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

U.S. Supreme Court Agrees to Decide Whether Govt. Can Require School to Let Girl in Boys’ Restroom

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Christian News Network reports:

transgender-bathroom-2

The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to hear a Virginia school board’s appeal of a ruling siding with the Obama administration’s demand that it allow a female student who identifies as male to use the boys’ restroom. The decision will affect public schools nationwide.

The eight justices said on Friday that the case will be heard and decided in 2017. It will be one of the most major decisions of the year.

The appeal will be limited to the following two questions from the school board’s petition to the court: “[S]hould deference extend to an unpublished agency letter that, among other things, does not carry the force of law and was adopted in the context of the very dispute in which deference is sought?” and “With or without deference to the agency, should the Department’s specific interpretation of Title IX and 34 C.F.R. § 106.33 be given effect?”

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Pastors, it’s time to audit what your women are studying

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Berean Research has this challenge for pastors: Purge Jen Hatmaker’s anti-biblical influence from your women’s ministries.

Wolf 5Many, MANY churches have latched on to some of the most dangerous teachers in Christendom, and you’ll find the worst of the worst in the studies your women are doing.  We’ve been warning women’s ministries about several such teachers, which you can read more about in the links at the bottom of this article. One in particular is Jen Hatmaker. This past week, the famed author made a huge public affirmation of homosexual relationships. In the days that followed, LifeWay Christian Books pulled all of Jen and Brandon Hatmaker’s products from their shelves.

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Cutting Through Democrats’ Furious Spin and Blame on Renewed FBI Probe into Hillary’s Emails

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Guy Benson of Townhall offers his analysis of the FBI re-opening its investigation of Hillary Clinton’s personal email server.  He writes:

hillary-and-huma

Photo credit: Breitbart

Warning: With Hillary Clinton’s fortunes abruptly plunged into political jeopardy, the Left’s furious hackery has become so piping hot that close contact may result in severe burns.  Before we get to that, let’s review what we know so far. The FBI has reactivated its probe into her improper, unsecure, national security-endangering email scheme, due to the discovery of additional potentially “pertinent” evidence — via a separate investigation into the online sexual conduct of former Democratic Congressman Anthony Weiner, who is married to Hillary’s closest aide, Huma Abedin. Agents working that case in New York have reportedly been aware of this connection for several weeks, alerting Washington of what they believed they had in their possession vis a vis Clinton’s emails. As pressure grew, Comey was finally briefed on these developments.  He pulled the trigger to immediately notify Congress of his decision to reinitiate the investigation (apparently over the objections of the hopelessly-compromised Attorney General). Here’s Fox News’ Catherine Herridge with an excellent ‘just the facts’ report on where things stand, cutting through a blizzard of spin:

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FBI Found “Tens Of Thousands Of Emails” Belonging To Huma Abedin On Weiner’s Laptop

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Tyler Durden of Zero Hedge has the story:

now-whatWith furious Democrats – and the Clinton Campaign – now openly blasting the FBI’s reopened investigation (as Republicans take delight for once in having a government agency reinforce their side of events), the question turns to just what emails were found on Weiner’s laptop, and how damaging their contents are for the FBI to take the unprecedented step of “intervening” in a major political event just days before the national election.

We first laid what was the most likely explanation yesterday, when we showed several examples of Huma Abedin emails being sent from her work email account to her personal account at humaabedin@yahoo.com, courtesy of a Judicial Watch FOIA release. Of the more than 160 emails in the latest Judicial Watch release, some 110 emails – two-thirds of the total – were forwarded by Abedin to two personal addresses she controlled. The Washington Times reported in August 2015 that the State Department had admitted to a federal judge that Abedin and Mills used personal email accounts to conduct government business in addition to Clinton’s private clintonemail.com to transact State Department business.

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Christians and Halloween

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Is it appropriate for professing Christians to celebrate Halloween? Some believers say “absolutely not” while others say “what’s the big deal?”  The big deal is the pagan origins of Halloween. Travis Allen offers his thoughts on the “All Saints Day” celebration over at Grace to You. He writes:

halloween-pumpkin-2Halloween. It’s a time of year when the air gets crisper, the days get shorter, and for many young Americans the excitement grows in anticipation of the darkest, spookiest holiday of the year. Retailers also rejoice as they warm up their cash registers to receive an average of $79.82 per household in decorations, costumes, candy, and greeting cards. Halloween will bring in approximately $8 billion this year.

It’s a good bet retailers won’t entertain high expectations of getting $79.82 per household from the Christian market. Many Christians refuse to participate in Halloween. Some are wary of its pagan origins; others of its dark, ghoulish imagery; still others are concerned for the safety of their children. But other Christians choose to partake of the festivities, whether participating in school activities, neighborhood trick-or-treating, or a Halloween alternative at their church.

The question is, How should Christians respond to Halloween? Is it irresponsible for parents to let their children trick-or-treat? What about Christians who refuse any kind of celebration during the season—are they overreacting?

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Michael Brown Continues to Deny the NAR, Defends Montanism

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Michael BrownJeff Maples challenges noted apologist Dr. Michael Brown to explain why he continues his association with and defends men and women who embrace warmed over Latter Rain theology.  Over the years the Latter Rain cult has gone by many different names such as Kingdom Now, Manifest Sons of God and Joel’s Army.  Most recently it has been dubbed the New Apostolic Reformation (NAR).  Those who embrace NAR teaching assert that God is restoring the lost offices of church governance, namely the offices of prophet and apostle. Allegedly modern-day prophets and apostles have been given the authority to execute God’s plans and purposes on earth.  What these people teach is not in the scriptures, brethren. Thus, it is unbiblical.  So the question is, where do these self-appointed prophets and apostles derive their beliefs from?  You’re about to find out the answer in this hard-hitting piece over at Pulpit & Pen.

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The FBI’s October Surprise Is Devastating for Hillary Clinton

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In light of the FBI re-opening its investigation of Hillary Clinton’s personal email server, David French of National Review wonders if Democrats will ask Mrs. Clinton to step aside for the good of the country.  French writes:

hillary-clinton-2On Friday afternoon, the FBI uncorked the mother of all October surprises, announcing in a letter to Congress that it has re-opened its investigation of Hillary Clinton’s “personal email server.” The reason? During an “unrelated investigation”* it uncovered e-mails that “appear to be pertinent” to Clinton’s case. It is seeking to determine whether the e-mails contain classified information and can’t yet determine their significance.

Stripped of the legalese, it means that Hillary is back in legal jeopardy. The FBI doesn’t investigate and recommend enforcement actions against computer servers. It holds people accountable, and Hillary is the person most responsible for her own e-mail. I have three initial thoughts.

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Conservatives look for a new network

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Journalist and media critic Cliff Kincaid fills us in on what’s going on over at Fox News since the very public departure of Roger Ailes followed by the takeover of Rupert Murdock’s two sons.  The times they are a-changin’.  Kincaid writes:

LGBTWith the far-left Huffington Post proclaiming openly gay Shepard Smith as “the future” of Fox News, many conservatives are looking elsewhere for news and information. Almost on cue, it has been announced that a new digital conservative TV channel called CRTV is launching this December that will be featuring Mark Levin, Michelle Malkin and Mark Steyn. There is also talk of “Trump TV.”

Since the forced departure of Roger Ailes, reports Ryan Grim of The Huffington Post, Rupert Murdoch’s two sons, James and Lachlan, “have taken a bigger role inside the network.” In a reference to host Sean Hannity, a hard-core Trump supporter, Grim says they intend to jettison “some of the knuckle-dragging, opinion-heavy approach to politics,” and give more leeway to Shepard Smith, Chris Wallace, Bret Baier and Megyn Kelly.

It has been rumored for years that James Murdoch, the liberal Murdoch son who buys into global warming hysteria, is the real heir to his father’s media business. The New York Times has described him as “steadfastly liberal” and notes that he “has supported Bill Clinton and Al Gore, whose daughter he befriended at Harvard.”

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LifeWay pulls Hatmaker books over LGBT views

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According to Baptist Press:

LifeWay Christian Resources has discontinued resources featuring bestselling Bible study author Jen Hatmaker just days after she voiced approval of gay marriage and the gay lifestyle.

“In a recent interview, [Hatmaker] voiced significant changes in her theology of human sexuality and the meaning and definition of marriage — changes which contradict LifeWay’s doctrinal guidelines,” LifeWay spokesman Marty King told Baptist Press today (Oct. 27). “As a result, LifeWay has discontinued selling her resources.”

LifeWay, a Southern Baptist Convention entity, has published several resources by the popular speaker and reality television star, including the bestselling B&H Publishing book, “7: An Experimental Mutiny Against Excess.”

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The time has come to push back

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"May God give us the strength to keep on pushing back until the whole benighted enterprise comes crashing down—Like the walls of Jericho."

“May God give us the strength to keep on pushing back until the whole benighted enterprise comes crashing down—Like the walls of Jericho.”

In a piece entitled “The Walls of Jerico” over at News With Views, Lee Duigon informs us that people around the world are starting to push back against the ruling elite.  “People in countries all over the world are cluing into the fact that their rulers’ agenda isn’t their agenda,” says Duigon. “[T]he politicians, the courts, the nooze media, the academics, the union bosses, the movie stars, and the whole self-anointed whoopee crowd want their countries to go to places that the people most emphatically don’t want their countries to go to: globalism, open borders, bigger and bigger government trending to world government, mass immigration … the overthrow of Christian faith and social ethics, and vast new tax regimes.” So they’ve begun to push back. Duigon believes it’s just the beginning.

Win or lose, Donald Trump’s candidacy is a sign that the days of a free ride for the ruling class are over. Like the TEA Party movement before it, Trump’s presidential bid gives voice and shape to a deep and general discontent. That discontent is not going to go away.

Because people all over the world are waking up and finding that their house has been robbed while they slept—robbed by the very persons whom they trusted to protect them: robbed by the leaders they elected. Thinking they were choosing public servants, they were only choosing masters.

The time has come to push back.

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The Brittle Bones That Compromise Your Life

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According to LifeZette:

broken-handEver break a bone — from a fall, an accident, or something else? Chances are your physicians didn’t check to see why it happened.

Millions of Americans have osteoporosis, a condition characterized by fragile bones and an increased susceptibility to fracture — yet they have no idea of this. The lack of awareness, some health officials believe, could put this nation at risk for a “fracture tsunami” — the impact of which will be felt in the near future on both a public health and socioeconomic level.

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“You Don’t Have to Like Her”: Oprah Winfrey Endorses Clinton for President on T.D. Jakes Show

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Christian News Network reports:

oprah-and-td-jakesTalk show host Oprah Winfrey recently appeared on the “T.D. Jakes Show,” where she urged viewers to vote for Hillary Clinton, stating that “you don’t have to like her” to vote for her. During the broadcast, Jakes, leader of the Potter’s House megachurch in Dallas, Texas, asked Winfrey how the country can be unified rather than divided. “We have focused so much on what divides us, rather than what unites us,” he said. “You brought all types of people together that normally would not be. How are we going to get that back in this country?”

Winfrey replied by praising Jakes for his television program on the OWN Network, opining that there is no platform for “public discourse” about the issues. She also divulged why she hasn’t been outspoken herself.

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Jen Hatmaker Affirms Gay Marriage – Proves She Has No Idea Who God Is

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Jeff Maples of Pulpit & Pen has the story:

Wolf Little Red Riding HoodJen Hatmaker has created a god of her own delusions. In a recent article on RNS, Hatmaker was interviewed by Jonathan Merritt and asked several questions regarding her politics and faith. It became abundantly clear that she doesn’t know the God that reveals Himself through the Scriptures.

One of the questions asked of her was, “Politically-speaking, do you support gay marriage?”

Her response:

From a civil rights and civil liberties side and from just a human being side, any two adults have the right to choose who they want to love. And they should be afforded the same legal protections as any of us. I would never wish anything less for my gay friends.

From a spiritual perspective, since gay marriage is legal in all 50 states, our communities have plenty of gay couples who, just like the rest of us, need marriage support and parenting help and Christian community. They are either going to find those resources in the church or they are not.

Not only are these our neighbors and friends, but they are brothers and sisters in Christ. They are adopted into the same family as the rest of us, and the church hasn’t treated the LGBT community like family. We have to do better.

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The Smoking Gun: Cheryl Mills Tells Podesta “We Need To Clean This Up – Obama Has Emails From Her”

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Tyler Durden of Zero Hedge alleges that President Obama lied to protect the Clinton campaign — and there’s proof:

Photo credit: South Carolina Tea Party Coalition

Photo credit: South Carolina Tea Party Coalition

Recall that in a March 2015 interview with CBS, just after the NYT reported of Hillary’s use of a private email server, president Obama told the American public he had only learned about Hillary’s “unusual” arrangement from the press.

As we further reminded readers one month ago, CBS News senior White House correspondent Bill Plante asked Mr. Obama when he learned about her private email system after his Saturday appearance in Selma, Alabama. “The same time everybody else learned it through news reports,” the president told Plante. “The policy of my administration is to encourage transparency, which is why my emails, the BlackBerry I carry around, all those records are available and archived,” Mr. Obama said. “I’m glad that Hillary’s instructed that those emails about official business need to be disclosed.”

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From porkies to whoppers: over time lies may desensitise brain to dishonesty

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According to The Guardian, a new study indicates that even telling a white lie can desensitize the brain to dishonesty and that lying “gradually feels more comfortable over time.”

PinocchioAmerican fraudster Frank Abagnale, played by Leonardo DiCaprio in the filmCatch Me If You Can, started out swindling his father out of small change for date money and ended up impersonating an airline pilot, despite the admission that he “couldn’t fly a kite”.

Now scientists have uncovered an explanation for why telling a few porkies has the tendency to spiral out of control. The study suggests that telling small, insignificant lies desensitises the brain to dishonesty, meaning that lying gradually feels more comfortable over time.

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Ed Stetzer Honors NAR Heretic, Neo-Montanist and Church Growth Charlatan C. Peter Wagner’s Passing

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From Berean Research:

peter_wagnerC. Peter Wagner, the man who helped revive the Latter Rain cult of the 1950’s and later dubbed it the New Apostolic Reformation (NAR), died last week.  Being that Wagner was the Grand Poobah of the NAR, this is a huge loss for this growing movement.  In a piece I wrote entitled Religious Right uniting with Religious Renegades I brought to light that Wagner was the NAR founder.  Wagner was not happy about that and sent AN URGENT MESSAGE FROM PETER to his mailing list categorically denying that he was the ring leader founder. He wrote:

The NAR is not an organization. No one can join or carry a card. It has no leader. I have been called the “founder,” but this is not the case. One reason I might be seen as an “intellectual godfather” is that I might have been the first to observe the movement, give a name to it, and describe its characteristics as I saw them.

When he died, Charisma News penned a piece saying that Wagner had “passed into glory.”  Richard Haas couldn’t disagree more so he voiced his view of the man over at Pulpit & Pen, as he felt the truth wasn’t being reported. In his piece he asked, “Is it harsh or judgmental to say that C. Peter Wagner has not passed into glory as Charisma News, and others would lead us to believe?”  No, says Haas, “it is not judgmental or insensitive to speak the truth.”

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Obama Administration Confirms Double-Digit Premium Hikes

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NewsMax reports that Obamacare premiums soar:

obamacarePremiums will go up sharply next year under President Barack Obama’s health care law, and many consumers will be down to just one insurer, the administration confirmed Monday. That will stoke another “Obamacare” controversy days before a presidential election.

Before taxpayer-provided subsidies, premiums for a midlevel benchmark plan will increase an average of 25 percent across the 39 states served by the federally run online market, according to a report from the Department of Health and Human Services. Some states will see much bigger jumps, others less.

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Christian Bakery Loses Appeal over “Gay Cake” Discrimination Conviction

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Breitbart reports:

bert-and-ernie

Sesame Street Muppets Bert & Ernie

The Christian owners of Ashers Baking Company have lost their appeal to overturn a conviction which found them guilty of discrimination for refusing to make a cake bearing a slogan which promoted gay marriage. The Court of Appeal in Belfast upheld the previous judgement, filed last year, which found that the company had discriminated against local gay rights activist Gareth Lee by failing to provide a cake bearing a picture of Bert and Ernie with the slogan “support gay marriage”. The initial judgement ordered them to pay £500 in compensation to Mr. Lee.

The owners, Daniel and Amy MacArthur, said that they were happy to serve Mr. Lee, but felt unable to make a cake endorsing a message they did not agree with. They, therefore, argued that they had not discriminated against Mr. Lee, but had merely declined to support his cause.

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Vasectomy Parties Are the New Trend for Couples Going “Child-Free”

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Vasectomy parties are like baby showers except couples celebrate the babies that will never be.  According to PJMedia:

Daily Mail recently highlighted a new trend in the world of fertility: vasectomy parties to celebrate the decision of a couple to remain childless. 

baby-not-welcomeThe cost of having children is deterring a growing number of couples from expanding the family unit. Vasectomies, once a source of shame, are now being celebrated openly by couples adamant about living childless lives… More couples these days want to avoid parenthood and embrace life without children.

 

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Reported Cases of Sexually-Transmitted Diseases Reaches Record High

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gay-agenda-4Wintery Knight (WK) has a story by CNN’s Jacqueline Howard entitled “STD Rates Reach Record High in United States.” In her article, Howard addresses an annual study conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), a liberal government organization. In their piece, WN offers a more conservative perspective regarding this ongoing problem. As you can see by the headline, the CDC paints a bleak picture for the LGBTQ community, and for good reason.  For example, the CDC reveals that “Gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men made up an estimated 2% of the population but 55% of people living with HIV in the United States in 2013. If current diagnosis rates continue, 1 in 6 gay and bisexual men will be diagnosed with HIV in their lifetime, including 1 in 2 black/African American gay and bisexual men, 1 in 4 Hispanic/Latino gay and bisexual men, and 1 in 11 white gay and bisexual men.”

According to WK, the government solution to this alarming situation is for taxpayers to continue coughing up money to pay medical bills for irresponsible men.

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Students “Appalled” by Catholic University’s Decision to Forbid Pro-Life Poster

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Christian News Network reports:

unborn-lives-matter

Photo credit: Twitter

The largest Catholic university in the U.S. prevented an on-campus organization from displaying a pro-life poster, suggesting that the message was “provocative” and “hurtful.”

DePaul University is a private university in Chicago, founded in 1898. Although the university celebrates its “Catholic character” in its mission statement and seeks to foster the Catholic faith on campus, the school is being criticized for refusing to allow an organization to display a pro-life poster.

Earlier this month, the DePaul College Republicans requested permission to display on campus a poster bearing the phrase “Unborn Lives Matter.” Campus officials declined their request, saying the pro-life sign would have to be redesigned before it could be displayed.

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Called Into Fellowship

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God is faithful, who has called you into fellowship with his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. 1 Corinthians 1:9

fellowshipThis is the key verse of First Corinthians. The rest of the letter revolves around it. It is a statement that God had called them to a very important relationship, and that this is the reason for all of the problems in the church. They had not understood the implications of their calling, and the relationship they personally had with Jesus himself. Instead, beginning with the very next verse, the apostle has to deal with divisions, scandals, lawsuits, immorality, drunkenness and quarreling. It is very clear that, despite the fullness of provision which they had received, they were experiencing a great failure in the church. They had all this ability to do all these mighty things in the Spirit, but not much was happening out in the city. Instead of making an impact on Corinth, Corinth was making an impact on the church. All these ugly attitudes and actions that were going on every day out in the city were beginning to infiltrate into the church, and instead of the church changing the city, the city was changing the church.

This reminds me of Peter Marshall’s very vivid description of contemporary Christians. He says, Christians are like deep-sea divers encased in suits designed for many fathoms deep, marching bravely forth to pull plugs out of bathtubs! What was wrong was the Corinthians lack of understanding of what it meant to have Jesus Christ living among them. The major struggle of most churches is right at this point. They have lost the sense that Jesus is among them, that they have an individual relationship to the Lord of glory himself. They no longer live their lives in the awareness and the excitement that they are partners with Christ in everything they do. When that begins to fade from the Christian consciousness, all these troubles that the Corinthians were experiencing begin to crowd in. This letter is written to call them back to an awareness of what it means to have fellowship with Christ.   View article →

NAR Pioneer and Chief Theologian C. Peter Wagner Dies

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According to Spirit of Error, Arch-heretic C. Peter Wagner has died:

peter_wagnerC. Peter Wagner, one of the most influential leaders in the New Apostolic Reformation (NAR), died Friday at age 86. Many people who are part of the global NAR movement have been deeply influenced by Wagner without knowing it. In short, he did the heavy lifting theologically for the movement.

Wagner was a professor of church growth at Fuller Theological Seminary, where he taught for 30 years (1971 to 2001). He first coined the term “New Apostolic Reformation” to refer to the growing number of churches in the 1990s that started to accept the idea of present-day apostles. He wrote six books on the topic of apostles. He was the presiding leader over the International Coalition of Apostolic Leadersduring its formative years, from 2001 to 2010.   View article →

Discover why C. Peter Wagner was considered a dangerous man in The Rotten Fruit of the NAR.

For more on the the New Apostolic Reformation/Dominionism, check out Berean Research’s White Paper here.

 

Risk of “Mass Exodus” of Doctors from Medicare

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LifeZette reports:

doctor-medicareIn what may be the most significant modification to Medicare since the program began in 1966, on Oct. 15, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) released the final rule for implementing the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015 (MACRA). It dramatically changes how Medicare pays doctors for their services.

Does it really matter how doctors get paid? Yes — the success or failure of the new payment system will profoundly influence the future of the U.S. health care system. And while the goals of MACRA are laudable, its implementation carries a number of unknowns and the potential for unintended consequences — for patients and doctors alike.

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