The post Open Heaven 14 June 2019 – Conditions for the Anointing appeared first on Flatimes.
Jon Stewart Delivers Impassioned Speech Propelling Bill to Fund Medical Expenses for 9/11 First Responders Forward
Long-term funding for the 9/11 Victim Compensation Fund is a step closer to reality after the House Judiciary Committee approved the spending bill on Wednesday – a day after a stinging and sometimes-emotional scolding by comedian Jon Stewart.
“Your indifference cost these men and women their most valuable commodity—time! It’s the one thing they’re running out of,” Stewart said during the subcommittee hearing.
“They responded in five seconds. They did their jobs – with courage, grace, tenacity, humility. Eighteen years later – do yours,” he asserted.
“They did their jobs…18 years later, do yours!”In angry and impassioned remarks, Jon Stewart appeals to Congress to make 9/11 victim compensation fund permanent. Watch his full opening statement: https://t.co/pfQHOFGcgD pic.twitter.com/uEvmYs65Vx
— ABC News (@ABC) June 11, 2019
Steward, who has advocated for the fund for years, was incensed when an entire row of committee seats was empty during his testimony. Every seat behind Stewart was filled with first responders.
At one point, the room erupted into applause as Steward suggested the hearing roles should be reversed.
“This hearing should be flipped. These men and women should be up on this stage, Congress should be down here answering their questions as to why this is so d*** hard and takes so d***…
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Pastor to work solely on social media
Stockton Parish Church is advertising a vacancy for a newly created position of a social media pastor.
The job advert describes the position as a “pioneering role aimed at engaging Generation Z and millennials through social media”.
Rev Mark Miller (pictured below) from the church told Premier that he discovered the power of social media after giving up Facebook during Lent.
“I then ironically found myself on YouTube instead. And discovered that YouTube is a real social media presence – I thought it was just for my teenage daughters – but discovered real grown adults do an awful lot of interesting stuff on YouTube.”
He warned that millennials and Generation Z spend their time on social media, and “the world is bombarding them with imagery and influence that is not Jesus centered”.
“We as a church need to have a presence there and reclaim some of that space.
“So the role of the social media pastor is to be an authentic presence in the social media world. And in part that will mean having an active YouTube presence.”
The Church of England designated Stockton Parish as a ‘resource church’ so it received a strategic development fund grant to help it grow and plant new churches.
Rev Miller said he hoped to explore if there was a way to make money from social media to contribute towards the work of the church.
The closing date for applications is 1pm on Sunday 7th…
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Maine Legalizes Medically Assisted Suicide
Maine’s Governor signed a bill into law Wednesday that will make it legal for terminally ill patients to pursue medically assisted suicide. Governor Janet Mills approved the law, named the “Death with Dignity Act,” after it narrowly passed both houses of the Maine legislature.
The bill allows Maine residents who are over 18, mentally competent and afflicted with an illness that would bring death within six months may request life-ending medication. First, they must submit one written request and two verbal requests, which are each followed by a waiting period. Then, they must get two physicians to agree that the medication would be appropriate in the patient’s situation. The doctors must also check for conditions which could impair the patient’s judgment.
Even though the law is medically-assisted suicide, the legislation says that it should not be considered “suicide, assisted suicide, mercy killing, or homicide under the law.”
Governor Mills explained her support for the measure in a release from her office. She said, “It is not up to the government to decide who may die and who may live, when they shall die or how long they shall live.” She continued, “While I do not agree that the right of the individual is so absolute, I do believe it is a right that should be protected in law, along with protections for those who are unable to articulate their informed choices and those…
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Dean of Wakefield offers concession to objectors of women priests
It has been three months since the Church of England’s independent reviewer criticised Wakefield Cathedral, which had stopped publishing the name of the celebrant in advance.
The report, by Sir William Fitall concluded that details of celebrants “should not be regarded as confidential information” and “should be supplied with good grace to anyone who asks for it in advance”.
The report said the Cathedral’s policy didn’t properly reflect the Anglican Church’s commitments to traditionalists when the ordination of woman was approved thirty years ago.
After consultation and reflection, the Dean has decided “to keep the existing policy in place” and so will not restart publication of the list of celebrants.
Rev Cowling maintains the change he is making as “a significant adjustment which I believe to be in line with the spirit of (Sir William’s) conclusions”
In a three stage process, people will have to be regular worshippers at the cathedral, have a face-to-face meeting with the Dean and confirm they want to avoid communion services celebrated by a woman priest based of “reasons of conscience”.
Only then will the Dean decide whether to start sending the individual a list of who will be taking which services. But, with the condition that the list isn’t circulated more widely.
The Dean has revealed he has met with Dennis Belk, with the person who launched the complaint. Mr…
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Click Read More to read the rest of the story from our content source/partners – Premier Christianity News.
Christians Flee Burkina Faso after at Least 19 Christians Are Killed in the African Nation
At least 19 Christians were killed earlier this month in Burkina Faso in Africa.
According to French news channel France 24, the Christians were killed on June 9 in the Arbinda village in Burkina Faso.
An official told reporters that several dozen “armed men” attacked the village.
The Barnabas Fund says as many as 29 people could have been killed in the attacks after more deaths were reported.
“There is no Christian anymore in this town (Arbinda),” said a Barnabas Fund source, noting that all Christians in the area had fled the town.
“It’s proven that they were looking for Christians,” the source continued. “Families who hide Christians are killed. Arbinda had now lost a total of no less than 100 people within six months.”
Some 80 pastors and 1,145 Christians in the area have fled the northern part of the country, Barnabas Fund sources said.
This isn’t the first attack in the area. In April, Islamic militants held a pastor, his son and four of church’s members at gunpoint. They demanded that they deny their Christian faith and convert. The group refused and was executed.
In May, gunmen and soldiers allegedly attacked churches in the Burkina Faso Central North Region.
“We’ve told ourselves our turn will come,” a pastor of one of the churches said in May. “Today Christians are potential targets. We’re all…
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Future of Jerusalem’s Christian Quarter ‘under threat’
Israel’s Supreme Court has ruled against the Greek Orthodox Church in a 14 year old case which looked at the purchase of properties at the entrance to the Christian Quarter of Jerusalem known as Jaffa Gate.
Church authorities say the buildings were sold by a rogue employee, who had no authority to do so, for $2.2m despite their estimated value of $6.7.
The employee, named as Nicolas Papadimas, has since fled the country.
A spokesman for the Greek Orthodox Church said: “The Greek Orthodox Patriarchate is very disappointed by the Supreme Court ruling on Jaffa Gate.
“Our legal team presented a clear case of bribery and corruption at the hands of the Plaintiffs, Ateret Cohanim.
“It is depressing that such corruption is not regarded by the court as having a material impact on the sales that resulted from it.”
With concerns over what the new owners will do with the buildings, the Greek Orthodox Church says it will continue to pursue the case by all legal means at its disposal.
The Church wants to ensure that the Christian character of the buildings continues in the future and that the access to the city’s holy sites remain unimpeded for the hundreds of thousands of pilgrims who visit each year.
In a statement of solidarity with the Greek Orthodox Church, the Patriarchs and Heads of Churches in Jerusalem said: “We call upon Prime Minister Netanyahu and the Israeli…
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Click Read More to read the rest of the story from our content source/partners – Premier Christianity News.
Maine Becomes Second State to Allow Non-Doctors Perform Abortions
Gov. Janet Mills signed an abortion bill into law on Monday night, allowing medical professionals to perform abortions.
“Maine is defending the rights of women and taking a step toward equalizing access to care as other states are seeking to undermine, rollback, or outright eliminate these services,” the state governor said, according to Fox News.
In addition to legalizing medically assisted suicide, Maine will become the second state after California to allow non-doctors to perform the procedure in-clinic. The bill will come into law within 90 days after the Legislature adjourns in September.
According to the New York Times, three cities in Maine will also offer publicly accessible aspiration abortions, which is abortion by suction.
Many critics of the bill are concerned about women’s health with this new law. “Expanding who is allowed to perform an abortion does not expand the safety of the procedure,” Republican state Sen. Stacey Guerin said.
And, Carroll Conley, executive director of the Christian Civic League of Maine, told The New York Times he feared practitioners might not have enough time to train before the procedure and that more medical complications might arise. He also believed that the move was merely political, since women in Maine did not seem to have trouble accessing abortion services.
The American Civil Liberties Union, however,…
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Pastor’s wife released after 6 months in Chinese jail
Jiang Rong, her husband Pastor Wang Yi and members of the Early Rain Covenant Church in Sichuan were arrested on 9th December 2018 after being accused of inciting subversion.
Rong spent six months in prison before being reunited with her son.
Christian Solidarity Worldwide’s (CSW) China researcher told Premier it couldn’t guarantee Rong wasn’t mistreated in prison.
“Because of the nature of the kind of detention she was placed in, we don’t know a lot about what condition she was in, about whether she was mistreated – although mistreatment is quite common in the type of detention she was placed in,” she explained.
According to a Facebook page ‘Pray for Early Rain Covenant Church’, there are five members of the church – including the pastor – still in detention.
Between 20th and 31st December, authorities closed churches and confiscated materials from unregistered church groups in Anhui, Inner Mongolia and elsewhere in Sichuan, and prevented or interrupted Christmas celebrations in many places across the country.
CSW’s Chief Executive Mervyn Thomas said: “While we welcome the news that Jiang Rong has been released on bail and reunited with her son, we strongly condemn her six month long detention and the charges against her, which are completely unfounded.
“For half a year, Jiang has been arbitrarily deprived of her liberty and kept apart from her son.
“We call on the…
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Click Read More to read the rest of the story from our content source/partners – Premier Christianity News.
Christian charity labels rise in abortions ‘tragic’
While the rate for teenagers has fallen – it’s increased for those over 35.
According to government figures, in total, 205,295 terminations took place in 2018 with nine out of ten carried out under 13 weeks.
Christian charity CARE has raised concern over the figures.
Chief executive Nola Leach said: “It is tragic that the number of abortions in England and Wales continues to rise and is now at a ten year high.
“While the continued drop in teenage abortions is very welcome, it is still the case that every abortion is a tragedy.
“The fact that the abortion rate for women 35 or over has increased again since last year raises big questions about the pressures of modern life.
“The instability of cohabitation and the intense pressure for couples to maintain two incomes are taking a heavy price.
“It’s time we ended the culture where abortion is seen as the only option. Women need to be supported and informed about the wide variety of alternative out there.”
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