N.C. Pastor Fired for Not Believing in Hell

Pastor Chad Holtz ministered to a congregation in Oxford, North Carolina until he stated that he no longer believed in hell in a blog post to the church website. Holtz told his story to the AP. (March 24)



JMC Ministries Response:
We believe in a heaven and a hell, that each human lives in a free will choice everyday to serve one of two masters. The options-Jesus or Satan.

Below you will find New Testament verses about hell.

1. Matthew 5:22
   But I tell you that anyone who is angry with a brother or sister will be subject to judgment. Again, anyone who says to a brother or sister, ‘Raca,’ is answerable to the court. And anyone who says, ‘You fool!’ will be in danger of the fire of hell.
   
   
2. Matthew 5:29
   If your right eye causes you to stumble, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell.
   
   
3. Matthew 5:30
   And if your right hand causes you to stumble, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to go into hell.
   
   
4. Matthew 10:28
   Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell.
   
   
5. Matthew 18:9
   And if your eye causes you to stumble, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into the fire of hell.
   
   
6. Matthew 23:15
   “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You travel over land and sea to win a single convert, and when you have succeeded, you make them twice as much a child of hell as you are.
   
   
7. Matthew 23:33
   “You snakes! You brood of vipers! How will you escape being condemned to hell?
   
   
8. Mark 9:43
   If your hand causes you to stumble, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life maimed than with two hands to go into hell, where the fire never goes out.
   
   
9. Mark 9:45
   And if your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life crippled than to have two feet and be thrown into hell.
   
   
10. Mark 9:47
    And if your eye causes you to stumble, pluck it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into hell,
    
    
11. Luke 12:5
    But I will show you whom you should fear: Fear him who, after your body has been killed, has authority to throw you into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him.
    
    
12. James 3:6
    The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole body, sets the whole course of one’s life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell.
    
    
13. 2 Peter 2:4
    For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but sent them to hell, putting them in chains of darkness to be held for judgment;
    
    

We will talk about this plus how to get saved and more on this weeks JMC Live show Saturday at 9PM Eastern


Genesis 37:35 - And all his sons and all his daughters rose up to comfort him; but he refused to be comforted; and he said, For I will go down into the grave unto my son mourning. Thus his father wept for him.



Genesis 42:38 - And he said, My son shall not go down with you; for his brother is dead, and he is left alone: if mischief befall him by the way in the which ye go, then shall ye bring down my gray hairs with sorrow to the grave.



Genesis 44:29 - And if ye take this also from me, and mischief befall him, ye shall bring down my gray hairs with sorrow to the grave.



Genesis 44:31 - It shall come to pass, when he seeth that the lad is not with us, that he will die: and thy servants shall bring down the gray hairs of thy servant our father with sorrow to the grave.



Numbers 16:30 - But if the Lord make a new thing, and the earth open her mouth, and swallow them up, with all that appertain unto them, and they go down quick into the pit; then ye shall understand that these men have provoked the Lord.



Numbers 16:33 - They, and all that appertained to them, went down alive into the pit, and the earth closed upon them: and they perished from among the congregation.



Deut. 32:22 - For a fire is kindled in mine anger, and shall burn unto the lowest hell, and shall consume the earth with her increase, and set on fire the foundations of the mountains. (Could this be Tartarus, far below Hades (the "lowest" hell?)



1 Samuel 2:6 - The Lord killeth, and maketh alive: he bringeth down to the grave, and bringeth up.



2 Samuel 22:6 - The sorrows of hell compassed me about; the snares of death prevented me;



1 Kings 2:6 - Do therefore according to thy wisdom, and let not his hoar head go down to the grave in peace.



1 Kings 2:9 - Now therefore hold him not guiltless: for thou art a wise man, and knowest what thou oughtest to do unto him; but his hoar head bring thou down to the grave with blood.



Job 7:9 - As the cloud is consumed and vanisheth away: so he that goeth down to the grave shall come up no more.



Job 11:8 - It is as high as heaven; what canst thou do? deeper than hell; what canst thou know?



Job 14:13 - Oh that thou wouldest hide me in the grave, that thou wouldest keep me secret, until thy wrath be past, that thou wouldest appoint me a set time, and remember me!



Job 17:13 - If I wait, the grave is mine house: I have made my bed in the darkness.



Job 17:16 - They shall go down to the bars of the pit, when our rest together is in the dust.



Job 21:13 - They spend their days in wealth, and in a moment go down to the grave.



Job 24:19 - Drought and heat consume the snow waters: so doth the grave those which have sinned.



Job 26:6 - Hell is naked before him, and destruction hath no covering.



Psalm 6:5 - For in death there is no remembrance of thee: in the grave who shall give thee thanks?



Psalm 9:17 - The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God.



Psalm 16:10 - For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell; neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption.



Psalm 18:5 - The sorrows of hell compassed me about: the snares of death prevented me.



Psalm 30:3 - O Lord, thou hast brought up my soul from the grave: thou hast kept me alive, that i should not go down to the pit.



Psalm 31:17 - Let me not be ashamed, O Lord; for i have called upon thee: let the wicked be ashamed, and let them be silent in the grave.



Psalm 49:14-15 - Like sheep they are laid in the grave; death shall feed on them; and the upright shall have dominion over them in the morning; and their beauty shall consume in the grave from their dwelling. 15But God will redeem my soul from the power of the grave: for he shall receive me. Selah.



Psalm 55:15 - Let death seize upon them, and let them go down quick into hell: for wickedness is in their dwellings, and among them.



Psalm 86:13 - For great is thy mercy toward me: and thou hast delivered my soul from the lowest hell. (Tartarus, far below Hades)



Psalm 88:3 - For my soul is full of troubles: and my life draweth nigh unto the grave.



Psalm 89:48 - What man is he that liveth, and shall not see death? shall he deliver his soul from the hand of the grave? Selah.



Psalm 116:3 - The sorrows of death compassed me, and the pains of hell gat hold upon me: I found trouble and sorrow.



Psalm 139:8 - If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there.



Psalm 141:7 - Our bones are scattered at the grave's mouth, as when one cutteth and cleaveth wood upon the earth.



Proverbs 1:12 - Let us swallow them up alive as the grave; and whole, as those that go down into the pit:



Proverbs 5:5 - Her feet go down to death; her steps take hold on hell.



Proverbs 7:27- Her house is the way to hell, going down to the chambers of death.



Proverbs 9:18 - But he knoweth not that the dead are there; and that her guests are in the depths of hell.



Proverbs 15:11 - Hell and destruction are before the Lord: how much more then the hearts of the children of men?



Proverbs 15:24 - The way of life is above to the wise, that he may depart from hell beneath.



Proverbs 23:14 - Thou shalt beat him with the rod, and shalt deliver his soul from hell.



Proverbs 27:20 - Hell and destruction are never full; so the eyes of man are never satisfied.



Proverbs 30:16 - The grave; and the barren womb; the earth that is not filled with water; and the fire that saith not, It is enough.



Eccles. 9:10 - Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might; for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave, whither thou goest.



Song 8:6 - Set me as a seal upon thine heart, as a seal upon thine arm: for love is strong as death; jealousy is cruel as the grave: the coals thereof are coals of fire, which hath a most vehement flame. (JEALOUSY HAS A FLAME??)



Isaiah 5:14 - Therefore hell hath enlarged herself, and opened her mouth without measure: and their glory, and their multitude, and their pomp, and he that rejoiceth, shall descend into it.



Isaiah 14:9 - Hell from beneath is moved for thee to meet thee at thy coming: it stirreth up the dead for thee, even all the chief ones of the earth; it hath raised up from their thrones all the kings of the nations.



Isaiah 14:11 - Thy pomp is brought down to the grave, and the noise of thy viols: the worm is spread under thee, and the worms cover thee.



Isaiah 14:15 - Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit.



Isaiah 28:15 - Because ye have said, We have made a covenant with death, and with hell are we at agreement; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, it shall not come unto us: for we have made lies our refuge, and under falsehood have we hid ourselves:



Isaiah 28:18 - And your covenant with death shall be disannulled, and your agreement with hell shall not stand; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, then ye shall be trodden down by it.



Isaiah 38:10 - I said in the cutting off of my days, I shall go to the gates of the grave: I am deprived of the residue of my years.



Isaiah 38:18 - For the grave cannot praise thee, death can not celebrate thee: they that go down into the pit cannot hope for thy truth.



Isaiah 57:9 - And thou wentest to the king with ointment, and didst increase thy perfumes, and didst send thy messengers far off, and didst debase thyself even unto hell.



Ezekiel 31:15-17 - Thus saith the Lord God; in the day when he went down to the grave I caused a mourning: I covered the deep for him, and I restrained the floods thereof, and the great waters were stayed: and I caused Lebanon to mourn for him, and all the trees of the field fainted for him. 16I made the nations to shake at the sound of his fall, when I cast him down to hell with them that descend into the pit: and all the trees of Eden, the choice and best of Lebanon, all that drink water, shall be comforted in the nether parts of the earth. 17They also went down into hell with him unto them that be slain with the sword; and they that were his arm, that dwelt under his shadow in the midst of the heathen.



Ezekiel 32:21 - The strong among the mighty shall speak to him out of the midst of hell with them that help him: they are gone down, they lie uncircumcised, slain by the sword.



Ezekiel 32:27 - And they shall not lie with the mighty that are fallen of the uncircumcised, which are gone down to hell with their weapons of war: and they have laid their swords under their heads, but their iniquities shall be upon their bones, though they were the terror of the mighty in the land of the living.



(THEY TOOK THEIR WEAPONS TO HELL WITH THEM??????)



Hosea 13:14 - I will ransom them from the power of the grave; I will redeem them from death: O death, I will be thy plagues; O grave, I will be thy destruction: repentance shall be hid from mine eyes.



Amos 9:2 - Though they dig into hell, thence shall mine hand take them; though they climb up to heaven, thence will I bring them down:



Jonah 2:2 - And said, I cried by reason of mine affliction unto the Lord, and he heard me; out of the belly of hell cried I, and thou heardest my voice.



Habakkuk 2:5 - Yea also, because he transgresseth by wine, he is a proud man, neither keepeth at home, who enlargeth his desire as hell, and is as death, and cannot be satisfied, but gathereth unto him all nations, and heapeth unto him all people:

Why Do We Let Them Dress Like That?

Women of a liberated generation wrestle with their eager-to-grow-up daughters—and their own pasts

By JENNIFER MOSES

Redux Pictures

What teenage girl doesn't want to be attractive, sought-after and popular? And what mom doesn't want to help that cause?

In the pale-turquoise ladies' room, they congregate in front of the mirror, re-applying mascara and lip gloss, brushing their hair, straightening panty hose and gossiping: This one is "skanky," that one is "really cute," and so forth. Dressed in minidresses, perilously high heels, and glittery, dangling earrings, their eyes heavily shadowed in black-pearl and jade, they look like a flock of tropical birds. A few minutes later, they return to the dance floor, where they shake everything they've got under the party lights.

But for the most part, there isn't all that much to shake. This particular group of party-goers consists of 12- and 13-year-old girls. Along with their male counterparts, they are celebrating the bat mitzvah of a classmate in a cushy East Coast suburb.

Today's teen and preteen girls are bombarded with images and products that tout the benefits of sexual attraction. But must we as parents, give in to their desire to "dress like everyone else?" asks author Jennifer Moses. She talks with WSJ's Kelsey Hubbard.

In a few years, their attention will turn to the annual ritual of shopping for a prom dress, and by then their fashion tastes will have advanced still more. Having done this now for two years with my own daughter, I continue to be amazed by the plunging necklines, built-in push-up bras, spangles, feathers, slits and peek-a-boos. And try finding a pair of sufficiently "prommish" shoes designed with less than a 2-inch heel.

All of which brings me to a question: Why do so many of us not only permit our teenage daughters to dress like this—like prostitutes, if we're being honest with ourselves—but pay for them to do it with our AmEx cards?

I posed this question to a friend whose teenage daughter goes to an all-girls private school in New York. "It isn't that different from when we were kids," she said. "The girls in the sexy clothes are the fast girls. They'll have Facebook pictures of themselves opening a bottle of Champagne, like Paris Hilton. And sometimes the moms and dads are out there contributing to it, shopping with them, throwing them parties at clubs. It's almost like they're saying, 'Look how hot my daughter is.'" But why? "I think it's a bonding thing," she said. "It starts with the mommy-daughter manicure and goes on from there."

I have a different theory. It has to do with how conflicted my own generation of women is about our own past, when many of us behaved in ways that we now regret. A woman I know, with two mature daughters, said, "If I could do it again, I wouldn't even have slept with my own husband before marriage. Sex is the most powerful thing there is, and our generation, what did we know?"

We are the first moms in history to have grown up with widely available birth control, the first who didn't have to worry about getting knocked up. We were also the first not only to be free of old-fashioned fears about our reputations but actually pressured by our peers and the wider culture to find our true womanhood in the bedroom. Not all of us are former good-time girls now drowning in regret—I know women of my generation who waited until marriage—but that's certainly the norm among my peers.

So here we are, the feminist and postfeminist and postpill generation. We somehow survived our own teen and college years (except for those who didn't), and now, with the exception of some Mormons, evangelicals and Orthodox Jews, scads of us don't know how to teach our own sons and daughters not to give away their bodies so readily. We're embarrassed, and we don't want to be, God forbid, hypocrites.

Still, in my own circle of girlfriends, the desire to push back is strong. I don't know one of them who doesn't have feelings of lingering discomfort regarding her own sexual past. And not one woman I've ever asked about the subject has said that she wishes she'd "experimented" more.

As for the girls themselves, if you ask them why they dress the way they do, they'll say (roughly) the same things I said to my mother: "What's the big deal?" "But it's the style." "Could you be any more out of it?" What teenage girl doesn't want to be attractive, sought-after and popular?

And what mom doesn't want to help that cause? In my own case, when I see my daughter in drop-dead gorgeous mode, I experience something akin to a thrill—especially since I myself am somewhat past the age to turn heads.

In recent years, of course, promiscuity has hit new heights (it always does!), with "sexting" among preteens, "hooking up" among teens and college students, and a constant stream of semi-pornography from just about every media outlet. Varied sexual experiences—the more the better—are the current social norm.

Read more at WSJ.com

A walk on the seamy side, to help exploited girls

A small, eclectic advocacy group tackles the tough streets of South Florida, looking for young victims of sex traffickers.

By AUDRA D.S. BURCH

aburch@MiamiHerald.com

The outreach workers and volunteers fan out in some of the toughest, most unforgiving neighborhoods of Miami, searching neon-lit streets, darkened corners and alleys, and motels for victims of sexual trafficking.

Too often, it is a search for baby faces.

“You look in their eyes and you know they are young and scared and they have no business being there,’’ says Sandy Skelaney, program manager of Project GOLD, a Miami-based, anti-sex trafficking outreach program . “You know they are living a life of chaos.’’

As part of Project GOLD, Skelaney leads a changing cast of community volunteers — a ballerina, an attorney, a teacher, a Marine, students and mothers — in an ambitious effort to reach minors in crisis and shift the thinking that underage prostitutes are criminals rather than victims. Twice a month, the group heads to the streets to find the underaged and victimized, home-grown or brought to South Florida by force or false dreams, only to become sex workers.

The volunteers often face girls in denial, steeled against strangers. Rescues are more about laying the groundwork to help girls find a way out than whisking them away from it all. And if the girls do take that first step, it takes fortitude and a whole lot of assistance to help restore their lives, rebuild their self-esteem and establish stability.

It’s difficult to pinpoint statistics but authorities and advocates rank South Florida among the nation’s hotspots for human trafficking. Nearly every area law enforcement agency has tackled the problem through individual initiatives, partnerships or task forces including government and social-service agencies.

FORGING TIES

On this Thursday night, the volunteers include a cop, a social worker, a homeless advocate and a student. They descend on the seamier stretches of Biscayne Boulevard, 79th Street and State Road 7 in North Miami-Dade. Each tract, divided by the group, is distinguished by cheap motels, hookers and hustlers amid the drive-thrus, laundromats and food markets.

The mission is to find underage sex workers and missing children, even those who may seem to be walking the streets voluntarily. They also hope to forge relationships with hotel and motel staffs, business owners and members of the community who may come in contact with young victims.

“Our greatest challenge is finding the victims. We know they are there,’’ Skelaney says. “We have dealt with more than 100 clients in two years, so we know they are here, somewhere, holed up in hotels or strip clubs. Maybe crashing on somebody’s couch.”

It’s just before 11 p.m. and one of the eastern blocks of 79th Street is buzzing. A male, in heavy make-up and feminine clothing, paces and talks on a cellphone. Two school-age boys, still in uniforms, walk by. A small grocery store is full of customers buying cigarettes and lottery tickets. Ami Lawson, a longtime homeless advocate, photographer and volunteer outreach coordinator, walks into the store carrying pictures of missing teenage girls and toting her pet Maltese Rufus, a help in disarming strangers. She waits for the clerk as he makes change behind a bullet-proof window. She shows him photos of 18 faces, all from Miami-Dade.

“We are out here looking for these girls,’’ Lawson says unflinchingly. “We are hoping they aren’t in trouble.’’

Read more: http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/03/19/2124399/a-walk-on-the-seamy-side-to-help.html#ixzz1HXT3LBcf

Japan disaster: over 27,000 dead or missing

More than 27,000 people are officially dead or missing after the earthquake and tsunami that struck northeastern Japan on March 11th.

According to the National Police Agency, 9,811 people are confirmed dead as of 9 PM on Thursday.

The agency says it has received reports of 17,541 people missing.

Most of the dead and missing are from the 3 hardest hit prefectures of Miyagi, Iwate and Fukushima.

The number of confirmed deaths in Fukushima totals 839, far smaller than the more than 5,800 in Miyagi and about 3,000 in Iwate. This may be due to the suspension of search operations in areas within 20 kilometers of the damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, because of radiation leaks.

Figures appear almost certain to rise because of the absence of family members to report the dead and missing. In some areas, entire families appear to have perished in the tsunami that followed the magnitude 9.0 quake.

Emergency shelters are accommodating more than 200,000 people, mostly from the prefectures of Miyagi, Iwate and Fukushima, according to NHK figures. More than 30,000 people, mainly from Fukushima, have fled their hometowns to other prefectures.

Read more at NHK

Burma hit by two 7.0 magnitude earthquakes

North-east Burma has been rocked by two 7.0 magnitude earthquakes, close to the borders with Laos and Thailand, the US Geological Survey has reported.

They struck seconds apart at 1355 GMT and were centered about 70 miles (110 km) from the northern Thai city of Chiang Rai, the agency said.

The first quake was shallow, at a depth of 6.2 miles (10km), while the second was much deeper at 142.5 miles (230km).

Create a Special U.S. Envoy for Religious Freedom!

Dear Friends,

I’ve never been afraid to attend church or wondered if my family would be murdered just because we’re Christians. Unfortunately, this is the reality that many Christians around the world face every day. It’s easy to take our own freedom of religion for granted, but instead of taking it for granted, we should use it to speak up for those who face constant fear of persecution due to their faith in Christ.

Will you take a moment to speak out for those who don’t enjoy religious freedom?

Congressman Wolf recently introduced a bill in the House of Representatives called H.R. 440. This bill would require the Obama administration to appoint a Special Envoy for Religious Minorities in the Near East and South Central Asia, the area of the world that contains the most countries that actively persecute Christians.

Open Doors USA is asking you to contact your U.S. Representative to ask him/her to co-sponsor H.R. 440. If this bill is passed, the Obama administration will be required to appoint an expert on international religious freedom to directly confront religious persecution in this part of the world.
Read bill for details>>

Please send your message today, and ask your U.S. Representative to co-sponsor H.R. 440 and to vote “Yes” when the bill is brought up for a vote. Thank you for speaking out for those without a voice!

Advocating with you,

Lindsay Vessey
Advocacy Director
Open Doors USA