Brian Sussman

Hidden Headlines, Special Edition: Authentic Faith

I’m really excited about this week’s Hidden Headlines Podcast. In this episode I interview an exceptional Christian man, Raleigh Washington (former Board of Trustees member at Azusa Pacific University) regarding the moral drift (social justice, diversity, liberalism) we are witnessing in many Christian institutions.

The takeaway: the world is looking for authentic faith, not ear-tickling religion.

Other stories include the gang member who converted to Jesus, the cure for radical Islam, and God moves in mysterious ways.

Check it out, and please share with others!

Update: Members Quit Christian University Board, Sighting Morality Drift

On this week’s Hidden Headlines podcast I am interviewing, Pastor Raleigh Washington (left), one of the two men who quite the Board of Trustees at Azusa Pacific University in Southern California. The interview is a compelling eye-opener illustrating the moral slide taking place in many “Christian” institutions.

Here’s an abridged version of the original story that I posted last week (December 3), as reported by World Net Daily (WND):

Two members of the board of trustees of a major evangelical Christian liberal arts university have resigned, contending the institution has “drifted” from its foundation and mission, and now is at odds with its written policies, statement of faith and the Bible itself.

Raleigh Washington, a prominent pastor known for his leadership of the Promise Keepers men’s movement, and Dave Dias, a Sacramento-area business executive, submitted letters of resignation on Wednesday to the board of trustees of Azusa Pacific University in Southern California (APU).

The two board members spoke to WND after explaining in their letters why they could no longer serve.

Washington, a trustee for 15 years, wrote that he had constantly confronted the board over the previous six years with abundant evidence that the administration and a substantial portion of the faculty were promoting a progressive ideology that clashed with the institution’s statement of faith and core principles. He charged that the board has failed in its responsibility to hold leadership accountable and has become “complicit in this disobedient behavior.”

The former pastor of the Rock of Our Salvation Evangelical Free Church in Chicago, known for its ethnically diverse congregation, cited the biblical prophet Eli’s refusal to discipline sons who “committed sexual sin in the House of the Lord.” All three of Eli’s sons, died, Washington noted, “and the son born to the wife of Phinehas was named ‘Ichabad’ meaning ‘The glory has departed from Israel.’”

“After fervent prayer and with integrity of heart, I cannot continue to be a part of these violations of God’s word,” he wrote. “I fear the spiritual consequences of this lack of correction and discipline.”

Asked for a response, APU’s public relations office provided WND only with a statement to the “APU Community” by David S. Poole, the chairman of the board of trustees. Poole, without naming the board members, wrote, “We respectfully disagree with their assertion that the board is not committed to APU’s Christian foundation and focus,” he said. “We are grateful for their friendship and many years of generosity and faithful service.”

But Washington told WND that members of the board have “admitted to both Dave and myself, and to others in private, that virtually everything both Dave and I have said is true.” Washington said the bottom line is that the board is overseeing an administration and faculty “who in their practice as well as their teaching blatantly violate Christian biblical precepts.”

APU was in the news in September when, amid lobbying by an LGBT advocacy group on campus, the university’s administrative board approved the elimination of the university’s policy barring students from engaging in “romanticized” same-sex relationships, while maintaining a ban on sexual relations outside of marriage. An eight-point statement on human sexuality also was edited, removing language such as “homosexual acts” are “expressly forbidden” by Scripture and “heterosexuality is God’s design for sexually intimate relationships.”

The board of trustees later reversed the administrative board’s decision, restoring the student handbook’s original language.

But Washington says the handbook and the issue of sexuality are among many manifestations of a more fundamental development that has taken place over decades.

“What happened with the student handbook was an indication of a bigger problem that exists, and that problem is theological drift from what is required of an evangelical Christian university,” Washington told WND.

Dias agreed.

“I have deep concerns about the long-term viability of APU as a ‘God-first’ university,” he told WND, referencing the school’s longtime motto.

Meanwhile, Barbara Nicolosi Harrington, an accomplished Hollywood screenwriter who teaches writing in Azusa Pacific’s Honors College, fears APU “is in danger of losing its essential quality.”

“There is a feeling that there has been a muzzling of the voices in the community that would advocate traditional Biblical understanding,” she wrote. “We have been afraid to speak as whistleblowers lest it redound against us personally, or against our departments. More and more, it seems clear that various spirits of the age are being raised up at APU, such that the God of traditional Biblical understanding, and what He asks of us, is being redefined,” she wrote. “As Christian scholars – historians, theologians, philosophers, scientists – we know where this path leads.”

‘Radicalization’

In her letter to the board of trustees, Harrington addressed the “radicalization of APU students,” saying, “It is the most serious and alarming concern that we are observing of late. The pattern we see begins with students coming to APU from trusting Christian families,” she said.

“They have a beautiful, if nascent understanding of themselves as believers, but they are open, hopeful, and searching for their niche in the Kingdom. Then, through certain APU courses, particularly in the theology, Biblical studies, global studies and social justice arenas, the students are exposed to radical beliefs that deride and malign traditional Biblical Christianity. These students gradually become unteachable, and they leave APU in a much worse state then they were in when they arrived,” said Harrington.

She noted a new APU policy “to accept whatever pronoun the students choose to identify themselves by.”

“This is a terrible decision, and one that will cause tremendous harm to our students by encouraging them to reject their fundamental nature as created by God,” she wrote.

Harrington said she has had students confront her in class, asserting, “There is no such thing as masculine or feminine.”

“I had another lovely young student transform from loving Jesus and her Christian faith when she came to APU, to becoming a sneering, bitter self-declared ‘queer womynist’ who now sees Christianity as the most divisive and pernicious influence in human history.”

‘It may be too late’

Dias said he’s leaving because the board “has refused to take the immediate, decisive, appropriate and necessary steps to remain fully committed to its founding principles.”

“My solemn fear is that it may be too late to save the university,” he said.

He said that attempts to correct the problem, including a Blue Ribbon Task Force investigation, have failed, and “attempts by the board of trustees to conduct appropriate due diligence were intentionally obstructed by staff and supported by the task force chair.”

Dias charged that the “APU culture” is “toxic,” characterized by “compromise” and “mediocrity,” and the institution may be a Christian university in name only.

“Far from being a ‘God First’ and ‘God Honoring’ University, APU continues down the slippery slope of appeasement and concession.”

Read the full story here

France Shooter Shouted, Allah Akbar!

Once again, the religion of peace has produced another act of deadly violence aimed at Christians. We must remain fervent in prayer,

At least three people were killed and a dozen others were wounded Tuesday evening in the shooting in the historic French city of Strasbourg, which lies across the Rhine River from Germany. Strasbourg is well-known for its over-the-top Christmas displays and celebrations.

According to Paris prosecutor Remi Heitz, witnesses reported hearing the gunman shout “Allahu Akbar,” Arabic for “Allah is the greatest,” during the onslaught.

French police have identified the suspect in the Christmas market shooting in Strasbourg as Cherif Chekatt, 29 (seen in photo), a French citizen of Moroccan origin.

The Paris daily Le Figaro reported Chekatt, born in Strasbourg, was already known by authorities for minor offenses and regarded as a security risk after having been “radicalized.”

No group has taken responsibility for the Strasbourg attack. But Reuters reported the U.S.-based Site intelligence group, which monitors jihadist websites, said ISIS supporters were celebrating

Reuters noted France has about 26,000 individuals on its security watchlist. About 10,000 are believed to have been “radicalized.”

The European nation has seen at least 27 attacks since 2010 carried out by Muslims.

Globally, this year Muslim radicals have carried out 1872 Islamic attacks in 53 countries, in which 11,074 people were killed and 11,079 injured.

Notorious Gang Leader Now Leading People To Jesus

I’ve had the privilege of meeting many former gang members who received another chance from God. I haven’t met Rene Martinez, but his story is worth checking out.

Rene Martinez spent the majority of his life in and out of jail, breaking into homes, stealing guns, dealing drugs, and getting into fights.

But today, the former gang leader, 44, better known as “Level” found a new calling preaching, praying, and baptizing others in the name of Jesus as he seeks to save them from the life he once knew all too well. The Miami Dade County native has traveled from Los Angeles to the Bronx, and he’s just getting started.

“I lived a very crazy life, I did some horrible things in my life that I know it’s only by the grace of God and His mercy that I’m alive and free,” Level told Fox News. “I was gang affiliated from the 80’s to 2012, I’ve seen a lot of people die in front of me and I’ve been through a lot.”

As a young teenager, Level joined a gang, and on Halloween night 1989 he started what became a notorious gang known as the Latin Syndicate that grew to 300 members.

He turned to bare-knuckle fighting and became a professional Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) fighter, which is how he earned the name “Level,” and he defeated three-time world champion, Ricardo Mayorga, in Nicaragua.

He’s faced death numerous times, and he said in 2013, when he was recording gangster music in his garage, he heard Jesus speak to him, saying: “I spared you for such a time as this.”

“I saw my whole life flash before my eyes – when a gun was jammed in my face, when a bullet whistled by my ear – I almost died five or six times – and all my friends that died. God set me free for a reason. I repented right there.”

But it wasn’t until he was baptized that everything changed in an instant.

“When I went in the water, this was April 10, 2016, that day shifted my life,” Level said. “I ain’t never been the same. Something incredible in my life happened that I can’t explain. It was Jesus, only Jesus can do it.”

Read the rest of the story here…

God Speaks, Spares Men From Swerving Truck

For those of you listening to my Another Chance Podcasts, you’ve probably noticed something that all of my interviewees have experienced: God spoke to them. For some it was audibly, for others it was voice between their ears that was so pronounced, it may as well have been audible. That said, I love this story…

Two men traveling on the Ohio Turnpike say the voice of God helped spare their lives right before a semi totaled their vehicle (photo Fox News 8, Cleveland).

Jordan Cole and Kenneth Bryant were traveling to a pastor’s conference, along with other men, when their MudMan Food Truck, part of a non-profit that sells hamburgers to raise money for Potter’s Field Ministries, broke down and led to their divine encounter.

“We heard a voice,” Cole told FOX 8 Cleveland, “and it was to get out of the truck and I look down and I saw a semi swerving toward us.”

They were both in different parts of the vehicle, but both felt urged to get out – and did so with seconds to spare.

“God kept us safe,” Bryant said. “God kept us alive.”

Ohio State Highway Patrol troopers said the men most likely would’ve died had they stayed in the vehicle. The truck driver survived the crash as well, suffering minor injuries.

“We’ve come to the conclusion that it was Jesus,” Bryant said. “He allowed this to happen for me to be able to share this story…for people to know that our Heavenly Father is mindful of us.”

And in this Christmas season especially, they hope their experience inspires others.

“There is a purpose for your life, you do have a reason to be living and it’s God’s perfect timing,” Bryant added.

The Potter’s Field Ministries, which helps children around the world, shared the good news that “the Lord protected the lives of everyone involved,” pointing to Genesis 50:20:
“But as for you, you meant evil against me; but God meant it for good, in order to bring it about as it is this day, to save many people alive.”