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March 27, 2009, Volume 10, Issue 13

The Friday Church News Notes is designed for use in churches and is published by Way of Life Literature’s Fundamental Baptist Information Service. Unless otherwise stated, the Notes are written by David Cloud. Of necessity we quote from a wide variety of sources, but this obviously does not imply an endorsement. For instructions on how to unsubscribe to this list or to change mailing addresses, please consult the information paragraph at the end.

CHIROPRACTIC

Updated March 25, 2009 (first published February 17, 2009) (David Cloud, Fundamental Baptist Information Service, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061, 866-295-4143, fbns@wayoflife.org; for instructions about subscribing and unsubscribing or changing addresses, see the information paragraph at the end of the article) -

Chiropractic is hugely popular. There are about 70,000 licensed practitioners in America alone, and several million people are treated annually.

Most patients who visit for the first time do so for lower back pain, neck pain, and headaches.

Chiropractic was developed in the late 19th century by Daniel D. Palmer (1845-1913), an occultist who attended spiritualist meetings. Chiropractic was an outgrowth of his “magnetic healing” or practice of hypnotism. The first chiropractic school was a part of Palmer’s magnetic healing infirmary.

At a coroner’s inquiry in 1905, Palmer refused to take the oath “so help me God,” protesting, “I don’t want any help from God” (“Osteopathy and Chiropractice,” Nov. 11, 2004, http://quackfiles.blogspot.com/2004/11/osteopathy-and-chiropractic-little.html).

One of the many passages that are grossly misinterpreted by the emerging church is Matthew 25:31-46. According to the emergent interpretation, there will be a general judgment following Christ’s return and He will judge men according to how involved they were in social-justice issues (feeding the poor, caring for the sick, ministering to the imprisoned, etc.). Thus, non-Christians can be accepted by God on the basis of what they do to serve the poor and needy, and Christians should therefore have unity with social-justice minded non-Christians. They generally teach that by helping the poor and sick and imprisoned you are helping Christ.

For example, Tony Campolo says:

“When it comes to what is ultimately important, the Muslim community’s sense of commitment to the poor is exactly in tune with where Jesus is in the 25th chapter of Matthew. That is the description of judgment day. And if that is the description of judgment day what can I say to an Islamic brother who has fed the hungry, and clothed the naked? You say, ‘But he hasn't a personal relationship with Christ.’ I would argue with that. And I would say from a Christian perspective, in as much as you did it to the least of these you did it unto Christ. You did have a personal relationship with Christ, you just didn’t know it. And Jesus himself says: ‘On that day there will be many people who will say, when did we have this wonderful relationship with you, we don’t even know who you are ...’ ‘Well, you didn’t know it was me, but when you did it to the least of these it was doing it to me’” (“On Evangelicals and Interfaith Cooperation,” Crosscurrents, Spring 2005, http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m2096/is_1_55/ai_n13798048).

THE EMERGING CHURCH, PAGANISM, CATHOLICISM, AND THE NEW AGE (Friday Church News Notes, March 20, 2009, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - Richard Rohr and the Center for Action and Contemplation in Albuquerque, New Mexico, is hosting an emerging church conference for three days beginning March 20. Speakers include Brian McLaren, Phyllis Tickle, and Shane Claiborne. It is billed as “the first large gathering of Roman Catholic, Mainline Protestant, Evangelical, and other Christians seeking to explore this emergence and convergence together.” Rohr is a Franciscan priest who is heavily involved in contemplative mysticism and liberal “social-justice” works. He holds to a universalistic, panentheistic doctrine and believes that much in the Bible, such as the Garden of Eden, is mythical. Like Thomas Merton, Rohr integrates pagan contemplative practices with that of ancient Catholic “saints.” He has adapted such things as Buddhist koans and Hindu mantras. In January 2008 Rohr and his organization sponsored a conference called “Jesus and Buddha: Paths to Awakening.” The announcement said, “The teachings of both Jesus and Buddha call us to transformational honesty. They are both teaching us how to see, and how to see all the way through! They both knew that if you see God for yourself, you will see the Divine in all things.” Rohr says that his philosophy teaches “us to be both-and” and “keeps us from either-or.” It “keeps us from the false choice of liberal or conservative” and “allows us to enjoy both sides of things”; it “is far beyond my religion versus your religion” and “allows us to be both distinct and yet united.” In fact, this is the essence of Hinduism, the New Age, and the Emerging Church. Biblical Christianity, on the other hand, teaches us that there is truth and error, right and wrong, good and bad, God and the Devil, light and dark, that there is only one way of salvation and many false ways, and that men are either saved or lost. The end-time New Age Tower of Babel is being built before our very eyes.

The Friday Church News Notes is designed for use in churches and is published by Way of Life Literature’s Fundamental Baptist Information Service. Unless otherwise stated, the Notes are written by David Cloud. Of necessity we quote from a wide variety of sources, but this obviously does not imply an endorsement. For instructions on how to unsubscribe to this list or to change mailing addresses, please consult the information paragraph at the end.

THE GAITHERS ACCEPTING THE EMERGING CHURCH AND ITS FALSE GOD (Friday Church News Notes, March 13, 2009, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The 19th annual Family Fest hosted by Bill and Gloria Gather will features William Young, author of The Shack, and the 2005 Gaither Praise Gathering featured emerging church leaders Brian McLaren and Leonard Sweet (“Gaither Family Fest,” Lighthouse Trails, March 7, 2009). Young is tied into the emerging church (he spoke in February at Zondervan’s National Pastor’s Convention in San Diego, which was an emerging church gathering with Brian McLaren and Rob Bell), and his book depicts the false god of the emerging church. “The Shack” is a fictional account of a man who is bitter against God for allowing his youngest daughter to be murdered and who returns to the scene of the murder, an old shack in the woods, to have a life-changing encounter. The “God” that he encounters, though, is not the God of the Bible. Young depicts the triune God as a young Asian woman named “Sarayu” (supposedly the Holy Spirit), an oriental carpenter who loves to have a good time (supposedly Jesus), and an older black woman named “Elousia” (supposedly God the Father). God the Father is also depicted as a guy with a ponytail and a goatee. Young’s god is the god of the emerging church. He is cool, loves rock & roll, is non-judgmental, does not exercise wrath toward sin, does not send unbelievers to an eternal fiery hell, does not require the new birth, puts no obligations on people, doesn’t like traditional Bible churches, and does not accept the Bible as the infallible Word of God. The Shack’s god says: “I don’t need to punish people for sin. Sin is its own punishment, devouring you from the inside. It’s not my purpose to punish it...” (p. 120), and, “Those who love me come from every system that exists. They were Buddhists or Mormons, Baptists or Muslims ... I have no desire to make them Christian” (p. 182). “The Shack” is another building block of the end-times Tower of Babel.

March 11, 2009 (David Cloud, Fundamental Baptist Information Service, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061, 866-295-4143, fbns@wayoflife.org; for instructions about subscribing and unsubscribing or changing addresses, see the information paragraph at the end of the article) -

The following is by Pastor Buddy Smith, Grace Baptist Church, Malanda, Queensland, smiletex@bigpond.net.au:
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Elijah ministered while Mammon melted down.

Enigmatic Elijah.

He sprang onto the pages of Scripture without introduction, a man of great discernment and perception. He saw clearly not only the wickedness of his king, he saw also the desperate spiritual condition of his people. Israel had stagnated into a state of indecision. They, the redeemed slaves of Egypt, could not even decide which god to worship, Baal or Jehovah. He saw the idolatry of their king's covetousness and he saw the bondage of Mammon. He discerned the mind of God regarding his nation and prayed accordingly. James 5:17, 18 describes his prayer that it might not rain, “...he prayed earnestly that it might not rain, and it rained not on the earth by the space of three years and six months.” What an example he is to the men of God in this generation! Here is a man who was so bold as to pray for the meltdown of Mammon so that his people might have a spiritual awakening. He prayed for the loss of the material wealth of his people so that they might obtain true riches.

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