April-May 1999 News Archives
Distributed via e-mail by Christian News & Views;. These articles may be used in any manner to the glory of God, and as an aid in the discernment of the times. [Andy Neckar, Christian News & Views, PO Box J, Hico, TX 76457]
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------1. EDUCATION or INDOCTRINATION?
2. ANTI-CHRISTIAN UNITED METHODIST CHURCH. (ACUMC)
3. IN WHOSE NAME WE PRAY?
4. AMERICA-THE LAND OF THE FORCED?
5. MODERN "NEW BIRTH" ALL WRONG
6. AMERICA-THE LAND OF THE LOOSE AND HOME OF THE DEFIANT.
7. PROTESTANT CHURCHES PROTESTING GOD
8. CHANGING THE NAME OF SIN
9. NIGHTMARISH HELL
10. PRAYER IN SCHOOL?-YOU BET!
11. RIGOROUS RELIGIOUS CULT-URE
12. THE PROGRESS OF ECUMENICISM SHOWN CLEARLY
13. CHAPEL DRUG ROOM
14. PRAY FOR PAY
15. "Cool Bible" Salvation or "Hot Seat"?
16. Worldliness Makes for Spiritual Mess
17. Spiritual Junk Food Fed In Churches
18. UMC "Book of Discipline" Vs."Christian Bible"
19. UMC (United Methodist Church)--SOS (Synagogue of Satan)
20. SBC Facts
21. DIALOGUE or LEAVEN?
22. SUNDAY SCHOOL TEACHERS OR NARRATORS?
23. WAKE FOREST APOSTATE BAPTIST CHURCH
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------EDUCATION or INDOCTRINATION?
An explicit sex education book entitled It's a Girl Thing has been approved for fourth grade by the health resource committee of the county school district in Palm Beach, Florida. "Award-winning" children's author Mavis Jukes wrote the book in a chatty style that mocks parental values. Among the topics discussed in detail are sexual orientations and various sex acts. The book includes Planned Parenthood's telephone number (Education Reporter, 2/99).[Editor] It’s getting to where some parents send their children to Church once or twice a week to be entertained for an hour or so each time, and sent them to school to be indoctrinated in sinful activities 7-8 hours a DAY. And then TV at home for MORE indoctrination. No wonder Jesus says will there be ANY faith when He comes. (Luke 18:8) Parents are responsible for each generation becoming more Godless than the previous. GOD HELP US
***********************************************ANTI-CHRISTIAN UNITED METHODIST CHURCH. (ACUMC)
Some radical speakers at a recent student conference promoted the acceptance of homosexuality and the rejection of traditional Christianity. More than 1,300 young people and campus ministers attended the conference, organized by the Council for Ecumenical Student Christian Ministry. The conference was sponsored by mainline denominations such as the United Methodist Church and the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).
South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu told an applauding audience, "We should celebrate sex as a wonderful gift of God. We should accept different sexual orientations. God made us who we are." Mark Ruledge, a United Church of Christ minister at Duke University, told his listeners that he does not believe in the resurrection of Christ, among other things. "The early Christians were making it up as they went along," he said (AFA Journal, 3/99).[Editor] Par for the course for the apostate Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). and the United Church of Christ. They don’t even TRY and hide behind a cloak of Christianity anymore. But please open your eyes to the UMC. Many of my subscribers are still IN that apostate church. My prayer is that GOD open their eyes since THEY refuse. GOD HELP THEM.
***********************************************8IN WHOSE NAME WE PRAY?
Two California teens recently lost a lawsuit against school administrators who would not accept their valedictory speech and prayer. The valedictorian, Chris Niemeyer, attributed his straight-A record to God, but the superintendent rejected the speech because "it had the potential of upsetting people of other religious beliefs or backgrounds."
Ferrin Cole was supposed to offer the invocation, but the vice principal said it was not generic enough. He objected to a reference to a single God because some people believe in many gods and to a reference to "the Father" because some worship "mother earth." He also protested invoking a "higher being" because some people believe "they are god," according to the lawsuit (Youthworker, 3-4/99).[Editor] I attended my son’s graduation at Tarleton University in Stephenville, Texas, 20 miles North of Hico back in December 1998.. He was receiving a Bachelors degree in Nursing. There was a prayer and I was SO happy, but it only referred to God. Not ONCE was the Name of "Jesus" or "Christ", "Son of God" mentioned. The prayer closed with "in his name we pray". Whose name?
*************************************************AMERICA-THE LAND OF THE FORCED?
Parents cannot withdraw their children from the classroom of an openly homosexual teacher because it violates California's laws against discrimination, the state labor board ruled last March. In addition, the labor commissioner's office ordered the school to halt the student exodus from the class. Students were complaining that the teacher would frequently rub their backs or put his arm around them whenever they asked a question in class. The teacher teaches eighth grade at Rio Bravo--Greely school in Bakersfield (National Liberty Journal, 4/99).[Editor] We adults still have a choice to either endorse or reject sodomy, but the schools are FORCING the homo’s on our children. We will have to take a STAND even unto death. Persecution IS coming. It is already here in rather mild forms, BUT it will very soon get MUCH worst.
God said His Children will not suffer the wrath of the Tribulation, but there will be much wrath from the government AND the FALSE CHURCH. Professing Christians will be after true Christians with a big ugly stick and it won’t be fun.
GOD HELP US.
************************************************MODERN "NEW BIRTH" ALL WRONG
A small but growing number of people in the United States consider themselves "transgendered." The term refers to people who are cross-dressers or those who have undergone sex-change surgery. Across the nation, people in this group are riding the coattails of the homosexual-rights movement, demanding equal treatment. They argue that laws guaranteeing rights based on "sexual orientation" must be interpreted to include them.So far Minnesota is the only state to pass a law directly protecting cross-dressers from discrimination in employment and housing. But cities including San Francisco, Seattle, and Evanston (Ill.) have followed suit. Seventeen states allow transgendered people to change the sex on their birth certificates without having had a sex change operation (AFA Journal, 2/99).
[Editor] These transgendered cross-dressers got the "new birth" all wrong. Only God can make us into a "new creature". My birth certificate should read, "Andrew Neckar died in the fall of 1991 and ‘Saint Andrew’ was born on that date". My new birth certificate in heaven reads that I had a "transformational" operation by the Great Physician. Boy!, talk about a "makeover",. This man Jesus is GOOD. Spiritually, He changed me completely. Heart, soul, spirit, mind, conscience—EVERTHING. He even pasted my birth certificate in His Book of Life.. Even my physical characteristics have been changed to a great degree. My family doesn’t KNOW me anymore. Most of them don’t want to. They are still of this world and I am not. I am an alien to them. But PRAISE GOD, my wife and three children are aliens too.
********************************************AMERICA—THE LAND OF THE LOOSE AND HOME OF THE DEFIANT.
The homosexual-rights movement is poised to alter American culture radically--perhaps irrevocably. More than 300 pro-homosexual bills are moving through legislatures coast to coast. A February Gallup poll showed that 50 percent of Americans now believe homosexuality is acceptable. Just 34 percent felt that way in 1982. On March 21 Connecticut officially raised the rainbow flag above the capitol building, where it flew for a week. The event marked the first time the rainbow flag was officially recognized by a state government.
Newly elected California Governor Gray Davis has voiced his support for pro-homosexual measures that would, among other things, mandate instruction on tolerance of homosexuality in California's public schools. Both houses of the California legislature are now controlled by liberal Democrats, and seven pro-homosexual bills await committee debate. "As California goes, so goes the nation," it is said (World, 4/10/99).[Editor] Famous sayings:
Give me "Libertine" and give me "Death".Important Events in History.
President Clinton signs Emancipation Proclamation.
Sodomites cheer as nation is forced to acknowledge their lifestyle as "normal"As the PEOPLE go, so goes the NATION, led by the CHURCHES.
God has withdrew His blessing from America, and has left this nation in its depravity. Oh we are "well off" right now. The economy is good, people have more money, more leisure time, more debt, low interest rates. Hey--TIMES ARE GOOD. But how long will times stay this way?
Matt 24:37-38 But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark,
Oh, we have national leaders and religious leaders who speak of great expectations.
Jude 1:16 These are murmurers, complainers, walking after their own lusts; and their mouth speaketh great swelling words, having men's persons in admiration because of advantage.
2 Chr 30:7 And be not ye like your fathers, and like your brethren, which trespassed against the LORD God of their fathers, who therefore gave them up to desolation, as ye see.
Ps 81:12 So I gave them up unto their own hearts' lust: and they walked in their own counsels.
God has "given up" on America folks. ALL we can look for is Jesus’ coming. That’s the only good that’s gonna come out of this mess. Christians—WE’RE IN FOR IT.
**********************************************PROTESTANT CHURCHES PROTESTING GOD
Vivian Hickman Weaver, a "Christian astrologer" in Charlotte, North Carolina, has been sharing her message with members of a number of mainline churches in the Charlotte area. Weaver, a member of Myers Park Baptist Church, writes a "Stargazing" column in Creative Loafing. In addition to horoscopes, she also uses hypnotism, meditation/dream interpretation, and intuitive counseling in her work (Charlotte Christian News, 4/9/99).[Editor] Satan, the god of this world, is in charge of the religious institutions. We, the CHURCH, are in for it folks.
*******************************************CHANGING THE NAME OF SIN
The leading journal of the American Psychological Association has published an article maintaining that sex between children and adults is not harmful and, in fact, can be a positive experience for the child. The article, titled "A Meta-analytic Examination of Assumed Properties of Child Sexual Abuse," was published in a 1998 issue of the APA Psychological Bulletin.
The authors also said that psychologists should not be so judgmental. "Classifying a behavior as abuse simply because it is generally viewed as immoral or defined as illegal," they said, "is problematic." Instead of calling willing encounters "child abuse" or "molestation," the study suggests "value-neutral" terms, such as "adult-child sex" and "adult-adolescent sex" (World, 4/10/99).[Editor] Our children and grandchildren, yours and mine, are in for it folks. The Sodomites/homosexuals call themselves Gay. Now comes another name change, but sin is still sin by "whatever" name. They may change the name of their mode of transportation, but the destination is STLL Hell.
*************************************************NIGHTMARISH HELL
Marsha Stevens, the leading singer for the company Born Again Lesbian Music, tours the country full time with her partner. They do as many as 200 concerts a year, many at Metropolitan Community Churches.
Dr. Mark A. Powell, a professor in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, writes approvingly of Stevens in Christian Century (3/17/99). "Stevens is a nightmare for conservative Christians," the article says. "She is a Jesus-loving, Bible-believing, God-fearing lesbian Christian." Moreover, Powell says, "She's a conservative evangelical, strongly committed to the authority of scripture and passionate about having a personal relationship with Jesus."
Stevens was a leader in the early CCM movement and produced six albums before she broke up with her husband.[Editor] NO-she’s not MY nightmare. I expect this to happen. You see I am not asleep. I am standing watch and barking LOUD. (Isaiah 56:10). This woman, though, has a REAL nightmare ahead of her.
****************************************************PRAYER IN SCHOOL?-YOU BET!
Cleveland's Board of Education is violating the Constitution by opening its meeting with prayer, a federal appeals court ruled on March 18. The ruling reversed a 1996 decision that permitted the prayer because it was similar to opening a state legislative session with prayer. But the appeals court said prayers at school board meetings are more like prayers at graduation ceremonies, which federal courts have deemed unconstitutional (Christian Century, 4/7/99).[Editor] In 1996 I attended my son Richard’s Bachelor of Nursing gradation ceremony and earlier this month (May 1999) I attended my son Andrew JR’s gradation ceremony from the same college in Stephenville, TX and each time there was a prayer. BUT-each time it was a carnal generic prayer. The prayer was to God, that could be anybody’s god. The Muslim god or Buddhist god or whatever. The prayer NEVER mentioned the words Son, or Jesus, or Christ, or Savior, or Redeemer. It ended with …in "whose" name we pray.
So, don’t tell me there is "Christian" prayer in SOME schools.
**********************************************RIGOROUS RELIGIOUS CULT-URE
Liberal churches have been saying for years that they need to accommodate the secular world by offering a refined, intellectual, reasonable faith. But they "keep losing people to the even more reasonable pleasures of the newspaper, the golf course, and the warm bed," says sociology professor William J. Weston of Center College in Danville, Kentucky.
After completing new research on church growth, Weston reported in The Religious Market that strict churches are experiencing the greatest growth. He identifies a strict church as one that has a clear, authoritative doctrine, rigorous religious practices, and demanding membership requirements (Christianity Today, 4/5/99).[Editor] A "clear, authoritative doctrine, rigorous religious practices, and demanding membership requirements". Sounds like "cult" membership to me. Religious cults are growing I hear. Don’t sound like the faith once delivered to the saints to me. (Jude 1:3)
******************************************************THE PROGRESS OF ECUMENICISM SHOWN CLEARLY
There is a special relationship between Anglicans and Catholics in many parts of the world. This has been deepened and strengthened by the work of the two theological dialogue Commissions established by the Holy See and the Anglican Communion, ARCIC I and ARCIC II, as well as by the visits which several Archbishops of Canterbury have made to the Bishop of Rome, and by the visit which Pope John Paul II made to Canterbury in 1982.Unfortunately, progress towards a fuller communion between Anglicans and Catholics is being hampered by developments within Anglicanism. New attitudes to certain moral questions, but above all the decision of some Provinces of the Anglican Communion, including the Church of England, to ordain women to the priestly ministry have raised questions about the future of this dialogue.
The search continues, however, and ARCIC II continues its work. June 1994 saw the publication of a study document "Life in Christ: Morals, Communion and the Church", and the Commission is at present engaged in discussions on the vital question of Authority in the Church. It is quite clear that this is a matter which touches the heart of the problem as far as Catholics and Anglicans are concerned.
Discussions are taking place at the highest level with the hope that it may be possible to arrange in the future a meeting of representative leaders of the Catholic Church and the Anglican Communion in order to study together present difficulties and seek to establish future objectives and possibilities.
[Editor] Take note of the progress. An "Ecumenical News International" (ENI) report of 5/18/99, says that according to ARCIC document, an official Anglican-Roman Catholic commission has proposed that the world's Anglicans accept the papal authority of the "Bishop of Rome" even before the two beliefs achieve full union.
*******************************************CHAPEL DRUG ROOM
A chapel in Sydney Australia has ignited a national debate in that country. The chapel deals with heroin addiction by opening, on its premises, an injecting room for drug-users. The "Tolerance Room", which will operate for a month, was opened last week at the Wayside Chapel, or can I safely say "Wayward Chapel"?Supporters of legal injecting rooms claim that they provide a relatively safe place for heroin addicts, bringing them off the back-streets and making overdoses and the use of infected needles less likely. However, injecting rooms are illegal throughout Australia. (Excerpted from ENI-5/14/99)
[Editor] Isn’t it amazing how churches, chapels, or whatever, cater to the health of the "physical body"? That’s all the supposedly Christian Religion seems to want to do nowadays. The churches want to improve "living conditions". Good health, good jobs, good world economy, safe illicit sex and safe drug injections--well, I could go on, but I believe you get the picture.
Many of the churches are teaching people to live for today as if there will be no afterlife, and what can I say? Wish them luck--not hardly! I guess I can say I feel sorry for them. If life in this "world" is all they have to look forward to is not bad enough, then what about later. WE KNOW what’s gonna happen to them.
I guess I’ll pray some--not so much for the false churches and their religious wisdom that have heard the gospel, but for the sinners that are ignorant of Christ and His Gospel.
**************************************************
PRAY FOR PAY
(Excerpted and adapted from The Sunday Times, London England)Do you feel your relationship with the Almighty needs a little help? Are you worried that your busy schedule isn't leaving enough time for prayer?
Got some money? Then not to fear. PAY for PRAYER!
The Salesian Sisters, a religious order based in New Jersey is where you can procure a nun for hire. An annual donation ensures that a nun will pray for you every day. A minimum donation of $100 is suggested.
"We have people from all walks of life in the program who are lonely or need somebody to pray for them," said Director of Development, Sister Mary Rinaldi, "We don't really know people's motivations for joining the program. They don't really tell us."
Wealthy individuals have been endowing convents and monasteries in the hope that it may help them to climb the stairway to heaven since as early as the twelfth century, or before. The modern "you pay, we pray" approach to spiritual investment was suggested because we have more need for prayer than we have for dollars.
[Editor] Folks just won’t go for a scheme like this, you say? 1.4 million dollars have been raised so far. These NUNS have the power of prayer? Absolutely NONE. This is sheer NONEsense.
GET THIS—They don’t know people's motivations for joining the program. (paying for prayer). Maybe some are paying for prayer that they may be blessed in their next rape adventure. Maybe they are caught and sent to prison and then pay for prayer that the nuns just go to hell. Could be. Beware, if you don’t know what you are praying for. Besides, God only hears the prayers of His children. AMEN?
**************************************************"Cool Bible" Salvation or "Hot Seat"?
It was quite a holy alliance: gospel singers, tap dancers and Pat Robertson introducing a ``cooler'' Bible. In what is being billed as ``the largest Bible-reading campaign in the history of America,'' the television preacher hit the stage Wednesday at Grand Central Terminal. ``We want to make Bible reading cool in America,'' said Robertson, introduced by actress Lynn Whitfield as strobe lights flashed across the ceiling of the station's Vanderbilt Hall. TV ads for ``The Book'' _ in both a hip-hop and a country-western version _ feature Smokey Robinson, MC Hammer, Chaka Khan, Andrae and Sandra Crouch, Charlie Daniels and Naomi Judd. The ad campaign is costing $7 million. ``The Book'' is published and promoted by the Christian Broadcasting Network and Tindale House Publishers Inc., which hopes to sell 1 million copies by Christmas. (AP 03/31/99)Editor-There is still "Christian" folks in this community that support Pat Robertson and his "satanic coalition". This is sad, folks. I pray that God open their eyes to the TRUTH. I speak the truth here in Hico, and folks here think I’m a weirdo.
If "you" support Pat Robertson "in any way", may the Lord have mercy on you, as you are willingly supporting the enemies of God
Worldliness Makes for Spiritual Mess
*********************************************
Group, a magazine for Christian youth, has joined with Hard Rock Cafe to open a new, state-of-the-art Hard Rock Live venue for Christian concerts. The Newsboys and Petra will kick off the first concerts at the Orlando center. The magazine acknowledged that "if past experience holds true, a vocal minority in the youth ministry will be positively peeved about our relationship with a decidedly secular restaurant/bar chain."But Group (3-4/99) defends its actions: "One of our guiding passions is to act on Jesus' challenge to be 'in the world but not of it.' . . . Jesus never modeled or advocated distance in ministry. In fact, he so closely attached himself to 'worldly' people and environments that some claimed he was 'of the world' himself. By those standards, most youth ministries could use a little more worldliness."
[Editor] The spiritually blind are leading the world’s youth to destruction. This "joint venture" with Hard Rock Café is just what it says it is. JOINING IN WITH THE WORLD. Isn’t it ironic that people go to hell in "groups"?
Matt 7:13-14 Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many (groups) there be which go in thereat: Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.
You see what these people do: -they try and blame their actions on Jesus. Most youth ministries have so much worldliness in them now, no other ‘ness can be seen.
*************************************************Spiritual Junk Food Fed In Churches
"Spiritual Junk Food", written by Cathy Mickels and Audrey McKeever, shows how the very ideas and methods many Christians have been battling in the public schools--from values clarification to touchy-feely exercises that replace academic content--have found a home in some evangelical Sunday schools and youth groups.The book cites many examples. A lesson from "Group" magazine, designed to help Christian young people "think green," suggests that they be blindfolded and literally hug a tree (afterwards discussing how that made them feel). Zig Ziglar's "The Gospel According to St. Bernard", billed as "one of the most comprehensive theological and practical Christian courses available to the churches," is a series of videos about Bernie, a St. Bernard who is really an angel. Bernie loves children, receives their love, and reveals God to them. In effect, the dog replaces Jesus. Most of the book is devoted to youth ministry programs that imitate the "encounter groups" of humanistic psychology (World, 1/30/99).
[Editor] Spiritual junk food clogs spiritual arteries in Christians and may lead to premature physical death. Magazines like "Group" strive to block entrance to heaven in Sunday schools, and lead the "lost" in those classes to eternal damnation. Is "your" church Sunday school safe?
******************************************************UMC "Book of Discipline" Vs. "Christian Bible"
A complaint filed against an Iowa UMC pastor earlier this year for participating in a "holy union" service for two women in Sacramento, Calif., has been dismissed by his bishop. The Rev. David Holmes of Council Bluffs was named in a complaint filed Jan. 21 with Bishop Charles W. Jordan (Iowa Area) for violating the denomination's prohibition against homosexual unions. The complaint said Mr. Holmes' participation in the Sacramento service transgressed "Paragraph 65C of the 1996 United Methodist Book of Discipline." Bishop Jordan said that Mr. Holmes' participation in the union service on Jan. 16 "consisted of being in the wedding march and sharing in a prayer with nearly 100 others. He did not conduct nor did he have a leadership role in any part of the service. His presence was one of witness and togetherness." (Reported by the United Methodist Reporter 5/5/99)[Editor] When matters are brought before the CHURCH in Christian church discipline, we are to lay the charge to transgressing for instance, Matthew 19: 5-6. Of God’s Word in the Holy Bible.
The UMC presently honors a book of the year 1996, and next year it will be the year 2000 book. We Christians honor the Holy Bible, which goes back to the beginning of time. How many times has the UMC Book of Discipline been changed/modified? THIS is the book the UMC church uses to hold leaders and members accountable.
BUT-the Christian Book holds true.
Matt 24:35 Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.
The Christian Guide Book is God’s Word, The Holy Bible, The Scriptures.
Why is "OUR BOOK" unchanging? Because the "Author" never changes.
Heb 13:8 Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and forever’
By the way, Jesus Christ is God.
Our God, the God of the Bible-the Father of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ ordained marriage between one MAN and one WOMAN to replenish the earth. (Gen 1:27-28) Matt 19:6 tells us that what God has joined together let no man put asunder. The same can be said of what God has ordained.
***********************************************************UMC (United Methodist Church)--SOS (Synagogue of Satan)
Good News, an evangelical renewal movement within the United Methodist Church, is complimenting both the guilty verdict and the penalty in the March 25-26 church trial of Chicago pastor Greg Dell.By a 10-3 vote at the trial in Downers Grove, Ill., Dell was found guilty of disobeying the "order and discipline of the United Methodist Church" by performing a union ceremony for two men at Broadway United Methodist Church. The trial court suspended Dell, effective July 5, until he promises not to conduct same-sex ceremonies or until the "denomination's policy changes".
Good News said in a 3/30/99 statement that "It is clear that the church does not set policy related to important matters of church discipline by resorting to ministerial disobedience…. " This is done at the general conferences held every four years. If the church's Book of Discipline had not been upheld, the group said, "we would have had nothing binding (to restrict) the covenant (agreement) community (fellowship) together." (reported by UMC news service 4/2/99)
[Editor] This Greg Dell is being punished for disobeying a "man made resolution", not for disobeying the Almighty God. The UMC is held to honor the churches "Book of Discipline," NOT "God’s Word in the Holy Bible". You see, it is these "general conventions" where UMC members VOTE to establish the Book of Discipline, which is their guide to daily living. This Book of Discipline is their remake of the Christian Holy Spirit. Why, without the UMC Book of Discipline the "covenant community" (UMC church) would have no leadership. There would be "nothing" and "no one" to guide them.
This concludes my comments on the SOS (synagogue of Satan) church. You see, Satan changes his tactics all the time, and this suspension of Dell is based on two conditions. Until he promises not to do this anymore (forget about repenting-a promise will do) OR until the DENOMINATION’S POLICY "CHANGES". This "United Methodist Policy" is the god of that synagogue of Satan
Here Christ is speaking to Christian churches that have kept His Word, and NOT some book of discipline.
Rev 2:9 I know thy works, and tribulation, and poverty, (but thou art rich) and I know the blasphemy of them which say they are Jews, (Christians) and are not, but are the synagogue of Satan.
***************************************************SBC Facts
More than 80 percent of the nearly 5,000 Baptist churches in Texas purchased Bible-based literature during the winter quarter from LifeWay Christian Resources of the Southern Baptist Convention, LifeWay told Baptist Press.Lifeway Facts
LifeWay said, "If your kids aren't interested in reading the KJV, NIV, RSV or even the Good News translations of the Bible, perhaps you could tempt them to indulge in a cartoon interpretation".Broadman & Holman Publishers has released a Bible designed in comic strip format to entice teenagers -- ages 14 and up -- to partake in God's Word. B&H, the trade book division of LifeWay Christian Resources, purchased the rights from a British publishing firm, Lion, to sell the Graphic Bible in North America and Canada.
"This is a Bible for kids who are losing interest in Sunday school or who have never set foot in a church," said Dee Ann Grand, manager for B&H children's products. "It's a Bible that will appeal to kids who are comic book lovers or who like to read graphic novels." ( excerpts from Baptist Press 3/17/99)
[Editor] Another reason why I am happy that God called me out of the SBC early on.
*************************************************DIALOGUE or LEAVEN?
Churches can experience more understanding and less controversy through dialogue, according to a Baptist pastor and author of a recent book.While dialogue may not always resolve conflict, it can help people on both sides to better appreciate opposing views and enable them to manage their differences, Joe Phelps, author of "More Light, Less Heat," said at a board meeting of the Baptist Center for Ethics.
Ethics leaders from three state Baptist conventions and Cooperative Baptist Fellowship coordinators from three states joined BCE directors at the March 8-9 meeting at Woodmont Baptist Church in Nashville, Tenn.
Phelps defined dialogue as "an ongoing conversation between Christians of differing convictions who recognize the human limitations in the positions they hold and who believe that God can use the disagreements to teach and grow the church." (excerpts from Associated Baptist Press 3/11/99)
[Editor] "Dialogue" between people of different religious convictions (beliefs) is "leaven" in disguise. The leaven of error will leaven the whole lump of truth. Another reason I "got out" of the SBC when the getting was good.
*****************************************************SUNDAY SCHOOL TEACHERS OR NARRATORS?
Smyth and Helwys Publishing has announced the launch of NextSunday.com, which the company claims is the first online source dedicated exclusively to digital resources for worship and Christian education."Because of the cost savings for churches, and the wider variety of materials we will be able to offer, we believe NextSunday.com represents the future of resource publishing," said David Cassidy, project director.
The site was expected to offer 30 resources at launch, mostly in the teaching area, and add products each week, surpassing 200 by the end of 1999, according to a news release.
A sample study of five lessons on Jesus in Galilee costs $11, according to the Web site, compared to an estimated $24 price tag for the same material produced in the traditional way.(excerpted from Associated Baptist Press)[Editor] Why does a "Bible teacher" need "someone else" to make up the lesson the teacher-or should I say narrator- will teach/narrate? You know the Holy Spirit of God raises up teachers in HIS churches. These purchasers of "Bible Lessons" have no gift and do not belong in a classroom except as that of "student".
You know what my Bible Study lessons cost? MY TIME AND EFFORT.
***********************************************WAKE FOREST APOSTATE BAPTIST CHURCH
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. (AP) -- A Baptist congregation has decided to sever ties with the Southern Baptist Convention after years of unhappiness over the denomination's increasingly conservative policies. Members of Wake Forest Baptist Church voted in January to end its affiliation with the convention, but the congregation didn't make the vote public until Tuesday due to recent publicity over its endorsement of same-sex ceremonies.``We wanted the community to know where we stand,'' said the Rev. Richard Groves, the pastor of the congregation that meets on the Wake Forest University campus but is independent of the school. Only one member voted against the split when about 100 of the 325-member congregation voted, Groves said.
In a letter sent to the convention, the congregation leaders said they were unhappy over the church's stand on women in ministry, targeting Jews and Mormons for evangelism, a literal interpretation of the Bible and isolation of congregations that reach out to gays and lesbians. A resolution by the convention last summer calling in part for wives to ``submit graciously'' to their husbands sparked the formal break for Wake Forest Baptist. (Associated Press 3/17/99)
[Editor] The Wake Forest Church of Satan welcomes the World. You see what I speak of folks. The goats in the churches outnumber the sheep. The children of the devil are running most churches and the children of God in most cases don’t have enough sense to GET OUT.