IS DEATH PENALTY 'STATE-SANCTIONED MURDER'?—Liberal clergy and the National Conference of Catholic Bishops have taken a strong stand against the death penalty. But Haven Bradford Gow, in the 9/11 Christian News says: "If, as the foes of capital punishment insist, capital punishment is state-sanctioned murder, then state imprisonment of rapists, child molesters, drug dealers, burglars and murderers is state-sanctioned kidnapping and state taxation on consumer goods is state-sanctioned theft...."

G-C WOMAN PASTOR DEFINES BEST/WORST WITNESS—Rev. Donna Hailson recently pastored a church in New Hampshire and is currently completing her Ph.D. at Stirling University in Scotland. She is one of four Gordon-Conwell Seminary alumni/ae pastors who debate the church's mandate for evangelism in G-C's Winter '95 Contact. She is quoted thusly: "...The best witness for Christianity is a loving, faithful Christian, and the worst witness for Christianity is a narrow, fundamental Christian...." [Perhaps one that would say a pastor is to be the husband of one wife?] Dr. Robert E. Cooley, a Pentecostal, succeeded Harold Ockenga as president of Gordon-Conwell in 1981. Dr. Billy Graham is chairman of G-C's board of trustees. Liberals and radicals are featured as speakers.

THE PC BIBLE—The folks at Oxford University Press have rewritten the New Testament and the Psalms to "purge them of their sexism, racism and social insensitivity." (9/17 HT). In this politically correct "Bible," the Father and Son become the Parent and Child. The "Lord's Prayer" starts: "Father-Mother, hallowed be your name, may your dominion come." The 9/11 Christian News says: "Also on the way this publishing season are a Bible written at a third-grade reading level for those for whom English is a second language, a senior's Bible, a Bible for women and a Bible for parents."

SHIRLEY DOBSON'S ECUMENICAL 'DAY OF PRAYER'—Shirley (Mrs. James) Dobson is chairman of the National Day of Prayer. Over 1,000 attended the Washington May 4 symbolic observance. Dobson said: "Following Rabbi Yechiel Eckstein's traditional Jewish call to prayer, the day featured extended times of petition and challenges from Dr. D. James Kennedy [and others]." Kennedy, Rabbi Joshua Habermann, and Father Paul D. Lee were liasons for this ecumenical event.

THREE-WAY CONTEST FOR POWER IN NEW WORLD ORDER—Catholic author Malachi Martin in his The Keys of This Blood book reveals the "Struggle for World Dominion Between Pope John Paul II and Mikhail Gorbachev." In three other books he has traced the steps by which the Church of Rome has been infiltrated by Marxism over the past 65 years. Martin shows how Communism now controls the Vatican and is ready to present it as the religious wing of its World Order; and how Marxism, through the Vatican, is involved in multiple pressure tactics to bring Israel "into global line." Wilson Ewin (our source for the above), after Israel's plea to Pope John Paul II and the Vatican for help in solving the Middle East crisis, has written a manuscript to warn Jewish people. You may get this from him at: PO Box 180, Norton, VT 05907. Martin's book also reveals the Vatican's role in the collapse of the Iron Curtain, and Pope John Paul II's far-reaching assessment of the three-way struggle now unfolding among the global powers--the Soviets, the West, and the Pope's universal Roman Church--a winner-take-all race to control the first one-world government.

10,000 PRIESTS HOMOSEXUALS?—Various surveys show that some 10,000 Roman Catholic priests in the U.S. may be homosexuals (9/11 Chr.News). Some bishops say that 40 percent of U.S. priests may be homosexually active. Up to 3,000 may be pedophiles. There are about 57,000 priests in the U.S. A 25-year study estimated that up to half do not uphold their vows of celibacy.

ED DOBSON SENIOR EDITOR OF CHRISTIANITY TODAY—Former Falwell associate Dr. Edward G. Dobson is Senior Pastor of Calvary Church in Grand Rapids, Mich., a megachurch founded in 1929 by Dr. M. R. DeHaan (who also founded Radio Bible Class). We now see Dobson listed as a "Senior Editor" of the mainline new-evangelical Christianity Today magazine. Billy Graham is Chairman of the Board. Roman Catholics and liberal denom leaders are Advisory Editors. Dobson (and Falwell) over a decade ago called for Fundamentalists and [New] Evangelicals to unite. Dobson said those who declare "the Papacy is of anti-Christ" are "extremists". In a 1993 book, Dobson says he uses rock music in his church, and says rock is "the musical style that I love and listen to." (See 4/15/94 CC). His church hosted the 1988 IFCA convention, and he was named 1993 "Pastor of the Year" by Moody Bible Institute.

EVANGELICALS NOW LESS CONCERNED FOR DOCTRINE—In the August 14 Christianity Today, Managing Editor Michael G. Maudlin said: "As a movement, [evangelicals] are in a new place. God has blessed us with many churches, colleges, seminaries, publishing houses, and ministries. Pre-serving the fundamental doctrines of the faith is no longer the anxious concern it was a generation ago; now the issue is maturing along with our success..." Billy Graham is founder and chairman of the board of Christianity Today, the mainline new-evangelical magazine. Ed Dobson is a new Senior Editor of CT. MBI-President Joseph Stowell and Warren Wiersbe are listed with Roman Catholics and liberal denom leaders as "Advisory Editors" of CT. Wiersbe was the featured speaker for the GARBC's 6/95 annual meeting, and earlier this year joined the staff of GARBC-related Grand Rapids Seminary.

CHRISTIAN RECONSTRUCTIONISM, DOMINION THEOLOGY—Reconstructionists believe that Christians are mandated by God to bring all social and political institutions under the authority of God's law, to secure dominion over the world, thus setting up the kingdom of God on earth in readiness for Christ's return.[Pastor Tom Coffman's 5-page analysis in the 9/95 OBF Visitor is our source for this article- 10 copies $3, 3865 N. High St., Columbus, OH 43214]. Under reconstructionism, the death sentence would apply to murder, striking/cursing parents, unchastity, homosexuality, rape, apostasy, idolatry, unfulfilled prophesying, disobedience of a court order, and a host of other offenses. Reconstructionist Gary North advocates biblical stone-throwing as the divinely instituted method of execution. But in John 8, our Lord does not want the woman taken in adultery to be stoned to death. Neither does Paul advocate stoning for the Corinthian sinner (1 Cor. 5). Some laws applied only to the nation of Israel. The moral laws are our "schoolmaster," but where in the New Testament do we find the death sentence upheld for a rebellious son, a homosexual or a medium?

ACCC MEETS THIS MONTH—The 54th Annual Convention of the American Council of Christian Churches will be held in St. Louis (Overland), Mo., Oct. 24-26. Speakers include ACCC Exec. Sec'y Dr. Ralph Colas, Pres. Dr. E. Allen Griffith, V-P Dr. Richard Harris, WCBC Chairman Dr. Jim Fields, Clearwater Christian College President Dr. George Youstra, Dr. Robert Mayer, and Dr. Robert Anderson. Also on the agenda is a panel discussion of Promise Keepers and other current issues of our day. Dr. Russ Carnagey (Lackland Road Bapt. Church) is host pastor. For more info, call Debbie Racz or Dr. Colas at 610/566-8154.

CATHOLIC CHARISMATICS—Missions researcher David Barrett says the Pentecostal/charismatic movement adds 54,800 adherents a day. It comprises 25% of the world's Christians, 460 million people, including 100 million Catholic charismatics (9/95 Berean Call). About half of the participants at the recent Congress on the Holy Spirit and World Evangelization in Orlando were Catholics. Speakers included a Catholic priest, Benny Hinn, Jack Hayford, Pat Robertson and Paul Crouch. Hayford said relationships can form without a "meltdown of ideologies," and that the Holy Spirit can blend and bond without sacrificing uniqueness and individuality. The charismatic movement is an ecumenical vehicle for building the anti-Christ one-world church.

BIBLICAL INTOLERANCE—All false teaching is to be hated, exposed, and opposed. Our Lord denounced evil and engaged in very negative name-calling regarding false teachers (see Matt. 23). Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones said (4/95 Aust. Beacon): "There can be little doubt that the Church is as she is today because we do not follow New Testament teaching and its exhortations, and confine ourselves to the positive and the so-called 'simple Gospel,' and fail to stress the negatives and the criticisms. The result is that people do not recognize error when they meet it...[and] often help propagate false teaching because they see nothing wrong in it...."

BARNHOUSE & S.D.A.—Donald Grey Barnhouse pastored Tenth Presbyterian Church, Philadelphia, for over three decades. He was an outstanding orator and author. But in typical new-evangelical fashion, he compromised with liberals in his later years. He called neo-orthodox Karl Barth "perhaps the greatest Protestant theologian of the twentieth century." (9/30/83 Bib. Ev.). Barnhouse and charismatic Walter Martin entered into "sweet fellowship," as they put it, with leaders of Seventh-Day Adventism. Miles Stanford lists some SDA heresies: 1) The Sanctuary-investigative judgment; 2) Christ's assumption of a sinful nature; 3) Sabbath-keeping; 4) OT dietary restrictions; 5) Partial atonement at Calvary; 6) Conditional immortality; 7) Soul sleep; and 8) Annihilation of the lost.

MODERN 'CHURCHES'—The No. Heartland Community Church in Platte Woods, Mo. "is...for people who think they don't like church. [It has] no hymns, no Scripture readings and no chance this would be mistaken for a traditional Sunday service." *** Donald G. Barnhouse's Tenth Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia, now pastored by James M. Boice, is using disarming ads "to attract professionals". One ad said: "Jesus Hated Church, Too. It's boring. The people are phony. The politics are less than righteous. Jesus hated the same things. But he never used it as an excuse not to worship. Maybe he knew something you don't. Find out this Sunday." Eph. 5:25 says Jesus LOVED the church and died for it. How can a so-called evangelical church use such irreverent nonsense, even if with good intentions?

CHRISTIAN NEWS STILL A BARGAIN—It is a 24-page weekly (exc. Aug.) independent Lutheran paper, chock-full of news. It is one of this editor's main information sources for news about Promise Keepers, Catholicism, and other current topics. The editor is Herman Otten. At $25/yr., even if you only read or agree with half the material, it is still a bargain for those who wish to stay informed. A huge Chr. News Encyclopedia of past articles is also available. The address: 3277 Boeuf Lutheran Road, New Haven, MO 63068.