Category: News

Categories
News Op-Ed

Op-Ed: Why the Pro-Life Movement is Compromised, and Why Abortion Abolition is the Only Path Forward

Editor’s Note. This is a Twitter thread from Pastor Dusty Deevers, formatted for this page and posted with permission.

Do you call yourself “Pro-life?” Understand, there is a significant and growing internal conflict among the self-described #Prolife. It is not going away. Some know this and have begun to try to confront it. There are at least three groups within the current Pro-life Movement. 

Let’s briefly consider each Pro-life group. This is so important because this modern holocaust 10x that of Hitler’s is ours to steward and legally abolish. Where do you stand? (1) ESTABLISHMENT or BIG PRO-LIFE; (2) CONFLICTED-CONSISTENT; & (3) BLURRY MIDDLE.

GROUP 1: THE ESTABLISHMENT or BIG PRO-LIFE.

On May 12, 2022, 70+ Pro-life organizatons, self-described as “America’s leading advocates for life,” released a letter defining & defending their long-standing strategy. Here are four tenets of their position. 

1. “Second-victim.” Women seeking preborn homicide (abortion) are always victims.

2. Deny equal protection from fertilization/conception. Never support any measure or legislation to criminalize the act of preborn homicide from fertilization for all parties to the homicide. 

3. Post-abortive trauma is evidence of victimhood.

4. Incrementalism. Continue to pursue a pragmatic, incremental strategy that at no point criminalizes the act of preborn homicide.

The Pro-life Establishment is able to host a spectrum of folks wanting abortion exceptions & allowances: rape, incest, life of the mother, pre-heartbeat, pre-pain, pre-viability, separation of personhood and humanity, and punishment for only providers, which is also why @philvischer‘s ‘consensus’ crowd rightly can call themselves “Pro-life.”

The Pro-life Establishment is intentionally a big tent (i.e. Big Pro-life) that includes many denominations, Christians, and non-Christians.

The consequence of GROUP 1: PRO-LIFE ESTABLISHMENT:

1) Implicit denial of personhood from fertilization/conception AND 

2) Denial of criminalization which grants equal protection of preborn homicide from fertilization…

3) Results in implicit Christological heresy—not affirming the true personhood of Christ or granting Him equal protection from fertilization/conception.

GROUP 1: PRO-LIFE ESTABLISHMENT is the 1,000 lb gorilla on the left side of the spectrum of the Pro-life movement. They hold to at least implicit heretical anthropology & Christology, & secular political theology & practice. Big Pro-life wars against equal protection/criminalization bills in every state & slanders, misaligns, & lies about Christians holding to a consistent, biblical position. Big Pro-life has a proven, defined, & defended track record in every state, especially those states where abolition bills have been introduced.

GROUP 2: THE CONFLICTED-CONSISTENT.

These see the consistent bible position, yet self-label as “Pro-life.” Affirming:

1) Life & personhood begin at fertilization/conception—created in God’s image, owned by God, for His glory. 

2) Thus must be granted equal protection under the law by criminalizing preborn homicide according to Scripture.

GROUP 2 may assume that their conservative, Pro-life legislators & Christian leaders affirm life/personhood & = protection from fertilization/conception, but assuming this is neither wise nor sufficient. GROUP 2 may assume they can reform the Pro-life establishment, but they will not.

This is *not* to say that individual Pro-lifers will not change their position, they will. It is to say that Big Pro-life always will be biblically compromised, well-funded by those wanting abortion exceptions & allowances, and politically secular & pragmatic. This group needs to #Plexit. Leave the Pro-life movement for the biblically consistent Abortion Abolition position.

GROUP 3: BLURRY MIDDLE.

The 3rd Pro-life group sees the compromises of Big Pro-life & is tugged toward a more biblically consistent position, but a pint of pragmatism, a tbsp of tradition, & an oz of Big Pro-life pride is a sure recipe for a bland, lukewarm loaf of midwayism.

Big Pro-life has disciplined the BLURRY MIDDLE by demonizing and keeping attention away from the biblically consistent position of equal protection for all preborn from fertilization, namely the criminalization of preborn homicide. 

The BLURRY MIDDLE sadly has an underdeveloped understanding of Big Pro-life’s existing homicide exception bills, malicious undermining of biblically consistent proposed equal protection bills, and is under the malaise of Big Pro-life pride & propaganda. The consequence is the perpetuation of Big Pro-life in the face of the glory of God and the delay of the abolition of abortion.

ABOLITIONISM.

Abortion abolition is the outlawing, or criminalization of preborn homicide (abortion) thereby establishing justice as = protection from fertilization. Abolitionism is committed to the five biblical tenets as outlined in the acrostic GATES:

G – Gospel-centered
A – Aligned Providentially
T – Through the Church
E – Engaged Biblically
S – Sought Immediately without Compromise

Why would Christians advance any other agenda? This is most clearly seen in the abolition bills that they seek to pass, which always have the following characteristics:

1. Outlaw abortion from fertilization/conception.

2. Do not include exceptions for preborn homicide (ectopics & emergencies are *not* preborn homicide).

3. Criminalize preborn homicide and establish justice as equal protection for the preborn. 

4. Do not submit to unconstitutional rulings (like Roe).

5. Repeal or supersede all statutes which allow for preborn homicide.

Why would Christians support any other bill?

Abortion is murder and everyone knows it. 

It’s past time for Christians to act like abortion is murder. It’s past time for a mass exodus of Christians from the Pro-life Movement. It’s past time for a Christian Pro-life exit in favor of abolitionism. It’s time to #Plexit.

Categories
News

J.D. Greear Encourages Pastors to ‘Invest’ in Sermon ‘Research Assistants’ Once The Church Has Enough Money

Former SBC President J.D. Greear, the pastor of Summit Church in Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina, has given some advice to beleaguered pastors with a few extra bucks in their budget; ‘invest’ in several ‘research assistants’ in order to help write and craft the sermon.

It is unclear if the research assistants are all Summit staffers or if he’s still using Docent hired guns– that infamous company that creates sermons and sermon outlines for pastors. You’ll recall that previously, in a glowing endorsement (that has now been removed but is still available on a Wayback Machine archive), Greear not only admitted that he has used this service, but that he uses it to make him look good.

Docent has been a humongous help to me, saving me literally hours each week and improving the quality of my preaching dramatically. These guys are the real deal. I give them assignments and questions on everything from interpretation to cultural analysis to illustration, and they get me thorough answers, always on time. They are outstanding scholars and really “get” my job as a communicator. I often have people remark to me, “How many hours did you spend on that sermon? Where do you get time to do all that research?” Ha. Thanks, guys for making me look so good!

On a recent Church Leaders podcast with Ed Stetzer, he explains how he collates content for his sermons:

And to be totally transparent with our listeners here, now that I, you know, we have a larger staff, some of this is easier because I can actually appoint people. I can- to give people like, hey, I want you to go listen to this text by and we have a list of like 30 preachers, I’m like ‘just go find where any of these people have talked on this text and let’s just use five or six of them that look really interesting’.

So I will actually sit down to what is a ‘digested outline‘…And that’s really helpful, it means I can do it a lot more quickly. But I will say before I had the resources to do that team, I just, I did it almost all myself.

He continues:

Between between my notes, my compilation as well as what now happens through some research assistants, I will just spend that time on Monday morning. One more thing, just for people that are early in the process, what I would do is, if I knew I was going to preach on John 4 in in three weeks, because I’m working my way through John, three or four weeks before, I just spend an afternoon collecting a lot of those sermons, you know, online, you know, DVDs, whatever, stuff.

So and I would just start, like using devotional reading, you know, an hour a day or so, getting ready for this thing that was three or four weeks away. So it’s harder if you don’t have research assistants. At some point as gives you the resources, I’d encourage you to invest in some of that, it will help. But it’s possible to do when it’s just you.”

Bonus. Don’t forget that in our article Ed Litton Sometimes Skips the Sermon Prep: Preaches what His Team Gives Him, former SBC president and serial plagiarist Ed Litton explained the resources he uses to craft sermons, including a whole preaching team,

We (his 8 member preaching team) meet on Monday afternoon. And all the members of the preaching team which we’ll talk about later, they come together, they have been studying the same text and we work on it now. Actually, the interesting thing was that’s become so helpful for me, is that I got an email Monday evening from the preaching team, they went over the text without me. Which was awesome, this is what we do.

And I said, alright, I need to know, and here’s where I’m thinking–in a letter–I just said ‘you guys tear it apart, tell me where I’m wrong, tell me what you think is best” And language, we talk about language, we talk about tone, all those things cause they’re all younger.

And so that week, actually I had a little bit of study to do in between killing pheasants and taking pictures… I literally walked to the church and filmed it.

Categories
News

Things We Like: This Pastor Preaching Old Charles Spurgeon Sermons Word for Word

His style is that of the vulgar colloquial, varied by rant … All the most solemn mysteries of our holy religion are by him rudely, roughly and impiously handled. Common sense is outraged and decency disgusted. His rantings are interspersed with coarse anecdotes.” (The the Essex Standard, 1855)

We have nothing but love for Charles Spurgeon, the prolific 19th century ‘Prince of Preachers’ who faithfully taught the word of God while fighting back against the theologically downgrade that was afflicting Christendom in his day.

For this reason, we’re delighted to discover The Spurgeon Sermon Series, a growing collection of audio sermons re-preached by British pastor Gavin Childress. Gavin leads Grace Baptist Chapel in Tottenham, London, and produces these with his son.

This growing collection of sermons and lectures, over 150, are preached in a British accent.

These sermons are also available on podcast, under the same name.

Though Spurgeon died in 1892 and was widely renowned then, no recordings of his voice are known to exist. The closest we have is this recording of his son Thomas, who may sound similar to what Spurgeon would have, reading his father’s final words at the Metropolitan Tabernacle.

If you prefer an American accent, you can also check out Spurgeon Gems, which has audio of hundreds of sermons, created by Koelsch Broadcasting Productions and now run by Chapel Library.

Categories
News

Joe Biden: If Democrats Keep Congress, I’ll Sign Bill for Abortions Up to Birth Nationwide

Pro-choice advocates hold signs outside the Supreme Court after the court announced they had overturned Roe v Wade.

(Lifenews) Joe Biden will make legalizing abortion on demand his top priority if Democrats win control of Congress in November, a Democrat leader said Tuesday.

The first bill that Biden will advance will be one that “codifies Roe,” the official told CNN. The president plans to make the promise in a speech Tuesday to the Democratic National Committee in Washington, D.C., as the midterm election approaches, according to the report.

“The first bill he will send to the next Congress will be to codify Roe — and he will sign it around the 50th anniversary of the Roe decision,” the Democratic official said.

Biden also will emphasize how “nearly half the states in the United States have either passed a ban on abortion or will shortly and in many states, abortion is already banned even in cases of rape and incest,” the official said.

Democrats are banking on the abortion issue to…continue reading, click here.

Editor’s Note. This article was written by Steven Ertelt and published at Lifenews.

Categories
News

John Gray’s Wife Tells Critics ‘Everybody Needs to Shut the Hell Up!’

Relentless Church’s Aventer Gray, wife of Pastor John Gray, has released an hour-long video on Instagram calling out ‘judgmental Christian critics’ who keep weighing in on her public and private affairs.

For reference, John Gray is a former associate pastor at Joel Osteen’s Lakewood Church. Rife with decrepit theology and an unregenerate heart, he left there and took over the church in 2018, moving into a $1.8 million mansion “parsonage” paid for by the church. This is quite prescient, as ironically, the only thing he has been “relentless” about is cheating on his wife, wearing expensive clothing, and making the news for one scandal after another.

Lamenting that “you reach a point where you have to say something” Aventer goes on to say that “Everybody needs to shut the hell up!” and “keep your mouth off people, sip your own tea, and stop being thirsty for the details and info regarding the pain of others.”

“Get your mouth off of people! You don’t know what they’ve been through. You don’t know what they’re going through. And while you’re talking about other people, you probably just got finished doing something that you shouldn’t be doing.”

While the couple’s relationship was once viewed in high esteem and thought to be a marriage worth emulating, being prominently featured in their canceled TV show, The Book of John Gray, multiple adulterous affairs on the part of the shameless pastor have made them fodder for gossip and pity.

Aventer is currently recording season 2 of her podcast ‘Ave Unfiltered’ which features frank conversation between her and her husband on how much he cheated, and what sort of trauma he insists has contributed to his latest scandal.

h/t EEW Magazine

Categories
News

Benny Hinn is Inviting You to His 70th Birthday Bash, and Tickets are Only $5000

Last year we revealed that Benny Hinn’s ministry is broke, with the World Healing Center Church (WHCC), otherwise known as Benny Hinn Ministries, embroiled in financial difficulties for years. The prosperity preacher and arch-heretic’s ministry is, thankfully, millions in debt. Twenty years ago, WHCC had nearly 400 employees working for them – little minions spread across several countries and continents that fueled the heresy-making machine. With WHCC reduced to a shell of its former self, they are only staffing a little over 20 people in a rundown headquarters next to an empty parking lot. 

Hinn gained a bit more prominence two years ago when he supposedly repented for preaching the prosperity gospel. It was all a ruse that undiscerning Christians swallowed wholecloth. Within weeks, however, he was right back at the same old message, doing more of the same while giving a masterclass on how to devour widows’ houses. Some things never change.

Hinn announced on his website that he was throwing a Gala at the swanky Ritz-Carleton in Dallas, and paying members of the public were invited:

What an exciting, historic evening is planned for Pastor Benny Hinn’s 70th Birthday Gala! Your presence is cordially requested to this exclusive, invitation-only, reservation-required, limited 500-seat event to be held on December 3, 2022.

This remarkable Forbes Travel Guide Five-Star Hotel was chosen specifically for this historic birthday celebration because of its legendary service, signature amenities, and Lone Star State-inspired luxury.

Dining for the evening, led by Chef Dean Fearing, the “father of Southwestern cuisine,” will feature a sumptuous three-course meal that includes his signature salad, your entrée choice of grilled filet mignon or cilantro-crusted salmon, and for dessert the famed Ritz-Carlton cake.

The unforgettable evening of glittering ambiance will be filled with special guest appearances (including surprise guests), praise and worship, and a lifetime of memories.

Register now to bring your family and friends for this once-in-a-lifetime experience as we commemorate the memorable milestone spotlighting seven decades of Pastor Benny’s life as well as the celebration of his 48 years in ministry!

Total attendance is limited by space to 500 guests, so it is crucial for you to select your registration preference now:

It’s not cheap. While you can get nosebleed seats meal for $150, he’s also offering $250, $1000, $2500, and $5000 upsells, each with a few perks to pad the ego.

Sadly, the top seats are already sold out. Still, their value is all the more questionable when considering that they don’t include a ‘plus one’. It’s $5000 per person or $10,000 for a couple. Furthermore, the tickets don’t include a complimentary hotel room. Hinn specifies that this is excluded, which is unfortunate given that rooms at the hotel run between $800-$1200 a night. Lastly, the ticket includes an exclusive invite to an “inner circle conference”, but you have to pay for your own flight.

The ‘Emerald’ tickets are also sold out. However, once you consider that they share identical perks as the $5000 tier, you realize the only difference between the two is how closely you get to sit next to him.

With the event just announced, some platinum, gold, and silver seats are still left for those wanting to honor and celebrate this theological degenerate. Sadly, they will likely be snapped up soon.

For more on Hinn:

Benny Hinn’s Wild Money Grab Causes Co-Host to Lose It
Charisma News Platforms Benny Hinn’s Loony End Time Prophecy. ‘Ezekial 38 has Begun…’
Dr. Michael Brown Blasts Critics Who Call False Teachers ‘Loons and Hucksters’
Arch-Heretic Benny Hinn Calls out Two Other Charismatics as False Prophets-‘They’re a Litte Weird’
Francis Chan Talks Little God Theology, Benny Hinn’s Love For Jesus, and Blames John McArthur for Bad Choices

Categories
News

Phil Johnson Permanently Suspended From Twitter

The estimable Phil Johnson, Executive Director of Grace to You, founder and former curator of The Spurgeon Archive, and one of our favorite people ever, has been permanently suspended from Twitter after he decried the stationing of drag-queen crossing guards at elementary schools as “state-sponsored grooming.”

We say permanently, or at least if and until Elon Musk purchases Twitter and loosens the rules, because the censorious, science-denying big tech overlords insist that Johnson delete his tweet to have the ban lifted, something he says he isn’t willing to do. 

He writes: “I’m refusing to admit that this constituted harassment or a threat of violence against anyone. It was a statement of my moral convictions regarding a news story” and that “I am NOT going to delete that Tweet. Their demand for me to confess an untruth is nothing short of ideological blackmail.”

Johnson has 73.2k followers, 22k tweets, millions of impressions, and his presence will be missed.

At the rate things are going, we know we’ll be following soon.

Categories
News

Bible Bashed: Do I Still Have to Do Family Worship Now that My Church Hired a Youth Pastor? Feat. Scott Aniol

Family worship is an important aspect of the Christian life. However, it has been deemphasized in recent years for many reasons. One reason being the introduction of age specific ministries like children’s ministry. Once youth pastors were introduced, while perhaps coming from a good place, they have had a lot of unintended consequences like the minimizing of a father’s role in teaching his family the scriptures. God is very clear that while it is the responsibility of the elders of a local church to lead and feed their flock, father’s are ultimately the ones responsible for leading their individual families in worship towards God.

In this episode Scott Aniol talks to Harrison and Tim about what this worship looks like for the family. Listen, enjoy, and be equipped for the works of ministry.

Categories
News

Would you Pay $2480.30 For Tickets to a Steven Furtick/ Elevation Worship Concert?

Last year we criticized the expensive prices that tickets to see Steven Furtick and The Elevation Worship band cost, questioning whether or not it made sense from a financial or spiritual perspective. Individual tickets ranged from about $38 for the nosebleeds, up to $195 for front-row access, with most tickets in the 50-110$ range.

If $100 or $200 for tickets seems like a lot to hear what is ostensibly the house band, don’t forget that Furtick once joined T.D. Jakes for a Christian conference where some tickets were $1000 each.

Well, he’s on tour again this year, and in some cases, tickets have skyrocketed. During his concert earlier in the year, the best seats in the house would cost $1056.70 for two. For this leg, Furtick will be joining the 8-night Elevation Nights tour to give a little sermonette before each performance, and then the band will perform some of their worship hits like “Graves Into Gardens,” “RATTLE!,” “Do It Again,” “The Blessing.”

They’ll be seeing over 100,000 people, from nearly sold-out venues like the 17,500-person Kia Forum in Inglewood, California, to the 20,000-capacity seating at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.

While tickets can still be gotten for $34 up in the nosebleeds, many of them cost $100-200, and if you want closer seating to be nearer to the hem of Steven Furtick’s garments, it’ll cost you. 

If you want to buy them directly from Ticketmaster- never resold but original platinum seats, they’ll cost you $1085.25. + fees per ticket, or two for $2480.30. If you’re coming in from Canada, that’ll cost you a whopping $3430.34 with the exchange rate. There is no meet-and-greet or extra perks with these tickets, but rather are standalone prices.

I suppose for some, paying this makes all the sense in the world.

Steven Furtick is the Lead Pastor of Elevation Church. As head of a Southern Baptist-associated, 25,000-member multisite campus with 17 locations, he is known for having the term “narcegesis” (narcissistic exegesis) named after him based on his inability to exegete scripture in a way that doesn’t make every story revolve around him, as well as his penchant to wear outfits that cost more than most mortgages and buddying up to Trinity-Denier T.D Jakes.

Last year he replaced Kenneth Copeland at the always-heretical TBN, filling the role of the Innkeeper Monsieur Thénardier from the musical Les Miserables (TBN being the Inn), with these “Masters of the house” doing whatever is the theological equivalent of “Charge ’em for the lice/Extra for the mice/Two percent for looking in the mirror twice” in his efforts to promote his brand of prosperity preaching.

He also recently said that ‘God is a Molecular Structure’, laughed at the notion of ‘Twerking for the Lord?’, went on a Wild, Wild, Willllldd Rant about Betas and Blessings, went on another Rant About Angels that got Weird Quick and screamed ‘I Am God Almighty!’ in a sermon. All that while saying that God Doesn’t Make You into a New Creation.

Categories
News

Is This The Single Worst ‘Devotional’ Page Ever Written?

Presented without comment, other than to say that my disappointment is immeasurable and my day is ruined.