WEEKLY CHURCH NEWS NOTES
Pastor Dale Morgan
June 3, 2007.
The Weekly Church News Notes is designed for use in churches.
*NO END TO HOLLYWOOD'S FILTH *
A film that shows bestiality in a somewhat positive light was shown at
the Cannes film festival this year. The movie, Zoo, is about a Boeing
engineer (involved in top-secret defence projects) who died after having
sex acts with a horse. He was a member of a group of men who commit
bestiality, and the movie shows them in a sympathetic light, trying to
make the viewers understand their perversion ("Bestiality Flick,"
News24.com, South Africa, May 22, 2007). Last year at Cannes the buzz
was all about a movie that depicted a graphic rape of a young girl. The
Hollywood crowd has been pushing the moral envelope since the days of
the silent movies. That which is shocking today is soon innocuous and
the vile cycle must begin anew, because "the eyes of man are never
satisfied" (Proverbs 27:20) and his flesh craves for more sin. The
following, which was stated in 1960 by William Orr, is even truer today:
"Hollywood and the many companies which produce and market films for
entertainment have prostituted their powers in order to gain wealth and
influence. These companies have become monsters, rich, unprincipled, and
corrupt. And the commercial movies of today are dramatized and produced
by sinful, wicked people, and their influence is a vile curse upon our
land. ... The unvarnished truth is that it is not possible for
Christians to watch these pictures and not defile their minds and weaken
their spiritual lives. I am absolutely sure that no child of God who
allows the deadly virus of the average commercial movie to enter his
mind can be the person God wants him to be. It is just inevitable that
his love for Christ will grow less. Other sins will follow. You can put
it down on this score: it is not possible to keep looking to Christ and
keep looking at the movies too. There will have to be a choice here"
(The Christian and Amusements, Moody Pocket Books, 1960, pp. 93, 95).
*CHINESE VILLAGERS RIOT OVER POPULATION CONTROL*
Villagers in the Guangxi region of southwestern China rioted and clashed
with police over that nation's draconian population control laws
("Chinese Villagers Riot," OneNewsNow.com, May 24, 2007). The communist
Chinese empire forbids parents to have more than one child (sometimes
two), and many babies are forcefully aborted by the government. This
protest will doubtless be put down violently. China also controls the
flow of news to the people, so probably few will know that their
courageous fellow countrymen are protesting. Communism is no friend of
human liberty and no friend of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
*
AMERICA'S CHRISTIANITY A MILE WIDE AND AN INCH DEEP *
A new Barna poll has again documented that America's Christianity is a
mile wide and an inch deep. More than 80% of those responding to the
latest religious survey identified themselves as Christians, but only
27% believe that salvation is by grace without works; only 25% pray,
attend church, and read the Bible; only 22% volunteer free time to help
in church work; only 37% are convinced that Jesus did not sin; and only
24% are certain that Satan is a real spiritual being. David Kinnaman,
who directed the study, said: "... one reason why beliefs fluctuate is
that most Americans hold few convictions about their faith. For
instance, even among those who disagree with orthodox views, many do so
while hedging their bets. Most Americans have one foot in the biblical
camp, and one foot outside it. They say they are committed, but to what?
They are spiritually active, but to what end? The spiritual profile of
American Christianity is not unlike a lukewarm church that the Bible
warns about" ("Barna's Annual Tracking Study," Barna.org, May 21, 2007).
While we don't have a lot of confidence in Barna, there can be no doubt
that this observation is correct. "Righteousness exalteth a nation: but
sin is a reproach to any people" (Proverbs 13:34).
*
HEAD OF THE NCC SPEAKS AT PRO-HOMOSEXUAL RALLY *
Bob Edgar, general secretary of the National Council of Churches in
America, spoke on May 6 at SundayOUT day at Christ Church in
Philadelphia ("NCC's Bob Edgar Speaks at Pro-Homosexuality Rally,"
Institute on Religion and Democracy, May 9, 2007). The Interfaith
Service was held on the final day of the Equality Forum's weeklong
festival of "gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered" persons. David
Sheaffer, who attended the service, said: "A strong sense of irony
overwhelmed me as I sat next to George Washington's box, listening to
quiet organ music, and read the memorials on the walls of the saints
that served this congregation over its 300 plus years of history. I was
sitting alongside individuals proudly wearing rainbow t-shirts, 'Adam +
Steve' t-shirts, 'God Made Me Gay' stickers, and one woman wearing a
t-shirt that asked, 'What kind of Man are you?'" Edgar told the crowd
about his homosexual great-uncle and claimed that from ten to twelve
percent of people will be homosexual, a figure that is highly
overstated. "Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the
common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort
you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once
delivered unto the saints. 4 For there are certain men crept in
unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly
men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the
only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ" (Jude 3-4).
*
SAUDIS ARREST CHRISTIAN FOR ENTERING MECCA*
The following is excerpted from the Jerusalem Post, May 24, 2007: "Saudi
officials have arrested a man in Mecca for being a Christian, saying
that the city, which Muslims consider to be holy, is off-limits to
non-Muslims. Nirosh Kamanda, a Sri Lankan Christian, was detained by the
Saudi Expatriates Monitoring Committee last week after he started to
sell goods outside Mecca's Great Mosque. After running his fingerprints
through a new security system, Saudi police discovered that he was a
Christian who had arrived in the country six months earlier to take a
job as a truck driver in the city of Dammam. Kamanda had subsequently
left his place of work and moved to Mecca. 'The Grand Mosque and the
holy city are forbidden to non-Muslims,' Col. Suhail Matrafi, head of
the department of Expatriates Affairs in Mecca, told the Saudi daily
Arab News. 'The new fingerprints system is very helpful and will help us
a lot to discover the identity of a lot of criminals,' he said."
*METEOROLOGIST CALLS GLOBAL WARMING A MYTH AND A WITCH HUNT*
Meteorologist Augie Auer of New Zealand called Global Warming a myth
and warned that the environmentalist "greenies" are on a witch hunt in
their efforts to come against farmers and others who are allegedly
contributing to warming. Speaking at the annual meeting of Mid
Canterbury Federated Farmers in Ashburton, Auer said that man's
contribution to greenhouse gases is so small that we couldn't change the
climate if we tried ("Global Warming Debunked," The Timaru Herald, May
19, 2007). He explained that water vapour is responsible for 95% of the
greenhouse effect, an effect which is vital to keep the world warm, and
he said the Global Warming fervor is "going to be a joke in five years."
*
MITT ROMNEY SPEAKS OUT AGAINST FREEDOM OF SPEECH *
Mitt Romney, the Governor of Utah who is running as a Republican
presidential candidate, told the Associated Press that public officials
should not be allowed to express moral judgments against homosexuality.
He said: "I think people are entitled to BELIEVE what they want to
believe, but what they SAY in their official and secular roles should be
an expression of tolerance and respect for people regardless of our
differences" ("Romney Supports Tolerance for Gays, But Not Public
Servants Who Speak against Homosexuality," LifeSiteNews.com, May 25,
2007). Romney, who has appointed many homosexuals to office during his
administration, condemned General Peter Pace, Chairman of the Joint
Chiefs of Staff, for saying recently that homosexual behaviour is
immoral and has no place in the military. I wonder when Romney last read
the United States Bill of Rights? Where does the Bill of Rights say that
a citizen loses the right to freedom of religion and freedom of speech
when he assumes public office? The freedom to BELIEVE apart from the
freedom to SAY is no freedom at all.
*
INTEGRITY MUSIC'S WORLDLY CHILDREN'S MUSIC *
Integrity Music's incredibly worldly "God Rocks" series is aimed at
children. The DVDs feature the God Rocks band and animated spoofs of
Elvis Presley, the Beach Boys, The Beatles, and Motown. The songs are "a
funky retelling" of Bible stories with words from the New International
Version. Song titles include "Rock Steady" and "Church Granny Rock."
Integrity Music even has the audacity to call this worldly foolishness
"uncompromising."
A LADY'S RIDING HABIT IN 1881
The following is from excerpted from "Our Deportment, or the Manners,
Conduct and Dress of the Most Refined Society" by John H. Young
(Detroit: F.B. Dickerson & Co, 1881). "A lady's riding habit should fit
perfectly without being tight. The skirt must be full, and long enough
to cover the feet, but not of extreme length. The boots must be stout
and the gloves gauntleted. Broadcloth is regarded as the more dressy
cloth, though waterproof is the more serviceable. Something lighter may
be worn for summer, and in the lighter costumes a row of shot must be
stitched at the bottom of the breadths of the left side to prevent the
skirts from being blown by the wind. The riding dress is made to fit the
waist closely, and button nearly to the throat. ... Coat sleeves should
come to the wrist with linen cuffs beneath them. ... It is well to have
the waist attached to a skirt of the usual length, and the long skirt
fastened over it, so that if any accident occurs obliging the lady to
dismount, she may easily remove the long overskirt and still be properly
dressed." CONCLUDING NOTE:. This is not a Christian book, but notice the
amazing emphasis on modesty and proper decorum. The lady was to be
covered from foot to neck, and her dress was not to be too tight. Lead
shot was used to keep the dress from blowing up. She was to be dressed
in a modest, feminine manner even while riding a horse. That was a
different society than the one we live in today, because it was more
strongly influenced by the Bible; and it was not only more modest but
more wholesome as well. Though society at large has turned its back on
biblical modesty, God's people do not have to follow society's folly.
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).