This is Search the Scriptures Daily, a radio ministry of The Berean Cal. Still to come, answers to your questions in Contending for the Faith, and in Understanding the Scriptures, Dave and Tom will resume their conversation on God’s salvation. In addition to this radio program we publish a monthly newsletter which we make available free of charge. We also produce and distribute a wide variety of teaching materials including books in print, e-book and audio book formats, CD’s, DVD’s and other items to encourage the serious study of God’s Word. For a complete list of materials, or to get a copy of today’s broadcast, write to us at PO Box 7019 , Bend , Oregon 97708 . Call our toll free order number 877-882-4253, that’s 877-88Bible, or visit our website at www.thebereancall.org . If you would like a copy of this broadcast on compact disk ask for Program #1707, and be sure to mention the call letters of this station. And now, if you would like to watch Dave and Tom, our weekly broadcast is available on DVD. Ask about a subscription when you contact us. You can also download both audio and video podcast at our website. If you receive television from Sky Angel you’ll be able to view our video, Psychology and the Church, Critical Questions, Crucial Answers, featuring T. A. McMahon on May 16, starting at 9:00 PM Eastern. We invite you to tune in. Those of you who attended our first annual conference last year know what a blessed time of learning and fellowship it was. We are planning our second get together for this August 9 th through the 11 th , here in Bend . The Judgment Day Conference will again feature Dave and Tom, plus special guest, Middle East expert Randall Price, and former Israeli General Shimon Erem, and just added to our list of speakers, former PLO militant Walid Shoebat, imprisoned for acts of terror and violence against Israel, he is now an advocate for his former enemy. All the information is at our website, or ask about registration when you call or write. We’ll repeat this information at the end of the program.
RELIGION IN THE NEWS
Now Religion in the News, a report and comment on religious trends and events being covered by the media. This week’s item is from worldnetdaily.com January 13, 2007 , with a headline: A Rabbi’s Warning To U.S. Christians. The following are excerpts: There is no better term than a Goebbel’s like propaganda blitzkrieg to describe what has been unleashed against Christian conservatives recently. Consider the long list of anti-Christian books that have been published in recent months. Here are just a few samples of more than 30 similar titles, all from main stream publishers: American Fascist , The Christian Right and the War on America ; The Baptizing of America ; The Religious Right’s Plans for the Rest of Us ; The End of Faith ; Religion, Terror and the Future of Reason ; Piety and Politics ; The Right Wing Assault on Religious Freedom ; Atheist Universe ; The Thinking Person’s Answer To Christian Fundamentalism ; Thy Kingdom Come , How the Religious Right Distorts the Faith and Threatens America ; Religion Gone Bad ; The Hidden Dangers of the Christian Right . Richard Dawkins, an Oxford University professor, is one of the generals in the anti-Christian Army of the secular left. American academia treats him with reverence, and hangs on his every word when he insists that religious myths ought not to be tolerated, and that the state should intervene to protect children from their parent’s religious beliefs. Needless to say, he means Christian beliefs. The war is against those who regard the Bible to be God’s revelation to humanity and the Ten Commandments to be his set of rules for all time. Phase One in this war is to make Christianity—well, sort of socially unacceptable, something only foolish, poor and ugly people to turn to. Fervent zealots of secularism are flinging themselves into this anti-Christian war with enormous fanaticism. If they succeed, Christianity will be driven underground, and it’s benign influence on the character of America will be lost. In its place we shall see a sinister secularism that menaces Bible believers of all faiths. Once the voice of the Bible has been silenced, the war on Western civilization can begin, and we shall see a long night of barbarism descend on the West. Without a vibrant and vital Christianity America is doomed, and without America the West is doomed.
Tom:
Dave, the article goes on: “Which is why I, Daniel Leppin, an Orthodox Jewish Rabbi, devoted to Jewish survival, the Torah and Israel , am so terrified of American Christianity caving in. Many of us Jews are ready to stand with you, but you must lead, you must replace your timidity with nerve and your diffidence with daring and determination. You are under attack, now is the time to resist it.” Wow, an Orthodox Jewish Rabbi!
Dave:
Yeah, on the one hand I guess Christians could be encouraged by that; on the other hand it’s—well, it’s expediency. He recognizes that Christians, real sound Christians, evangelical Christians in particular, they are the only real friends that Israel has. If it were not for the influence of Christians in America our government would not be doing what it is doing in the support of Israel , as much as it does. But on the other hand, it’s a little bit hypocritical, isn’t it? Because he’s not going to buy into evangelical Christianity, he still rejects Jesus as the Messiah in spite of all of the prophecies, hundreds of them proving that Jesus is the Messiah. So I would like to say back to him: Thanks, Rabbi, but why do you ignore your own prophets? They have told you how to recognize the Messiah, and Jesus of Nazareth fulfilled everything they said.
Tom:
Dave, I absolutely agree. On the other hand here’s a guy giving us a head’s up. What about the Christians who have their head in the sand on these issues? They are going to get run over, we are going to get run over.
Dave:
Unfortunately Tom, he’s speaking to an awful lot of the church, because for example: Replacement Theology— the church has replaced Israel , we don’t witness to Jews in Israel . We’ve got a lot of problems in the church itself, and of course, what is going to take the place of evangelical Christianity in America , if it continues the way it is? Islam! Oh, Islam is peace. As long as we continue to have that lie promoted by our highest authorities, from the President on down, there can’t be any real peace of God in anyone’s heart. So Tom, I appreciate what this Rabbi has said, I would love to sit down and talk to him.
Tom:
Right, But Dave, what about these issues? He does mention in the article, which you know, we just took excerpts from it, America seems to have more trouble with Christian fundamentalists than it does with Islam.
Dave:
Well, that is something that is staggering, Tom. Of course they lump all fundamentalists together, they say that it isn’t really Islam, it’s the fundamentalists. So they give fundamentalists a bad name, and Tom, we’ve been through this before. As a mathematician I’m a fundamentalist, two plus two is four, always was, always will be, you can’t say, Why don’t we let it be five on Thursday. I’m a CPA, when I examine the books of a bank and I make a profit/lost statement, a balance sheet, and so forth, I sign my name to it as a CPA, I had better follow the fundamentals of sound accounting principles.
Tom:
Dave, we’ve been talking about psychology, but wait a minute, doesn’t it make any difference how you feel about it?
Dave:
Right, and Tom, to follow Christ I must follow the fundamentals of what He taught. In other words I must follow what He taught what the Bible teaches. So, that is not popular because the Bible corrects us. The Bible is not going to make you feel good about yourself. So fundamentalist Christians, they’re an outcast class in America for that reason. But I think this Rabbi realizes it’s fundamentalist Christians who are the ones who are backing Israel , well, because God is called the God of Israel 203 times in the Bible and these are His chosen people, so why wouldn’t we back them? But we also want to bring them the gospel, and see that they come to know the Messiah!
