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Christian Leaders on Mass Shootings: ‘Enough Is Enough’
As the nation reels in the light of the mass shootings that killed 20 in El Paso, Texas and 9 in Dayton, Ohio over the weekend, Christian leaders called out white supremacy, offered encouragement, and begged for change.
Several of Christian leaders spoke against white supremacy after it was revealed the El Paso shooter was racially motivated against immigrants and Hispanics in his attack.
Shane Claiborne, an author and activist, according to Relevant, tweeted several thoughts on the need for reform. Claiborne wrote, “2 mass shootings in 24 hours. 20 dead & 26 injured in El Paso, TX. 9 dead & 16 injured in Dayton, OH. Let us pray for all those affected… and then let’s honor their lives by taking action to end gun violence. Another America is possible.”
He continued, “Saying that it’s ‘not the right time’ to talk about gun control after a mass shooting… is like saying it’s not right to talk about train safety after a deadly train wreck. #ElPasoThis is exactly when we need to talk about it.”
Claiborne then shared several statistics on gun violence-related deaths in developed countries, noting that America has the highest number of gun-related deaths. “Of all the civilians killed by guns in developed countries, 86% are in the US. Of all the children killed in 23 developed countries, 87% are in the US. We have more gun homicides in the US than all the…
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Click here to read the rest of the story from our content source/partners – Christian Headlines.
13-Ounce Baby Boy Born to Iowa Mom: ‘He’s Our Little Miracle’
At only 23 weeks pregnant, Ellonn Smart gave birth to her tiny baby boy, Jaden Wesley Morrow, who weighed only 13 ounces.
“His arms and toes were moving and he was trying to breathe on his own,” Smartt said, according to Faithwire. “He’s our little miracle.”
The 25-year-old mother was not due until November, but her boyfriend, Jordan Morrow, has supported her throughout the entire scare.
“I know that God chose us specifically for Jaden,” Smartt wrote in a Facebook post to her boyfriend. “You are so strong and I am so, so proud of you. You are our protector and have never left my side. This will be a long road for us, but that’s okay. We are going to rock it out for our boys!”
Smartt had attempted to remain calm throughout her entire pregnancy, but when doctors at Iowa Methodist Medical Center explained the severity of her situation, she broke down.
“They said I was going to have to deliver in the next day or two and there was a good chance he wouldn’t survive,” she said. “That was the moment when I fell apart. I was heartbroken.”
But Jaden has beaten the odds. After an emergency C-section, he survived.
“For most part, Jaden is stable,” his mom shared. “He’s on a ventilator and had a small infection, but his doctors think he looks great. He’s getting breast milk and gaining weight.”
Though the couple hasn’t yet been…
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Click here to read the rest of the story from our content source/partners – Christian Headlines.
‘I Grabbed as Many as I Could’: Solider Stops to Rescue Frightened Children amid Shooting in El Paso
People ran for their lives at an El Paso mall on Saturday when a gunman opened fire at shoppers at a nearby Walmart, but one man, noticed a large group of frantic, unaccompanied kids and decided to jump into action.
In an interview with Fox News, U.S. Army Specialist Glen Oakley shared that he was shopping for a jersey when a child ran over and yelled that there was an active shooter. Oakley admitted that at first, he didn’t believe the child, but then as he walked toward a Footlocker store, he heard gunshots. Immediately, Oakley saw a crowd of people running towards a Dillard’s store in order to escape to the parking lot.
According to Oakley, when the Footlocker employee heard the gunfire, he closed the store’s gate, but frantic shoppers lifted it in order to escape. Oakley, who has a license to carry a firearm and was armed at the time of the shooting, decided to go with the crowd in case they ran into a shooter, he told Fox News.
While running with the crowd however, he noticed a group of 11 to 13 frightened children estimated to be between five and seven years of age near a mall play area. Oakley immediately jumped into action and began to grab as many children as he could so that he could bring them to safety.
“I see a whole bunch of kids running, so I grab as many as possible… I tried to get a couple others to help…
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Click here to read the rest of the story from our content source/partners – Christian Headlines.
‘Abandon Your Faith’: China Is Forcibly Merging Churches to Curtail Christianity
China is inventing new ways to force the closure of churches as part of its crackdown on Christianity.
The religious liberty watchdog Bitter Winter says four legal churches were shut down in recent months under pressure from government officials who justified the closures with questionable tactics.
All four churches were part of the government-approved Three-Self movement.
In February, according to a new Bitter Winter report, government officials in Xinyu city in Jiangxi province closed a church because, the officials said, “it is not allowed to have two churches in one area.” The congregation was forced to merge with another church.
When an elderly church member protested and said he and other older members couldn’t walk to the other church, a local government official told him, “If you can’t walk that far, then abandon your faith. This policy comes from above, and the church has to be merged.”
In May, another Three-Self church in the Jiangxi city of Xinyu was shut down and merged with a local congregation. The government then rented out the unoccupied building.
“The government has adopted a step by step approach now: First, they dismantled our cross, and now the church has been forced to merge with another one,” said a church member from the Xinyu congregation that was closed. “Every week, they send people to take…
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Click here to read the rest of the story from our content source/partners – Christian Headlines.
40 Percent of White Evangelicals Support the Green New Deal, Survey Finds
About four in 10 white evangelicals say they support the “Green New Deal,” according to a survey from NPR and PBS NewsHour.
The survey of more than 1,300 people also found that 66 percent would “definitely” vote for President Donald Trump in 2020.
On the Green New Deal, a plan that would address climate change with green initiatives, 63 percent of respondents said they thought it was a “good idea.” Thirty-two percent said the plan was a “bad idea.”
The Green New Deal is a plan by Democrats that would help climate change issues. The plan includes investments in energy-efficient buildings and infrastructure and creating new jobs in the clean energy industry.
House Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) introduced the Green New Deal resolution in the U.S. House of Representatives, while senator Edward Markey of Massachusetts (D-MA) introduced a similar resolution in the U.S. Senate.
Both conservatives and moderate Democrats who say the initiatives would cost tens of trillions of dollars have criticized the plans.
The survey also found that 40 percent of white evangelicals in the poll said they think the Green New Deal is a “good idea.” Among white evangelicals, 51 percent said the plan was a “bad idea.”
“In the 2016 presidential election, 81 percent of white evangelical Christians voted to elect President Trump. But this core base of…
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Click here to read the rest of the story from our content source/partners – Christian Headlines.
Choosing life despite inevitable sorrow: The story behind Abel Speaks
In the summer of 2015, my husband, Daniel, and I discovered we were pregnant and that our first child was a little boy!
On the same phone call, however, we learned that our son was conceived with a life-limiting chromosomal abnormality known as Trisomy 18.
Nothing can prepare you for that moment.
The future you envisioned with your child begins slipping away. Instantly, I had to come to grips with the reality that our baby’s life would more than likely be short if his diagnosis held true.
So, the question instantly emerged: What ought a family do in a situation like ours?
A ‘better’ choice?
Some people, such as the first specialist we saw, encourage abortion as a means of hitting reset in order to try again for a “better” one, which is to say, a healthier one.
Others believe it would be “better” to terminate the pregnancy at that point, in the sense that it would be emotionally easier. “If you’re going to lose this child at some point, why torture yourselves by dragging out the inevitable? Wouldn’t it be best and easiest for everyone to just end it now and try again?”
I believe that this line of thinking is rooted in a caring consideration for the parents and offered with the best of intentions. It’s not hard to comprehend and even empathize with why abortion would be considered in a situation like ours.
However, I humbly propose that such a conclusion is built upon two faulty assumptions.
The emotional fallacy
Emotionally, the faulty assumption is that joy and sorrow are incompatible and that anything in life can fall into one of those two buckets—but never both.
I cannot subscribe to that premise for two reasons:
- Regardless of your worldview or faith persuasion, the human experience shows us that joy and sorrow are not mutually exclusive. In fact, I think we consistently find that the two are tied at the hip. Is it not true that life is an ever-swirling blend of…
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Click Read More to read the rest of the story from our content source/partners – Denison Forum.
Church of England invests millions in church-run sports clubs
The £12 million comes from the Renewal and Reform program, which aims to grow the church’s attendance among all classes, races and generations.
Some of the money will be going towards sports clubs in deprived areas to help alleviate crime and spread the gospel.
One church that will benefit from the money is Christ Church Anerly in South London, who are already running a Christian boxing club for 13-19 year olds and an evangelistic Bible study for ex-offenders.
The pastor there, Rev Matthew Fitter, told Premier he has conducted two funerals for victims of knife crime in his area and that was what persuaded him the boxing club was worth doing.
“The reason that convinced us to go for it is it is definitely distinctively Christian. So, we have a professional boxing coach who comes and does the actual boxing, training, the fitness, the boxing moves, all of those things. But then for the last 10 minutes of every session we have unashamedly Christian content where either an ex-offender, or somebody, shares the difference that Jesus has made to them and so for me, the way that I’m comfortable with it is because it is definitely Christian, both in the way that we set it up and also in the way that we run it.”
The pastor explained how the Christian content had been received by those going to the boxing club: “They’ll have done an hour and 20 minutes of fitness and…
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Click Read More to read the rest of the story from our content source/partners – Premier Christianity News.
RCCG 67th Annual Convention 2019 – Live Broadcast HERE
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