ISIS Car Bomb Attacks on Syrian Cities Leaves 140 Dead; Charred Corpses, Rubble Litter Streets

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ISIS Car Bomb Attacks on Syrian Cities Leaves 140 Dead; Charred Corpses, Rubble Litter Streets

Christian Post Report – A general view shows the site of a two bomb blasts in the government-controlled city of Homs, Syria, in this handout picture provided by SANA on February 21, 2016.

The Islamic State terror group has claimed responsibility for mass bombings in the key Syrian cities of Homs and Damascus on Sunday, with government reports stating that at least 140 people have been killed.

Different sources have so far reported different death tolls, with the state-run SANA news agency stating that 83 people were killed and 178 others were injured in a suburb of the capital of Damascus due to four separate blasts, while another 57 people died in a double car bombing in the city of Homs.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which has reported on human rights abuses committed by IS, the government of President Bashar Al-Assad, and the various rebel groups seeking to take out his regime, put the death toll in Homs at 46.

The deadliest bombs were detonated in the southern outskirts of Damascus, SANA reported, with three bombers striking the revered “Lady Zeynab” Shiite Muslim shrine.

Local television stations showed footage of charred corpses buried by rubble, Reuters reported, along with plumes of smoke rising from burning cars, and wounded people walking around in a daze.

The United Nations Special Envoy for Syria spoke out against the bombings in the two Syrian cities, noting that children were among those killed.

The U.N. envoy, Staffan de Mistura, condemned “yet another set of car bomb and suicide explosions in Damascus and Homs cities which killed and injured today over 100 people, including children.”

Homs has been heavily targeted by a number of bombings in the past three months, with at least 24 people killed in a suicide attack on Jan. 26, and two other bombings striking the same neighborhood on Dec. 28 and Dec. 12.

CNN noted that IS has been battling both the Syrian government and the other Islamic rebel groups as it looks to take control of more territory across the Islamic Caliphate it has been seeking to establish for close to two years now. Well over 250,000 people have been killed in the five-year long civil war.

The United States and other world powers have been trying to negotiate a ceasefire in the civil war, though ongoing diplomatic efforts have had little effect on the warring factions.

Still, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said on Sunday that a ceasefire was still “possible.”

“We are closer to a ceasefire today than we have been, and I take nothing for granted about this,” Kerry told reporters at a press conference in Jordan.

Assad, who has been accused of war crimes against his own people by the U.S., has meanwhile been urging Syrian refugees to return home.

The Syrian President sent out a message to Syrians who had fled the country due to the “standard of living that has been deteriorating drastically,” telling them that they can return without fear of action by the government.

“We want people to come back to Syria,” Assad said, according to BBC News.

Source : Christian Post

Christians Need Hope for Times of Suffering and Change, Pastor James MacDonald Says

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Christians Need Hope for Times of Suffering and Change, Pastor James MacDonald Says

Christian Post Report – Pastor James MacDonald.

During his sermon at Harvest Church in Riverside, California, Pastor James MacDonald spoke about the importance of hope for carrying Christians through life’s many changes and challenges, pointing specifically to John 5 as a guide for this teaching.

MacDonald, who is the founding and lead Pastor of Harvest Bible Chapel in Illinois, told congregants during Thursday’s sermon that Christians can use hope for two purposes: hope can serve as an anchor in difficult times, and it can also help pull someone out of their sorrow and into a new life chapter.

John 5, which MacDonald describes as a “salvation story,” tells of a disabled man who has been waiting by a healing pool in Jerusalem for 38 years, but has been unable to go into the water due to his crippling malady.

Jesus restores the man’s ability to walk, and tells him to take his sleeping mat and go into the water to be healed.

As MacDonald explains, this chapter is full of symbolism regarding the importance of hope and faith in Christians’ lives.

Jesus sees and knows all of our struggles, the pastor says, and while Christians will often give up hope when their struggles become too difficult to bear, Jesus is always waiting there to heal them when they are ready.

This last point can be seen when Jesus asks the crippled man “Do you want to be healed?” While this may seem like an insensitive question to ask of someone who has been suffering for 38 years, MacDonald says he actually believes it to be an “awesome” question.

This question, the pastor says, explains why so many people give up after years of suffering — because they do not know when the suffering will end. That, according to MacDonald, is when the importance of hope comes in.

“It’s not the depth of the trial, its not the darkness of the trial, the hardest part for sure is the duration,” MacDonald tells the audience, adding that when people are going through times of change and struggle, they primarily want to know when their suffering will be over.

“The thing that we want to know the most is the thing that God seems least interested in telling us, and that must be for some awesome reason,” the pastor says, adding that “Trials do come to an end … weeping may endure for the night but joy comes in the morning, but in the night you don’t know when the morning’s coming.”

MacDonald goes on to point to three reasons why Christians may give up hope: “It’s a hassle to hope, it’s hard to hope, [and] it actually hurts to hope.”

“The number one coping mechanism for the pain of the trials of life is to stop hoping,” MacDonald says, pointing to how easy it is to give up on a marriage, children, finances, and other life circumstances compared to perservering with hope.

Another main motive for quitting hope is because while despair will flood readily into a Christian’s life, hope must be sought out and fought for on a daily basis, the pastor says.

While hope is represented figuratively in John 5 through the disabled man’s 38 years of suffering, it is also represented physically through his sleeping mat that he has been flaying on for decades while waiting to enter the healing waters.

At the end of the chapter, Jesus orders the man to pick up his mat and go down to the water to be healed. This demand, MacDonald says, serves as a physical symbol of carrying one’s hope through their times of struggle and into a new, better phase in their life.

When Christians pick up the metaphorical mat and walk with God, they are saying, “This part of [my] life is over – [I’m] not that person anymore, [I’m] not coming back here anymore,” MacDonald concludes.

MacDonald ended his Thursday sermon with a prayer that all Christians have a strong desire to be healed with God and to carry their hope with them as they start a new life chapter.

Source : Christian Post

A Fast Food Restaurant’s Gospel Witness

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A Fast Food Restaurant’s Gospel Witness
Christian Post Report – A Sonic drive-thru restaurant in Missouri that recently garnered headlines for putting Bible verse stickers on orders, ran out of the stickers due to popular demand.

Sonic Drive-In of Raymore announced on its Facebook page Thursday morning that it is temporarily out of the Bible stickers.

“We are still putting the Bible verse stickers on our bags. However [due] to the number of people asking for them, after the news story, we are currently out,” posted the restaurant.

Source : Christian Post

3 Christian Values in ‘Deadpool’ You Probably Missed

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3 Christian Values in ‘Deadpool’ You Probably Missed

Christian Post Report – Actor Ryan Reynolds poses with fans as he arrives for the premiere of “Deadpool” in New York, February 8, 2016.

The level of violence, gore and sex in the new box office smash “Deadpool” may lead one to believe that the film contains no Christian values whatsoever. But buried beneath the vulgarity of the runaway hit starring Ryan Reynolds lay a few Christian qualities that you might have overlooked:

1. Stand Out as a Peculiar People

Deadpool isn’t your typical superhero, and the good thing is he doesn’t try to be. The Marvel character embraces his unconventional ways instead of conforming to others’ expectations. Christians can take a page from his script by standing out from the world as peculiar people, and striving to be the individuals who God created them to be, letting their inner and outer beauty shine, and resisting worldly pressures to conform.

Romans 12:2 states: “And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.”

Deadpool(Photo: Reuters/Brendan McDermid)Actor Ryan Reynolds arrives for the premiere of “Deadpool” in New York, February 8, 2016.

2. Do Some Self-Reflection

In “Deadpool,” the title character periodically “breaks the fourth wall” and addresses the audience, showing an awareness of who he is and why he is.

In the life of a Christian, it’s good to do some self-examination from time to time to ensure that one’s spiritual life is on the right track. For some, what better time to do a little self-reflection than the season of Lent?

2 Corinthians 13:5 encourages Christians to, “Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates?”

3. Stand-Up for What’s Right

Just as Deadpool doesn’t hesitate to fight the “bad guys” (the guys considered worse than him), so Christians should take a stand for Jesus in a day when people resist sound doctrine, and when the freedoms of religious expression are increasingly challenged.

Famed late theologian Chuck Colson once spoke out against attacks on public expressions of faith and urged Christians to ” … refuse to buckle under attempts to force them to keep silent about their beliefs — or worse, attempts to force them to deny those beliefs.”

As previously reported by The Christian Post, Colson forecasted the religious persecution that has become so prevalent in the Middle East. “We’re going to see the real anti-Christian bias over the next few years,” he wrote in 2002.

That claim could not be better illustrated than by the increasing persecution of hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of Arab Christians in Middle Eastern countries like Iraq and Syria at the hands of terror groups like the Islamic State and al Qaeda. Scores of believers are being massacred or sold into sexual slavery because of their Christian faith and refusal to convert to Islam.

To circumstances like this, Psalm 94:16 asks: “Who will rise up for me against the evildoers? or who will stand up for me against the workers of iniquity?”

Source : Christian Post

Caitlyn Jenner Says She’s Gotten More Criticism for Being Conservative Than Transgender

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Caitlyn Jenner Says She’s Gotten More Criticism for Being Conservative Than Transgender

Caitlyn Jenner (Photo: Reuters/Danny Moloshok)

Christian Post Report – Cast member Caitlyn Jenner participates in a panel for the E! Entertainment Television series “I Am Cait” during the Television Critics Association Cable Winter Press Tour in Pasadena, California, January 14, 2016.

Caitlyn Jenner told a group of students this week that she receives more criticism for being politically conservative than for being transgender.

“I have gotten more flak for being a conservative Republican than I have for being trans,” Jenner said Thursday before a packed audience at the University of Pennsylvania’s Irvine Auditorium along with biographer and journalist Buzz Bissinger.

Born William Bruce Jenner in Mount Kisco, New York, Jenner received a gold medal for winning the Olympic decathlon in 1976.

Last year, Jenner confirmed longstanding rumors that he was undergoing gender transition surgery to become a woman.

For the July issue of Vanity Fair magazine, Jenner adopted the name “Caitlyn” and was featured post-surgery on the front cover.

“Bruce always had to tell a lie, he was always living that lie. Every day he always had a secret. From morning until night. Caitlyn doesn’t have any secrets. As soon as the Vanity Fair cover comes out, I’m free,” said Jenner in a video promoting the magazine edition.

Jenner has received much support and admiration from social media, major media outlets, and fellow high profile celebrities and public figures.

He, however, surprised many supporters when noting in an interview with Diane Sawyer last April that she’s “more on the conservative side” politically.

Regarding President Barack Obama’s mention of transgender people in the 2015 State of the Union, a first for the annual speech’s history, Jenner explained to Sawyer that while “I will certainly give him credit for” doing so, “I’ve just never been a big fan” of Obama.

While seeming strange to many that a prominent member of the LGBT community would be a self-identified conservative Republican, Hunter Schwarz of The Washington Post wrote last year that it should not be surprising given Jenner’s athletic background.

“There’s no good, definitive polling data on athletes’ political beliefs, but a poll of students conducted by the Brown Daily Herald at Brown University just this month found its student-athletes were more likely than non-student-athletes to hold conservative social and fiscal views,” wrote Schwarz.

“Anecdotally, Charles Barkley has considered running for Alabama governor as a Republican and said he likes Chris Christie and Jeb Bush. Mitt Romney in 2012 was endorsed by John Elway, and a group of Olympians spoke at the Republican National Convention for the former head honcho of the Salt Lake City Olympics.”

Source : Christian Post

Is NASCAR More Christian Than Football?

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Is NASCAR More Christian Than Football?

NASCAR (Photo: USA Today Sports/Jasen Vinlove)

Christian Post Report – NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver Kyle Busch (18) during the Cam-Am Duels at Daytona race two at Daytona International Speedway, Daytona Beach, Florida, February 18, 2016.

Faith Driven Consumer, an organization that evaluates corporations, TV and film, says NASCAR is a better representation of Christian values than the National Football League.

Representing a reported 41 million American consumers, FDC’s Faith Equality Index ranks how well a brand represents and embraces the values of Christian consumers and employees.

Put on a scale of 0 to 100, in the most recent rankings announced Thursday, FDC gave NASCAR a 50, versus a 24 for the NFL.

Chris Stone, certified brand strategist and founder of Faith Driven Consumer, noted in a statement how NASCAR pulled ahead of the NFL in the rankings.

“Like the NFL, NASCAR is significantly made up of Faith Driven Consumers at all levels of the organization. But unlike the NFL, NASCAR is in a strong position given its initial Faith Equality Index score of 50,” stated Stone.

“With this foundation, we believe NASCAR will close the gaps and increase its score — and its relationship with the faith community — in very short order.”

NASCAR (Photo: USA TODAY Sports/Mark J. Rebilas)

NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver Kyle Busch poses with wife Samantha Busch and son Brexton Busch after winning the Ford EcoBoost 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway, Homestead, Florida, November 22, 2015.

Stone added that he and FDC “look forward to working with NASCAR, professional sports organizations, and major sponsors alike to help them improve their standing with the faith community.”

NASCAR’s ranking was based off of a combination of scores from four categories: “public commitment to faith driven consumers,” “faith-compatible corporate actions,” “equal application of equal protections,” and “corporate competency in the faith driven consumer market segment.”

NASCAR faired strongest in the faith-compatible corporate actions category with 28 out of 30 points and weakest in the equal application of equal protections category with 5 out of 20 points.

By contrast, the NFL did poorly in all four categories, its best score being in faith-compatible corporate actions with 11 out of 30 points, and worst score being in corporate competency in the faith driven consumer market segment with 2 out of 20.

According to its Facebook page, the goals of Faith Driven Consumer are to provide: “Information resources for making more faith-conscious consumer decisions;” to encourage “companies to meet the unique needs of Christians,” and to provide “a national voice for under-represented Christian consumers.”

“Faith Driven Consumers choose to carefully, constantly aim the dollars we spend directly in support of the companies whose values and behaviors match ours,” stated FDC on Facebook.

“This is action every one of us can take, every day. We can advocate for and grow values-driven businesses all over America. Whether you are looking to change the world or simply for a place that is comfortable for you, Faith Driven Consumer is your resource.”

FDC’s Faith Equality Index ranking for NASCAR comes as the racing organization gears up for the Daytona 500, scheduled to take place on Sunday.

Source : Christian Post

5 Christian Children Seized by Norway Reunited With Parents for First Time in 3 Months

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5 Christian Children Seized by Norway Reunited With Parents for First Time in 3 Months

The Bodnariu family (Photo: Facebook/Norway, Return the children to Bodnariu Family)

Christian Post Report – The Bodnariu family.

The Romanian Pentecostal parents who have been separated from their five children by Norway’s child protective services were reunited with all of their kids in the same place for the first time since the family’s ordeal began in November.

According to a website set up in support of Ruth and Marius Bodnariu after their children were removed from their home in Naustdal, Norway, by the Barnevernet on Nov. 16, the parents were finally allowed to have a three-hour visiting session with all of their children on Tuesday.

After it was alleged that the parents spanked their children — a disciplinary tactic that is banned in Norway — the parents were only allowed limited visitation with their three sons and were barred from visiting their two daughters.

“It was joyous because for the first time in three months, Marius and Ruth were together with all five children at the same time, in the same place. It was such a happy reunion, for everybody had so much to say,” the website announced in an official statement on Thursday.

“Naomi couldn’t stop talking; Ioan, the 2-year-old boy had learned a few more words and had a lot to say also. Baby Ezekiel was happier than ever,” the statement continued.

After the family talked and played, they sat at the table to eat a meal.

The statement details how the family, which previously claimed that their children were taken because of concerns with their Christian faith, was allowed to pray and even sang a prayer-song before they ate their rooster and soup.

Although most of the visit was joyous, the parents grew concerned after Naomi told them that she didn’t want them to die because she still has much to learn from them. Naomi’s comment led them to wonder where she got the idea that they were going to die.

“The day was a mixture of joy and sorrow, for after three hours had passed, they had to part again,” the statement explains. “The children cannot understand why they can’t stay with their parents but, instead, have to go to strangers.”

The Bodnarius still need to stand trial in order to regain custody of their children. As the agency wants them to submit to a psychological evaluation, the family has requested that a psychologist not associated with the Barnevernet to do the evaluations.

The statement claims that the prosecutor denied the family’s proposal for an outside psychologist.

Although supporters believed that the Bodnarius would have their day in court sometime in March, the statement implies that the case might not be heard until May.

“The same prosecutor is too busy to attend a court hearing before the end of May and Barnevernet thinks this is in the superior interest of the baby,” the statement argues.

While the Norwegian media has been less-than sympathetic toward the Bodnariu family, the children’s grandfather released a statement on Friday to break his silence about the situation.

“This case has hurt the whole family and way beyond us. It has also been painful to read articles about the case in different newspapers where the upbringing of the children has been presented negatively without knowing the actual conditions,” Ruth’s father was quoted as saying. “We who live here in the home and have had the children around us since they were born, must be the ones who know best how the children have been with their parents.”

“Grandmother has at times taken much care of the children. When they came from school and the parents were not at home, the kids were with us,” he continued. “When their present home was being refurbished, the whole family lived with us for six months, and we, thereby, had full insight into their upbringing.”

The grandfather added that he has never seen any violence in their family.

“We can assure that we have never seen that violence has been used against the children. Not even that they have raised their voices to them,” he said. “The children themselves have never told us that the parents have been nasty to them. For us who love our grandchildren so much, it would be inconceivable to know that they were not happy and not to intervene. After all, we are well informed people.”

Follow Samuel Smith on Twitter: @IamSamSmith

Source : Christian Post

Pastor Judah Smith Stumped by Question From Maria Shriver: ‘Why Should I Believe in God?’

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Pastor Judah Smith Stumped by Question From Maria Shriver: ‘Why Should I Believe in God?’

Judah Smith, Chelsea Smith, Maria Schriver (Photo: Screen Grab via YouTube)

Christian Post Report – Pastor Judah Smith (C), sits down with Maria Shriver (R) in an Architects of Change Live conversation about the new children’s book he wrote along with his wife Chelsea (L) titled ‘I Will Follow Jesus Bible Storybook’

When Maria Shriver asked Pastor Judah Smith this week “Why should I believe in God?” he seemed stumped initially until he admitted that he doesn’t like convincing people to worship God.

Smith, who sat down with Shriver in an Architects of Change Live conversation about the new children’s book he wrote along with his wife, Chelsea, titled I Will Follow Jesus Bible Storybook was engaging with his host about faith when she asked him the question he introduced himself.

“How do you answer that question?” asked Shriver.

“What’s that?” responded Smith.

“How can I believe in God? You know these terrible things have happened. I don’t have a job, my parents are dead, you know, I don’t have any money, why should I believe in God? Nothing is going my way,” said Shriver, playing devil’s advocate.

“I tell them to talk to my wife,” said Smith, who leads The City Church in Seattle, Washington, with his wife. “I think she has a lot of great answers. … Diversion is a powerful thing I’ve learned.”

“Yeah, right up there with denial,” Shriver hit back, laughing.

He continued deflecting for a while before he began settling into a response.

“I think this idea that believing in God is something that you concoct, it is something that you conjure up. It is something that over a succession of emotional discussions or sermons you develop this habit of now it’s happened. I think, I believe that there is a God space in every human soul,” he said.

Judah Smith, Chelsea Smith (Photo:Facebook/Judah Smith)

The cover of ‘I Will Follow Jesus Bible Storybook’ by Pastor Judah Smith and his wife Chelsea.

“I believe we were designed inherently to be worshipers, and I think you see it in culture. We end up worshiping great athletes or entertainers. So I actually think it’s not far-fetched when they say ‘how do I possibly do it?’ Actually, its way more possible than you think. I believe that it’s there,” he said.

“I also believe that if there is a God and He’s big and He’s real, then He’ll actually meet you in a genuine and authentic way. That it won’t just be this blind faith as it’s said. … I think that God is real. I’ve talked to friends that still don’t believe as I believe that say ‘hey, no big deal,'” he continued in a suppositional tone.

“If you want to believe, let’s just pray and I believe that God will meet you in a real way. And I believe there’s a space inside you for God. The awesome thing is you don’t have to defend God because He is God; and you don’t have to talk people into God because He is God. And I don’t want to get into that habit anyways of convincing people to worship God and believe in God, because if you can convince them then they can be unconvinced just as easily,” he ended.

Shriver then told the couple that she went to an all-girl Catholic school all her life and wanted to become a nun but decided against it when she found out “you had to be poor and celibate.”

“It’s like well, that’s not gonna work for me,” she said.

She then got into a discussion about spiritual crises and asked them if they had ever faced any like the saints she read about in school that had an impact on why they believe.

“In Catholic school I used to read all the autobiographies of the saints, right, and they would be thrown up against the cross and their lives were like, oh my God! They were just horrendous right. But I thought you had to do that to actually be a saint,” said Shriver.

“And when you read, whether it’s about Mother Theresa and others that I’ve read about, they often talk about the dark night of the soul, you know. Their own spiritual crisis and having to kind of work through that and find their way back to God. Does that happen to you or are you too young?” she asked.

Smith turned to his wife with a searching almost quizzical look before Chelsea chimed in with an uneasy laugh “way too young. Definitely.”

“No doubt in God? No spiritual crisis? No having to find your way back? No giving up on Jesus?” asked Shriver.

Smith then talked about the challenges of being a parent and explained that watching his father — who was also a pastor — being destroyed by cancer was a dark hour for him. He felt the suffering of his father didn’t make any sense considering how he served God, but he said he found refuge in the Bible.

“I found that in my darkest night I found God to be nearer than I imagined.”

When Shriver asked him how, Judah said: “I think His presence, His nearness.”

Shriver then talked about the appearance of Jesus in the book, noting that she grew up with a lot of books about Jesus and He was always white, but in the couple’s new book Jesus looked “more authentic.”

She then asked Judah if that was deliberate and he said it was.

“It was important to me as a dad to be honest and we showed those depictions to our kids and my 11-year-old acknowledged that Jesus is brown. And I said, ‘that’s right'” added Smith, noting that it was a very meaningful moment for him.

“I could get really emotional because I think Jesus is for everyone, but I think where Jesus came from and I think the diversity of this book. I wanted my babies to see who Jesus really was and I know it’s just a cartoon character but the color of his skin mattered to me,” he continued.

“It really did and the fact that my 11-year-old acknowledged that and the fact that I had an African-American friend text me in tears. He said ‘I’m ordering them right now.’ I said, ‘don’t order them,’ I’ll send them to you.’ He said because it’s the first Bible I’ve seen Jesus depicted with brown skin. He says, ‘I want to thank you.’ And I cried. I secretly cried,” Smith added.

Contact: [email protected]; follow me on Twitter @leoblair

Source : Christian Post

Aaron Rodgers Thanks God for ‘Hail Mary’ Pass in Playoff Game Against Cardinals

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Aaron Rodgers Thanks God for ‘Hail Mary’ Pass in Playoff Game Against Cardinals

Aaron Rodgers REUTERS/Benny Sieu-USA TODAY Sports

Christian Post Report – Aaron Rodgers of the Green Bay Packers in a game versus the Detroit Lions at Lambeau Field.

Aaron Rodgers is tweeting to God, thanking Him for making a play that only Divine intervention could explain.

In reminiscing about his 2014-2015 NFL season, Rodgers, the 32-year-old Green Bay Packers quarterback, wrote to God in front of 1 million Twitter followers.

“Have to start my return by thanking @TheTweetOfGod for an exciting season,” Rodgers wrote Tuesday, after returning to practice after one month off. “Tell your sons mother I said thank you for those two throws.”

Rodgers is referring to the wild card game against the Arizona Cardinals at the beginning of the NFL playoffs in January.

Although the quarterback’s team lost, he was able to throw a difficult, high pressure, last minute pass to wide receiver Jeff Janis for a touchdown known as a “Hail Mary” pass.

The NFL term refers to a pass that only Divine intervention could explain as a Hail Mary and Rodgers made sure to find a creative way to thank His creator for being able to throw one. It is unclear how serious Rodgers was in writing the tweet, since he previously expressed beliefs that God does not determine the outcome of football games.

“I don’t think God cares a whole lot about the outcome,” Rodgers said during an ESPN radio show interview last September. “He cares about the people involved, but I don’t think he’s a big football fan.”

Still, the quarterback has been vocal about his Christian faith in the past.

“I grew up knowing what a stable relationship was by my parents’ example and how it centered on Christ,” Rodgers said in a Beyond Ultimate report. “When our family had its ups and downs, I knew my parents relied on God for everything and He always got us through those rough spots.”

“It is my daily walking in faith and dealing with life issues and not giving into temptation that can be very challenging,” he added. “I am always struggling in finding time to daily grow in my faith. If you are not in the Word or focusing on Christ, or into prayer, you can’t help but slip at times.”

Source : Christian Post

Adrienne Bailon on What Real Love Looks Like to Her

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Adrienne Bailon on What Real Love Looks Like to Her

Adrienne Bailon (Photo: Reuters/Fred Prouser)

Christian Post Report – Adrienne Bailon, one of the members of the pop music group “The Cheetah Girls”, poses as she arrives for the world premiere of the animated film “Wall-E”in Los Angeles, California, June 21, 2008.

Last year, Adrienne Bailon and her longtime boyfriend Lenny Santiago split up. Now the singer, actress and co-host of “The Real” talk show is focusing on the love of Jesus.

The 32-year-old took to her Twitter Saturday to let her more than 600,000 followers know “real love brings the Jesus out of us.”

Earlier this month, the entertainer tweeted “Psalm 139” to fans.

Bailon has used the social media platform to share her faith and her journey after breaking up with Santiago, her then music executive boyfriend of six years.

“Life lessons are hard but I’m grateful that I have a platform to share my journey and hopefully encourage, inspire, or just let women know they are not alone and to never give up on finding love. I still believe,” Bailon told Us Weekly last year after splitting with her fiance.

Although she’s staying positive, Bailon admitted that breaking up with someone you’re emotionally attached to isn’t easy.

“I am, of course, sad that things didn’t go as we planned, but we still remain close friends,” she said. “Six years is a long time to be together, but we had to make the decision to go with our hearts and not be embarrassed or afraid of change. He absolutely helped make me a better person and I will forever cherish the time we shared together.”

In 2014, Bailon spoke to The Christian Post about seeking God to overcome emotional trials, such as a breakup.

“It’s so funny because in that moment you think you’re going to die, you’re like ‘Oh my God, how am I going to live without this person.’ In those moments, cling to God and build your relationship with God,” Bailon told CP. “I love the saying, I believe it’s from Maya Angelou, but it’s a woman’s heart should be so focused on God that a man has to seek Him to find her. It’s funny because people in the world even say ‘Girl, when you’re not looking that’s when the right one comes along.'”

While Bailon stressed the importance of forgiving people and letting go of bitterness, she also insisted that people will recognize what a good relationship should look like when they are at peace.

“God gives you peace in a situation that’s meant for you. I feel like the moment that you don’t feel peace, you’re not where you should be,” Bailon said. “Being in a relationship that doesn’t give you peace, that makes you not want to sleep at night, that makes you want to go through their phone and all of those things … that’s not God’s perfect plan for your life.”

Source : Christian Post

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