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City Wages Soviet-Style Crackdown on Churches

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A government crackdown on churches has Christians in Lake Worth, Fla., wondering if they live in the United States or the former Soviet Union.

Churches in Lake Worth, population 36,000, have been ordered to acquire a business license. As if the church has to get the government’s permission to preach and pray? . . .

City officials were so concerned about one congregation that they dispatched a code enforcement officer cloaked in a hoodie to spy on a Southern Baptist church that was meeting in a coffee house . . .

“Government employees are public servants and prohibited by the Constitution from inhibiting religious freedom,” said Mat Staver, founder of the religious liberty law firm Liberty Counsel. “That is a far cry from sneaking around and into a church and acting like KGB agents.”

Staver is calling on city leaders to immediately rescind the business license mandate on churches. He is also representing Common Ground Church, the congregation that was targeted by the city’s investigator. (Read more about the Soviet-style crackdown HERE)

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Homosexual Accuses Church Members of Beating Him to Remove Demons

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inside church2 SCAn embattled North Carolina church is defending itself after five of its members were indicted earlier this month following allegations that they beat a young man in an attempt to rid him of demons they purportedly believed were making him gay.

Word of Faith Fellowship in Spindale, North Carolina, recently released a statement on its website claiming that Matthew Fenner, the now 21-year-old student who claims he was hit, strangled and held against his will during an alleged incident in 2013, isn’t telling the truth about what happened to him.

The church asked for prayer as the five church members — Brooke McFadden Covington, Sarah Covington Anderson, Justin Brock Covington, Adam Christopher Bartley and Robert Louis Walker Jr. — ”fight to prove their innocence,” according to a statement published on the church’s website. . .

The five individuals accused of beating him have been charged with second degree kidnapping and simple assault, with Sarah Covington Anderson facing an additional charge for purported strangulation. (Read more from the story, “Homosexual Accuses Church Members” HERE)

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City Shuts Down Glee Church Camp

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Photo Credit: Fox News

Photo Credit: Fox News

By Todd Starnes. It appears that Jesus and jazz hands don’t mix.

That’s the gist of a legal battle in Auburn, N.Y., pitting City Hall against a summer glee camp hosted in the Case Mansion a building owned by the First Presbyterian Church.

The city’s code enforcement officer issued a cease-and-desist order in July — alleging the church’s musical theater glee camp was a zoning violation. And more than five months later – the wheels of justice are finally beginning to turn.

“Immediately cease use of property in an R-2 zone for commercial use,” the order read. “Cease operating a summer glee camp @100/camper in a residential district. This is not an allowable use here”. . .

“Why in the world is the city prosecuting the church over a glee camp?” asked Hiram Sasser, a Liberty Institute attorney defending the church against the city’s prosecution. Liberty Institute has a reputation for taking on religious liberty cases — and Sasser said First Presbyterian definitely has a case. (Read more about the glee church camp shutdown HERE)

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Chinese Authorities Tear Down Cross on Christian Nursing Home

By Sui-Lee Wee. Chinese authorities have dismantled a cross in a Christian nursing home a week before Christmas, an employee said on Tuesday, the latest example of a growing crackdown on Christianity.

Men dressed in plainclothes removed the cross that was on top of the nursing home in the eastern city of Hangzhou on Dec. 19, said Gao Huifang, a worker at the home.

Activists say the incident is part of a campaign targeting churches throughout Zhejiang province, which is known for its growing Christian population. Hangzhou is the provincial capital.

The dismantling of the cross had stunned residents, and three elderly people fainted on the spot, Gao said. (Read more from this story HERE)

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AIDS-Positive Alabama Pastor Who Slept with Congregants Banned from Church

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Photo Credit: JAY REEVES / APA minister who confessed to having sex with church members and neglecting to tell them he had AIDS was temporarily banned from acting as pastor on Thursday.

Montgomery County Circuit Judge Charles Price issued a preliminary injunction, as sought by deacons and trustees of Shiloh Missionary Baptist Church. Price ruled that the Rev. Juan McFarland, 47, must turn in his church keys and his church Mercedes vehicle and then stay away from the church he led for 24 years.

Church members hugged and prayed after the ruling. “Now we’ve got the church back, and the healing can begin,” said Lois Caffey, a member for 21 years.

The judge scheduled a hearing Dec. 1 to decide whether to issue a permanent injunction.

Lee Sanford, chairman of the board of trustees, said the challenge now is to reunite the 170 active members of the congregation. “I’m confident with God’s help we will be able to do that,” he said.

Read more from this story HERE.

Praise the Lord . . . and Pass the Ammunition

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Photo Credit: Fox News Baptist churches in the Kentucky town that was the site of a deadly high school shooting are giving away steaks and guns to attract more people to their congregations.

According to WJBK Fox 2, churches in Paducah – where three students were killed during a school shooting in 1997 – are hosting “Second Amendment Celebrations,” giving away guns to attract more people to the pews.

At Lone Oak First Baptist Church, about 1,300 people crammed into the church hall this month for a steak dinner and pep talk by a gun expert, Chuck McAlister. McAlister was hired by Kentucky’s Southern Baptists in an attempt to grow church membership. Twenty-five guns were raffled off during the dinner. Winners were required to pass a background check.

“I brought a gun with me tonight,” McAlister told the group. “I know that’s very controversial.”

Read more from this story HERE.

Decades-Old Bible Survives Fatal Gas Blast (+video)

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Photo Credit: Fox News A decades-old Bible survived the fatal gas blast that killed eight people in East Harlem.

Firefighters found the unharmed Bible among the rubble on Park Avenue. It was originally used by founders of the 80-year-old Spanish Christian Church, which was destroyed in the explosion.

Read more from this story HERE.

‘The Definition of Bullying’: Church vs. State Threat Leads School to Cut Ties with ‘Operation Christmas Child’ (+video)

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Photo Credit: ShutterStock.comJust days after a South Carolina charter school came under fire and subsequently dropped support for Operation Christmas Child, an annual outreach to poor children that is operated by Samaritan’s Purse, an evangelical Christian organization, another public school in Colorado has done the same.

But while SkyView Academy, an elementary school in Highlands Ranch, Colo., officially cut ties with the group, parents are fighting back with an effort of their own to make sure that the outreach goes on as planned.

The school announced last week that it will be severing its relationship with Operation Christmas Child, ending two years of participation in the outreach, The Christian Post reported.

Students at the school had been raising funds and were preparing to put shoe boxes together for children in need. This was halted, however, when the American Humanist Association recently wrote a letter threatening a lawsuit if the charter school didn’t stop working with Operation Christmas Child.

The letter warned that the school is violating the separation of church and state by facilitating student participation in a Christian outreach — one that shares the Bible’s central message along with items for kids in need.

Read more from this story HERE.

Scores Are Killed by Suicide Bomb Attack at Historic Church in Pakistan

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Photo Credit: AP

Photo Credit: AP

A suicide attack on a historic church in northwestern Pakistan killed at least 78 people on Sunday in one of the deadliest attacks on the Christian minority in Pakistan in years.

The attack occurred as worshipers left All Saints Church in the old quarter of the regional capital, Peshawar, after a service on Sunday morning. Up to 600 people had attended and were leaving to receive free food being distributed on the lawn outside when two explosions ripped through the crowd. “As soon as the service finished and the food was being distributed, all of a sudden we heard one explosion, followed by another,” said Azim Ghori, a witness.

Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, who arrived in Peshawar on Sunday evening, said that 78 people had been killed, including 34 women and 7 children. “Such an attack on women and children is against humanity,” he said.Akhtar Ali Shah, the home secretary of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province, said that more than 100 people had been wounded. Mr. Khan said that 37 of those were children.

The dead included two Muslim police officers who had been posted outside the church. Witnesses reported scenes of mayhem as rescue workers ferried victims from the church, which was scattered with body parts, shrapnel and bloodied clothing.

On Sunday afternoon, the bodies of 45 victims were placed in coffins and moved to the nearby St. John’s Church, the oldest church in the city. The coffins were placed in the church playground as dozens of grieving relatives and mourners gathered. A large contingent of police officers was deployed outside the church, and mourners were allowed to enter the compound after a thorough security check. Ambulances were allowed to enter the compound one by one as dead bodies were then placed in vehicles to take them to the morgue.

Read more from this story HERE.

Video: Ted Cruz Warns that Charging Pastors with Hate Speech Is Next Step

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Photo Credit: Gage Skidmore By David Brody. Sen. Ted Cruz tells The Brody File that America is going down a dangerous road regarding what is considered “hate speech,” saying the next step could very well be charging pastors with a crime for speaking in support of traditional marriage from the pulpit.

We’ve provided a partial transcription. You’ll need to watch the entire video clip to get his full comments.

Read more from this story HERE.

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Photo Credit: WNDU.S. City look to penalize Bible believers

By Bob Unruh. Think it’s hot in Texas these days? Just wait a few weeks, until the San Antonio City Council ends its summer hiatus and resumes work on a proposed change to its nondiscrimination ordinances that apparently will discriminate against all who take the Bible at its word and follow it.

That’s because the change creates a penalty for those who ever exhibit a “bias,” which clearly could include adopting the Bible’s condemnation of homosexuality, with a permanent ban on participation in city government, business or employment.

Opponents of the plan, which would add “sexual orientation” and “gender identity” to the nondiscrimination ordinances, charge it is a violation of constitutional Article VI, paragraph 3, which states, “[N]o religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under the United States.”

The opponents explain that the ordinance would bar anyone from office who has “demonstrated a bias” against someone based on categories that include “sexual orientation.”

The proposal, however, does not define “bias,” which, according to local church leaders, could mean someone who declares homosexual behavior is sinful. Read more from this story HERE.

Ted Cruz, Rand Paul and Praying for Spiritual Revival In America

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Photo Credit: CBNBy David Brody. It was a sight to behold inside a conference ballroom at the downtown Marriott hotel in Des Moines, Iowa, as hundreds of Iowa pastors called out to God and prayed over two U.S. senators, both of whom seem interested in running for president of the United States.

Sen. Ted Cruz and Sen. Rand Paul came to Iowa Friday to speak at this Pastors and Pews event, organized by influential evangelical political operative David Lane. The Brody File got an up close look and access to the private event. We will be posting compelling video early next week. For now, we are releasing a few pictures from the event.

Ted Cruz, who received a warm greeting, spoke for about 30 minutes and then took questions from the audience. He outlined how he championed religious freedom cases ranging from the Ten Commandments to the Mojave Cross case. He touched on how to go about eliminating Obamacare; he called for abolishing the IRS (which received a standing ovation), and on the issue of marriage he said, “There’s no issue where we need to be more on our knees…we are facing an assault on marriage.”

On spiritual matters, he told the pastors that, “We are in a battle to turn this country around.” Later, in a one-on-one sit-down interview with The Brody File, he said this country is badly in need of spiritual revival (More on those comments coming Monday). He charged the pastors to step up and speak boldly about the issues facing our country today. He compared all of them to Esther, saying the biblical woman was put in a position of leadership, “for such a time as this.” Read more from this story HERE.

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Sen. Cruz and Paul Urge Conservative Christians to Get Involved

By Greg Richter. Two Republican senators who are widely considered to be viable contenders for a 2016 presidential run, were in Des Moines, Iowa, on Friday urging conservative Christians to get involved politically.

Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and Rand Paul, R-Ky., spoke to a group of at least 400 evangelical pastors and their wives at the Iowa Renewal Project, with Cruz telling them “to hold party leaders accountable,” The Washington Post reports.

“Jesus reminds us what our goal should be when he proclaims: ‘Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God,'” Paul said. “This does not mean we never go to war. But it means we should do so reluctantly, and seek an end expeditiously.” Read more from this story HERE.