Yom Kippur, additionally recognized as the Day of Atonement, is the most revered day of the year in Judaism. Its fundamental themes are atonement and repentance. Jews traditionally commemorate this holiday with all-day fasting and extended prayer, and typically most of the day spent in ceremonies at their synagogue.

Following briskly on the heels of the Jewish New Year comes the most important holiday of the Jewish calendar. Unlike the New Year’s feast, however, the Day of Atonement is a holy day of a much more somber nature.

For 2020, Yom Kippur will be Sunday, September 27th through Monday, September 28th.

There are five things Christians should know about the Day of Atonement.

1. What is Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement)?

Yom Kippur is Hebrew for Day of Atonement; it is a holy day ordained by God in Leviticus 16 and 23.

Originally on the tenth day of the seventh month, Yom Kippur is now observed in the first month. It concludes the Ten Days of Awe, which began with Rosh Hashanah (Jewish New Year).

This year, Yom Kippur spans September 29^th through 30^th, from sundown to sundown.

2.  What are the biblical origins of Atonement?

The Day of Atonement was the only day on which the high priest could enter the tabernacle’s inner sanctuary and come before the ark of the covenant, according to Leviticus 16.

First, the high priest had to observe purifying rituals and dress in special white clothing. He then…

More than 200 leaders from the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America are asking President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to commit to resettling more refugees in Fiscal Year 2021.

“As people of faith, we believe that we must honor the dignity of every human, regardless of national origin,” reads the letter to Trump and Pompeo. “We have a commitment to follow the teachings of Jesus and to uphold our nation’s tradition of protecting the persecuted.”

The letter was signed by 243 leaders working with the Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service, a faith-based group that helps immigrants.

The letter asks that refugee admissions increase to at least 95,000 in Fiscal Year 2021, which starts Oct. 1.

In 2020, Trump cut the admissions goal to 18,000, but as of Sept. 24, only 10,845 refugees have been resettled, according to LIRS.

“Our nation’s once pristine reputation as a place of refuge for the oppressed and persecuted of all faiths has been gravely damaged,” said Krish O’Mara Vignarajah, president & CEO of Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service, and a former refugee from Sri Lanka. “I question if my own family would be welcomed and embraced in America today were we fleeing the ethnic and religious persecution that drove us from our home.”

In many refugee resettlement cases, the federal government works…

A study by the Cultural Research Center at Arizona Christian University found that just six percent of Americans adhere to a biblical worldview. The findings, released in the American Worldview Inventory 2020, show a disconcerting realm for those who may consider themselves evangelists. The survey also found Millennials held the lowest number of biblical worldview holders, at just two percent.

According to the study, Americans’ biblical worldview has been rapidly eroding but eroding the fastest for millennials. “Previous findings from the American Worldview Inventory 2020 show the rapid erosion of the biblical worldview in American culture—with only 6 percent of adults today possessing a biblical worldview, down from twice that (12 percent) in the mid-1990s. But nowhere is this cultural shift more dramatic than among the youngest American adults, ages 18 to 36. The findings show a generation radically different in its worldview and beliefs from previous generations.”

Additionally, the survey found millennials are the most likely to exact revenge when wronged and are least enthusiastic about America. However, most millennials claim to be Christians, even though they have the least biblical worldview, according to the survey. Additionally, millennials report they have the least respect for other people out of all age groups surveyed, and they are twice as likely to say they…

New information has been publicly released regarding the late apologist Ravi Zacharias and an alleged online sexual relationship that was first reported in 2017.

In a three-part installment last week from The Roys Report, the website of independent investigative journalist Julie Roys, new testimonies and emails were released suggesting an alternative version of events than those that were represented nearly three years ago when allegations emerged that Zacharias had been involved in an illicit online sexual relationship with a Canadian woman. Around this same time, the famed apologist’s academic credentials and resume were also scrutinized amid questions he had inflated and misrepresented them.

Zacharias, who died in May after a battle with cancer, said in a Christianity Today article published in December 2017 that the woman had sent him unwanted, racy photos of herself and that it was part of a plot to extract millions of dollars from him and his ministry. 

Some have maintained that his words to the magazine were in violation of the settlement agreement he reached with the Canadian woman, Lori Anne, and her husband, Brad Thompson,…

The Church at Planned Parenthood, a church that meets right outside of Planned Parenthood of Greater Washington and North Idaho, was ordered by a judge to relocate its services.

According to The Christian Post, after the church was sued by Planned Parenthood for harassment, a judge issued a preliminary injunction ordering the church to move its services across the street from the abortion facility. The church was also asked not to hold services during the clinics operating hours.

TCAPP’s attorney Tracy Tribbett argued that the decision is an attempt to silence the pro-life church.

She said, “Plaintiffs (Planned Parenthood) do not like the speech that is occurring outside of their walls, they want it completely eradicated. People do not picket away from the place where they have an issue.”

According to The Christian Post, Planned Parenthood sued the church for “recklessly disrupting the normal functioning of a health care facility by ‘making noise that unreasonably disrupts the piece within the facility.’”

In the past, the regional Planned Parenthood chief executive even called TCAPP worshippers “bullies who are trying to take away care from young women, men, the LGBTQ community and black, indigenous people of color in Spokane.”

According to the injunction, TCAPP has been known to have large rallies and protests.

The injunction states, “TCAPP has been holding…

A California judge has sided with California Pastor John MacArthur and Grace Community Church in yet another hearing over the church’s decision to hold indoor public worship services amid the COVID-19 pandemic. 

On Thursday, Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Mitchell L. Beckloff ruled that MacArthur and his Sun Valley-based church are entitled to a full trial on the merits of their challenge against state and local orders prohibiting indoor church gatherings before they can be held in contempt for violating the orders. 

For nearly three months, the county has sought to shut down the church and hold MacArthur in contempt for repeatedly violating the order.  However, attorneys at the Thomas More Society have argued that the governor’s orders violate several provisions of the state constitution.

This week, Beckloff ruled that the courts must first decide on the constitutionality of the shutdown orders before the county can pursue contempt charges.

Due to the state’s shut-down orders, the contempt trial is not expected to take place until early 2021. 

The court…

On Thursday, Jaime Smith, a 40-year old mother and attorney, wrote an op-ed in The Huffington Post explaining how the death of the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg led her to join The Satanic Temple because of their pro-abortion stance.

She expressed her first reaction to Ginsburg’s passing was “not grief but fear. I fear that American citizens are inching closer to living in a theocracy or dictatorship and that the checks meant to prevent this from happening are close to eroding beyond repair.”

Furthermore, she explained how Ginsburg was a strong advocate for a woman’s reproductive rights and how her death places Roe v. Wade in “imminent danger of being overturned” because of what she called “religious objections to what is a safe and necessary procedure for the women who seek it out after discussion with their physician.”

Smith was surprised at how The Satanic Temple’s Seven Fundamental Tenets aligned with her  personal beliefs for years, including how “one’s body is inviolable, subject to one’s own will alone.”

“I realized, happily, that these were my people and that I had been a Satanist for several years without even knowing it,” she added.

Tenets aside, Smith “sought strength” from the Temple’s efforts “to turn religious arguments on their head by pushing for religious liberty for their members on an equal basis with believers…

The full 11th Circuit Court of Appeals agreed Thursday to hear a case involving a former Congresswoman’s conviction on fraud and a juror who was dismissed for saying he had received guidance from the Holy Spirit on the verdict.

Former U.S. Rep. Corrine Brown was convicted in 2017 on 18 counts of conspiracy, mail and wire fraud and tax charges. She appealed the case, saying the judge had improperly dismissed a male juror, Juror No. 13, who had said he received guidance from the Holy Spirit on the case.

A three-judge panel of the 11th Circuit in January this year upheld her conviction in a 2-1 decision, but on Thursday the full 11th Circuit vacated that ruling and agreed to hear her case. Eleven judges serve on the court.

First Liberty Institute, a religious freedom legal organization, applauded the full 11th Circuit for taking the case.

“Dismissing a deliberating juror for believing prayer is effective denies the noble and civic duty to serve as a juror to hundreds of millions of Americans who seek divine guidance through prayer,” said Lea Patterson, counsel for First Liberty. “How is it possible that we demand a juror take an oath invoking God’s aid in rendering a verdict but then dismiss that same juror for taking that oath seriously? If this decision stands millions of Americans are disqualified from fulfilling their civic duty as jurors simply because…

Los Angeles County health officials are asking a state judge to hold Grace Community Church and Pastor John MacArthur in contempt for holding indoor services after a court prohibited them from doing so.

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Mitchell L. Beckloff issued an injunction Sept. 10 that upheld the county’s ban on indoor worship and prevented the church from meeting, but three days later Grace Community defied the order and met anyway.

The county’s health officials want Beckloff to hold the church and its pastor in contempt of court, the Los Angeles Daily News reported. Each could face a $3,000 fine for a total of $6,000. The county says around 3,000 people attended the indoor service. It also says the church had an outdoor service on Sept. 13 without masks being required and without social distancing.

Beckloff on Thursday said he will decide at a later date whether to hold the church in contempt. The next hearing is scheduled for Nov. 13, the Daily News said.

Grace Community says it has a constitutional right to worship indoors.

In his Sept 10 injunction, Beckloff said the county’s restrictions on indoor church services is necessary for public health.

“The court finds the balance of harms tips in favor of the County,” Beckloff wrote. “The potential consequences of community spread of COVID-19 and concomitant risk of death to members of the community – associated and…