MORMONS GRANT AWARD TO CATHOLIC CARDINAL (Friday Church News Notes, December 1, 2006, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The Mormon Church in Australia presented Catholic Cardinal Edward Cassidy with an award for his devotion to “ecumenical and inter-faith dialogue” (“Interfaith Honour for Cardinal Cassidy,” Catholic Weekly, Oct. 1, 2006). The Mormons are gradually working their way into the mainstream of the ecumenical movement. In November 2004 some evangelicals, (including Ravi Zacharias, CCM musician Michael Card, Richard Mouw of Fuller Seminary, and Craig Hazen of Biola University) joined hands with Mormons in Salt Lake City for an “Evening of Friendship.” The event was co-sponsored by Standing Together Ministries, which was formed in 2001 by “evangelical” preacher Greg Johnson to “build greater dialogue between evangelical Christians and Latter-day Saints.” In the Deseret Morning News, Card is quoted as saying that “he doesn’t see Mormonism and evangelical Christianity as opposed to each other; they are more like the two ends of a long thread--part of the same thing.” He also said, “The older I get, I guess the more I want to integrate everything. I think it’s more important to be faithful than right” (Nov. 16, 2004). I am not surprised at this move toward the acceptance of Mormons by some evangelicals. If John Paul II and Mother Teresa, with their false gospel, can be accepted as fellow believers, why not Mormons?

BAPTISTS AND CHRISTIAN SCIENTISTS TOGETHER (Friday Church News Notes, December 1, 2006, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - An interfaith Thanksgiving service on November 23 in Birmingham, Alabama, brought together Baptists, Methodists, Presbyterians, Muslims, Christian Scientists, and others. Baptist Church of the Covenant hosted the event and Southside Baptist Church participated. Wendy Clayton, a member of the First Church of Christ, Scientist, gave a Bible reading. David Carboni, pastor of Highlands United Methodist Church said in his sermon, “We don’t always thank and we don’t always acknowledge that God is with us.” The problem with this statement is that the Muslim’s god and the Christian Scientist’s god and the liberal Protestant’s god is not the God of the Bible. Further, Jesus Christ said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me” (John 14:6). Well did the apostle Paul say, “Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness?” (2 Corinthians 6:14).

STUDY SHOWS POP MUSIC’S IMMORAL INFLUENCE ON YOUNG PEOPLE (Friday Church News Notes, December 1, 2006, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The Rand Corporation published a study in the August issue of Pediatrics magazine that shows the powerful influence of pop music on the behavior of youth. The study, based on interviews with nearly 1,500 teens, found that those who listen to sexually explicit music are almost twice as likely to start having sex within the following two years than those who listen to little or none of that music (“Pop Music’s Sex Ed,” Washington Times, Aug. 21, 2006). Of course this is not rocket science. The Bible says, “Be not deceived: evil communications corrupt good manners” (1 Cor. 15:33). Study director Steven Martino observed that the sexual references in pop songs have become increasingly direct and are marketed to young teenagers through the likes of MTV. In fact, a great many of the lyrics are unprintable in a Christian magazine. The Rand study found that the sexual content in popular music is even more rampant than it is in TV, movies, magazines, and newspapers. If ever there were a day when preachers need to be lifting a loud and clear voice against the evil of pop music and parents need to be guarding their children against it, it is today!

TWEENS ACTING LIKE TEENS (Friday Church News Notes, December 1, 2006, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - A headline article in the Tampa Tribune (Florida) from the Associated Press for November 26 was “Young ‘Tweens’ Are Looking and Acting Like Teens.” The theme is the sad and frightful fact that children age 8 to 12 are being influenced by immoral pop culture trends that were previously associated with older teenagers. Consider this excerpt: “They listen to sexually charged pop music, play mature-rated video games and spend time gossiping on Myspace. More girls are wearing makeup and clothing that some consider beyond their years. ... Beyond the drugs, sex and rock ’n’ roll their boomer and Gen X parents navigated, technology and consumerism have accelerated the pace of life, giving kids easy access to influences that may not be parent-approved. Sex, violence and foul language that used to be relegated to late-night viewing and R-rated movies are expected fixtures on television.” There can be no doubt that the influence of the immoral pop culture is reaching down to ever younger hearts and minds. Parents beware! “My son, if sinners entice thee, consent thou not” (Proverbs 1:10).

PERSECUTION ROUND-UP (Friday Church News Notes, December 1, 2006, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - On November 25 two professing Christians were sentenced to 10 years in prison and fined 25,000 rupees (US$411) for allegedly burning some pages of the Koran under Pakistan’s blasphemy law. The sentence was imposed despite the lack of evidence. Khalil Tahir, the men’s attorney, said he was disappointed by the judge’s decision since there was “no direct evidence against the two men who rather seem to be the victims of a personal vendetta. We believe that the verdict is the result of pressures by extremists. This explains why it took four days for the court to reach its decision” (Asia News, Nov. 27, 2006). In Uzbekistan a Baptist church was raided on August 27 and massive fines were imposed on six people, while a Pentecostal church was raided on November 13 (Forum 18, Nov. 28, 2006). The authorities there have confiscated and then burned Bibles and other religious literature. In Uzbekistan, “participating in prayer meetings of unregistered groups (even if they asked to be registered) is considered illegal and consequently punished. Baptist groups often refuse to ask for registration because they believe it is unwarranted interference by the State” (Asia News, Nov. 28). In Xinjiang, China, a Christian woman named Tian Maishi, a 53-year-old retired English teacher, was arrested on October 18. She was taken from her home and jailed for “illegal evangelism” and “engaging in superstitious fraudulent activities” (Christian Newswire, Nov. 22, 2006). 

CONTEMPORARY CHRISTIAN MUSICIANS AND SECULAR ROCK & ROLL (Friday Church News Notes, December 1, 2006, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - Nothing more clearly demonstrates the moral reprobation of Contemporary Christian Music than its undying love for secular rock & roll. There simply is no separation from the world. This was seen in a report published by Christianity Today on the Friendship Fest in Morocco, which featured some of CCM’s top “artists,” including Jeremy Camp, Newsboys, Delirious, Phil Keaggy, Rock ‘n’ Roll Worship Circus, and Out of Eden. The organizers said they wanted to “use the universal language of music to bridge cultures and make friends” (“Jesus Music Goes to Morocco,” christianitytoday.com, May 16, 2005). It was billed as “a celebration of friendship in the midst of diversity in cultures and faith traditions.” Did these CCMers preach the gospel to the Muslims? No. In fact, Out of Eden’s Andrea Baca said the goal was not “to convert anybody to Christianity.” Phil Keaggy added, “We didn’t go to Morocco with the purpose of proselytizing” or to “clobber people with the Bible.” Those are not the words of a disciple of Jesus Christ. The Lord Jesus commanded that the Gospel be preached to every person, and those who believe shall be saved and those who do not believe shall be damned (Mk. 16:15-16). That commandment does not describe proselytizing in the sense of forcing people to believe, but it does describe aggressive, plain-spoken evangelism. The CCM crowd has made itself another commission, though, which is to spread “friendship through sensitivity and art.” I am convinced that the real god of CCM is rock & roll. Keaggy invited Islamic Moroccan musicians to join him and his band onstage and said, “When they saw us connect with Moroccan musicians, that spoke volumes to them.” Doubtless it did. It spoke the false message that Christians and Muslims worship the same God. Keaggy also jammed with a Moroccan band in the lobby of his hotel. He said: “WE’RE BOB MARLEY, TOWER OF POWER, AND HENDRIX FANS, while these are Elvis, James Brown, Frank Sinatra type people. We must have played for two hours together. WE DID A LITTLE MEDLEY OF BEATLES SONGS. It was just so cool. We didn’t isolate ourselves. We were in the streets, in the clubs. Everywhere we experienced goodwill.” That “goodwill” would have evaporated like water in the hot Moroccan sun had Keaggy put away his worldly rock & roll and instead had obeyed Christ’s command and preached the Gospel plainly and boldly and warned his Moroccan friends of their false god and false messiah and false gospel. Note that Keaggy played Beatles songs. Few bands have done more to destroy the souls of men than the Beatles, and for Christian musicians to play their music is confusion of the highest sort. John Lennon was a blasphemer who foolishly imagined that there is no heaven or hell. Keaggy also said he is a fan of Bob Marley and Jimi Hendrix, both of whom were moral reprobates of the highest order. “Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God” (James 4:4).

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).