Tag Archives: Faith

Benham Brothers Speak About Bold Faith Bringing Risk

Brothers David and Jason Benham, who lost their HGTV show when anti-Christianists launched a campaign against them for their Christian beliefs, told a Washington, D.C. conference that Christians can speak boldly if they’re willing to lose it all.

“Freedom isn’t the ability to do get what you want, it’s the willingness to let go of what you have,” Jason Benham said. “When you are willing to release that back to God, what God has so graciously given to you, and you give it back to Him, then you have been set free. And on the foundation of freedom, you can be as bold as a lion.”

The brothers own a real estate company and were filming episodes for their reality show in May when HGTV announced the cancellation.  The cancellation was attributed to anti-Christian activists that protested the brother’s traditional Christian views on issues such as abortion.

The brothers told the Christian Post that they don’t regret anything that has happened including the cancellation of the TV show because it allowed them to proclaim Christ to a wide audience in national media that reported on the cancellation.

The talk at the Faith & Freedom Coalition’s Road to Majority conference came as the brothers were given an award for their public stand for faith and Jesus.

David Benham told the Christian Post that unless Christians speak up and assert their rights in the public arena, more incidents like what happened to them with HGTV will take place in America.

U.S. World Cup Soccer Star Credits Sport For Boosting Faith In God

The American soccer player who set the U.S. World Cup record for fastest goal scored in competition says that the sport has boosted his faith in Christ.

“My parents had started me in the sport to help me learn good people skills,” forward Clint Dempsey told Sports Spectrum. “Little did I know that the sport I loved and the skills I learned would later play a role in my relationship with God.”

Dempsey grew up in a Catholic family and had given up playing soccer because the family was struggling financially and his sister Jennifer was pursuing professional tennis.  Then his sister suddenly died at age 16 from a brain aneurysm and it sent Clint into a spiral.

“I was faced with questions about why things happen and what role God played in it all. For a number of years, I struggled and put distance between God and me,” Dempsey said.

Dempsey returned to playing competitive soccer after his sister’s death and that return led to him coming back to Christ.

“In college, I joined a team Bible study. God’s Word brought me peace and a desire for a relationship with Him,” Dempsey said. “I found that questioning Him and searching for answers through Scripture helped me grow and gave me direction. Now my faith in Christ is what gives me confidence for the future. I know that through both good times and bad, He is faithful and will watch over me.”

Dempsey, now a married father of 3, became the first American to score in three different World Cup tournaments with his goal against Ghana.

British Prime Minister: “Christianity Most Persecuted”

The Prime Minister of Great Britain says that Christianity is now the most persecuted religion in the world and that his nation should be “unashamed” in standing up for the rights of Christians.

Prime Minister David Cameron, in a speech to a group attending an Easter reception, said that he believes his nation can play a leading role in stopping the persecution of Christians around the world.

“We’re seen as a country that is engaged internationally,” Cameron said.  “We should stand up against persecution of Christians and other religious groups wherever and whenever we can, and we should be unashamed in doing so.”

The Pew Research Center says that Christians are the most oppressed religious group with persecution against them reported in at least 110 countries around the world.

Cameron also said there was a need to expand the role of faith and faith based organizations in the country.

“[We need] more belief that we can get out there and actually change people’s lives and make a difference and improve the spiritual, physical and moral state of our country,” Cameron said.

Korie Robertson: Don’t Let Bullies Stop You From Sharing Christ

One of the stars of the hit reality show “Duck Dynasty” who appears in the upcoming Christian film “God’s Not Dead” is speaking out for Christians to stand up against the bullies who are trying to silence them.

“Don’t let someone bully you into not standing up for your beliefs,” Robertson said on Fox News’ “Faith & Fame.”

Robertson commented that with the success of their show, they have had to deal with thousands of angry people who have been trying to keep them from sharing their faith in Christ on the show.  They have even had to stand up to the network that airs them, A&E, demanding they leave in the show segments where they pray, read Scripture or talk about their faith in Jesus.

“God and our faith is what sustains us,” Robertson said. “It’s what makes our life good.”

Robertson and her husband Willie have said their participation in the new movie “God’s Not Dead” has really strengthened their faith.  They play themselves defending their faith to a reporter questioning Christianity.  The movie follows a student who accepts a professor’s challenge to prove the existence of God.

Pope Calls For Renewal

Pope Francis released an 84-page “apostolic exhortation” yesterday which will form the official platform for his papacy.

The document calls for a renewal within the Roman Catholic Church and said that unfettered capitalism is “a new tyranny” that increases poverty and inequality.

The statement marked a stronger criticism of global economic system than in previous comments. Pope Francis said all world leaders should guarantee citizens dignified work, education and healthcare.

“Just as the commandment ‘Thou shalt not kill’ sets a clear limit in order to safeguard the value of human life, today we also have to say ‘thou shalt not’ to an economy of exclusion and inequality. Such an economy kills,” Pope Francis said. “How can it be that it is not a news item when an elderly homeless person dies of exposure, but it is news when the stock market loses 2 points?”

The Pope also called for the church to get outside of its walls and do the work of Jesus.

“I prefer a Church which is bruised, hurting and dirty because it has been out on the streets, rather than a Church which is unhealthy from being confined and from clinging to its own security,” he wrote.

New Poll Says Nearly Three in Four Americans Believe In God

A new survey shows that 76 percent of America believes in the existence of a God and 38 percent of those surveyed said they do what God tells them to do.

Most of those who believe in God are also more likely to give credit or blame for weather and disasters to God rather than some excuse like man-made global warming.

The YouGov.com survey found that born again Christians are more likely to do something because God told them. Protestants were more likely to do something than Catholics by a result of 56 percent to 39 percent.

The survey was surprising in that the difference between Republicans and Democrats was not as wide as researchers had expected. The number of Republicans who complied with what they felt God say was 42 percent compared to 40 percent for Democrats.

Praying for Oklahoma

We have just experienced an awful couple of days here in Missouri and most of the “heartland” of the nation with storms and deadly tornados. Our hearts and prayers go out to the families who have lost loved ones.

Sometimes when things like this happen, we will try to make sense of it all. But, as Christians, we must submit our quest to understand the ‘whys,’ to our FAITH which always comforts and consoles us, whether we understand or not.

Faith is rooted in the deepest and simplest belief that our God is good, and His love endures forever. This truth is found throughout the Bible but mostly in the Psalms, which most scholars believe were predominantly written by King David – whom God says was “a man after my own heart.” Continue reading →

The Trial of Your Faith (Pt. 13)

Early 1991 –

Christmas was over now, the new year was about to begin, and I was a year older.  I was studying the words of Jesus and asking the Lord to answer many of the tough questions with which I had always grappled but had never taken the time to truly seek answers for.  Now I had the time.  Of course, one of the questions that still occupied my thoughts frequently was, “How long, oh Lord?  How long will I have to stay in prison?”

With my appeal now in the hands of the judges, Tammy Faye was hoping and praying for a speedy release.  I was not quite so optimistic.  One of us was about to be proved right.

January 1991 was the beginning of one of my worst downhill slides into one of the worst periods of depression I had known since coming to prison.  Although I had encouraged my family to stay away at Christmas, I missed them horribly.  Despite being surrounded by hundreds of fellow prisoners, I felt alone and abandoned.  It was not my family’s fault that I spent Christmas, New Year’s Eve, and my birthday alone.  Yet it was the first Christmas of my life that I had not celebrated with my family.  It was the first time I had not been with my family on my birthday.  My emotions took a nosedive.

Adding to my depression was the news from Charleston, South Carolina, that I had lost another legal battle and I learned that I would not be receiving “good time” for the work I did in prison on a smoking cessation class.  This was huge to me because “good time” could help you get out of prison sooner.

I did not want to do anything.  I did not want to eat, drink, shave, or bathe.  I began to allow myself to become more and more disheveled and unkempt, making little to no effort to clean up.  I began to grow a beard, not because I thought it would enhance my appearance, but because I no longer cared about my appearance.  Always known as a fastidious dresser – even in prison I wore sharply pressed clothes, with crisp creases in my shirts and pants – my clothes now went unpressed and often unwashed.  With my hair uncombed, my body unwashed, and stubble covering my face, I looked like a homeless person.  Friends and foes alike who were accustomed to seeing me on the set of PTL well dressed with every hair in place would have had difficulty recognizing me.

I was in the pits.

Surprisingly, at a time when I was at a low point in my prison experience, having lost all hope of ever getting out soon, I received one letter after another exhorting me to keep trusting God and to keep believing that He would bring me out of prison much earlier than I anticipated.  As always, their words were a tremendous encouragement to me, and their rich spiritual insights were extremely helpful.  Nevertheless, I could not overcome the desire to simply give up and die.

In a letter I received from Tammy Faye near the end of January, she included a list on which members of our congregation in Florida routinely wrote down their prayer requests, asking for the other members of the church to pray for them.  On the last Sunday morning of January, there among all the other requests on the list, in his own handwriting, was the name “Jay Bakker.”  Beside his name in the prayer request column, Jamie had printed only two words:  My Dad.

When I saw the unadorned prayer request of my boy, I burst into tears.

Looking back, I can see where God always had something to keep me going when all hope was seemingly gone.  This time was no different.