Pat Boone Says ‘AD The Bible Continues’ Is Fighting Every Kind of Moral Depravity on TV

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Pat Boone Says ‘AD The Bible Continues’ Is Fighting Every Kind of Moral Depravity on TV

Adam Levy as Peter in NBC's A.D.: The Bible Continues (Photo: Joe Alblas/LightWorkers Media/NBC)

Christian Post Report – Adam Levy as Peter in NBC’s “A.D.: The Bible Continues.”

Legendary Christian singer and actor Pat Boone is praising NBC’s “A.D. The Bible Continues” for “fighting every kind of moral depravity” on television today.

The best-selling author, whose career in music, television, and movies has spanned more than 60 years, is appearing as a guest on this week’s installment of the show’s companion web series, “Beyond A.D.” In an interview with The Christian Post, Boone drew parallels between “A.D.” and the Bible-based entertainment that was available at the start of his career.

“There was [1956 film] ‘The Ten Commandments’ and there were great films, and they really had a great impact on people,” said Boone. “It was a more moral and rich time – now the gospel is being preached to people who don’t want to hear it and there are all kinds of enemies. Right now, ‘A.D.’ is fighting every kind of cultural and moral depravity on TV and cable channels and on regular broadcast. You have to fight to be heard and fight for the ratings, [and] it is winning.”

The latest television series from producers Roma Downey and Mark Burnett premiered on NBC on Easter and has just three episodes left this season. “A.D.,” which follows the first 10 chapters in the Book of Acts. It has received critical acclaim and Boone says he understands why.

  • KKLA and The Fish Present The Concert for Ryan's R
    Ryan Corbin and his gradfather Pat Boone

“It’s magnificent, it’s beautiful, it’s factual, and it was never needed more than it is right now,” said the legendary singer. “People are spiritually hungry, and they’re looking for answers and they listen to everything. [What] People thought they could count on in this life… it’s not happening, it’s not working out, and you know it’s just time for everybody to know the truth. The Bible says that the Gospel will be preached to every creature and then the end comes. And I think we’re getting very close to the end. Definitely.”

Explaining more on why he thinks the End Times are near, Boone pointed to Scripture and “all the signs” at present.

“Jesus said we will know the signs and they’re all around us,” the television personality continued. “Certainly Israel becoming a nation in a day is one, a major one. There’s earthquakes, famines, pestilence, unrest, and the world choosing a side against Israel now, [we are] headed toward an Armageddon.”

Boone added that “Islamics want an Armageddon.”

“They want an Armageddon because they think that will bring their version of the messiah, and so they are perfectly thrilled to create an Armageddon,” the actor continued. “And the Bible says there’s gonna be one. And it is to revolve around Israel – they are looking for an atomic bomb for one reason; to blow Israel up. It’s not gonna happen, but there’s gonna be a cataclysmic war. And I’ve stood on the place where its going to happen, in the area of Megiddo in Israel. I’ve been there 20 times. We’re in a time where everybody [needs to] get their lives straightened out.”

“A.D. The Bible Continues” airs on NBC Sundays at 9 p.m. ET. “Beyond A.D.” will be available for streaming here at 9 a.m. ET on Sunday, June 14, featuring Boone as well as Father Edward Benioff, Samuel Rodriguez, and Paul Baloche.

Watch an exclusive clip from this Sunday’s installment of “A.D. – The Bible Continues” here.

follow me on Twitter @emmakoonse

Source : Christian Post

Christians Displaced by ISIS Are Coming to the Aid of Iraq’s Religious Minorities; Yazidi Leader Says ‘Our Faith Does Not Help Us’ but the Church Helps Everyone

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Christians Displaced by ISIS Are Coming to the Aid of Iraq’s Religious Minorities; Yazidi Leader Says ‘Our Faith Does Not Help Us’ but the Church Helps Everyone

Michael Nazir-Ali (Photo: The Christian Post / Samuel Smith)

Christian Post Report – Bishop Michael Nazir-Ali speaks at the Heritage Foundation in Washington, D.C. on June 10, 2015.

WASHINGTON — Although Iraqi refugees who fled their homes to escape ISIS are now homeless and living in tents, containers and other makeshift housing arrangements in the Kurdish north, Bishop Michael Nazir-Ali said Wednesday that the morale of displaced refugees is much higher than the media is portraying.

Nazir-Ali, who is the former Anglican Bishop of Rochester, an author and current president of the Oxford Centre for Training, Research, Advocacy and Dialogue, explained during a discussion at the Heritage Foundation that the non-discriminatory involvement that the Christian church community has put forth in supporting Iraqi refugees of all faiths has led those displaced by the barbaric Islamic State to be uncharacteristically hopeful.

Along with an ecumenical delegation of bishops, Nazir-Ali recently visited with refugees in northern Iraq as a guest of the Chaldean Catholic Church and was astounded to find that the refugees, who have lost just about everything due to ISIS, were in much higher spirits than he was led to believe before his visit.

“I had expected a fearful ragbag of refugees with no morale, living under very bad conditions and so on. This is not, in fact, the case,” Nazir-Ali explained. “There is no substitute for going. What I had been sold in the media about the condition of the refugees was quite different from what actually I found.”

One of the two main reasons that Nazir-Ali, who also previously served as Bishop of Raiwind, Pakistan, attributed to the positivity among Iraqi refugees was the presence of the churches, most notably the Chaldean church.

“What has given the refugees this sense of hope is the work of the churches. I know the media doesn’t talk about it but, particularly the work of the Chaldean Catholic Church, the eastern church to which most Iraqi Christians belong, has been beyond criticism.” the 65-year-old bishop said. “They have delivered without discrimination to refugees, whether they don’t belong to their own denomination and even to those who are not Christian.”

Iraq (Photo: Reuters/Stringer)

Displaced Sunni people, who fled the violence in the city of Ramadi, arrive at the outskirts of Baghdad, April 17, 2015. Iraqi security forces fought Islamic State militants at the gates of the western city of Ramadi on Friday, and local authorities warned it was in danger of falling unless reinforcements arrived soon.

The bishop explained that the church has been instrumental in providing various necessities to refugees such as shelter, clothing, food and other basic needs. The church’s role has been so vast in helping not only Christians but also other religious minorities, that Yazidi leaders have even told Nazir-Ali how grateful they are for the church.

“Yazidi leader said to me in Dohuk, he said that ‘Our faith does not have the structure to help us in this situation. The church has the structure and helps not only its own people but also ourselves,'” Nazir-Ali explained. “I think this is just something for the record.”

Nazir-Ali also attributed the high morale of the refugees to the generosity of the Kurdish Regional Government, which has accommodated and welcomed all refugees, while the Kurdish peshmerga has held its ground against ISIS’ advances.

“One [reason] is the hospitality of the KRG and the relative safety that they have provided the Christian and Yazidi refugees within the KRG,” he stated. “This is admirable in a region like that for a government to provide such hospitality to such large number of refugees, who may well change the identity of the KRG because most of these refugees are not Kurdish.”

Although the KRG and the churches have provided great amounts of aid to ensure the well-being of the refugees, Nazir-Ali said that there is still a need for more support from the international community.

“We still need emergency help for refugees such as shelter. People are still living in containers  — they are made very nice but, nevertheless, they are containers,” he said. “The church has been able to rent flats for people. There are three families to a flat, rather than one family to a flat, so they are overcrowded. Unused buildings are used.… Again, the facilities are very basic there.”

Another concern that the bishop has is that although younger refugee children have access to education, teenagers are not being educated, which he claims is a “dangerous” sign.

“It’s a recipe for trouble in the future,” Nazir-Ali asserted.

Nazir-Ali contended that there also needs to be a partnership that is designed to help refugee families start their own businesses and figure out ways they can make money and get back on their feet.

“I believe that there could be a very good initiative with the KRG and the churches in providing microenterprise opportunities for families, men and women, so that people can earn their living,” he argued. “Some of them are earning their living by working outside in the general community but many are not. I think indefinite idleness can not be good for people.”

There is at least one organization, called Preemptive Love, that — among many other things — has already helped some Iraqi refugee families start up their own businesses and plans to spend between $100,000 and $150,000 to send refugee children back to school.

Although many Iraqi refugees are looking for ways to completely leave Iraq, Nazir-Ali explained many displaced Iraqi Christians want to return to their homelands in the Nineveh Plain but won’t without international protection. He said it is possible for the international protection to be led by non-Western entities.

“It is not necessary for such a force to be Western or Western led,” Nazir-Ali contended. “I give the example of the African Union forces in Somalia, which has been quite effective and supported by the international community but not a Western force. However the force is constructed, I think something like that is necessary.”

Iraqi Christians (Photo: Reuters/Ahmed Jadallah)

A Christian baby, who fled with his family from the violence in Mosul sleeps at a school in Arbil, in Iraq’s Kurdistan region June 27, 2014. Iraqi forces launched an airborne assault on rebel-held Tikrit on Thursday with commandos flown into a stadium in helicopters, at least one of which crashed after taking fire from insurgents who have seized northern cities.

Source : Christian Post

Christian Millionaire Wayne Huizenga Jr. Shares Conversion Story With 500 NYC Business Leaders at Luis Palau Event

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Christian Millionaire Wayne Huizenga Jr. Shares Conversion Story With 500 NYC Business Leaders at Luis Palau Event

Luis Palau (Photo: The Christian Post/Vincent Funaro)

Christian Post Report – Renowned evangelist Luis Palau and businessman Wayne Huizenga Jr. share the Gospel with 500 business leaders in New York City at the Marriott Marquis Hotel on Tuesday, June 9, 2015.

NEW YORK — Christian millionaire Wayne Huizenga Jr. shared his conversion testimony with 500 business and community leaders in New York City Tuesday at a breakfast hosted by renowned evangelist Luis Palau in preparation for the upcoming NY City Fest event set for July 11 in Central Park, Manhattan.

Palau and his son, Kevin, hosted the breakfast to discuss the upcoming festival, which will feature performances from Christian singers including Toby Mac, Mandisa and Matt Redman on the Great Lawn of Central Park.

Huizenga, son of billionaire businessman and co-founder of three Fortune 500 companies Harry Wayne Huizenga, was invited by the Palaus to share his story of salvation.

Huizenga, who has shared his testimony before, was raised in the Dutch Reformed Church which he described as “strict.” He was turned off by the church, however, after his mother was booted out for divorcing his father.

He said his stocks in Blockbuster made him a rich man at a young age, but he told the crowd that he felt something was still missing from his life.

“Dad was successful, we owned the [Florida] Marlins, the [Miami] Dolphins, the [Florida] Panthers, three professional sports teams. I flew around on his private jet. [I thought] it doesn’t get any better than this. But God had a plan,” Huizenga said.

By this time he was married with children and his mother challenged him to raise them with some sort of grounding and recommended he return to church. He told her he didn’t have the time for church since he was partying on the weekends and engaging in excessive drinking. He took her words more seriously, however, after meeting Navy Captain Brad McDonald who he frequently accompanied on fishing trips.

“He didn’t swear a lot, he didn’t drink in excess like I did. He had a peace about him that was unlike anyone I’d had ever seen before,” Huizenga continued.

After spending about three years getting to know McDonald, Huizenga decided he wanted to be more like McDonald and that’s when the captain suggested a relationship with Christ.

“He told me I had a hole in my heart, not a physical hole. [He said] That hole in your heart can’t be filled with anything, but a relationship with God,” Huizenga explained.

And he listened.

After attending a few different churches, Huizenga said he truly accepted Christ and repented during an altar call at a megachurch when a pastor told him he believed God had a purpose for his life.

“It was kind of uncontrollable for me. I heard this voice inside me say: ‘Sit down, everybody’s looking at you. You look foolish.’ There was no way of me getting back into that chair,” he said.

Huizenga stood in front of 3,500 people and accepted Christ that day. He continued his partying lifestyle, but said he felt guilty after engaging in those activities he once enjoyed. God had changed him and one of his Christian friends told him that he “was taking God partying” by living a double life. He eventually changed his lifestyle.

His newfound faith also made him realize that what he had before was “a relationship with church, but not a relationship with God.” He was now able to do more than just carry a Bible and look like a Christian.

Huizenga’s mother later fell gravely ill and died, but his faith allowed him to care for her in a way he would not have been able to before meeting Christ.

Palau followed up Huizenga’s testimony by stating the millionaire is a “new man” and reiterated the point he made about having a relationship with the church, but not God or Christ.

“Make sure that your retirement plan includes eternal life,” Palau added.

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

Source : Christian Post

American Keith Broomfield Killed by ISIS; Mother Says Son Believed ‘It Was God’s Will’ for Him to Fight Terror Group

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American Keith Broomfield Killed by ISIS; Mother Says Son Believed ‘It Was God’s Will’ for Him to Fight Terror Group

JB Public Facebook Post (Jennifer Broomfield)

Christian Post Report – Keith Broomfield, 36.

American Keith Broomfield, who according to his mother recently turned his life over to God, died as a volunteer fighter against ISIS on June 3 in northern Syria.

Donna Broomfield told NBC News from her home in Westminster, Massachusetts, “I didn’t want him to go but I didn’t have a choice in the matter. He turned his life over to the Lord and he decided this was God’s will and God wanted him to do it.”

Broomfield’s mother told NBC that what she’s waiting for now is “for his body to come back.”

The State Department confirmed that Broomfield, 36, was killed in Syria fighting alongside the Kurdish Protection Unit (YPG) battling ISIS. He is believed to be the first American who has died volunteering to fight against ISIS.

NBC News reported that a woman named Jennifer Broomfield, claiming to be Keith’s sister, posted pictures of her last text messages with her brother on Facebook. 

In the text message Broomfield told his sister: “Sometimes you got to be a man whether you want to or not. I don’t expect anyone to understand but I don’t need anyone to either. I appreciate your concern and take it as a kindness.”

She, too, paid tribute to Broomfield, saying, “My brother died to defend my sisters who are being sold, enslaved, raped and murdered.”

She further praised him by adding that he’s defending “my brothers who are shot and beheaded and dumped into piles of trucks.”

Her posts about Broomfield, public on Facebook, also included a posting of the 23 Psalm. “I didn’t think I would lose him,” she said.

Broomfield’s mother explained that he left the U.S. four months ago. The Kurdish militia also paid tribute to him on their Facebook page, according to the Daily Mail.

“He was a warrior with the courage and the heart of a lion,” Kurdish forces said. They thanked his mother for “raising such a wonderful son,” while promising revenge for killing “one of our brothers.” In the post, Kurdish forces promised to chase ISIS “from our land to the gates of hell,” praising Broomfield as a “martyr.”

The Daily Mail also reported that dozens of Westerners have joined the fight against ISIS and The Christian Post reported back in April that American men, mostly former soldiers and Marines, are independently volunteering their expertise to fight against the Islamic militants.

At least one Australian and a British volunteer have died volunteering in the fight against ISIS. The two Westerners joined forces with the Kurds, who have been the most successful against ISIS.

Broomfield’s sister-in-law, Melissa Broomfield, added confirmation to his mother’s words. “He said God told him he had to go and without a second thought, he went,” she said.

Broomfield was a production manager for the family’s manufacturing firm before volunteering and paying his own way to join forces with the Kurds.

More than 3,000 U.S. troops are now in Iraq and the White House announced Wednesday that they are sending 450 additional troops to assist the Iraqi government in its fight to combat ISIS.

Source : Christian Post

Pastor Saeed Abedini ‘Viciously Beaten’ in Iranian Prison, Told His Only Way Out Is to Deny Jesus Christ

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Pastor Saeed Abedini ‘Viciously Beaten’ in Iranian Prison, Told His Only Way Out Is to Deny Jesus Christ

<b>Christian Post Report</b> – U.S. Pastor Saeed Abedini in this undated photo.” title=”<b>Christian Post Report</b> – U.S. Pastor Saeed Abedini in this undated photo.” name=”jpg” src=”http://images.christianpost.com/full/60039/u-s-pastor-saeed-abedini-in-this-undated-photo.jpg” class=”imgPhoto” width=”550″ height=”450″ /> <small class=(Photo: ACLJ.org)

Christian Post Report – U.S. Pastor Saeed Abedini in this undated photo.

American pastor Saeed Abedini has reportedly been “viciously beaten” by fellow prisoners in an unprovoked attack in the Iranian prison where he’s being held. The pastor was punched in the face, leaving his eyes beaten black and blue, but prison guards intervened and prevented further injury.

The American Center for Law and Justice, the law group which represents his wife, Naghmeh Abedini, and the couple’s two children in the U.S., said that the prisoners also demolished a small table that the pastor had used to study and read during the beating that he endured last week.

Abedini was allowed to see a prison doctor, who determined that he does not have any broken bones. On Wednesday, he was able to see a family member who came to visit him and see his injuries first hand.

“It is heartbreaking to me and my family that Saeed was again beaten in prison. Saeed’s life is continuously threatened not only because he is an American, but also because he is a convert from Islam to Christianity. It’s time to get Saeed home before it is too late,” Naghmeh Abedini said in response to the news.

Back in May, Abedini marked his 35th birthday in prison, where he has spent over two and a half years for his Christian faith. He was arrested in Iran in 2012 while working on an orphanage for children, and later sentenced to eight years in prison.

The pastor has faced a number of beatings while in prison, both from other inmates and guards. The ACLJ and Naghmeh Abedini have expressed concerns that his condition worsens after each beating.

Last week, Abedini spoke before Congress, pleading for further actions to be taken to help free her husband.

“Over the last three years, I have had to watch my two children, Rebekka (who is 8 years old) and Jacob (who is 7 years old), suffer daily as they have grown up without a father or a mother,” Abedini said.

“I am here today as a single mother who is trying to be strong for her children, and as a wife who humbly admits, I need your help. I cannot bear to look at my children’s longing eyes one more time and explain to them why their daddy is still not home.”

She later told The Christian Post that Abedini has been told his prison sentence will be increased unless he denies his Christian faith — something she insists her husband will not do.

“The times they have moved him in and out of solitary [confinement] and the times they have threatened him, they said ‘You will stay here longer than the eight years and your only key to freedom is if you deny your Christian faith and you return to Islam.’ The guards have said that, officials have said that continuously,” Abedini said.

Source : Christian Post

Why Don’t Bible Students Get Biblical Marriage?

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Why Don’t Bible Students Get Biblical Marriage?

Why Don't Bible Students Get Biblical Marriage?

Christian Post Report – For five years, Dr. Abigail Rine has been teaching a course on gender theory at George Fox University, an evangelical school in the Quaker tradition.

At the beginning of the semester, she tells her students that “they are guaranteed to read something they will find disagreeable, probably even offensive.”

Writing at FirstThings.com recently, she related how five years ago it was easy to find readings that challenged and even offended the evangelical college students “considering the secular bent of contemporary gender studies.”

But today, things are different. “Students now,” she says, “arrive in my class thoroughly versed in the language and categories of identity politics; they are reticent to disagree with anything for fear of seeming intolerant — except, of course, what they perceive to be intolerant.”

And what do they find “intolerant”? Well, in her class, an essay entitled “What is Marriage?” by Sherif Girgis, Robert George, and Ryan Anderson, which was the beginning of the book “What Is Marriage?: Man and Woman: A Defense.”

Read more at http://www.christianpost.com/news/marriage-redefined-young-evangelicals-in-crisis-140114/

Source : Christian Post

Welcome to … Cannabis Church?

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Welcome to … Cannabis Church?

Welcome to . . . Cannabis Church?

Christian Post Report – Indiana’s First Church of Cannabis, a religious organization pushing the boundaries of recreational marijuana use in the state that recently received tax-exempt status, has released its own version of the Ten Commandments named “The New Deity Dozen.”

The “Deity Dozen” includes 12 basic guidelines for living for the group and encourages member to “practice these in your daily adventures in life, teach others to do the same.”

Read more at http://www.christianpost.com/news/indiana-marijuana-church-releases-its-own-ten-commandments-the-new-deity-dozen-140128/

Source : Christian Post

Christians in Turkey’s Parliament: The Kurdish Party Changes Turkish Political Landscape in Unprecedented Way

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Christians in Turkey’s Parliament: The Kurdish Party Changes Turkish Political Landscape in Unprecedented Way

turkey (Photo: Reuters/Umit Bektas)

Christian Post Report – Turkey’s President Tayyip Erdogan makes a speech during a graduation ceremony in Ankara, Turkey, June 11, 2015.

Incumbent Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan’s Justice and Development Party (AKP) received 40.9 percent of the vote on Sunday, giving them the win, but not without setbacks.

The Republican People’s Party (CHP) won 25 percent of the vote, the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) 16 percent, and the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) with 13 percent.

AKP’s win this year was its worst performance since it assumed political leadership in Turkey in November of 2002. With 86 percent turnout in the elections, the ruling party had only 258 seats in Turkey’s new legislative body. This figure is down from the 327 seats it won during the previous elections in 2011, when the AKP received over half of the public vote.

Now the Islamists will only be able to form a government in coalition with one of the other victorious parties, since they failed to reach the benchmark of 276 seats – the necessary minimum for the continuation of the party’s more than 10-year rule. Had HDP not passed the 10 percent barrier (the minimum figure that allows political parties to have seats in the Turkish parliament), the 550 seats of the legislative body would have been split among the top three winners, instead of four. That way Erdogan’s AKP would have had enough MPs to form a new government without a coalition.

It is the first time in Turkish history that the Kurdish political party has critically reshuffled the country’s political landscape in such a manner.

Presumably that was the reason why Erdogan’s government intensified efforts to undermine the Kurdish party’s rating during the run-up to the elections. Last week President Erdogan accused Armenians, journalists, the Alevi-Muslim minority members and homosexuals of helping HDP. “They [HDP] also received the support of some foreign media outlets, which see Turkey as their colony,” he claimed.

Just a few days before making this statement, Erdogan said that it was CNN, The New York Times and BBC that were working to weaken and destroy the Turkish Republic.

In response to a question at the daily press briefing, Marie Harf, Senior Advisor for Strategic Communications at the Department of State, called Turkey to respect the freedom of press and decried Erdogan’s attempts to blame Armenians, journalists and homosexuals.

According to Mehmet Yuksel, the Kurdish party’s U.S. representative, “President Erdogan became more aggressive after he had realized AKP might not gain the absolute majority in elections.” According to Yuksel’s statistics, the U.S.-based Turkish citizens ranked the Kurdish party second during the early voting, which took place in May. “In America, the voters put the secular CHP and Kurdish HDP on the top, while Erdogan’s AKP came only the third,” Yuksel told The Christian Post.

However, the Kurdish party got not only get the Kurdish votes, but also the majority of votes from Turkey’s other national minorities, as well as feminists and LGBTs. Last April, 750 feminists in Turkey called for support of the HDP, for which they initiated an online petition. The HDP will give half of its parliament seats to women: a historically unprecedented high quota in Turkish politics.

HDP is largely viewed as a more liberal and democratic party in Turkey. As a matter of fact, two Christian deputies, representing the Armenian and Assyrian communities have been elected to Turkey’s new parliament from HDP’s list last Sunday.

Two more Armenians were elected from the ruling party and secular opposition. This brings the total number of Christian parliamentarians in the 550 membered Turkish legislative body to four – the highest figure since the founding of the republic almost a century ago.

However, it would be safe to assume that it was the Kurdish party’s initiative to bring Christians to the parliament that abetted the Turks to follow the same pattern. There had been no Armenian winners in any Turkish party for decades, prior to HDP’s historic move. Dr. Taner Akcam, professor at Clark University, Massachusetts, thinks that the inclusion of Armenian candidates into the electoral lists had also to do with “growing civil society in Turkey.”

“After Hrant Dink’s (editor of Turkish-Armenian weekly, who was killed in Istanbul in 2007, C.P.) assassination Armenian Genocide and the problems of Armenian community as minority in Turkey became one of the central issues. And each party wants to get connected with this growing civil movement. One important reason is that this movement is very much related to the ‘conscience of the society,'” Akcam mentioned in email communication.

The Kurdish party also supports Turkey’s reconciliation with its past and speaks in favor of the recognition of the Armenian Genocide of 1915. The Turkish government and nationalists deny the historic fact of this century-old crime.

“We will call for opening of the Turkish-Armenian closed border and recognition of the Armenian Genocide. But, first, Turkey needs a government,” Yuksel said.

Turkish PM Ahmet Davutoglu resigned this week and if no coalition forms by mid-July, new elections should take place.

Haykaram Nahapetyan is the Washington, DC correspondent for the Public TV of Armenia and analyst at Noravank scientific educational foundation.

Source : Christian Post

Cardinal Burke Defends Christian Marriage as ‘Foundation of Human Culture;’ Calls Out Secular Forces Pushing ‘Unnatural Sexual Activity’

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Cardinal Burke Defends Christian Marriage as ‘Foundation of Human Culture;’ Calls Out Secular Forces Pushing ‘Unnatural Sexual Activity’

Burke (Photo: Cardinal Burke/Facebook)

Christian Post Report – Cardinal Raymond Burke at the Shrine Church St. Peter and Paul and Philomena.

Roman Catholic Raymond Burke spoke in Ottawa, Canada, in defense of a Christian view of marriage, declaring there is no “true form of human sexuality other than that intended by God.”

The Catholic Cardinal, who serves as the patron of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta, spoke to NET Canada, an evangelistic organization of young Catholics, last Thursday.

“The defense and promotion of human life and of marriage and the family is at the foundation of a Christian culture, and indeed, of any viable human culture,” he said.

Burke, an American, called the current culture a “disordered moral state” and told the Catholic audience that a holy life in North America demands a martyrdom of “public witness to the faith.” Burke pointed to a myriad of secular forces attacking marriage.

“One necessarily thinks of the ever advancing agenda of those who want to redefine marriage and family life to include the unnatural sexual activity of two persons of the same sex, which is justified as tolerance of so-called ‘alternative forms’ of human sexuality — as if there were a true form of human sexuality other than that intended by God, our Creator and Redeemer, as he has written it in our body and soul,” Burke asserted.

In his remarks, Burke called the culture “thourougly secularized,” and said those in power are ever advancing an “anti-life” and “anti-family” agenda.

Burke called the sexual act between a married man and woman “fundamental to Western culture” and added a caveat against misinformed “contraceptive thinking which fears life, which fears procreation.”

Unlike Roman Catholicism, most Protestant denominations do not take an official moral position against certain forms of contraceptives.

Burke quoted Pope Benedict in denouncing selfish forms of sexual liberation and freedom calling it “signs of the tyranny which perverts mankind that result in a fatal misunderstanding of freedom which actually undermines freedom and destroys.

“The pride of man fails to recognize that all he is and has comes from the end of God who has created and redeemed us after the sin of our first barons,” he added.

Much of Burke’s remarks turned back to martyrdom, which he said is faithful to the teaching of Christ. He called the culture “hostile and more pervasively,” one of “indifference” toward Christian beliefs on human sexuality and that “tempts us toward discouragement.”

“Given the breakdown in family life and the wholesale attack on innocent and defenseless human lives, and the violation of the integrity of the union of marriage in our society, the call to the martyrdom of witness is even more urgent,” stressed Burke.

Burke is viewed by many Catholics as a voice of cultural and theological conservatism within the Roman Catholic Church. He denounced the recent vote for same-sex marriage in Ireland with strong language, declaring even pagans “never dared to say this was marriage.” He has publicly stated that the Catholic Church can never talk enough about abortion and “the integrity of marriage as between one man and one woman.”

Burke concluded his remarks by saying, no doctrine “can make man truly happy, only the Cross and the glory of the risen Christ” can grant peace to the “conscience of believers” and “salvation to his life.”

Source : Christian Post

Christian Millionaire Wayne Huizenga Jr., Shares Conversion Story With Almost 500 New York City Businessmen at Luis Palau Event

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Christian Millionaire Wayne Huizenga Jr., Shares Conversion Story With Almost 500 New York City Businessmen at Luis Palau Event

Luiz Palau and Wayne Huizenga Jr. at Marriot Marquis Hotel (Photo: Christianpost/ Vincent Funaro)

Christian Post Report – Renowned Evangelist Luiz Palau and businessman Wayne Huizenga Jr. shared the Gospel with almost 500 businessmen at a breakfast which took place in New York City at the Marriott Marquis Hotel on June 9, 2015.

NEW YORK – Christian millionaire Wayne Huizenga Jr., shared his conversion testimony with almost 500 businessmen and community leaders in New York City Tuesday at a breakfast hosted by renowned evangelist Luis Palau in preparation for the upcoming NY City Fest event set for July 11 in Central Park, Manhattan.

Palau and his son Kevin hosted a breakfast to discuss the upcoming festival, which will feature performances from Christian singers including Toby Mac, Mandisa and Matt Redman on the Great Lawn of Central Park.

And Huizenga, son of billionaire businessman and co-founder of three Fortune 500 companies Harry Wayne Huizenga was invited by the Palau’s to share his story of salvation.

Huizenga, who has shared his testimony before, was raised in the Dutch Reformed Church which he described as “strict.” He was turned off from the church however after his mother was booted out for divorcing his father.

He said his stocks in Blockbuster made him a rich man at a young age, but he told the crowd that he felt something was still missing from his life.

“Dad was successful, we owned the [Florida] Marlins, the [Miami] Dolphins, the [Florida] Panthers, three professional sports teams. I flew around on his private jet. [I thought] it doesn’t get any better than this. But God had a plan,” said Huizenga Jr.

By this time he was married with children and his mother challenged him to raise them with some sort of grounding and recommended he return to church. He told her he didn’t have the time for church since he was partying on the weekends and engaging in excessive drinking. He took her words more seriously however, after meeting Navy Captain Brad McDonald who he frequently accompanied on fishing trips.

“He didn’t swear a lot, he didn’t drink in excess like I did. He had a peace about him that was unlike anyone I’d had ever seen before,” said Huizenga.

After spending about three years getting to know McDonald, Huizenga decided he wanted to be more like him and that’s when the Captain suggested a relationship with Christ.

“He told me I had a hole in my heart, not a physical hole. [He said] That hole in your heart can’t be filled with anything, but a relationship with God,” continued Huizenga.

And he listened.

After attending a few different churches, Huizenga said he truly accepted Christ and repented during an altar call at a megachurch when a pastor told him he believed God had a purpose for his life.

“It was kind of uncontrollable for me. I heard this voice inside me say: ‘Sit down, everybody’s looking at you. You look foolish.’ There was no way of me getting back into that chair,” said Huizenga.

Huizenga stood in front of 3500 people and accepted Christ that day. He continued his partying lifestyle, but said he felt guilty after engaging in those activities he once enjoyed. God had changed him and one of his Christian friends told him that he “was taking God partying” by living a double life. He eventually changed his lifestyle.

His newfound faith also made him realize that what he had before was “a relationship with church, but not a relationship with God.” He was now able to do more than just carry a Bible and look like a Christian.

Huizenga’s mother fell gravely ill and passed away, but his faith allowed him to care for her in a way he would not have been able to before meeting Christ.

Palau followed up Huizenga’s testimony by stating the millionaire is a “new man” and reiterated the point he made about having a relationship with the church, but not God or Christ.

“Make sure that your retirement plan includes eternal life,” Palau added.

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

Source : Christian Post

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