ELECTION NEWS? Fonda Still Pro-Abortion

The news that Jane Fonda had become a "born-again" Christian excited the evangelical Christian community the last couple of years. It seems that Jane Fonda may love Baby Jesus, but her love for other babies is not all that strong. Prior to the November 7th election, she gave at least $11.7 million dollars of her own money to a fund advertising against pro-life candidates.

Pro-Choice Vote, a special nonprofit that is allowed to spend money on political advertising, had only one donor and that was Jane Fonda. On September 15 and September 26 she gave two checks totaling $11.7 million to the  pro-abortion group . The money was used in the battleground states of Missouri, Pennsylvania and Minnesota, as well as New York, California and Florida.

One ad for which Fonda's money paid for featured Whoopi Goldberg urging pro-abortionists to get out to vote, because Bush would appoint Supreme Court judges unfavorable to the abortion cause. When asked why she funded the pro-abortion group, Fonda replied, "I wanted to do more to help voters understand reproductive rights and related issues so that they could make important decisions when they go to the polls." Note that she used the term "reproductive rights" to refer to the murder of unborn babies.

Together, Jane Fonda and her husband, Ted Turner, have given $1 billion to the United Nations to support population control. Much of that money has been used for the murder of unborn babies and the sterilization of women.

Let's put Jane Fonda's pro-abortion gift of $11.7 million to the Pro Choice Vote in perspective. About $2 million would build a modern 700-seat sanctuary for a growing church. To put it bluntly, Jane Fonda could have built five or six modern sanctuaries for inner city churches for the same money she spent promoting pro-abortion candidates for Congress. But it appears that the liberal Jane Fonda is more interested in having little babies aborted than building churches for them to worship in.

MORE ELECTION NEWS

A great fighter for the cause of Christ has been lost. Senator John Ashcroft of Missouri, the only ordained minister in the Senate, was defeated. Senator Ashcroft is extremely popular in Missouri, and at one time served as governor there. Just a few weeks before the election, he was far ahead in the polls. Unfortunately, shortly before the election his opponent, Governor Carnahan was killed in a plane crash. The Governor's son, who was the pilot, was also killed. The people of Missouri are compassionate, and so the newly sworn in governor announced he would appoint Mr. Carnahan's widow if the deceased governor won the election. He indeed did win, and now the Senate seat has gone to a woman who has never served in a public office, but who is publicly pro-abortion and against public prayer. We will all miss Senator Ashcroft in Washington.

THE PRESIDENT

Although Florida has certified Gov. George Bush as the winner in that state, Al Gore continues to contest the election in court. The current government, headed by Bill Clinton, has refused to give the keys or the funds for the presidential transition office to Gov. Bush's team. Because of all the court challenges by Al Gore, it is still unknown as of the writing of this newsletter who will be the next president of the Untied States. I was in Florida during some of the "recount" and I can report that dishonesty is the normal means of doing business in counties controlled by Al Gore's party. Should the courts now declare Gore the winner, his Presidency will be widely known to be illegitimate, and thus ineffectual. This is a sad day for a nation that was founded upon the biblical principles of honesty.

BUSH WINS WITH BORN AGAIN VOTERS

The Barna Research Group has released its final report on exit polls showing how Christians, particularly born-again believers, voted. In this presidential election 59% of born-again believers voted. That is up from 46% in the last presidential election. The greater number of born-again believers voting was the single factor that edged Bush to victory. The lack of these voters in 1996 is the reason Bob Dole lost and Bill Clinton won.

Still, the majority of those voting in the 2000 election were not born-again because the majority of Americans are not born-again believers. Among born-again believers who voted, Gov. Bush received 57% of the vote to Al Gore's 42%.

The Bush team and many socially conservative organizations see this as a great victory and call it a "landslide" for Bush among born-again believers. I see it as alarming that 42% of those who refer to themselves as "born-again believers" voted for a pro-abortionist who refers to his "faith tradition" and claims that the Bible supports homosexual behavior.

GOOD BYE, BAPTISTS?

The general news media would have Americans believe that the "new" conservative Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) is in dire trouble. The withdrawal of funds by the very liberal Baptist General Convention of Texas from SBC seminaries in October was all the proof the media needed. Indeed, the Baptist General Convention of Texas withheld $4.3 million from six seminaries. The General Convention also cut one million dollars from the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission run by Dr.  Richard Land.

One of the main spokesmen for the liberal Texas Convention is Dr. Russell Dilday who was a seminary president and who was fired when conservatives regained control of the SBC in 1990 after many years of liberal control. Make no mistake; Dr. Dilday was fired because he did not believe professors at Baptist seminaries should be required to publicly proclaim a relationship with Jesus Christ. Dr. Dilday believes teaching that the Bible is the inerrant Word of God at these six seminaries is an error. Like many theological liberals, Dr. Dilday believes that the Bible "evolves." He believes that the Holy Spirit gives us the insight and permission to reinterpret the Bible according to modern times. Thus, many in the Texas convention have no problem with accepting female or homosexual pastors despite the clear prohibition of such in the New Testament.  

The president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Rev. R. Albert Mohler, disagrees with the views of Dr. Dilday. He said, "Without a confession of faith, there is no legal or disciplinary procedure for accountability. This is a point lost on the [Texas] committee..." He was    referring to the Texas committee that "investigated the six seminaries and found them to "...almost exclusively reflect the narrow attitude of doctrinal fundamentalism."

The lost funding will probably be made up by the Conservative Baptist Convention of Texas. This group was formed some years ago by churches that found the liberal views of the General Convention too much to take. After the departure of these churches the main Texas body became even more liberal.  

Which leads me to the "Reverend" Julie Pennington-Russel. She is the "pastor" of Calvary Baptist Church in Waco, Texas and the current head of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship (CBF) which is trying to attract Baptist Churches from the SBC. (The General Baptist Convention of Texas is also now trying to be a national organization. It changed its charter to allow non-Texas Baptist Churches to join.) 

"Rev." Pennington-Russel makes it clear where her organization disagrees with the more conservative SBC. First, her Baptist organization believes the Bible is "inspired" by God, but not necessarily without error. This is a real contradiction, claiming that God is the author, but the book has errors. Her organization thus implies that God makes mistakes! Most Cooperative Baptist Fellowship Churches accept women as pastors and do not believe that churches should try to win Muslims or Jews to Christ, apparently believing there are other ways to heaven than through the sacrifice of Christ. On the other hand, the faith message of the Southern Baptist Convention is much clearer on the issue of Salvation. It states, "There is no Salvation apart from personal faith in Jesus Christ as Lord."

Texas and Virginia are the two most theologically liberal states for Baptists. Indeed many conservative churches split away from the General Baptist Convention of Virginia several years ago. Spotswood Baptist Church in Spotsylvania, Virginia, of which I am a member, was one of the founding churches of the Conservative Southern Baptists of Virginia. Several churches within the General Convention in Virginia do not hold that Christ was divine. Some accept as members those actively involved in homosexuality.

Can the division between Southern Baptists be healed? No. The division is too deep. No single denomination can exist with a division over the authority of the Bible and the divinity of Christ. The sooner the liberals form their own denomination and leave, the better. The new liberal denomination will die right along side the United Methodists and others who have followed the secular path to church organization.

WHY CHURCHES DIE

There is no gray area in Christianity. As long as the church is organized around the concept of good and evil, right and wrong, truth and falsehood, it wins souls and converts. As soon as the church blurs the reality of good and evil the church dies. Why? Because souls can only be won to Christ if they are convicted of sin. If there is no sin, why bother to accept Salvation through Christ? Why bother to join a church other than for social reasons?

There are many good social clubs in the world. Some of them, such as the Lions Club and the Rotary Club, do really good works. If someone wants to do good works and have a place to meet others, these clubs are a great place to be. But the church is not about good works; it is about saving souls. The modern church has forgotten that in its drive to become more inclusive. The more inclusive the church becomes, the fewer adherents it wins. The Church of England became so inclusive that it is almost nonexistent in Great Britain. Indeed, most of the great churches and cathedrals in that nation are now museums.

Many times the church body in the process of doing good works forgets why it started doing good works in the first place. Feeding the hungry is a good work. But, are we feeding the hungry just to give them bread or to give them the bread of life as well? I walked by a serving line recently at an outdoor mission work that feeds the homeless in Baltimore. Not only was there no Gospel being preached, there was not even a prayer of blessing given before the meal was served. How soon before this church organization is paying people to serve the food?

The church is about Christ and Him crucified for our sins. Any other use of the church organization must be secondary to that single fact. A church without Christ at its center is a dead church. Unfortunately, many evangelical churches in America are now following that route.

At one church in which I was invited to preach, I was pointedly told that "no one wears a tie because we don't want to run people off." I thought about this for awhile. Is the church about people or is it about God? Are we there to be comfortable or are we there to worship God? After some thought about this I put a notice in all of my materials to churches informing pastors that I wear a suit and tie in His church in honor of Him and that if a pastor finds it offensive for me to dress this way to please not invite me. I don't go to a church as an evangelist to please people; I go to convict them of their sin so they may be saved by the grace of Jesus Christ. If that is not my purpose, then I should not be preaching and neither should another man if that is not his purpose.

NATIONAL COUNCIL OF CHURCHES SHOWS ITS TRUE COLORS

The General Secretary of the National Council of Churches (NCC) recently announced a shocking change of mind.  The Secretary, Robert Edgar had recently signed and endorsed the Christian Declaration on Marriage.  This rather bland but commendable document was also endorsed by the National Conference of Catholic Bishops, the National Association of Evangelicals, and the Southern Baptist Convention.  Its purpose was simply to commit churches to help couples build strong marriages.  The sticking point with Mr. Edgar is that the declaration defines marriage as between one man and one woman.  Under pressure from homosexual activists, he now admits he personally favors "gay marriages" and so is withdrawing his signature. The NCC is struggling to survive as an organization, and this is a good example of why.  It does not accurately represent the views of the many church members whose denominations belong to it.

I recently debated Robert Edgar on a national radio program. He kept referring to his United Methodist religion as his "faith tradition," the same term used by Al Gore during presidential debates earlier this year. Liberals use the term "faith tradition" so as to avoid the truth of the Bible. If it is only "tradition" then it can be changed. In this case, Robert Edgar wishes to change the "tradition" of marriage to include homosexuals.

SILENCE IS NOT PRAYER

I was not a strong supporter of Virginia's new  "moment of silence" in schools law that went into effect this year. In fact, the state Senator who introduced the law asked me not to get involved and not to support it. He told me it had nothing to do with prayer.

The courts agree so far. Two courts have rejected claims by the American Civil Liberties Union that the Òmoment of silenceÓ has nothing to do with religion.

Judge Claude H. Hilton rejected the ACLU appeal against the moment of silence by saying, "The momentary   silence neither advances nor inhibits  religion. Students may think as they wish - and this thinking can be purely religious in nature or purely secular in nature. All that is required is that they sit silently."  The ACLU says it will appeal the case to the 4th U.S. District Court of Appeals.

Prior to the new law, schools could   allow a minute of silence, whereas the new law requires a moment of silence.

Is this a victory for Christians? Read the Judge's decision words carefully. The time is not set aside for prayer. A young man or woman can use the time to contemplate murder or send out demons to hex a teacher. While helping to establish order in the schools, this is by no means a foothold for prayer in our schools. This is not a victory for the cause of Christ and should not be viewed that way. Silence is not the answer to the problems our youth have today; God is the answer and He can only be reached through prayer.

CHURCH ORGANIST ARRESTED

Her crime: fixing up her house!

You would expect this story to come out of California, but this actually happened in Arkansas. A 70 year-old great-grandmother, who plays the organ and directs the choir at the First Presbyterian Church in Little Rock, was arrested and jailed for repairing her home.

"It is power run amok," she said.

Betty Deislinger lived in an apartment until 1998, when she purchased a run down 1876 Italianate-style home located in a section of the city which has been on the decline for decades. The house had been used by prostitutes and drug dealers. She applied to the city to install an air conditioner and do some other work. That is when the trouble began. In January she was notified that she was in violation of the rules for the "historic district" by having bars on the windows. The burglar bars had been on the home for many years and were not even installed by her.

Then the commission decided she could not have an air conditioning unit that was visible from the outside of the house. Please keep in mind that it is impossible to have an air conditioning unit with all its parts inside a home.

Mrs. Deislinger is sticking to her guns, particularly about the burglar bars. She said about removing the bars, "The liability would be far-reaching, and I think any thinking person would agree with me. I might as well hang a sign outside saying, 'Come in, take what you want, hit me over the head'."

This is the Little Rock Bill Clinton left behind as his legacy--a city that believes that the esthetics of a house in a run-down section of the city is far more important than the protection and comfort of a tax paying citizen.

SUDAN MINISTRY

The Religious Freedom Coalition continues to have a hand in ministry to the persecuted Christians of the Sudan. Millions of Christian Sudanese have been murdered and enslaved by the radical Muslim government of the Sudan, a government supported not only by the pariah state of Iran but by the Communist Chinese as well. Oil money now flows to the Sudan from the United States and is used to buy arms from China. China now has thousands of "military advisors" in Sudan to help protect the oil fields from the Christian militias.

Slavery is common in the Sudan and many ministries work to free Christians from their Muslim masters. Other ministries feed those Christians dislocated by constant bombing of their villages by the Muslim government.

Many of the supporters of the Religious Freedom Coalition have helped in the fight to free enslaved Christians in the Sudan. Every time the RFC sells a copy of the video, Sudan: The Hidden Holocaust, we send $6.00 to The Sudan Project. So far this year, this ministry has sent $1050 to the Sudan Project to help persecuted Christians. If you have not ordered a copy of this award-winning video that exposes the Muslim terror against Christians in the Sudan, I would urge you to order one today. If you already have a copy, pray about ordering one for your church library. You can help get the truth out about the persecution of Christians in the Sudan and at the same time help the ministries that are actually working there! Send $25.00 to RFC, P.O. Box 77511, Washington, DC 20013 and ask for a copy of Sudan: The Hidden Holocaust.

THE CHURCH AND THE SUDAN

The American Antislavery Group has begun a "Sudan Sister Church Program." The program is designed to raise awareness among U.S. churches about the situation of persecution and slavery in the Sudan, and to provide relief to the suffering Sudanese. Southern Sudanese churches need everything from Bibles to construction materials. Spiritual help through prayer and letters of support from congregations and youth groups is needed.

There are many redeemed slaves who have been able to return to their homeland in Southern Sudan who have been subject to severe torture. Christian women have been gang raped with the permission of their Muslim masters and many have had their genitals mutilated. The churches of Southern Sudan provide rehabilitation programs for the victims of the Muslim slave raids.  

The American Antislavery Group is not a conservative organization, but the involvement of more conservative churches in this program could change that. For the sake of the church in the Sudan, I urge pastors who read the William J. Murray Report to get involved in this program. You can call the American Antislavery Group at  (800) 884-0719 or visit their Internet site at www.anit-slavery.com.