Commentary, analysis and opinion.

Bethel and their ‘apostolic grave-sucking culture’ still continues

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“Why would Jansen be proud to receive an ‘impartation’ from William Branham, the man responsible for helping birth one of the worst doomsday cults on the planet, resulting in the deaths of hundreds of people at Jonestown?”

(Chhurcwatch Central)  ‘Grave-sucking, or ‘grave-soaking’, is a process by which someone lays on the grave of a deceased Christian in order to absorb their mantle or anointing.’ According to Apostle Bill Johnson’s wife Beni Johnson, grave-sucking is ‘what I do’. (See Photo of Beni on the site)

In other words, this occultic practice is promoted from the top down, not from the bottom up. Continue reading →

Beware the ‘Bright Ones’: Bethel Church’s big-screen debut to hit theaters nationwide on April 22

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“Bethel Church teaching goes way beyond historic Pentecostal and charismatic teaching by claiming that the key to acquiring those [spiritual] gifts is through receiving new, authoritative revelation given by modern-day, governing apostles and prophets, like Bethel’s Bill Johnson and Kris Vallotton. These extreme and distinctive teachings represent neither historic Christianity nor historic Pentecostal and charismatic belief.”

(Holly Pivec – Spirit of Error)  Bright Ones – a full-length feature film being marketed to families, youth and churches – will debut in more than 700 select theaters across the United States on April 22. Continue reading →

White Horse Inn Supporter of ‘Hypergrace’ Barbara Duguid…whose theology will have disastrous repercussions

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Dr. Michael Horton, J. Gresham Machen Professor of Theology and Apologetics at Westminster Seminary California and President and host of The White Horse Inn.

“The book was heartily endorsed by disgraced pastor and hypergracer Tullian Tchividjian, fellow hypergracer and ‘Keller protoge,’ Elyse Fitzpatrick,  “Christian” psychotherapist David Powlison, and professing Reformed professor Michael Horton.”

(Toni S. Brown) White Horse Inn has been a consistent supporter of Barbara Duguid and this month Core Christianity interviewed her once again to promote her book Extravagant Grace: God’s Glory Displayed In Our Weakness. Duguid is a popular counselor in the Christian counseling movement and a student of Dr. Tim Keller, who is admittedly her mentor and teacher.

The Duguids lived with the Kellers while her husband attended Westminster Seminary and she claims to have gained a great deal of insight from Dr. Keller, especially on law and grace, an area in which he is most dangerous. Her books are popular among women’s ministries and she regularly speaks to women’s groups all over the country. Her view of grace has been widely criticized in the last decade and rightly categorized as “hypergrace.” Continue reading →

The 8 Things You Need To Know About The Mueller Report

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“The Steele dossier – the intelligence mishmash funneled to Obama intelligence agencies via Fusion GPS – barely comes up in the Mueller report. Yet it was used repeatedly as the basis for a FISA warrant against Carter Page, and was presented directly to President Trump by former FBI director James Comey, then reported on broadly in the press.” 

(Ben Shapiro – Daily Wire)  On Thursday, the long-awaited Mueller report finally dropped, like manna from the heavens to the starved mass media. The media quickly swiveled from their years-long contention that President Trump and his 2016 campaign colluded with Russia to the contention that Trump obstructed justice in order to cover his non-collusion with Russia. That will be the talking point moving forward: that the cover-up was worse than the non-crime. Continue reading →

Ten post-Mueller questions that could turn the tables on Russia collusion investigators

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“President Trump reportedly is readying an order to declassify five key buckets of documents on alleged FBI abuses. … My sources agree these 10 questions are the most important to be answered in the forthcoming probes…”

(John Solomon – The Hill)  Soon, the dust will settle from special counsel Robert Mueller’s report, and Americans will have a fuller understanding of why prosecutors concluded there wasn’t evidence to establish that Donald Trump and Russia colluded to hijack the 2016 election.

At that point, many voters exhausted by the fizzling of a two-year scandal, once billed as the next Watergate, will want to move on like a foodie from an empty-calorie shake. Continue reading →

Christian kids must slay wolves in sheep’s clothing, not pet them!

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(Marsha West – Christian Research Network)  Here’s a sobering fact the Church must come to grips with: Even children who are “churched” are woefully unprepared to “contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints.” (Jude 1:3) This is a frontline issue, yet Church leaders and parents just don’t “get” how important it is to teach the younger generation to defend their faith.

The Apostle Paul faced this issue head on in the early church. In a letter to Timothy, he warned: “For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths.” (2 Tim 4:3-4) All the Apostles dealt with false teaching, Gnosticism in particular, and for this reason they wanted to insure correct doctrine was taught. Continue reading →

James MacDonald Took Millions from Harvest & Now Demands Broadcast Ministry

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“From 2014-2018, Harvest gave Walk in the Word more than $6 million worth of free television broadcast time According to Harvest’s 2016 Financial Statement, Harvest sold its property in Aurora, Illinois, to TBN for $15,600,000 in 2014. But TBN paid only $4 million of that amount in cash. The rest was given to the church in free broadcast time, which was then granted to Walk in the Word to use over eight years.”

(Julie Roys)  Harvest Bible Chapel founder, James MacDonald, told three elders in 2013 that he’d “lose 1,000 sheep” before he’d reveal his salary. That’s according to former elders—Scott Phelps, Barry Slabaugh, and Dan Marquardt—who resigned soon after hearing that comment, and months later, were publicly excommunicated. (The church has since apologized for its “harsh” discipline of the men.) Continue reading →

‘Unplanned’ Movie’s Abby Johnson Says Mothers Who Have Their Babies Killed by Abortion Shouldn’t Be ‘Punished’

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“Some have contended that Johnson’s views are not a pro-life position, as exempting women from any penalty would leave abortion legal for self-abortions, and would simply shift the act culturally from being committed by abortionists to those carried out at home by a child’s own mother.”

(Heather Clark – Christian News Network)  Abby Johnson, the center of the film “Unplanned,” which tells of the former Planned Parenthood director’s departure from the abortion industry, is generating questions and opposition as she has outlined on social media that she does not believe that mothers who take their unborn children to be killed by abortionists should be punished at all — a\position that some say is “pro-choice” and does not afford the unborn the same protections under the law as born children. Continue reading →

Don’t be Shocked When Many ‘Christians’ Cheer the Criminalization of Christianity

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“The number of supposedly Christian individuals whose moral compasses are calibrated to the spirit of the age rather than the authority of Scripture has become astounding.  Leaning on their own understanding, they choose the attributes of a god they want to worship, one who seems “worthy” of their worship, and they bow to it.  The God of Scripture is too narrow-minded.”

(Peter Heck – The Resurgent)  As I read the enraged responses from professing Christians at the news that Vice President Mike Pence would be the commencement speaker for Taylor University (a leading private, Christian institution located in tiny Upland, Indiana) I realized something. Continue reading →

Mayor Pete and the Crackup of Christianity

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“If Pete is right, since the time of Christ, Christians have ostracized and persecuted gays simply for being and behaving as God intended.  And if that is true, what is the defense of Christianity?”

(Patrick J. Buchanan)  “(T)here is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so,” said Hamlet, who thereby raised some crucial questions:

Is moral truth subjective? Does it change with changing times and changing attitudes? Or is there a higher law, a permanent law, God’s law, immutable and eternal, to which man’s law should conform? Continue reading →

Hillsong Pastor Says Christians Shouldn’t Judge Homosexuals, God is a God of Love, Acceptance

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“This is exactly antithetical to what the Scripture teaches. To differentiate between love and truth is an artificial distinction. Essentially, what Houston is saying is that we should love people enough to keep the truth about their sins to ourselves. What Houston is actually doing is the most hateful thing one can do. We are not called first to “love” apart from giving others the truth.”

(Jeff Maples – Reformation Charlotte)  Hillsong Church is arguably the most influential religious organization in the world. Through its music program, Hillsong is known throughout all of Christendom and is either loved or hated by most. The reality is, most of the professing Church love Hillsong and sadly, Hillsong leads many astray. Continue reading →

Why Democrats Are So Dangerous

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Photo credit Living Witness Ministries

How many grade-school students come home crying to their parents that we are all in danger of dying in twelve years if their parents didn’t support the global warming ‘crisis’? What parent out there had to tell their son or daughter that they could not go to school with their Make America Great Again hat lest they be assaulted or ridiculed, not so much by their classmates, but by their teachers?

(Ray DiLorenzo – Canada Free Press)  Democrats are dangerous. They are not your father’s Democrats. They don’t believe in anything your parents believed in. They scream and yell or sit on the floor if they don’t get their way. What was once a small group of radicals in the sixties has now completely taken over the party. I don’t think there is a lucid member left. Continue reading →

The Irrelevance of Hell

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“The great question for preachers to consider is whether they fear man or God? Will the minister of the Word actually minister the Word to the congregation—including the whole counsel of God’s Word?”

(Josh Buice – Delivered By Grace)  In our postmodern culture that plays by the tolerance rules of modern times, we have been taught to be “nice” and to pursue happiness at all costs. After all, if we can’t say anything nice, we shouldn’t say anything at all. For the majority of people within our urbane culture, hell is the sort of topic that is not discussed in the local coffee shop nor is it the center of attention in most Sunday sermons. Let’s face it—hell is not relevant to a sophisticated culture. But, why has hell become irrelevant? Continue reading →

Charismatic Magazine Accuses Bethel Student Who Was Kicked Out For Opposing False Doctrine of ‘Witchcraft’

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“Bethel School of Ministry is owned and operated by Bethel Church in Redding, CA — which is run by New Apostolic Reformation Apostle, Bill Johnson and his right-hand man, Kris Vallotton. Both of these men are nefarious blasphemers of God. Bethel is known for several parlor tricks, including what they refer to as “glory clouds,” which have been exposed as nothing more than glitter in the ventilation system.”

(Jeff Maples – Reformation Charlotte)  One of the devious tactics of the charismatic movement is its insistence on being accepted among the ranks of every professing denomination as a viable substitute for sound doctrine…. Continue reading →

What We Should Expect From The Release Of The Full Mueller Report

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“The collusion theory that was used to undermine the administration of the duly elected president and justify breaking every norm against him resulted in not a single indictment against an American for colluding with Russia.”

(Mollie Hemingway – The Federalist)   Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s report is expected to be made public early this week. The big special counsel news already occurred last month when Attorney General William Barr announced Mueller ended his investigation without a single American — much less a single American tied to President Donald Trump — being indicted for collusion with Russia to steal the 2016 election. Continue reading →

The Battlefield of the Mind

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“As believers who are engaged daily in an ongoing battle for our mind there are only two choices to consider: either submit to the will of Christ who loves us or to the will of Satan who wants to destroy us. There is no third option.”

(Darrell B. Harrison – Just Thinking)  If I were to ask you where does Jesus rank among your daily priorities, how would you respond? Would your first impulse be to give a “spiritual” answer—that is, to say what you think you’re supposed to say as a Christian—or would you reply with what you know in your heart to be true? Continue reading →

Am I doing something wrong if I make a huge decision and don’t wait to hear from God?

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“When I got to GA I applied for a number of jobs. I applied using common sense. What did I have experience in, was trained for, and was good at? It’s not like I consulted the Lord and waited for a sign or anything. I was following the biblical principle that he who does not work does not eat. I sought jobs I thought I had the best chance of getting and sustaining my means.”

(Elizabeth Prata – The End Time)  Does the Bible speak to whom we should marry? Which college to attend? Whether to join the Army? Should we relocate to another state? Change careers now, later, or never? Go back to college? Continue reading →

The Facts of Transgender Ideology Can No Longer Be Ignored

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“These children being administered cross-sex hormones are losing their ability to be fruitful and multiply. Instead the grave permanent effects of this type of hormone therapy is sterility. You read that right! The girl loses her ability to produce eggs and the boy loses his ability to produce sperm.”

(Pulpit & Pen)   One need only take the pulse of online platforms such as Facebook and Twitter to realize that Transgenderism is an ideology. Continue reading →

The LGBT Lobby Has Been Trying To Exact Revenge On A Chicken Restaurant For Seven Years. This Is Not Normal.

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“I have often said that the LGBT lobby is the biggest bully in America. This is why. It is not just that their activists are aggressive, and often underhanded and deceitful — like when they seek out Christian business owners to entrap and sue — but that they are so unbelievably petty and vengeful. The militant gay left will not let any perceived slight go unpunished, no matter how long it takes to exact revenge. They require that every person conform to their expectations, and any outliers must be neutralized, at whatever cost, no matter how long it takes.”

(Matt Walsh – Daily Wire)  San Jose, California’s city council is focused on the important issue. In response to a new Chick-fil-A establishment opening near the city’s airport, the council has officially passed a resolution to fly rainbow flags near the restaurant…. Continue reading →

Same-Sex Attraction, Biblical Christianity, and the Fractures in Our Evangelical Mist

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“There is no doubt that we are living in a brave new world with cultural foundations shifting almost daily. Christians have been disoriented not only by the pace of the change but also by the ways that such changes appear to be moving some Christian leaders and organizations off of their biblical foundations. In such times, the need to reaffirm those foundations is critical and cannot be assumed.”

(Tom Ascol – Founders Ministries)  Last week Tom Buck wrote a series of four articles expressing concerns about the teaching of Living Out and, specifically, articles on their website & recommendations they make to people who have sexual desires for members of the same sex. Those articles, shall we say, created quite a stir. The light that Buck helped shine on this issue and the dissipating mist that is following reveal what I fear are unavoidable fractures within evangelical circles. Continue reading →

Contributing Editor for Christianity Today Faces Conflict of Interest Questions After Accepting Car From James MacDonald

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“CT’s unusual coverage of the Harvest scandal doesn’t necessarily show collusion between Stetzer, MacDonald, and CT. But it certainly raises questions, especially in light of the gifted car. But it’s not just Stetzer’s position with CT that may present a conflict of interest.”

(Julie Roys)  “Got me a 1971 Beetle,” announced Ed Stetzer on Facebook last April, adding that he and his daughter were planning to restore the classic Volkswagen car. However, what Stetzer didn’t mention was how he had obtained the car. Continue reading →

Ilhan Omar Trivializes 9/11 Terrorist Attacks: ‘Some People Did Something’

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This woman loves to stir up controversy, loves to be in the spotlight. In the speech she gave, she could have said something like “On the morning of 9/11 terrorists killed 3,000 innocent Americans. I call them terrorists because that is what they were. Those men do not represent my religion.” But instead she said, “some people did something.” Her remarks were condemned, and rightly so.

Now to Ryan Saavedra’s piece over at Daily Wire:

Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) trivialized the deadliest terrorist attack in U.S. history in a recent speech she gave at an event for the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) — which the United Arab Emirates has designated as a terrorist organization. Continue reading →

The End of the Family?

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“Christian believers must make known with care and respect that destroying patriarchy eliminates the reality of fatherhood, without which there is no family. It is also a rejection of the amazing revelation taught by Jesus regarding God as loving Father, which is at the very basis of the Christian message. Fatherhood is the basis of the success of the Western Christendom, which, with all its faults, has lasted down the centuries, based on a belief in God as Father and Creator.” 

(Peter Jones – truthxchange)  As Christians observing the huge behavioral changes in Western culture, we need to evaluate what our public witness will mean in the days ahead, whether for us individually, for the church community or for our children. It will not be business as usual. Someone recently observed: “If you think of American Christianity as a pendulum, we’re currently at the opposite extreme from the First Great Awakening.”[1]   Continue reading →

7 Threats From a False Teacher

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“When people wonder why publically calling out false teachers is a big deal, simply ask: Would you point out a known sex offender in a neighborhood full of children? Would you warn others if an active shooter were present in a shopping mall? Would you not pick up your infant if a pitbull entered the nursery? Of course. Then why wouldn’t we be faithful to point out dangers and protect the precious children of God?”

(Costi Hinn – For the Gospel)  False teachers and abusive leaders need to maintain their power. Therefore, they use a series of threats to keep people quiet and in line. Get out of line? You might hear one of the seven statements I’ve listed below. Continue reading →