The post Kenneth Copeland Devotional 16 August 2019 – A Firm Foundation appeared first on Flatimes.
89 Percent of British Young Adults Say Life Has No Meaning, Poll Finds
A new United Kingdom survey showing an overwhelming majority of 16-29-year-olds believe life has no purpose or meaning can be directly attributed to the decline of Christianity in the country, says the founder of Answers In Genesis.
The poll of 1,500 British people by Yakult UK showed 89 percent of those ages 16-29 say life lacks purpose or meaning, compared to 55 percent of those over 60 who answered that way. The Sun newspaper was the first media outlet to report the survey.
Answers In Genesis founder and CEO Ken Ham blamed a lack of faith among young people for the tragic data. A separate 2018 poll showed only 2 percent of those ages 18-24 are affiliated with the Church of England.
“When we understand and embrace God’s Word, we will know the difference between the truth and the lies, and we won’t be deceived,” Ham wrote in an online analysis.
“Where do meaning and purpose come from?” Ham asked, rhetorically. “It comes from our Creator! It comes from having a proper perspective on the history of the universe and humanity — one that starts with God’s Word. We’re not accidents, the result of millions of years of random, chance processes.
“We’re fearfully and wonderfully made (Psalm 139:14) in the image of our Creator (Genesis 1:27). He has given us his Word, which clearly tells us our purpose and meaning.”
Among all age groups, 80…
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Click here to read the rest of the story from our content source/partners – Christian Headlines.
Church of Scotland ‘delighted’ by fresh hope for Christian siblings seeking asylum
Aysan, 22, and her brother Armin, 15, fled Iran in fear of religious persecution and domestic violence in 2018 and have been living in Glasgow since January.
The pair were previously told they would not be able to claim asylum in Scotland and were given 72 hours’ notice for deportation last Monday.
The home office now says it will hear their case.
The Christian siblings have been attending Castlemilk Parish Church since February and were both baptised there in June.
Parish Deacon Paul Cathcart, who has been campaigning for the asylum seekers to stay, told Premier the home office’s decision is great news.
“We’re absolutely delighted, it’s more than we could ever have hoped for.
“When we first began the process of trying to have the home office have another look at this case, we had hoped that they would review it but to have the outcome that we’ve had has just been absolutely brilliant.”
Cathcart said the media campaign launched by the Church of Scotland to contest the deportation garnered a lot of support and publicity which he thinks may have contributed to the government’s decision to hear the case.
During an interview with the home office, Aysan asked an official “Why are you sending me back to certain death in Iran?”
Cathcart attended the interview with her and said: “She would be stoned to death for committing apostasy. She’s terrified to go back and thinks there…
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Click Read More to read the rest of the story from our content source/partners – Premier Christianity News.
Trump Administration Will Spare Bibles from Tariffs on Chinese Goods
The Trump administration has decided to give Bibles a free pass amid an escalating tariff war between the U.S. and China.
In May, Christian publishers began to panic as bibles and other religious texts printed in China, together totaling some 65 percent of the 2018 U.S. brochures and leaflet imports, were set to be slapped with tariffs of up to 25 percent.
On Tuesday, however, the U.S. Trade Representative’s Office (USTR) published two lists of items that will be subjected to a 10% hike in tariff charge starting in September and December respectively — the Bible, USTR said, will be spared from both.
“Bibles and other religious literature are among the items removed from the tariff list and will not face additional tariffs of 10 percent,” USTR confirmed to Christianity Today in a statement.
Christian publishers and Bible translators were becoming increasingly concerned by the Trump administration’s refusal to back down from a trade war with China and repeatedly warned that financial restrictions on the printing of the good book would restrict its proliferation across the globe.
“For the past several months, there has been great concern among the Christian publishing community that our important work would be threatened by proposed tariff schedules,” the president and CEO of LifeWay Christian Resources, Ben Mandrell, told CT. “Today’s announcement by…
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Click here to read the rest of the story from our content source/partners – Christian Headlines.
Chaplain supports students receiving A-level results
Around 300,000 teenagers across England, Wales and Northern Ireland got their A results this morning, six weeks after the last of 800,000 A-level exam papers were sat in the UK.
Figures from this year’s results show the number of students scoring an A*- A grade has fallen to its lowest level in more than a decade.
Northumberland Church of England academy trust’s chaplain Sally Milner told Premier if students’ grades weren’t what they were hoping for, not to worry: “There is a huge variety of courses available.
“Sometimes if you don’t get the grades you want for one course, it might be a slightly different course or a foundation degree, or maybe a different institution. Sometimes a couple of years down the line, you look back and see that actually, God was working through that and you realise ‘I’m better off here. I’m happier here. I’m thriving here.’
Part of her role is to support students, whether the grades students received were better, worse or as expected.
She had some advice for parents too, she said: “What they need is somebody to be there to say, I’m here and I’m listening. To hear them tell their story and pass them on to somebody that can help further, but to be there beside them to be with them.
“That’s what Jesus example is, isn’t it? He is there in the thick of it. That’s what the incarnation is about being with us, being beside us, not forsaking…
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Click Read More to read the rest of the story from our content source/partners – Premier Christianity News.
Florida Appeals Court Rules in Favor of Abortion Law Requiring 24-Hour Waiting Period
A Florida court has overturned a circuit judge’s ruling that women should not be expected to adhere to a waiting period before obtaining an abortion.
In a victory for pro-lifers, the First District Court of Appeal effectively re-legitimized a 2015 law requiring women to wait 24 hours before making a final decision to undergo a termination procedure. The case will now be passed back to the Leon County circuit court for reconsideration.
Writing the majority opinion alongside Judge Harvey Jay, Judge Timothy Osterhaus argued that, as per state guidelines, a 24-hour waiting period is needed to ensure “informed consent” from the woman seeking an abortion.
“Rather than singling out and burdening abortion procedures with arbitrary requirements, the state’s evidence indicates that the 24-hour law brings abortion procedures in Florida into compliance with medical informed consent standards and tangibly improves health outcomes for women,” Osterhaus added, according to the Miami Herald.
In January, the now-retired Leon County Circuit Judge, Terry Lewis, argued that the waiting period law was unconstitutional, violated privacy rights and acted as an unnecessary hold-up for women seeking to abort their baby. Lewis also issued a summary judgment without holding a full trial – something the appeals court deemed unfair.
The appeals court majority…
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Click here to read the rest of the story from our content source/partners – Christian Headlines.
Using Part-time Ministry Leaders in a Revitalization or Replant
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When a staff member leaves, most churches automatically search outside the church for a replacement. Today we offer a different perspective on staffing.
Episode Highlights:
- Raising up leaders from within to serve on staff is typically a healthier approach to staffing.
- It’s often a lot easier to hire someone that fire someone.
- When you hire someone from within the church, it takes much less work and time to get them up to speed.
- Not every ministry position can be split from a single full-time person to multiple part-time people, but it’s worth considering when an position comes open.
The six reasons we discuss are:
- The perspective of fresh eyes
- Opportunity for new ministry and new ministers
- The cost issue
- Coming from the missionary perspective
- The key issue of training
- Creating empathy
Resources mentioned in this episode include:
Revitalize & Replant is sponsored by the North American Mission Board and ChurchReplanters.com. More than 10% of churches in North America are at risk of closing and the North American Mission Board is committed to reversing this trend by decreasing the death rate of existing churches while simultaneously increasing the birth rate of new churches. To learn more about what it means to become a replanting pastor or to explore resources for replanting and revitalization in your own church, visit ChurchReplanters.com.
Submit Your Question:
Do you have a question about church…
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Click here to read the rest of the story from our content source/partners – Thom Rainer.
Man who challenged Christians in ‘gay cake’ case to challenge Supreme Court’s verdict at European Court
Mr Lee is going to challenge the idea that a business can have religious beliefs and argue that owners’ opinions are separate from their company’s.
In 2014, Mr Lee asked a Christian-owned bakery business to make him a cake that said ‘Support Gay Marriage’ on it, which they refused to do due to their Christian beliefs.
After losing in lowers courts, the McArthur family who own Ashers bakery won their case at the UK Supreme Court in 2018, with Justice Lady Hale saying they had not been discriminatory for refusing to bake the cake.
She said that was because they weren’t refusing the customer because of his sexuality but were opposed to the message – no matter who had asked for it.
Now, Gareth Lee, a gay rights activist, is taking the case to the European Court of Human Rights, arguing that the UK court “failed to give appropriate weight” to his human rights.
Justice Lady Hale addressed the couple’s freedoms as stated in the European Convention of Human Rights in October 2018, saying: “The freedom to not express an opinion which one does not hold is also protected by Article 10 of the convention…
“This court has held that ‘nobody should be forced to have or express a political opinion in which he does not believe”.
Daniel and Amy McArthur lost their initial case before they won at the Supreme Court.
The Equality Commission first took up Mr Lee’s case in 2014 and…
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Click Read More to read the rest of the story from our content source/partners – Premier Christianity News.
