Pope Francis, Patriarch Kirill 1,000-Year Awaited Meeting ‘Great Consolation’ for War-Torn Syrian Christians

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Pope Francis, Patriarch Kirill 1,000-Year Awaited Meeting ‘Great Consolation’ for War-Torn Syrian Christians

Pope Francis Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill (Photo: Reuters/Gregorio Borgia/Pool)

Christian Post Report – Pope Francis, left, reaches to embrace Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill after signing a joint declaration at the Jose Marti International airport in Havana, Cuba, Friday, February 12, 2016.

A bishop in the war-torn Syrian city of Aleppo has said that the historic meeting between Pope Francis and Patriarch Kirill, the first one between the heads of the two churches following their split over a millennium ago, provides comfort and hope to suffering Christians.

“The meeting between Pope Francis and Patriarch Kirill is perceived by Christians as the fruit of the cross they are experiencing. The suffering of all Christians in the Middle East bears the fruit of unity. This for us is a great consolation and helps us to move forward, even if we still have to suffer,” said Bishop Georges Abou Khazen OFM, Apostolic Vicar of Aleppo for the Catholics of the Latin rite, according to Fides News Agency.

The meeting took place on Friday in Cuba, and was the first of its kind since the Russian Orthodox Church, the largest of the Eastern Christianity branches, split from the Roman Catholic Church over 1,000 years ago.

Francis and Kirill decided to meet on neutral territory for the sake of Christian unity, and to stand together against the severe persecution believers are under in the Middle East and other places around the world.

“In many countries of the Middle East and North Africa whole families, villages and cities of our brothers and sisters in Christ are being completely exterminated,” Francis and Kirill said in a joint statement.

“Their churches are being barbarously ravaged and looted, their sacred objects profaned, their monuments destroyed.”

The two Church leaders embraced and kissed each other on the cheeks during the meeting on Friday, with Francis saying “we are brothers,” according to Reuters.

“It is very clear that this is the will of God,” the Vatican leader added.

Christians in Syria have especially been suffering great tragedies, being caught in the crossfire between the government of President Bashar Al-Assad, the Islamic State terror organization and a number of other rebel groups.

While all sides have been accused of grave human rights abuses by the United Nations, Christians have been targeted specifically by ISIS, which has beheaded followers of Christ for their faith on a number of occasions, and threatened them to convert to Islam or face death.

“The situation is very devastating and tragic. For Iraq, this has been happening for two generations. For Syria, the war has been taking place for the last three years, with no hope on the horizon for Christians in the area,” Syriac Patriarch Ignatius Joseph III Younan said back in October, speaking out about the ongoing refugee crisis due to the war.

Bishop Khazen expressed hope, however, that the meeting between Francis and Kirill can encourage Christians to remain hopeful.

“A few days ago, a senior representative of the Moscow Patriarchate explicitly said that what made Cuba’s meeting urgent was the common concern for the suffering of fellow Christians in the Middle East,” the Franciscan Bishop added.

“We have also spoken about this in sermons and in our meetings: the faithful feel they have more courage when they realize that their sufferings have to do with the unity between the separated brethren, where Christ embraces us and comforts us all,” he said.

Source : Christian Post

Perry Noble Supports Mark Driscoll’s New Trinity Church ‘100 Percent,’ Asks Critics: ‘Who Made You the Judge?’

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Perry Noble Supports Mark Driscoll’s New Trinity Church ‘100 Percent,’ Asks Critics: ‘Who Made You the Judge?’

Christian Post Report – Pastor Perry Noble talks to congregants of NewSpring Church about sin and freedom, Anderson, South Carolina, January 24, 2016.

South Carolina-based NewSpring Church pastor Perry Noble expressed his support recently for disgraced pastor Mark Driscoll’s return to church ministry, slamming critics of his fellow clergyman and praising Driscoll’s efforts to plant a new church in Phoenix, Arizona.

In a Facebook video titled: “How I Personally Feel About Mark Driscoll Starting a New Church,” which garnered nearly 120,000 views and was shared more than 500 times (as of the publication of this article), Noble takes on critics of the ex-pastor of the now-defunct Mars Hill Church who feel that Driscoll isn’t ready to lead another congregation.

“Here’s a man [Driscoll] who messed up, made some mistakes, admitted it, apologized, said he was sorry — he’s starting over … Who made you the judge on whether or not he’s ready?”

Noble prefaces his comments with a biblical analogy that, ironically, uses Apostle Mark from the Bible. Noble explains how in Acts 13:13, Mark quits a missionary journey with Apostles Paul and Bartimaeus. Later, against Paul’s wishes, Bartimaeus helps to get Mark back into the ministry.

“Thank God for Bartimaeus,” says Noble, “because he didn’t say [to Mark], ‘You had your shot, and you blew it.'”

Noble goes on to say, ” … I’m going to choose to be a Bartimaeus. I’m going to choose to believe in Pastor Mark and Grace [Driscoll’s wife] as they set out on this endeavor to plant a church. And I just want to say that I support him 100 percent.”

The NewSpring pastor mentions that some argue that Driscoll has hurt people. To this Noble says, “So have you … I think he’s [Driscoll] got ministry left in him … He may have hurt people, but he’s learned from it … Christians are the only army in the world that shoot their wounded.”

Noble is no stranger to tackling controversial issues. In early January, the megachurch pastor waded into the hot-button topic of Christians and gambling. As previously reported by The Christian Post, Noble wrote a blog post announcing that he purchased a lottery ticket for the $1.6 billion Powerball jackpot, the largest in U.S. history, fanning the flames of the hotly debated question of whether Christians should gamble and play the lottery.

In the post, Noble boldly writes, “If this [gambling] turns out to be sinful and wrong one day then I promise to tell God ‘I’m sorry.’ And, if you think this action will send me to Hell, then I’ll most likely see you there.”

Then in late January, CP reported on how Noble chided other pastors who endorse political candidates, indicating that their time is better spent spreading the Gospel.

“Dear pastors, please SHUT UP about endorsing a political candidate!!! Preach the GOSPEL!! Jesus is the ONLY hope of the world,” Noble exclaimed in a tweet shared with his 153,000 followers.

Noble’s Twitter post sparked online debate about whether pastors should get involved in politics from the pulpit, and at the time garnered 397 likes and 125 retweets, setting off a daisy chain of responses — both for and against his comments.

Mark Driscoll’s new assembly is called The Trinity Church. Driscoll was once considered one of America’s “most prominent and celebrated pastors” by Forbes, but he resigned in disgrace as senior pastor of Seattle-based Mars Hill in October 2014 after a confluence of events marred his reputation, including allegations of plagiarism and fostering an abusive work environment. Two weeks after Driscoll’s resignation, Mars Hill Church announced that it would dissolve.

Source : Christian Post

Does Dating to Find ‘the One’ Make Any Sense? (Video)

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Does Dating to Find ‘the One’ Make Any Sense? (Video)

Christian Post Report – Pastor Naeem Fazal Pastor opens up our two-week series love, speaking into the lives of non-married couples and singles at Mosaic Church in Charlotte, North Carolina, February 10, 2016.

If you are prone to one heartbreak after another when it comes to relationships, it may be time to rethink the common belief that dating is about finding “the one” who will complete you, said author and pastor Naeem Fazal during a recent sermon.

“When it comes to dating, love, relationships, and marriage, I think our expectations about marriage, our expectations about dating, finding the person, all that, we seem to be a little gullible, not really sensible,” says Fazal, in a video that shows his first message in a two-part series, “Match.Me,” at Mosaic Church in Charlotte, North Carolina. “Because a sensible person, the scriptures says, watches their steps. I just want us to be sensible people and watch our steps.”

WATCH PASTOR NAEEM FAZAL’S MESSAGE TO SINGLES BELOW

He explains further, “The first thing we think we need to do in getting into a relationship is to find the one. The second step is we fall in love. And then we put our hopes and dreams on that person, [i.e.,] They complete me or whatever. That’s the trend and then maybe, just maybe, it does not happen.

“If it doesn’t happen we go back to step one” and sometimes, tragically repeat the process over and over again, he said. “So many of us get into a relationship and it’s devastating.”