Hindus in India have removed a Jesus Christ statue from a Christian cemetery after the property owners received complaints.

According to CBN News, the 12-foot statue was removed March 3 from Mahima Betta cemetery in a town just 30 miles north of Bangalore, India.

“It is very sad, unfortunate and regrettable that the police, bowing to the pressure of a few outsiders, have forcefully removed the statue of Lord Jesus,” Archbishop Peter Machado wrote March 4 in an article for AsiaNews.

“It is a blow to the communal harmony of the people in our villages and also a violation of the religious freedom guaranteed to us by the Indian Constitution,” Machado said.

Machado told the Catholic News Agency that Christians have been visiting the statue at the cemetery for some 40 years “without any difficulty.”

“There is absolutely no problem from local people to our burials, nor our prayers and devotions on the hill,” he said.

Source: Christian Headlines

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Last week, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in the most important abortion case since Whole Woman’s Health vs. Hellerstedt. In that 2016 case, the court struck down a Texas law requiring abortion clinics to have admitting privileges at a hospital within thirty miles of their location. The court said that such a law placed undue burdens on a woman’s access to abortion. That law would have led to the closing of about 75% of the state’s abortion clinics.

So far, the headlines about the case heard by the court this past Wednesday have mostly been about Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer threatening Justices Gorsuch and Kavanaugh, but there’s much more at stake in June Medical Services v. Russo.

This case involves a Louisiana law nearly identical to the Texas law struck down by the court. Note here that I am emphasizing the word “nearly.” Despite what you may hear from The New York Times and elsewhere, the laws are not identical, especially in how they would play out on the ground in their respective states.

That’s why, after a federal district court initially struck down the Louisiana law based on the Texas law precedent, the Fifth Circuit reversed the district court ruling, with the majority opinion citing two important ways the Louisiana law and the Texas law are different.

First, the Louisiana law would only affect about thirty percent of women seeking an abortion. Second, the requirements for doctors to obtain admitting privileges are less strict in Louisiana than Texas, meaning abortion providers could more easily comply with the law and fewer would be forced out of business. With these differences in mind, the circuit court concluded that the Louisiana law did not impose an “undue burden” on a woman’s right to an abortion.

So here we are, barely four years after deciding Whole Woman’s Health, a recently remade Court is agreeing to hear a case which could overturn precedent and create significantly more elbow room for state-level restrictions. The whole thing has abortion rights advocates, shall we say, a bit nervous.

Much of the oral arguments centered around what constitutes “an undue burden” on abortion. Chief Justice Roberts raised the possibility that the issue was a factual one. What may constitute an “undue burden” in one state, may not in another. Such factors as the number of clinics and doctors in each state, in light of the geographic size and population of the state, would need to be considered.

Source: Christian Headlines

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After an Episcopal rector at a Washington church tested positive for coronavirus, the Episcopal Diocese of Washington is instituting a sweeping set of policies designed to help stop the spread of the disease — including suspending the use of wine during Communion.

This week officials announced the Rev. Tim Cole, a rector at Christ Church in Washington’s Georgetown neighborhood, had tested positive for the coronavirus that causes the illness known as COVID-19. The cleric was the first confirmed case in the region, and the church’s organist, Tom Smith, has since tested positive for the virus.

The reaction was swift: Cole was quickly hospitalized, Smith is in quarantine, and health officials asked parishioners who attended services recently to self-quarantine due to their potential exposure to the virus.

But church officials expanded safety measures beyond Christ Church on Monday (March 9), when the Rev. Mariann Budde, the bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Washington, distributed a letter outlining new diocesanwide policies meant to curb the spread of the disease.

The new policies include:

In an interview with Religion News Service, Budde explained that she decided to implement the precautions after conversations with churchgoers as well as local health experts and officials at the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. She said she also looked to policies enacted in the Diocese of Olympia in the state of Washington, where an outbreak of COVID-19 has led to 162 confirmed cases in the region, resulting in at least 23 deaths.

“There seems to be a body of consensus that, even though the common cup is scientifically shown to be a very low risk for transmission of infectious bacteria and virus, the recommendation for now was suspending it out of an abundance of caution,” she said.

Budde said she has been in conversation with someone from the church virtually every hour over the past few days — including Cole, who remained in stable condition over the weekend.

Source: Religion News Service

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AYLETT, Va. (BP) — Internet service is spotty in rural, unincorporated Aylett, Va. There, a small women’s group at Beulah Baptist Church read an article in the March print edition of the Dover Diary, spotlighting ministry in the U.S. during the coronavirus outbreak.

The account of fear, wisdom and xenophobic bullying written by Carter Tan, English pastor of Grace Chinese Baptist Church of Richmond, Va., about 50 miles away, caught the eyes of Friendship Women on Mission member Judy Shepard.

“It’s a difficult situation for all people groups in this point in time,” Shepard, wife of Beulah Baptist pastor Ed Shepard, told Baptist Press. “We just wanted to let them know that a sister church in the association was praying for them, and continuing to remember them in our prayers.”

Shepard bought a simple card of encouragement for all 15 or so members of the mission group to sign.

Tan had written the article — also published in BP — weeks earlier, when U.S. cases of COVID-19 were perhaps in the single digits. Cases were only linked to those who had traveled abroad, but community or person-to-person transmission has since been documented in the U.S.

He had written of the sentiments of this coronavirus and the effect that it was having on his congregation, partially out of fear and partially out of good old precautionary common sense, as he put it in the article,” Shepard said. “And then, the thing that was really beginning to add to all of this decrease in attendance for these reasons, was that his daughter unfortunately at school had had a boy come up to her and had teased her by calling her ‘coronavirus.’ And that just struck a vein within me that the cruelty that we can have towards people who are God’s children, just as we are.”

Tan told BP he appreciates the sentiments of the women he’d never met a sister church he had never visited.

“It was just really sweet,” Tan told BP. “And for me as a pastor, you know, knowing that this is not the local church that’s going through this, but it’s the kingdom of God, and other churches are encouraging us during this time, … that God’s kingdom is larger than a local church.”

Cases of COVID-19 have since swelled to more than 800 in the U.S., where at least 28 have died from the disease, according to official tallies Tuesday (March 10). At least five cases have been reported in Virginia, and the U.S. National Guard is preparing to deploy to New Rochelle, N.Y., where the largest cluster of U.S. cases — 118 — have been reported.

Source: Baptist Press

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NEW ORLEANS (BP) — Thirteen students from Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary (MBTS) descended into New Orleans’ Mardi Gras festival Feb. 20-23 to proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Since 2014, MBTS professor of evangelism Thomas Johnston has taken students from MBTS and Spurgeon College to New Orleans during the annual event. He explained that students are placed into the heat of spiritual battle, proclaiming the good news of the gospel during an event known for its debauchery. The goal of the trip is to confront the lost with the Gospel message.

This year, the students handed out 4,775 Gospel tracts and 1,100 follow-up wristbands. They engaged in 238 Gospel conversations and saw 18 festival-goers repent of their sins and believe in the saving truth of Christ’s salvation.

Johnston said preparation is key when dealing with the mental, emotional and spiritual battle the students encounter. Not going it alone is a primary strategy Johnston picked up from David Cobb, a local who has been sharing the gospel in New Orleans for over 35 years.

“It is important to have a wingman,” Johnston said, “so you are not doing it alone. Built into the trip is the requirement that everyone needs to have a wingman. This means you have to build a spiritual bond with somebody else. You meet with them, pray with them, pray about spiritual needs before you go down there.

“You talk about spiritual things; you talk about life, and you talk about sharing the Gospel. You ask each other how life is going, how well you are loving your family, are there any spiritual needs or issues which need to be worked through? We want to be very guarded with the people going down there because the evil hits hard. The sexual promiscuity is so thick that we need to be guarded from that.”

For accountability, the five students from MBTS’ main campus met several times for breakfast before the trip, while eight online students met with Johnston via video conferencing.

Erick McDonald and Josh Storey became acquainted while taking online classes. Both men are emergency room physicians — McDonald in Florence, Ala., and Storey in Bellevue, Neb. — which helped forge a bond. They have become so connected during their studies that they now take their family vacations together and have undergone the process preparing their families for deployment to East Africa as career missionaries with the International Mission Board. Naturally, McDonald and Storey were wingmen for the New Orleans evangelism trip.

McDonald said the trip went really well and that “God really showed out,” working in even greater ways than they were praying for. He added that his relationship with Storey is quite providential, as their skillsets complemented one another in New Orleans.

Source: Baptist Press

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There is a trope among basketball players that, when they make a very quick move that fakes out their opponent, “they have broken the guy’s ankles.” Not really. It’s hyperbole, an exaggeration that permits the man making the fake glory in his accomplishment. His fans all clap. The opponent is thereby shamed.

Old Testament war language often trades in hyperbole, and William Webb and Gordon Oeste have a two-chapter section on “total kill” hyperbole in Bloody, Brutal, and Barbaric?

Hyperbole:

This [how ANE kings strut their stuff after a victory] should alert us to the fact that ANE battle accounts could at times overstatethe severity of a defeat or gloss over an unsuccessful battle to paint the bestpossible portrait of the king.

It is in this process that figurative language or hyperbole could help a king put the best face on his military accomplishments without falsifying the essential gist of the events. Hyperbole is a common literary and rhetorical device that uses emotionally charged overstatement to persuade an audience of a particular point. As the following brief survey will show, ANE kings and scribes made use of several different forms of overstatement (or understatement in the case of a defeat or setback) to offer the brightest picture of their accomplishments.

How so? What are the common forms of this total kill hyperbole?

Number inflation
Speed of victory
Severity of battle or fear induced
Geographical extent of victory
Attribution of victory to the king himself (or God)

Read this account by an ANE conqueror:

I decisively defeated them. I annihilated them. I scattered their substantial auxiliary troops; and I broke up their troop contingents. I captured those who attempted to escape. I caused their blood to flow like waters of a river. The road with their corpses was visible to the eagles and vultures. I filled the mountains and wadis with their skulls like mountain stones. Birds made nests in their skulls.

Webb and Oeste conclude by putting this altogether like this:

ANE scribes could accentuate the speed at which victory took place (speed hyperbole) or the number of troops involved in a battle (numerical hyperbole) to emphasize a king’s military prowess. They could relate the complete annihilation of the enemy while later history shows that this was not the case or while even the same battle account acknowledges the presence of survivors (severity hyperbole). ANE battle reportage at times claimed the conquest or control of entire regions or people groups when other data (either within the battle report itself or other historical information) indicates that the victory was not as complete as described (extent hyperbole). Sometimes such war victories are ascribed solely to the king when he was clearly accompanied and aided by his army (attribution hyperbole).

Here’s the big takeaway for Bible readers with at least a sensitive conscience about this:

War-genre hyperbole complicates the reading of ancient battle reports for modern readers attempting to understand ancient accounts, but awareness of these techniques becomes a hermeneutical key for correctly reading descriptions of warfare in the Old Testament.

Source: Christianity Today

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Numbers 16:41-50

41 But on the morrow all the congregation of the children of Israel murmured against Moses and against Aaron, saying, Ye have killed the people of the Lord.

42 And it came to pass, when the congregation was gathered against Moses and against Aaron, that they looked toward the tabernacle of the congregation: and, behold, the cloud covered it, and the glory of the Lord appeared.

43 And Moses and Aaron came before the tabernacle of the congregation.

44 And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying,

45 Get you up from among this congregation, that I may consume them as in a moment. And they fell upon their faces.

46 And Moses said unto Aaron, Take a censer, and put fire therein from off the altar, and put on incense, and go quickly unto the congregation, and make an atonement for them: for there is wrath gone out from the Lord; the plague is begun.

47 And Aaron took as Moses commanded, and ran into the midst of the congregation; and, behold, the plague was begun among the people: and he put on incense, and made an atonement for the people.

48 And he stood between the dead and the living; and the plague was stayed.

49 Now they that died in the plague were fourteen thousand and seven hundred, beside them that died about the matter of Korah.

50 And Aaron returned unto Moses unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation: and the plague was stayed.

I have preached the Gospel and the Word of God for over 1,300 days since January 1st, 2016, and contrary to what pastors and politicians are telling you, this pandemic plague called the coronavirus is a part of a loving, merciful, slow-rolling judgement against the church and against the most blessed country in the history of the world for allowing and promoting homosexuality, the homosexual agenda and homosexual marriage among other atrocities such as adultery, fornication, the raping of women and children by priests and pastors and other people in the ministry. The only solution is not going to come from the president or politicians. It will come from pastors, preachers, and parishioners confessing and repenting of their sins mentioned above along with other sins, and also praying for people and witnessing to people.

The tragedy is the church and the world like the Israelites of old are stiff-necked, proud, arrogant, and are not in a repenting mood. So, they like the world want to believe pastors and politicians who say “peace, peace” when there is no peace.

If the church does not repent now and start praying as we should and reach out to the lost as we should it is going to get worse.

——-

Now, if you are with us today and you do not know Jesus Christ as your Savior, allow me to show you how you can place your faith and trust in Him for Salvation from sin and Hell.

First, accept the fact that you are a sinner, and that you have broken God’s law. The Bible says in Romans 3:23: “For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.”

Second, accept the fact that there is a penalty for sin. The Bible states in Romans 6:23: “For the wages of sin is death…”

Third, accept the fact that you are on the road to hell. Jesus Christ said in Matthew 18:8: “Wherefore if thy hand or thy foot offend thee, cut them off, and cast them from thee: it is better for thee to enter into life halt or maimed, rather than having two hands or two feet to be cast into everlasting fire.” Also, the Bible states in Revelation 21:8: “But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.”

Now that is bad news, but here’s the good news. Jesus Christ said in John 3:16: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” Just believe in your heart that Jesus Christ died for your sins, was buried, and rose from the dead by the power of God for you so that you can live eternally with Him. Pray and ask Him to come into your heart today, and He will.

Romans 10:9 & 13 says, “That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved… For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.”

If you believe that Jesus Christ died on the Cross for your sins, was buried, and rose from the dead, and you want to trust Him for your Salvation today, please pray with me this simple prayer: Holy Father God, I realize that I am a sinner and that I have done some bad things in my life. I am sorry for my sins, and today I choose to turn from my sins. For Jesus Christ sake, please forgive me of my sins. I believe with all of my heart that Jesus Christ died for me, was buried, and rose again. I trust Jesus Christ as my Savior and I choose to follow Him as Lord from this day forward. Lord Jesus, please come into my heart and save my soul and change my life today. Amen.

If you believed in your heart that Jesus Christ died on the Cross, was buried, and rose again, allow me to say, congratulations on doing the most important thing in life and that is accepting Jesus Christ as your Lord and Saviour! For more information to help you grow in your newfound faith in Christ, go to Gospel Light Society.com and read “What To Do After You Enter Through the Door”. Jesus Christ said in John 10:9, “I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture.”

If you accepted Jesus Christ as your Savior today, please email me at [email protected] and let us know. There is some free material that we want to send you. If you have a prayer request, please e-mail that to us as well, and we will pray for you until you tell us to stop.

God loves you. We love you. And may God bless you.

Daniel Whyte III has spoken in meetings across the United States and in over twenty-five foreign countries. He is the author of over forty books including the Essence Magazine, Dallas Morning News, and Amazon.com national bestseller, Letters to Young Black Men. He is also the president of Gospel Light Society International, a worldwide evangelistic ministry that reaches thousands with the Gospel each week, as well as president of Torch Ministries International, a Christian literature ministry.

He is heard by thousands each week on his radio broadcasts/podcasts, which include: The Prayer Motivator Devotional, The Prayer Motivator Minute, as well as Gospel Light Minute X, the Gospel Light Minute, the Sunday Evening Evangelistic Message, the Prophet Daniel’s Report, the Second Coming Watch Update and the Soul-Winning Motivator, among others.

He holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Theology from Bethany Divinity College, a Bachelor’s degree in Religion from Texas Wesleyan University, a Master’s degree in Religion, a Master of Divinity degree, and a Master of Theology degree from Liberty University’s Rawlings School of Divinity (formerly Liberty Baptist Theological Seminary). He is currently a candidate for the Doctor of Ministry degree.

He has been married to the former Meriqua Althea Dixon, of Christiana, Jamaica since 1987. God has blessed their union with seven children.

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A famous Catholic priest who was formally trained as an exorcist is recounting how he came face to face with the devil.

Though he is now deceased, the story of Father Gabriel Amorth has been captured in a new memoir penned by author Marcello Stanzione. In The Devil Is Afraid of Me: The Life and Work of the World’s Most Famous Exorcist, Stanzione describes the life of this priest in Rome, who is said to have performed over 60,000 exorcisms over the course of his 30 years as an exorcist priest.

During one such exorcism in 1997, Amorth reportedly encountered not just a demon but Satan.

The afflicted young man came into a small room where Amorth ministered to people and the priest felt confronted by evil.

“His curses and threats were aimed solely at the exorcist; then he began spitting at him and preparing to attack him physically,” Stanzione recounted in the book. “Screaming and howling, the demon burst forth and looked straight at him, drooling saliva from the young man’s mouth.”

Amorth then rebuked the foul spirit and demanded that it tell him its name.

The man glared at the priest and replied, snarling: “I am Lucifer.”

The priest continued to pray and recited verses of the Roman Rite of Exorcism but the demon “resumed his shrieks, making the possessed turn his head back and his eyes roll” and the demonized man “remained like this with his back arched for a quarter of an hour.”

As the exorcism session went on, “the room became extremely cold and ice crystals formed on the windows and the walls.”

The young man’s body became so stiff that he became hard and started levitating, hovering three feet in the air, as the priest continued to command that the demonic spirit leave the man.

SOURCE: Christian Post, Brandon Showalter

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