New SEBTS Professor Endorses Ministry That Promotes Close Woman-to-Woman Same-Sex ‘Partnerships’

“One article on the website titled A Celibate Same-Sex Couple? talks about two women who admit to being same-sex attracted who live together in a same-sex “celibate” intimate partnership with each other.”

(Jeff Maples – Reformation Charlotte)  Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary (SEBTS) has been in the news for the last few weeks ever since Danny Akin announced that the seminary was hiring former Liberty University English and Literature professor, Karen Swallow Prior. The move struck a nerve with conservative Southern Baptists drawing criticism from many outlets, including Founders who have typically abstained from such controversy in the past. Continue reading

Bethel Church’s Kris Vallotton Promotes Use of ‘Spirit Guides’

The danger with a false church like Bethel is evident in Vallotton trying to cloak religious concepts with occultic language, apparently to appeal to pagans, Satanists, superstitionists, and spiritists. Every time Bethel sparks a controversy by using Occultic ideas like Tarot cards, necromancy, or the like, its leadership will ultimately claim good intentions.

(Pulpit & Pen)  Bethel ‘Church’ of Redding, California, has proven itself time and again to dabble in the occult. But in its latest dabbling with the devil, its pastor, Kris Vallotton, encouraged the use of ‘spirit guides.’ Continue reading

Real change will come when people of faith stop behaving like unholy heathens

I first penned this article in 2010. Sadly, nothing has changed since then. In fact, our culture has become even more wicked than it was over a decade ago. 

(Marsha West – Christian Research Network)  If I’ve said it once I’ve said it a thousand times: America has lost its moral compass. Our country has fallen into the pit of depravity and if we’re going to emerge from this seemingly bottomless pit we’ve dug for ourselves and win the culture war, Americans have got to get busy.

The ability to dig ourselves out depends on two factors. Firstly, parents must instill in their children Judeo-Christian values (rooted in the Bible) on a variety of moral issues, from premarital sex and bearing babies out of wedlock, to abortion, gambling, alcohol, drug use, homosexuality and finally pornography. The Bible speaks to every one of these subjects.

Secondly, parents must deal with what’s going on in the government-run institutions-of-liberal-indoctrination (public schools). Liberal teachers are stealthily implanting in student’s minds the idea of rejecting conservative parent’s values and adopting a Marxist/socialist “progressive” worldview.

Children are no longer taught to develop critical thinking skills nor are they learning how to make their own decisions. In our politically correct (PC) world many educators deem it more important to fill our younger generation’s minds with homosexual propaganda than to teach them U. S. history!

Because the radical homosexual agenda must be “outed” I’m going to share with readers what is taking place behind parent’s backs in tax-payer funded public schools and in our institutions of higher learning. For decades there has been an ongoing all-out assault on the family, on individual freedom, and on traditional Christianity. We are experiencing the demise/deterioration of the family and, alarmingly, we are seeing the beginning stages of Christian persecution in America.

PUBLIC SCHOOL CLASSROOMS AND HOMOSEXUAL APOLOGETICS

Radio talk show host Sandy Rios warned that “homosexual apologetics have been promoted so aggressively through the National Education Association, that faculty or staff dare not express an objection. Public school hallways display rainbows and trumpet Gay Pride and Days of Silence, while renderings of the Ten Commandments are forbidden. In Deerfield, Illinois, a required freshman orientation class features gay, straight, lesbian and bi-sexual students telling 14 year olds the ins and outs of homosexual sex with their young audience strictly forbidden to tell their parents. In schools across the nation homosexuality is taught in every discipline from the use of math word problems related to same gender sex to the science of non-existent gay genes to history claiming Abraham Lincoln had a love affair with his law partner, Billy Herndon.”

For the record, Harvard professor emeritus David Herbert Donald, who is considered the definitive biographer of President Lincoln, insists he was not a homosexual.

Imagine, if you will, a Buddhist student being told by school officials to read the New Testament and attend a Bible study to learn about Christianity as a way of getting the student to adopt America’s religious beliefs. The Pope will become a Protestant convert before that happens, you say? And you’re right to say something like this will not happen — unless the student is a Bible-believing Christian whose beliefs are not PC. Recently a Christian grad student who attends Augusta State University in Georgia was told by school officials that she would be dismissed from the counseling program unless she agreed to read literature promoting homosexuality and attend a “gay” pride parade and report on it. This was an attempt to get the student to change her views that gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender behavior is unnatural and morally wrong. Instead of kowtowing to leftist indoctrination, the student is suing the university.

WAS JESUS A SODOMITE?

To try and justify their perverse behavior a number of homosexuals are out to “prove” that homosexuality is normal and natural and that same-sex sex is acceptable to God. To make their case, some liberal clergy and scholars are claiming that the Bible teaches that Jesus and John, David and Jonathan, Naomi and Ruth were involved in “gay” love affairs. Since Jesus claimed to be God, wouldn’t that make God a homosexual?

That’s patently absurd! God did not mince words when He said, “There shall be no whore of the daughters of Israel, nor a sodomite of the sons of Israel” (Deuteronomy 23:17). Note that whore and sodomite are in the same class. Sodomite is a synonym for homosexual! The city of Sodom was known for homosexuality thus men who indulged in anal sex were known as sodomites. (Genesis 18-19) The term not only described the residents of Sodom, it was also used to describe criminal sexual acts. Moreover, it is important to remember that rampant homosexuality was the main reason God destroyed Sodom.

In the art and science of biblical interpretation (hermeneutics) we learn to “rightly divide the word of truth” (2 Tim 2:15). In other words, we learn to read the verse in context and not to impose our own view on the text nor do we read between the lines. Some individuals find it easy to exercise license when interpreting the Bible for the purpose of making it say what they want it to say in order to justify continuing in a behavior that displeases God. Hermeneutics is out the scope of this article so I’ll move on.

PARENTS, GET TOUGH

Leftist ideologues see the classroom as the ideal place to indoctrinate young people into their worldview. Most teachers are not neutral on the issues. Watch the following videos and you’ll get the picture. These videos show teachers taking indoctrination to a whole new level.

Clip 1  Clip 2 Clip 3

Some teachers say, “Yes we can!” influence your children’s views on politics, religion, same-gender “marriage,” reproductive rights (abortion), contraception, nutrition, environmental issues…and, of course, the “science” of global warming. (Click here to watch a propaganda cartoon on global warming)

Parents, are you going to continue to sit back while the public school sensitivity training police disrespect you and attempt to conform your child’s mind to their way of thinking? Or are you going to do as Sandy Rios suggests:

Get tough. Take a stand. Make the hard choices. Speak up and take your licks. The sexual anarchists are free to practice their anarchy, but they cannot have our kids. Any government that promotes or says they can and bars parents from their rightful influence must be opposed fiercely…. Let’s get busy. Let’s move our kids to private schools…private cooperatives…homeschool them. The public school must either clean up its act or risk losing its power.

For over 50 years people of faith have allowed secular humanists to infuse their anti-God agenda into our public education system. Make no mistake. Elitist humanists are more determined than ever before to see society dominated by them and their progressive ideology. Back in 2000 Jann Flury warned:

They have brought us political correctness; universal tolerance with zero tolerance of intolerance; they have brought us a ‘value-free, nonjudgmental society’ where there is no discrimination and judgement [sic] except the denial of the old Judeo-Christian values, and the vigorous persecution of its adherents, which they call extremists. These humanists are establishing a free nonconformist society where everyone is free to do whatever they are told to do by the new establishment. And these humanists have a vision of a free and peaceful global society where there is no competition or strife, and war has been eliminated by calling it ‘peace.’

To bring this total transformation of society about, the humanists must change society’s thought process- its beliefs, and values system. Nowhere is there more fertile ground to plant the seed for this transformation than in the minds of our youngsters in the schools. This the humanists are assiduously pursuing through Outcome Based Education (OBE) and Child Centered Learning. According to the philosophy of Transformational OBE, factual knowledge is no longer important for the children; rules and discipline are considered stifling; right or wrong does not exist; therefore, integrity and morality means nothing, and ‘learning to learn’ and liking it is more important than acquiring factual knowledge. Under child centered learning, individuals are prompted to choose what suits them best, competition is replaced by group learning, and self-esteem is projected as a right- to be savoured without accomplishment.

Christians are not alone in opposing what’s being taught in government schools. Islamic organizations also do not want Muslim children indoctrinated by public school teachers (hooray for them). What are they doing about it? They’re attempting to use taxpayer-funded schools to proselytize for Islam! Try proselytizing for Judaism or Christianity in a government school and see what happens.

SEX-ED PROPAGANDA K-12

In 2006, King & King, a children’s book portraying homosexual romance and marriage, was read to a second grade class by a teacher at Estabrook Elementary School in Lexington Mass. The last page shows a male-to-male kiss. The book clearly promotes same-sex “marriage.”

In 2010 the Helena Montana Public School system came up with a plan to teach kindergartners sex education. The plan “includes teaching first graders that people can be attracted to the same gender. In second grade students are instructed to avoid gay slurs and by the time students turn 10 years old they are taught about various types of intercourse.” Fifth graders should “understand that sexual intercourse includes but is not limited to vaginal, oral, or anal penetration.”

We’re talking about 11 year olds! We’re talking about learning about far more than reproduction and body parts! When parents heard about the sex-ed program they were so angered by it that the school was forced to delay its implementation. Three cheers for parents who said “No way!” to the sexual anarchists.

Back in the stone age when I was in the fifth grade, teachers taught the 3 Rs — reading, ‘riting and ‘rithmetic. Students were also taught history, social studies and geography. Times have changed. Today’s teachers are required to explain oral and anal sex to youngsters. What an outrage — and how embarrassing for our teachers!

CHRISTIANS, GET BUSY

Forty years ago my mom lamented: “America’s going to hell in a hand basket.” She saw the writing on the wall. That’s why it is critical for Christians to come out of the closet and do what we’re here to do: “Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature” (Mark 16:15). Jesus Christ is the reason for the hope that we have. (1Pet 3:15) If His followers had been doing what we are called to do all along our country wouldn’t be in the sad shape it’s in now — both morally and spiritually. It is high time for the professing Christian’s worldview to be based on Judeo-Christian principles found in the Bible instead of allowing a humanist man-centered belief system to shape his/her worldview.

The Christian’s job is not to insure that people understand the message we bring. No. Believers are simply to deliver the message! The Holy Spirit is the One who changes hearts and minds and brings fallen men to faith so that they may believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and be saved.

Real change will come when people of faith stop behaving like unholy heathens and start behaving in a Christ-like manner. (Phil. 1:27) Christ’s followers are to ever so humbly serve their King and Him alone.

Christians also must get back to the basics. What this entails is reading/studying the Bible and sharing his/her faith. As for pastors, they need to stand up and preach the Word of God and all it contains instead of some watered-down message that’s designed to make people feel good about themselves. (Heb. 4:12) America will not experience an authentic revival until God’s Word is taught chapter and verse.

I’ll close this out with a quote by Anton Bosch:

Change begins with you, personally. That is the only area you have jurisdiction and control over. When you change, your spouse will change and your children will change. When you change, your church will change, and when the church changes it will begin to impact the community and eventually the nation. Jesus said we should begin in Jerusalem, then Judea and then Samaria and then the rest of the world (Acts 1:8). But we want to begin in Washington, London or Pretoria and then work back. It does not work that way. Change begins with me and you.

Research

On Solid Rock Resources

Original title: True culture change comes when hearts are changed

Copyright 2010 by Marsha West

Core Convictions About Prayer

To experience God in our midst we must be people of prayer. To be people of prayer we need to know what prayer is. From the example of David in Psalm 109, we can see that prayer is the total offering of oneself to God for everything that is needed. Because of this people of prayer affirm several core convictions.

God invites us to pray.

Through the psalmist the Lord invites us, saying, “Pour out your hearts before him” (Ps. 62:8). When he walked this earth our Lord showed that he invites us to pray, saying three times in his teaching on prayer, “When you pray,” and then he said, “Pray then like this” (Matt. 6:5679). Clearly, God desires and delights in our prayers. Continue reading

New Science Says Chocolate Fights a Cough Better Than an Rx Medication

Smother your cough with yummy chocolate without the sleepy side-effects of codeine? It’s almost enough to make you welcome winter.

(Shape)  Good news for chocoholics. The next time you come down with a cough, just pop a piece of your favorite treat and you’ll get all the cough-suppressing effects of codeine syrup without the fuzzy-headed side-effects. Here’s how it works.

Professor Alyn Morice, a respected authority on all things related to coughs and respiratory medicine, wrote in the Daily Mail that chocolate can soothe coughs better than codeine syrup by forming a sticky coating that protects the nerve endings in your throat that cause you to cough. Continue reading

Mohler Says Women Shouldn’t Preach in Long-Winded, Barely Coherent Statement

Like clockwork, Mohler espoused straight-line, solid and correct doctrinal positions with his words. That Mohler will be orthodox in his words is predictable. And in reality, Mohler’s position doesn’t sound any different than Dr. John MacArthur (except he did not apply it to a specific person).

(Pulpit & Pen)  In a barely intelligible, stuttering, vaguely-coherent and painfully long answer on his podcast to a question about female preachers, Mohler claimed that the Bible does not allow women to preach to men. Continue reading

Gay Christianity and the Local Church

“It is the local church that is to instruct and hold their members to these God-ordained roles and standards. Should members of that covenant community defile what God has blessed, the church calls them to repent. And if they do not repent, they are to be put out of the local church (Matthew 18:15-20).”

(Tedd Mathis)  In this essay I address how a local church is to respond when a member practices sexual sin. Since the Lord is the same yesterday, today and forever, let’s remind ourselves of what He has commanded His people in the past. Continue reading

Our Old Natures Never Die (Reprise)

And Abimelech said to Abraham, “What did you see, that you did this thing?” Abraham said, “I did it because I thought, ‘There is no fear of God at all in this place, and they will kill me because of my wife.’ Besides, she is indeed my sister, the daughter of my father though not the daughter of my mother, and she became my wife. And when God caused me to wander from my father’s house, I said to her, ‘This is the kindness you must do me: at every place to which we come, say of me, “He is my brother.”’” Gen 20:10-13

Has anyone had to say to you, As a Christian, what were you thinking of when you did this thing? Have you ever had to say it to yourself: What got into me anyway? I thought I was further along in the Christian life than this….. Continue reading

The Return of Jesus Christ

36 “But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone. 37 For the coming of the Son of Man will be just like the days of Noah. 38 For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, 39 and they did not understand until the flood came and took them all away; so will the coming of the Son of Man be. 40 Then there will be two men in the field; one will be taken and one will be left. 41 Two women will be grinding at the mill; one will be taken and one will be left. Matthew 24:36-44 (NASB) (Read verses 42-44 on the site)

Jesus Christ is returning to this earth. However, if you look at the havoc the enemy is causing in the visible Church in our time it would appear that many, if not most, professing Christians are unconcerned about it…. Continue reading

If Your Church Truly Loved LGBTQ People, There Won’t Be Very Many of Them There

If we’re faithfully preaching the full counsel of God in our churches, homosexuals will have two choices; repent or flee. However, unless they repent, they will likely not hang around too long.

(Jeff Maples – Reformation Charlotte)  I recently heard one of the most absurd statements on homosexuality in the Church that I’ve heard in a long time. Someone told me that his church was “gay-friendly,” but that they still preached the true gospel…. Continue reading

Chick-fil-A Touting Work of ‘LGBTQ-Inclusive and Affirming’ Covenant House on its Website—a Partnership that Will Expand in 2020

“Covenant House also proudly supports the New York City Gay Pride parade with its own float, banners, t-shirts, and hashtag #CovUnity. Covenant House is recognized as a national funder of LGBTQ causes. And Covenant House does not stop at LGBTQ activism; it also takes girls to abortion clinics.”

(Heather Clark – Christian News) The popular fast food chain Chick-fil-A has been touting the work of a pro-homosexual organization since May of this year — long before the recent outcry over its plan to halt donations to the Salvation Army, which also boasts of its service to homosexuals, and in 2017, actually cancelled a contract with another Christian charity due to its anti-inclusive views…. Continue reading

Beth Moore Insinuates MacArthur Has ‘Wrong Jesus’ at National Preaching Conference

“Moore said that the Bible does not “show women displacing men but being placed in positions of ministry along with men.” Of course, of Jesus’ 83 ecclesiastical appointments (counting the 70 witnesses and his apostolic selection), not a single one was a woman.”

(Pulpit & Pen)  Beth Moore was welcomed ‘home’ at the National Preaching Conference earlier this week, hosted by progressive Baylor University and its liberal theology school, Truett Seminary. Continue reading

Pete Buttigieg Twists Christianity: ‘Salvation’ Depends on Being ‘Useful’

“Then he will say to those on his left [goats], ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.” Mat 25:41

The Bible is also clear on homosexual activity. God saves all kinds of sinners, and that emphatically includes gay people. But homosexual activity — like Trump’s pride — is not something to take “pride” in. Yet Buttigieg and his fellow Democrats seem intent on not just celebrating LGBT “pride” themselves, but punishing those who disagree.

(Tyler O’Neil – PJ Media)  On Wednesday night, Mayor Pete Buttigieg took a break from lecturing the Religious Right about how it isn’t Christian enough. Instead, he decided to spout heresy about salvation.

While talking about systemic racism and his challenge connecting with black voters, Mayor Pete said, “I care about this because my faith teaches me that salvation has to do with how I make myself useful to those who have been excluded, marginalized, and cast aside and oppressed in society.”  Continue reading

Donald Trump Previews ‘Historic’ Inspector General Report Going to ‘Highest Levels’ of White House

“He cited the actions of former CIA Director John Brennan, former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper and President Obama’s National Security Adviser Susan Rice, suggesting it would be “impossible” for them to be doing what they did without permission from Obama.”

(Breitbart)  President Donald Trump previewed Friday the release of the Department of Justice inspector general report set down for December, describing the information as “historic.” Continue reading

Why Do These Pastors Desire to Dress and Act Like Effeminate, Homosexual Men?

Hipster pastors Carl Lentz & Judah Smith

“The argument is that making yourself relevant to the world will attract people to the gospel. Historically, church-hating people have always argued that church is boring and that they would probably go more often if Christians wouldn’t be so dull.”

(Jeff Maples – Reformation Charlotte)  An unsettling trend in the church is that men who presume to speak on behalf of God want to dress and act like effeminate, homosexual men. The “hipster” pastor movement is a phenomenon unbeknownst to the early Church and to practically every historic expression of Christianity since Christ walked the Earth…. Continue reading

Tim Keller’s Redeemer Church Calls for More Same Sex Intimacy in Churches

Sometimes it helps to see things in black and white. It is shocking to realize how low TGC has sunk. Yet, far from this being an extreme event with no impact on other Bible-believing churches, it must be noted again that Rebecca McLaughlin is a spokesperson for a “Same Sex Attracted” movement with many tentacles. Being a TGC and ERLC spokesperson, she speaks for Albert Mohler, Ligon Duncan, Russell Moore (who promotes her frequently), her fellow Same Sex Atteacted authorities at The Gospel Coalition, and any church that encourages the sheep to wander into these poisoned pastures. 

(Diane Gaskins – Pulpit & Pen)  Last week Redeemer Church in Manhattan sponsored a training event for all their New York City churches which featured Tim Keller and Rebecca McLaughlin. Tim Keller is the founding pastor of the highly influential Redeemer enterprise and co-founder of The Gospel Coalition (TGC), a political organization which aims to move Evangelicals away from their Biblical and conservative moorings. Continue reading

True Fruit of the Fear of God

13 The conclusion, when all has been heard, is: fear God and keep His commandments, because this applies to every person. 14 For God will bring every act to judgment, everything which is hidden, whether it is good or evil. Ecclesiastes 12:13-14 (NASB) 

The total lack of the fear of God is what marks the ungodly. (Romans 3:18) On the other hand, genuine believers in scripture are described as those who do fear Him. Tragically, when moral issues between professing Christians and the unchurched are compared there is very little difference. There is the same level of divorce, adultery, pornography, dishonesty, et cetera; in both groups. This should not be so. Continue reading

Pope Francis Cites Fictional French Epic to Prove Christians Are Violent

“In his address, Pope Francis was attempting to show that it is not just Islamic extremists who practice violent fanaticism, but that Christians are equally guilty of religiously motivated violence.”

(Thomas D. Williams – Breitbart) Pope Francis trotted out a scene from the 11th-century French epic poem La Chanson de Roland this week to prove Christians have tried to convert Muslims by the sword, just as Muslims have done to Christians. Continue reading

Village Church Pastor Says if Paul Were Here Today, He’d Write a Letter Endorsing Beth Moore

“Now, joining the chorus of Beth Moore apologists is J.T. English, a pastor alongside Matt Chandler at The Village Church. English takes his defense a step further — he puts Words in the Apostle Paul’s mouth claiming that if Paul were writing to the American Church today, he’d endorse Beth Moore and Karen Swallow Prior.”

(Jeff Maples – Reformation Charlotte)  It has to be exhausting — not to mention a monumental undertaking — to continually elevate, apologize for, and defend the indefensible. It is widely known by anyone who stands on the authority of God’s Word as believers that Beth Moore is a false teacher. Continue reading

SEBTS Danny Akin Attempts Damage Control After Hiring of Infamous Liberal to Faculty

“Polemics Report shared emails from Southern Baptist pastors saying they were withholding funds from the SBC over her hiring and several students withdrew from seminary and prospective students asked their applications be pulled from consideration.”

Thousands of Southern Baptists are gravely upset that Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary president Danny Akin – who only weeks ago laughably argued there “was no liberal drift in the SBC – added a radical leftist and feminist to the faculty. In response to the outrage, Danny Akin has released a letter accusing Karen Swallow Prior’s detracters of “lying,” but offered no specific rebuttals to the mountains of evidence against her. Continue reading

Female Student Breaks Down In Tears As School Board Grants Boys Access To Girls Locker Room. This Is Simply Evil.

Maday, sporting a “Queen” shirt and long pink hair, celebrates the decision. He says he is “ecstatic,” calling the new policy a “great step forward.” Naturally, however, he still complains that it doesn’t go quite far enough. “It’s not everything we wanted,” he says, but it’s a “first step” towards “many more steps.”

(Matt Walsh – Daily Wire)  The school board of District 211 in Illinois voted last week, in a 5 – 2 decision, to allow biological males into the female locker room at Palatine High School. The board said that all students should be “treated and supported in a manner consistent with their gender identity.” This “support” apparently necessitates obliterating the privacy and safety of every girl at the school. Continue reading

Born Again or Born from Above?

3 Jesus answered and said to him, amen amen I say to you, except one is born again, he is not able to see the Kingdom of God. John 3:3 (translated from the NA28 Greek text)

In John 3:3 (above) is a term that is unique to Christianity and is not well understood even by those have been γεννηθῇ ἄνωθεν. The word translated above as “again” is  ἄνωθεν or anōthen, which is comprised of ἄνω or anō, “above, upwards,” and the suffix θεν or then, which denotes “from.” Continue reading

Teacher Defends Drag Queen Makeup Class: Parents ‘Don’t Know What’s Best’ for Their Children

“Parents believe they should be able to storm the school in the name of political and religious beliefs if something happens in the school that they are morally opposed to. They forget that we make a promise to prepare their children to live in a diverse world. We are not required to protect the misguided, bigoted views of their parents.”

(Mikaela Mathews – Christian Headlines) A Texas school district has come under fire for allowing a drag queen to teach makeup to a high school cosmetology class. Continue reading