THE GLORIOUS HISTORY OF THE ENGLISH BIBLE (Friday Church News Notes, December 17, 2010, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) – We celebrate the 400th anniversary of the King James Bible in 2011, and it is not merely another translation. Its heritage and the manner in which it was created are unique. The early record of the English Bible is one of the most fascinating chapters of church history and reads almost like a novel. The history of the British Empire, of the American nation, and of the English language itself are inextricably intertwined with the King James Bible. Our book The Glorious Heritage of the King James Bible recounts this history, beginning with the Wycliffe Bible of the late 14th century. Every English-speaking believer should know these things; yet, sadly, even in the staunchest Bible-believing churches it is rare to find someone who is well informed about the great price that was paid to provide us with such an excellent Bible in our own language. I have studied this history for many years, not only through literature (having built a large and expensive personal library on this subject) but through onsite research in the places where the history took place. By God’s grace I’ve traveled to Lutterworth and Oxford and Cambridge, to Little Sodbury Manor and St. Adeline’s Church and St. Dunstan’s and Fulham Palace, to Smithfield and Hampton Court and Westminster and the Jerusalem Chamber, to Lambeth Palace and the Lollard’s Tower and St. Paul’s Cathedral, to Vilvoorde and Geneva. I’ve handled ancient Waldensian New Testaments at the Cambridge Library and Trinity College Dublin and early edition Tyndale Bibles at the British Museum. This fascinating research has greatly strengthened my faith in God and in the authenticity and preservation of His holy Word, and I trust that The Glorious Heritage of the English Bible will do the same for each reader of this book. It would be a great book for families to read together in 2011. (This illustrated book is available from Way of Life Literature.)
U.N. CLIMATE TALKS START WITH A CALL TO GODDESS (Friday Church News Notes, December 17, 2010, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) – The United Nations climate negotiations in Cancun, Mexico, opened with the invocation of the ancient jaguar goddess Ixchel. Christiana Figueres, executive secretary of the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change, told the crowd of scientists and politicians that Ixchel was not only goddess of the moon but also “the goddess of reason, creativity and weaving” (“Post Carbon,” The Washington Post, Nov. 29, 2010). Figueres prayed that Ixchel would inspire the delegates “to weave together the elements of a solid response to climate change, using both reason and creativity as your tools.” This is typical United Nations New Age spirituality. (Had she invoked Jesus Christ, she would probably have been booed off the stage and fired.) At the U.N. Earth Summit in Rio De Janeiro in 1992, the opening ceremony featured a ship called Gaia, named for the Greek goddess of the earth. That conference was preceded by an all-night ceremony to worship Mother Earth. At dawn a Brazilian tribal high priestess led the worshipers to the edge of the ocean where they offered flowers and fruit to a sea goddess identified as the “mother of the powers, queen of the seas.” The Rio Declaration, which contains a radical environmentalist agenda, was referred to as “a sacred text.” In reality the U.N. climate change agenda is all about a greedy transfer of wealth and the furtherance of a one-world government, which is setting the stage for the events of the book of Revelation. The delegates to Cancun from 193 nations are hypocrites who claim that there has been major global warming and that the icecaps and glaciers are melting, but instead of meeting in Alaska in December they are meeting in Mexico. And instead of walking and bicycling and sailing to Cancun, they flew in gas-guzzling airplanes that many of these environmentalists have condemned as greenhouse gas-producing monstrosities.
STREET PREACHER WINS JUDGMENT AGAINST ARRESTING POLICE (Friday Church News Notes, December 17, 2010, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) – The following is excerpted from The Daily Mail, London, Dec. 10, 2010: “Police have been ordered to pay compensation to a Christian street preacher who was hauled off in handcuffs for saying that gays will go to hell. A judge condemned the arrest of Anthony Rollins, who quoted the King James Bible on the subject of the ‘effeminate’ as he preached in Birmingham. Mr Rollins was handcuffed and then held in a cell for nearly four hours after a passer-by dialled 999 and complained that his language was ‘hugely offensive’. The ruling–which ended with West Midlands police ordered to pay more than £4,000 in damages to the 45-year-old preacher–appears to set a new landmark in the battle between the gay lobby and Christians who want to say in public that homosexual sex is wrong. It comes as Christian leaders, notably former Archbishop of Canterbury Lord Carey, have been complaining against the use of equality law to force Christians to act against their consciences. … Mr Rollins has been speaking on the city’s streets as a member of a Christian mission for 12 years. In June 2008 he was handing out leaflets in the city centre and quoting passages from the King James Bible–the Authorised Version which reaches its 400th anniversary next year–that refer to homosexuality. … Mr Rollins said yesterday: ‘The judgment is excellent news. But I didn’t do this for the compensation. I did it for freedom of speech.’”
SWORD OF THE LORD OMITS REPENTANCE FROM SPURGEON SERMON (Friday Church News Notes, December 17, 2010, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) – Recently I received the following e-mail from Jim Koenig: “Last night we watched your video ‘How to Avoid False Professions’ for the second time and the segment on repentance was even more enlightening this time around. Over the years we have noticed that the Sword of the Lord has shifted away from the doctrine of repentance and cunningly led their readers in that direction. A good example is the Charles Spurgeon sermon ‘Only Trust Him’ in the November 26, 2010 issue. They have left out what he said about repentance. The original sermon can be found at www.spurgeongems.org/sermons.htm (sermon #1635) and the omitted part is on page three of the sermon, the 6th full paragraph down. Years ago my wife and I graduated from the Sword Soul Winning Director’s College, taught personally by Bro. Smith, Bro. Norris Belcher, and the late Bro. Larry Staner. At no time, never, was the word ‘repent’ mentioned or implied during the three day course. I am not anti-Sword, but they are 100% wrong on repentance and have influenced thousands of young preachers to spread their one-two-three repeat after me prayers.” COMMENT BY BROTHER CLOUD: I could not agree more. The Sword of the Lord truly has a problem with repentance, and this is not a new thing. While the founder of the Sword, John R. Rice, taught that repentance is “a change of mind toward God and toward sin” and “to turn from your sin” (What Must I Do to Be Saved, 1940), Rice’s successor, Curtis Hutson, changed the biblical definition of repentance. He did this in his influential 1986 booklet Repentance: What Does the Bible Teach? Hutson denied that repentance means to turn from sin (p. 4), that repentance is sorrow for sin (p. 8), and that repentance means “a change of mind that leads to a change of action” (p. 16). He claimed that repentance simply is “to change one’s mind.” Hutson quoted Scripture that appears to support his position but he ignored the many Scriptures that plainly contradict it. He misquoted the writings of men like his predecessor John R. Rice and mixed in a heavy dose of human reasoning. (See our book Repentance and Soul Winning for documentation of this.) Under Hutson’s watch, the Sword also removed repentance from some of the hymns in the 1989 edition of the Soul Stirring Hymns. For example, the lyrics of “The Old Account Was Settled” were changed from “O sinner, seek the Lord, repent of your sin” to “O sinner, trust the Lord, be cleansed of all your sin.” (They also did this with the lyrics to “Almost Persuaded” and “Give Me Thy Heart.”) I am thankful for many things that the Sword has stood for through the years, but the issue of repentance is not a light matter. The Sword has been at the forefront of the downgrading of this doctrine and of the promotion of the heretical practice of “Quick Prayerism” whereby psychological manipulation, human salesmanship, and an empty “sinner’s prayer” have too often replaced Holy Spirit conviction and miraculous regeneration. I refuse to join hands in ministry with men who are guilty of this serious error. (The Sword has also been at the forefront of exalting men far beyond scriptural bounds.)
CANADIAN CHRISTIAN TV SHOW PULLED OVER REMARKS AGAINST HOMOSEXUALS (Friday Church News Notes, December 17, 2010, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) – The following is excerpted from “Evangelical TV Show Pulled,” National Post, Dec. 20, 2010: “Christian broadcaster Crossroads Television System (CTS) has been found in violation of broadcasting codes for statements made by evangelical television personality and minister Charles McVety that implied there was a ‘malevolent, insidious and conspiratorial purpose’ to the activities of homosexuals. Rev. McVety said he was told Thursday by CTS that his show, Word TV, would be temporarily pulled from the air. ‘My good name has been impugned by this report.’ The Canadian Broadcast Standards Council, a self-regulated industry watchdog, said that Rev. McVety disparaged gays in episodes that ran between July 2009 and February 2010 when commenting on Toronto’s massive gay pride parade and a revised Ontario sex curriculum for grade schools.”
PASTOR BEATEN, BIBLE SCHOOL BULLDOZED IN VIETNAM (Friday Church News Notes, December 17, 2010, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) – The following is excerpted from “Vietnam Officials Beat Pastor, Christian Post, Dec. 14, 2010: “A Protestant pastor and human rights activist in Vietnam was beaten unconscious Tuesday morning by Ho Chi Minh City officials. His Bible school, located in the city’s District 2, was also bulldozed, according to Release International, which serves the persecuted church around the world. About 500 police, soldiers and fire officers showed up at the school with bulldozers at 7 a.m. local time and began demolishing the property. Pastor Nguyen Hong Quang, who leads the Mennonite Church, meanwhile, was beaten with batons until he fainted. Currently, Quang and five members of his congregation are being held at an undisclosed location. They were detained for allegedly ‘resisting arrest’ six years ago, as reported by Release International. In 2004, the human rights activist was arrested and charged with ‘interfering with officials carrying out their duties.’ The arrest took place months after he had called for the release of Christians who were imprisoned for distributing Christian literature in Ho Chi Minh City. The police raided his house and confiscated all his money and files detailing human rights violations by the government. His house, which served as the head office of the Mennonite Church, was also partially destroyed by some 200 officials while he was in prison. … Though Vietnam’s constitution provides for freedom of worship, the Communist government continues to restrict organized activities of many religious groups. Only government-controlled religious organizations are allowed.”
IS GOD’S LOVE UNCONDITIONAL (Friday Church News Notes, December 17, 2010, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) – The good news of the gospel must begin with the bad news of sin and condemnation. This is how Paul preached the gospel in Romans. He began with nearly three chapters on man’s sinful, condemned condition before a holy God before he got to the good news of what Jesus did on the cross. According to the emerging church, Christ’s love for sinners is unconditional, but this is not true. His love is unfathomable and unmerited but not unconditional. Consider the following statements that the Lord Jesus Christ made: “He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him” (John 14:21). “I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing. If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned” (John 15:5-6). “Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in Heaven. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity” (Matthew 7:21-23). “He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him” (John 3:36). “I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish” (Luke 13:3). Repent or perish is not the message of unconditional love!