“READ WITH PRIDE” FROM THE WORLD’S LARGEST CHILDREN’S BOOK PUBLISHING COMPANY

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Conservative Americans are sounding the alarm on Scholastic, the world’s largest children’s book publishing company, for releasing the 2024 guide to their “Read With Pride” initiative.

The guide considers itself to be a “resource” for K-12 students, as well as teachers and other figures of authority, “for supporting LGBTQIA+ youth and books.” The recommended books, which are aimed at kids as young as pre-school, contain content promoting transgenderism, same-sex couples, and parents, the concept of “friends with benefits,” traveling to a “spirit realm,” and taking relationships “to the next level” with sexual intercourse.

Scholastic’s 2024 guide begins with a “letter to educators, caregivers, [and] advocates,” expressing their motivation for the 12-page document. It’s full of extreme LGBT ideology, and it makes no attempt to mask the progressive agenda. 

The first lie is a stark statement found in the letter, where it specifically states that biological reality and biblical mandates are not the “default” and must be challenged.

“Books and literature are never neutral; by engaging with queer literature for children and young adults, you are disrupting the status quo that implies being cisgender, heterosexual, and allosexual are the default.” It should go without saying that our birth sex, the male or female God created us to be, is the default. Moreover, being born a boy or a girl is also a permanent biological reality.

No one can change their gender. No one was born in the “wrong body.” No amount of hormones, surgeries, or feelings will ever change this fact. And so, while Scholastic broadcasts this lie that there is no default, let those of us who care for children boldly and lovingly share that everyone is made in the image of God with innate dignity and value. How we are born is exactly how we were supposed to be born, and it’s a beautiful truth to embrace. God doesn’t make mistakes, and He won’t start now.

Unfortunately, Scholastic’s guide continued to make another patently false claim. They wrote, “Everyone benefits from books with authentic representation of queer identities.” This simply isn’t true. I’d argue no one benefits from these LGBT, rainbow-plastered alphabet books because they are harmful, not helpful. Especially since these books target kids at an age where they don’t fully understand what reality is. Their minds are malleable, giving these dangerous ideas a better chance to take root. And yet, the “truth” they’re told is completely contrary to nature.

To add to the concern, these books expose innocent, young, and vulnerable children to inappropriate, explicit content. No child needs to be reading a book about LGBT ideology, much less books discussing pornographic content. But the guide chose to amplify debunked statistics that suggest increased support for transgenderism decreases the likelihood of suicide among those who self-identify as such. However, this claim falls flat when compared to what credible sources have discovered.

This book published by Scholastic reveals how far the world has transgressed from God and His commandments. The Bible reveals God judges nations, the nation He established for His purposes, Israel, He has judged repeatedly, and He is judging nations today. God poured out His wrath on the earth once before with the worldwide flood of Noah’s day. Moreover, Biblical prophecy tells us that He is going to pour out His wrath again on a world that has embraced the lies of the evil one, Satan, and his Antichrist.

We are given a lot of detail in Revelation on the coming Trumpet and Bowl judgements so we should use this information to present the Gospel Message to show family and friends that they need to get right with God then they will not need to face His wrath.

TRUMPET JUDGEMENTS: Now the seven angels who had the seven trumpets prepared to blow them. The first angel blew his trumpet, and there followed hail and fire, mixed with blood, and these were thrown upon the earth. And a third of the earth was burned up, and a third of the trees were burned up, and all green grass was burned up. The second angel blew his trumpet, and something like a great mountain, burning with fire, was thrown into the sea, and a third of the sea became blood. A third of the living creatures in the sea died, and a third of the ships were destroyed… Revelation 8:6-9

PASTOR BAUCHAM PREACHING END TIMES TRUTH

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Pastor Voddie T. Baucham warned that the pervasive sexual sins of the prevailing culture are signs of divine judgment, but that the Gospel still offers hope and that American Christians should plead with God for revival while preparing for persecution.

Baucham, who is on leave in the U.S. from his position as Dean of Theology at African Christian University in Lusaka, Zambia, preached from Romans 1 during an event last Saturday at Lamar Baptist Church outside Dallas.

Reiterating some of the points in his new book, It’s Not Like Being Black: How Sexual Activists Hijacked the Civil Rights Movement, which was released Tuesday, Baucham noted the irony that he was making his remarks on the first day of pride month, which he referred to as “pride goes before destruction month.”

Noting that the Apostle Paul ultimately spends much of the first chapter of Romans explaining how the wrath of God manifests in the world by giving mankind over to sexual depravity and “a debased mind,” Baucham also observed that Paul lays the foundation of his difficult arguments on the hope and reality of the Gospel.

Starting at Romans 1:16, Baucham read: “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, ‘The righteous shall live by faith.'”

“That’s the foundation for all of this,” Baucham said. “That’s our foundation for thinking about all of these issues. We start there. We start with the reality of the Gospel and our need for the Gospel. We start with the reality that the righteous shall live by faith.”

“We are living in a time, in an era when there are people who are desperately wicked, and in desperate need of repentance and faith, in desperate need of the Gospel. And we’re being told that the wickedness is, in fact, the Gospel,” Baucham said.

Baucham noted that such a worldview is destructive because it not only calls good evil and evil good but also “alienates people from the only hope they have.”

Despite the culture’s clarion call for people to embrace the supposed freedom of sexual liberation, he said the evidence suggests that such behavior is enslaving even children at this point.

Lifting up his phone, Baucham added, “We’re giving them to 9- and 10-year-olds. Number one use of the internet is still pornography, and we’re giving unlimited, unfettered access to it to 9- and 10-year-olds in the palm of their hands.”

“So we’ve got a generation of people who’ve been raised with sexual material, who have been raised with libertine views towards sex, who are engaging in sex younger and younger, and we’ve got young people entering into marriage who can’t even enjoy sex anymore, because their ability to enjoy it has nearly been destroyed.”

Baucham further explained that a deeper layer of the destruction includes “willing Christians” who attempt to accommodate the idea of sexual sin as an identity by claiming the Bible failed to understand the complexity of sexual orientation and that dishonorable passions are not actually dishonorable.

Baucham said rampant transgenderism is another consequence of such depravity and went on to warn that the push for pedophilia “is just a matter of time.” He also urged Christians to steel themselves for the last stage of a culture under judgment, which involves the wicked attempting to suppress the truth of God by approving of those who are evil while condemning and trying to silence those who resist.

Baucham concluded his remarks by urging his listeners to pray for revival, but conceded that he cannot personally see any way out of the spiritual darkness into which the culture has plunged itself.

“We’re going to have to pray that God would send revival, because He’s already sent judgment,” Baucham concluded. The wrath of God is here; the judgment of God is here. Plead with Him for His mercy. Plead with Him that all would not be lost.”

Baucham failed to say that God has told us in advance that what is playing out in the world precedes Jesus’ return to restore righteousness. Incredible detail is given by the Old Testament prophets, Jesus in the Olivet Discourse, and Revelation of the events that precede Jesus’ return. The good news is our redemption is close so we need to make sure we like Jesus are saying to God not my will but yours be done each day. Do not grieve the Holy Spirit, He has work for you to do if you are in prayer and attentive.

PROPHESIED END TIMES APOSTATE CHURCH PROUD OF OUR SIN

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The Supreme Court of Finland confirmed Friday that Finnish parliamentarian Päivi Räsänen will face trial a third time over her five-year-old Bible verse tweet that criticized the Finnish Lutheran Church for promoting LGBT “pride month.”

Police began investigating the grandmother of 11 shortly after her 2019 tweet in which she posted a photo from the book of Romans and questioned how the Finnish Lutheran Church could agree with “shame and sin” being presented as “a matter of pride.”

Räsänen, who led Finland’s Christian Democratic Party from 2004 to 2015 and served as the country’s interior minister from 2011 to 2015, is being dragged into court again despite having been acquitted twice by lower courts on hate crime charges, according to a statement from lawyers at Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) International.

“In a democratic Western nation in 2024, nobody should be on trial for their faith — yet in Finland throughout the prosecution of Päivi Räsänen and Bishop Pohjola, we have seen something akin to a ‘heresy’ trial, where Christians are dragged through court for holding beliefs that differ from the approved orthodoxy of the day,” Paul Coleman, executive director of ADF International said.

The state’s persistence in going after Räsänen and Pohjola for nearly half a decade despite multiple acquittals is “alarming,” Coleman said, fearing “the process is the punishment in such instances, resulting in a chill on free speech for all citizens observing.”

“Their right to speak freely is everyone’s right to speak freely,” he added.

European governments have increasingly clamped down on speech critical of homosexuality in recent years.

Earlier this month, France’s gender equality minister Aurore Bergé called for the prosecution of Father Matthieu Raffray, a Roman Catholic priest who drew the ire of the state for describing homosexual inclinations as “a weakness” that must be fought like any other sin.

In Malta, Matthew Grech faced criminal charges under the country’s conversion therapy ban last year for giving his Christian testimony about leaving a homosexual lifestyle on a radio show. The radio hosts who gave him a platform were also charged.

Speaking about proposed anti-hate speech legislation in Ireland that would apply to sexual orientation, ADF CEO Kristen Waggoner told The Christian Post in December that her organization perceives “a global trend toward censorship.”

“And it’s not just a disregard for free speech; it’s an active targeting to silence speech by the government,” she said, adding that the United States is not immune to such trends despite the U.S. Constitution.

We should not be surprised at these actions as Jesus told us that great tribulation would precede His return.

“Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and put you to death, and you will be hated by all nations for my name’s sake. And then many will fall away and betray one another and hate one another. And many false prophets will arise and lead many astray. And because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold.” Matthew 24:9-12

Jon Brown is a reporter for The Christian Post.

THE AGE OF SELF: PRIDEFUL

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Where is the world according to God’s timetable? The world is now largely rejecting God by suppressing the witness of God’s creation. Paul says God’s eternal power and divine nature have been clearly perceived ever since the creation of the world and yet the world’s universities and schools teach the world came into existence by a Big Bang and evolved over billions of years. What nonsense: chaos and random chance produced this beautiful world with people who have the intelligence to create the internet, AI, robotics, etc. The following Scripture reveals what is ahead for those people who reject and rebel against God.

“For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things. Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.
For this reason, God gave them up to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature; and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error. And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done. They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. Though they know God’s righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them.” Romans 1:8-32
Make sure you circulate this great presentation by Martyn Isles now CEO of Answers in Genesis.

THE POWER OF HUMILITY

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The ultimate act of humility was seen when Jesus trusted the Father so completely that he became a vulnerable human baby and later submitted to death on a Cross. His willingness to humble himself had a paradoxical outcome: he refused to elevate himself and, as a result of his refusal, he was raised to the right hand of God. God the Father exalted Jesus because he refused to exalt himself and the same dynamic works in our lives as well.

“And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” Philippians 2:8-10

“Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you,” 1 Peter 5:6

Humility is the opposite of pride and it is the quality we most need in order to walk with God but we can only do it in the power of the Holy Spirit.

“But as for me, I am filled with power, with the Spirit of the Lord,” Micah 3:8

Humility cultivates God’s presence, whereas pride alienates him since God is opposed to the proud. Pride is founded on self-deception, the grandiose delusion that we are special and gifted, perhaps even exceptional. God allowed the Apostle Paul to be severely afflicted to prevent pride from creeping in (2 Corinthians 12:7). Particularly pernicious is so-called spiritual pride, a tendency which was continually countered by Jesus in his interaction with the Pharisees.

Originally God made man from the dust of the ground and but for the grace of God, we end up as dust. Humility is the acceptance that we have these lowly origins and we are, therefore, limited beings. This has a very positive effect on our inner world, as it enables us to make peace with our limitations, as well as allowing us to celebrate our strengths. Humility frees us from having overly high expectations of ourselves and of others in a world that often demands impossible standards. We can escape this toxic situation, which always leaves us feeling that we are failures (not just that we have failed but that we, in ourselves, are failures). Humility is being comfortable in our own skin, so comfortable that we don’t feel the need to justify ourselves to others or to bolster our reputation.

The main ‘skill’ which is required for leadership is discerning when we are moving with God’s presence and in God’s Spirit – and not just simply moving. We cannot move in God’s presence and Spirit without being humble. Also, leadership is not simply a case of being good at planning, skilled in organizational development, or having the personal charisma which others naturally follow. This perspective is in keeping with the New Testament where leadership is regarded primarily as a gift from God (Romans 12:8). Also, spiritual leadership is not to be confused with being a religious entrepreneur.

This post is adapted from information in Richard Roberts book Cultivating God’s Presence

In the Millennium all the glorified believers will mediate Jesus’ rule throughout the earth acting as civil and criminal magistrates and judges and spiritual guides and leaders in all aspects of the Kingdom: worship, politics, health, education, business, art, sport etc.

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WHERE WERE YOU WHEN I LAID THE FOUNDATIONS OF THE WORLD?

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This is the question God asked Job. For thirty-five chapters Job seeks answers to why tremendous calamity has overcome him.

Star studded cluster in the constellation Sagittarius

“God doesn’t give Job an explanation. He just shows Job who He is. … and then says,

‘I ask the questions and you give the answers. Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Job 38:4

We know why calamity overtook Job, God allowed Satan to bring it upon him. To most of us, this seems unjust, even offensive. Even though we know that God restored Job’s fortunes, twice as much as he had before, it is only when we read Job’s final response that we get to understand what God had achieved. Moreover, it is obvious who is in control of all that occurred.

“Then Job answered the Lord and said: “I know that you can do all things and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted. Who is this that hides counsel without knowledge?’ Therefore I have uttered what I did not understand, things too wonderful for me, which I did not know. ‘Hear, and I will speak; I will question you, and you make it known to me.’ I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees you; therefore I despise myself, and repent in dust and ashes.” Job 42:1-6

As Francis Chan said in a recent sermon, “For any of us who think that we can come into the presence of God and say, ‘God, why did you make me this way? Why did I go through this? This is my body, my choice.’ God says: ‘No, wait a second. No. Nothing is yours. I spoke this world into existence.’ The world is the Lord’s and everything in it. It’s all made by Him. And He doesn’t owe us an explanation for what He does in it. 

Chan also referenced Isaiah 66:2, where God says: “This is the one to whom I will look, he who is humble and contrite in spirit and trembles at My Word.” 

“Do you tremble at the Word of God? Do you tremble? Because if you want God to choose you and see you, you need to tremble at His Word. Do you tremble at James 4:6, where it says, ‘God opposes the proud? If there’s ever a verse to tremble at, that might be it,” Chan said. 

Chan warned the audience against becoming like those who say they are Christians, but “they are not close to God, not the God of the Bible.” He added that they “can sing … [and] cry, they can talk about their quiet time, but if they are proud, then they’re not very close to that throne.” 

“Those who are closest to God are those who are most humble. … Do you understand this God that we pray to? When people were close to God, they were not proud. Chan said, ‘whenever I see pride in my life, the answer to that is not OK, let me try to be more humble.’ No. ‘Let me try to get closer to God.’ Because when I’m in the presence of God, there is not going to be pride there.”

“As an example of suffering and patience, brothers, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord. Behold, we consider those blessed who remained steadfast. You have heard of the steadfastness of Job, and you have seen the purpose of the Lord, how the Lord is compassionate and merciful.” James 5:10-11

LISTEN TO HOW THIS CHURCH GOT RIGHT WITH GOD

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Bob Gallaty finally realises He was the problem in His church. The reason why churches are not seeing God move is the Holy Spirit is not directing them, particularly their leaders, and true prayer is absent. Pastors in particular need to watch this video.

Robby Gallaty is senior pastor of Long Hollow Baptist Church in Hendersonville, Tennessee. He spoke with Faithwire about his church having seen 1,048 people baptized from Dec. 20 to April 11. He spoke about how to lead a church, how to make space for the Holy Spirit, and how to pursue God in prayer in effective and meaningful ways.

Those who follow livingeternal.net know that I believe the end times church will be like the church described in the Book of Acts. Church is relational, home groups, and is about making disciples who in turn make disciples of Jesus. Therefore, I am not saying that Bob Gallaty has discovered the right model but he is certainly moving in the right direction.

WANT TO BE USED BY GOD?

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The big first lesson to learn: “God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble.”  James 4:6 & Proverbs 3:34

God is opposed to the proud — He resists them — but He promotes the humble. Humility is not thinking less of yourself but thinking of yourself less. If you want to be used by God, one of the essential things you need to do, is to choose to live humbly.

God is in love with process! The process will inevitably involve whatever is necessary to develop our character, repentance will be prominent in the journey. Process gives us the things that are needed to sustain the greatness that God wants in our life. The truth is we never get to be a person who “arrives”!

The trap of pride is one of the big obstacles. It’s easy to think, “I know more than someone else; I have a special relationship with God.”

Image result for picture of Ben Armstrong Director Prophetic Ministries at Bethel

The testimony of Ben Armstrong, Director of Bethel Prophetic Ministries is enlightening in this regard. You can see the whole interview on http://www.krisvallotton.com. The article by Kris prompted this post.

“For me, it was a 14 years process from the dream to actually becoming the Prophetic Ministries Director at Bethel. Whenever we are promoted in a healthy way, it is a combination of two things: the favour of God and the favour of man.

The favour of God can be judged by the fruit of the Spirit. Let me be clear: NOT the gifts of the Spirit but the fruits! Beyond that, the favour of man is two-fold — it lies in both the community you’re leading and the leadership that recognised you.

One thing that I wish I could tell all prophetic people is to fall in love with the process. Realise that if it’s taking longer than you expect to fulfil your destiny, it may be because there is a greater gift that God wants to instil in your life and He is making sure that you will be able to sustain it. So embrace the process and try and get all of the good things that God is trying to teach you in your present season. If you lean in, you will be a lot more mature and a greater resource to the people you are ministering to.

Q: IF THERE WAS ONE THING YOU COULD TELL YOUR YOUNGER SELF ABOUT THE PROPHETIC, WHAT WOULD IT BE?

A: Because prophets can see so much of the future, sometimes the trap of pride can take hold in their lives. It’s easy to think, “I know more than someone else; I have a special relationship with God.” Personally, I had to die to a lot of pride. It’s important to anyone who can see the future in people’s lives, and who have a propensity towards the prophetic, to learn patience and to humble ourselves enough to help people navigate the bread crumbs to their future.

Trust me because I did the whole gig where I impressed people with powerful prophetic words, but it never helped promote them into the future. In fact, it was actually an obstacle to their future because it was too big for the moment they were in. I learned through the School of Hard Knocks to give bread crumbs that led people along the path and helped them move to the future without keeping them from the steps that God had in mind for them.”

The practice of keeping our hearts and minds pure, repenting frequently, will help us to run and thrive, to be in the centre of God’s will for our lives!

 

 

CHURCH AS GOD INTENDED IT TO BE

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Cornerstone Church in Simi Valley, California, was drawing around 5,000 people and growing in 2010. But Francis Chan felt the megachurch he founded was not as God intended it to be.

Francis Chan, a bestselling author who heads We Are Church, speaks at the Facebook headquarters in California, June 22, 2017.

“I got frustrated at a point, just biblically, Chan said. “According to the Bible, every single person in the church has a supernatural gift that’s meant to be used for the body. And I’m like 5,000 people show up every week to hear my gift, see my gift. That’s a lot of waste. Then I started thinking how much does it cost to run this thing? Millions of dollars!”

“So I’m wasting the human resource of these people that according to Scripture have a miraculous gift that they could contribute to the body but they’re just sitting there quietly. … [T]hey just sit there and listen to me.”

Moreover, he felt the church wasn’t following God’s command to love one another — attendees would simply greet each other for 30 seconds and mainly hang out in cliques once a week.

“I was like, ‘God, you wanted a church that was known for their love. You wanted a group of people where everyone was expressing their gifts. … We’re a body. I’m one member, maybe I’m the mouth. But if the mouth is the only thing that’s working and … I’m trying to drag the rest of the body along, chewing on the carpet …”

His decision in 2010 to leave Cornerstone — which he started in his living room — came as a shock to many, including fellow evangelical pastors. In his announcement to the congregation at that time, he said he had been feeling a restlessness and stirring to let go of the megachurch and take on a new adventure.

He also indicated that he was wary of being “comfortable.”

In his talk at Facebook last week, he offered more details about why he made that decision to leave, including a desire to get away from the pride he began to feel as his book, Crazy Love, became a bestseller and as he became a popular sought-after speaker.

“I freaked out during that time in my life,” Chan recalled. “The pride … [going to] a conference and seeing my face on a magazine … and hearing whispers … and walking in the room and actually liking it.”

At one point, Chan felt convicted and realized he became everything he didn’t want to be. “Everything you (God) said you hated, that’s me right now,” he realized. “I gotta get out of here. I’m losing my soul.”

Chan stressed to the Facebook group that God hates pride and that one can easily lose humility.

Today, Chan leads a house church movement in San Francisco called We Are Church. There are currently 14 to 15 house churches, he said, and 30 pastors (two pastors per church) — all of whom do it for free. Each church is designed to be small so it’s more like family where members can actually get to know one another, love one another and make use of their gifts.

“We’ve got a few hundred people now and it costs nothing,” Chan explained. “And everyone’s growing and everyone’s having to read this book (Bible) for themselves and people actually caring for one another. I don’t even preach. They just meet in their homes, they study, they pray, they care for one another. They’re becoming the church and I’m just loving it and realising that these 30 guys [are] leading this and the women as well.”

The people who join include “guys coming off the streets, out of prison to doctors and people that work here (Facebook) or Google,” he said.

He’s hoping to double the number of house churches every year so that in 10 years, there would be 1.2 million people in We Are Church. And, he reiterated, it’s all free.

How would he compare the megachurch he once led to the current house church movement?

“This one guy put it like this: It’s like being adopted rather than being in an orphanage,” Chan said. “Church the way I was doing was like an orphanage. Here’s just a bunch of kids with one leader. And rather than saying ‘No, you know what, we’re going to put you in a home and these guys are going to actually know you and love you and care for you.’

“It’s just like family.”

Recalling a sober moment he had while at Cornerstone Church, Chan said he baptized a kid from a gang but that kid later left though he was quite involved in the church.

“One of my friends asked him, ‘Hey, how come you’re not at Cornerstone anymore?’ He said ‘I didn’t understand church. When I was baptised, I thought that was going to be being jumped into the gang where it’s like 24/7 they’re my family, because I didn’t know it was just somewhere we attend on Sundays.”

When Chan heard that, he said it made him sick.

“That makes me so sick that the gangs are a better picture of family than the church of Jesus Christ. I can’t live with that. … We’re going to do something different.”

While Chan said he loves what he’s doing now, he admitted that it wasn’t easy and that his former gig at the megachurch was easier in some aspects.

“Some days I think it was a lot easier when I could just preach, go back and drive off in my car and leave all of them like I will today,” he said to laughter among the Facebook employees. “I don’t have to care for your issues, you know? … I’ll never see you again.

“This is easy. But you have this circle here and you’re in each other’s lives and no offence, it’s not this Facebook — I can just put up what I want about myself. That’s kind of like the way church was. It’s like let me just show you this one side on Sunday morning and let me just show you the best pictures of me and my greatest accomplishments.

“But when it’s family, it gets messy. And you start finding out people’s dirt. Just like you know about your brother and sister every Thanksgiving. It’s messy because it’s family. That’s what Christ wanted. And so we fight for it. And it’s been a blast.”

As for what he does with all the money he earns through his bestselling books, Chan said he gives it all away.

He had prayed to God years ago, saying he was frustrated with the rich people in church who only give 5 to 10 percent of their money to church while living off millions. He prayed that God would either raise up a new generation of rich people who would actually live for eternity and give all their money away or make him rich.

“I’ll give it all away to show that you’re better than all of that,” Chan remembered praying. So when he surprisingly made a million dollars the next year through his book and continued to make more over the following years, he signed it all over to a charitable gift fund “so that I can’t even touch it. I can’t even buy lunch with the money … I can only give to charity.

“It’s been the best thing. Now I spend my days going and looking where are the needs around the world and how can I contribute to it?”