![]() Luke 16:31 "And he said unto him, If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead." In our previous program we heard how two creationists had scaled Mount Ararat and had filmed an object projecting from the ice near the summit. That object looked very much like Noah's Ark. The year was 1989 and other creationists at the time could have reported with great fanfare that Noah's Ark had indeed been discovered. But that's not how science works. Confirmation of the discovery was necessary, and the following year, other creationists, using a helicopter, found that the object was simply a rock formation. Some Christians think that confirmation of Noah's Ark will cause millions to come to Christ. However, this is unlikely to be the case. We are reminded of the rich man in hell who asked that Lazarus be sent back from the grave to warn his brothers about the judgment. Jesus said, "Even though the dead be raised, still they will not believe!" There is something else: Confirmation of the Ark, resting too high on the mountain to be explained by a local flood, would instantly make thousands of liberal theology books good for nothing more than heating fuel. Even liberal scholars would be forced to accept what they now consider to be ignorant myths of a pre-scientific age. They would be forced to deal with our message that the Word of God is true in every subject that it mentions! Photo: Courtesy of Henri Nissen. (CC-BY-SA 3.0) Creation Moments, Inc., P.O. Box 839, Foley, MN 56329 www.creationmoments.com ![]() Genesis 8:4 "And the ark rested in the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month, upon the mountains of Ararat." As they rose toward the 15,000-foot plateau on the west side of Mount Ararat, they spotted a familiar looking dark form. It looked almost like the drawing of Noah's Ark developed from the descriptions provided by others who had seen what they thought was the Ark in this area. The year was 1989. Chuck Aaron and Bob Garbe, both seasoned creationists, estimated that the visible portion of the dark object was about 60 feet wide, 30 feet high, with about 225 feet of it extending out of the ice and snow. The next morning they returned to the site and shot more video and photographs. With a storm moving in, working time was limited. The following year, other researchers returned to the site in a helicopter. While they could not land, they were able to get much closer to the site to get better pictures. From their vantage point, they concluded that the object was simply an unusual rock formation – a typical story in the search for Noah's Ark. It's a good thing that our faith in the truth of God's Word does not depend on physical evidence. Many creationists feel that even if the Ark were discovered and moved to Times Square in New York, unbelievers would eventually concoct their own explanation to discredit the story of God's judgment in the Flood. Creation Moments, Inc., P.O. Box 839, Foley, MN 56329 www.creationmoments.com ![]() In a column last week, Apple CEO Tim Cook came out publicly as a homosexual. He said, "While I have never denied my sexuality, I haven't publicly acknowledged it either, until now. So let me be clear: I'm proud to be gay, and I consider being gay among the greatest gifts God has given me" ("Tim Cook Speaks Up," Bloomberg Businessweek, Oct. 30, 2014). Cook mentioned Martin Luther King, Jr., and spoke of homosexual rights as a social-justice issue in the same league as equal rights for blacks. "When I arrive in my office each morning, I'm greeted by framed photos of Dr. King and Robert F. Kennedy. I don't pretend that writing this puts me in their league. All it does is allow me to look at those pictures and know that I'm doing my part, however small, to help others. We pave the sunlit path toward justice together, brick by brick. This is my brick." We pray that Mr. Cook will be enlightened to see that his "sunlit path" is actually the path of darkness, that he will repent and trust Jesus Christ as his Lord and Saviour and be converted as some in the Roman city of Corinth were converted 2,000 years ago. "Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God" (1 Corinthians 6:9-11). (Friday Church News Notes, November 7, 2014, www.wayoflife.org, [email protected], 866-295-4143) ![]() Job 5:13 "He taketh the wise in their own craftiness: and the counsel of the froward is carried headlong." Why do giraffes have long necks or kangaroos have pouches? Evolutionists answer that natural selection has favored the development of certain characteristics while discouraging and eliminating other features. But if this is what happened, we who believe in creation have a few questions. Giraffes have long necks, say evolutionists, because conditions favored the development of long-necked creatures that could feed on higher parts of the tree. But then many other grazing animals live side by side with giraffes and manage to get by. The horse, according to evolutionary explanations, has crowned teeth in order to survive in its environment. And yet the cow, with its uncrowned teeth, survives quite well in the same environment. Some evolutionists say that plants developed berries so that their seeds, inside the berries, would be carried far and wide by hungry birds, thus ensuring the plants' survival. Why then did some plants develop poisonous berries? And if the maternal instinct evolved to preserve the next generation, why do creatures like the stickleback fish, seahorse, and midwife toad, to name a few, leave total care of the young to the male? The truth is that natural selection does not offer a clear and consistent explanation for the living world. The diversity of the created world does not bear witness to evolutionary principles, but to the artistry of our Creator God. Photo: Giraffe skeleton on exhibit at The Museum of Osteology, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. (PD) Creation Moments, Inc., P.O. Box 839, Foley, MN 56329 www.creationmoments.com ![]() John 1:1 "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." The French philosopher René Descartes argued that anything that cannot be investigated by human reason must be assumed not to exist. He applied this to animals, calling them "automata" and, while he was careful not to say so, the argument also applies to the human soul and the existence of God. Over three centuries later, science makes no bones about dismissing the human soul. We are told that human beings come into the world as a blank slate upon which experience writes. This thinking has led to the idea that language, for example, is no more than simply sounds without inherent value. On the other hand, Scripture teaches that language is a God-given universal to man. New research is supporting the biblical view. Researchers at the University of Washington in Seattle studied the response of six-month-old infants to certain sounds. The infants were trained to look for a reward when they heard vowel or consonant sounds that are part of human speech. The researchers discovered that infants do recognize and categorize basic human vowel and consonant sounds, as well as their variations, right from the start. These findings have no evolutionary explanation but do support the Bible's claim that we have a soul passed on to us by our parents, while the original soul in Adam was created by God who is referred to as the "Word." Creation Moments, Inc., P.O. Box 839, Foley, MN 56329 www.creationmoments.com ![]() Recently a preacher friend mentioned that he has been listening to some conservative evangelicals, including Anne Graham Lotz, and he observed, "This Anne lady should have been a man. She makes some very good points, better than her dad Billy and her brother Franklin. She even talks about sin, repentance, hell, demons, earnest prayer, revival, about Israel in a favourable light, etc. There are a very small group of evangelicals that seem good on a few things." I replied that for years I have noticed that Franklin Graham and Anne can talk a good talk, sounding stronger than their dad, but they walk in the same disobedient footsteps. I have seen this same thing on the part of evangelicals I have heard at various conferences and on visits to their churches. You can find yourself thinking that you are listening to a true Biblicist who has a zeal for the truth, but then you realize that what they say and what they do are in great contradiction. Anne indicated to Kyra Phillips of CNN on April 8, 2005, that she believes that Pope John Paul II is in heaven. She applauded the pope's efforts "to bridge the gaps between Protestants and Catholics and Jews and Catholics" (CNN.com, transcripts). She said, "The wonderful thing, in Rome I've heard people say the Holy Father is in heaven and everybody is so confident that the pope is in heaven. And I think it's because he was such a good man." This is in spite of the fact that the spiritually-blind pope held to a false gospel of salvation through Rome's sacraments and devoted himself 100% to Mary. Anne represented her father at that pope's funeral. How could a true Bible believer praise Rome's pope? It is great confusion. It has been said of Billy Graham that he is "Mr. Facing Both Ways," and the same can be said of the entire Graham family, yea, the entire evangelical world. This is because they have renounced "separatism." In 2005, Anne preached at a conference in Russia sponsored by the extremely modernistic World Baptist Alliance (BWA) ("Baptists Unveil New Strategy for Evangelism," Assist News Service, Aug. 3, 2005). Denton Lotz, General Secretary of the BWA, is Anne's brother-in-law. In 2007, she joined with Samuel Kobia, president of the wretchedly apostate World Council of Churches, in a conference in India. Kobia doesn't preach the redemption of the soul through the blood of Christ; he preaches the redemption of society through socio-political work ("WCC Head Calls for Change in Famed Ecumenical Motto," Christian Post, April 28, 2007). Like other conservative evangelicals, Anne Graham Lotz is acceptable to many Bible believers, even while subtly drawing them into fellowship with the one-world church. In truth, these are very dangerous people. Anyone who genuinely loves the truth will demonstrate the Psalmist's hatred of error. "Therefore I esteem all thy precepts concerning all things to be right; and I hate every false way" (Psalm 119:128). (For more documentation on these subjects see the report "Liberal Baptist Denominations" and the free eBooks Billy Graham and Rome and The World Council of Churches, at www.wayoflife.org.) (Friday Church News Notes, November 7, 2014, www.wayoflife.org, [email protected], 866-295-4143) ![]() 1 Corinthians 15:54 "So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory." Should we ever find ourselves in his environment, the great white shark is the most dangerous man-eating creature on earth. The Australians call the great white shark the "white death." Its favorite food is not necessarily man, but any mammal it finds in the water. It has been recorded up to 21 feet in length and weighs over 7,000 pounds. The great white shark's mode of attack is different from other sharks. Instead of swimming around its prey and poking it, the great white shark spots its prey and darts straight toward it. As it reaches its prey, it rolls its eyes backward, opens its mouth, and takes a bite. The attack can last less than a second. Then it moves away and waits for its victim to bleed to death. This last habit has saved more than one diver who was rescued by companions while a great white shark was waiting for him to die. God has given all of us a will to live and a sense that death is our enemy. But Christians also know that even death has been conquered by our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. He rose victorious over death so that all who would come to Him may have that victory too. In Christ, we have been saved from the jaws of death for a new life! Photo: Courtesy of Fallows C, Gallagher AJ, Hammerschlag N. (CC-BY-SA 2.5 GENERIC) Creation Moments, Inc., P.O. Box 839, Foley, MN 56329 www.creationmoments.com ![]() At least six North Carolina magistrates have resigned rather than perform same-sex "marriages" as required after the state's ban on the same was declared unconstitutional on October 10 by federal judges. Five of the magistrates are Baptists and one is Wesleyan. Bill Stevenson of Gaston County says: "I prayed about it; I asked for wisdom. I think our hearts have been led away by the cares of the world, our desires, and ultimately, our intense arrogance--our hubris--against the Lord. We've rejected the prime authority of the Scriptures, something our Nation's Founding Fathers, such as John Adams, knew better than to do. ... In both the Old and New Testaments, homosexuality is something the Lord does not approve of, and since He doesn't, I could not put the sanction of the state on a relationship that runs afoul of scripture. ... The concern I have is that America just needs to repent of many sins, not just this sin" ("Judges Quit," say no to same-sex marriages," Christian Examiner, Oct. 29, 2014). Gayle Myrick of Jackson County said: "I believe marriage was ordained by God to be between a man and a woman. For me to do what the state said I had to do, under penalty of law, I would have to go against my convictions, and I was not willing to do that. I want to honor what the word says." Referring to the loss of salary (more than $50,000 a year) and prestige, Gilbert Breedlove of Swain County said: "None of that matters when it goes against the Word of God specifically. The Lord did so much for us and He requires His people to stand on His Word, and live in faith, and that's what we're doing. I'm just standing in faith to declare this is what the Lord has said. It's my way of honoring God." Tommy Holland of Graham County said, "When the federal judges ruled that gay marriage was legal and North Carolina honors that, and part of a magistrate's job is to perform marriage ceremonies, I knew I couldn't honor that law. It's against my belief. It's against what the Bible says … I was raised a Southern Baptist. God has always taken care of me" ("Four More North Carolina Judges Resign," The Christian Post, Oct. 30, 2014). In his resignation letter, John Kallam, Jr., of Rockingham County said that marrying gay couples "would desecrate a holy institution established by God Himself" ("NC magistrate resigns," WCT112.com, ABC News, Oct. 27, 2014). Other magistrates have said that they will refuse to perform same-sex "marriages," which will probably lead to their dismissal unless a law is passed to grant protection. Republican state senator Phil Berger has promised to draft such a bill. (A magistrate is a judicial officer who handles certain criminal and civil matters.) (Friday Church News Notes, November 7, 2014, www.wayoflife.org, [email protected], 866-295-4143) ![]() In his new book Undeniable: Evolution and the Science of Creation, Bill Nye again targets the children of Bible believers. He says, "We're all a product of the same evolutionary processes. Here's hoping we can work together to bring the children of the creationists' preachers' flocks to a more enlightened, boundless way of thinking about the world around us" (p. 18). Nye's book Undeniable is filled with undeniable myths and lies, and Nye's scoffing and willful ignorance proves that the Bible is true, for this was prophesied 2,000 years ago (2 Peter 3:3-7). Nye blithely ignores the fact that if we were indeed "the product of evolutionary process," life is without meaning and death is the end, so it would not matter what you believe, whether creationism or atheism. Nye's targeting of the children of Bible-believing families and churches instructs us about the necessity today of properly discipling our youth and preparing them to face the skepticism of our times. See the Way of Life online bookstore under the section "Materials for Discipling Youth" for suggestions. "Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts, And saying, Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation. For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water: Whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished: But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men" (2 Peter 3:3-7). (Friday Church News Notes, November 7, 2014, www.wayoflife.org, [email protected], 866-295-4143) ![]() Southern Baptists Rick Warren and Russell Moore are scheduled to speak later this month in a Vatican conference on marriage and family life. Other speakers include Pope Francis, Catholic bishops and priests, plus Mormons, Jews, and Muslims. The November 17-19 conference, "An International Interreligious Colloquium on the Complementarity of Man and Woman," will feature about 30 speakers representing 14 religions. It is sponsored by the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity and other Catholic entities. Moore, who heads the SBC's Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, says, "I am willing to go anywhere, when asked, to bear witness to what we as evangelical Protestants believe about marriage and the gospel, especially in times in which marriage is culturally imperiled" ("Russell Moore, Rick Warren to join Vatican conference," ReligionNews.com, Nov. 3, 2014). This is humanistic thinking that flies in the face of the Bible's commands to mark and avoid those who teach heresy. Examples are Romans 16:17-18; 1 Corinthians 15:33; 2 Corinthians 6:14-18; 11:1-4; 2 Timothy 3:5; and 2 John 8-11. Even the most "conservative" of evangelicals have renounced biblical separation, participating in unscriptural alliances and supporting others who so participate. "Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away" (2 Timothy 3:5). (Friday Church News Notes, November 7, 2014, www.wayoflife.org, [email protected], 866-295-4143) ![]() Habakkuk 3:17-18 "Although the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines; the labour of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no meat; the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls: yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will joy in the God of my salvation." Completely unrelated creatures that depend entirely upon one another to live and have no way of living without one another pose a very serious challenge to those who claim that all living things evolved. The relationship is called reciprocal altruism. One startling example is the relationship between the fig wasp and the fig tree. Male figs are not for eating; they produce the pollen to pollinate the sweet, juicy female fig. But the flower parts of both the male and female figs are inside the figs. There is no chance that the wind could spread pollen from the male to the female figs. And there is no other creature except the fig wasp that can transfer the pollen. Herein lies an incredible story. The fig wasp hatches from eggs inside the male fig, and its purpose in its short 24-hour life is to lay its eggs inside another male fig. The female wasp emerges from the male fig covered in pollen and is programmed to search among the female figs, thus fertilizing them, before laying its eggs inside a male fig and, thus, starting the cycle again. The fig wasp will only lay its eggs in the male fig while the female fig cannot be pollinated by any other method. Clearly, both the fig wasp and the fig tree were created for this special relationship. Photo: Courtesy of Anthony Bain. (CC-BY-SA 3.0) Creation Moments, Inc., P.O. Box 839, Foley, MN 56329 www.creationmoments.com ![]() "The [rock] medium is so anti-Christian in its ethos--libertarian, anti-authoritarian, equating infatuation and sexual attraction with love, and on the drug-culture fringe--that when Christians assume that ethos to communicate the message of self-denial, cross-bearing and following Christ then it utterly mangles the message" (Colin Chapman, "Modern Music and Evangelism," Background to the Task, Evangelical Alliance Commission on Evangelism, 1968). Comment by the Friday Church News Notes editor: This powerful warning, issued 45 years ago, was ignored by evangelicals to their own spiritual confusion. Now it is being ignored by fundamentalists and independent Baptists, and the effect will be the same, because the warning is true. (Friday Church News Notes, October 31, 2014, www.wayoflife.org, [email protected], 866-295-4143) ![]() Job 12:7, 9 "But ask now the beasts, and they shall teach thee; and the fowls of the air, and they shall tell thee: Who knoweth not in all these that the hand of the LORD hath wrought this?" Have you ever wondered why it is that ducks can spend all day in near-freezing water, and it doesn't seem to bother them? For that matter, birds never seem to be bothered about cold feet. If we ran around in the ice and snow with bare feet, it wouldn't be very long before we had a good case of frostbite. So why don't birds need socks? Birds have a network of arteries that take the blood down to their feet. These arteries are interwoven with the veins that return the blood from the feet. This network of arteries and veins is called a "wonder net." The blood going down the arteries is hot at 106 degrees, but the temperature of the blood returning in the veins may be as cool as 37 degrees as it leaves the foot. The warm blood reheats the cold blood coming from the foot before it enters the body. The result is that the bird loses very little body heat, and the blood going into the foot never becomes dangerously cold in normal winter weather. The wisdom of this design is obvious. Could birds have survived having their feet frozen off before they learned to evolve this special arrangement? Hardly! The most reasonable conclusion is that there is a Creator Who cares for all His creation, including you and me! Photo: Courtesy of Roux. (CC-BY-SA 3.0) Creation Moments, Inc., P.O. Box 839, Foley, MN 56329 www.creationmoments.com ![]() Not many would think of reality TV star Kim Kardashian in connection with Bible prophecy, but her new book of 2,000 selfies is a glaring sign of the times. It is appropriately entitled Selfish. The first characteristic of the end-time apostasy described in 2 Timothy 3 is that "men shall be lovers of their own selves" (2 Tim. 3:1-2). There has never been a better description of the entertainment-driven pop culture that has captivated the world through modern communications technology. The Time magazine "Person of the Year" for 2006 was "YOU," and the magazine cover featured a sheet of Mylar to reflect the reader's own face. It is the age of my music, my tweets, my fashion, my generation, my attitude, my photo. Even burger joints tell us to "have it your way." The pop culture is all about me, and it is a dramatic fulfillment of Bible prophecy and a dramatic sign of the end times. ("Selfie" refers to a self portrait, a practice that has gone mainstream in recent years through the proliferation of front-facing cameras on smartphones.) (Friday Church News Notes, October 31, 2014, www.wayoflife.org, [email protected], 866-295-4143) ![]() Isaiah 55:8 "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD." Whenever water is in contact with air, one of the most delicate structures in the universe is created. That structure is called surface tension. Surface tension is created because water molecules touching the air move just a little bit closer to one another, forming a delicate "skin" on the water. The water strider is one of the very few insects that can actually walk upon this delicate and extremely thin "skin" formed by surface tension. However, should he need to, he can dive right through it. Each of his six legs ends in a foot looking something like a snowshoe that spreads his weight on the water surface. The bottom of each foot is covered with sensitive hairs and a tiny oil gland to prevent the hairs from getting wet. Those hairs are also very sensitive to vibrations so that the water strider knows who is beneath him as he skates across the surface. Unlike most other insects, the strider is actually covered with hairs, and these provide for flotation when he dives for food. Only the Creator of all things could have known about surface tension and design a creature that can literally walk on water. Doesn't He deserve our worship and praise, especially since He did not even spare the life of His only Son to save us when we were lost to Him? Photo: Courtesy of Markus Gayda. (CC-BY-SA 3.0) Creation Moments, Inc., P.O. Box 839, Foley, MN 56329 www.creationmoments.com ![]() I was recently told by an evangelist that a great many independent Baptist pastors are "galled" at my warnings about Lancaster and about others who are leading the way in the "adaptation" of contemporary worship music. I have a question for these pastors: HAVE YOU READ MY WARNINGS? Or are you judging me on the basis of a few snippets you might have read or on the basis of what some other preacher has said about me? I am not infallible. Far from it. Just ask my wife! But my teaching and warnings about contemporary music are not cheap shots. They are based on 40+ years of unique experience, study, and research. The warnings are based on my experience as a musician. They are based on intensive study of God's Word, as my Encyclopedia of the Bible & Christianity and Advanced Bible Studies Series and other books attest, and on long experience as a preacher and missionary church planter. They are based on early experiences in the Pentecostal movement and Christian rock and intensive, decades-long research into these movements. I have attended large numbers of charismatic and contemporary conferences with media credentials as well as many influential churches in many countries. My warnings are based on experience as an author of six books on the subject of contemporary music totaling 2,100 pages, the first written in 1974, plus many videos. I'm not bragging; I'm simply giving my credentials. All I ask is that preachers take the time to listen prayerfully to what I have to say and judge it by God's Word for themselves. "He that answereth a matter before he heareth it, it is folly and shame unto him" (Proverbs 18:13). "Prove all things; hold fast that which is good" (1 Thessalonians 5:21). To simplify the matter, I recently published the heart and soul of my warnings in the book The Independent Baptist Music Wars. It is accompanied by a DVD containing two video presentations that I would beg every IFB preacher to watch: The Transformational Power of Contemporary Worship Music and The Foreign Spirit of Contemporary Praise Music. These videos are available as a free download at www.wayoflife.org. (Friday Church News Notes, October 31, 2014, www.wayoflife.org, [email protected], 866-295-4143) ![]() Deuteronomy 18:22 "When a prophet speaketh in the name of the LORD, if the thing follow not, nor come to pass, that is the thing which the LORD hath not spoken, but the prophet hath spoken it presumptuously: thou shalt not be afraid of him." If man is the result of billions of years of evolution from the simplest of creatures, evolution predicts that man should have retained most, if not all, of the best abilities of those other creatures in his heritage. According to evolution, our ape-like ancestors had opposing toes, just as we have opposing thumbs. If we had retained those opposing toes, we could pick things up without bending over. The female chimp can pull 1,260 pounds with one arm. That would be a pretty handy facility. And then, there is the hero shrew of Uganda, just six inches long, but it can support the weight of a one hundred and sixty pound man on its back! Even the lowly snail can pull up to 200 times its own weight, and lift ten times its weight. Then what about the trilobite, right at the bottom of the evolutionary ladder and supposedly extinct for 300 million years? This little fellow had the most sophisticated eye lenses, actually double lenses, ever found in nature! Since all of these abilities would be greatly beneficial for us, why didn't evolution let us keep or develop these abilities as we evolved? The answer is simple. We have not evolved. Rather, we have been made by a Creator Who made us for the purpose of a relationship with Himself through His Son, Jesus Christ. Photo: Courtesy of J.A. Allen, Herbet Lang, James Paul Chapin. (PD) Creation Moments, Inc., P.O. Box 839, Foley, MN 56329 www.creationmoments.com ![]() Paul Chappell's blog for October 28, 2014, is entitled "Doctrine Still Matters: What's Wrong with Hillsong?" Pastor Chappell rightly warns about Hillsong's belief in the continuation of tongues, their denial of eternal security, and their "refusal to take a stand against transgender lifestyles." In the introduction, he says, "Over the years, many have spoken out against Hillsong. The overall assessment I have heard has centered on music issues—specifically their CCM style. Sometimes we critique an area that may be worthy of attention (after all, music is a powerful, important part of worship and worthy of concern), but we can miss the larger picture and the deeper issues. Thus we condemn a ministry for an expression of a deeper issue rather than identifying and separating from the real issue(s)" (Chappell, "Doctrine Still Matters"). I would like to know who Pastor Chappell is talking about here, but to my knowledge very few fundamental Baptists have spoken out publicly against Hillsong in any sense. I am one of the few who has done so in print, and I have most definitely addressed "the larger picture and the deeper issues." In various articles and in the 520-page Directory of Contemporary Worship Musicians, which we published as a free eBook, we address Hillsong's heresies extensively. We have gone further to address the deepest issue, which is that Hillsong is a prominent part of the end-time, one-world church, and the "spirit" that is "experienced" in its music is not the Spirit of God, who is the Spirit of truth. No one is doing more to build the one-world "church" than Hillsong, and those who use Hillsong's music (or any of the charismatic contemporary musicians) are building bridges to that dangerous world. Yet Chappell's Lancaster Baptist Church uses Hillsong's music as well as the music of many others who have the same character. At least two of Hillsong's worship songs ("Stronger" and "Shout to the Lord") have been used by one of Lancaster's mixed ensembles. A few months ago, Mark Rasmussen Jr., son of the vice president of West Coast Baptist College, published a soft rock cover of Hillsong United's "Oceans (Where Feet May Fail)" on YouTube. Pastor Steve Rogers posted the following insightful comment at Pastor Chappell's blog: "Does this mean that you are publicly repenting of the past use at your church, LBC, of HillSong music like 'Shout To the Lord'? Are you now requiring students and staff to separate from CCM music that has the same type of doctrinal issues as HillSong? This article seems to directly contradict your continual practice of using and adapting this same kind of CCM music at Lancaster Baptist Church and West Coast Baptist college. I would certainly rejoice at such a repentance, but to preach and warn against what you are currently practicing, without first publicly repenting of it, is problematic to pastors and other churches who have observed such a contradiction. Thanks." (Friday Church News Notes, October 31, 2014, www.wayoflife.org, [email protected], 866-295-4143) ![]() Isaiah 40:29 "He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increaseth strength." Most of us know that a plant under stress is more likely to have problems with insects. If a plant is dry, for example, we water it, hoping it will regain its health and stand strong against insect attacks. But in the wild, no one shows up with a watering can when it gets dry. Ironically, most of us are trying to get our own plants to grow as well as they do in the wild! Now science may have discovered a provision the Creator has built into plants to protect them from modest water stress. Severe water stress is bad for plants, but modest water stress actually aids plants in fending off insects. For example, a plant's leaves become tougher to chew and contain less nourishment when they have too much water. On the other hand, when leaves are short of water, they begin producing mild insecticides. Some plants also start producing waxes and other substances to protect themselves under stressed conditions. Once water stress is removed, plants can return to normal operation overnight. The Creator has wisely provided for both plants and insects by means of this balance. When plants have enough water and can afford to provide food for insects, insects may munch away, undeterred. But when a plant has barely enough for itself, it is given the ability to fend off the insects. Photo: Courtesy of Michael Kurz. (CC-BY-SA 3.0 AUSTRIA) Creation Moments, Inc., P.O. Box 839, Foley, MN 56329 www.creationmoments.com A pastor friend recently observed, "Rasmussen's son and Chappell's nephew are best buddies and they sure don't reflect a conservative music. These young guys are going to take the music further and further, and it will lead them to a full blown new evangelical destination, if not further. I'm telling you, I am shocked at how quickly independent baptists are compromising. This week an Ambassador Baptist College grad that I went to school with posted Brennan Manning's video on Face Book as the most important theological truth a believer needs to accept. I commented that Manning was a heretic who believed in infant baptism and a false gospel of universalism and observed the Catholic mass. They deleted my comment."
In "The Unworldly Song" Mark Rasmussen, Jr. and Travis Chappell seem to be mocking biblical separation from the world, though the video is enigmatic enough for them to deny it. (Friday Church News Notes, October 31, 2014, www.wayoflife.org, [email protected], 866-295-4143) Mark Rasmussen, Jr., is a recent graduate of West Coast and has been a prominent singer in the Lancaster Baptist Church choirs. Travis and Mark represent at least a percentage of the next generation under the current leadership at Lancaster, and they represent what happens when you plug into contemporary worship music. Here is a video of Mark Rasmussen, Jr., jazzing it up with two other West Coast students for Christmas 2013 "to celebrate finishing our finals". The Dave on this Christmas video, who was a West Coast student in December 2013, appears on some of Mark's contemporary videos, such as their cover of "Oceans" and "10,000 Reasons." Mark and and his sister and Dave were in the choir at Lancaster in the Christmas program in December 2013. They are on the front row. Go to about 10:19 and you can see how contemporary Lancaster has become in just the last year. Here is a contemporary rendition of "All the Way My Saviour Leads Me" in 2012 by Mark Rasmussen, Jr., and his sisters. Here is another contemporary song by Mark when he was a student at West Coast in 2013. This one is by the contemporary Canadian band Downhere. (Friday Church News Notes, October 31, 2014, www.wayoflife.org, [email protected], 866-295-4143)
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