O Timothy 2015-02 - Way of Life Literature

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O Timothy
“Keep that which is committed to thy trust...”
A Monthly Newsletter for Spiritual Protection and Edification
Volume 32- Issue 2 - February 2015
“One of the greatest problems among
Bible-believing churches today is the
phenomenon of gradualism. Worldliness
and ecumenical philosophies and
charismatic music and many other injurious
things are gradually making inroads into
fundamentalist churches. This makes the
problem difficult to detect and even more
difficult to correct.” Page 9.
Digging in the Walls: A month’s worth
of news items, republished from Friday
Church News Notes. Page 14.
DR. GARLOCK MISSES AN IMPORTANT POINT - by David Cloud
T
he music issue is a huge issue in Bible-believing
churches, and I intend to continue to speak out about
it as long as the Lord allows. The Lord has given me a
unique background by which to judge this issue, not only
as a former rock & roller, but also as a musician, preacher,
missionary, father, grandfather, and researcher.
I realize that many independent Baptist preachers have
shut their ears to anything I have to say, but that is their
business, and the Lord will have the final word as to
whether that is wise on their part.
I thank the Lord that many thousands of the Lord’s people
are still listening, and I hear from hundreds of these each
year who urge me to keep sounding the trumpet against
the contemporary trend.
As for Dr. Frank Garlock, the subject of this article, I thank
the Lord for him. In August 2003, I published “A Salute
to Frank Garlock” to make this point. As far as I know, I
1 Timothy 6:20, 21
have read everything he has written and watched every
video he has produced. I haven’t met him, but I love him
in Christ. God has used him in a large way to help
Bible-believing churches understand the difference
between sacred and sensual music.
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For decades I gave free advertising to Majesty Music by
including them in our list of recommend music resources.
Many years ago, they gave my oldest daughter
permission to include a couple of their hymns in the
Nepali hymnal we publish and use in our churches. Just
the other night in our prayer meeting, I was blessed by
Ron Hamilton’s song “Here Am I, Lord” as we sang it
in Nepali.
Dr. Garlock has taught something that is obviously close
to God’s heart, considering its emphasis in Scripture,
which is that God’s people must learn to make “the
difference between the holy and profane” (Ezekiel
44:23). This is a fundamental Scriptural principle in
regard to Christian music and every other aspect of the
Christian life and ministry.
Any one can have a blind side, though. In fact, I do not
doubt that we all have blind sides, seeing that we “have
this treasure in earthen vessels.” This is why “reproofs
of instruction” are so important.
Dr. Garlock’s present defense of the “careful use” of
“modern hymns” by men such as Keith Getty and
Stuart Townend is a very dangerous blind side that
has the potential to undo, in one generation, the good
that he has done through a lifetime of godly labor.
O TIMOTHY Magazine
Volume 32 Issue 2
David W. Cloud, Editor
Subscription information on
back page of the magazine
Copyright 2011 by D.W.Cloud
Way of Life Literature
PO Box 610368, Port Huron, MI
48061
866-295-4143 (toll free)
fbns@wayoflife.org
http://www.wayoflife.org
Bethel Baptist Church
4212 Campbell St. N.
London, Ontario, N6P 1A6 Canada
519-652-2619
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In a statement in his daughter’s recent book Why I Don’t
Listen to Contemporary Christian Music, Dr. Garlock
gives a public justification for the inclusion of these and
other such men’s music in Rejoice Hymns.
The following quote is excerpted from Frank Garlock’s
“Postlude” to Why I Don’t Listen to Contemporary
Christian Music by Shelly Hamilton, Majesty Music:
2013, pp. 95-96:
“In Rejoice Hymns, we included some songs that we
did not include in Majesty Hymns. For instance, some
of these songs had not been written 14 years ago when
we produced Majesty Hymns. There has been some
concern regarding our hymnbook Rejoice Hymns
because it incorporates music from two ministries in
particular: Sovereign Grace Music (SGM), led by
Bob Kauflin; and the music of Keith and Kristyn
Getty and Stuart Townend (GTM). We do not
question the motives or spiritual commitment of these
ministries. Many of the texts, especially those of
Getty and Townend, are biblically rich. Townend
states: ‘It is so important that our lives are built not
on our feelings or circumstances, but on the Word of
God, and songs can really help us to meditate on and
retain truth. Most of my life is spent making melodies
to make truths less forgettable.’
“The biggest quandary is not in the biblical
correctness of the lyrics SGM and GTM write, but in
the music. Music professor Douglas Bachorik at Bob
Jones Memorial Bible College in the Philippines and
Rev. Ryan Weberg, pastor of Valley View Bible
Church in Pennsylvania, have written An Exploration
of the Music of Sovereign Grace Ministries and
Getty-Townend. They say: ‘We find that SGM tends
towards a heavy use of repetition, melodically,
rhythmically, and sometimes textually, in the printed
version, and even more so in the performances. This
fits well with the (SGM) charismatic roots of their
worship theology. ... Theologically, SGM describes
itself as evangelical, reformed, and charismatic.
...SGM seems to be content with working exclusively
in various rock styles.’
“By contrast, ‘GTM has an emphasis upon Christian
doctrine over Christian experience.’ Much of GTM
1 Timothy 6:20,21
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is written in a conservative style which has been
described as the ‘modern hymn.’ Many conservative
Christians think that GTM fits better in their churches
than SGM because of the written style difference.
“After considering the above factors, there are a
number of GTM songs and a few SGM songs that fit
into a written traditional music style and also have
strong biblical texts. All the GTM and SGM songs
that are included in Rejoice Hymns are innately
conservative in style and are strong both melodically
and textually.”
While Dr. Garlock makes many good statements in his
longer “Postlude” to Shelly Hamilton’s book, which we
have not included here, such as thoughtful warnings
about worldliness in the churches and the trend away
from using hymnbooks, TWO ESSENTIAL FACTS
ARE GLARING IN THEIR OMISSION.
First, in practice, Getty/Townend represent the “oneworld church.”
Second, to use their material is to build bridges to the
extremely dangerous world that they represent.
“Fundamentalists” who build these bridges will
eventually bring the corruption of that world into
their churches. It has been happening for two decades,
and the pace of change is increasing before our very
eyes.
In this age of the Internet, it is impossible to use materials
by contemporary musicians without building bridges that
our church members will inevitably cross, particularly
young people. They are going to Google
“Getty/Townend,” and many of them are going to be
influenced by them, and some are going to be influenced
deeply.
As I have said, I have never known of a Baptist church
becoming Lutheran by singing Luther’s hymns or
even becoming Roman Catholic by singing one or two
old hymns written by Catholics (thought I don’t
recommend the latter), but I have known of dozens
of churches that have become contemporary by
messing around with contemporary music, EVEN
THOUGH THIS PATH INVARIABLY STARTS IN
A “SMALL” AND “CAUTIOUS” MANNER.
1 Timothy 6:20,21
Dr. Garlock makes the point that of the 70 songs in
Rejoice Hymns, only eight are from SGM (Sovereign
Grace) and GTM (Getty Townend).
True, but where will things be in five years? Ten years?
Twenty years?
Dr. Garlock is justifying the crossing of an important
threshold, and it will be impossible to return to a former
stance once the mistake has been recognized (if it ever
is).
In his “Postlude,” Dr. Garlock acknowledges that we are
living in a time of rapid change. He says, “It was easier
to make decisions about which hymns to include 15 years
ago because the lines were drawn more definitively than
they are today.” He admits that “the consensus among
conservatives was also much clearer.”
That being the case, why let the Getty/Townends get their
nose in the tent? Is it really time to be playing around
with this stuff. Many men of God see Getty Townend as
dangerous. Why push the boundaries?
Dr. Garlock says, “Some Christians have told us that they
only use music from ministries with which they totally
agree.”
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I don’t know who says this. I certainly don’t say it. I
doubt that such a standard is even possible.
In fact, Townend is very radical in his doctrinal thinking
and appears to be in love with a false christ.
What I say is that it is wise to avoid the contemporary
crowd, including the Gettys, because they represent a
very dangerous world.
When asked, “What would Jesus sing?” Townend replied:
Who are Getty/Townend? Are they really
“conservative”? Do they really love sound doctrine?
Conservative-sounding statements by these men must be
interpreted in the context of their lives and ministries and
associations. It is a case in which “what you do speaks
louder than what you say.”
In my decades of research into the ecumenical movement,
I have often sat in conferences with media credentials
and thought to myself, “This man sounds biblically
sound; why then can he hold hands with Roman Catholics
and liberals and charismatics and support the heresies
that he supports by his unscriptural associations?” I can’t
answer to motives. I only know that even a sincere man
can be very wrong, and I know that the ecumenism is
wrong according to God’s Word. And it is not a light
matter; it is a major part of how the “one-world church”
is being built.
Consider the following statement that Dr. Garlock quotes
from Stuart Townend:
“It is so important that our lives are built not on our
feelings or circumstances, but on the Word of God,
and songs can really help us to meditate on and retain
truth”?
Most “fundamentalists” reading those words would
conclude that Townend is opposed to charismatic
mysticism and devoted to the truth of God’s Word. But
if this is true, why is he a member of a charismatic church
that supports the “extraordinary manifestations of the
Spirit”? And how can he support the Alpha program
which bridges charismatic, Baptist, Protestant, and
Roman Catholic churches?
Like that pioneer ecumenist Billy Graham, Stuart
Townend is “Mr. Facing Two Ways.” He speaks
passionately about the truth at times even while holding
hands with the “broader church” in all of its unscriptural
facets and heresies and end-time apostasies.
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“I think he would be doing thrash metal or hip hop
or something where we’d go, ‘He can’t do that!’
Because I think he would be challenging our comfortable perceptions. I don’t know what he would
sing or whose songs he would sing, but I believe he
would do it in a way that would surprise and probably shock us” (“What Would Jesus Sing?” from an
interview with Stuart Townend, TV series Principles
of
Praise,
2011,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OCW0oAAna
7c).
Does that sound like the statement of a man that Biblebelieving Christians should be associating with? Is
Townend’s thrash metal, hip-hop, “out to shock them”
Jesus the Jesus that we know and serve?
Dr. Garlock, is this the Jesus you want introduced to your
grandchildren and great grandchildren and to the young
people in churches that you have tried to influence in a
godly way?
As for the Gettys, while their doctrinal statement might
be conservative, their associations are as radically oneworld church as Michael W. Smith or Darlene Zschech
or any other contemporary artist.
If the Gettys truly love God’s Word and sound doctrine,
why did they (and Townend) join hands in July 2012,
with Roman Catholic Matt Maher on NewsongCafe on
WorshipTogether.com? The program promoted
ecumenical unity, with Maher/Townend/Getty perfectly
one in the spirit through music? In these ecumenical
settings, in which Getty/Townend are comfortable, truly
fundamental doctrinal differences are so meaningless that
they are not even mentioned. Spiritual abominations such
as the papacy, the mass, infant baptism, baptismal
regeneration, and veneration of Mary were ignored. Jude
3 is despised and Romans 16:17 disobeyed for the sake
of creating unity through contemporary Christian music.
In fact, the Gettys aren’t even conservative in their
musical stance. Their web site tells us that they “fuse the
music of their Irish heritage with the sounds of Nashville,
1 Timothy 6:20,21
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Exclusive: Famed Hymn Writers Talk
Irish Christmas Tour,” Christian Post,
Dec. 2, 2014).
Regardless
of
how
sincere
Getty/Townend are, and regardless of
how “conservative” they might appear
in contrast to some of the other
contemporary Christian musicians,
and regardless of how fervently they
speak about “the truth,” these are not
friends of a Bible-believing stance.
their newly adopted home.” There is nothing conservative
or spiritual about this syncretism, for Nashville represents
the very heart and soul of worldly music today and the
Gettys are comfortable with that.
While the Getty’s “modern hymns” are fairly
conservative in rhythm, the Gettys are not opposed to
rock & roll. They themselves rock out pretty hard at some
venues. And while they don’t write hard rock worship
songs, they don’t speak against this, either. In fact, Keith
Getty recently said that he is glad for edgy, rocking
renditions of his music by artists such as Newsboys,
Ricky Skaggs, Owl City, Alison Krauss, and Natalie
Grant, because “it is an honor” for him that popular
modern musicians record them, and “it’s also interesting
to hear their interpretation of it and useful for the song
because it helps the song get played more” (“The Gettys
Getty-Townend
represent
the
exceedingly dangerous world of
contemporary worship music as surely
as Michael W. Smith or Graham Kendrick or Darlene
Zschech. They are one in spirit.
Any bridge that Bible-believing churches build to
Getty/Townend is a bridge beyond Getty/Townend to
heretics such as C.S. Lewis, to worldlings such as
Bono, to the Roman Catholic Church, to the
charismatic movement, to the world of secular rock,
even to emergents and New Agers like Leonard Sweet,
and to every element of the end-time one-world
“church.”
For extensive documentation of this see Keith Getty and
Stuart Townend in 575-page Directory of Contemporary
Worship Musicians, available as a free eBook at
www.wayoflife.org.
Please Note: These eBooks are free but they are
copyrighted. The free eBooks may be freely loaned
and shared with others but may not be distributed
from web sites or blogs. All books must remain
completely intact with all text and copyright notices.
No fee may be charged for these books. Please Do Not
post these eBooks on web sties or blogs.
1 Timothy 6:20,21
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In the year 2000, I issued a warning about the newer Patch
the Pirate tapes. I made the observation that Majesty
Music was moving in a more contemporary direction.
Fifteen years later, that direction is more obvious with
the inclusion of “contemporary hymns” by Keith Getty
and Stuart Townend in Majesty Music’s new hymnal
(Rejoice Hymns) and the sad defense of the same by Dr.
Frank Garlock in Shelly Hamilton’s book Why I Don’t
Listen to Contemporary Christian Music.
The Mount Zion Marathon tape for example, has a song
titled “Lazy Bones,” which is certainly akin to rock
music. It uses a syncopated rhythm with a heavy,
synthesized bass. The music would be right at home in a
nightclub or a sleazy Broadway play. Though it is tame
compared to much of the standard CCM fare today, Patch
the Pirate’s “Lazy Bones” will help develop an appetite
in children for worldly music. Other examples of this can
be found on their newer tapes.
I am republishing the following articles from 2000 to
give historical context to the battle against the
infiltration of contemporary music into fundamental
Baptist churches.
Some will doubtless protest that I have no right to judge
Majesty Music by my own opinion of what is or is not
worldly, that they themselves see absolutely nothing
wrong with the new Patch tapes. I readily admit that there
is much that is subjective about music, and that it is
sometimes difficult to nail down precisely what is and is
not wholesome. This being the case, isn’t the wisest
approach to avoid all appearance of evil, to be certain that
we offend in nothing? Instead of taking this wise path of
avoiding every semblance of worldliness and maintaining
only the most unquestionable standard for music, though,
Majesty Music is pushing the musical boundaries for the
fundamentalist and Bible-believing Baptist churches that
use the Patch tapes, subtly and gradually moving them
into the CCM sphere.
Compromise usually begins with small things, but the
Bible twice warns that “a LITTLE leaven leaveneth
the whole lump” (1 Cor. 5:6; Gal. 5:9).
BE CAREFUL ABOUT NEWER PATCH THE
PIRATE TAPES
June 14, 2000 (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) While most of the music produced by Majesty Music of
Greenville, South Carolina (headed up by Ron and Shelly
Hamilton), is excellent, we must warn that some of the
newer recordings are moving in a contemporary direction.
This is particularly true of the newer Patch the Pirate
children’s tapes.
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Books published by Ron Hamilton’s father-in-law, Frank
Garlock, plainly condemn the use of worldly music to
serve a holy God. Dr. Garlock observes: “It is absurd to
think that one can unite Christian lyrics with the medium
of the world (rock music) and expect the meaning and
communication to remain the same” (Music in the
Balance, 1992, p. 31). Yet this is exactly what Patch the
Pirate is doing with songs such as “Lazy Bones.” Dr.
Garlock says it is absolutely untrue to claim that music
is simply a matter of personal taste (p. 7). He carefully
describes the characteristics of worldly music. He defines
1 Timothy 6:20,21
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rock music by its rhythm and quotes British sociologist
Simon Frith, “The sexuality of music is usually referred
to in terms of its rhythm--it is the beat that commands a
directly physical response.” That is why rock music is so
incredibly popular. It literally feels good; it affects people
on a sensual level. And let us be reminded that rock music
is not defined by how fast the rhythm moves. Rock music
comes in a wide variety of speeds, but the slow or soft
rock of “Lazy Bones” is just as much rock music as the
soft rock of many of the Beatles tunes.
Consider the following warning by Dr. H.T. Spence,
president of Foundations Bible College & Seminary. Dr.
Spence is a fundamentalist historian and teacher who has
taught music, history, and theology for 25 years. He
received part of his music training at Bob Jones
University: “The simple, soft music of Patch the Pirate
Goes in Space has mutated into an eclectic fashion of
contemporary sounds in The Misterslippi River Race (the
first of the recordings which caused much alarm from
many Fundamentalists) ... the next recording in the series,
The Calliope Capers, literally increased the eclectic
approach to the music, with just about every song written
in a different style of contemporary music” (Dr. H.T.
Spence, Confronting Contemporary Christian Music,
Foundations Bible College & Seminary, 1997, pp.
138,140).
Don Jasmin, editor of the Fundamentalist Digest, adds
this warning: “The Fundamentalist Digest editor firmly
believes that children who become ‘addicted’ to ‘Patch’s’
music could develop a light frivolous approach to Holy
Scripture and sacred Biblical truth. This does not mean
that he believes Bible truth must be presented in a boring
and dull manner! He believes that the strategy of Bill
Mason and the Children’s Bible Clubs in Greenville, SC,
is vastly superior in both its Scriptural teaching approach
and musical methodology to that of Ron Hamilton and
the ‘Patch the Pirate’ clubs” (Don Jasmin, Fundamentalist
Digest, May/June 2000, p. 21, P.O. Box 2322, Elkton,
MD 21922. 410-392-4569).
REPLY TO MAJESTY MUSIC ABOUT MY
ARTICLE
June 18, 2000 (David Cloud, Fundamental Baptist
1 Timothy 6:20,21
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end of the article) On June 14, I published an article titled “Be Careful about
New Patch the Pirate Tapes.” It was a gentle warning in
which I expressed my growing concern with some of the
newer Patch tapes.
One of the subscribers to the Fundamental Baptist
Information Service sent a copy of the article to Majesty
Music, and the following reply was received from Mr.
John Leupp, Manager of Operations:
"Customer Service" <info@majestymusic.com>
Thu, 15 Jun 2000 15:53:01 -0500
Dear Mr. and Mrs. -----,
Thank you for alerting us to the comments David Cloud
has posted on his web site. I am familiar with some of
the statements Dr. Spence and Don Jasmin have made,
but we have never made a public response to them.
The basic charge that Majesty Music is moving in a
contemporary direction is so obviously false that we have
just let the truth speak for itself and ignored them. They
are both Christian brothers, and we are willing to turn the
other cheek as long as we can.
David Cloud is the first person we have ever heard object
to Lazy Bones in the nearly five years since it was
released. He has quite an imagination if Lazy Bones
easily conjures up "unwholesome images as that of a
saucy woman sauntering across a stage." All that is
necessary is to listen to the song to know how silly this
charge really is.
Majesty Music, under the leadership of men like Dr.
Frank Garlock and Ron Hamilton, has always taken a
stand for music that is pleasing to the Lord and against
the worldly music, both secular and CCM, of our day.
Dr. Garlock has not just been fighting the battle for
Biblical standards in Christian music--he has been
leading the fight from the beginning. We have never
changed from that original position.
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Thank you again for your letter and your concern. We
appreciate your continued prayers.
On Eagle's Wings,
John Leupp
Manager of Operations
REPLY FROM BROTHER CLOUD
Hello, Mr. Leupp. I am sorry that my first personal
communication with you cannot be made under more
pleasant circumstances.
I am aware that one of the subscribers to my Fundamental
Baptist Information Service forwarded to you the small
critique I published about the direction of some of the
newer Patch the Pirate tapes. Your reply was forwarded
to me, and I want to answer you personally.
Please understand that I have supported and promoted
Majesty Music as long as I can recall since I was saved
in 1973 at age 23. I still do. Majesty Music is listed in the
“Helpful Music Resources” report that I maintain at my
web site. Majesty Music is also listed in the back of my
1999 book Contemporary Christian Music Under the
Spotlight. I have also frequently recommended Majesty
Music to the readers of my monthly magazine, O
Timothy. I am sure Majesty Music has received many
orders through my free advertising. I have also advertised
Dr. Garlock’s excellent book Music in the Balance and
have personally purchased and given away copies of it;
and in fact, a few years ago I obtained from him
permission to include that book in our electronic
Fundamental Baptist CD-ROM Library.
I say all of that to help you understand that I am not some
enemy taking cheap shots at a ministry for which I have
no personal concern.
Further, I do know enough to write on the subject of
Christian music. I have a multi-faceted background in
music; I lived in the rock and roll culture as a hitchhiking, drug-abusing, Hindu-meditating hippy; and I have
published one of the most extensive reports of the errors
of CCM in print.
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I felt that your reply was condescending toward me in
the extreme. I tried to present my observations in a
careful, fair, and balanced manner. I don’t believe your
reply was in the same spirit. You basically dismissed me
out of hand. It reminded me of the letters I have received
from New Evangelical leaders justifying their various
philosophies and activities. They commonly take a
condescending stance that they are above reproach
because they are sincerely serving the Lord, that it is
unspiritual and foolish even to critique them, that the one
doing the critique is a nobody who obviously represents
an extreme minority, and rarely do they reply directly to
the charges in question.
In my report I tried to express a simple concern about the
direction of some of the Patch the Pirate songs. I realize
that many other people will disagree with my assessment,
but I have every right and responsibility before God to
make such critiques (1 Thess. 5:21, etc.) and to give
warning when I believe it is due (2 Tim. 4:2).
I stated that it would be wise for Majesty Music to avoid
things that are questionable, to draw the line of music in
the very safest place, to refuse to introduce anything that
even hints of worldliness. I repeat that challenge. The
very fact that many godly men with a knowledge of music
are concerned about some of the Patch songs proves my
point. It is not merely Dr. Jasmin and Dr. Spence and I
who have a problem with some of the newer Patch songs.
I personally know many godly pastors and evangelists,
many of whom have a background in music, who have
the same concern; and I am sure Dr. Jasmin and Dr.
Spence could say the same regarding their perspective
spheres of influence (which are considerable). If you were
indeed drawing the line at the very safest point, a large
number of godly men would not be concerned.
Let me refresh your memory with exactly what I said in
the article:
“Some will doubtless protest that I have no right to judge Majesty
Music by my own opinion of what is or is not worldly, that they
themselves see absolutely nothing wrong with the new Patch tapes.
I readily admit that there is much that is subjective about music, and
that it is sometimes difficult to nail down precisely what is and is
not wholesome. This being the case, isn’t the wisest approach to
avoid all appearance of evil, to be certain that we offend in nothing?
Instead of taking this wise path of avoiding every semblance of
worldliness and maintaining only the most unquestionable standard
for music, though, Majesty Music is pushing the musical boundaries for the fundamentalist and Bible-believing Baptist churches that
use the Patch tapes, subtly and gradually moving them into the
1 Timothy 6:20,21
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CCM sphere” (D. Cloud, “Be Careful about New Patch the Pirate
Tapes, June 14, 2000).
Is that a wild-eyed, silly, unreasonable challenge?
My concerns are very personal and began with my own
family, Mr Leupp. I have four children. The oldest is a
missionary. Two are still at home. The youngest, 16, is
an adopted daughter who is educationally delayed. She
operates on roughly a 10-year-old level. I have purchased
several of the Patch tapes for her, and she loves them
(though some of them we have had to reject). On one of
my recent preaching trips I obtained the Mr. Zion
Marathon tape for her from a church bookstore, and a
few days ago I walked past her bedroom and heard “Lazy
Bones” playing. She was singing along as she does with
all the Patch songs. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing.
I took the tape from her and played the song for my godly
wife. She agreed with my concern. I then played the song
for some godly, experienced pastors. They, too, shared
my concern.
It was this incident that motivated me to publish the
article in question. Majesty Music is responsible for the
influence of their music. If they are helping create an
appetite for worldly music in the hearts of a generation
of children, even in a minor way; if they are gradually
moving the line of demarcation from worldly music, as
I believe they are beginning to do, everyone concerned
at Majesty Music will answer to God for it. One of the
greatest problems among Bible-believing churches today
is the phenomenon of gradualism.
Worldliness and ecumenical philosophies and
charismatic music and many other injurious things are
gradually making inroads into fundamentalist churches.
This makes the problem difficult to detect and even more
difficult to correct. With all of my heart, I believe Majesty
Music’s Patch the Pirate tapes are beginning to be on the
problem side of gradualism in the area of music.
You might think that it is “silly” to say that the underlying
music is fit for a nightclub, but I don’t believe there is
anything silly about it. To my great shame, I lived a very
wicked and worldly life before I was saved, and I know
far too much about worldly music and wicked
environments.
In your reply you spoke of “turning the other cheek.” You
are confusing persecution with correction and reproof.
1 Timothy 6:20,21
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Dr. Jasmin nor Dr. Spence nor I nor any other person who
has expressed concern about some Majesty Music song
has persecuted you or tried to injure you (or any one else
at Majesty) in any way whatsoever. Godly reproof is a
mark of Christian charity. It is one of the most difficult
things to give, because it is so frequently misconstrued
and so commonly despised. Many times, though, the
Bible commands Christians to reprove one another when
we perceive there are spiritual problems and to judge all
things by the Word of God, and that is precisely what we
are doing. Nothing more nor less.
Again, your reply reminds me of the hundreds I have
received from CCM supporters. Many of them, too,
perceive correction and reproof as persecution.
I stand by the article. If I was wrong about Dr. Garlock
not being directly connected with Majesty Music today,
I will be glad to correct that if you will tell me what his
current position is.
The Lord’s blessing and grace be with you and with those
who make decisions at Majesty Music.
A concerned friend in Christ.
David Cloud
Director, Way of Life Literature
Note: I received no reply to my heartfelt and spiritually
earnest communication with Majesty Music.
REPLIES FROM READERS ABOUT PATCH THE
PIRATE TAPES
July 1, 2000 (David Cloud, Fundamental Baptist
end of the article)
Following are some of the replies I have received from
readers about my article “Be Careful about Newer Patch
the Pirate Tapes,” published June 14, 2000. The
concluding reply is a challenge that was recently sent to
Majesty Music by a missionary:
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“We agree wholeheartedly with your analysis. We will
not let our children listen to these new tapes anymore. I
have seen my small children start to dance around in a
sensual way with some of the upbeat songs in these new
tapes. Unfortunately, many fundamentalists have put
their trust in Ron Hamilton and think that anything he
has produced must be safe for their children. Oh, how we
need discernment in these days!”
“We have a lot of Patch the Pirate tapes and the majority
of them are good. However, I have noticed a slight change
as noted in your article. One of the newest tapes, there is
a song entitled, ‘Banana Man’ The beginning of the song
is almost identical to a Latin style rock song I have heard.
I don’t know the name, but the tune is almost identical.”
“Your article and reply to Majesty Music is right on
target. I appreciate the straightforward, yet kind spirit in
which you wrote it. As an American missionary, it
grieves me to see so many independent Baptist churches
that stand strong on many doctrines in these last days, yet
they seem to have a real ‘blind-spot’ when it comes to
discerning the ‘gradualism’ of worldly music creeping
into the churches. Our family is planning a short furlough
to the U.S. next year, and I know music in the churches
will be one area I have to warn my children about. Our
family has enjoyed much of Majesty Music’s ministry.
But I fully agree with your advice to use caution
concerning some of the more recent Patch the Pirate
tapes. The break-beat and rumba rhythms, though subtle,
are found in several songs on the ‘Calliope Caper’ tape.
Though these songs are very tame compared to CCM,
they fuzzy the lines instead of taking the high ground.
Thank you for your warnings.”
“Your article about the new Patch tapes are exactly right.
I play the guitar some, the piano some, and have had
many hours in singing training. My wife has a master’s
degree in music from Hyles/Anderson College, and we
have both noticed the change in their music. One of my
good friends went to the Peabody conservatory of music
and was the youngest member of the Cincinnati
Symphony Orchestra. Frank Zappa was one of his
teachers there, and he has the best music training of
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anyone I have ever been around. He met with Ron
Hamilton a few weeks ago concerning music, and he said
he is using a lot of secular people to do his work and Bro.
Carson said his music has slipped a lot.”
“I have a very strong position that is in opposition to
‘Patch’, but for reasons not mentioned in your article.
‘Patch’ is based on Non-Reality. This is a very dangerous
foundation upon which to ‘minister’ to young people.
Bible-believing Christianity is REAL, not fantasy as
presented by ‘Patch’. Nowhere in the Bible do you find
Bible truth presented in fantasy form. This false method
of ‘evangelism’ or ‘teaching’ leads young people into a
fantasy world, not into the reality of true Christianity. To
add to this error, the hero ‘Patch’ is a pirate. I can find
no pirate in all of history that is good. Is this calling
‘good’ ‘evil’? This type of ‘ministry’ is a bane on the
church. Dobson does the same thing with his ‘Odyssey’
program. I would like to see someone research this and
present it through your medium. I deeply appreciate your
ministry. God bless you, my dear Brother.”
“I have to say that I do agree on your stand of erring on
the side of caution -- and avoiding even the ‘appearance’
of evil. When it becomes difficult to tell where the line
is then you have gotten too close -- and once being too
close it is too easy to fuzz the lines and cross over too
many times and get too comfortable in those ‘gray’ areas.
I guess we seem to forget that we are in a war against
Satan constantly. Music is very powerful. I use to be a
professional rock ‘n roll musician. I am too aware of the
pull/power of it. I will continue to pray for you and our
brother and sisters on this issue. Keep up the good work,
it is not going unnoticed.”
“Dear Majesty Music Staff,
“I want to take a moment to thank you for the wealth of
edifying, uplifting, Christ-honoring that Majesty Music
has produced over the years. We are independent Baptist
missionaries, and your music has been a blessing to our
family here on the mission field. We recently purchased
some vocal and instrumental tapes/CDs, and are enjoying
them very much.
1 Timothy 6:20,21
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“I do have a request, though, that I wish you would
prayerfully consider. I have been concerned with the
gradual change in music standards in the Patch the Pirate
tapes.
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“There are, it may be, so many kinds of voices in the
world, and none of them is without signification” (1 Cor.
14:10).
“Abstain from all appearance of evil’ (1 Thess. 5:22).”
“It seems that in recent years, more and more
contemporary rhythms and styles have crept into the
music. The early Patch the Pirate tapes had music that
was clearly distinct from the world’s kind of music. But
it seems that some of the music is changing to a more
modern sound.
“For example, on the Misterslippi River Race, the song
‘Big Toe’, bears a close resemblance to the secular tune
of years ago, ‘Big John’, sung by Jimmy Dean. Mild by
comparison to today’s CCM, but nevertheless, moving
in a direction more resembling the world’s music.
“On the Calliope Caper, the song ‘Hippocritter’ has a
definite rumba rhythm in the verse. Even the innocent ‘I
Want to Marry Daddy’ song has a subtle 8-to-the-bar
boogie-woogie rhythm on the second verse.
“These things are not blatant, glaring shifts in music style;
rather they are a very gradual slide toward a more modern
sound. I am the first to admit that I could never create
ONE good children’s tape of the high quality and caliber
of the Patch the Pirate tapes and I praise God for the
prolific music writing of the Garlocks and Hamiltons. I
love so many of their songs. But I am concerned that in
these last days Christians are being lulled to sleep and
are unaware of the subtle and gradual ways Satan is
slithering into Christian homes and churches, so slowly
that it often goes unnoticed until we look back and realize
how far we’ve drifted from our original position.
“Please don’t use the world’s ungodly, sensual rhythms
and styles, no matter how ‘tamed down’, when producing
music to exalt Christ. Skilled musicians like the Garlocks
and Hamiltons know that certain rhythms (break beat,
back beat, boogie, etc.) elicit a physical response in the
body. I pray they will be cautious to steer clear of these
in their future productions, as well as take steps to return
to their original music standards.
“Again, I praise God for the overwhelming majority of
good, godly music produced by Majesty Music, but we
all know that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump,
and it is the little foxes that spoil the vines.
1 Timothy 6:20,21
ANOTHER WARNING ABOUT PATCH PIRATE
MUSIC
September 26, 2000 (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 following word of caution about some of the Patch
the Pirate music is from Alan Ives, Director of Concord
& Harmony (Oshkosh, Wisconsin). Brother Ives is a
man of God and a Christian musician. He and his wife,
Ellen, have produced some excellent music albums for
God’s people. Alan knows music. He is trained both in
secular and Christian styles. Before conversion he
played in a rock and roll band. The Ives spend most of
their time traveling to churches, preaching the Word of
God and ministering in music. They are based out of
Wyldewood Baptist Church.
I realize that in publishing this mild warning, Brother
Ives and I will be branded as unloving, nit-picking,
divisive, etc., etc., etc. That was the response from many
who should know better when I published “Be Careful
about New Patch the Pirate Tapes” on June 14, 2000. I
have freely advertised Majesty Music albums for years
and continue to do so; I appreciate all that Ron Hamilton
and Frank Garlock have done to promote wholesome
Christian music. But when I issued a mild warning about
what I perceive to be a worldly direction in some of their
music, I was treated like some sort of nutcase. Some
charged me with the often used but never defined accusation of “shooting our own wounded.” I was criticized
for not “following Matthew 18,” when in reality Matthew 18 has nothing to do with analyzing published
material, which is all that I am doing when I critique
Patch the Pirate tapes. If someone publishes material that
influences large numbers of people, he should expect to
be critiqued publicly.
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When I did try to communicate with Majesty Music and
Ron Hamilton, I was completely ignored.
tonk introduction, not to mention making Thomas Edison sound rather dull and stupid.
Be that as it will, I intend to continue to lift my voice in
warning when I see the world creeping into Christian
music. I believe this is a battle worth fighting.
1987 - Misterslippi River Race: “Ballad of Big Toe” of
course, is a take-off from three 60’s songs-- “AlleyOop,” “The Monster Mash,” and “Big, Bad John.”
The following is Alan Ives’ critique:
1988 - The Calliope Caper: Both “He Gives Me Joy”
and “Peace Be Still” employ bass beats on the “and” of
“2” and the “and” of “4”---60’s rock technique---and
mild syncopation in the vocal of “Peace...” “I Want To
Marry Daddy” and “Skin” use the boogie-woogie
rhythm like the old song so many children play on the
piano, “Heart and Soul,” which is definitely an immoral
song. (I have the lyrics.) “Hippo Critter” is more calypso. “Great and Marvelous,” which song I like, nevertheless has the title words syncopated. I don’t believe all
syncopation is wrong, but it sure leads to more bodily
emphasis. Literally taken, and stretched to its conclusion
if it could be so, “I Want To Marry Daddy” becomes an
incestuous wish, though I am sure nothing like that was
meant. The old song portraying the same idea was “I
want a girl just like the girl that married dear, old Dad.”
The old song said it right-- “like the girl.” Word choices
do matter.
Dear Bro. Cloud:
I have before me most of Ron Hamilton’s children’s
tapes. I am not so sure that he is slipping away, but
rather that he has never held the same “position” we
have. I hesitate to say anything, and have not said much
at the churches, except that I do not recommend every
song he has put on tape. We have had his tapes on our
table for sale. Our children listened to most of the
“Patch” tapes. He has covered important character traits,
with great imagination, much variety, and quite a bit of
pirated plagiarism. I could not dream up or produce such
a grand volume of children’s material.
Because we make tapes as well, I could look like a
jealous musician. That is not the case, but we have kept
guidelines for ourselves to assure that our music does
not drift back to my childhood 50’s and 60’s styles (or
earlier.)
These are my observations on Brother Hamilton’s work,
which we took note of, just to remember not to do the
same. He has always made use of a light “shuffle,”
where the 8th notes are uneven, played as a quarter-note,
eighth-note triplet throughout the piece. And he has used
Caribbean/Latin-American dance rhythms, always in an
unobtrusive manner, but still “dance.”
1985 - Kidnapped On I-Land: “Will U. Waite” is a very
mild “soft shoe.” “Do It Now” is calypso-style on the
chorus, syncopated like a song from the Caribbean
Islands.
1986 - The Great American Time Machine: “The Gratitude Attitude” has mild syncopation in the melody.
“The Sunday School Song” is another “soft shoe.” In
“Good Old-Fashioned Work” it isn’t the actual music,
but the vaudevillian feeling they give it with a honky-
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1989 - Camp Kookawacka Woods: “Clean It Up” is a
Latin-American/Spanish rhumba. “Great and Mighty” mild syncopation, on the title words again. “The Peanut
Butter Song” uses that “ba-boom” bass rhythm, playing
on the first and third beats, but adding the “and” of “2”
& “4” before each of the aforementioned beats. Very
mild swing, but swing it is, same as the boogie.
1990 - The Custards’ Last Stand: “Chocolate Fever” is
more boogie-woogie, done ever so lightly and cheerfully. “Yours Forever” has a funny line: “then you taught
me how to fly” --- you figure it out!?!?
1991 - The Friendship Mutiny: “Walk With The Wise”
has syncopation, more than usual for his songs, with a
definite 50’s feel (chord progressions the same, too.)
“Friendship” - soft shoe. “It’s Me” - the “Heart and
Soul” style always makes the piece entertainment instead of ministry.
1992 - Once Upon A Starry Knight: “Tickle Bug” - (?)
feel-good. “Happiness Came Looking For Me” -- The
1 Timothy 6:20,21
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“Heart and Soul” boogie-woogie is a feel-good rhythm,
but it is carnal.
Lord, or is a prayer, or tells others of the Lord Jesus. We
have moved to the left some over the years.
1993 - Down Under: The only problem I found here was
“Turn Them Into Friends” ---same old “Heart and Soul”
boogie.
Whatever you might do with these comments is O. K.
with me, and you may put my name to them, if there is
cause for that. We have taught the same principles over
the years and have never named “Patch the Pirate” unless
someone specifically asked. My comment always went
to state that he is a pirate in his borrowing of tunes and
voices, and that some of his songs employed mild syncopation, boogie, and rhumba/calypso/Latin-American
dance rhythms. I have appreciated his good songs very
much. I am not being picky, but discriminating; no
malice or slander, just a categorizing of some rhythms.
There are worse offenders all around; your e-mail
prompted my comments.
There are tremendous songs of great value that have
come from Ron Hamilton’s pen, and who could know
the good it already has done, and will do in the future.
But even the song, “O Rejoice In The Lord” was “stolen” from the folk-rock ballad “Today.” Both in melody
and chord structure it is embarrassingly close to that
song.
I can remember a day when ten-year-old boys and girls
sang “Then I Met Jesus’“ and “Under His Wings” at
junior camps. Today, it’s “Wiggle Worm” and “Little By
Little.” One item not to forget is that though many of the
children’s songs teach Christian character, that is not the
same as praising the Lord, where our song addresses the
FIRST CENTURY GOSPEL OF MARK FRAGMENT
(Friday Church News Notes, January 30, 2015,
www.wayoflife.org, fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143)
- It appears that a first century fragment from the Gospel
of Mark has been recovered from an Egyptian mummy. The
fragment was part of the mummy’s face mask, which was
composed of papyrus sheets glued together in layers and
painted. Scientists and scholars led by Craig Evans of
Acadia Divinity College have discovered how to loosen the
glue and extract individual sheets with the original ink
writings intact (“Ancient Biblical text discovered in an
1 Timothy 6:20,21
In Jesus’ Love,
Bro. Alan J. Ives
July 18, 2000
Egyptian mummy mask,” Science Alert, Jan. 20, 2015).
Evans told Live Science, “We’re recovering ancient
documents from the first, second and third centuries. Not
just Christian documents, not just biblical documents,
but classical Greek texts, business papers, various
mundane papers, personal letters. From a single mask,
it’s not strange to recover a couple dozen or even more.
We’re going to end up with many hundreds of papyri
when the work is done, if not thousands.” The team has
dated the Gospel of Mark fragment to about AD 90, by
carbon-14, by handwriting analysis, and by the
documents found with it. When the document is
published, possibly later this year, more will be revealed,
including what portion of Mark is written on the papyrus.
The dating will then be critiqued by other scholars. This
appears to be a major find. It could be the earliest
fragment of the Gospels ever found, which would further
authenticate the authenticity of the New Testament
Scripture and provide yet more evidence to refute the old
liberal theory that the Gospels were written long after the
events. Currently, the oldest Gospel fragment is the
Rylands Library P52 (P stands for papyrus), a portion of
the Gospel of John dating to between AD 117 and 138.
Previously, the oldest portion of Mark’s Gospel extant
was P45, which is dated to AD 200-250.
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God commanded the prophet Ezekiel to dig in the
walls of Israel's temple and observe the evils
being done in secret by apostate religious leaders
of that day. "Then said he unto me, Son of man,
dig now in the wall ... And he said unto me, Go
in, and behold the wicked abominations that they
do here. So I went in and saw. ..." (Ezek. 8:7-10).
Ezekiel was then instructed to preach against the
errors of the leaders and to tell the people the
things he had witnessed.
"Therefore prophesy against them, prophesy, O
son of man. ... Then I spake unto them of the
captivity all the things that the Lord had shewed
me" (Ezek. 11:4,25).
The hour in which we live is very similar to that
of Ezekiel's day. Many of those who profess to be
the people of God are apostate. It was prophesied
in the New Testament Scriptures that such
would be the case in the closing hours of our age.
This will culminate in the brief worldwide rule
of an utterly apostate Harlot "church" (2 Tim.
3-4; 1 Tim. 4; 2 Pet. 2-3; Jude; Rev. 17).
As in Ezekiel's day much of the apostasy of our
hour is hidden from the view of the average
Christian. We intend by God's grace to "dig in
the walls" of modern ecumenism and to expose
and cry out against the things we find. In this
section we also report on secular events which
are relevant to Christians. May God give us ears
to hear, minds to understand, and hearts to obey.
Is the truth of God not worthy of defense?
OVERWEIGHT
TO
BE
IDENTIFIED AND MONITORED IN
BRITAIN (Friday Church News Notes,
January 2, 2015, www.wayoflife.org
fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) According to the London Telegraph,
Britain’s National Health Service (NHS)
will ask doctors to identify anyone who
has put on weight and is at risk of
diabetes so they can be placed under
“close monitoring to ensure that they are
eating healthily and exercising more”
(“Doctors told to report patients who put
on weight,” The Telegraph, Dec. 25,
2014). Businesses will be asked to
reward employees who lose weight with
shopping vouchers. It’s part of a new
program to fight obesity, which has risen
from 15% in 1993 to 25% today, and the
NHS spends ten billion pounds a year
treating diabetes. This type of thing is
the natural product of nationalized
healthcare. For the government to
encourage weight loss is one thing, but
government “monitoring” is another
thing altogether. We are reminded that
government largess always comes with
government control. No nation has the
resources to provide every type of
modern medical care that every person
needs, so care is rationed, and people’s
lives are monitored for “the system’s
sake.”
THE $100 MILLION FOOTBALL
PLAYERS (Friday Church News Notes,
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fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) Russell Wilson is in place to become the
National Football League’s (NFL) next
$100 million quarterback. Over the last
three seasons the superstar performer
made a “measly” $2.2 million as a drafted
player, but now he is eligible for a new
contract and is predicted to be offered
$131 million for a six-year deal. Of that,
an estimated $64 million will be
guaranteed, with the rest dependent on
various bonus factors. Currently, there
are five quarterbacks with guaranteed
contracts of $54 million and above. Of
course, this doesn’t include advertising
endorsements, etc. Peyton Manning, for
example, makes an estimated $15 million
a year in addition to his football contract.
In 2013, the 100 top athletic endorsement
earners made a collective $772 million.
That athletes and other entertainers can
make this type of money is a testament to
the idolatry of modern society. The
average person is wasting the fleeing
hours of this life to vanities, oblivious
that he will give account to God for every
idle word, the believer at Christ’s Bema
and the unbeliever at the Great White
Throne.
CANADIAN COURT UPHOLDS
RIGHT OF CHRISTIANS TO
DISTRIBUTE LITERATURE AT
UNIVERSITY (Friday Church News
Notes,
January
2,
2015,
www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org,
866-295-4143) - The following is
excerpted from “Canadian Court Upholds
Right,” Christian News Network, Dec.
24, 2014: “A Canadian court has upheld
the right of two Christians to distribute
literature on university campuses despite
dislike for their message, and has found
the men not guilty of a mischief
charge following their arrest this past
spring. As previously reported, in April
Peter LaBarbera, the director of the U.S.based Christian ministry Americans for
Truth about Homosexuality, and
Canadian activist Bill Whatcott were
placed in handcuffs and escorted off the
University of Regina campus when they
refused to leave and stop distributing
pamphlets on homosexuality and
1 Timothy 6:20,21
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abortion. ... When Whatcott and
LaBarbera proceeded with their
outreach, they were arrested, charged
with mischief and later released. ... A
trial was held in October, and on
Monday, Judge Marylynne Beaton found
both men not guilty, releasing a 27-page
opinion that upheld the Christians’ right
to disseminate their views under
the Canadian Charter of Rights and
Freedoms. ‘I find that the purpose of Mr.
Whatcott and Mr. LaBarbera attending
the University of Regina was to
communicate information and their
actions were passive and nonaggressive,’ she wrote. ‘Therefore,
notwithstanding that the university may
be private property, I find that [the
Charter] may be used as a defense to a
finding of mischief by interfering with
university property as they had the right
to communicate in a peaceful manner on
university property.’ Beaton also stated
that the university’s reasoning to remove
the men and stop them from sharing their
message in order to ‘prevent students
from feeling discriminated against’ was
improper. ... LaBarbera says that he is
pleased with the decision and hopes that
it will be used as a precedent for other
free speech matters in the country.
‘Hopefully, this ruling will open up the
door to a resurgence of true tolerance and
freedom in Canada,’ he wrote in an
update on Tuesday. ‘The Left in Canada,
as in the United States, does not want
debate but rather control. They fear
unfettered exposure to moral truth and
compelling facts about homosexuality-hence their campaign to silence
Christians and others who speak out
against sexual immorality and gender
rebellion.’”
LESBIAN ACTIVIST APPOINTED
DEAN FOR RELIGIOUS LIFE AT
1 Timothy 6:20,21
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STANFORD (Friday Church News
Notes,
January
2,
2015,
w w w . w a y o f l i f e . o r g
fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - A
lesbian homosexual rights activist was
appointed the new Dean for Religious
Life at Stanford University this fall. Jane
Shaw, an Episcopal priest who formerly
served as the first openly lesbian dean of
Grace Cathedral in San Francisco, said
in a recent interview, “I don’t think
church is to be more churchy. I think
church is about, anyone should be
welcome. I’m really interested in how
you welcome many different kind of
constituencies, certainly not convert
them, not even necessarily to do religion
all the time” (“First Person: A
conversation with Jane Shaw,” Palo Alto
Online, Dec. 22, 2014). According to the
university press release, Shaw will
“provide spiritual, religious and ethical
leadership to the university community.”
She is a founding member of the Chicago
Consultation, which seeks “the full
inclusion of LGBT people into the
church and the worldwide Anglican
Communion.” Dr. Shaw doesn’t want to
“do religion all the time.” It’s too bad
that “doing religion” is all that she has
known, because there is no lifechanging, eternity-changing power in
any religion. Salvation is only found in
a regenerating conversion experience
through repentance and faith in the
atonement of Jesus Christ. Having
experienced this at age 23 and enjoyed
the fruit of it for 40+ years, I highly
recommend it to everyone.
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less than half of children in the U.S.
currently live in a traditional family
(referring to two married heterosexual
parents in their first marriage) (“Less
than
half
of
U.S.
kids,”
PewResearch.org, Dec. 22, 2014). In
1960, 73% of children lived in traditional
families. Many factors have combined
to produce this frightful change,
including no fault divorce, the rock &
roll philosophy of “do your own thing,”
the welfare state, the feminist movement,
and above all, apostasy, spiritual
compromise, and worldliness in the
churches.
COURT DECLARES ORANGUTAN
“NON-HUMAN PERSON” (Friday
Church News Notes, January 2, 2015,
fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) The following is excerpted from “Court
Declares,” Wesley J. Smith, Dec. 21,
2014, evolutionnews.org: “I have been
warning you and warning you: It takes
just one judge, wanting to make history,
to kick the props out from under our
tottering societal embrace of human
exceptionalism. In Argentina--next door
to Brazil, where a judge was previously
poised to grant a writ of habeas corpus
to a chimp, when the animal died--a
court has declared an orangutan a
‘person.’ From the Reuters story: ‘An
orangutan held in an Argentine zoo can
be freed and transferred to a sanctuary
after a court recognized the ape as a
“non-human
person”
unlawfully
deprived of its freedom, local media
reported on Sunday.’ ... One hopes this
will be overturned on appeal. If it isn't,
some will simply shrug. Others will
laugh and roll their eyes. But
indifference is the enemy of maintaining
THE DESTRUCTION OF THE
AMERICAN FAMILY (Friday Church
News Notes, January 2, 2015,
fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) According to a new Pew Research study,
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a righteous society and there is nothing
funny
about
erasing
human
exceptionalism. ‘Breaking the species
barrier,’ as Peter Singer put it in The
Great Ape Project, will have a
calamitous impact on human self-regard,
and eventually, freedom. The animal
rights agenda--completely unnecessary
to protect animal welfare--won’t elevate
animals to the level of humans, but will
reduce us to the value of animals. And
that means that the weakest and most
vulnerable--the disparaged and the
outcast--will eventually lose their
inherent protections based simply on
being human. I don’t have time here to
make the argument again: It took an
entire book to engage in my A Rat Is a
Pig Is a Dog Is a Boy.”
THE POWER OF A TESTIMONY
(Friday Church News Notes, January 2,
2015,
www.wayoflife.org
fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) One of the most effective ways to
witness is to give your personal
experience of being converted, of a
changed life, of answer to prayer.
Testimonies must be very effective,
since they are modeled in the Bible (Acts
2:22-36; 4:8-12; 5:29-32; 9:10-22;
10:34-43; 13:16-38; 17:22-31; 26:1-23).
We are commanded to be witnesses for
Jesus (John 15:27; Acts 1:8). Peter used
personal testimony (2 Pet. 1:16-19). John
used it (1 Jn. 1:1-3). A testimony is
accepted in courts of law. In fact,
positive testimony can overthrow
negative testimony. If two men are sent
into the woods to gather mushrooms and
one returns and says he saw no
mushrooms while the other returns and
says he saw mushrooms, which one will
the people believe? Likewise, if one man
says he has never experienced God while
another says that He has, the positive
testimony will be more memorable.
ROCK MUSIC AND SEXUAL
LICENSE (Friday Church News Notes,
fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) The call for sexual license has been the
heart and soul of rock music from its
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WOOLLY BEARS AND
THE PROBLEM OF
PAIN (Friday Church
News Notes, January 2,
2015, www.wayoflife.org
fbns@wayoflife.org, 866295-4143) - The following
by William Pelletier,
Ph.D., is from Bible
Science
Guy,
BibleScienceGuy.WordPr
ess.com, March 8, 2010:
“The problem of evil is the skeptic’s
most frequently raised objection. He
points to suffering in the world as
‘obvious proof’ that a loving allpowerful God cannot exist. How does
the woolly bear caterpillar provide
illustrative insight about the problem
of pain? Of course pain has value. It
serves as a warning system to protect
the body from injury for one thing. But
what about seemingly purposeless
pain or horrible evil? Is that evidence
that God cannot exist? A moth’s
torturous struggle to exit a woolly bear
cocoon looks painful and completely
unnecessary. So much so that some
cut cocoons open to ‘help’ the moth.
But this removal of ‘suffering’ dooms
the moth. It needs to struggle through
inception, and this is brazen rebellion
against God’s holy law of marriage. The
rock world is a sleazy, filthy world.
From the 1950s until today, rock music
has been filled with immorality. It is
impossible for a Bible-believing
Christian to watch the Grammys or to
read Rolling Stone and other rock
magazines or even to browse the
Walmart pop music department or the
pop music section of the Apple iTunes
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the tiny aperture to develop strength
and force fluid from its abdomen
throughout its body. Without the
struggle, it dies. Is it possible that
likewise there is a beneficial purpose
to human suffering and evil? Could
removal of an ‘evil’ cancel a much
greater good as illustrated by the
moth? Just because we don’t
understand God’s purpose for
suffering does not mean that a good
purpose does not exist. ‘My ways are
higher than your ways, and My
thoughts than your thoughts, declares
the
Lord’
(Isaiah
55:8-9).
Demonstrating the purpose for some
cases disproves the skeptic’s claim
that there is no purpose to suffering
and evil.”
store without seeing the continual
flaunting of nakedness and the
glorification of sexual license. The lives
of popular rock musicians have been
filled with profanity, fornication,
adultery,
multiple
marriages,
homosexuality, lesbianism, alcohol
abuse, drug abuse, tumult, and suicide.
This fact alone should cause Biblebelieving Christians to avoid rock as they
would avoid the devil himself. The very
idea of using this sensual music to
worship a holy God is spiritual insanity.
Consider some statements by the rock
and rollers themselves in which they
testify of the character of rock music:
“Rock and roll is the darkness that
enshrouds secret desires unfulfilled,
and the appetite that shoves you
forward to disrobe them” (Timothy
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White, Rock Lives, p. xvi). “Everyone
takes it for granted that rock and roll
is synonymous with sex” (Chris Stein,
Blondie, People, May 21, 1979). “Rock
music is sex. The big beat matches the
body’s rhythms” (Frank Zappa of the
Mothers of Invention, Life, June 28,
1968). “The sex is definitely in the
music, and sex is in all aspects of the
music” (Luke Campbell of 2 Live
Crew). “Rock ’n’ roll is synonymous
with sex and you can’t take that away
from it. It just doesn’t work” (Steven
Tyler of Aerosmith, Entertainment
Tonight, ABC, Dec. 10, 1987). “Rock
‘n’ roll is 99% sex” (John Oates of Hall
& Oates, Circus, Jan. 31, 1976). “Pop
music revolves around sexuality”
(Adam Ant, From Rock to Rock, p. 93).
“Perhaps my music is sexy ... but what
music with a big beat isn’t?” (Jimi
Hendrix, Henderson, cited from his
biography ‘Scuse Me While I Kiss the
Sky, p. 117). “... rock music has one
appeal only, a barbaric appeal to
sexual desire” (Allan Bloom, The
Closing of the American Mind, p. 73).
“Rock ‘n’ roll is sex. Real rock ‘n’ roll
isn’t based on cerebral thoughts. It’s
based on one’s lower nature” (Paul
Stanley of KISS, cited from The Role of
Rock, p. 44). “That’s what rock is all
about—sex with a 100 megaton bomb,
THE BEAT!” (Gene Simmons of Kiss,
Entertainment Tonight, ABC, Dec. 10,
1987). “Rock ‘n’ roll is all sex. One
hundred percent sex” (Debbie Harry of
Blondie, cited by Carl Belz, “Television
Shows and Rock Music,” The Age of
Communication, Goodyear Publishing
Company, 1974, p. 398). “We respond
to the materiality of rock’s sounds,
and the rock experience is essentially
erotic” (Simon Frith, Sound Effects,
New York: Pantheon Books, 1981, p.
164).
CHURCHES CLOSING ACROSS
ENGLAND/EUROPE (Friday Church
fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) According to a January 2 Wall Street
Journal report entitled “Europe’s Empty
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Churches Go on Sale,” the secularization
of England and Europe continues. “The
Church of England closes some 20
churches a year, while approximately
200 Danish churches have been deemed
nonviable, and the Catholic Church in
Germany has shut down about 515
churches in the past ten years. In the
Netherlands the situation is grimmer
still, and Catholic leaders estimate that
two-thirds of their 1,600 churches will
be out of commission in a decade, with
700 of Holland’s Protestant churches
expected to close within four years”
(“Europe Sells Off Churches,” Breitbart,
Jan. 5, 2015). Of course, Europe’s
Christianity has long been unsound,
being composed largely of apostate
Roman
Catholicism
and
dead
Protestantism. England’s Christian
history is somewhat better, with its more
significant tradition of Baptist,
Methodist, Brethren, and other “nonconformist” churches that were separate
from the state church. But England is
nearly equal to Europe today in the
apostasy of its churches. This is a
fulfillment of Bible prophecies such as
2 Timothy 4:3-4. Replacing the Catholic
and Protestant forms of “Christianity” is
a New Age spirituality. “Christians” and
non-Christians are uniting by means of
joint social-justice endeavors and shared
consensus that the “kingdom of God”
must be built by human hands. The hour
is very late.
SATELLITE VIEW OF ISRAEL
2015,
www.wayoflife.org
fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) On Christmas morning, Astronaut Barry
Wilmore took some beautiful photos of
Israel from the International Space
Station. I particularly like the one taken
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from the direction of the Sinai Peninsula
looking north across the entire length of
Israel, Lebanon, and Syria, to Turkey in
the distance. A large portion of the
Mediterranean is also visible. This shows
the entire portion of land God gave to
Abraham and his descendants, from
Egypt to the Euphrates. It doesn’t look
like much today, even after the wonderful
transformation that modern Israel has
wrought, but one day this land will be the
joy of the whole earth. Mt. Zion will be
the city of the great King, and the place
of His nail-scarred feet will be glorified
beyond imagination. “Great is the LORD,
and greatly to be praised in the city of our
God, in the mountain of his holiness.
Beautiful for situation, the joy of the
whole earth, is mount Zion, on the sides
of the north, the city of the great King.
God is known in her palaces for a refuge”
(Psalm 48:1-3).
HARPERCOLLINS REMOVES ISRAEL FROM MAP (Friday Church
www.wayoflife.org
fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) HarperCollins has apologized for omitting Israel from an atlas it published in
early 2014 for sale in schools in the
Middle East. The Collins Primary Geography Atlas for the Middle East is advertised as providing “in-depth coverage of
the region and its issues,” including “its
socio-economic development and interrelationships with neighbouring regions
and the wider world.” On December 31,
HarperCollins UK issued an apology
stating, “HarperCollins regrets the omission of the name of Israel from their
Collins Middle East Atlas. This product
has now been removed from sale in all
territories and all remaining stock will be
pulped. HarperCollins sincerely apolo-
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gises for this omission and for any offence caused.” In 2013, Scholastic
publishing house erased Israel from a
map in the book Thea Stilton and the
Blue Scarab Hunt. A lot of people
would like to join HarperCollins and
Scholastic in removing Israel from the
map, but it won’t happen. According to
Bible prophecy, Israel’s future holds
more trouble before the dawn of
Christ’s kingdom, but God put her back
in the land and she isn’t going away.
FLORIDA COUNTIES TO STOP
OFFERING WEDDINGS (Friday
fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - In
response to a federal judge’s ruling that
forces the state of Florida to accept
“same-sex marriages,” at least five
counties have decided to stop conducting
courthouse weddings. This way, the
county clerks will not be forced to
perform “same sex marriages” contrary
to their religious convictions. The
counties are Duval, Santa Rosa,
Oklaloosa, Baker, and Clay. In Duval
county, none of the three clerks “felt
comfortable doing gay weddings, so they
decided to end the practice all together”
(“Duval, Clay, Baker counties to end
courthouse weddings,” The Florida
Times-Union, Jacksonville, Dec. 31,
2014).
BLACK SHERIFF SAYS IF PEOPLE TRULY BELIEVE BLACK
LIVES MATTER, THEY SHOULD
PROTEST ABORTION (Friday
www.wayoflife.org
fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) The following is excerpted from “Milwaukee Sheriff,” Christian News Net-
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work, Dec. 31, 2014: “Sheriff David
Clarke has been featured on a number of
news outlets in recent weeks to discuss
his thoughts about the incidents and the
reaction that has followed. Last week,
he was interviewed on CNN about a
Tweet that he sent this month to a journalist with the New York Times, which
read, ‘If only these faux protesters were
asked by media about all the black on
black killing or black babies aborted in
US every year.’ Clark, who is a black
man himself, was asked by host Poppy
Harlow if he sent the message, and what
he meant by the statement. ‘Yes, I did,’
he replied. ‘When I hear these things
that black lives matter, the only people
who really believe that statement are
American police officers who go into
American ghettos every day to keep
people from killing each other. Alright,
so, yes I did send that and I meant it.
Look, the abortions. If black lives--if
they really mattered, that’s where the
outrage would be that’s where we’d see
protests…’ ... According to the website
blackgenocide.org, published by New
Jersey pastor and LEARN (Life Education and Resource Network) president
Clenard Childress, since 2001, ‘over 8
million African American children have
been killed by abortion’ and that ‘the
leading cause of death of African Americans is abortion.’ ‘They say that if you
were to combine the top 10 leading categories of causes of death for African
Americans, it wouldn’t come to half to
the amount killed by abortion,’ Childress said, adding ‘52% of all African
American pregnancies end in abortion.’”
THE INTELLIGENT DESIGN
ARGUMENT (Friday Church News
Notes,
January
9,
2015,
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866-295-4143) - The following by
William Pelletier, Ph.D., is from Bible
Science
Guy,
BibleScienceGuy.WordPress.com, Dec.
9, 2010: “I definitely do think that
causation by an intelligent agent can
usually be detected. This presupposition
underlies practically any investigation
into past events. Most criminal
investigations,
archaeology
digs,
cryptography (is it a coded message or a
random signal?), forensics (was death
from natural causes or foul play?), the
government-funded
Search
for
Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI), etc.,
presume the ability to detect actions by
intelligent agents by their effects. Why
do archaeologists get so excited when
they find a stone axe buried in a cave?
Why are they thrilled at finding cave
paintings? It’s because they instantly
conclude that men--intelligent causation-generated these effects. The key question
is always, ‘What is the most reasonable
explanation of the effects?’ Without an
eyewitness or recorded testimony, one
can never prove the validity of an
explanation of a past event. One evaluates
explanations and chooses the most
reasonable one.”
HILLSONG STILL SCRATCHING
ITCHING EARS (Friday Church News
Notes,
January
16,
2015,
www.wayoflife.org
fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) Some years back, Brian Houston, senior
pastor of Hillsong Church in Sydney,
was asked by a reporter from the city
newspaper why his church is so prosperous in a country like Australia, which is
decidedly not the Bible belt. He replied,
“We are scratching people where they
are itching” (“The Lord’s Profits,” Syd-
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ney Morning Herald, January 30 2003).
It was refreshing to hear his honesty in
admitting that he is fulfilling prophecy.
“For the time will come when they will
not endure sound doctrine; but after
their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears” (2
Timothy 4:3). The apostate generation
described in this prophecy has ears that
itch for new things and fables, and there
are “heaps” of teachers clamoring to
satisfy that itch. A major way that Hillsong scratches the apostate itch is
through music, which is admitted in the
following review of Hillsong Young &
Free’s “This Is Living” album: “As oxymoronic as it may sound, JESUS CERTAINLY SOUNDS GOOD ON THE
DANCE FLOOR. While Hillsong Worship and Hillsong UNITED thrive on a
decidedly more anthemic pop-rock stadium filling sound, Hillsong Young and
Free (Y&F) exists more for those who
wish to take Jesus into electronic dance
music (EDM). With swirling beats and
disco dazzling daze, Y&F has given
worship music an updated sound that
makes it stand toe to toe with the music
of Meghan Trainor and Bruno Mars ...
With more and more members of UNITED getting past their youthful prime,
Y&F has been pioneered to lead younger folks to Jesus WITH MUSIC THAT
TICKLES THEIR EARS and gets them
JIVING FOR THE GOSPEL” (“Hillsong Young and Free,” Hallels.com,
Jan. 6, 2015). There is no doubt that
Hillsong is one of the biggest itchingear-ticklers on the planet. This generation is “hooked on a feeling,” and CCM
scratches that itch in a big way.
DEATHS AND INJURIES AMONG
THOSE TRYING TO TOUCH JESUS STATUE (Friday Church News
1 Timothy 6:20,21
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Notes,
January
16,
2015,
www.wayoflife.org
fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) Two died and a thousand sought medical attention in the commotion surrounding the worship of a Roman
Catholic statue of Jesus in the Philippines. Five million barefoot people performing penance flooded the streets as
the statue was paraded through Manila
preceding the visit of Pope Francis. The
frenzied crowds want to touch the statue
and rub cloths on it, in the pagan belief
that they can experience the transfer of
blessings and miracles from a dead idol.
The popular 17th-century statue, which
depicts a dark-complexioned, long
haired, haloed Jesus carrying a cross,
was approved for veneration in 1650 by
Pope Innocent X. In 1880, Pope Pius
VII gave the statue a papal blessing and
granted plenary indulgence for those
who pray before it. It is brought out for
public veneration three times a year:
New Year’s Day, January 9, which is
the statue’s Feast procession, and Good
Friday. It is exactly the type of thing that
Hindus do, hoping for blessing and
good luck from their idols. Last year, a
new routine was begun for the Black
Nazarene. The Jesus statue stopped at
the Basilica Minore de San Sebastián
where a Mary statue (Our Lady of
Mount Carmel) was brought out and
held up by priests to “see” and “meet”
the Black Nazarene. As the Jesus statue
is transported from the basilica, the
priests slowly turn the Mary statue so
that it “watches” the Black Nazarene
depart (Ricky Velasco, Doctor Love radio show, DZMM 630, Manila, Jan. 9,
2014). This is supposed to re-enact the
mythical fourth Station of the Cross in
Jerusalem, where Jesus allegedly met
Mary on His way to the cross. Of
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course, no Catholic ritual would be
complete without a reference to Mary.
False Christianity is the devil’s masterpiece and has been a great stumblingblock to many people. They see this
type of thing and think, “Christianity is
just another vain religion,” not knowing
that this is not true Christianity. None of
this is supported by Scripture, and the
prophet Isaiah warned, “To the law and
to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there
is no light in them” (Isa. 8:20).
THE DEATH OF THE JEWS IN
FRANCE (Friday Church News Notes,
fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) The following is excerpted from “The
Death of the Jews of France,” Pamela
Geller, Breitbart.com, Jan. 12, 2015: “In
the wake of the slaughter of four Jews in
a Paris kosher supermarket by an Islamic jihadist, a Parisian Jew said: ‘In the
past year, 7,000 Jews have already left
France and after this there will be many
thousands more. We are not safe in
France any more. There is no future for
Jews here in France. We are finished in
France.’ Europe loves to memorialize
dead Jews, even to the point of fetishizing them--it’s live ones that they cannot
tolerate. The idea that French President
Francois Hollande did not want Israeli
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu at
a memorial march for Jews who were
slaughtered in exactly the same way as
Jews were in 2012 in Toulouse--where
he said they were murdered because
they were Jews, and even more importantly, in the same way as the Germans
murdered Jews--speaks volumes. Inviting the head of a terror movement, Mahmoud Abbas, because Netanyahu was
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coming, was depraved. A French Jew
wrote to me Monday: ‘No one in France
can protect the French Jews, who will
be massacred one by one. And even
with 50,000 officers in front of synagogues, there are over 12 million Muslims in France. If 10% of them go
extremist (which is low), there will be a
bloodbath in Paris, and that blood will
be Jewish.’ He said this about the massive march in Paris Sunday that was
attended by political leaders from all
over the world (except Barack Obama):
‘As you saw on TV, three million people marched for Charlie Hebdo, but believe me, no one marched for the Jews
who were massacred in the Hyper Cacher supermarket! No one cares. People
are getting used to it. France let its Jews
die in World War II and it will do it
again.’ So will the rest of Europe. The
Holocaust, while it was a German initiative, was carried out by every nation in
Europe, save for the Danes. There were
Dutch Nazis, Polish Nazis, French Nazis, etc. Europe as a continent decided it
was a good idea to get rid of the
Jews. Researchers at the US Holocaust
Memorial Museum have catalogued
42,500 Nazi ghettos and camps. That
number includes death camps, forced
labor camps, POW camps, brothels, and
‘care’ centers in which the Nazis forced
pregnant
women
to
have
abortions. There were 30,000 slave labor camps; 1,150 Jewish ghettos; 980
concentration camps; 1,000 POW
camps; 500 brothels; and thousands of
other camps. Over 42,000 concentration
camps? That wasn’t just the Germans.”
ATLANTA FIRE CHIEF FIRED
FOR BELIEVING THE BIBLE (Friday Church News Notes, January 16,
2015,
www.wayoflife.org
fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) On January 6, Kelvin Cochran, fire
chief of Atlanta, was fired for publishing a book that contains quotes from the
Bible and statements against homosexual behavior and other forms of immorality. Last November, Cochran had been
“suspended without pay and ordered to
undergo sensitivity training after pub-
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lishing a book that contains quotes
against homosexual behavior and other
forms of sexual perversion” (“Atlanta
Fire
Chief
Suspended,”
ChristianNews.net, Nov. 26, 2014). The
book, Who Told You That You Were
Naked, contains lessons that Cochran
prepared for men’s Bible study groups.
At the press conference to announce
Cochran’s firing, Atlanta Mayor Kasim
Reed said: “I, too, am a person of very
deep religious faith … 1 Corinthians
14:40 says, ‘Let all things be done decently and in order,’ and I want to make
very clear in my judgment that was not
done here. Chief Cochran’s book …
was published in violation of the city’s
standards of conduct, which require prior approval of the ethics officer and the
board of ethics” (“Fire Chief Loses His
Job,” The Blaze, Jan. 8, 2015). Cochran
claims that he had verbal permission
from Atlanta ethics officer Nina Hickson to write the book and that he had
given Reed’s office a copy of the book
in January 2014. Regardless, this is religious persecution, and it is probable that
Cochran’s firing was pushed by homosexual rights activists who were not
satisfied with public reproof and sensitivity training. How ironic that Atlanta
has an “ethics officer,” yet they persecute a Christian for quoting the Bible.
How amazing that America has arrived
at the place where government workers
must get approval for their speech even
when they are off duty. The Christian’s
constitutional liberties are being sacrificed at the altar of homosexual rights,
and this is just the beginning of this
phenomenon. Yet when we urge
churches to have special prayer for the
nation, the plea is met with silence. We
are glad that hundreds of people gath-
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ered at Georgia’s capitol building to
protest Cochran’s firing and to leave a
petition with the mayor with nearly
50,000 names (“Better Luck Next
Times,” Family Research Council, Jan.
13, 2015), but it is earnest prayer that is
going to make any real and lasting difference. Persecution has been the order
of the day for Bible believers for 2,000
years, and the Lord has given some
wonderful promises along that line. If
Mr. Cochran knows the Lord, he has
nothing to fear. In fact, it is rejoicing
time. “Blessed are ye, when men shall
revile you, and persecute you, and shall
say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake. Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in
heaven: for so persecuted they the
prophets which were before you” (Matthew 5:11-12).
EINSTEIN’S GOAL (Friday Church
fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) -
“Albert Einstein once said, ‘I want to
know God’s thoughts in a mathematical
way.’ Einstein wanted an equation,
perhaps no more than one inch long, that
would encapsulate all physical laws, the
beauty, the majesty, the power of the
universe into a single equation. That was
his life’s goal” (“Einstein,” History
Channel). Einstein, a Jew by heritage,
was a brilliant man who had a gift of
understanding “natural” laws, and he
knew that those laws required a
Designer, but according to his own
testimony he never knew that Designer
because he rejected the Designer’s
Word. The Bible doesn’t encapsulate the
mysteries of the universe in a
mathematical equation, but it does
1 Timothy 6:20,21
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encapsulate those mysteries in pithy
statements that will require an eternity
to fully understand. Like this one: “God
... hath in these last days spoken unto us
by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir
of all things, by whom also he made the
worlds; Who being the brightness of his
glory, and the express image of his
person, and upholding all things by the
word of his power, when he had by
himself purged our sins, sat down on the
right hand of the Majesty on high”
(Hebrews 1:1-3). In these 70 simple
words, 58 of which are a mere one
syllable and 51 of which are four letters
or less, we learn the answer to the most
important questions of life and the
greatest mysteries of the universe. We
learn that there is a God. The Bible
doesn’t try to prove God’s existence,
because His existence is evident in His
work. A universe that must be described
in terms of “beauty, majesty, and power”
requires a beautiful, majestic, powerful
Author. God gave man enough sense to
know that, unless the man corrupts his
own reason through rebellion. We learn,
too, that God has a Son, and that Son is
the express image of His person, and that
Son is the Creator. We learn that God has
so much affection for man that His Son
died on the cross for man’s sin. We learn
that the Son is currently sitting at the
right hand of God the Father, and that
the Son upholds all things by the word
of His power. The word “uphold” is also
translated “to carry” and “to bear.” It
refers to bearing a man in a bed (Lk.
5:18) and carrying a cross (Lk. 23:26).
Jesus Christ, the eternal Son of God, the
Creator, bears this universe along in His
almighty power. The “God particle” is
God Himself (not that the creation is
God, of course). Thank the Lord that one
doesn’t have to have the brilliance of an
Einstein to know this lovely God. He
only has to humble himself and repent
of his sin and put his faith in Jesus Christ
as Lord and Saviour.
CONTEMPORARY MUSICIANS
AND
SOUTHERN
BAPTIST
CONVENTION STANDS UNITED
WITH
NEW
AGE
ROMAN
1 Timothy 6:20,21,
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CATHOLIC (Friday Church News
Notes,
January
23,
2015,
fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) This week,
the Southern Baptist
Convention and some of the most
popular and influential contemporary
Christian musicians joined hands with a
New Age Roman Catholic in a unity
performance. The January 21 “We Will
Stand” concert, sponsored by LifeWay
Christian Resources, Voice of the
Martyrs, and Compassion International,
among others, featured “33 of the
greatest CCM artists in history” (“We
Are United,” thefishomaha.com). These
included Michael W. Smith, Amy Grant,
Newsboys, Don Moen, Mark Schultz,
Sandi Patti, Travis Cottrell (Beth
Moore’s worship leader), Steven Curtis
Chapman, Steve Green, Dallas Holm,
Russ Taff, The Imperials, Don
Francisco, First Call, Michael Omartian,
Francesca Battistelli, Kari Jobe, Jaci
Velasquez, Laura Story, Petra, 4Him,
Point of Grace, Carman, and Nicole
Mullen. The theme is unity: “CCM
United: one message, many voices.” The
concert title is from Russ Taff’s song
“We Will Stand,” which says, “You’re
my brother/ You’re my sister/ So take
me by the hand/ together we will work
until He comes.” We Are United is the
brainchild of Stan Moser, one of the
fathers of CCM. Board members of the
Gospel Music Trust Fund, one of the
major beneficiaries of the concert,
include Bill Gaither and National Quartet
Convention President Les Beasley. They
are all peas in one pod, and Amos 3:3
tells us that they agree together in the
terrible compromise. Billed as “the
R
A
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greatest night in the history of
contemporary Christian music,” it
demonstrates unequivocally the oneworld church character of this
movement. It’s not a biblical unity in
truth and righteousness, but an
abominable unity in diversity. Roma
Downey played a prominent role in the
concert. As we have reported in past
issues of Friday Church News Notes,
Downey is the Roman Catholic cocreator (with her husband) of the History
Channel’s popular “The Bible”
miniseries and The Son of God movie.
She calls Pope Francis “a new pope of
hope” (“Roma Downey,” Christian Post,
April 4, 2013). She says, “I have prayed
to Mary and loved her my whole life”
(“The Bible: An Epic Mini-Series,”
Catholiclane.com, Feb. 28, 2013). She
promotes the use of the rosary as a
meditation practice by which she prays
to Mary as the Queen of Heaven and the
Mother of God. The Catholic Mary is
sinless and can hear and answer the
prayers of every petitioner, thus having
the divine attributes of mediatorship,
omnipresence, and omnipotence. But
Roma Downey’s heresies exceed
Rome’s papacy, sacramental gospel, and
communion with a demon masquerading
as Mary. Roma graduated from the
University of Santa Monica with a
graduate degree in Spiritual Psychology,
which is described at the school’s web
site as “the study and practice of the art
and science of human evolution in
consciousness.” The benefits of Spiritual
Psychology include “experiencing
enhanced spiritual awareness through
knowing yourself as a Divine Being” and
“learning to relate to yourself with
greater compassion and awareness of
yourself as a Divine Being having a
human experience.” Roma Downey’s
false gospel, false christ, and false spirit
are welcome within the broad tent of
CCM, and Bible-believing churches that
play around with contemporary worship
music are building bridges to this most
dangerous world.
THE HYPOCRISY OF JOINING
HANDS WITH CATHOLICS BUT
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NOT MORMONS (Friday Church News
Notes,
January
23,
2015,
866-295-4143) - The hypocrisy and
inconsistency of the ecumenical movement
was on display recently in the Cairns
Christian Ministers Network (Cairns,
Queensland, Australia). (Cairns is
pronounced “cans.”) On January 13, the
CCMN sent out a statement that they are
not supporting the local World Day of
Prayer service in March because it is being
held in the Mormon church. The
announcement stated that “CCMN
(corporately
and
individually)
emphatically does not support the beliefs
of the Mormon church in any way.” Two
days later, the CCMN sent out an
announcement promoting the annual
Blessing Cairns Service at St. Monica’s
Catholic Cathedral. They said, “We
believe you will be equally blessed this
year.
Pastors
from
across
ten
denominations are participating this year,
witnessing clearly to our city that we truly
are one Church.” But they aren’t one. They
are keeping the poor Mormons at arm’s
length, even though they name the name
of Christ. The ecumenical crowd criticizes
the “fundamentalists” as judgmental and
Pharisaical for testing things by God’s
Word, but when they judge the Mormons
or Unitarians or whoever, that is all right.
Either you separate from heresy, or you
don’t. If you can judge some false doctrine,
then you can judge all false doctrine. If it
is right to judge Mormonism’s false christ
and false gospel according to 2 Corinthians
11:4, it is equally right to judge Rome’s
“consecrated wafer” christ and her
sacramental gospel which begins with
baptismal regeneration.
IS THE GREAT COMMISSION
OVER? (Friday Church News Notes,
fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) One of the things I am thankful for in the
22
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education I received at Highland Park Baptist Church and Tennessee Temple in the
1970s was the emphasis on Christ’s Great
Commission of “go ye into all the world
and preach the gospel to every creature.”
That large church gave half of its income to
world missions. The annual missions conferences were glorious and powerful. As
many as 100 missionaries would challenge
the hearts of the students. Hundreds and
hundreds went out from there to the ends of
the earth with a fire in their souls for gospel
preaching and church planting. The old
Highland Park and Tennessee Temple are
gone, but world missions remains God’s
heartbeat today. That is what this age is all
about. When Jesus rose from the dead, He
emphasized this, and we have that emphasis in Scripture with a five-fold repetition
(Matthew 28:18-20; Mark 16:15; Luke
24:44-48; John 20:21; Acts 1:8). The language Christ used is simple and forceful.
What is there not to understand about this?
It is every church’s marching orders “to the
end of the world,” but most Bible-believing churches pay only scant attention.
What they do in evangelism and world
missions represents the scraps of their resources and endeavors rather than the firstfruits. In a conversation with a friend from
Switzerland recently, he told me that some
churches there are saying that the time of
world missions is over. I would say to them
that they have no scriptural authority for
that, and the reality is that probably most
people in the world today have not heard a
clear presentation of the gospel. There are
hundreds of millions in that condition in
South Asia alone. And there are people
being born every minute. World missions
won’t be over until Christ catches away the
saints, and even then the baton will be
picked up by Jewish evangelists and a multitude that cannot be numbered will be
converted during the Tribulation (Revelation 7). God loves to redeem.
GALILEE’S ANCIENT HARBORS
2015,
www.wayoflife.org
fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The
Sea of Galilee had many harbors and anchorages in Jesus’ day. Sixteen of them
have been found since the 1970s. In January 1986, during a drought when the water
level dropped, an ancient fishing boat was
found in the mud between the harbors of
A
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Gennesar and Magdala. It was the first
such find ever, and archaeologists have
dated the boat to between 100 BC and
100 AD. The boat was 27 feet long and
7.5 feet wide. Such vessels typically had
a crew of five (four rowers and a helmsman) and could hold 15 people, so this
boat could have held Jesus and the 12
disciples. It can be seen today at the
Yigal Allon Museum in Kibbutz Ginosar. The harbor at Capernaum, where
Jesus healed Peter’s mother, was quite
sophisticated. The beautiful little lakeside city has been recreated in an archaeological reconstruction drawing by Dr.
Leen Ritmeyer, and can be purchased
and licensed from www.ritmeyer.com.
LAODICEA AND THE SECOND
LAW OF THERMODYNAMICS
2015,
www.wayoflife.org,
fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - “I
know thy works, that thou art neither cold
nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot. So
then because thou art lukewarm, and
neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out
of my mouth” (Revelation 3:15-16). One
of the many lessons from this passage is
the fact that the believer is either on fire
for the Lord or he is backsliding. There
is no neutral territory. I’m either
“pressing on to higher ground” or I am
going backwards. To stay hot requires a
lot of effort. As soon as I pour my
morning coffee, before I take the first
eye-opening sip, it is cooling down. We
have a hot water pot on 24/7 in our house,
but the water is kept hot only through a
constant flow of electricity to the heating
elements. Scientists call this principle the
Second Law of Thermodynamics. There
is a universal law of decay, deterioration,
which reminds us that we live in a fallen
world. To maintain anything requires the
constant application of energy, whether
it be muscle tone or a shiny automobile,
1 Timothy 6:20,21
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actions. O’Hair sued the U.S. government
but lost the case in the courts. Later she
lost her head at the hands of a murderer
she had hired in her atheist business. We
understand that NASA has since forbidden
the reading of God’s Word by astronauts,
and to our knowledge it has not happened
again. In Christ’s coming kingdom, there
will never again be such godless
restriction, and the wonderful Creator will transform when I became interested in
APOLLO 8 CHRISTMAS MESSAGE be glorified in everything.
cosmology in 1992. I soon found myself
fascinated by the works of Carl Sagan, Neil
2015,
www.wayoflife.org NEWSBOYS CO-FOUNDER COMES deGrasse Tyson, Lawrence Krauss, Brian
fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - In OUT AS AN ATHEIST (Friday Church Cox, and Richard Dawkins. I learned so
1968, the astronauts aboard Apollo 8 circling News Notes, January 23, 2015, much and was blown away by all the
the moon, sent a live Christmas message to www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, amazing scientific discoveries and facts.
earth by reading from Genesis 1:1-10 in the 866-295-4143) - George Perdikis, co- When my marriage dissolved in 2003, I
founder with Peter Furler of the Christian turned my attention to human psychology.
rock band Newsboys, has come out as an By 2007, I renounced Christianity once and
atheist. The band has always had at least for all and declared myself an atheist” (“Coone foot in the world. They were founded of Newsboys: ‘Now I’m an
“influenced by everyone from the Police, Atheist,’” standupforthetruth.com, Jan. 22,
Cure, and Rolling Stones to Keith Green 2015). For a man to believe that Carl Sagan
and Jimmy Swaggart” (Jesus Rocks the and Richard Dawkins are men committed to
World: The Definitive History of scientific facts is evidence of the grossest sort
Contemporary Christian Music, vol. 2, p. of spiritual blindness, which is always driven
101), and, “Initially they played for the by the desire to walk after one’s own lusts (2
King James Bible. The estimated one billion rowdy patrons of the local clubs and pubs, Peter 3:3). Perdikis concludes his testimony
people who heard the broadcast was the who threw beer bottles at them if they by saying, “The truth is--from someone who
largest audience to ever listen to a human didn’t meet their standards” (Ibid., vol. 2, knows what went on then and what goes on
voice at the time. Borman said, “The only p. 100). In his testimony, Perdikis says that now--the Newsboys aren’t as holy as they
instructions that we got from NASA was to he was only ever really interested in rock profess.” That Perdikis is doubtless correct
do something appropriate,” so he, Jim & roll and living as he pleased. He says: in this observation is obvious by the
Lovell, and Bill Anders took turns reading “I always felt uncomfortable with the strict Newsboys’ history. Christian rock is worldly
the Scripture. They concluded the historic rules imposed by Christianity. All I wanted music produced by professing Christians
broadcast by saying, “And God bless all of to do was create and play rock and roll... who love the world. In the fourth chapter of
you, all of you on the good Earth.” Madelyn and yet most of the attention I received his epistle, James pronounced Ichabod and
Murray O’Hair, founder of the American was focused on how well I maintained the Tekel (1 Sam. 4:21; Daniel 5:27) over the
Atheists, collected 28,000 signatures on a impossible standards of religion. ... I left entire field of Christian rock with the
petition demanding that government the band in 1990 and went back to following words: “Ye adulterers and
employees be prohibited from citing Adelaide. ... As I carved out a life for adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship
Scripture while on duty, but other Americans myself away from the church, I began my of the world is enmity with God? whosoever
sent NASA more than 2.5 million letters and own voyage of inquiry into what I therefore will be a friend of the world is the
petitions in support of the astronaut’s believed. My perceptions started to enemy of God” (James 4:4).
and this is true spiritually as well as
physically. Lukewarm is merely a step on the
way to cold. The source of energy that keeps
the Christian life hot is a know-so salvation,
a passionate walk with Christ, a serious
relationship with His Word, a disciple’s faith
and obedience. The hot Christian life is about
zeal, passion, fervency, single-mindedness,
unwavering devotion, first love.
Aim of O Timothy Magazine
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Exalting the Lord Jesus Christ; His eternal perfect, and preserved Word; and the Gospel of his Grace.
(2 Peter 3:1-2, 18)
Standing for the whole counsel of God. (Acts 20:27; Jude 3)
Challenging Christian workers to uphold the truth and resist the apostasy of our times. (1 Timothy 6:20-21)
Exposing the spirit of error and compromise within Christendom (Hosea 4:6a; 2 Tim. 3)
Upholding the New Testament Church (1 Tim. 6:13-14). O Timothy is a ministry of Bethel Baptist Church of London, Ontario.
Challenging churches to fulfill the Great Commission of world evangelism (Matt. 28:18-20; Acts 13-14)
Standing for the Received Text of the Holy Scriptures, the Authorized Version in the English Language, and sound translations of the TR
in the languages of the world. (Ps. 12:6-7)
1 Timothy 6:20,21
23
W
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O TIMOTHY MAGAZINE
Way of Life Literature
P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061-0368
866-295-4143 (toll free),
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http://www.wayoflife.org (web site)
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O Timothy
Volume 32 - Issue 2 - February 2015

O Timothy 2015-02 - Way of Life Literature

Transcription

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