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he gets us

It’s increasingly rare to see a positive portrayal of Christianity in popular culture. “He Gets Us” is trying to do just that. The brand gained tremendous popularity following a $100 million ad buy in the 2023 Super Bowl. “He Gets Us” has been appearing on billboards and social media since late last year.

For an inside look, journalist
Isaac Willour talked to two people in the campaign: “He Gets Us” spokesperson Jason Vanderground and Bill McKendry, a creative director. Read More…

is america christian?

In 2009 then President Obama—in his painfully precise way—said, “One of the great strengths of the United States, is we have a very large Christian population. We do not consider ourselves a Christian nation … .” Unlike Saudi Arabia or the United Kingdom, the US Constitution gives authority to no religion.

Obama accurately stated America is not a Christian state. The Constitution prohibits the government—federal, state, local—from establishing religion, any religion. He just as accurately identified one of America’s great strengths: a large Christian population.
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pray for buffalo #3

The U.S. Supreme Court in June ruffled feathers when it ruled that a high-school football coach was improperly fired for praying at mid-field with his players.

The idea that prayer is improper at sporting events was suddenly discarded last Monday night. Nine minutes into an NFL game, Damar Hamlin collapsed. Emergency medical staff resorted to cardiopulmonary resuscitation to stave off death.

Suddenly prayer was back on the list of things anybody could do anywhere—even on camera.
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prayer

5:30pm Tuesday 1/3/2023 we launch One Hour for Prayer—Hope Community’s monthly prayer gathering. This prayer gathering will be hosted by the Colorado House of Prayer.

You are invited. If you can’t join with us, please—wherever you are—spend part (or all) of that hour praying with us.

Prayer is our neglected essential.
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free speech

Monday 12/5/22 the Supreme Court heard arguments in the case 303 Creative v. Elenis. The government of Colorado claims Lorie Smith, a wedding website designer, must create custom websites for same-sex weddings. The State claims the right to compel Ms Smith to create expressions that violate her convictions.

The 10th US Court of Appeals acknowledged that forcing Ms Smith to express a state-imposed message infringes on her 1st Amendment rights. Read More…

respect for marriage

The US Senate has passed the Respect for Marriage Act: “No person may deny full faith and credit to any public act, record, or judicial proceeding of any other State pertaining to a marriage between 2 individuals, on the basis of sex, gender, race, ethnicity, or national origin.”

This bill (
S. 4556) repeals the 1996 Defense of Marriage law which stated, “No State shall be required to recognize a relationship between persons of the same sex as a marriage.”

The 2022 Respect for Marriage Act rejects the teachings of Jesus. And it discards the biological reality upon which the sociology of marriage developed around the world.
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the persecuted church

Sunday 11/6 our church participated in the International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church. As we do every year, Hope Community dedicated our gathering to pray for persecuted Christians from Cuba to Nigeria to North Korea. After hearing painful testimony, we prayed for deliverance of the persecuted and for the repentance of their persecutors.

In China over the past decade under President Xi, persecution of the church has increased. Eugene Bach recounts a 2017 roundtable discussion of American pastors with Chinese evangelist Brother Yun. Regarding persecution, they asked what might be done to stop the Chinese government from ripping crosses off church buildings. Read More…

false teachers

Center for Disease Control director Dr Rochelle Walensky advocates for the mRNA vaccines against SARS-COV-2. She’s received five Covid vaccinations or boosters. Last week Dr Walensky tested positive for Covid—for a second time.

Have we gotten some false teaching about Covid? Read More…

dealing with anxiety

According to Dr Kevin Elko anxiety can be like an internal, emotional bully. To deal with anxiety you’ve got to get away from how you feel. Instead focus on your choices—your own decisions. The apostle Peter wrote, “Cast all your anxiety on Him because He cares for you.” Question is, how does one cast anxiety unto God?

Peter, remember, was an old fisherman. Instead of instructing his readers to dump their anxieties or escape them or offload them, this fisherman chose a fishing term: cast.

Think about what’s involved in a 1st century fisherman casting a net.
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end of everything

The NYTimes Book Review’s 100 most notable books of 2020 includes The End of Everything (Astrophysically Speaking) by Dr Katie Mack—theoretical astrophysicist at North Carolina State University. She writes that just as the universe had a beginning, it is sure to end. “At the very least, there will be a transition that for all intents and purposes destroys everything.”

As a scientific materialist she claims that at some point in our cosmic future it will not have mattered that any of us ever lived. It is her considered scientific opinion that the universe will, more likely than not, fade into a cold, dark, empty nothing. And everything that everyone has ever done will be utterly lost.
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what people need

Live as free people … 1Peter 2.16

People need to live free. That’s the idea behind the US Constitution. Because freedom without limits devolves into might-makes-right, the Constitution’s legal guardrails were established to protect liberty.

Compromises in the Constitution allowed slavery; because some had the power to hold slaves they claimed the right to own slaves. And the Constitution ignored women. Still, it launched a
nation conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. Read More…

social justice religion

Someone yells “repent” in the street. Are they a …
rrrrrReligious preacher
rrrrrLeft-wing activist

October 2021 a crowd outside Netflix’s offices protested Dave Chappelle’s comedy special
The Closer, which criticized transgender activists. There was a counterprotest: a lonely Chappelle fan holding a sign: “We Like Dave”. His sign was stolen and ripped up. Someone shouted in his face, “Repent!” Read More…