A New Perspective on Constantine

(Worthy News) –
Jack Graham, pastor of the Dallas-area, 40,000-member Prestonwood Baptist Church, told CP in a Friday phone interview that the group of evangelical pastors and leaders is now called The Faith Leaders Initiative, and that they are not an official council or government body. They function in a primarily pastoral and spiritual capacity even as they do have the president’s ear on many issues that matter to them, he said. Amid the calls for members of this group to resign, Graham said that as far as he was concerned, it would be “immoral” to do so.

“What we may say to the president privately in calling him out, or expressing our concerns anything he or a member of his team might do … people want us to expose the president or to express our disdain for this, that or the other. That’s not our responsibility as I view it,” Graham said.

“Do we want him to be more of a uniter right now? Absolutely.”

But he rejected the notion that he and others are morally obligated to bail on the president. [ Source (Read More…) ]

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(Worthy News) – An asteroid called Florence will pass within 4.5 million miles of Earth on Sept. 1, NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory announced in a Thursday press release.

That’s 18 times the distance from the Earth to the moon. If that doesn’t sound impressive, consider its size: At 2.7 miles, Florence is the largest asteroid to pass Earth since NASA began tracking near-Earth asteroids. And this particular asteroid won’t come this close again until 2500, NASA says. [ Source (Read More…) ]

(Worthy News) –
Abraham Lincoln has joined George Washington on the list of those targeted by Chicagoans in a national debate over Civil War-era monuments.

Alderman Raymond Lopez took to Facebook Wednesday night to decry the defacing of a statue representing the nation’s 16th president in the Englewood neighborhood. The giant bust appears to have been damaged after someone in the 15th Ward sprayed and ignited a flammable liquid.

“What an absolute disgraceful act of vandalism. This bust of Abraham Lincoln, erected by Phil Bloomquist on August 31, 1926, was damaged & burned,” Mr. Lopez wrote, a local NBC affiliate reported. “If anyone has any information regarding this act, please contact the police or my office immediately.” [ Source (Read More…) ]

(Worthy News) – Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Wednesday he hoped that Iran would not quit the nuclear agreement it reached in 2015 with world powers, Reuters reported.

His comments came a day after Iranian President Hassan Rouhani warned that Iran would abandon the deal “within hours” if the United States imposed any more new sanctions on the Islamic Republic.

Lavrov also said he hoped the United States would not violate its obligations under the nuclear deal with Iran.

“I think unilateral sanctions … are irresponsible actions that can hurt and undermine the balance achieved,” Lavrov said, according to Reuters, in an apparent reference to new restrictions recently imposed by Washington on Iran. [ Source (Read More…) ]

(Worthy News) -Of the 16,700 Israeli citizens who moved overseas for an extended period of time in 2015, only about 8,500 returned, representing a noticeable increase in the exit rate and a decrease in the return rate compared to previous years, according to a report the Central Bureau of Statistics published on Monday.

The report tracked Israel-born citizens and does not account for immigrants.

Following a six-year period of decline in the number of Sabras leaving the country on a long-term basis, the study revealed a sizable increase starting in 2009. [ Source (Read More…) ]

(Worthy News) – President Trump’s decision to remove Steve Bannon, his chief strategist, came after a period of internal and external pressure to part ways with the controversial figure, and it was no coincidence that the move happened just a few weeks into the tenure of chief of staff John Kelly, White House aides and allies said.

Bannon served his last day in the administration on Friday.

Sources inside and outside the White House described Bannon’s ouster as the inevitable result of his enemies’ efforts to dispose of him, a feat that was made easier by the departure last month of his closest ally, former chief of staff Reince Priebus. [ Source (Read More…) ]