Hard times at Harvest

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James MacDonald – photo credit Wikimedia Commons

Former elders, pastors, and staffers from Chicago’s Harvest Bible Chapel accuse the church of financial mismanagement and a culture of deception and intimidation

(Julie Roys – World Magazine) Five years ago, Harvest Bible Chapel, a Chicago-area megachurch with multiple campuses and an average weekly attendance exceeding 12,000, sent shock waves through the Christian community when it publicly excommunicated two former elders and indirectly censured a third.

The edict was news beyond Chicago because James MacDonald is Harvest’s pastor: His Walk in the Word radio and TV ministry reaches millions weekly. Harvest also is home to Vertical Worship, Vertical Church Films, Vertical Church Network, and Harvest Christian Academy in Elgin, Ill., and Camp Harvest in Newaygo, Mich. Continue reading →

My soul thirsts for God, for the living God

Posted by ∙ ∙ In Devotion/Teaching

1 As the deer pants for the water brooks, So my soul pants for You, O God. 2 My soul thirsts for God, for the living God; When shall I come and appear before God? Psalms 42:1-2 (NASB) 

Spiritually healthy Christians have a deep desire to know God’s will thereby knowing where God wants them to be as well as doing what God wants them to do. Without a doubt, discovering God’s will commands more interest and arouses more anxiety among those spiritually healthy Christians than anything else. That desire is a sign of spiritual health. Why do they deeply desire this? They want to please God. At their regeneration, God gave them a love of obedience that is bolstered as they find joy in doing His will. Along with that, the very thought of offending God grieves them deeply. They deeply desire to live in a way that shows gratitude to God for His grace. He has given them this as their purpose in life. With each victory of obedience as they mortify their sin by His grace, this desire becomes stronger and stronger. Therefore, believers deeply desire to know God’s will so they may do it. View article →

Boy Scouts Considers Bankruptcy Amid Sex Abuse Lawsuits

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“The organization has also agreed in recent years to allow gay men and lesbians to serve in leadership roles, which in part prompted the Mormon Church to announce in 2017 that it was withdrawing from the organization’s programs for older boys.”

(James Barrett – Daily Wire)  Boy Scouts of America may be taking a similar approach as USA Gymnastics to mounting legal fees related to sex abuse lawsuits. According to the Wall Street Journal, the over a century-old nonprofit is considering filing for chapter 11 bankruptcy. Continue reading →

Do You Have Prayer ADHD?

Posted by ∙ ∙ In Opinion ∙

“No matter how you pray, the point is, pray. It’s a mechanism that is commanded, after all, but it is also a grace that we have been given as a gift. Practice focusing on what you are saying to the Lord and not drifting off, because He is standing right there with you (and me) after all.”

(Elizabeth Prata – The End Time)  I saw a meme on Facebook that made me laugh. I can’t find it again, but it went something like, ‘I have prayer ADHD, I start, drift into thinking other things, then come back saying ‘Where was I, Lord?’ Continue reading →

Archaeologists: We’ve located biblical city of Sodom

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The destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah (Flickr)

Archaeologists believe they have found the ancient city of Sodom, whose destruction is described in the Bible. They say it was caused by a meteorite.

(Batya Jerenberg, World Israel News) Archaeologists excavating the Bronze Age city of Tall el-Hammam in Jordan believe it to be the biblical city of Sodom, destroyed some 3,700 years ago.

According to the Bible, God obliterated the sinful cities of Sodom and Gomorrah and the plain upon which they stood by raining down on them “brimstone and fire.” Continue reading →

The gifts of grace

Posted by ∙ ∙ In Devotion/Teaching

3 For through the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think more highly of himself than he ought to think; but to think so as to have sound judgment, as God has allotted to each a measure of faith. 4 For just as we have many members in one body and all the members do not have the same function, 5 so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another. Romans 12:3-8 (NASB)  (Read verses 6-8 on the site)

Born Again believers have a duty to God to give themselves unto Him completely as we saw in my post The Believer’s Supreme Act of Spiritual Worship. It is through becoming a living sacrifice that the believer’s sanctification precedes to the level of surrender. This process takes place as the Holy Spirit renovates the minds of these believers as they submit more and more to the Word of God in all parts of their lives. Those who are on this path of spiritual growth become ready for service. View article →

Candy Canes, Truthful Pronouns and Jesus: Fears that Torment the Left

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“It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God (Hebrews 10:31), which is the probable destiny (unless they repent) of these proud unbelievers; or the Christ-avoiding, spell-casting witches; or the intentionally hateful and defamatory Southern Poverty Law Center.”

(Linda Harvey – Mission: America)  You’ve heard of “FOMO”— fear of missing out? It’s the driver of much social media traffic as the perennially insecure seek constant connection and validation.

Well, look out for a new acronym applied to hard leftists: “FOCC.”

Fear of candy canes. Continue reading →

College Men Try to Ban Porn From Campus WIFI, Saying ‘Pornography is Prostitution’

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“Although Notre Dame is affiliated with the Catholic Church, attendees of schools including Harvard, Princeton and the University of Pennsylvania also expressed interest in initiating similar efforts to install porn filters on campus Wi-Fi.”

(Daniel Moritz-Rabson – Newsweek)  College men are attempting to ban pornography on campuses across the country, The Daily Beast reported.

Eighty male students at Notre Dame University wrote an open letter in the school newspaper asking for a porn filter on the school’s Wi-Fi.   Continue reading →

Australian Court Finds Cardinal Pell Guilty of Sexual Abuse

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Photo credit Wikimedia Commons

“All along I have been completely consistent and clear in my total rejection of these allegations,  News of these charges strengthens my resolve and the court proceedings now offer me an opportunity to clear my name and then return back to Rome to work.”

(Thomas D. Williams – Breitbart)  A Melbourne court has reportedly convicted the Vatican’s finance chief, Cardinal George Pell, of sexually abusing two choir boys in the 1990s when he was archbishop of Melbourne.

After more than three days of deliberations, the court handed down a guilty verdictTuesday by a unanimous consent of the jury. If the verdict is confirmed, it will be the highest-ranking condemnation of a Church official for a crime of sexual abuse. Continue reading →

Glee Co-Creator Launches Multi-Million-Dollar Plan to Target ‘Anti-LGBT’ Politicians in 2020

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TV producer and LGBTQ activist Ryan Murphy

“Over 20 anti-LGBTQ, right-wing politicians and their horrifying views were gone in a day, Dana Rohrbacher, Mia Love, Jason Lewis, Pete Sessions gone. Bigots, all of them. And they were replaced by allies, new politicians who won’t spread  harmful and wrong rhetoric that can lead a young LGBTQ person to actually believe that they are not good enough or worthy enough to stay on this Earth anymore.”

(Michael W. Chapman – CNSNews)  Ryan Murphy, the co-creator of Glee, Nip/Tuck, and Pose, announced at an LGBT event on Dec. 2 that he is launching a multi-million-dollar organization to target “anti-LGBTQ canidates” in the 2020 election, including Sens. Mike Lee (R-Utah), Susan Collins (R-Me.), Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa).  Continue reading →

What is spiritual worship?

Posted by ∙ ∙ In Devotion/Teaching

19 The woman *said to Him, “Sir, I perceive that You are a prophet. 20 Our fathers worshiped in this mountain, and you people say that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship.” 21 Jesus *said to her, “Woman, believe Me, an hour is coming when neither in this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father. 22 You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. John 4:19-24 (NASB)  (Read verses 23-24 on the site)

In 2006 my wife and I left our old church in Olathe, Kansas because the leadership there began the processes to change it to the Purpose Driven Church model. There were warning signs that something was not quite right well over a year earlier. For instance, some couples had left the church because they wanted less “frivolous worship” and more Biblical preaching. About that time the Pastor created care groups. Each of the Deacons was given families to care for.    View article →

Roberts, Kavanaugh Join Liberal Supreme Court Justices in Rejection of Planned Parenthood Defunding Cases

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“So what explains the court’s refusal to do its job here? I suspect it has something to do with the fact that some respondents in these cases are named ‘Planned Parenthood.’ That makes the court’s decision particularly troubling, as the question presented has nothing to do with abortion.”

(Heather Clark – Christian News)  U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts and newly-appointed Justice Brett Kavanaugh joined the liberal judges on the nation’s highest court on Monday to turn down appeals from two states challenging lower court rulings striking down efforts to defund Planned Parenthood’s participation in state Medicaid programs. Continue reading →

Google’s Anti-Breitbart Plot: Employees Targeted Site’s Ad Revenue in 2017

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In the email thread that followed, Google’s Director of monetization, Jim Gray, confirmed that his team had been monitoring Breitbart News on a weekly basis “since the origin[al] fake news kick-off discussion.”

(Allum Bokhari – Breitbart)   Emails leaked exclusively to Breitbart News reveal that a group of Google employees, with encouragement from the tech giant’s director of monetization, began plotting the downfall of this website shortly after the 2016 election. Continue reading →

The Believer’s Supreme Act of Spiritual Worship

Posted by ∙ ∙ In Devotion/Teaching

1 Therefore, I urge you brothers through the compassions of God to present your bodies as living, holy sacrifices, well pleasing to God, which is your spiritual service. 2 And do not be conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind that you may discern the will of God, that which is good and well pleasing and perfect.Romans 12:1-2 (translated from the NA28 Greek text)

The vast majority of people in this age of Evangelical churches are by-and-large spiritually immature, Biblically ignorant, and self-centered, therefore, these people are also no threat to our enemy and his kingdom because they fall for every wind of doctrine, are prey to the wolves who have invaded the church at every level and they believe the lies such as, “God wants all of you to be rich and healthy and to have your best life now.” There are also the lies subverting the Gospel to make it into a social gospel all about “social justice” or making the world a better place. I could fill this post up with examples of these and countless other subversions that derail God’s people and move them to be focused on the temporal rather than on the eternal. Those who are suffering under these delusions are self-focused rather than God-focused. View article →

Making Pedophilia Respectable

Posted by ∙ ∙ In Opinion

This is one of the most disturbing articles you will ever read. I urge you to read it anyway, the whole thing. Get your head out of the sand, brethren. The push to normalize pedophilia is not going away. In fact, the movement is growing. In his piece over at American Conservative, Rod Dreher reveals that there’s a community of “MAPs” (minor-attracted persons) on Twitter. Twitter scours the platform for anti-trans content “but are perfectly content with tolerating pedophile community-building.”  But this is not about Twitter’s apparent acceptance of pedo-pervs.  It’s about the academic community. Dreher reports that a “peer-reviewed academic quarterly has just published [a] convicted pedophile’s philosophical argument for legalizing the rape of children.”  Wrap your mind around that, he chides.

Now, read it and weep: Continue reading →

How Much Blood Would Leftists Be Willing To Shed To Disarm Patriotic Americans?

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“Rep. Swalwell, some people are going to fight rather than cave in, so what’s the number of bodies you would be willing to pile up to win? Let’s put aside the right or wrong of resistance; it’ll be a thing. It’ll happen.” 

(Kurt Schlichter)  My question for Congressjerk Eric Swalwell is pretty simple: “How many Americans would you murder to achieve your goal of disarming us?”

It’s a fair question.  Continue reading →

Law

Posted by ∙ ∙ In Devotion/Teaching

17 Do not think that I cam to abolish the Law or the Prophets. I do not come to abolish, but to fulfill. Matthew 5:17 (translated from the NA28 Greek text)

I have been dealing with legalism in many different forms lately. In every one of those forms there are attempts to make our salvation dependent upon our works in one way or another. How are we to respond? Outrage is the goal of our enemy so that is not appropriate. Also, look at the havoc going on in our society right now with the what some are calling the “outrage monster” taking control of them as they give themselves over to their passions. That being true, we certainly shouldn’t go that way. Our responses should always be Biblically based always seeking God’s Truth to shine into the darkness of our enemy’s lies.  In this post I will attempt to look at Law and Grace. View article →

We are his masterpiece, having been created in Christ Jesus for good works that God previously prepared that we should walk in them

Posted by ∙ ∙ In Devotion/Teaching

10 We are his masterpiece, having been created in Christ Jesus for good works that God previously prepared that we should walk in them. Ephesians 2:10 (translated from the NA28 Greek text) 

The last few weeks on social media has been quite interesting for me. I left a couple of discussions groups I have been part of for years. I left because I could no longer bear the trollish behavior being allowed to dominate them. Also, late in the week I saw a strange post on a discussion group that I am part of that I hardly ever visit. It is run by a “friend” who has friended and unfriended me several times over the past few years so the word “friend” hardly defines our relationship. In any case the post pertained to a tweet made by radical Social Justice Warrior Jackie Hill Perry that said, “The ones who believe that Christianity is ‘The White Mans Religion’ have actually believed the ‘White Mans’ narrative. Christianity didn’t start in Europe nor did all black folk get introduced to Jesus for the first time on a plantation. Stop believing Massa & calling it history.”

Continue reading →

Netflix Tells Kids To Learn About Sex By Watching The ‘American Pie’ Films

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“While considered tame by today’s standards, where every cable and streaming show features sex and nudity in nearly every scene, “American Pie” was notorious for pushing the raunchy humor envelope in the late-’90s to new extremes. The most famous (for better or worse) scene featured the main character, Jim, getting intimate with an apple pie.” 

(Paul Bois – Daily Wire)  Gone are the days when children would learn about the birds and bees in a chat with mom and dad by the fireplace. In progressive 2018, the headmasters of Netflix are the great educators, and they have the perfect instructional materials to broaden the little tykes’ horizons: the “American Pie” movies.  Continue reading →

Domenick Nati, Lauren Daigle, & Homosexuality

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“When thrown into the deep waters of mainstream media a Christian must determine to swim. What Lauren did was drown, and you helped. I don’t know if Lauren Daigle was lying, but I do know that as a professing Christian you lied to her.” 

(Costi Hinn – For The Gospel)  Lauren Daigle recently made headlines for an interview with Domenick Nati. Right near the end of his clip with her, he said he wanted to ask about her stance, as a Christian, on homosexuality and whether it’s a sin. Her response:

“I can’t honestly answer on that, in the sense of I have too many people that I love and they are homosexuals. I can’t say one way or the other, I’m not God. When people ask questions like that, I just say, ‘Read the Bible and find out for yourself. And when you find out let me know because I’m learning too.’”

Domenick’s response to her was, “Wow, you’re a pro already!” Continue reading →

A Jesus Calling for Christmas Special

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In this piece, Gabriel Hughes shares everything he’s written after reading through Jesus Calling, the flagship title of Sarah Young’s bestselling devotional series. He informs us that publisher Thomas Nelson recently released Jesus Calling for Christmas.  The new book in the series should not be purchased by anyone, let alone Christians. Pastor Gabe explains why:

A Tale as Big as a Kite

At the start of the year, I posted a blog about the book God Calling by Two Listeners, Sarah Young’s chief inspiration for her bestselling devotional. The two anonymous women behind God Calling likely never existed—author A.J. Russell invented them to give his own writing the appearance of being verified by the testimony of two or three witnesses. Nevertheless, Young followed the method for receiving messages from God detailed in the introduction to God Calling. Continue reading →