WEEKLY CHURCH NEWS NOTES
Pastor Dale Morgan
January 21, 2007
The Weekly Church News Notes is designed for use in churches
*
THE STRANGE CARTER-CLINTON ALLIANCE FOR A NEW BAPTIST MOVEMENT *
Former U.S. presidents Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton have joined forces
to call for a new broadly
inclusive movement that will counter the "negative image" of Baptists
and address social issues such as poverty, the environment, global
conflicts, and AIDS. About 80 Baptist leaders representing 40 Baptist
organizations joined Carter and Clinton at the Carter Center in
Atlanta for the January 9 announcement ("Former Presidents Carter &
Clinton," Baptist Press, Jan. 10, 2007). These included
representatives of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, the American
Baptist Convention, the National Baptist Convention, Mercer
University, and other liberal groups and institutions. They announced
plans for a "Celebration of a New Baptist Covenant" to be held in
Atlanta at the end of January 2008. Carter called the recent
gathering and announcement "a historic event," and we agree. It was a
historic moment in the fulfillment of the Bible's prophecy about
end-times apostasy. Bill Clinton, a serial liar who prevaricated
boldly to the entire nation on public television ("I never had sex
with that woman") and was caught lying under oath and has trouble
defining something as simple as the word "is," said his goal is to be
the new movement's "cheerleader." The "New Baptist Covenant" will be
very interesting indeed. Since Bill Clinton is involved it will
include support for homosexual rights and the murder of unborn
children under the guise of "legalized abortion" and the acceptance
of voodoo as the working of the Lord (in his autobiography "My Life"
Clinton described a visit to a voodoo ceremony in Haiti as the "Lord
working in mysterious ways"). And since Jimmy Carter is heading up
the new movement it will include support for evolution (in 2004
Carter fought successfully to keep "evolution" in Georgia public
school textbooks), the acceptance of Mormons as Christians (in 1997
he said Mormons should not be evangelized), the celebrating of
liberal theologians who deny the Bible's infallibility and Christ's
virgin birth (he has said that his favorite theologians are Karl
Barth and Bart Brunner), and the rejection of a strict Bible doctrine
stance (speaking at the 2000 CBF convention he called for an alliance
that will "reject creedalism"). Historic indeed. "Behold, I come
quickly: blessed is he that keepeth the sayings of the prophecy of
this book" (Revelation 22:7).
*NATIONAL COUNCIL OF CHURCHES RECEIVES MOST FUNDING FROM SECULAR
CORPORATIONS *
During the 2004-2005 fiscal year, the National Council of Churches in
America
received more money from secular corporations than from its member
denominations. Its income from members has declined 40% since the
2001-01 fiscal year, but income from liberal political-social action
groups such as People for the American Way (PAW), the Sierra Club,
and U.S. Action ("Group Speaks for Churches but Pushes Liberal
Agenda," CNSNews, Jan. 11, 2007). The president for U.S. Action spoke
at the 2005 convention of the Communist Party USA. The Sierra Club is
a radical environmentalist organization, and the misnamed People for
the American Way is a pro-abortion, pro-homosexual, pro-evolution
organization founded to oppose Christian principles in the public
arena. It got off the ground in 1978 with the help of a $40,000 grant
from the Playboy Foundation (NFD Journal, April 1986). In 1995 the
homosexual president of PAW, Arthur Kropp, died of AIDS (Christian
News, Jun 19, 1995). It is not surprising to see the extremely
liberal and unscriptural National Council of Churches buddying up to
such organizations. "Can two walk together, except they be agreed?"
(Amos 3:3). The National Council of Churches in America has 35
participating denominations representing 45 million members. As the
amount received from its members in 2004-05 was $1.75 million, it
follows that the ecumenical organization received less than 4 cents
per individual member of the associated denominations. It's obvious
that even its own members don't care much about it. In this news
report we see the merging of the world and the "church" which is a
characteristic of the Harlot of Revelation 17.
*
JEWS FOR JESUS' RADICAL ECUMENISM *
Recently when I asked readers for suggestions about Jewish ministries
that are likeminded with our own doctrinal position, I was amazed
that a few people replied with Jews for Jesus. Whatever this
organization is, it is not a fundamentalist group by any stretch of
the imagination and I am sure they would readily admit it. Jews for
Jesus participated in the first ecumenical conference that I attended
with press credentials. It was New Orleans '87. There were about
35,000 people in attendance representing some 40 denominations, and
one-half were Roman Catholics. Many of the speakers were Catholic
priests and nuns and a priest named Tom Forrest delivered the closing
message. I learned at a press conference that the ministries that
participated were required to sign an ecumenical statement agreeing
to get along with all of the other participants. One of the pictures
I took was a shot of a Catholic priest carrying a Jews for Jesus bag.
"Now I beseech you, brethren, mark them which cause divisions and
offences contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned; and avoid
them" (Romans 16:17). A ministry to the Jews that is likeminded with
our own position is Hope of Israel Baptist Mission, a ministry of
Victory Baptist Church, Cumming, Georgia, http://www.hopeofisrael.net.
*VIDEO GAME SALES A RECORD $12.6 BILLION *
- Video games sales (equipment and software) in 2006 was a record
$12.6 billion in the United States. That is a lot of money and a lot
of influence upon society. Many of the games are immoral and violent,
and most of them feature background rock music. Some of the top
selling games are Grand Theft Auto, Star Wars Knights, Warcraft,
Final Fantasy, and Mortal Kombat. At best the popular video games are
an addictive waste of fleeting hours. "Hell and destruction are never
full; so the eyes of man are never satisfied" (Proverbs 27:20). "I
will set no wicked thing before mine eyes: I hate the work of them
that turn aside; it shall not cleave to me" (Psalm 101:3).
*CRACKDOWN ON FREEDOM OF SPEECH IN COMMUNIST VIETNAM *
There is a continuing crackdown on freedom of speech
and religion in communist Vietnam. Bui Thi Kim Thank, a leading human
rights and pro-democracy lawyer, has been incarcerated since last
year in a psychiatric hospital and injected with drugs that have
rendered her unable to speak ("Vietnam 'Poisons' Leading Rights
Lawyer," BosNewsLife, January 13, 2007). She is a lawyer for the
Democratic Party of Vietnam, an unrecognized group calling for
democracy, human rights, and religious freedom. A Mennonite church
meeting was broken up on January 9 and part of the building
demolished. Communism is alive and well and it has never been a
friend to the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
*BOYS DIE COPYING SADDAM'S *
Several boys have died and some have been injured in apparent
attempts to copy the televised images of Saddam Hussein's hanging. A
10-year-old died in Texas. A 12-year-old in Turkey. A nine-year-old
in Pakistan. Two died and one was injured in Yemen. A 12-year-old
died in Saudi Arabia. Others were reported to have died in Algeria
and India. The father of the boy in Turkey said, "These television
images are responsible for my son's death" ("Several Boys Die," AP,
Jan. 14, 2007). The boy was strongly affected by the images and was
constantly asking, "How was Saddam killed?" and "Did he suffer?" This
is yet another testimony to the power of the media. People are
dramatically affected by the music they hear and the television and
movies and video games and Internet they watch, and those who deny
this must also argue that advertising is a complete waste of money.
"And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but
rather reprove them" (Ephesians 5:11). "Hell and destruction are
never full; so the eyes of man are never satisfied" (Proverbs 27:20).
"Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain
from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul" (1 Peter 2:11).
*THE BIBLE TEXT ISSUE: A TALE OF TWO CITIES *
- The following is from Jack Moorman's excellent booklet Modern Bible
Versions: The Dark Secret. "There is one point upon which both sides
of the current Bible text-version debate agree: the early
transmissional history of the New Testament is a 'tale of two
cities', Antioch and Alexandria. And just as surely as the KJV Text
was woven into the spiritual life of Antioch in Syria, so was also
the Modern Version Text in Alexandria. ... The choice is a clear one,
as there is very little common ground between them. Certainly Antioch
has by far the more glorious Biblical heritage. It became to the
Gentile Christians what Jerusalem had been to the Jews, and
superseded Jerusalem as the base for the spread of the Gospel. The
'disciples were called Christians first in Antioch' (Acts 11:26). It
was the starting point for the Apostle Paul's missionary journeys.
Mark, Barnabas, and Silas were there; as was Peter and probably Luke.
The Book of Acts leaves us with no doubt that Antioch was the centre
of early church activity. Egypt shares no such glory. It has always
been looked upon as a symbol of the world-system which is opposed to
the things of God. God would not allow His Son (Mt. 2), His nation
(Ex. 12), His patriarchs (Gen. 50), or even the bones of the
patriarchs (Ex. 13:19) to remain there. The Jews were warned
repeatedly not to return to Egypt, not to rely upon it for help, not
to even purchase horses there, etc. Thus, in contrast to what is
being claimed today, it is hard to believe that Egypt and Alexandria
would have been the central place where God would preserve His Holy
Word. Frankly, it was the last place on earth that one could trust in
doctrinal and biblical matters. It certainly wasn't safe to get a
Bible there! Even Bruce Metzger, a supporter of the Alexandrian Text,
is compelled to catalogue the vast amount of religious corruption
which came from Alexandria: 'Among Christians which during the second
century either originated in Egypt or circulated there among both the
orthodox and the Gnostics are numerous apocryphal gospels, acts,
epistles, and apocalypses. Some of the more noteworthy are the Gospel
according to the Egyptians, the Gospel of Truth, the Gospel of
Thomas, the Gospel of Philip, the Kerygma of Peter, the Acts of John,
the Epistle of Barnabas, the Epistle of the Apostles, and the
Apocalypse of Peter. There are also fragments of exegetical and
dogmatic works composed by Alexandrian Christians, chiefly Gnostics
during the second century. We know, for example, of such teachers as
Basilides and his son Isidore, and of Valentinus, Ptolemaeus,
Heracleon, and Pantaenus. All but the last-mentioned were unorthodox
in one respect or another.* In fact, to judge by the comments made by
Clement of Alexandria, almost every deviant Christian sect was
represented in Egypt during the second century; Clement mentions the
Valentinians, the Basilidians, the Marcionites, the Peratae, the
Encratites, the Docetists, the Haimetites, the Cainites, the Ophites,
the Simonians, and the Eutychites. What proportion of Christians in
Egypt during the second century were orthodox is not known' (Metzger,
The Early Versions of the New Testament, Clarendon Press, 1977, p.
101). [Note from Bro. Cloud: Metzger errs in implying that Pantaenus
was orthodox; he mixed pagan philosophy with Christianity.] Let it be
said again: Alexandria was the worst possible place to go for a
Bible! Yet it is precisely the place that our present-day translators
have gone in gathering the major sources of the modern Bible" (Jack
Moorman, Modern Bible Versions: The Dark Secret; this book is
available from Plain Paths Publishers, http://www.plainpath.org,
828-863-2736, pl...@juno.com).
CONCLUSION: Friends in Christ, do not be discouraged by any of this.
It is God's will that we know the times (1 Ch. 12:32; Mat. 16:3) and
that we be as wise as serpents and harmless as doves. These things
remind us that the hour is very late, and we need to be ready for the
coming of the Lord. Are you sure that you are born again? Are you
living for Christ day by day? "And that, knowing the time, that now
it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation
nearer than when we believed. The night is far spent, the day is at
hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put
on the armour of light. Let us walk honestly, as in the day; not in
rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in
strife and envying. But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not
provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof" (Rom.
13:11-14).