Christian School Told They Can’t Teach ‘Offensive’ Scripture; Three Prayers for Prodigal Children...more links

Queen Elizabeth Honors Hymn Writer Keith Getty with Award   Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II honored hymn writer Keith Getty this week as an Officer of the Order of the British Empire.

The award recognizes Getty for his contribution to “Music and Modern Hymn Writing.” It is the first time that the award has been given to an individual in the world of contemporary church music, according to CharismaNews.com.

“When I first received the call, I was shocked,” Getty said. “As a Brit living in America, it is an incredible gift to receive from home, especially given the long history of the award and the legacy of individuals who have received it. It is also wonderful to see hymnody and the great hymn-writing heritage I am from in the U.K. be recognized in this way. I am very grateful to her Majesty, the Queen for this honor."...

Christian School Told They Can’t Teach ‘Offensive’ Scripture  Evangelical Christians are under fire as an Alberta school board is demanding a Christian school stop teaching “offensive” scripture that indicts homosexuality as a sin, the National Post reports.

The offending passage is from 1 Corinthians 6:9-10, which states: “Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor men who have sex with men nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.”

The Battle River School Division (BRSD) first asked Cornerstone Christian Academy, not far from the Alberta capital of Edmonton, to remove the scripture from the school’s statement of faith. They also asked that the word “quality” be redacted from the mission statement that the school offers “quality educational programming.”...

Christian Reflections on Ontario Bill 89 ...A major concern is that the Bill seems to give the government the right to remove children from the custody of their parents, if it is believed that the parents are harming a child by failing to properly respect the child’s, “race, ancestry, place of origin, colour, ethnic origin, citizenship, family diversity, disability, creed, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity and gender expression.” Although it is uncertain exactly how this Bill will be interpreted and applied, Bill 89 clearly presents new considerations (e.g. gender identity and gender expression) for the courts and children’s services to take into account when they determine what is in a child’s best interest and whether the child is being fully supported by their care-givers.

It seems that the religious beliefs of the parents are superseded by the child’s “creed,” and the child is the one who autonomously self-identifies both their gender and how they wish to express their gender. If the parents are deemed insufficiently supportive of their children’s decisions, they may risk having their children removed from their care. It is necessary for the followers of Jesus Christ to think carefully and biblically about the times in which we live. Although there isn’t space to present a thorough treatment of the issues, what follows are four points for preliminary reflection...

Why are there so many Different Interpretations of the Bible? The Problem of “Pervasive Interpretive Pluralism”  Back in April of this year, at the national conference of the Gospel Coalition, Kevin DeYoung addressed the question of why there appear to be so many different interpretations of the Bible? If the Bible is inspired and sufficient, why do so many Christians disagree with one another on particular texts and topics? The language of “pervasive interpretive pluralism” was first used by author Christian Smith, who recently converted to Roman Catholicism. Kevin’s message was excellent, but I thought I would add to what he said with a few observations of my own.

Let’s begin with the important concession that this is a problem that all people face, regardless of their religious affiliation. It is not solely a Protestant problem. Anyone who thinks there is monolithic and always unified interpretation in the Roman Catholic Church is simply uninformed. Not only is this a problem in all families of the Christian faith, it is a problem in all spheres of earthly existence. In other words, this isn’t simply a religious problem, it is a human problem that infects every discipline of study and every work of literature that we read. Nevertheless, it is especially present in Christianity because we affirm that our “work of literature”, the Bible, is inspired, inerrant, authoritative, and sufficient...

New Book, The Trial of Kermit Gosnell, Describes Shocking Details and What it Revealed About the Abortion Industry in America  ...When police raided the Women's Medical Society, they thought that they were putting an end to a pill mill that was the largest supplier of illicit prescription painkillers in Philadelphia. But once inside, police made the grisly discovery that Kermit Gosnell's medical office was something much worse.

Police seized the bodies of 47 aborted babies - all with mysterious wounds across the backs of their necks. They soon realized they had uncovered a "House of Horrors" where babies were routinely born alive during very late-term abortions amid unspeakable squalor, only to be brutally murdered.

Cheryl Sullenger attended Gosnell's murder trial in Philadelphia in the spring of 2013, and has penned a new book, The Trial of Kermit Gosnell, published and released today by World Ahead Press...

Illinois careens into financial meltdown – and not even the lottery is safe  Illinois is grappling with a full-fledged financial crisis and not even the lottery is safe – with Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner warning the state is entering "banana republic" territory.

Facing billions in unpaid bills and pension obligations, the state is hitting a cash crunch that is rare even by Illinois standards...

Britain is no longer a liberal country   Tim Farron resigned this week as leader of the Liberal Democratic Party for a shocking reason. He was hounded from office because he held traditional Christian views.

“The consequences of the focus on my faith is that I have found myself torn between living as a faithful Christian and serving as a political leader,” he said. “To be a leader, particularly of a progressive liberal party in 2017 and to live as a committed Christian and to hold faithful to the Bible’s teaching has felt impossible for me.”

In media interviews during the election campaign, Farron was repeatedly challenged about his views on homosexuality...

Pray Them Home: Three Prayers for Prodigal Children ...Parents, if you are raising a seemingly hard-hearted, rebellious son or daughter (whether outwardly or inwardly), I challenge you to take up your arms, fight the spiritual battle that rages over them with all of your God-given strength, and refuse to give up on their life.

I encourage you to pray these three prayers over lost children...

Four New York Churches Vandalized With Satanic Graffiti Over the weekend, vandals sprayed satanic graffiti of the phrase “Hail Satan” and pentagrams on four Long Island churches.

Three churches in North Amityville, Suffolk County, were vandalized on Friday; on Saturday, a fourth nearby church was defaced...