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

Is She a False Teacher? 7 Steps to Figuring it Out on Your Own

Posted by ∙ ∙ In Opinion ∙ , ,

Bible study author, speaker and blogger Michelle Lesley gives her perspective on how to determine who the wolves in sheep’s clothing are and why we should steadfastly avoid them.  “Birds of a feather flock together,” reminds Michelle.  “If you lie down with dogs, you get up with fleas. Bad company corrupts good morals. It’s all true. A teacher who frequently, favorably, and unrepentantly associates herself with false teachers should be avoided.”

To find out if a Bible teacher, author, or a Christian celebrity is doctrinally sound you must (1) Know your Bible; (2) Pray; (3) Know your criteria (which includes women teaching men). What are 4, 5, 6 & 7? Continue reading →

A Move of the Holy Spirit & Christian Emotionalists

Posted by ∙ ∙ In Opinion ∙ , ,

Christians who depend on signs and wonders, such as gold dust falling from the ceiling, personal prophecies and other visible signs, are seeking a golden calf of experience over faith says Elizabeth Prata of The End Time.  It is Prata’s belief that believers who seek after signs are dishonoring the Holy Spirit and robbing Him of his glory. In the Comments, Sheryl brings up a good point. “If you’re depending on emotional experiences, then you’re subjectively looking inward to feelings that are deceptive and fluctuate, which results in instability of assurance of salvation.”

Now to Elizabeth’s blog post, which includes a quote by Charles Spurgeon’s on “Christian emotionalists”: Continue reading →

University of Iowa lawsuit pits gay rights against religious freedom

Posted by ∙ ∙ In News ∙ , , ,

Huh?

(News 4 Tucson) The University of Iowa is caught up in a legal fight with a conservative Christian student group that denied a leadership position to a student who is gay.

The case pits a university policy barring discrimination based on sexual orientation against the religious beliefs of a 10-member group called Business Leaders in Christ. The group sued after the state’s flagship university in Iowa City revoked its campus registration in November. [

The group says its membership is open to everyone, but that its leaders must affirm a statement of faith that rejects homosexuality. The university says it respects the right of students, faculty and staff to practice the religion of their choice but does not tolerate discrimination of any kind. View article →

Black Lives Matter Leader Leads Séance In Methodist Church: Summons Spirits Of Martin Luther King, Malcolm X, And Shaka Zulu

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(Jeffrey Cawood – Daily Wire) “Abdullah methodically poured bottled water into a potted plant displayed before the pulpit as the audience responded by chanting, ‘Ase,’ awaiting ancestral energy to fill the chapel.”

Dr. Melina Abdullah — a professor at California State University who also leads the Los Angeles chapter of Black Lives Matter — recently summoned the spirits of several deceased people to fill a Methodist church with ethereal energy, including Martin Luther King, several other slain civil rights leaders, victims of police brutality, and an African warrior named Shaka Zulu.  View article →

Pope Francis awards architect of safe-abortion fund pontifical honor

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(Life Site News) “To say that Lilianne Ploumen is ‘pro-abortion’ is an extreme understatement and doesn’t even come close to the scandalous reality of her activism.”

On January 12, reports began surfacing on Twitter that Lilianne Ploumen, former minister for Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation in the Netherlands, was honored by Pope Francis with the title of Commander in the Pontifical Equestrian Order of St. Gregory the Great.

The Lepanto Institute was able to confirm from a December 22, 2017, Dutch radio broadcast that Ploumen indeed received the honor. In a brief video clip promoting the broadcast, Ploumen displays the medal while saying that she received it from the Pope.  View article →

See our Research Paper on Roman Catholicism

Toronto Blessing & Pensacola Outpouring failed end-times prophetic revivals?

Posted by ∙ ∙ In Opinion ∙ , , , ,

(Churchwatch Central) Back in the day, it was continually claimed by leaders (particularly Dr Michael Brown), that the Toronto Blessing and the Pensacola Outpuring (aka Brownsville Revival) were not connected in anyway. In this article we let their own Apostles and followers tell the truth neglected by New Apostolic Reformation (NAR) Apostles like Dr Michael Brown.

We’ve documented this all before from another source also worth looking at.

David Yonggi Cho and Ken Sumrall’s “prophecy” over Pensacola

Older prophecies explain why these revivals were meant to occur, demonstrating how cult-like they are. Can anyone now claim that the Toronto Blessing and Pensacola Outpouring triggered Christ’s return and changed the nations for the glory of God? Why would Michael Brown want this failed prophetic end-times revival on his resume?  View article →

Seven Reasons 1 Timothy 2:12 Isn’t the Crazy Aunt We Hide in the Closet when Company Comes Over

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Bible study author, speaker and blogger Michelle Lesley queries: “Are we more afraid of the wrath of woman than the wrath of God?” According to Lesley, although they may not realize it, for a large number of professing Christians the answer is, sadly, yes. It is evident that many believers fear man (what other people think about them) far more than they fear God (what God thinks about them).

In this piece Michelle examines Paul’s instructions to Timothy: “I do not permit a woman to teach or to exercise authority over a man; rather, she is to remain quiet.”  Clearly, a women should not wield authority over men.  Consequently “We need to stop blushing ashamedly,” chides Michelle, “and stand unapologetically firm when it comes to denouncing female teachers who preach to men.”

So with this in mind, here are  seven reasons why the serious Christian must stand firm: Continue reading →

The Fortune-Telling ‘Encounter Gospel’ of Bethel & the NAR Explained

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(Steven Kozar – Museum of Idolatry) Tired of getting no results with old-fashioned, Bible-based Christianity? It’s time to go off the map with Bill Johnson, Kris Vallotton and all of their New Apostolic Reformation friends! In this first episode of this series we will focus on the fortune-telling aspect of the “Encounter Gospel,” so get out your tarot cards, oops… I mean get out your Destiny Cards and let’s get started! Here’s a quick summary of the new and better Gospel of the Kingdom:

    • People aren’t really that bad, they just need to be convinced of how special they are-they need to understand their “true identity.”
    • Religion is the real source of people’s problems, not rebellion against God (sin).
    • God is desperately trying to get people to “accept” Him, but He’s been hindered by the historic Christian Church, with its specific, Biblical teachings about Salvation, Heaven and Hell, The Atonement of Jesus Christ, and all other forms of unnecessary “head knowledge” found in the Bible.
    • People would believe in God if they could just see some proof for themselves.
    • Bethel teaches how to give people the proof they need to believe that God is real, He loves them, and He wants all of their dreams to come true so they can fulfill their “Destiny.” Continue reading →

Biola University – Going . . . Going . . . Gone As President Takes Sabbatical At Catholic Contemplative Monastery

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(Lighthouse Trails) For many years, Lighthouse Trails has written about the slide that Biola University in Southern California has taken into contemplative spirituality. Our first indication that the school was heading that way was in February of 2006 when we learned that Biola was actively participating in a publication called Conversations Journal, a magazine whose primary purpose is to bring contemplative spirituality to the church, and editorial involvement includes names such as Richard Foster, Basil Pennington (a Catholic mystic), Tilden Edwards (co-founder of the panentheistic Shalem Institute), and others of the contemplative viewpoint. Since then, we have watched as Biola has gotten whole-heartedly on the contemplative band wagon with its own Institute for Spiritual Formation through Biola’s Talbot School of Theology. Continue reading →

Court Rules Against Amish Family’s Religious Beliefs, Orders Them to Use Electricity

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(Western Journal) An Old Order Amish family in Pennsylvania will have to abandon their religious beliefs and hook up their home to the public sewer system, a Commonwealth Court panel decided earlier this month.

The Yoder family abstains from using electricity due to their religious beliefs, especially when the public grid is the source of the power. Instead of the modern-day sewer system, the family uses an “old-fashioned privy” — an outhouse — that doesn’t require electricity or running water. View article →

Who Is Jesus?

Posted by ∙ ∙ In Devotion/Teaching ∙
He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. (John 1:2-3)
 
John says without any doubt that Jesus is God. He declares that Jesus is the Creator of all things. This accounts for Jesus’ strange and remarkable personality. He is the originator of all things. Eight times in the opening chapter of Genesis it says. And God said. God said, Let there be light, and there was light. God said, Let there be a firmament between the heavens and the earth and there was. God said, Let the earth bring forth trees and vegetation, and these sprang into being. The Son of God, was speaking into being what the Father had designed in that amazing mind of his. View article →

The Modern Blasphemy of the Holy Spirit

Posted by ∙ ∙ In Opinion ∙ , , ,

Those involved in the New Apostolic Reformation (NAR) continually blaspheme the Holy Spirit. This is a grave sin, brethren. Sadly, people involved in this movement refuse to receive correction, even when it is coming from highly regarded Bible scholars. A complete misunderstanding of the function and activity of the Holy Spirit in the life of the believer has become epidemic in the Church. For example, charismatics would have us believe that the Spirit of God is responsible for bringing people to a point of making strange sounds, crawling on all fours, heads and bodies shaking uncontrollably, crying, laughing (dubbed “Holy Laughter“), getting “drunk in the Spirit,” and other bizarre phenomena. Are charismatics right in saying that this sort of behavior is a manifestation of the Spirit? No, says Bible expositor John MacArthur. Continue reading →

Paula White Reps. Scrub Web Page of Language Urging ‘First Fruits’ Offering of Day, Week, Month’s Wages, ‘Consequences’ for Not Giving

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(Heather Clark – Christian News Network) Following media reports and public backlash over the matter, representatives for false teacher Paula White, who also serves as the chair of President Trump’s Evangelical Advisory Board, have scrubbed a page on White’s website of any mention that she had urged followers to give a “first fruits” offering of a day, week, or month’s wages—and that there are “consequences” for those who don’t give God their first fruits out of “ignorance or direct disobedience.” Continue reading →

Twitter Censors Conservative Speech

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In the latest undercover Project Veritas video investigation, current and former Twitter employees are on camera explaining steps the social media giant is taking to censor political content that they don’t like.

This video release follows the first undercover Twitter exposé Project Veritas released on January 10th which showed Twitter Senior Network Security Engineer Clay Haynes saying that Twitter is “more than happy to help the Department of Justice with their little [President Donald Trump] investigation.” Twitter responded to the video with a statement shortly after that release, stating “the individual depicted in this video was speaking in a personal capacity and does not represent or speak for Twitter.” The video released by Project Veritas today features eight employees, and a Project Veritas spokesman said there are more videos featuring additional employees coming. View article →

Your smartphone is making you stupid, antisocial and unhealthy. So why can’t you put it down?

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(Eric Andrew-Gee – The Globe and Mail)  “They have impaired our ability to remember. They make it more difficult to daydream and think creatively. They make us more vulnerable to anxiety. They make parents ignore their children. And they are addictive, if not in the contested clinical sense then for all intents and purposes.”

In the winter of 1906, the year San Francisco was destroyed by an earthquake and SOS became the international distress signal, Britain’s Punch magazine published a dark joke about the future of technology.

Under the headline, “Forecasts for 1907,” a black and white cartoon showed a well-dressed Edwardian couple sitting in a London park. The man and woman are turned away from each other, antennae protruding from their hats. In their laps are little black boxes, spitting out ticker tape.  View article →

Regarding the James White-Michael Brown Connection

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Phil Johnson, Executive Director of Grace to You, weighs in on the White-Brown controversy. He writes:

It seems this week’s episode of “Too Wretched for Radio” unleashed a minor Tweetstorm. A few points have been raised that apparently still need clarification:

  1. It does not trouble me that James White and Michael Brown are friends. As far as their personal relationship is concerned, it surely holds some potential for good. Indeed, Dr. Brown could use more friends whose theological convictions are rooted in Scripture rather than the latest “fresh word” from the mouths of demonstrably false prophets in Redding, CA; Sydney, Australia; Kansas City; TBN; the NAR; or some other nest of charismatic extremism. Continue reading →

Moody Bible Institute President, COO Resign Amid Board’s ‘Unanimous Decision’ for ‘New Season of Leadership’

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(Christian News Network) “Moody Radio host Julie Roys also recently published an article asserting, among other allegations, that the school was not being vigilant to root out liberal professors, that it had allowed an official to violate Moody’s bylaws and that it was ‘fostering an atmosphere of fear and intimidation.’”

The president and COO of Moody Bible Institute have submitted their resignations amid controversy over the direction of the historic institution, and in light of the board’s “unanimous decision” for “new leadership.”  View article →

Putting the Evangel in Evangelicalism

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Pastrix Paula White, Pastor Robert Jeffress and other religious leaders praying for  then presidential GOP candidate Donald Trump.

Why do so many people who outright reject the Christian worldview and choose to live like heathens self-identify as evangelical Christians? For this reason, many Christians, especially in the Reformed camp, say that the label “evangelical” has outlived its purpose. The term has become identified with the Christian Right. Tim Challies reminds us that a large number of evangelicals are not on board with “the alignment of major Evangelical leaders with President Trump and also the stretching of the label to people who functionally deny the ‘evangel’ (good news) at the heart of the word.” (Source) Continue reading →

Themes (or Challenges) for Reformed Christians in 2018

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Blogger, author and book reviewer Tim Challies asks: What themes do you think will be prominent among Reformed people in 2018?

In the following blog post, Challies offers his own ideas and addresses his top three, beginning with “Further Defining Complementarianism,” the view that God calls men, not women, to be the leaders in the home and the church. (1 Tim. 2:12). Those who hold this view insist that women cannot be pastors. Not surprisingly, women having authority over men has become a highly contentious issue in the Church; thus it’s #1 on the list.

So now to what Tim Challies believes are going to be the top three challenges for the Reformed Church in 2018: Continue reading →

Heresy Hunters Guide (Part 1): Why God has called Christians to be ‘Heresy Hunters’.

Posted by ∙ ∙ In Opinion ∙ , ,

(Churchwatch Central) Christians are called to love Jesus the way he asked us to:

“If you love me, you will keep my commandments.” John 14:15

Sadly, not only do many Christians neglect this command in the church today, the results of ignoring Jesus’ Words regarding false teachers has spiritual consequences:

  1. Unloving towards both God and neighbour;
  2. Exposing the church to more apostacy;
  3. Representing a bad witness to a lost and dying world;
  4. Spiritually harming many people in the church and in the community;
  5. Watering down and complicating the simplicity of the gospel and the Christian confession of faith;
  6. Making evangelism harder regarding new converts finding safe churches where the gospel is not tainted by false teaching or associated with false teachers.

Continue reading →

Paula White Urges Followers to Give ‘First Fruits’ Offering of a Day, Week or Month’s Wages

Posted by ∙ ∙ In News ∙ , , ,

(Christian News Network) Prosperity preacher Paula White, who also serves as the chair of President Trump’s Evangelical Advisory Board, is urging her followers to give a “first fruits” financial offering with the start of 2018, stating that there are “consequences” for those who don’t do so out of “ignorance or direct disobedience.”

“As you remember the Lord your God, according to Deuteronomy 8:18, through your first fruits offering, He gives you the power to acquire wealth to establish His covenant,” she wrote in a post on her website, accompanied by a YouTube video. View article →

The Gatekeepers of False Teachers Calling Out Renowned Christian Apologist

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The blog, Bible Thumping Wingnut (BTWN) has shown Christian apologist James White of Alpha and Omega Ministries to be in “sinful error,” according to Pulpit & Pen:

He has gone from doing some merely unwise things to clearly sinful things, and he is digging in as hard and fast as he can go while beginning to disqualify himself from Christian ministry right before our eyes. White has resorted to ad hominem attacks, sadly against some of the very leaders who have defended him in the past. He seems unwilling to listen to those who are well aware of Michael Brown’s errors and the dangers of the New Apostolic Reformation. Most are beginning to see it. Continue reading →

Hollywood and Media Have Already Chosen Their Candidate for 2020

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(LifeZette) President Donald Trump has been in the White House for one year, but some of his opponents have already decided on the person they want to run against him in 2020.

Oprah Winfrey gave a fiery speech Sunday night after winning the Cecil B. DeMille Golden Globe award. Her speech seemed intended as a rallying cry for inclusion — but it turned political at times. And it was almost solely geared toward women.  View article →

Why You Should Stay Married? And How? Part 1

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(Matt Recker – Proclaim & Defend) Many believers who have been married for years and who may even know intellectually all that the Bible says on this matter, still often end up divorcing their spouse. Others reading this may want to know this about their marriage: is there any hope? There is a tremendous spiritual battle for our homes today and sadly, many divorces split Christian homes every year.

For many men, the command to love their wife sounds like an invitation to step on a nail. For many women, the command to submit to their husband may sound like an invitation to jump off a cliff. For others, remaining in their marriage sounds like banging their head against the wall when they already have a migraine headache. While this blog is not an attempt to give a comprehensive view of marriage and divorce, I hope this will give fresh hope for those struggling in marriage and help to all in seeing the permanency of the marriage covenant. Continue reading →