
Eleven years ago, Ken Silva warned about the cult of celebrity in a piece he penned for Apprising Ministries. He revealed that the idol of evangelicalism erected by influential evangelical leaders is really not the Christianity of the New Testament. According to Ken, discerning Christians would recognize what was happening in the visible Church and as a result of his reporting were in the “proper vantage point upon the battlefield in order to better discern just how sad a list of the cult of celebrity evangelicals you’re about to witness.” The list Ken revealed includes Emergent/Emerging Church leaders and some important leaders in what he referred to as “the openly charismatic New Calvinism.”
Now to the article I came across while doing research on the once powerful New Calvinism, i.e. the Young Restless and Reformed movement that was influential in 2006. In less than two decades the YRR movement “has nearly wholly been torn apart”:
By Ken Silva
Now when the Pharisees gathered to [Jesus], with some of the scribes who had come from Jerusalem, they saw that some of his disciples ate with hands that were defiled, that is, unwashed. (For the Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they wash their hands properly, holding to the tradition of the elders, and when they come from the marketplace, they do not eat unless they wash. And there are many other traditions that they observe, such as the washing of cups and pots and copper vessels and dining couches).
And the Pharisees and the scribes asked him, “Why do your disciples not walk according to the tradition of the elders, but eat with defiled hands?” And he said to them,” Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written, “‘This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me; in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men. ’You leave the commandment of God and hold to the tradition of men.” And he said to them, “You have a fine way of rejecting the commandment of God in order to establish your tradition!” (Mark 7:1-9)
Worshiping The Way They Want To By Making God Be Who They Want Him To Be
As I monitor the rapid apostatizing of mainstream evangelicalism, and document it here at Apprising Ministries, I’ve told you that a major root cause for all of this has been evangelicalism never fully repented of its inherent humanism. That’s an important reason why it so quickly embraced the Church Growth Movement (CGM). Continue reading
11 Of whom we have many things to say, which are hard to be uttered, because ye are dull of hearing.
12 For when as concerning the time ye ought to be teachers, yet have ye need again that we teach you what are the first principles of the word of God: and are become such as have need of milk, and not of strong meat.
13 For everyone that useth milk, is inexpert in the word of righteousness: for he is a babe.
14 But strong meat belongeth to them that are of age, which through long custom have their wits exercised, to discern both good and evil. Hebrews 5:11-14 (1599 Geneva Bible)
(John Solomon – Just the News) Attorney General Pam Bondi told Just the News that she has asked prosecutors to investigate the Obama-Biden era of lawfare as an ongoing election-meddling conspiracy that protected Democrats from criminal investigation and infringed the civil rights of Republicans like President Donald Trump and his supporters.
“The press extinguished due process a long time ago, headlining anything lurid with little perspective or restraint. The evil lawyers understand that no fact-finding will take place as they hawk their blackmail techniques on television. You people know who you are. Have fun spending the blood money. But remember, the reaper will have something very special in store for you.”
“Civilizational Protestantism rested on a confidence that Christian faith was no mere private consolation or a sectarian preference, but a moral inheritance capable of ordering the common life. Its builders believed that Christianity could produce better leaders, more humane institutions, and a more just society. This confidence did not require perfection or coercion. It required the conviction that Christianity, rightly lived, was a blessing to the nation—and therefore something that ought to be publicly expressed, publicly defended, and publicly institutionalized.”
“Through a series of personal scandals and the broader collapse of credibility surrounding social justice and Covid narratives, the second generation lost much of its authority. I do not want to overstate this. The Gospel Coalition still hosts a well attended biannual conference. But the momentum has shifted. The third generation of the Young, Restless, and Reformed effectively marks the end of the movement as a movement.”
“Having reviewed the revised version submitted by your office, I must respectfully decline to endorse it in its current form. The document has undergone substantial modifications and contains significant deletions of information that, in some instances, alter the conclusions originally presented.”
“…social media encourages a pastor to pander. Influencers live and die by their audience. One of the driving goals is always to grow that audience, and you do that by giving people what performs well. Over time, you learn what your audience craves, and you keep serving it to them. … it’s rare to see influencers confront their own audience in any serious way, especially in ways that rebuke a negative tendency. Instead, their default is to flatter and pander. That’s not because they’re uniquely dishonest people. It’s because that’s what grows a platform.”
(Marsha West – Christian Research Network) Christianity holds to the view that prayer is of the leading of the Holy Spirit. Octavius Winslow put it in these words:


(Virgil Walker – Sola Veritas) And every once in a while I see an expression on a parent’s face that makes me pause. It usually happens after a sermon, or while we’re walking to the parking lot, or in the back of a quiet corner of the church where they think no one notices their eyes. It’s a cocktail of confusion, and sadness, and something that feels like fear. Parents of adult kids who have that look on their face I’ve seen people have in front of a grave.
(Roger Helle – The Patriot Post) It’s easy to get distracted this time of year — if not by the rush of holiday shopping and looking for the perfect gift, then by the horrible news that seems to get darker and darker every year. Recently, though, it seems to get darker and darker every week!
SALTY LANGUAGE WARNING
Yikes. “Never in American history has a President or the Department of Justice been this transparent with the American people about such a sensitive law enforcement matter,” Blanche added. “Democrat administrations in the past have refused to provide full details of the Jeffrey Epstein saga. But President Trump, Attorney General Pam Bondi, and FBI Director Patel are committed to providing full transparency consistent with the law.”
“This has the aroma of a master strategy to settle the succession even before a primary fight can take place. That doesn’t mean other Republicans may not challenge for the nomination, nor does it suggest that the GOP will make the Democrats’ 2024 mistake of cooking the rules to prevent a serious challenge to the preferred nominee. What it will do is disincentivize those challengers from coming forward at the risk of (a) futility and (b) alienating the MAGA base for interfering in the mission.”
“A homeless man named “John” apparently is the real hero here. He cracked the case wide open, confronted the shooter, got his description, and that of his car. He’s also the person who posted on Reddit, which essentially solved the case. After the second person of interest ‘in proximity’ to the suspect was released, this person came forward and cooperated fully, which led to Valente being found: