VOL. XIV  NO. 18  NEWS & VIEWS, NOTES & QUOTES, TO WARN & INFORM   September 15, 1997

NCC OFFICIAL ENDORSES PP SEX-ED VIDEO- A new Planned Parenthood sex-education video ("Talking About Sex") carries the enthusiastic endorsement of American Baptist minister Rev. Joe Leonard, a senior official from the National Council of Churches who is responsible for this ecumenical group's Christian education (8/22 Human Events). The PP video kit calls abortion "safe" and homosexuality "fulfilling," and seems to OK unmarried sex.

EUTHANASIA SLIPPERY SLOPE-- The Netherlands has moved from euthanasia for the terminally ill to euthanasia for the chronically ill, from euthanasia for physical illness to euthanasia for psychological distress, and from voluntary to involuntary euthanasia (9/97 Reader's Digest). Once killing is allowed in some cases, it's easier for doctors to cross the line into ever grayer areas. A patient's "right to die" subtly becomes a "duty to die" and a doctor's "license to kill." Jack Kevorkian - "Dr. Death" - has assisted in at least 45 "suicides." Many were not terminally ill and a few showed no signs of disease. The media legitimize Kevorkian's activities by calling him a doctor, but they don't tell that his medical license was suspended in 1991.

MORMONISM BIG, BUT A FALSE CULT- Mormonism is one of the fastest growing religions in the world. It claims to be Christian, but is not. Mormons believe in another Jesus, a different spirit, and a false gospel (9/97 Moody). Their founder/Prophet Joseph Smith was involved in the occult. Of 112 revelations he claimed to receive, 88 pertained to fiscal matters (8/4 Time). Mormonism is confusing because it uses Bible words but with different meanings. No Mormon cities in the Book of Mormon have been found. No Hebrew inscriptions have been found in Indian ruins. No ancient copies of transcripts or manuscripts (or pieces) of the Book of Mormon have ever been found. Historical facts contradict the Book of Mormon. A former Mormon says polygamy is alive and growing in Utah and the West (7/14 Chr. News). Mormons own the top beef ranch in the world - the 312,000-acre Deseret Cattle & Citrus Ranch outside Orlando, Fla. Its AgReserves in Salt Lake City is the largest producer of nuts in America.

KUBLER-ROSS, PROPHET OF DEATH—Psychiatrist Elizabeth Kubler-Ross's 1969 book On Death and Dying helped launch the hospice movement in America. She became involved in the 1970s with a New Age cult, "spirit guides," and practiced "out of body" experiences (1/15/91 CC). Her husband divorced her. She now, incapacitated by strokes, sits home in Arizona "smoking cigarettes, watching TV and waiting to die." (Dr. Hugh Pyle, 8/22 Sword). She says: "I don't give a hoot about the afterlife, reincarnation or anything. I'm finished, and I'm not coming back."

PAGAN REVIVAL IN CHRISTIAN AMERICA—This is the sub-title of a big new book by evangelical scholar Dr. Peter Jones (Westminster Seminary) entitled Spirit Wars. It is chock-full of vital documentation on New Agers, radical feminists, the homosexual agenda, witchcraft and goddess worship, and Gnosticism. It names names and gives quotations. People like Mollenkott, Fox, Jung, Bultmann, Ruether, Daly, and many more. The 5-page index enhances its value as a reference book. Jones depicts the collision of two world views: pagan monism and theism - the earth goddess and the God who made heaven and earth. "Monism teaches people to 'look for god within you,' while theism seeks to direct man's eyes outward and upward toward God." Order the book from Main Entry Editions, P.O. Box 952, Siloam Springs, AR 72761 (1-800-574-2978).

NEW BIBLE FOR GLOBAL RELIGION—Episcopal Bishop William Swing and comrades are trying to establish a UR (United Religions) and Global Ethic to harness religions to serve a world church and government. Former Soviet ruler Gorbachev, as a self-appointed environmental messiah, is framing an Earth Charter to fuse socialism and mysticism into a UN-approved new world religion (8/18 New Amer.). Dr. Peter Jones' new book warns of a proposed new World Bible to "provide theological foundations for the New Age gospel of egalitarian feminism, sexual androgyny in all its perverse forms, the unity of all religions, the denial of sin, the rejection of the atonement, in a word, the extreme paganization of the Christian faith."

MOLLENKOTT A HOMOSEXUAL-Virginia Mollenkott, a "deconstructed" evangelical, is actually a pro-abortion feminist New Ager (11/1/93 CC), and "a practicing lesbian who promotes adultery and repudiates the Christian faith" (11/25 Chr. News). She is quoted as follows in the pro-gay Evangelicals Concerned's Spring 1997 Record concerning Ellen's recent "coming out": "I came of age in the 1940s and 1950s, discovering my own sexuality at a time when only negative information was available to me. I was one of the many gay teenagers who have attempted suicide, because we cannot fit in - one of those to whom Ellen dedicated her dual coming-out. When the show ended, I sat thinking about the parties all over the country. I thought of the many gay women and men celebrating perhaps the most public affirmation we had ever received."

CATHOLICS APPEAL SEXUAL-ABUSE JUDGMENT— A Dallas jury recently ordered the Catholic diocese there to pay a record $119.6 million for covering up for an ex-priest accused of molesting altar boys. Rudy Kos' sexual-abuse victims were as young as nine when he began, yet his superior tries to shift blame to the parents and kids.

ED DOBSON & HOMOSEXUALS—Dr. Ed Dobson pastors Calvary Church (Grand Rapids), the old M.R. DeHaan church. It hosted the 1988 IFCA convention. Dobson, an Advisory Editor of Christianity Today, seems to be headed in an ever more leftward course. His "Saturday Night" services feature rock music. In the 5/20/96 CT Dobson says: "Our church is on a journey of discovering the social implications of the gospel." He has had an intensive ministry with/to homosexuals, and including the pro-homosexual Metropolitan Community Church (8/1/93 CC). Dobson said, "If our church gets overrun with homosexuals, that will be terrific." His attitude-toward-AIDS message has traveled as far as the World Council of Churches, which invited him to sit on an HIV consulting group the past two and a half years (8/11 CT). He seemingly has strayed far from where he was over a decade ago when he, as a Falwell associate, claimed to be a Fundamentalist. But, as many warned, he was already headed in a new-evangelical direction.

GRAHAM'S METHODOLOGY—In his review of Billy Graham's "book of the century," Just As I Am, Columbia International University president emeritus Robertson McQuilkin writes (8/11 CT): "It is clear that Billy's approach is open and warm to everyone - Catholic, Orthodox, liberal. Everyone but fundamentalists. His unswerving commitment to ecumenical inclusivism is a central theme. So his theological blood brothers, the fundamentalists, won't follow him. It is disingenuous to say that they are alienated from Graham because fundamentalists as a class are more hypocritical and unloving than others. Nor is it fair to say they should not be so rigid about methodology. For them it's not method; it's doctrine. They believe it sinful disobedience to cooperate with unbelievers in spiritual ministry. Billy studiously disregards many doctrines that divide Christendom and majors on what unites...His emphasis is on the unity of the faith more than the purity of it. His ministry is evangelism. [He defines] racism as a moral issue (to be pursued) and abortion a political issue (to be avoided) Billy consciously avoids/downplays theological distinctions. It's clear [?] that he adheres to the fundamentals of the faith because he says so." !

PK PIQUES IRELAND'S IRE—National Organization for Women (NOW) president Patricia Ireland last month announced a national "No Surrender" campaign in which NOW plans to portray Promise Keepers as a conservative political group intent on forcing women into subservient roles (8/30 H. Times). PK denies this and expects to draw several hundred thousand men to Washington, DC Oct. 4 for an ecumenical spiritual rally. Attendance at its 1997 stadium events was down by about 25 percent. One reason: Many plan instead to go to the Washington rally. PK's 1997 budget was $117 million.

PLURALISM, RELATIVISM, NO ABSOLUTE TRUTH The message of pluralism is that all truth is relative and that all religious beliefs - even those that flatly contradict each other - deserve equal respect. Researcher George Barna says: "Among 'born-again' Christians, 2 out of 3 say there is no absolute truth. That's pretty frightening." He added: "Forty-five percent believe that Jesus was a sinner." (9/97 Moody). Pluralism tracer Mark Albrecht says: "At the turn of the century, between 1 and 2 percent of [Americans] believed in reincarnation. Today, between 28 and 30 percent believes in reincarnation."

LU'S INTERIM PRESIDENT—Liberty University has hired John Borek - an academician with financial expertise - as its interim president following the abrupt retirement of founding president (now is LU chaplain) A. Pierre Guillerman (9/1 CT). Falwell remains chancellor.

SBC-CATHOLIC DIALOGUE—In 1989 a Southern Baptist - Roman Catholic dialogue group issued a 163-page joint report of basic agreement on what it means to be followers of Christ (12/1/90 CC). We received a flyer last month advertising a national conference on cults and the occult to be held at SBC's Beeson Divinity School (Samford University), Sept. 19-21, sponsored by Beeson, Watchman Fellowship, and Evangelical Ministries to New Religions. The flyer listed the speakers as: Drs. Norman Geisler, Wayne House, Ronald Enroth, Timothy George, and Mark Coppenger. It said of the latter, who is president of the SBC's Midwestern Seminary: "Dr. Coppenger is also a participant in the annual SBC/National Council of Catholic Bishops dialogue." With a speaker engaged in dialogue with a most flagrant cult (Romanism), we can hardly expect this cult to be considered a cult at this national conference on cults.

LUTHERAN OVERTURES TO CATHOLICS-The ELCA (Evangelical Lutheran Church in America) approved a plan to share clergy and Communion with three major Reformed churches, but fell six votes shy of linking with Episcopalians. The ELCA, America's largest and most liberal Lutheran Church, also at its August meeting, declared the battle was over in the centuries-long division with Catholics and voted 958 to 25 to approve a statement declaring that past condemnations no longer apply.

EPISCOPALIANS & HOMOSEXUALS—Episcopalians, severely divided over homosexuality, apologized to "gays" and lesbians at their July convention. They voted to study blessing same-sex unions, extend insurance benefits to domestic partners, voted down attempts to prohibit sexually active gay clergy, and elected a new liberal presiding bishop sympathetic to homosexual concerns. They have 7 female bishops and some 1,500 female priests.

IS SEPARATION STILL IMPORTANT?—Rev. John E. Ashbrook has a new 4-page pamphlet with this title in the 8/97 Ohio Baptist Fellowship Visitor. He said: "The cutting edge of separation was removed from the Voice magazine and the [Independent Fundamental Churches of America] moved from fundamental to new evangelical in a short period of time. Silence will always lead to the weaker position, not the stronger one." He said of the appeal of new evangelicalism: "The orig

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