In 1993, the US Congress passed and President Bill Clinton signed the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA). Since the Supreme Court ruled in 1997 that the RFRA applied only to the federal government, some 20 states since then have passed their own RFRAs. Another dozen states have adopted RFRA-style protections in other ways. Probably the most important invocation of an RFRA, in a federal case, was Burwell v. Hobby Lobby, which reached the Supreme Court last year. Recently Indiana passed its own RFRA, which has created a firestorm. The law establishes that the state ?may not substantially burden? a person?s free exercise of religion unless ?it is essential to further a compelling governmental interest? and ?the least restrictive means? of doing so.

Paul reminds the Thessalonians about the coming “Day of The Lord,” and explains how this can be a time of blessing & salvation, or that of judgement & wrath. To be “prepared” is the simple act of accepting the gospel of Christ.

Since World War II, three major international financial institutions have facilitated (and dominated) the world?s investment in development opportunities in roads, airports and other infrastructure issues throughout Asia (and much of the world)?the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank. The leadership of these organizations has been restricted to Europeans, Americans and Japanese; China has been excluded. But China has the world?s largest foreign reserves (an estimated $4 trillion) and is quite eager to invest these reserves overseas.

Paul describes how Christ will fulfill His promise to come back for His people. Dr. Eckman discusses Biblical truth for this coming event, including details for the resurrection of the dead.

On 17 March 2015, the Presbyterian Church (USA) [PCUSA] voted to change the definition of marriage within the PCUSA constitution to include same-sex marriage. The language of the constitution was changed from ?a man and a woman? to ?two people, traditionally a man and a woman.? The PCUSA thus joins other denominations/religious associations that permit their clergy to perform same-sex marriages: the Episcopal Church, the United Church of Christ, the Quakers, and the Unitarian Universalist Association of Churches, and both Reform and Conservative Judaism.

Fifty years ago (1965), Daniel Patrick Moynihan, a sociologist, Assistant Secretary of Labor, and later one of the most important U.S. Senators of the 20th century, wrote a controversial but prescient report on the importance of the family for African-American children: The Negro Family: The Case For National Action (aka the Moynihan Report). It focused on the deep roots of black poverty in America and concluded controversially that the relative absence of nuclear families would greatly hinder further progress toward economic and political equality.

Paul gives instructions on Sanctification – conforming one’s life to the image of Christ. It is God’s will for our lives to be sanctified, and we are encouraged to develop a strategy for avoiding sin & being Holy.

Genuine, biblical Christianity is colliding with an increasingly militant secularism in western civilization. In fact, western secularism is uncomfortable with religious convictions of any kind. Christianity has always been an integral part of western civilization?but no longer. Hence, secularists tend to lump together Christianity, Islam (in all its varieties), Judaism?indeed all faiths that claim something absolute. Several bizarre developments illustrate this trend toward militant secularism, which dismisses all religious convictions

Paul sent Timothy to the Thessalonians, and Timothy brought back word of the persecution they were undergoing, and of their steadfastness in the midst of it. We are encouraged in our lives today to grow in our dependence & trust in God, and live holy lives pleasing to Him.

Two visions for the Middle East?s future are colliding, and the vital center of that collision is Iran. President Obama assumes that the current Iranian regime will choose GDP over ideology. History tells us that the West has assumed that past rogue regimes would choose national interest over ideology and religion?that ?prudent calculation and statecraft would trump megalomania? (per columnist David Brooks). This was the assumption before the summer of 1914, when World War I began. The West assumed the same with Adolf Hitler between 1936 and 1939. Currently, this is the assumption with ISIS and with the growing tension between the Sunni and Shiite extremists active in the Middle East.