Scrolling around...May 11, 2013

Historic meeting between Pope and Coptic Orthodox leader
Pope Francis and the head of the Coptic Orthodox Church of Egypt, Pope Tawadros II, held a historic meeting at the Vatican on Friday.

The visit took place to strengthen the bonds of friendship between the two Churches. In particular, it marks 40 years since the Coptic Orthodox leader Pope Shenouda III and Catholic head Pope Paul VI signed the Christological agreement between their Churches at the Vatican in 1973.

The Benghazi Scandal Grows
The State Department, the CIA, the White House...

Sympathy for the Devil: Equivocation on Boko Haram
...In their many publicly released statements and videos, Boko Haram has never declared poverty and marginalization to be a motive for their actions. On the contrary, they state clearly that their actions are a “jihad (Holy War).” They said that “Christians in Nigeria should accept Islam, that is true religion, or they will never have peace,” and that they “do not have any agenda” other than working to establish an Islamic Kingdom like during the time of Prophet Mohammed.”...

Is the US Selling Out the Middle East’s Christians?
Elizabeth Prodromou, a former Vice Chair of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, or USCIRF, has some harsh words for the commission’s annual report, issued last month. Prodromou sharply criticizes USCIRF and the entire U.S. foreign policy team for ignoring human rights violations endured by Orthodox Christians in the Middle East...

Britain's Feckless, Two-Faced Approach to Radical Islam
The planning of violent atrocities continues in Britain. The government has still failed to curb the spread of violent agitation, and a necessary, firm and united opposition to radical Islam remains lacking at the official level...

The United States has become a tool of Muslim Brotherhood expansionism. Obama helped the Brotherhood overthrow governments by political means, but now the Brotherhood is demanding military intervention to help a Brotherhood/Al Qaeda coalition take over Syria. And if Obama goes along with it, he will have turned the United States military into the mercenaries of the Muslim Brotherhood...

How Dallas Willard Befriended Rookie Pastor Richard Foster
He taught me to live into the rhythms of the Spirit.

Dallas Willard, a Man from Another 'Time Zone'
...Many of us in the church have been impacted by Dallas through his teachings and writings that are often categorized as being about 'spiritual formation,' although his real preoccupation and concern was focused on the 'kingdom of God', or what he would often speak about as the 'with-God life.' He said the four great questions humans must answer are: What is reality? What is the good life? Who is a good person? And How do you became a good person? His concern was to answer those questions, and live the answers, and he was simply convinced that no one has ever answered them as well as Jesus...

Challies: Ordinary: Christian Living for the Rest of Us
...Ordinary is Christian living for the rest of us. It is for people like me and, in all likelihood, people like you. It is for Christians who have tried to be more than ordinary and who just have not found what they have been looking for. It is for Christians who have never tried to be more than ordinary and who are content that way. It validates our sheer normalcy and refutes our desire to be anything greater than that.

It is about being ordinarily excellent, ordinarily passionate, ordinarily godly. It is about trusting that such ordinary saints are saints indeed, fully acceptable, fully accepted, fully pleasing to the One who created and called us...

John Piper: How Introverted Pastors Love
...“It’s amazing how many introverts go into ministry,” Pastor John said of himself and others. But it’s true. For many pastors, hanging out with people is physically draining. “A lot of people would say that’s a bad thing; you should repent of that and turn around and either do something else, or start loving to hang out with people.”...

Citrus Disease With No Cure Is Ravaging Florida Groves
Florida’s citrus industry is grappling with the most serious threat in its history: a bacterial disease with no cure that has infected all 32 of the state’s citrus-growing counties...