VOL. XX  NO. 11  NEWS & VIEWS, NOTES & QUOTES, TO WARN & INFORM   November 2003

BIBLE IN MAGAZINE FORMAT FOR TEEN GIRLS—Teen girls are turning for advice—about fashion, dating and getting along with their parents—to Revolve, a perky youth-oriented NT in magazine format using Thomas Nelson's New Century Version text. Revolve has been so popular that a "Bible" geared toward teenage boys is planned for next year. But some are concerned that it may compromise, or trivialize, the Gospel message (9/29 Chr. News, 9/27 Houston Chron.).

CCW MUSIC BRINGS GREAT CHANGES TO CHURCHES—Contemporary Christian Worship music is spreading across all denominational lines. And when it enters a church, it brings more than a change in music. It brings a worldly philosophy of Christianity and a gradual lowering of all standards of morality and doctrine (O Timothy). CCW is a catalyst for the ecumenical movement and the emerging world church of Antichrist. Be warned, Be wise, Beware!

HATE CRIME LAWS ARE DANGER FOR CHRISTIANS—Hate crime laws create protected categories of victims who are seen as more important than other victims. The FBI's 1999 list of 7,876 hate crimes—defined as "a criminal offense committed against a person, property, or society which is motivated, in whole or in part, by the offender's bias against a race, religion, disability, sexual orientation, or ethnicity-national origin." (5/03 C.Today) Laws prohibiting discrimination against homosexuals have been used to bar religious leaders from quoting scripture as a basis for calling homosexuality a sin.

GAY UNIONS BRIEF—A recent study on homosexual relationships [Dutch] finds they last 1 ½ years on average. By contrast, among heterosexuals, 67 percent of first marriages [U.S.] last at least 10 years. The Dutch study found that men in homosexual relationships on average have eight partners a year outside those relationships (7/28 Chr. News). Marriage was created in large part to sustain child-rearing. It is a union born of the need to procreate and protect one's offspring. It ensures the survival of the human race (8/31 CN).

ABORTION DRUG RU-486 DANGER—Two women have died in the U.S. after taking RU-486, also called mifepristone, since the FDA approved it two years ago. A pro-life activist says: "We want this drug taken off the market because it kills human beings…most often the unborn." It can cause prolonged bleeding and severe cramps. RU-486 is not just "baby poison," it is potential poison for mothers who take it.

HAITI OFFICIALLY SANCTIONS VOODOO—Voodoo venerates a mixture of African gods and Catholic saints and practices spiritism. Recently Pres. Aristide declared it an officially recognized religion. Pastors and others are skeptical.

NAVY CHAPLAIN SUCCEEDS OGILVIE—Rear Admiral Barry Black was recently selected as chaplain of the Senate to replace Lloyd John Ogilvie, a Presbyterian minister who retired in March. Black is the first African American and the first Seventh-day Adventist to serve in this position. The SDA is usually listed as a Sabbath-keeping, Law-enslaving cult.

GORBACHEV'S PROPAGANDA TOUR COMES TO AUBURN—Mikhail Gorbachev is an admitted lifelong Leninist (communist) and has supported worldwide repression, terrorism, and nuclear proliferation to terrorist states. Russia's so-called transformation under him, Yeltsin, Primakov, and Putin has been a colossal deception (9/22 New Amer.). Lifelong communists still control the centers of Russian power: the presidency, the Congress, the military, the secret police, the media, the judiciary. He in Oct. came to Middle America (Wisconsin's Fox Cities, Auburn Univ, e.g.) as co-chairman of the Earth Charter Commission (10/1/00 CC). He is chief drafter of a "new Ten Commandments" to guide humanity into a new world order. But he said he wonders if a "democratic world order is at all possible." (10/7 H. Times) A couple of years or so ago he took his charm offensive to Union University (SBC) and to Robert Schuller. The $87,000 Auburn shelled out for his speech came from student activity fees, not state funds.

FEDERAL MARRIAGE AMENDMENT—This amendment was offered last May and reads: "Marriage in the U.S. shall consist only of the union between a man and a woman. Neither this constitution or the constitution of any state, nor state or federal law, shall be construed to require that marital status or the legal instruments thereof be conferred upon unmarried couples or groups." (9/03 NLJ) To be added to the Constitution, it must be passed by 2/3 of the U.S. House and Senate and ratified by 3/4 of the state legislature (by majority vote only without the signature of the governors).

MISS. COURT RULES FETUS HAS 'PERSON' STATUS—The Mississippi Supreme Court ruled Aug. 21 that a fetus is a "person" worthy of some legal protections under state law, that a woman had the right to pursue a wrongful death lawsuit on behalf of her unborn child (9/11 Ala.Bapt.). Under Mississippi law, women already had the right to sue for the wrongful death of babies born prematurely or late-term fetuses that otherwise would have been expected to live had they been born. However, the new ruling expands that right to mothers with unborn children that have not reached the so-called state of "viability," or ability to live outside the womb.

ACCC 62ND ANNUAL CONVENTION, Darlington, MD, Oct. 21-23. More on this in the next CC. Call 410/457-5101.

TRUTH MIXED WITH ERROR IS NOT TRUTH—"The Roman Catholic Church does teach some truth, but whenever God's truth is co-mingled with the errors of men, it is no longer truth. In fact the mixture becomes much more insidious than outright error. Rarely will people be gullible enough to believe an outright lie, but when the lie is covered with a veneer of truth it becomes easier to deceive the unsuspecting. If someone drops a drop of poison into a high protein drink, it is no longer healthy, but deadly. So it is when anyone adds anything to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Rather than it being the power of God for salvation, the mixture has become fatal to all those who believe it…." (Proclaiming the Gospel, Sep.-Oct. 2003) "Be not deceived…."

RHEMA 'WORD OF FAITH' PREACHER DIED—Rev. Kenneth Hagin, founder of many media outreaches and ministries, died Sept. 19 at age 86. He claimed to have died at age 15, went to hell and was brought back to life. He says Jesus appeared to him eight times and talked with him. He has been charged with rejecting historic Christianity and with being as heretical as the Mormon Church (4/15/96 CC).

EVOLVING HUMANIST MANIFESTOS—Straightway Editor Dr. H.T. Spence writes: "Our society has become atheistic in its avoidance of God in every compartment of life. Evolution has permeated every context of human existence with its conspicuous absence of God in the conversation of man's origin…." ICR founder Dr. Henry Morris writes: "The American Humanist Association has led in the development…of a new Humanist Manifesto…" Humanist Manifesto I (1933) was published at the time when John Dewey and others organized the AHA. Humanist Manifesto II (1973) stated: "No deity will save us; we must save ourselves." Humanist Manifesto III (1980, 2003) states: "Humans are an integral part of nature, the result of unguided evolutionary change. Humans recognize nature as 'self-existing.'" To bring nations into one centralized government and all the religions to universalism, acclimatization of society (now occurring) to secularism is the next step.

PURPOSE-DRIVEN PASTOR OR CEO LEADER?—A letter in the 10/2 Alabama Baptist was a partly tongue-in-cheek response from a reader: "May we just skip over the role of pastors to preach the word of God and go directly to a CEO leader for our church? We would be amazed at the money we could make with a leader who is a budget whiz, a marketing expert and a great entertainer. I can feel my vision expanding now. Unfortunately, it's tunnel vision. Out with pastors and preachers, and in with leaders. Can we throw out the deacon body also? There are some of them who think churches should be God-centered rather than growth-centered. How radical and old fashioned can we get?"

ANNE LAMOTT, UNORTHODOX VIEWS—She describes herself as a left-wing pacifist "who is also a born-again Christian." Anne Lamott, a favorite of many Christian college students, and whose books have sold millions, says: "I did not mean to be a Christian. I have been very clear about that." She tells of encountering the presence of Jesus for the first time 12 years ago. She is a Presbyterian now, speaks of conversion, and becoming a Christian. But she refers to "our Mother Father God." She says she is "liberal in all my views" and: "I just recoil at the hellfire and brimstone condemnation and shaming language of extreme right-wing Christianity." [From an interview by Susan Olasky, 9/20 World] In a January 2003 interview with Christianity Today, she is said to be a "hard-core liberal." She says she thinks that people from other faiths who don't believe in Jesus are God's children and will go to heaven. This is universalism. She believes personhood doesn't start at conception. In one week after having an abortion she is said to have surrendered to Jesus "in her own version of the sinner's prayer, punctuated with [a vulgar term]."

B.W.A. PRESIDENT BEGS SBC TO STAY—Baptist World Alliance president Billy Kim appealed to the Southern Baptist Executive Committee: "I beg you, stay with us in the Baptist World Alliance." (10/2 Ala. Baptist) But unresolved questions about the BWA's processes in granting BWA membership to the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, a leftist breakaway group, is a main problem. It caused the SBC last June to reduce its allocation to the BWA by $125,000.

PK HAS NEW LEADER—Promise Keepers has named Thomas Fortson, Jr., as its new president and CEO (10/2/03 AgapePress). He replaces outgoing president and founder Bill McCartney (see 10/03 CC). Fortson's goals for PK includes growing its U.S. base and expanding its global outreach. PK drew 1 million people annually to its events at stadiums in the mid-1990s but attendance has dropped in recent years.

NCC GENERAL ASSEMBLY MEETS—Jackson, Miss. will host the National Council of Churches, USA's Nov. 4-6. annual General Assembly. Many special guests will join delegates from the liberal NCC's 36 Protestant, Orthodox and Anglican member churches, which, in turn comprise 50 million adherents in 140,000 local congregations nationwide. The 280-member General Assembly is the highest legislative body of the nation's leading ecumenical body through which U.S. churches work to address people's "spiritual" and social needs. It will also elect new leaders for 2004-2007.

GRAHAM WELCOMED LIBERALS EARLY—For whatever motive, Billy Graham, quite early in his ministry, while still professing to be a separatist, welcomed liberals and eventually Roman Catholics into…his crusades (C.E.C. Journal, Mar-Apr.). Thus began a parting of the ways between true separated fundamentalists and those who wanted to be more conciliatory in their thinking toward liberal, New Evangelical and religious-but-lost "Christians."

GARNER TED ARMSTRONG DEAD AT 73—Religious broadcaster Garner Ted Armstrong, who split from his father's (Herbert W.) Worldwide Church of God, has died, his son Mark announced. He founded other organizations after splitting from his father. His father's cult was known for Old Testament practices and unorthodox theology. A lawsuit was filed by a masseuse who claimed he (Garner Ted) sexually assaulted her during a 1995 massage session.

ANGLICAN CHURCH DIVIDED OVER HOMOSEXUAL CLERICS—The U.S. Episcopal Church is a branch of the Anglican Church. Both of these are in turmoil recently provoked by the Episcopal Church's decision in August to confirm a homosexual man as a bishop, who had left wife and family years ago to live in a homosexual relationship with a longtime partner. As a crisis looms, and apostasy deepens, there is a growing acceptance of homosexual practice.

PRIEST ABUSE SCANDAL—The Roman Catholic Church and most Protestant churches now allow homosexuals, including practicing homosexuals, to serve as clergymen. Catholic authorities now say that about half of Catholic seminarians and priests are homosexuals (4/14 Christian News). Priestly sex scandals in the U.S. Roman Catholic Church were few and far between before seminaries began accepting homosexuals in the 1960s. Homosexuals in the priesthood are now estimated to be between 30 and 60 percent.

NEWS NOTES—Chris Hindal, chairman of the policy committee of the GARBC, is seeking ideas for a possible name change for the GARBC. *** Dr. Kevin Bauder was formally installed as president of Central Baptist Theological Seminary (Minn.), Oct. 12. *** Of the 27 million evangelical and charismatic Protestants in Brazil, 18.9 million are charismatics; over half of Brazil's Protestants are women. Assemblies of God is the largest charismatic group.

Send comments to rbhall52@gmail.com

Calvary Contender Home Page