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

Fighting the Politicized, Evidence-Free ‘Collusion with Russia’ Narrative

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According to Andrew C. McCarthy of National Review, the ‘Russian collusion’ scandal is completely manufactured. No question that the Russians hoped to influence the election outcome but no one can say whether they actually did, including former CIA director John Brennan who recently answered a slew of questions before the House Intelligence Committee. The end result? “After all this time and effort, Democrats are unable to show that Trump and his minions did anything wrong,” says former assistant U.S. attorney McCarthy. In a column he penned, he makes the case that there is not a smidgen of evidence that Donald Trump colluded with the Russians.  There is collusion, though — between the liberal media and the Democrats. More from McCarthy:

If police believe bank robbers were hoping for inside help on a heist, they don’t hold a press conference to smear the bank manager with their suspicions about “collusion.” They go about the quiet police work of building a conspiracy case. Unless and until they find concrete evidence and are ready to file formal charges, they keep their big mouths shut. Those rudimentary rules of the road are worth remembering when we consider the transparently political testimony of former Obama-administration CIA director John Brennan before the House intelligence committee on Tuesday.

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Planned Parenthood executives joke about decapitating fetuses in new video

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Bradford Richardson of Washington Times has the story:

Photo credit: Godspeak Calvary Chapel

Planned Parenthood executives joked about decapitated fetuses, admitted to altering abortion procedures to preserve fetal organs and said clinics have a financial incentive to sell human tissue in a new undercover video released Thursday.

The three-minute video was recorded at an annual National Abortion Federation meeting by pro-life investigators with the Center for Medical Progress. The advocacy group said it’s just a preview of never-before-seen content that has been sealed for almost two years due to legal fights.

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How deep and wide does the NAR rabbit hole go?

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On Wednesday we posted a piece over at Berean Research entitled “Who Are Family Research Council’s Watchmen On the Wall?” where BR revealed who these so-called watchmen are and what the Watchman on the Wall gathering is all about.  They did some more digging into pro-family groups, starting with the Family Research Council and what they discovered about this organization will come as a surprise to many of you. Thanks to their digging, those who’ve helped keep FRC in business by supporting them financially will learn where their money has been spent:

How do you discover which networks of Apostles are working together to reclaim America and build God’s Kingdom here on earth? You click. Just keep clicking, and clicking, and clicking some more, until things click. It takes time to research, and if you’re looking for an easy, bullet-point list of what I’m sharing in this report, you should put this aside for when you have time to investigate.

This morning I reported on the Family Research Council’s Watchman On the Wall meeting in Washington D.C., which continued today and features several NAR speakers who teach a different gospel.

After doing a little more digging on this Watchman organization, I found a disturbingly large network of ecumenical groups working together in what the New Apostolic Reformation calls the “Cultural Sphere of influence” in its 7 Mountain Mandate. (If you can take dominion of these seven spheres, you can activate Jesus’ return, as the modern Apostles teach.)

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Salman Abedi: How Manchester attacker turned from cannabis-smoking dropout to Isis suicide bomber

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In this piece over at The Independent, Lizzie Deardon reveals how a young man’s transformation to a murdering thug echoes those of Islamist terrorists across Europe. She writes:

Salman Abedi’s journey from cannabis-smoking university dropout to Isis suicide bomber is being gradually pieced together by investigators as Manchester reels from the worst terror attack to hit the UK in over a decade.

The 22-year-old was remembered as a “fun guy” who drank, took drugs and possibly had links with local gangs before appearing increasingly religious as his radicalisation deepened.

The same transformation has been documented in many of Europe’s deadliest terrorists, including petty criminals and drug dealers in the Isis “super cell” behind the Paris and Brussels attacks.

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Feeding Sheep Or Amusing Goats

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We discovered the following essay by Archibald Brown, who was a student and contemporary of Charles Spurgeon, in Apprising Ministries‘ archives. Brown expressed his view of entertainment in the Church and his words still ring true today:

Photo credit: Ken Silva

An evil is in the professed camp of the Lord, so gross in its impudence, that the most short-sighted can hardly fail to notice it. During the past few years it has developed at an abnormal rate, even for evil.

It has worked like leaven until the whole lump ferments. The devil has seldom done a cleverer thing than hinting to the Church that part of their mission is to provide entertainment for the people, with a view to winning them.

From speaking out as the Puritans did, the Church has gradually toned down her testimony, then winked at and excused the frivolities of the day. Then she tolerated them in her borders. Now she has adopted them under the plea of reaching the masses.

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Who are Family Research Council’s ‘Watchmen on the Wall’?

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Berean Research tells us who these people are and exposes their agenda:

Wouldn’t it be great if men and women who are dead in their sins would just stop being wicked and start respecting  professing Christians? At first blush, the idea of transforming America’s ever-sickening, vile culture sounds like a great plan. And giving pastors a support network of Watchmen on the Wall to help them fight the culture wars would be a really good thing, right?

In Washington D.C. on Capitol Hill, The Family Research Council is hosting a Watchman on the Wall National Briefing for pastors to transform America. FRC President Tony Perkins says this is not a political event, but a spiritual one. He’s invited dozens of guest speakers, including Harbinger and Shemitah author Jonathan Cahn, Bishop Larry Jackson (part of Apostle Rick Joyner’s MorningStar TV Network), Word of Faith prosperity preacher Jentezen Franklin, David Barton, Circle Maker author and pastor Mark Batterson, and radio host Dr. Michael Brown.  Click on the image for the full list of speakers:

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Don’t Judge Me!

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According to David Hutchison, Christians must identify certain behaviors as sinful and we must judge in at least three other senses which includes evaluating the teachings of those who claim to speak in the name of the Lord. He reminds us that “There are contexts in which Christians must judge, but we must judge justly.” Now to his piece over at Theology Matters:

Standing for biblical truth elicits many negative responses from those outside the church as well as from some within. This is not surprising since Jesus told His disciples that they would be hated on account of Him (John 15:18-19, 1 John 3:13). While we may simply shrug this off as part of the reality of life, what is more challenging to navigate is the suggestion that by using the word “sin” for certain activities, we violate Jesus’ command not to judge. In popular sentiment, “do not judge” means that one cannot say any behavior is wrong. This understanding is pervasive, but it is severely flawed.[1]

There are pitfalls of judging that we must avoid, but doing so does not mean we cannot call sin what God has called sin. In fact, if we refuse to do so, we act as God’s judge, claiming that our perspective on the situation trumps His own. Similar to the rejection of God’s testimony in 1 John 1:10 and 5:10, this is tantamount to calling God a liar. We must call sin, sin, but we must also remember that God knows all of the details of the situation. We never will, and we often lack key information. As John 7:24 notes, we must not judge by mere appearances but must make a just judgment. If we wish to do so, we are wise to listen well and listen long, remembering the folly of giving an answer too quickly (Proverbs 18:13).

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‘We Can Use Peace’: Trump and Pope Francis Meet

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News Max reports:

Photo credit CNBC.com

President Donald Trump and Pope Francis, two leaders with contrasting styles and differing worldviews, met at the Vatican on Wednesday, setting aside their previous clashes to broadcast a tone of peace for an audience around the globe.

Trump, midway through a grueling nine-day, maiden international journey, called upon the pontiff in a private, 30-minute meeting laden with religious symbolism and ancient protocol. The president, accompanied by his wife and several aides, arrived at the Vatican just after 8 a.m. local time. The president greeted Francis in Sala del Tronetto, the room of the little throne, on the second floor of Apostolic Palace.

Upon completing their meeting, the pope gave the president a medal featuring an olive branch, a symbol of peace, among other gifts.

“We can use peace,” the president responded.

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How to Combat Biblical Illiteracy in the Church

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“Two-thirds of young people are leaving the church largely because of unanswered questions about the Christian faith.” says Avery Foley of Answers In Genesis.  Foley has some good suggestions as to what we can do about this crisis in the visible Church. He writes:

Biblical illiteracy has become an epidemic across America. People, sadly including many professing Christians, simply don’t know what the Bible teaches and often hold to unbiblical or even heretical beliefs. For example, a recent study found that a mere 10% of Americans have a biblical worldview (despite 70% of Americans claiming the label of Christian). And the biblical teachings that the study considered part of a “biblical worldview” were the most basic of biblical beliefs, such as the personhood of the Holy Spirit or the existence of Satan. This study is a sad testament to the state of the American church.

What Can We Do?

What can parents, pastors, and Sunday school teachers do to combat biblical illiteracy? Here are a few ideas for how to instill a biblical worldview in the young people under your influence.

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Pastor talks to ‘God’ on the phone during church service

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“I actually have a direct line which I can call Him on and get instructions on how to proceed,” claims the man who goes by the name of Pastor Talent. “I got this when I was praying and I heard a voice telling me to call direct.” So now he calls God direct and they chat on the phone.  The Citizen has a video of this guy that you won’t want to miss. Here’s the story:

Pastor Paul Sanyangore of Victory World International has claimed to have a direct phone number to heaven, after a video of him talking on the phone during a church service emerged.

In the video, the pastor can be seen holding his cellphone and responding to God’s questions, he claims.

He calls a woman from the crowd, and as she kneels down, he then starts receiving instructions from “heaven”.

“Hello, is this heaven? I have a woman here, what do you have to say about her? Oh … I should ask her who is Sibo,” he asks “heaven”. The woman then responds telling him who the said person is.

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What does the Bible teach about abortion?

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Jesse Johnson of The Cripplegate offers eight biblical truths about abortion.  He writes:

1. The Bible teaches that a baby in the womb is alive, and is a person whom God is making. Those I know who have had an abortion all say this is the most critical issue for them. If they believed their fetus was a real person which an abortion would murder, then they would not have done it. But they all believed that at that point of development, what was inside of them doesn’t qualify as a person by their arbitrary standard.

First, it is important to note that a fetus is a human life. It is alive, and it is human, so there is really no other way to describe it (here is a graphic and info on a fetus at 12-weeks from a secular website, and it’s obviously a person). At 12 weeks, a baby has arms, fingers, eyes, and toes. He makes fists, faces, and all his organs are working, albeit still developing.

But the Bible says that before that point a fetus is a person. For example, King David declared:

My frame was not hidden from You, When I was made in secret, And skillfully wrought in the depths of the earth; Your eyes have seen my unformed substance; And in Your book were all written The days that were ordained for me, When as yet there was not one of them (Psalm 139:15–16).

Before ultrasounds, David looked inside the womb and saw God at work. Before his frame was finished, God was at work, making him. God counted David as a person, with his days numbered, before he ever saw daylight.

This truth is not limited to David. Back when God introduced himself to Moses, who wrote the first book of the Bible, God asked: “Who has made man’s mouth? Is it not I?” (Exodus 4:11).

The mouth, by the way, is formed in week 6 of a baby’s life.

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Pastors, don’t be a jerk. Be a shepherd.

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Boyce College professor Denny Burk has a word of advice for pastors: A wise and courageous pastor will always remember the wisdom of Solomon when exhorting his people: “There is one who speaks rashly like the thrusts of a sword, But the tongue of the wise brings healing” (Prov.12:18). A good pastor is not going to use his words like a sword but like a scalpel. A sword and a scalpel are both made for cutting. But a sword is for killing. A scalpel is for healing. Even in confrontation, a pastor’s aim is not to deliver the coup de grâce but to heal.

Listen as Denny Burk offers appropriate ways for a pastor to treat family members. He writes:

The venting of the proverbial spleen seems to be the order of the day from cable news to social media and sometimes even in interpersonal interactions. We like to hear someone who agrees with our views “tell it like it is,” especially if the telling involves a few zingers against people whose views offend us. We thrive on this kind of outrage because it appeals to our sense of self-righteous indignation. It feels oh so good to be oh so right. And there’s nothing quite as satisfying as dressing down “those people” who don’t agree with us.

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Americans Now Defenseless, Exposed to Lethal Cyberattacks

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According to Steve King of LifeZette, hacking capabilities cross life-or-death threshold and the government cannot prevent it from happening.  He writes:

Setting aside all of the national security issues surrounding the Shadow Brokers leak of the hacking tools developed by the NSA, which have resulted in a series of global cyberattacks in recent weeks, an even larger issue looms.

The distinction between physical and cyberattacks is blurring. Instead of just interrupting personal computers and corporate networks used for accounting and billing, the WannaCry attack targeted hospitals and pharmacies, causing canceled procedures and a massive rescheduling of appointments for medical procedures.

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Watching Your Spiritual Diet

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According to Bible expositor Dr. John MacArthur, although Christians are supposed to be growing in Christlikeness, many are not. So Dr. MacArthur lays out the ways in which the believer can eat right and grow spiritually. He writes:

Most of us have known people whose bodies have not grown or matured properly. It’s sad to encounter people with cognitive handicaps, brain damage, or other developmental obstacles that have hindered their growth. Many of them remain locked in a child-like state—others tragically don’t progress even that far.

In a similar way, some Christians remain locked in a perpetual state of spiritual infancy. However, unlike those suffering with mental handicaps, Christians struggling with arrested spiritual development have no one to blame but themselves.

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Piers Morgan Stirs Controversy for Asking ‘Non-Binary’ Couple If He Could Identify as Black Woman, Elephant

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Christian News reports:

Talk show host Piers Morgan is under fire for asking a couple who say they identify neither as male or female if he could identify as a black woman or an elephant.

“Can I be an elephant? Can I literally say I’m now an elephant and do I get afforded elephant rights?” he inquired on Friday’s broadcast of “Good Morning Britain.” “Can I go to London Zoo and demand to be put in an elephant compound because I have decided I’m an elephant?”

During the conversation with the couple who go by the names “Fox and Owl,” Fox explained that she was born a female, but later decided to present herself as male, and now doesn’t want to self-identify as either sex. She said that while her “gender expression” is male, her “gender identity” is non-binary.

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The extreme teaching of Jennifer LeClaire

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In a piece entitled “LeClaire spills ink over ‘sneaky squid spirit’ attack?” Churchwatch Central (CWC) begins by telling us that their article will show that Pentecostalism and charismaticism are enemies of each other.  CWC points out that the Pentecostal AOG in America condemned the New Order of the Latter Rain, an early charismatic movement, for one of six practices. An excerpt of the minutes of the Twenty-Third General Council is included.

And then they get to the point of their piece: Charisma Magazine senior editor Jennifer LeClaire is guilty of operating under the condemned practice. (CRN has reported on Jennifer LeClaire here.)

So with this background in mind, here’s CWC’s piece:

LEARNING FROM THE LAUGHABLE LECLAIRE

“After this squid spirit attacked my friend, I went to her home to help her battle it. The attack was severe, but when I laid hands on her and commanded the squid to be bound, the most violent symptoms would cease. Of course, when you stand in the gap, you often take a hit. That squid spirit started stalking me. I ended up with a migraine during the battle—a manifestation of that mind control spirit—and was attacked in my mind for days afterwards.”

Is she deceived enough to believe (alongside her NARismatic brethren) that this is a “sneaky squid spirit”? Or is she arrogant enough to think that she, (just like the Sons of Sceva), had the authority over “the squid to be bound.” She was even more deceived to think she could “stand in the gap,” a concept most Christians have of what Christ did on our behalf on Calvary. So her Messiah-like complex is also a major problem when it comes to exorcism. One only needs to read scripture to see what happened with the infamous sons of Sceva who were tricked by a demon to cast out entities by their own authority.

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Surrender or fight – our country is at stake

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Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich urges American’s not to surrender to the Left.  Following is an excerpt from a recent column he wrote:

We are today in a one-sided cultural civil war. The Left has picked the battlefield and defined the terms of engagement. If conservatives respond to this aggressive, sometimes violent hostility from the Left with confusion, uncertainty, and appeasement, we are guaranteed to lose the struggle to drain the swamp and reform Washington.

Further, surrendering will destroy America as we know it. Far from making America great again, we will have yielded our country to left-wing thugs, liars, and intimidators.

Now to his column:

Republicans, in particular the Trump administration, are approaching a historic decision that will shape America for generations to come.

The endless hostility of the Left, exemplified by violent fascists on college campuses, thugs in the streets, determined disrupters at town hall meetings, and the dishonest elite media are all part of their efforts to defeat the reforms and changes that President Trump was elected to implement.

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Research Claiming Sex-Change Benefits Is Based On Junk Science

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According to former transgender Walt Heyer, who says he has a passion to help trans people, “Research about transgender people is biased toward reporting success.” This is because LGBTQ studies “purposefully exclude anything that would reflect badly on their overblown trans agenda,” says Heyer. He writes:

Caitlyn Jenner has perfected the art of cashing in on each step of gender transition. A few short weeks before the release of his new book, Jenner acknowledges the boys are now gone. Adios to his life-long companions in gender reassignment surgery (known as bottom surgery).

Jenner is wealthy and can cash in on celebrity, but a large portion of the transgender population remains lost and unaccounted for. Did they die, detransition, or commit suicide?  All we know is the attempted suicide rate for transgender people has remained above 40 percent for many years.

Doctors jam trans kids with puberty blockers and trans adults with cross-gender hormones, then recommend irreversible genital surgery, all without having long-term systematic studies of the effectiveness of such invasive treatment. Parents of trans kids don’t have the benefit of trustworthy information on the probable outcomes of up to 90 percent of gender changers.

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Sheriff ordered to remove ‘Blessed are the Peacemakers’ decals

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Todd Starnes, host of Fox News & Commentary, has the story:

The peacemakers are not allowed to be blessed in Montgomery County, Virginia.

The sheriff was ordered on May 17 to remove decals bearing a portion of a well-known Bible verse from patrol cars.

The decal, which had been posted on vehicles in March, bore the words, “Blessed are the peacemakers…Matthew 5:9.”

“Our intent was, and still is, to honor our fellow brothers and sisters in law enforcement,” Sheriff C.H. Partin wrote in a statement to Fox News.

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Get Ready for the Pillorying of Pence

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Kyle Smith begins with this question: If Trump is ‘uniquely’ unfit, his critics should be just fine with ultra-normal Pence, right?

Um…No. Smith lays out what he believes will happen should Vice President Mike Pence become President of the United States. For example, “Pence will be labeled an extremist for being part of the American Christian majority. We’ll be told that Pence’s misogyny is even more outlandish than Trump’s because he declines to have boozy one-on-one dinners with women other than his wife.” In his piece over at National Review, Kyle Smith gives us the lowdown on what the Left has in store for Mike Pence. He writes:

Should Mike Pence become president, the Left will surely lead us in a national chorus of “Whew! Back to normal.” Correct? After all, our friends in the Democratic party have been saying for many months that President Trump is not normal, that he is uniquely unfit for office, that his brand of mendaciousness, volatility, poor character, and immaturity have no precedent in the Oval Office, that he is a Nazi sympathizer and even a fascist, that he is an extremist who exists outside the bounds of ordinary political disagreement.

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One Or The Other

Posted by ∙ ∙ In Devotion/Teaching ∙

This is how we know who the children of God are and who the children of the devil are; Anyone who does not do what is right is not a child of God; nor is anyone who does not love his brother (1 John 3:10).

Someone has said that people may be divided into two classes, the righteous and the unrighteous, and the classifying is always done by the righteous! Certainly it is true that humanity is divided into two classes—not three, as we often fondly imagine. We would like to think there are the children of the devil, the children of God, and then a vast group in between who are morally neutral, neither devilish nor godly. But God says No, there are not three classes.

Nor is there one class. There are many today who would have us believe that all people everywhere are, by virtue of their natural birth, children of God. But the Bible never sustains that idea for even a moment. These words of John are the echo of the words of the Lord Jesus Himself when He said to certain Pharisees of His day, You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desire (John 8:44). This is what the phrase children of the devil means. It does not mean that the devil created them, but it means that they reflect the nature and characteristics of the devil.  View article →

Brian Brodersen Now Promoting Contemplative Mysticism?

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According to Berean Research:

A new report says Calvary Chapel Senior Pastor Brian Brodersen is an active promoter of contemplative mysticism. Last November Brodersen led the Calvary Chapel split, quit his leadership position at the Calvary Chapel Association, and  announced he is establishing a new Calvary Chapel Global Network.

Today a new EmergentWatch news article reports that Brodersen is now actively promoting contemplative mysticism, that he is now not merely liking or sharing a post of a known contemplative – he himself is now an active promoter of contemplative practices. There is extensive documentation on the EW post, and I encourage you to visit the site and examine the evidence for yourself.

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David Gushee: Our ‘differences are unbridgeable’

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Denny Burk, Professor of Biblical Studies at Boyce College, makes the case that evangelicalism is facing a crisis over the issue of sexual immorality. “We are about to find out who is for real and who isn’t,” says Burk.  He writes:

David Gushee has a column at Religion News Service about Jonathan Merritt, Jen Hatmaker, and LGBT “inclusion” within the church. Gushee says that he exited evangelicalism 30 months ago, and since then he has concluded this:

I now believe that incommensurable differences in understanding the very meaning of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the interpretation of the Bible, and the sources and methods of moral discernment, separate many of us from our former brethren — and that it is best to name these differences clearly and without acrimony, on the way out the door.

I also believe that attempting to keep the dialogue going is mainly fruitless. The differences are unbridgeable. They are articulated daily in endless social media loops.   View article →

Related:  It Is Not ‘Character Assassination’ For The Church To Be The Church

 

Roger Ailes, Founder of Fox News Channel, Dies at 77

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Newsmax reports:

Roger Ailes, a former U.S. presidential adviser who started the Fox News Channel to promote a Republican agenda and built it into the most-watched U.S. cable news network before resigning amid sexual harassment allegations, has died. He was 77.

Fox News confirmed his death Thursday.

Ailes started Fox News in 1996 at the behest of News Corp. Chairman Rupert Murdoch as an alternative to what they saw as a media landscape dominated by liberals. Although marketed as “fair and balanced,” critics of the conservative content of the channel’s programs accused it of acting as a propaganda arm of the Republican Party.

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Could psychedelics become an accepted treatment for mental health problems?

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The Telegraph reports:

A few years ago, if you were to tell most people suffering from a serious mental health problem that their ills could be cured with a spot of Class A drugs, they might think you’ve, well, taken something.

Aided by a slew of recent scientific studies, however, the perception of many illegal substances – from LSD to ecstasy – as having no medicinal benefit is beginning to change. Earlier this month, for instance, US researchers found that ketamine might reduce rates of depression.

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