WEEKLY CHURCH NEWS NOTES
Pastor Dale Morgan
May 3, 2008.
By: David Cloud FBIS
The Weekly Church News Notes is designed for use
in churches.
*
TEN THOUSAND ROCK & ROLL SCOFFLAWS *
An estimated 10,000 people gathered on April 20 for the annual
Pot Smoke-Out at Colorado University in Boulder.
The massive crowd lit up the marijuana joints and
pipes at 4:20 pm sharp. The police simply stood
and observed. No one was arrested. Freshman Emily
Benson said, "People are getting out their best
pot and hippie clothes today" ("CU's 4/20 Pot
Smoke-Out," Daily Camera, Boulder, April 20). She
said that the "weed atmosphere" was why she
applied to Colorado University, and she hopes to
see it decriminalized. Marijuana smoking is
illegal in Colorado, but these people don't care
about laws. They have been raised on the rock &
roll philosophy, which says I have a right to do
as I please. As one popular rock song says, "I'm
free to do what I want any old time." I was a
"rock & roll pot head" before I was saved in
1973, and there is nothing good or wise about it.
I thank the Lord for His merciful deliverance
from that lifestyle and way of thinking. Boulder
is one of the nation's New Age strongholds.
*
CALIFORNIA MOVING AHEAD ON SPANKING BAN *
The following is excerpted from "Spanking Ban Advances Despite
Testimony from Mom," OneNewsNow, April 19, 2008:
"California lawmakers have moved forward on a
bill that imposes severe limitations on the
methods used to spank one's child. AB 2943 has
passed out of the state Assembly's Public Safety
Committee and it now heads to the Appropriations
Committee. The legislation is a resurrected
version of Democrat Sally Lieber's bill from last
year, minus the outright spanking ban. The bill
prohibits using 'implements' such as wooden
spoons, paddles, rolled-up newspapers, switches,
belts, or brushes--essentially, allowing only the
hand. Randy Thomasson of Campaign for Children
and Families warns that if the bill is approved,
the penalty for their use is severe. 'You're
going to be arrested, handcuffed, taken to the
police station, [and be] charged,' he details.
Thomasson says that once a parent is charged,
then a jury will determine if it was reasonable
for that parent to administer a spanking."
NOTE : This is a very dangerous bill
which flies in the face of the right to the free
exercise of religion. We are not surprised,
though. This is the same state that has banned
any criticism of homosexuality in its public
school system and that recently forbade a
Christian mother to home school her children.
Biblical spanking is not child abuse, but sparing
the rod is. "He that spareth his rod hateth his
son: but he that loveth him chasteneth him
betimes" (Proverbs 13:24).
*CHRISTIAN COUPLE FINED UNDER NEW MEXICO
ANTI-DISCRIMINATION LAW *
On April 9 Jon and Elaine Huguenin of Albuquerque, New
Mexico, were found guilty of discrimination
against homosexuals and ordered to pay more than
$6,000. After they refused to photograph a
lesbian "commitment ceremony," one of the
lesbians filed a complaint against the Huguenin's
photographic studio with the New Mexico Human
Rights Commission. Jordan Lorence of the Alliance
Defense Fund, who represented the couple, said:
"This decision is a stunning disregard for
religious liberty and First Amendment freedoms of
people of faith, of Christians, and those who
believe in traditional marriage defined as one
man and one woman. This shows the very
disconcerting, authoritarian face of the
homosexual activists, who are using these
non-discrimination laws as weapons against
Christians in the business world and Christians
in their churches. There is a great threat to our
religious liberties and our ability to speak out
in favor of traditional marriage when these
non-discrimination laws are interpreted in such a
harsh way to censor Christians and others" ("New
Mexico Commission Orders $6,000 Fine,"
OneNewsNow, April 11, 2008).
*THE COMPLEX COSMOS *
The following is excerpted from
"The Complex Cosmos" by the late Henry Morris,
Institute for Creation Research,
http://www.icr.org/article/3586: "He hath made
the earth by His power, He hath established the
world by His wisdom, and hath stretched out the
heavens by His discretion (Jeremiah 10:12). God's
'power' refers to the tremendous energy or force
required to organize the complex systems and
physio-chemical processes which govern the earth.
The 'wisdom' of God speaks of the skillful
planning by which He set up the plant biosphere
and the hydrologic systems to maintain it. His
'discretion' is the infinite intelligence
necessary to spread out the infinite cosmos
filled with innumerable stars and clusters of
stars, all individually distinct from all others.
The infinite, complex, highly energized universe
could never in all eternity have evolved itself
out of primeval chaotic nothingness, as
evolutionists delude themselves into believing.
The universal law of entropy now operates in such
a way in the universe as to dissipate its energy
and disintegrate its complexity, as it heads
downward towards chaos and death. It is absurd to
think that the cosmos could have 'organized'
itself by the same processes which are now
'disorganizing' it. [These] verses say it well.
'But the LORD is the true God, He is the living
God, and an everlasting king: . . . The gods that
have not made the heavens and the earth, even
they shall perish from the earth, and from under
these heavens' (Jeremiah 10:10-11). We do well,
therefore, to trust Him in all things. 'I am the
LORD,' says He, 'the God of all flesh: is there
anything too hard for me?' (Jeremiah 32:27)."
*
THE PAGAN PRACTICE OF TATTOOING.*
Tattooing is all the craze. It is the new rock &
roll fashion statement. What is the history of
tattooing? It is a pagan practice and has long
been associated with idolatry and debauchery.
Even today it is closely associated with
paganism. An article by Clay Thompson in the
Pacific News Service for July 27, 1996, was
titled "Pagan Fashion's New Frontier - Facial
Tattoos." Note that the author, who in this
article makes no claim to be a Christian,
associates tattoos with paganism. He connects it
with a "new reverence for pagan beliefs." A
prominent book on tattooing is titled "Pagan
Fleshworks." It is by Maureen Mercury and
contains photos by Steve Haworth, identified as
"the foremost body modification artist in the
United States." "Body modification" describes the
practice of burning, inking, cutting, piercing,
and otherwise desecrating one's God-given body. A
2003 survey of more than 2,000 people in the
United States, reported in the AFP for Oct. 11,
2003, found that among women who get tattoos, 34%
"feel sexier," and 29% overall "feel more
rebellious." It is not surprising that the
Christian rock crowd, being only the slightest
step behind the world in all points, is adopting
tattooing from their pagan secular brethren. "Ye
shall not make any cuttings in your flesh for the
dead, nor print any marks upon you: I am the
LORD" (Lev. 19:28). "Abstain from all appearance
of evil" (1 Thess. 5:22). "Likewise, ye younger,
submit yourselves unto the elder. Yea, all of you
be subject one to another, and be clothed with
humility: for God resisteth the proud, and giveth
grace to the humble" (1 Peter 4:5).
*MUSIC HAS THE POWER TO DRAW YOUNG PEOPLE INTO THE
WORLD
*
The following is excerpted from
Training Your Children to Turn out Right, an
excellent book by David Sorenson (Northstar
Ministries, 1820 W. Morgan St., Duluth, MN 55811,
218-726-0209, www.northstarministries.com,
dhs.no...@charter.net) -- "Multitudes of
Christian young people have been enticed into the
world simply through listening to the world's
music. It is attractive to the ear. It can be fun
to listen to. It is habit forming, and it
absolutely will influence spirituality. You show
me the music you allow in your home and I will
tell you how your children will turn out
spirituality. It is that critical. Perhaps you
have noticed that thus far I have basically
avoided using specific terms such as rock 'n
roll, or country western, or the blues, etc. ...
Here is why. People will be critical of, for
example, rock 'n roll, but they will listen to
country western. Sometimes they will be critical
of both, but listen to the big bands of the 40's
and 50's. Perhaps they will listen to the pop
music of the 50's and early 60's. ... So many
Christian parents get into the silly game of
categorizing some of the world's music as not as
bad as such and such. They use euphemisms such as
'light' rock or 'golden oldies.' It is still the
music of the world. It is going to be virtually
impossible to forbid your children to listen to
the world's music of their day when you as
parents continue to listen to the world's music
of your day. The world's music will hook your
children into the world just as surely as drugs
or booze. ...You show me Christian young people
who, despite determined efforts by their parents
to the contrary, wind up in the world. If I were
a betting man, I would lay money on the fact that
those teenagers had been into the world's music
for a long time. ... I love my parents dearly,
and I believe that they instilled into me a godly
heritage. (Though at the time, I did not
appreciate it.) However, if they made one mistake
in my upbringing, it was that they allowed me to
have a radio in my room. A radio is a piece of
electronic equipment which is not intrinsically
evil, but it was through that radio at my bedside
that I became acquainted with the world's music.
I developed a desire for it, and it profoundly
influenced me for the worse in my teenage years.
That radio introduced me to the world. I would
sit in my room or lie on my bed and listen to the
top forty day after day and hour after hour.
That, perhaps more than anything else, drew me
into the world before I was saved" (Training Your
Children to Turn Out Right, 1995, pp. 101-104).
*
LAZY CHRISTIANS LOVE SIMPLE EQUATIONS *
The following is by Pastor Buddy Smith of Malenda, Queensland,
Australia <smil...@bigpond.net.au>: "1+1=2.
That's what we like. Anything more complex than
that requires too much thought. When we read the
story of Elkanah, Hannah, and Samuel, we would
like it to be ever so simple. Boy meets girl. Boy
falls in love with girl. Boy marries girl. Boy
and girl have six children. They all live close
to grandma so she can babysit the kids, and boy,
girl, kids, and grandma all live happily ever
after. All very simple. God's equations are not
that simple. We read in the Bible God's equations
for blessing his people, and we find them to be
incredibly complex and painful to the heart.
Hannah is barren; Peninah torments her; Hannah
grieves and prays a tearful prayer to God, vowing
to give to God her firstborn son. Eli falsely
accuses her of drunkenness and then blesses her
when he finds he is mistaken. Hannah bears a
son, and she gives him to God, and the nation is
blest because God's equation for blessing was
complex and painfulŠŠ.and perfect. If it had been
simple (1+1=2) there would have never been any
tears, never a vow, and never a Samuel."
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).