When Influential pastor John MacArthur thinks of preacher and author Beth Moore, he thinks she should “go home.”
Speaking at the “Truth Matters Conference” meant to honor his 50 years in ministry, MacArthur, fellow pastor Phil Johnson and a small panel of other men were asked to play a word association game. The moderator starts off the game by asking MacArthur what he thinks when he hears the name of Beth Moore.
MacArthur responded saying, “Go home!”
“There is no case that can be made biblically for a woman preacher – period, paragraph, end of discussion,” the 80-year-old preacher added to roaring applause.
When Johnson was asked about what word he associates to Beth Moore, he said “narcissistic.”
Johnson then recalled the first time he saw Moore preach. He said upon seeing her, he thought, “This is what it looks like to preach yourself rather than Christ.”
MacArthur then spoke up again only to further criticize Moore along with the #MeToo movement.
He said, “The #MeToo movement, again, is the culture of reclaiming ground in the church.
“When the leaders of evangelicalism roll over for women preachers, the feminists have really won the battle,” he added before the audience broke out in applause.
“The primary effort in feminism is not equality” he continued. “They don’t want equality, that’s why 99 percent of plumbers are men. They don’t want equal power to be a plumber, they want to be senators, preachers, congressmen, president, the power structure in a university. They want power, not equality,” MacArthur asserted.
The long-time preacher’s comments sparked widespread outrage among other Christian leaders over the weekend.
Southern Baptist Convention President J.D. Greear, took to Twitter on Saturday, and speaking directly to Moore wrote, “Dear Beth Moore, you’re welcome in our home any time.”
Singer, author and wife of pastor Matthew Chandler, Lauren Chandler, wrote on Saturday, “When I hear the words ‘Beth Moore,’ I think ‘good and faithful servant.’”
Lauren Chandler
✔@laurenchandler
When I hear the words “Beth Moore,“ I think “good and faithful servant.”
Pastor Brandon Cox also commented on the situation writing, “The host says, ‘Beth Moore.’ And a man who is supposed to be a model of biblical manhood and spiritual leadership responds, ‘Go home!’ And a room full of men laugh. This is sad. It’s unbiblical. But it’s the fruit of arrogance.”
Brandon A. Cox
✔@brandonacox
The host says, “Beth Moore.” And a man who is supposed to be a model of biblical manhood and spiritual leadership responds, “Go home!” And a room full of men laugh.
Preacher and Christian Counselor Kyle Howard also chimed in writing, “I have lost all respect beyond Imago Dei for John MacArthur, Friel, & Phil. To hear them mock, degrade, & publicly slander a sister in Christ like this is wicked. To hear a crowd of pastors laugh is disgusting. This is utterly shameful.”
Kyle J. Howard@KyleJamesHoward
I have lost all respect beyond Imago Dei for For John Macathur, Friel, & Phil. To hear them mock, degrade, & publicly slander a sister in Christ like this is wicked. To hear a crowd of pastors laugh is disgusting. This is utterly shameful.https://youtu.be/NeNKHqpBcgc
A homeless drug addict who broke into an Arkansas church and vandalized $100,000 worth of property was baptized at the same congregation six months later – all because the staff and church members displayed grace and got him much-needed help.
Brenton Winn, 23, was arrested in February after breaking into Central Baptist Church of Conway, Ark., and destroying $100,000 in church property. He threw the soundboard over the worship center balcony. He set part of the family life center on fire. He destroyed laptops. At the time, the church’s senior pastor, Don Chandler, told KTHV it was “about as messy of vandalism as you could possibly imagine.”
Winn, who was homeless and high on drugs, faced multiple charges and seemed destined for years behind bars.
But Chandler, while meeting with the prosecutor, chose to extend grace, according to Baptist Press. Chandler wanted Winn to get help.
“You can’t preach something for 50 years without practicing it, especially in front of your whole church,” Chandler told Baptist Press. “Had we not shown some grace to him, everything we’ve talked about and encouraged, would have gone by the wayside. It was simply the right thing to do. This was not a hardened criminal. This was a young man who had made some mistakes. He was on drugs and alcohol when he did what he did. But he was redeemable.”
The judge gave Winn an option: Face up to 20 years in prison or voluntarily enter a 12-month rehab and recovery program run by a Christian-based ministry, Renewal Ranch. Winner chose the latter, Baptist Press reported.
Winn had been doing methamphetamines and other drugs, off and on, since age 14.
“Before I knew it, I had a full-blown drug addiction,” Winn told Baptist Press. “From the time I was 16 until a few months ago, my life was nothing but chaos, suicide attempts and brokenness.”
Winn accepted Christ at one of the Renewal Ranch Bible studies. In August – six months after his crime – he was baptized at Central Baptist Church, the same congregation he tried to destroy.
“As I’m starting to understand how God works, I’ve realized I didn’t pick the church that night. God picked me,” Winn told Baptist Press. “If it had been any other church, I think I’d be sitting in prison right now.”
He added, “I used to think it was a coincidence [that I chose to break into the church that night], but now I call it confirmation that God is real, and He answers prayers. What was weighing on my heart was that I needed a relationship with Jesus Christ.”
Democratic presidential candidate Beto O’Rourke pledged Thursday night to end the tax-exempt status of churches and religious organizations that oppose same-sex marriage if he’s elected, saying it’s a necessary step to promote human rights.
O’Rourke, a former U.S. representative from Texas, made the comments during CNN’s town hall on LGBT issues. Eight other candidates participated, although only O’Rourke and Sen. Cory Booker were the only ones asked the tax-exempt question.
CNN
✔@CNN
Beto O’Rourke on religious institutions losing tax-exempt status for opposing same-sex marriage: “There can be no reward, no benefit, no tax break for anyone … that denies the full human rights and the full civil rights of every single one of us” #EqualityTownHall
While Booker refused to endorse the yanking of churches’ tax-exempt status, O’Rourke quickly embraced it.
O’Rourke was asked, “Do you think religious institutions, like colleges, churches [and] charities – should they lose their tax-exempt status if they oppose same-sex marriage?”
“Yes,” O’Rourke said to applause. “There can be no reward, no benefit, no tax break for anyone or any institution, any organization in America that denies the full human rights and the full civil rights of every single one of us. So as president, we’re going to make that a priority and we’re going to stop those who are infringing upon the human rights of our fellow Americans.”
Booker said there “has to be consequences for discrimination” but didn’t go as far as O’Rourke did.
“I’m not dodging your question,” Booker said. “I’m saying I believe fundamentally that discrimination is discrimination. And if you are using your position to try to discriminate others, there must be consequences to that. And I will make sure to hold them accountable using the DOJ or whatever investigatory. You cannot discriminate.”
O’Rourke’s proposal sparked plenty of reaction among Christians, conservatives and libertarians.
Walter Olson, a senior fellow at the Cato Institute, called it “extremist and oppressive.”
“Aside from being grossly illiberal, anti-pluralist, and inflammatory, O’Rourke’s announced policy is also unconstitutional under current Supreme Court precedent,” Olson wrote at Cato’s website. He quoted Eugene Volokh, who previously said the high court had made clear that “tax exemptions can’t be denied based on the viewpoint that a group communicates.”
Thomas S. Kinn, a professor of history at Baylor University, said O’Rourke’s proposal would have a widespread impact if implemented.
“Just think of all the groups whose tax exemptions Beto would have to revoke!” Kidd tweeted. “Catholics, Eastern Orthodox, Mormons, evangelicals, African American Protestants, Muslims, Pentecostals, traditional Jews…Methodists (for heaven’s sake, Methodists!!!).”
Thomas S. Kidd@ThomasSKidd
Just think of all the groups whose tax exemptions Beto would have to revoke! Catholics, Eastern Orthodox, Mormons, evangelicals, African American Protestants, Muslims, Pentecostals, traditional Jews…Methodists (for heaven’s sake, Methodists!!!).
Hershael York, a dean at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, also criticized O’Rourke.
“So @BetoORourke doesn’t care how many people you feed, clothe, educate, protect, shelter, serve, or save,” York tweeted, “… if you don’t bow to the sexual revolution, the government will make you pay for having a conscience. First Amendment notwithstanding.”
hershaelyork@hershaelyork
So @BetoORourke doesn’t care how many people you feed, clothe, educate, protect, shelter, serve, or save . . . if you don’t bow to the sexual revolution, the government will make you pay for having a conscience. First Amendment notwithstanding.
In-N-Out Burger Owner Uses Her Company to Glorify God
In-N-Out Burger, founded in 1948, is one of America’s most iconic brands. Buns are still baked with slow-rising dough each morning; the hamburgers are never frozen; heat lamps, microwaves, and freezers are banned from the premises. The recipes for its burgers and fries have remained essentially the same for seven decades.
An In-N-Out store outsells a typical McDonald’s nearly twice over. Revenue has doubled over the last eight years; the company is debt-free and is conservatively worth $3 billion.
But none of that is why I’m writing about the restaurant today.
Snyder’s father died when she was a teenager. She says she turned to drugs and alcohol to fill the void. She also endured three failed marriages, one of which ended because of abuse.
In the depths of her pain, she came to the realization: “I finally found that the deep need in my heart can only be filled by Jesus and my identity in him.” Rather than allowing her tragedies to define her future, she chose to dedicate her life to serving her Lord.
For instance, she has continued a tradition begun by her uncle, who put Bible verses on In-N-Out’s cups and wrappers in the early 1990s. “He had just accepted the Lord and wanted to put that little touch of his faith on our brand,” she explains. Snyder has added verses to the coffee and hot cocoa cups as well.
Her public stand for Christ could cost her company financially. In a country where nearly three in ten do not identify as Christians and a third of millennials have no religious affiliation, Snyder is risking much by making much of Christ.
Judge Tammy Kemp presided over Amber Guyger’s trial. At its conclusion, after the jury was dismissed, Judge Kemp came down from the bench to extend her condolences to the family of murder victim Botham Jean. His brother, Brandt, had already offered his forgiveness to Ms. Guyger.
Judge Kemp then said to her, “Ms. Guyger, Brandt Jean has forgiven you. Now please forgive yourself so that you can live a productive life when you get out of prison.” What happened next was an exchange for which she could not remember an equivalent in her decades of practicing law and her nearly five years on the bench.
“She asked me if I thought her life could have purpose,” Judge Kemp recalled. “I said, ‘I know that it can.’ She said, ‘I don’t know where to start, I don’t have a Bible.’” Judge Kemp retrieved her Bible from her chambers and gave it to Ms. Guyger, and they read John 3:16 together.
Then Ms. Guyger asked for a hug. Judge Kemp thought about the sermon she’d heard the previous Sunday on the Parable of the Lost Sheep. “Our pastor had said: ‘If we’re going to attract the one, we’ve got to show love and compassion.’ And then I also thought, God says my job is to do justice, love mercy and walk humbly. So how can you refuse this woman a hug?”
Her actions drew swift criticism from the Freedom From Religion Foundation. But Judge Kemp focused more on the person in need than those who criticize biblical faith.
TWO STEPS TO CHANGING THE WORLD
Today is Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the year in Judaism. It is a day of fasting, repentance, and worship. Services are held throughout the day and include prayers expressing regret or asking for forgiveness. The goal is restored relationship with God and with others.
We can learn from our Jewish friends the connection between personal spiritual commitment and public service.
Lynsi Snyder’s life was changed by Jesus; now she is taking a courageous stand to help others find what she has found. Judge Tammy Kemp heard a biblical call for compassion; now she has taken a courageous stand to help a convicted murderer find the grace she has found.
In John 4, a Samaritan woman engages in what becomes a transformational encounter with the Lord Jesus. An outcast from her village, she then risks their rejection to give them what she has received. And they agree with her: “This is indeed the Savior of the world” (John 4:42).
There are two steps here: (1) We are changed by Christ. (2) We risk whatever we must to help others be changed by Christ. The second depends on the first. We can measure the first by the degree to which we do the second.
“GOD MUST BE THE POWER STRIP”
God must be the power strip and everything in our life should be plugged into Him as our power source.
—Lynsi Snyder
Lynsi Snyder describes this culture-changing lifestyle well: “Picture our lives being a power strip. We plug so many things into the power strip—work, family, hobbies, and God. But that is all wrong. God must be the power strip and everything in our life should be plugged into Him as our power source. He gives us life and then we have His power in everything we do.
“He shouldn’t be one of the ‘plug-ins’ in our life, but rather we should live plugged into Him and the calling He has for us.”
Title X Protect Life Rule Reallocates Millions of Dollars from Planned Parenthood to Other Providers
Earlier this week, the Department of Health and Human Services announced that $33.6 million in Title X funding will be reallocated to 50 other groups and not Planned Parenthood.
The announcement came after the Trump administration created the Title X Protect Life Rule in 2019, as Chrisitan Headlines previously reported. The rule refuses to provide federal funds for organizations that refer for abortion services.
The money will now funnel to health departments and clinics across the United States to help meet needs caused by the loss of federal funding from Planned Parenthood and other organizations that refused to comply.
“In order to minimize the service gaps created by those grantees, HHS awarded supplemental grants to qualified organizations that comply with the law,” HHS Director of External Affairs Mia Heck said to Fox News.
“Those supplemental grants allow them to expand family-planning services and increase protections for women and children at risk of (or victims of) child abuse, child molestation, sexual abuse, rape, incest, intimate-partner violence, and sex trafficking.”
Other organizations that lost funding besides Planned Parenthood included government health departments in New York, Massachusetts, Maryland, Illinois, Vermont and Oregon. States such as Alabama, Arizona, Mississippi and Delaware will receive additional Title X funds.
Planned Parenthood has fought hard against the new rule and believe it will hurt women.
“This puts health care at risk for four million patients and keeps patients from getting information about all of their health care options—including 1.6 million Planned Parenthood patients,” their website said.
The HHS, however, anticipates that the reallocation of funds will still provide the assistance women need.
“The supplemental awards will come close to—if not exceed—prior Title X patient coverage,” Heck said. “HHS will continue to seek qualified entities to minimize any interruption of Title X services caused by the grantees that chose not to serve their patients as promised when they accepted Title X funds.”
A 17-year-old boy is crediting God after a hike Sunday morning turned into a near-deadly fall.
Ben Foster and friends were exploring Frenchman’s Bluff Trail in Cuivre River State Park, located in Saint Louis, Missouri over the weekend near the 120-foot rounded cliff. While there, his foot slipped on a rock which sent him off of the bluff 50 feet down until a branch broke his fall.
“All I could think about was what’s going to happen next? Will I be able to get out of this?” he told local CBS station KMOV. “I just flung my left arm out and grabbed onto it somehow, and just held on”
After a few minutes, which felt like “hours” to Foster, paramedics and fire crews arrived to find him. Once they found the young man, firefighters set up ropes which helped the teen down the bluff.
“I felt God grab on to me and pull on me tight,” he said while holding onto his cross chain.
Teen Ben Foster survives fall down bluff, June 9, 2019 | ScreenShot/CBS
A 17-year-old boy is crediting God after a hike Sunday morning turned into a near-deadly fall.
Ben Foster and friends were exploring Frenchman’s Bluff Trail in Cuivre River State Park, located in Saint Louis, Missouri over the weekend near the 120-foot rounded cliff. While there, his foot slipped on a rock which sent him off of the bluff 50 feet down until a branch broke his fall.
“All I could think about was what’s going to happen next? Will I be able to get out of this?” he told local CBS station KMOV. “I just flung my left arm out and grabbed onto it somehow, and just held on”
After a few minutes, which felt like “hours” to Foster, paramedics and fire crews arrived to find him. Once they found the young man, firefighters set up ropes which helped the teen down the bluff.
“I felt God grab on to me and pull on me tight,” he said while holding onto his cross chain.
“God grabbed onto me and brought me to safety,” he added.
The young man was rescued and placed on a rescue boat which took him to a nearby hospital. His mother, a nurse, Maria Branon told the news outlet she worried her son would never be able to walk again.
“My heart stopped, I didn’t know what to think and plus being a nurse, I froze, I didn’t know if he’s alive. How bad is he injured?” said Branon.
Foster survived the near-fatal fall with just a broken clavicle and minor cuts and bruises. He went on to thank the first responders and his faith for saving his life.
Parents who object to their daughter’s abortion would be required to pay for it and could be held liable under a pro-choice bill that passed the Illinois House Wednesday.
The bill, H.B. 25, liberalizes the state’s abortion laws and declares abortion a “fundamental right, as Christian Headlines previously reported.
But the bill also repeals language that explicitly protected parents from being forced to pay for their daughter’s abortion if they didn’t give consent.
Current law states: “No parent shall be liable for any expense incurred by his or her minor child when an abortion is performed on such minor child without the consent of both parents of such child.” The bill – which passed, 64-50 – deletes that section of law.
Republican Rep. Avery Bourne, who voted against the bill, said during floor debate the bill targets parental rights.
“It takes out measures that we have legislated over the years, because we think it’s important to stand up for the people who are impacted,” she said.
Bourne asked the bill’s sponsor, Democratic Rep. Kelly Cassidy, why the language was removed.
“Currently under statute,” Bourne said, “a minor child goes [and] gets an abortion – her parents if they did not consent to that cannot be held liable for the expenses of that abortion. Under this piece of legislation, the parents could have to pay for the abortion their daughter had, even though it happened without their consent.”
Cassidy responded that the bill is “treating abortion care like other care.”
Bourne then asked: “So you think it is appropriate for us in statute to allow parents to be held liable for the expenses of an abortion procedure that they objected to?”
“I am saying,” Cassidy responded, “that this is treating abortion care like any other health care.”
source: Michael Foust | ChristianHeadlines.com Contributor | Friday, May 31, 2019
In the immediate aftermath of the deadly church bombings in Sri Lanka on Easter Sunday, which claimed the lives of nearly 300 people, survivors of the bloody terrorist attacks are asking Christians around the globe to pray.
Sarah Cunningham, senior communications director for Open Doors, a faith-based nonprofit working with persecuted Christians internationally, told Faithwire survivors in Sri Lanka have said prayer “is the most powerful weapon” they have to combat the evils of terrorism.
She went on to explain that the attack — the deadliest in recent history — “is for sure unprecedented for that area,” noting Sri Lanka is No. 46 on the organization’s annual World Watch List, which tracks the 50 most dangerous countries for Christians.
“There’s always tension between them,” Cunningham said of the friction between the Buddhist, Muslim and Christian factions in Sri Lanka. She added there are sometimes instances of harassment and pressuring, “but nothing anywhere close to this degree of violence or to this degree of planning.”
“That, I think, is what is most shocking,” she said. “The [local pastors] were very surprised that their congregations were targeted because they had really no inkling that anyone had any hostility at that level toward them.”
This attack should sound the alarm
For many in the West, the idea that Christians are facing unparalleled persecution — they are the most persecuted religious demographic, according to the Pew Research Center — is hard to understand.
Cunningham said Open Doors is hopeful Sunday’s tragic bombings will raise awareness about the plight of Christians around the world.
“Something we’re hopeful of is this will bring the plight of persecuted Christians onto the world’s radar,” she said. “We’re hoping it will make politicians and leaders in the free world — and especially here, in the United States — pay close attention to Christians who face everything from discrimination and harassment to false imprisonment and rape and killings.”
These kinds of crimes against Christians, she explained, are “commonplace” in countries outside the Western world, and the data bears that out.
From a practical standpoint, Open Doors has launched a rapid response effort Cunningham described as a “two-pronged approach” between on-the-ground assistance and prayer support. The former is still being built out based on the constantly shifting needs of the people in Sri Lanka.
The Christian nonprofit, which has a permanent, native presence Sri Lanka, is also asking believers around the world to participate in its virtual prayer wall. Cunningham said people can visit the site to submit written prayers to those who survived the Easter bombings.
“We’re trying to have people type [their prayers] out because it will send the message that they are not alone,” Cunningham said of those in the South Asian country. “Because especially for a minority group, who might be treated as second-class citizens, they might not have the typical support system that you and I would expect if something like this happened.”
She added it’s important for persecuted Christians to know there are “thousands and thousands of people around the world who are rooting for you, who are empathetic toward your plight, who are rallying their leaders to respond positively to your need.”
For those interested in learning more about Open Doors or donating to its rapid response for those impacted by the church bombings in Sri Lanka, click here.
J.D. Greear@jdgreear
Lauren Chandler
Brandon A. Cox
Kyle J. Howard@KyleJamesHoward
