June 10, 2007.

The Weekly Church News Notes is designed for use in churches.

*SEVENTH-DAY ADVENTISTS BECOMING MAINSTREAM *

Seventh-day Adventists are entering the mainstream of evangelicalism.
SDA pastor Doug Batchelor, for example, is syndicated on web
streaming sites Oneplace.com and Lightsource.com alongside popular
evangelicals such as John MacArthur, David Jeremiah, Greg Laurie, and
John Piper. Seventh-day Adventism was founded upon the alleged
prophetic ministry of a female preacher named Ellen G. White. During
the years between 1844 and 1915 she supposedly received approximately
2,000 visions and dreams in which she was instructed concerning such
things as the alleged divine origin of Adventistism as an end-times
restoration church, the doctrines of Investigative Judgment, Soul
Sleep, and Annihilationism, the necessity of Sabbath-worship, and the
SDA health system. For the first one hundred years of their history,
Seventh-day Adventists were separate from other denominations, but
since the 1960s they have become more mainstream. They participate in
such things as the National Religious Broadcasters and Inter-Varsity
Fellowship conferences and Billy Graham evangelistic crusades. Some
Seventh-day Adventist churches are listed as members of the Willow
Creek Association founded by Bill Hybels. Dallas Seminary professor
Howard Hendricks spoke at the Seventh-day Adventist Southern College
in Collegedale, Tennessee, in 1994. The Adventist doctrine of
salvation is a subtle mixture of grace and law. They profess to
believe that salvation is by grace through faith, but they redefine
this in a way that is contrary to Scripture. Simply stated, their
doctrine is as follows: The sinner is powerless to live up to God's
holy standard, the Law of God, but God has come to his aid through
the sacrifice of Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit. God offers
enablement to the sinner by which he is empowered to keep the Law.
Christ's blood covers all shortcomings, (but only) as long as these
are properly confessed and forsaken. God offers grace and power; the
sinner must take these and develop within himself, by God's strength,
the character demanded by the Law. This unscriptural doctrine of
salvation, which is gathered from courses and books published by
official Adventist presses, cannot and does not offer any security
for the adherent.

*PARADISE GATHERING: ANOTHER ECUMENICAL ROCK & ROLL FEST *

This week I became aware of the
Paradise Gathering when a pastor friend received an announcement of
it in the mail and informed me of it. The Paradise Gathering is a
youth "awakening" that is scheduled to congregate on a one-mile
square field in Paradise, Kansas, on May 25, 2008. The objective is
to spur a spiritual awakening in America and to "accelerate Christ's
kingdom purposes" through a massive gathering of young people aged 15
to 22 to pray and worship by means of loud contemporary music and
Scripture verses displayed on jumbotrons (with no stage or live
music). Though thousands are expected to participate, many important
things about the Paradise Gathering are vague in the extreme. It is
allegedly the outgrowth of a "vision" by an experienced youth worker
and 18 collaborators, but none of their names are given nor is their
denominational affiliation revealed, except to say that they "include
most of the major streams of the church." There is no doctrinal
statement and no warning about the apostasy, carnality, and
worldliness that is rampant in "youth ministries" today. Sixty-seven
Christian leaders have already signed on as "advocates" of the
organization's objective. These include representatives of radically
ecumenical organizations such as Youth for Christ (which often works
hand-in-hand with the Roman Catholic Church), Youth With A Mission,
Episcopalian, Assemblies of God, and Willow Creek. Pentecostal
denominations and organizations are represented, including Assemblies
of God and Church of God, Cleveland, Tennessee. There are female
church leaders such as Virginia Ward, associate pastor of Abundant
Life Church in Cambridge, Massachusetts. And many Southern Baptists
have signed on with this unscriptural hodgepodge, including Merrie
Johnson, Kelly Davis, Joe Ball, Terry McIlvain, Scott Stevens, Paul
Turner, Allen Jackson, Steve Rohrlack, and Richard Ross. The Paradise
Gathering's ecumenical philosophy is evident on its website. It says,
for example, that "Christ commands oneness in the church and grieves
when it is not present." This idea is based on a popular but bogus
interpretation of John 17 and a heretical doctrine of the church.
Most of the various denominations today are 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 all professing Christians; He was praying for the supernatural
unity of all born again Christians, and that prayer was answered and
accomplished. 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 modern
evangelical-charismatic crowd that downplays and ignores doctrine for
the sake of a broad "unity," nor does it envision an
interdenominational unity of any sort.

*STUDY FINDS THAT HALF OF SOUTHERN BAPTIST PASTORS BELIEVE IN TONGUES
FOR TODAY*

A new study by LifeWay Research
indicates that half of Southern  Baptist pastors believe the Holy
Spirit gives some people a "special prayer language" today. More than
400 Southern Baptist pastors were contacted by phone and asked, "Do
you believe that the Holy Spirit gives some people the gift of a
special language to pray to God privately?" The replies were 50%
"Yes"; 43% "No"; and 7% "Don't know" ("LifeWay Released Prayer
Language Study," Baptist Press, June 1, 2007). This study is a
further demonstration that the charismatic movement is having a wide
impact within the Southern Baptist Convention. Central Baptist Church
of Hixson, Tennessee, hosts an annual Fresh Oil & New Wine
Conference, which features speakers such as Rodney Howard-Browne, the
"Holy Ghost Bartender," and draws hundreds of Southern Baptist
pastors and church members. Southern Baptist Pastor Dwain Miller of
Second Baptist Church in El Dorado, Arkansas, prophesied to Ron
Phillips (senior pastor at Central) that God would use him "to bring
renewal to the SBC's 41,000 churches." He was referring to a
charismatic "renewal." The Fresh Oil & New Wine Conference for 2007
features radical charismatic speaker John Kilpatrick, who led the
"Brownsville Outpouring" in the 1990s as the pastor of the
Brownsville Assembly of God in Pensacola, Florida. When the
"outpouring" began in June 1995 Kilpatrick fell to the floor and lay
there almost four hours. He said, "When I hit that floor, it felt
like I weighed 10,000 pounds. I knew something supernatural was
happening" (Charisma, June 1996). Supernatural, yes; Holy Spirit,
no!!!
*
SAY SOMETHING NICE SUNDAY *

The Charleston Baptist Association in South Carolina, which is
affiliated with the
Southern Baptist Convention, declared the first Sunday of June as
"Say Something Nice Sunday." The purpose was "to urge Christians of
all denominations to step back from the conflict and discourse that
has gripped many churches and denominations today and to not utter
not even a single word of criticism" ("Churches Urged to Say
Something Nice," Christian Post, June 3, 2007). This ridiculous thing
will probably catch on and grow. First Baptist Church of Charleston,
which claims to be the oldest Baptist church in the South,
participated and said it hopes that the one day will stretch to more
days and "then just maybe if we encourage one another and ask for
God's help, we might change the world!" How the mighty are fallen!
This ancient Baptist church is obviously apostate. Jesus Christ did
not instruct us to change the world by some positive-only philosophy;
He instructed us to save lost sinners by proclaiming the Gospel, and
the Gospel begins with the very "bad news" that every man and woman
without Christ is a hell-bound sinner. When the apostle Paul preached
the Gospel to the church at Rome, he spent two chapters on the
"negative" message of man's fallen condition before he ever got to
the "positive" message of salvation in Jesus Christ. See Romans 1-3.
Further, the idea that "negative statements" are always harmful is
foolish even in the natural sphere. When someone has a terrible pain
and goes to the doctor, does he want the doctor to spout some nice
platitude or does he want to hear the naked truth? Speaking the truth
in love, even the most negative aspect of the truth, is nicest and
the most helpful thing one can do for this sin-cursed world.
"Faithful are the wounds of a friend; but the kisses of an enemy are
deceitful" (Proverbs 27:6).

*ATHEISTDELUSION.NET *

 Michael Penfold has developed a new web site entitled
http://www.atheistdelusion.net to
counteract the writings of Oxford professor Richard Dawkins. It
contains links to multiple resources refuting Dawkins' errors and
blasphemies.
*
CALIFORNIA LAWMAKERS PASS HOMOSEXUAL PROTECTION BILL *

The following is excerpted from "Bill Threatens
References to 'Mom' and 'Dad' at School," WorldNetDaily, May 24,
2007: "In a move with national implications, California's state
Senate passed a bill today that establishes a new definition for
'sex,' threatens references to 'mom' and 'dad' and could restrict the
presentation of scientific evidence to students. The plan, SB 777,
which actually would turn the state into a promoter for the
homosexual lifestyle, is much like a bill approved by lawmakers last
year but vetoed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who said adequate
legal protections against discrimination already existed. The new
measure passed on a 23-13 vote. For more than a year, advocates for
the homosexual lifestyle repeatedly have pressed lawmakers in
California--which wields national influence as the biggest purchaser
of curriculum--to adopt their agenda. The new plan now goes to the
state Assembly, which approved a similar plan in 2006. The newest
legislation, sponsored by state Sen. Sheila James Kuehl, D-Santa
Monica, a lesbian, would ban textbooks, references, teaching aids,
activities, events, discussions, posters, announcements, workbooks
and anything else within the public school system from anything that
'reflects or promotes bias against' homosexuality, transgenders,
bisexuals or those with 'perceived' gender issues."
 CONCLUDING NOTE
: It appears that sooner or later this strange bill
will be passed and signed by a California governor, even though it is
blatantly unconstitutional. If America's Bible believing Christians
don't repent of their worldliness and half-heartedness and get
serious about serving Jesus Christ, no human effort will protect us
from the onslaught of paganism. I wonder how many Christians even
pray earnestly for their nation on a daily basis?