EVANGELICALS SIGN STRANGE LETTER TO MUSLIMS (Friday Church News Notes, November 30, 2007, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - In response to an open letter signed by 138 Muslim leaders entitled “A Common Word Between Us and You,” which was issued on October 13, 2007, roughly 300 Christian leaders have signed “Loving God and Neighbor Together: A Christian Response.” The Muslim letter said that “Muslims recognize Jesus Christ as the Messiah” and “invited Christians to come together with us on the common essentials of our two religions,” claiming that “the very survival of the world itself is perhaps at stake.” There was not a word about the current jihad, and Bin Laden and company were not among the signatories. The Christian response was organized by professors at the extremely liberal Yale Divinity School. It is prefaced with the words, “In the name of the Infinitely Good God whom we should love with all our Being,” which gives the idea that Muslims and Christians worship the same God. It begins by asking forgiveness for the Crusades and the (alleged) “excesses of the war on terror” by which “many Christians have been guilty of sinning against our Muslim neighbors.” It goes on to say, “It is therefore no exaggeration to say, as you have in A Common Word Between Us and You, that ‘the future of the world depends on peace between Muslims and Christians.’” It calls for interfaith dialogue and warns that “our eternal souls” are at stake if Muslims and Christians don’t learn to live in peace. The response was obviously written by someone who does not believe in the Gospel of Jesus Christ or the literal return of Christ, but what the letter omits is just as telling. There is not a word about the violent jihad that is rampaging around the world against Christians which negates the idea that Islam is a peaceful religion, not a word about the lack of religious liberty and the persecution against Christians in every Islamic country, not a word about the Islamic prohibition against converting to Christianity, not a word about Islam’s denial of Christ’s deity, virgin birth, sacrificial death, and bodily resurrection and the fact that Allah is not the God of the Bible. If this response were signed only by liberals, we probably would have ignored it, but scattered among the names of rank liberals and Roman Catholic and Emerging Church leaders (Tony Jones and Brian McLaren) are those of dozens of “evangelicals,” including Rick Warren of Saddleback Church; Leith Anderson and Don Argue (current and past president of the National Association of Evangelicals); several professors from Fuller Theological Seminary (including the president), Biola University, Wheaton College (including the president), and Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary; Lynn Green of Youth With A Mission; Bill Hybels of Willow Creek Community Church; various pastors of Vineyard churches (including the National Director); David Neff, Editor in Chief of Christianity Today; John R.W. Stott; Michael Treneer of the Navigators; Harvey Thiessen of Operation Mobilization; and Godfrey Yogarajah, General Secretary of the Evangelical Fellowship of Asia.

EUROPEAN UNION HEADING TOWARD TOTAL CONTROL (Friday Church News Notes, November 30, 2007, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The following is excerpted from “Perfecting a System of Total Control,” published in the influential secular magazine Der Spiegel, Nov. 23, 2007: “The European Commission in Brussels wants to protect European citizens even more effectively against danger and disease. Soon there will be a well-intended--but mostly completely unnecessary--regulation for every aspect of life. ... the EU’s inspectors are keeping themselves busy coming up with more and more regulations to govern even the most hidden corners of human existence, and that will cover the length and breadth of the EU--from Inari in northern Finland to Limassol on the Mediterranean island of Cyprus. ... The Europeans of the 21st century appear to be dim-witted and unable to cope with life--and wholly dependent on the dictates of Big Brother in Brussels. When it comes to protecting the population from its own supposed lack of common sense, Big Brother is enthusiastic.” NOTE FROM BROTHER CLOUD: All of this is just a bit of warm up for the coming Antichrist government which will be headquartered in the old Roman Empire. In fact, from the perspective of Bible prophecy the Roman Empire has not ceased to exist. The ancient empire, with its eastern and western divisions, is described as the two legs in the vision of Daniel chapter two, and it continues to exist in the end times (in the form of the two feet and ten toes of the vision) until it is destroyed at Christ’s return (Daniel 2:40-45). The Antichrist is called the Little Horn in Daniel and the Beast in Revelation, and he will rule over the world with a strong hand, controlling all commerce and forbidding people to buy or sell unless they take his mark (Rev. 13:16-17). The Bible says we need to be busy in the service of Jesus Christ and ready to leave this world at all times. “For the Son of man is as a man taking a far journey, who left his house, and gave authority to his servants, and to every man his work, and commanded the porter to watch. Watch ye therefore: for ye know not when the master of the house cometh, at even, or at midnight, or at the cockcrowing, or in the morning” (Mark 13:34-35). 

A ROCK & ROLL YOUTH MINISTRY (Friday Church News Notes, November 30, 2007, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - According to the seeker sensitive philosophy churches need to reach young people with their own music, fashion, and interests. Granger Community Church in Granger, Indiana, epitomizes this philosophy. Its web site gives the following description of its Sunday evening youth meetings: “Imagine stepping into a large room, the floor vibrating with the beat of rock music. Colored lights cut through a fog-machine haze. The stage is empty, for now. A bar across the room serves snacks, beverages, pizza. At the back of the room, sound engineers create the right level of loud and chat with the customers, who mingle and discuss who’s there, who’s late, who’s new. No, it’s not a trendy nightclub. It’s GCC on a Sunday night. Welcome to Lifeline, the place to be if you’re in high school. Why do we do this? Because if you’re a teenager, chances are you avoid church like the plague. It’s boring. Irrelevant. And the music is ... face it ... lame. So what else do we offer besides a unique environment? Here’s the tip of the iceberg: your kind of music--live and loud; leaders who talk to you, NOT AT YOU (or worse, down to you)--about hard issues you face every day; wild extracurricular events, typically involving water, dizzying heights and/or road trips ...  people you can relate to--they’ve got the same problems, same parental unit hassles, same fashion sense.” NOTE FROM BROTHER CLOUD: According to rock & roll Christianity, traditional church is boring, traditional style hymns are lame, it is wrong to preach the Word of God at people in a dogmatic fashion, and we should allow Christian young people to enjoy a worldly lifestyle. They must get program this from one of the “easy to read” Bibles, because it certainly doesn’t come from the King James! “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). “And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them” (Ephesians 5:11). 

ANOTHER CANADIAN CHARGED WITH “HATE CRIMES” AGAINST HOMOSEXUALS (Friday Church News Notes, November 30, 2007, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - Ron Gray, of the Christian Heritage Party, must face the charge of exercising “hate and defamation” because of articles against homosexuality that he posted on the Internet and distributed to party members. Under Canadian law any citizen can level a complaint before the Canadian Human Rights Commission, and homosexual activists are using the law in an attempt to quench the free speech of those who oppose their lifestyle. The Human Rights Commission is not required to exercise the rules of evidence that protect those who are tried in regular courts. One article that Gray posted was “Pedophila More Common among ‘Gays,’” first published by WorldNetDaily in April 2002. It cited a study that found that child molestation and pedophilia occur far more commonly among homosexuals. 

PAPAL PREACHER SPEAKS AT HOLY TRINITY BROMPTON (Friday Church News Notes, November 30, 2007, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - Raniero Cantalamessa, the papal preacher, spoke at Holy Trinity Brompton on May 6, 2007. This is the influential Anglican church where the popular Alpha program was invented. Today there is an “Alpha for Catholics” division. The Alpha International Newsletter, Issue 21, Dec. 2006 to May 2007, described the success of Alpha for Catholics across Asia and in South and Central America. In May 2006, Alpha founder Nicky Gumbel, of Holy Trinity Brompton, spoke in Rome at the Catholic Charismatic Renewal’s 40th anniversary. The Alpha program has achieved this ecumenical acceptance because it is doctrinally weak. It refers to salvation, the cross, Scripture, etc., in such vague terms that false doctrine is not refuted. It says salvation is by grace, for instance, but it does not say that salvation is by grace ALONE by faith ALONE through the blood of Christ ALONE without works or sacraments. It refers to the Bible as God’s Word in a general sense, but it does not explain that the Bible is God’s verbally-inspired, inerrant, infallible, supernatural Word that must be reverenced and obeyed in every detail, that the Bible ALONE is the authority for faith and practice. It is also important to understand that the explosion of the Alpha program coincided with Holy Trinity Brompton’s involvement in the “Toronto Blessing” or the “Laughing Revival” in 1994. The Alpha course itself is permeated with charismatic error. About half-way through the 10-week program, the leaders conduct “Holy Spirit Day” or a “Holy Spirit Weekend Away.” The purpose is to bring the participants into a charismatic experience. “Now I beseech you, brethren, mark them which cause divisions and offences contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned; and avoid them” (Romans 16:17).

BEWARE OF “GOLDEN COMPASS” (Friday Church News Notes, November 30, 2007, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The following is excerpted from “The Upside-down World of Pullman’s ‘Golden Compass,’” Berit Kjos, November 13, 2007: “More than 15 million copies of Philip Pullman’s trilogy have been sold. The first movie in the series opens December 7. Flying witches, evil specters, talking bears and evolving ‘Dust’ abound in The Dark Materials, Philip Pullman’s popular fantasy series for children. In this confusing cosmos of multiple universes, humans are linked to personal daemons, and telepathic seekers find answers to life’s mysteries through divination, Eastern meditation, ancient ‘wisdom’ and ritual magic. These occult practices are essential to the battle for the ‘free’ Republic--against the despised old Church. Lyra, the pre-teen heroine, is a headstrong tomboy raised without parents at an Oxford college in a universe parallel to ours. A proficient liar, she’s first seen snooping in a forbidden area with her daemon camouflaged as a moth. From then on, she follows her intuition from one crisis to the next until all remnants of Biblical truth and authority have been destroyed. By the end of the series, God is dead. Free-spirited Lyra (still a 12-year-old) has sexually ‘come of age’ and fulfilled her prophetic assignments in the war against Christianity. As readers move from book to book, they meet likeable God-haters, experience magical worlds, and discover the strange forces that drive Pullman’s occult cosmos. ... Pullman’s crafty tale pulls the readers’ minds into an occult context where--through their imagination--they experience life from his atheist/occult perspective.”