| Headlines for Wednesday, March 30th, 2011 |
PRACTICAL SHEPHERDING: The Preacher's Monday 'Hangover'
You may call it something different, but every pastor knows about it. It is the mental, emot- ional, and spiritual crash that takes place the next day (Monday) as a result of pouring your heart and soul out in the proclamation of God’s Word to God’s people the day before. Person- ally, it has affectionately become known as, “The Preaching Hangover.” There is no easy remedy, or quick fix to prevent it. MORE | SHARPER IRON: Disasters, Calamities and Evil in the World...Is God Asleep at the Switch?
...The earthquake and tsunami that hit Japan killed thousands and left multitudes in utter despair. Many of us are praying for the survivors and contributing toward relief to this once great nation now in shambles. This tragedy resurrects a question we have all heard time and time again, “How can a good God allow such things?” Locally, nearby tragedies involving our families or people we know bring direct grief into our lives... Some sufferings result from human choices. Others are considered “acts of God.” But we return to that well-worn refrain: “If God is good, if God is all-powerful, and God knows all things, why do seemingly random disasters take place?” Do they take God by surprise, as some assert? Has God created the universe and then taken leave, as some of our nation’s founders... MORE |
Future Apple iPods 'Could Be Charged By the Human Heart'
The human heartbeat could be used to power an ipod after scientists developed a tiny chip which uses the body's own movement to generate power. Scientists hope that as the nanotechnology used in the chip evolves, it could lead to electronics which don't require batteries or mains power. Hailed as a mile- stone, it can use tiny movements such as the pinch of a finger to generate power. The team, presenting their findings at the Nation- al Meeting & Exposition of the... MORE |  | J.E. DYER: Seeking Revival in the Face of Global Decline
I sense something of a developing attitude, if not of doom and gloom, at least of resignation regarding the events expected in the near future. As much as I believe that there are end times coming and that they are in God's hands, I cannot feel a sense of resignation about our present world. There are many left unsaved in it—indeed, many still unreached— and there are many expectant hearts, many who cry out to the Lord and call on His promises. MORE |
AP Fact Check Destroys Obama's Libya Speech
There may be less than meets the eye to Obama's statements Monday night that NATO is taking over from the U.S. in Libya and that U.S. action is limited to defending people under attack there. | Anti-Abortion Billboards Featuring Obama to Go Up in Chicago
The same pro-life group behind the controversial New York City billboard that was recently forcefully removed is putting up another attention-grabbing, anti-abortion ad in Chicago, this time featuring the likeness of President Barack Obama. | Two Indian Christians Languish in Saudi Prison
Friends and family of two Indian Christians arrested after a prayer meeting in Saudi Arabia in January have tried in vain to release... | 'Facebook Depression' Affecting Teens, Report Says
Youths who spend a lot of time on social media sites are at risk of "Facebook depression," a group of doctors say. | SHAWN GRAVES: Why There Are Still Atheists
...Spiegel points to research suggesting that some prominent atheists had broken, defective relationships with their fathers. Others live in perpetual disobedience and rebellion—resisting lifestyle changes required upon adopting theism. | France: Vegans Charged in Baby's Death
Two vegans who fed their 11-month-old daughter only mother's milk went on trial in northern France on Tuesday charged with neglect after their baby died suffering from vitamin deficiency. | Beyonce's Father to Focus on Christian Music
Beyonce’s music manager and father, Matthew Knowles, annou- nced that he will no longer represent his daughter. Knowles said he will be focusing on gospel and inspirational music |
| Probe Reveals Abortion Clinics Bloody, Horrific
Operation Rescue is seeking action against 12 abortionists in Texas, as well as their respective abortion clinics. | Christian NFL Player Tim Tebow to Model Underwear
NFL player Tim Tebow, known for being upfront about his Christian faith by writing biblical verses on his eye black and his wristband, will have his first commercial debut as an underwear model. | American Charter Schools In Turkey Tied to Muslim Group?
Federal agencies are reportedly investigating a large American charter school operation for possible financing of a Muslim movement in Turkey. | U.N. Demands Release of Missing Chinese Lawyer
A U.N. human rights agency has demanded that the Chinese government release Christian lawyer Gao Zhisheng, who has gone missing for nearly a year. | FIRST THINGS: Homeschooling Is About Freedom
...Some suddenly furrow their brows and purse their lips and declare their concerns about homeschooling, less often about the quality of the education as about the children’s “socialization.” | Atheist Hitchens Credits Evangelical For Cancer Hope
World famous atheist, Christopher Hitchens, made a surprising revelation recently that his former debate opponent, outspoken evangelical scientist Francis Collins, is behind a new experimental cancer treatment that he is using. | Church Elder Moves to Replace Jeffs
Jailed polygamous sect leader Warren Jeffs may no longer have control of his southern Utah-based church after a senior leader on Monday moved to replace him. |
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| Headlines for Tuesday, March 29th, 2011 |
Court To Decide If Teacher Can Sue Church School
The Supreme Court will decide whether a teacher at a church-run school is a religious or secular worker when it comes to the Americans with Disabilities Act. The court on Monday agreed to hear an appeal from Hosanna-Tabor Evangelical Lutheran Church and School of Redford, Mich. Cheryl Perich, a teacher and commissioned minister, got sick in 2004 but tried to return to work from disability leave despite being diagnosed with narcolepsy. She taught third and fourth graders The school said she couldn't return because they had hired a substitute for that year. They fired her after she showed up anyway and threatened to sue to get her job back. MORE | Iranian Video Says Muslim Messiah is 'Near'
New evidence has emerged that the Iranian government sees the current unrest in the Middle East as a signal that the Mahdi--or Islamic messiah--is about to appear. CBN News has obtained a never-before-seen video produced by the Iranian regime that says all the signs are moving into place -- and that Iran will soon help usher in the end times. While the revolutionary movements gripping the Middle East have created uncertainty throughout the region, the video shows that the Iranian regime believes the chaos is divine proof that their ultimate victory is at hand. The propaganda footage has been approved at the highest of the Iranian government. MORE | Obama's Fiscal Policies Doom Retirement for Millions
President Barack Obama's misguided federal policies have stunted economic growth and endangered the American dream of a com- fortable retirement, financial commentator Robert Wiedemer says. "The government absolutely shares culpability in this... Gov- ernment policies are responsible for a great many of our financial problems -- the state of Americans' retirements included." MORE |  |
| INVESTORS.COM: Will an Islamic Caliphate Rise From Unrest In The Mideast?
With the Muslim world reaching a boiling point, U.S. intelligence fears that the unrest could create a power vacuum exploited by al-Qaida and its parent, the radical Muslim Brotherhood. Both share a goal of bringing the Mideast under a single Islamic ruler, who could control world oil supplies and possibly even nuclear weapons. The Obama administration finds the idea of such a "caliphate" preposterous. It isn't even concerned about the prospect of Islamist regimes emerging from the revolts. Many of the Mideast protesters are "secular," the White House believes. MORE |
Trump: New Facts Emerging on Obama Birth Certificate
Potential 2012 GOP presidential contender Donald Trump is doubling down on his call for President Barack Obama to produce a birth certificate, saying “facts are emerging” that have raised a “real question” as to whether Obama is constitutionally eligible to serve as president. Trump said the president has spent “millions of dollars” in legal fees to “trying to get away from this issue.” MORE | CBN NEWS: Missionary Recounts Haitian Jail Ordeal
The city of Bradenton, Fla., is located 800 miles from Haiti. But it is a world away from the confines of the Haitian prison in the city of Jacmel, where a judge had Christian missionary Danny Pye incarcerated in October of 2010. There has been no legal explanation for his confinement. Pye and his family have lived in Haiti for seven years. He and his wife, run an orphanage... MORE | What Is Hell? Book Stirs Debate About Afterlife
What does hell mean to you? Is it an endless nightmare for sinners and unsaved souls, as mainstream Christianity has taught for centuries? Or is hell here on Earth, in the distractions, addictions and emptiness of daily life? Those ideas are receiving fresh scrutiny from some believers after a promin- ent evangelical pastor questioned the trad- itional idea of hell in his new book... MORE | Facebook Blamed In Divorces
Surveys that show Facebook being cited more and more in divorce cases should make spouses think twice before "friending" some- one of the opposite sex, experts say. A 2010 survey by the American Academy of Matri- monial Lawyers showed that 81 percent of "the nation's top divorce attorneys" reported an increase in social networking websites being used as evidence in divorce cases. Facebook is the leader, cited in 66 percent of cases that involve online evidence. MORE | Is There a Next Billy Graham?
For at least the last half decade, there’s been speculation as to who could replace the Rev. Billy Graham as the next greatly esteemed and world-renowned leading Christian evangelist. When his 2005 New York crusade was billed as most likely his last, we began wondering if anyone could rise to the task. Or should any individual do so? Since emerging on Christianity’s landscape in the mid-1940s, Graham has never let up in his simple belief that people need Jesus. MORE |  |
| Christian Imprisonment, Beatings Continue In Mideast
More Christians are being persecuted in Saudi Arabia, according to the ministry International Christian Concern. | CHUCK COLSON OP-ED: China's Christianity Conundrum
China has all but caught up with the United States in terms of economic and geopolitical power. All but. For China to take full advantage of its enormous resources and labor force, China has to take a step that does not come naturally to Communist dictatorships. China must begin to embrace human rights... MORE |  |
| Newt Gingrich Woos Evangelicals at Texas Megachurch
Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich spoke Sunday at a Texas megachurch where he railed against secularism and called for the defense of the nation’s Christian values. | 3rd-Grader Denied Playground Witnessing
A Penn. 3rd-grader is getting legal help after being told by school officials that she can't hand out Christian tracts on the playground. | Man Uses Bible to Justify Murder
A Virginia man was arrested and charged with murder after stoning another man he claims displayed unwanted sexual interest. | JACK KELLEY: Paul, Timothy, and the End Times
Paul’s letters to Timothy are the instructions from a mentor to a young pastor, one of the first ever, and contain advice on what to do and how to do it, as well as what not to do. | President Bush Runs the Gauntlet to Visit Christian University
Last week I had the pleasure of hearing a speech by President George W. Bush. The school where I teach, Arizona Christian University, had invited him to share his thoughts on faith-based education and political leadership. |
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......../////////........| Headlines for Monday, March 28th, 2011 |
Facebook Doesn’t Kill Churches, Churches Kill Churches
...experimental psychologist Richard Beck recently set the religion blogosphere atwitter with a post entitled, “How Facebook Killed the Church.” Beck argues that, rather than replacing face-to-face relationships with so many digital doppelgangers, “Facebook tends to reflect our social world,” extending and enriching established friendships rather than, by and large, inviting the development of new ones that take us away from longsta- nding networks of friends & family... MORE | COMPUTER WORLD: The Coming 'Surveillance Society' Will Change Our Notions of Privacy
As real-time and batch analytics evolve using big data processing engines such as Hadoop, corporations will be able to track our activities, habits and locations with greater precision than we ever thought possible. "It will change our existing notions of privacy. A surveillance society is not only inevitable, it's worse. It's irresistible," said Jeff Jonas, a distinguished engineer with IBM. Jonas spoke to a packed house of several hundred people Wednesday at the Structure Big Data 2011 conference here. For businesses, the ability to determine where people are by using geo-locational data will help them personalize advertising and marketing materials disseminated via the Web. For example, if a company knows a customer is in Aruba, it won't bother showing him ads for restaurants in New York; it might market sunblock or scuba-diving excursions instead. Knowing where people are will also enable companies to accurately determine which potential customer is which. MORE |
WSJ: Prepare for a European Union Divided in Two
Sooner or later, the euro-zone financial crisis will be over. But Europe will not be the same. It will be changed in two very important ways. First, the 27-nation European Union will have fractured into separate groups of 17 and 10. Second, the economies of the Gang of 17 will be centrally managed by a Franco- German coalition, while the nations among the 10 "leftovers" will fight a battle... MORE |  | DAILY CALLER: Donald Trump’s Birth Certificate Strategy
Donald Trump has been thinking a lot about birth certificates lately. Indeed, he has made questions about Barack Obama’s birth certificate a pivotal part of his bid for the Republican presidential nomination. And it appears to be working. One recent poll has Trump running fifth in the GOP field, just two points behind former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin. “Of course I’d release it..." MORE | 
What Marriage Has Become
...The case for traditional marriage is ground- ed in a conviction that marriage is not simply a socially devised and revisable institution... Marriage is fundamentally a pre-political institution—not simply a creature of law— rooted in a natural union of a man and a woman that is ordered to family life and childbearing and childrearing. The political community has very important interests affected by this institution— MORE | AM THINKER: After Gaddafi, Democracy or Jihadists?
We all agree that Colonel Gaddafi is a dictator, that he supported terrorism against the U.S. and France, was responsible for the tragedy of PanAm 103, that he funded, armed and trained radicals in many African countries... Removing Gaddafi is not the question. That should have been done years ago on the grounds of abuse of human rights. The quest- ion is who will come next? The agenda of the Benghazi leadership is not clear. MORE | RESURGENCE: Five Ways to Make Your Kids Hate Church
1. Make sure your faith is only something you live out in public. Go to church... at least most of the time. Make sure you agree with what you hear the preacher say, and affirm on the way home what was said especially when it has to do with your kids obeying, but let it stop there. Don’t read your Bible at home. The pastor will say everything you need to hear on Sundays. Don’t engage your children in questions about Jesus.... MORE |
Mid-East Christian Aid Workers Move Forward Amid Tumult
Being ready at a moment's notice to board a plane and evacuate a country is a reality for many Christian aid workers in North Africa and the Middle East. | Tolorance? Apple Pulls Gay Ministry App After Pressure
For the second time in four months, Apple has pulled a leading Christian app from its iPhone app store based on pressure from homosexual activists — a decision critics are calling intolerant... | Iranian Fingerprints On Jerusalem Bombing?
The Israeli government has information indicating that instruct- ions for today's bomb explosion at a crowded bus stop at the entrance to Jerusalem came from the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip | Jerusalem Bomb Victim Was Bible Translator Studying Hebrew
Mary Gardner, the British woman killed in the Jerusalem bus bombing, was an evangelical Christian who had been living in Togo, west Africa, translating the New Testament into the local Ifé language. She was on a six-month course studying ancient and modern Hebrew at the Hebrew University prior to returning... MORE |  |
| GET RELIGION: Geraldine Ferraro’s Catholic Side
Geraldine Ferraro, the first female vice presidential candidate on a major party presidential ticket, died Saturday, and we’re scanning the obituaries for evidence of her faith. | CBN OP-ED: Toward the Rise of an Islamic Caliphate?
...But a Caliphate is the historical norm, a Caliph having ruled over Muslims for most of the time since Muhammad's disciples started.. | Chinese Christian Dissident Receives 10 Years in Prison
Christian political dissident Liu Xianbin received a ten year prison sentence Friday after being tried for treason in The People’s Court of Suining in China’s south-central province of Sichuan. | Growing Intolerance for Christianity in U.S.
..."In a world of political correctness devoid of the rule of law, tolerance has come to mean total rejection of Christianity and moral standards. Modern tolerance redefines words like... | STUFF OUT LOUD: Census, Cities, and the Gospel
...And at the end of the day, whether 713,000 or 750,000, Detroit will still be a failing city with small-visioned leaders who lack the character and political will to solve the problems. | STUFF OUT LOUD: A Word About Modesty and Parents
...But, there is a reason that the Bible has commands to women about modesty. That reason is because women have a duty to whoever might see them to dress modestly. | GET RELIGION: D-I-V-O-R-C-E In the Boonies
...Writing about marriage in my home state gave me some insight into the subject and whetted my appetite for news reports on divorce-rate trends. | Abercrombie & Fitch Selling Padded Bikini Tops for Young Girls
Abercrombie seems to think your 8-year-old's chest is too flat. |
| Obama Hinders U.S. Oil Drilling, Celebrates Brazil's
With the national average for gas prices hovering around $4 a gallon, President Barack Obama recently promised increased oil exploration and production to Brazil, vowing that the U.S. would be one of Brazil's "best customers." | 
Must a Pastor Be Married? The New York Times Asks the Question
Is marriage a requirement for pastoral ministry? That question is not new, having been a major focus of debates at crucial points in church history, but it is being asked once again.
Erik Eckholm of The New York Times asked the question in a news story that put a focus on Mark Almlie, a single seminary graduate who has been looking for a pastorate. MORE |  |
| Muslims Beat, Stomp Effigy of Obama in Protest
Sri Lankan Muslims beat and stamp on an effigy of U.S. President Barack Obama during a protest rally against the allied forces' air strike in Libya. | Ark. House Approves Teaching Bible in Schools
The Arkansas House passed on Friday a bill that would allow schools to offer a Bible course. The course would be taught in an objective and nondevotional manner. | Iran Fanning Islam's Messianic Hopes?
Millions of Muslims believe the Mahdi will soon return to save humanity. But before he can appear, Israel and America must be destroyed. | Egyptian: Despite Unrest the Gospel will Flourish
Many Christians in Egypt are concerned that members of the Muslim Brotherhood and other Islamists are poised to takeover the unstable country. | MICHAEL YOUSSEF: Love Has Already Won
As an Anglican pastor, I bear scars from the war with "universalism" inside the Episcopal Church. I also have endured the battering of Bishop John Spong and his effort to "rescue the gospel from fundamentalists." And when I saw Rob Bell's new book Love Wins, I found myself quoting former Yankee great Yogi Berra: "It's like déjà vu all over again." MORE |  |
| Over 100,000 People Protest Abortion in Spain
Between 130,000 and 160,000 people demonstrated in central Madrid, Spain, on Saturday against laws that make abortion easier, according to organizers. | Former TV Anchor's 15-Year Battle with Alcohol
...behind Dhue's impressive careers, glamorous looks and rising status, was a secret she hid for a decade. She was an alcoholic. | Elizabeth Taylor Gave Generously To Christian School
Elizabeth Taylor, who died Wednesday at the age of 79, is being remembered as a generous donor to a Christian school in Calif. |
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Be advised that some of the viewpoints espoused on this page may not be held by the editor. News For Christians is a news digest, pulling links from all over the web. The articles found here represent a window into what is being written about religion and Christianity, not necessarily the editor's personal views. Please read with these points in mind. |
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