Free Republic

RNS) — The Rev. Carma Wood didn’t become LGBTQ-affirming overnight. Rather, she said, it was due to the Holy Spirit’s prompting over several decades, not to mention personal experience, study and Scripture. “I have found the primary emphases woven throughout biblical texts to reflect a radical inclusivity found perhaps most profoundly in the person and ministry of Jesus,” she told Religion News Service. Now, Indiana Ministries — a jurisdiction of the Christian movement known as Church of God (Anderson, Indiana) — is investigating Wood, a retired Church of God pastor living in Anderson, and 16 other ministers for signing a...

A Canadian church is demonstrating how much they hate Jesus and his word, incorporating a drag show as part of their Easter Sunday service to show “solidarity with the LGBTQ+ community” and serve as a “sacred act of protest.” Calgary Unitarian ‘Church,’ led by the excretable Samaya Oakley, is putting on the ‘Drag Me to Church’ event to honor and celebrate International Transgender Day of Visibility, which overlaps with Easter Sunday. Alberta recently passed a law that prohibits child castration before the age of 18, and this den of wolves and goatlings is enraged by it, using a service typically...

<p>PHOENIX (AP) — A businessman pleaded guilty Tuesday to conspiring with the leader of an offshoot polygamous sect near the Arizona-Utah border to transport underage girls across state lines, making him the first man to be convicted in what authorities say was a scheme to orchestrate sexual acts involving children.</p>

A fascinating documentary has lifted the lid on life inside a fundamentalist Mormon community where families still practice 'plural marriage' - but insist they're nothing like the horrific FLDS cult founded by Warren Jeffs. Peter Santenello, 45, a popular YouTuber who is based in the US, recently spoke to a group of people who are part of what's known as the Righteous Branch of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints - and they spilled on everything from why the believe in polygamy to how the women combat 'jealousy' over their husbands spending time with his other wives....

A former Mormon has lifted the lid on the church's bizarre 'baptisms for the dead' - revealing the temple sent her to a cemetery to take pictures of gravestones as a kid and then forced her to participate in a ceremony for the deceased. Alyssa Grenfell, 31, who now works as an assistant principle in Austin, Texas, was raised in a 'devout Mormon family' in Utah, but decided to leave the 'controlling religion' in 2017. She has since dedicated her life to helping others 'navigate their own way out of the LDS church' - releasing her own 'guide' called How...

Police have released bodycam and security footage of the shooting in Lakewood church, showing the chaos and terror of the encounter. On February 11, 2024 Genesse Moreno entered Joel Osteen’s Lakewood Church with an AR-15 and opened fire, causing people to flee and take cover. Minutes later, she was dead and two people were injured, including the shooter’s seven-year-old son, who was shot in the head three times and remains in critical condition. As soon as the shooting begins, the off-duty officers instantly start towards the gunfire, with one saying, “We need to approach. Father God, just be with us....

Celebrity pastor Joel Osteen has said he's 'devastated' by the shooting at his Houston megachurch after two off-duty cops killed the shooter. Two other people were shot and injured, including a five-year-old boy who was hospitalized in critical condition. Osteen wrote on X that his 'community is devastated by today's events and grateful for the swift actions of law enforcement.' 'In the face of such darkness, we must hold onto our faith and remember that evil will not prevail,' he added. 'God will guide us through the darkest of times. Together, we will rise above this tragedy and stand firm...

Matthew Gooden had not been born when his father, Shawn, began sexually assaulting two young relatives, aged eight and nine. Matthew spent the first twenty years of his life blissfully unaware of the harrowing truth, leading what he thought was a normal upbringing in the Mormon church, in which his father had risen to the rank of bishop. It was not until Gooden's arrest in September 2022 that he was exposed as the monster he was. But to his son's horror, it transpired that church leaders had known of the abuse allegations almost two years earlier, but 'kept it secret'...

In the summer of 2011, Senior Pastor and Founder Brian Smith launched the First Heavy Metal Church of Christ. Branded with hard rock and metal messaging and ethos, it’s clear he’s targeting a very particular audience: According to the church website, “(We are a) bible-based church for those that would probably never step foot into a traditional church building because of snooty self-righteous, judgmental, legalistic so-called “Christians”… You know, the kind that tells you that you will go to Hell for drinking a beer, but yet Jesus turned water into wine! The kind that tells you that you will burn...

The United Church of Christ declined by over 286,000 members from 2012 to 2022, according to recently released statistics on the theologically liberal mainline Protestant denomination. A recent report by the UCC Center for Analytics, Research & Development and Data found that, from 2012 to 2022, the denomination experienced a net loss of 286,610 members and 551 congregations. Additionally, from 2020 to 2022, the UCC went from having 4,794 congregations to 4,603 congregations, with membership dropping from approximately 773,000 to approximately 712,000. The 2022 membership numbers also represented a sharp decline from 1960, when the denomination reported approximately 2.24 million...

The "Jesus Only" movement, also known as Oneness Pentecostalism or oneness theology, teaches that there is only one God, but denies the tri-unity of God. In other words, oneness theology does not recognize the distinct persons of the Godhead: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. It has various forms / modes / manifestations—some see Jesus Christ as the one God, who sometimes manifests Himself as the Father or the Holy Spirit. The core doctrine of Oneness Pentecostal / Jesus Only is that Jesus is the Father and Jesus is the Spirit. There is one God who reveals Himself in different "modes."...

https://youtu.be/PuGJ8LoaUSk?si=Ry-u9OKHqpeTYVPu

SALT LAKE CITY (ABC4) — Since Utah became a state in the late 1800s, most of its residents have been members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. But according to a new study, Utah isn’t majority Mormon anymore. A paper published this month in the Journal of Religion and Demography estimates that the percentage of Utahns who identify as members of the LDS church, otherwise known as Mormons, is about 42%. That’s markedly lower than previous media reports citing the church’s numbers, which put the percentage of Mormons in Utah at around 60% as recently as 2020....

The Tennessee Church of God has suspended Rick Sentell, a senior pastor at a church in Cleveland, following his indictment by a Bradley County Grand Jury on charges of possessing over 100 images of child sexual abuse on his laptop. T. Wayne Dority, the Administrative Bishop of the Tennessee Church of God, confirmed the suspension to News Channel 9, which quoted Dority as saying that the church was informed about Sentell’s indictment last week. Sentell, who served at the now-inactive Cornerstone Church of God in Cleveland, Tennessee, has been suspended from all ministerial activities in line with Church of God...

Several stories have been published about people getting arrested for publicly praying in the UK. Actually, that’s not quite right because some forms of prayer are more equal than others. If you are a Muslim, you are perfectly fine praying, or for that matter, calling for the murder of Jews and the elimination of Israel as a state. So, more appropriately, I should say that praying as a Christian is becoming illegal in Great Britain. Praying for the spread of Sharia law is just fine and dandy.But according to @metpoliceuk, this is just fine. pic.twitter.com/5iF1Nc08M8— Annette Jals (@AMJalsevac) December 18,...

Tiny human here on one-of-a-kind earth, seeking comment on the birth of Jesus, and goodwill towards men. Fah la la la la, la la, la la...

A Mormon woman who was raped has revealed how her family blamed her for the attack and punished her for 'sinning.' Kristjana Hillberg, whose family practiced mainstream Mormonism, appeared on a recent episode of the Cults To Consciousness podcast to discuss her harrowing ordeal. The now 33-year-old laid bare the details of a sexual assault that left 'blood everywhere' and revealed how it made her mom 'sick.' She was forced to 'repent' her sins to the bishop in the aftermath and she was eventually disfellowshipped from the religion. Kristjana began by telling host Shelise Ann Sola what it was like...

Transformation Church in Tulsa, OK, hosted a celebration of life for the pro-choice, pro-LGBTQ, hell-denying, Trinity-denying,Universality, Unitarian Bishop Carlton Pearson on Friday, with lead pastor Michael Todd praising him as a “man of God” who faithfully lived out the gospel message. The event drew thousands, with several dignitaries and preachers honoring Pearson for his great faith and love for the Lord, interwoven with music and praise breaks. Todd introduced the event by explaining: This is a celebration of life. We are going to celebrate the life of Carlton D’Metrius Pearson… (this) man of God that we are celebrating today held...

Mormon leaders are 'covering up' an 'epidemic' of sexual abuse that rivals scandals exposed within the Catholic church, victims have alleged to DailyMail.com. The Utah-based religion has repeatedly protected perpetrators and punished those who speak out in a bid to protect its reputation 'at all costs', it is claimed. Victims believe abuse is 'rampant', with Mormon families said to be suffering 'extremely high rates of incest'. Young girls subjected to horrific abuse say they are told to 'forgive' their assailants and discouraged from reporting it to the police. The Mormon church has been embroiled in several high profile cases in...

A man has revealed how he escaped a polygamous Mormon cult before its former leader was sentenced to life behind bars for child sex offences. Ben, based in Utah, appeared on a recent episode of the Cults to Consciousness podcast to share what it was like growing up in the Fundamentalist Latter Day Saints Church (FLDS) with two moms, who were sisters, and 28 siblings. FLDS was a break away group which branched off from the original Mormon church when the mainstream religion ceased practicing polygamy. Ben laid bare the strict rules that were imposed by former self-appointed leader Warren...