Tag: pastor

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bad theology Evangelical Stuff Featured Heresies News

San Diego Church Co-Pastor is also an Active Porn Star

Living Faith Church in San Diego seems like a normal church. It has an orthodox statement of faith:

A run of the mill seeker-sensitive “vision and mission” statement:

And a pastor and wife team who look normal-ish enough

Check out their Church Facebook page. You would never know anything is amiss.

There’s only one problem: She is a practicing porn star.

Living Faith Church in San Diego has existed for some time, operating since at least November of 2020. Led by ‘Pastors’ Stephen and Angela Dela Cruz, they have a full band that sings regular praise and worship songs, have tithes and offerings, serve communion, have altar calls, and preach sermons each Sunday with bible verses sprinkled throughout, frequently urging members to go out into the world and preach the gospel of Jesus Christ

Now, they are announcing that they are coming out in a big way, having completed their “Beta” for the last few months and launching it officially to all members of the public, using the fact that she is a porn star as a hook to get potential congregants interested, promoting them to “peek behind the curtain” of their plant.

The couple met each other and started dating in Bible college, with one bio explaining “They are both ordained ministers who put God as the foundation for everything they do. Stephen, who also advertises himself as a Hypnotist was also an Associate Pastor/Youth Pastor at the Message of Peace International Church from 2009-2010.

Amid the sermon titles like “hearing God through people,” “prophetic Proclamation,” and “Mastering Money” there are unconventional sermon titles like “Doggy Style” God’s Big Butttt!” and “Do you, Boo” the latter which is featured below and shows their whole service.

Their YouTube channel, which features their church services, bible studies, and inspirational messages, also features videos of their pastrix visiting “Exxxotica Chicago 2021” Adult Entertainment expo.

Angela Dela Cruz’s operates under a stage name, and her content is about as filthy as it comes, as she regularly posts nude photos and videos of herself, doing everything that a porn star would do in order to get attention and money.

We were unable to find any explanation in their sermons or any interviews where these grifters explain their theological justification for this sexually deviant and blasphemous abuse of God’s grace, other than these words by ‘Pastor’ Dela Cruz:

My wife and I are the biggest sinners out there and we wanted to create a Christian spirit-filled church that accepts us for our sins, flaws, and who we are. So our slogan is ‘a church for sinners by sinners.’

These two “pastors” are sinners that are both lost and going to hell, and they need God to save them to rescue them from his righteous wrath and fiery expectation of judgment.

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Coronavirus Evangelical Stuff Featured In-person Church

As Province Announces New COVID Restrictions and Mandatory Masks, what Will Happen to Pastors James Coates and Tim Stephens?

With the news that the province of Alberta has reverted back to the COVID restrictions that had previously been done away with on July 1, deeming that masks are mandatory for all indoor public spaces and workplaces until further notice, many have wondered how that would affect men like Pastor James Coates of GraceLife Church, or Pastor Tim Stephens of Fairview Baptist Church, given that ostensibly these masks would have to be worn during singing and worship.

Both have shown a steadfast refusal to bend or budge to the demands of the government to dictate how their worship services must be run, even going to prison for their convictions, and at first glance, it appeared the new edict would put them back again in the sights of Alberta Health Services.

Canada is in the ‘4th wave’ and Alberta has a population of 4.4 million people. There have been a total of 2390 deaths in the last 18 months, 515 people are currently hospitalized and 118 in the ICU. The average age at death is 80 years old, 78.3% of the population has received one dose, and 70.2% has received both. There are currently 1400 new cases a day and 1-3 people pass away from it every day. As a result of the rise in COVID cases, Premier Jason Kenney was pointed in what must be done.

“I wish we didn’t have to do this, but this is not a time for moral judgments — this is a time to get people vaccinated. We have done everything we can…If you just haven’t gotten around to it, for the love of God please get vaccinated now — and if you do, we will pay you $100″ (The province is giving any unvaccinated folks a $100 gift card as an incentive to get the shot)

If cases climb, it is likely that the government may return to lockdowns and institute vaccine passports, as other provinces have done. With Canada in the middle of an election and voting in a few weeks, and every political party now in support of a federal vaccine passport, the latter seems an inevitability no matter what outcome. So far all the provinces that have instituted these passports have granted exemptions for churches, meaning that people won’t have to show proof of vaccinations in order to gather for worship.

As for the churches, and their ability to gather and then gather unmasked if they so choose, they are fine for now. Tim Stephens shared the following graphic on social media.

He’s referring to this document, the RECORD OF DECISION – CMOH Order 40-2021 signed by Deena Hinshaw, the Chief Medical Officer of Health, which reintroduced the mask mandates.

For the time being, given that the Premier was publicly excoriated for the optics of imprisoned pastors in his province, churches are exempt from the mask mandates. Furthermore, there are no hard caps on gathering sizes, with Alberta Health Services only offering ‘strong recommendations’ that unvaccinated folk limit their gatherings to 10 people.

The way things are going, however, churches that refuse to abide may yet find themselves in the crosshairs of a government willing to do anything to stem the tide of coronavirus cases.

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News

Greg Locke Makes a Promise: If you Come to Church in a Mask, I’ll Kick you Out

‘Pastor’ Greg Locke of  Global Vision Bible Church in Mount Juliet, TN, was in rare form at church yesterday, amped up by the anger of knowing that the big conference he was supposed to speak at with My Pillow’s Mike Lindell and Trump’s former lawyer Jenna Ellis is in danger of falling through, after we at Protestia exposed it for what it is, causing the headliners to pull out and leave Greg with a bunch of oneness Pentecostals and other degenerates left to fill the seats.

Doing his high-energy hoopla show, he warned any congregation members, guests, or any future visitors who may want to attend services one day, that if they ever dare to come to church in a mask or attempt to social distance, he’ll kick them out.

Don’t believe this ‘Delta Variant’ nonsense. STOP IT! Stop it. I know Right Watch Watch (is) watching and I don’t care. If they go through round two and you start showing up in all these masks and all this nonsense, I’ll ask you to leave. I WILL ASK YOU TO LEAVE! I am not playing these Democrat games up here in this church. IF YOU WANT TO SOCIAL DISTANCE THEN GO TO FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH BUT DON’T COME TO THIS ONE. I’M DONE WITH IT. I SAID I’M DONE WITH IT. I ain’t playing these stupid games.

Prior to that, the perennial sheep-beater was last seen telling his church that anyone who tries to deny the existence of tunnels under the White House or Capitol Building that were uncovered by the military and used to house both live and dead children, is just as complicit in the abuse as “crack-smoking perverts.”

It seems that Locke is becoming some sort of Dr. Frankenstein, looking to create his perfect monstrous congregants who believe everything he does and thinks the same way he wants, banishing anyone to the fate of having to attend First Baptist Church if they step out one line. We don’t suspect any of his flock are going anywhere, however. If you stick with Locke after all he’s done, it becomes clear that he is a judgment from God upon them, and they a judgment upon him.

h/t to Right Wing Watch for the video clip.

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News

Alberta’s Underground Church Ends Today, but Pastor Tim Stephens Remains In Prison

Today of the province of Alberta will allow their churches to re-open full without any restrictions or capacity limits, putting an end to what has been a brutal and dictatorial policy of the reigning conservative government which saw multiple churches closed down, and their pastors arrested and thrown in jail.

Pastor James Coates and GraceLife Church will come out of hiding and will be allowed to gather. The fence was taken down a few days ago but guards remain posted on the church property, lest anyone try to come in before the allotted time. Other churches who have been meeting virtually will come back in full, with no restrictions on gathering, all the while churches across the country are still bound by hard capacity caps and huge fines for any transgressions.

For Fairview Baptist Church in Calgary, they are allowed to open after being chained shut by the government and Alberta Health Services, but their Shepherd, Pastor Tim Stephens, remained incarcerated at the Calgary Remand Center until at least July 12.

Stephens was arrested June 12 when his outdoor gathering was spotted by a police helicopter and he was promptly arrested in front of his wife and kids, an officer quoting scripture to him as justification of why he must be arrested. Rallies have been held outside the maximum-security prison, with hundreds of supporters coming out to tell the world that they will not abandon their brother or forget him in prison, and that they honor him for his sacrifice and faithfulness.

For now, he shares in the affliction of the Apostle Paul and many others who have been jailed on account of their faith and insisting, when few others would, that Christ is always and forever the head of the church.

Please keep Tim, Raquel, their children, and their congregation in prayer today.


Categories
Charismatic Nonsense Money Grubbing Heretics

‘Pastor’ Todd White Ministry Merges to Form New Church

Evangelist Todd White has announced that he’s merging his Lifestyle Christianity Church with Risen Nation Church, taking on the role of a Senior Leader of the ministry and Pastor within the new multi-site campus, with former employee and now partner William Hinn becoming Senior Pastor.

For years Todd White traveled the world as a prosperity preacher and faith healer, head of his own ministry, but always as an evangelist. Since the normally traveling evangelist has been grounded during the pandemic, White focused on his family – 5 kids ranging from 24 years old to 2 – and his own ministry, forming Lifestyle Christianity Church in September of 2020, ordaining himself to be the new senior pastor.

That season [as pastor] has been absolutely wonderful for me. You know, I stepped into being pastor, and so it’s always been weird for me to like, hear people say, ‘Pastor Todd, Pastor Todd…’

White will be merging his church with Risen Nation Church on August 1 – itself barely two years old, and the church will operate under that moniker, having two campuses in the city. Excited for the event and moved to tears,
White says their new church will unleash the miraculous in an unprecedented fashion.

You know we’re gonna go after the supernatural like never before. We’re gonna see miracles, signs, wonders, the prophetic words of knowledge. We’re going to see the most outrageous miracles that DFW [Dallas–Fort Worth] has ever seen, let alone the body of Christ has ever seen. We’re going to go after this together and it’s going to be beautiful.

Last year there was hope that White had repented of his false gospel when he specifically said in a message, “I feel like I’ve just seen something completely brand new! This is hard for people, hunh? It’s hard for me. It’s hard for me because I feel like I haven’t preached the whole gospel. And I repent. I repent,” but then within a few days, he clarified that he didn’t really mean it like that.

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News

Pastor Tim Stephens to Spend at Least Two Weeks in Jail After Underground Church Discovered

courtesy of rebelnews.com

Pastor Tim Stephens, who was arrested by police on Monday in front of his weeping wife and children a day after his underground church service was discovered by police helicopters, will have to spend at least 2 weeks in prison on account of violating Alberta lockdown orders, incarcerated until he can attend a June 24 court date.

This is the second arrest for Stephens, who was taken into custody last month and spent three days in jail, and was subsequently released after his arrest was found to be based on illegal and spurious merits.

In a letter posted on social media by his wife Raquel, she explains that the government has now seized Fairview Baptist Church’s building and pastor and that Alberta Health services “still want Tim to tell people what to wear, where to stand, and to forbid some people from being the church,”

Following his arrest, Pastor Stephens went before a Justice of the Peace and like Pastor James Coates, who was jailed on the same grounds and whose location has yet to be discovered, was offered bail conditions “upon his agreement to abide by all public health orders.” She explains that he could not agree to those terms, as that would “prevent him from faithfully shepherding the flock to his care” and consequently will remain in custody until at least June 28.

According to Calgary Police, though Stephens was served with an injunction to cease gathering, he chose to “move forward with an illegal outdoor service, ignoring requirements for social distancing and reduced capacity limits for attendees.”

In a statement by the Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms, the firm who is representing pastor Stephens, Jay Cameron, Justice Centre Litigation Director explains that the arrest is completely outrageous:

It is our position that AHS is engaged in an intentional act of public deception and abuse of authority in arresting Pastor Stephens and others.  Further, it appears that Premier Kenney’s Government is targeting its enemies, those who are speaking out against lockdown restrictions and for Charter freedoms.

Categories
Church Evangelical Stuff Featured Money Grubbing Heretics

Hillsong Atlanta Launches And Their New Pastor Has a Heck of a Past

Hillsong Church of Atlanta officially launched its first service this past weekend, joined by rapper Da’ T.R.U.T.H. performing a hip-hop and rap worship set while flanked by Hillsong head honchos Brian and Bobbie Houston who made the trip from Australia for the grand opening. During the service the congregants cheered for their new pastor, Sam Collier, who is being lauded for being the first African- American man to serve as lead pastor of a Hillsong church.

Who is Collier? He’s a 32-year-old author, speaker, radio show personality, and pastor. His road to the Hillsong pastorate is a wild one indeed.

Around a decade ago he spent several years as the Youth Choir Director at Ebenezer Baptist Church. This is the church that Martin Luther King Jr. co-pastored in the ’60s. During his time there, the Senior Pastor was the openly pro-choice, openly pro-LGBT, heresy-spewing, Planned-Parenthood-endorsed Democrat Senator, Dr. Raphael Warnock.

After leaving Ebenezer, he joined up with New Birth Missionary Baptist Church, a 25,000 member megachurch pastored by Bishop Eddie Long. Long, you’ll recall, was a prosperity gospel heretic who preached wretched blasphemies about name-it-and-claim-it, speaking realities into existence, and little god theology. Long was a multi-millionaire who flaunted his wealth from the pulpit and was embroiled in several sex scandals with males youth in his church. Collier spent a couple of years on staff here as well.

In his autobiography, A Greater Story, Collier recounts that it was during this time in his mid 20s that he made his first white friend, an odd revelation given the overabundance of white people around. He eventually left Long’s church in 2014 and joined Andy Stanley’s NorthPoint Church, hardly a bastion of sound theological and biblical fidelity, preaching his first sermon there in 2016. He remained there for 6 years, being appointed pastor at some time (we have no record of him going to seminary or receiving formal pastoral training) until he and his wife were tapped for the lead pastors of Hillsong in 2020, until she backed out to continue her career as an author.

With such a…varied pedigree…it is unsurprising that his theological convictions are a bit of a mess. A brief perusal of his social media contains a ton of posts about supporting Black Lives Matter, social justice, and explaining what privilege is and how white people definitely have it. These sobering truths, coupled with him being a willing participant in listening to Warnock, Long, and Stanley for years, ought to throw up more than a few red flags.

During the sermon, which attracted over a thousand people across two services, Collier introduced the Houstons by noting it has been a “difficult year” for Hillsong, likely referencing the raft of major sex and financial scandals that have struck a third of their campuses – the natural consequence of appointing fiscally unaccountable hipster hype-priests.

Categories
Critical Race Theory SBC Social Justice Wars

Southern Baptist Pastor Doubles Down on Threat to Leave SBC if Critical Race Theory is Denounced at Convention

A prominent Southern Baptist pastor is doubling down on his threats to leave the Southern Baptist Convention if Resolution 9 is rescinded, promising that he will jump ship and join other personalities like Charlie Dates, John Onwuchekwa, Beth Moore, and Russell Moore as people that have publicly parted ways with the embattled denomination.

At odds is the utility of CRT and intersectionality within the life of SBC congregants. At the last convention Resolution 9 snuck in unawares and was adopted before people knew much about it. Of particular concern was this troublesome section:

WHEREAS, Critical Race Theory and intersectionality alone are insufficient to diagnose and redress the root causes of the social ills that they identify, which result from sin, yet these analytical tools can aid in evaluating a variety of human experiences, and

Super gross.

Conservatives are hankering to take it out, but the progressives want to keep it in. It was the very presence of this threat of removal that saw Dwight McKissic, who by the way is a race-baiting Cultural Marxist who routinely terrorizes the SBC annual meeting with resolutions forcing messengers to vote for his policies or suffer looking politically incorrect in the press, drew a red line in the sand by saying 5 months ago:

Lest we think he stuttered, he reiterated it today in an op-ed in the ne’er-do-well SBC Voices, writing:

It takes great audacity, given the SBC’s history, to take such a bold step, to denounce the entirety of CRT—particularly with the National African American Fellowship of the SBC unanimously opposed to denouncing CRT in its entirety.

I am often asked how many Black churches may leave the SBC if Resolution 9 is rescinded. I honestly have no idea, and no desire to influence any to leave, which is one major reason why I am not going to attend the Nashville meeting. I do not want to be accused of leading churches away from the SBC.

But what I do know is—as for me and my house—if the major thesis and thrust of Resolution 9, passed by a majority in Birmingham 2019, is gutted or rescinded—we will exclusively align with the National Baptist Convention and the Baptist General Convention of Texas.

This, of course, would be a blessing. We pray these are not empty threats, but rather promises.

At this point, we have no reason to suppose that the SBC can pull itself out of this liberal pit without a mass exodus of all the unsavory types, but certainly having McKissic leaving out to help a little.

He is a pus-filled boil that should have lanced and drained from the armpit of the Southern Baptist Convention a long time ago. Instead, he was left to fester for years and years, infecting and spreading his particularly potent leaven. With him gone, the SBC has a chance, but we’re not holding our breath.

Categories
Church In-person Church Righteous Defiance

Pastor James Coates Speaks at John MacArthur’s The Master’s Seminary Grad Ceremony

Pastor James Coates of GraceLife Church in Edmonton, AB, gave a special video message to The Master’s Seminary (TMS) class of 2021, where Pastor John MacArthur is the Chancellor. Explaining that Coates’ “faithfulness during a time of government overreach and his willingness to obey God rather than man is a model for all Master’s Men,” the famed alum gave them a word of encouragement and urged them to resolve in their hearts where they stand in Christ, so that when the hard times come and persecution arises, their course of action will already be settled.

After a brief greeting, Coates tells the grads that he was “was able to strengthen my preaching and strengthen my ministry in my effectiveness in my ministry” on account of his time at TMS, describing it as one of his “greatest earthly blessings.”

Many would look at what we’ve gone through and what I’ve gone through personally over the last six months or so, and would wonder how I did that. And the reality is that, that there were many moments in preparation for that time when I would have to choose imprisonment, to obey Jesus Christ.

And those moments along the way required conviction, and resolve, and a steadfast desire and commitment to do what the Lord would require of me. And every moment counts. Every moment along the way was a moment of preparation, so that by the time that I got to the point of having to decide whether I was going to choose my comforts, or obedience to Christ, it was already settled.

It wasn’t easy. It was difficult, it came in the face of fear, and trembling. But the Lord at each point assisted me with a conviction to know what it was he was calling me to do, as well as the grace to carry it out.

Telling them what they “need to do is resolve in your heart to obey Christ, whatever the cost,” Pastor Coates warns them that it’s critical that they resolve in their hearts “that you are going to be faithful all the way to the end, and that you take up those moments that come to you as a fork in the road, and that you resolve now and prepare to obey Christ in those moments.”

Reflecting that the world is a more hostile place than it was a decade ago when he graduated, he concludes by encouraging them to be men of courage and conviction who will be nourished by the word and in turn herald Christ’s headship, for the edification of their souls and the sake of their churches.

I can’t think of a better time to be stepping out of seminary into ministry. I can’t think of a better time to be stepping into pulpits all over the US and this world, and a better time for you to exposit the scriptures with clarity, with accuracy, precision, passion, bringing exhortation to bear upon the people to whom you minister, laboring to build up the body of Christ, to even prepare them to suffer according to the will of God.

…Christ is the head of the church. And your responsibility is to uphold his headship. And you do that by ensuring that his word governs the life of the church.

And so uphold his headship, delight in his headship. Herald his headship, and be faithful in upholding it as a steward of the mysteries of God.”

Categories
Church Evangelical Stuff Featured In-person Church Righteous Defiance

Police Shut Down Pastor Tim Stephens’ Church, But He Hints at Going Underground

Alberta Health Service and Provincial law enforcement have announced that they are physically shutting down “arrested and now released” Pastor Tim Stephens’ Church*, barring their doors to get them to cease gathering. Despite these strongarm tactics, the defiant minister explained on social media that “the church must gather,” and that they had every intention of doing so, building be damned.

Fairview Baptist Church will be joining James Coates’ GraceLife Church, Jacob Reaume’s Trinity Bible Chapel, and two others in having their church shuttered and doors locked by power-tripping government officials, all for refusing to adhere to the provincial lockdown laws that limit church attendance to 15 people inside, or 5 people outside.

Taking to Twitter, Stephens says that he is grateful for everyone who prayed for his release from jail and that though the church building has been ordered closed, they are actively seeking a new place to gather together, implying out of sight and underground if need be. They would join several other churches currently hiding out from the government, some traveling over 80 miles to get to their hidden church location.

This is done with the hopes that if they meet in secret, they will be left alone and not subject to crushing monetary fines or even further arrests.

With pastor Stephens being released from prison after two days, it is still unclear exactly what restrictions and conditions were placed on him that enabled him to be released. AHS has been actively petitioning to keep him incarcerated or to lock him back up if he re-offends and continues to lead services, and it Is uncertain whether they will arrest him on sight if he attempts to lead church publicly.

As far as whether the province plans to relent from their harsh lockdowns, Premier Jason Kenny’s government is unlikely to relent soon, announcing that in his great benevolence, they have made an allowance for 12 whole frontline workers to attend a hockey playoff game, in a stadium that fits 18,500 people.

That’s the kind of fear and illogic ruling political decision-making. If he will not allow more than 12 to gather in a literal stadium, (who incidentally, are all sitting next to each other, so much for social distancing) he will not allow a couple of hundred saints in the house of God.

*We know it’s not their church, but the Lord’s Church.