Egyptian Christian Youth Unite to Pray for Their Nation

Earlier this month, some 10,000 Egyptian Christian youth gathered for an urgent time of prayer and fasting, seeking God's protection from the rising infleuence of Islam on Egyptian society , CBN News reports.  The massive prayer rally was called One Thing, and the youth gathered each day from 10 a.m until 8 p.m. for praise, prayer and worship.  Some traveled hundreds of miles from across Egypt to attend, and an additional estimated two million people around the world watched the event online.

Study: Fathers Greatly Affect Teens' Sexual Behavior

A new review of studies shows fathers' attitudes toward teen sex and the emotional closeness of their relationships with their teens have a sizeable influence on their teens' sexual behaviors, separate from the influene of moms, Yahoo!News reports.  The review showed that dads' attitudes toward teen sexual behavior were linked to the age at which teens first had sex.  Teens whose dads approved of adolescent sexual activity tended to start having sex earlier than teens whose dads did not approve, according to studies in the review.  In addition, teens who were close to their fathers tended to start having sex later.  According to study researcher Vincent Guilamo-Ramos, a professor of social work at New York University, the findings "suggest that fathers may distinctly influence the sexual behavior of their adolescent children.  Fathers may parent in ways that differ from mothers, and therefore represent an additional opportunity to support adolescent health and well-being."
  (www.ReligionToday@crosswalkmail.com ) Oct. 22,2012

Obama Promotes Planned Parenthood Funding in Debate

Planned Parenthood was among President Obama's buzzwords during the second presidential debate Oct. 16 as he mentioned the nation's largest abortion provider five times, using it to distinguish himself from Republican candidate Mitt Romney, Baptist Press reports. In discussions about tax cuts, workplace inequalities, differences between Romney and George W. Bush, and earning votes for reelection, Obama underscored Romney's pledge to cut federal funding for Planned Parenthood.  Planned Parenthood, in the last statistics available, received $487.4 million in government funds in 2009-10 and performed 329,445 abortions in 2010.  In this election season, Obama launched a television ad campaign that made his pro-choice views a major theme; no previous Democratic nominee has ever made abortion a major general election theme in TV ads.
 (ReligionToday@crosswalkmail.com     Oct. 19, 2012)

School District Pays $70K for Banning "Christ" From Valedictorian's Speech

A Montana school district has been ordered to pay $70,000 in attorneys' fees for banning a valedictorian from speaking at her greaduation in 2008 because her speech contained religious references,  CBN News reports.  Former Butte High student Renee Griffith's speech included the sentence "I don't let fear keep me from sharing Christ and his joy with those around me."  and she was told by the Butte School District that she had to remove the references to God and Christ because religious references were not allowed in graduation speeches.  A lower court had ruled in favor of the school district, but the Montana Supreme Court overturned that ruling 6-1, saying Griffith's free speech rights were violated.
 (ReligionToday@crosswalkmail.com   Oct. 18, 2012

Jonathan Edwards, America's Humble Giant

by Diane Severance, Ph.D.

None More Relevnt
Over two centuries after Edwards' death, the great British preacher, Dr. Martin Lloyd-Jones, said of him: "No man is more relevant to the present condition of Christainity than Jonathan Edwards....He was a mighty theologian and a great evangelist at the same time....he was preeminently the theologian of revival.  If you want to know wnything about true revival, Edwards is the man to consult."

Here's the Background
"A City on a Hill"... a "Zion in the Wilderness"....this was what the Puritans who came to America in the 1630s dreamed of establishing....a Biblical society which would be an example for the nations.  But within a few generations the dream faded.  The great-grandchildren were not so interested in making God the center of their lives.  They were prospering in America, and as the winds from the Age of Reason blew across the Atlantic, the Puritan descendants felt quite capable of handling their lives and affairs independently of the God of their fathers.

Enter Mr. Edwards
The ministry of Jonathan Edwards in the first half of the 1700s, however, brought many of those Puritan heirs back to their Scriptural roots.  Revival came to the land, and Edwards became the theologian of the revival.

Jonathan, born in 1703, was a precocious child, competent in Latin, Greek, and Hebrew before he was a teenager.  Just short of thirteen he entered the Collegiate School of Connecticut (later Yale University) and graduated at the head of his class.  Though he was fascinated by the philosophies of John Locke and wrote profoundly metaphysical essays in his teens, Jonathan was primarily interested in religion  -  salvation as the "main business" of his life.  As a child he had revolted against the sovereignty of God and thought it a horrible doctrine, but shortly before his graduation at seventeen, he said God's sovereignty, glory, and majesty became "exceedingly pleasant, bright, and sweet."  Edwards wrote that one day while reading 1 Timothy 1:7: "Now unto the King, eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, be honor and glory, forever and ever, Amen."

"There came into my soul....a sense of the glory of the Divine Being; a new sense, quite different from anything I ever experienced before.  Never any words of Scripture seemed to me as these words did.  I thought with myself, how excellent a Being that was, and how happy I should be, if I might enjoy that God, and be rapt up in him in heaven, and be as it were swallowed up in him forever!....From about that time, I began to have a new kind of apprehension and idea of Christ, and the work of redemption, and that glorious way of salvation by him."  The glory and majesty of God became Edward's compelling passion in life.

After studying Divinity for two years, Edwards preached some and was appointed a tutor at Yale.  In 1727 he became a co-pastor with his grandfather Solomon Stoddard in Northampton, Massachusetts.  Stoddard, sometimes called the "Pope of western Massachusetts," had been a powerful preacher and influence in Northampton and Massachusetts for over 55 years.  When he died in 1729,Jonathan Edwards became pastor at Northampton.

Edwards had a pastor's heart.  Though he did not have a program of visitation, he welcomed parishioners to his home at any time to deal with spiritual needs. Edwards usually spent thirteen hours a day in study, preparing at least two sermons a week and often additional lectures, besides notes on Bible studies that resulted in published works.  But, Edwards' time in Bible study was not just academic.  He was a man of prayer and was often in prayer for the people in his care.

Awakening Arrives
Under Edwards' profound preaching, a revival came to Northampton in 1735, and over 300 converts were added to the church.  Edwards recognized this was the work of God's Spirit, for only God could convert a sinful heart and transform lives of self-seeking into lives of Christian holiness.  Edwards shared the stories of the revival with correspondents in America and England, publishing A Faithful Narrative of the Surprising Work of God in 1737.

When the English evangelist George Whitefield traveled throughout the American colonies in 1740-1741, revival swept through the colonies, bringing a "Great Awakening" to many.  Edwards' preaching in Northampton and surrounding churches continued to call people to recognize their sinful condition and seek the Lord.

Many were affected by Edwards' preaching.  Some cried out or wept in fear as they though of the eternity awaiting them without Christ.

Testing the Fruits
Some criticized the emotional effects of the revivals.  In 1746 Edwards published his important A Treatise Concerning Religious Affections, which examined the nature of true religion, which, he said, doesn't just understand the right doctrine, but touches the affections or the heart.  Yet, the devil can counterfeit religious affections and imitate the conversion experience, producing outward emotional responses without a new heart of faith.  The only way to tell if a conversion experience is genuine is to look at the individual's life.  Humility and the love and pursuit of holiness mark true Christians.  Those who simply boast of their experience without transformed lives are merely false professors of religion.

A Young Man's Influence
Shortly after publishing his work on religious affections, Edwards met David Brainerd, the young missionary who brought awakening to the New Jersey Indians.  In Brainerd Edwards found the living example of all he had written concerning a Christian's transformed life of holiness and affections moved by the Holy Spirit. Brainerd suffered from tuberculosis and died in Edwards' home in 1747 at the age of 29. Edwards was deeply moved by Brainerd's young life and edited his Journal for publication.  Edwards' edition of Brainerd's Journal continues to be read to this day.  It has influenced countless missionaries and others to aspire to a closer intimacy with the Lord.

Kicked Out
Jonathan Edwards upset the Northampton church when he changed the practice begun by his grandfather Stoddard of allowing unconverted people to partake of the Lord's Supper.  Stoddard had argued that the Lord's Supper could be a "converting ordinance" bringing people to Christ. From Scripture, Edwards  believed the Lord's Supper was for Christians only. When he tried to change the church's practice, a dispute developed which resulted in Edwards being dismissed in 1750 after serving a pastor in Northampton for 23 years.

Edwards and his family moved to Stockbridge, Massachusetts where Edwards was a missionary to the Housatonic Indians and pastor to a small congregation.  On the frontier Edwards found time to write seveal important classic works  -  On the Freedom of the Will, Original Sin, Nature of True Virtue,and the unfinished History of Redemption.

On to Princeton
When the College of New Jersey (later Princeton) was looking for a new president, Jonathan Edwards was reluctantly persuaded and took the post January 1758.  Three months later he died of a smallpox inoculation.  His ministry had slowed the drift of New England Puritanism into a rationalistic religion.  His writings and life contined to strongly influence the development of American evangelicalism, even to our own day.

His beloved mate
In his ministry Edwards was blessed by having the lovely Sarah Pierrepont for a wife.  Sarah saw it her spiritual duty to keep her home peaceful and pleasant so Jonathan could devote the maximum amount of time to his studies. That she was able to do this with eleven children is certainly a testimony to Sarah's qualities.  Often, at the end of a day's studies, Jonathan and Sarah would ride hroseback through the nearby woods and fields; Jonathan could freely share with Sarah all the spiritual riches he had mined in his studies that day.

www.christianity.com     Oct. 20, 2012

Government and Christian Practice by R. C. Sproul

Alexis de Tocqueville said that there are two things that can destroy America.  First, America can be destroyed by the rich and powerful who buy their way into office and use their wealth and power to exploit the poor.  Second, America can be destroyed when people discover that they can vote for personal largesse. Either of those will destroy a nation and turn it into the tyranny of the majority.  When economics are politicized, when people are enouraged to vote their pocketbooks rather than their conscience, national destruction will follow.

I heard one candidate in a presidential race say again and again that he planned to create a tax relief program for 98 percent of Americans.  What about that other 2 percent?  Are they to be robbed for the financial gain of the 98 percent?  That is not God's way.  The Israelite tithe was established on a level playing field.  Everybody was required to pay the same percentage; there was no graduated or progressive income tax in Israel.  Nobody can play politics with the tithe.  Some paid one hundred times more than another, but all paid the same percentage.  He would not allow somebody to vote a tax on his neighbor that was not a tax on himself.  If you vote for a 98 percent tax reduction, you are simultaneously voting for a 2 percent tax increase on others, an increase that you likely do not have to pay. That is not justice.  That is not equitable.  It is legalized theft, and we do it every day.

For years in England William Wilberforce lost vote after vote year in and year out when he pled with parliament for the abolition of slavery, but slavery was so connected to the economic welfare of England that his cries of protest went unheeded.  He kept arguing and pleading and calling upon Parliament to stop the ungodly activity of man stealing.  Finally England's conscience was moved and slavery was abolished.  Slavery is the second worst ethical issue ever to divide the United States of America.  Even more serious than slavery is the governmental sanction on the wanton destruction of 1.5 million unborn human beings every year in this nation.  My book about abortion, A Rational Look at an Emotional Issue, went quickly out of print.  Ligonier has provied educational materials for churches, but pastors won't use them for fear it will divide their congregation. I say, "So what? Let it divide the congregation. We're talking about the sanctity of life here."

The Didache, one of the most important extracanonical books of the early church, didn't shrink from calling abortion what it is  -  murder  -  and said the church must never be involved in it.  Today it has become part of the acceptable fabric of America, and nobody is crying foul.  The church is not asking at this point for the state to become the church when we tell the state to stop sanctioning this holocaust.  The church is asking the state to be the state, because the primary reason for the existence of the state in the first place is to protect, maintain, and sustain the sanctity of human life. When a state ceases to do that, it has become not only pagan but barbarian.

The primary issues in the presidential elections of today are involvement with the Middle East, terrorism, and the economy.  Abortion is way down at the bottom of the list.  Personally, I could not sleep if I ever cast a ballot for a candidate who supported abortion on demand.  That trumps every other ethical issue of our time.  I plead with you as Christians that when you walk into the voting booth, don't leave your Christianity in the parking lot.  Let your mind be informed by the Word of God.  I have been studying theology all my life, and if I know anything about the character of God, I know that God hates abortion.  There are other ways to deal with unwanted pregnancies than the physical destruction of the unborn.  So I hope you vote your conscience, not your vested interest or your pocketbook.  I hope you will vote for righteousness and justice as your conscience is informed by the Word of God.  Until or unless we do that,God will give us leaders after our own hearts, which is a scary thing.

by R. C. Sproul, ACTS, a St. Andrew's expositional Commentary, Published by Crossway
     Ligonier Ministries at www.ligonier.org

Are Muslims Tolerant, As Obama Claims?

Islamofascism: President Obama seems to be under the illusion the Muslim world is more tolerant than the West.  Its immigration policies are perhaps the clearest evidence that's wildly untrue.

Referring to the Muhammad video during his U.N. speech last week, Obama lectured Americans about "intolerance" toward Islam.  "The future must not belong to those who slander the prophet of Islam," he said.  "It is time to heed the words of Gandhi: 'Intolerance is itself a form of violence and an obstacle to the growth of a true democratic spirit.'"

He actually believes Muslims have heeded those words. "Islam has a proud tradition of tolerance," he intoned during his 2009 Cairo speech.  "Throughout history, Islam has demonstrated through words and deeds the possibilities of religious tolerance and racial equality."

Obama must have learned his history at that Jakarta madrassa he attended.

We won't litigate the ugly past of Islam here.  We don't have to: A 2010 congressional study found that 20 of the 23 nations that ban Christian religious workers are  -  surprise  -  Muslim nations.

Egypt,Saudi Arabia and most other Middle Eastern countries still refuse to offer religious visas and deny entry to U.S. clergy as official policy, according to the report by the Law Library of Congress, the foreign legal research arm of the U.S. Congress.

Even U.S. allies Afghanistan and Iraq, which have enshrined Islam in their constitutions, made the list.  "Of this group, the vast majority constitute Arab or Muslim states," the three-page report said.  "Since Islam prohibits proselytism by other religions, foreign religious workers will in effect be denied entry to conduct religious work."

Yet the U.S. State Department continues to grant R-1 religious visas for Islamic clerics from Muslim nations  -  including jihadist hotbeds Egypt and Saudi  -  even though we've had to arrest a number of these foreign imams for inciting anti-American violence.  Muslim countries discriminate against us based on religion, but we don't discriminate against them  -  even when it's totally justified.

Homeland Security considers visiting imams as non-threatening as Buddhist monks. Border agents don't screen them any differently.  Also, R-2 visas are routinely granted to relatives of foreign imams.  Most overstay their visas without consequence, even as they radicalize Muslims at our mosques  -  Islamic centers often built with Saudi money and run by the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood.

In contrast, Saudi religious police in recent years have accused dozens of foreign Christians living in the kingdom of worshipping in their homes, and ordered them deported.  Non-Muslim "infidels" have to take a separate highway into the "holy city" of Mecca.  And they are banned from Islamic shrines.

Bibles are confiscated at the airport.

In Egypt, meanwhile, more than 100,000 Christians have fled the country since Egypt's new president Mohamed Morsi and the Brotherhood took over and started torching churches and jailing Coptics.  Yet Morsi had the gall to scold Americans about "Islamophobia" as he gave his own speech in New York before the U.N.  He demanded respect for "Islamic sanctities" even as his Islamofascist thugs burn Christian sanctuaries.

Americans have been remarkably tolerant toward Muslims, considering they account for over 80% of all terrorism convictions in America.  The FBI says hate crimes against Muslims in America have dropped 50% since 2001, and have always been well below hate crimes against Jews.

Speaking of Jews, Morsi has called them "descendents of apes and pigs" and called for the destruction of their homeland. 

So who's more tolerant, Mr. President, the Muslim world or America?  It's not even a contest.  You're lecturing the wrong people.

Editorial, Invenstors Business Daily, Sept. 28, 2012

The Heidelberg Catechism

Lord's Day 1: Question 1
What is thy only comfort in life and in death?

ANSWER: That I, with body and soul, both in life and in death, am not my own, but belong to my faithful Saviour Jesus Christ, who with his precious blood has fully satisfied for all my sins, and redeemed me from all the power of the devil; and so preserves me that without the will of my Father in heaven not a hair can fall from my head; yea, that all things must work together for my salvation.  Wherefore, by his Holy Spirit, he also asures me of eternal life, and makes me heartily willing and ready henceforth to live unto him.

Protestants No Longer the Majority in U.S.

     

 

Protestants No Longer the Majority in U.S., Study Says

For the first time in its history, the United States does not have a Protestant majority, according to a new study by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life, Fox News reports. The percentage of Protestant adults in the U.S. has reached a low of 48 percent, the first time the Pew Forum has reported with certainty that the number has fallen below 50 percent. The drop has long been anticipated, and comes at a time when no Protestants are on the Supreme Court and when, for the first time, no Protestants are on the Republican presidential ticket. Pew cited among the reasons for the change the growth in nondenominational Christians who can no longer be categorized as Protestant, and the rise in the number of Americans with no religious affiliation. The study found that about 20 percent of Americans say they have no religion, an increase from 15 percent in the last five years.

       Religion Today Daily Headlines - October 10, 2012

Thoughts From Pastor Bill Cummins

“Oh that Thou wouldest rend the heavens, that Thou wouldst come down...”

Isaiah 64:1

“And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.”

John 1:14

            After the creation period was completed God told the man and the woman that they could, “have dominion over all creation.”(Genesis 1:28)  Man had dominion (rule) over all creation but he wasn’t able to rule himself, and since he rebelled against God’s rule, everything became unruly. ( Genesis 6:5) 

. Animals attacked one another; men quarreled and fought among themselves;the gentle breezes became storms ;weeds grew in their gardens and the devil must have rejoiced.

            Mankind has written a long history of rebellion and failure but there were some who could see a solution and they begin to pray for God to take a more direct intervention into the affairs of men. It is recorded in the above Scripture that they asked God to “rend the heavens and come down.” In God’s time that is exactly what He did. Mark is recording what he saw at the baptism of Jesus in the River Jordan and he said , “...he saw the heavens torn open... (Mark 1:10 Amp.N.T.)  “And there came a voice from heaven, saying, thou art my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” (v.11)

            God did “rend the heavens” and spoke His approval of the Lord Jesus who “came down” to be actively at work in the earth. Isaiah had also said that when God came down He would, “...preach good tidings unto the meek; bind up the broken hearted, proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound; and proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord,...” (Isaiah 61:1)

            Jesus came doing all of those things, not to prove that He was God but because He is “God Who Came Down” and God does those kinds of things.

            He was not welcomed by some people then, (John 1:10,11) (Isaiah 53:3) and He is not welcomed by some now but His intervention is the only hope for a world addicted to violence.

            Jesus is God’s last word to a world in trouble and what he says is what he will do. What men say and what men do, do not always bear much family resemblance. We have just completed a study of the book of Daniel and  Ch. 11:27 records a meeting of two rulers, probably Egyptian and Syrian. It reads like this “As for both kings, their hearts will be intent on evil, and they will speak lies to each other at the same table.” (An ancient U.N. meeting, perhaps?)

            Our hope and confidence is not in the U.N. , E.U , N.A.T.O.  or any other  organization or assembly. Our hope is in the Lord Jesus Christ and He will have the final word.  

THOUGHTS From Pastor Bill Cummins, daily email August 18, 2012