Day: December 25, 2016

HILLSONG’S NAKED COWBOY IS BACK~EXCEPT NOW IT’S NAKED SANTA!

 http://si.wsj.net/public/resources/images/OB-UC543_0809ny_J_20120809095946.jpg
HILLSONG’S NAKED COWBOY IS BACK~
EXCEPT NOW IT’S NAKED SANTA!
republished below in full unedited for informational, educational, and research purposes:
 

Earlier this year Pulpit & Pen brought you the story
of Hillsong, NYC’s youth pastor, Diego Simila, who posed as the
infamous “Naked Cowboy” at a Hillsong women’s conference. There were
also other more than questionable appearances of debauched characters at
various other Hillsong conferences during that time, including the sex
pervert, Austin Powers, who showed up at the London conference. Hillsong received quite a bit of backlash for these lewd acts of moral degeneracy including from Montanist apologist and noted Hillsong defender, Michael Brown.

As if these salacious acts weren’t enough to turn any
biblically-minded Christian away from the perversion of the Bride of
Christ that is Hillsong, Diego Simila is back–posing once again in an
obscene display of lasciviousness, as a nearly-naked Santa.

On Esther Houston’s (wife of NYC Worship Leader, Joel Houston) Instagram site (click with caution), you’ll find the following festival of flesh.

diego_santa

This comes as no surprise since Hillsong is known for its debauchery
and trashy performances, watered down gospel, and compromise on nearly
everything Christians stand for. Several weeks ago, Joel Houston, son of
Hillsong CEO, Brian Houston, posted on Twitter
that he found Jen Hatmaker’s affirmation of gay marriage “refreshing.”
In 2015, the same NY-based branch of Hillsong put on what many dubbed
Hillsong’s Sleazy Silent Night, where a woman was paraded on stage in a seductive manner
wearing provocative clothing. Carl Lentz, lead pastor of Hillsong NYC,
was recently interviewed on Oprah’s television show where Lentz denied that you must be a Christian to have a relationship with Jesus Christ. Lentz’ church also had two openly gay members of his congregation serving in the choir–one as the choir director.

All of this anti-Christian, anti-gospel vulgarity and compromise for
the sake of pleasing man instead of God is what makes Hillsong famous.
It’s no wonder SBTS president, Al Mohler says that Hillsong is “a
prosperity movement for the millennials, in which the polyester and
middle-class associations of Oral Roberts have given way to ripped jeans
and sophisticated rock music…What has made Hillsong distinctive is a
minimization of the actual content of the Gospel and a far more diffuse
presentation of spirituality.”

Hillsong isn’t a church. Michael Brown says
that this is simply an “exaggerated picture of the church of America.”
But sadly, this is not exaggerated. This is commonplace and is quickly
becoming the mainstream. The true church in America is the minority.
It’s time the true church separate completely from the world and
Hillsong.

For the time is coming when people
will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will
accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths. –2 Timothy 4:3-4
_______________________________________________________
 

Hillsong’s ‘Naked Cowboy’ Appears as Half-Naked Santa at ‘Christmas Tropical Party’ 

BY HEATHER CLARK

SEE: http://christiannews.net/2016/12/24/hillsongs-naked-cowboy-appears-as-half-naked-santa-at-christmas-tropical-party/; 

republished below in full unedited for informational, educational, and research purposes:
 The youth leader at Hillsong NYC, who generated controversy earlier 
this year after appearing at a Christian women’s conference as a 
look-alike to the city’s famed “Naked Cowboy,” recently was photographed
 at a “Christmas tropical party” again half-naked—a photo that was later
 deleted following concerns.

Esther Houston,
the wife of Joel Houston, who serves as the leader of the popular
worship band Hillsong United and co-pastor of Hillsong NYC, posted the
photo to her Instagram this week with the caption “When the Christmas
tropical party is lit.”

The photo featured youth leader Diego Simila with his shirt
completely unbuttoned to bear his chest and short cut-off jean shorts,
while wearing a Santa hat and having a tropical drink. Adjacent to
Simila is Houston, a former Brazilian model, posing in a manner that
exposed up her thigh.

Some of the commenters under the photo found the snapshot to be humorous.

“Hahahaha @diegosimila!! I’m crying!” one wrote. “Diego, you make my life complete.”

“@diegosimila me and @strazzabeatdown are dying right now!!!” another exclaimed.

But one woman expressed concern about the example that Simila and Houston were setting as professing Christians.

“How is this glorifying to Jesus Christ?” she asked, and pointed to 1
Thessalonians 5:22, which admonishes Christians to “abstain from all
appearance of evil.”

“God will hold you accountable for your poor example to young Christians,” she opined.

One viewer shot back at the woman, stating that she was being
“ridiculous,” and contending that there was nothing sinful about the
photograph.

But blog sites also picked up on the matter, noting a pattern of concerning behavior within Hillsong.

“Still no sign of Hillsong bearing fruit in keeping with repentance.
Just a false Jesus endorsing their sinful lifestyle,” opined the site
Church Watch Central.

Houston has since deleted the photograph without explanation.

As previously reported,
Simila raised controversy in May when he appeared at Hillsong’s Colour
Conference as a “Naked Cowboy” lookalike—a popular New York City figure
who walks the streets shirtless and without pants.

“I usually don’t expect to see a near-naked cowboy gyrating from the
stage of a Christian women’s conference. … Indeed if I were of the
world, I’d expect these sights and sounds to come from a giant
bachelorette party at a strip club,” wrote Amy Spreeman of Berean
Research.

Hillsong Co-Founder Brian Houston, while expressing concern, refuted
those who referred to Simila as being the “Naked Cowboy” since he wasn’t
completely naked.

“He was wearing proper shorts, not underwear, and he had a flag
draped over him—bare-chested and perhaps inappropriate, certainly
unexpected and unauthorized; but not naked,” he said in defense, adding
that he and others were not aware of the plan.

“Some well-meaning person just made a silly decision,” Houston asserted. “It won’t happen again.”

Hillsong likewise raised controversy last year over its sold-out Christmas services in London, which included dancing elves, mini-skirt-wearing flappers, shirtless men pounding on drums, Santa Claus and more.

MATT MAHER’S & MATT REDMAN’S DOCTRINELESS ECUMENICAL ALLIANCE

MATT MAHER’S & MATT REDMAN’S DOCTRINELESS ECUMENICAL ALLIANCE 
republished below in full unedited for informational, educational, and research purposes:
 

Two of the most popular artists in Contemporary Christian Music (CCM)
are Matt Maher and Matt Redman. The two have produced many popular
songs that can be heard in just about any church of any flavor around
the world today. Songs like Redman’s Here For You, with references to the charismatic belief of a separate baptism of the Holy Spirit, and Maher’s Lord I Need You,
with references to the Roman Catholic doctrine of infused
righteousness would ring familiar in almost any modern Christian’s ears.

While it may appear that the music popular CCM artists like Maher and
Redman glorify God with the production of music that has been so widely
accepted by the church, most Christians have no idea the background and
agenda of these men. I wrote an article last year entitled Matt Maher is Not Saved, Stop Singing His Music in Church.
The article describes Maher’s Roman Catholic background and his
alignment with the damning doctrines of the Roman Catholic Church, and
why promoting his music in the pews neither does the church, nor Maher
himself any favors–let alone glorify the Risen Lord.

Maher and Redman, however, produced a song together, Remembrance, for the purpose of worshiping and having communion together–people from completely different doctrinal backgrounds. In an interview with Family Christian Bookstores, Maher says,

Like Matt Redman and I wrote a song about communion together. He comes from an Anglican or Evangelical background and I came from a Catholic background. We have completely different doctoral[sic] teachings about communion and about the Eucharist.
Does that mean that we can’t write a song together about the importance
of communion. Or that when Jesus says in the Bible, “Remember me … do
this in remembrance of me… that we can’t. What we can say is let’s try
to serve the Church with a song that somehow reflects truth and leaves a
little bit of room for the mystery of faith.

maher_crucifixMaher
is correct that he and Redman have completely different doctrinal
teachings about communion and the Eucharist. The Roman Catholic teaching
is blasphemous and idolatrous–God hates it. Further, and more
importantly, what Maher failed to say is that he and Redman also have
completely different doctrinal teachings on salvation. In fact, Maher’s
church anathematizes any, like Redman, who claim to believe in salvation
by grace alone through faith alone. The Roman Catholic Church
explicitly denies Matt Redman’s supposed “evangelical” beliefs in the
Council of Trent which is held to be one of the most important councils
in the history of the RCC.

  • Canon 12. “If any one saith, that justifying faith is nothing else
    but confidence in the divine mercy which remits sins for Christ’s sake;
    or, that this confidence alone is that whereby we are justified; let him
    be anathema.”
  • Canon 24. “If any one saith, that the justice received is not
    preserved and also increased before God through good works; but that the
    said works are merely the fruits and signs of Justification obtained,
    but not a cause of the increase thereof; let him be anathema.”
  • Canon 30. “If any one saith, that, after the grace of Justification
    has been received, to every penitent sinner the guilt is remitted, and
    the debt of eternal punishment is blotted out in such wise, that there
    remains not any debt of temporal punishment to be discharged either in
    this world, or in the next in Purgatory, before the entrance to the
    kingdom of heaven can be opened (to him); let him be anathema.”
  • Canon 32. “If any one saith, that the good works of one that is
    justified are in such manner the gifts of God, as that they are not also
    the good merits of him that is justified; or, that the said justified,
    by the good works which he performs through the grace of God and the
    merit of Jesus Christ, whose living member he is, does not truly merit
    increase of grace, eternal life, and the attainment of that eternal
    life, …and also an increase of glory; let him be anathema.”

Why don’t the two artists do a joint production on that one? Sadly,
Redman’s association with Roman Catholics is not a new phenomenon.
Redman has held several joint concerts with Maher and last year he spoke and played at one of the largest Catholic youth gatherings in the U.K., which was replete with the idolatry of the mass. The Protestant Standard writes:

Throughout the day Roman Catholics speakers will bring
messages to the young people gathered there, and at the conclusion of
the day Cardinal Vincent Nichols will lead everyone in a time of
Adoration i.e. the Mass. None of this is unusual, or worthy of special
comment for it what we would expect at a Roman Catholic event. This
issue which attracts our attention on this occasion is the presence of a
leading Contemporary Christian Music artist, Matt Redman.

And Redman promoted the event on his own Twitter account.

redman_catholic

Sadly, Redman is neck deep into the false belief system that doctrine
doesn’t matter as long as you can set that aside and hold hands and
sing together. Matt Redman was interviewed by Tony Cummings and said,

You’ve got Catholics there, you’ve got high church
Anglican, you’ve got house churches, Baptists, Methodists and no one
even cares. Denominations don’t even register on anyone’s radar. They
are all there centering around God. It’s great.

Yes, Matt. That is great. We’re so glad that God’s truth doesn’t
matter in your world, and we’re so glad that your millions of followers
are being taught to have a shallow understanding of God and center their
worship around their emotions and personal experiences instead of God’s
truth. Cummings then posed the following to Redman:

I remember interviewing David Watson and he was one of
the key figures in the development of charismatic renewal within the
Anglican church and I was quizzing him about Catholics on his platform
and that kind of thing and he had a very simple rationale. He said
anybody who confesses faith in Christ in sincerity and isn’t simply
using Christian profession but actually meaning something else – like a
cult might do – should be accepted as a Christian. It’s not for him to
argue the finer points of doctrine with them.

To which Redman responded:

I’ve got a friend in America called Matt Maher and he
wrote a song called “Your Grace Is Enough” which Chris Tomlin recorded
and that song has been sung all over the world. But Matt is a Catholic
guy, full-on. It’s funny isn’t it? Some people would think that “Your
Grace Is Enough” is probably the most unlikely title to come from a
Catholic guy. But that is what God is doing in the Church. It’s a unity
thing and unity comes when you all look in one direction, doesn’t it?
Worship is always going to be a very unifying thing. The moment we take
our eyes off all these differences between us and we look in one
direction, towards the Son of God, worship is going to unify.

But the unity is false. It isn’t around the true God or Jesus of the
Bible, and Matt Redman is putting up with it “readily enough.”

For if someone comes and proclaims
another Jesus than the one we proclaimed, or if you receive a different
spirit from the one you received, or if you accept a different gospel
from the one you accepted, you put up with it readily enough. – 2 Corinthians 11:4

The Scriptures teach that unifying with unbelievers and those who
proclaim a false Gospel is an abomination to God. Roman Catholics are
idolaters. Roman Catholics bear the name of brother. 1 Corinthians 5:11
commands us not to even eat with such people as it gives a false
impression of their acceptance into the body of Christ and it
compromises the truth of the Gospel. Redman has chosen to be unequally
yoked with unbelievers (2 Corinthians 2:14) instead of, as commanded in Scripture, exposing their unfruitful works to the light of God’s word (Ephesians 5:11).
Matt Redman has chosen to align himself with the doctrineless and
fruitless works of darkness masquerading as members of the church
deceiving himself and others (2 Corinthians 11:13-15).

Matt Redman and his Catholic counterpart, Matt Maher, are leading
millions of people astray–into the outer depths of darkness. Their
ecumenical alliance is not glorifying to God. Jesus Christ and His truth
is the foundation of the church and if that is set aside to build a
divided house, it will not stand (Mark 3:25).
To know God is to love Him, and you cannot know Him without knowing His
revealed truth found in Scripture alone. Holding hands and singing
songs with those who do not know God is not what biblical unity in the
body of Christ is. We are to avoid those who hold to a false doctrine
because it is they that cause divisions.

I appeal to you, brothers, to watch
out for those who cause divisions and create obstacles contrary to the
doctrine that you have been taught; avoid them. –Romans 16:17

If you truly want unity in the body of Christ, separate from those,
like Roman Catholics, who hold to a false Gospel and proclaim a false
Jesus. Stop holding hands with false converts. Stop setting aside sound
doctrine for warm fuzzy feelings with apostates. And stop anathematizing
the few out there who are willing to stand up and contend for the faith
that was once and for all delivered to the saints.

I question if hell can find a more fitting instrument within its infernal lake than the Church of Rome is for the cause of mischief. And your church will in its measure, be the same if bereft of the Spirit. — Charles Spurgeon

SAINT NICHOLAS RAISED THE DEAD; SO CAN WE: CHARLATAN PROTEGE OF BETHEL CHURCH

 St. Nicholas of Tolentino Reviving a Child by Garofalo, circa 1530
ABOVE: 
St. Nicholas of Tolentino Reviving a Child by Garofalo, circa 1530
SAINT NICHOLAS RAISED THE DEAD; SO CAN WE: CHARLATAN PROTEGE OF BETHEL CHURCH
BY BUD AHLHEIM
republished below in full unedited for informational, educational, and research purposes:
 

Have you heard of the DRT?   The Dead Raising Team? It’s an independent ministry operated by Tyler Johnson as part of his One Glance Ministries.
As its name implies, the “ministry” focuses on raising the dead.
 Johnson is a graduate of Bethel Church’s “School of Supernatural
Ministry.”   Because … where else would you go for heresy,
blasphemy, and Scriptural defiance but Bill Johnson and Kris Vallotton’s
portal of demonic doctrines?

(For more on Johnson, go HERE. For more on Bethel, go HERE.)

Johnson just sent out a blanket email of a Christmas YouTube video he published last year entitled “Did Santa Raise The Dead?” The subtext of his email answers this with the affirming question “Did you know that St. Nic raised the dead?”

Chapel of The Holy Arms of St. Nicholas

Chapel of The Holy Arms of St. Nicholas

According to the charismatic false teacher Johnson, “It’s said that he [St. Nick] raised 100 children from the dead.”

This isn’t a new tale. It’s been popular mythology in Roman
Catholicism for hundred of years. The apostate Catholics, like the
apostates coming out of Bethel, laud anything miraculous regardless of
their Scriptural veracity or Biblical compliance. According to CatholicCulture.org,
the Chapel of the Holy Arms in Tolentino, Italy even has the two
severed limbs of St. Nicholas’ enshrined. The arms of the inspiring
“saint” behind Santa Claus were rediscovered there in 1926.

Here’s the story that Johnson tells in this, “oh, by the way, buy our new book” video.

“St. Nick was in prayer in an area where there was a famine. He got a
word of knowledge that there was a wicked innkeeper who, because he
couldn’t give meat to the people staying in his inn, went out into the
street and found three children, butchered them up – cut up their bodies
– and then stuck their bodies in a brining barrel to cure the meat.”

It is, by the way, this “word of knowledge” that Johnson sources as
the notion of Santa’s omniscience.   “He knows if you’ve been bad or
good,” according to the children’s Christmas tune, comes from this dead
raising tale of the Catholic saint.

“St. Nick sees this whole thing in a vision, goes into the town,
finds the inn that he was in the vision, confronts the wicked innkeeper.
The wicked innkeeper takes him down to this barrel. St. Nick prays over
the barrel and then tells the innkeeper to open the barrel. The
innkeeper opened the barrel and three children crawled out alive and
well.   Raised from the dead.”

The purpose of Johnson’s retelling of this Catholic myth is to point
to the many “creative miracles” that God is still doing. According to
Johnson’s website, his own “ministry” claims “15 resurrections to date,”
evidence that God is still creating miracles by re-creating and
re-animating the dead.

Johnson gives the argument so often heard when a charismatic is
challenged for a Biblical proof text that “signs and wonder” gifts are
continuing today.   Jesus was dead for three days, he says.  Lazarus was
dead four days, but God brought them back to life “because God is the
same yesterday, today, and forever.” (We’d offer Andrew Rappaport’s response to this claim HERE)

“Sometimes we can feel like Santa threatens the real meaning of
Christmas,” says this charlatan.   “But in reality, if we understand
where Santa Claus came from, St. Nick points to Christ. His whole life
honors God.”

Umm. No. Just No.

It’s following this when Johnson encourages the viewer to buy his
latest book. I, of course, do not encourage you to buy his book.

Instead, I encourage you to do as Christ exhorted, “abide in my word.”  (John 8:31)  Then you won’t be, like so many, likely to wander off the narrow path with the ear-tickling doctrines of demons (1 Timothy 4:1) that come from the likes of Bethel and its protégés.

 

THE GIFT THAT TRULY KEEPS ON GIVING

THE
GIFT THAT TRULY KEEPS ON GIVING
SEE: http://newswithviews.com/Nelson/kelleigh380.htm; 

republished below in full unedited for informational, educational, and research purposes:
 
By Kelleigh Nelson
December 25, 2016
NewsWithViews.com
But
let all who take refuge in You be glad, let them ever sing for joy; And
may You shelter them, that those who love Your name may exult in You.
—Psalm 5:11
Glory
in His holy name; Let the heart of those who seek the LORD be glad.
—Psalm 105:3
When
they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy. —Matthew
2:10
Our
Fallen Human Nature
There
is no chicken little (the sky is falling) when you have Jesus. We rejoice
because no matter our circumstances, the Lord is with us. Philippians
4:4.
As I
write this, our newly elected president has not yet even taken his oath
of office and people are deciding he’s not “draining the swamp”
the way they expected him to do. There is no patience, no waiting on God,
there is an immediate rush to judgment.
Stop
it! Wait on the Lord! We believed our new president, now let’s see
what he can do. Realize that he may make some mistakes! Haven’t
we all!
Why
is it that our fallen human nature immediately runs to negativity? Why
is it that we immediately want to destroy any hope or promise God has
given us? It’s our nature…that old sinful nature. And the
Lord knows just exactly how we are! We so often fail to rest in HIM!
Remember
Abraham and Sarah? The story starts in Genesis 11:30. The promise of God
to Abraham would take twenty-five years to come to fulfillment. Of course,
Abraham would never have known that it would take that long. He trusted
God and knew that He would keep His word, and until then he must wait
on the Lord. Sometimes the hardest thing to do is to wait. Sometimes waiting
for an answer to prayer is often part of the answer. We are far too impatient
and want answers now, yet God in His gracious plan and purpose allows
us to wait until His time.
Sadly,
Abraham listened to his wife Sarah rather than waiting on God to do what
He said he would do. Sarah thought she needed to help God, not understanding
fully that with Him, all things are possible, and His promises are forever.
Believers know the rest of this story.
Wait
on the Lord, and wait on Him in prayer.
Rejoicing
in Adversity
True
joy comes from knowing the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and His Son,
Messiah Jesus. Here is the true story of a Chinese
pastor who was imprisoned for 18 years by the Communists because of his
faith. Day after day, year after year, he was assigned to work in
the prison camp’s cesspool.
Every morning he had to wade into that stinking hole and spend his day
scooping out the human waste. He was given this job as a special punishment
because he kept holding tenaciously to his faith.
The
pastor was grateful for the assignment because of the solitude he had.
The stench was so bad that even the guards stayed far away. So, the pastor
had the freedom to pray aloud, sing hymns to the Lord, and recite Scripture.
The cesspool had become a garden of communion with God. And what did he
sing? In the Garden, by Charles A. Miles, a 1913 hymn.
I
come to the garden alone,
While the dew is still on the roses,
And the voice I hear falling on my ear
The Son of God discloses.
Refrain:
And
He walks with me, and He talks with me,
And He tells me I am His own;
And the joy we share as we tarry there,
None other has ever known.
He
speaks, and the sound of His voice
Is so sweet the birds hush their singing,
And the melody that He gave to me
Within my heart is ringing.
I’d stay in the garden with Him,
Though the night around me be falling,
But He bids me go; through the voice of woe
His voice to me is calling.
Out
of the hardest of circumstances and worst of situations this man’s
experience is a testimony of how God is in control no matter how horrible
the situation might be.
If Pastor
George Chen was willing to do all this to stand for his faith under such
adversity; how can we even complain about the small adversities in our
daily life?
Fire
and Loss in East Tennessee
Drought
struck our area this summer, with high temperatures and no rain. Our Smoky
Mountains were timber waiting to burn. The fires started, caused from
arson by two underage teens, burning 17,000 acres of the Smoky Mountains.
In the tourist area of Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge, thousands of homes
and businesses burned to the ground; the latest count is 14 dead. I’ve
never seen a summer here so very hot and dry, not in the nearly 30 years
we’ve lived here.
Tennessee
is the Volunteer State, and rebuilding will take place, but the loss to
so many is heartbreaking and devastating. The Fire Chief lost his own
home while helping others. The Mayor of Gatlinburg lost his home as well
as his resort which was extra income. Yet, their worries were all for
their own people, and prayers for rain, which we received the next day.
We rejoiced, and praised the Lord for His mercy.
Now
comes the cleanup and the much-needed help. Dolly Parton is giving $1,000
a month to every family who lost their homes. This will go on for six
months. She has also donated $1 million to help rebuild, and she has even
bigger plans.
This
is the buckle of the Bible belt, and the majority of people know the Lord,
and trust in Him, even through tears and loss. One man lost his wife and
two daughters, and has written a letter of forgiveness to the two teens,
stating that this is what Jesus would have him do.
December
is a huge tourist month for Gatlinburg/Pigeon Forge. They’re back
open, and beautifully decorated for the season, won’t you please
come!
Corrie
Ten Boom
Corrie
was a Christian who, along with her father and other family members, helped
many Jews escape the Nazi Holocaust during World War II. She was imprisoned
for her actions. She watched her sister, Betsy, die in Ravensbruck concentration
camp.
In 1947
she had come from Holland to defeated Germany to give a talk about forgiveness.
Everyone filed out in silence after her speech, and then a man walked
up to her and asked her if she really meant what she said about forgiveness.
She saw the man as he had been, a guard at Ravensbruck who had watched
her and her sister march by him naked as their clothes and shoes lay strewn
in a pile on the floor.
She
saw him and memories flashed in her mind. Her natural hatred and revulsion
made her stiffen and she fumbled in her pocketbook. The former guard told
her he had become a Christian and he reached out his hand to her. Corrie
said that her arm felt like lead, and that she didn’t know if she
could lift it.
She
had told the audience of Germans, “When we confess our sins, God
casts them into the deepest ocean, gone forever.”
“You
mentioned Ravensbrück in your talk,” the man said. “I
was a guard there.
But
since that time,” he went on, “I have become a Christian.
I know that God has forgiven me for the cruel things I did there, but
I would like to hear it from your lips as well Fräulein,”–again
the hand came out– “will you forgive me?”
Corrie
said she stood there, and she remembered what the Lord has said, “If
you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father in heaven
forgive your trespasses.” She prayed, “Father, help me.”
Finally,
her wooden arm reached up to grasp the man’s hand, and she said,
“The current started in my shoulder, raced down my arm, sprang into
our joined hands. And then this healing warmth seemed to flood my whole
being, bringing tears to my eyes.”
“I
forgive you, brother!” she cried. “With all my heart!”
[Link]
The
Birth of Our Savior
Christmas
is here. The birth of our King of Glory is celebrated every year for one
month of joyous preparation, and one special day reminding everyone of
His gift to us. It is the season where we say, HAPPY BIRTHDAY JESUS! We
rejoice in the knowledge of our amazing Salvation through Christ the King
who came in the simplest and humblest of wrappings.
 Jesus
is God’s gift to all humanity. The perfect sinless gift. The gift
of eternal life. The King of Kings, the Lord of Lords! The Lion of the
Tribe of Judah!
Life
is about what happens beyond the grave. Life is about knowing the God
who made you and who gave you the greatest gift you will ever receive.
When you are shopping for gifts, when you are decorating your home, when
you are baking and cooking, when you are opening those gifts from under
the tree, when you are celebrating with family and friends, remember the
perfect everlasting gift, the gift that truly keeps on giving, throughout
our lives, and then into eternity.
Despite
what we may live through, if we have the King of Glory in our lives, He
is the blessed gift who holds us up in both joy and trials.
May
your Christmas and your heart reflect the exultation of knowing Him and
receiving His special gift. For it is by grace…

CHRISTMAS IN AMERICA AGAIN~THANKS TO PRESIDENT ELECT TRUMP

CHRISTMAS IN AMERICA AGAIN~
THANKS TO PRESIDENT ELECT TRUMP
republished below in full unedited for informational, educational, and research purposes:
 
By
Pastor Roger Anghis
December 25, 2016
NewsWithViews.com
Election
night in 2008 a dark cloud fell over the United States. It began a time
of almost hopelessness and despair. Barack Obama had become the 44th
president of the United States and the research I had done on him left
a sinking feeling in my gut. He was not the man he said he was and he
was not the man MSM portrayed him to be. I found it difficult to understand
how a man of this low character had been able to win over the people
of America.
My
assessment of him had nothing to do with the color of his skin so don’t
write me letters and claim I’m a racist. Remember that he is half
white too! I have just as many friends that are black as I have that
are white. I knew that America was going to go down a path that we really
didn’t want to go. Obama stated a few days before the election
that “we are a few days away from fundamentally changing America.”
America needed change but not what this man and his policies were going
to bring. I knew that we were in for at least four years of hell when
Obama to Cantor “I won.” It ended up being eight years of
hell. His upbringing was not clothed in American values. He was raised
muslim. His grandparents who raised him were communists. The freedoms
of America and the rights we have, freedom of speech, freedom of religion,
freedom of press, bearing arms did not sit well with him. I remember
him stating in a private fund raising event in California that too many
Americans ‘cling to their guns and their religion”. I wonder
if he notices the irony of how the radical muslims cling to their guns
and religion?
Obama
began his fundamental transformation almost immediately. He signed an
executive order to close down Gitmo, a place that should stay open.
He then began to release the jihadist that was in there. There have
been about 60% of those released that have gone back to killing Americans
in the Middle East. To me that is treason. He is releasing more in the
next few days even one that has declared that when he gets out he will
kill as many Americans as he can. He has been the most destructive president
to the military of this great nation that we have ever had. Our levels
of preparedness are below pre-WWII and this is while we are still in
a war with Islam. He has stated that we are not and never will be at
war with Islam. That, again, is a treasonous act because Islam has stated
that they are at war with us. He ‘negotiated’ a deal with
our enemy, Iran, giving them a path to a nuclear bomb. That’s
like giving Japan a way to develop a nuclear bomb during WWII. All this
time Congress sat on its backside and did nothing to curb in Obama’s
overreach of his executive authority.
Obama’s
immigration policies have devastated the American workplace. He has
refused to enforce our immigration laws, wrote a few of his own, which
he does not have the authority to do. His Attorney General decided which
laws he was going to enforce. Voter ID was not allowed to take hold
in any State that tried to implement them. Eric Holder also stopped
States from cleaning up their voter rolls, which was a requirement by
law. As a result in 2012, 2014 and 2016 there were almost seven million
people registered in more than one State. Again, Congress did nothing.
I believe that it was political correctness that kept them from stopping
Obama. But as I’ve stated for years, if you’re politically
correct you’re probably wrong.
Obama
has put a regulation strangle hold on American businesses by adding
about sixty new regulations a day since he took office. These regulations
cost businesses time and money that only restricts how a company can
operate and grow. Government is supposed to create an environment that
will allow a business to thrive. I have yet to see a Democrat administration
that does that in the last century except for the Kennedy administration
in the 1960’s. The Obama administration has yoked businesses with
restraints like we have never seen: The Obama Administration is responsible
for an unparalleled expansion of the regulatory state, with the imposition
of 229 major regulations since 2009 at a cost of $108 billion annually
(using the regulatory agencies’ own numbers). The actual costs
are far greater, both because costs have not been fully quantified for
a significant number of rules, and because many of the worst effects—the
loss of freedom and opportunity, for example—are incalculable.
The need for reform is urgent.
The
White House, Congress, and federal agencies routinely breach legislative
and even constitutional boundaries, and increasingly dictate lifestyle
choices rather than focusing on public health and safety. Immediate
reforms should require legislation to undergo an analysis of regulatory
impacts before a floor vote in Congress, and require congressional approval
of each major regulation before it can take effect. Sunset deadlines
should be set in law for all major rules, and independent agencies should
be subject—as are executive branch agencies—to the White
House regulatory review process.[1]
The
list of atrocities this man has done to America would take several columns
to discuss. His healthcare disaster that almost destroyed the best healthcare
system in the world, his demand that abortion be taxpayer paid, his
shoving down the throats of Americans the homosexual marriage agenda
makes him the most ungodly man to ever hold that office. There are only
27 days of this hell left. Our new president, who is not perfect, but
did wake up 81% of the evangelicals who had been in a coma for the last
two presidential elections will begin the process of turning all this
around. He plans to defund Planned Parenthood, build our military back
up so we can defend ourselves, deregulate businesses so they can operate
again and get rid of the worst healthcare system in the world. He will
shut down Obamacare. The only problem that he will face is we returned
to office 94% of the people that helped create the problem we are in
by their inaction and refusal to hold Obama to his Constitutional pledge.
But I still have hope. We dodged another Clinton presidency that would
have completely destroyed America. That is a miracle in itself. We have
people that will be directing our economy that have actually been very
successful in business. Obama only had 6% in his cabinet that had run
a business. Trump has 100%. We have people who know how to do things
and we have a leader who has been successful himself and that can coordinate
all of it.
I
felt that dark cloud lift on the evening of November 8th this year.
The left is still in its death throes over this election. The Russians
did it, voter fraud, fake news and whatever else they may try to come
up with. Death threats to the Electoral College and our great AG Loretta
Lynch refuses to prosecute those people threatening the EC. Congress
still does nothing. But I still have hope. This election is like opening
a present at Christmas and it was exactly what you wanted. We finally
have a man that is for the American people, who will stand for them
and their constitutional rights. A man who is more interested in making
America what the Founders intended it to be, a man who will look out
for the best interests of the American people instead of allowing our
enemies to prosper at our expense.
He
may not accomplish everything that he said he would do but it will be
the fault of Congress if he doesn’t. Hopefully we will be able
to clean out some of the carrier politicians that have been in D.C.
for 20-40 years. They are the problem. They get entrenched and try to
gain power and wealth for themselves. They get rich in their legislation.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has been in D.C. since 1978 and
has now an annual salary of about $165,000 a year but is worth $17 million.[2]
How do you accumulate that kind of wealth on that kind of salary? Harry
Truman said that you have to be crooked to get rich in politics. Look
at the Clintons. Proof positive of that statement.
 Trump
doesn’t have to make money. He is wealthy on his own. People that
do business with him verify that he is honest. The last president we
had that was honest was Reagan.
When
Reagan was running for re-elected in 1984 his campaign declared ‘It’s
morning in America.’ Trump may not be perfect but neither was
Churchill during WWII. He was crass, sometimes drank too much, told
off color jokes and even insulted a woman who berated him for being
drunk. He told her I may be drunk but you’re ugly and in the morning
I’ll be sober, but you’ll still be ugly! He wasn’t
perfect but he was the right man for the job at that time in history.
I believe that Trump is the right man for the job today. We weren’t
electing a pastor but a leader who would be willing to stand up for
America and all her greatness and even bring some of that greatness
back that we lost over the last 30 years because of gutless politicians
that support globalism instead of Americanism.


Yes,
it’s not just morning in America again, it’s Christmas in
America again!

CHRISTMAS DAY: DON’T FORGET THE PAIN AND SORROW

CHRISTMAS DAY: DON’T FORGET THE PAIN AND SORROW
BY DEVVY KIDD
republished below in full unedited for informational, educational, and research purposes:
 
By: Devvy
December 25, 2016
NewsWithViews.com
“I
hold the precepts of Jesus, as delivered by himself, to be the most
pure, benevolent, and sublime which have ever been preached to a man.”
Thomas Jefferson to Jared Sparks, November 4, 1820
Today
is the big day. Christians around the world are celebrating the birth
of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Lots of cheer, the Christmas tree,
gifts and too much snow in many places. I hope everyone is able to be
with their loved ones this day. Family is what makes our lives worth
living, at least for me. Of course, our troops are still not home, but
I’m not going to use this column for any commentary on the war. Just
wish to say God bless our troops and their families. I also wish to
send God’s blessings to everyone and hope this day brings joy in your
heart.
Know
one of the things I think about today? I think about the Blessed Mother
and her pain of bringing forth a child into the world knowing that one
day she would see her son die in the most horrific manner because that
is what Almighty God intended:
John
3:16-17 (KJV) For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten
Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting
life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world;
but that the world through him might be saved.
Mary
must have treasured each day with Jesus as He grew to manhood. The pain
the Blessed Mother went through as she watched her son die a slow agonizing
death must have been beyond what most of us can imagine. As I mother,
I cannot even imagine such pain and sorrow. When my daughter had surgery
(three times), I just sat there like a lump praying to God that He keep
her safe through the operations. The agony of Mary bringing forth the
savior of the world for you and me knowing the outcome. How can we not
weep to think of it?
Our
Heavenly Father promised us through his son, Jesus Christ, that if we
lived by his commandments and repented of our sins, our reward when
we leave this human body would be greater than any earthly riches. As
I am fond of saying, eternity is a long time.
God
commands us not to sin: Kill, lie, cheat, steal, commit adultery, worship
false gods, honor our parents and so on. Unbelievably, today’s modern
pastors of these mega social houses called churches who make millions
of dollars personally, care no more about saving souls than they do
about an ant on the sidewalk. This may offend some, but I’ve read a
load of material on Rick Warren and Joel Osteen (who gives me major
creep factor) and I wonder what Bible they preach from? I see these
IRS sanctioned churches of all denominations who have allowed themselves
to be silenced and instead, preach feel good rhetoric instead of what
each of us must do to enter the Kingdom of God. Heaven forbid they should
chastise their congregation and remind them of God’s commandments and
the price they will pay for ignoring them!
For
those who admire Rick Warren, I say to you, beware
of this wolf cloaked in “good works“:
“Best-selling
author, social activist and megachurch pastor Rick Warren described
the social gospel supported by many of the mainline churches as “Marxism
in Christian clothing. [W]e don’t need to care about redemption, the
cross, repentance. All we need to do is redeem the social structures
of society and if we make those social structures better the world will
become a better place,” explained Warren as he described the beliefs
behind those who support the “social gospel,” in his interview
with Beliefnet.com, which was posted Monday. “Really in many ways
it was just Marxism in Christian clothing,” he criticized.”
We
don’t need to concern ourselves with redemption, asking God to forgive
our sins? We don’t need to care about the cross where Christ met the
most horrible death? The cross is the symbol that has given hope to
billions for over two thousands years by reminding us of Jesus’ sacrifice
for us. What shocking words from a pastor.
I
would say given the state of the world and our republic, that mankind
has failed miserably in keeping God’s Commandments. We are all sinners,
but we can ask for God’s forgiveness. He knows what is really in your
heart no matter how you try to fool Him.
I
know people have great hope following Donald Trump’s election, but I’m
sorry, 2017 is going to be a rocky one – especially
the economy. Millions will cry, “Please God, help me with the
rent or my car payment or just some money to buy food for my children!”
It’s natural to ask for God’s help, but I am wondering what He thinks
about these same people who ignore His commandments and then expect
a miracle on demand?
 If
we desire God’s blessings can we expect them if we lie, cheat, steal,
kill unborn babies in the womb, use His name as a curse word, wallow
in the filth of sexual deviancy, sleep around like dogs on the street
and worship mega pastors who lead their flocks astray? Can we expect
God’s blessings by picking and choosing which of his commandments we
like even though the act of disobedience brings the stain of sin upon
our soul? Can we expect God’s blessings by forgetting His gift to the
world, His son, Jesus Christ – except when we want something material?
I
know secularists in this country disparage people of faith and that
my questions are most likely considered corny. The good news is, I really
don’t care. Secularism is a system of political or social philosophy
that rejects all forms of religious faith and worship. Those who believe
in nothing are but one heart beat away from eternity. I would not wish
to be in their place.
We
dearly love our spouses, parents, children and good friends, but God’s
love above all is what we seek through his son, Jesus Christ. I believe
that’s what today is all about, isn’t it?