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Showing posts with label Secularism. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Secularism. Show all posts

Wednesday, September 18, 2019

POPE FRANCIS URGES WORLD LEADERS TO SIGN "GLOBAL PACT" FOR "NEW HUMANISM"

 POPE FRANCIS URGES WORLD LEADERS TO SIGN "GLOBAL PACT" FOR "NEW HUMANISM"
‘Strikingly secular message’ made just 1 reference to God
BY WND STAFF
republished below in full unedited for informational, educational and research purposes:
The pope is beginning to quote Hillary Clinton regarding his agendas, and has taken a hard turn to the secular, mentioning God just once in a new educational plan.
The Daily Wire reports on a plan in which the pope is inviting representatives of multiple religions, international groups and others to sign a “Global Pact of Education.”
He wants to “Hand on to younger generations a united and fraternal common home.”
There, he quotes Clinton in saying “It takes a village” to raise children.
The Vatican said just days ago the pope confirmed, in a video message, “A global educational pact is needed to educate us in universal solidarity and a new humanism.”
Lifesite News reported, “Vatican-backed website launched to promote the pact added: ‘Educating young people in fraternity, in learning to overcome divisions and conflicts, promote hospitality, justice and peace: Pope Francis has invited everyone who cares about the education of the young generation to sign a Global Pact, to create a global change of mentality through education.'”
The announcement mentioned “one throw-away reference to the Lord,” the report said.
He said the world’s inhabitants have to be proactive in education goals.
Without regard to the status quo.
“This will result in men and women who are open, responsible, prepared to listen, dialogue and reflect with others, and capable of weaving relationships with families, between generations, and with civil society, and thus to create a new humanism,” he said.
Lifesite noted some of the concerns with the announcement: “At a time when the right to homeschool and the right to a free choice of school are threatened, and when countries throughout the world level taxes to provide public schooling to which no Catholic parents could safely send their child, Pope Francis omitted any reference to the prerogatives of parents as the primary educators of their children.”
He invited everyone “to work for this alliance and to be committed, individually and within our communities, to nurturing the dream of a humanism rooted in solidarity and responsive both to humanity’s aspirations and to God’s plan.”
He assigned the Vatican’s Congregation for Catholic Education to run forward with the plan. That church division is charged with overseeing “216 thousand Catholic schools, attended by over 60 million pupils and 1,750 Catholic universities, with over 11 million students.”
Plans are for a convention of sorts to happen May 24, 2020.
He said an alliance is required “between the earth’s inhabitants and our ‘common home,’ which we are bound to care for and respect. An alliance that generates peace, justice and hospitality among all peoples of the human family, as well as dialogue between religions.”
He said, just weeks ago, that perhaps the world needs to change a lot.
“In the current situation of globalization not only of the economy but also of technological and cultural exchanges, the nation-state is no longer able to procure the common good of its population alone,” he told the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences in May. “While, according to the principle of subsidiarity, individual nations must be given the power to operate as far as they can, on the other hand, groups of neighboring nations — as is already the case — can strengthen their cooperation by attributing the exercise of certain functions and services to intergovernmental institutions that manage their common interests.”
The Beast out of the Earth
Dr. Greg J. Dixon
(Publisher’s comment:  In my opinion, it is highly possible that this pope, or another similar to him, fits the description of the beast that comes up out of the earth that is described by John: Rev 13:11-18: “And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb, and he spake as a dragon.  12 And he exerciseth all the power of the first beast before him, and causeth the earth and them which dwell therein to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed.  13 And he doeth great wonders, so that he maketh fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men,  14 And deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast; saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast, which had the wound by a sword, and did live.  15 And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed.  16 And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads:
17 And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.  18 Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six.”  Just as the Lord Jesus had a forerunner in John the Baptist, the Anti-Christ will also have a forerunner, so to speak.  He will influence the people to take the mark and to worship the ‘image of the Beast’.”  Surely the coming of the Lord draweth nigh.  
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Eco-SOCIALISM: Francis & the Amazon Schism

This week from the Editor’s Desk, Michael Matt takes a much closer look at the eco-theology of the Pan-Amazonian Bishops Synod, to kick off in two weeks. Do you think this is really about women deacons and married priests? Or is there something much more sinister going on? Plus, in addition to calling for the establishment of a ‘new humanism,’ Francis borrows a page from Hillary Clinton’s playbook and tells the world that ‘it takes a village’ to establish peace and justice for all. And Jesus Christ? Well, Francis evidently forgot to mention Him again. Finally, in his latest video message, Francis scolds President Trump for being a heretic from the new Eco-Religion when it comes to opting America out of the Parish Treaty on Climate Change. Imagine that! And for that matter, imagine there’s no heaven, it’s easy if you try; no hell below us, above us only sky. Imagine there's no countries. . . Francis does!

Wednesday, August 7, 2019

SOUTHERN BAPTIST PRESIDENT PROVES DENOMINATION HAS FULLY EMBRACED SECULAR IDEOLOGY

SOUTHERN BAPTIST PRESIDENT PROVES DENOMINATION HAS FULLY EMBRACED 
SECULAR IDEOLOGY 
SEE: http://the-trumpet-online.com/sbc-president-proves-denomination-has-fully-embraced-secular-ideology/republished below in full unedited for informational, educational and research purposes:
BY Jeff Maples
In June, the Southern Baptist Convention officially adopted Critical Race Theory — an anti-Biblical worldview that treats every circumstance in society through the lens of racism — as a “useful tool” for analyzing racism in our churches and society. Though many conservatives tried to speak out against it, Resolution 9 was overwhelmingly supported by the messengers present at the convention.
Critical Race Theory (CRT) emerged as an offshoot of Critical Theory, a neo-Marxist philosophy that has its roots in the Frankfurt School and its methods are drawn from Karl Marx and Sigmund Freud. CRT teaches that institutional racism exists within every structure of society and that these structures are intrinsically designed in such a manner as to protect and preserve “white supremacy” in our culture. Further, CRT does not rely on factual statistics or objective evidence to support the theory, rather it relies on anecdotal evidence and personal experience.
JD Greear is the current president of the Southern Baptist Convention — and no former president has pushed the denomination toward the full embrace of progressive secularism as has Greear. Greear has long been a proponent of “white privilege” theology, basically a fork of classic black liberation theology taught by James Cone. Further, Greear has embraced intersectionality — a method of victimology that combines “oppressed” groups of people for the purpose of standing against the “oppressor” — and has called on Christians to stand up for LGBTQ rights while insisting that sodomy is morally equivalent to other sins such as boasting or greed. While boasting the Southern Baptist church plants are becoming “less white,” Greear says it’s okay to vote for pro-abortion Democrats.
In a recent article published on his website titled Three Ways to Lay Down Your Privilege, Greear pleads with Christians to “lay down their privilege” for the minority.
Everyone who possesses power, in this world or God’s kingdom, possesses privilege. Those in the world use their privilege for their own benefit. Those of us in God’s family, however, have the privilege of laying down our power for the benefit of others.
Basically, Greear implies that the “straight, white, male” Church is wallowing in its bondage of protecting their own power. “My prayer for the church is that we would rejoice in the privilege of laying down power rather than wallowing in the bondage of protecting it.” Of course, there is literally nobody doing this. There is not a single person who is outspoken against the social justice infiltration in the Church who is “wallowing in bondage” to protect their own racially supreme power. It’s an asinine statement. The entire article is ludicrous and simply affirms how far left the denomination has gone.
(Publisher’s comment: One of our problems is, we have not seen the  subject of “race” in a doctrinal context and have ignored it as pastors and theologians for fear of being tagged as racist.  The word race, racist or racism is not found in the KJV Bible.  And yet nothing worse can be said about a person today than to call them a “racist.”   It is really an assault on the word of God, who according to the Apostle Paul has declared that God has divided the people of the world into Nations. In his sermon at Mars Hill in Athens he said, And (God) hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation;  But the world despises that message.  Just as at the Tower of Babel they want all the world to be on “nation (race). So, they have made up a sin, a crime, called racism and have called it a “hate crime.”  Worse even than any other including murder.  It is also an attempt to brand the Jew as evil for trying to keep their nation pure and separate, therefore they are branded as, “racist”.  But as happens so many times they have played on the ignorance of people because there is nothing wrong with the dictionary meaning of the word race.  Webster’s on line dictionary gives the following definition: “The lineage of a family, or continued series of descendants from a parent who is called the stock. A race is the series of descendants indefinitely. Thus all mankind are called the race of Adam; the Israelites are of the race of Abraham and Jacob…”
 
 We say we are KJV only but are ashamed to use KJV only words.  We substitute “people groups” for the word “nation”, and “harlot” for “whore”, and “donkey” for “ass”.  But we aren’t embarrassed to wear all kinds of undress see all clothing even to church, and watch all kinds of movies and TV, even in our own living rooms, with far worse language than this.  Maybe we should reexamine what the Lord Jesus said when He warned at Mt 24:50 The lord of that servant shall come in a day when he looketh not for him, and in an hour that he is not aware of, Mt 24:51 And shall cut him asunder, and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.  I’ve been preaching for over seventy years and when I think of how soon I will be meeting my Lord, I shudder at the meaning of that word “hypocrite.”  I trust that you do too.)

Saturday, April 20, 2019

GALLUP POLL: CHURCH MEMBERSHIP DOWN 20 PERCENT IN 20 YEARS

GALLUP POLL: CHURCH MEMBERSHIP DOWN 
20 PERCENT IN 20 YEARS 
BY BOB ADELMANN
republished below in full unedited for informational, educational and research purposes:
Recent Gallup polls appear to reflect and confirm the “secularization thesis” in the United States: Church membership and religious affiliation among all demographics is falling precipitously. On Thursday Gallup reported that since 2000, church membership in the United States has fallen, modestly at first but accelerating recently. Twenty years ago, 70 percent of Americans said they were members of a church or a synagogue. Today, said Gallup, that has declined by 20 points to just 50 percent. Said Gallup: “The decline in church membership is consistent with larger societal trends in declining church attendance and an increasing proportion of Americans with no religious preference.”
The decline among Millennials (born 1980-2000) was equally drastic. Twenty years ago, 62 percent of Generation Xers belonged to a church, while among Millennials today just 42 percent say they belong to a church.
Gallup concluded, based on this poll, that the “United States is far less religious that it used to be,” adding, “The rate of U.S. church membership has declined sharply in the past two decades after being relatively stable in the six decades before that. A sharp increase in the proportion of the population with no religious affiliation, a decline in church membership among those who do have a religious preference, and low levels of church membership among millennials are all contributing to the accelerating trend.”
Gallup reached the same conclusion following another study it recently released as part of its ongoing analysis of religion in America. When asked, “How important would you say religion is in your own life — very important, fairly important or not very important? — the cohort Gallup quizzed showed a drop from 58 percent saying religion was “very important” in 2012 to 50 percent in 2018.
When that same cohort was asked, “Did you, yourself, happen to attend church or synagogue in the last seven days, or not?” 32 percent of them said Yes, down from 42 percent in 2009. Even more concerning was the number who answered Never. In 1998, just 10 percent said they never attend church. By 2018, that number had jumped nearly threefold, to 28 percent.
Nancy Ammerman, professor of the sociology of religion at Boston University, said the religious base of the American Republic is eroding: “Culturally we are seeing significant erosion in the trust people have for institutions in general and churches in particular. We are also seeing a generational shift as the “joiner” older generation dies off and a generation of non-joiners comes on the scene.”
Professor Scott Thumma, who teaches the same thing at Hartford Seminary, blamed the decline on young people delaying marriage and thus postponing starting a family.
On the other hand, Glenn Stanton, the director of family formation studies at Focus on the Family in Colorado Springs, says these polls prove no such thing; that on the contrary, the church of “real believers” has never been stronger:
Religious faith in America is going the way of the Yellow Pages and travel maps, we keep hearing. It’s just a matter of time until Christianity’s total and happy extinction, chortle our cultural elites. Is this true? Is churchgoing and religious adherence really in “widespread decline” so much so that conservative believers should suffer “growing anxiety”?
Two words: Absolutely not.
Stanton says it’s a matter of asking the right question, citing a study published in Sociological Science by two professors, one from Indiana University and the other from Harvard. Wrote Stanton: “It comes down primarily to what kind of faith one is talking about. Not the belief system itself, per se, but the intensity and seriousness with which people hold and practice that faith.” The study, said Stanton, shows that
The percentage of Americans who attend church more than once a week, pray daily, and accept the Bible as wholly reliable and deeply instructive to their lives has remained absolutely, steel-bar constant for the last 50 years or more, right up to today….
The percentage of such people is … not small. One in three Americans prays multiple times a day….
One-third of Americans hold that the Bible is the actual word of God….
Those who take their faith seriously are becoming a markedly larger proportion of all religious people. In 1989, 39 percent of those who belong to a religion held strong beliefs and practices. Today, these are 47 percent of all the religiously affiliated.
Those two professors, Landon Schnabel and Sean Bock, summed up their study:
Recent research argues that the United States is secularizing, that this religious change is consistent with the secularization thesis, and that American religion is not exceptional.
But we show that rather than religion fading into irrelevance as the secularization thesis would suggest, intense religion — strong affiliation, very frequent practice, literalism, and evangelicalism — is persistent and, in fact, only moderate religion is on the decline in the United States.
We also show that in comparable countries, intense religion is on the decline or already at very low levels. Therefore, the intensity of American religion is actually becoming more exceptional over time. We conclude that intense religion in the United States is persistent and exceptional in ways that do not fit the secularization thesis.
Stanton quoted another study done by professors at the Baylor Institute for Studies in Religion who found that the percentage of church-going Americans, compared to the nation’s population, is more than four times greater today than it was in 1776, and “the number of attendees has continued to rise each and every decade over our nation’s history right up until the present day.”
The remaining question is this: What constitutes that “intensity of American religion” that makes it unique? In attempting to answer, J. I. Packer, in his monumental work Knowing God, said, “First, one can know a great deal about God without much knowledge of Him. Second, one can know a great deal about godliness without much knowledge of God.” He contrasts two individuals attending a July 4 parade: One is a bystander, enjoying the passing throng of bands, performers, and bagpipers; the other is actually participating in the parade itself, carrying and playing his instrument.
Charles Spurgeon, the “prince of preachers,” in a sermon he gave in December 1870, spoke of his own personal testimony of his acceptance of the Gospel of Christ:
So to believe in our Lord means this: that I believe Him to be the Son of God, and believe all other truths concerning Him; that I also believe whatever He says to be the truth. In other words, I believe Him.
Yet more than this, I cast my soul upon His atoning merits that He may save it, and so believe upon Him, and furthermore, having so done I give myself up entirely to the Savior’s holy guidance.
I believe Him to be infallible as the director of my spirit. I feel a union with Him. I come to be in Him. His cause is my cause. My cause His cause — I believe into Him.
Stanton was interviewed by Jerry Newcombe for D. James Kennedy Ministries recently, and said that the declines were occurring in churches that had abandoned the Gospel: “They are bailing on the basics of Christianity and, guess what?, the people are bailing on them. People are leaving those churches as if the buildings are on fire, and do you know where they are going? They are not going nowhere. They are going to the Biblically faithful churches, and those are the churches that are growing.
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