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

Francis Chan: ‘God Might Kill You If You Criticize Church Leaders’

Posted by ∙ ∙ In Opinion ∙ , ,

Francis Chan praying with false teacher Mike Bickle

During a speaking engagement*, popular preacher and author Francis Chan told the group that God will destroy anyone who questions or criticizes the teachings of Christian leaders. Steven Kozar of Messed Up Church has the story which includes a must watch video of Bethel’s guest speaker so that we can see for ourselves that he was not kidding around; he was as serious as a heart attack. Here’s Steven Kozar’s post:

There’s a recent video sermon from Francis Chan which has eerie similarities to a cult leader indoctrinating his followers. His basic argument is this: Continue reading →

Boston Marathon Runners Can Compete as Gender ‘They Specify Themselves to Be’

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(Heather Clark – Christian News) The Boston Athletic Association, the group behind the Boston Marathon, has confirmed that it allows runners to compete as the gender with which they self-identify—a controversial allowance that has raised questions about whether it gives male runners who identify as female an unfair advantage.

“We take people at their word. We register people as they specify themselves to be,” Tom Grilk, chief of the Boston Athletic Association, told the Boston Herald. “Members of the LGBT community have had a lot to deal with over the years, and we’d rather not add to that burden.” View article →

Bethel medical conference raises concerns

Posted by ∙ ∙ In Opinion ∙ ,

(Anita Brady – Record Searchlight) “[Bethel] has the goal of infiltrating all aspects of society (the Seven Mountains Mandate) and locally/globally influence it to their version of Christian faith. Angel feathers and gold dust, grave sucking, fire tunnels, faith healings, and praying in tongues are on the agenda of this ‘church.’”

Mid-April, Bethel will hold its fourth annual Medical Healing Conference in Redding. Be assured the word “medical” is used to try to make this conference seem legitimate. It is not. Continue reading →

A warning about Hillsong’s Facebook marketing ‘con job’.

Posted by ∙ ∙ In Opinion ∙ , , ,

(Churchwatch Central) Brian Houston often says that it’s by the grace of God he is where he is today. This is completely fraudulent on so many levels. With that in mind and given its wordwide impact, it is worth examining the marketing arm of Hillsong.

While biblical Christianity trusts that Jesus will grow His church through the preaching of His gospel, Hillsong has relied heavily on marketing research and innovations to grow their empire. In this example, we highlight their latest marketing ploy. Continue reading →

A Naked Emperor in the Southern Baptist Convention

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How long will it take before the Southern Baptist Convention disqualifies and/or disciplines some of its leaders such as Rick Warren, Andy Stanley & Beth Moore who are in blatant unrepentant sin, wonders Bible study author, speaker and blogger Michelle Lesley. “Is there any amount of sin these pastors and teachers, and those like them, can commit that will cause those in SBC leadership to pull their materials off the shelves of LifeWay, deny them a seat at the table, and urge them to repent and step down from their positions?” The answer is that the SBC has chosen to let sleeping dogs lie. So it appears that SBC celebs who remain in unrepentant sin will not suffer any consequences whatsoever. At least not from the SBC’s hierarchy. Continue reading →

The American Cultural Revolution

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(Erick Erickson – Dailywire) “What we are seeing is an American Culture Revolution, unleashed by a narrow-minded group of leftists who have more in common with Mao than Washington. They have become dominant in the American media and have systematically purged conservative voices from the air and print. Conservative thought is more and more relegated to a ghetto and should any prominent conservative try to leave the ghetto, the leftwing mob will take action to destroy them.”

Kevin Williamson has been fired by The Atlantic. Williamson is one of the great conservative intellectuals of our times. He has a keen wit and frequently engages in heterodox opinions that make his writing and thinking intriguing. For a decade he wrote at William F. Buckley’s National Review until hired away last week by Jeffrey Goldberg, the Editor of The Atlantic. Continue reading →

Unintentional Sin

Posted by ∙ ∙ In Devotion/Teaching ∙

“The Lord said to Moses: When anyone is unfaithful to the Lord by sinning unintentionally in regard to any of the Lord’s holy things, they are to bring to the Lord as a penalty a ram from the flock, one without defect and of the proper value in silver, according to the sanctuary shekel. It is a guilt offering. Lev 5:14-15

A distinction of the sin offering is that often the sin was said to be unintentional. It is dealing not with acts of deliberate evil, which all of us commit from time to time, but it is dealing with the nature which prompts those acts, and which takes us by surprise. Continue reading on Ray Stedman Daily Devotions

U.S. Cardinal: Pope’s ‘No Hell’ Comments a ‘Profound Scandal’

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(Michael W. Chapman – CNSNews)  Commenting on the worldwide reaction to Pope Francis’ interview with his longtime atheist friend, Eugenio Scalfari, in which the latter claimed the Pope said there is no Hell and that the souls of the damned are not eternal, Cardinal Burke, an American who serves on the Vatican’s highest court, said the situation was “beyond tolerable” and “a source of profound scandal.”

Cardinal Burke also criticized the Vatican’s response to the scandal as “strongly inadequate” because the Vatican did not say Pope Francis rejcts these “heretical ideas.” Continue reading →

Parents Stage Walkout Over Planned Parenthood’s Graphic, Violent Sex Ed in Public Schools

Posted by ∙ ∙ In News

What you’re about to read will shock and disgust you. Sadly, our society is becoming more sick, twisted and perverted by the minute. Tax-payer funded Planned Parenthood aims to sexualize young children and they’re doing it through tax-payer funded public schools. Megan Fox of PJ Media has the story:

WARNING, graphic content.  Scroll past the first photo in the article, a Tweet by homosexual activist @TheParisHilton!  

Planned Parenthood has already been caught on video by Live Action advising a girl they think is 15 years old to allow her boyfriend to beat, whip, and gag her. These are the same people that taxpayers want educating their kids in schools? I can’t imagine why anyone would want this, and neither can a group of fed up parents who have organized a walkout later this month. Continue reading →

Grace Community Church Venue CANCELED for Gospel Coalition Conference

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Pulpit & Pen informs us that The Gospel Coalition‘s west coast conference, Enduring Faithfulness, that was to be held at Grace Community Church will now be held elsewhere. (P&P posted a graphic from TGC’s website that has yet to be updated with the change of venue.) Here’s P&P’s report:

Developing: Grace Community Church (GCC), home congregation of Pastor John MacArthur, has canceled the church property and facilities as a venue for the West Coast Gospel Coalition Conference. Continue reading →

Megachurch Pastor John Ortberg Calls Bill Hybels’ Misconduct Investigation ‘Poorly Designed’

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The piece over at Christian Post is a follow up to an investigative report conducted by the Chicago Tribune entitled “After Years of Inquiries, Willow Creek Pastor Denies Misconduct Allegations.”  CP reporter Leonardo Blair has the latest:

Megachurch pastor John Ortberg insisted Monday that the investigation of multiple sexual misconduct allegations by several women against Bill Hybels, founder and senior pastor of the multi-campus Willow Creek Community Church in Illinois, was “poorly designed” and exposed the women to “grave risks.” Continue reading →

Driscoll to Use Charismatic Publishing House for New Book

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(Pulpit & Pen News) Where would an author go if portions of their previous books have been allegedly plagiarized, ghost-written, and their ranking on the bestseller’s list paid for with pilfered congregational funds? They would go pitch their tent in the charismatic camp, of course, as charismaticism is the proverbial City of Refuge for virtually any disgraced or defrocked pastor. They will accept just about anybody.

According to Charisma Mag:   View article →

Invalid reasons for staying in a church you know teaches false doctrine

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Recently we posted “10 invalid arguments in defense of false teachers” by Rick Becker. Now Becker lays out 8 reasons believers shouldn’t remain in a church. One of the reasons people often cite for staying is that they feel they play a valuable role in the church, such as secretary, worship leader, Bible teacher, or even one of the pastors. Becker isn’t buying it.  He believes that those who stay are compromising. So, your choice “is between contending for the faith, or remaining content with a distortion of the faith.” You can read Becker’s piece over at Famine In The Land: Continue reading →

Scammed by a Black, a Woman, and Now a 17-Year-Old

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(Lloyd Marcus – American Thinker) “My fellow Americans, leftists view you only as pawns.  Your lives are mere tools to use to further their anti-God, anti-freedom, and anti-America agendas.  Leftists are willing to sacrifice your well-being, best interests, and lives to further their extreme causes and ideas.  This is why leftists use everything that happens in life – every accident, every tragic event, even the weather, to move the ball toward their goal.”

The I.D. (Investigation Discovery) channel re-enacts real-life crime stories.  I watched two stories in which single female homeowners heard men breaking into their homes. … Continue reading →

Temple’s faculty is ‘unlearning’ the gender binary system

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(Claire Wolters – The Temple News)  At the beginning of each semester, political science professor Heath Fogg Davis asks his students to write down their personal pronouns on note cards so he doesn’t misgender anyone.

Misgendering is the act of blatantly or unintentionally referring to someone by incorrect gender pronouns.

Davis, a transgender man, took up this approach this year to promote gender diversity and inclusivity in the classroom. He puts a lot of thought into the way he asks students about their gender identities. View article →

Beth Moore’s Legalism: A Discernment Lesson applicable to any teacher

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Elizabeth Prata of The End Time reminds us that popular Bible study teacher, author, and speaker Beth Moore’s theology is off the rails. (Prata has a page on her blog that contains past critiques of Mrs. Moore’s teaching.)  In this piece she addresses Moore’s legalism and admonishes us not to listen to Moore “or any teacher who imposes conditions on your walk that are absent from the Bible. Or who uses absolute words like unless, can’t, always, never, all the time, and so on.”  In this “refresher course” Elizabeth Prata once again takes on Beth Moore:

I have written about Beth Moore’s legalism in the past (2011). It’s hard to believe that was 7 years ago. Here is a refresher course on how, while seeming to speak a Gospel-infused sermon, Beth Moore’s speeches are really just a try harder legalism. This is a lesson in discernment. Continue reading →

‘Super-gonorrhoea’ is not the only sexually transmitted infection becoming drug resistant

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(Anne Gulland – The Telegraph) The report of the first ever case of  “super-gonorrhoea” – a bug which is resistant to frontline antibiotics – comes as no surprise to experts in sexually transmitted diseases.

Syphilis, HIV and a relatively new sexually transmitted disease – Mycoplasma genitalium – are also developing resistance to antimicrobial treatments.

Yesterday, Public Health England announced the world’s “worst ever” case of super-gonorrhea, contracted by a British man after a sexual encounter with a woman in South East Asia. The main antibiotic combination failed to cure the infection and doctors are hoping that one final treatment may work. View article →

ACLU, Lambda Legal Sue Ohio to Obtain Birth Certificate Change for Those With Gender Dysphoria

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(Heather Clark – Christian News Network) The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Ohio and the transgender advocacy group Lambda Legal have filed a lawsuit against the Ohio Department of Health and the Office of Vital Statistics in an effort to force the State to allow those with gender dysphoria to change the sex on their birth certificate.

The organizations claim that the State’s practice of declining to issue an amended document deprives the person of an “accurate” birth certificate. View article →

MLM-ing Essential Oils at Church

Posted by ∙ ∙ In Opinion ∙

Bible study author, speaker and blogger, Michelle Lesley, responds to a question from her Mailbag: Our church has recently had a visitor come who is now promoting essential oils to the women who are flocking to a class she is having in one of their homes. This makes me very uncomfortable as it appears (to me) that she has visited to increase her MLM [multi-level marketing] customer base while touting medicinal cures via essential oils. Do you have any research on this?

Sounds like a multi-level mess! There are several different issues going on here, so let’s dig in… Continue reading →

Pope: Christians Should Feel Shame for Global Strife

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(Robert Spencer – Frontpage) “In speaking of those who have left the world ‘fractured by divisions and wars,’ Pope Francis doesn’t seem to have said a word about the religion that actually teaches that believers should wage war against and subjugate unbelievers. But of course, about that religion he has said, ‘Authentic Islam and the proper reading of the Koran are opposed to every form of violence.’”

Never missing an opportunity to confuse, disappoint, and demoralize the Catholic faithful, Pope Francis, according to the Latin American Herald Tribune, said on Good Friday that “Christians ought to express shame for the actions of those who are leaving future generations a world ‘fractured by divisions and wars.’” Continue reading →

Roseanne Barr and Laura Ingraham Battle Liberal Elites

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(Jeffrey Lord – CNSNews) Well that didn’t take long.

My prediction was made in this space on October 28, 2017. The headline: “Laura Ingraham: New Fox Star, New Left-Wing Target.”

In which I said the following of the Fox announcement that Laura Ingraham- she the radio talker, ex-Reagan staffer, Justice Clarence Thomas Supreme Court clerk and all-around conservative superstar – would be hosting a new Fox opinion show at 10 pm weekdays. I wrote: View article →

Resurrection Day – He Has Risen!

Posted by ∙ ∙ In Devotion/Teaching

(Josh Buice – Delivered By Grace)  As we prepare to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus—we must remember that the resurrection of Jesus is the high point of Christian theology. Why did the chief priests and the religious community of the Jews try to cover up the resurrection of Jesus (see Matt. 28:11-15)? The truth is—out of all of Jesus’ miracles—from the creation of the world (Col. 1:15-16) to the virgin birth (Is. 7:14; Matt. 1:21)—there is no miracle greater than the resurrection that occurred after the brutal Roman crucifixion (Matt. 28:1-10). The resurrection of Jesus stands at the center of Christian theology and points to the validity of all of Jesus’ teachings. If Jesus was not resurrected on the first day of the week (Sunday) after his crucifixion—his prophecy in Matthew 12:40 and John 2:19 would not have been true.

View article →