According to Heatstreet:
A Portland student has become the first American to gain legal designation as “genderless”, following a ruling by a Multnomah County judge.
Author Archives: Marsha West
Stunning Benefits of Moderate Drinking
LifeZette has a new study on the benefits of moderate drinking — better heart health!:
Looks like indulging in your favorite pint of beer might be not be so bad for you after all. That’s right: A new study published in the British Medical Journal has found that consuming within the recommended limits of around 1 1/2 bottles of wine or seven pints of beer per week could actually lower your risk of getting certain heart diseases.
So, what exactly did this study determine about the effects of alcohol on your heart? Researchers at the University of Cambridge and University College London analyzed data from almost 2 million people in the U.K. — and found that those who do not drink at all, or who drink heavy doses, are more likely to be affected by certain heart conditions, including stroke and heart attack, than moderate drinkers.
Canadian Parliament Passes Controversial Islamophobia Motion
According to Breitbart:
The Canadian House of Commons has passed motion M103 which singles out the criticism of Islam as a form of “Islamophobia”. Critics condemn it as an attack on free speech.
Motion M103 was tabled by Iqra Khalid, a Muslim member of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s Liberal Party. It states the government must “condemn Islamophobia and all forms of systemic racism and religious discrimination”, was taken to vote on Thursday evening where a total of 201 MPs voted for it and only 91 voted against, Canadian broadcaster Global News reports.
Preemptive Discernment Alert! New Heretic-Authored Book Forthcoming
In a piece over at Pulpit & Pen, Bud Ahlheim gives us a glimpse of “rock star icon of the Emerging Church” Rob Bell’s latest attempt to rewrite the Bible. In his new book, the former pastor of Mars Hill Bible Church in Grandville, MI looks at the Bible in a “fresh, new way.”
One of Rob Bell’s annoying traits is to ask questions in order to “drive his hearer to a pre-determined position,” says Ahlheim. “And, most often with Bell, that position has been known in the annals of orthodox Christian history as HERESY.” So with this in mind, would it surprise you to learn that in 2011 Rick Warren’s Saddleback Church used Bell’s heretical teaching?
But this is not about Rick Warren corrupting the minds of his congregants; it’s about what Bud Alheim refers to as “Bell-eneutics.” He writes:
Check the batteries in your heresy detectors!
Sound the Berean warning bells!
Let the discernment warning tocsins be sounded!
Signal all to take Caution! Caution! Caution!
There’s a new Rob Bell book soon to be released.
Learn more about Rob Bell over at Apprising Ministries
North Carolina School District Pulls First Grade Book About Dress-Wearing Boy Following Complaints
Christian News reports:
Photo credit Amazon.com
A school district in North Carolina has pulled a book that was set to be a part of First Grade curriculum after teachers and lawmakers complained about its content regarding a little boy who liked to wear dresses.
Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools had originally planned to make the book “Jacob’s New Dress” a part of the anti-bullying reading plan for Child Abuse Prevention Month. The 2014 book, written by Sarah and Ian Hoffman, is meant to teach children about those who are “gender non-conforming.”
“Jacob’s New Dress” is a story about a boy who likes to wear a princess dress for playtime at school, but is teased by his peers.
“Not very long ago little girls couldn’t wear pants. Can you imagine that?” the teacher tells the class in urging them to be accepting of the child’s dress-wearing.
Shepherds’ Conference 2017
“We preach Christ” was the theme of this year’s Shepherds’ Conference. Over 4500 men from 67 countries gathered for four days of preaching, fellowship, and singing at Grace Community Church in Los Angeles. Speakers included John MacArthur, Albert Mohler, Ligon Duncan, Steve Lawson, Mark Dever, Stephen Nichols, Paul Washer, Tom Pennington, Phil Johnson and many others. The messages they delivered were related to who Christ is and why He must be the focus of pastoral preaching. The podcasts are now available on GTY’s website.
Health-Care Reform Won’t Fix What Really Hurts American Health
According to David French of National Review “deaths of despair” are “surging” in the United States among middle-aged white non-hispanics. French includes some stunning statistics:
In 2016, two truths were revealed at once. First, the percentage of uninsured Americans hit a record low — a mere 8.6 percent. In 2010, almost 50 million Americans lacked health insurance. By the beginning of 2016 that number had plunged to 27.3 million. This is, truth be told, the fruit of Obamacare and indeed is the very reason why the GOP is having so much difficulty in its struggle to repeal and replace it. People like having health insurance, and health insurance makes us healthier, right?
But that brings us to the second truth that was revealed in 2016. Even though Americans allegedly enjoyed unprecedented access to insured health care, the nation’s death rate in 2015 actually increased. More Americans were insured, but more Americans died. Why?
Republicans Yank Obamacare Repeal Bill
Politico reports:
Facing a growing rebellion within his own ranks, House Speaker Paul Ryan pulled the Republican Obamacare replacement plan from the House floor on Friday just before a scheduled vote.
The decision is a staggering defeat for Ryan and President Donald Trump in their first attempt to partner on major legislation and fulfill a seven-year Republican promise to repeal Obamacare. It comes a day after Trump issued an ultimatum to House Republicans to vote for the bill or live with Obamacare.
How Does the Holy Spirit Lead Us?
It is not uncommon to hear Christians say that they’re hearing from God via whispers…leadings…prompts…impressions…or even angels. What we need to understand is that when people claim “God told me very clearly that…” they’re claiming prophet status “which elevates the person to a position they do not have,” reminds Elizabeth Prata. “Moreover,” says Prata, “it discourages other[s] who have not had the privilege of ‘hearing directly from God’. They begin to doubt their situations when they aren’t given such personal, clear commands.”
In this piece over at The End Time, Elizabeth Prata addresses a disturbing tweet sent from Beth Moore to her adoring fans. She writes:
On Facebook last night I’d posted a mini-discernment lesson regarding a tweet Beth Moore had written advocating a process for distilling whether a prompt from the Holy Spirit is legitimate or if it’s your own imagination. I wrote the following in response to her tweet:
Beth Moore is an alleged ‘Bible teacher’. She has 753,000 followers on Twitter alone. The following comment is something she taught a few hours ago on Twitter. Nothing in the Bible says what she taught and teaches. What solid and credible Bible teachers do is teach their pupils to go externally and seek the source of all truth, the Word of God. Moore teachers women to go internally and rely on mystical warnings, feelings, and prompts. What Moore is actually teaching is the insufficiency of scripture and the sufficiency of ourselves in obeying personal feelings.
Research Shows Majority of Americans Want to Read the Bible
Ken Ham of Answers In Genesis has some advice for Bible believing Christians: Don’t shy away from boldly yet gently appealing to the Bible as your source of authority for issues of morality, history, philosophy, science, and theology. According to Ham:
Biblical illiteracy has been growing here in America. Most people don’t know what the Bible says. They may know a few isolated Bible “stories” here and there, but they don’t understand the scope or flow of the biblical text, largely because they have never read most of it! Though the growing biblical illiteracy epidemic is very sobering, here’s an encouraging report from new research—the majority of Americans still want to read their Bibles.
According to a recent study, 61% of Americans answered “yes” to the question, “Do you wish that you read the Bible more or not?” Surprisingly, this number has remained fairly stable for over half a decade now. And when the respondents were asked, “Would you say that your own personal use of the Bible has increased, decreased or is about the same as one year ago?” 66% answered “stayed the same.”
Schumer: No on Gorsuch; Democrats Will Filibuster
CNSNews reports:
Speaking on the Senate floor Thursday morning, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said he has come to a decision about the nomination of Judge Neil Gorsuch.
“After careful deliberation, I have concluded that I cannot support Judge Neil Gorsuch’s nomination to the Supreme Court,” Schumer said. “His nomination will have a cloture vote. He will have to earn 60 votes for confirmation.
“My vote will be no. And I urge my colleagues to do the same.”
‘Is Aglow affiliated with the New Apostolic Reformation?’
Yes! says Berean Research:
Aglow International is full-on New Apostolic Reformation, with president Jane Hansen Hoyt being a member of C. Peter Wagner’s “International Coalition of Apostles.” Its international advisors include prominent “apostles” and “prophets” like Che Ahn, Rick Joyner, Cindy Jacobs and the late Wagner.
AGLOW has more than 200,000 members meeting together each month through local Aglow groups in 171 nations. More than 21,000 Aglow leaders worldwide minister in their communities. Within the United States, local Aglow groups are called Lighthouses. Outside the US, these groups are called Candlelight groups.
Now to the letter that prompted Amy’s response, along with some must watch videos:
School orders boy to ‘tolerate’ undressing with girl and make it ‘natural’
Todd Starnes, host of Fox News and Commentary, reports that a teenage boy was in his underwear inside a locker room preparing to change for a PE class when he noticed a girl close by wearing nothing but shorts and a bra. According to Starnes, when the boy reported the incident “he was told by school leaders that he had to ‘tolerate’ undressing in front of a female student and to make it as ‘natural’ as possible, according to a blockbuster lawsuit filed in a Pennsylvania federal district court.”
The lawsuit, filed Tuesday by Alliance Defending Freedom and Independence Law Center, alleges the Boyertown Area School District shamed the teenage boy and violated his personal privacy. They are also alleging sexual harassment.
“No school should rob any student of this legally protected personal privacy,” ILC attorney Randall Wenger said. “We trust that our children won’t be forced into emotionally vulnerable situations like this when they are in the care of our schools because it’s a school’s duty to protect and respect the bodily privacy and dignity of all students.”
Mini-nukes and mosquito-like robot weapons being primed for future warfare
From the editors of Technocracy News: The future of warfare will be decided by technology-crazed Technocrats who invent because they can, not because they need to. Now that an global arms-race has broken out, there is no way to stop the oneupmanship competition to get smaller, more clever and more deadly: Weaponized technology designed to kill humans.
Now to CNBC’s report:
Several countries are developing nanoweapons that could unleash attacks using mini-nuclear bombs and insect-like lethal robots.
While it may be the stuff of science fiction today, the advancement of nanotechnology in the coming years will make it a bigger threat to humanity than conventional nuclear weapons, according to an expert. The U.S., Russia and China are believed to be investing billions on nanoweapons research.
“Nanobots are the real concern about wiping out humanity because they can be weapons of mass destruction,” said Louis Del Monte, a Minnesota-based physicist and futurist. He’s the author of a just released book entitled “Nanoweapons: A Growing Threat To Humanity.”
Preacher, HeartCry Missionary Founder Paul Washer Suffers Heart Attack
Christian News reports:
Respected preacher and HeartCry Missionary Founder Paul Washer suffered a heart attack Monday night and is in stable condition, according to information released by his missionary society.
“Paul Washer suffered a heart attack last night. He is in stable condition,” his social media pages simply read Tuesday morning.
By the afternoon, an update advised that Washer was improving, albeit slowly. HeartCry Missionary Society has requested continued prayer.
In the meantime, messages of support have poured in from around the world for Washer.
Furtick, Elevation Church activate NAR Apostles
According to Berean Research:
“Prophetic Activations” will happen next week at Steven Furtick’s Elevation Church, a clear indicator that Furtick is not just affiliating, but becoming one with the heretical New Apostolic Reformation.
I first noticed Furtick dipping his toe into the signs-and-wonders New Apostolic Reformation movement five years ago when he traveled to Australia for the Presence 2012 Conference with John Bevere, for “a golden fire of anointing, vision and miracles.”
Next Thursday, Friday and Saturday (March 30 – April 1), Elevation’s downtown location is hosting RESET Charlotte, multi-city Apostles and Prophets tour for RESET/ACTIVATE AMERICA. Attendees will be exposed to the activations and prophetic utterances of Apostle John Eckhardt, Pastorix and Apostle G. Marie Carroll, and several other Apostles.
More Hillsong victims appearing at Royal Commission: Brian Houston summoned again?
Churchwatch Central reports:
More victims of Frank Houston are coming forward and appearing this Friday (the 24th) at the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse as well as the Australian Christian Church (ACC) (formerly known as the Assemblies of God (AOG)) and other “Pentecostal” churches. This means there is a high probability that Brian Houston will be there again.
Before looking at the details of the upcoming case study at the Royal Commission, it is important people understand what the AOG actually is.
Scientific atheism: a frivolous exercise in intellectual contempt
Jesse Johnson of The Cripplegate reminds creationists that we’re not the ones who have to prove or disprove evolutionist’s theories because we’re not making substantive claims. “The burden of proof is on those postulating with certainty that they know the scientific secrets of life,” says Johnson. He writes:
Last week I reviewed The Kingdom of Speech, by Tom Wolfe. Wolfe is not religious (the New York Times calls him an atheist, for whatever that’s worth), but he delivers a stunning critique of modern evolutionary theory as being entirely devoid of substantial evidence.
Which in turn reminded me of David Berlinski’s book The Devils Delusion: Atheism and its Scientific Pretensions. Berlinski, despite himself being an atheist, cannot tolerate the intellectual arrogance demonstrated by today’s atheistic evolutionists. While I don’t want to review the whole book, I will pass on its main point: a scientific theory should only claim what it can prove. The problem with evolution is that it claims to explain everything, while it actually is able to prove nothing.
Army of Bots Constantly Building Your Digital Profile
Steve King warns that social media, apps, smart devices, etc. are collecting data and invading our privacy. Is your TV in the “Fake Off” mode? LifeZette has the story:
If you are worried about your smart TV recording your most intimate conversations in its “Fake Off” mode and sending those over the internet to a covert CIA server, you are right to be worried.
As we saw in the WikiLeaks’ Vault 7 dump, the CIA’s malware known as “Weeping Angel” places the target television in a “Fake Off” mode, so that the owner falsely believes the TV is off when it is on. In “Fake Off” mode, the TV operates as a “wiretap,” recording conversations in the room and streaming them back to the CIA.
But as worried as you may be right now, the future will be far more frightening.
Moore, ERLC trustees issue ‘Seeking Unity’ statement
Baptist Press reports:
An extended statement, “Seeking Unity in the Southern Baptist Convention,” has been issued by Russell Moore and the executive committee of the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission.
Moore, in a 1,691-word portion of the March 20 statement, clarified criticism he had leveled at Christians who supported Donald Trump for president in the November 2016 election.
The ERLC executive committee, in a 536-word portion of the statement, affirmed Moore’s ongoing leadership as president of the SBC entity.
The ERLC executive committee acknowledged criticisms of Moore and stated “we are convinced that Dr. Moore has sought to be attentive and responsive to those who have brought concerns to him.”
“We realize that divisions do not heal overnight, and as needs arise our Board will be happy to address them. But in terms of leadership and support, Dr. Moore is the man to whom it has been entrusted to lead this entity — speaking prophetically both to our culture and to our Convention. He will continue doing so with the confidence of our support,” the ERLC executive committee stated.
Sex-selective abortions should be allowed, British Medical Association ethics expert says
According to The Telegraph, a British obstetrician and gynecologist, who is also a member of the British Medical Association, says a woman should have the right to destroy the unborn baby she is carrying simply because her baby is not of the biological sex she desires:
Forcing pregnant women who do not want a child of one sex or the other to give birth could harm both the baby and the mother’s mental health, a leading doctors’ union member has said.
Prof Wendy Savage, a voting member of the British Medical Association Council, also said women should have the right to terminate a pregnancy at any stage.
The comments by Prof Savage, a women’s rights campaigner and retired obstetrician and gynaecologist, come after a proposal to decriminalise terminations passed the first hurdle in the House of Commons last week.
Her intervention is likely to spark a strong reaction from campaigners on both sides of the argument.
T.D. Jakes and Joyce Meyer Teaching Word of Faith ‘Little Gods’
The late Ken Silva of Apprising Ministries penned this piece in 2014. In it he deals with the word-faith “little gods” doctrine. (Follow the link to his piece and scroll down to the end and check out the video of wolves teaching “little gods” heresy.) Ken also reveals the names of several highly regarded evangelicals who have had no problem promoting word-faith prosperity preachers such as Jakes and Meyer.
Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?”
And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, 3 but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’”
But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God.” (Genesis 3:1-5)
This Type Of Lunacy In The Lord’s Name Is On Its Way Into The Heart Of The Visible Church
Apprising Ministries has long been sounding the warning about the growing acceptance of straight-up Word Faith prosperity preachers even within the very mainstream of rapidly apostatizing evangelicalism itself.
Bethel faculty: Bible compels us to use inclusive language
It appears that Bethel, a Christian university, has been swayed by postmodernism and will disregard the inspired Word of God’s depiction of gender roles and bow to the god of political correctness. Campus Reform has the story:
Bethel University is encouraging its faculty “to be clear in our Christian witness” by eschewing masculine terminology, despite the Bible consistently referring to humans as “man” or “mankind.”
A guide published by the Bethel library called “Language is a Powerful Tool” tells Bethel employees that their Christian faith and the Bible compel them to use inclusive language.
“The Bible teaches us to value all people because they are created in God’s image,” the guide begins. “Some traditional uses of language have been perceived as excluding a substantial group of people. To be clear in our Christian witness, the Bethel faculty encourages the use of inclusive language.”
One general guideline states that employees should “avoid using masculine terms to refer to people who may be either male or female,” urging them to “use a substitute for words like ‘man or ‘mankind’ when you mean a more inclusive term” and suggesting several “adequate substitutes.”
The Pharisees Weren’t Concerned With Sound Doctrine
Were the Pharisees Jesus confronted concerned with keeping God’s law and doing good as some people think? According to Brandon Hines of Pulpit & Pen, that isn’t necessarily the case. He writes:
Whenever someone plays the Pharisee Card, they often seem to think that the Pharisees were more concerned with sound doctrine and personal holiness than loving God and loving people. For one thing, loving God and loving people is a part of personal holiness, so this idea is already a self-refuting idea. However, if we look deeper into Scripture, we can see that the Pharisees, for the most part, were not doctrinally sound at all.
The Pharisees Did Not Understand Regeneration
In John 3, Jesus famously expresses the doctrine of Regeneration and being born again to the Pharisee named Nicodemus. When Jesus says in verse 3 (ESV), “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God,” Nicodemus responds by asking, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?” Interestingly enough, it is actually Jesus who seems more concerned with doctrinal accuracy. In verse 10 (ESV), Jesus says, “Are you the teacher of Israel and yet you do not understand these things?” implying both that regeneration is a doctrine that should’ve been understood even at that time and that Nicodemus, a Pharisee, did not know it.
95 Percent of Faith-Driven Consumers Unlikely to See Beauty and the Beast Remake Due to Gay Character
ChristianHeadlines reports:
A new report by Faith Driven Consumer (FDC) has revealed that the majority of consumers whose faith influences their decisions are less likely to see Disney’s remake of Beauty and the Beast due to the film’s inclusion of a gay character.
As ChristianHeadlines.com previously reported, the remake features a character who experiences same-sex attraction to the film’s villain, Gaston.
“LeFou is somebody who on one day wants to be Gaston and on another day wants to kiss Gaston,” movie director Bill Condon said of the character, according to the Los Angeles Times.
“He’s confused about what he wants,” Condon continued. “It’s somebody who’s just realizing that he has these feelings. And Josh makes something really subtle and delicious out of it. And that’s what has its payoff at the end, which I don’t want to give away. But it is a nice, exclusively gay moment in a Disney movie.”