| Editor: David E Marlett Th.D. | |
| Dec 20, 2000 | Vol I #4 |
DAY 33 - SATURDAY, DECEMBER 16, 2000
Excerpts from the 9 AM service led by Dr. Greg J Dixon.
Dr. Dixon said, "God is impressing me concerning the battle. It is an impressing thing to know that God can win this battle with a few and even with one if need be. You must understand; our Church now is without walls...
George Washington said, 'The time is now near at hand which must probably determine whether Americans are to be freemen or slaves; whether they are to have any property they can call their own; whether their houses and farms are to be pillaged and destroyed, and themselves consigned to a state of wretchedness from which no human efforts will deliver them. The fate of unborn millions will now depend, under God, on the courage of this army. Our cruel and unrelenting enemy leaves us only the choice of brave resistance, or the most abject submission. We have, therefore to resolve to conquer or die.'
A free Church or a slave Church depends on the army right here. If only one person was left, God is still able to deliver us. Does this Church deserve to have a victory over the most powerful government on earth?...
I want you to hear the End Of The Year Briefing On China 2000... In America, we have religious freedom Communist style!...
You must have a place to meet and do the work of the ministry. America was not founded on the principle that the government could regulate the land...
'Swear the oath, and I will release thee; revile the Christ,' Polycarp said, 'Fourscore and six years have I been His servant, and He hath done me no wrong. How then can I blaspheme my King who saved me?'... as thou sayest, and feignest that thou art ignorant who I am, hear thou plainly, I am a Christian."
[ For more details on the activities of IBT as they attempt to ward off IRS seizure of their remaining building and grounds visit their web site at http://www.indianapolisbaptisttemple.com/index2.html ]
By Dr Ed DeVries
Read the constitution and bylaws (or corporate charter) of ANY incorporated church. It will say that the "church" was incorporated UNDER the laws of the State of ?????
When the churches re-organized UNDER Constantine at the beginning of the fourth century ROME (religiously speaking) was born.
Is there ANY difference between being organized under the Roman State or the State of Texas (or any other STATE)? I contend that there is NOT.
The first step that EVERY church takes toward compromise with ROME is to organize in a ROMAN fashion - i.e. UNDER the State.
Just because the State isn't telling an incorporated "church" what to preach YET does not make it any less SINFUL to place that which belongs to the Lord UNDER the State.
If it was wrong in the fourth century, if it's wrong in China, it is wrong now and it is wrong in America. It is our MOST distinctive of the Baptist Distinctives that we are forfeiting. Think about it!
Left Behind is the most expensive Christian film ever made. It is based on a popular series of books by Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins, and due for release to movie theaters nationwide in February. Those who made the film desire that it be used as an evangelistic tool to reach people for Christ.
A pastor friend has viewed the video, said some positive things about it, but has some concerns. He says that in depicting worldwide post-Rapture chaos (plane crashes, car accidents, etc.) the film greatly overestimates the number of true believers in the world, and that one could get the impression there are MANY on the road to life (Jesus says FEW are).
He says the movie emphasizes repeatedly that all infants and children (even of unsaved parents) will be removed from the earth, but points out that a one-year-old at the time of the rapture would be eight at the time Christ returns to earth to rule and reign--plenty old to be saved then or prior.
He says some of the music is horrible--"Christian rock" of the worst kind. But the most serious problem of all is that the GOSPEL is sadly missing in this supposedly evangelistic tool.
The name of Christ is mentioned only three times (during about a one-minute segment). There is no mention of the Cross, the empty tomb, no emphasis on the sinfulness of man and no clear presentation of the terms of salvation.
Lastly, this pastor is concerned that the film will bring thousands of professing Christians into secular movie houses. Be warned, be wise, beware!
(Calvary Contender, Dec. 15, 2000).
Rev. Gary Gilley says the new gospel is based on flawed philosophy (felt-needs) and misguided methodology (market-driven), and that it ultimately crystallizes into a mutated gospel of self-esteem and personal fulfillment (9-10/00 Voice).
He adds: The old gospel was about an offended God; the new gospel is about a wounded us.
The old gospel was about sin, the new gospel is about needs; the old gospel was about our need for righteousness, the new gospel is about our need for fulfillment.
The old gospel is offensive to those who are perishing; the new gospel is attractive.
Many are flocking to the new gospel but it is altogether questionable how many are actually being saved. What we need in our churches is not a therapeutic, altered gospel that mirrors the spirit of the age, but rather the courage to become relevant by preaching the foolishness of the cross
(Calvary Contender, Nov. 15, 2000).
Tax-exempt groups raised $97.3 million and spent $132.6 million since July 1, to influence the fall elections. Actress Jane Fonda, the largest single contributor on the list we saw, personally bankrolled an $11.7 million campaign to inject the abortion issue in battleground states (11/4 H.Times). She shelled out the $11.7 million of her own money in two checks Sept. 15 & 26. Pro Choice Vote used her money to make large donations to abortion choice groups.
Her impending divorce and "conversion" as a born-again Christian were widely reported last Jan. Something seems wrong, here!
2Cor 5:17 "Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new."
Rom 8:13-14 "For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God."
"In the twentieth century, the secularists, still living off the spiritual capital of Christianity, often pretended to chide Christians for having invented the term 'secularist,' a term which, they said, was devoid of meaning. Their leaders knew very well, however, that secularism, like any other parasite, derives its sustenance from the object on which it feeds, and so they were rather pleased when milquetoast Christians timidly offered, as a definition of secularism, 'living as though God did not exist.' What Christians should have called it was, rather, 'a contemptibly fraudulent way of living on the cheap, by reaping the maximum fruits of Christian effort, while contributing the minimum effort of your own.' When secularists accused Christians of 'living in the past,' the Christians ought to have retaliated by pointing out that secularists were 'living off the past.' By the time they got around to doing so, however, the majority of secularists had become morally incapable of seeing the point."
--Geddes MacGregor, "From a Christian Ghetto"
"Christmas is being rapidly replaced with a generic holiday that, by coincidence, comes around Dec. 25. 'Merry Christmas' has been generally discarded in favor of 'happy holiday.' Stores have holiday sales. Schools have a winter recess. There's a holiday party at the office. Can holiday trees be far behind? ... Nostalgia aside, I don't have a personal stake in this. I'm Jewish, so it ain't my holiday that's being stiffed. ... Christianity is the religion of 86 percent of the American people. In a demographic sense, America is more Christian than Israel is Jewish. Try to imagine no signs of Purim or Passover in Jerusalem, or a Saudi Arabia where Ramadan is barely mentioned. But I forget, America is to be the first totally secular nation on earth, contrary to the vision of our founders. The secularists' war on faith has spilled over to the culture. ... When I was a child, the Knights of Columbus put up billboards urging the public to 'Keep Christ in Christmas.' Today, the challenge is to keep Christmas in Christmas."
--Don Feder
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