Category Archives: Opinions

This Is An Outrage! Facebook Bans and Delete’s This Christian Band’s Song About Unity.

This video has been banned and removed by Facebook. 
https://youtu.be/e4LIoDk3_l0 
Now, if you want to see the lyric video, it’s posted at the very end of this post. After my comments, there is the press release from  Nashville Publicity giving details of what happened.
The song is titled, What Would Heaven Look Like by Zion’s Joy! This is one part of the lyrics:

People of every color loving one another tell me
What would heaven look like?
Bigotry and hate are absent only love and peace are present tell me
What would heaven feel like?

What Facebook has done here is TOTALLY insane! Did they even listen to or read the lyrics?????? This is an outrage no matter if you are Christian or not. This is difficult to understand and we take it as a personal affront to what we do and stand “unified” with Zion’s Joy! to express our outrage.
We are currently working with representatives of the group to have someone from Zion’s Joy! on our podcast.
We’re going to work hard to get this message out and need your help to expose Facebook for what they have done here.  This song says everything that is the answer to what’s wrong in America. This just shows how far the left will go to keep strife going. They must not want unity!!!
Our friends at TrevorDecker.com are on this too and are upset just as we are. Click here!

Here is the press release from Nashville Publicity and then the lyric video.

Facebook Bans Faith-Based Music Video from Gospel Group Zion’s Joy!

Thursday, July 5, 2018 — In mid-June, Gospel group Zion’s Joy! quietly released a music video for their new single, “What Would Heaven Look Like” – the title track from their upcoming album from Habakkuk Music/InGrooves/Universal.  
On or about July 1st, with over 12,000 views and climbing, Facebook deleted the video without warning or notification. Attempts to reach Facebook to find a resolution were unsuccessful.The video remained off of Facebook’s radar until the group attempted to “boost” (a paid promotion that increases the post’s visibility) the post of the video on the Zion’s Joy! Facebook page. The boosted post was rejected by Facebook “because of political content.” Soon after, the video and post were deleted from Facebook altogether.Not only is the song and music video absent of “political content,” but it’s message of love and unity is deliberately clear…
People of every color loving one another tell me
What would heaven look like?
Bigotry and hate are absent only love and peace are present tell me
What would heaven feel like?

“To say that we were disappointed to see that Facebook had removed our video would be a gross understatement,” says group member Kay Insley. “I have to wonder if the content of the song was truly examined. In a time where the country seems to be more and more divided, we wanted to share a message of hope, love and universal togetherness. It seems in Facebook’s attempts to curtail questionable content they cracked down on a song trying to bring healing to our nation. We are a group made up of different cultures and beliefs from both sides of the aisle and reviewed the video extensively to make sure its content was not divisive. Within the first week of its release, we had people from all over the political spectrum and a broad range of religious beliefs reach out letting us know how much the video had meaningfully impacted them. Do we really live in a time where making a positive statement about people coming together is deemed political?”

Zion’s Joy! was founded by Robert W. Stevenson in 2008 and in the decade that followed they have performed throughout the United States, using their powerful voices and tight, rich harmonies to deliver a unique blend of old and new school gospel and contemporary Christian music. The line-up consists of Kay Insley, Camille McKnight, Lia Matthews, Karen Hall, Shekinah Caldron, Lynesha Sweeney, Patrick Taylor, Jeffery Porter and Ramone Griffith.

“This song has brought healing and hope to thousands that have listened to it,” says group member Karen Hall. “Our hope is that it would inspire people to love each other the way God loves us – unconditionally! We want Facebook to allow us to continue to spread this message.”

Watch the “What Would Heaven Look Like” music video here:
https://youtu.be/e4LIoDk3_l0

For more information, visit the band’s official website at http://www.zionsjoy.com.

 

My Take on Jessie Duplantis’ Efforts To Get A $54 Million Jet

To say that I am disgusted by the entire Jesse Duplantis and a $54 million dollar jet issue would be a major understatement.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not against ministers of the Gospel of Jesus Christ being blessed financially, but there is just too much wrong with this situation.

“Now some people believe that preachers shouldn’t have jets. I really believe that preachers ought to go on every available voice, every available outlet, to get this gospel preached to the world,” Duplantis said in a video posted online last week, according to The Christian Post.

Take a look at this news report and pay attention to what Jesse himself has to say. I chose a secular site for the video to show the reaction from that standpoint.

Notice at one point he says the plane is not for him, but for the ministry itself. HOWEVER THEN a little later, he calls it “my plane”.

I suppose my biggest complaint of this whole story is this quote:

“I really believe that if the Lord Jesus Christ was physically on the Earth today, he wouldn’t be riding a donkey,” Duplantis said. “He’d be in an airplane flying all over the world.”

Here is what I believe. Quite possibly, if Jesus was walking on the earth today as he did over 2,000 years ago, he would be riding on a plane. However, I believe that Jesus would be riding a commercial airline and riding coach (not 1st class) along with the common people. I truly believe that he wouldn’t be in a $54 million private jet.

My other big problem with this is the image it makes to non-Christians and to those who are not so strong in their faith. I understand the belief that God is capable of anything and that faith in that belief is important. However, this just leaves a bad taste in the mouths of Christians and non-Christians alike.

Interesting too was Duplantis’ take on the negative publicity. When you watch what he says about this, he sure talks a lot about himself. To me, when it’s about I and not HE, then it’s normally a problem.

I hope that Jesse Duplantis Ministries leads huge numbers of people to the Lord. I just believe that this topic doesn’t pass the “smell test” and it just stinks.

Ed Boston

Ed Boston Podcast Network

Negotiate From A Position of Power

Back on April 27th, in a post titled “Will There Be A Peace Treaty?” I called President Donald Trump a master negotiator. The President’s letter below shows his negotiating ability and when you negotiate from a position of power, you have a much better chance of things working out in your way.

If you disagree, I would suggest you look at the skills President Ronald Reagan had with this topic. His negotiating ability from a position of power was unparalleled during my lifetime.

Less than a day after this letter was sent, North Korea was back asking for the negotiations to continue. Call a bullies bluff and most bullies will back down.

Letter-to-Kim-Jung-Un

Heal Our Land – Please Jesus, Heal Our Land

Starting with an article posted here last week titled – Can We Mourn About The Florida Tragedy Properly? Please!!!!, I feel led to call for American’s to come together, but not in the old COEXIST way, but growing together in the love of Christ. 

Let me mention, the article is directed at the church – those who call themselves followers of Jesus. If you don’t relate to that, you are free to read, and I hope you can take some, if not all of this to heart – but this is directed strictly at Christians.

First, we need to pray this scripture from 2 Chronicles 7:14 if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.

Next, we need to look inwardly and ask ourselves what can I do – right now – to humble myself and seek the face of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ about this topic.

Then, we need to wipe away the barriers that divide us. We should be Christians first, and then those of us calling the United States home need to call ourselves Americans. No hyphens, no denominations, no race, nothing the separates us, we are AMERICANS first and that’s it.

One of the problems our country has is that even the church does things that divide not the world, but God’s church. We have white churches, black churches, hispanic churches, gay churches, and even denominations at times that HATE other denominations.

Racism, and any kind of hate, has no business in our world! I know there are plenty of things in our past that can and do divide us. Stop looking in the mirror and look forward. The past cannot be changed, but the future can change RIGHT NOW – and only you can change it. It’s not about what race we are, in the video below, Mandisa tells us we all “Bleed The Same”. Take the time to listen to the words, and start thinking this way.

Step back from the topic for just a second and let me address some things that are sure to be said.

  • I’m not talking about COEXIST – this is to Christians.
  • I’m not talking about condoning sin.
  • I’m not talking about there being any way to heaven other than through Jesus Christ.
  • I’m not talking about politics (that needs to get out of most topics).
  • I’m not talking about conservative vs liberal.
  • This is certainly not a feel good topic and I’m not singing Kumbaya.
  • I’m not saying people don’t have legitimate issues with past history.

Finally, what I am saying, is that if we want to have America to be healed by the Lord,  God Almighty, then we must move forward from this point in history on, and Do The Right Thing!

These three songs with videos are perfect, Bleed the Same by Mandisa with Toby Mac and Kirk Franklin; Love Broke Thru by Toby Mac; and We Believe by The Newsboys. I encourage you to watch the videos (they all tell a great story) while you listen too the music.

We can’t expect God to heal our nation, if we aren’t willing to put forth the effort on our own.

 

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9i

Can We Mourn About The Florida Tragedy Properly? Please!!!!

The thoughts and prayers of all of us at the Ed Boston Podcast Network go out for everyone affected by the tragic situation today in Florida.

Here are some thoughts I have on this topic in general.

After giving some thought about this situation and how it will be reported on and reacted to, I came up with the following.

  • The story will change so many times so the early story will not be the final story.
  • The kid will be called mentally ill (seems to me that one would have to be to open fire inside of a high school).
  • Liberals will blame guns.
  • Conservatives will throw up the 2nd amendment (which you know I’m all for).
  • None of the above will bring those precious lives lost back or heal the wounds, both physically and mentally, of everyone who were victims.

All the while – where is the grief for all those affected? The bodies are barely cold (some haven’t even been removed from the building) and you know that every side of the equation is doubling down right now instead of giving respect to those who have passed, those that are injured, those that survived, and all of their families and friends.

For once, can’t we put aside all of the things above that  I listed and just take the time to properly mourn another horrible chapter in American history.

God’s blessings and comfort to those who need it, and may the healing power of Jesus Christ be with all who have been injured.

This Is Disgusting, But Par For The Course From “The View”

Par For The Course – definition: par for the course is a noun –  something to be expected

While the following story may be “par for the course, that doesn’t make it acceptable! Christians should be highly upset with the the characterization that being a Christian is a “mental illness”.

Note that Mike Pence is from the same hometown that I am, and I have talked to him on numerous occasions. I don’t claim to know everything about him, but I have followed his political career from the very beginning.

I will make my comments to the story below in the article with bold red. Please remember that these comment will be my OPINION. Take a look!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RNpm_NglrJQ

‘The View’ star Joy Behar mocks Mike Pence’s Christian faith: ‘That’s called mental illness’

The women of ABC News’ “The View” took a shot a Vice President Mike Pence’s Christian faith on Tuesday, mocking the former governor of Indiana for talking to Jesus and even calling it a “mental illness.”  From Merriam-Webster.com – Definition of mental illness: any of a broad range of medical conditions (such as major depression, schizophrenia, obsessive compulsive disorder, or panic disorder) that are marked primarily by sufficient disorganization of personality, mind, or emotions to impair normal psychological functioning and cause marked distress or disability and that are typically associated with a disruption in normal thinking, feeling, mood, behavior, interpersonal interactions, or daily functioning

It all started when they played a clip from “Celebrity Big Brother,” in which former White House staffer Omarosa Manigault Newman discussed the vice president. Who makes Omarosa an expert on Vice-President Pence? My guess is that she barely knows him.  

“As bad as you think Trump is, you would be worried about Pence… everyone that is wishing for impeachment might want to reconsider their life,” she said in the clip. “I am Christian, I love Jesus, but he thinks Jesus tells him to say things.” How would she know what Jesus tells anyone other than herself?

The talk-show panelists pondered what Omarosa’s motive was, before Sunny Hostin chimed in, “I think what’s interesting is that she said Jesus tells Mike Pence things to say.” I think that most Christian would agree that Jesus talks to us through His word, and some will believe (in my opinion rightly so) that they hear from Jesus directly. Does that make me mentally ill?

Hostin declared that Pence is a “hated figure” in Indiana, claiming she knows firsthand because she attended law school in the state. I can’t find the dates that Hostin attended law school at Notre Dame. She was born in 1969 so if she was in her early 20’s then she would have been there somewhere around the mid 90’s. Pence ran for office in the House of Representatives for the first time (an lost) in 1988, and didn’t start his time in Congress until 2001 in a district in Southern Indiana.  Notre Dame is in the very Northern most point in the state. Maybe she had heard of Mike Pence while at Notre Dame, but I’m thinking she knew little to nothing about him at that time. 

“He’s not very popular at all,” she said. “I think when you have a Mike Pence who now sort of puts this religious veneer on things and calls people ‘values voters,’ I think we’re in a dangerous situation.” Let’s see – Mike Pence was elected and served in Congress from 2001 to 2013. That would mean he was voted into office in his district 6 different times. He served as Governor of the state of Indiana from 2013-2017 and was running for re-election when President Trump named Pence as his running mate in the 2016 election. Granted, he made some decisions that were very unpopular, but it’s hard to reconcile Hostin’s OPINION that he is “hated and not very popular” with the FACT that he won election on 7 different occasions. 

Hostin said she is a “faithful” Catholic but doesn’t want her vice president “speaking in tongues.” It’s obvious that as a Catholic she knows nothing about “speaking in tongues”,  as the topic was what Pence heard from Jesus, not about how he spoke to Jesus. Personally knowing his hometown church and having been there a few occasions, I can assure you that there was no speaking in tongues done while I was there.   

Joy Behar then said: “It’s one thing to talk to Jesus. It’s another thing when Jesus talks to you.” Pure sarcasm and vitriol.

Behar said hearing voices is a “mental illness” before Sherri Shepard offered a limited defense of Pence.

“As a Christian, that’s just par for the course,” Shepard said “You talk to Jesus, Jesus talks back. What concerns me is, how long is the conversation with Jesus?” Shepard acknowledges that Jesus talks to us, so why would it the length of that would be concerning. If Jesus talks to him for 30 that’s ok, but if it’s a minute or two or three or longer then that’s “concerning”?

Behar, an ABC News star, uncomfortably joked, “Can he talk to Mary Magdalene without his wife in the room?” This is probably the worst comment of the entire interview. Critics of the Bible has banded Mary Magdalene as a woman of ill repute, and the “without his wife in the room” part is making reference to Pence’s previous comments on how he keeps his vows to his wife. 

Shepard then said that the key is “moderation” and anything that is “too much” is concerning. Again how is moderation and too much defined?

“Do we want our politics served to us with a religious veneer over them?” Hostin asked. “This administration is not a values-driven administration.” Let’s see – religious veneer and politics. Our founding documents and Constitution has religious veneer written all over them, and the Founding Fathers were mostly Christians (no matter what uninformed naysayers might tell you). If you watch the video, you will notice that the hosts couldn’t even agree on what values-driven is. 

Finally, I find it very interesting, at the end of the segment, that Bahar commented that Pence would be much better that Trump. “I don’t think anyone could be worse than Trump.  (garbled words) Say what you will about Mike Pence and his religiosity and everything else. I don’t think that he’s mentally ill even though he says that he is hearing voices. I don’t think he is that crazy”. So when it’s Pence alone, he and Christians are mentally ill and several other derogatory things, but when compared to Trump – Behar seems to think that Pence would do lots of things right. Total hypocrisy and I believe that ABC should discontinue allowing these women to spew there 1st Amendment protected venom.   

Beware of the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC)

The topic of the Southern Poverty Law Center and the misinformation that they put out has been on my mind for quite a while. They like to throw around the term “Hate Group” because they know that will get people’s attention in a hurry.

I will admit that many of the 917 entries that SPLC lists really are hate groups and I, as much as anyone else, believe that “real” hate groups need to be exposed for what they are. However, the SPLC goes to the next level and lists legitimate groups that they just disagree with as hate or extremist groups as well.

If you are a Conservative Christian, and you believe that what the Bible says is true and accurate, then you probably would be right along side of groups like  Alliance Defending Freedom, friend of the podcast David Barton of Wallbuilders, and Family Research Council and be considered hate-filled or extremest. Not to give them exposure, but I put links on those groups to show you that SPLC lists them and what they have to say about them.

Many people (mostly uninformed or intentionally close-minded) use the SPLC to reference hate and extremist groups and individuals. My suggestion is that you use another source or do the research yourself, because to me – the Southern Poverty Law Center is an EXTREMIST GROUP itself.

Below is a video from Prager U on this topic, followed by a partial article from PhilanthropyRoundtable.

 

Some People Love to Call Names

The Southern Poverty Law Center’s extremist list isn’t a Consumer Reports guide. It’s a political tool.

By Karl Zinsmeister

At the end of 2016, the Chronicle of ­Philanthropy published an article headlined “Dozens of ‘Hate Groups’ Have Charity Status, Chronicle Study Finds.” The “study” took at face value a list of 900 entities pinned with the “hate” label by a notoriously partisan attack group—the Southern ­Poverty Law Center. Over the years, numerous investigators have pointed out that most of the scary KKK and Nazi and militia groups that the SPLC insists are lurking under our beds are actually ghost entities, with no employees, no address, hardly any followers, and little or no footprint. But “hate groups” and “extremist organizations” are great copy, especially for fundraising (more on that below). So the SPLC list of stormtroopers-in-our-midst is catnip for journalists looking for dramatic stories.

When the Chronicle’s reporter found that 63 of the groups tarred as dangerous by the SPLC are actually IRS-approved charities, did this spark concerns about the accuracy and fairness of the “haters” list? No, just the opposite. The Chroniclewondered if the IRS “is essentially granting government subsidies to groups holding views that millions of Americans may find abhorrent.”

One month later came another example of journalism built on the tendentious SPLC definitions of who, in ­America’s roiling democratic give and take, is evil. The Los Angeles Times wrote in a January 2017 story that a donor who owns “the world’s second largest presenter of live music, sports, and entertainment…has donated to a number of anti-LGBTQ groups such as Alliance Defending Freedom, National Christian Foundation, and Family Research Council. A number of these organizations have been listed as ‘extremist groups’ by the Southern Poverty Law Center.”

Finish reading this very informative article by clicking here.

Did VP Pence Really Say That?

Below is an article that stated President Donald Trump said several different things that all have to do with Vice-President Mike Pence’s Christian views. You can read the story to get all of what was said, but I want to focus on one part in particular.

Before I get to the meat of my remarks, let me make clear that I have no clue if President Trump actually said all of the things in the article. Maybe he did, maybe he didn’t – I have no clue, thus this article may not need to have been written – but even with that, many other things have been said about “My Man Mike” which brings back the the need of writing this back into legitimacy.

In the article, which used the New Yorker as it’s source, this line is used as the opening:

While I earlier said that I have no idea if Trump said the things listed in the article, I would stake my reputation on this statement. Mike Pence does NOT want all gay people to hang. 

I know Mike Pence, and while he might not remember the few times that I had the pleasure of talking with him, I KNOW from personal experience talking with the former Indiana Governor that he would not and does not believe what is said to start the article below.

There are many negative and untrue reasons why things are written about Mike (yes he is down home enough that he likes to be called Mike). The first and biggest reason nasty and hateful things are written about him is that he is a Christian, he is not ashamed of that fact, and he leads with those two traits always in mind.

I have heard and have had him say to me directly – I’m a Christian, I’m a Conservative, and I’m a Republican; IN THAT ORDER!

It’s time that people that know the truth, which will then set you free, speak out and not let the hammering of Vice-President Pence and many other good Christians go by without defending them.

Trump joked Pence ‘wants to hang’ all gay people, New Yorker reports

President Trump once joked that Vice President Mike Pence “wants to hang” all gay people, The New Yorker reported Monday.

The publication also reports that Trump has mocked Pence for his views opposing abortion and LGBTQ rights.

Trump jabbed at Pence after a legal scholar told the pair that if the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, many states would probably legalize abortion.

“You see?” Trump reportedly said to Pence. “You’ve wasted all this time and energy on it, and it’s not going to end abortion anyway.”

And when the meeting began to focus on gay rights, Trump reportedly pointed to Pence, joking, “Don’t ask that guy — he wants to hang them all!”

To read the rest of the article, go here.