Mega church scandals, one pastor fired, one pastor arrested.
The pope gets heretical.
A Christian quarterback suffers a scary injury.
Princess Kate gives a cancer update.
And the question that everybody wants to know is Russell Brand,
the prayer warrior the world needs right now.
I'm John Madarazzo for CharismaNews.com,
and these are your top stories of the week.
And with me to talk about this is James Lasher, the author of this article.
And James, it's great to have you here.
A couple of weeks ago, we talked about this moment that where this picture is from,
where Tucker Carlson was interviewing Russell Brand,
and they were talking about faith, they were talking about spiritual things.
And he asked Russell to pray.
And this was a viral moment.
And so we talked about this before and it became a viral thing
because people really are interested in prayer and transformation.
So tell us about your thoughts on this particular prayer
that he posted just this morning.
It's good to see you again, John.
And yeah, it's really incredible how Russell is really kind of taking the lead
when it comes to celebrity prayer.
And every time he's being given a platform,
whether it's his own platform, which millions of people follow him
across the social media spectrum or on Tucker's live tour,
he just keeps promoting the name of Jesus over and over.
He talks about the importance of a personal relationship with the Lord.
And in this prayer, we really get to see kind of the window into his heart.
What's going through Russell Brand's mind now?
Excuse me. What's going through Russell Brand's mind?
And it's really quite an amazing transformation that he's gone through.
Yeah. So whenever you posted this article,
at that point, he had over 300,000 people read his post.
And so let's just look at the first part that we've highlighted here.
We've got a couple of different areas, but it says,
Heavenly Father, we trust in your promises,
even when the wait feels long and the road seems uncertain.
Lord, you are the God of victories.
And we believe that our season of victory is drawing near.
You know, James, it's not just a simple little prayer,
you know, God bless me or whatever, but he's very eloquent in his,
in his admiration and his prayers to the Lord.
And I think you really see an excuse me, an authenticity in this prayer.
A lot of people are going through uncertainty right now in any aspect,
an area of life. And he hits on that. It's very relatable.
It comes from what is perceived as a very genuine place in his heart,
whatever he might be going through. You know, we see in the next part,
he says, we know that you see every struggle, every hardship, every tear.
When I read that, it tells me that Russell has probably gone through some of that
breaking process that, you know, when you invite the Lord in and he starts
cleaning house, there can be some spiritual and emotional pain,
but it's really just God working things out of us and sanctifying us for his
purposes. And that that really tells me that Russell was going through
an authentic spiritual growth in his relationship with the Lord.
Yeah. And he's definitely developing with the Lord.
And we've been able to see his development with the Lord since really his baptism.
Which was a very public thing.
You know, baptism is the the outward sign of an inward decision.
And he's been very, very forward about that.
And it's really exciting to see that.
You know, he also says we pray for restoration in every area of our lives,
relationships, finances, health and spirit.
You know, as I'm reading this, I'm seeing that there is a maturity
that is growing and growing and growing with his language and with his prayers.
Yeah, you see, it's he's definitely still very early in his spiritual walk.
And but that's not something that should be shunned or anything.
Yes. Always read everything with a discerning mind and, you know,
check the spirit like the word says, check the spirit behind.
What is he saying? What is the fruit?
And when you read this, you see a man who is genuine about his faith.
Yes, he's still learning, which he says in his videos quite often.
He's like, I have questions about this Bible verse and he'll share and read the
Bible verse with them. And in that he he really is growing,
but he shows that desire, that hunger to continue in the Lord.
And whatever this new season the Lord has for him and he he recognized
that the way forward is by putting God first.
And that seems to be what exactly what he's doing.
And it's a big encouragement to a lot of people who are reading his posts.
Yeah. Well, he he wraps up his prayer here with this.
And James, could you read this and then give some commentary?
Sure. He says in closing, we declare with confidence that our victory is on the way
and that you are working all things together for our good.
Thank you, Lord, for hearing our prayers and for all the work you are doing in our lives,
even when we can't see it to you, we give all the glory, honor and praise
for the miracles that are on the way. In Jesus name, I pray. Amen.
And I think that resounds with every believer and even, you know,
nonbelievers as well included in that when you talking about waiting for that victory,
even when you don't see God working in your life, he is still there.
And Russell, just bringing that as a reminder to people,
because sometimes when you're going through the middle of the storm,
it can feel like you're on your own, but you're not.
Definitely. And you can go to the link in the description of this video
to read the article and then also look at his post as well.
James, let's just pray right now for Russell Brand
as he's continuing to be on his journey with the Lord.
Father God, we just commit our brother to you.
God, we know that he is growing in his relationship with you.
We just pray that as people are looking to him as an example,
Lord God, that you would keep him and protect him
and that you would just deepen his relationship with you.
God, we bless him and we thank you for the transformation
that we are getting to see before our very eyes. Amen. Amen. James,
thank you so much for taking some time to go a little bit deeper into this article.
Thanks for having me, John. Other stories that we have going on right now.
Chris Reed is shedding more light on his Morningstar resignation,
and he continues. He's now put out several videos kind of explaining
his understanding and his vantage point of everything that has gone on
with Morningstar Ministries and his relationship with the Lord.
Relationship being severed there, but you definitely want to read
the article here to keep up to date with that situation.
But most importantly, pray for all those involved.
Pray for Chris, pray for Morningstar and pray for Rick Joyner as well.
Now, sadly, we have here a pastor that has been caught for illegal activities
where a pastor was arrested after a horrific discovery in church bathroom.
Thirty seven year old worship pastor in Brighton, Michigan,
the Brighton, Michigan branch of the 242 Community Church.
Will Johnson was arrested on Friday last Friday after a member of the staff
discovered a camera hidden in a bathroom.
Johnson admitted to placing the camera inside the bathroom
and the disgraced pastor was immediately fired and was arrested shortly afterwards.
242 Community Church is cooperating fully with the Sheriff's Office
investigation is taking proactive steps, including engaging with a third party
investigator to ensure the safety of all our facilities.
Please keep that church in your prayers.
Next, Princess Kate Middleton releases moving update video
as her cancer battle enters new phase.
She says the last nine months have been increasingly tough for us as a family.
Life, as you know, it can change in an instant and we have had to find a way
to navigate the stormy waters and roads unknown.
You can read the you can see the video and read the article here.
The link will be in the description below.
Next, we have another mega church pastor ousted for inappropriate relationship.
Stephen Lawson, pastor of Trinity Bible Church of Dallas, has been removed
from his position at the church following an inappropriate relationship with a woman.
The elders at Trinity Bible Church of Dallas regretfully announced that effective
immediately Stephen J Lawson has been removed indefinitely from all ministry
activities at Trinity Bible Church of Dallas.
This is yet again, another Dallas area church this year that has been shaken up by scandal.
Please keep the churches in Dallas in your prayers.
We also have Pope Francis recently saying that all religions are a path to God.
Now that does not line up with what Jesus said in John chapter 14 verse 6,
where he said that I am the way the truth and the life.
No one comes to the father except through me.
So the Pope is saying things that are not biblical according to the words that Jesus
said when he was here on the on this earth.
There's a lot of things to be said about this and I've done other videos about this,
which I will link and you definitely want to read the article for yourself to see what
the Pope said in full.
It is very disheartening that a man that is leading the largest church in the world
says that all religions are a path to God.
Pray for discernment there and prayers ring out after a Christian quarterback suffers
another frightening injury.
Outspoken Christian and quarterback for the Miami Dolphins to a toga Lavella suffered
another injury resulting in a concussion on Thursday night football.
Now this article was from September 13th, but is still getting a lot of attention a
week later because he collided with Buffalo Bills safety.
Demar Hamlin who are 2023 Demar Hamlin suffered a near fatal episode on the football field
after diving forward headfirst in the third quarter of the game.
The quarterback would not return to the game.
Calls for prayer rang out over for many within both football and the Christian communities
and worship leader and let us worship founder Sean Foite posted on X in support of his friend
imploring his followers to lift up the quarterback in prayer.
Now we want to see him completely healed and have no issues with his brain or his body
after that because those concussions are very very difficult.
Additionally, many former NFL players are calling are calling him for him to retire
saying that the money that he's made playing in the league is not worth the price.
It will take from his health.
Please keep the quarterback in your prayers and go to charisma news.com for updates on
all these stories and subscribe to this channel for more content like this.
I'm John Medarazzo.