Reformed theologian and best-selling author Tim Keller recently shared some good news regarding his ongoing fight against pancreatic cancer.

In June, as Christian Headlines previously reported, the popular pastor shared that he was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and would undergo immediate treatment.

In a thread of tweets last Friday, Keller thanked believers for their prayers and support as he finished his sixth round of chemotherapy.

“Dear Praying Friends, Kathy & I want to thank you for your many expressions of support, and for your faithfulness in praying for us. We have been acutely aware of those prayers, and God has heard them – As of yesterday, I have finished six rounds of chemo for pancreatic cancer,” Keller wrote.

…and, while there are indeed some side effects, my doctor says I’m tolerating the treatment very well. I have not been seriously debilitated and I can still do some work and ministry. 2/5

— Timothy Keller (@timkellernyc) August 28, 2020

He explained that the treatment has been effective in combating the disease, despite having “some side effects.” Keller added, however, that he has not been “seriously debilitated” and he is still able to “do some work and ministry.”

Keller had recently met with his oncologist to look over scans that were taken last Monday “to assess the effectiveness of the chemotherapy.”

“The report is very…

One may question, “What does a former world series baseball player have in common with a pastor?”

For former Major League Baseball pitcher Otis Nixon and Atlanta-based Pastor Barry Howard of Wieuca Road Baptist Church, it is a question that they have a succinct answer to. While  Otis, who is Black, and Barry, who is white, are culturally very different, the two men, want it to be known that they have come together in the name of Jesus to bring people together no matter their background.

After the death of George Floyd and the subsequent riots across the U.S., including in Atlanta, Howard knew that he had to be a part of bringing about racial healing. As such, Howard began hosting a group filled with diverse ministry leaders.

“The group started when another pastor asked if I wanted to be a part of it and host it,” Howard shared. At first, the group was made up of a small group of pastors who felt the same calling that Howard felt regarding the issues of race and diversity. Another pastor would soon as Nixon if he too wanted to be a part of the group. Not only is Nixon an ambassador for Major League Baseball, but he’s also an ordained pastor. “It was the perfect timing,” Nixon asserted.

The group meets every other Monday night. When asked how the group landed on Monday as their meeting day, Howard is quick to point out that it was the…

Apathetic views on spirituality are a greater threat to religious belief than atheism, according to notable Christian apologist and author J. Warner Wallace.

“Apathy-ism probably is the biggest challenge to theism, not atheism,” said Wallace, who talked about annually taking students on a trip to University of California, Berkeley.

“What we’re going to encounter most of the time is just apathy. Students on campus, maybe groups on campus are strongly atheistic in some groups. But generally speaking, students were like, ‘Eh, don’t really care.’”

Wallace, along with fellow apologist Sean McDowell of Biola University, were interviewed on an episode of the Dallas Theological Seminary podcast “The Table” posted online last week.

Wallace and McDowell had recently released an apologetics book aimed at reaching out to Generation Z Americans, the generation that is currently entering adolescence and adulthood. Titled So the Next Generation Will Know, the authors hope that adults and parents could use their book to help keep Gen Z from leaving their churches.

According to a survey by the Barna Group released…

As President Trump seeks to run for a possible second term, his campaign recently added the protection of unborn lives and the defense of religious freedom to its agenda entitled “Fighting For You.”

In late August, the campaign put out a press release that highlighted Trump’s priorities if he is awarded a second presidential term, Breitbart reports.

According to Catholic News Agency, the issues of protecting unborn lives and religious freedom were absent in the initial release, which raised concerns from some Catholics.

“Out of @TeamTrump’s 50 “core priorities and goals” why isn’t a single one the protection of preborn children or stopping the abortion industry from killing 2300 innocent children every day?” Lila Rose wrote on Twitter.

Out of @TeamTrump’s 50 “core priorities and goals” why isn’t a single one the protection of preborn children or stopping the abortion industry from killing 2300 innocent children every day? https://t.co/QHxSMjfaec

— Lila Rose (@LilaGraceRose) August 24, 2020

Rose, who founded the pro-life organization, Live Action, added in a later tweet that President Trump “can defund Planned Parenthood by executive order.”

President Trump can defund Planned Parenthood by executive order. It’s past time to stop pouring millions of taxpayer dollars into a corporation that slaughters 900 children each day. Defund these…

The pastor of a large California church that was fined over $50,000 for holding indoor worship services despite adhering to social distancing guidelines said that even as the county continues to increase penalties, the church will remain open. 

Jack Trieber, pastor of North Valley Baptist Church in Santa Clara, California, said Tuesday that Santa Clara County posted an additional order on the church’s doors this week and is fining the congregation $5,000 for each service. 

The charges include $5,000 per in-person service — Sunday morning and evening, as well as Wednesday night — and additional violations for not social distancing, although it is practiced in the auditorium that seats 3,000 people, and singing. 

“They’ve ratcheted this thing up,” Trieber said, adding that in total, the congregation has been fined $52,750.

The order states: “If you do not immediately correct the violations, the County may take additional legal action against you, including civil or criminal prosecution, with additional resulting penalties, fees, and costs.”

“America, this is a…

Redeemer Presbyterian Church in New York is planning to convert a 45,00 square foot condo building into a church.

According to Christianity Today, the church bought the building for $29.5 million. Renovations are expected to take two years before the church opens as Redeemer’s Upper East Side church.

The purchase is “an important part of God’s long-term vision for our church,” said James Herring, elder and chair of a Redeemer building committee, in an announcement video posted on August 14.

Once opened, the church will seat about 600 in the sanctuary and 300 can be seated in a fellowship hall.

The purchase marks the end of a four-year hunt for a new church property. Church leaders considered more than 500 properties and made offers on five, Herring said.

The new church site, 150 East 91^st St., is about 16 blocks from Redeemer’s current Upper East Side meeting space at the Temple Israel.

“Most importantly, this is space that for the first time in our history, we would have available 24/7 for our congregation and its ministries,” Herring said. “This will provide regular access to space for our families, meetings, cultural events, community ministry opportunities, and all of the things we have only dreamed of having the space for in the past.”

Herring says he hopes the new location will also position the church to partner with other organizations and facilities in…

An engineer in New York City has created an A.I. “clone” of Jesus that recites Scripture.

According to The Christian Post, the program uses natural language processing to sound human and is programmed to recite certain passages of Scripture from the King James Bible.

In a statement regarding the project on Medium, the engineer, George Davila Durendal, wrote:

“I like to describe this A.I. as locking a baby in a room with nothing but a Bible for 15 years. You then open up the room 15 years later and find that it’s learned to read, speak, and write using nothing but the Bible.”

He further goes on to state “This A.I. learned human language from reading the bible and nothing else; absorbing every word more thoroughly than all the monks of all the monasteries that have ever been.”

In his blog post, he said he hoped one of the topics he asked the AI to write about would be “pertinent” to our current situation. Even though Durendal made such lofty claims about the program, when asked to write about three different topics, the machine spouts out mostly gibberish. Here’s an example about plagues:

“The Plague shall be the fathers in the world; and the same is my

people, that he may be more abundant in the mouth of the LORD of

hosts.

For the tabernacle of the LORD shall be known by the works of the LORD, which proclaimed against this city;

according as he hath sent me to the marriage…

Connecticut schools that allow biological boys who identify as girls to compete in girls’ sports are violating federal law even in light of a recent Supreme Court decision expanding LGBT rights, the Trump Department of Education has ruled.

The department’s Office for Civil Rights issued a revised letter of enforcement Monday to the Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference (CIAC) asserting that a landmark LGBT rights case from June does not change the department’s position that schools are violating Title IX by allowing transgender girls to compete on girls’ teams. The CIAC is the state’s governing body for interscholastic sports.

“The Court expressly declined to decide questions about how its interpretation … would affect other statutes,” the Office for Civil Rights letter said.

At issue in the Connecticut case is Title IX, a 1972 law prohibiting discrimination based on sex in education programs and activities. The Supreme Court’s June ruling involved a different law, Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The high court said Title VII makes it unlawful to fail to hire or fire someone on the basis of their LGBT identity.

The Office for Civil Rights issued its initial letter to CIAC in May, prior to the high court’s decision.

Two biological boys who identify as girls won 15 Connecticut girls’ state track titles….