Max McLean, founder of Fellowship for Performing Arts, has spent the last two decades building a reputation as one of the leading voices in Christian theater. His latest work, “C.S. Lewis On Stage: Further Up & Further In,” now available on DVD and streaming, continues his mission of bringing C.S. Lewis’ life and ideas to a broad audience.

An award-nominated actor, McLean has been compared to Dallas Jenkins, the creator of “The Chosen,” and the Kendrick Brothers, largely credited for putting quality Christian films on the map. But his medium is theater — a space where few Christians have historically had a strong presence, especially in New York City.

“We’re in the theater niche,” McLean told The Christian Post in a sit-down interview. “What’s important to me is the content — and for the past 20 years, that content has mostly focused on C.S. Lewis.”

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U.S. President Donald Trump’s approval ratings are significantly higher among Christians than among the religiously unaffiliated, according to a poll by Pew Research released to coincide with Trump’s first 100 days in office.

Trump’s approval rating continues to be highest among white evangelical Protestants, while Catholics are almost split at 42%, according to the poll.

Across the board, Christians gave Trump a higher approval rating than nonaffiliated Americans by more than 20 percentage points (48% versus 26%, respectively).

The approval rating for President Donald Trump among Christians is also 8 points higher than among U.S. adults overall.

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St. Catherine, who corrected a pope, pray for us that we may have your boldness to collectively pick a good pope. May our prayers join with yours in this time of need as the cardinals discern their paths. Please God make haste to help us.

The resignations come as [Assistant AG Harmeet] Dhillon and Attorney General Pam Bondi have made clear the priorities of the division -- which was established in the wake of the Civil Rights movement in the 1950s -- would shift away from priorities like enforcing voting rights laws and cracking down on unconstitutional policing to culture war issues touted by President Trump in his 2024 campaign.

In recent weeks, the department has said it would pursue legal action against states that permit transgender athletes to participate in girls' and women's sports, withdrawn from a Biden-era lawsuit against Georgia's voting laws and convened a task force to investigate incidents of "anti-Christian bias."

"We don't want people in the federal government who feel like it's their pet project to go persecute, you know, police departments based on statistical evidence or persecute people praying outside abortion facilities instead of doing violence," Dhillon said.

Tennessee has become the latest state to enshrine conscience rights for medical professionals into law.

Tennessee’s Republican Gov. Bill Lee signed Senate Bill 955 into law Thursday. Lee’s approval of the bill follows its passage by the Republican-controlled Tennessee Senate in a 27-3 vote and the Republican-controlled Tennessee House of Representatives in a 71-22 vote. The votes in both chambers fell along party lines, with all Republicans supporting the legislation and all Democrats opposing it.

Also known as the Medical Ethics Defense Act, Senate Bill 955 declares that “a healthcare provider must not be required to participate in or pay for a healthcare procedure, treatment, or service that violates the conscience of the healthcare provider.” The term “healthcare provider” applies to healthcare institutions, health insurance companies and healthcare professionals, while the term “conscience” is defined as “the sincerely held ethical, moral, or religious beliefs or principles held by a healthcare provider.”

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THE COLLEGE OF CARDINALS REPORT​

WHO THEY ARE.
WHERE THEY STAND.


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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky admitted during an interview with Daily Wire co-founder Ben Shapiro that Ukraine has cracked down on some Christian leaders and churches that his government believes to have ties with Russia but denied the allegation that Ukraine is suppressing religious freedom.

The conservative commentator questioned Zelensky about reports that Ukraine is persecuting Russian Orthodox Christians during a recent interview in Kyiv. The interview follows three years of war after Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022.

"There have been a lot of accusations that there's been a crackdown on religious freedom in Ukraine, particularly with regard to the Russian Orthodox Church," Shapiro said, asking Zelensky to address the allegations that Ukraine is restricting religious freedom and shutting down churches of the Russian Orthodox in Ukraine.

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I've been looking into a writer. He was a Russian Greek / Armenian mystic called Gurdjieff. His ideas were then developed and published by one of his followers called P.D. Ouspensky. I'm just sort of trying to examine it to see what its about without getting into it.

Can anyone help me with these writers, are they occultists? What was their relationship if any with Christianity?

Gurdjieff differentiates his system from other Eastern ways of self-development that he studied during his travels in the East. He said there are three ways of development traditionally understood in Eastern Religion - the way of the Fakir (physical), the Monk (emotions) and the Yogi (mind). But each demand complete seclusion from the world. His system (called by various names eg. the Work, the Fourth Way etc.) he claimed can be applied within in the midst of ordinary life.

I haven't looked into it beyond reading a bit about it on Wikipedia.

But as to my original question, there are many writers more clearly within the Christian Faith, who write and speak on spiritual formation and there is the christian mystical tradition too. And then there are the self-help books and the various new age books.

With Gurdjieff he says we are only half awake, so he was obviously trying to awaken people more fully by his system of thought. But I don't think this necessarily corresponds to what christians would mean by a spiritual awakening.

Now years ago, I was exploring some of these spiritual paths, including some christian writers and i had an absolutely awful experience that I am not sure how to describe- whether it was what some call a "kundalini awakening" I don't know, but it was some sort of spiritual crisis or emergency. I don't want that to happen again.

Six months ago, the Liberals were headed for a solid defeat by the Conservatives. And then came Trump whose policies became the number 1 issue, propelling the Liberal Party to a stunning victory.

Hi everyone, I would greatly appreciate your prayers- I currently live in an apartment building in Middletown, Pennsylvania called Essex House. When I first arrived here I found that the building was infested with spirits, it was so evil there were demons walking around in here, I could feel it. However over the course of about 3 months I was able to cast most if not all of the spirits out of here and now things are nice and peaceful, but there does seem to be a few spirits left in here, also there are 5 floors to the building and I go down the stairwell to each floor every morning and pray through each floor praying for the tenants and also praying in tongues. There is perfect peace on my floor (floor 5) but there is still an evil presence on floors 2 and 3, they need to go in the name of Jesus! Please agree with me in prayer for floors 2 and 3 and the building! Thank you!

Lord God we agree right now for this apartment building Essex House for Your intervention in the situation here! We pray that all remaining evil spirits and any evil presence left in the building would go right now in the name of Jesus! We also pray that any evil presence on floors 2 and 3 would also go right now in the name of Jesus! We break all evil spirits in this building in the name of Jesus! We rebuke all evil spirits in Essex House, we bind them, and we cast them out in the name of Jesus! All evil spirits in Essex House GET OUT in the name of Jesus! Lord we also agree right now for the tenants in this building for their salvation and good health, we pray that salvation would come to every household in this building! Thank You God!

How does God express his views in a democratic nation?

Is poverty and a bad economy a sign from heaven that God is displeased with a nation?

Hello,

I pray. I haven't read the bible properly in a bit, maybe verses here and there. I haven't been to church in a bit.
I am autistic. I see a mental health nurse and counsellor. I am in meds for depression and low mood.
I like walks, meeting up with friends, puzzles, learning violin.

Robert Reich speaking truth.

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Pray that Canada's Liberal party who won today's elections somehow miraculously respects & favors Christian concerns in the culture war:

The emergency waiver issued by the EPA prevents retailers in most states from having to stop selling E15 gasoline on May 1. While the waiver remains in effect only through May 20, EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin signaled that he plans to keep issuing waivers through Sept. 15, the date when the federal government typically would allow E15 sales in all states again.

Most gasoline sold across the U.S. is blended with 10% ethanol, but 15% blends are becoming increasingly common, particularly in the Midwest, where most of the nation's corn is grown. ... EPA had previously prohibited its sale during the summer over concerns that its use during the summer driving season could increase smog.

...ethanol consumes about 40% of the nation's corn crop

Zack Pistora, Kansas lobbyist for the Sierra Club, said ethanol plants also use high amounts of water, and states like Kansas are worried about the depletion of aquifers. He said it's “hypocritical” to portray ethanol as environmentally friendly and said the Trump administration should promote renewable energy, electric vehicles, public transportation and sustainable agriculture.

See also the rare unanimity regarding Biden's waivers:

We all know about the Woke left in the West. This is for sure an enemy of Christendom. But there is also this overreaction on the right that is just as ugly.

With anti-semitism taking off, hand in hand with Christian Nationalism, there are even talks about Deus Vult and such. This is bad news, and it comes from the far right.

So that leaves me in a precarious position. I am not left enough for the woke mob and not right enough for the fascists.

I believe this is the Christian position.

It is written,

James 1:27
"Pure and undefiled religion before God the Father is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself unstained from the world."

and,

2 Timothy 4:1-4
"I solemnly charge you before God and Christ Jesus, who is going to judge the living and the dead, and because of his appearing and his kingdom: Preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; correct, rebuke, and encourage with great patience and teaching. For the time will come when people will not tolerate sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, will multiply teachers for themselves because they have an itch to hear what they want to hear. They will turn away from hearing the truth and will turn aside to myths."

We must correct against the lies of the evil one. We have never been more divided. And Satan comes to divide and conquer. Yes, there is good being done by president Trump, but some ugly stuff is coming out as well. Stuff like laughing at the tears of liberals because Trump won. Public Christian figures are saying stuff like this. They are more concerned with their right-wing propaganda than they are with true orthodox Christianity.

I read this article one time that was very helpful for me to understand the purpose of government.


I think both the far left and the far right are prone to error. Something is certainly changing in our culture. We are becoming more extreme in our views. This is, no doubt, due to social media algorithms, which constantly try to expose you to more extreme views. We must, as Christians, strike a balance between these two evils. The Bible is not right-wing and it is not left-wing. We have to let the Bible speak for itself. The Bible is its own thing.

Hi everyone. I am having a really difficult time and was hoping for help. I have had a really severe case of OCD my entire life. I recently had knee replacement surgery and about a week later the fears started hitting and I have got severe panic. I have the fear of having caused harm form of OCD and false memory type. I don't know how to think about it. I feel like I won't get well. I've been begging Jesus to come get me.

In 1Thessalonians4 verse 6 it states 'The Lord will punish all those who commit such sins' therefore as a Christian would it mean that there would be no forgivenes if he/she got mixed up in sexual immorality?

It's already passed the TX Senate and it's moving through the House. Supporters say police just can't do their jobs without being able to kill. Some critics say that it'll let police kill more. Other critics say that removing culpability for this specific crime will motivate prosecutors to charge them with more serious crimes.

Here's a story with bodycam footage of the case mentioned at the beginning of the article. Anybody with half a brain can look at that and see how the police could have handled that better.
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I don't know about you, but when I saw people like Candace Owens saying, "Christ is King," I knew something was up. We had our inclinations that this phrase has been used in an anti-semitic way for years, but now it is literally smacking us in the face.

Please don't use the phrase "Christ is King." It is a true statement, yes, but it carries with it a lot of baggage. It's somewhat lumped together with Christians Nationalism which has some baggage of it's own. But "Christ is King" has been used in overt ways as anti-semitic language.

Here is one example.



So, I say, chose this day who you will serve. Will you be a Biblical Christian and realize Jesus was a Jew? Or will you fall to the dark side and keep saying "Christ is King"?



I realize this is controversial, but at some point a line needs to be drawn and I think this is the time the line needs to be drawn.

However, reports of Columbus Day's demise, like that of Christmas, may be exaggerated.

The federal holiday, the second Monday in October, was still known as Columbus Day during Biden’s term, but also as Indigenous Peoples Day.

"Good luck to the Great people of Canada. Elect the man who has the strength and wisdom to cut your taxes in half, increase your military power, for free, to the highest level in the World, have your Car, Steel, Aluminum, Lumber, Energy, and all other businesses, QUADRUPLE in size, WITH ZERO TARIFFS OR TAXES, if Canada becomes the cherished 51st. State of the United States of America. No more artificially drawn line from many years ago. Look how beautiful this land mass would be. Free access with NO BORDER. ALL POSITIVES WITH NO NEGATIVES. IT WAS MEANT TO BE! America can no longer subsidize Canada with the Hundreds of Billions of Dollars a year that we have been spending in the past. It makes no sense unless Canada is a State!"
April 28, 2025

Trump certainly is consistent.

Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump)

as I was out in the garden today I just.. think about how I just don't feel like I was meant for heaven.
all the grandiose, all the jewels and gold, all the big choirs singing praise and harps of gold and glory glory glory glory ...
to me that's just all disappointing and meh.
I know this is going to come across really wrong but.. when I hear "glory" I think "ego stroking" I think trumping things up. I think tacky. I think obsequious displays. I think of a fat king lounging on a golden throne adorned in jewels basking in obsequious worship displays while being fanned and fed grapes. A stereotype. A stereotype that I hate.
But other people love that sort of thing. Other Christians especially.

to me a garden has more appeal than a temple
a beach more appeal than a palace
a mountain more appeal than a throne
birdsong more beautiful than any choir to my ears
a sunset more beautiful than any gold
the stars more beautiful than any jewels

It makes me long for Eden, not heaven, and I never get better at that.

so I get depressed when I think of our end point being .. palaces, thrones, jewels, gold, obsequious praise and worship and grandiose displays, no night sky, no seas, no mountains just flat plains for grazing. Like the God who created Earth and Eden .. just decided He cares more about temples and thrones and palaces and Jewels than His initial very good creation. Imagine loving the God who created Earth and Eden, but He seems like He changed over time to being someone else who is harder to love and became someone you can't relate to anymore. Imagine everyone else also being unrelatable because they relate to all the palaces and gold and glory, and you just.. can't.

It feels isolating. I can be in the middle of a church, in the middle of a party, in the middle of a crowd.. and feel so totally alone and isolated. Like I don't even "get" my creator, because He wants things that I can't find desirable.

am I truly the only one who finds glory "meh"?

A blackout brought much of Spain and Portugal to a standstill Monday, halting subway trains, cutting phone service, and shutting down traffic lights and ATM machines for the 50 million people who live across the Iberian Peninsula. Spanish power distributor Red Eléctrica said restoring power to large parts of the country and neighboring Portugal will take hours, reports the AP. The company declined to speculate on the causes of the huge blackout. The Portuguese National Cybersecurity Center issued a statement saying there was no sign the outage was due to a cyberattack. Eduardo Prieto, head of operations at Red Eléctrica, told journalists it was unprecedented, calling the event "exceptional and extraordinary."

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