(Eric Pement – Executive Director EMNR) Former EMNR board member Elliot Miller passed into the presence of the Lord Jesus on April 11, 2018. Born in 1951, Elliot turned to Eastern mysticism and meditation during the Age of Aquarius in the 1960s, experimented with drugs and psychedelics, but in his confusion was confronted and converted by the real Christ during the Jesus Movement of the late sixties and early seventies. Southern California in that era provided many coffeehouses, cults, and communes, and Elliot lived for a while in one of the Christian communes in the west coast. I believe it was called Shiloh.
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Author Archives: Marsha West
You Can’t Love Jesus with a Heart Full of Hate: 7 Reasons to Love and Forgive Your Enemies
Bible study author, speaker and blogger Michelle Lesley offers 7 reasons God gives us in His Word to love and forgive our enemies. Here’s one example: You Can’t Love Jesus With A Heart Full Of Unforgiveness. The reason she gives is that “Your enemy – that person you hate and refuse to forgive because he hurt you – has sinned infinitely more against a holy and righteous God than he could ever sin against you.” Sadly, most Christians never even consider that all sin is first and foremost against a holy God.
Now discover 6 more reasons Christians must forgive those who have sinned against them: Continue reading
Drop in U.S. Catholic Church Attendance Under Pope Francis Sharpest in Decades
(Thomas D. Williams – Breitbart) Catholic church attendance in the United States fell by six percent between the pontificates of Pope Benedict XVI and Pope Francis, the sharpest drop in decades, a new Gallup poll has revealed.
An average of 39 percent of U.S. Catholics attended church weekly during the heart of the Francis papacy, from 2014 to 2017, Gallup found in a survey released April 9, which represents a significant drop from the 45 percent of Catholics who attended weekly Mass from 2005 to 2008, in the early years of the Benedict pontificate.
God is holding on to you
(Warren Peel – Gentle Reformation) Over and over again God reassures his people that he is holding on to us by his right hand. In Isaiah 41.10, for example: ‘…fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.’ That is a wonderful promise to comfort us—our heavenly Father will not let us go. Even if we might try to break free of his grip and let go of him, he is holding on to us tightly and keeping us safe.
This is one way of picturing the doctrine of the perseverance of the saints. Every true believer will inevitably make it safely home to glory because the Lord is preserving him or her. We persevere because he preserves us; we keep on going because he goes on keeping. The two halves of Psalm 63.8 reflect the two sides of the doctrine of perseverance: ‘My soul clings to you; your right hand upholds me.’ Our souls go on clinging to God in faith because his right hand is upholding us.
‘Fake Weed’ Is Leading to Cases of Severe Bleeding
(LifeZette) “Despite the perception that synthetic cannabinoids are safe and a legal alternative to marijuana, many are illegal and can cause severe illness.”
Emergency rooms in Illinois are noticing a spike in synthetic pot users suffering from severe bleeding, and state health officials are warning the public to remain vigilant.
The Illinois Department of Health (IDPH) issued a statement on in March announcing that at least six people in northeastern Illinois had been hospitalized after using the man-made substance — also known as “fake weed,” “K2,” or “spice.” On Wednesday, the number of cases climbed to 118, including three deaths, the health department reported.
I’m old enough to remember when ‘evangelical’ was a bad word
According to Jesse Johnson “evangelical suffers from an ambiguity largely owning to its diversity. The National Association of Evangelicals (NAE) is different than the Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals, yet members of both would sign the Manhattan Declaration. If you believe the gospel and the fundamentals (inerrancy, virgin birth, bodily resurrection, personal conversion, etc.), does that make you evangelical? There is no clear answer to that question.” But what is clear says Johnson is that “an evangelical is someone who says with their feet that Catholicism and liberalism are wrong, but they just would never say so with their mouths. They leave the Catholic church on Sundays, but turn around and call Catholics our brothers in the Lord on Tuesdays. This is evangelicalism’s squishy middle.”
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Comey’s Book Deal Shows He’s ‘Grandstanding, Glory Seeker’
(Randy DeSoto – The Western Journal) Radio talk show host Ben Shapiro accused James Comey of being a “grandstanding, glory seeker” as the former FBI director began a publicity tour to promote his soon to be released book.
Shapiro tweeted on Thursday, “Serious question: if Comey isn’t a grandstanding glory-seeker, why wait a year and a book deal before telling the whole story?” (See Shapiro’s tweet on the site)
President Donald Trump fired Comey in May 2017, citing the FBI director’s handling of the Hillary Clinton email investigation, and a memo from Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein making the recommendation.
Pro-Life Students Stage Nationwide Walkout to Protest Abortion
(Deirdre Reilly – LifeZette) Two hundred high schools and 80 colleges participated in the pro-life walkout described below — but there was little or no local or national media coverage of these events.
Hundreds of pro-life high school and college students are walking out of their classrooms this morning for 17 minutes to protest abortion — and to honor the lives lost to the brutal procedure.
Inspired by California high school student Brandon Gillespie — a teen who was inspired to take a stand after teacher Julianne Benzel was suspended March 14 for posing a hypothetical question about a potential pro-life walkout — students from up to 200 high schools and 80 colleges indicated they would walk out of their classrooms, a spokesperson for the event told LifeZette.
‘Chappaquiddick’ Star: ‘Everybody Gave [Ted Kennedy] a Pass’
(Christian Toto – NewsBusters) Jason Clarke got quite the education after accepting the lead role in Chappaquiddick.
The movie, out April 6, follows the events surrounding the 1969 death of Mary Jo Kopechne. Sen. Ted Kennedy (Clarke) was driving Kopechne, a campaign worker for his late brother Robert F. Kennedy, home on the Massachusettes island of Chappaquiddick when he crashed his Oldsmobile through a fence, landing the car in a pond. Continue reading
How To Do Online Discernment Ministry, part 1
Photo credit: 8:28 Ministries
“No matter if you are in your pew listening to a sermon, choosing a book at the Christian bookstore, or reading some essays online, you need discernment to determine if what you are absorbing aligns with God’s word or is a lie designed to incrementally steer you away from the narrow path.”
In this 2 part series, Elizabeth Prata of The End Time offers her perspective on assessing whether an online apologetics and discernment ministry is “operating appropriately within an edifying sphere of the gift, or is just a critical crank out to get someone or has an ax to grind.” Here’s part 1: Continue reading
Ben Shapiro: Response to London Attacks ‘Demonstrates What Happens When an Entire Civilization Loses Their Mind’
(Michael Morris – CNSNews) On his daily Facebook Live podcast “The Ben Shapiro Show” yesterday, host and Editor-in-Chief of The Daily Wire Ben Shapiro brought attention to the recent spike in murders in London, saying, London’s reaction to the recent knife attacks “demonstrates what happens when an entire civilization loses their mind.”
“Soon, we’ll end up all sitting in blank rooms with no furniture because anything can be used as a—maybe pillows, but no, we could use pillows for suffocation,” stated Ben Shapiro. … Continue reading
Who is the Man Afraid to Be Alone with James White, Kyle J. Howard?
Kyle J. Howard & Beth Moore
(Pulpit & Pen News) With James Riady, a corrupt Globalist and leftist financier funding Reformed Theological Seminary and other Calvinist-leaning institutions, and with George Soros funding projects of evangelicals like Russell Moore through his Open Societies Foundation, it’s reasonable to question whether or not outspoken individuals in our institutions are change agents for well-funded political causes. How do Marxists, leftists, and globalists get placed in ostensibly conservative evangelical institutions? Moreover, how do those change agents become prominent? And in the case of Kyle J. Howard, how does a lowly student at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary – who seems to be a rabid leftist who is ardently and vocally opposed to what Southern Baptists traditionally (and currently in the majority) oppose wind up at the head table with evangelical elites at the recent MLK50 event? Continue reading
Hybels steps down from Willow Creek following allegations of misconduct
(Manya Brachear Pashman and Jeff Coen – Chicago Tribune) Forty-two years after founding one of the nation’s most influential evangelical megachurches, the Rev. Bill Hybels told his congregation Tuesday night that he would step down from the helm of Willow Creek Community Church six months ahead of schedule.His departure comes less than a month after a Chicago Tribune investigation disclosed that Hybels had been the subject of inquiries by church leaders into claims that he ran afoul of church teachings by engaging in inappropriate behavior with women in his congregation — including employees — allegedly spanning decades. The inquiries had cleared Hybels.
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Francis Chan: ‘God Might Kill You If You Criticize Church Leaders’
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’
(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.”
Bethel medical conference raises concerns
(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’.
(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
The brave new age of gender-neutral kids
(Margaret Wente – The Globe and Mail) “Men and women exhibit significant behavioural differences not (or not only) because they’re socialized differently, but because they’re wired differently. Give a girl a pot and she’ll play house. Give a boy a pot and he’ll beat it like a drum.”
When Storm was born seven years ago in Toronto, he or she became the most famous baby in the city. That’s because Storm’s parents announced that they were going to raise the baby as gender neutral. “If you really want to get to know someone, you don’t ask what’s between their legs,” Storm’s father, David Stocker, told The Toronto Star. In an e-mail, Storm’s parents told their friends, “We’ve decided not to share Storm’s sex for now – a tribute to freedom and choice in place of limitation.” Continue reading
A Naked Emperor in the Southern Baptist Convention
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
(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
Is Jim Wallis Leading the Way for Evangelicals?
(A. Castellito – Pulpit & Pen News) “Racial reconciliation will be an act of repentance and resistance in the Trump era.” – Jim Wallis
The latest example of the misguided ideological pursuits of the PCA (Presbyterian Church of America) was recently revealed with the release of a fairly in-depth report on racial reconciliation. The biblical justification for such pursuits is flimsy to say the least, but that didn’t prevent the PCA from identifying and promoting the idea of racial reconciliation as a point of evangelical emphasis, outreach and proclamation. Continue reading
Hijacking ‘Evangelicalism’
(Darrell B. Harrison – Just Thinking…For Myself) As increasing numbers of professing Christians subscribe to a gospel of social justice – a fundamental tenet of which is the resurrection and prosecution of past sins committed primarily by white evangelical Christians against black people whether by commission or omission – the term ‘evangelical Christian(ity)’ has become synonymous with historical and present-day attitudes of white oppression and white supremacy in America, whether perceived or real.
But a fundamental problem with this perspective is that it paints an entire ecclesiastical population, namely, white evangelical Christians, with a very broad and subjective brush, having judged them collectively guilty of harboring such sinful attitudes solely on the basis that they are white and evangelical. Continue reading
Unintentional Sin
“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’
(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
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