Only 25 Percent of Christians Live in ‘Spiritually Vibrant’ Homes, Barna Study Finds

(Worthy News) – Twenty-five percent of professing, practicing Christians live in households that regularly pray and practice Bible reading together and conduct outreach together to others, while 28 percent live in households that do none of the items on that list, according to new research by Barna.

The survey of 2,347 adults and teens who were identified as practicing Christians found that only a minority lived in what Barna termed “spiritually vibrant” households. The poll was conducted in partnership with Lutheran Hour Ministries as part of Barna’s new Households of Faith report.

The goal of the poll was to examine how Christian homes practiced their faith together, and not as individuals. Christians who lived alone were not included in the survey. [ Source: Christian Headlines (Read More…) ]

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Pastor of Underground Church in Kenya Beaten Unconscious

(Worthy News) – The Somali pastor of an underground church in Kenya near the Somali border suffered a broken thigh bone and other injuries after Muslim extremists beat him with wooden clubs on Friday night (March 8), sources said.

Pastor Abdul (surname withheld for security reasons), a 30-year-old father of three, had finished leading a prayer gathering at 9 p.m. on the outskirts of Garissa and was on his way back to his house when several ethnic Somali Muslims attacked, he told Morning Star News from his hospital bed, still visibly in pain.

Pastor Abdul said he did not know the assailants. As they approached him, he said, one of them told him, “We have been following your movements and your evil plans of changing Muslims to Christianity.” [ Source: Morningstar News (Read More…) ]

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Defying Trump, Senate votes to end US support for Saudi-led Yemen war

(Worthy News) – The US Senate on Wednesday dealt a stinging bipartisan rebuke to Donald Trump’s foreign policy and his alliance with Riyadh, voting to end support for the bloody Saudi-led war effort in Yemen.

Lawmakers in the Republican-controlled chamber approved a historic curtailment of presidential war powers that directs Trump “to remove United States Armed Forces from hostilities in or affecting the Republic of Yemen” within 30 days.

The Senate vote was 54 to 46, with seven Republicans defying the president and aligning with Democrats. [ Source: Times of Israel (Read More…) ]

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Boeing 737 Max grounded after investigators find similarities between crashes

(Worthy News) – Boeing on Wednesday said it was grounding the 737 MAX aircraft after US President Donald Trump joined Canada and other countries in banning the aircraft amid mounting global fears for the jets’ airworthiness.

US authorities said new evidence showed similarities between Sunday’s deadly crash of an Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 737 MAX 8 and a fatal accident in Indonesia in October.

The Federal Aviation Administration said findings from the crash site near Addis Ababa and “newly refined satellite data” warranted “further investigation of the possibility of a shared cause for the two incidents.”

At least four American pilots made reports following the Lion Air crash, all complaining the aircraft suddenly pitched downward shortly after takeoff, according to documents reviewed by AFP on the Aviation Safety Reporting System, a voluntary incident database maintained by NASA. [ Source: Times of Israel (Read More…) ]

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Israel Accuses PA of Trying to Spark Violent ‘Religious War’ on Temple Mount

(Worthy News) – Jerusalem Authorities re-opened the Temple Mount Wednesday following a violent clash on the holy site the day before.

Israeli forces temporarily closed the compound after police say a firebomb was hurled at a security post Tuesday. The post went up in flames and an officer was injured by smoke inhalation.

Israel’s i24 News reports that Jerusalem authorities found Molotov cocktails, firecrackers, and flammable material at the holy site after conducting a security search. [ Source: CBN News (Read More…) ]

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Evangelicals voice concerns with Trump’s Israeli-Palestinian peace plan at White House

(Worthy News) – Evangelical leaders gathered last week at the White House to offer their concerns as the Trump administration will soon unveil its Israeli-Palestinian peace proposal that reportedly could give the Palestinians a capital in parts of East Jerusalem.

Last Thursday, a group of conservative evangelical leaders met with Jason Greenblatt, President Donald Trump’s adviser on Israel and special representative for international negotiations, for a “listening session” about what has been coined the “deal of the century.”

The group of evangelicals, many of whom have interacted informally with the Trump White House in the past, included Pastor John Hagee, the founder of Christians United for Israel; Georgia megachurch pastor Jentezen Franklin; New York Times best-selling author Joel Rosenburg, and Florida pastor Paula White. [ Source: Christian Post (Read More…) ]

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FBI: 2nd Highest Number of Gun Transactions Processed Through NICS System in 2018

(Worthy News) – The calendar year of 2018 had the second highest number of gun transactions on record, and the number of gun background checks this past Black Friday was among the highest volume days on record with more than 182,000 transactions, an FBI official told a House Appropriations subcommittee on Wednesday.

During her opening statement, Christine Halvorsen, acting assistant director of the FBI’s criminal justice information services division, said that since 2010, the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) experienced “substantial increases in the volume of background checks.”

“This past Black Friday was among the highest volume days in the NICS history. In that one day, the NICS processed over 182,000 transactions. In calendar year (CY) 2018, the NICS processed 26.2 million transactions with only CY 2016 exceeding that volume with 27.5 million transactions,” Halvorsen wrote in her written testimony to the Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies. [ Source: CNS News (Read More…) ]

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‘Epic’ storm brings blizzard, rain, tornado threat to mid-US

(Worthy News) – A window-rattling late winter storm brought blizzards, high winds, rain or floods to more than 25 states Wednesday, stretching from the northern Rocky Mountains to Texas and beyond.

“This is a very epic cyclone,” said Greg Carbin, chief of forecast operations for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Weather Prediction Center. “We’re looking at something that will go down in the history books.”

It could develop into the worst storm of its type in 35 or 40 years, he said. [ Source: Fox News (Read More…) ]

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Brexit set for delay after May wounded by rejection of ‘no-deal’

(Worthy News) – The British parliament on Wednesday rejected leaving the European Union without a deal, further weakening Prime Minister Theresa May and paving the way for a vote that could delay Brexit until at least the end of June.

It went further than the government’s position of keeping the threat of a “no-deal” Brexit on the negotiating table — a stance many in her party said was essential to push Brussels to make further concessions to the deal they have rejected.

While the approved motion has no legal force and ultimately may not prevent a no-deal exit, it carries considerable political force, especially as it passed thanks to a rebellion by members of May’s own Conservative Party and her cabinet. [ Source: Reuters (Read More…) ]

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U.S. drops reference to ‘Israeli-occupied’ Golan Heights in annual rights report

(Worthy News) – The U.S. State Department changed its usual description of the Golan Heights from ‘Israeli-occupied’ to ‘Israeli-controlled’ in an annual global human rights report released on Wednesday.

The move came amid intensified efforts by Israel to win U.S. recognition of its claim to sovereignty over the strategic plateau it captured from Syria in the 1967 Middle East war and effectively annexed in 1981, a step not recognized internationally.

There was no immediate comment from Israeli leaders on the U.S. terminology change, which stopped short of a formal declaration accepting the territorial claim. [ Source: Reuters (Read More…) ]

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