It feels a little Fear Factory-ish.

Denver Fire Station No. 3 is the longest continually running firehouse in the city and, until 1957, was the city's only all-Black firehouse, according to History Colorado.

I hate to compare any minister of God to a gangster. But the sad truth is that today there are a handful (well, maybe more) of unscrupulous preachers who share some of Capone's most disgusting traits. They are notoriously greedy. They are masters of deception and manipulation. They have bought their way into the charismatic religious subculture and used their uncanny hypnotic ability to control major Christian TV networks. And, like Capone, their days are numbered. Justice will soon catch up with them. These false prophets probably all started out with a genuine call from God, but success destroyed them. They were lured away from true faith by fame and money, and when their ministries mushroomed they resorted to compromise to keep their machines rolling. Now, in the midst of the Great Recession, God is closing in on them. But before we rejoice that these imposters are being removed from their pulpits and yanked off the airwaves, let's hit the pause button and reflect. How did these false preachers ever achieve such fame? It couldn't have happened without help from us. We were the gullible ones. When they said, "The Lord promises you untold wealth if you will simply give a thousand dollars right now," we went to the phones and put the donations on our credit cards. God forgive us. We were the undiscerning ones. When they said, "I need your sacrificial gift today so I can repair my private jet," we didn't ask why a servant of God wasn't humble enough to fly coach class to a Third World nation. God forgive us. We were the foolish ones. When it was revealed that they were living in immorality, mistreating their wives or populating cities with illegitimate children, we listened to their spin doctors instead of demanding that ministry leaders act like Christians. God forgive us. We were the naïve ones. When they begged for $2 million more in donations because of a budget shortfall, we didn't feel comfortable asking why they needed that $10,000-a-night hotel suite. In fact, if we did question it, another Christian was quick to say, "Don't criticize! The Bible says, 'Touch not the Lord's anointed!'" God forgive us. We have treated these charlatans like Al Capone-as if they were untouchable-and as a result their corruption has spread throughout charismatic churches like a plague. Our movement is eaten up with materialism, pride, deception and sexual sin because we were afraid to call these Bozos what they really are-insecure, selfish, egotistical and emotionally dysfunctional. If we had applied biblical discernment a long time ago we could have avoided this mess. There is no way we can know how many unbelievers rejected the gospel because they saw the church supporting quacks who swaggered, bragged, lied, flattered, bribed, stole and tearfully begged their way into our lives-while we applauded them and sent them money. When well-meaning Christians quote 1 Chronicles 16:22 ("Do not touch My anointed ones, and do My prophets no harm," NASB) to cover up corruption or charlatanism, they do horrible injustice to Scripture. This passage does not require us to stay quiet when a leader is abusing power or deceiving people. On the contrary, we are called to confront sin in a spirit of love and honesty-and we certainly aren't showing love to the church if we allow the charismatic Al Capones of our generation to corrupt it. ~ J. Lee Grady is contributing editor of Charisma and author of the new book The Holy Spirit Is Not for Sale. Follow him on Twitter at leegrady.

Fr. John Whiteford's sermon from the Sunday of the Publican and the Pharisee, 2024.

Fr. Seraphim Aldea reminds us that who we are in Christ is the best version of ourselves.

Fr. John Oliver reflects on pride and humility.

During the coming Lenten season, spiritual disciplines like prayer are intended to help us humble ourselves before the Lord and make us aware how far we are away from God. Pride threatens to weigh us down, while humility lifts us up to God.

Let us get over our pride and become living epiphanies of the salvation of the One Who was baptized by St. John the Forerunner in the Jordan.

Due to pride, we often crave words and actions from others that distract us from seeing ourselves clearly and instead fuel illusions of self-importance and self- righteousness. When doing so becomes a settled habit, we can easily find ourselves attempting to use religion to serve our egos instead of being focused on offering ourselves to the Lord.

We consider, by means of the Book of Wisdom 17, how paralysis takes different shapes in John 5, Acts 9 and Luke 24: some conditions in which humans have closed themselves off from God, but many others that the Lord heals by His power.

We love and respect God first. Then we love and respect ourselves because we are each made in the image of God.

Dr. Albert Rossi explores the meaning of a quote by St. Therese of Lisieux.

The pair started campaigning after Joanna Simpson was killed by her husband in Ascot in 2010.

Meghan Markle to put an end to cold war with Royal family: ‘Needs to swallow pride’

Meghan Markle has realized that in order to build a reputation in the US, she needs to rebuild relationships with the members of the Royal family.

According to Closer Magazine, the...

Where does one start? How about right around 7,500 B.C. when individuals in Jordan began using a form of plaster on interior walls?

The post Stolen Pride: Loss, Shame, and the Rise of the Right was curated by information for practice.

After the coronavirus led to virtual Pride celebrations last year, some events will be held in-person this year. We find out how Granite Staters are observing Pride this year and explore their thoughts on how our country's current political climate is affecting LGBTQ folks.

The Trigonal Gallery PRIDE exhibit physical opening is at 37 Troutman Street Brooklyn NY Saturday, June 5 and Sunday June 6th from 11AM to 8PM EST. Tickets with timed entry are available through Eventbrite.

Leading Bisexual Dating App Highlights Inclusive Country Music Venues

leading Bisexual Dating Platform Release Rainbow Flag to Champion Diversity and Inclusion

OC Pride is proud to announce its annual LGBTQ+ Pride celebration, themed "Colors of Strength," taking place this Saturday, October 5, 2024, at the OC Fair & Event Center in Costa Mesa, California.

With Her Compilation of Highly Personal & Inspirational Poetry, Megan Davis Doesn't Hold Back and the Results are Raw, Thought-Provoking, and Provocative that Touches on Themes from Addiction, Personal Relationships, Sexuality, Dependency, and more

StoryCorps' initiatives have long helped us gather voices that are usually omitted from the historical record, like our LGBTQ+ Outloud initiative. In our continuing celebration of twenty years of StoryCorps, we're sharing some of our favorite recordings from that collection... and how a story close to our founder Dave Isay's heart helped lead to its creation.

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The following is a list of University of Toronto experts who can comment on a variety of issues related to Pride. *Please see list of upcoming U of T PRIDE events on and off campus David Rayside, Professor Emeritus with the Faculty of Arts and Science Expertise: LGBT rights in Toronto, History of violence and hate […]

This week, we celebrate Pride. This episode is hosted by Larry Rosen.

Host: Larry Rosen

Storytellers: Donald Harrison, Tara Clancy

We find our pride through stories. This episode is hosted by Travis Coxson.

If you’d like to see a photo of Tomas Davila looking fabulous as he told his story at the Moth Ball, check out themoth.org/extras

Storytellers:

Tomas Davila and his father finally connect.

Ingrid Ebbesen goes dancing and finds herself.

Mother's Pride AP by Kitty Cantrell is a(n) Limited Edition. The Edition is Limited to Artist Proof of 125 pcs

With early exposure to the trades, a young girl found inspiration from the women she saw working in the industry, and now she wants to encourage more women to get into the business.

We can no longer accept Pride events that only make room for one type of queer person—or that cater primarily to the corporations more invested in rainbow capitalism than collective liberation.

Skittles puts the spotlight on community in collaboration with GLAAD, supports local LGBTQ+ interest groups across the U.S.

CPGs are celebrating Pride Month with new packages.

Peg O'Keef, the acclaimed actor and Orlando theater mainstay for decades, is directing a modern adaptation of "Pride & Prejudice" at Rollins.

Mikayla Cluff, Haley McCutcheon, and Adriana scored for coach Seb Hines' team.

Roofing is full of inspirational stories of families working together — help us tell yours.

Why buy a controller that everyone has when you can customise your own?

In this episode, Ida introduces us to Pride Counseling, an iOS app that provides access to the company's online therapy platform specifically designed for the LGBTQ+ community. She discusses the app's features, such as live chat and video calls with licensed professionals who specialize in LGBTQ+ issues. Ida explains how Pride Counseling provides personalized therapy that is convenient and discreet.

Residents in Richmond’s District 5 are calling for investment in arts and culture from their city leaders. And, in a new episode of Book It, the power of stories in medicine.

Mary J. Blige inspires the crowd through song.

The latest design in Bernews’ weekly Wallpaper Wednesday series features the iconic Bermuda longtail with a ‘flying with pride’ rainbow theme,  with the concept a nod to the statement made by OUTBermuda following the Privy Council’s ruling on marriage. Speaking after the ruling, OUTBermuda Deputy Chair Zakiya Johnson Lord said, “We hold our heads high. Our struggle is […]

The month of June is internationally recognized as Pride Month, and the latest design in Bernews’ weekly Wallpaper Wednesday series features the iconic Bermuda longtail with a ‘flying with pride’ rainbow theme. The design is available in two sizes; a Facebook profile cover image and also in a vertical format, ideally sized for use as […]

The cruise ship ‘Star Pride’ recently visited the island, and a look at the ship in the east end is below. According to the 2024 schedule, the 436 foot long ship was carrying an estimated 212 passengers and 164 crew. To see more of our cruise ship coverage, click here. Related Stories Photos & Video: […]