American ‘Christendom’ staging ‘rebellion against God’

November 19, 2017 — WND.com reports: “The United States is post-Christian.

The population of the United States identifying as Christian has been in decline for many years.

According to a study from the Pew Research Forum, the Christian population of the United States suffered a staggering 8 percent decline between 2007 and 2014. Christianity is also seen as a valid target for mockery in American pop culture, with even the shooting victims from the Sutherland Springs, Texas, massacre being mocked by many commentators for their faith in God.

The decline is also reshaping American congregations, many of whom are combining in an effort to stay open.

‘We no longer live in Christendom,’ the Rev. Daniel Webster, canon for evangelism and media for the Episcopal Diocese of Maryland, told The Baltimore Sun…”  (President Ronald Reagan spoke at the Dallas Ecumenical Prayer Breakfast on August 23, 1984 and stated: “…Without God, there is no virtue, because there’s no prompting of the conscience. Without God, we’re mired in the material, that flat world that tells us only what the senses perceive. Without God, there is a coarsening of the society. And without God, democracy will not and cannot long endure. If we ever forget that we’re one nation under God, then we will be a nation gone under…”  Amos 8:11, 12 states: “Behold, the days come, saith the Lord God, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord:  And they shall wander from sea to sea, and from the north even to the east, they shall run to and fro to seek the word of the Lord, and shall not find it.”)

Quran sneaking into Christian settings

November 19, 2017 — WND.com reports: “There will be a new feature in the Christmas program at one Norwegian elementary school this year: the Quran. But it’s only the latest example of the Muslim holy book showing up in a Christian environment.

The Stigerasen School in Skien, Norway, announced last week that this year’s Christmas festivities would feature students reading not only the typical Bible verses but also two verses from the Quran.

The Quranic verses are about Jesus, but Muslims consider Jesus only a prophet, not the Son of God. And Christmas is not an Islamic holy day; Muslims typically do not celebrate it at all.

The Quran has pushed its way into other Christian settings around the world. In January, passages from the Quran were read from the lectern of St. Mary’s Episcopal Cathedral in Glasgow, Scotland.

The cathedral had invited local Muslims to join its service on the feast of Epiphany to promote understanding between Christianity and Islam.

A Muslim student read from the Quranic chapter that tells the story of Jesus’ birth to the virgin Mary. The chapter contains the Islamic teaching that Jesus is not the Son of God and should not be worshipped, which led some Anglicans to criticize the cathedral for allowing the verses to be read…”  (True Christians must oppose this unholy alliance because the Koran teaches eight times that anyone who calls Jesus the Son of God shall burn in hell forever — Surah 4:165, Surah 5:18, Surah 6:101, Surah 9:30, Surah 17:111, Surah 19:38, Surah 23:91, Surah 88:92. God’s Word says that anyone denying that Christ is the Son of God is an antichrist – I John 2:22. Only an individual ignorant of God’s Word could join these two religions.)

Church of Sweden to stop clergy calling God ‘he’ or ‘the Lord’ in bid to crack down on gendered language

November 24, 2017 — The Telegraph.co.uk reports: “The Church of Sweden is urging its clergy to use gender-neutral language when referring to the supreme deity, refraining from using terms like ‘Lord’ and ‘He’ in favor of the less specific ‘God.’

The move is one of several taken by the national Evangelical Lutheran church in updating a 31-year-old handbook setting out how services should be conducted in terms of language, liturgy, hymns and other aspects.

The decision was taken Thursday at the end of an eight-day meeting of the church’s 251-member decision-making body, and takes effect May 20 on the Christian holiday of Pentecost.

A former state church, headquartered in Uppsala, some 60 kilometers (37 miles) north of the capital, the church has 6.1 million baptized members in a country of 10 million. It is headed by a woman, Archbishop Antje Jackelen.

Jackelen told Sweden’s TT news agency a more inclusive language had already been discussed at the 1986 conference.

‘Theologically, for instance, we know that God is beyond our gender determinations, God is not human,’ Jackelen was quoted as saying by TT…”  (It’s true that God is a spirit and does not possess any physical characteristics, but it is also true that He has chosen to reveal Himself to mankind in male form.  The Bible contains approximately 170 references to God as the “Father”.  Jesus Christ used the term “Father” nearly 160 times in direct reference to God.  The word “Theos” — a masculine noun in the Greek – is used in direct reference to God, in nearly 900 verses.  “…let God be true, but every man a liar…” – Romans 3:4.) 

Christians in India Praise God in Spite of Police Brutality, Month in Jail

November 28, 2017 — MorningStarNews.org reports: “Six Christians facing false charges, two of them beaten by police, were jailed for a month for praying for a sick woman in eastern India, they said.

After tribal Gondi villagers in Simdega District, Jharkhand state, attacked the Christians on Sept. 16, officers at the local police station refused to listen to the victims and hit two young men among them, 25-year-old Sajan Majhi and Kalender Majhi, 20, they said.

‘The police hit Sajan Majhi and Kalender Majhi repeatedly,’ said one of those arrested, 35-year-old Dasrath Karketta. ‘They didn’t give us a chance to speak. If they inquired of us, we could have explained what happened exactly, but they didn’t; instead, they scarred the face of Kalender Majhi. He bled also.’

The police beating followed the thrashing the Christians received from Hindu extremists in Ghosra village, who attacked them while they were praying for healing for the wife of Bikhru Majhi, sources said. Officers jailed the Christians and charged them with ‘promoting enmity between classes’ and insulting religion. They spent a month in jail before being released on bail.

‘We spent one month in jail joyously – we sang hymns, read the Bible, prayed and worshipped together in jail,’ Karketta said. ‘We shared the gospel with other inmates in the district jail. There also, people came to Christ. We strongly felt the Lord was using us for His work and were happy about it.’…”  (Christians who suffer and die for Christ will receive the “Crown of Life” to place at the feet of Jesus – James 1:12; Revelation 2:10.  The 24 elders represent 12 Old Testament Tribes and 12 New Testament Apostles – saved Jews and redeemed Christians.  In Revelation 4: 10 & 11 they cast their earned crowns before the Lord Jesus Christ.)