11+ hour, 57+ min ago (62+ words) One of the things I do in my many side hustles is write devotions for Christian publications. A few years ago, Guideposts asked me to provide devotions for the four Sundays of Advent, which was cool, ... Gwen Ford Faulkenberry is a mother, author, English professor, and award-winning columnist from Ozark, Arkansas. She has written for the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette since 2021....

1+ day, 4+ hour ago (494+ words) The Orthodox baptism rite includes a three-stage exorcism that is extremely detailed about the spiritual warfare that surrounds new Christians. The "enemy" is Satan. Catechumens are asked three times: "Do you renounce Satan, and all his works, and all his worship, and all his angels, and all his pomp?" They respond: "I do renounce him." After several years of conversations while traveling nationwide, Father Andrew Stephen Damick is convinced these ancient prayers are painfully relevant to many converts surging into the small, but now growing, Eastern Church in America. It is no longer unusual to meet converts who have worshipped other gods and spirits. "There's a sense of disenchantment, both in the sense of people feeling disillusioned and sort of bummed by the culture in general, but also disenchantment in the sense of a disconnection from the unseen spiritual world,…...

1+ day, 4+ hour ago (494+ words) The Orthodox baptism rite includes a three-stage exorcism that is extremely detailed about the spiritual warfare that surrounds new Christians. The "enemy" is Satan. Catechumens are asked three times: "Do you renounce Satan, and all his works, and all his worship, and all his angels, and all his pomp?" They respond: "I do renounce him." After several years of conversations while traveling nationwide, Father Andrew Stephen Damick is convinced these ancient prayers are painfully relevant to many converts surging into the small, but now growing, Eastern Church in America. It is no longer unusual to meet converts who have worshipped other gods and spirits. "There's a sense of disenchantment, both in the sense of people feeling disillusioned and sort of bummed by the culture in general, but also disenchantment in the sense of a disconnection from the unseen spiritual world,…...

1+ day, 12+ hour ago (784+ words) Many Americans might have lost faith in organized religion, but according to recent data, they still love the Good Book. As of September, Bible sales were up 11% this year over 2024, part of a continuing boom in Bible sales. That includes 2.4 million sold in September as part of a surge that coincided with the death of conservative Christian activist Charlie Kirk, according to data from Circana, a company that tracks book sales. All told, more than 18 million Bibles have been sold so far this year. "Part of me wonders if people are just looking for something to kind of settle themselves -- that spiritual looking for peace, whatever you want to call it," he said. PAIRED WITH AN APP "People want the readability, especially if they're new Christians, and if they're younger, they can use an app," she said. "It's kind of…...

1+ day, 18+ hour ago (784+ words) Many Americans might have lost faith in organized religion, but according to recent data, they still love the Good Book. As of September, Bible sales were up 11% this year over 2024, part of a continuing boom in Bible sales. That includes 2.4 million sold in September as part of a surge that coincided with the death of conservative Christian activist Charlie Kirk, according to data from Circana, a company that tracks book sales. All told, more than 18 million Bibles have been sold so far this year. "Part of me wonders if people are just looking for something to kind of settle themselves -- that spiritual looking for peace, whatever you want to call it," he said. PAIRED WITH AN APP "People want the readability, especially if they're new Christians, and if they're younger, they can use an app," she said. "It's kind of…...

1+ week, 12+ hour ago (283+ words) Virtually every single thing about Thanksgiving Day is great. It was so even from the very beginning. William Bradford, Ye Governor of Ye Colony, threw down a great sermon in his original proclamation. That stuff will still preach today. I'd probably not use his phrase "ravages of the savages" outside Michigan. If you use it there the Michiganders will just assume you are referring to Ohioans. And the Lions record on Thanksgiving is 37-45-2. OK, some of you. Mostly I'm thankful that the Lord has been better to us than we've been to ourselves, to quote the great Otis Day (formerly DeWayne Jessie) via The Isley Brothers. Thanksgiving is pretty much the same across America. That matters, as a dwindling number of things have remained the same. Such shared traditions have the power to unify. We abandon them at our own…...

1+ week, 1+ day ago (945+ words) GARDEN GROVE, Calif. -- An interactive museum dedicated to the Shroud of Turin, which some say was Jesus' burial cloth, opens its doors to the public Wednesday at the Christ Cathedral campus in Southern California. "The Shroud of Turin: An Immersive Experience," a $5-million exhibit in Garden Grove featuring 360-degree projection room theaters, Shroud of Turin replicas, interactive kiosks and a life-size sculpture of Christ, was conceived over a span of three years and funded through private donations. The content was created primarily by Othonia Inc., a Rome-based group dedicated to the examination of the shroud, one of the most studied artifacts in history. The original -- a 14-foot-long, 3-foot-wide cloth -- is kept in a bulletproof, climate-controlled case housed in the Cathedral of Saint John the Baptist in Turin, Italy. The museum -- covering 10,000 square feet -- contains a life-size laminated visual of the…...

1+ week, 1+ day ago (668+ words) For Orthodox Christians in America, the 20th century was shaped by waves of believers fleeing wars, revolutions and persecution in lands such as Greece, Syria, Russia and Romania. The Orthodox did everything they could to preserve their faith and cultural traditions. When bishops visited these small flocks, it was rare to see converts. Then, in the late 1980s, flocks of evangelical Protestants swept into the Antiochian Orthodox church and then the Orthodox Church in America, which has Slavic roots. These converts began reaching out to others. Then came the seeker-friendly internet. Then came covid. Suddenly, streams of young families began exploring what was often called the mysterious, ancient "Eastern Church." "Some observers liken this influx to a flood, and the comparison is accurate. I do not visit a parish without meeting catechumens there. In some parishes, they number more than 100," said Metropolitan…...

1+ week, 1+ day ago (668+ words) For Orthodox Christians in America, the 20th century was shaped by waves of believers fleeing wars, revolutions and persecution in lands such as Greece, Syria, Russia and Romania. The Orthodox did everything they could to preserve their faith and cultural traditions. When bishops visited these small flocks, it was rare to see converts. Then, in the late 1980s, flocks of evangelical Protestants swept into the Antiochian Orthodox church and then the Orthodox Church in America, which has Slavic roots. These converts began reaching out to others. Then came the seeker-friendly internet. Then came covid. Suddenly, streams of young families began exploring what was often called the mysterious, ancient "Eastern Church." "Some observers liken this influx to a flood, and the comparison is accurate. I do not visit a parish without meeting catechumens there. In some parishes, they number more than 100," said Metropolitan…...

1+ week, 1+ day ago (674+ words) COLESHILL, England -- Richard Gamble's passion for Jesus has always been outsize. Twenty years ago, he had a vision from God to drag a 9-foot wooden cross for 77 miles during Holy Week leading up to Easter. After that grueling marathon in 2004, God gave him a bigger, bolder vision: Build a wall that tells a million stories of how God has answered prayer. Last week, Gamble, 56, broke ground on that vision -- a 168-foot-tall architectural landmark that is expected to be one of the largest Christian monuments in England, if not the world. (Christ the Redeemer, the iconic statue of Jesus in Rio de Janeiro, is 98 feet.) It is planned to open to the public in 2028. "We live in a country where Christianity has been pretty much put on mute," Gamble said in an interview at the Eternal Wall offices near the construction…...