Rudyard Kipling, writing about a character in his 1893 collection of short stories titled Many Inventions, said “he wrapped himself in quotations – as a beggar would enfold himself in the purple of emperors.” Kipling could just as easily have been describing a Christian newspaper editor. We live for quotations, wrapping our publications in them as a beggar enfolding himself in the purple of emperors. In his preface to Bartlett’s Familiar Quotations, Mark Twain biographer Justin Kaplan … [Read more...]
Mocking marriage and Missouri voters
Last month Gov. Jay Nixon directed the state Department of Revenue to accept joint tax filings from same-sex couples who were “married” in another state, but live here. Now the Missouri National Guard is issuing ID cards to same-sex “married” couples in order to process spousal benefits even though they were “married” in another state. Both actions defy Missouri’s Constitution, which was amended by voters 71 percent to 29 percent in 2004, defining marriage as between one man and one … [Read more...]
Three iconic deaths on Nov. 22, 1963
Fifty years ago today (Nov. 22) is largely being remembered as the day President John F. Kennedy was assassinated by Lee Harvey Oswald in Dallas, Texas. It is interesting to note that two other important lives ended that same day with much less fanfare. Author and Christian apologist C.S. Lewis along with gnostic philosopher and author Aldous Huxley both drew their last breaths in this world on this day. Lewis doing so, no doubt trusting in his Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, and Huxley, per … [Read more...]
Biblical marriage takes a hit in Missouri
Missouri voters passed in 2004 an amendment to the state’s Constitution (known as Amendment 2) declaring marriage to be between one man and one woman. It was the first state do to so and did so by a 71-29 percent margin. Issue settled – or so we thought. In what has to be one of the most disheartening actions in the history of Missouri politics to thwart the will of the people, Democrat Gov. Jay Nixon directed state tax officials on Nov. 14 to accept tax returns jointly filed by same-sex … [Read more...]
Thanks from Pathway staff; pray for the persecuted
I would like to thank those of you at the Missouri Baptist Convention’s annual meeting who offered kind words of encouragement to The Pathway staff. Your overwhelming affirmation of your state newspaper is humbling. We are grateful to God for the privilege to serve Southern Baptists in Missouri and around the world. We will try even harder to exceed your expectations for truth and information from a biblical worldview perspective. I would also like to thank the nearly 1,000 messengers … [Read more...]
Captive in Iran: Incredible story of courage, love
DON HINKLE/editor dhinkle@mobaptist.org A powerful book by two Iranian Christian women who spent 259 days in the notorious Evin Prison in Tehran, Iran, in 2009, gives outsiders a look at the harsh conditions and brutal persecution Christians face within the prison’s confines. Captive in Iran is the story of Maryam Rostampour and Maziyeh Amirizadeh who – over a three-year period – covertly put New Testaments in the hands of 20,000 of their countrymen, knowing that Islamic laws in Iran … [Read more...]
New website ready, let’s chat in KC
I hope you are making plans to attend the Missouri Baptist Convention’s (MBC) annual meeting in Kansas City Oct. 28-30. There will be tremendous preaching, singing and praying. MBC team leaders have been given the privilege of offering the prayers at this year’s meeting. I have the privilege of offering Tuesday evening’s (Oct. 29) invocation. It promises to be a great time of fellowship, too. One of the great things about the annual meeting is renewing acquaintances and meeting Pathway … [Read more...]
Too many Missourians are experiencing hunger
Southern Baptists love to eat. I have always argued that cooking extraordinaire Paula Deen has nothing on Southern Baptist ladies. If you know me you know I am a living testimony to that delicious fact. No one can find more tasty fried chicken, more mouth-watering hash brown casserole or more lip-smacking pecan pie than at a Southern Baptist picnic where the ladies of the church have brought their cooking talents to bear on us all. But not everyone is so blessed. I’m reminded of a story my … [Read more...]
Reality of persecution; prayers for Saeed
In Ward 350 of Iran’s infamous Evin Prison, Christian Pastor Saeed Abedini tries to sleep while the arms and legs of about 40 cellmates are draped around him – twice the legal limit for that section of the facility. Abedini went to Iran a year ago – with the permission of the government -- to start an orphanage, but was then arrested by authorities on trumped up charges of endangering national security. They sentenced him to eight years in prison. However, the real reason Abedini was … [Read more...]
Planned Parenthood to receive $655,000 as ObamaCare ‘navigators’
WASHINGTON, D.C. – On Aug. 15, the Obama Administration announced the award of over $655,000 in taxpayer grants to three Planned Parenthood affiliates to act as “navigators,” helping enroll Americans in federally facilitated insurance exchanges under ObamaCare. Those grants are part of $67 million in federal funds that will go to over 100 organizations to help promote the health care law. The coercive, one-size-fits-all regime of ObamaCare is already set to increase costs and further burden … [Read more...]
New Mexico Supreme Court: Progressives run off the cliff
Southern Baptists and other people of faith in New Mexico have been told by their state Supreme Court that the price of U.S. citizenship is to subordinate their faith to the homosexual agenda. This appears to be the first ruling of its kind by a Supreme Court. So it merits our attention. The case involved Elaine and Jon Huguenin, co-owners of Elane Photography of Albuquerque, who were asked by two lesbians in 2006 to photograph their “commitment ceremony” (homosexual “marriage” is not … [Read more...]
Homosexual movement knows how to skin a cat
U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia predicted that when the high court struck down state laws against homosexuality in the Lawrence v. Texas case in 2003 and more recently a portion of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), it would only be a matter of time before the court would force states to recognize homosexual marriages – and ultimately other types as well. Polygamists, for example, already are advancing a case in the federal courts, using the same arguments exploited by … [Read more...]