Pastor’s Daughter Sent Home from School for Wearing ‘Homosexuality Is a Sin’ T-Shirt

Pastor’s Daughter Sent Home from School for Wearing ‘Homosexuality Is a Sin’ T-Shirt


In late August, one high school student was reportedly sent home from Livingston Academy in Tennessee after she refused to change out of her black t-shirt that stated, “homosexuality is a sin” in bold white letters.

Rev. Rich Penkoski, who leads Warriors For Christ, told The Christian Post that his daughter, Brielle Penkoski, had her first amendment rights violated in standing up for biblical truth while the public school is pro-LGBT.

“She wanted to do this on her own. She wanted to go there to … express her values like all the other kids do,” Penkoski argued. “They’ve got kids walking around with the pride symbol on their sneakers and pride clothing and nobody bats an eye.”

“She was basically censored,” he added. “It’s not fair … that she’s told that she can’t wear that shirt and other people can wear the stuff that they wear.”

He explained that Livingston Academy’s principal, Richard Melton stated that the shirt was not allowed in the school as it features “sexual connotation.”

But Penhoski noted that the principal had no problem with an LGBT pride sticker that was posted by one of Brielle’s teachers in his classroom.

“Diverse, Inclusive, Accepting, Welcoming Safe Space For Everyone,” the sticker’s message reads.

Pride messages aside, the preacher added that the school’s teachers are likewise “pushing Joe Biden.”

“But if…

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Reflecting on 9/11 nineteen years later: “God’s 911” is still needed today

As seen from the New Jersey Turnpike near Kearny, N.J., smoke billows from the twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York after airplanes crashed into both towers Tuesday, Sept.11, 2001. (AP Photo/Gene Boyars)

I remember the day well.

I had just dropped off my daughter at her school. The radio station announced a plane had hit one of the World Trade Center towers in New York City, but it was assumed to be a small plane and an accident. 

However, by time I got to work, the report had quickly changed. 

It was an attack on America. 

Everyone at the church where I worked was glued to TV screens and watched in horror as another plane struck the other WTC tower, then another hit the Pentagon, and yet another went down in a Pennsylvania field due to the heroics of passengers. 

All were large planes with passengers inside. 

There were no iPhones or smartphones nineteen years ago, so news came only through TV or radio. And it came more slowly. 

But we knew enough to know America was under attack, and we needed assurances. 

A chapel prayer service was quickly organized, and the pastor, Jim Denison, led the staff members and all church workers in a time of prayer. 

We were all shaken, all fearful, all needing a word of hope. 

One of the staff members had a son who worked across the street from the WTC, and we prayed for his safety. 

Another staff member was flying home to Dallas when all air traffic was grounded. 

We would soon learn of others in the church who were affected by the attack. 

One of the tasks I had during those days was proofing and then sending out the daily email articles Dr. Denison had begun writing the previous year (now known as The Daily Article). At that time, it was still done manually, with multiple sendings to accommodate the growing numbers. 

His words nineteen years ago today still ring true today as we face different attacks in our world.

Dr. Denison’s daily email…

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Click Read More to read the rest of the story from our content source/partners – Denison Forum.

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375,000 Sign Petition to Pull Cuties as Netflix Defends Film as ‘Social Commentary’

375,000 Sign Petition to Pull Cuties as Netflix Defends Film as ‘Social Commentary’


A petition to remove Cuties from Netflix passed 375,000 signatures Friday, as pressure continues to build from the public and even legislators on the company to pull the controversial film.

The movie, which launched on Netflix Sept. 9 and is rated TV-MA, follows a group of 11-year-old girls who join a dance group named “Cuties” and “become aware of their own femininity through dance,” according to the show’s description.

The controversy has focused on the film’s sexually suggestive content. A Twitter clip that has amassed 14 million views shows the girls on stage dressed in risqué outfits while they twerk, touch each other and grind their hips. 

Netflix has defended the movie.

“‘Cuties’ is a social commentary against the sexualization of young children,” a Netflix spokesperson said in a statement to multiple media outlets. “It’s an award-winning film and a powerful story about the pressure young girls face on social media and from society more generally growing up – and we’d encourage anyone who cares about these important issues to watch the movie.” 

But many are not buying Netflix’s explanation. A Change.org petition calling on the movie to be pulled passed 375,000 signatures Friday. “This movie/show is disgusting as it sexualizes an ELEVEN year old (sic) for the viewing pleasure of pedophiles and also negatively influences our…

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Bible Signed by Trump Days after St. John’s Church Photo-Op Is Being Sold for $37,500

Bible Signed by Trump Days after St. John’s Church Photo-Op Is Being Sold for $37,500


On Monday, a Bible featuring a signature from President Trump went up for sale with an asking price of $37,500.

Gary Zimet, who is the CEO and founder of Moments In Time, an online store that features rare autographs and historical documents, explained to Business Insider that the Bible was signed by Trump days after he stood in front of St. John’s Episcopal Church in Washington DC as he held up a Bible in his hand.

In June, the President was highly criticized for the incident as nearby protestors were dispersed with tear gas by law enforcement reportedly so that he could pose for a photo-op with the Bible in front of the church in Lafayette Square.

The Bible that Zimet is selling, however, is not the same one from the photo-op. The 67-year-old curator claimed that he had one of his contacts bring the Bible to the White House for Trump to sign the same week of the St. John’s Church controversy.

“Someone like him, having the gall to sign a Bible, after what he did in the photo op is revolting,” Zimet said.

While the online dealer is not a fan of the President, he recognizes that Trump signed memorabilia holds tremendous financial value.

“The only thing I’m interested in, vis-à-vis Trump, is making a profit off of him,” he asserted.

Zimet also has a baseball on sale that features the signatures of Trump as well as Russian President Vladimir Putin.

“A high-ranking…

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California Judge Bans John MacArthur, Church from Worshiping Indoors

California Judge Bans John MacArthur, Church from Worshiping Indoors


A California judge on Thursday issued an injunction prohibiting John MacArthur and Grace Community Church from meeting indoors for worship services during the pandemic, thus handing Los Angeles County the ruling it has sought for several weeks.

Judge Mitchell L. Beckloff, in an 18-page decision, ruled that the county’s health order banning large indoor gatherings “has a real and substantial relationship to public health and safety.”

MacArthur and the church have defied the county and state restrictions on indoor worship.

“The court finds the balance of harms tips in favor of the County,” Beckloff wrote. “The potential consequences of community spread of COVID-19 and concomitant risk of death to members of the community – associated and unassociated with the Church – outweighs the harm that flows from the restriction on indoor worship caused by the County Health Order.”

The church can legally worship outdoors, Beckloff noted.

“While the court is mindful that there is no substitute for indoor worship in the ‘spiritual refuge’ of a sanctuary, the court cannot ignore the County Health Order does not dictate a ban on worship. Instead, it provides any worship must take place other than indoors,” Beckloff wrote. “The County Health Order allows worship to occur outdoors, virtually through the internet and in any manner that is not indoors with a large gathering of…

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Hundreds of Ethiopian Christians Killed in Coordinated Attacks by Extremists since June

Hundreds of Ethiopian Christians Killed in Coordinated Attacks by Extremists since June


In Ethiopia, throughout the summer, Muslim extremists have carried out an onslaught of anti-Christian attacks that have left hundreds dead and thousands displaced.

According to the Barnabas Fund, an international persecution watchdog, the attacks on Ethiopian believers appear to be coordinated and carefully planned.

“These targeted genocides of Christians by Muslim extremists are going on unabated in the south, south-east and east of Addis Ababa,” an Ethiopian Christian told Barnabas Fund in August.

The attackers are believed to be a youth movement of Oromo men known as Qeerroo or “bachelors.” The Oromo are considered to be an ethnic group who are mainly comprised of Muslims.

In June, Oromo singer Hachalu Hundessa was fatally shot in the capital of Addis Ababa. Following the assassination, Qeeroo members began killing local Christians in door-to-door attacks.

CBN News reports that the attacks were carried out across multiple Ethiopian towns, including Arsi Negele, Ziway, Shashemane, Gedeb Asasa, Kofele, Dodola, Adaba, Robe, Goba, Bale Agarfa, Chiro, Harar, Dire Dawa, Adama, Dera, Asela, and Kembolcha.

Mrs. Eniye Cheru shared her experience with the Barnabas Fund, detailing how the group attacked her family back in June.

“They came to my home and began to knock on our door violently. We tried to escape with our children via the window”, she recounted. “They…

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Mainline Protestants twice as likely as evangelicals to have religiously unaffiliated teenage kids: Pew

Unsplash/Kate Kalvach

Mainline Protestant parents are twice as likely to have religiously unaffiliated teenaged children as evangelical parents, according to a new report by the Pew Research Center.

In a report released Thursday, Pew found that 80% of evangelicals surveyed had a teenage child who shared their religious identification; 81% of Catholic respondents reported the same.  

However, mainline Protestant respondents who had a teenage child that identified as mainline Protestant was 55%, far lower than the evangelical and Catholic samples.

Further, among the three Christian groups, mainline Protestants had the highest percentage of teenage children who identified as unaffiliated, at 24%.

Evangelical respondents had the lowest percentage of unaffiliated teenaged children at 12%, while 15% of Catholic respondents had a teenage child that was religiously unaffiliated.

Among religious unaffiliated parents surveyed, 86% percent of them had a teenage child who was also unaffiliated, while 10% had teens who identified with one of the Christian categories.

When it comes to religious practices with the family, evangelical teens were more likely to engage in such practices compared to…

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9/11 and the six-month anniversary of the pandemic: How to find the help and hope we need today

Smoke billows from the towers of the World Trade Center in New York, Tuesday, Sept. 11, 2001. (AP Photo/Jim Collins)

This day will always be marked by the same image: the Twin Towers are burning, smoke spiraling into the clear blue sky over Manhattan, and the world as we know it is about to change forever.

Two months after that horrific morning in 2001, President George W. Bush stated: “Time is passing. Yet, for the United States of America, there will be no forgetting September the 11th. We will remember every rescuer who died in honor. We will remember every family that lives in grief. We will remember the fire and ash, the last phone calls, the funerals of the children.” 

His words are just as relevant today as they were nineteen years ago. 

“You sit still and trust the engineer” 

Today is painfully significant for another reason as well: it was six months ago today that the World Health Organization officially declared COVID-19 a pandemic. On March 11, there were over 118,000 cases of coronavirus around the world. As of this morning, that number stands at more than 28 million, with global deaths exceeding 900,000. 

On days like today, it is good to remember that “the Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit” (Psalm 34:18). The God who “determines the number of the stars” and “gives to all of them their names” (Psalm 147:4) is the same God who “heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds” (v. 3). 

His word assures us that “the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us” (Romans 8:18). This is because “this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison” (2 Corinthians 4:17). In the meantime, we can “with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need” (Hebrews 4:16). 

I have long admired…

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4 Keys to Individual Biblical Literacy

I haven’t found anyone in church leadership who saw this coming. There aren’t stories of prescient church planners and innovators who had prepared for the day when nearly every church had to stop all programming, including Sunday worship services, and find ways to communicate with their members while they were largely confined to their homes. 

As a Christian publisher, we’ve faced different problems, including international supply chain issues, printing and delivery delays, and a halt in plans to provide resources to churches that aren’t meeting.  

One thing that has remained strong here at Tyndale is the demand by individuals for Bibles. People are indeed seeking out God’s Word as much around them has collapsed. I’m sure we’d all agree there has never been a better time to dive deeply into God’s Word. 

It may be that God will use this time to turn our generation to unprecedented repentance and faithfulness. I think that you’ll agree that a deep and lasting revival will depend on a groundswell of biblical literacy.

Perhaps you have faced in your church what research has shown to be the case nationally: regular church attenders love and respect the Bible, but less than 40 percent of them are reading the Bible regularly.  

So, how can pastors and church leaders promote biblical literacy and reading the Bible regularly?

We believe there are four keys: 

  1. Readability – The individual’s ability to easily read the passage.
  2. Portability – An individual’s ability…

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Click here to read the rest of the story from our content source/partners – Thom Rainer.

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St. John’s Church Puts Up Murals Promoting Racial Unity, Togetherness

St. John’s Church Puts Up Murals Promoting Racial Unity, Togetherness


A church in Washington, D.C. that was vandalized by rioters has made a powerful statement on racial unity.

St. John’s church, which, according to The Christian Post, was almost burned down and was graffitied by rioters, has painted a series of murals in the spirit of racial justice.

One of the murals has Amos 5:24 written on it, which states, “Let justice roll down as waters, and righteousness as a mighty stream.” Another mural prominently features South African Anglican Archbishop Desmond Tutu, who teaches that “our lives are inexplicably bound together.”

Reverend Bob Fisher, the rector of the church, told The Christian Post that the murals were meant to bring light the beauty to the surrounding neighborhood.

He said, “One thing I hope for with the murals is that while the nature of stained-glass windows is to bring light and beauty into a room or worship space, we’re able to flip that script by sending light and beauty outward to our surrounding neighborhood.”

He continued, “The visuals are like the bell we ring in our steeple — they remind us that God is present, that God loves us all, and that it is important, especially in difficult times, to look up! To remember that we are all part of something greater.”

The murals were painted by the P.A.I.N.T.S. Institute in partnership with the DowntownDC Business Improvement District. The Smithsonian Institute attended the…

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