Christian character counts before God, public performance proclaims a person's character, and apparent actions announce the content of the heart. This is not simply an alliteration of speech but a truth that is proclaimed throughout God's Word. Where Christian character, proper performance, and appropriate actions are lacking in a nation or people their future before God is more than bleak. Isaiah 59:12-15 proclaims a condition that prevailed in Israel resulting from their moral decay. "For our transgressions are multiplied before thee, and our sins testify against us: for our transgressions are with us; and as for our iniquities, we know them; In transgressing and lying against the LORD, and departing away from our God, speaking oppression and revolt, conceiving and uttering from the heart words of falsehood. And judgment is turned away backward, and justice standeth afar off: for truth is fallen in the street, and equity cannot enter. Yea, truth faileth; and he that departeth from evil maketh himself a prey: and the LORD saw it, and it displeased him that there was no judgment." Just as surely as a nation's transgressions are multiplied their sins will be a testimony against them before God (v. 12). This is also true for a local church.

Israel had reached such a corrupt state in lying against the Lord that words of falsehood poured from their hearts in all matters (v. 13). This resulted in appropriate judicial action being turned away and justice lagging behind. Stability and trustworthiness had faltered and fallen in the street and integrity could not be found (v. 14). Truth no longer held rank and all who shunned evil and spoke of righteousness became a prey (v. 15). Likely few cared that the Lord saw this and was displeased that "there was no judgment." Mockery was evidenced in their lack of desire to know the truth concerning sin. They appealed to their seers and prophets: "Prophesy not unto us right things, speak unto us smooth things, prophesy deceits" (Isa. 30:10).

Those who dare point out coinciding episodes happening in our nation are labeled `dooms-dayers' and `do-gooders.' Risking being labeled as such I must say there is certainly no lack of self-proclaimed prophets who never give sin a family name. Celebrated religious leaders in our nation are hiding their heads in the sand of popularity. The faithful local pastor who dares to reveal sin in the citizenry and the church is rowing upstream against a headwind of immoral national leadership and media deception. Yet faithfulness to God's calling must be their underwriter even as it was for Isaiah. "Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and show my people their transgression, and the house of Jacob their sins." (Isa. 58:1)

Israel was not ignorant of their violations before God. "Our transgressions are with us, and as for our iniquities, we know them," was their unrepentant confession. Knowing the error is not making the correction. October 17, 1997 a proclamation released to the public read: "Now, therefore, I, William J. Clinton, President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim October 19 through October 25, 1997, as national Character Counts Week." The President went on to call upon the "people, government officials, educators, religious, community, and business leaders," etc. to commemorate this week with "appropriate ceremonies, activities, and programs." At this point every sober reader of this proclamation must pause to either laugh or weep. Depending, of course, on which side of the Christian and moral line they stand.

The introductory lines of the proclamation reveal the immeasurable depth of moral deception that grips our nation. "The roots of America's greatness are embedded in the character of its citizens," is an admirable quality. However, only the trunk and branches produce fruit. The roots may be of the highest quality, yet without proper care the moral fiber is sure to weaken and meritorious fruit is sure to wilt. Hear our Lord's statement: "I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing." (John 15:5) The following verses enlarge on the truth that detachment from "the vine", our Lord Jesus Christ, is sure to bring moral and spiritual fruitlessness. Detachment from the "true vine," Jesus Christ, has left our national leaders floundering for an answer to our moral dilemma.

June 24, 1998 the US Senate declared S. Res. 176, "U.S. Senate Resolution Proclaiming Character Counts! Week `98." These sixteen "Whereas's" end with this two part resolve: "(1) proclaims the week of October 18 through 24, 1998, as `National Character Counts Week'; and (2) requests that the President issue a proclamation calling upon the people of the United States and interested groups to embraced the 6 core elements of character and to observe the week with appropriate ceremonies and activities." The "6 core elements" are listed in one of the "Whereas's" as "trustworthiness, respect, responsibility, fairness, caring, and citizenship." Again it is time either for a chuckle or a cry.

The problem is not that the 6 core elements named are unnecessary, but that they are unheeded. Israel said, "...as for our iniquities, we know them," yet they ignored the need for repentance toward God. They revealed their character by their public performance.

Jesus made this clear in teaching His disciples as well as believers today. "Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven." (Matt. 5:16) Since good works glorify the heavenly Father, evil works surely glorify the devil. Remarkable religious (yet unreliable) words flowed freely from the Pharisees, but note our Lord's assessment of these religious pretenders: "Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do." (John 8:44) While they were busy white washing the graves of the prophets their character was revealed by their actions.

Public performance proclaims a person's character loudly. Not only does the world at large observe but God also takes note and "will call to remembrance the iniquity, that they may be taken." (Ezek. 21:23) The nation we call home today can no more escape God's judgment apart from heart rending repentance than Israel avoided retribution for their sin. All proclamations, propositions, professions, etc. made by the President and leaded in rock by the U.S. Senate are not worth the air time to announce it or the expense of printing, if performance does not follow. It is comparable to chain smokers demanding their offspring never smoke.

Observance of immoral practices are as sure to effect our children as flannel board figures in a Sunday School class. Just as surely, the reaction of adults to a compassionate message from the pulpit will eventually take root in the heart of youth. If the message is visibly approved the children will notice. If parents seem annoyed at statements from spiritual leaders, children pick up on it before the expression subsides. Be sure of this, our actions advertise our heart. Not only does the Bible say, "As he thinketh in his heart, so is he," but also, "Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh." (Prov. 23:7; Matt. 12:34)

Statistics are often padded and peddled to suite the fancies of various promotions. However, several statistics claim from 60 to 70 percent of our nation believes that morals matter minimally in high places. Some even say morals do not matter at all! Read again "When A Nation's Ruler Sins," by E. L. Bynum, in the May `98, PBC.

What does this apparent action advertise? Since 1992 there has been a steady, rapid decline in the 6 core elements of character listed in the resolution above. Trustworthiness, respect, responsibility, fairness, caring, and citizenship have all but been excluded from society in general.

Trustworthiness of any person can be assessed by their dependability. Can they be depended on for meeting previously arranged appointments? Are they conscientious about time, tenacity?

Respect is deserved only when it is either earned or kept by action. The aged deserve respect because of their years but they must keep it by endurance. Our children deserve respect because they are our responsibility. But they must keep it by obedience and observance of rules made for their good. Too often young people lose or relinquish their respect through conforming to the actions of peers or prototypes.

Responsibility is the commitment to perform appropriate duties demanded by our position. Failure in this results in relinquishing all rights to our appointment.

Fairness exhibits equity impartially, regardless of who falls or stands. Israel's problem was that truth had fallen in the street, and "equity cannot enter." The time when humanity calls "evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!" seems to have arrived. (Isa. 5:20)

Caring in an affectionate manner seems to be a lost art. Multiplied millions around the globe have suffered untold anguish through natural disasters. Admirably nations, organizations, and individuals have sacrificed coming to their aid. Yet when it comes to moral decay, perishing souls, or spiritual degradation, only a handful of volunteers can be mustered.

Citizenship is that honor received either by birth or legal acceptance through proper channels. It is not to be taken lightly. Although believers are looking for another country and city, while we are here we must be responsible citizens. Service to our country comes second only to God and family.

None of these 6 components are of any importance until they are demonstrated. The lack of these components in national leadership has greatly enhanced the progression of spiritual deterioration at lower levels.

Society in general. Much of society today believe moral regulations have no place in government. Private lives of individuals are their business only and no one should interfere. This is only true until one persons private fist comes near another person's private nose. At that point it becomes altogether another's business. Forgive the jest but leave the truth intact. Members are responsible to their particular local church. Children are responsible to their own parents. Leaders are as responsible to lead lives as moral as the commitments expected of their constituents.

Permissiveness is acceptable. There is a common acceptance today that every person be permitted to do that which is right in their own eyes. This condition of heart also comes from myriads of media interpretations of what is right and wrong. National leaders and the media have cleared infidelity for takeoff to soar our national skies. Not one national leader is stationed at the radar screen of God's Word ready to give warning of the judgment waiting in this flight path. Where are the Hezekiahs willing to lay the letter of the enemy's planned attack before the Lord and ask for His help? With the exception of faithful pastors who only have a small segment of the week to expose sin and give the remedy, there is little warning at all. Even then the accuser of the brethren rallies his forces against those he refers to as "Bible-thumpers."

A pastor who is faithful to the Word of God and the church under his watch is indeed worthy double honor (1 Tim. 5:17). (In case you have not taken time to study this scripture it means double pay.) Yet too much of the instruction given is slighted by the hearers. Though doctrinal areas may be heeded closely, there's often a limit placed on the extent of the pastor's leadership. Many will listen to teaching on purity yet balk at personal whims. He may get loud "Amens" when preaching on fornication and fooling around but the silence is deafening when he preaches on garments and gum. There was a time when even chewing gum in school brought reprimand. Today infidelity must be "legally" challenged, whether in the White House or the worship house, or the guilty are sure to appeal. Certainly chewing gum in school will not likely lead to infidelity, but remember that tender grapes are spoiled by little foxes (Sol. 2:15). It takes character to relinquish personal whims for the sake of future generations. Once the little foxes get though the small holes of personal whims they will soon be full of ripe grapes. Bloated with self-indulgence they are too lackadaisical to seek the hole where they entered. Should they seek and find it they could not retreat because they are too full of self-gratification.

It is one thing to pass resolutions and make proclamations and it is clearly another to demonstrate them in life. If our nation is to continue to be "One Nation Under God" it must plug the holes where little foxes enter from the church house to the white house. It also must place a bounty on the big foxes that have become fat on the grapes of permissiveness.

( Editor's Note: The following article was written in response to a full page article by Kenneth L. Woodward, in Newsweek magazine. It was published Nov. 2, 1998 on page 37. The article is headlined Sex, Sin and Salvation. It is a disgusting article written by a man who must be totally ignorant of the Bible and what Baptist believe.)

A friend of mine; a religious, church-going non-Baptist friend of mine came to me earlier this week and dropped a copy of the November 2, Newsweek Magazine on my desk. She said, "This really disturbs me. If this is true, it really, really disturbs me." She wanted me to read the article and to explain what I thought about it. After doing as I was told, I was probably more disturbed than she was, but likely for different reasons.

It is important that independent, fundamental Baptists know how the world perceives us. That "Newsweek" article gives us a glimpse of that perception. Everyone knows that President Bill Clinton is a "Baptist" a Southern Baptist. Everyone knows that Southern Baptists are Bible-thumping, Jacob's-ladder climbing Christians. Everyone knows that what President Clinton believes is what all Baptists believe. Right? Wrong!!! But that is the gist of the article in that widely-read magazine.

I'd like to point out three groups of things about this article that jumped out at me: There are things in here that DISTURBED me; there are things that I LIKED, and there are things that APPALLED and GALLED me.

It disturbs me that we continually hear that Bill Clinton is a Baptist! If I had ever heard of the religious affiliation of Gerald Ford, Ronald Reagan, or Richard Nixon, I have forgotten. I know that John Kennedy was Catholic, that was important then. I know that Jimmy Carter is called a Baptist, and some of early presidents were deists. But I'm getting sick of hearing that Bill Clinton is a Baptist! He could certainly not be a member of any Baptist church of which I was a member. No real Baptist church is big enough for the two of us. He and I have strong differing opinions about too many things that are in the Bible. He and I have differing opinions about how our lives are to be lived in light of the things that are in the Bible. But I also know that President Clinton is a member of a Baptist church, and that he has every right to call himself a Baptist for that reason alone. But my point is that the Christ-hating news media is delighted with the fact that Clinton claims to be a Baptist. They are driving it into the ground at our feet.

Another thing disturbing about this article is that it implies that Baptists and Methodists are joined at the hip. It implies that there is little difference between these two denominations, and what difference there is, is in the favor of the Methodists who believe that growth in personal holiness is a Christian obligation. The article implies that personal holiness is not important to Baptists, and the proof of that is a man named Bill Clinton, the Baptist. The fact of matter is that the average Methodist and a true Baptist are miles apart in doctrine and practice not to mention personal holiness.

A third thing that disturbs me about this article is that the authorities quoted: James Dunn, Steve Marini, Foy Valentine, E. Glenn Hinson and others are all theological liberals, and declared to be so in the article. When a professed liberal says that the President is a good Baptist, his praise of the man is not worth the match to set that testimony on fire. One of the experts in the article is a Baptist professor of philosophy at Catholic, Notre Dame University. That in itself tells me that the man cannot be trusted.

What disturbs me about this article is that it is a classic example of building a "straw-man." For thousands of years men have known that if you can't defeat a good argument, then make up an argument that you can defeat and give it the name of the argument that you can't defeat, then knock it down. If you can't defeat the soldier, then build a soldier out of straw, and defeat him instead.

What is the circulation of "Newsweek"? Whatever that readership might be, I'm sure that 90% of it is not Baptist. And to those non-Baptists that magazine lied and said, "This is what Baptists believe. This is how they behave." And then it proceeded to make that fictitious Baptist look like a fool.

What is a Baptist? According to Newsweek, it is a lying, liberal, abortion-advocating, Methodist, womanizer. To quote: "Bill Clinton is a flawed follower of Christ, but an exemplary Baptist President." Actually he is worse than a flawed follower of Christ, if a Christian at all, and he is a terrible Baptist whether President or not.

This kind of yellow journalism really disturbs me. But I use the rather mild word "disturb," because it doesn't surprise me at all. True Baptists have been hated, defamed, caricatured, and made into cartoons for nearly 2000 years. This disturbs me, but doesn't surprise me.

The article says that Bill Clinton was "born again" on Oct. 17, 1956, when he was 7 years old. I didn't like the fact that "born again" was in quotations, but at least it was there. The article says that he accepted Jesus Christ as his personal lord and saviour. I noticed that both "lord" and "savior" were not capitalized, but that doesn't surprise me; I always capitalize those words, because they emphasize that my Jesus is God, as well as Saviour.

What is good here is that this secular newsmagazine even mentioned these things at all. Seven- year-old boys need to be born again, they need Christ Jesus as their Lord and Saviour. If you are seven-years-old, or ten, or twelve, or fifty, you need to be born again by the Spirit of God. Except a man, or boy, or woman, or girl is born again, they CANNOT SEE the kingdom of God. If you haven't been born again, then you are still spiritually dead, and the dead, small and great, shall be cast into the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.

A second thing that I liked about this article were a couple of things that "the Rev." James Dunn said: (This the James Dunn who is head of the "liberal" Baptist Joint Committee on Public Affairs). He declared before all the unsaved readers of Newsweek Magazine: "There's no way you can get right with God by doing good." Amen? He said, "We do good, not in order to be saved, but because we have been saved."

Those statements are absolutely right. Sinners are saved by the grace of God. For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast. (Eph. 2:8-9). Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost. (Tit. 3:5). Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified. (Gal. 2:16).

The Bible knows nothing about joining a church, in order to become a Christian. The Bible teaches that we join a church in order to continue steadfastly in the apostolic doctrine and fellowship and prayer. The Bible knows nothing about giving money in order to buy real estate in Heaven. The Bible knows nothing about being baptized in order to wash away sins. The Bible teaches that no sinner, by the strength of his flesh, can completely quit sin, and make himself a saint. The Bible teaches even if that WERE possible, the sins of the past still demand a covering, an atonement!

I rejoice that those truths were publicly declared for all the world to see. It's a shame that it was in a context of lies. It is almost like the testimony of the demon-possessed woman in Philippi, following Paul and Silas shouting, These men are the servants of the most high God, which shew unto us the way of salvation. (Acts 16:17) As if she was saying, you'd better listen to their message. The context of her testimony destroyed the truth that she was uttering. And the truth of those words, "We do good, not in order to be saved, but because we have been saved," is rendered unclean by the rest of the article.

Third, I like the statement that despite sin, a born-again person's salvation is ensured. "Sinning - even repeatedly - does not bar his soul from heaven." That is a true statement, but it is not the entire truth. Salvation from sin begins in the heart, power and sacrifice of Jesus Christ, and it is finished there as well. God doesn't begin a good work in us and leave the end result in our corrupted hands. What the Lord has begun He will perform until the day that we stand before him glorified. I am kept by the power of God, through faith unto salvation.

But these statements alone are not the whole story; not the entire doctrine.

This article, read by millions, says, "Bill Clinton was schooled in the Baptist tradition of freedom of conscience including matter of sex. Baptist believe in 'soul competence,' a distinctively Baptist doctrine which emphasizes the right and ability of every believe to interpret the Bible correctly for themselves." James Dunn was quoted: "Ain't nobody, but Jesus, going to tell me what to believe."

So what that means to liberal Baptist antinomian hedonists is that you can do whatever you want to do and still go to Heaven. Or to quote the article: "For full-blooded youths like the adolescent Clinton, these Baptist doctrines offered considerable room for maneuvering through the sexual revolution of the 1960s. You went to church to meet girls...and with a girl you listened to Billy Graham on the car radio Sunday nights before getting around to what you really had in mind." And the implication of that is the Clintonesque kind of sexual immorality that we are hearing about in the newspapers.

My friend, the Bible condemns this manipulation of the saving grace of God. Paul nearly screams at the Romans, Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein? (Rom. 6:1-2). Anyone that lives in sin is dead while he lives. Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness? (Rom. 6:16)

What disgusts me about this article is that it says that Baptists can interpret the Bible any way that it suits them. For example, Bill Clinton has his own definition and interpretation of "adultery." He admits that he had some "inappropriate behavior" with Monica Lewinski, but he has never used the word "adultery." Deep down in my soul I think that he is a liar, and that he has had adultery with plenty of women, but even if I am wrong, what he is calling "inappropriate behavior" is throughout the Bible called "fornication." And fornication is not one ounce lighter than adultery. Fornication is not less than adultery, it is worse than adultery. Fornication includes premarital sex, pornography, and even homosexuality! The deeds of that wicked, White House man, MAY not be adultery, but they duplicate some of the practices of homo-sexuals.

The last Baptist "expert" quoted in the article was Foy Valentine, head of the Southern Baptist Christian Life Commission for 27 years: "What he did is disgusting, but not what I would consider adultery. And I think that most Baptists would agree." Let's call it what it really is: The epitome of immorality, fornication, and the desecration of the vows he made to his wife when they married.

So Baptist Bill has been an immoral fornicator for decades and finally got caught. He writes a letter to the church of which he is a member a church which he has already forsaken (Bill Clinton attends the church that his non-born-again, wife and daughter attend). He writes a letter to his Baptist church back home in Little Rock, Arkansas, and according to its pastor: "He expressed repentance for his actions, sadness for the consequences of his sin on his family, friends, and church family, and asked for forgiveness."

I'd be happy to believe him when I see the fruits of repentance, but I don't see any. The words of his letter do not impress upon me any genuine repentance. All I see is a man who got caught with his hand in the cookie jar.

I'm glad that I'm not Bill Clinton's God. The Lord knows if the man was born again or not. I don't know for sure, but if I had to guess, I'd guess that he knows the Lord in exactly the same way that he knows the Bible he doesn't.

I'm glad that I'm not Bill Clinton's pastor, because it would be hard to expel such a prominent man from the membership of my church. But that president is a shameful excuse for a Baptist or a Christian. He's no more like me in theology or life than the Pope of Rome.

The title of that Newsweek article is "Sex, Sin and Salvation." My friend, if your relationship to sex, sin and salvation is the same as your President's, then you had better assess your relationship to the Saviour. Scripture says,: Except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish. (Luke 13:3). It says that without holiness, no man shall see God. I have little hope at this point to think that Baptist Bill Clinton will see God except at the Great White Throne. And unless you have received a new heart through the new birth, you will join the multitude of fornicators and adulterers in Hell. For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. (Rom. 6:23)

Some Baptist (?) churches are now opening their doors to people who are openly homosexuals and lesbians. They are not only accepting them while they remain in their sins, but they are now performing homosexual marriages. This is now happening in some Southern Baptist Churches, as well as other kinds of Baptists. This is a shocking and alarming trend among Baptists, Methodists, and other denominations.

The Wake Forest Baptist Church, located on the campus of Wake Forrest (Baptist) University has now voted to allow their ministers to officiate at same-sex weddings. Less than 27% of those present voted against the motion to do this horrible thing. Please note that this is a Southern Baptist Church, located on the Campus of a Southern Baptist University. The Baptist State Convention is opposed to this, but there is nothing that they can do about it, unless they want to vote this Church out of the State Convention. The Baptist Press reported it as follows:

In a 90-33 vote, Wake Forest Baptist Church, Winston-Salem, N.C., will allow its ministers to officiate at same-sex weddings. The Nov. 15 vote also asked God to bless such unions but stopped short of an affirmation of same-sex unions in an earlier motion, according to a Nov. 16 report in the Winston-Salem Journal about the church's two-hour, 15-minute, closed-door, yet "emotion-packed" meeting. ''Regardless of how they phrase it, they're sanctioning same-sex marriage,'' Mac Brunson, president of the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina and a pastor in High Point, told the Journal. Brunson predicted the convention will sever its relationship with the church. In 1992, the state convention severed ties with two churches over homosexual issues after Pullen Memorial Baptist Church in Raleigh sanctioned a marriage-like union of two homosexual men and Binkley Memorial Baptist Church in Chapel Hill licensed a homosexual divinity student to the ministry. In October, Wake Forest Baptist Church voted to recognize and respect decisions to participate in same-sex unions and to approve using church facilities for such ceremonies, the Journal reported, noting some congregation members urged that the church be clearer and go beyond tolerance to affirmation. The church's Nov. 15 statement notes in part: ''... though we cannot, as a church, bless any relationship, we do with joy petition God, through Jesus Christ our Lord, that He bless, insofar as it conforms to his will, any and all loving, committed and exclusive relationships between two people.'' The Journal described the church's pastor, Richard Groves, as saying his church did not want to leave the North Carolina convention and he didn't think the statement would cause that to happen. The 325-member church was established on the campus of Wake Forest University in 1956, the year the college moved to Winston-Salem from Wake Forest near Raleigh. Officials of the Baptist-related university told the Journal the university has no governing power over the church. Groves told the Journal the statement is a compromise between those who wanted the church to affirm same-sex unions and their opponents. But Joe Foster of Winston-Salem, a sponsor of the original motion, told the Journal he was disappointed and voted against the statement. Foster and the co-sponsor of that motion, Susan Parker, also of Winston-Salem, are both open homosexuals and members of the church's deacon body. Parker told the Journal that the fact their ministers can now perform same-sex marriages should make homosexual and lesbian members more comfortable. The church has had a couple of requests to be the site of same-sex ceremonies but definite plans have not yet been made, pastor Groves told the newspaper. In the past 10 years, openly homosexual members have taken positions on the deacon board, in the choir and as Sunday school teachers, church members told the Journal. Not everyone has embraced these changes, and some members have left the church over its openness to homosexuals, the newspaper said. In 1992, the Southern Baptist Convention adopted a constitutional amendment declaring churches that approve homosexual behavior as "not in friendly cooperation" and thus not eligible to send messengers to annual convention meetings. Groves told the Journal the Winston-Salem church soon will begin deliberations over leaving the SBC.

It is no wonder that the Wake Forest Baptist Church feels comfortable in taking this position, even though they are located on the Campus of Wake Forest University. This Baptist (?) University has a bar right on the Campus, so that the students can get their alcohol at Shorty's Pub. The University does not want the students to have to face the danger of driving off of the Campus to get their drinks. They know that some students would get drunk and drive. Please read the quotation below from the Baptist Press report.

While stopping short of severing its ties with Wake Forest University despite the school's sale of alcohol on campus, North Carolina Baptists voted during its annual meeting Nov. 9-11 to affirm "all North Carolina colleges and universities that prohibit the sale of alcoholic beverages on campus ... ."

Wake Forest University's board of trustees has voted in recent years to allow the sale of alcoholic beverages on the Winston-Salem, N.C., campus at Shorty's Pub.

Last year, the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina directed the denomination's Council on Christian Higher Education to study the convention's "fraternal relationship" with the school "in light of the university's continued sale of alcoholic beverage on campus" and to express its displeasure with the university's decision.

Messengers attending the convention overwhelmingly approved a resolution Nov. 10 which states in part it "further strongly encourages all institutions of higher education to adopt similar policies" as those which prohibit alcohol sales on campus. The resolution, however, does not name Wake Forest University.

In its report to the convention, the study committee stated: "It is our sincere hope and prayer that the [Wake Forest] University will one day reconsider the wisdom of its decision to sell beverage alcohol on campus. Until such time we hope that N.C. Baptists and the University can continue to work together educating students and celebrating the positive good born out of our continuing relationship."

The council's report, among other items, cited Wake Forest University's annual contribution of more than $453,000 in scholarships for North Carolina Baptist students and its partnership with the state convention to pay the salary of the Baptist campus minister and the director of the Baptist Historical Collection housed in the university's Z. Smith Reynolds Library.

Wake Forest University and the state convention have shared a "fraternal relationship" since 1986. Under the relationship, the university does not receive any Cooperative Program funds from the state convention and the school elects its own trustees. The school was founded by the convention in the early 1830s.

Larry Harper, president of the convention's general board and pastor of Forrest Hills Church, Raleigh, N.C., and James Royston, executive director of the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina, have met with Wake Forest University President Thomas Hearn to discuss the issue.

University officials said providing the campus bar reduces the risk of students driving off campus to drink. (Emphasis ours ELB)

Following the convention's approval of the resolution, Kevin Cox, a university spokesman, told the Winston-Salem Journal the school currently has no plans to change how we operate Shorty's. "I think the university will be happy to see that there was no step taken to directly oppose us or have any language that would seem against us," Cox told the Journal.

Ray Davis, pastor of Green Meadows Baptist Church, Mocksville, N.C., made the motion last year that the state convention study the matter of alcohol sales at Wake Forest University and recommend action. Davis told the Winston-Salem Journal the resolution "gives Wake Forest a chance to reconsider and come back."

Convention President Mac Brunson told the Journal: "It's almost in my mind, like we're saying to the school: `One more time we're reaching out to you'."

The Baptist State Convention of North Carolina has many members that are embarrassed that their University allows the operation of Shorty's Pub. They have continued to dance around the mulberry bush, and have done nothing to stop it. They have a "fraternal relationship" with the University. They also accept the $453,000 in scholarships that the University gives to Baptist students. Even though that University tolerates a Church on their Campus that allows their ministers to perform homosexual marriages. The Pub has been operating on this Baptist Campus for quite some time, and nothing as been done about it. Of course the Baptists are good at appointing committees to study matters. The study it to death, and still they do nothing about it. In the past the North Carolina Baptists have removed two churches from their Convention. It remains to be seen what they will do about the homosexual Church and a University that has Shorty's Pub open for business.

Readers may be surprised that there is now an organized Association of Baptist (?) Churches that now welcome and affirm homosexuals and lesbians. They are organized and growing in the number of churches that are in their Association. The even have a Web Site that contains their purpose and a list of Churches that are members. This is a horrifying trend, and we suspect that this is only the tip of the iceberg. Below you will see some of the statements that they have on their Web Site.

Building a community committed to welcoming and affirming all persons regardless of sexual orientation into the full life and mission of American Baptist churches. ...all are one in Christ Galatians 3:28.

Who We Are: Members of the Association of Welcoming & Affirming Baptists are churches, organizations, and individuals who are willing to go on record as welcoming and affirming all persons without regard to sexual orientation, and who have joined together to advocate for the full inclusion of lesbian, gay, and bisexual persons within American Baptist communities of faith.

A Welcoming & Affirming (W&A) congregation is one which reaches out to the lesbian gay community with the message of the Good News of Jesus Christ and welcomes lesbian, gay, and bisexual Christians into full membership and participation.

The Association of Welcoming & Affirming Baptists was initiated at a gathering of pastors at the 1991 Biennial in Charleston, West Virginia, and was formally organized at the 1993 Biennial in San José, California. By 1995 the Association had grown to over 30 churches and organizations in Regions throughout the ABC/USA.

Our Mission: The mission of the Association of Welcoming & Affirming Baptists is to envision, create, and support a community of churches committed to actively affirm the inclusion of gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgendered persons into the full life and mission of local congregations and regional & national offices of the American Baptist Churches in the U.S.A. The mission of the Association is to create a community in solidarity, empowerment, and reconstruction committed to true peace and justice.

The Association of Welcoming & Affirming Baptists: invites and supports churches in the ABC/USA to enter thoughtful processes of dialogue and theological reflection leading to a full declaration of the local community in favor of inclusion of sexual minorities as a statement of holistic mission deeply rooted in Biblical principles and in Baptist polity and practice; and endeavors to create and maintain networks of communication and support within the ABC/USA and among other welcoming and affirming groups to create avenues of recognition, celebration, and validation of various ministries limited by prejudice based on sexual orientation until the official bodies take a stand to abolish any and all exclusionary policies and practices.

"By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another."

Some of the member Churches of this unholy Baptist Association are listed below. This information has been taken from their Web Page. Please notice that the first two churches listed are Southern Baptist Churches. We certainly would not want to leave the impression that most of those churches in the SBC would approve of this. No doubt the Wake Forest Baptist Church (SBC) of Winston Salem, NC, will soon be joining this Association. At least they should join, because of their stand for homosexuals.

Pullen Memorial Baptist, (SBC) Raleigh, NC; Olin T. Binkley Memorial Baptist Church, (SBC) Chapel Hill, NC; First Baptist Church of Berkeley, Berkeley, CA; Esther Hargis, Pastor*. Dolores Street Baptist Church, San Francisco, CA; Central Baptist Church, Hartford, CT; Riverside Baptist Church Washington, DC; Grace Baptist Church, Chicago, IL; Old Cambridge Baptist Church, Cambridge, MA; Park Street Baptist Church, Framingham, MA; Judson Memorial Baptist Church, Minneapolis, MN; Temple Baptist Church, Minneapolis, MN; University Baptist Church, Minneapolis, MN; Emmanuel Baptist Church, Albany, NY; Judson Memorial Church, New York, NY; Madison Ave. Baptist Church, New York, NY; The Riverside Church, New York, NY; Pullen Memorial Baptist, (SBC) Raleigh, NC; Olin T. Binkley Memorial Baptist Church, (SBC) Chapel Hill, NC; University Baptist Church, Anne Hall and Timothy Phillips, Co-Pastors, Seattle, WA, First Baptist Church, Madison, WI.

It is alarming that the battle is being lost among many denominations. The "in your face," push of homosexuals cannot be resisted by the liberal churches. The sodomites are pushy, brazen and persistent. They intend to prevail, no matter how long it takes.

The Lubbock Avalanche Journal of 11/14/98 carried the story of St. John's United Methodist Church, of Lubbock. This is an influential Methodist Church, and is located right across the street from the campus of Texas Tech University. This State University has over 25,000 students, and St. John's Methodist is well positioned to influence large numbers of University students with their pro-homosexual stance.

The LAJ gave well over one-half page write up, including pictures, to this Methodist Church that has joined the homosexual movement. Beth Pratt, the religion editor of the LAJ wrote the article. The story begins with the story of a homosexual and a lesbian. Their real names have been withheld, because they are afraid to let it be known that they are homosexual because of their jobs. Of course they tell a sad story (disgusting) of their experience of being sodomites. No where in the article from the LAJ are they called sodomites or homosexuals. We shall quote some from this article below.

(EDITOR'S NOTE: Marvin Daniels and Martha Wright are not identified by their real names because they fear for their jobs.)

Married and still in high school, at age 18 Marvin Daniels confided in his Baptist pastor of 10 years that he was confused about his sexuality.

"I didn't know what it was all about," Daniels said. "I was asking the question."

The pastor told him he would need to leave the church, and on the following Sunday "preached fire and brimstone."

There was no one else to talk to, Daniels said. "I had known him a long time, but he couldn't deal with it. Religion was a very important part of my life."

He did not tell his parents what had happened. Keeping Lubbock as his base, he left to work on ranches and in the oil fields for several years. Later, he took a temporary job at Methodist Hospital, and 21 years later, he is still working there.

Martha Wright, 49, seriously considered going into the ministry when she was in her late teens and early 20s, but her Presbyterian pastor told her "the world had enough do-gooders," she said, later realizing that his reaction was because she was female.

She was 27 when she met the woman she has lived with for 22 years.

"Neither of us had been involved in the mainstream church for 20 years," she said.

More than two years ago, the couple began attending St. John's United Methodist Church.

"I had heard good things about the church in general," she said. "We went in as a couple, and the church was friendly."

Daniels, 50, started attending St. John's several years ago and has been a member for 2 ½ years now.

All placed their memberships while the church was undergoing an intensive four-year study about whether it wanted to be publicly identified as a reconciling congregation.

Gathering their courage, Wright said, "we decided to put a face and name to it and spoke to a Sunday school class. I became active on the committee."

On Oct. 18, in church conference, the congregation voted to become a reconciling congregation. With 210 present, the vote was 155 in favor and 38 against.

The Rev. Bobby McMillan, pastor, said he was overwhelmed with the support. Now, he said, "I'm trying to say the real work of reconciliation is how we welcome each other in our disagreement." Some who were not in favor were "not so much against welcoming and affirming, but against taking on the label," McMillan said.

Tim Floyd served as chairman of the task force.

"It's been a long, hard road, but I'm glad in the end we took our time. I don't want anybody to feel we were forcing anything on them," Floyd said.

The church wrote its own statement, he said. "All the label (reconciling) means is we have made an official statement as a church that we want to be open and welcoming to all persons. That's really all it is."

Wright became familiar with St. John's because the Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays had its monthly meetings at the church.

"I heard Bobby speak," she said. "I am thrilled that St. John's has taken this action. Until churches take this step, things won't change in the community."

Older people have been more accepting than younger ones, she added. Although she and her partner have opted to be open with the church family about their relationship, they have safety and job concerns about being identified publicly, she said, mentioning the recent murder of Matthew Shepard.

"We've been very careful where we've fought our battles to be who we are. St. John's is the broadest area we've ever had, and it has not come without pain," Wright said.

What they really want at St. John's, and elsewhere, "is just have everybody accepted as people -- we're all human," she said.

McMillan said, "We don't have what a lot of people call the gay agenda. They just wanted to be a part of the life of the church without pretensions. People who know them (the gay and lesbian members) are seeing each other with new eyes."

The process of coming to the decision "has been one of the most demanding, stressful things I've ever been through, and at the same time, the most fulfilling moments of my entire ministry," McMillan added.

The church conference began at about 11:45 a.m. and lasted until 1:30 p.m. "It was one of the most gentle, loving conferences I've ever sat through," McMillan said. "There was no meanness. People gently and deeply expressed where they stood and how they felt. There was no applauding. One of my members said for him it was a spiritual experience, and I didn't know where he stood.

"We spent four years on it - the heights, depths, struggle, all the gamut of anger and grief. We did lose people we still love, and we gained wonderful, beautiful people."

One of the most important statements in the church's reconciling document, he said, is "We do not expect everybody to agree...but to be a part of our journey..."

The focus of being known as a reconciling church is not only "dealing with gays and lesbians, but also with their moms, dads, brothers, sisters and their children who are sitting in our congregations. They need to know there's a place in the church for their loved ones to be who they are," McMillan said.

"My own journey on this began many years before I came to St. John's, the result of parents and family members coming to talk to me about their children and loved ones. It was then I began to listen with new ears - the mid-'70s for me. Then gay and lesbians began talking to me from a pastoral standpoint."

Floyd said the resolutions to be a confessing and a transforming conference at the Northwest Texas Annual Conference in June provided an extra impetus for St. John's to take action.

"Obviously, we all should be transforming," he said, but in the context of those resolutions, it was "telling this group of people (homosexuals) they've got to be different before they are welcome. We don't require that of anybody else. We're all sinners. I don't like the idea of singling out one particular group."

In terms of the Judicial Court's ruling, Floyd said, "at the conference level, that may make sense."

At the church, he said, "we weren't necessarily trying to adopt a label, part of a movement or debate. I really don't think that was the spirit our church approached that with, but in part it was a reaction to what the conference did in June."

The main thing for him, Floyd said, is that he came away with "a real good feeling about our congregation, and my faith in the church affirmed, mainly because we can love each other as a body even though we don't necessarily agree."

The task force will continue, he said because "there is still work of reconciliation to be done. Our statement is a clear journey toward reconciliation.

"I'm not sure you ever get there, but we're called to keep striving toward it."

None of these people really consider what the Bible has to say on the subject of homosexuality. If they did, or cared, they would quickly reverse themselves on this issue. Listen to what the Bible says on this subject. Lev. 18:22, Thou shalt not lie with mankind, as with womankind: it is abomination. Lev. 20:13, If a man also lie with mankind, as he lieth with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination: they shall surely be put to death; their blood shall be upon them. Rom. 1:26-28, For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature: And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompence of their error which was meet. And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient.

Homosexuals cannot be saved from hell, if they will not repent of their sin, and turn to Jesus Christ. I Cor. 6:9, Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind. (Greek "arsenokoites"meaning "homosexuals").

It is possible that these people can be saved, but they must repent and turn from these sins. Paul went on to say that they could be washed, sanctified, and justified, but this was not so they could continue on in their sin. I Cor. 6:11, And such were (passed tense) some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God.

The only way these people can be helped, is to preach the truth to them. To take them into the Church without demanding that they change, is a sin against the homosexual, as well as against God.