Police chiefs in Britain have warned that law enforcement officers will come into people’s homes and break up their Christmas family celebrations if they disregard lockdown rules which prohibit and limit who or when can gather.
Parts of Britain are currently under “tier 2 and tier 3” restrictions, with higher tiers garnering harsher curtailment, and in those zones it is against the law to meet up with people outside of one’s immediate household or support bubble.
West Midlands Police and Crime Chief David Jamieson said that if people flout the rules, he has instructed his officers to enter homes, break up the gatherings, and separate the households, telling the Telegraph:
“If we think there’s large groups of people gathering where they shouldn’t be, then police will have to intervene. If, again, there’s flagrant breaking of the rules, then the police would have to enforce.
It’s not the police’s job to stop people enjoying their Christmas. However, we are there to enforce the rules that the Government makes, and if the Government makes those rules then the Government has to explain that to the public.”
Though not as stringent, this is reminiscent of what Governor Gavin Newsom is doing in California, where he recently declared that no more than 3 families can get together for thanksgiving, that they must wear masks at all times, that the host must record all names and contact information for whoever is attending, that they must gather outdoors and they can’t gather for more than two hours.
Realizing the madness of what the government is proposing, Jamiesen said that his force is on high alert, with civil unrest being a real possibility.
We’re sitting on a time bomb here. We’re getting very near the stage where you could see a considerable explosion of frustration and energy. Things are very on the edge in a lot of communities and it wouldn’t take very much to spark off unrest, riots, damage.”
It’s in this spirit that we introduce you to the Tim Keller Tweet Generator. Created by the folks over at Church News Online, it’s uncanny how accurately it captures his obtuse, frequently indecipherable voice that’s about as clear as mud and twice as shallow. Here is a small sampling:
It’s scary how perfect it is and indistinguishable from the real deal. This is some stage 4, neural network Artificial Intelligence we’re talking about here.
Pope Francis appointed 13 clergymen to the College of Cardinals, many of who will be able to vote in the upcoming Pala conclave, and at least two who hold pro-LGBT views. The move comes on the heels of the Pope coming out last week in full support of same-sex civil unions, further demonstrating there is some “ecclesiastical queering” going on.
With the appointment of these cardinals to this new seat of power, it means that Francis will have appointed nearly 60% of all electors, suggesting that the majority in power will have the same beliefs and vision for the Church that Francis holds, which is one that is more unbiblical and anti-Christal than ever before and is likely to continue the trend he has begun with the selection of the next pope in the years to come.
The most controversial of them all is naming United States Archbishop Gregory Wilton to the college. According to Complicit Clergy:
Gregory personally invited pro-gay Vatican adviser Fr. James Martin to give a speech titled “Showing Welcome and Respect in Our Parishes to LGBT Catholics” at both St. Thomas More Parish and at Atlanta’s Shrine of the Immaculate Conception. Martin described Gregory as “thoughtful, progressive and open-minded,” and noted his LGBT outreach.
Gregory appointed a pro-gay priest to be diocesan spiritual director for victims of sexual abuse by clergy.
The other appointee that we know of who holds pro-LGBT views is the Secretary of the Synod of Bishops, Mario Grech, who said that he “feels wounded” when the church calls homosexuality sinful and called a full-page ad defending marriage as between one man and one woman, contra homosexuality, as nothing more than “propaganda.”
While these actions by Pope Francis seems to have shocked devout Roman Catholics, to those paying attending its par for the course from a Pontiff hell-bent on painting the Vatican every color of the rainbow.
Daniel Chalmers, founder and president of Love Wins ministry was taken into police custody after the disturbing event, where he was found to have been intoxicated with a blood-alcohol level twice the legal limit. According to the police report here:
We also read more about the incident from the off-duty officer: who later mentions to Chalmers admitting to being on medication, which may has exacerbated his poor choices.
The policed report also notes that “As Chalmers passed by the flight crew he advised the Captain of his intentions to sue Delta Airlines for defamation of character for their treatment of him.”
Though the details are a bit hazy on what Love Wins ministry actually is, it seems to have to do with filmmaking and providing resources that “plead the cause for the poor, needy and marginalized people of the world and provide a voice for the voiceless” while also involving life-coaching and fantastical charismatic miracles and prophecy. According to Daniel Chalmer’s bio from his ministry page: Chalmers is closely associated with some of the most extreme charismatics in Christendom and up to his elbows in the New Apostolic Reformation.
“God sent Danny to Bethel School of Supernatural Ministry. There, Danny served and lead in the healing rooms and developed a passion for Jesus to get His full reward. Danny wants to shout from the rooftops the goodness of His Heavenly Daddy and see people completely healed – spirit, soul and body. Just as Jesus was the exact representation of the Father, Danny lives to embody the heart of His perfect Father in heaven. He is on staff at Catch the Fire Raleigh-Durham. Danny functions strongly in the prophetic, miracles, signs and wonders. His highest priority is to love God with all his being, adore his family and then overflow into ministry. “
As reported, Alicia Beverly was flying from Las Vegas to Detroit when the dastardly incident happened, telling WJBK-TV, FOX 2 News in Detroit:
“It felt warm, like on the side of me I felt something warm. I jump up and I seen his private area out and I screamed and that woke everybody up. By that time I actually looked at him and I see him shake himself off and I’m like this man just peed on me! I looked and there was a puddle of pee in the seats!”
After her scream, the pastor was subdued by an off-duty officer flying on the same trip who was woken by the shouts. He restrained the man until landing and handed over to the FBI to be taken into custody.
A pastor has had a bucket of blood poured over his head after attending a ‘Let us Worship’ concert in Washington, DC at the National Mall, in a move that has caused Bethel Church’s worship leader and chief organizer Sean Feucht to claim the act was done by a satanist and highlighting a growing pushback from protesters bent out of shape over the traveling worship show.
The unknown assailant ran up to Pastor Charles Kuruku, who had been attending and participating in the event, and doused him with it before running off.
In the aftermath of his horrific action, Kuruku commented as he was cleaning blood off his hands and face:
I just got sprayed with blood right here in Washington DC. It’s a white guy. Look at what he did to me. He just like, ‘Pow!’ I didn’t even know what was going on, I just felt blood thrown on me.
Anyway, it is what it is, but the Lord is powerful. He is mightier than this. No weapon formed against us will prosper. Every tongue that rises in judgment will be condemned. I declare this demonic sacrifice is broken It’s not going to prevail in the name of Jesus. Keep us in prayer. We cannot be silenced by this type of violence and intimidation in Jesus’ name. Amen.”
Kuruku is going to have the blood tested to ensure it is not contaminated and to determine what sort of blood it is. It is unclear at this moment who poured it on him.
We’ve been chronicling these outdoor worship concerns for months now, which have grown from a few hundred individuals to tens of thousands.
Not only are these times of worship where people can sing unmasked and in large groups with fellow believers, frustrated by government and church leadership that has kept the churches closed and restrained, but they are also an occasion where the dark arts of charismatic manifestations occur.
‘Let us Worship’ mixes ordinarily sound practices of baptisms, preaching, salvation, and prayer with speaking in tongues, people being slain in the spirit, uncontrollable weeping and shaking, and claims of hundreds of miracles and healings. Sadly, the presence of these practices and the normalization of Bethel Churchtaint that is on the face of it is a brave and courageous act of defiance by the collective body of Christ.
Feucht claims he was told by security over 35,000 people attended the event. Though that number may be exaggerated, what is not is the fact that millions of people watch the events online, which has enabled him to gain influence and visibility, fast becoming one of the most recognized worship leaders in the church today. He announced that he has a new book coming out tomorrow, which is so far doing well on pre-orders.
Musician and designer Kanye West appeared on the Joe Rogan Podcast on Friday, spending nearly three hours conversing with the famed interviewer about running for the presidency, design, record contracts, being bipolar, politics, abortion, family, Jesus, race, war, and everything else under the sun, frequently speaking in self-aggrandizing statements and sharing both good and bad theology.
The hotly anticipated conversation was everything listeners hoped it would be, with West talking nearly the whole time in a stream of consciousness. At times he made perfect sense and at others he struggled to explain his ideas and articulate them in the best possible and clearest way, resulting in a confusing mess. He describes his reasoning and the way he processes and shares information this way:
I think very three-dimensionally. I don’t think in the black-and-white lines that I’ve been programmed to think in. And I think in full color. So when I talk, I have to describe a thought in five ways. We enjoy food that has multiple seasonings in it. We enjoy music that has multiple instruments. So when I talk, it’s not a rant, it’s a symphony of ideas.
It’s in this spirit that we offer a few thoughts from West.
On making music for God
When I made Sunday Service, I completely stopped rapping, because I don’t know how to rap for God. All my raps always had nasty jokes. When I went to the hospital in 2016, I wrote, ‘Started church in Calabasas.’ As we left from 2018 going into 2019, I said; I’m not going to let one Sunday go by without starting this church. To start a ministry, I’m like the little drummer boy, where I’m saying, ‘This is all I got to bring, my drum.’ I might not be well versed in the Word, but I know how to make music and I know how to put this choir together. And all things can be made good for God. It quickly became the best choir of all time, because all the best singers moved to California…I was four months in before I gave my life to God. I wasn’t saved, I just had a calling, saying, ‘Just go make this church.’
God knocked me off my horse, literally called me and said, ‘Now I need you.’ Not that God needs me, but we need God. He called me to serve him. I was tired of serving the music industry, tired of serving filling up stadiums.
On expository preaching:
One of my pastors, pastor Adam, the way he preaches is called expository. It’s like one-to-one by the Word. I like all different kind of preachers but there are some type of preachers they get up, they have the bible in their hand, and they close the bible and they just talk for two hours.
And some do have anointing, but expository preachers go line for line, and for me it’s like I come from entertainment. I got so much sauce, I don’t need no sauce on the word. I need the word to be solid food that I can understand exactly what God was saying to me through the King James version, through this, you know, this translation or the English Standard Version.”
On Abortion:
People saw this clip of me crying. Some people didn’t know what I was crying about. I was crying about that there is a possible chance that Kim and I didn’t make the family that we have today. That’s my most family-friendly way to word that. The idea of it just tears me up inside, that I was a part of a culture that promotes this kind of thing.
One of the major statistics on the subject of life is that the greatest advocates for the A-word [abortion] are men from ages 31-37. That’s how old I was. I felt like I was too busy. My dad felt like he was too busy for me. We have a culture of that…In our culture, we’re doped up, and psyched out, and made to kill our children. We have to decouple the conversation of Planned Parenthood and women’s choice.
I’m Christian, so I’m pro-life. When I go into office, I’m not changing laws because I realize we live in an imperfect world and an imperfect society. What I will be presenting is a Plan A. We’ve already started working on a Plan A to change the connotation of orphanages, to change the connotation of foster care.
There were 210,000 deaths due to COVID in America. Everywhere you go, you see someone with a mask on. With A, the A word, A culture–I’ll say it one time, with abortion culture–there are 1,000 Black children aborted a day. Daily. We are in genocide. More Black children since February than people have died of COVID. And everyone wears a mask. So it’s a matter of where are we turning a blind eye to?
The whole interview is fascinating and be seen here or on Spotify. West talks further about Jesus and God speaking to him in a host of other contexts, all peppered throughout the interview, with some of it good and some of what he has to say very bad.
With some megachurches like Andy Stanley’s Northpoint Church and Southern Baptist Convention presidentJ.D. Greear’s summit Church staying closed until 2021, even as some megachurches like Joel Osteen’s Lakewood Church have resumed service, one Pastor has taken the boldest and most unbiblical step yet, announcing that his church will not resume in-person services until a coronavirus vaccine is developed and widely distributed.
World Overcomer’s Church’s in North Carolina, a non-denominational congregation that boasts 15,000 members, made the decision to not meet for in-person services until a vaccine is developed, a prospect many are saying may take between 1-3 years, if one comes at all. Instead, the church says that it will only have “virtual services” services for the near and far future, with Senior Pastor Andy Thompson telling CBS17 news:
Church for us is just growing. We’ve never had this many people watching…I don’t think I’ll ever go back to having church the way I did before.
When our people are able to come back together, they’re going to want to greet one another and hug one another, and in my estimation, the risks are too great. We have to figure out ways to minister to people beyond just them risking contact in the middle of a pandemic.
The Pastor, who the church website describes as “an international faith leader, life coach and relationship expert on his mission to help you discover the keys to making good decisions” and a “balanced-life strategist” who is “master teacher on this subject” says that he doesn’t think any churches should be open right now, saying:
Every time they tell me they’re having meetings, I always say, ‘You might want to rethink that. Do you really have to have meetings to minister the gospel of Christ?’ Figure out a way to be effective when it comes to the future.
Hillsong Melbourne has announced that they have completed the purchase of the iconic Festival Hall for a cool $23,375,000, turning the famed concert venue into their new church home.
The controversial, prosperity-preaching state church, which is “pastored” by Tim & Nicola Douglass, has been looking for a new home for years. Having no permanent location, they’ve frequently have been nomadic, offering 10 services across 4 locations, usually in theaters and halls rented out for the day, having to do teardowns and set ups each week.
The purchase of the hall has not been without controversy. Initially opened in 1913, it has functioned as major cultural attraction for over 100 years, hosting concerts from Frank Sinatra and the Beatles, to Ed Sheeran and Lorde. It has also hosted the Olympic games and other sporting events. Put up for sale almost three years ago and requiring millions of dollars of investment to compete with newer venues, it had been generally assumed it would be flattened and converted into multi-level apartments, retail, and commercial development, until being declared a heritage site and thwarting those plans.
Along with the purchase of the hall comes large buildout costs, with the church likely to spend up to another $10-15 million on a major renovation, adding multiple stories for added functionality, including space for the nursery, children’s church, offices, coffee shops, and other ministries. The concert hall as it is holds seating for 5000 people, but that number will likely change. The church has also indicated that it may still be open to the public in some capacity, however. According to Pastor Tim:
“The cool thing about purchasing Festival Hall is it’s going to continue to be Festival Hall. It has served the people of this city in different events over the years and it’s going to continue to do that. We just get to be the church that purchases it and continues to serve, but also gets to see it be the house of God on Sundays.”
On today’s episode, JD goes through the news topics of the day and then gets into John Piper’s equivocation of Trump with Planned Parenthood and his claim that Trump’s pride kills as many people as abortion. Then, he discusses James Riady’s funding of Reformed Theological Seminary.
Disgraced pastor and teacher Dr. Arturo G. Azurdia III (Art Azurdia) is back on the preaching circuit and making the conference rounds 20 months after his fall from grace. He was scheduled to speak at the 2020 Word conference in May, along with The Gospel Coalition member H. B. Charles Jr., but due to COVID lockdown that conference has been postponed until June 1-3, 2021.
Dr. Arturo G. Azurdia III, you’ll remember, was the brilliant expositor and homiletics master at Trinity Church in Portland. Many thousands were blessed by the preaching of Art Azurdia, especially in circles that are considered to be more theologically sound. He even preached at John MacArthur’s 2018 Shepherd’s conference, a pulpit not easily attained.
Then a few months after that conference, it was revealed that he jumped into a bed of sexual immorality and was consequently released from his position as pastor.
Several years ago, prior to the inception of Trinity Church, I strayed from my wedding vows, breaking the covenantal bond I made to my dear wife thirty-six years ago. More recently, I again violated my marriage commitment. In both instances I engaged in adulterous relationships that were nothing less than acts of defiance to the will of my God and Father, as well as expressions of profound ingratitude for the glorious gospel of Jesus Christ that I prize so dearly.
I confess this sin and take full responsibility for it. There are no justifications, excuses, or rationalizations for my behavior. I, in acts of idolatry, chose sin over God. I am profoundly ashamed at the enormity of my rebellion, as well as the hypocrisy of exercising ministry while cloaking my sin in the shadows.
Azurdia returning to teaching and preaching is an interesting one, in light of further comments he made where he acknowledges the consequences of his actions would have on his public ministry and the pursuance thereof:
Because of my sin I have disqualified myself from the office of elder. Furthermore, I have no desire to pursue ministry of any kind. My focus is entirely directed at making right the very thing I have ignored for too long: the well-being of our marriage.
Along with his role of pastor at the church he planted, Trinity Church, Azurdia also served as a professor of theology at Western Seminary and taught homiletics.
