Friday, December 8, 2000 (David W. Cloud, Fundamental Baptist Information Service, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061-0368, fbns@wayoflife.org) - The following is another installment of the Fundamental Baptist Information Service Friday News Notes:

LENNON CELEBRATED WORLDWIDE. Friday News Notes, December 8, 2000 (David W. Cloud, Fundamental Baptist Information Service, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061-0368, fbns@wayoflife.org) - The 20th anniversary of John Lennonâs death is being observed in many parts of the world. Events include candlelight vigils, the lighting of large ãpeace flames,ä and the 24-hour playing of Beatle records by radio stations. Rock music is a religion to many people. Jimi Hendrix said, ãI used to go to Sunday School but the only thing I believe in now is musicä (Hendrix, cited by Curtis Knight, Jimi). Hendrix called his rock concerts ãelectric church.ä He said, ã·the music is a spiritual thing of its ownä (Hendrix, interview with Robin Richman ãAn Infinity of Jimis,ä Life magazine, Oct. 3, 1969). We have documented the religious nature of rock music extensively in our book Rock Music vs. the God of the Bible.

EPISCOPALIANS OPPOSING MODERNISM. Friday News Notes, December 8, 2000 (David W. Cloud, Fundamental Baptist Information Service, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061-0368, fbns@wayoflife.org) - There are two movements within the Episcopal Church U.S.A. that are opposing modernism and immorality. One is the Forward in Faith Movement. The congregations which are aligned with this are protesting ãsecularizing trends and false teachingsä from within the Episcopal Church. The other is the Anglican Mission in America (AMIA), which is a group of churches that have actually separated from the Episcopal Church. The latter is composed of roughly 20 congregations at this time and hopes to have 80 churches within the next few months. Charles Murphy III, one of the two bishops aligned with the AMIA, said the issue is the authority of the Scripture, warning that modernistic Episcopal church leaders are ãcalling into question the person of Jesus Christ and the authority of Scripture.ä

NEW TELEVISION PROGRAM PROMOTES HOMOSEXUALITY. Friday News Notes, December 8, 2000 (David W. Cloud, Fundamental Baptist Information Service, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061-0368, fbns@wayoflife.org) - A new television program aired on Sunday evening, December 2, which broke ãevery last taboo about gay life on tvä (ãItâs a Manâs, Manâs, Manâs World,ä TV Guide, Dec. 2, 2000). The show, appropriately titled Queer as Folk, is adopted from a 1999 British television series by that name. Advertisements claimed that morally the program would go far beyond anything that has heretofore been shown on television. TV Guide promised ãabundant nudity and sex.ä The executive producers include a homosexual couple, Ron Cowen and Daniel Lipman. The show is built around the sexual exploits of various homosexuals and lesbians. One of the characters, who is only 17 years old, has a homosexual alliance with an older man.

HOLLAND FORMALLY LEGALIZES EUTHANASIA. Friday News Notes, December 8, 2000 (David W. Cloud, Fundamental Baptist Information Service, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061-0368, fbns@wayoflife.org) - In late November the Dutch parliament approved a bill to allow euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide. When ratified (as expected) and passed into law next year, this will fully legalize the euthanasia guidelines that have operated in the Netherlands since 1993. Since then, doctors who followed guidelines for killing their patients were not prosecuted, though euthanasia was still legally punishable by law. Now there is no possibility of punishment under law and the floodgates of premature death have been opened as wide as possible. Even though there are strict guidelines--such as requiring that a patient be of sound mind and voluntarily, persistently and independently request euthanasia--studies have shown that they are ignored in practice.Ê

CCM MUSICIANS CALL FUNDAMENTALISTS ãNARROW-MINDED.ä Friday News Notes, December 8, 2000 (David W. Cloud, Fundamental Baptist Information Service, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061-0368, fbns@wayoflife.org) - Sixpence None the Richer is a popular Contemporary Christian Music group that broke into pop music stardom in 1999 with a song titled ãKiss Me.ä In an Associated Press interview, the publicist for the group responded to their critics (who say the group should not be producing worldly music) with these words: ãWeâre not preachers. But there are some very narrow-minded believers who think the message, not the music, is the only thing thatâs important.ä He also said, ãWe donât consider ourselves a Christian band.ä Referring to a church singing tour, band members ãcomplained of pressure to give religious speeches after they playedä (ãBetween rock and a hard place,ä Chicago Tribune, Nov. 24, 2000, p. 3). Worldly-minded musicians who think ãmusicä is more important than truth, who donât have a testimony for Jesus Christ on their lips, have no business in churches.

ANGLICAN PASTOR REMAINS IN OFFICE AFTER SEX CHANGE OPERATION. Friday News Notes, December 8, 2000 (David W. Cloud, Fundamental Baptist Information Service, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061-0368, fbns@wayoflife.org) - Anglican pastor Carol Stone, a man who recently underwent a sex change operation to ãbecome a woman,ä returned to his/her pulpit on December 3 with the blessing of his/her bishop. Stone announced his intention to go through with the operation in June, claiming that he had wanted to be a girl since he was young. Bishop Barry Rogerson of Bristol, England, approved of the decision, and allowed Stone to remain the pastor of St. Philipâs Church, Upper Stratton, Swindon. Stone is divorced and has a teenage daughter.

BAPTISTS DIALOGUING WITH ANGLICANS. Friday News Notes, December 8, 2000 (David W. Cloud, Fundamental Baptist Information Service, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061-0368, fbns@wayoflife.org) - In September the Baptist World Alliance began a formal five-year dialogue with the Anglican Consultative Council. Some of the objectives areÊ ãto workÊ towards a common confession of the Apostolic Faithä and ãto look for ways to cooperate in mission and community activities and increase fellowship and common witness to the Gospel.ä This is open disobedience to the Bibleâs command to mark and avoid those who teach error. Southern Baptist conservatives claim that the Southern Baptist Convention is moving toward a more biblical footing, yet it continues with its unscriptural ecumenical relationships. The Southern Baptist Convention is the largest financial contributor to the Baptist World Alliance.

INTERVARSITY CHRISTIAN FELLOWSHIP GROUP ALLOWS HOMOSEXUALS. Friday News Notes, December 8, 2000 (David W. Cloud, Fundamental Baptist Information Service, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061-0368, fbns@wayoflife.org) - The Tufts Christian Fellowship, which works on the campus of Tufts University, agreed recently to allow self-proclaimed homosexuals to serve as leaders ãif they do not promote homosexual practice.ä This decision came after the organization was threatened with being kicked off the campus after it refused to allow a lesbian to run for a leadership position in the Fellowship.Ê Not content with this, homosexuals and others who call themselves the Tufts Students Against Discrimination forcefully took over the admissions office, beating pots and drums and chanting against the decision. After a day and a half of this confusion, university President John DiBiaggio stated that he agrees with their position. The status of Tuft Christian Fellowship (which is a chapter of the InterVarsity Christian Fellowship) remains uncertain. True Christians renounce immoral things such as homosexuality. Every reference to homosexuality in the Bible treats it as an abomination before God.

UNITED METHODISTS IGNORE BAN AGAINST HOMOSEXUAL MARRIAGES. Friday News Notes, December 8, 2000 (David W. Cloud, Fundamental Baptist Information Service, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061-0368, fbns@wayoflife.org) - The United Methodist Church in America officially prohibits ãsame-sex ceremonies,ä but in typical modernistic fashion, this rule is ignored in practice. United Methodist-affiliated Duke University in North Carolina recently agreed to permit homosexual ãmarriagesä in its chapel. These abominations are already allowed at Stanford, Harvard, Princeton, and Emory Universities. Further, United Methodist pastors have learned that they can perform homosexual ãmarriagesä outside the church and then return to the church to äcelebrate the unions,ä and this is not contrary to church law. Such ceremonies are conducted at the Broadway United Methodist Church in Chicago.