Faith Church is a non-denominational ‘word of faith’ church in St. Louis, MO. Led by pastor and pastrix duo David and Nicole Crank, the 7000-member multisite is your typical “You’re-David-and-here-are seven-life-tips-to-help-you-kill-your-Goliath-of-debt” kind of church.
Crank has a long and sordid history of being unable to preach himself out of a paper bag if his life depended on it, with a lobotomized monkey with a pen taped to its hand frequently giving him a run for his money over who can write a more coherent sermon with less scripture twisting.
Because the name of the name is to entertain, during Faith Church’s September 13, 2020 sermon, Do you feel like a Roller Coaster, the Crank’s crew built a roller coaster on stage and got the worship band to croon out the Ohio Players/ Red Hot Chili Pepper’s song ‘Love Rollercoaster” while 3-foot sparklers went off.
All to the gory of God we’re sure.
Later, Crank himself would emerge riding the coaster and preaching multiple other roller coaster metaphors, about how you can’t be afraid to ride the ride of life without sticking your hands in the air, and if you’re going to ride the roller coaster of love, you can’t take your baggage with you because otherwise, you’ll lose it.
Megachurch builds roller coaster on stage for sermon series, riding it while the worship band plays Red Hot Chilli Peppers song "Love Rollercoaster." See the story at https://t.co/A5UI7zW5YYpic.twitter.com/BXYhrKqi2Z
For decades the deplorable Anglican denomination has been drifting on issues of theology and human sexuality, proving time and time again the 26 million members are not the least bit committed to upholding the biblical teachings but instead adopting the worst excesses of the woke movement in a pathetic and desperate attempt at relevancy, recently voting to affirm and bless same-sex civil marriages.
Led by Justin Welby, the Archbishop of Canterbury, who is an all-around simpish and effete hireling, the Church of England long ago abandoned all biblical fidelity, demonstrating their baser proclivities this week after Senior Church of England Bishop Libby Lane gave her blessing for churches to restructure their Sundays so they could watch or a women’s soccer match game, after many congregations pledged to do just that. According to The Times UK:
The Rev Andrew Downes, vicar of St Mary’s, Sunbury-on-Thames, said: “We are shortening our main morning eucharist and then live-streaming the game with bacon rolls and fizz.”
St Werburgh’s, a church in Chorlton in Manchester, has moved its service from 10.45am to 10am, telling its congregation: “This week we’ll be starting the service earlier to watch [the final] together at the church.”
The Rev Elis Matthews, vicar at St Mary’s Spring Grove in Isleworth in west London, said: “The church service at St Mary’s will be adapted to ensure we can all watch England in a World Cup Final. Go Lionesses.”
The Rev Carol Atkins said that her church in Reading had “swapped our service for a community watch of the final”, while St Luke’s, a church in Bournemouth, said: “We’ll be worshipping as usual on Sunday at 10am but endeavouring to finish before 11am and then screening the World Cup final on the big screen in church.”
The announcement that several churches were rescheduling their services earlier or canceling altogether to accommodate congregants who wanted to cheer the Lionesses soccer club participating in their first World Cup final (They ultimately lost 0-1 to Spain) prompted Lane to respond and lend her support:
More than 1000 school districts in the United States representing 18,335 schools and 10,712,558 students have enacted policies requesting that teachers conceal students’ transgender status from their parents, according to a report from Parents Defending Education.
How did we get to a point where in just a few short years more than 1,000 school districts — with nearly 11 million students — think it’s okay to keep secrets about children from their own parents?https://t.co/9a0A0KhvLRpic.twitter.com/uRHl9lWLx7
Parents Defending Education provides a list of school districts by state that have “Transgender/Gender Nonconforming Policies that openly state that district personnel can or should keep a student’s transgender status hidden from parents.“
One example would be California’s Alhambra Unified School district, which states:
We’d encourage every parent to see if their school is on the list. If so, pull them out or begin to raise a ruckus unlike anything they’ve ever experienced.
The first album in this year’s series showing our brothers and sisters in Christ gathering for church service as faithful believers.
While going to church does not make one a believer, refusing to faithfully attend a local church should seriously call that faith into question. This is a glimpse of what the global church is up to, and will feature images in chronological order, week to week, of the men and women being obedient to the scriptures. As always, click pictures to enlarge them.
Two years ago, we gave visibility to Martyn Iles, who some have called the “John MacArthur of Australia.” Iles previously worked as the managing director of the Australian Christian Lobb, which utilizes grassroots activation and lobbying efforts to protect the rights and values of Christians in Australia, but then later joined Answers in Genesis (AiG) a few months ago as their Chief Ministry Office.
Founded by Ken Ham, AiG is a sizeable Christian apologetics and education ministry known for owning the Ark Encounter and Creation Museum. Ham has described Iles as “a young man whom God has led to this ministry to be an integral part of that leadership for the future” and “a unique individual” who is “an eloquent spokesperson for the issues of our day, is a great teacher and preacher with an emphasis on biblical authority and has a heart to see souls won to the Lord.”
In a recent article posted to their website, Ham responds to the question, “What is AiG doing for leadership in the future? Who are you training up to take the place of the founders?”
While he doesn’t give a specific name as to who will be his successor, he’s not particularly subtle either as he shares videos about Illes and the work he’s been doing, heaping effusive praise and offering:
“A number of years ago, our board of directors started asking, “What happens when the bus hits Ken?” In fact, that has been mentioned so many times in recent years, I’m paranoid of going anywhere near a bus! I keep well away from the shuttle buses at the Ark Encounter.
It has been on my mind for some time to do all we can to stop mission drift and ensure the ministry doesn’t compromise like so many churches and Christians have regarding the woke culture. In previous letters, I’ve explained what we have done internally with special groups of people and our young dedicated visionary leadership to protect the mission of the ministry.
…At the same time, we have always been on the lookout for young, dynamic, and visionary leaders who can take this ministry into the future as the initial generation of leaders reach those aging years. And we have a number of phenomenally talented, gifted, and highly dedicated younger generation leaders who are visionaries in their own right. The ministry is certainly in good hands for the future.
...I have been praying for a long time for someone like Martyn to ensure AiG has dynamic visionary leadership for the future—someone who is committed to biblical authority and the gospel and has an unwavering commitment to never compromise God’s Word and to continue the mission for which God raised AiG up.
Pro-life organization Ohio Right to Life has terminated their communications director Elizabeth Marbach, days after she shared the gospel on Twitter, according to a report by The Sentinel.
The fracas seemingly began last week after Marbach took a shot at a pro-choice activist, calling her a “murderous liar” for spreading pro-baby-killing propaganda.
The post resulted in her being called out by a Senior Ohio Right to Life official, who took exception with the tactic.
The rebuke was expected, as most pro-life organizations hate calling anyone associated with abortion a ‘murdere’r, ESPECIALLY a woman who poisons her child in the womb or uses scissors and scalpels to turn them into a slurry of blood and bone. Most pro-life organizations instead use soft tones, squishy words, and genteel speechcraft rather than the passionate and prophetic rhetoric that other groups like abortion abolitionists use, all to avoid potential fallout from a very public proclamation.
Ohio Right To Life is no different. After all, they are the same organization that refused to support any abolitionist legislation because it punished women for killing their babies, actively blocking these bills from becoming law.
Tensions high, the conflict was exacerbated after deranged Republican lawmaker Max Miller took exception to a post from Marbach expressing ‘There no hope for any of us outside of having faith in Jesus Christ alone.’ This prompted Miller to demand that she delete the tweet, calling it “one of the most bigoted things I have ever seen.”
Crucially, Miller’s wife, Emily, serves as a board member of Ohio Right to Life. This is convenient connection if there ever was one. Marbach refused to remove the post and instead doubled down:
After near universal blowback, Miller apologized, saying, “I posted something earlier that conveyed a message I did not intend. I will not try to hide my mistake or run from it. I sincerely apologize to Lizzie and to everyone who read my post.”
This is laughable and shouldn’t be believed for a second. As one commenter points out, “No, your tweet perfectly conveyed what you intended it to. You just didn’t expect the backlash & now you’re attempting to backpedal.”
Emily Miller was less apologetic, writing that while her husband shouldn’t have asked her to stand down from her faith, it was still wrong of Maybach to say what she said: “Max was wrong to ask someone to stand down from her religious views. He’s acknowledged that. But asking us to back down from our Jewish faith is also wrong. And we never will.”
Following this fight with Miller, which also irritated the Ohio’s pro-life pragmatists, The Sentinel reports that they tried to unceremoniously shuffle her out, but she refused.
Internal communications at Ohio Right to Life reviewed by The Sentinel showed that Marbach was offered the opportunity to resign from the entity or receive a transition period before her official dismissal, both of which she declined.
Though they have been relatively silent on the matter, Ohio Right to Life head Peter Range wrote in a statement that the decision to terminate Marbach was “not based on any single event as some on social media claim” and that they “appreciate Lizzie’s service and wish her the best in future endeavors.”
Trillia Newbell is an author, speaker, and former director of community outreach for the SBC’s Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission (ERLC). She’s written for Ligionier Ministries, TGC, Desiring God, and Christianity Today. Still, we haven’t covered her much, mentioning her only briefly after she and a gaggle of lady preachers participated in an immigration propaganda video.
Last week, demonstrating the Evangelical Industrial Complex’s commitment to DEI refuses to DIE, Newbell appeared in a NewChurches video, a project tied to Ed Stetzer and backed by the SBC.
Here, she put out a clip urging church planters to “add diverse voices” to their leadership teams and be “color-wise,” not “color-blind.”
We need to be churches that know how to love when it’s hard, when it’s confusing, and when it’s with people who do not look like ourselves.
…I want you all to do me and your church members and your community a favor and evaluate your leadership teams. See where you can add diversity. Not for diversity sake, but for the benefit of the body. Look and see where you can add diverse voices. Learn how to celebrate our differences and resist the notion of being colorblind.
God is not colorblind, he talks about throughout His scriptures every tribe, tongue and nation. So we need to learn to celebrate what God has already created.
I have kind of coined the phrase and it’s probably not just mine, we need to grow and be ‘colored smart,’ or some people have said ‘color wise.‘ Being color smart enables us to see people as made in the image of God just like us, while also acknowledging the beauty of our differences.
We are not all the same in regards to skin colour, interest, likes, gifts and desires. And this is a good thing. We can acknowledge it, we don’t need to ignore it. Our differences are for the glory of God. And when we embrace it, and enjoy it, it’s a way we can extend and express love to our neighbor.
Here's wider context. The shouter, er, speaker here is Trillia Newbell. Note that the only way they've tried to level up after the Summer Of Love is by adding incoherent caveats: "See where you can add diversity, not for diversity's sake, but for the benefit of the body." pic.twitter.com/88fnt9vswK
The Dissenter was highly critical of Newbell’s efforts to impose Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion quotas and ideology on the church, writing:
Newbell’s diatribe, advocating for artificial diversity within the Church, is riddled with baseless, unbiblical assertions. Her plea to evaluate church leadership to add diversity not for its own sake but for the “benefit of the body” is nothing more than a thinly veiled call for Marxist engineering within the Church. But what is particularly alarming is the underlying meaning of “diversity” in this context. What these leftists often mean by “diverse” is “non-white.” In their push for so-called “diversity, equity, and inclusion,” the word “diverse” actually seems to include everyone except white people.
They twist language to fit their vain philosophies and traditions of men, and in their minds, a church staff is considered “diverse” if it doesn’t include white people. This skewed perspective is not just a distortion of language—it’s a distortion of the Gospel. The Scriptures teach that diversity in the body of Christ comes naturally through the Holy Spirit. God places the parts in the body as He wants them to be (1 Corinthians 12:18), not as some human, politically-driven agenda dictates. The focus on exclusion rather than genuine unity betrays a worldly perspective that has no place within the Church.
We couldn’t agree more.
h/t WokepreacherTV for the video and summary. Also for this associated gem about Lewis:
You'll notice NC's top-billed "World-Class Teacher" after Stetzer is Dhati Lewis, the previous leader of Send Network. Lewis quite clearly preached another gospel in this 2020 video and has never repented, despite pressure from NAMB church planters. pic.twitter.com/hxuY4o9eyI
Five months ago, disgraced former Harvest Church pastor James MacDonald was arrested and charged with felony battery and assault after attacking a 59-year-old woman in a road rage incident, sending her to the hospital with ‘serious injuries.’
He would later claim that she was the aggressor, not him, but also that he ‘blacked out’ during their interaction and doesn’t remember much.
“I barely touched the lady in front of me. She jumped out of her car and came running at me. And I was so startled that I jumped out of my car and didn’t even put it in park, and it rolled into the person behind me, and I reached toward this lady.… And what I think we’ve been able to piece together, there isn’t a video, but I think I blacked out, and I fell. The reason I know is because I fell to the ground. I never put my hands underneath me.”
...According to counselors I’ve been to, I’ve been diagnosed as having symptoms of PTSD… “I’ve done a lot of counseling with Henry Cloud, and he’s helped me understand two very important sentences. … The first one is first they idolize you. And then they demonize you.”
If ‘blacking out’ during the interacting and having no memory of beating up an elderly lady seems awfully convenient, it just may be. According to a recent report by Todd Wilhelm, MacDonald, and his lawyer have requested and received a Mental Health Diversion Initial Hearing to take place on September 5.
What is a Mental Health Diversion Initial Hearing? According to sources:
If you’re a California resident with a mental health disorder and currently facing criminal charges, California laws may dismiss those charges after completing a treatment program. Once you’ve gone through the treatment program, your records are sealed, allowing you somewhat of a fresh start.
The stipulation is that the mental health disorder must be diagnosed in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. It typically applies to bipolar or schizophrenia but also may apply to PTSD, which MacDonald claims he’s been diagnosed with.
If granted, it would allow MacDonald to enter into a pre-trial diversion program and avoid jail time or any of the expected consequences typically associated with wailing on a woman so bad during a road rage incident that she’s hospitalized, on account of the PTSD he’s acquired after losing his ministry through all fault of his own.
Given that it’s California and MacDonald is a conniver extraordinaire, the odds of this being successful are all but assured.
Rebecca Todd Peters is a professor, author, and Presbyterian Church (USA) ‘Pastor.’ She has been active denominationally and ecumenically for over twenty-five years and represents the PCUSA as a member of the Faith and Order Standing Commission of the World Council of Churches. A lover of all things baby-killing, she also serves on the Clergy Advocacy Board of Planned Parenthood and was recently elected Vice President of the Society of Christian Ethics.
During a recent sermon preached at the Church of Reconciliation, Todd reveals that she moonlights as an abortion clinic escort once a month so she can live out Micah 6:8 (He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?) which she describes as “my motto, my mantra, my canon within a canon. It is the text through which I read all others and through which I think about what it means to be Christian.”
I wear my collar along with my clinic escort vest as a visible witness to the power of faith leaders showing up in spaces where people are hurting. Where people are being oppressed and stigmatized. If you’ve never been to a clinic where abortions are performed, you might be surprised at how awful the people who proclaim themselves Christians are in those spaces. Or perhaps you wouldn’t be.
I show up to offer a different face of Christ to the world, a female face. A face supportive of abortion as healthcare. A face supportive of pregnant women and people having abortions. Standing up with and for women having abortions in that clinic is one way I seek to respond to Micah’s call in my life.
She then explains:
If Jesus were here today, he would be a clinic escort distracting women from the hatred of the protesters or an abortion doula holding women’s hands and offering support and love as they end their pregnancies. And I expect he would have a stern word for self-righteous legislators who use abortion as a political issue rather than showing compassion for the people seeking abortions.
Todd then adapts the Beatitudes into a grotesque pro-choice mantra, which she repeats several times throughout this sermon.
If Jesus were giving his sermon today, he might also have said, ‘Blessed are those who end pregnancies, for they will be known for their loving kindness.’
Revealing that she’s been pregnant four times and has had two abortions, she notes that “each of my reproductive decisions, to have children and not to have children, were sacred decisions because they reflect the moral responsibility of reproductive power that is part of our inheritance as human creatures.” Todd concludes by insisting “reimagining our theological understanding of abortion is essential to addressing the violence that is being done to people across the country in the name of Christianity.”
Church-growth guru and Transformation Church pastor Tim Ross has responded to criticism of him dropping multiple f-bombs and other language on his podcast over the last few months, saying that he’s never once felt convicted about his language and if he feels strong emotion about something, he ‘reserves the right’ to use strong language.
“I reserve the right, when I’m talking about something that I feel strongly about, to use strong language. In my mind it makes sense that when I’m feeling strong emotions, I should use strong language to go with those emotions.
…I have always used strong language in my life, both pre-salvation and post-salvation, and have never felt a conviction of the Holy Spirit. I know some of you are going to have some seizures just off me saying that.
Some of you all have sent me scriptures that you think is talking about strong language and profanity and you couldn’t be further from the truth. So you all can stop sending me Ephesians 4:29 (Ed. Note. Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.) because contextually I know what it means and Paul is not talking about when he says ‘filthy communication’ he is not talking about cuss words.”
Transformation Church Pastor Tim Ross justifies his propensity to drop f-bombs on his podcast, saying he 'reserves the right to use strong language' and has never once felt convicted about it from the Holy Spirit. https://t.co/exSsYj9HQYpic.twitter.com/P5oDGZViEp
