9 January 2013
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Presbyterians Week Headlines
[1] Christian Observer News for January 2013
[5] PCA Mission to North America Seeks Church Planters
[6] Zelltenreich Reformed Church 2013 Conference Scheduled 8-9 February 2013
[7] Headlines from Christian Concern
[8] Headlines from The Christian Institute
[9] Articles from LifesiteNews.com
[10] Raging Heathen and Vain Imagining
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[1] Christian Observer News for January 2013
On Saturday, 4 September 1813, Volume 1 Number 1of The Religious Remembrancer was published in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania with the heading “For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” [Romans 6:23]. In 1840, Amasa Converse, who had published the Visitor and Telegraph newspaper in Richmond, Virginia for the prior twelve years, began publication of Christian Observer as a merger of fourteen other publications including The Religious Remembrancer. The Christian Observer thus celebrates its 200th anniversary in 2013, and D.V., will during the year republish some of the historical highlights of the past 200 years from the Christian Observer family of publications.
At the beginning of this bicentennial celebration year, the Christian Observer editor is honored to announce the appointment of three new Contributing Editors to the Christian Observer.
Mr. David Clark Brand is the author of Profile of the Last Puritan: Jonathan Edwards, Self-Love and the Dawn of the Beatific, part of the American Academy of Religion Academy Series. Mr. Brand is a retired pastor and educator with missionary experience in Korea and Arizona.
For the past eleven months, the Christian Observer has published a series of articles by Mr. Brand under the series title “Shall their unbelief make the faith of God without effect?” [Romans 3:3 Geneva Bible], which explores the effects upon the church of the change in meaning of the Greek word pistis from faith to faithfulness by the English Revised Version Committee that began meeting in February 1870. The January 2013 installment is titled “Zwingli and the Kicker (Part I)”.
T.M. Moore serves as dean of the Centurions Program of the Wilberforce Forum and principal of The Fellowship of Ailbe, a spiritual fellowship in the Celtic Christian tradition. He is the author or editor of twenty books, and has contributed chapters to four others. His essays, reviews, articles, papers, and poetry have appeared in dozens of national and international journals, and on a wide range of websites. His most recent books are The Ailbe Psalter and The Ground for Christian Ethics (Waxed Tablet). Additionally, Mr. Moore is the editor of the Worldview Church.
Beginning with Reformation Day 31 October 2008 and every day since then, Mr. Moore has written a daily devotional for the Christian Observer titled In the Gates, which is a series on the Law of God.
Since May 2012, Chattanooga, Tennessee blog ‘Nooganomics’ author David Tulis has graciously allowed the Christian Observer and Presbyterians Week to republish several of his blog articles that shine a biblical and covenantal light upon current events in Chattanooga, the U.S., and the rest of the world. Mr. Tulis is a deacon at Brainerd Hills Presbyterian Church (PCA). Mr. Tulis’ article for the January 2013 Christian Observer is titled “One-Word Explanation Why Christianity Will Defeat Other Total Systems: Grace”.
Again, the Christian Observer is honored to have these three fellow servants of Jesus Christ recognized in this way for their significant and continuing contributions.
Long-time Christian Observer Contributing Editor Dr. Joe Renfro’s January 2013 article is titled “Human Violence Is from the Inside Out”, which in light of the recent Newtown, Connecticut tragedy, discusses the current societal tendency to blame external factors and inanimate objects for acts of violence rather than the fallen, depraved human heart in each of us that sins against God and man.
Additionally, the January 2013 Christian Observer includes weekly Sabbath School Lessons by Assistant Editor Dr. Robert LaMay, who has faithfully provided these lessons to the Christian Observer since the 1990’s.
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+ Christian Observer, Post Office Box 1371, Lexington, Virginia 20110, christianobserver@christianobserver.org
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An 8 January 2013 The Scotsman article by Shân Ross titled “Church of England Decides to Allow Gay Bishops” reports that the Church of England has decided to allow to become bishops homosexuals in civil partnerships that promise to remain celibate.
Conservative evangelical Anglicans say they will fight the policy change at the General Synod level, and may bring in bishops from overseas in order to not serve under a homosexual bishop.
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+ The Scotsman, Barclay House, 108 Holyrood Road, Edinburgh EH8 8AS, Scotland, 131-620-8620
+ Church of England, Church House, Great Smith Street, Westminster, SW1P 3AZ, England, 44-0-20-7898-1000
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Dr. Philip Giddings (Convenor) and Canon Dr. Chris Sugden (Secretary) of Anglican Mainstream on 4 January 2013 issued the following statement:
“As made clear in the Ordinal, Bishops of the Church of England promise both to fashion their own life and that of their household according to the way of Christ and to be guardians of the Church’s doctrine. Given the ambiguous nature of civil partnerships, it would not be credible for a person in such a partnership to make such promises. Most people assume that civil partnerships are sexual relationships. It is casuistical to claim that they are not. This is presumably why many clergy in such partnerships refuse to “give assurances” to their bishops that theirs is a “non-sexual” relationship. Since a decision to move from the current position would be a grave departure from the Church’s doctrine and discipline it should be made by Bishops in Synod not by Bishops alone. Otherwise it looks too much like salami-slicing away at the Church’s teaching. A bishop known to be in a civil partnership could hardly be a focus of unity nor be a bishop for the whole church. Such an appointment would be a very divisive move both within the Church of England and in the wider Anglican Communion.”
Chairman of the Church of England Evangelical Council the Venerable Michael Lawson on 4 January 2013 issued the following statement:
“HAS THE HOUSE OF BISHOPS REALLY REMOVED THE BAR TO GAY BISHOPS?
“At the very least, the House of Bishops’ “Statement Regarding Clergy in a Civil Partnership as Candidates for the Episcopate”, will spread confusion and at worst will be taken as an effort to conform to the spirit of the age. By its timing, the Bishops appear stung by the national reaction of outrage to the rejection by General Synod of legislation to legalise the consecration of women as Bishops. If by this statement they are trying to mend fences with the general populace, showing they are truly in touch with the mind of the nation, they are profoundly out of touch with the reality of civil partnerships, most of which are seen as a focus for sexual activity, not simply an arrangement for tax purposes.
“Some bishops are known to be lax about questioning civil-partnership clergy about their sex lives. Yet the Bishop of Norwich has reported that the House of Bishops believes it would be unjust to exclude from consideration for the episcopate anyone seeking to live fully in conformity with the Church’s teaching on sexual ethics or other areas of personal life and discipline. As an argument, it has some merit. But the fact is this is not a justice issue, it is an issue of example setting to the nation. It is no surprise the BBC reported the statement as “Church removes bar to gay bishops”. That’s all most people will hear, even though under the media breath there is reference to the requirement of celibacy and traditional teaching.
“The church has a poor record already on that kind of discipline. And while some Bishops are known to duck the question, the watching world may well conclude that same sex relationships are simply OK for followers of Jesus Christ. What will happen if same sex marriage is finally approved? Will the House of Bishops have another meeting to approve the next step: bishops married into same sex partnerships? Will anybody then believe there can be gay marriage without gay sex. Christians are supposed to be different and follow the teaching of Christ. The House of Bishops knows that, but on the face of the present statement they appear more concerned to avoid criticism from the watching world than to be faithful to scripture, and wise in the timing and content of its public pronouncements.”
Archbishop, Anglican Church of Kenya and Chairman, GAFCON Primates Council the Most Rev. Dr. Eliud Wabukala on 6 January 2013 issued the following statement:
“As we enter the season of Epiphany we rejoice in the splendour of the light that has dawned upon us in the appearance of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Yet it is a great sadness that before the New Year has hardly begun, the life of the Anglican Communion has yet again been clouded by compromise with the secular preoccupations of the West.
“The decision by the Church of England’s House of Bishops, just announced, that clergy in Civil Partnerships can be eligible to serve as bishops will create further confusion about Anglican moral teaching and make restoring unity to the Communion an even greater challenge.
“The provisions of the U.K.’s Civil Partnership legislation mimic marriage for same sex couples and are clearly designed on the assumption that such couples are sexually active. While it is true that the House of Bishops require bishops with Civil Partners to be celibate, this proviso is clearly unworkable. It is common knowledge that active homosexuality on the part of Church of England clergy is invariably overlooked and in such circumstances it is very difficult to imagine anyone being brought to book.
“However, the heart of the matter is not enforceability, but that bishops have a particular responsibility to be examples of godly living. It cannot be right that they are able to enter into legally recognised relationships which institutionalise and condone behaviour that is completely contrary to the clear and historic teaching of Scripture, as reaffirmed for Anglicans by the 1998 Lambeth Conference in its Resolution 1.10.
“The weight of this moral teaching cannot be supported by a flimsy proviso. In his teaching about marriage, Jesus reaffirms that marriage is the coming together of a man and a woman in accordance with the pattern of creation itself when he says ‘from the beginning of creation God made them male and female’ (Mark 10:6). For the health and well being of both church and society we must promote this great God given gift of marriage without compromise and ambiguity.”
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+ Anglican Mainstream, 21 High Street, Eynsham OX29 4HE, England, 44- 0-1865-883388, office@anglican-mainstream.net
+ Church of England Evangelical Council, Contact Page
+ Anglican Church of Kenya, Post Office Box 40502 – 00100, Nairobi, Kenya, 254-020-2718001, Fax: 254-020-2711782, info@ackenya.org
+ GAFCON, Post Office Box Q190, QVB Post Office, Sydney, New South Wales 1230, Australia, editor@gafcon.org
+ Church of England, Church House, Great Smith Street, Westminster, SW1P 3AZ, England, 44-0-20-7898-1000
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[4] Calvin College Professor Wins 2012–2013 Nicholas Rescher Prize for Contributions to Systematic Philosophy
Calvin College professor emeritus of philosophy Alvin Plantinga has been named winner of the 2012–2013 Nicholas Rescher Prize for Contributions to Systematic Philosophy.
Created in 2010 by the University of Pittsburgh and named for a member of that institution’s philosophy faculty, the prize recognizes a lifetime of achievement in systematic philosophy, according to a profile of Plantinga written by Myrna Anderson and published recently by Calvin College communications.
The Rescher Prize (which comes with a $25,000 award and a medallion) is the latest in a series of honors for the author of, among other works, God and Other Minds, The Nature of Necessity and Warranted Christian Belief.
Plantinga graduated Calvin in 1954 and moved on to The University of Michigan, where he earned a master’s in philosophy and then to Yale, where he earned his PhD. His first teaching job was at Wayne State University.
One of the first things Plantinga came up with was the free-will defense, an answer to those who argued that a benevolent, all-knowing God could not co-exist with an evil world. He argued that God, though all-knowing and all-loving, could create creatures with free will that would allow them to choose evil.
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+ Christian Reformed Church in North America, 2850 Kalamazoo Avenue Southeast, Grand Rapids, Michigan 49560, 616-241-1691, Fax: 616-224-0803 crcna@crcna.org
+ Calvin College 3201 Burton Southeast, Grand Rapids, Michigan 49546, 616-526-6000
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[5] PCA Mission to North America Seeks Church Planters
The Presbyterian Church in America (PCA)’s Mission to North America (MNA)’s Church Planter Recruiting ministry is seeking PCA pastors to launch new church plants around the country. There are, the ministry reports, dozens of groups looking for a church planter in their communities. Additionally, dozens of communities have been identified as target locations for future church planting.
For more information on church-planting needs, contact Alan Foster at afoster@pcanet.org or 678-232-8049.
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+ Presbyterian Church in America, 1700 North Brown Road, Suite 105, Lawrenceville, Georgia 30043, 678-825-1000, Fax: 678-825-1001, ac@pcanet.org
+ Mission to North America, 1700 N. Brown Road, Suite 101, Lawrenceville, Georgia 30043, 678-825 -1200, Fax: 678-825-1201, mna@pcanet.org
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[6] Zelltenreich Reformed Church 2013 Conference Scheduled 8-9 February 2013
Zeltenreich Reformed Church (United Reformed Churches in North America (URCNA)) of New Holland, Pennsylvania has scheduled its 2013 conference for 8-9 February 2013.
The featured speaker is Dr. Timothy Z. Witmer, professor of practical theology and coordinator of the practical theology department at Westminster Theological Seminary, and senior minister of Crossroads Community Church in Upper Darby, Pennsylvania.
The conference theme is “Turning Your Marriage Right-Side Up”, and includes the following sessions:
— Session I (Friday, 8 February – 7:30 p.m.): ‘How to be Strangers’
— Session II (Saturday, 9 February – 9:00 a.m.): ‘How to Frustrate Your
Wife’
— Session III (Saturday, 9 February – 11:00 a.m.): ‘How to Make a Stubborn
Husband’
Registration is scheduled for Friday, 8 October at 7:00 p.m. and Saturday, 9 October at 8:30 a.m. Advance purchase tickets are US$10 or US$12 at the door. Conference information is available at:
http://www.covreformedchurch.com/wordpress/news/zeltenreich-reformed-church-2013-conference/
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+ United Reformed Churches in North America, c/o the Rev. Bradd Nymeyer, 227 1st Avenue Southeast, Sioux Center, Iowa 51250, 712-722-1965, statedclerk@urcna.org
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[7] Headlines from Christian Concern
Headlines of the past week from Christian Concern:
— IVF Treatment in U.K. Has Resulted in the Loss of Nearly 3 Million Embryos
— Christian Doctors Say Stop Financial Rewards for Using Liverpool Care Pathway End-of-Life Protocol
— U.K. Girl Guides Consider Removal of Pledge of Love for God in Girl Guide Promise
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+ Christian Concern, 70 Wimpole Street, London W1G 8AX, England, 020 7935 1488, Contact Page
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[8] Headlines from The Christian Institute
Headlines of the past week from The Christian Institute:
— High Court Judge Attacks Government Homosexual Marriage Plans
— U.K among Worst Nations for Family Breakdown
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+ The Christian Institute, Wilberforce House, 4 Park Road, Gosforth Business Park, Newcastle upon Tyne NE12 8DG, England, 44-0-191-281-5664, Fax: 44-0-191-281-4272, info@christian.org.uk
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[9] Articles from LifesiteNews.com
Articles from the past week from LifesiteNews.com:
— Gay Teacher Suspended after Showing Fourth Graders Homosexually-Charged Christmas Video
— Planned Parenthood Video Promotes Sadomasochism as ‘Adventure’ and ‘Fun’
— Renting Wombs: the New ‘Biological Colonialism’
— British Court Asked to Allow Forced Abortion of Mentally Disabled Woman’s Baby
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+ LifeSiteNews.com, Incorporated, 4 Family Life Lane, Front Royal, Virginia 22630, 888-678-6008, Contact Page
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[10] Raging Heathen and Vain Imagining
Articles from the past week regarding kings and rulers setting themselves against the LORD and against his anointed:
— NDAA Signed Into Law by Obama Includes Indefinite Detention Provisions for American Citizens
— White House Wins Fight to Keep Drone Killings of Americans Secret
— Federal Judge Rules Texas School Can Force Teenager to Wear Locator Chip
— Russia Adoption Ban a Death Sentence for Special-Needs Kids
— ObamaCare to Fund Planned Parenthood K-12 Sex Ed
— Maryland School Suspends Six-Year-Old Boy for Making Gun Gesture, Saying ‘Pow’
— Federal Judge Rules that “Thicket of Laws” Allows President to Kill American Citizens Secretly
— Kyrsten Sinema Will Serve as ‘First Openly Bisexual Member’ of U.S. Congress
— Obama Administration: We Can and Will Force Christians to Act against Their Faith
— Obama’s EPA Says No Law Can Stop It from Conducting Poisonous Experiments on Americans
— National Cathedral in Washington DC Schedules First Homosexual Wedding
— England Considering Ban on Kitchen Knives
— Assisted Suicide in Washington, Oregon Leads to Elder Abuse
— Police Kicked out of Belleville, Illinois Denny’s for Being Armed
— Obama Blasts Chaplains’ Conscience Protections
— Bank of America Freezes Gun Manufacturer’s Deposits: “You Should Not Be Selling Guns”
— Dash Cam Video Shows Seattle Police Officer Punching Man in Face
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+ Huffington Post, 560 Broadway, New York, New York 10012, 212-245-7844, info@huffingtonpost.com
+ Infowars.com, Post Office Box 19549, Austin, Texas 78760, 512-291-5750, writers@infowars.com
+ American Vision, 3150-A Florence Road, Suite 2, Powder Springs, Georgia 30127, 800-628-9460, Fax: 770-222-7269, Comments@AmericanVision.org
+ Thomson Reuters, 3 Times Square New York, New York 10036, 646-223-4000, general.info@thomsonreuters.com
+ Family Policy Network, Post Office Box 1199, Forest, Virginia 24551, 434-485-5084
+ LifeNews.com, Post Office Box 270841, Fort Collins, Colorado 80527, news@lifenews.com
+ The Heartland Institute, One South Wacker Drive #2740, Chicago, Illinois 60606, 312-377-4000, Fax: 312-377-5000, think@heartland.org
+ The Daily Caller, 1050 17th Street Northwest # 900, Washington DC 20036, 202-466-3004, media@dailycaller.com
+ CNSNews.com, 325 South Patrick Street, Alexandria, Virginia 22314, 877-267-6397, newsdesk@cnsnews.com
+ Associated Press, 450 West 33rd Street, New York, New York 10001, 212-621-1500, info@ap.org
+ Last Resistance, Contact Page
+ CBS St. Louis, 1220 Olive Street, 3rd Floor, St. Louis, Missouri 63103, 314-621-2345, Fax: 314-588-1234, kmox@kmox.com
+ WND, 2020 Pennsylvania Avenue Northwest, #351, Washington DC 20006, Contact Page
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[11] The Religion of Peace
Articles from the past week about the religion of peace:
— 2012 Global Jihad Body Count 11,267 Dead in 2,459 Barbaric Terror Attacks
— Islamic Gangs in France Burn 1200 Automobiles in New Year’s Eve Rioting
— Saudi Muslim Preacher Issues Fatwa Allowing Jihadis to Rape Syrian Women
— Arabs in Venice, Italy City Center Beat Unconscious American Jewish Student
— Al Jazeera Acquires Gore’s Current TV “Al Jazeera America”
— Afghani Muslim Honor Kills Wife during Prison Visit
— Populist Islamic Scholar Vows to Turn Islamabad, Pakistan into World’s Biggest ‘Tahrir Square’
— Study Reveals Ordinary Muslims in Indonesia Violating Rights of Christians
— Muslims Bomb Church and Orphanage in Indonesia
— More Evidence of ‘Death Panels’ in Obamacare: Rationing Concerns Based on Age, Race, Ethnicity
— Obama releases Hundreds of Jihadists in Afghanistan
— Palestinian Authority Declares it Is Now ‘the State of Palestine’
— Sharia Government of Lhokseumawe, Indonesia to Ban Women “Straddling Motorbikes”
— Egyptian Magazine Exposes Muslim Brotherhood Infiltration of Obama Administration
— Saudi Islamic Police Detain Dozens for “Plotting to Celebrate Christmas”
— Al-Jazeera Purchase of Current TV Has Negative Potential in American Media
— Al-Jazeera seen as Using Al Gore to Bolster Network’s Legitimacy in United States
— Moderate Egyptian Muslims Vow to Recapture Spain
— Women Beaten up in France for Her Western Lifestyle, Attackers Tell Her to Wear Veil
— Iran’s Nuclear Bomb Program Complete
— Christian Teacher Has Throat Cut in Mosul, Iraq, Plunging City in Fear Again
— Car Bomb Kills Christian University Student in Mosul, Iraq
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+ WND, 2020 Pennsylvania Avenue Northwest, #351, Washington DC 20006, Contact Page
+ Atlas Shrugs, writeatlas@aol.com
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+ CNSNews.com, 325 South Patrick Street, Alexandria, Virginia 22314, 877-267-6397, newsdesk@cnsnews.com
+ Assist USA, Post Office Box 609, Lake Forest, California 92609, 949-380-1558, danjuma1@aol.com
+ International Christian Embassy Jerusalem, Post Office Box 1192, Jerusalem, 91010, Israel, 972-2-539-9700, 972-2-539-9701, Contact Page
+ The Daily Caller, 1050 17th Street Northwest # 900, Washington DC 20036, 202-466-3004, media@dailycaller.com
+ Institute on Religion and Democracy, 1023 15th Street Northwest, Suite 601, Washington DC 20005-2601, 202-682-4131, Fax: 202-682-4136, info@theird.org
+ Assyrian International News Agency
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