Question: “How should a Christian respond to persecution?”

Answer:
Theres no doubt that persecution is a stark reality of living the Christian life. The apostle Paul warned us that everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted (2 Timothy 3:12). Jesus told us to expect persecution from the world because if they persecuted Him, they will persecute His followers also. Jesus has made it very clear to us that those of the world will hate us because they hate Him. If Christians were like the worldvain, earthly, sensual, given to pleasure, wealth, ambition, the world would not oppose us. But Christians do not belong to the world which is why they hate and persecute us (John 15:18-19). Christians are, or should be, influenced by different principles from those of the world. We are motivated by the love of God and holiness, while the world is driven by the love of sin. It is our very separation from the world that arouses the world’s animosity toward us. The world would prefer that we were like them; since we are not, they hate us (1 Peter 4:3-4).  Read more... (638 words, 1 image, estimated 2:33 mins reading time)

What makes everyone think artist Leonardo Da Vinci uncovered some big Christian secret?

Writers and religious skeptics have always come up with alternative narratives about Jesus’ life and ministry. But author Dan Brown brought it to center stage in a spectacular way, with his blockbuster 2003 fiction, The Da Vinci Code, followed by the movie and all its sequels and franchises.

Brown provoked speculation in both secular and theological circles—all the way to the Vatican:

Did Leonardo Da Vinci write an encrypted code on his famous Vitruvian Man? Was Mary Magdalene married to Jesus? Is there really a Holy Grail?  Read more... (829 words, 2 images, estimated 3:19 mins reading time)

Moroccan palace gate

The government of Morocco has suddenly expelled large groups of Christians on the charge of “proselytizing” Muslims.

The sudden expulsion of more than twenty Christian house parents and workers from an orphanage has left thirty-three Moroccan children without the only parent figures they have ever known.

According to Australia’s Christian Today, the Village of Hope orphanage, registered with the Moroccan government since 2002, has always included workers from America, New Zealand and other countries who were open about their Christianity.

The house parents were not allowed to adopt the children, as only Muslims are allowed to adopt Moroccan children. So they acted as foster parents.  Read more... (405 words, 2 images, estimated 1:37 mins reading time)

The issue of Christian marginalization has gained new heat as the National Secular Society (NSS) recently accused Christian church leaders, including former Archbishop Lord Carey of Canterbury, of seeking special treatment at the Court of Appeals (CA).

In a separate instance Shirley Chaplin, a nurse, was banned by Devon and Exeter NHS Trust from wearing her crucifix on the job although she had done so without incident for the last 30 years.

This has sparked new debate among Christians, Muslims and secularists about the issue of discrimination of Christians in favor of secularists.  Read more... (483 words, 2 images, estimated 1:56 mins reading time)

This is Part 2 of our interview with Usama Dakdok of the Straight Way of Grace Ministry. See Part 1 here.

In this part, we explore what Americans may not know about today’s terrorism:

Q: Is there any element of unconditional love and forgiveness in Islam?
A: There are 350 verses in the Quran teaching hate; 37 teach to perform jihad – holy war; 79 verses say to kill. Muslims are taught to hate Jews and Christians. Allah is angry at the Jewish people and Christians are called lost (Quran 1:6, some versions 1:7).  Read more... (540 words, 2 images, estimated 2:10 mins reading time)

Nigerian Christians and Muslims clash yet again near Jos. This time leaving 500 dead. Vanguard Image.

Nigerian officials say more than 500 Nigerian Christians are dead after attacks by neighboring Muslims in Dogo Nahauwa, Nigeria, a town just south of Jos on Sunday.

According to CNN, the marauders, stormed the settlement at 3 a.m. Sunday (9 p.m. Saturday EST) and remained there for more than two hours, setting edifices such as churches on fire and executing people with machetes.

The attacks on the people of Dogo Nahauwa, who are primarily from the Berom tribe, are thought to be retaliation for attacks on the Fulani, a predominantly Muslim tribe, that took place in January nearby.

Christian Heroines of the Holocaust

As mentioned in Part 1, the Yad Vashem Holocaust Museum in Jerusalem has a feature called “Avenue of the Righteous Among the Nations.” Here, the museum honors Christians and others who assisted the Jews at the risk of their own lives.

Many people have heard of Oskar Schindler, a Polish businessman who saved 1,000 Jewish people by employing them and falsifying their records, through the Steven Spielberg movie “Schindler’s List.”

Along with Schindler, here are some Christian heroines of the Holocaust who are also honored at Yad Vashem.  Read more... (644 words, 1 image, estimated 2:35 mins reading time)

Auschwitz buildings today. From Wikimedia Commons, Public domain.

International Holocaust Remembrance Day

In 2005, the United Nations designated Jan. 27 as an annual International Holocaust Remembrance Day.

Why Jan. 27? It was on this day in 1945 that the largest World War II concentration camp, Auschwitz, was liberated.

Auschwitz, a network of three camps, was operated in Poland under German occupation from 1940-1945. It probably accounted for the death of over one million Jews. Among other well-known “death camps” were Dachau, Treblinka and Bergen-Belsen.  Read more... (476 words, 2 images, estimated 1:54 mins reading time)

The Susan B. Anthony List, Feminists for Life and Concerned Women for America are three pro-life national women’s organizations currently supporting the Stupak-Pitts Amendment. The Stupak-Pitts Amendment, known as Stupak for short, is the bipartisan effort of U.S. Representatives Bart Stupak (D-MI) and Joe Pitts (R-PA) to preclude putting mandatory taxpayer-covered abortion, and mandatory insurance coverage for abortion, in the government’s new Health Care package. The Amendment passed in the House, but is still threatened in the Senate.  Read more... (658 words, 1 image, estimated 2:38 mins reading time)

It’s hard to separate what’s going on in the world today from Bible prophecy and eschatology, because it all seems to be coming true.

With the constant enmity between Israel and her Middle Eastern enemy nations, we could easily be taken in by the ranting of a sensation-hungry media that seems to cater to the likes and dislikes of Islamic terrorists. Our most recent example is the scrambling to come up with every excuse in the world for the attack on Fort Hood beside the fact that it may have been an act of extreme terrorism. Some evolving facts point in that direction. Hopefully, we will conclude for certain it was not.  Read more... (489 words, 1 image, estimated 1:57 mins reading time)