The Weekly Church News Notes is designed for use in churches
*HEAD OF THE EVANGELICAL THEOLOGICAL SOCIETY JOINS THE CATHOLIC CHURCH *
Francis Beckwith, a professor at Baylor University (a Baptist institution) and president of the Evangelical Theological Society, was received into the Roman Catholic Church on April 29. In his blog Beckwith said his departure from "Protestantism" was prompted by his study of the early church fathers ("ETS President Resigns," Baptist Press, May 9, 2007). I have often warned that the so-called "church fathers" of the early centuries were deeply influenced by heresy and are not dependable teachers. They should be looked upon as fathers of the Roman Catholic Church, in fact, for they developed heresies such as infant baptism, baptismal regeneration, sovereign election, inquisitionism, hierarchicalism, and priestcraft. Our absolute doctrinal standard is not the uninspired writings of the "church fathers" but the infallible Bible itself. Beckwith was also doubtless influenced by his unwise decision to study at Roman Catholic institutions, including Fordham University, a Jesuit school in New York. The Bible solemnly warns that "evil communication corrupt good manners" (1 Cor. 15:33). Protestantism has never been far enough removed from the Roman Catholic Church. Bible-believing Baptists are not Protestants and have never traced their heritage through Rome.
*STARBUCKS PRINTING ANTI-BIBLE SLOGANS ON CUPS *
As part of its "The Way I See It" campaign to collect different viewpoints, the Starbucks coffee chain is printing anti-Bible slogans on coffee cups. A quote written by Bill Schell, a Starbucks customer in London, Ontario, says: "Why in moments of crisis do we ask God for strength and help? As cognitive beings, why would we ask something that may well be a figment of our imaginations for guidance? Why not search inside ourselves for the power to overcome? After all, we are strong enough to cause most of the catastrophes we need to endure." Another quote, written by Joel Stein, columnist for the Los Angeles Times, says: "Heaven is totally overrated. It seems boring. Clouds, listening to people play the harp. It should be somewhere you can't wait to go, like a luxury hotel. Maybe blue skies and soft music were enough to keep people in line in the 17th century, but Heaven has to step it up a bit. They're basically getting by because they only have to be better than Hell." Starbucks argues that the slogans are printed on the cups merely to "spur discussion," but they are giving people a large forum for spouting anti-Bible views and the company is accountable for what is printed on their cups. Tricia Moriarty, Starbucks communications manager, said: "We are committed to this program. ... Certainly, we have no plans to remove any of them" ("Starbucks Markets More 'Anti-God' Coffee Cups, WorldNetDaily, May 9, 2007). Starbucks is based in Seattle, Washington, a lovely city that is a bastion of Humanistic, New Age philosophy. * CONTEMPORARY CHRISTIAN MUSIC GROUPS PLAY IN BRUCE ALMIGHTY SEQUEL *
Four Contemporary Christian and "crossover" bands are scheduled to play at the premier to the sequel to the blasphemous Bruce Almighty movie. The sequel, Evan Almighty, is based loosely on the biblical Noah and depicts a congressman who is charged by God with building an ark. The Hollywood comedy makes a mockery of the fear of God. Bruce Almighty, which starred Jim Carrey, was about a man who was given divine powers after he cursed God for the difficulties in his life. The groups that are playing at the movie's premier on June 11 are Switchfoot, Relient K, Jeremy Camp, and DecembeRadio. The gross worldliness of Contemporary Christian Music is evident on every hand for those who have an eye to see and a heart a care. * RICK WARREN QUESTIONED FOR HIS TIES WITH PORNO DISTRIBUTOR*
The following is excerpted from "Murdoch Pastor Gets Heat for Mogul's Porn Channels," WorldNetDaily, May 10, 2007: "Mega-pastor Rick Warren is being challenged by other Christian leaders for not disciplining a prominent member of his California Saddleback Church flock for being one of the world's leading pornographers. That would be Rupert Murdoch, chairman of News Corp., which, in addition to building a media empire on the chests of topless models and edgy, pushing-the-envelope Fox TV network shows, recently began building a stable of hard-core porn channels for its BSkyB subsidiary. 'Rupert Murdoch [claims to be] a born-again Christian and Rick Warren claims to be his pastor,' says Chris Rosebrough, head of the Christian Accountability Network. 'As a Christian, Murdoch is committing an egregious sin by owning, expanding and profiting from pornographic channels, and Rick Warren, his pastor, has a biblical duty to call Murdoch to repentance and/or put him out of the church.' ... Murdoch also owns Zondervan, the company that published Warren's explosive bestseller The Purpose Driven Life. ... Warren, who did not respond to WND's email requests to address the controversy, has at least twice publicly claimed Murdoch as a member of his church. ... In a Nov. 12, 2006, Orange County Register story, Warren was asked about pastoring a man who publishes tabloids featuring topless women. He responded: 'I don't have to agree with 100 percent of what another person does in order to work with them on the 20 percent that we do agree on.' The article also points out Murdoch was among the first patrons to support Warren's PEACE plan, contributing $2 million. ... even before the BSkyB venture into hard-core porn, Murdoch's News Corp. was steeped in the business. 'News Corp. is a major owner of DirecTV, which sells more pornographic films than (Hustler magazine founder and porn film producer Larry) Flynt,' says porn fighter Gail Dines, professor of American Studies at Boston's Wheelock College. 'In 2000, the New York Times reported that nearly $200 million a year is spent by the 8.7 million subscribers to DirecTV. Among News Corp.'s other media holdings are the Fox Broadcasting and cable TV networks, 20th Century Fox, the New York Post and TV Guide. Welcome to synergy. Murdoch also owns Harper Collins, which published pornography star Jenna Jameson's best-selling book, How to Make Love like a Porn Star." * U.S. ARMY BASE BROADCASTING MUSLIM PRAYERS * The U.S. Army base at Fort Riley, Kansas, is broadcasting Muslim prayers five times a day over its loud speaker system. When challenged about the practice, which began about two months ago, the Army said it is preparing troops heading to Iraq and Afghanistan. Dub Skidmore, of the Public Affairs Office at the post, says that the soldiers must be immersed in Islamic culture (OneNewsNow, May 9, 2007). In fact, Islamic prayers are purely religious, and Baptist prayers would doubtless not be allowed. Sarah Holler, whose husband has been stationed at Fort Riley for about five years, protests: "My kids are subjected to it, I'm subjected to it, and spouses and soldiers that aren't getting deployed are being subjected to it. And one of my concerns is actually that soldiers who have already been deployed to Iraq are coming home and hearing it in their own country." For an American Army base to broadcast Islamic prayers is certainly ridiculous and probably unconstitutional. * SOUTHERN BAPTIST PROFESSOR CALLS FOR REGENERATE CHURCH MEMBERSHIP *
John Hammett, professor of theology at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, is exhorting Southern Baptists to return to the practice of a regenerate church membership. He recently told seminary students that the most pressing problem facing the Southern Baptist Convention is not decadent, post-modern culture but the "Southern Baptist culture," which has lost sight of regenerate church membership and "allows anyone to join the church and maintain their membership without any interview process or accountability" ("Prof. Promotes Regenerate Membership," Baptist Press, May 8, 2007). He could have mentioned the worldliness that is rampant in SBC congregations, but he is absolutely right in this warning. I grew up in the Southern Baptist Convention and it was customary for young people to join churches without any biblical evidence of salvation. Further, people remain on the membership rolls in Southern Baptist churches even when they are not active, and any attempt to discipline sinning members is exceedingly rare. According to a 1997 study by the Strategic Information and Planning department of the Sunday School Board only 32.8% of the 16 million SBC church members even bother to show up on a given Sunday morning and only 12.3% participate in any further aspect of church life. In 1998 Dean Register, president of the Mississippi Baptist Convention, testified: "It's very unusual for Southern Baptist churches to take disciplinary action against an individual" (The Sun Herald, Biloxi, Mississippi, Sept. 13, 1998). John Hammett also said that pastors must be committed to staying with a congregation long enough to institute regenerate membership and church discipline, but the fact is that Southern Baptist Churches are typically run by deacon boards, and when a pastor tries to institute such "unprecedented" biblical practices he is given the boot! I was once invited to preach a Bible conference in a Southern Baptist church by a pastor who wanted to strengthen the church in these very matters, and I accepted the meeting and went not knowing that the church was associated with the SBC. After I preached on taking the Bible seriously in all matters, the church fired the pastor!
*ENVIRONMENTALIST LIKENS MANKIND TO A VIRUS * Paul Watson, president of Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, says mankind is "acting like a virus" and "killing our host the planet Earth" ("Sea Shepherd Founder," BusinessMedia.org, May 6, 2007). He wants to see the world's population reduced from 5.5 billion to one billion and cities and individual
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The Weekly Church News Notes is designed for use in churches.
*RICK WARREN RAILS AGAINST FUNDAMENTALISTS, AGAIN *
Rick Warren of Purpose Driven Life fame has railed against fundamentalist Christians yet again. At a three-day summit on adoption in Colorado Springs Warren said: "We've got some people who only focus on moral purity and couldn't care less about the poor, the sick, the uneducated. And they haven't done zip for those people." He said that too often Christians these days are defined by a "big mouth" ("Christian Groups Launch Massive Adoption Campaign, Los Angeles Times, May 13, 2007). Warren mentioned James 1:27, which says pure religion is to visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction. What he failed to acknowledge is that pure religion, according to the same verse, is also to keep oneself unspotted from the world. That describes a very strict type of separation from the world, and the Bible just as plainly teaches that we are to separate from and renounce doctrinal error (Rom. 16:17; 2 Tim. 3:5; 4:1-4, etc.); yet Warren viciously denounces those who are attempting to obey these biblical injunctions, calling them big mouths. Biblical Christianity involves showing compassion to the needy as well as strict standards of holiness and truth, not to mention evangelism and the Great Commission, and that is what Biblicists are have been doing since the first century. I have written more than 30 articles warning about Rick Warren's error and compromise, so I obviously have a "big mouth" by his definition, but my wife and I adopted a special-needs child when she was three years old and have dedicated almost two decades of our lives to one of the world's poorest mission fields and have given away thousands of dollars to the poor. In his interview on Larry King Live on December 2, 2006, Warren slanderously likened biblical fundamentalists to Muslim extremists and atheistic secularists. He has also said that Christian fundamentalism will be "one of the big enemies of the 21st century" ("The Purpose-Driven Pastor," The Philadelphia Inquirer, Jan. 8, 2006). The book "Transitioning: Leading Your Church through Change" by Dan Southerland, which Warren recommends and which is sold on Warren's web site, calls the pastor who resists the Purpose Driven movement "Sanballat" (from the book of Nehemiah) and a "leader from hell" (pp. 115, 116). Beware of Rick Warren. He is the blind leading the blind.
*BIBLE CALLED INDECENT BY SOME HONG KONG RESIDENTS *
More than 2,000 residents of Hong Kong have asked the government's Television and Entertainment Licensing Authority (TELA) to classify the Bible as "obscene" for its sexual and violent content ("Bible under Fire," Christian Post, May 16, 2007). That would have made it illegal for minors under 18 to purchase it and would have caused it to be wrapped with a warning notice. The complaints, which were probably sparked by a Chinese language web site that urged readers to contact the TELA, refer to acts of violence, rape, incest, and cannibalism in the Bible. In its statement on the issue the licensing authority responded that the Bible "had not violated standards of morality, decency and propriety generally accepted by reasonable members of the community." This brouhaha is ridiculous, of course. Though the Holy Bible refers to acts of rape and incest, it does so only to warn against sin and it never does so in a prurient manner. No one has ever been morally tempted by reading the Bible. In fact, it has been said that the Bible will keep you from sin or sin will keep you from the Bible. Anyone who considers the Bible indecent has only his own indecent, truth-rejecting mind to blame. "The fear of the LORD is clean, enduring for ever: the judgments of the LORD are true and righteous altogether" (Psalm 19:9).
*NEWT GINGRICH SPEAKS AT LIBERTY UNIVERSITY'S GRADUATION *
Newt Gingrich, former U.S. House of Representatives Speaker, delivered the speech at Liberty University's graduation service on May 19, 2007. Gingrich's invitation, which was extended before Jerry Falwell died earlier this month, is further evidence of the deep spiritual compromise that encompassed Falwell's ministry in his latter decades. Gingrich is a brilliant politician and historian, but he should not be the speaker at an alleged Bible-believing college. His testimony of salvation is very weak. He told James Dobson, "In terms of my own life, let me say that I was raised initially as a Lutheran and I ended up converting and becoming a Southern Baptist when I was in graduate school at Saint Charles Avenue Baptist Church with Dr. Avery Lee, who was just a great, great preacher and moral leader" ("Newt has 'sought God's forgiveness,'" WorldNetDaily, March 8, 2007). To convert from Lutheran to Southern Baptist is not a biblical testimony of salvation. I wrote to Gingrich's organization and asked for his testimony, but I received no reply. In his commencement address at Liberty University Gingrich did not even mention salvation in Jesus Christ, and in his commencement address at the University of Mary Washington on May 13, 2007, Gingrich urged the graduates to follow "five basic rules of life" -- "dream big, work hard, learn daily, enjoy life and be true to themselves." The idea of being "true to yourself" is not scriptural, and he neglected the most important "rule" of all, which is to be born again and to fear God and make Jesus Christ the Lord of one's life. Gingrich is twice divorced and thrice married and has had affairs both during and outside of wedlock ("Newt Gingrich," Wikipedia). He supports some homosexual rights (though not homosexual "marriage"). When Gingrich was asked by John Loftus what he thinks about homosexuality, he replied that though he believes that the Bible calls it an abomination he doesn't "want to be judgmental about others" and is "not prepared to render judgment to individuals" ("Interview with Newt Gingrich," http://www.theamericanview.com/index.php?id=331). Gingrich also told Loftus that he does not think that being homosexual says anything negative about a person's character and that "there are many good and kind and decent people who may also be homosexuals." Gingrich actively supported a homosexual congressional candidate in Wisconsin, praising him for 'courage' in running for office, and he opposed an attempt in the House of Representatives to censure homosexual congressman Barney Frank for criminal conduct, including letting a homosexual prostitution ring be run out of his home (The New American, Dec. 1994). Gingrich is a member of the racist NAACP (Ibid.), and he is one of the top lobbyists for the alcohol industry (The Fundamentalist Digest, Jan.-Feb. 1993). Falwell's downward slide began with his entanglement with politics and the formation of the Moral Majority in the 1970s. The Bible warns that "evil communications corrupt good manners" (1 Cor. 15:33), but Dr. Falwell ignored that to his detriment and to that of those who have been influenced by him. In the 1960s Falwell said, "Nowhere are we commissioned to reform the externals. We are not told to wage wars against bootleggers, liquor stores, gamblers, murderers, prostitutes, racketeers, prejudiced persons or institutions, or any other existing evil as such. I feel that we need to get off the streets and back into the pulpits and into our prayer rooms" ("TV Evangelist Jerry Falwell Dies at 73," USA Today, May 15, 2007). He was right in that statement, but in the late 1970s Falwell made a 180 degree turn and founded the Moral Majority. By 1986 Falwell stated that Catholics made up the largest constituency (30%) in the Moral Majority (Christianity Today, February 21, 1986).
*500 CHURCHES AND 67 DENOMINATIONS PARTICIPATE IN FRANKLIN GRAHAM NORFOLK FESTIVAL *
More than 500 churches representing 67 denominations are participating in the Franklin Graham evangelistic "festival" in Norfolk, Virginia, May 18-20 ("Franklin Graham Brings Soul Festival to Virginia," Christian Post, May 18). The Graham organization refused to give us a list of the churches and denominations, but there are NOT that many churches and denominations in the Norfolk area that are sound in doctrine and practice. In the past, Billy Graham has often included Roman Catholic churches in his crusades and has turned the names of tens of thousands of seekers over to Roman Catholic dioceses for "follow up," and Franklin Graham has praised his father's ecumenical approach. Franklin told the Indianapolis Star that his father's longstanding ecumenical alliance with the Catholic Church "was one of the smartest things his father ever did." He said: "In the early years, up in Boston, the Catholic church got behind my father's crusade. That was a first. It took back many Protestants. They didn't know how to handle it. But it set the example. 'If Billy Graham is willing to work with everybody, then maybe we should too'" ("Keeping it simple, safe keeps Graham on high," The Indianapolis Star, Thurs., June 3, 1999). Franklin is correct in understanding that his father broke ground in his ecumenical endeavors, but he did so in disobedience to Scripture and it has brought great confusion to the cause of Christ. A Catholic archbishop was present at the media launch for Franklin Graham's 1998 crusade in Australia. Denominations involved in that crusade included Anglican, Catholic, Assemblies of God, Baptist, Lutheran and Uniting. That moral reprobate and habitual liar Bill Clinton, who supports the "right" of a woman to murder her unborn child, is scheduled to speak at Franklin Graham's Norfolk festival. The worldly rock & roll will be supplied by Three63, Third Day, Nicole Mullen, and Charlie Daniels Band, among others. It is never right to do wrong in order to do right, and doing wrong will not stand at Christ's judgment seat no matter how much "good" we think we are accomplishing.
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