President of CRI, Hank Hanegraaff, reviews “Heaven is for Real”, the best-selling book that was recently made into a feature film. He offers ten reasons why both the book and film is a dangerous diversion. According to Hank:

There is nothing new under the sun. From the time occult parapsychologist Raymond Moody coined the moniker “Near-Death Experience” (NDE) to the present, bestsellers on NDEs have abounded—Embraced by the Light by Betty Eadie; Beyond Death’s Door by Maurice Rawlings; Life after Life by Raymond Moody; The Boy Who Came Back from Heaven by Alex Malarkey; 90 Minutes in Heaven by Don Piper; My Journey to Heaven by Marvin J. Besteman; Proof of Heaven: A Neurosurgeon’s Journey into the Afterlife by Eben Alexander—to name just a few.

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In part 2 of her piece on the World Vision fiasco, Marsha West examines whether or not World Vision is truly a Christian organization as they claim.

I previously wrote about the controversy swirling around the so-called Christian organization World Vision. For those who are unaware of what occurred on March 24, WV announced that they had plans to hire “married” homosexuals.

The backlash was fast and furious. Christian leaders, Roman Catholics, the pro-family movement and others in the faith community made it abundantly clear that they opposed WV’s decision to hire people in counterfeit marriages on the grounds that the Bible teaches that homosexuality’s a sin. It’s no secret that Bible-believers hold to the teaching that God established the marriage sacrament for the purpose of bringing Him glory; thus marriage other than that which He designed does not bring glory and honor to Him. One would assume that WV’s president and board members had an understanding of what the Bible teaches on marriage – but maybe not.

They learn fast, though. The board noticed a storm brewing when donors began to withdraw their financial support and they quickly changed course. The public’s reaction was so strong that they reversed their decision faster than greased lightning.

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World Net Daily is reporting that Vision Forum’s former president, Doug Phillips, has been named in a lawsuit by Lourdes Torres, a young woman who worked as a nanny for the Phillips’ family beginning at the age of 15. Torres has filed a lawsuit against her former employer, alleging that Phillips committed “inappropriate, unwanted, and immoral sexual acts” against her while she worked and lived in the Phillips’ home and tended to his children. View article →

A couple of years ago, I innocently posted an illustration on my Facebook wall which to me at that time, illustrated what I thought was a biblical concept of submission in the home. Shortly after posting it, I began receiving information that this illustration had originated with a man named Bill Gothard, and who was a very influential figure, if not the most influential figure, in the hyper-patriarchal homeschooling movement I had just begun to research. View article →

For those who don’t know what the blood moon chatter is all about, or have maybe heard something about it but don’t know what it is, writer John Hagee has recently published a book which purports to have scientific evidence that there will be four lunar events which Hagee claims are known biblically (and prophetically) as “blood moons.” These blood moons, Hagee claims, herald the beginning of the End Times. This teaching has inexplicably gone viral, with USA Today picking up this story, and #FourBloodMoons becoming one of the hottest trending topics on Twitter and Facebook. Even I got on Twitter and posted about it, and I never get on Twitter! View article →

“Strive to enter through the narrow door. For many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able. When once the master of the house has risen and shut the door, and you begin to stand outside and to knock at the door, saying, ‘Lord, open to us,’ then he will answer you, ‘I do not know where you come from.’ Then you will begin to say, ‘We ate and drank in your presence, and you taught in our streets.’ But he will say, ‘I tell you, I do not know where you come from. Depart from me, all you workers of evil!’ In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God but you yourselves cast out. And people will come from east and west, and from north and south, and recline at table in the kingdom of God. And behold, some are last who will be first, and some are first who will be last.” Luke 13:24–30, ESV

Many who believe they are Christians are not. They have a form of righteousness, but it is not the righteousness born from above. It is self-righteousness. One group that contended with John the Baptist, our Lord Jesus Christ and His disciples, was the Pharisees. Who hasn’t heard believers accusing other believers of being Pharisees? These accusations are usually thrown at people who are stricter than the accuser in their judgments of saved and lost. The Liberal calls a person who judges on the basis of regeneration as the only evidence of saving faith as being a Pharisee. The mainstream church-goer calls all fundamentalists Pharisees. The antinomian calls those who preach Lordship salvation Pharisees.

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You’ll find the details concerning the need here. View article →

Two nights ago, the phone rang at 10:30. Not the latest we’ve ever gotten a phone call, but definitely later than most calls. As I picked it up, I turned to my husband and half jokingly said, “I hope this isn’t bad news.” But it was. My sister was on the other end, weeping. She told me that the young husband of a friend of ours had unexpectedly passed away due to complications from diabetes. The husband’s name was Toby, and he was only 36 years old. Toby’s wife, Amanda, was now a widow with four young children. View article →

Apprising Ministries takes a look at why Mahaney’s noticeable presence is a bit surprising. View article →

Marsha West probes for answers to some of the questions World Vision supporters have been asking since the organization shocked the Christian community by announcing its plan to help advance the gay agenda:

The dust has settled a bit since Christian humanitarian aid organization World Vision’s March 24 announcement that it would hire gay couples who are legally married in the state in which they reside. Since “World Vision-gate” remains a hot topic, it’s time for some introspection; likewise to do some digging to find out if WV truly is a Christian organization, as it claims.

When WV announced its decision to hire gay people, not surprisingly Bible believing Christians found the decision unsettling. Clearly, WV’s Board of Directors chose to ignore the plain teaching of Scripture regarding homosexuality. As a result, a large number of believers, including some high-profile evangelical leaders, took to the blogosphere in protest and thousands stormed WV’s website. Board members hadn’t counted on the huge uproar their unbiblical decision would cause. Certainly they expected WV’s financial support to take a minor hit from unhappy sponsors. But evidently no one anticipated just how big the hit would be. According to one source, 10,000 sponsors pulled out.

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Apprising Ministries has the details and shares why this is a natural fit because Bell has far more in common with Oprah’s New Age mysticism than he does the Christian Gospel. View article →

Apprising Ministries brings you up to speed on issues surrounding Driscoll and his “repentance.” View article →

Word Faith heretic Benny Hinn appears to think so; and as you’ll see over at Apprising Ministries, the answer to this question actually appears to be, sort of. View article →

In a 2007, Richard Stearns, president of World Vision, was interviewed and responded to the question “Are you trying to end poverty or evangelize Christianity?” by saying “As a Christian organization, we are motivated by our commitment to Christ to love our neighbors and care for the less fortunate … We don’t proselytize.’ View article →

World Vision recently announced that, going forward, they will be hiring professing Christians who are in “legal same-sex marriage(s).” At the same time, World Vision confusingly claimed they are not endorsing same sex marriage via an in-house letter to their staff. All this got us to wondering about what the real issue is here. Could it be that the visible church of today is slowly apostasizing, and yet assuaging its collective conscience with the salve of legality? View article →

I offer further commentary on this very important story over at Apprising Ministries and offer that younger evangelicals are already turning from sola Scriptura and share the position of Richard Stearns, president of World Vision. View article →

Richard Stearns, U.S. President of World Vision, announced today that the organization would reverse its previous policy of requiring their employees to abide by marriage as defined in God’s word as one man and one woman, and would begin hiring professing Christians who were in legal same-sex unions. View article →

Apprising Ministries shares this interesting video clip where MacDonald informs us he has “various common ministry interests” with TBN’s new head Matt Crouch. View article →

Important commentary concerning this popular prophet-pastor at Apprising Ministries ahead of some salient insight today by Marvin Olasky of World News Group. View article →

In a recent interview, Phil Johnson of Grace To You spoke up about the recent open letter of apology penned by celebrity pastor Mark Driscoll in the wake of the latest scandal to rock the Mars Hill empire. View article →

Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them. Ephesians 5:11

Not surprisingly, the movie “Son of God” has created quite a stir in the Christian community. Before I gave the theater my money I read several reviews, blog posts, Facebook comments and viewed TV interviews of husband and wife team Mark Burnett and Roma Downey promoting their film. Roma is a familiar face to many and is best-known for her role on the successful TV show “Touched by An Angel.” Mark Burnett is the executive producer of a string of hit TV shows such as “Survivor,” “The Voice, “Celebrity Apprentice,” “Shark Tank,” and he has won several Emmys.

When I first heard that another full-length feature film about the life of Christ was coming to the silver screen, I was skeptical for several reasons. First, Mark and Roma are Catholic and I was concerned that the movie would be produced from this perspective; a perspective that in many cases I disagree with.

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Eric Holmberg – Christian Apologist, Filmmaker, Writer, Reformer – writes:

Doublethink means the power of holding two contradictory beliefs in one’s mind simultaneously, and accepting both of them. George Orwell, 1984

In Orwell’s classic dystopian novel, the fascist government of Oceania and its enigmatic dictator Big Brother attempt to brainwash the masses to accept non sequiturs like “war is peace” and “ignorance is strength.” But in the real world such paradoxical memes inevitably lead to mindlessness – or madness – or are forced to eventually give way to the constraints of cognitive dissonance: the psychological stress that results from holding conflicting ideas or values simultaneously. Hundreds of peer-reviewed studies have shown that people are profoundly motivated, consciously or subconsciously, to achieve consonance – to reduce this conflict or dissonance – by eliminating or at least suppressing one of the conflicting ideas.

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Tami Jackson, writing on The Black Sphere:

The assault on our national character took a giant offensive drive with Roe v. Wade: SCOTUS, with no reliance on precedence or sound jurisprudence, ruled that a woman’s convenience out-weighed the right to life of her unborn child.

With one careless ruling, America commenced aborting babies.

Far from the Leftists’ mantra, “Safe and Rare,” abortions were not safe to mother nor child, and were less and less rare. Over 56 million unborn children “terminated” since 1973 is not rare: that is an infanticide of Hitlerian proportions.

Each year since 1973 has brought new, grisly abortion methods and later term procedures.

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A quick update of the ongoing trials affecting Apprising Ministries. View article →

Bill Gothard, founder of the Institute in Basic Living Principles (IBLP), has resigned amid abuse allegations. Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar, of the popular 19 Kids and Counting television show, adhere to the IBLP principles and are slated to speak at several upcoming IBLP conferences in 2014. View article →