WEEKLY CHURCH NEWS NOTES
Pastor Dale Morgan
July 15, 2007,
The Weekly Church News Notes is designed for use in churches.
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POPE REAFFIRMS THAT THE CATHOLIC CHURCH IS THE ONE TRUE CHURCH
*
A new document approved by Pope
Benedict XVI reaffirms that the Roman Catholic Church is the one
true church that Jesus supposedly founded and that Protestant churches
are false and aren't true
churches. The document, which was released on July 10, is entitled
"Responses to Some Questions Regarding Certain Aspects of the
Doctrine on the Church" and it revisits statements made by the
Vatican II Council in the 1960s. It says that while the "Christian
communities separated from the Catholic Church" can act as
"instruments of salvation," they are not true churches and they only
act as "instruments of salvation" because they partially participate
in "the fullness of grace and of truth which has been entrusted to
the Catholic Church." In addressing Eastern Orthodoxy the document
calls them sister churches "because of apostolic succession, the
priesthood and the Eucharist," but says they fall short because they
do not recognize the supremacy of the pope. Though this document
(which was produced by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the
Faith, which is the old office of the Inquisition) is being widely
reported in the news media, there is nothing new here. We have long
pointed out that Vatican II reaffirmed the supremacy both of the
Catholic Church and of the Pope, and ecumenical dialogue with
Protestants and Orthodox is allowed only within the context of this
supremacy. Vatican II stated: "It was to the apostolic college alone
of which Peter is the head, that we believe that our Lord entrusted
all the blessings of the New Covenant, in order to establish on earth
the one Body of Christ into which all those should be fully
incorporated who belong in any way to the people of God" (Decree on
Ecumenism, chap. 1, 3, p. 415). The San Giovanni Laterno Church is
the first church of Rome and an inscription on the front (translated
from Latin) says, "MOST HOLY LATERAN CHURCH, MOTHER AND MISTRESS OF
ALL CHURCHES OF THE CITY AND THE WORLD." Rome has never renounced
this heresy.
*
HEAD OF COOPERATIVE BAPTIST FELLOWSHIP SAYS WE ARE FREE TO EXPERIMENT *
In his report at the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship's annual meeting at
the end of June, executive
coordinator Daniel Vestal said Baptists must celebrate their freedom.
He said: "We are free from the institutions of the past even as we
birth and build new institutions for the present. We are free to work
with people of other faiths for social justice and racial
reconciliation. ... We are free to experiment. We are free to
explore" ("CBF Pares Budget," Baptist Press, July 2, 2007). In fact,
while we are free to reject human tradition, the divine model for the
church is 2,000 years old and we have no freedom to change it.
Further, we have no freedom to join hands with unbelievers for
"social justice," for the Word of God says, "Be not unequally yoked
with unbelievers: for what fellowship have righteousness and
iniquity? or what communion hath light with darkness?" (2 Cor. 6:14).
The apostles and leaders of the first churches did not join hands in
"social justice" issues with pagans in the Roman Empire. Further, we
are not free to experiment and explore beyond the bounds of the
inerrant Scriptures. Of course, few within the Cooperative Baptist
Fellowship actually believe the Bible is
verbally-plenarily-inerrantly inspired. The CBF announced a new
partnership with the liberal American Baptist Convention, which
allows unrepentant homosexuals to be members of churches. Leaders of
the two groups took the Lord's Supper together. The CBF also adopted
a statement of support for Jimmy Carter's ultra liberal New Baptist
Covenant. The new moderator of the CBF is a woman. The CBF was formed
in 1991 by men who were disgruntled at the conservative trend within
the Southern Baptist Convention.
*EVANGELICALS PROMOTING THE WORLDLY EVAN ALMIGHTY FARCE *
Many evangelicals are promoting the worldly movie
Evan Almighty, which blasphemously depicts a man in the role of
Almighty God. Christianity Today has promoted the movie and the
Baptist Press ran a favorable review. Four contemporary Christian
bands (Switchfoot, Relient K, Jeremy Camp, DecembeRadio) performed at
the premier to the movie, which is the sequel to the sacrilegious
Bruce Almighty film. Based loosely on the biblical story of Noah,
Evan Almighty depicts a congressman who is charged by God with
building an ark. It turns the biblical flood, one of the most
significant and serious events in human history, into a comedy,
making a mockery of this terrible but righteous judgment. One review
warns that "there are three jokes made about the male anatomy; a
woman is shown getting into bed wearing lingerie; Evan is shown
partially nude; there are some crude elements as well as several mild
profanities ... and the Lord's name is taken in vain multiple times"
("Movie Review: 'False Theology' Sinks," OneNewsNow.com, June 21,
2007). God is depicted in "irreverent and unholy ways" and adds an
eleventh commandment: "Thou shalt do the dance," referring to a silly
dance that Evan performs throughout the film. The movie denies the
Bible by claiming that the Flood was not about God's wrath. Beyond
all of this, a foundational error of the movie is the very fact that
the thrice holy God is depicted as a man and is humanized after a
"cool" fashion. This apostate generation will regret playing around
with such holy themes. "There is a generation that are pure in their
own eyes, and yet is not washed from their filthiness. There is a
generation, O how lofty are their eyes! and their eyelids are lifted
up" (Proverbs 30:12-13).
*
BAPTIST WORLD ALLIANCE STRESSES UNITY OVER DOCTRINE *
At the July 2-7 meeting of the Baptist World Alliance
in Accra, Ghana, outgoing general secretary Denton Lotz said, "Some
Baptists seem concerned only about doctrine, but Jesus talked about
unity as a great doctrine of the faith" (Christian Post, July 4,
2007). In fact, the Lord Jesus never offset unity against sound
doctrine and never in the least way denigrated the fight for sound
doctrine. To the contrary, through His Spirit Christ taught His
people to "teach no other doctrine" than that found in New Testament
Scripture (1 Timothy 1:3), which is the very narrowest and strictest
view of doctrinal purity that can be imagined, and He taught us not
only to hold to sound doctrine in all points but also to fight for
it, to "earnestly contend for the faith which once delivered unto the
saints" (Jude 3). The apostle Paul constantly fought against
doctrinal error and false teachers. Practically every one of his
epistles reflects this battle. The New Testament also teaches us that
as the church age progresses and the time of Christ's return draws
near that false teaching and apostasy will increase (2 Timothy 3:13;
4:3-4). Thus, the fight for doctrinal purity must grow even fiercer
in these last days if God's people are to remain true to the Bible.
The Baptist World Alliance has been a part of the apostasy for a long
time.
*TEXAS SUPREME COURT VINDICATES PASTOR IN CHURCH DISCIPLINE LAWSUIT *
The following is excerpted from
The Church Report, July 4, 2007: "The Texas Supreme Court, in a
unanimous decision, ruled in favor of Pastor Buddy Westbrook,
represented by the Liberty Legal Institute, and dismissed the lawsuit
against him. Westbrook had a lawsuit brought against him by a church
member who refused to repent following a divorce and remarriage.
According to the lawsuit, Peggy Penley was a member of Crossland
Community Bible Church in Fort Worth and had a relationship with
another man and desired to divorce her husband. Westbrook, in
accordance with the church's disciplinary process, sent a letter to
church members informing them of Penley's unrepentant attitude and
called for a disassociation from Penley by the congregation. Penley
sued the church, the elders, and Westbrook on grounds that the pastor
violated confidentiality statutes. 'We conclude that the secular
confidentiality interest Penley's professional-negligence claim
advances fails to override the strong constitutional presumption that
favors preserving the church's interest in managing its affairs,'
wrote Justice Harriet O'Neill, who delivered the opinion of the
Court. 'This is a great victory for pastors across Texas,' said Kelly
Shackelford, Chief Counsel of the Liberty Legal Institute, which
represented Westbrook."
*HEALTH PROFESSIONALS WARN AGAINST DRINKING DURING PREGNANCY *
Health professionals are warning
that any drinking of alcoholic beverages during pregnancy endangers
the child. Paul Mason, Children's Commissioner of Tasmania,
Australia, says: "Theoretically no women of child-bearing age should
drink alcohol, full stop, no matter how unfair that sounds. There is
no safe level of drinking alcohol in pregnancy. The baby's liver does
not process the alcohol and the alcohol takes oxygen away from the
baby's brain development. It is an effect of oxygen starvation"
("Women Shouldn't Drink Alcohol," The Mercury, July 2, 2007). Gavin
Stone, with the Drug Education Network of Australia, says alcohol use
in pregnancy is the leading cause of birth defects and mental
disabilities in the Western world, affecting one in 100 infants.
These children are afflicted with such things as learning
disabilities, poor co-ordination, low IQ, and problems with daily
living. A Canadian study showed that 90% of children affected end up
with mental health issues.
*FORMER "RADICAL ISLAMIST" SAYS THE OBJECTIVE IS A WORLDWIDE ISLAMIC
STATE
*
The following is excerpted from a
testimony by Hassan Butt of England, from the Daily Mail, July 2,
2007: "When I was still a member of what is probably best termed the
British Jihadi Network--a series of British Muslim terrorist groups
linked by a single ideology--I remember how we used to laugh in
celebration whenever people on TV proclaimed that the sole cause for
Islamic acts of terror like 9/11, the Madrid bombings and 7/7 was
Western foreign policy. ... More important, [this thinking] helped to
draw away any critical examination from the real engine of our
violence: Islamic theology. ... I left the British Jihadi Network in
February 2006 because I realised that its members had simply become
mindless killers. ... what drove me and many others to plot acts of
extreme terror within Britain and abroad was a sense that we were
fighting for the creation of a revolutionary worldwide Islamic state
that would dispense Islamic justice. ... the foundation of extremist
reasoning rests upon a model of the world in which you are either a
believer or an infidel. ... I was taught by Pakistani and British
radical preachers that this reclassification of the globe as a Land
of War (Dar ul-Harb) allows any Muslim to destroy the sanctity of the
five rights that every human is granted under Islam: life, wealth,
land, mind and belief. In Dar ul-Harb, anything goes, including the
treachery and cowardice of attacking civilians."
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).