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

Housekeeper sues Pastor Marvin Winans for “Church Slavery”

 

Her job was to clean the church. But the church tried to clean her out instead, she claims.

In a blistering lawsuit against the Grammy-winning Rev. Marvin Winans and his Perfecting Church, a housekeeper named Lakaiya Harris claims the gospel music star and church officials shook her down for money. They required her to donate money toward birthday gifts for supervisors and managers and to tithe 10% of her salary to the church, the lawsuit claims.

When she refused to pony up, Harris says, she was fired.

According to the 18-page lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court, it was Winans who demanded that Harris donate 10 percent of her $18,000-a-year housekeeper’s salary to the church. Winans allegedly did this during a meeting in a conference room in 2017, telling Harris  “that it had come to his attention” that she earned $18,000 the year before.

” ‘So you owe us $1,800,’ ” Winans allegedly told Harris, the suit states. “When she stated that she didn’t have the money, he offered to deduct the $1,800 directly from her biweekly paychecks.”

Harris refused, stating she was not going to let the church deduct $1,800 from her paycheck and “complained that her job had already been threatened for not giving ‘birthday money,’ ” the suit states.

According to the lawsuit, supervisors repeatedly required Harris to give $10-$25 to buy birthday presents for managers and once offered to deduct the money from her paycheck “if need be.” One supervisor allegedly pestered Harris when she refused to donate to the birthday fund, telling her “Well, you’re going to have to give this $10. … I know you have $10 floating around in your little world, you just don’t want to give it up. Everybody has to give this,” the suit states.

 Marvin Winans

 At issue for Harris is that she is both a member of Perfecting Church, and an employee. In her lawsuit, she claims that other employees who work for the church but don’t belong to it aren’t required to tithe as a condition of employment.

But she is. And forcing only church-member-employees to give back 10 percent of their earnings violates employment and civil rights laws, Harris claims.

As of late Wednesday, Winans could not be reached for comment. It is not clear whether he knows about the civil suit as such lawsuits typically take longer than a day to get served on defendants.

According to the lawsuit, the church not only demanded money from Harris, but also cheated her out of overtime pay by manipulating her time clock records “in order to avoid paying her for overtime hours worked.”

“Perfecting also implemented an unlawful time-docking policy to penalize employees who arrived late,” states the lawsuit, which cited the church’s Tardiness Policy.

“Each time an employee is late he or she will be docked according to the following schedule,” states the policy, as cited in the suit. For example, if an employee is tardy 1-15 minutes, they get 15 minutes of pay docked from their check.   

According to the lawsuit, this is what prompted Harris to sue:

Harris was employed by Perfecting from March 2012 through January 2017. She worked as a housekeeper and spent the first several weeks of her employment cleaning the Marvin L. Winans Academy of Performing Arts, an elementary and middle school headed by Winans. After several weeks, she was transferred to Perfecting’s main church on East Nevada, on the city’s east side.

Winans is the founder and president of Perfecting Church, which owns at least 90 commercial and residential properties in Detroit and employs about 40 workers to clean and maintain them. Among them was Harris.

At a staff meeting in 2016, Harris openly stated to Winans that she was not happy about not being paid for work she was doing. In October of that year, Winans directed Harris to meet with him in his office, where he asked her why she hadn’t attended church recently. According to the suit, Harris said that she was exhausted from working long hours and not being paid, and complained that her job was being threatened for refusing to donate toward birthday gifts to supervisors.

Three months later, Harris was summoned to another meeting with Winans and another church official. It was at this meeting that Winans mentioned the tithing issue, and deducting $1,800 from Harris’ check.

Harris wouldn’t hear of it.

So Winans responded: ” ‘Well, that pretty much terminates your employment with us. … You can go ahead and proceed with the exit interview.’ “

Harris was fired that day. 

Editors Note: This is what “the church” has reduced itself to! A money hungry, non God fearing, unholy business organization! Today’s Christianity is a man made kingdom that has every spirit present in it except the Spirit of God! 

Click this link to read what CeCe Winans did for money

 

 

Pastor and Step-Dad Raped Teen Girl For A Year, and Threatened Her With Voodoo

The step-father of a South Florida teen girl was arrested Saturday after police say he sexually assaulted his 13-year-old step-daughter for a year.

The arrest of Avo Roker was made about a week after 40-year-old “Pastor” Ricardo Strachan was placed behind bars for molesting the same girl. Police say Roker introduced Strachan to the girl at church and that the duo threatened to kill her and conduct voodoo rituals on her family if she told anybody.

“Pastor” Ricardo’s photo on his Go Fund Me Page

Both men were booked into Broward County Jail. Avo Roker was held without bond and Ricardo Strachan, who used to preach at The Prophetic Worshippers International Church, was charged with one count of lewd and lascivious battery on a minor between the ages of 12 and 16 years old and held on a $100,000 bond. According to a police report, Strachen had sex with the girl more than 36 times either in the parking lot of a high school during school hours or at a nearby motel between January to December of 2016.

Strachen is also accused of forcing the teen to steal clothes from her family– items that would ultimately be used in voodoo rituals if she went to the authorities, the report said, noting that he told the girl his wife was an armed police officer.

Documents outlining Roker’s arrest were not immediately available Sunday, Lauderhill police told the Miami Herald. However police say Roker had sex with his step-daughter more than 65 times from December 2015 to December 2016.

Jail records show he’s being held on no bond while Strachen is being held on $100,000 bond.

Growing Fraud Sucks Billions From Churches Annually

The Zion Missionary Baptist Church in East Palo California. In 2004, the organization changed its name to Born Again Christian Center- Photo taken July 22, 2014

If members of the Zion Missionary Baptist Church in East Palo Alto, California, hadn’t fought back, their one-time Pastor, Andre Harris, and his wife, Rhona Edgerton-Harris, would have fleeced them of their church building and a home valued at more than $1 million.

Church members explained that when they arrived for services one day in early May 2014, they found a real estate sign on the parsonage next door where the Christian leader and his family had been allowed to live rent free.

A curious church member did some sleuthing at the county recorder’s office and discovered that the deed to the home had been strangely transferred to the pastor and his wife. A for-sale sign also soon appeared on the church property which led alarmed members to demand an explanation from their pastor about a month later.

They protested the sale of the properties which the church’s bylaws prohibit without their consent. The original story can be read here

Pastor Harris, who had renamed the church Born Again Christian Center when he took over leadership of the congregation, responded by handing the protesting members notices of ex-communication — barring them from the church in the name of Jesus.

“Greetings in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Born Again Christian Center is informing you because of your inconsistent attendance over the months or years, we have therefore removed you as a member,” Harris wrote in the notice. “You therefore no longer have any rights or privileges to conduct any matter at the said Church. … We are informing you of your removal and permanent ban of membership at Born Again Christian Center.”

The members replied to Harris with a lawsuit alleging several crimes, including attempts to defraud the church. About 10 months later, the church prevailed.

Harris returned the properties to them in a settlement, the terms of which were not disclosed. But Harris and his wife almost got away with it. Zion Missionary Baptist Church members called themselves “blessed” because most perpetrators of fraud in churches are usually never reported.

Research cited by Brotherhood Mutual Insurance Company, the second largest U.S. provider of property and casualty insurance to Christian churches and related ministries, says reported cases of church financial fraud has been rising by about 6 percent annually and is expected to reach the $60 billion mark by 2025.

The level of reported fraud in churches is dwarfed, however, by the 80 percent of church fraud cases that are estimated to go unreported.

John Montague, a corporate and nonprofit tax law expert and senior associate at leading global international law firm Hogan Lovells, explained in a recent interview with The Christian Post why he believes the best way to abate church fraud is to remove the IRS Form 990 exemption churches currently enjoy. Evidence suggests churches cannot be trusted to regulate themselves, he said.

Montague, who is a practicing Christian, also made his case several years ago when he penned a research paper for the Cardozo Law Review, titled The Law and Financial Transparency in Churches: Reconsidering the Form 990.

                                                   What is the IRS Form 990?

The IRS Form 990 is the reporting form that many federally tax-exempt organizations must file with the IRS each year. It allows the IRS and the general public to evaluate a nonprofit’s operations, including information on the nonprofit’s mission, programs, and finances. Depending on the filing year and the gross receipts of the organization, a nonprofit might be required to file Forms 990, 990-EZ or 990-N.

In his general assessment of what he is hearing from average churchgoers today, Montague said people are frustrated by not having access to the kind of transparency in churches that a Form 990 can give.

If, for example, the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability were a church, members could easily learn from its 2015 Form 990 disclosure, the latest 990 the organization makes available on their website, that it works to enhance trust in Christ-centered churches and ministries.

The public could also learn financial details such as how much ECFA President Dan Busby got paid from the organization that year — $193,218 in reported compensation and $42,032 in other income totaling just over $235,000.

“Nearly every conversation I’ve had with members of the laity, people have been interested in the concept of transparency, and frustrated by the general lack of transparency,” explained Montague, who served as a law clerk to The Honorable Thomas B. Wells of the U.S. Tax Court prior to joining Hogan Lovells.

“In churches, I’ve encouraged people to ask questions about the finances of their churches, but I’m not aware of any church that has actually made a move to voluntarily file a 990 or to provide the level of transparency that would result from having to file a 990,” Montague said.

He also explained that among the reasons why Christians aren’t pushing to hold churches more accountable and showing more concern about financial accountability through the IRS Form 990 is a lack of awareness.

“I don’t think most people are aware of the 990. … And even if they are aware of the 990, they are not aware of the exemption that churches have. I’m sure that 99 percent of Christians are totally unaware of that exemption,” Montague said.

“I think there are people, [who might say] ‘look, my responsibility is to give money to the Church and then I leave it up to God as to what happens to it after.’ I think there are those people. I would imagine that they’re probably in the minority but I have no idea.”

 

In January 2011, Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, released a report after a three-year investigation targeting six popular televangelists, including Paula White, Creflo Dollar and Kenneth Copeland. 

The report raised questions about their personal use of things such as church-owned airplanes, luxury homes and credit cards. It also expressed concern about the lack of oversight of finances by boards often filled by the televangelists’ relatives and friends.

Grassley, citing the concerns raised by the report, asked Busby in his role as leader of the ECFA to come up with a solution using legislation as a last resort.

“As you consider the issues my staff raised, please remember our discussion in my office when you visited me with other members of ECFA board on March 12, 2009. I stated then that I believe that legislation should be the last resort. However, ideas for reform often inspire informed and thoughtful discussions which, in turn, lead to self-correction and eliminate the need for legislation,” he wrote.

 A house owned by Benny Hinn

In 1977, after similar concerns were raised about financial impropriety among certain televangelists at the time, then Republican Senator Mark Hatfield, who died in August 2011, warned that Congress would enact legislation if evangelical leaders could not develop a proposal to regulate themselves, according to Montague in The Law and Financial Transparency in Churches: Reconsidering the Form 990.

This resulted in the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association and the Christian relief organization World Vision partnering to found the ECFA in 1979 with 115 members. Only one televangelist was listed among that number.

In a March 1979 Washington Post report on the launch of the ECFA, organizers said more than 1,100 evangelical charitable organizations with a combined annual income approaching $1 billion would subscribe to the principles laid down by the organization.

Information from the ECFA’s 2015 990 shows that it currently reviews the data of more than 2,000 Christian charities and churches with more than $23 billion in annual revenue.

Grassley, in his letter to Busby, reminded him of the origin of the ECFA and its role as an alternative to legislated financial oversight for churches.

 Creflo Dollar with one of his many elaborate cars and aircraft 

“ECFA was founded because of a challenge then-Senator Hatfield made in 1977 to Christian groups to be more accountable. He apparently was responding to a scandal in the religious community at that time. The size and diversity of the religious community in the United States has grown tremendously since the ECFA was created. I hope that a discussion of the issues raised by my staff will similarly result in increased accountability while acknowledging this growth and diversity,” Grassley wrote to Busby.

This request led to the creation of the Commission on Accountability and Policy for Religious Organizations, which operated under the authority of the ECFA board of directors.

In a report released in December 2012, the commission, which is now inactive, encouraged churches and their leaders to act honorably and asked members of the public who donate money or their time to them to research religious organizations before investing in them.

“Churches and their leaders should not engage in abusive financial activities, nor should they improperly exploit the exemption from filing Form 990, because doing so undermines the credibility of their organizations and the religious community as a whole,” the commission advised.

The commission also recommended that Congress “never pass legislation requiring churches to file Form 990 or any similar information return or form with the federal government.”

“To require such a filing would not only place a substantial and unnecessary burden on churches and the government, it would also raise significant constitutional concerns. New churches should not have registration or notification requirements beyond those that already exist,” the commission said.

 Kenneth Copeland thanking his church for buying him a multi-million dollar private jet. 

 

                     Church transparency and the New Tax Cuts and Jobs Act

In May, however, the IRS appeared to take a step toward bucking that advice when it released guidance on the increased scope of what should be taxed as unrelated business income under the newly instituted Tax Cuts and Jobs Act.

While churches have long been subject to file IRS Form 990-T as long as they generated unrelated business income, the new law, the ECFA says, will now require many more churches and tax exempt organizations to file the form because the federal income tax is now applied to parking benefits.

“Because of this new tax, many tax‐exempt employers, including churches, hospitals, charities, and schools will be required to file federal Form 990‐T, and in many cases, state corporate income returns, every year regardless of whether they actually engage in any unrelated business activity. This new tax was purportedly added to the law to put tax‐exempt employers on the same footing as taxable employers with respect to employer‐provided parking,” the ECFA explained in a statement to CP.

While church and financial transparency experts agree that the 990-T would only add minimally to the broader push toward church transparency and accountability, Busby argued that it’s also likely to create various administrative and financial costs for many churches that do not have the means to meet them.

“Working in the church world most of my career, my guess is that prior to this provision, there’s probably only 1 [percent] or 2 percent of churches in America that file form 990-T so we’re really talking about two issues,” Busby said in a June interview with CP.

“We’re talking about a financial issue. We’re gonna have to pay a tax on providing employee parking and two, which may be more important, is the administrative piece of this — to file a return with which they are not familiar. If you can imagine, small churches across America have to file a form 990-T that they’ve never even heard of. And probably they’re gonna need to secure professional advice and pay a professional to file the return, even though the money may not be a significant amount, it’s just a ridiculous provision that was put in the law,” he said.

In July, the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention issued a policy brief in support of repealing the new parking tax and earlier this month, bills were introduced in both the House and Senate echoing that recommendation.

“In addition to the new federal requirements, many nonprofits will then be required to file state returns and possibly pay state income tax,” the ERLC stated. “The new regulations create tax liability and increase operations costs for these nonprofits, all because they simply have a parking lot. … 

“Taxing nonprofits on basic costs of operating an institution defeats the purpose of nonprofit status, an American tradition for over 100 years.” 

                                    The case for IRS oversight of churches

Pete Evans, lead investigator at the Dallas-based Trinity Foundation, which has been tracking religious fraud and helping victims of religious fraud for almost 30 years, told CP that the new requirement is a step in the right direction toward transparency and is a small price to pay compared to the billions being lost in church fraud annually.

“Even if it affects our own church, I would vote yes [to the 990-T provision],” Evans said.    You have all these churches now and ministries that are wealthy beyond wealth and some of which have thousands and thousands of acres in the counties that are not on the tax rolls because of various exemptions and they are living like Arabian princes,” Evans noted.

Evans also questioned Busby’s apparent concern for smaller churches in his criticism of the ECFA.

“If you look at the majority of people that ECFA represents, they represent the larger churches because ECFA charges so much money that small churches can’t afford to be members of ECFA. And so I think there is hypocrisy there that on one hand they’re getting a lot of money from the larger ministries, churches and now all of a sudden they are defending the little churches?” he said.

In response to recent questions about the organization’s membership, a spokesperson for the ECFA revealed that only a minority of its currently registered members, 225, are churches.

That’s less than 1 percent of the 250,000 churches registered with the IRS’ Select Check program, according to Holly Ivel, director of Guidestar’s data services. Under this program, the IRS provides official recognition of an organization’s tax-exempt status which assures donors that their contributions are tax deductible.

“Based on how these organizations are coded there’s almost a quarter of a million churches that have chosen to do that (Select Check),” explained Ivel of the program. “So they’ve voluntarily registered, which is great.”

While Ivel, like the ECFA, does not recommend requiring churches to file a Form 990, she did notice from the data in their system that just over 2 percent of the 250,000 churches registered for the Select Check program also filed some variation of the form 990, even though they aren’t required to file it.

“They are not required to file a return but even though they are not required to, about 5,300 have filed an annual return — either an EZ, which is kind of the short form, or a 990. And that’s between 2014 and 2017,” Ivel said.

Some of these filings could be easily searched and viewed on a database available on the IRS website as recently as late June. An update to that page on July 6 now only allows the public to determine deductibility of their contributions. It is unclear why this change was made.

Evans, who agrees with Montague that the evidence against churches show they cannot be trusted with self-regulation, argued that the 990 would be a more powerful safeguard against abuse because of the detailed information it requires. Many churches, he argued, as seen in the number of churches that file Form 990 even though they are not required, would be able to adhere to IRS oversight if there was a requirement to do so.

“Especially for the larger ministries and churches, there needs to be some transparency because they’re not going to do it on their own. Churches, if they are not required to, are typically not going to be transparent on their own and I think a lot of churches would be willing if there was a requirement,” Evans said.

“ECFA does not reveal salary information of their clients and that’s one of the key aspects of transparency that they’re hiding their own clients. They give everybody a seal of approval, this organization is good and above board and yet don’t reveal salary information? What’s up with that?” he asked.

In response, Busby noted in a statement to CP: “There has never been a legal requirement for churches to disclose their salaries. ECFA’s standards start with legal requirements, and in some cases, go beyond the law.”

In 2013, shortly after the Commission on Accountability and Policy for Religious Organizations recommended that Congress not require churches to file Form 990, Montague argued against the advice in The Law and Financial Transparency in Churches: Reconsidering the Form 990.

“… Because of their opacity and the unique nature of religious authority, churches are more likely to foster and shelter malfeasance. Churchgoers are unlikely to challenge leaders because doing so can endanger their position in the religious community, making it imperative that transparency be mandated by outside authorities,” Montague argued.

“Ironically, increased transparency may actually be good for churches because, as studies suggest, it is likely to increase donations and because, by minimizing opportunities for financial improprieties, it may preserve the religious experience of churchgoers. In addition, transparency is consistent with the teaching of many Christian leaders and with the expressed preferences of a large portion of churchgoers.”

Montague said he sent copies of his research to Busby and Grassley.

In a response from Busby to Montague shared with CP, Busby noted in a 2013 letter: “ECFA’s position with respect to Form 990 coincides with the recommendations in the Commission report, i.e., that requiring such a form for churches would constitute unnecessary and constitutionally prohibited excessive entanglement by the government in the affairs of the church.”

                                     The Excessive Entanglement Problem

Some see potential religious freedom issues in additional filing requirements being placed upon churches.

In The Internal Revenue Service as a Monitor of Church Institutions: The Excessive Entanglement Problem, published in the Fordham Law Review in 1977, Sharon L. Worthing concluded that requiring church-related organizations to file IRS information returns was one example of excessive government entanglement with religion.

“Although the entanglement created by having church-related institutions file information returns does not seem terribly great, the requirement can be seen as a first step whose ultimate end is full government surveillance of religious institutions. The excessive entanglement test serves as a ‘warning signal’ regarding programs which may appear harmless, but whose ultimate expression would result in a clearly unconstitutional relationship between church and state,” Worthington wrote.In discussing the excessive entanglement concerns, Montague pointed in his study to a well-publicized congressional hearing in 1987 hearing with witnesses from the IRS and the Treasury, as well as notable televangelists including Jerry Falwell and Oral Roberts.

Then Congressman J.J. Pickle, chair of the Subcommittee on Oversight of the House Ways and Means Committee who convened the hearing, noted how Congress and the executive “historically have been reluctant to look very closely at tax issues involving religious organizations” because of their political sensitivity.

Roberts argued that the ECFA, which had been formed as an alternative to legislation, lacked teeth and that it would be better for all organizations to file the Form 990 and submit to external audits.

Gordon Loux, then chairman of the board of the ECFA, also noted that there are “inherent difficulties in self-regulation” as it is limited to those who consent to be regulated. He agreed that the Form 990 is a “minimal requirement that ought to be met by those that are operating in the public service.”

Then Commissioner of the IRS Lawrence Gibbs, who had previously agreed that churches had not been subject to the requirements of filing information returns because of concern about government intrusion into religion, was challenged during the hearing by former Congressman from New York Charles Rangel. An excerpt of their exchange is highlighted below:

Mr. Rangel: Do you see where filing an annual report by churches would be in violation of the constitutional right of separation of church and state?

Mr. Gibbs: I have assumed, perhaps erroneously, that that was the reason—or certainly one of the prominent reasons—for specifically excluding them by statute in 1969.

Mr. Rangel: Well, why did you reach that assumption? You know, it is only a congressional decision. Has any court said that you cannot put limitations on the privilege of tax exemption? We do it in unrelated taxes. We do it in lobbying. We do it in political affairs. We do it in FCC control. What in God’s name could be even remotely considered a violation of the constitutional rights of churches to say that they should file an annual report as to how much money they got and what they did with it?

Several pastors contacted by CP to discuss this story because their churches filed 990 returns referred questions to their treasurer or the individual who prepared them. None of these individuals responded to interview requests.

Montague suggested that some of the churches may have filed the returns in error, not realizing they are exempt from filing.

(Originally written by Leonardo Blair/ Edited by Babylon Today)

 

 

 

 

Willow Creek Megachurch Paid $3.25M in Lawsuits Over Sex Abuse of Disabled Boys

Willow Creek Community Church in Illinois reportedly paid $3.5 million in lawsuits over the sex abuse of two developmentally disabled boys.

The evangelical megachurch, which recently saw its entire elders board resign over unrelated accusations that former lead pastor Bill Hybels sexually abused women, made the payments in the lawsuits over several years, court records obtained by The Chicago Tribune show.

One payment of $1.75 million was apparently made in February, while another one of $1.5 million was made last year.

Former Willow Creek volunteer Robert Sobczak Jr., now 24, pled guilty in 2014 of abusing an 8-year-old with special needs at the church, alongside an older boy not connected with the church. A year earlier, he admitted to sexually abusing another disabled boy at the church, believed to have been 9 years old.

Willow Creek said that the experience was “heartbreaking,” and insisted that it has made changes.

“We have worked with law enforcement and security experts to learn how this happened and how we can ensure it never happens again,” the church said, according to FOX 32.

Cook County prosecutors had described in the lawsuits that Sobczak separately took the two boys to an isolated area of the church, where he molested them.

What is more, the document shows that another church worker had raised concerns in January 2013 that Sobczak was “emotionally unhealthy.” The volunteer was allowed to remain with the program, however, and went on to abuse the second victim.

The second victim reportedly suffered “great mental and emotional harm” due to the abuse he suffered, and underwent therapy.

The settlement showed that despite agreeing to the financial payouts, the church “has denied and continues to deny all material allegations of negligence and damages in this case.”

When the child sex abuse charges first came to light back in 2013, the megachurch said in a statement:

“Willow Creek engages in a rigorous screening and training process for all volunteers and staff in our Special Friends Ministry that includes a detailed child protection application process, checking of references, a national background check, cross checking the sex offender registry, and offering training in child protection. Mr. Sobczak had completed and passed this screening process before he began serving with the Special Friends Ministry.”

Heather Larson, who would go on to become Willow Creek’s executive pastor, before resigning this August over the Hybels scandal, insisted back then that church leadership is “very concerned for the child as well as the family.”

“We take rigorous steps to protect our children,” she stated at the time.

Larson, along with Willow Creek’s entire elder board, resigned earlier in August, admitting that they should have believed the multiple women who accused Hybels of sexual misconduct and abuse this year.

The church initially sided with Hybels, who has continued to maintain his innocence in the face of all claims. It later admitted that its founder had “fallen into sin.”

“While Bill Hybels was our founder and pastor, he was human, broken, and self-admittedly sinful. We believe that his sins were beyond what he previously admitted on stage, and certainly we believe that his actions with these women were sinful. We believe he did not receive feedback as well as he gave it, and he resisted the accountability structures we all need,” said in a statement about the issue Missy Rasmussen, one of Willow Creek’s elders.

Pro-Gay Church Plans to Build Worship Space/Brewery & Donate Profits to Planned Parenthood

 Church in Santa Cruz, Calif., plans to convert former bookstore into a worship space and public brewery.  (Google Street View)

A building in Santa Cruz, Calif., is being converted into a worship space and public brewery by a pro-gay church that plans to donate some of its beer proceeds to Planned Parenthood, according to reports.

Members of the Greater Purpose Community Church now meet on Sundays at a food lounge to pray, listen and drink beer, KNTV reports.

“There’s nothing in the Bible that says you can’t drink alcohol in a responsible manner,” Pastor Chris VanHall told the station.

Planned Parenthood has offices in the former bookstore VanHall plans to turn into a brewery by next summer, The Santa Cruz Good Times weekly newspaper reported.

“A church that serves beer and gives the profits away to places like Planned Parenthood is really exciting to me,” the pastor told the paper.

Santa Cruz’s recent Pride Parade included a contingent from Greater Purpose, the paper reported.

VanHall told KION-TV in a report Friday that on Sundays there will be church in the bar “but it’s going to be before we open to the public.”

The pastor told KNTV that holding services at the food lounge gave him the idea for the brewery.

“I thought to myself, ‘wouldn’t it be great if a church could figure out a way to make a product where they split the profits with local community service organizations?’ We were like ‘hey, we love beer, we love making beer, why not do a brewery?'” he said.

Anyway, he said, his sermons are always better after a couple of beers.

Pastor Charged With Sexually Assaulting Unconscious Parishioner

 “Pastor” Meally Morris Freeman 

A Minnesota opportunist who calls himself a pastor sexually assaulted a 28-year-old woman after she became unconscious during two “anointing sessions”  and has now been charged with two counts of third-degree criminal sexual conduct that could land him in prison for 15 years and a fine of $30,000.

A criminal complaint against Meally Morris Freeman, the 55-year-old “pastor” of Grace Mountaineer Tabernacle Church in Brooklyn Center, Minnesota said the woman accusing him of criminal behavior saw him as a “spiritual father” when she went to him for spiritual guidance starting on Sept. 20, 2017, according to Fox 9.

In January, however, she told police that Freeman sexually assaulted her at the church which led to his arrest on Tuesday.

She explained that during an anointing session at the church, the pastor anointed her with oil and advised her that she was in need of “deliverance” that would require a one-on-one session with him.

Trusting the spiritual guidance, the woman said she attended a one-on-one session with Freeman and he gave her small cups of ‘oil’ to drink. Soon after they began to pray, the woman says she lost consciousness…

When she woke up, the woman explained that her underwear was wet and there was oil on her stomach and near her breasts. The pastor told her he had “anointed all places, but that he didn’t see all places,” and informed her she needed a second session that would take place after Bible study that night. The woman said in their second deliverance session she became unconscious again but when she woke up this time her pants and underwear were hanging ripped at her ankles and her shirt and bra were pulled up over her chest.

She said the pastor, who was spraying a water bottle filled with oil on her private areas, also inappropriately touched her genitals and anus.

It wasn’t until she shared what happened to a friend that the woman realized she was sexually assaulted. 

The woman eventually confronted Freeman and recorded their conversation without him knowing. Freeman did not deny touching her genitals, but instead discussed the “deliverance process.” He admitted he anointed her breasts with oil and told her, “We insert things into people” and “you don’t ask what happens [during deliverance], you don’t go into details and that deliverance can be very tempting.”

The woman said at another meeting a church elder, Freeman and his wife [who should be arrested too] told her not to report the incident to police.

This disgusting so-called pastor Meally Freeman was arrested by Brooklyn Center Minnesota  police Tuesday around 4 p.m. and is in custody at Hennepin County Jail.

This is an absolute mockery of God and His Kingdom…. Psalms 118:8 says It is better to trust in the LORD than to put confidence in man; it’s funny how Christians seem to overlook that verse.  If you need “deliverance” from sexual sins make a decision to live above all evil and  JUST STOP DOING IT, then you’ll be delivered! James 4:7~ Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Many unfavorable “church” situations can be avoided if Christians would obey whats written in the bible instead of just reading it. 

 

The U.S. Episcopal Church Amends the Terms “Husband and Wife” To Find Favor With the LGBT Community

Very soon traditional marriage vows/ceremonies will be outlawed and a thing of the past as the Episcopal Church in the United States leads the way in amending the terms “husband” and “wife” from its marital liturgy compromising the standard of God to find favor with the LGBT community. Phrases related to “procreation” will also be deleted, to not offend those who do not identify as heterosexual despite what the bible they read each Sunday says about homosexuality.

 

According to LifeSite News, the change aims to make the church’s marriage ceremonies more “gay-friendly.” Indeed, Gay and lesbian Episcopalians have been increasingly vocal in their complaints that the language of the current liturgy (the same liturgy that has been in effect for decades) is now considered offensive and exclusionary. Being a member of the worldwide Anglican Communion, the US Episcopal Church comes under the loose governance of the Church of England, and consequently the Archbishop of Canterbury.

According to the Telegraph, the Church of England’s Secretary General William Nye has been heavily critical of the change to such a sacred text and even threatened to cut ties with the U.S. church if it decides to introduce the new service as standard, and toss out the current wording in its Book of Common Prayer.

 

The drastic change would see the new service replace the phrase “the union of husband and wife” with “the union of two people.”Couples will still be able to opt for the most traditional “husband” and “wife” when making their vows, but this will not be included in the standardized version. In his letter, Nye urged that using the new language as standard would lead to a growing “pressure to dissociate” the Church of England from the U.S. Episcopal church, warning that conservative members would see any such change to marriage liturgy as “completely unacceptable.” Nye warned the Episcopal Church to avoid “irrevocably redefining marriage” through railroading their new liturgical language into Church proceedings.

However, many liberal members of the Church of England have voiced their support for the move, and hit back at Nye for speaking on their behalf.

 

“Thank you for leading the way on this important issue,” a group wrote in an open letter posted online.

 

“We are grateful that you have recognized that not all married couples can have children and that a gender-neutral approach will enable us to become a loving and inclusive Church for all. We still have a few problems to sort out over here with those who keep threatening to leave, but we know that your actions have given great hope to thousands and shown that the Church is not as homophobic as it can sometimes appear.  We therefore want to publicly ‘dissociate’ ourselves from Mr Nye’s initial response and are expecting ‘stringent consequences’ as a result of his actions.”

 

Another liberal faith organization affiliated with the Church of England penned a direct response to Nye following his published letter.

 

“You will be aware that your previously undisclosed letter to The Episcopal Church has been met with anger, frustration and disappointment by many across the Church of England, on whose behalf you presume to speak,” read a letter from OneBodyOneFaith, addressed to Nye.

 

In its “About Us” section, OneBody’s website reads:

 

“OneBodyOneFaith works for the full inclusion of gay, lesbian, bisexual. transgender and intersex people in the Christian churches. We believe that human sexuality in all its richness is a gift of God gladly to be accepted, enjoyed and honoured as a way both of expressing and growing in love, and that it is entirely compatible with the Christian faith not only to love another person of the same sex, but to express that love fully in a personal sexual relationship.”

 

The head of the Anglican Communion, Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby, has continued to affirm the traditional definition of marriage as between one man and one woman. With that being said, Welby made some controversial remarks in a November 2017 interview in which he stated that he was unable to say whether sodomy is sinful or not.

 

“You know very well that is a question I can’t give a straight answer to. Sorry, badly phrased there. I should have thought that one through,” Welby told former Labour Party spin doctor Alastair Campbell in a candid interview at GQ Magazine.

 

“I don’t do blanket condemnation and I haven’t got a good answer to the question,” he added. “I’ll be really honest about that. I know I haven’t got a good answer to the question. Inherently, within myself, the things that seem to me to be absolutely central are around faithfulness, stability of relationships and loving relationships.”

 

Welby continued: 

 

“I am also aware – a view deeply held by tradition since long before Christianity, within the Jewish tradition — that marriage is understood invariably as being between a man and a woman. Or, in various times, a man and several women, if you go back to the Old Testament.  I know that the Church around the world is deeply divided on this in some places, including the Anglicans and other Churches, not just us, and we are — the vast majority of the Church is — deeply against gay sex.”

 

Welby added: “I don’t think it is sinful to say that you disagree with gay sex. But to express that by way of hatred for people is absolutely wrong in the same way as misogyny or racism is wrong.”
 

“This is why “the church” has lost it’s credibility and effectiveness in the community. The modern day church goes with the flow of the world instead of standing for and implementing an example of holiness as God requires despite who is offended by it. The actions of the Episcopal Church in the United States and it’s supporters is a blatant mockery of Christianity and the message of Christ. There is absolutely no fear of God in today’s church- the true gospel has been watered down, and commercialized and is in the hands of perverts masquerading as church leaders. Those who claim to be true lovers of God should come out of Babylon before it’s too late!” ~ Catherine Sutton/ Winston Salem, NC

Aaron Huntsman (front L) and William Lee Jones (front R) complete their wedding vows, with Rev. Steve Torrence (C) officiating, on the steps of the Monroe County Courthouse in Key West, Florida, early January 6, 2015. The couple obtained the first same-sex marriage license issued in the Florida Keys. Same-sex marriage licenses were issued in the rest of the state starting just after midnight on Tuesday, when a stay expires on a ruling by U.S. District Judge Robert Hinkle in Tallahassee, who also struck down the ban approved by Florida voters in 2008. The legalization of gay marriage in Florida means about 70 percent of Americans now live in states permitting same-sex marriage, almost double the number a year ago, according to the Human Rights Campaign, a national advocacy group. REUTERS/Carol Tedesco/Florida Keys News Bureau/Handout via Reuters (UNITED STATES – Tags: POLITICS SOCIETY TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY) ATTENTION EDITORS – THIS PICTURE WAS PROVIDED BY A THIRD PARTY. FOR EDITORIAL USE ONLY. NOT FOR SALE FOR MARKETING OR ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS. THIS PICTURE IS DISTRIBUTED EXACTLY AS RECEIVED BY REUTERS, AS A SERVICE TO CLIENTS. NO SALES. NO ARCHIVES

Televangelist Jim Bakker Says Christians Can Survive End of World by Buying His Condos and $150 Water Bottles!

Televangelist Jim Jones Bakker has claimed that the Missouri town in which he is building a Christian community is equipped to survive the end of the world, and is selling survival gear, such as packs of bottles that cost $150.

 Jim Bakker’s End Time “Christian Community”

Bakker said on his program “The Jim Bakker Show” earlier this week that various prophets have predicted that if there is a major world disaster and humankind faces the end of the world, people in large cities are not going to be able to survive.

That is why for 15 years Bakker has been building his Morningside community in Blue Eye, Missouri, which will come with an amphitheater, houses for the residents, and a chapel that can be used for weddings.

He also is advertising survival gear, such as a pack of six “extreme survival” water bottles being sold for $150. His website claims that the bottles are “designed using a combination of both Advanced and Radiological filters.”

“You all are going to know soon why God brought us here,” Bakker said on Tuesday’s show. “Do you know the people from the government, from NASA, the research from so many of them, they have said in their research that the safest place to live in troubled times is right here. That’s why God brought us here,” he added.

The televangelist further said that he is looking for “people on fire for God” to live in the community, stating that “there is nowhere on earth you could live with more of God’s generals.”

Bakker did not clarify what he was referring to when he claimed that NASA deems Missouri safer than other locations, however.

“Friendly Atheist” blogger Hemant Mehta wrote Thursday that he researched Bakker’s NASA claim but could find no such research. 

“Bakker is just trying to sell property using the same fictional scare tactics he uses to sell buckets of disgusting glop,” he concluded.

Throughout the rest of the show, Bakker advertised various survival meal packages, and spoke with community pastors about the importance of trusting in God’s plan in the wake of apocalyptic fears.

 “I’m determined to let you know what we have here what’s going on and what God is doing,” he told the audience.

The Daily Mail, which visited the Morningside location in August 2017, noted that the community “looks similar to a theme park, featuring a brightly painted indoor town square dominated by a 15ft tall Jesus statue.”

Back in 2015, Bakker even warned that viewers who fail to buy his food products may find themselves forced to eat human flesh in nightmarish end-times scenarios.

“The Bible says they’re going to eat their arms, the Bible says they’re going to eat their babies, then it says they’re going to eat their children. That’s what people do when they get hungry,” Bakker warned.

“When you’re huddled in a corner with your grand-baby and they’re screaming and crying and there’s no food — I don’t want that blood on my hands.”

 Bakker rose to fame in the 1970s with his nationally renowned Praise The Lord Ministries, but he ended up in prison for financial wrongdoing and alleged rape that cost him his ministry.

Wait a minute… Isn’t this the SAME Jim Bakker who waned the world that The Great Tribulation would begin in March of 2016????

“But concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only.” Mathew 24-36. 

Jim Bakker is stuffing his pockets with his end times scare tactics, wonder what he will come up with next! I also wonder if his faithful monetary supporters [many who have supported him for years] have a reserved spot in his Morningside Christian community?

This is truly the mockery of Christianity. 

 

False Prophets Shepherd Bushiri and Uebert Angel Exposed In Sex Scandal Video!

According to now deleted social media posts- a filthy sex scandal involving false prophets “Shepherd Bushiri” (real name Chipiliro Gama aka major1), and Uebert Angel of ECG church, in Pretoria South Africa and with a branch in Washington DC has been exposed via a cellphone that was not password protected of a woman mentored by “Shepherd Bushiri” named Melody Dzingai  who is allegedly having a sexual affair with Shepherd Bushiri (Uebert Angels “spiritual granddaughter”), to arrange sex dates for him and source pretty girls for him from the church congregation. The post stated that Uebert Angels wife Beverly Angel is aware of his sexual escapades and uses hush money to pay off and silence would be troublemakers who would expose the secrets of Uebert Angel.

According to the now deleted post which was allegedly hacked and deleted by Bushiri’s “damage control team” created by Leroy Elliot, Melody Dzingai’s personal driver; Melody Dzingai forgot one of her cellphones in a hired car, and Elliot received a phone call from the rental car office after returning the car that a cell phone had been left behind, Leroy Elliot knew that the phone belonged to Melody Dzingai, Uebert Angels spiritual granddaughter so he went to retrieve it. Leroy Elliot stated that  He almost immediately received a phone call from false prophet Shepherd Bushiri’s “hit men” warning him to not open the phone followed by a number of warnings and death threats. Elliot stated that he had no intentions of  looking in the phone but since his life had been threatened, he was adamant to learn the contents of the phone and made screenshots of the contents therein and created a Face Book account to reveal his findings to warn the public of Bushiri and Uebert Angels sexual activities which involved young girls and women in the church since his life had been threatened. Elliot stated that he couldn’t believe some of the despicable text messages that were being exchanged between Uebert Angel and Melody Dzingai.  He recorded Bushiri’s goons threatening him and the audio can be heard HERE

I was able to locate a few of the screenshots of the text messages exchanged between Uebert Angel and Melody Dzingai. Unfortunately, every internet source that published the information has been deleted- most likely paid off/bribed to delete the information. Here are a few of the text-messages exchanged between Uebert Angel and Melody Dzingai, his “spiritual granddaughter” 

 

 

There has been an alarming number of incidences similar to this throughout the United States as well as in other parts of the world, tolerance for such behavior in South Africa is apparently more lax than in the United States. This is not the first allegation of sexual misconduct involving Bushiri and his “spiritual son” Uebert Angel. Since Bushiri and Uebert Angel came on the scene as “prophets” the allegations immediately irrupted. I won’t bother listing them, just google their names and read for yourself.  I know without a doubt that these two use evil means to fool their followers to believe that they are performing “miracles”, when in reality they are being assisted by demons and most likely their participation in sexual morality is to appease the demon that is servicing them. My goal is to bring awareness to Americans who attend Bushiri’s church in the United States. Please, Please, Please don’t trust your children around this man or in his church– don’t take these allegations lightly,  This man IS NOT a “man of God” he is an opportunist and a vulture who should have never been allowed to build his Satanic Temple in the United States.