“Testifying both to the Jews, and also to the Greeks, repentance toward God, AND faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ” (Acts 20:21).

“The crying need of our degenerate times is for a revival of true old-fashioned, Christ-centered Bible preaching that will call upon men everywhere to repent in view of that coming day when God will judge the world in righteousness by His Risen Son” (Harry Ironside).

Some men say that it is not necessary to preach repentance or to make an issue of it in soul winning since we don’t see it in John 3:16 and Acts 16:31. These basically define repentance as a synonym for faith.

I suggest that this is a strange way to use the Bible, since it is so obvious from other passages that repentance is necessary for salvation and since Paul preached both repentance and faith. Jesus said repentance is necessary (Luke 13:1-5); Paul said it is necessary (Acts 17:30, etc.); Peter said it is necessary (2 Pet. 3:9).

The reason why verses such as John 3:16 and Acts 16:31 don’t mention repentance is that proper biblical faith includes repentance and biblical repentance includes faith. Further, not every verse says everything about any one doctrine. We are to compare Scripture with Scripture.

The true meaning of faith must be explained and emphasized. The common way that “faith” or “belief” is defined by people today involves a mere mental consent to something, such as “I believe that George Washington was America’s first president” or “I believe that Jesus was the Son of God and came to die on the cross.” That is not what the Bible means by saving faith. Saving faith is a faith that issues from a heart that is convinced of its own fallen condition and has stopped making excuses and hiding in self-righteousness. Saving faith issues from a heart that is convinced that Christ is the only Lord and Saviour and that reaches out to Christ in personal trust. Saving faith issues from a surrendered heart, which is the very essence of repentance.

One of the many tactics that some Independent Baptist preachers have used to remain above reproof and discipline is the misapplication of Scripture.

One of these is Matthew 18:15-20. We have dealt with this several times in recent articles. The context has nothing to do with warning about a public preaching and teaching ministry. It has to do with personal offense. If Paul Chappell had committed some offense against me personally, that passage would come into play. But even then, it could not be pursued beyond a long-distance private discussion, because I am not a member of Chappell’s church and he lives on the other side of the world and I have no way to take someone with me to discuss things with him or to present the issue before his church (or my church, for that matter).

Another Scripture that I have heard misapplied repeatedly over the past four decades is 1 Samuel 24:10, upon which is based the doctrine of “touch not God’s anointed.” David said, “Behold, this day thine eyes have seen how that the LORD had delivered thee to day into mine hand in the cave: and some bade me kill thee: but mine eye spared thee; and I said, I will not put forth mine hand against my lord; for he is the LORD’S anointed.”

Christians who have unbending biblical convictions and are “strict” in their approach to Christian living and separation from sin and error are often labeled “Pharisees.”

Many of the Promise Keepers supporters who wrote in the 1990s to rebuke me for reproving their movement, called me a Pharisee.

Consider a couple of examples:

“I wonder what makes Mr. Cloud so sure he’s right and everybody else is wrong? Look at the Pharisees, Mr. Cloud, and then look in the mirror!”

“You’re the best example I think I’ve ever seen of the Pharisee who sits at the front of the synagogue giving thanks for not being a sinner like everyone else.”

To label a Bible-believing Christian who is passionate to honor Christ and to obey God’s Word a Pharisee is a slander, because the error of Phariseeism was not their zeal to obey the Scripture. They had no such zeal. They were zealous, rather, to create their own religious system and to exalt their own self-righteousness.

SWORD LEADER SPEAKING AT HYLES WORSHIPPING CHURCH (Friday Church News Notes, May 25, 2012, www.wayoflife.org, fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - This week I was sad to learn that Shelton Smith (editor of The Sword of the Lord) is scheduled to speak at the “Old-time Religion Real and Revisited Conference” at Berean Baptist Church, Fleming Island, Florida, in September. There is a full-page ad for this meeting in The Sword. The other speakers are Tom Neal, Greg Neal, John Hamblin, Joe Arthur, Norris Belcher, Terry Sellars, Lawrence Mendez, and Mark Campbell (all “doctors,” of course). Every preacher attending the conference “receives a copy of Dr. Hyles’ ordination certificate.” Whoop-ti-do! This church is a man-centered cult pastored by the idolator Tom Neal. Of all of the Jack Hyles worshipers, Neal is perhaps the king. He published a paper (Independent Baptist Contender) devoted to “perpetuating and protecting the principles and philosophies of Dr. Jack Hyles.” In a letter he wrote to explain his absence from the 2001 Pastor’s School at First Baptist Church of Hammond--after Hyles’ death in February of that year--Neal said: “It has been said of me, and I consider it a great compliment, that Tom Neal is all about Jack Hyles. My agenda was to please him. ... every success I have, I owe to Pastor’s School and Dr. Hyles. ... It is my desire that Jesus and Bro. Hyles be proud of me” (March 29, 2001, reproduced at http://jackhammer.wordpress.com/2007/10/19/kneeling-tom-neal/). The November-December 2002 issue of Neal’s IBC mentioned Hyles at least 95 times by name and featured an article entitled “The Mind of Dr. Jack Hyles.” Whereas true Christians and Biblicists seek the mind of Christ, cultists seek the mind of their human leader. In 2001, Tom Neal’s son, Greg, was caught having secretly video recorded church women changing clothes. One of the video cassettes inadvertently turned up in a box of tapes that was given to a deacon, and it even showed Greg setting up the recording session, but it turned out that by the time the video cassette came to light the case was too old to prosecute. James Colaw, Assistant State Attorney, told MSNBC: “While the evidence of his crimes of voyeurism in 2001 is overwhelming, unfortunately, the Statute of Limitations has expired. Consequently, there is no way to legally pursue a prosecution for these acts.” Following in the footsteps of his hero, Tom Neal protested his son’s innocence in spite of the evidence. See “Berean Baptist Pastor Tom Neal Insists ‘Peeping Tom’ Son Innocent,” Apprising Ministries, Aug. 18, 2011, apprising.org.)

(first published March 18, 2010) (David Cloud, Fundamental Baptist Information Service, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061, 866-295-4143, fbns@wayoflife.org; for instructions about subscribing and unsubscribing or changing addresses, see the information paragraph at the end of the article) -

The modern evangelical philosophy is often stated by the dictum, “In essentials unity; in non-essentials liberty; in all things charity.”

Though commonly attributed to Augustine, it was apparently first stated by the 17th-century Lutheran Rupertus Meldenius (a.k.a. Peter Meiderlin).

It became the rallying cry of the Moravians, who had a wonderful missionary zeal but retained such Romanist heresies as infant baptism and an ordained priesthood and who promoted unity above the absolute truth of God’s Word.

The “essentials unity” principle was adopted by the fundamentalist movement of the first half of the 20th century. Fundamentalism focused on a unity built around “the fundamentals of the faith” while downplaying “minor issues.” The pragmatic objective was to create the largest possible united front against theological modernism.

One of the theme songs of the ecumenical movement is “God is destroying denominational lines.”

This was one of the goals of the Promise Keepers movement. At the Promise Keepers Clergy Conference in Atlanta in February 1996, the more than 39,000 pastors were urged to commit themselves to the “Atlanta Covenant,” one of the points of which urges pastors to reach beyond racial and DENOMINATIONAL barriers.” Promise Keepers founder Bill McCartney made the following statement at this conference: “Contention between denominations has gone on long enough. If the church ever stood together, Almighty God would have his way.”

This is a gross error that ignores the apostasy of our time and the reason for such divisions, as well as the Bible’s commands to separate from error.

The “Breaking Down Denominational Walls” Mentality Ignores Apostasy

This thinking sounds good to this itching-ear generation (2 Timothy 4:3-4), but it ignores the wretchedly apostate condition of a great many of the denominations.

Evangelical leader Harold Lindsell gave this testimony in regard to the mainline denominations:

“It is not unfair to allege that among denominations like Episcopal, United Methodist, United Presbyterian, United Church of Christ, the Lutheran Church in America, and the Presbyterian Church U.S.A. THERE IS NOT A SINGLE THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY THAT TAKES A STAND IN FAVOR OF BIBLICAL INFALLIBILITY. AND THERE IS NOT A SINGLE SEMINARY WHERE THERE ARE NOT FACULTY MEMBERS WHO DISAVOW ONE OR MORE OF THE MAJOR TEACHINGS OF THE CHRISTIAN FAITH” (Harold Lindsell, Battle for the Bible, Zondervan, 1976, pp. 145-146.)

“Apostasy” refers to the falling away from the true New Testament faith, and it is not a figment of a “fundamentalist’s” imagination; it is a Bible doctrine. The New Testament describes two separate streams of “Christianity” operating side by side throughout the church age.

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A Limited Message or a Limited Fellowship
By David Nettleton

“I am pure from the blood of all men. For I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God.” Acts 20:27

This message, like many, is born out of an experience. It may be some others are going through similar experiences. Therefore, let me recount the one which brought this message to light.

I was brought up as a Presbyterian. I was saved at a college which was interdenominational in student body, but was managed by the Church of the Brethren. From there I went to a seminary which was not a denominational school, and from there to another seminary which was United Presbyterian. I entered the Baptist pastorate with no Baptist training except that which came from reading of the Scriptures.

FASHION REBEL DIES (Friday Church News Notes, May 18, 2012, www.wayoflife.org, fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - Vidal Sassoon, one of the kings of the fashion industry, died on May 9 at age 84. He was “a beauty pioneer akin to fashion rebels like Mary Quant [inventor of the mini skirt] ... putting women in sleek, wash-and-go wedges, bobs and other less-is-more crops” (“Vidal Sassoon,” USA Today, May 10, 2012). In 1993 Sasson told the Los Angeles Times, “Women were going back to work; they were assuming their own power. They didn’t have time to sit under the dryer anymore.” One of the movers and shakers of the cultural revolution of the 1960s, Sasson said that though the Beatles were changing the world, “you can’t wear music, but you can wear your hair different.” Fashion is not a morally innocent thing. It is a language, and God’s people must not conform themselves to the course of this wicked world (Romans 12:2). Three of the major fundamentals of the modern fashion industry are pride, sensuality (achieved particularly through skimpy and tight clothing), and unisexuality, all of which are condemned in 1 John 2:15-16 as part of the world that lies under God’s righteous judgment. As we have documented in the book Dressing for the Lord, many of the fashion kings are homosexuals, and there has been a brash attempt to break down the separation between the sexes, which is open rebellion to the Creator, who “made them male and female.” The apostle Paul taught that the distinction between the sexes is to be reflected even in the matter of hair length, with long hair being the woman’s glory, signifying her submission to authority, but with long hair on the man being shameful (1 Cor. 11:14-15). This is why I cut my hair in 1973 after I was converted from a “hippie” lifestyle, and I have always considered it hypocritical and inconsistent for churches to allow short-haired women to sing in the choir and teach Sunday School classes, when they would not allow a long-haired man to do the same. Vidal Sassoon’s influence extends even to Bible-believing churches.

Many Southern Baptists love The Shack, which is irrefutable evidence of the deep spiritual apostasy that exists in that Convention. I received the following frightful testimony from a pastor who came out of the Convention in 1996:

“Concerning the question about ‘The Shack,’ I have been shocked at the willingness of many of my former SBC friends and acquaintances to receive it as a ‘great’ book. As you know, and have taught, the book presents a picture of ‘God’ that is not biblical. The ready acceptance of this book by the vast majority of those I know, is indicative of a serious lack of discernment. It seems that spiritual discernment is a rapidly dissipating quality today. I have questioned several folk on their acceptance of ‘The Shack’ and its false teaching. Their response has been, ‘But it teaches a good truth about how God loves us.’ This is characteristic of the modern church-growth movement that focuses solely on the ‘love of God,’ and relegates His holiness, righteousness and judgments to the ‘unimportant’” (Marty Wynn, Lighthouse Baptist Church, Columbus, Georgia, e-mail to D. Cloud, May 21, 2011).

The New Testament everywhere teaches that salvation will be accompanied by evidence.

1. Consider some of the Scriptures that teach that salvation is accompanied by evidence:

Consider 1 John 2:3-4.

Consider 2 Corinthians 5:17.

Consider Titus 1:16, where Paul warned about those who profess Christ but deny Him by their works.

Consider 2 Timothy 2:19, where we see that the seal of salvation is the two-fold truth that God knows those who are His and that the true believer will demonstrate his salvation by departing from iniquity. To depart from iniquity is not the way of salvation; it is the evidence of salvation.

Consider Ephesians 2:8-10. Though salvation is “without works” in that it is God’s free gift through Christ, it is “unto good works” (Eph. 2:8-10). The good works are God’s works showing themselves in the individual’s life. The good works are the evidence.

Consider John 3:3, which teaches that salvation is a supernatural birth that changes the individual’s life.

Consider the conversions described in the Gospels under Christ’s earthly ministry. In every case the individual’s life was dramatically changed: e.g., the woman at the well (John 4), Zacchaeus (Luke 19:1-10).

Consider the conversions described in the book of Acts. Again, in every case the individual’s life was dramatically changed: e.g., those who were saved on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2:41-42), the Ethiopian eunuch (Acts 8:26-39), Paul (Acts 9:1-21), Lydia (Acts 16:14-15), the Philippian jailor (Acts 16:27-35).

Consider the believers at Thessalonica who modeled genuine salvation (1 Thessalonians 1:9-10).

The fact is that God has zero culpability in this. He has given light and those who respond to the light receive more light.

The Bible says that God gives light to every man (John 1:9).

In the epistle to the church at Rome, Paul explained that God has given three types of light to mankind. (1) He has given the light of creation that we might know that there is a wise and powerful God (Romans 1:20). (2) He has given the light of conscience that we can know that there is a moral God (Romans 2:14-16). (3) He has given the light of prophecy and Scripture that we might know who this God is and might have a personal relationship with Him (Romans 3:1-2).

God has raised up prophets to the nations from the time of Abel to the present. “God has spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began” (Acts 3:21), but God’s messengers have been ignored, ridiculed, persecuted, killed far more often than they have been honored and believed.

In the days of Solomon the kings of the earth heard the prophetic wisdom God had given him (1 Kings 4:34).

Jesus commanded His disciples to carry the gospel to every nation, and even by the end of the first century it was already preached in the Middle East, Asia, Africa, and Europe.

The whole Bible has been translated into every major language and portions thereof into more than 2,000 other languages.

The nations have heard, but they have not listened.

The nations will be condemned by the likes of the Ethiopian eunuch, the treasurer of that nation, who obtained a copy of the prophet Isaiah and sought Philip’s assistance in understanding it (Acts 8:26-39). When a man sincerely tries to comprehend the light he has, God will send him a Philip. God requires that men seek after Him, and promises to be found of those who do (Acts 17:26-27; Jeremiah 29:13; Luke 11:9; Hebrews 11:6).

It is not God’s fault that most people sit in darkness today.

Jesus said that men are condemned already by rejecting the light that they have (John 3:18-20).

“The foolishness of man perverteth his way: and his heart fretteth against the LORD” (Proverbs 19:3).

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VOLUME 13 ISSUE 19
GRAPHICAL PDF VERSION.

The Friday Church News Notes is designed for use in churches and is published by Way of Life Literature’s Fundamental Baptist Information Service. Unless otherwise stated, the Notes are written by David Cloud. Of necessity we quote from a wide variety of sources, but this does not imply an endorsement. For instructions on how to unsubscribe to this list or to change mailing addresses, please consult the information paragraph at the end.

ANDY STANLEY’S HERESY ON GRACE AND HOMOSEXUALITY (Friday Church News Notes, May 11, 2012, www.wayoflife.org, fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - In a sermon entitled “When Gracie Met Truthy,” the seventh in an eight-part series on what it means to be a “Christian,” preached on April 15, 2012, Southern Baptist mega-church pastor Andy Stanley proclaimed heresies pertaining to grace and homosexuality. He described a couple in his church who divorced when the wife discovered that her husband was in a sexual relationship with another man. Instead of disciplining the man, the church allowed the homosexual couple to move to another “campus” of North Point Church and work together as a “host” team. They were allowed to do this until it was discovered that one of the men was still married and therefore was “living in adultery” (Al Mohler, “Is the Megachurch the New Liberalism?” May 1, 2012). The homosexuality was apparently never an issue. Stanley told of how the wife showed “forgiveness” by bringing all of the parties to a Christmas service (her and her daughter, the former husband and his homosexual partner and that man’s daughter). But proper forgiveness as defined scripturally requires repentance (Luke 17:3). Stanley is promoting the psycho-heresy of “unconditional forgiveness,” which is blind emotional mysticism. (See The God of End-time Mysticism, a free eBook available from Way of Life, www.wayoflife.org.)

Dr. Damadian, biophysicist, is the recipient of the Lemelson-MIT Achievement Award as “the man who invented the MRI scanner.” In 1988 he was awarded the National Medal of Technology, America’s highest award for applied science, and a year later, he was inducted into the Inventors Hall of Fame, an honor he shares with Thomas Edison, Samuel Morse, and the Wright Brothers. The first MRI scanner that Dr. Damadian and his colleagues built in 1977, “The Indomitable,” resides at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C.

QUESTION: Why do you believe that the Bible is true?

DAMADIAN: If you take the trouble to examine the evidence supporting the Bible and contradicting alternative theories, from my perception, the evidence is overwhelmingly in support of the biblical record and vacates alternative thoughts such as evolution. The evidence for evolution is non-existent. In my opinion, evolution is science fiction.

QUESTION: Does the Bible’s account of creation contradict any known facts of science?

DAMADIAN: No. Absolutely not. In my opinion evolution contradicts them.

QUESTION: What things would you think that evolution contradicts in terms of known facts of science?

DAMADIAN: Just as an example, it contracts the first law of thermodynamics. It contradicts the second law of thermodynamics. And it contradicts a major, fundamental law of physics, which is the law of cause and effect. The effect can never be greater than the cause, but evolution has to start with slime mold and end up with a human being. So that is an outright contradiction of the law of cause and effect. The second law of thermodynamics says that everything is running downhill. All of the processes of nature are degenerating to the point where the ultimate outcome is going to be equilibrium where no actions of any kind occur because you have a universal equilibrium. Evolution says the opposite. Evolution says that by the sheer process of chance things are not running downhill, they are getting progressively more perfected. That is an outright contradiction of the second law of thermodynamics. Evolution ducks the question of where does matter come from. The only way you can start is that you have to make something out of nothing. You have to start with nothing and end up with matter. When you go from nothing to something you are violating every one of the laws of physics that we know about. The first law of thermodynamics, the second law of thermodynamics, and the law of cause and effect.

(first published July 15, 2008) (David Cloud, Fundamental Baptist Information Service, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061, 866-295-4143, fbns@wayoflife.org; for instructions about subscribing and unsubscribing or changing addresses, see the information paragraph at the end of the article) -

Sue Monk Kidd is a very popular writer. Her first two novels, The Secret Life of Bees (2002) and The Mermaid Chair (2005), have sold more than 6 million copies and the first one is being produced as a movie. She has also written two popular books on contemplative spirituality: God’s Joyful Surprise (1988) and When the Heart Waits (1990).

Kidd is quoted favorably by evangelicals such as David Jeremiah (Life Wide Open), Beth Moore (When Godly People Do Ungodly Things), Richard Foster (Prayer: Finding the Heart’s True Home), and Philip Yancy (Prayer: Does It Make Any Difference?). Kidd’s endorsement is printed on the back of Dallas Willard’s book The Spirit of the Disciplines. She wrote the foreword to the 2006 edition of Henri Nouwen’s With Open Hands and the introduction to Thomas Merton’s New Seeds of Contemplation.

It is “contemplative spirituality” that changed Kidd’s life, and her experience is a loud warning about flirting with Catholic mysticism.

She was raised in a Southern Baptist congregation in southwest Georgia. Her grandfather and father were Baptist deacons. Her grandmother gave devotionals at the Women’s Missionary Union, and her mother was a Sunday School teacher. Her husband was a minister who taught religion and a chaplain at a Baptist college. She was very involved in church, teaching Sunday School and attending services Sunday morning and evening and Wednesday. She describes herself as the person who would have won a contest for “Least Likely to Become a Feminist.” She was even inducted into a group of women called the Gracious Ladies, the criterion for which was that “one needed to portray certain ideals of womanhood, which included being gracious and giving of oneself unselfishly.”

But for years she had felt a spiritual emptiness and lack of contentment. Prayer was “a fairly boring mental activity” (Kidd’s foreword to Henri Nouwen’s With Open Hands, 2006, p. 10). She says,

“I had been struggling to come to terms with my life as a woman--in my culture, my marriage, my faith, my church, and deep inside myself” (The Dance of the Dissident Daughter, p. 8).

She was thirty years old, had been married about 12 years, and had two children.

The following is excerpted from the book CONTEMPLATIVE MYSTICISM: A POWERFUL ECUMENICAL BOND, which is available from Way of Life Literature. Contemplative mysticism, which originated with Roman Catholic and Greek Orthodox monasticism, is permeating every branch of Christianity today, including the Southern Baptist Convention. In this book we document the fact that Catholic mysticism leads inevitably to a broadminded ecumenical philosophy and to the adoption of heresies. For many, this path has led to interfaith dialogue, Buddhism, Hinduism, universalism, pantheism, panentheism, even goddess theology. One chapter is dedicated to exposing the heresies of Richard Foster: “Evangelicalism’s Mystical Sparkplug.” We describe the major contemplative practices, such as centering prayer, visualizing prayer, Jesus Prayer, Lectio Divina, and the labyrinth. We look at the history of Roman Catholic monasticism, beginning with the Desert Fathers and the Church Fathers, and document the heresies associated with it, such as its sacramental gospel, rejection of the Bible as sole authority, veneration of Mary, purgatory, celibacy, asceticism, allegorical interpretation of Scripture, and moral corruption. We examine the errors of contemplative mysticism, such as downplaying the centrality of the Bible, ignoring the fact that multitudes of professing Christians are not born again, exchanging the God of the Bible for a blind idol, ignoring the Bible’s warnings against associating with heresy and paganism, and downplaying the danger of spiritual delusion.

A major section of the book is entitled “A Biographical Catalog of Contemplative Mystics” which deals with dozens of the current-day contemplative promoters as well as the ancient “saints” and mystics that are being resurrected today, including the following:

Angela of Foligno, Anthony the Great, Augustine, Benedict of Nursia, Bernard of Clairvaux, Ken Blanchard, Bonaventure, Brother Lawrence, Catherine of Genoa, Catherine of Siena, Larry Crabb, Anthony De Mello, Dominic, Meister Eckhart, Tilden Edwards, James Finely, Richard Foster, Matthew Fox, Frances de Sales, Francis of Assisi, Alan Griffiths, Madame Guyon, Hildegard of Bingen, Ignatius of Loyola, Willigis Jager, John of the Cross, William Johnston, Julian of Norwich, Thomas Keating, Morton Kelsey, Thomas a Kempis, Sue Monk Kidd, Peter Kreeft, John Main, Brennan Manning, Thomas Merton, J.P. Moreland, Henri Nouwen, Basil Pennington, Eugene Peterson, Karl Kahner, Thomas Ryan, William Shannon, Henri Le Saux, Philip St. Roman, David Steindl-Rast, Henry Suso, John Michael Talbot, Johann Tauler, Wayne Teasdale, Pierre Teilhard, Teresa of Avila, Teresa of Lisieux, Majorie Thompson, Phyllis Tickle, Robert Webber, Dallas Willard, and John Yungblut.

The book contains an extensive index.

It is available in print and eBook editions from Way of Life Literature.
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DALLAS WILLARD (b. 1935) is a philosophy professor who has had an influence on the emerging church and evangelicalism at large through his writings on contemplative spirituality and the kingdom of God. Brian McLaren has called Willard and Richard Foster “key mentors in the emerging church.”

Willard is a professor in the philosophy department at the University of Southern California. He has taught at Fuller Theological Seminary and elsewhere.

He is also an ordained Southern Baptist minister.

LIBERAL BAPTISTS CELEBRATING APOSTASY (Friday Church News Notes, May 4, 2012, www.wayoflife.org, fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The Conference on Sexuality and Covenant, April 19-21, was a liberal Baptist celebration of apostasy. It was rebellion against the clear teaching of God’s Word. Co-sponsored by the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship and Mercer University, the conference drew about 400 attendees. Homosexuality was high on the agenda, and human feelings and experiences (“personal narratives”) trumped the Bible as the chief authority. The speaker lineup included a couple of “conservatives,” but only those who would enunciate their beliefs in dialoguing-inducing, I-might-be-wrong, to-each-his-own terms. More typical was Guy Sayles, Pastor of First Baptist Church Asheville, North Carolina, who warned about “ecclesiastical border patrol officers” and claimed that God’s “unconditional love” requires acceptance of homosexuals as “full and equal participants in the Christian community” (“A Baptist Conference on Sexuality - Day 1,” The Institute on Religion and Democracy, April 20, 2012). When Cody Sanders said that his first “date” with his homosexual partner was to Bob Jones University’s religious art museum, there was applause and laughter from the audience. Three of the seven exhibitors were sponsored by “explicitly pro-gay ministries.” Music was provided by Jennifer Knapp, a million-album-selling contemporary Christian musician who “came out” as a lesbian in 2010. The conference planning team invited speakers who have “genuinely struggled with questions and matters of sexuality” (“Baptist Sexuality Conference,” Associated Baptist Press, Jan. 10, 2012). This “struggle” is a product of unbelief, because God’s Word describes the issue of sexuality in the clearest terms and it’s not our part to “struggle” with God’s Word; it’s our part to believe and obey. “But without faith it is impossible to please him...” (Heb. 11:6). From Genesis to Revelation, the Bible nowhere says that God approves of homosexual relations; rather, it describes them as “against nature,” “unseemly,” and “a reprobate mind” (Rom. 1:26-28). According to Scripture, the only acceptable environment for sexual relationship is holy marriage, and there is no divine authority for marriage to extend to same sex couples. “Marriage is honourable in all, and the bed undefiled: but whoremongers and adulterers God will judge” (Hebrews 13:4).

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Recently I stood on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem and wondered at the past, present, and future of this amazing place. The story of the nation Israel is largely the story of the Temple Mount, and it should interest every believer, because it is at the heart of Bible prophecy and our own future is tied up with it.

The Bible says that God has placed Jerusalem at the center of the nations to be a light to the world (Ezekiel 5:5). It is Israel’s failure to live up to this calling that has brought such great trouble upon her and upon the city that lies at the center of her hopes and aspirations.

Jewish tradition says that Adam and Eve were created on Mt. Moriah, but the Bible does not confirm this. In fact, the biblical description of the location of the Garden of Eden places it farther north in association with the Tigris and Euphrates rivers.

The biblical history of the Temple Mount begins in 1870 B.C. when Abraham was instructed to offer his son Isaac, the inheritor of God’s promise, on Mt. Moriah (Genesis 22:2). God provided a ram in the place of Isaac to signify the coming of the Messiah to make the perfect atonement for man’s sin (Gen. 22:11-14). Abraham named the place Jehovah-jireh, the Lord will provide, and there God reaffirmed the Abrahamic covenant (Gen. 22:15-18), the covenant that passed to Jacob or Israel, and through his 12 sons to the tribes of Israel.