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(26 May) Ireland's vote to legalize abortion is "a tragedy of historic proportions."
Irish citizens voted on Friday, 25 May, to repeal the 8th amendment to their constitution, thus legalizing abortion and ending Ireland's legacy as one of the world's most pro-life nations. The votes were still being officially counted on Saturday, but the pro-abortion campaign is declaring victory and pro-lifers are calling this a "tragedy of historic proportions."
"The 8th amendment did not create a right to life for the unborn child – it merely acknowledged that such a right exists, has always existed, and will always exist," the pro-life Save the 8th campaign said in a statement. "What Irish voters did yesterday is a tragedy of historic proportions. However, a wrong does not become right simply because a majority support it." read more...
As the U.S. Declaration of Independence states, "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, and they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights. Among these are the rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." The very first and most fundamental human right is the Right to Life, for without life our liberty and happiness cannot exist. It is granted to all humans by God our Creator, not by the state: the state must merely recognize this right. When the citizens vote down the Right to Life, they are not cancelling out this God-given right. Instead, they are misusing the pursuit of "happiness" (pleasure) and the right of liberty to wrongly choose against the Right to Life. We have a right to be wrong, but that doesn't make wrong right.
Our first news article below UKRAINE WANTS TO CUT TIES WITH THE RUSSIAN ORTHODOX CHURCH — HERE'S WHY clearly points out the reason why the Moscow Patriarchate is trying so hard to keep its Ukrainian branch under its wings: "Without control over Ukraine, the Moscow Patriarchate wouldn't be the biggest Orthodox church," said Archbishop Zoria of the Kyivan Patriarchate. "And the Russian Church would lose the basis of its vision to be the center of world Orthodoxy." Even though Ukraine has just one-third the population compared to Russia, the Ukrainians are much more religious than the Russians and constitute fully half of all "Russian" Orthodox churches. If Ukraine's Orthodox were to be granted autocephaly, the Russian Orthodox Church would be cut down to half the size it is today.
If you go to the link in UZBEKISTAN: CRIMINAL PROSECUTION FOLLOWS EASTER WORSHIP MEETING, the second news article below, you'll see it states: "Congregations of the Baptist Council of Churches meet for worship without seeking state permission, as is their right under international human rights law." This policy of theirs dates back to the 1960s when Soviet authorities in charge of religious affairs demanded full cooperation from church leaders if they wanted to be registered with the state and avoid some persecution, but this meant no evangelism or religious instruction of their own children. So a large number of Baptist churches refused registration so they could continue evangelizing and teaching their children the faith. These "unregistered Baptists" disregard not only government requirements of registration, they also flout other laws such as international copyright law by republishing copyrighted Christian literature without permission.
The First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution declares that the state must not impose an institution of religion (a state church) and guarantees the freedom to exercise one's religion. With the rise of Marxism in the East and secularism in the West, however, these rights have been redefined as "separation of church and state" (a phrase nowhere stated in the U.S. Constitution or the Bill of Rights, but written into the Soviet Constitution) meaning the exclusion of religion from the public square, as well as the free exercuse of one's religion being restricted to stated times of worship confined within the four walls of a church building.
This means that the state takes over the education of our children (no religious education allowed in public schools and universities; instead, a harshly anti-religious atmosphere). And the state takes control of the medical system and caring for the poor. Churches have thus abdicated their social responsibilities - "we pay our taxes and let the government do it." But this has made the Church increasingly irrelevant in society. We need mediating structures like the Church, voluntary associations such as the YMCA and Kiwanis, and the extended family.
Marxism in the East and secularism in the West, though, have made these mediating structures either illegal or irrelevant, co-opting them into the system of state control. Churches are afraid to speak out against immoral politicians for fear of losing their tax-exempt status. Once-Christian groups like the YMCA are forced to accept the LGBTQ ideology so they won't have their funding from United Way cut. Extended families often don't take care of sick and elderly relatives because Medicare and Medicaid will pay for it. Here is Rod Dreher's penetrating analysis of this in Christian Ghost Factories & Zombie Mills:
"The thing is, mediating structures do us no good if they don’t actually mediate life-changing grace and truth. So many of our churches are meet-up places for Moralistic Therapeutic Deists — and we Christians want them to be. Our Christian schools are about preparing middle-class conformists who go to church on Sunday, but who in most ways that count, live no different from anybody else. Almost all of us Christians — I’m looking in the mirror here — are complicit in this. We have to do better.
"Protecting the possibility of creating those mediating structures is very important. But what worries me, as a Christian, more than that is that we Christians have more liberty than we’ll ever have again to create those structures right now, and we’re not doing it. Building something that looks like a car doesn’t mean the thing can be driven, and counted on to get you where you need to go.
"A mind and a soul without a body is a ghost. The emerging secular culture would rather us be ghosts: holding certain beliefs, but not incarnating them in any meaningful way, at least not in a meaningful way that contradicts what the overculture desires. Churches and Christians schools that do not transform their people in concrete ways are ghost factories.
"But a body without a mind and a soul is a zombie. Churches and Christian schools that do not transform their people spiritually and morally in meaningful ways are zombie mills.
"We Christians must be neither ghosts nor zombies.
This is hard. I personally know pastors and Christian educators who are doing their best to lead in this way, but are discouraged. Why? You can’t lead if you don’t have people willing to follow. The truth is, most of us want church, Christian schools, and other mediating institutions, to comfort us, but not to challenge us, much less to convert us."
What can we do about it? Please see our Brief Overview of Agape Restoration Communities: I'm working on plans for a structure about 1/4th the size (and cost!) of the one illustrated in this overview, so stay tuned....
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NOW, THE NEWS:
UKRAINE WANTS TO CUT TIES WITH THE RUSSIAN ORTHODOX CHURCH — HERE'S WHY
by David Stern: Euronews
(14 May) Ukrainian officials have petitioned Orthodox Christian leaders to allow them to create a national church independent from Russia — in a bid to end more than 300 years of Moscow's influence over religious affairs in their country. To the plan's supporters, this creation of an "autocephalous" church would be a major step in Kyiv’s campaign to break free from Russian hegemony.
"We see the restoration of neo-imperial ideas in Moscow," said Archbishop Yevstraty Zoria, spokesperson for the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Kyivan Patriarchate, to Euronews. But critics warn that such a move would risk greater division in Ukraine and throughout the Orthodox world. Religion is a serious, and somewhat confusing, business in Ukraine. More than two-thirds of the population follows the Orthodox liturgy, which plays a central role in the country’s public life and self-image.
Ukrainians have three Orthodox churches to choose from (and one confession, the Greek Catholics, who follow the Eastern liturgy, but profess loyalty to the Vatican). Only one of the Orthodox churches is considered "official," however: the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate, which functions as an autonomous jurisdiction within the Russian Orthodox Church.
"Without control over Ukraine, the Moscow Patriarchate wouldn't be the biggest Orthodox church," said Archbishop Zoria of the Kyivan Patriarchate. "And the Russian Church would lose the basis of its vision to be the center of world Orthodoxy." The situation is comparable to the breakup of the Soviet Union, he added. "Without Ukraine, the Soviet Union was no longer a superpower." [read more...]
UZBEKISTAN: CRIMINAL PROSECUTION FOLLOWS EASTER WORSHIP MEETING
by Mushfig Bayram: Forum 18 News Service
(24 May) Uzbek police have threatened members of a Baptist Church in Urgench [Urgench] in the north-western Khorezm Region of Uzbekistan with criminal prosecution. The threats followed raids by officers of the police Department for the Struggle with Extremism and Terrorism on successive Sundays in April on the Church's Sunday meetings for worship. The first raid was on the day the Church celebrated Easter.
On 8 April police disrupted the Baptists' shared meal to celebrate Easter. During the 15 April raid, officers confiscated Christian books and materials, detained and brought some church members to a police station, questioned them, and warned them that a criminal case would be opened against them.
Also, on 15 April the State Security Service (SSS) secret police and ordinary police raided the Sunday meeting for worship of a Baptist Church in Mubarek in the southern Kashkadarya Region of Uzbekistan. Police filmed and questioned church members, and illegally confiscated religious literature without a warrant. A court later fined two church members without any proper hearing or due process, including one Baptist who complained about the police's illegal actions. [read more...]
POPE FRANCIS BLESSED UKRAINIAN SOLDIERS-PILGRIMS AND SAID HE PRAYS FOR PEACE IN UKRAINE
from: Religious Information Service of Ukraine
(23 May) During the general audience on 23 May, Pope Francis greeted the Ukrainian soldiers who completed their pilgrimage to Lourdes and blessed them. "Pope Francis blessed the Ukrainian warriors. Today at the general audience he greeted the participants of 60th International military pilgrimage to Lourdes May 17-22," said military chaplain Ukrainian Greek Catholic priest Stepan Sus. "I constantly pray the Lord may heal the wounds inflicted by war and grant his peace to beloved Ukraine," said the Pope.
As RISU informed, the 60th International Military Pilgrimage was held in Lourdes, France. This year's delegation of military pilgrims from Ukraine was the most numerous in all years and reached 200 people. As part of the delegation there were: servicemen of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, the National Guard of Ukraine, the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine, soldiers injured during the war, women who lost their husbands.
Cadets and orchestra of the National Academy of Ground Forces named after P. Sagaidachny also came to Lourdes. This military team visited the international pilgrimage event for the first time. By the way, the Ukrainian military orchestra participated in the solemn opening ceremony of the 60th International Military Pilgrimage. [read more...]
CHRISTIANS OF SOVIET TIMES SHOWED AN EXAMPLE OF UNCOMPROMISING FAITH, BENEDICT XVI BELIEVES
from: Interfax-Religion
(24 May) Former Pope of Rome Benedict XVI highly praised the heroism of Russian Christians after the October Revolution.
"With special gratitude we commemorate all priests and ordinary believers who in the period of atheistic dictate, sparing no effort, violating bans and being subjected to persecutions gathered every Sunday to celebrate the Sacrament of the Eucharist," Benedict XVI wrote in his message read out at the presentation of Russian edition of his book Theology of the Liturgy in Moscow.
According to him, thus Christians of the persecuted Church showed "beauty, transparency, irresistible attraction of the faith."
"These Christians, more than anyone else, witnessed to the source of true, hot, breathtaking, unconditional, uncompromising, unbiased, unambiguous faith, that has the courage to expose dialectical games and call things by their proper names," Benedict XVI asserted. [read more...]
GUNMEN ATTACK CHURCH IN RUSSIA'S CHECHNYA REGION, KILLING THREE
from: New York Times
(19 May) Four gunmen stormed a church in Russia’s predominantly Muslim region of Chechnya on Saturday, killing at least one churchgoer and two police officers, according to authorities.
All the attackers were killed in an exchange of gunfire with the police at the Archangel Michael Church in the center of Grozny, the capital, according to the Investigative Committee of Russia, an internal security agency.
The gunmen initially took hostages, the leader of Chechnya, Ramzan Kadyrov, said, adding that the assailants were armed with knives, hatchets and homemade explosives as well. It was not immediately clear whether there was any link between the attackers and extremist groups. But Chechnya has experienced attacks by Islamist extremists before, including those who pledged allegiance to the Islamic State.
Women and men from majority Muslim areas of Russia, including Chechnya, have traveled to Syria and Iraq to fight alongside the Islamic State there, and dozens have begun to return as the group has lost most of its territory. [read more...]
RUSSIA: WILL CONSTITUTIONAL COURT REDUCE "ANTI-MISSIONARY" PROSECUTIONS?
by Victoria Arnold: Forum 18 News Service
(14 May) Lawyers have cautiously welcomed a March Constitutional Court ruling, hoping it will reduce "missionary activity" prosecutions. However, the first case seeking compensation for an unjustified "missionary activity" prosecution failed. Glorification Pentecostal Church's case against Krasnoyarsk Regional Prosecutor's Office and Russia's General Prosecutor was rejected.
As both Russian and foreign citizens continue to be prosecuted for unlawful "missionary activity", victims have lodged a number of legal challenges to the July 2016 "anti-missionary" amendment to the Religion Law and its associated Administrative Code Article 5.26, Parts 4 ("Russians conducting missionary activity"), and 5 ("Foreigners conducting missionary activity").
A Baptist pastor appealed to Russia's Constitutional Court seeking to question the assumptions inherent in the July 2016 amendment and the vague language in which it was written. The Court refused in March 2018 to consider his appeal, but issued a partial clarification of the amendment. This said that giving information about religious events would constitute an "offense" only if it was aimed at attracting people who are not already members of a religious organisation. [read more...]
OTHER NEWS HEADLINES:
RUSSIA USES CHURCH, FAR RIGHT FOR FOOTHOLD IN LEBANON
from Deutsche Welle
RUSSIAN BAPTIST UNION: GOOD FOR SURPRISES AFTER ALL
from Russian Evangelical Alliance
"ANYONE WHO HELPS THE UKRAINIAN SCHISMATICS IS AN ENEMY OF ALL ORTHODOX SLAVIC NATIONS" — PATRIARCH IRINEJ OF SERBIA IN MOSCOW
from Religious Information Service of Ukraine
SGA MAKES FILM TO RAISE AWARENESS FOR UKRAINE
from Mission Network News
FORMER POPE OF ROME IN HIS BOOK CRITICIZES NEW TRENDS IN CATHOLICISM - METROPOLITAN HILARION
from Interfax-Religion
WHO WOULD HEAD NEW UKRAINIAN ORTHODOX CHURCH?
from Religious Information Service of Ukraine
ARCHPRIEST NIKOLAY BALASHOV: THERE IS A CONSENSUS ON THE PRINCIPAL POINTS OF GRANTING AUTOCEPHALY
from Russian Orthodox Church - Moscow Patriarchate
CREATIVELY EQUIPPING THE NEXT GENERATION TO TRANSFORM THE WORLD
from Mission Eurasia
ONLY LOVE GIVES STRENGTH. PARENTS OF DISABLED CHILDREN ON LIFE AND EXPERIENCE
from Orthodox Christianity
RUSSIA'S CATHOLICS WEIGH THE BENEFITS OF VATICAN-ORTHODOX EXCHANGES
from NCROnline
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The Fire of Pentecost
In his article Come Holy Spirit! The Whole Church Needs a New Pentecost, Deacon Keith Fournier, a human rights lawyer and public policy advocate who served as the first and founding Executive Director of the American Center for Law and Justice in the 1990s, writes:
"On Pentecost the early followers of Jesus gathered as the Lord had instructed them. Why? To expect the fulfillment of the promise he had made to send the Holy Spirit. We refer to Pentecost as the birthday of the missionary church for a good reason. Their encounter with the Holy Spirit in the Upper Room changed them.
They were filled with the same Holy Spirit which raised Jesus from the dead. The Apostle Paul would later explain the experience. He was not at that first Pentecost. But he certainly experienced the same encounter, and came to know of its powerful, transformative effects! (Romans 8:11)"
Last Sunday, Western Christians celebrated Pentecost, and this Sunday, 27 May, Eastern Orthodox Christians will celebrate this Feast. But it is not merely a time to feast and party, Pentecost is a signal to get busy doing what Christ commanded: "All authority [exousia] has been given to me in heaven and on earth. Go, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to obey everything that I commanded you to do. Behold, I am with you always, even to the end of the age" (Mat. 28:18-20). Some translations say "power" instead of "authority," and "observe" instead of "obey," but in Acts 1:4-8 we read -
"Being assembled together with them, he [Jesus] charged them, 'Don't depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which you heard from Me. For John indeed baptized in water, but you will be baptized in the Holy Spirit not many days from now.' Therefore, when they had come together, they asked Him, 'Lord, are you now restoring the kingdom to Israel?' He said to them, 'It isn't for you to know times or seasons which the Father has set within His own authority. But you will receive power [dunamis] when the Holy Spirit has come upon you. You will be witnesses to me in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the uttermost parts of the earth.'"
Notice what Jesus foretold: they would receive the promise of the Father, the Holy Spirit. Then notice how the disciples totally missed the point, asking if now He was going to set up His kingdom on earth. Jesus replied: "It's none of your business to know" (exact translation from Russian!). Third, notice the difference between "power" in the Great Commission above and "power" here in Acts 1: the first is apostolic authority or the right to evangelize, baptize and make disciples, but without the second power, "dunamis" (from which we get the word dynamite), they didn't have the strength or ability to carry out their authority.
So many preachers today may be good Bible teachers, but they lack apostolic authority and/or "dunamis" power. They may teach good theology and think that by doing so they are making disciples, people who learn all the doctrines of the Christian Church. That's all well and good as far as it goes, but it doesn't go far enough. Jesus commanded the Apostles to make more disciples by teaching them to obey or fulfill or carry out "everything that I commanded you to do." What did He command His Apostles to do? Spread the Gospel! Heal the sick! Cleanse the lepers! Care for the poor!
Why isn't this happening today? It's because we have allowed the state to co-opt our Christian responsibilities to society. Instead, we are content to teach Bible stories and talk about loving God and neighbor and how God will comfort you when you're feeling down: nice warm-fuzzy "Moralistic Therapeutic Deism" (MTD). We are safe if we keep our beliefs to ourselves within the four walls of our churches, which makes us into harmless, toothless, paper tigers, irrelevant to the rest of the world.
Look what happened in Acts ch. 2:1-8 -
"Now when the day of Pentecost had come, they were all with one accord in one place. Suddenly there came from heaven a sound like the rushing of a mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. Tongues like fire appeared and were distributed to them, and one sat on each of them. They were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and began to speak with other languages, as the Spirit gave them the ability to speak. Now there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men, from every nation under heaven. When this sound was heard, the multitude came together, and were bewildered, because everyone heard them speaking in his own language. They were all amazed and marveled, saying to one another, "Behold, aren't all these who speak Galileans? How do we hear, everyone in our own native language?"
God poured out the Holy Spirit on the Apostles and they preached the Gospel in the native languages of all the Jews in the Dispersion who had come to Jerusalem for this feast following Passover. The "gift of tongues" is clearly the God-given ability to speak the Good News in human languages. I've experienced this several times, being able to speak and write songs and poetry in various foreign languages.
Later, when Peter and John healed a lame man in the Temple, they were called before the council: "Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, 'You rulers of the people, and elders of Israel, if we are examined today concerning a good deed done to a crippled man, by what means this man has been healed, be it known to you all, and to all the people of Israel, that in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead, in him does this man stand here before you whole'" (Acts 4:8-12. Here they didn't mince words; instead, they exercised their apostolic authority to preach and heal the sick.
Then Peter said - "'He is "the stone which was regarded as worthless by you, the builders, which has become the head of the corner." There is salvation in none other, for neither is there any other name under heaven, that is given among men, by which we must be saved!' Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and had perceived that they were unlearned and ignorant men, they marveled. They recognized that they had been with Jesus. Seeing the man who was healed standing with them, they could say nothing against it" (verses 11-14). The proof of the pudding, the formerly lame man, was standing right there!
Then the council of the Jewish leaders threatened them, telling them not to preach about Jesus and the resurrection, but Peter and John replied - "Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than to God, judge for yourselves, for we can't help telling the things which we saw and heard" (verses 19-20). They prayed - "'Now, Lord, look at their threats, and grant to your servants to speak your word with all boldness, while you stretch out your hand to heal; and that signs and wonders may be done through the name of your holy Servant Jesus.' When they had prayed, the place was shaken where they were gathered together. They were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and they spoke the word of God with boldness" (verses 29-31).
This is the very sort of Pentecostal power that we need today: the power to heal the sick and to speak the word of God with boldness!
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Please remember to pray for Christians in socialist countries, and for...
Your fellow-servants,
Bob & Cheryl
p.s. The Church is not a welfare program, it's more like an NFL team - No Free Lunch.
, 26-May 2018
