Three women in Brazil have entered into a polyamorous civil union, a step toward three-way marriage, the American Foreign Press (AFP) has reported.
According to AFP, the women have reportedly “shared a bed for years and say they want to raise a child,” but the government in the deeply conservative Catholic country does not recognize marriage among more than two people.
That isn’t stopping the women – a dentist, businesswoman and office manager – from pressuring the legal system to recognize their union.
“The union is just symbolic” at this point, the women’s attorney, Fernanda de Freitas Leitao, said. At this point, it only demonstrates “how they intend to have children.”
Crisis Magazine has the details of this bizarre story:
Twenty-five years ago, a small group of activists charged the New York City Saint Patrick’s Day Parade with being a public gesture of pure homophobia. They built their case around the allegedly bigoted “Catholic character.” The trial was held before the judges of the left-leaning secular media.
A jury composed of the general public yawned, wondering why a 250-year-old civic and religious institution needed to become a battlefield in the culture wars. The activists found this lack of popular support impossible to fathom. Enraged, they determined to do more than just march up Fifth Avenue. They sought to humiliate their enemies, including the parade’s organizers, the Ancient Order of Hibernians, and the Catholic Church herself.
Then the unexpected: the committee responsible for sponsoring and staging the parade stopped defending itself against the worst of the charges. The case has now moved to the penalty phase.
This week, the victors revealed their demands: a Saint Patrick’s Day parade that is both non-Catholic and—incredibly—non-Irish. As outlandish as that sounds, all indications are that the activists will get what they want, because they’ve somehow managed to capture the imagination of the parade’s new boss—Quinnipiac University president John L. Lahey.
A court battle continues over the right of a Christian business not to print t-shirts for a “gay pride” event in conflict with its biblical beliefs after the Kentucky Human Rights Commission recently filed an appeal of a ruling in favor of the company.
As previously reported, the Gay and Lesbian Services Organization of Lexington (GLSO) had wanted the Kentucky-based Hand On Originals–a company that identifies as “Christian outfitters” on the home page of its website–to print t-shirts for the 2012 Lexington Gay Pride Festival. When manager Blaine Adamson declined the order due to the company’s biblical convictions, GLSO filed a complaint with the Lexington-Fayette Urban County Government Human Rights Commission.
“I want the truth to come out—it’s not that we have a sign on the front door that says, ‘No Gays Allowed,’” owner Blaine Adamson said following the filing of the complaint. “We’ll work with anybody. But if there’s a specific message that conflicts with my convictions, then I can’t promote that.”
A school district in the Chicago area is remaining steadfast in its refusal to allow a male student who identifies as female to change in the girls’ locker room despite an opinion from the U.S. Department of Education that the district is violating federal law.
According to reports, an unidentified high school student within Township High School District 211 requested to use the girls’ locker room nearly two years ago since the student asserts that they identify as female.
A couple in Oregon has announced that they are planning on following their five-year-old daughter’s wishes not to return to the hospital when she becomes sick again, opting for “heaven over the hospital.”
Julianna Snow was diagnosed with Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease (CMT) at the age of two after numerous visits to the doctor in an effort to understand her developmental problems and weakness in her arms and legs.
Her mother, Michelle, a neurologist, soon found that her husband, Steve, had CMT in a mild form and realized that their daughter might have genetically inherited the ailment. Snow underwent treatments and physical therapy to fight the CMT, but struggled with weakened lung muscles that made it hard to breathe and also experienced difficulty swallowing.
Most people won’t be the least bit shocked by a “church” hosting a drag show during the worship service. What’s important to keep in mind, though, is the lengths the LGBT community will go to to draw attention to themselves, even if it means blaspheming God. While strutting their stuff at the church event, one man proclaimed: “God is good all the time! That means God is a diva, and girl, Jesus is fierce.” Christian News Network has the story:
United Church of Christ congregation in Massachusetts recently hosted what it called a “Drag Gospel Festival” in support of the homosexual and transgender members in its assembly.
The First Church of Somerville (FCS) hosted the event October 16-18 both during its Friday night drag show and Sunday morning worship service.
Many people are concerned with the direction evangelist Greg Laurie is taking the church, and rightly so, as you will see in Lighthouse Trails’ report:
Lighthouse Trails reader sent this photo (see below) to us today. It is a picture of Calvary Chapel pastor Greg Laurie, standing with Roma Downey and Mark Burnett and was posted on Greg Laurie’s Facebook page along with this caption by Downey:
So nice spending time with friends. Mark and I had a lovely lunch today with Greg and Cathe Laurie #harvestoc
A senior Vatican priest comes out of the closet, admits to having a long time boyfriend, and gets fired. He’s mad. Ho hum, no surprise these days. But the bigger story is how a major evangelical news outlet reports the story — never mentions the priest’s sin. Instead we learn how unfair the Vatican is to the priest and his boyfriend — boohoo. Why did Christian Today contributing editor Ruth Gledhill neglect to mention the reasons homosexuality can never be accepted by the Roman Catholic Church? Evidently she would like CT readers to believe that the RCC hates homosexuals for no good reason when this is patently untrue. The Vatican’s view is based on the Bible’s teaching on same-sex relationships:
Wall Street Journal reports on Hollywood’s fascination with the world of the occult:
It’s enough to make your head spin. Some 40 years after “The Exorcist,” demonic possession is back, spewing out movies, TV shows and books. “Ash vs. Evil Dead,” based on the “Evil Dead” film franchise about demons plaguing vacationers at a cabin in the woods, is premiering on the Starz cable network on Halloween. The creator of zombie hit “The Walking Dead” is bringing his possession comic book “Outcast” to Cinemax next year.
A sequel to the hit 2013 film “The Conjuring,” about an attempted exorcism, is in production. “The Witch,” a film-festival darling about possession in a Puritan family in 17th-century New England, is set to open in February. A revival of Arthur Miller’s “The Crucible” opens on Broadway that same month, starring Saoirse Ronan as a young woman amid charges of witchcraft in Salem. A reality-TV special advertised as a “live exorcism” of a haunted house is scheduled to air the night before Halloween.
The eleventh Planned Parenthood expose’ video released by the Center for Medical Progress captures a Texas abortionist laughing about how obtaining an intact baby head would be “something to strive for,” and explaining how she performs breech or partial birth abortions to harvest the child’s organs.
“My aim is usually to get the specimens out pretty intact,” Amna Dermish tells the undercover investigator posing as a representative from a fetal organ procurement company, who explains that he would expect any organs to be intact.
“Can you convert to breech?” he asks.
“I can if I need to,” Dermish replies. “I don’t usually do it in the 16 t0 18 weeks [babies] because I don’t really need to, but with the further gestation, I will sometimes do that if it’s a celaphalic presentation (head first) just because it’s easier to get.”
Federal authorities are reportedly looking into the illegal acquisition of archaeological relics for the Museum of the Bible, a project planned and funded by the Christian owners of Hobby Lobby, the Daily Beast has reported.
The museum, conceived by the Green family, which owns Hobby Lobby and Mardel Christian Bookstores, will house some 40,000 Bibles, artifacts and historical documents in a 430,000-square-foot facility close to the U.S. Capitol and the National Mall. According to its website, the museum will “provide guests with an immersive and personalized experience as they explore the history, narrative and impact of the Bible.”
Next year, for the first time in a millennium, a pagan temple will wel-come Reykjavik’s faithful. The heathen house of worship, vaguely resembling a misshapen meringue, will be aligned with the sun’s path and burrowed into a hill near the city’s airport. There, like the Vikings of old, members of Iceland’s neo-pagan Ásatrú movement will be able to feast on horse meat, swig from goblets of mead, and praise deities such as Thor, the god of thunder, and Freyja, the goddess of love.
Recently leaked videos believed to be obtained by the Center for Medical Progress provide audio footage of an abortionist explaining how “desperate” she was to come up with a way to dispose of the aborted babies stockpiled at her facility after having difficulty finding any businesses that wanted to work with her.
“I mean, it was the worst. I dreamed about how to dispose of fetal tissue,” said Renee Chelian, owner of the Northland Family Planning chain in Michigan in the video, which was recorded at the 2014 National Abortion Federation conference. “I mean I was so desperate, the antis found a way to close us.”
An online petition has been launched over revelations that the popular evangelical-owned fast food restaurant Chick-fil-A has been listed as a sponsor of a “faith-based” homosexual film and arts festival.
Level Ground began as a student-organized event in 2013, and was touted as the “world’s first faith-based LGBT film festival.” It has since expanded to six cities across the country and includes not only film, but music, theater, visual arts, comedy, and various workshops with the goal of “elevating the public discourse around the otherwise polarizing topics of gender identity and human sexuality.”
“The Level Ground Festival draws a unique audience that reflects the full spectrum of religious (and non-religious) beliefs, gender identities, and sexual orientations,” the festival website outlines. “All denominations, theologies, beliefs, races, and ages are welcome.”
Earlier this month, the Obama administration announced that insurers who lost money selling Obamacare would not get a $2.5-billion bailout. It was great news for taxpayers, but it didn’t happen by chance.
Both chambers of Congress worked very hard to make those savings possible. And lawmakers will have to continue working hard to keep bailouts like this from happening in the future.
Here’s how Congress did it this time. But first, some background.
One would think that a pastor would understand that saying “I’m sorry” is not the same as asking his flock to forgive him for sinning against them by misappropriating 35 million of their hard earned money. Hee and several cohorts were convicted of using church funds to make his wife a popstar. You can’t make this stuff up, brethren. According to Christian Today:
City Harvest Church’s pastor Kong Hee apologised to his congregation this weekend after the guilty verdict in his trial for fraud.
According to the Asia One news service, on Sunday morning Kong faced a crowded auditorium at the Suntec convention centre, bowed and said, “Pastor is sorry”. He had used the same words at a service on Saturday night.
Kong, his deputy pastor Tan Ye Peng, finance manager Sharon Tan and former finance manager Serina Wee, were found guilty with former board members John Lam and Chew Eng Han of misusing $17 million from the church’s building fund to further the music career of Kong’s wife Ho Yeow Sun, known as Sun Ho. A further $18.5 million was used to cover up the scheme through a complicated system of bond issues and ’round-tripping’ transactions in which the church used its own money to pay debt owed to it.
God who chose how He would be represented to mankind — male. He could have chosen female, but He didn’t. There are around 170 references to God as the “Father” in the Bible. “Bishop” Rachel Treweek does not seem to realize that only males are fathers.The Guardian has the story:
God should not necessarily be seen as a masculine figure, according to the UK’s first female bishop to sit in the House of Lords on Monday. “God is not to be seen as male. God is God,” said Rachel Treweek, bishop of Gloucester, who is to be inaugurated in parliament.
While acknowledging that many Anglicans would profoundly disagree, Treweek said the Church of England should use both male and female pronouns when referring to God. She personally prefers to say neither “he” nor “she”, but “God”. “Sometimes I lapse, but I try not to,” the bishop told the Observer.
“In the creation narratives, we’re told that God created human beings in God’s likeness, and then it goes on to talk about male and female. If I am made in the image of God, then God is not to be seen as male. God is God.”
Despite its deep opposition to same-sex marriage, the Mormon Church is setting itself apart from religious conservatives who rallied behind a Kentucky county clerk, Kim Davis, who cited her religious beliefs as justification for refusing to grant marriage licenses to same-sex couples.
In a speech this week about the boundaries between church and state, Dallin Oaks, a high-ranking apostle in the church, said that public officials like Ms. Davis, the clerk in Rowan County, Ky., had a duty to follow the law, despite their religious convictions.
Trouble is, “Caitlyn” is really Bruce all dolled up to look like a woman. But “she” still has her man parts, for now at least. We know this nation has hit rock bottom when a popular magazine gives an award to someone who clearly has mental issues. Daily Caller has the story:
Photo: Kevin Winter, Getty Images
Glamour magazine named Caitlyn Jenner its “Woman of the Year” on Wednesday.
Along with Reese Witherspoon, Jenner will be featured on the publication’s December issue to celebrate 25 years of the magazine’s prize, Gossip Cop reports.
Christian Headlines has the latest on Bill Gothard, founder of Institute In Basic Life Principles. In 2014 Gothard resigned over sexual harassment charges:
A fundamentalist Christian ministry is under investigation for allegedly covering up sexual abuse of employees and children who attended its programs.
Christian Today reports that the Institute in Basic Life Principles (IBLP), which was once a leading organization within the Christian homeschooling movement, has been accused of covering up sexual abuse.
Five women have filed a lawsuit against IBLP, asking for $50,000 in compensation and stating that the organization “frequently received reports” of “sexual abuse, sexual harassment and inappropriate/unauthorised touching,” and that these serious allegations were never reported to authorities.
Archbishop Blase Cupich of Chicago — who is participating in the Synod of the Family at Pope Francis’ personal invitation — said at a press scrum in the Vatican press office this afternoon that the conscience is “inviolable” and that he believes divorced and remarried couples could be permitted to receive the sacraments, if they have “come to a decision” to do so “in good conscience” – theological reasoning that he indicated in response to a follow-up question would also apply to gay couples.
During the lengthy press briefing, the archbishop also spoke approvingly of the so-called “Kasper Proposal,” which would permit divorced and remarried Catholics to receive Communion in some cases. Cupich explained that he had distributed Cardinal Walter Kasper’s book, The Gospel of the Family, in which the cardinal had laid out this proposal, to all of the priests in his diocese.
Protestant pastors are increasingly polarized about Islam, with a growing share labeling the Muslim faith violent while a sharply rising minority calls it spiritually good, a new study shows.
Although a majority considers Islam dangerous, a small but increasing segment believes Islam is similar to Christianity, according to a new survey by LifeWay Research.
And two-thirds of Protestant pastors agree Christianity and Islam should seek to coexist in America.
The prophets prophesy falsely, And the priests rule on their own authority; And My people love it so! But what will you do at the end of it? (Jeremiah 5:31)
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As previously covered, Bethel Redding children’s pastor Seth Dahl has blasphemously claimed that in a vision Christ came to him and asked Dahl for forgiveness. You can watch this right here.
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In the above video, Dahl tells the Bethel Redding congregation of his experience with an enormous angel. Dahl asked the angel his name and then googled in the angel’s answer. The angel’s name was the same as that of a finance company. Dahl then realized the angel was “here for our finances at Bethel…”
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Dahl states, “You just need to hear a testimony so you can know what’s available to you ’cause I’m not trying to preach a sermon, I’m trying to invite you to a new way of life.”
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Yes, a way of life full of false visions and prophecies and dreams. Bethel Redding has taken many away from biblical Christianity.
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But it is apparent something else is happening as well. Because of these excesses (from Bethel Redding and elsewhere) many Christians are now afraid to draw near to God.
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“Experiencing God” has become a dreaded term. The great Reformed preacher Martyn Lloyd-Jones, were he alive today, would be criticized by some well meaning discernment ministries for speaking about the “presence of God.”
In an interview with Christian Today Albert Mohler tells it like it is:
A leading Southern Baptist theologian and commentator is to issue a call for “faithful, biblical witness” in a book to be released next week.
The president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, Rev Dr Al Mohler, reflects in We Cannot Be Silent on the legalisation of same-sex marriage, the emergence of “transgenderism” and on divorce.
Interviewed for the seminary’s Southern News, Mohler said: “I am confronted daily with Christians who are asking one of the most basic questions and that is, ‘How did this happen?'”
In his book, Mohler says America’s Supreme Court will be held accountable by the court of “divine judgment” for legalising same-sex marriage.
