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

The Left Will Make 2019 a Dark Year

“The Democratic Party and the media will do to American political life what it has done to the arts; the universities; the high schools; the Boy Scouts; race relations; religion; the happiness of so many women (misled by feminism regarding marriage and career); the moral fabric of American life (morality reduced to feelings); late-night television; mainstream Judaism, Catholicism and Protestantism; pro football; and the sexual innocence of the young: It will poison it.”

I rarely make predictions — whether of election results or anything else. My policy has always been to say what I believe should be done, not what will be done. Continue reading

Russell Moore Takes Pelosi’s Side, Urges Trump to Give Away Your Taxes to Foreign Countries Amidst Shutdown

“Most of the other signers are of the same Soros-funded and Soros-created group, Evangelical Immigration Table, of which Moore, Anderson, and Rodriguez are all members. And now, they’re pressuring the President to end the shutdown, even if it means funding the abortion provision bill by House Democrats.”

(JD Hall – Pulpit & Pen)  President Donald J. Trump is resisting pressure to sign a Democrat-led House bill that would end the government shut-down but wouldn’t fund the border wall and would instead use tax dollars to fund abortions overseas. Russell Moore has recently joined with 24 other “faith leaders” to urge the president to not cut foreign welfare no matter what. Continue reading

Chronic Pain and the Ministry

It is to this hope I seek to point God’s people. No, it doesn’t take away the pain usually. However, It is not a trite answer that does nothing. It is, in fact, the hope of every Christian: to see Christ, to be with Christ, and to be made like him in every respect (1 John 3:2)… So that is how I minister though I, too, suffer. I minister by pointing them to the exalted Minister who knows my agony yet conquered the reason of my anguish.

(William Hill – The Aquila Report)  When I was halfway through seminary, I was diagnosed with a neurological issue that affects my spinal cord. It was a long, drawn-out situation that left many doctors confused and unable to offer much help. The illness results in numerous problems: numbness in my limbs, pain shooting through my head and back, disorientation and dizziness and the constant feeling that I am going to collapse. It is a frustrating issue. In God’s providence, I managed to get through seminary though I struggled immensely for over two and a half years. I still struggle today, and my circumstances have escalated. Continue reading

Federal Court Sides With Trump Admin’s Transgender Military Ban

Prior to his resignation, Defense Secretary James Mattis said he is “prepared to defend” the ban, concluding that troops diagnosed with gender dysphoria carry “impacts of healthcare costs, readiness, and unit cohesion,” and as such present “considerable risk to military effectiveness and lethality.”

(Paul Bois – Daily Wire)  The Trump administration’s ban on transgenders serving in the U.S. military got a major boost on Friday when a federal appeals court ruled that the ban should not have been blocked by a lower court. Continue reading

A New Years Thank You Note From The Evangelical Industrial Complex

What is the Evangelical Industrial Complex (EIC)? Some Christians believe that a powerful evangelical “celebrity machine” exists in the visible Church. What exaclty is the EIC?  According to dictionaryofchristianese.com: Major publishers of Christian books, music, and other media as alleged to be secretly, if informally, in league to promote and support selected high-profile Christian pastors, preachers, authors, and musicians in order to continue to make money from sales of books and other media products. Such promotion and support is alleged to be behind the downplaying or eliminating of any criticism or scandal that touches these high-profile Christian leaders.

Over at Messed Up Church, blogger Steven Kozar has penned a thank you note from the EIC — it’s satire:  Continue reading

Actually, 2018 Was a Pretty Good Year

“For all the pro- and anti-Trump invective and media hysteria, the Brett Kavanaugh confirmation circus, and the bitter midterm elections, the U.S. was relatively calm in 2018 compared with the rest of the world. There was none of the mass rioting, demonstrations, and street violence that occurred recently in France, and none of the existential and unsolvable divides over globalization and Brexit that we saw in Europe.”

(Victor Davis Hanson – National Review)  The year 2018 will be deplored by pundits as a bad year of more unpredictable Donald Trump, headlined by wild stock-market gyrations, the melodramas of the Robert Mueller investigation, and the musical-chair tenures of officials in the Trump administration. Continue reading

‘Jesus Never Told Caesar How to Run Rome’: Jerry Falwell Jr. Says Bible Not Meant for Public Policy

“If you reject the idea that God’s law has anything to do with human civil government, then you have no standard whatsoever by which human civil government can establish justice in the earth.  When Jesus said, ‘Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s,’ He didn’t say that Caesar can make up any law he wants—that Caesar could say, ‘Let’s go murder babies,’ and that’s fine with God. No, no, no.”

(Heather Clark – Christian News Network)  During a recent interview with The Washington Post, Jerry Falwell Jr, the president of Liberty University, which hails itself as the world’s largest Christian university, said that he doesn’t believe that public policy should be based on the Bible, and agreed that the government should be “free of religious association.” Continue reading

Trump Spats With Pope Over Immigration and Utterly Smacks Him Down

The Pope has thus far ignored Trump’s recent comments. He is in the Vatican, behind its walls, currently dealing with the massive Roman Catholic sex abuse scandals throughout the world.

(JD Hall – Pulpit & Pen)  The President of the United States is feuding with the Bishop of Rome, and Trump just had a ‘drop the mic’ moment with the pontiff.

On one side of this dispute is Donald J. Trump, who took an oath to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States of America. On the other side is Pope Francis, a Argentinian Jesuit who was thoroughly indoctrinated by South American liberation theologians. Trump wants to protect America, and the Pope wants to unite the world globally under the banner of Rome. Continue reading

Living the Christian life in 2019

“…some live as if the price they were bought with wasn’t a major sacrifice. Do you know what the Bible says about Christians who live in the flesh and think they are saved?”

(Clint Archer – The Cripplegate)  The first time I went snowboarding was also only the second time I had ever seen snow. I was truly excited. The invitation to go was easy to accept and sourcing some equipment proved easy enough. The atmosphere among friends was electric. Even the lessons in the basic technique seemed straightforward enough; I’d dabbled in skateboarding in a former life. Continue reading

A reckoning is underway in US Catholic Church

Cardinal Donald Wuerl resigned after being accused of mishandling allegations of abuse against priests. Photo credit Flickr

“In the 16 years between the Boston scandal and the Pennsylvania investigation, only about 30 dioceses around the country had released lists of priests they deemed credibly accused of abuse. Most of those dioceses came clean because they were forced to do so by lawsuits or bankruptcy filings. Some dioceses declined to name any deceased priests, since they could not defend themselves, and some would not identify any clergy members at all.”

(Claudia Lauer – AP)  Over the past four months, Roman Catholic dioceses across the U.S. have released the names of more than 1,000 priests and others accused of sexually abusing children in an unprecedented public reckoning spurred at least in part by a shocking grand jury investigation in Pennsylvania, an Associated Press review has found. Continue reading

Leading Cause of Death in 2018 Surpasses Cancer, Addiction — and It’s Not Even Close

“The 41.9 million figure comes from abortion statistics published by the World Health Organization. In 2018, 23 percent of all pregnancies ended in abortion, Breitbart reports, adding that for every 33 live births, 10 children were aborted.”

(Carly Hoilman – Faithwire)  Nearly 42 million human beings were aborted last year, according to Worldometers. Statistics from the independent data collecting site show abortion to be the leading cause of death in 2018, dwarfing other prominent killers like cancer, AIDS, car accidents and suicide, Life News reported. Continue reading

New York City’s ‘Gender Neutral’ Birth Certificate Option Goes Into Effect

The ability to change that mark, to change that F to an X as a way of eschewing the binary systems of male and female, and man and woman, is an essential step towards the breaking down of binary ideological systems, created in order to justify and uphold social, political and economic oppression.”

(Heather Clark – Christian News)  A law that was passed last year that allows New York City residents to obtain amended birth certificates, including with an “X” for their gender, has officially gone into effect. Continue reading

True Religion And Progressivism Cannot Co-Exist

“The worldview of the Left fills that space handily. Hence, a secular Leftist is not actually secular at all. That person’s original faith is just supplanted by another. Progressivism becomes the main value system of the person, even if they technically are a Jew or a Christian by birth.”

(Jeremy Frankel – Daily Wire)  Why is it that the more secular a culture becomes, the more progressive it becomes as well?

In most religions in the United States, progressivism, otherwise known as Leftism, is pervasive in the secular factions. As a Jew, I always find myself intrigued at the political leanings within my own community. … Continue reading

Top 10 Progressive Endorsements of Child Abuse in 2018

“More clinics opened in children’s hospitals to facilitate body mutilation of confused minors. The quackery of childhood gender “transition” treatment continues to gallop through mainstream medicine without valid research to support its benefits, while ample evidence of its harm piles up.”

(Linda Harvey – Mission: America)  There’s a lengthy, sordid history of the damage children suffer because of “progressive” values and policies. In 2018, the harm went beyond passive side effects.

The left is now brazenly cheering over the corruption, pain and heartbreak of children. And sometimes, their deaths. Continue reading

Vatican letter undermines US cardinal on abuse

“DiNardo stunned the bishops when he opened the assembly Nov. 12 by announcing that “at the insistence of the Holy See” the bishops would not be voting on the measures after all. He said the Vatican wanted them to delay a vote until after Pope Francis hosts a global summit in February on preventing sex abuse by priests.”

(Nicole Winfield – AP) The Vatican blocked U.S. bishops from taking measures to address the clergy sex abuse scandal because U.S. church leaders didn’t discuss the legally problematic proposals with the Holy See enough beforehand, according to a letter obtained by The Associated Press. Continue reading

New Year’s Resolutions for God’s Glory, Not Our Own

It seems that every December, many people make well-intentioned resolutions for the new year. With premeditated bursts of enthusiasm, they are caught up in a whirlwind of peculiar, and sometimes public, activities that puzzle even neighborhood children. We witness surprising promises and new year’s manifestos whereupon we are summoned to behold what sweeping changes may come in the new year.

The skeptical observer may ask: Is all this new year’s fervor genuine? Is it helpful? Is it really necessary? Moreover, the curious onlooker may ask: Is it even appropriate to make resolutions? After all, shouldn’t we at all times and all seasons seek to live wisely, obediently, and biblically? Continue reading

‘Shout Your Abortion’ Founder Talks to Children About Abortion, Claims ‘It’s All Part of God’s Plan’

“I could not finish watching this  It broke my heart. These children were used as pawns to promote an agenda. As many … have said, let’s also have a conversation with someone who regrets their abortion. I know from personal experience that most women do regret their choice.”

(Heather Clark – Christian News)  A video that has been denounced as “brainwashing,” entitled “Kids Meet Someone Who’s Had an Abortion,” was posted to social media on Friday. It features “Shout Your Abortion” movement founder Amelia Bonow asking youth questions about abortion and opining to one young boy that she believes it is “all part of God’s plan.” Continue reading

Boy Scouts Lost 425,000 Boys One Week After ‘Gender Neutral’ Name Change

One week after the century-old Boy Scouts of America announced its name was becoming “gender fluid,” its single biggest participant announced that it was cutting ties to the Scouts.

(Jay Greenberg – Neon Nettle)  Earlier this month, it was revealed that the Boy Scouts of America, the 108-year-old organization synonymous with traditional American values, is on the verge of bankruptcy.

A report by the Wall Street Journal revealed that a Chicago law firm, Sidley Austin, has been appointed to handle Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing. Continue reading

Relying on God During Times of Desperation

His [God’s] silence is not equal to a lack of care; he works behind the scenes, where together all things work for the good of those who love him (Romans 8:28). 

(Meredith Hodge – Rely On The Bible)   His heart pounded, his lips quivered, decay crept into his bones, and his legs trembled (Habakkuk 3:16). He was confused, angry, terrified, and desperate for relief. He cried, “O Lord, how long shall I cry for help, and you will not hear?” (Habakkuk 1:2). Habakkuk, an Old Testament prophet, experienced a season of trials that seemed endless. He was desperate for relief, for change, for God to intervene. Does that sound like something you can relate to?  Continue reading

TV Guide Calls Chris Pratt ‘Problematic,’ Says He Doesn’t ‘Think before He Speaks’

While the actor has apologized in each circumstance, the article paints Pratt as a man with no filter and who seemingly does not “even think before he speaks.” 

(Kayla Koslosky – Christian Headlines)  In the magazine’s “12 Days of Chris-Mas” series, the TV Guide ranked Christian actor Chris Pratt as the “fifth best Chris,” while also noting that his offscreen life is often “problematic.”

In an article titled, “How to Love Chris Pratt Without Hating Yourself,” the TV guide writer Kaitlin Thomas points out all of the reasons she deems the Guardians of the Galaxy actor “problematic” and “divisive”  Continue reading

2018’s Most Jaw-Dropping Moments on ABC’s The View

Hosts Joy Behar, Whoopi Goldberg and Sunny Hostin kicked off the year by defending the mainstream media’s reputation as trustworthy, claiming that Trump was behaving like a dictator for criticizing outlets like The New York Times and The Washington Post. Whoopi even weirdly claimed that Trump was “actively trying to kill the press.”

(Kristine Marsh – News Busters)   The past two years we’ve broken down the worst moments of each year on ABC’s The View. Even with the addition of Meghan McCain late last year, 2018 has proved yet again that the hosts have no tolerance for conservative viewpoints. Whether it was sneering at religion or Trump voters, defending their own double standards or making nutty apocalyptic predictions, the liberal hosts continued to remind us why there is only one acceptable leftist “view” on the ABC show. Continue reading

EMP: Not if, but when

Non-nuclear EMP weapons, or radio frequency, weapons are a third cause for concern. “These can be built using design information available on the Internet or you can even purchase [or modify] devices that are not intended to be used as weapons but can be used as weapons.”  

(J.M. Phelps – American Thinker)  The probability of an electromagnetic pulse (EMP) in our lifetime is much higher than most Americans would assume, according to Dr. Peter Pry, the Executive Director of the EMP Task Force.

Pry explains there are three sources of EMP: the sun, nuclear weapons, and non-nuclear weapons. Continue reading

Fix Your Eyes On Jesus

Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Hebrews 12:1-2

We are surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses, he says. That does not simply say that people who have died and gone on to heaven are looking down on us from above. It means that these people are saying something to us, they are testifying to us, they are witnesses in that sense. Their lives are saying that we ought to lay aside every weight, i.e., whatever hinders faith. You never say, Yes to Christ without saying, No to something else!  View article →