FASHION REBEL DIES (Friday Church News Notes, May 18, 2012, www.wayoflife.org, fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - Vidal Sassoon, one of the kings of the fashion industry, died on May 9 at age 84. He was “a beauty pioneer akin to fashion rebels like Mary Quant [inventor of the mini skirt] ... putting women in sleek, wash-and-go wedges, bobs and other less-is-more crops” (“Vidal Sassoon,” USA Today, May 10, 2012). In 1993 Sasson told the Los Angeles Times, “Women were going back to work; they were assuming their own power. They didn’t have time to sit under the dryer anymore.” One of the movers and shakers of the cultural revolution of the 1960s, Sasson said that though the Beatles were changing the world, “you can’t wear music, but you can wear your hair different.” Fashion is not a morally innocent thing. It is a language, and God’s people must not conform themselves to the course of this wicked world (Romans 12:2). Three of the major fundamentals of the modern fashion industry are pride, sensuality (achieved particularly through skimpy and tight clothing), and unisexuality, all of which are condemned in 1 John 2:15-16 as part of the world that lies under God’s righteous judgment. As we have documented in the book Dressing for the Lord, many of the fashion kings are homosexuals, and there has been a brash attempt to break down the separation between the sexes, which is open rebellion to the Creator, who “made them male and female.” The apostle Paul taught that the distinction between the sexes is to be reflected even in the matter of hair length, with long hair being the woman’s glory, signifying her submission to authority, but with long hair on the man being shameful (1 Cor. 11:14-15). This is why I cut my hair in 1973 after I was converted from a “hippie” lifestyle, and I have always considered it hypocritical and inconsistent for churches to allow short-haired women to sing in the choir and teach Sunday School classes, when they would not allow a long-haired man to do the same. Vidal Sassoon’s influence extends even to Bible-believing churches.

Many Southern Baptists love The Shack, which is irrefutable evidence of the deep spiritual apostasy that exists in that Convention. I received the following frightful testimony from a pastor who came out of the Convention in 1996:

“Concerning the question about ‘The Shack,’ I have been shocked at the willingness of many of my former SBC friends and acquaintances to receive it as a ‘great’ book. As you know, and have taught, the book presents a picture of ‘God’ that is not biblical. The ready acceptance of this book by the vast majority of those I know, is indicative of a serious lack of discernment. It seems that spiritual discernment is a rapidly dissipating quality today. I have questioned several folk on their acceptance of ‘The Shack’ and its false teaching. Their response has been, ‘But it teaches a good truth about how God loves us.’ This is characteristic of the modern church-growth movement that focuses solely on the ‘love of God,’ and relegates His holiness, righteousness and judgments to the ‘unimportant’” (Marty Wynn, Lighthouse Baptist Church, Columbus, Georgia, e-mail to D. Cloud, May 21, 2011).

The New Testament everywhere teaches that salvation will be accompanied by evidence.

1. Consider some of the Scriptures that teach that salvation is accompanied by evidence:

Consider 1 John 2:3-4.

Consider 2 Corinthians 5:17.

Consider Titus 1:16, where Paul warned about those who profess Christ but deny Him by their works.

Consider 2 Timothy 2:19, where we see that the seal of salvation is the two-fold truth that God knows those who are His and that the true believer will demonstrate his salvation by departing from iniquity. To depart from iniquity is not the way of salvation; it is the evidence of salvation.

Consider Ephesians 2:8-10. Though salvation is “without works” in that it is God’s free gift through Christ, it is “unto good works” (Eph. 2:8-10). The good works are God’s works showing themselves in the individual’s life. The good works are the evidence.

Consider John 3:3, which teaches that salvation is a supernatural birth that changes the individual’s life.

Consider the conversions described in the Gospels under Christ’s earthly ministry. In every case the individual’s life was dramatically changed: e.g., the woman at the well (John 4), Zacchaeus (Luke 19:1-10).

Consider the conversions described in the book of Acts. Again, in every case the individual’s life was dramatically changed: e.g., those who were saved on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2:41-42), the Ethiopian eunuch (Acts 8:26-39), Paul (Acts 9:1-21), Lydia (Acts 16:14-15), the Philippian jailor (Acts 16:27-35).

Consider the believers at Thessalonica who modeled genuine salvation (1 Thessalonians 1:9-10).

The fact is that God has zero culpability in this. He has given light and those who respond to the light receive more light.

The Bible says that God gives light to every man (John 1:9).

In the epistle to the church at Rome, Paul explained that God has given three types of light to mankind. (1) He has given the light of creation that we might know that there is a wise and powerful God (Romans 1:20). (2) He has given the light of conscience that we can know that there is a moral God (Romans 2:14-16). (3) He has given the light of prophecy and Scripture that we might know who this God is and might have a personal relationship with Him (Romans 3:1-2).

God has raised up prophets to the nations from the time of Abel to the present. “God has spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began” (Acts 3:21), but God’s messengers have been ignored, ridiculed, persecuted, killed far more often than they have been honored and believed.

In the days of Solomon the kings of the earth heard the prophetic wisdom God had given him (1 Kings 4:34).

Jesus commanded His disciples to carry the gospel to every nation, and even by the end of the first century it was already preached in the Middle East, Asia, Africa, and Europe.

The whole Bible has been translated into every major language and portions thereof into more than 2,000 other languages.

The nations have heard, but they have not listened.

The nations will be condemned by the likes of the Ethiopian eunuch, the treasurer of that nation, who obtained a copy of the prophet Isaiah and sought Philip’s assistance in understanding it (Acts 8:26-39). When a man sincerely tries to comprehend the light he has, God will send him a Philip. God requires that men seek after Him, and promises to be found of those who do (Acts 17:26-27; Jeremiah 29:13; Luke 11:9; Hebrews 11:6).

It is not God’s fault that most people sit in darkness today.

Jesus said that men are condemned already by rejecting the light that they have (John 3:18-20).

“The foolishness of man perverteth his way: and his heart fretteth against the LORD” (Proverbs 19:3).

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VOLUME 13 ISSUE 19
GRAPHICAL PDF VERSION.

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

ANDY STANLEY’S HERESY ON GRACE AND HOMOSEXUALITY (Friday Church News Notes, May 11, 2012, www.wayoflife.org, fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - In a sermon entitled “When Gracie Met Truthy,” the seventh in an eight-part series on what it means to be a “Christian,” preached on April 15, 2012, Southern Baptist mega-church pastor Andy Stanley proclaimed heresies pertaining to grace and homosexuality. He described a couple in his church who divorced when the wife discovered that her husband was in a sexual relationship with another man. Instead of disciplining the man, the church allowed the homosexual couple to move to another “campus” of North Point Church and work together as a “host” team. They were allowed to do this until it was discovered that one of the men was still married and therefore was “living in adultery” (Al Mohler, “Is the Megachurch the New Liberalism?” May 1, 2012). The homosexuality was apparently never an issue. Stanley told of how the wife showed “forgiveness” by bringing all of the parties to a Christmas service (her and her daughter, the former husband and his homosexual partner and that man’s daughter). But proper forgiveness as defined scripturally requires repentance (Luke 17:3). Stanley is promoting the psycho-heresy of “unconditional forgiveness,” which is blind emotional mysticism. (See The God of End-time Mysticism, a free eBook available from Way of Life, www.wayoflife.org.)