Category: White Horse

The schism between LGBTQ-inclusive congregations and traditionalist churches continues ahead of the global denomination’s upcoming 2024 conference in Charlotte.

113 local churches in South Carolina will soon separate from the United Methodist Church (UMC), including seven in the Rock Hill area.

In a news release Tuesday, the South Carolina Conference of the United Methodist Church (UMCSC) confirmed the 2023 South Carolina Annual Conference voted overwhelmingly to approve the closure of the churches who voted to leave in a process described as “somber and respectful” by state church leaders. The closure doesn’t mean the churches are shuttered; rather, the local congregations are simply no longer within the United Methodist denomination.

“For those who are leaving us, we bless you and send you on your way. For those who are remaining, we pray that God gives us a new will to do what God has called us to do. May it become clear, may it become important, may it move from our heads to our hearts.,” said Bishop L. Jonathan Holston.

Tuesday’s vote is among the latest developments in an ongoing schism within the UMC. At the core of the split is disagreement over LGBTQ inclusion and ordination. While the denomination’s Book of Discipline has long held that same-sex marriages and ordaining openly gay clergy are not in line with UMC beliefs, a growing number of churches in recent years have defied that declaration and pushed for a shift to more LGBTQ-inclusive practices.

The churches leaving the UMC have expressed frustration with the more LGBTQ-inclusive congregations’ push. Some of those leaving have opted to join the more theologically-conservative Global Methodist Church that was formally launched in May 2022. Other churches have opted to become non-denominational or explore other options.

Read more at: www.wcnc.com

One of the most important themes running throughout the Hebrew Bible is that the God of Israel promises to send the Messiah to earth one day to redeem the Jewish people and rule Israel and the entire world.

Obviously, the world’s 2.6 billion Christians believe that Jesus of Nazareth is the Messiah and that He is coming back to earth in the “last days” of history.

Also obvious is that the vast majority of Jews worldwide – and here in Israel – do not believe that Jesus is the Messiah.

Yet here is a fact that is not obvious at all.

Nearly half of all Israeli Jews have given up believing that the Messiah is real and coming any time in the future.

When asked by researchers, “Do you believe the Messiah is coming?,” a shocking new survey finds that a mere 54.9% of Israeli Jews say “yes.”

Fully 45.1% say “no.”

No one said, “I don’t know.”

The survey of 1,200 Israeli Jews was designed by two Jewish professors in the United States.

For the record, neither believe that Jesus is the Messiah.

The survey was conducted last month in Hebrew by one of the top research and polling firms in Israel.

It was partially funded by ALL ISRAEL NEWS and the results are being published here for the first time. More results will be published over the next few days and will also be released at the National Religious Broadcasters convention in Orlando, Florida, this week.

Consider a snapshot of Jews who still believe:

93.8% of Israelis who voted for right-wing Orthodox political parties still believe Messiah is coming one day.

But only 54.9% of those voting for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party agree – a number that precisely mirrors the overall view of the country.

An even sharper contrast can be found among those who voted for the opposition parties, including those led by Yair Lapid and Benny Gantz – only 22% of these voters believe that the Messiah is literally coming some day in the future.

Even more striking is that only 15% of Israelis who voted specifically for left-wing parties like Labor and Meretz believe the Messiah will ever literally come to earth.

Read more at: www.allisrael.com

Once again, the Left is trying to appropriate the Bible for its own political purposes, this time with the help of artificial intelligence.

Yes, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals last week published a rather milquetoast rewrite of the book of Genesis entitled “The Book: PETA’s Version of the Creation Story.”

The result is inherently offensive, occasionally a tad funny, but ultimately rather underwhelming. Trust me: I suffered through reading it, so you, dear reader, don’t have to waste your time.

PETA–or the AI, which I’m convinced probably provided the best bits of this dilapidated drivel–decided to be slavishly derivative, repeating original locations and keeping the rough structure of Genesis, while simultaneously scrapping the main theological message of the story and the major plot points that give the inspired Word its emotional heft.

In this incredibly sanitized version of the Bible, Cain isn’t a murderer, Nimrod stops being a hunter, Hagar is a chef, a dog takes the place of Isaac on Mount Moriah and there is no sacrifice, Pharaoh’s butler and baker both live, and Pharaoh’s dreams involve vegan preaching, not the famine responsible for reuniting Jacob’s family.

Somewhere between the AI and the wokescolds at PETA, basic details got lost.

For instance, Rachel dies in childbirth with Joseph, rather than with his younger brother Benjamin (Genesis 35), and Benjamin miraculously appears as an elder brother to Joseph. Cain–still the villain of the story–sacrifices animal flesh to God while Abel sacrifices plants, which represents a reversal of the biblical story in which Abel sacrifices his prized sheep. PETA might as well have made Abel the villain, especially since it decided to scrap the murder, anyway.

Read more at: www.prophecynewswatch.com

‘Everybody is here. There are lots of hugs. We are back.’

A spirit of reunion permeated Sacred Space, a pagan conference held annually in early April. After a three-year hiatus, the event in Hunt Valley, Maryland, welcomed more than double its pre-pandemic attendance and, despite the host hotel’s broken air conditioning, was a huge success, said organizers.

“It was such an extraordinary blessing to be in the physical presence of our beloved community of magickal peers again. I know we all felt that,” said Gwendolyn Reece, president of the Sacred Space Foundation, the event’s host organization.

The indoor event is one of several traditionally held throughout the year to support the pagan community. After struggling through cancellations, lockdowns and low attendance, these events are back and, according to organizers, are bigger than ever.

“There was some critically important magick done during this conference,” Reece added, magick that hadn’t been done since 2019 — the last year Sacred Space was held, after being canceled in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and then again in 2021 and 2022 as waves of new virus variants made hosting a large conference questionable.

“I am grateful that we have such a strong-hearted, dynamic, spiritually courageous magickal community,” said Reece.

The event shared space with another, smaller conference, Between the Worlds, which is hosted periodically as defined by astrological timing. While the smaller event does increase attendance, it only does so by 30%, according to both organizations. This year, Sacred Space welcomed 625 attendees, up from 310 in 2019, according to Michael Smith, the event’s registrar.

Read more at: religionnews.com

Society is in an aggressive state of change, and that includes the arena of Christian education.

Baylor University is the world’s largest Baptist college. The 16,000-student institution was founded in 1845, making it the oldest perpetually-operating university in Texas. Even so, don’t assume it’s old-fashioned.

On March 23rd, the school hosted an event certifying its contemporary credentials. As advertised on Instagram, the extravaganza was called “Queer Sex Ed.” An accompanying caption read, “Secret is out. See you tomorrow!! You can still DM us to become a member and join our Queer Sex Ed!!!”

The ad didn’t detail what was involved, but featured in the post was the Planned Parenthood logo.

Queer Sex Ed was sponsored by Prism at Baylor. On its social media page and across multiple posts, the alliance defines itself:

Prism At Baylor

Reflecting diversity, belonging, and opportunity in the LGBTQ+ community.

Goals:

• Enhance learning and education for students, faculty, staff and alumni to create a safe and respectful environment for (the) LGBTQ+ community.
• Provide a space for the LGBTQ+ community to come together to engage, participate, and celebrate their individual identities and identity as a group.
• Provide resources to navigate essential services including physical, mental, or spiritual well-being at Baylor and beyond.
• Help students gain deeper understanding of their own and others’ complex and intersectional identities, including gender and sexuality and spirituality.

Read more at: redstate.com

One of the Satanist leaders also took a hammer to a keyboard

A group of Satanists cheered as two leaders opened SatanCon 2023 on Friday with a formal ceremony renouncing “symbols of oppression” by ripping up a Bible and a “Thin Blue Line” flag representing police.

“We stand here today in defiance of their siege and destroy their symbols of oppression,” a female leader told the crowd before ripping pages out of the Bible and throwing them on the floor, video showed.

A male leader joined her in then tearing a “Thin Blue Line” flag in two, which they also tossed on the floor while the crowd cheered. Satanists in attendance later picked some of the ripped pages off the floor and posed with them for pictures.

“We must build true community outside of the virtual,” the male leader also said before taking a hammer to a keyboard. “Rebelling comes in many forms to each and their own within their own capabilities and their own situation. For some of us, merely existing one more day is victory, but for those of us who can, we must stand up for those who cannot.”

Read more at: www.foxnews.com

A Los Angeles-based artist and writer, Jackie DesForges, has founded a new “church” for the express purpose of worshipping abortion.

According to Insider, “​​At a renegade art and literary festival in Bombay Beach, California, Jackie DesForges knelt and prayed with passersby at the inaugural mass of her new church. Reading aloud from a sermon re-written using Supreme Court language, the group didn’t merely celebrate — they worshipped abortion.”

Des Forges is calling her “church” the Church of Potential Life and has co-opted Catholic imagery, motifs, and terminology. She has an “altar” and refers to her service as a “mass.” Behind her altar are figures from Catholic iconography, including Our Lady of Guadalupe — which is particularly ironic, because she is considered to be the patroness of the unborn by faithful Catholics.

DesForges was raised Catholic, but has apparently abandoned that faith. She said, “I used to be so anti-everything Catholic and everything church; I had a lot of complicated feelings for a while without it, and now I’m very much in the place where I can kind of take what I need from it and leave the rest behind.”

Read more at: www.liveaction.org

The family members of the couple said the duo had been offering prayers in the hut every day since the last one year.

A man and his wife allegedly committed suicide by decapitating themselves using a guillotine-like device, which they created at home, so that they could offer their heads for a sacrificial ritual in Gujarat’s Rajkot district, police said on Sunday.

Hemubhai Makwana (38) and his wife Hansaben (35) killed themselves by getting their heads severed by the blade of the device in a hut at their farm in Vinchhiya village, sub-inspector Indrajeetsinh Jadeja of Vinchhiya police station said.

The husband-wife duo executed the plan in such a manner that their heads rolled into the fire altar after getting severed, he said, adding that a suicide note was found at the spot.

“The couple first prepared a fire altar before putting their heads under a guillotine-like mechanism held by a rope. As soon as they released the rope, an iron blade fell on them, severing their heads, which rolled into the fire,” Jadeja said.

Read more at: www.hindustantimes.com

The Satanic Temple (TST) has announced its second convention to be held in Boston, Massachusetts this spring is sold out, according to a post on its website.

The convention known as “SatanCon 2023” will be held on April 28-30 at the Boston Marriott Copley Place. It is being promoted as “a weekend of blasphemy and remembrance in Boston” and will also celebrate TST’s 10-year anniversary.

The group also claims the convention will be the “largest Satanic gathering in history.”

As CBN News reported in January, the theme of the convention is “Hexennacht in Boston” or “Witches Night,” an ancient German holiday that occurs annually on April 30. The SatanCon event includes a “Satanic Ball” on the opening night, April 28,

Lucien Greaves, the Satanic Temple’s co-founder, and spokesperson is set to deliver the keynote address of the conference along with co-founder Malcolm Jarr on Saturday morning.

Other scheduled sessions include “Satanic Panic in Brazil,” “Hellbillies: Visible Satanism in Rural America,” “Deconstructing Your Religious Upbringing,” “Reclaiming the Trans Body: A/theistic Strategies for Self-Determination and Empowerment,” and “Sins of the Flesh: Satanism and Self-Pleasure.”

The convention will also offer a Satanic marketplace for those in attendance, but vendors have not been announced.

Read more at: www2.cbn.com