In a recent episode of his podcast called Ask Pastor John, theologian and pastor John Piper challenged Christians not to amplify patriotism in their lives over their loyalty to Christ.

Piper, who is the founder of “Desiring God,” offered his take on patriotism after a listener named Matt asked him if there was room for patriotism in a Christian’s life.

“Obviously, as Christians, we are to live as strangers, exiles, aliens, and pilgrims on this earth. Is there an appropriate place in the Christian life to be patriotic? If so, what is it? And at what point does our patriotism go too far?” Matt asked Piper.

Piper responded saying, “yes, I think there is [room for patriotism] and I think it’s right, or at least it can be right and good.”

But, “it is true that we need to stress it at the beginning, maybe stress it at the end, we are pilgrims here, we are exiles, refugees, sojourners,” Piper said citing Peter from the Bible.

Then citing Paul, the Reformed pastor reminded believers that they are “citizens of heaven” who will spend eternity in a “created world — in fact, this created world, renewed and cleansed” in which Satan will no longer be a part of.

Piper then goes on to define patriotism as “a kind of love for the fatherland” or the love of one’s country, city, state, country or tribe. He adds that he believes that the Word of God affirms…

In a discussion over America’s founding fathers with fellow CNN host Chris Cuomo, Don Lemon stressed that all of humanity, including Jesus, was fallible.

On Monday’s broadcast of CNN Tonight with Don Lemon, Lemon noted that a lot of what Americans learn about history is “propaganda” and needs to be revised, the Washington Examiner reports.

Lemon went on to address the criticisms that were being made over the removal of statutes, including from President Trump, his supporters and some “very well-meaning liberals.”

Lemon proposed that people should take the statute removals into consideration rather than operate out of “fear” that the rioters were taking it too far.

“Why not have the mindset of ‘Well, maybe we should be taking down some of these statues?'” Lemon asked.

The CNN anchor then told Cuomo that Americans were deifying the country’s founders instead of recognizing that no human being is perfect. To further his argument, Lemon used Jesus as his primary example as someone who “admittedly was not perfect.”

“Jesus Christ, if that’s who you believe in, Jesus Christ, admittedly was not perfect when he was here on this earth,” Lemon asserted. “So why are we deifying the founders of this country, many of whom owned slaves?”

Meanwhile, Cuomo, a professing Roman Catholic, stood silently without rebuttal.

The now-viral clip of Monday’s broadcast has been widely…

The U.S. Navy is allowing personnel to attend in-person indoor worship services after criticism from some Congress members.

According to The Christian Post, The clarification to the order comes after the First Liberty Institute voiced concern that a June 24 order would keep personnel from attending indoor worship services during the pandemic. The order, however, allowed other secular indoor activities.

First Liberty sent a letter on June 29, arguing that service members have a “right to freely exercise religious beliefs via in-person religious services.”

Two Republican Congress members, Doug Collins and Doug Lamborn, also sent a letter on July 1 to Secretary of Defense Mark Esper, saying, “While we can all agree that the health and safety of our troops is critical during the ongoing public health crisis, singling out religious gatherings while allowing other activities and unrestricted social gatherings to take place is unlawful.”

This week, however, Acting Undersecretary of the Navy Greg Slavonic released a memo saying that in-person worship was allowed as long as social distancing measures were followed.

“[The order should not] be construed to restrict attendance at places of worship where attendees are able to appropriately apply COVID-19 transmission mitigation measures, specifically social distancing and use of face covering,” he wrote in the memo released…

Churchgoers in a new survey say they’re concerned for the eternal destiny of Christian leaders who walk away from the faith but also for the many people they may influence by their stance.

The LifeWay Research survey asked 1,002 American Protestant churchgoers how they would feel if a “person who is well-known for their work in Christian ministry announced they no longer believed in Christianity.” 

It’s not hypothetical. The lead singer of the well-known Christian band Hawk Nelson said this year he no longer believes in God. Last year, pastor and courtship author Joshua Harris said he no longer was a Christian.  

The survey found that 69 percent of churchgoers say they would hope the person will “someday come back to Christian faith” and 63 percent say they would be “sad they have abandoned their faith.” 

A full 44 percent of churchgoers would have “concern for their eternal destiny,” and 40 percent would have “concern that they may lead others astray.” 

Evangelicals are more likely than other churchgoers to say they hope the person comes back to  Christianity (75 percent), that they would be concerned for their eternal destiny (59 percent) and that they’re concerned they’d lead others from the faith (51 percent). 

“The predominant reaction among churchgoers when they see a leader walk away from their faith is to maintain hope for them while…

President Trump says in a new interview with the Washington Post that he’s not defending confederate memorials and that he supports “peaceful protests for racial injustice.”

He also rejected the charge he’s promoting hate: “The real hate is the hate from the other side on many of the things that we talk about.”

The interview, with columnist Marc A. Thiessen, took place in the Oval Office. Thiessen posted the first part from the interview Thursday.

Trump addressed media coverage of his Mount Rushmore speech, which several mainstream media outlets characterized as “dark.”

“It was the opposite of dark,” Trump said. “What’s dark is the other side. … They’re trying to take everything down.”

In the speech, Trump criticized the tearing down or removal of monuments of George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Ulysses S. Grant and several abolitionists.

Asked if he also was defending confederate statues, Trump told The Post: “Oh, I’m not. But I am adamant about defending the past. It’s part of our history. They’re taking down everything. They’re taking down history, they’re taking down so much, Marc. They’re taking down everything and they call it ‘cancel culture.’ I don’t think it’s a beautiful term, but it’s actually very descriptive. … They want to cancel everything. They want to cancel the good and the bad.

“They…

The White House is using two new Supreme Court decisions favoring religious liberty to draw a distinction with the previous administration, implying if Democrat Joe Biden is elected, people of faith will have their freedoms assaulted.

The Supreme Court handed down a pair of decisions Wednesday favoring religious liberty. In one case, the justices broadened the so-called ministerial exception and ruled that religious organizations could hire and fire based on what they believe, free of oversight by anti-discrimination laws. In the other case, the justices upheld a Trump administration rule that exempts faith-based organizations from the Obama-era abortion/contraceptive mandate.

In both decisions, President Trump’s two Supreme Court nominees, Brett Kavanaugh and Neil Gorsuch, voted with the majority.

“Two Big WINS for Religious Freedom at SCOTUS today,” Vice President Mike Pence tweeted. “All Americans of faith can be assured that under President @realDonaldTrump, the Obama-Biden assault on religious liberty is over! We will always stand with every American of every Faith!”

Two Big WINS for Religious Freedom at SCOTUS today. All Americans of faith can be assured that under President @realDonaldTrump, the Obama-Biden assault on religious liberty is over! We will always stand with every American of every Faith! 🇺🇸

— Mike Pence (@Mike_Pence) July 8, 2020

The…

Even though the year is only halfway through, for many, 2020 is a year they would like to leave behind. For Karen Clark Sheard, however, it’s been one to embrace.

Sheard is a part of the Gospel music group, The Clark Sisters.

This year has been one to remember for The Clark Sisters as they watched their lives onscreen in the new Lifetime movie, The Clark Sisters: First Ladies of Gospel and participated in numerous virtual music and award shows.

Sheard, recently sat down with Christian Headlines to discuss the ups and downs of being a part of what many would call Black Gospel music royalty.

“We grew up playing in the Black church and having our mother take the role of being our director and manager,” Sheard shared.

To the singer, her Gospel and Black church roots are precious and inform who she is as a person and who the Sisters are as artists.

When asked about her thoughts on the movie, Sheard noted, “I enjoyed the movie, however, I remember watching it thinking, how did we survive that?”

Despite rising to great success, the members of the group had to endure an abundance of sacrifice.

“My mother sacrificed in getting us to where we are today as a group,” Sheard shared with a spark of gratitude in her voice.

Even still, Sheard speaks lovingly about the journey that God has put her and her sisters on. “It’s all about who God has surrounded you with, which for me has been…

NAIROBI, Kenya, July 9, 2020 (Morning Star News) – Hard-line Muslims in Isiolo, Kenya last month beat unconscious a 21-year-old Christian woman, a member of a family from Somalia that fled persecution in Nairobi in 2019, sources said.

In the June 4 attack on Fozia (surname withheld), seven assailants also broke two teeth of her 19-year-old sister, Asha, and also injured their 18-year-old brother, Aden, the victims said.

“They began hitting me with sticks and a blunt object, which injured my back and my right hand,” Fozia told Morning Star News. “There I fainted for five hours and regained consciousness at the hospital.”

She was hospitalized for two days.

“At the moment I am having nose bleeding, and all my body still hurts,” she said.

The siblings had gone outside their home to try to restore water supply at about 7 p.m. when the assailants approached, Fozia said.

“There were noisy shouts calling us infidels,” she told Morning Star News. “They said, ‘We know you do not belong to us. We have got hold of you today – we have no mercy on you people. You need to return to where you came from.”

Asha said her brother sustained injuries to his hand and ribs from a blunt object, she said.

“The attackers injured me by hitting my head against the wall,” Asha told Morning Star News. “My two front teeth got broken, and the attack caused the left side of my body to swell,…

VATICAN CITY (RNS) — Vatican-owned hospital Bambino Gesú made history on Tuesday (July 7) when it announced it had successfully separated conjoined twins brought to Rome from the Central African Republic.

“Ervina and Prefina have been born twice,” said the teary-eyed mother, Ermine, during the press conference on Tuesday.

“If we had stayed in Africa I don’t know what destiny would have awaited them. Now that they are separate and well, I would like for them to be baptized by Pope Francis, who has always cared for the children of Bangui. My little ones can now grow up, study and become doctors to save other children,” she said.

The twins were born in the town of Mbaiki, in the Central African Republic, joined at the back of the head. In July 2018, Mariella Enoc, the president of the pediatric hospital Bambino Gesú, met the twins as infants while on a mission to the country and decided to bring the girls back to Rome.

“They had no chance at survival,” Enoc told local reporters, “even a cold could have been enough to kill them.

“When you encounter lives that can be saved, it must be done. We cannot and we must not turn our gaze away,” she said during the press conference.

Ervina and Prefina were brought to Rome with their mother on September 10, 2018, as part of the humanitarian efforts conducted by the hospital and sponsored by the Vatican. They were…