James Cary, an award-winning British television writer, says that the sitcom formula is intrinsically Judeo-Christian and functions like the parables of Jesus. But he also warned that the reason modern sitcoms have grown worse in recent years is because they have abandoned this ethical framework.

During an interview with Premier Christianity’s Sam Hailes, Cary pointed out that sitcoms are based on consequences and morals.

“You’re always showing that moral choices have consequences,” Cary says. “You distort and you change them and you abbreviate some and you extend others. But that’s what parables are. They don’t tell the whole story. They’re just telling a snapshot. They’re telling one angle of a story. So sitcoms are kind of compressed versions of reality.

“We know that if Miranda, say, tells a lie at the beginning of the show, that that lie is going to have to be exposed at some point, and the consequences will come out and she will suffer the consequences for lying. If somebody is proud in a show, then we know that they are going to be humbled. And that is a cathartic thing that I’m in favor of. And I think sitcom does that very well. They are little morality tales … that follow that Judeo-Christian pattern.”

Because of this structure, he believes that even when Christians are not employed on a production, many sitcoms still promote Christian values at the core—albeit imperfectly.

“The classics remain classics because they’re written with that in mind—even though there are always mixed messages and they’re not written by Christian or performed by Christians,” Cary says. “I think within that traditional form of storytelling, it has come from a Judeo-Christian culture.”

He also cautioned that current trends in comedy toward deconstruction and immorality have gone away from this historic trend. But he believes audiences ultimately reject these shows, even if critics praise them.

“I think there are lots of comedies now which kind of don’t do that—and they tend not to rate very well,” Cary says. “They tend to critically do well because they seem very strange and challenging, but ultimately there is a nihilism at the heart of them which isn’t terribly funny because it’s not very rewarding.”

Click here to watch the full interview.

In a video posted Monday, Sid Roth says that thousands of Jewish people will come to salvation in Jesus Christ over Pentecost, which will ultimately trigger the Second Coming of Christ. Most of the video features Roth explaining the significance of Sabbath and the Jewish Feast of Weeks from a Messianic context. But halfway through, Roth begins speaking of events yet to come.

Referencing Peter leaving the Upper Room and preaching in Acts 2, Roth says, “I’ve had meetings with Jewish people, unbelievers, where 2,000 come in. One thousand come in. But I haven’t had 3,000 yet. But I tell you, my faith is that this Pentecost, we’re going to have the glory work on us, say multiple thousands of Jews and non-Jews alike coming to know the Lord.”

Roth later discussed a prophetic word shared with him about the Lion of Judah.

“I had a prophecy a few months back, and there was a line that was roaring, and the prophet said I was trembling when I heard that roar. Why was he trembling? I tell you, the whole world trembles when the Lion of Judah—that’s Jesus—roars. … The lion is going to roar this Pentecost over you and your house. I mean, your whole house.”

Roth concluded by linking these prophetic words to the Second Coming of Christ.

“[Jewish people] are going to get radically saved. They’re going to preach the gospel to tens of thousands of Gentiles, and then Jesus is going to return. This is the fullness of Pentecost on you and your house.”

As the video was uploaded on June 10—one day after Passover in the United States—it is unclear whether Roth is specifically predicting Passover 2019 will fulfill these prophetic words or if he is declaring it for 2020.

Watch the full video here.

Joyce Meyer says Jesus wants to help you and save you—but He won’t enter your life without permission. She compares it to a recent experience of a group of pastors she knew, who went night fishing off the coast of California.

“They hit a reef and had a pretty major boat accident. And all of them really got hurt,” Meyer says. “Some of them were in really, really bad shape. They managed to radio the Coast Guard, and when the Coast Guard got there—which I guess this is a rule of the sea—they said, ‘Permission to come aboard, sir.’ That’s interesting.”

Meyer says that’s a beautiful metaphor for Jesus’ saving work in our own lives.

“Here they were bleeding and damaged and their lives were in a mess at that point, and they desperately needed help,” Meyer says. “Like people without Christ: desperate, they need all kind of help. They’re bleeding inside. They’ve got broken hearts. And yet Jesus won’t come onboard without getting permission. So I think today, Jesus is saying to some people, ‘Permission to come onboard, sir.'”

In the video, Meyer then leads people in the prayer of salvation. Watch it here.

Movieguide’s Dr. Ted Baehr says he recommends Christian treat the latest X-Men film, Dark Phoenix, with “extreme caution” because of violence and harsh language. What’s more, Baehr says the movie has lost some of the Christian references of earlier films.

“It doesn’t have the Christian content of Nightcrawler praying and the other things that were happening in earlier X-Men,” Baehr says. “…If it wasn’t for a little bit of foul language, it wouldn’t be too bad, but [there’s] a lot of violence. So it’s not for young kids.”

Watch the full video review here.

Lauren Daigle requested prayer for her aging grandfather during her acceptance speech at the K-Love Fan Awards on Sunday, June 2.

“I’m going to try not to cry but I want to honor my grandfather,” Daigle said. “He’s 86 years old. He has knees that are giving him a hard time. Shoulders and a back that—it all kind of needs to be replaced. So if y’all could be praying for someone, that’s the man. But he drove nine hours to be here.”

Daigle performed her hit song “You Say” at the awards show and was named “Artist of the Year” and—for the fourth consecutive year—”Female Artist of the Year.” Watch the recap video posted by Daigle here.

On April 8, 2018, Robert Morris had to be airlifted to the hospital for emergency treatment after he passed out following complications with an earlier surgery. His time in the hospital was then lengthened as a result of multiple surgeries and life-threatening infections. A little over a year later, Morris reflected on the experience from the pulpit. He says that Satan attacked him with fear on the one-year anniversary of the airlift, as well as on two other dates.

“Satan started lying to me, saying, ‘I can get you any time I want. I can get you any time I want,'” Morris says. “So I went to the Lord and I said, ‘Lord, you’ve got to help me. You’ve got to give me a word. You’ve got to speak to me, because it’s like, you know, all this fear is coming on me.'”

He says he was encouraged later by 2 Timothy 4:17-18, which says, “But the Lord stood with me and strengthened me, so that through me the preaching might be fully known, and that all the Gentiles might hear. And I was delivered out of the mouth of the lion. The Lord will deliver me from every evil work and will preserve me for His heavenly kingdom, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.”

“I remembered what the Lord said to me in that helicopter: ‘I’m not finished with you yet,'” Morris says. “I read that scripture and the Lord said, ‘Listen, Son. You’ve going to preach fully the message that I’ve given you, and you don’t need to be afraid of the enemy.'”

Watch the video to hear Morris’ full story.

In a recent video, Bethel musician Amanda Lindsey Cook worships God in a beautiful cover of Cory Asbury’s “Endless Alleluia.” Cook performed live in Los Angeles at Heaven Come LA 2019 in May. The song features the lyrics: “Countless miracles of life around us/ Point like arrows to Your name/ Let our voices rise/ All creation cries/ Singing out an endless alleluia.” Watch the video here.

On a recent episode of his radio show, “The Line of Fire,” Dr. Michael Brown debunked a popular misconception that rhema words are when God illuminates or speaks the word to an individual.

Responding to a caller asking about that, Brown said, “That’s a very famous misconception popularized by some of the best-known word of faith teachers. They may be something to the concept they’re after, but no, rhema and logos are used quite interchangeably in the Bible. If you’ll just go through the New Testament and search for rhema and search for logos, you’ll find they’re used quite interchangeably and can both speak of the written word as well as communication and other forms. So no—faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word—it doesn’t mean only getting revelation or the spoken word or the so-called revelation word or rhema word. It’s a common phrase we use, but it’s not based in Scripture.”

Watch the video to hear the caller’s full question and Brown’s full response.

Michael Todd, who pastors Transformation Church in Tulsa, Oklahoma, says many believers forgo baptism because they want to treat Jesus like a “side chick Savior.” Todd uses the pop culture term “side chick,” which refers to a romantic partner—usually in the context of infidelity—who is kept private and out of the public eye, without any serious commitment.

“[The Scripture] says when you come to a place of maturity where you understand who you want to be identified with, what baptism does is it lets everybody else know of the inward work that God is doing in your life,” Todd says. “And I started to think about that like, ‘God if it’s that simple, why don’t people get baptized?’ Like, I would just get saved and get baptized. He said, ‘Because most people want a side chick Savior.’ … Most people want the benefits of a relationship with God but no commitment. Most of us want to be able to call Him when we need Him but not claim Him in front of people.”

Instead, Todd urged his congregation to get baptized and go public in their relationship with God, surrendering everything to Him. Then he shared a prophetic word with those about to get baptized.

“God told me, He said, ‘Michael, the reason I don’t want to be a side chick savior anymore is because I want to give them PDA,'” Todd says. “Some of y’all are like, ‘Huh? Public displays of affection?’ No, no, no. He wants to give you a public display of approval. See, that’s what anointing is. … I prophesy to you right now that some of you are about to make this decision for baptism, and as soon as you go down and as soon as you come up, heaven is opening over your family. Heaven is opening over your situation.”

Watch the full video sermon here.

Francis Chan reminded Christian leaders that it is unity in the church—not logical arguments and apologetics—which will ultimately bring people to salvation in Christ. Chan’s remarks came Thursday, May 23, at the 2019 Church Leaders Conference held by Ravi Zacharias International Ministries.

Chan freely admitted that his own bias is toward conventional apologetics—proving the truth of Christ through logical arguments, archaeology, history and fulfilled prophecies. He thought people could be reasoned into believing in God Later, as a youth pastor, he says he thought if he could bring in famous or popular people who believed in Jesus, he could influence students into following God.

But ultimately Chan says unity among believers is what will bring people to salvation. That’s why Jesus dedicated one of his final prayers to praying for complete unity in the church (John 17:20-23).

“That equation to me messes with my logic,” Chan says. “Like, how would our oneness make the world believe that Jesus is the Messiah? … But you’ve got to understand: [the Bible] is filled with illogical equations. I don’t understand how marching around a city seven times will do anything. I don’t understand how touching a staff into water is going to do anything. Right? There is this element of faith. … So as we talk about apologetics, man, praise God for that. But somehow in that, Jesus also says there’s something that we do as the church that is the apologetic. There’s something that we cannot do alone.”

Watch the video to hear Chan’s whole message.