Christian singer-songwriter Josh Wilson is challenging Christians in his new single to “dream small.” He sings, “Don’t buy the lie you’ve got to do it all,” and gives examples of everyday love that demonstrates the gospel. He performs the acoustic version of the song in this video.
What does the Bible say about the age of accountability? Bill Wiese provides Scriptural insight into this commonly asked question. Wiese says, “I believe it’s clear through the teaching of Jesus that little children will go to heaven.”
In 2018, Pastor Matt Chandler surprised many when he announced that his church, The Village Church, was continuationist and would recognize the gifts of the Holy Spirit. Now Chandler has made a special video to commemorate the true significance of Pentecost and Acts 2. Watch it here.
American Idol alum Scott MacIntyre has faced his fair share of trials and tribulations.
Born blind, MacIntyre later experienced kidney failure, pain, and uncertainty as he awaited two transplants—difficult and draining experiences that led him and his wife, Christina, to rely on their faith in God as they faced the unknown.
MacIntyre, who got his start in 2009 as the first blind finalist to ever compete on “American Idol,” reveals in ‘s new documentary, I Am Hope: Scott MacIntyre’s Inspirational Transplant Journey the scope of the difficulties—and victories—he encountered as he awaited his second kidney transplant.
Read Also: Feeling Hopeless? Pastor Tony Evans Has a Solution
MacIntyre’s life-threatening illnesses started when he was just 19 years old—before he achieved celebrity status as a contestant on American Idol.
“I got a phone call that changed my life forever,” he recently told “The Billy Hallowell Podcast.” “I found out that my kidneys were failing.”
MacIntyre quickly realized that he faced a life-or-death situation—one he had no power to help himself out of, as he faced extreme exhaustion and other health challenges that suddenly impeded his ability to sing or play the piano.
Then, the wife of his piano teacher gave him the gift of life: She donated her kidney to him. Less than a year later, MacIntyre was back on stage competing on the eighth season of American Idol.
“From the time I was a little kid, I had a dream of sharing my music with people. I could picture it,” he said. “I just really felt like that’s what I was supposed to do … God really put it on my heart to have a music career.”
That amazing gift of a healthy kidney bought MacIntyre eight healthy years, allowing him to perform, reach celebrity status and marry his wife, Christina.
Soon, though, his new kidney also started to fail, and the married couple was faced with a tragic reality: MacIntyre would once again need a kidney transplant. I Am Hope shows what the husband and wife faced as they trusted God and waited. Watch I Am Hope for the full story.
Christina also reflected on the difficult journey the couple faced during her joint appearance on “The Billy Hallowell Podcast.”
“My faith definitely deepened a lot during that time, and how much I love Scott definitely deepened, too,” she said. “We were able to see past so many ‘surfacey’ and trivial things. We don’t really argue about things that don’t matter.”
Christina continued, “I had to just get my strength from God.”
Read Also: After Tragedy: Inspirational Movies to Bring You Hope
MacIntyre said he and Christina truly had to learn “how to find joy in the middle of the struggle,” with his wife echoing that she’s hoping I Am Hope can help viewers do the same in their own lives should challenges arise.
“You can find joy in difficult circumstances,” she said.
MacIntyre ended up receiving another new kidney after an anonymous donor generously reached out and offered to help—all of which is documented in I Am Hope. Through his struggles, he said he’s learned a plethora of lessons about life, God and hope.
“Going through a kidney transplant twice now has really helped me to understand a lot more about God’s greater gift of eternal life,” MacIntyre said. “Here I was powerless to save myself until my kidney donors stepped in and gave me the gift of life. Well, we’re all powerless to save ourselves from sin until Jesus Christ offers us the much greater gift of eternal life on the cross.”
{eoa}
This article was originally published on Pure Flix Insider. Visit Pure Flix for access to thousands of faith and family friendly movies and TV shows. You can get a free, one-month trial here.
On April 28, 2011, Mark Taylor—a recently retired firefighter—woke at 2 a.m. Unable to return to sleep, he turned on his TV. Clicking through channels, he stopped at C-Span. The man on his screen was Donald Trump.
At that moment Mark heard God say, “You are hearing the voice of the next president.” Little did Mark know several dozen video recordings of others documented that they also heard the same message and were equally convinced it came from God.
Years later, while receiving treatments for post-traumatic stress—remnants from his work as a firefighter—Mark’s therapist, Dr. Don Colbert, an expert in the treatment of PTS, asked permission to share Mark’s unusual journal entry with his wife, an international ministry networker, Mary Colbert. Mary immediately recognized the rhythm and cadence of the April 28 journal entry as a message that was very important and special.
After seeking counsel and much prayer, Mary created the Nation Builders prayer network, which grew organically to hundreds of thousands of Christians uniting in prayer for our nation and its leadership.
Mark and Mary eventually co-wrote a book chronicling his remarkable journey from his stressful work as a firefighter, through the evening election night, 2016. Part of that book is the basis for The Trump Prophecy, a film focusing on the power of prayer and the biblical mandate to pray for those in authority over us.
Rick Eldridge, CEO of ReelWorks Studios, is the film’s producer. “I was given the book by a friend who asked me to consider meeting with Mary and Mark to discuss the potential of making this story into a feature film. After I read it, I took the idea to my team and we decided to option Mark’s story,” says Rick.
“Things came together quickly, and our production timeline began to take shape. We shot in Lynchburg, Virginia—working with several faculty and upper-class film students from Liberty University’s film department in a mentoring capacity with our professional film crew. The experience with students shadowing various departments of the production created an energy and learning environment that was unique and rewarding for all involved.”
“As I now share about the film, people are immediately curious about the title,” Rick adds. “I get a lot of passionate responses. As they listen further, they become compelled by Mark’s prophecy and Mary’s call to action. This film is for the Christian audience, but it is also for anyone who believes—even a little bit—in the power of prayer, and the heritage of our great country.”
The Trump Prophecy tells the story of the power of prayer set against the backdrop of the everyday trials facing a simple man of faith—a dedicated career public servant whom God chose to give a special message of hope for our nation. This story encourages all Americans to pray for our country and our leadership as a scriptural mandate.
The film encourages viewers that through the power of prayer, acceptance of biblical principles and adherence to America’s five founding ideals, equality, rights, liberty, opportunity and democracy, that as “one nation under God,” we each can each make a positive impact on the world around us.
“if My people, who are called by My name, will humble themselves and pray, and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and will heal their land” (2 Chron. 7:14).
The Trump Prophecy will come to movie theaters nationwide on October 2 and 4 through Fathom Events, the leading event cinema distributor. Tickets will be available on Friday, June 1, 2018 here:
A Chilean man who suffered clerical sexual abuse has said Pope Francis told him in a private conversation that God had made him gay and loved him that way, according to the Spanish newspaper El Pais.
The Vatican declined to comment on the report but, if confirmed, it would be a striking statement of tolerance towards homosexuality, which the Church has condemned as an immoral disorder if it is actively practiced.
In an interview published on Sunday, abuse victim Juan Carlos Cruz told El Pais that Pope Francis had told him during a meeting this month: “The fact that you are gay does not matter.”
Cruz said Francis had also told him: “God made you this way and loves you this way, and it doesn’t matter to me. The pope loves you this way, you must be happy the way you are.”
Cruz was one of three Chilean victims who were invited by the pope to Rome this month in the wake of a scandal in Chile over priestly sexual abuse and efforts by the Church hierarchy there to hush it up.
After attending a crisis meeting with Francis about the cover-up last week, all of Chile’s bishops offered to resign.
Since his election in 2013, the pope has dramatically shifted the language the Church has used about homosexuality, which was once seen as a taboo subject.
“If a person is gay and seeks God and has good will, who am I to judge?” he said on his first overseas trip in 2013. In 2016, he said had ministered to people with unfulfilled homosexual tendencies as well as homosexuals who were not able to remain chaste, as the Church asks them to.
“When a person arrives before Jesus, Jesus certainly will not say: ‘Go away because you are homosexual’,” he said.
Francis’s predecessor, Pope Benedict, wrote in 2005 that homosexuality was “a strong tendency ordered toward an intrinsic moral evil.” {eoa}
© 2018 Thomson Reuters. All rights reserved.
Members of the Latino Coalition for Israel, along with approximately 50 Jewish and Christian leaders from the U.S. and Israel and members of the White House Faith Initiative, met last week with U.S. Ambassador to Israel David Friedman to help celebrate the move of the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem during a historic week in the Holy Land.
Friedman served as a keynote speaker for meeting, along with former Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon. Mario Bramnick, president of the Latino Coalition for Israel, said each spoke of a “stark change” in relations since President Donald Trump took office in January 2017.
Also present for the meeting were White House Faith Initiative leaders Paula White, Ralph Reed, former Congresswoman Michelle Bachmann, Jim Garlow, Pasqual Urrabazo, Ramiro Pena and Jay Strack.
Not only was Trump instrumental in helping to move the U.S. Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, he also officially recognized Jerusalem as the capital city of Israel.
“I want to honor our president for his unwavering courage and clear determination for these things,” Bramnick said. “Without question, Jerusalem is the eternal undivided capital of the nation of Israel.”
Friedman agreed.
“That is a fact. The facts haven’t changed in 3,000 years,” Friedman told The Times of Israel. “The way we approach the facts, with optimism and courage, is how the Trump administration approaches the region.”
Bramnick praised President Trump’s boldness in the face of criticism and political peril concerning the move of the embassy.
“Four American presidents promised this would happen, but only President Trump fulfilled that promise,” he said. This was a very historic and prophetic time to be in Israel. Things have changed in the White House. Things have changed in America. It is a new day, and we give glory to God for that.”
That evening, the same group met privately for 45 minutes with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The Israeli leader expressed his gratitude in helping to strengthen the relationship between the two countries.
“The prime minister is not only appreciative of the faith initiative leaders but also the evangelical community in the U.S.,” Bramnick said. “He expressed gratitude for the president’s policy on Israel, including the move of the embassy, and the president pulling out of the Iran nuclear deal. We discussed several things, including the importance of Hispanic engagement in support of Israel in the U.S.”
Bramnick said the Latino Coalition for Israel has started a task force with the goal of meeting with presidents of Latin American nations to consider moving their embassies to Jerusalem also.
With pornography use reaching its height during summer months, churches are being called to provide a program to disciple their men on sexual integrity.
Research has shown that early summer brings a peak in porn searches on the internet. While the reason for this is unclear, with 68 percent of men in the church viewing pornography on a regular basis, it is likely that these men are being exposed to more triggers in the summer months. As the weather warms up, people dress in Summer clothing. For someone who struggles with pornography, this can act as a subconscious trigger that leads them into a downward spiral to going online and acting out. Some other possible explanations are that people have more time on their hands or are around family, which could bring up childhood triggers.
We live in a free society where we don’t dictate what people wear, but there are thousands of men in desperate need of accountability and discipleship so that they can respond to these triggers in a healthy way.
In 1 Corinthians 10:13, Paul says: “No temptation has taken you except what is common to man. God is faithful, and He will not permit you to be tempted above what you can endure, but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that you may be able to bear it.”
If you’ve ever struggled in this area, you’ve probably been looking for that way out and wondering, Why haven’t I found it yet?
Over 500,000 men in over 70 countries have started their journey to freedom through the Conquer Series, a powerful six-DVD cinematic study.
ORDER NOW at
The summer months are typically a time when churches wind down the classes that they offer due to lower attendance, but director of the Conquer Series, Jeremy Wiles, is urging churches to run the Conquer Series as a way for men to find support.
“Men find it hard at the best of times to fight this battle alone. In the summer months, it is impossible, yet that is when most churches have no programs to help men in this area,” says Wiles.
Larry Tormey leads the Conquer Series at the First Presbyterian Church of Lake Placid in Florida and will be running it this Summer.
“We have been using the Conquer Series for over a year, showing this to hundreds of men. It has been not only a godsend for these men but for me personally,” says Tormey.
Will you help the men at your church this summer and run the Conquer Series?
Visit to order the Conquer Series today.
{eoa}
Evangelists from around the world and various Spirit-empowered denominations and ministries gathered in Johannesburg, South Africa, to launch the Empowered21 Global Evangelist Alliance (GEA), chaired by Evangelist Daniel Kolenda, president and CEO of Christ for All Nations.
“The purpose of this very influential group of evangelists in coming together is key for the success of the movement,” said Dr. Billy Wilson, global co-chair of Empowered21 and president of Oral Roberts University. “Our heart mission is that every person on earth would have an encounter with the Holy Spirit by the year 2033. To do that we must have massive collaboration and integration with evangelists from all sectors of the Spirit-empowered world.”
“The Spirit-empowered community is the fastest growing segment in the Christian faith,” Kolenda stated. “The Global Evangelist Alliance is designed to bring evangelists together to connect, strategize and identify key influencers from this anointed segment of ministry. Together, we can connect with the broader Christian world and reach the lost for Christ”
Kolenda gave a report on the formation of the GEA to the Empowered21 Global Council when it met earlier this week in Johannesburg. He stated that, in order to accomplish the year 2033 goal, “Evangelists will have to be involved in a big, big way … I interact with thousands of evangelists, and they need a platform. Establishment of this alliance places the gifts of the evangelist within the movement.”
On Wednesday, Kolenda met with a group of nearly two dozen evangelists in Johannesburg to officially launch the Alliance. It is one of four initiatives under the covering of Empowered21, including Next Gen, Discipleship and a Scholars Consultation, which also met earlier this week. Progress reports on all four initiatives were presented to the Council.
Attending the Johannesburg gathering were Vlad Agapov, Pulse Movement; Mac Barnes Jr., Precious Pearl, Inc.; Russell Benson, Christ for All Nations; Steven Booysen, Christ for All Nations; Brian Brennt, YWAM Circuit Riders; Andy Byrd, YWAM Circuit Riders; Stephan Christiansen, Jesus Revolution; Ben Fitzgerald, Awakening Europe; Daniella Friedzon-McCabe, Kink of Kings Church, Argentina; Mikel French, Mikel French Ministries; Teo Hayashi, Circuit Riders; Jeri Hill, Steve Hill Ministries; Tim Innes, Luis Palau Association; Daniel King, Soul Winners Alliance; Daniel Kolenda, Christ for All Nations; Michael Koulianos, Jesus Image; Ron and Katie Luce, Teen Mania; Ron Maddux, Assembly of God World Missions; Nathan Morris, Shake the Nations Ministries; Joe Oden, Joe Oden Ministries; Ladonna Osborn, Osborn Ministries International; Christopher Overstreet, Bethel Redding; Ta Ralekholela, Gospel Fire Ministries; Donna Schambach, R.W. Schambach Foundation; Levi Stewart, Christ for All Nations; Jean-Luc Trachsel, Europe Shall Be Saved; Mattheus van der Steen, Mission and Revival; Marina Mariane Vilela, Iris Global and Todd White, Lifestyle Christianity
On Thursday, thousands of delegates from more than a dozen African nations and other countries from around the world took part in the first full day of the 2018 E21 Africa Congress. A morning session featured speakers Fakhry Hanna and Frank Chikane, with a keynote message from Niko Njotorahardjo, senior pastor of the 250,000-member Gereja Bethel Church in Indonesia. George Wood and Cindy Jacobs closed out the second half of the morning session. The afternoon was filled with a variety of track speakers leading sessions on a variety of topics including evangelism, business and children’s ministry. The evening general session featured a keynote message from Daniel Kolenda followed by an extended time of prayer for miracles and healings.
The World Organization of the Scout Movement (WOSM) released its health and safety guidelines for the World Jamboree to be held at the Summit Bechtel Reserve in West Virginia July 22 through August 2, 2019.
The guidelines require that host organizations, who in this case include the former Boy Scouts of America (now Scouts BSA), “… ensure that condoms are readily and easily accessible for all participants and IST [staff] at a number of locations on the site. Heads of Contingent must be informed in advance and made aware of their responsibility in communicating this policy to their Participants, Unit Leaders, Contingent Staff, and IST in an appropriate way.” (See Guideline 7.3 on page 10 of the document.)
Stunningly, the World Jamboree Guideline 7.3 also has “exceptions,” allowances and instructions for the consumption of alcohol in “confined areas” at the 12-day camping event. (It appears the Jamboree guidelines were drafted after the 2015 World Jamboree in Japan in preparation for the 2019 event and were just recently released in an email.)
The 2019 World Jamboree will be hosted by three national Scout organizations: Scouts Canada, Asociación de Scouts de México and the Boy Scouts of America (now Scouts BSA). The theme for the 24th Jamboree will be to “Unlock a New World” and promotional materials claim the event will be “a celebration of cultural exchange, mutual understanding, peace, and friendship.”
This announcement comes on the heels of the BSA changing its membership policy earlier this month to allow girls to fully participate in local Boy Scout Troop programs and their official name change to remove the word “boy” to transform into the new genderless “Scouts BSA.”
The change to allow girls into the BSA provoked a blistering response from the national Girl Scouts of America organization last year when they issued the following statement:
“The Boy Scouts’ house is on fire. Instead of addressing systemic issues of continuing sexual assault, financial mismanagement and deficient programming, BSA’s senior management wants to add an accelerant to the house fire by recruiting girls.”
Florida Family Policy Council President John Stemberger, who also serves as chairman of the board for the Christian scouting movement Trail Life USA, issued the following statement:
“In light of the mandatory condom policy, it is not clear how far down the rabbit hole the Boy Scouts will continue to fall. With the addition of condoms and alcohol, the World Jamboree is starting to sound more like a 1960s Woodstock festival rather than a campout that parents would want to send their children to! All of this should be deeply disturbing to the churches that are chartering Boy Scout Troops. These policies present a clear youth protection problem that the BSA absolutely refuses to recognize. The fact that they are requiring that condoms be ‘readily accessible’ and are communicating this to everyone—including youth participants—shows that the BSA is both anticipating and facilitating sexual conduct between minors at this event. These policies are both outrageous and completely irresponsible.”
More than 160 national scout organizations representing more than 200 nations and territories are expected to participate in this massive West Virginia 12-day camping event, which based on recent membership policy changes should include openly-gay boys, openly-gay adult scout leaders, transgendered boys and adults and now also girls. {eoa}
This article originally appeared on Florida Family Policy Council.