There is a payment required for sin. Have you trusted in Jesus to pay for yours? What will happen to the people who reject Jesus Christ? In this video, Bill Wiese warns those who mock, deny and ignore God what the Bible says about the price of their decisions made on Earth.
Ken Harrison, chairman and president of Promise Keepers, announced the appointment of Alveda King, niece of civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King, to the Promise Keepers board of directors. Promise Keepers, founded in 1990 by former University of Colorado football coach Bill McCartney, is a Christ-centered organization calling men to courageous and bold servant-leadership by sparking a movement that will mobilize millions of men to follow Christ into today’s broken world as change makers for their families, churches and communities.
King grew up in the civil rights movement. Her family home in Birmingham, Alabama, was bombed, as was her father’s church office in Louisville, Kentucky. She was jailed during the open housing movement. She sees the pro-life movement as a continuation of the civil rights struggle.
Currently, King is a minister of the gospel of Jesus Christ, serving as executive director of civil rights for the unborn for Gospel of Life, headed up by Father Frank Pavone of Priests for Life. She is also part of the teaching and music ministry as well as former executive director of African Humanitarian Christian Fellowship, founded by her mentor, the late Pastor Allen McNair, founder of Believers’ Bible Christian Church in Atlanta, Georgia.
King is a former college professor, holding a Master of Arts degree in business management, and was awarded an honorary doctorate from Saint Anselm College. She also served in the Georgia State House of Representatives, is a presidential appointee and also an accomplished author, actress and songwriter.
Alveda lives in Atlanta and is a regular columnist for “Insiders” section as well as a Fox News contributor. She is the grateful mother of six and a blessed grandmother.
Ken Harrison said,
It’s time for men to start acting like men. Calling men to be men isn’t chauvinistic or somehow against women—although it is countercultural and controversial. But it is a fact that when men check out of their families, women suffer the most, as do their children—whether born or unborn. Our goal is to start a global movement of healthy masculinity sourced in absolute surrender to God that will empower and encourage men to be better fathers, husbands, friends and men.
Few people understand social movements like Dr. Alveda King. Few have sacrificed for change like Dr. Alveda King. But all-too-many women —including Dr. Alveda King—understand what happens to women and children when men fail to act like godly men. That’s why I wanted Alveda to join the board of Promise Keepers—to remind us of the stakes at risk in our mission, the urgency of the need, and to provide the wisdom to help us chart a way forward.
Alveda King said:
A pressing civil rights issue of our day is the plight of the unborn, murdered by the millions, defenseless, voiceless and “choiceless.” We are praying that men will rise up as husbands and fathers, leading to genuine life, liberty and happiness in Christ for all; born and unborn.
As my uncle, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. said, “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” The Promise Keepers message and movement is needed now more than ever, and I’m glad to serve by sharing insight, energy and prayerful support to the Promise Keepers board.
South Carolina Pastor John Gray told The Real that he had an emotional affair.
“Over a year ago, my wife and I were in a very difficult place in our marriage, and in that time, I began to converse with someone—other than a counselor, other than a pastoral leader, which is where I should have taken my issues and challenges—and began to converse, and I was even in the presence of that person one time. But being in the presence of someone is not the same as sleeping with them. I did not sleep with anyone,” Gray told host Adrienne Bailon, who is married to Israel Houghton.
Gray pastors Relentless Church in Greenville. Previously, Ron Carpenter pastored the congregation and called it Redemption Church.
Gray was open with his congregation about many of his marital struggles, which sparked rumors.
“There’s no baby, none of that,” he said. “It’s important for me to take responsibility for the areas where I did come up short. Sharing things about my marriage, outside of my wife and outside of trusted counselors, is an emotional affair. It was wrong. I take responsibility for that. But I will not take responsibility for that which I did not do.”
Watch the video to see Gray’s full explanation.
Yes, church as we know it is over, but not anywhere near the way the FOX News author suggests.
Church leaders and pastors have spent time every week encouraging, inviting and pleading with people to come to a specific place at a specific time on Sundays. This approach has created church staffing models, systems and ministry strategies focused on improving attendance.
But that way of doing church is dead.
And just like Joshua needed to hear God say, “Moses my servant is dead” (Josh. 1:2), so he could move into the next level of leadership, I think the Church needs to accept the fate of physical church as we know it, so we can move into the next phase of digital church. —Dave Adamson, FOX News
And the church takes another hit, this time not from the anti-church society that’s filled with disgruntled Christians who didn’t have their expectations met in the last church they attended, and not from the organic, house church proponents, but from a pastor featured by FOX News. His take on the emerging, morphing church in the 21st century isn’t unique, but it is gaining steam, especially among those who are pretty much done with church as it has been known for centuries.
There’s a problem though. What is being proposed simply cannot be defined biblically as the church. Technology, video and alternate methods of worshiping, listening to teachings and even connecting with other Christians are all benefits for believers. Every night, I fall asleep to worship music I’m streaming online. I am thankful for the never-ending livestream of the prayer room at the International House of Prayer. Limitless sermons are available to all of us. In fact, nobody has an excuse in this digital age for lacking in spiritual depth, knowledge and intimacy with Jesus. The opportunities for spiritual growth are endless. This is good, but this is not church.
An omni-channel approach to church would allow people to fully connect and engage with a church without the need to step inside a physical environment every week. They could attend one Sunday, listen to the message on podcast the following week, watch a live online stream the Sunday after, and catch the message on demand in a church app the week after that. —Dave Adamson
That sounds freeing, but it’s not the church. It is not the ekklesia.
In fact, Dave misunderstands the purpose of the church gathering quite remarkably. It’s not simply to connect, worship and learn. If that were the case, the online options would absolutely be better in many ways than connecting physically in a local church. It’s easy to find the best of the best worship experience, the deepest and most impacting teaching and the experience we specifically desire somewhere online. Those experiences will most always outperform what the local church can offer. Except for at least one, important thing—the governmental gathering. The ekklesia.
The church isn’t primarily there to satisfy our desires for worship, teaching and connections. It’s been ordained by God as a governmental force in the region. Ekklesia is actually a secular term referring to the gathering together of the people in the region by governmental authorities for the purpose of relaying information and calling people to action.
So, for the ekklesia to function, there must be local leadership, a regular gathering under that leadership and a responsiveness to what God is calling people unto.
Add to that the key purpose of the church, corporate intercession, and you realize it’s not possible to have church or to be the church in any legitimate way online.
In my Charisma article titled “Ancient and Emerging: 5 Major Changes Coming to the Church,” I write:
We will gather together most days of the week. The 24/7 church will again emerge as the church drives culture instead of reacting to culture. Cares of life will lose their power as we simplify our lives and put corporate prayer and mission ahead of most everything else.
This may be the most challenging change for Christians. Today, Sundays are the days to set aside for corporate worship while we give precedence to our ‘normal lives.’ In the coming church, the very reason we live will be to pray on fire together every day, receive apostolic assignments and then move out into our lives as kingdom ambassadors. It wouldn’t be surprising if a tithe of our time is what became the standard. Two to three hours a day, whether it’s in the morning, afternoon or evening, or even in the late-night hours, will be given by every believer to praying on site together with others, ministering and giving ourselves to intercession-fueled kingdom ministry. Of course, much of what we have been giving ourselves to will have to be eliminated so we have the time necessary to devote.
I want to encourage you to consider picking up a copy of my book The Coming Church. This 300-page book is a powerful revelation of what I believe is coming to the church, and the changes for every one of us will be dramatic.
In fact, I’ll make the digital version of this book available FREE for anyone who reads this article. Visit and you can download it immediately.
In my article titled Five Unusual Marks of the Coming Church, I write:
The church will drive culture instead of being driven by culture. The 24/7 church is coming and it will violate the prevailing culture of busyness and distraction.
Gone will be the days of formatting our churches to fit within the schedules and expectations of society. The seeker movement will fade away and the urgent call to the wall will overpower even the most demanding of personal and social pressures.
Acts 17:6 (ESV) And when they could not find them, they dragged Jason and some of the brothers before the city authorities, shouting, “These men who have turned the world upside down have come here also,
ESV Study Bible: These hostile opponents spoke better than they knew, for the spread of the gospel throughout the Roman Empire was the beginning of a movement that would change the course of history forever.
The coming church will be marked by its boldness and culture will be threatened for the good.
To Dave Adamson’s credit, he did state:
This approach allows the church to connect with people physically for 1 hour on Sunday, and stay connected for the other 167 hours of the week, digitally.
While one hour per week in church is woefully short of what is coming in the 24/7 church, he does emphasize staying connected. Utilizing technology to stay strategically and actively locked in to what is happening in the local church is a smart move. While I disagree with surrendering to the whims of today’s noncommittal generation and encouraging empty pews, I believe using online media and social connectors is a great move. I remember spending hours in the prayer room every day at the International House of Prayer in Kansas City while also accessing the livestream from home and watching teachings by Mike Bickle and others. IHOPKC is doing media right as it enhances its 24/7 mission instead of replacing it.
However, we need to look a little deeper at the idea of online church.
In my article titled: “You are Not the Church: The Scattering Movement,” I deal with this concept of church online. There are some very clear issues that can’t be ignored.
Devoid of apostolic leadership: There is most probably (there are exceptions) no clearly defined apostolic leadership involved. We have to know who we’re called to serve with. We have to all hear, together, in our local congregation, how we are to respond in mission advance. What’s God calling our leaders to focus on? How are we to participate? What are the goals? What steps must we take to prepare ourselves to see this come to pass?
1. Lack of strategic corporate intercession:
While not impossible, it’s very hard to involve ourselves in the No. 1 purpose of the church this way—corporate intercession. We just have to be together to pray with unity and consistency if we are to have the sufficient strength to see significant impact.
2. No accountability: Accountability and discipline are nearly nonexistent outside of the context of the local church. Most who flock from the church and into alternative spiritual activities do so to avoid conflict, accountability and correction from leadership. We have to understand that this is a critical part of the refining process. We must be receptive and humble and ready to be challenged—even if the leaders God established for us are exceptionally flawed and out of touch with our needs.
3. Promotes misunderstanding of the purpose of the church: It can quite easily reinforce a wrong understanding of the purpose of the church. I would say this is the most serious issue. The prevailing thought these days is that the church is there for us. Whatever needs we have, we can get many of them met in the church. So, we attend if we are ministered to. Or we may determine that we can get what we’re looking for without regular church attendance. So the church becomes unnecessary to us.
Friend, this concept is a defilement of the church. I can’t say it in a less striking way than that. We are called to gather together with other believers primarily to intercede for the nations. We are there to give, to leave offerings, to serve, to minister, to pray, to grow. The church isn’t primarily there for us; we are to be there for the mission of the church. We may say that we don’t need the church, but have we considered that the church needs us?
The purpose of the church simply cannot be fulfilled through technology. Video, social media, websites like this one and other mediums absolutely can be powerful supplements to what we are experiencing in our weekly gathering, but they simply aren’t designed to handle the demands of the ekklesia, the governmental, prayer-fueled, local church.
“If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me – Psalm 139:9-10.”
So reads a post by Pius Adesanmi the day before he died. The professor is smiling at the camera, holding his passport.
He was one of more than 150 victims who died in the Ethiopia Airlines crash over the weekend.
Adesanmi was a professor with the Institute of African Studies at Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada.
“He worked tirelessly to build the Institute of African Studies, to share his boundless passion for African literature and to connect with and support students,” said Pauline Rankin, dean of the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences at Carleton University. “He was a scholar and teacher of the highest caliber who leaves a deep imprint on Carleton.”
Adesanmi posted several other faith-based posts on his Facebook, including a personal prophecy:
Adesanmi was awarded the Penguin Prize for African Writing in nonfiction in 2010 for a collection of essays titled, “You’re Not a Country, Africa!”
Sunday’s crash, minutes after takeoff from Addis Ababa for a flight to Nairobi, inflicted a particularly heavy toll on the United Nations, which has large offices in both cities, according to Reuters. The 157 victims, including 149 passengers and eight crew members, came from more than 30 countries, the airline said.
Also among the dead were four Catholic Relief Services employees from Ethiopia. Sara Chalachew, Getnet Alemayehu, Sintayehu Aymeku and Mulusew Alemu were headed to Nairobi for training, their employer said.
Growing up, I often looked at a plaque that hung in our home that read: “Prayer changes things.” Many Christians have said they believe that, but I see a rising consciousness within the body of Christ that prayer truly does change things and that we need to intercede.
Dr. David Kubal, president for Intercessors for America, can attest to this rising faith. He has seen intercession do incredible things, including bring down the Berlin Wall. That same spirit of intercession, Dr. Kubal told me in an interview for my “Strang Report” podcast, will overturn Roe v. Wade in our lifetime and turn back the wave of socialism coming against America. Click here or scroll to the end of this article to listen to the entire interview.
Most of my readers will remember President Reagan’s famous line to the Soviet Union’s general secretary—”Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!” But Dr. Kubal says there’s much more to the story.
“The wall didn’t actually come down for two more years,” he says. “And there’s actually a story that indicates that prayer was the real reason the Berlin Wall came down, because five years before Reagan ever went to Germany for that famous speech, a small prayer gathering began to meet on Monday nights. This reverend by the name of Rev. [Christian] Fuhrer began to gather just a small handful of people to pray every Monday night. And they would gather 40 candles every Monday night and pray for peace.”
The government began to persecute this small prayer group as it grew, but no persecution could stop the group’s petitions from reaching God’s ears. Dr. Kubal believes that same spirit of intercession will soon overthrow Roe v. Wade. After all, that was the main reason Intercessors for America (IFA) was founded in 1973. At the heart of the ministry’s genesis was the late Derek Prince, prominent teacher and author of Shaping History Through Prayer and Fasting, which also came out in 1973 on the heels of Roe v. Wade.
“Part of [Prince’s] releasing this book was he was speaking at a conference, and he challenged those at this conference to form a ministry to pray and intercede for the nation,” Dr. Kubal says. “The founders of Intercessors for America thought IFA would last maybe a couple years to pray through the bicentennials and that by then, they would see Roe v. Wade overturned. So obviously, we continue to labor in that realm. I believe that you and I will see Roe v. Wade overturned very shortly, in our lifetime for sure.”
But in order to see that happen, Dr. Kubal says Christians have to commit to intercession. And, he points out, there’s a crucial difference between prayer and intercession.
“Prayer, I believe, is telling God what you want,” Dr. Kubal says. “It’s not bad to bring before the Lord your list of prayer needs and the things that are upon your heart, and we certainly all do that. But intercession is a whole different level. Intercession is letting God tell us what He wants. I begins, I believe, with reading Scripture and understanding God’s plans and purposes for our lives and for our family and our nation that we live in.”
Dr. Kubal points out that this isn’t just another duty Christians have to do so they can check it off their list. On the contrary, the act of intercession is much more significant than that.
“I’ve just been captivated by the thought that He invites us to shape history with Him,” he says. “It’s fascinating to me that history really belongs to the intercessor. I think that that’s something really important for [people] to remember and to realize that intercession is about listening to God to see what His heart is in these matters and releasing by interacting with the Lord through intercession.”
IFA seeks to equip believers across the nation for this very purpose and mobilize them to cry out for the U.S. Their website, , offers a regular newsfeed with prayer requests as well as what Dr. Kubal calls “intercessory intelligent reports,” which shed light on how believers can pray for complicated cultural issues.
“But more than anything, we’re trying to fuel a community of intercessors that feel belonging with a team of people who are shaping history,” Dr. Kubal says. “We’re reaching millions and millions of people on a monthly basis, and we just see the people enjoy resonating as they pray together and as they communicate. More than anything, I believe people need inspiration to really be motivated to pray on a regular basis.”
I’m so grateful ministries like IFA are equipping God’s people to pray. If we don’t take intercession seriously and truly listen to God’s heart the way Dr. Kubal describes, we will watch our nation slip further into spiritual death. But there is hope. And if we link arms in prayer, I believe we can see a turnaround in our nation.
Listen to my podcast with Dr. Kubal below to learn how to wage powerful spiritual warfare in your prayer times. And if you know someone who needs encouragement in their prayer life, share this article with them!
Photographer Rainer Schimpf experienced his own Jonah-like moment off the coast of South Africa recently.
“It was going for the fish, and I happened to be in the wrong spot. I was collateral damage, and I’m sure it was as frightening for the whale as it was for me,” Schimpf says.
He was capturing photos underwater when he says he felt something tug at his hip.
“Nothing can prepare you for when you end up inside the whale,” Schimpf says.
But it appears Schimpf wasn’t fleeing the call of God on his life when the marine mammal caught up with him.
“I was just holding myself and bracing myself and calming myself down not to be panicked, and it worked out,” he said. “He spat me out, and everybody’s happy.”
Watch the video to hear him recount the incident.
Katariina Rosenblatt was 13 the first time someone tried to sell her for sex.
“She approached me and made me feel like I was valuable,” Katariina tells Charisma News of the grooming process. A woman named Mary groomed Katariina. Mary was a prostitute who recruited younger women for sex work.
“She talked to me and told me that I was special and sort of relayed everything I said to her back to me, so it seemed like she was listening. And traffickers will do that when they’re recruiting their prey. They will mirror the same pain that you feel like they can relate to you. So over the course of a month, Mary groomed me.”
Initially, Mary tried to sell Katariina to a young man, but when Mary found out she was a virgin, plans changed.
Mary then dressed Katariina in white and set her up with an older man.
The buyer offered $500. Mary argued for more. Together, they settled on $550.
Though Katariina came from a broken and abusive family, she knew her worth in Christ. She had recently been saved through a Billy Graham crusade, and as Mary and the buyer went back and forth, Katariina felt the Holy Spirit tell her exactly what she was worth in His eyes.
When the woman she viewed as an older sister left the room so the man could rape the teenager, Katariina’s world shattered.
Katariina broke free, but the incident was far from isolated. She was later recruited at 14 by a girl in her middle school for a pedophilia ring run by the girl’s father. The family hooked Katariina on cocaine, and she eventually sold her body and went deeper into drugs, even marrying the son of a Colombian drug dealer who worked for Pablo Escobar.
But enough was enough, and when her son was 18, Katariina took her daughter and left the family. Now, Katariina holds her master’s degree in law and, after a thorough dissertation on human trafficking, her Ph.D.
She runs There Is Hope For Me and penned a book about her story called Stolen.
Listen to the podcast for her incredible testimony and to hear how God was faithful through it all.
Read articles like this one and other Spirit-led content in our new platform, CHARISMA PLUS.
When we think of emotional eating, most of us think of anxiety- or depression-induced eating. These definitely are common causes, but they are not the only emotional triggers.
Sometimes anxiety or depression is just the expressed emotion, but it’s not the root. Many times, the overlooked emotion that causes us to overeat is anger.
It’s kind of funny that all last week, as I was reflecting on my own emotional wellbeing. I found myself reaching into the cabinet to snack on some dates and walnuts.
But as I was rummaging through and had begun to chew on a few dates, I realized I wasn’t physically hungry.
So that led me to stop for a moment and think about what was going on with me.
I had recently had a disagreement with a loved one, and I initially thought my feelings were just hurt. But as I stood there in front of the cabinet, still chewing, I realized I was actually very angry.
I closed the bag, made myself a cup of tea and took a moment to let it set in and remind myself that it was OK to be angry.
I wasn’t going to resort to my immature days and be petty or attempt to make my loved ones feel bad. I just had to give my anger to God and let Him sort out the bits that I couldn’t.
I thought I’d done a decent job of processing my emotions. I felt much better the next day when I ran across an article that talked about the importance of distinguishing different types of anger.
I shared this same article on my Facebook Page: “Angry?! How Naming and Understanding the Different Kinds of Anger Can Help.”
I shared it because it really resonated with what I was dealing with and helped me pinpoint the type of anger I was trying to process.
As I read this article, I thought about all of the times in my life when I thought I was just sad, but really, I was angry—very angry.
It’s funny because I’ve always considered myself to be a person who is very slow to anger because it took a lot to cause me to lash out at someone.
But as I continued to reflect, the Holy Spirit brought to my remembrance several times when I was so enraged, I felt like I could turn green and Hulk-smash a few things (and/or people!).
Those were times when I broke things and said things I wish I hadn’t.
During those times, I didn’t have the wisdom I learned from Ephesians 4:26-27, NLT: “Don’t sin by letting anger control you. Don’t let the sun go down while you are still angry, for anger gives a foothold to the devil.”