Tag: religion

Another Pastor Tortures Goldfish For Strange Sermon Illustration

There are few things that clever and seeker-sensitive churches like more than using strange and unusual sermon illustrations to make a point, and the goldfish-out-of-water scenario keeps being a winner.

We saw Ed. Young Jr do this a few years back, and then fellow Texan pastor Bruno Dacosta followed suit.

Now it’s Pastor Terrence Mullings of History Makers Church’s turn.

During his sermon “The Secret of the Soil”, Mullings posits that “places are important” and that God creates places for people first, then puts them in those places.

He has his assistant hand him a live goldfish, which he places on the table. As the fish lies there gasping for water and breath, he explains:

“A fish out of water looks like a failure. But if you take that fish and you place it [in water], this fish isn’t a failure—this fish just hadn’t found its place yet.

When you are in the place that God created you to be, you don’t look like a failure… (you flourish and look phenomenal.)”

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Court: Washington State Can’t Force Christian Mission To Hire Non-Christians

Most legal experts, court watchers, and even casual observers would not likely characterize the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit as a bastion of conservative jurisprudence. But, in a recent decision, a panel of that court unanimously rejected the state of Washington’s attempt to force a religious ministry to hire employees whose beliefs contradict those of the ministry.

The right of religious organizations to hire only employees who are aligned with and live out their religious beliefs is a foundational tenet of our Constitution’s protection of religious liberty. The free exercise of religion by individuals, churches, and other faith-based ministries is essential to our founders’ vision of ordered liberty and the bedrock upon which our free civil society rests.

Yakima Union Gospel Mission has served its community for nearly a century. The mission has provided shelter for thousands of people, distributed hundreds of thousands of meals, and assisted countless homeless individuals through its outreach services. This service embodies the vision of America’s founders regarding the role of religion in our nation. When people of faith are free to live it out in their communities, everyone benefits — the homeless are sheltered, the hungry are fed, and the suffering are cared for by their neighbors, who view them as fellow image bearers of God.

Alliance Defending Freedom represented the mission in a lawsuit against Washington state officials who enforce the Washington Law Against Discrimination, which requires the mission to hire individuals who do not agree with or live out its religious beliefs. The state Supreme Court gutted the WLAD’s religious employer exemption, thereby affecting all religious organizations in Washington state, including Yakima Union Gospel Mission.

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FBI investigating Two by Twos for historical child sexual abuse claims, including in Australia

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has launched an international investigation into child sexual abuse within a secretive Christian sect that has followers throughout Australia.

The global fundamentalist sect does not have an official name. It is referred to by believers as The Truth or The Way, or by non-believers as the Two by Twos, or the Church with No Name.

WARNING: This story contains details that may be distressing to some readers.

Believers of the church meet in people’s homes for prayer sessions, with the group’s ministers moving between the different cities and countries where followers are based.

In February in the United States, the FBI launched a probe into the group after widescale reports of abuse were publicised by the BBC earlier this year.

A hotline for former members who have experienced sexual abuse within the sect in Australia and New Zealand has received allegations involving about 130 separate people.

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The Pentagon Is Rebranding Miracles as Threats

The U.S. government is afraid.

For the last few years, we have watched a slow-motion collision between the Department of Defense and a reality it cannot explain. We have seen Congressional hearings where decorated pilots testify about objects performing impossible maneuvers. We have heard intelligence officials invent sterile, bureaucratic language to describe the inexplicable: “Instantaneous acceleration,” “transmedium travel,” and “signature management.”

They call these objects UAPs (Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena). They treat them as a technological surprise—a potential national security threat from China, Russia, or somewhere further afield. The Pentagon is scrambling to collect data, desperately trying to catch up to a phenomenon they believe is new.

But it isn’t new. If the intelligence community bothered to open a theology textbook—or even a history book—they would realize they are thousands of years late to the conversation.

The Ancient Data Set

The Church has the oldest, most verifiable data set on this phenomenon in the world. But even before the Church, this reality was recorded by every major civilization.

We see it in Egyptian hieroglyphs. We hear it in the oral traditions of indigenous peoples who spoke of “Star People” long before the Old Testament was written down. This phenomenon has been a constant companion to humanity. The only thing that changes is the language we use to describe it.

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Anti-Islamic uprising in Iran continues: “This is the year of blood. Khamenei will be toppled.”

Starting on Sunday, there have been widespread anti-regime protests in Iranian cities, including Tehran, Isfahan, Shiraz, Mashhad and Zahedan, primarily driven by economic distress, including the Iranian rial’s collapse to a record low of approximately 1.4 million to the dollar.

The protests, which began as economic demonstrations by merchants and shopkeepers, escalated into broader political unrest with chants of “Death to the Dictator” Ali Khamenei and pro-monarchist slogans calling for the return of the Shah.

Security forces, including the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, responded with tear gas, rubber bullets, and batons, while the government declared a state of emergency and vowed “total war” against the United States, Europe and Israel. 

There is no credible evidence of foreign military or organised group control over Iranian cities.

The central bank governor, Mohammad Reza Farzin, resigned amid the crisis.

The situation remains fluid, with protests continuing into 31 December with crowds chanting “This is the year of blood. Khamenei will be toppled.”

On Monday, independent news channel Tousi TV reported that anti-Islamic Iranians have taken control of Iranian cities.

“The revolution is still ongoing against the Islamic occupiers and the regime forces have retreated. Multiple cities and towns have now fallen into the hands of the anti-Islamic Iranians, and at the same time, resignations inside the IRGC [Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps] have now started,” Mahyar Tousi said jubilantly while waving the Iranian flag.

His news cast includes videos of the popular uprising from Tehran, Karaj and other cities around the country.

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Taliban to jail barbers who shave men’s beards for up to 15 months under radical Islamic law

Barbers who cut off men’s beards in Afghanistan are set to be jailed under the Taliban‘s increasingly radical regime.

Some young men are also reportedly being beaten up and ‘humiliated’ for defying strict cultural laws by daring to pick a Western-style haircut.

Offending hairdressers will be referred to the Taliban’s feared judicial authorities and could face up for 15 months in prison.

The totalitarian regime claims it is merely laying down Islamic law.

Beard removal was already illegal under its dystopian-sounding Law on the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice, but did not carry a prison sentence.

Some accused of crafting non-traditional styles have already faced temporary detention, however, meaning their businesses have ground to a halt for days.

Esmatullah, from the Balkh province, told the Telegraph: ‘We are branded as agents of the former government if we trim our beards or keep what they call a Western hairstyle. 

‘The Taliban interrogate and beat people simply for how they look.’

He said a local college student was beaten up by Taliban members who also lopped off his hair with scissors, because he had decided to shave the sides of this head.

Another barber in Balkh said that many of his customers now ask him to visit them at their homes for haircut or grooming sessions, because it is too risky to do in public.

Many have also seen a steep decline in business since the Taliban reestablished in August 2021.

Last week, Taliban morality enforcers detained eight barbers in Afghanistan’s Parwan province for shaving or styling beards.

Their shops were shuttered, and their have been families told they will be detained for a month.

Taliban officials summoned male barbers in the Balkh province on Friday to the drum home the message that the crackdown is on.

Another Balkh barber told the newspaper: ‘If people are not allowed to shave their beards or cut their hair as per their choice, who will come to our shops?

‘We live hand to mouth, and these edicts will leave us without enough food on our plates.’

Since sweeping back to power in the wake of the Western withdrawal, the Taliban has steadily tightened its grip on the people of Afghanistan and stripped away their freedoms.

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Italy Arrests Nine Islamic Charity Chiefs Suspected of Raising Millions for Hamas

Italian police have arrested seven people suspected of funneling millions of euros to Hamas while posing as fundraisers for Palestinian civilians in Gaza, authorities announced.

Police also issued international arrest warrants for two additional suspects believed to be operating outside Italy.

According to local law enforcement, the investigation centers on three associations that publicly claimed to support Palestinian civilians but allegedly functioned as a front for financing Hamas.

The nine suspects are accused of transferring approximately seven million euros ($8 million) to “associations based in Gaza, the Palestinian territories, or Israel, owned, controlled, or linked to Hamas.”

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Self-Proclaimed Prophet from Ghana Told Followers the ‘End of the World on Dec. 25’ Was Postponed — Says His Prayers Were Answered and the Flood Is Delayed Until Further Notice — Bought a Mercedes-Benz Instead

A self-proclaimed prophet in Ghana has quietly moved the goalposts after his dramatic prediction that the world would end in a catastrophic flood on Christmas Day failed to materialize.

According to reporting by News18, Ebo Enoch, who also goes by “Ebo Noah,” previously warned followers that nonstop rain would begin on December 25 and continue for three years, wiping out everything in its path.

The only salvation, he claimed, would be a series of Noah-style wooden arks he said God instructed him to build.

As December 25 came and went with no flood, no rain, and no apocalypse, Ebo quickly pivoted. The end of the world, he now says, has not been canceled, just “postponed.”

According to the self-proclaimed prophet, God was so impressed with his prayers, fasting, and “donations” that He granted humanity extra time. The revised divine instruction? Build even more arks and expand the project so additional people can be “saved.”

Ebo Noah:
God reveals to redeem. I have prayed, I have fasted, I have donated, and I have built. Through my prayers, I received another vision. In that vision, when you look at the number of people coming from all over the country and all over the world into the Ark, the expansion of the Ark could not contain them.

So I shared my vision with some great men of God who also interceded with me. After the intercession, God has given us some time to build more Arks, in addition to the tent that will contain all of us.

Therefore, tomorrow, nobody should rush to any location. I am not selling tickets. I am not taking money from anyone either. Please stay home, enjoy yourself, and have fun.

I also wish all of you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

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Sending army to protect Sydney’s Jewish community not ruled out by NSW premier

Deploying the army to Jewish areas to protect the community has not been ruled out by the NSW premier as he contemplates security changes following the Bondi Beach terrorist attack. 

At a press conference on Sunday, Chris Minns also warned that Sydneysiders could expect to see more police officers carrying long-armed guns before and beyond New Year’s Eve.

Mr Minns said that “nothing was off the table” in response to a question about the deployment of troops, confirming that discussions about it were ongoing.

“We’re going to look very closely at security programs and measures in the future. We have to do things completely differently,” he said.

“The situation as it currently stands, it can’t continue … there’s a big challenge ahead of us to rebuild Jewish life in Sydney. So I’m not going to take anything off the table.

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New baby graveyard found at home where 796 infants were buried in septic tank

A second baby graveyard has been found at the site of a maternity home for unwed mothers run by Catholic nuns in Ireland, where the remains of almost 800 infants were already found buried in a septic tank.

Excavations are currently underway at a seemingly inconspicuous patch of grass next to a children’s playground in a small Irish town after a evidence of a mass grave was uncovered.

The land, attached to a home run by nuns between 1925 and 1961 in the town of Tuam, 220km west of Dublin, was left largely untouched after the institution was knocked down in 1972.

But in 2014, amateur historian Catherine Corless, presented evidence that 796 babies, from newborns to a nine-year-old, had died at Tuam’s mother and baby home, leading to an Irish Commission of Investigation into the so-called mother and baby homes.

During its almost 40-year operation, the facility housed a number of women who had become pregnant outside of marriage and were shunned by their families. They were often separated from their children after giving birth.

A planned two-year excavation of the unmarked mass burial site began in July, conducted by the Office of the Director of Authorised Intervention in Tuam (ODAIT), which has since found evidence of a second burial site at the home.

Daniel MacSweeney, who is leading the excavation, told Irish broadcaster RTE a total of 11 sets of infant remains have been discovered in the new location, around 15 metres away from a memorial ground on the site.

All were buried in coffins, and date from the period between 1925 and 1961, when the home operated.

They were found less than a metre below the old surface, which had been covered by gravel more recently.

“We have indications of further potential graves of infant and child size, and over the coming weeks and months we will excavate them and see what we find there,” he said.

“There is also a historic map that shows a larger burial ground in this part of the site. We will also excavate there and see if there are further burials.”

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