According to Christian News Network:
Arizon’s Grand Canyon University has announced that it has decided to grant employee benefits to homosexual staff while reiterating its belief that marriage can only be defined as the union of one man man and one woman.
The university says that it made the change as federal and state governments “have recently changed their long-held definition of marriage and now recognize same-sex marriage as lawful.”
Daily Mail reports:
Armed jihadists have killed at least three people in a deadly shooting rampage and taken 170 hostages at the Radisson Blu hotel in Bamako, Mali.
Automatic weapons fire has been heard on the seventh floor of the 190-room hotel, where it is thought as many as 10 militants have been going floor to floor and taken 140 guests and 30 members of staff hostage.
Witnesses described how the gunmen allowed around 20 hostages to leave safely after they proved they were able to recite verses of the Koran to the militants. US and French Special Forces have reportedly stormed the hotel and have began to clear the building one floor at a time.
3 As He was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to Him privately, saying, “Tell us, when will these things happen, and what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?” 4 And Jesus answered and said to them, “ See to it that no one misleads you. 5 For many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will mislead many. 6 You will be hearing of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not frightened, for those things must take place, but that is not yet the end. 7 For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and in various places there will be famines and earthquakes. 8 But all these things are merely the beginning of birth pangs. 9 “ Then they will deliver you to tribulation, and will kill you, and you will be hated by all nations because of My name. 10 At that time many will fall away and will betray one another and hate one another. 11 Many false prophets will arise and will mislead many. 12 Because lawlessness is increased, most people’s love will grow cold. 13 But the one who endures to the end, he will be saved. 14 This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all the nations, and then the end will come. Matthew 24:3-14 NASB
When I was a youth back in the 1960’s I remember hearing many sermons in our church about how the signs of the end of the age were upon us and that it would only be a short time until the return of the Lord Jesus Christ. In 1970 Hal Lindsey published his book The Late Great Planet Earth. I read it while I was in the Navy in the early 1970’s. I bought it at the bookstore of a church in Washington, D.C. that I was attending at that time. The focus of that book was to get the reader to buy into the fact that the signs of the times were indicating that the Great Tribulation was very near. One of the points Lindsey and others used during that time to show that we were in the birth pangs was how horrible things were throughout the world morally, politically, militarily, and how the “gospel” was being preached around the world. Here we are over 40 years later and I defy anyone to say that things have improved in any of those categories since then. In Matthew 24:3-14, which I placed at the top of this post, our Lord tells us what the world would be like leading up to the end of this age. This age began at the Cross and will continue until the cup of God’s Wrath is filled.
Fox News reports:
The man suspected of ringleading last Friday’s Paris attacks that killed 129 people, who bragged that he could always stay one step ahead of Western intelligence, was killed in the police raid north of Paris Wednesday. Officials also confirmed that his cousin was killed, when she apparently blew herself up.
Abdelhamid Abaaoud, 27, also had been linked to as many as four thwarted attacks since this spring, including the plot to kill passengers on a Paris-bound high-speed train in August, a plot that three young Americans helped foil. He was identified from skin samples after the Saint-Denis raid, the French prosecutor’s office reported Thursday.
Breitbart reports:
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has confirmed that eight Syrians were taken into custody at the Laredo port of entry.
Two federal agents operating under the umbrella of U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) are claiming that eight Syrian illegal aliens attempted to enter Texas from Mexico in the Laredo Sector. The federal agents spoke with Breitbart Texas on the condition of anonymity, however, a local president of the National Border Patrol Council (NBPC) confirmed that Laredo Border Patrol agents have been officially contacting the organization with concerns over reports from other federal agents about Syrians illegally entering the country in the Laredo Sector. The reports have caused a stir among the sector’s Border Patrol agents.
Life News reports:
The Planned Parenthood abortion business announced today that it plans to spend $20 million to elect pro-abortion Hillary Clinton president and take over Congress. This comes after the abortion giant has been caught up in a massive scandal involving its sales of aborted babies and their body parts.
“Extremists made the 2016 election about attacking reproductive rights,” Planned Parenthood President Cecile Richards says in a new promotional video to abortion activists.
“Enough is enough,” Richards said in the video. “With our supporters, we’re launching ‘I Vote Planned Parenthood Action.’ We’ll organize and mobilize to elect lawmakers who are in our corner.”
According to Christian Examiner:
James Smith, widower of Moira Smith, a police officer who died rescuing others from the south tower during the 2001 attacks on the New York World Trade Centers, FedExed his wife’s Woman of the Year award back to Glamour magazine.
He was outraged the award this year was given to Bruce Jenner, who changed his name to Caitlyn after having sex-change operations earlier this year.
Smith said giving the award to Jenner insulted his wife’s memory.
Christian News Network reports:
A female suicide bomber blew herself up on Tuesday as French police conducted a pre-dawn raid on an apartment building in an operation to locate the mastermind associated with Friday’s massacre in Paris.
Police closed in on an apartment building in Saint-Denis, a suburb of Paris, and according to reports, a woman detonated a suicide vest after confronting authorities. Residents report hearing gunfire and explosions at 4:30 and 7:30 a.m. local time.
According to National Review:
A report by a renowned journalist states that Christians are to be excluded from an impending official United States government declaration of ISIS genocide. If true, it would reflect a familiar pattern within the administration of a politically correct bias that views Christians — even non-Western congregations such as those in Iraq and Syria — never as victims but always as Inquisition-style oppressors. (That a State Department genocide designation for ISIS may be imminent was acknowledged last week in congressional testimony, by Ambassador Anne Patterson, the assistant secretary of the State Department’s Near East Bureau.)
Yazidis, according to the story by investigative reporter Michael Isikoff, are going to be officially recognized as genocide victims, and rightly so. Yet Christians, who are also among the most vulnerable religious minority groups that have been deliberately and mercilessly targeted for eradication by ISIS, are not. This is not an academic matter. A genocide designation would have significant policy implications for American efforts to restore property and lands taken from the minority groups and for offers of aid, asylum, and other protections to such victims. Worse, it would mean that, under the Genocide Convention, the United States and other governments would not be bound to act to suppress or even prevent the genocide of these Christians.
John Lanagan of My Word Like Fire reports:
Southern Baptist Convention President Ronnie Floyd will be speaking in December at Onething, the International House of Prayer’s annual celebration/convention. So will Francis Chan–for the second time. Onething takes place December 28-31, 2015.
Catholic Matt Maher will be one of the worship leaders. The IHOP Onething Worship and Leaders page notes that Maher played at the World Meeting of Families, which marked “Pope Francis’ first visit to the U.S. this year.”
Ronnie Floyd’s appearance at Onething potentially opens some Southern Baptist members to IHOP-KC influence. How many SBC members will be watching Onething online because Floyd will be speaking there? As noted in Francis Chan as IHOP-KC’s public relations agent?, Chan’s 2013 participation in Onething was a public relations bonanza for IHOP-KC.
Popular blogger and pastor Tim Challies has once again addressed Jesus Calling, the blockbuster book that contains “devotions for every day of the year.” Author Sarah Young claims direct divine revelations. Tim wrote a review (here) in 2011 and now lays out 10 significant problems with the hugely popular devotional.
Sarah Young’s Jesus Calling is a phenomenon that shows no signs of slowing down. According to publisher Thomas Nelson, it “continues to grow in units sold each year since it was released [and] has surpassed 15 million copies sold.” Nelson is involved in an expansive new marketing campaign that involves a new web site and daily radio devotionals. ECPA reports that “Thomas Nelson began its partnership with the Salem Media group to provide 60-second daily messages on Eric Metaxas’ show, which is carried on more than 100 stations nationwide and worldwide on SiriusXM Radio. The Jesus Calling radio devotional reaches more than 500,000 people each day through these segments.” With 15 million copies sold, it has marched its way into rare company.
Yet it is a deeply troubling book. I am going to point out 10 serious problems with Jesus Calling in the hope that you will consider and heed these warnings.
1. She speaks for God. Far and away the most troubling aspect of the book is its very premise—that Sarah Young hears from Jesus and then dutifully brings his messages to her readers. Jesus Calling makes the boldest, gutsiest, and, to my mind, most arrogant claim of any book ever to be considered Christian. The publisher describes the book in this way: “After many years of writing her own words in her prayer journal, missionary Sarah Young decided to be more attentive to the Savior’s voice and begin listening for what He was saying. So with pen in hand, she embarked on a journey that forever changed her—and many others around the world. In these powerful pages are the words and Scriptures Jesus lovingly laid on her heart. Words of reassurance, comfort, and hope. Words that have made her increasingly aware of His presence and allowed her to enjoy His peace (italics mine).” There is no way to avoid her claim that she is communicating divine revelation, a claim that raises a host of questions and concerns, not the least of which is the doctrine of Scripture alone which assures us that the Bible and the Bible alone is sufficient to guide us in all matters of faith and practice.
2. She proclaims the insufficiency of the Bible. Jesus Calling only exists because Sarah Young had a deep desire to hear from God outside of the Bible. In the introduction she describes the book’s genesis: “I began to wonder if I … could receive messages during my times of communing with God. I had been writing in prayer journals for years, but that was one-way communication: I did all the talking. I knew that God communicated with me through the Bible, but I yearned for more. Increasingly, I wanted to hear what God had to say to me personally on a given day.” In those few sentences she sets up unnecessary competition between her revelation and what we are told of the Bible in 2 Timothy 3:16-17: “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.” Biblically, there is no category for what she provides as the heart and soul of her book. Biblically, there is no need for it and no reason we should expect or heed it.
According to Christian News Network:
The California-based band Eagles of Death Metal was playing their song “Kiss the Devil” at the moment that three terrorists stormed a Paris theater Friday and began opening fire, reports state.
“Who’ll love the devil? Who’ll sing his song?” the song’s lyrics ask. “Who will kiss the devil on his tongue?”
According to Christian News Network:
A NASA spacecraft has discovered what appear to be ice-spewing volcanoes on the surface of Pluto, puzzling scientists who believed the distant world was old, dead, and dormant.
Last week, scientists at an American Astronomical Society meeting in National Harbor, Maryland, announced new findings from NASA’s “New Horizons” spacecraft, which flew by Pluto earlier this year. “New Horizons” was the first spacecraft to visit Pluto, so the data and images it collected have helped astronomers better understand the dwarf planet.
Prior to the Pluto flyby, Christian astronomers predicted that “New Horizons” would find evidence that Pluto is much younger than secular scientists allege.
“Rather than weakening the case for creation, data collected by previous spacecraft have only strengthened the case that our solar system was designed and is much younger than the age of 4.5 billion years that secular scientists have assigned to it,” wrote Dr. Jake Hebert, a physicist with the Institute for Creation Research (ICR). “Christians should not be surprised if data collected by the New Horizons spacecraft continues this trend.”
Berean Research reports:
Thousands of Mormons surrounded the LDS Church in Salt Lake City, Utah over the weekend, many symbolically submitting their official resignation letters.
Is it because they finally realized Joseph Smith was a false prophet? Or that their extra-biblical Book of Mormon is heretical?
Nope. It’s because they think their church leaders are bigoted against homosexuals. An estimated 1,500 protestors carried signs and filled a mailbox full of their resignation letters.
Christian News Network reports:
French fighter jets dropped 20 bombs on key ISIS targets in Raqqa, Syria on Sunday in retribution for the deadly massacre in Paris on Friday that killed over 130.
The airstrike, carried out in conjunction with the U.S. from the United Arab Emirates and Jordan, struck an ISIS command center, a jihadist training center and an ammunition depot.
“The raid … including 10 fighter jets, was launched simultaneously from the United Arab Emirates and Jordan,” a statement from the French Ministry of Defense read. “Twenty bombs were dropped.”
According to Christian News Network:
In wake of a series of terrorist attacks that struck Paris on Friday night, the first question posed to Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders during Saturday night’s Democratic debate was whether he still believes climate change is the No. 1 national security threat to the United States—and Twitter users had a lot to say about his answer.
“Absolutely,” he said. “In fact, climate change is directly related to the growth of terrorism.” Sanders added that climate change will cause farmers in countries “all over the world” to struggle with a scarcity of water and land to grow crops, which Sanders said studies have shown leads to international conflict.
Some Twitter users mocked Sanders’ response, saying he should tell the French people that but wouldn’t say that if he were face to face with a member of the Islamic State group.
Religion News Service reports:
Pope Francis raised the specter of a World War III “in pieces,” Muslims issued statements of condemnation, while evangelical Christians in America debated whether to speak of a “war with Islam.”
These were some of the responses by religious leaders around the world on Saturday (Nov. 14) to the series of attacks overnight in Paris which left more than 120 people dead.
“This is not human,” Francis said phone call to an Italian Catholic television station. Asked by the interviewer if it was part of a “Third World War in pieces,” he responded: “This is a piece. There is no justification for such things.”
Earlier, the Vatican’s chief spokesman, Rev. Federico Lombardi, released a statement saying: “This is an attack on peace for all humanity, and it requires a decisive, supportive response on the part of all of us as we counter the spread the homicidal hatred in all of its forms.”
In Cairo, Al-Azhar University, the preeminent seat of Sunni Muslim scholarship, called the attacks a criminal act, and said that “Islam denounces any violence,” the Arabic news site Al Arabiya reported, quoting Egypt’s state news agency MENA.
From a sermon on First Timothy preached by Pastor Ray C. Stedman
They forbid people to marry and order them to abstain from certain foods, which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth (1 Timothy 4:3).
One of the strange marks of religious error is that it is so often accompanied by ascetic practices, that is, denial of certain normal, natural human enjoyments. One of them is marriage. A number of groups have historically forbidden marriage to their adherents with the idea that sex is unclean, and those who indulge in it are certainly less dedicated than those who refrain.
Foods come under this heading too. I do not mean to imply at all that there is anything wrong with diets. It is obvious that some people need dieting. There is nothing wrong with studies on nutrition and proper eating. Nevertheless, through the course of human history there has been a strange affinity between food restrictions and fads and religious error.
The reason is that at the heart of asceticism is a conviction that self-denial somehow pleases God. It can be very earnest, very sincere. Often Christians fall into this error in their early Christian days, thinking that if they deny themselves in some way God is going to be pleased, and their status in His sight will be advanced. That is why some Christians love to get up early in the morning for Scripture reading or memorize hundreds of verses of Scripture or pray on their knees for long periods of time. These practices, which in themselves are not wrong, nevertheless become wrong because their motive (that of gaining God’s favor by self-denial) is wrong.
This is a good example of the subtlety by which error begins. When a deviation enters a stream of truth, at the first point of deviation, error looks like truth; it is very hard to see it as error. This is what has misled so many people. They never recognize error until they become engrossed in it. Down the line they begin to suspect that it is error, but by that time they are already hooked.
There is a difference between self-denial and denying self. Jesus said, If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me (Luke 9:23). That is denying self. But that is easily confused with self-denial, which says, I will give up this thing or that thing. I want to gain a special mark of favor before God, and I want to influence God to do something for me in return. When our motivation ultimately is to achieve something for ourselves by our actions, we are no longer denying self but practicing self-denial.
How subtle the differences are! Self-denial is an attempt to earn favor apart from faith in the gift of righteousness which makes us wholly acceptable before God right at the very beginning of our Christian life; denying self is a refusal to heed those silken arguments of the inner ego that appeal to us to show how good we are by giving up something.
Life Application
What is the difference between self-denial and denying self? Are we careful not to let subtle religious error lead us into a fraudulent faith apart from Christ’s righteousness?
Christian News Network reports:
An Ohio man was arrested this week and is facing a criminal solicitation charge for allegedly trying to recruit other Muslims to kill members of the U.S. military.
Terrence McNeil, 25, was taken into custody on Thursday after being watched by the FBI, which states that he posted the names and addresses of 100 service members online, urging readers to murder them for Allah.
“O brothers in America, know that the jihad against the crusaders is not limited to the lands of the Khilafah, it is a world-wide jihad and their war is not just a war against the Islamic State, it is a war against Islam,” he wrote. “Know that it is wajib (necessary) for you to kill these kuffar (non-Muslims)!”
Berean Research reports on WND’s promotion of a heretical Bible. We should not be surprised as WND promotes all sorts of unbiblical things, as you will see:
Recently I’ve been seeing a lot of advertisements for The Cepher Bible, a new translation of sorts brought to you by WND, where editor Joseph Farah sells Cepher alongside The Harbinger, The Rabbi Who Found Jesus, the Mystery of the Shemitah and other questionable books.
WND is a source to mark and avoid for discerning Christians, as I discovered several years ago when I first learned that the site sponsored Sid Roth’s hour-long video tutorial on how to do the New Age Soaking prayer.
But with the growth of the dangerous Hebrew Roots Movement, there is concern that WND’s powerful readership numbers may be aiding and abetting false teachers to reach a whole new audience. Christian Answers for the New Age author Marcia Montenegro recently alerted her readers:
Fox News reports:
DEVELOPING – Terrorists wielding AK-47s and hurling explosives executed at least 118 people inside a Paris concert hall late Friday night, in a massacre that followed coordinated attacks that killed at least 40 more people, rocking the French capital — prompting President Francois Hollande to close the entire nation’s borders and order a state of emergency.
The carnage inside the music venue ended around midnight local time when French police stormed inside, killing three Kalashnikov-toting gunmen who witnesses said wore flak jackets as they slaughtered horrified spectators. The victims had gathered to see the American rock band Eagles of Death Metal, and a handful managed to escape to tell of the horror taking place inside where the killers shouted “This is for Syria!” and “Alahu Akhbar!” as they cut down patrons from a balcony before the band took the stage.
Julien Pierce, a Europe 1 journalist who was inside the Bataclan, described what he saw to the BBC.
“It lasted between 10 and 15 minutes,” he said. “It was extremely violent and there was panic. The attackers had enough time to reload at least three times. They were very young.”
Bible study author, speaker and blogger Michelle Lesley is a Berean. “Now these Jews were more noble than those in Thessalonica; they received the word with all eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so.” Acts 17:11 Michelle does not take pleasure in exposing teachers who are not doctrinally sound. You need only to visit her blog to know that. In this blog post she takes a popular teacher and author to task for not rightly handling the Word of God (2 Tim 2:15) thus misleading women — and some men. No doubt she will receive a lot of flack for exposing a beloved Christian celeb, so pray for her. Listen to Michelle explain why leaving Lysa is a good idea. She writes:
According to her web site, “Lysa TerKeurst is president of Proverbs 31 Ministries and the New York Times best-selling author of The Best Yes, Unglued, Made to Crave, and 16 other books.” She also blogs prolifically and speaks at numerous Christian women’s conferences.
Lysa is charming, friendly, and down to earth- the type of person I would probably want to be friends with if I knew her personally. We have several things in common: a big family (she has 5 kids, I have 6), women’s ministry, we’re even just a couple of months apart in age (which shocked me, since she looks so much younger!).
I first became familiar with Lysa a year or so ago when her name, articles, and memes of her quotes (and those of Proverbs 31 Ministries) began appearing in my news feed on Facebook. What I was seeing sounded good, and I hoped against hope that she was a doctrinally sound teacher of God’s word that I could recommend to my friends and readers. In fact, I resisted vetting her for a while because I was afraid of being disappointed by another popular Christian women’s author and teacher who seemed biblical on the surface but turned out not to be.
Sadly (and I genuinely mean that- I was sad), that is exactly what I found when I began to research Lysa TerKeurst at the request of several of my friends and readers. It’s my prayer that Lysa will repent of the areas in which she is acting against Scripture, learn biblical hermeneutics so she can rightly handle God’s word, and have a tremendous doctrinally sound – impact on the thousands of women who love her so much. I would love nothing more than to give her a virtual “high five” and highly recommend her to others if she would do so.
Until such time, I regret that I must recommend that women not follow Lysa TerKeurst or Proverbs 31 Ministries (including the other women who write for and are leaders in this ministry) for the following reasons:
According to Christianity Today:
For the past three years Naghmeh Abedini has publicly battled her husband’s captors, advocating for his release from an Iranian jail.
Behind the scenes, she also struggled with his inner demons.
Last week, the emotional distress of doing both finally proved too much, she said.
In two emails to supporters, Abedini revealed details of her troubled marriage to Saeed Abedini, an American citizen and pastor imprisoned in Iran since September 2012.
Those troubles include “physical, emotional, psychological, and sexual abuse (through Saeed’s addiction to pornography),” she wrote. The abuse started early in their marriage and has worsened during Saeed’s imprisonment, she said. The two are able to speak by phone and Skype.
Touring the country to advocate for Saeed’s release while coping with marital conflict proved too much, she wrote. She told supporters she’s withdrawing from public life for a time of prayer and rest.
The Wall Street Journal has the full report:
Russia engaged for years in systematic state-sponsored doping to improve athletic performance, said a commission of the World Anti-Doping Agency, which recommended that Russian track-and-field competitors be barred from the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.
The 323-page report released Monday by the independent commission described a secret doping program allegedly run for at least the past five years by Russian government officials, physicians, coaches, and track-and-field athletes to give the country a prohibited edge in international competitions. The report said Russian athletes unwilling to participate in the program faced expulsion from their team and other threats.
“It’s worse than we thought,” Dick Pound, chairman of the three-person commission that prepared the report, said at a news conference in Geneva. “We found coverups, we found destruction of samples, we found payments of money in order to conceal doping tests.”
Christian Examiner reports:
For four months the child came to school as a girl, and then suddenly as a boy – and now the manager of the daycare center the child attends has been fired for refusing to call a she a he, the Houston Chronicle has reported.
According to the paper, Madeline Kirksey has filed a complaint with the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) alleging discrimination after she – a black female over 40 who is a Christian – was terminated Nov. 3 for refusing to change the way she addressed a “transgender boy.”
