VOL. XV  NO. 4     NEWS & VIEWS, NOTES & QUOTES, TO WARN & INFORM     February 15, 1998

BRITAIN GOVERNMENT FUNDS MUSLIM SCHOOLS— After years of campaigning by its 1.5 million Muslim community, the British government has agreed for the first time to provide state funding for Islamic schools (1/29 Alabama Baptist). An Islamic leader calls this "an important first step in...Labor's promise to build an equal and inclusive society." Two Islamic schools are given grant-maintained status, which means all of their operating costs will now be paid by the central government. Islam denies the Trinity, Christ's deity, crucifixion, and resurrection.

CLONING: MAN PLAYING GOD—Harvard-trained physicist and church-going Methodist Richard Seed foresees as many as 200,000 human clones a year, once his process is perfected (1/19 Chr. News). He says: "God made man in his own image. God intended for man to become one with God. We are going to become one with God. We are going to have almost as much knowledge and almost as much power as God. Cloning and the reprogramming of DNA is the first serious step in becoming one with God." (1/7 World). Romans 1:22 and 1Cor. 1:25 come to mind!

MOON'S UNIFICATION CHURCH IS A CULT—Sword of the Lord editor Dr. Shelton Smith writes (1/23 Sword): "The Unification 'Church' is a cult led by self-acclaimed Korean-born messiah Sun Myung Moon. Moon believes himself to be a third Adam sent to complete 'the unfinished work' of Christ. He believes the mission of Christ on earth was 'cut short by an unfortunate crucifixion.' The Unification movement does not believe in the Trinity and does not believe in the bodily resurrection of Christ. Although quite conservative on many social and political issues and quite successful in their business ventures, the Unification Church should not be viewed as just another brand of Christianity. It is without question a cult." We would add: "Dr. Jerry Falwell and others, please take note!"

ACLU AWARD TO MEL WHITE—The radical left-wing American Civil Liberties Union has bestowed its National Civil Liberties Award on Mel White, a former "evangelical" author and Fuller Seminary professor who came out of the closet as a homosexual in 1992 (1/31 World). He "ghostwrote" books for Graham, Falwell, et al. In 1993 he became dean of Dallas' pro-homosexual, 14,000-congregant Cathedral of Hope Metropolitan Community Church.

BIRTH, THEN HOMOCIDE—Partial-birth abortions blur the line between abortion and infanticide and play into the hands of people like University of Colorado philosophy professor Michael Tooley (1/26 USN & WR) who thinks parents should have "some period of time, such as a week after birth" during which infanticide is permitted.

ANDY YOUNG IS NEW PRESIDENT OF NCC?—An article (by Wm. B. Sorens) in the 1/26 Christian News said Andrew Young, former civil rights leader and ambassador to the UN, is the new president of the National Council of Churches. He once said that reputed communist Nelson Mandela (now leader of South Africa) is "as close to being a saint as can be." (2/1/87 CC). Young should fit right in with the NCC, whose general sec'y is Joan Brown Campbell.

RICHARD FOSTER & RENOVARE—Quaker psychologist Richard Foster is founder and head of Renovare, an international ecumenical mystical movement with a mostly Charismatic, Catholic, and Quaker following (2/1/94 CC). Over 30 churches from the Dallas area joined (in Jan.) to sponsor a Renovare renewal weekend at First United Methodist Church, Plano, TX (1/17 Dallas Morning News). Foster's "New Age" teachings are promoted by new-evangelicals.

JARS OF CLAY—O Timothy editor David Cloud says Jars of Clay is a popular Contemporary Christian rock group whose debut album in 1995 sold 1.5 million copies. Two-thirds of their albums are sold in "Christian" retail outlets. They perform music patterned after the Beatles and other wicked secular rock groups. A year or so ago, they recorded for an R-rated film loaded with "live-in lovers, nudity, graphic violence, and 83 obscenities" (2/15/ 97 CC). [Note: Rev. Cloud is a prolific writer and has tons of literature (various subjects) available (both print and computer) at: Way of Life Literature, Bible Baptist Church, 1219 N. Harns Road, Oak Harbor, WA 98277.]

KING NO ROLE MODEL—Dr. Martin Luther King and JFK (and our present president) had serious character flaws. The 1/19 Christian News notes: "Many churchmen and denominations continue to insist that King was a noble Christian and a fine role model for youth. King did not accept such Christian doctrines as the virgin birth, deity and resurrection of Christ. He was an unrepentant adulterer with numerous extramarital affairs. He told James Cone, a close friend and the father of 'Black Theology,' that he was a Marxist." Yet our country honors him with a holiday.

News Notes—Ecumenical prison evangelist "Chaplain Ray" died Nov. 20 in Dallas at 84.* * * Leigh Tilton, second wife of televangelist Robert Tilton, lost her suit for $1.3 million in a divorce settlement and is required to pay his church's attorneys' fees.***Drug abuse and alcohol misuse are at an epidemic. The U.S. has 6% of the world's population, yet consumes 60% of the world's illicit drugs (WITW).*** Pres. Clinton wants schools to teach tolerance of homosexuality. But we don't need tolerance for it any more than for transvestism, pedophilia or any other sexual oddity. (NLJ).

STOWELL TO SPEAK AT MacARTHUR MEETING—Moody Bible Institute president Dr. Joe Stowell is a speaker in demand at ecumenical events - and, sad to say, has also been a recent-year speaker on "fundamentalist" platforms (GARBC, IFCA, e.g.). He speaks at Promise Keepers, Billy Graham Training Center, NAE, NRB, SBC conferences, and Dallas Seminary, to name a few. He is a member of the NAE (Nat'l Assoc. of Evangelicals), an "Advisory Editor" of Christianity Today (Billy Graham is Board Chairman), and supported the recent Luis Palau ecumenical evangelism crusade in Chicago. We now see him listed to speak at Dr. John MacArthur's International Conference on the Bible in March. (MacArthur returns the favor and speaks at MBI May 20.) Other speakers include Tony Evans, Stephen Olford, Adrian Rogers, and David Jeremiah. Apart from not practicing biblical separation, MacArthur has been accused of "heresy" and confusion on certain doctrines of Christ in recent years.

STOWELL, DIXON, WARE & NEW EVANGELICALS—Baptist Bible College (Indianapolis) is hosting the 3rd Multiracial Ministry Conference April 22-25 (1/17 World). Speakers include: Taylor University president Jay Kessler, Moody president Joe Stowell, Cedarville College president Paul Dixon, BBC president (and ABWE Board member) Charles Ware, Master's Seminary (MacArthur) prof. Alex Montoya, John Perkins (social action advocate who has called for a "redistribution of the wealth"), and Ken Ham. Cedarville and ABWE are GARBC-approved entities, so why are Dixon and Ware platform-sharing with the ecumenicals listed above? [Ware routinely does such - see 10/1/96 & 3/15/97 CCs.] Instead of "criticizing" its compromisers, GARBC leader Dr. John Greening, in an 11/97 Baptist Bulletin editorial, criticized those who expose "someone speaking here or appearing there".

NEW EVANGELICALISM—Dr. Bruce Shelley, long a professor at Denver Seminary (a CBA school now in the throes of New Evangelicalism), in his 1967 book entitled Evangelicalism in America quoted Harold John Ockenga: "The evangelical wishes to retrieve Christianity from a mere eddy of the main stream into the full current of modern life. He desires to win a new respectability for orthodoxy in the academic circles by producing scholars who can defend the faith on intellectual ground. He hopes to recapture denominational leadership from within the denominations rather than abandoning those denominations to modernism..." Shelley commented: "We can summarize the basic objectives of the new evangelicalism as a quest of (1) academic respectability, (2) social involvement, and (3) denominational redirection." William Ashbrook in a 1966 56-page booklet titled Evangelicalism: The New Neutralism rightly characterized New Evangelicalism as being "a movement born of compromise...nurtured in pride of intellect...growing on appeasement of evil, and...doomed by the judgment of God's Holy Word." Sadly, this has proven prophetic. New-evangelical leaders today are in the "main stream" alright - the mainstream of compromise, and linking with Promise Keepers, charismatics, liberals, and Roman Catholics!

DENVER CATHOLICS TO PARTICIPATE IN PK— Following a meeting with PK's Bill MacCartney, Catholic Archbishop Charles Chaput of Denver said it is ok for Catholic men to participate in Promise Keepers. But he warned that PK participation should lead Catholic men back to the Roman Catholic church (1/26 Chr. News). He quoted: "Whoever is not against us is for us," and said the Bible is God's inerrant revelation but that Catholics also believe in "sacred tradition," noting that the church "preceded Scripture." Chaput said the church has the authority to interpret Scripture. He will celebrate a Mass for Catholic members of Promise Keepers in early March.

SDA CHOIR PERFORMS AT BIG SBC CONFERENCE—Top Baptist pastors and speakers were featured at the Jan. 26-27 Alabama State Evangelism Conference at the large and conservative Whitesburg Baptist Church in Huntsville. Speakers included SBC president Dr. Tom Elliff, Drs. Stephen Olford, Gene Williams, and John Maxwell. Maxwell is a regular speaker for Robert Schuller and Jerry Falwell. The local Oakwood College choir was one of the choirs featured. Oakwood College is a Seventh-day Adventist school (and church), and has recently performed at other local Southern Baptist churches (see 4/1 & 11/15 CCs). Dr. John Whitcomb lists six reasons for classifying Seventh-day Adventism as a cult. (A copy available from: BDM Letter, P.O. Box 679, Bedford, IN 47421, $1.) Apostasy is still rife in the SBC.

SWORD LADIES' JUBILEES—Sword of the Lord editor Dr. Shelton Smith, in the 1/23 Sword, says the four 1998 Jubilees' position will be distinctively fundamentalist, KJV, soul-winning, separatist, local church, and pro-family. Such a separatist position is, refreshingly, in stark contrast to recent-years positions taken by Joy Rice Martin's Joyful Woman jubilees. Sadly, Joyful Woman has strayed far from its original moorings by featuring a plethora of ecumenical speakers in recent years.

ZACHARIAS POPULAR WITH ECUMENICALS—Ravi Zacharias is a "speaker in demand" in many elite new-evangelical pulpits of our day. He has spoken for Promise Keepers, Focus on the Family, Moody Bible Institute, National Religious Broadcasters, and at the 1997 World Evangelical Fellowship (of which the NAE is a member). He is listed to speak at an "Evangelizing Postmoderns" conference at Trinity International University (Deerfield) in May, which is co-sponsored by Campus Crusade, InterVarsity, Navigators, and the Billy Graham Center Institute of Evangelism (11/17 Chr. Today). Billy Graham says Zacharias was "one of the most effective plenary speakers at our recent International Conference...."

LINDSELL DIES—Dr. Harold Lindsell, former editor of Christianity Today and a Southern Baptist, died Jan. 15 at 84. He was a founder of Fuller Seminary in 1947 and its first vice-president (2/2 Chr. News). He authored over 20 books, including the 1976 blockbuster The Battle for the Bible. His Study Bible was based on the polluted Living Bible (8/1/90 CC), and his later edition of the Harper Study Bible used the liberal New Revised Standard Version.

ACCC'S WCC & PK REPORTS—American Council of Christian Churches executive secretary Dr. Ralph Colas attends many important conferences such as NAE, NRB, WCC/NCC, and PK, and then prepares extensive reports giving firsthand factual information and analysis. He journeyed to Geneva, Switzerland last Sept. to cover the World Council of Churches' Central Committee Meeting - then to Washington, DC in October for the Promise Keepers rally. Tremendous travel and printing expense is involved in all this, but Fundamentalists need these vital reports, and the ACCC thus makes them available on a free-will offering basis. Get the reports from: ACCC, P.O. Box 5455, Bethlehem, PA 18015. Request a copy of the revised ACCC Challenge newsletter with an excellent article by ACCC president Dr. Richard Harris.

PACKER & RENOVARE—Dr. J.I. Packer is one of the most influential theologians of the 20th century, second only to C.S. Lewis, per Chr. Today readers (4/28 CT). He is pro-Catholic and signed the "ECT" document. He is on COR's steering committee, and a member of Richard Foster's Renovare Board of Reference. Miles Stanford says Renovare promotes guided imagery, visualization, astral projection, Zen meditation, and Jungian psychology.

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