| Editor: David E Marlett Th.D. | |
| April 2 , 2001 | Vol I #22 |
The director of President Bush's new faith-based initiatives office apologized to the head of the Southern Baptist Convention's Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission for remarks categorizing evangelical Christians as insensitive to the needs of the poor.
John DiIulio, director of the White House Office of Faith-based and Community Initiatives, said he was not referring to Southern Baptists in a March 7 speech that rankled many evangelicals with his characterizations of parachurch organizations.
"He apologized for his statement," said Richard Land, president of the ERLC. "He said he didn't have Southern Baptists in mind and he was aware of much of what we are doing to assist the poor."
[ Baptist Press ]
** Editorial Comment: Sorry Baptist Press, but you have confused things again. The original slam was not at the SBC, it was aimed at "white fundamentalists" not white evangelicals and modernists. This is exactly what Land says, that he did not have the SBC in mind when he made his statement.
Also please note that there is no apology in Land's statement, only a clarification of the fact that even he does not consider Southern Baptists to be fundamentalists, which may be the only thing that Land has right.
Pornography sales now exceed $10 billion annually in the U.S. and $56 billion over the world. Porn use—specifically Internet porn—is on the rise and is claiming a high price: lost jobs, failed marriages, and destroyed families. Pastors and other Christian leaders are no less vulnerable to this addiction (3/5 C. Today). In August 1999, 11 percent of the calls received on Focus on the Family's Pastoral Care Line were about pastors and online porn. In August 2000, online porn worries prompted 20 percent of the calls. Almost 10 percent of calls are from women. Many female sex addicts get hooked through X-rated chatrooms. Pornography has become one of the most profitable ventures on the Internet with obscene profits soaring.
[ Calvary Contender ]
A former North Korean prison guard has revealed that Christian prisoners are "treated more harshly than are other prisoners" and regarded by authorities as "insane." This was stated in the latest persecution updates from the World Evangelical Fellowship .
According to WEF's most recent Religious Liberty Commission report, the former North Korean prison guard made the claim in testimony before the US Congress. The reports also says that he recounted an instance in which a woman was kicked repeatedly and left with her injuries unattended for days because a guard overheard her praying for a child who was being beaten.
Paul Scotchmer of the WEF Theological Commission, reports that North Korea's underground church recites five principles, along with the Lord's Prayer. The special place of suffering in the spiritual life of this church is striking.
The principles are:
1. Our persecution and suffering are our joy and honor.
2. We want to accept ridicule, scorn and disadvantages with joy in Jesus' name.
3. As Christians, we want to wipe others' tears away and comfort the suffering.
4. We want to be ready to risk our life because of our love for our neighbor, so that they also become Christians.
5. We want to live our lives according to the standards set in God's Word.
The WEF report goes on to say, "In this closed country the full measure of suffering is unknown. The US State Department states 'numerous, unconfirmed reports that members of underground churches have been beaten, arrested, or killed because of their religious beliefs, with 400 Christians executed in 1999.'"
It is estimated that the Christian population of 500,000 (2001 edition of the World Christian Encyclopedia) is more than three times that of 1970 and that one of every five Christians is incarcerated in North Korea.
A spokesman for WEF then asked for urgent prayer for North Korea's Christians. "Pray for the spiritual and physical safety of North Korean Christians, many have lost their lives simply for owning a Bible, praying with Christian friends, or affirming their faith in the presence of other Koreans."
[ WEF ]
AT&T known for many years as Ma Bell has become Madam Bell by offering the Hot Network—which prides itself on being more explicit than the Playboy Channel—as a pay-per-view option on its cable operations (3/5 Chr. Today). A coalition of religious investors has filed a resolution that would require AT&T to report to all its shareholders justification for peddling porn to its cable customers. It cites reports of connections between graphic (sexual and violent) media content and aggressive behavior, and says: "Manufacturers and distributors of products with perceived harmful impact on society (tobacco companies, handgun manufacturers, and alcohol advertisers and retailers) are increasingly being held liable…." The corrosive effects of hardcore pornography should be of great concern to all.
[ Calvary Contender ]
Jesus is shown as a nude female at the same art museum where an elephant-dung-decorated painting of the Virgin Mary was displayed in 1999. Liberals call it censorship when decent taxpayers protest being forced to pay for such anti-religious obscenity. But withholding NEA grants from filth-peddlers is not restricting free speech but funded speech. No artist has a "right" to practice his "art" at taxpayers' expense. Why should we be forced to underwrite the undermining of our values through tax-dollar "grants for garbage" to fringe freaks?
[ Calvary Contender ]
This past Sunday Dr. Lee Roberson preached at our Church. At ninety-one years of age he spoke in four different services to our assembled congregation. Our church was challenged. Our desire to accomplish something for the Lord was stirred and every saved person (Deadbeats, hypocrites, backsliders and pretenders were unmoved as always.) who heard this man of God came away wanting to do something greater for the Lord. I thank God for men whom the Lord has used over the years to stir God's people to greater exploits for the Lord.
Needless to say there are many in our pulpits across the land who have much advice and great exhortations on what needs to be done; but finding those who have run a good race, kept the faith and finished the course faithfully is not nearly as easy. Perhaps the aspect that I admire more than anything else about men like Dr. Roberson, Dr. Sightler, Dr. Hyles, Dr. Bob Gray, John Waters and others of that generation was the way those men were not afraid to start things. Whether it was starting a radio station, a children's home, a Bible College, a Christian school, a newspaper, a bus ministry, a building program, a rescue mission, a camp, or any number of other ministries, these men had vision and faith, and plowing new ground and sailing through uncharted waters did not dissuade, discourage or deter them from moving out for the glory of God! Proverbs 29:18 says, "Where there is no vision, the people perish." Thank God for those men of vision who have challenged our lives and ministries. We are not the same because of the influence they have had on our lives.
Have you ever noticed that the devil does not start anything; he only takes over what others have started. Starting something requires sacrifice, vision and commitment. That is why liberals don't start churches or much of anything else. Can you imagine a man going door to door telling people that there is no hell or that the Bible isn't the truth? Liberals and modernists don't do that. They only take over what men and women of faith and vision started. Yet it's getting harder and harder to find anyone starting much these days! We've got a dozen pat answers why we can't start a bus ministry, why building a great Sunday School isn't possible, why we need to do less and less and basically just try to hold it between the lines till Jesus comes. Our heroes would have never become our heroes if they had adopted this mindset. Surely our legacy and theirs will be quite different.
Could I encourage our Trumpet readers to get alone with the Lord and get a vision? I believe God has something for all of us to do. We are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works. What are those good works? The work of the Lord is not for the faint hearted or the lazy. It's for the courageous and the committed. Certainly a lot of Churches would be far better off if the tired, give-out, visionless leader would step aside so someone with some backbone, a vision and some faith could lead and get something started again.
Steven E. Mays
BroMays@FaithBaptistTrumpet.org
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