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Featured – Side

27 Mar 2018 ARPA Canada’s efforts attracting overseas attention

Posted at 13:32h in Blog, Organizational News 0 Comments
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By Lighthouse News Rev. William den Hollander The work of ARPA Canada is starting to attract some international interest from Reformed Christians in other countries. Rev. William den Hollander is a long-time Board member with ARPA Canada. He retired from active ministry in 2012, but since then, he has served as an interim pastor at churches in New Zealand, Australia, and South Africa. And he’s found there’s a lot of interest in political engagement among Reformed Christians in those countries. In a recent interview with Lighthouse News from his temporary home in South Africa,...

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26 Mar 2018 Scripture, not state law, instructs us how to do church discipline Part 2 of 3

Posted at 18:13h in Blog, Public Theology 0 Comments
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An ARPA Three-Part series on Church and State in Canada By John Sikkema and André Schutten Two weeks ago, in the first of our three-part series, we discussed foundations. We explained that God divides human authority between at least three institutions: the family, the church, and the state. Their authority or power comes from God and is limited by Scripture. The church must defer to the state in matters of state jurisdiction but cannot defer to the state in matters of ecclesiastical jurisdiction, particularly the preaching of the gospel and the exercise...

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14 Mar 2018 Who holds the keys to the kingdom of heaven? Part 1 of 3

Posted at 15:35h in Blog, Public Theology 0 Comments
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An ARPA Three-Part series on Church and State in Canada By John Sikkema and André Schutten The back story… A few years ago, a man named Randy Wall was “disfellowshipped” from the Highwood Congregation of Jehovah Witnesses in Calgary. The elders deemed Wall “insufficiently repentant” for drunkenness and verbal abuse of his wife. Mr. Wall didn’t think this was fair. Wall was a real estate agent and about half of Wall’s customers were Witnesses. But after he was disfellowshipped, they refused to do business with him. So he took the Congregation to court,...

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14 Mar 2018 Canada Summer Jobs mandatory pro-choice attestation hits Christian charities hard

Posted at 14:12h in Abortion 0 Comments
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By Lighthouse News As Parliament prepares to vote on an Opposition motion condemning the Trudeau government’s so-called “attestation requirement” for Canada Summer Jobs program funding, evidence is mounting that the requirement is creating problems far beyond the scope of what the government claims to be its intent. The attestation requires applicants to affirm that the “core mandate” of their organization aligns with so-called “Charter Rights”, including “reproductive rights” and “the right to be free from discrimination based on… gender identity or expression.” Both Employment Minister Patty Hajdu and the Prime Minister have...

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07 Mar 2018 Children’s Aid Society can’t force Christian foster parents to affirm truth of the Easter bunny, judge rules

Posted at 14:54h in Family 0 Comments
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In a classic case of truth being stranger than fiction, an Ontario judge has ruled that it’s not okay for a government agency to force foster parents to lie to their foster children, especially if the lie involves a basic betrayal of religious views. The case, Derek and Frances Baars v. Children’s Aid Society of Hamilton, involved a couple who had two young foster children taken away from them in April of 2017 because they refused to tell the children that the Easter Bunny was real. In a 62-page ruling handed down...

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28 Feb 2018 Do hard things, young adults – work in Parliament?

Posted at 09:26h in Blog, Politics 0 Comments
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By Mark Penninga Through their popular book “Do Hard Things” and website “therebelution.com” brothers Alex and Brett Harris “are leading the charge in a growing movement of Christian young people who are rebelling against the low expectations of their culture by choosing to ‘do hard things’ for the glory of God.” Their message is timely, also for young Christians in Canada, many of whom struggle with a lack of direction in a world so full of choices and opportunities. In this seemingly-limitless world, the communion of saints ought to be giving direction to...

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23 Feb 2018 Just check the box: the growth of statism and what’s next for Canada’s Christians

Posted at 15:59h in Abortion, Blog 1 Comment
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By André Schutten   Last month I attended a particularly moving live stage production called Solitary Refinement. The play is based on true stories of persecution. It focuses on the suffering of Romanian pastor Richard Wurmbrand, imprisoned and tortured for 14 years – including two years in solitary confinement – for placing his faith in Jesus above his allegiance to the Communist government. (The play is currently on tour, and I encourage you to attend or have it come to your church. There is also a movie of Wurmbrand’s story coming out...

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07 Feb 2018 Treating peaceful pro-life persuasion as hate speech

Posted at 14:42h in Abortion, Blog, Fundamental Freedoms 0 Comments
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  by John Sikkema  A new law took effect in Ontario this month. It is now an offence, punishable by punitive fines and prison, to “attempt to advise or persuade” someone to refrain from having an abortion, or to “attempt to inform a person concerning issues related to abortion services”, or to “attempt to perform an act of disapproval [of abortion]” in any way, if the attempt is made within 50m (or up to 150m) of an abortion clinic. ‘Access zones’ can also be created around hospitals and pharmacies by regulation, up...

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10 Jan 2018 Child Services Loves Santa Claus: A Canadian Cultural Experience

Posted at 11:10h in Blog, Family 0 Comments
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by Colin Postma Magic was in the air last month – sleigh bells ringing, fires crackling, snow glistening and all that – if you believe the songs on mind-numbing repeat in every store. It’s the Canadian experience of Christmas: dragging yourself through shopping lists, falling asleep at the wheel while waiting for the traffic jams to clear out, and being jolted awake with the horrid realization you forgot to get anything good for Aunt Gertrude. Amidst all the wonder and merriment of this ‘essential Canadian cultural experience’, a case proceeded in a Hamilton...

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