Pastor Chris Scripture References: II Kings 20; 2 Chronicles 32:24-33

  What does Pope Benedict XVI have in common with a bunch of cartoons from Denmark and with a Z-grade movie trailer produced in Southern California? Answer: all have triggered riots of Muslims around the world, being deemed to have impugned the reputation of Muhammad, prophet of Islam.1 And one must assume that more upheavals are on the way as new offenses will inevitably surface in the years to come. So what are we to make of this phenomenon?

  Editor’s note: Joseph Backholm is executive director of a pro-traditional marriage organization in Washington state, where citizens will vote on the definition of marriage in November. Read his previous columns on the issue of gay marriage here and here. LYNNWOOD, Wash. (BP) — Those trying to redefine marriage want you to believe it’s a civil rights issue. Lots of people fall for it. And once someone believes it’s a civil rights issue, it’s hard to oppose. After all, who opposes civil rights?

  NASHVILLE, Tenn. (BP) — The children in Nashville’s public housing call him “Papa Joe,” and, as the name implies, consider him to be the father figure they lack at home.

Pastor Chris Scripture Reference: II Kings 18-19

  On August 24, 79 A.D. the city of Pompeii, in Italy, was suffocated under five meters of volcanic ash. The eruption of Mount Vesuvius was as devastating as it was instantaneous. People remain, entombed in ash, as they were when the volcano erupted. The remains of Vesuvius provide a snapshot of life in the ancient world, half-a-century after the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus.

  According to Dutch historian and politician Guillaume Groen van Prinsterer, the primary conflict of history is the struggle between belief and unbelief. He taught that the French Revolution, with its attendant massacres and horrors, was caused by a radical philosophy of unbelief. His greatest concern was that this revolutionary philosophy had not died with the defeat of Napoleon, but lived on in the seminaries, universities, and parliaments of Europe. His public life was a protracted effort to defend Holland and the Dutch Reformed Church against further “revolutions.” The quote below is an apt reminder that all political struggles are […]