Permit Approved For “Whites Only” Church

After permit approved for whites-only church, small Minnesota town insists it isn’t racist

City leaders said if they had turned down Asatru Folk Assembly, they would have faced an expensive legal battle.

When the church doors open, only white people will be allowed inside.

That’s the message the Asatru Folk Assembly in Murdock, Minnesota, is sending after being granted a conditional use permit to open a church there and practice its pre-Christian religion that originated in northern Europe.

Despite a council vote officially approving the permit this month, residents are pushing back against the decision.

Opponents have collected about 50,000 signatures on an online petition to stop the all-white church from making its home in the farming town of 280 people.

“I think they thought they could fly under the radar in a small town like this, but we’d like to keep the pressure on them,” said Peter Kennedy, a longtime Murdock resident. “Racism is not welcome here.”

Many locals said they support the growing population of Latinos, who have moved to the area in the past decade because of job opportunities, over the church.

“Just because the council gave them a conditional permit does not mean that the town and people in the area surrounding will not be vigilant in watching and protecting our area,” Jean Lesteberg, who lives in the neighboring town of De Graff, wrote on the city’s Facebook page.

The Southern Poverty Law Center describes Asatru Folk Assembly as a “neo-Volkisch hate group” that couches “their bigotry in baseless claims of bloodlines grounding the superiority of one’s white identity.”

Many residents call them a white supremacist or white separatist group, but church members deny it.

“We’re not. It’s just simply not true,” said Allen Turnage, a folk assembly board member. “Just because we respect our own culture, that doesn’t mean we are denigrating someone else’s.”

The group, based in Brownsville, California, says teachings and membership are for those of strictly European bloodlines.

The church was looking for a new church in the eastern North Dakota region when they came across Murdock. It’s unknown how many members they have worldwide or how many people will attend the new church.

“We do not need salvation. All we need is freedom to face our destiny with courage and honor,” the group wrote on its website about their beliefs. “We honor the Gods under the names given to them by our Germanic/Norse ancestors.”

Their forefathers, according to the website, were “Angels and Saxons, Lombards and Heruli, Goths and Vikings, and, as sons and daughters of these people, they are united by ties of blood and culture undimmed by centuries.”

“We respect the ways our ancestors viewed the world and approached the universe a thousand years ago,” Turnage said.

A small contingent of church supporters in Murdock said the community should be open-minded and respectful to all.

“I find it hypocritical, for lack of a better term, of my community to show much hate towards something they don’t understand. I for one don’t see a problem with it,” Jesse James, who said he has lived in Murdock for 26 years, wrote on Facebook.

“I do not wish to follow in this pagan religion, however, I feel it’s important to recognize and support each other’s beliefs,” he said.

Murdock council members said they do not support the church but were legally obligated to approve the permit, which they did in a 3-1 decision.

“We were highly advised by our attorney to pass this permit for legal reasons to protect the First Amendment rights,” Mayor Craig Kavanagh said. “We knew that if this was going to be denied, we were going to have a legal battle on our hands that could be pretty expensive.”

New York Mayor Governor Andrew Cuomo Discredits God For Decline in Covid Numbers

In a press conference New York Governor Andrew Cuomo asserted that God had nothing to do with the dropping number of corona virus cases in New York.

Cuomo, a self-professing Roman Catholic, said that “the number is down because we brought the number down.”

He added, “God did not do that. Faith did not do that. Destiny did not do that,a  lot of pain and suffering did that, That’s how it works. It’s math. And if you don’t continue to do that, you’re going to see that number go back up. And that will be a tragedy if that number goes back up.”

Cuomo has long been an opponent of Christian conservatives. Last year, he signed a progressive abortion bill into law that allows for abortions up until the moment of birth. The bill’s passage was celebrated throughout New York City by lighting up several buildings, including One World Trade Center, in pink.

Back in 2014, Cuomo implied that conservatives who support the right to life, are pro-assault weapons, and anti-LGBTQ have “no place in the state of New York because that’s not who New Yorkers are.”

“God didn’t do it”?

2 Chronicles 7:14

If my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.

                             I beg to differ!

 

Pastor Spell Wants Your Stimulus Check!

 

Louisiana pastor who defied state orders and repeatedly held large church services during the coronavirus pandemic is now asking congregants to “donate” their stimulus checks to him “the church”.

Pimpstor Tony Spell launched what he called the #PastorSpellStimulusChallenge, asking gullable Americans to donate their government stimulus checks to evangelists, missionaries and music ministers who he said have not received offerings in over a month. He said he, his wife and his son have all donated their checks, and added that those without a church can donate through his website. How shameful to ask needy Americans to give “the church” their stimulus checks! Shouldn’t their be money left in
“the storehouse” from years and years of tithes and offerings collected by the church? If “the church” had been appropriating funds properly in years past, it would have enough funds to allocate certain amounts to parishioners in need during this pandemic. 

He claims that he is asking “people to hand over their $1,200 stimulus checks, because some evangelists and missionaries don’t receive stimulus money.

“We are challenging you, if you can, give your stimulus package to evangelists and missionaries, who do not get the stimulus package,”.

The challenge comes after Spell repeatedly held large religious services in recent weeks at his Life Tabernacle Church in Baton Rouge. The gatherings defied CDC recommendations and an emergency order by Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards that set limits on large gatherings to try to stop the spread of the coronavirus.

“If they close every door in this city, then I will close my doors,” Spell told CNN last month. “But you can’t say the retailers are essential but the church is not. That is a persecution of the faith.”

Last month police in Baton Rouge issued Spell a misdemeanor summons for six counts of violating the governor’s executive order barring large gatherings.

“Instead of showing the strength and resilience of our community during this difficult time, Mr. Spell has chosen to embarrass us for his own self-promotion,” said Central Police Chief Roger Corcoran said in a statement on March 31.

“Mr. Spell will have his day in court where he will be held responsible for his reckless and irresponsible decisions that endangered the health of his congregation and our community,” Police Chief Corcoran added. 

Spell held an Easter Week service after the summons and said about 1,220 people attended, including some who were bused in and others who drove more than 100 miles to be there.

With its early outbreak, Louisiana has had the 9th-most confirmed coronavirus cases in the US. According to the latest tally, over 23,000 people have contracted the virus and 1,267 have died in the state.

CNN’s Daniel Burke contributed to this report, re-edited by Babylon Today

Chick Fil-A Goes Gay

Chick-Fil-A Surrenders To LGBT Bullies

Chick-fil-A surrendered to the mob (Richard Lautens/Toronto Star via Getty Images)

The once Christian owned Chick-fil-A announced “Beginning in 2020, the Chick-fil-A Foundation will introduce a more focused giving approach, donating to a smaller number of organizations working exclusively in the areas of hunger, homelessness and education,” the company told the site. “We have also proactively disclosed our 2018 tax filing and a preview of 2019 gifts to date on chick-fil-a foundation.org. The intent of charitable giving from the Chick-fil-A Foundation is to nourish the potential in every child.”

“Our goal is to donate to the most effective organizations in the areas of education, homelessness and hunger. No organization will be excluded from future consideration — faith-based or non-faith based,” it added.

Franklin Graham took to social media to outline that he personally called Chick-fil-A CEO Dan Cathy, who contended that the company had not changed because of pressure from homosexual advocates.

“I picked up the phone and called Dan Cathy. Dan was very clear that they have not bowed down to anyone’s demands, including the LGBTQ community,” 

“They will continue to support whoever they want to support. They haven’t changed who they are or what they believe. Chick-fil-A remains committed to Christian values. Dan Cathy assured me that this isn’t going to change. I hope all those who jumped to the wrong conclusion about them read this.”

However, Mat Staver of Liberty Counsel soon released an op-ed opining that Graham hasn’t done his research.

“Franklin, you have done a huge disservice by not doing more investigation into Chick-fil-A’s betrayal and capitulation to the LGBT agenda. While Dan Cathy may say the company has the same values, the company’s statements and actions tell a different story,” he wrote.

Staver noted that, as stated, Chick-fil-A dropped the Paul Anderson Youth Home several years ago, and that Covenant House International is active in its homosexual advocacy.

“Covenant House also proudly supports the New York City Gay Pride parade with its own float, banners, t-shirts, and hashtag #CovUnity. Covenant House is recognized as a national funder of LGBTQ causes,” he outlined.

“To save its own corporate skin, Chick-fil-A has thrown good, biblical, organizations under the bus and legitimized the false narrative of the LGBT activists.”

As previously reported, Chick-fil-A has repeatedly stated since the original controversy in 2012 that the company intends to “leave the policy debate over same-sex marriage to the government and political arena.”

In March, the fast food chain created a post to address media reports that over $1 million was donated in 2017 to “three organizations characterized as anti-LGBTQ groups.”

“The work of the [Chick-fil-A] Foundation is committed to youth and education. The Foundation’s giving helps with economic mobility of young people by focusing on homelessness and poverty, education, and community revitalization, and is done with no political or social agenda,” it wrote. “The narrative that our giving was done to support a political or non-inclusive agenda is inaccurate and misleading.”

Chick-fil-A’s website outlines that its corporate purpose is “to glorify God by being a faithful steward of all that is entrusted to us and to have a positive influence on all who come into contact with Chick-fil-A.

Looks like Chick-fil-A has given in to the LGBTQ bullies to remain relevant in Modern Day Babylon, this makes me wonder just how “Christian” Chick-fil-A was in the first place. When you profess to love God and holiness, your faith will be tested and you’ll either pass or fail.  This is very sad and sickening and is a true mockery of Christianity. How many will be left standing faithfully in holiness when the Messiah returns? According to the scriptures, not many.

Buffalo Niagara Int’l Airport Bans Chick-fil-A To PUNISH The CEO Because of His Views On Marriage

 

 

Pastor Bobby J. Blackburn of Kentucky Tried To Have Sex With Girls

A grand jury has indicted a Prestonburg, Kentucky pastor accused of trying to organize a threesome with minors

Pastor Bobby J. Blackburn was indicted on charges of prohibited use of an electronic communication system to procure a minor to commit a sex offense.

His lawyer, Stephen Owens, says news coverage is making the case seem worse than it is. He says Blackburn is accused of trying to solicit 17-year-olds, but “media coverage is making it out to be like they are 9- or 10-year-olds.”

The pastor of the Elevate Church in Prestonsburg owns a Giovanni’s pizza place, which plays Christian music and puts Bible verses on receipts. He’s accused of soliciting two workers and threatening to fire a third if she didn’t take the blame.

Former Tenn. Pastor, Ronnie Gorton Found Guilty in a 24-Count Indictment

Ex Pastor Ronnie Gorton sat unexpressive from behind the counsel table during the first part of his sentencing hearing.

 

Two men – now close to 30 – took the stand and detailed the years of abuse they say they endured at Gorton’s hands.

The first man to testify, who is now 28, said Gorton began abusing him when he was just 12 years old.

He began attending what was then Munford Assembly of God Church, now called River of Life, in 2002 when Gorton was the children’s pastor. The victim was in the fifth grade.

“It went on for awhile,” the 28-year-old said, “it happened more times than I could count.”

A 27-year-old man also testified the same things happened to him for several years.

Both gave detailed accounts which mirrored those of the 18-year-old victim at the center of this case.

‘I was planning on going to my grave with that’

Neither of the men who took the stand was aware there were other victims until the allegations against the pastor became public in February 2018. And neither planned to ever tell anyone.

A National Crime Victimization Survey published by the Department of Justice in 2017 reports only 230 of every 1,000 sexual assaults is reported.

“I told myself really the only way I could live with it was I was the only one,” the 28-year-old said, choking up. “And this is something I’m going to have to live with, to know that I didn’t say anything.”

As the news broke last year, his mother called to let him know what had happened. She asked him if anything had happened.

“I just kind of brushed it off,” he said, testifying he told his wife later that night and then his mother the next day.

He didn’t report the abuse when it was happening because he felt guilty and disgusted with himself for “allowing it to happen.”

“I’m fairly confident I’m probably one of the first guys this happened to and that I let this happened to other guys. I did not know that it happened to anybody else, but if I would have came forward, then this probably wouldn’t have happened to anybody else.”

The 27-year-old victim’s mother also called him when the accusations came to light.

“… There was a long silence on the other end of that phone,” he said. “When my mother told me what the allegations were I was kind of speechless. I remember losing my words during that conversation.”

She came right out and asked her son. He confirmed he, too, was a victim.

“That’s when I felt like a weight was literally being lifted off of my shoulders. I was planning on going to my grave with that. I didn’t want to talk about that.”

Over the years he wanted to know if he were the only one.

“There was always a lot of kids around. I’d wondered, but nobody ever talked about it … Nobody asked questions, nobody ever said anything.”

When Pastor Ronnie Gorton was arrested in March 2018

The 27-year-old victim said Gorton apologized to him and the incidents stopped. He was 14 or 15 then.

“He just said he wanted to apologize. And, I mean, I was still processing what it was, good or evil, whatever … but he apologized to me and I didn’t know what to say. I said, ‘It’s okay …’ Obviously, looking back, I wish I would not have just said ‘it’s okay,’ because it wasn’t okay and now I feel guilty because I said ‘it’s okay,’ it’s not okay.”

He testified Gorton was the one who encouraged him to pursue music – like the others, he helped fund the purchase of instruments – and credited Gorton for helping to shape the person he is today.

This victim continued to have a friendship with Gorton, but never addressed the abuse again.

The 28-year-old victim said he’s still living with the guilt.

“This is something that, no matter what sentence comes out of this, I’m going to have to live with for the rest of my life. Regrets and pain that I’ll live with for the rest of my life. Memories that will never go away, no matter how hard I try to shove them down … as everybody else goes home to their lives, I have to live with these memories and live with the regret that I didn’t come forward a lot sooner and prevent this from happening to anyone else.”

Gorton, who was the pastor of The Awakening Church at the time of his arrest, cannot be prosecuted for some accusations against him because the applicable statute of limitations has run out.

A verdict was reached in the rape case against former Mid-South pastor Ronnie Gorton and he was found guilty in a 24-count indictment including sexual exploitation of a minor, contributing to delinquency of a minor, furnishing alcohol to minors, sexual battery and statutory rape by an authority figure.

Jurors heard from the former Atoka pastor accused of molesting the teen who lived at his home. Ronnie Gorton’s first words on the witness stand adamantly denying he ever had any inappropriate sexual contact with his teen accuser. Gorton told the jury his only wrongdoings were providing minors with alcohol and smoking marijuana with youth from his church.

Gorton was charged in another 44-count indictment in July 2018. He has yet to stand trial on those charges.

Franklin Graham: I Will Not Worship ‘Rainbow Pride Flag’

Celebrated Christian evangelist Franklin Graham has taken issue with the Democrats’ extreme push of the LGBTQ agenda, saying he will stand with biblical morality.

“I will not bow down at the altar of the LGBTQ agenda nor worship their rainbow pride flag,” Rev. Graham said in reaction to Beto O’Rourke’s promise to strip churches of their tax-exempt status if they do not recognize homosexual marriage.

“I’m going to stand with the Word of God, the Holy Bible, which is truth from cover to cover,” Graham added in a three-part tweet.

Rev. Graham, the son of “America’s Pastor,” Billy Graham, was reacting to CNN’s “Equality in America” town hall meeting held on Thursday, which focused on LGBTQ issues with 2020 presidential candidates of the Democrat party.

Beto O’Rourke “said churches, religious organizations, universities that don’t go along w/ same-sex marriage should lose their tax-exempt status,” Graham noted. “This gives you a clue of what the progressive, socialist-leaning Dem. Party would try to force on our nation if they win any election.”

“They will create laws & ‘consequences’ that would punish those who don’t agree with them. This is a threat to religious freedom & free speech,” he said.

Last month, Rev. Graham came out against South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg for his efforts to defend abortion and homosexuality as Christian positions.

“Mayor Pete Buttigieg has been speaking openly about his support for abortion, which he says is a woman’s right to choose. That’s a crock — No one has the right to choose murder,” Rev. Graham wrote to his eight million Facebook followers in response to a Townhall article on Buttigieg’s efforts to redefine Christian morality.

During an interview with The Breakfast Club, Mayor Pete said the Bible is ambiguous about when life begins, and, thus, Christianity allows for a range of positions on abortion.

“There’s a lot of parts of the Bible which talk about how life begins with breath,” the Democrat presidential hopeful said. “And even so, that’s something that we can interpret differently.”

Mayor Pete has also insisted that Christianity has no problem with same-sex marriage, despite the numerous biblical passages that condemn homosexuality as an abomination before God and the unbroken Christian tradition that treats homosexual practice as gravely sinful.

“Mayor Pete is trying to tell people that the homosexual lifestyle is okay with God and that abortion is okay,” Graham wrote on Facebook. “His brother-in-law is right when he said, ‘This is leading people astray and it’s very, very dangerous.’”

“God defines right and wrong, not us,” Graham concludes. “As Christians, we are to live by the standards He gives us in His Word. ‘I am the Lord, and there is no other; there is no God besides Me.’ (Isaiah 45:5).”

Rev. Franklin Graham slams law Requiring Schools to Teach LGBTQ History

Televangelist and staunch Trump supporter Franklin Graham came out in strong defense of a New Jersey mayor for his opposition to a state law that will require public schools to add LGBTQ history to their curriculum.

Graham, the president and CEO of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association — the notoriously anti-LGBTQ right-wing organization — was a guest on The Todd Starnes radio show a few months ago.  Starnes is the ultra-conservative Fox News Radio host whose show “is here to defend the faith by reporting the truth.”

He asked Graham about a decision of the mayor of Barnegat, N.J., Alfonso Cirulli, who spoke outagainst the legislation.

Graham said that he agreed with Cirulli wholeheartedly.

“The mayor is absolutely right,” Graham started. “[Cirulli] said, ‘this is an affront to God’,” the pastor continued. “He’s correct,” he said. “I don’t believe that the schools have the right to teach our children something that is an affront to God. So the mayor is absolutely right and I back him 100%.”

 

To justify his reasoning, Graham used a common — if overused — homophobic argument that demonizes LGBTQ people.

 

“God made us and created us, he made us male and female so that we can carry on the population, so that we have children and that we would increase, and homosexuality goes against God’s plan for the human race.”

Asking for guidance, the radio host told the televangelist that “a lot of schools around the country are dealing with [the same issue] right now,” and parents call him on his show asking what they should do. “What advice do you give Christian moms and dads,” he asked his guest. “Do they pull their kids out of public school, do they home-school? Private school?”Graham immediately suggested pulling kids out of the public system and enrolling them in private schools.

 

“We can fight [by] writing your legislators, letting them know how you feel, organizing a march on your state capital,” the right-wing pastor added. And “if the churches would just get behind this and begin to speak out, it would make a big difference,” he said.

“We’re the majority and we’re having the minority push something down our throats that we don’t accept, and we need to speak out and fight against this.”

The enlightening exchange of ideas came just a day after Starnes compared immigrants to “Nazis invading France and Western Europe,” Media Matters noted.

 

“I do believe that we have been invaded,” he said on the Aug. 14 edition of his show. “We have been invaded by a horde, a rampaging horde, of illegal aliens. This has been a slow-moving invasion. And that’s — I believe that’s a fair description of what we have suffered here in this country.

 

~ Original post written by Muri Assunção New York Daily News

 

Episcopal Priest Gives Pre-Paid Gas Cards to Women Seeking Abortions

Episcopal priest Reverend Katherine Ragsdale, with her organization National Abortion Federation, will hand out pre-paid gas cards for women seeking abortions, according to FaithWire.

“Since there are a limited number of providers and states continue to impose additional restrictions, many women have to travel long distances to reach the closest provider who can help them,” NAF said in a statement. “And this situation will only worsen as the political environment continues to become more hostile toward abortion rights.”

Ragsdale, who is the Interim President and CEO of NAF, believes the initiative will provide more support for women “so that they can make, and act on, the best decisions for themselves and their families.”

The pilot program will run for three months and start in states that have waiting periods or other abortion restrictions, LifeNews reports.

The response comes in light of several states furthering restrictive abortion limits. States such as Alabama, Georgia, and Louisiana have nearly abolished terminations and several other states are poised to do the same.

Former Plymouth priest the Rev. Mally Lloyd married the Rev. Katherine Ragsdale, dean and president of the Episcopal Divinity School in Cambridge, on New Year’s Day. The Rev. Lloyd, a former pastor at Christ Church in Plymouth, is now a ranking official of the Episcopal Diocese of Massachusetts.

As the first lesbian to become a leader of an Episcopal seminary, Ragsdale has been no stranger to controversy.  World Magazine reported Ragsdale’s allegiance lies not only with pro-choice causes, but pro-abortion.

“Abortion is a blessing and our work is not done,” she said at a pro-abortion rally. “Let me hear you say it: abortion is a blessing and our work is not done. Abortion is a blessing and our work is not done. Abortion is a blessing and our work is not done.

She continued: “The ability to enjoy God’s good gift of sexuality without compromising one’s education, life’s work, or ability to put to use God’s gifts and call is simply [a] blessing.”

Catherine Glenn Foster, president and CEO of Americans United for Life, the largest pro-life legal organization in the country, believes the pilot program doesn’t help women but abortion centers.

Katherine Ragsdale Babylonian pastor

“This is a half-baked publicity stunt by NAF meant to create the impression that there is even a need for this,” she said. “Why doesn’t the abortion industry—dominated by a ‘non-profit’ that has over a hundred million in the bank—lower its prices instead? Because it’s all about profit for them.”

 

~ Original Post Written By Mikaela Mathews | ChristianHeadlines.com Contributor

Joel Osteen Celebrates LGBTQ Pride at Lady Gaga Event

Songs were interspersed with tributes to various homosexual leaders in the gay rights movement. Gaga also lectured the crowd that throughout the evening they would need to pay close attention to using the right gender pronouns, an overture to the “trans community,” because “we are all in this together.” 

Pastor Joel Osteen and his wife, ministers of the Word of Faith prosperity gospel movement, were seen at Lady Gaga’s pride celebration at Apollo Theater. The New York Daily News reports,

Poehler wasn’t the only heavy hitter in the crowd. From Alaska Thunderf–k, a drag performer who won Season 2 of “RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars” to the controversial televangelist and anti-LGBTQ pastor Joel Osteen, the event drew an eclectic mix of fans, industry insiders and celebrities, from the movies (Catherine Zeta-Jones, Michael Douglas), the music universe (Clive Davis, Adam Lambert), the fashion world (Alexander Wang), television (John Oliver, Camila Mendes) and the America’s gay Royal couple and Harlem residents Neil Patrick Harris and husband David Burtka.

It was reported that Osteen was wearing a blue blazer while his wife was wearing a long, black dress.

Osteen asserted a few years ago that he believes that the Scriptures are clear that homosexuality is a sin. Yet, he has continuously softened his tone and downplayed the significance toward homosexuality since then. In an effort to remain culturally relevant and inclusive, Osteen generally avoids the topic altogether.

In 2017 during a conversation with with HuffPost’s Marc Lamont Hill and Joel Osteen and his wife Victoria Osteen,  HuffPost Live’s Marc Lamont Hill asked whether gay marriage is against the fundamental “rules” of Christianity.

Osteen replied, “It would be, but I don’t really focus on a lot of those things.” “I try to stay in my lane of what I feel called to do. [Gay marriage] does come up in interviews and things, but that’s not my core message.”

What his message does include, Osteen said, is advising his congregation on how to let go of the past, raise good children and achieve their dreams. He added that the sexuality of gays and lesbians is one of the “issues” faced by many different types of people in his church.

“Everybody’s welcome, but my take on it is it’s easy to make one issue — to become known for that or to let it sidetrack your message,” he said. “If you look at our congregation … including myself, we all have issues. Everybody’s on a journey.”

Therefore go out from their midst, and be separate from them, says the Lord, and touch no unclean thing; then I will welcome you

2 Corinthians 6:17