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Drive-In Church Featured In-person Church News Righteous Defiance

Police Show up at Gracelife Church Service and are Barred Entry, Warn Elders of Criminal Charges

While James Coates made a triumphant return to his congregation last Sunday after spending over a month in jail, taking the pulpit to the joyous cheers of his congregants, some drama was brewing outside the church building.

While the mainstream media showed up with no fewer than six security guards and filmed across the street, having not been granted access to the church property, one reporter, Shelia Gunn Reid of Rebel news was granted access and filmed the sequence of events.

Just as service started, and as Pastor Coates was about to begin his message of thanks, which we transcribed here, two police officers and a Provincial Health Inspector approached and sought entry to the building, explaining that they needed to investigate what was happening inside the church. They insisted entering was necessary to determine whether or not they were in violation of the health orders by being over the allowed 15% capacity. This information was passed on to James.

It was also unique behavior from the police, who for the last 5 weeks did not step foot on church property, but only did so once James returned. As a result, Pastor Coates had to sit through the entire service fearful that they were to arrest him again as soon as the service ended, with that thought rolling through his mind the entire time. Thankfully, they were not coming for him.

Accordingly, the church denied both the officers and the inspector entry to their building, citing section 176 of the Criminal Code which says:

(2) Every one who wilfully disturbs or interrupts an assemblage of persons met for religious worship or for a moral, social or benevolent purpose is guilty of an offense punishable on summary conviction.

The police and the elders engaged in a bit of back and forth, trying to explain to the police that them entering walking around would disrupt the service. One of the elders in training (EIT. We know his name but choose not to share it) explains:

EIT: That’s why we can’t let you in. Because Criminal Code 176 makes it illegal for you to interrupt a worship service. And our worship service has begun, and we’re stating to you very clearly that your presence in this building will be interrupting our worship service.

Police: How so?

EIT: Because your presence intimidates our people.

Police: That’s your perception.

EIT. No. It’s not about perception. Our people understand that you guys, and again, we respect the work you do in the community, we respect police officers. In our worship services right now people are praying, people are singing, or they’re listening to the word of God be preached, and they can’t do that with your presence in the building.

OEIT: And with all due respect, the law has now put our pastor in prison. And so for the RCMP to come into the service is absolutely a disruption. We have seen the arm of law enforcement come against us, so to come into our building is absolutely intimidation at this point, that’s why we can’t let you in…You will be interrupting. That’s a fact. We are standing firm on Criminal Code 176 that protects these rights.

The police insisted they were not there to interrupt anything, that’s it was not their intent to do so, making the bold, laughable claim that it’s “all about intent” and that so long as they *don’t intend* to disrupt the church, then no disruption is possible.

The church members insisted they would be interrupted, regardless of their intent. This is true with how their church is laid out, with rows of people in the entrance as they spill out outside the sanctuary.

The congregants spoke to the health inspector and informed him that he did not need to enter the building to know that clearly, they were non-compliant based on the number of cars in the parking lot and the fact that some people just off to the side were not standing 6 feet apart. One of the volunteers to the inspector informed him that they had 614 people in the service, far above the limit, and that he was free to observe people leaving after the fact to make that determination.

An officer eventually resolved the situation by agreeing not to enter the building but informed them there was potential for criminal charges on account of their refusal to let them into the church.

At the end of the day, the Public Health act says we access to go into the building. If you don’t want us to go into the building that’s fine, but you’re accepting the fact you’re denying us access to the building. So if you deny access to the building, there’s potential for criminal charges or potential for additional terms. So that being said, we’re gonna respect the fact that you guys don’t want to split the church, we’re not going to go into the church.

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News

Bethel Church Promo Shows Bill Johnson Thinks People are Stupid

A recent Facebook advertisement put up by Bill Johnson and the ragtag gang of con-men at Bethel Church for their School of Supernatural Ministry (BSSM) shows that the leadership in Redding must think anyone watching is a complete idiot, given how much they lie about their abilities and engage in revisionist history.

The ad in question is an invitation to join BSSM, where an unnamed woman says their job is “living out everything we see in the bible and bringing heaven to earth.”

We get to do all the things we see Jesus talk about in the Bible, like his disciples we get to step out and become people we never realized we could be…

We’ve seen so many fun testimonies over the years. My favorite is seeing legs grow out when people have a shorter leg than the other, or cancer, or people just getting healed.

People just getting delivered from trauma. People stepping into peace and anxiety leaving them. Headaches gone. Shoulders healed. Knees healed. The list goes on and on.

First off, leg-lengthening is not a thing. It is an easily debunked and frequently replicated parlor trick, demonstrated in the below video. That she points to this as a miracle is embarrassing.

But more importantly, one thing we noticed is conveniently absent from that litany of miracles from a school designed to help Christians “do all the things we see Jesus talk about in the Bible” and “live out everything we see in the bible” is any reference to COVID-19.

Why? Because Bill Johnson wants you to forget that the Bethel School of Supernatural Ministry was shut down for much of last year, along with their church services and their healing houses because of that very virus. The school and church where they teach you to do miracles was shut down for months at a time because…they could not do any miracles.

In fact, they shut down the BSSM several times last year, and not just once, but canceling classes or having instruction through zoom.

Furthermore, in October, Bethel and their school had so many cases linked back to outbreaks at the school and church – none of which were healed by all those gifted apostles and faith-healers who operate from the 10,000 member megachurch – that it caused their county of over 175,000 people to go into lockdown mode. This was a direct result of how many COVID-19 cases were arising, prompting the Chief Executive Officer for the Shasta Community Health Center to call out Bill and Beni Johnson by name.

Bethel Church and its supernatural affiliates did nothing about COVID-19 other than cower from it and hide from it, paralyzed with fear.

Now they want to put forward their supernatural healing creds in order to bring back business? After all that?

That sounds like just something they would do.

Categories
Cursed Headlines Evangelical Stuff Featured Heresies Roman Catholic Stuff

Church Segregates Congregant Seating Based on Vaccination Status

In a move that ought to lead to great shame and repentance, a Roman Catholic church in Florida has decided to segregate church attendees according to their medical history, assigning one side of the sanctuary only for those who have been vaccinated from the coronavirus, and another for those who have not.

The image was shared by Dr. Taylor Marshall, a Roman Catholic author and podcaster who was sent the photograph by a listener, with the only information that it comes from down south and is from a papist church.

Interestingly, regardless of the status, both sides are commanded to social distance and wear masks, even if a congregant is fully vaccinated and has all their shots.

This is not a government mandate, but rather is an example of the minister policing the laity on the basis of their health. Though the parish priest in charge obviously thinks this is acceptable, we wonder whether or not he’d be so crass as to separate the church based on whether or not they were HIV positive, or have separate cordoned off sections for those with Hepatitis C.

This is not simply a Roman Catholic thing, but also is coming to protestant churches.

Anyone coming up on a sight like this ought to instantly turn and walk away right back where they came, shaking the dust from their feet.


Categories
Church Coronavirus Featured Roman Catholic Stuff SBC

Priest Snitches on Pregnant Woman for Not Wearing Mask, Escorted Out of Communion Service by Cops

In a cowardly act of incredible stupidity and effeminate eunuchry, a parish priest called the police on a pregnant congregant for attending a church service and taking communion without a mask, having officers haul her away and trespassing her from church property.

The incident took place at Holy Trinity Church in Dallas, Texas, where Deirdre Hairston was attending mass with her one-year-old child. After getting up to receive communion and with the eucharist still on her tongue, three police officers greeted her at her pew and informed her that she needed to leave. They grabbed her arm, yanked her up, and informed her, “The church does not want you here.”

The usher would later prance around insisting that the police “Write her up. Write her up,” while another usher sought out her car to record her license plate number. Brought outside, the officer threatened to handcuff her then wrote her a ticket.

“Am I getting arrested?” Hairston asks.

“No, not right now. But if you don’t listen you will be,” replies the officer, who also informed her that she was being removed for “Trespassing on a business.”

Two weeks after the incident, the Diocese of Dallas released a statement defending her removal and doubling down on their disturbing course of action.

Hairston says she is dismayed by the actions of the church and that what they are saying simply isn’t true. She says masks were not required by the Bishop – only encouraged, and wonders why wouldn’t someone have simply approached her and asked her nicely about it, rather than calling the police and kicking her out by force.

[Editor’s note: Maybe it’s because you’re not going to a real church and there are no actual servants of God there?]


Categories
Evangelical Stuff Featured News

‘It’s Too Late For This Nation,’ Says John MacArthur, in Fiery Sermon

Pastor John MacArthur of Grace Community Church delivered a message to America during his March 28 sermon, explaining that judgement has come on the nation and that it’s too late for America, but not for the elect.

Preaching on Mark 12 and the Parable of the Vineyard Owner, he explains that the parable was one of judgment, with Jesus promising the destruction of Jerusalem and the nation.

Vengeance will come and it must come and it did…The temple was never rebuilt, the priesthood was never recovered. No sacrifices, no ceremonies, no Sadducees, no Pharisees, no priests, no chief priests to this day. The whole system ended.

Bringing application to this present day, he explained, “it can be for a generation of people too late.” It was too late for eighth-century [BC] Israel, when they were taken captive in Babylon, and too late for first-century Israel, when Jerusalem and the temple burned down in AD 70, and they were scattered and wholesale slaughtered during the First Jewish-Roman War. “It can be too late for every nation. Acts 14 says God allows all the nations to go their own way.”

How do you know when a nation passes the point where salvation is possible for a people? Well, Romans 1 talks about it…God gave them over to sexual immorality. God gave them over to homosexuality. God gave them over to a reprobate mind – a non-functioning mind.

So when you see a nation deep in sexual sin, pervasively affirming of homosexuality, and the insanity of a reprobate mind where they make laws to criminalize righteousness and to legalize gross evil, you know that nation’s under judgment.

And the message to this nation… is that it’s too late for the nation. We’re under judgment.

Mercifully, said MacArthur, there is hope:

But it’s not too late for the elect. Because as Romans 11 says, some are chosen.

What’s our message to this nation? You’re under judgment; it’s too late. Judgment has been unleashed. You can hear, but not understand. You can see, but not perceive. Your heart may be attracted, but hardened by God.

But God has His people. So we warn, because we don’t know who those [elect] people are and we also offer the grace of the Gospel. That’s our calling.

Categories
Coronavirus News Politics

Joe Scarborough Deranged Rant: Skeptics who Oppose ‘Vaccine Passports’ are ‘Idiots’ who Disregard Jesus’ Teachings

MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough went buck wild on TV this morning, ranting and raving at anyone opposing the notion of vaccine passports or skeptical of their efficacy and purpose, saying that “Our government, our sports teams, our concert promoters damned well better put together something where you can show your vaccine receipt.”

Calling anyone who opposes his perspective a “moron” “idiot” and “lunatic” he explains that “smart people” who “follow the science” and actually care about their children will support a vaccine passport and anyone saying otherwise is disobeying the teachings of Jesus.

“The selfishness is incredible. The stupidity is incredible… These idiots are now saying ‘I have the right to be stupid as hell. I have the right to believe stupid as hell people on Facebook. I have the right to believe in conspiracy theories.”

‘….If you still believe in God, maybe get on your knees and pray and ask why it is your thought system, your belief system has been so corrupted that you follow Q-anon, that you follow conspiracy theories, that you believe liars on Facebook instead of believing the truth.

Jesus said, ‘I am the way, the truth.’ When did that stop mattering to you? When did the truth stop mattering to you so much that you are willing to put other people’s lives at risk? Greater love hath no man than to lay down his life for his brother. You’re doing the opposite. You’re going out of your way to kill people.”

Good to know what our “unbiased” news media really think of us, as if we didn’t already know.

Note: Featured image adapted from photo by Jernej Furman under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 license.

Categories
Charismatic Nonsense Critical Race Theory Heresies LGBTQQIP2SAA

Ann Voskamp Claims The Cross Symbolizes ‘Hospitality’ Because Jesus Has ‘His Arms Open Wide’

Ann Voskamp, perhaps best known for her bizarre writing where she declared that she “made love to God” in Paris one night, and whose mystical descriptions of her encounters with the Lord come across as some sort of spiritual sexytime with Jesus where he’s always trying to cop a feel, appeared as a guest speaker at the Moody Bible Institute for their Founder’s week and explored a novel angle to Christ’s atonement on the cross while likewise displaying some gruesome discernment.

Voskamp, whose usual messages about intimacy with Jesus leave one squirming with discomfort, spoke on the topic of “Justice” and how Christians ought to be modern-day Esthers. Early on she dropped the fact that Bono sat next to her during a meal one time and then quoted him at length about his perspective of justice versus charity, gushing over him as she exclaimed:

Bono is legitimately brilliant. Legitimately sold out for Jesus and legitimately incarnating the gospel’s call to live out gospel-shaped justice.

We wonder if he’s showing how sold out for Jesus he is when he’s openly supporting the legalization of same-sex marriage in Ireland and in the USA, renaming his famous song to “Gay Pride (in the name of love)” and celebrating the normalization and social acceptance of sodomite “marriages.”

Or perhaps he’s “incarnating the gospel’s call to live out gospel-shaped justice” by tweeting out support for Ireland making abortion legal, highlighting their desire to repeal the country’s 8th amendment and make it so women can now slice up their babies in the womb on demand.

We digress. Pardon us if we don’t view syncretistic, inclusivist, pro-abortion, pro-LGBTQ+ advocates as brothers or sisters in Christ that are “sold out for Jesus.”

As far as her novel ideas about the cross and what we should make of it, she explained its true representation, making assertions we have never heard before.

Our actual theology is best expressed in our hospitality. How do we live with open doors, open hearts, open homes? How open is your life to those that don’t look like you? Hospitality is not a sidebar to our theology. Our hospitality *is* our theology.

The very shape of Christianity and the cross itself is that of hospitality. The wide-open arms of Jesus on that cross is the form of Christianity, and it’s the form of the ultimate hospitality. The form of welcome. “Come. I want you. I invite you. I want to be with you.

Hospitality has been sort of warped. A word associated with Pinterest, of place settings and perfection. We need a revolution around the word “hospitality” so there can be a renewal and a remaking of the world.


Bonus comment about Esther during the message:

Esthers don’t need a bodyguard of their values, because Esthers are about guarding the value of the needy outside the gate…To preserve her privilege, [Zeresh] has to preserve unjust power structures that impale actual change.

h/t to @wokepreachertv for the clip and transcript.

Categories
abortion Evangelical Stuff Heresies News

Radical Feminists Shout Demonic Pro-Abortion Chant Outside Church

A group of radical feminists unmasked themselves for the diabolical organization they are, gathering outside of St. Mary’s Cathedral in Sydney, Australia, and engaging in a horrific death chant.

The University of Sydney’s Women’s Collective, also known as WOCO, organized the protest outside the church to counterprotest “Day of the Unborn Child” – an annual pro-life event that also fell on World Down Syndrome Day, which celebrates the lives of children with Down Syndrome. In Australia, around 93 percent of babies with down syndrome are aborted, according to a recent study.

The WOCO bills itself as “a feminist collective of students dedicated to anti-colonial, anti-capitalist, and intersectional feminism.” They say they are a “horizontal autonomous organizing space for radically left-wing feminist activism” who is “one of the most radical and active campus feminist collectives in the country” and are an “unapologetically abolitionist and anti-capitalist collective that fights for true liberation from police, prisons, and capitalist exploitation” because “it is at these intersections where the worst patriarchal violence resides.”

It shows. During the rally they shouted at the church:

“We will fight, we will win. Put the fetus in the bin.”

and

F*** the church, f*** the state, we will decide our fate.”

There was one lone pro-life advocate on the other side of the street. While the event was taking place, pro-choice activist Erin O’Leary pointed to her and told a local paper that what she was standing for was hateful.

As a queer First Nations woman, I have been oppressed with this religion, my ancestors have been oppressed with this religion…This is hate, this is just plain hate. I don’t understand why we put a book written two thousand years ago over the life of a woman, over the life of a human being. You care so much about something that isn’t even alive…but you will say to a woman’s face that [you don’t care about her life].

Categories
News

OK Pastor Killed After Predicting Death During Church Service was Offed by Wife

An arrest has been made in the the death of a pastor who was murdered hours after preaching a sermon where he said the devil would try to kill and destroy them for being witnesses to God’s power in the world, and the culprit was none other than his wife.

David Charles Evans of Harmony Free Will Baptist Church was killed last Sunday in an alleged botched home invasion, where his wife was present. Prior to his death, he had preached a message from John 12:1-11, where he said:

Sometimes, I just stop and think. If the devil is not attacking you with everything he’s got in trying to destroy and kill you, maybe [it is] because you’re not the reason anybody is believing in Jesus. And as a pastor and just as a Christian, what a waste.”

A week later, David’s wife, Kristie Dawnell Evans, 47, confessed to his murder and staging it to look like a home invasion, aided by an accomplice in 26-year-old Kahlil Deamie Square. Both were charged with first-degree murder.

During her confession, Evans revealed that she and her pastor husband were actually swingers who had threesomes with Square, which led to a continuing relationship between her and the marital interloper. Evans claimed that her husband was “verbally abusive” and would call her names like “fat” and “slut” and hence encouraged Square to kill him, plotting his demise while he was away on a missions trip to Mexico.

With the news was a swinger and involved in gross sexual sin, a spokesperson for the Church released a statement, saying:

The circumstances that are now coming to light have taken us by surprise and we are greatly saddened. We serve a perfect Savior, Jesus Christ, who gave His life for us. These revelations do not diminish that truth and we will continue to serve Him. We are aware that even pastors can succumb to human frailty and we ask that our privacy be respected at this time as we as a church family grieve and process all of these events.

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Evangelical Stuff Featured

Gallup Poll: Church Membership Falls Below 50%, Libs and Dems hit the Hardest

For the first time in nearly 80 years, since records were being kept, America’s house of worship attendance fell below 50%, with 47% of people in 2020 reporting that they attended a church mosque or synagogue, according to a recent Gallup poll.

“U.S. church membership was 73% when Gallup first measured it in 1937 and remained near 70% for the next six decades.” This includes a 70% participation level only 20 years ago, in 1999.

“The decline in church membership is primarily a function of the increasing number of Americans who express no religious preference. Over the past two decades, the percentage of Americans who do not identify with any religion has grown from 8% in 1998-2000 to 13% in 2008-2010 and 21% over the past three years.”

Naturally, older age groups tend to have more participation, with younger groups representing the biggest drops, where 31% of millennials and 33% of Generation Z claim to have no religious affiliation.

And while every age group is sliding, there are some that are affected more than others.

“Declines in church membership are proportionately smaller among [protestants], political conservatives, Republicans, married adults and college graduates. These groups tend to have among the highest rates of church membership.”

The group with the fastest church attendance drops are progressive, mainline denominations, and Democrats. This makes sense, as they ought not to feel comfortable attending a biblical church where the Word is preached faithfully, and the United Episcopalian Church down the street with the rainbow flag in its window that is led by a woman minister with purple vestments and a short haircut, has nothing to offer anyone- least of all the 30 or some women over the age of 70 that attend, and hence are dying at a rapid rate.