CLINTON: EVANGELISM A HATE CRIME?—President Clinton's press secretary was asked at a Dec. 16 press briefing about a Southern Baptist campaign to pray for and share the Gospel with Hindus, Jews, and Muslims. He said: "I think the president has made very clear…his views on religious tolerance, and how one of the greatest challenges going into the next century is dealing with intolerance…and religious hatred….So I think he's been very clear in his opposition to whatever organization, including the Southern Baptist, that perpetuated ancient religious hatred." This is implied untrue slander against Baptists and a serious threat to religious freedom. Christians are "debtors" to evangelize the world (Rom. 1:14-16) and have a commission to do so (Mat. 28:19-20).

CLINTON HONORS MUSLIM FALSE PROPHET'S CALL FOR PEACE—President Bill Clinton, a member in good standing of a Southern Baptist Convention Church, offered Ramadan greetings on the White House Web site (1/1/00 World). He said: "As the followers of Islam celebrate the revelation of God's word to Muhammad, we join you in honoring his call for harmony and peace."

NO EVIDENCE FOR EVOLUTION—Creationists have won hundreds of formal scientific debates with evolutionists precisely because they have produced scientific evidence supporting the creation model of origins while their evolutionist opponents are unable to present any proof of evolution. Evolution has never been observed to occur in the present, the ubiquitous absence of transitional structures in the fossil record indicates that it never occurred in the past, the universal law of increasing entropy…shows that it probably could never occur at all (Dr. Henry Morris, 1/00 Acts & Facts). No one has ever documented a single example of macroevolution.

FOSSIL FACTS & FANTASIES, new book by Joe Taylor, has 80 large pages, over 300 color photos. Not familiar with author's background, but he is committed to young earth and a global flood. To order, call 1-800/367-7454.

POPE IS GRAHAM'S 'MAN OF THE CENTURY'—Evang. Billy Graham said in a recent interview that he would pick Pope John Paul II as the man of the century (12/20 Religion Today). He said the Pope "has brought the greatest impact of any pope in the last 200 years. I admire his courage, determination, intellectual abilities, and his understanding of Catholic, Protestant, and Orthodox differences, and the attempt at some form of reconciliation."

PUBLIC SCHOOL EFFORT PROMOTES 'GAY' LIFE—Activist groups, led by the Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Education Network (GLSEN), teamed with at least 10 mainstream public-education organizations to send a pro-homosexuality pamphlet to the nation's 15,000 public-school districts (1/1 World). The 11-page "factsheet" is authored by unionists, gay activists, and educators. The booklet repeatedly tells school officials homosexuality is normal and healthy, and that any contrary messages place students at risk of physical and emotional harm.

CAMPUS CRUSADE'S ECUMENICAL TRIBUTE TO JESUS—The Jesus Film Project is a ministry of Campus Crusade. Paul Eshleman is its Director, and his letters often report miraculous visions and dreams in foreign lands. But his 12/6 newsletter also reported "A Millennial Tribute to Jesus" global broadcast and an all-out effort to enlist world-famous celebrities to record a "tribute to Jesus." A wide variety of mostly liberals and ecumenicals were featured for 18 minutes of the 2-hour "JESUS" film special to break down resistance to the broadcast. Included were: Jimmy Carter, Gerald Ford, Andy Young, Billy Graham, Pope John Paul II, Jesse Jackson, and presidents of India, Nigeria, Ecuador, and Uganda. How can the ungodly give honor and tribute to Jesus?

BLACKS COMMIT 'HATE CRIMES' TOO—Black professor and columnist Walter Williams is a bold and savvy conservative. Last August he wrote a "politically incorrect" article by the above title. He quoted statistics from a Dept. of Justice National Crime Victimization Survey on interracial crime: In 1994, there were about 1,700,000 interracial crimes, of which 1,276,030 involved whites and blacks. In 90 percent of the cases, a white was the victim and a black was the perpetrator, while in 10 percent of the cases it was the reverse (8/18/99 H. Times). Another NCVS finding is that of the 2,025,464 violent crimes committed by blacks in 1994, 1,140,670 were against whites – slightly over 56 percent. Whites committed 5,114,692 violent crimes; 135,360, or 2.6 percent were against blacks. Williams noted that in 1997, percentage-wise, blacks were twice as likely to commit so-called hate crimes. Race cannot justify criminal violence.

GRAHAM WORRIES HEAVEN MAY BE WRONG PLACE FOR HIM—In a Jan. 2 Fox News interview, Tony Snow asked Billy Graham: "When you get to Heaven, who's going to speak first, you or God? Graham replied: "When I get there, I'm sure that Jesus is going to say that he will welcome me. But I think that he's going to say: 'Well done, our good and faithful servant.' Or he may say: 'You're in the wrong place'." SNOW: "You really worry that you may be told you're in the wrong place? GRAHAM: Yes, because I have not – I'm not a righteous man. People put me up on a pedestal that I don't belong in my personal life. And they think that I'm better than I am. I'm not the good man that people think I am. Newspapers and magazines and television have made me out to be a saint. I'm not. I'm not a Mother Teresa. And I feel that very much." The basis of getting to Heaven is muddled in this interview, and is manward instead of Godward. Earlier in the interview, Graham's testimony of salvation made no mention of the Gospel, but was about knowing Christ in his heart, and a big change.

'NO SAVED ROMAN CATHOLICS'—An article by the late Alex Dunlap (1/00 Gospel Standard) states: "It is just as impossible to be a saved Roman Catholic as it is to be a saved Buddhist, a saved Mormon, a saved Jehovah's Witness, a saved Atheist,…a saved Muslim, a saved Humanist, a saved Communist,…a saved Unitarian,…a saved Devil-worshiper, a saved Hindu…. To say a Roman Catholic is saved in spite of the teachings of his church is nonsense….[The justification by faith alone] doctrine has been declared anathema, accursed; and all who hold it are condemned to damnation by the Council of Trent of the Roman Catholic Church." [See 12/1 CC] This holds true today, and has never been reversed. It cannot be reversed since the RCC claims to be the authoritative voice of God and therefore declares its doctrines can never be changed. Thus the basis for salvation is condemned by the Roman Catholic Church. [Dunlap says some saved—children, e.g.—are IN the RCC but are NOT Roman Catholics.]

CATHOLIC-LUTHERAN UNITY—Representatives of the Catholic Church and the Lutheran World Federation (liberal Lutherans) met Oct. 31 to sign their ambiguous Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification (see 12/1 CC). But the Roman church continues to affirm the heresies that were made official church dogma in the 16^th century Council of Trent. Since Rome claims its infallible dogmas are "irreformable," agreement could only mean that the Protestant partners no longer believe what their forebears believed or necessitated (1/1 World). Catholics teach a works (different) gospel (Gal. 1:6-9), that grace and Christ's righteousness are infused into believers and that a person has to actually BE righteous for God to count him as righteous. And Pope John Paul II, hailed as a great Christian pastor by evangelicals like Billy Graham and Charles Colson, recently declared the millennial year as a "jubilee," complete with the issuing of indulgences (for time off in purgatory). Do not be misled: Rome has not changed one whit on things that really matter!

MODERNISTS AMONG 'GREATEST' PREACHERS—Preaching magazine has named the greatest preachers of the 20th century, with Billy Graham and Martin L. King among its top ten (12/20 Chr. News). The list also included Scottish preacher James Stewart, George Buttrick, Harry Emerson Fosdick, G. Campbell Morgan, Wm. Sangster, John R.W. Stott, Martyn Lloyd-Jones, and Clarence Macartney. The "second ten" were Leslie Weatherhead, George Truett, R.G. Lee, Norman Vincent Peale, Peter Marshall, E. Stanley Jones, Donald Grey Barnhouse, Ralph Sockman, W. A. Criswell, and Gardner Taylor.

BLACKABY'S DANGEROUS TEACHINGS—Christian News has a long article evaluating aberrant teachings of Southern Baptist prayer and spiritual awakening leader Henry Blackaby. He is co-author of the best-selling Experiencing God book and audio series (see 5/15/97 CC). Blackaby believes that God speaks directly to individuals today and that it can be a normal experience for all Christians. The article concludes: "Based on Blackaby's low view of Scripture, his flirtation with neo-orthodoxy and his incorrect presentation of our Lord Jesus Christ, Christians must reject this emotional fad as heresy. In an earlier long review of Blackaby's EG, Pastor Gary Gilley in the 5-6/97 BDM Letter said Blackaby's teachings are "a dangerous mixture of Biblical truth with mysticism, neo-orthodoxy, and good old-fashioned misuse of Scripture."

PRAGMATISM IN THE 20TH CENTURY CHURCH—A 12/99 Voice article states: "Much of the church….has substituted programs for prayer, personalities for power, entertainment for genuine worship, prosperity for purity and organizational unity for fidelity to an unadulterated Gospel….Pragmatism has so overtaken the thinking of the people of God that enlarging the numbers in the church is regarded as the criterion of blessing and whatever it takes to accomplish this end is justified. Thus we have great emphasis on removing anything that will hinder this process of attempting to include people in the family of God. A Christian is redefined as 'Anyone believing in Jesus.' Definitions of justification are carefully crafted so that Roman Catholics are not excluded from the effort to bring the church together. Understanding of holiness is adjusted so that lifestyle does not indict one as being out of harmony with an acceptable Christian life. The common cause of 'Reaching the World for Christ' becomes the foundation of the church's unity in spite of the doctrinal differences in essential theological areas…."

MOLTMANN WINS $200,000 AWARD—German Lutheran theologian Jurgen Moltmann was given the 2000 Louisville Grawemeyer Award in Religion (12/27 Chr. News) by Louisville Presbyterian Seminary and the U. of Louisville. The 1/11/93 Christianity Today called him "one of this century's most influential theologians." (See 2/15/93 CC). But the 1/23/93 Christian News said Moltmann rejects the Trinity and the historic Christian faith and opens the door for a Marxist liberation theology.

CORNERSTONE'S RELAXED RULES—Cornerstone College (Grand Rapids) has its first national basketball championship. An AP article (1/1 H. Times) from an interview with Coach Kim Elders stated: "But it's not all straight and narrow at Cornerstone. Cheerleaders wear short skirts, unlike those at some other Christian schools. And some of the male basketball players wear earrings, something that Elders says is OK although he wouldn't wear one." Elders said: "We're not nearly as legalistic as we used to be." Cornerstone and GRBS are still GARBC approved schools and feature new evangelical speakers.

WCC DOCUMENTATION—Foundation has a new 50-page booklet entitled World Council of Churches: The Shaky Ship Sails On… It gives a firsthand analysis of the liberal agenda of the WCC during the past 20 years from articles edited and compiled from Foundation. Order it from Foundation Magazine, PO Box 6278, Los Osos, CA 93412, $1 + postage. The American Council of Christian Churches has a Special Report pamphlet by Dr. Ralph Colas on the 50th Meeting of the WCC Central Committee Aug. 26-Sept. 3. Dr. Colas covered this important Geneva, Switzerland meeting and gives a firsthand analysis. Order from: ACCC, P.O. Box 5455, Bethlehem, PA 18015, $1 + postage. [Other lit. also available from both above sources]

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