NEWS NOTES 02/11/2005

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ANOTHER DEAD ROCK GOD CELEBRATED. Friday Church News Notes, February 11, 2005 (Fundamental Baptist Information Service, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - An estimated 250,000 people turned up in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on February 6 for a concert celebrating the 60th anniversary of the birth of reggae legend Mob Marley (“Lakhs turn up for Bob Marley Anniversary,” The Himalayan, Feb. 7). Performers extolled peace and love, but rockers define these differently than the Bible. Rock & roll peace/love is a tranquil scene where people do as they please and enjoy emotional highs without moral restraint; whereas the Bible says “there is no peace to the wicked” and “this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments” (Isa. 48:22; 57:21; 1 Jn. 5:3). Marley is regarded as a prophet of the Rastafarian religion, which worships Ethiopia’s ex-emperor Halle Selassie as a god and considers Ethiopia the Promised Land. Marley is extremely popular and his music influential, though he has been dead since 1981. His photo can be seen in major cities throughout the world, as well as in the most out-of-the-way places, such as the back streets of Kathmandu, Nepal, or Nadi, Fiji. All of this reminds us of the worldliness of Contemporary Christian Music, which is evident in the fact that popular CCM artists listen to and imitate secular rock and do not warn of its evil influence. How many CCM artists do you know of that have warned about rock gods such as Bob Marley, Elvis Presley, Jim Morrison, and John Lennon, who have led multitudes to eternal hell through their glorification of rebellion against the Bible and their false christs? How many have urged young people to separate from the carnal music created by such men?

ROCK & ROLLER RECOGNIZES THAT ROCK IS ABOUT SEX. Friday Church News Notes, February 11, 2005 (Fundamental Baptist Information Service, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - I received the following perceptive observation from a reader on Jan. 27: “Last night on TV I came across a young man named Jeffrey Johnson leading a group of folks in prayer. They were anxiously waiting to audition for the TV show ‘American Idol.’ He introduced himself as ‘a minister who leads praise and worship; I prayed a lot over American Idol.’ Johnson sang ‘In the Still of the Night.’ When he finished, Gene Simmons [of the rock group KISS] gave his assessment: ‘I think you’re a country artist, and I’ll tell you why. If you sing pop lyrics, you’re going to have a problem with your ministry. Because rock and roll by definition -- and popular music -- is about sexuality. The rules are different for country. You can sing Christian oriented lyrics and be acceptable, and you can sell millions of records.’ It’s alarming that Gene Simmons sees a problem with a Christian being involved with popular music; however, many in our fundamental Baptist churches are just like this Jeff Johnson -- viewing rock music as an a-moral form of worship, or as [harmless] entertainment, ignoring overwhelming evidence to the contrary.”

ISLAMIC LEADER SAYS MUSLIMS IN AMERICA MUST DOMINATE. Friday Church News Notes, February 11, 2005 (Fundamental Baptist Information Service, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - Omar Ahmad, chairman of the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR), made the following enlightening statement in 1998: “If you choose to live here (in America) . . . you have a responsibility to deliver the message of Islam. Islam isn’t in America to be equal to any other faith, but to become dominant. The Koran, the Muslim book of scripture, should be the highest authority in America, and Islam the only accepted religion on Earth” (“American Muslim Leader Urges Faithful to Spread Word,” Lisa Gardiner, San Ramon Valley Herald, Fremont, Calif., July 4, 1998). Ahmad was speaking before “a packed crowd” at the Flamingo Palace banquet hall in Fremont.

FORMER ABORTIONIST EXPLAINS HOW A NATION WAS DECEIVED. Friday Church News Notes, February 11, 2005 (Fundamental Baptist Information Service, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - In an important report on the history of the pro-abortion movement in America, David Kupelian interviewed Bernard Nathanson, M.D., former abortionist who had a central role in selling abortion to a nation (“How Lying Marketers Sold Roe v. Wade to America,” WorldNetDaily, Jan. 20). Nathanson was co-founder of NARAL, National Association for the Repeal of Abortion Laws. He describes how the leaders of the movement came up with catchy but deceptive slogans such as describing abortion as “Freedom of Choice.” Nathanson says: “We persuaded the media that the cause of permissive abortion was a liberal, enlightened, sophisticated one. Knowing that if a true poll were taken, we would be soundly defeated, we simply fabricated the results of fictional polls. We announced to the media that we had taken polls and that 60 percent of Americans were in favor of permissive abortion. This is the tactic of the self-fulfilling lie. Few people care to be in the minority. We aroused enough sympathy to sell our program of permissive abortion by fabricating the number of illegal abortions done annually in the U.S. The actual figure was approaching 100,000, but the figure we gave to the media repeatedly was 1 million. Repeating the big lie often enough convinces the public. The number of women dying from illegal abortions was around 200-250 annually. The figure we constantly fed to the media was 10,000. These false figures took root in the consciousness of Americans, convincing many that we needed to crack the abortion law. Another myth we fed to the public through the media was that legalizing abortion would only mean that the abortions taking place illegally would then be done legally. In fact, of course, abortion is now being used as a primary method of birth control in the U.S. and the annual number of abortions has increased by 1,500 percent since legalization.” Note the crucial role of the mainstream media in selling the deceptive abortion scheme.

MAN DIES AT BENNY HINN HEALING CRUSADE. Friday Church News Notes, February 11, 2005 (Fundamental Baptist Information Service, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - A 52-year-old man died of an apparent heart attack on January 22 while attending Benny Hinn’s “healing” crusade in Bangalore, India (“When the miracle failed to save a life,” Deccan Herald, Jan. 23). Bogus “faith healers” like Hinn bring reproach to the cause of Christ. (No one ever died when they were seeking healing from Him.) Benny Hinn claims to have received the anointing of the late female evangelist Kathryn Kuhlman, and that might well be true, as she also was bogus. In his book Healing: A Doctor in Search of a Miracle, Dr. William Nolen dedicates an entire chapter to his experiences investigating Kuhlman’s healing crusades. Though sympathetic to Kuhlman as a person, Nolen was unable to document medically even one case of physical healing. At the time of his investigation, Dr. Nolen was chief of surgery at Meeker County Hospital in Litchfield, Minnesota. In his book Occult ABC, Kurt Koch described his own research into Kuhlman’s healing ministry. He carefully followed up on a list of 28 cases of alleged healings in Minneapolis, Minnesota. “Ten had not been healed, seven had experienced an improvement in their condition, eleven had diseases in which the mind can play an important part. In the whole of this extensive report, there is not one clear case of healing from an organic disease.” God heals today in answer to prayer, but He does not promise always to heal and there are no apostolic gifts of healing operative today.

INDIA CONFERS AWARD ON WIDOW OF MISSIONARY KILLED BY RADICAL HINDUS. Friday Church News Notes, February 11, 2005 (Fundamental Baptist Information Service, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - On Jan. 26, the Indian government conferred the prestigious Padma Shri award to Gladys Staines, the wife of missionary Graham Staines who, with his two young sons, was burned to death by a Hindu mob in 1999. After losing her husband and two sons, ages 10 and 8, Mrs. Staines stayed in India another four years to complete a leprosy hospital for needy Indian people. Eighteen men were sentenced to death for the Staines murders in Sept. 2003.

POP ROCK STARS SUPPORT RADICAL HOMOSEXUAL ORGANIZATION. Friday Church News Notes, February 11, 2005 (Fundamental Baptist Information Service, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - More than 30 pop and rock artists have joined forces to support the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) by donating songs to a benefit album, Love Rocks. The HRC is at the forefront of the push for homosexual rights, including “marriage,” and the silencing of all opposition to homosexuality. The artists include The Dixie Chicks, Mandy Moore, Dolly Parton, Carole King, Yoko Ono, and Syndi Lauper. Parton hosts the Southern Gospel Hall of Fame at her Dollywood center in Tennessee. The entertainment industry is at the forefront of tearing down the walls of biblical morality in society today.

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? “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). This material is sent only to those who personally subscribe to the Fundamental Baptist Information Service list. To SUBSCRIBE or UNSUBSCRIBE or CHANGE ADDRESSES go to http://www.wayoflife.org/fbis/subscribe.html. Way of Life Literature, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061. 866-295-4143, fbns@wayoflife.org.