Can You Hold Your Church Together Through Its Greatest Crisis?

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Can You Hold Your Church Together Through Its Greatest Crisis?

Can You Hold Your Church Together Through Its Greatest Crisis?

Christian Post Report – A theology of forgiveness and repentance is put to the test when we have been sinned against. (Prior posts in this series covered the biblical definitions of forgiveness and repentance as well as lessons for their practical application.)

In trying to obey, we are challenged with when and how to forgive. Do we forgive unconditionally, even when it seems the one who sinned against us hasn’t yet repented? Do we forgive only once we have begun to see the fruit of repentance?

These questions came to a head and were at the crucial center of the last days of Mars Hill Church, and many leaders strongly disagreed on the answers. This post explores how varied our answers to these questions can be, even according to the Scriptures.

As a leader and pastor of a church, you need to understand what type of culture exists in your church leadership. And though it may seem that all should agree on the essential natures of sin, repentance, and forgiveness, slight differences during the good times turn into massive chasms when crisis comes.

Read more at http://www.christianpost.com/news/a-helpful-guide-to-cultural-unity-leadership-culture-part-3-140675/

Source : Christian Post

Will America’s Pastors Stand With Rand?

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Will America’s Pastors Stand With Rand?

Will America's Pastors Stand With Rand?

Christian Post Report – In 2012, 57 percent of Iowa’s Republican caucus-goers identified themselves as Evangelical or born-again Christians. Needless to say, a candidate who wants to do well in the upcoming Iowa Caucuses in February will have to court Evangelicals. It’s simple math.

U.S. Senator Rand Paul, R-Ky., has a greater ability to reach Evangelicals than his father, former Congressman Ron Paul, R-Texas, did in 2012, and he is reaching out.

In March at a small prayer breakfast with pastors in Washington, D.C., Paul said that America needs a spiritual revival.

“The First Amendment says keep government out of religion. It doesn’t say keep religion out of government,” Paul told the group of 50 pastors. “We’re the most disconnected city on the planet from the people, so don’t have a lot of faith in what’s going on up here.”

Read more at http://www.christianpost.com/news/rand-pauls-courtship-with-evangelicals-will-it-be-enough-to-win-the-gop-primary-140850/

Source : Christian Post

Pastor Voddie Baucham Explains Why Gay Is Not the New Black

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Pastor Voddie Baucham Explains Why Gay Is Not the New Black

Voddie Baucham (Photo: Screenshot/desiringGod)

Christian Post Report – Pastor Voddie Baucham of Grace Family Baptist Church in Spring, Texas.

Texas pastor Voddie Baucham has appeared in a video produced by the desiringGod ministry, responding to the oft-repeated claim that “gay is the new black.” He argues that some similarities between the two movements cannot undermine significant differences between ethnicity and sexual orientation.

Similarities exist because “there are some things that we accepted philosophically in the civil rights movement that were not based in biblical truth,” which are being applied in the so-called gay rights movement the exact same way, says Baucham, pastor of preaching at Grace Family Baptist Church in Spring, Texas.

The video was posted on the desirigGod website the day after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the Constitution guarantees same-sex marriage across the country. President Barack Obama hailed it as “a victory for America.”

Baucham explains that both movements use the idea of seeing people as constituencies and seeing rights as rights for constituencies of people. “We’ve embraced a hyphenated understanding of ourselves as opposed to a view that sees us as one people.”

The homosexual community is “latching onto some of those very concepts,” which are rooted and grounded in cultural Marxism, he adds. “Divide people up into constituencies, and then the way you gain power is by making promises and representing particular constituencies. … So even when gains are made, you have to downplay those and go looking for other things that are problems.”

The homosexual community has identified itself as “a constituency deserving of our attention and pity,” intentionally using the AIDS crisis, he argues. “The direct result is they now have achieved a one-to-one correlation that we are finding it very hard to move away from.”

But differences between ethnicity and so-called sexual orientation cannot be overlooked, Baucham underlines. “Ethnicity is innate and unchangeable. So-called sexual orientation is not innate and is changeable.”

There is 2,000-year-old evidence in 1 Corinthians Chapter 6 that people can stop being gay, the pastor says.

Verses 9 to 11 read: “Or do you not know that wrongdoers will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor men who have sex with men nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.”

“However, if all you are doing is using the language of the culture and the idea of people as constituencies, then you end up right where we are, and it is hard to stop that train,” Baucham concludes.

Source : Christian Post

ISIS Marks One Year of ‘Islamic Caliphate,’ Says Allah Will Award ’10 Times as Much’ to Jihadists Who Die During Ramadan

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ISIS Marks One Year of ‘Islamic Caliphate,’ Says Allah Will Award ’10 Times as Much’ to Jihadists Who Die During Ramadan

ISIS (Photo: Reuters/Stringer)

Christian Post Report – A militant Islamist fighter waving a flag, cheers as he takes part in a military parade along the streets of Syria’s northern Raqqa province, June 30, 2014.

Terror group ISIS has marked one year since the establishment of its self-proclaimed Islamic Caliphate in the territory of Iraq and Syria. The militants marked the occasion by calling for more jihadist attacks during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, claiming that allah will reward jihadists who die with “10 times as much” during the period.

“ISIS’ Ramadan message specifically preaches that jihad is 10 times more obligatory during Ramadan and that those who die in jihad will be rewarded by allah 10 times as much as during the rest of the year,” said Ryan Mauro, national security analyst and adjunct professor of Homeland Security for the Clarion Project, according to Fox News.

“There will be ISIS supporters who have waited to strike until now in order to get the maximum award and those who were considering an attack and will now feel more pressure to actually do it.”

June 29, 2014, marked the official formation of the Islamic State, as the group is also known, when it also named its leader “Caliph Ibrahim,” Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.

The U.S. and a broad team of international allies have been hitting ISIS targets across Iraq and Syria with airstrikes, and have armed and trained local forces on the ground fighting the militants. The terror group has continued attacking and capturing new cities throughout the year, however, and has been expanding its attacks in a host of other countries.

ISIS has beheaded scores of Christians in separate attacks, with some execution videos filmed in Libya, where the jihadists have been establishing a presence.

Most recently, dozens of foreigners were killed in three separate terror attacks in France, Tunisia and Kuwait on Friday, following an ISIS call for escalating attacks against Christians, Shiites and Sunni Muslims during the holy month of Ramadan.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights has estimated that ISIS now controls over 50 percent of Syria, and said that the jihadists have executed at least 3,027 civilians, rebels, members of regime forces and allied militiamen.

Among the many abuses, several reports have also exposed the establishment of training camps for children, where young boys are given military training and indoctrinated into jihadist ideology.

SOHR called for the U.N. Security Council and all countries and parties fighting for justice to establish specialist courts and sentence the “the massacres and the blatant violations of human rights” committed by ISIS and all aggressors in the region.

The U.S.’s strategy against ISIS has come under scrutiny, however. Last week, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council, warned in a joint statement that President Barack Obama and his European allies are failing to stop the massacre of Christians and other minorities throughout the Middle East and North Africa.

“They are committing brutal atrocities against Christian communities in Syria and Iraq, persecuting religious minorities and destroying entire towns and local economies,” McCain and Perkins said in an op-ed for Fox News, speaking of ISIS.

“Christians are fleeing their homes in increasing numbers, creating an exploding refugee crisis that will have grave ramifications on the stability and security of the entire region.”

Source : Christian Post

ISIS Threatens Mass Slaughter of Christians in Israel Before End of Ramadan

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ISIS Threatens Mass Slaughter of Christians in Israel Before End of Ramadan

ISIS in Syria (Photo: Reuters)

Christian Post Report – Militant Islamist fighters parade on military vehicles along the streets of northern Raqqa province, Syria, June 30, 2014. Militant Islamist fighters held a parade in Syria’s northern Raqqa province to celebrate their declaration of an Islamic “caliphate” after the group captured territory in neighbouring Iraq, a monitoring service said. The Islamic State, an al-Qaida offshoot previously known as Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant.

Islamic militants claiming to be representatives of terror group ISIS in Jerusalem have threatened to “cleanse” Israel of all Christians and “non-believers” unless they leave the country. The extremists are accusing Christians of encouraging Muslims to abandon their religion.

“Those who work with the Zionists also encourage Muslims to leave their religion and become more secular and open, and they spread evil,” Arabic-language leaflets warns, according to The Jerusalem Post. “They take these Muslims away from us. … We know where they are, but we need help to find them all — all those Christian collaborators.”

The message continues: “ISIS soldiers will work to kill these people so this country is clean of them and … will clean this country and the Muslim Quarter from these Christians during this holy Ramadan.”

And further warns: “Because the Christians violated the Pact of Omar [made when Muslims conquered Jerusalem], we will do this. So we tell our Christians and the nonbelievers: Go away now or you will be killed when the Id [al Fitr festival ending Ramadan] is near. And you will be slaughtered like the sheep. One month is enough for them to go away.”

  • Egyptian Coptic Christian
    (Photo: Reuters/Ammar Awad)
    Egyptian Coptic Christian worshippers carry crosses during a procession along the Via Dolorosa on Good Friday during Holy Week in Jerusalem’s Old City April 10, 2015. Christian worshippers on Friday retraced the route Jesus took along Via Dolorosa to his crucifixion in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. Holy Week is celebrated in many Christian traditions during the week before Easter.

Breaking News Israel claimed that ISIS does not have an operational presence in Israel, but has a number of Islamist supporters, some of which have joined its self-proclaimed Islamic Caliphate in Iraq and Syria.

There have also been reports of ISIS’ flag being flown atop the Temple Mount, a historic holy site for Jews, Christians and Muslims.

Rabbi Yehuda Glick, a Tempe Mount activist, described the situation as “very worrying.”

“The situation in general among Muslim leadership where, for some reason, celebrations like Ramadan are immediately interpreted as a celebrations of violence and terror is something that is very sad, mostly on the Muslim side,” Glick said.

“Of course, in terms of the State of Israel, we think the government of Israel should implement order on the Temple Mount. The Temple Mount should not be a place for demonstrating, and definitely not ISIS. I do hope that the authorities and police make sure it doesn’t happen again.”

There has been an increase of ISIS attacks outside Iraq and Syria during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, following the directive of ISIS spokesman Abu Muhammad al-Adnani, who said that it should become “a time of calamity for the infidels … Shiites and apostate Muslims.”

Dozens were killed on Friday in three separate attacks in France, Tunisia and Kuwait, for which ISIS has claimed responsibility.

Hostility against Christians in Israel has been on the rise recently, with The Church of the Multiplication of the Loaves and Fishes at Tabgha, located on the shores of the Sea of Galilee where Jesus is believed to have fed the 5,000, burned in an arson attack earlier in June. Anti-Christian graffiti written in Hebrew and found at the site read: “May the false gods be eliminated.”

Source : Christian Post

When Heaven and Earth Become One

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When Heaven and Earth Become One

Christian Post Report – “And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven like a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. I heard a loud shout from the throne, saying, ‘Look, God’s home is now among His people! He will live with them, and they will be His people. God Himself will be with them.'”
— Revelation 21:2-3

  • Greg Laurie
    (Photo: rever Hoehne for Harvest Ministries)
    Greg Laurie, senior pastor of Harvest Christian Fellowship in Riverside, California and Harvest Orange County in Irvine, California, shares the Gospel with a sold-out crowd of 19,000 for Harvest America at the American Airlines Center and Victory Park in Dallas, Texas, Oct. 5, 2014.

One day, Cathe was driving with our youngest son, Jonathan, who was then age 3. She was talking about the Rapture and how we would be caught up to heaven. The more she talked, the quieter Jonathan got. Finally, he blurted out, “Mom, I don’t want to go to heaven! I don’t want to leave this beautiful world that God made!” It’s hard for a 3-year-old to wrap his mind around heaven.

Sometimes Christians say, “When I die I will be with the Lord forever in heaven!” While it is true that when a believer dies they go to heaven, it is not true that we stay there forever. Because one day, heaven is going to come to earth.

My friend Randy Alcorn, in his book Heaven writes, “We won’t go to Heaven and leave Earth behind. Rather, God will bring Heaven and Earth together into the same dimension, with no wall of separation, no armed angels to guard Heaven’s perfection from sinful mankind.”

God is not going to abandon His creation; He’s going to restore it! Have you ever seen a perfectly restored classic car? (Guys especially see this as a thing of beauty.) Well, God is into restoration too—restoration of lives, bodies, and even our planet!

God’s perfect plan is to “bring all things in heaven and on earth together under one head, even Christ” (Ephesians 1:10 NIV).

Jesus will make earth into heaven and heaven into earth. Just as the wall that separates God and mankind is torn down in Jesus, so too the wall that separates heaven and earth will forever be demolished.

Copyright © 2015 by Harvest Ministries. All rights reserved.

Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture taken from the New King James Version. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Bible text from the New King James Version is not to be reproduced in copies or otherwise by any means except as permitted in writing by Thomas Nelson, Inc., Attn: Bible Rights and Permissions, P.O. Box 141000, Nashville, TN 37214-1000

Used with Permission

Source : Christian Post

No More Christian Events in Jerusalem Without Rabbi’s Approval After Orthodox Jews Accuse Christians of ‘Forced Conversions’

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No More Christian Events in Jerusalem Without Rabbi’s Approval After Orthodox Jews Accuse Christians of ‘Forced Conversions’

Jerusalem Pais Arena, Empowered21 (Photo: The Christian Post/Leonardo Blair)

Christian Post Report – The Jerusalem Pais Arena, a multi-purpose sports arena with a seating capacity of 11,000 in Jerusalem, Israel is the venue for the Empowered21 Global Congress which will run May 20–25, 2015.

The Jerusalem Municipality will now have to consult with the city’s Rabbis before allowing Christians to host events in the city after the haredi, a group of ultra-orthodox Jews, accused Christians of forcing conversions at a conference held there last month.

The respected orthodox Jewish officials issued complaints to the municipality and the management of the city’s multi-purpose sports arena where the conference was held and called the event which hosted thousands of Christians from around the world a “major show of forced conversion,” according to YNetNews.com.

Haredi media charged that the event was aimed at convincing Jews to join Christianity with the help of missionaries who came to Israel for that purpose. The city’s rabbis demanded that the Municipality cancel the event, but they were unsuccessful due to legal issues.

Following the protests, haredi representatives came to an agreement with the city’s mayor Nir Barkat that Jerusalem’s rabbis and legal advisors will be consulted before permits are issued for future events.

“It has been decided that in future events, in case concerns are raised about illegal missionary activity, Jerusalem’s chief rabbis and the Municipality’s legal advisors will be consulted,” said Jerusalem Municipality in a statement.

While the report did not specify which Christian conference triggered the complaints, the Empowered21 Global Congress which featured thousands of spirit-filled believers was held in the Jerusalem Pais Arena, in Jerusalem, Israel last month.

Well known Christian leaders including Teen Mania Ministries president and founder Ron Luce, and Jentezen Franklin, senior pastor of Free Chapel church were present at the event which took place from May 20-25.

Oral Roberts University President, William M. Wilson, who also serves as president and co-chair of Empowered21, said the gathering would mark a landmark moment for the ministry’s movement.

“This is a pivotal moment in history for the global Spirit-empowered movement,” said Wilson in a statement. “The impartation service, which will pass the mantel of the global Spirit-empowered movement on to the next generation, is of particular significance. Our prayer is that this service will be a catalyst, igniting the hearts and minds of young people from around the globe with the fire of God’s love and power.”

Contact: [email protected]; follow me on Twitter @vinfunaro

Source : Christian Post

Former Tullian Tchividjian-Led Coral Ridge Presbyterian Gets Approval to Build Over 500 Apartments on Church-Owned Property

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Former Tullian Tchividjian-Led Coral Ridge Presbyterian Gets Approval to Build Over 500 Apartments on Church-Owned Property

megachurch (Photo: Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church)

Christian Post Report – In this file photo, thousands attend a Sunday worship service at Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.

A county government in Florida has approved a land use permit submitted by the megachurch Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church, which was formerly led by Billy Graham’s grandson Tullian Tchividjian, to build over 500 apartments on its property.

Broward County Commission voted unanimously on Tuesday to approve Item No. 64 on their agenda, which was submitted by Coral Ridge.

Kristin Carter, spokesperson for Broward County, told The Christian Post on Thursday that “the property owner requested approval to build 425 garden apartments and 175 mid-rise units on the northern 23 acres of the parcel, which is a total of just under 52 acres.”

Earlier this week local media reported that Coral Ridge Presbyterian was planning to develop a portion of land they owned in Lauderdale Lakes.

Coral Ridge’s Lauderdale Lakes property is presently vacant, the South Florida Business Journal reported on Monday. “Leigh Robinson Kerr & Associate is the planning firm on the application. It’s not clear who the church intends to sell the land to for development.”

News of the commission’s vote comes as Coral Ridge Presbyterian recovers from a sex scandal surrounding its former senior pastor, Tullian Tchividjian.

A grandson of the Rev. Billy Graham, Tchividjian admitted to having an extramarital affair after discovering that his wife had cheated on him.

“Last week I was approached by our church leaders and they asked me about my own affair. I admitted to it and it was decided that the best course of action would be for me to resign,” said Tchividjian in a statement.

Source : Christian Post

Episcopal Church Mulling 2 Israeli Divestment Proposals at General Convention to Boycott US Companies That Do Business With Israel

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Episcopal Church Mulling 2 Israeli Divestment Proposals at General Convention to Boycott US Companies That Do Business With Israel
  • Katharine Jefferts Schori
    (Photo: The Episcopal Church via The Christian Post)
    Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori of The Episcopal Church speaks in a live webcast conversation, July 21, 2010.

Christian Post Report – A mainline protestant denomination will consider adopting a resolution supporting divestment from companies that do business with Israel.

The Episcopal Church will consider several resolutions regarding the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict at its 78th General Convention that’s being held in Salt Lake City and began on Thursday.

Resolution D016, introduced by the Very Rev. Walter Brownridge of the Diocese of Hawaii, calls on the Church to compile a list of corporations profiting from the so-called “Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories” and divest from said companies.

The resolution reads in part: “… upon receiving the position of said companies to these shareholder resolutions, Executive Council, by its June meeting of 2017 [will] develop a process of divestment from those companies who have refused to disinvest.”

  • Israel, Flag
    (Photo: Reuters)
    An Israeli flag flies high in Tel Aviv, December 28, 2010.

It continues: “That this General Convention directs the Executive Council to establish a work group to identify a list of products made or businesses present in West Bank settlements (including East Jerusalem) and publishing them within one year of adjournment of this Convention so that Church entities, including congregations and individual members can seek to boycott those products and/or businesses which are ‘illegal under international law’ …”

Resolution C003, also coming from the Diocese of Hawaii, calls on the denomination to adopt “a policy of selective divestment or a No Buy policy of any holdings in Caterpillar, Hewlett Packard and Motorola Solutions until such time that the conflict is resolved through a just outcome for Palestinians and all Israelis or that these companies take action to disinvest from their involvement in the [so-called] ‘occupation.'”

“That all Episcopalians be urged to pray and work for peace in the Holy Land, so that the Jewish and Palestinian people may come together in a spirit of reconciliation,” continued Resolution C003.

“That a copy of this resolution be sent to these companies along with a conveying letter and that the Church’s money managers be instructed to implement this policy and that this resolution also be sent to other church investors, including the Church Pension Fund, which are urged to follow this policy.”

Debates over divesting from Israel or companies that do business with Israel have periodically erupted in mainline Protestant churches.

Proposals for some level of divestment against companies that do business with the Israeli military have had mixed results in denominations like the United Methodist Church and Presbyterian Church (USA).

Back in March of 2012, Episcopal Church Presiding Katharine Jefferts Schori spoke out against divestment campaigns against Israel.

At the Middle East Peacemakers luncheon in Los Angeles that year, Bishop Jefferts Schori told the approximately 200 attendees that it was better to “invest in legitimate development in Palestine’s West Bank and in Gaza” than boycott or divest from Israel.

“The Episcopal Church does not endorse divestment or boycott,” stated Jefferts Schori, adding that such efforts “will only end in punishing Palestinians economically.”

While supporters of divestment have oft compared Israel to Apartheid South Africa, Episcopal News Service noted Wednesday that a 2005 Episcopal Church report disagrees.

“In the case of South Africa, the entire system of apartheid was illegitimate, and no actions short of dismantling it could be countenanced by the world community. The goal was the end of that South African regime,” read the report in part.

“The case of Israel is different. Church policies clearly support Israel’s right to exist, and no companies should be involved, however inadvertently, in any way with organizations engaged in violence against Israelis. Companies can and should operate in Israel proper.”

The aforementioned resolutions on divestment will be considered along with others by the General Convention attendees over the next week.

Source : Christian Post

Delaware Pastor Writes Hymn for Charleston Victims ‘They Met to Read the Bible;’ Song Goes Global

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Delaware Pastor Writes Hymn for Charleston Victims ‘They Met to Read the Bible;’ Song Goes Global

Carolyn Gillette (Photo: Courtesy of CarolynsHymns.com)

Christian Post Report – Hymn writer and Delaware church co-pastor Carolyn Gillette.

A Delaware pastor’s spiritual hymn written to remember the nine Christians killed in the shooting at Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina, last week is now touching the lives of countless believers, as many churches around the world have started to include it in their worship services.

The hymn’s writer, Carolyn Winfrey Gillette who co-pastors Limestone Presbyterian Church in Pike Creek, Delaware, with her husband, Bruce, has written spiritual songs about other tragic events such as the 2010 earthquake in Haiti and 9/11.

Her latest hymn, “They Met to Read the Bible” that addresses the shooting in Charleston has gone viral on Facebook and has been written about by various secular media outlets, including The New Yorker.

“We’re amazed at the response the song has gotten,” said Bruce Gillette to The Christian Post. “It’s on an Australian worship planning website. I received emails from all over Canada. Churches from Brooklyn to San Francisco to Louisiana to North Dakota. Baptists, Evangelicals, Methodists, Presbyterian, Roman Catholic, Episcopalian, you name it, it seems to be attracting folks across the theological denominational spectrum.”

Carolyn wrote the song shortly after the news of the shooting hit and released it for free.

“It surprised us that The New Yorker, a secular magazine, wrote about it,” Carolyn told CP. “It is a prayer and I hope people see it that way and sing it that way. It’s a prayer for us to grieve with the victims and their families and it’s also a prayer for us to look at how out society needs to change and be more how God wants us to be.”

She also stressed the importance of the song’s lyrics.

“It’s not about me, it’s a prayer. And prayers are meant to be prayed and sung to God. It’s not about the writer of the words. It’s about the words and the message. That’s the most important thing,” said Carolyn.

Churches around the world included the hymn in their Sunday worship services the week after the shootings, according to Bruce, who’s happy to see God unifying believers through his wife’s song.

“In the book of Romans, we’re called to rejoice with those who rejoice and suffer with those who suffer. These are our brothers and sisters in Christ in Charleston and it’s nice to see the Christian Church [uniting].”

Bruce said his wife writes “biblically grounded” hymns and has penned spiritual songs inspired by the Apostle’s Creed, the Ten Commandments and the biblical images of God the Father. Her 9/11 hymn made national news in 2001, according to Gillette, who said songs she writes inspired by current events usually attract the most attention.

Her 9/11 hymn was sung during a special on the BBC in Britain for remembering victims killed in New York City in the Twin Towers.

Carolyn wrote “They Met to Read the Bible” on the Friday following the Charleston shooting. Shortly after releasing the song, Bruce emailed it to churches that have used her songs in the past and within a half an hour a pastor in Charleston said he wanted to share it with other clergy. Gillette said the song has received at least 15,000 hits on his personal Facebook page alone.

People just hearing the song this week are planning to include it in their worship services next Sunday, according to Bruce. Others plan on using it on July 5, the day after Independence Day, as a prayer for the U.S.

Carolyn’s hymns can viewed on her website www.carolynshymns.com.

“They Met to Read the Bible” addresses the tragic event in Charleston, South Carolina, where nine people were shot and killed by a lone gunman on June 17 at Emanuel AME Church during a Bible study. The church’s late pastor and State Senator Clementa C. Pinckney was one of the victims gunned down by 21-year-old Dylann Roof.

“They Met to Read the Bible”

ST. CHRISTOPHER 7.6.8.6.8.6.8.6 (“Beneath the Cross of Jesus”)

They met to read the Bible,
they gathered for a prayer,
They worshiped God and shared with friends
and welcomed strangers there.
They went to church to speak of love,
To celebrate God’s grace.
O Lord, we tremble when we hear
What happened in that place.

O God of love and justice,
we thank you for the nine.
They served in their communities
and made the world more kind.
They preached and sang and coached and taught,
And cared for children, too.
They blessed your church and blessed your world
With gifts they used for you.

We grieve a wounded culture
Where fear and terror thrive,
Where some hate others for their race
And guns are glorified.
We grieve for sons and daughters lost,
For grandmas who are gone.
O God, we cry with broken hearts:
This can’t continue on!

God, may we keep on sowing
The seeds of justice here,
Till guns are silent, people sing,
And hope replaces fear.
May seeds of understanding grow
And flourish all our days.
May justice, love and mercy be
The banner that we raise.

Contact: [email protected]; follow me on Twitter @vinfunaro

Source : Christian Post

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