The Weekly Church News Notes is designed for use in churches. * HOMOSEXUAL WINS DISCRIMINATION CLAIM AGAINST THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND *
In a landmark case, a homosexual man has won a job discrimination claim against the Church of England. After John Reaney was turned down for a youth worker's post in Cardiff, Wales, he complained to the government that he was being unlawfully discriminated against on the basis of his sexual orientation contrary to a new law. The employment tribunal has agreed and will next set the amount of monetary compensation that the Church of England must pay. Homosexual activists rejoiced at the ruling. One said that the "church must learn that denying people jobs on the ground of their sexuality is no longer acceptable" ("Gay Christian Wins Job Tribunal against Church of England," Daily Mail, July 18, 2007). Reaney had the backing of Stonewall, an influential homosexual rights organization. This shows the danger of the Hate Crimes legislation that is currently moving through the U.S. Congress. Homosexual activists will not be content until they shut down every church that opposes their agenda. * NUMBER OF ORDAINED WOMEN IN BAPTIST CHURCHES INCREASES *
According to a new report the number of ordained women among Baptist churches in the United States has increased 20% since 2005. There are now 607 women serving as pastors, co-pastors, interim pastors, and church planters in the American Baptist Convention, the Alliance of Baptists, the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, and other groups. This is according to a report entitled "State of Women in Baptist Life" issued by Baptist Women in Ministry. "But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence" (1 Timothy 2:12).
*HEAD OF ANGLICAN CHURCH IN IRELAND SAYS DIVISION IS GREATER SIN THAN HERESY *
Alan Harper, Archbishop of Armagh and "Primate of All Ireland," recently said that "division is a greater sin even than heresy" (Christian Post, July 24, 2007). This idea is based on a popular but bogus interpretation of John 17 and a heretical doctrine of the church. The Anglican Church today is more akin to the harlot of Revelation 17 than to the biblical church of Jesus Christ. In the high priestly prayer of John 17 Jesus was not praying for the unity of professing Christians or of those in any one denomination; He was praying for the supernatural unity of all born again Christians, and that prayer was answered. Further, Christ was praying for those who keep the truth (John 17:6, 8, 14, 17, 19). He was praying for those who love and obey the Word of God and keep its sound doctrine. This is certainly not a prayer that envisions the Church of England with its multitudes of unregenerate members, rampant sin, theological modernism, and loads of heresies. * NO PREACHING AT SOUTHERN GOSPEL FESTIVAL*
The annual three-day Songfest, in Jackson, Tennessee, which draws thousands of southern gospel listeners, features 20 music groups and a comedian but no preaching. Event sponsor Frank Arnold said, "There is no preaching at Songfest. We just let the songs carry the message, and people listen to it. And that's what keeps us going. ... The majority of the artists are age 40 or younger, singing positive music" ("Thousands to Hear Southern Gospel Music," Christian Post, July 19, 2007). One of the hallmarks of the Contemporary Christian Music philosophy is a rejection of biblical preaching that is characterized by reproof and rebuke (2 Timothy 4:2), and this has bled over into contemporary Southern gospel circles. It is music that entertains rather than convicts, that creates a smile rather than repentance. "Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears" (2 Timothy 4:2-3).
*CHINA EXPELLING MISSIONARIES * The following is excerpted from "China Sweeping Christians Out," WorldNetDaily, July 14: "More than 100 foreign Christians in China have been accused of being involved in illegal activities and have been expelled in just a 90-day period, the biggest assault on the presence of Christianity in China since 1954, according to a new report from the Voice of the Martyrs. Most of those who have been expelled are from the United States, South Korea, Singapore, Canada, Australia or Israel, and had been working in or visiting Zinjiang, Beijing, Tibet and Shandong, according to the VOM report. A Christian who had worked in Xinjiang for 10 years told a VOM source that more than 60 foreign religious workers, many who had served people in the area for more than 15 years, were expelled from Zinjiang alone. As WND reported a week earlier, officials also are reporting an increase in arrests of Chinese house-church pastors and leaders, who have been accused of being 'suspects using evil cults to obstruct the enforcement of the law.' VOM reported that the campaign against Christians is called Typhoon No. 5, and 'is part of the Chinese government's efforts to prevent foreign Christians from engaging in mission activities before the Beijing Olympics in 2008.' ... 'This is the largest expulsion of foreign missionaries since 1954 when the Chinese Communist government expelled all foreign religious workers after taking power in 1949,' reported a VOM source. 'At least five different mission agencies and sources within the Chinese government report that in February, the government launched a massive expulsion campaign against foreign Christians. In spite of the public face of religious freedom the Chinese government tries to convey through its state run system, the arrests of Chinese Christians, and now the expulsion of active Christian visitors is a demonstration of their true nature,' said Tom White, executive director for Voice of the Martyrs."*
MUSIC EXPERT DEBUNKS MYTH THAT WESLEYS USED DRINKING SONGS *
The following is excerpted from the United Methodist News Service, August 13, 2002: "An oft-heard myth about the Methodist tradition is that founders John and Charles Wesley used drinking and tavern songs as the melodies for hymns. 'The Wesleys did no such thing,' says Dean McIntyre, director of music resources at the United Methodist Board of Discipleship in Nashville, Tenn. 'Given their aesthetic and theological sense, it would (have been) unthinkable for them to do so.' ... McIntyre decided to set the record straight after returning from this summer's jurisdictional and chapter convocations of the Fellowship of United Methodists in Music and Worship Arts. At each event, someone referred to the 'long-held and oft-repeated untruth that John and Charles Wesley made use of tavern or drinking songs as tunes for their texts,' he says. He adds that some people have used the myth as an excuse for importing secular influences into worship. McIntyre says the legend began when a seminary or music student became confused over the musical term 'bar tune' or 'bar form'--a medieval pattern for poetry consisting of three or more stanzas--which became the pattern for songwriting. Someone with no knowledge of medieval poetry heard 'bar form' in connection with John Wesley, and the songs became tavern songs, he says. ... 'In no hymn book or other publication of the Wesleys can there be found any example of or encouragement to use drinking songs to sing hymns,' he says. ... 'Rather, the issue is why Wesley did not use them.' Noting that Wesley found drinking songs unacceptable, he asks if worshippers today should use music from the local bar for worship. 'If Wesley's reasoning for the Methodists of his time remains valid for our own, then the answer is no.' He suggests that those who 'justify' the use of secular culture and influences in United Methodist worship by repeating the Wesley legend 'should be called to account.'" * FARRAKHAN SAYS HE BELIEVES BOTH THE BIBLE AND THE QURAN *
Former Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan, speaking at a Catholic church in Chicago, said he believes both the Bible and the Quran. Appearing at the St. Sabina Catholic Church on May 25, Farrakhan preached from the Bible and said: "I hate the division ... between people who believe in God. I love the Bible, I love the Quran and I don't know how I can come in a Christian church with a Christian pastor and not speak from the book that Christians believe in, because I believe in it as well" ("Former Nation of Islam Leader Speaks," Associated Press, May 28, 2007). In fact, Farrakhan believes neither the Bible nor the Quran. Following is an overview of his strange beliefs: "The Nation of Islam, which has mosques or temples in 120 American cities, was founded in Detroit by Wallace D. Fard in 1930. Farrakhan became its leader in 1975 upon the death of Elijah Muhammad, the man followers believed to have been the most recent 'messenger from Allah.' In the 1960s the movement came to public attention through the conversion of the world heavyweight boxing champion Cassius Clay (who consequently changed his name to Muhammad Ali) and the assassination in Harlem of its spokesman, Malcolm X. ... Farrakhan's speeches, published in a volume titled Back Where We Belong, are an alarming mix of bogus scholarship, black racism and Islamic fundamentalism. He teaches that the white race was created six thousand years ago by a black scientist called Yakub in order to test the mettle of the black race. The white race won, and ever since then the black race has been in bondage. The time has come, Farrakhan says, for blacks to escape from captivity and become the master race again. The Jews, the World Bank and the Club of Rome are among the enemies he singles out" (Steve Turner, Hungry for Heaven, 1995 ed., pp. 199-202). * MARRIAGE IS THE MOTHER OF THE WORLD*
The following is from David Thomas's commentary on Proverbs, 1885, quoting Jeremy
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The Weekly Church News Notes is designed for use in churches.
*THE SIMPSONS MOVIE'S POPULARITY DEMONSTRATES AMERICA'S REBELLION AGAINST GOD *
The Simpsons Movie, a spinoff of the Simpsons sitcom, grossed $72 million in its first weekend. The Simpsons animated sitcom, the longest running sitcom in U.S. television history, is scheduled to begin its 19th season this fall. Time magazine has named it the 20th century's best television series, and in 2000 it was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. The movie has been promoted heavily by 7-Eleven and Burger King. The Simpsons mocks the traditional family and religion. Consider a few quotes from Homer, the movie's star and the head of the Simpson family clan: "If the Bible has taught us nothing else, and it hasn't, it's that girls should stick to girls sports, such as hot oil wrestling and foxy boxing and such and such." "I'm not a bad guy! I work hard, and I love my kids. So why should I spend half my Sunday hearing about how I'm going to Hell?" "I'm normally not a praying man, but if you're up there, please save me Superman." "Here's to alcohol, the cause of--and solution to--all life's problems." "Son, when you participate in sporting events, it's not whether you win or lose: it's how drunk you get." The Simpson's is not mere entertainment. It is a reflection of America's rebellion against God. The world is in open defiance to Almighty God, but this defiance will end in eternal disaster. It is described in Psalm 2:1-5 -- "Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD, and against his anointed, saying, Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us. He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh: the Lord shall have them in derision. Then shall he speak unto them in his wrath, and vex them in his sore displeasure." God will have the last laugh and the final derision. * POPE CALLS FOR END TO WARS *
Speaking in Lorenzago di Cardore, where he was on vacation, Pope Benedict XVI renewed the call of his predecessors to end wars ("Benedict XVI: Never Again, War," Vatican Information Service, July 22, 2006). The call was first made by Pope Benedict XV in August 1917 during World War I. He spoke of establishing a "just and lasting peace" on earth. Pope Paul VI called for the end of war in his speech before the United Nations, and John Paul II called for peace on earth in the International Prayer for Peace which was founded in 1986 in Assisi, Italy. The inaugural meeting brought together representatives of 32 Christian denominations and 11 non-Christian religions, including Buddhist, Hindu, Sikh, Judaism, Muslim, Animist, Shino, Zoroastrian, Bahai, and North America Indians. The Dalai Lama was one of the speakers. Animists from Africa prayed to the Great Thumb and North American Indians prayed to Mother Earth. In spite of the addition of chants and bells and incense and smoke and fire, the papal prayers have gone unanswered for the simple reason that there will be no peace in this sinful earth until the Prince of Peace comes. "But of the times and the seasons, brethren, ye have no need that I write unto you. For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night. For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape. But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief. Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness. Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober" (1 Thess. 5:1-6). * GERMAN CHURCH HOSTS "EROTIC SERVICE" *
The church of the Carthusians in Cologne, Germany, hosted an Erotic Church Service earlier this year. The service, which was attended by 400 people with 600 being turned away for lack of space, featured a female dancer dressed in a skin colored stocking. Above the entrance of the church was the caption, "A warm welcome to the Vineyard of Love," and wine and rose leaves were strewn on the people from the ceiling. The barefoot "vicar," Armin Beuscher, announced that eroticism and lust are not taboo areas and that "lust has to be lived out" ("Hundreds queue for Erotic Church Service," The Times, June 12, 2007, from a report that appeared on German television). The members of the congregation were asked to massage one another on the forehead and hands. In conclusion the vicar said, "Praise God with your body, your lust and tenderness." The service was organized under the auspices of the German Protestant Kirchentag, one of the largest Christian festivals in Europe. It is affiliated with the Evangelical Church in Germany, which is the Lutheran state church. The Carthusians is a monastic order within the Roman Catholic Church and was founded in the 11th century. Their monasteries are called Charterhouses.
*STUDY FINDS THAT MARIJUANA USE INCREASES RISK OF PSYCHOSIS *
A massive study funded by the British Health Department found that even infrequent use of marijuana can increase the risk of psychosis by 40 percent. The research was published July 27 in the medical Journal The Lancet. Dr. Stanely Zammit, one of the study's authors, said, "The available evidence now suggests that cannabis is not as harmless as many people think" ("Even Infrequent Use of Marijuana Increases Risk of Psychosis," FoxNews.com, July 27, 2007). Dr. Robin Murray of King's College said: "We've reached the end of the road with these kinds of studies. Experts are now agreed on the connection between cannabis and psychoses. What we need now is for 14-year-olds to know it." Surveys in the Britain have shown that about 20% of young adults use marijuana regularly. There is no doubt that marijuana is a dangerous drug. I used it heavily for about 3 years before I was converted, beginning with my tour of military duty in Vietnam, and it had a dramatic and negative impact upon me.
*MORE COUNTRY MUSIC TRASH *
I have often warned about the spiritual and moral danger of America's country music. It is as wicked as rock & roll, pop, or rap, but it is often considered safer because of its thin veneer of God and country, and it is therefore not uncommon for professing Christians, even those who claim to take the Bible seriously, to listen to it. But it has the same addictive and sensual back beat as rock & roll (a back beat that the rock & rollers themselves call "sexy") and the lyrics are just as wicked. The themes of country music are drinking, complaining, drinking, quitting your job, drinking, quitting your marriage, drinking, dancing, drinking, loneliness, drinking..... I think you get the idea. Only the Lord knows the true extent of the evil fruit of country music, how many men and women have become drunks, how many marriages broken, how many babies born out of wedlock, how many fights, how many terrible accidents caused by drinking and driving, how many suicides, not to speak of the eternal consequences. A new song by Brad Paisley illustrates the moral danger of this music. Entitled "Bigger Fish to Fry," it says: "I cuss, And I smoke, I laugh at dirty jokes./ The minor vices, man I know 'em well./ I've closed down bars. I've lusted in my heart./ My exes think I oughta burn in hell./ But the devil, he won't notice when I die./ Yeah, don't you figure he's got bigger fish to fry?/ Politicians taking pork barrel bribes. Crooked CEOs are getting off with no time. ... Yeah there's gonna be bonfire burning, An everlasting barbecue/ But with all the bad stuff going on, There ain't gonna be room for me and you." This song foolishly claims that only the worst sinners go to hell and that God will overlook "the minor vices." Beware of country music and its damnable philosophy that you can have the world and Christ, too, and that immorality and drinking and rebel-rousing are things that God winks at. "But fornication, and all uncleanness, or covetousness, let it not be once named among you, as becometh saints; neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor jesting, which are not convenient: but rather giving of thanks. For this ye know, that no whoremonger, nor unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, hath any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God. Let no man deceive you with vain words: for because of these things cometh the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience" (Ephesians. 5:3-6). Music is a powerful thing, and it behooves God's people to be exceedingly careful about the music in their homes, cars, personal music players, and churches.
*CHURCH OF ENGLAND PREACHING HARRY POTTER'S MESSAGE * The Church of England has published a guide advising youth workers how to use Harry Potter to discuss Christian themes ("Church Preparing to Preach Potter's Message," The Times, July 18, 2007). The guide, entitled "Mixing It up with Harry Potter," was published by Church House Publishing. John Pritchard, the Bishop of Oxford, said, "There's nothing better than a good story to make people think, and there's plenty in the Harry Potter books to make young people think about the choices they make in their everyday lives and their place in the world." The hero of the Harry Potter story is a young wizard who uses alleged good magic to make his way in the world and to overcome his enemies. Biblically speaking, there is no such thing as good magic or a good wizard, witch, or sorcerer. All of these things are condemned in the strongest terms. "There shall not be found among you any one that maketh his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, or that useth divination, or an observer of times, or an enchanter, or a witch, Or a charmer, or a consulter with familiar spirits, or a wizard, or a necromancer. For all that do these things are an abomination unto the
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