Paula White Cain is now the oversight pastor at City of Destiny and her son, Brad Knight, is the senior pastor along with his wife, Rachel. The church, New Destiny Christian Center, is now legally known as City of Destiny.
The inspiring modern-day resurrection of a boy from the Midwest—dramatized in the movie Breakthrough—captivated viewers over the weekend, helping the 21st Century Fox film remain in the top six box-office attractions. Breakthrough depicts the reality drowning of 14-year-old John Smith in an iced-over Missouri lake, and his return to life after submersion in freezing water for 30 minutes.
Looking back on that fateful January day in 2015, Smith tells Fox he was running from God’s call to ministry at age 14. View the interview here. The movie, it turns out, continues Smith’s stated mission to share the power of the Holy Spirit as spoken by his mother in prayer over his flat-lined body four years ago.
But he’s not the only one who has seen a miraculous resurrection after death.
Steffani Besch also drowned at age 13, her spirit went to heaven, and then she returned to fulfill the Lord’s call to a speaking ministry that—in a big way this year—highlights her miraculous resurrection after 30 minutes stuck in fetal position on a public swimming-pool drain.
There are parallels between her story and Smith’s in the book and movie—including their shared surname, Smith, before Steffani married husband David Besch. Both drowning victims remained submerged under water for at least a half hour.
In both stories, an Assembly of God (AG) minister played, well, pastoral roles. In Besch’s case, Pastor Victor Unruh felt an impression by the Holy Spirit that a family in his congregation needed protective prayer covering during a Sunday-morning worship service. In John Smith’s case, his AG pastor was close to him and the family before and after the drowning.
There are also differences: Besch was knocked unconscious after her head hit the concrete wall of a public swimming pool in Kansas; John Smith drowned after falling through the ice on a harsh, wintry day in neighboring Missouri.
In ministry of different kinds for over 20 years, Besch recognizes God’s call on her life and on Smith’s. Based on experience telling her supernatural story to thousands of people across the country, Besch offers advice for Smith’s ministry beyond the success of the movie.
“I think, as with any miracle done by Jesus, it’s an opportunity to lift up His name, so that people are drawn to Him,” Besch said. “Whether it’s a platform ministry, evangelizing on the streets or in the business world, we all have a testimony and a story to tell. So, for John, I would say seek God first and His righteousness, and everything else will added to you.”
Telling her life-from-death story began with an AG youth group and, today, Besch reaches thousands through mass media, and at speaking engagements across the country as a women’s pastor; John Smith’s story is spreading through his mother Joyce’s book, Impossible, and through the movie in English and Spanish.
In a taping scheduled to air this week, Besch appeared on God’s View—a biblical spin on daytime television’s The View—where Spirit-filled hosts and guests listened in awe of the heavenly conversation Besch heard before being instructed by God to return to her cold, gray body. Watch a pre-screening here.
Coinciding with the pre-Easter debut of Breakthrough—adapted from the book Impossible for the big screen—Besch’s resurrection story was published recently in video, based on the title Genuine Miracles. The book is a compilation of supernatural stories. View Besch’s testimony here.
Before her death in 2007, PTL Club co-host Tammy Faye Bakker broadcast pictures of Besch during an interview with her mother about Besch’s drowning, heavenly visitation and resurrection.
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The biblical figure Jezebel died 3,000 years ago, but her spirit lives on today, and in fact, is at war with America and the American church.
This is the bold focus of a soon-to-be-released book by Dr. Michael L. Brown titled Jezebel’s War with America: The Plot to Destroy Our Country and What We Can Do to Turn the Tide.
In Jezebel’s War with America, out Aug. 6, Brown illustrates how Jezebel’s spirit is active in America and how readers can protect the church.
Jezebel was the most wicked woman in the Bible, a powerful seductress who killed the prophets, led Israel into idolatry and immorality, and emasculated men. She was seductive and determined to snuff out the voices coming against her, because these voices were calling out for repentance.
“In 21st-century America, Jezebel is not a person, but it’s as if her spirit is alive again,” Brown says. “The influence of the same demonic force is being felt in the massive increase of pornography and sexual temptation, the militant spirit of abortion, the rise of radical feminism and most importantly, in the attempt to silence prophetic voices. Just as Jezebel clashed with strong men almost 3,000 years ago, the demonic spirit of Jezebel is powerful in America, and it is going after the church.”
Brown’s eye-opening book not only unveils the satanic plot to destroy America, beginning with an all-out assault on the church, but it will equip every believer with tools to defeat the enemy in their own personal lives as well as in the nation.
For example, Jezebel’s War with America seeks to accomplish the following:
- Reveal how the spirit of Jezebel is at work in the 21st century through sexual immorality, abortion, radical feminism and even the fascination with witchcraft and sorcery
- Show how, just as the biblical Jezebel was on a collision course with Jehu, this spirit is on a collision course with President Donald Trump
- Equip readers to defeat the spirit of Jezebel on a personal and national level
Dr. Michael L. Brown is founder and president of AskDrBrown Ministries and president of FIRE School of Ministry. The author of more than 35 books, including Saving a Sick America (2017), he is also the host of the nationally syndicated daily talk radio show “The Line of Fire,” as well as the host of shows on GOD TV, NRBTV and METV. His syndicated columns appear on many leading websites, and his scholarly publications range from biblical commentaries to articles in Semitic journals and theological dictionaries. He has served as an adjunct or visiting professor at seven leading seminaries and has debated gay activists, agnostic professors and Orthodox rabbis on university campuses.
Jezebel’s War With America by Dr. Michael L. Brown will be released Aug. 6 by Front Line, an imprint of Charisma House, which publishes books that challenge, encourage, teach and equip Christians.
Listen to the podcasts to hear Dr. Brown’s latest commentary.
An electromechanical suit of armor, enhanced human physicality, gamma radiation causing monstrous strength, altered DNA that bestows superpowers and a genetically engineered mercenary are just a few of the characteristics of the central figures in the new blockbuster film Avengers: Endgame.
Apparently, moviegoers were intrigued, as they shelled out $1.6 billion worldwide on the opening weekend.
Superheroes, supervillains and everything in between are big business in Hollywood, but what about the possibility of a supervillain in real life? asks pastor and author Mark Biltz, who wrote Decoding the Antichrist and the End Times: What the Bible Says and What the Future Holds.
An Oxford philosopher is wondering the same thing.
Nick Bostrom is the founding director of the Future of Humanity Institute and, according to The Next Web, his “latest research paper seems to indicate our species could be on a collision course with a technology-fueled supervillain.”
“Will a deranged lunatic soon have the capabilities to take the entire world hostage?” Bostrom writes in his paper, titled “The Vulnerable World Hypothesis.” “Can our nation’s leaders do anything to stop this inevitable tragedy? Will the caped crusader rescue his sidekick before the Joker’s sinister trap springs?”
In Decoding the Antichrist and the End Times, Biltz writes about this same concept, but in relation to the coming Antichrist.
“As technology becomes more and more a part of our everyday lives,” Biltz says, “we must consider theories about the Antichrist and emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence, Siri, Alexa, Watson, 5G and more, which are creeping into our lives on a daily basis and changing our perspective of how things could possibly play out even in the next few years.
“It is no longer difficult to imagine the Antichrist as some kind of hybrid human cyborg able to project himself all over the world at one time as a hologram that demands to be worshipped,” he added. “With all the advances in technology—the ability to produce avatars, holograms and computer software installed in our bodies so our thoughts and emotions, as well as our purchases and our movements, can be monitored—there is no doubt that we are at the culmination of one age and entering the threshold of another.”
The central theme of Decoding the Antichrist is the role of technology in our future, as Biltz takes an in-depth look at some of the deepest questions surrounding the Antichrist:
- What does the Bible say about the Antichrist, his tactics and his motivation?
- Will he be a Muslim, a Jew or a professed Christian—or something else?
- Will the Antichrist work through modern technology to seize control?
“I believe we are truly entering the final chapter on this world’s stage, and the curtain will soon be coming down or rolled away,” Biltz says. “I am not claiming to know how many pages are left in God’s script, but those who have eyes to see and ears to hear what the Spirit of God is saying know it is time to start packing your bags, spiritually speaking.”
Mark Biltz is founder of El Shaddai Ministries and a well-known and popular commentator on the feasts of the Lord. In fact, he has produced a series of DVDs on the feasts that have gone around the world. Biltz is also the author of Blood Moons and God’s Day Timer. His research and theories have led to guest appearances on both radio and television as well as being featured on the covers of magazines.
Decoding the Antichrist and the End Times was released last month by Charisma House, which has published books that challenge, encourage, teach and equip Christians, including 14 New York Times’ best-sellers.
Britain’s Prince Harry said his wife Meghan and newborn son were doing well and described the baby as “absolutely to die for,” speaking to media after the birth of the seventh in line to the British throne.
“It was amazing, absolutely incredible. As I say, I am so incredibly proud of my wife and, as every father and parent would ever say your baby is absolutely amazing, this little baby is absolutely to die for,” a smiling Harry said.
He said they had not yet decided on a name for the child and would make their first appearance as a family in a couple of days’ time.
In a formal announcement on their official Instagram account the royal couple said they “welcomed their firstborn child in the early morning on May 6th, 2019. Their Royal Highnesses’ son weighs 7lbs. 3oz.” (3.2 kg)
“The Duchess and baby are both healthy and well, and the couple thank members of the public for their shared excitement and support during this very special time in their lives. More details will be shared in the forthcoming days.”
Queen Elizabeth’s grandson Harry, 34, and Meghan, 37, a former actress, married in a lavish ceremony at the monarch’s Windsor Castle home in May last year.
The baby will be the eighth great-grandchild of the 93-year-old queen, the world’s longest-reigning monarch, and could be entitled to hold joint British and American citizenship according to nationality rules.
However, the child will not automatically be a prince or a princess as any such title will have to be bestowed by the queen by issuing what is known as a letter patent.
The parents are officially titled the Duke and Duchess of Sussex.
Britain’s royal family attracts huge media interest, but the younger members, especially Harry and Meghan, are treated like Hollywood superstars.
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It is time that I share the untold side of my testimony, where I left reality and spoke to a demonic entity in outer space that deceived me about eternity, heaven and the true things of God.
I’ve never shared a certain part of my testimony, as I did in this video, simply because it was so radical, so demonic, so deceiving, so “out of this world” that I was always too scared to talk about it. I thought that if I did, people would judge me too harshly.
When I first got saved, I shared this story with several people. There came a point in my life, however, when I felt my position was too ‘recognized’ to share something so “crazy.” I was the co-host of an internationally syndicated Christian program; a place where every word is judged, scrutinized and picked apart because there are so many trolls on the internet who watch it. I didn’t want to say anything so radical that it would destroy my own credibility or the credibility of those around me.
But now I believe that was all a lie! There is only one person who didn’t want me telling that side of the story, and it was the adversary of our souls: the enemy, Satan.
Watch the video for my testimony.
Zach Drew is the president of IGBY International Ministries and host of the new program, The Zach Drew Show. Zach is well recognized from his seven years co-hosting the Jim Bakker Show, hosting Revelation in the News, co-hosting TruNews and for being a technology correspondent for NextTech News traveling all around the world.
I heard a man of God rehearsing his upbringing when he inserted the following, evoking a hearty laugh from the audience. “People ask me in my mischievous childhood if I ever got spankings? I surprise them when I say I was never spanked. But I sure got some ‘wuppins’!'”
Enjoying Turner Classic movies and reruns of wholesome family shows like Andy Griffith or Lassie, I notice an occasional spanking for little children was just the norm when they persistently misbehaved. A little protoplasmic stimulation to the backside of learning got a wayward child back on track with a lesson learned.
Celebrating Mother’s Day brings pleasant memories for moms, along with some persistent questions, like the appropriateness of spanking in our hyper-politically correct culture.
Years ago, I authored a book now titled, The Little Handbook of Loving Correction. It was formerly called God, the Rod and Your Child’s Bod, but I changed it out of cultural sensitivity.
For every wonderful mother in America struggling with this nagging issue, receive this biblically informed reassurance as a gift. May it bring peace from alignment with God’s plan for raising happy, respectful and obedient children.
Realism in Raising Kids
Raising children requires a realistic perspective on our inherited sinful nature and a rejection of the “inherent goodness of man.” Adam rebelled and all of us have ratified that rebellion because of our inherited sin nature.
We don’t have to teach children to be selfish, lie, hit their siblings, steal or pout when they don’t get their way. We do have to train them to learn to control themselves and do what is pleasing to God.
Don’t you just love it when parenting “experts” expound their views on TV in their world of Utopia? A couple living together with no children confidently shares their “wisdom” philosophy about raising their future children by simply reasoning with them, calmly affirming them and ignoring clear cut disobedience as “a stage they’ll grow out of.”
Yeah, right. Wait ’till they confront strong-willed little Grayson in all his glorious defiance one day! This is why seasoned veterans wince at this idealism and understand bumper stickers reading: “Insanity is inherited. You get it from your children.”
Going God’s Way
Better to approach parenting God’s way and embrace the truth that appears on a plaque we had in our home: “It is better to build children than to repair men.”
If you permit a child to nurture destructive habits, which they will one day be forced (with greater difficulty) to break, you are living beneath the revealed will of God concerning your role as a parent.
There is a difference between abusing a child and lovingly, responsibly disciplining him. Children know the difference between an objective spanking ministered in love and a smacking springing from pent-up anger.
- “Correct your son, and he will give you rest; yes, he will give delight to your soul” (Prov. 29:17).
- “Foolishness is bound in the heart of a child; but the rod of correction will drive it far from him” (Prov. 22:15).
- “The rod and reproof give wisdom, but a child left to himself brings his mother to shame” (Prov. 29:15).
- “Do not withhold correction from a child; if you punish them with the rod, they will not die. Punish them with the rod and save them from death” (Prov. 23:13-14, NIV).
- “Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it” (Prov. 22:6, MEV).
God’s method for curbing harmful attitudes and nurturing healthy ones in young children is not parents going ballistic, threatening, screaming, hauling off in anger or tuning out destructive conduct, bribing with candy or by banishment to a room to brood and fester in resentment.
Loving correction, which includes spanking at times, is an expression of love. Though not literally, have you ever experienced a “spanking” from the Lord for persistent, ungodly conduct? “My son, do not despise the discipline from the Lord, nor grow weary when you are rebuked by Him; for whom the Lord loves He disciplines” (Heb. 12:5-6a).
Loving, Legal and Logical
Research reveals that in America up to 85% acknowledge they’ve used corporal punishment. Every state in America allows corporal punishment of children.
Due to disciplinary problems in schools, many are reevaluating their policies like the Arlington school district outside Memphis, Tennessee. They voted to reinstate corporal punishment saying, “Teachers need all tools possible.”
Former NBA superstar Charles Barkley has joked, “If corporal punishment is a crime, then every black parent in the South is going to be put in jail!”
10 Essentials of Loving Correction
May this acrostic for CORRECTION reinforce the “basics.”
Clarity: Loving correction always begins by clearly defining and communicating reasonable boundaries before they are enforced.
Obedience: Spankings can occur if there’s persistent, deliberate disobedience. “Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right” (Eph. 6:1).
Right Attitudes: We are to “serve the Lord with gladness” (Ps. 100:2a), so persistent whining and complaining have to be addressed.
Restoration: Embracing and reassuring a child afterwards enables us to avoid leaving them feeling guilty or rejected.
Explanation: Taking time to explain the offense as well as enabling the parent to calm down (if needed), makes this essential.
Consistency: Loving correction requires an investment and persevering commitment. “He who spares his rod hates his son, but he who loves him disciplines him dearly” (Prov. 13:24).
Thoroughness: Shaping the will without breaking the spirit requires being authoritative not authoritarian so the child experiences some pain, versus simple “love pats.” “Chasten your son while there is hope, and let not your soul spare for his crying” (Prov. 19:18). “Now no discipline seems to be joyful at the time, but grievous. Yet afterward it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness in those who have been trained by it” (Heb. 12:11).
Immediately: With exceptions, loving correction should be given in the moment not “when daddy comes home” hours later. “Because the sentence against an evil deed is not executed swiftly, the heart of the sons of men is fully set to do evil” (Eccl. 8:11).
Out of sight: Discipline is administered in private so as to not humiliate or embarrass a child.
Neutral Object: Scripture states a “rod (a small, flexible branch) of correction,” not a hairbrush or the nearest object. Hands should be instruments expressing affection and tenderness; we don’t want children flinching or retreating when a hand is raised.
A closing question: “Where is the rod administered?”
God in His wisdom prepared a strategic place on the anatomy of our toddlers and children which has ample cushiony, fatty tissue and sensitive nerve endings to respond to Spirit-led stings. “Fannies” are gifts from God! In 47 years of ministry, I’ve discovered that all children come equipped with one! “On the lips of him who has understanding wisdom is found, but a rod is for the back of him who is void of understanding” (Prov. 10:13).
Here’s the deal: Scripture tells us “reproofs of instruction are the way to life” (Prov. 6:23b). May this Mother’s Day gift of God’s timeless wisdom educate and encourage moms across America. God’s ways are always best when carried out consistently and in faith for His glory.
Happy Mother’s Day!