-WEEKLY CHURCH NEWS NOTES
Pastor Dale Morgan
November 11, 2007
The Weekly Church News Notes is designed for use in churches.
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TEXAS BAPTISTS APPOINT FORMER SBC FEMALE MISSIONARY AS PRESIDENT
*
On October 29 the Baptist General
Convention of Texas (BGCT) showed its liberal colors by electing a
woman as president in open defiance of God's Word. The other state
convention in Texas is the Southern Baptists of Texas, which was
formed in 1998 and is more conservative than the BGCT, but there are
clear links to the Southern Baptist Convention from the BGCT. The new
president, Joy Fenner, served as a missionary with the Southern
Baptist Foreign Mission Board for 13 years and was a leader in the
Woman's Missionary Union (WMU) of Texas from 1981 to 2001 ("Texas
Baptists Name First Woman President," Christian Post, Oct. 30, 2007).
The WMU is an arm of the Southern Baptist Convention, which is an
unholy mixture of New Evangelicals, Modernists, Masons, and Worldly
Rock & Rollers.
*
FINISH PASTOR CHARGED WITH CRIMINAL DISCRIMINATION *
A Lutheran pastor in Finland has been charged with
criminal discrimination for refusing to work with a female pastor and
the court date is set for November 16. Ari Norro was scheduled to
preach at a church in southern Finland in March, but refused to
participate in the service when a female minister showed up. The
town's Church Council filed a request with the police to investigate
the case and was subsequently charged by the district court.
"Finland's laws prohibit any discrimination either in the workplace
or in public based on race, language, age, family ties, health,
religion, political orientation, work, sexual orientation, or gender"
("Pastor Charged," Christianity Today, Nov. 1, 2007). The Finish
state Lutheran church has been ordaining women since 1986, and in
2006 it ruled that male pastors do not have the right to refuse to
work with female pastors.
*FAMOUS ATHEIST PUBLISHES BOOK DESCRIBING "CONVERSION" *
The following is from "Former Atheist Darwinian
Philosopher Explains His 'Conversion," Lifesite.net, Nov. 2, 2007:
"Former Darwinian atheist philosopher Antony Flew has published a new
book, 'There Is a God: How the World's Most Notorious Atheist Changed
His Mind,' to explain his move from being one of the world's leading
exponents of the pure materialist Darwinian philosophy to belief in
the existence of a personal deity who created the universe. Flew, an
Oxford educated philosopher described by some as 'legendary,' first
announced his discovery of 'a god' in 2004. Flew had been one of the
20th century's leading proponents of the pure atheistic Darwinian
doctrines that categorically reject any possibility of a creative
divine being. His ideas paved the way for thinkers such as Richard
Dawkins, the UK's most virulent opponent of religious belief. ... 'It
was empirical evidence,' he told an interviewer, 'the evidence
uncovered by the sciences. But it was a philosophical inference drawn
from the evidence.' Flew told Dr. Benjamin Wiker that two factors in
particular 'were decisive.' 'One was my growing empathy with the
insight of Einstein and other noted scientists that there had to be
an Intelligence behind the integrated complexity of the physical
Universe. The second was my own insight that the integrated
complexity of life itself--which is far more complex than the
physical Universe--can only be explained in terms of an Intelligent
Source.' ... He told Wiker, 'I believe that the origin of life and
reproduction simply cannot be explained from a biological standpoint
despite numerous efforts to do so. With every passing year, the more
that was discovered about the richness and inherent intelligence of
life, the less it seemed likely that a chemical soup could magically
generate the genetic code.' ... Emphasizing that he remains a Deist,
not a Christian, he told Wiker that he does not 'accept any claim of
divine revelation' but is continuing to study them, particularly
those of Christianity."
*THREE ANGLICAN PARISHES TRYING TO JOIN THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH *
The Traditional Anglican Communion has petitioned to join the Roman
Catholic Church (Catholic
News Agency, Oct. 26, 2007). The TAC is an umbrella organization for
Anglican parishes in Ireland and elsewhere that have refused to
follow the more liberal direction of the Anglican Church at large. It
claims to have 400,000 members. A statement issued by the TAC said
that "the bishops and vicars-general unanimously agreed to the text
of a letter to the See of Rome seeking full, corporate, sacramental
union." This is not a surprising move, as the Anglican Church today
is not far removed from Rome.
*
METHODIST CHURCH ALLOWS TRANSGENDERED MINISTER TO KEEP JOB *
The Judicial Council of the United Methodist Church recently voted to
allow a "transgendered"
man/woman to keep his/her job as pastor of St. John's United
Methodist Church in Baltimore, Maryland. The pastor in question, the
"Rev." Drew Phoenix, was previous named Ann Gordon before undergoing
a sex change operation and hormone therapy. Now the Rev. Ann is the
Rev. Drew, and the liberal United Methodist Church is fine with it,
because "the denomination's Book of Discipline says nothing about
transgender clergy." The Bible says something about it, though. God
created man male and female, and sexual confusion and crossover is
the product of a reprobate mind (Romans 1:26-28).
*
ROBERT SCHULLER AND THE NEW AGE
*
The following is excerpted from "Rethinking Robert Schuller" by Warren
Smith, WorldNetDaily, October 30, 2007: "As a former New Age
follower, I could hardly believe it. On Oct. 17, 2004, more than 20
years after his first appearance on the Hour of Power, New Age leader
Gerald Jampolsky was once again Robert Schuller's featured guest. ...
I was very familiar with Gerald Jampolsky. When I was exploring New
Age teachings, he was the first one to introduce me to the New Age
Christ and to the New Age/New Gospel teachings of 'A Course in
Miracles.' Widely reputed in New Age circles to be the closest thing
to a New Age bible, 'A Course in Miracles' taught me that 'there is
no sin,' 'a slain Christ has no meaning' and 'the recognition of God
is the recognition of yourself.' On this Hour of Power program,
Schuller praised Jampolsky and recommended all of his 'fabulous'
books--in spite of the fact that every one of them was based on the
New Age teachings of 'A Course in Miracles.' He also stated that
Jampolsky's latest book, 'Forgiveness,' was available in the Crystal
Cathedral bookstore. Amazingly, Schuller had begun the year as a
featured speaker at the annual convention of the National Association
of Evangelicals. He was now closing the year by featuring a prominent
New Age leader as his special guest. As usual, no one in Christian
leadership was holding him accountable, or even seemed to care. Over
the years, Robert Schuller had obviously done a good job of softening
up the church. Schuller's latest move is to hold a 'Rethink
Conference' at his Crystal Cathedral. With an unusual mix of
Christian and non-Christian speakers, the conference will take place
Jan. 17-19, 2008. He is co-hosting the conference with Emerging
Church movement leader Erwin McManus. Schuller's 'rethink' website
states the purpose of the conference: 'Our aim is to bring together a
cross-section of the key leaders in today's culture so we can grapple
with what's truly happening in our world.' ... While Rick Warren has
tried desperately to deny his spiritual ties to Schuller, his wife's
presence at the conference speaks volumes. ... Meanwhile, Lee
Strobel, a former Saddleback pastor, makes no apologies for aligning
himself with New Age sympathizer Robert Schuller. ... From my
perspective as a former New Age follower, I believe that Robert
Schuller's mission has always been to 'rethink' and 'change' biblical
Christianity into something 'new'--as in New Age/New Spirituality.
... There is a reason Gerald Jampolsky and so many other New Age
leaders go out of their way to praise Schuller. They know that Robert
Schuller has always been open to spiritual compromise."
*
PARADISE GATHERING: ANOTHER ECUMENICAL ROCK & ROLL FEST *
In June I became aware of the
Paradise Gathering when a pastor friend received an announcement of
it in the mail and informed me of it. The Paradise Gathering is a
youth "awakening" that is scheduled to congregate on a one-mile
square field in Paradise, Kansas, on May 25, 2008. The objective is
to spur a spiritual awakening in America and to "accelerate Christ's
kingdom purposes" through a massive gathering of young people aged 15
to 22 to pray and worship by means of loud contemporary music and
Scripture verses displayed on jumbotrons (with no stage or live
music). Though thousands are expected to participate, many important
things about the Paradise Gathering are vague in the extreme. It is
allegedly the outgrowth of a "vision" by an experienced youth worker,
and 18 collaborators, but at first none of their names were given nor
was their denominational affiliation revealed, except to say that
they "include most of the major streams of the church." Now we have
learned that the "youth worker" is Richard Ross, a professor of
student ministries at the Southern Baptist affiliated Southwestern
Baptist Theological Seminary. The Paradise Gathering has no doctrinal
statement and there is no warning about the apostasy, carnality, and
worldliness that is rampant in "youth ministries" today. More than 80
Christian leaders have signed on as "advocates" of the organization's
objective. These include representatives of radically ecumenical
organizations such as Youth for Christ (which often works
hand-in-hand with the Roman Catholic Church), Youth With A Mission
(which also works closely with Roman Catholics), Episcopalian,
Nazarene, Assemblies of God, Saddleback Church, and Willow Creek.
Pentecostal denominations and organizations are represented,
including Assemblies of God and Church of God, Cleveland, Tennessee.
There are female church leaders such as Virginia Ward, associate
pastor of Abundant Life Church in Cambridge, Massachusetts. And many
Southern Baptists in addition to Ross have signed on with this
unscriptural hodgepodge, including Merrie Johnson (Baptist State
Convention of NC), Kelly Davis (International Mission Board), Joe
Ball (Kentucky Baptist Convention), Terry McIlvain (Kansas Convention
of Southern Baptists), Scott Stevens and Paul Turner (LifeWay
Christian Resources), Allen Jackson (New Orleans Seminary), Joe
Bailey and Norm Flowers (North American Mission Board), Doug Fields
(Saddleback Church), and Steve Rohrlack (South Carolina Baptist
Convention). The Paradise Gathering's ecumenical philosophy is
evident on its website. It says, for example, that "Christ commands
oneness in the church and grieves when it is not present." This idea
is based on a popular but bogus interpretation of John 17 and a
heretical doctrine of the church. Most of the various denominations
today are more akin to the harlot of Revelation 17 than to the
biblical church of Jesus Christ. In the high priestly prayer of John
17 Jesus was not praying for the unity of all professing Christians;
He was praying for the supernatural unity of all born again
Christians, and that prayer was answered and accomplished. Further,
Christ was praying for those who keep the truth (John 17:6, 8, 14,
17, 19). He was praying for those who love and obey the Word of God
and keep its sound doctrine. This is certainly not a prayer that
envisions the modern evangelical-charismatic crowd that downplays and
ignores doctrine for the sake of a broad "unity," nor does it
envision an interdenominational unity of any sort.
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).