(Editor's Note: In our News & Views column we quote from many different sources. Please understand that this does not necessarily mean that we apporve of all of the publications from which we quote. We will give the name of the sources in the first quote and thereafter we will give the abbreviation of that name.)
"Clinton: A President of Strong Drives." Chinese government official are pulling a book by this title from bookstores. According to World on the Web, 6-20-98, they feel the news of removal would be less embarrassing than if Mr. Clinton happened upon the book while visiting there in June. (As if anything would really embarrass this president.) The book indicates that "Strong Drives" is not in reference to the Presidents golf game. Where ever he travels this testimony precedes the highest executive of Christian(?) America. Yet he wears the name "Baptist," takes communion with "Catholics," attends services with "Methodists," and his second in command bows with "Buddhist." Billy Graham says, "Women just go wild over him (Clinton)," as though it is the woman's defect. The chameleon is not the only creature God made that can blend in with the environs.W. W. Mosley (Hereafter WWM)
God's Way or Sinatra's Way? - Several days of front page news followed the announcement of crooner Frank Sinatra's death. Wakes were televised and celebrity comments were aired on national TV. His life's attitude revealed in his famous song, "Doing It My Way," came to an end at age 82. It was reported that among his last words were, "I'm leaving now." Leaving for where? Fellow celebrity, Tony Bennett, expressed pleasure that Sinatra had joined Sammy Davis, Jr. and Dean Martin adding, "Heaven will never be the same." Sinatra's way: sin, debauchery, divorce, drinking, and deception. God's way: virtue - repentance, regeneration, restoration, and reverence toward God. See God's restrictions concerning heaven in Rev. 21:27. Is your name written there? WWM
Americans Support Equality For Homo's? - The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force says: "...that a growing majority of Americans support equality for homosexuals." However: "Gay rights leaders acknowledge that South Carolina may be a microcosm of much of non-urban America." (N.Y. Times, 7/7/98) Hooray for SC! "Non-urban" indicating the gay crowd believes all who oppose them have not yet reached the city limit's sign from outside. Lot discovered the city limits of Sodom was soon to become his downfall, not because of the city but because of the sin. He also learned that calling them "brethren" did not lessen the consequences (Gen. 19). It would be good if America could awaken to the horrible devastation of this sin. What the homosexuals say or think have no impact on heaven or God's Word. God has not, will not, and can not change. Sodomy may have man-made protective laws but only God's law of repentance of sin and faith in Christ can override the law of sin and death for the sodomite. (Rom. 8:2) WWM
Peace Among Religions? - In his quest to find common ground for religious unity, Episcopalian Bishop William Swing reported Swiss theologian Hans Kung as saying, "...there will be no peace among nations until there's peace among religions, and there will be no peace among religions until there dialogue among religions." (Foundation Mag., May-June, 1997) That theology does not sound too original. "Dialogue" with Satan brought death to the human race in Genesis three. As in the Garden, dialogue in order to bring unity always demands concession. The Lord's church has always suffered when ideas or opinions are exchanged with any religious system. Yet many are falling for ecumenical "dialogue." WWM
Postmodernizing the Faith - A new term has been coined to help place so-called evangelicals in their proper category. Millard Erickson, author of "Postmodernizing the Faith." adds to premodernism and modernism the position of postmodernism. (World, 7/4/98) The English definition for modern is "up-to-date." No one seems able to define where "pre" stops, "mod" begins, and "post" takes over. Since God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are eternal and ever present and have never changed, how can scriptural evangelism (Matt. 28:19,20) possibly be categorized to fit the likes or dislikes of any present generation? The only proper method of making disciples for Christ is preaching repentance toward God and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ (Acts 20:21) and "now is the day of salvation" (2 Cor. 6:2). In biblical terms "post" is much too late to make plans for eternity. WWM
Promise Keeper's Push For y2k - According to PK the biggest thing happening on 1-1-2000 will not be a computer problem but "the body of Christ coming together" in "every state" in the nation (PK-Net). The big push will be made possible only if every PK member answers the call according to their "Invitation To Volunteer For Vision 2000." The article includes this bit of new revelation: "God has clearly testified to us that we are to unite Christians from all around this nation." Sadly many Baptist men and likely some Baptist pastors will not heed God's testimony to them in Hebrews 10:25 on 1-2-2000 since 1-1-2000 falls on the last day of the week. They will probably be too tired from travel to meet on their first day of the week obligation when the true "body of Christ" is told to meet (1 Cor. 12:27; 16:2). God has never "testified" to any believer to unite with false doctrine and unbelievers (2 Cor. 6:17,18). WWM
South's Legal Code Bothers Homosexuals - South Carolina's legal code outlawing "sodomy, both homosexual and heterosexual," has raised the ire of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force. Their report states that SC "is one of 14 states" that holds this legal code. Also that "it is one of 29 states with laws prohibiting same-sex marriages." (NY Times, 7/7/98) Where else would this be glorified but in the primary newspaper of a city whose "council approved a so-called domestic partnership ordinance." It gives the live- in's (homosexuals included) the same privileges as God approved marriages. (LAJ, 7/8/98, pg. 6A) The NYCC never allowed the electorates of the city to have a voice. Neither did they consult the God of Heaven (Lev. 18:22). WWM
Lutherans Dumbing Down Worship Unacceptable - Some Baptist Churches who are becoming user friendly to the world to enhance there attendance could learn from this. Marva Dawn, a Lutheran, interviewed by David L. Miller in The Lutheran, 7/98 has this to say: "Dumbing down worship so our sermons appeal to a public that is biblically illiterate, singing only simplified choruses that have no depth of narrative or doctrine about who God is, is tragic." Dawn further complains that, "The music we sing has become a scapegoat for our lack of evangelism..." Sounds familiar and I have never attended a Lutheran service. However, this type of low quality worship is not isolated to protestant religion. Sadly many of the Lord's pastors and churches are hurrying down the same path. We are never told to be appealing to the world but attentive to the Word.WWM
Evangelical Church Destroyed in Ecuador. "A mob spurred by a Catholic priest and given police protection recently burned down the Berean Evangelical Church in Quinche, Ecuador. Berean Mission reports that benches, the pulpit, Bibles, and hymnals were destroyed, while recent construction done by work teams was damaged. No one was injured in the incident." (World Pulse, April 3, 1998) (From "Ministering to Servants of God in Isolated Places," by Caroll Dale Turbeville. Hereafter CDT).
Muslim Presence in United States. "As a sign of the increasing number of Muslims in the United States, Islamic dietary influence is spreading. According to a report in the Wall Street Journal, sales of Islamic halal foods are becoming increasingly popular at supermarkets and restaurants. One of the country's largest halal meat packers reports that sales are up 70 percent in the last five years. Other businesses catering to Islamic food restrictions are springing up. Some observers estimate that Muslims will outnumber Jews in the United States by the year 2005." (World Pulse, April 3, 1998) CDT
Discrimination Continues. "China -- (Compass) -- Evidence of serious discrimination against rural Christians has surfaced in the form of a document from Hau County in Guangdong Province in southern China. One document signed and sealed by a village committee reads: `Villager Wei, please after reading this notice will you not attend the Christian church. Otherwise you will not be allowed to join the local production brigade and be allocated work. Your electricity will be cut off and your children will not be permitted to attend school. Nor will you be allowed to build a new house.' This blatant persecution is by no means unusual, but rarely is there such documented proof of persecution." (Servant, Spring 1998) CDT
Homosexual Couples Adopt Children. "In New Jersey a judge issued a consent judgment in December declaring that homosexual couples must be allowed to adopt children on an equal basis with married couples, making the state the first in the nation to do so. In about half the states a homosexual can adopt a child, but a second, same-sex, `parent' must petition to adopt separately." (What In The World, Vol. 23, Number 7) CDT
America's Thirst for the Perverse & its Consequences.--"A nationwide survey of 4,000 video stores demonstrated that America's thirst for the perverse has never been deeper: sales and rentals of adult videos reached an all-time high in 1996-97. The survey, which was conducted by the pornography trade magazine Adult Video News, found that rentals and sales of video porn have doubled since 1992 to $4.2 billion. According to the magazine, 7,800 new porn titles were released in 1996 alone." (AFA Journal, 2/98) "Deaths from infectious diseases rose 22 percent in the United States between 1980 and 1992. There is a global resurgence of infectious diseases from new agents, reemerging old agents and the rapid spread of germs resistant to antibiotics." (Greenville News, 3/4/98) (What In The World, Vol. 23, Number 7) CDT
Thundering Vagaries. "Ministers know they can get a lot of preaching done if they are content to thunder vagaries. If Jesus had only mentioned the traditions of men without getting into the particulars, He would not have generated the hostility He did." (Current Thoughts & Trends, August 1997) CDT
Who's the Head Honcho? "Lay leadership of the church is unbiblical when it weakens the pastor's authority as ruler of the church. A laity-led, deacon-led church will be a weak church anywhere on God's earth. The pastor is the ruler of the church. There is no other thing than that in the Bible." (Current Thoughts & Trends, August) CDT
Welcoming Homosexual Churches. "The number of mainline Protestant congregations that welcome full participation of homosexuals increased by 25% in 1996. Ten denominations have started up welcoming-church programs as a means for local congregations to counteract exclusivistic denominational policies. About two congregations a week across the nation join the 735 churches that have already declared themselves to be welcoming churches." (Current Thoughts & Trends, August 1997) CDT
Abortion Support Among Freshman Dropping. "For the fourth year in a row, support for legal abortion has dropped among college freshmen, Religion News Service has reported. In the UCLA survey, which polled 250,000 freshmen, 56 percent agreed with the statement, `abortion should remain legal', down from a high of 65 percent in 1990." (Life in Oregon, June-August 97) CDT
"Divination Has Become Business. Bookstores and publishers are offering an unprecedented variety of card decks and other divination systems. Some New Age stores report that as much as ten percent of their business comes from cards and other divination systems. U.S. Games Systems has sold more than 15 million divination decks since 1968. A sample of the new systems is `Medicine Cards,' a $29.95 deck inspired by Native Americans, which has sold more than 300,000 copies since 1988. Mainstream publishing houses have entered the market. Harper -- San Francisco's `Sacred Path Cards' has sold more than 100,000 copies. `Twenty-five years ago we were selling the decks to people in the occult and in underground types of stores.' says Stanley Kaplan, president of U.S. Games Systems. `But today, they're at the front counter of the Waldenbooks and B. Dalton stores' (Christian Research Journal, Spring 1997)." (What in The World!) CDT
"Home Schooling in Georgia is being threatened by a bill that requires all parent teachers to have at least a bachelor's degree. It also mandates annual standardized achievement tests at the parents' expense, and it increases reporting requirements. If passed, the bill would become `among the most oppressive in the country,' says the Home School Legal Defense Association. Another dangerous bill in the state senate would establish a joint committee to conduct `a study of home school programs, including a review of the effectiveness, and analysis of their shortcomings, and a consideration of possible ways of improving and enhancing such programs' (The Teaching Home, 7-8/97)." (What In The World!) CDT
Homosexual Rights. "San Francisco's radical `homosexual rights' ordinance took effect on June 1, 1997. Any contractor doing business with the city or county, including airlines using the city's international airport, must implement an affirmative action program to hire employees based on sexual orientation. Contractors must also provide health insurance benefits to homosexual partners. There is no exception for religion. Churches that lease public property for twenty-nine days or more must abide by these same policies. San Francisco's ordinance has emboldened Atlanta to pass a similar policy, and Miami is considering its own ordinance (National Liberty Journal, 8/97)." (What In The World!, Vol. 22, Number 3) CDT
United Methodist Agency Promotes "Adam and Steve." "United Methodist Communications, the church's $12 million public relations agency, recently sponsored a cable television program that sympathetically examines, `same-sex unions.' Called `Adam and Steve? Same-Sex Marriage and Christian Faith,' the show was part of a 26-episode series titled `Scriptures Alive!' that cost UMCom $74,000. The program twice aired on the Odyssey Cable Network this spring. `We are trying to reach a broad audience mostly of young people so that they can relate to the Scriptures,' explained Wilford Bane of UMCom's Division of Public Media in defense of the program. `It is aimed mostly at a secular audience. We can't hit them over the head.' The Odyssey Cable Network, on which the `Scriptures Alive!' series appears, reaches 28 million households. But according to Bane, only 6,100 households regularly view `Scriptures Alive!' Bane, in defending the episode, told The Nashville Banner that some `gay men' had expressed gratitude that `such insight' was portrayed in the program. He further pointed out that the Discipline says `God challenges us to find responsible, committed and loving forms in expression of our sexuality.' Although acknowledging that `marriage' as a legal institution involves a man and woman, the episode urges attention to `gay and lesbian couples wanting to make a profession of their coupleness in the eyes of God.' One speaker, a United Methodist pastor, laments that the church has `erected barriers to people' over sexuality, since `Jesus would open doors.' David Otto of Centenary College in Louisiana suggests that `biblical models' for same-sex covenants would include the relationships of Ruth and Naomi and of David and Jonathan. The program's host, Kathleen LaCamera interviews a lesbian couple in a `holy union.' The two complain that common law couples eventually are treated as married couples, but `committed' same-sex couples are `persecuted' for seeking the same privilege. LaCamera responds that, `It's hard not to really feel quite supportive of what they're saying.'" (The Christian News, October 13, 1997) CDT
U.S. Anglicans Split Over Women Priests. "Conservative Episcopalians opposed to the ordination of women have announced a formal split with the mainstream U.S. branch of the church and said they were the true heirs to the Anglican tradition. The conservatives, including several bishops, said in a statement received Tuesday they had set up the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, Inc., known in brief as PECUSA, Inc. They disputed the credentials and authority of the mainstream U.S. Episcopal or Anglican church based in New York and recognized by the Archbishop of Canterbury, the spiritual leader of Anglicans around the world." (Infobeat, December 23, 1997) CDT
Pandering Porn at the Local Library. "Library Watch (LW), a pro-family organization, currently focuses on children's access to cyberporn in the local libraries of the United States. Led by Dr. Chris Williams, LW has been successful in aiding the drafting and passage of the nation's first legislation that affects libraries and access to porn through the state-funded Ohio Public Library Information Network. LW is not calling for the banning of any books or other materials --only restricting children's access to all Library-sponsored obscene and harmful materials, unless accompanied by or with the explicit informed consent of a parent or legal guardian." (IFC Newsletter, December 23, 1997) CDT
Verbatim--Suffering and Feeling Good. "I've been a pastor for 35 years, and I don't trust people one inch in defining what they need. We don't know ourselves. We need God to tell us what we need... I know this is a mixed-up, difficult generation, but it's arguable that the main difference today is not how much people are hurting, but how much they expect to be relieved from their hurting. The previous century suffered just as much -- in fact, probably much more. Just think of all the illness, death in childbirth, infant mortality, plagues. The big difference today is that we have this mentality that if it's wrong, you can fix it. You don't have to live with any discomfort or frustration." (Current Thoughts & Trends, April 1998) CDT
Who's Having Abortions? "About 1.4 million women have abortions each year in the United States: 89% of these are before the 12th week of gestation, 82% of the mothers are unmarried or separated, and 44% have had at least one previous abortion. Catholic women have abortions at a higher rate than Protestants. Women in school have more abortions those who are not. -- U.S. News & World Report, Jan. 19, 1998" (Current Thoughts & Trends, April 1998) CDT
Going Under. "During the Great Depression, 1 in 215 Americans declared bankruptcy. In 1995 the rate was 1 in 225." (Current Thoughts & Trends, April 1998) CDT
Bonhoeffer Lauded by Evangelicals (Garbc Schools, Dobson, SBC Prof) - German Lutheran theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer studied at Tubingen University and Union Seminary (NY). He was influenced by and studied under neo-orthodox liberal Karl Barth. He was imprisoned by the Nazis in 1943 and hanged in 1945 "for plotting against Hitler." He opposed institutional religion and stressed existential "religionless" Christianity (Wycliffe Biog. Dict. of the Church). We now see in the 6/98 Focus on the Family that its 3-hr. radio drama "Dietrich Bonhoeffer: The Cost of Freedom" was named a winner of the 57th annual Peabody Awards, and a "Bonhoeffer" CD and cassette are promoted. A Southern Baptist prof (4/3/95 Chr. Today) highly praised Bonhoeffer. The Fall 1991 Grand Rapids Baptist College/Seminary paper said a dramatic play and story of Dietrich Bonhoeffer was set for Nov. 21-23 at this GARBC-approved school (Fund. Digest). More recently, GARBC-approved Western Baptist College, staged a play depicting Bonhoeffer (1/98 BB). The 9/19/83 Chr. News said Bonhoeffer denied historic Christianity. Cornelius Van Til said Bonhoeffer's Christ is not the Christ of Holy Scripture. Biblical Discernment Ministries has a pamphlet "Dietrich Bonhoeffer: Heroic Christian Thinker & Martyr OR Poor Deceived False Prophet?" BDM, P.O. Box 6154, Bloomington, IN 47407, $1.--Calvary Contender.
Private Rebuke for Public False Teaching? - Some think that if one Christian differs with the writings or public statements of another Christian on a point of doctrine, without rancor or any problem between them as persons, he is wrong for stating the differences publicly before going privately to the brother with whom he disagrees. That is a misconception. First of all, there is no unreconciled condition between them; they simply differ. Secondly, therefore, there is no matter of church discipline involved. Thirdly, even if this were a matter of discipline, the first party wrote or spoke publicly - he put it before the church or the world; he did not speak privately. For that reason it is as appropriate for the second brother to write or speak as publicly as the first did in refuting what he thinks is a wrong interpretation of the Scriptures and which, therefore, he believes may hurt the church if he doesn't. [Jay Adams] Jesus, Paul, and John named names, exposed error, and publicly rebuked errorists. They did this in love and concern for those who might be deceived into following such leaders. Fundamentalists have limited media access today, but must use avail able means to expose error affecting all believers - and continue to confront false teaching in the same public arena as it is taught.-CC
Chuck Templeton, Apostate
- For over 20 years, Charles Templeton toured the U.S. and Canada (shared pulpit with Billy Graham), preaching to crowds of up to 30,000 people. He was director of evangelism for the National Council of Churches during the 1940's and `50's, but by 1956 he realized his life was based on a lie and he could no longer believe in Christianity (5/18 Chr. News). He gives his reasons for becoming an agnostic in Giving Up God. He believes Jesus died on the cross, but that "it is not possible" to believe he was resurrected. Tragically, many such liberals today remain in pulpits.--CC