Proof The Bible Is True

Splintered into small congregations meeting secretively in the homes of fellow church attendees, the members of a house church in China’s southern Guizhou province penned a letter describing how government persecution obliterated their finances, imprisoned and tortured their leaders, and fractured their thriving church body. Beginning with the church’s founding, the members of Huoshi Church traced its entire history with the government, insisting that the Communist Party abused them despite their attempts to comply with the law, which included reporting on all of their activities to the local religious affairs and public security bureaus. As the church quickly swelled into [More]

Disputes over government surveillance devices in house churches continue in China’s coastal Zhejiang as officials cut power and water supplies to several area churches and the homes of church leadership at the beginning of June. Members of Tuanqian Village Church in Rui’an, a county-level city in Wenzhou, Zhejiang, spoke with reporters on June 4, saying that after their church refused to install government surveillance equipment, they lost power and water to several buildings associated with the church. Read More: Further denials of water, electricity for house churches in Wenzhou – China Aid

“Brother Matthew” is a pastor and church planter in South Asia, working among Muslims to share the gospel. After threats against his life and an attack on his brother, he was encouraged by family members to leave his country. He fled to a safe place, but God clearly called him to go back to his home country, in spite of the danger. Matthew obeyed, and since his return he’s seen explosive growth in his church planting work. Matthew says persecution is something God uses to purify and unify the church, and further it’s something that every Christian should be ready [More]

Got an extra Bible in the house? Jason Woolford of Mission Cry said there’s a way to put it to work. Mission Cry distributes Bibles and Christian literature all over the world, and you can help too.   “When you think about sending a total used book value of $300 million to 171 nations, those were Bibles and Christian books that were either going to be recycled, thrown out, or sitting on somebody’s shelf,” said Woolford. “Instead it has truly changed the landscape of this entire world.”   (Photo courtesy of Mission Cry) Take the Kenya distribution center. Woolford said [More]

It’s a thrilling time to be involved in Bible translation, as workers are helping millions of people who speak unwritten languages have access to the Bible in their own languages. According to Wycliffe Associates President and CEO Bruce Smith, unwritten languages are “the last and the least” of the languages that have yet to receive Scripture. But the advancement of technology has helped to address this problem; national translators are now being provided with Bible Translation Recording Kits, which consist of a computer tablet with pre-loaded software and a microphone. Smith explains that the translators can use this digital tool to translate [More]

Using your phone in a place of worship is typically looked down upon. But in a near future, religious patrons might be encouraged to take out their phones, point their camera at the Bible, and watch the story of the sermon unfold in real-time.   Augmented reality (AR) is a consumer tech trend that is picking up speed, with gadgets like Microsoft’s HoloLens and apps like Pokémon Go, and the technology is now entering the worship space, too. Religious institutions all over the world have started to experiment with AR capabilities. Some use it to enhance their weekly brochures or Christmas invitations and others offer [More]

If you ask a woman what she’s looking for in a man, she may tell you wants him ‘tall, dark and handsome’. If you ask a woman what she’s looking for in a Christian man, she may still want him ‘tall dark and handsome’, but will start to list specific traits he must have to make him the whole package.   There are many characteristics men hold that women love. However, for Christian men, there’s an extra spark that captures a woman’s heart. A nice looking man who is in good shape, dresses well and possesses all the characteristics below [More]

Many born-again Americans are “missing the mark” when it comes to the accuracy of their biblical beliefs. That’s according to the latest data from pollster George Barna. A recent survey by the American Culture & Faith Institute finds that only 30 percent of born-again adults have a biblical worldview. According to that survey, almost 90 percent of them describe God as the “all-knowing, all-powerful creator and ruler of the universe” – but only one in four believes “as sinners, people are not basically good.” Sixty-three percent believe someone can earn their own way to heaven. (See other findings in table [More]

A recent nationwide survey found that the number of freshmen attending America’s colleges who have left their faith over the past three decades has skyrocketed. After analyzing the religious affiliation trends of first-year college students, Computer Science professor Allen Downey – who teaches at Olin College in Needham, Massachusetts – disclosed that the statistics from the Cooperative Institutional Research Program’s (CIRP) 2016 Freshman Survey conducted at UCLA indicate that the number of students identifying as “nones,” who do not belong to a religion, has dramatically increased. “The number of college students with no religious affiliation has tripled in the last [More]

A record-low percentage of U.S. adults believe that God created humans in their present form, according to a Gallup survey.   Thirty-eight percent accept the strict creationism view compared with 38 percent who believe man developed with God’s guidance and 19 percent think God had no role in man’s evolution, according to the Gallup poll.   It’s the first time since 1982 — when Gallup asked the question with the same wording — that belief in God’s direct creation of man is not the most-common response.   Read More

More Americans now believe that the Bible is a book of fables and history than those who believe it’s the literal Word of God, a Gallup poll released Monday has found, and even fewer than a third of Christians say it’s to be taken literally. “Over the past three decades, Americans’ view of the Bible as the literal Word of God has been declining, while their view that the Bible is a collection of fables, myths and history recorded by man has been increasing,” Gallup observed about the poll, which was conducted of 1,011 American adults between May 3–7, with [More]

Research shows only 17 percent of practicing Christians have a biblical worldview. So if that’s the case, then what do they believe? It turns out that 61 percent of Christians who attend church at least once a month and say their faith is very important to their lives and self-identify as a Christian also believe some tenets of New Age religions. Jeff Meyers of Summit Ministries, which, along with the American Faith and Culture Institute, put the numbers together, says this is a serious problem. Read More: What are believers believing exactly?

Sometimes in prayer we really need to speak what’s on our minds and hearts. Other times, we really want to hear God speak.   For a student who’s struggling to choose a school, sweethearts contemplating marriage, a parent who’s worried sick for a child, an entrepreneur considering a new risk, for nearly anyone who is hurting, or floundering, or fearing . . . hearing from God becomes important. Urgent.   It so happens that an incident from the Bible may help you listen. It’s an account from the life of Samuel, recorded in 1 Samuel 3, and it offers 7 [More]

Three years ago, feeling gratitude seemed impossible to me. I’d just found the strength to leave a physically and emotionally abusive marriage while pregnant with my first child, and life as I knew it was falling apart. Then, I received the sweetest gift. While at work, a package came for me from one of my vendors—a green journal with the word “Gratitude” written across the front. “What could I possibly be grateful for right now?” I thought. Then, I turned to the big “G” in the sky for answers: Google. I scrolled through gratitude articles that told me why I should be more [More]

Mama and Papa had started calling me “Black Velvet” when I was a baby, the tenth of their 18 children and the first to be born after they moved to Florida from their Bahamian homeland. When friends from the islands came to visit, they’d say, “Let us see the American one, the one with the velvet skin,” and Mama would proudly hold me up so everyone could admire my flawless nut-brown complexion.   Then, when I was eight, a bouncy little girl with glossy black braids, the dreadful skin problem began. Rough scales and unsightly red patches all over my [More]

One of my favorite episodes in Scripture has Jesus telling his followers that the more they give, the more they will receive. It cannot be otherwise, he explains, because God will never be outdone in generosity.   The concept of tithing is explained in a different part of Scripture. It’s the idea that the first fruits—perhaps 10 percent of one’s earnings—should be given to God as an act of faith. (The actual money can be given to charity or to church.) It sounds simple, but putting it into practice is very difficult.   We all have reasons for not giving [More]

“Tanya” is a Christian worker in Central Asia, living and ministering in a country where she must always be cautious about what she says openly and who she says it around. Listen to hear how Christians in the former Soviet Union are carefully sharing the gospel, and are willing to endure persecution if that’s what it takes to see God’s love spread to their countrymen. As a mom and a pastor’s wife, Tanya shares how the threat of persecution impacts the way Christians raise their children to follow Christ. You’ll be inspired as Tanya shares how Christians living under persecution [More]

Listen this week for an update on the church in Nepal, especially how the church has been impacted by Nepal’s recent adoption of a new constitution which included anti-conversion provisions.   Michael Huff has been the leader of Operation Mobilization in Nepal and is now based in the US helping to mobilize Christians to take the gospel all over the world. Listen as Michael shares how OM is working to raise up Christian workers and evangelists in Nepal, and some of the lessons Nepali Christians have taught him during his years of ministry there.   He’ll share how two Christian [More]

When God called Leanna to missions she was a young woman fresh out of college. Then God specifically called her to a part of South Asia known as “the graveyard of missionaries.” He led her down a different path from most foreigners at the time; Leanna lived in a village, drinking dirty water, sleeping on a grass mat and subsisting on lentils and rice. As she lived through the hardships of village life she was able to introduce people to a God greater and more powerful than the millions of Gods in their faith: Jesus Christ.   Listen as Leanna [More]

For Christians in Syria and other Middle East nations, human logic is clear: get out! Go someplace safe! In spite of such advice, Tom and JoAnn Doyle tell us many Christians are choosing to STAY and serve the Lord and witness for Christ. These bold brothers and sisters are standing in the fire of war and persecution, and they are finding—just as Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego did—that God is standing with them. Listen to the story of Jamila, a 12-year-old girl healed from cancer after a Christian man prayed for her in Jesus’ name, leading to hundreds of Druze people [More]

The leader of an American pastors network is warning about a generational gap among pastors that needs to be bridged. The president of the American Pastors Network, Sam Rohrer, says there’s a divide that’s much larger than most people think. “What that divide is between is not just between older and younger,” he observes. “It’s between older, faithful pastors – those who do believe in the authority of scripture, have remained faithful in their ministry – and then the Millennial, the younger pastors – some of whom are not faithful to the Word but then others who are.” Read More: [More]

Christians in America, by and large, are satisfied with the degree of religious freedom available to them – but not with much else related to life in America, says pollster George Barna. Two–thirds of American adults are satisfied with the degree of religious freedom available in the U.S., according to the founder of the American Faith & Culture Institute.   An even greater segment (72 percent) of politically engaged evangelical adults feels the same way. Interestingly, though, that latter demographic – SAGE Cons*, Barna calls them – seems unconcerned that those religious freedoms are being eroded by a secular society [More]

With his comforting words to Mary, the angel Gabriel explains the miracle not only of Jesus’s conception but also of his resurrection, which we celebrate tomorrow. We who know the Risen Lord know that at Easter we commemorate the supreme event in all of human history, and so any physical proof we find of Christ’s resurrection demands our attention and awe. Countless Christians worldwide maintain that such proof exists: It is the Shroud of Turin, revered as the authentic burial cloth of Jesus Christ. The earliest undisputed historical records place the Shroud in Lirey, France, between 1353 and 1357. Before [More]

A recent study revealed that for the first time in three years, government restrictions on religion and hostilities against religious groups has surged globally. The Pew Research Center’s latest annual study on global restrictions on religion shows that there has been an uptick in the most recently recorded year (2015) in regard to religious persecution – a jump that comes after two years of decreases in the percentage of nations that registered high levels of religious limitations. “The share of countries with ‘high’ or ‘very high’ levels of government restrictions – i.e., laws, policies and actions that restrict religious beliefs [More]

A recent British survey conducted for Palm Sunday revealed that one out of four self-described Christians in the United Kingdom do not believe in the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Christians in the U.K. are not considerably more believing of the Scriptures when it comes to the resurrection than the average Briton – or even those who claim no religious affiliation at all. Read More: Quarter of UK Christians reject Jesus’ resurrection

The American Bible Society has released its annual State of the Bible survey that shows Americans are concerned about eroding morality. For about eight years now the ministry has given what they call America’s “report card” on the Bible, and ABS spokesman Geof Morin says the survey shows Americans believe the Bible is a source of hope and a force for good, even as they express growing concern for the country’s morals. Eighty-one percent of Americans say morals are declining according to the survey done with help from the Barna Group. “In fact,” says Morin, “it’s at a pretty speedy [More]

There are 2.8 billion unreached people on earth; they will live their entire lives without ever hearing the gospel message of Jesus’ love for them. Andrew Scott wants to motivate and mobilize Christians around the world to GO to those billions and reach them for Christ. Andrew is the President and CEO of Operation Mobilization – USA, and the author of a book called SCATTER: Go Therefore and Take Your Job With You. Andrew wants to see more American Christians understand that people from every vocational background—doctors, businessmen, engineers, artists—are called to share His glory with the nations. Listen to [More]