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Tennessee House passes resolution declaring the Bible as official state book

Published

5 years ago

April 1, 2021

A Tennessee resolution that would designate the Bible as the official state book cleared the House on Monday night as the sponsor and another member who opposed the measure — both preachers — squared off quoting from the book to make their arguments for and against.

House Joint Resolution 150 passed 55-28. It now goes to the Senate, where Lt. Gov. Randy McNally, R-Oak Ridge, the Senate speaker, has voiced opposition to the measure — which House sponsor Jerry Sexton, R-Bean Station, has introduced in two previous legislatures.

Asked what Republican Gov. Bill Lee’s position on the measure is, the governor’s communications director, Laine Arnold, said, “We’ll keep an eye on it as it moves on the Senate side.”

It’s the third time that Sexton, a part-time minister, has brought the measure, introducing it the first two times as a bill. In 2016, then-Gov. Bill Haslam, a Republican, vetoed the measure, citing a 2015 state attorney general’s opinion stating the bill violated the Establishment Clause of the U.S. Constitution as well as Article I, Section 3 of the Tennessee Constitution. Haslam said his personal view was the bill “trivializes the Bible,” which he considered a sacred text.

Sexton’s effort to override Haslam’s veto fizzled. He introduced another bill in the following General Assembly but didn’t push it. This year, Sexton introduced it as House Joint Resolution 150.

The resolution cites the Bible’s “great historical and cultural significance in the state of Tennessee as a record of the history of Tennessee families that predates some modern vital statistical records.”

Sexton noted in a floor speech that the Bible outsells “every other book” and notes Tennessee has been a center of Bible publishing.

“It’s a book that’s been very important to me my whole life,” said Sexton, also a businessman. “I’m glad that I’ve had the opportunity to stand in the pulpit and open its pages and preach what I call the Gospel. And I’m sure many of you do.”

Rep. Johnny Shaw, D-Bolivar, a minister and businessman, said he had been “trying to find some scripture that would allow us to take God’s word, to bring it down to the level of a state. And I just can’t find it.”

Quoting Jesus, Shaw said, “If you continue in my word, then ye are my disciple in deed.” He said he sees all the authority “gives to us is to be able to represent in character, in personality, in speech and in love, he gives us the authority to represent him that way. But he does not give us the authority to say that my word should be here or it should be there. It’s only in us, wherever we are.”

Sexton countered, “I’ll answer that question if you’ll tell me where separation of [church and] state is in any of our founding documents in the United States government and in any of our founding fathers that have used that to found this nation and our constitution. I’ll be glad to answer that when you show me where that is in our founding documents.”

Shaw also raised concerns that Sexton’s efforts were effectively “shoving” scripture down peoples’ “throats.” Replied Sexton: “I never have, and I never would, shove it.”

The First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution begins, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion.” Thomas Jefferson, one of the founders of the nation, said in an 1802 letter to the Danbury Baptist Association that the clause was intended to build a “wall of separation between the church and state.”

After Shaw later said what Sexton was asking would “embarrass us,” Sexton replied, “I don’t want you to be embarrassed,” adding he wanted to “uphold the standards of God or his son, my beloved Savior.”

The measure now goes to the Senate. McNally said of Sexton’s resolution that “I do think it trivializes the Bible and places it along with other symbols that the state has like the salamander and the limestone rock and mockingbird, things like that.”

McNally said that because the measure is “substantive” and not merely procedural, it will go through the committee process. Asked if he expects it will reach the Senate floor for a final vote, he said, “I think it’s really up to the committees that it goes through.”

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ഇന്ത്യൻ ക്രിസ്റ്റ്യൻ ഡേ സമ്മേളനം സെപ്റ്റംബർ 19 വൈകിട്ട് 5 മണിക്ക് ഇർവിംഗ് സിറ്റിയിൽ

Published

19 hours ago

September 16, 2026

theendtimenews

ഡാളസ് : ഇന്ത്യൻ ക്രിസ്റ്റ്യൻ ഡേ സമ്മേളനം ഇർവിംഗ് സിറ്റിയിൽ സെപ്റ്റംബർ19 ശനിയാഴ്വ വൈകുന്നേരം 5 മണിക്ക് ബെഥനി ഫുൾ ഗോസ്പൽ അസംബ്ളി ഹാളിലാണ് ആരംഭിയ്ക്കുന്നത്. സമ്മേളനത്തിൽ ഇർവിംഗ് മേയർ (A I Zapanta ), ഷെർവിൻ ഡേസ്സ് , ഡോ. സിസിൽ അനിയൻ തുടങ്ങിവരാണ് മുഖ്യ പ്രസംഗകർ. ഇവരെ കൂടാതെ ഇന്ത്യൻ പ്രവാസികളായ ക്രൈസ്തവ ജനതയെ പ്രതിനിഥീകരിച്ച് വിവിധ സഭാ മേലദ്ധ്യഷന്മാരും, പ്രതിനിധികളും, സംഘടനാ ലീഡേഴ്‌സും, പൊതു ജനത്തെ അതിസം ബോധന ചെയ്ത് സംസാരിക്കുന്നതാണ്.

ക്രൈസ്തവരായ ഇന്ത്യൻ ജനതയുടെ പൈതൃകം, സംസ്കാരം, സാഹോദരിയത്വം , ഐക്യത തുടങ്ങിയ മൂല്യങ്ങളെ ഉയർത്തി കാട്ടുന്നതിനും, ക്രിസ്തുവിൻ്റെ സ്നേഹം മറ്റുള്ളവരിലേക്ക് പകരപ്പെടേണമെന്നതാണ് ഈ സമ്മേളനം ലക്ഷ്യമാക്കുന്നത്. പാസ്റ്റർ മാതൃൂ ശാമുവേൽ, പാസ്റ്റർ ജോൺ യല്ലംമ്പള്ളി, പാസ്റ്റർ പോൾ ഗോരപ്പ തുടങ്ങിയവരാണ് ടെക്സസിലെ ഇന്ത്യൻ ക്രിസ്റ്റ്യൻ ഡേയുടെ മുഖ്യ സംഘാടകർ.

സമ്മേളന സ്ഥലം : Bethany Full Gospel Assembly, 2901 N MacArthur Blvd.Irving,.Tx.75062

വിശദ വിവരങ്ങൾക്ക് ബന്ധപ്പെടുക: 469 212 3216.
Sources:globalindiannews

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കോർക്ക് ഏബേനസർ ദൈവസഭയിൽ സെപ്റ്റംബർ 19 ശനിയാഴ്ച ഏകദിന യുവജന ക്യാമ്പ്

Published

20 hours ago

September 16, 2026

theendtimenews

അയർലൻഡ്: ഏകദിന യുവജന ക്യാമ്പ്: കോർക്ക് ഏബേനസർ ദൈവസഭയുടെ ആഭിമുഖ്യത്തിൽ എറൈസ് & ഇഗ്നൈറ്റ്’ എന്ന വിഷയത്തെ ആസ്പതമാക്കി ഏകദിന യുവജന ക്യാമ്പ്, 2026 സെപ്റ്റംബർ 19 ശനിയാഴ്ച രാവിലെ 10:00 മുതൽ കോർക്കിലെ ഏബേനസർ ദൈവസഭ ഹാളിൽ വച്ചു നടത്തപ്പെടും.

പ്രശസ്ത ദൈവവചന പ്രാസംഗികനും ഗായകനുമായ പാസ്റ്റർ കാലെബ് ജീ ജോർജ് ക്യാമ്പിൽ മുഖ്യസന്ദേശം നൽകും. യുവാക്കളിൽ ആത്മീയ ഉണർവും ദൈവീക അനുഗ്രഹവും ലക്ഷ്യമിട്ട് ക്രമീകരിച്ചിരിക്കുന്ന ഈ ക്യാമ്പ്, ആത്മനിറവിനായുള്ള മികച്ചൊരു അവസരമായിരിക്കും

കൂടുതൽ വിവരങ്ങൾക്കും സൗജന്യ രജിസ്ട്രേഷനും പാസ്റ്റർ എം. എം. തോമസ്, പാസ്റ്റർ കെ. പി. ബിജുമോൻ എന്നിവരുമായി ബന്ധപ്പെടാവുന്നതാണ്

ഏവരുടെയും പ്രാർത്ഥനാപൂർവ്വമായ പങ്കാളിത്തം പ്രതീക്ഷിക്കുന്നതോടൊപ്പം, എല്ലാ യൗവനക്കാരെയും പരിപാടിയിലേക്ക് സ്വാഗതം ചെയ്യുന്നതായി ഭാരവാഹികൾ അറിയിച്ചു.
Sources:cchintha.in

http://theendtimeradio.com

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Theologian Uncovers Dangerous ‘Common Sense’ Hidden in Kids’ Movies Today

Published

2 days ago

September 15, 2026

theendtimenews

Very often, the truth is hiding in plain sight. That’s certainly the case with much of children’s entertainment.

The underlying message affixed to any number of movies geared toward kids seems to be some version of following one’s own heart, listening to his desires, chasing after her feelings. But that message, according to Trevin Wax, is a direct contradiction to the Gospel.

Wax, an author and visiting professor at Cedarville University, recently appeared on CBN’s “Faith in Culture,” were he eschewed such ideologies. While the world calls those ideas “common sense,” he said they are incongruous with Christianity.

“You think of these slogans that are out there, like, ‘Be true to yourself,’ ‘You do you,’ ‘Live your truth,’ ‘You are enough,’ ‘Follow your heart,’ ‘Chase your dreams,’” he said. “Sociologists call that ‘expressive individualism.’ … That’s the plot line in so many movies, even, like, good wholesome movies, in Disney movies. … It kind of passes for common sense in our day and age.”

The secular understanding of “freedom” is a far cry from true freedom as explained in Scripture, Wax said.

“It’s just so easy to define freedom in our day as a freedom from constraints, from limitations,” he explained. “[The world says] freedom is me doing whatever I want to do, when the Bible actually teaches that, ‘No, you doing just whatever you want to do, especially in our flesh, is a kind of slavery.’”

Throughout the New Testament, the Apostle Paul explains human beings will always be slaves to something — either to sin and our own desires or to a just and merciful God whose ways are higher and better than our own.

In Romans 6:16, Paul wrote, “Don’t you realize that you become the slave of whatever you choose to obey? You can be a slave to sin, which leads to death, or you can choose to obey God, which leads to righteous living” (NLT).

“True freedom is submission to God, and it’s freedom for something,” said Wax. “It’s not doing whatever we want; it’s aligning our wants with God’s will, recognizing that that’s when we’re truly freest.”

Wax is the author of the new book, “The Gospel Way Catechism for Kids,” a children’s edition of his book by the same title.

In it, he and his co-author, Thomas West, outline 50 faith-centered questions and answers for children to read, study, and talk about with their families. He explained that these catechisms should serve as conversation starters in the home.

“A catechism isn’t supposed to be everything,” he said. “It’s supposed to be something. It’s meant to give you the structure or the scaffolding that you can then come in later and begin to fill in.”

While the world teaches a “meditation” that empties the mind of everything, Wax emphasized a godly mindfulness that calls believers to fill their minds with the commands and promises of Scripture.

“We’ve got to distinguish the Christian understanding of prayer from just mindfulness routines or just Eastern meditation that leads us to sort of empty our minds,” he explained. “[B]iblical meditation … is a filling of the mind with Scripture and God’s Word.”
Sources:faithwire

http://theendtimeradio.com