Mark Haynes's Blog

Sunday, Nov. 4, is the International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church (IDOP).
Join thousands of churches across the United States and the world in prayer for our persecuted brothers and sisters.

10 Ways To Pray For Our Persecuted Christian Family

Pray our brothers and sisters will:

1. Sense God’s presence (Heb. 13:5)
2. Know we are praying for them (2 Tim. 1:3)
3. Experience God’s comfort (2 Thess. 2:16–17)
4. See God open doors to evangelism (Col. 4:3)
5. Boldly share the gospel (Acts...

We are living through perilous and polarizing times as a nation, with a dangerous crisis of moral and political leadership at the highest levels of our government and in our churches. We believe the soul of the nation and the integrity of faith are now at stake.

It is time to be followers of Jesus before anything else—nationality, political party, race, ethnicity, gender, geography—our identity in Christ precedes every other identity. We...

By Jacey Fortin
New York Times
Oct. 11, 2018

For 20 years, the ashes of Matthew Shepard have not been laid to rest.

Mr. Shepard’s killing in 1998, when he was a 21-year-old college student, led to national outrage and, almost overnight, turned him into a symbol of deadly violence against gay people.

Mourners flocked to his funeral that year in Casper, Wyo., but there were also some protesters, carr...

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness.” (Declaration of Independence) (1)

Do we? Really? Do we accept these words as truth? Do we believe these truths to be self-evident? I would argue that no, as a nation, we do not. If we believed, really, that there is a God who created us, and gave us all the same rights that cannot be...

A Facebook post by an Episcopal priest looking for input and ideas for a sermon on Saints Sergius and Bacchus commemorating their upcoming October 7th feast day got me googling. Seems many believe these mainstream martyrs were gay.

Saints Sergius and Bacchus, (died c. 303, Risafe, Syria; feast day October 7), among the earliest authenticated and most celebrated Christian martyrs, commemorated in the Eastern and Western churches.

Early martyrologies record that Sergius and Bacchus...

You may have heard about a document called the Statement on Social Justice and the Gospel, written by John MacArthur and signed by (at the time of this post) some 4500 church leaders. The statement begins:

In view of questionable sociological, psychological, and political theories presently permeating our culture and making inroads into Christ’s church, we wish to clarify certain key Christian doctrines and ethical principles prescribed in God’s Word. Clarity on these issues will fortify beli...

Admirers of President Trump saw him speak last week at an Ohio Republican Party dinner.CreditCreditGabriella Demczuk for The New York Times

Soon after the fall of the Berlin Wall, a friend of mine — an expert on international relations — made a joke: “Now that Eastern Europe is free from the alien ideology of Communism, it can return to its true historical path — fascism.” Even at the time, h...

On August 6, 1965, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act into law, prohibiting racial discrimination in voting. The 15th and 19th Amendments to the United States Constitution granted black citizens the right to vote. However, Southern registration boards used poll taxes, literacy tests, and other strategies to deny this right. Within months of the passage of the Voting Rights Act, a quarter of a million new black voters had registered. Within four years, voter registration...

O God, by whom the meek are guided in judgment, and
light riseth up in darkness for the godly: Grant us, in all
our doubts and uncertainties, the grace to ask what thou
wouldest have us to do, that the Spirit of wisdom may save
us from all false choices, and that in thy light we may see
light, and in thy straight path may not stumble; through
Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

The Book of Common Prayer

Gaslighting is a tactic in which a person or entity, in order to gain more power, makes a victim question their reality. It works much better than you may think. Anyone is susceptible to gaslighting, and it is a common technique of abusers, dictators, narcissists, and cult leaders. It is done slowly, so the victim doesn’t realize how much they’ve been brainwashed. [psychologytoday.com]