STUDYING THE BIBLE WITH THE BEATLES AND THE ROLLING STONES (Friday Church News Notes, November 16, 2007, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - Standard Publishing has a series of Bible studies entitled “Tuning into God” that are based on songs from the Rolling Stones, the Beatles, and the Eagles. The studies give the background to the raunchy old songs and even encourage the Bible class to play them. This is like digging in a garbage can to learn nutrition. The blessed man refuses to have anything to do with the wicked things of the world, but there is no end to the idiocy that the contemporary crowd will indulge in their unabashed love for rock & roll. “Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is in the law of the LORD; and in his law doth he meditate day and night” (Psalm 1:1). “And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them” (Ephesians 5:11). “Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you” (2 Corinthians 6:17). 

THE PAGAN-CATHOLIC LABYRINTH GROWING IN POPULARITY (Friday Church News Notes, November 16, 2007, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - On October 13, 2007, Eastern Mennonite University in Harrisburg, Virginia, dedicated its new labyrinth (“Following the Path of Prayer,” Mennonite Weekly Review, Oct. 24, 2007). This is only the latest example of how the Pagan-Catholic labyrinth is gaining in popularity among evangelicals. Bethany Mennonite Church, Bridgewater Corners, Vermont, has a labyrinth in its lawn. Simpson University in Redding, California (Christian & Missionary Alliance), has a labyrinth. The Weatherly Heights Baptist Church (Southern Baptist) in Huntsville, Alabama, built a labyrinth of stones on its grounds in 2004. The labyrinth is a circular pattern with a path that winds its way to the center and that is used as a tool for prayer and meditation. Used by pagan religions for thousands of years, the labyrinth was borrowed from paganism and “Christianized” by the Roman Catholic Church as part of its desperate search for spirituality apart from the Bible. The most famous labyrinth was built in Chartres Cathedral in France in the 13th century. It has been duplicated at the Riverside Church in New York City and Grace Cathedral (Episcopal) in San Francisco, both hotbeds of theological liberalism and New Age philosophy. Lauren Artress, a canon at Grace Cathedral, founded Veriditas, The World-Wide Labyrinth Project, “with the goal “to facilitate the transformation of the Human Spirit.” Observe that Human Spirit is capitalized, testifying to the New Age view that man finds divinity within himself. Artress says that she discovered the labyrinth through Jean Houston’s Mystery School Network, a psychic New Age organization. There is nothing like a labyrinth in the New Testament Scriptures. When Jesus taught His disciples how to pray in Matthew 6, He did not even hint at a labyrinth-type prayer. God forbids His people to associate with pagan things. “Thus saith the LORD, Learn not the way of the heathen...” (Jeremiah 10:2). “And what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel? And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you” (2 Corinthians 6:15-17).

ROBERT SCHULLER JR. SAYS WE SHOULDN’T FOCUS ON THE SUFFERING OF CHRIST (Friday Church News Notes, November 16, 2007, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - In an interview with the Christian Post dated Nov. 2, 2007, Robert A. Schuller, son of the self-esteem guru who built the Crystal Cathedral in southern California and the Hour of Power television program, said we shouldn’t focus on Christ’s suffering. He said: “I don’t think God wants us to focus on the suffering of Jesus Christ as much as He wants us to focus on serving Jesus Christ. ... And to focus too much on the suffering of Jesus Christ is to put emphasis on a small area which is insignificant compared to the larger area of serving Jesus Christ.” To the contrary, the apostle Paul continually preached the cross of Jesus Christ and gloried in it. “But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world” (Gal. 6:14), and, “For I determined not to know any thing among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified” (1 Cor. 2:2). Without the preaching of the death of Christ there is no gospel (1 Cor. 15:1-4), and “without shedding of blood is no remission” (Heb. 9:22). Schuller took over as senior pastor of the Crystal Cathedral in January 2006. His father heretically redefined the gospel in terms of his self-esteem theology in the book “Self-Esteem: The New Reformation.” H.B. London of Focus on the Family and Kay Warren are scheduled to speak at Schuller’s Rethinking conference in January.

ANIMAL RIGHTS ACTIVISM GROWING AMONG PROFESSING CHRISTIANS (Friday Church News Notes, November 16, 2007, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - Activism for animal rights is increasing among professing Christians and has found a sympathetic ear even on the campus of Liberty University. Karen Prior wrote an editorial for the university journal claiming that animal welfare should be an evangelical agenda. In response, her approach was praised by students and her pastor asked her to speak on the topic at a Bible study (“Evangelizing for the Animals,” Los Angeles Times, Nov. 6, 2007). On November 7 “clergy from 20 faith traditions,” including Protestant, Pentecostal, and Roman Catholic denominations, gathered in Washington and signed a statement “declaring a moral duty to treat animals with respect.” The document calls on “people of faith” to stop wearing fur, reduce meat consumption, and buy only from farms with “humane practices.” The meeting was sponsored by the Best Friends Animal Society. Many evangelicals have jumped onto the environmentalist bandwagon; they might as well add animal rights to their cause since they abandoned the Bible long ago. The Bible says that “a righteous man regardeth the life of his beast” (Proverbs 12:10), but the Bible gives no support for the modern animal rights movement. The Bible allows for domesticating of animals, eating them, and using their skin, fur, bones, etc. for man’s benefit. John the Baptist “was clothed with camel’s hair, and with a girdle of a skin about his loins; and he did eat locusts and wild honey” (Mark 1:6). Israel’s Passover featured the killing and eating of lambs. Jesus ate both lamb and fish (Lk. 22:15; 24:41-43), and He helped the disciples catch two ships full of fish for human consumption (Luke 5:4-7).

CONTEMPORARY CHURCHES GLORYING IN THEIR WORLDLINESS (Friday Church News Notes, November 16, 2007, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The contemporary seeker-sensitive church movement was described in God’s Word 2,000 years ago. “For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; and they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables” (2 Tim. 4:3-4). This prophecy describes a generation of professing Christians that will reject the old strict Bible paths and itch for a new kind of Christianity. They don’t want restrictions on how they dress or what music they listen to or what movies they watch or their associations. Separation is a dirty word. They want a positive, “life-affirming” message. (The Emerging Church movement is taking this rebellion even a step farther than the seeker-sensitive churches, openly rejecting the Bible as the infallible, only-authoritative Word of God and lusting after everything new.) One of the fables of the seeker-sensitive movement is the doctrine that you can have Christ and the world, too. We have given many examples of this in the Friday Church News Notes. Consider the Crosspoint Community Church of Decatur, Alabama. Their services attempt to reproduce a “rock concert atmosphere.” They encourage attendees to wear shorts or “whatever you’d like.” Their August 9 “Jammin” worship session featured a song by the secular rock band Linkin Park. And the pastor, Dave Anderson, said on his blog for November 9 that he loves the immoral television program Desperate Housewives. Crosspoint is affiliated with the Willow Creek Association of Churches. “And be not conformed to this world...” (Romans 12:2).

FOUNDER OF WEATHER CHANNEL CALLS GLOBAL WARMING “GREATEST SCAM IN HISTORY” (Friday Church News Notes, November 16, 2007, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - John Coleman was the founder of the Weather Channel. Currently he is the meteorologist for KUSI television in San Diego, California. The following is an excerpt from his blog dated Nov. 7, 2007, posted on the ICECAP web site (International Climate and Environmental Change Assessment Project). “It is the greatest scam in history. I am amazed, appalled and highly offended by it. Global Warming; it is a SCAM. Some dastardly scientists with environmental and political motives manipulated long term scientific data to create an illusion of rapid global warming. Other scientists of the same environmental whacko type jumped into the circle to support and broaden the ‘research’ to further enhance the totally slanted, bogus global warming claims. Their friends in government steered huge research grants their way to keep the movement going. Soon they claimed to be a consensus. Environmental extremists, notable politicians among them, then teamed up with movie, media and other liberal, environmentalist journalists to create this wild ‘scientific’ scenario of the civilization threatening environmental consequences from Global Warming unless we adhere to their radical agenda. Now their ridiculous manipulated science has been accepted as fact and become a cornerstone issue for CNN, CBS, NBC, the Democratic Political Party, the Governor of California, school teachers and, in many cases, well informed but very gullible environmentally conscientious citizens. ... I do not oppose environmentalism. I do not oppose the political positions of either party. However, Global Warming, i.e. Climate Change, is not about environmentalism or politics. It is not a religion. ... I have read dozens of scientific papers. I have talked with numerous scientists. I have studied. I have thought about it. I know I am correct. There is no run away climate change. The impact of humans on climate is not catastrophic. Our planet is not in peril.”

COMMUNIST GOVERNMENT RESTRICTS BIBLE DISTRIBUTION (Friday Church News Notes, November 16, 2007, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The following is excerpted from “China Denounces Report of Bible Ban,” WorldNetDaily, Nov. 8, 2007: “Todd Nettleton, a spokesman for Voice of the Martyrs, whose Bibles Unbound program offers American citizens the opportunity of mailing Bibles into China, said it’s not illegal for an individual to own a Bible in China. But he said the government there controls access to Bibles by restricting imports and controlling the actual printing of Bibles within China. ... Nettleton said a recent report noted the Chinese press has been trumpeting the fact that China government-controlled Bible printer, Nanjing Amity Printing Co., had printed 43 million Bibles between 1981 and 2006, about 1.7 million a year. ‘Now 43 million sounds like a large number. But remember that there are more than 100 million Christians in China. That means that, over a 25-year period, the government didn’t even print enough Bibles for half the Christians to have one!’ A VOM blog posting noted few Christians in China have computers or Internet access to read the Bible, and even though they are available, they often are not accessible in areas where people want them. The posting also said police often follow people home and arrest them if they try to purchase any significant number of Bibles. The VOM blog by Nettleton then continued: ‘Friends, you will read much in the months between now and the Beijing Olympics about how FREE it is in China, how oppression and persecution have gone into the past and how our brothers and sisters are living and worshipping in freedom and ease. Unfortunately, at times you will read such stories even from reputable Christian sources. Our friends in the unregistered churches … and in Chinese prisons … have a very different story to tell. Do not forget them.’”