Anyone wanting to bring together the more than 100 million Chinese-speaking Christians around the world must deal with the thorny issue of the church in China. There, Christians are split between unregistered house churches and the government-sanctioned Three-Self church. Additionally, heated differences in political views make it difficult for the global Chinese-speaking church to unify. 　　Nevertheless, global evangelical leaders want...

　　On July 28, Venezuela will hold a presidential election amid suspicions of fraud among the opposition. The dictator, Nicolás Maduro, will face 74-year-old former diplomat Edmundo González. If the elections were fair, most studies point to a 20-25 percent advantage for González. Many believe that Maduro will steal the election or disqualify González at the last minute. So why do...

　　“He pulled away from them about a stone’s throw, knelt down, and prayed, 'Father, remove this cup from me. But please, not what I want. What do you want?' At once an angel from heaven was at his side, strengthening him. He prayed all the harder. Sweat, wrung from him like drops of blood, poured off his face.” Luke 22:41-44...

　　When churchgoers show up to their churchs worship service, theyre often hoping to have a guest with them. 　　A Lifeway Research study of US Protestant churchgoers finds 3 in 5 (60%) say they have extended at least one invitation in the past six months for someone to attend their church, including 19 percent who have made one invitation, 21 percent...

　　Politics doesn’t just make strange bedfellows; it can also make self-dealing ones. A new study of the economic impact of the $787 billion 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) is trying to tell us about the need to close the gap between intentions and outcomes by moving decision-making and accountability closer to the communities the federal government is trying...

　　This term, the spotlight among both conservative and liberal Court watchers has been on Amy Coney Barrett’s not infrequent breaks from her fellow Republican-appointed justices. Liberal commentators have been quick to praise her, especially in contrast to those colleagues. Those encomiums bring to mind what Laurence Silberman (for whom Barrett once clerked) dubbed the “Greenhouse effect.” That’s the tendency of...

　　Thursday, July 25, 2024 　　When We’ve Blown It 　　O Lord, hear me as I pray; pay attention to my groaning. (Psalm 5:1 NLT) 　　Have you ever been betrayed by someone you loved? Have you ever faced seemingly insurmountable odds? Has it ever seemed as though there was no way out of your dilemma? 　　If so, then you have a good...

　　As courts and administrative agencies encounter uncertainty posed by the post-Chevron era, a few foundational principles remain in place and serve as guides through doctrinal disruption. For one, courts have the authority and capacity to say what the law is. Likewise, if Congress unambiguously mandates a specific agency action, including the means to perform that act, jurists and scholars alike...

　　Want My Opinion? 　　By: Anne Peterson 　　Fools have no interest in understanding, they only want to air their own opinions.- Proverbs 18:2 　　I’ve been reading through Proverbs again. And I’m telling you, Solomon really has nuggets of wisdom for all of us. I hardly start reading and I need to stop and write down some of those verses, so I...

　　Bob Newhart has died at the age of 94—the comic who was our last connection with mid-century America. He became famous with the live comedy album The Button-Down Mind of Bob Newhart (1960), which was a big hit, selling more than 1,000,000 copies and winning him two Grammys: Best New Artist and Album of The Year. 　　He was 30 and...

　　It was 2:45 p.m., and people were lined up around the block in Tribeca, Manhattan, for the 3 p.m. intake at the emergency shelter of the Bowery Mission, a Christian nonprofit that has served New Yorkers since 1879. 　　Am I on the list? one woman called out to Lea Burrell, the Bowery manager. The woman had to get in a...

　　Classically, constitutions do two things. They allocate and distribute power, and they provide the means whereby the people can hold that power to account. Power and accountability are what constitutions are all about. In the modern age, a third function has been added—that constitutions also set out (or enumerate) the fundamental rights of citizens—but this third function need not concern...