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CONTENDING FOR THE FAITH

Less Than Half of UK ‘Christians’ Believe Jesus Died and Rose Again

April 19, 2019 — PJMedia.com reports: “Only 46 percent of self-identified Christians in Britain believe that Jesus Christ died on the cross on Good Friday and rose from the dead on Easter Sunday, according to a BBC poll released on Palm Sunday at the beginning of Holy Week. Those who do believe in Jesus’s death and Resurrection were less likely to find a wide array of sins ‘unforgivable.’

‘A new poll for the BBC finds that fewer than half of Christians in the UK think Jesus actually died and rose again for the forgiveness of their sins,’ the BBC reported Sunday. ‘Just 46 percent of people who identified as Christians said they believe this key tenet of the Christian faith.’…”  (“Now if Christ be preached that he rose from the dead, how say some among you that there is no resurrection of the dead?  But if there be no resurrection of the dead, then is Christ not risen:  And if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain.   Yea, and we are found false witnesses of God; because we have testified of God that he raised up Christ: whom he raised not up, if so be that the dead rise not.  For if the dead rise not, then is not Christ raised:  And if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins.  Then they also which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished.  If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable.  But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept.  For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead.  For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.  But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ’s at his coming.  Then cometh the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power.  For he must reign, till he hath put all enemies under his feet.  The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death” – I Corinthians 15: 12- 26.)

Former Anglican bishop: Don’t take Christianity seriously

April 14, 2019 — WND.com reports: “A minister of the Church of England has scolded a former bishop who dismissed Jesus as no more than a ‘spiritual and prophetic genius’ and called the New Testament an ‘untidy bundle of writings.’

Rev. Robin Weekes of Emmanuel Church in Wimbledon, England, reprimanded Richard Holloway, the former bishop of Edinburgh, who made the comments in the Spectator magazine, said the Christian Institute.

Weekes pointed out to Holloway that the churches that preach the Bible ‘are the ones that are growing’ in the United Kingdom.

The institute said Holloway, who led the Anglican church in Scotland in the 1980s, was reviewing a book on the history of the Bible by academic John Barton.

Holloway himself acknowledged that growing churches are ‘usually those that take a conservative approach to the interpretation of the Bible.’

But he suggested people should ‘settle for’ a casual faith.

‘After all, which of us really knows what’s going on?’ he wrote…”  (“This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come.  For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy,  Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good,  Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God;  Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away.  For of this sort are they which creep into houses, and lead captive silly women laden with sins, led away with divers lusts,  Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.  Now as Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses, so do these also resist the truth: men of corrupt minds, reprobate concerning the faith.  But they shall proceed no further: for their folly shall be manifest unto all men, as their’s also was” – II Timothy 3: 1-9.)

Easter blasts at Sri Lanka churches, hotels kill nearly 300

April 22, 2019 — Asiatimes.com reports: “A series of eight devastating bomb blasts ripped through high-end hotels and churches holding Easter services in Sri Lanka on Sunday, killing at least 290 people, including dozens of foreigners.

Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe condemned the attacks – the worst act of violence since the end of Sri Lanka’s civil war a decade ago – as ‘cowardly,’ as the government imposed an immediate and indefinite curfew across the entire country of 21 million people.

The powerful blasts – six in quick succession and then two more hours later – left hundreds injured and wrought devastation, including at the capital’s well-known St Anthony’s Shrine, a historic Catholic Church.

At least two of the explosions were carried out by suicide bombers, according to police sources and a hotel official.

A police spokesman updated the death toll early on Monday, saying it had risen dramatically to 290 killed, with a further 500 wounded.

Earlier, police revealed that an improvised bomb had been found at the main airport in Colombo had been defused…”  (“Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer: behold, the devil shall cast some of you into prison, that ye may be tried; and ye shall have tribulation ten days: be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life” – Revelation 2:10.  Jesus said in the Beatitudes: “Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness’ sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.  Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake.  Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you” – Matthew 5:10 – 12.) 

Muslims celebrate as blaze destroys Notre Dame

April 16, 2019 — WND.com reports: “Social-media users with Muslim names are celebrating the catastrophic fire at the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris on Monday.

The American Mirror blog provided a sampling of the names of Facebook users who responded to a video of the fire with a laughing emoji.

The names included Yusuf Mohammedzai, Mohamed Hiadi, Mohamed Bensalem and Abdelhakim Noui Oua.

Twitter user Damien Rieu posted examples of Muslims cheering the cathedral’s demise.

‘Allah est grand,’ commented Mohamed.

Jihad Watch Director Robert Spencer pointed out many Muslims ‘believe that the ruins and destruction of non-Muslim structures testifies to the truth of Islam.’

The Quran, wrote Spencer, ‘suggests that the destroyed remnants of ancient non-Muslim civilizations are a sign of Allah’s punishment of those who rejected his truth…”  (“If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you.  If ye were of the world, the world would love his own; but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you.  Remember the word that I have said unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord.  If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept my saying, they will keep your also.  But all these things will they do unto you for my name’s sake, because they know not him that sent me.  If I had not come and spoken unto them, they had not had sin: but now they have no cloak for their sin.  He that hateth me hateth my Father also.  If I had not done among them the works which none other man did, they had not had sin: but now have they both seen and hated both me and my FatherThese things have I spoken unto you, that ye should not be offended.  They shall put you out of the synagogues: yea, the time cometh, that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service. And these things will they do unto you, because they have not known the Father, nor me” – John 15:18 – 24; 16:1 – 3.)

Diabolical: Islam’s Past and Present Attacks on European Churches

April 17, 2019 — PJMedia.com reports: “As explained in this recent article, all around Western Europe, churches are under attack. Along with arson attempts, typically—and rather with diabolical intent—altars are desecrated, crucifixes broken, statues mocked and/or beheaded, and the churches set aflame.

Sometimes fecal matter is smeared on the churches. Last February in France, for instance, vandals plundered and used human excrement to draw a cross on the Notre-Dame des Enfants Church in Nimes; consecrated bread was found thrown outside among garbage. One week later, vandals desecrated and smashed crosses and statues at Saint-Alain Cathedral in Lavaur; they mangled the arms of a crucified Christ in a mocking manner and an altar cloth was burned.

While European authorities and media usually obfuscate over the identity of the desecrators, demographics offer a clue: true to ‘Islam’s Rule of Numbers,’ Western European nations that have large Muslim migrant populations tend to witness the most attacks.

Thus in France, which has one of if not the largest Muslim populations in Western Europe, two churches are attacked every day. The same situation prevails in Germany, which also has an immense Muslim population. In Bavaria and the Alps alone, some 200 churches have been attacked and many crosses broken: ‘Police are currently dealing with church desecrations again and again,’ reads one November 2017 report, before it says, ‘The perpetrators are often youthful rioters with a migration background.’…”  (The clash between the Cross and the Crescent has been in existence for centuries.  Dr. Erwin Lutzer wrote in his book The Cross in the Shadow of the Crescent: “We should note that Muslims were destroying crosses long before the Crusades… When Muslim invaders entered Jerusalem in 637, they did away with all crosses and would not allow them to be displayed.  The symbol that lies at the heart of the Christian faith was utterly abolished.  And that’s the way it has been ever since.”  See the next report.)

‘The Cross Belongs in the Dustbin of History’: Muslim Brothers Claim Islam Exempt from Law

April 18, 2019 — Breitbart.com reports: “Two Muslim brothers who claimed Australian law did not apply to them or their religion have been fined for contempt of court.

Mustapha and Diaa Kara-Ali reportedly laughed and began abusing the judge as the punishment was handed down in Sydney’s Land and Environment Court, after they were found guilty of felling trees without council permission.

The brothers had tried to argue the Islamic organisation they ran, Diwan Al Dawla, was exempt from Australian law on religious grounds and they were free to develop their rural retreat – which included clearing native trees – as they saw fit.

The court ruled otherwise, ABC News Australia reports.

In sentencing the two men on Thursday, Justice Terence Sheahan said the pair only engaged in the court process ‘following my reluctant decision to have you arrested … to address the problems you’ve created’, describing their contempt of the court as ‘flagrant’.

In his published reasons, Justice Sheahan said the brothers’ claim they do not have to comply with Australian law is false…”