This is the testimony of Keith Becker as told on Pacific Garden Mission’s Unshackled. “Keith had his own plans for his life, but bankrupt and brokenhearted, he starts to wonder where he’s going wrong. From rebellion to bending the knee, to devastating tragedy, Keith saw God’s power turn his family’s story into a powerful ministry.” John 3:16 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.
‘Comic books, corporations, computer games, and Cruella de Ville. What do they all have in common? They are taking Pride Month from a naked and debaucherous parade in coastal cities, to an industry targeting children in their shows, schools and libraries.
June is the feast month for the chief of all cardinal sins, and is this week’s topic for The Federalist’s Christopher Bedford and his guest, The American Conservative’s Dr. Shaun Rieley. The two discuss what the American rulers don’t want you to hear: that all human beings have inherent dignity, the education system is in steep decline, and that children have been failed by a society that celebrates its own pride and worships the gods of its own imagination.
‘Johnny Hudson was born September 30, 1977 without arms, his left leg, and half of his right leg. His right foot was where the knee would be. After he was born, the doctors took him away and recommended his parents sign him over to the state as he would not live a ‘normal’ life. Instead, his parents kept him and raised him.
His parents raised him no different than his older sister, Rebecca. Despite the opinions of the doctors, by age 4, he was picking up skills like taking notes and flipping through a book with his foot. God even gave him the ability to climb up the stairs.
God did the greatest work in Johnny’s life on October 4, 1995. During a week-long revival, Johnny accepted Christ as his personal Saviour, and surrendered to preach God’s Word.’ https://www.familybiblemd.com/our-pastor
As I said in a previous post I had never heard of Kanakuk Kamps, Pete Newman or Joe White until recently. However, this cover-up for sodomites, adulterers and pedophiles occurs sadly too often within professing Christian organizations. Pete Newman is one example of a Good Ole Boy within a professing Christian organization! Now we read that ‘The first thing you need to know about Pete Newman is that people loved him. He has olive skin, dark hair, and thick eyebrows that generated good-natured “unibrow” teasing. Girls wanted to date him, guys wanted to be him, and children wanted to follow him.
He was a camp director at Kanakuk Kamps, one of the largest Christian camps in the world. Kanakuk is an immense operation. Since its founding in 1926, it claims to have served more than 450,000 campers. Its main campus is located outside of Branson, Missouri, but it has international reach. Every summer approximately 20,000 kids pass through its gates, and the institution is particularly prominent with the Evangelical elite.
Newman was the camp’s rock star. A person who went to Auburn University with Newman said, memorably, “If Jesus and Pete walked into a room, I’m not sure who the kids would have worshiped.” “Pete Newman is the most thorough relationship builder with kids in Kanakuk history,” Kanakuk chief executive officer Joe White once said. “This guy has a raging love for God and it spills over constantly to the kids at kamp.”
White himself has long been a popular, charismatic figure in American Evangelicalism. (We reached out to White, and he declined to comment.) He has inspired intense devotion from campers, employees, and parents. Outside of camp, he’s known for a particular and vivid public presentation where he builds and carries a cross on stage to illustrate the crucifixion of Christ. The example below comes from a 2015 convocation at Liberty University:
Kanakuk and White promoted Newman relentlessly, both within the organization and to the public at large. Newman rose through the ranks from camp counselor to camp director. It sent him on the road to recruit campers and to raise money. According to former members of the camp community, parents would sometimes compete for a coveted honor—hosting Newman in their home.
He was also a superpredator. He groomed and abused boys in their own homes. He groomed and abused boys at camp. In fact, he abused boys across the world.On June 9, 2010, he pleaded guilty to seven counts of sexually abusing boys. He received a sentence of two life terms, plus 30 years. His guilty plea was but the tip of a terrible iceberg. A civil complaint alleges that there were at least 57 victims, but the prosecutor in his case estimates that the real number could be in the “hundreds.”
The true dimensions of the worst Christian sex abuse scandal you’ve never heard of have long been largely unknown. Newman’s initial arrest and sentencing received little media attention. Few reporters knew about the camp’s size or importance. They were unfamiliar with Joe White. Moreover, the limited scope of the guilty plea concealed the sheer scale of the abuse. The resulting civil lawsuits received little attention, and nondisclosure agreements silenced victims and kept evidence under seal.
Following Newman’s conviction, the narrative from the camp was relatively simple. They had been shocked to find a bad apple in their midst. They had fired him immediately, promptly reported his wrongdoing to the authorities, and then implemented new “industry-leading” protective measures to protect the children who attend the camp. The camp’s worst moment became a catalyst for positive change, and now, its leaders maintain, it leads the way in caring for kids.
The truth is far more complex.
The scant media attention—combined with NDAs—means that we still don’t know the true number of legal actions against the camp or the true extent of Newman’s abuse. An unknown number of victims have filed an unknown number of lawsuits filled with unknown evidence that have resulted in unknown numbers of settlements for an unknown amount of money. We do, however, have a far more complete account of what happened at Kanakuk, and we’re sharing that account today.
Our own involvement began when former Fox News anchor Gretchen Carlson reached out to Nancy (who has her own experience with sexual abuse in church) after discovering from a victim’s sister the extent of the NDAs connected to the scandal. Nancy then began her own months-long effort to comb through court documents, interview witnesses, and to retrieve the documents and testimony that would tell the tale.
During this investigation, we discovered that one courageous young man and his family had resisted the pressure to promise silence. He and his family refused to sign a nondisclosure agreement. They wanted the freedom to tell their story and to share their evidence. They still want their identities to remain private (we’re maintaining the anonymity of victims and their families), but they want the evidence to become public. We’re sharing that evidence today.
This is the Christian testimony of Christopher Replogle, a Marine veteran of the Iraqi war. Christopher’s testimony is of one who not only fought in a war of bullets but a spiritual warfare for his soul. In the end Christopher came to know true freedom found only in the Lord Jesus Christ as his personal Saviour.
The Bible speaks of fornication, adultery and men with men working that which is unseemly, as sin! The following article is speaking abut what has become known in and out of the churches as sexual abuse. The ‘abuse’ spoken of in the following article began with an older man when the woman was 26 and ended when she was 38. I am not blaming the woman alone but I am saying these two professed to be ‘Christians’ when they were committing this sin! Personally, I believe both should be questioning their relationship with the Lord Jesus!
Now, there are many things that stand out in the articles being written on this ‘abuse’ matter but at least to this blogger there are three things that stand out.
One is that BOTH professed to know the Lord Jesus as their personal Saviour while committing fornication! There is definitely a heart (spiritual) problem here. Have these people considered the fact they may not be saved.? 2Corinthians 5:17 Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.
Secondly, while this sin continued this long this man, David Sills, was able to move about the Southern Baptist Convention teaching and preaching while committing adultery!!!! The word ‘ACCOUNTABILITY’ is thrown around a lot in the churches and ‘Christian’ organizations such as the schools and seminaries but where is the accountability?
Those churches and organizations, in this case the Southern Baptist Convention, say they are preaching the Gospel when in reality they are not preaching the Gospel as found in the Word of God where there is repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ, Acts 20:21! There’s sin in the camp and there is seemingly NO repentance or discipline administered in the churches or the denominational organizations andthese things ought not so to be, James 3:10!!! Now, the articles say ‘Jennifer Lyell was trying to do the right thing.
In the spring of 2019, Lyell, then a well-respected leader in Christian publishing, decided to publicly disclose that she was a survivor of sexual abuse.
She did so after learning her abuser, a former Southern Baptist seminary professor, author and missionary, had recently returned to ministry. Lyell feared he would once again have the opportunity to abuse others and wanted to stop that from happening.
So she wrote up a statement detailing the abuse and shared it with a reporter from a Christian news organization. Then things went terribly wrong.
Instead of reporting she had been abused, Nashville-based Baptist Press, which is overseen by the Southern Baptist Convention’s Executive Committee, reported in March 2019 that Lyell, then a vice president at Lifeway Christian Resources, had admitted being involved in a “morally inappropriate relationship” with her former professor.
The fallout was quick and devastating. Lyell was labeled on social media as an “adulteress” rather than an abuse survivor, with users leaving scores of vile comments about her on Lifeway’s Facebook page and the Baptist Press website. Pastors and churches called for her to be fired. She lost her reputation, her job and even her health in the process.
The article was eventually retracted, but the damage was done.
Lyell told Religion News Service she wished she had never gone public. Instead of receiving support and compassion, she found herself trying to convince critics she was not responsible for the abuse she had experienced at the hands of the former professor.
‘When Nazi forces invaded Holland in 1940 and began rounding up Jews, Corrie ten Boom, her sister Betsie, and their elderly father risked their lives to save as many as possible. A hidden room was secretly built in their home where the oppressed Jews took refuge until a Gestapo raid put an end to their operation. Corrie ten Boom: a Faith Undefeated recounts this unforgettable story for a new generation. “When Nazi forces invaded Holland in 1940 and began rounding up Jews, Corrie ten Boom, her sister Betsie, and their elderly father risked their lives to save as many as possible. A hidden room was secretly built in their home where the oppressed Jews took refuge until a Gestapo raid put an end to their operation. For their “crimes,” Corrie and Betsie were sent to the notorious concentration camp at Ravensbruck, where they suffered relentless cruelty. Struggling to reconcile God’s goodness with the terrible realities of the camp, the sisters clung desperately to their Christian faith. Betsie died in the camp, but Corrie was miraculously released due to a clerical error. She spent the rest of her days caring for other death camp survivors and sharing her story with the world. Corrie’s 1971 best-selling book, The Hiding Place, provides her account of persevering faith and forgiveness in the face of terrible evil.’
God established the local church and man has added thereto. Now, ‘In a long-awaited report released Monday, a task force commissioned to study the Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission (ERLC) calls the convention’s public policy arm a “significant distraction from the Great Commission work of Southern Baptists.”
Blaming the ERLC for the loss of more than a million dollars in constituent church donations to the denomination, the task force, led by Georgia pastor Mike Stone, quotes the leader of a state Baptist convention as saying, “The ERLC has been a stumbling block not worth the mission dollar investment.” (Stone is one of four candidates vying to be the next president of the Southern Baptist Convention or SBC.)
But there seems to be as much politics as economics in the report’s conclusions. It notes that in recent years, the fear of a “liberal” drift in the denomination has led some churches to leave the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) or to withhold giving. Part of that dissatisfaction is aimed at the ERLC, and particularly at the Rev. Russell Moore, who has led the ERLC since 2013.
Though a staunch opponent of abortion and same-sex marriage, two of the issues most important to politically conservative evangelicals, Moore’s views on other issues over the course of the Trump administration—most significantly on immigration, race, and Donald Trump himself—have landed Moore in hot water.
The report does not call for Moore’s ouster, but it does recommend that the ERLC no longer make public comments about any political candidate and only address issues that the SBC has already issued resolutions on.’
‘The report also list a series of direct complaints. These include Moore’s opposition to Trump; claims that the ERLC receives funding linked to progressive philanthropist George Soros; the ERLC’s stance on cooperating with COVID-19 restrictions; and the agency’s support for immigration reforms.
More recently, it claims, the ERLC was critical of protesters who stormed the U.S. Capitol but not of Black Lives Matter protests.
The report also cites what it calls “disrespectful and condescending responses” to questions raised by messengers—the SBC’s terms for church delegates to its annual meeting. As one example, the report mentions the response to Arkansas pastor John Wofford at the 2016 meeting.
Wofford asked Moore why the ERLC would support the rights of Muslims to build mosques. Moore replied that Baptists had always supported religious liberty and that if a government could ban mosques it could also ban Baptist churches, a response that earned a standing ovation.
Moore is not the first head of the ERLC to be met with disapproval. Two of his predecessors left office because of controversy.
In 2011, longtime ERLC President Richard Land was criticized for his support of a mosque in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, and for joining an interfaith coalition that defended the rights of Muslims to build houses of worship. Criticism from other Southern Baptists eventually forced Land to leave the coalition. Land, a longtime Republican activist, left office after a scandal over plagiarism and comments on race.
Land’s predecessor, N. Larry Baker, lasted just 16 months in the role in the 1980s, where his views on “abortion, capital punishment, and the role of women in the church” were considered controversial, according to Baptist Press. Baker was part of the moderate wing of the SBC that was ousted by a conservative movement in the denomination.
David Gushee, professor of ethics at Mercer University, said that the head of the ERLC has always been in a precarious position. Tasked with bringing Christian ethics to bear on social issues, the ERLC’s president often has to navigate clashes between Christian ethics and popular political positions.’ https://julieroys.com/sbc-report-moore-distraction/?mc_cid=82f74619a9&mc_eid=b13d34ad49
Genesis 8:22While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease. “
‘Burning fuel for heat and cooking in developing countries could be harmful to health. In many cases, dwellings may not have chimneys. Add to this the fact that the scarcity of other fuels may result in people, for example, burning animal and human excrement, with health hazards resulting from the process.
Most developing countries would be in a position to establish electrical power grids, which would vastly improve health conditions. However, what fuel would be used to generate the electricity? Many developing countries have large coal reserves, which they would like to exploit in order to emulate the development of Western countries. Their development would be better than that of the west, given that pollutants released in coal burning, such as sulfur dioxide and nitrous oxides, are, today, easy to remove. So what prevents such countries from rapid development? The answer is global warming policies imposed by international bodies, such as the UN. Such bodies are fearful of the possible increase in atmospheric carbon dioxide and therefore apply restrictions on the development of coal-fired power plants. This prevents such countries from industrial development and leaves large numbers of people trapped in poverty. Yet, as we have previously discussed on Creation Moments, these regulations are based on false science, which has nevertheless become the accepted standard.
“Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ.” (1 Peter 2:5)
In the Old Testament theocracy of Israel, it was the responsibility of the Levitical priesthood to be “daily ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices” in atonement for the sins of the people, and this continued until Jesus Christ “offered one sacrifice for sins for ever” (Hebrews 10:11-12). The old priesthood has now been set aside. Only the sacrifice of Christ and our identification with Him through faith is acceptable for our salvation.
Nevertheless, there is a new priesthood—a spiritual priesthood offering spiritual sacrifices—and it is vital that we who are now His priests offer sacrifices that are acceptable and pleasing to God. The first and most basic sacrifice is set forth in one of the Bible’s key verses: “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service” (Romans 12:1).
Three other acceptable sacrifices are outlined in the concluding chapter of Hebrews. “By him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name. But to do good and to communicate forget not: for with such sacrifices God is well pleased” (Hebrews 13:15-16).
The continual offering of praise to God, in all circumstances acknowledging His wisdom and goodness, is an acceptable sacrifice. Doing good works—not for our salvation but because of our salvation—is acceptable. So is “communicating” (Greek koinonia)—sharing what we have with others. With these sacrifices, God is “well pleased.” It is our high privilege as His holy priesthood to offer up these spiritual sacrifices.’https://www.icr.org/articles/type/6/?utm_source=phplist8651&utm_medium=email&utm_content=HTML&utm_campaign=August+3+-+Acceptable+Sacrifices
whatyareckon 