Thursday, October 15, 2015

CHRISTIAN NEWS NOTES

PALESTINIAN CLERIC CALLS FOR STABBING JEWS LIKE ALLAH DID IN MUHAMMAD'S DAY 

In a sermon delivered at a mosque in Gaza, Muslim cleric Sallah Abu Rajab brandished a knife and called on Muslims to kill Jews. He said, “Much can be told about Jerusalem. This is where the soldiers of the Prophet Muhammad are. This is the grace of Allah. The soldiers of the Prophet Muhammad are here. Brothers, this is why we recall today what Allah did to the Jews. We recall what he did to them in Khaybar” (“Rafah Cleric Brandishes Knife in Friday Sermon”, MEMRITV.org, Oct. 9, 2015). Sallah also said, “Oh men of the West Bank, next time, attack in a group of three, four, or five. Attack them in groups. Cut them into body parts”. At Khaybar, Muhammad attacked peaceful Jewish settlements, killed many of the men, robbed them of their hard-earned wealth, enslaved their women, daughters, and children, and forced the surviving men to farm the land and give half of the income to the Muslims. The following is from Muhammad's official Islamic biography: “After the treaty of Al Hudaybiya, Mohammed stayed in Medina for about two months before he collected his army and marched to the forts of Khaybar, a community of wealthy Jewish farmers who lived in a village of separate forts about 100 miles from Medina. Mohammed seized the forts one at a time. Among the captives was a beautiful Jewess named Safiya. Mohammed took her for his sexual pleasure. [Her husband and father had just been beheaded by the Muslims.] ... Mohammed knew that there was a large treasure hidden somewhere in Khaybar, so he brought forth the Jew who he thought knew the most about it and questioned him. The Jew denied any knowledge. Mohammed told one of his men, 'Torture the Jew until you extract what he has.' So the Jew was staked on the ground, and a small fire built on his chest to get him to talk. When the man was nearly dead and still would not talk, Mohammed had him released and taken to one of his men who had had a brother killed in the fight. This Muslim got the pleasure of cutting off the tortured Jew's head” (Ibn Ishaq, Sirat Rasul Allah, 756-764).

CHRISTIAN WORKERS IN SYRIA RAPED, CRUCIFIED, BEHEADED 

The following is excerpted from “Christian Workers”, Christian Aid, Oct. 1, 2015: “At several steps on their path to death by beheading and crucifixion last month, 11 indigenous Christian workers near Aleppo, Syria had the option to leave the area and live. ... The indigenous missionaries were not required to stay at their ministry base in a village near Aleppo, Syria; rather, the ministry director who trained them had entreated them to leave. As the Islamic State (ISIS), other rebel groups and Syrian government forces turned Aleppo into a war zone of carnage and destruction, ISIS took over several outlying villages. The Syrian ministry workers in those villages chose to stay in order to provide aid in the name of Christ to survivors. ... The relatives said ISIS militants on Aug. 7 captured the Christian workers in a village whose name is withheld for security reasons. On Aug. 28, the militants asked if they had renounced Islam for Christianity. When the Christians said that they had, the rebels asked if they wanted to return to Islam. The Christians said they would never renounce Christ. The 41-year-old team leader, his young son and two ministry members in their 20s were questioned at one village where ISIS militants had summoned a crowd. The team leader presided over nine house churches he had helped to establish. His son was two months away from his 13th birthday. In front of the team leader and relatives in the crowd, the Islamic extremists cut off the fingertips of the boy and severely beat him, telling his father they would stop the torture only if he, the father, returned to Islam. When the team leader refused, relatives said, the ISIS militants also tortured and beat him and the two other ministry workers. The three men and the boy then met their deaths in crucifixion. ... Eight other ministry team members, including two women, were taken to another site in the village that day (Aug. 28) and were asked the same questions before a crowd. The women, ages 29 and 33, tried to tell the ISIS militants they were only sharing the peace and love of Christ and asked what they had done wrong to deserve the abuse. The Islamic extremists then publicly raped the women, who continued to pray during the ordeal, leading the ISIS militants to beat them all the more furiously. As the two women and the six men knelt before they were beheaded, they were all praying”.

ECUMENISTS BLESS ABORTION CLINIC

Last week, 15 wrongheaded Protestant “ministers” and Jewish rabbis in Cleveland, Ohio, blessed the Preterm abortion clinic. “The Very Rev”. Tracey Lind, Dean of Trinity Episcopal Cathedral, offered the following prayer: “Bless this building. May its walls stand strong against the onslaught of shame thrown at it. May it be a beacon of hope for those who need its services” (“Clergy Bless Preterm Clinic”, Ohio Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice, RCRC, Oct. 8, 2015). This was addressed to the God of non-judgmentalism who is OK with the murder of unborn children and is only concerned about the feelings of women. “Rev”. Laura Young, a United Methodist minister who describes herself as a “progressive theological thinker and a feminist”, says, “It breaks my heart to know women are sitting in pews across the country feeling shamed, believing they're cursed for making this decision. That's a question I get a lot on the phone. 'Am I going to hell?' When God instead is there to support women through it all” (“Clergy Bless Preterm Clinic”, RCRC). TheColumbus Dispatch added this comment by Young: “As people of faith, we know that God's love is constant when a woman is deciding to have an abortion. God's love is with her the entire time” (“Clergy group blesses Cleveland abortion clinic”, Columbus Dispatch, Oct. 8, 2015). God's love is unfathomable and is evident by the Son of God's atoning sacrifice on Calvary, but the thrice-holy God requires repentance of sin, and He does not overlook the murder of children. There are two parties involved in an abortion, the mother and the child. If there were no child, there would be no “mother”. That this narcissistic generation thinks preeminently of one party, which is self, is a major sign of the times. “This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy” (2 Timothy 3:1-2).

PRAYERS FOR MARY TO SAVE AMERICA

On October 10, prayers were offered in more than 14,000 places for Mary to save America. The Public Square Rosary Crusade was sponsored by the America Needs Fatima campaign, which is based on the myth that Mary appeared at Fatima, Portugal, in 1917 and instructed three children to do penance and make personal sacrifices to save sinners, which is a false gospel. Francis Slobodnik, national coordinator, said, “If only we'd turn to Our Lady, and do what she requested at Fatima, people would receive the courage needed to turn things around in America. ... I just know the Blessed Mother will be touched by these events and work wonders on that day. She cannot refuse the prayers of her children, who beg for help!” (“14,000 Rosary Rallies”, Christian Newswire, Oct. 9, 2015). America doubtless needs earnest prayer, but there is not a hint in Scripture that Mary can hear and answer prayers. It is a blasphemous concept that destroys the doctrine of Jesus Christ as sole Mediator. “For this isgood and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour; Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus” (1 Timothy 2:3-5). 

PAUL'S REPROOF OF PETER 

I have never seen anything in the Bible that would limit a ministry of biblical reproof so that influential pastors are not subject to it. And I have never seen anything in the Bible that requires that a preacher give reproof only in a private context. The prophets of old reproved even godly kings for their spiritual compromise. “Then Eliezer the son of Dodavah of Mareshah prophesied against Jehoshaphat, saying, Because thou hast joined thyself with Ahaziah, the LORD hath broken thy works. And the ships were broken, that they were not able to go to Tarshish” (2 Chronicles 20:37). Paul publicly reproved Peter for his hypocrisy (Galatians 2:14). If Peter's friends had been like some independent Baptists, they would have lashed out at Paul for his audacity at reproving the man of God, and especially for reproving him before others. “Why didn't Paul talk with Peter privately instead of making a public issue of it?” they would ask. “Was he jealous of Peter? Yes, that must be it. Who is Paul compared to Peter? When Paul wins 3,000 to the Lord through one sermon and pastors a church of thousands, then he might be qualified to reprove the great man, but not before. Why, when Paul preached on Mars Hill, only a handful of people responded, probably because he made too much of repentance! And unlike Peter, Paul didn't walk with Christ through His earthly sojourn and see the miracles firsthand and hear the Master's teaching with his own ears. Who does he think he is to reprove Peter for hypocrisy? Does he think he is the epitome of Christian perfection? That must be it. He is probably puffed up with pride and besotted with jealousy. Further, Paul is nit-picking. Peter's little “hypocrisy” is no big deal. Paul needs to stand back and look at the bigger picture of Peter's fruitful ministry. Why doesn't Paul aim his guns at real errors instead of shooting the wounded? Doesn't he realize that it is wrong to be divisive? Further, Paul isn't even a member of the Jerusalem church, so he needs to mind his own business and respect the autonomy of the church. If he wants to reprove someone, let him reprove the Judaizers and the Gnostics and leave the man of God alone”. This is the thinking of many independent Baptists, but it not scriptural. No preacher is above being tested by God's Word. Any preacher is liable to compromise and error. And if his compromise and error is public and has a public influence, the reproof should be public. While no man enjoys reproof, a godly man knows that reproof is necessary. “Whoso loveth instruction loveth knowledge: but he that hateth reproof is brutish” (Proverbs 12:1). I'm not talking about a carnal, critical, nit-picking spirit. I'm not talking about cheap gossip. I'm not talking about criticism based on personal opinion. I'm talking about a godly critique issued with spiritual wisdom and based solidly upon the Scripture rightly divided by men who love Christ and have His glory in view.  

“People do not love unpalatable truths, and when they have the alternative of listening to soothing assurance, moving eloquence, pleasing illustrations, and entertaining anecdotes, they not unnaturally avoid and withdraw as far as they can from the scathing rebukes of the prophet” (F.C. Jennings, Studies in Isaiah).

“It is clear that there must be difficulties for us in a revelation such as the Bible. If someone were to hand me a book that was as simple to me as the multiplication table, and say, 'This is the Word of God; in it He has revealed His whole will and wisdom,' I would shake my head and say, 'I cannot believe it; that is too easy to be a perfect revelation of infinite wisdom.' There must be, in any complete revelation of God's mind and will and character and being, things hard for the beginner to understand; and the wisest and best of us are but beginners” (Torrey,Difficulties in the Bible).