“Breaking the addiction is the policy objective. There are four complementary strategies for doing so: First, restore parental authority; second, limit teens’ contact with social media to the extent possible; third, reduce the potency of the platforms; and fourth, hold Big Tech accountable for its failures to protect minors.” - IFS

Per new study from Religion in Public: “Bible-believing Christians and Christian nationalists are the most likely demographic to embrace conspiracy theories, including ones related to 9/11 and mass shootings.” - Relevant

Related: What Is Christian Nationalism And Why Is It Dangerous? - Dale Chamberlain

“Ron Wickard humbly pastored the same church out on the remote South Dakota prairie for 42 years, providing one beautiful model of what it means to ‘dwell in the land and befriend faithfulness’ (Psalm 37:3).” - Desiring God

“Our attempts to resolve these tensions will be and have been halting, difficult, and suffer many setbacks. But in solidarity with our neighbors, with whom we share God’s image, we can imperfectly work toward just resolutions” - Acton

Read the series.

(Matt. 4:1-11, Mark 1:12-13, Luke 4:1-13)

Most Christians do not think of Jesus’ wilderness temptation as including extensive debate between two rabbis who were arguing over midrash (appropriate interpretation). The debate between Jesus and Satan could well have been an extensive debate; perhaps many Bible passages were hurled back and forth with only a few summary examples mentioned.

“In Keltner’s words the goal of making our ‘sense of self recede’ is quite counter-cultural. For decades, the dominant ideas in psychology… have been that the self is the highest priority and that self-expression, self-discovery, and self-actualization… are the keys to the meaning of life” - Breakpoint

Varkey was fired in late January after some students walked out of his class when he taught that human sex was determined by one’s chromosomes instead of a chosen gender identity. - CPost

“The medieval church had musical instruments and choirs…. Congregations sat mute as the ‘professionals’ performed. The Reformers rightly restored the singing of the congregation.” - Ref21

“We begin with the transition of parenting college-age children…. Paul Hartog and his wife, Alne, are in the midst of that scenario and share with us lessons…. Alan Cole and his wife, Nancy, share the delights and blessings that come from their experiences of living and growing with their adult children in their home.” - P&D

“Elevation founding pastor Steven Furtick’s wife, Holly Furtick, preaches at the church, and some of her sermons are posted on the church’s website.” - Religion Unplugged

Related at Christianity Today: Steven Furtick’s Elevation Church Leaves the SBC

“Nationalism is patriotism on steroids; it is patriotism degenerated into jingoism and chauvinism. It is near idolatry of country and often appears in mixing celebration of nation with worship of God.” - Roger Olson

By Tom Zobrist

“I reveled in the stories and worked hard to be a ‘worthy priesthood holder’ (as a young deacon) throughout my teenage years. But that project began to crumble as I spent more time on the internet.” - TGC

“The Bible does teach the need for God’s gracious intervention to change the spiritual apathy in His people: sometimes individually, and sometimes corporately.” - P&D

“Thompson is associate general minister for the UCC’s wider church ministries and co-executive for its global ministries, and she recently was elected to the executive committee of the World Council of Churches” - RNS

“Summit Ministries, in conjunction with McLaughlin & Associates, released a survey last week…A separate poll conducted by Convention of States Action and the Trafalgar Group… yielded similar findings.” - CPost

“Whatever one’s religious beliefs, Pascal teaches that all individuals have to make a choice between faith in some reality beyond themselves or a life without belief. But a life without belief is also a choice, and in Pascal’s view, a bad bet.” - The Conversation

Most Christians have been members of (or at least attended) a church long enough to go through a pastoral transition or to witness an ordination service. When they do, they’ll often hear a sermon on the pastor’s responsibility to the church. It might include a look at the qualifications for pastor as listed in 1Timothy 3 or Titus 1, and perhaps also a charge from 2Timothy 4.1-2:

¹ I solemnly charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by His appearing and His kingdom: ² preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction.

Editor’s note: The full title of the speech below is “An oration, pronounced at Hanover, New-Hampshire, the 4th day of July, 1800; being the twenty-fourth anniversary of American independence.” The speaker is Daniel Webster, who was then a junior at the University of Dartmouth.

AN ORATION.

COUNTRYMEN, BRETHREN, AND FATHERS,

“On the 4th of July, I’m always reminded of times I’ve traveled in countries where freedom is severely curtailed. Or where the people have been freshly freed from the chains of injustice, and the joy of their release was palpable.” - Church & Culture

“What is unique about Discovering Dispensationalism is that the contributors seek to highlight key dispensational principles that can be found in nearly every era of church history.” - DBTS Blog

“To identify charismatics, we asked respondents whether they attended religious services where people engage in signature practices and beliefs of Pentecostal and charismatic movements: speaking in tongues, receiving direct revelation from God, divine healing, or receiving a definite answer to a prayer.” - PRRI

“did you know that [John] Newton had his initial conversion experience while still engaged in the slave trading business? That he continued to captain a slave ship for more than 5 years while growing in his faith?” - Michael Brown

“According to the SACSCOC, the seminary was placed on warning because they deemed the institution had failed to demonstrate compliance with: Core Requirement 4.1 (Governing board characteristics), Core Requirement 13.1 (Financial resources), and Standard 13.3 (Financial responsibility)” - BPNews

“Alliance University, a 140-year-old Christian & Missionary Alliance (CMA) school in New York City, will close on August 31 after years of financial struggles.” - CToday

“While I live in Israel today, I spent my childhood in the U.S., and I am proud to say that I am a citizen of both countries.” - CPost

The online Encyclopedia Britannica provides the following information about shamanism and percussion:

Jesus says in Matthew 7:1, “Do not judge, that you may not be judged.” From this statement one might conclude that judging is prohibited, but in the next verse the context helps us understand that the passage is not a prohibition. Rather it is a warning: “For in the way that you measure, it will be measured to you” (Matt. 7:2).

Luke 6:36-37 records a similar statement by Jesus: “Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful. And do not judge and you will not be judged, and do not condemn and you will not be condemned. Set free and you will be set free.”

A total of 525 people, many of them pastors and wives, registered for this week’s 94^th Annual IFCA International Convention. My wife and I were among those who gathered at the Cincinnati Marriott at RiverCenter and the Northern Kentucky Convention Center in Covington, Ky., as we oversaw the exhibit for The Friends of Israel Gospel Ministry.

The theme for the conference was “Fight the Good Fight: Reclaiming Biblical Fundamentalism.”

Simon Kennedy, writing at World magazine, thinks so—at least in the area of gender transition procedures on children. - World