religion in the news
Gary:
You’re listening to a special edition of Search the Scriptures Daily, a radio ministry of The Berean Call. Still to ahead in this revisit to our 2000 series, Religion in the News, plus answers to your questions in Contending for the Faith, and in Understanding the Scriptures, Dave and Tom will continue their discussion of 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 POB 7019, Bend, Oregon 97708, call our toll free order number, 1-800-937-6638, that’s 1-800-937-6638, or visit our website at www.thebereancall.org. If you would like a copy of this broadcast on compact disk, ask for Program #4508, and be sure to mention the call letters of this station. And 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 podcasts at our website. We’ll repeat this information at the end of the program. We continue now with our special revisit to the year 2000. 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 The Sunday Times in the United Kingdom. The locals are already dubbing it, “Club Med” Club Meditation that is, writes Andy Goldberg. Maharishi Yogi, the diminutive Indian guru who gained fame in the 1960’s for winning the Beatles over to Transcendental Meditation is planning an ambitious new complex on the historic shores of the Sea of Galilee in an unusual attempt to bring peace to the Middle East. Backed by millionaire Jewish magnates, who have raised $400,000,000, the Ashram or meditational village will be home to seven thousand of the Maharishi’s disciples. Officially called the Israeli Capitol of One Government for One World, the village of east-facing chalets will be set in 250 acres of spacious landscaped gardens near the point where Jesus is said to have worked miracles 2000 years ago.
Tom:
Dave, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi—this guy has been flimflamming us for years and years, not only with the Beatles but even his presentation of TM in this country, right?
Dave:
Transcendental Meditation is neither transcendental nor is it meditation. Biblical meditation and meditation as it was understood in the Old Testament or the New Testament is contemplation, thinking deeply about something. Eastern meditation is the opposite—you tune it out—you reach an alert but blank state of mind, relaxed state of mind. You are not supposed to think so it really isn’t meditation; it’s the opposite of meditation. Furthermore, it’s not transcendental because he doesn’t believe in a transcendent God—there is no real transcendent state but what you are doing is looking within yourself so you could call it subscendental meditation. But it is very closely related to the whole drug culture and, in fact, it was the drug culture that opened our young people up to the cosmic gospel of these gurus. Of course, the Beatles as you implied, got involved with drugs first and then Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. Maharishi, by the way, “Ma” means great, “harishi” is the king: great king. “Mahesh” is just his name and “Yogi” he is a yoga. So, TM, Transcendental Meditation is a form of Yoga. Maharishi, when he began here in the United States, made no bones about the fact that this was a religious practice. It is a religion. It comes from the Hindu Vedas, it’s pure Hinduism. But when he saw people weren’t interested in religion and furthermore, you couldn’t get religion into the public schools, then he called it the Science of Creative Intelligence. Let me just read what Bob Kripenski, a former TM instructor said, “In 1957 Maharishi started an organization called Spiritual Regeneration Movement for religious and educational purposes only. In 1974 he completely renamed all the corporations under a new set of articles and incorporation deleting everything that said spiritual and religious to legitimize the teachings of Hinduism.” Now he is calling it by another name. For example, Maharishi began calling God, “the vacuum state.” They literally taught the TM-ers, the instructors, that they were the most important people in the world; that they were generating a spiritual food called “soma” for the consumption of the gods and that this is going to transform the world. But, in fact, it’s a form of yoga and he is putting you into an altered state where these demonic entities can take over. Now, let me mention another one of the instructors, R. D. Scott was his name. He tells in his book, Transcendental Misconceptions, how when he first got involved he was given a mantra, he didn’t know that it was a name, which he was told was simply a neutral sound that would help him relax and develop his full potential. Well, he says, to his surprise some months later, he is reading a book on Hinduism— and he got led into Hinduism ultimately—reading a book on Hinduism and there he finds his individually chosen, secret mantra just for him—so Maharishi had said. In fact, it was the name of a Hindu god; “I-ing” was the name of his particular one. Well, he goes back to Maharishi and he says, “I thought this was purely scientific and had nothing to do with religion and I find that my mantra is the name of a Hindu god.” Maharishi says, well, sorry we don’t have time to talk about it—there are a lot of people waiting to see me, we will discuss it later, which they never did. The next time he appears before Maharishi he is given a name to put in front of his mantra, “S-r-i” which means almost beautiful. Then, the third time he appears before Maharishi, because he is moving up the ranks as an instructor, he is given a word to put at the end of his mantra, “nama”. That appears sixteen times in an initiation ceremony initiating you into Transitional Meditation; it means, “I bow down to you.” So now, his mantra is Sri Iing Nama. “I-ing, you great god, I am bowing down to you.” And he is told that this is scientific and hasn’t anything to do with religion. In fact, he is calling upon I-ing, this demonic entity to possess him. So, as you said, Maharishi has been deceiving the world. He is a deceiver and he knows what he is doing but unfortunately, a lot of people are embracing this.
Tom:
Now, for those of us who—you know— have a heart for Israel in the East, this is a shocker, even more than that. I mean, here’s the pretense that they are there. This is going to be their attempt to bring peace to the Middle East through meditation. It’s like the bumper sticker: “Visualize World Peace.” They are going to put this—
Dave:
The Dalai Lama has his own technique. He teaches Tantric Tibetan Yoga. He teaches you all that we are all gods and we can create peace and he got the Nobel Peace Prize, that sort of thing.
Tom:
And for some of you out there thinking, well, this is the Maharishi and it’s the Middle East and it’s no problem. Well, you just have to go to Fairfield, Iowa, to the Maharishi International University and check it out there.
Dave:
They have practically taken over that town.
Gary:
You’re listening to a special edition of Search the Scriptures Daily, a radio ministry of The Berean Call. Still to come in this revisit to our 2000 series: Religion in the News; plus answers to your questions in Contending for the Faith; and in Understanding the Scriptures, Dave and Tom will continue their discussion of 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 POB 7019, Bend, Oregon 97708, call our toll free order number, 1-800-937-6638, that’s 1-800-937-6638, or visit our website at http://www.thebereancall.org. If you would like a copy of this broadcast on compact disk, ask for Program #4408, and be sure to mention the call letters of this station. And 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. We’ll repeat this information at the end of the program. We continue now with our special revisit to the year 2000. Now:
RELIGION IN THE NEWS
A report and comment on religious trends and events being covered by the media. Today’s item is from The Seattle Times. Over ten years ago spiritualist J. Z. Knight retreated from critics who said the thirty-five thousand year-old warriors she claimed to receive and channel was probably a figment and perhaps a fraud. Now, Knight and Ramtha, her alter ego from the spirit world, are returning to public view. The school Knight started ten years ago is celebrating record enrollments. Profits from sales of Ramtha books and New Age paraphernalia are increasing and signs of certain legitimacy from the religious establishment that snubbed it in years past have surfaced. Ramtha’s School of Enlightenment, which shares forty-nine pastoral acres with Knight’s Hollywood style home, now draws some 3,000 students a year from around the world. They pay $1,350 a year to attend seminars and retreats in which an entranced Knight speaks ancient philosophies she says come through her from Ramtha, a disembodied spirit she has been channeling for twenty years. Knight has 21 full-time and 14 part-time employees. Her webpage draws 200,000 hits each month. J. Gordon Melton, Director of the Institute for the Study of American Religion in Santa Barbara and a cult expert, is one of more than a dozen who have come in recent months to speak to students and study the Ramtha philosophy. Melton recently published a book in which he concluded that Ramtha may or may not be real but the philosophy attributed to him has counterparts in Gnostic religious thinkers of the past. Gnosticism, which suggests humans are divine beings, was considered heresy by early Christians. Said Houston Smith, a nationally known religious historian and Methodist minister who was brought to Yelm this past week: “I heard no discordant truths.” Ramtha students are pleased with the new attention they are getting. “My family is southern and Christian and for the first time I can send them articles about what I am doing” said Danielle Graham, a former Texan, who has studied at the school since it opened in 1988, and now lives in Yelm. “They wouldn’t have accepted it before. They have been resistant to visiting and now my mother has called and wants to come up.”
Tom:
Dave, this is a good example of what we were just discussing. If J. Z. Knight is actually communicating with a spirit entity, it’s interesting to note that the content of the communication is contradictory to the Bible which is what we have been suggesting about these things. The fact is, Dr. Melton points out, and much of what she claims to be receiving is Gnostic heresy. That’s a doctrine of demons which plagued the early church and is still very much alive in professing Christianity today. The article quotes a minister who is also a religious historian who sees no contradiction with Christian truth. So, so much for discernment of religious scholars.
Dave:
Well, let me quote a little bit of what Ramtha teaches. These are the teachings that come from Ramtha. God is neither good nor bad—He is entirely without morals—He’s non-judgmental—there are no divine decrees—isness is his only business—Hell and Satan are the vile inventions of Christianity—a product of your insidious Book, that is, the Bible, which Ramtha advises his listeners not to read. He says there is no such thing as evil—nothing you can do, not even murder, is wrong—I am, that’s you, you are God—does not even have the ability to judge you because you would be judging yourself. Every vile and wretched thing you do broadens your understanding. If you want to do anything, regardless of what it is, you would not be wise to go against that feeling, and so forth. So, this is totally contrary to Scripture but, again, it brings us back to the lies of the serpent in the Garden of Eden, but it’s interesting. J. Z. Knight has quite a following and these are wealthy people. They have moved up there to be in touch with her. But she’s only one of—I think, in Los Angeles you have about a thousand channelers in Los Angeles alone and they all have their clientele. Some, not many, get on TV like J. Z. Knight has been but they have their videos and so forth, so there is a big movement.
Tom:
There are a lot of things that concern me about this article but for this young woman whose parents, at least according to her, seem to be warming up to the idea and she says that they are Christians. That’s what we are trying to encourage here for people to be Bereans, to search the Scriptures. All these people would have to do is read Isaiah 8:19-20, where it talks about, you know, God really condemns following or going after familiar spirits. And that verse 20 says: “To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this Word, the Bible, then there is no light in them.” The condemnation, the concern, the warning for all of this is laid out for any who would be a Berean and who would search the Scriptures.
Dave:
So Tom, we have a problem in the church today, even within the evangelical church. You can’t play fast and loose with the Bible. You can’t be the one that decides—Oh, I think this part of the Bible is valid but not that part—and we have those who (I know this is a little bit off of our topic but it is related) who would say well, I don’t see anything wrong with evolution or I’m not really sure that the flood was universal because, you know, scientists say that it isn’t. We need to address that sometime if we haven’t already. But when you begin to say well, I’m not really sure now whether we are going to take the Bible literally, then you open yourself up to deception because we either have an authority or we don’t have an authority. And, if we have an authority, if the Bible is our authority, then I am going to take what it says about the redemption of man, then I have to take what it says about the fallen man. If I’m going to adopt the Bible as my authority, and if I don’t have an authority I am out to sea, I don’t have anything. It would be like consulting a medical doctor who isn’t really an expert or you second guess the medical doctor. You had better find one who really knows what he is doing and then follow what he says because he knows things you don’t know and so forth. But now, we have the idea that we don’t take the Bible literally or I am not going to follow it everywhere (and this is even in the evangelical church) or I am going to change my interpretation, my understanding of Scripture because Freud said this or because Carl Rogers and so forth said this. Then, I have opened myself up to real problems. Then, I begin to look to some other authority and if it begins to make sense, even though it does contradict the Bible, well, maybe we will go with it because, after all, there are some new truths out there and all truth is God’s truth and so forth. This is what we are today, Tom, and it does open you up to spirit entities.
Tom:
An example from the article. A religious, nationally known, religious historian and Methodist minister, looks over this and finds no problem with it. So, even if you are following after a minister, you are not being a Berean and that’s what we want to encourage people to be.
Dave:
Amen.
Gary:
You’re listening to a special edition of Search the Scriptures Daily, a radio ministry of The Berean Call. Still ahead in this revisit to our 2000 series, Religion in the News, plus answers to your questions in Contending for the Faith, and in Understanding the Scriptures, Dave and Tom will continue their discussion of 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 POB 7019, Bend, Oregon 97708, call our toll free order number, 1-800-937-6638, that’s 1-800-937-6638, or visit our website at http://www.thebereancall.org If you would like a copy of this broadcast on compact disk, ask for Program #4308, and be sure to mention the call letters of this station. And 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. We’ll repeat this information at the end of the program. We continue now with our special revisit to the year 2000. Now:
RELIGION IN THE NEWS
A report and comment on religious trends and events being covered by the media. This item is from Dog Fancy Magazine under the headline, “Coyote Medicine into the Spirit World,” by Lisa Hanks. Shamans have been dispensing guidance, healing and wisdom gleaned from the spirit world for thousands of years. Only recently have some veterinarians added shamanic healing techniques to their medical kits. One such healer is Randy Kidd, DVM of Kansas City, Missouri. “Early results with the cases I have treated indicate a great potential for shamanism,” he says, “especially when used alongside all the family members creating a balance between pets, humans and nature’s inherent ability to heal. Shamans are believed to access the spirit world through a mental journey to another dimension, an alternate universe or a collective unconscious. They return with knowledge and power to spiritually heal all living things. To reach this plane a shaman might use mind altering drugs, chants, dances, rattles, drums and rituals to reach a trance-like state, a jumping off point into the spirit world.” Continuing to quote Lisa Hanks: “I found myself, along with the audience, at an American Holistic Veterinary Medical Association Conference being guided into the spirit world by Doctor Kidd to the monotone beat of an Indian drum.” He encouraged us to drop into a deep meditative state and envision a flight into a desert dreamland populated with powerful spirits. Once grounded in this other worldly landscape we were to look around carefully noting our observations. A veterinary shaman might discover on the other plane that a dog’s inexplicable illness results from spiritual trauma such as the family’s imminent breakdown, a destructive secret, or recent stressful events. Its’ cure would be to bring peace to the family and ease the dog’s symptoms as it heals. Often, the first animal you will see in the alternate plane is your power animal or spirit guide,” Dr. Kidd said. “The guide might appear in the shape of an animal such as a lizard, coyote, snake, eagle, bear or a frog. Power animals provide answers to pressing questions, predictions and clues, although answers are often symbolic in nature and not straightforward. As for my journey to the spirit world, I had a nice meditative break and did indeed envision a desert landscape but my experience was obviously not as exciting as that of some other attendees. One ecstatically described a vivid, dream like journey complete with ancient gnarled trees, flying animals, and a power lizard sunning itself on a rock. As with all holistic methods, shamanic skills seem to be easier for some than others. A shamanic veterinarian might use his or her spiritual insight to find additional diagnostic clues to identify and treat difficult-to-heal animal illnesses. Shamanism attracts some holistic minded veterinarians because they do not focus solely on the immediate symptoms of a problem but the surrounding physical, emotional, mental and spiritual dilemmas that might contribute to it. Holistic veterinarians are a unique, adventuresome group willing to try almost anything that might heal patients, a type of treatment Dr. Kidd called coyote medicine.”
Tom:
Now Dave, I know we went on and on with that bit of information but people think we make this stuff up. I mean, here you have—this is a legitimate field of endeavor, veterinary medicine, we have lots of people who would say, this guy is a quack and that guy is—you know, they are into this holistic thing or whatever, but this is somebody with a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine working on animals and he’s into this, big time, all the way.
Dave:
Well Tom, it’s not only animals. They are just kind of catching on in the animal world now. They have been doing this with human beings for a long time and it has invaded the whole world of medicine. Well, you have on TV, Art Ulene, I saw him the other night. He’s a medical doctor, a medical consultant on some national network.
Tom:
Yes, ABC, he was with ABC and now I think he is with another network.
Dave:
Right. He’s done this thing himself. He went into this journey and his power animal, believe it or not, is a rabbit. Anyway, he recommends this. You have a number of medical doctors that are involved in this sort of thing. Now, on the one hand you would ask yourself—I mean, this seems ludicrous— First of all they start out in their imagination, they are imagining something. It’s in the Christian world as well, inner healing. I’m imagining myself and I’m imagining Jesus coming along and suddenly this Jesus takes on a form of his own and begins to move and act and speak to me. So, on the one hand you would say, this is self deception, you’re imagining this but something begins to happen. They do make contact with entities that do have a life of their own apart from their imagination, talk to them, guide them and it works in many instances, not in every instance. I guess that’s what draws people to this. Here’s sort of a hands on spirituality that I can prove. It’s not a god that I can’t see, you know, who is far away and I pray to him and maybe he is going to answer my prayer and maybe he isn’t, usually he isn’t because his ways are not our ways. But this is a hands-on thing—I can really get into this thing and I can really experience it. This is, as you know, the most powerful occult technique, the fastest way into the spirit world is through visualization. This is what he is talking about and you make real contact with spirit beings. Now, of course, some of our young people experienced it first on drugs, LSD and so forth and that catapulted them into this landscape, this amazing landscape where they began to have these adventures and picked up these spirit guides. It’s just indicative of the fact that somehow Christianity doesn’t seem to have the answers that people want because they want a god who will do their bidding. And so now they are turning to another god, Satan, the god of this world, who deceives them into thinking that they can be in control and it works for animals, it works for human beings and so forth. Tom, I am shocked, I am saddened, it’s heartbreaking, but this is what the pagan, this is what the indigenous people have been involved in for thousands of years. So, I suppose what is so astonishing is that what we used to call superstition we’re now calling science.
Tom:
Right. There are so many doorways into this. I mean, you’ve got little Fifi—your poodle. Who would expect that you could get caught up into, by taking to doctor so and so, who is such a fine veterinarian and he can handle all of these problems and he has such a new approach to all of this and you’re caught up into it. If it begins to work, if the practical aspects appeal to you, you could get caught up in something that you may not be able to get rid of.
Dave:
You have to ask some simple questions. If it works, there must be some power. What is this power? Is it of God? Is this God? No. If you read the Bible this is not the way God works. Then this must be a substitute for God. This must be someone else and that someone else is Satan and you’re really on dangerous ground. You had better be careful and you had better get back to the Word of God, be a Berean, find out what God himself says, don’t take our word for it and submit to Him.
Gary:
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 POB 7019, Bend, Oregon 97708, call our toll free order number 1-800-937-6638, that’s 1-800-937-6638, or visit our website at www.thebereancall.org. If you would like a copy of this broadcast on compact disk, ask for Program #4208, and be sure to mention the call letters of this station. And 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. We’ll repeat this information at the end of the program. We continue now with our special revisit to the year 2000. 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 The Palm Beach Florida Post, dateline Jerusalem. “Representatives of 50 Christian Evangelical groups have agreed to make an unprecedented joint statement promising not to carry out missionary activity in Israel. As a result, Israeli legislator Nissan Zivili said he would drop his sponsorship of an anti- proselytizing bill that has drawn protests from Christians around the world. This is better than a law, Zivili said. In the statement the Christian group says they rejoice in the presence of a Jewish people in this country of their ancestors, and agree to avoid activities which alienate them from their tradition and community.
Tom:
Now wait a minute here! Wasn’t the salvation of the Jews of so great a concern to the Apostle Paul that he was actually giving up that is he was willing to give up his own salvation for his kinsmen if that could mean that they would turn to Christ? Which of course, it could not, but it demonstrates his heart to see the Jews saved, doesn’t it? I mean, which is a far cry from what we just heard.
Dave:
Jesus said, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.” That includes the Jews, not only does that include the Jews, He said beginning at Jerusalem, and then to the uttermost parts of the earth. Paul tells us that the gospel is to the Jew first, and then to the Greek. So this is absolutely staggering! Who cares about a law—there is a law against preaching— you know, the religious leaders came down on Peter, James and John at the very beginning of the church. And they imprisoned them, they beat them, they killed many of them, but they still preached the gospel. Everybody—all people are sinners—Jews and Gentiles! Paul argues that in the Book of Romans, he says, we conclude the whole world is under the condemnation of God because of sin—all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. And there is absolutely no hope of salvation for anyone, Jew or Gentile except through Jesus Christ. Peter himself, in Acts 4:12, in front of the Sanhedrin when they are telling him not to preach about Jesus. He says, “There is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.” So this group of 50—I don’t know who they are, although there are Evangelicals among them, when they are withholding the gospel from Israel and that is criminal!
Tom:
Well, I mean, Peter following—Peter would be out of a job here. I mean, he is the minister to the Jews, right? Paul to the Gentiles, Peter to the Jews, he’d be out of ministry work.
Dave:
The church began in Jerusalem; they were all Jews preaching to Jews. So this just, I mean, Tom, it’s an indication again of the depth of the apostasy in which we are, it’s expediency politically correct, religiously correct. We’re not going to offend anyone, and somehow truth doesn’t matter anymore. I’ve been in Israel sharing the gospel in the streets, and the beaches, I never had anyone try to prevent me. We would even plug a movie projector into, you know, borrow a little electricity from some small store right there on busy streets to plug in our movie projector and show gospel films. If you love someone you want them to know the truth. You want them to know Christ, and just because Jewish people are offended—they’re not the only ones that are offended, the Greeks were offended, the Romans were offended. It says that Paul disputed in the market daily. He’s disputing with these people, and we’ve got to dispute as well, not because we want to argue, but because we believe what the Bible says. Jesus said I am THE way, THE truth, THE life; no man comes to the Father but by Me. Paul said the gospel is the power of God unto salvation to everyone who believes. And Jesus solemnly said, He that believeth on the Son has life, he that believeth not the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him. Now if I believe that is true, if I believe that Jesus is who he claimed to be, God who became a man, who died on the cross to pay the penalty for our sins, and that there is salvation only in Him, then I’m going to tell people about that. If they want to crucify me, if they want to laugh at me, if they want to imprison me, nevertheless I have to tell them! And that Evangelicals would agree not to tell the Jews—I find it unfathomable!
Gary:
You’re listening to a special edition of Search the Scriptures Daily, a radio ministry of The Berean Call. Still ahead in this revisit to our 2000 series: Religion in the News, plus answers to your questions in Contending for the Faith, and in Understanding the Scriptures, Dave and Tom will continue their discussion of 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 POB 7019, Bend, Oregon 97708, call our toll free order number, 1-800-937-6638, that’s 1-800-937-6638, or visit our website at http://www.thebereancall.org If you would like a copy of this broadcast on compact disk, ask for Program #4108, and be sure to mention the call letters of this station. And 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. We’ll repeat this information at the end of the program. We continue now with our special revisit to the year 2000. Now:
RELIGION IN THE NEWS
A report and comment on religious trends and events being covered by the media. This item is from the Orange County California Register under the headline: “No Pews, No Crucifix, No Icons.” Chapman University’s future chapel is innovative, not for what it will have but for what it was. The school’s planned Wallace All Faiths Chapel represents the latest spiritual trend; genuinely interfaith structures that reflect growing religious diversity nationwide. During a preconstruction ceremony about a dozen groups gathered at the end of Sycamore Avenue, off Glasol Street to pray for the chapel. Some read Scriptures from the Bible, Torah, Koran and Hindu texts. Others gave voice to religious songs and still others burned incense, performed Wiccan rituals or beat drums during an American Indian dance. Their invocations laid the bedrock for a house of worship that every faith tradition can call its own. Interdenominational churches are increasingly part of the public landscape and most colleges have nationwide, long owned interfaith chapels. However, both formats have traditionally retained Christian features. Chapman’s five million dollar chapel will depart from that tradition. The students, faculty, trustees and community members on our planning committees emphasized neutral functionality, said Ronald Lynn Farmer, a religion professor and Chapman’s first dean of the chapel. This layout will allow Buddhists to meditate on their cushions and Muslims to spread out their prayer rugs. At the university’s early years nearly every Chapman student was white and Christian. In fact, the institution is affiliated with First Christian Church Disciples if Christ, a progressive denomination. Today, the school is home to a religious kaleidoscope. The first all faiths worship during orientation in August convinced me that we could do more than dialogue, said sophomore, Leslie Elliot, Student Director of Spiritual Programming. People were so excited about learning from their peers. That day was the first time I saw clearly the many faces of God. In a TBC update of the Orange County Register’s story, I recently spoke with Ronald Farmer. He stated that the chapel is still under construction but Chapman’s religious program is in full operation using temporary facilities. He informed me that the school has been recognized by the John Templeton Foundation for its accomplishments in spiritual growth.
Tom:
You know Dave, it seems to me that this institution has not only taken leave of its Christian origins but it has taken leave of its senses as well. I mean, how do they get past the fact that many of the religions they want to feature are not only different, they clearly reject each other’s foundational beliefs. For example, Judaism is monotheistic; declaring that there is only one God who is personal and transcendent, that is, separate from His creation. Whereas, Hinduism is pantheistic, claiming that God is an impersonal force and is in everything. Of course, both views can be rejected but how can they both be considered true?
Dave:
Well, they can’t—it goes beyond that. Buddhism is basically atheistic—Buddha never talked about God. You see, Paul said to Timothy the time would come when they will not endure sound doctrine. It’s popular today to say, I’m spiritual but I’m not religious because religion has some kind of guide lines, it’s a belief system and, as you are pointing out, these various religions have contradictory belief systems so they can’t possibly work in harmony with one another so what you have to do is throw it out. Well, it doesn’t really matter—what does it matter whether you say God is everything or God is nothing or God is personal or, in the Koran, God is unknowable but the God of the Bible wants you to know Him. Well, it doesn’t really matter—there is no such thing as truth anymore—doctrine is meaningless. And then, Paul said, they will be turned to myths and that’s the big thing today. The meaning is in the myth and you pick any meaning you want. Tom, I’m sorry but I don’t have much patience for that. It just seems to me to be, as you said, they have taken leave of their senses. There’s no way that you can reconcile this. In order for these people to, supposedly, get along together and worship together, they just have to abandon any thought of meaning, any truth, any doctrine to their beliefs. Now, I noticed that it also said that this Christian church that is behind Chapman College is progressive. Again, that’s contrary to the Bible. Human thought may progress, science may progress, but God doesn’t progress, the gospel doesn’t progress. The Bible says that Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever and that we are to earnestly contend for the faith, the faith once for all delivered to the saints. So, the Bible doesn’t change, truth doesn’t change, the gospel doesn’t change, Jesus Christ doesn’t change. You couldn’t possibly associate this with Christianity in any form whatsoever. In fact, the God of the Bible says that all the other gods are false.
Tom:
Right. Actually, in another program we talked about the delusion of, in academia and higher education, of evolution and we quoted one evolutionist who said that this is really metaphysics. My point here is that if higher education is moving into myth and delusion and calling it science, now we have the religious side of higher education steeped in delusion.
Dave:
Going right along with it.
Tom:
Right.
Dave:
It’s tragic because this is the atmosphere today—ecumenism. It doesn’t really matter what you believe, lets just love one another and we will get along. We will pretend that we’re all, somehow, in contact with some power, some god out there but it doesn’t really matter what it is. Look, the God of the Bible is not going to tolerate that kind of nonsense. The true God, who created this universe, is a personal being. To just to say, well, it doesn’t matter whether He’s a monkey or an eel or whether He’s nothing. I mean, you wouldn’t tolerate that when it comes to human beings and we have people here who, if you insult their race, they get very upset but they think that God is not going to be upset when you attribute all kinds of folly to him and you are not willing to accept Him for who He is. It doesn’t make sense and actually, I think the judgment of God is going to have to come upon this world because of this sort of thing. But it’s tragically—these are the leaders in academia, in the church, in religion and our young people are looking up to them for leadership and are being deceived by them and that’s what really concerns me and one of the reasons why we would have a program like this.
You’re listening to a special edition of Search the Scriptures Daily, a radio ministry of The Berean Call. Still to come in this revisit to our 2000 series, Religion in the News, plus answers to your questions in Contending for the Faith, and in Understanding the Scriptures, Dave and Tom will continue their discussion of God’s salvation.
The Berean Call invites you to make your plans now for our 3rd Annual TBC Conference coming up this November 14th through the 16th here in Bend, Oregon. This year’s event will be held at the beautiful new Riverhouse Convention Center. The theme for 2008 is Cosmos, Creator and Human Destiny, the title of Dave Hunt’s soon to be released new book. A feature speaker will be Roger Oakland, author of the controversial exposé on the Emerging Church, Faith Undone from Lighthouse Trails Publishing. TBC also welcomes Dr. Donald Chittick, an authority on the topic of origins and earth history, with a special interest in the first 11 chapters of Genesis. Of course, TBC’s Tom McMahon and Dave Hunt will both be there addressing the hotly debated creation/evolution issues. Tickets are just $75 for adults and children under 18 are free with accompanying adult. For more information go to our website at www.thebereancall.org, or call 1-800-937-6638. We hope to see you this November here in Bend at the 3rd Annual TBC Conference, Cosmos, Creator and Human Destiny. And now, to tell you more about our ministry, here’s TBC Executive Director Tom McMahon: The name, The Berean Call, is taken from the Book of Acts, Chapter 17, verses 10 and 11, where we find the apostle Paul entering the synagogue in the Greek city of Berea after he had just come from Thessalonica. To these Bereans he preached that Jesus was the long awaited Messiah sent from God. They were commended for being noble, or fair minded, not only for their willingness to hear what Paul had to say about the matter, but more specifically because they searched the scriptures daily to find out whether or not what the apostle was saying was found in God’s Word. That’s what we hope to encourage through this ministry, our mission is to alert believers in Christ to unbiblical teachings and practices impacting the church. We want to exhort believers to give greater heed to biblical discernment and truth regarding what they are accepting as spiritual. We hope to supply those who profess to be biblical Christians with information and materials that will encourage the love of God’s truth. Hopefully, we can help mobilize believers in Christ to action in obedience to the scriptural command to earnestly contend for the faith found in Jude 3. And finally, our prayer is that we can be used of God to stimulate Christians to look to the Bible alone as their rule of faith, authority and practice in living lives pleasing to our Lord and Savior.
Gary:
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, 1-800-937-6638, that’s 1-800-937-6638, or visit our website at www.thebereancall.org. If you would like a copy of this broadcast on compact disk, ask for Program #4008, and be sure to mention the call letters of this station. And 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. We’ll repeat this information at the end of the program. We continue now with our special revisit to the year 2000.
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 World Magazine. Whether because of an upsurge of despair, or because they see physician assisted suicide as a growing trend, Hallmark cards has decided there is a market for suicide cards. Hallmark will feature a sympathy card designed to console a person whose loved one has killed himself. The card is the first in a possible line which will be identified in the rack along with the birthday, anniversary and get well category with a tab labeled, “suicide.” Hallmark test marketed in 6 cities where it met with overwhelming success. Families of those who had taken their own lives reportedly appreciated them, while it helped solve the problem of friends not knowing what to say. The line is part of the greeting card giant, Lifesong Collection, which is designed, according to company spokesman Rachael Bolton, to celebrate all experiences beautiful and painful. There was a resounding response for this kind of card, she said, cards that deal with death and dying and spirituality. When someone we love flees from life it is so hard to understand, reads the text, but our compassionate Creator sees clearly into what is beyond our understanding, and already had welcomed your loved one home.
Tom:
What do you think?
Dave:
You know, that’s a news item that I missed and I read World Magazine, but I didn’t see that one. That’s very disturbing. Hallmark is in the business to make money, so they must think there is a big market for this card, which indicates there must be an awful lot of people committing suicide. Which seems to indicate they think this is a growth industry there’s going to be more people committing—I had no idea that there were enough people committing suicide that you could sell very many cards. They apparently have researched this and they think there are a lot of people out there—
Tom:
It’s a marketing—they tested marketed it and it’s a success.
Dave:
Amazing! Then of course, what they are going to say to people who committed suicide, or the relatives of those who have committed suicide, or friends that your loved one has already been welcomed by the Creator. On what basis do they say that? The Bible says, it is appointed unto man once to die, and after this the judgment. Jesus said, the rich man in hell lifted up his eyes being in torment. Now, on what basis are they assuring this person that their Creator has welcomed them?
Tom:
Yeah, what’s the basis of them telling them what they want to hear?
Dave:
That’s right. I find that a very disturbing news item.
Tom:
Right, and it also lines up with this whole movement towards euthanasia, Dave. Now we have an element out there that further makes euthanasia, that is, dying, mercy killing, whatever you want to call it, taking someone’s life because they are in pain, it’s making it more acceptable. Now we have a card to even make us, who feel uncomfortable to feel a little bit more comfortable. It’s a tragedy!
Dave:
I used to, my wife and I used to own and I administered a convalescent hospital, and I dealt with many elderly patients, terminally ill, saw them die. You know, what they need at that time is not some false comfort, to tell them that, you know, death is really nothing and that you will live on in our memories, and all of the trite phrases that would be on these cards. What they need to know is the truth that Jesus said, I am the way, the truth, the life, no man comes to the Father but by me. And Jesus himself said, these are not my words, Jesus himself said, He that believeth on the Son has everlasting life, he that believeth not the Son of God shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him. Now that solemnizes me, I believe that’s true, therefore I don’t want to give somebody some trite phrase that will give them a false sense of comfort. But I want to warn them and I want to let them know the facts before they take this leap. And then, I don't want to give those who are left behind a false sense of comfort that they could do the same also. What we need is truth, and that’s what we are trying to contend for.
Tom:
Right.
