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Christians and Conservatives Criticize Super Bowl LIV Halftime Show as ‘Softcore Porn’ and ‘Degrading of Women’

Church and Ministry

The Super Bowl halftime show is being panned for its explicit content.

Super Bowl LIV, which was held in Miami this year, featured Latin pop artists Shakira and Jennifer Lopez. Featuring several of their most well-known songs from over the years, the artists danced with lots of hip-shaking and were at points barely clothed around stripper poles.

Commenting on his Facebook page Sunday, evangelist Franklin Graham noted that he did not expect the world to act like the church, but the nation nevertheless should have the decency to protect children during prime time television.

“We see that disappearing before our eyes. It was demonstrated tonight in the Pepsi Super Bowl Halftime Show — with millions of children watching. This exhibition was Pepsi showing young girls that sexual exploitation of women is okay. With the exploitation of women on the rise worldwide, instead of lowering the standard, we as a society should be raising it. I’m disappointed in Pepsi and the NFL,” Graham said.

March for Life President Jeanne F. Mancini tweeted: “Ugh. We can’t have something that little kids can watch? Embarrassing for everyone I’m with — looking away, etc. Friends son got distracted by smart dad so he wouldn’t see it. We can do better!”

Some connected the performance to widespread social scourges and the grim reality of sex trafficking that frequently occurs at major sporting events.

“We wonder why the Super Bowl is a hotbed of sex trafficking…meanwhile we applaud for literal pole dancing during the halftime show. Degrading women has tragic cultural consequences,” commented One American News Network host Liz Wheeler.

SOURCE: Christian Post, Brandon Showalter

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Here We Go: Homosexual Activists Pressure More Venues to Pull Out of Franklin Graham’s Uk Tour – Frankling Graham is Not Calling Off His Tour

Church and Ministry

While several venues have canceled events planned for Franklin Graham in the United Kingdom, citing objections to his views on homosexuality, the evangelist is not calling off his eight-date tour of the country and has instead asked his supporters to pray that the doors remain open for the Gospel.

Graham, the son of the late evangelist Billy Graham, was booked to speak at the International Convention Centre Wales in Newport on June 14, but the event has been canceled, according to WalesOnline.

Jayne Bryant, Assembly Member for Newport West, said Graham has “a long record of preaching hate, prejudice and intolerance” and called for the event to be canceled due to her concerns and those raised by LGBTQ charity Pride Cymru.

Earlier, Liverpool ACC and Glasgow SEC also pulled out of hosting events for Graham. So did Sheffield City Trust for a planned event at Sheffield Arena.

Despite some cancellations, Graham, who leads the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, said on Saturday that he’s “looking forward to preaching the Gospel across the UK in late May & June.”

“Hundreds of churches are praying & planning to be a part of these evangelistic outreaches. People everywhere are searching for something to fill the void in their lives. Jesus Christ is the answer.”

Earlier last week, Graham wrote to the U.K.’s LGBTQ community, explaining his stand.

“It is said by some that I am coming to the UK to bring hateful speech to your community. This is just not true. I am coming to share the Gospel, which is the Good News that God loves the people of the UK, and that Jesus Christ came to this earth to save us from our sins,” he wrote on his Facebook page.

“The rub, I think, comes in whether God defines homosexuality as sin. The answer is yes,” he continued. “But God goes even further than that, to say that we are all sinners—myself included. The Bible says that every human being is guilty of sin and in need of forgiveness and cleansing. The penalty of sin is spiritual death—separation from God for eternity.”

Source: Christian Post

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Here We Go: Several More Venues Cancel Franklin Graham’s Gospel Tour in the UK After Pressure from LGBT Activists

Church and Ministry

Graham, the son of the late evangelist Billy Graham, was booked to speak at the International Convention Centre Wales in Newport on June 14, but the event has been canceled, according to WalesOnline.

Earlier, Liverpool ACC and Glasgow SEC also pulled out of hosting events for Graham. So did Sheffield City Trust for a planned event at Sheffield Arena.

Despite some cancellations, Graham, who leads the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, said on Saturday that he’s “looking forward to preaching the Gospel across the UK in late May & June.”

Earlier last week, Graham wrote to the U.K.’s LGBTQ community, explaining his stand.

SOURCE: Christian Post, Anugrah Kumar

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Two Killed in Shooting Outside of Church following Funeral Service

Church and Ministry

Two Killed in Shooting Outside of Church following Funeral Service

A shooting broke out on Saturday afternoon outside of a Florida church, leading to the death of two people and the injury of two others.

According to NBC News, around 2:30 pm Saturday, a 15-year-old boy and 47-year-old man were killed when gunfire broke out following a funeral service held at Victory City Church in Riviera Beach.

A woman also sustained a gunshot wound and was treated for non-life-threatening injuries.

The identities of the shooter(s)and the teenage victim have not been released, but the 47-year-old victim has been identified as Royce Freeman.

According to police, “This shooting was not a random act of violence. While the motive for the shooting is still being investigated, it is believed it was a result of a dispute between relatives of the deceased whose funeral had been held.”

Victory City Church released a statement on Facebook noting that church members were not involved in the shooting and that it did not occur inside of the church but instead across the street. Still, the church congregation is mourning the loss of “two young black men to a senseless shooting.”

The church’s senior pastor, Tywuante D. Lupoe, also took to Facebook Saturday night to add some clarity to the situation as well as to stress that this was not a church shooting. Lupoe noted that the church was aware of the possibility of violence breaking out at the funeral. As such, he noted that the church…

8 films from the Sundance Film Festival you’ll want to see

Entertainment

When the 36th annual edition of the Sundance Film Festival wrapped Sunday after 11 days of snow and cinema, it had ushered in an avalanche of new voices.

The festival, a wintery bastion of independent film held in the ski town of Park City, has worked harder than most similar events to showcase and develop fresh talent from a wide spectrum of backgrounds. And this year, especially, the results were often enthralling.

As if mining a new gold rush, streaming services have tunneled into Sundance, scooping up dozens of festival titles. For the indie and documentary film industries, it’s a welcome incursion that’s led to record sales prices. For audiences, it’s potentially good news, too. A lot of the best of Sundance is already on the way to moviegoers, in theaters or at home. Some, including the introspective Taylor Swift documentary “Miss Americana,” are already streaming.

There were many more highlights from Sundance than these, but here are eight films you won’t want to miss.

“Minari”: Lee Isaac Chung’s film, the winner of the both the festival’s dramatic competition and the audience award, was the standout of Sundance. An autobiographical tale, based on Chung’s upbringing, about a family of Korean immigrants (Steven Yeun and Yeri Han play the parents) who move to rural Arkansas. With them are two young children (Noel Kate Cho, Alan S. Kim) and a grandmother (Yuh Jung Youn). The film, a production of Brad Pitt’s Plan B to be released by A24, is a stunningly intimate family portrait, rich in personal detail and universal in tenderness.

“Boys State”: Jesse Moss and Amanda McBaine’s film, winner of festival’s documentary competition, is a comic, frightful and finally moving depiction of American politics in microcosm. The film, which reportedly set a record acquisition price for a doc at Sundance in its $12 million sale to A24 and Apple, is about a Texas leadership conference put on by the American Legion where some 1,000 17-year-old boys from around the country divide into rival parties and create a mock government. Many familiar elements of our political system emerge, but — thanks to a handful of memorable characters — so does some hope, too.

“Never Rarely Sometimes Always”: Eliza Hittman’s third feature is a so artfully and delicately calibrated that it gathers a devastating force. A 17-year-old Pennsylvania young woman (Sidney Flanigan) is pregnant. Without local support, she and her cousin Skylar (Talia Ryder) travel to New York for an abortion. It’s a quiet, restrained neo-realistic drama that captures not only the charged terrain of teenage abortion but the wider fraught landscape of transactional male-female interactions. Focus Features will release it March 13.

“The Truffle Hunters”: If a film festival is like uncovering rare delicacies, Gregory Kershaw and Michael Dweck’s documentary about the old Italian men who, with their faithful canine, gather truffles was the ultimate Sundance movie. Produced by Luca Guadagnino (“Call Me By Your Name”), the film chronicles the pursuit of the white Alba truffle in the forests of Northern Italy. But in Kershaw and Dweck’s deeply charming documentary, it’s the bond between truffle hunter and canine that feels priceless. Sony Pictures Classics picked up the film.

“Palm Springs”: Max Barbokow’s “Groundhog Day”-esque twist on the romantic comedy, starring Andy Samberg and Cristin Milioti, just barely set a Sundance record with its $17,500,000.69 purchase by Neon and Hulu. The Sundance entry with the most obvious broad appeal, “Palm Springs” was also the festival’s most unabashedly fun romp. The movie, a time-loop comedy set around a California desert wedding, is a Lonely Island production, but it’s Milioti who steals it.

“The Dissident”: A documentary and a real-life thriller, Bryan Fogel’s investigation into the Saudi assassination of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi is an immaculately assembled and massively damning non-fiction work. Fogel, whose previous film was the Oscar-winning doping documentary “Icarus,” fashions a shadowy international tale of intrigue into a searing indictment of not just Khashoggi’s murder but of the entire Saudi regime and all who do business with it. As its director urged at the movie’s premiere, it deserves to be seen widely.

“The 40-Year-Old Version”: Get to know Radha Blank. She’s the writer, director and star of this festival breakout, which has been acquired by Netflix. Blank, a Harlem playwright, plays a version of herself in this funny, sharply observed, emphatically New York film about being a black middle-aged artist stuck between selling out and pursuing her passion as a rapper.

“Shirley”: Josephine Decker’s psychological drama, starring Elisabeth Moss as Shirley Jackson, is far more caustic and compelling than anything that would typically be categorized as a “biopic.” Decker (“Madeline’s Madeline”) tells the tale mainly from the perspective of a young woman named Rose (Odessa Young) who has come with her aspiring-professor husband (Logan Lerman) to stay with the author of “The Lottery” and her husband (Michael Stuhlbarg). They aren’t the most cheerful of hosts. Rose’s increasing intimacy with the brilliant but acerbic and unhinged Jackson grows steadily more dangerous until it — mixing threads of gender roles and the creation of art — turns into something more like a warning, or a prophecy. Moss’ fury-filled performance is a standout. But the film, executive produced by Martin Scorsese, is foremost further proof of Decker’s commanding talent.

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Source: Associated Press – JAKE COYLE

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Risqué Super Bowl Halftime Show ‘Sexualized’ Women, Crossed Line, Many Say

Church and Ministry

Risqué Super Bowl Halftime Show ‘Sexualized’ Women, Crossed Line, Many Say

A Super Bowl halftime show featuring pole dancing, pelvic-thrusting and risqué costumes sparked plenty of pushback from moms and dads on social media Sunday night and also a word of disappointment from the Parents Television Council.

Although much of the show featuring Jennifer Lopez and Shakira was relatively tame, other parts featured sexually suggestive elements. Lopez entered the stage on a stripper pole. Once she was off the pole, other dancers swung on poles behind her.

Melissa Henson, program director for the Parents Television Council, told Christian Headlines the halftime show crossed a line, even if it doesn’t warrant action by the FCC. The 2004 Super Bowl halftime show with Justin Timberlake and Janet Jackson famously ended with a “wardrobe malfunction” that sparked an FCC fine (which was later voided by a federal court).

“After the Janet Jackson and Justin Timberlake Super Bowl halftime show, the NFL was very careful in their selection of halftime show performers. And so we’ve had many years now with little or no controversy,” Henson told Christian Headlines. “But between the really skimpy costumes, the gratuitous crotch shots and the dancing on the poles, it was not a classy show. … It’s unfortunate.

“I’ve seen a lot of commentary saying it was a celebration of Latin culture,” Henson added. “But I can’t help but think that if Gloria Estefan had…

Ben Platt named Hasty Pudding’s 2020 Man of the Year

Entertainment

Award-winning actor and musician Ben Platt was named 2020 Man of the Year by Harvard University’s famed Hasty Pudding theater troupe on Monday.

Platt, 26, is the youngest recipient in the 54-year history of the award, handed out annually by the troupe that dates to the late 18th century.

“We’re thrilled to honor Ben Platt as our 54th Man of the Year because of the incredible impact he has had on Broadway and in Hollywood at such a young age,” Hasty Pudding co-producer Natalie Needle said in a statement. “As our youngest Man of the Year, Ben has had a remarkable career as an actor and musician.”

Platt will receive his pudding pot at a celebratory roast on Friday. A performance of “Mean Ghouls,” Hasty Pudding’s second production including women in the cast, will follow.

Platt won a Tony in 2017 for “Dear Evan Hansen,” while the cast recording took home the Grammy for best musical theater album, as well as a Daytime Emmy for their performance on “The Today Show.”

Platt is also known for his role as Benji Applebaum in the films “Pitch Perfect” and “Pitch Perfect 2.”

He is currently filming the second season of the Netflix series “The Politician,” which last season earned him a Golden Globe nomination.

He also stars in the film “Run This Town,” which premiered at last year’s SXSW Film Festival and will be released this spring. It was recently announced that he will star in the film adaptation of the Stephen Sondheim musical “Merrily We Roll Along.”

Also a musician, Platt’s debut album “Sing To Me Instead” was released last year.

Former winners of the Man of the Year include Tom Hanks, Robert De Niro and Harrison Ford. Last year’s Man of the Year was Milo Ventimiglia.

Hasty Pudding’s 2020 Woman of the Year, Elizabeth Banks, was honored last week.

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Source: Associated Press

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Super Bowl Champions Kansas City Chiefs Praise God for Their Success

Church and Ministry

Super Bowl Champions Kansas City Chiefs Praise God for Their Success

For the first time in 50 years, the Kansas City Chiefs can call themselves Super Bowl champions.

In a back-and-forth battle for the trophy on Sunday night, the Chiefs and 49ers gave a spectacular show. But throughout the season, players and administrators from the Chiefs have shown that their faith is what truly matters, CBN News reports.

“I want to thank the Lord for blessing us with all these incredible people to bring this trophy home,” said Chiefs Chairman and CEO Clark Hunt.

Hunt has been vocal about his faith and wants his players and employees to find theirs, too.

“We want our employees to develop spiritually,” he said, according to Fox News. “In the National Football League, Christ is really glorified. My identity is my faith in Christ.”

One of the stand-out stars of the night was Chiefs Quarterback Patrick Mahomes who was named MVP of the Super Bowl, making him the youngest quarterback to both win the MVP and the Super Bowl. His faith has inspired him.

“Doing what I do every single day, and then knowing that as long as I’m doing everything the right way, the way that He’d want me to do it, then I can walk off the field with my head held high and be able to to be the man that I’m supposed to be,” the 24-year-old said. “It’s given me a lot of blessing in my life and I’m trying to maximize and glorify Him in everything I do.”

Chiefs’ Guard Stefen…

Largest Christian Adoption Agency in U.S. to Stop International Adoptions

Church and Ministry

Largest Christian Adoption Agency in U.S. to Stop International Adoptions

Bethany Christian Services is shifting its focus to assisting in-country adoptions instead of bringing international children to the U.S.

“Bethany began serving children in South Korea because orphanages were overwhelmed with vast numbers of healthy infants,” the nonprofit said in a statement, according to Relevant Magazine. “Today, many children who can’t be cared for by their own families are being adopted into loving homes in their country of birth. This is a good thing, and we praise God for it. Our decision to phase out international adoption is not a criticism of the program, but a reflection of our desire to serve children in their own communities.”

In its 40 years, Bethany ushered nearly 15,000 children into loving Christian homes. But, in recent years, the overall number of international adoptions has dropped from 30,000 children in 2004 to a little over 4,000 in 2018. This is in part because of many country’s changing adoption laws, including Russia, Guatemala and Ethiopia, who have completely closed the doors to international adoption.

As Bethany shifted with the times, the nonprofit began to see a new way to help orphaned children.

“The future of adoption is working with local governments, churches, and social services professionals around the world to recruit and support local families for children and to develop and improve effective, safe in-country child…