Friday Church News Notes
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The Friday Church News Notes is designed for use in churches and is published by Way of Life Literature’s Fundamental Baptist Information Service. Unless otherwise stated, the Notes are written by David Cloud. Of necessity we quote from a wide variety of sources, but this does not imply an endorsement. For instructions on how to unsubscribe to this list or to change mailing addresses, please consult the information paragraph at the end.
SOCIAL JUSTICE REPLACES GOSPEL PREACHING IN UNITED METHODIST CAMPAIGN (Friday Church News Notes, April 30, 2010, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The United Methodist Church conducted a Change the World campaign last weekend, with the objective of changing society rather than preaching the gospel. It is part of its “Rethink Church” program, which purports to “recover the message and mission of Jesus,” but which in fact covers His Mission (e.g., Mark 16:15; Luke 24:46-48; Acts 1:8) with a humanistic, short-sighted social-justice campaign. One of the objectives of Rethink Church is for Christians to “unite globally to eliminate” malaria. The ecumenical agenda aside, this is commendable as far as it goes, but it is far more important to preach the gospel. Even if malaria and cancer and heart disease were eliminated, every individual will still die physically and those without Christ will suffer the second death in the lake of fire. Thus, gospel preaching far exceeds social-justice work in importance and consequence, and since the work of gospel preaching always exceeds the number of workers and resources, it must have the pre-eminence in the heart and objective of the churches. The kingdom of God will not come to this sin-drunken world until the Prince of Peace returns and establishes it with His omnipotent power and omniscient wisdom.
The Strange Independent Baptist Friends Church Directory
We have recently discovered that listings from our Church Directory were placed verbatim on the Baptist Friends International list as churches that have “registered” to support their program. This is a very deceptive practice that should cast doubt on the methods employed by this group.
An announcement of the IB Friends International church directory was during their recent conference. Pastor Bobby Mitchell of Brunswick, Maine, said that during one of the broadcasts that he heard “it was stated that ‘thousands’ had ‘registered’ their churches and ministries at the IBFI website.”
When he examined the website he found that his church was listed without his knowledge, and that no one in the church had “registered” it with the IB Friends. He said, “I also noticed several other churches that were ‘registered’ that had not been ‘registered’ by anyone associated with those churches. The more I read the stranger it became as I looked at listings of churches that no longer exist, the names of pastors who are now in heaven, and the names of pastors who have moved to a different church.”
Pastor Mitchell says that when he spoke with a staff member at Crown College about having their church removed from the directory “he apologetically stated that, in fact, they had built the majority of the directory from other existing church directories that were created and owned by other groups.”
This is duplicity, and a loud public apology should be made in regard to the directory.
The Way of Life Literature Church Directory was created with much labor over many years, and not just anyone can get on our list. We began it for the express purpose of helping friends of the ministry find churches that are like minded with our position. For years prior to starting the directory I had received requests from readers of my material inquiring if I knew of like minded churches in their areas. I started the directory to provide a list of any such churches that we learned of. A few years ago we developed an extensive questionnaire that churches are required to fill out before being added to our directory. There are large numbers of independent Baptist churches that we cannot recommend, and we turn churches down every week from being added to our list.
In addition to Bobby Mitchell, I have heard from several other pastors who have found that their churches were listed in the Independent Baptist Friends directory without their knowledge or permission, and these are men who expressly DO NOT support the IB Friends agenda.
I am certain that there are many other churches on the Way of Life directory that would not appreciate being lifted from our directory and placed into a list of "Friends."
We would encourage you to search their directory and see if your church was placed on this list without your knowledge or permission. If so, you can write to ask to have them remove it.
http://baptistfriends.org
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Distributed by Way of Life Literature's Fundamental Baptist Information Service, an e-mail listing for Fundamental Baptists and other fundamentalist, Bible-believing Christians. OUR GOAL IN THIS PARTICULAR ASPECT OF OUR MINISTRY IS NOT DEVOTIONAL BUT IS TO PROVIDE INFORMATION TO ASSIST PREACHERS IN THE PROTECTION OF THE CHURCHES IN THIS APOSTATE HOUR. This material is sent only to those who personally subscribe to the list. If somehow you have subscribed unintentionally, following are the instructions for removal. The Fundamental Baptist Information Service mailing list is automated. To SUBSCRIBE, go to http://www.wayoflife.org/wayoflife/subscribe.html . TO UNSUBSCRIBE OR CHANGE ADDRESSES, go to the very bottom of any email received from us and click "Manage My Subscription." If you have any trouble with this, please let us know. We take up a quarterly offering to fund this ministry, and those who use the materials are expected to participate (Galatians 6:6) if they can. Some of the articles are from O Timothy magazine, which is in its 27th year of publication. Way of Life publishes many helpful books. The catalog is located at the web site: http://www.wayoflife.org/publications/index.html. Way of Life Literature, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061. 866-295-4143, fbns@wayoflife.org. We do not solicit funds from those who do not agree with our preaching and who are not helped by these publications, but only from those who are. OFFERINGS can be made at http://www.wayoflife.org/wayoflife/makeanoffering.html. PAYPAL offerings can be made to https://www.paypal.com/xclick/business=dcloud%40wayoflife.org
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Is It Wrong for an IB Preacher to Preach in a Southern Baptist Church?
Recently I received the following challenge:
“I want to thank you for your ministry. It has been a help to me much over the years.
I would like to clarify one minor thing with you, though. In your letter to Clarence Sexton, you stated about Andrew Phipps: ‘Another speaker scheduled for the Friends conference in April is Andrew Phipps (shown right). He regularly speaks at Freewill Baptist, Southern Baptist, Christian Unity, Social Brethren, and other types of churches.’
“I do not dispute with you that this man has problems and I agree with you that this pattern of preaching indicates a real problem. It is here that I would like to make a distinction. Though I am an ‘old school,’ separated Independent Baptist, where I preach is between myself and God alone. It is He who called me to preach the gospel. I’ll preach anywhere as long as they don’t mess with my message or invitation. Preaching in a Freewill Baptist church doesn’t make me a Freewill Baptist. Preaching in a Southern Baptist Church doesn’t make me Southern Baptist, etc., etc. Continue reading this article……
A Pastor's Stance on the Independent Baptist Friends International
The following is from Pastor Gary Webb, Calvary Baptist Church, Carrboro, North Carolina <churchcalvary@clearwire.net>
Dear Calvary members and others who are acquainted with our church,
Recently I was asked what involvement our church has with the “Independent Baptist Friends International” – a new Baptist fellowship started by Clarence Sexton, pastor of Temple Baptist Church in Powell, Tennessee, and president of Crown College. When I asked the reason for the question I was told that our church was listed on the IBFI website as a participating church.
There are a number of good men who participated in this conference. However, there have also been a number of Baptist pastors who have expressed their concern or opposition to this new fellowship. No one at Calvary asked to be listed on the website, nor were we contacted. According to the person who asked about our church’s involvement, last week during the conference Dr. Sexton made several statements about how many churches were registering to be on his Baptist Friends website. However, because a number of pastors and churches have complained about their names being on the list without permission, a disclaimer has now been posted on the website.Continue reading this article……
Why I'm Not Participating with the Independent Baptist Friends International
The following is by Pastor Bobby Mitchell, Mid-Coast Baptist Church, Brunswick, Maine, www.midcoastbaptistchurch.com, bobbymjr@roadrunner.com
The autonomy and independence of New Testament churches is plainly taught in the Scriptures. We must be very careful about "meddling" in another church's business. However, when a pastor and church seeks to start a "movement" that involves thousands of other churches then it is only right to comment on that movement if error, or compromise with error, is being promoted. When such an influence is presented to New Testament churches then New Testament pastors are under holy obligation to speak out about it. Some have asked why I am not involved with the newest Baptist group that is titled Independent Baptist Friends International, and why I felt it necessary to state that I was embarrassed that Mid-Coast Baptist Church was listed on their church directory. I am happy to answer and I thank you for asking. I am not able to give much time to a long and diplomatic response, so please be forgiving of the pointedness of this. I harbor malice towards none of those that I am stating disagreement with. I believe that there is much good that could be said about many involved with the IBFI, but the following are my reasons for not participating. Continue reading this article……
Friday Church News Notes
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The Friday Church News Notes is designed for use in churches and is published by Way of Life Literature’s Fundamental Baptist Information Service. Unless otherwise stated, the Notes are written by David Cloud. Of necessity we quote from a wide variety of sources, but this does not imply an endorsement. For instructions on how to unsubscribe to this list or to change mailing addresses, please consult the information paragraph at the end.
DARWINIAN INQUISITION OPERATING WITHIN NASA (Friday Church News Notes, April 23, 2010, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - David Coppedge, an employee of NASA, has filed suit over action taken against him for discussing intelligent design with other employees. Coppedge, an information technology specialist and system administrator, was demoted from a high-level job because he distributed DVDs explaining intelligent design (“NASA Threatened by Talk of Intelligence,” OneNewsNow, April 22, 2010). He was accused of “creating a hostile work environment” for simply offering DVDs to fellow employees in a non-coercive manner. NASA claims the ID material is “religious,” which it isn’t, but even if Coppedge were promoting a six-day Biblical creation, NASA would be wrong and foolish in harassing him. There is nothing unscientific or non-intellectual about looking at the universe to see if it fits the Bible’s clear predictions. Further, NASA has a short memory. The head of its vaunted Apollo moon program stated publicly that the universe gives evidence of intelligent design. Wernher von Braun, director of the Marshall Space Flight Center and the chief architect of the Saturn V launch vehicle, considered it unscientific to rule out a Creator just because we can’t “test” him scientifically. Von Braun published an article entitled “My Faith: A Space-age Scientist Tells Why He Must Believe in God.” This appeared in the American Weekly, February 10, 1963, and was republished in many other newspapers. He wrote, “As we learn more and more about nature, we become more deeply impressed and humbled by its orderliness and unerring perfection.” In 1972 von Braun wrote to the California State Board of Education, urging the inclusion of intelligent design theories into the public school classrooms. He said, “... the scientific method does not allow us to exclude data which lead to the conclusion that the universe, life and man are based on design. To be forced to believe only one conclusion--that everything in the universe happened by chance--would violate the very objectivity of science itself. ... We in NASA were often asked what the real reason was for the amazing string of successes we had with our Apollo flights to the Moon. I think the only honest answer we could give was that we tried to never overlook anything. It is in that same sense of scientific honesty that I endorse the presentation of alternative theories for the origin of the universe, life and man in the science classroom. It would be an error to overlook the possibility that the universe was planned rather than happened by chance (http://www.creationsafaris.com/wgcs_4vonbraun.htm). Because of Darwinism’s elitist mentality and fear of challenge, the wise counsel of the world’s top rocket scientist was ignored and “intelligent design” was banned. This is not science; it is an inquisition.
Charles Darwin's Deception
In his autobiography, Charles Darwin presented himself as a man who was not deeply influenced by the skeptical environment in which he grew up. He claimed, in fact, to have believed the Bible as a Cambridge student and even during his voyage on the Beagle and only gradually to have become a skeptic solely as the product of independent scientific investigation. This is a self-serving myth.
In fact, he never was a Bible believer, never professed Christ as his Saviour, and was influenced deeply by skepticism from a young age.
Charles’ grandfather, Erasmus Darwin, was a famous skeptic who worshipped “a distant Deity ... the vast Unknown.” Erasmus’ skepticism was so radical that it even shocked the Unitarian transcendentalist Samuel Taylor Coleridge, who called him “an Atheist.” Josiah Wedgewood, Erasmus’ close friend and the grandfather of Charles’ wife Emma, was a Unitarian who rejected the Deity of Christ and the infallibility of the Bible. Josiah’s famous Wedgwood pottery firm honored the infamous Unitarian Joseph Priestly with a medallion featuring his likeness. The two grandfathers bequeathed “a mixture of freethought and radical Christianity to their grandchildren” (Adrian Desmond, Darwin, p. 5). Erasmus published a very popular two-volume work entitled Zoonomia, which presented nearly the same evolutionary theories later popularized by Charles. Erasmus added an evolutionary symbol to the Darwin family’ coat of arms, consisting of three scallop shells and the motto E Conchis Omnia (“all things out of shells”). The meaning was that all things had evolved out of the sea.
Friday Church News Notes
FRIDAY CHURCH NEWS NOTES
April 16, 2010, Volume 11, Issue 16
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The Friday Church News Notes is designed for use in churches and is published by Way of Life Literature’s Fundamental Baptist Information Service. Unless otherwise stated, the Notes are written by David Cloud. Of necessity we quote from a wide variety of sources, but this does not imply an endorsement. For instructions on how to unsubscribe to this list or to change mailing addresses, please consult the information paragraph at the end.
PETER MASTERS WARNS ABOUT WORLDLY EMERGING CHURCH CALVINISTS (Friday Church News Notes, April 16, 2010, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - Dr. Peter Masters, pastor of the Metropolitan Tabernacle in London, England, has sounded a warning against the worldliness of American pop-Calvinists such as Mark Driscoll and John Piper (shown left). Driscoll calls himself “theologically conservative and culturally liberal” and his Mars Hills Church in Seattle has rock & roll champagne parties, watches R-rated movies, learns how to brew beer, and hosts secular rock concerts. In an article in The Sword and Trowel, 2009 No. 1, entitled “The Merger of Calvinism with Worldliness,” Dr. Masters says: “The new Calvinists constantly extol the Puritans, but they do not want to worship or live as they did. One of the vaunted new conferences is called Resolved, after Jonathan Edwards’ famous youthful Resolutions (seventy searching undertakings). But the culture of this conference would unquestionably have met with the outright condemnation of that great theologian. Resolved is the brainchild of a member of Dr John MacArthur’s pastoral staff, gathering thousands of young people annually, and featuring the usual mix of Calvinism and extreme charismatic-style worship. Young people are encouraged to feel the very same sensational nervous impact of loud rhythmic music on the body that they would experience in a large, worldly pop concert, complete with replicated lighting and atmosphere. At the same time they reflect on predestination and election. Worldly culture provides the bodily, emotional feelings, into which Christian thoughts are infused and floated. Biblical sentiments are harnessed to carnal entertainment. In times of disobedience the Jews of old syncretised by going to the Temple or the synagogue on the sabbath, and to idol temples on weekdays, but the new Calvinism has found a way of uniting spiritually incompatible things at the same time, in the same meeting. ... Truly proclaimed, the sovereignty of God must include consecration, reverence, sincere obedience to his will, and separation from the world.” CONCLUDING NOTE FROM BRO. CLOUD: While we do not agree with Dr. Masters’ sovereign election theology, we could not agree more with his reproof of worldliness and we are thankful for the stand he has taken against the contemporary philosophy. The Bible’s call to not be conformed to the world, to not love the world, and to come out from among them and be separate refutes the ridiculous philosophy of “cultural liberalism” (Romans 12:2; 2 Corinthians 6:17; Ephesians 5:11; James 4:4; 1 John 2:15-17).
Repentance and Lordship Salvation Revisited
In July 1996 we published an article in O Timothy magazine entitled “Repentance and Lordship Salvation,”
1. The error that repentance is wrapped up in faith and does not have to be preached.
2. The error that to define repentance as a change of mind which results in a change of life is a “new” thing.
3. The error of confusing repentance with “lordship salvation.”
4. The error of saying salvation can be divorced from accepting Jesus Christ as God and Lord.
5. The error of saying that it is unbelief alone which condemns men and sends them to hell.
This is difficult subject and it is easy for a man to be misunderstood, particularly if a reader has not seen many of our materials and does not understand our overall position and ministry. Also, when we mention the name of an independent Baptist leader who is promoting what we believe to be an error, it is natural for those who respect the man to react negatively toward us. They tend to shoot the messenger! We received a letter from a pastor who cancelled his subscription to
Repentance and Lordship Salvation
The Bible very plainly gives us a doctrine of repentance, but there seems to be some confusion among Independent Baptists in this regard. In the June 1996 issue of O Timothy we noted that some even claim that repentance is not a doctrine and that it is not necessary to preach repentance. That this is a widespread problem is testified by the title of a book that was published some years ago by a veteran Independent Baptist missionary. The title was “The Great Omission,” and the subject was the lack of repentance in the preaching of many fundamental Baptists. Not only is repentance almost entirely omitted in many ministries, it is also widely misunderstood and misinterpreted.
I have read dozens of books, articles, and sermons touching on this topic, and the following are some of the errors that I have seen cropping up repeatedly:
ERROR NUMBER 1: REPENTANCE IS WRAPPED UP IN FAITH AND DOES NOT HAVE TO BE PREACHED.
“The word ‘repent’ is not even found in the book of John. It is obviously assumed by God that ‘repentance’ is a part of ‘believing’” (Bob Gray, Longview, Texas).
I will reply to the idea that repentance is the same as faith by asking the following questions:
1. If repentance and faith are the same, why does did Paul make such a plain distinction between them? “Testifying both to the Jews, and also to the Greeks, repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ” (Acts 20:21). In reality, repentance and faith are two different actions though they are intimately connected and cannot necessarily be separated in time. Repentance is to acknowledge one’s sin and rebellion against God and to change one’s mind about sinning against God. Repentance is surrender. Faith is to trust the finished work of Christ for forgiveness. Repentance and faith are the two aspects of man’s response to God’s offer of salvation. Continue reading this article……
Questions Answered About Repentance
Updated April 13, 2010 (first published February 24, 2000) (David Cloud, Fundamental Baptist Information Service, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061, 866-295-4143, fbns@wayoflife.org; for instructions about subscribing and unsubscribing or changing addresses, see the information paragraph at the end of the article) -
My articles and books dealing with repentance and exposing the error of what I call “quick prayerism” have produced questions both from friends and enemies. The following are my answers to these questions:
QUESTION: How can you speak against men such as Pastor Jack Hyles who promote what you call “quick prayerism” when many people have been saved through their ministries?
ANSWER: It is true that people have been saved through the ministries of the men who promote quick prayerism. I know some of them personally, and I praise the Lord for every soul that is genuinely saved through any man’s ministry. I also praise the Lord for every other good thing in the lives and ministries of these men. I don’t consider myself their enemy, though they usually consider me as such. To point out error is a kindly thing to do. Some of these men probably put me to shame in some areas of the Christian life, and I readily acknowledge that before God. The good things in a man’s life and ministry never excuse error, though. Continue reading this article……
Friday Church News Notes
PDF VERSION
The Friday Church News Notes is designed for use in churches and is published by Way of Life Literature’s Fundamental Baptist Information Service. Unless otherwise stated, the Notes are written by David Cloud. Of necessity we quote from a wide variety of sources, but this does not imply an endorsement. For instructions on how to unsubscribe to this list or to change mailing addresses, please consult the information paragraph at the end.
CRYSTAL CATHEDRAL SUED FOR UNPAID BILLS (Friday Church News Notes, April 9, 2010, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - Robert Schuller’s Crystal Cathedral is being sued for more than $2 million in unpaid bills. The church is said to have a $55 million budget deficit (Christian News Report, April 3, 2010). In June 2009, Schuller announced that his daughter Sheila was taking over the ministry in the place of his son, Robert Anthony. Apparently this hasn’t worked out very well. Regardless of what happens to the Crystal Cathedral, Schuller has had a vast influence on modern Christianity. He has been one of the most popular religion television personalities in America for decades. His books have sold by the millions. Schuller reinterprets the Bible to conform to his heretical self-esteem philosophy. In his book Self-Esteem: The New Reformation he defined sin as the lack of self-esteem and christ as “self-esteem incarnate.” His gospel is to replace negative self-concepts with positive ones. Schuller wants to create a new kind of Christianity: one that accepts the Fatherhood of God, that is positive and non-judgmental, and that denies the necessity of Christ’s blood atonement. This sounds suspiciously like the god of The Shack. Robert Schuller is a pioneer in apostasy; he represented the emerging church before there was an emerging church. (For documentation of Schuller’s heresies see “Robert Schuller and Evangelicals” at the Way of Life web site.)
Did Jesus Go to India to Learn Wisdom?
Some books purport that Jesus went to India during his youth to learn the wisdom of the gurus. Before I was a Christian, I learned this teaching from the book The Aquarian Gospel of Jesus the Christ by Levi Dowling, which I read in about 1972. At the time, I was convinced that it was true.
The book claims that Jesus spent 18 years of his life (called the “hidden” or “silent years,” between age 12 and 30) studying under Eastern religious gurus in India, Tibet, and Egypt. By this means Jesus achieved the “Christ” consciousness and then set out to teach others. According to this theory, Jesus and “the Christ” are different. Jesus was an ordinary man who learned how to be “the Christ” through initiation into the secrets of mystical wisdom.
In replying to this we would say, first, that it lacks evidence. Levi, for example, claimed that he received this “knowledge” about Jesus from the “Akashic Records,” an immense energy field allegedly surrounding the earth that contains all knowledge. We only have his word for this. There is no evidence that the Akashic Records exist, and there is no historic evidence for this theory about Jesus from history.
Darwinian Racism
April 7, 2010 (David Cloud, Fundamental Baptist Information Service, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061, 866-295-4143, fbns@wayoflife.org; for instructions about subscribing and unsubscribing or changing addresses, see the information paragraph at the end of the article) -
Charles Darwin and all of the founding evolutionists were racists who considered people such as the negro and the Australian aborigine and Asians inferior to whites.
In Outcasts from Evolution, John Haller documented “the ingrained, firm, and almost universal racism of North American men of science during the nineteenth (and into the twentieth) century.”
Dr. Henry Morris observed, “It was not only Darwin and Huxley, the two top evolutionists, who were racists. All of them were!” (The Long War Against God, p. 61).
Charles Darwin’s influential book On the Origin of Species was subtitled “The preservation of favored races in the struggle for life.” He was referring not only to animals but also to man.
In The Descent of Man, Darwin even wrote that the “inferior” “savage races” would eventually be wiped out by the superior white race as a product of the “survival of the fittest.”
“At some future period, not very distant as measured by centuries, the civilized races of man will almost certainly exterminate and replace throughout the world the savage races. At the same time the anthropomorphos apes ... will no doubt be exterminated. The break will then be rendered wider, for it will intervene between man in a more civilized state, as we may hope, than the Caucasian, and some ape as low as a baboon, instead of as at present between the negro or Australian and the gorilla.”
Continue reading this article……Friday Church News Notes
PDF VERSION
The Friday Church News Notes is designed for use in churches and is published by Way of Life Literature’s Fundamental Baptist Information Service. Unless otherwise stated, the Notes are written by David Cloud. Of necessity we quote from a wide variety of sources, but this does not imply an endorsement. For instructions on how to unsubscribe to this list or to change mailing addresses, please consult the information paragraph at the end.
NATIONAL WORSHIP LEADER CONFERENCE AND CALVARY CHAPEL HOST NEW AGE-EMERGENT MYSTIC (Friday Church News Notes, April 2, 2010, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The upcoming National Worship Leader Conference at Calvary Chapel in Albuquerque will feature “New Age sympathizer and emerging church leader” Leonard Sweet (Lighthouse Trails, March 26, 2010). The conference is sponsored by Worship Leader magazine, the chief editor for which is Chuck Fromm, Calvary Chapel founder Chuck Smith, Sr.’s nephew. Leonard Sweet is a United Methodist clergyman, E. Stanley Jones Professor of Evangelism at Drew University, and founder and president of SpiritVenture Ministries. He promotes a New Age universalist spirituality that he calls New Light and “the Christ consciousness.” He describes it in terms of “the union of the human with the divine” which is the “center feature of all the world’s religions” (Quantum Spirituality, p. 235). He says it was experienced by Mohammed, Moses, and Krishna. Some of the “New Light leaders” that have led him into this new thinking are Matthew Fox, M. Scott Peck, Willis Harman, and Ken Wilber, all of whom believe in the divinity of man, plus the Catholic-Buddhist monk Thomas Merton. Sweet says humanity needs to learn the truth of Merton’s words, “We are already one” (Quantum Spirituality, p. 13). Sweet defines the New Light as “a structure of human becoming, a channeling of Christ energies through mindbody experience” (p. 70). Contemplative mysticism has been permeating evangelicalism for decades and it is one of the foundational elements of the emerging church (See the titles “The Emerging Church” and “Contemplative Mysticism,” which are available from Way of Life Literature in print and e-book editions.) Contemporary Worship Music (CWM) is mystical in itself. It focuses on an emotional experience, which is why rock & roll is the preferred form of music. CWM’s leaders and participants are “hooked on a feeling.” They are intoxicated with pop music and are led more by their emotions than by God’s holy Word. (Southern Baptist pastor Rick Warren has also promoted Leonard Sweet.)
Why Does God Allow Suffering?
Many wonder why God allows suffering and catastrophes.
To answer this we would say, first, that the trouble in this world is man’s fault, not God’s. When God made man in the beginning, there was no suffering. God made a perfect world for man to live in and provided for man’s every need. God placed the first man and woman in a paradise called the Garden of Eden and gave them only one commandment. But they were not satisfied with God’s provision and they disobeyed God’s commandment and fell into sin. As a result, the world became a place of evil and suffering. This is man’s fault. It is men that lie and cheat and steal and rape and kidnap and bully and kill.
Second, God is holy and judges sin. He is not only a Saviour, He is also a Judge. God warned the first man and woman, that if they disobeyed His law they would be punished, and that is what happened. Because of sin, the world came under God’s curse. This is described in Genesis chapter 3. It is God’s curse that is the cause of sickness and death and many other troubles that men suffer. Men are not innocent before God. All men have sinned and broken His laws; and all men, therefore, deserve to be punished.
What Do I Do With a Child Outside My Home?
The following message is by Pastor Terry Coomer, For The Love Of The Family Ministries (Ministry of Hope Baptist Church, P.O. Box 94985, 6929 John F Kennedy Blvd., North Little Rock, AR 72190, 501-515-3296, TLCOOMER@juno.com, www.fortheloveofthefamily.com, www.hopebaptistlittlerock.com)
These messages may be copied in their entirety to help Christians in the rearing of their children for God, strengthening their family, and their marriage. They are not to be changed in any manner or to be sold. This header must be on any copy. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact the author.
I have given this article quite a bit of consideration and prayer, and it is my prayer that it will be a help to many. My wife, Kim and I have had the opportunity to have For The Love Of The Family meetings in many different churches. Some churches are smaller churches and some are larger churches. However, one theme that comes up in every meeting is, “Pastor, I do not understand why my child who grew up in this church, went to this Christian school, or was home schooled etc. does not want to live for God?” They are living a horrible sinful and in many cases a wicked life. They are doing damage to themselves and others. The parent is distraught and many times is weeping as to what went wrong. Then other people will come up and say, “I now understand what happened, why did I not hear this before now?”Continue reading this article……
