Evangelicals Are Hypocrites for Supporting Trump, Democratic Candidate Says
Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg last week questioned President Trump’s belief in God. On Sunday, he bemoaned what he views as the “hypocrisy” of Trump’s evangelical supporters.
The mayor of South Bend, Ind., appeared on NBC’s Meet the Press and was asked by host Chuck Todd how he “squared” his assessment of Trump with the fact that the evangelical community “is so devoted” to the president.
“It’s something that really frustrates me because the hypocrisy is unbelievable,” Buttigieg said. “Here you have somebody who not only acts in a way that is not consistent with anything that I hear in Scripture or in church – where it’s about lifting up the least among us and taking care of strangers, which is another word for immigrants. And making sure that you’re focusing your effort on the poor.
“But also personally, how you’re supposed to conduct yourself. Not chest thumping look-at-me-ism, but humbling yourself before others,” he added. “Foot washing is one of the central images in the New Testament. And we see the diametric opposite of that in this presidency.”
Buttigieg also expressed frustration that evangelicals promote “sexual ethics” but still back Trump.
“I can’t believe that somebody who was caught writing hush money checks to adult film actresses is somebody they should be lifting up as the…
Hamas Leader Says ‘Israel Will Suffer’ If War Breaks Out in the Gaza Strip
Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar issued a warning over the weekend, saying if there is a war between Israel and Gaza, Tel Aviv and other Jewish communities on the southern border will be evacuated.
“If the Gaza Strip is dragged into war, Israel will suffer. It will not only have to evacuate the communities around the Strip but also [the cities of] Ashdod and Ashkelon and even Tel Aviv,” Sinwar said, according to a report from Al-Aqsa TV.
“Our fingers are on the trigger and they will remain pressed against it in order to protect our people. We will be the sword and shield,” he added.
Sinwar, who was speaking to representatives of Palestinian groups and other organizations, said they are ready for war with Israel to “defend the Palestinian people.”
Sinwar also said he was grateful to Egypt for helping to mediate a ceasefire between Hamas and Israel on March 22. For weeks, Hamas and Israel have been firing rockets at each other.
“We have strengthened our relations with Egypt,” Sinwar said of the ceasefire. “The Egyptians have thankfully played a big role in the easing of the restrictions.”
Still, on Friday, more than 10,000 Gazans protested along the border as part of the March of Return.
“The understandings are not an alternative to Palestinian unity and partnership,” Sinwar said of the protests. “There is no talk about the…
Three Historical Black Churches in Louisiana Set Ablaze, FBI and ATF Investigate
Three historical black churches were set ablaze over the last two weeks in Louisiana leading the FBI, ATF and state authorities to search for who and why someone would be doing this.
According to CBN News, three churches were burned to the ground starting with St. Mary Baptist Church in Port Barre, LA on March 26. Last week, the Greater Union Baptists Church in Opelousas and the Mount Pleasant Baptist Church were also set ablaze, one on Tuesday night and the other on Thursday night, respectively.
During a Thursday news conference, Fire Marshal H. “Butch” Browning shared that, fortunately, no one was in the churches when they caught fire and no injuries have been reported. He also shared that a connection has not been made yet between the fires, adding, however, that “suspicious” activity does appear to surround them.
Browning also asked locals to keep an eye out for any odd behavior around town, saying that he wants people to be “aware of their surroundings and aware of something that might look suspicious that they don’t think is suspicious.”
Also on Thursday, following the destruction of the century-old churches, local church leaders met up to discuss a plan moving forward as the fire starter(s) is/are seemingly still on the prowl.
Police have said that there’s a “clear pattern” linking all of the incidents in St Landry Parish near the capital, Baton Rouge.
“We do believe that this fire is suspicious,” Louisiana State Fire Marshal H Butch Browning told local reporters.
“We do believe a crime has occurred.”
The first fire occurred on 26th March at St Mary Baptist Church (pictured below), with two more taking place over the past week.
Pastor Harry Richard from Greater Union Baptist is the grandson of a man that helped start the church more than 100 years ago.
He explained why the damage is personal: “He left a legacy for me and I was trying to fulfil that to the best of my ability.”
All the fires were begun in the middle of the night when the churches were empty.
Security has been beefed up at other churches in the area.
Historically, the burning of black churches was used to intimidate communities and parishioners and has been taking place particularly in southern states for decades.
In June 2015, Dylann Roof shot and killed nine black church members in Charleston, South Carolina.
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Keith Urban won Entertainer of the Year at last night’s Academy of Country Music Awards. Thomas Rhett and Kacey Musgraves won Male and Female Artist of the Year.
But, in my opinion, the most significant achievement in country music came earlier in the week.
Brad Paisley and his wife, Kimberly, broke ground on a Nashville grocery store that is unlike any I know. Customers will walk through the aisles selecting fruit, vegetables, cereal, and other groceries. Then they will check out at the register.
However, no money will change hands.
The Paisleys partnered with Belmont University, a Christian university and Brad’s alma mater, building the store next to the school’s ministry center. They hope to serve three thousand impoverished people a year.
Their Christian faith is on clear display in a way that will impact lives far beyond Nashville.
“All healthy things grow”
Many years ago, I attended a church growth conference led by Rick Warren at Saddleback Church in California. His approach was not at all what I expected.
I assumed Rick would talk about his church’s leadership structure, ministry organization, and marketing strategy. Instead, he spent most of the conference discussing the importance of spiritual health—for himself, his leadership team, and their members.
He explained his passionate focus on spirituality this way: “All healthy things grow.”
Plant a tree in your backyard, water and fertilize it, protect it from bugs and other adversaries, and it will grow. It’s designed that way by God.
If we’re looking for a way to impact our world for Christ, a strategy that will help our churches and personal ministries be more effective in our secularized culture, let’s take Rick’s advice. Let’s focus on our spiritual health. And then let’s watch healthy things grow as we impact our culture with God’s love.
The former Stenhouse St Aidan’s Parish Church will cater for up to 75 people.
Thanks to a £220,000 refurbishment, a new extension has also been added to the building to include a toilet block and showers for men.
The accommodation project is a joint venture between Gorgie, Dalry, Stenhouse Church of Scotland and Bethany Christian Trust.
Gorgie, Dalry Stenhouse Church building manager, David MacLennan, said in a statement: “The pilot project has been a resounding success.
“Jesus had a great concern for the poor and the outcast and we strongly believe that we must share God’s love for those who are less fortunate than ourselves.”
Women will be able to use toilet and shower facilities that before the conversion served as the vestry and a number of small rooms. Their sleeping quarters (pictured below) are in a separate area of the sanctuary.
The building has been renamed Diadem and volunteers from around 70 church congregations in Edinburgh use the kitchen to cook a two-course meal for service users each night.
The shelter is open from 9pm until 6.30am and a light breakfast is served in the morning.
Service users get access to a second-hand clothes bank, which also provides new underwear and sanitary products.
The shelter project began in Edinburgh as a two-week pilot in 1996 and has grown to 32 weeks, covering the coldest…
Church leaders have pretty clear perspectives about low attendance days.
They know when to expect them. Some are common across different regions and cultures. Others are unique to specific localities. Most of them are painful for pastors and other church leaders.
So, when I put the question out on social media, the responses were fast, funny and, sometimes, furious. I doubt there will be many surprises on this list. They are still good reminders we are all dealing with the challenges of commitment. Here are the nine most common low attendance days in order of frequency of response.
Spring break. “We get hit hard on both the weekend before Spring break and the weekend after. I’m ready to move to a church in a retirement community.”
Holiday weekends. “Labor Day. MLK Day. Memorial Day. You name it. As long as there is a long weekend ahead, our folks will find an excuse to miss church.”
Bad weather. “We don’t get much snow, so any accumulation above 1/1000 of an inch sends people to get milk and bread at the grocery store, and makes them stay away from church lest their lives are at risk with such dangerous precipitation. But they will be okay to go to work on Monday.”
Good weather. “We miss as many folks in really good weather as we do in lousy weather. They will stay away if there is a 5% chance of rain; but they will really stay away if there is a 20% chance of sunshine. The lake calls.”
Sports. “Travel teams. College football. NFL. Kids playing soccer and football. In the…
Because of laziness the building decays, and through idleness of hands the house leaks. — Ecclesiastes 10:18 (NKJV)
Do you truly believe that love can change the world? I do. But I also know the events and accomplishments that have brought lasting change to the world have not been accidental; they have been things people thought through and acted on deliberately. The Bible is filled with instructions for us to be active.
Wishing for something does not produce the results we desire, but we must aggressively do what needs to be done to achieve them. We will never find a successful man who spent his life wishing for success and attained it. The same principle applies to loving God, loving ourselves, and loving others. If we want to love people as Jesus instructed, we will have to do so on purpose. It will not happen by accident.
If we seek opportunities to love people, we are sure to find them, and that will protect us from being idle and passive. We must ask ourselves if we are alert and active or passive and inactive? God is alert and active! I am glad He is; otherwise, things in our lives would deteriorate rapidly.
So much good can happen in your life and in the lives of those around you if you’ll simply decide not to be passive, but to follow the Holy Spirit as He leads you. God-inspired, balanced activity will keep you from being idle and bless many people in the process.
Prayer Starter: Lord, help me today to be active and intentional, not passive or idle. Each day, help me to take steps and make progress as it pertains to my dreams, responsibilities, and loving others in my life. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.
Topic: Engaging the Unlimited Power of Faith for Settlement!
Welcome to April! I have no doubt that God gave every one of us diverse eye-opening encounters with His Word all through the month of March, 2019 and I believe that these encounters will remain lifetime assets for every one of us, in Jesus’ name! All through this month, we shall explore the subject of faith, the supernatural force which guarantees our victory over sicknesses, diseases, poverty and wickedness. Therefore, get set for an impartation of the Spirit of faith via the teachings of the month. This week, we shall examine: Engaging the Unlimited Power of Faith for Settlement!
We understand from Scriptures that our settlement as believers is crucial to God. That’s why the Bible says: But the God of all grace, who hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered a while, make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle you (1Peter 5:10). Every prophetic word from God is designed for fulfilment. As it is written: And blessed is she that believed: for there shall be a performance of those things which were told her from the Lord (Luke 1:45). This is because prophecies are not psychological predictions, but the unveiling of divine plans. We must understand that God speaks according to His resources and not our scarcity. He speaks according to His integrity and not our fallibility. He also speaks according to His size and His unlimited capacity to make it happen (Isaiah 55:11; Numbers 23:19; Deuteronomy 18:22; Haggai 2:8; Psalm 50:9-11). In addition, it is important to know that only God’s hand can perform whatever He says. However, without our faith, we cannot take delivery. It is written: The Lord of hosts hath sworn, saying, Surely as I have thought, so shall it come to pass; and as I have purposed, so shall it stand (Isaiah 14:24).
What, Then, is Faith?
Faith is a Spiritual Engraftment of Humanity into Divinity Thereby Commanding Supernatural Feats: For instance, when the woman with the issue of blood grafted herself to Jesus Christ through her faith, she tapped into His virtue and the flow of blood ceased. Similarly, when we engage our faith, we are grafted into God and become partakers of His divine nature, thereby commanding divine authority over the issues of life (Romans 11:19-23).
We must recognise that the Bible is a book of covenants and God’s covenant with man in Scriptures is binding as long as the earth remains (Jeremiah 33:20-22; Psalm 89:34). However, we must understand that it is our faith in the settled Word of God that guarantees our settlement in life (1 Peter 5:8-10; Psalm 119:89).
Having established that faith is the covenant force that guarantees our settlement, we must also know that God’s covenant is based on well defined terms and sealed with an oath to deliver. As such, we must believe and engage these terms to commit God’s integrity to perform (Isaiah 34:16).
What are the Terms of the Covenant of Settlement?
We Must Fully Return to God: Until we return to our covenant walk with God, it is not our turn to be settled (Malachi 3:7). For instance, life was a miserable adventure for the prodigal son until he returned. When he did, he was settled and his dignity was restored. Also, until Judah returned in the days of King Asa, she was not settled. However, upon return, God gave Judah all-round rest (Luke 15:17-24; 2Chronicles 15:3-6; 11-15). In addition, we must understand that being away from God is a curse (Psalm 16:4). This is because we serve a jealous God, Who cannot stand double dealings (Exodus 34:13; James 1:6-8).
We Must be Planted in the House of the Lord: Zion is the Church of Christ and our covenant place of settlement (Obadiah 1:17; Hebrews 12:22-24; Psalm 84:4-7; 132:13-18). Again, when we are planted in the house of God, we are ordained to flourish in all areas. However, it is important to note that God has an appointed place of worship for every believer and until we locate and abide there, our settlement is not guaranteed (Psalm 92:12-15; 2 Samuel 7:10; Deuteronomy 12:13-14).
We Must Make a Covenant to Serve God: Serving God indeed and in truth commits Him to our settlement. It is when we serve God and the interest of His Kingdom that He adds to us what others are dying to get (Matthew 6:33; 2 Chronicles 15:1-4/12-15; Joshua 24:15; Deuteronomy 30:19; Exodus 23:25-26; Job 36:11). Remember, only workers are entitled to wages. Therefore, we should not just watch others serve God but engage wholeheartedly and excitedly in Kingdom service, and watch God deliver our settlement testimonies (Matthew 10:10; Luke 10:7; 1 Timothy 5: 18).
We Must Pray for our Desired Settlement as Men and Women Did in Bible Days: From several scriptural references, we understand that God established the altar of prayer as the altar of settlement. For instance, when Jacob, Jabez, Hannah, Blind Bartimaeus and the Canaanite Woman prayed in faith for their settlement, the Bible says that God heard and settled them immediately. This simply means that we are only entitled to receive what we ask for in faith (James 4:2; Genesis 32:24-28; 1 Chronicles 4:9-10; 1 Samuel 1:13-19; Mark 10:46-52; Matthew 15:13-28).
Raise an Altar of Sacrifice: We can also enforce our settlement by rearing an altar of sacrifice as prompted by the Spirit of God. For instance, when Noah offered a sacrifice to God after the flood, God averted the curse and settled humanity. Again, when David reared an altar of sacrifice as instructed by God, the plague ceased (Psalm 126:1-6; Genesis 8:20-22; 2 Samuel 24:18-25). Therefore, whenever we receive a prompting of the Holy Spirit to rear an altar of sacrifice, we should dive into it in faith, because therein lies our settlement.
In conclusion, God has an agenda of settlement for us but without our faith, we can never access it; and faith cannot be exercised unless we are born again. Are you born again? If you are not, this is an opportunity to do so. Simply say the following prayer: Lord Jesus, I come to You today. I am a sinner. Forgive me my sins. Cleanse me with Your precious Blood. Today, I accept You as my Lord and personal Saviour. Thank You Jesus for saving me! Now, I know I am born again!
For further reading, please get my books: Unlimited Power of Faith, Understanding the Power of Faith, Exploits of Faith and Born to Win! I invite you to fellowship with us at the Faith Tabernacle, Canaanland, Ota, the covenant home of Winners. We have four services on Sundays, holding at 6:00 a.m., 7:50 a.m., 9:40 a.m. and 11:30 a.m. respectively. I know this teaching has blessed you. Write and share your testimony with me through: Faith Tabernacle, Canaanland, Ota, P.M.B. 21688, Ikeja, Lagos, Nigeria; or call 01-4548070, 01-4548280; or E-mail: [email protected]; Facebook: www.facebook.com/davidoyedepoministries/; Twitter: @DavidOyedepoMin.
Bishop David O. Oyedepo is a Nigerian Christian author, architect, preacher, and the founder and presiding bishop of the mega church, Living Faith Church Worldwide, also known as Winners’ Chapel
Divine healing is a state of being restored from sickness to health by God’s intervention while divine health is a state of not getting sick at all. For you to live and enjoy divine health by faith, you have to locate God’s word that has to do with healing or health and stand on the integrity of that word, thereby committing God for your body to respond to the word.
Matthew 8:17 That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias the prophet, saying, Himself took our infirmities, and bare our sicknesses.
If you look at this scripture, the word ‘took’ means the sickness left you, it means Jesus has already taken the sickness away, it does not exist. At this point, you are not looking at your body, the pains or the swelling and the discomfort they are causing; you are simply saying ‘if He took all these things then I do not have them’. And as your heart receives the word, you just wake up and find out that you do not have the sickness anymore. Once your heart receives the word, no matter how your body is feeling as long as your faith is strong, the body will eventually respond.
The word of God you are standing on will commit Him to intervene concerning your health. But God cannot intervene if your heart has not received it. You commit God to heal you as He is not a man to lie.
Hebrews 11:1 Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.
Just as you must present an evidence in the law court, your evidence here is the word of God and the judge who is God will then rule the case in your favour and your body will be healed. You must locate the word, receive it, believe it, act on it, speak it and then it becomes real in your life.
This works for every area of your life – prosperity, healing, deliverance etc. All you need to do is locate God’s word, receive it in your heart without doubting, declare it to the world and you will commit God to do it. Even in marriage, if you locate God’s word, no matter your age, stand on it, and the man will locate you and come to you. The first thing is just to get the word. If you say you have faith, you are saying you have the word of God not just knowing and reciting it but you believe what it says and act on it even if your circumstances says otherwise.
Any time a man says I have faith, it means he has a word he is standing on. Faith commits God’s integrity.
Hebrews 11:1 Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.
So, faith is evidential and substantial. You do not see it but you commit God based on what you believe in His word and then He performs what He said.
Hebrews 11:2 For by it the elders obtained a good report.
Every good report is obtained by faith. God will only be pleased when you walk by faith. Faith is an active living force, the vital force that turns situations around. You need faith to take delivery of everything God has said in His word. What you will see tomorrow is a function of your faith today.
Have faith in God to perfect your health no matter the sickness, nothing is too hard for God to do!
God bless you
Flatimes Notice Board: Until you are born again, God ever abiding presence will never be with you. You must be born again to enjoy continuous victory. Please say the displayed prayer below in faith:
Lord Jesus, come into my life. I accept You as my Lord and Personal Saviour. I believe in my heart You died and rose from the dead to save me. Thank You Lord for saving me, in Jesus name Amen.
If you just prayed the prayer of salvation online please send your testimonies and prayer request to [email protected], 07026385437 OR 08141320204.
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