Frank Shope alleges emotional, physical pain caused by Kevin Ezell & NAMB. Story fits with state executives’ recent bombshell allegations against Ezell as an abusive tyrant.
(Capstone Report) Dr. Frank Shope alleged that Kevin Ezell, president of the North American Mission Board (NAMB) of the Southern Baptist Convention and NAMB trustees caused him emotional and physical pain because of abusive and inappropriate action by Ezell. Dr. Shope alleged that Ezell used “bigoted statements” against women and minorities and used financial powers to “defund” these individuals. Dr. Shope alleges:
“In several meetings Ezell defamed missionaries, Convention Staff and NAMB staff. He was especially cruel to women and minorities. Often, referring to them with unacceptable titles and bigoted statements. Additionally, he found ways to fire or defund individuals of color.”
Note here that these allegations against Ezell are not made by Woke Social Justice Warriors. These are statements of conservative Christians. So, when one characterizes Ezell’s statements at “bigoted” and “cruel,” you can rest assured these are serious allegations and not hypersensitivity.
A Church in San Jose, California that has refused to close its doors during the COVID-19 pandemic has crossed an ignoble threshold and now owes over $1,000,000 in fines and administrative fees.
Calvary Chapel Church led by Pastor Mike Mclure has been in defiance of a Santa Clara County Public Health Order for months. They closed their church doors for a brief time in March and April, but reopened in May and have been open ever since, meeting inside their church building unmasked and without social distancing.
Since then the County has fined the church hundreds of thousands of dollars in order to force compliance, along with a restraining order. The church has so far refused to pay, and consequently, the county has filed a lawsuit demanding an injunction to physically shut them down.
The church has accrued many violations pinned to the doors by the County
The church services have been averaging around 700 people, and each time they gather their fines grow, at $2500 a service, not including administrative fees. The County has said in a statement they have no intentions to let them off the hook or to minimize their fees, but insists that they will be paid no matter what.
These are the largest shut-down related fines accrued by any church in the world.
If that alone wasn’t enough to enrage critics, the church has come under further criticism after receiving a PPP loan back in April for $340,000.
Calvary Church lawyers are in the process of arguing that these fines and orders are unconstitutional, and Pastor McClure has vowed that he will never shut down his church again, saying:
You’ve got to either follow God or you’ve got to follow man. I have to follow what God’s word said. You have to follow what God’s word says. So, that’s what I’m going to do. I’m not worried about the things that you might be worried about. I worried about what God’s worried about. God is worried about your heart and your life and your eternity, more than a mask because those are debatable things.
Jonathan Merritt, the gay son of megachurch pastor, James Merritt, and a journalist who has become a favorite of the Evangelical Intelligentsia who was last seen promoting “theistic evolution”, surprised no one today when he shared and lauded a clip from promoting what he understatedly described as “subversive spiritual commentary.” He further declared his thankfulness that his own apostate church “holds space” for these kinds of brilliant and “honest” actualizations.
The clip, which is a poem by Kaitlin Hardy Shetler written in 2018 and delivered by Genay Jackson (she/her) in 2020, offers a unique justification of why women should be able to lead services and preach to men: because they experience pain in childbirth and mental anguish over breastfeeding, which overrides 1 Timothy 2:11-12 and 1 Corinthians 14:34-35.
Sometimes I wonder if Mary breastfed Jesus. If she cried out when he bit her, or if she sobbed when he would not latch.
And sometimes I wonder if this is all too vulgar to ask in a church full of men without milkstains on their shirts, or coconut oil on their breasts, preaching from pulpits off-limits to the mother of God.
But then I think of feeding Jesus, birthing Jesus, the expulsion of blood and the smell of sweat. The salt of a mother’s tears on to the soft head of the salt of the earth. Feeling lonely and tired. Hungry, annoyed. Overwhelmed, loving.
And I think ‘if the vulgarity of birth is not honestly preached by men who carry power but not burden, who carry privilege, but not labor, who carry authority, but not submission, then it should not be preached at all.
Because the real scandal of the birth of God lies in the cracked nipples of a 14-year-old and not in the sermons of ministers who say women are too delicate to lead.
Ironically, it’s this sort of commentary and feministic Gnosticism that demonstrates exactly why women should not be leading a congregation or preaching, coconut oil and cracked nipples be damned.
A pastor in Canada facing massive charges and jail time for having church services of more than 10 people, a violation of the province’s regressive and tyrannical shutdown laws, is pledging that his congregation will find a way to gather for the Lord’s day, even if that means talking the church underground and practicing civil disobedience.
In a statement released today by the Elders at Harvest Bible Church in Windsor, Ontario, they explain that their Pastor Aaron Rock was informed by law enforcement officers that he’s been charged under the “Reopening Ontario Act” for having church last week. The exact fine will be assessed by the courts and ranges from $10,000- $100,000 and one year in prison.
Furthermore, the police told the congregation they would physically prevent them from attending their Christmas Eve church service, but it is not known at this time to what degree they were successful.
The statement explains:
“We believe that God will call provincial officials and the Premier to account for these irrational, illegal, and irresponsible acts, and for refusing to recognize the essential work of the church. To rescue the world from one viral threat, officials are willing to deny people gainful employment, deny people with mental illness and suicidal inclinations essential support, and deny the in-person proclamation of the life-changing Gospel of Jesus Christ. This is an abhorrent offense to humanity and an affront to religious liberties. To add to this injustice, hardware stores and big box stores remain open so that people can buy their last-minute Christmas gifts, while the church is banned from collectively worshipping the greatest Christmas gift ever given: the Lord Jesus Christ. This is a national disgrace.
The church describes how they have repeatedly reached out to the health unit tasked with enforcing public health measures, but to this point they’ve been completely uncommunicative and have refused to respond.
Thus: they made their position known with utmost clarity:
Our elders have met, and we will issue an internal communication to our church family outlining some interim plans to help us get through the Christmas season before we head into the New Year. In the end, we will find ways to fulfil our Christian obligations even if we are forced underground or to practice further civil disobedience.
In the meantime we will continue to fight against injustice and fight for the God-given freedoms and responsibilities of the Christian church. The Church is, and shall remain, a free institution under the lordship of Jesus Christ and an essential service for all of humanity.
That’s a ‘Yea’ and an “Amen” if we’ve ever heard one.
An article appearing on The Gospel Coalition describes God’s incarnate son as a “downwardly mobile migrant” and “middle eastern refugee” who faced “daunting pressures of exclusion and insecurity.”
The post, written by Jenny Yang, serves to link legal and illegal migrants and immigrantsto the experience Jesus had when his parents fled to Egypt.
If the name ‘Jenny Yang’ sounds familiar to you, it should. She’s the senior vice president of advocacy and policy at World Relief and has been platformed by Russell Moore and the ERLC many times before, being a frequent conference speaker.
She’s the same woman who said at an immigration conference that “Human relationships are more important than theology” and that almost every major Biblical figure was a refugee.
In her post she writes:
God’s incarnate Son was both a downwardly mobile migrant––he left the realms of heaven and pitched his tent among men (John 1:14)––and a refugee fleeing a genocidal edict (Matt. 2:13). He intimately knows what it feels like to be a stranger in a foreign land. He identifies so much with strangers that when we welcome them, we are welcoming him (Matt. 25:31–46).
and
Every Christian is led by a Middle Eastern refugee who faced the daunting pressures of exclusion and insecurity and yet carried forth his duty to obey his Father and love his people. Jesus’s birth gives us hope that despite the challenging circumstances we face personally or societally, we can always find healing––and a home––in him.
Yang says that when she reads her bible, she sees a “theology of migration from Genesis to Revelation.” She concludes in her article:
Sorrow and joy are intermingled markers along a refugee’s journey, but the Christmas story is a reminder that our challenging circumstances don’t have the final word. Jesus does.”
Kyle J. Howard, between breaths of saying that he would never join a denomination led by white folk because of how inherently racist they are, and telling people it’s ok to not read God’s word or go to church if they find it “triggering” (see screencaps at end of post) has thought up a wonderful new tall tale describing shockingly racist behavior he experienced during his time at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary (SBTS).
While Howard over the years has described in uncomfortable detail how much spiritual trauma he was traumatized with while being traumatized by anti-trauma experts who racially traumatized him and left him even more traumatized than the last time he was being spiritually and racially traumatized, this is a new story. You’ll recall he preciously claimed that someone told him “Since you’re black you probably don’t know what reformed theology is” and all these stories here .
In this case, Howard claims that one of his professors, desiring his class to do a research paper on a famous preacher, told the young skulls full of mush that he didn’t have any black pastors to recommend as black preachers had “inferior theology” to white preachers.
He then embellishes further.
Some very strong “I was in the line at the grocery store when a woman tapped me on the back and said ‘I don’t like your shirt that says “God bless the USA” on it.’ Then I loudly responded so that half the store could hear….and then everyone clapped and cheered and the manager came over and shook my hand,” and similar claptrap.
You know how that goes.
Unfortunately, Howard is known for his exaggerations and complete fabrication. This is why we’ve had a running bounty of $3000 to anyone who can bring proof that Howard was a gun-toting gang member for the Crips.
Lest anyone forget, Howard was born with incredible privilege, with the proverbial silver spoon placed there by two attorney-parents. He was raised in an affluent Atlanta suburb. His brother capitalized on his privilege and became an attorney like his parents before him and Howard has been a professional student for most of his life.
However, Howard claims in his website bio that in High School he became “heavily immersed” in the Crips gang. Howard claims he carried a razor blade in his mouth, a .38 revolver on his hip and drugs in his pocket.
Also according to Howard, he lived a double life, selling drugs at night but doing high school debate and keeping up his academics during the day. His parents apparently weren’t aware of his secret life as a Crips member because he would intellectually debate his parents over supper and then go smoke weed and live the thug life.
Howard also claims he was a “battle rapper” in the “underground circuit” while excelling at his High School Latin class.
Howard claims that upon meeting his future wife, he gradually walked away from all the gang activity (in the 11th grade – lol) and they let him go willingly. [Editor’s note: Apparently they didn’t want him around either?] Howard states that his then future wife was oblivious to his gang activity as well (this leaves a total of zero people who can substantiate Howard’s claims).
If you’re asking why he would make up stories that would make even Ergun Caner blush, it’s simple: with someone as privileged (and White-privileged at that) as Kyle J. Howard is, it’s critically important that he identify with the victim-class.
To do so, he claims he was a secret gang member in high school, thus establishing his intersectionality creds.
So no. We don’t believe him for a second. If he wants to name names we would welcome that. But until he does, it’s just another Howardian allegation, and we know how seriously we should take those.
Televangelist Pat Robertson, 90, the living embodiment of the expression “creeping decrepitude has finally crept up on me,” has contradicted a prophecy he gave several months ago where he declared Trump was going to win the election, now saying about the President, “You’ve had your day and it’s time to move on.”
Now, though he specifically prophecied that Trump would win a second term and that after a few years an asteroid would strike the earth and demolish it, he’s now saying that it’s not to be, and that Biden will take the win.
In a transcript poached from our frenemies at the hive of scum and villainy known as the Friendly Atheist, Robertson tells The 700 Club (so named because less than 700 people out of his million audience members are even Christians):
I think it is all over. I think the Electoral College has spoken. I think the Biden corruption has not totally been brought to fruition, but it doesn’t seem to be affecting the Electoral College, and I don’t think the Supreme Court is going to move in to do anything, and I think we [are] going to see a President Biden, and I also think we will be seeing a President Kamala Harris not too long after the inauguration of President Biden.
With all his talent, and the ability to raise money and draw large crowds, the president still lives in an alternate reality. He really does. People say, “Well, he lies about this, that, and the other.” But no, he isn’t lying. To him, that’s the truth. He had the biggest crowd on Inauguration Day. He had more people than ever (?), he was the most popular… he saved NBC with The Apprentice. You go down the line of things that really aren’t true, and you know, people kept pointing to them, but, because they loved him so much and he was so strong for the evangelicals, the evangelicals were with him all the way.
But there was something about him that was good, that God placed him in that office… he’s done a marvelous job for the economy, but at the same time, he is very erratic, and he’s fired people, and he’s fought people, and he’s insulted people, and keeps going down the line, so it’s a mixed bag.
And I think it would be well to say: You’ve had your day and it’s time to move on.
Televangelist Pat Robertson declares that Biden will be president and that Trump "lives in an alternate reality," "is very erratic," and should not run again in 2024: "You've had your day and it's time to move on." pic.twitter.com/2WYCZOSNTO
Though Robertson doesn’t acknowledge this direct contradiction to his earlier prophecy (oh yeah, he also falsely prophecied twice that the world would end in 1982 and then 2007), his shifty shenanigans are par for the course for charismatic ne’er do well‘s. It’s what they do. They blaspheme in God’s name and then move on as if they never said it and we don’t have video of them lying through their teeth.
(Reformation Charlotte) Jenn Johnson, who, along with her husband, Brian, is one of the senior worship pastors at the infamously blasphemous charismatic Bethel Church in Redding, California. Bethel, which is known for its parlor tricks, false manifestations of the Holy Spirit, and cultish practice of raising the dead and “grave sucking,” is no stranger to controversy.
This time, Jenn Johnson, a female “pastor” who is on stage mocking the throne of God, says that angels sit around the throne of God having “farting contests.”
It really doesn’t get much more blasphemous than that.
The thirty-ninth album in an ongoing series documenting faithful churches gathering for Sunday service in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic. With some churches still not gathering in-person in these dark times, others being persecuted by the government for being open, and others ending services for the rest of the year, these are the congregations who are meeting faithfully at the command of Scripture (Heb. 10:25).
Christian actor Kirk Cameron, who played “Mike Seaver” in the 80’s sitcom “Growing Pains and has been doing Christian outreach and ministry for decades now, took a cue from Sean Feutch and his ‘Let us Worship’ tour by organizing mass Christmas caroling events, without masks, in defiance of shutdown laws which prohibit such a large gathering.
The most recent event which took place in the parking lot of Thousands Oaks Mall in California drew hundreds of revelers, with Cameron writing on his Instagram account “Peaceful protest in song” and “If you love God, if you love Christmas, and you love liberty, you’re not going to want to miss this.”
The event drew criticism from local government officials, naturally, with Thousand Oaks Mayor Claudia Bill-de la Pena saying:
“Liberty and freedom are very fragile and they come with great responsibility. Continuing to hold large gatherings and ignoring all guidelines, I feel, is unchristian.”
In response to the criticism, Cameron said in an interview with Shannon Bream:
Well he’s no one to judge someone else’s faith. All I can tell you is that I’m looking around in my community and I’m seeing the devastation and the suffering of people whose businesses have been bankrupted, people dealing with anxiety, depression, suicide is spiking, the abused being quarantined with their abusers, and I can’t just ignore that. I love my neighbors, and so I want to give them hope, and we’re offering people a chance to come sings songs of hope, and that’s exactly what people want to be doing at Christmas time.
[We will continue gathering] People are just clamoring to come and be a part of them. This is the land of the free and the home of the brave and there are thousands and thousands of people in our community who would rather not suffer in isolation and come out to sing and express their gratitude because we believe that there is immunity in community, but there is desolation in isolation, and I want to give people hope.
