Following are snippets of the top stories posted over the past week on mycharisma.com. We encourage you to visit the links to read the stories in full.
Hundreds in Gaza Report Jesus Appearing to Them in Dreams
In the war-torn region of Gaza, a remarkable story is unfolding, echoing the biblical prophecies of the end times. According to Christian professor Michael Licona, more than 200 Muslim men have experienced life-altering visions of Jesus in their dreams, leading them to embrace Christianity.
Licona, a New Testament Studies professor at Houston Christian University, shared this extraordinary account through a Facebook post:
Prophet Charlie Shamp Shares Vision of 46th President With ‘Feet Made of Clay’
As the world is consumed by wars and rumors of more wars going through what appear to be birthing pains, Christians take note: the Lord said these things would be happening, and that it would get worse.
Yet in the darkness of a world that is rejecting God in new ways each day, there is a promise of hope and an outpouring of God that is to wash across the barren earth.
Acts 2 tells of the words spoken by the prophet Joel, saying that we can expect amazing revelations given by the power of the Holy Spirit to those living through these times where rejection of our Maker is increasing in frequency and severity.
Controversial Pentecostal Bishop Carlton Pearson Dies at 70
Pentecostal Bishop Carlton Pearson, once the pastor of the one of the largest churches in Tulsa, Oklahoma, died at 70 on Sunday, Nov. 19, after a long battle with prostate cancer. He had been under hospice care since early November.
During the 1990s, Pearson’s church in Tulsa, Higher Dimensions Church, reached an average attendance of 6,000. In 1994, however, after watching a television program about the “wretched conditions” of people suffering and dying from genocide in Rwanda, and considering the teaching of his church that non-Christians were going to hell, Pearson revealed that he had received an epiphany from God and stated publicly that he doubted the existence of hell as a place of eternal torment.
He said that hell was created on earth by human depravity and behavior.
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God Adjusted My Ungratefulness in a Garbage Dump in India
Last month I accompanied my friend Prasanna to a huge garbage dump on the edge of the city where he lives in Andhra Pradesh in southeast India. For the past few years Prasanna, his older brother, Raja, and their ministry team have been taking food, medicines, clothes and other aid to a growing group of homeless people who live in tents on the edge of the dump.
I’ve seen some awful poverty during my previous trips to India, so I wasn’t shocked when I drove with Prasanna to this makeshift village constructed from cardboard boxes, tattered blankets, wooden crates and discarded metal. But I didn’t expect to see so many small children in this dreadful place. Many of them didn’t have any clothes. They all looked malnourished.
Then I met Kodayya and Kalyan, two teenage boys who spend their days scrounging through the massive piles of trash looking for plastic bottles to recycle. On most days, many younger children also work in the dump. They wear cloth masks to protect themselves from the toxic fumes billowing from the smoldering garbage, but I knew the masks were useless.
Christ the Redeemer Illuminated for Taylor Swift’s Tour Raises Questions
The recent illumination of the iconic Christ the Redeemer statue in Rio de Janeiro to celebrate Taylor Swift’s tour has ignited discussions about the appropriateness of using a symbol of Jesus Christ for secular purposes.
While the initiative aimed to bring joy to fans and coincide with the World Day of the Poor (by collecting donations of food and water for the needy), it raises questions about the alignment of such practices with biblical teachings on the sanctity and holiness of God.
One key consideration is the nature of Taylor Swift’s music, which has been known to incorporate new age and occult themes in her music videos. The Bible warns against participating in practices contrary to God’s holiness and calls believers to focus on what is pure, lovely and praiseworthy (see Phil. 4:8). Using a statue of Jesus Christ to celebrate an artist known for such themes raises concerns about whether it honors the Lord who sacrificed His life for mankind’s sins.
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