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ECUMENICAL UNITY FURTHERED BY POLITICAL ACTIVITY. Friday Church News Notes, November 12, 2004 (David W. Cloud, Fundamental Baptist Information Service, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061, fbns@wayoflife.org, http://www.wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - Ecumenical unity was one of the winners in the recent spat of political activity leading up to the U.S. presidential election. Rod Parsley, radical word-faith pastor of World Harvest Church in Columbus, Ohio, observed: “This issue [homosexual marriage] has torn down a lot of walls that have separated Christians. We’ve come together in great unity” (“Pro-family Groups Laud Landslide Victory for Traditional Marriage,” CharismaNow, Nov. 4). Indeed, Roman Catholics, Protestants, Baptists, Seventh-day Adventists and others joined hands across the country with the objective of winning elections. While it is not wrong for believers to participate in the political process, the Scripture forbids ecumenical unity across denominational and therefore doctrinal lines (Rom. 16:17). Someone will doubtless protest, “Brother Cloud, are you in favor of homosexual marriage or abortion?” The answer is, of course, I am not. But what can God’s people possibly gain if they disobey the Bible in order to further a political-social agenda? It is a near-sighted endeavor. Without God’s blessing, everything gained today through politics can be taken away tomorrow by the liberal courts or by some other means. The root of America’s social and judicial ills is apostasy, heresy, and worldliness in the churches. What America needs is a revival of obedience among those who name the name of Christ. Such a revival would do far more for the nation than all of the political activity combined. Rod Parsley, with his word-faith heresies and his ecumenical ventures, is more on the side of America’s problem than its solution. Further, the Great Commission that Christ has given the churches is not political-social activity.

NCC LEADER SAYS FEAR NOT PART OF THE GOSPEL. Friday Church News Notes, November 12, 2004 (David W. Cloud, Fundamental Baptist Information Service, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061, fbns@wayoflife.org, http://www.wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - Eileen Lindner, deputy general secretary of the National Council of Churches USA, says it is wrong to warn about hell when preaching the gospel. She says, “Education doesn’t take its best root through fear and intimidation. That’s ... incompatible with the Gospel’s lesson of love” (Washington Post, Oct. 30). In fact, fear of the consequences of sin is a large part of the Gospel. When Paul presented the gospel in the book of Romans, he spent almost three chapters describing man’s sin and God’s wrath before he even mentioned the gift of justification through Christ’s blood. Jesus often preached on hell and warned men about going there. “And if thy hand offend thee, cut it off: it is better for thee to enter into life maimed, than having two hands to go into hell, into the fire that never shall be quenched: Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched. And if thy foot offend thee, cut it off: it is better for thee to enter halt into life, than having two feet to be cast into hell, into the fire that never shall be quenched: Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched. And if thine eye offend thee, pluck it out: it is better for thee to enter into the kingdom of God with one eye, than having two eyes to be cast into hell fire: Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched” (Mark 9:43-48). The National Council of Churches is apostate. The same is true for church councils worldwide.

ASTROLOGERS GOT THE U.S. PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION WRONG. Friday Church News Notes, November 12, 2004 (David W. Cloud, Fundamental Baptist Information Service, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061, fbns@wayoflife.org, http://www.wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - India’s most renowned astrologers were wrong in their predictions that Democratic candidate John Kerry would win the U.S. presidential election. A few days before the election, various predictions were published in an article entitled “Stars shine on Kerry” by Uttara Choudhury (Oct. 29, Agence France-Presse). Lachhman Das Madan, head of the Astrology Study and Research Institute, said, “...cosmic writ reveals Bush cannot become the president of the US again. ... Kerry will be the new president.” Abha Bansal, editor of Future Samachar (Future News) claimed that Kerry was destined to win because “the moon, which denotes luck, was in alignment with his professional aspirations,” whereas “Jupiter and Saturn are not configured in a favourable position for Bush.” Gopi Krishna of New Delhi agreed, adding, “Kerry’s win will rejuvenate the United States and bring peace to the rest of the world.” Astrology condemns itself through its false predictions, and the Bible condemns it because it foolishly claims that man’s destiny is affected by inanimate objects and because it attempts to know the secret things, which belong to God (Deut. 4:19; 29:29; Isaiah 47:13).

CHARISMATIC PROPHET IS ALCOHOLIC, HOMOSEXUAL. Friday Church News Notes, November 12, 2004 (David W. Cloud, Fundamental Baptist Information Service, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061, fbns@wayoflife.org, http://www.wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - Paul Cain, one of the most renowned of the charismatic prophets, has been exposed as an alcoholic and a homosexual by his pastors and fellow “prophets.” A special bulletin (October 19) published by Rick Joyner, Jack Deere, and Mike Bickle of Morningstar Fellowship Church in Kansas City stated: “In February 2004, we were made aware that Paul had become an alcoholic. In April 2004, we confronted Paul with evidence that he had been recently involved in homosexual activity. Paul admitted to these sinful practices and was placed under discipline, agreeing to a process of restoration which the three of us would oversee. However, Paul has resisted this process and has continued in his sin. Therefore, after having exhausted the first two steps of Matthew 18:15-17, we now have a responsibility to bring this before the church.” I saw Paul Cain in 1990 when he appeared with Mike Bickle and John Wimber at the Indianapolis ’90 ecumenical conference, which I attended with press credentials. Cain was promoted as a “major prophet.” In reality, he has always been a false prophet and a deeply deceived man who has admitted that he makes “mistakes” in prophecy, and only in the environment of the radical fringes of the charismatic movement would he be accepted as anything other than a false prophet.

BBC SHOW RULED “BLASPHEMOUS.” Friday Church News Notes, November 12, 2004 (David W. Cloud, Fundamental Baptist Information Service, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061, fbns@wayoflife.org, http://www.wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The British Broadcasting Network’s Governors Complaints Committee has ruled that a program called Cyderdelic was blasphemous. The comedy show included “a sexually explicit reference to Jesus” and a crucifix covered in dung. Reflecting the humanistic liberalism of the BBC today, the complaint was originally rejected by the BBC’s complaint department. It was only admitted to be blasphemous when considered by a review board. An anti-Bible attitude often characterizes BBC programs (as it does the mainstream media as a whole).

CONCLUSION: Friends in Christ, do not be discouraged by any of this. It is God’s will that we know the times (1 Ch. 12:32; Mat. 16:3) and that we be as wise as serpents and harmless as doves. These things remind us that the hour is very late, and we need to be ready for the coming of the Lord. Are you sure that you are born again? Are you living for Christ day by day? Are you in the perfect will of God for your life and bearing fruit for His glory? “And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed. The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light. Let us walk honestly, as in the day; not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying. But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof” (Rom. 13:11-14).