The Apostle's Blog

  I Skipped Church for Three Years My spiritual loneliness brought me back. LUKE HELM | AUGUST 30, 2023 Image: Illustration by Christianity Today / Source Images: Getty F aith and church have been  tough for a lot of people  coming out of the pandemic. I’m one of them. The last three years ushered my wife and I through two job changes, a cross-country move, and months spent hunkered inside, trying to keep our young children healthy and ourselves sane. By the time the world began to reopen, so much felt different. Until recently, I could count on one hand the number of times I’d physically attended a church service since March 2020. I could give many reasons for our absence—a toddler and a newborn, disillusionment with a church tradition that was once home, enjoying a second weekend morning, sheer exhaustion, and more. But if I’m really honest, one reason stands out: The further I get from church, the less Christian faith makes sense to me. The physical drift begets an int...

  Christianity after Christendom OPINION CURTIS FREEMAN   |  AUGUST 31, 2023 i Replica of Crusader Cross from Art Institute of Chicago In 1850, there were about 700,000 Baptists  in the United States, evenly divided between North and South. As the nation expanded and grew, Baptists advanced in membership and social standing. As they expanded, they divided into divergent denominational groups, and as they divided they multiplied. By 1962, the two oldest Baptist bodies alone numbered almost 12 million — the American (Northern) Baptists with 1.5 million and the Southern Baptists with 10 million. Curtis Freeman When Baptists began as a dissenting minority, they were forced to support the established churches and punished by civil authorities when they refused. They overwhelmingly endorsed the secular government of the United States with its constitutional guarantees of a free church, a free state, free speech and a free press. They backed procedural secularity of th...

Christ is our head, and we are his body, serving God in this world as the heart, hands, and feet of the Lord Jesus, who promises full life for all who believe in him. Jesus, thank you for wanting to use me as part of your work in this world. Help me to serve you as you draw others to yourself. Amen.  

  Apostles' Creed I believe in God, the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth; And in Jesus Christ his only Son, our Lord; who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, and buried;* the third day he rose from the dead; he ascended into heaven, and sitteth at the right hand of God the Father Almighty; from thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead. I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy catholic** church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. Amen. Ecumenical Version I believe in God, the Father Almighty, creator of heaven and earth. I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried; he descended to the dead. On the third day he rose again; he ascended into heaven, is seated at the right hand of the Fath...

  Endure hardship with a strong faith in The Good Shepherd ------- Michael Mahoney, the apostle of our Lord Jesus Christ

  The post of Michael Mahoney, the apostle of our Lord Jesus Christ  To the churches in Greenwell Springs. Hopefully, you are doing well after the great flood years ago in Baton Rouge. By the will of God, The Healing Place church sent me forth to The Foundry to spread the Good News of God in Christ. I arrived in much fear and weakness following my stroke but all is great being sheltered in Christ. Baptizing myself everyday in the name of Jesus along with the prayer of Jabez. I thank God that I baptize none of you except Andrew. Now, I'm ready to preach the gospel. The grace of God given to me, I will build a groundwork like Pastor Dallas. That is why I build shrines every place I go, for I am a bond servant of Christ Jesus and in constant worship.

  THE LETTER OF MICHAEL MAHONEY                        TO THE BROADMOOR CHURCH _________________________________________ I, MICHAEL MAHONEY, CALLED TO BE AN APOSTLE OF CHRIST JESUS BY THE WILL OF GOD, THE FATHER ALMIGHTY BY WHOM I RECEIVED GRACE AND APOSTLESHIP FROM MY OBEDIENCE TO THE FAITH