Author: Linda Cook

California native who moved to Kootenai County, Idaho 30 years ago. Fierce conservative, former Congressional Aide to Helen Chenoweth, married to Army Ranger (he says those don’t retire), reformed trouble maker, grandmother of four who is looking to create a sounding board for informed, thoughtful, inquisitive commenters.

 

 

 A Tale of Two Lawsuits

Kootenai County Sheriff Bob Norris has been a familiar figure, but he wasn’t nearly as famous as he is now.  All it took was widely disseminated footage of a woman being dragged out of a Republican Central Committee event to tell the entire nation what many local citizens already knew.  Bob lost control, and mayhem ensued.   What has burst upon the national scene is old news for us locals.  What’s largely unknown is that it’s happened before and with far less provocation; it’s just that this time, Bob got caught.

It was nearly one year ago, at a town hall meeting in the small community of Cataldo, that Norris, by his own admission, “called out” a woman named Pennie Collinson.  That’s one way to put it.  Another might be, according to dozens of eye-witnesses, that Norris pointed out a beautifully dressed, quietly observant photographer and announced “That woman likes oral sex and giving blow jobs.”

The ensuing uproar consumed the campaign for Sheriff for months to come.  

You Can’t Make This Stuff Up

I didn’t know Pennie when this happened in April of 2024.  I hired her the following month for a photography job.  She recounted the entire story to me, but I didn’t believe her.  I simply could not.  No reasonable person, much less a county Sheriff, would conduct themselves with such aberrant accusations in a public setting.  The truth became clear when I met several people who witnessed the scene firsthand.

As the citizens of Kootenai County grappled with the dawning knowledge that our Sheriff is a true vulgarian and happily indulges in gross misconduct at will, the denials can be summarized like this:  He didn’t do it.  Nobody saw him do it.  You can’t prove a thing.  The old Bart Simpson defense.  When it became undeniable that a growing crowd of witnesses was coming forward, the rebuttals changed to “They have a history.  She’s driven him crazy for years.  She had it coming.”

Bob’s gutter response to the mere presence of a local photographer is easier to comprehend if you know the backstory.

  • The year was 2019, there was a meeting of the local Pachyderm club.  Pennie was attending to introduce an organization advocating for protection for animals, later named Hank’s Law, after Hank, a dog that was abused to death.  Bob Norris walked through, announced who he was and that he was running for Sheriff, and promptly left.
  • It was months later that a town hall was held, ostensibly to discuss a proposed Re-Entry Facility for released prisoners but that appeared to be just a veneer for an ‘elect Bob Norris for Sheriff’ campaign event.
  • The next encounter was at a local gym where Pennie overheard a group of men talking about a tattoo on the back of Bob’s calf. 
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They knew Bob was from L.A. and were speculating that he had a Viking tattoo on his calf as a sign of White Supremacy and wanted him to show the tattoo on his leg (the tats are there or the shoulder), and Pennie said she would ask about it.  She got on social media and made the query.  Bob posted a video, mentioned Pennie, and showed his leg, but only on the side, not the back where the tattoo would be.  Shortly thereafter, he deleted the video. 

Pennie’s family has lived in Coeur d’Alene since 1972, and for as long as they have lived here, the Aryan Nation organization has been a concern. The family is Jewish. She just wanted to know if she would be safe around Bob.

The Sheriff’s race was hotly contested with three candidates, Richard Whitehead, Kim Edmonton, and Bob Norris.  Pennie supported Whitehead and attended events to take photos.  She noticed that social media attacks were directed her way.

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We need to travel back in time for context. Pennie owned a thriving and recognized business for 23 years, Coeur d’Alene Photography. She was the photographer for Global One News Network, the Events photographer for the Cda Resort, she photographed professional sporting events and for the organizations Wednesday’s Child and The Children’s Village.

This was why, in 2018, a woman named Jennifer Peacock sought her out to photograph a group of people working on animal rights.  Soon, Pennie was helping with marketing, and her son designed and hosted the website. They created brochures and began fundraising.  Since Pennie was the photographer for the Cda Casino and The Cda Resort, she gained support from people attached to those businesses.  She also obtained donations from people involved in the booming real estate market, and funds were pouring in.  Yet, as it does every year, tax season rolled around. The Casino was the first donor to ask for the EIN for a write-off.  Pennie attempted to get that from Jennifer, who failed to provide it.

 

 Jennifer would never provide the tax ID # and now we know why.  Pennie and two others pursued the issue with the IRS and were told it wasn’t a registered 501c3 and she needed to inform the businesses she recruited to warn them of the status. Pennie even went so far as to warn Bob Norris supporters in the Sheriff’s department by private messages on the business page.  Norris had been involved with supporting Hank’s Law.  You’d think he’d be grateful for the warning bark, but no.

 

The Thanks You Get

One day Pennie opened her front door for a deputy, a friend of Jennifer Peacock, who was invited inside and gave her a citation for libel for the ‘offense’ of informing people that Hank’s Law was not a non-profit.  She was informed she could be arrested and jailed.   She hired attorney Craig Zanetti,  and the prosecuting attorney dropped the citation.  Her attorney told her to take the information to the Sheriff’s department and report felony fraud.  They opened an investigation, it even made the paper, which included instructions for people to send their information to the sheriff’s department if they’d given to Hanks Law.  It was sound advice, but the Sheriff’s department took no action except for deputies harassing Pennie.

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Along with the citation,  two different suits were filed for defamation against Pennie.  One was filed by Jennifer Peacock, who had the most to lose if her fake charity was exposed as a corporation.  The other was the delightful D.R. (I’d provide her name but she’s a difficult creature), with the actual complaint stating Pennie had “agreed with others” in social media postings that were exceedingly unflattering.  Jennifer and D.R. are thick as . . . and suffice it to say they worked closely together on Hank’s Law and also the campaign for Bob Norris.

 Here’s where it gets sticky.  Jennifer and Pennie had another partner in the ‘non-profit. Her name was Janice McCune.  The lawsuits were flying around because Jennifer was, well, enjoying the company of Janice McCune’s husband.  So Jennifer sued both Pennie and Janice for defamation for 501c3 and for implying she was sexually involved with the irresistible Mr. Balison.

  There is thankfully an end to this dismal chapter, and mediation concluded the scrap.  Both lawsuits were dropped, and the impression left was that they were filed purely for harassment.

Public Enemy #1

The first few encounters Pennie had with Bob Norris are snoozers.  Bob has won the campaign and is now the Sheriff of Kootenai County, holding regular meetings with constituents as any politician does to maintain favor.  What follows is a distinct foreshadowing of dragging dissident women out of meetings.

The scene is set at a local restaurant on February 22, 2024.  Pennie was there having lunch with a friend, we’ll call her Deanna because that’s her name.

The cast of characters is about to get richer. I’ll be introducing Quincy Franklin, aka thebcpreacher, who is a videographer.  The second introduction is County Commissioner Bruce Mattare, a Bob Norris cohort who has been granted the status of Special Deputy.

So, Pennie and Deanna were having lunch in the main section of the restaurant when they spotted Quincy and spoke briefly with him. He was heading to the Meet and Greet for Norris but was unceremoniously tossed out as no video was allowed. Deanna, a person with a proper sense of moral indignation, went to the door of the meeting and asked, “Why did you throw him out?  Is it because he’s black?”

Bruce Mattare came out to Deanna and Pennie and invited them into the meeting.  Deanna retorted, “I know who you are, and I don’t like you.”  His rational response was, “You don’t have to like me.  We would like to invite you into this meeting”.  The ladies agreed to go in.

There was a Q&A session, yet Pennie’s consistently raised hand was not acknowledged, so as it ended, she approached Bob Norris.  He was flanked by Republican maven Terri Seymour and Bruce Mattare.  Pennie’s burning question had to do with a brochure created to boost an event called Show Your Proof, which was billed as an opportunity for Bob Norris to defend his reputation, seemingly a never-ending task as his payment to Reputation Defender attests.  Pennie perceived it was nothing more than a ruse to attack political opponents.  After the lawsuits and pressure from deputies, she was deeply disturbed and said,  “You’ve ruined my life, and now you’re at it again.  You’re a commissioner; this is wrong.  You’re our Sheriff; this is wrong”.  She began to cry.  In an endearing show of empathy (just kidding), she was asked, “Do you need to be escorted out?”

A waitress, noticing her tearful agitation, offered her a glass of water. Others gathered around her. Special Deputy/ County Commissioner/Norris PR Manager Bruce Mattare approached. She confronted him with the Show Your Proof brochure, and he admitted he “created it with others.”

When the much-touted Show Your Proof event occurred, Quincy attended to obtain video and was blocked by Bruce Mattare’s ever-vigilant wife, who was adamantly opposed to objective exposure.

At this point, Pennie became the enemy.  She thought Bob Norris & company were ‘ruining her life’, but it was just getting started.

 The Slur Heard ‘Round the World

Two months later, Bob Norris stood with mic in hand and issued the slur heard ’round the world.  He asserted that Pennie is obsessed with taking pictures of child porn and then the stunner, that she likes oral sex and giving blow jobs.  Pennie was allowed to respond, but this time, someone had turned on their camera, so there is audio and visual evidence of her outraged response.  She denounced what he’d said as disgusting, she demanded to know “Did you just call me a pedophile?” then proceeded to explain why she was driven to expose the child porn available in the local library.  Her cousin was killed at age 7 by a sexual predator, and Pennie has been a potent child advocate ever since.  Bob didn’t take the time to listen.  He snapped out, “What’s your question?”  Appropriate empathetic responses are not his strong suit.

The Sheriff of Kootenai County has a database of crime records and is now proclaiming that Pennie has criminal proclivities.  Did he know he was lying?  Did his merry band of sycophants know it was false?  The tide of abuse that the Sheriff unleashed was horrifying.

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The essence of these posts was repeated for months and gained traction with each re-telling.  Such is the power of the office of Sheriff.  The offset is in the power of justice; the lawsuit contains the option of including third parties in the course of Discovery, and I can’t wait.  The damage done was much more than emotional or relational; Pennie’s 23-year business was in shambles.  Her bookings tanked, professional connections dissolved, and her income was all but wiped out.

Even under the social media barrage, it is important to retain the true essence:  Pennie lost someone precious to her at a very young age due to a sexual predator.  It made her a lifelong advocate for the helpless, so there’s not a dog or child she will not fight to protect.

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You’d think it would be sufficient for an elected Sheriff to brand a woman as a sexual deviant, but it doesn’t stop there.  The Tort claim was filed, which is how you must proceed when you are suing a government entity.  The County decided not to respond, which was their option.  Bob decided to up the ante, offering $10,000 as a reward to anyone who could provide recorded proof of his slur.  He did this with the time of county employees utilizing county resources to put in the hot seat anyone who stood by their testimony that he had, indeed, verbally sexually assaulted a member of the public. He used the Sheriff’s letterhead and Sheriff’s official social media sites to fight his personal legal battle.    It was the use of County resources that caused the suit to be amended and refiled and this isn’t good news for Bob.  Result: full-blown lawsuit against Norris and Kootenai County and then amended to pursue relief for his use of County assets to paint anyone who varied from his account as liars and hoaxers. 

If Bob were a thoughtful man, he wouldn’t have opened with a Triple-Dog-Dare, of course if he were a deep thinker, he wouldn’t have vented his spleen on Pennie in the first place but now he’s dragged the County into this in full view. It seems he can’t count.  He accused a member of the public of being a sexual predator in front of about 60 witnesses.

It’s just a working theory but think about it.  What if Bob is actually a moron?

 

So here we are, the year-in-the-making lawsuit for slander and defamation is proceeding in the court docket with $500,000 as the starting point.  The scoffers who said she’d never do it out of fear of a countersuit have (thankfully) been silenced as no countersuit is forthcoming. What is forthcoming is yet more bleeding out of the Kootenai County Taxpayers.

Queue Galactic Lawsuit Number Deux

The opening scene is the Kootenai County Republican Central Committee legislative update town hall meeting on February 22nd.  If the organizers didn’t know that rowdy disrupters would be in attendance, then they should have known. As Vince Lombardi said, “The will to win is not nearly so important as the will to prepare to win.”  If you don’t understand the plan, you can’t create a counter-plan.  This unappealing crew of outraged liberals has demonstrated their craft before, so was there a plan? Because right at the moment, the plan looks to be “How to make Teresa Borrenpohl famous and rich”.

The preferred elements:

  • Large public gathering
  • Master of Ceremonies with the emotional range and razor wit of your average 6th grader
  • Security without badges identifying them as such
  • The sheriff was present, not in uniform.  Civilian or Incident Commander?
  • Agitators with a plan

Adding insult to injury, Bob’s verbal abuse has now escalated into physical assault, and it’s gained national, if not international, attention.  I can hear the outrage already: “Cops have to touch people who are getting arrested!” I see your point, but was she arrested by Bob?  In California, where Bob acquired his vaunted state-of-the-art law enforcement skills, if you grab someone, put them in restraints and Mirandize them, they are arrested.  What is plain as day is that Bob tried to move her up and out of her seat.  No dice.  So he grabbed her with both hands, then let go and backed off, then he physically engaged yet again, to no avail.  In watching the widely available video I was struck by the humiliating ineffectiveness of the Sheriff.  He was hands on – hands off . . . hands on – hands off.  Who taught him law enforcement technique?  Mr. Miyagi??

Within seconds, he bellowed, “You – out of here NOW!” and directed the security team to get her gone. It was not effective containment of someone disrupting a public meeting. Bob has now been cited by Coeur d’Alene Police Department for battery.

The lawsuit for this Charlie Foxtrot has yet to be filed, but the woman dragged out must have a lot of friends because in just a few days her war chest exceeded $300,000.  She has now filed a Tort Claim with the Kootenai County Clerk.

If Bob Norris understood the obligations and limitations of law enforcement, now of this would have occurred.

I’ll close with a summation of a recent My Turn opinion piece in our local paper by Bailey O’Neil:

How much longer can we afford leadership that mistakes brutality for strength?  Sheriff Norris has proven himself not just unworthy of his office but dangerous to the very citizens he swore to protect.  His badge has become not a shield for the vulnerable but a license for the powerful to abuse their authority.  He will be known not for the power he wielded but by the trust he betrayed.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Con

 

 

Under the Bus

Back in May I met with a local photographer I hired for a memorial photo book.  Her name is Pennie Collinson and she told me a story I simply did not believe.  She spoke about a town hall meeting in the small town of Cataldo, which had about 60 people in attendance.  Pennie was the photographer for the challenger to Sheriff Bob Norris.

Bob stood up to address the crowd, ostensibly to introduce himself and make it clear why he deserves to be re-elected. According to Pennie and many in attendance, Bob accomplished the precise opposite, when he pointed at her, called her out by name and declared she takes photos of child porn and likes to give blow jobs.  There is no known recorded account of his statement, probably due in part to his well-known opposition to having video or audio recordings in certain public venues.  What was recorded gives veracity to Pennie’s account.  She may be forgiven for in her shock and humiliation her voice trembled a little as she demanded “Are you calling me a pedophile? then denounced his statement as “disgusting” and recounted the rape and murder of her 7-year-old niece which caused her to be a child protection advocate for the rest of her life.  Bob’s response was less than conciliatory or even civil, he bluntly attempted to cut her off asking “What’s your question?!”  I could only admire the woman who’s voice rang out “Shut up and let her speak!”

We all know you should never shoot the piano player but this calls for a new maxim. Never attack a woman with a camera in her hands.  Here you see Bob’s expression following his ‘formal’ remarks.  If he was contemplating the damage he did to himself, he’s most likely broken into a permanent sweat at this point.

 

Now for a little crowd reaction:

Online commentary raged for quite some time immediately following Bob’s remarks.

  • “I was there!  It’s true. It was very explicit sexual accusations to a female photographer.  It definitely was NOT what I expected to hear at a town hall.  Is this the kind of behavior we will accept from our sheriff, I don’t care what the back story is, this was not a venue for such a random attack that was not provoked in any way.”
  • “He asked if there was anyone in the room who was 17 or younger and then looked at the female photographer across the room and said ‘I know you like oral sex and giving blow jobs.’ He then accused her of liking to take pictures of porn books in the library.  Is this acceptable behavior for our sheriff to publically bully/shame our residents?”
  • “Several of us walked out of there in total shock since this is the last thing you are expecting to hear from anyone in a public political setting.”
  • “I would never expect anyone to act that way at a town hall but especially our law enforcement.  He can’t be openly attacking someone’s character with these sexually explicit accusations without it looking like public shaming or defamation of character.  He is supposed to be in charge of keeping law and order.”
  • And to another person who said they heard it didn’t happen: “Not true! It did happen and it was not appropriate in what he said at the venue he was in.  I was stunned.”  Again later in the thread: “I was holding off sharing anything but when you said someone said ‘It didn’t happen, I couldn’t stay silent.  I like Bob and I don’t know if there is a past between her and him and I don’t care.  I just don’t think it was appropriate to bring it up at this venue!”  When this commenter was asked “You were there?” he responded “Yes, I was there with my wife” and the response was “This speaks volumes to his character and temperament.”

(Names withheld out of respect but the comments have been forwarded to legal counsel)

So why, in the name of God, is the response from the good citizens of Kootenai County, including pastors, political leaders and law enforcement officials contained in the first point?  “Shut up!” with no follow up “let her speak!”  It occurs to me that not only do the powers that be desire Pennie to shut up, but they intend for the entire community to remain silent.

We are in an election season, the purpose of which should be to vet the candidates and determine fitness for the highest law enforcement office in the county.  Yet the conspiracy of silence is overwhelming and I’m forced to ask if wordless assent is the only right we have.

Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned and while this is no spurned female (any and all speculation that she was sexually involved with Sheriff Bob is nauseating), the scorn from the community at large is a mile deep. Bob knows this so at a Pachyderm meeting he publicly (and this time it was recorded) declared he called her out, to the mocking laughter of the people in the room.  So what’s a girl to do?  This is a feisty little creature so she went out and found a powerhouse law firm, Witherspoon Brajcich McPhee, PLLC, cited as the top law firm in Spokane, WA in 2023.  How many of you know of lawyers with solid reputations who will take a case that has no basis?

This leaves our current sheriff in quite a predicament.  If he would see the tort claim settled, knowing Pennie, nothing more than a public apology and retraction would do, along with compensation for damages.  His reputation will be in tatters. If he wants to brazen it out and stick to his story that nothing happened and does so under oath, his career is likely over.

So now Kootenai County officials have a choice, settle a Tort claim with a starting point of $500,000 or roll the dice and go to court.  If October 9th comes and goes without a settlement, hang onto your hats.

I wish this looming legal action could impact the election but it won’t be on the docket in time.  So after November, we’ll know if it’s only Pennie under the bus or all of Kootenai County.

 

Choose This Day

I’m one of the few people who has never watched The Chosen.  Not once.  Some may assert that, therefore, I am disallowed from criticizing this wildly popular series.  To that, I will reply that scripture and logic are the basis of my condemnation of The Chosen as unfit for consumption by believers and seekers alike.

Let’s begin with the claim of the creators of the show and its many defenders.

It makes Jesus so appealing and approachable that it’s causing millions of people to seek Him, some for the first time.

Apparently, the Bible just isn’t enough.  We must be spoon-fed from the silver screen but the trouble with that is the devoted audience of The Chosen is being fed a version of Jesus that is wholly man-made.  The show’s creators admit that in the first 4 episodes, NONE of it was drawn from the Bible.  They claim it’s based on the Bible but the dialogue, characters, backstories and details are all fiction.  Once in a while, they quote scripture, but so does Satan.

Presenting the story of Jesus as fiction is a serious mistake.  If God’s word is the perfect standard, what could be the motivation for adding so much filler?  I mean apart from money and fame.  What’s a hallmark of the last days?  Deception, not just the disgusting depravity that we see all around us, but wolves inside the church, feeding off of it and drawing people after themselves.  Do they look like wolves? Or do they masquerade as angels of light?  These are not tough questions.

The American church is being trained to fall head over heels in love with the Anti-Christ.  If we look at the known qualities of that person and then check out the actor who portrays Jesus in the show, there are distinct similarities. 

  • All that dwell on the earth will worship him
  • He is outstanding (Who is like unto the beast?)
  • He is a successful warrior
  • He speaks great things
  • He appears to bring peace

Please understand, I’m talking about Jonathan Roumie, the winsome darling of the media.  I watched his interview on The View, not typically a bastion of Christian thought, and I almost fell for him!  Did you know that the first three seasons of the show captured 600,000,000 views?  Six. Hundred. Million.

Now Jonathan has a prayer app where he’ll lead you into praying the Rosary.  I’ve read on some comment threads that people now envision his face when they pray.  He’s had to make public disclaimers “I’m not the real Jesus” with a charming self-deprecating humbleness that drives his fans to even more delight.

If you’ll fall for Jonathan Roumie in all his skull and bones, grave sucking, Rosary chanting, Pope loving, Knights Templar nonsense, you’ll fall for anything.

Yet he’s just the face of the show.  It gets worse.  The producer of The Chosen, Dallas Jenkins, describes himself as an evangelical Christian.  Ok, let’s take him at his word.  Here’s a quote: “I said that many LDS folks and I love the same Jesus.  I still believe that.   It’s gotten me in a lot of trouble but I still believe that.”

The ‘same Jesus’.  Is there more than one? 

Is your Jesus a spirit that was produced in heaven?  A spirit brother of Lucifer, and his earthly birth was not by a virgin but came about through sexual intercourse with Mary by his father god who resides on a planet near a star called Kolob?  Did your Jesus work toward becoming god by taking Mary, her sister Martha and Mary Magdalene as wives, and producing children necessary for him to become a god?  And that’s how he became the god of this world, taking his place among the multitude of gods ruling over numerous other worlds?

T.A. McMahon

What do you mean “No”? Because that’s the Jesus that the executive producer, Derral Eves believes in, as do most of the other producers of the series, Ricky Ray Butler, and Jeffrey and Neil Harmon of VidAngel, which is Angel Studios.  What communion has light with darkness?

Have you not read that this show is all about ‘helping people get to know Jesus better and to recognize similarities with the “Jesus of different faiths” ‘?  That’s why the Mormon backers have no problem with pushing multiple versions of Jesus.  Any Jesus will do.

The Bible is the complete, infallible word of God, given to mankind so that we can know God and be saved.  We know that faith comes by hearing the word of God. 

Show producer Dallas Jenkins stated in an interview, “Our intentions are different from the Bible’s intentions”.  The Bible’s intentions are to uplift Christ, so what are his?  He states that the show will be, “what the audience wants or needs to see”.  This show subtly swaps Scripture for mystical Catholic doctrine and cheap humor.  The show’s writer, Tyler Thompson claims the Bible is “good literature” but not infallible.

During a discussion with the Mormon partners,  they joke about the book of Revelation and the instruction to not add to the Bible.  Dallas Jenkins told them it’s okay to ignore what John said and add to the stories in the Bible (for the series) and later stated with a grin -and please do not miss this – “the people who only want to read the bible won’t be watching this series.“

Randall LaCelle

It’s clear to me that the creators of this show haven’t believed the Bible or they would cease joking about Revelation.

I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, if any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book: And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book. ~ Revelation 22:18-19

So at the very least, Dallas Jenkins may need to reevaluate the faith delineated in the Bible and put his trust in the true Jesus—or risk going through the Tribulation and then quite possibly heading to hell. Either way, he’s hardly the guy you should be trusting to get you closer to Jesus.

In the word of God we are instructed to be about “Casting down imaginations and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought, to the obedience of Christ; and having in a readiness to revenge all disobedience, when your obedience is fulfilled.” ~ 2nd Corinthians 10:5-6

Not only has the show and the cast become a ‘high thing’, but they’ve also accomplished that by mocking the truth.  In the show, when Jesus meets Nicodemus he asks him “what does your heart tell you?” and later says “Soon it’ll all be about the heart.”  The word says the heart is deceptively wicked, so maybe the writer of the script has simply seen too many Disney movies. When Nicodemus tries to worship Him, Jesus stops him by saying he doesn’t need to do that.  John the Baptist is arrogant and rude at one point saying “You appear to not be ready to get into the specifics on a lot of things.”  At another point, John is bragging about how he’s planning on marching into Herod’s palace to tell him off adding “My followers will love it.”  Does anyone remember that part in the Bible where Peter called John the Baptist ‘Creepy John’?  Yet when John proclaimed “Behold the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world” Peter then interjects after “Behold” . . . “I am eating a bug.”  Just going for the laughs, I presume? I think what offends me the most is the portrayal of Jesus as someone who had to rehearse his ‘speeches’ and have his notes corrected by his disciples.  Jesus is portrayed as needing fashion tips from the women who were with him and most painful of all retorting to his mother when she said she was proud of him “Maybe wait to say that until after I’m done, in case I mess up in front of such a big crowd.”

This pathetic twisted mess is NOT the gospel.  It’s NOT Jesus.

I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel: which is not another, but there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ.  But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you let him be accursed.  As we said before, so say I now again, If any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed. ~Galatians 1:6-9

“If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him and make our abode with him.  He that loveth me not keepeth not my sayings: and the word which ye hear is not mine but the Father’s which sent me.” John 14: 23-24

There’s a great deal of evidence that the writers, directors and producers of The Chosen care nothing for an accurate depiction of scripture.  They care about the show.  Period.  The story of Jesus is merely a vehicle for their ambition, pride and greed. This pretend Jesus serves them so well and they are dishing him up to a worldwide audience.

Do you know who else is a pretend Jesus?  That’s right, the Anti-Christ.  The way is being paved for his horrifying arrival and acceptance of it is being set in place by men who claim they are followers of Christ.

Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you. ~2nd Corinthians 6:17

 

 

Truth Matters

The old adage was “Polite company does not discuss religion or politics.” That might have worked in a more placid age, but the rapid destruction of our society calls for a new approach.  I would assert that only a useless or defeated society refrains from discussing verifiable, observable truth and the impact it must have on our lives.

I do know that a notable local politician has stated “there are no morals in politics.”  

 

Perhaps he’s relieved about shrugging off that obligation, but the larger question is ‘Should there be’?

The short answer is “yes” and now I’ve violated an unwritten law about releasing your readers before you’ve even warmed up.  Stay with me to learn why we must combine true Christian faith with our political lives.

For years the refrain has echoed, especially in the abortion arena, ‘You can’t legislate morality’.  Yet our entire body of law is a societal agreement about what is right and what is wrong.  It is precisely and solely about legislating morality and nothing else.  So, yes you can.  

For those wishing to live unfettered lives, codified morals are anathema, they might even call advocates of such a system evil.  It’s their only refuge and we must give them that.  What we don’t have to do is elect them to public office.

Our daunting reality, however, is that many of the most virulent purveyors of societal destruction ARE in office, from the highest in the land, down to mere local pugnacity.  What’s a believer to do?

There are two books in the Bible that address parallel societies to ours.  Daniel, where we observe a blatantly evil, mighty empire in an encounter with stalwart men of God, and Ephesians.  When you think of Ephesus, think of San Francisco; in both settings, the light of God’s salvation shines with increased brilliance.  That’s our opportunity in these dark times.

The Book of Daniel . . .

In which prominent captives under constant threat of death, represent who God is to such an extent that Nebuchadnezzar himself writes Chapter 4.  

King Nebuchadnezzar to all the people, nations, and languages, that dwell in all the earth: Peace be multiplied to you! It has seemed good to me to show the signs and wonders that the Most High God has done for me.  How great are his signs, how mighty his wonders!  His kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and his dominion endures from generation to generation. ~Daniel 4:1-3

I’m getting ahead of the story though, the king was a pagan who could snuff out any life on a whim.  How did he get such clarity?  He had an inexplicable dream that terrified him.

No wise men, enchanters, magicians, or astrologers can show to the king the mystery that the king has asked but there is a God in heaven who reveals mysteries, and he has made known to King Nebuchadnezzar what will be in the last days. ~Daniel 2:27-28

I’d love to say this ends the story on a high note but crawling around for seven years, shaggy-haired and with fingernails like claws, eating grass, driven out of the company of men was still in his future.  We humans are slow learners.

The pertinent point is that God is active and if we know and follow Him even the most venal among us can be convinced.  Daniel conveys the piercing light of the reality of the one true God in a period of captivity and oppression of His people.

On to Ephesians . . .

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved. ~Ephesians 1:3-6

 

I find I have nothing to add to the fullness of just these few opening verses.  My pastor, Paul Van Noy, said recently that we Christians often study eschatology (i.e. death, judgment the final destiny of the soul and humankind) but neglect soteriology.  To which I exclaimed, “I don’t even know what that is”!  So for those of you who, like me, could be Exhibit A in ‘what has gone wrong with modern Christians’ . . . I’ll tell you.  Soteriology is the study of our salvation.  The completeness, security, permanence, power, and strength of that singular work – Jesus accomplished perfection for us.  Until we grasp that, we’ll keep adding, subtracting, and messing it up in our heads then communicating that chaos to the world.

If you study Ephesians, you’ll gain the understanding that is desperately needed in this current time.

In essence, we are utterly secure beings surrounded by a time of great darkness.  We must grasp the first before we engage the second.

Human governance is unstable but if we return to Nebuchadnezzar’s dream we know what happens in the end.  The statue is standing there on weak feet, iron mixed with clay . . .

And in the days of those kings, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that shall never be destroyed, nor shall the kingdom be left to another people.  It shall break in pieces all these kingdoms and bring them to an end, and it shall stand forever, just as you saw that a stone was cut from a mountain by no human hand, and that it broke in pieces the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver, and the gold.  A great God has made known to the king what shall be after this.  The dream is certain and its interpretation sure. Daniel 2:44,45

God is omnipresent and omnipotent.  If we belong to Him, we are standing on the Rock that shatters every other kingdom.  

So go forth into those wobbly kingdoms, as a representative of Christ and watch them fall.   We can’t save the kingdoms but we also mustn’t allow the servants of darkness to dim our light.

Follow the Leader

Don’t Let Satan Define You

How many of you remember what Jesus did the first time he came here?  That’s right – he healed people, cast out demons, and paid for the sins of the whole world. 

In Mark 3:10 it says – For He had healed many; insomuch that they pressed upon Him for to touch Him, as many as had plagues.  And unclean spirits, when they saw Him, fell down before Him, and cried, saying “Thou art the Son of God.”  And He straitly charged them that they should not make Him known.

I feel no need to dig into why Jesus disallowed the demons to identify Him.  He was doing that for Himself, by the knowledge He shared and the miracles He performed, followed by the sacrifice He made.  Who among us wants their worst enemy to define them?  What devastating results would ensue with so many led astray?

So why would so many in the American church want demons to define them?

When my former church invited Jennie Allen to speak for two days, I was dismayed at her statement that her deepest interior work was done through the use of the Enneagram.  Not time spent seeking knowledge of God through His word.  Not prayer.  Not repentance.  Not believing God when He tells us through His word that it is sufficient.

 I told the senior pastor, as a warning, to steer clear of someone so ungrounded in basic Christianity.  As it turns out, that wasn’t a concern.  Our entire church staff had done their Enneagram profile.  It was how they knew who they were and how to relate to others.  One of the associate pastors said, “Oh don’t worry, we didn’t go that deeply into it.”

Ok – problem #1:

So you KNEW it was a bad thing?

You dabbled in darkness which informs me of:

Problem #2:

Please allow me to elaborate

What is the Enneagram – a mere personality test or is it another religion with a different worldview?

While I wouldn’t allow the Enneagram to define me, I will heed how it defines itself. 

Here are the New Age beliefs it promotes:

  • Humanity is divine so if you delve into a hidden body of knowledge and master it, you will be moved to a higher state.  You will find your true self and find your way back to God through your roadmap to divinity.
  • Your personality number is the ‘mask you wear’ so you must go through integration and disintegration, utilizing self-discovery, self-reflection and deep meditation to transcend your false self to discover your true self.
  • God is incarnate in all of us so we aren’t really sinning, we just are ignorant.  Man is essentially good.
  • We have the power to transform ourselves.

This poison pill promises to teach you:

  1. Who God is
  2. How you connect with Him
  3. Who you are
  4. How you can relate to others

For people who claim that scripture is our only source of absolute truth, we should take it seriously. “Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.  Then you will be able to test and approve of what God’s will is – His good, pleasing and perfect will.” ~Romans 12:2

Do we really believe that God can transform us through His word?  The popularity of the Enneagram answers that with a resounding NO.

The problem for the American church is that the Enneagram has gone viral.  A study from 2017 shows that 67% of mainline protestants affirm New Age beliefs.  Oh but surely evangelicals are wiser.  The bad news is a more recent study confirms that MOST evangelicals know what their Enneagram number is.

Do you know what happens when you approach a church about their use of this devious tool?  According to Dr. Chris Berg, who wrote his dissertation on this topic, there are two responses: shock and rage.  Do you know why?  Because the Enneagram tells them who they are.  If you attempt to warn them of the danger they take it as a profound personal attack.

By using the Enneagram, people are in fact saying they don’t believe God, that the Bible is insufficient and that knowing about themselves is far more interesting than knowledge of God.

You don’t have to take my word for it.  For further study, I’d recommend:

The New Age Trojan Horse by Dr. Chris Berg

Richard Rohr and the Enneagram Secret by Benoit and Montenegro

Or this interview with Chris Berg 

It boils down to this – would you go to a demon to learn about transformative spirituality or would you rather follow God?

 

Legalism and Lawlessness

  • Legalism brings division where God intended for there to be unity, and lawlessness brings unity where God intended for there to be division.
  • One afflicts the flesh and the other indulges in it, but both are insubordinate to His will.
  • One has an appearance of righteousness and the other doesn’t but both are insubordinate to His will.
  • One claims a virtue of discipline and the other claims love but both are insubordinate to His will.

Both miss the mark. Both achieve the same end of causing the heart to bow to another. Both deceive. Both are devices of the enemy that lead to the same end. Whether by much or by little, whether gentle or harsh, whatever is done apart from His time, apart from His way, is a device of the deceiver, and is insubordinate to His will.

~Jeff Neufeld

 

 

The Difference Between Ignorance and Indifference?

I Don’t Know and I Don’t Care

Ok, enough with old jokes already, though, when I heard a pastor exclaim this from the pulpit, regarding the account of creation in Genesis, it was my last day in that church. It’s one thing to be obtuse, but openly declaring your ignorance as a point of pride is truly breathtaking.  To state “I tend toward a young earth position but you know what?  “I don’t know and I don’t CARE” was the last thing I wanted to hear.   It’s a church that has made its bones on not fighting about things that ‘don’t matter’.  A corollary to that stance is that most of the Bible doesn’t matter.  

Our indifference to the word of God is bolstered by productions like The Chosen, devotionals like Jesus Calling, and false bibles, like The Passion Translation.  They are all examples of ‘rat poison’ theology.  Rat poison has many harmless ingredients, some of them might even contain some nutrients, but that’s just to make them attractive enough to consume.  Once eaten, the 5% that is poison, kills you.

So it is with sugary, skewed representations of God and His word.

You can read about the great apostasy in II Thessalonians and we know the day of Christ will not come unless the falling away comes first.  I believe all these false presentations of God are part and parcel of the falling away because people will fall away more readily if they are fooled into thinking they are following the truth.  

The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan, with all power, signs, and lying wonders, and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved.  And for this reason God will send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie, that they all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness. ~ II Thessalonians 2:9-12

We feed on spiritual toxins that softly and insidiously lead us astray because we’re not grounded sufficiently to comprehend the lies.  If we ever knew it, we’ve already forgotten Galatians “But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you, let him be accursed.  As we said before, so say I now again If any many preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed.”  It was so important, Paul said it twice!

Why should we be such sticklers for knowing the Word?

All who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution. But evil men and impostors will grow worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived. But you must continue in the things which you have learned and been assured of, knowing from whom you learned them, and that from childhood you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.
All Scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.
2 Timothy 3:12-17
Wise for Salvation Through Faith Which Is In Christ Jesus
Our faith is not blind.  Our faith is not built on vapor.  Our faith is based on rock-solid, demonstrated truths.  It’s vital that we know this and defend it so that more can come to a saving knowledge of Jesus.
If you can prove there is anything of more eternal significance than this, let me know and I’ll drop my Bible and immediately start watching The Chosen.

 

Let Him Who Thirsts Come

From Pre-School to Doctoral Dissertation

Blogger’s Note:  When you leave a seeker-friendly church after 20 years you have a gnawing, nearly insatiable hunger for deep truths.  You might sense you lack the rooted certainty to get you through turbulent times because you’ve been splashing around in a puddle of milk.  Maybe that’s just me.  In the past few months, since leaving a mega-church, it’s as if I’ve surged from pre-school to post-doctoral preparation.  This is a gift from God and also due to the profound knowledge and shepherd’s heart of Pastor Paul Van Noy.  The resulting certainty brings peaceful contentment and strength.  The end to ignorant striving is in sight, the sheep are resting assured.

Parson to Person –

When believers get to heaven we will declare, “You are worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power; for You created all things, and by Your will they exist and were created.” (Revelation 4:11) We will declare, “You are worthy (for)…You were slain, and have redeemed us to God by Your blood out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation, and have made us kings and priests to our God; and we shall reign on the earth.” (Revelation 5:9-10)
We will exclaim, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!” (Revelation 7:10) We will worship saying: “Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom, thanksgiving and honor and power and might, be to our God forever and ever. Amen.” (Revelation 7:12)
In the verses above we find an excellent example of the many expressions and declarations we will make when we get to heaven, but there is an unstated truth here revealing so much more. In the declaration of praise to God there is a complete absence of praise for human merit and glory! All the glory belongs to the Lord.
The Apostles warned us that there would be many false teachings introduced to the church. Human-inspired – incremental grace is one of the false teachings we should be guarded against. Any teaching that moves people from the truth of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and toward a human-centered / human-assisted righteousness is forbidden by Scripture. Church history is replete with examples of this error and the array of incidents range from the very extreme to the very subtle. Those who embrace a human-assisted salvation find it difficult to fully embrace the verses cited above. In their view, placing ALL the worth, blessing, glory and honor upon the Lord for salvation is unbalanced. The thoughts supporting their view are summed up in the concept that they participated with the Lord, made efforts and to some degree or another earned a bit of God’s favor by both actions and intentions.
When a person believes people cannot get to heaven, by faith in Christ alone, but add to faith the requirement of making any or every effort to live a life pleasing to the Lord, that person has embraced a performance-based / human-assisted Christianity.
Those who by genuine saving faith in Christ, who have nonetheless been touched by this doctrine, will get to heaven and discover afresh that all their righteous deeds are as filthy rags. Those things thought to be instrumental and worthy of reward will be lost; the works themselves “tried by fire”. In the light of God’s presence they will discover that any “good” they believe to have done is lost and only those things manifest by God’s working within, remain. At this revelation they will say… ALL thanksgiving, blessing, glory, honor and power belong to the Lord. No credit to us at all!
Here is a test. Do you feel condemnation when you forget or even neglect to read the Bible? How about when you fail to spend enough time in prayer? Do you ever feel that God is disappointed with you? Have you felt that you have let God down? Do you feel the need to inventory every sin in your life and confess them one by one in order to be forgiven? What if you forget one? If you can say yes to any of these questions you have need again to understand the true Gospel and see the awesomeness of our God. You need to purge out the leaven of error and embrace the true Gospel of grace. It is God who paid the price for our sin. It is by His work we are saved, forgiven, and made righteous. Remember, “For He (God) made Him (Jesus) who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” (2 Corinthians 6:21)
Oh Lord, “You are worthy… You were slain, and have redeemed us to God by Your blood…” (Revelation 5:9-10)

I love you all, Pastor Paul

 

 

 

Bloggers Note:  I found this on a site called Living and Powerful.org.  It’s so brief, blunt and powerful that I didn’t bother tinkering with it.  So here it is in full force.  It turns out Satan looks more like this than you’d like to think.

 

 

The real satanism

Written By 

Keith Kraska

Some of you may know the term satanism, the literal worship or veneration of satan. Satanists are those who self-identify with satan, however they define that.

And that’s the rub: satanism can take on various definitions and iterations. To them, satan can be a person or a philosophy, real or symbolic. There are theistic satanists and atheistic satanists.

What is satanism, then? Well, who better to consult than satan himself? Should he not get to define his own “ism”? What does he preach?

And where better to find the answers than the Bible?

There are two times in Scripture where satan interacts with a human being. In both instances, satan preaches the same message.

In his temptations of Eve and Jesus, satan is a salesman. He offers things. He entices. He pitches things he believes the recipient would want, things most of us would think are good.

To Jesus, he offered relief from hunger, safety from harm, and authority over the kingdoms of the world.

To Eve, he offered life: “You will not surely die.” And he offered equality with God: “You will be like God.”

That’s what satan preached. That, therefore, is satanism.

True satanism teaches not the worship of satan, but the satisfaction and exaltation of self.

True satanism tells us what we should desire, and offers fulfillment of those desires.

True satanism is about pride, ambition and possession. It’s the opposite of the self-denial Jesus calls us to.

There aren’t many self-labeled satanists. But true satanism, that which fits those doctrines, is far more popular. In fact, you will hear it preached in many churches.

  • The teaching that we should have whatever we desire is satanism.
  • The teaching that our words control God is satanism.
  • The teaching that we can have the same power and authority as Christ is satanism.

Prosperity preaching is satanism.

The Word of Faith movement is satanism.

The New Apostolic Reformation is satanism.

Because they preach what he preached.

 

You Be the Judge

Beat Deception With Discernment

I read an article by Bob DeWaay recently and most of this rumination is based on his work.  

How often do we hear “Don’t be judgy” by people who appear to have read only one Biblical passage, “Do not judge lest you be judged”? It’s in Matthew and it’s valid.  Then there’s  “But he that is spiritual judgeth all things, yet he himself is judged of no man.” It’s 1 Corinthians 2:15 and it’s valid.

The common thread between these seemingly divergent commands is the value and protection of the sheep.  You don’t want to break their hearts and you fight to make sure they aren’t torn apart by wolves.

In the first setting, Jesus has been warning about personal motives and sin and so the warning to not judge is in the setting of favorably comparing ourselves to others and passing judgment on their hearts.  That’s strictly God’s role and we dare not cross that line, or we shouldn’t.  “Therefore do not go on passing judgment before the time, but wait until the Lord comes who will both bring to light the things hidden in the darkness and disclose the motives of men’s hearts, and then each man’s praise will come to him from God” – 1 Corinthians 4:5.

In our ignorance and presumption, we can damage the beloved flock and we do so based on nothing more than inflated self-esteem.

Do you know what else damages the flock?  Wolves.

So this is where we let ‘er rip   

When we are assessing who is a wolf and who is not, we have the word of God as the standard. “Be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood.  I know that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock; and from among your own selves men will arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after them“. Acts 20:28-30

Now if your pastor is a good shepherd and not just a hireling, he will have the profound knowledge and fortitude to protect the flock.  It’s his responsibility to make sure the sheep are safe from wolves thus there must be some way to identify who is a wolf and who is not because some will spring up from among our own selves.  

We know that wolves ‘speak perverse things’ which are twisted or distorted scriptures.  They do this to draw disciples after them, they are looking for followers of themselves and their peculiar doctrines (i.e. ‘fresh, new revelations’).  “Their interest is money, not the safety of the sheep.  Jesus is the true shepherd, and the under-shepherds (pastors) are to feed the sheep the pure words of God and guard them from perverted words.  Those who refuse to do so are hirelings.” – Bob Dewaay

When false teaching is allowed into a church, people’s salvation is at risk.  The current tsunami of delusion and lack of discernment, popularly known as ‘tolerance, unity and love’ is causing many pastors to ignore “Holding fast the faithful word which is in accordance with the teaching, that he may be able both to exhort in sound doctrine and refute those who contradict”.  Titus 1:9

The duties of pastors and elders are very clear in Acts 20.  They are to teach true doctrine, correct false doctrine, and protect the flock from the wolves.  Sadly, those who do so today are often accused of being divisive or sinning because they have “judged” when Jesus told us not to judge.  This is a fundamental error.  We are not to judge motives or relative degrees of righteousness, but we must judge public teaching.

This will bring you into conflict with people, some of them pastors, who have only a shallow understanding of the Word.  You will be told to “zip it” and to never publicly contradict what is being broadcast from a far-reaching pulpit.  The truth is public teaching is an open matter.  Often pastors will quote Matthew 18, and tell you to go to your brother in private.  That’s another fundamental error and also a sign your pastor doesn’t know scripture sufficiently.  You go to your brother in private when you know he is in sin and is hiding it.  It’s a way to help bring him into the light and back to the path.  Public teaching is a different matter entirely.  It’s already in the public domain, no sense in trying to close that barn door when the horse is running free.

“What often happens today is that public teachers proclaim false doctrines.  When confronted about this, they point to an orthodox statement of faith.  But what they teach publicly is damaging to those who hear them.  Whatever they may claim to believe, their public false teaching needs to be publicly confronted.” – Bob DeWayy

If we refuse to judge and correct false teaching, we’re throwing the sheep to the wolves.  What would Jesus do?