Testimonies Unleash Power in Spiritual Realm to Set People Free From Sexual Sin

(Photo: Courtesy of RHN)Dee Barnes, board chair of Restored Hope Network, speaks Friday at the HOPE 2018 conference at First Baptist Church of Glenarden on June 15, 2018.

UPPER MARLBORO, Md. — Personal testimonies possess Holy Spirit-backed power to set people free from all kinds of sexual sin, said a former lesbian who is now the board chair of the Restored Hope Network.

Dee Barnes, founder of the Atlanta area-based ministry His Wonderful Works Inc. and the board chair of the Restored Hope Network, has a background of sexual abuse, promiscuity, abortion, and porn addiction. At age 21, she entered into an adulterous, lesbian relationship with another woman who was married to a man. Today, Barnes is married to a man and has three children.

During a 2-day conference at First Baptist Church Worship Center with ministry leaders from around the world, Barnes and others who had similar backgrounds shared their stories of how God met them, led them out of sexual sin, and brought restoration and healing to their lives.

She expounded on Revelation 19:10 where John the Revelator says: “For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.”

The root word in the Hebrew for “testimony” means “to do again, to repeat,” Barnes, 52, explained on Friday.

“That which God has done He will…

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New blow for Justin Welby ahead of Lambeth Conference

In two years, bishops from across the world will gather in London for the once a decade meeting.

It comes at a time when conservatives and liberals in the worldwide Communion remain divided over the issue of sexuality.

 

Some groups such as the Scottish Episcopal Church and the US Episcopal Church have moved to a position of affirmation of same sex marriages and of gay clergy.

Others fall into the GAFCON movement, a group of conservative Anglicans, who feel those church groups are moving away from what the Bible teaches.

The new blow for Justin Welby came on Tuesday via the Archbishop of Uganda who’s been speaking at the GAFCON conference in Jerusalem.

 

Addressing the issue of the Lambeth Conference, Most Rev Stanley Ntangali suggested he and the other bishops in his country would boycott the event because the Anglican Communion hasn’t shown strong leadership on the issue of sexuality.

He said: “As a House of Bishops, because things have not changed we will not attend Lambeth 2020.

“Unless godly order is restored within the Anglican Communion, we shall not attend other meetings invited by Canterbury.”

He also said his stance wouldn’t change unless the Anglican Communion recognised the Church groups set up in Brazil and the USA to cater for the needs of conservative Anglicans who feel they can no longer serve in the current Anglican structures.

The Archbishop’s comments…

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Gaming Disorder Now a Mental Health Condition, According to WHO

The World Health Organization has made it official — “Gaming Disorder” is now about to be added to their manual of disease classifications, and it will be considered as a mental health condition.

According to WHO definition, Gaming Disorder is defined as “impaired control over gaming, increasing priority given to gaming over other activities to the extent that gaming takes precedence over other interests and daily activities and continuation or escalation of gaming despite the occurrence of negative consequences,” as quoted in a report by People Magazine.

Pixabay/OlichelThe World Health Organization announced on Monday, June 18 that they plan to add “gaming disorder” to their manual of disease classifications as a mental health condition.

The organization has been planning on including Gaming Disorder as one of the “Disorders due to addictive behaviours” in their manual since late last year. Based on the definition provided by the WHO, the health condition is less about the games themselves and more on the existing mental health condition that may lead gamers to have “impaired control over gaming.”

It is this impaired control that leads gaming addicts to keep playing to the neglect of their work, other hobbies or their relationships.

The WHO was careful to emphasize that Gaming Disorder is an actual condition that can be diagnosed, and one that “affects only a small proportion of people who engage in digital- or video- only gaming activities.”

Not all experts agree with WHO’s position about a possible Gaming Disorder, though. “I think it’s a little too soon to have it as a disorder,” Dr….

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don’t demand Christians become like everyone else

He’s been speaking at the annual National Prayer Breakfast in Parliament which was attended by Prime Minister Theresa May, over 140 MPs and many church leaders.

Addressing the theme, ‘What can Christianity offer our society in the 21st century?’ Keller used the opportunity to issue a rallying call to British Christians.

 

He said: “Jesus’ metaphor was that Christians could be salt as long as they’re not the same as the meat – they’re different.

“Christians won’t benefit society if they’re just like everyone else in society.

“We’re not going to benefit society filled with self-actualisers unless we really are different and we do believe Jesus died for us and we live by self-sacrifice.

He also had a message for political leaders.

“Here’s what British society can do to get the most benefit out of Christians,” he said. “Don’t demand that they become like everyone else. Modern society says we believe and respect difference but here’s what you should do: tell Christians to be true to their ideals but then critique them on those ideals not on someone else’s.”

Those gathered at the event in Westminster took time to pray for politicians and for the UK and were also led in worship by Keith and Kristyn Getty.

Stay up to date with the latest news stories from a Christian perspective. Sign up to our daily newsletter and receive more stories like this straight to your inbox every…

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Doubts Loom Over Colombia’s Peace Deal With Rebels After Duque’s Election – Urban Christian News

Uncertainty loomed over Colombia’s fragile peace deal on Monday with the victory of one of its most hawkish critics in a bruising presidential runoff that laid bare deep divisions in the South American nation as it emerges from decades of bloody conflict.

Ivan Duque, a law-and-order disciple of a powerful former president, won Sunday’s vote with a commanding 12-point lead over rival Gustavo Petro, a former rebel and ex-Bogota mayor.

On the campaign trail, Duque repeatedly vowed to roll back benefits inscribed in the deal, such as demanding that rebel commanders behind scores of atrocities first confess to their war crimes and compensate victims before they are allowed to take up the congressional seats they have been promised in the accord.

But once he takes office in August from the peace deal’s architect, President Juan Manuel Santos, Duque is likely to tread softer if he wants to broaden his base of support and unite the country, analysts said.

“Ironically, he has a chance to make the accords stronger by providing something the peace process has lacked from the outset: a national consensus,” said Michael Shifter, a longtime observer of Colombia and president of the Inter-American Dialogue in Washington.

This year’s elections were the safest in generations, a testament to how far the country has already come in putting Latin America’s longest-running conflict behind it. Not a single act of violence affected the campaign.

In the final stretch before the vote, as victory seemed within reach, the pro-business Duque was already moderating some of his proposals,…

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‘We are proud but never complacent’

John Bercow has been speaking at the annual National Prayer Breakfast in Parliament.

He opened proceedings by celebrating the event’s place in the parliamentary calendar.

 

“Whatever the disputes, whatever the discord, whatever the turbulence inflicting parliament, our country and the wider world,” he said. “I hope you will be with me when I say there is always something at least faintly reassuring and perhaps more than that about a fixed compass and the assurance of the staging of this great event.”

He went on to praise both politicians and church leaders for their role in protecting our rules of freedom of religion.

“We are proud but never complacent that we in this country enjoy freedom of religion, freedom of faith, freedom of conscience.

“It is our birth right but doesn’t mean it hasn’t had to be fought for.

“We never take it for granted.”

Prime Minister Theresa May attended the event in Parliament’s Westminster Hall along with over 140 MPs and many church leaders.

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Separating children at the border: 3 options and my response

The immigration crisis unfolding on the US-Mexico border continues to dominate the news. Nearly two thousand children have been separated from their parents since a “zero tolerance” policy was adopted for those entering the US illegally.

One facility in McAllen, Texas, houses two hundred such children. According to a migrant rights worker who visited the facility, one girl “was so traumatized that she wasn’t talking. She was just curled up in a little ball.” A quiet boy was seen clutching a piece of paper that was a photocopy of his mother’s ID card.

The head of the American Academy of Pediatrics visited a similar shelter in Texas, where she saw a toddler crying uncontrollably and pounding her little fists on a mat. She had been taken from her mother the night before and brought to the shelter.

Staff members gave her books and toys, but they weren’t allowed to pick her up, hold her, or hug her to try to calm her. As a rule, staff are not allowed to touch the children in the facility.

A “zero tolerance” policy

Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen told reporters last night that the “vast majority” of children being held in detention facilities were sent to the US alone by their parents. She stated that this issue “has resulted after years and years of Congress not taking action.” Others blame the Trump administration for the crisis.

My purpose is not to fix blame but to consider practical options. Let’s begin with some history.

In 2005, President George W. Bush launched Operation Streamline, a program that referred all unlawful entrants on the border for criminal prosecution. They were imprisoned, and their trials were expedited for the purpose of deporting them. However, exceptions were generally made for adults traveling with minor children.

The Obama administration detained illegal border crossers as families together in Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody rather than criminal detention.

Last month,…

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Revelation TV fined €6,000 for ‘homophobic’ comments

The channel, which is based in the UK but broadcasts in Spain, was given the penalty by the Spanish National Commission of Markets and Competition (CNMC).

The conversation in question was about transgender children following a Christian family removing their child from school because one of his classmates identified as transgender.

 

The pastor on the show said: “We are going to create a political party or join a party to change this madness. We are going to have to do this, because if we don’t, we will have Sodom and Gomorrah at our doorsteps, where they are going to tell you, ‘we want to get hold of those men in there and we want to sleep with them and there’s nothing you can do about it. I have girls for you… No, we want those guys’.

A statement by the CNMC explaining why the penalty was handed down said the comments on the Rmornings discussion show “could be considered as threatening to the dignity of the homosexual and transgender group, although there was no manifest incitation to hate against these groups by the channel that owns the programme”.

However, Gordon Pettie, director of Revelation TV has denied the conversation on the show was homophobic.

“And because it has become aggressive, it has become heavy, and if we don’t confront this militancy it is going to get worse, it is going to get really bad.

He went on to say: “But we need to understand that the…

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Global Warming’s Sweeping Climate Change Affects Us From All Sides – Urban Christian News

We were warned.

On June 23, 1988, a sultry day in Washington, James Hansen told Congress and the world that global warming wasn’t approaching — it had already arrived. The testimony of the top NASA scientist, said Rice University historian Douglas Brinkley, was “the opening salvo of the age of climate change.”

Thirty years later, it’s clear that Hansen and other doomsayers were right. But the change has been so sweeping that it is easy to lose sight of effects large and small — some obvious, others less conspicuous.

Earth is noticeably hotter, the weather stormier and more extreme. Polar regions have lost billions of tons of ice; sea levels have been raised by trillions of gallons of water. Far more wildfires rage.

Over 30 years — the time period climate scientists often use in their studies in order to minimize natural weather variations — the world’s annual temperature has warmed nearly 1 degree (0.54 degrees Celsius), according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. And the temperature in the United States has gone up even more — nearly 1.6 degrees.

“The biggest change over the last 30 years, which is most of my life, is that we’re no longer thinking just about the future,” said Kathie Dello, a climate scientist at Oregon State University in Corvallis. “Climate change is here, it’s now and it’s hitting us hard from all sides.”

Temperatures across the United States are up 1.6 degrees Fahrenheit in the past 30 years. In Salida, Colorado, residents have noticed the change through more lawn watering, increased air conditioning sales…

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US Urges Russia to Release Political and Religious Prisoners – Urban Christian News

The Trump administration urged Russia on Monday to release what it called a growing number of political and religious prisoners, warning that President Vladimir Putin’s government was turning to “old Soviet practices” to deny rights to detainees.

The condemnation came as President Donald Trump considers holding a summit with Putin and faces continuing questions about whether his administration is insufficiently tough on Russia. In recent months, Trump’s administration has taken a number of steps to put pressure on Moscow, including sanctions, but Trump has also raised concerns with comments suggesting that Russia should be allowed back into the Group of 7 — formerly the Group of 8 — industrialized economies despite its annexation of Ukraine’s Crimea.

The State Department said it was “deeply concerned” about the problem and added that the number of such prisoners now exceeds 150 people, according to what the U.S. said were credible human rights organizations. State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said the U.S. was calling on Russia to cease using its legal system to “suppress dissent and peaceful religious practice.”

“The Russian people, like people everywhere, deserve equal treatment under the law and the ability to exercise their rights without fear of retribution,” Nauert said.

The Russian embassy in Washington didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

A senior State Department official said the U.S. had seen a threefold increase in political prisoners in Russia since 2014, along with the use of Soviet practices such as stripping…

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