All posts tagged: Faith

Tulancingo, Hildalgo State, Mexico

Mexico: Persecution of Christians who refused to participate in Catholic services

Published by

Over the past few years, protestant Christians in certain areas of Mexico have been encountering persecution and censorship, particularly in the state of Hidalgo, located in Southern Mexico, the Christian Post reports. On April 26, 2024, 150 Christians, who are members of the Great Commission Baptist Church were driven from their homes after they refused to bend the knee to government officials and support Catholicism. This included forced attendance at Catholic festivals and as well donations to the Catholic Church. Previously, government officials had tried to pressure these Christians into participating by denying them access to public services. However, their continued refusal to comply resulted in the government taking more extreme actions. In his article for the Christian Post, Anugrah Kumar provides more details: In December 2022, a church member was hospitalized in critical condition after being tied to a tree and beaten by village leaders, according to a previous report by CSW. Other community members have faced arbitrary detention, beatings, denial of medical care, job dismissals, blocked access to burial sites, and land confiscation. …

Blurred image of teenagers at high school

The Holy Spirit moved after one teenager bravely took a stand for God in high school

Published by

AG News reports on the powerful testimony of how a young American teen had a profound impact at his high school in Gresham, Oregon. After years of application, in 2023 the high school finally allowed a Christian youth group, Youth Alive, to be formed at the school. Even with its acceptance, members of the original 18 who started the group faced pressure, with one girl being told to kill herself because of her Christian faith. One of the members of this Youth Alive group happened to be the quarterback on the school’s football team. David believed that God wanted him to kneel before the start of each football game and pray. “Many coaches were upset, saying that what David was doing was offensive,” Samara Smyer reports in her article for AG News. But despite this pressure, David bravely stood his ground and kneeled and prayed before each game. Over the next few games, other players started joining David. By the last game of the season, every one of the team’s 50 players was participating in …

Sunset

Dead to Sin

Published by

By Rick Renner

When I was first starting in the ministry, I served as an assistant pastor in a denominational church. Because I was in training for ministry, the senior pastor wanted to teach me how to conduct funerals. To instruct me, he took me to funeral after funeral so that Iā€™d learn how handle myself in delicate and difficult situations.

Jesus healing woman with an issue of blood by Paolo Veronese

What are the gifts (plural) of healing?

Published by

In 1 Corinthians 12, the Apostle Paul lists the various spiritual gifts that the Holy Spirit hands out to Christians, and he specifically states that each believer has received at least one of these gifts. This includes the gift of prophecy, the gift of tongues, the interpretation of tongues, the working of miracles, the gift of faith, the word of knowledge, the word of wisdom, and the discerning of spirits. However, Paul does something odd in 1 Corinthians 12:9, when he says this also includes ‘gifts of healing’. Notice how ‘gifts of healing’ is in the plural. Paul says that there are multiple ‘gifts’ of healing. It suggests that people may be given several gifts of healing, but also implies that a believer may have one particular gift of healing and another Christian will have a different kind of gift of healing. So, what exactly is the Apostle referring to when he says there are many ‘gifts’ of healing? Some suggest this refers to the varying methods of healing we see in the Bible. For …

Actor Brian Cox in 2016

‘Religious People are Stupid!’ ā€¦ Apparently

Published by

Are you religious? I am. So, are you stupid? I wonā€™t say ā€œI am.ā€ to that question, and I believe you wonā€™t either. We should all know that many people believe, sincerely, that religious people are stupid. Most people who believe that identify as Atheists. You might be surprised to learn that this belief is common, and I think itā€™s growing, in our modern societies. If you believe in some religion, have you had your moment? Did someone tell you that you are stupid to believe those ideas? Wait for it. An actor and atheist from Scotland, named Brian Cox, recently spoke about the stupidity in religion, and he was quoted by news sources. One quote is, ā€œReligion has sold humans a false story about reality and contributed to their own ‘stupidity.’ā€ I am writing as a Christian, and by this definition I am stupid, or I am contributing to stupid thinking and stupid behavior, in this world. That is disturbing. Now I want to argue. It is easy to answer back. You know what …

Benny Hinn in 2019

Prosperity preacher, Benny Hinn, reveals his two biggest regrets

Published by

Popular and equally controversial televangelist, Benny Hinn, revealed his two biggest ministry regrets in an interview with Stephen Strange, the Christian Post reports. The first regret that Hinn, 71, pointed to was his failure to address the inaccurate and false prophecies that were delivered during his meetings by himself and others. He specifically cited outside ministries that had uttered prophecies during his meetings, that “brought harm to not only peopleā€™s lives but also to my reputation.” He then cited some of his own failed prophecies and stated that no one is perfect. Hinn added, “sadly ā€” and I wish I could go back and fix it ā€” but sadly, there were some prophecies I gave that were not accurate or from the Lord.ā€ His second-greatest regret was his emphasis or perhaps his overemphasis on the prosperity message because he still believes in certain aspects of what is referred to as the prosperity gospel. Hinn admitted that there were elements of this message that he labeled as ‘gimmikry’ and because of the pressure to raise money, …

Open Bible on dark background

Is the Bible ā€œHate Speechā€? Yes ā€¦ Maybe

Published by

We have a neighbor who likes to go for coffee on Saturday morning. Usually, we know some other people, in the shop, and the conversations are friendly. In the coffee shop, there is a young ā€œmanā€ who works behind the counter and serves coffee, and ā€œheā€ wears a dress when he works. No one has told us about preferred pronouns, in this case, but notice that I have used quotation marks for words like ā€œmanā€ and ā€œhe.ā€ We have to be careful in our modern world when we write or speak publicly. It is generally understood, that the worker in the coffee shop has a masculine voice and other features. Most of us donā€™t want to get into an argument about ā€œTransā€ beliefs, and we talk about other things. We donā€™t want to go there. So, we all try to be polite, and there are some topics we donā€™t mention in our conversations. At the last neighbor meeting at the coffee shop, a friendly neighbor came in and saw us, so he joined us for …

Ex-Latin Kings gang member now preaches the Gospel

Published by

Fox News had an interesting story about how a former member of the Latin Kings Nation is now preaching the gospel and serving God. Having just served a lengthy prison term, Andy “Rebirth” Pellerano became a Christian after surviving a near fatal drug overdose. Today, he is not only preaching the Gospel, but also sings and in 2018 won Nola Gospel Rap Artist of the Year. In an interview on “Jesse Watters Primetime,” Pellerano explained how his gang life started. “I was around 14, 15 years old and I let five grown men jump me so I could be their friend, as I like to put it,” Pellerano said. “So what would I have to do to keep that friendship? And it led to a first-degree attempted murder, three counts of aggravated assault, one count of aggravated criminal damage. It was gang-related. I was 16, I made 17. I was charged as an adult.” But a close call with a drug overdose resulted in him starting to go to church, and ultimately transformed his life. …

Frogs in the kettle: Christians in America

Published by

Jeff King, the president of International Christian Concern (ICC), warned that Christians in America are like frogs in a boiling pot of water and seem blissfully unaware of their slowly changing environment. “Too many people are not aware politically, and they’re so used to thinking of how things were that they can’t figure out where these bubbles are coming from, not realizing they’re being cooked,” King said in a recent interview with the Christian Post. The ICC president noted that this growing persecution and censorship of Christians is on display in a recent court case involving a Texas teacher, Staci Barber. Barber, along with two other teachers, were allegedly reprimanded by their school principal for participating in a “See You At the Pole,” an international prayer event where students, teachers, and parents gather at the flagpoles of schools around the world to pray. These events typically take place before the start of the school day. The principal allegedly told the teachers that the Katy Independent School District, located near Houston, does not allow teachers to …

Dr. Mattera’s 14 reasons why we should believe in Divine healing today

Published by

Dr. Joseph Mattera heads The U.S. Coalition of Apostolic Leaders, and he recently wrote an article for the Christian Post on 14 reasons why Christians should believe in divine healing. Amazingly, there are Christians who believe that healing is not for today, and insist that this stopped as a spiritual gift with the ending of the Apostolic age. I am not going to go through all Dr. Mattera’s reasons, but there are three that caught my attention. My favorite reason: Dr. Mattera’s third reason The first one that struck me is that the early church disciples pointed to divine healings as evidence that Jesus rose from the dead. After the healing of the lame man at the temple, Peter and John were dragged before the Sanhedrin the next day to explain what happened the previous day. “Let it be known to all of you and to all the people of Israel thatĀ by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified,Ā whom God raised from the deadā€”by him this man is standing before you well,” …

Columbine High School, Columbine, Colorado

Dealing with anger by forgiving a mass murderer who killed his sister

Published by

Many remember the Columbine High School massacre that took place, in Columbine, Colorado on April 20, 1999, resulting in the deaths of 12 students and a teacher at the hands of Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold. Harris and Klebold committed suicide when police finally stormed the school. This year marks the 25 anniversary of the horrific mass murder that also saw 24 people injured. One of the survivors of that shooting was Craig Scott, now 41, who recently shared with the Christian Post how a missionary trip to Africa helped him deal with his anger and hatred by enabling him to forgive the two killers. Scott was in the library when he heard shots going off at the school and hid under a table. While under the table, he prayed to God for help dealing with the fear and felt impressed by the Holy Spirit that he needed to get out of the library. He ended up helping several students leave the library as well. Most of the killings ended up taking place in the …

Man walking with Bible under his arm.

More Gen Z say the Bible is transforming their lives, survey finds

Published by

There was a bit of good news in a recent survey of Gen Z, those born between 1997 and 2012, conducted by the American Bible Society, CBN reports. For the past 14 years, the American Bible Society has been asking Americans how much they engaged in the Bible. Based on how much they read the Bible and believe it is relevant to their everyday lives, the State of the Bible survey sorts Americans into three basic groups, ‘scripturally engaged’, ‘moveable middle’, and ‘disengaged’. Overall the survey found that the percentage of people who are considered ‘disengaged’ from the Bible, was at its highest percentage, 57%, in the survey’s 14-year history. This was up from 53% the previous year. However, amid this overall decline, the 2024 survey found that Gen Z was bucking this trend with 54% stating their lives had been transformed by reading the Bible, up from 50% the previous year. Another group that showed improvement was Black Americans. The survey found that the number of Black Americans who ‘engaged’ the Bible had increased …

Ikeja, Nigeria

How one Nigerian Christian came to terms with the horrific persecution taking place in that country

Published by

There is a horrific persecution of Christians taking place in Nigeria by Islamic extremists. According to a report published by the International Society for Civil Liberties and Rule of Law, an estimated 8,000 Christians were killed in that country last year because of their faith, some in horrific ways. The non-governmental agency added that 50,000 Christians have been killed in that country by Muslim extremists since 2009. Along with this, over 18,000 churches and 2,200 Christian schools were set on fire. In a recent op-ed for the Christian Post, Oscar Amaechina, who serves as the president of Afri-Mission and Evangelism Network, Abuja, Nigeria, wrote about his personal struggles dealing with this horrific persecution of believers. “I have persistently asked God in the past why He would not protect His servants,” Amaechina wrote. “I expected God to arise and fight for the Nigerian Christians, but He remained silent.” “I wept profusely when I saw the video of how Lawan Andimi, the chairman of a local chapter of Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), was beheaded,” he continued, …

JiDion, popular YouTuber

Influential YouTuber explains his decision to delete videos and follow Christ

Published by

There has been a remarkable transformation in the life of a popular YouTuber, JiDion, who became a Christian probably sometime in 2023, Premier Christian News writes. He has over 7.7 million followers on his YouTube Channel and in October 2023, he deleted all his videos, except one. This meant 121 of his 122 videos were gone. Many of them had millions of views, with several exceeding 10 million. They were mostly prankster videos and his byline, before the deletion, basically described what he did. “I like messing with strangers…” JiDion wrote. JiDion deleted those videos because they conflicted with his decision to follow Christ. This decision comes complete with a new byline, “Retired menace. Full time follower of Jesus.” JiDion has since added two new videos, one of which explained his decision to delete the videos. “If I’m gonna truly give my life over to God, I gotta also take out the wickedness that I put into the world,” JiDion said. “As an influencer, I failed this generation horriblyā€¦I can’t be the way I was …

Arch of Triumph, Paris, France

Over 12,000 people were water-baptized in France on Easter Sunday

Published by

Despite reports that France is going through what is described as a period of ‘de-Christianization’, a remarkable thing took place in Catholic Churches across France on Easter Weekend as over 12,000 people were water baptized, CBN reports. The Catholic Church focuses on baptizing infants, who are baptized without making a faith commitment. However, the number of infants being baptized has been declining for several years, making what happened on Easter Sunday even more significant. This is because the majority of the baptisms, 7100, involved adults and the remaining 5,000 were between the ages of 11 to 17. In other words, they involved people making the conscious choice to be baptized. France’s Roman Catholic Church traditionally hosts adult baptisms at Easter, and the number this year not only set a record but was 31% higher than the number of water baptisms at last year’s event. Also, young adults are expressing a renewed interest in faith, as the number of people between the ages of 18 and 25 being water baptized rose from 23% in 2023 to …

Seagulls flying over raging ocean

Fiercer than the storm

Published by

By Andrew Hopkins

A while ago, I was flying back home from a mission trip to the Philippines. Itā€™s always exciting to see people come to Jesus and encounter His love. On the flight, we hit some kind of storm, and then came the turbulence. Heavy turbulence. I wish I could say I was Godā€™s man of power for the hour and commanded the storm to ceaseā€¦but that wasnā€™t the case. I was freaked out. I thought I was gonna die.

Road circling back

Circling Back

Published by

It was mid-fall, the prairie sky was growing dark and sleet was turning the highways into hockey rinks. I zipped up my jacket, started my 4Ɨ4, and steeled myself for the trip. I was circling back. ‘Circling back’ is an idiom from the 80s corporate world meaning ‘to avoid an unpleasant or unwanted topic’ by circling back and talking about this later, much later, or maybe never. In the military sense, it means ‘to reverse direction,’ when scouts would move ahead of the main force and then having spotted an enemy, they would circle back the same way they came and report what they saw. Sometimes to move forward, you have to go back. I was circling back to meet up with a group of people where fellowship was a challenge for all of us, me and them. As I traveled, I listened to Christian music and did lots of praying. For years, I felt like an outsider in this group. I felt like a Zebra and never knew if I was one of the …

Worship service at Community Church in Brighton, Michigan

Lamenting the decline of cultural Christianity

Published by

One of the metaphors that Jesus used to describe the influence of Christianity was salt. Christians are to be the salt of the world and through that be a positive influence on society. In the analogy, the Lord was asking what happens if believers lose their saltiness. Essentially, they would become useless and thrown out (Matthew 5:13). But aside from Christians losing their saltiness, other forces are at work to remove the Christian influence from the world. Perhaps one of the key leaders of this movement has been former Oxford University professor Richard Dawkins, 83. An evolutionary biologist and atheist, he has been at the forefront, publicly criticizing religion and Christianity in particular. He wrote a popular bestseller, The God Delusion, as part of his battle to discredit faith. But in a recent interview with Rachel Johnson on Britain’s LBC at the end of March, we have seen a slight change in Dawkins’s tune. In no way has he become a man of faith, but Dawkins is lamenting the loss of the Christian influence in …

Prophetic Dreams?

Published by

As we study the Bible, we read that God often spoke to people through dreams, and recently Vlad and Lana Savchuk produced a video providing some guidance on dreams, Charisma News reports. First, they warned that not all dreams are from God. In the book of Joel, we read that dreams are frequently associated with an outpouring of God’s Spirit (Joel 2:28-32). While this is true, it is also important to realize that not every dream is from God. “Jude 8 actually talks about false prophets who are deceiving people through their dreams and God was clearly warning people concerning dreamers who had these dreams,” Vlad stated. “False prophets can deceive through dreams. We have to be very careful that we believe every single dream that people give especially negative dreams that come true because that could be operating from the spirit of divination,” Vlad noted. Dreams can provide deliverance The second thing they pointed out is that God can provide deliverance through dreams, as Lana shared how her healing started through an intense dream …

A Roman milestone on the road between the Iberian cities of Bracara Augusta and Asturica Augusta

Was Jesus standing near a miliarium, when He said if they compel you to go a mile, go two?

Published by

Most of the time when Jesus was teaching, the Lord was outside, and I often wondered if much of what He said was based on what He saw around him. When Jesus said, “See how the flowers of the field grow,” (Matthew 6:28), I suspect there was a field nearby. So, when Jesus told His disciples, ā€œAnd if anyone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles,ā€ (Matthew 5:41 ESV), I wonder if they were actually standing within eyesight of an ancient Roman milestone. Referred to as miliarium, the columns were routinely made of granite or marble and were typically set up to mark the distance of 1,000 double Roman steps, approximately one mile today, on a road. Since people only traveled a few miles each day, these stones provided valuable information on how far they had journeyed. In addition to supplying the one-mile distance, the stone also had the name of the Roman Emperor responsible for the road’s construction and typically the military unit, overseeing the road’s maintenance. The stones often …

John Cooper performing with Skillet in 2017

Skillet frontman, John Cooper, facing death threats over the title of his book

Published by

Things are definitely taking a negative turn for Christians in America, and it was perhaps best demonstrated by comments made by John Cooper in an episode of ‘Politically Rude,’ hosted by Abby Johnson, Church Leaders reports. Cooper, who is the lead singer for the Christian rock band, Skillet, recently published a book in November 2023 entitled, ā€œWimpy, Weak, and Woke: How Truth Can Save America From Utopian Destruction.ā€ The book focuses on the ā€œphilosophies behind utopian dreams that become dystopian nightmares, and presents a positive vision for how we can thrive and flourish.ā€ The book states that man’s solutions will not cure the raging ails of the world, and only God is the solution. In an interview with Church Leaders, Cooper added that the trouble started long before the book was printed and actually began when he released the title of the book. Initially, it resulted in “absolute hate and cussing” and people telling him to “go to hell.” This would have been fine because Cooper is used to this type of hate because of …

Richard Dawkins, 2008

Have you heard of the Atheist who is a Cultural Christian?

Published by

Richard Dawkins is possibly the most famous Atheist in the world. He wrote a book titled ā€œThe God Delusionā€ and he often speaks in public. Recently in an interview, Dawkins identified himself as a Christian, specifically a ā€œCultural Christian.ā€ Apparently, the discussion was about how the Muslim celebration of Ramadan replaced the Christian Easter, as a public celebration in a prominent place in London. Dawkins stated that their country, Britain, was ā€œculturally Christianā€ and he identified himself as a ā€œCultural Christian.ā€ It sounds strange for the most outspoken Atheist in the world, to identify himself as any kind of Christian, but that is what happened. There is a story here, with a lesson for us. Richard Dawkins is a graduate and also served as a professor at Oxford University. He has been a critic of Creationism, the idea that God created the universe, and he advocates for evolution, without God, in biology. It seems that he disagrees with religion and a belief in God, but he likes the culture that grew from a belief in …

Black and white photo of a hooded man looking out an apartment window

A ‘Culture of Lawlessness’? Jesus warned us

Published by

12 And because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold. (Matthew 24:12 ESV) In Matthew 24, Jesus warned of a series of events such as earthquakes, and wars, that would start taking place on Earth leading to His second coming. One of these signs, which Jesus described as birth pangs (Matthew 24:8), was the increase of lawlessness that would result in many people’s hearts turning cold. According to Thayer’s Greek Dictionary, the word ‘anomia’ translated as lawless refers to ‘the condition of without law,’ and a ‘contempt and violation of law, iniquity, wickedness.’ Today, I read two articles that indicate we could be entering this phase, and sadly, politicians are largely at the root of the problem. The first involves a statement made by a New York broker who recently had a home she manages illegally invaded by alleged squatters and is fighting both the government policy and the squatters to have them removed. In an interview with Fox News, Ejona Bardhi Shyti said New York, which has gone soft on crime, …

Joy Ogeh-Hutfield

Despite laughing at people who spoke in tongues, Joy Ogeh-Hutfield tells how she was filled with the Holy Spirit

Published by

Premier Christianity has an interesting story about how Joy Ogeh-Hutfield was filled with the Holy Spirit and speaking in tongues, despite having an attitude that essentially mocked this spiritual gift. Joy, an award-winning businesswoman, was born in Nigeria and immigrated to Britain when she was 16. She was religious and regularly attended services in the Roman Catholic Church, where she was also married. However, things took a negative turn when she had trouble conceiving a child and had several miscarriages. When she was finally able to have a child, her daughter was born prematurely. Shortly after this birth, she started being plagued by recurring nightmares and decided to talk to one of her aunts about the problem. Her aunt, who is a born-again Christian, suggested that Joy meet with her friend’s husband, who was both a pastor and prophet, to discuss these nightmares. Joy agreed and after asking if she was saved, the pastor wondered if Joy would like to receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. ā€œI donā€™t think God would like to give …

The Western Wall in Jerusalem, with the Temple Mount and Dome of the Rock in the background.

Has the Temple Institute chosen the individual who will make the Red Heifer sacrifice?

Published by

A recent photo published on the Temple Institute’s Facebook page has many speculating that a man has been selected to sacrifice one of the red heifers brought to Israel from Texas in 2022, Charisma News reports. The photo is of a young man standing outside the pen where the red heifers are being housed comes with the caption, “A KOHEN FIT TO PERFORM THE RED HEIFER CEREMONY!” The ash from the red heifer sacrifice is necessary for the purification ritual for priests working in the Temple (Numbers 19:1-11), and according to Jewish tradition are to be sacrificed at the age of three. The post goes on to explain that this individual, along with others, met the criteria for being accepted as a priest. The Temple Institute adds that it looks for the highest level of purity when deciding on its priests, and this includes never having been in contact with a dead person. This individual met these criteria by having been born at home and having “never set foot in a hospital or cemetery” (see …

Saint Basilā€™s Cathedral, Moscow, Russia

The Experience of a Lifetime!

Published by

By Rick Renner

When our family first arrived in the former USSR, we disembarked the airplane to find Soviet soldiers standing all around the landing strip with machine guns in arm ā€” a brand-new sight for our family! Those soldiers tried to rush us along to leave the runway area and get inside the terminal.

Michelangelo's Moses with horns, The Vatican, Rome

Meet Moses with horns

Published by

If you go to the Vatican in Rome, you will find a statue of Moses with horns. Yes, horns. The marble statue was created by Michelangelo at the request of Pope Julius II to be used as part of the Pope’s tomb. The statue was completed in 1545, 32 years after Pope Julius had died. It proves that some Bible translations are more accurate than others because the famous Renaissance sculptor created Moses with horns because of a mistranslation of a Hebrew word in the Latin Vulgate. The Vulgate was largely based on the Latin translation of scriptures from the Hebrew and Greek texts created by Jerome, a priest and theologian, in 382 AD. Though the Vulgate is a bit renowned for its mistakes, it basically became the Roman Catholic Church’s official Bible. So did we end up with a horned Moses? A second set of ten commandments was needed after the first set was broken (Exodus 32:19). When Moses came down the mountain, with the new tablets, his face was shining so brightly, having …

Stained-glass window portraying the resurrection of Jesus in the Berlin Cathedral, Germany

Nearly 70% of Americans believe Jesus rose from the dead, poll finds

Published by

According to a recent Scott Rasmussen National Survey poll conducted on March 20 and 21, 2024, nearly 70% of Americans believe that Jesus rose for the dead, the Daily Signal reports. In addition, to the 68% who believe in the resurrection of Christ, the poll also found that 83% of those surveyed believed that Jesus lived and walked on the earth. This sharply compared to only 5% who believed that Jesus was just a myth. When asked if they planned to attend a church service on Easter Sunday, 49% responded that it was ‘very likely’ this would happen, with 23% adding that it was ‘somewhat likely.’ Twenty-six percent stated that they definitely or probably would not be attending a church service. The survey also asked individuals about their prayer life and found:

Country road

Long distance healing

Published by

As we read the Gospels, the most common method that Jesus used to heal the sick was by laying hands on them (Luke 4;40; Mark 8:23). When Christ touched people, the healing virtue flowed out from Jesus into the person that He was touching (Mark 5:30). Since Jesus was functioning fully as a man filled with the Holy Spirit, He was the pattern for how Divine healing happens today. When we lay hands on people, the Holy Spirit inside us flows into the other person. But on the odd occasion, we also see anomalies to this practice, such as long-distance healing, when Jesus healed people without touching them. We know that Lazarus was raised from the dead by Jesus shouting while standing outside Lazarus’ tomb (John 11:42-44). At this point, Christ was probably only a few yards away from the body. But in another instance, the healing of the centurion’s servant, Jesus, who was traveling to the centurion’s home, though close to the man’s home was undoubtedly further away when the healing occurred (Luke 7:6-10). …