It’s been said, “The darkest hour precedes the greatest revival!”

America has hit a tipping point. That is why over 1,000 national faith leaders, U.S. Senators, House members, plus global representatives came to the National Museum of the Bible to humbly repent and do what God calls for to turn our nation back to God.

Individuals publicly confessed their involvement in abortion; corruption; idolatry; homosexuality; lesbianism; gay “marriage”; bisexuality; transgender mutilation; abandonment of men, women and children in Afghanistan; open borders and drug trafficking that has killed hundreds of thousands.

Take 10 to learn of the humbling and spirit of repentance so critical in this hour and how you can witness the entire event at {eoa}

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

A Pastor’s Plea After Church Is Scammed

A church in North Carolina is reeling after an email scam stole nearly $800,000 while building a new sanctuary.

As reported by the Elkin Tribune, “The church, founded in 1884, had long outgrown the building on North Elkin Drive constructed in 1954 and had been holding services in its family life center since 2016. In September of last year, the church broke ground on a new facility after raising funds for the project for seven years.”

In November of 2022, the Elkin Valley Baptist Church received their bill for the previous month of work from the builders of the new sanctuary.

‘Give Me Jesus Right Now!’ Revivals Breaking Out in Bakersfield

In a world filled with sin lurking around every corner of society, one can miss the signs of light shining bright against the darkness.

This very thing is happening in Bakersfield, California, with evangelist Mario Murillo inviting the presence of the Lord to change the heart of the city.

His ministry has been reaping the fruits of their labor in a spiritually starved part of the country, and lives are being changed because of it.

Kari Lake Shares Details of How She Encountered the Holy Spirit

Kari Lake, the rising conservative superstar who plans to take the evidence of election fraud in Arizona all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court to reveal the truth, shared her testimony on Steve Bannon’s program “War Room” on the Real America Voice TV channel last week. Unabashedly, she revealed her encounter with the Holy Spirit.

“A few years ago, I found an evangelical church that changed my life,” says Lake, who grew up with a Catholic mother and a Lutheran father. “I walked in and felt the Holy Spirit and, for the first time really, a real connection with Jesus.”

This spiritual encounter happened a couple of years before Lake announced that she would run for governor of Arizona. Since her jumping from local TV news into politics in mid-2021, Lake has been distinctly known for her boldness, courage and a fierce, uncompromising commitment to the truth, integrity and Judeo-Christian values.

Satanic Worship Headlines Grammys

Surrounded by dancers with long black hair cloaked in red robes, English singer Sam Smith was center stage at the Grammys glorifying satanic rituals in a skin tight leather outfit as he sang “Unholy.”

Smith identifies as non-binary. His performance at the Grammys which streamed to millions around the world was a clear symbol of the vociferous spiritual warfare happening in our culture today.

The first transgender singer to hit No. 1 charts, Kim Petras also joined Smith for the performance. Petras is a collaborator on the song and was seen trapped in a large cage surrounded by fire on the stage.

Discerning False Prophets and Delusions With Mario Murillo

My longtime friend Mario Murillo is providing a critical role in the body of Christ in speaking up against the wolves in sheep clothing. Matthew Henry said, “A traitor inside the camp is more dangerous than 1,000 persecutors outside the camp.”

Christians want to be nice. Christianity is all about love and the gifts of the Spirit, but there is a biblical reality in speaking the truth in love. There are clear warnings in the Bible that there will be wolves in sheep’s clothing hiding among us.

Sometimes it’s a false prophet leading multitudes astray, other times it’s an honorable man or woman of God who just got a prophetic word wrong. {eoa}

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As Super Bowl LVII approaches, members of the Philadelphia Eagles and Kansas City Chiefs tell CBN Sports that the faith that has guided them to this world stage is even more important than winning the big game.

The Chiefs are fighting for their second title in four seasons. For the Eagles, it’s their second shot in six years. What happens on Sunday night will live on forever in the history books.

CBN Sports talked with a few players and coaches on both sides, and they say no matter who wins or what happens, it’s all part of God’s plan.

Players from the Chiefs and the Eagles recount God’s faithfulness through adversity, which helps them enjoy the blessing of being in the Super Bowl even more.

Eagles Defensive Back K’Von Wallace, No. 42, told us, “My faith is everything. It’s all about belief. That’s where it starts, just having a faith, just having a belief. My struggle helped me find my belief, even when I was in high school. I didn’t play until my senior year, a lot of things that happened, I always just kept the faith. Man, I’m in the Super Bowl. I’m blessed.”

Eagles Wide Receiver A.J. Brown, No. 11 and Defensive End Brandon Graham, No. 55, have both battled injuries in Philadelphia. However, they’re choosing to put their trust in God.

Brown said, “I like to say it’s not me out here. I get all my blessings and strength from the Man above. You know it’s big in my life so whichever way He wants me to go, just hopefully I’m on the same page as Him, you know. And if I’m not, hopefully He will redirect my path.”

Graham recalled, “When I got hurt, I definitely said a prayer. I told the Lord, man I know that this is a time that I can spend with my family. I took it one day at a time. I got stronger with my word and enjoyed serving. I’m so thankful. I’m still thanking Him now. You know every second I get I’m just mesmerized by the moment. You know? Thank You for this moment.”

When it comes to the magnitude of this Super Bowl event, they say faith helps keep all of that in perspective.

Eagles Linebacker Christian Elliss told CBN Sports, “I see it as a platform. Ten years from now, 20 years from now, my faith, that’s what’s going to remain the same. My relationship with God will remain the same. I want God’s will to be done. I want God to be glorified. And that’s just my biggest thing. Let God’s will be done.”

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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No generation in history has had so many distractions to deal with. No generation in history has had so many temptations. No generation in history has had so much entertainment and defilement available right at our fingertips (quite literally). That means that it is much harder to live consecrated, undistracted lives for the Lord, lives that are free from the contamination of sin and the saturation of the world.

To say it bluntly, we are in the midst of a fierce war for our souls, yet many of us are living as if we were on vacation. We must wake up! The enemy of our souls is out for our souls. Make no mistake about it.

This is not to minimize the terrible suffering endured for the faith by our brothers and sisters in heavily persecuted countries. They are paying the ultimate price for their convictions, right until this day. But in this context, I’m simply speaking of the temptations of sin and the distractions of the world. We are facing these in unique and unprecedented ways, because of which many more are falling away from the Lord. This is a simple observation rather than rocket science.

So, in addition to the objections of the new atheists and the agnostic professors, in addition to the impact of LGBTQ-plus activism, in addition to the problem of suffering, in addition to the many church scandals, in addition to the challenge of religious exclusivism, there is now one more great obstacle to our relationship with the Lord: lots and lots of opportunities to sin. Some things just never change.

There’s an old saying that either sin will keep you from the Bible, or the Bible will keep you from sin. The same can be said about prayer. Either sin will keep you from prayer, or prayer will keep you from sin. In both cases, the more that sin is present, the more that devotion to God will be absent. It’s a simple spiritual principle.

It’s also true that distractions will keep us from maturing in the Lord. Jesus addressed this in the Parable of the Sower, which spoke about a man sowing seed on different types of ground. (The man in the parable represented Jesus, and the seed represented God’s Word.) The seed that fell on thorny soil grew into a plant, but the thorns choked it, and so it could not come to maturity and bear fruit.

What did these thorns represent? As Jesus explained, they represented the cares of the world, the deceitfulness of riches, the pleasures of life and the desires for other things that enter in and choke the Word, and it proves unfruitful. (See Matt. 13:22, Mark 4:19, Luke 8:14). We live in a very thorny world!

That’s why John wrote 1 John 2:15–17 (ESV): “Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the world. And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.” In our day, it has become increasingly difficult to keep our hearts free from the love of the world.

Think back to the days before we had cable TV, let alone streaming services online. We had four or five channels to choose from, and some of them stopped broadcasting at midnight. And, for many years, our home TVs were black and white, often with poor reception. Before that, there was radio only, and before that, only books and table games and the like.

Contrast that way of life with today’s way of life, when you can watch breaking news on your cell phone or view an endless number of movies or a multitude of live sporting events—almost wherever you are in the world, and right in the palm of your hands. And let’s not forget the constant distraction of endless texts, messages, emails and social media posts. Our brains are becoming rewired for constant digital stimulation, to the point that it’s becoming increasingly difficult to focus for long. This, too, is destructive to our spiritual life. It is so much easier to be shallow and scattered than to be deep and focused.

Devotion to the Lord requires discipline, and if we can’t control our physical appetites, it’s unlikely that we will master the other areas of our lives.

(Excerpted from my newest book, Why So Many Christians Have Left the Faith: Responding to the Deconstructionist Movement with Unshakable Timeless Truth. To read a free chapter, go to .)

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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.

Mike Bickle and I have been friends for more than 35 years, and I’ve heard him preach some pretty stirring sermons during that time. In fact, Mike says he’s preached about 7,000 sermons in his 50 years of ministry, but not many could be more important than the one he delivered in front of his church in Kansas City, Missouri, on New Year’s Day.

It’s about Christian persecution, but let me explain a little bit about that before I reveal what Mike said in his message.

Open Doors USA, which raises the level of awareness of Christian persecution and supports Christians in more than 70 countries, estimates that more than 360 million believers suffer persecution and discrimination globally. There are some countries, like North Korea and China, where the persecution is extreme.

But we who live in the West, especially here in the United States, have our Constitution and our Judeo-Christian values. We haven’t seen the level of persecution believers face in many other countries.

But Mike says to make no mistake about it, it’s headed our way, and it’s going to be intense. The Bible guarantees it.

In his Jan. 1 sermon, Mike spoke about the “Certainty of Persecution and its Blessing.”

“That Sunday morning, I got before the IHOPKC community and told them that this is a really important message,” he says. “It’s not my version that makes it the most important, it’s the fact that it’s been talked about so little in the Western church. As a believer for the last 50 years, I haven’t heard or talked much about it.

“But I believe persecution is coming to the West, and it’s a very important subject for us to find out what the biblical narrative is,” Bickle continues. “What does the Bible say about persecution, particularly in the generation that the Lord returns? We don’t know that we’re in that generation, but I have an opinion that there are people that live on the earth today—maybe the 20-year-olds, maybe the 2-year-olds, I don’t know—but I believe we are in that hour where there are people that live on the earth today that will see it with their eyes.”

Most people don’t like to deal with this. It’s not a happy topic. In Christian circles, there are people who have talked about the end times. Hal Lindsey’s  “The Late Great Planet Earth” came out about 50 years ago, and it was all about the rapture. There are a lot of different views on the subject.

The Great Tribulation is not something to joke about. We can’t understand exactly what it is, but it has to do with the Antichrist, one-world government, the mark of the beast. These are examples of what will occur during the Tribulation, but Mike wants to help people understand how the coming persecution applies to them.

 “I believe that this is one of the more important subjects for the body of Christ in the West to start talking about,” he says. “It needs to get into the conversation of the church.

“When you read the words of Jesus … and this is a verse that really struck me some time ago … but in Matthew 24:9, he said ‘Then, all nations will hate you,'” Bickle says. “I never really have focused on that word at all. If you read Matthew 24 verses five, six, seven and eight, Jesus called it the beginning of birth pangs and then, ‘all nations will hate you.’ That time frame hasn’t happened yet. That’s the future, and America is in that cluster. … There is coming a time where all people that are true to the words of Jesus, really loyal to what He said, will suffer.

“Jesus said there are a lot of truths that are really popular about free forgiveness, that’s pretty neat,” he adds. Resurrection? Cool. But He also has a number of truths that are unpopular, and mostly we don’t talk much about those. I believe before the Lord returns, the Spirit is going to be zealous that we give the whole counsel of God. … I think that all nations will hate those that are faithful to the whole message, which is yet future. But it’s inevitable, and it’s coming and will involve the church in the West.”

Yet Mike says Christians should not fear the coming persecution and that it will yield actual benefits to the church.

That’s a concept many believers can’t wrap their heads around, but Mike uses Scripture to back it up.

There’s 1 Peter 4:1, which says, “Arm yourself to suffer persecution.” Mike says we must arm ourselves, which means knowing the biblical narrative. And, Mike says: 

“Jesus was teaching on persecution, and in John 15, he said, “Do not marvel when you are hated,” Mike says. “He was telling the church in His generation, don’t marvel, meaning don’t be shocked or surprised when you are hated. Understand that hatred is inevitable. Right now, we marvel when we’re hated. I want a generation of young people that know the biblical narrative. Their hearts will be set and prepared.

“They’ve determined certain responses they are going to have and how they will be faithful,” he explains. “Those conversations with the Lord and the grace of God that touches our heart is critical. … If you are shocked and surprised when people hate you for standing for Christ, you are far more vulnerable and will be offended at God, and even will be fearful enough to retreat from your faith.”

Indeed, it’s an important message to hear, and you can watch that message here. Please make sure you also listen to my “Strang Report” podcast with Mike on the Charisma Podcast Network.

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Are you investing in your marriage? Marriage is a gift from the Lord and should be cultivated and stewarded well by both the husband and the wife. Part of honoring your marriage is continuing to grow and learn new things to help you succeed in your life together.

Charisma magazine sat down with Mike and Cindy Jacobs to talk about the difficulties many people face in marriage and how they have overcome obstacles. The Jacobses are celebrating 50 years of marriage this year and credit continuing to learn and grow together along the way as a major source of their strong relationship.

God designed marriage to provide a companion for you as well as a picture of our relationship with Him. Tune in to the interview with Mike and Cindy Jacobs to learn practical and spiritual tips that will keep your marriage healthy, long-lasting and filled with Jesus.

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Shelby Bowen is an assistant editor for Charisma Media.

The people—and the people with the money—have made their case. A steep decline in funding from local churches has caused a Christian school in Missouri, one that provides tuition-free education, to announce that it will close its doors after this year’s spring semester.

The drop in financial support to Urban Christian Academy of Kansas City, a kindergarten through eighth-grade school that is only nine years old and located in a “neglected” neighborhood in the city, ensued after the school altered its mission statement, “The Kansas City Star” reported.

By the end of 2022, the school lost 80% of its funding, and school officials faced the reality that it could no longer keep the school open due to severe financial constraints.

Before its public support of the LGBTQ community, Urban Christian Academy raised nearly $334,000 in December 2021. The “Star” reported that in December 2022, donations dropped to $14,800.

Since opening in 2013, the school has maintained an “inclusive theology” and has supported LGBTQ students and staff. But, The Star reported, it did so “quietly.”

Last winter, however, executive director and co-founder Kalie Callaway-George felt the school “could no longer keep its LGBTQ support a secret.”

“I think our community members felt safe within our walls, but we wanted them to feel publicly protected as well,” Callaway-George said in an email to The Star. “Eventually, it felt like our silence was contributing to the hurt and pain our queer community members were experiencing. We deeply longed for all people to feel welcomed, loved and celebrated not just secretly within our walls but very explicitly to the public as well.”

The school updated its mission statement and website to state that it affirms LGBTQ rights, and it informed the school community of the change in a newsletter.

In the ensuing six months, Callaway-George said, the school lost 42% of its funding, which consisted of donations from churches and congregation members that kept the school running and paid for students’ tuition.

“We find ourselves in a season where we are running on very few resources, and each time attention is brought to the issue we are bombarded by hate, which further distracts from our ability to care for the scholars we have in our care,” Callaway-George told “The Star.”

All eight churches that helped to fund the school withdrew their support, citing “a disagreement in the values based on the inclusion of the LGBTQ community,” Callaway-George said.

“The Star” reported that a patron who withdrew its support wrote to the school: “Although we love and admire you in many ways, for your hard work, compassion, commitment, strength, we draw the line at this issue. Christian compassion doesn’t mean universalism. Jesus loved all, but told them, ‘go and sin no more.’ He died so we could be saved, healed, delivered, and set free.”

In response, Callaway-George said, “As a Christian school, we believe that each of these beloved humans was made in the image of God.”

Some families pulled their children out of the school of 100 students. And after two teachers resigned at Christmas break this school year, Urban Christian Academy closed its first-, second- and third-grade classrooms. {eoa}

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Shawn A. Akers is the online editor at Charisma Media.

U.S. Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash., the new chairwoman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, handed out Bibles at her first committee meeting and challenged members to read through the book in 2023. 

McMorris Rodgers said the Bible “changed my life” when she read it through for the first time. She encouraged “everyone to read this book in their lifetime,” according to The Washington Stand. 

“Finally, I wanted to give you a book,” the congresswoman said, and “invite all of us to read through it together in 2023. It’s an all-time bestseller. I read through it for the first time a few years ago, and it changed my life. My encouragement is for everyone to read this book in their lifetime. So, why not now, in 2023?”

“In America and on this committee, there [are] many faiths, beliefs that are represented. We cherish religious freedom and religious tolerance,” McMorris Rodgers continued.

The Washington Stand reports it appeared the chairwoman gave the members of her committee a Bible structured as a daily devotional. 

“This Bible is structured to be 15 minutes a day, a little Old Testament, New Testament, Psalms and Proverbs,” she explained. 

“And I pray that it will be a blessing,” McMorris Rodgers concluded. 

She also gave members a free coffee mug and encouraged them to have coffee with a colleague from the opposite party. 

In the same meeting, Rep. Anna Eschoo, D-Calif., handed McMorris Rodgers a bouquet of flowers in recognition of her being the first woman to chair the committee.

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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It doesn’t take much online scrolling to recognize the complete dysfunction in Christian churches in the West today. Amid the economic, political and racial division, Christians are also finding spare minutes to bicker over theology and church politics.

Apostle Alexander Pagani is sounding the alarm on a cult that is taking advantage of those divisions to infiltrate and recruit congregants. “It’s an epidemic,” Pagani says, speaking of Shincheonji or known in America as New Heaven New Earth church.

The group was founded in the 1980s by Lee Man-Hee. In part one of our interview with Pagani, he breaks down the beliefs of the church and its leader, the “Promised Pastor,” who says he is the only one able to interpret the book of Revelation. The church tells its members they are the only ones counted in the 144,000 mentioned in the book of Revelation.

New Heaven New Earth is now reaching out to Christians across America, looking to join together for Bible studies. You may have even been contacted by someone.

“These false prophets are like jackals among the ruins. If you don’t know anything about jackals or hyenas, these are scavenging animals that feast on dead things left over by people or animals along the way,” Pagani says.

The first way they try to get your attention is talking about unity. They know the Christian church is experiencing a deficit of love between its members, but as soon as the false prophets hook you in with their talk of love and unity, it turns to uniformity.

The second is the tactic of love bombing. New Heaven New Earth targets Christians who have suffered church hurt, are disenfranchised and tired of legalism. “They are very loving instead of being very dogmatic like many Christians are,” Pagani says.

While you may try to think the best about people’s intentions, Pagani warns believers to stop being naive to the tactics of cults. “Just because you think they would never do that doesn’t mean they would never do that,” he says. “Yes, they would. If you don’t want to take my wife’s word for it, take apostle Paul’s word for it.”

Acts 20:29-30 says, “For I know that after my departure, dreadful wolves will enter among you, not sparing the flock. Even from among you men will arise speaking perverse things, to draw the disciples away after them.”

Now is not the time to be seeker sensitive when it comes to false doctrine. “Be loving when you’re supposed to be, but be militant when you’re supposed to be,” Pagani says.

Tune in to part one of our interview with Pagani where he talks in depth about his personal experience with the cult and how pastors should stay on guard. {eoa}

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Shelby Bowen is an assistant editor for Charisma Media.

A voice uniting Black conservatives cries out into a wilderness of “wokeness” as the U.S. celebrates Black History Month and enters the threshold of its most critical presidential election this century.

The largest gathering of Black conservative leaders in the Midwest—described as “the Mount Rushmore of Black Conservatism”—takes place in Chicago March 24-25.

Among the scheduled speakers at the Fifth Annual Black Conservative Summit are radio host Larry Elder, Dr. Voddie Baucham and Lt. Col. Allen West, featured in the controversial film “Uncle Tom II: An American Odyssey.”

Along with other prominent Black leaders, they aim to counter what they see as a tidal wave of “wokeness” in the U.S.—often affecting the physical, spiritual and political needs of Blacks —and “give voice to America’s conservative Black community.”

Registration for The Summit is open to the public and working press, including a star-studded screening of “Uncle Tom II” that exposes what the filmmakers describe as “the Marxist strategy of creating false racial tension” between Americans—an attempt to tear the nation apart.

“Too long have others spoken for the Black community … too long has the public been deceived by misrepresentation of things which concern us dearly,” said Eric Wallace, a Black ordained minister holding a Ph.D. in biblical studies, linking past to present by echoing the sentiments of Samuel E. Cornish and John B. Russwurm, co-founders of the first Black American Press. “We wish to plead our cause, to cry out in a wilderness of wokeness,” Wallace said.

With his wife, Jennifer, Wallace founded Freedom’s Journal Institute, a faith-based nonprofit, and organized the first Black Conservative Summit in 2013. FJI’s birth in 2011 gave tribute to Cornish and Russwurm, who originally started the first African American-owned and-operated newspaper by the same name in 1827.

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

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