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Showing posts from 2015

Guest Post by Rebecca Jones~Noisy Quiet Times

This article by Rebecca Jones was first published in Presbyterian Church in America’s Messenger, May 1991. I remember reading it but I was only 19 years old then. Now, with 5 kids of my own, I can actually relate. This brought tears to my eyes as I realized my own struggle is no different than my mother's. As a child, I always loved the Lord. One vivid childhood memory stands out. With the rest of my tearful family, I am at the bottom of the stairs of our home in Pennsylvania. A hurricane rages outside. Floods are pouring into our basement. Yet we are only aware that the doctor is upstairs examining my little seven-month-old sister—will she live or die? Each of us prayed fervently that evening. I begged my Father in heaven to spare my baby sister. The following morning a surgeon performed exploratory surgery and discovered intussusception —in time! My sister Anne is now the mother of five. From the moment her life was saved, I knew God was there and that he loved my fa...

Is the Church Ready for a Post-Abortion World?

Baby at 5 months in the womb My neighbor, a foreigner to Germany, my friend and prayer partner came to me one day, hesitantly excited about her new pregnancy. She had another child, a 5 year old boy, and a husband who was a friendly neighbor but not a Christian. She was hesitant because she did not know how he would react to her news. Eventually she told him and his response was, “you need to get an abortion, or else I will leave you and take our son with me.” My friend came to me very distressed. She knew abortion was wrong. We spent a long time talking, praying and asking God to give her the strength to withstand his blackmail. A few weeks went by. She knocked on my door. She told me she had not had the courage and that the fear of man had overcome her. There was no more baby. We held each other and cried for such a long time. I reminded her of the forgiveness found in Jesus. Ever since, she has drifted. I have moved away to another part of town and have very little contact w...

Is Rachel Dolezal a new Caitlyn Jenner?

Rachel Dolezal is all the buzz today…She is a civil rights activist and a professor of Africana studies at Eastern Washington University, as well as a chair of the office of the police ombudsman commission in the city of Spokane and president of its chapter of the African American civil rights organization NAACP. She has regularly spoken out on local media about racial justice ( The Guardian ). Her parents are claiming that she has been misrepresenting herself as black for some time now. You see, Rachel was born Caucasian, the race assigned to her at birth, but because she feels more comfortable in the black community and wants to champion its cause, she has changed herself, even her appearance, in order to become black. Her self-definition as black has caused an outrage because she lied about her identity.  But let’s not miss the irony of our confused times. Dolezal is the product of the same culture as Caitlyn Jenner. Unlike the acclaim Jenner received for having ...