“Christ was not guilty, and could not be made guilty; but he was treated as if he were guilty, because he willed to stand in the place of the guilty. Yea, he was not only treated as a sinner, but he was treated as if he had been sin itself in the abstract. This is an amazing utterance. The sinless one was made to be sin.” (Spurgeon)
In a clip roiling with bad theology, charismatic evangelist and professional cold-reader and leg-lengthener Todd White has claimed that Jesus became a God-hater and child pornography itself on the cross, in some bizarre and brazen take on 2 Corinthians 5:21 “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God”
Now, instead of having sound doctrine which would understand Jesus never sinned and at no point did he become a sinner or guilty or sin. Instead, Christ became our representative sin-bearer, identifying completely with our sin, resulting in the Father treating the son as if he were sin itself, though he never actually became that. For White, however, he has a unique take on it. From his October 13, 2021 service:
It’s all about this stuff, like when we say Jesus, who knew no sin, became sin, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus in Corinthians, right? Jesus became a gossip, a murderer, full of strife, deceit and malice. Wasn’t in his mouth, was on his body.
Oh, you have to hear this man. Jesus who knew no sin, became sin. Paul describes sin; gossip, slander. Imagine Jesus as a gossip. You can’t. He didn’t do it. He became it. I’m like seeing this for the first time. Like I’ve read the Scripture so many times that I’m seeing it and I’m like, ‘you (Jesus) became gossip.’
What!? It’s hard for us to think about it because Jesus, never gossiped. But he became gossip. On the tree he became gossip. On the tree became a slander. Did he slander, no, he became it! He became enslaved, became haughty, he became boastful, he became an inventor of evil.
Jesus became an inventor of evil on that tree. Jesus became child pornography on that tree. Listen! Jesus became full of child pornography on the tree. Jesus became a thief on the tree. Jesus became addiction on the tree. Jesus became a hater of God on the tree. What does it mean for him to become sin? Jesus became lost on the tree. Jesus became Satan worship on a tree.
Are you hearing me? This is really hard to even say, yet it’s true. What does it mean that he knew no sin but became sin? Jesus became bestiality on a tree. Jesus became sex-trafficking on a tree. Oh my gosh. Jesus became every lustful thought on a tree. It’s no joke, it’s real. Jesus became child molester on a tree. Jesus became Taliban: Christian murderer on a tree. Jesus became sacrificing babies on a tree.
Jesus, our Jesus became that on the tree. That’s what it means when he who knew no sin became sin.
Things have taken an especially nasty turn in the implosion of Moriel Ministries, with the news that Servus Christi Diablos has left his former home and has been publicly attacking head honcho and former ministry partner Jacob Prasch on the way out. Once two partners in slander and theological curiosities, they have taken their blow-up public, with each side releasing videos attacking the other in an especially acrid fashion.
“Proverbs 18 tells us the following: He who separates himself seeks his own desire, he quarrels against all sound wisdom. I speak of course to the attacks-this is the third time it’s happened- from Joshua Chavez. He seeks his own desire, he separates himself. Joshua Chavez has never had any church, any board any accountability.
He has always been a renegade unto himself, and has quarreled against all sound wisdom. Scripture says somebody who does that seeks their own desire. They don’t seek the will of Jesus. Somebody who’s persistently out of fellowship, and he was out of fellowship way before COVID. No accountability to anyone. Seeks his own desire.
I tried to get next to him as a brother and encouarge him but he’s a renegade on his own. No board, no council, no church, no nothing like that. He’s somebody who seeks his own desire, according to the Word of God, he quarraels against all sound wisdom.”
Prasch Confirms the Wife Stuff
“This (letter) is from the wife of Joshua Chavez. We are planning if necessary to interview her on a video if this becomes necessary, but we have here her statement This was sent to me. This is is Joelle Chavez, the rightful wife in the eyes of God of Mr. Joshua Chavez. This is what Joelle Chavez, his wife, says concerning him.
‘I’m not ashamed for leaving an abusive man who did not make a way for me to stay in the country, and completely neglected the process. You need to repent of being an abusive man, and all your abusive comments on your channel. You have the spirit of the devil in you. I’ll only submit to you when you repent and get a circumcised heart. You should be so broken by your behavior, but you continue to ignore the very serious abusive issues you have and are hurting many people. You’re raising (unintelligible) savages, not disciples. I know you have arrogant women who would admire these matters of yours, but I will not stand for it or be a doormat for you ever again.’
These are the verbatim remarks of Joshua Chavez’s wife Joelle. This is her claim, and he admitted he did not legally married her but had sexual intimacy with her anyway, after assuring me he would not do so. At least he could have had the basic Christian integrity to drive from New Mexico to Las Vegas and made the marriage legal before he slept with that. His enemies were saying he used her as whore, as a concubine. And because he didn’t marry her, she left him.
How can I or any Christian defend this?
Joshua Chavez assured me that he would not marry this woman if she came to the United States, he would court her and see what the Lord led from there. This was his promise. I was not against the relationship, I helped him acquire the ticket for her. I wanted to help him on the promise that he would not marry her, he would only court her until he saw how the Lord led over a period of courting enough time.
Next thing I know, in a matter of days, or less, he proclaimed himself married to her, and he is sleeping with her. But he does not marry her legally. He wouldn’t give her his name. He wouldn’t procure for her the legal means to remain in the United States as his wife. Again, she says ‘I’m not ashamed for leaving an abusive man who did not make a way for me to stay in the country, and completely neglected the process.’
He completely neglected the process. He bought this woman over from South Africa, proclaimed himself married to her, and then had sex with her. But he didn’t marry her. He didn’t get her a green card or a marital visa. He made no effort to do it. And he lied. He assured me and others he wouldn’t do it. But then he did it.
Having lied to me now he is, of course, lying about me. This is an immoral man. This is a maritally immoral man. He had no right to do that, to have this woman come over, promising, assuring he would not do anything with that. He would not marry her in the short term. But then does so- proclaims himself unilaterally.
No legal marriage, consummate the relationship, sleeps with her sexually and makes no legal provision. This is marital immorality. He’s a liar. And he’s an immoral man…. This is serious immorality. Let’s look at the situation a bit further.
I made it clear. And our ministry Moriel made it clear with the support of some others, that he is not scripturally qualified for ministry. He cannot be in ministry. He’s involved in marital immorality of all gross kind. He lied, and he did something very wrong. He does not meet the biblical criteria God gave us for being in ministry. And I also made it clear to him which is (what) got him really angry that he has no right to another woman. He has no scriptural right to take another woman. I made this very clear.
Joshua Chavez is…a low-level waiter?
“(Joshua) forms a limited liability company and monetizes his website. In other words, it becomes a business. So you have this guy who’s nearly 40 years old, nearly 40. Now again, I’m not trying to belittle anybody, I’m simply stating the facts. Joshua Chavez made his living as a waiter in a restaurant in a Holiday inn. He was a waiter at a Holiday Inn. I do not demean people who make their livings as waiters and waitresses. There are of course, professional waiters, and waitresses in Michelin four and five-star restaurants who have the prospect of becoming captains or a maî·tre d or sommalier, things like this, that are career waiters in a four or five-star restaurant, and $40-50 tips and so forth. Okay, we’re not talking about that. We’re talking about a waiter at a Holiday Inn.
When COVID struck, particularly in a liberal democratic state like New Mexico, where Joshua Chavez lives, the waiter option for making a living largely dried up. No job. Restaurants are closed all kinds of restrictions still are in most places.
So you’ve got a guy with no business, no trade, no formal education. He never finished college or university. No career, no profession, nearly 40 years old, none of that.
He never managed to get his life together, even in the temporal sense.
Now, I believe the reason he never managed to get his life together, even in the temporal sense is because his life was not together, spiritually and morally. But you got a guy pushing 40, working as a waiter, no profession, no trade, no formal education, no business, no career, nothing.
The ministry of Jesus, the Ministry of the Word of God, is not a refuge for people who can’t make it in the secular world, to set up a business and turn the ministry into a business as has happened to Servus Christi. That’s not what the ministry is. And, scandal-mongering to use the names of better-known figures and a continuous avalanche of scandal and even lies in order to drive up views on a monetized site, in order to scrounge out a living, that’s low. That’s not ministry. It’s not even an honest business.”
Days after Ed Litton’s church hosted a worship and prayer service populated by Roman Catholics, United Methodists, Charismatics, pro-choice and pro-LGBT AME churches, women pastrixes, Liberation theology- you name it, a newly unearthed video has him explaining that he sometimes skips the sermon prep and rather just preaches what his team gives him- with them deciding even the tone of the sermon.
We know that Ed Litton, who has been plagiarizing sermons for a decade now used to lie about the time he spent preparing sermons, explaining in a 2020 interview that “I used to lie. I used to tell people 24 hours a sermon… but I would say 8-10 hours average.” Despite this. we assumed that he would at least have had SOME hand in crafting the sermon, of doing some study and spending those 8 hours doing sermon prep, but this is not always the case. In a podcast with Justin Taylor he explains that he’s not always the most involved pastor. :
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.
A judge handed 33-year-old former reality star Josh Duggar a defeat on Monday, denying his motion to have his child pornography charges dropped, his motion to suppress all statements he made to the FBI after he was served with a warrant, and his motion to suppress pictures of his hands and feet that were taken while he was in custody.
His attorneys have argued that any statements made to investigators were the result of his cellphone being seized before he could talk to a lawyer, as well as statements made to investigators after he was questioned without his lawyer present.
As far as what some of these statements might be, in April homeland security officials raided Duggar’s car dealership and asked to speak with him. Even prior to them telling him why they were there and what the nature of their warrant was, he “spontaneously” responded, “What is this about? Has someone been downloading child pornography?”
Josh was arrested and the prosecution alleges that Duggar downloaded more than 200 images on May 14, 15, and 16 of 2019, some of which were found deleted in the recycle bin. These vessels for Duggar’s alleged horrific masturbatory fantasies depicted child sex abuse involving children ranging from 18 months to 12 years of age, with Homeland Security Investigations Special Agent Gerald Faulkner describing them as “in the top five of the worst of the worst that I’ve ever had to examine.”
The government issued a statement saying they were pleased with the motions to dismiss, as they contend Duggar was never officially placed in custody when the search warrant was executed, only detained, and as a detained man he freely chose to talk with law enforcement.
Duggar has pleaded not guilty and if convicted, could face 20 years in prison and $250,000 on each fine.
Duggar is out on bail with his trial slated to begin Nov. 30.
(USAtoday) North Carolina Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson has doubled down after his comments calling transgenderism and homosexuality “filth” drew widespread rebukes and calls for him to resign.
Robinson, a Republican, made the comments in June at the Asbury Baptist church in Seagrove.
“There’s no reason anybody anywhere in America should be telling any child about transgenderism, homosexuality, any of that filth,” he told the audience. “And yes, I called it filth. And if you don’t like it that I called it filth, come see me and I’ll explain it to you.”
North Carolina Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson says Christians must take control of public schools because children are being abused by being taught "filth": "There's no reason anybody anywhere in America should be telling any child about transgenderism, homosexuality, any of that filth." pic.twitter.com/aXjCPFKTs0
Robinson holds the second-highest office in the state, and he would take over if Gov. Roy Cooper is ever unable to perform his duties.
His words went viral last week after the group Right Wing Watch tweeted a clip of his speech. In recent days, scores of advocacy groups and politicians – from Raleigh to the White House – have denounced…
Joel Osteen’s Texas-based megachurch has repaid all $4,400,000 of the stimulus money they were given nearly two years ago; the result of taking advantage of the CARES Act’s Paycheck Protection Program, in order to help offset their several months of virtual services.
The program, which the federal government passed in response to the pandemic early this year in a big way, was a forgivable loan that companies don’t have to pay back so long as it is spent on wages and other related expenses. Despite the church not having to pay it back, they did so anyway, the result of months of sustained pressure and criticism at having accepted in the first place.
When reached out for comment as to why they would even apply for it, a church spokesman said that given the church shut down in-person services for over 7 months, that closure negatively impacted their ability to garner tithes, offerings, and other “substantial donations.” Lakewood spokesperson Don Illof explains:
“Believing the shutdown would only last a few weeks, Lakewood did not initially apply for PPP assistance during the first half of the program. However, as the shutdown persisted month after month, given the economic uncertainty, Lakewood finally applied for the PPP loan and has been able to provide full salaries and benefits including health insurance coverage to all of its employees and their families.”
The church, which has an annual budget of over $90 million dollars, received the money to retain 370 jobs.
The revelation of receiving such largess has many small business owners crying foul, as thousands of Texas business owners were denied claims, while Osteen got one of the largest in the State. In particular, critics were arguing:
The entire time the church was shut down for in-person services they were still holding online services and were fundraising and receiving money.
The decision to shut down their church for in-person services for 7 months was a decision that the church made, and was not mandated in any way. They would have opened up way sooner, but chose not to.
Osteen is a multi-millionaire with a net worth of between $60-100M dollars. He lives in a 17,000 square foot mansion that is worth over $15,000,000. Were he so concerned, he could have easily paid for it out of pocket, rather than causing others to lose out.
Lakewood Church was one 60 churches in the state that received more than $1,000,000 in funds.
A collection of brief things our publisher posted on his personal Facebook page this week, bringing you some hard truths and prescient insights in the pithiest of forms.
The eleveth album in our 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 to enlarge.
For our multi-volume series showing the progression of the Church worldwide experiencing the lockdown and pandemic, from March 2020- July 2021, click here.
The vast majority of black churches are down nearly 60 percent in attendance compared to pre-pandemic days, with no optimistic uptick on the horizon, according to the chairman of the Conference of National Black Churches (CNBC).
Rev. W. Franklyn Richardson, the megachurch pastor of the 4000-member multisite Grace Baptist Church in Mount Vernon, New York and the chair of the CNBC is pessimistic about the prospects for their congregation to return to pre-pandemic numbers anytime soon, according to RNS.
The CNBC is comprised of the national leadership of the seven largest historically Black denominations in America. The organization represents more than 80 percent of African American Christians across the nation and have a combined membership of over 20 million people and 30 thousand congregations*.
Richardson explains that trying to coax congregants off the internet and into the pews has by and large been unsuccessful, noting that several large churches are not planning to re-open for in-person services until 2022, nearly two years since they last had a corporate gathering. This includes his own, which has been all-virtual since March of 2020. According to RNS, Richardson is “not aware of any Black church that has more than 40 percent of its pre-pandemic in-person attendance.”
The issue is that, yes, you can open the church, but if the atmosphere, the climate, is not conducive for people to come back, you just open the door and they won’t be there.
Pastrix Leslie Callahan of the progressive St. Paul’s Baptist Church in Philadelphia agrees. They have been having outdoor services, capped at 75 people, all of whom must wear masks and social distance. She commented on the plight of black folk and suggests they have endured especially difficult travails and have disparately been impacted by the disease, which has necessitated greater caution in returning.
COVID has been harder on us. Black people know people who’ve died. Black people know people who are sick now.
In a study conducted by LifeWay Research back in February 2021, they noted that “Whites (38%) are more likely to select “In-person services stopped for a short period of time and then resumed” than African Americans (13%),” while also revealing that “African Americans are the most likely to select “In-person services stopped many months ago and have not resumed” (40%).”
Our suggestion is that enough is enough. These churches need to cut off the live stream as soon as possible and call for the congregants to emerge from their disobedience and back to gathering as one.
*Given that these member denominations include African Methodist Episcopal Church (AME), African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church (AMEZ), Christian Methodist Episcopal Church (CME), Church of God In Christ (COGIC), National Baptist Convention of America, Inc., International (NBCA), National Baptist Convention, U. S. A. Inc. (NBC USA), and the Progressive National Baptist Convention, Inc. (PNBC)” it’s pretty safe to say there is a whole heck of a lot of false converts there.
