Sep 2012
Friday Church News Notes
Sep/28/12 07:44 Filed in: Friday Church News 2012
VOLUME 13 ISSUE 39 - View or Download Graphical PDF Version
BRIAN MCLAREN PERFORMS SON’S HOMOSEXUAL “MARRIAGE” (Friday Church News Notes, September 28, 2012, www.wayoflife.org, fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - On September 22, Brian McLaren, one of the most influential voices in the emerging church, performed the civil “wedding” ceremony for his homosexual son Trevor. The ceremony was held at the Woodend Sanctuary of the Audubon Naturalist Society in Chevy Chase, Maryland (“Weddings/Celebrations,” New York Times, Sept. 23, 2012). In 2006, McLaren said, “Frankly, many of us don’t know what we should think about homosexuality. ... We aren’t sure if or where lines are to be drawn, nor do we know how to enforce with fairness whatever lines are drawn. ... Perhaps we need a five-year moratorium on making pronouncements” (“Brian McLaren on the Homosexual Question,” Jan. 23, 2006. In a 2004 interview with Candace Chellew-Hodge for Whosoever, a homosexual publication, popular emerging writer Philip Yancy said, “When it gets to particular matters of policy, like ordaining gay and lesbian ministers, I’m confused, like a lot of people (“Amazed by Grace,” Whosoever online magazine). Doug Pagitt said, “It we have a theology formed in a worldview that sees sexuality as sin, our means, intentions, and explanations of sexuality will be affected” (Listening to the Beliefs of Emerging Churches, p. 140). Chris Seay said that churches should “approach homosexuals without condemnation but with God’s love and the gospel” (ChurchRelevance.com, June 19, 2007). Spencer Burke believes that “the evangelical church may be wrong about homosexuality” (http://www.zondervan.com/media/samples/pdf/0310253861_samptxt.pdf #search='spencer%20burke%20homosexuality) . Tony Campolo’s wife, Peggy, is affiliated with the Association of Welcoming and Affirming Baptists, the mission of which is “to create and support a community of churches, organizations and individuals committed to the inclusion of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender persons in the full life and mission of Baptist churches.” She advises homosexuals to “ask the Holy Spirit to give you a sense of God’s timing” about “coming out” and says, “I can celebrate the committed monogamous partnerships of my gay brothers and lesbian sisters” (The InSpiriter, Summer 2000).
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Keith and Kristyn Getty
Sep/27/12 08:01 Filed in: CCM
The following is from the Directory of Contemporary Worship Musicians, which is available in print or as free eBook from Way of Life Literature, www-wayoflife.org --
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Keith and Kristyn Getty’s “contemporary hymns” are widely used among “traditional, non-contemporary” churches, because they are considered relatively safe. For example, at least eight of their songs are included in Majesty Music's newest hymnal.
Their popular songs include “Don’t Let Me Lose My Wonder,” “In Christ Alone” (penned by Keith and Stuart Townend), “Speak, Oh Lord,” and “The Power of the Cross.”
Typically, the lyrics are Scriptural and the tunes are not blaring rock & roll (though the Gettys do rock hard at times in their own concerts). But the Gettys represent the exceedingly dangerous world of contemporary worship music as definitely as Michael W. Smith or Graham Kendrick.
Their ecumenical, one-world-church goal is to “bring everyone together musically” (www.keithgetty.com). They want to “bridge the gap between the traditional and contemporary” (http://www.gettymusic.com/about.aspx), but Bible-believers should know that this is a “gap” that must not be bridged, as it is a gap between Christ and the world, between the Spirit and the flesh.
The Gettys are “modern hymn writers” but their music is syncretistic. They “fuse the music of their Irish heritage with the sounds of Nashville, their newly adopted home.” The Gettys list the Beatles as a major musical influence.
Keith arranged some of the songs on Michael W. Smith’s charismatic Healing Rain album.
The Gettys have a close working relationship with Stuart Townend, who is radically charismatic and ecumenical. Not only do they write and publish songs with Townend, but they also tour together, joining hands, for example, in the Celtic Islands Tour 2012.
In July 2012, the Gettys joined Townend and Roman Catholic Matt Maher on NewsongCafe on WorshipTogether.com. They played and discussed “The Power of the Cross,” which was co-written by Getty-Townend. The 10-minute program promoted ecumenical unity, with Maher/Townend/Getty entirely one in the spirit through the music. Major doctrinal differences are so meaningless that they are not even mentioned. Spiritual abominations such as papal supremacy, the mass, infant baptism, baptismal regeneration, and Mariolatry were entirely ignored. Jude 3 was despised and Romans 16:17 completely disobeyed for the sake of building the one-world church through contemporary Christian music.
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Keith and Kristyn Getty’s “contemporary hymns” are widely used among “traditional, non-contemporary” churches, because they are considered relatively safe. For example, at least eight of their songs are included in Majesty Music's newest hymnal.
Their popular songs include “Don’t Let Me Lose My Wonder,” “In Christ Alone” (penned by Keith and Stuart Townend), “Speak, Oh Lord,” and “The Power of the Cross.”
Typically, the lyrics are Scriptural and the tunes are not blaring rock & roll (though the Gettys do rock hard at times in their own concerts). But the Gettys represent the exceedingly dangerous world of contemporary worship music as definitely as Michael W. Smith or Graham Kendrick.
Their ecumenical, one-world-church goal is to “bring everyone together musically” (www.keithgetty.com). They want to “bridge the gap between the traditional and contemporary” (http://www.gettymusic.com/about.aspx), but Bible-believers should know that this is a “gap” that must not be bridged, as it is a gap between Christ and the world, between the Spirit and the flesh.
The Gettys are “modern hymn writers” but their music is syncretistic. They “fuse the music of their Irish heritage with the sounds of Nashville, their newly adopted home.” The Gettys list the Beatles as a major musical influence.
Keith arranged some of the songs on Michael W. Smith’s charismatic Healing Rain album.
The Gettys have a close working relationship with Stuart Townend, who is radically charismatic and ecumenical. Not only do they write and publish songs with Townend, but they also tour together, joining hands, for example, in the Celtic Islands Tour 2012.
In July 2012, the Gettys joined Townend and Roman Catholic Matt Maher on NewsongCafe on WorshipTogether.com. They played and discussed “The Power of the Cross,” which was co-written by Getty-Townend. The 10-minute program promoted ecumenical unity, with Maher/Townend/Getty entirely one in the spirit through the music. Major doctrinal differences are so meaningless that they are not even mentioned. Spiritual abominations such as papal supremacy, the mass, infant baptism, baptismal regeneration, and Mariolatry were entirely ignored. Jude 3 was despised and Romans 16:17 completely disobeyed for the sake of building the one-world church through contemporary Christian music.
Dangerous Parachurch Organizations
Sep/26/12 07:52 Filed in: Church
The following by Pastor John White is from Heads Up!, Aug. 3, 2012, smiletex@bigpond.net.au --
It is clear in the New Testament that the Great Commission not only entails and ensures the propagation of the gospel but the propagation of scriptural New Testament Churches in every age as well. The parachurch phenomenon is not to be found in the New Testament. It is of very recent origin and has resulted in the development of some quite dangerous heretical organizations and trends, not the least among these would be YWAM (Youth With A Mission) and Campus Crusade.
The danger of association with these two groups is illustrated by an occurrence that happened many years ago in my own ministry. The tragic effect of this incident continues until today. I was privileged to have a particular family in the membership of a church I pastored in America. This was a fine family; committed to the Lord and following the Word of God. Their daughter was my daughter’s best friend. I left this church in order to come to Australia to win souls and plant New Testament Churches. I understand that their son later attended a well-known Christian university. Somehow, along the way, he became involved in a short term mission trip with one of these organizations to an Asian country, Nepal, I believe. Those on the trip included Roman Catholics whom he evidently became good friends with. Later, upon return to the U.S., he “converted” to Catholicism and trained for the priesthood. He even spent quite some time serving in the Vatican in Rome. Recent word indicates that he ultimately became an alcoholic and has been in rehab from time to time, but still has problems.
The above account is accurate as far as memory serves me. The reason for sharing such a personal story is to confirm the dangers of becoming involved with such unscriptural ecumenical organizations. The two organizations mentioned above have very similar ecumenical philosophies and methodologies and have been in practical fellowship with Pentecostal and Roman Catholic Charismatics for many years.
I believe the information pasted below correctly and accurately represents the unscriptural philosophies and activities of these dangerous organizations and at least partially explains why association with such organizations resulted in a life-destroying experience for a fine young man and tremendous heartbreak for his family:
“Around February, 2006, I ran into a group of young people who had just completed a Discipleship Training School (DTS) with Youth With A Mission. They said that they were on a mission working with Roman Catholics at a conference in Brisbane City Hall. Not being able to understand how Protestant missionaries could get into a Catholic conference to evangelise, I questioned them to discover that they were practising Catholics (not ex-Catholics) fully integrated with YWAM, and merely helping out at the conference. They vigorously defended Mariolatry, the Mass, Tradition, and other errors of Roman Catholicism. These kids had just been processed by a so-called Protestant mission organisation. They had joined YWAM as Catholics and after their Discipleship Training School were still Catholics. It was most upsetting to see these kids on the Broad Road yet thinking they were serving our Lord. I rang YWAM to be told, “Catholics are welcome, and the beauty of it all is that there is no conflict between denominations.” Since when has Roman Catholicism been a Christian denomination?” (Mark Alexander, “YWAM’s Ecumenical Error,” http://www.christianissues.biz/ywam.html).
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It is clear in the New Testament that the Great Commission not only entails and ensures the propagation of the gospel but the propagation of scriptural New Testament Churches in every age as well. The parachurch phenomenon is not to be found in the New Testament. It is of very recent origin and has resulted in the development of some quite dangerous heretical organizations and trends, not the least among these would be YWAM (Youth With A Mission) and Campus Crusade.
The above account is accurate as far as memory serves me. The reason for sharing such a personal story is to confirm the dangers of becoming involved with such unscriptural ecumenical organizations. The two organizations mentioned above have very similar ecumenical philosophies and methodologies and have been in practical fellowship with Pentecostal and Roman Catholic Charismatics for many years.
I believe the information pasted below correctly and accurately represents the unscriptural philosophies and activities of these dangerous organizations and at least partially explains why association with such organizations resulted in a life-destroying experience for a fine young man and tremendous heartbreak for his family:
“Around February, 2006, I ran into a group of young people who had just completed a Discipleship Training School (DTS) with Youth With A Mission. They said that they were on a mission working with Roman Catholics at a conference in Brisbane City Hall. Not being able to understand how Protestant missionaries could get into a Catholic conference to evangelise, I questioned them to discover that they were practising Catholics (not ex-Catholics) fully integrated with YWAM, and merely helping out at the conference. They vigorously defended Mariolatry, the Mass, Tradition, and other errors of Roman Catholicism. These kids had just been processed by a so-called Protestant mission organisation. They had joined YWAM as Catholics and after their Discipleship Training School were still Catholics. It was most upsetting to see these kids on the Broad Road yet thinking they were serving our Lord. I rang YWAM to be told, “Catholics are welcome, and the beauty of it all is that there is no conflict between denominations.” Since when has Roman Catholicism been a Christian denomination?” (Mark Alexander, “YWAM’s Ecumenical Error,” http://www.christianissues.biz/ywam.html).
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Don't All Religions Lead to God?
Sep/25/12 08:04 Filed in: Doctrine
The following is from Your Questions Answered on the Bible & Christianity, a free eBook available from Way of Life Literature -- www.wayoflife.org
There is a Hindu saying, “The truth is One, but different sages call it by different names.”
This is a common misconception that is held by many non-Hindus, as well.
But it can’t be true that “all paths lead to God” for the simple reason that they point in different directions!
If I said to you that I am planning to go to Washington D.C. tomorrow from Nepal and that to get there I am just going to board any airplane and start flying in any direction I please, you would think I am crazy. We all know that you have to follow the right path or you will never arrive at your intended destination.
Likewise, the only way to get to heaven is to follow the right road, and Jesus Christ claims to be that Road. If He is not, he was either a liar, a lunatic, or a deceived man.
“Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me” (John 14:6).
Consider four ways that the major religions teach different doctrines about the most important things:
The religions do not teach the same morality.
For example, Hinduism has a caste system that locks men into a certain status from birth, and the low caste are considered inferior to the high. In places where Hinduism is still followed in its purest forms, such as Nepal and rural India, the caste system is very strong. In Nepal, low castes are not even allowed into the homes of high castes. In many villages, the low castes are not allowed to drink out of the same wells and fountains as the high caste. In parts of India there is even an “unseeable caste” whose members are required to work at night. Though some Hindu scholars claim that the caste system is not an integral part of Hinduism, it has been practiced by Hindus for thousands of years and has support from the Hindu scriptures.
The Bible, on the other hand, teaches that all men are the same “caste.” We came from the same original father and mother, and God commands us to treat all men alike. God’s law as given in the Bible is, “Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself” (Galatians 5:14). If I love my neighbor as myself, I will not treat him as an inferior and try to “keep him down.” The Bible commands men to treat one another with perfect justice. “Ye shall not respect persons in judgment; but ye shall hear the small as well as the great; ye shall not be afraid of the face of man; for the judgment is God's” (Deuteronomy 1:17).
Continue reading this article……
There is a Hindu saying, “The truth is One, but different sages call it by different names.”
This is a common misconception that is held by many non-Hindus, as well.
But it can’t be true that “all paths lead to God” for the simple reason that they point in different directions!
If I said to you that I am planning to go to Washington D.C. tomorrow from Nepal and that to get there I am just going to board any airplane and start flying in any direction I please, you would think I am crazy. We all know that you have to follow the right path or you will never arrive at your intended destination.
Likewise, the only way to get to heaven is to follow the right road, and Jesus Christ claims to be that Road. If He is not, he was either a liar, a lunatic, or a deceived man.
“Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me” (John 14:6).
Consider four ways that the major religions teach different doctrines about the most important things:
The religions do not teach the same morality.
For example, Hinduism has a caste system that locks men into a certain status from birth, and the low caste are considered inferior to the high. In places where Hinduism is still followed in its purest forms, such as Nepal and rural India, the caste system is very strong. In Nepal, low castes are not even allowed into the homes of high castes. In many villages, the low castes are not allowed to drink out of the same wells and fountains as the high caste. In parts of India there is even an “unseeable caste” whose members are required to work at night. Though some Hindu scholars claim that the caste system is not an integral part of Hinduism, it has been practiced by Hindus for thousands of years and has support from the Hindu scriptures.
The Bible, on the other hand, teaches that all men are the same “caste.” We came from the same original father and mother, and God commands us to treat all men alike. God’s law as given in the Bible is, “Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself” (Galatians 5:14). If I love my neighbor as myself, I will not treat him as an inferior and try to “keep him down.” The Bible commands men to treat one another with perfect justice. “Ye shall not respect persons in judgment; but ye shall hear the small as well as the great; ye shall not be afraid of the face of man; for the judgment is God's” (Deuteronomy 1:17).
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Friday Church News Notes
Sep/21/12 06:50 Filed in: Friday Church News 2012
VOLUME 13 ISSUE 38 - View or Download Graphical PDF Version
CATHOLIC MYSTICISM SPREADING AMONG BAPTIST CHURCHES (Friday Church News Notes, September 21, 2012, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The Associated Baptist Press recently reported on the spread of Catholic mysticism among Baptist churches in two reports: “Contemplative Worship Fits Baptist Faith” and “Silent Worship Not Just for Catholics” (Sept. 17, 2012). Chad Kerr, a deacon in Broadway Baptist Church in Fort Worth, Texas, says this practice has resulted in “a shift in the way he understands his relationship with God” compared to his upbringing in Baptist churches in Georgia. It’s not about reading the Bible and meditating on Scripture and verbal prayer. It’s about seeking an “experience” with God through beyond the Bible through mystical practices such as silent meditation, chanting, repetition prayer, and use of the imagination. Kerr describes contemplative prayer as “just sitting and trying to be silent and feel and listen.” Michael Sciretti, minister of spiritual formation at Freemason Street Baptist Church in Norfolk, Virginia, calls contemplative prayer an “unmediated experience of God.” He says it is “about going into the innermost chamber to experience and encounter God in our own hearts.” Diana Butler Bass, author of The End of Church and the Birth of a New Spiritual Awakening, says it is “creating sacred space in which people can actually feel, touch and listen to God in their midst.” The important question here is how do you know that you are “feeling, touching, and listening to God,” when the Bible warns so often of deceiving spirits and false christs? In reality, this is blind mysticism that removes one from the solid foundation of Scripture, and it is a recipe for spiritual delusion. Since it is not solidly based on Scripture, it is very effective at creating “grassroots ecumenism.” Richard Foster, one of the most influential men in the contemplative prayer movement, said, “I see a Catholic monk from the hills of Kentucky standing alongside a Baptist evangelist from the streets of Los Angeles and together offering up a sacrifice of praise. I see a people” (Streams of Living Water, 1998, p. 274). (For more on this see our book Contemplative Mysticism, which is available in print and eBook formats from www.wayoflife.org.)
POLISH PRIESTS PUBLISH EXORCIST MAGAZINE (Friday Church News Notes, September 21, 2012, www.wayoflife.org, fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - Citing a rise in demonic possession, Roman Catholic priests in Poland are publishing the world’s first monthly magazine focused on exorcism. There is currently a three-month waiting list in Warsaw for an official exorcism following guidelines issued by the late Pope John Paul II (“Exorcism Boom,” International Herald Tribune, Sept. 12, 2012). The first issue of Egzorcysta (Exorcist) features articles on Satan and the New Age. We have no doubt that there is a rise in demon possession throughout the world in these last times, but if the priests would read the Bible they would learn that the Roman Catholic Church itself is demon-possessed. “Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils; speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron; forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats, which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth” (1 Timothy 4:1-3).
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POLISH PRIESTS PUBLISH EXORCIST MAGAZINE (Friday Church News Notes, September 21, 2012, www.wayoflife.org, fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - Citing a rise in demonic possession, Roman Catholic priests in Poland are publishing the world’s first monthly magazine focused on exorcism. There is currently a three-month waiting list in Warsaw for an official exorcism following guidelines issued by the late Pope John Paul II (“Exorcism Boom,” International Herald Tribune, Sept. 12, 2012). The first issue of Egzorcysta (Exorcist) features articles on Satan and the New Age. We have no doubt that there is a rise in demon possession throughout the world in these last times, but if the priests would read the Bible they would learn that the Roman Catholic Church itself is demon-possessed. “Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils; speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron; forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats, which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth” (1 Timothy 4:1-3).
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The Beatles and Contemporary Christian Music
Sep/20/12 09:28 Filed in: CCM | Rock Music
All of that was “the bad old days,” to say the least. I look back on my life before Christ as foolishness and waste and shame, and I thank the Lord that He gave me a new life.
He also gave me a new song. “And he hath put a new song in my mouth, even praise unto our God: many shall see it, and fear, and shall trust in the LORD” (Psalm 40:3).
A couple of months after I was saved the Lord began dealing with me about rock & roll. It was a real struggle, because I absolutely loved rock and had listened to it practically every waking moment for many years. I had begun to study the Bible zealously as soon as I was saved. Each day I would find a private place away from distraction and would read and meditate upon the blessed Word of God. I had been deceived and in bondage to Satan for many years; and now that I had received the truth, I never wanted to be deceived again. I held on to Christ’s promise in John 8:31-32. “Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; and ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” And in John 7:17: “If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself.”
I desired for God to purify and use my life, and one of the first things He dealt with me about in a very specific way was my music. God’s Word tells us that we cannot serve two masters. I cannot say I love the Lord if I love the things that the Lord hates. “Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God” (James 4:4). Those are strong words.
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The Unifying Power of End-Times Mysticism
Sep/19/12 08:15 Filed in: Mysticism
The following is an excerpt from the free eBook The God of End-Times Mysticism, which is available from Way of Life Literature, www.wayoflife.org --
The “mystery of iniquity” is the pursuit of a global government and global church, and mysticism is a major vehicle toward this end. It is a great uniter.
Mysticism is Uniting Charismatics with Catholics
From its inception in the 1960s, the charismatic movement’s mysticism has brought it into close association with Roman Catholicism.
I have documented this extensively in The Pentecostal-Charismatic Movements: The History and the Doctrine, which is available from Way of Life Literature.
This was illustrated at the New Orleans ’87 conference that I attended with press credentials. The 35,000 attendees represented some 40 denominations, and one-half were Roman Catholic. Of the two main leaders of the conference, one was Pentecostal and the other Roman Catholic. Many of the speakers were Roman Catholic, and a Roman Catholic priest headquartered in Rome delivered the closing message the final evening of the conference. The bookstore area featured titles about Mary visitations, papal authority, and salvation through the sacraments. There were books exalting Pope John Paul II and Mother Teresa. There were crucifixes and Madonnas and pictures of the saints for sell. Each morning there was a Roman Catholic mass, and the Pentecostal leader even urged everyone to attend mass the following Sunday.
What created this amazing unity? Mysticism. The crowd was not united in doctrine and not even in the gospel. The things that united them were spirit “baptism,” tongues, prophecies, spirit slaying, and above all, the powerful contemporary praise music that dominated the conference.
Continue reading this article……
Mysticism is Uniting Charismatics with Catholics
From its inception in the 1960s, the charismatic movement’s mysticism has brought it into close association with Roman Catholicism.
I have documented this extensively in The Pentecostal-Charismatic Movements: The History and the Doctrine, which is available from Way of Life Literature.
This was illustrated at the New Orleans ’87 conference that I attended with press credentials. The 35,000 attendees represented some 40 denominations, and one-half were Roman Catholic. Of the two main leaders of the conference, one was Pentecostal and the other Roman Catholic. Many of the speakers were Roman Catholic, and a Roman Catholic priest headquartered in Rome delivered the closing message the final evening of the conference. The bookstore area featured titles about Mary visitations, papal authority, and salvation through the sacraments. There were books exalting Pope John Paul II and Mother Teresa. There were crucifixes and Madonnas and pictures of the saints for sell. Each morning there was a Roman Catholic mass, and the Pentecostal leader even urged everyone to attend mass the following Sunday.
What created this amazing unity? Mysticism. The crowd was not united in doctrine and not even in the gospel. The things that united them were spirit “baptism,” tongues, prophecies, spirit slaying, and above all, the powerful contemporary praise music that dominated the conference.
Continue reading this article……
Friday Church News Notes
Sep/14/12 08:00 Filed in: Friday Church News 2012
VOLUME 13 ISSUE 37 - View or Download Graphical PDF Version
HIGHLAND PARK BAPTIST CHURCH TO CHANGE NAME (Friday Church News Notes, September 14, 2012, www.wayoflife.org, fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - It was announced this week that Highland Park Baptist Church of Chattanooga, Tennessee, will relocate and change its name to Church of the Highlands. The church’s current property is being sold to facilitate a move to a location across from the Harrison Bay Marina near Camp Joy. Jeremy Roberts, Highland Park’s 28-year-old pastor, says “It’ll be the funnest church around” (“Chattanooga’s Iconic Highland Park,” Chattanooga Times Free Press, Sept. 10, 2012). A glass wall backdrop behind the pulpit will offer a view of the river below, which will provide “an experience where you will be encompassed in all of God’s creation” (“Highland Park Baptist Selling,” Nooga.com, Sept. 10, 2012).
This is sort of a combination between the Crystal Cathedral and the “church of the great outdoors”! The new building will facilitate “a more progressive, 21st century model for ministry” (“Highland Park Baptist Relocating,” WRCBtv, Sept. 9, 2012). In fact, the church has been pursuing a “progressive” model for about a decade and it has nearly killed it. Current attendance is around 350, rattling around in an auditorium that seated 5,700 when it was completed in 1981 and that was regularly filled to the brim in those days.
The church adopted contemporary worship about 10 years ago. In April 2006, the school’s College Days featured Toddiefunk and the Electric Church. Toddiefunk is the bass player for Toby Mac, formerly with DC Talk. Electric Church’s album Ready or Not featured “Holy Ghost Thang,” “Dance Floor,” “Naked,” and “Crazay.” By 2008, Highland Park Baptist Church had gone back into the Southern Baptist Convention. A couple of years earlier Tennessee Temple had emerging church leader Dallas Willard for the Spring Lecture Series. Willard believes that “it is possible for someone who does not know Jesus to be saved,” rejects the infallible inspiration of Scripture, believes in progressive salvation, promotes Roman Catholic contemplative mysticism, and claims that God is not concerned about doctrinal purity. John R. Rice’s daughter Joy Martin said that she supports the new direction and believes that Lee Roberson would be excited about it, as well (Nooga.com, Sept. 10, 2012). As we have documented in the free eBook “The Old Highland Park Baptist Church,” the seeds for the church’s rapid downfall were sown during Lee Roberson’s tenure through a soft, ineffectual separatism. Since a vast number of independent fundamental Baptist preachers are following in Roberson’s footsteps in their philosophy of ministry, the result will be the same. This is one of the reasons why we wrote the book “Why Most IFB churches Will be Emerging within 20 Years,” which is available as a free eBook from www.wayoflife.org.
Continue reading this article……
This is sort of a combination between the Crystal Cathedral and the “church of the great outdoors”! The new building will facilitate “a more progressive, 21st century model for ministry” (“Highland Park Baptist Relocating,” WRCBtv, Sept. 9, 2012). In fact, the church has been pursuing a “progressive” model for about a decade and it has nearly killed it. Current attendance is around 350, rattling around in an auditorium that seated 5,700 when it was completed in 1981 and that was regularly filled to the brim in those days.
The church adopted contemporary worship about 10 years ago. In April 2006, the school’s College Days featured Toddiefunk and the Electric Church. Toddiefunk is the bass player for Toby Mac, formerly with DC Talk. Electric Church’s album Ready or Not featured “Holy Ghost Thang,” “Dance Floor,” “Naked,” and “Crazay.” By 2008, Highland Park Baptist Church had gone back into the Southern Baptist Convention. A couple of years earlier Tennessee Temple had emerging church leader Dallas Willard for the Spring Lecture Series. Willard believes that “it is possible for someone who does not know Jesus to be saved,” rejects the infallible inspiration of Scripture, believes in progressive salvation, promotes Roman Catholic contemplative mysticism, and claims that God is not concerned about doctrinal purity. John R. Rice’s daughter Joy Martin said that she supports the new direction and believes that Lee Roberson would be excited about it, as well (Nooga.com, Sept. 10, 2012). As we have documented in the free eBook “The Old Highland Park Baptist Church,” the seeds for the church’s rapid downfall were sown during Lee Roberson’s tenure through a soft, ineffectual separatism. Since a vast number of independent fundamental Baptist preachers are following in Roberson’s footsteps in their philosophy of ministry, the result will be the same. This is one of the reasons why we wrote the book “Why Most IFB churches Will be Emerging within 20 Years,” which is available as a free eBook from www.wayoflife.org.
Continue reading this article……
The Emerging Church Loves To Drink
Sep/13/12 08:16 Filed in: Emerging Church | Alcohol
OUTLINE:
I. What Is the Emerging Church?
II. A Great Blending and Merging. It is difficult to draw a strict line between the two streams of the emerging church, because there is a blending and merging going on that will cause all lines to be blurred eventually.
III. The Liberal Emerging Church and Its Errors.
IV. The Conservative Emerging Church and Its Errors.
V. Cain the First Emerging Church Worshiper.
VI. Charles Spurgeon Exposed the Emerging Church.
VII. Index.
489 pages. $19.95 [see the book HERE]
Having read about 80 books by emergent church writers over the last several months, I have been impressed with the fact that they love to drink.
The book Listening to the Beliefs of Emerging Churches: Five Perspectives, for example, contains probably a dozen references to the joys of drinking. The contributors are Karen Ward, Mark Driscoll, John Burke, Dan Kimball, and Doug Pagitt. They meet in bars and taverns for theological discussions. They exchange beer-making techniques.
Some members of Spirit Garage meet in an Irish bar in downtown Minneapolis on Wednesday for a weekly Theology Pub, a mix of biblical discussion and beer (“Hip New Churches Pray to a Different Drummer,” New York Times, Feb. 18, 2004).
Prophetic Speculation
Sep/12/12 08:17 Filed in: End Times
The following is an updated edition of an article that first appeared in O Timothy magazine, Volume 10, Issue 3, 1993. It was originally titled “Date Setting and Sign Looking.”
Recently I received a report that said Jesus must be coming soon because of chip implant technology. Allegedly, someone saw a man pay for his groceries by running his hand over the store’s cash register scanner as part of a government experiment.
There is no doubt that rapid advances have been made in chip implant technology, but this means very little as far as the coming of Christ is concerned. Christ’s coming is imminent and is not predicated by signs. Further, we have no way of knowing if the sign of the antichrist will involve an implanted chip. The Bible says the sign of the antichrist will be “a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads” (Revelation 13:16). A computer chip is not a mark. Based upon the simple reading of the Scripture, it is more likely that the sign of the antichrist will be some sort of a visible tattoo rather than an invisible implanted chip.
To try to figure out the identity of the antichrist or the mark of the beast by observing current events is vain speculation and is a waste of time.
Jack Van Impe’s 1993 video was entitled A.D. 2000 - The End? Though he didn’t say for sure that the Lord would return in the year 2000, he came very close. In his catalog of publications, he advertised the video in these terms:
• A dynamic, power-packed video of Dr. Van Impe expounding on the following:
• The 6-Day Theory--as predicted in the Jewish Talmud and by the Apostles Peter and Barnabas, and also by church historians, including Irenus in A.D. 140.
• Chronological charts and calendar of Jewish holy days leading up to Messiah’s appearing!
• Mystery circles in the field.
• Earthquakes, famines, AIDS ... and the end!
• Why Jewish rabbinical scholars, Hindus, Muslims, New Agers, and secular leaders are proclaiming A.D. 2000 as the beginning of the new and final age.
Continue reading this article……
There is no doubt that rapid advances have been made in chip implant technology, but this means very little as far as the coming of Christ is concerned. Christ’s coming is imminent and is not predicated by signs. Further, we have no way of knowing if the sign of the antichrist will involve an implanted chip. The Bible says the sign of the antichrist will be “a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads” (Revelation 13:16). A computer chip is not a mark. Based upon the simple reading of the Scripture, it is more likely that the sign of the antichrist will be some sort of a visible tattoo rather than an invisible implanted chip.
To try to figure out the identity of the antichrist or the mark of the beast by observing current events is vain speculation and is a waste of time.
Jack Van Impe’s 1993 video was entitled A.D. 2000 - The End? Though he didn’t say for sure that the Lord would return in the year 2000, he came very close. In his catalog of publications, he advertised the video in these terms:
• A dynamic, power-packed video of Dr. Van Impe expounding on the following:
• The 6-Day Theory--as predicted in the Jewish Talmud and by the Apostles Peter and Barnabas, and also by church historians, including Irenus in A.D. 140.
• Chronological charts and calendar of Jewish holy days leading up to Messiah’s appearing!
• Mystery circles in the field.
• Earthquakes, famines, AIDS ... and the end!
• Why Jewish rabbinical scholars, Hindus, Muslims, New Agers, and secular leaders are proclaiming A.D. 2000 as the beginning of the new and final age.
Continue reading this article……
Repentance in Evangelism
Sep/11/12 08:16 Filed in: Repentance | Evangelism
The following is excerpted from the newest edition of Sowing and Reaping: A Course in Evangelism, which is available in print and eBook editions from Way of Life -- www.wayoflife.org
MEMORY VERSES: Luke 13:3; Acts 17:30; 20:21; 2 Peter 3:9
Repentance is often a missing element in evangelism today, but it is a prominent theme in the Bible. Following are the answers to some important questions about repentance. This study is from the One Year Discipleship Course, so if the students have already studied this, the section can be skimmed as a review.
Is repentance necessary for salvation?
Repentance is commanded by God. It is mentioned 60 times in the New Testament. It was preached by John the Baptist (Matthew 3:1-2), by Christ (Luke 13:3), by Peter (2 Peter 3:9), and by Paul (Acts 17:30). Since the apostle Paul preached both repentance and faith, it is obvious that both are required for salvation (Acts 20:21).
What are some false views of repentance?
Repentance is not reformation or changing one’s life. Salvation is not of human works; works follow salvation as the effect or fruit or product (Ephesians 2:8-10). Reformation deals with one’s fellow man and with things in this life, whereas repentance deals with God and with eternal things. We must be careful not to give people the impression that they must change their lives and give up their sin in order to be saved. The life-changing part of salvation is God’s part, not man’s.
Repentance is not doing penance. Many Catholic Bibles translate “repentance” as “do penance.” This involves confession to a priest, contrition, absolution (forgiveness pronounced by the priest), and satisfaction. Catholic penance is a works salvation which the Bible condemns.
Continue reading this article……
Repentance is often a missing element in evangelism today, but it is a prominent theme in the Bible. Following are the answers to some important questions about repentance. This study is from the One Year Discipleship Course, so if the students have already studied this, the section can be skimmed as a review.
Is repentance necessary for salvation?
Repentance is commanded by God. It is mentioned 60 times in the New Testament. It was preached by John the Baptist (Matthew 3:1-2), by Christ (Luke 13:3), by Peter (2 Peter 3:9), and by Paul (Acts 17:30). Since the apostle Paul preached both repentance and faith, it is obvious that both are required for salvation (Acts 20:21).
What are some false views of repentance?
Repentance is not reformation or changing one’s life. Salvation is not of human works; works follow salvation as the effect or fruit or product (Ephesians 2:8-10). Reformation deals with one’s fellow man and with things in this life, whereas repentance deals with God and with eternal things. We must be careful not to give people the impression that they must change their lives and give up their sin in order to be saved. The life-changing part of salvation is God’s part, not man’s.
Repentance is not doing penance. Many Catholic Bibles translate “repentance” as “do penance.” This involves confession to a priest, contrition, absolution (forgiveness pronounced by the priest), and satisfaction. Catholic penance is a works salvation which the Bible condemns.
Continue reading this article……
Friday Church News Notes
Sep/07/12 08:47 Filed in: Friday Church News 2012
VOLUME 13 ISSUE 36 - View or Download Graphical PDF Version
FALSE MESSIAH DIES (Friday Church News Notes, September 7, 2012, www.wayoflife.org, fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - Sun Myung Moon, founder of the Unification Church cult, died on September 3 at age 92. Moon claimed that Jesus appeared to him in 1935 and commissioned him to establish the kingdom of God on earth. He founded the Unification Church in Korea in 1954 and moved to the United States in 1971. According to the strange Unification doctrine (the “Divine Principle”), Moon and his wife, “the Heavenly Parents,” were chosen to produce the kingdom of God on earth. (This was Moon’s second wife; he left his first wife in 1960.) Moon claimed that God said to him, “You are the son I have been seeking, the one who can begin my eternal history.” Supposedly, Adam and Eve failed to produce the kingdom because of their sin, and Jesus likewise failed to produce the kingdom of God because he was crucified before he could marry the perfect bride. Thus Moon was chosen to carry on the work. Moon blasphemously claimed that Jesus was born of an immoral relationship between Mary and the father of John the Baptist. Moon conducted mass weddings of interracial and even inter-religious couples, claiming that this is the path to world peace. In Oakland, California, he said to the women in attendance: “If you don’t give birth, you are disqualified as a woman” (“Rev. Moon Stirs Up Fans,” Oakland Tribune, March 13, 2001). In Oklahoma City that year, Moon proclaimed: “I have been to the spirit world. I have met God.” Upon his death, one of his followers said, “I feel like the sky is falling and the whole world has collapsed,” while another said, “You are the eternal king of kings, the messiah of mankind. You will always live in my heart.” (“Church readies huge funeral for ‘messiah,’” Bangkok Post, Sept. 4, 2012). Since 2008 Moon’s youngest son has been in charge of the cult’s religious and business empire.
Continue reading this article……
Continue reading this article……
Bill Nye The Comic Guy
Bill Nye (b. 1955), has a Bachelor of Science degree in engineering and worked for Boeing, but he is as much an entertainer and comedian as anything.
He was made semi-famous by the Disney/PBS children’s television program “Bill Nye the Science Guy,” which ran from 1993-98 and which was part science and part comedic. In fact, Nye began his entertainment career as a comedian on the Seattle television program Almost Live. Even his marriage was comedic. He was wed to Blair Tindall in February 2006 (by Rick Warren of Saddleback Church), but the relationship ended seven WEEKS later and Nye eventually acquired a six-year restraining order against his former wife, who had poured weed killer on his garden.
Recently Nye continued his comedic role in posting a YouTube video entitled “Creationism Is Not Appropriate for Children” in which he calls upon parents not to teach their children creationism, claiming that it makes it more difficult for them to “build stuff and solve problems.” Nye bemoans the fact that a majority of Americans believe in creationism, pretending that this is impeding the nation’s scientific progress.
While many have taken Nye’s statements seriously, it is obvious that he made this video in the role of a comedian, because it is thoroughly refuted by the facts.
First, it is impossible to prove that the widespread belief in creationism has limited America’s scientific progress in that America has long been at the forefront of scientific progress. Other nations should look at this fact and conclude that they should emulate America and seek to have less belief in evolution and not more if they want to increase their scientific prowess!
Recently Nye continued his comedic role in posting a YouTube video entitled “Creationism Is Not Appropriate for Children” in which he calls upon parents not to teach their children creationism, claiming that it makes it more difficult for them to “build stuff and solve problems.” Nye bemoans the fact that a majority of Americans believe in creationism, pretending that this is impeding the nation’s scientific progress.
While many have taken Nye’s statements seriously, it is obvious that he made this video in the role of a comedian, because it is thoroughly refuted by the facts.
First, it is impossible to prove that the widespread belief in creationism has limited America’s scientific progress in that America has long been at the forefront of scientific progress. Other nations should look at this fact and conclude that they should emulate America and seek to have less belief in evolution and not more if they want to increase their scientific prowess!
Second, modern science was invented by men who believed in divine creation.
The Women Who Knew Jack Hyles
Sep/05/12 08:20 Filed in: Hyles/Schaap
Jack Hyles is dead, but his life and testimony matters, because his influence is so pervasive even to this day. It is nearly impossible, in fact, to entirely escape his influence among fundamental Baptists.
I am continually amazed at the pastors who defend Jack Hyles, denying that he was a moral reprobate as well as a dictatorial cult leader.
One pastor wrote to me recently to say,
“Jack Hyles was a personal friend. I knew the man. I have listened to over 1,000 sermons on tape which he preached in his own pulpit in the 70s and early 80s. I attended at least 12 Pastors’ Schools. I sent students there and hired graduates from HAC. I have sat in his office and he in mine. In fact, he has sat at my table in my home. It is easy to sit decades later and call that ministry a cult. Were there problems, particularly in the latter years? YES. But a cult, no. Hyles certainly had enemies -- back then, more so. Many rumors and much slander developed, some of which continues to rattle around to this day. You call him a liar. That is a strong statement. I knew the man first hand. You only know about him from a distance and years later. You call him an adulterer. However, the same deacons who investigated and fired Jack Schapp also investigated the charges of adultery against Jack Hyles and exonerated him.”
The pastor continued in this vein at some length, proving himself adept at building straw men, creating smoke screens, and straining at gnats.
In light of the firsthand testimonies that have been published, this pastor is simply closing his eyes to the truth, for whatever reason. There is a gross lack of spiritual discernment at play here.
It is a frightful fact that man’s will drives his discernment. If a man doesn’t want to believe something, he simply will not believe it. This is why the atheist doesn’t believe in God and why the devoted Roman Catholic doesn’t believe his church is apostate. But even a saved man can deceive himself. If it were not so, the Bible would not thrice warn in the New Testament Epistles, “Be not deceived.”
Continue reading this article……
I am continually amazed at the pastors who defend Jack Hyles, denying that he was a moral reprobate as well as a dictatorial cult leader.
One pastor wrote to me recently to say,
“Jack Hyles was a personal friend. I knew the man. I have listened to over 1,000 sermons on tape which he preached in his own pulpit in the 70s and early 80s. I attended at least 12 Pastors’ Schools. I sent students there and hired graduates from HAC. I have sat in his office and he in mine. In fact, he has sat at my table in my home. It is easy to sit decades later and call that ministry a cult. Were there problems, particularly in the latter years? YES. But a cult, no. Hyles certainly had enemies -- back then, more so. Many rumors and much slander developed, some of which continues to rattle around to this day. You call him a liar. That is a strong statement. I knew the man first hand. You only know about him from a distance and years later. You call him an adulterer. However, the same deacons who investigated and fired Jack Schapp also investigated the charges of adultery against Jack Hyles and exonerated him.”
The pastor continued in this vein at some length, proving himself adept at building straw men, creating smoke screens, and straining at gnats.
In light of the firsthand testimonies that have been published, this pastor is simply closing his eyes to the truth, for whatever reason. There is a gross lack of spiritual discernment at play here.
It is a frightful fact that man’s will drives his discernment. If a man doesn’t want to believe something, he simply will not believe it. This is why the atheist doesn’t believe in God and why the devoted Roman Catholic doesn’t believe his church is apostate. But even a saved man can deceive himself. If it were not so, the Bible would not thrice warn in the New Testament Epistles, “Be not deceived.”
Continue reading this article……
Quarterly Offering
Sep/03/12 08:03
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