September 1997 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 September 1997 [Andy Neckar PO Box J, Hico, TX 76457]
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------1. "Secular Righteous" Must Picket "Christian Congregations" to Protest Immorality.
2. Secular Rock Concert & A Few Religious Commercials.
3. Culturally Relevant Churches.
4. A Sensitive Issue: Christian Religion versus Traditional Religion.
5. United Methodist Minister Holds "Covenanting Ceremony" For Homosexuals
6. Update Note to # 5 Above
7. Prostitutes To Play By The Rules.
8. In Holland, Has "A Right to Die" Become "A Duty to Die"?
9. Is a "Duty To Die" Coming to America?
10. UMC Studying "Right To Die".
11. SBC Boycott Works Wonders?
12. More Boycotting
13. And Even More
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------"Secular Righteous" Must Picket "Christian Congregations" to Protest Immorality.
NATIONAL NEWS SHORTS 8-29-97 LINCOLN, Neb. -- A Presbyterian church that hoped to silence pro-life demonstrators has been rebuffed by city officials in Lincoln, Nebraska, who say the picketing is legal. The Rev. Bill Yeager, pastor of Westminster Presbyterian Church, says his church has been targeted for pickets by Rescue the Heartland of Omaha because abortionist Dr.Winston Crabb is a deacon and elder. Yeager asked the city to stop the picketing, but City Attorney Bill Austin said the picketing is clearly protected political speech. (IBNS 8/29/97)
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---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Secular Rock Concert & A Few Religious Commercials.
ANAHEIM, Calif. -- A four-night Southern California Harvest Crusade at Anaheim Stadium drew 142,000 people of all ages, bringing the eight-year total for Orange County Harvest Crusades to over 1million. The Aug. 15 "Harvest Jam" drew 52,000 to hear rockers Audio Adrenaline, Big Tent Revival, and the Kry, followed by an evangelistic message from Greg Laurie, who has been called "pastor to the boomers, busters and X-ers," Using lyrics from murdered rap star Tupac Shakur, Laurie illustrated the hopelessness that pervades modern culture." Shakur, who has become a hero to many, sang, 'I smoke a blunt to check the pain out. If I wasn't high, I would probably blow my brains out. I'm hopeless.'" Laurie said that Shakur was "trying to find fulfillment in all the wrong places.... Come to the God you've perhaps always known is there." Over the four-night event, some 13,500 indicated that they had made decisions to follow Jesus Christ.
[Editor] Something is very wrong here. Preach the gospel of Christ to people and a SMALL remnant may come to believe if God truly blesses the message. Tell "real" soul winners they can expect 10% of the people they witness the gospel of Christ to believe and make a public decision. I believe you will get from them the same response you get from me. NO WAY!!!
Let me tell you what is going on here. You have a secular hard rock concert performed for the public with a few "religious commercials" thrown in. Guess who is paying for these commercials?. Most likely deceived believers (true believers deceived, and lost people deceived into thinking they are saved) who support the Southern California Harvest Crusade.
Sure—the kids will come to a god that will entertain them in a worldly fashion. They will come to ANYONE who will give them "what they want".
THINK ABOUT IT.
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-------------------------------------------------------------------------------NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- The church must work to be culturally relevant in an American society where 120 million people are "functionally secular" and have no substantial experience with the Christian faith, theologian George G. Hunter told church leaders at the United Methodist Church's Vision 2000 learning and leadership event in late August. Hunter, who is dean at Asbury Theological Seminary, said, "cultural relevance is one way we extend incarnational Christianity. We want to plant and grow indigenous Christianity. "Hunter said that American Protestantism seems to be stuck in the1950s. "All our worship services are contemporary," he said, "but most are contemporary to some other generation." (IBNS 9/5/97)
[Editor] All our worship services should be contemporary to the Apostle Paul’s day. The Holy Spirit had him set up the order of worship and government in the local church for all time. If God was ever to change He would no longer be the God of the Bible, and as the local church changes it evolves farther from the New Testament church. It is the New Testament church that Christ founded. Any other church is founded by man and is separated from God.
The church does not need to change. It needs to preach the TRUE gospel of Christ and the "functionally secular" people who are ordained to eternal life will believe and be changed. (Acts 13:48)
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A Sensitive Issue: Christian Religion versus Traditional Religion.
A sensitive issue discussed at a major conference on mission and evangelism organized by the WCC last year in the Brazilian city of Salvador was the relationship between the Christian religion and traditional or indigenous religions. Salvador, which is unusual among Brazil's major cities in that most of its population is black, is also home to an Afro-Brazilian religion, Candombl, which has many followers in the region. The city was the country's main port for the slave trade and Candombl arose from the religious life of the slaves from West Africa who adapted elements of the Roman Catholic tradition. Jorge Luiz F. Domingues of Brazil, one of the participants at the Salvador conference, told the Central Committee in Geneva that for centuries Candombl had to be practiced in secrecy and that even today the relationship of the Christian churches to this religion was not free of tension. (An excerpt from Worldwide Faith News. 9/25/97)
[Editor] Should there not be tension between Christ and the world? Should not paganism vex the righteous souls of those who believe the gospel of Christ? You know, true Christianity once was forced to be practiced in secret. That day is coming again—soon.
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-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------United Methodist Minister Holds "Covenanting Ceremony" For Homosexuals
The senior pastor of one of the largest churches OMAHA, Neb. has announced he is planning to conduct a covenanting ceremony in the church for two lesbian members during the week of Sept. 14.
"I am doing this as part of my understanding of the Church, of Jesus, and what all people need to do," said the Rev. Jimmy Creech, pastor of First United Methodist Church at 7020 Cass Street here. "I cannot imagine as a pastor saying 'no' to two people who say they want to make a commitment to each other in the context of their faith."
Addressing what it means to be the church, he said, "For me, gay or lesbian people who are saying, 'we have a right to be here,' are challenging us to a broader and deeper understanding of what it means to be the church ... the body of Jesus Christ in ministry to all people."
Part of the church's movement, he said, was his approval by the Staff-Parish Relations Committee, who knew he was an activist for gay and lesbian rights in his home state of North Carolina. His district superintendent agrees.
Creech was active in gay men and lesbian rights as pastor of the 1,000-member Fairmont United Methodist Church in Raleigh, N.C., for the three years he served there. In 1990 the church's Staff Parish Relations Committee asked that he not be reappointed because of the loss of financial commitment to the church due to his public activities.
[Editor] Please—before you comment on the fact that the Staff Parish Relations Committee asked that he not be reappointed, note the "reason " for the request. Because of the LOSS OF FINANCIAL COMMITMENT TO THE CHURCH. In other words, MONEY.
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------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------U P D A T E NOTE: This is an update for UMNS story 504{316), which told of an upcoming covenanting ceremony for two women at First United Methodist Church in Omaha. The service of union occurred Sunday, Sept. 14 at 2 p.m. The Rev. Jimmy Creech, pastor of the church who participated in the ceremony, said, "It was a very simple and very meaningful service attended by 30 to 50 family members and friends. It was a very intimate and worshipful experience." (Worldwide Faith News 9/16/97
[Editor] I cannot help but comment on these articles. I "know" what is happening in the churches today, but I cannot get used to it. This abominable act was "not" worshipful to "my" God. Then again, my God is the God of the Bible. He is the Father of my Savior Jesus Christ. "My God" does not appear as an "angel of light".
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--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Prostitutes To Play By The Rules.
Female prostitutes in the sleazy market area of downtown Mexico City Tuesday won a long-sought right to ply their trade in exchange for agreeing to wear sensible clothes and behave nicely. In an unprecedented accord signed with city authorities, they agreed not to wear skirts more than four fingers above the knee, or see-through clothing before 10 p.m. Other concessions: No soliciting near schools and churches, strict hours of business, no drinking on the street or bad language and only women allowed. In exchange, city officials agreed that the prostitutes could work on designated streets.
(InfoBeat News Service 9/4/97)[Editor] Makes one think about what ecumenism will eventually bring about. How about that? Moral-Law Abiding Prostitutes?. Will God be well pleased? We can already see some of the results of the "social gospel". The world is doing away with sinners. Not by regeneration of the heart of all who believe the "gospel of Christ", but by legalizing and condoning what God calls sin. Folks, as sin (by God’s standards) is replaced by morality, (by the world’s standards) hell will be just as full. Remember, morality outside of Christ (Eph 2: 12-13) is as filthy rags in God’s eyes.(Isa 64:6)
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-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------In Holland, Has "A Right to Die" Become "A Duty to Die"?
According to a special report published in the Sept.’97 issue of "Readers Digest", Dr. Herbert Hendin, medical director of the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention who has studied euthanasia in the Netherlands notes that "what was intended as a solution for exceptional cases has become a routine way of dealing with terminal cases. The Netherlands has moved from euthanasia for the terminally ill, to euthanasia for the chronically ill, from euthanasia for physical illness to euthanasia for psychological distress, and from voluntary to involuntary euthanasia."
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------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Is a "Duty To Die" Coming to America?
"Is There a Duty to Die?" is the title of a shocking article in "The Hastings Center Report" (3 -4/97), a respected journal focusing on medical ethics. In the article, John Hardwig, a professor of medical ethics and social philosophy at East Tennessee State University, questions traditional beliefs: "Modern medicine and an individualistic culture have seduced many into believing that they have a light to health care and a right to live--despite the burdens and costs to our families and societies.
Hardwig not only believes that euthanasia may be a duty for the terminally ill, but also, he writes, "there may be a fairly common responsibility to end one's life in the absence of any terminal illness at all." He believes the duty to die should be easier to accept as we grow older because "we will be giving up less. . . . We will sacrifice fewer remaining years of life"
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Death with dignity. A right to die. Supreme Court hearings on physician-assisted suicide. Amid the slogans and headlines, conversations about dying are springing up throughout the United States.
"I think the discussion is healthy," said Sally Brown Geis, a sociologist recently retired from the faculty at Iliff School of Theology, Denver, one of 13 United Methodist seminaries in the country.
The United Methodist laywoman commented that she does not want to see a rush to closure on this issue. She expressed the hope for more discussion and avoidance of a rigid rule.
"We need the very best and most thoughtful minds -- and hearts -- we can bring to this subject," Geis said. "The church needs to speak, or it [the issue] is going to be settled by the secular society,"
{Editor] Church or secular society? A point to ponder. It seems to me that the U.S. Congress is taking a stronger stance against the legitimacy of homosexuality that are many of the organized churches. So-why trust the organized church in "this" decision? I believe the organized churches, collectively, are leading the world into apostasy. I believe we have more to fear from the organized churches than we do from the government. In time THE CHURCHES WILL RULE THIS WORLD.]
Geis and the Rev. Donald E. Messer, Iliff president and theology professor, are co-editors of How Shall We Die? Helping Christians Debate Suicide, a collection of essays dealing with specific cases. Geis said the book, to be published by Abingdon in April, is an attempt to stimulate a gentle, rational dialogue about suicide -- a topic both she and Messer feel could polarize the Christian community.
"It hits individual human families where they live," she observed.
According to Geis, Christians need to understand several facts:
* People are being kept alive who do not want to be.
* Public spending on medical care for the elderly is 15 times greater than expenditures of public funds on medical care for children, although a greater proportion of children in this country are poor. (United Methodist News Service, Jan. 13, 1997) [underlining is mine]Top of Page
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------SBC Boycott Works Wonders?
Soon after being boycotted by the Southern Baptists, Disney Co.-owned ABC TV is about to release a new prime time drama on the life and times of a confused Catholic priest. With the premiere episode to air September 25th, "Nothing Sacred" takes religion to the liberal woodshed and ridicules Christianity like no other prime time drama has ever done.Appropriately entitled, the show follows the struggles of an irreverent priest named Father Ray as he tries to lead his small parish. Few Catholics, however, could be happy with this priest. He's profane. He not only questions the existence of God stating, "I don't even know if God exists", but says he might be a better priest "if I didn't hate God so much." He calls his occupation "a h_ _ _ of a job" and says that "God had better show his face around here pretty d_ _ _ soon."
His staff has an atheist business manager and a feminist nun. During a staff meeting she pushes for God to be referred to as 'Mother.' "I thought we had agreed to get rid of the sexist language for God. I'm so tired of having God called 'Father.'"
Other controversy in the pilot episode surrounds abortion. Father Ray refuses to counsel against it when a woman comes into the confessional and says she is going to have an abortion. "The church says that I'll go to hell if I have one. What should I do, father?" she asks desperately.
"You're an adult, with your own conscience. I can't tell you what to do. I can only tell you what the church teaches," he responds. "[Or] If you want, what I think." ( 9/5/97 American FamilyAssociation)
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---------------------------------------------------------------------TUPELO, MS -- American Family Association (AFA) is endorsing a nationwide boycott of the Minneapolis-based Best Buy Company because of its sponsorship of the "Ozzfest" tour which features hate-rock group Marilyn Manson. Best Buy is a nationwide retailer of music, appliances and electronics.
"It's deplorable that a business run by adults would want to promote to our children this band's message of hate, suicide and drug use, simply to sell more CD's," said Tim Wildmon, vice-president of AFA.
The group's stage antics regularly include spitting on the audience, using the American flag as toilet paper and constantly shouting vulgarities. Marilyn Manson, also the name of the band's leader, has said he wants to put an end to Christianity through his music. The band's music has been tied to at least two teen suicides.
( 9/5/97 American Family Association)Top of Page
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------And Even More
Concerned Women of America Boycotts the "Tragic Kingdom"
Disney Dismisses Pro-Family Groups at Morning Meeting
(9/5/97 American Family Association)[Editor] Christians want and work for a moral society. They even give "changing the world" priority over the "mission" of the church. The "moral lost" want and work for a better world. Christians unite and compromise their differences with the "moral lost" to band together (there is influence in numbers in today’s world)) to farther the "social gospel of the world". The majority will rule the world until Christ comes again. Then He will rule with a rod of iron. He’s going to need it too. Mankind is stiff necked and head strong. (Acts 7:51)
What good has the boycotting accomplished so far? A Christian would have to boycott the world because the world is a sinful place. Compromise (friendship) with the world is enmity before God. (James 4:4) I can understand the "moral lost" boycotting the world because they are of the world. This world is the "best home" they will ever inhabit unless they come to believe the "gospel of Christ". (Rom 1:16)
1 Cor 5:9 I wrote unto you in an epistle not to company with fornicators: (KJV)
1 Cor 5:10 Yet not altogether with the fornicators of this world, or with the covetous, or extortioners, or with idolaters; for then must ye needs go out of the world. (KJV)
In conclusion, I say: Do Christians need an Association or Convention to make their decisions for them? Or can the "moral lost" guide the "True Believer" in their "Christian Walk"? If something burns you, do you protest the source of heat or remove yourself from the source, or remove the source (TV ect.) from you and yours?