Sixty-two percent of straw poll voters at the annual Conservative Political Action Conference in National Harbor, Md., selected former President Donald Trump as their preferred Republican presidential candidate. The CPAC poll, which surveyed more than 2,000 people in attendance, was conducted in conjunction with Real America’s Voice and McLaughlin & Associates. Results also showed that 20% of voters prefer Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. Perry Johnson received 5% support, while declared candidate and former United States Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley captured 3% of the vote. Vivek Ramaswamy, another declared Republican presidential candidate, secured the support of 1% of respondents, along with Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. Meanwhile, 2022 Arizona Republican gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake took the top spot (20%) for voters' preference for the Republican vice-presidential nominee in 2024, followed by DeSantis (14%), Haley (10%), Ramaswamy (6%), Pompeo (6%), South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem (5%), Paul (4%), Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., (4%) and Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin (4%). During the previous CPAC straw poll in Dallas last summer, Trump secured 69% of the vote, followed by DeSantis at 24%. Read more.

A Louisiana pastor whose 20-year-old son was killed by gun violence says a "spirit of murder" has gripped the city of New Orleans and the nation. The Rev. Orin D. Grant Sr., senior pastor of St. Paul Missionary Baptist Church, told Fox News, "There’s a spirit of murder at work in this city and in our nation." Grant, who is building a team in the community to promote peer mediation and conflict resolution, lost his son in Aug. 2022 after he was shot and killed just blocks away from the church where he played drums every Sunday. The pastor lamented that young people are often victims of society and are exposed to violence from an early age. He asserted the city is in the grip of a dangerous and deceptive time, with carjackings and homicides more than doubling since 2019. Grant attributed the rise in crime to factors such as drug use, mental illness and easy access to firearms, particularly among young people. Speaking about his son's killing, he said, "It's a tough pill to swallow. I sleep with him on my mind. I wake up with him on my mind." As previously reported by CP, Grant explained that his son was at his girlfriend's house and may have been "lured out of the house" when he was shot. Read more.

In this op-ed, software executive and Christian apologist Robin Schumacher discusses his experiences with ChatGPT and what happened when he asked the chatbot about Christian salvation. Some have accused the software of bias, which OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT, addressed in a blog post. "That favoritism lives in such a product shouldn’t be surprising because behind this and every other set of AI systems are human beings who (surprise!) aren't exactly neutral on many subjects," writes Schumacher. On the topic of salvation, Schumacher notes there were some wins and losses when it came to ChatGPT's responses. However, instead of turning to a chatbot to discover the truth about God and salvation, Schumacher instead calls on people to spend time in Scripture and trusted resources. Read more.

While many across the U.S. are excited by the prospect of a spiritual revival sweeping the nation and the world, it is important that people recognize that "God's normal work is in the steady obedience of his full committed remnant," writes Dare 2 Share Ministries International's Greg Stier. In this editorial, Stier discusses the story of Elijah as played out in 1 Kings 19 and why people should "[p]raise God for the spiritual hurricanes, earthquakes, and lightning bolts when they happen. But don’t underestimate the transforming power of God's whisper in the dust of everyday life." Read more.

The Christian Post is honored to present "Unmasking Gender Ideology: Protecting Children, Confronting Transgenderism" on March 23, 2023, at the First Baptist Church of Dallas. The event will feature a panel of knowledgeable experts who have been combating gender ideology in different fields.

You won’t want to miss these rich discussions on topics that cover the dangers of gender ideology, the indoctrination and medical abuse of children around the world, as well as the plight of other vulnerable groups who are increasingly subjected to gender self-ID laws. Book Your Tickets

Creation Museum founder and CEO Ken Ham delivered a message at First Baptist Dallas church on Sunday where he discussed why it's important for Christians to believe and teach the foundations of the book of Genesis. Ham, a Young Earth Creationist, stated that it's the Church's failure to expound the teachings in Genesis that has fueled the sharp rise in the numbers of people leaving the faith, including Gen Z, which is said to be the first post-Christian generation. Ham said that exodus is largely fueled by a misconception that all the various challenges facing the Church—from gay marriage to abortion to moral relativism in general—are different issues. "They’re different symptoms of the same problem," he clarified. "You know what the problem is? They don’t have the right foundation." In drawing on the example of marriage as first described in Genesis 2, the executive asserted that culture is attempting to redefine it, and Christians are tolerating that change. "God created marriage," he said. "Not the Supreme Court justices or the president of the United States. God created it." Read more.

A number of churches in Texas have pledged to sponsor the resettlement of 64 Christians from China's persecuted "Mayflower Church" who fled to South Korea in 2019 but were denied asylum. Southern Baptist congregations and other churches in East Texas have stated they will sponsor the exiled members of the Shenzhen Holy Reformed house church, which came to be known as Mayflower Church after some 60 Chinese Christians, including 32 children, arrived in South Korea’s Jeju Island in 2019. More than a dozen families are now in Thailand awaiting responses to their refugee applications first submitted to the U.N.'s refugee agency UNCHR last September. Freedom Seekers International founder and CEO Deana Brown and ChinaAid's Bob Fu have been collaborating to help resettle the Chinese Christians who have feared repatriation to China after South Korea rejected their final asylum appeal. Brown reports that just two of the 16 families in limbo have been granted a second refugee determination interview with the U.N. Read more.

The filmmakers behind "Jesus Revolution" intentionally chose not to address revivalist Lonnie Frisbee's struggles with homosexuality. The film, which highlights how the flawed minister was used greatly during the Jesus Movement of the 1970s, was inspired by the true story of the spiritual awakening that hit the West Coast in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Despite Frisbee's significant influence and leadership during the Jesus Movement and later Vineyard Church in Yorba Linda, he struggled with his faith, drug use and homosexuality. He died from AIDS at the age of 43. In an interview with Bravely Daily, co-director Brent McCorkle shared that the team behind the film chose not to dive into Frisbee's complicated sexuality, explaining, "During this era that we shot, we felt very very compelled and almost convicted to just be with Lonnie where he was at and not try to bring in other things." While they knew it would be a "controversial choice," they intentionally did not mention it because they wanted to stay true to the story of who Frisbee was in 1969 and 1970, a timeframe where Frisbee was married to his wife, Connie. Pastor Greg Laurie, whose story features prominently in the film, added that Frisbee clearly "fell away" from God, adding, "But during the time of the Jesus Movement, I never saw or heard of anything of that kind, and I don't believe it was happening at all in his life." "Jesus Revolution," which has an A+ on CinemaScore, is currently playing in theaters nationwide. Read more.

Actress Nicole Abisinio knows that she should not even be alive. Before she was born, her father attempted to kill her pregnant mother because she refused to get an abortion. After she was born, her mother was forced to go into hiding to protect her infant daughter's life. The actress has experienced shocking events throughout her life, including helping to capture a predator who was targeting her and her friends. She later survived being stalked and attempted kidnapping and sex trafficking. It was in the midst of a successful Hollywood career that she began to sense the need for a Savior, a feeling fueled by the darkness she saw around her. "I literally ran out of Cannes Film Festival in France from a Woody Allen premiere in this big handmade gown, like, 'I need to find a church.' I didn't even know what it meant," she explained. Feeling like she needed to leave France, she headed back to the U.S. and found a church. "I remember the exact moment that I got saved, and the Holy Spirit—it was incredible," she explained. After embracing Christianity, she committed to using her talents to promote uplifting and faith-based content. Today, she stars in PureFlix's "The Advocate," a five-part series that is a family-friendly yet informative story of one child protective service agent on a mission to use her God-given gifts to help children in danger. Abisinio, who believes it's important to produce high-quality faith-based film and movies, explained, "God wants excellence ... What happens a lot in faith films is we try to look like [Hollywood] as opposed to just being our own unique thing and letting them look like us. They're not leading; we need to lead." Read more.