Muslim Leader Plans to Turn Thousands of Churches Into Mosques; Claims Christians and Muslims Worship ‘the Same God’

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Muslim Leader Plans to Turn Thousands of Churches Into Mosques; Claims Christians and Muslims Worship ‘the Same God’

Dalil Boubakeur (Photo: Reuters/Ian Langsdon/Pool)

Christian Post Report – Paris Mosque rector Dalil Boubakeur (L) attends a meeting with French President Francois Hollande before a ceremony to inaugurate the memorial of the Muslim soldiers, who died fighting for France, at the Grand Mosque of Paris February 18, 2014. l

A prominent Muslim leader in France has suggested that thousands of the country’s abandoned Catholic churches should be turned into mosques to accommodate the growing French Muslim population, which is the largest Muslim population in Europe.

In a Monday interview with France’s Europe 1 radio, Dalil Boubakeur, the president of the French Council of Muslim Faith and rector of the Grand Mosque in Paris, explained that there are only 2,500 mosques in France, with another 300 under construction, which falls short of being able to serve the nation’s estimated 5 million Muslims.

Boubakeur asserted that at least 5,000 mosques are needed in order to comfortably serve the French Muslim community and advised that converting some of the nation’s emptied churches could be a viable option.

“It’s a delicate issue, but why not?” Boubakeur said.

The International Business Times reports that research conducted by the French Institute of Public Opinion in 2012 found that Catholics make up 64 percent of France’s population but only 4.5 percent of French Catholics regularly attend church services. In the last decade, about 60 Catholic churches have closed.

As an example, Boubakeur cited how a church in Clermont-Ferrand, which had been abandoned for over 30 years, was converted into a mosque in 2012 and the transition, he said, was welcomed by the local religious community.

In April, Boubakeur called for the doubling in the number of mosques in France. His call for Muslims to have more places of worship has also been deemed “legitimate” by French Christian leaders.

“Muslims should, like Christians and Jews, be able to practice their religion,” Monseigneur Ribadeau-Dumas, a spokesman for the Bishops’ Conference of France, told Europe 1 radio.

Boubakeur’s suggestion has drawn concern from France’s National Front party, a far-right movement that stands strong against radical Islam.

RT reports that in April, National Front Vice President Florian Philippot stated that France does not need any more mosques because “100 percent of places of radicalization are mosques.”

In the interview, Boubakeur insinuated that Muslims and Christians worship the same God and both communities should be capable of peacefully coinciding.

“It’s the same God, these are neighboring rights, fraternal, and I think that Muslims and Christians can coexist and live together,” Boubakeur contended.

Although Boubakeur believes that Christians and Muslims worship the “same God,” Jewish author Avi Lipkin proclaimed on Monday that Allah is not the same God worshipped by the Jews and Christians.

Speaking at Skyline Church’s Future Conference in San Diego, Lipkin asserted that while Jews and Christians worship the God of love and peace, Muslims worship a “war god.”

“The god, Allah, is another god. The god, Allah, is not the God of the Jews and the Christians, the God of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob. The god of Allah is a moon god, war god and sword god based on the ancient traditions of Arabia,” Lipkin explained. “When they say ‘Allahu Akbar,’ they are not saying ‘God is great,’ like the media says. … Allahu Akbar means ‘Allah is greater;’ Allah is greater than the other god, the God of Jews and the Christians, the God of love and the God of peace. Allah is the god of war and the god of hatred, the opposite.”

Lipkin continued by saying that Allah should be compared to the devil, not God.

“If you are Christians, who said he was greater than God before his fall? Satan,” Lipkin said. “Do you know what the Muslims call Allah? They call him in Arabic, Al-Makr. Al-Makr means Allah is the greatest of all the liars and deceivers. If you are a Christian, who is the greatest of all the liars and deceivers? Satan.”

“Muslims are great people, but they are pagans because their god is another god. Our God loves every human being because we are all in His image,” Lipkin continued. “But Allah wants to kill the Jews on Saturday and kill the Christians on Sunday, kill the hindus, kill the buddhists, kill the blacks in Africa, and the Muslims kill each other all in the name of Allah. How can Allah and God be the same?”

Source : Christian Post

Islamic Clerics Fight to Keep Pakistan’s Blasphemy Laws That Persecute Christians: ‘Those Who Insult Muhammad Deserve to Be Killed’

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Islamic Clerics Fight to Keep Pakistan’s Blasphemy Laws That Persecute Christians: ‘Those Who Insult Muhammad Deserve to Be Killed’

Pakistan (Photo: Reuters/Faisal Mahmood)

Christian Post Report – A girl holds a placard as she stands next to an image of the governor of Punjab Salman Taseer during a candlelight vigil in commemoration of Taseer, at the site where he was assassinated a day earlier, in Islamabad, Pakistan January 5, 2011. Five hundred Pakistani religious scholars have warned that anyone who expresses grief over the assassination of the senior ruling party official who opposed the country’s blasphemy law could suffer the same fate. Taseer, a liberal politician close to President Asif Ali Zardari, had no day-to-day role in the central government. But his killing in broad daylight at a shopping centre in Islamabad reinforces the sense that the government is incapable of stabilising the Muslim country of 170 million.

As Pakistani lawmakers consider legislation to reform the nation’s corrupt blasphemy laws, Islamic clerics are bashing the government for even considering such an option, and are calling for the release of the murderer of the Punjab governor who advocated for blasphemy reform in 2011.

Asia News reports that 10 Muslim scholars and a former Pakistani judge gathered recently at a “seminar for protection of the prophet’s dignity” and expressed their concern over the proposed legislation that is attempting to add the word “intention” to the nation’s blasphemy law.

Speaking at the seminar was former Pakistani justice Mian Nazir Akhtar, who represents Mumtaz Qadri, the bodyguard who killed Punjab Governor Salman Taseer for referring to Pakistan’s blasphemy law as a “black law.” Akhtar bashed the proposed legislation and asserted that those who insult the Muslim prophet Muhammad deserve to be killed and “sent to hell.”

“The new bill rejects all sayings by the ‘holy prophet,'” Akhtar stated. “When it comes to the sanctity of the prophet, the implementation of all man-made laws become different. Those who insult him have no rights, including no right to live. There is no need for trial or hearings.”

Pakistan’s blasphemy law is often used by Muslims, who consist of over 96 percent of the population, to attack Christians and other religious minorities whom they have a personal issue with.

  • Mian Nazir Akhtar
    (Screengrab: YouTube/KhilafatForum)
    Former Pakistani justice Mian Nazir Akhtar discusses the death sentence of his client Mumtaz Qadri, who killed Punjab Governor Salman Taseer in 2011.

In many circumstances, religious minorities are accused of blasphemy and are either sentenced to imprisonment, death or are beaten, burned and or killed by angry Muslim mobs who use the law to try and justify their malicious actions.

As one prime example, a Christian mother of five, Asia Bibi, was sentenced to death by a Pakistani court in 2010 after being accused of blasphemy by a group of Muslim women who were furious that she drank from the same water supply that they did.

In November, an angry Muslim Mob attacked and burned alive a Christian couple accused of desecrating pages of a Quran by holding their beaten bodies over a brick furnace.

Over 40 Pakistanis are sitting on death row or have been sentenced to life in prison because of blasphemy accusations.

Other Islamic leaders at the seminar warned against messing with the blasphemy law and threatened protests, sit-ins and “fatwas against supporters of the proposed bill.”

In a op-ed posted to NationalInterest.org earlier this month, Katrina Lantos Swett, the chair of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, pointed out the injustice in the fact that in a nation with a less-than 4 percent religious minority community, it’s religious minorities that seem to “bear the brunt” of the blasphemy law.

“The blasphemy law on its face flatly violates both freedom of religion and freedom of expression. Worse still, Pakistan vigorously applies this law,” Swett wrote. “Moreover, the weight of this law falls disproportionately on members of religious minority communities, such as Christians, Hindus, Sikhs, and Ahmadis.

“In addition, enforcement of such laws emboldens religious extremist groups and their sympathizers to assault these minorities — as seen most recently when terrorists slaughtered Ismaili Muslims on a bus,” she continued. “And finally, Pakistan’s zealous enforcement of these laws is in contrast to the pronounced lack of zeal bringing to justice those responsible for such attacks.”

Saeeda Deep, from the Institute of Peace and Secular Studies, told Asia News that her organization has campaigned for a reform to the blasphemy law for years, but the organization’s arguments have come to no avail.

“We tried to prove blasphemy by producing four Muslim witnesses, but our voices are being suppressed,” Deep said. “Even Saudi Arabia, our religious hub, does not follow such strict version of this law.”

As for Qadri, a Pakistani court upheld his death sentence in March for killing Taseer. But the Islamic clerics believe he is now “immortal” and should be freed for killing a governor who advocated for Bibi’s release and carried a “western agenda.”

“This single act [Taseer’s murder] made Qadri immortal,” Akhtar claimed. “Taseer’s authority could not save him. He had lowered himself and violated his oath for a woman who was proven guilty by the court and then punished. He carried a western agenda for more than three years and was finally sent to hell.”

Deep pointed out the hypocrisy of the Islamic clerics wanting to uphold death sentences of innocent religious minorities falsely accused of blasphemy, while wanting to free Qadri, who has issued no remorse for his cold-blooded murder.

“If the clerics believe in killing in the name of God, they must accept death sentence of governor’s guard for the same cause,” she said.

Source : Christian Post

Religious Leader Warns of ‘Deception of Inclusiveness’ on Same-Sex Marriage

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Religious Leader Warns of ‘Deception of Inclusiveness’ on Same-Sex Marriage

Pastor Ronnie Floyd (Photo: Courtesy of Matt Miller)

Christian Post Report – Southern Baptist Convention President Ronnie Floyd gives the president’s address on June 16, 2015, during the opening session of the SBC annual meeting at the Greater Columbus Convention Center in Columbus, Ohio.

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Southern Baptists will not bow and they will not be silent on same-sex marriage, Southern Baptist Convention president Ronnie Floyd told the annual gathering of Southern Baptists in Columbus, Ohio, June 16.

Floyd, pastor of Cross Church in Springdale, Ark., and now re-elected to a second term as president of the 15.5 million-member denomination, said it is time for Christians in general, and Southern Baptists in particular, to “stand believing that marriage is the uniting of one man and one woman in covenant commitment for a lifetime.”

“We have believed this and do believe this, and I believe will continue to believe this as a convention of churches. We stand for biblical and traditional marriage. As Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy said, ‘This definition (of traditional marriage) has been with us for millennia. And it’s very difficult for the court to say, ‘Oh well, we know better.'”

The Supreme Court is expected to issue its ruling in Obergfell v. Hodges at the end of its session in June. The high court is weighing if the Fourteenth Amendment grants a right of same-sex marriage to homosexuals and whether the same amendment requires a state without same-sex marriage laws to recognize same-sex marriages performed in states that allow the practice.

Floyd said the member churches of the Southern Baptist Convention “could not agree more with those words. We do not need to redefine what God has defined already. This is a Bonhoeffer moment for every pastor in America.”

Floyd was referencing German theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer, who led the German Confessing Church in opposition to the rule of Adolf Hitler in World War II. Bonhoeffer was imprisoned and later hung by the Nazis for his opposition.

“While some evangelicals may be bowing down to the deception of the inclusiveness of same sex union or marriage in their churches, we will not bow down, nor will we be silent,” Floyd said.

“We believe the Scripture is authoritative in all things and to say it permits such activity is a denial of its authenticity, infallibility, and authority regarding marriage and everything else. Therefore, we will hold up and lift up the Bible as God’s authoritative truth on marriage.”

Floyd called on messengers to the Convention to approve a resolution that affirms what Southern Baptists believe about marriage and calls member churches to stand for truth. He said, however, the resolution will also remind Southern Baptists of the obligation to love their neighbors and respect all people, “even those who disagree with us on this pivotal issue.”

“While we affirm our love for all people, including those struggling with same-sex attraction, we cannot and will not affirm any behavior that deviates from God’s design for marriage. Our first commitment is to God and His Word, nothing else, and no one else,” Floyd said.

Floyd said he and thousands of other pastors cannot and will not officiate any same-sex marriage ceremonies.

“The Supreme Court is not the final authority nor is the culture itself, but the Bible is God’s final authority about marriage and on this we stand,” Floyd said.

This article was originally posted here.

Source : Christian Post

‘We Are in Spiritual Warfare,’ Evangelical Leader Says on Country’s Most Divisive Issues

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‘We Are in Spiritual Warfare,’ Evangelical Leader Says on Country’s Most Divisive Issues

Pastor Ronnie Floyd (Photo: Courtesy of Matt Miller)

Christian Post Report – Southern Baptist Convention President Ronnie Floyd gives the president’s address on June 16, 2015, during the opening session of the SBC annual meeting at the Greater Columbus Convention Center in Columbus, Ohio.

COLUMBUS, Ohio — In a blistering message aimed at Southern Baptists, evangelicals, Americans, the Supreme Court, and the world – Southern Baptist Convention president Ronnie Floyd pointed to some of the nation’s most divisive issues Tuesday morning in his convention sermon.

In tackling same-sex marriage, racism, abortion, and the freedom of religion, the Arkansas pastor warned there is an “alarm clock going off in our nation and around the world” and now is not the time to push the “snooze button.”

“Southern Baptists, now is the time to lead,” he said. “We need to believe and stand on His Word and for His name unashamedly and boldly, but always compassionately.”

Floyd delivered his sermon at the beginning of the two-day annual meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention, a 15.5 million-member denomination of over 46,000 autonomous churches in the United States.

Citing a worldwide crisis with the advance of ISIS, human trafficking, the imprisonment of Christian pastor Saeed Abedini in an Iranian jail, orphans, the $18 trillion debt in America, 43 million Americans living in poverty, racism, abortion, and other moral issues — Floyd repeated “now is the time to lead, believing and standing.”

On abortion, Floyd said since 1973 there have been 57 million babies aborted – a number equal to the populations of the state of California and New York.

“I believe if the 59 Presidents who have preceded me could speak to us in this hour on June 16, 2015, in Columbus, Ohio, they would declare to us that we are living right now in our most defining hour as Southern Baptists,” Floyd said.

Quoting Romans 13:11, Floyd said: “We are not entering into a playground, but a battleground. We are in spiritual warfare.”

On leadership, Floyd repeated a message exhorting Southern Baptists “to stand on His Word and for His name unashamedly and boldly, but always compassionately.

“We need to hold the Word of God in one hand and the love of God in the other hand. When we do this, the Lord will produce open doors, even when or if the opposition is fierce,” Floyd said.

With those leadership principles are four imperatives, Floyd told Southern Baptists:

–“We stand believing that the Bible is God’s infallible, inerrant, authoritative and final Word in all things.”

–“We stand believing that Jesus Christ is the only way to salvation; only coming through repentance from sin and faith in Christ alone.”

–“We stand believing that we are called to reach the world for Christ, making disciples of all the nations.”

–“We stand believing that our greatest need in America is to see the next Great Spiritual Awakening.”

Recalling a comment by President Barack Obama last year in New York City that the “world is spinning so fast and nobody is able to control it,” Floyd said there is hope, but it won’t come from outside the church.

“We need a Jesus revolution. It is time for Southern Baptists to lead by coming together in clear agreement, visible union, and in extraordinary prayer for the next Great Awakening and to reach the World for Christ,” Floyd said.

Addressing the country’s moral issues, Floyd said, “our churches must rise up right where the people are, from the abortion issue to the same-sex issue, and many others, extending God’s love, ministering to them, and sharing the power of God’s healing and forgiveness.”

He listed four imperatives addressed at America:

–“We stand believing that humanity’s bearing of God’s image is not contingent upon one’s skin color.”

–“We stand believing that abortion is a glaring desecration of the unborn child’s purpose and value.”

–“We stand believing that marriage is the uniting of one man and one woman in covenant commitment for a lifetime.”

–“We stand believing that freedom of religion for all people promotes the common good of our nation and the world.”

This article was originally posted here.

In declaring “the Supreme Court is not the final authority nor is the culture itself; but [that] the Bible is God’s Final Authority about marriage and on this we stand!” Floyd also warned he will not officiate any same-sex unions or same sex marriage ceremonies.

“Freedom of religion belongs to our God-given human conscience; not to the Supreme Court, the Congress, any President, or the leaders of the world, business, any radical group, or anyone else that tries to restrain it,” he said.

Ultimately, however, Floyd pointed to the church at Philadephia who remained faithful and did not deny Jesus’ name. “God was opening the door for them so they could take the gospel to their world from Philadelphia,” he said.

“Even though the culture is darkening and religious liberty is eroding in our nation, God is opening up doors for each one of our churches,” Floyd said.

Calling for prayer for a third great spiritual awakening in America, Floyd said prayer can “penetrate the growing lostness in North America and across the globe.”

“A mighty move of God can wake up the fearful preacher, the dead church, the lifeless state convention, and even the complex Southern Baptist Convention,” he said. “A move of God can even turn America’s heart back to God.”

Source : Christian Post

Ronnie Floyd Elected SBC President for 2nd Year

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Ronnie Floyd Elected SBC President for 2nd Year

Pastor Ronnie Floyd (Photo: Courtesy of Adam Covington)

Christian Post Report – Southern Baptist Convention President Ronnie Floyd tells messengers at the SBC annual meeting that “we must pray for the third Great Awakening.” The two-day meeting was held June 16-17, 2015, at the Greater Columbus Convention Center in Columbus, Ohio.

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Ronnie Floyd, senior pastor of Cross Church in northwest Arkansas, was elected today for the second year as president of the Southern Baptist Convention.

Floyd was elected with no opposition with 5,277 members present, according to Jim Wells, registration secretary. Last year in Baltimore, he succeeded Fred Luter, pastor of Franklin Avenue Baptist Church in New Orleans, who became the first African American pastor in that role since he was elected in 2012.

In April he was named by Newsmax as one of the top 10 of 100 top Christian leaders in America today. The list includes entertainment stars, and those involved in the political process as well as pastors.

Floyd serves as lead pastor and strategist with the North American Mission Board for its Send North America church planting strategy.

He is the author of 10 books, including “Our Last Great Hope: Awakening the Great Commission” (2011) and “The Power of Prayer and Fasting” (2010).

As the pastor of Cross Church, Floyd led the congregation to start campuses in Springdale, Rogers and Fayetteville.

He holds doctor of ministry and master of divinity degrees from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Texas and an undergraduate degree from Howard Payne University, also in Texas.

Floyd and his wife Jeana have been married 37 years and have two married sons and several grandchildren.

This article was originally posted here.

Source : Christian Post

SBC 2015 Annual Meeting: ‘2 Billion People Still Haven’t Heard the Name of Jesus,’ Says International Missions Board President David Platt

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SBC 2015 Annual Meeting: ‘2 Billion People Still Haven’t Heard the Name of Jesus,’ Says International Missions Board President David Platt

David Platt (Photo: Courtesy of Bill Bangham)

Christian Post Report – David Platt, president of the International Mission Board, closes the Pastors’ Conference on June 15, 2015, at the Greater Columbus Convention Center in Columbus, Ohio, with a sermon on Revelation 1.

David Platt, president of the International Mission Board, an entity of the Southern Baptist Convention, said Wednesday that the organization is working on new ways to stop the decline in Southern Baptist missionary efforts around the world as an estimated 2 billion people have still not heard the Gospel.

Speaking at the SBC’s annual meeting in Columbus, Ohio, Platt praised the collective efforts of the organization and IMB, pointing out that there are 4,700 missionaries proclaiming the Gospel to nearly 2 million people around the world. He also noted that their efforts have led to nearly 200,000 people getting baptized and the planting of almost 13,000 new churches.

“I praise God for what he has created in the Southern Baptist Convention and in the IMB. It is breathtaking to see how you, as Southern Baptists, are making that happen through your praying, through your giving,” Platt told the packed audience. “Over $94 million to the IMB through the Cooperative Program, over $153 million to Lottie Moon — the second largest offering in our 170-year history.”

Despite these efforts, however, Platt said that the number of Southern Baptist missionaries has declined over the last five years, which has affected their ability to spread the Gospel to the world’s unreached people.

“In 2009, we hit our height in number of missionaries in the field at 5,600, but now that number has dropped to 4,700 and it is fast on its way to 4,200. And the reason for that is that we’re not able, financially, to support our mission force on the field,” he said. “Last year, we operated almost $21 million in the red, so the number of our missionaries is decreasing, not increasing, which is not tolerable when 2 billion people still haven’t heard the name of Jesus.”

Platt proposed expanding outside of traditional missionary recruitment by focusing on students, professionals and retirees, in a bid to increase the number of missionaries overseas.

“The problem isn’t the people aren’t willing to go, the problem is we lack the capacity to send them,” he said. “As long as fully financially supported missionaries are the only way we think about getting the Gospel to the nations, we will keep a cap on our missions involvement as Southern Baptists.”

Platt suggested taking advantage of “God-given opportunities” that are readily available.

“Imagine a missionary team led by what we would view as a traditional missionary and lead church planter, fully supported by the IMB but then supported by students, professionals and retirees working alongside him, and playing different roles — all of them focused on making disciples and churches among the unreached,” he said.

He continued: “God has divinely opened doors for us to take the Gospel around the world, not just through traditional missionary routes but through non-traditional roles as students, professionals and retirees. There are scores of opportunities for students to study and professionals to work and retirees to live overseas — all of whom can support themselves financially. So what if Southern Baptists started taking advantage of those God-given opportunities?”

The SBC’s annual meeting was hosted by SBC President, Ronnie Floyd, and runs June 16-17.

For more information about the IMB CLICK HERE.

Email me: [email protected]
Connect with me on Twitter: @MzBenge

Source : Christian Post

Hispanic Action Network Founder Says God’s Answer to Prayers for Revival in America ‘Is Wrapped Up in Immigration’

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Hispanic Action Network Founder Says God’s Answer to Prayers for Revival in America ‘Is Wrapped Up in Immigration’

Immigration (Photo: Reuters/Brendan McDermid/Files)

Christian Post Report – Father Fabian Arias, (2nd R) an advocate with the New Sanctuary Coalition of New York City, an immigration advocacy group, speaks with immigrants following their immigration hearings at the U.S. Federal Building in New York, in this July 10, 2014 file photo.

The founder of the U.S. Hispanic Action Network says that God is answering America’s prayer for revival and He’s “wrapping it up in immigration.”

Gonzalez spoke to those assembled at Skyline Church in La Mesa, California, for the Future Conference, calling on the Church to be open to what God is doing through immigration.

“God is bringing them [revivalists], but we let the media and the pundits make it a wedge issue inside the Church,” he declared.

He called the issue of immigration “more prophetic” than it is a political issue, but then quickly turned to the political over the prophetic side of immigration and said: “At the end of the day you are going to need 40 percent of the Latino vote to get into the White House.

Gonzalez argued that, in his view, Social Security, Medicare, and other entitlement sustainability will be impossible without immigration.

“We can’t keep all of our social programs without Latino immigration,” he asserted, praising Latino voters as being “politically conservative” and people who will fight to protect marriage and the right to life.

“Fifty Thousand Latinos become eligible to vote every month, and it will be that way for the next 20 years,” Gonzalez emphasized. “The only way any party grows from here on out is by reaching the Hispanic community.”

He continued: “What is taking place, and it has been prophesied, is that one of the ways God moves is through people groups. He sets up a model, and moves through people groups, but the blessing is for everybody.”

Gonzalez also cited scriptures in Genesis about God’s chosen people of Israel to buttress his statement.

“God first moved through the white people, and then he put his finger [using the historically black Church] on the Azusa Street Revival. This third group is the Hispanic Latino Church of America,” he said.

Gonzalez then further insisted that “the enemy” is trying to divide us on immigration because “if we get this right the revival will sweep through this nation.”

He pointed to efforts in Florida, where Hispanic voters in churches helped elect the Republican governor over a more liberal candidate.

While Gonzalez said he doesn’t support blanket amnesty for illegal immigrants, he noted that programs like E-verify, guest worker reform, and comprehensive background checks and tests to secure an opportunity for a path to legalization are all needed.

He also stressed the importance of allowing nuclear families, despite current immigration law, to be able to stay together or be reunified in the U.S. Immigration reform has largely been stalled by lawmakers in Washington because of political opposition and a federal district court in Texas recently halted President Obama’s executive action this month.

Gonzalez added that because of the new wave of immigration, the “best days for America” are still ahead of us.”

Source : Christian Post

NBA Finals MVP Andre Iguodala Thanks God for Golden State Warriors Win; Says Team Is ‘Full of Believers’

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NBA Finals MVP Andre Iguodala Thanks God for Golden State Warriors Win; Says Team Is ‘Full of Believers’

Steph Curry, Andre Iguodala Photo: Reuters via Bob Donnan

Christian Post Report – Golden State Warriors’ guard Steph Curry (left) with swingman Andre Iguodala (right)

Andre Iguodala, the Golden State Warriors forward who won the 2015 NBA championship with his team Tuesday night along with the Most Valuable Player Award thanked God for the win and said the team is “full of believers.”

“(We’ve) got a team full of believers. We all say God has a way for you and a purpose for you,” Iguodala 31, said after receiving the MVP honor. “I want to be just like Steph (Curry) when I grow up..just a God fearing man.”

Stephen Curry, the Warriors’ beloved point guard, who received the regular season MVP honor frequently honors God on and off the basketball court and usually points his fingers toward the sky after making big plays. In May, the point guard cited his faith as one of the keys to his success.

“Sometimes people make it seem like you have to have certain prerequisites or a crazy life story in order to be successful in this world. But the truth is you really don’t,” Curry said after accepting his MVP trophy earlier this year. “It doesn’t matter where you come from, what you have or don’t have, what you lack or what you have too much of, but all you need to have is faith in God, an undying passion for what you do and what you choose to do in this life, and a relentless drive and the will to do whatever it takes to be successful in whatever you put your mind to.”

Before this season, Iguodala had started 758 consecutive games according to ESPN. This season however, he was relegated to a reserve role until Game 4 of the Finals between the Warriors and the Cleveland Cavaliers, when he was substituted into the starting lineup for center Andrew Bogut.

The Warriors beat the Cavaliers 105-97 Tuesday night to win their first NBA title since 1975. Iguodala’s MVP award was also the first time a player got the award without starting every game. It also marks the first time that the Finals MVP has been on the same team as the regular-season MVP since Magic Johnson claimed the Finals honor in 1980 while playing on a Los Angeles Lakers squad with regular-season MVP Kareem Abdul-Jabbar according to ESPN.

“I’ve been blessed with an amazing group of guys in my first year, I can’t believe how lucky I am,” said rookie NBA coach Steve Kerr in the postgame press conference after his team’s big win.

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

Source : Christian Post

Only Thing That Can Reshape America Is ‘Spiritual Awakening’ Sparked by ‘Extraordinary Prayer’ Says SBC President Ronnie Floyd

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Only Thing That Can Reshape America Is ‘Spiritual Awakening’ Sparked by ‘Extraordinary Prayer’ Says SBC President Ronnie Floyd

Ronnie floyd (Photo: The Christian Post/Sonny Hong)

Christian Post Report – Ronnie Floyd, senior pastor of Cross Church in northwest Arkansas, speaks on the opening night of 2014 SBC Pastors’ Conference in Baltimore, Maryland, on Sunday, June 8, 2014.

In fervent prayer at the Southern Baptist Convention’s annual meeting in Columbus, Ohio, Tuesday night, the organization’s president, Ronnie Floyd, said the only thing that can reshape America is a “spiritual awakening” preceded by “extraordinary prayer.”

“The only thing that can reshape America is the next spiritual awakening and the next move of God,” said Floyd, who’s also senior pastor at Cross Church in Springdale, Arkansas. “When you look at it historically, there is no great movement of God that is not first preceded by the extraordinary prayer of God’s people.”

Floyd, whose prayer came after SBC music director and global worship pastor Julio Arriola led a session of worship, then explained what he meant by “extraordinary prayer.”

“What is extraordinary prayer? It is praying beyond the ordinary. When was the last time you gathered with thousands on a Tuesday in the summer and prayed for spiritual awakening in the U.S.?” he asked.

“We have full confidence in God and God alone,” added Floyd. “God can do more in a moment then you can ever do in a lifetime. It’s not coincidental we are here. With God, all things are possible.”

The event lasted almost two hours with thousands of people praying for the next great awakening as well as for church growth, acceleration of the Gospel, and the unity of all people in the Gospel. Prayers of repentance for mistrust and pride in the church, prayerlessness, sexual depravity, abortion and the lack of cooperation among the church were also offered.

In a call to pray specifically for racial reconciliation, pastors of differing races also came together for a hug onstage.

“Pray for America, a country that is broken, fragile, divided, where racism and prejudice is ruling,” said Floyd. “We will lead the way, modeling true unity that’s really only found in the redemption of Jesus Christ. Let’s pray for our country to come together.”

“Lord, hear our prayer for our country tonight, in the name of Jesus hear our prayer for our nation — that our nation will come together and we as the church of Jesus will be the hope for cities, towns, and relationships. It is only possible because of your redemptive work. It’s only found in Christ,” he added.

Other speakers during the call for prayer included Ken Whitten of Idlewild Baptist church in Lutz, Florida; Jack Graham of Prestonwood Baptist Church in Plano, Texas; and K. Marshall Williams of Nazarene Baptist Church in Philadelphia.

follow me on Twitter @emmakoonse

Source : Christian Post

Pope Francis Hits Back Against ‘Communist’ Accusations, Argues Failing to Give Money to the Poor Means Lack of ‘Genuine Faith’

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Pope Francis Hits Back Against ‘Communist’ Accusations, Argues Failing to Give Money to the Poor Means Lack of ‘Genuine Faith’

Pope Francis (Photo: Reuters/Max Rossi)

Christian Post Report – Pope Francis waves as he leads his weekly audience in Saint Peter’s Square at the Vatican, October 8, 2014.

Pope Francis has hit back against those who say that focusing on the poor is a sign of communism, by stating in a speech that caring for the less fortunate is part of the Christian Gospel. He also said that if “faith doesn’t reach your pockets, it is not a genuine faith.”

Vatican Radio reported that Francis made the comments during mass on Tuesday in the chapel of the Domus Sanctae Marthae, where he said: “Oh, this priest speaks about poverty too much, this bishop talks about poverty, this Christian, this sister talk about poverty. Well, they’re a bit communist, aren’t they?”

The Roman Catholic Church leader asserted that “poverty is at the very center of the Gospel: If we remove poverty from the Gospel, no one would be able to understand anything about the message of Jesus.”

He added that richness is found in zeal, charity, and the Word of God, suggesting that if “faith doesn’t reach your pockets, it’s not a genuine faith.”

Francis reminded the audience that Jesus himself was poor.

“Here is the foundation of the ‘theology of poverty:’ Jesus Christ, who was rich — with the very richness of God — made Himself poor; He lowered Himself for us. This, then, is the meaning of the first Beatitude: ‘Blessed are the poor in spirit,’ i.e. ‘to be poor is to let oneself be enriched by the poverty of Christ, to desire not to be rich with other riches than those of Christ,'” he continued.

He insisted that poverty is at the “heart of Gospel,” and said that Christ “let Himself be impoverished in order to enrich us.”

Francis added: “He continues to lower Himself into the history of the Church, into the memorial of His passion, and by the memorial of His humiliation, the memorial of His poverty, by this bread He enriches us.”

The pope did not point out where the accusations of Communism are coming from, but he has been described as such by some popular conservative figures, such as radio commentator Rush Limbaugh.

Back in November 2013, Limbaugh said that Francis’ comments linking “tyranny” with “unfettered capitalism” is part of the Marxist line of thinking.

“This is just pure Marxism coming out of the mouth of the pope,” Limbaugh said, as he argued that when it comes to economics, the pope is “totally wrong, I mean dramatically, embarrassingly, puzzlingly wrong.”

Francis has insisted on a number of occasions that his criticism of the global financial system, such as the Vatican report released earlier this year titled “This Economy Kills,” is not because he’s a Communist, but because Jesus calls Christians to serve the poor.

“Jesus affirms that you cannot serve two masters, God and wealth,” Francis said in an interview back in January. “Is it pauperism? No, it is the Gospel.”

He added: “This attention to the poor is in the Gospel, and in the tradition of the church, it is not an invention of Communism and [we] need not ideologize it, like sometimes happened in the course of history.”

Source : Christian Post

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