A report from the U.S. Department of Defense's Inspector General is raising questions about the security threats posed by dozens of Afghan evacuees brought to the United States in the wake of the withdrawal of U.S. troops from the country last year. Concluding that "U.S. agencies did not use all available data when vetting Afghan evacuees,” the report states, “Afghan evacuees were not vetted by the National Counter-Terrorism Center [NCTC] using all DoD data prior to arriving in [the continental United States]." President Joe Biden helped ensure the arrival of “displaced persons from Afghanistan” in the U.S. by initiating “an inter-agency effort to evacuate and relocate Afghans who had applied for a Special Immigrant Visa (SIV) along with other vulnerable Afghans to address the rapid takeover of Afghan cities by the Taliban.”

Light of the World Gospel Ministries, a small, multiethnic church in Nebraska, will now be allowed to construct a multipurpose facility on property that a small town had previously prohibited them from building on, First Liberty Institute has announced. The church purchased multiple buildings off Main Street in the village of Walthill with the intention of tearing them down to make way for a new facility to meet their needs, as well as a handful of small businesses. However, after village officials denied multiple permits and had existing permits revoked in July 2018, the church decided to take the matter to court. The U.S. Justice Department filed a suit against the village in 2020 and sided with the church, arguing that the village had violated the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act when it denied the church a permit.

Less than half of American adults, including non-Christians, view pastors as "very reliable" when it comes to handling spiritual matters, according to Barna Research. The research, which sought information about pastors' general trustworthiness and credibility, was included in Rev. Glenn Packiam's book, The Resilient Pastor, which was released last week. Packiam suggests that pastors need to undergo self-examination to see whether these credibility issues stem from the way they have stewarded power, writing, "If the mishandling of power has led to the loss of credibility, returning to the source and shape of a pastor’s authority is the way back home."

Spirit-filled Christians do not all view "the baptism of the Holy Spirit” in the same way. Some teach that believers need to experience a “second blessing” in order to be baptized with the Holy Spirit, while others teach that every believer is baptized with the Holy Spirit at the moment of conversion. (1 Corinthians 12:13) So who is correct? Continue reading.

"The American Bar Association has just decided to mandate critical race theory (CRT) in American law schools, further enshrining the dominance of CRT in jurisprudence," writes Bill Connor, a retired Army Infantry colonel, author and attorney. Connor points to Cornell law professor William A. Jacobson's stance on the subject, noting that Jacobson has asserted the mandate has an "obsessive focus on systemic racism, a subject of scholarly dispute," while calling the ABA "a proxy for the left-wing of the American legal community.” Continue reading.

Today we’re kicking off a new podcast series with our first episode – How to love God in a world that says otherwise. Make sure to subscribe so you won’t miss any new episodes.

What does it look like to love God? A life of sacrifice? Serving? Tune in as Alexandra Hoover and Pastor Derwin L. Gray talk through what it looks like to truly love God in a world that says otherwise. Listen Now

Catholic bishops in Italy have welcomed an intervention by the country's constitutional court that prevents a referendum from being held on physician-assisted suicide. Holding a referendum was backed by 1.2 million Italians who signed a petition submitted to the court last October requesting a vote on the issue, which would have asked Italians whether they supported decriminalizing assisted suicide in Italy. The constitutional court announced Tuesday that changing the law would mean that "the constitutionally necessary minimum protection of human life, in general, and with particular reference to weak and vulnerable persons, would not be preserved."

Emmy Award-winning ABC News correspondent Linsey Davis' new book aims to help families discuss Heaven with their children. How High Is Heaven?, the latest of the correspondents' children's books, was inspired by her 7-year-old son who began to ask questions about some of his deceased loved ones. "Heaven can be a really complicated conversation to have with anybody ... [W]e just went to the basics of what my son was thinking he could physically do in order to get to Heaven. It just really inspired me," Davis said in an interview with The Christian Post. Continue reading.

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