#i guess i should have expected it. this dude had a Bible verse and some bullshit about masculine men and feminine women in his bio

[neverendingford]

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[bygraceonly]

Todd White ról (EN)

http://www.bygraceonly.com/2017/08/01/todd-white-rol-en/

Todd White ról (EN)

Todd White Flees Rebuke of Woman, Threatens to Call Police

BY SETH DUNN · PUBLISHED MARCH 8, 2017 · UPDATED MARCH 8, 2017

“For everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come to the Light for fear that his deeds will be exposed.” John 3:20

The following is a first-person account from Cindy McCann , a resident of Texas:

Monday, February 13th started off as a day just like any other. As part of my normal routine, I was sitting in a small room at the gym, along with other gymnastics parents, watching my daughter practice her floor routine. On this particular Monday, my lap was heavy with my bible and sermon notes. John MacArthur and Alistair Begg had preached at a conference at my church over the weekend. In the hope of gleaning every grain of truth which had been presented to me by these upstanding preachers, I was using my daughter’s practice time to review my Scripture-rich sermon notes. These teachers are men of God who rightly divide the Word of Truth verse by verse (2 Timothy 2:15). In my effort to increase in the knowledge of God (Colossians 1:10), fill my mind with truth (Philippians 4:8), and seek the things that are above (Colossians 3:1-2), I prayed that the Lord would strengthen my soul. I would need it; soon I would be face-to-face with one of the most notorious false teachers in America.  As I continued mediating on God’s word, a familiar figure passed in front of me and sat on the metal bleacher below. His waist length dread locks and lifestylechristianity.com “ministry” t-shirt had caught my eye during a prior practice session. My curiosity about this “ministry” was piqued when I overheard a fellow gym mom say that she “recognized him from TV.” After hearing her say that, I just had to find out who this man was and what he taught.

His name is Todd White.

In the weeks leading up to the 13th of February, I had spent hours upon hours reading about Todd White and Lifestyle Christianity. I watched YouTube video after YouTube video of his “miraculous” faith healings and enthusiastic tear-filled Scripture-less rants about how much Jesus loves his viewers. White usually dons flashy button-up collared shirts; he is quite charming. While on stage, he refers to women as “honey” and men as “dude.” His friendly and charismatic personality is appealing to itching ears. In a jovial tone, he admits to his followers that he does not prepare when he “preaches”, In hours upon hours of watching him, I have yet to see him use a bible. There is no mention of sin in his teachings; nor is there any mention of repentance and the need for forgiveness. A viewer will, however, hear about his own value.

According to Todd White, “The price you pay for something determines its value…The cross is the revealing of my value.”

After learning much about Todd White and his “ministry,” I knew enough to warn the sheep but I never expected to come face-to-face with this wolf. As I sat behind him, my blood boiled at the thought of his deception. As far as I am aware, I have never been in such close proximity to a well-known false teacher. My body was literally trembling, not out of fear or uncertainty, but because I grieve over his distortion of truth. I grieve for those lost souls that follow his teachings, the ones that believe that their chronic ailment hasn’t been healed because they just don’t have enough faith. In the midst of the situation, I prayed, asking the Father to help me do the right thing. I prayed for courage and boldness to stand up for the truth. I prayed for Him to give me the words if I should speak. As a woman approaching a man such as this, I was honestly a little apprehensive.

“Now I urge you, brethren, keep your eye on those who cause dissensions and hindrances contrary to the teaching which you learned, and turn away from them. For such men are slaves, not of our Lord Christ but of their own appetites; and by their smooth and flattering speech they deceive the hearts of the unsuspecting.” ‭‭Romans‬ ‭16:17-18‬

I was somewhat relieved when he got up and left the room. As he did, he brushed past me with my opened bible in my lap. We exchanged glances. Just the mere closeness to this master deceiver made me tremble. Once he left the room, I could breathe again. I looked over at my mom, who was next to me on my other side and literally sighed a breath of relief. Todd White’s presence in that small room made the room seem a lot more hot and stuffy than it actually was. A few minutes passed; class was over and it was time to head downstairs to get my daughter. As I approached the last few steps, I saw White and overheard him telling a woman about his latest conference and how many were healed. The woman he was speaking to appeared to be in awe. I edged a little closer to them to hear his story. My daughter came around the corner; she was astonished when she saw to whom I was standing next. I ordered her to go wash her hands. She knew what was about to take place; Mama had work to do.

My daughter and I study scriptures together. Both of us understand the danger that false teachers pose to the church and the responsibility of believers to mark and expose such. The time had come for me to respond to God in obedience. The conversation Mr. White was having with the other parent had come to an end. He turned toward me and smiled a big white toothy smile. It wasn’t hard to see why he attracts so many. He is very friendly and approachable… until you ruffle his feathers, that is.

He greeted me with “Hello!” and I said “Hi” back to him. He proceeded to ask me how I was and if I was feeling okay. I knew what was coming next. I had seen this time and time again in his videos. He approaches someone and with the intention of healing her. He brings up a medical issue and lays hands on her, because he has “the gift of healing.” After praying (as many times as it takes if “healing” doesn’t come after the first prayer), she is supposedly healed. Lots of amazement and hugging follows. There is simply no mention of sin, repentance, or the need of a Savior.

“Do not participate in the unfruitful deeds of darkness, but instead even expose them” Ephesians 5:11

I had already decided I was playing no part in this nonsense. So, I looked him in the eye and I said, “I know who you are.” I think he was a bit flattered at first. “You do?” he asked.

Me: “Yes, and I am familiar with your ministry.”

TW: “You are?”

Me: “Yes, and I know you are a false teacher.”

TW: “Why would you say that?”

Me: “Because I study the Scriptures.”

TW: “And I don’t study the Scriptures?”

Me: “Salvation comes from faith and repentance. You do not teach the true gospel.”

TW: “Honey, you obviously haven’t heard me preach!”

Me: “I have done my research. Someone who calls himself a preacher and does not teach about sin and repentance is a false teacher.”

TW: “I know what the problem is. The problem is you are caught up in religion.”

Me: “No, that is not the problem. I am praying for you.”

TW: “Honey, you are not praying for me.”

Me: “Please, do not call me honey. I am not your honey. I am praying for you to repent.”

TW: “You have an evil heart.”

Me: “Have you ever listened to a preacher exposit God’s word verse by verse?”

TW: “Why would I? I have God’s word!”

Me: “What preachers do you preach alongside? Benny Hinn?”

TW: “I think I’ve preached with Benny once. I go to Gateway. I guess you would call Robert Morris a heretic, too?”

Me: “Absolutely, I do. He does not teach about sin. I am praying for you to repent.”

TW: “You aren’t praying for me. Have you ever seen God do a miracle? I see them every day!”

Me: “The greatest miracle of all is when someone repents and is given a new heart.”

TW: “I see miracles every day. Do you see miracles every day?”

Me: “Your miracles are not from God. I see a miracle every time someone responds rightly to the true gospel.”

TW: “You have blasphemed the Holy Spirit. If it weren’t for Jesus Christ, my daughter wouldn’t be here.”

Me: “What exactly does that mean?”

TW: “I was a drug addict for years and God brought me out of my addiction, brought me my wife, and blessed us with my daughter.”

Me: “I am praying for your family, your beautiful daughter, and for you to repent.”

TW: “You aren’t praying for me. You have an evil heart and you are full of pride.”

Me: “Why do you say that?”

TW: “Because you think you are right.”

Me: “I don’t think I am right. I know the Bible is right.”

TW: “God is love. We are to love others. Rebuking me is not loving.”

At some point toward the end of our conversation, his daughter walked up and was standing there. My daughter had walked to the car with my mother. Besides saying things that clearly upset him, I never used an ugly tone. This encounter broke my heart. I walked back to my car, thanking the Lord for the opportunity to call Todd White to repentance. It sure is much easier to click the share link on social media to warn the flock of the dangers of ravenous wolves. It is quite different to be standing face to face with the one you are exposing. Brothers and sisters, we must be equipped.

Please understand this, I take no joy in calling out Todd White. As a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, I take guarding the purity of God’s Word serious (1 Timothy 1:18-19; 6:20; 2 Timothy 4:2-5). This man has a wife and children. He has a real, flesh-and-blood family. Seeing his daughter standing there next to him grieved my heart. I was being truthful in all I said to Todd, including that I am praying for his family. I would love nothing more than to see this man turn from his false ways and honor the Lord.

Little did I know, just 3 days later, I would see Todd White again.

I had no idea we are both members at the same fitness center. I could not believe my eyes when I saw him on the elliptical machine. Since our daughters attend the same gym, I assumed I would run into him again, but not in this particular setting. I laid eyes on him before he saw me, so I had time to pray, gather my mental notes, and request prayer from faithful saints via text message. Since our first encounter, I had sought godly counsel and literally listened to and watched hours upon hours more of Todd White’s “preaching” and “healings.” As I listened, I paused over and over to quote his claims and refute with Scripture. At the point of our second meeting, I was even more familiar with his false teachings than I was when I first encountered him. I was ready to speak to him again. As his machine came to a halt, I brought my treadmill to a stop. I walked over to him and smiled.

Me: “Hi!”

TW: “I can’t talk to you.”

Me: “I have been thinking about our conversation and I would like to talk to you about some things.”

TW: “I am done talking to you.”

Me: “You won’t even talk to me for a minute? Come on, I have some questions for you.” TW: “I have a hair appointment downstairs at 11am.”

Me: “Great! I can just walk with you and we can talk.”

TW: “No. After the other night, I went home and talked to my wife and kids and we prayed together. If you get near me or my family again, I will call the cops. If your daughter tries anything against my daughter, I will call the cops.”

Me: “Are you serious?!”

TW: “Yes!”

Me: (continuing to walk with him) “You know, you called me unloving the other day for rebuking you. Have you read Matthew 23, where Jesus rebukes the Pharisees? Do you think that was unloving of Jesus?”

TW: “I know the Scriptures and I don’t need to hear them from you!”

He literally refused to have a conversation with me and ran away. I found this quite contradicting, since he prides himself on not fearing man. He tells of a time when he was willing to risk being shot in the head by two armed thugs in a dark alley in order to very “humbly” perform a “healing” on one of the guy’s knees. Yet, he runs from a suburban homeschool mom in the middle of broad daylight surrounded by hundreds of people in a busy gym. Don’t misunderstand, Todd White is not afraid of me. He is running from the truth in the power of his flesh. I will most likely see Todd White again and you better believe, I will once again be ready in power of the Holy Spirit.

I want to leave you with my observations as I listened and responses from watching hours of Todd White:

Todd White does not use a bible when he teaches. When he does quote Scripture (which is rare), it is more often than not, used out of context.

Todd White claims that, “You are not saved so you can get to heaven, but so that heaven can get in you and you can destroy Hell as a warrior and one that has enlisted himself.” He has said, “You were created to stomp hell.”

Todd White often seems like he is about to read a Bible passage but then gets sidetracked and makes the audience laugh and never actually gets to the Scripture.

Todd White claims that it is not God that takes away, it is only Satan that causes any negativity in your life. He actually said this, “If God was in control, Satan could not steal, kill, and destroy.”

Todd White suggests that backaches, toothaches, and hearing problems are the world’s greatest problem,

Todd White ends his conferences with all the participants running through the “fire tunnel”. This is a mystical practice where Todd White (supposedly imparted with the gift of healing) lays hands on everyone as they go through the tunnel and the gift is imparted onto these folks, as well.

Todd White has said, “All of creation is groaning for you to manifest Jesus.”

Todd White’s testimonies and his students’ testimonies have no substance.  There are many promises of spiritual blessings and benefits, but no deliverance.

*The conversation is not word-for-word but is presented to the best of Cindy’s recollection. 

Forrás: http://pulpitandpen.org/2017/03/08/todd-white-flees-rebuke-of-woman-threatens-to-call-police/

#Hamis_próféták, #Jelen_Idők

[ricardosousalemos]

The Magnetic Fields: 50 Song Memoir

Following his late-1990s triumph 69 Love Songs, Stephin Merritt began cannily organizing his Magnetic Fields songs. There was 2004’s alphabetic i, followed by the genre filters of 2008’s Distortion and 2009’s Realism. In 2012, Merritt took on a slightly defeatist project—“the concept is there is no concept!”—with Love at the Bottom of the Sea, an album whose lack of thematic unity resulted in a disappointingly uneven listen. Now, the Magnetic Fields return with a record that, like 69 Love Songs, forces Merritt to get focused and inspired. 50 Song Memoir is easily the best gimmick Merritt’s stumbled upon since the turn of the century.

Arranged chronologically with a song for each of the first 50 years of Merritt’s life, 50 Song Memoir is a conceptually satisfying work, spanning five discs and two-and-a-half hours without feeling repetitive or samey. If there’s one thing Merritt has learned over his three decades as a songwriter—besides how to seamlessly insert limericks into songs—it’s how to pace himself on record, keeping his quasi-showtunes from becoming cloying, his jokier ones from turning precious, and his ballads from sounding melodramatic.

Of course, for anyone turned off by the idea of Merritt—an escapist pop descendent of Bacharach and Sondheim—getting all Benji on us, you will be relieved to know that the story of his life sounds a lot like a Magnetic Fields album, and a very good one at that. There are some deeply revealing moments here. The opening songs, in particular, pinpoint the origins of Merritt’s career-spanning themes of placelessness and unrequited love—how they began with his parents’ wanderlust and a childhood cat, respectively. But 50 Song Memoir often takes a less literal route through Merritt’s life. “’76 Hustle 76” illustrates its time period by mimicking the then-inescapable sound of disco. Judy Garland’s death gets its own song, as does the rise of synthesizer music in the early ’80s. For a songwriter who once formulated an entire record around the first-person pronoun, 50 Song Memoir is more selfless than its title indicates. Here, Merritt seems more interested in exploring the moments that mark time—where we’ve lived, who we’ve loved and lost—than tracing his own particular narrative.

As a result, 50 Song Memoir is an immersive, incisive listen, despite its avoidance of traditionally memoiristic details (we never, for example, learn the names of Merritt’s parents, whether he has siblings, what it was like trying to follow-up a breakthrough album, etc). The themes that Merritt addresses over multiple songs become the album’s guiding lights. “All the young dudes of 25/Caught diseases, few survived,” he sings in “’90 Dreaming in Tetris,” before explaining, “We expected nuclear war/What should we take precautions for?” The AIDS crisis influences many of these songs, adding an ominous shadow to the darker tracks and a mournful tone to the love songs.

There’s something jarring about Merritt singing so directly about his fears—even his bleakest work used to come bundled with the naivety of a hopeless romantic. It helps that most of the album sits squarely in Merritt’s musical comfort zones. Like Love at the Bottom of the Sea, 50 Song Memoir draws inspiration from the sounds of each of his records, from the psychedelic synth pop of Holiday to the indie-film-trailer twee of i, even making room for genre exercises in dance music (his Future Bible Heroes records) and surf-rock (Distortion).

By the album’s end, though, the songs begin to lack the cultural context that distinguished the earlier ones, and 50 Song Memoir borders on morphing into just Several More Love Songs. But among these sit some of his finest tracks. “I guess there’d be other fish in the sea/But I don’t want fishes and you don’t want me,” he sings in the exquisite “’05 Never Again.” It’s the exact kind of song that would turn to putty in the hands of a lesser writer, but Merritt knows how to wring it for emotional resonance. In fact, its place near the end of the album almost signals—more than the impact of the breakup—his growing mastery as a songwriter. It suggests that our deepest wisdom can be located in our most personal thoughts. “I wish I had something better to do,” he sings, “But even my own clothes remind me of you.”

Just one song later, Merritt gets a little too specific, showing what the album might have been if he took its title more seriously. In “’06 ‘Quotes,’” Merritt dredges up an old controversy that involved several music critics accusing him of racism. The subject matter has him sounding slightly bitter and self-righteous, but even worse, it simply doesn’t make for a good Magnetic Fields song. Merritt’s work has always been less confessional and more “Things Fitting Perfectly Into Other Things”: you listen to his songs and marvel at how effortlessly he packs his thoughts into verse, one rhyme parlaying into the next. The best of 50 Song Memoir plays to his gifts (“From the time I began, I was mostly vegan,” he boasts in an early song), but with an extra layer of urgency, tied to the task of representing an entire year in a tightly structured pop song. “I am the least autobiographical person you are likely to meet,” Merritt admitted with typically humdrum candor in an interview about the album, “I will probably not write any more true songs after this than I did before.” He’s likely already dreaming up his next project—putting the past behind him and moving on, his catalog 50 songs richer as a result.

[a-irid]

O Posto da Saúde

Some background information: Charity and I were staying with two year-long missionaries, one of which is a nurse and volunteers in the community's health post.

The Amazon community of Membeca will forever have a special place in my heart. At first glance --and smell, it might not be as obvious to why this might be. But my time here was a time of scratching, sweating, laughing until I cried, and tons and tons of learning. Membecs, as we like to call it, is a town that keeps on giving.

Many of Membecs gifts are in the form of unique experiences. One of the first of such experiences came on our fist Sunday there right before we were about to start making lunch. Charity and I were walking down a street when we see women and children running and screaming in the opposite direction and into their homes. “Weird”, we thought. So we walked a way different from where they came from to get home. Later, a woman comes a-knocking on our door and asks to speak to Tamara, the volunteer nurse. My ability to eavesdrop in Portuguese isn't quite 100% but I definitely heard something about blood being everywhere. Sad to say that my first thought was “Finally, some action”. Tamara grabs some basic first aid equipment and invites the rest of us to come with her.

We follow Tamara walking at a quick but reasonable pace because, for starters, due to the lack of entertainment people love to gossip. So if you hear that someone's dying they might actually just be having dinner with their family. (True story) The point is that often what you hear just isn’t so. Secondly, the ground turns to slippery clay when it's raining and this day happened to be real wet one. I had already slipped once and I learned two things. One, mud stains are hard to get out when washing clothes by hand. Two, you really don’t want mud on your pants because then you can’t pass them off as clean a couple days later. Shoutout to the washing machine and dryer back at home.

Anyways, we get to the house to find a 17-year-old boy with blood all over his clothes and a stab wound on his left hand. So I guess this time what we heard was true. Tamara inspects the hand and tells the family that we need to get him to the clinic where she’ll be able to stitch him up. This would require the help of some of his cousins as he was too drunk to even sit up, much less walk a couple hundred meters. (For those of you in the US, meters is this thing thats kind of like yards but different and makes a lot more sense) This kid is obviously going to need some help. The mom then raises a concern we weren’t expecting. “But he might get shot”.

There had been a party going on since the Friday before in which deafening music, drinking, and perhaps many other unhealthy activities were taking place. On that Sunday morning while Charity and I were walking home, the women and children running and screaming we saw were the aftermath of a drunken brawl between a couple men. This 17-year-old was among the instigators and someone at the party conveniently located near the health post was not very happy with him. Also, there was a man with a bleeding head somewhere that we didn’t know the location of, yet. Tamara greatly insisted that he really needed to get to the health post. The cousins picked him up and started the journey.

After many close slips and prayers that nothing bad would happen, we got to the health post. By now, many people had heard what had happened and started gathering at the glass sliding doors. Some were worried family members. Some were people who weren’t happy with this boy. Most were just random adults and kids from the community seeking some entertainment for the day. When I absentmindedly accepted the keys from someone, I was granted the office of populace containment. So yeah, crowd control, which is perfect for an intimidating personality as myself.

Tamara then asked Charity to put on her flip flops and some gloves because she was going to assist her. Geovana, the other missionary, was taking an elderly woman’s blood pressure who came in not feeling well. And I was doing my thing at the door. Then, two men came up to the door looking like they belonged so I let them in and locked the door behind them. Lucky for me, one was the President of the community and the other was the clinic’s technician who had the keys to a box of supplies that were needed, both whom I had never met. What can I say? I guess I just have a bouncer’s intuition.

As the technician passes me by it is evident that he too is drunk. *insert facepalm* He then decides that he will be the one to be assisting Tamara, not Charity. Tamara was like, “No thank you, Charity will do just fine.” But this guy wasn’t having it. So after some cleaning, Tamara and the drunk technician start working away at the wound of a passed out drunk boy. Tamara sow’s and he carelessly swings his arm with the scissors surprisingly actually cutting thread. However, on one swing he almost cut the actual stitch and on another he almost cut Tamara. When all was done, the other dudes carried their cousin back home, there was blood on the floors and walls, people had finally left the health post, and we were starving.

A couple days later, I read Ecclesiastes 12 and verse13 says, “Now all has been heard; here is the conclusion of the matter: Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man.” Now this verse can seem kind of dry and very authoritarian but somehow it got me thinking about our place in the fight between good and evil, or the Great Controversy, and how evident that battle was in this community. With extremely young parents, drunken fights, defects from drug use, what can I do? I am eager to be of service to God, but at the same time I was feeling helpless. Then I started thinking, “I am the drunken technician”.

You see, I am not perfect. I don’t always do my devotionals like I should. I don’t always love my neighbor in the manner that I am called. I don’t always love God in the form that he deserves. But here I am swinging my arms hoping that I can be of some use. And for some odd reason, God has decided to use me. Through his mercy, he has kept me from harm to myself and to others. And there’s something absolutely beautifully about God’s ability to bring good from our incapacitated selves. But theirs a flip side of the coin that I felt like God was trying to teach me.

Many times in the bible God calls Israel and some pretty cool people to consecrate themselves right before they went into battle did something real crazy. They took time to come to fear God and know his word so that he could guide them to victory. Some here I am all hi-ho about being a missionary and getting my hands dirty so that people might see Jesus. But If I fear God and keep his commandments which in summary is love, then my mere existence will turn into a witness and give people hope. I don’t just want to settle for being the drunken technician. I want to be a consecrated servant with the unselfishness  fearlessness of the young men who carried their cousin to the health post despite possible danger and discomfort to themselves. I want to be a consecrated  servant with the readiness and reliability of the volunteer nurse who is always ready to help and was different from the rest of the clinic faculty in that she was never in danger in being found intoxicated. This is where I want to stand in the Great Controversy, being well aware that these qualities cannot be found in myself but only found through him who strengthened the armies of Israel.