Nick Hall, founder of the Millennial-led evangelism movement PULSE and visionary behind the Year of the Bible campaign, is gathering a cast of some of the most prominent American pastors, artists, influencers and public officials to encourage church leaders ahead of Easter weekend.

Leader Check-In (Wednesday, April 8, 8:30 a.m.-6 p.m. CST) is a free, 10-hour live event featuring a multi-denominational, -generational and -ethnic guest list, ranging from pastors such as Matt Chandler and Samuel Rodriguez to artists Lecrae and Michael W. Smith, authors Dr. Henry Cloud and Dr. John Townsend and public figures Sen. Tim Scott and Dr. Jerome Adams. As of yesterday afternoon, Beth Moore, Priscilla Shirer, Bob Goff, Francis Chan, David Platt, Kari Jobe and Cody Carnes are also expected to participate.

The event is an initiative of PULSE and Year of the Bible to come alongside ministry leaders and offer practical advice anchored in the Word of God during a time of crisis.

“Easter 2020 may be the most important Easter celebration in the past century,” Nick Hall said. “We are living through an unprecedented time in church history. People are looking for hope and turning to churches in record numbers. I believe the message of a God Who not only suffers with and for us but also defeats sin and death has been more needed, but we will miss this moment if we don’t care for our pastors and ministers now. Leaders are pouring themselves out to encourage their congregations during this global crisis. They are weary and need encouragement as well.”

Leader Check-In will be available to watch for free at LeaderCheckIn.com and through PULSE’s Facebook page on Wednesday, April 8, from 8:30 a.m.-6 p.m. CST. Artists Michael W. Smith and Travis Greene will lead worship sets, while Matt Chandler, Dr. John Townsend, Dr. Henry Cloud, Pastor John Gray, Rev. Samuel Rodriguez, Bishop Vincent Matthews, Ed Stetzer, Museum of the Bible Chairman Steve Green, The Bible Recap podcast host Tara-Leigh Cobble, National Day of Prayer Task Force President Kathy Branzell and others will encourage and uplift leaders.

Sen. Tim Scott from South Carolina and VADM Jerome M. Adams, M.D., M.P.H., will deliver special remarks regarding the COVID-19 pandemic.

SOURCE: Charisma News

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A Virginia pastor who criticized the “mass hysteria” surrounding the coronavirus pandemic has died of the illness, according to new reports.

Landon Spradlin, of Gretna — a small town halfway between Lynchburg and Danville — started to feel sick while in New Orleans, where he went to preach to the crowds gathered for Mardi Gras celebrations, according to the BBC.

A month later, Spradlin — who was also a seasoned musician inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame in 2016 — died.

“His mission was to go into pubs, clubs and bars, play the blues and connect with musicians and just tell them that Jesus loved them,” Spradlin’s daughter Jesse Spradlin, 28, told the BBC.

“Mardi Gras is like Times Square in New York during New Year’s Eve. It’s a sea of people just drinking and partying. He was loud and laughing and in his element.”

Spradlin began to feel unwell while in New Orleans but initially tested negative for COVID-19.

As he battled symptoms, he shared a controversial meme on March 13, comparing coronavirus deaths to swine flu deaths, Patch reported. The meme is no longer visible on his Facebook page.

The meme decried the public reaction to the pandemic as “mass hysteria” and suggested the media was using the outbreak to hurt President Trump.

In the comments, the pastor said he believes the coronavirus “is a real issue, but I believe the media is pumping out fear and doing more harm than good.”

“It will come and it will go,” he wrote, according to Patch.

SOURCE: New York Post, Amanda Woods

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There is precedent in Scripture for godly people saying no to the governing authorities. There are times when, to use the words of Peter, “We must obey God rather than man” (Acts 5:29). Is today one of those times?

One of the slogans of the American Revolution was, “Rebellion to tyrants is obedience to God.” Is our government being tyrannical when it forbids us to gather? Is this the right time to rebel, despite the Bible’s clear teaching that, generally speaking, we are called to obey the authorities? (See Rom. 13.)

Let’s examine this from several angles.

First, are local authorities guilty of unconstitutional overreach and/or uneven enforcement of the laws?

In some cases, the answer is yes. This happened in Greensboro, North Carolina, where pro-life workers were arrested for praying outside of an abortion clinic.

As announced on April 3, “Alliance Defending Freedom sent a letter Thursday to the city of Greensboro on behalf of pro-life advocates whom police arrested for engaging in peaceful prayer outside an abortion facility. As the letter explains, the arrests should not have occurred because the pro-life volunteers, who are members of the Christian ministry Love Life, were in compliance with a Guilford County emergency proclamation related to the coronavirus crisis.”

North Carolina’s Governor Cooper had determined that abortion clinics provide “essential services” and so should remain open. Love Life believes that, as long as babies are being killed in the womb, they should be there to offer an alternative. So, several workers, with their attorney, showed up at the clinic, following the state’s safety guidelines to a tee. Their arrest was unjust. The pro-lifers did the right thing.

A second, closely related question is this: Do churches provide “essential services”? In that case, should any of their activities be shut down?

Pastor Rodney Howard-Browne felt that the state of Florida was being inconsistent in its application of the law, allowing crowded stores to remain open but forcing churches to close. (He also felt this violated the next question we’ll ask, namely, is the government acting tyrannically?)

Getting national attention, Howard-Browne called for his church to meet, yet went to extreme measures to follow safety guidelines. (For his detailed statement, explaining the lengths to which the church went to preserve safety, see here.)

He was subsequently arrested, but after Liberty Counsel threatened the state with a federal lawsuit, Florida Governor DeSantis changed the state’s policy. DeSantis recognized the church as providing an essential service, and he lifted the ban on meetings, also dropping all charges against Pastor Howard-Browne.

Was this a good outcome, a bad outcome or a mixed outcome? I respect Howard-Browne’s determination, his forcing the issue of unjust laws and the measures that he took to comply with safety guidelines.

SOURCE: Charisma News

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“Bachelor” alum Michelle Money took to social media over the weekend to plead for prayer for her teenage daughter Brielle, who is currently on life support.

Money’s daughter suffered brain trauma and a fractured skull following a recent skateboarding incident.

The Season 15 contestant of the ABC reality series shared that the pressure on her daughter’s brain had increased and she is calling on the power of prayer for a miracle.

“Your prayers are helping!” she wrote along a video that said, “I just need everyone to pray right now, because we have to get her stabilized,” Money said of Brielle’s condition in an Instagram video Sunday.

Last night was so scary. Brain pressure is up. Considering other options since it can’t be managed with what we are currently doing. However, once I posted to my story asking you to pray, her numbers went down lower and have maintained since then. I believe in the power of prayer. Today is a big day. One week since accident. If we can’t see a turn for the better today we have to consider a different option and they are not what we want to be doing. It’s Sunday. However you choose to spend your day, I would please ask that at 4pm MST, you will stop and pray with my family and me. It would also be amazing if you could just pray all day. Sorry for the emotional video I just don’t know what else to do and I’m alone in here and need support. #prayforbrie

A post shared by Michelle Money (@michellemoney) on Apr 5, 2020 at 6:26am PDT

She noted that prayers have worked in the past so she is calling on Heaven again.

“I posted on my story to have you guys pray, and, once I posted, her numbers started going down,” Money said.

“[Without stabilization] we are going to have to put her into a deeper coma that has lots of other side effects that we don’t want, or we’re going to have to do surgery, and remove part of her skull,” she added.

SOURCE: Christian Post, Jeannie Law

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A recent article in Vice described how certain “life-altering” surgeries had been deemed “non-essential” during this COVID-19 crisis. The author was talking about gender-transition surgeries, and worried that, “in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic trans communities . . . are being flooded with reports of postponed and canceled surgeries in the U.S., U.K., Spain, Thailand, and elsewhere, leading to enormous stress and disappointment on top of a global health crisis.”

Despite what the article claims and largely takes for granted, the benefits of so called “gender-affirming” surgery (a strange name for a procedure that denies one’s biological sex) in order to treat gender dysphoria is strongly disputed. The best studies, as I described in a recent BreakPoint commentary, “found that medical transition was not the solution to the patients’ problems, especially in the case of male-to-female transitions.”

In other words, such “treatment” is driven by ideology, not evidence. One of the fundamental tests of a worldview is what I call “the test of the real world.” In other words, sometimes an ideology looks great on paper, even realistic and compelling and compassionate, but fails miserably when lived out. For example, Communism.

Contemporary gender ideology not only fails this test by failing to deliver the green grass on the other side of mutilating surgery, but in a way made even more obvious in this time of crisis.

Reading the Vice piece, it occurred to me just how rare this kind of article suddenly is, when just a month ago, they were ubiquitous. In fact, in our present crisis, the piece comes across as indulgent and out-of-touch.

While the author acknowledged that “medical facilities may soon become overtaxed for everyone,” it didn’t even mention other procedures deemed “non-essential,” such as (in Massachusetts for example) colonoscopies, which can prevent colon cancer and save lives. Or hip replacement surgery, which would easily fall into the category of “life-altering” for people suffering from chronic pain.

SOURCE: Christian Post, John Stonestreet and Roberto Rivera

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