<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/san-jose">San Jose</a> Sharks goalie James Reimer opted not to wear the team’s specially designed <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/pride">warmup jersey</a> before a game on Saturday night as the team celebrated Pride Night.
Reimer issued a statement explaining his decision which the NHL franchise shared on its <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/twitter">Twitter</a> account.
&#8220;For all 13 years of my NHL career, I have been a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/christianity">Christian</a> — not just in title, but in how I choose to live my life daily. I have a personal faith in Jesus Christ who died on the cross for my sins and, in response, asks me to love everyone and follow him,&#8221; he said. &#8220;I have no hate in my heart for anyone, and I have always strived to treat everyone that I encounter with respect and kindness.&#8221;
&#8220;In this specific instance, I am choosing not to endorse something that is counter to my personal convictions which are based on the Bible, the highest authority in my life,&#8221; Reimer continued.
He concluded that “every person has value and worth” and should be “welcomed in all aspects in the game of hockey.”
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
A statement from Goaltender, James Reimer: <a href="https://t.co/GwhWxhbmb4">pic.twitter.com/GwhWxhbmb4</a>
&mdash; San Jose Sharks (@SanJoseSharks) <a href="https://twitter.com/SanJoseSharks/status/1637185613442215937?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 18, 2023</a></blockquote>
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The team said in a statement: &#8220;We also acknowledge and accept the rights of individuals to express themselves, including how or whether they choose to express their beliefs, regardless of the cause or topic.”
During Saturday&#8217;s game, the Sharks opted to &#8220;offer information and facts about LGBTQIA+ topics&#8221; instead of the &#8220;normal game content&#8221; during the showdown against the New York Islanders.
“Worldwide, gender diversity is seen far differently than that in the Western World or as you may know it. Most of us are familiar with the male, female, and transgender labels. But in other cultures, the existence of &#8216;the third gender&#8217; or even fourth and fifth genders is common,” one post in a series of tweets from the NHL team&#8217;s official account said.
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“In some Native American cultures, the umbrella term to describe a third gender is &#8216;two-spirit.&#8217; In South Asia, it’s hijras. In Thailand, it’s kathoeys. In Ethiopia, it’s ashtime. In Polynesia, it’s fa’afafine. And many more,” another tweet read.
Frustrated fans commented on the thread, complaining about how the team was veering into radical Left-wing gender theory rather than providing game updates.
“Professional hockey teams are now the leading experts regarding X and Y chromosomes. What a time to be alive,” one user <a href="https://twitter.com/DavidGiglioCA/status/1637710465353809920">shared</a>.
“[S]tick to hockey,” another account <a href="https://twitter.com/joefis/status/1637486235387154434">advised</a>.
The Islanders defeated the Sharks 4-1.

San Jose Sharks v Winnipeg Jets

NHL Player Refuses To Wear Pride-Themed Jersey During Warmups, Cites Christian Faith

Christianity

Hockey

LGBTQ

Pride

San Jose

Social Issues

U.S.

Like most holidays celebrated in the United States today, St. Patrick’s Day has become thoroughly commercialized with many Americans knowing little about the day other than its loose associations with Irish culture.
The true story of St. Patrick, a man who helped to bring <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/christianity" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Christianity</a> to a thoroughly pagan <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/ireland" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Ireland</a>, is truly remarkable and worth celebrating. His life shows how one person can make a difference and that a culture steeped in darkness can be brought into the light.
Born in Roman Britain <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Saint-Patrick">sometime</a> during the 4th or 5th century A.D. (estimates vary), Patrick, also known as Maewyn Succat, was kidnapped and brought to Ireland after his village was sacked by Irish raiders when he was just 16.
“My name is Patrick. I am a sinner, a simple country person, and the least of all believers. I am looked down upon by many. My father was Calpornius. He was a deacon; his father was Potitus, a priest, who lived at Bannavem Taburniae. His home was near there, and that is where I was taken prisoner,” Patrick <a href="https://www.ligonier.org/learn/articles/who-was-saint-patrick-and-should-christians-celebrate-st-patricks-day" target="_blank" rel="noopener">wrote</a> about his early life in his “Confessions of St. Patrick.” 
Although his family was deeply Christian, Patrick <a href="https://www.christianitytoday.com/history/2008/august/real-st-patrick.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> that he &#8220;knew not the true God” prior to his captivity. In Ireland, Patrick was sold into slavery and ended up as a shepherd, according to tradition. It was during his six years as a shepherd and farmhand that Patrick’s indifference to Christianity melted away. 
“[But] in that strange land the Lord opened my unbelieving eyes, and although late I called my sins to mind, and was converted with my whole heart to the Lord my God, who regarded my low estate, had pity on my youth and ignorance, and consoled me as a father consoles his children. Every day I used to look after sheep and I used to pray often during the day, the love of God and a holy fear of Him increased more and more in me,” Patrick <a href="https://www.ligonier.org/learn/articles/patrick-missionary-ireland" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> of his conversion to Christianity. 
He added that he would pray up to 100 times a day while out watching the sheep. Patrick believed that this time of spiritual devotion was preparing him for a deeper purpose. “As I now realize, it was because the Spirit was maturing and preparing me for a work yet to come,” he explained. 
One night during his captivity, Patrick said he had a dream that God was telling him to run away and go back to his village, which was located in modern-day Scotland. “You have fasted well. Very soon you will return to your native country,” he said an angel told him. After trekking 200 miles to the coast he was able to catch a British ship and begin a lengthy journey back to his village.
Following years back in his homeland, Patrick had another life-changing dream. In this dream, which he compared to a “vision like the apostle Paul&#8217;s at Troas,” Patrick said he saw an Irishman asking him to come back to the Emerald Isle. “We appeal to you, holy servant boy, to come and walk among us,” Patrick <a href="https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/remember-saint-patrick" target="_blank" rel="noopener">recounted</a> an Irishman asking him during a dream. 
Patrick would return to Ireland with a mission of spreading Christianity, even though he knew he would face opposition because of the pagan customs entrenched in Irish culture. He was so committed to spreading the gospel of Jesus that he was willing to die if necessary.
“For daily I expect to be murdered or betrayed or reduced to slavery if the occasion arises. But I fear nothing, because of the promises of Heaven; for I have cast myself into the hands of Almighty God, who reigns everywhere,” Patrick wrote in his reflections. 
Many in Ireland, including King Loegaire, converted to Christianity because of Patrick’s efforts. The king’s conversion came after a face-off between the Christian and a group of druids, <a href="https://www.dib.ie/biography/loegaire-a4866" target="_blank" rel="noopener">according</a> to the Dictionary of Irish Biography.
Thanks to the success of his evangelism, Patrick became known as the “Apostle of Ireland.” W.D. Killen, a church historian, wrote, “There can be no reasonable doubt that Patrick preached the gospel, that he was a most zealous and efficient evangelist, and that he is entitled to be called the Apostle of Ireland.”
Patrick’s influence on Ireland is widespread, and <a href="https://www.christianitytoday.com/history/issues/issue-60/ending-human-sacrifice.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">according</a> to Thomas Cahill, author of the bestselling book “How the Irish Saved Civilization,” Patrick likely helped bring human sacrifices on the island to an end. 
Cahill credits the Irish with keeping Western civilization afloat thanks to the monasteries that sprung up on the island after Patrick spread Christianity throughout. These monasteries preserved the classical tradition after the Western Roman Empire fell, and the manuscripts preserved by the monks were later used to reinvigorate European civilization. 
&#8220;And that,&#8221; Cahill <a href="https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/books/97/03/09/bsp/irish.html?scp=7&amp;sq=roman%2520civilization&amp;st=cse" target="_blank" rel="noopener">wrote</a>, &#8220;is how the Irish saved civilization.&#8221;
In 1631, over 1,000 years after Patrick lived, the church <a href="https://www.nationalgeographic.com/culture/article/saint-patricks-day" target="_blank" rel="noopener">recognized</a> March 17 as a feast day to honor the patron saint of Ireland. Since that time, the holiday has evolved with various celebrations across the world and especially among traditional Irish communities. 
As the celebrations continued, many legends and stories have been added about Patrick’s influence on Ireland and the deeds that took place during his life but what is incontrovertibly true is that he brought Christianity to a place where it had not flourished before. And that is something to remember this St. Patrick’s day.
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St Patrick

The Story Of Saint Patrick: How A Former Slave Brought Christianity To Ireland

The Story Of St. Patrick: How A Former Slave Brought Christianity To Ireland

History

Ireland

Religion

Actor <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/celebrities">Rainn Wilson</a> admitted there’s anti-<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/christianity">Christian</a> bias in <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/hollywood">Hollywood</a>. 
The former star of “The Office” made the comment regarding the penultimate episode of “The Last of Us” on HBO Max. In episode 8, “When We Are In Need,&#8221; the show’s main character Ellie encounters a group of survivors led by a cult-leading cannibal who keeps quoting the Bible.
“I do think there is an anti-Christian bias in Hollywood. As soon as the David character in ‘The Last of Us’ started reading from the Bible I knew that he was going to be a horrific villain,” Wilson wrote on Twitter. “Could there be a Bible-reading preacher on a show who is actually loving and kind?”
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I do think there is an anti-Christian bias in Hollywood. As soon as the David character in “The Last of Us” started reading from the Bible I knew that he was going to be a horrific villain. Could there be a Bible-reading preacher on a show who is actually loving and kind?
&mdash; RainnWilson (@rainnwilson) <a href="https://twitter.com/rainnwilson/status/1634657997317361665?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 11, 2023</a></blockquote>
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&#8220;The Last of Us,&#8221; is a post-apocalyptic show based on the video game of the same name. At the dramatic end of  episode 8, David (Scott Shepherd) tries to rape Ellie and she kills him in self-defense.  
Many other Twitter users agreed with Wilson’s assessment.
&#8220;Defamation of Christianity has become the most unoriginal and tired cliches in movie/TV series storylines. It’s prevalence is much more than a bias against an entire people, it is meant to undermine faith and position the secular-minded as only ones with altruistic intentions,&#8221; LIBRE Initiative president Daniel Garza <a href="https://twitter.com/danielggarza/status/1635014207388385280">wrote</a>.
“Indeed, making Christians the bad guy in the show is the norm, nowadays,” another person <a href="https://twitter.com/edstetzer/status/1635031400440287233">wrote</a>. 
While the show has mostly stuck to the original game content for many details, one social media user pointed out that David was not a pastor in The Last of Us video game.
“As SOON as the pastor started reading from the Bible I knew he was going to be awful,” one person wrote. ”I was like ‘watch that guy be David the creepy cannibal from the video game.’ And then it was David. Shocked. Surprised. Never seen it before. He wasn’t a pastor in the video game.”
The actor’s followers may have been surprised to see Wilson pointing out this Hollywood reality as he’s an outspoken leftist, especially on Twitter.
In November, the 57-year-old star changed his name to “Rainnfall Heat Wave Extreme Winter Wilson” on Instagram to promote climate change awareness.
“I’ve changed my name on Twitter, Instagram and even on my fancy writing paper,” the actor shared, as The Daily Wire previously <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/the-office-actor-rainn-wilson-alters-his-name-on-social-media-to-help-save-planet-earth">reported</a>. The video’s caption said, “The Arctic is melting at Millions of Liters per second, yet this problem can’t seem to make a name for itself, so we’ll make a name for it.”
“I changed my name … to help tell the world leaders and influencers that we need to act now,” he said.

2019 Toronto International Film Festival – “Blackbird” Premiere – Arrivals

‘The Office’ Actor Rainn Wilson Admits There’s ‘Anti-Christian Bias In Hollywood’ Following ‘The Last Of Us’ Episode

'The Office' Actor Rainn Wilson Admits There's 'Anti-Christian Bias In Hollywood' Following 'The Last Of Us' Episode

Bias

Celebrities

Hollywood

Twitter

The Arizona superintendent of public instruction slammed an Arizona school board after it ended a contract with a Christian university after some board members claimed the university&#8217;s religious beliefs were concerning.
On February 23, after board members attacked the university, Washington Elementary School District terminated its contract with Arizona Christian University, which permitted the district’s student teachers to gain field experience.
“My concern is when I go to Arizona Christian University&#8217;s website, [they are] ‘committed to Jesus Christ, accomplishing his will and advancements on earth as in Heaven,'&#8221; board member Tamillia Valenzuela said. &#8220;At some point, we need to get real with ourselves and take a look at who we&#8217;re making legal contracts with and the message that is sending to our community. Because that makes me feel like I could not be safe in this school district.”
According to her bio, Valenzuela is “a bilingual, disabled, neurodivergent Queer Black Latina … who loves a good hot wing (but only with the right ranch) and things that sparkle.”
She also suggested that the university&#8217;s Christian view of sexuality was a problem.
“I want to know how bringing [teachers] from an institution that is ingrained in their values so directly brings impact to three of your board members who are a part of the LGBT community,” Valenzuela continued.
School board member Kyle Clayton joined in, charging, “Proselytizing is embedded into how they teach. And I just don&#8217;t believe that that belongs in schools.”
Arizona State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne, who served as Attorney General of Arizona from 2011 to 2015, fired back hard, telling <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/media/arizona-school-board-faces-inferno-terminating-contract-christian-university-religious-prejudice" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Fox News</a> that the school board&#8217;s decision was wrong.
“There&#8217;s nothing more outrageous than religious prejudice. Prejudice of all kinds has been responsible, in my opinion, for almost all of the evil in the history of humankind. And the person who raised this on the school board describes herself as a ‘neuro-divergent queer.’ And when she says that she expects you to be tolerant of her” he said.
“I’m Jewish, and there’s an old Jewish expression: ‘He who expects respect, has to give respect,’” Horne added. “And this is an absolutely outrageous violation of people&#8217;s religious rights.”
“The best teachers’ preparation program in Arizona is a Christian college; it’s called Grand Canyon,” he noted. “I served 24 years on the school board, and we always want to get as many teachers from there as we could get because they were the best at preparing teachers for the classroom.”
“There’s some bad things that have developed in our society, primarily Critical Race Theory,” he continued. “I made that my number one issue in the political campaign. Everybody who voted for me knows I was against Critical Race Theory because my volunteers and I put up 1,500 signs all around the state that had my name on it and it said ‘Stop Critical Race Theory.’”
“So we who want the normal, as the governor of [Arkansas] said; there’s a battle between the normal and the crazy,” Horne declared. “Those of us who want the normal, we’ve got to organize; we’ve got to fight back, we’ve got to elect people to statewide office and local office and school board office and we’ve got to fight back and we’ve got to bring the country back to normal.”
He also said that teachers should follow state guidelines and not push their own ideology on the students.

Arizona v. Inter Tribal Council of Arizona

‘Battle Between Normal And The Crazy’: State Official Fiercely Condemns School Board For Terminating Contract With Christian University

Arizona

Education

Jewish

Joshua Bassett, <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/celebrities">star</a> of &#8220;High School Musical: The Musical: The Series,&#8221; firmly declared his <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/christianity">Christian faith</a> while giving a speech at the Nickelodeon Kids’ Choice Awards Saturday.
The 22-year-old <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/disney">Disney</a> star was accepting the award for &#8220;Favorite Male TV star&#8221; of a kids&#8217; show when he made the declaration of faith. Bassett began by thanking his fans and the cast and crew. He continued saying, &#8220;I&#8217;d love to thank my Savior, Jesus Christ.&#8221;
&#8220;I want to say something. There are a lot of people here who are burdened, broken-hearted, and have been beaten down by life,&#8221; the “High School Musical” actor said.
&#8220;I&#8217;m here to tell you: for those of you who&#8217;ve lost hope, there&#8217;s a very real God who loves you more than you will ever possibly know,&#8221; Bassett continued. &#8220;His promise is peace and my testimony is my healing.&#8221;
&#8220;Remember: Forgive quickly, love freely and walk courageously,&#8221; Bassett concluded. &#8220;Love always wins in the end.&#8221;
The Disney star has come under scrutiny recently when videos circulated of him getting baptized at Bethel Church, a non-denominational church in Redding, California. Because Bassett has previously declared himself a member of the LGBTQ community, followers expressed their confusion over his allegiance to this church.
“[I] visited this church and happened to get baptized here- i was unaware of some of their policies and beliefs, and do not endorse all of them. my heart is for Christ and Christ alone!” Bassett replied to concerned fans in a <a href="https://twitter.com/joshuatbassett/status/1625209515091296257?s=46&amp;t=LIY7EAj9TBvjuBZLyMsefA">tweet</a>. 
“[O]nce and for all: i strongly condemn gay conversion therapy,” he said again in a follow-up on February 13. “[H]ate &amp; fear have no place here…what drew me to Christ was an invitation of love.”
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The fans were responding to a <a href="https://twitter.com/joshuatbassett/status/1625189793373241344">video</a> showing Bassett standing on a stage, addressing a crowd of people. “My name is Joshua Bassett,” the actor can be heard saying. “Long story short, I grew up Christian and I ran the other way, as far as I could go, in pursuit of the ‘truth.&#8217;”
“That only ended in addiction, depression, suicidal ideation, eating disorders, et cetera,” the “Better Nate Than Never” alum continued. “No other teacher gave me anywhere near the peace that Jesus Christ did.”
“I’m here to publicly declare him as my Lord and savior,” Bassett concluded to the sounds of applause.
Disclosure: The Daily Wire has <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/videos/introducing-dw-kids">announced plans</a> for kids&#8217; entertainment content.

2022 Nickelodeon Kid’s Choice Awards – Arrivals

Disney Star Asserts Christian Faith At Kids’ Choice Awards: ‘There’s A Very Real God Who Loves You’

Disney Star Asserts Christian Faith At Kids' Choice Awards

Disney

Entertainment

Fox News host <a href="http://dailywire.com/topic/tucker-carlson" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Tucker Carlson</a> reacted on Thursday evening to the arrest of a <a href="http://dailywire.com/topic/canada" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Canadian</a> minister who protested a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/drag-queen" target="_blank" rel="noopener">drag queen</a> event for children.
Derek Riemer of Mission7 was arrested after he protested a drag queen story hour at Calgary Public Library on Saturday; video shows him <a href="https://twitter.com/wopizza/status/1629709815311376384?s=20" target="_blank" rel="noopener">shoved</a> to the ground by attendees as he proclaimed that “Jesus Christ is Lord” and quoted biblical passages about homosexuality.
“We are disgusted and disturbed and appalled at the perversion and the indoctrination of the centralization and the normalization of this homosexual agenda and drag queen transgender agenda on the children,” Reimer said in an <a href="https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/canadian-pastor-forcibly-removed-from-drag-queen-story-time-for-kids-vows-to-keep-protesting/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">interview</a> with LifeSiteNews. “We feel compelled to take a stand in the name of Jesus against this and to speak out and to preach the gospel, and to rebuke and to expose this.”
Carlson <a href="https://twitter.com/TPostMillennial/status/1631467161263767552" target="_blank" rel="noopener">noted</a> that the administration of Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has actively opposed Christian and conservative movements in recent years. “On some level, all governments hate religious people, because it’s competition. And revolutionary governments, totalitarian governments, go after religious people first,” he observed. “That is the measure of a free country in the end: are you allowed to believe that there’s an authority higher than the people in charge of your government?”
The primetime anchor showcased footage of police arriving at Riemer’s home and arresting him for mischief and causing a disturbance. &#8220;Canada has now become an atheist totalitarian state with amazing speed,” Carlson remarked. “In Canada, it’s now a crime to object to sexualized drag shows for children.”
Several Canadian ministers were likewise arrested for opening their churches despite government lockdown mandates. Pastor Tim Stephens of Fairview Baptist Church in Alberta garnered international attention as <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/all-glory-to-god-canadian-pastor-jailed-for-opening-his-church-during-lockdowns-acquitted-by-top-court" target="_blank" rel="noopener">videos</a> of police officers detaining him in front of his sobbing children and using helicopters to discover where his church had been secretly meeting circulated online. Stephens spent three weeks in jail and was served six provincial tickets for his alleged breach of public health orders, all of which were eventually dropped or cleared.
Carlson also referenced “professional Christians” who have frequently remained silent on governmental overreach and widespread disregard for biblical sexual ethics. “Where is David French, Beth Moore, Tim Keller, and all these people who are defending Christianity as actual Christians are being arrested for being Christians? Not a word.”
Daily Wire journalist Megan Basham has reported over the past several months about professed theological conservatives, including French and Keller, cooperating with efforts from the Biden administration to <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/how-the-federal-government-used-evangelical-leaders-to-spread-covid-propaganda-to-churches" target="_blank" rel="noopener">encourage</a> mask-wearing and receiving the COVID vaccine. Keller and French also lauded former National Institutes of Health Director Francis Collins, who has declared himself an “ally” of the LGBTQ movement and supported fetal human tissue research during his tenure, as a faithful Christian.
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Redeemer Presbyterian Church in New York City, which is led by Keller, <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/neither-vaccinated-nor-unvaccinated-how-churches-imposing-vaccine-mandates-are-dividing-christians-with-a-different-gospel" target="_blank" rel="noopener">segregated</a> its congregation according to vaccination status. The Gospel Coalition, a publication founded by Keller, has received criticism for ceding ground to left-wing concepts such as “systemic racism” and “microaggression.” Editors for the platform <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/calls-mount-for-evangelical-publication-to-retract-article-likening-kyle-rittenhouse-to-mass-shooter" target="_blank" rel="noopener">refused</a> to amend an article that called Kyle Rittenhouse an “armed mass shooter” despite his acquittal and likened him to the white supremacist shooter who murdered nine black churchgoers during a 2015 service in Charleston, South Carolina.

Fox News Host Tucker Carlson Appears At National Review Ideas Summit

Tucker Carlson Calls Out ‘Professional Christian’ Leaders For Silence As Canadian Pastor Arrested For Protesting Drag Queen Event

Tucker Carlson Reacts As Canadian Pastor Arrested For Protesting Drag Queen Event

Canada

Drag Queens

Pastor

Tucker Carlson

World

<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/catholicism" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Catholic</a> prayer and meditation app <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/god-is-doing-something-pretty-incredible-catholic-app-passes-up-google-tiktok-on-ash-wednesday" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Hallow</a> is not even five years old yet, but it&#8217;s already the top Catholic app in the world, connecting literally <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/087aff26-45ad-4da9-9e15-6648fcd3e69b" target="_blank" rel="noopener">millions</a> of people in <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/prayer" target="_blank" rel="noopener">prayer</a>, scripture, and meditation and hitting an astounding 175 million prayers prayed.
Those numbers are mind-blowing, Hallow CEO and co-founder Alex Jones told The Daily Wire, and such success is a testament to God. But when it comes to a &#8220;vision&#8221; for the app, or how Jones and company measure the success of Hallow, the 29-year-old answered directly, &#8220;A couple more people in Heaven would be nice.&#8221;
&#8220;Maybe a couple more people who are in that really dark spot, who might be lost, who might feel like they&#8217;re all alone — maybe a couple of those people might experience the warmth of God&#8217;s love,&#8221; Jones said. &#8220;So it&#8217;s that for us, that&#8217;s really what we&#8217;re focused on.&#8221;
Hallow was founded in December 2018 by Jones and his two friends, Erich Kerekes and Alessandro DiSanto. Kerekes serves as Hallow&#8217;s Chief Technology Officer (CTO) and DiSanto as Chief Commercial Officer (CCO).
<div id="attachment_507149" style="width: 1010px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-507149" loading="lazy" class="wp-image-507149 size-large" src="https://www.dailywire.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/Group-Portrait-3-1000x576.jpg" alt="" width="1000" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/02/Group-Portrait-3-1000x576.jpg 1000w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/02/Group-Portrait-3-300x173.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/02/Group-Portrait-3-768x442.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/02/Group-Portrait-3-1536x885.jpg 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/02/Group-Portrait-3-2048x1180.jpg 2048w" sizes="(max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px" />Alessandro DiSanto, Alex Jones, Erich Kerekes//Courtesy of Hallow</div>
Jones, an Ohio native who was raised Catholic, fell away from his faith in high school and college. After graduating college, he got into secular meditation, but noticed he was always being pulled toward something spiritual and Christian as he meditated. Then agnostic, Jones recalled trying to figure out what was happening, asking others, including priests, &#8220;Hey, is there any way that there&#8217;s some sort of intersection here between this meditation thing and this faith thing?&#8221; 
&#8220;They all laughed at me and said, &#8216;Yeah, we&#8217;ve been doing it for more than 2,000 years. It&#8217;s called prayer,'&#8221; Jones recollected, giving off a laugh. &#8220;You probably should have heard about it.&#8221;
After this revelation, Jones said he &#8220;started learning all about these really beautiful, really powerful contemplative and meditative techniques within the Church tradition,&#8221; setting him and his friends on the path toward creating Hallow, which the CEO described as being guided and improved upon by God at every step along the way. 
The name Hallow has personal significance to Jones, too. &#8220;I randomly opened up a Bible that was laying around to Matthew 6, where He teaches the Lord&#8217;s prayer. And the word &#8216;hallow&#8217; is the word that stuck out to me that I meditated on — &#8216;hallowed be thy name,'&#8221; the CEO said. &#8220;And it just changed my life, brought me to tears, brought me back to my faith. It&#8217;s the most powerful experience in my life. My faith is now the center of who I am, the most important part of who I am; daily mass, confession, all that stuff — it brought me back to the beauty of all the Church teachings.&#8221;
Hallow has garnered more than 100,000 five-star reviews, some of them expressing deeply personal change and healing from God after finding the app.
Jones, becoming emotional, recalled to The Daily Wire some notes the Hallow team has received from users.
&#8220;We get these notes from people who are really lost, people who&#8217;ve been addicted, abused, who are struggling or suicidal, who are in a really negative, really dark space — young women who have body image issues, older men who have addiction issues; they write to us and say, God changed my life through this,&#8221; he explained. 
&#8220;I was about to kill myself and God saved my life through prayer, through this app,&#8221; Jones recalled one message, before describing another, &#8220;I&#8217;ve never been able to look at myself and see myself as beautiful, and I heard God say to me, you are loved. I made you this way. You are beautiful.&#8221;
&#8220;We get these notes every day and it&#8217;s just such a beautiful testimony to the power of God,&#8221; the CEO noted. &#8220;And if you just sit and give Him five, 10 minutes of your day, He can change your life.&#8221;
&#8220;We busy ourselves with all these distractions in life, and we never just sit in silence and try to let God into our hearts. And, for us, that&#8217;s really what it&#8217;s about,&#8221; Jones continued. &#8220;When people think about, you know, what&#8217;s the vision for Hallow? I&#8217;m like, I don&#8217;t know — a couple more people in heaven would be nice.&#8221; 
<div id="attachment_507152" style="width: 951px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-507152" loading="lazy" class="wp-image-507152 size-large" src="https://www.dailywire.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/Lent-2022-Screenshots-941x576.png" alt="" width="941" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/02/Lent-2022-Screenshots-941x576.png 941w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/02/Lent-2022-Screenshots-300x184.png 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/02/Lent-2022-Screenshots-768x470.png 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/02/Lent-2022-Screenshots-1536x940.png 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/02/Lent-2022-Screenshots-2048x1253.png 2048w" sizes="(max-width: 941px) 100vw, 941px" />Courtesy of Hallow</div>
Hallow, which <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/god-is-doing-something-pretty-incredible-catholic-app-passes-up-google-tiktok-on-ash-wednesday" target="_blank" rel="noopener">made history</a> on Ash Wednesday by landing at the number #3 spot on the App Store’s “Top Charts,” is not the only faith-based content feeding a large audience. &#8220;The Bible in a Year&#8221; podcast hosted by Father Mike Schmitz — who&#8217;s also teamed up with Hallow — has tremendous reach, the show &#8220;<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/costs-and-confusion-the-chosen-creator-explains-popularity-of-show-and-what-fans-can-expect-for-upcoming-season" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Chosen</a>&#8221; is the most successful crowdfunded TV series or film project, and new <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/faith">faith-based</a> movie “<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/the-chosen-star-jonathan-roumie-hilariously-reacts-to-jesus-revolution-landing-in-top-3-at-box-office" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Jesus Revolution</a>” landed in the number 3 spot at the box office over the weekend.
&#8220;I get really excited about this as potentially a moment of revival within the Church,&#8221; Jones said, adding that this faith-based content and media &#8220;speaks to these deep needs and these deep hurts and these deep wounds &#8230; in a way that really nothing else can.&#8221;
&#8220;I think we&#8217;re all really hungry for it, and we&#8217;re all in deep need of it,&#8221; the co-founder continued. &#8220;And I think COVID showed us that. With the depth of pain, anger, frustration, loneliness, depression, anxiety, grief — we can kind of distract ourselves from God in our normal day-to-day life when nothing crazy happens — but in those kinds of moments, you just realize how deep of a need you have, and the only thing that can really fill it is faith and God.&#8221; 
Jones noted that a friend recently experienced the loss of a child when his wife had a stillborn son. &#8220;They had to give birth and then bury their son the same day,&#8221; Jones said. &#8220;And there&#8217;s just nothing — you know, you can go for a run or, or sit and focus on your breath for a while, or, try to journal or whatever it is — but there&#8217;s just nothing that can speak to that deep of a wound. All of that seems silly when you&#8217;re talking about someone who lost their kid or when you&#8217;re talking about someone who&#8217;s been struggling with addiction for 10 years. Only God can speak to the depth of that.&#8221; 
Despite all its success, Hallow is certainly not slowing down. Last Wednesday, the app kicked off its 40-day <a href="https://hallow.com/pray40/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Lent Challenge</a>, which lasts, of course, until Easter Sunday.
The Christian application has teamed up with a range of big-name Catholics for the challenge, including actor Mark Wahlberg, who promoted Hallow during an interview on the “Today” <a href="https://www.today.com/life/inspiration/mark-wahlberg-explains-important-not-deny-faith-rcna71761" target="_blank" rel="noopener">show</a> on Ash Wednesday. Fr. Schmitz, “Passion of the Christ” actor Jim Caviezel, Jonathan Roumie of “The Chosen,” and Rwandan genocide survivor and best-selling author Immaculée Ilibagiza also work with Hallow for the challenge.
&#8220;This is kind the first time we&#8217;ve done anything like this, which has been really great,&#8221; Jones said. The app shot up to the overall #3 spot on the App Store’s “Top Charts&#8221; the day it launched. 
“For forty days, He walked through the desert,” the Hallow <a href="https://hallow.com/pray40/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">site</a> reads. “Thirsty, hungry, tired, and tempted by the devil. And He continued His walk all the way to His loving sacrifice for us on the cross. A sacrifice for each and every one of us.”
“Together, as one community from all over the world, we’ll pray for 40 days leading up to His crucifixion and resurrection on Easter Sunday,” it continues. “We’ll journey through the life-changing spiritual classic the Imitation of Christ and focus our prayer and meditation on the three pillars of Lent: prayer, fasting, and giving.”
Disclosure: Hallow is an occasional advertiser with The Daily Wire
Related: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/thats-an-even-bigger-sin-mark-wahlberg-says-faith-is-not-popular-in-hollywood" target="_blank" rel="noopener">‘That’s An Even Bigger Sin’: Mark Wahlberg Says ‘Faith’ Is ‘Not Popular’ In Hollywood</a>
<a href="https://onelink.to/dwapp">CLICK HERE TO GET THE DAILY WIRE APP</a>

Alex Jones

‘A Couple More People In Heaven Would Be Nice’: Hallow CEO Talks Success Of Catholic App, Rise Of Faith-Based Content

Hallow CEO Alex Jones Talks Success Of Catholic App

Bible

Catholic Church

Readers Pass

Technology

California megachurch Saddleback Church, founded by prominent Christian leader and best-selling author Rick Warren, was disfellowshipped from the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/southern-baptists" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Southern Baptist Convention</a> (SBC) on Tuesday over having a female pastor.
Officials on the Executive Committee voted out one of the largest churches in the United States less than a year after Warren delivered his final sermon as Saddleback&#8217;s senior pastor and ushered in lead pastor Andy Wood and his wife, Stacie, who serves as a teaching pastor.
Due to the church continuing to have a female functioning in the office of pastor, SBC Executive Committee Chairman Jared Wellman told The Daily Wire in a statement that the convention ousted the 43-year-old megachurch, as it is &#8220;not in friendly cooperation&#8221; with the denomination.
Wood told <a href="https://apnews.com/article/baptist-church-us-news-california-religion-7970970aef44935329cd0fa4d3feceee?utm_campaign=TrueAnthem&amp;utm_medium=AP&amp;utm_source=Twitter" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Associated Press</a> last year that the Bible “teaches that men and women were given spiritual gifts by God.”
“The church should be a place where both men and women can exercise those spiritual gifts,” Wood said. “My wife has the spiritual gift of teaching and she is really good. People often tell me she’s better than me when it comes to preaching, and I’m really glad to hear that.”
The move from the convention also comes after Warren ordained three women as pastors in May 2021, sparking the initial discussion to remove the church from the SBC, arguing it defied Biblical principles and Article VI in the Baptist Faith and Message.
&#8220;While both men and women are gifted for service in the church, the office of the pastor is limited to men as qualified by Scripture,&#8221; the article reads.
Warren responded to Saddleback&#8217;s disfellowship in a tweet on Tuesday, thanking his supporters.
&#8220;Friends worldwide: I&#8217;m so touched by your love!&#8221; Warren said. &#8220;We&#8217;ll respond to #SBC in OUR time &amp; way thru direct channels.&#8221;
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Friends worldwide: I&#39;m so touched by your love! Kay &amp; I love you back! We&#39;ll respond to <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/SBC?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#SBC</a> in OUR time &amp; way thru direct channels: Our newsletters to 600,000 ch leaders Daily Hope radio broadcast 1 million PDC alumni pastors list 11 million social media followers Luke 23:43
&mdash; Rick Warren (@RickWarren) <a href="https://twitter.com/RickWarren/status/1628178253373657088?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 21, 2023</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
At an SBC convention in June 2022, Warren responded to officials calling to sever the relationship with Saddleback.
&#8220;Are we going to keep bickering over secondary issues?&#8221; Warren said. &#8220;Or are we going to keep the main thing the main thing?&#8221;
Warren also reportedly said at the same meeting that he believes there is a difference between the office of pastor and the gift of pastor.
Traditional Christians believe the Bible makes it clear from a Complementarian viewpoint that women have a place in ministry under a male leader&#8217;s authority, arguing that primary leadership roles for females are unhealthy, counter to biblical standards, and place the congregation on a slippery slope away from fundamental scripture teachings and on a path toward more liberalism.
&#8220;They are on that path — anybody can see this by following their social media pages,&#8221; a source, who requested anonymity, told The Daily Wire.
The Executive Committee also ousted five other churches from the convention — four of which have a woman serving as a lead or senior pastor.
Those churches include New Faith Mission Ministry in Griffin, Georgia, St. Timothy&#8217;s Christian Baptist in Baltimore, Maryland, Calvary Baptist Church in Jackson, Mississippi, and Fern Creek Baptist Church, in Louisville, Kentucky.
SBC officials also disfellowshipped Freedom Church in Vero Beach, Florida, over a sex abuse-related issue, which <a href="https://www.tennessean.com/story/news/religion/2023/02/21/southern-baptist-convention-disfellowships-saddleback-church/69927465007/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Tennessean</a> reported executive committee chairman Wellman said the church exhibited &#8220;a lack of intent to cooperate in resolving concerns regarding a sexual abuse allegation.&#8221;
&#8220;These churches have been valued, cooperating churches for many years, and this decision was not made lightly,&#8221; Wellman told The Daily Wire. &#8220;However, we remain committed to upholding the theological convictions of the SBC and maintaining unity among its cooperating churches.&#8221;
Pastor Richard Demsick of Freedom Church said in an interview with The Tennessean, &#8220;we are deeply saddened by the false allegations, which are slanderous.&#8221;
&#8220;There are no sexual abuse allegations,&#8221; he added. &#8220;There have been false reports based on gossip.&#8221;
The Southern Baptist Convention leaders said last year the nation&#8217;s largest Protestant denomination, which has almost 14 million members and more than 47,000 churches in all 50 states, was under investigation by the Justice Department for sexual abuse allegations.
An outside consultant reported that women and children were abused by male pastors, church employees, and officials from 2000 to the present, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/12/us/southern-baptist-convention-sexual-abuse.html#:~:text=%E2%80%9CFor%20almost%20two%20decades%2C%20survivors,or%20employed%20as%20church%20staff.%E2%80%9D" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The New York Times</a> reported.
&#8220;For almost two decades, survivors of abuse and other concerned Southern Baptists have been contacting the Southern Baptist Convention,&#8221; the consultant&#8217;s <a href="https://static1.squarespace.com/static/6108172d83d55d3c9db4dd67/t/628a9326312a4216a3c0679d/1653248810253/Guidepost+Solutions+Independent+Investigation+Report.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">report</a> said, &#8220;to report child molesters and other abusers who were in the pulpit or employed as church staff.&#8221;
Victims said they made several attempts via phone, mail, and email, showed up at meetings, and held rallies, &#8220;only to be met, time and time again, with resistance, stonewalling and even outright hostility.&#8221;
SBC officials said the convention would &#8220;fully and completely cooperate&#8221; with the investigation, and the church continues to &#8220;grieve and lament past mistakes.&#8221;
All six churches can appeal the decision made by SBC officials at the convention&#8217;s next annual meeting, which is set to take place in New Orleans in June.

USA – Religion – Purpose Driven Network Summit at Saddleback Church

Southern Baptists Boot Saddleback Church Over Female Pastor

California

Judeo-Christian Values

Southern Baptists

A Hebrew <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/bible" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Bible</a> that is over a thousand years old is on track to break records when it goes up for auction this spring, Sotheby’s, the group auctioning it off, <a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/articles/sassoon-codex-oldest-most-complete-hebrew-bible?locale=en" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> on Wednesday.
They estimate the Bible will go for $30 to $50 million. If it were to bring in $50 million, it would become the most valuable historical manuscript or document ever sold at an auction. Known as the Codex Sassoon, it <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/15/arts/hebrew-bible-auction-sothebys.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">consists</a> of 400 pages of parchment sheets — including all 24 books of the Hebrew Bible. Sotheby&#8217;s notes that it is <a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/articles/sassoon-codex-oldest-most-complete-hebrew-bible?locale=en" target="_blank" rel="noopener">missing</a> 12 leaves. Some of the missing pages are the first ten chapters of Genesis, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/15/arts/hebrew-bible-auction-sothebys.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">according</a> to The New York Times.
“The biblical text in book format marks a critical turning point in how we perceive the history of the Divine word across thousands of years and is a transformative witness to how the Hebrew Bible has influenced the pillars of civilization – art, culture, law, politics – for centuries,” Sharon Mintz, Sotheby’s senior Judaica specialist, said.
Likely dating to the 9th century, the Bible has notes that include deeds of sale. It was eventually dedicated to a northeast Syrian synagogue. Sometime between the 13th and 14th centuries, the synagogue was destroyed, either by the Mongol Empire or the Timurid Empire. Sotheby’s says it was potentially rebound for the first time while there. Salama ibn Abi al-Fakhr was the man entrusted with the Bible and was expected to return it once the synagogue was rebuilt, the auction house says, which notes that it is still not reconstructed. 
The Bible largely stayed out of public view for about 600 years, until 1929, when it was acquired by a collector named David Solomon Sassoon. Since then, it has been in private collections, with its most recent owner being a Swiss financier. Getting its name from Sassoon, the Bible <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/15/arts/hebrew-bible-auction-sothebys.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">weighs</a> 26 pounds, measures 12 by 14 inches, and is bound in brown leather. “Codex&#8221; means a manuscript that is in book form. Mintz told the Times that even in its time, the Bible was expensive, requiring the skins of over 100 animals.
<div id="attachment_502521" style="width: 876px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-502521" loading="lazy" class="wp-image-502521 size-large" src="https://www.dailywire.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/GettyImages-1247162221-866x576.jpg" alt="" width="866" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/02/GettyImages-1247162221-866x576.jpg 866w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/02/GettyImages-1247162221-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/02/GettyImages-1247162221-768x511.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/02/GettyImages-1247162221-1536x1022.jpg 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/02/GettyImages-1247162221-2048x1363.jpg 2048w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/02/GettyImages-1247162221-1800x1200.jpg 1800w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/02/GettyImages-1247162221-1200x800.jpg 1200w" sizes="(max-width: 866px) 100vw, 866px" />Photo by ED JONES/AFP via Getty Images</div>
“Codex Sassoon has long held a revered and fabled place in the pantheon of surviving historic documents and is undeniably one of the most important and singular texts in human history,” Richard Austin, Sotheby’s global head of books and manuscripts, says. “With such eminence, the Codex has an incomparable presence and gravitas that can only be borne from more than one thousand years of history.”
Carbon dating says that the Codex Sassoon is from the 9th century, making it older than both the Aleppo Codex and the Leningrad Codex, which are two other well-known historic Hebrew Bibles, <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2023/02/15/oldest-hebrew-bible-auction.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">according</a> to CNBC. Sotheby’s says that “the Codex provides a crucial bridge from the ancient Dead Sea Scrolls to the Bible of today.” The Dead Sea Scrolls are the oldest copies of Biblical text, <a href="https://www.jpost.com/archaeology/article-731696" target="_blank" rel="noopener">discovered</a> in caves in 1947 and dating from the third century B.C. to the first century A.D. 
The <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2023/02/15/oldest-hebrew-bible-auction.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">current</a> record-holder is a first-edition copy of the U.S. Constitution that was bought for $43.2 million in 2021 by hedge fund manager Ken Griffin. The Codex Sassoon will be on display starting next week at Sotheby’s in London, and will subsequently <a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/articles/sassoon-codex-oldest-most-complete-hebrew-bible?locale=en" target="_blank" rel="noopener">embark</a> on a global tour, stopping in Tel Aviv, Los Angeles, Dallas, and New York City. It will be auctioned off on May 16. Mintz <a href="https://www.cnn.com/style/article/oldest-bible-auction-scli-intl/index.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">told</a> CNN that &#8220;this is the most important document to come to auction ever.&#8221;

US-AUCTION-RELIGION

World’s Oldest Hebrew Bible Could Become Most Expensive Historical Document Ever Sold

General

Judaism

A chapel meeting at a Kentucky Christian college was supposed to end on the morning of February 8, but students were so inspired by the service that it never ended, turning into a 24/7 service that was still going strong nearly a week later while inspiring students from colleges in other states to travel there just to be a part of it.
On February 8, the service at Asbury University in Hughes Auditorium ended with a benediction and a song by the gospel choir, but the students wouldn’t leave, instead continuing to pray as they sang quietly.
“They were praising and praying earnestly for themselves and their neighbors and our world—expressing repentance and contrition for sin and interceding for healing, wholeness, peace, and justice,” <a href="https://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2023/february-web-only/asbury-revival-1970-2023-methodist-christian-holy-spirit.html">wrote</a> Asbury theology professor Thomas H. McCall, who attended the service.
“There is no pressure or hype. There is no manipulation. There is no high-pitched emotional fervor. To the contrary, it has so far been mostly calm and serene,&#8221; he added. &#8220;I know that God moves in mysterious ways; Jesus tells us that the Spirit blows where it wills,” he added.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
What I love about this Asbury revival in Kentucky is that it is nameless and faceless. It’s not about personalities. It’s just people getting desperate for God. It’s Day #7 and the worship continues. Lord let this hunger come to every church, and let it spill into the streets. <a href="https://t.co/Dda73LfjMK">pic.twitter.com/Dda73LfjMK</a>
&mdash; Lee Grady (@LeeGrady) <a href="https://twitter.com/LeeGrady/status/1625564645397303338?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 14, 2023</a></blockquote>
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
This is so incredibly beautiful.
These kids are about to enter their SEVENTH day of worship.
A FULL WEEK OF WORSHIPPING GOD!
A great revival is coming. <a href="https://t.co/yn5HHD2kox">pic.twitter.com/yn5HHD2kox</a>
&mdash; Graham Allen (@GrahamAllen_1) <a href="https://twitter.com/GrahamAllen_1/status/1625655248084783104?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 15, 2023</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Students reportedly came from Purdue University, Indiana Wesleyan University, Ohio Christian University,  the University of Kentucky, the University of the Cumberlands, Transylvania University, Midway University, Lee University, Georgetown College, and Mt. Vernon Nazarene University, among others.
By February 14 the crowd had surged to 3,000 worshipers not only in the college chapel but also four other facilities at the college. University President Dr. Kevin Brown said at least two-thirds of the attendees came from other states.
“It has absolutely been social media that is the mechanism that people found out about this,” noted Mark Whitworth, Asbury University’s vice president of communications. Videos hashtagged “Asbury Revival” have proliferated on social media with hashtag #asburyrevival having at 24.4 million views on TikTok by February 15, NBC News <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/internet/asbury-university-revival-college-kentucky-going-viral-tiktok-rcna70686" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a>.
“The university made an intentional decision not to publicize this because we wanted to place an abundance of respect towards the experience of our students,” Brown stated.
Revival-type events have occurred at Asbury University before; in 1970 a revival closed classes for a week; in 2006 four days of continuous worship took place.
The movement to hold a revival-type meeting has spread from Asbury; on February 13  Lee University in Tennessee started a nonstop prayer vigil while similar events were started at Anderson University in Indiana, Ohio Christian University, and others.

We can beat this exam together

Christian College’s Nonstop Prayer Meeting Goes Viral, Students Come From Other States

Asbury University

Kentucky

revival

Do you think it’s better to be closed-minded or open-minded?
Society would tell you that being open-minded is always better, no matter what. Yet that’s not always the case — particularly if it means being permissive of sin.
To illustrate this point, I’d like to share the story of my amazing intern who worked for me when I first moved to Tennessee. At the time, she was finishing her high school career. She was the most innocent and faith-filled 18-year-old I had ever met.
She was truly a pure soul — the sort of girl who didn&#8217;t even want to go to college because she knew she was going to miss her parents too much. When she looked into my family’s freezer, she was shocked to see how much ice cream we had. It wasn’t even that much, but her family rarely consumed sugar. Her ideal treat was a spoonful of peanut butter.
I thought this girl must be an anomaly because I had never met anybody like her before. Then, she started babysitting for us and a few of her friends helped us out on the side as well.
Well, guess what? All of the girls in her friend group were just like her. They were each on fire for the Lord. They held a Bible study among themselves as an extracurricular activity. They were true Christians, and very different from the average girl in America today.
It was such a departure from who I was at that age. I was the exact opposite. I couldn’t wait to get out of the house and go to college. I just wanted to be with my boyfriend. That was the norm at my high school.
But then, I came down to Tennessee and I met these young girls who are genuinely good people.
Now, my intern ended up going off to college. Her time there didn’t last long. She made it one semester before she decided college wasn’t for her and she returned home. It should be noted, she was very bright. She was awarded scholarships and had a 4.3 GPA. She was not some dummy who couldn’t handle the course load.
She left because she knew what she wanted — and she didn’t need a degree for it. All she really wanted was to be a stay-at-home mom and raise 10 kids. She had been in a long-term relationship with her boyfriend who had the same devotion to the Christian faith. It was what they both wanted.
Now, many would say that is incredibly closed-minded. Their argument might be that she’s young, she needs to experience life, and how could she possibly know what she wants?
That’s what the world would tell you anyway. To see how that argument fared, I recently went over to her Instagram account to check in and see what her life looked like.
Let me tell you — with a few swipes on her Instagram page — that former, sweet intern of mine restored my faith in humanity.
Her Instagram bio was a Bible quote. She had posted modest photos, with captions such as “He gave it all up for me and so I give it all to Him.” — obviously referring to Jesus Christ. Her friends&#8217; profiles were the same way.
I thought, “How does someone raise a child like this in today&#8217;s America?&#8221; 
For example, another friend of hers decided to drop out of college after the first semester as well. She just wanted to be a photographer and get married, and that’s exactly what she did. Then another 18-year-old girl from her group of friends got married. They all seem to get married at a young age.
I’m not kidding you — you look at them and think, “What decade are we in, 1920? How is it these girls look so happy, so fulfilled?”
Well, perhaps they’re so positively different and refreshing because they are not allowing themselves to be tempted by what their peers, Hollywood, and the Left tell them will make them happy.
They’re told the only way to find a life worth living is to be “open-minded.” Yet doing that often means accepting secular things and ideas on how to live.
Where does that land you? I would argue that it often leads us to sin.
So, when an entire culture has been raised believing that “being accepting of others no matter what” is the highest good, then we wind up with the very sick and twisted country we see today.
The consequence of so many people aspiring to that level of “exploration” has created a very miserable society. The sort of filth we saw at the Grammys on Sunday — that outwardly demonic performance by Sam Smith — is the result of being &#8220;open-minded.&#8221;
Who could watch that and think the dancers, the singers, or anybody watching that garbage benefits from it in any way? Who would be so &#8220;tolerant&#8221; that they would want to watch such a performance, let alone engage in it?
I&#8217;ll tell you who wouldn&#8217;t want to watch that — my former intern. She has blocked that type of entertainment off and does not want it anywhere near her heart. None of her friends are interested in it either.
The contrast between how those girls live with so much jubilation and ecstasy for life and the Lord versus the Grammys’ pornographic homage to the Devil is striking. It’s clear: One way leads you to something good, beautiful, and true while the other leads you down a dark path.
So, how do we avoid being so open to things that will lead us toward misery, sadness, and despair? Well, that unhappy existence is the result of sin.
So in order to stay away from sin, we must have a moral compass to guide us. That moral compass only works, though, if we close off certain paths and focus on what God offers — not what our open-minded society says will make us happy.

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Why Being Closed-Minded Can Be A Good Thing

Candace Owens

Marriage

The first pages of the New Testament open with John the Baptist likening the ministry of Jesus Christ to the work of a winnowing fork: a tool used by farmers to toss stalks of grain into the air, separating the wheat that would fall to the ground and collected into the farmer’s barn from the unwanted chaff that would be blown away with the wind and later burned.
American evangelical ministers concur that the advent of government lockdown mandates and the social justice movement that began nearly three years ago and continue to reverberate across the nation’s cultural landscape ultimately served to sift their congregations. Attendance had declined to 85% of pre-lockdown levels in Protestant churches even as nearly every church in the country resumed normal worship services, according to a <a href="https://research.lifeway.com/2022/11/08/churches-are-open-but-still-recovering-from-pandemic-attendance-losses/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">study</a> from Lifeway Research. Some 34% of professing Christians said they attended church four times per month or more before the lockdowns, a figure which declined to 26% by the spring of 2022.
The share of the overall population saying they never attend worship services has likewise soared from 25% to 33% between early 2020 and early 2022, according to <a href="https://www.americansurveycenter.org/research/faith-after-the-pandemic-how-covid-19-changed-american-religion/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">research</a> from the American Enterprise Institute and the University of Chicago.
Even as the death of George Floyd and subsequent waves of leftist activism throttled the nation, professing Christians increasingly denied biblical teachings with respect to social issues. The most recent biennial State of Theology <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/from-the-inspiration-of-scripture-to-gender-identity-evangelicalism-sees-a-massive-leftward-shift" target="_blank" rel="noopener">survey</a> from Ligonier Ministries found that the share of evangelicals who believe “gender identity is a matter of choice” rose from 22% to 37% between 2020 and 2022, while the share who believe “the Bible’s condemnation of homosexual behavior doesn’t apply today” more than doubled from 11% to 28%. 
Professing evangelicals also began to reject the most basic theological convictions held throughout church history. While some 15% of respondents to the Ligonier Ministries survey said that “the Bible, like all sacred writings, contains helpful accounts of ancient myths but is not literally true” in 2020, the figure increased to 26% by 2022, showing a rapid decline in the commitment to the inspiration and authority of Scripture.
Even as millions of church attendees were lost to the wind, others reoriented their priorities toward pursuing membership in churches with a steadfast commitment to doctrinal fidelity amid the volatile cultural moment. One such congregation was Grace Community Church in Sun Valley, California, where Pastor John MacArthur peacefully resisted the state’s lockdown orders and reopened services. The church, which later <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/l-a-county-to-pay-400000-to-john-macarthurs-grace-community-church">won</a> a lawsuit against their state government, has “added hundreds of new members every month” for nearly three years, according to Pastor Phil Johnson, who works as executive director of Grace to You, the church’s teaching ministry.
“Numerous Southern California churches stayed closed for months even after retail stores and other businesses had reopened, and people who were frustrated with the closures, starved for fellowship,” Johnson recounted to The Daily Wire, adding that “lots of people from other churches came” when they heard about Grace Community Church on the news. “We received a large influx of new attendees, starting shortly after we resumed regular services in 2020. It seems most of those people have stayed, and many of them have become members.”
Pastor Josh Buice of Pray’s Mill Baptist Church in Douglasville, Georgia, noted in an <a href="https://g3min.org/12-years-later/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">article</a> provided to The Daily Wire that his first several years leading the congregation were marked by numerical decline as he implemented various reforms. The trend paradoxically reversed itself when lockdowns struck the nation. “While many churches struggled to survive, we started to see a steady numerical growth,” he wrote. “During the last two years, we have added more new members than any recorded two year time period of our church’s history.”
The end of the article commends ministers toward patient obedience as the Lord carries out the work of building the church, regardless of whether or not the congregation sees more or less new members. “To the pastor who is faithfully serving God and seeking to obey the Scriptures as a faithful pastor, just remember that God sees your faithful labor and knows the needs you have personally and corporately,” he continued. “Continue to be steadfast in the faith and the Lord will remain faithful.”

Protestant church.  Altar and christian cross.  France.

Wheat And Chaff: A Three-Year Post-Mortem On Evangelical Church Attendance

COVID

Lockdowns

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