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Thursday, August 31, 2017

INDIANA TEACHER TELLS FIRST GRADERS TO KEEP "GOD, JESUS, DEVIL" OUT OF CLASSROOM CONVERSATIONS

 
INDIANA TEACHER TELLS FIRST GRADERS 
TO KEEP "GOD, JESUS, DEVIL" OUT OF 
CLASSROOM CONVERSATIONS
BY HEATHER CLARK
republished below in full unedited for informational, educational, and research purposes:
 McCordsville, Ind. — An elementary school teacher in Indiana recently sent home a 
classroom update to parents that included a request to tell their children not to talk 
about “God, Jesus and [the] devil” at school.
The McCordsville Elementary School teacher, whose name has not been made public, sent the request on Aug. 23 after hearing an estimated five first-graders debating among themselves about the existence of God and the devil. She said that she addressed the children about it, but the subject matter later came up again.
“With McCordsville Elementary being a public school, we have many different religions and beliefs, and I do not want to upset a child/parent because of these words being used,” the teacher wrote to parents. “If you go to church or discuss these things at home, please have a talk with your child about there being an appropriate time and place of talking about it.”
 However, several of those parents soon contacted the school, concerned that their child’s free speech was being curtailed.

“There were a handful of parents that contacted us,” Mt. Vernon Schools Superintendent Shane Robbins told the Indianapolis Star. “They were offended that we were trying to quiet their children.”
He said that the teacher is fairly new—in her second year—and wasn’t completely educated on district policies surrounding the religious expression of students, nor did she speak to the principal before including the request in the classroom update for parents. The matter is now being discussed with the teacher.
Robbins said in a statement that the district allows students the liberty to discuss what they wish as long as it does not disrupt the learning environment.

“Trying to limit a student’s view on religion is a violation of a student’s First Amendment rights,” he outlined. “However, if the discussion becomes an academic disruption, then as a district, we can intervene to maintain the integrity of the educational process while at the same time being sure to not violate a student’s constitutional rights.”
“It is the position of the Mt. Vernon Community School Corporation to respect the diversity of our students. In doing so, we will address sensitive topics with compassion while maintaining the integrity of our academic environment,” Robbins stated. “I believe this was a learning experience and an opportunity for us to improve as a school district.”
As previously reported, in 1647, the Massachusetts Bay Colony passed “The Old Deluder Satan Act,” which required that children be taught to read so they could learn to read the Bible.
“In being one chief project of that old deluder, Satan, to keep men from the knowledge of the Scriptures, … and that learning may not be buried in the graves of our forefathers in Church and Commonwealth, the Lord assisting our endeavors, it is therefore ordered by this court and the authority thereof, that every township in this jurisdiction, after the Lord hath increased them to the number of fifty householders, shall then forthwith appoint one within their town to teach all such children as shall resort to him to write and read,” it read in part.
The first textbook used in the American colonies even before the nation’s founding, “The New England Primer,” was largely focused on the Scriptures, and was stated to be popular in public and private schools alike until approximately the early 1900’s. It used mostly the King James Bible as reference, and spoke much about sin, salvation and proper behavior.
“Save me, O God, from evil all this day long, and let me love and serve Thee forever, for the sake of Jesus Christ, Thy Son,” it read.
______________________________________________________


 

 

ROCKINGHAM, NORTH CAROLINA: STUDENTS FORCED TO "APOLOGIZE" FOR BEING WHITE & CHRISTIAN

STUDENTS FORCED TO "APOLOGIZE" FOR 
BEING WHITE & CHRISTIAN
BY FREEDOM PROJECT MEDIA
 Published on Aug 30, 2017
 Dr. Duke Pesta and Alex Newman discuss yet another example of a public school teacher pushing their social justice agenda on students. | Full Article:  

"JESUS WAS TRANSGENDER", LIBERAL MEDIA NOW REPORTING

"JESUS WAS TRANSGENDER", 
LIBERAL MEDIA NOW REPORTING 
BY MARK DICE
  Republished below in full unedited for informational, educational, and research purposes:
 The Liberal media, who repeatedly claim that Jesus was a homosexual, are now saying was Transgender. The Huffington Post (Huffing Paint Post), the biggest click bait bottom feeding scum on the Internet, continue their blasphemy and assault on Christianity as the sickening liberal agenda continues to sink to new lows. Media analyst Mark Dice has the story.
 

DEFENSE SECRETARY JAMES MATTIS DEFIES TRUMP: NO MILITARY TRANSGENDER BAN UNTIL IMPLEMENTATION STUDY COMPLETED

 https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/1d/170322-D-PB383-001_%2833207157510%29.jpg/1024px-170322-D-PB383-001_%2833207157510%29.jpg
DEFENSE SECRETARY JAMES MATTIS DEFIES TRUMP: NO MILITARY TRANSGENDER BAN UNTIL IMPLEMENTATION STUDY COMPLETED
BY RAVEN CLABOUGH
republished below in full unedited for informational, educational, and research purposes:
 
Last week, President Trump signed an official directive reversing President Obama’s plan to incorporate transgender individuals into the military, but on Tuesday, Defense Secretary James Mattis (shown) announced that he would be freezing the military’s transgender ban pending the results of a study on how to seamlessly implement it.
“Our focus must always be on what is best for the military’s combat effectiveness leading to victory on the battlefield,” Mattis said. “To that end, I will establish a panel of experts serving within the Departments of Defense and Homeland Security to provide advice and recommendations on the implementation of the president’s direction.”
He added that panel members “will bring mature experience, most notably in combat and deployed operations, and seasoned judgment to this task.” The panel will “assemble and thoroughly analyze all pertinent data, quantifiable and non-quantifiable.”
According to the Washington Post, only after the panel makes recommendations and Mattis consults with the secretary of Homeland Security will he make a final determination on the best methods to implement the directive and offer his recommendation to President Trump.
In President Trump’s July 26 announcement of the ban, he indicated that he reached his decision to return to the military’s previous ban on transgender individuals openly serving in the military following consultation with generals and military experts over the impact of President Obama’s policy reversal.
“After consultation with my Generals and military experts, please be advised that the United States government will not accept or allow transgender individuals to serve in any capacity in the U.S. military,” the president originally communicated in a series of Twitter posts. “Our military must be focused on decisive and overwhelming victory and cannot be burdened with the tremendous medical costs and disruption that transgender in the military would entail.”
On Friday, President Trump issued a memorandum in which he further clarified the ban with additional details. It explained that the intent is “to return to the long-standing policy and practice on military service by transgender individuals that was in place prior to June 2016 [when President Obama overturned the ban] until such time as a sufficient basis exists” that would prove that allowing transgender individuals to serve would not have negative effects. As such, the the memorandum states that Mattis has until February 2018 to present a plan on how to implement the ban and what to do with transgender individuals that are already currently serving in the military.
Trump’s memo added that President Obama’s reversal of the long-standing ban on transgenders in the military authorized the use of the Defense Department’s resources to fund sex-reassignment procedures ultimately without providing any evidence that a reversal of the ban would not disrupt unit cohesion and military effectiveness or overwhelm military resources.
President Obama’s decision to reverse the military’s transgender policy has been widely regarded by his critics as a last-ditch effort to cripple the military and push another social-justice agenda item before he exited his office. Prior to its reversal, few liberals seemed to take issue over the military’s transgender ban. It is only now that President Trump is attempting to return to the military’s long-standing ban that there is outrage from Democrats and others on the Left.
But while the reaction from the Left to the ban has been predictably critical, President Trump’s directive has found support among military generals and admirals. In an open letter sent to the president, a group of retired military officials indicated their gratitude to the president for his common-sense approach to the subject, The New American reported. They praised him for “making the extremely courageous decision to reverse President Obama’s transgender social experiment," and added, "There may be an enormous amount of vitriol directed at you for making this policy correction, but please know that overturning this policy may have done more in the long-term to save the culture and war-fighting capacity of the U.S. military than perhaps any other military policy you will adopt as president.”
A late June Rasmussen Poll on the topic of Obama’s transgender policy reversal showed that just 23 percent of people surveyed viewed it as a good thing, while 31 percent said it was bad. Thirty-eight percent said they believed it had no impact.
But perhaps most importantly, the Washington Examiner reports that a Military Times poll conducted last December found that 41 percent of active-duty troops believed that President Obama’s policy reversal hurt military readiness.

SICKENING: CNN & NEW YORK TIMES CALL FOR TEXAS GOVERNOR ABBOTT TO RESIGN, BLAMING OIL PRODUCTION ACCELERATING GLOBAL WARMING

SICKENING: CNN & NEW YORK TIMES CALL FOR 
TEXAS GOVERNOR ABBOTT TO RESIGN 
 Published on Aug 30, 2017
 In the wake of Hurricane Harvey hitting Houston, CNN and the New York Times are calling for the Gov. of Texas to resign, implying that the hurricane was a result of global warming accelerated by oil production in his state.
 

PRESIDENT TRUMP'S TAX REFORM SPEECH

PRESIDENT TRUMP'S TAX REFORM SPEECH
 Published on Aug 30, 2017
 President Donald Trump pushes 'pro-American' tax reform with a rousing speech from Springfield, Missouri.
 

US INTERCEPTS MISSILE DURING TEST, AMID NORTH KOREA STAND OFF~PUTIN EVACUATES EAST RUSSIA AHEAD OF NEW KOREAN WAR

PUTIN EVACUATES EAST RUSSIA 
AHEAD OF NEW KOREAN WAR 
 Published on Aug 30, 2017
 Russian president Vladimir Putin is evacuating eastern Russia in preparation for what may come if North Korea continues their suicidal push toward complete annihilation.

 US INTERCEPTS MISSILE DURING TEST 
AMID NORTH KOREA STAND OFF
 Drill suggests US can intercept N. Korea missile
BY KIT DANIELS
republished below in full unedited for informational, educational, and research purposes:
 
The US Navy successfully intercepted a ballistic missile during a drill only days after North Korea fired a missile over Japan.
The USS John Paul Jones, which is based in Hawaii, tracked the projectile on radar and destroyed it with a volley of SM-6 guided missiles, according to the US Missile Defense Agency.


“We are working closely with the fleet to develop this important new capability, and this was a key milestone in giving our Aegis ships an enhanced capability to defeat ballistic missiles in their terminal phase,” said MDA Director Lt. Gen. Sam Greaves. “We will continue developing ballistic missile defense technologies to stay ahead of the threat as it evolves.”
The drill suggests that a Navy destroyer in the Sea of Japan could potentially knock down a North Korean missile, an increasingly likely scenario after North Korea fired a KN-17 missile over Japan on Saturday.

The missile overflew Japan and landed in the Pacific Ocean, off the east coast of Hokkaido, one of Japan’s major islands.
In response, Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered 1500 Russians near the North Korea border to evacuate as military action against North Korea becomes plausible.
“The surprise move comes after President Donald Trump warned ‘all options are on the table’ in terms of a U.S. response to the missile launch,” Newsmax reported. “Trump said North Korea has ‘signaled its contempt for its neighbors, for all members of the United Nations, and for minimum standards of acceptable international behavior.’”
 

FIFTY YEARS OF ANGLICAN LIBERALISM

FIFTY YEARS OF ANGLICAN LIBERALISM 
 Enlarged August 31, 2017 (first published June 16, 2003)
David Cloud, Way of Life Literature, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061
866-295-4143,
fbns@wayoflife.org
BY DAVID CLOUD
republished below in full unedited for informational, educational, and research purposes:
 The worldwide
 Anglican Communion is composed of some 80 million members* in 164 
countries, including the “mother church,” the Church of England, and the
 Episcopal Church in America. (* A large percentage of Anglican members 
are “invisible” because they are church members due to the fact that 
they were baptized as infants and perhaps catechized, but they do not 
participate in the functional life of the churches.)
The Anglican Church is permeated with theological liberalism at every level. 

Consider some examples:

In 1953, Archbishop of Canterbury William Temple, in his book Nature and God
said, “... there is no such thing as revealed truth.”

In 1960, Episcopalian Bishop James Pike said the doctrine of the Trinity is 
“outdated, incomprehensible and nonessential” (The Christian Century,
 Dec. 21, 1960). (Billy Graham was a guest at Pike’s ordination on May 
15, 1958 and praised the liberal bishop in glowing terms. Nine days 
later, Graham invited Pike to sit on the platform during his 
evangelistic crusade in San Francisco and had him lead in prayer. On 
Dec. 4, 1960, Graham spoke in Pike’s pulpit at Grace Cathedral in San 
Francisco.) 

In 1961, Archbishop of Canterbury Michael Ramsey 
said, “... heaven is not a place for Christians only. ... I expect to 
see many present day atheists there” (London Daily Mail,
 Oct. 2, 1961). That same year, Bishop James Pike called the virgin 
birth of Christ a “primitive myth” and said that Joseph was probably 
Jesus’ real father (Redbook
 magazine, August 1961). He also said that Adam and Eve, the Garden of 
Eden, heaven, and hell are myths. (Billy Graham invited Ramsey to the 
platform during his 1975 crusade in Brazil and allowed him to speak to 
the crowd (Fundamental Evangelistic Association News & Views, May-June 
1975).

In 1963, Episcopal theologian Paul van Buren started the God-is-dead 
movement with the publication of his book The Secular Meaning of the Gospel
That same year, Anglican Bishop John Robinson said in his book Honest to God,
 “The whole scheme of a supernatural being coming down from heaven to 
‘save’ mankind from sin ... is frankly incredible to man ‘come of age.’”

In
 1967, after heresy charges were brought against Bishop James Pike, the 
Episcopal Church in America adopted a resolution declaring that all 
heresy was out of date. That year, Canon Hugh Montifiore of Cambridge 
University’s main church said, “Jesus might have been a homosexual” 
(Christianity Today, Aug. 18, 1967). (Montifiore was the advisor for the 
Cambridge Billy Graham Television Crusade.) 

In
 1968, the Church of England’s Lambeth Conference voted that Anglican 
clergy are no longer required to agree to the denomination’s 39 articles
 of faith.

In 1976, John Spong was ordained as the bishop of the 
Episcopal diocese of Newark, New Jersey, even though he denied 
practically every doctrine of the Christian faith. 

In 1977, 
Bishop Paul Moore of the Episcopal Cathedral of St. John the Divine in 
New York City ordained lesbian Ellen Barrett as a priest. Barrett told Time 
magazine that her lesbian love affairs gave her the “strength to serve God.”

In
 1978, Anglican Bishop Desmond Tutu of South Africa said the Holy Spirit
 shined through Mahatma Gandhi, who is a Hindu (St. Alban’s Cathedral, 
Pretoria, South Africa, Nov. 23, 1978).

In 1980, Tutu said, “It may be that Jesus was an illegitimate son” (Cape Times,
 Oct. 24, 1980).

In 1982, Archbishop of Canterbury Robert Runcie said he was an agnostic as to 
why Jesus suffered on the cross (Sunday Times Weekly Review, London, April 
11, 1982). That same year, Episcopal Bishop John Spong, writing in the  
Christian Century (Jan.
 6-13, 1982), condemned traditional evangelistic and missionary 
endeavors and said that biblical absolutism is “a vice.” (Billy Graham 
was one of the honored guests at Runcie’s ordination in March 1980, and 
Graham spoke highly of the liberal archbishop during his evangelistic 
crusades in England in 1984 and 1989.)

In 1984, David Jenkins, 
Anglican Bishop of Durham, described Christ’s resurrection as “a 
conjuring trick with bones” (“English Bishop Calls Christ’s Resurrection
 Conjuring Trick,” AP, St. Louis Post Dispatch,
 Oct. 28, 1984). Jenkins also said, “The Christian is not bound up with 
freak biology or corpses getting up and walking around” and “You don’t 
have to believe in the virgin birth.” (On July 9, 1984, three days after
 Jenkins was consecrated bishop, lightning struck his cathedral and 
caused extensive damage. A spokesman for the fire brigade said that 
though the roof was fully wired with lightning rods, none of them worked
 that morning; the smoke detectors in the ceiling did not go off, even 
though they were tested only a month before; and there was no thunder 
accompanying the lightning. EP News Service, Dec. 21, 1984).

In
 1984, the Associated Press reported that only 20 of 31 Church of 
England bishops polled insisted that Christians must accept Jesus as 
both God and man.

In 1985, the Jesus Seminar was founded with the
 help of Episcopalians, including Marcus Borg of Oregon State 
University. The Seminar claims that Jesus spoke only about 20% of the 
things attributed to him in the New Testament and that the Jesus 
described in the Bible is largely a fiction. They claim he wasn’t born 
of a virgin, didn’t walk on the water, didn’t rise bodily from the dead,
 and had no intention of starting a new Christian religion. They also 
claim that there was no Jewish trial of Jesus before the crucifixion, 
and the Jewish crowd did not participate in his condemnation.

In 
1985 the St. Luke’s Episcopal Church in Minneapolis ran an advertising 
campaign which included this slogan: “The Episcopal Church welcomes you.
 Regardless of race, creed, color or the number of times you’ve been 
born.” Twenty Episcopal churches in the Memphis, Tennessee, area ran an 
advertisement which stated, “In an atmosphere of absolute right and 
wrongs, here’s a little room to breathe. ... the Episcopal Church is 
totally committed to the preservation of open dialogue and undogmatic 
faith. We exist to tell the world about a God who loves us regardless of
 what we’ve done or what we believe. Even if we do not believe in Him, 
He believes in us. We do not suffocate with absolutes.” This, of course,
 is not biblical Christianity; it is gross apostasy.

When Edmond 
Lee Browning was elected “presiding bishop” of the Episcopal Church in 
September 1985, he “made it clear that he disagrees with the church’s 
official opposition to the ordination of practicing homosexuals” 
(Religious News Service, Sept. 11, 1985). He stated, “I would sincerely 
hope the Episcopal Church can say that there are no outcasts, but 
embrace all people and all cultures.” He was one of 20 bishops who 
signed a 1979 statement calling the church’s position on gays “a cruel 
denial of the sexual being of homosexual persons” and a “condemnatory 
judgment” that made them second-class citizens in the church. 

In
 1986, Anglican Bishop David Jenkins got a standing ovation from the 
general synod of the Church of England when he defended his doubts about
 the virgin birth and bodily resurrection of Christ (Associated Press, 
July 7, 1986). Jenkins called the God of the Bible “a cultic idol” 
(Ecumenical Press Service, July 16-21, 1986).

In 1987, a panel of seven Episcopal bishops dismissed heresy charges against 
Bishop John Spong.

In 1988, Spong published his book Living in Sin: A Bishop Rethinks Human 
Sexuality.
 He said, “The time has surely come not just to tolerate, or even to 
accept, but to celebrate and welcome the presence among us of our gay 
and lesbian fellow human beings” (p. 199). That year Spong visited a 
Buddhist temple and said, “As the smell of incense filled the air, I 
knelt before three images of the Buddha, feeling that the smoke could 
carry my prayers heavenward. It was for me a holy moment for I was 
certain that I was kneeling on holy ground” (“A Dialogue in a Buddhist 
Temple,” John Spong, The Voice, Jan. 1989).

In
 January 1989, a committee composed of five Episcopal bishops 
unanimously dismissed a second set of heresy charges that had been 
brought against Bishop John Spong. Toward the end of that year, Spong 
ordained the first openly practicing homosexual to the Episcopal 
priesthood. The man, Robert Williams, was diagnosed with AIDS less than 
two years later. 

According to Integrity, a pro-homosexual 
Episcopal group, at least 50 practicing homosexuals had been ordained to
 the priesthood by 1991. 

In November 1991, John Spong conducted a
 seminar in Bangor, Pennsylvania, entitled “Exorcising Fundamentalism, 
Sexual Phobias and Other Demons.” 

In 1993, a survey of nearly 
20,000 Episcopalians showed that seventy percent believed “faithful 
Christians can be sexually active gays and lesbians” (Christian News, Nov. 1, 
1993). Seventy-five percent approved of living with someone of the opposite 
sex without marriage.

In 1994, it was reported by the Sunday Times (July 31) in London that at least 
100 Anglican priests are atheists who do not believe in “an external, 
supernatural God.”

In
 1996, Archbishop of Canterbury George Carey lashed out at 
fundamentalists who place the Bible “above and beyond human inquiry” (Christian News,
 Dec. 9, 1996). That same year, the doctrinal commission of the Church 
of England said hell is not a place of fire and eternal torment. And 
Episcopal Bishop John Spong wrote in his paper that the image of God in 
the Bible is “no longer operative” (ENI, Dec. 6, 1996).

In 1997, a survey found that 31% of Anglican vicars in England do not believe 
in the virgin birth (Alliance Life,
 March 12, 1997). Actually that figure would probably have been much 
higher had the survey attempted to discover the number of vicars who 
believe in the virgin birth only in a figurative manner. 

In his 1991 book Rescuing the Bible from Fundamentalism,
 Episcopal Bishop John Spong said the apostle Paul was “a self hating, 
repressed homosexual.” That year, Spong ordained another homosexual 
priest, Barry Stopfel. Lesbian Episcopal priest Carter Heyward delivered
 the ordination sermon. When Stopfel’s male “lover” was introduced, the 
audience applauded. 

In 1998 Episcopalian Bishop John Spong said,
 “I would choose to loathe rather than to worship a deity who required 
the sacrifice of his son” (Christianity Today,
 June 15, 1998). That same year, retiring Episcopal Presiding Bishop 
Edmond Browning said, “It is time to move past using literalistic 
readings of the Bible to create prejudices against our gay and lesbian 
brothers and sisters” (Calvary Contender, May 1, 1998).

In 2002, Richard Harries, Anglican Bishop of Oxford, said Christians should pray 
to “God the Mother” (The Times,
 Nov. 3, 2002). That same year, retired Bishop Spong proposed a “new 
Christianity,” which must be able to “incorporate all of our reality. It
 must be able to allow God and Satan to come together in each of us. ...
 It must unite Christ with Antichrist, Jesus with Judas, male with 
female, heterosexual with homosexual” (World, July 8, 2002).

In April 2003, Episcopalian bishop Charles Bennison said that Jesus Christ was 
a sinner (Worthy News, April 14, 2003).

On
 June 7, 2003, the Diocese of New Hampshire elected the first openly 
homosexual bishop in the history of the Episcopal Church USA. The 
election was confirmed on August 5 by the General Convention meeting in 
Minneapolis. Thirteen years ago the newly elected bishop, V. Gene 
Robinson, broke his marriage vows when he left his wife and two young 
daughters and moved in with his male partner, Mark Andrew. In a speech 
in April 29, 2000, the day before a homosexual march in Washington, 
D.C., Robinson said: “... we are worthy to hold our heads high as gay 
folk--NOT because we’ve merely decided we are worthy, but because God 
has proclaimed it so. That we are loved beyond our wildest imagining by a
 God who made us the way we are and proclaimed it good. We proclaim 
today that we too read our Bibles, and through the voices of its many 
witnesses, we hear God’s voice--NOT saying ‘You are an abomination,’ but
 rather, ‘You are my beloved.’ We lay an equal claim to a savior who 
loves us as we are and who died to save us from our ‘manifold sins and 
wickedness,’ which does NOT include our being gay. And we come here 
today, laying claim to our full membership--our FULL membership--in the 
Body of Christ.”

In June 2006, the national convention of the 
Episcopal Church in America voted overwhelmingly against a resolution 
stating “an unchanging commitment to Jesus Christ as the son of God, the
 only name by which any person may be saved. More than seven tenths of 
the House of Deputies rejected the motion. One of those who voted 
against the resolution, a “Rev. McDowell” of North Carolina, told 
VirtueOnline that “how one lives his life is the more important issue 
than whether one affirms Jesus as Lord” and stated his conviction that 
all men are already children of God. 

The 2006 Episcopal 
convention elected the ultra-liberal Katharine Jefferts Schori to be the
 presiding bishop for a nine-year term. In her first sermon in that 
capacity, she referred to “our mother Jesus,” claiming that he gave 
birth to a new creation on the cross and implying that all are his 
children. Later she told the Washington Post
 that those who believe that the words of the Bible have only one 
possible interpretation are guilty of idolatry. She said, “I’m 
encouraging people to look beyond their favorite understandings” 
(Douglas LeBlanc, “Two Minds in One Episcopal Body,” Christian Research 
Journal, vol. 29, no. 5, 2006). 

At
 the same convention, Louie Crew and some other voting representatives 
(called deputies) referred to the Holy Spirit as “she.” The homosexual 
bishop Gene Robinson said the Holy Spirit “is that part of God that 
refuses to be confined and contained in the little boxes we have for 
God” (“Two Minds in One Episcopal Body,” Christian Research Journal,
 vol. 29, no. 5, 2006). He said, further, “We don’t worship a God who is
 all locked up in the Scripture of 2,000 years ago.” He quoted John 
Fortunato, a homosexual author who claims that God visited him and 
confirmed that homosexuality is fine if it is “loving.” He said, “God 
smiled and said quietly, ‘How can loving be wrong? All love comes from 
me.’” 

On September 14, 2008, the Church of England officially 
apologized to Charles Darwin for rejecting his theory of evolution. It 
said: “Charles Darwin, 200 years from your birth, the Church of England 
owes you an apology for misunderstanding you and, by getting our first 
reaction wrong, encouraging others to misunderstand you still” (“Church 
Makes ‘Ludicrous’ Apology,” The Daily Mail,
 Sept. 13, 2008). The statement was written by Malcolm Brown, who sits 
on the Archbishops’ Council, the Church of England’s managing body, 
headed by the Archbishop of Canterbury (Rowan Williams). Its argument 
that the theory of evolution is not incompatible with Christian teaching
 is patently ridiculous. The Bible plainly says that the world was 
created by God in six days, that the plant and animal life was made to 
reproduce after its own kind, that man was made in God’s image, that he 
sinned against God, and that the world was cast into fallen chaos. This 
fits perfectly with the condition that we see in the world today as well
 as the archaeological and geological records. If there was no divine 
creation, if man is a product of evolution, then Genesis is a myth, the 
fall is a fable, there is no purpose to life, no afterlife, and no 
salvation. If the account of Adam is a legend, then Jesus Christ’s 
apostles were deceived and the gospel they preached a delusion, because 
they mentioned Adam seven times in their writings, describing him always
 as a historical figure. 

On May 16, 2009, the bells of the 
Anglican Cathedral of Liverpool pealed out John Lennon’s atheistic song 
“Imagine” three times. A spokesperson for the cathedral said, “We feel 
this performance has inspired many people to think about their 
relationship with God in their lives” (“Imagine That,” The Daily Mail,
 May 17, 2009). Indeed, as we have seen, many members of the Anglican 
Church have no problem imagining with Lennon that there is no heaven or 
hell. John Lennon was anti-christ. His book A Spaniard in the Works
 portrayed Jesus as El Pifico, a “garlic eating, stinking little yellow,
 greasy fascist ****** Catholic Spaniard.” In this wicked book, Lennon 
further blasphemed the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. In the song “I 
Found Out,” Lennon sang, “There ain’t no Jesus gonna come from the sky,”
 and in his song “God,” he said, “I don’t believe in Bible. I don’t 
believe in Jesus. I just believe in me.” In an interview with a British 
newspaper Lennon defined God in these words: “All the energy is God. 
Your own energy and their energy, whether doing god-like things or 
ungodly things” (The Daily Sketch, Oct. 9, 1967). Lennon and Yoko Ono were 
heavily involved in occultism. The books Hellhounds on Their Trail by Gary 
Patterson, Nowhere Man: The Final Days of John Lennon by Robert Rosen, and 
 Lennon in America
 by Geoffrey Giuliano describe how the Lennons purchased entire sections
 of occult literature in bookstores; consulted tarot cards, astrologers,
 and psychics;’ learned how to cast spells; sought magical power from 
Egyptian artifacts; and believed in reincarnation. 

Following a 
vote in May 2009 by the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland to 
approve the appointment of a homosexual pastor, Desmond Tutu, Anglican 
Bishop Emeritus of Cape Town, South Africa, voiced his approval saying 
that churches should not be discussing “who goes to bed with whom” 
(“Desmond Tutu Endorses Homosexual Ministers,” LifeSiteNews.com, May 29,
 2009). The homosexual pastor, Scott Rennie, was ordained the pastor of 
Queen’s Cross Church in Aberdeen in 2008, but his appointment was 
protested and brought before the denomination’s ruling body. Like Vickie
 Gene Robinson, who was ordained a bishop in the Episcopal Church of 
America in 2003, Rennie divorced his wife to live carnally with a man. 
This is a double sin. First, there is the sin of breaking one’s solemn 
marriage vows before Almighty God. Second, there is the sin of sodomy. 
Yet these men are so spiritually blind that they claim to hold the moral
 high ground! (The Church of Scotland is not part of the Anglican 
communion, but Tutu is.)

At its annual convention in 2012, the 
Episcopal Church in America endorsed the blessing of “same-sex unions” 
and voted in favor of “transgender clergy” (Rob Kerby, “Why Is the 
Episcopal Church Near Collapse?” Beliefnet.com, July 13, 2012). Presiding 
Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori called God the “Big Man.” 

In
 2013, the Church of England “dropped its ban on gay clergy in civil 
partnerships becoming bishops” and a study group proposed that the 
Church “be able to recognize and celebrate same-sex marriages and 
partnerships in church services” (“Church of England Proposes 
Celebrating Gay Marriage,” Newsmax.com, Nov. 28, 2013).

In 2014, 
V. Gene Robinson, the first openly homosexual bishop in the Anglican 
church, announced that he is divorcing his “partner,” Mark Andrew. The 
two “married” in 2010 when same-sex marriage was legalized in New 
Hampshire (“First Openly Homosexual Episcopal Bishop Divorces,” OneNewsNow,
 May 4, 2014). In 1990, Robinson broke his marriage vows when he left 
his wife and two young daughters and moved in with Andrew.

A 
YouGov poll conducted in August-September 2014 found that 17% of 
Anglican clergy in England do not believe in a personal God. Only 24% 
describe themselves as conservative in theology. Only 28% say that 
Christianity is the only path to God. When asked “what you most rely on 
for guidance,” only 12% said the Bible, while 33% said conscience or 
reason. Retired Church of England clergyman David Paterson said, “I 
preach using God’s terminology, but never with the suggestion that God 
actually exists” (“Anglican Clergy Don’t Believe,” Breitbart, Oct. 28, 
2014).

In a July 2014 interview, Rowan Williams, former 
Archbishop of Canterbury, said that he practices a combination of 
Buddhist/Catholic/Orthodox meditation practices. Each morning he repeats
 the same prayer while performing breathing exercises. Called the “Jesus
 Prayer,” it consists of the vain repetition of the words, “Lord Jesus 
Christ, Son of God, have mercy upon me, a sinner.” He said that 
“exposure to and engagement with the Buddhist world in particular has 
made me aware of practices not unlike the ‘Jesus Prayer’ and introduced 
me to disciplines that further enforce the stillness and physical focus 
that the prayer entails” (“Rowan Williams: How Buddhism Helps Me Pray,”  
The Telegraph,
 London, July 2, 2014). He says the practice helps him detach himself 
from “distracted, wandering images and thoughts.” Practicing mental 
imagining techniques, he pictures the human body as a cave through which
 his breath passes. He says that practitioners of these techniques can 
achieve “advanced states” and become aware of an “unbroken inner light.”
 

Unscriptural contemplative practices such as the Jesus Prayer, 
visualizing prayer, breath prayer, and centering prayer are exceedingly 
dangerous. Many who practice these things end up believing in a pagan 
concept of God such as pantheism (God is everything) and panentheism 
(God is in everything). Through these practices people typically become 
increasingly ecumenical and interfaith in thinking. Contemplative prayer
 is a major building block of the end-time, one-world “church.” For more
 on this see the book Contemplative Mysticism, which is available in print and 
eBook editions from Way of Life Literature.

On
 November 14, 2014, the National Cathedral in Washington D.C., which is 
part of the Episcopal Church, hosted a full-fledged Islamic service. It 
was co-sponsored by Muslim groups with links to terrorism such as the 
Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) and the Islamic Society of 
North America (ISNA). The Muslims were kept out of view of crosses, 
since they are not allowed to pray “in view of sacred symbols alien to 
their faith” (“National Cathedral Holds Friday Muslim Prayers,” Voice of
 America, Nov. 14, 2014). 

The liberal Episcopal Church has 
demonstrated that it views Muslims more favorably than traditional 
Episcopal congregations that hold to the inerrancy of Scripture. Larry 
Provost reported the following: “In Binghamton, New York the Church of 
the Good Shepherd broke away from the Episcopal Diocese of Central New 
York over the issues of Biblical inerrancy. The Church of the Good 
Shepherd continued to thrive despite not being able to keep the church 
property they had once worshiped on. After some time the Episcopal 
Diocese of Central New York put the church property in question up for 
sale. The Church of the Good Shepherd was interested in buying their old
 property and offered the Diocese of New York $150,000 dollars for the 
property. The Episcopal Church refused to sell the property to the 
Church of the Good Shepherd. Instead they sold it to a Muslim group. The
 Muslim group offered only $50,000 dollars for the property; $100,000 
less than the Church of the Good Shepherd offered. The Episcopal Church 
was not done; a clause was added that the property could not be sold to 
the Church of the Good Shepherd in the future. Apparently the Bible 
believing Church of the Good Shepherd is more offensive to the Episcopal
 Church than Islam. Congregations that choose to remain with the 
Episcopal Church, often tied to our national soul, tend to shun the 
whole Bible yet have a particular fondness for accommodating Islam” 
(“Islamic Services in National Cathedral,” Townhall.com, Nov. 14, 2014).

In
 July 2017, the General Synod voted in favor of “offering special 
services to welcome transgender people to the Anglican faith” (“Anglican
 Church set to offer,” The Guardian, Jul. 9, 2017). The motion passed by a 
margin of 284 to 78. Proposing the motion, Chris Newlands, from Blackburn, 
Lancashire, said: “I hope that we can make a powerful statement to say that 
we believe that trans people are cherished and loved by God, who created them,
 and is present through all the twists and turns of their lives.” The God who 
created man created him male and female, so a transgender person is rebelling 
against God’s created order. Gender is not an accident of nature. Psalm 
139 says God creates the individual in the mother’s womb according to 
His plan.

Paul Bayes, the Bishop of Liverpool, said, “LGBT
 orientation and identity is not a sickness. And LGBT orientation and 
identity is not a sin” (“Church of England votes to explore transgender 
services,” BBC News, Jul. 9, 2017). 

On the other hand, the apostle Paul described homosexuality as “vile affections”
 (Ro. 1:26), “against nature” (Ro. 1:26), “unseemly” (Ro. 1:27), “error” 
(Ro. 1:27), and “a reprobate mind” (Ro. 1:28).”
 

EUGENE PETERSON & THE MESSAGE BIBLE

 Eugene Peterson Photo
EUGENE PETERSON & THE MESSAGE BIBLE 
BY DAVID CLOUD
republished below in full unedited for informational, educational, and research purposes:
 
The following is excerpted from CONTEMPLATIVE MYSTICISM: A POWERFUL ECUMENICAL BOND. ISBN 978-1-58318-113-3. Contemplative mysticism, which originated with Roman Catholic and Greek Orthodox monasticism, is permeating every branch of Christianity today, including the Southern Baptist Convention. In this book we document the fact that Catholic mysticism leads inevitably to a broadminded ecumenical philosophy and to capitulation to heresies. For many, this path has led to interfaith dialogue, Buddhism, Hinduism, universalism, pantheism, panentheism, even goddess theology. One chapter is dedicated to exposing the heresies of Richard Foster:"Evangelicalism's Mystical Sparkplug." We describe major contemplative practices, such as centering prayer, visualizing prayer, the Jesus Prayer, Lectio Divina, and the labyrinth. We look at the history of Roman Catholic monasticism which birthed contemplative prayer, and we examine the errors of contemplative mysticism. In the Biographical Catalog of Contemplative Mystics we look at the lives and beliefs of 60 of the major figures in the contemplative movement, including Francis of Assisi, Ignatius of Loyola, John of the Cross, Brennan Manning, Thomas Merton, Teresa of Avila, Richard Foster, and Dallas Willard. The book contains an extensive index. 482 pages. Available in print and eBook editions, www.wayoflife.org
______________
Eugene Peterson (b. 1932), author of The Message, was for many years James M. Houston Professor of Spiritual Theology at Regent College in Vancouver, British Columbia. He also served for almost 30 years as founding pastor of Christ Our King Presbyterian Church in Bel Air, Maryland. Today he is retired and lives in Montana. 
The New Testament portion of The Message was published in 1993 and the complete Bible in 2002. It is called a"translational-paraphrase" and is said to"unfold like a gripping novel." In fact, it IS a novel! 
It was"translated" by Peterson and reviewed by 21"consultants" from the following schools: Denver Seminary (Robert Alden), Dallas Theological Seminary (Darrell Bock and Donald Glenn), Fuller Theological Seminary (Donald Hagner), Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, Trinity Episcopal School, North Park Theological Seminary, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School (Richard Averbeck). Columbia Bible College, Criswell College (Lamar Cooper), Westminster Theological Seminary (Peter Enns), Bethel Seminary (Duane Garrett), Southern Baptist Theological Seminary (Paul R. House), Covenant Theological Seminary, Westmont College, Wesley Biblical Seminary, Reformed Theological Seminary, Moody Bible Institute (John H. Walton), Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary, and Gordon College (Marvin Wilson). 
The Message is widely recommended by well-known Christian leaders. In keeping with his love for every new translation and paraphrase to appear since the Revised Standard Version, Billy Graham printed his own edition of"The Message: New Testament." Warren Wiersbe says,"The Message is the boldest and most provocative rendering of the New Testament I've ever read." Jack Hayford says,"The Message is certainly destined to become a devotional classic -- not to mention a powerful pastoral tool." Rick Warren loves The Message and quotes it frequently, five times in the first chapter of The Purpose-Driven Life. J.I. Packer says,"In this crowded world of Bible versions Eugene Peterson's blend of accurate scholarship and vivid idiom make this rendering both distinctive and distinguished. The Message catches the logical flow, personal energy, and imaginative overtones of the original very well indeed." CCM artist Michael Card says,"Peterson's translation transforms the eye into an ear, opening the door of the New Testament wider than perhaps it has ever been opened." Leighton Ford says,"The Message will help many to transfer God's eternal truths to their contemporary lives." Joni Earckson Tada says,"WOW! What a treasure The Message is. I am going to carry it with me. This is a treasure that I will want to use wherever I am." The Message is also recommended by Amy Grant, Benny Hinn, Bill Hybels, Bill and Gloria Gaither, Chuck Swindoll, Toby of DC Talk, Gary Smalley, Gordon Fee, Gordon MacDonald, Jerry Jenkins, John Maxwell, Joyce Meyer, Kenneth Copeland, Max Lucado, Michael W. Smith, Newsboys, Phil Driscoll, Rebecca St. James, Rod Parsley, Stuart and Jill Briscoe, Tony Campolo, Bono of U2, Vernon Grounds, to name a few. (This information was gathered from the NAVPress web site.). 
Peterson told Christianity Today that a major turning point in his ministry was a lecture by Paul Tournier sponsored by the liberal Christian Century magazine and held at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore ("Books & Culture Corner: The Contemplative Christian," by Nathan Bierma, Christianity Today web site, Sept. 29, 2003). In a 1973 masters thesis entitled"Paul Tournier's Universalism," Daniel Musick warned: 
"Paul Tournier was an unrestricted universalist. His writings, personal correspondence with him, and interviews with many who knew him support this conclusion. An analysis of his soteriology over 35 years of writing reveals a transition from reformed roots to an unbiblical, neo-orthodox perspective influenced by Emil Brunner and Karl Barth." 
Peterson has recommended The Shack. Though fictional, this book's objective is the redefinition of God. It is about a man who becomes bitter at God after his daughter is murdered and has a life-changing experience in the very shack where the murder occurred; but the God he encounters is most definitely not the God of the Bible. Young's depicts God the Father as a black woman who loves rock & roll, and well as a man with gray hair and a pony tail. Young's male/female god/goddess is the god of the emerging church. He is cool, loves rock & roll, is non-judgmental, does not exercise wrath toward sin, does not send unbelievers to an eternal fiery hell, does not require repentance and the new birth, and puts no obligations on people. (For documentation see"The Shack's Cool God" at the Way of Life web site, www.wayoflife.org.)
Peterson has also recommended Rob Bell's universalistic book Love Wins. Bell says hell is in this life and most men will eventually be saved. He writes:"This insistence that God will be united and reconciled with all people is a theme the writers and prophets return to again and again. ... The God that Jesus teaches us about doesn't give up until everything that was lost is found. This God simply doesn't give up. Ever" (Love Wins, Kindle location 1259-1287). Bell calls the preaching of eternal hell"misguided and toxic," a"cheap view of God," and"lethal" (location 47-60, 2154-2180). He says there is something wrong with this God and calls Him"terrifying and traumatizing and unbearable" (location 1273-1287,  2098-2113). 
That kind of talk apparently resonates deeply with Peterson. No wonder he loves the non-judgmental god/goddess of The Shack.
Peterson is a big promoter of Catholic contemplative mysticism. He is on the Board of Reference for the international ecumenical contemplative organization Renovaré (pronounced Ren-o-var-ay, which is Latin, meaning"to make new spiritually"), founded by Richard Foster. At the October 1991 Renovaré meeting in Pasadena, Foster praised Pope John Paul II and called for unity in the Body of Christ through the"five streams of Christianity: the contemplative, holiness, charismatic, social justice and evangelical" (CIB Bulletin, December 1991). Foster advocates the practices of Catholic mystics and"the integration of psychology and theology." In his book entitled Prayer Foster draws material from Julian of Norwich, Thomas Merton, Bernard of Clairvaux, Madame Guyon, Teresa of Avila, even St. Ignatius of Loyola, the founder of the Jesuits. Renovaré promotes guided imagery, visualization, centering prayer, astral projection, Zen meditation, and Jungian psychology (Calvary Contender, Feb. 15, 1998).
Along the same line, notice the heroes of the faith that Peterson quotes in the article"Spirit Quest" (which is a Native American term for seeking intimacy with and revelation from pagan spirits): 
"Single-minded, persevering faithfulness confirms the authenticity of our spirituality. The ancestors we look to for encouragement in this business -- Augustine of Hippo and Julian of Norwich, ... Teresa of Avila -- didn't flit. They stayed" (Christianity Today, Nov. 8, 1993). 
Augustine, Julian, and Teresa had authentic spirituality? Not when tested by Scripture. Julian of Norwich said,"God showed me that sin need be no shame to man but can even be worthwhile" (quoted by Kenneth Leech, Soul Friend, p. 146). She also said,"God is really our Mother as he is our Father" and called Christ"Mother Jesus." Augustine taught that the sacraments are the means of saving grace, was one of the fathers of infant baptism, claiming that baptism takes away the child's sin, taught that Mary did not commit sin and promoted prayers to her, believed in purgatory and the veneration of relics, accepted the doctrine of celibacy for"priests," and laid the foundation for the inquisition, to name a few of his heresies. Teresa of Avila was probably demon possessed; she levitated and made strange noises deep in her throat, experienced terrifying visions and voices, and held to Rome's sacramental gospel that works are required for salvation.
Peterson was Professor of Spiritual Theology at Regent College, and it is obvious that he has been influenced deeply by the Catholic and modernistic Protestant"spirituality" in which he has immersed himself for so many decades. Regent College's bookstore features many works by Catholic mystics, such as those already named, and by theological modernists. I have visited this bookstore many times, and there is no warning whatsoever in regard to these books. 

The mystical"spirituality" that is so popular in evangelical and charismatic circles today is a yearning for an experiential relationship with God that downplays the role of faith and Scripture and that exalts"transcendental" experiences that lift the individual from the earthly mundane into a higher"spiritual" plane. Biblical prayer is talking with God; mystical prayer is silent meditation and"centering" and other such things. Biblical Christianity is a patient walk of faith; mystical spirituality is a flight of fancy. Biblical study is analyzing and meditating upon the literal truth of the Scripture; mystical spirituality focuses on a"deeper meaning"; it is more allegorical and"transcendental" than literal. 
It is not surprising that Peterson's Bible translation has a New Agey flavor to it. He even uses the term"as above, so below," which is a New Age expression for the unity of God and man, heaven and earth. In the book As Above, So Below, the editors of the New Age Journal say:"This maxim implies that the transcendent God beyond the physical universe and the immanent God within ourselves are one. Heaven and Earth, spirit and matter, the invisible and the visible worlds form a unity to which we are intimately linked" (quoted from Warren Smith, Deceived on Purpose: The New Age Implications of the Purpose-Driven Church, Ravenna, Ohio: Conscience Press, 2004). 
The Message is an environmental Bible, as well. In Romans 15:13, The Message says,"May the God of green hope fill you up with joy..." and in 1 Corinthians 6:9-10, it says that those who"use and abuse the earth and everything in it, don't quality as citizens in God's kingdom." 
The Message is also pro-homosexual, playing right into the hands of those who teach that homosexuality is a natural condition that God can bless instead of a sin that needs to be repented of. Every passage that condemns homosexuality is tampered with in The Message. For example, 1 Corinthians 6:9-11 in the KJV warns that"effeminate, nor abusers themselves with mankind" will not inherit the kingdom of God without being born again. In The Message this becomes the vapid and almost meaningless"those who use and abuse each other, use and abuse sex." In 1 Timothy 1:10,"them that defile themselves with mankind" is changed to"the irresponsible, who defy all authority, riding roughshod over God, life, sex, truth, whatever."
It is not surprising that Peterson told Religion News Service on July 12, 2017, that he does not believe that homosexuality is sinful. He said,"I know a lot of people who are gay and lesbian and they seem to have as good a spiritual life as I do. I think that kind of debate about lesbians and gays might be over. People who disapprove of it, they'll probably just go to another church. So we're in a transition and I think it's a transition for the best, for the good." Peterson told the RNS that the church he pastored hired a homosexual minister of music. He said that in churches where he served as associate pastor,"There were several women who were lesbians."