Today, in 2022, in many American metro areas, only about ten percent attend church and many people do not seem to have any religious sensibilities. Yes, especially GenXers and Millennials will say they are "spiritual but not religious," but they don't engage in any regular spiritual practices unless perhaps "mindfulness" or yoga. As in Europe decades ago, churches in large American cities are closing or struggling to stay open. "Revival meetings" are almost unheard of.
Read moreThe easy answer is that God hasn't planned for there to be an end to temptation until He welcomes us into heaven. After all, if the Son of God had to be tempted in order to fulfill all righteous, why should we expect to escape such trials?
Temptation comes from our own fallen hearts as well as from attempts to medicate the pain of our brokenness (Mark 7:20-23).
Read moreBut Desmond was also leader of a denomination with well over a million affiliates. South Africa has a huge diversity of independent churches, but the 'mainline' groupings -- Roman Catholic, Anglican, Methodist, Dutch Reformed and others -- remain numerically strong. As part of his pastoral work, Desmond would visit Dioceses around the Province[3]. His tour of the Diocese of St Mark in July 1994 had been in the diary for some time.
Read moreAnd indeed, King Herod from his throne in Jerusalem did rage when the Magi failed him and went home by another route. And he took out his rage on the babies in Jerusalem. The prophet Jeremiah had seen this day when he wrote: "A voice is heard in Ramah, lamentation and bitter weeping. Rachel is weeping for her children; she refuses to be comforted for her children, because they are no more." (Jeremiah 31:15; cf. Matthew 2:18).
Read moreIn 2004 'fury' and 'anger' surrounded the appointment of Britain's first divorced bishop in North Wales when the Archdeacon of Carmarthen was declared the unanimous choice of the church's Bench of Bishops after the electoral college failed to agree on the most suitable candidate. This procedure has since become a habit resulting in of a self-perpetuating clique.
Read moreIn the monastery itself, two women gather two to three times a day for prayer and to receive Holy Communion and then scatter to professional and church service. They are both working together in a health care clinic with two other employees, and, also, involved in catechesis and ministry to college students. Each week they gather with a larger group for Spirit-led intercessory prayer, and occasionally they take on particular one on one prayer ministry.
Read moreThe Open Letter from church ministers to the government minister responsible for the process, Liz Truss, has at the time of writing garnered over 2200 signatures. This could be a fraction of the total number of orthodox Christians who have responded to the government consultation.
Read more"It should not be a criminal offence for us to instruct our children that God made them male and female, in his image, and has reserved sex for the marriage of one man and one woman. Yet this seems to be the likely outcome of the proposed legislation," they write.
"We therefore very much hope (and pray) that these proposals will be dropped in their current form. We have no desire to become criminals, and place a high value on submitting to and supporting our government.
Read moreUntil this year. No such stamps. At first, we thought the postal service was just, as usual, behind time (perhaps some Old Masters were trapped off the coast of California), but eventually I decided to check out the USPS website. And what to my wondering eyes did appear but the following choices:
Read moreBut a cursory reading of the bible should tell us straight away that this reading of history is a narcissistic Western myth. Three thousand years ago David and other poets were composing songs focussed intensely on the individual, his feelings and his God. In the 6th century BC the prophet Ezekiel warned against taking refuge in communal responsibility, insisting "the soul who sins will die" (33:18-20).
Read more