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Good afternoon! It's Monday, October 31, and today's headlines include a survey exploring pastors' views on Halloween, student activists who shredded another student's Bible in protest of Matt Walsh's "What is a Woman" screening, and the third installment of The Christian Post's podcast series "Generation Indoctrination: Inside the Transgender Battle."
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A Lifeway Research survey of more than 1,000 Protestant pastors in the United States has revealed that 71% say they encourage members to invite friends or neighbors to church events on or near Halloween, including fall festivals or trunk-or-treats. Fifty-eight percent of respondents say they want church members to build relationships with neighbors who trick-or-treat, while approximately one-third (34%) encourage church members to hand out Gospel tracts to trick-or-treaters. Slightly more than one in 10 pastors surveyed (13%) say they discourage church members from participating in Halloween celebrations, a slight uptick from the 8% who responded similarly in 2016. Survey results also showed that younger pastors—ages 18 to 44 and 45 to 54—are more
likely to encourage congregants to engage in Halloween by inviting friends and neighbors to church events or by using trick-or-treating as a relationship-building opportunity.
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"Few pastors simply ignore the fact that so many Americans participate in Halloween celebrations," Lifeway Research Executive Director Scott McConnell stated. Most pastors focus on the social nature of these celebrations, encouraging their congregations to engage with others outside their church." The findings come as a Numerator survey suggests that more than three-quarters (78%) of Americans will "definitely" or
"probably" celebrate the holiday this year. Continue reading.
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Activists protesting conservative commentator Matt Walsh's college tour at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where his documentary film "What is a Woman" was being shown, grabbed a Bible from a young man who was reading it aloud and ripped out the pages. One protester used his teeth to shred the ripped-out pages and spat them on the ground. Young America’s Foundation, which is hosting Walsh’s college tour, shared a video of the protesters desecrating the Bible, including a female with red-dyed hair who shoved pages from a torn-up Bible into her mouth. Protestors accused white people of being racist and some vandalized Memorial Union and other locations around campus with spraypainted graffiti and messaging opposing the event, NBC15 reported. Rayna Cordon, who was part of a pro-abortion group protesting
Walsh, was quoted as saying, "It’s like a double standard to allow the Nazis and the transphobes and the self-proclaimed fascists to have the mic and not give it to the actual community members that are funding your school, that are attending your classes, that are teaching your classes." Meanwhile, Walsh told attendees, "I want to thank also the leftist crybabies for the free advertising spray-painted all over campus." He also called out the school's administration for being "disgraceful" and cowardly and said they owe him an apology. Read more.
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While Oct. 31 is reserved by many for the celebration of Halloween, for others the date is celebrated as the anniversary of the beginning of the Protestant Reformation. No figure was more integral to the Reformation than its founder, German monk Martin Luther, whose nailing of the 95 theses on a church door sparked the theological revolution. In this article, CP reviews seven important dates regarding the life of Luther and his involvement in the Protestant Reformation. Click here to read more.
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In this op-ed, Dr. Michael Brown calls out those who do evil and call it good. Brown reflects on the life of abortionist Dr. George Tiller, who famously performed late-term abortions on unborn babies as close as a single day before their due dates. Despite media describing Tiller as "gentle" and "compassionate," one former staffer revealed that 98% of the babies aborted at Tiller's facility were healthy and viable outside the womb. Meanwhile, in today's upside-down system, the FBI is raiding the homes of pro-life activists, and medical leaders who denounce the transitioning of children via chemical castration and/or genital mutilation are being threatened with prosecution by the office of the Attorney General for allegedly spreading misinformation that could lead to
violence while those who advocate and perform such life-altering practices are celebrated as heroes. "In this same spirit, California governor Gavin Newsom has become the darling of the left as he becomes more and more radical by the day," Brown cautions. Read more.
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Faith and Freedom Coalition's Tim Head explores Halloween's pagan roots and why he believes Christians should think twice before celebrating the holiday. Head encourages those who do choose to skip Halloween to instead use the day as an opportunity to enjoy and celebrate the harvest season on God's terms. Read more.
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CEF® wants to support you in reaching children where they are - the public school. Let us show you how to bring them into the church, before it's too late. Learn More
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A judge in Hong Kong sentenced a 59-year-old Protestant pastor to more than one year in prison for sedition, making him the first Christian clergy in the city to be convicted under the draconian national security law that mainland China imposed two years ago to crush the pro-democracy movement. "You have lost your conscience," Pastor Garry Pang Moon-yuen reportedly told another judge during the hearing of activist Chow Hang-tung on Jan. 4, for which Magistrate Cheng Lim-chi at the West Kowloon Court on Thursday sentenced him to 10 months imprisonment for sedition and three months for seditious speech, UCA News reported. Separately, a housewife was also found guilty of sedition and sentenced to jail for clapping and criticizing magistrate Amy Chan during Chow's sentencing trial for encouraging people to participate in a vigil commemorating Tiananmen Massacre. Read more.
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Also of Interest...
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As the public becomes increasingly aware of what's happening to children in gender clinics, many are bewildered, asking: How did this happen so quickly? In the third installment of The Christian Post’s investigative podcast series "Generation Indoctrination: Inside the Transgender Battle," Dr. Abigail Favale explains that much of what is now seen within the gender dogma of today can be traced back to
the early 20th century. Favale, the author of The Genesis of Gender: A Christian Theory and professor at the McGrath Institute for Church Life at the University of Notre Dame, discusses how the conceptual and contraceptual evolutions have shaped how people have thought about what it means to be male and female, particularly with the introduction of reproductive technologies such as hormonal birth control. Listen now.
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Also of Interest...
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Thank you for spending part of your day with us. We look forward to seeing you again tomorrow! -- CP Editors
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