In keeping with the journalistic tradition of looking back at the recent past, we present the top 50 stories of the year that were read on The Aquila Report site based on the number of hits. We will present the 50 stories in groups of 10 to run on five lists on consecutive days. Here are numbers 21-30.
In 2020 The Aquila Report (TAR) posted over 3,000 stories. At the end of each year we feature the top 50 stories that were read.
TAR posts 8 new stories each day, on a variety of subjects – all of which we trust are of interest to our readers. As a web magazine TAR is an aggregator of news and information that we believe will provide articles that will inform the church of current trends and movements within the church and culture.
In keeping with the journalistic tradition of looking back at the recent past, we present the top 50 stories of the year that were read on The Aquila Report site based on the number of hits. We will present the 50 stories in groups of 10 to run on five lists on consecutive days. Here are numbers 21-30:
Since 1975, Grace Community has leased a large portion of its parking lot from the county. For unspecified reasons, the county’s Public Works Department has given the church until October 1st to evacuate the lot. All items that remain in the parking lot at that time will be taken as county property.
In sum, the potentially disastrous situation we find ourselves in has come about, in part, by a totally inexplicable desire by our magistrates and public health officials to portray COVID 19 as a monstrous, highly contagious and virulent virus by which one places their life at risk just by being around an infected person. That this is balderdash is proven by the “eyeball test” alone.
According to the event announcement accessed on Thursday, the Q Collective, which is an LGBT group “exploring the spectrum of gender, sexuality, and romantic orientation,” hosted its 2nd annual Transluminate Arts Festival at The Chapel of Memorial Presbyterian Church on consecutive nights, February 27 – March 1.
COVID-19 is an actual medical disease that will lead to tragic deaths. Although this seems obvious, it should be clear that no one involved wishes to express anything but sympathy to those affected and their families. Respiratory failure is a terrible way to die. That is true if that death is due to asthma, COPD, pneumonia, influenza, smoke inhalation, cystic fibrosis, ALS, or COVID-19.
Fathers and brothers of MOP, SEAL does not take any pleasure in disagreeing with our dear brother TE Johnson. Nevertheless, because we believe these two teachings of TE Johnson contradict God’s Word as confessed in the Westminster Standards and are injurious to the peace and purity of the church, we must speak up. Indeed, if you believe that someone is in that kind of error Scripturally speaking, it would be unloving if you did not point it out. “Faithful are the wounds of a friend; profuse are the kisses of an enemy” (Proverbs 27:6).
This section of his message has prompted a good deal of discussion, and it’s fair to ask if these characterizations make sense. The first pressure in his list, “Reformed fundamentalism,” raised the most eyebrows. Perhaps Dr. Chapell will clarify his intent, but in the meantime it’s worth considering the meaning and advisability of such a term.
When Jesus returns, those who have already died will be brought with him as a great, royal entourage. Those believers who are alive on the earth will rise to meet the returning Lord after the bodily resurrection of those who have already died. Notice how the Lord returns: with a “a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God” (v. 16). This shout and this trumpet are not secret.
When we understand our depravity, we will stop talking about people gripped with sexual desire for their own gender as obedient souls who love Jesus. Instead of making an apology for them, we invite them to the Christ who cleanses all who are joined to him.
The poignant issue for the PCA is…the ordination of men who publicly identify as gay-Christians. On this issue the document leaves the progressive side a wide-open pathway to capture the PCA. On page 31, the document says, “Insofar as such persons display the requisite Christian maturity, we do not consider this sin struggle automatically to disqualify someone for leadership in the church….” In other words, Side B gay ministers may continue in the Church preaching from the pulpit. It also opens the door in the future for the ordination of other such men to leadership positions in the Church.
Since there are several layers to this statement as a performative speech act, this article will not be able to handle all of them. The nature of discourse in our country is laden with propaganda and propagandizing speech acts. The nature of a speech act is not located in the meaning of the propositions used in the discourse. Rather it is in the work that such a statement accomplishes. This is a feature of post-modern discourse that the Confessional Churches need to recognize.
