I vow to serve God for the rest of my life – Davido gives testimony in church [VIDEO]

I vow to serve God for the rest of my life – Davido gives testimony in church [VIDEO]

Renowned Nigerian music star, born David Adeleke, popularly known as Davido was pictured at a church in Lagos State on Sunday sharing testimonies.

He stood before the congregation at the Redeemed Christian Church of God parish, RCCG, City of David, Victoria Island.

“Praise the Lord,” he screamed.

“I normally wake up late but I woke up this morning and my friend beckoned on me, ‘OBO, let’s go to church.’

“God has been blessing me so much I never really have time to come and thank Him.

“So I decided to come and thank Him.”

Also, on his Instagram page @davidoofficial, he wrote: “Happy Sunday peeps. Come and see the Lord is good.

“I vow to serve you for the rest of my life. Everlasting father.

“2017 will be great for all of us.”

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Donnie McClurkin Tells Christians to Stop Protesting Donald

Donnie McClurkin Tells Christians to Stop Protesting Donald
   

Pastor Donnie McClurkin believes Christians should leave protesting President Donald Trump to the world and shift their focus.

"We need to know what our vote really means and how to utilize it. But I don't want us to get caught up in this protest," the gospel singer and pastor of Perfecting Faith Church in Freeport, New York, said on syndicated radio show Get Up! Mornings With Erica Campbell. "The protests do nothing but rile [people] up. It causes people's anger to rise up and it gives us a false sense of involvement."

For McClurkin, "the true sense of involvement is at the voting booth."

However, Campbell disagreed with the sentiments that protesting is meaningless. The syndicated radio host who got her start singing in Mary Mary insisted protesting captures the attention of the necessary people.

"It stops their progress. It makes the police have to respond and they have to spend money, they have to clear the streets and they have to organize," she said. "So it makes them pay a little more attention..."

However, McClurkin insisted that the only money being spent in those situations were taxpayer dollars. While the pastor and "We Fall Down" singer insisted that he didn't vote for Trump because of his "lack of policy, misogynistic ideals, [and] racism," he called for Christians to deal with Trump's presidency with prayer instead of protest.

"Now is our time to pray for him. This is the job of the church," he said. "Let the world protest but the job of the church now is to go into prayer and pray that, number one, he succeeds, because if he fails, we have to deal with the consequences as a nation," he said before quoting 2 Chronicles 7:14. "America is in a place that it has never been before and the Christian has got to be who God has called us to be."

While Campbell didn't totally agree with her friend McClurkin, her sister, fellow gospel singer Tina Campbell, sang a different tune by writing an open letter to Trump that she shared on social media last week.

Citing Ephesians 3:20, Campbell revealed why she is choosing to publicly show compassion for the president even though she disagrees with him.

"I believe that understanding and compassion is absolutely necessary for the progress of all people. So, although I don't always understand or agree with Mr. Donald Trump's politics, perspective, and approach, I believe that the same God that created all of us has deposited greatness inside of him that goes far beyond what many of us have seen and what many of us could imagine," she wrote on social media. "I believe that God can do exceeding abundantly above all that we can ask or think, according to the power that works in us. I believe that the power that works in us is our ability to love, and unify, and humble ourselves, and forgive, and hope, and pray, and educate ourselves, and apply wisdom and hard work to knowledge."

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Kari Jobe Talks of Healing Birthed From New Album After Family Tragedy

Kari Jobe Talks of Healing Birthed From New Album After Family Tragedy

   

Grammy-nominated worship leader Kari Jobe shared with The Christian Post the intimate details surrounding the tragedy and healing that led to the release of her new album, The Garden.

Two years before Jobe's new album release, she found herself in a season of celebration. She had just gotten married to her husband, Cody Carnes, and shortly after got pregnant and moved to Nashville. Both she and her sister were pregnant at the same time and she said everything was really "fun" and exciting, until tragedy struck.

Toward the end of her pregnancy, Jobe's sister had to give birth to what Jobe calls a "sleeping angel." Her sister's baby did not survive and it devastated the family.

"She was already back with Jesus before we got to meet her," Jobe told The Christian Post. "Just navigating those emotions in that difficult season, while being pregnant and also still having life growing inside of me was uncharted waters. So it took me a season to get the air back in my lungs."

Jobe remembered being so overwhelmed with sorrow and filled with disappointment and questions.

Jobe and her family, being people of faith, were praying that the outcome would be different but when their prayers weren't answered the singer said it forced her to take a minute and ask God what His plan was in all of it.

"You have to turn your why into something. You can't just sit in those questions because it just causes more questions," Jobe explained. "I just began to pour my heart out in song. Praying that God would meet us in that place of pain and speak to us."

The 35-year-old said she had to fight a lot of fear before the birth of her son because the cause of her sister's loss was not determined. She took extra precaution and put herself on bed rest. She stopped flying, changed her diet, and quit working out.

"I think I went to the ER about three or four times out of fear. I just wanted to hear his heartbeat," Jobe explained.

While writing and creating The Garden, Jobe went on to give birth to a healthy baby boy named Canyon.

"Canyon has brought a lot of joy and a lot of healing to our family through it all," she said. "It's just one of those things that's uncharted but God walked us through it."

She turned every step of her journey into songs on The Garden and the music is built to reach the heart of God and the souls of people who are willing to surrender their pain to Him, as Jobe did.

Although the pain was intense, Jobe said God was with them every step of the way.

"At the same time there was such a sense of God's presence, of His goodness surrounding us. Looking back, I sensed His presence so strong and my sister was just so gorgeous walking through it. She would call me and just tell me, 'I can't wait to meet your baby, I'm so excited,'" Jobe shared.

As Jobe turned to prayer and her album to cry out to God, she offered advice to the many people in her generation that are hurting over the current condition of the world.

"Honestly, if I was sitting in a room with millennials, people of my same age and younger, I would just say, 'OK, stop whining and stop being fearful and get on your face and pray. We have to pray. We have to take it to prayer before we take it to social media," she advised.

"We're so surrounded with sharing our feelings and making sure our opinions are put out there because we know people are listening and watching so we feel like there's a responsibility to say something, but I'm trying to be careful to not say something before I've prayed it."

She admitted that like others she can also find herself being fearful and not praying at all if she stays on social media and watches the news all day.

But then she asks herself, "'What's the perspective of God?' It comes back to some of the stuff that I just wrote for this album. God, you knew this was gonna happen before it happened, nothing surprises Him."

She said instead of stressing out she just decides to walk in peace and pray Scripture over her life.

The Texas Native echoes the posture she hopes for people to be in with hit single "Heal Our Land." Jobe referenced 2 Chronicles 7:14, which instructs people to humble themselves and pray.

"It's pretty strong language from God. Pray, but not just pray - Seek Him as well! That means taking time to really hear the heart of God," the songstress stated. "I think it would really change what people are saying. I think people would be talking a little bit more out of faith than fear."

Jobe said her song "Speak to Me" is her favorite on the album.

"That's one my favorites, and I think I love it because sometimes we just need to sit and wait," she explained. "Because of social media and the way that our culture is now we're so quick to share everything. Sometimes I think we just need to create space again to wait on God and not be in a hurry."

She challenged people to examine whether or not they make space for God.

Now married and a mother, Jobe said she has to make space for God and her family in the midst of her busy tour schedule.

"I have learned to put my phone down and be fully present, take deep breaths and not be in a hurry," she said of spending time with her son. "I don't want to look back and regret missing anything because I was busy."

The worship leader ended the interview by talking about the importance of praise.

"We all are created to worship and we all worship something even if we're not worshiping God. The fruit of our lives will speak for what we are worshiping," she maintained. "For me personally, worship music is something that helps me pray and say things to God that I haven't been saying. Or it helps me connect to Him."

Jobe doesn't believe that worship should be put in a box and said sometimes she finds herself worshiping to songs that aren't what standard "worship music" might sound like.

"There's some Lecrae songs that I'm like, 'That's incredible. I wouldn't have thought to say that in that way.' But if it catches something that you've been needing to say to God, I think that's worship," she concluded.

Her album, The Garden, is now available and Jobe will be touring for the record on "The Garden Tour." She will also be offering worship workshops in certain cities specifically for people who feel called to lead in worship.

To get the album or for more information, visit her webs

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Is Donald Trump 'the Last Trump' Before Jesus Christ's Return?

Is Donald Trump 'the Last Trump' Before Jesus Christ's Return?

   

Is Donald Trump specifically named in the New Testament prophecies about the end times? Some are speculating that the new U.S. president is "the last trump" that is mentioned in the Bible and that his geopolitical moves are heralding the end times. But one biblical expert says not so fast.

Dr. Samuel Lamerson, professor of New Testament and president of Florida's Knox Theological Seminary, told The Christian Post that such analysis is "ridiculous."

"First of all, it only works in the English language. The New Testament was written in Greek. Second of all, it only works in the King James Version and some other older translations. Many other translations will have 'trumpet' instead of 'trump,'" Lamerson explained.

Historian David Montaigne, who has written End Times and 2019, Antichrist 2016-2019, and The Two Witnesses of Revelation, pointed to two Bible passages in an online post last year that refer to "trump:"

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1 Thessalonians 4:16 reads: "For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first."

I Corinthians 15:52 states: "Behold, I show you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed."

Montaigne noted that it is possible to look into such verses and explore what they might be saying about God's plans concerning Trump.

"I am not suggesting that Donald Trump absolutely *IS* the last trump – but since the LAST TRUMP is one of the most clear and final signs in end times prophecy, can we overlook the possibility that a presidential candidate named Trump is being used as a sign by God?" he posed.

Rejecting the argument, Lamerson told CP that he doubts that any New Testament scholar with legitimate credentials would give weight to such reading of prophecy.

"It's a textbook example of how not to read the text," Lamerson stressed. "It's what we would call an exegetical fallacy.

"These ideas that somehow the current president is named in the New Testament is the sort of thing that I teach my students to avoid at all costs."

Lamerson pointed out that this kind of discussion took place from Barack Obama's presidency all the way back to Abraham Lincoln.

"I think that often people forget that the book of Revelation was written 2,000 years ago," he said. The notion that what the Scripture says applies to the shape of the political world today "is to totally misunderstand what exactly is going on there," he added.

Other end times prophets have focused on the wider impact of Trump's presidency so far, such ashis criticism of the European Union, particularly when it comes to allowing millions of refugees to enter its territory.

Author and commentator Erika Grey, who analyzes Israel, the U.S., Russia, and other major players in geopolitics today and their role in biblical prophecy, has linked Trump's opposition to the EU to factors that could bring about the end times.

While previous U.S. administrations all embraced the EU, Trump has taken the opposite stance, Grey noted, and aligned himself with Britain's Nigel Farage of the UKIP party, who successfully oversaw Brexit, or Britain voting to leave the EU.

"In end time Bible Prophecy we know that the EU is going to become the greatest most powerful world empire to have ever existed and it is going to be an economic powerhouse," she wrote on her website.

"Despite BREXIT and Donald Trump in Bible Prophecy the EU is still going to move forward despite taking these bumps. With Donald Trump as president there is a new sheriff in town and the era of EU, US relations has come to an end, but with the new president will come a geopolitical shift and the EU will continue to move forward even to the surprise of some EU officials."

People have long been making predictions about U.S. presidents playing a part in end times prophecy, Lamerson noted, and they have all turned out to be wrong.

"I suppose sooner or later, just by pure luck, somebody is going to be right," the Knox Theological Seminary president commented. "But it will not be because they have carefully understood the text. One of the things about biblical prophecy is that often, it needs to be fulfilled before we can really understand it. It's intentionally vague. And often the fulfillment is much better than what we could have ever expected."

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Morgan Freeman Hears 'Extraordinary' 9/11 Survival Story As He Searches For Proof Of God

Morgan Freeman Hears 'Extraordinary' 9/11 Survival Story As He Searches For Proof Of God

Academy award winning actor Morgan Freeman has met with a 9/11 survivor in a search for "proof of God", calling the survivor's story "extraordinary".

Concluding season two of the National Geographic's The Story of God with Morgan Freeman, the actor this time visited New York City to explore the possibility of the proof of God, the Christian Post reports.

Freeman reflected on how distracting life in the city can be, and how in contrast to previous generations, many today are consumed with looking down at their screens.

Freeman said in his introduction: "But even in our modern world we still share something with our ancestors, that is the desire to find proof that God exists. Have we cut God out of our modern lives? Or are there special moments when God breaks through and makes his presence known?"

Freeman then met with Sujo John, a committed Christian who claims that he felt God's presence with him on September 11, 2001, and that it saved his life.

John and his preganant wife both worked at the Twin Towers at the time of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. John was on the 81^st floor of the north tower when the planes hit the towers, but managed to make it out alive. John immediately ran for the south tower to find his wife, but it was then that the towers collapsed.

"As the building is collapsing there is people with me and I'm huddled with them. I felt God speak to me in a very still voice, I felt God say, 'It's going to be OK,'" John told Freeman.

Freeman then asked, "You heard the voice of God? [He] spoke to you?"

John responds, "I did not hear God speak to me in an audible way but I felt God's inner voice speak to me and ask people to pray with me."

John said that he then called on the name of Jesus and he and others prayed as falling debris came down on them. John was stuck beneath the rubble, until he saw a red light which then enabled him to crawl out from beneath the wreckage. Those he has been with did not survive, and John expected the same of his pregnant wife.

Yet John suddenly received a phone call, from his wife. She asked: "Babe, are you alive?"

"So we're looking at a miracle right here," said Freeman.

"Yes, and it was God that preserved and saved my life. It's proof that there is a God," said John, who tells more of his story in the video below.

Freeman then asked why God hadn't saved everyone on that day.

John said: "Life on earth is such that no one is guaranteed today or tomorrow. Every human being on this earth will face death.

"But here's what I know from my experience. When you walk with God and go through the storms of life you have this peace in the presence of God. So if you carry the presence of God, even if it's going to be death, it's going to be ok."

Concluding, Freeman reflected on his meeting with John: "Sujo John's survival is extraordinary. Some say it's miraculous. What's most remarkable to me is that Sujo felt the unmistakable presence of God even while death and destruction were all around him."

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Hacksaw Ridge Isn't Just An Explicitly Christian Film, It's Also A Deserved Oscar Nominee

Hacksaw Ridge Isn't Just An Explicitly Christian Film, It's Also A Deserved Oscar Nominee

Lionsgate

Hacksaw Ridge won't win Best Picture at the Oscars next month, but its deserved presence on the shortlist represents something of a redemption story for director Mel Gibson. Ten years ago, his reputation was in tatters after an infamous drink-driving incident in which he reportedly made antisemitic remarks. After a long, deserved spell in the wilderness, during which he was effectively black-listed in Hollywood, Hacksaw Ridge represents his return to mainstream cinema, and perhaps also his forgiveness by the film community.

Fittingly, the movie tells its own remarkable story of redemption. Set around one of the most important battles in World War Two, Hacksaw Ridge is a biopic of Desmond Doss (Andrew Garfield), a Christian pacifist whose religious beliefs wouldn't allow him to fire or even hold a gun in battle. Yet unlike most conscientious objectors, Doss also felt compelled to enlist and join the fight as a medic – an idea which simply didn't align with military thinking at the time.

The film is very much a story in two very differently-themed halves. In the first, we see something of the life he leaves behind, including his courtship of wife Dorothy (Teresa Palmer), and then his attempt to make it through basic training without being thrown out of the army. At first he's accepted by his fellow enlistees, but when Drill Sergeant Howell (Vince Vaughan, in a brilliant piece of stunt-casting) informs them of Doss' pacifism, they quickly turn him into an outcast. Yet despite the soldiers trying to bully him out, and the officers trying to court-martial him out, Doss receives blessing to "run head-first into the hellfire of battle without a single weapon to protect him".

True to the word of the general who speaks that line, the second half of the story takes place in a pretty-much literal hell on earth. The Ridge of the title represents an almost-unconquerable Japanese stronghold, and as the Americans try to take it through repeated advances, Doss and his fellow medics are kept horrifically busy. Unfazed by the waking nightmare around him, Doss continually prays to God to help him rescue "one more... just one more" from the battlefield. As the casualties pile up, the apparent religious nut, rejected by his peers, slowly writes himself into US military history.

Gibson, who has also been nominated for an Oscar, does a tremendous job behind the camera, proficiently delivering tender romance, tense drama, and epic spectacle in the film's various component parts. The slightly uneven pacing is not surprising given the episodic structure, but the story never fails to engage throughout. We really care about what happens to Doss, mainly due to Garfield's mesmerising portrayal of an apparently simple man who is more complex than anyone gives him credit for. It's a stunning performance, and rivals any of the others on the Best Actor shortlist.

The film takes an extremely sympathetic view of faith, and certainly makes space for divine intervention, but unlike Martin Scorsese's recent Silence (which notably only received a single Oscar nomination), it doesn't bash you over the head with theological content. For me, Hacksaw Ridge presents the most positive and attractive portrayal of Christianity that I've seen on film. Faith is seen not only as a route to good personal morality, but also as a dynamic driving-force for good. Doss is propelled by his faith to perform extraordinary feats of courage, all while holding to counter-cultural principles about violence and behaviour. That's not to say that Christianity is seen simply as a great worldview; God himself is also seen as present and powerful in assisting Doss in literal miracles.

At one pivotal moment in the story, an officer tells Private Doss: "No-one ever won a war by dying for it." That line might be a little on-the-nose for some, but as Doss sets about to disprove it, the exposure of that flawed thinking creates a beautiful case for the Way of Jesus. Ridiculed by all those around him at first, Doss' worldview begins to make more and more sense in the context of a world gone mad and at war.

Having created The Passion of the Christ, and now said to be working on a Resurrection-based sequel, no-one in the world today is making a better case for the truth of Christianity – and on such a large scale – than Mel Gibson. But what's really remarkable about Hacksaw Ridge is that not only does it act as an awesome piece of pre-evangelism, but it's also a great film. It might not have the joyous escapism of La La Land or the dramatic oomph of Manchester by the Sea, but it is alternately moving and spectacular, and absolutely deserves to be recognised among the films of the year; faith-based film-making finally leading the way in art, instead of simply trying to replicate it.

Director Mel Gibson accepts the Hollywood Director Award for "Hacksaw Ridge" as cast members Andrew Garfield (L) and Vince Vaughn look on at the Hollywood Film Awards in Beverly Hills, CaliforniaReuters

It's important to be aware of our own biases when we're engaging with apparently faith-affirming media like this. Yet I believe Desmond Doss' story stands above them. Here was a man who truly understood what it was to live out his faith, and therefore to provide a witness to the work of God within him. Gibson has successfully magnified that witness to a global audience, and in a way that invites people to sympathise with Doss' faith, rather than alienating them because of it. Given where he was a decade ago, that's quite a redemption story.

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From Violent Witchcraft To Christ: Young Man's True Story Of Transformation

From Violent Witchcraft To Christ: Young Man's True Story Of Transformation

 

Emmanuel used to be part of a violent witchcraft gang. His life was transformed through the work of the Bible Society.Bible Society

A young man has shared of how his life was transformed from one of violent activity in a witchcraft gang to living a new life in relationship with Jesus.

Emmanuel, aged 16, from Congo Brazzaville was once lured into a violent witchcraft gang. At his initiation Emmanuel had to hold a venomous snake and chant strange prayers whilst other gang members cut into his arms "to make him strong," the Bible Society reports.

Emmanuel had been sent to an orphanage at age nine when his mother was too sick with AIDS to support him. At the orphanage Emmanuel was vulnerable and needed somewhere to belong. He was lured into a gang that promised magic powers and super strength found through special mantras and spells.

After initiation, Emmanuel was soon groomed into being a criminal. He was taught how to pickpocket and steal from street stalls. He began drinking and became increasingly violent. As the Bible Society said, "he'd beat up anyone if they had a disagreement."

Everything changed when Emmanuel met Jesus. The Bible Society visited his orphanage to run the Good Samaritan programme. The course uses the famous Biblical parable and interactive workshops to teach young people social values and how to be a "loving caring citizen".

At first Emmanuel was wary of the programme, and watched from the back, listening but not participating. Over time though, he heard more about Jesus, and began to engage more until his life was changed.

"The Good Samaritan showed me how to live differently" says 16 year-old Emmanuel.

"Now my life is very different," he says.

Emmanuel has been motivated by the parable of the Good Samaritan to help more at his orphanage.Bible Society

"I went to a pastor and talked to him about the things I had been doing. I started praying and reading my Bible."

Emmanuel has now forgone his life of crime. He has cut ties with the witchcraft gang, and prays for them instead. He helps out with chores at the orphanage, teaches other young orphans football skills and serves as a mentor. He now studies hard at school, and hopes to become an accountant. 

"I want to tell young people like me to avoid bad things and to accept Jesus Christ." Emmanuel says.

"I have done bad things. I have stolen from people and hurt people. But now I respect people because of Jesus."

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Church Whose Pastor Was Caught Sleeping With Married Congregant Says 'We're Prayerful'

Church Whose Pastor Was Caught Sleeping With Married Congregant Says 'We're Prayerful'

   

Despite a firestorm of media reporting on his conduct, the congregation of a Tallahassee, Florida, pastor who was forced to flee naked after he was caught having sex with a parishioner's wife are standing by their pastor but said they are "prayerful" about the situation.

In a defensive conversation with The Christian Post Wednesday about Simmons remaining as pastor at the church, a female representative said: "We're not at liberty to discuss that right now and we're prayerful about the situation."

Just two Fridays ago on Jan. 17, according to the Tallahassee Police Department, the Rev. O. Jermaine Simmons Sr., 37, pastor of the popular Jacob Chapel Baptist Church was caught in bed with Claynisha Stephens, 34, by the woman's husband, Benjamin Stephens III. Both Claynisha and Benjamin are his parishioners.

The woman's shocked husband quickly reached for a small handgun forcing the frightened pastor to flee without his clothes.

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Two days later, Pastor Simmons was back in the pulpit declaring to his congregation that God and his wife had already forgiven him for his infidelity and he had no plans to vacate his position at the helm of his church.

"What I want from God I've already received it and that's His forgiveness. What I am asking of our members is something I may or may not get and that is your prayers. And I'm asking for your forgiveness," Simmons said as his congregation said "amen" and gave him a standing ovation.

"I was reminded that I can't run through this. And I got somebody who said, and I believe her, that she's gonna walk with me," Simmons added, apparently referring to his supportive wife and mother of his son.

He then declared that his sin should not prevent him from doing the Lord's work.

He said he will not be deterred from God's work regardless of what the public or dissenting members of his congregation might think of his decision to remain at the helm of his church.

"If I stop preaching, if I stop doing what the Lord called me to do over this, it presupposes that I was qualified to do it in the first place. If I quit, if I walk away over this, it presupposes that I deserved to preach last Sunday when there was no scandal. I was wretch [inaudible] I'm a work in progress now but what the Lord allows. We will move forward," he reasoned with his congregation. "I'll never be sorry enough for some people ... I don't have the energy for that right now. But I have to be clear that God is pushing us forward. Pushing us forward."

Simmons' speedy pardon of his behavior, however, has continued to attract strong rebuke from the public online who overwhelmingly believe he needs to step aside for biblical restoration.

"As a former pastor, this man needs to resign. He may have received forgiveness but that doesn't mean that there are no consequences," said Sarah Butler Laudadio. "A murderer may receive forgiveness but that doesn't change the fact that they have to pay for the crime with life in prison or loss of their own life. I'm not saying he can never pastor again, but if he has issues this way, it is not the right career choice for him.

"... according to God's word, he needs to step down for a time of correction and restoration by those he makes himself accountable to at the very least. He has disqualified himself from the Biblical requirements of leadership and as such should not be preaching anything to anybody right now," she added.

Claynisha Stephens, the parishioner who was caught sleeping with Simmons, had previously threatened to press charges against her husband but as of Thursday afternoon, officials at the Leon County Court in Tallahassee told CP that there were no charges against her husband on record.

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‘Pastor’ Caught in Adultery With Member’s Wife, Fleeing Naked Won’t Resign Since He’s ‘Already’ Forgiven

‘Pastor’ Caught in Adultery With Member’s Wife, Fleeing Naked Won’t Resign Since He’s ‘Already’ Forgiven

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — The leader of a popular congregation in Florida is refusing to resign after being caught in bed with a member’s wife—fleeing naked—as he states that he has “already received” God’s forgiveness.

“What I want from God I’ve already received it and that’s His forgiveness,” O. Jermaine Simmons, pastor of Jacob Chapel Baptist Church in Tallahassee, told his congregation on Jan. 22, just days after the incident.

“What I am asking of our members is something I may or may not get, and that is your prayers. And I’m asking for your forgiveness,” he continued, receiving an “amen” from those gathered, as well as a standing ovation.

Simmons, who is married, said that he was sorry that his members had to try to defend him, and that acknowledged that sin cannot be defended. But he contended that he cannot step down from preaching because it will appear like his worthiness to serve as a pastor is based on his performance.

“I have to be clear that God is pushing us forward,” he stated. “If I stop preaching, if I stop doing what the Lord called me to do over this, it presupposes that I was qualified to do it in the first place. Does that make sense? If I quit, if I walk away over this it presupposes that I deserved to preach last Sunday when there was no sin.”

According to reports, the incident occurred on Jan. 17 with member Claynisha Stephens, 34, who attends Jacob Chapel with her husband Benjamin Stephens III. Stephens told police that she had been in a relationship with Simmons since October.

That day, Simmons went to Stephens’ house to “talk over starting a business, patents and trademarks, and providing less fortunate kids with clothes and shoes.” But during the get-together, the two went to Stephens’ daughter’s room to have sex.

In the meantime, Stephens’ husband came home unexpectedly and found his pastor in bed with his wife. He grabbed a gun and yelled “I’m going to kill him,” according to reports.

Simmons fled the couple’s home naked, and Stephens called the police. Her husband took Simmons’ clothes and belongings and threatened to go to the church about the matter, as well as to expose the pastor on Facebook.

However, in negotiations with police, he agreed to arrange for the return of Simmons’ possessions and surrendered his gun to the NAACP.

While the congregation is largely supportive of Simmons’ refusal to resign, others find the situation deeply concerning.

“He made his sexual sin of adultery into a sermon. Yes, yes they say. … Get out of the pulpit, seek counseling, and be under church discipline. This is Scriptural reconciliation,” one commenter remarked. “If he remains in his position without any consequences, he will continue to [commit sin with] other men’s wives and it will spread throughout the church. He is only sorry he got caught. The show must go on.”

“He said if he stops preaching over this it presupposes that last Sunday he was okay to preach when there was no sin. What is he talking about? The man’s wife said they had been getting together … for months,” another noted. “It is the right thing to do to openly apologize if you truly meant it, but as far as preaching he needs to be sat down for a while. … He is fortunate that he didn’t lose his life that day.”

Simmons was just about to hold a signing of his new book “I Need a Man,” which “offers a fresh perspective on the issues of godly manhood and mentoring.”

1 Corinthians 9:27 reads, “But I subdue my body and I enslave it, lest I who have preached to others would be disqualified myself.”

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ISIS Chops Off Hands Of 2 Kids In Front Of Their Families For Refusing Order To Kill Captives

ISIS Chops Off Hands Of 2 Kids In Front Of Their Families For Refusing Order To Kill Captives

Three boys aim their rifles in this screenshot from a Jan. 8, 2017 ISIS propaganda video showing these 'Cubs of the Caliphate' executing three men for allegedly spying for Kurdish forces in Syria.(Twitter/Terror_Monitor)

They knew they would be severely punished for refusing to obey orders. Despite this, two child soldiers of the Islamic State (ISIS) bravely dared to refuse a direct order from their superiors for them to carry out the execution of two civilian captives.

The punishment for disobedience could be considered "lenient" in ISIS terms—the two loss only their hands, not their heads.

In a sketchy report with an accompanying photo released on Thursday, Iraqi News said "members of the Islamic State terrorist group amputated the hands of two children, for refusing to carry out the execution sentence on two civilians in front of their families."

Citing a local source, the Iraqi online news outlet said the two children who were meted the hand amputation punishment were aged 10 and 12 years old.

They were part of a group of children based in ISIS camps in Nineveh, Iraq, the report said.

These "Cubs of the Caliphate" have been featured in ISIS propaganda videos carrying out executions of the jihadist group's captives.

In December 2016, an apprehended would-be suicide bomber described how the ISIS leadership is training children to fill the group's depleted ranks as their fighters come under relentless attacks from Iraqi and other coalition forces.

The 15-year-old Iraqi boy named Mahmoud Ahmed had second thoughts in carrying out a suicide mission in Kirkuk, Iraq in August last year. He was subsequently arrested by Kurdish forces.

Ahmed confessed that he was one of dozens of other children who were being indoctrinated in jihadist doctrine and trained as young warriors.

Kurdish intelligence officials said there are thousands of other children across Iraq and Syria who are being trained by ISIS to fight and carry out suicide attacks. Some of the children are as young as nine years old, the officials added.

One of the officials said ISIS is using child soldiers because they are harder to detect by enemy forces and because they are also easily duped.

In November 2016, ISIS released a video showing children and pensioners being forced to carry out executions of prisoners.

The video also showed ISIS leaders crucifying alleged traitors in a bid to terrorise the remaining population under their control.

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Analysis: Trump's New Executive Order On Religious Freedom May Be Unconstitutional But It Is Not Surprising

Analysis: Trump's New Executive Order On Religious Freedom May Be Unconstitutional But It Is Not Surprising

Trump shows off the Bible his mother gave him in a 2016 election video thanking evangelicals for their support. His latest draft executive order on religious freedom is likely to delight conservative Christians.Facebook / Donald Trump

Legal experts and LGBT campaigners have condemned the Trump administration's draft executive order on religious freedom as "unconstitutional" and "un-American".

The leaked four-page draft, obtained by The Nation and The Investigative Fund, overturns a wide range of anti-discrimination protection for minorities and is likely to delight conservative evangelicals and outrage liberals in equal measure.

If enacted, the document would create wholesale exemptions for people and organisations who claim religious or moral objections to same-sex marriage, premarital sex, abortion, and transgender identity, and it seeks to curtail women's access to contraception and abortion through the Affordable Care Act.

It seeks specifically to protect the tax-exempt status of any organisation that "believes, speaks, or acts (or declines to act) in accordance with the belief that marriage is or should be recognised as the union of one man and one woman, sexual relations are properly reserved for such a marriage, male and female and their equivalents refer to an individual's immutable biological sex as objectively determined by anatomy, physiology, or genetics at or before birth, and that human life begins at conception and merits protection at all stages of life".

Marty Lederman, a professor at Georgetown University Law Center and an expert on Church-state separation and religious freedom, told The Nation: "This executive order would appear to require agencies to provide extensive exemptions from a staggering number of federal laws – without regard to whether such laws substantially burden religious exercise."

Lederman said that the exemptions could themselves violate federal law or license individuals and private parties to do so. He added: "Moreover, the exemptions would raise serious First Amendment questions, as well, because they would go far beyond what the Supreme Court has identified as the limits of permissive religious accommodations." He said it would be "astonishing if the Office of Legal Counsel certifies the legality of this blunderbuss order."

Jenny Pizer, senior counsel and law and policy director for Lambda Legal, said the draft order would appear to violate the Establishment Clause by listing a "particular set of religious beliefs and giving special government protection to people who hold those beliefs as opposed to different beliefs." Pizer added that the draft order constitutes "a licence to discriminate with public money in a series of contexts in which people tend to be vulnerable," such as against LGBT children in foster care, which is federally funded.

Meanwhile Chad Griffin, the president of the progressive Human Rights Campaign, called the draft "sweeping and dangerous." He told ABC news: "It reads like a wish list from some of the most radical anti-equality activists. If true, it seems this White House is poised to wildly expand anti-LGBTQ discrimination across all facets of the government – even if he does maintain the Obama [executive order from 2014]. If Donald Trump goes through with even a fraction of this order, he'll reveal himself as a true enemy to LGBTQ people."

Joining him, Sarah Kate Ellis, the president of gay campaigning group GLAAD, called the policies "unconstitutional and un-American". She said: "If anything in this document were to become federal law, it would be a national licence to discriminate, and it would endanger LGBTQ people and their families...Freedom of religion does not mean the freedom to discriminate. If the Trump administration moves forward with any of these unconstitutional and un-American policies, the chorus of public outcry will get even louder while the president's approval ratings continue to crumble."

The order may well (or may not) be unconstitutional. Yet Trump knows that he is appealing to the Christian right – both evangelicals and white Catholics – who helped propel him into office.

The Christian right has been slow to react to the draft, careful, perhaps, not to show glee and further infuriate the liberal left in the face of such controversial policies. For some, it may be a case of 'too good to be true'.

The outlet which obtained the leaked document is worth noting. Founded in 1865, The Nation is the oldest continuously published weekly magazine in the US and the most widely read among progressives. A staunchly liberal journal, it was where the atheist and hawkish writer and Christopher Hitchens made his name before resigning as a columnist over the paper's dove-ish reaction to the attacks of September 11, 2001.

But it's a relatively small outfit. If the draft executive order was deliberately leaked by the administration – surely unlikely given that The Nation may not have contacts at the heart of the Trump inner circle – the journal would at first sight be an unlikely vessel.

Yet the move may have been tactical: government figures may have seen the opportunity to create liberal outrage both to underline to the Christian right what a gift it is they are receiving from the president, and to take the sting out of the progressive tail.

Further, by all accounts Trump's own tactics when it comes to making "deals" is to start with an extreme position and work back.

In other words, the leaked version may be harder than a more diluted order actually signed by the president in due course (the leaked draft is apparently currently doing the rounds among government officials).

Either way, the draft is at once shocking and, given what we now know about Trump's first weeks in office, unsurprising.

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Delightful' Friend Of Archbishop Of Canterbury Faced Charge Of Killing Zimbabwe Teen

Delightful' Friend Of Archbishop Of Canterbury Faced Charge Of Killing Zimbabwe Teen

John Smyth, who now lives in South Africa and campaigns on morality, is at the centre of the allegationsChannel 4 News

A Christian youth camp leader described by the Archbishop of Canterbury as "charming and delightful" has faced police charges of killing a teenager in Zimbabwe.

Guide Nyacharu was found dead in a swimming pool at a Christian youth camp run by John Smyth QC.

The revelation will be broadcast this evening by Channel 4 News. It is the latest in the unfolding story of the so-called "Bash camps" where elite young evangelical Christians were sent if they were deemed to have potential as future leaders in the Church of England.

Smyth, now 75 and living in South Africa where he campaigns on morality, was the head of a Christian charity, the Iwerne Trust, when he ran the holiday camps. The young Justin Welby was among the Christian young men who attended the camps. 

According to allegations broadcast last night on Channel 4 News, Smyth used the camps to access teens and carry out "horrific" sado-masochistic attacks in the 1970s. He persuaded boys to allow themselves to be subjected to "discipline", to strip naked and endure harsh beatings to "help you become holy", according to one victim Mark Stibbe. The beatings were administered to purge the boys of "sins" such as masturbation.

Stibbe said: "He made me strip off my clothes and he got out a cane and started to beat me. He said, 'This is the discipline that God likes, it's what's going to help you become holy'."

Another alleged victim, Richard Gittins, said: "The bottom bled. We used to have to wear nappies."

Although the Church of England was made aware of the abuse in 1982 after one Cambridge university student attempted suicide, it failed to report it to the police, the Channel 4 investigation found. 

Hampshire Police yesterday launched an investigation into the claims about the UK camps. 

Welby was a dormitory officer and mentor at the camps.

Smyth moved to Zimbabwe in 1984 after the abuse claims emerged. He founded Zambesi Ministries which also ran youth camps for young Christian men. 

The second programme in the Channel 4 News series tonight reveals that Guide Nyacharu, 16, was found dead in a swimming pool at one of the camps that Smyth ran in Zimbabwe. Nyacharu's sister Edith tells the programme her brother would still be alive today had Smyth faced justice in the UK.

According to tonight's programme, Smyth was also accused of swimming naked with teens in Zimbabwe, taking nude showers with them and encouraging them to talk about masturbation.

He was charged with culpable homicide and with injuring the dignity of five other boys who said they had been beaten savagely.

Court documents from the time state: "The particular allegations are that [Smyth] made the complainants walk naked to the swimming pool at night; that he took showers with them in the nude; that he talked to them about masturbation and told them to be proud of their 'dicks'; as Jesus Christ had one; and that he assaulted them on their 'rear bare buttocks' with a table tennis bat." 

The case against Smyth was dismissed in 1998 after he argued that prosecutors overstated the claims and failed to follow proper procedures.

Approached by Cathy Newman, for Channel 4, Smyth said Nyachuru's death was "a very unfortunate drowning incident". He also said he did not leave Britain because of the abuse claims but because "God called us to Zimbabwe".

Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby, a former friend of Smyth, pledged to co-operate fully with the police investigation and offered an "unreserved and unequivocal" apology. He insisted he had "never heard anything at all" about the abuse claims, and had never encountered beatings in his religious life.

In 1982 the Iwerne Trust commissioned a report into the claims. The report was done by Mark Ruston, of the Round Church in Cambridge, a good friend of the Archbishop with whom he lodged during the late '70s in his final year at university. A second friend of the Archbishop, David Fletcher, also a clergyman, was the Iwerne trustee who led the investigation into the allegations.

Guide Nyacharu, found dead in a swimming pool at a camp in ZimbabweChannel 4 News

Fletcher decided not to pass the claims to police. He said: "My top priority was that John Smyth should be stopped and second that the men he beat were cared for."

The 1982 report states the boys were given beatings of 100 strokes as punishment for masturbation and 400 for the sin of pride. One boy was given 800 lashes. Eight boys received 14,000 lashes in total, with two receiving 8,000 strokes in total over three years. 

One boy said, according to Channel 4: "I could feel the blood spattering on my legs". Another said, "I fainted sometime after a severe beating". One said: "I was bleeding for three-and-a-half weeks."

Smyth is alleged to have kissed the necks of the naked boys after beating them and to have recited Bible verses about the virtues of punishment. 

A spokesman for the Archbishop said he had not seen Fletcher more than once or twice casually since the late 1980s.

Channel 4  spent six months investigating the claims.

Graham Tilby, the Church of England's national safeguarding adviser, said last night: "The report into these horrific activities, drawn up by those linked with the Iwerne Trust, should have been forwarded to the police at the time. Clearly more could have been done at the time to look further into the case."

Archbishop Welby said he worked at The Iwerne camps but left England to work abroad for five years in 1978. He said he was "completely unaware" of any abuse.

Welbu was first informed of allegations in 2013 after the Bishop of Ely was contacted by an alleged victim. Welby said he had ensured the police had been "contacted immediately".

A statement  said: "The Archbishop of Canterbury was a dormitory officer at Iwerne holiday camp in the late Seventies, where boys from public schools learnt to develop life as Christians. John Smyth was one of the main leaders at the camp and although the Archbishop worked with him, he was not part of the inner circle of friends; no one discussed allegations of abuse by John Smyth with him."

The statement also said: "We recognise that many institutions fail catastrophically, but the Church is meant to hold itself to a far, far higher standard and we have failed terribly. For that the Archbishop apologises unequivocally and unreservedly to all survivors."

Winchester College, where some of the boys were pupils, denied a cover-up and insisted the college authorities did their best "in accordance with the standards of the time". The college is in touch with the police and will help with any investigation.

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