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

Former Facebook president Sean Parker: ‘God only knows what it’s doing to our children’s brains’

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Matthew Field of The Telegraph explains:

Facebook has been attacked by one of its founding members for “exploiting a vulnerability in human psychology” and putting children’s mental health at risk.

Sean Parker, the former president of Facebook who joined Mark Zuckerberg’s company in its first months, said the company’s founders intentionally built the site to consume as much human attention as possible.

Parker, who has made billions as an early shareholder in the social network, also criticised Facebook’s effect on children. “It literally changes your relationship with society, with each other,” he told newsite Axios. “It probably interferes with productivity in weird ways. God only knows what it’s doing to our children’s brains.”

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Here I Am to Worhsip (with Heretics): Chris Tomlin Plans Worship Night with Cultists

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Pulpit & Pen News reports:

We Fall Down. Your Grace is Enough. Here I am to Worship.

These are all songs that Chris Tomlin has written and/or performed. Some of them are very, very good songs. Tomlin is the Texas-based Contemporary Christian Music (CCM) star who was once a staff member at Austin Stone Community Church and is currently the worship leader at Louie Giglio’s Passion City Church in Atlanta. He is, by all accounts, a wonderful performer.

However, Tomlin is headlining a “worship night” sponsored by KLOVE and AiR1, and is partnering in the process with several cultists and non-Christians. His website says the point of the the night is to “bring unity to the church” and is actually part of a larger tour in April and May. Performers include a number of CCM stars. However, several of those CCM stars fail at the middle “C” and do not represent the Biblical church, which Tomlin ostensibly seeks to unify.

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Perry Noble Threatens Pulpit & Pen With Legal Action

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From Berean Research:

UPDATE: There have been some significant developments in this story. According to P&P, the original post regarding Perry Noble’s “public relations and crisis manager” threatening legal action against P&P  has mysteriously disappeared from the site.

P&P describes what happened in the past few hours here, and includes the original article that was removed:

“That’s a first. A post we published about Perry Noble threatening us with legal action completely disappeared from our website. It has also been taken down from Church Watch Central, a site that also ran the story. We reached out to Church Watch Central, and they were told that we (that is, Pulpit & Pen) removed the article because they brought legal action against us and we agreed it was erroneous. That did not happen. Not only did they not bring legal action (they only threatened it), we did not take the article down. Frederick’s outfit lied. The article they threatened us about, in fact, is still up online.”   READ MORE HERE

This is a developing story. Whatever your opinion on the elements of the article, the most disturbing of all is the idea that anyone could remove a blogger’s post from his or her site without that blogger or site owner knowing. Updates will be posted here.

Posted 11/11/17

From Berean Research:

Berean Research has done some research into the “public relations and crisis manager” that’s threatening Pulpit & Pen with legal action, Hunter Frederick. According to  P&P:

She explains in her post, “Crisis Managed?,” that Frederick needs “to know they are repentant before [he] will work with them.”…“I called Frederick yesterday to ask him about his newest client, Tullian Tchividjian. After losing his ministry job last week, the former pastor contacted the agency, and on Monday, Frederick took him under counsel.”

So now Hunter Frederick has taken disgraced former pastor Perry Noble under counsel and, as you will see, Frederick’s now threatening P&P with legal action if they refuse to back off from telling the truth about Mr. Noble. Here’s what’s going on:

Perry Noble is the (formerly?) drunken pastor who played Highway to Hell on Easter Sunday, cussed at his church members for wanting discipleship, was rebuked by his denomination for butchering the Ten Commandments, and who was released from his megachurch ministry position for unrepentance regarding alcohol and what appears to be marital indiscretions. Recently, we brought to you news of his divorce. Prior to that, we brought to you news that he was launching a ministry to help pastors grow their churches through what is essentially a business model.

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Michael Brown Lends Lentz A Spine?

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Noted apologist Dr. Michael Brown has a habit of appealing to the personal relationship he has with false teachers to justify their unbiblical teachings, practices and behaviors, often standing with them in their error. Now Dr. Brown feels the need to try and justify Hillsong New York “pastor” Carl Lentz’s comment on whether or not abortion is a sin. When asked by Joy Bahar of ABC’s “The View” if abortion is a sin, the hip cool shepherd of the sheep’s responded by saying that “God is the judge.” Lentz remarked that he would prefer knowing a person’s name and beliefs before determining whether or not they have sinned.

Churchwatch Central chides Dr. Brown for trying to justify Lentz’s lack of spine when responding to the abortion question:

“You are the ones who justify yourselves in the eyes of others, but God knows your hearts. What people value highly is detestable in God’s sight.” Luke 16:8

Michael Brown recently defended Carl Lentz’ recent unjustifiable comments on ‘The View’ over the issue of abortion. Lentz compromised himself discussing the Christian stance of murdering infants in the womb. After being soundly lambasted on social media by fellow Christians, Lentz did not apologize (as most Christians would) – he simply JUSTIFIED his behavior.

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America’s Veterans: Six Ways They Unite Us

Posted by ∙ ∙ In Opinion ∙

Harry Wedewer, who is a retired U.S. Navy Commander, says that when he researched his father’s WWII combat experience and his recovery from grievous wounds it gave him a whole new perspective. Wedewer hopes his father’s story will resonate on this solemn occasion:

It’s been said that our nation’s military is detached from the citizenry it serves. This is not something I previously thought about, although I am a second-generation veteran, and my son and a nephew are currently on active duty. But researching my father’s World War II combat experience and his subsequent recovery from grievous wounds — he is a double amputee and blind — has given me a different perspective.

If my father’s experience is any guide, a veteran’s life is one that embodies unifying, uniquely American themes.

So in addition to a day of remembrance, Veterans Day can also be a celebration of at least six themes that unite us with our military and, more broadly, with our families and fellow citizens — themes I discovered while researching my father’s story and that I hope resonate on this solemn occasion.

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What Is the Greatest of All Protestant ‘Heresies’?

Posted by ∙ ∙ In Devotion/Teaching

Let us begin with a church history exam question. Cardinal Robert Bellarmine (1542–1621) was a figure not to be taken lightly. He was Pope Clement VIII’s personal theologian and one of the most able figures in the Counter-Reformation movement within sixteenth-century Roman Catholicism. On one occasion, he wrote: “The greatest of all Protestant heresies is _______ .” Complete, explain, and discuss Bellarmine’s statement.

How would you answer? What is the greatest of all Protestant heresies? Perhaps justification by faith? Perhaps Scripture alone, or one of the other Reformation watchwords?

Those answers make logical sense. But none of them completes Bellarmine’s sentence. What he wrote was: “The greatest of all Protestant heresies is assurance.”  View article →

Season of the Witch

Posted by ∙ ∙ In Opinion ∙ , ,

From Berean Research:

I’m adding this piece by Michelle Goldberg to Berean Research’s ever growing list of White Paper articles on Occult – Sorcery. According to Goldberg, people’s interest in organized religion is waning while occultism, i.e. witchcraft and astrology, is becoming normalized, especially among millennials. What she finds interesting is that more and more people are using occult practices to deal with their woes. “When traditional institutions and beliefs collapse and people are caught between cultural despair and cosmic hopes, they often turn to magic.” And when people are in a state of despair during times of social crisis, occultism gains currency, says Goldberg.  She goes on to say that today’s social crisis has a growing number of people embracing new forms of mysticism, especially those who see the election of Donald J. Trump as a calamity. In other words, liberals.

In my intro to More students, young Americans turn to paganism I explained what witches believe:

those who practice witchcraft (Wicca) have “monistic and pantheistic beliefs that all living things are of equal value. … Humans have no special place, nor are they made in God’s image. … Wiccans believe that they possess divine power within themselves and that they are gods and goddesses. …Consciousness can and should be altered through rite and ritual.”

Therefore, Christians must flee from any sort of pagan practice. Deut 18:10-14

Goldberg’s piece is published over at the liberal New York Times:

On a Wednesday evening last week, I sat in on a class called “Witchcraft 101: Curses, Hexes and Jinxes,” at Catland, a fashionable occult boutique in Bushwick, Brooklyn. More than a dozen people, most of them young women, sat in folding chairs in the store’s black-walled event space. The instructor was one of Catland’s co-owners, Dakota Bracciale, a charismatic, foul-mouthed 28-year-old former M.A.C. makeup artist dressed in flowing black, with a beard and long, lavender nails.

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Paula White Asks God What He’s Hungry For, How She Can Feed Him

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According to Pulpit & Pen News:

Paul White, who claims to have led President Trump to Christ, asked God on Facebook yesterday what he’s hungry for and how she might feed him.

White is newly married to her third husband, Journey rock musician, Jonathan Cain. As her marriage to Randy White ended, Paula was having a rather public affair with Benny Hinn, and as a result, it ruined his marriage as well. Nonetheless, “White-Cain” is still a prominent feature in charismaticism, and recently appeared on rapist and convicted felon Jim Bakker’s survival food infomercial.

Some gave obvious criticism to the ridiculous notion that God (the Father) eats, that God the Father is hungry, or that we are capable of feeding Him.

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TBN Sues Brittany Crouch Davidson 21 Times

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Barry Bowen of The Christian Sentinel has the story:

Brittany Crouch Davidson, the granddaughter of Trinity Broadcasting Network founders Paul Sr. and Jan Crouch, and niece to current TBN President Matthew Crouch, has been sued by the religious TV network 21 times.

TBN has sued Davidson in California, New York and New Jersey. Davidson has given up fighting these legal battles. In a letter to Judge Scott Clarkson, Davidson lists the 21 lawsuits and writes, “I would like to be respectful of the Court and give notice that I will no longer be appearing or participating in this litigation, and I leave it up to the Court to decide what to do from here. I have been litigating with the Plaintiffs, who are also my family members for over 6 years …”

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Bethel Teaches to Declare God is in a Good Mood and Other Insanities

Posted by ∙ ∙ In Opinion ∙ , , ,

Anthony Wade examines the dead mess known as Bethel Church in Redding, CA. Those who know about NAR “Super Apostle” Bill Johnson and the church he pastors have watched some of the Youtube videos and seen for themselves the bizarre goings on during a typical Sunday morning service. According to Wade, Bethel’s “over-spiritualized notions of dreams, visions, angelic visitations, impartations, anointings, giftings and calls…are all biblically themed but not actually supported by the Word of God the way they are being taught.”

In his piece over at 8:28 Mnistries, Wade adds to the growing list of Bethel leadership’s  unbiblical–and quite frankly diabolical–teaching. He writes:

Beloved, we have covered the many heresies emanating from the cesspool known as Bethel Church in Redding California. This is the church operated by Bill Johnson, who never met a false teaching he didn’t like. The co-leader is the wildly heretical Kris Vallotton. Their resident “hipster prophet dude” is Shan Bolz who does psychic cold readings with his smart phone. They even have their own heretical worship act in Jesus Culture who are leading countless kids away from the real Christ with a false gospel. They operate a school of the supernatural where they actually teach people how to manifest the gifts of the Spirit, which completely usurps God’s power. Bethel is ground zero for experiential Christianity which eschews the Bible for our own personal experiences. They teach their adherents to “listen for God” and whatever pops into their minds is assumed to be God instead of their wickedly deceitful hearts. They operate a “dead raising team” that claims 15 resurrections to their credit without a shred of proof. The infamous “grave sucking” heresy also originated from Bethel. They teach that God always must heal us, that He is never angry with us, and the quid pro quo blessing theology of prosperity. If this sounds like a lot, there is even more, including dominionism, seven mountains theology, false signs and lying wonders, and word faith teachings. This information is hardly hidden as Bethel brags about their heresy and deems anyone who disagrees as needing a deeper revelation of the Spirit. We came across the above linked page on their website that states: “We love to declare promises and truth as we give our tithes and offerings. Below are declarations that we make during the offering time of our weekend services.”

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Christianity is in a serious crisis

Posted by ∙ ∙ In Devotion/Teaching ∙ , ,

Pelagianism? What is it and why should believers be concerned that it has become pervasive in the visible Church? Listen to Michael Horton and the White Horse Inn panel examine the “Heresy of American Pelagianism.” Following is Mike Horton’s intro:

The fact that recent polls indicate that 77% of the evangelicals today believe that human beings are basically good and 84% of these conservative Protestants believe that in salvation “God helps those who help themselves” demonstrates incontrovertibly that contemporary Christianity is in a serious crisis. No longer can conservative, “Bible-believing” evangelicals smugly hurl insults at mainline Protestants and Roman Catholics for doctrinal treason. It is evangelicals today, every bit as much as anyone else, who have embraced the assumptions of the Pelagian heresy. It is this heresy that lies at the bottom of much of popular psychology (human nature, basically good, is warped by its environment), political crusades (we are going to bring about salvation and revival through this campaign), and evangelism and church growth (seeing conversion as a natural process, just like changing from one brand of soap to another, and seeing the evangelist or entrepreneurial pastor as the one who actually adds to the church those to be saved).

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Two Men Who Identify as Women Elected to Government Offices as Days Grow Darker

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Christian News reports:

Democrat Daniel “Danica” Roem was elected to the Virginia House of Delegates

Two men who identify as women were elected by voters on Tuesday, one running for city council in Minnesota and another seeking to serve in Virginia’s House of Delegates.

Andrea Jenkins, whose birth name has not been cited in reports, was elected to the Minneapolis City Council with 73 percent of the vote. Jenkins began presenting as a female 26 years ago at age 30, and has been working as the senior policy aide for Councilmember Elizabeth Glidden for the past 12 years.

He also is active as a poet and a transgender activist, working with the Transgender Oral History Project (TOHP) at the University of Minnesota.

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Most Charismatics Are Closet Cessationists

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According to Eternity Matters (EM), charismatics have redefined healings, tongues and fallability of prophets from the original biblical definitions and even the nature of what a gift is. Adding to the problem, says EM, we have evangelical leaders like Dr. John Piper allow the charismatics’ redefinition of a prophet to stand; thus, “they can’t be dismissed even when they get loads of prophesies wrong.”

EM contends that both sides are cessationists…with one side being less so than the other. Here’s how they reached this conclusion:

Until recently I was a fence-sitter on the continuation/cessation of spiritual gifts debate topic, never really researching it enough to pick a side.  My position was that while the gifts could continue, I’d never seen them done properly (e.g., those enamored with the gift of tongues never obeyed the handful of verses governing their use).  Other than some “sloppy God talk” that I’ve addressed many times, I never went to a church where leaders took things too far (e.g., the Benny Hinn / Bill Johnson – Bethel / etc. nonsense).

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Believers Are Not Out On Bail

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Dr. R. Scott Clark explains the rudiments of the justice system “in order to appreciate what God’s Word means when it says that believers in the Lord Jesus Christ have been ‘justified.’” Dr. Clark’s piece is published on The Heidelblog:

In the American criminal justice system, for many charges, after one has been arrested and booked (photographed for a “mug shot,” fingerprinted, and paperwork completed) one goes to jail to await a preliminary hearing and after that a trial of the charge. The only way to be released from jail is to “post bond.” That is the process of paying a percentage of a substantial sum of money to the court as a guarantee that the person charged will appear as needed for hearings and especially for the trial.

A person out of jail on bail, who has been charged with a crime, is in a legal limbo. Legall is still innocent but a cloud hangs over his head. He has been charged but he has not been either convicted or cleared. He is waiting for a future adjudication of his case. He is still subject to criminal penalties (e.g., fines) and punishment e.g., prison or even death).

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The difference between apostolic gift vs apostolic office and how to recognize NAR apostles

Posted by ∙ ∙ In Opinion ∙ , , ,

From Churchwatch Central:

When starting to examine cults, one quickly realizes that their nature is to mainstream their teachings and leaders. Most importantly, their drive is to be accepted and affirmed as a legitimate Christian group.

This quest for affirmation can be seen in the New Order of the Latter Rain cult.

The NOLR were thrilled to be embraced as a legitimate group through their Charismatic Movement in the early 1960s. In 1967 and later again in 1977, they were also happy to be affirmed by Roman Catholics .

C. Peter Wagner has often written about the rise of the New Apostolic Reformation that was emerging from the Charismatic Movement, he himself acknowledging the roots stemming back to the NOLR. Below, we have a quote from a section of his book ‘Apostles Today’ that has him teaching on the difference between the ‘apostolic gift and the apostolic office’ then proceeds to teach people how to recognize NAR apostles.

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Check out Berean Research’s White Paper on the New Apostolic Reformation/NAR

Does Jesus love you more if you send your pastor a thousand bucks?

Posted by ∙ ∙ In Opinion ∙ , , ,

In an interview on CNN, Costi Hinn, nephew of televangelist Benny Hinn, explains what changed his mind about heretical Word of Faith/prosperity/health & wealth teaching and why he now believes that, as a child, he was introduced to false teaching. Costi is now an outspoken critic of the prosperity gospel and speaks out against it. As a result, he is estranged from his family. The video is followed by an exposé on the Hinn family empire written by liberal CNN news anchor Carol Costello who also conducted the interview:

Head of the Hinn Family Empire, Benny Hinn

We use Jesus’s name in twisted — and often awful — ways to make points that are more about us and less about Jesus and his teachings. Pro-life and want to pack heat? Numerous articles are dedicated to which gun Jesus would carry to protect the “weak and defenseless.”

Certain leaders, who claim to be religious, are dedicated to a greedy notion of Jesus who just wants one thing for his loyal followers: money, money and more money.
My interest in this exploitation of Jesus deepened after I met Costi Hinn. His uncle, Pastor Benny Hinn, claims God uses him as a conduit to cure disease: He simply “lays hands,” Jesus-like, on a chronically ill person, pushes them to the ground and — bam! — the person bounces back to health.

Christians, We Need To Talk About Hollywood

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From Berean Research:

Tim Challies addresses the Hollywood crisis. He reminds us that there is a lack of godly character in the entertainment industry. In light of the serious allegations, Christians must consider our relationship to Tinseltown, says Challies. “I think we as believers need to think seriously at this juncture about our participation in this world, this world which is proving itself to be absolutely vile, absolutely full of the worst kind of sin and depravity.”  Tim has done a short video and includes a transcript. So you can watch or read — or both!

These have been some dark days for Hollywood. I’m not talking about box office receipts. I’m not talking about Rotten Tomatoes reviews. I’m talking about scandal. A few weeks ago, a scandal erupted in Hollywood. Since then, it’s risen, it’s grown, and it’s threatened to become a full-blown crisis that might disrupt the whole industry there in Hollywood. I think it’s important that we as Christian at a place like this start to think about our relationship to Hollywood. Christians, I think we need to talk about Tinseltown.

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Who Will Go Into the ‘Furnace of Fire’ Jesus warned about? – Part 2

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Following is part 2 of a series we published entitled “Hell Interrupted” by Tim Barnett and Greg Koukl of Stand to Reason. Barnett and Koukl go to the scriptures to answer the burning question: Is the future punishment of the wicked a place of eternal fire?

Hell is not a pleasant topic. It’s an ugly, unsettling, dangerous reality—expedient to dismiss, easy to avoid serious discussion about, convenient to disregard by joking about in a way that trivializes it.

This will not do, though, because the sobering certainty about Hell is this: One day every person who has ever lived will stand in judgment for their conduct in this life. For multitudes, that will not go well because for them, when the final gavel falls, Hell will be their sentence.

The nature of that sentence is our concern here. However, regardless of how one construes what happens in Hell, one point is clear: Hell is the end of the line. It is the final state. It is the ultimate destination for the damned. Hell’s door is shut forever, and its sentence can never be undone, revoked, or reversed. Ever.

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Read part 1 here

The Spirit of God Provides Assurance of Salvation

Posted by ∙ ∙ In Devotion/Teaching ∙ , ,

Josh Buice of Delivered by Grace examines 1 John. Find out how a person can know if they are a true Christian:

Yesterday I had the opportunity of preaching from 1 John 4:13-21 in our series through the epistle of 1 John.   As we’ve pointed out all through the series, John has a desire for his readers to know some things about God, about themselves, and to have assurance of their salvation.   We have purposely titled the series, “Know” for that reason.

Millions of professing Christians wake up everyday and approach life without concrete assurance of their salvation.  They ask themselves often if their faith is real, if their religion is genuine, and if they have truly pleased God.  However, they continue to fall back into ongoing patterns of sin and seem to have very little if any love for God’s Word and their local church.  How can a person know they are indeed a true Christian?

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How Should We Respond to the Horrific Church Shooting in Texas?

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The First Baptist Church of Sutherland Springs Texas

By Pulpit & Pen News Division, Nov 5, 2017

…Preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching (2 Timothy 4:2).

What We Know

Today, a mad gunman burst into the First Baptist Church of Sutherland Springs, Texas, and killed (at least) 26 people and shot approximately 20 more. Average attendance for the church is in the fifties, meaning that almost everyone was shot. The youngest victim was reportedly two and the oldest is in their 70s. The pastor’s 14-year-old daughter was murdered. The gunman was Devin Kelley, a 26 year-old with a dishonorable discharge from the military. Reportedly, he was a registered Democrat, former VBS instructor, and by some reporting, involved with Antifa (no one knows at this point how valid the reporting has been in its earliest of stages). Also, Kelley had posted a photograph of his AR-15 rifle on Facebook in late October. It is unknown what his connection is with the church, but it is not believed he had one. One Citizen grabbed his rifle when seeing the shooting, and took up pursuit with another Citizen who stopped and let him in his vehicle. They pursued Kelley until he ran off the road, and they kept point until police arrived. It is unclear if Kelley was shot by the Citizen or by his own hand.

What Else We Know, and What We Expect

We know that this little town near San Antonio is reeling in agony. For them, this tragedy is Apocalyptic in scale. An entire church was wiped off the face of the Earth, entire families were decimated, an entire community for the rest of time will be remembered as the place where it happened. No doubt, this little hamlet of civilization has been flooded with news agencies from around the world, agents with the FBI and ATF, ambulance-chasing opportunists of the worst varieties, and well-meaning helping hands (who often get in the way).

Whenever schools resume, they will need an army of people trained in crisis therapy. Life will not get back to “normal” in this town for a long, long time – if ever. Likewise, we can expect for liberals to call for gun control (in fact, they already have started) and conspiracy theorists will find reasons to explain that this is a “false flag” designed to confiscate firearms. If Kelley is indeed an activist with Antifa or a registered Democrat, conservatives will claim this is the fruit of an increasingly anti-Christian culture. If Kelley was on psychotropic prescription drugs, it will be used as further evidence that we are medicating people into sociopaths. Anti-military activists will claim that the army is creating killers. If Kelley was a conservative, liberals will seek to draw him to some kind of militia movement and perpetuate the stereotype of dangerous white men. All of those conversations will be had in coming days.

It will be easy to get sucked into the political volleying back and forth between conservatives and Marxist fascists who want to disarm America. It will be easy to make that the substance of our concern. We can expect political opportunists to take as much advantage of this situation as ambulance-chasing lawyers at a horrific crash scene.

What We Should Do

Find out here  View article →

‘Should we take our kids to see “The Star” film?’

Posted by ∙ ∙ In Opinion ∙ ,

Berean Research reviews the Sony Pictures animated film that’s “for the whole family.”:

I recently received a letter from a woman whose church’s children’s ministry was wondering if the new Christmas film, “The Star,” is worth seeing.

There are no reviews yet, but there is a considerable amount of promotion. What most see when Googling this movie is a Shrek-like retelling of “the Christmas story” through the eyes of the animals. But it is only loosely based on the real biblical account of Christ’s birth, with a whole lot of made-up fantasy backstory.

From the trailer and press release, I caught a couple of details that you might want to consider. First, the soundtrack by Mariah Carey plays in the background with the lyrics, “that’s what Christmas means to me,” which is subtly pushing the idea of relativism – instead of truth, it’s whatever truth is true in your own heart.

Perry Noble Announces That He and His Wife Are Divorcing

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Last year we learned that Perry Noble was removed as senior pastor of the church he founded. The NewSpring Board of Directors announced that it was “a difficult and painful decision” to remove Noble, adding that he was “no longer qualified to serve as pastor.” Shane Duffy announced to the church that Noble “had made unfortunate choices and decisions that have caused much concern.” Duffy said the directors had confronted Noble about his alcohol use and his “posture toward marriage.” Founder or not, the board felt they had no choice but to fire him.

Sixteen months later Noble announced that he and his wife are divorcing. Since they’re both professing Christians we can only assume that the reason for the divorce is biblical. There are two clear grounds for divorce: (1) sexual immorality (Matthew 5:32; 19:9) and (2) abandonment by an unbeliever (1 Corinthians 7:15).  But Bible believing Christians must keep in mind that “I hate divorce, says the Lord God.” (Malachi 2:16)

Now to The Wartburg Watch’s story on the disgraced former pastor’s divorce announcement:

Perry Noble, former senior pastor of NewSpring Church in Anderson, South Carolina, has announced via Faithwire that after 17 years of marriage, he and his wife Lucretia are calling it quits. See screen shot below.

“This is one of the most difficult things I’ve ever communicated, and I understand it will be even more difficult for many of you to read. After being married for 17 years I have found myself in a place I never imagined I would be — as no one who has ever been married ever dreams in a million years that their marriage will one day end in divorce.

“However, that is where I find myself at this point in time.

“I am doing my best to walk through this deeply personal and painful process with as much grace as possible. I would ask for your prayers in this season as well as humbly ask for privacy for my family in this matter as we work through this deeply personal situation.”

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Related:

Perry Noble Files Paperwork for New Church: NewSpring Says He’s Not Qualified to Pastor

Perry Noble’s Ended Preaching Career Revived at Elevation Church 

Perry Noble Says Churches Are Businesses, Offers to Help The Grow

Alcoholic Pastor, Perry Noble, Says He Will Not Return to Ministry

Perry Noble Removed As Pastor At NewSpring for Personal Behavior Related to Alcohol

Voice of the Apostles: Deceiving Apostles Spirits and Demonic Transference

Posted by ∙ ∙ In Opinion ∙ , ,

EmergentWatch reminds us that “there are multiple verses in the Gospels showing demons manifesting similar symptoms [that occur at the conference] – being seized by evil spirits, falling to the ground and convulsing (twitching and jerking, etc.).”

EW has produced a video of a Voice of The Apostles conference that was held Oct. 17-20 in Lancaster, PA. Watch the video and you will witness what happens when NAR wolves lay their hands on people. It’s not a pretty sight.

Is the Holy Spirit really responsible for this sort of bizarre behavior? No. Why? Because it doesn’t glorify God.

False teachers Benny Hinn, Randy Clark & Bill Johnson

This event is where top false prophets of the NAR ordain and “anoint” their disciples. The EmergentWatch documentary video is a composite of over 8 hours of video taken during the 3 day event. In this video one can witness the demonic transference from these false “apostles”, and the demonic spiritual effect this has on their followers. These effects have been compared to those seen in occultic Kundalini awakening and the uncontrollable movements known as “Kriyas”.

MUST WATCH video  View article →

Related: Angels, Demons & Spiritual Warfare

Pope to Allow Brazilian Priests to Marry

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Pulpit & Pen News reports:

Now the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons,  through the insincerity of liars whose consciences are seared, who forbid marriage and require abstinence from foods that God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth (1 Timothy 4:1-3). 

Paul told Timothy that there was an apostasy coming to the church, and would be characterized by forbidding those things that God has made to be received with thanksgiving, including marriage. This prophecy is fulfilled in the Romish church. However, it seems that the longstanding practice of forbidding priests to marry – which has resulted in their natural sexual affections being oriented in ways not created by God to be received with thanksgiving – may change if Pope Francis has his way.

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See our Research Paper on Roman Catholicism

‘God’s Dream’ – From the ‘Jesus’ of Jesus Calling – A Deceptive Scheme

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“Sarah Young’s ‘Jesus’ plays right into this clever conditioning when he introduces the concept of God’s Dream in Jesus Calling and in no less than three of Sarah Young’s other books,” says Warren B. Smith. Young’s not alone. There are others such as Rick Warren, Joel Osteen and Richard Foster who proclaim the unbiblical notion that God has a dream for your life. Learn more about the blending of Christianity with New Age spirituality over at Lighthouse Trails:

Consistent with many other New Age implications contained in her channeled messages, Sarah Young’s “Jesus” introduces the New Age idea of “God’s Dream” in Jesus Calling when he states:

I may infuse within you a dream that seems far beyond your reach.

In Jesus Calling: 365 Devotions for Kids, the January 6th message/devotion is titled—and has “Jesus” telling the children—“Dare to Dream My Dream.”

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