Ted Turner Sponsors a Religious Summit

Gary: Religion in the News. This week’s item is from The Baptist Press, August 2000, with the headline, “Ted Turner-Sponsored Religious Summit—Nearly 2,000 religious and spiritual leaders from throughout the world gathered for the August 28^th opening of the United Nations Affiliated Conference on World Peace amid controversy over the nature of the meeting and the exclusion of a prominent international figure, the Dalai Lama, the Tibetan Buddhist leader. The Millennium World Peace Summit of religious and spiritual leaders, which would include leaders from at least 12 different religions, will focus on the themes of Conflict Transformation, Forgiveness and Reconciliation, Poverty, and the Environment. The four-day summit is expected to establish an advisory council of international religious and spiritual leaders to assist the United Nations in seeking world peace.

“The summit also is expected to invite religious leaders to sign a declaration for world peace. ‘The summit will do little to strengthen the cause of religious freedom around the world and will more likely offend the values of the pro-life and pro-family faithful,’ said Robert McGinnis, Vice President for Foreign Policy at the Washington-based Family Research Council in a written release. ‘Like a wolf dressed in sheep’s clothing, the Millennium Summit will cloak anti-life, anti-family politics in the robes of religion.’

The National Association of Evangelicals received an invitation the week prior to the meeting and has a representative at the summit, an NAE spokeswoman said August 28. Anne Graham Lotz, a Southern Baptist and the daughter of evangelist Billy Graham, will speak at the meeting, according to the Washington Times.

“ ‘At a meeting at the UN earlier in August, Sun Myung Moon, head of the Unification Church, proposed the formation of a religious assembly or council of religious representatives within the structure of the United Nations,’ according to the Times.

“The summit developed from discussions between Entertainment News Media owner, Ted Turner, and UN Secretary General Kofi Annan. Turner, who was helping underwrite the meeting is honorary chairman of the Summit and will speak during the August 29^th session.”

Tom: Well, Dave, most people hearing this would say, “Hey, this is really great,” because, you know, religious leaders are coming together and we’re going to get some problems solved; we’re going to hold out for everybody being able to practice their own religion, and so on. But there are some objections here, certainly the Family Research Council. The Christian-based Family Research Council is concerned about this, for reasons with regard to pro-life and pro-family; the National Association of Evangelicals seem to be in favor of it; they’re going to send somebody to the Summit; and Anne Graham Lotz, Billy Graham’s daughter, is going to be there to speak…

Dave: Of course, I don’t know what these people said. I haven’t seen that report yet, so maybe Mrs. Lotz went there to rebuke them, I don’t know. A lot of problems, Tom, and we don’t have any time for this, but first of all, Ted Turner—I thought he was an atheist. I don’t know what he is doing, chairing this conference, and so much…

Tom: For an atheist…antichristian…

Dave: Oh, very much antichristian. Secondly, the Bible very clearly says that Jesus Christ made peace through the blood of His cross. That is peace between God and man. He paid the penalty for our sins. There will be no peace between human beings unless they are at peace with God.

Now, it’s very simple. This is what the Bible says. Then what is the point of ignoring it and going on this trip: somehow we’re going to make peace? How are you going to make peace with all the world’s religions when they disagree with one another? How can they be the basis of peace? Furthermore, we have Muslims there. And the Qur’an says, “Make no friendship with a Christian or a Jew. Pursue the idolaters, the infidels”—that is, all those who don't…who are not Muslims—“and you kill them.” You subject them, or you kill them, you give them the choice—well, it depends on who they are. It doesn’t make sense, but, Tom, the only thing that will make sense out of it is this whole ecumenical wave that we are now riding the crest of that is taking us to a world religion, and you can only have a world religion where you compromise.

Tom: Right. So, you cannot have biblical Christianity…

Dave: No.

Tom: …involved in this any way, shape, or form.

Dave: No! Absolutely not! But the world has rejected Christ. They have a pseudo- Christ. They have another Christ that they would like to honor. They would like to pretend that this is Christ, like the “Christ” of Gandhi—Mahatma Gandhi, for example. Oh, he loved Christ! But not the Jesus Christ of the Bible!

Tom: The one of his own imagination.

Dave: Not the one who is the Savior of sinners and who is “the Way, the Truth, the Life; no man comes to the Father but by him.” Now, you can’t possibly say that at this conference, so it’s an exercise in futility and hopelessness. However, it is another step, as you said, to quash biblical Christianity, because biblical Christianity—anybody who says, “Wait a minute, wait a minute! Jesus Christ died for our sins. Buddha didn’t do that. Confucius didn’t do that. Muhammad didn’t do that. He is God, who became a man, didn’t cease to be God, will never cease to be man, He’s the one-and-only God-Man. Because of who He is, He was able to pay the penalty that His own infinite justice required for sin! And He’s the only way, the only hope, and there is no peace except through the blood of His cross.”

You dare to say that, you get thrown out! You have stopped the conference right there! You can’t go on with this conference.

So what we have to do is throw out the truth. Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, the life.” Well, we’ve got to throw that out, and now, we’re going to even have evangelicals, God forbid! We’re going to have people who call themselves Christians and yet they’re going to be meeting to somehow come up with a peace plan for the world.

Well, it reminds me of Mary—the apparitions of Mary. As you know, most of them come with their peace plan for the world, which does away with Christ, who is the Prince of Peace, the only hope. So, Tom, it’s incredible, but it’s what is happening in our day.

Tom: And people who lack discernment in this think it’s okay. I mean…

Dave: “Oh, it’s great! We’re working for peace!”

Tom: Sun Myung Moon was at a meeting at the UN earlier, it says, earlier in August. Sun Myung Moon, “the Lord of the Second Coming,” the replacement, the bogus, the false Christ. He claims to be Christ!

Dave: Yeah! Jesus didn’t quite make it, but he’s going to…

Tom: Right. He’s going to solve the problems that Jesus couldn’t solve.  I mean, this is absurdity at the max.

Dave: But, Tom, to say that, you’re anti-social, you’re anti-progress, I mean…you’re old fashioned…

Tom: Can’t I just be simple minded and lay out simple truth? The Bible says clearly—wae’ve been talking about this in the programs, Dave. All other religions are false.

Dave: That’s right! So it says!

Tom: I didn’t make that up. It’s not my idea. But I go along with it because that’s what God’s Word says.

Dave: Well, that kind of puts the end to that conference. But, no, they won’t put an end to the conference. They’ll put an end to you, and it even could come to that soon, because we are sand and grit in the cog of the gears of what they’re trying to do.