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YouTube bans John Piper’s Audiobook ‘Coronavirus and Christ’
YouTube has censored the audiobook version of Reformed theologian John Piper’s new book, Coronavirus and Christ, claiming it violated “community standards.”
The book offers six biblical answers to the question: What is God doing through the coronavirus?
“This video has been removed for violating YouTube’s Community Guidelines,” reads a message on the now blocked video by Piper, the chancellor of Bethlehem College & Seminary in Minnesota and the founder of DesiringGod.org.
The video got over 187,000 views within roughly five weeks that it remained on the platform, according to Disrn. It was released on April 8 and blocked last Friday.
An archived version of the audiobook is still available here and on the Crossway Podcast here.
The censorship came amid a call by 22 military chaplains to “discipline” and possibly court-martial a senior army chaplain for sending nearly three-dozen other chaplains an email containing a copy of the e-book, Coronavirus and Christ.
The 22 military chaplains, some of whom are from the LGBT community, had a problem with the book because it says that “some people will be infected with the coronavirus as a specific judgment from God because of their sinful attitudes and actions.”
Representing the 22, the Military Religious Freedom Foundation, which advocates for a strict separation of church and state within the U.S. military, urged Secretary of Defense Mark Esper to punish Senior Chaplain Col. Moon H. Kim, the command chaplain of U.S. Army Garrison Humphreys in South Korea, the largest U.S. military installation outside of the United States.
The complainants, MRFF said, “do not subscribe to the ultra-conservative/Reformed/evangelical Christian theology of John Piper.”
In a section titled, “Examples of Specific Judgements on Specific Sins,” Piper wrote that one example “is the sin of homosexual intercourse,” citing Romans 1:27 in which the Apostle Paul states that “men committing shameless acts with men” received in themselves “the due penalty for their error.”
“That ‘due penalty’ is the painful effect ‘in themselves’ of their sin,” Piper wrote. “This ‘due penalty’ is just one example of the judgment of God that we see in Romans 1:18, where it says, ‘The wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth.’ Therefore, while not all suffering is a specific judgment for specific sins, some is.”
A copy of Kim’s email that contained the PDF sent to the chaplains was reviewed by The Christian Post. In the body of the email, Kim wrote to fellow chaplains that he wanted to share the short booklet with them.
“This book has helped me refocus my sacred calling to my savior Jesus Christ to finish strong,” Kim wrote. “Hopefully this small booklet would help you and your Soldiers, their Families and others who you serve.”
MRFF contends that the book was “clearly meant as a full-fledged endorsement and validation of what the book espouses and proclaims.”
Led by Reps. Doug Collins, R-Ga., and Doug Lamborn, R-Colo., they and 18 other Republican House members signed a joint letter asking the Pentagon to protect the religious liberty of service members from the demands of an “anti-religion” group.
Piper also responded to the issue in a 17-minute audio interview posted online.
“I think it would be fair to say that some of my views about what the Bible teaches, even rightly understood, the author of that letter hates. He hates what I think,” Piper said, referring to MRFF founder Mikey Weinstein. “‘They are,’ he says, ‘incendiary,’ ‘bigoted,’ ‘vulgar’ — not just because he misunderstands, but, in part, because he does understand, and that’s how he thinks and feels about some of what the Bible teaches.
“I consider all of those views to be true because they are what the Bible teaches, and therefore, they’re very valuable to know,” Piper stressed. “So I think it’s not just that he misunderstands, but that he gets some things right in those quotes, and he just doesn’t like them.”
Piper said there are three areas where Weinstein seems to misrepresent his stance in either the letter to Esper or an earlier interview with The Christian Post. “For example, when I say that ‘some people will be infected with the coronavirus as a specific judgment from God because of their sinful attitudes and actions,’ he assumes that I know who those people are, or at least what kind of people they are,” Piper said.
“But here’s what I write on page 72. … The coronavirus is … never a clear and simple punishment on any person. The most loving, spirit-filled Christian, whose sins are forgiven through Christ, may die of the coronavirus disease. But it is fitting that every one of us search our own heart to discern if our suffering is God’s judgment on the way we live.”
Sources: Christian Post
Actor Mark Wahlberg is crediting his faith for the massive success he’s had in Hollywood.
“My faith, and my family, and just finding good balance,” Wahlberg told Fox News, cataloging the reasons for his success. “But I have to attribute all my success to my faith.”
The “Patriots Day” star made his comments at the opening of his new restaurant, Flecha. He also had the establishment blessed by Bishop Kevin W. Vann of the Diocese of Orange Christ Cathedral.
Wahlberg is no stranger to sharing about his Catholic faith. In addition to being outspoken, he funded and starred in the 2022 film “Father Stu” about amateur boxer-turned-priest Stuart Long.
“You got to stay prayed up,” Wahlberg told fans the year the movie was released. “God bless you.”
Prayer is certainly central to the actor’s life. He has said he starts each day with Scripture and invocations. But Wahlberg doesn’t foist these values upon his kids. Knowing they see his daily example of devotion, he hopes it resonates with them.
“Even with my faith, I don’t force it on [my kids]. But they know that dad can’t start the day without being in prayer, can’t start the day without reading my Scripture or going to Mass,” Wahlberg told NBC’s “Today” in 2022. “And hopefully, instead of forcing that on them, they’ll say, ‘Well, if it works for dad, maybe it’ll work for us,’ and they’ll kind of gravitate toward it on their own.”
The actor’s consistency in his faith has been notable over the years, as he has discussed the impact clinging to God has had in his life. In fact, Wahlberg has repeatedly spoken about the power of faith not only to bring good things into his life but also to help him cope with issues that might unfold.
“As soon as I started putting my faith and focus on God, good things started happening for me,” he told Fox News in 2023. “And even when they didn’t, it gives you the coping skills to deal with things that are inevitable, like loss and failure and those things.”
Wahlberg added, “But, you know, again, my faith and my family, those are the most important aspects of my life.”
Sources:faithwire
It’s a story that needed to be told, says “Sound of Hope” writer and producer Rebekah Weigel, because Possum Trot is not just another small Texas community near the Louisiana border, but a town that chose to live out God’s command to care for the orphan.
“This is such an amazing story,” says Weigel, an adoptive mother herself, adding, “we need to see more churches step in” the way that Bennett Chapel Missionary Baptist Church did.
Back in the 1990s, W.C. Martin, the pastor of the small church in Possum Trot, and wife Donna felt the Lord call them to adopt a child. Martin began preaching to his rural church about what the Bible says about adoption, and the congregation was moved to action. In total, 22 families in the church adopted 77 of the hardest-to-place children in the foster care system.
“There’s probably only a couple hundred people in the community of Possum Trot, an unincorporated area,” Weigel says, “but, you know, they took it seriously, and they did it together as a community. And I think that’s something I really loved about this story, was just the sense of doing it together, like bearing each other’s burdens, and, you know, when one was weak, they came together, and they helped each other, and I think we need more of that.”
Now, the inspirational story of what happened years ago in the little community of Possum Trot is hitting the big screen on July 4 in the feature film “Sound of Hope: The Story of Possum Trot.” Angel Studios is distributing the film. To learn more and purchase tickets, click here.
Weigel joins “The Daily Signal Podcast” to discuss the true story behind the film and the experience of telling such a moving story through film.
Sources:BREAKING CHRISTIAN NEWS
Jennie Allen has had a front-row seat to much of the revival unfolding across America, particularly among young people.
She’s been speaking on college campuses and witnessing Gen Z’s rising interest in faith and the Bible.
“It is so real,” Allen recently told from the red carpet of the KLOVE Fan Awards in Nashville, Tennessee. “There’s no hype. They actually are hungry for God. It’s been the most beautiful thing.”
Allen has seen massive college-age audiences hang on her every word as she shares the Gospel, with the fervor so strong at some schools she’s found herself impromptu baptizing young people in the backs of pick-up trucks — or even in local creeks.
“They are responding to the Gospel,” she said. “And they are showing up in droves. So, it’s been super encouraging that this generation wants God.”
Allen said she first noticed Generation Z’s hunger in 2018 when she spoke at Texas A&M about sin, and the young audience immediately responded in a truly “special” way.
“They were hungry,” she said, noting the intense interest wasn’t lost on her. “They were willing to be honest; they wanted God.”
Allen said the experience of ministering to young people has had a profound impact on her life as well. Today, she’s focused on reaching youths with the Bible’s message of grace and redemption.
“I want to just keep my head down, and be faithful, and not be distracted by many things,” she said. “So, for me, it’s given me such clarity, such boldness. I want to serve God, and I want to serve them well, and I don’t want to hold back.”
Sources:faithwire
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