“Now it seems clear in light of these recent terrible scandals that indeed there is a homosexual culture, not only among the clergy but even within the hierarchy, which needs to be purified at the root. It is of course a tendency that is disordered.”
(Paul Bios – Daily Wire) Cardinal Raymond Burke has called upon Pope Francis to clean up what he calls a “homosexual culture” in the Church that has contributed to the sex abuse crisis. Continue reading
FLASHBACK FRIDAY
This article by CRN managing editor Marsha West was published January 15, 2015
Dr. Mehmet Oz, who is a renowned cardiothoracic surgeon, author and host of a successful TV show, has involved himself in some, um, questionable cures for what ails you. According to a Fox News report, a recent study showed that “Half of Dr. Oz’s health advice is bad.” Die-hard Oz fans will more than likely ignore the study results and continue tuning into his TV show for advice from him and the panel of doctors that appear regularly, even knowing that Oz and the other doctors often recommend products straight out of Quacksville.
Our idols would never steer us wrong, would they? I mean, Oz wouldn’t allow his fans to purchase remedies that have little basis in fact or that many in the scientific community agree are bogus. Test the “cures” and you will find that, in some cases, what they recommended is on par with the sort of thing you’ll find in a witches brew – bat wings, spider legs and crow bones. Continue reading
“Stetzer, who is one of the most influential people in the Evangelical Intelligentsia, decided to lash out at critics of Critical Race Theory just as the frothing feeding-frenzy of #woke evangelicalism snorted in Cultural Marxism like a line of coke.”
(Pulpit & Pen) It’s hard to find a man who’s been more consistently wrong on important issues pertinent to evangelicalism than Ed Stetzer. Stetzer was an avid defender and compatriot of Mark Driscoll, before he was publicly disgraced and Mars Hill church collapsed like a pile of sand. Stetzer was a defender and compatriot of the Emergent Church, before it was swept into the dustbin of history. … Continue reading
Hatmaker went on to write that her “arms were never empty,” noting many ran toward her and others from her congregation and told them things like, “I miss this,” “My mom doesn’t love me anymore,” “My dad hasn’t spoken to me in three years,” and, “Please just one more hug.”
(Tré Goins-Phillips – Faith Wire) Well-known Christian author Jen Hatmaker drew attention over the weekend when she and members of her church attended an LGBT pride parade in Austin, Texas, to offer “free mom hugs” to fellow demonstrators. Continue reading
9 “Pray, then, in this way: ‘Our Father who is in heaven, Hallowed be Your name. 10 ‘Your kingdom come. Your will be done, On earth as it is in heaven. 11 ‘Give us this day our daily bread.
12 ‘And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. 13 ‘And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil. [For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.’] (Matthew 6:9-13 NASB)
In this post we will look at the danger of “entering temptation.” There is no doubt that most believers walk in defeat in this battle much if not most of the time. On top of the guilt and self-abhorrence that are natural products of Christians sinning, there is also the battle fatigue that comes upon them which results in more guilt simply for being “tempted” in the first place. Of course, much of this can be blamed on faulty theology and an extreme drought in the area of teaching the Biblical truth about sin and temptation from our pulpits and Bible studies. To understand the danger of “entering temptation” we must first understand what it is and what it is not.
A few months ago Josh Niemi blogged about what he called “educational limbo.” Niemi believes that when tolerating the amount of moral mischief in their child’s school, each parent has a personal limit of how low they will go before removing them. In his piece he quotes Ken Ham of Answers in Genesis who said the following about public schools:
I think parents need to repent of just handing their kids over to the secular world. That’s what they’ve done. They’ve basically handed them over to a system. You know, it’s about time we faced up to it—the public education system, by and large, is nothing but a church of atheism. They’ve thrown the Bible out, they’ve thrown God out, they’ve thrown creation out, they say in their textbooks you can explain the whole of reality by natural processes. What is naturalism? It is atheism. Continue reading
“Students were asked to abstain from sins such as lying, cheating, stealing, drunkenness, viewing pornography, using vulgar or obscene language, and engaging in sexual intimacy outside of the marriage bond between a man and woman. They were to pursue lives of honesty, modesty, purity, generosity, integrity, forgiveness and love, among other biblical virtues.”
(Heather Clark – Christian News) Trinity Western University, the Christian-identified institution that has been at the center of three lawsuits in which various provincial legal societies that have denied approval for the university to open an accredited law school due to its stance on sexuality and marriage, has decided to no longer require students to sign a lifestyle covenant agreeing to save sex for marriage, and that between a man and a woman. Continue reading
“Well, Weeping Willow Creek and all others of its ilk, we’re on to you. We see the chinks in your armor, and they’re gaping open ever wider with each passing day. Another one of your empires has fallen, and others will follow soon.”
(Jonathan Aigner – Patheos) It looks like the beginning of the end at Willow Creek. They aren’t saying that, but I feel like that’s what’s happening.
If so, good riddance.
I’m sorry if I sound bitter. I’m not, really. More relieved than anything else. Saddened for the stories of abuse, gaslighting, and hero worship. Grieved by the commoditization of human hearts and souls, the theological void, and the liturgical collapse. But relieved that this sad chapter in American religious history is rattling to an end. And you can take the megachurch movement you spawned with you. Continue reading
41 Keep watching and praying that you may not enter into temptation; the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.” Matthew 26:41 (NASB)
38 Keep watching and praying that you may not come into temptation; the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.” Mark 14:38 (NASB)
45 When He rose from prayer, He came to the disciples and found them sleeping from sorrow, 46 and said to them, “Why are you sleeping? Get up and pray that you may not enter into temptation.” Luke 22:45-46 (NASB)
Temptation: Temptation is any thing, state, way or condition that, upon any account whatsoever, has a force or power to seduce, to draw the mind and heart of a man or woman from his or her obedience, which God requires of them, into any sin, in any degree of it whatsoever.
PA Attorney General Josh Shapiro announces findings of grand jury report on Catholic Church sex abuse
“One boy was forced to stand on a bed in a rectory, strip naked and pose as Christ on the cross for the priests. They took photos of their victim, adding them to a collection of child pornography which they produced and shared on church grounds.”
These are sick, twisted evil men. Brace yourself.
(Andy Sheehan – CBS Pittsburgh)The long-awaited state grand jury report into sexual abuse in six Pennsylvania dioceses, including Pittsburgh and Greensburg, has finally been released.
The 884-page document, two years in the making, shines a light into the dark corners of these dioceses going back seven decades, exposing the predators and the efforts of their bishops to protect them. Continue reading
“Johnson is married to one of the most famous faith-healers in the world who regularly claims to heal Stage-4 cancer. He teaches that with enough faith, one can be healed. He decrees and declares such things, and weekly claims to do it. His wife is receiving medical treatment at hospitals and from naturalists. Think about that for a minute.”
(Pulpit & Pen) We should pray for healing to come to faith-healer, Beni Johnson, who has recently announced having cancer. Beni is the wife of Bill Johnson, with whom she serves as co-lead pastor of Bethel Church. Continue reading
Rodney Swanson, a UCLA economics professor, told his class, “The United States of America, backed by facts, is the greediest and most selfish country in the world.”
(Walter E. Williams – Townhall) Many of the nation’s colleges have become a force for evil and a focal point for the destruction of traditional American values. The threat to our future lies in the fact that today’s college students are tomorrow’s teachers, professors, judges, attorneys, legislators and policymakers. A recent Brookings Institution poll suggests that nearly half of college students believe that hate speech is not protected by the First Amendment. … Continue reading
16 “Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves; so be shrewd as serpents and innocent as doves. 17 But beware of men, for they will hand you over to the courts and scourge you in their synagogues; 18 and you will even be brought before governors and kings for My sake, as a testimony to them and to the Gentiles. 19 But when they hand you over, do not worry about how or what you are to say; for it will be given you in that hour what you are to say. Matthew 10:16-19 (NASB)
If we listen to the common message from the vast majority of “Christian” leaders these days we will not receive one of eternal focus, power, or value. Instead, if we hear a message that tells us that God desires for all of His people to have it their way, to have their best life now, to live any way they choose all the while seeing that the point of Christianity is to be blessed here and now. Along with that it insinuates that if we suffer then we must have sin in our lives that we have not confessed. Is the point of Christianity the believer’s health, wealth and prosperity? Is the focus of our faith primarily on this life now?
Photo credit Patriot Prayer
Here was my question to the progressive protesters (I asked everyone the same question): “If Donald Trump showed up here, what would you say or do?” Over half-dozen progressives voluntarily told me they would kill Trump. This is the definition of “Violence on both sides.”
(Judi McLeod – Canada Free Press) Without ever blinking a jaundiced eye, 100 newspapers will follow the Boston Globe’s directive on Thursday with a collective hit job on President Donald Trump.
At press time, not a single newspaper had stepped forward to state that this is proof positive that there is no such thing as an objective free press; that what the Boston Globe is calling for is nothing less than a coordinated hate attack. Continue reading
“There are no allegations that Hybels had any connection to Sobczak’s case. Hybels stepped down from the helm of the church in April, six months ahead of schedule, amid claims of inappropriate behavior with women, including employees.”
(Robert McCoppin – Chicago Tribune) Willow Creek Community Church agreed to pay more than $3 million to settle lawsuits over the sexual abuse of two developmentally disabled boys by a church volunteer, court records show. Continue reading
“This article hopes to provide resources for believers and non-believers on the criminal New Apostolic Reformation and its ‘Apostolic leaders’ who have not called out David Tomberlin, or told him to report to the proper authorities, in order to be properly investigated.”
(Churchwatch Central) Once again, the New Apostolic Reformation (NAR) network has allowed another criminal to remain within their ranks, despite reports alleging Thai Police having an arrest warrant issued for child kidnapping. Continue reading
“Evangelicalism’s newfound obsession with the notion of “social justice” is a significant shift—and I’m convinced it’s a shift that is moving many people (including some key evangelical leaders) off message, and onto a trajectory that many other movements and denominations have taken before, always with spiritually disastrous results.”
(Pulpit & Pen) My longtime friend and writer, Seth Dunn, likens things to professional wrestling way too often. And he does so on this website, to my regular chagrin. But frankly, there’s no more fitting analogy for how we feel today. Continue reading
1 The hand of the Lord was upon me, and He brought me out by the Spirit of the Lord and set me down in the middle of the valley; and it was full of bones. 2 He caused me to pass among them round about, and behold, there were very many on the surface of the valley; and lo, they were very dry. 3 He said to me, “Son of man, can these bones live?” And I answered, “O Lord God, You know.” Ezekiel 37:1-3 (NASB)
As Christians walk through their days that turn into weeks that turn into months that turn into years that turn into decades that turn into the length and breadth of their lives, they are continually put into circumstances where they must either believe and obey God or disbelieve and disobey Him. Most believers I know have a horrible habit of limiting God by their lack of faith (unbelief). Tragically, these decisions can result in walls of spiritual blindness to become erected in their hearts. With this spiritual blindness can come apathy or, worse, apostasy. Their decision to limit God with their lack of bold brokenness is based in idolatry. …
The Bible is absolutely clear regarding the qualifications for a pastor,” says Stephen Colin. In this piece over at Famine In The Land, Colin offers two examples of wolves in sheep’s clothing, Todd Bentley and Mark Driscoll, who have found shelter in the NAR cult, despite the fact that, according to 1 Timothy 3:2-7, both men have disqualified themselves from pastoral ministry. Colin writes:
Bob Dylan, hailed as one of the great song writers of the 20th century penned a song called “Shelter from the Storm” in 1975. The lyrics to the song have been regarded as a poetic masterpiece, which is probably why he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2016. The third verse in particular uses imagery which is akin to something we see in the visible church today. … Continue reading
Language alert!
“John Brennan was Obama’s CIA director who once voted for Communist Gus Hall for president. This Deep State denizen, who many believe helped organized the Obama spying on the Trump camp during the election, is suffering from a severe case of Trump Derangement Syndrome.”
(Frank Hawkins – American Thinker) The American Left is stoking hatred and it’s tearing us apart. Our media is guilty of not only of failing to shame those responsible, in many cases they egg them on, giving them a platform. The volume of irrational hatred spewing into our ether is extremely unhealthy, even dangerous for our republic and the broader American culture. Continue reading
Then the Lord said to me, Do not pray for the well-being of this people. Although they fast, I will not listen to their cry; though they offer burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them. Instead, I will destroy them with the sword, famine and plague.
But I said, Alas, Sovereign Lord! The prophets keep telling them, You will not see the sword or suffer famine. Indeed, I will give you lasting peace in this place.
Jeremiah 14:11-13
Jeremiah goes on to describe the land, how the cisterns have no water, the ground is dismayed, there is no rain on the land, the crops are dried up, and wild asses stand and pant, and there is no water in all of the land. This is part of the judging hand of God.
How long will the land lie parched and the grass in every field be withered? … If you have raced with men on foot and they have worn you out, how can you compete with horses? If you stumble in safe country, how will you manage in the thickets by the Jordan?
Jeremiah 12:4a-5
Jeremiah cries out to God with some troubled questions on his mind. These are the standard questions people ask when things begin to go wrong in an individual life, or in the life of a community, or a nation. I heard recently that a very well-known and well-liked high school girl disappeared mysteriously a few days before, and no one knew where she was. All her high school friends were praying for her. She was a Christian, and they were sure that God would protect her. …
From Berean Research:
This week, long-time Bible Study Fellowship International (BSF) leader Linda Davis is warning members signed up for this fall’s new study, People of the Promised Land. Davis is a BSF veteran of 22 years. Please consider sharing this link with women who are not on social media.
Also share our resources:
White Paper: Purpose Driven
White Paper: Spiritual Formation
White Paper: Emergent Church Continue reading
Megachurch pastor Andy Stanley describes the effort to retain much of the Old Testament as “intellectually ruinous and morally debilitating.” Albert Mohler, president of Southern Seminary & Boyce College, disagrees. He argues that because the Lord Jesus and the Apostles didn’t “unhitch the Christian faith from their Jewish Scriptures” as Stanley urges Christians to do, we should pay no attention to him. Moreover, Dr. Mohler warns:
We are looking here at the ancient heresy of Marcion, who argued that the Old Testament must be repudiated by the church. Marcion, who lived about the years 85-160, taught that the Old Testament revealed a Creator deity who is not even the same God who sent Jesus. Unsurprisingly, he also held to a heretical Christology.
Now listen to Dr. Mohler explain why he believes Andy Stanley’s teaching aims at heresy. He writes: Continue reading
Let me say as this plainly as I know how: there is nothing of doubt in faith. God is not honored by doubt; doubting is not obedience to God. It is disobedience.
(Owen Strachan – For The Church) Doubt is back in the news. We’ve all heard a great deal about postmodernism over the years; one of the ways it continues to influence us as a culture is to make us prize uncertainty and distrust certainty. It seems more authentic, more truly human, even more virtuous, to live in gray areas than it is does to traffic in certitudes. You could sum up the spirit of the age like this: we’re being encouraged to have faith in doubt. Continue reading