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ANGLICAN HYPOCRISY (Friday Church News Notes, March 30, 2007, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The bishops of the Episcopal Church in America have rejected the ultimatum that was issued to it recently by the bishops of the worldwide Anglican Communion. The Episcopalian bishops said that “all God’s children, including gay and lesbian persons, are full and equal participants” of the church (“Anglican Head: Episcopal Rejection of Ultimatum Discouraging,” AP, March 22, 2007). It is therefore obvious that they are not inclined to accept the recent demand that the Episcopal Church promise not to ordain another homosexual or authorize a prayer service for homosexual couples. While it might sound like the Anglican Church at large is more conservative than its branch in the U.S., this is not true. There is great hypocrisy in this matter by the Church of England and most other wings of the worldwide Anglican Communion because it is shot through and through with the same theological liberalism and immorality that characterizes the Episcopal Church in America. In 1953 Archbishop of Canterbury William Temple, in his book Nature and God, said, “... there is no such thing as revealed truth.” In 1961 Archbishop of Canterbury Michael Ramsey said, “... heaven is not a place for Christians only. ... I expect to see many present day atheists there” (London Daily Mail, Oct. 2, 1961). In November 1980 Anglican Bishop Desmond Tutu of South Africa said, “It may be that Jesus was an illegitimate son” (Cape Times, Oct. 24, 1980). In 1982 Archbishop of Canterbury Robert Runcie said he was an agnostic as to why Jesus suffered on the cross (Sunday Times Weekly Review, London, April 11, 1982). I was in London at the time and found this statement in the newspaper while I was eating breakfast. In 1984 David Jenkins, Anglican Bishop of Durham, described Christ’s resurrection as “a conjuring trick with bones” (St. Louis Post Dispatch, Oct. 28, 1984). In 1984 the Associated Press reported that only 20 of 31 Church of England bishops polled insisted that Christians must accept Jesus as both God and man. In 1986 Anglican Bishop David Jenkins got a standing ovation from the general synod of the Church of England when he defended his doubts about the virgin birth and bodily resurrection of Christ (Associated Press, July 7, 1986). In 1994 it was reported by the London Sunday Times (July 31) that at least 100 Anglican priests are atheists who do not believe in “an external, supernatural God.” In 2002 Richard Harries, Anglican Bishop of Oxford, said Christians should pray to “God the Mother” (The Times, Nov. 3, 2002). I could continue with other examples from our files, but I believe I have proven the point. We could also show that acceptance of unrepentant homosexuals is rife throughout Anglicanism. For the worldwide Anglican Communion to lecture the Episcopal Church in America about liberalism and its resultant immorality is gross hypocrisy. They have no conviction about or love for the truth; they are only playing politics. End-time apostasy is in full bloom.

CATHOLIC SCHOOL BANS PUPILS FROM MYSPACE (Friday Church News Notes, March 30, 2007, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - St. Hugo of the Hills Catholic School in suburban Detroit has banned its students from posting on MySpace (“Catholic School Bans,” Detroit News, March 22, 2007). The school plans to monitor the site for student activity, and those who disobey the ban risk suspension. The school’s objective is to “keep the students safe.” The Oakland County Sheriff said the decision is a good one because “it eliminates the biggest factor, which is peer pressure.” It is a wise thing to ban young people from MySpace, but parents need to understand that there are many other serious dangers on the Internet and there are also other social networking sites where young people congregate and encourage one another in worldly activities. Our article “My Space or God’s?” can be viewed online at http://www.wayoflife.org/fbns/myspace-or-gods.html.”

STREET PREACHER JAILED FOR NOT OBTAINING A LICENSE (Friday Church News Notes, March 30, 2007, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - Street preacher Billy Ball was arrested and jailed on March 24 after receiving repeated citations for preaching without a license from the city of Hendersonville, North Carolina. He was charged with “use of sidewalks and streets for sermon” in violation of the city’s public demonstrations’ ordinance that requires permission from the police chief (“Law-testing Street Preaching Lands in Jail,” Times-News, Hendersonville, March 24, 2007). The ordinance states: “No person shall deliver a sermon, lecture, address or discourse ... on the streets, alleys, sidewalks, public squares or any public grounds of the city without having first obtained the written permission of the chief of police.” Ball, a 46-year-old preacher, rightly protests that his Constitutional liberties are being violated by this ordinance restricting free speech and the free exercise of religion in public places. One thing that Police Chief Donnie Parks seems to object to is Balls’ display of a sign that reads: “Three gay rights: AIDS, hell, salvation.” Parks said it is wrong to use “any terminology that is inflammatory to the general public, such as making reference to sexual orientation or race in offensive terms or a derogatory nature” (“Street Preacher Vows to Bring More Protesters to Challenge Law,” Times-News, March 23). I would not personally hold up such a sign, because that is not the way I practice evangelism; but it is not wrong and Ball certainly has the right to free speech and to the free, unrestricted exercise of his religion. We pray that the courts will rule constitutionally on this matter as opposed to ruling by the whim of Political Correctness.

THE UNITED NATIONS’ ANTI-ISRAEL STANCE (Friday Church News Notes, March 30, 2007, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - “The United Nations has spent one-third of its time either deliberating and arguing about or denouncing Israel because of its hold upon Jerusalem. ... More than sixty thousand individual votes have been cast in the UN against Israel. ... The United Nations has consistently taken the side of the Arabs against Israel, making the creation of the State of Israel by the UN in 1947--something the UN would not do today--all the more miraculous in fulfillment of Bible prophecy. The UN is adamantly opposed to Israel and everything she does--and is thus defiant of the God of Israel and His pledge to restore His people fully to the land He gave them ‘from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates’ (Genesis 15:18). From 1967 through 1989, out of 865 resolutions in the Security Council and General Assembly of the UN, 526 were against Israel. The last anti-Arab vote was fifty-eights ago, in 1947. Not once has the UN reprimanded those who have without provocation, beginning in 1948, waged five wars against Israel with the openly declared intention of annihilating her. Nor have the terrorists ever been condemned by the UN. In November 2003, Israel introduced its first request for a resolution since 1976, asking for a prohibition against Arab terrorists who deliberately target Israeli women and children. Its [exceedingly reasonable] request was rejected and the UN instead adopted a resolution demanding protection of Palestinian children from Israel. ... Israel has been a member of the United Nations for more than fifty years. Yet she is not allowed to take her two-year turn as one of the ten rotating nations (joining the five permanent ones) on the UN Security Council. Of the 191 current members, 190, including the worst terrorist nations, are allowed to take their turns on the Security Council--but not Israel” (Dave Hunt, Judgment Day, 2005, pp. 7, 16, 17, 43). “There are more than one billion Muslims represented at the United Nations; is it any wonder that three of the four members of the Quartet represent the majority of the Muslim world?” (Michael Evans, Beyond Iraq, 2003, p. 49).

RISQUE BIBLE MAGAZINE IN SWEDEN (Friday Church News Notes, March 30, 2007, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The Old Testament has been published in Sweden in a magazine format featuring “a seductive cover rivaling contemporary fashion magazines” (Christian Post, March 25, 2007). Called “Bible Illuminated, Gamla Testament: The Book,” it was designed by former Swedish advertiser Dag Soderberg. Though “not particularly religious,” Soderberg says he wants too make the Bible more accessible to people who “have issues” with it and that it might be a way that people “can have a Bible on their table without causing too much panic.” He says the Bible is useful for moral and ethical guidance and that the slick magazine design fits people’s reading habits. “They prefer a text that is journalistically laid out: split into articles, with headlines, quote boxes, pictures and captions. This way they can more easily pick the parts they’re interested in reading.” It is thus the “Pick and Choose Bible” for the Me Generation. It features provocative images such as “a sensuous kiss” and “a topless male model emerging from the ocean.” The Bible is not a book to be played with in a worldly fashion like this. To put the Bible into such a context is confusion. It is to mix Christ with Belial, truth with error, righteousness with unrighteousness. “Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear: For our God is a consuming fire” (Hebrews 12:29-29).

SCIENTISTS CREATE SHEEP THAT IS 15% HUMAN (Friday Church News Notes, March 30, 2007, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - Scientists working with the University of Nevada in the U.S. have created the world’s first human-sheep chimera, which has the body of a sheep and part-human organs. The sheep have 15% human cells and 85% animal. The inventors say their goal is to make genetic designer sheep with organs that can be transplanted into humans (“Now Scientists Create a Sheep that’s 15% Human,” Sunday Mail, London, March 24, 2007). The process involves injecting adult human stem cells derived from bone marrow cells into a sheep’s fetus. The cells move into the circulatory system and are distributed to all of the animal’s organs. Professor Esmail Zanjani says he has already created a sheep liver with a large proportion of human cells. Two institutions in England have also applied to their government for permission to start work on chimeras. Dr. Patrick Dixon, an international lecturer on biological trends, warned: “Many silent viruses could create a biological nightmare in humans. Mutant animal viruses are a real threat, as we have seen with HIV.” Dolly, the sheep that in 1996 was the first cloned mammal, had to be put to death in 2003 at only about half of the typical sheep’s life expectancy because of premature aging and advanced disease. Alan Colman, one of the scientists involved in the original cloning project in Scotland, warned, “I think it highlights more than ever the foolishness of those who want to legalize (human) reproductive cloning. In the case of humans, it would be scandalous to go ahead given our knowledge about the long-term affects of cloning” (AP, Singapore, Feb. 15, 2003).  It would be scandalous under any terms, because man, not being God, does not have the authority to manipulate human life in that manner. The questions pertaining to the soul and spirit of man are too grave to ignore. Further, animals and humans are entirely different creations. Man is not an animal, but is made in the image of God. This is a crucial fact that the scientists working on these projects do not recognize. Therefore they are working in the dark. The push for this type of thing is man’s fear of death and his desire to put it off as long as possible. In Jesus Christ the desperate fear of death is gone, because the believer knows that Christ overcame death at His resurrection and we have eternal life in Him. “But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Corinthians 15:57).