The Hallmark Drama Channel will broadcast the Movieguide® Awards Gala and Report to the Entertainment Industry on Feb. 24, 2020 at 11 p.m. EST/PST, 10 p.m. CST. The show will be available on the Hallmark Everywhere app beginning Feb. 25. The program celebrates the wholesome, true, good and lovely things about the entertainment industry. The ceremony honors movies and TV shows that promote an uplifting worldview.

“This gala further encouraged me that good news is making a difference in Hollywood,” said Dr. Ted Baehr, founder and publisher of Movieguide®. “Audiences crave family-friendly entertainment, and we are seeing industry executives recognize and reward that desire.”

Some of the nominees include 1917, Little Women, Toy Story 4, The Lego Movie: The Second Part and multiple Hallmark programs, including some of its premier Christmas movies. For the full list of nominees, click here.

Hallmark stars Jen Lilley and Andrew Walker host the awards ceremony.

“I’m beyond ecstatic to be hosting,” Lilley said in an interview with Movieguide®. “It’s not lost on me that it’s such an honor, and I don’t take it lightly. I’m just incredibly humbled to have been asked and we’re going have so much fun.”

In addition, the program will feature a performance from American Idol alum Colton Dixon, and Kathy Lee Gifford will be presented with the Visionary Award.

A red carpet preceded the event, with Movieguide® TV host and Gala producer Evelyn Carroll conducting interviews with each person who walked the carpet. Though the hour-long special won’t include red-carpet footage, the interviews are available on movieguide.org.

SOURCE: Movieguide

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On Oct. 25, 2019, bestselling rapper Kanye West released Jesus Is King, his ninth studio album overall but his first as a self-described Christian artist. From beginning to end, the album is about his relationship with Jesus, his joy at being saved and his awe for the God who loves him. The album is profanity-free and features no sexual or violent content.

Jesus Is King immediately triggered strong and polarized reactions. Many conservatives and evangelical Christians exuberantly expressed their love for the album. In a column for National Review, Andrew T. Walker breathlessly said West possessed “the anthropology of C. S. Lewis, the economics of Wilhelm Röpke, the cultural mood of Wendell Berry and the defiance of Francis Schaeffer.”

Meanwhile, longtime fans of West expressed their frustration, calling the lyrics corny and West an attention-seeker. The Daily Beast ran a headline calling Jesus Is King “fake Christianity at its finest.”

Even some Christian leaders expressed skepticism toward West’s sudden pivot into Christian music—including Tyler Burns, a Pentecostal pastor featured in last month’s “Tomorrow’s Charismatics” feature. Burns, writing for The Washington Post, noted that West appropriated the sound of gospel music while discarding the theology of the black church that is meant to accompany it.

He concluded, “While Jesus Is King feels like it should be a cultural moment of celebration for all Christians, it should come as no surprise that many black Christians question who this moment will ultimately empower.”

West’s Christian faith has only continued to dominate news headlines since Jesus Is King‘s release. The album hit No. 1 on Billboard charts during its debut week. West has spoken and performed at Joel Osteen’s Lakewood Church. In January, West replaced comedian John Crist as the headliner at the Strength to Stand Student Bible Conference in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, alongside Hillsong Young & Free. Over the span of 2019, West went from the artist who released the blasphemous album Yeezus to a bona fide Christian celebrity, in some cases being treated with the authority of a leader.

Naturally, such a drastic transformation also sparks many questions:

Is Kanye for real?

Will his conversion stick?

And should such a young, immature Christian ever be given so much authority and access to major platforms?

In fact, believers who only recently began paying attention to West may be surprised to learn he’s been wrestling with God his entire life. Though unlikely to assure those doubting West’s sincerity—and ultimately, West’s faith is between him and God—this story will review West’s long and troubled relationship with Christianity over two decades in the public eye.

Jesus Walks

By all accounts, West was raised in a Christian household and could be considered at least a nominal Christian for most of his life. While speaking with Osteen at Lakewood Church, West shared that he grew up going to church “three times a week,” thanks to his father.

“For me as a kid, going to church on Wednesday instead of going to basketball practice or getting to play video games got to be a little bit boring,” West says. “My mom had me in church twice a week, definitely on Sundays. We actually grew with the church; it was a pastor named Johnny Coleman, and we grew from a small church to a megachurch—a Chicago version. I think it grew to like five or six thousand [people]. My mom always had the records in the house, and we would be playing a lot of R&B records, but then we’d go and hear the gospel and hear worship.”

In January 2009, West told Bossip his father scared him straight when he thought about leaving the Christian faith.

“I had a conversation with my dad when I was 20 years old and [said], ‘I don’t believe in this everybody’s going to hell thing [where] everyone who isn’t a Christian is in the wrong,’” West says. “His response at that time was, ‘Well, I’d hate to see you not spend eternity with me and burn in the depths of hell.’ I was like, ‘Well … I don’t want that to happen, so let me set up this insurance plan and just do this.’”

SOURCE: Charisma News

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Several Pennsylvania news outlets have reported that another new bill aiming to legalize marijuana in the Keystone State is making its way through the legislature.

According to Fox 43, House Bill 2050, introduced by State Rep. Jake Wheatley, D-Allegheny, would not only legalize the narcotic but also expunge records for people with nonviolent related offenses.

It’s not the first bill of its kind, and it’s also not the first time the Pennsylvania Pastors Network (PPN, papastors.net) has warned of the detrimental effects of legalizing pot in the state.

“As a pastor for more than 45 years and serving a church in Altoona for nearly 25 years, I have seen many people agonize over using and abusing marijuana,” said PPN Executive Director Gary Dull. “I believe it is a great mistake to legalize the narcotic for recreational use for several reasons.”

First, Dull said, all should consider the impact of marijuana on the physical health of users.

“Studies reveal that even casual marijuana use has very damaging effects on the brain, to the point that it can lead to mental illness,” Dull said. “This was the finding of a study conducted by the Journal of Neuroscience that should be seriously considered. Frequently, children are even hospitalized due to using marijuana accidentally, which indicates that such exposure has health risks that can be very detrimental.”

Secondly, Dull said, the addictive impact of marijuana must remain a focus.

“As a pastor,” he said, “I make efforts to uphold biblical teaching, and the Bible tells us to avoid anything that may ‘master’ our bodies (1 Cor. 6:12). Most of us know someone who has ruined their life through addictive drugs. Families have been broken, jobs have been lost, and lives have even been taken as a result of the use of addictive drugs. Additionally, most people recognize that marijuana is an ‘entrance or gateway drug’ that has the great potential to lead to more serious drug use and abuse.”

SOURCE: Charisma News

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The views expressed in this commentary do not necessarily reflect those of BCNN1. Opinions expressed are solely those of the author(s).

Important update from Michael Brown: The anti-missionary group Yad L’Achim is now spreading the lie that South Korean tourists carried the coronavirus into Israel and infected Jewish youth at the Messianic center. Seriously! And this lie is now spreading through the news. Your help is needed!

The contrast between the two videos is stark. The first is terribly disturbing. The second is tremendously inspiring. The first shows security camera footage of some young thugs vandalizing a building and assaulting a female worker. The second, which is an interview I conducted, shows the female worker and her father expressing their love and concern for the thugs. That is the power of Messiah’s grace in Jerusalem. And that is the opposition faced by Messianic Jews living there.

The community that was attacked is called Adullam. It focuses on compassionate, humanitarian outreach to hurting Israelis, including ultra-Orthodox Jews and those who have left that community. It also serves at-risk Israelis from other backgrounds.

But because of its effective outreach to religious Jews, it has come under intense fire, with a well-known radical inciting some young people to go on the attack.

As reported in Kehila News, “Members of Lehava, a violent anti-assimilation organization led by Ben-Zion Gopstein – a former disciple of Rabbi Meir Kahana – have been attacking a safe house for at-risk youth which is operated by a Messianic family.”

Michael, who manages the safe house, tells the story.

“When they came, during opening hours, we asked them to leave and said that we have three little children here. They didn’t care. They left and came back throwing bricks and stones at us. One flew right by one of our heads.”

But that was not the end. The thugs returned again, ultimately knocking out the windows with bricks and rocks as well as carrying out at least one physical assault.

Thankfully, with security cameras just installed, the last attack was captured on video. As for how the police will respond, that remains to be seen.

Does all this confirm the worst suspicions of the anti-Semites? Does it prove how evil “the rabbis” are? Does this point to the fundamentally corrupt nature of “the Jews”?

Certainly not.

There are bad apples in every religion, including Judaism.

There are corrupt leaders in every religion, including Judaism.

And there are thugs in every nation, including Israel.

The vast majority of rabbis would not support a violent attack on a Messianic Jewish center, let alone one with women and children inside.

And the vast majority of Israelis, most of whom are not religious, would be appalled at such an attack.

SOURCE: Charisma News

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A complaint was filed against Mark MacArthur, son of evangelical pastor and radio host John MacArthur, alleging the younger MacArthur and his former business partner defrauded clients in a $16 million investment scheme.

The Securities and Exchange Commission on Feb. 12 charged the California-based investment advisory firm Criterion Wealth Management Insurance Services and its then co-owners Mark MacArthur and Robert Gravette with failing to reveal financial conflicts of interest when recommending certain investments to their clients between 2014 and 2017. MacArthur left the company in 2017.

MacArthur and Gravette encouraged their clients to invest more than $16 million in four private real estate investment funds without notifying them that the fund managers for these investments had paid them more than $1 million in side compensation, according to the complaint that was filed in U.S. District Court in California. This was on top of the fees that the business partners were already charging their clients.

Both Gravette, 54, and MacArthur, 52, were longtime social acquaintances of one of the fund manager’s principals, “dating back to the 1980’s, when they attended the same university,” the complaint reads.

According to the complaint, MacArthur and Gravette were financially encouraged to keep their clients invested in the funds, instead of issuing their capital elsewhere, “because this additional side compensation was recurring and depended on Criterion’s clients remaining invested in the subject funds.”

For two of the private placement funds, the undisclosed compensation reduced the investment returns their clients would have otherwise received, according to the complaint.

MacArthur and Gravette “kept their clients in the dark as to all these material facts and, in doing so, they violated their fiduciary duty and defrauded their advisory clients,” the complaint reads.

The complaint seeks permanent injunctions prohibiting future violations of the federal securities laws. It also calls for civil penalties and an order requiring MacArthur and Gravette to expel “their ill-gotten gains” with interest.

MacArthur and Gravette are both alumni from Master’s University, where John MacArthur was the longest-serving president and is now the chancellor emeritus.

SOURCE: Religion News Service

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More than 100 members of the Islamic extremist group Boko Haram attacked the town of Garkida in Gombi area of the northeastern state of Adamawa, Nigeria on Friday night, opening fire on townspeople and setting fire to churches and houses, according to multiple media outlets.

At least five church buildings were destroyed, including two houses of worship belonging to the Church of the Brethren denomination, an Anglican Communion church, and a church and separate office of Living Faith Church, according to Save the Persecuted Christians (STPC).

A final toll of the casualties from the attack is unknown. Several media outlets reported “many people” were killed in the incursion. There were also unconfirmed reports of possible abductions. Thousands of people were also displaced. 

The Boko Haram militants were riding on about 60 motorcycles with two men each carrying AK47s and RPGs. They were accompanied by 20 mounted gun trucks, according to the STPC. 

Some reports indicate Nigerian security forces initially fought the attackers but had to retreat. 

Other eyewitnesses tell a different story. A resident told Morning Star News reports of an impending attack by the Boko Haram reached the town at about 1:00 pm on Friday, but Nigerian armed forces took no proactive steps to protect them.

“In spite of all the local intelligence reports on the afternoon of Friday, after the terrorists were sighted around Kwarangulum in Chibok Local Government Area, which is close to Garkida, no effort was made by soldiers stationed in the area to preempt the attack,” Manasseh Allen said. “I feel very sad about this.”

“People ran to hide inside the mountains while they watched their houses being burnt by the insurgents,” another resident told The Cable.

Residents told Nigerian newspaper the Daily Trust that the assailants first attacked a military checkpoint on Friday before razing public and private buildings in Garkida. The attackers held the town for hours, ransacking and looting buildings. 

A local resident told the newspaper that the insurgents overpowered police and vigilante defenders before burning a police station, police barracks, church buildings, a hospital, and a health center and the homes of two local officials.

The Nigerian military later restored order and were patrolling Garkida’s streets on Saturday.

Although the Nigerian government claims to have defeated Boko Haram, the militant group and its offshoot Islamic State West Africa Province continue to carry out attacks in Nigeria.

As CBN News reported earlier this month, Islamic militants killed at least 32 people and burned a pastor’s house and church building in two nights of attacks in Plateau State.

STPC, a bipartisan, multi-faith coalition of nearly 200 civic, faith, and community leaders who pray and advocate for the more than 300 million persecuted Christians around the world, is calling for a US special envoy to be sent to Nigeria and the Lake Chad region because of the extreme violence against Christians there.

Meanwhile, the mainstream media in the US remains silent as Muslim terrorists’ merciless killing of Nigerian Christians continues. 

Nigeria is ranked 12th on Open Doors’ 2020 World Watch List of countries where Christians suffer the most persecution.

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