If you read the Bible cover to cover, you’ll see there is no ambiguity when it comes to extramarital sex. Simply stated, it is forbidden. Sex before marriage is called fornication. Sex outside of marriage is called adultery. And marriage is defined as the lifelong union of a male and a female. That’s how Genesis defines it and that’s how Jesus defines it.

Church standards throughout history would reaffirm all these points.

All sexual relations outside the confines of marriage (which, to repeat, has always and only been the union of a man and a woman) are considered immoral and sinful.

But in today’s morally confused society, right is now wrong and wrong is now right, to the point that the Church of England has apologized for reaffirming basic, biblical morality.

As reported by CNN, “Top archbishops in the Church of England have apologized for guidance issued by the church last week that said only married heterosexuals should have sex—while same-sex or heterosexual Christians in civil partnerships should remain abstinent.

“Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby and Archbishop of York John Sentamu said in a statement Thursday that they took responsibility for last week’s announcement, ‘which we acknowledge has jeopardized trust.

“We are very sorry and recognize the division and hurt this has caused,’ Welby and Sentamu wrote.”

The pastoral guidance statement was issued “in response to the extension of civil partnerships to heterosexual couples in the UK.

“The guidance, published January 22, said ‘for Christians, marriage—that is the lifelong union between a man and a woman, contracted with the making of vows—remains the proper context for sexual activity.’”

SOURCE: Charisma News

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Another eternal principle in the secret kingdom I call the Law of Change. Jesus said that nobody will “put new wine into old wineskins. Or else the wineskins burst, the wine runs out, and the wineskins perish. But they put new wine into new wineskins” (Matt. 9:17a). What is the spiritual meaning of this teaching?

Human institutions, like old wine skins, become brittle and are often subject to cracking. People involved are set in their ways, and they love the phrase “we have always done it this way.”

In his brilliant treatise on the New Testament, J. B. Phillips said, “Those who think they know God always persecute those who really do.” Contemplate the historic record when Martin Luther nailed his Ninety-Five Theses to the door of the church in Wittenberg. He was merely trying to be a good Catholic and offer suggestions to bring about peaceful reform. Instead he was excommunicated and hunted down as an outlaw by the ecclesiastical hierarchy.

When John Calvin gained ecclesiastical control of Geneva, he permitted the drowning of those known as Anabaptists, who felt that being sprinkled as unbelievers was inadequate and wanted to be baptized by immersion as believers.

King Henry VIII started what we now know as the Episcopal Church, and yet he had one of his many wives executed because she held allegiance to the pope of the Roman Catholic Church.

In the modern era, charismatics and Pentecostals were persecuted by Baptists and more Protestant denominations because the old skins could not accommodate the new wine that the Holy Spirit was pouring out throughout the world.

Henry Ford was considered a brilliant inventor, but he was fixated on the manufacturing of his black, stripped-down Model T automobile. When his son, Edsel, created a shiny, sleek Model A car, it was reported that his father took a sledgehammer and broke the beautiful new car to pieces.

SOURCE: Charisma News

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The son of an Anglican bishop in El Salvador who fled his native country following death threats from a gang has been deported, according to his father.

Josue Alvarado Guerra, the 34-year-old son of Bishop David Alvarado of the Diocese of El Salvador, was recently deported after being detained in Ohio by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement last November.

Bishop Alvarado sent a letter to Ohio Bishop Mark Hollingsworth Jr. confirming that his son was back home, according to Episcopal News Service.

“We thank the God of life for allowing us to have Josue back in our house and share with him the difficult experiences he lived in detention,” wrote Alvarado, according to ENS.

“Josue definitely can’t be safe anywhere in El Salvador, we fear for his life. … We want to continue with the plans to get him out of the country as soon as possible.”

Alvarado also said that his family was working on getting asylum for Alvarado Guerra in Canada, with the bishop believing that sending him to another Central American country involves the same “situation of insecurity.”

“We know that there is a large list of friends who gave spiritual and pastoral support to our son,” he added. “We are fully grateful for all they did and we beg you to continue supporting us to put [Josue] in a safe place.”

SOURCE: Christian Post, Michael Gryboski

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Actor John Rhys-Davies attended the 28th annual Movieguide Awards where he shared his thoughts on the impact Christianity has had on the world.

The “Lord of The Rings” star made his return to faith-based entertainment recently as a voice in the animated film “Pilgrim’s Progress” and as the lead in the upcoming movie about the life of Ireland’s patron saint Patrick. He revealed that he often finds himself defending Christianity.

“I count myself a rationalist and a skeptic, and I find myself constantly defending Christians and Christianity,” Rhys-Davies told The Christian Post while on the red carpet at the popular awards show that celebrates faith and family content.

“We seem to forget that Christian civilization has made the world a better place than it ever was,” he continued.

The U.K. native said one of Christianity’s greatest “glories, was the abolition of slavery” but maintained that slavery still exists and it makes him mad.

SOURCE: Christian Post, Jeannie Law

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Theologian John Piper said it’s “misleading and unwise and ill-founded” to call female church leaders “pastors” amid an ongoing debate about the role of women in the Church. 

In a recent episode of his podcast, Piper, the founder and teacher of desiringGod.org and chancellor of Bethlehem College & Seminary, responded to a reader whose church is changing its view on the use of the word pastor to include women.

The readers’ church claimed that Ephesians 4:11 is the only place in the Bible where the Greek word for pastor is ever used, and that it doesn’t have any specific qualifications there.

“Women could fill this role and still be under male headship and a male elder board,” the reader said. “But would this change in title be in line with other parts of Scripture?”

Piper first stressed it is “misleading and unwise to use the English word pastor for women in ministry,” adding that the “attempt to say that it is more biblical to use it is built on a misunderstanding of how language works, as well as the supposed use of the word pastor in the New Testament.”

In English, the word pastor is understood to mean a “person with official leadership in the local church that ordinarily involves preaching and governing,” Piper contended. But the New Testament, written in Greek, “doesn’t use the English word pastor at all,” he explained, adding that Greek has only one word for shepherd and pastor: “poimēn.”

“It’s highly misleading to claim that in applying the word pastor to laypeople, we are recovering New Testament usage. That’s highly misleading when the word pastor does not even occur in the ESV, and only once does it occur in other versions,” Piper said.

SOURCE: Christian Post, Leah MarieAnn Klett

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Hollywood actor Dennis Haysbert was recently cast in two roles containing faith themes, one as God for the final season of “Lucifer,” and he was chosen by TBN for their new show “State of Faith.”

The popular Allstate Insurance spokesperson serves as the narrator for TBN’s new show, “The State of Faith.” The six episode series, now airing on the network, takes viewers on a journey to discover the role of Christianity from it’s beginning to present day.

In “Lucifer,” however, he plays God and according to the Christian rating site Pluggedin the Fox show doesn’t portray the fallen angel as such a bad guy.

The following is an edited transcript of The Christian Post’s interview with Haysbert where he opens up about both of the new roles, as well as gives a description of his own personal faith.

CP: Can you share what your own beliefs are and why you felt led to loan your talents to “The State of Faith” for TBN?

Haysbert: I love education. I love history. So I wanted to be involved from that aspect of it. My faith is very personal to me. I was raised Christian, in a both Christian and Catholic house. My dad was Catholic, my mom was Christian, so of course, my mother’s faith won out because she had the most contact with the kids.

I went to Sunday school from the time I could walk all the way until high school. Then I realized I didn’t really need church so much as I needed to understand and make my faith more personal. Basically, what my faith is, is light and love and that’s my religion.

I wanted to be involved with this project because it’s educational. They contacted us and we thought about it and I said, “Hey, let’s pursue this.”

CP: What were some of the things that you learned or discovered through narrating such a historic Christian series?

Haysbert: I mean, just to find out that what happened was actually living history. Just understanding how many women were involved from the beginning, how many people lost their lives spreading the Gospel. Finding out that Queen Isabella of Spain was one of the main architects of the Spanish Inquisition. I just never studied that stuff before.

To do it in the chronological order that we’re doing it, it’s just amazing to me and highly informative. There were times when I was narrating that I had to stop and say, “Whoa, let’s stop. Let me absorb this for a second. This happened?”

SOURCE: Christian Post, Jeannie Law

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The views expressed in this commentary do not necessarily reflect those of BCNN1. Opinions expressed are solely those of the author(s).

If you read the Bible cover to cover, you’ll see there is no ambiguity when it comes to extra-marital sex. Simply stated, it is forbidden. Sex before marriage is called fornication. Sex outside of marriage is called adultery. And marriage is defined as the lifelong union of a male and a female. That’s how Genesis defines it and that’s how Jesus defines it.

Church standards through history would reaffirm all these points.

All sexual relations outside the confines of marriage (which, to repeat, has always and only been the union of a man and a woman) are considered immoral and sinful.

But in today’s morally confused society, right is now wrong and wrong is now right, to the point that the Church of England has apologized for reaffirming basic, biblical morality.

As reported by CNN, “Top archbishops in the Church of England have apologized for guidance issued by the church last week that said only married heterosexuals should have sex – while same-sex or heterosexual Christians in civil partnerships should remain abstinent.

“Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby and Archbishop of York John Sentamu said in a statement Thursday that they took responsibility for last week’s announcement, ‘which we acknowledge has jeopardized trust.’

“‘We are very sorry and recognize the division and hurt this has caused,’ Welby and Sentamu wrote.”

The pastoral guidance statement was issued “in response to the extension of civil partnerships to heterosexual couples in the UK.

“The guidance, published January 22, said ‘for Christians, marriage – that is the lifelong union between a man and a woman, contracted with the making of vows – remains the proper context for sexual activity.’”

From a biblical standpoint, what is controversial in this pastoral guidance statement?

SOURCE: Christian Post, Michael Brown

All Content & Images are provided by the acknowledged source