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Monday, January 2, 2017

POPE FRANCIS URGES: "LET US ENTRUST THE NEW YEAR TO MARY"~ELEVATES MARY ABOVE JESUS IN HERESY

POPE FRANCIS URGES: 
"LET US ENTRUST THE NEW YEAR TO MARY" 
BY HEATHER CLARK
republished below in full unedited for informational, educational, and research purposes:
 





 
  ROME — The leader of Roman Catholicism, Jorge 
Bergoglio, also known as “Pope Francis,” observed the feast of 
“the Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God” on New Year’s Day, urging 
followers to “entrust the new year to Mary.”
“Let us entrust the new year to Mary, Mother of God, so that peace and mercy may grow throughout the world,” he Tweeted on Sunday, generating over 33,000 likes and 11,000 shares.
The feast “coincides with the octave-day of Christmas” on the Roman Catholic liturgical calendar, and was initially the feast of the Circumcision of Christ until being replaced in 1974 by Pope John VI. The “mother of God” concept, however, can be traced back as early as the Council of Ephesus in 431.
“This celebration, assigned to January 1 in conformity with the ancient liturgy of the city of Rome, is meant to commemorate the part played by Mary in this mystery of salvation,” John XI wrote. “It is meant also to exalt the singular dignity which this mystery brings to the ‘holy mother … through whom we were found worthy … to receive the Author of life.'”

“It is likewise a fitting occasion for renewed adoration of the newborn Prince of Peace, for listening once more to the glad tidings of the angels, and for imploring from God, through the Queen of Peace, the supreme gift of peace,” he said. The day is also known as the “World Day of Peace” for this reason.
In addition to Tweeting in observance of the day on Sunday, Bergoglio also delivered a homily before the masses, outlining why he believes it is important to begin a new year in such a manner.
“To celebrate Mary as mother of God and our mother at the beginning of the new year means recalling a certainty that will accompany our days: we are a people with a mother; we are not orphans,” he said. “To begin the year by recalling God’s goodness in the maternal face of Mary, in the maternal face of the Church, in the faces of our own mothers, protects us from the corrosive disease of being ‘spiritual orphans.'”

Bergoglio asserted that Jesus gave Mary to the Church when he died upon the cross, and the Church should therefore invite her into their homes and communities, and “meet her maternal gaze.”
“Together let us all confess this truth,” he instructed, as all stood to their feet. “I invite you to acclaim it three times, standing, like the faithful of Ephesus: Holy Mother of God, Holy Mother of God, Holy Mother of God.”
Bergoglio has made similar declarations throughout his tenure, urging others each Jan. 1 to entrust the year to Mary.
Gendron
But Mike Gendron of Proclaiming the Gospel Ministries in Plano, Texas, told Christian News Network that such practices are unbiblical and elevate Mary to a position not called for in the Word of God. Gendron is a former Roman Catholic of over 30 years.
“Pope Francis has elevated the ungodly traditions of Mary above Scripture. In doing so, he is doing the same thing the scribes and Pharisees did when they were rebuked by the Lord Jesus. Jesus told them that they were nullifying the Word of God and thus worshipping God in vain (Mark 7:7-13),” he said.
Gendron noted that the feast of “Mary, the Mother of God” is one among several on the Roman Catholic liturgical calendar.
“The four dogmas of Mary’s perpetual virginity, her motherhood of God, her immaculate conception and her bodily assumption into heaven, form the basis of Mariology,” he outlined. “The development of Mariology is ongoing and continues to be shaped by the writings of Catholic mystics, papal statements and apparitions of Mary. Catholics are encouraged to venerate Mary and entrust their lives to her as their advocate and mediatrix of all graces.”
“Since veneration is a form of worship, Catholics who venerate Mary are committing the most serious sin of idolatry. Just as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, Catholics are being led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ (2 Cor. 11:3),” Gendron continued. “Catholics will continue to be led astray into idolatry until they submit to the Word of God as their supreme authority in all matters of faith. “

2016: THE YEAR WALMART WENT 100% "GAY"~MANY OTHER U.S. COMPANIES HAVE EARNED 100% GAY APPROVAL STATUS TOO

2016: THE YEAR WALMART WENT 100% "GAY"~MANY OTHER U.S. COMPANIES HAVE EARNED 100% GAY APPROVAL STATUS TOO
BY PETER LA BARBERA
republished below in full unedited for informational, educational, and research purposes:
 

Walmart funds leftist homosexual groups and perverse LGBTQueer “pride” parades, markets “gay” products like “Heather Has Two Mommies”

Walmart Sells Homosexual Kiddie Book
Walmart Now Markets Homosexuality to Kids: Walmart’s online store sells the new edition of “Heather Has Two Mommies,” a “children’s” picture book that promotes the normalcy of lesbian parenting. Above is a screen shot of Walmart.com. The retail giant now scores a “100 percent” on Human Rights Campaign’s rigged “Corporate Equality Index”–which punishes corporations for giving to pro-family organizations, yet rewards them for funding LGBTQ activist groups. To receive a “100-percent” score, corporations must be committed to funding grotesque, body-disfiguring transsexual “sex-reassignment surgeries” as part of their company’s “health” insurance plan for employees. Take Action: contact Walmart HERE or call 800-925-6278). Click to enlarge.
_____________________________________

“Interestingly, unlike many other corporations adopting pro-homosexual policies, Walmart plays both sides of the social-issues “culture war.” It does this by cultivating good relations with both homosexual activists like [Human Rights Campaign] and Christian conservative organizations like American Family Association (AFA).”

Folks, below is a piece I wrote earlier this month for LifeSiteNews, an excellent pro-family and pro-life website (subscribe to their e-list HERE). Walmart’s capitulation to the demands of the leftist, anti-Christian–and very pro-Democrat–Human Wrongs Rights Campaign (HRC) is the latest sign of how strategically important major corporations have become in driving the “gay-transgender” revolution.
If Walmart can go “all gay,” any corporation can, and sadly the Bentonville, Arkansas-based retail giant’s moral capitulation shows how complete and entrenched America’s godless homosexual revolution has become. Nevertheless, liberal (pro-) LGBTQ “snowflakes” in post-Trump distress everywhere are acting as if the USA is on the verge of becoming like Saudi Arabia–despite Trump being the most PRO-homosexual Republican presidential nominee ever!
nyc_pride_2015_walmart_rainbow_flag_resized_with_credit
Walmart’s new, immoral “values”: Walmart fielded a contingent in New York City’s 2015 homosexual-transgender-sadomasochism (“gay”) Pride parade, despite its sexually perverse nature. See this AFTAH photo-story and other photos below.
As it has in recent years, Walmart again sponsored New York City’s homosexual-transgender-sadomasochism (LGBTQueer) “pride” parade in 2016 (see page 35 of the “NYC Pride Guide”; also, see AFTAH’s photo-story exposé on the 2015 NYC “pride” parade sponsored by Walmart). And Walmart was among the corporate sponsors at a far-left-biased “International LGBT Leaders” conference (attended by this writer) in Washington, D.C., earlier this month, put on by the Gay and Lesbian Victory Institute.
Despite its pro-disordered-sex-and-gender “philanthropy,” Walmart received a “Nice” (not “Naughty”) rating from our friends at American Family Association for celebrating Christmas, and was praised as a “pro-religious liberty” company by AFA in 2015. That confused some AFA followers who noted Walmart’s newfound support of homosexual “marriage” post-Obergefell. Moreover, Walmart reportedly fought against a religious-freedom-protection bill in its home state of Arkansas (and in other states).
This scantily-dressed perv marched at the 2015 New York City homosexual-transgender-sadomasochism "gay" Pride parade, at which many young children were in attendance.
Walmart’s values? This nearly naked pervert marched in the 2015 New York City homosexual-transgender-sadomasochism (“gay”) Pride parade, at which many young children were in attendance. Click to enlarge photos.
Ironically, under HRC’s horribly skewed Corporate Equality Index (CEI), if Walmart were to give a direct grant to AFA (or Americans For Truth), it would LOSE 25 points and fall off the CEI’s “100-percent” list (see story below). Having the leftist HRC judge corporations on homosexual and “gender” issues is about as fair as having the far-left, pro-LGBTQ Southern Poverty Law Center serve as an arbiter of “hate.” Utterly absurd, and yet the corrupt media honor both rankings and report them as objective “news.”
I’ll say this: you have to hand it to Walmart’s executives: cynically playing both sides of the LGBTQ-vs.-the-natural-family “culture war” and seemingly getting away with it. Or will they? I suppose that’s up to pro-family Americans, who correctly understand that the homosexual/transgender social-legal revolution is incompatible with the First Amendment and freedom of conscience. — Peter LaBarbera, AFTAH; @Peter LaBarbera
_____________________
TAKE ACTION: Call Walmart’s Arkansas headquarters at 479-273-4000 and choose ext. 3, then ask for the office of CEO Doug McMillon. Or call 1-800-WALMART (925-6278). Write Walmart online HERE (click the “Community and Giving” option). When I called the first number I was routed to Customer Relations. Send CEO McMillon a fax directly at 479-204-0798.
Related articles:
_______________________________
LifeSiteNews reports:

Walmart earns 100% gay approval rating on homosexual group’s corporate scorecard

By Peter LaBarbera
Walmart and S&M "Pride": a sadomasochism-celebrating float at the 2015 NYC "Pride" parade. Not the black-and-blue "leather pride" flags. See full AFTAH photo-story on the Walmart-sponsored parade HERE.
Walmart and S&M “Pride”: a sadomasochism-celebrating float at the 2015 NYC “Pride” parade. Note the black-and-blue “leather pride” flags flying alongside the more familiar rainbow-imitating “gay pride” flags. See full AFTAH photo-story on the Walmart-sponsored parade HERE. Click to enlarge.
December 6, 2016 (LifeSiteNews) — For the first time ever, Walmart has scored a “perfect” 100 percent ranking on a leading homosexual lobby group’s “corporate scorecard,” meaning that to keep its score the retail giant will now cover transsexual employees’ “sex reassignment surgeries” as part of its healthcare coverage.
The decidedly anti-social-conservative “Corporate Equality Index” (CEI) is produced by Human Rights Campaign (HRC), the world’s largest homosexual-bisexual-transgender lobby organization. Companies are ranked by whether or not they adopt pro-LGBTQ workplace and giving policies. From year to year, HRC usually makes the criteria more stringent, thus driving corporations to adopt ever-more radical pro-LGBTQ internal policies and commitments to maintain their “perfect” scores.
Walmart’s new 100 percent score (up from 90 percent on last year’s scorecard) marks its steadily growing embrace of LGBTQ advocacy at the expense of its wholesome, pro-family image. In recent years, the corporation has begun funding “gay pride” parades, in which lewd behavior is paraded in front of children, and homosexual activist groups like the Gay & Lesbian Victory Fund.

Lose points for backing natural marriage

Moreover, according to HRC’s biased “Index,” corporations are punished (losing 25 points) for giving to pro-natural marriage groups and causes while they are rewarded for giving money to LGBTQ causes. According to “Criterion 5 of the “Index,”
“The Employers will have 25 points deducted from their score for a large-scale official or public anti-LGBT blemish on their recent records. No employer received this deduction in the 2017 CEI.”
In recent years, to accrue points toward a 100 percent ranking, major corporations like Walmart have stepped up their giving of large grants to LGBTQ organizations and events.
HRC announced on page 6 of its 111-page CEI report:
“199 of the Fortune 500-ranked businesses achieved a 100 percent rating (compared to 151 last year), with 12 of the top 20 Fortune-ranked businesses at this top score. Ninety-two percent of the Fortune 500 include ‘sexual orientation’ in their nondiscrimination policies and 82 percent include ‘gender identity.’ For the first time, half of Fortune 500 companies offer transgender inclusive healthcare benefits, including surgical procedures.”
A sampling of other 100 percent Fortune 500 corporations is below.

Walmart settles with “gay” legal group

walmart_pride_logoMeanwhile, Walmart announced that it has settled a class-action lawsuit with another homosexual lobby group to pay past compensation to its homosexual employees who had become same-sex “married” between 2011 and 2013 but were denied family health benefits.
The Boston-based LGBTQ legal organization GLAD (GLBTQ Legal Advocates & Defenders) announced in a Dec. 2 release:
“The $7.5 million proposed settlement would pay for claims by Walmart associates in the United States and Puerto Rico that they were unable to obtain health insurance coverage for their same-sex spouses from Walmart from Jan. 1, 2011 to Dec. 31, 2013. …
“In 2014, Walmart voluntarily made the same health insurance benefits available to same-sex spouses of its associates that it offered to opposite-sex spouses. As part of the proposed settlement, Walmart commits to continuing to do so in the future.”
A Walmart executive, Sally Welborn, senior vice president, global benefits, signaled that the settlement is part of the retailer’s pro-LGBTQ ethos (Walmart did not admit guilt as part of the terms):
“We’re happy both sides could come together to reach a resolution. Respect for the individual, diversity and inclusion are among the core values that made Walmart into the company that it is today. We will continue to not distinguish between same and opposite sex spouses when it comes to the benefits we offer under our health insurance plan.”
GLAD states that the number of people collecting from the class-action lawsuit is “expected to include no more than a few thousand current and former Walmart associates. Walmart employs nearly 1.5 million associates in the U.S. and Puerto Rico.”

Walmart plays both sides

Interestingly, unlike many other corporations adopting pro-homosexual policies, Walmart plays both sides of the social-issues “culture war.” It does this by cultivating good relations with both homosexual activists like HRC and Christian conservative organizations like American Family Association (AFA).
Last year, Walmart received high praise from one of the most prominent and respected pro-family leaders in America, Tim Wildmon, son of Don Wildmon, who founded the Tupelo, Mississippi-based AFA. See this 2015 article, where AFA president Tim Wildmon gives Walmart a “perfect 100” on its “Corporate Religious Liberty Index” because of Walmart’s answers “demonstrating that the corporation respects and values religious freedoms.”

Other “perfect” pro-LGBTQ corporations

The following corporations are among those that joined Walmart as Fortune 500 companies scoring 100 percent on HRC-skewed “Corporate Equality Index” (2017):
Apple
AT&T
Ben and Jerry’s
BB&T Corp.
Best Buy
Boeing
3M
Chevron
Capital One
Comcast
Clorox
Coca-Cola
Colgate-Palmolive
Crate & Barrel
Dell
Eastman Kodak
Ebay
Expedia
Facebook
Fannie Mae
Freddie Mac
Ford
GameStop
Gap
General Mills
GM
GE
Google
Groupon
Hallmark Cards Inc.
Harris
Hartford
Hasbro
Hershey
Home Depot
Hyundai Motor America
Hyatt Hotels
Intel
IKEA
IBM
JC Penney
JetBlue
John Hancock Financial Services
Johnson & Johnson
Kaiser Permanente
Kellogg Co.
Kimberly-Clark Corp
Land O’Lakes
Lexmark
McDonald’s
Macy’s
Merck
MetLife
MGM Resorts
Mattel
MillerCoors
Microsoft
Nationwide
Nestle-Palmolive
Netflix
New York Life
Nike
Office Depot
Owens Corning
PayPal
Pepsico
PetSmart
Procter & Gamble
Prudential
Raytheon
Replacements
Salesforce
Southwest Airlines
Sony Corp. of America
Sony Pictures
Sprint
Starbucks
T-Mobile
T. Rowe Price
Tesla Motors
Time-Warner
Toys-R-Us
Twitter
UPS
Walmart
Walt Disney
Whirlpool
Wyndham Worldwide
VW
Viacom

GLOBALISTS ADMIT AI (ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE) SYSTEMS TO CONTROL THE PUBLIC

GLOBALISTS ADMIT AI (ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE) SYSTEMS TO CONTROL THE PUBLIC
 Technocrats plan to enslave humanity 
with artificial intelligence
P.S.: NOT A FAKE NEWS CONSPIRACY

AMAZON ECHO SHOCK VIDEO: CHILD RECEIVES PORN RELATED SEARCH RESULTS

AMAZON ALEXA GONE WILD
WARNING: NOT FOR CHILDREN
 SEE: http://www.infowars.com/shock-video-child-receives-porn-related-search-results-from-amazon-echo/;

EXCERPT: (THE REST IS TOO PORNOGRAPHIC TO REPEAT HERE)

A child attempting to use an Amazon device to search for his favorite song was instead fed raunchy porn terms as suggestions, a viral video shows.
The SFist has the details:
The boy asks Alexa for a song called “Digger Digger,” which may or may not exist, and the best she can come up with was this “Comedy Ringtones Vol. 2” from Spotify, which under the artist name has a series of x-rated keywords

THE ROT INSIDE THE DEPT. OF HOMELAND SECURITY

THE ROT INSIDE THE DEPT. OF HOMELAND SECURITY
republished below in full unedited for informational, educational, and research purposes:
 
By: Devvy Kidd

January 2, 2017
NewsWithViews.com
Like millions of Americans, I was and am still against the worthless Department of Fatherland aka Homeland Security. Too much power consolidated in one place, the bigger the more corruption and rot and that's just what's been happening with DHS over the years.
We have been invaded and continue to be invaded no different than if it were foreign troops. Illegal aliens from all over the world continue to flood across our southern border while the gutless cowards in Congress have done virtually nothing for decades.
Instead of a legitimate president calling up U.S. troops and putting them all across the four border states, the criminal impostor squatting in the White House has made sure the border stays porous while Americans continue to be murdered, raped or robbed by criminal illegals.
"The murder of fewer than 20 Americans at Columbus caused President Woodrow Wilson to call out the entire U.S. Army and the entire National Guard. To put that in perspective, President Wilson put more National Guardsmen along the US / Mexico border than we have troops of every type in Iraq today. He then backed them up with the entire U.S. Army."
"A Mexican man accused of raping a 13-year-old girl on a Greyhound bus that traveled through Kansas had been deported 10 times and voluntarily removed from the U.S. another nine times since 2003, records obtained by The Associated Press show.
"Three U.S. Republican senators — including Kansas' Jerry Moran and Pat Roberts — demanded this month that the Department of Homeland Security provide immigration records for 38-year-old Tomas Martinez-Maldonado, who is charged with a felony in the alleged Sept. 27 attack aboard a bus in Geary County. He is being held in the Geary County jail in Junction City, which is about 120 miles west of Kansas City."
Really? Grassley and Roberts were both in the Senate when Republicans controlled both the House, Senate and Bush, Jr., was in the White House. They did NOTHING to lock down that southern border and now they've got their kickers in a twist because a 13-year old child was raped by yet another filthy pig illegal alien. Too little too late for that little girl.
Jeh Johnson, the latest pimp to head DHS is just as rotten and corrupt as his boss, Barry Soetoro aka Obama. Thankfully his anti-America backside will soon be gone. THIS is his legacy along with Obama and the U.S. Congress: 39,456 Americans were murdered by illegal aliens in 2016. Illegal aliens have murdered more than 67,092 people inside the USA since 9/11. 94% of the same incumbents reelected in November will shortly be sworn back into office. The same 94% who have allowed this to continue along with activist judges allowed to remain on the bench.
While Texas' governors and our state legislature have allocated more millions and millions in an effort to stop the invasion at our southern border, the hordes just keep coming. They come, they disappear into big cities and continue stealing jobs that belong to Americans, our resources and clog our courts with tricks designed to keep them illegally in OUR country. And they kill and rape our fellow country men and women.
Despite the best efforts of Dr. Edwin Vieira, yours truly and really a small number of those who get it, efforts to reconstitute the constitutional militia in our states to plug the holes in border enforcement has gone no where. Just like Congress, the same gutless cowards keep getting reelected to the state capitols who do nothing but put more Band Aids on a patient hemorrhaging to death on the operating table.
The violence has increased since I wrote the column above. As if that weren't bad enough, hundreds of employees of DHS have turned into criminals selling us out:
"It was not an isolated case. A review by The New York Times of thousands of court records and internal agency documents showed that over the last 10 years almost 200 employees and contract workers of the Department of Homeland Security have taken nearly $15 million in bribes while being paid to protect the nation's borders and enforce immigration laws.
"These employees have looked the other way as tons of drugs and thousands of undocumented immigrants were smuggled into the United States, the records show. They have illegally sold green cards and other immigration documents, have entered law enforcement databases and given sensitive information to drug cartels.
"In one case, the information was used to arrange the attempted murder of an informant. The Times’s findings most likely under count the amount of bribes because in many cases court records do not give a tally. The findings also do not include gifts, trips or money stolen by Homeland Security employees."
Every once in a while the 'all the news that's fit to fake', NY Times actually does a public service and the column above certainly does that by exposing the level of corruption inside DHS.
Supposedly, new safeguards have been put in place: screening for new applicants seeking a job have to pass a polygraph and get more training along with much needed more internal affairs investigators. It's really not that difficult to spot a rotten apple who takes out a $40,000 boat on the lake while making $45,000 a year in salary unless they inherited money from a deceased family member, won the Lotto or come from money.
Going back to the article above:
“Corrupt C.B.P. law enforcement personnel pose a national security threat,” a Department of Homeland Security report released in May concluded. The report also revealed numerous problems with efforts to root out corruption among Border Patrol and customs agents. The report said the “true levels of corruption within C.B.P. are not known. ”
"Convicted former border and immigration agents give different reasons for taking bribes, from financial troubles to drug use. But for many, it was simple greed...
"But the issue of bribery extends well beyond front-line agents at the border. Department of Homeland Security employees who enforce immigration and customs laws and provide citizenship benefits and aviation security have also been arrested or indicted on and convicted of charges of taking bribes.
"Last month, Daniel Espejo Amos, a former immigration service officer at the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services in Los Angeles, pleaded guilty to taking $53,000 in bribes from immigration lawyers on behalf of 60 immigrants who were not eligible to become naturalized citizens of the United States. Mr. Amos certified that the immigrants met the requirements for citizenship, even though one person's English-language skills were so poor that copies of test answers were given to him so he could memorize them for a naturalization interview.
"Transportation security officers and screeners with access to secure areas of airports that could be used to smuggle weapons and even carry bombs onto planes have taken hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes as well, records show."
The U.S. Congress spends a massive amount of time on legislation and spending for unconstitutional cabinets like the Federal Department of Education, the EPA and dozens and dozens of agencies. Their attention should be focused on one of the most serious issues for America: Border enforcement and providing the necessary funds for areas like Inspector General's and their staffs to go after the maggots who sell us out by taking bribes from illegals, drug cartels or corrupt immigration attorneys who care nothing for our laws or our security.
 Instead of wasting $66 BILLION BORROWED dollars last year on the unconstitutional Federal Department of Education, that money would have gone a long way in fighting the illegals invasion and rooting out corrupt employees in DHS, including sadly, a small number in the U.S. Border Patrol who really do a great job despite being hamstrung by Jeh Johnson and the dirty traitor currently sitting in the White House.

'Cleaning the swamp' is going to require a lot more than people realize if we're ever going to reduce the size of the out-of-control U.S. government and return to a limited form of republican government for all Americans.
That will only happen if we the people make the commitment to devote our time and resources aside from work and family obligations and go after the same incumbents returning next month to Congress and demand the job done. Trump can't do it alone.

MILLIE WEAVER'S EPIC TRUMP TWEETS OF THE WEEK #2

MILLIE WEAVER'S EPIC TRUMP TWEETS 
OF THE WEEK #2
 
Published on Dec 31, 2016
Many people have criticized Donald Trump for using Twitter rather than the mainstream media, but can you blame him? Several times President Elect Donald Trump has achieved Thug Life status via his skilled use of twitters 140 characters. Infowars reporter Millie Weaver will be highlighting his most epic tweets for the last week of 2016.

"CHRISTIAN" ABORTION DOCTOR SAYS: "I LOVE" KILLING BABIES IN ABORTIONS; "I'M PROUD TO DO SO"

 carolynpayne 
"CHRISTIAN" ABORTION ADVOCATES: 
NANCY PELOSI WITH CAROLYN PAYNE 
 http://utnews.utoledo.edu/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/Carolyn-Payne-and-Nancy-Pelosi.jpg
"CHRISTIAN" ABORTION DOCTOR SAYS: 
"I LOVE" KILLING BABIES IN ABORTIONS; 
"I'M PROUD TO DO SO" 
republished below in full unedited for informational, educational, and research purposes:
 Carolyn Payne grew up in a good Christian home with loving parents and opportunities to make the most of her life.
Instead, she decided to become an abortion doctor.
Payne, an Ob/Gyn resident (pictured above), wrote a shockingly bold column for the women’s website XO Jane about how her faith and upbringing influenced her to abort unborn babies for a living. Through her experiences, Payne flaunted her career goal and what she perceived as the importance of training programs for abortion doctors in the U.S.
“I love providing abortion care to women, and I am proud to do so,” Payne wrote, adding that she and many of her colleagues are “not afraid, embarrassed or ashamed to say so.”
Payne explained:
Who wants to be an abortion provider?
I do. And I don’t have a nose-ring or a tattoo. I’m a 5’ blonde from Ohio and my last boyfriend was a pastor. In fact my Midwest, Christian upbringing is largely responsible for my belief that providing abortion services is one of the most meaningful ways I feel I can contribute to making the world a more fair and equal place for women.
Please support LifeNews and our pro-life news with a year-end donation!
… I never experienced unplanned pregnancy because I was fortunate enough to have parents who understood the normalcy of teenage sexuality, and provided me education and opportunities to prevent undesired pregnancy and disease. I could have sex, just like a man could, and go on with my life, with minimal fear of life-changing consequences (i.e. unwanted pregnancy).
I realize this is a privilege in our society and that is unjust. All women who desire contraception should have it; it’s necessary for women to be able to achieve their goals. Not because women are sluts, but because women are humans, and humans do have sex.
Payne clearly is very proud of her abortion work. In one revolting admission, she openly admitted that aborting an unborn baby for the first time made her and other abortion doctors-in-training “feel good” — though Payne never mentioned unborn babies in her column. She wrote:
To us, abortion training was something we advocated for in medical school, and actively sought out in our residency training programs. To us, abortion training was exciting, because it meant we were developing the skills necessary to provide women with safe reproductive healthcare. To many of us, the decision to receive training in abortion wasn’t “agonizing” at all as a recent corresponding piece in Yahoo! Health described. Rather, providing our first MVA [manual vacuum aspiration abortion] was a “feel good procedure,” because we had successfully performed an intervention that changed a woman’s life for the better!
No where did Payne mention what happens to the unborn child in an MVA abortion – how the unborn baby’s body is crushed and sliced and then suctioned out of the mother’s womb. Then the baby’s body parts are typically put into a bowl to make sure they are all there. This gruesome killing procedure was “exciting” to Payne.
But her shocking admissions did not end there. Payne argued that abortion makes life more “fair” for women who did not have the education or resources to prevent their pregnancies or simply thought a baby would get in the way of their education or career. She also claimed that abortions are “fair” to children:
And most importantly, I think it is fair to children, that they are born into a world where they are wanted, and loved, and cared for, and have the resources they need to thrive. I think abortion is a social good and a tremendous way in which physicians can contribute to a more socially just world.
Payne concluded with thoughts about possibly becoming pregnant in the future. Abortion is already in her mind if her “pregnancy” does not turn out as expected (no mention of her unborn child)– “I hope that my doctor will put my life and health first.”
That means I hope my doctor is trained to terminate pregnancies. I hope they get that training in medical school, residency, fellowship, and beyond. I also hope they feel good about it, because it is a good thing. Saving women’s lives, and enabling women to have both the public and private life she desires is a very good thing.
Payne’s musings are a disquieting look at how abortion doctors justify their horrific treatment – by completely ignoring the humanity of the unborn child.
________________________________________________________
SEE ALSO: 
 

 http://www.chronicle.com/article/As-States-Try-to-Curb/139831/

SOUTHERN BAPTIST CONVENTION ENDORSES NEW APOSTOLIC REFORMATION-CHARISMATIC FALSE TEACHING

 pw3
SOUTHERN BAPTIST CONVENTION ENDORSES NEW APOSTOLIC REFORMATION-CHARISMATIC 
FALSE TEACHING 
BY BUD AHLHEIM
republished below in full unedited for informational, educational, and research purposes:
 “In such a time of kaleidoscopic changes, is there anything that remains unchanged?  When so many things have proved to be untrustworthy, is there anything we can trust?
  “One point, at least, is clear – we cannot trust the Church.  The visible Church, the Church as it now exists upon this earth, has fallen too often into error and sin.”   J. Gresham Machen
If the maxim “the devil is in the details” can be granted interpretative equivalency, then “apostasy is in the details” might serve to accurately assess much of the Southern Baptist Convention. To be sure, much of the apostasy embarked upon by the SBC is not merely in the details. It can be seen strewn across the convention, from the stages of every center of seeker-sensitive hoopla wrongly called “churches” to the upper echelon of the shakers and movers of denominational influence.
Apostasy, simply put, is the abandonment of a previous loyalty.  Note that it doesn’t require a full-blown renunciation of previously held beliefs.  All that is necessary to deem apostasy present is the evidence of behavior or commentary that defies that previous loyalty.
For Christians, apostasy is turning away from the Word of God in His Scripture, and its clear teachings, by evident practice and proclamation of contradictory teaching.  That proclamation, again, doesn’t have to be an actual renunciation of what God has clearly taught in the Bible and to which previous allegiance was evident; it can merely be the subtle relegation of doctrinal standards to a condition of disuse, replacing them with errant practices that, while most often done for personal or corporate (i.e., denominational) expediency, remain thoroughly unbiblical.  This is the SBC today.
While not every SBC cooperating church and pastor fall into the category of open apostasy, it’s certain that the denominational powers-that-be are eager to openly engage, employ, and encourage much that is antithetical to the clear teaching of Scripture.  Sadly, the Bible-centered, Gospel-proclaiming, doctrinally-sound, faithful churches that do exist within the convention are the rare exceptions that do not set the rule in a denomination determined to avoid fidelity to Biblical truth in pursuit of its own agenda.  From the top down, the SBC seems more aligned with the apostle’s Words about the malignant godlessness of the end times … “having a form of godliness, but denying its power” (2 Timothy 3:5) … than it appears poised to receive Paul’s apostolic words of commendation … “I thank my God upon every remembrance of you.”  (Philippians 1:3)  Such is the condition of a denomination in downgrade.
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Something like past SBC President Ronnie Floyd’s eager participation with, as Spurgeon called it in his day, “known and vital” error by joining the NAR-heretical IHOP cult to “pray for America” doesn’t require too much in the way of Biblical discernment. When Scripture says “avoid them,” (Romans 16:17-18) it’s not difficult to interpret the Lord’s meaning.
life11-twOr when the currently embroiled SBC “ethicist in chief,” Russell Moore (see the postscript to this article for an op-ed segue on Moore), eagerly aligns the convention with the apostasy of Rome in order to promote a social gospel agenda, not much Berean savvy is needed to ascertain the problem.  (Neither is much discerning Berean brain power called for to ascertain most any of Moore’s other egregious doctrinal dalliances.)
Or when the gurus of church growth in the SBC will abandon all confidence in the sufficiency of Scripture and exhibit zero trust in Christ’s words that “I will build my church,” (Matthew 16:18) instead opting for Scripturally illicit, worldly methodologies to be relevant to the culture (which means proclaiming “another Gospel,” as the apostle calls it Galatians 1:8) in order to grow the church, it’s clear that abandonment of Scriptural standards has occurred. (When the top churches in the SBC are the likes of Elevation, or Saddleback, or New Spring, then, yeah, apostasy is an evident problem.)
So not all apostasy – the abandonment of Scripture and its teachings – is a covert “devil in the details” within the SBC, but a recent one is.  It is neatly tucked away in the run-up marketing campaign in anticipation of the 2017 annual meeting.
The devil in these particular details is nothing less than the full endorsement of the apostasy seen in the New Apostolic Reformation and its related, errant charismatic teachings.   While not broadcast as a formal alignment with the heretical, charismaniacal NAR movement, the details of this marketing campaign to gin up enthusiasm for the next SBC meeting make clear its reliance on false teaching drawn directly from its errant theology.  (For more on the NAR, go HERE)
5b1b2c2d-0414-48e3-a7b8-117618e57bdd-sbc17-pray-artwork-aThe recently announced theme for the SBC’s 2017 meeting is “Pray! For Such A Time As This.” That theme may not be as reflective of the denominational panic over the need to stem the decade-long, massive bloodletting of membership from the ranks which was seen in the most prior two conventions.   In 2015, the theme was “Great Awakening. Clear Agreement. Visible Union. Extraordinary Prayer.” In 2016, the official theme dropped the adjectives and emphasized the American election year, “Awaken America. Reach The World. Agree. Unite. Pray.”
The panic in the SBC for  “building the church” (i.e., saving the convention from its historically-unparalleled slide) may be subtle within those themes, but that panic exists. Current president Steve Gaines, speaking of the new theme, said, “I want to encourage all of us to prayer for spiritual awakening across the Southern Baptist Convention.”  “Awakening” is SBC-speak, it seems, for a reversal of tick-marks denoting the continuing egress of former sitters of pews from the convention.
A true spiritual awakening is a noble desire, to be sure, but so long as Scripture in the SBC is used merely as emphatic big screen verses plucked and flashed to bolster Sunday morning positive thinking lectures from pulpit-less platforms … so long as sound Biblical doctrine goes avoided in preaching and teaching … so long as the true faith goes uncontended for against incessant error and false teaching (much of it being sold for profit by the SBC’s own media and retail outlet Lifeway) … so long as the Gospel from Scripture is supplanted with a false “Jesus loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life” version … so long as the explicit “theology” promoted is increasingly more “American” and less Biblical … an authentic awakening will not come.
Awakening is a function not only – and perhaps not primarily – of prayer, but of Truth … Truth apprehended by the diligent preaching and teaching of the Word and God’s working through it.  If the desire for an awakening is to awaken people, not to emotional frenzy, but to divine Truth, the necessary starting point is Scriptural Truth itself.  From Peter’s post-Pentecost sermon in Acts forward, authentic awakenings have been bathed in prayer, but they have been borne out of the power of God’s Word truly preached and soundly taught.  Thus the increasingly Scripture-void SBC will find continued intercessory pleas for denominational rescue unable to pass beyond the parapet of Hollywood lighting and stadium speakers hanging over the pew sitters engaged in Sunday “worship experiences.”  God has exalted His Name and His Word (Psalm 138:2) and when that is diminished, slighted, or outright avoided, as much of the SBC does now, God does not bless, awakenings do not come, sheep are not fed, and goats remain goats.In All Things Pray.v3 Cutout
The preemptory marketing campaign – a “call to prayer” – for the upcoming convention has its own theme …”In All Things Pray. My Family. My Community. My Church. My Country. My World.” The missing prayer point, “My Denomination,” is absent but obviously implied.
As should be expected of a well-oiled, highly funded (thanks to your gifts and offerings to the Cooperative Program) marketing machine, this SBC campaign features all the accouterments that any respectable marketing blitz ought to have.   It has its own website … InAllThingsPray.Net. It has a vast array of resources, including digital books and booklets, printed manuals, prayer calendars, prayer guides and even recommended “congregational prayer ideas,” because, with Scripture’s absence being so widespread in the Convention, churches might not know how to pray, presumably.
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As if to point to the unimportance of Scripture-informed prayer, the website for this anticipatory marketing campaign features, in its digital sweet spot, “A Great Commission Prayer Experience.” This recommended guide for a sixty-minute time of corporate prayer includes 10 minutes for “Scripture reading,” a segment of time also to be shared with  “public leadership and worship” elements. That three-pointed focus will, no doubt, translate into a couple of verses being flashed on the big screens. No need to open the dust-gathering pew Bibles, we’re just not going to get that serious. Just watch the big screen.  Besides, we’re here for an “experience,” not because we want you to actually “understand” anything.
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SBC REPACKAGING OF NAR TEACHING: A Downloadable PDF For Training Your Church
One of the resources offered by the In All Things Pray website comes in the category titled “Prayer Walking Guides.” Entitled Taking Prayer To The Streets: Prayerwalking Guidebook, this resource instructs churches on how to implement a prayer-walking program. It is within this 48 page PDF where the SBC’s covert endorsement of NAR false teaching may be found.
According to the Acknowledgements preface to the guidebook, “Taking Prayer To The Streets was written by Dr. Thomas Wright for the North American Mission Board (NAMB).” This guidebook, then, and the resources it explicitly recommends, were specifically developed and intentionally targeted for Southern Baptists.
The guidebook’s “Condensed Leader’s Guide” includes the following comment, re-emphasizing again the panic over continued numbers-crunching denominational demise.
“Probably one of the greatest sins among Southern Baptists is our prayerlessness. It is our greatest neglect, but at the same time, it is America’s and the world’s greatest need. The reason we aren’t experiencing a sweeping revival in America is because of the lack of urgent prayer. The reason our baptisms have been going down in the Southern Baptist Convention is because we don’t pray fervently.”
As is evident to any Bible-abiding believer (John 8:31) familiar with the SBC, the problem with the denomination is not primarily a lack of prayer; the problem is the profound and widespread disregard of Scripture. The solution to the problems of America and the world isn’t the ginned up frenzy of Scripture-void prayer; the solution is the Truth of God’s Word being clearly and consistently proclaimed. The lack of Scriptural Truth permeating the SBC, though, is echoed by the very culture it seeks to coddle into its pews with man-centered preaching, a gospel that is “all about you,” and Sunday after Sunday of feel-good experiences that entertain goats but starve sheep. Scripture – God’s Word – is the premise of the faith and Scriptural Truth is the solution for the SBC, America, and the world.
The prayer-walking guidebook, in offering instruction on how to implement the maneuver, serves up a number of Scripturally-spurious suggestions, many drawn from the unbiblical, NAR-charismatic approach to spiritual warfare.   For example, the guidebook includes the point “pray for the unsaved in your community,” along with the instruction that participants should “Ask God to deliver them [the unsaved] from the spirit of disobedience.” But being “dead in trespasses and sins” as Scripture teaches (Ephesians 2:5) is not a function of the lost being enslaved to an evil spirit to be saved as the result of answered, fervent prayer; it is the default condition of every man as a result of the fall. (Psalm 51:5)  Only God can make the dead live, and He does that not by answering believers’ prayers against the demonic, but by believers sharing the Gospel with the lost and God saving whom He will by that planted seed.  Skip the hocus-pocus focus on the demonic.  Spiritual warfare is fought when the Gospel is proclaimed.  It is the power.  (Romans 1:16)  The Word is the weapon.  (Ephesians 6:17)
In justifying the need to pray for the unsaved, the guidebook gives a number of reasons with a glaringly unbiblical concluding point. “Why pray for the unsaved? Because they can refuse to go to church. They can refuse to listen to your witness. They can throw away your tracts. They can refuse to let you in. They can hang up on you. But they can’t prevent Jesus from knocking on the door of their hearts in response to your prayers.” (Emphasis added)
From "Taking Prayer To The Streets," pg. 5
From “Taking Prayer To The Streets,” pg. 5
In case you haven’t brushed up on Biblical soteriology lately, Jesus is not knocking on the door of anyone’s heart. Such a notion is absent from the pages of Scripture. Jesus doesn’t do that whether or not your prayers have implored Him to do so. What Scripture teaches is that salvation belongs to the Lord (Psalm 3:8, Revelation 7:10) and He saves whom He will (Romans 9:14-18, Ephesians 1:11) – not by pleadingly rapping on the door of the spiritually dead heart, but by opening the eyes to see, making the ears to hear and breathing life into dead souls. And what is the mechanism of that divinely executed regeneration? The Gospel is the power of God for salvation. (Romans 1:16)   When it goes unshared, the already damned (John 3:18) remain unaffected by divine Truth.pwgcopy
The primary goal of prayer-walking, though, isn’t evangelism. The guidebook does emphasize praying for the lost, but not actively proclaiming the gospel to the lost. In so much of the SBC and the wider evangelical church, the notion of “sharing the Gospel” has become wrongly synonymous with “inviting someone to church.” But such an invitation is not a “witness,” and, frankly, inviting an unbeliever to the typical SBC church might just be the absolute worst thing one could do, for the Gospel of Scripture is likely to have been replaced with “another Gospel” (Galatians 1:8) that will do them no eternal good (though it might fill a pew, slosh the baptistry waters, and create another ‘giving unit” for the church’s coffers.  The SBC might make a church member without the true Gospel, but God alone makes a saint for the kingdom through the authentic Gospel.) Still, the guidebook does add, almost blushingly, the suggestion, “Try to share the Gospel with those who are not saved.”
Another way of “taking prayer to the streets,” according to this SBC guidebook is to “Claim your community for Christ.”   “We need to reclaim our streets for God,” it states. What it doesn’t state – and cannot state – is any Biblical command that substantiates this imperative. Scripture, in no place, tells the believer to claim anything for Christ or to “reclaim our streets” for God. This “territory view” is a patently false maneuver drawn from the errant spiritual warfare teachings of known NAR charlatans.  (For more on this Biblically errant view of spiritual warfare, go HERE)
“We need to bind the powers of the evil one over homes – whatever we bind on earth is bound in heaven.”   The presence of this line alone in an SBC prayer-walking guide is proof that the SBC, NAMB, the “NAMB Prayer and Spiritual Awakening office,” the “state convention prayer leaders, nor the “NAMB Intentional Community Evangelism (ICE) staff” – all of whom were engaged at some level in editing, revising, or augmenting the prayer-walking guide, according to its own “Acknowledgements” page  –   none of them care what Scripture actually teaches. This suggestion is unfounded in Scripture and, to the extent it cites Scripture, totally obliterates its proper usage. (For more on the illicit teaching of “binding Satan” see HERE.)
God awaits our prayers to release the spiritual power that enables us to follow through on His plan.”   Quick, someone please get Kenneth Copeland on the phone because this Scripturally-noxious line from the SBC guidebook is right at home with the charlatan-rich word-faith crowd. However, it has no place in authentic Biblical Christianity.
This intentional prayer releases God’s power and love, as we agree with His plans for an area.” Again, this theological absurdity is rampant in charismatic circles but is absent from the teaching of Holy Scripture.
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The SBC prayer-walking guidebook emphasizes much that might be popular in undiscerning pews but is decidedly absent from the clear teaching of Scripture. Part of the reason, no doubt, is that – beyond the SBC’s dire need to fill emptying pews through selling what goats will buy – the teaching relied upon to generate the guidebook is itself illicit. The guidebook sources numerous spiritually dangerous false teachers. Among those listed in the “Endnotes” are the epic charlatan and enemy of the sovereignty of God, Charles Finney, the “experience matters more than Scripture” mystics Henry Blackaby and Claude V. King, and, finally, author Steve Hawthorne.
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THE SBC ENDORSES NAR-RICH, CHARISMATIC RESOURCE FOR CHURCHES
Hawthorne, with Graham Kendrick, is the co-author of what the SBC touts as the “definitive book” on prayer-walking. (See “End Notes” screen grab above)  It is this hearty recommendation of Hawthorne’s book, Prayer-Walking: Praying On-Site With Insight, in which the SBC is knowingly and willfully aligning the SBC with the apostasy of deceptive NAR-charismatic theology.
Provided below is a baker’s dozen of quotations taken from Hawthorne’s book, enough to show more than a glimpse of the false teaching it proffers and which the SBC heartily endorses.
“We define prayer-walking simply as praying on-site with insight.”
(This might sound like common sense, but Scripture does not prescribe the necessity of believers being in a specific place in order to apprehend the condition of the lost to be found there. The lost in a distant foreign land need the same thing as the lost across the street … the Gospel.  It is the one universal imperative for all men’s souls because Christ alone is “the way, the truth, and the life.” (John 14:6) Thus, I can pray effectively for its proclamation, and I can do so on my knees beside my desk. Travel not required.)
“The act of walking emboldens prayers to push through feelings of futility and intimidation.  Entrenched evil can post spiritual ‘No Trespassing’ signs which seem to enforce the misery of the status quo.  Prayer walkers gently defy such fraudulent claims of darkness over their community.”
(Satan is, according to Scripture, the “god of this world.” (2 Corinthians 4:4, 1 John 5:19) The fact that he controls Main Street or any community on Main Street is a given verity. But if prayer-walking means taking back territory – which Hawthorne’s book and the SBC’s guidebook affirm – then the endeavor is fraught from the start with failure. Only the Gospel light penetrates the darkness of those whose minds are held in anti-God, anti-Christ, ideological fortresses. (Colossians 1:12-14, 2 Corinthians 10:3-5)  The battle isn’t over Main Street; it’s over the darkened minds on Main Street and proclaiming the Truth to them.)
“…there is a place for binding demonic powers so that you can get on with the job.  If we ever pray specifically against demons, we make sure we have mature Christians in small groups.”
(Well, in Hawthorne’s book, and according to the SBC, there might be a place for binding demonic powers – and binding, rebuking, and reviling the demonic is commonplace in NAR behavior – but according to Scripture, there is absolutely no place, prescription, or precedent for it. Believers are to proclaim the power of God – the Gospel – not presume to take authority over angelic majesties, or “glorious ones,” as Scripture calls them.  Jude 1:8, 2 Peter 2:10)
“…our task in spiritual war is to neutralize the ‘tractor beam’ hold these territorial strong men have over the minds and spirits of people who have welcomed them to dominate them.”
(Yep, another mishandling the Word of Truth.   There are no mystical strong men that believers must first thwart in order to neutralize evil. This swashbuckling, Stars Wars approach to spiritual warfare may be popular in Bible-barren pews and pulpits, but it completely disregards what Scripture teaches about authentic spiritual warfare.)
“Take note of one simple proviso of agreeing in prayer: ‘where two or three have gathered in my name.’  Whatever else this gathering may mean, it must have something to do with physical nearness to each other.  Incidentally, most prayer walking happens to be done in bands of two or three.”
(The illegitimate use of this verse in SBC-dom is about as prevalent as fried chicken at church dinners, but it is illegitimate nonetheless. There is not more power in prayer because “two or three” are gathered together. Jesus doesn’t suddenly spiritually show up when a crowd gathers. He hears your solitary prayers.   The cited Scripture of two or three gathered is given by the Lord in the context, not of prayer, but of church discipline (Matthew 18:15-20), a practice that might just be worthwhile to implement for those who continue in teaching and affirming such a pathetic use of Scripture.)
“Faith exerted in prayer can be likened to the dynamic of leverage.  Through prayer we lift matters of concern to God with our faith.  Prayer walking simply provides a stronger leverage point.”
(This … this is absurd on a logical, superficial level and, more importantly, on a Biblical one.  To suggest that praying AND walking provides greater leverage with which to coerce God is, just on its surface, awfully unfair to Scripturally-obedient, spiritually mature, praying souls who are unable to walk because of age, or illness, or handicap, or any number of reasons.  I guess they just don’t get the advantage of the added spiritual leverage this maneuver purports to provide?  There may be no difference between Jew and Gentile, but according to this SBC-endorsed book, a walking pray-er has more coercive leverage over heaven than an immobile one.  This is, yet again, thorough hogwash.  If you are praying to God, walking or not, and believe that you exercise any leverage over Him, you neither know God nor Scripture.  Examine yourself.  (2 Corinthians 13:5)  Here’s a well-known secret – God doesn’t need you.  He doesn’t need your prayers.  He doesn’t act on the basis of your prayers.  He is sovereign and does as He wills. (Psalm 115:3) This teaching of spiritual leverage in prayer-walking is blasphemy against the sovereignty of God. Thanks again, SBC.  Your endorsement reflects much … that isn’t Scriptural.)
“…prayer is as much listening to God as it is speaking to God.”
(In case you are not aware of this, God does not speak to you in prayer. There is no still small voice. You are not Elijah. And yes, Jesus Calling is a violation of Holy Scripture in claiming to be the words of Jesus. Whoever that false teacher/author is hearing from, it ain’t the Lord. As Justin Peters has said, “If you want to hear God speak, read your Bible.  If you want to hear Him speak audibly, read it out loud.”  This Peters procedure is highly recommended especially if you’re a Southern Baptist; just try to do it, if you can, from behind a pulpit …. where’s it’s needed most!)
“Prayerwalking is an affair of vision.  Physical sight boosts spiritual vision to sense God’s future for a city.”
(Remember that time Paul and Timothy prayer-walked Ephesus in order to determine God’s “spiritual vision” for the city?   No?  Me either. This sounds awfully spiritual, but it is nothing more than unbiblical, spiritualized fodder for the Biblically-illiterate gullible. You wanna know what God’s “vision” is when it comes to you and your city or community? Go read the Great Commission …  Matthew 28:16-20)
“Many prayer walks aim to expose, limit or displace the power of evil forces.  They seek to bring healing in order to interrupt sinful cycles which feed entrenched evil.  Malevolent powers are restrained so that good things may come forth.”
(More super-spiritualized, charismatic false teaching here, folks.   The only mechanism we have at our disposal to displace the power of evil forces is the Gospel. When the Gospel is shared, God will act on that strewn seed as He chooses. The power of evil will remain in force until the Lord returns, but evil’s power over the individual may only be thwarted by God acting according to His will through His Gospel to save. The Gospel is the power.  (Romans 1:16) Your prayer-walking will not “displace the power of evil forces.”  The Gospel does not need for “malevolent powers” to be restrained.  The Gospel just needs to be proclaimed.  Did anybody in the SBC bother to read the Bible before endorsing this heresy?)
“Our authority to possess the cities of earth as an inheritance has roots in our most ancient mandate: “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it. (Gen 1:28, 9:1,7)”
(The Lord has not commanded us to “possess the cities of the earth as an inheritance,” and, frankly, you don’t even want this world. If we know what’s good for us – and Scripture tells us what that is, btw – you want, and I want, the new heaven and the new earth which is yet to come. (Revelation 21:1)  This current one which Hawthorne and the SBC would have you prayer-walk to possess “as an inheritance” is facing a certain, fire-lapped, wrathful judgment. (2 Peter 3:10) But this teaching smacks of NAR dominionism, a false teaching that believers must first thwart the Satanic kingdom on earth so that the kingdom of God might be established.  It is an anti-biblical theology that damns. For a helpful look at NAR dominionism, go HERE.)
“We can be sure that the Son of God has asked the Father for the earth as an inheritance.”
(Again, smells like dominionism.  Gotta take over everything for Jesus. Push back the kingdom of Satan so God’s kingdom can be ushered in.  Ummm, no.  Scripture says, in Colossians 1:16, “For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things have been created through Him and for Him.”  Jesus wasn’t just the lucky beneficiary who won Himself a prize by His sinless life, atoning death, and death-conquering resurrection.  Jesus IS God.  He IS the Creator.  He IS, as He said, “I Am.” (John 8:58)  Everything is already His.  So we don’t need to take over territory, claim cities, or reclaim streets for Jesus.  We need, simply, to proclaim the Gospel.  Besides, Jesus, as Judge, has already told us what He’s going to do with this divinely cursed world. (Genesis 3:17)  It’s rather explicit in 2 Peter 3:10. )
“…it’s our responsibility to go and take the streets back, to reclaim the streets.”
(Umm, no. Wrong. Hit the “that’s not in the Bible” buzzer. This is not found in Scripture, but it is rife in NAR teaching, and particularly within its teaching of spiritual mapping.)
“God creates by speaking words.  When people bless, they align themselves with the creative force of God’s Word and release measures of God’s promise.”
(Yes, God speaks things into existence. He spoke and creation appeared. But the suggestion that when I “bless” I’m aligning myself with God’s “creative force” and thereby I “release measures of God’s promise,” is patently false. Turn on TBN and you’ll find gobs of word-faith heretics encouraging you to speak your reality of God’s blessing. But turn to Scripture and you will not find this teaching present. This is heresy. But again, according to the SBC, it’s a heresy that is recommendable.)
C. Peter Wagner
C. Peter Wagner
The SBC’s recommended “definitive book” on prayer-walking is actually a definitive book of false teaching. In his book, Hawthorne frequently cites known false teachers, NAR “apostles,” and word-faith charlatans. In it, you will find quotations from and/or references to such Biblically-noxious, spiritually dangerous sorts as C. Peter Wagner, George Otis, Jr., John Dawson, Dick Eastman, and Cindy Jacobs.
LONG BEFORE RONNIE FLOYD’S ALLIANCE WITH APOSTLE MIKE BICKLE AT IHOP – THE SBC’S AFFECTION FOR THE NAR
It’s noteworthy that the recently deceased grand apostle of the NAR movement, C. Peter Wagner, was well-known and well-lauded by many of the SBC elite.  Thom Rainer, President of Lifeway, wrote his doctoral thesis at Southern Baptist Theological Seminar on Wagner.
In his heretical book, Prayer Shield, Wagner even lauds Rainer’s young son as “my favorite [aged] 1-3 intercessor,” citing correspondence from Rainer in which the then SBC pastor wrote, “By the way, my youngest son (two-and-a-half-year-old Jess) has heard your name so much that he concludes all of his prayers as follows: ‘…and thank you God for Peter Wagner, In Jesus’ Name. Amen.”  (Prayer Shield, pp. 124-125).
The Book Of Church Growth, 1993
The Book Of Church Growth, 1993
Rainer’s fondness for Wagner would find him, in his 1993 introduction to The Book Of Church Growth lauding Wagner as one of “two of my mentors.”  “He [Wagner] is the primary reason,” writes Rainer, “I remain convinced that the best days of the Church Growth Movement are still ahead. The reader will see Dr. Wagner’s influence throughout this book.”
As to the possible charge that Wagner’s view of faith moved from what once might have been deemed orthodox to end up embracing the full-throated heresy of NAR charismania, a notion proffered by former SBC insider and Lifeway employee Ed Stetzer in his obituarial praise of Wagner, at the time Rainer was writing glowing endorsements about Wagner as his “mentor,” the charlatan had published numerous works with theologically erroneous positions.
Wagner’s books of heresy already in print at the time Rainer was lauding him included his 1991 Territorial Spirits, 1992’s Warfare PrayerPrayer Shield and How To Have A Healing Ministry.
By 1998, when Rainer’s book was re-released – having dropped Wagner’s name from the cover, but retaining his gushing endorsement of the apostle in the preface – Wagner had added further to his works of heresy.
The Book of Church Growth, reissued, 1998
The Book of Church Growth, reissued, 1998
His books Confronting The Powers (a Biblically illicit view of spiritual warfare, highlighting strategic level spiritual warfare, a/k/a spiritual mapping – see HERE for more on this), Praying Power, and, perhaps most notably, his feature book of the NAR movement itself, The New Apostolic Churches, were all in publication.
That Wagner was spiritually toxic would have been a hard Biblical reality for Rainer and the SBC to have missed.
This certainly begs the question, why would a high-level SBC official endorse a known false teacher, a man who claimed to be a modern-day apostle, and one that the apostle Paul anathematizes,  “For such men are false apostles, deceitful workmen, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ.  And no wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light.”  (2 Corinthians 11:13-14)  The clearest answer is the most obvious …  the SBC simply disregards the teaching of Scripture.  The endorsement of a charlatan, frankly, isn’t a surprise for a convention in which the sufficiency of Scripture is consistently, pragmatically absent. The Convention’s willingness to endorse teachers that Paul clearly condemns as agents of Satan shows just how far the SBC, on the whole, has departed from Scripture and the apostolic gospel contained in it. 
(No wonder, then, that Lifeway stores are replete with the works of false teachers and heresy hurlers.  No one with doctrinal conviction is watching the store … and no one is watching those who are tasked to be watching the store.)
Given the prevalence of charlatans – including Rainer’s “mentor” – cited in Hawthorne’s “definitive book,” the SBC’s endorsement of it is not a mere oversight. They didn’t just have a Joel Osteen “oopsie” moment and mistakenly suggest something they didn’t know was dangerous. The SBC endorsed it because it does not care what its pew-sitters are being taught so long as what they’re being taught retains them as pew-sitters.  Just ask yourself, what is selling better among Scripture-ignorant goats than mystical, contemplative spirituality nonsense?  Nothing.  Just ask a LifeWay merchandiser.  The SBC is willing to endorse false teaching found in the heretical New Apostolic Reformation movement because it might bring crowds back to increasingly readily-available pews and, therefore, it is unwilling to “contend for the faith” (Jude 4) because doing so might alienate those prospective pew-sitting goats.
(Considering its million-member loss of the last decade, the SBC shakers and movers must be covetously eyeing the growth rate of pentecostalism around the globe.  In 1970 the adherents to pentecostalism numbered around 63 million, but by 2014, charismania, most often accompanied by the spiritually toxic prosperity gospel, had claimed a staggering 631 million globally. Perhaps endorsing charismatic false teachers is an olive branch extended, inviting them in to an increasingly doctrine-void, Scripture-less SBC.)
When it comes to walking and praying, there is no Scriptural prescription for it, nor any Scriptural prohibition against it. In fact, to take seriously –as we should – the exhortation to “pray without ceasing,” (1 Thessalonians 5:17) then walking and praying, or driving and praying, or eating and praying, or doing anything and praying is not out of order for the believer. It is the undiscerning approval and insertion of heretical additives to the concept of “prayer-walking” that makes the SBC’s endorsement of the practice dangerous and unbiblical.  It is the SBC’s eager promotion of NAR heresy that most clearly defines the convention’s posture as slouching towards apostasy.
The relationship of the SBC’s prayer-walking guide with the NAR-charismatic false teaching of spiritual mapping is evident. Speaking about this connection pastor and author Jim Osman said, “Prayer walking is not identical to spiritual mapping, but they do seem to both be related in that they are both a ‘territory’ approach to advancing some spiritual cause.”
“I wouldn’t be surprised,” says Osman, “if both practices have a common heritage, or if prayer walking was somehow adopted from the idea of mapping by those who might be a little less charismatic.”   Given what associations the SBC has established in its own prayer-walking guide, the “common heritage” seems evident, for the SBC’s recommended, “definitive guide” on the maneuver is drawn specifically from the spiritual mapping/territory perspective.
“I think the practice [prayer-walking] should be avoided because it does communicate a territorial approach, the idea that we are claiming some ground, or advancing some spiritual cause over the area walked. I think it is too confusing to people … I don’t promote or advance anything like prayer-walking.”  Jim Osman
J. Gresham Machen was, as in the quote at the start of this article, giving an unwelcomed but accurate assessment of the woeful condition of the church in his day.  Today his words ring with even louder clarity, if not too kind a tone. The “visible church” today – at least the portion occupied by the behemoth Southern Baptist Convention – isn’t merely falling “often into error and sin,” it is launching itself headfirst towards it.
The SBC, while bemoaning its numerical slide in membership, fails to see this very decline to be the direct result of the other slide which it refuses to acknowledge – the one away from sound doctrine, Biblical teaching, and Scriptural obedience.  It is this doctrinal downgrade that is the impetus of denominational decline.  When Christ in His Word is not exalted and obeyed, it is not a church of Christ at all. Christ will build – and is building – His church.  The SBC cannot do it, as is abundantly evident from both its failing efforts and, more decisively, the teaching of Scripture.  And millions of prayer-walking Baptists pleading for an awakening will not do it, either.
The decline in the SBC is directly related to the apostasy embraced, invited, taught, and endorsed by it.  God does not bless disobedience to His Word.  The SBC would do well to consider that.  The sufficiency of Scripture is more than a printed claim on a doctrinal statement; it is the fundamental tenet upon which authentic, God-given faith is fleshed out.
Machen, supplementing his comments about the ever-changing world and the apostasy of the church, directs the reader to the singular place in which private faith and public denominational obedience must be founded.
“There are many things that change, but there is one thing that does not change.  It is the Word of the living and true God.  The world is in decadence, the visible church is to a considerable extent apostate, but when God speaks we can trust Him, and His Word stands forever sure.”  J. Gresham Machen
The SBC, today, is actively endorsing NAR, charismaniacal false teaching.  It isn’t just creeping in secretly (2 Peter 2:1); the SBC is inviting it, printing it up, and subtly serving it as though it were authentic.  It’s just yet another church growth maneuver to be relevant to an ever-changing, increasingly depraved culture.  And it’s evidence that the SBC increasingly is abandoning even the appearance of holding to, and teaching, sound doctrine. (Titus 2:1)  In its doctrinal laxness and disregard of Scripture, the SBC is, as Machen observed of the post-war church in his day, “to a considerable extent apostate.”  The SBC should repent and return to Scripture.  As the inspired prophet wrote, that is the only firm thing standing in a world of constant change:
The grass withers, the flower fades,
    but the word of our God will stand forever.  Isaiah 40:8
Please, whether you walk or not while doing it, please pray for the SBC.  But instead of praying for the great awakening it wants, please pray for the awakening it truly needs … the one that drives them solely to the Word.  Until it finds itself there, its apostasy will continue …  And, when you can, share the Gospel with them … believe it or don’t, but I’ve a notion that many SBC pew-sitters haven’t actually heard it …
[Contributed by Bud Ahlheim]

A PostScript Segue on Russell Moore
Here’s my take on the current Moore brouhaha, an uproar that speaks volumes about the overwhelming lack of concern by Southern Baptists for Biblical truth. Could the SBC be better served with “no Moore?” Absolutely. The ERLC is defense exhibit number one that proves the SBC’s disregard for the sufficiency of Scripture. But, as if exhibiting the light-years of distance between the SBC and Scripture, while affirming its covetous desire for worldly alignment, political influence, and cultural significance, the SBC may actually jettison Moore for the entirely wrong reason. Moore was correct in his assessment of Trump, but the SBC, for whom political doctrine carries greater weight than Biblical doctrine, Moore may be “no more” for his vocal opposition to the now President-elect.
There is more than slight irony to the fact that, to all the egregious doctrinally progressive leniencies and ecumenical alliances incurred at the ERLC under Moore, the SBC has been blind and careless. But for him to attack the SBC’s and God’s “anointed man for the hour” has infuriated those in the SBC for whom politics matter more than faith. Nothing seems clearer about the SBC’s utter disregard for doctrine than willingly tolerating Moore’s progressive, ecumenical, social gospel agenda with nearly $4m in annual funding only to then balk and shout “touch not God’s anointed” when the “anointed” one happens to be the Republican nominee. Baptists can tolerate a man who insults Christ calling Him an “illegal alien,” but they can’t trust a man who bad mouths Trump.  This behavior isn’t mere hypocrisy on the part of the SBC, it is abject worldliness that bears no resemblance to New Testament Christianity.
Perhaps this is one of those occasions when a 1st-century entreaty is divinely applicable: “Whoever has ears to hear, let him hear” (Mark 4:9) because, should the SBC pink-slip Moore for political offensiveness, it is giving vivid testimony to the world of its supreme allegiance to that false form of faith known as “American Christianity,” in which Christ hung from a cross draped in the folds of Old Glory.  The SBC will be – by merely ejecting Moore to leave the ERLC intact – signaling its continuing, driving political and social ambitions, rather than witnessing to its absolute trust in the power of the Gospel and God’s proclaimed Word.  The SBC doesn’t trust God to effect the change He wants in America and the world; instead, the SBC will lobby the halls of American power to achieve the results it desires.  To pink-slip Moore for his commentary about Trump is to exhibit to the world that “contending for the faith” matters far less than compliance within the ranks to that impassioned, constant cry of pagan culture … tolerance.  To pink-slip Moore AND leave open the ERLC is to effectively paste a “COEXIST” sticker on the bumper of the SBC bus as it goes careening doctrine-free away from Scripture and Truth.
Should, however, it shutter completely the doors of the ERLC, repent for its worldliness, and return to submissive obedience to God’s Word, THEN the SBC could serve a powerful witness to a dying world in desperate need of a bold Christian stance for the power of God and the transforming Truth of the Gospel.  At the moment, though, that witness is not forthcoming from the SBC.  The SBC decidedly is more concerned, by its evident behavior, with things below than things above, and to leave the ERLC intact is to solidify its clench-jawed insistence on faith in temporal objectives.  God may be sovereign in heaven but, through the ERLC, the SBC wants to call the shots here, as best it can.  As it stands now, the SBC is increasingly becoming merely America’s protestant version of the anti-biblical apostasy found nestled on seven hills over by the Tiber.
Please pray that conviction and repentance would come to the convention and that Christ in His Word will be truly exalted above all other things in the SBC.  Pray that authentic faith in God would be exhibited by evident trust in the sufficiency of His Word.  Now THAT would be an awakening.  B.A.