Sunday as a Mark of Christian Unity

Sunday as a Mark of Christian Unity

Rev. Dr. Demetrios Tonias


“Sunday as a Mark of Christian Unity”
by Rev. Dr. Demetrios E. Tonias – Dean, Annunciation Greek Orthodox Cathedral of New England

The Christian Church, from its very beginning, has struggled with the concept of unity. Indeed, within the Pauline corpus we see the many ways in which the Apostle to the Gentiles struggled to keep together his young and fragile network of communities. As the church grew, there arose a variety of challenges, large and small, to threaten its unity. The Orthodox Christian Divine Liturgy bears witness to these challenges in the petitions and prayers, which are offered in the Eucharistic rite. We pray for “the unity of all,” “the unity of the faith,” for Christ to “reunite those separated” and to “unite us all to one another who become partakers of the one Bread and the Cup in the communion of the one Holy Spirit.” We recite the Nicene Creed with its portentous closing phrases stating belief in “One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church,” its sacred claim to “confess one Baptism for the forgiveness of sins”, and its exultation of Sunday as the Lord’s Day and the gift of resurrection with the statement “I look for the resurrection of the dead and the life of the ages to come.”

The Divine Liturgy is, most certainly, a fitting place to offer such prayers and confessions of faith, for the preeminent celebration of the Liturgy takes place on Sunday. From the moment the myrrh bearers found Christ’s empty tomb, Sunday was known as ἡ Κυριακή ἡμέρα—the Lord’s Day. By definition, each and every Sunday is a call to Christian unity since it is on this day that we are called to communion with the Lord, by the Lord. In spite of all of the challenges that have tugged at the threads of Christian unity, the Lord’s Day remains the one, unassailable marker of Christian unity since it is on this day that all of us, despite our many differences, gather together as believers in Christ.

There were always differences about days and dates in the Christian world. There were divisions surrounding the dating of Pascha from the earliest years of Christianity. The Puritans rejected the commemoration of the birth of Christ on December 25 as unscriptural. The Lord’s Day, however, as a time of communal, Christian gathering has never been in question. The commemoration of the Lord’s Day is an historical reality that bears witness to the centrality of the Resurrection and all that this event meant and signifies for the cosmos. Therefore, what better marker of Christian unity can we have? Indeed, what stronger case can one make for the significance of Sunday as a hallmark of Christian unity than the understanding that Christians throughout the centuries have conceived of this day as a day of new creation, an eighth day set apart from all others.

For the Orthodox Christian mind, this historical relationship is critical to our understanding of Christian unity. For the Orthodox Christian, unity implies a transcendent ecumenicity—an ecumenicity that exists throughout time and space. It is a communion of all believers, at all times. Put simply, nothing in the calendar unites us like Sunday. It is a day that changed the world on the very first Sunday and, I would argue, every Sunday after the first. The world was transfigured through a myriad of Sunday’s when Christians gathered in communion and heard the Gospel message. It was on Sunday when Christians learned to love their enemies and care for those in need. It was on Sunday when Christians first met to share a meal of love they called by the Greek word ἀγάπη. It was, is, and shall always be on Sunday when the best hope for humanity shines forth from churches large and small and the “Eucharist after the Eucharist” travels forth from the four walls of the church and into the home and homeless shelter, the playground and the hospital, the wedding feast and the wake.

It is human nature to think parochially—in terms of our own family, our own exclusive church, our own unique religious entity. In this historical light, however, Sunday takes on a new meaning. Sunday worship is something more than simply what our parents and grandparents did. Sunday worship is even more than what our local faith community has done. Sunday worship is something that all Christians, at all times have celebrated. When we gather on Sunday the unity we achieve takes us back in time, across the ages to the earliest believer; it also moves us forward in time to embrace generations not yet born. In this way, the spiritual unity we have thus achieved possesses an eschatological character. The unity to which we bear witness and which we embody is a manifestation of the kingdom to which we all aspire.

In order to fully appreciate Sunday as a mark of Christian unity we must expand our definition of unity. We must all strive for a Christian community—one throughout the ages—for such a transcendent unity yields many fruits. If we are in union with the earliest Christians then we will share in their zeal. If we are in unity with the martyrs then we partake of their devotion. If we are in unity with those compassionate Christians then we feel and can bestow their healing touch. When we assemble in faith on Sundays, we gather not simply with other parishioners in a local place of worship, but with Christians throughout every land and all the ages—and there is no greater evidence of unity than this. In our century, as with its predecessors, challenges large and small threaten Sunday. However, when we stand in faith, as members of a Church beyond all churches, we reclaim Sunday for the God who gave it to us.

Source: http://www.ldausa.org/lda/sunday-as-a-mark-of-christian-unity/

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Adventist Church President Holds First Meeting With UN Chief

The two leaders discuss ways to help people and promote religious tolerance.

POSTED APRIL 6, 2015

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon expressed concerns about growing religious intolerance worldwide during a private meeting with Adventist Church leader Ted N.C. Wilson, and he invited the Seventh-day Adventist Church to work with the UN in helping people.

Wilson, the first Adventist Church president to meet with a UN chief, noted that the church has long supported religious liberty and said it was willing to team up on initiatives that followed Christ’s ministry of helping people physically, mentally, socially, and spiritually.

Ganoune Diop, associate director of the Adventist world church’s public affairs and religious liberty department, said his department takes Jesus’ words of being the “salt of the earth” and the “light of the world” in Matt. 5:13, 14 seriously.

“Its representatives mingle with political and religious leaders in every country without losing or compromising a distinctive Adventist identity,” said Diop, who attended the meeting.

Ban met with Wilson, Diop, and John Graz, director of the public affairs and religious liberty department, at 12:10 p.m. Monday for a 45-minute meeting in his office at the United Nations headquarters in New York.

The meeting was arranged with the personal involvement of Ambassador Joseph Verner Reed, dean of the UN undersecretaries-general and a friend of Seventh-day Adventists, who regularly corresponded with Diop to make the meeting a reality, Diop said.

“It was a real privilege to meet the secretary-general and to hear his appeal for assistance for humanity,” Wilson told the Adventist Review.

“Seventh-day Adventists should be ready to witness for the Lord anywhere we go and to testify of God’s blessing in our lives and what we can do in His name,” he said. “The world is waiting for this type of heaven-inspired testimony with clear answers to today’s problems.”

From left, Ganoune Diop, Ted N.C. Wilson, Ban Ki-moon, Joseph Verner Reed, and John Graz. Photo: Evan Schneider / UN

Ban spoke about global issues such as poverty and a lack of education before voicing his concern about religious intolerance reaching unprecedented levels globally. Just last week, a militant Islamist group killed 148 people in an attack on Christians at a Kenyan university. IS and other extremist organizations in Iraq, Syria, Nigeria, Libya, and elsewhere have also targeted Christians and other religious groups with often-deadly violence in recent months.

Ban underscored his belief that people should cultivate a respect for all, including those of other faiths. He indicated that he appreciated the Adventist Church’s work in promoting religious liberty as well as education, health, and humanitarian aid through the Adventist Development and Relief Agency. ADRA has worked with the UN in assisting refugees in the Middle East and elsewhere.

Wilson thanked Ban for the meeting and told about various church initiatives that correspond with the UN’s mission to help people.

“We had an excellent meeting with the secretary-general and some of his staff, sharing with them about the Adventist Church’s activities,” Wilson said. “We focused on certain things that the Adventist Church can help with, such as religious liberty, freedom of conscience, ethical and spiritual values, respect for human dignity, family guidance, encouragement for young people, and basic human necessities like pure water and fundamental education.”

Wilson added: “It is only if we are led by the Lord that we can truly be effective in our outreach to the world preparing them for Christ’s soon coming by carrying out the practical ministry of Jesus through the Holy Spirit’s power.”

Earlier Monday, Ban held talks with Tanzanian President Jakaya Kikwete, whom Wilson incidentally met during a visit to the East African country in February.

At the meeting with Wilson, Graz gave a short report about major congresses organized by the church-affiliated International Religious Liberty Association that promote religious liberty and the church’s strong support of Article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which says everyone has the right “to change his religion or belief.”

Graz, secretary-general of the International Religious Liberty Association, said he was encouraged to see Ban’s concern about religious intolerance and desire to see people of goodwill work together to bring justice and freedom.

“It was a historic meeting between the UN secretary-general and the president of the Seventh-day Adventist Church about the state of the world and how we can help people living in very difficult environments,” Graz said.

“As disciples of Jesus, we want to help people and especially those who are voiceless, discriminated against, and persecuted,” he said. “In this way, we share the essential values of the UN.”

Diop said he also saw ways that the church and UN could cooperate, particularly in eradicating poverty and promoting education and healthcare.

“The impressive portfolio that the Seventh-day Adventist Church has developed for service to the whole human family remarkably resonates with the Millennium Development Goals and the Sustainable Development Goals of the UN,” he said in a statement.

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The Season of Adventists: Can Ben Carson's Church Stay Separatist amid Booming Growth?

NEWS

Photos by Ellen G. White Estate and BGEA / DeMoss


The denomination gains one million each year. Some want to be more evangelical.

Sarah Eekhoff Zylstra/ JANUARY 22, 2015


One of the Seventh-day Adventist Church’s most famous sons, retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson, is seeking evangelical support for a likely 2016 presidential bid. But the global leader of his church worries that the thriving denomination is becoming too mainstream.

In 2014, for the 10th year in a row, more than 1 million people became Adventists, hitting a record 18.1 million members. Adventism is now the fifth-largest Christian communion worldwide, after Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy, Anglicanism, and the Assemblies of God.

But even as Adventist schools and hospitals spread, president Ted N. C. Wilson is concerned about assimilation.

“Don’t be tempted by the Devil to blend in with the crowd or be ‘politically correct,’ ” Wilson said during his annual sermon in October. “Don’t proclaim a ‘generic’ Christianity or a ‘cheap-grace Christ,’ which does not point to the distinctive biblical truths to be declared worldwide” by Adventists (who regard themselves as God’s faithful remnant).

Wilson listed ways that Satan is attacking Adventism, including attempts to make it easier to join; advancing Pentecostal worship styles; and people moving “independently” from the main church.

Many of those warnings seemed aimed at the global church’s North American Division (NAD). (Though only about 1 million Adventists live in North America, they send out nearly half of the church’s missionaries and operate 13 of its colleges.) Many NAD members are seeking more dialogue with mainstream evangelicals. The NAD has also overwhelmingly approved women’s ordination, despite a global denominational ban.

Some Adventists worry that changing worship styles mean the denomination is moving toward evangelicalism, acknowledged Garrett Caldwell, public relations director for the world church. But though the church is indeed trying different strategies to reach the culture, it won’t be joining the National Association of Evangelicals anytime soon, he said.

“Anything that is a ‘how’ item, we should be willing to make an adjustment to,” Caldwell told CT [corrected]. “But not if it’s a ‘what’ kind of item . . . driven by our theology and by our history.”

Wilson’s speeches highlight the separatist values of the 150-year-old denomination. Its belief that God began judging Christians in 1844 and its reverence for Ellen G. White’s teachings have led to a rocky relationship with evangelicals. Adventists explored joining the World Evangelical Alliance in 2007, but the groups could only agree “to cooperate, where advisable, in areas of shared interest.”

“There has been a continuing tension about whether [Adventists] see themselves as distinct, or as one among many evangelical denominations with a few special emphases,” said David Neff, former CT editor and a former Adventist minister. “There’s a dynamic that moves back and forth between those poles.”

The NAD recently announced it would move out of the Silver Spring, Maryland, building it has long shared with the global headquarters. “[We] need to have [our] own unique message and strategies that are relevant and work in our territory,” NAD president Daniel Jackson told church leaders in November. “It’s time that we grow up and leave our parent’s house.”

The tension over separation or collaboration recalls other religious movements founded in the early 1800s, such as the Restoration Movement, said LifeWay Research president Ed Stetzer. Also known as the Stone–Campbell Movement, it eventually fractured into congregations that engaged evangelicalism more (Christian Churches) and less (Churches of Christ).

American secularization may be pushing Adventists closer to other Christians. Adventists have joined evangelicals, Catholics, and others on many amicus briefs in recent religious freedom cases involving contraception, tax-free clergy housing, and other issues.

Such efforts can send a red flag to groups who don’t want to lose their distinctive beliefs, said Stetzer. “But that does not mean groups always lose those beliefs. For example, the Assemblies of God is distinctively Pentecostal and evangelical.”

“Our differences are an asset until they become offensive,” said Gerry Wagoner, president of ADvindicate, which opposes women’s ordination and evangelical ties. “How can we love everyone and still retain the distinctives that make us unique?”

Editors' Note: Garrett Caldwell's quote was misattributed to Ted Wilson in CT's January/February print issue.

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Among Justices, Considering a Divide Not of Gender or Politics, but of Beliefs

U.S.



JULY 11, 2014

A rally at the Supreme Court last month after a ruling in favor of Hobby Lobby, a move that has been parsed and picked over. 

Doug Mills/The New York Times



On Religion

By SAMUEL G. FREEDMAN



During its last term, the Supreme Court narrowly decided two cases bearing extensively on the separation of church and state. Both of them broke along familiar 5-4 lines, and both of them implicitly raised a question hardly anyone has asked about a court that is entirely composed, for the first time in American history, of Roman Catholic and Jewish justices.

In the first of the cases, Greece v. Galloway, the court ruled to allow public prayer at a government meeting. In the other, Burwell v. Hobby Lobby Stores, the court said that a corporation closely held by a religious family should not have to offer several forms of contraception that it opposed to its female employees, as required by the Affordable Care Act.

To the degree that these decisions, especially Hobby Lobby, have been parsed and picked over, the analysis has gone along the lines of politics (conservative majority against liberal minority) or gender (male majority against mostly female minority).

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Yet it is at least as compelling to consider the Catholic-Jewish divide. In both cases, five of the court’s six Catholic justices — Samuel A. Alito Jr., Anthony M. Kennedy, John G. Roberts Jr., Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas — formed the majority that espoused a larger place for religious practice in public life. All three Jewish justices — Stephen G. Breyer, Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Elena Kagan — joined by one Catholic, Sonia Sotomayor, dissented on behalf of a wider, firmer separation.

What attention has been paid to the denominational nature of the decisions has too often echoed with America’s sordid history of anti-Catholic bigotry, the presumption that Catholic public servants take their orders from the Vatican. A recent advertisement in The New York Times by the Freedom From Religion Foundation, for instance, linked the court’s Roman Catholic majority to “the growing dangers of theocracy.”

Surely, though, there is a legitimate way to explore the Catholic and Jewish contexts of the court’s votes. The point is not to pretend to climb inside the psyche of each justice but to appreciate that these jurists are simultaneously results and embodiments of historical experience. To put it simply: Did nine individuals just coincidentally disagree based on their legal reasoning, or have American Catholics and American Jews arrived at different communal positions about where to properly draw the line between church and state?



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“Try as they might to claim judicial independence, justices are still the products of where they came from and who they were before going onto the bench,” said Thane Rosenbaum, a law professor at Fordham University and a widely published author on legal ethics. “Why do you want robed robots? Why aren’t we more honest that you are where you come from? The robe doesn’t shield you from that consolidated history.”

The history of Jews and Catholics in America has involved attitudes about church and state. The immigrant waves of both groups, having endured persecution in Europe, saw separation as a guarantee of their own freedom as religious minorities here. Experience had taught Jews to fear the anti-Semitism of Christian rulers, and Catholics were wary of proselytization and cultural domination by a Protestant majority.

For Jews, said the political scientist Kenneth D. Wald of the University of Florida, a secular state became synonymous with their comfort and accomplishment in the United States.

“Defending and extending the secular definition of the American state,” he has written, “became the (often unstated) core political priority of America’s organized Jewish community.” The emergence of the evangelical Christian “religious right” in the 1980s especially reinforced that belief.

The Catholic experience has had its share of nuance. Leslie C. Griffin, a professor of constitutional law at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, spoke recently of the way earlier generations of Catholics teased apart good and bad types of church-state separation. Good meant denying formal state power to Protestants. Bad meant refusing governmental aid and accommodation to Catholic institutions, especially parochial schools.

And while the Jewish organizational sphere developed largely along secular lines — Hadassah, Anti-Defamation League, American Jewish Committee to cite just a few examples — American Catholics advocated largely through overtly religious bodies such as the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.

Far from being predictably conservative, the bishops have taken liberal positions on issues such as nuclear arms, welfare overhaul and immigrant rights. Always, though, their positions have been put forth as the product of Catholic doctrine and social teaching, theology deemed a legitimate part of public debate.

“The Catholic Church has wanted separation in the sense we don’t want the king picking the bishops, but we also believed you could have cooperation in civil society,” said Richard W. Garnett, a professor of law at the University of Notre Dame. “Whereas in America, separation became a code for no money for Catholic schools or we don’t want religiously oriented morality shaping public policy.”

The divergent Jewish and Catholic sensibilities are measurable. In a 2007 survey by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life, 43 percent of Catholics agreed that “government should do more to protect morality”; just 22 percent of Jews concurred. The survey also found that Catholics were more than three times as likely as Jews (33 percent to 10 percent) to attend a religious service weekly. Catholics are also twice as likely as Jews (55 percent to 27 percent) to rate religion as the most important or a very important factor in their lives, according to a 2012 survey by the Public Religion Research Institute.

All of which helps one make historical sense of the two court decisions. Yes, the conservative bent of the court has as much to do with the number of vacancies that happened to come up during Republican presidencies. Yes, too, Catholic identity does not trump every other personal or legal consideration. Justice Kennedy, usually part of the court’s conservative wing, cast the decisive vote last year to overturn the Defense of Marriage Act, giving a major victory to the movement for same-sex marriage.

Even so, in amicus briefs in the Hobby Lobby case, the preponderance of Jewish groups filed in opposition to the religious exemption from the health care law. The heavyweights among Catholics — led by the bishops’ conference and the Knights of Columbus, as well as 67 theologians — submitted on behalf of Hobby Lobby.

That Hobby Lobby is owned not by Catholics but by evangelical Protestants, their erstwhile antagonists, speaks volumes about the diminution of old animosities and the societal influence of those people who once were the reviled outsiders.

“How could Catholics say they are now opposed, that they’re a minority religion, when they’re a majority on the court?” said Professor Griffin, who is an alumna of Notre Dame and has written for the Jesuit publication America. “And now they’re reducing the barrier between church and state in a way that’s comfortable with their values.”


Email: sgf1@columbia.edu;

Twitter: @SamuelGFreedman


A version of this article appears in print on July 12, 2014, on page A13 of the New York edition with the headline: Among Justices, Considering a Divide Not of Gender or Politics, but of Beliefs.

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Idaho city’s ordinance tells pastors to marry gays or go to jail

By Cheryl K. Chumley - The Washington Times - Monday, October 20, 2014


Coeur d‘Alene, Idaho, city officials have laid down the law to Christian pastors within their community, telling them bluntly via an ordinance that if they refuse to marry homosexuals, they will face jail time and fines.

The dictate comes on the heels of a legal battle with Donald and Evelyn Knapp, ordained ministers who own the Hitching Post wedding chapel in the city, but who oppose gay marriage, The Daily Caller reported.

A federal judge recently ruled that the state’s ban on gay marriage was unconstitutional, while the city of Coeur d‘Alene has an ordinance that prevents discrimination based on sexual preference.

The Supreme Court’s recent refusal to take on gay rights’ appeals from five states has opened the doors for same-sex marriages to go forth.

The Knapps were just asked by a gay couple to perform their wedding ceremony, The Daily Caller reported.

 “On Friday, a same-sex couple asked to be married by the Knapps, and the Knapps politely declined,” The Daily Signal reported. “The Knapps now face a 180-day jail term and a $1,000 fine for each day they decline to celebrate the same-sex wedding.”

The Alliance Defending Freedom has filed a suit in federal court to stop the city from enforcing the fine and jail sentence, saying in a statement from senior legal counsel Jeremy Tedesco that the government has overstepped its bounds, The Daily Caller reported.

“Many have denied that pastors would ever be forced to perform ceremonies that are completely at odds with their faith, but that’s what is happening here — and it’s happened this quickly,” Mr. Tedersco said, The Daily Caller reported.

But the city sees it differently. As far back as May, city officials were insisting that their ordinance is indeed in line with law.

“If you turn away a gay couple, refuse to provide services for them, then in theory you violated our code, and you’re looking at a potential misdemeanor citation,” said Coeur d‘Alene City Attorney Warren Wilson, to KXLY months ago.

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The New Surveillance Bills That Could Replace the USA Patriot Act

Kate Knibbs

As key provisions of the Patriot Act are about to expire in June, Congress is in a big hurry to figure out how to reform surveillance. Unfortunately, none of the bills being seriously considered will fix the United States’ broken surveillance apparatus.

Snowden Nightmare Act

The first bill, introduced by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell would keep everything about government spying just the way it is. It doesn’t have a name yet but it might as well be called the Snowden Nightmare Act.

McConnell’s bill extends the Patriot Act to 2020, including Section 215, which is what the NSA used to justify mass surveillance. His bill disregards any need for intelligence community reform, to the point where it almost seems like he doesn’t care about public opinion (or, obviously, letting people get spied on). It’s an irresponsible piece of legislation that reinforces institutional privacy abuses.

The USA Freedom Act

Compared to McConnell’s love letter to unconstitutional domestic spying, the USA Freedom Act reads like a piece of genuine surveillance reform, written by privacy angels.

The USA Freedom Act would prohibit using Section 215 to authorize the NSA’s bulk data collection program, as well as FISA’s pen/trap statute and national security letters. What that means is that if the bill passes, the NSA won’t be able to scoop up data en masse from telecom companies like it did before; instead, it would be required to request data using keywords. The act also declassifies big FISA court opinions.

Those are good things! And with its patriotic name engineered to garner bipartisan support, USA Freedom is getting pushed as a way to curb government oversteps, with support across the aisle and from big tech companies like Google and Facebook.

Unfortunately, the USA Freedom Act concedes far too much. It doesn’t touch the Drug Enforcement Agency’s surveillance programs. The transparency requirements are lax, so the government won’t have to say how many people it snooped on. It expands surveillance of foreign nationals coming in and out of the country, and increases penalties for people caught providing “material support” to terrorists.

Surveillance State Repeal Act

Many civil liberties groups believe that the USA Freedom Act doesn’t go far enough. “This bill would make only incremental improvements, and at least one provision—the material-support provision—would represent a significant step backwards,” ACLU deputy legal director Jameel Jaffer said in a statement. “The disclosures of the last two years make clear that we need wholesale reform.”

Jaffer wants Congress to let Section 215 sunset completely, a common sentiment among privacy activists who are USA Freedom Act skeptics—they’d rather let it expire and wait for a better reform package than endorse something half-baked.

Members of the anti-surveillance Civil Liberties Coalition are dismissing the USA Freedom Act in support of the Surveillance State Repeal Act, a far more comprehensive piece of legislation in the House that completely repeals the Patriot Act, as well as 2008’s FISA Amendments Act.

Supporters of Surveillance Are Criticizing These Bills, Too

Even supporters admit that the USA Freedom Act has its problems. The Center for Democracy and Technology endorses the bill, but it points out that it doesn’t limit data retention for information collected on people who turn out to have no connection to a suspect or target, and emphasizes that this is not an omnibus solution.

Whether or not it passes, it’s clear that the USA Freedom Act is no cure-all for surveillance abuses. It may not even be a cure-some. Yet better alternatives, like the Surveillance State Repeal Act, have no real chance of garnering support in Congress precisely because they are so much more comprehensive that they will invariably alienate the intelligence community.

Incremental reform is usually better than nothing, but the USA Freedom Act presents a conundrum: Is this like accepting a Band-Aid for a gunshot wound? Or is it a realpolitik baby-step away from surveillance abuses?


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God’s Pledge of Security

God’s Pledge of Security, March 29

The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations, and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished. 2 Peter 2:9.

In the time of trial before us God’s pledge of security will be placed upon those who have kept the word of His patience.... The pillar of cloud which speaks wrath and terror to the transgressor of God’s law is light and mercy and deliverance to those who have kept His commandments. The arm strong to smite the rebellious will be strong to deliver the loyal. Every faithful one will surely be gathered....

What part will you act in the closing scenes of this world’s history? ... Do you realize the grand work of preparation that is going on in heaven and on earth? ... Let none now tamper with sin, the source of every misery in our world.... Let not the destiny of your soul hang upon an uncertainty. Know that you are fully on the Lord’s side. Let the inquiry go forth from sincere hearts and trembling lips, “Who shall be able to stand?” Have you, in these last precious hours of probation, been putting the very best material into your character building? Have you been purifying your souls from every stain? Have you followed the light? Have you works corresponding to your profession of faith?

Is the softening, subduing influence of the grace of God working upon you? ... Are you letting your light shine to illumine the nations that are perishing in their sins? Do you realize that you are to stand in defense of God’s commandments before those who are treading them underfoot?

It is possible to be a partial, formal believer, and yet be found wanting and lose eternal life. It is possible to practice some of the Bible injunctions and be regarded as a Christian, and yet perish because you lack qualifications essential to Christian character.... While mercy lingers, while the Saviour is making intercession, let us make thorough work for eternity.

The great crisis is just before us. To meet its trials and temptations, and to perform its duties, will require persevering faith. But we may triumph gloriously; not one watching, praying, believing soul will be ensnared by the enemy.

Maranatha, p.96

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See HOW the Sunday law is being Pushed Today

End-Times-Prophecy

Published on Apr 5, 2015


Rome has changed tact, and is now pushing Sunday to appeal to the WHOLE world. A day that can "help family and society". The Sunday law is coming!
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California Governor Orders New Target for Emissions Cuts

U.S.



By ADAM NAGOURNEY

APRIL 29, 2015

Gov. Jerry Brown at a news conference with California mayors on Tuesday. On Wednesday, he issued an executive order aimed at curbing greenhouse gas emissions.CreditMax Whittaker/European Pressphoto Agency


LOS ANGELES — Gov. Jerry Brown issued an executive order Wednesday sharply ramping up this state’s already ambitious program aimed at curbing greenhouse gas emissions, saying it was critical to address “an ever-growing threat” posed by global warming to the state’s economy and well-being.

Under Mr. Brown’s order, by 2030, emission levels will have to be reduced by 40 percent compared with 1990. Under existing state law, emissions are supposed to be cut 80 percent from what they were in 1990 by 2050, and Mr. Brown said this tough new interim target was essential to helping the state make investment and regulatory decisions that would assure that goal was reached.

Mr. Brown faulted Republicans in Congress for “pooh-poohing” the threat of global warming. He said that he wanted California to set an example for the rest of the country and the world on the urgency of responding to what he described as a slow-moving crisis.

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“It’s a real test,” Mr. Brown, a Democrat, said in a speech at an environmental conference in downtown Los Angeles. “Not just for California, not just for America, but for the world. Can we rise above the parochialisms, the ethno-centric perspectives, the immediacy of I-want-I-need, to a vision, a way of life, that is sustainable?”

The Parched West

Articles in this series will explore the impact of the drought that has hit states from the Pacific Coast to the Great Plains.

Mr. Brown’s order marks an aggressive turn in what already was one of the toughest programs in the nation aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Under the law put into place by Mr. Brown’s predecessor, Arnold Schwarzenegger, the state was required to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 levels by 2020 on the way to reach the 2050 target; California is already well on its way to meeting the 2020 goal, and may exceed it, officials said Thursday.

“With this order, California sets a very high bar for itself and other states and nations, but it’s one that must be reached – for this generation and generations to come,” Mr. Brown said.

The order marks the latest effort by Mr. Brown to position California as a leading force in the world’s effort to address climate change – and himself as a leader of that campaign effort as he faces his final years in public office. In his State of the State address in January, the governor called for reducing gas consumption by cars and trucks by up to 50 percent over the next 15 years.

These efforts come as this state has been struggling with a drought that Mr. Brown has said is, at least in part, exacerbated by global warming. “Climate change poses an ever-growing threat to the well-being, public health, natural resources, economy, and the environment of California, including loss of snowpack, drought, sea level rise, more frequent and intense wildfires, heat waves, more severe smog, and harm to natural and working lands, and these effects are already being felt in the state,” Mr. Brown said in his executive order.

The governor’s speech, coming at a time when he has been trying to rally the state behind tough water conservation measures, was a reminder of the often conflicting demands of these twin challenges. Some of the central efforts proposed to alleviate the drought – including the building of desalinization plants to make ocean water potable – are highly energy intensive.

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Interactive Graphic: How Water Cuts Could Affect Every Community in California

The governor’s order did not give details of how the state would reach the new goals, though Mr. Brown in his speech here noted the success of the auto and energy industry so far in meeting the emission targets that the state has set over the years. He disputed the argument — voiced by Republicans in recent years — that such efforts would increase the cost of doing business in California.

“We’re sending the signals to the private economy to create, to innovate, and to make the kind of response that will enable Californians to live in compatibility with the environment,” he said. “We can do it.”

Lawmakers in Sacramento have been pushing through legislation intended to help achieve long-term cuts in emissions. Kevin de Leon, the Democratic leader of the State Senate, said Mr. Brown’s order exemplified “California’s global leadership on climate change.”

“We see the framework of a new economy for tomorrow,” Mr. de Leon said in an interview. “And that’s why it’s critical that we move forward with these far-reaching and progressive policies. That is why the world is watching what we are doing here in California.”

California’s target reflects those set by other governments — including the European Union — ahead of the United Nations conference on climate change in Paris this year. Christiana Figueres, the executive secretary of the conference, issued a statement praising Mr. Brown’s order.

“California’s announcement is a realization and a determination that will gladly resonate with other inspiring actions within the United States and around the globe,” she said. “It is yet another reason for optimism in advance of the U.N. climate conference in Paris in December.”

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Huge Fires Burn Downtown Baltimore Buildings Shortly After Riots « CBS Baltimore

Huge Fires Burn Downtown Baltimore Buildings Shortly After Riots « CBS Baltimore

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Baltimore protests turn violent; police officers injured

By Dana Ford, CNN



Updated 6:03 PM ET, Mon April 27, 2015






Source: CNN




Tensions rise in the streets of Baltimore




T.I.: 'We are calling for the death of our people to end'




Friend: We will fight for you Freddie Gray




Protesters block major Baltimore intersection




Police union Pres.: Officers prematurely being convicted




Baltimore protesters swarm CNN live report




Video shows important moment during Freddie Gray arrest




How did Freddie Gray injure his spine?




Witness: Police had Freddie Gray bent up like a pretzel




Police will speak to second passenger in arrest death




Justice Dept. investigates Baltimore custody death




Baltimore mayor: I won't hide information




New video shows arrest of Freddie Gray before death




Freddie Gray dies in Baltimore police custody




Mayor: I want to know if procedures were followed



Riots erupt in Baltimore



Baltimore pastor: Young people out of control



Baltimore police car up in flames



Reports of bottles, bricks being thrown at police




Rioters attack police car




Violent standoff between rioters, Baltimore police




Family, dignitaries pay respects to Freddie Gray




Freddie Gray protests get violent




Baltimore mayor: Violence during protests unacceptable




What happened before Freddie Gray's death?




Police concerned outsiders will join Baltimore protests




'The Wire' actress: Freddie Gray was a wonderful person




Police: Freddie Gray was not buckled in the police van




Baltimore mayor demands answers in Freddie Gray death




Baltimore police, protesters clash

Story highlights
State police order more troopers to Baltimore
Video shows police in riot gear taking cover behind an armored vehicle
The violence comes the same day as the funeral for Freddie Gray

(CNN)A riot erupted on the streets of Baltimore late Monday as protesters clashed with police, several of whom were injured.

"This afternoon, a group of outrageous criminals attacked our officers. Right now, we have seven officers that have serious injuries, including broken bones, and one officer who is unconscious," Capt. Eric Kowalczyk told reporters.

He vowed to find the attackers and put them in jail.

Video showed police in riot gear taking cover behind an armored vehicle, as protesters pelted them with rocks.

At one point, it looked like officers used tear gas. The Baltimore Police Department said it had heard reports of protesters setting small items on fire, and footage showed a cruiser in flames.

Video also showed people looting local stores.



"You're going to see tear gas. You're going to see pepper balls. We're going to use appropriate methods to ensure that we're able to preserve the safety of that community," Kowalczyk said.

There were no immediate reports of injuries among the protesters.


'Credible threat' to officers



Earlier in the day, the Baltimore Police Department said it had received a "credible threat" that gangs were teaming up to "take out" officers.

It did not say where the information came from, nor did it say whether the threat was tied to the recent death of Freddie Gray. Gray died in police custody under circumstances that remain unclear.

His death has sparked ongoing protests in Baltimore and raised long-simmering tensions between police and residents there.


Freddie Gray's funeral 14 photos
EXPAND GALLERY

"The Baltimore Police Department/Criminal Intelligence Unit has received credible information that members of various gangs including the Black Guerilla Family, Bloods, and Crips have entered into a partnership to 'take out' law enforcement officers," police said. "This is a credible threat."

Maryland State Police have ordered an additional 40 troopers to Baltimore to join the 42 troopers already sent there Monday afternoon to assist city police.

Since last Thursday, more than 280 state troopers have provided assistance in Baltimore.


'They don't deserve this'



Monday's violence came the same day as Gray's funeral. The 25-year-old was arrested on April 12 and died one week later from a fatal spinal cord injury.

"I am sure that the family is concerned, and I am positive that they are against what is beginning to develop here in town," said Billy Murphy, an attorney for the Gray family.

"They don't deserve this any more than Freddie Gray deserved it," he said about the injured officers.

In spite of the violence, the Baltimore Orioles say the baseball team has consulted with Baltimore police, and plans to play Monday night's home game against the Chicago White Sox as scheduled, a source with knowledge of the situation told CNN Sports.

Over the weekend, a few protesters vandalized police cars, threw objects at officers, cursed at them and scuffled with them.

About a dozen young men smashed squad cars with garbage cans, climbed on top of them and stomped on them, CNN video showed.


Freddie Gray protests in Baltimore 37 photos
A protester breaks a store window after the rally in Baltimore on April 25.
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Protesters get into a shoving match with police during a march downtown on April 25.
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Protesters raise their hands in front of a line of police officers on April 25.
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Protesters and police square off April 25.
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Hundreds of protesters gather for the march on April 25.
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Protesters drive through the Camden Yards area on April 25.
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Freddie Gray protests in Baltimore 37 photos
Members of the Baltimore Police Department stand guard Thursday, April 23, outside the department's Western District station during a protest.
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Freddie Gray protests in Baltimore 37 photos
A police officer films protesters from the steps of the Western District station on April 23.
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Empowerment Temple Pastor Jamal Harrison Bryant speaks in front of City Hall in Baltimore on April 23.
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Demonstrators put their fists in the air during a protest outside the Baltimore police's Western District station on Wednesday, April 22.
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Hundreds of demonstrators march toward the Western District station on April 22.
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Freddie Gray protests in Baltimore 37 photos
People march through the streets of Baltimore on April 22.
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Freddie Gray protests in Baltimore 37 photos
A member of the Baltimore Police Department stands guard outside the Western District station as men hold their hands up in protest on April 22.
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Freddie Gray protests in Baltimore 37 photos
Baltimore Police stand guard behind a barrier outside the Western District station.
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Freddie Gray protests in Baltimore 37 photos
Demonstrators put their fists in the air during the protest on April 22.
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Freddie Gray protests in Baltimore 37 photos
Demonstrators argue with Baltimore officers during the protest on April 22.
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Freddie Gray protests in Baltimore 37 photos
Malik Z. Shabazz, of Black Lawyers for Justice, speaks to a group of protesters outside the Western District police station.
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Freddie Gray protests in Baltimore 37 photos
A woman is comforted during the protest on April 22.
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Freddie Gray protests in Baltimore 37 photos
Baltimore Police keep demonstrators back outside the Western District station.
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Freddie Gray protests in Baltimore 37 photos
Baltimore Police Department officers in riot gear push back protesters after the funeral of Freddie Gray in Baltimore on Monday, April 27, 2015. Gray died on April 19 from a severe spinal cord injury that he allegedly suffered while in police custody a week earlier. His death has sparked ongoing protests in Baltimore and raised long-simmering tensions between police and residents there. Click through the gallery for more images:
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A police vehicle burns on April 27 during unrest following the funeral of Freddie Gray.
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A police officer uses pepper spray on rioters on April 27.
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Police officers push back a protester on April 27.
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Police react during the riot on April 27.
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Police officers clash with protesters in the streets near Mondawmin Mall on April 27.
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Protesters clash with police on April 27.
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Freddie Gray protests in Baltimore 37 photos
Baltimore police officers in riot gear look toward protesters near Mondawmin Mall on April 27.
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Baltimore Police Commissioner Anthony Batts chases away protesters in a parking lot on April 27.
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Police handle the protesters during a riot on April 27.
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A demonstrator taunts police on April 27.
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Freddie Gray protests in Baltimore 37 photos
Demonstrators throw rocks at the police after Gray's funeral on April 27.
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Freddie Gray protests in Baltimore 37 photos
Baltimore police officers detain a demonstrator on April 27.
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Freddie Gray protests in Baltimore 37 photos
Protesters stand off with police during a march in honor of Gray in Baltimore on Saturday, April 25.
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A protester throws a barricade at a bar near Oriole Park at Camden Yards after a rally on April 25.
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Police carry a detained man to a police van after the march to City Hall on April 25.
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Protesters chase after a car as it drives in reverse after the rally on April 25.
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Freddie Gray protests in Baltimore 37 photos
Protesters hold signs as they stand off with the police at Camden Yards during a march on April 25.
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Freddie Gray protests in Baltimore 37 photos
A protester breaks a store window after the rally in Baltimore on April 25.
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Freddie Gray protests in Baltimore 37 photos
Protesters get into a shoving match with police during a march downtown on April 25.
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Freddie Gray protests in Baltimore 37 photos
Protesters raise their hands in front of a line of police officers on April 25.
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Freddie Gray protests in Baltimore 37 photos
Protesters and police square off April 25.
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Freddie Gray protests in Baltimore 37 photos
Hundreds of protesters gather for the march on April 25.
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Freddie Gray protests in Baltimore 37 photos
Protesters drive through the Camden Yards area on April 25.
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Freddie Gray protests in Baltimore 37 photos
Members of the Baltimore Police Department stand guard Thursday, April 23, outside the department's Western District station during a protest.
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Freddie Gray protests in Baltimore 37 photos
A police officer films protesters from the steps of the Western District station on April 23.
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Freddie Gray protests in Baltimore 37 photos
Empowerment Temple Pastor Jamal Harrison Bryant speaks in front of City Hall in Baltimore on April 23.
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Freddie Gray protests in Baltimore 37 photos
Demonstrators put their fists in the air during a protest outside the Baltimore police's Western District station on Wednesday, April 22.
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Freddie Gray protests in Baltimore 37 photos
Hundreds of demonstrators march toward the Western District station on April 22.
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Freddie Gray protests in Baltimore 37 photos
People march through the streets of Baltimore on April 22.
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Freddie Gray protests in Baltimore 37 photos
A member of the Baltimore Police Department stands guard outside the Western District station as men hold their hands up in protest on April 22.
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Freddie Gray protests in Baltimore 37 photos
Baltimore Police stand guard behind a barrier outside the Western District station.
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Freddie Gray protests in Baltimore 37 photos
Demonstrators put their fists in the air during the protest on April 22.
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Freddie Gray protests in Baltimore 37 photos
Demonstrators argue with Baltimore officers during the protest on April 22.
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Freddie Gray protests in Baltimore 37 photos
Malik Z. Shabazz, of Black Lawyers for Justice, speaks to a group of protesters outside the Western District police station.
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Freddie Gray protests in Baltimore 37 photos
A woman is comforted during the protest on April 22.
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Freddie Gray protests in Baltimore 37 photos
Baltimore Police keep demonstrators back outside the Western District station.
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37 of 37

Freddie Gray protests in Baltimore 37 photos
Baltimore Police Department officers in riot gear push back protesters after the funeral of Freddie Gray in Baltimore on Monday, April 27, 2015. Gray died on April 19 from a severe spinal cord injury that he allegedly suffered while in police custody a week earlier. His death has sparked ongoing protests in Baltimore and raised long-simmering tensions between police and residents there. Click through the gallery for more images:
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Freddie Gray protests in Baltimore 37 photos
A police vehicle burns on April 27 during unrest following the funeral of Freddie Gray.
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Freddie Gray protests in Baltimore 37 photos
A police officer uses pepper spray on rioters on April 27.
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Freddie Gray protests in Baltimore 37 photos
Police officers push back a protester on April 27.
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Freddie Gray protests in Baltimore 37 photos
Police react during the riot on April 27.
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Freddie Gray protests in Baltimore 37 photos
Police officers clash with protesters in the streets near Mondawmin Mall on April 27.
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Freddie Gray protests in Baltimore 37 photos
Protesters clash with police on April 27.
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Freddie Gray protests in Baltimore 37 photos
Baltimore police officers in riot gear look toward protesters near Mondawmin Mall on April 27.
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Freddie Gray protests in Baltimore 37 photos
Baltimore Police Commissioner Anthony Batts chases away protesters in a parking lot on April 27.
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Freddie Gray protests in Baltimore 37 photos
Police handle the protesters during a riot on April 27.
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Freddie Gray protests in Baltimore 37 photos
A demonstrator taunts police on April 27.
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Freddie Gray protests in Baltimore 37 photos
Demonstrators throw rocks at the police after Gray's funeral on April 27.
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Freddie Gray protests in Baltimore 37 photos
Baltimore police officers detain a demonstrator on April 27.
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Freddie Gray protests in Baltimore 37 photos
Protesters stand off with police during a march in honor of Gray in Baltimore on Saturday, April 25.
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Freddie Gray protests in Baltimore 37 photos
A protester throws a barricade at a bar near Oriole Park at Camden Yards after a rally on April 25.
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Freddie Gray protests in Baltimore 37 photos
Police carry a detained man to a police van after the march to City Hall on April 25.
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Freddie Gray protests in Baltimore 37 photos
Protesters chase after a car as it drives in reverse after the rally on April 25.
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Freddie Gray protests in Baltimore 37 photos
Protesters hold signs as they stand off with the police at Camden Yards during a march on April 25.
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A protester breaks a store window after the rally in Baltimore on April 25.
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