This Easter Sunday, take your CEO to church. And no, I don’t exactly mean your company’s boss.

For many people, church is something they only visit a couple times a year: Christmas and Easter. And for many more, the thought of stepping foot into a church at these two busiest times a year is scary and unpredictable. Not knowing other people, deciding which church is the right fit, fear of judgment and so many other thoughts can easily creep into someone’s mind when trying to decide if it’s even worth walking through the church doors.

So, instead, take up the charge and invite someone to go to church with you.

Last year, Rasmussen reported that 42% of Americans planned on attending church for Easter service, which was up from pandemic levels. Many people are just now leaving behind the fear of being in the public square, so it’s quite possible that the number of people planning to attend Easter service will climb even higher this year.

However, just because more people are planning on going to church for Easter doesn’t mean that we should be happy with this statistic. The other 58% may be the most critical for having the gospel spread across our nation. This is something even my own pastor discussed recently. If we are called to be the light of the world, we can’t hide it underneath a basket. We have to be the light to a dark world!

This is the time when regular church-goers should be inviting the people around them to Easter service, especially those who may be hesitant to walk through the doors any other day of the year. In 2018 Pew Research found that 28% of Christians haven’t found a home church. Why not invite a friend who might be hoping to find one?

Go a step further and make yourself present to the people you invited on the day of the service. It eliminates the scary, “will everyone be judging me?” feeling that many people first feel when they go to a new church. I found myself in this position after moving across the country. After attending a church service, I met another young lady around my age who invited me to a service for young adults. She didn’t just invite me—she met me there, took me around the church, had me meet people and spent her time at the service with me. There, I met some great friends who were kind and compassionate with open hearts and arms to receive me. Just the small fact that someone made the effort to reach out to me has made a major difference in my life.

I encourage you, too to reach out to someone else this Easter. You never know the kind of impact you may have on them.

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Abby Trivett is a marketing copywriter and coordinator and Staff Writer intern for Charisma Media.

Deliverance is not readily understood. Start a conversation about confronting demons, and some people will roll their eyes, saying you have gone too far out on a limb. A recent Barna survey found that more Americans believe in Satan than in God. This statistic solidifies the current debate concerning deliverance ministry and whether Christians should be concerned about demons.

Some will accuse you of looking for a demon under every rock. Others will tell you how they were scarred by a horrible experience when, desperate for answers, they submitted to deliverance ministry, only to have people encourage them to “vomit up” demons and do all sorts of strange things during a grueling “deliverance” session. Others will say they are experts in the deliverance field. Some Christians believe that raising the decibel level of their prayers will chase away more demons. They have a great desire to yell at the enemy, but they lack understanding of spiritual authority. They might scream at demons all day long with no results.

On a recent Demon Slayer podcast, Isaiah Saldivar said, “This is going to be the summer of deliverance; it’s going to be unstoppable.” The recent Fathom event “Come Out in Jesus Name” surpassed box office expectations and has additional showings on April 10 and 11. Pastor Greg Locke said this box office hit will come to streaming services in the summer. The film features Alexander Pagani and his book “The Secrets to Deliverance” and has caused quite the stir amongst ministry leaders. I recently spoke to Alexander Pagani and he said “A Christian cannot be demon possessed. We are sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, we have the earnest expectation of the Holy Spirit living on the inside, we are seated with Christ in heavenly places and it is impossible for a Christian to be demon possessed.”

I have seen and heard much in the area of deliverance. While I know deliverance is sometimes handled poorly or even arrogantly, I do believe there is an aspect of spiritual warfare to many human problems. Paul clearly states this: “For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds, casting down imaginations and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ,” (2 Cor. 10:4-5). There are Christians who do not want to believe they can have demonic problems. I believe a problem that will not go away after prayer, positive confession, fasting, strong-willed determination or medical treatment must have a demonic basis that needs to be dealt with spiritually.

Problems that are hard to deal with such as rage, drug addiction and even sexual addictions or alcoholism, have, I believe, spiritual problems at their root. There may be strongholds in the mind and soul ties that must be dealt with, along with the sinful habit or behavior that is being acted out.

Let me give an important disclaimer. Some very odd behaviors are caused by some physical conditions that can be treated with medicine. I believe you should consult a doctor to rule this out as a possible cure. If the problem continues, then it may be spiritual in nature, and deliverance may help. On this point, you may agree or disagree with me. You may feel that deliverance is not central to the gospel or is a ministry that ended in Bible times. But if you look at the ministry of Jesus, the subject of deliverance is unavoidable. You bump into it again and again throughout the gospels. I firmly believe that His ministry is the same today as it was then—to save, heal, deliver and preach the gospel of the kingdom. To subtract deliverance from that equation, I believe, is to diminish the gospel.

Jesus certainly understands the need to extend deliverance to those who were “bound.” Many verses show us His response to the needs of the people who came to Him for help. Matthew 4:24 tells us the sick came to Him from many miles away: “And they brought to Him all sick people who were taken with various diseases and tormented with pain, those who were possessed with demons, those who had seizures and those who had paralysis, and He healed them.” Jesus instructed His disciples to drive out demons. In Luke 10:17, the 70 disciples are astonished that “even the demons are subject to us through Your name.” In Luke 4:36, the people see deliverance as a sign of great authority: “They were all amazed and said among themselves, ‘What a word this is! For with authority and power He commands the unclean spirits, and they come out.'”

Try to imagine the Gospels without deliverance, and you will see just how many times our Lord confronted demons and set people free. I firmly believe that it would be foolish, considering what we see in the Gospels, to exclude demonic activity entirely from the twenty-first century experience.

Stephen E. Strang is the bestselling author of God and Donald Trump. The founder and CEO of Charisma Media, Strang was voted by Time magazine as one of the 25 most influential evangelicals in America. He has interviewed four U.S. presidents and has been featured on Fox News, CNN, MSNBC, CBN, Dr. James Dobson’s Family Talk, and in many Christian outlets.

To read more from my new book, Spirit-Led Living in an Upside-Down World, or to subscribe to my newsletter, visit .

Benjamin Franklin once reportedly urged his fellow patriots to hold the line and boldly stand together by warning them, “We must all hang together, or assuredly we shall all hang separately.”

The Scriptures in both the Old and New Testaments echo this sentiment. Solomon writes in Ecclesiastes: “And if one enemy prevail against him, two shall withstand him; and a threefold cord is not quickly broken.” Numerous times, Christ exhorts His disciples, and the church they will form, to stand together in unity. Paul expands on this theme in several epistles and describes believers of various gifts and social positions collectively as “the body of Christ.”

I’m reminded of this in the wake of the recent news out of Vermont that a Christian school whose girls’ basketball team refused to play a competitor with a gender-confused boy on it has now been permanently suspended from all further state-sanctioned athletic competition.

Unless you are informed by a select few in the conservative media sphere, I’d say the odds are high you haven’t even heard of this story. And I’m nearly certain you haven’t heard of any rigorous protest Christians levied against such an affront to basic standards of freedom and dignity. You probably go to a church that didn’t even mention it this past Sunday, but did make sure to give the “we’re not racists” virtue signal during the “mostly peaceful” riots of 2020.

The Western Church continues to express kindness and solidarity with everything and everyone other than its own brethren, who dare stand in the gap against the Spirit of the Age. They think they’re going to Nineveh, when in reality they are stepping over the carcasses of their own martyrs to curry favor with a world that hates them.

Before we are to love our neighbors as ourselves, we are to love God with all of our heart, soul, mind and strength. It is loving God preeminently that clarifies what it means to love our neighbor. Does it mean never warn or rebuke my neighbor? Does it mean be perpetually nice? Or does it mean loving someone enough to share God’s truth, even if it may offend my neighbor? Or, let’s be even more honest of what we’re truly afraid of: Doing so may cost us something we hold more dear than God—which is idolatry.

Isn’t it convenient that “loving your neighbor as you love yourself” has become our convenient excuse in the church for never taking a stand against anything?

And yet soon we will gather and pretend (oh, yes, sadly, that’s what many of us will do) to worship at the nail-scarred feet of a suffering Savior—who was tortured to the point of disfigurement and mortal injury before he was hung out to dry on a wooden beam for the vultures. We will sing our songs in our anesthetized and hermetically sealed environments, listen to a message that will affirm yet not challenge us in the least, and then go home confident that we have checked the Jesus box.

Meanwhile, a girls’ basketball team in Vermont convicts us otherwise.

The team truly loved God enough to suffer for His name and thus loved their neighbor enough not to take part in this demonically inspired insanity, belief in which puts their neighbor’s soul in eternal peril. By the way, isn’t it interesting that demons often refer to themselves by they/them or we/us pronouns? But I digress.

These girls have more masculinity and testosterone than the vast majority of sweater-vested posers occupying our pulpits. If only they had motivated a generation of men who dare called themselves dads to stand for the truth in their own way.

There are 24 other Catholic and Protestant Christian schools in the state of Vermont. How many of them have said they will stand with their brethren and refuse to humor this lie from the pit of hell any longer? How many self-proclaimed Christian teachers, coaches or administrators in the Vermont public schools walked out in solidarity with their sisters in the faith?

And that’s also why you haven’t heard more about this story. The answer is zero.

In the end, you know a tree by its fruit. We are what we worship. The Spirit of the Age and its minions are comfortable mocking, trolling and cancelling us as Goliath was in the Valley of Elah, because we want nothing more than to be comfortable ourselves. We lack David’s, who will boldly but humbly descend into that valley to challenge the enemy’s dominion “so that the world may know” whose dominion this world truly is. And most of our churches would chastise such David’s for being too confrontational even if one did manage to emerge.

From where I’m sitting, there are a lot of believers who will soon be going to Holy Week services in the state of Vermont who probably shouldn’t, if we’re being honest—and if they are being honest with themselves. They left their sisters alone on the side of the road, and they’re hardly alone in doing so. The Western Church, like Israel before her, proverbially stones the prophets and shuns those whom God has sent.

However, I want the heroic young ladies (and their coaches, parents, teachers, and administrators) of Mid Vermont Christian School to please know this: You are not alone. You play for an audience of One, and His is the only opinion that truly matters in the end. {eoa}

For the original article, visit . Used with permission.

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Steve Deace is an American talk show host and conservative political activist working as the host of The Steve Deace Show on The Blaze. Previously, he worked for The Washington Times as a columnist.

It’s Palm Sunday, and you enter the church doors, dressed for the occasion. With a smile, a cheerful greeter hands you a palm branch before you enter the sanctuary.

If you are like me, you have probably wondered what the actual significance is behind the palm branch for this particular celebration day. While we all may be aware of the role that palm branches played in Jesus’ crucifixion, there are a lot of historical truths surrounding this important topic: the palm branch. So, why the palm branches? I would like to help answer that question and explain how it can be applied to our lives today.

The book of Zechariah describes how the King of the Jews would come onto the scene as the triumphant, victorious leader.

“Rejoice greatly, o daughter of Zion! And cry aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem! See, your King is coming comes to you; He is righteous and able to deliver; He is humble and riding on a donkey, a colt, the offspring of a donkey” (Zech. 9:9).

It is no secret how the Jewish people would see their newly revealed king one day. As Jesus was preparing to enter Jerusalem, the Jewish people were looking for the one who would deliver them from the Roman Empire. They no longer wanted the corrupt Roman rulers to dictate their Jewish lives; they were looking for the coming Messiah.

When you connect Zechariah 9:9 to the Feast of Tabernacles/Booths (Sukkoth), which normally happens sometime in late September or October, we discover an even greater reason for some to wave and throw branches before Jesus while riding the colt. It was common practice during the Festival of Tabernacles/Booths (Sukkoth) for Jewish people to celebrate by living in temporary booths, performing animal sacrifice and rejoicing with leafy branches (palm branches). This specific festival was a reminder of God’s faithfulness in the wilderness and also God’s soon promise for the Messiah to come. It was during this celebration (Feast of Tabernacles) that they would declare aloud the following verses from Psalm 118: “Lord, save us! Lord, grant us success! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. From the house of the Lord we bless you” (Ps. 118: 25-26, NIV).

“Lord Save us” translates to “Hosanna.” When you apply this to the passage below, you get a greater picture of what was really happening that triumphant day Jesus arrived in Jerusalem.

They brought the colt to Jesus and threw their garments on it. And He sat upon it. Many spread their garments on the street. And others cut down branches off the trees and scattered them on the street. Those who went before and those who followed cried out, saying: “Hosanna! ‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!”

“Blessed is the kingdom of our father David that is coming in the name of the Lord!
Hosanna in the highest!” (Mark 11:7-10, MEV).

To set the stage for Jesus’ entry, remember that some of the Jews had already witnessed the profound miracles that Jesus had performed, while there was a growing outcry by the Jews against the increasingly strict Roman rules being enforced. Now Jesus comes in the exact way that Scripture had prophesied through Zachariah, and although it was not at all near the time for the Feast of Tabernacles, so already-cut palm branches were not readily available, people turned wherever they could to find palm branches from nearby trees and bushes (Matt. 21:8) to wave before the Lord and throw on the ground before Jesus while shouting, “Hosanna! Hosanna! Lord, save us!” What they were really saying was: “Jesus, You are our Jewish king, our deliverer from Rome. Take Your rightful place now and free us!” The Jews were looking for an earthly emperor to take the seat of power once and for all, enabling Jewish people to destroy the yoke of Rome.

Palm branches were a symbol of power and victory over enemies. In Roman athletic competitions, the winners were awarded palm branches as a symbol of strength. Though the palm branches were part of the common practice for the Feast of Tabernacles, it was not a common practice to have palm branches at the time Jesus came rolling in at the triumphal entry. The people were waving the palm branches toward Jesus because of their connection to the regulations for the Feast of Tabernacles celebration. Once they started waving them toward Jesus, it became clear that they wanted Him to be their next leader. The people were trying to make Jesus as “the warrior King”, but Jesus was arriving as “the King of peace,” not taking up a battle against Rome but instead, a war against the wages of sin and death.

Do you see how the crucifixion would later play out? An all-powerful king (Jesus) now making His grand entry at such an event like this triggered the Roman Empire to imagine that a revolting war was about to start soon. This is why the political tension between the Romans and the Jews (Pharisees, Sadducees, Essenes and so on) along with other dilemmas created a governmental situation to where it was best, politically speaking, for Jesus to die a most humiliating death (Isa. 52:14). There were several “powers that be” during this time who, in the natural, were making a statement with Jesus’ death that proclaimed loud and clear that if anyone ever tried to be a Jewish deliverer again, they would be punished with a horrible death just as Jesus was, crucified on a Roman cross.

Keep in mind that the Jewish leaders were already infuriated with Jesus because of the claims He made, the miracles He performed and the lack of respect Jesus gave for their man-made traditions. Bottom line, Jesus was a serious threat to many! This is the political background and why so many later turned on Jesus at the cross. Their once “forthcoming king” was now being strung up in complete humility, totally naked, for all to see. Anyone who willingly connected themselves to Him while He was on the cross would, more than likely, be searched out, captured and killed as well. Empires in that day didn’t take lightly to those who were treasonous or rebellious.

What the Roman and Jewish people didn’t realize, however, was Jesus had a completely different plan when He showed up that day on the donkey. He arrived to destroy the bondage of sin from all mankind forever (John 1:29). He didn’t come to build another earthly kingdom that would one day fall or collapse just as so many others in times past; instead, Jesus was opening the door to eternal life, now only found through Him and Him alone (John 14:6). It wasn’t just a kingdom that was being established that day; it was the kingdom, the kingdom of heaven whose ruler will have no end.

“And he will reign over Jacob’s descendants forever; his kingdom will never end” (Luke 1:33, NIV).

Palm branches played an important part of Jesus’ crucifixion, and similarly, the symbolism still plays an important part of living with Jesus Christ forever. In Solomon’s temple, we find that images of palm branches were present throughout.

“On the walls all around the temple, in both the inner and outer rooms, he carved cherubim, palm trees and open flowers” (1 Kings 6:29).

Later on in the book of Revelation, we see that the righteous will hold palm branches while proclaiming eternal victory to our Savior, the one who saved us from sin. It’s here that we get to celebrate Christ’s eternal victory as King.

“Then I looked. And there was a great multitude which no one could count, from all nations and tribes and peoples and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, with palm branches in their hands” (Rev. 7:9).

Palm branches: a symbol of victory, triumph and eternal peace. This is our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. So when you are handed a palm branch on Palm Sunday, wave it with honor! {eao}

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Andy Sanders has been a public speaker for over 20 years. He has traveled extensively around the U.S. and other parts of the world. He is a prolific writer who carries both a prophetic and leadership-type message to the church. Sanders has a B.A. from Central Bible College and a master’s and doctorate in Christian education from Freedom Seminary, graduating with honors. He is married to Cathy, and their family resides in Syracuse, New York.

Actress Melissa Joan Hart has been outspoken in recent years about the faith journey that has led her to find salvation in Jesus Christ. Now she’s speaking out about the importance of prayer after she suddenly found herself drawn directly into the tragic school shooting in Nashville.

As CBN’s Faithwire reports, Hart and her husband, Mark Wilkerson, were in their car on Monday when they noticed a group of kindergarteners running out of the woods, near The Covenant School, a private Christian school for Pre-K through sixth graders. The 46-year-old actor’s three children—ages 10, 15 and 17—attend a school right next to Covenant.

“Luckily, we are all OK,” the celebrity tearfully explained in an Instagram post. “But we did—my husband and I were on our way to school for conferences—and luckily our kids weren’t in today. We helped a class of kindergartners across a busy highway.”

“So we helped all these tiny little, little kids cross the road and get their teachers over there, and we helped a mom reunite with her children,” Hart continued. “I don’t know what to say anymore. It is just—enough is enough and, just pray. Pray for the families.”

Her Faith Journey to Christ

In a 2019 interview on “Journeys of Faith,” Paula Faris’s podcast for the ABC network, Hart revealed that she had started attending a Presbyterian church, studies the Bible and is always seeking to grow closer to God.

At the time of the interview, Hart took a lot of heat for it, with haters blasting her on social media, calling her names and cursing her for her belief that all people need to know Christ. Apparently, a lot of people were angry that she believes Jesus is the path to heaven, which is the central belief of Christianity. She was even accused of being anti-Semitic because she believes what Christians believe.

Dealing with Spiritual Battles

Hart says she sometimes struggles with doubt like anyone, but, “Then I close my eyes and tap into the Holy Spirit and let Him speak to me. And you feel that warmth and you feel that change.”

While she didn’t discuss her prior acting role as a teenage witch, she did talk about how she sometimes senses fear and real spiritual darkness and engages in what the Bible calls spiritual warfare.

She talks about moments when she feels darkness around her in her home, and she recognizes she can make the darkness leave by speaking in faith out loud.

“When I’m in my house and I’m afraid if I’m by myself or my husband’s asleep before me, and I get afraid and I’m walking the halls and you just get that creepy feeling like goosebumps up your back like something’s not right, I just say out loud, you know, ‘This is a Jesus home, Satan’s not welcome here, get out, this is a home for Jesus,’ she said.

“Immediately… you feel that darkness go away,” she explained.

“One of the great things that I’ve learned is that darkness is just the absence of light and without Jesus you just have this darkness and then Jesus is the light… so not having Jesus in your life just leaves this void,” she said.

For the rest of this article, visit our content partners at .{eoa}

Reprinted with permission from . Copyright © 2022 The Christian Broadcasting Network Inc. All rights reserved.

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Following are snippets of the top stories posted on over the past week. We encourage you to visit the links to read the stories in full.

What Happens When Your Pastor Wants Social Media Fame More Than Serving Your Church?

Becoming an influential pastor today in American culture has practically become a competitive sport. I’ve seen first hand the backdoor race between evangelists trying to out rank each others ministries for the most salvations. Ministries have even resorted to photoshopping crowds to portray a greater impact.

With that in mind, we sat down with Pastor Marcus Rogers. While he has a clear influence on social media, he emboldens other leaders to take their pastoral role seriously. “Your job of a pastor is not there to be about you. You’re there to serve, and you are there to build up the people,” he says in the Charisma magazine interview.

There is a strange odor of jealous banter permeating the church walls. To go back to the basics of Christianity, this whole thing is about one person. His name is Jesus Christ, and He is the Son of God.

The Ark of the Covenant Found? ‘This Isn’t Raiders of the Lost Ark’

This isn’t fantasy, and it’s not “Raiders of the Lost Ark.” End times expert Michael Snyder says Israeli officials—among others—know exactly where the Ark of the Covenant is located, and there will come a time soon for that location to be revealed.

And once that location is finally revealed, Snyder says, “the Israeli people will see an immediate need to construct a new temple for it.” And the construction of a third temple will fulfill Bible prophecy, as the Messianic Bible reads “that the Hebrew prophets all proclaimed that in the last days, the exiles of Israel would return to the Promised Land and that the Temple would be rebuilt.”

Ezekiel 37:28 reads, “Then the nations will know that I, the Lord, make Israel holy, when my sanctuary is among them forever.

Ex-Hillsong Pastor Carl Lentz Joins Transformation Church in Tulsa

In his first staff position at a church since his removal as lead pastor at Hillsong New York, Carl Lentz is joining Transformation Church in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

Transformation Church is a massive nondenominational church in a city filled with them, and makes an even bigger impact on the community around it.

According to Transformation Church’s Executive Pastor Tammy McQuarters, the church leadership believes Lentz and his family have gone through a season of restoration following his highly publicized fall from leadership.

11-Year-Old Describes Miraculous Healing at Asbury Revival: ‘A Genuine Touch from the Lord’

When the Asbury University revival broke out, thousands of people from all ages flocked to Kentucky to join in the mighty move of God. Among them was an 11-year-old girl from Virginia named Helen White who recently shared with CBN News her testimony of experiencing a miraculous healing during the revival.

“It was the best night of my life, I loved it,” described Helen. “I pray every night and thank the Lord that I got to go.”

When the White family heard about the revival at Asbury University, they canceled their weekend plans, loaded up their RV, and drove about 10 hours to Kentucky to witness the move of the Holy Spirit for themselves. Helen said she watched the livestream for a few days leading up to the family’s trip and begged her parents every day to take her and her three younger siblings.

13 People You Should Never Marry as a Christian

Marrying someone with multiple red flags tends to never turn out well. The wait of finding that person God has for you can feel long and often hopeless, but I can assure you that jumping into a marriage with someone who is not the person you need to be with, will leave you with a lot more struggles in the long-term.

We sat down with Pastor Vlad and Lana Savchuk with Hungry Generation church to talk about the kind of qualities you want to make sure are not in your future spouse.

Here are the 13 red flags to keep an eye out for: {eoa}

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I am fully aware that some readers of this article will be deeply offended, accusing me of extreme condescension and transphobia. In a word, they would say, “We don’t need or want your help or compassion. To the contrary, it’s people like you who create problems for us.”

Yes, I fully expect such reactions, but it is love for God, love for people and love for truth that compel me to write.

To be clear, I am not saying that we can generalize about trans-identified individuals based on the recent mass shooting at a private Christian school in Nashville by a trans-identified female shooter. That would be cruel and unfair.

But I am saying that we should focus on the serious needs within the transgender community, needs that no amount of surgery or hormones can fully address.

In the words of Robert L. Vazzo, ., a California-based, licensed marriage and family therapist and professional clinical counselor, “We need to educate pastors that the human condition is full of contradictions, paradoxes and failings due to the fallen condition of the human race. There are many physical and psychological phenomena that illustrate this including autoimmune disorders, inflammation, mental retardation, autism and yes, transgenderism.”

Vazzo wrote these words in a group email in response to Quentin Van Meter, a pediatric endocrinologist, and president of the American College of Pediatricians. He had observed that, “Unfortunately, there are ‘Christian’ pastors in all sorts of denominations who are promoting the trans agenda with the argument that God doesn’t make mistakes, and therefore these ‘true trans’ patients are God’s creation. They were in full force yesterday in Austin Texas, rallying against the HB 1686 which will ban all affirmation efforts. The Episcopal church is all in on trans.”

Vazzo’s point was well-taken. There are underlying mental and/or emotional issues that lay at the heart of gender dysphoria, and affirming people’s struggles and delusions is the worst thing we can do.

How else do we explain the constant mantra that, “If I don’t get gender-affirming surgery, I’m going to kill myself”?

I’m not denying or belittling the depth of these people’s struggles. I’m simply saying that threats of, “I must have this or I will kill myself” are not the threats of emotionally and/or mentally whole people.

In the same way, those who are emotionally and mentally whole are not calling for “days of vengeance” against those who want to stop the chemical castration and genital mutilation of children.

Yet that’s the very thing that transgender activists have done, changing their previous “Trans Day of Visibility” to a “Trans Day of Vengeance,” held annually on March 31. (Note also that the organizers did not change the title of this event in the aftermath of the Nashville shooting. They did decide to cancel the event’s April 1 march in DC, but it was out of concern that they would be targeted for violence. And rather than take an ounce of responsibility for their own inflammatory rhetoric, they blamed “the flood of raw hatred directed toward the trans community after the Tennessee shooting.”)

Thankfully, Twitter had the sense to remove tweets related to the event. As explained by Ella Irwin, Twitter’s chief of trust and safety, “We do not support tweets that incite violence irrespective of who posts them. ‘Vengeance’ does not imply peaceful protest. Organizing or support for peaceful protests is ok.”

The language of the organizers of the event does not speak of “peaceful protests” either, calling for allies to “stand up and fight with us to bring down the forces that try to subjugate us all.”

As reported by the Daily Mail, “Controversial group behind ‘Trans Day of Vengeance’ raised money for firearms training—as other trans protestors pose with guns ahead of march in DC on Saturday.”

Yes, “Despite three nine year old’s being gunned down by a transgender shooter at a private Christian school in Nashville, activists are still rallying the troops to protest for a ‘Trans Day of Vengeance’—months after raising money for firearms training.”

Worse still, the mass-murderer, Audrey Hale, is now being celebrated by a gun-toting trans-activist as “a martyr against transphobia from hateful CHRISTIAN BIGOTS like you genociding us.” The message continues: “WE WILL DEFEND OURSELVES FROM YOU. Where is your god now? Pray … for mercy … because we can’t show any.”

These are not the words of a well-person. Instead, sentiments like this are as dangerous as they are disturbing. What else can you call it when a mass murderer becomes a victim and the murderer’s victims become the guilty party?

Of course, we can always point to the social insanity of allowing biological males to compete against biological females.

In that regard, a Canadian male weightlifter, Avi Silverberg, bearded and dressed as a male, entered a Canadian female powerlifting competition identified as a woman. He did this to make a point, quickly demolishing the previous record, which had been set by a man who identified as a woman and who has been crushing the female competition. (Talk about poetic justice.)

Even Joe Rogan recently opined that the “trans athlete thing” is an “[expletive] crime.”

But the issue here is not just one of fairness. It’s one of wellness. And there are serious issues that must be addressed if we want to help those identify as transgender. (I’m not speaking here about people who are intersex and who have biological or chromosomal abnormalities. I’m speaking here of people whose battle is one of the mind.)

A recent article in the “Archives of Sexual Behavior” titled, ‘Rapid Onset Gender Dysphoria: Parent Reports on 1655 Possible Cases’ underscores this need, specifically for those who suddenly develop gender dysphoria in their teen years.

As the article states, “One statistically robust finding was both disturbing and seemingly important. Youths with a history of mental health issues were especially likely to have taken steps to socially and medically transition. This relationship held even after statistically adjusting for likely confounders (e.g., age). The finding is concerning because youth with mental health issues may be especially likely to lack judgment necessary to make these important, and in the case of medical transition permanent, decisions. The finding supports the worries of parents whose preferences differ from their gender dysphoric children. It is consistent with another finding of this study that parents believed gender clinicians and clinics pressured the families toward transition. The finding is particularly concerning given that parents tended to rate their children as worse off after transition.” (For the record, this journal is anything but Christian fundamentalist.)

As for those who develop gender dysphoria at much younger ages, the best solution is to allow them to grow out of it, which the vast majority will, while trying to address the root causes of their struggles.

This is not hatred. This is common sense, compassion, and, from the viewpoint of an increasing number of countries, the wisest professional thing to do.

Do I believe that a disproportionate number of trans-identified people are violent? No. Do I believe that, as people, they are a special menace to society? Certainly not. Are they our enemies? God forbid. Jesus died for them the same way He died for each of us, and we must recognize that our fight is with spiritual forces, not with people (see Eph. 6:12).

But I do believe that trans-activism, sponsored enthusiastically by the Biden administration, is a real threat to our societal stability. And, more importantly, I believe that we need to recognize that the transgender community is filled with wounded and hurting people, and even with endless affirmation and unlimited medical options, their pain will not go away.

Let’s continue to do our best to find constructive ways to help them, even as they view us as enemies, accuse of genocide, and, in some cases, threaten us with vengeance. {eoa}

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Dr. Michael Brown () is the host of the nationally syndicated Line of Fire radio program. His latest book is “The Political Seduction of the Church: How Millions of American Christians Have Confused Politics with the Gospel.” Connect with him on Facebook, Twitter or YouTube.

Actress Melissa Joan Hart has been outspoken in recent years about the faith journey that has led her to find salvation in Jesus Christ. Now she’s speaking out about the importance of prayer after she suddenly found herself drawn directly into the tragic school shooting in Nashville.

As CBN’s Faithwire reports, Hart and her husband, Mark Wilkerson, were in their car on Monday when they noticed a group of kindergarteners running out of the woods, near The Covenant School, a private Christian school for Pre-K through sixth graders. The 46-year-old actor’s three children—ages 10, 15 and 17—attend a school right next to Covenant.

“Luckily, we are all OK,” the celebrity tearfully explained in an Instagram post. “But we did—my husband and I were on our way to school for conferences—and luckily our kids weren’t in today. We helped a class of kindergartners across a busy highway,”

“So we helped all these tiny little, little kids cross the road and get their teachers over there, and we helped a mom reunite with her children,” Hart continued. “I don’t know what to say anymore. It is just—enough is enough and, just pray. Pray for the families.”

Her Faith Journey to Christ

In a 2019 interview on “Journeys of Faith,” Paula Faris’s podcast for the ABC network, Hart revealed that she had started attending a Presbyterian church, studies the Bible and is always seeking to grow closer to God.

At the time of the interview, Hart took a lot of heat for it, with haters blasting her on social media, calling her names and cursing her for her belief that all people need to know Christ. Apparently, a lot of people were angry that she believes Jesus is the path to heaven, which is the central belief of Christianity. She was even accused of being anti-Semitic because she believes what Christians believe.

Dealing with Spiritual Battles

Hart says she sometimes struggles with doubt like anyone, but, “Then I close my eyes and tap into the Holy Spirit and let Him speak to me. And you feel that warmth and you feel that change.”

While she didn’t discuss her prior acting role as a teenage witch, she did talk about how she sometimes senses fear and real spiritual darkness and engages in what the Bible calls spiritual warfare.

She talks about moments when she feels darkness around her in her home, and she recognizes she can make the darkness leave by speaking in faith out loud.

“When I’m in my house and I’m afraid if I’m by myself or my husband’s asleep before me, and I get afraid and I’m walking the halls and you just get that creepy feeling like goosebumps up your back like something’s not right, I just say out loud, you know, ‘This is a Jesus home, Satan’s not welcome here, get out, this is a home for Jesus,’ she said.

“Immediately… you feel that darkness go away,” she explained.

“One of the great things that I’ve learned is that darkness is just the absence of light and without Jesus you just have this darkness and then Jesus is the light… so not having Jesus in your life just leaves this void,” she said.

For the rest of this article, visit our content partners at .{eoa}

Reprinted with permission from . Copyright © 2022 The Christian Broadcasting Network Inc. All rights reserved.

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Here’s a quick summary of the top stories on :

13 People You Should Never Marry as a Christian

Marrying someone with multiple red flags tends to never turn out well. The wait of finding that person God has for you can feel long and often hopeless, but I can assure you that jumping into a marriage with someone who is not the person you need to be with, will leave you with a lot more struggles in the long-term.

We sat down with Pastor Vlad and Lana Savchuk with Hungry Generation church to talk about the kind of qualities you want to make sure are not in your future spouse.

Here are the 13 red flags to keep an eye out for.

This Demonic Blasphemy Was Aired Live on Television

Christians are being greatly stretched in the current era of humanity.

The relentless attacks against God, His Word and His design for mankind are becoming culturally accepted and amplified across the news waves.

It is no secret that the television outlet MSNBC holds Christians in contempt, but now it is airing blasphemous statements against God without challenging the speakers in the slightest.

Internet Comedian Says He Is ‘Accidentally’ Becoming More Christian

Over the past three years, internet comedian JP Sears says he has found himself “getting accidentally” more Christian.

A man who formerly had a great deal of judgment against religion and Christianity, Sears says he was wrong, and he has definitely changed his mind about God and what our Lord and Savior has to offer.

And Sears is certainly making an impact. In addition to have more than million subscribers on YouTube, he also has 1.1 million followers on Instagram, more than 342,000 followers on Twitter and more than 3 million followers on Facebook. {eoa}

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Marriage is a covenant, not a contract. Understanding God’s true design for marriage will help you step into the biblical role as a wife or husband with the tools for success. We sat down with Pastor Vlad and Lana Savchuk of Hungry Generation Church to talk about the five most important roles for a husband and a wife.

“Christian marriage is less about our personal happiness and more about our holiness. In order to operate in a Christian marriage we have to know what the Bible expects from each person,” Vlad Savchuk says.

Here are the 5 roles of a Biblical wife:

• Partner with her husband to rule over creation.
• She is a helper to her husband. This word helper is often used when God refers to Himself as our helper.
• She is a crown of her husband.
• A wife is to submit to her husband. God created a specific order, just like there is an order in the military. If there is a disarray and you don’t know who is in charge, chaos ensues. This is not women submitting to men in general, a woman can be a CEO and run a business with men under her, this verse refers specifically to a marriage.
• A wife is a builder of a home.

5 roles of a Biblical husband:

• He is a leader. He has to be proactive to initiate a marriage and pursue God. This is where the headship comes from.
• The husband is a laborer. We have a problem with men today not wanting to work. God calls men to work and provide for his family.
• A husband is called to be loyal. Typically men battle with their eyes and struggle with purity but Christian men are called to be loyal to their wife and family. He provides safety to the home by being a faithful man of integrity.
• He is a learner of his wife. If you know what your wife likes do it, if you know what she doesn’t like, don’t do that.
• The husband is called to love his wife like Christ loves the church.

“In 1 Peter, apostle Paul is talking about a wife that can win her husband with her conduct, even without saying a word. We all know a nagging wife, it goes over men’s heads. They block it out. It’s best that you show honor to your husband and treat him on the level you want to see him,” Lana Savchuk says.

Tune in to the rest of the interview with Vlad and Lana here.

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Shelby Bowen is an assistant editor for Charisma Media.