VOL. XXII  NO. 8  NEWS & VIEWS, NOTES & QUOTES, TO WARN & INFORM   August 2005

ENEMIES OF TRUTH—Evolution and other atheistic religions have had a monopoly on our secular education system for decades. In the name of education, a religion of naturalism is being taught. Canada and Australia are peeping their heads above the horizon in the matter of hate crimes and gay marriages. The 7/16 World says: “When homosexual couples start showing up in liberal churches asking to be married those churches may be forced to deal with such requests.”

LOGO 'A NEW HOMOSEXUAL TV CHANNEL'—Logo is a TV channel devoted exclusively to homosexuality. Unlike all-gay, all-the-time channels—such as Here! and Q available only through pay-per-view or subscription, Logo takes its place on basic cable…Logo won't show overt porn. (7/16 World) Still, it features R-rated, gay-themed movies at night, as well as same-sex kissing and sex-talk round the clock. Logo's emphasis is on “the gay lifestyle” and cultural advocacy.

SUN MYUNG MOON: 'AGENT OF SATAN' says God is now throwing Christianity away. Moon seems to have an unending source supply of wealth, some of which goes to building his Unification Church. He warns that we can no longer tolerate separation and division (7/00 CN)) He presents himself as greater than Jesus! He's a false teacher. Be warned, be wise, beware!

MOST AIDS VICTIMS LIVE IN AFRICA—The U.N. reports that 70 percent of AIDS victims live in Africa. It says every 14 seconds a child in Africa (per Jars of Clay religious rock band) is orphaned by the death of a parent infected with AIDS and is likely to turn to begging, stealing, and prostitution to survive. (6/18/05 World).

UCC MOST LIBERAL DENOM?—The United Church of Christ is said by some to be the leading liberal mainline denomination. Many of its members are leaving but the vast majority are uninformed and will remain with it regardless of the fact that it supports the murder of unborn infants, euthanasia, and homosexual marriage (7/8 HT & 7/11 Chr. News). A recent vote to support homosexual marriages was overwhelming, making the UCC the first mainline group in the U.S. to do so. The UCC had already become the first to ordain a woman and an openly homosexual man.

HIV EPIDEMIC IN INDIA—India's huge population disguises the growing number of HIV-infected citizens (7/25 USN&WR). One in every 8 HIV-infected people worldwide is in India—and the number is growing by 500,000 a year. India has at least 5.1 million infected people, second only to South Africa's 5.3 million, 21 percent of its adult population. Still, far more Indians die from dirty water and common diseases than from AIDS.
Sin-darkened India's greatest need of all is the Gospel.

BJU HAS A NEW LEADER—For the first time since its founding in 1927, Bob Jones University's president is not named Bob Jones—it is Stephen Jones, son of Bob Jones III. Gary Weier replaced Stephen Jones as v-p for administration. For the first time, the school has sought, and received accreditation. Pennsylvania is a prime recruiting area and sends more students to BJU than any state except SC and MI. The ban on interracial dating is gone, and increasingly, students are the product of home-schooling (e.g., this year, 25 percent of the incoming class were home schooled). A strict code of conduct is still imposed.

CARTER, WARREN, CAMPOLO, PARTICIPATE IN BWA 100th ANNIVERSARY PARTY IN ENGLAND—Rick Warren, Jimmy Carter and Tony Campolo were all going to the 100th Anniversary of the Baptist World Alliance in Birmingham, England, July 27-31, 2005. The BWA is a conglomerate of theologically and politically left-wing Baptists who embrace the social gospel and minimize any form of separation from theological error (5-6/05 Foundation). Even the SBC “conservatives” have withdrawn from the BWA due to its liberal political leanings and its acceptance of Baptists who embrace heretical doctrines. Billy Graham declined a London crusade invitation, citing age, health and distance.

SHROUD OF TURIN CONFIRMED AS A FAKE—A French magazine says it has carried out experiments that proves the Shroud of Turin is a fake. The Shroud is claimed by defenders to be the cloth in which the body of Jesus Christ was wrapped after his crucifixion. It bears the faint image of a blood-covered man with holes in his hands and wounds in his body and head, the apparent result of being crucified, stabbed by a Roman spear and forced to wear a crown of thorns. In 1988 scientists carried out carbon-14 dating of the cloth and concluded that the material was made sometime between 1260 and 1390. This prompted the then archbishop of Turin. where the Shroud is stored, to admit that the garment was a hoax. [7/26 Christian News]

SBF SPEAKERS—The 50th Anniversary of the Southwide Baptist Fellowship will be at Highland Park Baptist Church this year, October 2-5, Chattanooga, and will feature such speakers as: Jerry Falwell, Lee Roberson, ABWE'S Mike Loftis, Gene Mims, Danny Lovett, Dino Pedrone, Johnny Pope, and Johnny Hunt. It is saddening to note the continuing gradual drift toward New Evangelicalism of some of these preachers.

JOURNEY FROM ORTHODOXY TO CHRIST…TO CHRIST?—In the August Chr. Today author Sam Torode, described his “journey to Jesus” this way, pointing out that it was similar to that of Thomas Howard (brother of Elisabeth Elliott) who a couple of decades ago went from Anglican to Roman Catholic, Carode said: “I grew up Baptist, lost my fundamentalist faith, became interested in the ancient traditions of the church, attended a Lutheran parish for a time, and eventually wound up Eastern Orthodox.” He went on to say he “greatly admires John Paul II's teachings…for their beauty and truth [!], not because I take them to be…infallible.” Torode says: “Instead of 'evangelizing' my evangelical friends, I now hope to learn from them. It's far more important to encourage each other as we grow in Christ.”

VAN IMPE EULOGIZES POPE & CHURCH OF ROME—The death of John Paul II and the installation of his successor Pope Benedict XVI gave Jack Van Impe a chance to announce to his television audience that he was a changed man, that he had learned to embrace “his Catholic brothers and sisters in Jesus.” Andy Foster wrote in the May-July Canadian Revivalist: “Dr. Van Impe uses the language of conversion to describe the 'change' that occurred in his own thinking about Roman Catholicism.” He claims that the Church of Rome believes the fundamentals of the faith and that Protestants who separate from Roman dogma are carried away with minor issues. He slandered the witness of Dr. Ian Paisley, calling him a “religious leader who often leads the Protestants up to the front to kill the Catholics.” [This is especially sad for this editor, since Van Impe in the early 70s was a favorite preachers!]

AMERICAN BAPTISTS DIVIDE OVER HOMOSEXUALITY?—The general secretary of the American Baptist Churches USA urged members at their recent biennial meeting to not let divisions over homosexuality endanger their meeting. (7/18 Chr. News) The ABC is a major member of the Baptist World Alliance, and though it has long been considered by many to be liberal, it is also known in some quarters as being both evangelical and ecumenical. It now faces a crossroads as it struggles with the issue of homosexuality.

ANTIOCHIAN ORTHODOX CHURCH SPLITS FROM NCC— The nearly 400,000-member Antiochian Orthodox Church of America is parting ways with the National Council of Churches due to that body's liberalism. Among reasons cited for the split are the NCC's ongoing support for homosexual causes and its general secretary's withdrawal of his signature from a joint Christian Marriage Declaration with Catholics and Evangelicals several years ago. A denomination spokesman recently noted that the interchurch group had “lost its goal of unity on a doctrinal basis….” The NCC was founded in 1950 and currently includes 35 U.S. Protestant, Anglican, and other groups. It has been widely associated with the ecumenical movement. (8/5 R. Today).

BILL GOTHARD'S TOTAL HEALTH PLAN—Bill Gothard's organization claims that over two and a half million people have attended his seminars. He is said to have had a tendency to mingle psychology and his own thinking to a level of authority alongside the Scriptures. He promotes an unscriptural ecumenism, and downplays the scriptural position of the church. He now promotes charismatic-style Power of Blessing and Total Health programs (“God wants you to be totally healthy,” “live a long healthy life”). This is largely from a 5-page O Timothy report. For more info on Bill Gothard, see Way of Life web site: http://www.wayoflife.org/fbns [Dr. David Cloud] OR, see Rick Miesel's Web site: http://www.rapidnet.com/~jbeard/bdm/

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