religion in the news

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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 Christianity Today, March 28, 2008, with a headline: Doodling With Devotion. The following are excerpts: Sybil McBeth, a mathematics instructors by profession, doodler and dancer by avocation, has written and doodled a daring devotional. Praying in color: drawing a new path to God. About 3 years ago, a litany of cancers struck among family, friends and colleagues.  McBeth possessed what she calls, a critical prayer list. Going to the back porch she doodled a random shape and wrote the name of someone on her prayer list in it’s center, added detail and color to the drawing, each dot, each line and each stroke of color became another moment of time spent with a person in the center. Then she drew another shape and put another name in it’s middle, she embellished it with lines, dots, colors. She continued drawing until her friends and family formed a colorful community of designs. “To my surprise,” she writes, “I had not just doodled—I had prayed.” McBeth has been leading workshops about praying in color for two years. She recommends fifteen to thirty minutes, half spent in drawing and the other half in carrying the visual memories throughout the day. She trusts herself enough to experiment, mess up and try again in prayer. She trusts God enough to guide her as she falters, succeeds and grows stronger.

            Tom:

Dave, you know well how we feel about prayer here at The Berean Call, we pray about everything, we have morning devotions and so on. So, you know, in one sense I’d say, Hey, whatever it takes to get you to pray, we would encourage that, but you have to draw the line with this, no pun intended. This is very similar, whether she realizes it or not, this woman, to a mandala, all right, the thing that we just talked about in our earlier segment. We have now a methodology, a technique that she is trying to develop through her imagination. The question you would ask: Did Paul ever do this? Was it good for Paul and Silas? This, I believe, again, it’s a technique that is going to create problems for whoever gets involved in it, it’s a distraction. I mean, what is prayer? Isn’t it communication one to one between a person and God?

            Dave:

Well, Tom, let me explain about technique, because there are a lot of techniques and a lot of people promoting them. What’s wrong? Well what’s wrong is you don’t manipulate God with a technique. That’s what all of these things are about; the mandala; this kind of praying. Somehow or—I don’t want to offend our listeners anymore than we have done in the past, but, the Catholic church has a lot of this, dare I say hocus pocus?

            Tom:

Well, that’s a variation on the uh, on the Latin. Go ahead.

            Dave:

Right. So, the robes, the candles, I mean who says that lighting a candle will help the dead person? I was in Notre Dame in Paris, it shocked me, there were more candles in front of Joan of Arc’s statue than before the virgin Mary’s, that was a shocker. But how does that help you? And you go to Lourdes, this is what it’s all about; candles, and cash registers are ringing. I mean, it is a big money maker. You’ve got plastic bottles shaped like the virgin Mary with holy water. What about holy water? You know, you’ve been there. This holy water, how did it get to be holy? And is God impressed by this sort of thing? I don’t think God is impressed at all. Jesus said, Those who worship the Father must worship Him in spirit and in truth. Never do we find, as you just said, Paul didn’t do this, Jesus certainly didn’t recommend it. Never do you find anything like this in the Bible!

            Tom:

Mmhmm. You know, Dave, it’s amazing how the Evangelical church—now they wouldn’t connect this with Catholicism. Or this person, she wouldn’t connect it with the mandola, as we’ve mentioned, but there really is very little difference. Even though she may have a sincere heart, a sincere mind of trying to encourage people to pray. But again, this is methodology, this is technique, it’s no different than the word-faith people coming up with a way that you have to approach God, and it’s a manipulation of God, and so on. It’s just not biblical, and I think it’s very dangerous because it now encourages people to do things that are not biblical to try and communicate with the Lord.

            Dave:

Tom, let me make it a little more shocking, it’s witchcraft! It’s the idea that when the witchdoctor slits the rooster’s throat, sprinkles the blood in a certain pattern, mumbles a certain formula: boom! Spirits have to come through. They can be manipulated by techniques. God cannot be manipulated by techniques. Technique has nothing to do with truth. It has nothing to do with salvation, has nothing to do with God. Is He impressed? I don’t think He is, in fact, I know He isn’t, according to His Word.

            Tom:

Well, one more verse, Dave. This is really, although she talks about the imagination, this is a fleshly work, and the scripture says, The flesh profits nothing!

            Gary:

You are listening to Search the Scriptures Daily, a radio ministry of The Berean Call. Still to come, Dave and Tom take up their weekly in-depth study of the doctrine of salvation, please stay with us.

This is a link to our weekly radio program Search the Scriptures Daily.You may listen to the program by clicking on the "mp3" link above.For more listening options, please see our Radio Page .

 

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 Net Daily, March 21, 2008, with a headline: Canada Orders Ministry By Christians Shut Down. The following are excerpts: The Canadian government has ordered a Christian ministry that teaches doctrine and the differences between Christians and cults shut down, because its reference materials were critical of the beliefs of those who are not Christian. So what used to be called, McGregor Ministries, with offerings and how to recognize and eliminate faulty fads in Christian churches has been recreated in the United States. Laurie McGregor, who has dedicated her life to explaining the straight and narrow of Christian beliefs since she found her way out of the Jehovah’s Witness system years ago, explained that Canada’s version of a “hate crimes” law prevented their work from continuing as it had for nearly 30 years. “Canada is not longer a Christian nation,” she said. “And watch out America!” She said the ministry points out the differences between Christianity and various cult beliefs, but also with respect and never as a proponent. She said the work is always in response to a question or issue.  That, however, violates Canada’s hate crimes laws, and the ministry was ordered to either make wholesale changes in its presentations or shut down. We were given an ultimatum that we needed to say that all religions are equal, and to stop writing our magazine on the cults. We were to remove our websites and stop selling any products that teach about the cults, and any future DVD’s that we do on the Bible must not be persuasive, the couple alerted friends in an e-mail. We could not live under those restrictions, we chose to shut down the ministry in Canada.

            Tom:

Dave, you know Laurie and Keith McGregor, and I do as well, and these are hardly ogres, these are hardly saber rattling in your face confrontational people, I mean, they do a wonderful job of informing people about the differences of those organizations that claim to be Christian but don’t go by the Bible. I mean, it’s as simple as that, yet this is scary. As you know, we were just in Toronto, Canada, had a debate, you had a debate with a Muslim, with an atheist, and with a Hindu. And based on this, all of you should have been arrested, you know? Some of the things that were said in the heat of debate were not exactly—I wouldn’t say they were, I mean, I would never call them hate crimes, but certainly would fit under this definition.

            Dave:

Apparently, you can’t have a debate anymore, you can’t have a discussion. I wonder if this will be even private debate or private discussion.

            Tom:

Somebody is eavesdropping, somebody is listening.

            Dave:

Now what do we do about preachers?

            Tom:

Well, some of them have already been jailed, Dave.

            Dave:

And I’m in trouble because I speak in Canada a couple of times a year.

            Tom:

Well, I’m supposed to be up in Saskatoon in May.

            Dave:

Watch what you say, Tom. Well, first of all, the government is not supposed to interfere. This is like big brother 1984. You couldn’t say there’s any freedom of conscience. Now, Canada has a very serious problem, because as I recall—I’d have to check it out but I would be surprised if they did not—they signed the Declaration on Human Rights, the United Nations Declaration on Human Rights, and I think that it is Article 18. I, don’t rely on me, but I think it was Article 18, that promises—and I believe every, at that time there were 54 members only, but you had the Soviet Union, you had Saudi Arabia, you had some regimes that were members of the United Nations that violated this. It said we guarantee freedom of religion, freedom of speech, freedom of—I think even conscience is in there, I’m not certain, freedom of vote, and so forth, and they’re just lying. But the United Nations does nothing about it, who cares, sign anything you want, but they all, every one at that time signed it. Now I don’t believe Canada was a member at that time, but they joined later. Surely, Canada then would have signed that as well. Now what are you going to do about this? Well, Saudis, they’ve violated it in all kinds of ways, I guess Canada can violate it too. Tom, you almost say—well, I’ve probably said it to you several times—Tom, let’s just quit. Let’s give it up, because who wants to know the truth anymore. And the governments don’t want to know the truth, the United Nations doesn’t want to know the truth, in fact, what they want to do is suppress the truth.

            Tom:

Well, and Dave, I know you say that almost tongue in cheek, although it is a bit frustrating at times, but what compels us? The love of Christ! So, we’re concerned about the eternal destiny, I mean, even the segment that we are going through, Seeking and Finding God, what’s the point of that? Except that God, all that he has done for us, he has provided salvation, eternal life, all of these things, we want to encourage people to, not coerce by any means, but to receive that as you would a gift, an incredible gift!

            Dave:

Right. Jesus said, and we can quote this hundreds of times, and we probably have, I am The way, The truth, and The life, no man comes to the Father but by me. Now I presume, under this new law if a preacher quoted that statement, that declaration, John 14:6, from his pulpit, they’d shut the church down, he can’t do that. So Jesus is being muzzled, truth is being muzzled, you can’t have a discussion, you can’t debate with someone. I guarantee you, Tom, that the Muslims will not abide by this, I mean, they slaughtered people all over the world to force them into Islam, and they would do that in Canada if they could.

            You are listening to Search the Scriptures Daily, a radio ministry of The Berean Call. Still ahead, Dave and Tom continue their weekly in-depth study of the doctrine of salvation, please stay tuned.

 

This is a link to our weekly radio program Search the Scriptures Daily. You may listen to the program by clicking on the "mp3" link above.For more listening options, please see our Radio Page .

 

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 The New York Times, February 10, 2008, with a headline: The Bible As a Graphic Novel With A Samurai Stranger Called Christ. The following are excerpts: Ajinbayo Akinsiku wants the world to know Jesus Christ, just not the gentle blue-eyed Christ of old Hollywood movies, and illustrated Bibles. He says his Son of God is “a Samurai stranger who’s come to town in silhouette” here to shake things up in a new, much-abridged version of the Bible routed in Manga, the Japanese form of graphic novels. “We present things in a very brazen way,” said Mr. Akinsiku, who hopes to become an Anglican priest, and who is the author of, The Manga Bible, from Genesis to Revelation. “Christ is a hard guy seeking revolution and revolt, a tough guy.” Timothy Beal, professor of religion at Case Western Reserve University, said of the reworking of the Bible in new forms including, Manga, “It opens up new ways of understanding scripture, and ends up breaking the idols a bit.” In a blurb of The Manga Bible which is published by Doubleday, the archbishop of Canterbury, the most reverend Roland Williams is quoted as saying, “It will convey the shock and freshness of the Bible in a unique way.” No doubt. In the Manga Bible, whose heroes look and sound like skate boarders in Bedouin gear, Noah gets tripped up counting the animals in the ark. “That’s 11,344 animals? Arggh! I’ve lost count again. I’m going to have to start from scratch!” Abraham rides a horse out of an explosion to save Lot. Og, king of Bashan, looms like an early Darth Vader. The Sermon on the Mount did not make the book though, because there is not enough action in it. “For the unchurched, the book is to show that this thing, the Bible, is still relevant,” Akinsiku said.

Tom:

Dave, this is really upsetting. Some people may find it humorous but…. We see so many things going on today: adding to, taking away from the Bible. A couple of weeks ago we had the reissuing, reshowing of The Passion of the Christ, many churches, evangelical churches, for Easter, the Easter week. Some churches, Baptist churches, one in Anchorage, Alaska, I can think of, that offered door prizes! You come to this showing of the Passion of the Christ, there will be a door prize, and the door prizes was actually higher if you came to the Easter service itself. And they had evening showings of the Passion of the Christ. Again, many Christian leaders, sadly, would say, Well come on, you know, it’s not really the Bible, what it is, is artistic license, and we don’t go all through that. But here we, again, this supposedly is artistic license. Is this adding to the Bible? Well, wait a minute, Noah gets tripped up counting the animals in the Ark: “That’s 11,344 animals? Arrggh!" (And he sounds like a pirate). "I’ve lost count again. I’m going to have to start from scratch!” Show me Chapter and Verse for that, Dave.

Dave:

The Sermon on the Mount isn’t even included.

Tom:

No, it doesn’t fit into this genre.

Dave:

Right. Tom…. He says, “For the unchurched, the book is to show that this thing, the Bible,”—Ah, well, at least he doesn’t call it the Bible, he calls it a book—“[This] book is to show that this thing, the Bible, is still relevant.” Well, what do you mean? He’s trashed the Bible. He’s changed the Bible. How is he showing that the Bible, the real Bible, is still relevant? No, in fact, the very reason that he did this is because he considers the Bible not to be relevant, therefore he’s got to change it all around.

Tom:

Yeah, or emphasize something that is to the audience that he writes to can enjoy, can get into, and so on. Dave, now many people would be upset because, well, wait a minute, we’re turning Jesus into a Samurai? Well, we know He’s the lion of Judah, okay, at the expense of the Lamb of God. But we’ve also seen this with a book that was very popular among Evangelicals, Brennan Manning, the former Catholic priest, still Catholic, who wrote, The Ragamuffin Gospel. You’ll find lots of things in there about God’s love. It’s just about love, about love, about love. But nothing about correction, nothing about a balanced, when I say balanced, a Biblical view of Jesus, and that leads to distortions.

Dave:

Tom, one of the big arguments in the church, so-called church, is the Bible really inspired? Is this really God’s Word, all of it, every Word, every verse? Well, now that can’t be, some of it we’re going to have to throw out. Robert Schuller writes his positive thinkers Bible. And, we talked about Eugene Peterson, he just changes it. He puts his own words in, and in the place of what the Bible says, and yet he dares to call it a translation of the Bible, or a version, or whatever. It’s not! These men—I don’t know what their judgment will be for trashing the Bible, for saying to God; God you didn’t say it right, you didn’t understand this generation, I mean, you’ve got this all messed up, you are so far behind the times, now this is the way you should have said it, now let me throw your words out and I’ll put my own in.

Tom:

So then it’s not, Thus sayeth the Lord, it’s thus sayeth Eugene Peterson, and others who are doing the same thing.

Dave:

Right. Thus sayeth Ajinbayo Akinsiku.

You are listening to Search the Scriptures Daily, a radio ministry of The Berean Call. Still to come, Dave and Tom continue their weekly in-depth study of the Doctrine of Salvation, please stay with us.

This is a link to our weekly radio program Search the Scriptures Daily. You may listen to the program by clicking on the "mp3" link above. For more listening options, please see our Radio Page.

This is Search the Scriptures Daily, a radio ministry of The Berean Call.  Still to come, 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 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 #1608, 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. 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 American Family Association Online, February 25, 2008, with a headline:  “Evangelical Youth Experiment with Wicca.”  The following are excerpts:  Janice Krouse, a senior fellow with Concerned Women for America, says it’s disturbing that many young people in Evangelical churches are experimenting with the Wicca religion.  Church leaders and Christians parents, she mourns, must be ready to counter that growing interest among their youth.  Krouse cites an article in Religion Journal which said youth pastors in the Southern Baptist Convention were worried about large numbers of Evangelicals taking part in Wicca, a religion that involves nature worship, stresses moral autonomy, and includes remedies and spells.  Beliefs that Krouse points out are distinctly different from orthodox Christianity, not to mention incompatible with the Bible.  Wiccans believe in moral autonomy that nobody can tell me what to do, and I think particularly with young people; that’s a very desirable thing.  They don’t want the church telling them that there are boundaries, that there are things that they can’t do she explains.  Another one is that they don’t believe in having authorities beyond human constructs, that we as individuals have the responsibility to shape our own beliefs, and there’s no evil beyond that.  Some people think this goes back to the books that were so popular up until recently, and so many of the games and television programs that feature witchcraft and magic and fairy tales that have a dimension to it that if you just pull out some kind of spell you can make anything happen she says.  This has really become entrenched in many of the young people’s groups and in Evangelicals in particular. 

            Tom:

Dave, I think it’s worth going over some of the things that Gary just mentioned from this article.  And what he read, of course, are just excerpts, but I want to underscore some things.  It says many young people in Evangelical churches are experimenting with the Wiccan religion. It says….

            Dave:

I wonder where they get those statistics, but I guess these are the experts, they checked it out.

            Tom:

From this article that this woman wrote she cites another article, Religious Journal, said youth pastors in the Southern Baptist Convention are worried about these things, so obviously it’s going on.

            Dave:

It must be happening.

            Tom:

Right.  It says large numbers of Evangelicals are taking part in Wicca, a religion that involves nature worship, stresses moral autonomy, includes remedies, obviously magic remedies and spells.  Again, it says Wiccans believe in moral autonomy, that nobody can tell me what to do.  Now again, this is referring to what young Evangelicals are participating in.  Dave, this seems to be, really close to what we’ve been talking about for weeks and weeks, and that is the Emerging Church, picking up the ideas and the beliefs, the attitudes of the postmodern generation, but now we have it in an occult, or magic, or witchcraft kind of setting.  Now these are Evangelical young people, Dave.

            Dave:

Well, Tom, it’s nothing new, as you know.  You can remember the days of the Jesus Movement, and the street people, and the hippies, wasn’t it, do your own thing?

            Tom:

Right.

            Dave:

And that was what they wanted—autonomy.  So it’s—

            Tom:

Another form of rebellion.

            Dave:

That’s what Eve wanted—autonomy.  And Adam was not deceived, but he didn’t want to lose his wife, so he went along with it, but then it’s a form of autonomy—and he is blamed.  Sin entered through Adam. 

            Tom:

Dave, there’s a phrase that I think—I don’t know who came up with it, but it’s absolutely true, and that is, God has no grandchildren.

            Dave:

That’s true.

            Tom:

So, you know, I’ve worked with a lot of young people and that’s my heart, I have 5 children of my own, and have worked with youth.  I have found time and time again that they think they are Christians because their parents are Christians.  So they really, many of them have no personal, intimate relationship with Jesus Christ.  Many of them don’t know the gospel, have believed the gospel, because if you believe the gospel, if you are truly born again, you’re not in this because you’re of that generation, or of that family, you’re in it because you know the Lord.  How can you get involved with this stuff?

            Dave:

You couldn’t possibly, if you’re a real Christian.

            Tom:

Or if you were just a Christian that was in a Christian  home, maybe received the gospel but were never taught.  Is the Word of God central to a family that has children that are into this kind of things?  I wonder. 

            Dave:

Well, Tom, A big part of it is the church.  I’m going to blame the pastors and the youth ministers.  Because you know, we tend to speak Christianese, we have our own little subculture Christians, and that works fine as long as you are all together, you know, you’re growing up in the church, and in a Christian environment and a Christian family.  Get out there in the world!  That’s why I’m writing some of these books that I’m writing.  Get out there in the world and get a challenge.  Why is there suffering in this world?  Well, in fact here was an Evangelical, he had studied at Moody, and he had studied to be a pastor, and so forth, and he said the one thing that got him was—evil!  Well, he says, I always explained it as, free will.  God loves us, but He can’t force himself on us, so we have free will.  And he said that satisfied me for a while, but then natural disasters, tsunamis, children dying in birth, born with defects, and all of that.  Now, that doesn’t come from free will!  So now, we had better have an apologetic for that.  You had better be able to explain it because Romans 8, for example, says, the whole creation groans, being in travail.  When Adam rebelled, and Satan of course, it passed on to the whole creation.  There was a cosmic rebellion, there was a cosmic earthquake, and we are part of it.  Now, God, for example, its not just because a little child, an innocent child—see, certain things that there are laws, law of gravity—because a certain child, a little baby falls over a cliff, God is not reaching out and stopping the law of gravity, as He would have to do, to put that child back up.  There are certain things that went wrong through this rebellion, and they can only be remedied through Jesus Christ, and people are going to have to open their hearts to Him.

            Tom:

Dave, you’re getting on pastors and youth pastors, and I think there is definitely a bone of contention there, because we’ve seen the church go very superficial, we’ve seen entertainment enter in to replace the teaching of God’s Word.  I would bring it to the home.  Sometimes, people just push their kids off on to church, whereas the church is a body of believers, and they have responsibilities in this to make sure to train their kids up, to encourage them to come to know the Lord, and to teach these things in the home!

            Dave:

Right, right, and it takes diligence.

            Tom:

Of course, and the payoff was, well as we have seen.  You’re going to at least give your children a chance, especially if when they leave the home and go off to college, that’s where we are losing our young Evangelicals in just incredible numbers!

This is a link to our weekly radio program Search the Scriptures Daily. You may listen to the program by clicking on the "mp3" link above. For more listening options, please see our Radio Page.

This is Search the Scriptures Daily, a radio ministry of The Berean Call.  Still ahead, 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 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 #1308, 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.  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 Baptist Press, February 22, 2008, with a headline:  “NFL to Allow Church Super Bowl Parties,” the following are excerpts:  Churches can resume hosting Super Bowl parties without opposition from the National Football League, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell has informed Senator Orin Hatch, Republican of Utah.  For future Super Bowls, Goodell said, the league will not object to live showings, regardless of screen size of the Super Bowl by a religious organization on a routine and customary basis.  Goodell’s reversal settles an issue of a Southern Baptist church in Indianapolis breaking Federal copyright law by showing the Super Bowl on a screen wider than 55 inches.  The church, Fall Creek Baptist, was forced to cancel its Super Bowl party.  Baptist Press, along with The Washington Post also reported on the issue prior to this year’s super bowl.  According to a February 20^th news release from Hatch’s office after Goodell’s reversal, in essence this provides churches the same right as sports bars.

            Tom:

Dave, I don’t know where we’re going to go with this, but I think we’ve got some opportunities here.  First of all, the last Super Bowl, I mean, it was a fantastic game, okay, but I  noticed your timing, you ended up preaching in a church on Super Bowl Sunday, and it was an evening service out here on the West coast, so the timing was, it was going on while you were preaching.  Now, did anybody show up?  It wasn’t a party there; you didn’t draw them in, because you were showing highlights.

            Dave:

Tom, actually we had pretty good attendance, but as I remarked to the audience I said:  Well, this shows who has recordable TV at home.

            Tom:

Well, here’s the question—

            Dave:

Because they didn’t want to know who had won, they’re going to watch it later.

            Tom:

But here’s the question, Dave.  Do you believe this should be a function that’s presented in a church, what’s your view?

            Dave:

I don’t think so.  It’s a compromise, Tom.  In other words, wow, this Super Bowl only happens once a year, and I mean, you just can’t restrain yourself; you’ve got to see it!  So, I think the church should kind of put God aside, only temporarily you understand.

            Tom:

Yeah, but some of them are using it for outreach.  Now, invite your neighbors because we’re going to have the testimonies; like for example, when Indianapolis, when the Colts played Chicago, both coaches had testimonies, they are believers, so what about an outreach?

            Dave:

Well, Tom, I presume that Paul’s outreach, and he turned the world upside down, that is, the world in his day.  It may have been a lot tougher world to turn upside down than the one we have today.  But, here come these men who turned the world upside down.  They didn’t have any song and dance, they didn’t have any magic shows, they didn’t have any DVD’s or NFL to show at all, and they had the Word of God.  And when—I’ve quoted it a dozen times, I guess—when Paul was giving advice to Timothy he said:  “Preach the Word, be instant in season, out of season, reprove, rebuke, exhort with all long-suffering and doctrine.  You’ve got a recorder, look at it later, but forgetting even that— Is there any sacrifice that I might make for the Christ who died for me on the cross?  Then I’m going to have to—Lord, look, you’re competing with a Super Bowl.  Now, it’s not going to work because, you know, Super Bowl is a whole lot more popular than you are.  Now if we could just make you popular, Lord.  Well, the first step is, let’s mix the Lord in with the Super Bowl.  See, Tom, we’ve got another problem here, as you know, and we’ve talked about it, I don’t think on the radio, it would be a long time if we have.  For example, I helped Athletes in Action and Campus Crusade, get started.  I wrote the first material for them, helped the guys with their testimonies.   The problem was, and they would get testimonies, I helped them with their testimonies that, maybe was a mistake, at half-time and so forth.  I’m not criticizing Campus Crusade.  I know these guys, I was with them, and we were trying to do this outreach.  But you got a problem because some of the athletes who gave their testimonies, their lives didn’t measure up to it.  Why do I need an athlete who may stumble and fall down the way, to endorse Jesus?  I don’t think Jesus needs any endorsement, we need to come to Him in submission and gratitude for that He died for our sins.  So, it raises a lot of issues, Tom, and I would just like to get back to the Bible.

            Tom:

Yeah, Dave, the other issues that is the content of Super Bowl.   Yeah, you do have athleticism on the field, but you also have all of the other baggage, whether it be the half-time show, whether it be the commercials, and so on.  You know, we’re not trying to be legalistic here, but I think some more scrutiny of such an event in a church should take place.  The other thing is the Emerging Church, one of the characteristics of the postmodern generation is, they want it through entertainment, you know.  And too many times I have seen whether they call themselves festivals, crusades, now what we call festivals, there’s a “bait and switch” deal.  You give them the world and the culture and so on, and then you are switching to Christ and Him crucified?  That’s a problem!

            Dave:

It’s been going on for a long time, Tom, with various organizations, youth organizations.  Now, I’m not trying to be critical of any of them but, Youth for Christ—

            Tom:

No, we want them to be more thoughtful.

            Dave:

Right, Youth for Christ.

            Tom:

Well, you know, there are some who would recognize this.  I know, Young Life, they try and stay with the Scriptures first, even though they were involved with kids, so it’s a difficult thing.

            Dave:

When I was in the business world we lived in a large home.  You could put a hundred people in our living room, or more, or in the family room, if you want to call it, nice fireplace and so forth.  There were youth organizations that wanted to use these things.  They got the door shut, but I can tell you, it was fun and games.  They did bring in Jesus in the last 30 seconds or so.  Tom, we let them continue to do it, but I didn’t have much interest in that kind of evangelism.

This is a link to our weekly radio program Search the Scriptures Daily. You may listen to the program by clicking on the "mp3" link above. For more listening options, please see our Radio Page.

Gary:

This is Search the Scriptures Daily, a radio ministry of The Berean Call.

Still to come 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 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 #1208, 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.  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 worldpoliticsview.com, January 8, 2008, with a headline:  “Hamas and Islamic Millenarianism:  What the West Doesn’t Recognize.”  The following are excerpts:  “Some twenty years after its founding, the Palestinian organization Hamas remains little understood in the West.  The most common error made by observers in considering contemporary Islamist movements – and notably, Hamas – is that of attempting to grasp them in terms of concepts and modes of thought that are proper to the West.  Most Western analysis of the phenomenon of Islamism tend to underestimate or even obscure a fundamental element that is common to all the various Islamist currents and organizations, namely, the role of specifically Muslim religious beliefs and more precisely of Islamic eschatology.  It is impossible to understand the success enjoyed by Hamas, notably since the Palestinian elections, nearly two years ago, and the persistence of Islamism in general, if one fails to take into account the beliefs held by the members of Islamist movements.  What are the goals of Hamas?   The preamble of the Hamas Charter…clearly affirms the centrality of the ‘struggle against the Jews,’ which is supposed to be carried on ‘until the enemies are vanquished and Allah’s victory is realized.’  [T]he role of eschatological or millenarian beliefs within [Islam] cuts across all the divisions within the Muslim world:  between Sunnism and Shism, between traditional Islam and contemporary Islamism.  As the French historian Pierre Lory explained…, ‘The imminence of the end of time and of the final judgment is one of the oldest and most constant Quranic themes and is found throughout the sacred text of Islam.’  Inasmuch as Muhammad is the last prophet (bearing the ‘seal of prophecy’), his advent inaugurates the last period of universal history: i.e. the eschatological period. Hamas is a radical Islamic movement whose worldview is marked by an Islamic eschatology in which the Jews occupy a central place.  Its apocalyptic vision of a final confrontation with Israel excludes every possibility of coexistence or ‘moderation.’  The hatred of Jews expressed in the Hamas Charter and conveyed in the discourse of its officials is not simply a religious anti-Judaism or an imported anti-Semitism of European origins.  It is, as the French scholar of anti-Semitism Pierre-Andre Taguieff has put it, a ‘millenarian and redemptive anti-Semitism,’ [i.e.] ‘the Muslim world can only be saved by the extermination of the Jews.’”

Tom:

Dave, this is rather lengthy but very important because one of the reasons I selected this is that it really supports what you’ve been saying for years, what you wrote about in Judgment Day, and people, certainly the press, you find little bits and pieces, they’re starting to “get it” but not quite yet, and I think this individual, who is French by the way, this is a French translation and these are just excerpts from a longer article, but he’s saying it the way it is, this is it.

Dave:

Tom, let me quote Muhammad, and I quote him, of course, this is from the Sahih Bukhari Hadith, I quote him in Judgment Day and we’ve said it on the program a time or two, but not in a while, so let’s get it clear again.  Muhammad said:   THE last day—now, he’s not saying the last days, that’s what Christians believe in; this is what the Bible talks about.  THE last day is one of the five pillars of Islam that every Muslim must believe.  What is THE last day?  That’s when Muslims are raised from the dead to see whether their good deeds outweigh their bad.  Okay?  So now, understand that no Muslim can be resurrected to face this final test until, what happens?  Here’s Muhammad:  “THE last day shall not come until the Muslims confront the Jews and the Muslims destroy them.  In that day, Allah will give a voice to the rocks and the trees, and the rocks and the trees will cry out, Muslim, oh Abdullah, oh servant of Allah, there is a Jew hiding behind me, come and kill him.”  So that was the last statement by this man is very accurate.  He says, in other words, “The Muslim world can only be saved by the extermination of the Jews.”  I’m glad he said that, you don’t hear people saying that.  I think I was one of the only ones, there were very few saying that.  You can’t understand what is going on in the Middle East unless you understand that until Islam controls, until they’ve wiped out Israel!  They must wipe out Israel, but they must wipe out all Jews all over the world.  Until you understand that, you don’t understand what’s really happening over there. 

            Tom:

And Dave, it’s really interesting because the secular press, it’s not that they are just oblivious to it, but they’re looking for other reasons.  They are always trying to find out why, and they say, well, it’s an economic struggle, and so on.  But many of the terrorists, the martyrs so-called, have come from middle-class families, and so on.  This is really….

            Dave:

Some of them from wealthy families.

            Tom:

Yes, this is not just ideological, this is a religious belief that’s at the core of what we are seeing and it’s not going to go away until this has changed.

            Dave:

Now, let’s just take it one step further.  Muhammad also said, “Allah has commanded me to fight against all people until all people confess there is no God but Allah, and Muhammad is his prophet” or his messenger.  Now if you want to talk about eschatology, there it is.  The consummation will be when Islam, not only wipes out all Jews, but has conquered the world.  This is what they must do. Now if you’re going to fit that in to some peace plan, President Bush’s “Road Map to Peace” and how they can naively continue with this pursuit—well of course, because, as we have pointed out in the past, Condoleezza Rice, she believes in Replacement Theology.  So, Israel is finished, they have no place in God’s plan, and that’s a lie, and that is exactly what Islam wants to bring to pass.

            Tom:

Dave, I don’t have it in front of me, but as I said, this is from a lengthy article, and one point the writer of the article makes is that Muhammad’s last words were, we’re going to take Constantinople, and then we are going to take Rome.  Now, I’m paraphrasing it because I don’t have it in front of me, but certainly, they took Constantinople, Istanbul now, but Rome was also on Muhammad’s mind.

            Dave:

His last words were, “May Allah curse the Christians and the Jews,” and the Qur’an, of course says, do not make any friendship with Christians….

This is a link to our weekly radio program Search the Scriptures Daily. You may listen to the program by clicking on the "mp3" link above. For more listening options, please see our Radio Page.

Gary:

This is Search the Scriptures Daily, a radio ministry of The Berean Call.

Still ahead, 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  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 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 #1108, 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.  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 Christian Newswire, December 16, 2007, with a headline:  “Let the News Be Told Again, Heaven is Real and Beautiful.”  The following are excerpts:  Our son David was involved in an accident where he was killed instantly while on his way to work.  A couple nights before his death he told his dad, if I don’t see you in the morning, then I will see you in heaven.  The loss was tremendous due to the love David had for everyone.  His sister was especially lost because they were so close.  However, she prayed to God for her peace and understanding of why.  One night while she was asleep, David came to her in her dream, and they were in communication for a long time.  This was not the first time for her to know he was there and with her, but that night, after the Lord had prepared her for him, she and David talked about many things.  She asked David if there really was a heaven.  David told her yes.  She then asked him was it pretty?  David told her, no, he told her it was beautiful.  She asked David if he would come to mom to give here comfort.  David told her it was easier for him to come to her.  There are a lot of questions in this life, the answers will not be revealed to us until it is our time to pass.  However, through their absolute love for each other, and for many, many other reasons that only God has the answer to, our faith is being strengthened.  This is as beautiful as anything I have ever witnessed.  God is great, and his Son, who gave His life for us all to have eternal life and in the hope that we would love each other as He loved us, is again showing us that He is the truth and the light.

            Tom:

Dave, I find this interesting, because it’s amazing, through the internet, through e-mails, and so on, how that’s become a vehicle to present information.  I remember when the production of “The Passion of the Christ” was taking place, that there were a lot of e-mails sent by Christians, evangelical Christians to support this, and so on.  So, somehow, you got on these lists and people sent you their e-mails, either for prayer support, or to explain something, or to present something.  My point here is that there are lots of new avenues now for people to disseminate information, and some of them like this are…. There’s no doubt that there really is a sincerity here about what’s taking place, certainly, in these days of so much feelings-oriented, psychologies and so on, that people want to be comforted, but there also demonstrates in much of this, a lack of Biblical discernment.  Not unlike what we were talking about in the first segment, but here you have something that just, I’m sure it will warm people’s hearts, but this is not true to the God of the Bible, the very God that they are trying to exalt.

            Dave:

Right, yeah Tom, it’s the same old thing.   What we were talking about before, it applies here in this situation.  Are we going to go by the Bible?  Now, Paul was caught up to the third heaven, he says he was. He said he heard words that it was not lawful to utter.  In other words, he had no permission to tell anybody about anything up there.  No one else has that permission, and yet we’ve got all kinds of people on Christian TV, we’ve got books being written—When I was in heaven. One of them even said, “When I got there I found Peter’s footprints in the gold streets because Peter got there so soon, the gold had just been poured.”

            Tom:

Oh yeah!

            Dave:

And then another one, “Because God does say in Psalm 91, He will cover you with His feathers, and under His wings you will trust.”  Now, I’m not even naming these people, but— he got so close to God he touched Him and he felt His feathers.  Now, what is going on here?  Well, this lady is getting involved, or she is being led into necromancy, absolutely forbidden!  Now, why should she trust what her deceased brother David says in a dream?  Now, is this a dream, or this a—she doesn’t say it’s a vision, but they had a long conversation!  Now you don’t usually talk to people in your dream, well, maybe you do, but this is very, very dangerous, because now what are we going to do?  Who is our authority?  Well, I would sure like to know something about heaven—well, let me tell you about this girl, and her brother David came to her and here’s what he says heaven is like.  Really?  They’ve been doing this; this is called “spiritism” or “spiritualism.”

            Tom:

If it’s not just a dream that she had because of her heart wanting this, but that still opens the door for something that could be very wrong.

            Dave:

She’s making it more than a dream now, relating it in detail.  So, down through the ages, King Saul, well, he wanted to know what was going to happen, and so forth.

            Tom:

Now, expand on that, Dave, was it really Samuel who came to Saul?

            Dave:

I believe it was, in that case.  In other words, because the medium was shocked.  What it said was true, was a rebuke.

            Tom:

It also brought about the death of Saul, so obviously, God allowed it, but then Saul had to pay the consequences.

            Dave:

That would be an exception, but this is dangerous stuff.  So, here we are, we’re going to take David’s word for this because he’s on the other side.  Tom, I used to investigate this kind of stuff, as you did, and it’s amazing how Aunt Jane, who wasn’t that bright when she was alive, but now that she’s gone on to the other side, woooo, they consult her as the all-knowing oracle.  And suddenly, Aunt Jane, she knows everything, because she’s over there now and we can consult her.  I’m afraid that’s what these people are being led into.

            Tom:

Dave, again, we have sincerity, we have emotionalism, we have people tied to what they desire, what they want, and that’s the check that I think they need to do.  As you said, is this true to God’s Word?  Yes, I want to be comforted, yes, I want to hear, I want to know that my deceased loved one is in heaven with the Lord—but again, nowhere in Scripture do we find that there’s an example of that. 

            Dave:

Right, even something against it.  We’ve got these books written:  I Was in Heaven and I Was in Hell and I Came Back to Tell You.  We have the story, true, not a parable, of the rich man in hell and he lift up his eyes, being in torment—you remember, he didn’t want his brothers to come to this place and he said, “Please send Lazarus back, they will believe if someone comes back from the dead.”  Abraham said they have Moses and the prophets, if they will not hear Moses and the prophets, neither would they believe the one came back from the dead and told them.  So this is to no purpose, but it can lead you into some real problems.

This is a link to our weekly radio program Search the Scriptures Daily. You may listen to the program by clicking on the "mp3" link above. For more listening options, please see our Radio Page.

Gary:

This book calls the shepherds and the sheep of Christ to reconsider their rush into media driven ways of doing church contrary to God’s ways.  Read this Berean’s response to Bible movie mania:  Showtime for the Sheep? The Church and the Passion of the Christ by T. A. McMahon, available now in paperback and e-book.  Information on how to order in just a moment.  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 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 #1008, 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.  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 Wall Street Journal, February 1, 2008, with a headline:  “Heaven Help Us, Stars Expound on Scriptures.”  The following are excerpts:  “In a culture awash in celebrity endorsements, it was only a matter of time before a clever publisher realized the value of branding the Bible.  A few years ago, Canongate issued the Pocket Canons, individual books of the Bible reprinted with introductions by various cultural luminaries.  They were followed up in 2005 by Revelations: Personal Responses to the Books of the Bible.  The contributors to Revelations who are described as scholars, writers, religious figures, and highly influential people are a diverse group.  Readers are treated to the rock star Bono’s spiritual musings on the Book of Psalms in which he claims that David performing music for King Saul is similar in spirit to the Spice Girls performing for Prince Charles.  David was a star, Bono assures us—the Elvis of the Bible.  Writer Kathleen Norris informs this that the Book of Revelation is best understood as prison literature and that it must be reclaimed from ill-informed fundamentalists.  The Dalai Lama, reading the New Testament Book of James, compares Buddhist and Christian teachings about charity.  And Peter Ackroyd calls Isaiah the highest poetry.  But the overarching sensibility of Revelations—the assumption that the imagination of the novelist and the charisma of pop stars entitled them to act as amateur theologians is questionable at best.  By contrast, Antonio Monda’s Do You Believe: Conversations on God and Religion tackles the question of belief directly.  I asked the people I interviewed to tell me honestly if they think that God exists, and how their answer to the question has affected their choices in life.’  Yet, Mr. Manda’s choice of interview subjects—18 literary and cultural celebrities including: Jane Fonda, Richard Ford, Spike Lee, Arthur Schlesinger, Jr. and Martin Scorsese is telling.  Here we discover the motivation behind Ms. Fonda’s decision to convert to Christianity.  ‘Christ was the first feminist,’ she tells Mr. Monda, ‘and because of that I’ve learned from His teaching to call myself a Christian feminist.’  Ms. Fonda informs us that the early Christians were seekers rather than believers, and that her faith is not a matter of traditions and dogmas, but rather a spiritual experience.”

            Tom:

Dave, this Wall Street Journal article, February 1, 2008, is very similar to what we—well, I say similar, to what we addressed in the first segment.  But now, instead of going to the past we’re going to the future for the future; all of these celebrities, all of these individuals who have a perspective on the Bible, and that sells Bibles.  What do you think?

            Dave:

Tom, why don’t we get a Muslim to write a commentary on the Bible?

            Tom:

Yeah, but the Dalai Lama has a commentary on the Book of James.

            Dave:

Yeah, I mean, this is so—do I dare say—stupid?  It’s idiotic!  What is the point?  Do we look to celebrities; do they have some special wisdom?  I would say most of them, from the lives they live, and wow—what they do with their private lives, and so forth, does not show much in the way of wisdom—and certainly a lot of immorality, and they are not the kind of people you would want to comment on the Bible.

            Tom:

Well, Dave, these are like the Roman gods and goddess.  They’re interesting, they’re fascinating, people are drawn to them, but they’re messed up, big time!

            Dave:

Tom, I don’t find them interesting, in fact, but many people do.

            Tom:

Just go through the check out line at the grocery store, they are stacked up there.  Well, Dave, again, I’m not saying some of these people aren’t sincere when they create these bibles.  Certainly money is involved, that may be the bottom line here, but some people say, well look—just as long as we can get the Bible into the hands of the people, you know, let the Bible do its work.  Some of these bibles, as we’ve mentioned over the weeks, are not Bibles.

            Dave:

Yeah, Let’s take the Renovaré’ Spiritual Formation Bible, very quickly. You don’t have celebrities like this, you have Bible scholars, theologians, and they trash the Bible as badly as these so-called celebrities do.  And yet, that’s in the church and Christian leaders recommend it.

            Tom:

Dave, what I also find interesting about this is you see the common mentality here.  For example, look at Jane Fonda, here’s her quote:  Ms. Fonda informs us that the early Christians were “seekers rather than believers” and that her faith is “not a matter of traditions and dogmas, but rather a spiritual experience.”  Again, this is the rush to mysticism that we see pervading, not just the church but those who are partaking in Christianity.

            Dave:

Faith is supposed to be in Jesus Christ and in His Word, never a matter of dogmas made up by someone or some church or traditions, we’ve dealt with that.

            Tom:

So, how does doctrine differ from that, Dave?

            Dave:

Doctrine is the container of truth and this is what the Bible is all about.  This is what the apostles preached, and it was doctrine.  And Paul says to Timothy, 2 Timothy chapter 4: “Preach the Word, be instant in season, out of season, reprove, rebuke, exhort with all long-suffering and doctrine, for the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine.”  We’ve quoted that many times, but somehow it doesn’t seem to get across to the church, let alone to the Christians leaders who find doctrine boring apparently, and they want to jazz it up with whatever—Let’s find out what the early fathers did, and so forth.  Tom, I’ve said it a hundred times; we need to get back to the Bible!

            Tom:

Right, and Dave, as you know, the cart that follows doctrine can be a spiritual experience, but it’s got to be based on sound doctrine!