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BEWARE OF DARK FANTASY (Friday Church News Notes, July 27, 2012, www.wayoflife.org, fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The heart is the source of one’s actions. God’s Word says, “Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life,” and,” For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he” (Proverbs 4:23; 23:7). The corruption of the imagination was one of the first steps in the downward slide to idolatry and moral perversion in man’s early history as described in Romans 1. “... when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened” (Romans 1:21). The same thing happens in the lives of individuals. What the mind dwells on is what will eventually control the life. If the imagination becomes perverted, the life will reflect this. This is a loud warning in an age when individuals can connect 24/7 in the most private manner with any aspect of the pop culture, and there are a great many dark and perverted things with which one can fill the imagination. In fact, dark and perverted is an apt description of much of today’s music, video games, novels, and movies. Science fiction and the superhero genre, for example, have grown ever darker, stranger, more sensual and godless, and many people are living a dark fantasy world. Consider James Holmes, who murdered a dozen people and wounded nearly 60 more last week in a movie theater where Batman: The Dark Knight Rises was premiering. Jesus taught us that murder is an acting out of the impulses of the sin nature (Mark 7:21-23), but the fallen nature can be inflamed. Homes had dyed his hair red and said he was The Joker, the clownish, ultra-violent enemy of the superhero Batman (“NYC Police Commissioner Said Alleged Shooter Calls Himself The Joker,” Fox News, July 20, 2012). These are vile movies. In the 2008 movie Batman: The Dark Night, a man’s face is filleted by a knife, another’s is burned half off, a man’s eye is slammed into a pencil, a bomb is stitched inside of a man and exploded, a man is bound to a chair and set afire, a child is threatened by a man with a melted face, and clowns are shot point-blank in the head. In the comic book “Batman: The Dark Night” The Joker murders an entire television audience. Thirteen years earlier, not far from where Holmes acted out his perverted fantasies, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold murdered 13 and wounded 21. They, too, were acting out demonic fantasies that had been enflamed through violent music, video games, and dark movies.

From time to time, I publish some of the goodies from my interesting mailbox, and many people have told me that they enjoy reading these things.

THEY LIKE THE PREACHING

“Recently we have had to come up with a new policy with regards to missionary presentations using PowerPoint. Now we have to review it or have them take the music out. We have missionaries from fundamental churches come and give the presentation using contemporary music.”

“Just a note concerning your article ‘Independent Baptist Music Wars.’ It is a very well written, Scriptural, and much needed article. Thank you again for the stand you take. When your first articles came out concerning the music issue I stopped and checked my position. I have always focused on taking a scriptural stand on music; however, your material helped me to realize I was starting down that ‘slippery slope’ and did not realize it. Necessary corrections were made. Thank you again!!! Keep on keeping on. ‘The remnant’ appreciates and needs the encouragement.”

“I find it very sad that when a godly, zealous, and knowledgeable man like David Cloud issues important warnings about ungodly music creeping into churches, so many people, including some Independent Baptist pastors, get mad at him and say he is sowing discord, displaying a ‘critical spirit,’ meddling with things that are none of his business, etc.  In times like these, we desperately need warnings like that as well as much more education in the area of music.”

“And there came one of the seven angels which had the seven vials, and talked with me, saying unto me, Come hither; I will shew unto thee the judgment of the great whore that sitteth upon many waters: With whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication. So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness: and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet coloured beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns. And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet colour, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication: And upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH. And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus: and when I saw her, I wondered with great admiration. ... And here is the mind which hath wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains, on which the woman sitteth. ... And he saith unto me, The waters which thou sawest, where the whore sitteth, are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues” (Revelation 13:1-6, 9, 15).

When Dave Hunt published a book in 1994 (A Woman Rides the Beast) that identifies the religious harlot of Revelation 17 with Roman Catholicism, it created quite a controversy. Hunt’s book was blacklisted by many Christian bookstores and denounced by some key Evangelical leaders and ministries, including the Christian Research Institute (CRI). On the Bible Answer Man radio broadcasts, Hank Hanegraaff claimed that it is ludicrous to identify the Roman Catholic Church as the whore of Revelation 17.

ANNIVERSARY OF HELWYS’ DEFENSE OF RELIGIOUS LIBERTY (Friday Church News Notes, July 20, 2012, www.wayoflife.org, fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - This is the 400th anniversary of the publication of the first defense of full religious liberty in the English language. Thomas Helwys’ A Short Declaration on the Mystery of Iniquity, published in 1612, was a brave appeal for liberty of conscience for all people and a bold condemnation of the Roman Catholic papacy from which the spirit of persecution stemmed. In The Mystery of Iniquity Helwys wrote, “If the King’s people be obedient and true subjects, obeying all humane laws made by the King, our Lord the King can require no more: for men’s religion to God is betwixt God and themselves; the King shall not answer for it, neither may the King be judge between God and man.” Helwys sent King James I an autographed copy of the book and a personal appeal for religious liberty. That was a year after the publication of the renowned Bible that King James had authorized, but the king was no friend of religious liberty. In fact, he was guilty of the blood of the martyrs. Helwys, a Baptist pastor and the father of seven children, was rewarded with imprisonment in Newgate, where he died in 1616 at age 40. His wife was also imprisoned. Many, like the Pilgrims, fled to America and elsewhere because of King James’ persecution. In fact, the last person burned at the stake in England perished during this king’s reign. This was the Baptist preacher Edward Wightman, who was burned in Smithfield on April 11, 1611. The Mystery of Iniquity was a very important book, in that Helwys argued not only for full religious liberty and separation of church and state, but also for believer’s baptism, congregational church polity, and the right of the believer to read and interpret Scripture for himself. Helwys was one of the founders of the General Baptist churches in England, so called because they believed in general election as opposed to “particular” or “sovereign” election. Adam Taylor’s History of the General Baptists of England (1818) gives the early history of the non-Calvinist Baptists. (In 2001 I spent a day at Spurgeon’s library at William Jewell College in Liberty, Missouri, and scanned Taylor’s two-volume history; this rare set is available in Way of Life’s Fundamental Baptist Digital Library. Today Spurgeon’s library is owned by Southwestern Baptist Seminary in Texas.) The copy of A Short Declaration of the Mystery of Iniquity that Helwys presented to the king is preserved in the Bodleian Library at Oxford University.

The following examples could be multiplied endlessly:

FOURTH WATCH cites groups like U2, the Police, Genesis, Pete Townshend, and the Alarm as major influences. “MEMBERS LISTEN TO A GREAT DEAL OF MAINSTREAM MUSIC, MAKING NO APOLOGIES FOR IT, and they express a desire to play clubs and other non-church settings” (CCM Magazine, April 1987, p. 19).

RANDY STONEHILL “listens to all kinds of music,” including hard secular rock (Devlin Donaldson, “Rockin’ Randy,” CCM Magazine, August 1983).

PHIL KEAGGY performs an unholy combination of secular rock and Christian rock/folk, and those who listen to his music are drawn toward worldly rock & roll. On his 1993 Crimson and Blue album, for example, he pays “homage to the Beatles” by covering several of their songs.

When ASHLEY CLEVELAND was asked what music was on her stereo, she replied, “Living With Ghosts, Patty Griffin; What’s The Story Morning Glory, Oasis; Exile On Main Street, the Rolling Stones” (http://www.ashleycleveland.com/acfacts.htm). In her concerts, Ashley performs a very gritty rendition of the Rolling Stones hit “Gimme Shelter.”

(first published September 25, 2008)

The following is excerpted from the WHAT IS THE EMERGING CHURCH? This book is available from Way of Life Literature, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061, 866-295-4143 (toll free phone), www.wayoflife.org (online catalog), fbns@wayoflife.org (e-mail).
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The emerging church calls upon Christians to build intimate relationships with the unsaved but not necessarily with the objective of leading them to Christ.

Mars Hill Church in Seattle used to operate a secular rock club called Paradox which hosted hundreds of rock concerts. Senior pastor Mark Driscoll said the focus of this operation was simply to show hospitality. “So we welcomed kids into a safe place where we could build relationships of grace on Jesus’ behalf RATHER THAN PREACHING AT THE KIDS or doing goofy things like handing out tracts” (Confessions of a Reformission Rev., pp. 126, 127).

In the eyes of emerging church leaders, distributing gospel tracts is “goofy.”

In They Like Jesus but Not the Church, Dan Kimball begins by relating a talk he gave to a group of pastors. He told them that he spends a considerable part of his time as a pastor developing relationships with unbelievers. He said that he gets invited to [rock & roll drinking] clubs to hang out and see bands, and said that “this also is a way to hang out with and build trust and credibility with those I’m befriending” (p. 12). He said, “I shared how incredibly refreshing it is to be friends with people outside of church circles” (p. 13).

When one of the pastors asked him if he had won them to Christ, he replied, “No, I’M JUST TRYING TO BE THEIR FRIEND and get to know them” (p. 14).

When another pastor commented that the emerging generation of people are “pagans” and “they just need to hear solid preaching, which will cause them to repent of their ways,” Kimball strongly disagreed.

Kimball says the term “missional” means that “we don’t ‘bring Jesus’ to people but that we realize Jesus is active in culture and we join him in what he is doing,” and, “we serve our communities, and that we build relationships with people in them, rather than seeing them as evangelistic targets” (They Like Jesus, p. 20).

ANGLICAN AND ROMAN CATHOLIC CHOIRS UNITE FOR MASS (Friday Church News Notes, July 13, 2012, www.wayoflife.org, fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The Westminster Abbey Choir joined the Sistine Chapel Choir for a papal mass at the Vatican on June 29. This was first time that the Pope’s personal choir sang with another choir, marking a major milestone in the ecumenical path toward the end-time one-world church. We are reminded that music is at the very heart and soul of ecumenism. Pope Benedict XVI has stated his objective of uniting all Christians (“Historic First,” The Blaze, June 28, 2012). The papal mass for the Feast of St. Peter and St. Paul was the occasion when newly appointed Catholic archbishops were given the woolen stole called the pallium, signifying the supremacy of the pope and their communion with him as the source of their authority. Monsignor Mark Langham observed, “It’s the big Mass for underlining our links to the Holy Father.” The pallium is a white woolen band that hangs around the archbishop’s neck and resembles the letter Y when viewed from the front. It hangs over his scarlet cloak, reminding us of the prophecy of Revelation 17. “And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet colour, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication: And upon her forehead was a name written, Mystery, Babylon the Great, the Mother of harlots and abominations of the earth. And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus: and when I saw her, I wondered with great admiration” (Rev. 17:4-6).

(first published November 17, 2009)

Some of the New Evangelical ministries do a lot of good, and for this reason fundamentalists are enticed to associate with them. For example, Answers in Genesis and the Institute for Creation Research do a fantastic job of defending the literal Genesis account of creation against Darwinian evolution. Ken Ham’s Creation Museum is a masterpiece of biblical apologetics. Ray Comfort does a tremendous job in apologetics and personal evangelism. I truly and fervently thank the Lord for what these men are doing for the cause of Christ ....... as far as it goes. The problem is that it doesn’t go far enough, and the part that is lacking is serious.

What is the problem? Why don’t we jump on their bandwagon, join hands, and do these wonderful works together? (I am not saying that we won’t use some of their materials; I am talking about joining hands together for ministry.)

The difference comes back to the issue of separation. They don’t believe in it, and we do. The rejection of separatism has been the heart of New Evangelicalism for more than half a century. Harold Ockenga, one of the fathers of the movement, said, “We repudiate separatism.” (For documentation see my book “New Evangelicalism: Its History, Characteristics, and Fruit.” It is also available for free in the Topical Database at the Way of Life web site.) Billy Graham epitomized and popularized this philosophy.

If they believe in separation at all, they believe that it only has to do with the “cardinal doctrines.” When I visited the Creation Museum, Ken Ham told me that since Answers in Genesis is “not a church,” they don’t have to concern themselves with issues other than creationism.

Thus such organizations typically do not take a clear stand against unscriptural modes of baptism (e.g., infant baptism, pouring, sprinkling), women pastors, allegorical interpretation of prophecy (AiG says their staff “represent a wide range of eschatological frameworks), the heresy that a born-again believer can lose his salvation, errors pertaining to Holy Spirit baptism, sealing, and filling, Graham-style ecumenical evangelism, the errors of the church growth movement (e.g., Rick Warren, Robert Schuller, and Bill Hybels), the error of Christian psychology, and the heresy of modern textual criticism.

(first published January 27, 2010)

The field of creation science has grown by leaps since the publication of The Genesis Flood (Henry Morris and John Whitcomb) in 1962. There are many organizations and publishers that promote the creationist viewpoint, including The Institute for Creation Research (1970) and Answers in Genesis (founded in Australia in the 1970s as the Creation Science Foundation).

Since the 1990s, the Intelligent Design (ID) movement has broadened the attack on Darwinism. Though ID proponents typically are not Bible believers and might even claim to be agnostic in regard to the identity of the Designer, they argue that the Darwinian mechanisms of natural selection and random mutations are insufficient to explain life. William Dembski says that the basic claim of ID is that “there are natural systems that cannot be adequately explained in terms of undirected natural forces and that exhibit features which in any other circumstance we would attribute to intelligence” (The Design Revolution, p. 27). Intelligent Design proponents point to the intricate design that we see everywhere, from the DNA molecule and the living cell to the perfectly balanced conditions on earth and beyond that allow life to exist. Influential ID books include Michael Behe’s Darwin’s Black Box (1996), which argues the concept of “irreducible complexity,” Phillip Johnson’s Darwin on Trial (1991), William Dembski’s The Design Inference (1998), and Stephen Myer’s Signature in the Cell (2009).

BENEFITS OF CREATION SCIENCE MATERIALS

Today there are a vast number of books and DVDs, even entire school curriculums, that debunk Darwinian evolution from various perspectives, and there are many benefits that derive from the use of these materials.

Creation science materials are tremendously helpful in fortifying God’s people, particularly young people, against the devil’s lies. Titus 1:9-11 says that sound teaching is necessary to stop the mouths of false teachers. This is the first purpose of creation science materials. Young people need to be fortified against Darwinist propaganda.

Creation science materials teach analytical thinking and sound argumentation. The writer of Hebrews says that the spiritual and moral senses must be trained through use.

“But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil” (Hebrews 5:14).

In recent months I have become aware of some heresies pertaining to John’s first epistle that are spreading among fundamental Baptist churches.

Though there are difficulties in 1 John, these can be resolved by applying sound principles of Bible interpretation. The first two of these are to interpret Scripture according to context and to compare Scripture with Scripture.

Applying these principles we find that there are two “keys” to the proper understanding of John’s first Epistle.

First, the epistle was WRITTEN TO BELIEVERS that their fellowship with God might be perfected and their joy might be full.

“That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ. And these things write we unto you, that your joy may be full” (1 John 1:3-4).

“These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God” (1 John 5:13).

The word “fellowship” is used four times in 1 John 1:3-7.

The epistle is clearly and definitely not written to unbelievers. It is not about how to be saved; it is about how to stay in fellowship with God after you are saved.

There is a heresy that 1 John 1:9 is for the unbeliever and that the believer cannot be out of fellowship with God.

This is taught, for example, by Guided By Truth Ministries, as follows.

“For the believer, verbally ‘confessing’ our sins through prayer does not cause us to be forgiven. We may ask God to forgive us but He has told us through His word that He already has. We can certainly thank Him for forgiving our sin, but to keep asking for it means we are ignoring Him and His Word. He teaches us to rest in forgiveness, not keep seeking it. ... With this truth in mind, we must ask, what does 1 John 1:9 actually mean? Can we actually break fellowship with God and not be in His good graces if we have un-confessed sin? ... Those who admit their sin will be saved. Those who already have are already forgiven. There is no teaching here to the contrary. This passage is referring to the one time event that happens to those who are saved. It is not teaching how a Christian should receive forgiveness but rather how those who admitted they had sin became Christians. ... Knowing that it is impossible to be in darkness after accepting the light of the world we can further understand that in 1 John 1:6, 8, & 10 John is speaking of those who have never accepted Christ. ... GOD NEVER DECLARES A ‘BREAK IN FELLOWSHIP’ WITH US. This concept is not found in Scripture. ... The Bible tells us that we will still sin, but when we accept Christ as our Savior, we are referred to as saints. He has forgiven all of our sins. There is no need for us to keep dwelling on our sin. He took them away to be remembered no more. This confession idea is out of sync with the truth of Salvation and only keeps our mind on sin rather than on the forgiveness already imputed to us” (“Forgiveness and 1 John 1:9,” Guided By Truth Ministries, n.d.).

HOMOSEXUAL ACTIVIST CALLS SOUTHERN BAPTISTS “HOLY TERRORISTS” (Friday Church News Notes, July 6, 2012, www.wayoflife.org, fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - In the continuing attack upon anyone who speaks out against homosexuality at any level, for any reason, with any attitude, a homosexual rights activist has called Southern Baptists “holy terrorists” for passing a resolution opposing special rights for homosexuals. The resolution, which was passed nearly unanimously at the Convention’s annual meeting in June in New Orleans, states that marriage is “the exclusive union of one man and one woman” and that “all sexual behavior outside of marriage is sinful.” The newly elected black president of the SBC, Fred Luter, supported the resolution, saying, “If God says it’s wrong, then it’s wrong.” The resolution’s simple affirmation of the Bible’s clear teaching enraged Soulforce founder Mel White so much that he labeled it terrorism. He said, “Terrorists use the fear of human violence to exert their will over individuals and nations. ‘Holy terrorists’ use the fear of God’s violence to exert their will in the same way” (“SBC Gay Stance,” Associated Baptist Press, June 27, 2012). White ridiculously claims that Southern Baptists are at war with homosexuals and complained that the government doesn’t “condemn and confront” Bible-believing Christians as terrorists. It appears that homosexual activists like White don’t merely want equal civil rights, they oppose the U.S. Constitution’s guarantee of freedom of speech and freedom of religion and aim to intimidate and ultimately shut down anyone who would label homosexuality a sin. White implies that a God who would send homosexuals to hell for their “lifestyle” is a terrorist. In fact, the God of the Bible is a holy God who demands obedience from His creatures, and for that reason all men are under His just condemnation for all men are sinners (Romans 3:23). But God is also a compassionate God. In fact, five times the Bible says He is “full of compassion.” The infinite God is filled to the brim with compassion. This great compassion was displayed most brilliantly when the Son of God suffered, bled, and died on the cross for the sins of the world.

Following are three examples of the unscientific nonsense that is found in world-class natural history exhibitions: