After almost 200 years in the Big Apple, the American Bible Society is moving to the city of Brotherly Love.
The ABS sold their New York headquarters for $300 million dollars and announced a move to the history center of Philadelphia, an area called “the most historic square mile in America.”
“We are thrilled that we will be starting a third century of service headquartered here in Philadelphia,” said American Bible Society President and CEO Roy Peterson. “Home to America’s first hopes as a new nation, Philadelphia is now home to a very bright future for American Bible Society.”
The group said the sale of the New York building was intended to provide funding for further ministry outreach.
“The 1865 Broadway property has served us well for nearly 50 years. The decision to sell the property was made to unlock the value of the site to further the mission of American Bible Society,” ministry’s Board Chairman Pieter Dearolf said earlier. “As we approach a third century of mission, we are laying the groundwork for the next 100 years of inviting people to experience the life-changing message of the Bible.”
The first president of the ABS, Elias Boudinot, was a Philadelphia native.
“Philadelphia is a place where businesses and nonprofits receive a warm reception,” Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter was quoted as saying. “On behalf of the City of Philadelphia, we’re honored to welcome American Bible Society to its new home.”
Our recent trip to Israel and New York City with Rabbi Jonathan Cahn to visit the Harbinger sites was truly one of the highlights of my life and a high point in the life of this ministry. Rabbi Cahn presented some amazing teaching in the Holy Land as well as undeniable facts about the history of our nation, how it was birthed, and now, sadly, its inevitable decline. Continue reading →
The new beacon of freedom on the New York City skyline is infested with rats.
Staff members with Conde Nast publishing…who produce upscale magazines such as Vogue and Vanity Fair…say the rat infestation has reached the point that it’s almost impossible for to continue working in the building.
“A bunch ate through the ceiling of a sports editor’s office and crawled all over his desk and left poops on his keyboard,” said a staff member. “They ate through his rug to fit under his door.”
Staffers have been prohibited from bringing food into their offices.
The problem has been getting worse since November when the company began moving into 1 World Trade Center.
“The famed accessories closet, which was being put together with the designer wares from the old office, was taking shape when the rats got into it,” a source told Gawker. “There were droppings all over the floor, and some of the shoe boxes had been chewed into.”
Sources say that the rats began their assault through the ventilation system.
“The rats appear to have gotten in via the venting, which was being worked on even as staffers were moving in,” the source said. “Walls were being moved to accommodate last-minute design changes by Anna and Condé Nast, and it’s assumed this is how the rats got in.”
New York City’s Bowery Mission spent their 135th straight Thanksgiving providing thousands of meals to the homeless of the city.
“More than 600 volunteers will prepare these meals and serve guests in the mission’s century-old chapel, with music and festive decorations for the holiday,” James Winans, chief development officer at the Bowery Mission, told The Christian Post.
The mission serves meals in two hour shifts throughout the day. The meals are traditional Thanksgiving meals with turkey, potatoes, stuffing, green beans, gravy and all the fixings.
“Pie for dessert,” Winans added with a smile.
Winans said that mission doesn’t bother with seeking someone’s “eligibility for services” or other qualifying standards for government shelters.
“We simply seek to meet their specific need, no questions asked,” he said.
The Bowery Mission was founded in 1879 and has given out almost 400,000 meals to the homeless this year.
A New York doctor who had been treating Ebola patients in Guinea has been confirmed to have contracted the virus.
Dr. Craig Spencer was rushed to isolation after reporting to the hospital with a fever on Thursday.
New York health officials are trying to calm the public after news that Dr. Spencer was seen out on the town with friends the night before the reported to the hospital, had taken a cab, visited a bowling alley and rode two subway lines.
“He did not have a stage of disease that creates a risk of contagiousness on the subway,” Dr. Mary Bassett, the city health commissioner, said. “We consider it extremely unlikely, the probability being close to nil, that there will be any problem related to his taking the subway system.”
The concern is that doctors can not say for sure that Dr. Spencer did not have a fever when he was out on the town, and if he had the fever then he could have been infectious with the virus.
At least three people have been placed into isolation because of close contact with Dr. Spencer. The subway he rode, the cab and the bowling alley are all undergoing intense sanitization.
A New York City church is offering to pay for the flights to have Meriam Ibrahim and her family leave Sudan along with providing them food and shelter.
Pastor William Devlin of Manhattan Bible Church traveled to Sudan and met with the Foreign Minister. The pastor says that he asked the Minister to intervene to allow the family to leave the country with him.
“The Devlin family has offered to bring this family back to the USA from Khartoum and have them live with us. I have been interviewed by the U.S. State Department in Washington D.C. and I have also met for three hours with the U.S. Ambassador to Sudan here in Khartoum – and his senior staff,” Devlin said in an email to The Christian Post on Sunday. “I, along with another brother in the Lord, were able to go to the Safe House where this persecuted family is currently living in Khartoum and minister to them for over an hour.”
The family is reportedly in good health despite the Sudanese government’s continued actions in keeping Ibrahim from leaving the country. The family is still waiting for the results of an ultrasound to see if newborn Maya will be able to walk after complications with her birth.
A researcher with the Family Research Council says that euthanasia is going to be an issue that the pro-life movement in the United States needs to be prepared to fight.
Arina Grossu of the FRC’s Center for Human Diginity told the Christian Post that euthanasia both at home and around the world is something that is a matter of life and that it should get more attention.
“In the pro-life movement, we’re for all human life from conception to natural death. And so we need to cover that, and especially because I think it is an up-and-coming fight for us,” Grossu said. “I think that as more cases come out where parents are trying to kill their children, or the elderly or the disabled, and we see the shortage in federal funds for healthcare, we are going to see the effect of this. And we’re going to step in. But I am hoping that people will take a proactive stance instead of a defensive stance on the issue.”
Grossu noted that in Oregon, their report for assisted suicides each year cannot guarantee that all of the assisted suicide deaths were voluntary.
She also noted that around the world, euthanasia is increasing. In February, Belgium passed a law that allows the assisted suicides of terminally ill children.
A group of New York City pastors is banding together to get the policy banning churches from using public schools for worship services reversed despite a court saying schools had the right to ban Christians from their buildings.
Pastor William Devlin told the Christian post that he was optimistic the policy would be reversed and surprised many by saying the far-left mayor of the city was on their side.
“Pastors across New York City are very encouraged about recent developments on the right to worship. We know that Mayor de Blasio is with us 100 percent and any day we will hear that he has reversed the draconian and discriminatory Department of Education policy … we have his word,” Devlin told the Post.
An appeals court in New York City ruled in favor of the Board of Education in their battle against churches holding worship services in school building after school hours.
According to the Wall Street Journal, Mayor Bill DeBlasio said “I believe that a faith-based organization has a right like anyone else … to use that space.”
The ruling against churches is being appealed to the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals.
Five children under 16 have been arrested by the NYPD after a mugging spree in New York’s Central Park.
The five children, including a 12-year-old and 13-year-old, are facing charges of robbery, assault and attempted assault.
The gang attacked a 31-year-old man on Monday morning, beating him with a stick and punching him in the face when he refused to give them all the money in his wallet. The group then attacked two female joggers and stole their iPhones and iPods.
The only suspect named by police was 16-year-old Angel Munoz. Police say that Munoz and one of the 14-year-old assailants turned themselves in to police after discovering they were the subject of a manhunt.
The victims then identified the other suspects from lineups conducted at an NYPD precinct.
A New York City megachurch pastor is calling for immediate action against what she calls an “alarming trend” for increased abortions among the African American community.
Rev. Elaine Flake said that people of faith in the African American community have a responsibility to step in and stem the tide after a report showing over half the black women in New York City aborted their babies in 2012.
“I saw that article about a month ago, someone forwarded it to me via email and I was devastated,” Flake told The Christian Post. “I thought those statistics were just outrageous, and wondered if they were true. But if they are, it’s something that I think we have to deal with as a church. As the African American community we have to educate our people a little bit better. I think we just have to be determined that we’re going to deal with some of these issues.”
Flake suggested that as a whole young women are not being taught the value of life and family and perhaps the media is partially to blame for promoting a lifestyle that devalues human life.
“I could never counsel anyone to have an abortion. I could never do that. And I think that when people are making choices, I think they would know my position on that. Again, I think it goes back to the problem of our children especially becoming sexually active so young. … It just seems to be the way the culture’s going. I think that because it is going that way we are seeing these kinds of statistics,” Flake said.
