Author Archives: Marsha West

About Marsha West

Marsha West is the owner and managing editor of Christian Research Network, Apprising Ministries (the late Ken Silva’s blog) and On Solid Rock Resources. She is also co-founder of Berean Research. For two decades Marsha was the owner and managing editor of Email Brigade website as well as the EMB News Report, a bi-weekly email report for conservative people of faith. For many years Marsha was a regular contributor to several blogs including CRN, RenewAmerica, News With Views and Web Commantary as well as popular websites she no longer endorses: American Family Association, Worldview Weekend, Stand Up For The Truth, The Christian Post and Christian Headlines. Although Marsha still blogs, her primary focus is CRN. Marsha also writes Research Papers (White Papers) on various topics that are published on CRN, Berean Research and On Solid Rock Resources. Visit Marsha’s other sites: On Solid Rock Resources https://www.onsolidrockresources.com/ Apprising Ministries http://apprising.org Marsha’s RenewAmerica Column http://renewamerica.com/columns/mwest Marsha’s Facebook Page http://facebook.com/marsha.west.77

Todd Bentley sexual misconduct allegations widen to Pakistan

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“I was shown all the evidence, including recorded testimony. I also saw the letters that Stephen wrote to Rick Joyner. There is no threat, just disappointment that a leader in the body doesn’t seem to take these allegations seriously. Unlike what Rick Joyner continues to say—most of the allegations are not false. For that to be true, all of these people (about a dozen) must be lying and have no fear of God. This includes a pastor, who just this May, saw a woman in Todd’s hotel room ‘till late nights and early mornings ALONE’ and his witnessed a pattern of extreme lying. He has banned Todd from going on their mission trips.”

(Leonardo Blair – Christian Post)  Sexual misconduct allegations against Fresh Fire USA leader Todd Bentley have now snowballed to include reports from victims overseas, according to Stephen Powell, the estranged protégé of the popular and controversial faith healer, whom he dismissed in a report last Thursday as “not fit for public ministry.” Continue reading →

James Comey violated FBI policies with memos on Trump discussions, IG report says

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“[E]ven when these employees believe that their most strongly-held personal convictions might be served by an unauthorized disclosure, the FBI depends on them not to disclose sensitive information. Former Director Comey failed to live up to this responsibility, By not safeguarding sensitive information obtained during the course of his FBI employment, and by using it to create public pressure for official action, Comey set a dangerous example for the over 35,000 current FBI employees—and the many thousands more former FBI employees—who similarly have access to or knowledge of non-public information.”

(Gregg Re – Fox News)  A scathing inspector general report released Thursday said that fired FBI Director James Comey violated bureau policies by drafting, leaking and retaining memos documenting discussions with President Trump. Continue reading →

Three Reasons Why Jesus Did Not Go to Hell When He Died

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The most powerful verse that lays to rest the idea that God was not satisfied with Jesus’ death alone and required him to do more punishment in hell is found in Jesus’ own words from the cross in John 19:30 as John records the words of Jesus, “When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, ‘It is finished,’ and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.”

(Josh Buice – Delivered By Grace)  Anyone who has studied 1 Peter 3:18-22 understands that it’s a challenging passage of Scripture to exegete and teach. There are some rather difficult passages to unpack and yet, there is one specific line in that section of verses that has caused many people to embrace a false teaching about Jesus. Continue reading →

SBC President Says Stop Being a Pharisee, Pride, Materialism, Greater Sins Than Homosexuality

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“The Bible most certainly does treat homosexuality as more egregious than other sins. Homosexuality is the only sin that caused God to wipe two cities off of the face of the earth.” 

(Jeff Maples – Reformation Charlotte)  When preaching a sermon on Romans 1 in January, the Southern Baptist president, J.D. Greear said other sins were more egregious than homosexuality. It was during that sermon that he infamously quoted the female pastor from Village Church, Jen Wilkin, Continue reading →

Watch Fake Tongues on Jim Bakker’s Program

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There is no hint whatsoever that the gifting of “tongues” is nonsense gibberish gobbledegook. Charismatics turn to 1 Corinthians 13:1 which speak of the “tongues of angels,” but Paul clearly was referring to fine oration and lofty speech. We know this because we see angels quite a bit in the Scripture and they are always speaking a human language (even when they’re seen in Heaven). It turns out that angels don’t speak gobbledegook either.

(Pulpit & Pen)  Just for the sake of a discernment exercise, do you want to hear what ‘fake tongues’ sounds like? Here you go. Continue reading →

Did Jesus struggle with his gender and his sexuality? Was he tempted to same-sex attraction?

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Dani Treweek of The Gospel Coalition Australia interviewed same-sex attracted “Christian,” Ed Shaw, who’s one of the founders of Living Out Ministries. A brouhaha erupted over Shaw’s claim that Jesus “struggled” with His gender and sexuality. So TGC added a postscript to Treweeks article in an attempt to tamp down the strong reaction to what Shaw said about the Lord Jesus. According to Elizabeth Prata, in so doing TGC mishandled Scripture, specifically verses in Hebrews that say Jesus was tempted in every way. Before we get to Prata’s piece, in which she clears up the confusion, here’s the Editor’s Postscript:

In view of some strong reactions on social media to some of the material in this interview, the TGCA editorial panel would like to make clear that we are very grateful for the heroic stand of Christian leaders such as Ed Shaw who have been open and honest about their own struggles with sexuality while defending biblical standards of sexual practice. Continue reading →

Missing Elements in Our Discussions about Apostasy

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“It is rare that people apostatize all of a sudden. Rather, there will almost always have been a long trajectory away from genuine Christian faith and practice and toward distinctly unChristian faith and practice. I expect that those who knew these men well, those who saw their lives up close, could tell of a slow drift rather than a sudden deconversion.” 

(Tim Challies)  For the past few weeks, apostasy has been a trending topic among Christians. Though the discussion has been spurred by the sad news of some well-known men revoking their Christian faith, the discussion is bringing about the positive effect of engaging a crucial but neglected subject. (Apostasy refers to people falling away from previously held Christian beliefs.) Continue reading →

Michael Brown is An Apologist for the Devil

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Discernment is a gift of the Holy Spirit (1 Cor 12:10), and at every point possible, Michael Brown attacks that gift of the Third Person. Brown lamented that Bentley was publicly outed (again) as an adulterer and abuser. He wrote…”I have no comment on the most recent accusations against Todd, since I do not know what is false and what is true. But I do know this (and it applies especially to those of us in leadership): God gives us many opportunities to repent in private before allowing us to be exposed publicly.”

(Pulpit & Pen)  Michael Brown is a popular ‘Christian’ apologist who is right on some issues, but damnably wrong on others. But more than anything, Michael Brown is an apologist for the worst and most extreme occultism of hyper-charismania. If you’re paying close attention, you’ll see that Michael Brown is an apologist for the devil. Continue reading →

Seduced By Bethel Redding

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Some go to Bethel to “see God move.” Bethel’s “encounter” theology has propelled them into experiential mysticism and demonic manifestations purported to be the power of the Holy Spirit coming upon people. Bethel’s “glory cloud” and other manifestations have deceived those looking for signs and wonders to validate their beliefs, and experience some sort of touch from God. This obsession with signs and wonders has become an indispensable aspect of Bethel’s evangelism.

(Rick Becker – Famine In The Land) Jacob had his dream of angels ascending and descending a ladder to heaven at a city called Luz, which he renamed “Bethel”- meaning “house of God.” At a later stage in Israel’s history Jeroboam (first king of the northern kingdom) went off the map by ignoring God’s commands regarding worship. Jeroboam appointed his own priests, set up a golden calf at Bethel and seduced his people into idolatry…. Continue reading →

We’re Looking for the Harrisburg, PA, Pastor Born With Polio That Todd White Healed!

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“According to Todd White’s own story, it had to have happened from mid-2009 forward, when White was still working as an ice delivery man and he also had his dreadlock hairstyle.”

(Steven Kozar – Messed Up Church)  Todd White has recently appeared in a video where he tells the story of how he healed a pastor in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, of a leg that was three and a half inches too short. We want to hear from that man!

This man was the head pastor of a church in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, that taught against healing until Todd proved him wrong. Todd says that this man’s leg grew out immediately, and the pastor was forced to denounce his former disbelief in healing. Continue reading →

Bethel Church Suggests ‘LGBTQ+’ People ‘Who Feel Fulfilled and Happy As You Are’ Don’t Need to Change or Repent

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“Various photos online also show members of Bethel visiting cemeteries to try to soak up the anointing of the deceased, including the graces of John G. Lake, Smith Wigglesworth and others. While Johnson has stated that he does not endorse the practice, and Vallotton once said that he had never heard of the idea, some note that photos online show Johnson’s wife Beni laying on the tombstone of C.S. Lewis and hugging the tombstone of Charles Finney.”

(Heather Clark – Christian News Network)  Bethel Church, led by Bill Johnson, is raising new concerns after it posted to its Facebook page on Thursday that its program for those who struggle with homosexuality has never had the message of “all must change,” suggesting that those who “feel fulfilled and happy as [they] are” aren’t required by God to repent…. Continue reading →

Todd Bentley Confirms Disqualifying Accusations in Public Confession

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“Bentley claims to have been working through these sins with appropriate restoration and repeatedly invoked the name of Rick Joyner as someone who has “been calling around to leaders” for him, which sounded like Joyner was basically doing Bentley’s crisis management.”

(Pulpit & Pen)  After a former staffer came out publicly with accusations about Todd Bentley’s ‘open marriage,’ homosexuality, and sexting, the evangelist went to Facebook to confirm some of the allegations and (vaguely) denying others.

THE ACCUSATIONS

Over the last 24-48 hours, alternative Christian websites like the Bible Thumping Wingnut, Reformation Charlotte, and Pulpit & Pen have written about accusations toward Bentley on behalf of Stephen Powell, a former colleague of Bentley who claims that he was engaged in the most despicable kinds of personal immorality. Continue reading →

What we need to know from the Horowitz report

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“Republicans know the end result of the investigation, but they don’t know how it began. Yes, they know the official story of the start of what the FBI called Crossfire Hurricane — that it began with a foreign intelligence service (Australia) telling U.S. officials that Papadopoulos appeared to have foreknowledge of a Russian plan to release damaging information about Hillary Clinton. But they don’t think it’s the whole story.  That’s where Horowitz comes in.”

(Byron York – The Washington Examiner)  There will be much to learn in Inspector General Michael Horowitz’s upcoming report on the Trump-Russia investigation, but most of it will likely boil down to just two questions. One, how much did the Obama Justice Department spy on the Trump campaign? And two, was it justified? Continue reading →

Todd Bentley Accused By Colleague of Homosexual Acts and Teenage Sexual Abuse

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“…a male intern that witnessed such things, took it to Rick Joyner, and ultimately nothing was done and Todd was still allowed to go on in ministry as if everything was okay….Rick Joyner refused to help this young man with his personal restoration after the 2013 incident.”

(Jeff Maples – Reformation Charlotte) Todd Bentley is the hyper-charismatic faith healer who claims to have raised multiple people from the dead and claims he heals people, yet with zero evidence of such healings. He has been involved in sex scandals as long as he’s been known in the charismatic world, who fell from ministry and was subsequently restored by Rick Joyner. Continue reading →

Drag Queen Story Hour ‘greatest grooming program ever devised,’ counselor says

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Drag queen “Annie Christ”

“Uhler calls the push to foment confusion in the minds of children and break down their boundaries with gender-bending messages — with Drag Queen Story Hour at libraries and gender fluidity lessons at schools — a “moral e-bola virus” that is spreading rapidly through society.”

(Brandon Showalter – Christian Post)  A clinical counselor who has worked with over 4,000 serial predators is urging parents to be vigilant after a Texas library hosted a Drag Queen Story Hour for kids featuring a reader who has a criminal record. Continue reading →

The Need To Belong

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So my God put it into my heart to assemble the nobles, the officials and the common people for registration by families.  Nehemiah 7:5

It was necessary to ensure that only true Israelites lived within Jerusalem. There follows a list of names of all the families of those who came back from Persia to Jerusalem under the leadership of Ezra, some thirty years before the time of Nehemiah. These were among the ones who helped him build the wall…. Continue reading →

The Gospel Coalition Promotes a Conference Pushing the Rainbow to Tweens

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“Why are some people Same Sex Attracted?” Shaw answers, “Well I am, and God is good and God has created me to be the person that I am. I can rage against that if I want to, but it isn’t particularly constructive. What I can do is see the good God has brought out of that and how he has used it in my life and other people’s lives to help me become more like Jesus, and to help them become more like Jesus…”

(Pulpit & Pen)  Watch out Christian parents. This Gospel Coalition author wants to help your 11 year old accept being gay as “a really, really positive thing.” Continue reading →

Confronting Neopaganism in the Culture and in the Church Part 1

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“I am proposing to use two relatively neutral, descriptive terms, Oneism and Twoism, in order to avoid applying a narrow theological system that only a few of us could affirm. These terms seek to express the only two bedrock options found in Romans 1:25: either the worship and service of creation understood as closed, homogeneous system, or the worship and service by creation of the transcendent ontologically other Creator.”

(Peter Jones – The Aquila Report) We are living in a most disorienting time, especially since someone said that orientation is knowing where the East is! When I came to the States in 1964, the threat from the East was not spiritual but material—atheistic Marxism and a fear of the disappearance of religion altogether, predicted by Ludwig Feuerbach,[1] Karl Marx, and Sigmund Freud…. Continue reading →

The Crisis Of Faith We Are Seeing In Today’s Christians

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“One of the problems with the “me-centred” gospel is that it only works well as long as everything is rosy in one’s life. But as soon as the wheels fall off and you encounter significant hardship of some kind, you can easily decide that Christianity “doesn’t work”. When the self-actualising hype that is fed to people from the pulpit doesn’t align with their experience of reality, they conclude that Christianity isn’t true.” 

(Kevin Simington – My Christian Daily)  There is a crisis of faith formation in the modern church. It has produced a generation of Christians with an emotionally based faith that is ill-equipped to respond to the intellectual challenges and objections raised by an increasingly secular society…. Continue reading →

Russell Moore Speaking at Event in Conjunction With Adoption Agency That Hands Children Over to Homosexuals

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“Jonathan Merritt once served on the national board of directors for Bethany…Merritt is the gay son of former Southern Baptist President, James Merritt. Now, why wouldn’t we want to support an adoption agency with homosexuals on its board who hands children over to homosexual couples?”

(Jeff Maples – Reformation Charlotte)  We’ve been warning you for months that the gay Evangelical push for inclusion was leading down a dark path that no honest Christian in their right mind could support. A while back, we reported that The Gospel Coalition was platforming a gay Anglican priest, Sam Allberry, to push not only for homosexual inclusion in churches and church families but also for churches to back gay, single-parent adoption. Continue reading →

How to Clean Up Your School and Stop the Revolution

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“Get rid of teachers’ unions. Who’s the boss here? You are, taxpayer, and if parents get active, you can make sure the destructive, anti-child, anti-American policies of the NEA and its local affiliates don’t bleed all over your local school….After last year’s Supreme Court ruling, this once-Goliath group is much more vulnerable, and that’s our opportunity.”

(Linda Harvey – Mission: America)  The backpacks are loaded, the lunch boxes are filled.

What else will your child need this school year? Continue reading →

Why is an Affair with a Church Member ‘Clergy Sexual Misconduct?’

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I believe there’s unity on this particular issue because of my view of pastoral authority. I believe that what the Scripture has to say about the role of spiritual leaders makes it abundantly clear from the Bible that there’s no such thing as a pastor-congregant “affair.”

(Pulpit & Pen)  Tullian Tchividjian, when defending his return to the pastorate after being defrocked by his Presbytery and fired from multiple churches for both adultery and subsequent cover-ups, claimed that having sexual relations with a church member was not “abuse.” He is wrong. Continue reading →