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Kanye West Presents Fusion of Holy Bible and Quran in New Artwork

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Kanye West Presents Fusion of Holy Bible and Quran in New Artwork

(Photo : Kanye West/ Twitter)

Christian Post Report – Kanye West debuted “Figure It Out” cover art on Feb. 19.

Kanye West has found a way to combine the Holy Bible and the Quran.

The 38-year-old The Life Of Pablo rap mogul has released a lot of new music that doesn’t appear on his seventh studio album. One of those songs is called “Figure it Out” featuring rapper Nas and Muslim rap artist French Montana.

While debuting the song on Twitter, West also shared some cover art for the single, which illustrates a white book with the front of the cover reading “Quran” and the back cover reading “Holy Bible.”

“New song with my brothers French Montana and Nas,” West simply captioned the image.

The new release is not on West’s The Life Of Pablo record, but it is featured on French Montana’s latest EP titled Wave Gods. However, West has been vocal about his own album being more of a gospel record.

He first made that announcement to fans during a Jan. 27 tweet.

“This album is actually a Gospel album,” West tweeted.

The rapper later explained why he was referring to it as a gospel record.

“When I was sitting in the studio with Kirk, Kirk Franklin, and we’re just going through it, I said this is a gospel album, with a whole lot of cursing on it, but it’s still a gospel album,” West said in an interview on Big Boy Radio. “The gospel according to Ye. It’s not exactly what happened in the Bible, but it’s this story idea of Mary Magdalene becoming Mary.”

The rapper went on to reveal that he believes God, his late mother Donda West and his wife Kim Kardashian’s late father Robert Kardashian Sr. were helping him finish his album.

“I’m only doing one percent, two percent of the work and God is doing the rest of the work. My mom… had Teddy Riley change his flight and come back to the studio,” West said. “Robert Kardashian is making sure that all the deals is getting done. He’s still doing deals for controversial black people from up in heaven.”

West’s latest work may have been inspired by the life of the Apostle Paul, which translates to Pablo in Spanish. Earlier this month, West revealed his thoughts concerning Paul.

“Paul … The most powerful messenger of the first century…,” West tweeted. “Now we stand here 20 centuries later… Because he was a traveler…”

West went on to draw a comparison between Paul’s life and his own.

“He was a learned man not of the original sect so he was able to take the message to the rest of the world…He was saved from persecution due to his Roman citizenship…,” he tweeted. “I have the right to speak my voice…Please forgive the profanity and give hugs and blessings to my brother Kirk for standing by me…”

The rapper called for people to dance in the streets and wrote, ” I am consumed by my purpose to help the world.”

Source : Christian Post

Barry Bonds Says ‘God Knows I’m a Hall of Famer’

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(Photo: Reuters/Stephen Lam)
Christian Post Report – Former San Francisco Giants baseball player Barry Bonds gestures to the media outside the Phillip Burton Federal Building after the former home run king was found guilty on one count of obstruction of justice and mistrial on three counts of perjury in San Francisco, California April 13, 2011.

Despite haunting accusations of doping, baseball great Barry Bonds feels that he has a rightful place among the legends of Major League Baseball’s Hall of Fame.

As the new hitting coach for the Miami Marlins, Bonds talked to reporters during his introductory press conference at Marlins Park on Saturday, and was asked his thoughts about being a potential Hall of Famer.

“I know that I’m a Hall of Fame player,” said Bonds, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

Bonds challenged baseball players and coaches to prove him wrong. ” … in Major League Baseball, there’s not one player that ever could sit there and say that I’m not one (a Hall of Fame player). There’s not a coach [who’s ever] coached me that says I’m not one.”

He went on to say, ” … [It’s] until you guys decide to make that final decision, and that final decision will be made on your terms. But in my heart and soul, and God knows — I’m a Hall of Famer.”

The home-run king’s reputation and historic record have been marred by accusations of using performance-enhancing drugs, or PEDs — a charge that Bonds has consistently denied. In 2006, the MLB launched a probe into his alleged steroid use.

The allegations are widely speculated to have negatively influenced voters during the three times that Bonds had been nominated to be inducted into the MLB Hall of Fame, and each time failed to garner enough votes to secure a spot.

In September 2007, after Bonds broke Hank Aaron’s world record for all-time home-runs, the San Francisco Giants informed him that they would not offer him a new contract. Ultimately no team hired Bonds, despite his willingness to play for the league’s minimum salary of $500,000.

In November of that year, Bonds was charged with perjury and obstruction of justice after telling a federal grand jury he had not knowingly used PEDs. The perjury conviction, however, was later overturned.

The home-run record holder then filed a suit against the MLB, charging that MLB owners had colluded against signing him, essentially ending his professional baseball career. Bonds lost, however, after an arbitrator ruled against him in 2008.

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Follow me on Twitter: @kevindonporter

Source : Christian Post

16-Y-O Swedish Girl Rescued From ISIS by Kurdish Forces After Joining Terror Group With Boyfriend

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(Photo: Reuters/Stringer)
Christian Post Report – Kurdish “peshmerga” troops prepare to fire a mortar during an intensive security deployment against Islamic State militants on the outskirts of the province of Nineveh, Aug. 6, 2014. Islamic State militants extended their gains in northern Iraq on Thursday, seizing three more towns and gaining a foothold near the Kurdish region, witnesses said. The advance came after the Sunni militants inflicted a humiliating defeat on Kurdish forces in a weekend sweep in the north. The Islamic State, which has declared a caliphate in parts of Iraq and Syria it controls, clashed with Kurdish forces on Wednesday in the town of Makhmur near Arbil, the capital of the Kurdish semi-autonomous zone.

Kurdish special forces saved a 16-year-old Swedish girl from Islamic State militants in Iraq last week, the Kurdish military said Tuesday.

Marlin Stivani Nivarlain, 16, was rescued near the Iraqi town of Mosul, after traveling there with her boyfriend who joined the terror group.

“The Kurdistan Region Security Council was called upon by Swedish authorities and members of her family to assist in locating and rescuing her from ISIL,” the security group said, adding that Nivarlain had been “misled” to leave her hometown of Boras last year and travel to Iraq to join the terrorist group.

The statement added that the teenager was in a safe location and being “provided the care afforded to her under international law.”

She is expected to be”transferred to Swedish authorities to return home once necessary arrangements” have been made, it added.

The Associated Press reports that local K24 television station ran a special on Nivarlain Tuesday evening in which she detailed how she had been duped into traveling to the Middle East with her boyfriend last year and was not aware that she had joined the terror group.

According to her interview, Nivarlain dropped out of school in Sweden and decided to travel with her boyfriend to Syria in May. From there, they crossed the border into Iraq and were given an apartment by IS militants.

But the girl soon decided she wanted to return home and was able to call her mother, who then contacted the Iraqi Kurdish forces to help rescue her daughter.

There have been multiple reports of teenagers being coaxed into traveling to the Middle East to join the terror group.

In August, three high school girls from London secretly traveled to Syria and were married to IS militants shortly after. They have yet to return.

A similar incident took place in October 2014, when three girls from Denver, Colorado, attempted to travel to Turkey to join the terror organization, but were stopped in Germany after their parents realized they were missing and alerted police.

Several of the teens recruited by IS share commonalities, the main one being that they are usually recruited through social media.

As Newsweek reported last year, airlines’ lax policies on underage passengers serves as another reason why young people can easily travel to the Middle East. Prime Minister David Cameron said last year that his government would add security measures to ensure teens recruited by IS would be unable to travel to Syria.

“We need new arrangements with airlines to ensure that these at-risk children are properly identified and questioned — and the Home Secretary and Transport Secretary will be working with the airlines to bring this about,” Cameron said in a statement last March.

“Whenever there are concerns, police at the border should be alerted so they can use the temporary passport seizure powers to stop people traveling,” Cameron added.

The United States has also sought to crack down on the number of young IS recruits, with a Virginia district judge sentencing an American teen to 11 years in prison in August for helping his friend join the terrorist organization.

Source : Christian Post

Jennifer Garner Goes to Church After Faith Is Restored by Movie Role

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(Photo: Reuters/Mario Anzuoni)
Christian Post Report – Actress Jennifer Garner poses at the 28th American Cinematheque Award ceremony in Beverly Hills, California October 21, 2014. The award is given to an artist currently making a significant contribution to motion pictures, according to the American Cinematheque website.

DALLAS — While on the road promoting her upcoming film “Miracles From Heaven,” popular actress Jennifer Garner (“Alias”, “13 Going on 30”, “Daredevil”) visited Bishop T.D. Jakes’ church to attend Sunday service and spoke of the life-changing impact her movie role has played in her personal life.

“Ahhh I can’t even watch the clip, I can’t even see it, it makes me cry,” Garner said as she joined Jakes and Christy Beam, who she protrays in the film, on stage.

“I fell so in love with this family, I fell so in love with their love for each other. I fell so in love with their faith,” she said. “It was a transformative experience to play this woman right here, she made me stronger,” the actress confessed about Christy as she choked up.

Garner, producer Devon Franklin and the family whom the movie is based upon, the Beams, joined the worship service at The Potter’s House, founded by Jakes, as the Dallas premiere of “Miracles From Heaven” rolled into town this past weekend. The movie is scheduled to hit theaters March 16th.

The film recounts how Christy’s 12-year-old daugther Anna lived with pseudo-obstruction motility disorder and is unable to eat, using feeding tubes for nutrition, but finds herself cured after surviving a near-death accident. Christy talked on stage about the horrible ordeal she and her family had faced while going through it all.

(Photo: The Christian Post)
Jennifer Garner on the stage at The Potter’s House with T.D. Jakes and Christy Beam, Dallas, Texas, February 21, 2016.
Jennifer Garner at The Potter’s House with Bishop T.D. Jakes, Dallas, Texas, February 21, 2016.
(Photo: The Christian Post)
Jennifer Garner at The Potter’s House watching Bishop T.D. Jakes preach, Dallas, Texas, February 21 2016.
(Photo: The Christian Post)
Jennifer Garner Visits T.D. Jakes Church, Dallas, Texas, February 21, 2016.

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While Garner has never really talked about her faith in the past, in a video captured by DeWayneHamby.com during a Q&A conducted during that very same trip to Dallas, she revealed that her faith life has changed. Garner shared that in Los Angeles, where she lives, people don’t talk about faith and it’s a topic that has become very political. She said that people of faith are usually considered outsiders.

“I will say that being around this community, and while I’ve always gone to church in West Virginia, that when I got back to Los Angeles, I was talking to my kids about the movie and they said, ‘Mom you don’t take us to church,’ and we went that Sunday, and they went today without me. That decision was a direct gift from this movie and for that I’m very grateful,” Garner said.

When the “Miracles From Heaven” guests were on stage, Jakes declared, “Don’t worry we already booked out some theaters, The Potter House. Let’s shut the theaters down! We’re coming in there in our jeans, in our tennis shoes, in our church hats, we don’t care what you got on, we’re going to take over the theaters and we’re going to rock that place… because the church wants to come into the theaters. Let’s turn that place up for ‘Miracles of Heaven.'”

Before letting Garner walk off stage, Jakes had his choir serenade her with a song that he said both of them share since they were both from West Virginia. The singers belted out John Denver’s “Take Me Home, Country Home” as the congregation laughed and sung along.

Jakes’s sermon on Sunday was based on Matthew 15: 21-28, titled, “A Crumb for a Crisis.” Throughout the sermon, Garner responded every time Jakes asked the crowd to echo some of his statements. As the service came to a close, Jakes encouraged everyone to worship God for their breakthrough. Everyone erupted in praise and Garner got up on her feet also.

Some congregants praised while running throughout the church and another man close to the actress fell back on the floor as she watched. The service went on for about two hours and the Bishop’s special guests stayed the entire time.

For more information on Garner’s role as Christy Beam, visit sonypictures.com

[email protected]

Source : Christian Post

Canadian PM Justin Trudeau, a Catholic, First World Leader to March in Gay Pride Parade

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(Photo: Reuters/Chris Wattie)
Christian Post Report – Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau takes part in a news conference in Ottawa, Canada, February 8, 2016.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, a Roman Catholic, is set to become the first world leader known to have taken part in a gay pride march, following his announcement that he will participate in Toronto’s July 3 event.

BBC News noted that Trudeau has participated in such marches before, but this will be his first as PM.

“Very much looking forward to being there again, this time as PM. #PrideTO,” Trudeau, who was elected as PM in 2015, wrote Monday on Twitter.

Though Trudeau identifies both as a Roman Catholic and a supporter for gay marriage, the Catholic Church is opposed to same-sex marriage.

Bishop Fred Henry of Calgary has been one of the most outspoken Church voices against same-sex marriage, and has called on Catholics in the country to push back against the redefinition of marriage.

“The homosexual lifestyle must now be treated as wholesome and legitimate, when in reality, it is unwholesome and immoral,” Henry wrote in a pastoral letter back in 2006.

(Photo: REUTERS/MARK BLINCH)
Liberal Party of Canada leader Justin Trudeau, Canada’s first openly gay Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne, and Wynne’s partner Jane Rounthwaite (L) march during the gay pride parade in Toronto, June 30, 2013.

Henry has also warned that “freedom of speech is threatened for those who oppose same-sex ‘marriage’ in public,” noting government policy that punishes those unwilling to support gay marriage.

As leader of Canada’s Liberal Party, Trudeau has also told candidates that they can’t run on the pro-life position, even though he has said he is personally against abortion.

“It’s not for any government to legislate what happens — what a woman chooses to do with her body, and that is the bottom line,” Trudeau has said. “I have made it clear that future candidates need to be completely understanding that they will be expected to vote pro-choice on any bills.”

The Canadian PM has defended the sincerity of his Catholic faith when it has been questioned in the past. The Canadian Press reported in 2011 that Trudeau hit back against former Tory Member of Parliament Dean Del Mastro, who asked if there are any tenets of the Catholic faith that Trudeau supports.

Trudeau replied: “For someone to start questioning my own faith and accusing me of being a bad Catholic, is something that I really take issue with. My own personal faith is an extremely important part of who I am and the values that I try to lead with.”

Trudeau is expected to march on July 3 alongside Ontario’s lesbian Premier Kathleen Wynne and Toronto Mayor John Tory, reports said.

Pride Toronto’s Executive Director Mathieu Chantelois called the announcement big news both in Canada and the world, adding that the leader has shown understanding and commitment to LGBT issues.

“When we met him in his office, he was really serious about talking about trans rights, about equal rights, about immigration, about gay men donating blood. All these things are very important topics for him,” Chantelois said, according to BuzzFeed Canada.

Source : Christian Post

Michael W. Smith Talks ‘Hymns II’: Sharing Christian Classics With Next Generation (Interview)

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(Photo: Michael W. Smith)
Christian Post Report – Michael W. Smith released “Hymns II:Shine On Us” exclusively at Cracker Barrel Old Country Store on Jan. 29.

Michael W. Smith doesn’t need any more validation from the world.

With over 15 million albums sold, 32 No. 1 songs, three Grammy Awards, an American Music Award and 45 Dove Awards under his belt, the 58-year-old singer-songwriter and musician has had a successful career.

After releasing his latest record, Hymns II: Shine On Us last month, Smith isn’t showing any signs of slowing down. “I’m still passionate. I don’t think I’m finished,” the contemporary Christian musician told The Christian Post. “It would be different if I’m tired and ready to retire, but I just don’t think that’s going to happen. I feel like my best work is ahead.”

Before fans of the multi-platinum selling artist whet their appetites with some brand new material, he felt it was important to recreate traditional hymns with his latest release, Hymns II:Shine On Us. A follow up to his 2014 record Hymns, the latest album features more advanced production, with both classic and modern hymns accompanied by a choir, which was not part of the first album.

Smith wanted to record hymns that saved his life, but also saw a need to introduce older hymns to a younger generation who might not be familiar with the historic worship music.

“These hymns saved my life, so it wasn’t a big hurdle for me. I didn’t do it for this reason, but I do think you have a whole generation of young people who don’t know these songs,” he explained. “I think that’s a bit sad. So, I think we’re educating people. I think it’s the right thing to do.”

The musician has been wanting to release his Hymns albums for a long time, but it took him some time to iron out the details of how to make that happen.

“I’ve been wanting to make these hymns records forever. I was just trying to figure out how to do that in the midst of making these pop records or worship records,” he told CP, noting his resolution to the question, “How does that line up in your catalog?” To which he responded, “This is important. I would call this a one off.”

When he released the first Hymns record, Smith worked exclusively with Cracker Barrel Old Country Store and decided to do the same with Hymns II.

“You can’t find this anywhere but Cracker Barrell! It’s a specialty project and Cracker Barrel seemed to be the right fit. They’re a great company and I love them,” the singer said. “When I set out to do the Hymns record, Cracker Barrell seemed to be the right fit. They were excited to partner and do something together.”

More than looking for more awards, plaques and certifications, Smith is hoping that somebody finds the hymns he sings to be meaningful in their lives.

“I hope all of these songs mean something very special to hundreds of thousands of people. There is going to be the right song for the right moment that they’re in,” Smith told CP. “There’s a lot of those songs on this records that will hit people. A three and a half minute song can just completely change somebody’s life, heal somebody, and give somebody a completely different perspective.”

Aside from an illustrious music career that has spanned over 30 years, the father of five and grandfather of 12 has been blessed with a tight knit family. Just as he shares great moments with fans on social media, Smith is also transparent about hard times, which includes the death of his father last year.

More than singing about his Christian faith, Smith leans on that faith during those tough times.

“You’re never really ready to say goodbye to your parents. We were really close. I just know where he’s at,” Smith said. “We’re all going there, we’re going to get there. I’m going to see him again and it’s going to be awesome.”

While the entertainer is focused on his legacy as a husband and father, there is no denying how much of an impact he has had in the world of Christian music. Still, he insists there is much more to accomplish.

One of those things is more acting.

“I think the whole acting thing is not over for me. I think there’s stuff coming down the pipe and I’m going to jump back on the silver screen again,” he revealed. “I was just in ’90 minutes of Heaven’ a few months ago and ‘The Passion Live’ … I think there’s going to be more film and television.”

Even with all of his acting opportunities, Smith cannot forget about his music.

“I’ve got some musical things that I’ve got on my board. I’ve been writing a symphony for the past two years that I’m almost finished with,” he shared. “I’m kind of excited about that.”

Despite three decades in the industry, the pressure still exists for Smith to create a great record.

“I’ve got to make a really great, great, great record. And that’s enough in and of itself,” he said. “You’re supposed to be involved in who are the players, producers, that team of people who can get out there and get a wide audience around the world. I’ve got to do my part and either write or find the greatest songs that can be written.”

Instead of rushing to release new material, Smith is going to take his time in order to make sure it’s right.

“The good news is I’m not in any hurry. This is not going to happen in six months, but I am starting to think about it,” he said. “I’m not under contract with anybody so I’ve got to assemble the ‘A team’ and I’ve got to make the best record of my life. If I can’t do that I’m not going to do one.”

To learn more about Michael W. Smith’s Hymns II, click here.

Source : Christian Post

Michael W. Smith Talks ‘Hymns II’: Sharing Christian Classics With Next Generation (Interview)

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