The post Kenneth Copeland Devotional 19 July 2019 – No Hard Hearts appeared first on Flatimes.
MPs vote for abortion to be legalised in Northern Ireland in amendment
The House of Commons have been voting on the Northern Ireland (Executive Formation) Bill, which aims to get the Northern Irish assembly functioning again.
Added to this bill have been amendments on legalising same-sex marriage and abortion in Northern Ireland, both issues which cannot be changed currently due to their assembly not sitting.
Seven of the 10 DUP MPs voted against the amendments, two acted as tellers (those who reveal the results) and Northern Irish independent MP Lady Sylvia Hermon voted for the amendments.
Abortion is now set to be decriminalised in Northern Ireland from 22nd October and regulations will be in place from 31st March 2020.
The repealing of the 1861 Offences Against the Persons Act will mean that the laws around abortion in Northern Ireland will be the most liberal in the UK.
Aborting a pregnancy would then be allowed up to 28 weeks (it is 24 in the rest of the UK).
Right To Life UK spokesperson, Clare McCarthy, said: “The people of Northern Ireland have thirteen weeks to stop the introduction of one of the worlds most extreme abortion regimes to the province.
“Many thousands of people in Northern Ireland are deeply angered and distressed by this action by the Westminster Parliament. The manner in which MPs from Westminster have attempted to impose abortion on a people that do not want it, and who they do not represent, is grossly…
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Billy Graham Devotional 19 July 2019 – Words to Count On
The post Billy Graham Devotional 19 July 2019 – Words to Count On appeared first on Flatimes.
New England, Northeastern Cities Named ‘Most Post-Christian Cities in America’
Eight northeastern and New England cities earned top spots on Barna Group’s annual list of most “post-Christian” cities.
The list names places where the fewest people follow Christian beliefs, Christianity Today reports.
The Springfield-Holyoke area in Massachusetts topped the list. About 60 percent of residents said they had never made a commitment to Jesus and 65 percent said they had not attended church recently. Nearly 90 percent said they had not read the Bible that week.
Other areas on the list were Portland-Auburn, Maine; Providence, Rhode Island-New Bedford, Massachusetts; Burlington, Vermont; Boston, Massachusetts-Manchester, New Hampshire.
“It doesn’t surprise us,” said Michael Kriesel, lead pastor at Vibrant Church in South Burlington, which moved up from fifth to fourth on the list over the past two years. “It’s hard to get people to go to church in New England.”
Kriesel’s wife and assistant pastor said they have used the Barna research to figure out how best to minister to their area.
“What we found was that we were living all of this [resistance to religion], and then the research came out, and put words to it,” said Diana Kriesel.
Kriesel added: “It becomes a mission field…the prayer of the Northeast: Lord, wake up New England.”’
Eliezer Perez, a Connecticut pastor whose city of Hartford ranked…
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UK aid budget should help persecuted Christians around the world, Tory MP says
Rehman Chishti, the MP for Gillingham and Rainham, led the call for greater use of the multibillion-pound budget to help Christians as MPs debated the Bishop of Truro’s recent report on persecution overseas.
MPs also raised concerns over abuse targeted at them after they voted against same-sex marriage and abortion reform in Northern Ireland.
Speaking in the Commons, Mr Chishti said: “Greater use of our aid to persecuted Christian communities around the world is something we should seriously consider.”
He added: “As somebody who is a passionate supporter for international development aid, shouldn’t that now be targeted to support persecuted Christian communities around the world?”
This comes after a review into the Foreign Office’s response to persecuted Christians was released last week.
Tory former minister and Christian MP Andrew Selous raised an example of a Nigerian refugee camp where Christians were refused access to food because of their faith.
He said: “It is really important that Dfid, if it is involved in helping those refugees, makes sure that British aid is going to everyone who needs it regardless of their faith and that sort of discrimination is not allowed to happen.”
Former minister Sarah Newton said persecution against Christians is “primarily a phenomenon of the global poor”.
The Tory MP for Truro and Falmouth said: “To understand why the review…
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British News Outlet Accuses Chris Pratt of Racism for Wearing ‘Don’t Tread on Me’ Shirt
Earlier this week, Yahoo UK called out Chris Pratt for wearing the Revolutionary War-era symbol of a coiled snake in front of an American flag, claiming he was totting racist and White Supremacist views. The outlet has since updated the article, removing all references to White Supremacy.
The controversy sparked when a Vulture journalist posted a picture of the 40-year-old actor with his new wife, Katherine Schwarzenegger, wearing the T-shirt.
The flag, known as the Gadsden flag, was created by Christopher Gadsden, who was a brigadier general in the Continental Army during the Revolutionary War. Underneath the coiled snake reads “Don’t Tread On Me.” According to CBN News, the flag was intended to create unity amongst the American colonies to gain independence from the British. The snake has 13 rattles, intended to represent each of the colonies.
Throughout its history, the flag has largely maintained a reputation of American unity with other symbols such as the bald eagle. Several groups, including The U.S. Men’s Soccer Team, Metallica, and conservative movements such as the Libertarian Party and the Tea Party, have used the coiled snake flag as well.
According to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, although the flag did not start with racist intent, it is “sometimes interpreted to convey racially-tinged messages in some…
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Click here to read the rest of the story from our content source/partners – Christian Headlines.
St Augustine quote labelled hate speech by Facebook
The quote, which has now been restored, read: “Let us never assume that if we live good lives we will be without sin; our lives should be praised only when we continue to beg for pardon. But men are hopeless creatures, and the less they concentrate on their own sins, the more interested they become in the sins of others. They seek to criticise, not to correct. Unable to excuse themselves, they are ready to accuse others.”
Mr Bettinelli reposted the quote after noticing it was taken down from the site after two priests posted the same extract.
A message was sent to Mr Bettinelli, notifying him that his post was in breach of their community rules, thought to be issued as the result of a Facebook algorithm.
Mr Bettinell argued that the quote is the opposite of hate speech, sharing the words of Matthew 7:3 to make his point: “Hate speech? It’s the opposite of hate speech. It’s calling for people to stop focusing on others’ sins and concentrate on their own. Augustine is just re-formulating Jesus’ own words from the Gospel: ‘Why do you notice the splinter in your brother’s eye, but do not perceive the wooden beam in your own eye?'”
Following the incident, Mr Bettinelli requested that a human review reconsider the decision and later had his appeal rejected.
Facebook invited him to respond to the rejection to which Mr Bettinelli responded: “I still don’t understand why…
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Brunson at Religious Freedom Summit: ‘It’s Wonderful that I Can Be Here in Person’
WASHINGTON (RNS) — Pastor Andrew Brunson, who was detained in Turkey for two years on terrorism and spying charges before being released in October, said he is enjoying the simple things in life.
“For me to be back with my wife and my children, this is what I wanted,” said the Evangelical Presbyterian minister in an interview Wednesday (July 17) as he attended a three-day State Department summit on religious freedom.
Brunson, whose case was a focus of last summer’s inaugural Ministerial to Advance Religious Freedom, is something of a celebrity at the State Department’s second summit, which organizers have said is the largest such gathering on religious freedom in history.
Brunson said his experience made him value his own religious liberty more deeply. “I was isolated. I was the only Christian there, so to be back with other Christians is so important.”
The former pastor of a small church in the coastal city of Izmir is scheduled to speak briefly to foreign dignitaries at a luncheon on Thursday, the last day of the summit.
“It’s wonderful that I can be here in person and I’m free,” he said. “And I’m very grateful for that.”
Last year, his daughter was, as he put it, “the face of the family” at the summit. At the 2018 gathering, Vice President Mike Pence threatened Turkey with sanctions if it did not release…
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