Month: August 2022

Pastor Curses Out Congregation For Not buying Him A Luxury Watch

A Missouri pastor berated his ‘poor’ congregation for not honoring him with a new expensive watch he asked for a year ago while reportedly delivering a sermon about taking care of God’s shepherd. Pastor Carlton Funderburke called his congregation “poor, broke, busted, and disgusted” after they still hadn’t bought him an expensive Movado watch, which ranges in price from $395 to $3,295. ‘”‘I’m not worth your McDonald’s money? I’m not worth your Red Lobster money?”, he asked the Church at the Well congregation. Funderburke has since apologized. Read about his tantrum here. 

Church’s Food Pantry Destroyed By Firebombing

A church food pantry storing non-perishable items for a ministry serving the poor has been firebombed in what the pastor describes as an act of “pure evil.” Pastor Curtiss Ostosh of the Detroit-area Harvest Time Christian Church in Warren, Michigan, announced that someone “firebombed” or “set on fire” the church’s food storage container holding “countless tons” of food distributed daily to those in need. He added that the firebombing caused thousands of dollars in damage and resulted in a “total loss.”  Harvest Time Christian Church will continue serving the community despite the firebombing, Ostosh said, thanks to “a number of other partner pantries in our area that have stepped up.” Read more about the firebombing here.

Pastor John Gray Returns to Pulpit After Hospitalization

South Carolina megachurch Pastor John Gray returned to the pulpit Sunday after he was hospitalized for a pulmonary embolism last month, thanking God for keeping him from a death that had been “scheduled in Hell.” Gray suffered a rare and very severe saddle pulmonary embolism, a term used to describe when a blood clot gets lodged at the intersection where the main pulmonary artery branches into the lungs. After pray from his his congregatio, Gray was released from the hospital after over a week. This past Sunday, as the pastor took to the stage at his church to preach a sermon for the first time since his sick leave. Read more about his return here.

Archeologists Uncover Mosaic With Inscription To Peter

Archaeologists have uncovered a 1,500-year-old mosaic with an inscription to the apostle Peter. They believe the discovery is further evidence that the site at El-Araj in Israel is the location of the house of Peter and the town of Bethsaida recorded in the Bible. The large Greek inscription was found during excavations at a Byzantine-era basilica known as the “Church of the Apostles” because it is traditionally believed to have been built over the house of the Apostles Peter and Andrew. The mosaic was found within a larger mosaic on the floor of the church’s sacristy and is partly decorated with floral patterns. Read more about the discovery here.

Pastor’s Wife and Accomplice Arrested For His Murder

An Oklahoma woman was sentenced on Wednesday to life in prison with the possibility of parole for urging her lover to fatally shoot her husband. Defendant Kristie Dawnell Evans, 49, testified at the hearing that the victim, her Baptist pastor husband David Evans, subjected her to abuse throughout their 30-year marriage. She estimated he forced her to have sex with 50 to 100 other men. “I was desperate,” she reportedly testified Tuesday. “I wanted to be free from that. I knew of no other way.” Evans is charged with conspiring with her lover,  Kahlil Deamie Square, 27 to shoot and kill her husband. Read more about the case here,

18 Children Among Others Dead In Church Fire In Egypt

Christian Schools Will Be Granted Automatic Title IX Exemption

In a major victory for religious liberty, the Biden administration on Friday agreed to automatically exempt religious schools from a new interpretation of Title IX that had threatened to halt funding for lunch programs if schools held to biblical standards on sexuality and marriage. At issue is the Biden administration’s interpterion of Title IX, a 1972 law that prohibits discrimination in education facilities on the basis of sex. The Biden administration interprets Title IX as also prohibiting discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. the agreement stems from a lawsuit brought against the Biden administration saying the new rule violates federal law and school’s religious liberty rights under the U.S. Constitution. Read more about the victory here.

Eating Grapes May Add Years To Life Of Fast Food Eaters

New research suggests that snacking on grapes might combat the effects of consuming a junk food diet—flushing out the refined fats and sugars of processed food. Eating the grapes led to “unique gene expression patterns, reduced fatty liver, and extension of lifespan” for animals consuming the high-fat diet, said Dr. John Pezzuto who led the team at Western New England University. Pezzuto, who has authored over 600 studies, called it “truly remarkable.” “It adds an entirely new dimension to the old saying ‘you are what you eat.’” In a series of experiments, mice gorged on a high fat diet, similar to those consumed in western countries. They also received over a cup of daily powdered grape supplement. These lab rodents had less fatty liver—and lived longer than those who didn’t. Read more about the study here.