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Joel Belz, a former moderator of the Presbyterian Church in America and founding father of the distinguished Evangelical information group World News Group, has died on the age of 82, following problems from Parkinson’s illness.
In a press release issued Sunday, World introduced that Belz had handed away, abandoning his spouse of 49 years, Carol Esther, in addition to 5 daughters, 16 grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren.
John Weiss, chairman of the WNG board, was quoted within the press launch as describing Belz as a “leader, a publisher, a visionary, a faithful servant of his Lord and a friend and mentor to all of us.”
“His ever-ready words of encouragement to all will be sorely missed. But we know the One in whom Joel placed his faith has now called him home to his glorious reward. For Joel the battle is over and the victory won,” acknowledged Weiss.
Belz was born in Marshalltown, Iowa, in 1941, the second of eight kids. He went on to graduate from Cono Christian School, Covenant College and the University of Iowa.
In 1977, Belz moved to Asheville, North Carolina, and started working for the theologically conservative information publication The Presbyterian Journal, ultimately changing into interim editor.
During the Eighties, whereas nonetheless with the Journal, Belz based a center college information publication referred to as It’s God’s World, later referred to as God’s World News, which might be praised by jail ministry chief Chuck Colson for its affect on a rising era of Christians.
“Almost 28 years since its founding, the staff is beginning to see a generation of young adults who’ve been raised on God’s World News. One young lady, currently a student at the University of Virginia, wrote them to say, ‘I’d always enjoyed [the publication], but now I realize that you were teaching me to think like a Christian,’” wrote Colson in 2009.
“It thrills me to hear that because my greatest worry at this point is the lack of worldview training for youngsters. When they go off to college or enter the workplace, the studies show that most of them lose their faith. So I’ve got a great idea for you for a Christmas gift for your children or grandchildren — give them a subscription to God’s World News.”
As the coed newspaper expanded its curiosity, Belz was reportedly inspired to discovered an grownup model. As a end result, in March 1986, Belz launched World journal.
Belz was lively within the PCA, recurrently attending annual conferences of the denomination, and serving as moderator for the Presbyterian physique when it held its General Assembly in 2003.
In 2005, after stepping down as chief govt officer of World, Belz continued in different capacities, such because the writing of roughly 1,000 columns, together with a 2010 piece that was not too long ago republished titled “When politics is cover for coveting.”
“We sit and stew all day and wish we were as rich as our neighbor—and at the end of the day, even if the tax law gets changed so that rich people have to pay 40 percent of their income instead of just 30 percent, the coveters end up with virtually none of that difference,” Belz wrote.
“We’ve gotten to the point that it doesn’t matter much anymore how we change things. All the taxpayers together haven’t got enough money now to change the fact that we’ve spent ourselves into oblivion. There’s not a whole lot left to covet.”
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