Author: Milo Haskour

By Milo Haskour — Churches once filled by denominational loyalty now sit half-quiet, their pews thinning year by year. Gobbling up the memberships is the phenomenon of the megachurch, which draws consumerist believers and titillates them with Grammy quality worship, stagecraft, choreography and motivational charismatic talk that passes off as a sermon. The church becomes a corporation and an empire. That is what Scott Latta’s 2024 book Gods of the Smoke Machine is about. It’s a longform nonfiction based on years of interviews with megachurch pastors and staff and reveals how pressure to grow relies on marketing strategies, how staff…

By Milo Haskour — Australian actor Guy Pearce apologized for antisemitism Thursday for sharing “misinformation and falsehoods” about Israel on social media while supporting Palestine online. “It has been brought to my attention that, in my support of Palestine, I have inadvertently re-posted articles, and/or statements, that have contained misinformation and falsehoods,” Pearce told Jewish News. “I am aware how sharing inaccurate content can cause confusion and distress; for this I am deeply sorry. I will certainly endeavour to be more diligent in future to verify anything I share online.” According to Jewish News, Oscar-nominated star blamed Israel for the…

By Milo Haskour — They said her 160 acres of land was worthless because it was unsuitable for farming, but 11-year-old Sarah Rector, the daughter a slaves, could “hear” oceans of oil underground in the movie out now Sarah’s Oil, based on a true story. “We need this story because there are many little black girls right now who aren’t feeling empowered that they can do anything because society is purposely shutting them out,” says star Haitian-American Naya Desir-Johnson, whose age is not publicized. “When black girls hear this story they’ll know that they can do anything. If the world…

By Milo Haskour – Among signs of growing revival, there are Bible sales and a boom of Christian movies. Last year, there were 400 Christmas movies produced, 80% of which talked about Christ as a major component (or the major component) of the movie, says Dr. Ted Baehr, CEO of Movieguide. Of Bibles sold, 2.4M units moved in September in the United States – a 35% increase over the same month in 2024, according to Circana BookScan which monitors book sales. Bible sales buck the current trend of downward sales of books in general, which are declining. These two separate…

By Milo Haskour – Secretly, Kaya Jones was bleeding from the abortion onstage with the Pussycat Dolls. When a little girl pointed at her admiringly and said, “Mama, she’s a Pussycat Doll,” it was too much for Kaya. She knew she had to quit. “I wasn’t in a girl group. I was in a prostitution ring,” Kaya says now that she has repented and is serving Jesus. “Oh and we happened to sing and be famous. While everyone who owned us made the money.” Kaya Jones – whose real name is Chrystal Neria – quit the dream of music stardom…

By Milo Haskour — On the sand just on Mallorca’s nightlife zone, a group of Christians set up a concert on a platform, preached Jesus and led 100s of revelers to Jesus during two weeks this summer. “First when they see us, they’re kind of perplexed because it’s the last thing they imagine to have somebody talk about Jesus right there,” says Gernot Elsner of Gospel Tribe. “They come back every night. They listen to the messages, to the testimonies. Some give their lives to Jesus and others are even baptized in the ocean.” Gospel Tribe even hosted “party boat”…

By Milo Haskour — In a move that shows the lack of freedom of speech in the U.K., a 17-year-old boy who preaches at Speaker’s Corner in London has been reported to Social Services, the police and Prevent, an anti-terrorist outreach. Young Bob, as he’s called, also got kicked out of his house for voicing his Christian values. He’s the youth ambassador for the conservative Turning Point U.K. “Right now I’m sort of like sofa surfing,” he reported on a YouTube video on the Revelation 22:13 channel. “I’ve got a lot of problems. I don’t really have that many solutions.”…

By Milo Haskour — Before he exploded on the Christian scene with an epic debate takedown of New Ager Billy Carson, Wes Huff was a geek who sifted through ancient Greek, Hebrew, Aramaic, Sumerian and Akkadian texts of creation accounts and religious documents. He was born in Multan, Pakistan. His mom was a missionary kid in India. They moved to Jordan for missionary work, then to Goderich, Ontario, Canada. When he was 11 years old, a flu triggered immunological self-sabotage that destroyed the nerve endings at the base of his spinal cord, a rare disorder called acute transverse myelitis. He…

By Nile Hosni and Milo Haskour — All Justin Kayne’s activity — teacher, football coach, surfer, brother at church — came screeching to a halt when an as-yet-undiagnosed disease slammed him in bed with migraines, depression and hopelessness. He forgot who he was. “Don’t commit suicide today,” a journal entry says. He kept a chronical of the disease that rendered him useless. At first doctors thought it was long Covid, then a mold infection, then — after 30 doctors and 60 treatments, they just didn’t know. Actually, several journal entries say, “Don’t commit suicide today.” “I had headaches, confusion, a…

By Milo Haskour – A guard knocked on the metal door to cell #223 at the Metro-Davidson County Detention Facility in Nashville. “DeFord, you had a kid today,” he shouted. It was one heck of a way to find out he was a father, locked up on the day of the birth of his daughter, and Jason DeFord ruminated on the reckless course of his life. Out of the previous 12 years, he’d spent nine in jail for drug possession, drug dealing, shoplifting and aggravated robbery. He was a felon. “I was scum of the Earth. I was a crack…