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 31-40.
In 2024 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 31-40:
The committee provided the following rationale for their decision: “The concerns that have been raised about the seminar and its topic have been so significant that it seems wisest for the peace and unity of the church not to proceed in this way. Instead, the seminar time will be allocated to a prayer convocation that humbly petitions our God for the good of his church in a polarized political year, utilizing the means of grace provided by our Lord for his people.”
There was no further discussion on the motion to declare an emergency, and it was defeated by a vote of 11-2. Therefore, since the Executive Board did not declare the two complaints to be an emergency, they were not considered, and the meeting was adjourned. The two complaints were declared as not being an emergency and not even deliberated.
After waiting to see if the 2023 synod might accommodate churches with different views, Sherman Street Christian Reformed Church in Grand Rapids led the way to the exit. In its resolution it wrote: “Our policy of full inclusion is settled, as is our determination to allow space for a variety of views and to embrace the resulting tension.”
MacArthur redefines fiducia by turning the volitional component of justifying faith into something other than child like receiving and resting in Christ for salvation. For MacArthur fiducia is not the disposition of trust in Christ (or to believe into Christ) but rather the work of bringing our righteous to Christ in deeds of forsaking, commitment and surrender.
What is clear is that the situation now is more extreme than we usually allow ourselves to think and we need to get into the right frame of mind about who our friends and enemies are. As a Reformed guy in a currently independent Reformed congregation I recognize the major Reformed denominations, as a whole, must be regarded as hostile, even as individual people and congregations in them are friendlies. And the people and congregations of rival Protestant streams that hold fast to the common faith of our fathers (and that includes morality as much as theology!) are also friends fighting their own set of hostiles. I have your back, insofar as I can help you. I hope you’ll have mine.
The evangelical world still holds a powerful weapon in its hands. Because of the electoral college, what really matters in elections is what happens in each states. In 2020 Biden beat Trump in Arizona by 10,935 votes. In Georgia, Biden won by 14,152 votes. In Wisconsin, Biden won by 20,546 votes. That’s a total of around 46,000 votes in an election where the total number of votes cast was over 150 million.
Whatever the motives, the strife of the Mizpah Mood is not a biblical approach to dealing with divisions within the evangelical church. We will now examine scriptural guidance for how believers in the church should deal with those who are also on the Lord’s side (Psalm 124) yet might still be doing harm to the church. Just as Mizpah served as the place where Laban and Jacob resolved their differences, so can we in the church today find God’s provision for reconciling our differences with fellow believers.
Over 2100 Ruling Elders and Teaching Elders converged on Richmond, VA for the 51st General Assembly this past week! And, just like that it is over. The Assembly opened up on Tuesday, June 11th with the election of Ruling Elder Steve Dowling to be our Moderator for the next year. Steve was the Moderator of the Overtures Committee last year and he did a fantastic job as Moderator, bringing GA to a close in less time than was scheduled.
The two Hays argue that God, who is ever “changing his mind” to “broaden,” “widen,” and “expand” his “grace” and “mercy” in order to “include more and more people,” “has already gone on ahead of our debates and expanded his grace” to embrace “full inclusion of LGBTQ people in Christian communities.”
31GRACE Report and Tenth Presbyterian Church
If GRACE operated according to biblical precepts, they would not be as quick and confident to meddle with the peace and administrative functions of the church, or make inquiries that can become the occasion for the vulnerable and unlearned to violate the Ninth Commandment.
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