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WERE ALL OUR CHRISTIAN FOREFATHERS PHARISEES? (Friday Church News Notes, February 9, 2007, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The New York Times for January 28 ran an article entitled “The First Dance,” about the first dance allowed in the history of John Brown University last December. For nearly 90 years this Christian school, located in Siloam Springs, Arkansas, considered dancing a worldly activity and forbade it. In the Rick Warren age, though, such taboos are old-fashioned, legalistic, even Pharisaical. John Brown University was founded in 1919 by a Salvation Army preacher. The same thing has happened in recent years at many other Christian schools, including Wheaton College, BIOLA, Cornerstone University, and Baylor University. When we preach against these things today and say that modern dancing is worldly we are condemned as legalists and Pharisees. It makes me wonder. Were all of our evangelical and fundamentalist Christian forefathers Pharisees? Fifty years ago the vast majority of them believed the same thing on these issues as we believe today. As the New York Times observed, “Until last October, dancing had been seen at J.B.U. as a gateway to sin.” Since it is obvious that modern dancing has not gotten godlier in the past 90 years, something else must have changed and that something else is the gross worldliness of evangelicalism today. To label a Bible-believing Christian who has zeal to obey God’s Word a Pharisee is a slander, because the error of Phariseeism was not their zeal to obey the Scripture. They had no such zeal. Their central errors were self-righteousness, hypocrisy, exalting tradition above Scripture, a gospel of works, and the rejection of Jesus Christ.

TENNESSEE TEMPLE SPONSORS HARD ROCK TOUR (Friday Church News Notes, February 9, 2007, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - Tennessee Temple University is one of the sponsors of the “Winter Jam Tour 2007” featuring “Christian rockers” such as Jeremy Camp, Steven Curtis Chapman, Sanctus Real, and Hawk Nelson. Sanctus Real lead guitarist Chris Rohman says: “On the tours we’ve been lucky to be part of, the kids are really into the rockin’ songs. ... every night on that tour kids were just screaming along to every word of every song.” Can you imagine the apostle Paul promoting thing type of worldly thing for Christian young people? Matt Hammitt of Sanctus Real participated in the 2003 tour of the !Hero rock opera, which depicts Jesus as a cool black man. In !Hero the Last Supper is a barbeque party and “Jesus” is crucified on a city street sign. Sanctus Real and Steven Curtis Chapman played a concert in 2003 at St. Mary Seminary sponsored by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Cleveland, Ohio. Retired Catholic bishop Anthony Pilla celebrated the Mass at the event. Chapman told the Cleveland Plain Dealer that it’s “a good thing” that “the Catholic Church is showing a greater openness to contemporary Christian music” (Plain Dealer, Aug. 7, 2006). It is very sad to see what has happened to Tennessee Temple. Many of its graduates join me in denouncing its compromise in the clearest terms. If what we were taught there in the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s was right, then what it is doing today is wrong.

PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED CHURCH OF CHRIST SPEAKS TO HOMOSEXUAL CONGREGATION (Friday Church News Notes, February 9, 2007, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - John Thomas, president of the United Church of Christ (UCC), spoke on February 3 at the Cathedral of Hope in Dallas, which is the world’s largest homosexual congregation. The 4,000-member Cathedral of Hope, which is pastored by a lesbian, was founded as the Metropolitan Community Church of Dallas, but in 2002 it voted to join the UCC. The United Fellowship of Metropolitan Community Churches is an association of homosexual churches founded in 1968 by Troy Perry, after he was kicked out of the Church of God of Prophecy for his homosexuality. It has 250 congregations in 23 countries. In an attempt to gain broader respectability and acceptance the Metropolitan Community Churches have been trying unsuccessfully to join the National Council of Churches in America (NCC) since 1983. The move by the Cathedral of Hope to join the UCC brought it into the National Council as well as the World Council of Churches through a back door. Nothing more clearly describes the depth of the apostasy of these latter days than the existence of an entire denomination composed of active homosexuals who boast of their acceptance of God in spite of their unrepentant moral debauchery. “But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction. And many shall follow THEIR PERNICIOUS WAYS; by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of. ... But chiefly them that walk after the flesh in the lust of uncleanness, and despise government. Presumptuous are they, selfwilled, they are not afraid to speak evil of dignities” (2 Peter 2:1, 2, 10).

TONY CAMPOLO BELIEVES NONCHRISTIANS MIGHT GO TO HEAVEN (Friday Church News Notes, February 9, 2007, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - Tony Campolo, popular evangelical speaker and author, told the Edmonton Journal (Alberta, Canada) that he is not sure who will go to heaven. Asked by the paper, “Do you believe non-Christians can go to heaven?” Campolo replied: “That’s a good question to ask because the way we stand is we contend that trusting in Jesus is the way to heaven. However, we do not know who Jesus will bring into the kingdom and who He will not. We are very, very careful about pronouncing judgment on anybody. We leave judgment in the hands of God and we are saying Jesus is the way. We preach Jesus, but we have no way of knowing to whom the grace of God is extended” (“Canada’s Different Evangelicals,” Edmonton Journal, Jan. 27, 2007). To say that we have no way of knowing who Jesus will bring into the kingdom is to play the religious politician and to deny the plain teaching of Scripture. God has already told us, Mr. Campolo! “He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him” (John 3:36). Words could not be plainer! The unbeliever does not have to wait until he dies to find out whether or not he will go to heaven. The Bible says he is condemned already (John 3:18), dead in trespasses and sins (Eph. 2:1), controlled by the Devil (Eph. 2:2), a child of wrath (Eph. 2:3), “having no hope, and without God in the world” (Eph. 2:12). Revelation 21:8 says the unbeliever will be outside of the eternal city of God. And as for Campolo’s claim that he doesn’t judge, that is one of the most ridiculous things I have heard in a long time. His judgment of fundamentalists is severe in the extreme. At the National Council of Churches “Gathering” in May 1988 Campolo said those who stand firm on absolutes and strongly resist error are doing the devil’s work (Foundation magazine, June 1988). In 2003 Campolo said anyone who says women should not preach is a tool of the devil (Baptist Press, June 27, 2003). Beware of Tony Campolo. He is a dangerous false teacher, all the more dangerous because he claims to believe that the Bible was given by divine inspiration and moves in “evangelical” circles.

ONE SOUTHERN BAPTIST CHURCH REFUSES TO GO PURPOSE DRIVEN (Friday Church News Notes, February 9, 2007, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The First Baptist Church of Daytona Beach, Florida, was being led in Rick Warren’s Purpose Driven direction by its new pastor David Cox, when many of the members stood against the changes and forced Cox to resign on January 29. Among other changes, Cox had eliminated the bus ministry, built a new rock concert-type stage in the auditorium at the cost of $450,000, and introduced a rock band for Sunday services. He was teaching from Warren’s book The Purpose Driven Life. One of the things that were effective in the demise of Cox’s Purpose Driven goal was a document that was distributed among church members explaining what was transpiring and where it would lead. Though Cox labeled the document “propaganda” and warned that the people were being “duped,” enough members stood their ground that he was forced to resign. Cox had become the senior pastor when Bobby Welch retired in August 2006 after 32 years at First Baptist. The document that helped force Cox’s resignation is reprinted in this issue of the Friday Church News Notes. Let me hasten to say that the members of First Baptist who resisted Cox doubtless had other motives in addition to simply stemming the tide of the Purpose Driven philosophy. It appears from its web site that this large Southern Baptist church uses Contemporary Worship Music in the services and rock music in its youth department, so we are not saying that there is a consistent rejection of the contemporary philosophy in this congregation.

THE PURPOSE DRIVEN PLAYBOOK FOR CHURCH TAKE OVERS (Friday Church News Notes, February 9, 2007, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The following is excerpted from the blog “Full Court Press Against Modernism” and is entitled “Megachurch Pastor Accuses Some Congregation Members of Being Duped,” January 29, 2007. It was prepared with the assistance of research by the Southwest Radio Church of Bethany, Oklahoma: “In the past ten years a lot of churches in America and in other countries have changed from a traditional New Testament church model to a contemporary Purpose Driven model, most with sorrowful pitiful results. Thousands of churches have split, closed, or had significant reductions in attendance. Most churches, after having a brief upsurge in growth, either reverted back to their original size or suffered church trauma by introducing the PDC model in their congregation. It is important that EVERY church member know if their church is targeted for a PURPOSE DRIVEN CHURCH (PDC) takeover. Initially a small clique of church staff including the pastor plans the change without telling the rest of the church membership. Church Transitions (a PDC training arm) trains the clique initiating the change in eight steps. The church is not to be informed of the transitions until the fourth step. After the sixth step if there are some members in the church who voice concerns the following is suggested: #1- Identify those who are resisting the changes. #2- Assess the effectiveness of their opposition. #3- Befriend those who are undecided about changes. #4- Marginalize more persistent resisters or questioners. #5- Vilify those who stay and fight. #6- Establish new rules that will silence all resistance. Then the members either accept the changes or leave the church. Rick Warren, author and director of the PDC movement, says, ‘When you reveal the vision to the church the old pillars are going to leave. But let them leave ... they only hold things up.’ So what are the signs that your church is targeted for a PDC change? #1- Change in music to a contemporary rock style. #2- Removal of hymn books...often words on a screen. #3- Eliminating the choir or introducing a choral ‘entertainment type’ singing group. Repetitive praise lyrics are used. #4- Replacing the organ/piano with rock music type instruments. #5- Dressing down to casual informal attire. #8- A repetitive 40 day PDC study program stressing psychological relationships with each other, the community and the world. #10- Sunday morning, evening, and/or Wednesday prayer meetings are changed to other times, named differently or eliminated. #14- New versions of the Bible are used. #16- The decor may be changed to eliminate any resemblance to the ‘former church.’ #17- The name ‘church’ is often removed and may be called a ‘campus.’ Denominational names are often removed. #18- An emphasis on more fun and party times for the youth. #19- Elimination of altar calls or salvation invitations. #20- The elimination of such words as ‘unsaved,’ ‘lost,’ ‘hell, and ‘sodomy.’ #21- Reclassification of the saved and lost to the ‘churched’ and ‘unchurched’ #22- The marginalizing or ostracizing of all who are not avid promoters of the new PDC program.”