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

Contemplative Prayer or the Holy Spirit – It Can’t Be Both

Posted by ∙ ∙ In Opinion ∙ , , ,

According to Ray Yungen, Christians are lulled into Contemplative Prayer (CP) by the emphasis on seeking the Kingdom of God and greater piety —  especially Christians who are not grounded firmly in the faith. Those who practice CP (silent prayer) seek to experience God in an inexplicable way, Church leaders and pastors should be able to discern what is spiritually unsound and lead the flock away from those who teach falsely. I mean, that’s their job, right? Unfortunately that’s not always the case, warns Yungen.

In his piece over at Lighthouse Trails, Ray Yungen tells us why Contemplative Prayer aka Centering Prayer has no place in Christianity: Continue reading →

John Piper Ignites Debate for Saying Only Men Should Teach at Seminaries

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(Michael Gryboski – Christian Post) Bethlehem College & Seminary Chancellor and DesiringGod.com founder John Piper has ignited another debate on women’s leadership roles in the Church after he said he doesn’t believe women should teach courses at seminaries.

In an installment of the Desiring God podcast “Ask Pastor John” posted Monday, a listener named Scott asked Piper about his opinion of women serving as professors at theology schools.

“I’m a seminary student at an orthodox but interdenominational school in the United States. I share your complementarian understanding of God’s design for male and female roles and relationships in the home and church,” wrote Scott. Continue reading →

The Turpin Case Has Nothing To Do With Homeschool. And Public School Is Still More Dangerous.

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(Matt Walsh – Daily Wire) It’s not as though thousands upon thousands of homeschool parents have their starving, unwashed kids chained to a bedpost. On the other hand, the sexual abuse problem in public school is a verified national crisis — 100 times worse than it ever was in the Catholic Church, in fact — even if we decline to acknowledge it.

The country has been repulsed and horrified by the case of the Turpin family in California. David and Louise Turpin, monsters in vaguely human form, have been arrested for torturing and tormenting their 13 children. The Turpin kids — some of them now adults in their twenties — were emaciated, filthy, and shackled to their beds with chains when police found them. The house was strewn with the carcasses of dead dogs and cats and various other debris. The details get even more disturbing from there. Continue reading →

The Purpose of Disabilities

Posted by ∙ ∙ In Devotion/Teaching ∙

As he went along, he saw a man blind from birth. His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” “Neither this man nor his parents sinned,” said Jesus, “but this happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him.” (John 9:1-3)

The disciples had evidently been taught that sin and hurt, injury and handicap are linked together; that human hurt is the result of human sin. Notice that Jesus does not deny that. It is helpful to note right from the beginning that he recognizes there is such a link. However, it is not the one that many people think, as he will make clear.  View article →

Photo of Obama with Hate Group Leader Surfaces After Being Kept Secret for Years to Protect Him

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A new photo has been recently released of former President Barack Obama with the leader of a black nationalist hate group.

The picture shows former Illinois Sen. Obama posing with the leader of the Nation of Islam, Louis Farrakhan.

Farrakhan is known for his radical anti-Semitic and anti-white views, outlined by the Southern Poverty Law Center. View article →

Why Bill Johnson says the Bible is not enough

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(Holy Pivec – Spirit of Error) One of the core beliefs at Bethel Church in Redding, California, is the need for new revelation from God, which is in contrast to the so-called old revelation of the Bible as it has been understood for the past 2,000 years.

New revelation can refer to many different things. It includes knowledge about what’s currently taking place in heaven and new interpretations of Scripture that are based on direct revelation from the Holy Spirit, apart from a historical and grammatical hermeneutic. It also includes what Johnson calls “new revelation of Jesus.” And it includes creative ideas–such as fresh music lyrics that will result in mass conversions to Christianity and breakthrough inventions in science and medicine. Continue reading →

Is It a Cold or the Flu? Knowing the Difference Could Save Your Life

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(LifeZette) With the deaths of 30 children so far this flu season, health experts are sharing critical information and precautionary measures

Knowing the difference between the common cold and the flu can be crucial to your well-being — and that of your loved ones — this winter.

On January 19, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) revealed that during the 2017 to 2018 flu season, there were 30 child deaths.

There have also been reports of adults who had the flu and died from complications. View article →

Breaking the Power of Sin

Posted by ∙ ∙ In Devotion/Teaching ∙

Then neither do I condemn you, Jesus declared. Go now and leave your life of sin. John 8:11b

In this passage, a woman caught in adultery was brought by the church leaders to Jesus. I do not know if we can accurately picture what was going on when this woman was brought before Jesus. I can see her being dragged in, red faced, her hair in disarray. She is angry, upset, rebellious, and bitter, perhaps striking out against her accusers. But when she sees how Jesus handles this crowd of hypocritical judges, and feels that his sympathies are with her, somewhere the mercy and love that was in his face and voice began to touch her. She realized how wrong she was, that she had sinned, and she repented. When she did, Jesus forgave her, obviously anticipating his death upon the cross for her. View article →

A Guided Tour to 2017’s Bestselling Christian Books

Posted by ∙ ∙ In Opinion ∙

Blogger, author and book reviewer Tim Challies urges us to keep in mind that just because a book is published under a Christian label and sold in a Christian bookstore doesn’t mean the book is filled with truth. A large number of so-called Christian books are stuffed full of error. “At a time where truth is easier than ever to access and book reviews abound,” says Challies, “there’s no reason to be taken in by the junk.”

Now listen as Tim Challies offers his view of  some of the bestselling “Christian” books of 2017. He writes: Continue reading →

Law and Gospel in Judge Aquilina’s Court

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Rachel Denhollander spoke boldly about the depth of Nassar’s guilt.

(Todd Pruitt – Mortification of Spin) I will not rehearse the grotesque acts of Larry Nasser.

As you probably know by now, Nassar is the former USA Gymnastics and Michigan State University doctor whose crimes led to his disgraceful end. Today (January 24) he was sentenced to spend the rest of his life in prison. It is estimated that Nassar sexually assaulted over 150 women and girls.

During the sentencing, Judge Rosemarie Aquilina gave some of those assaulted by Nassar an opportunity to address the court and the man who victimized them. Continue reading →

Touch Not My Anointed?

Posted by ∙ ∙ In Opinion ∙ , ,

Ever wonder what charismatics mean when they spout the words “Touch not My anointed one!” We know that in the Old Testament God had Samuel anoint David as Israel’s king. But does God still choose certain men for positions of power and then instruct someone to anoint them? Bible study author, speaker and blogger Michelle Lesley goes to the scriptures to show what “anointing” is all about. She writes:

“Never challenge or speak out against God’s anointed,” I recently read in a book for Christian women.

Have you ever heard someone say this? Is it biblical? Who are “God’s anointed”? Why should we never challenge or speak out against them? What does it mean to be “anointed” anyway? Continue reading →

The Roman Catholic ‘Mother Mary’ Deception and The Destruction of Souls

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(Soul Refuge) Do you remember the time when the disciples asked Jesus to teach them how to pray?

“And it came to pass, that, as he was praying in a certain place, when he ceased, one of his disciples said unto him, Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples. And he said unto them, When ye pray, say, Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, as in heaven, so in earth. ”  (Luke 11:1-2)

Did the Lord tell his disciples to pray “Our Mother which art in Heaven” or did he tell them to pray “Our Father which art in Heaven”? Can you find the Lord Jesus Christ ever telling his followers to pray a “Hail Mary” prayer?  Can you ever find the Lord Jesus Christ encouraging his followers to build a shrine to his earthly mother Mary? Of course, you will not find any of this stuff in the scriptures, so why do people do these things? The bottom line is that they have accepted and believed the words of mere men (man-made tradition) over the scriptures (the Word of God). It is of the utmost importance that people search the scriptures for themselves, as the Bereans did so that they may know the truth that can set them free. Continue reading →

Moody blues

Posted by ∙ ∙ In Opinion ∙ ,

(World Magazine – Paul Butler & Marvin Olasky) Financial errors, insider dealings, and theological concerns force a change at an evangelical powerhouse

The story sounds like something out of a movie.

In 2017, a talk show host on the Moody Radio Network blows the whistle on the leadership of one of American evangelicalism’s flagship institutions, the Moody Bible Institute (MBI). On Jan. 9, 2018, she escalates the pressure with a hard-hitting headline on her blog: “A Luxury Suite, Questionable Loan to Officer, & Gambling: The Disturbing Truth About Leadership at MBI.” Moody within hours fires her and sends a man to her house to seize her laptop—but she is on her way to Mexico, with the computer. Continue reading →

Middle age sleep problems tied to cognitive decline down the line

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(Reuters Health)  People who suffer from sleep disturbances in midlife or as they age may be more likely to develop cognitive impairment than people who usually get plenty of uninterrupted rest, new research suggests.

Researchers examined data from four studies of the link between sleep and cognitive function, including two studies that followed almost 3,400 people for more than two decades, starting when they were in their 50s. In these two cohorts, people who suffered from nightmares and insomnia in middle age were more likely to experience cognitive impairment in old age than people who slept just fine earlier on. View article →

Swimming bacteria defy Darwin

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(Baptist Press) Tiny biological motors that give bacteria the power to swim possess a complexity that baffles scientists and undercuts Darwin’s theory of evolution. A recent study in Scientific Reports claims the existence of the motors shows evolution produces inevitable and creative ideas, terminology that sounds more like the work of God than of natural selection.

“Natural selection is supposed to be blind, random, and uncaring, but not here,” Discovery Institute experts noted Jan. 8 on the organization’s blog. View article →

Pope Says Molestation Victims are Slandering Pedophile Priests

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(Pulpit & Pen News) The Pope has shocked the world for accusing victims of one of the Papacy’s most notorious pedophile-covering bishops of “sander,” blaming the victims and shaming them into further silence.

Bishop Juan Barros, by all accounting in the press, helped to cover up the sins of Chile’s worst pedophile priest, the “Reverend” Fernando Karadima. The guilt of Karadima himself is not in question, and the Romanist church itself found Karadmia guilty of sexually abusing minors and sentenced him to – get this – a “life of prayer and penitence.” Wave after wave of parishioners claimed that Karadima had molested them, from 1984 to 2003. In 2004, the Romanists began to investigate Kadima, and even though the Vatican prosecutor said he found the claims substantiated and the claimants trustworthy, the church trial was halted for three years because Catholic officials said it was “beyond the statute of limitations.” View article →

See our Research Paper on the Roman Catholic Church

Rediscovering the Holiness of God

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“Where did holiness go?” wonders David Schrock. “Evangelicals who only speak profusely of God’s love,” says Schrock, “have too often discarded his holiness. As A. W. Tozer observed more than a generation ago, ‘we lack reverence—not because we are free in the gospel, but because God is absent, and we have no sense of His presence.’ We offer to others a message of salvation from judgment, when we ourselves do not tremble before God.”

In this piece over at Credo Magazine, Dr. Schrock helps us rediscover the Holiness of God. He writes: Continue reading →

Three Seminary Presidents to Unleash Mark Driscoll at Conference

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(Pulpit & Pen News) The “Unleashed Conference” is a Phoenix-area conference organized by Ryan Rice of North Valley Community Church. According to its website, the point of the conference is to help the city of Phoenix, which they call “one of the most post-Christian and Biblically illiterate cities in America,” and so bring together “local and national leaders about how preaching God’s Word has expanded the Kingdom of God from generation to generation and how churches that commit to communicating the timeless truths of Scripture are thriving in the midst of troubled times.”    View article →

‘Bethelated’ spirits? Bethel teaching we can walk through walls & walk on water

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Kevin Dedmon is responsible for the majority of bizarre Bethel Church practices .

(Churchwatch Central) Back in 2008 with many involved in the New Apostolic Reformation (NAR), the Lakeland revival was going on – with Todd Bentley being recognized as a New Breed (little god) on earth. This theology came out of the New Order of the Latter Rain (NOLR). (That is the sonship spirit, the power gospel and the kenotic Christ.)

‘Prophet’ Paul Cain (a heavy advocate of the NAR), announced he was now seeing the fulfillment of what the NOLR prophesied about the New Breed when he prayed for Todd Bentley. (Cain was involved in the NOLR.) Continue reading →

Bad Examples of Women Pastors (But Great Examples of Godly Women)

Posted by ∙ ∙ In Opinion ∙

Should there be equality in the roles of men and women as many Christians believe?  Or has God gifted women to fulfill only the roles He has specifically designed for them…. which does not include women becoming pastors, nor is it a woman’s role to teach men.

In this piece over at Junction City, Gabriel Hughes discusses the role of women in the Church. He writes:

In 1 Timothy 2:11-12, the Apostle Paul wrote, “Let a woman learn quietly with all submissiveness. I do not permit a woman to teach or to exercise authority over a man; rather, she is to remain quiet.” The context here is church leadership, an instruction that continues into chapter 3. A woman is not permitted to be a pastor in a church (elder, bishop, overseer, etc.). Only a man can be a pastor. Continue reading →

Chip and Joanna Gaines Announce New Partnership With Tim Tebow

Posted by ∙ ∙ In News ∙

The final season of HGTV’s “Fixer Upper” promises to share moments with some very special guests, and viewers are sure to recognize the famous faces.

Joanna and Chip Gaines welcomed former first lady Laura Bush to the set for the upcoming episode “A Model Cabin Makeover,” where the couple will be renovating the home of friend and metal artist Jimmy Don Holmes.

According to Country Living, the renovation reality stars have a budget of no more than $70,000 to renovate Holmes’ small outdated home into his mountain-living dream home. View article →

Reprise: Responses to the Most Frequently Raised Discernment Objections

Posted by ∙ ∙ In Opinion ∙ , ,

First posted in January 2017

Bible study author, speaker and blogger Michelle Lesley responds to those who take her to task for “naming names.” Her answer to #6 “You’re being unkind, unloving, ungodly, divisive, hateful, self-righteous, mean, critical, etc. for calling out false teachers” is spot on.  You will find Michelle’s responses to the opposition a great help in contending with scoffers.  She writes:

Discernment- it’s a dirty job, but somebody’s gotta do it. While I’m a women’s discipleship blogger rather than a discernment blogger, discernment is part of discipleship. And it’s sorely lacking among Christian women today, which is why it’s regularly featured in my writing. Continue reading →

Why Dr. Michael Brown Has No Credibility

Posted by ∙ ∙ In Opinion ∙ , , ,

In 2016, Anthony Wade came down hard on Christian apologist Michael Brown for showing a stunning lack of discernment over the years. In light of  the company he keeps (see the wolves he associates with here), should we have any confidence in Dr. Brown at all? Should someone who knowingly runs with ravenous wolves be considered credible? “Who we choose to lend our credibility to matters to the people who see us and listen to us,” reminds Wade.

Surprisingly, even though there’s an abundance of evidence to prove that Michael Brown, who is a charismatic, shares much of the of NAR false signs and wonders beliefs, some highly regarded Christian luminaries choose to not only defend him, they go to great lengths to marginalize his critics.  Anthony Wade, who happens to be an Assemblies of God pastor and a cessationist, says that as far as he’s concerned Dr. Brown has lost all credibility.  In a blog post over at 8:28 Ministries, Wade explains why he believes the Christian community should be very wary of Dr. Michael Brown. He writes: Continue reading →

AND THE WINNERS ARE: Trump Gives Out The Top 10 Fake News Awards For 2017

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(Ryan Saavedra – Dailywire) President Donald Trump and the GOP recognized the worst the media had to offer in 2017 on Wednesday with the Fake News Awards.

The press release highlighted reports from Harvard, the Media Research Center, and Pew Research Center that show the media has given the president overwhelming negative coverage through their highly-biased coverage.

The GOP released the top 10 winners of the 2017 Fake News Awards: View article →