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ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY REJECTS THE “FUNDAMENTALIST” APPROACH TO SCRIPTURE (Friday Church News Notes, April 27, 2007, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - In a lecture in Toronto, Ontario, on April 16, Rowan Williams, Archbishop of Canterbury, rejected the “fundamentalist” approach to Scripture, calling it “rootless” and “limited” in what “it can contribute to the church.” The lecture, “The Bible Today: Reading and Hearing,” was delivered at an event jointly sponsored by Wycliffe and Trinity theological colleges. Williams said it is wrong to treat the Scripture as an “inspired supernatural guide for individual conduct” (“Archbishop of Canterbury: Church Needs to Listen Properly to the Bible,” Anglican Church of Canada News, April 16, 2007).  Williams implied that the Bible is not in all parts equally “the Word of the Lord.” He gave two examples of the alleged wrong use of Scripture. The first was John 14:6, which he said “could not be used simply as a trump card in discussions with other faiths.” The other was Romans 1:27, which he said could not be used as a “definite proof text” against the morality of homosexuality. In this lecture Williams quoted many heretics approvingly, including Karl Barth and Soren Kierkegaard. He said that critical biblical scholarship is an “underappreciated gift.” Williams said it is wrong to read the Bible in a fragmentary manner and to ignore its context, but the fact is that the fundamentalist approach is not guilty of this. We understand very well that the Bible must be interpreted first by its context and second by comparing Scripture with Scripture. These are foundational fundamentalist principles of Bible interpretation. What Williams is promoting is something far different from this. He is using historic theological terms but redefining them by his liberal dictionary. When you remove the theological mumbo-jumbo from his lecture, what you have is a man who does not believe that the Bible is divinely inspired in a verbal-plenary, infallible sense. You have a religious politician who wants to chart a compromising middle-of-the-road course in the midst of end-time apostasy. “Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away” (2 Timothy 3:5).

YOUTH LEADER FOR HILLSONG CHURCH POSITIVE ABOUT CATHOLIC WORLD YOUTH DAY (Friday Church News Notes, April 27, 2007, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - Phil Dooley, youth leader at the influential Hillsong Church in Sydney, Australia, had only positive comments when interviewed in regard to the Catholic World Youth Day that is scheduled for Australia in 2008. Dooley was interviewed by The World Today, a news program aired daily on the Australian Broadcasting Network, when it was announced that the Pope was scheduled to attend the event. Dooley said: “I think anything that is encouraging young people in their spirituality, and I suppose putting Jesus up there in our state and in our city is a positive thing. Look, I think just generally in church life you’ve got to be relevant to each generation, and I think any church is understanding that if we want to … if our message is going to be accepted by the new generation then we’ve got to relate to them in a way that they understand” (“Catholic Youth to Congregate in Sydney for 2008 Festival,” The World Today, Aug. 22, 2005). Hillsong Church is the home of Hillsong Music, one of the most influential voices in contemporary worship music. Darlene Zschech is the music director at Hillsong. It is unconscionable to have such an opportunity as Dooley had and not use it to warn that the Roman Catholic Church preaches a false gospel. John warned: “If there come any unto you, and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into your house, neither bid him God speed: For he that biddeth him God speed is partaker of his evil deeds” (2 John 10-11). To pretend that the Roman Catholic Church’s “spirituality” is acceptable before God and that its Jesus is the Jesus of the Bible is to be partaker of its evil deeds. Dooley’s reply was not surprising, though, in light of the ecumenical philosophy that has been exemplified by Zschech. She participated in Harvest ’03 in Newcastle, NSW. This ecumenical rock concert, which featured U.S.-based evangelist Greg Laurie of Harvest Ministries, brought together a hodge-podge of churches, including Presbyterian, Assemblies of God, Anglican, Seventh-day Adventist, Church of Christ, and Roman Catholic.

CATHOLIC BISHOP IN ITALY THREATENED BY HOMOSEXUALS (Friday Church News Notes, April 27, 2007, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - Angelo Bagnasco, the president of the Italian bishops’ conference, was placed under police protection after being threatened by homosexual activists. Bagnasco recently issued a condemnation of the Italian government’s proposal to grant legal rights to homosexual couples (“Head of Italy’s Bishops under Police Protection,” LifeSiteNets.com, April 11, 2007). He warned that it would lead to further breakdown of family life and sexual morality. In response, warnings were spray-painted on the cathedral and death threats were painted on nearby churches.

EINSTEIN STRUGGLED WITH GOD (Friday Church News Notes, April 27, 2007, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The following is from the Kathmandu Post, April 18, 2007: “Walter Isaacson, the biographer of Ben Franklin and Henry Kissinger, is tackling Albert Einstein in his new book Einstein: His Life and Universe. According to Isaacson, Einstein, arguably the greatest scientist of the 20th century, struggled with God. Isaacson: ‘You know, he was at a dinner party once in Berlin, and everybody assumed he was an atheist and he said, “No. I have a deep feeling of faith, a deep religiosity that comes from my appreciation of the way the Lord made the universe,” and everybody was stunned. He said he was like a child walking into a library, and you see the books and you know somebody must have written then, and you see them ordered and you know somebody must have ordered them, and there’s a sense of awe that’s manifest in that, where you kind of understand that there’s an order underlying everything and the more you appreciate it, the more humble you become in the face of it, and the more you have a sense of what he called cosmic religion. In some ways, his belief in God, that God had created an orderly universe, informed his science. He believed that underlying everything, there are laws.’” CONCLUDING NOTE FROM BRO. CLOUD: What Einstein expressed in the previous statement is called “Intelligent Design” today. The existence of a clock testifies to a clockmaker. Such reasonable and truly scientific thinking is ridiculed by most of today’s evolutionary scientists, who think of themselves as so much advanced over their benighted predecessors. It is sad that Einstein did not follow the light of creation, which testifies of God’s existence, to the greater light of the Bible, which testifies of God’s glorious salvation in Jesus Christ.

CHRISTIANS MURDERED IN TURKEY (Friday Church News Notes, April 27, 2007, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - Three Christians working at a Bible distribution house in Turkey were murdered by Muslims on April 18. The three were tied up and their throats were slashed. Two were Turks who had converted to Christianity. The third, Tilmann Geske, was a German missionary who had lived in Turkey for 10 years. He was a father of three children ages 8 to 13. An Associated Press report in the International Herald Tribune said, “Five young men were detained and charged with murder; they allegedly said they killed to protect Islam” (“A Murdered German Missionary Highlights Christian Insecurity in Turkey,” April 23). Protests had been made against the publishing house for distributing Bibles. Turkey is 99% Muslim, and Malatya is the hometown of Mehmet Ali Agca, who shot Pope John Paul II in 1981 in Rome.

WAS THE VIRGINIA TECH MASSACRE A HATE CRIME? (Friday Church News Notes, April 27, 2007, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The following is excerpted from “Absurdity of Hate Crimes Legislation,” Christian Newswire, April 19, 2007: “America is still reeling over the horrific slaughter of students and faculty at Virginia Tech. The shooter’s actions have not been listed as a hate crime, but what makes that heinous crime somehow less hateful or less important than a crime of bias? No one doubts that there was a great deal of hatred on the part of the gunman who shot so many people regardless of race, sexual orientation or religion. Phil Magnan, directory of Biblical Family Advocates says: ‘What is striking about [this case] is that it shows the amazing hypocrisy of those who want hate crimes legislation. How can anyone say that it was not a hate crime for any of these students or faculty to die the way they did? Where is their equal protection of the law? The fact remains that all crimes are a crime of hate because real love does no harm towards our neighbor. The existing laws should be equally severe against anyone who does physical harm to any person. The actions of criminals like the shooter have already clearly shown blatant bias to disregard the safety of their fellow neighbors by choosing to do them physical harm. Isn’t that bias enough?’ Magnan continued, ‘Society would do well to punish the crime and not the bias lest we begin to punish people for their private beliefs or their words. And if mere offense be the measure of the limits of free speech, then no one will be able to speak. I am offended every day by the words of others, but I will not take away their right to free speech in the public forum. We should all be mature enough to take the disagreement of others, without punishing them for not agreeing with us.’”

THE INTERFAITH CONVOCATION AT VIRGINIA TECH (Friday Church News Notes, April 27, 2007, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The following is excerpted from a blog by Jeff Riddle of Charlottesville, Virginia. I am publishing this to illustrate the paganism that has permeated higher education in America: “I watched part of the convocation at Virginia Tech from Tuesday (April 17) and found much of it to be very spiritually curious. How do you have a service of mourning with no clear commitment to belief in any particular religion or view of God? The painfully politically correct service was hard to watch. Here are some reflections. Most disconcerting was the segment when four leaders from the religious community [a Muslim, a Buddhist, a Jew, and the Lutheran campus minister] were asked to speak. ... The Buddhist informed us that ‘the message of all religious teachings is the sacredness and value of human life.’ She also noted that ‘we are born into this world with an inherent good nature’ and ‘we must restore our faith in humanity.’ The mainline Lutheran told the audience that one of their purposes for coming together was to ‘drink deeply from religious streams.’ Note the plural. The ‘all is one’ spiritual philosophy was the only view on display. He also affirmed what he called ‘the sovereignty of life over death’ but said nothing of the sovereignty of the God of the Bible. ... The Convocation ended with a poem by Virginia Tech Professor Nikki Giovanni. This was one of the most surreal aspects of this convocation. First, this ‘Black Panther’ poetess came to the podium dressed as a man with a dark androgynous suit, white shirt and black tie. Her poem, ‘We are Virginia Tech,’ was presented in the oratorical style of a black preacher. She shouted, ‘We did nothing to deserve it.’ (Contrast Jesus’ reaction to unexpected evil in Luke 13:1-5 and his challenge, ‘I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish.’) She said, ‘We are better than we think.’ And she compared the human losses at VA Tech with a baby elephant losing its family to ivory poachers! Wasn’t the whole point of the convocation to decry the devaluing of human life? When no preachers of the gospel are allowed to speak, I guess a woman poet dressed up as a man is the best a secular world can offer. ... The convocation was a fascinating look into what human-centered spiritual life looks like without all the encumbrance and strictures of the God of the Bible. As Jeremiah lamented in his day, ‘They have healed also the hurt of the daughter of my people slightly, saying, Peace, peace; when there is no peace.’ How do we find real peace? See Romans 5:1: ‘Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.’”