Category: Faith

Faith: Verse of the Day for Saturday, April 29

Dana Hunsinger Gill
Tennessee Star - Verse of the Day

  VERSE OF THE DAY Be blessed and be a blessing April 29, Saturday John 15:5-7 “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing 6 If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. 7 If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.

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United Methodist Church In Turmoil Over LGBT Issues

Wendy Wilson

The United Methodist Church appears once more to be on the verge of a split over LGBT issues. The mainline Protestant denomination, which has a large presence in Tennessee, has experienced internal divisions for years over homosexuality, but tensions are at a fever pitch with the elevation of the first openly gay bishop. The UMC’s top court in Newark, New Jersey, heard arguments this week in the case of lesbian Karen Oliveto, who was elected as bishop last July for an area which includes Colorado, Montana, Utah, Wyoming and a church in Idaho. The area is in the denomination’s Western Jurisdiction. Oliveto is married to a woman who is a UMC deaconess. Oliveto’s election was contested by a church lay member from Kansas in the South Central Jurisdiction whose legal representative maintained Tuesday that homosexual practice is incompatible with the denomination’s book of discipline. However, a representative for Oliveto’s Western Jurisdiction argued that someone from another region has no standing to bring a case and that the book of discipline does not specifically prohibit same-sex marriage, according to a UMC news story about the hearing. The United Methodist Queer Clergy Caucus on April 16 sent an open letter to the UMC in…

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LifeWay Research: More Than Half of Americans Have Read Little or None of the Bible

Wendy Wilson

Many Americans say they own a Bible and have a positive view of it, but not many make a habit of reading it, a new LifeWay Research study has found. Church leaders have become increasingly worried about biblical literacy and the results show why. “Most Americans don’t know first-hand the overall story of the Bible—because they rarely pick it up,” said Scott McConnell, executive director of LifeWay Research, in a news release. “Even among worship attendees less than half read the Bible daily. The only time most Americans hear from the Bible is when someone else is reading it.” LifeWay Research, which is based in Nashville and is part of the Southern Baptist Convention, surveyed 1,000 people for the study. Few have a systematic plan for reading the Bible and more than half of Americans have read little or none of the Bible, the study shows. Not surprisingly, the study found that those who attend church regularly are more likely to read the Christian scripture daily. Women are more likely than men to read the Bible and Protestants are more likely than Catholics to read it. Evangelicals are more likely to read the Bible than those without evangelical beliefs. People in…

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Christian Comedian Chonda Pierce’s Documentary To Screen Tuesday Only

Wendy Wilson

Through the ups and downs of her life, Chonda Pierce has found a way to connect with others and make them laugh. Known as the “Queen of Clean,” the Christian comedian and Middle Tennessee resident doesn’t shy away from opening up about her struggles and heartache. She’s doing that once again with “Enough,” a documentary showing Tuesday only in 850 theaters across the U.S. The 90-minute film continues her story chronicled in a 2015 documentary called “Laughing in the Dark.” The Kentucky native got her start years ago portraying Minnie Pearl at the Opryland Theme Park. She went on to perform as a comedian across the country and author books. In 2013, the Recording Industry Association of America named her the top-selling female comedian in history, a category that included Christian and secular comedians. She endured through one of the hardest times of her life in 2014, when her husband David, an alcoholic, died of a stroke related to his drinking. The two had been together since becoming high school sweethearts decades earlier in Ashland City. Pierce has also been transparent about her struggles with the loss of her mother and problems with her estranged daughter. Through her comedy and…

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Faith: Verse of the Day for Monday, April 24

Dana Hunsinger Gill
Tennessee Star - Verse of the Day

  VERSE OF THE DAY Be blessed and be a blessing April 24, Monday 2 Timothy 3:1-17 1But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty. 2 For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, 3 heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, 4 treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, 5 having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power. Avoid such people. 6 For among them are those who creep into households and capture weak women, burdened with sins and led astray by various passions, 7 always learning and never able to arrive at a knowledge of the truth. 8 Just as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so these men also oppose the truth, men corrupted in mind and disqualified regarding the faith.9 But they will not get very far, for their folly will be plain to all, as was that of those two men. 10 You, however, have followed my teaching, my conduct, my aim in life, my faith, my patience, my love, my steadfastness, 11 my persecutions and sufferings that happened to…

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Faith: Verse of the Day for Sunday, April 23

Dana Hunsinger Gill
Tennessee Star - Verse of the Day

  VERSE OF THE DAY Be blessed and be a blessing April 23, Sunday Romans 7:6 But now we are released from the law, having died to that which held us captive, so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit and not in the old way of the written code. 2 Corinthians 7:16 I rejoice, because I have perfect confidence in you. 2 Timothy 1:7 For the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love and self-discipline.

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Faith: Verse of the Day for Sunday, April 16

Dana Hunsinger Gill
Tennessee Star - Verse of the Day

VERSE OF THE DAY Be blessed and be a blessing April 16, Easter Sunday John 20:16-18 16 Jesus said to her, “Mary.” She turned and said to him in Aramaic,“Rabboni!” (which means Teacher). 17 Jesus said to her, “Do not cling to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father; but go to my brothers and say to them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’” 18 Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord” – and that he had said these things to her.

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Is a Populist Christian Movement Needed to Renew the Faith?

Tennessee Star Staff

George Rasley, ConservativeHQ Editor April 15, 2017 The populist movement that swept Donald Trump into the presidency here in America, forced the United Kingdom to exit the European Union and that has roiled the politics of other European countries has been driven by the ineffectiveness, arrogance, and the cultural and political corruption of the Western establishment elite. Citizens of Western democracies have finally had enough of politicians who force outrageous ideas of political correctness upon them, but leave the roads full of potholes, legions of citizens un-employed or under-employed, and neighborhoods rife with crime. And the objects of this populist rebellion are not only the politicians who have been voted out of office or defeated, like Hillary Clinton, they have been the other elite institutional enforcers of political correctness. After joining the politically correct Left in enforcing bizarre and dangerous rules allowing men to enter the women’s restrooms and dressing rooms at their stores, Target lost $20 billion in market capitalization as the company’s stock value plunged after the corporation publicly declared its support in April 2016 for the very unpopular “gender identity” transgender political agenda. The losers weren’t the elite company managers who chose to enforce their will on…

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Faith: Verse of the Day for Saturday, April 15

Admin
Tennessee Star - Verse of the Day

  VERSE OF THE DAY Be blessed and be a blessing April 15, Saturday Mark 15:46-47 46 So Joseph bought some linen cloth, took down the body, wrapped it in the linen, and placed it in a tomb cut out of rock. Then he rolled a stone against the entrance of the tomb. 47 Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joseph saw where he was laid. 1 Corinthians 15:55-57 55 “O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?” 56 The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. 57 But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. On this Saturday. Take time to read the entire 22 Psalm. Feel and relate God’s Word to us as you get to verse 19 let it resonate in your spirit, oh the praise and hope we have in His promise! Enjoy allowing Easter to penetrate your heart, soak into your body and fill your mind! Psalm 22 1 My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, so far from my cries of anguish? 2 My God, I…

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A Push To Drop The Word Easter From Egg Hunt Faces Backlash In England

Wendy Wilson

An effort to drop the word Easter from a national egg hunt in England to appeal to non-Christians was criticized by Prime Minister Theresa May and the Church of England, the Washington Post reports. The egg hunt is sponsored by the National Trust, a charity that promotes conservation. Around 300,000 children are expected at 250 National Trust sites for this year’s event. Cadbury will provide the chocolate eggs for the hunt. The Post received a statement from the Church of England saying that the marketing campaign “highlights the folly in airbrushing faith from Easter.” May was quoted in an ITV News video calling it “ridiculous.” “Easter’s very important. It’s important to me, it’s a very important festival for the Christian faith for millions across the world,” she said. Following the criticisms, the National Trust blamed Cadbury for the rebranding and added the word Easter to its website to describe the egg hunt. It’s unclear how eggs became part of Christian Easter celebrations, according to the Post. Some say the egg serves as a symbol of new life dating from ancient times and others say the egg represents the Christian belief celebrated at Easter that Jesus was resurrected from his tomb. England has…

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Faith: Verse of the Day for Saturday, April 8

Dana Hunsinger Gill
Tennessee Star - Verse of the Day

VERSE OF THE DAY Be blessed and be a blessing April 8, Saturday Matthew 26:26-28 26 Now as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and after blessing it broke it and gave it to the disciples, and said, “Take, eat; this is my body.” 27 And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, saying, “Drink of it, all of you, 28 for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.

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Faith: Verse of the Day for Friday, April 7

Admin
Tennessee Star - Verse of the Day

  VERSE OF THE DAY Be blessed and be a blessing April 7, Friday Proverbs 29:11-14 A fool gives full vent to anger, but the wise quietly holds it back. If a ruler listens to falsehood, all his officials will be wicked. The poor and the oppressor have this in common: the Lord gives light to the eyes of both. If a king judges the poor with equity, his throne will be established forever.

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Southern Baptist ERLC Research Fellow Criticizes Mike Pence’s Approach To Honoring His Marriage

Wendy Wilson
Tennessee Star

A research fellow with the Southern Baptist Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission (ERLC) has written a piece for a liberal website criticizing Vice President Mike Pence for the boundaries he sets for his marriage. Karen Swallow Prior wrote in Vox that “virtue ethics is better than the Billy Graham rule.” Prior, an English professor at Liberty University, referenced the vice president’s longstanding rule to never eat alone with a woman other than his wife or attend events where alcohol is served unless his wife is with him. A recent Washington Post profile of Pence’s wife, Karen, mentioned how the vice president had spoken publicly about this commitment back in 2002. Such an approach to honoring marital fidelity is dubbed “the Billy Graham rule” by some evangelicals because the famed evangelist is known for teaching and practicing similar safeguards. But Prior said the focus on rules is misplaced and that what should be discussed is prudence. “Prudence, in fact, is what seems to be missing from the conversation about the vice president’s ‘rules.’ And I don’t mean prudence in the way that some supporters of the Billy Graham rule are using the term. Prudence as properly understood is a virtue, not a rule,” Prior wrote.…

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Men of Valor Helps Inmates Find Hope

Wendy Wilson
Tennessee Star

  Cornelius Matthews (pictured left) grew up in an abusive home where he never heard the words, “I love you.” “It was a house, not a home,” he said. He didn’t go to church and he made fun of those who believed in God. He later began using drugs and alcohol and ended up in prison for attempted second-degree murder. It was there that he turned to the God he once dismissed as imaginary and grew in his newfound Christian faith with the mentoring of Men of Valor. Matthews told his story Tuesday at a Men of Valor breakfast at the Music City Center in downtown Nashville. More than 900 people attended, including state lawmakers, city officials and pastors. The Nashville-based prison ministry seeks to address recidivism with a faith-based approach that helps men recognize how God can transform lives. Men who go through the program have a less than 10 percent chance of returning to prison, group organizers say. Men of Valor has a ministry inside prisons and also a one-year “aftercare” program to help men upon their release. To help with the transition, the group provides housing, clothing and food and assistance with getting a job. The goal…

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Lamplighter Offers Entertainment and Moral Instruction All In One at Nashville Homeschool Convention

Wendy Wilson
Tennessee Star

It’s hard to imagine Mark Hamby sitting still long enough to read a book. On Friday, he zipped around energetically at a Nashville homeschool convention to drum up enthusiasm for his business, dashing from one person to the next to strike up a conversation. Sure enough, he confessed to not liking books when he was a kid. “I used to hate to read,” he said. “Reading and I didn’t go together.” That makes it all the more interesting that his business is books. More than 20 years ago, he started Lamplighter, which publishes out-of-print novels from the 1600s, 1700s, and 1800s. His booth at the Teach Them Diligently convention being held this weekend at the Gaylord Opryland Hotel and Convention Center is piled high with them. “Every book we publish has to personally captivate me,” he said. “They must be something that will have kids on the edge of their seats.” They also must teach moral lessons and draw readers to Christ, said Gamby, who developed a hunger for great Christian literature when he became a Christian at age 22. He looks for books that have strong themes of endurance, faith, hope and love. The books he publishes were popular at the…

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Faith: Verse of the Day for Saturday, April 1

Dana Hunsinger Gill
Tennessee Star - Verse of the Day

VERSE OF THE DAY Be blessed and be a blessing April 1, Saturday 2 Timothy 4:3-4 3 For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, 4 and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths. Proverbs 1:22 How long will you who are simple love your simple ways? How long will mockers delight in mockery and fools hate knowledge?

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6 True-Life Facts About St Patrick to Impress Your Friends (and Deepen Your Faith)

Christina Botteri
Tennessee Star

  Saint Patrick’s Day is here, and so it goes we join millions across the globe to don our best green garb and imbibe in a panoply beverages from the unnaturally verdant Shamrock Shake to the local pub’s green draft – all in a joyous tradition to cheer one another in the name of a spiritual hero of Ireland. But did you know the true-life story of the man who would become St. Patrick is as harrowing as any high adventure you might find in the pages of a Batman comic? Here are 6 facts you might not have known about the life and times of St. Patrick: (1) St. Patrick was not Irish. St. Patrick’s only known name prior to his canonization is “Patricius.” He was a born late in the fourth century in Roman Britain – most likely the modern Wales region, although some scholars say it was Scotland. Like many Romans of that era, his family were devout Christians. His father, Calpurnius was a deacon, and his grandfather Potitus, was a priest. (2) St. Patrick did not share his family’s faith, and was a skeptic. In his book, Confessio, St. Patrick writes that as a boy, he was…

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Alliance Defending Freedom Video: Wisconsin Students Favor Rights of Muslims Over Rights of Christians

Wendy Wilson

Alliance Defending Freedom filed a lawsuit in Wisconsin last week challenging a local ordinance in Madison and a state law that force creative professionals to promote messages that violate their beliefs. “Every American, and especially creative professionals, shouldn’t be threatened with punishment for disagreeing with the government,” said ADF Senior Counsel Jonathan Scruggs in a news release. The lawsuit was filed on behalf of Amy Lynn Photography Studio. According to ADF, the laws require Amy Lawson, a Christian and the owner of the business, to create photos and blog posts promoting pro-abortion groups and same-sex marriages if she creates content that promotes pro-life causes or celebrates the marriage of one man and one woman. The lawsuit is a pre-enforcement challenge. “Such lawsuits enable citizens to challenge a law that threatens their rights before the government enforces it against them,” the ADF news release said. “Pre-enforcement cases are the ‘bread and butter’ of civil rights litigation, with organizations like the American Civil Liberties Union and Planned Parenthood routinely filing them to attack laws they oppose, sometimes even before those laws take effect.” To illustrate the progressive impulse to want to punish those who refuse to promote a liberal message but extend…

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Russell Moore’s Job as Head of Southern Baptist Convention’s Public Policy Arm On The Line?

Wendy Wilson

Russell Moore’s position as head of the Southern Baptists’ public policy arm could be in jeopardy, the Washington Post is reporting. More than 100 Southern Baptist churches have threatened to cut off funding for the program that supports the denomination’s Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission (ERLC), according to the article in the Post. Moore has been a controversial figure since becoming president of the ERLC in 2013 because of his progressive views on immigration and race, his promotion of religious pluralism, and his disparaging statements about past efforts by the religious right to influence American culture and politics. In recent months, he has been criticized for the provocative way he denounced President Trump and his followers in the 2016 election and also for signing a friend of a court brief supporting construction of a New Jersey mosque involved in a zoning dispute. That decision, as previously reported by The Tennessee Star, prompted a large Southern Baptist church in East Tennessee to escrow funds. Later, a megachurch in Texas decided to do the same. Other churches taking similar actions have contributed to the matter reaching a crisis point. Frank Page, president of the executive committee of the Southern Baptist Convention, told the Post that…

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Faith: Verse of the Day for Monday, March 13

Dana Hunsinger Gill
Tennessee Star - Verse of the Day

VERSE OF THE DAY Be blessed and be a blessing March 13, Monday John 4:13-15 13 Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, 14 but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” 15 The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water, so that I will not be thirsty or have to come here to draw water.”

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Faith: Verse of the Day for Thursday, March 9

Dana Hunsinger Gill
Tennessee Star - Verse of the Day

VERSE OF THE DAY March 9 Ephesians 3:16-21 16 I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, 17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, 18 may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, 19 and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.20 Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, 21 to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.

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Faith: Verse of the Day, Sunday March 5

Dana Hunsinger Gill
Tennessee Star - Verse of the Day

VERSE OF THE DAY Be blessed and be a blessing March 5, Sunday 2 Chronicles 7:14 14 if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land. 2 Timothy 2:15 15 Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth.

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Homeschool Convention Coming to Nashville March 30-April 1

Wendy Wilson

Homeschooling parents and advocates looking for advice and support should find plenty of it March 30-April 1 at the Gaylord Opryland Resort and Convention Center. It is the fifth year for the Teach Them Diligently Homeschool Convention at the Gaylord, an event packed with opportunities to listen to numerous speakers and shop at a busy exhibit hall. Similar conventions are being held this year in Georgia, Arkansas and Ohio. Organizers say Teach Them Diligently conventions typically draw around 7,000 people. The keynote speaker at the Gaylord this year will be evangelical pastor and radio broadcaster Tony Evans. Hymn-writers Keith and Kristyn Getty will also appear. There will be sessions for those just getting started with homeschooling as well as for those well under way and facing various challenges. Other sessions will focus on helping children with learning difficulties and setting up science labs in the home. In addition, there will insight on the history of Christian education and ways to incorporate biblical instruction in homeschooling. Exhibitors will include Alpha Omega Publications, Classical Conversations, Veritas Press, Inc., DK Publishing, Scholastic, Focus on the Family and World News Group, among many others. According to the U.S. Department of Education, there were about…

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