10 Things First-Time Church Visitors Don’t Want to Hear

CM Editor
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10 Things First-Time Church Visitors Don’t Want to Hear

A pastor in charge of community building and small groups feels it’s so important for churches to make a good impression on first-time church visitors from the moment they walk onto a church campus that he’s come up with a list of 10 statements that just might do the opposite and turn churchgoers away.

Pastor Ben Reed of Long Hollow Baptist Church in Tennessee told The Christian Post that a church can run people off if its greeters and the rest of the congregation are not careful about the words they use.

“I think that we forget a lot of times that the worship experience starts in the parking lot, not when we pastors step on the stage,” Reed said. “We can put so much effort and time into crafting just that perfect worship service and it doesn’t matter if we miss out” by the church’s guest services giving the wrong impressions, he explained.

“If we don’t really think critically about how we are going to minister to the first-time guest then we are going to miss it,” he said.

One of the items on his “10 Statements Church Visitors Never Want to Hear” list is “What’s your address? I didn’t catch it on the first 6 forms I had you fill out.”

“The Gospel is the greatest message in the history of the world, but it doesn’t have a chance if the moment somebody walks in the door and if somehow, someway we convince them to fill out a visitors form and then later in the service we ask them to fill out another one, and when they pick up their kids we ask them to fill out another one,” Reed said. “They just might throw up their hands and say, ‘I don’t care what your gospel is, forget it.'”

He also cautioned against someone already inside the church making a quick judgment about a first-time visitor.

Reed gave the example of visitors who may be “feeling pretty good about this new church and when they come in somebody says, ‘Oh, I know you. We went to high school together. What are you doing at this church?’ Basically implying that ‘I know what your sins are and you are not really welcome here.'”

The “10 Statements Church Visitors Never Want to Hear” according to Reed are:

1. Our pastor isn’t normally this _____.
Insert whatever you want in this blank: loud, obnoxious, offensive, long-winded. If you have to explain part of your pastor’s style because you know that outsiders won’t like it, you’ve got a problem. Talk with your pastor about that.

2. We’re full. Sorry.
Always have a backup plan. Always. If someone sees that your service is full once, they’ll deal with it. But they probably won’t come back if they don’t see a plan you have in place.

3. What are YOU doing here?
Never say this. Never. Your shocked, open mouth reveals your judgmental spirit…at least in the eyes of visitors. When you say this, all they can think is, “God couldn’t really love someone like you.”

4. You can’t serve now…you’ve got to be a member first.
Why would someone want to become a member if they’ve never had the chance to serve?

5. We don’t believe in serving coffee on Sunday mornings.
If you say this, I can only assume you are leading a church in the pit of Hell.

6. What’s your address? I didn’t catch it on the first 6 forms I had you fill out.
Try to streamline the “first-time visitors check-in process.” Nobody likes to feel like they’re visiting HR on their first church visit.

7. You want to join a small group? You’ll have to wait until next Fall.
If you ask people to wait more than a month to join community, they’ll often look elsewhere.

8. Here we just care about the Truth. If you don’t like it, you can leave.    …… Read More

Source : Christian Post

 

 

Pastor Resigns From Georgia Church After Congregation’s Vote to Leave PCUSA Fails

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  • Charles Hasty
    (Photo: courtesy Rev. Hasty)
    The Reverend Charles Hasty, formerly senior pastor of First Presbyterian Church of Columbus, Georgia.

Christian Post Report – The Rev. Charles Hasty, senior pastor of First Presbyterian Church in Columbus, Georgia, has announced his resignation from the congregation he’s served for 13 years after members narrowly defeated a motion to leave the Presbyterian Church (USA).

Hasty announced his resignation Monday evening after congregants voted 266-146 last month to leave PCUSA over theological differences; the total was just eight votes shy of the necessary two-thirds majority needed to pass.

JoAnna Williams, administrative assistant for Hasty, directed The Christian Post to a local news article wherein quotes from a letter Hasty wrote explaining his reasoning was published.

“Undoubtedly, there is more work to be done; however, the work God is calling this church to do will be under different leadership,” said Hasty to the Ledger-Enquirer.

“My heart, like all of yours, is broken in the wake of the fractured vote for gracious dismissal and the resulting conflicted state of our relationships within First Presbyterian and between First Presbyterian and Flint River Presbytery.”

In April the 900-member First Presbyterian voted on whether or not to remain affiliated with PCUSA, due to the liberal theological direction of the Mainline denomination.

Had the measure passed, First Presbyterian would have not only disaffiliated from PCUSA, but also joined the newer, more conservative Evangelical Covenant Order of Presbyterians.

The week after the vote, about 70 members of First Presbyterian left to form their own congregation, named Grace Church of Columbus.

Glen D. Giles, a member of Grace Church, told CP in an earlier interview that he joined the new congregation because he felt “isolated and disenfranchised by my denomination.”

“I felt that in the almost three decades I had been a member of that denomination it had transformed from a denomination into a political action committee,” said Giles, adding he was speaking only for himself.

“I desired to be a part of a church and denomination that will have less conflict and more unity, especially in adhering to the Word.”

According to his letter of resignation, Hasty will officially leave his position as senior pastor of First Presbyterian Church effective Sunday, May 24.

Source : Christian Post

Fidel Castro Ran Cocaine Trafficking Operations ‘Like a Real Godfather,’ Cuban Dictator’s Former Bodyguard Claims in Autobiography

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Fidel Castro Ran Cocaine Trafficking Operations ‘Like a Real Godfather,’ Cuban Dictator’s Former Bodyguard Claims in Autobiography

Could Castro be considering the Catholic faith? Reuters

Christian Post Report – Fidel Castro at the release of his autobiography in 2010.

In a new tell-all autobiography to be released in English in May, the ex-bodyguard of Fidel Castro reveals that the former Cuban dictator lived a “double life” that had him running cocaine and marijuana drug trafficking operations “like a real Godfather.”

Juan Reinaldo Sanchez, who worked as Castro’s bodyguard for 17 years before being imprisoned in 1994 after planning to retire due to concern about Castro’s corrupt actions, asserted in his book, The Double Life of Fidel Castro: My 17 Years as Personal Bodyguard to El Lider Maximo, that although he once worshipped Castro “like a god,” he was appalled to learn the secrets of Castro’s rule that the dictator did not want the public to know.

After working for Castro for nearly two decades and finding out that not only was he a drug kingpin but also executed his own high-ranking government officials just like a mob boss would, Sanchez knew it was time for him to step down from his security gig.

  • Fidel Castro
    (Photo: St, Martin’s Press)

After his intentions to retire became known, he was imprisoned for about 14 years before he was finally able to escape, flee to Mexico and cross the U.S. southern border into Texas. The 66-year-old now lives in Miami.

Even though Sanchez admits that he once loved Castro as much, if not more, than his own family, Sanchez began to become concerned Castro’s corrupt practices in 1988.

Sanchez explained that he was able to listen in to a private conversation that Castro had with his interior minister, General Jose Abrantes, in Castro’s Havana office. That was when Sanchez claimed he first learned of Castro’s involvement with prominent drug traffickers.

Sanchez remembers Casto telling him before the conversation not to record the conversation, but Sanchez did anyway. Abrantes explained to Castro that a Cuban drug smuggler, who was living in the United States and did much business with the Cuban government, wanted to vacation with his parents in Havana in exchange for $75,000.

Castro liked the deal but wanted to have the drug trafficker’s parents keep the vacation a secret so that the international community doesn’t know that Cuba negotiates with a known drug trafficker. Abrantes then came up with a plan to tell the parents that their son was an undercover Cuban intelligence officer responsible for infiltrating the U.S. and if they did not keep the vacation a secret, their son could face death.

“Their conversation centered on a Cuban lanchero [someone who smuggles by boat] living in the United States, apparently conducting business with the government,” Sanchez wrote. “And what business? Very simply, a huge drug-trafficking transaction was being carried out at the highest echelons of the state.”

“It was as if the sky had fallen on me,” Sanchez added. “I realized that the man for whom I had long sacrificed my life, the Lider whom I worshipped like a god and who counted more in my eyes than my own family was caught up in cocaine trafficking to such an extent that he was directing illegal operations like a real godfather.”

Sanchez further explained that as funding to Cuba from Moscow started to become nonexistent, Castro founded the “Moneda Convertible” Department, which Sanchez wrote was nothing more than the “Marijuana and Cocaine Department.”

“For him, drug trafficking was, above all, a weapon of revolutionary struggle more than a means of making money,” Sanchez wrote. “It served his revolutionary objectives in the sense that it corrupted and destabilized American society… Icing on the cake: It was a means of bringing in cash to finance subversion.”

But as the U.S. government became weary of Cuba’s involvement in drug trafficking operations, Castro ordered an “investigation” into the “appalling” matter. During the investigation, Abrantes was arrested along with Cuban general Arnaldo Ochoa.

Sanchez states that Castro played an overly active role in their trials to the point that he would instruct the prosecution and jury during the breaks of the trials. Abrantes was sentenced to 25 years in prison, while Ochoa was sentenced to death for treason. Sanchez also wrote that Castro ordered him and Castro’s other men to watch Ochoa’s execution.

“Castro made us watch it,” he explained. “That’s what the Comandante was capable of to keep his power: not just killing but also of humiliating and reducing to nothing men who had served him devotedly.”

Castro officially remained as Cuban president up until February 2008, when his brother, Raul assumed his office. Sanchez’s book also discussed Raul’s alcoholism and fear that Fidel would one day imprison him just like he did Abrantes.

“If what’s worrying you is that what happened to Abrantes will happen to you, let me tell you that Abrantes [is not my brother,]” Sanchez remembers Fidel telling Raul. “You and I have been united since we were children, for better and for worse. So, no, you are not going to experience Abrantes’ fate, unless… you persist with this deplorable behavior.”

Source : Christian Post

5 Egyptian Christian Children Arrested for Blasphemy After Recording Prayer Video That ‘Mocked’ ISIS

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5 Egyptian Christian Children Arrested for Blasphemy After Recording Prayer Video That ‘Mocked’ ISIS

Egyptian Coptic Christians (Photo: Reuters/Asmaa Waguih)

Christian Post Report – Relatives and neighbours of Egyptian Coptic men killed in Libya chant pro-army slogans during a protest while carrying crosses in al-Our village, in Minya governorate, south of Cairo, February 16, 2015. Thousands of traumatized mourners gathered on Monday at the Coptic church in al-Our village south of Cairo, struggling to come to terms with the fate of compatriots who paid a gruesome price for simply seeking work in Libya. Thirteen of 21 Egyptians beheaded by Islamic State came from the impoverished dirt lanes of al-Our, violence that prompted the Egyptian military to launch an air strike on Islamic State militant targets in Libya.

Police in Egypt recently arrested five Coptic Christian children after angry Muslim mobs accused them of blasphemy for being featured in a circulated prayer video with their Coptic teacher that showed them making fun of the Islamic State terrorist organization.

In a report published Tuesday by Fox News on how Christians have become the target of Muslim extremists in the Minya Governorate in northern Egypt, it was reported that Muslim mobs in the village of Nasreya in Minya gathered around the residences of five Christian students and chanted that they had “insulted” Islam.

The angry Muslims claimed that the students and their Coptic teacher were guilty of blasphemy, which is a crime in Egypt, because their video mocked ISIS, a barbaric Islamic terrorist group that has claimed chunks of territory in Iraq and Syria and also has affiliate groups located in Egypt and Libya.

As the teacher was arrested and questioned by police over a four-day period, the mobs threw rocks at the homes of the students and demanded that their parents turn over the children to the local policing authority.

Mina Thabet, a Coptic activist, said that the children and teacher still remain in police detention, as well as other Christians who been victimized by Muslim attacks and accusations.

“We have five Coptic Christian children charged with blasphemy and insulting Islam,” Thabet explained. “We still have other open cases where Christians are charged with inciting violence as if they were the perpetrators, but where they were [actually] the victims.”

Todd Daniels, the Middle East regional manager for International Christian Concern, told The Christian Post on Wednesday that due to the corrupt nature of Egypt’s judicial system, the children could be sentenced to overly-long prison sentences.

“The case of the five arrested in Minya and charged with blasphemy represents yet another case of how Egypt continues to bend to the weight of extremist ideology,” Daniels wrote in an email. “A video – not even shared publicly – that mocked ISIS, a group that openly beheaded twenty Egyptian citizens, has already put these five in prison and may lead to lengthy prison sentences. Despite progress in terms of rhetoric from [Egyptian] President [Abdel Fattah el-Sisi], Egypt has pervasive persecution that continues to occur not only on the societal level but also in the judiciary.”

Daniels added that on Tuesday, a Christian man in Egypt was sentenced to one year in prison for blasphemy, after sharing a video on Facebook of two Islamic scholars debating points of Islam.

Although Sisi called for a reformation of the country’s persecutory Muslim extremist mindset in a speech given at the most prestigious Islamic learning center in the world, the 1000-year-old Al-Azhar University, the country’s blasphemy law has remained intact, giving Muslims the ability to use the law to persecute religious minorities and assert their dominance.

“While Sisi has done things that are commendable in terms of trying to clamp down on extremism and talk openly or more openly about the extremism problem, on the other hand, we see just a sort of larger clamping down on what is deemed acceptable religious discourse,” Oren Kessler, deputy director of research at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, told CP. “That often includes a certain overzealousness when it comes to enforcing what Christians are allowed to say about Islam, or even persecuting Christians who have said nothing about Islam simply as a government show of force.”

The Minya Governorate, which was home to the 21 Coptic Christians who were beheaded by ISIS in February, has hosted other Muslim attacks against the Coptic Christian community. In April, Coptic Christians who were looking to build a church honoring the fallen 21 Coptic martyrs in the village of al-Our were attacked by a Muslim mob that opposed the building of such a church. A week later, a muslim mob protested the construction of a new governor-approved church in the village of El-Galaa.

Although Kessler said he doesn’t believe the Egyptian government is complicit in attacks against the Christian community, the government has done little to protect the Christian population.

“What I tend to see are generally cases of neglect. There have even been cases in which the police knew about plans to attack churches and did nothing,” Kessler said. “We here a lot of nice rhetoric from President Sisi about confronting religious extremism, and President Sisi went into the Coptic Christian cathedral on Christmas to wish them a merry Christmas, but there has been very little in way of action in terms of protecting the Copts.”

Even though Sisi has called for a peaceful reformation of Islam, the only real action that his regime has taken in that regard has been providing schools with new textbooks and curricula, which Kessler says is a good place to start.

“Even the public school system has a lot of problems with its curricula in terms of how it portrays Christians and Jews and how it portrays Islam as the necessary dominant religion in the country,” Kessler said. “I think some textbooks were changed. There were changes to the curriculum. Beyond that, we have seen mostly rhetoric, not that rhetoric is unimportant because it does help create and environment of tolerance, but rhetoric needs to be matched with action and we haven’t seen a whole lot of action beyond these changes to the curriculum.”

Source : Christian Post

Pope Francis Allows Priests to Begin Pardoning Women and Doctors Who’ve Performed Abortions, Changing Catholic Practice

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<b>Christian Post Report</b> – Pope Francis embraces a boy and a girl during a meeting with young people at Manila university, January 18, 2015.” title=”<b>Christian Post Report</b> – Pope Francis embraces a boy and a girl during a meeting with young people at Manila university, January 18, 2015.” name=”jpg” src=”http://images.christianpost.com/full/80178/pope-francis-embraces-a-boy-and-a-girl-during-a-meeting-with-young-people-at-manila-university-january-18-2015.jpg” class=”imgPhoto” width=”550″ height=”450″ /> <small class=(Photo: REUTERS)

Christian Post Report – Pope Francis embraces a boy and a girl during a meeting with young people at Manila university, January 18, 2015.

Pope Francis has said that Roman Catholic priests can begin pardoning women who’ve had abortions and doctors who have performed the procedure starting in 2016, changing long-standing Catholic practice. The Vatican insisted, however, that it continues to look at abortion as a sin.

Archbishop Rino Fisichella, the president of the Pontifical Council for the New Evangelisation, announced Francis’ decision earlier this week, and said: “The missionaries of mercy are priests sent out by the Holy Father at the beginning of Lent. The Pope is sending them out [to dioceses and parishes] as a tangible sign of how a priest should be a man of pardon, close to everyone …”

The Irish Times pointed out that Catholic tradition only allows bishops or the pope himself to absolve women of having an abortion, which is a sin that leads to excommunication from the Church.

The Catholic “Holy Year of Mercy” runs from Dec. 8 through Nov. 20, 2016, and will allow specially appointed priests “the authority to pardon even those sins reserved to the Holy See.”

The special year will also mark several individual jubilee days, such as for the Roman Curia, catechists, teenagers and prisoners.

Archbishop Fisichella clarified in an interview with Italian news agency ANSA that priests will also be able to offer absolution not only to women who’ve had abortions, but also to the doctors that performed them.

The Daily Mail reported that the Vatican has previously faced criticism from the United Nations for excommunicating the mother and doctor of a 9-year-old girl in Brazil who underwent an abortion in 2009 after she was raped by her stepfather and became pregnant with twins.

Italian Cardinal Velasio De Paolis, who has published a book alongside four other cardinals called Remaining In The Truth Of Christ, which defends marriage and Catholic tradition, insisted that the Catholic stance against abortion will not waver, however.

De Paolis said: “Regardless of this decision by the Pope, the Church will continue to consider abortion a sin. I hope it does not cause confusion.”

Francis has affirmed on a number of occasions his opposition to abortion, a well as to euthanasia, stem-cell research, and other attempts to end life.

Back in November 2014, the pontiff dismissed the notion that abortion is good for women, or that euthanasia is “an act of dignity,” or “a scientific breakthrough to ‘produce’ a child (who is) considered a right instead of accepted as a gift.” Francis also denounced “(the) use of human life as laboratory mice supposedly to save others.”

The Vatican has set up an official Jubilee of Mercy website which talks more about the tradition and the planned events.

“I have decided to announce an Extraordinary Jubilee which has at its centre the mercy of God. It will be a Holy Year of Mercy. We want to live in the light of the Word of the Lord: ‘Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful’ (Luke 6:36). And this especially applies to confessors! So much mercy!” Francis said when announcing the Holy Year.

Source : Christian Post

Gospel Star Kierra Sheard Will Preview Clothing Line for Full-Figured Women On BET’s ‘Sunday Best’

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Gospel Star Kierra Sheard Will Preview Clothing Line for Full-Figured Women On BET’s ‘Sunday Best’

Kierra Sheard (Photo: BET Networks)

Christian Post Report – Kierra Sheard currently serves as a judge on BET’s “Sunday Best.”

Kierra Sheard, the gospel singer and judge on BET’s “Sunday Best” talent competition, recently announced that people will get a preview of her upcoming full figure fashion line on the show.

Sheard, 27, took to her Instagram page to let the world know where they can get an official first glimpse of her high-end clothing line called, Eleven 60, before it’s official debut in the Fall.

“#Eleven60 I can’t wait for you to see the clothing line,” Sheard wrote. “..Tune into #BETSundayBest for more fun looks #fullFiguredFashion.”

Sheard announced that she would release Eleven 60 last March and spoke up about the need to create quality apparel for what appears to be an underserved demographic of women.

“I’ve learned that the full figured apparel represents almost eighteen billion dollars and is growing. However, we haven’t been accepted into the high fashion realm,” Sheard wrote last March. “Why?! We are the money! Let’s show them how and why we should be accepted.”

Although she has not announced an official release date just yet, Sheard gave fans a glimpse of what they can expect from the upcoming fashion line,

“It’s a clothing line that complements the thick woman. While being a full-figured woman, I’ve found it hard to find quality and high fashion trends in my size,” she wrote. “But no more skimpy clothes! And no more muu muus! Since the average American woman is plus size, I should be able to healthily, and fabulously own it!”

The daughter of Grammy Award-winning singer Karen Clark Sheard of the gospel music group The Clark Sisters, and Bishop J. Drew Sheard, Kierra has managed to make her mark in the music world and signed on to serve as a judge on “Sunday Best” last year. While she is planning to use the platform to showcase her upcoming clothing line, she was once apprehensive about appearing on the show next to big names like Yolanda Adams, Donnie McClurkin and Kirk Franklin who have helped usher new talent into the gospel music industry.

“I always said I don’t think I ever want to be a judge! So I thought about it because I was a little nervous about judging and being the youngest judge on the panel,” Sheard admitted to The Christian Post last year. “It’s been a great journey because I’ve been able to glean from the trailblazers that are on the set and I’m just thankful to have the opportunity because I would never have said no to ‘Sunday Best.'”

“Sunday Best All Stars” premieres, Sunday, July 19 at 8 PM ET/PT on BET where fans can tune in to see what Sheard’s clothing line will offer.

Source : Christian Post

New Orleans Pastor Drops Dead After Telling Congregation, ‘If the Lord Called Me Now I’m Ready’

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  • Pastor Kenneth Green of Greater St. Mary Baptist Church
    (Photo: Screengrab)
    Pastor Kenneth Green of Greater St. Mary Baptist Church in New Orleans, Louisiana.

Christian Post Report – A New Orleans pastor collapsed suddenly and died in the middle of preaching a sermon at Greater Saint Mary Baptist Church in the Algiers community on Sunday after declaring to his congregation: “If the Lord called me now, I’m ready.”

Pastor Kenneth Green, 56, was preaching on theBook of Psalms in a sermon titled “Down But Not Out” and made an ironic declaration shortly before collapsing, according to church member Joan Martin.

“And then he had mentioned that if the Lord called me now ‘I’m ready to go,'” Martin told local news outlet WDSU.

The sudden death shocked the congregation and Martin burst out in tears when she saw her pastor tumble to the ground.

“He took a swallow of water, before he took water he wiped his face, and then he looked up and it looked like his eyes were rolled back, like there was no life in his eyes, and he tumbled over. Everybody was in a state of shock people were crying,” she said.

Paramedics arrived shortly after he collapsed but were unable to revive him, according to Martin.

She said Green was a kind man who was there for anyone needing prayer and served others by taking sick people to the hospital and helping the homeless.

Green buried both of Martin’s sons and was there to comfort her during her time of grieving. For that, she wants people to remember him as a man of God who died living out his purpose.

“Remember his love for God and the work he did for God, and how he tried to be everything for everybody,” she said.

Green leaves behind a wife and three children. The family is currently awaiting autopsy results.

Martin said Green did not have a known health condition and described him as “very healthy.”

Green pastored Greater St. Mary Baptist Church for 8 years. The church is part of the United Church of Algiers.

The Christian Post contacted both Greater St. Mary Baptist Church and the United Church of Algiers. Both churches had no comment at the time of publication.

Source : Christian Post

Manny Pacquiao Hit With Multiple Lawsuits After Floyd Mayweather Jr. Loss

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Manny Pacquiao Hit With Multiple Lawsuits After Floyd Mayweather Jr. Loss

Floyd Mayweather vs Manny Pacquiao (Photo: Reuters/Steve Marcus)

Christian Post Report – Undefeated WBC/WBA welterweight champion Floyd Mayweather Jr. of the U.S. and WBO welterweight champion Manny Pacquiao of the Philippines pose during a final news conference at the MGM Grand Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada, April 29, 2015

Manny Pacquiao made it through “the fight of the century,” but now he is battling with a shoulder injury and a number of fans who have decided to file lawsuits against the Filipino boxer.

Pacquiao,36, is the subject of five class-action lawsuits, according to ESPN reports. The website claims two lawsuits were filed in California, one in Las Vegas, Texas and another in Illinois with a numer of fans, pay-per-view buyers, ticket buyers and gamblers seeking upwards of $5 million in compensation.

Pacquiao was reportedly fighting while suffering from a longstanding shoulder injury that was aggravated further a little over two weeks before the fight against Mayweather. While the Nevada State Athletic Commission expects fighters to make their injuries known on a pre-fight medical questionnaire, ESPN reports that Pacquiao failed to reveal his injury, a decision which could likely cause trouble for him and the Top Rank boxing promotion company that represents him.

One of the California lawsuits filed on behalf of Paul Mahoney who purchased the fight for $99.95 on pay-per-view, explained why fans felt the need to sue Pacquiao.

“Pacquiao’s injury unquestionably materially, significantly and negatively affected the quality of the product,” the lawsuit states, according to ESPN.

Top Rank lawyer Daniel Petrocelli told ESPN  however, that his team had no obligation to make Pacquiao’s injury known to the public.

“This is a frivolous lawsuit, and we are confident it will be dismissed,” he said.

Pacquiao, who is said to have received over $100 million in revenue from the fight he lost to Mayweather, is scheduled to have surgery May 6 which will force him to stay away from boxing for at least nine months. However, he told The Christian Post that he was fueled by much more than just being a boxer.

“I love my boxing, but I realize now, that is not what my life is all about. I just want to encourage all those who are a Christian, to share their salvation experience to others,” Pacquiao told CP. “I think that we could make an impact in this world. I’m not sure yet if I’m going to retire in 2016, but the legacy that I want to leave is to be a role model and an inspiration, [to] not only the boxing fans, but to everyone around the world.”

The Christian Post reached out to Manny Pacquiao’s representatives, but were unable to reach them at press time.

Source : Christian Post

‘Prophetesses’ Who Claim They Can Predict the Future and Heal the Sick Are the Focus of New Lifetime Reality Show Titled ‘Preach’

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‘Prophetesses’ Who Claim They Can Predict the Future and Heal the Sick Are the Focus of New Lifetime Reality Show Titled ‘Preach’

Lifetime network has announced the premiere date for a new reality show, or “docuseries” featuring four Christian women who believe God has given them powers “to heal the sick, see the future and rid people of their addictions.”

Lifetime is premiering its new docuseries, Preach, on Friday, June 5, 2015. (Photo: Lifetime video)

Christian Post Report – Lifetime is premiering its new docuseries, “Preach,” on Friday, June 5, 2015.

“Known as ‘Prophetesses,’ these women speak as interpreters through whom the will of God is expressed. In order for their legacy to continue, they must enlist protégés and teach them how to carry on their gift. These ‘Queens of the Church’ each have different styles and their own special way of delivering God’s message, but all are united in their love of the Lord,” Lifetime states in a press release.

The four Ohio women at the center of the new six-episode series are: Belinda Scott, described as a “Major Prophetess” and who co-pastors the New Spirit Revival Center Ministries; Taketa Williams, dubbed the “Beyonce of the Preaching World,” leads along with her husband, Apostle Roderick A. Williams, Impact Christian Center; Linda Roark, referred to as the “Blue-Eyed Soul Sister,” is said to have a “passion is to see people saved, healed, and delivered;” and Kelly Crews, who was described by the network as just developing her own ministry.

Watch a 30-second highlight of the “Preach” series in the video player below:

As the video indicates, the four women are Charismatic Christians who believe the Holy Spirit is still working today like He did in the early days of the church, when Jesus’ followers performed miraculous healings and spoke in tongues. Some prominent modern-day Charismatics include evangelist Benny Hinn and preacher Kenneth Copeland.

Not all Christians believe that the Holy Spirit empowers Christians today in the same way He did first century Christians, who the Bible describes as having spiritual gifts to prophesy, raise people from the dead, and speak in tongues (glossolalia).

Reactions to the 30-second teaser for “Preach” shared beneath Lifetime’s post of the video on Facebook were diverse.

“Wow. What a way to make fun of the Gospel, but we ARE in the end times and the Word DOES say in the end false prophets will rise (I take that to mean any and every one that makes light of God’s word),” wrote Lorena Baracchi, who had nearly 2,000 other viewers give a “thumbs up” to her comment.

Leslie Sierra wrote, “OK, this is a (bit) much. This makes religion look like it’s all a show. Non-religious people don’t understand speaking in tongues or having the Holy Ghost. It’s a special gift and this makes lightly (sic) of it. Stop looking for reality shows to air and go to church if you want to spread the Gospel.” Nearly 1,500 people indicated that they agreed with her comment.

Some lesser-agreed-with responses came from two men, one calling himself a prophet.

“I take my assignment as a prophet very seriously; I’m not looking to broadcast nothing GOD is doing through me! They really need to stop playing! Lifetime you’ve gone to (sic) far this time!” Reginald Walton wrote.

Another man, Brent Foster, suggested that viewers who responded negatively to the “Preach” teaser video were betraying their embarrassment over long-practiced Christian traditions.

“So, the church has been doing this for years, but now that TV cameras are in the picture, and it’s being shown to the masses, all of a sudden, people are having a problem with it?” Foster wrote. “Are church folks now embarrassed by their traditions?”

“Preach” premieres at 10 p.m. ET Friday, June 5 on Lifetime, which also airs other religion-based series such as “Preachers’ Daughters” and “The Sisterhood: Becoming Nuns.”

The “Preach” docuseries is produced by CORE Media Group with Jennifer O’Connell, Jenny Ramirez and Rasheed J. Daniel serving as executive producers, along with Eli Lehrer, Mary Donahue and Mariana Flynn executive producing for Lifetime.

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Source : Christian Post

Pastor Kong Hee and City Harvest Members Raised Church’s Budget Deficit to Continue Financing Popstar Wife’s Career, Prosecution Alleges

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Pastor Kong Hee and City Harvest Members Raised Church’s Budget Deficit to Continue Financing Popstar Wife’s Career, Prosecution Alleges
City Harvest Church founder Kong Hee (Photo: Reuters/Edgar Su)

City Harvest Church founder Kong Hee arrives for his trial at the Subordinate Courts in Singapore, May 15, 2013. Prosecutors for the trial said they had evidence of a “deliberately planned” scheme by church leaders to channel part of the church’s building fund to fund the music career of Kong’s wife, singer Sun Ho, according to local media.

Christian Post Report – The prosecution in the long-standing case against Singapore megachurch pastor Kong Hee and five other City Harvest Church members has claimed that the accused manipulated transactions and raised the church’s budget deficit to $1.8 million in order to continue financing the popstar career of singer Ho Yeow Sun, Kong’s wife.

“Essentially, you were prepared to increase the church’s expenses by $630,000, causing the church deficit to rise to $1.8 million for 2007, to ensure that you were able to continue financing Sun Ho’s music career. Correct?” Deputy Public Prosecutor Christopher Ong asked former CHC finance manager Serina Wee Gek Yin on Tuesday, The Straits Times reported.

Wee, Kong, and four other CHC members are being tried for misusing church money by secretly funneling funds by way of sham bond investments into a company called Xtron, which was in charge of Ho’s career.

The prosecution has alleged that Xtron was a sham company operated by CHC’s leadership, though Kong has denied the accusations.

If convicted of having misused $19.2 million in church funds, the six accused could face up to 20 years in prison.

The latest accusations focus on Wee, Kong, and deputy senior pastor Tan Ye Peng, who are being implicated in planning to move CHC’s editorial and graphics department to Xtron, with the idea to outsource the work done by the department to the company and address Xtron’s cash-flow problems.

Wee admitted that there was a proposal to have the in-house design services moved and be provided by Xtron.

She explained: “I also stated that there would be benefit in the sense that this staff, they would be able to provide services for commercial entities, and then they can improve in their skills, which will benefit the church as well.”

When asked whether those additional benefits and improvement in the skill-set of the staff was worth $630,000, Wee replied that she is not in a position to asses the benefits.

“It is something that is intangible, and it’s up to the church board to assess whether they find that it is beneficial for the church to enter into this increased retainer,” the former finance manager said.

Kong and Tan have repeatedly denied any wrong-doing in the case.

Following his turn to take the stand in April, Tan said he would never intend to cause harm to the CHC congregation.

“I’m an ordinary man, I’m just a pastor, I just want to do the will of God, I just want to be faithful to the vision that God has given to us,” the deputy pastor said.

“In all honesty, I would never do anything that would cause loss to the church. … This is the church that I grew up in. This is my spiritual family.”

Source : Christian Post

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