1 Timothy 4: 1,6 “But the Spirit explicitly says that in later times some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons…… In pointing out these things to the brethren, you will be a good servant of Christ Jesus, {constantly} nourished on the words of the faith and of the sound doctrine which you have been following.”
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The Persecuted Church SAUDI ARABIA JAILS INDIAN NATIONAL FOR PREACHING. Friday Church News Notes, June 18, 2004 (David W. Cloud, Fundamental Baptist Information Service, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061, fbns@wayoflife.org, http://www.wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The following is from Compass Direct, June 10: “An Indian national abducted and tortured by Saudi Arabia's religious police for ‘spreading Christianity’ remains jailed without trial 10 weeks after his detention. Brian Savio O’Connor, 36, was accosted in the Mursalat district of Riyadh on the evening of March 25 by four agents of the muttawa (religious police). After seeing his Saudi identity card listing O’Connor as a Christian, they dragged him to a nearby muttawa office, chained his legs and hung him upside down for seven hours. The four intermittently beat him on the chest and ribs and whipped the soles of his feet with electrical wires. In response to questions, O’Connor declared that he did preach the Bible, but denied converting Muslims to Christianity. At 2 a.m., the muttawa took O'Connor to the Olaya police station and ordered him put under arrest on charges of preaching Christianity, selling liquor and peddling drugs. A cargo agent for Saudia Airlines for the past six years, O’Connor, currently shares a windowless cell with 16 other inmates at Al-Hair Prison.” CHRISTIAN BEATEN TO DEATH IN CUSTODY IN CHINA. Friday Church News Notes, July 9, 2004 (David W. Cloud, Fundamental Baptist Information Service, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061, fbns@wayoflife.org, http://www.wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The following is from “Woman dies over Bibles,” published on the South African news24.com, July 4: “A 34-year-old woman has allegedly been beaten to death in jail on the day she was arrested for handing out Bibles in southwest China’s Guizhou province, state media said on Sunday. Police in Guizhou's Tongzi county arrested Jiang Zongxiu, a farmer, on June 18 on suspicion of ‘spreading rumors and inciting to disturb social order’, the Legal Daily said. They had planned to detain her for 15 days, the report said, alleging Jiang died in police custody the afternoon she was arrested. Her mother-in-law, Tan Dewei, who was arrested with Jiang but later released, told reporters police kicked Jiang repeatedly during interrogation. Police later informed Jiang’s family she had died of a sudden illness and turned over her body to the family, but relatives saw the body was covered with bruises and blood stains, the report alleged. Jiang’s husband and other villagers in neighboring Chongqing municipality, where Jiang lived, said she was in good health before the arrests and was responsible for doing most of the family's farm work.” PASTOR ARRESTED IN VIETNAM. Friday Church News Notes, July 9, 2004 (David W. Cloud, Fundamental Baptist Information Service, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061, fbns@wayoflife.org, http://www.wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The following is from Compass Direct, June 16: “Rev. Nguyen Hong Quang, a religious liberty activist and Mennonite church leader, was arrested on June 8. His home at the Mennonite church and office in Ho Chi Minh City’s District 2 was ransacked, and officers seized personal papers, legal documents, money, computers and human rights files. Leaders of the Vietnam Evangelical Fellowship (VEF) believe one or more of the four Mennonite church workers arrested on March 2 may have cracked under torture and provided ‘evidence’ to arrest Quang. Rev. Quang has called attention to the illegal detention and abuse of the church workers still being held without formal charges more than three months after their arrest.”
Homosexual News “RAINBOW-COLORED” COMMUNION BREAD AT METHODIST GATHERING. Friday Church News Notes, June 25, 2004 (David W. Cloud, Fundamental Baptist Information Service, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061, fbns@wayoflife.org, http://www.wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The following is from AgapePress, June 15: “Evangelical students are outraged over displays of homosexual activism at the United Methodist Student Movement’s leadership conference. Hundreds of Methodist college students and campus ministers gathered at United Methodist Church-affiliated Hendrix College in Conway, Arkansas, in late May for ‘Student Forum 2004.’ The attendees took part in Bible studies, worship services, and community outreach, and also debated various resolutions. However, students like Ross Stark of Mississippi were disturbed by the large number of pro-homosexual measures that were discussed, as well as a communion service that included multicolored bread. Stark, who contends the bread signified approval of homosexuality, says he was offended by use of the multicolored bread as well as by the fact that the communion service was used to make a political statement. ‘It was the fact that they know very well that the rainbow has been taken as a pro-homosexual sign, and then they incorporated the different colors of bread with that,’ the 20-year-old student says.” MTV TO LAUNCH HOMOSEXUAL NETWORK. Friday Church News Notes, June 18, 2004 (David W. Cloud, Fundamental Baptist Information Service, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061, fbns@wayoflife.org, http://www.wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - MTV Networks, a division of Viacom, has announced its plan to launch a homosexual-themed cable TV network next year. The network will be called LOGO. Tom Freston, chairman and CEO of MTV Networks, said homosexuals are an “important and influential audience.” Content will be developed in collaboration with other Viacom networks, including Showtime, CBS News, VH1, MTV, Comedy Central and TV Land (CNSNews, May 25). Sodom would have loved LOGO. ANOTHER HOMOSEXUAL ORDAINED IN THE UNITED METHODIST CHURCH. Friday Church News Notes, July 2, 2004 (David W. Cloud, Fundamental Baptist Information Service, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061, fbns@wayoflife.org, http://www.wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - Bishop Elias Galvan has appointed a homosexual woman to pastor the Woodland Park United Methodist Church in Seattle, Washington. Katie Ladd, who announced her homosexuality three years ago, will be the third homosexual pastor at Woodland Park. She is scheduled to assume the pastorate on July 1. In writing, the United Methodist Church disallows practicing homosexuals from being ordained, but the law is not enforced. Of course, a woman is not qualified to be a pastor even if she is not a homosexual (1 Tim. 2:12; 3:1-2). The Episcopal Diocese of Vermont has created a liturgy for the blessing of same-sex unions. “There isn’t another diocese that has this complete a policy, with theological background supporting it, the liturgy itself and resources for the couple,” said church official Stan Baker. The church will provide structured pastoral counseling for these “holy unions,” he said. The Vermont diocese is acting in response to Vermont’s civil union laws. (Miami Herald, 6/23/04) PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH USA VOTES DOWN HOMOSEXUAL ORDINATION -- BARELY. Friday Church News Notes, July 9, 2004 (David W. Cloud, Fundamental Baptist Information Service, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061, fbns@wayoflife.org, http://www.wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church USA rejected a measure to approve the ordination of “active” homosexuals. The vote was 259 against and 255 in favor. Such a “victory” is meaningless from a biblical perspective. Any denomination that has even one church delegate that supports homosexual ordination and is not immediately disciplined is apostate. The denomination’s moderator, Rick Ufford-Chase, consoled the homosexual supporters following the vote. He has stated his support for homosexual ordinations. Delegates to the Assembly also voted to urge state legislatures to legalize homosexual “civil unions,” which is a clever side door to full marriage rights and which, if allowed, will eventually result in persecution against Bible believers. The Presbyterians also denounced the U.S. invasion of Iraq, condemned the “torture and abuse of prisoners” by U.S. personnel at the Abu Ghraib prison, and approved a measure to divest in companies that do business in Israel. They further announced their conviction that the state of Israel does not play a role in biblical prophecies related to the end times. They were silent in their condemnation of Islamic terrorism and had nothing positive to say about America. Abortion News Federal judge Phyllis Hamilton (who was nominated to her position by President Bill Clinton) has struck down a congressional ban on partial-birth abortion. Among the court’s arguments were these: “The fetus must have developed some form of consciousness to be said to ‘feel pain.’ The only way that an outside observer can determine whether any entity feels pain is if the entity communicates distress to the observer.… [F]etuses are unable to communicate, so it is impossible to determine conclusively if the stress responses seen in fetuses in fact translate into an actual pain response.” The court said that there is “no consensus of medical opinion on [that] issue.” The court also cast doubt on the testimony of the ob-gyn experts whom the U.S. government enlisted to defend the partial-birth abortion ban. The court found all of the plaintiffs’ experts “not only qualified to testify as experts, but credible witnesses.” However, the court argued, “Of the four government witnesses who were qualified as experts in ob-gyn, all revealed a strong objection either to abortion in general or, at a minimum, to the D&E [Dilation and Extraction, also called “partial-birth”] method of abortion. The court finds that their objections to court also cast doubt on the testimony of the ob-gyn experts whom the U.S. government enlisted to defend the partial-birth abortion ban. The court found all of the plaintiffs’ experts “not only qualified to testify as experts, but credible witnesses.” However, the court argued, “Of the four government witnesses who were qualified as experts in ob-gyn, all revealed a strong objection either to abortion in general or, at a minimum, to the D&E [Dilation and Extraction, also called “partial-birth”] method of abortion. The court finds that their objections to entirely legal and acceptable abortion procedures color, to some extent, their opinions on the contested intact D&E procedure.” That is, because the doctors testifying against D&E oppose other forms of legal abortion, they cannot be trusted to provide accurate testimony about D&E. (news.findlaw.com, 6/1/04 Theology and Denominational News FOURSQUARE & MCPHERSON-The International Church of the Foursquare Gospel was founded in 1923 by flamboyant Pentecostalist preacher Aimee Semple McPherson. Jack Hayford's Church on the Way is the largest Foursquare church. Pat Boone has served as elder. Foursquare was one of the first to fully embrace the charismatic movement. Foursquare teaches healing, tongues-speaking, prophecy (3/15/93 CC). “Foursquare” referred to McPherson's understanding of Christ's role as savior, baptizer, healer, and coming king. Scandal repeatedly touched her personal life. Thrice-married she may have participated in a staged kidnapping of herself in 1926. Foursquare delegates in June elected Hayford as new president (6/14 C.News). He has spoken at Lausanne II, a Robert Schuller conference, and other ecumenical events. CHARISMATIC SOUTHERN BAPTISTS. Friday Church News Notes, July 9, 2004 (David W. Cloud, Fundamental Baptist Information Service, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061, fbns@wayoflife.org, http://www.wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - There is a movement of the most radical aspects of the Charismatic movement within the Southern Baptist Convention today. Three of the men that are associated with this move are Jack Taylor, Ron Phillips, and Gary Folds, all of whom have accepted the unscriptural nonsense occurring at the Toronto Airport Church in Ontario and/or at Brownsville Assembly of God in Pensacola, Florida. This “revival” takes the form of uncontrollable laughter, falling on the floor, barking like a dog and roaring like a lion, electric shocks, weird shaking, and other bizarre experiences. Jack Taylor is a former vice president of the Southern Baptist Convention. Taylor was converted to the “Toronto Blessing” when he visited there in 1994. Since then he has spoken frequently on the radical Trinity Broadcasting Network and similar Charismatic forums. He founded Dimension Ministries and is busy influencing Southern Baptists and others with his unscriptural doctrines. Ron Phillips is pastor of Central Baptist Church of Hixson, Tennessee. His annual Fresh Oil & New Wine Conference, which features speakers such as Rodney Howard-Browne, the “Holy Ghost Bartender,” draws hundreds of Southern Baptist pastors and church members. Gary Folds is pastor of the First Baptist Church in Belle Glade, Florida. He has written a book promoting the Toronto “Blessing” entitled “Bull in a China Shop: A Baptist Pastor Runs into God at Toronto.” He describes being “slain” in the Spirit and other such things. Another former Southern Baptist who has influenced many with radical charismaticism is James Robison. In his 1988 book “Thank God, I’m Free,” Robison described his charismatic experience, and ever since then he has refused to preach against error and give warnings as he once did. I heard Robison speak at New Orleans ’87 (which featured attendees from 40 denominations, including roughly 20,000 Roman Catholics), and he said that the pope is the most moral man in the world and he implied that the pope is saved. Robison has influenced many Southern Baptists to accept the dangerous Charismatic movement and to walk in a more careless ecumenical fashion. ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY AND PRESIDENT OF BAPTIST UNION BACK NEW BIBLE TRANSLATION THAT ENCOURAGES FORNICATION. Friday Church News Notes, July 2, 2004 (David W. Cloud, Fundamental Baptist Information Service, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061, fbns@wayoflife.org, http://www.wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - Dr. Rowan Williams, the Anglican Archbishop of Canterbury, has come out in strong support of a new Bible translation that encourages fornication. The “As Good as New” version of 1 Corinthians 7:1-2, 8-9 says: “Some of you think the best way to cope with sex is for men and women to keep right away from each other. That is more likely to lead to sexual offences. My advice is for everyone to have a regular partner. ... There’s nothing wrong with remaining single, like me. But if you know you have strong needs, get yourself a partner. Better than being frustrated.” Thus, this Bible says that what the world really needs are more regular sexual partners. This version replaces demon possession with mental illness, calls the apostle Peter “Rocky,” changes “Son of Man” to “the Complete Person,” and otherwise boldly perverts the Word of God. “As Good As New” is advertised as “women, gay, and sinner friendly.” In his foreword to the new “Bible,” Williams calls it a book of “extraordinary power” and says, “I hope that this book will help the secret to be shared, and to spread in epidemic profusion through religious and irreligious alike.” I wonder what secret he is talking about? John Rackley, President of the Baptist Union of Great Britain, also endorses “As Good As New,” saying: “I recommend his [Henson’s] work to anyone who enjoys an unpredictable reading of Scripture” (http://www.o-books.net/goodasnew.htm). The translation coordinator of “As Good as New” is John Henson, a retired Baptist pastor. ACCUSED PRIESTS MOVED FROM COUNTRY TO COUNTRY. Friday Church News Notes, June 25, 2004 (David W. Cloud, Fundamental Baptist Information Service, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061, fbns@wayoflife.org, http://www.wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - According to an 18-month investigation by the Dallas Morning News, between 100 and 200 Catholic priests were moved from country to country after being accused of sex offenses against minors. The first in the series of reports was published on Sunday, June 20. Reporter Brooks Edgerton, who appeared on the National Public Radio Morning Edition program on June 18, said: “We have found a systematic practice of moving the most serious abuse cases on to other countries to protect the accused.” Society at It’s Best Sin City’s tourism board pays the ad agency of Billy Vassiliadis, Las Vegas’s most powerful unelected man, $65 million each year to advertise its casinos and other attractions. His current campaign openly pitches his town as the place where you can get away with sin. “What happens here, stays here” is “Billy V’s” popular tagline. The New York Times (6/4/04) calls the television commercials featuring the line “highly suggestive”: a young man marries an older woman at a little chapel but she has to leave quickly (to return to her husband and kids?); four women in a limo laugh uproariously about some exploit left undescribed; an elderly couple lies to their kids over the phone about their entertainment plans. Billy V. defends his ad campaign: “It’s about feeling unshackled by societal norms,” he said. “People come here and lose themselves in their own notion of what personal freedom is.” A Boston Globe columnist recently repeated the claim that before Roe v. Wade 10,000 American women died each year because of botched abortions. That figure is a fiction, says the Chicago Reader (5/28/04). The official number of abortion-related deaths in 1972, the year before Roe, was 39. Bernard Nathanson, an abortion doctor and cofounder of NARAL (National Association for the Repeal of Abortion Laws, now called NARAL Pro-Choice America), actually switched over to the pro-life side some years ago. He commented about the 10,000 figure: “In NARAL we generally emphasized the drama of the individual case, not the mass statistics, but when we spoke of the latter it was always ‘5,000 to 10,000 deaths a year.’ I confess that I knew the figures were totally false, and I suppose the others did too if they stopped to think of it. The New York Times Magazine is not known for its conservative position on sexual morality, yet a recent article concludes that casual teenage sexuality is bringing terrible pain to America’s youth. The author spent several months talking with teenagers in chat rooms and in real life, and he says of teens who “hook up”: “Underneath the teenage bravado I heard so often are mixed feelings about an activity that can leave them feeling depressed, confused and guilty.” But what the author goes on to describe is worse than “mixed feelings”: fornication leaves guys feeling dirty and girls feeling used. And even feminists are realizing that the sexual liberation they have fought for is not beneficial for women. Sociologist Marline Pearson says, “I think girls had more power in the 1960’s, when they said: ‘O.K., you want to get to first base? This is what you have to do.’ Today it’s: ‘O.K., you want to get to third base? Come over.’ I’m a feminist, but I think we’ve put girls back in the dark ages.” (5/30/04 |