Canadian cabinet minister: "An attack on Israel would be considered an attack on Canada"

Canadians of a certain age remember Peter Kent as the anchorman on CBC’s The National newscast from 1976-1978. He’s now the Honourable Peter Kent, Minister of State for Foreign Affairs of the Americas. I didn’t know there was such a position, and I take that long-winded title as more evidence that we have too many cabinet ministers--but that’s beside the point. The February 12, 2010 edition of Shalom Life contained the following:

Shalom Life spoke with the Honourable Peter Kent, Minister of State for Foreign Affairs of the Americas and MP for Thornhill, regarding the latest development in the Iranian issue. "Canada has been concerned for some time not only about brutal repression of civil rights in Iran but also about the nuclear adventurism and the proclaimed quest of nuclear weaponry by President Ahmadinejad," said Kent.

I take issue with the latter part of the above quote from Mr. Kent. If Iran is in quest of nuclear weapons, it hasn’t yet been proven. Iran is a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, and under that treaty has a right to pursue uranium enrichment for peaceful purposes. Israel, India, and Pakistan, on the other hand, have not signed the treaty, and unlike Iran, have not allowed representatives of the International Atomic Energy Association into their countries to inspect their facilities. I’m pro-Israel, and I don’t have a quarrel with Israel possessing nuclear weapons; she needs them to defend herself against numerous and much larger enemies. It’s widely acknowledged (although not by Israel) that Israel has nuclear weapons, so shouldn’t that be considered a factor in Middle Eastern affairs? Yet, Joel Rosenberg and other pro-Israel Christians constantly harp about threats to Israel without mentioning Israel’s nuclear weapons. As for Iran’s alleged weapons program, I suspect this is largely bluster from Mr. Ahmadinejad. Nations that are actually developing (or acquiring) nuclear weapons don’t boast about it beforehand, but just spring it on the world (e.g., the U.S.S.R.). Mr. Ahamdinejad is evil, and follows a false prophet, but I don’t think he’s an idiot; a nation that doesn’t have nukes is unlikely to attack one that does.

Mr. Kent was also quoted as saying:

"Prime Minister Harper has made it quite clear for some time now and has regularly stated that an attack on Israel would be considered an attack on Canada," said Kent and added that Israel is considered an ally of Canada.

I don’t know if Mr. Harper has privately said that to his cabinet or caucus, but he hasn’t stated such views publicly. In an address to the United Jewish Appeal Federation on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the state of Israel in 2008, he said (transcribed by YouTube poster, with slight changes by me in spelling and emphasis):

Unfortunately, Israel at 60 remains a country under threat, threatened by these groups and regimes who deny to this very day its right to exist!

And why? And why, friends?

Make no mistake! Look beyond the thinly veiled rationalizations. Because they hate Israel, just as they hate the Jewish people. Let me tell you friends. Our government believes that those who threaten Israel also threaten Canada!

As the last world war showed, hatred and bigotry against some is ultimately a threat to us all and must be resisted wherever it may lurk.

In this ongoing battle, Canada stands side by side with the state of Israel, our friend and ally in the democratic family of nations. We have stood with Israel even when it has not been popular to do so and we will continue to stand with Israel just as we have said we would!

To say "those who threaten Israel also threaten Canada" isn’t quite the same as saying "an attack on Israel would be considered an attack on Canada." Whether Mr. Kent misspoke (or was misquoted), or whether he’s accurately presenting the views of the Harper government, has yet to be made clear.

And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: Genesis 12:3a

There’s nothing in this or any other passage of scripture that says that blessing the descendants of Abraham means that you have to prefer the state of Israel above your own nation. If Mr. Kent’s position does accurately reflect the government’s position, then I object. Canada and Israel are different nations, and having friendly relations with Israel does not necessarily mean having identical interests with Israel. As far as I’m concerned, an attack on Israel is not an attack on Canada, if that means Canada has an obligation to go to war if Israel is attacked. While I generally agree with the Harper government's pro-Israel stand, I believe that a position such as that stated by Mr. Kent would be to take a pro-Israel stand too far.

Bethel Church in Redding, California: A typical charismaniac assembly

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; II Timothy 4:3

From January 16-19, 2010 the Redding Record Searchlight published several articles about Bethel Church, a charismaniac assembly in that California city. In addition to mention of the church's recent claimed growth, the usual (at least in modern charismaniac circles) signs and wonders, a glossary of Bethel terms, and a list of "evangelical" ministries that Bethel lists as friends, there was an article mentioning various miracles (including raising the dead) claimed on behalf of the church by Bethel’s senior pastor, Bill Johnson. However, it seems that Pastor Johnson has had difficulty in getting the "spiritual gifts" related to healing to apply to himself:

Bill Johnson, Bethel’s senior pastor, settled into a plush black couch in his office, his arm around an animal-print pillow. Before anything else, he wanted to talk about healing.

"We just had another brain tumor case of cancer healed," he said. "We have a lot of that kind of stuff happen. It’s verified by doctors, they do the tests and the cancer’s gone. We have a lot of that sort of thing--miracles."

Johnson, who himself required hernia surgery last year and wears prescription glasses, teaches that the supernatural miracles that happened in Biblical times still happen today if people just value God's presence and open themselves up to receiving it.

"Because we have such value for his presence with us, things just happen," he said.

Johnson said that healings happen all the time and he doesn't feel he needs to provide any documentation or hard evidence to inquiring minds. He also said he doesn't check up on people who come to Bethel for healing - he doesn't have the time.

"If you're sitting here and you say, 'I've been deaf in my left ear since childbirth,' and I pray for you and then I have you close your right ear and I whisper 10 feet away and you can hear me, I don't feel like I need to get a doctor's report," he said. "I'm happy you're happy you can hear. That's enough for me."

Though he had people praying for his hernia to heal early in 2009, the condition still required surgery and Johnson said that was OK because God can use doctors as well as he can use Bethel's healing teams, though both are necessary.

Our Lord put it best in Luke 4:23:
And he said unto them, Ye will surely say unto me this proverb, Physician, heal thyself...
I'm not going to mention that Pastor Johnson talks out of both sides of his mouth when he says that the healings are verified by doctors, but then refuses to provide any evidence.

Christian Educational and Resource Ministries offers Biblical critiques of false teachers, including Bill Johnson. Heralding Truth is another site containing Biblical analyses of Bethel’s unscriptural doctrines and practices.

October 23, 2010 update: The Redding Record Searchlight for October 21, 2010 published an article about an incident in 2008 when a couple of Bethel School of Supernatural Ministry students were out drinking and encountered an acquaintance who was drunk. The acquaintance fell--or was pushed--off a cliff and fell 200 feet onto the rocks below. The Bethel students thought the man was dead and tried to pray him back to life. Apparently afraid of getting into trouble for violating the school's rules on drinking, they then pulled the old Ted Kennedy Chappaquiddick trick and debated for hours whether they should report the incident to police. The injured man survived the fall, and is now a paraplegic. He's suing the students, and accusing them of not immediately summoning assistance. If the behaviour of these students is any indication of the godly behaviour produced by Bethel, then it's a devastating indictment of the place.

HT: m'kayla's korner

The Interview With God: Inspirational, but not Biblical

The Interview With God is a popular screensaver, which, along with Pathways to Peace, comprise the first two of the Angel Network’s inspirational messages. According to TIWG's home page:

The Interview With God, its popularity propelled by millions of visitors from all parts of the world, has become a spiritual phenomenon.

The online presentation has spread like wildfire, and has touched hearts all around the world. People of all walks of life and of all faiths are fully embracing it. The subtle reminder of a caring and active God has become the focus of countless emails to loved ones, and conversations everywhere. To date, the beautiful message has reached millions.

A remarkable number of e-mails and letters come from those that have expressed how God has touched them and personally spoken to them through The Interview With God. Aching hearts healed, families touched, lives being blessed. The spirit of God's love truly brings meaning and hope -- what our world needs, and now receives with open arms.

Under "about us," Angel Network LLC is described by the following:

about us

who we are

The Interview With God is part of the breakthrough Angel Network LLC series which includes Pathways to Peace. Our goal is to create beautiful, inspiring presentations that make a positive difference in the lives of millions of people around the world.

Created in 2001, The Interview With God website is operated by Angel Network LLC, a California Corporation located in San Diego. Gregory Writer is the founder and C.E.O. of the company.

Together with his team of in-house employees, and outsourced graphics, printing, and distribution professionals, Greg is pleased to be building an inspirational publishing company that does very well by doing good.

our vision

Inspiring the world, one soul at a time.

our mission

In a world of uncertain times, we strive to be a gentle reminder that we are not alone. Our mission is to make a positive contribution to the well-being of our world, and to be a major and measurable force for good on the World Wide Web, by creating experiences of inspiration that warm the heart and touch the soul.

TIWG is a compilation of homespun philosophy of the kind that you might find in Reader’s Digest, most of which anyone can agree with. Both the message and the presentation are nice and visually beautiful, in a way that will appeal mainly to women. However, the message comes short of presenting the gospel of Jesus Christ. For example, there’s this passage, supposedly spoken by God:

"To learn that it is not enough that they
forgive one another, but they must also forgive themselves."

This isn’t a message that’s found in the Bible. What is found in the Bible, and what’s absent from TIWG, is any mention of needing and obtaining forgiveness first and foremost from God. That forgiveness comes only through the shed blood of Jesus Christ upon the cross:

And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission. Hebrews 9:22

In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace; Ephesians 1:7

In view of the absence of such a message, I conclude that The Interview With God is not an interview with the God of the Bible.

Pathways to Peace starts with Matthew 5:9:

"Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God."

However, the presentation goes on to present human philosophy, and while there are quotes that anyone can agree with, none of them mention the only "Pathway to Peace" with God. That peace is available only through Jesus Christ, whose death on the cross for our sins satisfied His Father’s conditions for the payment of the penalty for our sins, enabling us to have peace with Him.

Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ: Romans 5:1

HT: Tipp Temkasarp

Chris Rosebrough asks: "Is Dallas Willard a Christian?"

Chris Rosebrough, at his Fighting for the Faith and Extreme Theology sites, has posted his analysis of an audio clip of Dallas Willard’s recent question-and-answer talk with John Ortberg. Mr. Rosebrough’s analysis is spot-on. What Mr. Willard is proclaiming is law, not gospel. And his remark "All who deserve to be saved will be saved" isn’t a slip of the tongue--Mr. Willard says it three times.

I downloaded Pastor Bob DeWaay’s excellent and scriptural audio (Part 1; Part 2) and print critiques of Mr. Willard’s book The Spirit of the Disciplines and took the book out of the public library. I wasn’t impressed, although I don’t disagree with everything Mr. Willard says. Mr. Willard has nothing good to say about the Reformation, and his eschatology is classic post-millennialism: Jesus will come back only after man brings in the Kingdom of God through practicing the disciplines. Mr. Willard is also a dominionist who beleives that Christians should control the world's wealth so that we can use it to further the Kingdom of God--as if the world would just sit back and allow that to happen. If the book had been published in 1968 instead of 1988, I would have said that Mr. Willard’s views were probably the result of smoking too much weed. In the last chapter of the book Mr. Willard says that his belief may seem like a dream. Indeed, it made me think of John Lennon singing, in Imagine, "You may say I’m a dreamer, but I’m not the only one. I hope someday you’ll join us, and the world will live as one." I’ve always liked the way Dave Hunt puts it: The Bible says that Jesus will meet us in the air; if you’re expecting to meet Jesus with your feet firmly planted on planet Earth, you’ve been building the kingdom of the antichrist. Mr. Willard definitely has his feet firmly planted on planet Earth. His derisive comment on Christians’ view of the millennial reign of Jesus Christ from Jerusalem as a totalitarian dictatorship is blasphemous and offensive. Mr. Willard’s background is as a professor of philosophy at the University of Southern California, and he argues largely on the basis of human logic and reasoning rather than from what the Scripture actually says. As for his attempt to create a distinction between "Christ" and "Christianity," this is where the currently-popular term "Christ-follower" comes in. You can be in another religion and be a "Christ-follower" without being a Christian.

"Christian" brawling Mixed Martial Arts is now a "ministry"

The latest obnoxious trend in evangelicalism’s determination to imitate the world (indeed, to "Christianize" what the world not too long ago rejected as barbaric) is "Christian" Mixed Martial Arts. According to The New York Times:

MEMPHIS — In the back room of a theater on Beale Street, John Renken, 37, a pastor, recently led a group of young men in prayer...

...An hour later, a member of his flock who had bowed his head was now unleashing a torrent of blows on an opponent, and Mr. Renken was offering guidance that was not exactly prayerful.

"Hard punches!" he shouted from the sidelines of a martial arts event called Cage Assault. "Finish the fight! To the head! To the head!"

The young man was a member of a fight team at Xtreme Ministries, a small church near Nashville that doubles as a mixed martial arts academy. Mr. Renken, who founded the church and academy, doubles as the team’s coach. The school’s motto is "Where Feet, Fist and Faith Collide."

Mr. Renken’s ministry is one of a small but growing number of evangelical churches that have embraced mixed martial arts — a sport with a reputation for violence and blood that combines kickboxing, wrestling and other fighting styles — to reach and convert young men, whose church attendance has been persistently low.

The "power teams" that were ubiquitous in charismaniac churches in the early 1990s seem like wimps compared to these guys. While I agree with their criticism of the feminization of evangelicalism ( The Church Impotent (1999) by Leon Podles is a good book on the subject), I think these men take it too far the other way. The fighting that Christians are commanded to do is to "earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints" (Jude 3). I don’t see that kind of fighting going on in "Christian" MMA (or, for that matter, in much of evangelicalism generally). And if you look closely at the photos that accompany the Times article, you'll notice the tattoo on the pastor's arm; everything about this "ministry" appears pagan, yet we're supposed to accept it as "Christian."

It’s yet another indication of the decline of evangelicalism that an activity that a few years ago was regarded by the world--never mind the church--as just a step above cockfighting and dogfighting is now considered to be a legitimate "outreach." R.M. Schneiderman, the author of the article, goes on to point out:

Several put the number of churches taking up mixed martial arts at roughly 700 of an estimated 115,000 white evangelical churches in America. The sport is seen as a legitimate outreach tool by the youth ministry affiliate of the National Association of Evangelicals, which represents more than 45,000 churches...

...Almost a decade ago, mixed martial arts was seen as a blood sport without rules or regulation. It was banned in nearly every state and denounced by politicians like Senator John McCain, Republican of Arizona.

Over the past five years, however, because of shrewd marketing by the Ultimate Fighting Championship, the sport’s premier brand, mixed martial arts has become mainstream. Today the sport is legal and regulated in 42 states.

It was considered to be a mark of progress when the Marquis of Queensberry rules (including the use of gloves) were introduced into boxing in the early 1890s. Prior to this, bareknuckle boxing was held in the same level of esteem as mixed martial arts was until a decade or so ago. For instance, on May 30, 1889, Gentleman Jim Corbett fought Joe Choynski in Fairfax, California. The result was ruled a "no contest" when police stopped the bout in the 4th round. Six days later, the two men fought a rematch, but because the local authorities refused to permit the fight to take place in Fairfax, the bout took place on a barge anchored off Dillon's Point, opposite Benicia Harbor, in the Carquinez Straits (Mr. Corbett won by knockout in the 27th round). Yet here comes early 21st Century evangelicalism--as always, a few years behind the world--hailing glorified street brawling as an "outreach."

While athletic analogies are used several times in the New Testament (e.g., I Corinthians 9:24-27; Hebrews 12:1), I don’t think the analogies fit with the kind of "sport" represented by mixed martial arts. The early Christians were opposed to the blood sports of their day, and of course, Christians became many of the victims in the arenas. The disappearance of blood sports has always been regarded as a mark of social progress, but here come the "evangelicals," encouraging a return to barbarism.

As far as it being an outreach, Pastor Eugene Cho is correct, as quoted in the article: "What you attract people to Christ with is also what you need to get people to stay." If violent "sport" is what’s drawing them to Jesus Christ (and I see no evidence that they are truly coming to Christ), then you’ll have to keep on presenting violent "sport" in order to keep them coming back. And the way the law of diminishing returns works, more frequent doses of increasing violence will be required. As for Ryan Dobson’s support of MMA, I find it difficult to take the divorced-and-remarried Mr. Dobson seriously on anything.

It’s interesting that black churches are reluctant to participate in "Christian" MMA. I suspect that’s because they have enough dismal experience with violence among fatherless young black men that they don’t want to encourage more of the same.

Another thing: I’m sick and tired of all this promotion of "extreme" this, "ultimate" that, and "maximum" the other thing, especially for Christians. What's wrong with being ordinary? Most of us are. As Pastor Bob DeWaay says, just to be an ordinary Christian is an extraordinary thing. As for my own manhood, I prefer to let God govern and instruct me in that, rather than the increasingly decadent and Christ-rejecting world.

HT: Albert Mohler

The story about a Rockefeller rebuilding the Temple in Jerusalem turns out to be a hoax

According to WorldNet Daily:

A Rockefeller is raising capital to rebuild the Jewish Temple, said the news release published on CNN Money's Internet site and other news sources...

...The release, filed with MarketWire and republished at CNNMoney.com, claims "Supriem David Rockefeller" is director of a company, Kinti Holdings group, which is working with a Jewish Temple organization to rebuild the Third Temple.

States the release: "Kinti Holdings will be raising funds to go towards building the Third Temple in Jerusalem in strict coordinance with The Temple Institute, Rabbi Hiam Richman and The Palestinian National Interest Committee (PNIC) and supporting Husam Bajis for President of Palestine."

Richman, international director of the Temple Institute, a Jewish Temple activist group, told WND the release is a "scam."

"The Temple Institute strongly protests the use of its name and that of Rabbi Chaim Richman in a series of fraudulent press releases and advertising claims that are now circulating on the Internet," read the Temple Institute's official response to the release.

Continued the Institute's response: "The claims made by these men ... are false and malicious, and their apparent intentions are to take advantage of the Temple Institute's sincere supporters and rob them of funds. The Temple Institute advises its friends and supporters to avoid being taken in by this scam."

Go here to see the full text of the Temple Institute's statement.

Although the report about "Supriem David Rockefeller" has turned out to be a hoax, we know from Scripture that the Temple will be rebuilt:

And there was given me a reed like unto a rod: and the angel stood, saying, Rise, and measure the temple of God, and the altar, and them that worship therein. Revelation 11:1

The caring, compassionate Liberal Party of Canada's solution to the problem of Third World poverty: Kill the poor before they're born

Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter! Isaiah 5:20

Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots? then may ye also do good, that are accustomed to do evil. Jeremiah 13:23

The Liberal Party of Canada has been an active agent of evil at least as far back as those dark days in April 1968 when Pierre Trudeau won the leadership of the party, became Prime Minister, and proceeded to destroy the country. Mr. Trudeau, as Justice Minister and then as Prime Minister, was responsible for legalizing sodomy and abortion. The latest Liberal leader, pseudo-Canadian Harvard University professor Michael Ignatieff, is following in Mr. Trudeau's footsteps:

Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff says Prime Minister Stephen Harper must include abortion in his G8 initiative to mobilize international support for maternal and child health care in the world's poorest countries.

Ignatieff told reporters Tuesday that there is no direct evidence that Harper's initiative would specifically exclude abortion. "We just want to lay down a marker that we hope they don't go there," he said.

His concerns are based on reports that the Conservatives have cut almost all funds to the Canadian Federation for Sexual Health -- which is Canada's member of the International Planned Parenthood Federation -- and on anti-abortion views voiced in recent years by several Tory MPs...

...Ignatieff raised the issue earlier in the day, telling a Liberal-organized forum on international aid that Harper's initiative is "better late than never," and that Liberals support the plan so long as it includes abortion and birth control.

Go here for Campaign Life Coalition's response to Mr. Ignatieff's statement.

Ezra Levant asks the right questions:

P.S. Surely it's just a coincidence that Ignatieff's first major policy statement about abortion has to do with Haiti and other Third World minorities, right? I mean, it's not like Planned Parenthood was founded by a racist woman who called blacks "reckless breeders" and had a special "Negro Project" right? I mean, Planned Parenthood would never argue that eugenics was the best solution of racial, political and social problems would they?

Right?

HT: Ezra Levant

Voodoo high priest complains about Christian aid to Haiti

According to the Daily Telegraph:

Max Beauvoir, Haiti's "supreme master" of voodoo, alleged his faith's opponents had deliberately prevented much-needed help from reaching followers of the religion, which blends the traditional beliefs of West African slaves with Roman Catholicism.

"The evangelicals are in control and they take everything for themselves," he claimed. "They have the advantage that they control the airport where everything is stuck. They take everything they get to their own people and that's a shame.

One might wonder why the "supreme master" doesn't just invoke the spirits to thwart the efforts of Christians.

"It was developed by our ancestors, it is a way of life. To ask us to stop would be like asking an American to stop heating hamburgers."

Mr. Beauvoir's statement above is an excellent argument for why aid should be accompanied by a call to repentance.

Kompe Filo, one of the most popular TV and radio personalities in Haiti, and a vocal believer, said voodoo predicted the earthquake six months ago.

He said: “God is angry against humanity, not just Haiti but all humanity. This is a message that man must change, and reconnect with the natural world around him.

“We have a lot of beliefs modern people should believe in. For example we believe that trees have spirits which we should not harm otherwise we will all suffer.”

Just one question, Chief: If voodoo predicted the earthquake six months in advance, why wasn't anything done to prepare the country?
The belief that trees possess spirits is a big reason that Haiti is poor and backward. A society that believes that trees possess spirits is not going to cut down those trees and build houses out of them.
The only thing that can possibly overcome the ingrained superstition of voodoo in Haiti is the gospel of Jesus Christ. Fortunately, there seems to be some evidence that God is using this disaster to get people's attention and open them to the gospel:

Inspiration, an evangelical station, said 11,000 people had rung up to pledge themselves to God since the earthquake.

I don't know how many of these callers are coming to true saving faith in Jesus Christ, but let's pray that they all do.
Here's an item of good news about a son of a voodoo priest who is leading people to the Saviour:

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (BP)--On a hot afternoon in a crowded, makeshift camp in Port-au-Prince, Jean Junior Cineas sits under a tarp suspended by a broomstick. He shares his faith with five Haitians left homeless after the Jan. 12 earthquake rocked their island nation. Soon, all five pray to receive Christ as their Savior.

The irony: Cineas is the son of a voodoo priest.

"It gives me joy to [share Christ]," Cineas says as he moves through the rows of tents. "I love to do that. It is my life."

Cineas, 26, who prefers to go by Junior, has had plenty of opportunities to share his faith since disaster struck. He says voodoo's influence has diminished and many Haitians are now calling on God.

And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved. Acts 2:21

Are the collapse of a glacial ice dam in Canada and the rise of farming in Europe linked to Noah's flood?

This item is a couple of years old, but still relevant:

A British scientist has found evidence linking the catastrophic collapse of a glacial ice dam in Canada more than 8,000 years ago and the rapid spread of agriculture across Europe around the same time.

The dramatic discharge of freshwater from prehistoric Lake Agassiz — which covered much of Central Canada at the end of the last ice age — has long been blamed for altering global climate patterns and raising sea levels around the world by at least a metre in a matter of months.

The deluged shorelines caused by the colossal Canadian gusher have even been associated with the “great flood” myths common to many ancient cultures — including the biblical story of Noah’s Ark.

Now, University of Exeter geologist Chris Turney believes he has traced the sudden proliferation of farming across neolithic Europe to an exodus of coastal people moving inland to escape the results of the Agassiz flood.

First Century Asian man's bones found in southern Italy

I don't know if this item has any biblical significance, but it's interesting:

A TEAM of Canadian archeologists working in southern Italy has unearthed a 2,000-year-old set of bones that shouldn't be there.

The unexpected male skeleton with DNA from East Asia -- bur­ied at a time when the Roman Empire knew little about China and had no direct contacts with civilizations in the Far East -- is forcing scholars to re-examine what they thought they knew about the world in the first century following the birth of Jesus Christ.

The Asian man's grave was found in a cemetery at Vagnari, which experts have determined became the site of an imperial estate at some point after the rise of Caesar Augustus in 27 B.C. and before the death of Nero in 68 A.D. Seventy-five skeletons from the first, second and third centuries A.D. have so far been excavated at the estate in a project led by McMaster University archeologist Tracy Prowse.

When it comes to prophecy, let's stick to what the Bible says

..."Do not go beyond what is written"... I Corinthians 4:6 (NIV)

While Christians should be interested in Bible prophecy (more than 25% of the Bible consists of prophecy), if we go beyond what the Scripture actually says, we may end up devoting more space and time to our speculations than to what the Bible says.

An example of this can be found at Look Up Fellowship, a blog of Jeffrey K. Radt. Mr. Radt is looking for the return of our Lord, and is a believer in Bible prophecy. I agree with him on this, and commend him for it. Unfortunately, he has the regrettable tendency to go off on tangents and find spiritual/prophetic significance in things that may not necessarily be spiritually/prophetically significant, and connections that may not exist.

For instance, the death of Cincinnati Bengals’ football player Chad Henry occurred in December 2009, when the sexual sins of Tiger Woods were in the news. Mr. Radt sees a connection:

Surely, the fact that we now have a 'Bengal' emerging in the news front-and-center after a 'Tiger' has garnered all our attention in the past few days is significant as is the fact that both are athletes.
... But boy oh boy if there isn't a CRYSTAL CLEAR SPIRITUAL THREAD TO ALL OF THIS folks, which demands we take notice and prayerfully consider the possibilities right away.

If "there’s a spiritual thread to all of this," it isn’t "crystal clear" to me. The fact that one is nicknamed "Tiger" while the other played for a team called the Bengals does not mean there’s any connection between the two. And I certainly don’t see any connection between these two news items and the name of a character named "The Tiger" in a play that had been presented in Los Angeles seven months earlier.

If you think Mr. Radt is stretching things with the above example, check out his posts--Part 1; Part 2; Part 3; Part 4; and Part 5--on American Pie, the famous hit song by Don McLean from 1971-1972. As far as I can tell, the song is an elegy from someone who mourns the passing of a time when life was simple, and rock and roll was fun. Standard interpretations of the song’s lyrics may be found here; here; and here. Mr. McLean himself has refused to comment publicly on the song’s meaning, beyond saying that the opening lyrics refer to the death of Buddy Holly. Mr. Radt, however, insists that the song is a message from God. God, however, communicates to us through the medium of the written word in the Bible, not "their preferred method of communication," such as obscure lyrics of pop songs.

By the way, I must correct one of Mr. Radt’s more obvious errors. Mr. Radt asserts that it’s spiritually significant that American Pie was Don McLean’s only hit, but that’s just not true. His follow-up single, Vincent, hit #1 on the British chart, and #12 in the U.S.A. Dreidel hit #21 in the U.S. in 1973, and after 8 years away from the top 40, Mr. McLean had three top 40 hits in 1981: Crying; Since I Don’t Have You; and Castles in the Air. He also wrote And I Love You So, which was recorded by Perry Como and became Mr. Como’s last notable North American hit in 1973. If Mr. Radt is looking for possible spiritual/prophetic significance in a one-hit wonder, he might try In the Year 2525 from 1969, the only big hit for Zager and Evans.

And Mr. Radt is being downright silly when he attributes spiritual significance to the appearance of the record that American Pie appears on. The picture that Mr. Radt shows is that of a 45 of American Pie when it was reissued in the mid-1970s as part of United Artists’ Silver Spotlight Series, not as it originally appeared on United Artists when it was released in 1971.

It’s not surprising that Mr. Radt takes a keen interest in numerology. While it’s true that certain numbers in the Bible are significant, Mr. Radt insists on finding spiritual/prophetic significance in the wedding date of a less-than-significant pop star.

On the whole, Mr. Radt’s penchant for believing in and using extrabiblical sources of God’s supposed revelation has led him so far into "the domain of the ridiculous" (to borrow a phrase from Winston Churchill) as to make his blog virtually useless for the purpose of seriously examining events in the light of Bible prophecy. This is why Look Up Fellowship isn’t on my blog list.

For an excellent book that contains warnings against extrabiblical and unbiblical speculation while upholding the proper study and use of Bible prophecy, I recommend Soothsayers of the Second Advent (1989) by William M. Alnor.

Voice of the Martyrs' Glenn Penner passes on to glory

Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of his saints. Psalm 116:15

In His perfect wisdom and timing, the Lord called Glenn Penner, former CEO of Voice of the Martyrs Canada, home to be with Him on January 26, 2010 at the age of 48 after a seven-year battle with leukemia.

But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope.
For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him.
For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep.
For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first:
Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.
Wherefore comfort one another with these words. I Thessalonians 4:13-18

Halfblack Messiah and Turner Classic Movies--an interesting juxtaposition

Tonight (January 27, 2010), while White House occupant B. Hussein Obama is delivering his first State of the Union address, Turner Classic Movies is showing the following movies, beginning at 6 P.M. MST: My Son John (1952); I Was a Communist for the FBI (1951); and The Manchurian Candidate (1962). If this is just a coincidence, it’s an interesting (or, as Joel Rosenberg would say, "curious") one indeed. I'll be watching the movies.

Yet another pedophile priest goes to the slammer

Another fine upstanding sodomite, this time in New Brunswick:

TRACADIE-SHEILA, N.B. — A former Roman Catholic priest was sentenced Friday to eight years in prison for 18 sex-related offences dating back more than 50 years in New Brunswick.

Levi Noel, 84, pleaded guilty in October for the sexual abuse incidents involving as many as 10 people, many of whom were children at the time, from 1958 to 1981.

Some of the charges included gross indecency, indecent assault and assault.

40 years ago--Mormons build on youth in selecting new president

On January 18, 1970, David O. McKay, President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints since 1951, died at the age of 96. On January 23, Mr. McKay's successor was announced. Following the trend toward youth that was so prevalent in North American and western society at the time, the church chose 93-year-old Joseph Fielding Smith, a grand-nephew of Mormon founder Joseph Smith, to be their new Prophet, Seer, and Revelator. Mr. Smith was the author of 20 books and was regarded as the church’s leading expert on theology. Just one question, Chief: When was the last time that a Mormon Prophet, Seer, and Revelator prophesied, saw, or revelated?

Human sacrifices increase in Uganda

The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the LORD... Proverbs 15:8a

And he defiled Topheth, which is in the valley of the children of Hinnom, that no man might make his son or his daughter to pass through the fire to Molech. II Kings 23:10

And they built the high places of Baal, which are in the valley of the son of Hinnom, to cause their sons and their daughters to pass through the fire unto Molech; which I commanded them not, neither came it into my mind, that they should do this abomination, to cause Judah to sin. Jeremiah 32:35

While Pope Rick I (pbuh) has publicly criticized Uganda's proposed crackdown on sodomy, not a peep has been heard from him concerning human sacrifice in Uganda. As Paul Harvey used to say, "It is not one world."

Human sacrifices 'on the rise in Uganda' as witch doctors admit to rituals
Witch doctors in Uganda have admitted their part in human sacrifice amid concerns that the practice is spreading in the African country.
------------------------------------------------------------
The African country's government claimed human sacrifice was on the increase.

According to officials trying to tackle it, the crime is directly linked to rising levels of development and prosperity - and an increasing belief that witchcraft can help people get rich quickly.

Events proceed toward the building of the third Temple in Jerusalem

And there was given me a reed like unto a rod: and the angel stood, saying, Rise, and measure the temple of God, and the altar, and them that worship therein. Revelation 11:1

Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;
Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God. II Thessalonians 2:3-4

The Temple will be rebuilt in Jerusalem, as indicated by the Scriptures cited above. I don't recognize the Vilna Gaon as authoritative, but I find the following item interesting, or as Joel Rosenberg likes to say, "curious":

If the 18th-century rabbinic authority the Vilna Gaon was right, on March 16, 2010, construction will begin on the third Temple. His projection states that the auspicious day will coincide with the third completion of the Hurva Synagogue in Jerusalem's Jewish Quarter.

The great day is at hand: On March 15, the reconstructed Hurva Synagogue, considered the most important house of prayer in Jerusalem will be rededicated. It was last destroyed in the War of Independence.

A good book on the rebuilding of the Temple is Ready to Rebuild (1992) by Thomas Ice and Randall Price. There's also a companion video produced by James DeYoung.

HT: The Berean Call

Church of Sweden ordains first openly lesbian bishop

Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour their own bodies between themselves:
Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen.
For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature: Romans 1:24-26

This item didn't get a lot of media coverage in North America, so you may have missed it in November 2009:

Published: 9 Nov 09 07:43 CET
The Church of Sweden on Sunday ordained a female pastor as the country's first openly homosexual bishop, just weeks after approving gay marriages. Eva Brunne, 55, was consecrated as the Bishop of Stockholm in a ceremony at Uppsala cathedral, just north of the Swedish capital, the Church of Sweden said in a statement.

According to Radio Netherlands, King Carl XVI Gustaf and Queen Silvia attended the ceremony.

The ordination came 17 days after 176 of 249 members of the Synod of the Lutheran Church of Sweden voted in favour of weddings for sodomites and lesbians. Invitations to the ordination ceremony were offered to clergy from other countries, but not all accepted. Five Church of England bishops, including Archdruid of Canterbury Rowan Williams, turned it down, as did some bishops from Ireland. Others who declined the invitation included the churches of Iceland, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, as well as the World Lutheran Federation. Representatives of churches from South Africa, the Philippines, Denmark, Norway, Finland, and Germany said they planned to attend.

So much for Islamic Solidarity

The Lord Jesus Christ wasn't talking about this situation when He quoted Abraham in Luke 16:26, but the words are oddly (and amusingly) appropriate: ...between us and you there is a great gulf fixed...

RIYADH, Jan 18 (Reuters) - A Saudi-based body organising the world's second Islamic Solidarity Games has cancelled the sports event planned for Iran amid a dispute over whether the Gulf waterway is "Arab" or "Persian".

The Islamic Solidarity Sports Federation, an affiliate of the 57-nation Organisation of the Islamic Conference based in Saudi Arabia, said after a meeting on Saturday it decided to scrap the games which had been set for April.

Pashtuns may be one of Israel's "lost" tribes

That then the LORD thy God will turn thy captivity, and have compassion upon thee, and will return and gather thee from all the nations, whither the LORD thy God hath scattered thee.
If any of thine be driven out unto the outmost parts of heaven, from thence will the LORD thy God gather thee, and from thence will he fetch thee:
And the LORD thy God will bring thee into the land which thy fathers possessed, and thou shalt possess it; and he will do thee good, and multiply thee above thy fathers. Deuteronomy 30:3-5

According to the Daily Telegraph:

The ethnic group at the heart of the Taliban in Afghanistan and Pakistan may descended from their Jewish enemy, according to researchers in India. Experts at Mumbai's National Institute of Immunohaematology believe Pashtuns could be one of the ten "Lost Tribes of Israel". The Israeli government is funding a genetic study to establish if there is any proof of the link. An Indian geneticist has taken blood samples from the Pashtun Afridi tribe in Lucknow, Northern India, to Israel where she will spend the next 12 months comparing DNA with samples with those of Israeli Jews...

...There are an estimated 40 million Pashtuns around the world including more than 14 million in Afghanistan and 28 million in Pakistan, mainly in the North West Frontier Province and Tribal areas but also with a strong presence in Karachi. Many have grown up with stories of their people being "Children of Israel". According to legend, they are descended from the Ephraim tribe which was driven out of Israel by the Assyrian invasion in around 700BC. Evidence of ancient Jewish settlement has been found in Herat, close to Afghanistan's border with Iran, where a graveyard contains tombs inscribed in Hebrew. The Afghan capital Kabul also has a centuries-old synagogue which has long been abandoned.

The "lost" ten tribes aren't lost to God. According to Revelation 7:4-8, during the Tribulation there will be 144,000--12,000 from each of the 12 tribes--who will be God's servants, with a seal on their foreheads.

And now, the "Emerging Mosque"?

It seems that it isn’t just evangelical Christianity that has increasing numbers of young, "hip" leaders trying to be "relevant" and "engage the culture." On December 2, 2007 The Washington Post reported on a popular young Islamic speaker named Moez Masoud (excerpts below--the full article can be found here):

Muna el-Leboudy, a 22-year-old medical student, had a terrible secret: She wanted to be a filmmaker. The way she understood her Muslim faith, it was haram -- forbidden -- to dabble in movies, music or any art that might pique sexual desires.

Then one day in September, she flipped on her satellite TV and saw Moez Masoud.

A Muslim televangelist not much older than herself, in a stylish goatee and Western clothes, Masoud, 29, was preaching about Islam in youthful Arabic slang.

He said imams who outlawed art and music were misinterpreting their faith. He talked about love and relationships, the need to be compassionate toward homosexuals and tolerant of non-Muslims. Leboudy had never heard a Muslim preacher speak that way.

"Moez helps us understand everything about our religion -- not from 1,400 years ago, but the way we live now," said Leboudy, wearing a scarlet hijab over her hair.
------------------------------------------------------------
Masoud and others promote "a sweet orthodoxy, which stresses the humane and compassionate" as an alternative to "unthinking rage," said Abdallah Schleifer, a specialist in Islam and electronic media at the American University in Cairo.
------------------------------------------------------------
On a recent Monday night in Alexandria, the ancient Mediterranean city on Egypt's north coast, more than 1,500 people poured into a huge hall to hear Masoud speak...

They were mostly in their late teens or 20s, university students or young professionals who had heard about the event on Masoud's Web site or on his popular page on Facebook...

As the lights came up in Alexandria, Masoud, tall and trim, wearing corduroy pants and a maroon, open-necked shirt, descended stairs at the back of the stage to loud applause.

"Salaam aleikum," he said, urging his audience to bow their heads for an opening prayer. For the next 90 minutes, Masoud worked the stage like a seasoned performer, his voice rising and then falling to a whisper, mixing Koranic verses with jokes and parables.
------------------------------------------------------------
His easy fluency with English and American culture adds to criticism that Masoud and other new-generation preachers, such as the well-known Amr Khaled, are pushing a sort of Westernized "Islam lite." After his speech in Alexandria, an angry older woman in a black veil pushed her way to the front of the crowd. "Why don't you talk more about punishment?" she said, urging a more tough-love approach to preaching.

Masoud smiled at her and said, "Thanks for your advice."
------------------------------------------------------------
When a Danish newspaper printed unflattering cartoons of the prophet Muhammad last year, Masoud and three other young Muslim preachers went to Denmark for dialogue, over the angry objections of more traditional preachers who urged confrontation.
------------------------------------------------------------
Ibrahim said he has had homosexual desires since he was 10. He said he asked his parents about sex, but they were not comfortable discussing it. He turned to religious books and came to the conclusion that sex between two men was "wrong and unnatural."

He said he has been trying to suppress his desires ever since. Filled with guilt and suicidal over his attraction to men, he said he eventually turned to a psychiatrist who prescribed antidepressants.

"I kept my secret for 18 years," he said.

In his TV show, Masoud preached that Islam forbids gay sex. But he argued that people who feel such urges cannot help feeling them. He said that those desires were a test from God, and that resisting them was a sign of strength and faith. He urged Muslims to show compassion rather than condemnation.

Ibrahim said that changed the way he felt about himself.

"Because of Moez, I am more self-confident," he said. "He told me that God selected me out of everyone to give me a very difficult test. So I have tasted a very unique flavor of spirituality that others haven't."

Ibrahim said too few people in his country discuss homosexuality -- he can't tell his family. He said he would like to create a center where gays can meet with religious counselors without fear of stigma.

"Moez has inspired me," he said. "Maybe I can even be a religious preacher one day."

Lifespring Community Arts and Cultural Centre Church

Lifespring Community Church in Calgary is affiliated with the Alberta Baptist Association, within the North American Baptist Association. In the fall of 2009 Lifespring had the following under Our Mission Statement...

Lifespring is a community where we meet, journey, explore together and share the amazing stories of love and acceptance of Jesus Christ.

This has been revised and expanded (as of the date of this post) under WHAT WE VALUE . . . (emphasis in original)

Lifespring is a caring, fun and real community, where you can be yourself.

Together we journey, explore, share and experience the amazing stories of Jesus Christ and his love for all people.

We are about reaching out (connecting) within our sphere of influence and our church community in finding the heart of God in a broken world and leading each other to an authentic relationship with God and others.

We share an Informal, welcoming and safe environment.

Where we worship God, each with our unique gifts that form the creative ministry and culture of Lifespring Community Church.

The reader will notice the emphasis on stories instead of on expository Bible preaching. Notice as well the emphasis on self. Unfortunately, the links no longer exist for all of Lifespring’s initiatives in "creative ministry and culture," but in the fall of 2009 these included a barn dance and hog roast (how distinctively Christian) on October 3 and a presentation of Ten Lost Years on October 17. Ten Lost Years is a dramatic presentation of Barry Broadfoot’s book, originally published in 1973. I heard about this on CKUA radio:

Ten Lost Years
Relive true-life accounts of the Great Depression, as Barry Broadfoot’s acclaimed book comes to the stage.
Vancouver’s Seacoast Studios presents Ten Lost years - Saturday, October 17th at the original site of Calgary’s Loose Moose Theatre.
Hosted by Lifespring Community Church – a proud member of the Alberta Foundation for the Arts and the Arts Touring Alliance of Alberta. For tickets, call 403-620-5560. More at lifespringcc.ca.
10/17/2009
7:00 PM

As an aside, I’ve never read the book, but my father, who lived through the Depression, did, and he didn’t like it at all. He thought that Mr. Broadfoot had just interviewed the "rubby-dubs"--people who would have been down and out even if times were good.
Ten Lost Years has nothing to do with the Gospel of Jesus Christ, but that doesn’t seem to matter to Lifespring. The CKUA ad is correct in mentioning that Lifespring is a proud member of the Alberta Foundation for the Arts and the Arts Touring Alliance of Alberta. You’ll find the logos of both organizations on Lifespring’s home page. The reader will also notice that Lifespring’s location was formerly used as a theatre--more evidence that if you locate your church in a theatre, you’ll end up with theatrical worship. And as far as "creative ministry" is concerned, I've been a Christian for almost 35 years, and I have yet to see anything creative from evangelicalism. Instead, we always get an evangelical imitation of popular culture (e.g., "Christian rock," "Christian aerobics," Promise Keepers, etc.).

Lifespring posts a "Thought for the Week" at the bottom of their home page, and in October they posted the following from Richard Rohr: "The spiritual world is hidden and perfectly revealed in the physical world." Richard Rohr is a Franciscan priest who founded the Center for Action and Contemplation. For more on Richard Rohr, go to More Books and Things and Apprising Ministries.
Lifespring may be on the cutting edge when it comes to how they refer to their leaders. Perceptive readers have probably noticed that the title "Senior Pastor" has been replaced by "Lead Pastor" in many churches, especially churches whose leaders are under 40 years of age. Lifespring, however, has dispensed with the title "Pastor" altogether. Their leaders are all referred to as "Navigators," a title with no apparent connection to the campus ministry of that name. I don’t find that designation anywhere in the New Testament, and I find the title rather ironic, because while the "Navigators" at Lifespring emphasize the "journey," they don’t seem to know where they’re going. I have a suspicion where their journey will end: Rome.

Today's Evangelicals, Tomorrow's Liberals--A Warning from 1983

The following lengthy post is an address delivered by Samuel H. Tow of Singapore at the 11th World Congress of the International Council of Christian Churches, which took place in Cape May, New Jersey from June 16-30, 1983 (the address was reprinted in its entirety in the Australian Beacon, January 1990, pp. 1, 4, 9, 11). The title--Today’s Evangelicals, Tomorrow’s Liberals--has not only proven to be accurate, but could be reversed--"Today's Liberals, Tomorrow's Evangelicals"--and be equally true. Not only has evangelicalism become more liberal, but people and ideas considered liberal in 1983 are now considered "evangelical." For example, I’ve always regarded Jim Wallis as a Communist masquerading as a Christian (not to mention Ron Sider). Mr. Wallis has been around for decades and hasn’t changed a bit, but evangelicalism has moved so far leftward in the meantime that he’s now often referred to in the media as an "evangelical." As an aside, it was at that Congress in 1983 that the largest association of black churches in Africa, led by Bishop Isaac Mokoena, joined the ICCC. The delegation led by Bishop Mokoena represented 4½ million Bible-believing Christians. The South African Council of Churches, led by universalist Desmond Tutu, represented no more than 300,000 people (Christian Beacon, June 30, 1983, p. 1).

Unprecedented happenings are taking place in the evangelical world. On Saturday, June 25, 1983 Mother Teresa, Malcolm Muggeridge, Francis Schaeffer and John Stott are scheduled to speak at an anti-abortion rally in Hyde Park, London, labelled "Call to Humanity." This anti-abortion platform will be a cage of ecumenical birds--a Roman Catholic nun, a liberal Christian and two evangelicals.

The April 8, 1983 issue of the leading Neo-evangelical journal Christianity Today (with Gandhi’s portrait on its front cover) exhorts Christians to learn from Gandhi. In A Christian Manifesto, Francis Schaeffer draws up Christian guidelines for socio-political action, civil disobedience, and the use of force. In March last year, Billy Graham welcomed the Pope’s visit to England. Two months later the famed evangelist joined a multi-religious gathering and communists in Moscow in a conference on world peace. John Stott, the British socialist theologian now publicly declares that the Marxist "liberation theology" is fully Biblical and pleasing to God the Creator.

What do you make of all this?

A generation ago these happenings would have precipitated an uprising of evangelicals and strong revulsion everywhere. Today, no longer. They are viewed as normal expressions of the Christian gospel. The Neo-evangelical baby conceived by Ockenga in 1948 has achieved full manhood. Neo-evangelicalism has become the front runner of Protestant Christianity.

We ask ourselves: What new gospel is this? How did it come about?

The Emergence of Neo-Evangelicalism

The decade of the forties saw a growing discontent among evangelicals over the apparent inability of the Gospel to change society, and with the strict fundamentalist position of anti-modernism, anti-intellectualism, separatism, and a general isolation from the mainstream of society. The world of the forties was passing them by, and evangelicals were no longer convinced that the world with its social and political challenges was that bad after all.

In 1947 Carl Henry chided the evangelicals for their social unconcern in his book, The Uneasy Conscience of Modern Fundamentalism. With prophetic impact he declared: "The battle against evil in all its forms must be pressed unsparingly; we must pursue the enemy, in politics, in economics, in science, in ethics--everywhere, in every field, we must pursue relentlessly."

The next year Harold Ockenga, with kindred spirit, called for a break with traditional Fundamentalism, and a commitment to social involvement. This call was to prove historic and disastrous. Let us call it "Ockenga’s Manifesto" and let us note the direction of its thrust. We quote Ockenga’s own words:

Neo-evangelicalism was born in 1948 in a convocation address which I gave in the Civic Auditorium in Pasadena. While reaffirming the theological view of fundamentalism, this address repudiated its ecclesiology and its social theory. The ringing call for a repudiation of separatism and the summons to social involvement received a hearty response from many evangelicals. Neo-evangelicalism differed from...fundamentalism in its repudiation of separatism and its determination to engage itself in the theological dialogue of the day. It had a new emphasis upon the application of the gospel to the sociological, political, and economic areas of life. Neo-evangelicals emphasized the restatement of Christian theology in accordance with the need of the times, the re-engagement in the theological debate, the recapture of denominational leadership, and the re-examination of theological problems such as the antiquity of man, the universality of the Flood, God’s method of creation, and others.

(From the Foreword to The Battle for the Bible by [Harold] Lindsell).
With this call, the father of Neo-evangelicalism sowed the seed of a new Social Gospel which was to take root and blossom in the decade of the seventies. The new direction was exciting and challenging. It captured the imagination of those who were disgruntled with the Fundamentalist position. These Neo-evangelicals were determined to change the world with the Gospel. They confidently affirmed: Christ must transform culture, Christians must gain the attention and acceptance of society. With this radical about-turn they parted company with Fundamentalism and embarked on a voyage which was to lead many evangelicals into the quicksands of apostasy and the Social Gospel.

Without serious intention, Ockenga had started a new movement which within three decades was to change the face of evangelicalism and make it a major force which society cannot afford to ignore. The founder’s avowed aim of recapturing "denominational leadership" has been more than attained.

In an article released by the World Council of Churches (1983) entitled "The Neo-evangelical Alternative: Rediscovering a Social Gospel," Walter Pipkin, a liberal, says this of the Neo-evangelical trend:

The decade of the 1970’s was a head-turning time for evangelicals. Suddenly, this group of conservative religious practitioners became news. Reconciled to existing somewhat on the margins of society and mainstream life in North America, this gaggle of true believers were thrust into the spotlight. The White House was occupied by a confessed evangelical. All but without warning, evangelicals were news as Newsweek proclaimed 1976 ‘The year of the Evangelical’ and Time concluded 1977 with a cover story on ‘New Empire of Faith: the Evangelicals.’ Clearly evangelicals were making good newscopy.

Richard Quebedeaux, another liberal, in the preface to his book The Worldly Evangelicals (1978) writes:

In the course of just the last few years, born again--the once laugh-provoking term describing evangelical Christians--has become a respectable, if not glamorous designation, no less fashionable and chic than the growing number of celbrities who unabashedly declare that they have been born again. Evangelical Christianity has finally emerged from its anticultural ghetto into the mainstream of American life. It is now a force to be reckoned with.

Recapturing the Denominational Leadership: At What Cost?

As Ockenga had desired, the evangelicals emerged from their Fundamentalist shell, invaded the world, and in brilliant fashion recaptured the denominational leadership.

The crucial question is: at what cost? And, with what consequences to the faith? The consequences which followed Ockenga’s Manifesto are four, and they are fatal:

1. The evangelicals fell into the snare of worldliness.
2. They fell into the snare of the social gospel, and inevitably the socialist-Marxist liberation theology.
3. They fell into the snare of ecumenism.
4. Finally they fell into the errancy trap.
It was a "falling away" indeed!
Let us now consider each of these four, in turn.

a) The snare of worldliness

Once the evangelicals had decided that the world was their territory, they forsook the old Fundamentalist constraints, and identified themselves with the world, becoming respectable by the world’s standards.

In the process, evangelicals made compromises with the wider culture wherever necessary and expedient. In the course of a few years, "born again" had become a popular designation as a growing number of national celebrities and prominent citizens unabashedly declared that they too had the "born-again" experience.

Neo-evangelicals became harder and harder to distinguish from other people. They became more and more like the world, discarding old Fundamentalist taboos such as smoking and drinking, cocktail parties and social dancing, enjoying pop and rock music with their worldly and immoral themes. Evangelical magazines and publications began to review plays and movies, and to speak gently of homosexuals.

As Andrew Bonar had said many years ago, "I looked for the church and found it in the world. I looked for the world and found it in the church."

Modern evangelicals had gained acceptability in society, even within the liberal religious and secular academic communities. Flaunting their ever increasing social status, evangelicals made their presence felt in big business, sports, politics and the mass media. Within the decade of the seventies Ockenga’s ambition had been more than achieved. Evangelicals had assumed the leadership as the new mainline expression of Christianity.

b) The Snare of the Social Gospel
1. The Chicago Declaration

The Neo-evangelical commitment to social involvement took a great leap forward in 1973 with the Chicago Declaration issued by the Thanksgiving Workshop on Evangelicals and Social Concern. The Declaration contains a confession of the failure of evangelicals to be involved in remedying social problems, and a denunciation of "social abuse," "an unjust American society," "racism," "exploitation," "social and political injustice of our nation," "the maldistribution of the nation’s wealth and services," "a national pathology of war and violence." It voiced support for the "social and economic rights of the poor and the oppressed," and a "more just acquisition and distribution of the world’s resources."

The socialist-Marxist vocabulary and tone of the document are unmistakable. The most significant fact is that evangelical leaders should subscribe to such a document and circulate it far and wide to get other evangelicals to agree with the commitments expressed. Among those who signed were prominent names: Carl Henry, Bernard Ramm, Leighton Ford, Frank Gabelein, Mark Hatfield, and Ronald Sider, an outspoken pro-Marxist theologian.

Out of the 1973 Workshop grew Evangelicals for Social Action (ESA) and the International Consultation on Simple Life Style, which included people like John Stott and Harvie Conn of Westminster Theological Seminary.

Since then, Sider has published four books (Rich Christians in an Age of Hunger, 1977; Christ and Violence, 1979; Living More Simply, 1980; and Cry Justice, 1980). Sider’s ideas are likely to have a far reaching and profound effect on the evangelical world, particularly among the young.

Are the views expressed by Sider and his movement Christian? A review of his writing reveals these findings:

a) Sider quotes liberally from leftist sources, and approvingly from both Karl Barth (neo-orthodox) and from leftists and socialists like Heilbroner and Schumacher. he recommends apostate, non-Christian organizations to his readers.
b) Sider advocates the use of force to take away the property of the rich, and attacks personal charity and generosity.
c) Sider’s thinking and programme are modelled not on Christ but on Marx. His books are full of Marxist vocabulary.
d) Sider’s message is not the message of the Bible. His economics and ethics are not Christian. He misuses Scripture to support his un-Scriptural ideology.

Christians should be warned of theses new heretical movements: Evangelicals for Social Action and International Consultation on Simple Lifestyle.

The Chicago Declaration and the publications following in its wake signal to the world that evangelicals are now firmly set on the road to social involvement. They are turning to the social gospel which their forefathers had fought a half century ago. History has repeated itself.

2. The Lausanne Covenant

At the International Congress on World Evangelization held in Lausanne, Switzerland in 1974, Rev. John Stott introduced "The Lausanne Covenant" to the delegates for their "very solemn personal commitment...to concrete and sacrificial action."

Taking a lead in the signing of the Covenant were Billy Graham, Honorary Chairman of the Congress, and John Stott himself. Below are excerpts from paragraph 5 of the Covenant.

Christian Social Responsibility

We affirm that God is both the Creator and Judge of all men. We therefore should share his concern for justice and reconciliation throughout human society and for the liberation of men from every kind of oppression...we express penitence both for our neglect and for having sometimes regarded evangelism and social concern as mutually exclusive. Although reconciliation with man is not reconciliation with God, nor is social action evangelism, nor is political liberation salvation, nevertheless we affirm that evangelism and socio-political involvement are both part of our Christian duty...

In section 5 of the Covenant we see the subtle inclusion of the social gospel as part of "Christian Social Responsibility." It declares that political liberation and socio-political involvement are now part of Christian duty. This is a contradiction of our Lord’s commission to His disciples as given in Matthew 28: 19, 20. This Great Commission has always been and will remain the only corporate mandate for the Church, till Jesus comes.

Our Lord rejected socio-political action (John 6:15) and violence of any kind. "My kingdom is not of this world: if my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight" (John 18:36). "For the Kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost" (Rom. 14:17). The Kingdom of God is not in socio-political action, civil disobedience, mass demonstrations, creating a new order, or violent revolution.

3. "Christian Mission in the Modern World" (a pro-Marxist revelation)

In his book by the above title, John Stott admits that his concept of the Great Commission has changed between 1966 and 1975 when his book was first published. In 1966, Stott held the old view:

The mission of the church, according to the specification of the risen Lord, is exclusively a preaching, converting and teaching mission. Indeed, I confess that I myself argued this at the World Congress on Evangelism in Berlin in 1966, when attempting to expound the three major versions of the Great Commission.
Today, however, I would express myself differently. It is not just that the commission includes a duty to teach converts everything Jesus had previously commanded (Matthew 28:20), and that social responsibility is among the things which Jesus commanded. I now see more clearly that not only the consequences of the commission but the actual commission itself must be understood to include social as well as evangelistic responsibility, unless we are to be guilty of distorting the words of Jesus.

(Christian Mission...by Stott, IVP 1975, p. 23)
How Stott’s thinking (and theology) has changed in a few short years! And not only Stott, but many other eminent evangelicals, too. That is why the Apostle Paul warned: "Stand fast! Hold fast!" In Chapter Four, Stott discusses the current ecumenical emphasis on the struggle for liberation and social justice and ends with this comment (pages 91, 92):

This brief historical sketch of ecumenical thinking during the 10 years from Mexico 1963 to Bangkok 1973 has shown that the emphasis has been on key words like ‘humanization,’ ‘development,’ ‘wholeness,’ ‘liberation,’ and ‘justice.’ Let me say at once that these things, and the liberation of men from every form of oppression, are not only a desirable goal, pleasing to God the Creator, but that Christians should be actively pursuing it alongside other men of compassion and goodwill...We evangelicals have often been guilty of opting out of our social and political responsibilities. We are to blame for this neglect. We should repent of it and not be afraid to challenge ourselves and each other that God may be calling many more Christians than hear his call to immerse themselves in the secular world of politics, economics, sociology, race relations, community health, development and a host of other such spheres for Christ.

John Stott has earned great respect as an evangelical theologian. By his own confession, his theological stand has shifted. As he wrote, "Today, however, I would express myself differently." Our Lord’s Great Commission has not changed, but Stott has shifted to the left. His close association with leftists, Marxists and liberal theologians in the World Council of Churches (to which he has acted as "adviser") has coloured his thinking. That is why he is able to endorse the socialist-Marxist dialectic as "pleasing to God the Creator," and "that Christians should be actively involved in pursuing it alongside other men of compassion and goodwill."

"Men of compassion and goodwill" include Marxist revolutionaries and Communists. Can this most respected "evangelical" be a Marxist sympathizer? To answer this question, we reproduce his comments on the Marxist "Theology of Liberation" from pages 92 and 93 of his book:

The Theology of Liberation

Not long before Bangkok the original Spanish version of Gustavo Gutierrez’s book, ‘A Theology of Liberation’ was published in Peru. This is the fullest and most thorough attempt which has yet been made to interpret biblical salvation in terms of the liberation of the oppressed. I admire the deep compassion of Gustavo Gutierrez for the exploited, his insistence on solidarity with the poor, his emphasis on social ‘praxis’ instead of unpractical theorizing, and his call to the church for ‘a more evangelical, more authentic, more concrete and more efficacious commitment to liberation’ (p. 145). Several times he quotes with approval Marx’s most famous dictum that ‘the philosophers have only interpreted the world...; the point, however, is to change it.’ We should have no quarrel with the goal he defines, namely ‘liberation from all that limits or keeps man from self-fulfillment, liberation from all impediments to the exercise of his freedom’ (p. 27). This is fully biblical...‘the goal is not only better living conditions, a radical change of structures, a social revolution; it is much more: the continuous creation, never ending, of a new way to be a man, a permanent culture revolution’ (p. 32).

In the above passage, Stott gives unqualified approval to the Marxist liberation theology calling it "fully biblical." Need we say more? Stott is endorsing not merely socio-political action, agitation, violent protest but armed uprising and bloody revolution. In his converted thinking, these things are "pleasing to God the Creator."

4. Evangelicals and Dialogue
The Devil’s substitute for the Gospel of Jesus Christ is "dialogue." Dialogue is to sit down and exchange views on equal terms, each learning from the other. Here is what Stott has to say of dialogue:

Christ speaks in this dialogue, revealing himself to those who do not know him and correcting the limited and distorted knowledge of those who do. I do not think we should object to this formulation.

So, according to Stott, Christ speaks through non-Christians to correct the "distorted knowledge" of Christians!

Then Stott cites the example of E. Stanley Jones, the modernist missionary to India, how Jones used dialogue with Hindus to great profit.

Reading through the pages of Stott’s book, one is struck by the subtlety of his perverted logic and frequent double talk. Are we to believe what this evangelical says? Does Christ speak in dialogue? Does God honour dialogue with other religions?

Where is the "Thus saith the Lord" of Holy Scripture? or "Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins?" (Acts 2:38).

5. "A Christian Manifesto"
A socio-political treatise

In his recent book A Christian Manifesto (1982), Francis Schaeffer, senior Neo-evangelical statesman and author, reveals the latest in Neo-evangelical concern. In 120 pages of text, Schaeffer quotes 11 verses of Scripture to support his views on "The Limits of Civil Disobedience."

Schaeffer writes of the crumbling of morality and freedom, the degeneration of law and government and the humanistic educational system. He calls on Christians to change society, and under certain circumstances to resist the state by political action, civil disobedience and if necessary even by force. The issue of abortion figures rather prominently in his thinking.

It seems incredible that an avowed evangelical writing a "Christian Manifesto" sees merely socio-political issues and the need for social change and possibly violence. Surely an honest reading of God’s Word must inform us that the end time society is an evil and corrupt one, incorrigible and ripe for judgment (Matt. 24:37-39). Nowhere in Scripture is there a shred of evidence to suggest that Christians can change society and systems. Only Christ our Lord can, and that when He comes.

What "Christian Manifesto" do we have for this day and age? It is firstly to call men and women to repentance, ere the Lord returns, and secondly to warn believers against the great apostasy. "Repent! for the Kingdom of heaven is at hand." This was the message of John in the Judaean wilderness, the message of our Lord by the Galilean sea, and Peter’s at Pentecost. To the end time Laodicean Church comes the same message from our Lord: Be zealous therefore, and repent" (Rev. 3:19). So we must! The Saviour has spoken. He has given us no other mandate, no other commission. Not civil disobedience! Not political action! Not violent revolution! Schaeffer has missed the real issue.

6. Vital issues--according to Carl Henry

Carl Henry’s recent thinking on vital issues which he thinks might be biblical is summed up as follows:

Among biblical concerns specially relevant today are the primacy of the family as a lifelong monogamous union, the dignity and worth of fetal life, the plight of the poor and oppressed, the right and need to work, the pursuit of world peace and order, the just use of power to contain the expansionist policies of aggressor nations, and the preservation of natural resources.

It is remarkable that both Carl Henry and Francis Schaeffer are burdened with socio-political issues. The problems of abortion, the poor and oppressed, world peace and order cannot be solved by mobilizing the Church as these Neo-evangelicals think. They are falling into the same error of the liberals and socialists.

Society will never change through the socio-political action of Christians. Believers are nowhere called to change or reform society. God’s Word makes it quite clear. Christians are to witness, to proclaim the Gospel of forgiveness of sins and reconciliation with God. Any social or political action is doomed to failure. Our only hope is in the return of Jesus Christ. Nothing else can solve the problems that now belabour the Neo-evangelicals.

c) The Snare of Ecumenism

The historic repudiation of Biblical separation by Ockenga in 1948 started the Neo-evangelicals on the road to apostasy. When one chooses to disobey a clear command of God’s Word to be separate and to have no fellowship with unbelievers, then the logical and ultimate end result is unbelief and apostasy.

When a believer knowingly remains in association with apostates the likely course is one of "falling away" in six fatal steps: consorting, contamination, compromise, cooperation, commendation, and capitulation. The end stage may not materialize for some years, but it is only a matter of time, because the Satanic forces of the end time apostasy will be irresistible.

1. Dr. Billy Graham Aids Ecumenism

The most famous and respected Protestant in the world, without a doubt, is Dr. Billy Graham. No one has done more to popularize the gospel than he. Also no one has done more to mislead and confuse Christians than Dr. Graham. By his association with Roman Catholics, the pope, ecumenists and charismatics, Billy Graham has done more than any other individual to promote the cause of the Ecumenical Movement among evangelicals.

"Whatever Graham says or does must be right." This is the general consensus today. So millions of Christians are led to believe that there is nothing wrong with the liberal churches, the Ecumenical Movement, the Roman Catholic Church, the charismatic movement. They have been led to think that the only thing wrong is with those unloving and critical Fundamentalists in daring to point out the error of Billy Graham and the Neo-Evangelicals. The ecumenical mood of the moment may be summed up in two words. LOVE and TOLERANCE.

2. Christianity Today Turns Ecumenical and Liberal

Christianity Today (CT), the major mouthpiece of Neo-evangelical conviction, has over the years shifted far from its original Fundamentalist and orthodox position. Although it still carries articles of sound theological content, the mixture of truth and error gives the heretical contents a cloak of respectability, thereby making the journal a most deceptive and dangerous vehicle for the propagation of falsehood.

A major departure from the Reformed Faith has been the appearance of articles taking an increasingly conciliatory attitude towards the Roman Catholic Church. For example, its October 23, 1981 issue carries two major articles:

"What separates Evangelicals and Catholics?"
"The Pope as Antichrist: An Anachronism?"

These articles would have us believe that Roman Catholicism is no different from Evangelicalism, and that the Pope is in fact a very amiable, benign and acceptable Christian leader. Did not Billy Graham call him "Moral leader of the world?" This sort of public persuasion will do more to undo the Reformation than any Inquisition. Christianity Today has said it: Protestants and Catholics are really no different. To remain apart is scandalous.

In other recent articles, Christianity Today has undermined basic Christian doctrines, e.g. Substitutionary Atonement, Biblical Inerrancy and the Genesis Creation record. Its April 8, 1983 issue carries the portrait of Gandhi on its cover, and presents its message to Christians: "Learning from Gandhi." This is the latest theological acrobatics by the Neo-evangelicals and certainly not the last. We may expect more somersaults and about turns by Christianity Today in the coming months.

3. Neo-evangelicals Returning to Rome

In a remarkable and subtle shift, evangelicals everywhere are adopting an increasingly conciliatory stance towards Roman Catholics and the Roman Catholic Church (RCC). The cordial ties between the Pope and Billy Graham, and the Pope and the Archbishop of Canterbury have no doubt played a major role in breaking down old animosities and traditional barriers.

More startling even is to discover that leading evangelical and Fundamentalist theologians around the world are softening in their attitude toward the RCC. An eminent professor of theology from a highly respectable Fundamentalist seminary has commented: "The Catholics are not too bad these days." A little remark but with profound significance.

Well known OMF Honorary Director J.O. Sanders wrote a book, "Cults and Isms". The 1973 edition placed Roman Catholicism "at the head of the list of heresies, since it is the largest and most influential of them all." In the latest edition (1981) the chapter on Roman Catholicism has been dropped. Does this mean that Dr. Sanders no longer considers Roman Catholicism a heresy?

4. Charismatic Movement Aids Ecumenism

The world-wide movement of "Holy Spirit or Charismatic Renewal" has swept through Christendom like wild fire in the last two decades. Mainline liberals, evangelicals, traditional Pentecostals, Roman Catholics, fellow travellers, unbelievers and nominal Christians have all been included in this modern tongues movement.

The spectacular effusion of tongues, "miracles," "healings" and "prophecies," and generally the experience of spiritual uplift have won millions of converts to the movement. While remaining within their own grouping or denomination, nevertheless they have found a strong kinship and common identity across denominational lines.

This charismatic movement has become a most potent unifying force drawing together evangelicals and liberals, Protestants and Roman Catholics. It is a major factor promoting ecumenical union of the churches today.

5. The Errancy Trap: Liberal Road to Apostasy

It is nothing new but the old trick of Satan: Yea, hath God said? When Ockenga declared the Neo-evangelical intention to re-examine God’s Word and restate Christian theology "in accordance with the need of the times" he had in fact laid the Bible on the chopping board of modern thought and critical scholarship. What need is there in these last days to re-examine the Creation and the Flood? Surely these matters had been settled by godly scholars long ago.

Hear the words of Spurgeon: "Rest assured that there is nothing new in theology except that which is false; and that the facts of theology are today what they were nineteen hundred years ago." Did not the Bible say: "Forever, O Lord, thy word is settled in heaven"?

Whatever Ockenga’s original intention may have been, the fact is, many evangelicals have shifted from their former belief in an inerrant Bible. Is this important? Absolutely! The great battle of our generation is over the subject of Biblical inerrancy. On this issue many a believer’s faith will be put to the test.

Harold Lindsell in the Preface to his book, The Battle for the Bible, says this:

I regard the subject of this book, biblical inerrancy, to be the most important topic of this age. A great battle rages about it among people called evangelicals. I did not start the battle and wish it were not essential to discuss it. The only way to avoid it would be to remain silent. And silence on this matter would be a grave sin.

The traditional evangelical belief is in the inspiration, infallibility and inerrancy of the Word of God. Increasing numbes of evangelicals are abandoning this position. This is almost inevitable when Christians attempt to harmonize Scripture with "modern scientific thought" and "intellectual respectability."

"But what’s all the fuss over inerrancy? Surely a little deletion here or a small reservation there can do no harm?" So some evangelicals may think. But, not so, says Lindsell. We quote:

I will contend that embracing a doctrine of an errant Scripture will lead to disaster down the road. It will result in the loss of missionary passion; it will lull congregations to sleep and undermine their belief in the full-orbed truth of the Bible; it will produce spiritual sloth and decay; and it will finally lead to apostasy.

(p. 25)
How true! Lindsell then goes on to relate how men and institutions which once stood on inerrancy have fallen into the errancy trap: great churches such as the Southern Baptist Convention, the Lutheran Church, and the famous Fuller Theological Seminary. And the list grows each year. The time has come when men will not endure sound doctrine but have turned away their ears from the truth.

Conclusion

We have witnessed a great "falling away" spoken of by the Apostle Paul (2 Thess. 2:3) which must come to pass before our Lord’s return. Men and institutions claiming to be evangelical in persuasion are now behaving like liberals in practice. Some have openly expressed their socialist-Marxist sympathies. These unprecedented happenings are of the gravest prophetic significance, for in them we see the unmistakable drawing together of the three major forces of Christendom: RCC, WCC, and Evangelicals, toward the formation of the end time one-world-church (Rev. 17).

In the light of these "signs of the times" what should the believers do? There are four things which every true believer must apply himself diligently, and with utmost urgency:

1. "Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season" (2 Tim. 4:2). "Rescue the perishing, care for the dying! Snatch them in pity from sin and the grave...Tell them of Jesus the mighty to save!" There is no greater commission, than this. Let us burn out for the Gospel’s sake, like John Sung, God’s flame of the Far East.
2. "Reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine" (2 Tim. 4:1), "speaking the truth in love" (Eph. 4:15). Let us cease not to warn every one, evangelicals and others, "night and day with tears" (Acts 20:31). Let us feed and defend our flocks over which the Holy Ghost has made us overseers.
3. "Hold that fast which thou hast, that no man take thy crown." "Behold, I come quickly" (Rev. 3:11). We believe and are sure that we are living in the last few days of the perilous end times. Our Lord’s coming will suddenly descend on us at any time now. Be zealous, therefore and repent!
4. Live godly, holy lives, daily "looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God" (2 Pet. 3:11, 12). May we be ever diligent, that we "may be found of him in peace, without spot, and blameless" (2 Pet. 3:14).

Behold, He cometh with clouds; the Alpha and Omega, the Almighty to come. The question is, are you ready?

40 years ago: Mormons uphold exclusion of Negroes from the priesthood

On January 8, 1970, in a statement distributed to Mormon leaders around the world, the top leadership of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints reaffirmed its ban on Negroes in the priesthood. All other Mormon men were expected to join the priesthood at age 12.

However, on June 9, 1978, the 148-year-old policy was revoked. Church President Spencer W. Kimball announced in Salt Lake City that the decision had been based on a revelation that had come to church leaders, saying, "The long-promised day has come when every faithful, worthy man in the Church may receive the holy priesthood." The ban had become a source of tension between the church and minority groups, and the change was expected to facilitate the Mormons' active missionary program. Indeed, to look at today's slickly-produced commercials produced by the LDS to promote family life, you'd never know that such a ban had ever existed.

Wasn't it amazing (and convenient) that such a "revelation" just happened to come at a time when the Mormon church was facing increasing criticism for its practices from non-Mormon society? Just as the revelation to the church's leaders to ban polygamy happened to come at a time (1890) when statehood for Mormon-dominated Utah was being denied because of the long-standing practice. Just one question, Chief: How is it that the LDS leaders receive revelations that contradict previous revelations when all of the original LDS theology and practice was supposedly given by God as a restoration of true worship and a correction of the false doctrine and practice that had corrupted Christianity for centuries until 1830?