WEEKLY CHURCH NEWS NOTES
Pastor Dale Morgan
January 14, 2007.
The Weekly Church News Notes is designed for use in churches
*VIVA LAS JESUS *
The feature report in Toledo, Ohio's City Paper for December 6-12,
2006, was "Viva Las Jesus: Hitting the Entertainment Jackpot with
Toledo's Churches." The paper's reporters visited several area
megachurches "in an attempt to gauge the entertainment value of these
salvation supernovas." The result was an enthusiastic appraisal by a
secular publication. Note how the music at these contemporary churches
was described: "kickin ... great sound system that wouldn't be out of
place on a Vegas stage ... intense electric guitar jams, Bowie-worthy
synth riffs and drum solos from a percussionist who could've been a
member of the Blue Man Group ... area-like concert stage complete with
booming speakers, fog, strobe lights and spotlights ... a rockin'
Christian rock sextet that'll make even the most sin-happy soul shout
'Hallelujah!' ... light, folksy rock, like an unpretentious bar band ...
loud and heavy on the electric guitars, yet strangely mesmerizing ...
the guitar went straight to the soul, the drumming was profound ...
everyone grooving to the music ... the atmosphere of a casual rock
concert." The reporters even liked the sermons because they were "short
but sweet" and "sprinkled with a dose of comedy" and "hilarious personal
anecdotes" and especially because there was no "fire and brimstone." One
preacher used "props to that great theologian Eminem." An objective of
the contemporary church movement is to make unbelievers feel comfortable
and entertained, and it is obvious that they have achieved that goal.
Lacking in the responses by the news reporters, though, was any mention
of conviction of sin. They were entertained and satisfied with the
experience but they were not converted. I have attended many of these
churches to write reports and while there is power present, it is the
power of the flesh and not the power of the Spirit. It is the power of a
rock concert, not the power of holiness and the uncorrupted Word of God.
It is blasphemy to yoke together a holy Christ with the things of this
world. The Bible says that friendship with the world is spiritual
adultery (James 4:4). Those are the type of strong words that are found
throughout the Bible but that you will not hear at a contemporary
church. The very idea of "Viva Las Jesus" is blasphemy, yet this shallow
generation sees no problem with it. Jesus Christ would not be accepted
in these churches for He preached oftentimes on hellfire and judgment.
"And if thy hand offend thee, cut it off: it is better for thee to enter
into life maimed, than having two hands to go into hell, into the fire
that never shall be quenched: Where their worm dieth not, and the fire
is not quenched. And if thy foot offend thee, cut it off: it is better
for thee to enter halt into life, than having two feet to be cast into
hell, into the fire that never shall be quenched: Where their worm dieth
not, and the fire is not quenched. And if thine eye offend thee, pluck
it out: it is better for thee to enter into the kingdom of God with one
eye, than having two eyes to be cast into hell fire: Where their worm
dieth not, and the fire is not quenched" (Jesus Christ, Mark 9:43-48).
*51 ANGLICAN PRIESTS IN SAME-SEX PARTNERSHIPS *
A new report claims that 51 Anglican priests are living in homosexual
relationships. These include Jeremy Davies, worship leader at Salisbury
Cathedral and Paul Collier, a chaplain at Goldsmiths College in London.
The report by a homosexual-rights group called Changing Attitude will
add fuel to the fire that is burning in this denomination. Several
congregations and entire parishes have voted in recent months to leave
the Episcopal Church USA due to the ordination of homosexuals and other
liberal leanings. The "straw that broke the camel's back" was the
ordination of Vicky Gene Robinson as the Episcopal bishop of New
Hampshire in 2003. Anglicanism is more akin to the religious Harlot of
Revelation 17 than the pure virgin Bride of Christ.
*FORMER ANGLICAN PRIEST REWRITES THE TEN COMMANDMENTS *
Former Anglican vicar Simon Parke has rewritten the Ten Commandments in
a more positive light in his book The Beautiful Life. "Thou shalt not
commit adultery," for example, becomes "Prepare for truth." Parke
complains that the old Ten Commandments are "negative and external
rather than internal." In fact, Jesus Christ taught that God's
commandments are both internal and external. He taught, for example,
that committing adultery is not merely a physical act but is an act of
the heart. "Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou
shalt not commit adultery: But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on
a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in
his heart" (Matt. 5:27-28).
*LOS ANGELES CATHOLIC ARCHDIOCESE CREATES RAINBOW FISH SYMBOL *
The Los Angeles archdiocese of the Roman Catholic Church in America has
combined the homosexual rainbow symbol with the generic Christian fish
symbol in its ministry of encouragement to homosexuals ("Los Angeles
Catholic Archdiocese," Christannewswire.com, Jan. 8, 2007). The Diocese'
website states: "See in the fish pin a sign of recognition of our
lesbian and gay sisters and brothers. The pin signals solidarity with
all people of faith who promote justice and inclusivity for every person
in their faith communities." This is contrary to the Catholic Church's
own teaching on homosexuality, which sees it as a matter of "grave
depravity" and "intrinsically disordered," but it is no surprise since
so many of its own priests are, by its own definition, gravely
depraved. Well over $1 billion has been paid out by the Roman Catholic
Church in the USA in the last 20 years because of the immorality of its
priests, and the number of cases is increasing. A conservative Catholic
organization documented this wretched business in the fall/winter 2002
issue of the magazine Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam, observing that "THE
OVERWHELMING MAJORITY OF SEXUAL ABUSE CASES IN THE CATHOLIC
CHURCH--ABOUT 90%--INVOLVE HOMOSEXUAL PRIESTS PREYING ON TEENAGE BOYS.
The major media and the U.S. culture at large want to deny or spin the
homosexual factor out of the scandal." This publication estimated that
the abuse involves "somewhere between 2,500 and 6,500 priests and an
estimated 100,000 victims." Biblical compassion to homosexuals involves
calling them to repentance, because Jesus twice warned, "... except ye
repent, ye shall all likewise perish" (Luke 13:3, 5).
*
CHARISMATIC TELEVANGELIST SUED OVER FALSE CLAIMS ABOUT HEALING*
Darlene Bishop, a televangelist with a nationwide following, is being
sued by her relatives over false claims pertaining to the healing of her
brother. In her book "Your Life Follows Your Words," which teaches the
Word-Faith doctrine, she claimed that the brother, Darrell Perry, was
healed of throat cancer. The reality is that the brother died of his
cancer, which is a strange type of healing. Perry's children who have
sued in a wrongful death claim, alleging that she persuaded Perry to
stop chemotherapy and rely wholly on divine healing ("Tele-evangelist
Sued," The Guardian, Jan. 2, 2007). We have seen this type of thing time
and again in the Pentecostal-Charismatic movement and have documented
many cases in our book "The Pentecostal-Charismatic Movements: The
History and Error." William Branham has been exalted as the greatest
Pentecostal faith healer of the last century, but when our friend Alfred
Pohl, a former Pentecostal, assisted in a Branham healing crusade in
Saskatoon in the late 1940s he was shocked to discover that many people
died of their diseases after Branham had pronounced them healed. Another
acclaimed Pentecostal healer was Kathryn Kuhlman. In the book Healing: A
Doctor in Search of a Miracle, Dr. William Nolen dedicated an entire
chapter to his investigation of Kuhlman's healing crusades. Though
sympathetic to Kuhlman as a person, Nolen was unable to document even
one case of physical healing. At the time of his investigation, Nolen
was chief of surgery at Meeker County Hospital in Litchfield, Minnesota.
Another acclaimed healer was Aimee Semple McPherson, but when Arno
Gaebelein examined McPherson's healing claims he did not find any
genuine healings. His report appeared the 1925 book The Healing
Question. We give many other examples in the previously mentioned book.
If physical healing is indeed a part of Christ's atonement in this life,
it would be evident in the lives of those who claim it, but in fact they
get sick and die just like the rest of us, because there is no such
promise in Scripture.
*A WARNING ABOUT JOHN PIPER
*
A 2005 survey of roughly 1,100 "young fundamentalists," found that John
Piper has a significant influence. Almost 50% agreed with the statement,
"John Piper's ministry has been a help to me." Piper is a popular
Evangelical author and the senior pastor at Bethlehem Baptist Church,
Minneapolis, Minnesota, but though he pastors a church that is called
Baptist he wanted to allow non-immersion "baptisms" for church
membership. In 2002 Piper proposed to the church that the constitution
be amended to allow a candidate to reject believer's baptism by
immersion if he "sincerely and humbly believes that it would be contrary
to Scripture and conscience--and not just contrary to family tradition
or desires--to be baptized by immersion and thus to count his infant
'baptism' or his adult sprinkling as improper or invalid." The proposal
was not passed, but the fact remains that Piper was willing to allow
non-immersion "baptisms." This is a heretical and strange position for a
so-called Baptist pastor to take. Piper, a Calvinist, believes the
strange heresy that regeneration precedes faith. Note the following
statement: "God begets us anew and the first glimmer of life in the
newborn child is faith. This new birth is the effect of irresistible
grace, because it is an act of sovereign creation" (John Piper, quoted
from John MacArthur, Faith Works, 1993, p. 199). Piper is also a New
Evangelical ecumenist. For example, he was a speaker at the 2004
National Religious Broadcasters (NRB) conference in Charlotte, North
Carolina, joining hands in that forum with Franklin Graham, James
Dobson, Ted Haggard, and Pat Robertson, all of whom have a close
relationship with the Roman Catholic Church. Three Roman Catholic
organizations were active at the 2004 NRB conference. The Global
Catholic Network ran an ad in the NRB newspaper each day and rented
exhibit space. Priests for Life handed out packets of their material;
and Catholic Answers, which promotes Roman Catholic dogma, also
participated. Piper even supports the heretical Charismatic
Spirit-slaying phenomena. After taking his staff to a "Toronto-style"
meeting he admitted that "a whole bunch of my staff went down" ("John
Piper: Hedonist Theologian?" Faith and Freedom magazine, Dec. 2006).
Piper said: "I simply know of too many people's lives who have been
profoundly helped for good by lying on the ground for forty-five minutes
in a kind of laughter or peace" (tape of Question and Answer Session at
a conference in Minneapolis, Jan. 31, 1996). Regardless of any good
thing that he might teach, John Piper should be avoided. "Now we command
you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye withdraw
yourselves from every brother that walketh disorderly, and not after the
tradition which he received of us" (2 Thess. 3:6).
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).