HIV CASES IN S.F. TRIPLE IN TWO YEARS—Alarming news to health officials: the rate of new HIV infections among homosexual and bisexual men in San Francisco nearly tripled over the past two years (7/1 H. Times). Experts say powerful AIDS drugs are making people complacent. AIDS remains a politically protected and largely preventable disease. But President Clinton declared June “Gay and Lesbian Pride Month,” and Hillary Clinton marched in New York City's “Gay Pride Parade.”

CATHOLIC FANTASYLAND—“For an intelligent and informed Roman Catholic to believe what the Pope now says about the “Third Secret of Fatima” (7/1 CC) makes about as much sense as charismatics believing that Oral Roberts spoke face to face with a 900-foot Jesus, and that Benny Hinn has raised people from the dead, or that intelligent Mormons believe that Joseph Smith actually found some Golden Tablets which revealed the truth.” (6/5 C. News) Just think, Catholics are asked by their peerless papal leader to believe that his being shot is comparable to the slaughter of millions in two World Wars.

SBC NEW REPORT ON MASONRY—The Southern Baptist Convention has released a “Closer Look at Freemasonry” that expands and clarifies a 1993 report. Over one million SBC members and over 1,000 pastors are freemasons (6/26 Chr. News). Masonry is a religion which teaches that Jesus Christ is not God and that a person must work at least in part his own way to heaven.

BONHOEFFER DENIED CHRISTIANITY—Last month PBS aired “Bonhoeffer: Agent of Grace” – a film about this German Lutheran pastor executed for resisting Nazism. Based on earlier writings some claim he was conservative, but Concordia Seminary's Dr. Raymond Surburg has documented that in his last writings Bonhoeffer denied and attacked Christianity (6/26 Chr. News). He claimed the Bible was filled with myths, echoing what he was taught at liberal Union Seminary.

COURT OPPOSES PARTIAL-BIRTH ABORTION BAN—The U.S. Supreme Court, in an early July stunning 5-4 decision, struck down Nebraska's partial-birth abortion ban. It expanded abortion rights to include virtual infanticide, involving scissors and a high-powered suction tube to suck a baby's brains out when the baby is almost totally outside the womb. Even Democrat former Sen. Daniel P. Moynihan says it's “too close to infanticide.” About 30 states have laws banning this grisly procedure. But Pres. Clinton vetoes bills from Congress that ban it.

CHURCH LITE—A Florida pastor recently added a new 9 A.M. service, took out ads in local papers, and changed the sign outside his church to read: “Express Worship, 45 Minutes Guaranteed!” (7/10 CT) The new early service includes three upbeat hymns, an offering, a quick reading of announcements, and a 23-to-25-minute sermon.

UN: WORLD SOCIALIST GOVERNMENT IN EMBRYO—We need not be paranoid, just observant and informed, to see that a long-term design for world government is unfolding before our eyes. The planned globalist body wants the power to impose taxes to make and enforce global laws via a World Court, fund “peacekeeping” missions, environmental regulations, and radical wealth redistribution, etc. But a government strong enough to give you what you want, is powerful enough to take from you what you have. One with the strength to enforce world peace would also be powerful enough to enforce global domination. A state powerful enough to confiscate the wealth cannot be forced to redistribute what is confiscated (7/3 New Amer.). The World Council of Churches wants to make churches active accomplices with the UN in the scheme for socialist world government.

ABC-JENNINGS 'SEARCH FOR JESUS'—ABC-TV's The Search For Jesus by Peter Jennings aired June 26 and was mostly a radical attack by liberal scholars on Christianity. It featured notorious Jesus Seminar pseudo-scholars who have concluded that only 18 percent of Jesus' sayings were at least “probably accurate” (7/3 C. News). One of these, Marcus Borg, is an Episcopalian who denies doctrines of Christ but spoke three days at Myers Park Baptist Church in Charlotte (see 9/1/98 CC).

CYBERPORN IN 'DOT SEX' RED-LIGHT DISTRICT?—Cyberporn has become one of the major uses of the Internet (7/15 World). Senators concerned about media decadence are floating the idea (for easy filtering in shielding kids) of having “a virtual red-light district” with pornography sites having a “dot sex” domain ending instead of “dot com.” But all of society needs “shielding!”

GRAHAM'S NASHVILLE CRUSADE—The Bill Gaither Vocal Band, Jars of Clay, dc Talk, Kirk Franklin, and Steven Curtis Chapman performed on various nights. Billy Graham came on stage with a cane and help of staff. His Web site said crowds came “to experience the synergy of the music [rock, etc.] and the message as local musicians stood with Mr. Graham….” The June 17 Houston Chronicle said “his message was simple – God will welcome to heaven everyone who lives by his word.”

STANLEY DISAGREES WITH WOMEN-PASTOR VOTE?—Former Southern Baptist President Dr. Charles Stanley disagrees with his denomination's stand against women leading the church (6/28 Charlotte Observer). He said he was led to Christ by a fiery female pastor and, “There are some godly women….” “I would never say that a woman could not preach….” “You just can't draw the line and say, 'You can't do so-and-so.' You just can't put God in a box.” As to it being divisive, he said sometimes our decisions “alienate people.” But Jesus was “divisive” and his doctrines sometimes alienated people.

CYMBALA MOVING TO $30 MILLION FACILITY—Pastor Jim Cymbala plans to move his Brooklyn Tabernacle church, along with its Grammy Award-winning 275-member choir led by his wife, to much larger facilities next year (7/00 Charisma). Even though he is a charismatic (see 9/15/99 CC) he and/or the choir were featured last year by Jerry Falwell and by Moody Bible Institute at its recent Founder's Week conference.

CHARISMATICS DOWNPLAY DOCTRINE—The charismatic world has exactly the same goals as Promise Keepers and every other facet of the ecumenical movement. They want to break down the walls between denominations. They downplay doctrine and exalt unity, but the Bible says doctrine is extremely important to God. The term “doctrine” occurs 56 times in the King James Bible. The first characteristic of the church at Jerusalem which is described for us by the Holy Spirit is that it “continued stedfastly in the apostles' doctrine” (Acts 2:42). The one faith, the body of doctrinal truth, was given to the Apostles and enshrined in the New Testament Scriptures. From then to now, churches are commissioned to stand strictly upon that same doctrinal faith…. [David Cloud, 6/30, http://wayoflife.org/~dcloud]

FALWELL IS 'OUTSTANDING' BBC STUDENT—Dr. Jerry Falwell was recently declared “the outstanding student to attend Baptist Bible College [Springfield] during its first 50 years of existence.” (7/00 NLJ) A BBF founder and Falwell's mentor, Dr. John Rawlings, was honored by Falwell as the outstanding Baptist pastor of the 20^th century (see 6/15 CC). Falwell is linked with both the Southern Baptist Convention and the Baptist Bible Fellowship. How much longer will fundamental BBF pastors and people tolerate this direct link to apostasy?

FBF ON INERRANCY—The Fundamental Baptist Fellowship reaffirms its commitment to engage in the militant defense of the Bible as the verbally, plenarily inspired Word of God in the Old and New Testaments, without error in the original writings, and the sole authority of faith and practice, providentially preserved as God's eternal word (2 Tim. 3:16-17; 2 Pet. 2:20-21; 2 Sam. 23:2; Matt. 24:35). Furthermore, the FBF reaffirms its commitment to interpret that Word accurately, preach its principles and precepts clearly and boldly, present its message of salvation to all men tirelessly, live obediently under its authority in all areas of life and faith, and to study so as to rightly divide its contents so that we may be approved workmen unto God (2 Tim. 2:15, 4:2).

CASTRO TO ADDRESS BWA LEADERS—Baptist World Alliance leaders were scheduled to have a highly unusual guest speaker at their July 3-8 General Council meeting: Fidel Castro. The Cuban communist dictator was scheduled to address these BWA leaders meeting in Havana for the first-time ever BWA General Council meeting in the communist country (7/6 Religion Today). BWA President Billy Kim and Gen. Secretary Denton Lotz plan to participate in Billy Graham's upcoming Amsterdam 2000. The BWA is a United Nations NGO (Non-Governmental orgn.). Radical socialist Archbishop Desmond Tutu was a 1998 BWA speaker (5/15 CC). The SBC is a major supporting member of the apostate BWA.

BOICE CALLED HOME—Dr. James Montgomery Boice, who succeeded Donald Grey Barnhouse in 1968 as pastor of Tenth Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia, died of cancer last month. He had degrees from Harvard, Princeton, and the U. of Basel in Switzerland. Former surgeon general C. Everett Koop was a longtime elder in TPC. Boice spoke on the “Bible Study Hour,” chaired the Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals and a conference on Reformed Theology. He chaired the 1977-1987 Internat'l Council on Biblical Inerrancy whose final event, Congress on the Bible II, was chaired by pro-Catholicism Chuck Colson (11/1/87 CC). He recently exposed Colson's “high view of Catholicism” and opined that if it weren't that Colson's income comes from Protestants that he would convert to Catholicism (1/1/99 CC). The ICBI ecumenical congress mentioned above featured such speakers as William Buckley (Catholic), leftist Ron Sider, E.V. Hill, and Art Simon (liberal Lutheran). It is confusing that an inerrancy congress would feature both inerrancy defenders and inerrancy deniers. In recent years Boice lectured at Cedarville College (see 3/1/98 CC), Billy Graham's The Cove, and at Moody Bible Institute.

E.V. HILL SPEAKS IN CONFERENCE WITH HINN—Dr. E.V. Hill is about as ecumenical as they come. Yet he in recent years has spoken at Jerry Falwell, Moody Bible Institute, and Promise Keepers conferences while pastor of a church that is linked with the liberal NCC. He has an honorary doctorate from Oral Roberts U. He is pictured (7/00 Charisma), with charismatic Benny Hinn, as a speaker for the Aug. Mission for the New Millennium conference.

VINEYARD TOP POST VACANT AGAIN—Todd Hunter, the man who guided the 500-member Association of Vineyard Churches through the transition period that followed the 1997 death of longtime leader John Wimber, resigned May 3 as its national director and board president (7/00 Charisma). Berten Waggoner is the new acting national director. Major Promise Keepers leaders were from the charismatic Vineyard movement.

SO. BAPTISTS ELECT NEW PRESIDENT—Southern Baptists at their meeting in Orlando elected Georgia pastor Dr. James Merritt, a trustee of Jerry Falwell's Liberty Univ., as their new president. Coordinator Dan Vestal of the moderate-liberal Cooperative Baptist Fellowship predicted that changes in the SBC's statement of faith will prompt up to 5,000 churches to leave the SBC for the CBF. Paige Patterson puts the estimate at between 600 and 3,500 churches that might eventually leave.

PK MEETS AT LIBERTY—Promise Keepers still draw crowds but the numbers are smaller. Their first U.S. rally this year was at Jerry Falwell's Liberty University, June 3-4 (6/23 Religion Today). Dr. Falwell seems to be increasing his links with charismatics. Charismatic pastor Jack Hayford is listed as an advisory board member of his Liberty University Worship Institute.

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