'GREEN CHURCHES' ADOPT GORE'S EARTH WORSHIP—Ecumenical religious leaders--evangelical, mainline Protestant, Catholic, and Jewish--met Oct. 4 with V-P Al Gore to announce a 3-year, $4.5 million project to educate [brainwash] and activate the religious community toward environmental protection (11/22 Chr.Today). Carl Sagan attended. This National Religious Partnership for the Environment will prod churches to "integrate social justice and environmental concerns. A declaration being drawn up by ESA's Ron Sider and others presupposes a worst-case doomsday scenario (11/27 World), and exaggerates environmental dangers (12/13 USN&WR). A Roman Catholic church in Kentucky has conducted "environmental awareness" Masses in which garbage is carried into the sanctuary and symbolically removed.(12/13 New American). Another, in Maryland, has developed "a special liturgy for Earth Day Sunday in which every aspect of the worship is environmentally-oriented."

SLANG BIBLE FOR BLACKS—P.K. McCary's new slang version of the Pentateuch, Black Bible Chronicles, says: In the beginning, the Earth was a fashion misfit and the Garden of Eden's serpent was one bad dude. Cain wasted Abel and Noah was one cool brother (NTA). Ten Commandments: "You shouldn't diss the Almighty's name, using it in cuss words or rapping with one another: It ain't cool, and paycheck's a monster." (Frontline). God's warning to Noah: "I'm fed up with what's happenin' anymore, so I'm gonna do what I gotta do, and end things once and for all. Man, I'm gonna blow the brothers clear outa the water." McCary is working on a N.T. sequel, Rapping About Jesus.

'MAKING MERCHANDISE' OF CHRISTIANS?—II Peter 2:3 warns of false teachers who "through covetousness shall...make merchandise of you". A British vicar worried about empty collection plates wants to put a price on prayer in his church, forcing worshippers to pay $18 a week membership dues(12/6 Christian News). And, in Somerville, Mass. and Providence, R.I., a Franciscan friar handed out coupons giving Roman Catholics who confess sins 50 percent off their penance. They allow a church-goer who confesses and receives a penance of 30 Hail Marys, for example, to do only 15. He sees this as a good way to get ready for Easter, and to prevent a "spiritual recession."

CHARLES STANLEY & YOUR INNER CHILD—Did you know that "if the little boy or the little girl within you has not been dealt with, you do not know the God of this Book [Bible]"? TV pastor Charles Stanley explains, "I'm telling you that you can be saved by the grace of God and not know the God of this Bible." While Stanley may still preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ, he also preaches another gospel--the gospel of psychic determinism, healing the inner child, increasing self-worth, forgiving self, and learning that "the little boy in me doesn't have to control me," and that "I am SOMEBODY in the eyes of God." Such teachings are not surprising from one who recommends Rapha Hospital Treatment Centers, which specialize in psychiatry, psychological counseling, and self-esteem, which their brochure says is "at the core of all emotional problems and addictive disorders." (From Martin & Deidre Bobgan's PsychoHeresy Awareness Letter. Get this free newsletter, or send $5 for a Charles Stanley warning package to: 4137 Primavera Road, Santa Barbara, CA 93110.)

OUTCOME BASED EDUCATION—Free World Research's FWR Report ($20/yr., P.O. Box 4633, Des Moines, IA 50306), edited by Sarah Leslie, is an excellent fact-filled publication for keeping informed on O.B.E. and other public school dangers. FWR is sponsoring an OBE symposium in Des Moines, Feb.24-26, featuring top speakers on such topics as: O.B.E., Globalism, Multiculturalism, School-Based Clinics, etc. The 10/93 FWR Rpt. defined OBE as: Outrageously Bad Education, which de-emphasizes academics in favor of social engineering, socialization, socialism, and social skills. Outcome: A change in student values, beliefs, attitudes, and behavior to fit politically correct criteria.

VAN IMPE PRAISES GRAHAM—Dr. Jack Van Impe has recently promoted the Pope, and now he praises Dr. Billy Graham (11/21 telecast). He tells of starting out with Graham at a Youth For Christ Rally in Canada in 1948, then says of Graham: "How God has used this man since. And what a man of God he's been! You know, he taught me many things. And I remember when I used to read all the criticism heaped upon by right-wing Christians about his compromise because he was working with Episcopalians, Methodists, Presbyterians, Catholics, and, oh the barrage of hatred that came out of it, and many Christian publications. I was a little enamored by what they were saying. But as I look back now, Dr. Graham was right. Thank you, Dr. Graham. You've practiced the Word of God. Jesus said in John 17:21 that he wanted all of us to be one...And I thank God that this man led the way, though he was tremendously persecuted. Now he's in the winter of life, 75, has Parkinson's disease... We started with Billy Graham, and how he has shown us love, and [has been] our example...."

PASTOR PETER DURIK—(Cermak Baptist Church, 2042 W. Cermak Rd., Chicago, IL 60608) who sent us a tape of the above telecast, said: "The way Jack Van Impe exalts, extols, eulogizes and endorses Billy Graham and the pope, I'm afraid he will be endorsing next the prince of this world." Durik offers 10 booklets and an open letter to Luis Palau free to those who send $1 postage.

GRAHAM DOESN'T PREACH HELL FIRE IS LITERAL—The Nov.15 Time featured Billy Graham on its cover. An article said: "In his preaching...the temperatures of hellfire have been reduced..." Graham said: "When it comes to a literal fire, I don't preach it because I'm not sure about it." His salary is now $101,250 plus a $33,750 housing allowance. The Time article said: "Over the years, strict Fundamentalists came to see Graham as a traitor for his willingness to work with everyone--Catholics, Anglicans, even liberal modernists--to bring the unchurched into the tent." The Bible commands separation from apostate religious leaders. Time added: "By the 1980s he was joining the peace movement. He was pilloried in 1982 for speaking to a staged 'peace' conference in the Soviet Union and resolutely downplaying religious repression."

AMERICAN BAPTISTS INCHING TOWARD ROME?—The American Baptist Churches' In Mission (Nov-Dec) described how ABC deputy general secretary for cooperative Christianity Rev. Joan S. Parrott sat with 386 cardinals and bishops who surrounded Pope John Paul II at the Roman Catholic Church's World Youth Day in Denver last August. She was part of a nine-member ecumenical team including Protestant and Jewish leaders who were given a special banquet before the prayer vigil and met with the pope after his sermon. She had lavish praise for the ecumenical event.

ELLUL A UNIVERSALIST—French thinker Jacques Ellul is quoted in the 10/22 Sword from his What I Believe book: "....It is unthinkable that there should exist a place of suffering of torment, of the damnation of evil...Being love, God cannot send to Hell the creation He loved so much that He gave His only Son for it." Ellul's concept of Hell: "All are saved, but only those who hear the Gospel know it." He thus proclaims universal salvation. Ellul in other writings allows for Christian socialism, and praises Karl Marx. Fuller Seminary professor William Pannell, in a 2/15/85 C. Today review of an Ellul book, seemed to praise both Ellul and Marxism.

MOODY SAYS COLSON RIGHT TO ACCEPT AWARD—Some are trying to excuse Charles Colson's shameful acceptance of the Templeton prize by pointing to his "good message." The Chicago ceremony occurred during the Parliament of the World's Religions, and some of those delegates attended (see 9/1 CC). A Catholic cardinal presided over the program, which began with a Muslim speech and chant, and concluded with a "meditation" by a Buddhist monk during which some of the audience went into a trance.(11/93 Berean Call). An editorial in the 11/93 Moody Monthly says: "...Colson was right to accept his award...." It added: "In a day of resurgent pluralism, the church cannot afford to let the critics make us afraid of flexibility." To accept an award for "Progress in Religion" from an entity that likewise honors Hindu-Muslim-Buddhist-Jewish-Catholic "Progress in Religion" is hardly scripturally defensible by calling it "flexibility."

WOMEN BRETHREN PROBLEM—At an ecumenical radical feminist conference in Nov., twenty-five women from the liberal Church of the Brethren announced that they will no longer use the denomination's name because it is sexist. (12/13 CT). Participants at this "Re-imaging: Churches in Solidarity with Women" conference erupted in applause and stood in solidarity with the Brethren women. The WCC Church of the Brethren recently appointed a committee to study whether a committee should be appointed to study a change in this apostate denomination's name.

OMS NEW SEMINARY IN RUSSIA—OMS Int'l and the Korean Evangelical Holiness Church have opened Moscow Evangelical Christian Seminary in Russia (11/27 World). OMS Russia field director Harold Brown and Alexi Bichkov are vice-presidents. Bichkov is a retired leader of a registered Baptist Church group in Russia, and has long been identified by many as a KGB agent.

GRAND RAPIDS PROGRAM FEATURES NEW EVANGELICALS—The GARBC-approved Grand Rapids Baptist College & Seminary's 35th Annual Bible Conference, Feb. 21-25,will feature such speakers as: Drs. Warren Wiersbe, Howard Hendricks, David Burnham, David Jeremiah, and Ed Dobson. Most of these are ecumenically oriented, and should fit quite well with GRBC/S's broadening image (see 12/15 CC).

IBF/NA'S THE REVIEW—This is the official quarterly publication of the Independent Bapt. Fellowship of No. America. Subscriptions are $5/yr. from its editor, Dr.Richard Harris, 754 E. Rockhill Rd., Sellersville, PA 18960. The Nov. issue had an editorial on national declension, etc.; a report by IBFNA Moderator Dr. L. Duane Brown on fellowship vs. conventionism, and announcing the 1994 annual meeting at Merrillville, Ind. next June; a good article by Dr. Charles Dear on limits of associations, and lines of separation; an informative Perspectives page by Dr. Ralph Colas with warnings of New Evangelicalism at Denver Seminary (CBA), the blasphemy of the Jesus Seminar, etc.; and a report by David Norris on a third Iowa regional IBFNA meeting.

BOOKLETS AVAILABLE—Pastor Perry Rockwood (The Peoples Gospel Hour, P.O. Box 1660, Halifax, N.S. Canada B3J 3A1) has over 100 Bible Study Booklets, most at 30 cents each, 4/$1, plus postage. Some of the ones he sent us were on: Gambling, Booze, New Age, New Evangelicalism, & Humanism. He also publishes The Gospel Standard, $8/year.

10TH ANNIVERSARY!—With this issue, we celebrate our 10th anniversary. To God be the glory!

Send comments to ccemail2015@gmail.com