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The Emerging Church often speaks of how diverse it is and difficult to understand. Well, Pyromaniacs has an easy-to-understand chart that all of us can now follow.
HT: SliceofLaodicea
Posted in Humor, Uncategorized Tagged: emergent, Humor 
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The Emerging Church often speaks of how diverse it is and difficult to understand. Well, Pyromaniacs has an easy-to-understand chart that all of us can now follow.
HT: SliceofLaodicea
Posted in Humor, Uncategorized Tagged: emergent, Humor
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Jay Bakker, the son of Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker (PTL Club) isn’t exactly following his parents’ footsteps into the glitzy, show biz style Christianity, but it is regretful to report that he has headed right into the emerging church and the mysticism that goes with it.
The 31 year old pastor became discouraged with the Christianity he saw as a kid and turned away from it. What he apparently has found instead is an emerging spirituality that resonates with many Emerging Church aka Emergent Church, now morphing into Emergence Christianity (EC), and contemplative teachers as a recommended book section on Bakker’s website shows with contemplative teachers like Brian McLaren, Brennan Manning, Rob Bell and Tony Campolo.
On Bakker’s “links” page, he shows his affinity with groups like Youth Specialties and Sojourners and an organization called RHOP (Revolution House of Prayer) where “ancient” forms of prayer and “emerging” spirituality are adhered to. A quote by Henri Nouwen on Bakker’s site further illustrates his sympathies towards Contemplative Spirituality/Mysticism.
In addition to resonating with contemplative spirituality, Bakker has become outspoken in his non- biblical views about homosexuality. In an interview with Radar, Bakker is quoted as saying: “I felt like God spoke to my heart and said ‘[homosexuality] is not a sin.’” This statement from Jay Bakker also appears in the ABC News story Punk Pastor Preaches Tolerance, Compassion.
On Bakker’s website, this view is consistently upheld. And in a December 15th interview with Larry King, the following conversation took place:
KING: Would you say that you’re part of the liberal sect of Christianity?
JAY BAKKER: Well, I definitely say I’m a little bit more liberal than probably most, yes.
KING: You, for example, in your church would you marry gays?
JAY BAKKER: If the laws passed, yes.
KING: You favor there being a law, though?
JAY BAKKER: Yes, I do. (Online source)
As Lighthouse Trails has shown in previous reports, homosexuality and New Age thought go hand in hand. This “marriage” of mysticism and sexual depravity is drawing more and more people into its seducing and dangerous web. Jay Bakker’s attraction to and promotion of both will undoubtedly mislead many young people away from the saving grace of Jesus Christ, who alone can bring true peace and deliverance from sinful lifestyles.
This article originally appears in Coming from the Lighthouse Newsletter, January 1, 2007 and republished here by Apprising Ministries with permission.
See also:
EMERGING CHURCH PASTOR JAY BAKKER CLAIMS HE KNOWS THE SCRIPTURES BUT IS STILL “GAY AFFIRMING”
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[LARRY] KING: What’s your take on the fundamentalist church, the evangelicals in America?
JAY BAKKER: Well, I think we’ve gotten a little off track. I think there’s a lot of great evangelicals out there too. I mean, we’ve got people like Tony Compola (ph), who is amazing, Peggy Compola (ph) who is amazing, Brian McClaren (ph), Philip Yantzy (ph), Jim Wallace (ph). And so I think there’s a lot of great progressive thinkers out there right now, but also there’s some of the guys who are kind of old school and still worrying about fictitional characters being gay and pointing the fingers at people, and almost creating a moralistic club, you know, that you have to be very moral to be in our private country club. And to me, that’s kind of sad, because Jesus said to whom — whomever will come, you know, all have sinned, all fall short.
KING: Yes, and the gay area, do you know why they’re so adamant against the gay concept?
JAY BAKKER: Well, I mean, I know the arguments. I know the scriptures. And the scriptures are very — you could argue on them all day. I believe they’ve been taken out of context, and I don’t believe that, you know, we’ve researched enough of the background on those scriptures. But I think it’s also that we, as Christians sometimes, we’re getting the idea that we have to do something in order to be accepted by God. And that if we’re not telling other people how to live or we’re not trying to live a certain way, that God doesn’t love us. I think we get caught in this idea of pleasing God rather than trusting God. And I think once you learn to trust God, it’s a lot easier to please God. And I think what we do is we put the cart before the horse. (Online source)
See also:
“GAY-AFFIRMING” PASTOR JAY BAKKER TO SPEAK FOR ELCA GATHERING
Q&A FOR “GAY AFFIRMING” EMERGING CHURCH PASTOR JAY BAKKER
POPULAR EMERGING CHURCH WEBSITE THE OOZE SLITHERS OUT OF THE GLBTQ-AFFIRMING CLOSET
OXYMORONIC ‘HOMOSEXUAL CHRISTIANS’ FOCUS OF BARNA REPORT
MAINSTREAM EVANGELICALISM NOW ON THE RAPID SLIDE TO APOSTASY
THE NEW CHRISTIANS WITH CHRISTIANITY WORTH BELIEVING—NO SOLA SCRIPTURA: YES, WOMEN PASTORS AND QUEER CHRISTIANS
ROB BELL, PETER ROLLINS, AND QUEERMERGENT’S ADELE SAKLER
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Our Lord’s strong language about the false teachers of the Jews ends here. Those who think that unsound ministers ought never to be exposed and held up to notice, and men ought never to be warned against them, would do well to study this passage. No class of character throughout our Lord’s ministry seems to call forth such severe denunciation as that of false pastors.
The reason is obvious. Other men ruin themselves alone : false pastors ruin their flocks as well as themselves. To flatter all ordained men, and say they never should be called unsound and dangerous guides, is the surest way to injure the Church and offend Christ. (Expository Thoughts on the Gospels, Vol. 3, 195)
J.C. Ryle
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Hearken to me, ye that follow after righteousness, ye that seek the LORD: look unto the rock whence ye are hewn, and to the hole of the pit whence ye are digged.
Look unto Abraham your father, and unto Sarah that bare you: for I called him alone, and blessed him, and increased him.
For the LORD shall comfort Zion: he will comfort all her waste places; and he will make her wilderness like Eden, and her desert like the garden of the LORD; joy and gladness shall be found therein, thanksgiving, and the voice of melody.
Hearken unto me, my people; and give ear unto me, O my nation: for a law shall proceed from me, and I will make my judgment to rest for a light of the people.
My righteousness is near; my salvation is gone forth, and mine arms shall judge the people; the isles shall wait upon me, and on mine arm shall they trust.
Lift up your eyes to the heavens, and look upon the earth beneath: for the heavens shall vanish away like smoke, and the earth shall wax old like a garment, and they that dwell therein shall die in like manner: but my salvation shall be for ever, and my righteousness shall not be abolished.
Hearken unto me, ye that know righteousness, the people in whose heart is my law; fear ye not the reproach of men, neither be ye afraid of their revilings.
For the moth shall eat them up like a garment, and the worm shall eat them like wool: but my righteousness shall be for ever, and my salvation from generation to generation.
Awake, awake, put on strength, O arm of the LORD; awake, as in the ancient days, in the generations of old. Art thou not it that hath cut Rahab, and wounded the dragon?
Art thou not it which hath dried the sea, the waters of the great deep; that hath made the depths of the sea a way for the ransomed to pass over?
Therefore the redeemed of the LORD shall return, and come with singing unto Zion; and everlasting joy shall be upon their head: they shall obtain gladness and joy; and sorrow and mourning shall flee away.
I, even I, am he that comforteth you: who art thou, that thou shouldest be afraid of a man that shall die, and of the son of man which shall be made as grass;
And forgettest the LORD thy maker, that hath stretched forth the heavens, and laid the foundations of the earth; and hast feared continually every day because of the fury of the oppressor, as if he were ready to destroy? and where is the fury of the oppressor?
The captive exile hasteneth that he may be loosed, and that he should not die in the pit, nor that his bread should fail.
But I am the LORD thy God, that divided the sea, whose waves roared: The LORD of hosts is his name.
And I have put my words in thy mouth, and I have covered thee in the shadow of mine hand, that I may plant the heavens, and lay the foundations of the earth, and say unto Zion, Thou art my people.
-The Lord of Hosts, Isaiah 51
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The Emerging Church often speaks of how diverse it is and difficult to understand. Well, Pyromaniacs has an easy-to-understand chart that all of us can now follow.
Click the post title to be taken to the source.
The Emerging Church often speaks of how diverse it is and difficult to understand. Well, Pyromaniacs has an easy-to-understand chart that all of us can now follow.
Click the post title to be taken to the source.
“0h brother, pray; in spite of Satan, pray; spend hours in prayer; rather neglect friends than not pray; rather fast, and lose breakfast, dinner, tea, and supper – and sleep too – than not pray. And we must not talk about prayer, we must pray in right earnest. The Lord is near. He comes softly while the virgins slumber.” Andrew A. Bonar
“God shapes the world by prayer. The more prayer there is in the world the better the world will be, the mightier the forces of against evil …” E.M. Bounds
“Our prayer must not be self-centered. It must arise not only because we feel our own need as a burden we must lay upon God, but also because we are so bound up in love for our fellow men that we feel their need as acutely as our own. To make intercession for men is the most powerful and practical way in which we can express our love for them.” John Calvin
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The erudite Emerging Church aka Emergent Church, now morphing into Emergence Christianity, prides itself in being too diverse and deep to really understand.
Well, now we’re blessed because Pyromaniacs has an easy-to-understand chart for all us them there un-ed-you-mah-kated folks, which you can see by clicking here.
See also:
EMERGENT-SEE PO-MOTIVATORS FOR EMERGING CHRISTIANS
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More detail here.
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More detail here.
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DOWN WITH SOLA SCRIPTURA!
Not knowing how much time we have left Apprising Ministries is doing what we can to warn the Body of Christ of a very threatening same-sex storm growing; one which is rapidly picking up speed through the embrace of corrupt Contemplative Spirituality/Mysticism within the alleged “Protestant” sectors of the visible church, and this growing and angry storm—right now approaching hurricane force—is currently just slightly off the coast of the mainstream evangelical community. A case in point is Megan Rohrer, “the first openly transgender Lutheran pastor ordained in the United States.”
You may also recall that we’ve shown you e.g. in Emerging Church: “Gay Affirming Pastor” Jay Bakker On A Mission From God where Emerging Church aka Emergent Church, now morphing into Emergence Christianity (EC), pastor Jay Bakker feels God has now changed His mind about homosexuality, which is the unrepentant practice of sexual immorality with a member of the same sex:
“The more I follow grace, the more I’m drawn to him [God], the more I’m willing to stand up for people being persecuted,” said Bakker. “It sounds so churchy, but I felt like God spoke to my heart and said ‘[homosexuality] is not a sin.’ ” (Online source, emphasis mine)
Those who’ve read the AM post Oxymoronic ‘Homosexual Christians’ Focus Of Barna Report will know that both Bakker and Emergent Village were doing all they could to get people to support an exhortation from MelWhite, the openly gay “Christian” co-founder of Soulforce—a militantly pro-homosexual group—to sign a petition “to expand Civil Rights Act to include GLBT people.” Well, it sounds so pastoral, but I felt like Jesus spoke to my heart and said warn the church that these people all know each other.
And so I am; through the myriad of social media it is very easy for information to be spread and aquaintances made. This issue of accepting as a viable lifestyle for the Christian some people, namely gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgendered, queer (GLBTQ), committing the sin of sexual immorality is one that many EC leaders are rallying around. And I say some people committing sexual immorality because I’ve yet to see, for example, Sexumergent for those people who really enjoy sexual relations; and who say it must be okay for them to have multiple partners because this is the way God made them.
Which brings us back to Jay Bakker (seen below), the EC pastor of Revolution Church where they want us to know they’re “sorry for being self-righteous judgmental bastards”. Bakker is set to be one of the speakers for the 2009 ELCA Youth Gathering—Jesus Justice Jazz, July 22-26 in New Orleans. You may recall this is also the denomination which ordained “queer inclusive pastor” Nadia Bolz-Weber. For those who don’t know, Bolz-Weber will be sharing her message “Authority; Authenticity and A**holes” at the upcoming EC gathering Christianity 21.
But both Bakker and Bolz-Weber actually share in their homopression of the GLBTQ people they profess to love. You see, those who reject Sola Scriptura in favor of what they “feel” God is saying love to cry “homophobia” when someone like myself loves them enough to confront them with what the Lord has said in Holy Scripture. Well, as I said previously Homopression Is At Least As Bad As Homophobia, and by homopression I refer to not telling someone, claiming to be Christian, who self-identifies as GLBTQ the truth; thereby leaving them under oppression in their sin.
As Dr. Donald Grey Barnhouse put it so well years ago in his classic exposition of the Book of Romans when he brought out the proper Christian response “toward the poor individuals who are enmeshed in these depravities.” The answer is not lying to them like Bakker and Bolz-Weber and others in the EC are doing; and while I don’t agree with everything Barnhouse taught, he is dead-on-target here:
What is to be the attitude of the church toward these people? For they are now in our population, numbered by the thousands… In the first place, they must be surrounded by Christian love and care on the highest plane. They are not to be shunned, but must be welcomed into normal Christian society and not made to fell like pariahs. (Vol. 1, 278)
Ah, but we don’t just stop there leaving them under the oppression of their sin; no, our love for sinner for whom Christ died must compel us to offer them the only real hope for freedom in the resurrection power of Jesus as Barnhouse goes on to point out:
We have a hymn that expresses the true Christian attitude toward these, as toward all who are in the bonds of deep sin:
Rescue the perishing, care for the dying, Snatch them, in pity, from sin and the grave;
Weep o’er the erring ones, lift up the fallen, Tell them of Jesus, the mighty to save.
Down in the human heart, crushed by the tempter, Feelings lie buried that grace can restore,
Touched by a loving hand, wakened with kindness, Chords that were broken will vibrate once more.Rescue the perishing, care for the dying,
Jesus is merciful, Jesus will save.Rescue the perishing, duty demands it; Strength for thy labors the Lord will provide;
Back to the narrow way, patiently win them, Tell them of Jesus, the Savior, who died.For there is hope for them in the Lord Jesus Christ, and there is no hope for them anywhere else in this world. There is salvation from the penalty of sin and there is salvation from the power of sin. The Lord Jesus Christ is able to save and to keep, and He is able to give you love for the unlovely and zeal for the rescue of the lost (ibid., 278, 279)
But lying to GLBTQ people by telling them their deviant lifestyles are acceptable to God is not love at all; in fact, it’s actually the height of cruelty. And that’s why I asked once before Does “Gay Affirming Pastor” Jay Bakker Really Love Gay People? Well, I do; and so hear me good, I have zero intention to stop drawing attention to this ongoing homopression prepetrated upon GLBTQ people by more and more within the quasi-universal and egregiously ecumenical Emerging Church community.
See also:
POPULAR EMERGING CHURCH WEBSITE THE OOZE SLITHERS OUT OF THE GLBTQ-AFFIRMING CLOSET
OXYMORONIC ‘HOMOSEXUAL CHRISTIANS’ FOCUS OF BARNA REPORT
MAINSTREAM EVANGELICALISM NOW ON THE RAPID SLIDE TO APOSTASY
THE NEW CHRISTIANS WITH CHRISTIANITY WORTH BELIEVING—NO SOLA SCRIPTURA: YES, WOMEN PASTORS AND QUEER CHRISTIANS
ROB BELL, PETER ROLLINS, AND QUEERMERGENT’S ADELE SAKLER
Q&A FOR “GAY AFFIRMING” EMERGING CHURCH PASTOR JAY BAKKER
WHY NO CONDEMNATION FOR CHRISTIANS WHO ARE HOMOPRESSIVE?
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by Matt Slick
According to Jehovah’s Witness’ theology, God is a single person, not a Trinity, who does not know all things and is not everywhere. He first created Michael the Archangel through whom He created all “other things,” including the universe, the earth, Adam and Eve, etc. This creative work took God 42,000 years. At one point, The Watchtower Bible and Tract Society taught that God ruled the universe from somewhere in the Pleiades star system. They have since modified this to say that the “Pleiades can no longer be considered the center of the universe and it would be unwise for us to try to fix God’s throne as being at a particular spot in the universe.”1 Such changes and even contradictions in teaching are frequent in the Watchtower organization and when a doctrine changes, they tell their followers that the light of truth is getting brighter.
After Adam sinned, the paradise which God had created for them was ruined. So, God instituted a system of redemption which was revealed in the Bible and would ultimately lead to the crucifixion of Jesus the messiah. But, in the meantime, God needed to have a visible, theocratic organization on earth to accurately represent Him. Throughout history, this true organization had a remnant of faithful Jehovah’s Witnesses (Noah, Abraham, Moses, David, etc.) but it wasn’t until the late 1800’s that Charles Taze Russell formally began what is now known as the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society which is run out of Brooklyn, New York. This organization claims to be the only true channel of God’s truth on earth today and that it alone can properly interpret God’s word since it is the angel directed, prophet of God on earth.
Read the rest of this article HERE.
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Truly, to be kept from danger is as great a privilege as to be kept in danger – but we forget this.
Let us thank God for preserved lives, continued comforts, and unspotted characters – for these essentials are marked “Fragile,” and that they are not broken is a marvel of grace.
Our spiritual life still survives, and only He who holds the stars in their courses, could have maintained us in our integrity.
This ought to bring tears of gratitude to our eyes.
A flood of light breaks over the scene if we look back on our mercies!
Now for your arithmetic! Now begin to make your calculations!
Think of major mercies and minor mercies; fleeting mercies and eternal mercies; mercies by day, and mercies by night; mercies averting evil, and mercies securing good; mercies at home, and mercies abroad; mercies of bed and board, mercies of city and field, and mercies of society and seclusion.
Mercy affects every faculty of the mind, and every portion of the body.
There are mercies for conscience, and fear, and hope; mercies for the understanding, and the heart.
At the same time, there are mercies of eye, and ear, and head, and hand.
The whole landscape of life is golden with the light of mercy!
In the love of God we have lived, and moved, and had our being.
We see mercies new every morning, mercies old as the eternal hills – Streams of mercy! Oceans of mercy! Mercy all, and all mercy!
- Spurgeon, “Breaking the Long Silence”
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This month’s resource of the month is C.H. Spurgeon’s classic devotional, “Morning and Evening.” (I apologize for the wind in the background to this video. It happens sometimes when you’re filming outside and don’t have much time to reshoot the video.)
Here are some links to get this book:
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We would appreciate your prayers as Ingrid is now in the hospital and there is a good chance the baby may be delivered today. More at Slice of Laodicea.
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From the following story at Christian Post we have more on the increasingly aggressive, and highly divisive, GLBTQ lobby festering within the visible church:
Episcopal Church leaders are scheduled to meet in a private session next week with the spiritual leader of the Anglican Communion. Members of the Episcopal House of Deputies are expected to address homosexuality issues and how LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) members are involved in The Episcopal Church during the meeting with Archbishop of Canterbury Dr. Rowan Williams, according to the Episcopal News Service…
Leaders at this year’s convention, which takes place July 8-17 in Anaheim, Calif., will be considering resolutions that would allow the consecration of openly gay bishops. Some dioceses, or regional bodies, have asked the General Convention to repeal or retract resolution B033, which was approved in 2006. B033 calls for restraint in ordaining bishops “whose manner of life presents a challenge to the wider church,” mainly noncelibate homosexuals…
Episcopal head Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori, however, told the Episcopal News Service that the she doesn’t think revisiting B033 will be helpful… “Far more productive, I think, to have the hard conversations involved in claiming our current position and identity,” said Jefferts Schori, who has expressed support for homosexual ordination as well as the blessing of same-sex unions…
In addition to homosexual ordination, the Episcopal General Convention will also be considering resolutions calling for the development of rites for blessing same-gender relationships. The Diocese of Massachusetts is further calling on the legislative body to amend references in the national church’s canon laws on marriage from “a man and a woman” to “two adults.” (Online source)
More and more mainstream evangelical denominations and churches are heading in this same direction so leaders are catching here a glimpse of their own future, so you had best pay close attention. The sad truth is that there’s a threatening same-sex storm growing, which is rapidly picking up speed through the embrace of corrupt Contemplative Spirituality/Mysticism within the alleged “Protestant” sectors of the visible church.
And this growing and angry storm, while currently just slightly off the coast of the mainstream evangelical community, is right now approaching hurricane force…
See also:
POPULAR EMERGING CHURCH WEBSITE THE OOZE SLITHERS OUT OF THE GLBTQ-AFFIRMING CLOSET
OXYMORONIC ‘HOMOSEXUAL CHRISTIANS’ FOCUS OF BARNA REPORT
MAINSTREAM EVANGELICALISM NOW ON THE RAPID SLIDE TO APOSTASY
THE NEW CHRISTIANS WITH CHRISTIANITY WORTH BELIEVING—NO SOLA SCRIPTURA: YES, WOMEN PASTORS AND QUEER CHRISTIANS
ROB BELL, PETER ROLLINS, AND QUEERMERGENT’S ADELE SAKLER
REV. MEGAN ROHRER ON GAY RIGHTS MOVEMENT
Q&A FOR “GAY AFFIRMING” EMERGING CHURCH PASTOR JAY BAKKER
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Luther seldom mentions homosexual behavior. But when he does, his evaluation is always negative. For example, Luther identifies the sin of Sodom with homosexuality. Commenting on Genesis 19:4-5, he writes “I for my part do not enjoy dealing with this passage, because so far the ears of the Germans are innocent of and uncontaminated by this monstrous depravity; for even though disgrace, like other sins, has crept in through an ungodly soldier and a lewd merchant, still the rest of the people are unaware of what is being done in secret. The Carthusian monks deserve to be hated because they were the first to bring this terrible pollution into Germany from the monasteries of Italy”.
In the same section of the Genesis lecturers, Luther refers to “the heinous conduct of the people of Sodom as extraordinary, inasmuch as they departed from the natural passion and longing of the male for the female, which is implanted into nature by God, and desired what is altogether contrary to nature. Whence comes this perversity? Undoubtedly from Satan, who after people have once turned away from the fear of God, so powerfully suppresses nature that he blots out the natural desire and stirs up a desire that is contrary to nature.”
Luther’s rejection of homosexual activity is not merely a matter of aesthetic preference but rather a theological judgment rooted in the reality of the way the wrath of God is revealed against all ungodliness that will not acknowledge God to be the Creator and Lord that He is. For Luther, homosexuality is a form of idolatry, of false worship as we see in his lectures on Romans. (Online source)
John T. Pless, Concordia Theological Seminary, Fort Wayne, IN.
See also:
POPULAR EMERGING CHURCH WEBSITE THE OOZE SLITHERS OUT OF THE GLBTQ-AFFIRMING CLOSET
OXYMORONIC ‘HOMOSEXUAL CHRISTIANS’ FOCUS OF BARNA REPORT
MAINSTREAM EVANGELICALISM NOW ON THE RAPID SLIDE TO APOSTASY
THE NEW CHRISTIANS WITH CHRISTIANITY WORTH BELIEVING—NO SOLA SCRIPTURA: YES, WOMEN PASTORS AND QUEER CHRISTIANS
ROB BELL, PETER ROLLINS, AND QUEERMERGENT’S ADELE SAKLER
BUT DO EMERGENCE CHRISTIANITY AND BRIAN MCLAREN REALLY LOVE GAY PEOPLE?
REV. MEGAN ROHRER ON GAY RIGHTS MOVEMENT
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We would appreciate your prayers as Ingrid is now in the hospital and there is a good chance the baby may be delivered today. There are currently some concerns for the health of both Ingrid and the baby, so pray for God’s sustaining hand. I will post updates when possible. Thank you for all your support and intercession.
