GOSPEL MUSIC ASSOCIATION AWARDS "THE SHACK" MOVIE

GOSPEL MUSIC ASSOCIATION AWARDS 

"THE SHACK" MOVIE 

  Republished below in full unedited for informational, educational, and research purposes:

(Friday Church News Notes, November 3, 2017, www.wayoflife.org, fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - At its annual Dove awards, the Gospel Music Association selected The Shack as the "inspiration film of the year." The Shack, authored by William Paul Young, is a fictional account of a man who is bitter against God for allowing his daughter to be murdered and who returns to the scene of the murder, an old shack in the woods, where he has a life-changing encounter with God. The "God" that he encounters, though, is not the God of the Bible. Published in 2007, it has sold more than 20 million copies internationally. With the release of the movie, the book has again risen to the top of the charts. William Young is not a member of a church and is even reticent to call himself a Christian, describing himself as "spiritual but not religious" ("After The Shack, a Crossroads: William Paul Young," Publishers Weekly, Sept. 21, 2012). Yet the novel has been endorsed by Pat Robertson's 700 Club, CCM artist Michael W. Smith, Gayle Erwin of Calvary Chapel, James Ryle of the Vineyard churches, Andy Crouch, a senior editor of Christianity Today, Gloria Gaither, Mark Lowry (former singer with the Gaithers), Eugene Peterson, author of The Message, many Southern Baptists (such as Wade Burleson, pastor of Southern Baptist Emmanuel Baptist Church of Enid, Oklahoma), and others. Fundamentally, The Shack is about redefining God. In a 2007 interview, Young told about a woman who wrote to him and said that her 22-year-old daughter came to her after reading the book and asked, "IS IT ALL RIGHT IF I DIVORCE THE OLD GOD AND MARRY THE NEW ONE?" Young therefore admits that the God of The Shack is different from the traditional God of Bible-believing Christianity. He says that the God who "judges sin" is "a Christianized version of Zeus." In The Shack, Young depicts the triune God as a young Asian woman named "Sarayu" (supposedly the Holy Spirit, but the name is from the Hindu scriptures and represents a mythical river in India on the shores of which the Hindu god Rama was born), an oriental carpenter who loves to have a good time (supposedly the Son of God), and an older black woman named "Elousia" and "Papa" (supposedly God the Father). Young's god 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, puts no obligations on people, doesn't like traditional Bible churches, and does not accept the Bible as the infallible Word of God. (For a more extensive review of The Shack, see "The Shack's Cool God" at www.wayoflife.org.)

UK: CENTENNIAL OF THE BALFOUR DECLARATION~CHURCH OF ENGLAND'S APOSTATE ARCHBISHOPS

CENTENNIAL OF THE BALFOUR DECLARATION 

  Republished below in full unedited for informational, educational, and research purposes:

(Friday Church News Notes, November 3, 2017, www.wayoflife.org, fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - This week the British government recognized the centennial of the 1917 Balfour Declaration with a series of events that culminated in a dinner featuring UK Prime Minister Theresa May and Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. In the face of Palestinian protests, May remained steadfast in her commitment to the celebration, saying, "It is one of the most important letters in history. It demonstrates Britain's vital role in creating a homeland for the Jewish people. And it is an anniversary we will be marking with pride" ("Theresa May vows to mark Balfour centennial 'with pride,'" The Times of Israel, Oct. 25, 2017). The Balfour Declaration pledged the British government's support for a Jewish homeland. Issued in November 2, 1917, by Arthur James Balfour, the Foreign Secretary of the United Kingdom, it said, "His Majesty's government view with favour the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people, and will use their best endeavours to facilitate the achievement of this object, it being clearly understood that nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine, or the rights and political status enjoyed by Jews in any other country." In less than a year, the British had driven the Ottomans out of "Palestine," sounding the death knell of 700 years of Muslim control of the land and paving the way for the Jews' return. The British remained in Palestine as an occupational force and in 1922 were given a Mandate by the League of Nations to rule "Palestine." Britain became increasingly pro-Arab and anti-Israel over the next quarter century, backtracking on the promise of the Balfour Declaration, and when Israel established her state in May 1948 it was in spite of England and not with her help. 

CHURCH OF ENGLAND'S APOSTATE ARCHBISHOPS 

  Republished below in full unedited for informational, educational, and research purposes:

(Friday Church News Notes, November 3, 2017, www.wayoflife.org, fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The Church of England has never been scripturally sound, and it has moved ever farther away from God's Word. Consider some statements over the last 65 years from the Archbishop of Canterbury, the highest position in the Anglican Church. In 1953, William Temple, in his book Nature and God, said, "... there is no such thing as revealed truth." In 1961, 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). In 1982, Robert Runcie said he was an agnostic as to why Jesus suffered on the cross (Sunday Times Weekly Review, London, April 11, 1982). I read this interview over breakfast in London that morning, and nearly spilled my coffee. In 1996, George Carey lashed out at fundamentalists who place the Bible "above and beyond human inquiry" (Christian News, Dec. 9, 1996). In 2008, Rowan Williams led the Church of England in issuing the following statement: "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). In a 2014 interview, Williams said that he practices a combination of Buddhist/Catholic/Orthodox meditation practices ("Rowan Williams: How Buddhism Helps Me Pray," The Telegraph, London, July 2, 2014). Last month, Justin Welby told a reporter for GQ magazine that he cannot answer the question as to whether or not gay sex is sinful.