Blog

They said to us: "Teacher With Bible Divides Ohio Town"

Thu, 21 Jan 2010 08:12:00 -0500

Most people in this quiet all-American town describe themselves as devoutly Christian, but even here they are deeply divided over what should happen to John Freshwater.

Mr. Freshwater, an eighth-grade public school science teacher, is accused of burning a cross onto the arms of at least two students and teaching creationism, charges he says have been fabricated because he refused an order by his principal to remove a Bible from his desk.

After an investigation, school officials notified Mr. Freshwater in June 2008 of their intent to fire him, but he asked for a pre-termination hearing, which has lasted more than a year and cost the school board more than a half-million dollars.

The hearing is finally scheduled to end Friday, and a verdict on Mr. Freshwater’s fate is expected some months later. But the town — home to about 15,000 people, more than 30 churches and an evangelical university — remains split.

READ more at: nytimes.com/2010/01/20/education/20teacher.html

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They said: "Over 40 Killed After Attack On Nigeria Church"

Tue, 19 Jan 2010 06:52:00 -0500

Over 40 people have been killed in the Nigerian city of Jos in the country's Plateau State, after around 200 Muslim youths attacked Christians near a Catholic Church sparking retaliatory violence, Christian rights investigators said Monday, January 18.

Advocacy group Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW), which has closely monitored the situation, quoted local sources as saying the Muslim mob gathered near a house next to St. Michael’s Catholic Church owned by a Muslim man who allegedly murdered three Christians during violence in Jos North in November 2008.

The youths reportedly launched an unprovoked assault on a female passer-by before attacking St Michael’s Church, killing and injuring several members. They also set fire to a score of local houses and businesses and churches, including a Christ Apostolic Church and an ECWA Church (Evangelical Church of West Africa) in Dutse Uku and another ECWA Church in Rikkos, CSW told Worthy News and its partner agency BosNewsLife.

Angered by the violence, Christian youths gathered to launch a counter attack, and the violence soon spread to other areas of Jos North, the group added.

READ more at: worthynews.com/7364-news-alert-over-40-killed-after-attack-on-nigeria-church

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"Polygamist leader suing B.C. government"

Thu, 14 Jan 2010 09:00:00 -0500

Winston Blackmore, the leader of a polygamous community in southeastern British Columbia who has admitted to having multiple wives, is suing the provincial government for violating his rights when he was charged last year.

Mr. Blackmore and James Oler, both leaders of separate factions in Bountiful, B.C., were arrested in January 2009 and each charged with practising polygamy, two decades after police first starting looking into the community near the United States border.

The charges were thrown out last fall after the men's lawyers successfully argued in court that the decision of a previous special prosecutor not to lay charges was final.

READ more at: theglobeandmail.com/news/national/british-columbia/polygamist-leader-suing-bc-government/article1430320/

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Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly

Tue, 12 Jan 2010 09:06:00 -0500

Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work. As it is written: 'He has scattered abroad his gifts to the poor; his righteousness endures forever.' 2 Corinthians 9:6-9 NIV.

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"If it is worth prayer for...worth writing down."

Sun, 10 Jan 2010 10:02:00 -0500

"If it is worth prayer for, it certainly is worth writing down."

Habakkuk 2:2 ". . . write the vision and make it plain upon tables that he may run that readeth it." (KJV)

Thank you for your robust response to the SPIRAL BOUND 3" x 5" index cards. They must be "spiral bound" and are easily attainable at any office supply store or Walmart. Some are even color coded for various groups you chose to pray for.

Write it down the prophet says! Place your vision on a tablet. Dream a little when you do for God is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all we can ask or think. Dream for yourself what God might do through you, family, and your local church.

There are usually 50 cards in the spiral bound cards by Oxford. Jot down your top 50 prayer requests for 2010, and allow yourself some time for this. It may be April before your cards are filled. As we have mentioned these are highly portable.

Don't crowd the card with too much information so that your needs are easily legible as you pray through them. At times, you will desire to place only one name on a card because of the emphasis in prayer needed that for that individual.

What an awesome prayer army you are! Keep it up and let us hear from you!

Blessings in 2010!

Thomas Suey - www.wnop.org

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"Can Megachurches Bridge the Racial Divide?"

Sat, 09 Jan 2010 05:31:00 -0500

One Sunday last fall, Bill Hybels, founder and senior pastor at the Willow Creek Community Church in Chicago's northwest suburbs, was preaching on the logic and power of Jesus' words "Love thine enemy." As is his custom, Hybels was working a small semicircle of easels arrayed behind his lectern, reinforcing key phrases. Hybels' preaching is economical, precise of tone and gesture. Again by custom, he was dressed in black, which accentuated his pale complexion, blue eyes and hair, once Dutch-boy blond but now white. Indeed, if there is a whiter preacher currently running a megachurch, that man must glow.

READ more at: time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1950943,00.html

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"Walk of shame"

Thu, 07 Jan 2010 07:14:00 -0500

The proposed Islamist march at Wootton Bassett is an offensive notion, but should not be banned. The test for a fair society is how it deals with that which it dislikes.

The phenomenon of Wootton Bassett is something both remarkable and precious. So evocative are the scenes in this small Wiltshire town that it is inevitable that some will seek to exploit them for political ends.

Nick Griffin of the British National Party did just that in November. Now it is the turn of Anjem Choudary, the equally unlovely spokesman of Islam4UK, a web-based front for the banned Islamic extremist group al-Muhajiroun. He has announced his intention to lead a procession through the town, carrying empty coffins to symbolise Afghan Muslims killed in the conflict.

This is a shameful ambition. Just down the road from RAF Lyneham, Wootton Bassett has become a place of compassion, not of politics. The coffins that pass through this town are not symbolic, but filled with the very real bones, flesh and blood of young British men slain in Afghanistan. Their relatives stand and watch, alongside fellow soldiers; locals and visiting wellwishers line the streets.

READ more at: timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/leading_article/article6977040.ece

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