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

Liberty University Professor Promotes Illegal Immigration

Posted by ∙ ∙ In Opinion ∙ , , ,

(Pulpit & Pen News) Karen Swallow Prior is a radical animal rights activist who believes animals go to Heaven because naming them gives them personhood, says she’s more upset over animal abuse than abortion, says abortion isn’t murder and calling it such is unchristlike, promoted erotic gay literature, and has attended gay fundraisers and uses gay-affirming language. She calls herself a feminist and attacks complementarianism as unbiblical.

Karen Swallow Prior is also a professor at Liberty University and a research fellow for the leftist Southern Baptist organization, the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission (ERLC). … Continue reading →

New Jersey ELCA ‘Church’ Holds ‘Renaming’ Ceremony for Female Leader Who Wants to Be Called Peter

Posted by ∙ ∙ In News ∙ , ,

(Christian News Network) An assembly that is a part of the apostate Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) held a “renaming” ceremony on Sunday for their female pastor, who wishes to present herself as a man and now go by the name Peter—after one of Jesus’ disciples.

St. Matthew Trinity Lutheran Church in Hoboken, New Jersey, whose motto is “Where tradition and inclusivity meet,” held the ceremony during the Sunday morning service on a day that is known to Lutherans as Transfiguration Sunday. View article →

The Great Light

Posted by ∙ ∙ In Devotion/Teaching ∙

For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government will be upon his shoulders, and he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. (Isaiah 9:6)

What a remarkable picture! It hardly needs any exposition. Suddenly, after a great time of trouble, the nation will realize that this glorious King, their Messiah, once came as a little child: to us a child is born. He who was for eternity the Son of God was given to them as a little Baby in Bethlehem. They recognize at last, after centuries of rejection, that this One rightly deserves divine titles. This is Immanuel, God with us.… Continue reading on Ray Stedman Daily Devotions

Should Christians Avoid Yoga?

Posted by ∙ ∙ In News ∙ , ,

(Faithwire) A new debate hit the internet today and it put yoga squarely in the crosshairs.

It all started with this tweet observation from writer Matt Walsh:

It’s kind of amazing to see all of the Christians who think nothing of going to a yoga class. There are many excellent ways to get in shape that do not involve participating in Hindu worship. 

And with that, the yoga Twitter war began. Walsh took issue by linking yoga to Hindu worship, which appears to be a fair assertion. The debate, however, is hardly anything new. The issue was raised by the BBC a few years ago, interestingly by a Muslim woman, not by a Christian. They also included concerns about practicing it from a number of other religions: View article →

See Berean Research’s White Paper on Yoga

Enneagram: The Road Back to You, Or to Somewhere Else?

Posted by ∙ ∙ In Opinion ∙ , , ,

In a piece I wrote over 10 years ago, Christians are mixed up in… mysticism, I dealt with the Enneagram. In a moment you’ll find out what this personality tool is all about from Kevin DeYoung. In a nutshell, the Enneagram is a form of modern psychology that categorizes people into nine basic personality types. Here’s an excerpt from my piece:

“The concept is rooted in several teachings such as the Seven Deadly Sins and the Kabbalah.  Supposedly the Enneagram symbol, the enneagon, dates back to Pythagoras or even earlier, and is based on Sufi mysticism.  This alone should be a red flag for Christians!”

Continue reading →

False Teacher Rob Bell Claims in New Documentary ‘The Heretic’: ‘Jesus Would Be Mortified Someone Started a Religion in His Name’

Posted by ∙ ∙ In News ∙ , , ,

(Heather Clark – Christian News Network) A new documentary called “The Heretic,” which centers on false teacher Rob Bell, is set to be released on March 1, and features a number of statements that are already raising concern, such as, “The Bible has caused so much damage” and “Jesus would be absolutely mortified that someone started a religion in His name.”

Bell explained in a Facebook post on Feb. 1 that he had been approached by filmmaker Andrew Morgan about creating a film surrounding his work and controversial views, which many decry as being apostate and heretical. Continue reading →

Self-Described Smarty Jimmy Kimmel Presents Stupid, Bigoted Anti-Christian Skit

Posted by ∙ ∙ In Opinion

(NewsBusters} Saturday afternoon, Christian Toto at NewsBusters chronicled how Jimmy Kimmel has gone from being an “aw, shucks” comedian to “a hard-left comic” who believes (Kimmel’s words) that “every talk show is a liberal … because it requires a level of intelligence.”

That said, ignorant transformation was on display Friday night, as Kimmel attempted and failed to make a genuine point in a restaurant skit which attempted to ridicule a Bakersfield, California bakery which refuses to bake wedding cakes for same-sex couples.

Wednesday, Tastries Bakery has thus far prevailed in court: View article →

How I pray…even when it’s hard

Posted by ∙ ∙ In Devotion/Teaching ∙

Prayer is hard. For me, consistent prayer has always been a battle, a fight. One of the most difficult things for fallen people to do is to come to God on bent knees with empty hands; as one put it, “I am loath to come to prayer, and when I’m there I am loath to stay.”

Yet some things cannot be put off. I cannot pray today’s prayers tomorrow. Tomorrow has its own demands. Disciples follow disciplines—tasks they wrestle with each day, every day. Making peace with that fact was a step toward my own consistency.

Here is how I pray. Continue reading →

The Proof That I Was Pardoned

Posted by ∙ ∙ In Devotion/Teaching

The really pardoned man also desires to be rid of all sin. I know some who can never hope to obtain forgiveness, for they continue in their iniquity. Can a woman expect to find peace with God while she goes on taking her sly drop and becoming intoxicated in private? Can a man find joy in God who still clings to the drunkard’s vice? Will God receive into his favor those who continue to practice dishonesty in trade? Shall sin be fondled and yet pardoned? No one dares to expect it, and yet deceitful hearts attempt to think so. They will condemn other people’s pet sins, and yet excuse their own. They pretend to much sorrow for sin in. general, and yet hold to one favourite sin in particular. Their delicate Agag must live. Kill all the rest, but surely as to this one the bitterness of death has passed! Continue reading →

Christalignment ‘legally’ threaten discerning Christians – caught profiting from plagiarism.

Posted by ∙ ∙ In Opinion ∙ , ,

(Churchwatch Central) Jordan Hall from Pulpit & Pen recently critiqued a video Bethel pastor Ben Fitzgerald uploaded to Facebook, where Fitzgerald accuses Christians of ‘micro-judging’. Not only did Fitzgerald condemn those for calling his mother a ‘witch’ (even though by biblical definition what she  practices is witchcraft), he also accuses someone of passing on information about his family’s occultic practices to discernment sites. As a result of this, his family are now threatening Christians with ‘legal action’.

The video that Jordan Hall reviewed can be seen in this article here: Continue reading →

What Is Truth?

Posted by ∙ ∙ In Opinion ∙ , ,

Aaron Brake offers three different views of Truth: The pragmatic theory; coherence theory; and  correspondence theory. In his piece over at Stand to Reason, Brake explains these views and then makes the case for what he believes is the only option for the Christian. He writes:

“What is truth?” Pontius Pilate wasn’t the first, or the last, to ask this.

The question, at first blush, may sound profound. In reality, I think we all know the answer to this age-old inquiry. I say that because we presuppose a certain definition of truth in our speech and actions every day of our lives. ….. Continue reading →

Writer Claims God is Sexual Assaulter in Adam and Eve Story, Shapiro Fires Back

Posted by ∙ ∙ In News ∙ , ,

(The Western Journal) Don’t cross political commentator Ben Shapiro, especially when it comes to religion.

On Thursday, Tamar Kolton, a rabbi and contributor for The Forward, drafted a piece titled, “The First Story In The Bible Was The First Case Of #MeToo.”

In the piece, Kolton compares the hallmark story from Genesis to the infamous case of former Olympic gymnastics doctor Larry Nassar who sexually assaulted over 150 young women. View article →

The Origin and Nature of Sin

Posted by ∙ ∙ In Devotion/Teaching ∙

How you have fallen from heaven, O morning star, son of Dawn! You have been cast down to the earth, you who once laid low the nations! You said in your heart, I will ascend to heaven, I will raise my throne on high above the stars of God… But you are brought down to the grave, to the depths of the pit. (Isaiah 14:12, 13a, 14)

These verses describe a supernatural figure who, in the invisible world of the spirit, is behind the earthly kingdom of Babylon. We are here looking at what has been called the fall of Satan.Lucifer, the brightest and most beautiful of the angels of God, the nearest to his throne, became so entranced with his own beauty that he rebelled against the government of God and thus became the adversary, Satan. Here he is seen as brought, at last, to the bottomless pit. Continue reading on Ray Stedman Daily Devotions

Recalcitrants Versus the Rainbow Ruling Class

Posted by ∙ ∙ In Opinion ∙ , , ,

(Bill Muehlenberg) In our brave new world of radical minority activist groups effectively taking over entire cultures, things are looking very bleak indeed for anyone who dares to resist the revolution. The militants have now become extremely powerful as the political world, the media, academia, and other institutions of power and influence readily run with their causes.

Those who refuse to bow the knee are being made to pay. They are being socially and culturally ostracised, hated on, and treated as outcasts. And there are very real ramifications of this: people are now being fired from their job, fined, or even jailed, for refusing to submit to the new agenda of the coercive utopians. Continue reading →

The philosophical contradictions of the transgender worldview

Posted by ∙ ∙ In Opinion ∙ , ,

(Ryan T. Anderson – Public Discourse) People say that we live in a postmodern age that has rejected metaphysics. That’s not quite true. We live in a postmodern age that promotes an alternative metaphysics. As I explain in When Harry Became Sally, at the heart of the transgender moment are radical ideas about the human person—in particular, that people are what they claim to be, regardless of contrary evidence. A transgender boy is a boy, not merely a girl who identifies as a boy. It’s understandable why activists make these claims. An argument about transgender identities will be much more persuasive if it concerns who someone is, not merely how someone identifies. And so the rhetoric of the transgender moment drips with ontological assertions: people are the gender they prefer to be. That’s the claim. Continue reading →

Bermuda Revokes Same-Sex-Marriage Rights, In A World First

Posted by ∙ ∙ In News ∙ ,

(Camila Domonoske – NPR) Less than a year after legalizing same-sex marriage, Bermuda is reversing course, implementing a law that says same-sex couples can enter domestic partnerships but not marry.

The British territory is believed to be the first jurisdiction in the world to reverse course on same-sex marriage after permitting it, The Guardian writes.

In May 2017, Bermuda’s Supreme Court legalized same-sex marriage. Within months, the island’s legislature passed a bill overturning that court decision, which was signed into law on Wednesday, The Associated Press reports: View article →

Univ. cancels Ken Ham after LGBT group ‘put up a fuss’

Posted by ∙ ∙ In News ∙ , , ,

(Baptist Press) Christian apologist and creationist Ken Ham has been dropped from the speaking lineup of a public university after a campus LGBT group complained to event organizers, Ham said in a Feb. 6 press release.

Ham was to speak March 5 at the University of Central Oklahoma in Edmond on “Genesis and the State of the Culture,” in an event organized by the UCO Student Association (UCOSA). But UCOSA cancelled the event when a pro-LGBT group objected, said Ham, founder of the Answers in Genesis (AiG) apologetics ministry that built the Creation Museum and the Ark Encounter in Kentucky.  View article →

Are you easy prey for false prophets?

Posted by ∙ ∙ In Opinion ∙ , ,

Note from Holy Pivec of Spirit of Error:

The following post was first published on my blog on August 23, 2013. With the rise of men and women calling themselves prophets, many people need to hear its warning more than ever.

The Bible is clear: false prophets are wolves that devour unsuspecting sheep.

Jesus said:

“Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves.” (Matthew 7:15) Continue reading →

Evangelical Leftists Beg Trump to Help Illegal Aliens

Posted by ∙ ∙ In Opinion ∙ , , ,

(Pulpit & Pen News) “Beth Moore, Russell Moore, Matt Chandler, Ed Stetzer, Jen Hatmaker…these are not conservative people. They range from Marxist-leaning New Calvinists to the desperate housewife contingent of feminist, pro-gay lady preachers.”

Illegal immigration has become the most popular issue to talk about among evangelicals seeking to build a bridge between evangelicalism and America’s left. Conceding on the culture wars of abortion and gay marriage, these evangelical leaders can’t be found in the thick of it on those important religious issues, but are at the front of the protest line when it comes to supporting illegal immigration. It’s a winning issue, as George Soros and his Evangelical Immigration Table have successfully convinced certain evangelicals that it’s their job to promote lawlessness. It’s a popular and easy public relations win, and evangelical leftists know it. Continue reading →

The One Coming

Posted by ∙ ∙ In Devotion/Teaching ∙

A shoot will come from the stump of Jesse; from his roots a Branch will bear fruit. The Spirit of the Lord will rest on him—the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding, the Spirit of counsel and of might, the Spirit of the knowledge and fear of the Lord—and he will delight in the fear of the Lord. (Isaiah 11:1-2)

It is not difficult for us to see that this is a clear prediction of the Lord Jesus. Here in these opening verses is a hint that the Messiah will appear in history in a very obscure way. That is suggested by this word, A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse. Like a great tree that has been cut down, the ancestry of Jesus represented in David and his father Jesse has been reduced to obscurity and insignificance. … Continue reading on Ray Stedman Daily Devotions

Meditation and the Art of Consciousness Hacking

Posted by ∙ ∙ In Opinion

Pam Frost reports on a very scary movement dubbed “enlightenment engineering” that everyone, especially Christians, should be made aware of. According to Frost, these people are experimenting with new technology to accelerate and enhance the development of meditative consciousness. The scientific technology of consciousness is the brain child of Mikey Siegel, founder of Consciousness Hacking.  You’ll learn about Siegel in Frost’s post. Here’s a glimpse of the man behind the screen:

By suspending the judgment of his normally functioning mind and abandoning himself to mental passivity, Siegel experienced the “enlightenment” of a higher state of transcendent consciousness in which neither “good” nor “bad” exists. According to Hinduism, the material world and the realm of distinctions are only an illusion (maya). The goal of meditation is to transcend these illusions until the soul (atman) is realized as god (brahman). (Bold added)

Continue reading →

Cardinal Marx, Papal Adviser: Catholic Priests May Bless Homosexual Couples

Posted by ∙ ∙ In News ∙ , ,

(CNSNews) In contradiction of the Catholic Church’s 2,000-year-old teaching on marriage and sexual morality, Cardinal Reinhard Marx, head of the German Bishops’ Conference and one of Pope Francis’ senior advisers, said it is okay for Catholic priests to encourage homosexual couples and to bless them in some form of liturgical or church ceremony.

The influential cardinal made his remarks on the Bavarian State Broadcasting radio service on Feb. 3, reported the Catholic News Agency and other media outlets.   His statements apparently have not been challenged by Pope Francis or by other bishops. View article →

Check out our Research Paper on the Roman Catholic Church

FBI lovers’ latest text messages: Obama ‘wants to know everything’

Posted by ∙ ∙ In News ∙ , , ,

(Fox News) Newly revealed text messages between FBI paramours Peter Strzok and Lisa Page include an exchange about preparing talking points for then-FBI Director James Comey to give to President Obama, who wanted “to know everything we’re doing.”

The message, from Page to Strzok, was among thousands of texts between the lovers reviewed by Fox News. The pair both worked at one point for Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s probe of alleged collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia.

Page wrote to Strzok on Sept. 2, 2016, about prepping Comey because “potus wants to know everything we’re doing.” According to a newly released Senate report, this text raises questions about Obama’s personal involvement in the Clinton email investigation. View article →

Showdown looms over SBC and Calvinism

Posted by ∙ ∙ In News ∙ , , ,

The following news story from One News Now is posted for informational and research purposes and not as an endorsement of the source.

 A longtime Southern Baptist leader warns there is a theological civil war brewing over the influence of Calvinist leaders within the denomination.

Richard Land, the former head of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, says he supports Ken Hemphill to lead the SBC as president in order to preserve the gospel message and to defend the role of evangelism.  View article →

Judge rules in favor of Tastries owner in discrimination case

Posted by ∙ ∙ In News ∙ ,

(Kern Golden Empire) A Kern County judge ruled in favor of Cathy Miller, owner of Tastries Bakery, Monday in an ongoing dispute over refusing to bake a cake for a same-sex couple.

The court ruled the state could not force Miller to bake a cake that would directly go against her beliefs.

One of the factors in the case, the judge ruled, was that the cake had not been baked for the couple and was not on sale.

If Miller had refused to sell the couple a cake on display then the act would be discriminatory.    View article →