for these two bishops, and I will do my level best for their release and for the suffering people in the Middle East.”

The metropolitan said the Pope’s words were “very profound”, and came “from his heart’

The churchmen also said that ISIS were being supported by other groups: “ISIS is not a sudden, but the preparations are long back,” he said “ISIS is backed by many groups around there”.

Among the countries accused of funding ISIS in their struggle against President Bashar al-Assad of Syria are Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Qatar.

Source and Original Content by Catholic Herald

11-Year Old Boy Cast to Speak as God in ‘Exodus: Gods and Kings

-
0
11-Year Old Boy Cast to Speak as God in ‘Exodus: Gods and Kings

Ridley Scott’s “Exodus: Gods and Kings” will open in theaters Dec. 12. According to the Hollywood Reporter, the portrayal of God in the movie may cause controversy with Christians.

Director Ridley Scott cast 11-year-old British actor Isaac Andrews to play the role of Malak in the film. In Scott’s interpretation of the story, Moses meets Malak in front of a burning bush and it becomes apparent to Moses that God is speaking through Malak.

Scott said, “Sacred texts give no specific depiction of God, so for centuries artists and filmmakers have had to choose their own visual depiction. Malak exudes innocence and purity, and those two qualities are extremely powerful.”

Rabbi David Baron, a consultant on the film, believes that Scott’s decision to portray God speaking through a child may cause controversy, because that is not what the Bible says.

“They went off the biblical text, but the biblical text was very terse,” Baron said.

Still, Baron believes that “anything that will result in people taking a second look at the text and engaging with the Bible” is a positive thing.

Source and Original Content by Christian Headlines

T. D. Jakes Gains Film Rights

-
0
T. D. Jakes Gains Film Rights

The memoir-style book centers on Carter Paysinger, who became the first black principal in the 80-year history of Beverly Hills High School

Hot off the success of the faith-based hit Heaven Is for Real, producer T.D. Jakes has scooped up film rights to another inspirational tale, Carter Paysinger and Steve Fenton’s Where a Man Stands: Two Different Worlds, an Impossible Situation, and the Unexpected Friendship That Changed Everything.

The memoir-style book centers on Paysinger, a black student from the wrong side of town who landed hard at the upscale, mostly white Beverly Hills High, and his friendship with Fenton, a Jewish kid with whom he had little in common. Years later, Paysinger became a coach, teacher and eventually the first African-American principal in the storied school’s 80-year history. That perch gave him the opportunity to team with Fenton to turn around the school and help the community that put him on the path to success.

Paysinger and Fenton collaborated on the book, which was published Nov. 4 by Howard Books, an imprint of Simon & Schuster.

The story, which sparked the interest of a number of production companies and studios, is playing well in the Hollywood orbit. In fact, Paysinger and Fenton started the Beverly Hills Athletic Alumni Association seven years ago and enlisted such industryites as Beverly Hills High alums Bob Gersh, Eric Tannenbaum (Two and a Half Men), Gary Newman (20th Century Fox Television), Alan Nierob (Rogers & Cowan) actor Corbin Bernsen, Brad Turell (Paradigm), entertainment attorneys David Weber and Darren Trattner, and manager Allen Fischer (Principato Young)…Read More

Source and Original Content by BCNN1

Pastor Holds Bible Study on Sidewalk After Being Fired From Church

-
0
Pastor Holds Bible Study on Sidewalk After Being Fired From Church

A Douglas County pastor has been fired and banned from his own church, but returned for bible study Wednesday night.

God’s house is not the place where you would expect a minister to be arrested, but that’s exactly what happened to Pastor Darryl Momon after nine years of service as the Senior Pastor of Old Mountain Top Baptist Church. Momon says he was arrested for trespassing after he tried to return to preach at the church.

The small church of 80 members is divided. A deacon board fired the pastor back in June and give him a $4,000 severance check, but the 52-year-old preacher and several church members contend that ousting was illegal. They say Momon has been reinstated by a majority of the congregation who followed church by-laws.

“They came to arrest me and when they took me out the congregation had an emergency meeting,” said Momon.

Many congregational members tell FOX 5 according to church bi-laws, the congregation has the final word on whom they want to be their spiritual leader.

The Douglas County Sheriff’s Office says they are trying to keep peace.

“We started getting calls on Sundays where people were disrupting the church and arguing back and forth and we had to intervene,” said Chief Deputy Stan Copeland…Read More

BCNN1

Church Says “Christian Teachings in Schools Is Being Undermined by Push for British Values”

-
0
Church Says “Christian Teachings in Schools Is Being Undermined by Push for British Values”

Nicky Morgan’s drive to promote British values in schools undermines Christian teaching and is potentially dangerous, divisive and undemocratic, the Church of England has warned.

The Education Secretary was accused of adopting a ‘narrow’ set of values following the Trojan Horse scandal, ignoring Christian concepts such as ‘loving one’s neighbour’.

The Church, which is responsible for teaching about one million English children, fears Mrs Morgan’s definition of Britishness could be used too narrowly to test whether individuals are ‘safe’ and ‘loyal’ citizens.

It also criticised the use of Ofsted inspectors to ‘police’ the teaching of equality and diversity.

The comments come in response to rules, drawn up by former education secretary Michael Gove, intended to prevent Muslim extremism in schools, following claims of a plot to take over governing bodies in Birmingham.

Schools must ‘actively promote’ British values such as democracy, tolerance, mutual respect, individual liberty and the rule of law.

But complaints have been made that, in efforts to prevent religious extremism, the rules are having ‘disturbing consequences’ for moderate faith schools…Read More

Source and Original Content by Dailymail

Religious Leaders Jointly Condemn Persecution of Minorities

-
0
Religious Leaders Jointly Condemn Persecution of Minorities

Gathering at “a time of severe tension and conflict,” particularly in the Middle East, 24 Catholic and Muslim leaders and scholars have urged dialogue to promote greater respect and understanding and condemned all acts of violence committed in the name of religion.

The Catholic-Muslim Forum met at the Vatican from November 11 to 13 while newspapers continued to be filled with stories of ISIS forces committing violence against Christians and other minorities in Iraq and Syria, and just days after violence erupted around the Jerusalem holy site known as Haram al-Sharif by Muslims and as Temple Mount by Jews.

The 12 Catholic and 12 Muslim participants in the forum “unanimously condemned acts of terrorism, oppression, violence against innocent persons, persecution, desecration of sacred places, and the destruction of cultural heritage,” said a statement released at the end of the meeting.

It is never acceptable to use religion to justify such acts or to conflate such acts with religion,” said the delegates, who were led by Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran, president of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue, and Seyyed Hossein Nasr, a professor of Islamic studies at George Washington University in Washington DC…Read More

Source and Original Content by Catholic Herald

1...3,7953,7963,797...3,893Page 3,796 of 3,893