Christians Are ‘Treated Very Unfairly’ by Politicians in U.S., Trump Says

Christians Are ‘Treated Very Unfairly’ by Politicians in U.S., Trump Says


Christianity is treated differently than those of other faiths are in the U.S., President Trump said Saturday in criticizing political leaders for not handling all religions equally.

Trump made the comments during the Coronavirus Task Force briefing.

“I am somebody that believes in faith,” Trump said. “And it matters not what your faith is, but our politicians seem to treat different faiths very differently. … I don’t know what happened with our country, but the Christian faith is treated much differently than it was. And I think it’s treated very unfairly.”

Trump’s remarks came after he was asked about his retweet of a post on Twitter from author Paul Sperry, who wrote, “Let’s see if authorities enforce the social-distancing orders for mosques during Ramadan (April 23-May 23) like they did churches during Easter.”

Trump said his retweet was directed at politicians, not imams.

“I just spoke with leaders and people that love mosques; they love mosques,” he said, referencing a phone call he had with imams, rabbis and ministers. “But I would say that there could be a difference. And we’ll have to see what will happen, because I’ve seen a great disparity in this country….

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Herdsmen Kill Student in Kaduna State, Pastor in Southern Nigeria, Sources Say

Herdsmen Kill Student in Kaduna State, Pastor in Southern Nigeria, Sources Say


JOS, Nigeria, April 17, 2020 (Morning Star News) – A Christian student was killed in an attack by Muslim Fulani herdsmen in Kaduna state on Thursday night (April 16), a week after a pastor was slain at his church building residence in southern Nigeria, sources said.

After his college in northwest Nigeria was closed due to the new coronavirus, Sebastine Stephen was visiting his home in Kaduna state’s Gbagyi Villa, a suburb of the city of Kaduna, when armed Fulani attacked at about 11:30 p.m., according to area residents’ text messages to Morning Star News.

“Sebastine Stephen was shot when the armed Fulani herdsmen attacked Gbagyi Villa area in Chikun Local Government Area in the southern end of the city of Kaduna,” area resident Hosea Yusuf told Morning Star News. “Stephen raised alarm, warning residents about the invasion of our community as he was still outside at the time the herdsmen came to attack the community. The herdsmen instantly shot him and then proceeded to enter one of the houses close to them, where they kidnapped a couple.”

Stephen was a Christian attending classes at Federal Polytechnic, Kaura Namoda, in Zamfara state, Gbyagyi Villa resident Titus Patrick told Morning Star News.

Kidnapped were Jack Nweke and his wife, also Christians, area residents said.

“The Fulani herdsmen were over 50 carrying sophisticated guns and shooting sporadically,”…

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Twenty-five years after the Oklahoma City bombing: How to share the peace of Christ

A man carries an American flag while walking through the Field of Empty Chairs at the 24th Anniversary Remembrance Ceremony at the Oklahoma City National Memorial & Museum on Friday, April 19, 2019.

Yesterday marked twenty-five years since Timothy J. McVeigh
murdered 168 people, including nineteen children, when he attacked a federal
office building in Oklahoma City with a massive truck bomb.

Between Pearl Harbor and 9/11, the bombing was the deadliest
deliberate attack on the United States. However, as the New York Times
notes, “it has not been similarly woven into the tapestry of American
history.”

McVeigh joined the Army at the age of twenty, earning a
Bronze Star as a gunnery sergeant in the Persian Gulf War. However, he washed
out of an audition for the Special Forces. Two sieges by US law enforcement
agents against suspected armed compounds (Ruby Ridge, Idaho, in 1992 and Waco,
Texas, in 1993) enraged him.

So he plotted revenge.

On the second anniversary of Waco, he constructed a seven-thousand-pound
bomb using fertilizer in a Ryder truck, parked it outside the Alfred P. Murrah
Federal Building in downtown Oklahoma City, lit the fuse, then drove away.

A horrific explosion ripped through the city at 9:02 a.m.

McVeigh never expressed remorse, calling the children who
died “collateral damage.” He was executed three months before the
attacks of September 11, 2001.

Most anniversary events planned for yesterday were canceled
because of the coronavirus pandemic. The annual reading of the names was
prerecorded, along with brief remarks from political figures.

Republican Senator James Lankford of Oklahoma, a Baptist seminary graduate and former vocational minister, said on the memorial recording: “How do we identify things like anti-Semitism, racism, or hatred for government? We as a culture need to recognize those moments and not just allow them to lie dormant, but to engage.”

How to share the peace of…

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John Krasinski hosts a national prom: What can you do that you couldn’t do before the pandemic?

99-year-old war veteran Captain Tom Moore

If you’ve not been watching John Krasinski’s Some Good News YouTube show, let me encourage you to start today. Past episodes have featured a hilarious interview with Steve Carell (of course) and a performance by the Hamilton cast from their homes. To thank a group of frontline medical personnel in Boston, he arranged an experience I won’t give away here but that is worth watching with gratitude.

Now Krasinski has done something memorable for high school seniors: he hosted a virtual senior prom and was the DJ as well. He was joined by Chance the Rapper, Billie Eilish, and the Jonas Brothers. High school seniors and their families across the country were able to participate in a variety of ways. 

On the other end of the generational spectrum, Captain Tom Moore is a ninety-nine-year-old British World War II veteran. He broke his hip and must use a walker with wheels for mobility. Did this stop him from doing what he can to combat the pandemic? Not at all. 

He set a goal of walking the twenty-five meters around his garden one hundred times before his one-hundredth birthday on April 30. He completed his task last Thursday. In so doing, he raised more than $31 million for the British health service. 

When a new field hospital opens in response to the coronavirus outbreak next week, the retired army officer will be the guest of honor. Capt. Moore said in a statement over the weekend, “I am still amazed by the amount of kindness and generosity from the UK public who continue to give despite it being an uncertain time for many.” 

Reframing in the light of God’s sovereignty

Tragedies always make us feel frustrated that we cannot do more to help. A gunman in Nova Scotia killed at least sixteen people over the weekend. A man hijacked a public transit bus in Dallas yesterday and wounded two officers. We can read the news and pray for the victims, but we want to do more. 

In the same…

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What If All Our Church Attendees Showed Up at the Same Time? Five Thoughts

By Thom S. Rainer

A frequent comment I get from pastors and other church leaders often goes like this statement: “If all our members who attend regularly or sporadically showed up at the same time, our worship center would be packed.” 

I get it. One of the more frustrating aspects of a pastor’s ministry is dealing with nominally committed church members. As we wait to return to our in-person worship services, let’s start addressing this issue before the stay-at-home recommendations lift. Here are five thoughts: 

  1. We must address the reality of the 64% factor. Though our social media poll was not scientific, the large number of responses we received was indicative of the interest in the topic. We asked church leaders to provide us two numbers. The first was average weekly worship attendance before the pandemic. The second was the estimated attendance if everyone showed up at the same time. The results were astounding. The median increase in worship attendance would be 64% if everyone showed up at the same time. So, a 100-attendance church would have 164 present. A 500-attendance church would have 820 in attendance.
  1. We must ask the question, “Where have all the church members gone?” In many of your churches, you can do this exercise by each family. In larger churches, you can do a representative sampling. Look at the families and individuals who attend with a frequency of twice a month or less. Assign a reason for their lack of commitment. Is it sports’ leagues? Is it travel? Is…

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Pray for Brainerd Baptist Church

Location: Chattanooga, Tennessee

Pastor: Micah Fries

Weekly Worship: Sundays at 8:00, 9:30, and 11:00 AM, Eastern

Fast Facts: Last Easter Sunday, April 13, 2020, an EF-3 tornado touched down in East Chattanooga resulting in multiple deaths, injuries, and destruction to homes and businesses. Despite the massive season of change and disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, Brainerd Baptist responded quickly to serve their members and community during this new state of emergency.

Led by Pastor Micah Fries, Brainerd Baptist is being the hands and feet of Jesus during this difficult time. In addition to meeting their members’ needs for housing and disaster relief, the church is coordinating volunteers to help with tree and yard clean up, delivering care packages and household items, hosting a blood drive, and collecting donations to meet the immediate needs of their community.

Please pray for those who were impacted by the tornado in Chattanooga. Pray for Pastor Micah and the Brainerd Baptist staff and members as they care for their community and share the gospel with those they are ministering to. Please pray that the volunteers will stay healthy as they venture out to serve others in the midst of the pandemic. And please pray that God will be glorified in Chattanooga in the midst of the devastation and loss.

Website: http://www.BrainerdBaptist.org


“Pray for . . .” is the Sunday blog series at ThomRainer.com. We encourage you to pray for these churches noted every Sunday. Please feel free…

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Willow Creek Names Michigan Pastor David Dummitt as New Leader

Willow Creek Names Michigan Pastor David Dummitt as New Leader


(RNS) — Willow Creek Community Church announced Wednesday (April 15) that David Dummitt, a megachurch pastor from Michigan, will be the church’s new senior pastor.

The announcement comes just over two years after Willow Creek’s founding pastor resigned after being accused of abusing power and sexual misconduct.

Dummitt, 46, is the founding pastor of 2|42 Community Church, a Michigan megachurch with seven campuses. According to a statement from the Vanderbloemen Search Group, which assisted with the search, the 2|42 Community Church was founded 15 years ago by Dummitt and some friends and now draws more than 10,000 people a week to services.

Willow Creek has eight campuses in and around Chicago and in the past has reported more than 25,000 attenders. Before in-person service stopped due to the coronavirus pandemic, the church averaged 18,000 in attendance. The church now draws about 18,000 livestream views each weekend along with an additional 15,000 on-demand views, said a Willow spokesperson

It has long been one of the most influential Protestant churches in America.

A graduate of Wheaton College who attended Asbury Seminary, Dummitt said in a statement he has long admired the work of Willow Creek. He called himself a “church kid who played in the handbell choir” while growing up and that Willow Creek taught him church could be different.

“As a freshman at Wheaton College, I’d…

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Faith Leaders Share Prayers Online amid Pandemic

Faith Leaders Share Prayers Online amid Pandemic


Faith leaders around the world are virtually joining together to pray for healing from the coronavirus pandemic.

According to FaithWire, Christian pastors, preachers and other leaders are uploading videos of themselves praying for both wisdom for world leaders as they combat the virus and for healing as millions around the world face the pandemic.

Leaders are using the hashtag #GlobalPastorPrayer and #HealOurLand to post their prayers.

“With God’s help, we’ll rebound from this torrential display of terror!” Bishop T.D. Jakes said on Twitter. “While medical professionals do what they do, as elected officials lockstep with manufacturers and corporations, the rest of us must use discipline and constraint.

The prayers also included asking God for protection over medical staff and others who are caring for the sick.

“Heavenly Father, we ask for Your provision, Your power, Your protection for those who are on the front lines fighting against COVID-19,” Craig Groeschel, senior pastor at Life.Church, said. “God, for the first responders, for the doctors, for the…

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Unsealed Invoices Suggest Planned Parenthood Was Paid Nearly $25,000 for Fetal Tissue

Unsealed Invoices Suggest Planned Parenthood Was Paid Nearly $25,000 for Fetal Tissue


Multiple unsealed 2012 invoices show that Planned Parenthood was paid nearly $25,000 by a fetal tissue procurement agency, StemExpress, for aborted baby body parts.

Planned Parenthood has denied the exploitation accusations.

According to pro-life advocacy group Live Action, however, invoices from Planned Parenthood Mar Monte to SteamExpress, posted online by the Center for Medical Progress (CMP) as part of an ongoing investigation into the abortion giant, show exchanges of money for “blood” and “POCs” or products of conception.

According to the Daily Caller, invoices from July, August, and September 2012 show that Planned Parenthood Mar Monte in California billed Stem Express $24,940 for fetal organ samples and maternal blood.

Furthermore, StemExpress and Planned Parenthood reportedly agreed on a renewable contract in April 2010. The agreement stipulated that that same Planned Parenthood location would sell blood samples to StemExpress for $10 each and specimen “determined in the clinic to be usable” at $55 each. Additionally, the abortion giant would be reimbursed for “reasonable costs” related to the sales.

The contract defined the term products of conception as “any fetal organ or other fetal or placental material taken from a human uterus during an abortion.”

A fetal organ is defined as “the human kidney, heart, lung, pancreas, bone marrow, cornea,…

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Atheist Group Wins $450,000 in Legal Fees after Ending Graduation Prayer

Atheist Group Wins $450,000 in Legal Fees after Ending Graduation Prayer


A federal judge this week awarded an atheist group more than $450,000 in attorney’s fees and expenses after the organization successfully fought against high school graduation prayer as part of a 2013 lawsuit.

U.S. District Judge Bruce Hendricks awarded the American Humanist Association $446,466 in attorney’s fees and $9,776 in expenses, less than a year after she ruled against Greenville (S.C.) County Schools in a much-watched prayer case.

The school district indicated it may appeal.

“Throughout this case, the School District has argued that students, like other citizens, have the right to free speech, including that of a religious nature,” the school district said in a statement. “… The School District will discuss the path forward with the insurance carrier covering the defense of this case, but anticipates appealing both the fee award and the decision upon which it was based to the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals.”

The case dates back to 2013, when the American Humanist Association sued the school on behalf of parents of a student who objected to students leading prayers at a graduation. The organization also objected to the graduations being held in off-site chapels.

Hendricks ruled for the group and said in a 2019 decision that “the district shall not include a prayer – whether referred to as a prayer, blessing, invocation, benediction, inspirational reading, or…

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