What is going on in the wide circle of Baptist churches? It is unbelievable there are so many pastors within the independent and denominational Baptist churches that are abusing girls and boys! One perhaps was thinking Jack Schaapp was hopefully the last but that was not to be.
‘Stephen Bratton, former pastor of Grace Family Baptist Church in the Houston, Texas area was arrested for molesting a child over a period of five years.’
This man sexually abused a girl from 2013 – 2018. There is a LOT of talk about restoration for these men who have been caught out but one wonders if it is not regeneration from above that they need!
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.
Ephesians 5:11 And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them. 2Timothy 4:2 Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine. 1Peter 5:8 Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour
Are there those preachers who are purposefully grooming and sexually abusing underage girls? Now, before I get any further, no, I have not called the men mentioned in the following but if someone reads this knows them, have them email me at aussiedubbo@yahoo.com.
‘The man who hired a pastor who was facing charges of sexual abuse of a teenage student at a Baltimore-area church school in 2007 was under investigation himself for clandestinely videotaping women undressing in his office, the I-TEAM has learned.
“The evidence of his crimes of voyeurism in 2001 is overwhelming,” an assistant state attorney said in 2011. “Unfortunately, the statute of limitations has expired.”
Would you plead guilty to something you were not guilty of? ‘The former pastor of a Dundalk church pleaded guilty Wednesday to a sex offense against a student when she was 17, in what Baltimore County prosecutors described as a coercive relationship more than a decade ago.
Baltimore County prosecutors said Cameron Giovanelli, now 42, used his position of authority at Calvary Baptist Church to pressure the girl — who babysat for his family and attended the church school — into sexual activity in 2007. She reported the incidents to police last year, when she was in her late 20s.
This is a portion of the victim’s impact statement.
‘Your Honor, Thank you so much for allowing me a chance to speak. What this man did to me, was a something that has affected me over the years in so many ways that I didn’t even fully understand for a long time. For 13 years I have tried to live with something that no one should have to live with. I feel its important to know who I was before all of this happened to me.
I was raised in an extremely sheltered and religious atmosphere. I had never taken a sex ed class, didn’t know the differences between male and female bodies, touched or had been touched up until this point. I had no idea how a sexual relationship worked. I was a very naïve child who was completely in the dark regarding anything sexual. I was being taught all of those things were to be kept pure and sacred until marriage and up until this point, that was my dream of doing.
If the above have any truth at all, which it seems that it does, these men should not be serving in any form of church leadership. God’s Word is plain as to a pastor in 1Timothy 3:1-7 This is a true saying, If a man desire the office of a bishop, he desireth a good work. 2 A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, vigilant, sober, of good behaviour, given to hospitality, apt to teach; 3 Not given to wine, no striker, not greedy of filthy lucre; but patient, not a brawler, not covetous; 4 One that ruleth well his own house, having his children in subjection with all gravity; 5 (For if a man know not how to rule his own house, how shall he take care of the church of God?) 6 Not a novice, lest being lifted up with pride he fall into the condemnation of the devil. 7 Moreover he must have a good report of them which are without; lest he fall into reproach and the snare of the devil.
Did Jerry Jr. really believe he would get a free pass when it came to business and pleasure? ‘A key reason for Jerry Falwell, Jr.’s departure from Liberty University was an Instagram photo showing Falwell with his pants unbuttoned, on a luxury yacht.
According to Politico, the yacht is owned by billionaire NASCAR team owner Rick Hendrick. Falwell’s family has been using the yacht for family vacations since Liberty University committed to a lucrative sponsorship deal with Hendrick Motorsports.
Though coverage of Falwell’s suspension and ultimate resignation from Liberty focused on his personal behavior, the board of trustees said it will launch an independent audit of Falwell’s tenure that will include financial dealings, including the NASCAR sponsorship.
Liberty has sponsored a car with Hendrick Motorsports since 2018. Neither Liberty University nor Hendrick Motorsports has announced the size of the sponsorship, but an annual sponsorship typically costs millions of dollars. Occasionally the public gets a peek at the cost of these sponsorships. For example, court filings about the contract later obtained by ESPN indicate Farmers Insurance paid Hendrick Motorsports $8 million for a similar NASCAR team sponsorship. According to Politico, “a Liberty employee familiar with the university’s contract with Hendrick Motorsports said the sponsorship payment varies slightly by year but amounts to roughly $6 million annually.”
If Falwell and his family made personal use of Hendrick’s yacht as a result of or as a condition for the sponsorship, the relationship raises a number of ethical and potentially legal problems, including the possibility of what the tax code calls “private inurement,” which occurs when an officer of a non-profit receives an excessive, undue, or disproportionate share of benefits from a transaction. Such transactions could be illegal outright if they can be proven to be bribes, or they could – at a minimum – be subject to taxation by the recipient as income.
Rick Hendrick has a net worth estimated to be about $1-billion. He made most of his money as the owner of car dealerships. He also has had a long relationship with Liberty University. He has spoken at the school’s commencement, and his company helpedstart an auto dealership management program at its business school.
Hendrick has also had previous run-ins with the law regarding under-the-table deals. When Honda cars were in demand, in the 1980s and 90s, Hendrick gave hundreds of thousands of dollars, automobiles, and houses to American Honda Motor Company executives in exchange for preferred treatment, including increased automobile allocations for his dealerships. Hendrick pled guilty to mail fraud charges and was sentenced in December 1997 to a $250,000 fine and 12 months’ home confinement. He avoided prison time because at the time he had leukemia. During his trial, he told the court he “may only have a couple of years to live.”
Soon after his home confinement period ended, he announced that his leukemia was in full remission, and has remained so ever since. Despite the fact that the district attorney prosecuting Hendrick called his wrong-doing a “serious crime,” Hendrick was granted a pardon by Bill Clinton in 2000, weeks before Clinton left office.
Hendrick’s yacht is known for its opulence. Called “Wheels,” it is 164 feet long and has a list price of $35-million. It also has, according to a promotional video for the vessel, six bedrooms for guests, marble bathrooms, three wet bars and three separate sun decks.” According to Politico, “It carries jet skis, 15 drop-down televisions, and a 19th century dining table made out of North Carolina walnut in its formal dining room, according to a promotional video and brochure for chartering the yacht.” It rents for $200,000 per week.
A Hendrick Motorsports spokesperson told POLITICO that use of the yacht is not part of Hendrick Motorsports’ agreement with Liberty University. According to Politico, “A Liberty spokesperson declined to answer questions about whether use of the yacht was in any way related to the sponsorship agreement.”’https://ministrywatch.com/falwells-use-of-nascar-owners-yacht-comes-under-scrutiny/
Strange things are happening. ‘The meltdown of the left over the passing of Ruth Bader Ginsburg was immediate and predictable. Viral videos circulating on Twitter show young women in hysterics, shrieking at their phones — one girl screamed that she hates those who are trying to stop abortions, and that she wished she’d been aborted herself. Another woman, who howled F-bombs with impressive lung power, berated the Notorious RBG for not hanging on just a little bit longer. The sheer force of emotion was slightly unnerving.
The reaction is ongoing, and it is getting sicker and stranger. Take, for example, Jamie Smith, a “40-something attorney and mother who lives in a quiet neighborhood with a yard and a garage full of scooters and soccer balls.” Smith is a normal person, she says: “I often walk with my children to get ice cream and spend weekends hiking through a national park.” But despite all that, the death of Ruth Bader Ginbsurg rocked Smith to her core and, she writes in the Huffington Post, “pushed me to join the Satanic Temple.”
“I am not the type of person who would normally consider becoming a Satanist, but these are not normal times,” Smith writes. “Our democracy has become so fragile that the loss of one of the last guardians of common sense … has put our civil and reproductive rights in danger like never before. And, so, I have turned to Satanism.”
I realize that this sounds like the sort of thing the Babylon Bee would write about abortion-supporters (perhaps to parody how Christians see abortion activists sometimes), but it helps to remember that the Satanic Temple has been fighting for abortion for some years now (they recently raffled a free abortion and declared abortion a “religious ritual”). It’s almost as strange as the effort to have witches curse President Trump, reported by the Los Angeles Times.
According to Smith, the Satanic Temple is one of the last lines of defense against “theocracy” and the pro-life movement:
Members of the Satanic Temple do not believe in the supernatural or superstition. In the same way that some Unitarians and some Jews do not believe in God, Satanic Temple members do not worship Satan and most are atheists. They are not affiliated in any way with the Church of Satan. Instead, the Satanic Temple uses the devil as a symbol of rebellion.
Just like other faiths, the Satanic Temple has a code that their members believe in deeply and use to guide their lives. These Seven Fundamental Tenets include that “one should strive to act with compassion and empathy toward all creatures in accordance with reason,” that “the struggle for justice is an ongoing and necessary pursuit that should prevail over laws and institutions,” and that “one’s body is inviolable, subject to one’s own will alone.”
Reading through the Seven Tenets, I was struck by how closely they aligned with the unwritten code I had used to try to guide my own life for several years. I realized, happily, that these were my people and that I had been a Satanist for several years without even knowing it. When Justice Ginsburg’s death suddenly made combating the threats to reproductive rights and a government free from religious interference more urgent, I knew it was time to join them and support their conceptual and legal battles.
In fact, it is the Satanic Temple’s attempts to defend the abortion industry that really appealed to Smith:
By pointing out instances where the government has favored Christian rhetoric ― and filing legal challenges to stop it ― the Satanic Temple has transformed belief into action and has demonstrated what freedom fighting truly looks like. The Satanic Temple hopes to appear before the Supreme Court in a case challenging a Missouri abortion law that requires those seeking to terminate their pregnancy to first receive materials asserting that their abortion would end the life of a separate, unique person. The temple argues that these materials violate the deeply held religious beliefs of one of its members regarding bodily autonomy and scientifically reasonable personal choice. The argument the Satanic Temple is using is the same one the Supreme Court effectively endorsed in the Hobby Lobby birth control case, for which Justice Ginsburg wrote the dissent ― that no one should have to follow a law that violates their deeply held religious beliefs. If a Christian should not have to do so based on their religion, a Satanist should not have to either. This is what equality under the law means on a fundamental level.
In short, Smith writes, she joined the Satanic Temple for her young daughters. She now fears that their “right” to get an abortion is under threat, and the Satanists are fighting like Hell to ensure that abortion remains legal for her and for them. “I believe that the Satanic Temple — and its members’ dedication to fighting for true freedom — represents our best, last defense against anti-choice lawmakers[.]”
As the American republic tears itself apart over the right to kill children in the womb, the masks are coming off. A pro-abortion mother is now willing to ally with the Satanic Temple because their willingness to defend feticide represents “true freedom” — and write a long article in the Huffington Post explaining why. She has realized that she was a Satanist for years now but just never knew it — because the Satanic Temple perfectly encapsulates her pro-abortion worldview.
The Leftist Loony Lovies are out for our children and grandchildren. Proverbs 1:15 My son, walk not thou in the way with them; refrain thy foot from their path
‘A Christian school teaching assistant who was fired from Farmor’s School in Fairford, Gloucestershire last year after she shared concerns about plans to teach that gender is a matter of choice to young school children is seeking £56,000 ($71,560) in damages at a UK employment tribunal.
Christie Higgs had worked at the school for seven years before being fired over two Facebook posts which didn’t mention her employer and were shared under her maiden name to around 100 of her friends. The investigation that ultimately resulted in Higgs being terminated was triggered by a single anonymous complaint.
In the first October 24, 2018 Facebook post, Higgs shared her concerns about a UK government consultation into making Relationships and Sex Education mandatory in schools, described the proposal as “brainwashing our children,” and linked to a petition opposing the government’s plans.
In the second October 27, 2018 Facebook post, Higgs linked to an article about schools using brightly illustrated children’s books to teach children about transgender ideology and wrote: “This is happening in our Primary Schools now! ”. The books featured in the article include a book about a boy who wants to wear a dress and a book about a red crayon that discovers it’s really blue.
At the time of the second post, Higgs had discovered that several of these books had been introduced at her son’s Church of England primary school.
After Higgs made the first Facebook post, a single anonymous complaint was made to the school on October 26, 2018 which accused her of “posting homophobic and prejudiced views against the LGBT community on Facebook.”
Days after this complaint, Higgs was suspended, investigated, and ultimately dismissed in January 2019 after a disciplinary hearing.
According to the Christian Legal Center, which is representing Higgs, the school indicated that Higgs was terminated for “illegal discrimination, serious inappropriate use of social media, and online comments that could bring the school into disrepute and damage the reputation of the school.”
However, the school admitted that there was “no evidence” its reputation had been damaged to date.
Higgs has also accused a school governor and the disciplinary hearing’s chairman of branding her a “pro-Nazi,” “far-right” extremist during the disciplinary hearing.
Additionally, Higgs said that while she was being investigated, the school had trawled through her work emails, questioned why she had used her school email to receive “inspirational” quotations from the Bible, and told her that she had no absolute rights to freedom of expression or to share her religious beliefs.
In a statement submitted to the employment tribunal, Higgs said: “I believe that God created mankind as ‘male and female’ and what he has created is good. He does not make mistakes. I therefore do not believe in the modern ideas of gender fluidity and transgenderism.”
Higgs added that she was concerned that many parents across the country didn’t know what was going on and that she felt it “morally necessary to speak out in defense of the Bible truth when false and harmful doctrines are being promoted.”
The chief executive of the Christian Legal Center, Andrea Williams, told MailOnline: “This case is about the freedom to hold Christian views about what it means to be human. Many Christians have faced pressure for expressing these views in the workplace before, but in this case, Kristie has been dismissed for sharing her views among friends on Facebook.”
Williams added that Higgs has an exemplary record at the school and that if she doesn’t win the case, her entire career will be tarnished and she won’t be able to work with children again.
“I have been punished for sharing concerns about relationships and sex education,” Higgs said. “My number one concern has always been the effect that learning about sex and gender in school will have on children at such a young age.”
Higgs’ case against her former employer follows several other people being fired after challenging transgender ideology on social media.
Last month, assistant literary agent Sasha White was fired from her job at The Tobias Literary Agency after transgender activists complained that her alternative Twitter account, which made no reference to her employer, was “transphobic.”
And earlier this month, Canadian political candidate Roland Michaud was dropped by his party after online complaints about an almost two year old meme about Target’s 2016 announcement that it would be allowing “transgender team members and guests to use the restroom or fitting room facility that corresponds with their gender identity.”
In addition to people being fired for opposing transgender ideology, many major institutions, including TedXLondon and CNN, are erasing references to women in their public statements and articles and replacing it with terms such as “individuals with a cervix” as part of a push towards more “inclusive” language.’https://reclaimthenet.org/christie-higgs-employment-tribunal-lgbt-facebook-posts/
Nancy Pelosi and Ruth Ginsberg were cut from the same cloth and that’s why Pelosi can lie with a straight face when speaking of Ruth Ginsberg.
‘As Speaker Pelosi said after her passing, “Justice Ginsburg embodied justice, brilliance and goodness, and her passing is an incalculable loss for our democracy and for all who sacrifice and strive to build a better future for our children. Every family in America benefited from her brilliant legacy and courage. Her opinions have unequivocally cemented the precedent that all men and women are created equal.”’https://www.speaker.gov/newsroom/92120
The following article is a warning that Jerry Jr. should be on suicide watch. The indicators are there.
‘Less than a week after resigning as president of Liberty University, Jerry Falwell Jr. was injured in a fall after drinking, according to 911 transcripts and audio obtained by the Huffington Post.
The Sept. 17 Huffington Post report said Falwell’s wife, Becki Falwell, called 911 on August 30 to report her husband had fallen down the stairs and was bleeding. According to the report, Becki Falwell told the dispatcher her husband had been drinking but would not say if he had been “drinking heavily.”
“I’m not going to answer that question,” she reportedly said.
According to the Huffington Post, Jerry Falwell Jr. refused to let his wife take him to the hospital, but a first responder who went to the Falwells’ home found he had cuts on his face and slurred speech. The cuts were reportedly from a trash can that had empty alcohol containers in it.
The Wall Street Journal reported last week that Liberty officials had heard complaints about Jerry Falwell Jr. coming to campus while drunk. Falwell denied those claims.
Faculty and students at Liberty, one of the country’s largest Christian universities, are barred from drinking. Staff are allowed to drink but could be fired if they show up to work under the influence.
There is a BIG problem here. Well, in fact there are many problems but one problem is that there is a double standard in that the students are to be total abstainers of alcohol BUT staff are not!? This just may be the way contemporary Christianity works but it’s not God’s way. When professing Christians begin to argue for the ‘right’ to drink alcohol it is obvious there are other ‘legalistic’ prohibitions they will desire sanctioned. There is no limit to the list. There’s the contemporary religious ‘dialogues’ concerning gender fluidity, alcohol use, abortion, sodomy, same-sex marriage, etc. etc. and the list goes on. Once the flood gate is opened it is very hard to close. If Jerry Sr. was alive today he just might quote Proverbs 23:19 Hear thou, my son, and be wise, and guide thine heart in the way. 20 Be not among winebibbers; among riotous eaters of flesh: 21 For the drunkard and the glutton shall come to poverty: and drowsiness shall clothe a man with rags.29 Who hath woe? who hath sorrow? who hath contentions? who hath babbling? who hath wounds without cause? who hath redness of eyes? 30 They that tarry long at the wine; they that go to seek mixed wine. 31 Look not thou upon the wine when it is red, when it giveth his colour in the cup, when it moveth itself aright. 32 At the last it biteth like a serpent, and stingeth like an adder. 33 Thine eyes shall behold strange women, and thine heart shall utter perverse things. 34 Yea, thou shalt be as he that lieth down in the midst of the sea, or as he that lieth upon the top of a mast. 35 They have stricken me, shalt thou say, and I was not sick; they have beaten me, and I felt it not: when shall I awake? I will seek it yet again.
The call for diversity is really a show of one’s bigotry. For example ‘FamilyVoice Australia is calling on Grand Slam tennis star Andy Murray to apologise for disrespecting tennis legend Margaret Court and seeking to rename the arena that honours her championship achievements.
According to a report in news.com.au Andy Murray wants the Margaret Court Arena to be renamed before January’s Open tournament.
He further said, “I think as a sport you just have to be as inclusive as possible …”.
The following is another article declaring the PC culture that has infiltrated many ‘Christian’ institutions such as Taylor U.
‘No one is immune to cancel culture, not even Christian colleges and universities. A tenured professor of philosophy at Taylor University, a conservative Christian liberal-arts school in Indiana, has been fired for refusing to take down a music video he posted to YouTube.
The video shows Jim Spiegel in his basement performing “Little Hitler,” a song he wrote about human depravity. The refrain goes:
There’s a little Hitler inside of me,
There’s a brutal killer inside everyone,
The hatred grows inside us naturally.
Anyone with a scintilla of charity and intelligence can tell that this is no celebration of the Nazi madman — but an admittedly cheesy way to communicate an essentially Christian idea: that all human begins have a propensity to sin; that evil lurks in all our hearts.
The termination has shocked the Taylor community. Spiegel has won multiple awards for teaching excellence and scholarship and led Taylor’s Ethics Bowl team to national victories. He has been an indispensable fixture of the university’s intellectual life.
On Aug. 19, two days after Spiegel posted the video, provost Michael Hammond emailed to insist he remove it, according to Spiegel.
Spiegel refused, and the two met the following morning along with Tom Jones, the dean of Spiegel’s school. Hammond explained that he had received a complaint about the video, and Spiegel justified his non-compliance.
The song is consistent with the university’s values; it had been well-received when he performed it during a 2010 chapel service attended by 1,200 students. Spiegel, who specializes in ethics, reasoned that because the video doesn’t violate university policy and is not harmful, the university was violating his freedom of expression.
Taylor’s faculty handbook states that when faculty “speak or write as citizens, they should be free from institutional censorship or discipline.” Thus, Spiegel argued, his yielding to Hammond’s demand would be an immoral act that risked inviting further restrictions of faculty speech.
Hammond and Jones dismissed his argument, claiming he hadn’t contextualized the video to avoid misinterpretation. They reiterated their demand. That night Spiegel informed them by email he wouldn’t be removing the video.
On Monday, Aug. 24, Spiegel again met with Hammond and Jones and other senior administrators. “At this meeting, Hammond read out loud my termination letter, authored and signed by Hammond,” Spiegel told me. One administrator informed Spiegel that his pay would be stopped after that week’s paycheck and that the school was canceling his health insurance.
Hammond accused him of “insubordination” and claimed that his “lack of regard for how [his] words are perceived and may affect others … demonstrate [his] lack of interest in participation in the spiritual community of Taylor University.”
The termination letter also asserts that “a formal harassment complaint” had been filed against Spiegel by another faculty member — the incident being the video upload. The university hasn’t informed Spiegel of his accuser’s identity, contrary to all norms of due process.
Hammond’s justification for firing Spiegel is specious and post hoc. Plus, under the school’s “Life Together Covenant,” the faculty member who took issue with the video was obliged to pursue reconciliation privately before filing a formal complaint. Hammond thus participated in and sanctioned the violation of his university’s code of conduct.
More important, Taylor University defines harassment as “inappropriate conduct directed toward an individual.” As the video and song aren’t directed toward any individual, the harassment complaint is groundless.
This isn’t the first time Spiegel has butted heads with the administration. In 2019, former president Lowell Haines attempted to revoke his tenure to punish him for campaigning against the university’s effort to install a Starbucks.
In 2018, Spiegel and two other professors launched a pseudonymous newsletter opposed to Marxist ideas they believed were being introduced by certain administrators and faculty under the guise of racial justice. Spiegel’s supporters believe that his firing is delayed retaliation for these two incidents.
1John 2:19 They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us: but they went out, that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us.
Christianity is in a mess. What is touted, claimed, promoted as ‘Christianity’ today is in a mess! Adultery, acceptance of sodomy and sodomites as an acceptable life, etc. etc. Those made popular on television such as ‘Jen Hatmaker, a popular Christian writer, blogger, and former reality TV star, has filed for divorce.
Hatmaker announced the split from her husband, Brandon, on social media Sunday (Sept 6). Court documents show the petition for divorce was filed in late August.
“I don’t know how to say this, and I still cannot believe I am even saying it, but Brandon and I are getting divorced,” Hatmaker wrote on her Facebook page. “Although the details are ours alone, this was completely unexpected, and I remain stunned as we speak. I am shocked, grief-stricken, and broken-hearted.”
Jen and Brandon Hatmaker starred in the reality television show, “My Big Family Home Renovation,” which featured the family and their five children. Along with their love for home improvement, the couple have been leaders at Austin New Church, where Brandon served for years as the church’s pastor.
In 2016, Jen Hatmaker became a controversial figure in evangelicalism when she affirmed same-sex marriage and said gay relationships can be holy. Lifeway Christian Resources pulled her Bible studies, she lost speaking engagements and her Christian publishing career was disrupted, though she has continued churning out books. She was also a vocal critic of Donald Trump and his evangelical supporters.
Then there are those who were well known among the so-called evangelicals. This Sunday, September 13, 2020, ‘…former Christianity Today (CT) editor-in-chief, Mark Galli will be confirmed a Catholic.
He’ll stand before Bishop Richard Pates in the Cathedral of St. Raymond Nonnatus in Joliet, Illinois, to hear these words:
“Francis, be sealed with the gift of the Holy Spirit.”
Pates will then dab Galli’s forehead with anointing oil (using a cotton ball instead of his thumb due to COVID-19). And with that, Galli — who has chosen his confirmation name after St. Francis of Assisi— will become a Roman Catholic.
Galli’s journey to Catholicism is notable, in part because of the nation’s political climate. A former Presbyterian pastor, Galli spent seven years as editor-in-chief of CT, the premier publication for evangelicals whose founder was the legendary evangelist Billy Graham.’https://julieroys.com/christianity-today-galli-catholic/
”. The books featured in the article include a book about a boy who wants to wear a dress and a book about a red crayon that discovers it’s really blue.
whatyareckon 