NEWS NOTES 11/26/2004

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EVANGELICALS AND MORMONS TOGETHER. Friday Church News Notes, November 26, 2004 (David W. Cloud, Fundamental Baptist Information Service, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061, fbns@wayoflife.org, http://www.wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - An “EVENING OF FRIENDSHIP” was held in the Salt Lake Tabernacle on November 14, 2004, featuring several evangelicals who are calling for a better understanding and relationship with Mormons. Ravi Zacharias was the main speaker. He was joined by Richard Mouw (president of Fuller Seminary), Craig Hazen (a professor at Biola University), Greg Johnson (director of Standing Together Ministries in Utah), Joseph Tkach, Jr., (head of the World Wide Church of God), and Michael Card (Contemporary Christian musician). Roughly 7,000 attended the meeting, filling the Tabernacle to capacity. Fuller Seminary President Richard Mouw apologized to the Mormons, making the following amazing statements: “Let me state it clearly. We evangelicals have sinned against you. ... We have demonized you.” Michael Card led the Mormons and evangelicals in praise to God. How, though, can an unregenerate Mormon who worships a false christ offer acceptable praise to God? And how can evangelicals who allegedly know the God of the Bible join hands in worship with unbelievers (2 Cor. 6:14-16)? The Lord Jesus warned that worship is only acceptable when it is offered in spirit AND in truth (Jn. 4:23). There was no acceptable worship in the Mormon Tabernacle on November 14, not on the part of the Mormons and not on the part of the disobedient evangelicals. It was a deep deception. The Bible does not call for dialogue with heretics but for separation from them.

CATHOLIC BISHOPS VOTE AGAINST URGING PEOPLE TO READ BIBLE. Friday Church News Notes, November 26, 2004 (David W. Cloud, Fundamental Baptist Information Service, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061, fbns@wayoflife.org, http://www.wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - At their fall meeting, the U.S. Catholic bishops voted on Nov. 17 against a proposal to urge Catholics to read their Bibles. The only thing surprising about this, of course, is that such a proposal was made. The reason Catholic bishops don’t want to encourage their people to read the Bible is for the simple reason that the Bible condemns the Catholic Church. If they read the Bible they might come across something like this: “Ye hypocrites, well did Esaias prophesy of you, saying, This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me. But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men” (Mat. 15:7-9). Or this, “Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God” (John 3:3). Or this, “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).

CATHOLIC BISHOPS VOTE TO JOIN NEW ECUMENICAL VENTURE. Friday Church News Notes, November 26, 2004 (David W. Cloud, Fundamental Baptist Information Service, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061, fbns@wayoflife.org, http://www.wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - Meeting at their fall gathering, the Conference of Catholic Bishops in the U.S. voted to join the new ecumenical group Christian Churches Together in the USA. The goal of the organization is to have the broadest ecumenical umbrella to date, bringing together Catholics, liberal and evangelical Protestants, Baptists, Orthodox, Pentecostals, and Charismatics. The members of the steering committee of Christian Churches Together include a Catholic Bishop and Cardinal. Other members include John Busby of the Salvation Army; Wesley Granberg-Michaelson of the Reformed Church in America; Leonid Kishkovsky of the Orthodox Church in America; Pentecostal Bishop George McKinney; Judy Reimer, general secretary of the Church of the Brethren; and officers representing the Presbyterian Church USA, the Episcopal Church, and the United Methodist Church. World Vision is also a member. Dr. Bob Edgar, NCC General Secretary, said, “This is an important moment for coming together, and for talking about a new something that would be broader and deeper.” Yes, broader and deeper end-time apostasy.

FALWELL CALLS RADICAL ECUMENISTS AND CHARISMATICS “COURAGEOUS AND BRILLIANT.” Friday Church News Notes, November 26, 2004 (David W. Cloud, Fundamental Baptist Information Service, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061, fbns@wayoflife.org, http://www.wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - In a fundraising letter of Nov. 16 for The Faith and Values Coalition, “a 21st Century Moral Majority,” Jerry Falwell called radical ecumenists and charismatics “courageous and brilliant evangelical mega-leaders.” He listed 18, including Franklin Graham, Pat Robertson, and Rod Parsley. Franklin Graham has said that his father’s ecumenical alliance with the Catholic Church and all other denominations “was one of the smartest things his father ever did” (“Keeping it simple, safe keeps Graham on high,” The Indianapolis Star, Thurs., June 3, 1999, p. H2). Pat Robertson, founder of the 700 Club and Regent University, is an ardent ecumenicist who has long worked and fellowshipped with Romanists and exemplifies the deep compromise and disobedience that is rampant in evangelical-charismatic circles today. In 1985, Robertson revealed that during 25 years of broadcasting, he has “worked for harmony and reconciliation between Protestants and Catholics’ and ‘refrained from airing major theological differences” (Christian News, July 22, 1985). Rod Parsley, television preacher and pastor of World Harvest church in Columbus, Ohio, is a dangerous false teacher who preaches the unscriptural Word-Faith message. He teaches that believers can have whatsoever they desire by faith and confession with their mouths, promises healing as a part of salvation, etc. Those who are backing the new Independent Baptist Network are backing men like Falwell, because they are rampant in the Baptist Bible Fellowship International, and the other fellowships coming together in this venture.

TALIBAN BAPTISTS. Friday Church News Notes, November 26, 2004 (David W. Cloud, Fundamental Baptist Information Service, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061, 866-295-4143, fbns@wayoflife.org) - The following is reprinted from the May 24, 2002 issue of Friday Church News Notes: Recently I read a report by a preacher who attended a Baptist Bible Fellowship (BBF) meeting in Salem, New Hampshire. He observed that many of the speakers mentioned “new winds” that are blowing among fundamental Baptists. They warned of those who worry about such things as the way women dress, long hair on men, rock music, and contemporary praise. Those who still preach against such things (and they are few indeed) were called “Taliban Baptists.” I wonder if Paul was a Taliban Baptist? He wrote in 1 Corinthians 11:14-15 that long hair on men is a shame and that long hair on women is a glory. If hair and such things don’t matter, why is that in the Bible? My friends, there are indeed new winds blowing among fundamental Baptists, and they are the winds of error spoken of in Ephesians 4. They are the winds of compromise and worldliness. They are being stirred up by the hot air blowing from the mouths of preachers who have traded the good fight of faith for a comfortable, popular ministry. I regularly hear from men and women who are brokenhearted because they cannot find a strong church in their area. They have visited church after church, and all they can find are compromising pastors who do not want to rock the boat. These families want to raise their children in the paths of righteousness and biblical separation, but the churches undermine their teaching and woo the children toward the world.

CATHOLIC ACTOR FEATURED AT GRAHAM CRUSADE. Friday Church News Notes, November 26, 2004 (David W. Cloud, Fundamental Baptist Information Service, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061, fbns@wayoflife.org, http://www.wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - Catholic actor Jim Caviezel was featured on the platform at the second night of the Billy Graham evangelistic crusade in Los Angeles, California. The crusade lasted from Nov. 18-21. Caviezel starred as “Jesus” in Mel Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ. He says he prayed to St. Genesius of Arles and St. Anthony of Padua for help in his acting career. He has visited Medjugorje to witness the site where Mary allegedly appeared to six young people. Caviezel said, “This film is something that I believe was made by Mary for her Son.” Caviezel prayed the Rosary to Mary every day during the filming. Is it that Graham believes Caviezel’s gospel, or is it that Caviezel believes Graham’s gospel, or is it that the biblical truth that two must be agreed before they walk together is no longer in force today? What confusion and open disobedience!

GRAHAM ACCEPTS PRINCE OF PEACE AWARD; SAID HE WANTED TO KNEEL DOWN BEFORE MOTHER TERESA. Friday Church News Notes, November 26, 2004 (David W. Cloud, Fundamental Baptist Information Service, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061, fbns@wayoflife.org, http://www.wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - On November 14 Billy Graham accepted the Prince of Peace Award from the Prince of Peace Foundation. He donated the $500,000 prize to the Los Angeles evangelistic crusade that ran from Nov. 18-21. Graham is the fourth recipient, after Anwar Sadat of Egypt, King Hussein of Jordan, and Mother Teresa. The award was presented by Harald Bredesen, founder and chairman of the foundation. In his acceptance speech, Graham said: “I remember we were in Calcutta ... we went to see Mother Teresa and when we got there at her House of Charity, she was holding a dying man in her arm and she could[n’t] see us right then but about 15 or 20 minutes later she came in and she was so gracious and so spiritual that I felt like kneeling down in her presence. I was so overwhelmed” (“Billy Graham Is Honored with the Prince of Peace Prize,” Assist News Service, Nov. 18). Mother Teresa preached a false gospel and did not even make an effort to win Hindus to Catholicism, merely encouraging them, instead, to trust in their Hindu gods. It is so very sad to see a Gospel preacher so deceived about true Christianity. The fact that the Southern Baptist Convention in its most conservative aspects supports Billy Graham without hesitation is incontrovertible proof of its spiritual blindness.

CONCLUSION: Friends in Christ, do not be discouraged by any of this. It is God’s will that we know the times (1 Ch. 12:32; Mat. 16:3) and that we be as wise as serpents and harmless as doves. These things remind us that the hour is very late, and we need to be ready for the coming of the Lord. Are you sure that you are born again? Are you living for Christ day by day? Are you in the perfect will of God for your life and bearing fruit for His glory? “And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed. The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light. Let us walk honestly, as in the day; not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying. But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof” (Rom. 13:11-14).