The Weekly Church News Notes is designed for use in churches.
*ANGLICAN PRIEST SAYS THE DOCTRINE THAT CHRIST DIED FOR MAN'S SINS IS "INSANE" *
In an interview with BBC Radio 4 that aired on April 4, Anglican priest Jeffrey John said the idea that Jesus died in our place is "insane." John, the dean of St. Albans, is a homosexual who was "married" to his male partner last August under the new British law. He rejects the traditional Bible doctrine of "substitutionary atonement," that says that Christ died on the cross to pay the price demanded by God's law for man's sin. He calls it "repulsive as well as nonsensical," saying, "It makes God sound like a psychopath" ("Idea Christ Died for Sins 'Insane,'" WorldNetDaily, April 1, 2007). It is not surprising, by the way, to see the British Broadcasting Network (BBC) airing blasphemy. In 2001 BCC World Service interviewed the author of "God: A Biography," in which he stated that the doctrine that Jesus Christ is God is "rubbish" and that he believes that God himself is not perfect. The BBC interviewer treated this blasphemy with great respect and tenderness, agreeing with the author that the Bible can be "true" even though its history and theology is (allegedly) fictional. In December 2002 the BBC aired a documentary questioning Jesus' virgin birth. In 2004 the BBC ran a comedy show called Cyderdelic, which included "a sexually explicit reference to Jesus" and a crucifix covered in dung. Well did Peter prophesy: "But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction. And many shall follow their pernicious ways; by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of" (2 Peter 2:1-2).
*CATHOLIC CHURCH COLLECTS MONEY FOR MOSQUE *
St. Theodore Catholic Church in Cologne, Germany, recently took up a collection to help build a new Islamic mosque in the city. The mosque will be one of Germany's largest, with room for more than 3,000 worshippers. This event is not surprising in light of Rome's new openness to pagan religions since Vatican Council II in the 1960s. Beginning in 1987 the late Pope John Paul II conducted the annual Day of Prayer for World Peace, which brought together representatives of Buddhist, Hindu, Shinto, Bahai, Muslim, Zoroastrian, and other religions, with those of Catholic, Orthodox, Baptist, and Protestant denominations. We are told that Rome is no longer the apostate institution it was in the sixteenth century. Not only is that not true, but THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH OF OUR DAY IS ACTUALLY FAR MORE UNSCRIPTURAL THAN IT WAS IN LUTHER'S DAY. It still holds all of its ancient heresies that were condemned by Baptists and Protestants of old, such as the pope being the head of all churches, the mass being the re-sacrifice of Christ, Mary being the ever-virgin Queen of Heaven, prayers to and for the dead, and the sacraments being a channel for salvation. In addition to traditional Catholic heresies, the Roman Catholic Church of our day is filled with many gross errors which were almost unknown to the Catholic Church of the sixteenth century, such things as Evolution (even the late pope declared his belief in it), New Age faith and practice (i.e., a seminar at Catholic Quigley Seminary in Chicago in 1988 featured messages by Matthew Fox and other New Age speakers on "the cosmic Christ within"), universalism (Mother Teresa and Pope John Paul II believed all men are children of God), and modernistic theology (Rome's theological schools are largely given over to the modernistic approach to Scripture that denies the Mosaic authorship of the Pentateuch, etc.). * MUSLIMS KILL CHRISTIANS IN ETHIOPIA AND NIGERIA *
Two Christians were murdered in Ethiopia and Nigeria the last week of March. In Gombe, Nigeria, on March 21, Muslim students lynched a female Christian teacher to death after accusing her of desecrating the Koran (Berean Call, March 30). On March 26 an Ethiopian preacher named Tedase, who was sharing the gospel on a public street, was murdered. He was walking in front of a Wahabbi Mosque in the town of Jimma when a group of Muslims confronted him, pulled him into the mosque, and savagely beat him to death ("Evangelist Beaten to Death," Christian Post, March 30, 2007). There is speculation that the murder was an effort to scare Christians in the area who are in the midst of an evangelism campaign. International Christian Concern, a persecution watchdog organization, ranks Ethiopia 3rd in its "Hall of Shame" list of the world's top ten persecutors of Christians. * DOES THE CHRISTIAN MUSIC GENRE STILL EXIST? *
A recent conference on "Music and Media" at Biola University discussed "how Christian music fits in today's mainstream media" and posed the question, "Does the Christian music genre still exist?" Jay Swartzendruber, the editor of CCM (Contemporary Christian Music) Magazine, spoke with the attendees by teleconference and explained that he is changing the official name of the magazine because "the genre has disappeared" ("Does the Christian Music Genre Still Exist?" Christian Post, March 29, 2007). The focus of the discussion was on the "artists and bands that are unashamedly Christian" but are "SUBTLE ABOUT THEIR APPROACH TO LYRICS." In other words, the do not plainly teach biblical truth in their music. The lyrics are vague, but this is nothing new. It has been a characteristic of Contemporary Christian Music since the 1980s. Writing in 1985 Ric Llewellyn observed: "Perhaps it is true that music is an art form. But as Christian musicians become more and more 'artistic' the lyrics of Contemporary Christian Music become more and more obscure until they retain virtually no substantial spiritual value. Lyrics become so allegorical that a truly spiritual lesson is imperceptible" ("Christian Rock?" Foundation magazine, Vol. VI, Issue 2, 1985). Stan Moser, one of the most influential producers of CCM until his retirement in 1995, testified: "But to be candid, I look at the majority of the music I hear today and think it's virtually meaningless" (Moser, "We Have Created a Monster," Christianity Today, May 20, 1996 p. 27). God has not called His people to imitate the world and entertain the world with abstract lyrics; He has called them to be peculiar in their holiness and to preach the Gospel to every creature. The apostles did not hide the truth, nor did they instruct the early churches to do so. Paul said: "Seeing then that we have such hope, we use great plainness of speech" (2 Corinthians 3:12). When truth is presented vaguely, truth becomes vague. Beware of Contemporary Christian Music!
*MISGUIDED CHRISTIAN APOLOGY TO THE ISRAELI KNESSET *
On March 28 some 200 Christian leaders issued an apology before the Israeli Knesset in Jerusalem "to ask forgiveness for centuries of Christian anti-Semitism." (Only three Knesset members were actually present.) The event was hosted by the Knesset Christian Allies Caucus (KCAC), which facilitates cooperation between Christian supporters of Israel and the Jewish state ("Christian Leaders to Knesset," Israeli Insider, March 29, 2007). The apology said, in part, "On behalf of millions of Christians who love Israel and pray for her, we would like to repent before you for crimes committed against the Jewish people throughout history in the name of 'Christianity.' We have sinned against God and against you. ... May God grant you the ability to forgive us and may we be brothers and sisters again." The misguided statement implied that crimes against the Jewish people were committed by Christians in general and that Christians in general therefore need to apologize, but in fact they were not committed by true Christians at all but by apostate "Christians," particularly Roman Catholic. Let the Pope go to Jerusalem and plainly apologize for what his "church" did to the Jews. Furthermore, born again Christians and unregenerate Jews who have rejected Jesus the Messiah are not "brothers and sisters." Jesus said to the Jewish leaders of old, "Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do..." (John 8:44).
*THE CHARACTERISTICS OF COMMERCIALISM *
William Newell, in his commentary on the book of Revelation in about 1935, listed the following characteristics of modern Commercialism, particularly world commerce: "First, it enables man to avoid as far as possible God's command to till the earth and to live by the sweat of his brow. Second, it tends to unify the humanity that God has definitely divided into nations, for the very purpose of covering the earth with the spirit of self-confidence and rebellion as before Babel (Gen. 11). Third, it enables individuals, cities and nations to become unduly swollen with riches. It begets universal covetousness, which is idolatry--in that the man who has money, can be independent of God. Fourth, it is contrary to God's will that each man live beneath 'his own vine and fig-tree,' content with such things as he has. 'Big business' is an abomination. It will be the ruination of the world. We scarcely know how far we have drifted. Our forefathers were content with their living. They had domestic ties, 'family reunions,' quiet church affiliations, gladly worshipping in the same old church, generation after generation. They had deep, kind, loving patriotism. But the forgetting of God is fast falling upon earth under the soul-stifling power of universal greed. Everybody wants to be rich--which damns its tens of millions! 'Get up in the world.' 'Get on in the world!' What lies! what will-o'-the-wisps of Satan to be followed by folks whose feet shall shortly stumble into open graves! Fifth, it is an excuse most common in the thoughts of men for not serving God (and yet shortly they will stand before God!). Millions of men really think that 'business' has a
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The Weekly Church News Notes is designed for use in churches. * BLASPHEMOUS REMARKS ABOUT POPE JOHN PAUL II *
The blasphemous remarks about the late Pope John Paul II continue to flow from the Roman Catholic Church. At a papal mass on April 2 in honor of the second anniversary of John Paul II's death, Pope Benedict XVI said the fragrance of the late pope's love has "filled the St. Peter's Square, filled the church and spread to the entire world" ("The Fragrant Love of John Paul II," Catholic News Agency, April 2, 2007). This is blasphemy. Catholic nun Marie-Simon-Pierre claims that John Paul II healed her of Parkinson's disease. She says that when the pope died in April 2005, "My entire world fell apart. I had lost the only friend who could understand me and give me strength to go forward. In those days I felt a great emptiness, but I also had the certainty of his living presence" ("The Nun Who Thanks John Paul II for Cure," Zenit.com, April 1, 2007). She is speaking of a dead pope in terms that could only rightly be spoken of Jesus Christ. He is the friend that sticketh closer than a brother! He is the One who can be a living presence to every man and woman through His Holy Spirit. Pope John Paul II is on the fast track to Catholic sainthood, the very concept of which is blasphemous. Jesus Christ is the only Mediator between God and man (1 Timothy 2:5) and the only one who "ever liveth to make intercession for them" (Hebrews 7:25). Yet a recent poll found that 56% of people in Poland have prayed for the pope's intercession ("Pope John Paul II One Step Closer to Beatification," Catholic World News, April 2, 2007). "So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness: and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet coloured beast, FULL OF NAMES OF BLASPHEMY, having seven heads and ten horns. And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet colour, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication: And upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH. And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus: and when I saw her, I wondered with great admiration" (Revelation 17:3-6). * THE ONE-HOUR MEN'S CHURCH*
The "Church for Men" in Daytona Beach, Florida, meets only once a month, on a Saturday evening, and guarantees that you will be in and out in one hour. The "church" features rock music, a clock to time the preacher's message, and claims to be the solution to the fact that men are "bored stiff" in many churches today ("Florida Church for Men Features Rock Band," FoxNews.com, April 7, 2007). Grove Community Church in Peoria, Illinois, doesn't have a pastor; it has a coach who "integrates a healthy, life-giving masculine spirit throughout the entire church" ("Men Only Church," Associated Press, April 7). The solution to "boring" and feminized churches is not to sell out to the world and to make church into a rock & roll sports club. The solution is to establish churches that are founded upon a bold stand for God's Word. I have preached in about 500 churches, and men usually outnumber women. From the days of the first churches to this present time, men have responded to the challenge of an undiluted presentation of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the uncompromising preaching of God's Word.
*ATTEMPT TO SACRIFICE LAMB ON TEMPLE MOUNT THWARTED AGAIN *
For decades some groups of conservative Jews have been attempting to sacrifice a lamb on the Temple Mount during Passover, though unsuccessfully. This year the New Sanhedrin Council, which was formed in 2005 after a 1,600 year hiatus, petitioned the Israeli High Court of Justice for the right to perform the ritual, but they were turned down on the basis of the necessity of maintaining "public order and safety" ("Court Nixes Passover Lamb," Haaretz.com, April 1, 2007). Various groups involved in the attempt include the Temple Mount Movement and the Temple Institute, which has been preparing the utensils for the Third Temple. In 1996 the "ultra right-wing" movement Kach unsuccessfully planned to infiltrate the Western Wall Plaza at dusk with a foldable altar and a lamb. Before that, the Temple Mount Movement unsuccessfully attempted to hire a helicopter to parachute an altar onto the Western Wall Plaza where a group of Jews would be waiting with the lamb. These crazy sounding attempts remind us that one day the Third Temple will most certainly be rebuilt and the Jewish sacrifices re-established, but it will not be to the glory of God. It will be to the glory of the Antichrist who will deceive the Jews with his "peace" program. The Third Temple is measured in Revelation 11 and the Two Witnesses will preach in Jerusalem during those days. "And there was given me a reed like unto a rod: and the angel stood, saying, Rise, and measure the temple of God, and the altar, and them that worship therein. But the court which is without the temple leave out, and measure it not; for it is given unto the Gentiles: and the holy city shall they tread under foot forty and two months. And I will give power unto my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and threescore days, clothed in sackcloth" (Revelation 11:1-3).
*HOMOSEXUALS CAN PARTICIPATE IN DISNEY'S FAIRY TALE WEDDING PACKAGES *
Walt Disney Co. recently announced that it will allow homosexual couples to participate in its Fairy Tale Wedding program. Donn Walker, Disney Parks and Resorts spokesman, said, "This is consistent with our policy of creating a welcoming, respectful and inclusive environment for all of our guests. We believe our guests will understand that we're not making judgments about people" ("Gays Can Now Marry Fairy-Tale-Style," Playfuls.com, April 7, 2007). In fact, by allowing homosexual weddings Disney is making a judgment against the Creator, who established marriage as a covenant between a man and a woman. This decision is all about money, of course. A typical Fairy Tale Wedding package costs $28,000. In 2005 the American Family Association (AFA) ended its boycott against the Walt Disney Corporation. Other organizations that had joined the boycott independently, such as the Assemblies of God and the Southern Baptist Convention, also ended their boycotts. Tim Wildmon of the AFA said at the time, "... it is harder than ever before to find evidence of new missteps by Disney." That was a ridiculous statement. The problem with Disney is not only its promotion of the homosexual agenda or the increasing immorality of its movies. The heart of the problem for a Bible believer is Disney's damnable New Age Gospel and this was a large part of its fare long before it got involved with the edgier type of movies through its partners Miramax and Touchstone. Walt Disney was an atheist and his cartoons prepared generations of children to think that witches are innocent fun and that there is such a thing as "white magic" and "good sorcery." Recent examples of Disney movies that preach a New Age Gospel are the Lion King, Pocahontas, and Squanto: A Warrior's Tale. The latter preaches a humanistic, new age lie that all men are children of the same God and that no one is lost. Men need only to act upon the goodness that is within them and follow their hearts and there will be peace on earth. The solution to the Disney problem is simply the exercise of wisdom on the part of believing parents who understand that nothing truly good for their children's spiritual well-being is going to come out of Hollywood and who therefore jealously and lovingly filter what comes into their homes and who educate their children in the biblical principles for judging entertainment. My advice to Christian parents is to get rid of the television altogether. I have never met a parent that regrets having done so, but I know many who regret that they didn't.
*HANK HANEGRAAFF SAYS CALLING THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH THE WHORE OF BABYLON IS "REPREHENSIBLE" *
Hank Hanegraaff, the voice for the Bible Answer Man radio program and the head of the Christian Research Institute, has said at least two times on his radio show that to call the Roman Catholic Church the great whore of Revelation 17 is to "slander an already vulnerable target" and is "absolutely reprehensible." He said this in the context of being asked what he thinks of Dave Hunt, the author of the 550-page book "A Woman Rides the Beast: The Roman Catholic Church and the Last Days" (Harvest House Publishers, 1994). Hunt replied to this as follows in the April 2007 issue of The Berean Call: "Whenever Hank is asked about me, this is his standard response. It is slanderous. I gave a more detailed response 11 years ago (TBC Q&A May 1996). The Roman Catholic Church is the largest, wealthiest, and most powerful institution in history and the world today. Yet Hank describes it as a 'vulnerable target.' What?! I'm slandering it by identifying it as the whore in Revelation 17-18? The angel gives to John fourteen identifying characteristics that fit the Vatican (and nothing else) perfectly. This is how Luther and the Reformers and the thousands of true Christians down through history whom the RCC slaughtered (including even some Roman Catholic leaders) have always identified the 'whore.' Of these martyrs, the great historian, Will Durant, wrote, 'The Roman Church, they were sure, was the Whore of Babylon.' Einerius, an inquisitor appointed by Pope Innocent III 350 years before the Reformation, said of the Waldensian Christians, whom the RCC was attempting to exterminate, 'They claim [that] the Roman Church is the whore described in John's Revelation.' Even St. Bonaventure, cardinal and general of the Franciscans, in his Commentary on the Apocalypse, 300 years before the Reformation, called Rome 'the harlot who makes kings and nations drunk with the
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