THE TRUMPET CALL

A ministry of the

Orlando Bible Church

 

VOL. XII NO. XII Editor and Pastor - James L. Thomas DECEMBER - 2004

(In The Trumpet Call, we quote from many different sources. Please understand that this does not necessarily mean that we approve of the publication from which we quote.)

THE SADDLEBACK CHURCH STATEMENT OF FAITH: SHALLOW AND HERETICAL. Friday Church News Notes, December 10, 2004 (David W. Cloud, Fundamental Baptist Information Service, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061, fbns@wayoflife.org, http://www.wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - Rick Warren of Purpose Drive Church and Life fame loves to simplify the Christian life and ministry. This is evident in Saddleback Church's statement of faith. Consider this excerpt from the statement on "Who is Jesus?" -- "Jesus Christ is God's Son and an equal of the Father. He has existed from the beginning of time, yet lived on earth during the first century A.D." This is heresy. Christ had no beginning; He is the eternal God and Creator of all things. Consider the statement on "What is Salvation?" -- "Our disobedient nature has eternally separated us from our Creator. No matter how hard we try, we can never earn our way back into God's presence. Our only hope is to trust Jesus as God's provision for our disobedience." This statement is so shallow and insufficient that it is difficult to know where to begin, but briefly, salvation is much more than a vague, undefined trusting "Jesus as God's provision for our disobedience." Heretics on every hand could fit their theology into that. They say we are saved by Jesus' life or His example or His suffering in general. Notice that there is no mention of the death, burial, and resurrection. In fact, 1 Corinthians 15:1-4 is not even referenced in the Saddleback statement of faith. No mention of the blood. No mention of repentance. The Saddleback paraphrase of the gospel is no gospel at all. The shallowness of this type of evangelism is why I could sit next to a church member at Saddleback on a research visit last year and have him tell me that he has always been a Christian. This was in response to my question, "When were you born again?"

 

HAYFORD, HYBELS, RUTH GRAHAM TO SPEAK FOR SCHULLER. Friday Church News Notes, December 10, 2004 (David W. Cloud, Fundamental Baptist Information Service, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061, fbns@wayoflife.org, http://www.wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The January 24-27, 2005, Institute for Successful Church Leadership, sponsored by Robert Schuller, will feature Jack Hayford, Bill Hybels, and Ruth Graham. The theme is "Finding and Fulfilling Your Mission: Proven Principles for Success." Anyone who would preach for Robert Schuller, or even appear on the same platform with him, is a deeply disobedient compromiser--at best (2 John 9-11). (Ravi Zacharias spoke for Schuller in April 18, 2004; Rick Warren preached at Schuller's Institute in 1997; and Schuller received a standing ovation when he spoke at the National Association of Evangelicals meeting in March 2004.) Schuller reinterprets the doctrines of the Word of God to conform to his heretical self-esteem philosophy. To Schuller, sin is "any act or thought that robs myself or another human being of his or her self-esteem" (Self-Esteem: The New Reformation, p. 14). His christ is "self-esteem incarnate" (p. 135). His new birth is to be "changed from a negative to a positive self-image" (p. 68). His hell "is the loss of pride that naturally follows separation from God" (p. 14). To Schuller, the most destructive thing is to call men lost sinners and thereby injure their self-esteem (Christianity Today, Oct. 5, 1984). Schuller is a universalist who believes that all people are the children of God. The fact that so many "evangelical" leaders treat Schuller as a brother in Christ is evidence of their own spiritual blindness. Christ warns us not to follow blind leaders. "And if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch" (Matthew 15:14). (For more about Schuller see "Evangelicals and Robert Schuller" at http://www.wayoflife.org/fbns/evangelicalsschuller.htm )

AMERICA BECOMING A GAY NATION? Gay activists want much more than legalized gay marriage, says an article in the October Charisma. Many areas of our nation are becoming homosexual havens. And it's not just San Francisco or Key West. A few years ago we were looking forward to seeing "beautiful Cape Cod." But alas, we were told that a part of the Cape is now a homosexual hangout. Popular actors and musicians are celebrating all things homosexual. Two female singers recently kissed on TV. We have gay marriages, gay adoptions, gay politics, gay cruises, Gay Days at Disney World, and gay churches. To our shame, we now applaud what was once considered perverse

Calvary Contender November 2004

WILLOW CREEK & PSYCHOHERESY Bill Hybels' seeker-sensitive Willow Creek Community Church has embraced the emotionalism, self-enhancing, subjectivity, popular vocabulary, and self-seeking goals of psychotherapy and the recovery movement, along with their underlying psychologies…….In addition to using the sales and management methods of the world, they have incorporated the world's methods of helping people deal with emotional pain and tragedy. They evidently believe secular psychological ideas to be so significant and essential for modern seekers that they give them Christ plus psychology - a syncretism that adapts and even perverts Christ and His Gospel... (Sep-Oct PsychoHeresy Letter)

Calvary Contender November 2004

INTERNATIONAL BAPTIST NETWORK (IBN) Three major independent Baptist fellowships (Baptist Bible, Southwide, and World Baptist), fulfilling a "vision" of Dr. John Rawlings, came together at Highland Park Baptist Church (Chattanooga). Each Fellowship met and voted in late September. The SBF voted 215 to 58 to accept the officers presented, and to continue to be a part of the IBN. We were able to attend some of the Services and most of the business meeting. These disparate Fellowships are divided on many issues: KJV, CCM, and New Evangelicalism (ecclesiastical separation, Promise Keepers, Falwell and other conservative Southern Baptist leaders, e.g.). Adding to the confusion and weak stance, is the fact that Falwell is a member of both the BBF and SBC. And Rawlings is Falwell's mentor, and veteran BBF leader who was unable to speak at the meeting. Apparently two of Dr. Rice's sons-in-law, spoke from the floor in favor of the 215 majority. The SBF is now entangled with, and routinely fellowships with, new evangelicals, and compromising Southern Baptist leaders. [Much more could be said if space permitted, CCM rock music, etc.]. Will there now be a faithful remnant in the SBF who will "come out from among them and be separate"? We pray to that end. We grieve at the lack of discernment being evidenced by "fundamentalist" leaders of our day. [2Cor. 6:17, Zech. 4;6]

Calvary Contender November 2004

BBF LEADER MONROE SPEAKS AT IBN MEETING The following is an excerpt from Dr. Bill Monroe's sermon: "Ladies and gentlemen, our time is too short to continue on the path that we've been going for the past 50 years…… We are too badly out-numbered ["numbers" should not take precedence over doing right!], our resources are too limited, our time is too short to continue on the path that we've been going for 50 years…….Now all I can speak for is Bill Monroe. But I can tell you this. I fear standing before God and trying to explain to Him why I wouldn't join hands with fellow Bible-believing Baptists to reach a world that's groaning with the lostness of almost 7 billion souls without hope, without God, without Christ and headed for a Devil's Hell. What am I going to say to my Lord when He said, 'Why did you get diverted by all that stuff? Why didn't you [just!] try to reach this world for Christ like I asked you to do?'……" When he said 'stuff,' his tone seemed to slur. Maybe our Lord would also ask: "How could you share pulpits and fellowship with those disobedient brethren who join hands with Moonies, Mormons, Catholics, or other errantists"? Why can't we do BOTH——defend the faith AND declare the Gospel? After all, BOTH are commands and Christians have no right to ignore or slur either of them.
Calvary Contender November 2004

"Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and show my people their transgressions." Isa. 58:1