Wall St. Journal: Focus on the Family Seeks 'Broader Tent'
Focus on the Family, the evangelical radio ministry that grew into a powerhouse of the religious right, enters a new era this month as founder James Dobson steps down, ceding his microphone to a leader with a markedly different style and set of priorities. Mr. Dobson, a 73-year-old child psychologist, will record the last of his daily radio broadcasts for the Colorado Springs-based ministry this month. Taking over from him will be Jim Daly, an M.B.A. who has been with the ministry for two decades and became its president in 2005. On the radio since the late 1970s, Mr. Dobson has built an audience estimated at 1.5 million daily listeners in the U.S. and more than 200 million world-wide. He began his ministry advising parents, urging, for instance, a firm hand in child discipline, including spankings with a paddle. In the past two decades, Mr. Dobson pushed into politics by funding ad campaigns and mobilizing his radio audience to bombard Congress with calls on hot-button legislation.    MORE
Sarah Palin: Obama's Agenda Will Be Short-Lived
Sarah Palin is predicting a good year for conservative candidates for public office, saying the policies of President Barack Obama and Democratic leaders in Congress will be short-lived. The 2008 GOP vice presidential nominee told the National Tea Party Convention in Saturday that a string of recent Republican victories at the polls, including Scott Brown's longshot win in last month's special Senate election in Massachusetts, bodes well for conservative candidates this year. She told the convention in Tennessee that if ...  MORE
Haitian Lawyer for Jailed US Missionaries Fired
The Haitian lawyer for 10 U.S. Baptists charged with child kidnapping tried to bribe the missionaries' way out of jail and has been fired, the attorney who hired him said Saturday night. The Haitian lawyer, Edwin Coq, denied the allegation. He said the $60,000 he requested from the Americans' families was his fee. Jorge Puello, the attorney in the neighboring Dominican Republic retained by relatives of the 10 American missionaries after their arrest last week, told The Associated Press that he fired Coq on Friday night. He had hired Coq to represent the detainees at Haitian legal proceedings. Coq orchestrated "some kind of extortion with government officials" that would have led to the release of nine of the 10 missionaries, Puello charged.   MORE
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Palin Targets Obama In 'Tea Party' Speech
Taking aim at President Barack Obama and the Democrats, Sarah Palin has told a 'tea party' convention in Nashville that the country is ripe for another revolution. Noting his party's dismal showing in elections since Obama moved into the White House a year ago with talk of hope and promises of change, Palin asked the gathering: "How's that hope-y, change-y stuff workin' out for you?"   MORE
Netanyahu: Israel Open to Peace Talks With Syria
Israel's prime minister attempted to end a war of words with Syria on Sunday, saying his country is open to peace talks with its longtime enemy. Israeli and Syrian officials have traded threats over the past week, raising concerns of an escalation between two countries that have officially been at war for more than 60 years. Israel desires peace agreements with "all of its neighbors," Netanyahu told his weekly Cabinet meeting.  MORE
Southern Baptists Ask Obama to Help 10 Missionaries in Haiti
Leaders of the Southern Baptist Convention, the nation’s largest Protestant denomination, have asked President Obama to “do everything within the authority of your office” to free the American missionary team charged with abduction in Haiti. In a letter dated Feb. 5, the leaders said it is “the consuming passion” of Southern Baptists to share the good news with the world and to “love every person He has created.”   MORE
City Officials Under Fire for Pro-Christian Comments
Two city officials in a California town are being targeted for possible hate crimes over comments they made recently about the Christian and Muslim faiths. Speaking to a group of Christian ministers on January 27, Lancaster Mayor R. Rex Parris stated: "We are growing Christian community -- and don't let anybody shy away from that." And Councilwoman Sherry Marquez has been criticized for posting biblical references on her Facebook site encouraging Christians to defend themselves -- along with quotes from Muslim leaders exhorting followers to convert the world to Islam..   MORE
North Korea Frees Christian Activist; Park Arrives in Beijing 
North Korea made good on its word and freed American Christian activist Robert Park, who arrived in Beijing Saturday.  A spokesperson for the United States Embassy said Park would fly to the United States later that day. Park, 28, had been held by North Korea since late December after he crossed the frozen Tumen River on Christmas Day and entered without permission. The Christian activist from Tucson, Ariz., said he wanted to draw international attention to the human  rights abuse in North Korea.  MORE
Bible Prophecy Today: Mark Hitchcock Discusses the USA in Ezekiel 38-39
Mark Hitchcock is a leading Bible prophecy expert, prolific author who has penned over 20 books on the end times, senior pastor of Faith Bible Church located in Oklahoma, and adjunct faculty member of the Dallas Theological Seminary. He is also a much in demand speaker at Bible prophecy conferences all over the nation. Dr. Hitchcock was invited to answer questions based on his book The Late Great United States.    MORE
Evangelicals Band Together to Keep Gospel Alive in PC(USA) 
Evangelicals in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) have banded together and committed themselves to hold to the biblical faith as their denomination continues to "stumble," as they put it. With the PC(USA) losing churches and conservatives beginning to feel like they have no voice in the denomination, remaining evangelicals will support one another with the formation of the Biblical Presbyterian Network.   MORE
Air Force Pagan Circle Invites God's Judgment, Says Pastor 
A new Earth-centered worship area at the Air Force Academy has generated wide attention and discussion over religious freedom and political correctness.  While officers say the site for pagans, Wiccans, Druids and other Earth-centered believers is in congruence with their duty to defend freedom for all Americans, including the freedom to practice religion, one Baptist pastor condemned it as idolatry. "What we label today as 'pluralism,' God called 'idolatry,'" said Dr. Robert Jeffress, pastor of First Baptist Church of Dallas...   MORE
String of Texas Church Arsons Worry Congregations
Eight Texas churches barely 150 miles apart have caught fire since New Year's Day, putting pastors and congregations on edge and on guard wondering whether theirs is next. Authorities determined seven of those fires were intentionally set and they are investigating one that broke out Thursday as a possible arson. There have been no reported injuries or arrests, and federal officials aren't saying whether...    MORE
Egyptian Christians Call for Right to Build Churches
Egyptian activists have protested in front of parliament and called for legislation giving Christians equal rights as Muslims to build houses of worship. The demonstrators, both Muslim and Christian, were also protesting Wednesday against sectarian strains in the country, particularly in light of a Christmas Eve slaying of six Coptic Christians and a Muslim guard outside a church in southern Egypt.   MORE
Guidelines Approved for Teaching Bible In TN Public Schools
Tennessee's state Board of Education has approved guidelines on how to teach the Bible in public high schools despite concern that the curriculum could be challenged in court. Legislation approved in 2008 authorized a course for a "nonsectarian, nonreligious academic study of the Bible" in public schools.   MORE
Bible Prophecy Today: Playtime for Kids and It's Called Divination
...now Toys-R-Us has a cute little pink Ouija board and one that glows in the dark, both marketed for children. They advertise that kids as young as 8 need to have these new sorcery objects! (Well, they don't call them "sorcery objects" but the Bible does.) I know it is billed as a "toy" but I have enough personal experience that I can tell you it is blatant divination.  MORE
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Update for February 6th-7th, 2010
Obama Uses Prayer Breakfast To Call For Civility, Cooperation
President Barack Obama preached politics – the importance of “civility” in the public square and finding common ground – at the National Prayer Breakfast in Washington on Thursday. He mentioned health care several times. Bemoaning the “erosion of civility in the public square,” Obama said it “sows division and distrust among our citizens; it poisons the well of public opinion; it leaves each side little room to negotiate with the other; it makes politics an all-or-nothing sport, where one side is either always right or always wrong, when in reality, neither side has a monopoly on truth.” Obama said in those conditions, it’s easy to “lose sight” of hungry children, homeless men, and “families without health care.” Through faith and prayer, “We need to find our way back to civility,” Obama said, adding that such a move begins with “stepping out of our comfort zones” to bridge divisions. MORE
Attorney says U.S. Baptists Charged In Haitian Child Case
Ten Americans detained in Haiti for trying to take 33 children out of the country after the earthquake were charged with child kidnapping and criminal association on Thursday, their Haitian lawyer said. Edwin Coq said that a judge found sufficient evidence to file charges against the Americans, who were arrested Friday at Haiti's border with the Dominican Republic. Coq attended Thursday's hearing and has represented the entire group in Haiti. The U.S. citizens, most of them members of an Idaho-based church group, were whisked away from the closed court hearing to jail in Port-au-Prince, the capital. One of them, Laura Silsby, waved and smiled faintly to reporters... MORE
Survey Says Churches, Ministers Are Not the Friendliest Places
Less than 18 percent of Americans say the church is the friendliest place in town, a recent survey reveals. Though the church is ranked second behind "my home," which 35 percent of Americans listed, Group Publishing – which commissioned the survey – says the low number indicates that what is generally considered to be one of the safest havens in the world isn't seen as that friendly by most Americans. Even among self-declared Christians, less than a quarter named the church as the friendliest place. Even fewer non-Christians, 7 percent, agreed. With attendance across churches in the U.S. declining, Christians can't really afford not to be friendly, said Amy Nappa, who leads Group for Women's... MORE
Air Conditioning Hell: How Liberalism Happens
Theological liberals do not intend to destroy Christianity, but to save it. As a matter of fact, theological liberalism is motivated by what might be described as an apologetic motivation. The pattern of theological liberalism is all too clear. Theological liberals are absolutely certain that Christianity must be saved…from itself. The classic liberals of the early twentieth century, often known as modernists, pointed to a vast intellectual change in the society and ...  MORE
Two Men Preaching Religion Shot To Death in Florida Town
Jeriah Woody executed two men who made the mistake of preaching religion to the 18-year-old, a witness has told police.  Woody, who turned himself in to Boynton Beach police Wednesday, is charged with two counts of first-degree murder in the Saturday night deaths of Stephen Ocean, 23, and Tite Sufra, 24, near the Boynton Beach city library.  He was expected to be taken to the Palm Beach County Jail later today and have a bond hearing Thursday.  MORE
‘"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life."  John 3:16 
On January 26th, 2005 a California train derailed, killing 11 people and injuring over 200.  One of those 200 was a 44 year old man named John Phipps.  His story is the basis for this message. Phipps was the man who, though pinned in the wreckage of the train, scrawled a message in his own blood to his wife and kids.  As he regained consciousness, he felt his head and body and saw he was bleeding profusely.  An upended train seat sat right above him, and thinking he might be dying, wrote this message: "I (heart symbol) my kids.  I (heart symbol) Leslie."  Later he said, "It wasn't a cons- cious thought.  I've always told my wife and kids I loved them, and it just happen- ed.  I didn't plan it.  I didn't say I have to leave a last word.  I just wrote it without thinking." 
His rescuers came on the scene minutes later and saw the message.  Fire Captain Robert Rosario said, "I've seen some gruesome things on this job, but that moved me.  My only thought was, I have to get that seat to his wife and kids."  His wife said about the message, "Hallmark is never going to top that.  It's moving, it's thoughtful and chilling all at the same time." 
The story of John Phipps and his message written in his own blood is a moving one, especially at this time in which we celebrate human love, Valen- tine's Day.  There is another moving love story written in blood, one I want us to consider now.  That love is the love of Jesus Christ for a lost world.   MORE
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Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you:  For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.  Mat. 7:7-8
What makes a prayer really a prayer?  The saying of it?  Or the hearing of it?  Or is it the answering of it?  Most Christians pray superficial and shallow prayers.  We pray like children in a sandbox throwing up sand toward the sky.  Our prayers today may be exactly the opposite tomorrow.  The lyrics to a country song: Sometimes I thank God for unanswered prayers; Remember when you're talkin' to the man upstairs; That just because he doesn't answer doesn't mean he don't care; Some of God's greatest gifts are unanswered prayers. 
Sadly, those song lyrics are true for many Christians.  Something is wrong with our prayers.  Iam not saying our prayers will unlock the vaults of Heaven and give us prosperity and health. Prayer is not a mystical gift which binds the hands of God to do as we wish.  Prayer is the communi- cation between a Father and  His child.  Jesus Himself prayed constantly as an illustration to us. And He taught on prayer to help us understand & answer... MORE
Theologian: Most Christians Infected with Prosperity Gospel
Most professing Christians in America are infected with at least some measure of the health and wealth gospel, said one theologian. That is, believers have no concept of a love and a joy that does not eliminate hardship and heartache, Sam Storms of Bridgeway Church in Oklahoma City said at a pastors conference this week. "For most professing believers if God is love He must promise to minimize my struggles and maximize my pleasure," he lamented. Many believe it's their spiritual birthright to experience comfort and prosperity and that it's God divine obligation to provide it. It's a disease that's rampant in the culture and in the church. MORE
U.S. Church: Our Team Was 'Falsely Arrested' in Haiti
A Baptist church in Idaho whose members were detained in Haiti for attempting to move children to the Dominican Republic said Sunday that its team was “falsely arrested” and it is working to “clear up the misunderstanding.” A ten-member team from several Baptist churches in the United States was arrested by Haitian officials Saturday after trying to take 33 children across the border to the Dominican Republic. The church members say they are bringing the children to an orphanage where they will be given medical and emotional care. MORE
Brits 'Waking Up' to Islamic Influence
A British-born scholar who now lives in Jerusalem says the British government is finally starting to take steps to stem the tide of Islamic expansion that has led to home-grown anti-Semitism, much of which has been driven by radical Islam. Recently the British government banned an Islamic group notorious for glorifying al-Qaeda and tied to terror plots both in Britain and abroad. Members of the cell were reportedly involved in the July 7, 2005, London  bombings.  MORE
Parents Convicted in Botched Faith Healing of Son
A Clackamas County, Ore., jury found a faith healing couple guilty of criminally negligent homicide for failing to seek medical help for their son. Jeff and Marci Beagley were convicted Tuesday, nearly two years after their 16-year-old son, Neil, died. When Neil grew sick in 2008, the parents called family members and friends to lay their hands on him and pray for healing. Marci on Friday testified that her son said he didn't need to or want to go to the doctor.  MORE
First Openly Gay Episcopal Bishop Says St. Paul Was Condemning Homosexual Acts by Heterosexuals
In a section of his New Testament letter to the Romans (1:22-27) dealing with God’s admonitions against same-sex relations, St. Paul was actually writing about heterosexuals who engage in same-sex acts and not homosexuals, said  the Rt. Rev. V. Gene Robinson, the first openly gay bishop in the Episcopal church. “We have to understand that the notion of a homosexual sexual orientation is a notion that’s only about 125 years old," Bishop Robinson told CNSNews.com. "That is to say, St. Paul was talking about people that he understood to be heterosexual engaging in same-sex acts.  It never occurred to anyone in ancient times that... ” MORE
Boehner Says Obama Adviser Appears to be ‘Anti-Catholic Bigot’ 
House Minority Leader John Boehner said today that Harry Knox, who serves on President Barack Obama's faith-based advisory council, appears to be an "anti-Catholic bigot" and should resign. Earlier this week, Knox said he stood by a statement he made last year that Pope Benedict XVI is “hurting people in the name of Jesus” because the pope does not support promoting the use of condoms as a means to stem the spread of HIV.  MORE
Mich. Pastors File Suit Against Expanded Hate Crimes Law
Four Christians on Tuesday filed a federal lawsuit challenging the recently enacted Hate Crimes Prevention Act, arguing that it seeks to criminalize deeply held religious beliefs that are in opposition to homosexuality. The new law, the lawsuit contends, "is an effort to eradicate religious beliefs opposing the homosexual agenda from the marketplace of ideas by demonizing, vilifying, and criminalizing such beliefs as a matter of federal law and policy."MORE
American Thinker: What's Wrong with Celebrating Life?
University of Florida quarterback Tim Tebow hasn't even made it to the NFL yet, but he is going to be a star of the Super Bowl. The Heisman Trophy-winning passer for the Florida Gators is the first college football player to both rush and pass for twenty touchdowns in a season, and he is the first sophomore to win the highly coveted trophy. Nevertheless, his recent fame comes from an ad that will be placed among dozens of others during one of the most popular...  MORE
Update for February 3rd-4th, 2010
AP: Haitian Official Insists American Baptists Be Prosecuted
Haiti's prime minister says it's clear to him that the ten U.S. Baptists who tried to take 33 children out of his quake-ravaged country without permission "knew what they were doing was wrong." But Prime Minister Max Bellerive says his country is open to having the Americans go before courts in the United States because Haiti's judicial system was devastated by the Jan. 12 earthquake. The purported Baptist "rescue mission" has become a distraction for a crippled government trying to provide basic life support to millions of earthquake survivors. But Bellerive said some legal system must determine whether the Americans were acting in good faith as they claim or are child traffickers in a nation that has struggled to fight exploitation of children. MORE
Televangelist Kenneth Copeland Blasted for 'Unfulfilled Promises'
Kenneth Copeland Ministries is under fire, mainly by one man, for failing to fly disaster relief supplies to Haiti's earthquake victims after allegedly promising aviation assistance during such crises.  The international organization, which is also under scrutiny by the Senate Finance Comm- ittee for possible abuse of its nonprofit status, has been accused of "unfulfilled" pledges and unaccounted donations.  "While there is a huge crisis going on in the nation of Haiti right now Kenneth Copeland's promised Angel Flight 44 ministry is nowhere to be found and the money he collected to start that ministry has not been accounted for," Rich Vermillion, co-author of Angel Flight 44, charges. Angel Flight 44 was birthed in 2006 during the Southwest Believer's Convention. Vermillion, Glen Hyde (co-author) and Kenneth Copeland announced in a live... MORE
Protestant Pastors Name Graham Most Influential Living Preacher
He has preached the gospel to more than 200 million people in 185 lands and, at 91, still maintains that his one purpose in life is "to help people find a personal relationship with God, which, I believe, comes through knowing Christ."  Billy Graham, whose crusade in Los Angeles in 1949 vaulted him into the public square, is far and away the top living preacher that has most influenced Protestant pastors, according to a recent survey... MORE
U.S. Air Force Creates Wiccan Worship Space
The U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado will set aside a worship space for followers of "Earth- centered" religions such as Wicca and Druidism, according to an Air Force news release. A stone circle atop a hill on the base in Colorado Springs will likely be dedicated in a ceremony March 10, according to the release, and be available to cadets and other service members who live in the area. The base already has worship spaces for others...  MORE
Climate Researchers Manipulated and Hid Data
Climate-gate has struck again: A new investigation reveals crucial flaws in data about climate change, as well as attempts by leading researchers to cover up their own mistakes. The study by London paper The Guardian relies upon e-mails leaked by hackers from the University of East Anglia's climatic research unit (CRU). The paper found serious flaws in measurements from Chinese weather stations, noting that documents from them could not be produced.   MORE
Pentagon Moves to Repeal 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' Policy
Defense Secretary Robert Gates announced Tuesday that the Pentagon has begun the process to repeal the “don't ask, don't tell” policy that bars homosexuals from openly serving in the military. Gates told members of the Senate Armed Services Committee that the policy will take over a year to repeal because the Pentagon is looking at various options in order to “get this right and minimize disruption to a force that is actively fighting two wars and working through the stress of almost a decade of combat.”   MORE
Churches Tread Lightly with Super Bowl Viewing Parties
As the New Orleans Saints get ready to battle it out with the Indianapolis Colts this weekend, churches are being cautious with their Super Bowl viewing parties to avoid copyright infringement. And they're starting by leaving "Super Bowl" out of their event title. Fall Creek Baptist Church is calling their annual event the "Big Game Bash," three years after the Indianapolis church was warned by the National Football League to cancel their Super Bowl viewing party.  MORE
Witnessing at the Mall Becomes a Crime?
A California court has ruled in favor of a mall in a free-speech case. rad Dacus of Pacific Justice Institute (PJI) tells OneNewsNow about the 2007 case, which the Institute now plans to take to the California Court of Appeal. "A youth minister in Roseville, California, decided that he wanted to share the gospel with people in a shopping mall," the attorney explains. "However, he was initially arrested and removed from the [Roseville Galleria Mall] because the shopping mall has a policy that forbids any discussions of faith with anyone else in the shopping mall unless you directly knew them prior to the visit to the shopping mall." MORE
Sharper Iron: What Is The New Spirituality?
The New Spirituality is a paradigm for devotion and spiritual formation that utilizes forms and approaches originating from the Bible and from traditions and sources other than the Bible. It emphasizes individual autonomy and focuses on experience rather than on indoctrination. It is rooted in mysticism and the occult but often wrapped in Christian terminology. The premise of The New Spirituality is pantheistic (God is all) and panentheistic (God is in all). MORE
Leftist Version of National Prayer Breakfast Formed
Pro-gay activists and church leaders are touting an alternative "inclusive" prayer event to this year's National Prayer Breakfast. Called "The American Prayer Hour," the event on Feb. 4 is being held in protest of Uganda's Anti-Homosexuality Bill. Organizers claim that the "secretive fundamentalist organization" – The Fellowship Foundation, also known as The Family – behind the annual National Prayer Breakfast is directly tied to the bill.   MORE
Medical Journal Retracts Study Linking Autism To Vaccine
The medical journal The Lancet on Tuesday retracted a controversial 1998 paper that linked the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine to autism. MORE
Church Bells at Center of Legal Scuffles
Alliance Defense Fund (ADF) has argued two cases involving a Phoenix noise ordinance, one in federal court and the other in state. Erik Stanley, the ADF attorney handling the cases, argues in federal court that the law is unconstitutional and in state court that the conviction and jail sentence of Bishop Rick Painter of Christ the King Liturgical Charismatic Church should be overturned. MORE
New Study Shows Merits of Abstinence Education
A new study gives proponents of abstinence education ammunition in the struggle to receive federal funding for abstinence-centered education. MORE
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