Archives for January 2017

By Tony Perkins At the start of the weekend, President Trump was busy doing what President Trump does -- making things happen. In an executive order on Friday, Trump limited travel to the U.S. by citizens of seven countries: Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen. Making good on a promise to increase national security and prevent future terrorist attacks within our borders, the president suspended the issuance of visas for these nationals for the next 90 days because of the prominence of jihadi violence within their borders. Along with a variety of other measures, the order also brought scrutiny on the process for immigrants and visitors from any nation by creating a temporary hold on any refugee travel to the U.S. Trump's order also prioritizes the admission of persecuted religious minorities in the previous countries after the temporary ban is up, whether those refugees be Yazidi, Christian, or Muslim. Trump has also ordered the Pentagon and the U.S. State Department to prepare a plan to create safe zones in Syria and the surrounding area within 90 days. Predictably, the media and liberal politicians went crazy. Democratic Senator Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) took to Twitter, vowing to fight the order … [Read more...]

By Waylon Bailey Prayer is central to our faith. In fact, prayer seems to be a common practice of all peoples. Prayer is important because it’s essential to getting in touch with God. Even many atheists admit to praying in difficult times. If prayer is so necessary and important, are there ways we harm our times of prayer? Are there ways we should not pray? Let me give you three ways you should consider changing about how you pray. First, don’t pray negatively. In itself, prayer is a positive practice. It is a way of getting in touch with God and letting Him have control over our lives. This is, of course, a positive event. How do we make it negative? We do so by emphasizing what we don’t want to do rather than what we want to do. For example, let’s suppose you need to be more patient. You might pray, “Lord, help me not to be impatient and frustrated today.” That’s a negative prayer. A positive prayer might be like this, “Lord, help me today as I struggle with the difficulties of life. Help me to show the fruit of the Spirit in my life. Let me live in patience, gentleness, kindness, and self-control.” A positive prayer emphasizes what we want to do rather than what we don’t want to do. Second, … [Read more...]