Pride, Dignity and the Need for Jesus

Christians are called to speak truth, but always in love, with the aim  to build up, not tear down, the Christian Today website reports today (June 21, 2025).

Scripture is clear on sexuality: any expression outside God's design for one male and one female in covenant marriage is sin (Romans 1:26--27).These are not arbitrary rules, they are part of God's loving design for human flourishing.

Scripture never condemns human dignity. In fact, it proclaims it: we are all made in the image of God (Genesis1:27),fearfully and wonderfully formed (Psalm 139:14).

But dignity becomes distorted when it turns into deity. This is the pride that Scripture warns against (Genesis 3:5--6), the root of all sin: when we crown ourselves as the final authority on who we are, what truth is, and what love should look like. 

God's purpose is never to shame, but to heal and restore (John3:17). His conviction is not cruelty; it's kindness that leads to repentance(Romans 2:4).Jesus humbled Himself so that we might be lifted up (Philippians 2:6--8).

Jesus still sees,still loves, and still invites every person into His grace and truth (Revelation 3:20).

Students Sue Va. over Being Denied Grants to Pursue Religious Studies

 Three students have filed a complaint against Virginia officials over allegedly being denied access to scholarship grant programs due to their decision to pursue religious studies, the Christian Post website reports today (June 20, 2025). 

Cameron Johnson and Luke Thomas, two recent high school graduates planning to attend Liberty University , and Trace Stevens, a current Liberty student,filed the complaint late last month in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, Richmond Division. 

Named defendants in the lawsuit were A. Scott Fleming, director of the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia; John Jumper, Chair of he State Council of Higher Education for Virginia; and Donald Unmussig, chief financial officer of the Virginia Department of Military Affairs. 

According to the complaint, Johnson and Thomas were denied a Tuition Assistance Grant because the SCHEV excludes certain religious programs of study, while Stevens, a member of the Virginia Army National Guard, was denied a grant from the National Guard Tuition Assistance Grant Program because his academic study was centered on  "religious training or theological education."

Report: Bible Engagement Srongly Linked to Human Flourishing

 The American Bible Socety (ABS) released the third chapter of its 15th annual State of the Bible report on June 12, highlighting a strong link between active Christian faith and human flourshing, the Christian Daily website reports today (June 19, 2025). 

According to the report, individuals who reported a connection with God "exhibit greater human flour ishing levels" pointing to the positive impact of spiritual life on overall health  and satisfaction.

Human flourishing is defined in the report as "a state  of thriving and well--being where all aspects of a person's life are good."

The Meaning of the Juneteenth Holiday

June 19, 2025 marks 160 years since the origin of Juneteenth, which commemorates the day the last group of enslaved people found out they had been freed, the USA Today website reports today (June 18, 2025).

Long a holiday in the Black community and now federally recognized, the celebrations kick off each June 19, allowing people to gather, dance, reenact pivotal moments in history, and more. 

Juneteenth is a celebration of freedom and opportunity, said Sam Collins, who is on the trustee board for the Rosenberg Library in Galveston,Texas, often called "Professor Juneteenth." 

"It's not so much about slavery as it is about the freedom from slavery and what it allowed the former enslaved people to live their lives free, to marry, to learn to read, to educate themselves, to have self--agency over their bodies, to keep their families  together," he told USA Today. 

In June 2021, then president Joe Biden declared June 19 a national holiday. 

Up to 200 Christians Killed by Islamic Extremists in Nigeria

 Up to 200 Christians were killed by Islamic extremists in Nigeria's troubled Benue state on June 13, according to a Catholic charity reporting that it's the "single worst atrocity" in a region that has become known for communal attacks, the Christian Post website reports today (June 16, 2025). 

The militants attacked families displaced by radicalized Fulani herdsmen who were housed in buildings repurposed as temporary accommodations in the market square of Yelewata in the Guma Local Government Area, shouting "Allahu Akhbar,"acording to a report today from Aid to the Church in Need.

Buildings were torched as people were sleeping, and anyone who tried to flee was attacked with machetes. Local pastors told the charity that police had earlier repelled attackers who tried to swarm St. Joseph's Church, a facilityhousing over 700 internally displaced persons. 

"When we heard the shots and saw the militants, we committed our lives to God. This morning, I thanked God I am alive," parish priest,Father Ukuma Jonathan Angbiabee, told ACN. Angbiabee said he and others dropped to the floor on the church's presbytery when they heard the shots fired. 

"What I saw was truly gruesome. People were slaughtered. Corpses were scattered everywhere."

Pope Leo XIV acknowledged the attack in his Sunday Angelus message, saying he is praying for those killed in "a terrible massacre," most of whom were "sheltered by the local Catholic mission." Leo prayed for "rural Christian communities of the Benue State who have been relentless victims of violence."

Holy Spirit Has Fueled Gospel Witness through the Ages

 Moe than 1,000 evangelical pastors and ministry leaders from 56 nations gathered at the JW Marriott in Berlin for the European Congress on Evangelism hosted by the Billy Graham Evangelical Association, the Christian Daily website reports today (June 15, 2025).

Rev. Skip Heitzig . senior pastor of Calvary Church in Albuquerque, New Mexico, delivered a passionate call for Spirit--empowered evangelism during the European Congress on Evangelism. A board member of Samaritan's Purse and Harvest Christian Fellowship, Heitzig spoke on the topic "The Holy Spirit Empowers Preaching the Gospel." 

Drawing from the explosive growth of the early church, Heitzig rooted his message in Acts 4:31. "After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly."He urged delegates to consider whether many believers today, like the disciples in Acts 19, know of the Holy Spirit in name, but have never truly experienced His empowering presence. 

"The empowering of the Holy Spirit was the main reason the preaching of the early church was so effective," Heitzig pointed out.

"The idea of the Spirit held by the average church member is so vague as to be nearly non--existent," once wrote a renowned Bible teacher, the late AW Tozer. Heitzig referred to the quote and said that he has himself found some Christians are afraid of the Holy Spirit , often because of excessive behavior in some churches.

 They just say, "I don't want anything to do with that," but listen, you never have to be  afraid of a genuine move and work of the Holy Spirit. If it's really the Holy Spirit, it will be powerful. It will be done decently and in order, but unmistakably, God will move.

 "The Father sent the Son into the world. Jesus, the Son, purchased our salvation on Calvary, and then He sent the Holy Spirit into the church, " explained Heitzig. "And the Holy Spirit empowered the preaching, the teaching. and the function of the church in the book of Acts."

What Is Pentecost Sunday?

 Pentecost Sunday cpmmemorates the coming of the Holy Spirit on Jesus's disciples , which happened just after the Ascension at  the Feast of Pentecost, the Christian Today website reports today (June 12, 2025).

In the Church calendar, it falls seven Sundays or 50 days after Easter Sunday.

The event is recorded in he first two chapters of the Acts of the Apostles, which was written by Luke. It is not certain which year this happened, but most scholars today think it was AD 33.The word "Pentecost" comes from the Greek term shavuot, which was called the Feast of Weeks, and it was the Harvest Festival which celebrated the first fruits of the wheat harvest in the Holy Land. 

The New Testament was written in Greek, and the word for 50th is Pentekoste, hence Pentecost.

At Pentecost, the Holy Spirit descended upon the disciples. Peter stood up and preached, telling the story of Jesus to the crowds. The Harvest Festival was the first fruits of the great harvest of souls. About 3,000 people joined the Church at Pentecost. These people were Jews of the Diaspora, and some Gentile converts to Judaism. They returned to their homelands and synagogues with the Gospel message.