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Bad Religion: Witchcraft on the rise

Occult spirituality is now firmly placed in mainstream culture.  The growing interest in astrology driven by millennials, as well as the popularity of crystals and tarot cards via the ballooning spiritual wellness industry, have brought demonic mysticism from the fringes, and right into your Instagram feed.

However, as the cosmetics retail giant Sephora recently found out, mysticism and its more formal manifestation, witch culture, are not topics to be taken lightly. When the company tried to commodify and condense witch-related practices into a “Starter Witch Kit,” they managed to anger actual witches, forcing the kit’s manufacturer to apologize and pull the product.

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Super Bowl Coach: “What would God want us to do?”

(CBN) Tony Dungy is best known as a legendary Super Bowl-winning coach,  sports analyst and commentator. But did you know he’s also written several books, including two new children’s books written with his wife, Lauren?

“Well it was actually Lauren’s idea,” he told CBN News.

“This is actually our second series where we kind of centered it on sports teams so we could have kids from all neighborhoods and all walks of life and with things that most kids come across, but they have to find their way through with the help of their coaches and their parents,” he explained.

The first book, Austin Plays Fair, is centered around a little boy named Austin who loves the game of flag football. The problem? His team has suffered a string of losses, which presents a moral dilemma for young Austin.

“Yep.  They’re not winning and so one of the players comes up with an idea of how they can win, but it’s not exactly within the rules and Austin has to figure out if it’s the right thing to do to try to win at all costs or do you really need to play by the rules,” Dungy explained.

“And we’re hoping that kids, number one, get the lesson from this but also that parents and adults and teachers can be able to talk to kids about that and learn that life lesson,” he said.

Dungy’s other book, Maria Finds Courage, is about a little girl named Maria who wants to play soccer and has to muster up the courage to get out on the field.

“Yeah, she’s never done it before. It’s out of her comfort zone,” Dungy explained, noting how Maria is asking herself questions like, “How are the kids going to like me? How will I do? Maybe I shouldn’t do it and she ends up finding that new things can be a good experience. ”

Dungy on the Death of Civility, National Anthem Protests

Dungy also weighed in on the current culture, in which values like civility and kindness have become passé.

“I think that’s what our kids are getting used to. That’s what they’re seeing on TV,” he told CBN News. “We’ve kind of gravitated toward that: take care of yourself, stay in your lane, anybody who is, has a different view than you are, you know, something’s wrong with them.”

“And that’s part of the lessons in these books, too,” he noted. “We have to get along with other people. We have to try to include other people in our conversations, on our team and that’s what God would want us to do.”

As a respected former NFL coach, many are wondering about Dungy’s thoughts on the NFL’s handling of National Anthem controversy and the players who are choosing to kneel in protest.

“I don’t think the NFL has handled it great,” Dungy said, explaining that while he wouldn’t kneel if he was a player today, he supports those who do – and would like to see the NFL work with them.

“I don’t think you can just say, ‘Well, don’t do this. This isn’t the right time,'” he said. “You’ve got to come up with other solutions and I would hope the NFL would work with these players to say, ‘Ok, maybe during the National Anthem isn’t the right time, but let me give you a platform.'”

“You’ve got concerns. Let’s set up some meetings. Let’s give you some time in the media and at our press conferences to say, ‘Here’s what’s going on in my community; here’s what I’m concerned about; here’s some of the things that we’re doing; here’s some of the solutions,'” Dungy continued.

The Nick Foles Controversy

Another hot-button topic in the NFL is the subject of religion. Dungy, who is an unapologetic follower of Christ, took some heat this past Super Bowl when speaking about Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Nick Foles’ Christian faith.

“Well, again, this was on social media; I was working for NBC, broadcasting the game and one of my responsibilities was to interview Nick Foles and he told me about his Christian faith,” Dungy recalled.

“He told me he felt that God had him on that Philadelphia Eagles team for a reason. He had been the backup quarterback; now he was starting in the Super Bowl and he felt very confident he was going to have a good game because he believed God had him there for that purpose,” he continued.

“And so I said that on TV. And a lot of people said, ‘Well you shouldn’t bring religion into it,’ and I was just reporting the facts,” the retired NFL coach said.

Dungy, however, says the support he received out-weighed the criticism.

“So many people wrote in and said, ‘Hey, I’m glad that you said and reported on exactly what he said and I’m glad you talked about his faith in Christ,'” he told CBN News.

And the incident gave him yet another hat to wear.

“I feel like that’s one of the reasons God has me at NBC, to be the voice for some of these Christian athletes who want to say those things” and in many ways all Christians who share the same faith, Dungy said.

“So, it’s all been great and I think people have to understand that Christian athletes have the same ability to espouse their views as anyone else has and if we ask them a question about, what is allowing them to play well, and they say, ‘It’s my faith in Christ’ or ‘It’s the Holy Spirit,’ we can’t hold that in and we can’t begrudge them of that,” he said.

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Atlanta forced to pay after firing Fire Chief over Bible study

(World Net Daily) The city of Atlanta has agreed to pay $1.2 million to a fire chief who was fired for writing a Bible study.

The Alliance Defending Freedom said the city council voted on the payout to Fire Chief Kelvin Cochran after a court determined city rules requiring employees to obtain permission for such activity are unconstitutional.

The mayor of Atlanta terminated Cochran’s employment because of his Christian faith and beliefs, ADF said.

Mayor Kasim Reed had suspended Cochran for 30 days and announced he must complete “sensitivity training” after activists who oppose the fire chief’s Christian views on sexual behavior complained about a men’s devotional book Cochran had written on his personal time.

ADF explained biblical sexual morality is mentioned only briefly in the 162-page book.

When an investigation revealed Cochran did not discriminate against anyone, Reed fired him anyway.

As WND previously reported, Cochran sued the city after he was suspended and ordered to take “sensitivity training.” He ultimately was fired when a chapter in his book for men titled “Who Told You That You Are Naked?” was brought to the attention of a homosexual city council member and the mayor.

Cochran’s 162-page devotional book was developed from his teaching at his church.

“Plaintiff’s book was written primarily for Christian men and is intended to help them fulfill God’s purpose for their lives. According to plaintiff, one of the book’s goals is to guide men to live faith-filled, virtuous lives,” notes the court’s decision.

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Pro-Life film a box office hit, despite media blackout

On Friday, just as the movie “Gosnell: The Trial of America’s Biggest Serial Killer” was set to open, Facebook was busy trying to limit its publicity.

And talk-radio host Rush Limbaugh was recommending people see it because “the story itself is heart-stopping enough.”

In that apparent faceoff of media titans, Rush Limbaugh won.

The film opened over the weekend as the No. 1 independent film and was No. 8 in per screen averages and No. 12 overall.

“Despite an unprecedented media blackout that found nearly every major film publication refusing to review it, indie film ‘Gosnell: The Trial of America’s Biggest Serial Killer’ surpassed box-office expectations this weekend coming,” the film’s publicist said in a statement.

“Although the film was made available for review, only two major publications, the Los Angeles Times and Forbes chose to review it. Yet in spite of this media boycott, the film performed surprisingly well on nearly 700 screens across the country, with Burbank, California, coming in as the top theater.

“At the time many in the media apologized for failing to cover the Gosnell trial and promised to do better but [now] they are refusing to review a film about the case that is available nationally and has attracted huge social media buzz,” said Ann McElhinney, a screenwriter for the film.

“By refusing to review the film the media are ignoring a historic film about a historic case but also telling 30,000 people their record crowd-funding is not important and doesn’t matter,” Phelim McAleer, who also helped write the screenplay.

“It’s not surprising that no one trusts the media anymore.”

The movie tells the story of Kermit Gosnell, an abortionist convicted on murder charges for killing babies after they were born.

It was financed through a record crowd-funding campaign that raised $2.3 million from 30,000 contributors in just weeks.

The film’s makers went to social media, grass roots marketing, alternative and conservative media to promote their project, apparently with significant success.

“We are not surprised,” said McAleer when informed of the refusal of top publication such as the Hollywood Reporter, Variety, the New York Times, the New York Post, the Associated Press and many others to review the film. “In politics there’s a term for this: voter suppression – a sad attempt to pretend our film isn’t in theaters across America this weekend. But they can’t ignore the box office numbers. We humbly thank all of our fans across the country for this great opening. The people have spoken!”

The Washington Times reported the film did “surprisingly well” on its first weekend.

And the Daily Caller said that while movie watchers gave it a score of 4.9 points out of five, media outlets appeared uninterested.

Gosnell now is serving three life sentences on his 2013 convictions of first-degree murder for killing three babies during botched abortions. He was also convicted of performing illegal late-term abortion procedures.

WND reported Friday McAleer said Facebook’s refusal to promote the film was because company officials “don’t want this film to succeed” because of the broader implications of the story.

“The establishment hates that the truth is getting out there,” the Irish filmmaker told WND at the time.

An attempt to promote the film and trailer through Facebook by paying to “boost” a post with a link to an article published by a mainstream Hollywood publication was denied because it constituted “political speech.”

Limbaugh told his audience: “If you don’t know about Kermit Gosnell, if you’ve not heard the name, if it doesn’t ring a bell, you by all means should see this. If you do know who Gosnell is and if you think you know the story, you should see this.

“You’re not watching a political documentary here. You’re watching a movie portrayal of a real life event, and it’s treated as a real life event, as any other would be, without a lot of political preaching because it’s felt it’s not necessary, and it isn’t.

“The story itself is heart-stopping enough as it is,” he said.

Watch the trailer here…

 

Colorado renews attack on cake baker’s moral values

The state of Colorado is arguing in federal court that, despite the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent ruling, its Civil Rights Commission can issue new discrimination charges against Christian baker Jack Phillips, because the panel’s members have been replaced.

The commission found that Jack Phillips, the owner of Masterpiece Cakeshop, discriminated against a same-sex couple by refusing to bake a cake for their wedding. The Supreme Court reversed the decision in a 7-2 ruling in June on narrow grounds, concluding the commission did not employ religious neutrality, violating Phillips’ rights to free exercise of religion.

Now, the state is issuing new charges against Phillips for refusing to create a cake celebrating a “gender transition,” ignoring evidence that Phillips accepts all customers while refusing to create messages that violate his religious beliefs.

Phillips has responded with a lawsuit contending his constitutional rights have been violated.

A Colorado congressman has asked the Department of Justice to investigate the state commission.

The state’s second prosecution of Phillips prompted James Dobson, the noted Christian psychologist and founder of the Dr. James Dobson Family Institute, to call for reform of the commission, decrying the new claim as “a continued attack on the First Amendment and religious freedom.”

Rep. Doug Lamborn, R-Colo., has asked U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions to intervene.

Read more at https://www.wnd.com/2018/10/colorado-asserts-right-to-renew-attack-on-bakers-christianity/#oCr8v1PEgf6ZyiY8.99