MATTHEW 25 NETWORK EMBRACES OBAMA (Friday Church News Notes, August 8, 2008, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The Matthew 25 Network is an ecumenical political action organization that supports Barack Obama’s bid for the U.S. presidency. Emerging church leader Brian McLaren recently got on board. The network is named for its misinterpretation of Christ’s statement in Matthew 25:40 -- “Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.” This, they say, means that people will be judged by Christ according to how deeply they care about liberal social-justice issues, such as defeating global poverty, solving the AIDS crisis, fretting over “global, warming” and otherwise saving the environment. In fact, though, the context of Matthew 25 is the nations’ treatment of the Jews during the Great Tribulation. Matthew 25:40 is not the church’s Great Commission, which is clearly stated and emphasized by its five-fold repetition in Matthew 28:18-20; Mark 16:15; Luke 24:46-48; John 20:21; Acts 1:8. We see the Great Commission fleshed out in the book of Acts, where the apostles and early churches set out to win men to Jesus Christ. There is not a hint in Acts of a global social-justice program after the emerging church model. The Matthew 25 Network is the blind leading the blind, and as for their man Obama, he is a great choice for president for those who want more abortion on demand, a dramatic increase in homosexual rights, onerous environmental regulations, and the Marxist redistribution of wealth, and for those who want to see America’s sovereign rights as a nation turned over to that foolish and hypocritical institution called the United Nations. (For more about Matthew 25:40 see our new book What Is the Emerging Church?, which is available from Way of Life Literature.)

TWO BIBLICAL CHARACTERS DOCUMENTED BY RECENT ARCHAEOLOGICAL DISCOVERIES (Friday Church News Notes, August 8, 2008, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The following is excerpted from “Royal Seal of Prophet Jeremiah’s Accuser Found,” The Trumpet, July 31, 2008: “During the last days of the kingdom of Judah, the Prophet Jeremiah warned the residents of Jerusalem of their impending captivity at the hands of the Babylonian army. But instead of heeding that warning message, the princes of King Zedekiah’s administration attacked the messenger and plunged him into the depths of a miry dungeon (Jeremiah 38:1-6). One of Jeremiah’s accusers, Gedaliah the son of Pashur, had his name stamped on a small clay seal that was recently discovered about 600 feet south of the Temple Mount. Dr. Eilat Mazar, one of Israel’s top archaeologists, found the bulla earlier this year, in mint condition, while wet-sifting debris excavated under a tower at the north end of the City of David--the original site of ancient Jerusalem. Last summer Mazar, whose grandfather was the late Prof. Benjamin Mazar, began an emergency dig near the top of Jerusalem’s famous Stepped Stone Structure in order to repair a collapsing tower. But what started as a reconstruction project quickly turned into a fascinating collection of new discoveries. ... Mazar concluded that the tower must have been built by Nehemiah after the Jews returned from Babylonian captivity to rebuild the temple and repair the walls around Jerusalem. ... Included underneath Nehemiah’s tower were numerous remains and artifacts, including the Gedaliah bulla, that date to the final years of the first temple period--during the reign of Zedekiah, Judah’s last king. Three years ago, Mazar found another seal with the name of Jehucal the son of Shelemiah--mentioned twice in the book of Jeremiah (37:3; 38:1).”

THOMAS ROAD BAPTIST CHURCH SCREENS MOVIE THAT PRAISES BILLY GRAHAM (Friday Church News Notes, August 8, 2008, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - Thomas Road Baptist Church of Lynchburg, Virginia, where the late Jerry Falwell was pastor, provided a free screening of the new movie “Billy: The Early Years” at its evening service on August 3. The church’s official announcement called Graham “an incredible servant of God.” This is nothing new for Thomas Road Baptist Church and Liberty University. Falwell openly supported Graham beginning in the mid 1990s, but it is undisputable evidence of their complete capitulation to New Evangelical compromise. Graham was one of the founders of the New Evangelical philosophy in the 1950s, denouncing “separatism” and leading the way in the new ecumenical evangelism which brought born-again believers together with theological liberals and Roman Catholics, blatantly disobeying God’s command to earnestly contend for the faith for the sake of the supposed “larger good” of getting people under the sound of the gospel. Through the decades, Graham has turned thousands of his converts over to the hands of wolves in sheep’s clothing. As early as September 21, 1957, Graham said in an interview with the San Francisco News, “Anyone who makes a decision at our meetings is seen later and referred to a local clergyman, Protestant, Catholic, or Jewish.” In September 1983 The Florida Catholic reported that the names of 600 people from the Orlando crusade had been turned over to Catholic churches. In 1984, David Cline, vice-chairman of the Vancouver, British Columbia crusade, said, “If Catholics step forward THERE WILL BE NO ATTEMPT TO CONVERT THEM and their names will be given to the Catholic church nearest their homes” (Vancouver Sun, Oct. 5, 1984). In 1989 Michael Seed, Ecumenical Advisor to Catholic Cardinal Hume, said of Graham’s London crusade: “Those who come forward for counseling during a Mission evening in June, if they are Roman Catholic, will be directed to a Roman Catholic ‘nurture-group’ under Roman Catholic counselors in their home area.” In 1992 the Catholic archdiocese of Portland, Oregon, supplied many of counselors for the Graham crusade, and all Catholics responding to the altar call were channeled to Catholic churches. Graham’s June 1996 crusade in Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minnesota, brought the participation of 119 Catholic parishes (Christianity Today, July 15, 1996). In 1997, in an interview with Promise Keepers’ New Man magazine, Graham said that nearly all of his crusades were supported by Roman Catholic churches. Documentation for these and many other examples of this wretched business can be found in our 354-page book Evangelicals and Rome.

ENVIRONMENTAL COPS ON THE JOB (Friday Church News Notes, August 8, 2008, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - A shop in England was fined US$600 for using the wrong-colored garbage bags. The London Daily Mail reports: “Customers shopping for clothes at the Charli boutique watched in amazement when two uniformed men marched in and threatened staff with criminal prosecution. Their crime? Putting out rubbish in the wrong-coloured bin bags. Council officers announced that the shop in Muswell Hill, North London, would be fined £300 after using black bags because they had run out of the grey version issued by the local authority. The designer store had been waiting since July 1 for a delivery of new bags, but by the 17th staff decided they would have to put their rotting rubbish out in four standard black bags--a decision which cost them £75 per bag. Owner Sangita Ibrahim, 47, said: ‘The shop was really busy and they came in here like the Gestapo’” (“Trader Fined,” Daily Mail, July 25, 2008). Al Gore and the great city of London can sleep soundly, knowing that the ever-vigilant, oh-so-wise environmental cops are on the job.

MAKING HARPS FOR THE JEWISH TEMPLE (Friday Church News Notes, August 8, 2008, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The harp used by King David, called the kinor, was lost for 2,000 years following the destruction of the temple in Jerusalem in 70 A.D. and the dispersion of the Jewish people throughout the earth. But 25 years ago Micah and Shoshanna Harrari brought it back into existence, and they build harps for the Temple Institute, which is preparing for the rebuilding of the Jewish temple. They have learned that there were 4,000 Levis who played harps in the ancient temple and taught their children from age three to play the harp, shofar, and trumpet, and they are looking for a restitution of these things. In a recent interview with Israel National Radio the Harraris said: “These are Jewish instruments. The fact that they’ve returned means good times will be coming. There will be a time when we will play these instruments in the Temple. We won’t have to worry about making money or terrorism or health problems. We will sit around and play our harps and thank Hashem for everything and bring into this world a great, great joy” (“Harrari Harps Recreates Biblical Instruments,” Arutz Sheva, July 23, 2008). The Harraris migrated from America to Israel because of the biblical prophecies about the regathering of the Jews, and they are looking for the coming of the Messiah. What they don’t acknowledge is that the Messiah or Christ came 2,000 years ago and his name is Jesus, and before He comes the second time the Jews will be purged of unbelievers and only those that repent will enter the kingdom (Ezekiel 20:33-38). The Jewish temple will be rebuilt, but it will be desecrated by the antichrist during the Great Tribulation before the return of Christ (Matthew 24:15).

WORD FAITH PREACHER PROMISES WEALTH (Friday Church News Notes, August 8, 2008, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The Word-Faith movement forms a large segment of modern-day Pentecostalism, and one of its big voices is John Avanzini. Speaking at Family Harvest Church in Tinley Park, Illinois, on July 17, he said, “God wants you to live with limitless supply,” and, “In good times or in bad times, God is willing to make you rich” (“John Avanzini and His Talking Stones,” http://www.SlideofLaodicea.com, July 22, 2008). Avanzini then presented his new revelation of “reverse entrapment.” He exhorted each attendee to use his or her credit card to give him a gift equaling the size of their monthly mortgage, brazenly promising that God would pay off the mortgage right away. Avanzini also distributed stones to each of the attendees, instructing them to rub the stones whenever they faced higher prices at the gas pump! This sounds like a magic genie or a lucky charm, but it certainly is not Scriptural. For more about the Word-Faith heresy see our 317-page book The Pentecostal-Charismatic Movements: The History and Error, available from Way of Life Literature.

MORE HINDU PERSECUTION AGAINST CHRISTIANS IN INDIA (Friday Church News Notes, August 8, 2008, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - More instances of persecution have been reported out of India. In Kerala the 15,000-member Heavenly Feast Church of Kottayam has been targeted by radical Hindus who are seeking to shut it down (Mission Network News, July 23, 2008). They partially destroyed a tent in which the church operates a ministry to feed the poor, abused church-goers with foul language, and threw stones at them, injuring 25 people. Because of the agitation the local government has stopped the church’s meetings until the issue can be resolved. In West Bengal 14 members of a church were beaten, threatened with death, and forced to leave their homes. In Karnataka a Pastor Abraham was assaulted by 20 Hindus in the presence of his family and congregation. The mob also destroyed all of the church’s Christian literature and Bibles (“Pastor Assaulted,” Voice of the Martyrs Persecution Blog, July 22, 2008). This was the third attack on Christians in that area in two months.

31,000 SCIENTISTS REPUDIATE GLOBAL WARMING THEORY (Friday Church News Notes, August 8, 2008, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The following is excerpted from “U.N. ‘Scaring Planet Earth” into Global Tax,” WorldNetDaily, June 19, 2008. “A scientist whose reservations about ‘global warming’ have been officially endorsed by tens of thousands of other scientists is accusing the U.N. of using ‘mob rule’ to generate fear-mongering climate change reports intended to scare national leaders into submitting to its worldwide taxation schemes. ‘Science has always progressed on the basis of observations, experiments, and thoughts published by individual scientists and sometimes pairs or small groups of scientific coworkers,’ Art Robinson, a research professor of chemistry and co-founder of the Oregon Institute of Science and Medicine, said in a recent column in Human Events. Except at the U.N., he said. Robinson’s concern over the political manipulation of science earlier led him to launch the Petition Project, a compilation of more than 31,000 scientists [including 9,000 Ph.D.s]--with more names arriving daily--who have voluntarily signed their names to the following statement: ‘There is no convincing scientific evidence that human release of carbon dioxide, methane, or other greenhouse gases is causing or will, in the foreseeable future, cause catastrophic heating of the Earth’s atmosphere and disruption of the Earth’s climate. Moreover, there is substantial scientific evidence that increases in atmospheric carbon dioxide produce many beneficial effects upon the natural plant and animal environments of the Earth.’”