NEAR THE END? - Baptist Bible Tribune

40 Pages·2009·5.63 MB·English

Christianity
:
near the end?
Pastor
Appreciation
pricing
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B B C
APTIST IBLE OLLEGE
G S
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Pastor
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j u l y / A u g u s t 2 0 0 9
Thank You Pastors!
As a supporting pastor* of Baptist
Christianity: Near the end?
10
Bible College, we want to reward you
Is Christianity a hopeless case, scorched by the
and your staff with special pricing for
heat of today’s culture, or are today’s naysayers
Graduate School classes or as part of
just following the trend of religion-bashing?
the Finish the Fourth Year Program.
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(plus books)
Brothers of Cyrene
14
When preachers get together, bonds should be
For more information, call
formed that unite for the gospel cause. It hap-
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email
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Seven steps for dynamic living
*There is a minimum support level of $100.00 per 16
month for each staff member the church enrolls. The key to living a life in harmony with God’s
plan is to harness His power, as former Tribune
editor Jim Combs shares with us here.
Also in this issue
4 on the table - Misinformation or exaggeration
BAPTIST BIBLE COLLEGE Tlishhee Bd ampotisntt hBlyib, leex Tcreibputn feo r( IaS cSoNm 0b7in4e5d-5 J8u3ly6/)A isu gpuusbt- 5 Presidential Perspective - Being before doing
G S issue, by the BBFI, 720 E. Kearney, Springfield,
RADUATE CHOOL Missouri 65803. Periodical class postage paid at 6 Digressions - News and views
Springfield, Missouri, and additional entry offices.
628 E. Kearney Executive Editor: Keith Bassham 8 sept. BBFi national Meeting schedule information
Assistant Editor: Rob Walker
Springfield, MO 65803 Director of Office Services: Karri Joy Perry 19 seventy-five cents a basket - by Sandie Powell
Email address: [email protected]
Web site address: www.tribune.org 20 Baptist history - Exchanging freedom for slavery
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By-lined opinions expressed in the Bap-
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Baptist Bible Tribune [ July/August 2009 ] 3
from the editor
On theT able
By Keith Bassham
Misinformation or exaggeration?
H
ave you heard? The days of Also in this issue, we have invited expense, arranged for Christian music
Christianity are over accord- former editor Jim Combs to submit an- for entertainment, provided about 130
ing to some recent news sto- other practical article. Mr. Combs con- volunteers, and accepted canned food
ries and headlines appearing tinues to delight and challenge with his donations in lieu of admission expense.
in the secular press. Dig a little deeper creative pen. Any of his articles could be Perry and the community were ap-
though and you will find the declara- taken directly to the pulpit or teacher’s preciative. “I am very pleased. It was
tions (or what Mark Twain referred to podium with confidence in his logic and the biggest crowd in memory, and they
as an exaggeration when news of his presentation. He is a treasure both to handled it well. This is one of the nicest
death were being circulated in the 19th the Fellowship and to the Tribune, hav- groups I have ever worked with. They
century) based upon an amazing data- ing been with the BBFI since its incep- were extremely happy, even parking
set of contradictions and a good deal of tion. Our newer readers should know cars and emptying garbage cans, and at
wishful thinking on the part of secular- that Mr. Combs was the Tribune editor the end of the night they left the grounds
ists everywhere. during the 1980s and ‘90s, and he was spectacularly clean,” said Perry.
For instance, take the battle over the one who changed the format from a About 10,000 people attended and
same-sex marriage in this country. Some newspaper to a magazine. So much of donated two tons of food to a local food
new states have joined the pro side the what we do now is based upon what he pantry during the event. Pantry coordi-
past 12 months by way of state legisla- did then. nator Anne Ackerman said of the donat-
tures rather than by court adjudication, Speaking of now and then, this ed food, “This makes a huge difference. It
albeit with very slim margins and veto is the last issue of the current volume, will help us through the summer months
overriding. The current US administra- number 59. Our next magazine will be until we do a food drive in the fall. [The
tion’s agenda is far less friendly to con- the first in our 60th year, and we pray Journey Church] did really well. And to
servative evangelicals than either Mr. it will be our best ever. Long story short make the fireworks free in this economy
Bush’s or Mr. Clinton’s. One could say — our days may be numbered, but if so, was wonderful.”
that the culture war is winding down only by God, magazine headlines not- Rob Willis is a graduate of Baptist
with the other guys winning. withstanding. Bible College in Springfield, Missouri,
Or is it? Some recent Gallup polling and The Journey Baptist Church is the
shows that since 2004, people have be- Here is one of the best Fourth of July fruit of a mission project of Granite State
come more conservative on their views stories I have heard this year, and it was Baptist Church in Salem, New Hamp-
of abortion and same-sex marriage, and reported in several news stories in the shire, where Anthony Milas is pastor.
especially so in the number of people Rochester (NH) Times.
identifying themselves as prolife. In an When the Rochester, New Hamp- All our pastors and workers, and any
online analysis, Gallup’s Lydia Saad shire, Jaycees disbanded earlier in the church members who are able, should
said, “…the results are conspicuously year, one result was the local fairground plan to attend the Fall BBFI National
incongruous with the results of the 2008 association was left without a partner for Meeting hosted by Pastor Mike Frazier
elections, in which the Democratic Party the annual Fourth of July fireworks and and the Canton Baptist Temple. We are
won the White House for the first time celebration. Mark Perry, Rochester Fair publishing information in this and the
in eight years.” (www.gallup.com under General Manager told a local newspa- next issue, and I encourage you to visit
Politics and Government tab) per, “This is really a year when we need the meeting website, www.bbficanton09.
In this issue, I take a brief look at this event,” noting the economic pinch. org, to register and to have all the infor-
some of this conflicting data and report- Sensing an outreach opportunity mation you need to plan your trip. Can-
ing in the cover article, “Christianity: and a way to serve their community, ton Baptist Temple is a historic church
Near the End?” I suggest following up Rob Willis and Journey Baptist Church in our Fellowship, and Pastor Frazier
using the resources I point to in the ar- stepped up to fill the gap with funding and the church are doing all they can to
ticle for a more complete view of the is- and volunteers for the community event make this meeting extra special.
sue. And I will revisit the subject in the that did take place July 3. Plan to attend!
months to come. The church underwrote the $15,000
4 Baptist Bible Tribune [ July/August 2009 ]
P P
residential ersPective
Mark Hodges | President | Baptist Bible Fellowship International
Being before doing
O
nce again, this month we Leonard Ravenhill said, “What changed. We are to “Preach the word;
celebrate the birthday we need now is a revival of holiness. A be instant in season, out of season;
of the greatest nation on revival of character. A revival of people reprove, rebuke, exhort with all long-
earth, the United States who are utterly selfless and prepared suffering and doctrine” (2 Timothy 4:2).
of America. This land, “home of the to lay their lives on the altar for God.” I As our world seemingly is com-
free and the brave,” turns 233 years believe that it is high time that our Fel- ing apart at the seams, we have the
old. Thank God for our soldiers, sailors, lowship cry out to God in repentance answer. The hope of our world is in
coastguardsmen, airmen, and marines and ask God to revive us again. The the person of our Lord and Savior
fighting the good fight and defending Psalmist says, “Wilt thou not revive us Jesus Christ and invested in the local
our rights and freedoms from the forc-
es of evil. May God help us to always ...god will mightily use us again when we humble
remember their heroic sacrifice. ourselves before him and recommit to lives of holiness.
God certainly has had His hand on
this nation from its inception. Our fore-
fathers were men who believed in God again: that thy people may rejoice in New Testament church. Don’t sell the
and built this nation on the principles thee?” (Psalm 85:6). church short, because the gates of hell
found in God’s Word. As we celebrate Baptist educator Elmer Towns will not prevail against her. Yet, the
the birthday of this great nation, we all (who loves our Fellowship) recently ministry and outreach of the church is
are deeply concerned for her future. indicated to me that we are not putting in urgent need of revival, to live again.
We live in an age where the “king enough emphasis on soul winning and In our recent S3 conference in Winter
of rock and roll” and the “king of pop” church planting. Our Fellowship was Haven, Bill Monroe said that in order
(who are now dead) are more popu- built on these two things along with a for our churches to grow, our pastors
lar among our youth than the King strong emphasis on missions. It would will have to grow (spiritually).
of kings. Immorality is rampant even be foolish on our part to ignore the fact God help us to grow to be men
among many who serve in respected that our Fellowship is not as aggressive of holiness, integrity, and godliness.
positions. And what is even worse, soci- and effective in reaching this world as The Apostle Paul hit the target when
ety has seemingly begun to ignore or to we have been in the past. I, for one, am he challenged the Colossians, “Put on
accept these moral failures. not willing to sit idle and accept that therefore, as the elect of God, holy and
Our young are indoctrinated by our Fellowship cannot be used of God to beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness,
educational systems that are citadels shake this world for Christ. humbleness of mind, meekness, long-
of shameless atheism, agnosticism, and It is my opinion that God will suffering; Forbearing one another, and
blatant humanism. They are inundated mightily use us again when we humble forgiving one another, if any man have
with the voices of thousands who are ourselves before Him and recommit to a quarrel against any: even as Christ
calling them to lives of godlessness. lives of holiness. The great evangelist forgave you, so also do ye. And above
It would be very easy to place Gypsy Smith said, “If you are ‘IN’ with all these things put on charity, which
blame on our politicians, on Holly- God, then you are at ‘OUTS’ with the is the bond of perfectness. And whatso-
wood, or our educational system; but world.” Where most religious leaders ever ye do in word or deed, do all in the
the truth of the matter is that God has are embracing the world, God’s instruc- name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks
called His people (2 Chronicles 7:14) tions are clear in Titus 2:12, “Teach- to God and the Father by him” (Colos-
to repent and turn from their wicked ing us that, denying ungodliness and sians 3:12-14, 17).
ways. God has called His people to holi- worldly lusts, we should live soberly, My challenge to God’s servants
ness. “But as he which hath called you righteously, and godly, in this pres- of the BBFI is found in the principle
is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of ent world.” While some pastors’ pulpits of “being before doing.” What we do is
conversation; Because it is written, Be have become dispensaries of human always determined by who we are and
ye holy; for I am holy” (I Peter 1:15-16). philosophies, our mission has not what we are.
Baptist Bible Tribune [ July/August 2009 ] 5
Digressions
Digressions incontestibly are the sunshine; they are the life, the soul of reading. -Laurence Sterne
One in six Americans are Baptist
Website offers conser-
vative reviews on films
17.2%
Christian Film News.com is a of total U.S. adult population are Baptists
nonprofit ministry of Films
for Christ (founded in 1959) that 6.7%
provides a Christian perspective on
Southern Baptist
the news from Hollywood as well
Convention
as the latest movies and games.
1.8%
Source: www.christianfilmnews.com
National Baptist
Convention
1.2%
American Baptist Church
7.5%
Other Baptist
Source: Pew Research Center, www.pewforum.org
Pieces of world’s oldest surviving Bible come together online
A collection of 800 pages and fragments from the New Testament but is missing parts of the Old Testament and
work known as the Codex Sinaiticus are now all in the Apocrypha. Most of the portion from Genesis to I Chroni-
one place and available to be viewed online at www. cles is missing and is presumed to be lost. Animal-skin pages
codexsinaiticus.org. Parts of the collection had been that are 15” x 13.5” account for more than 400 pages of the
stored in four locations around the world for more manuscript, which scholars now believe was written by four dif-
than 150 years since it was discovered at the Mon- ferent penmen. Source: Associated Press, by Nardine Saad,
astery of Saint Catherine at Mount Sinai by German Associated Press Writer, July 6, 2009
scholar Constantine Tishchendorf.
“If you would have liked to see it before you
would have had to travel to four countries in two
continents. If you want to see the manuscript right now
all you have to do is go online and experience it for
yourself.” says Juan Garces, the Codex Sinaiticus proj-
ect manager. The British Library purchased 347 pages
from the Soviet Union in 1933, 43 pages are held
by the University Library in Leipzig, Germany, and the
National Library of Russia in St. Petersburg contains
six fragments. The remaining 12 pages and fragments
were discovered in a hidden room at the Mount Sinai
monastery in 1975.
The manuscript, written in Greek, is believed to
be around 1,600 years old and contains the complete
6 Baptist Bible Tribune [ July/August 2009 ]
President Obama hosts Gay Pride celebrants, snubs Day of Prayer
President Obama became the first Riots — which launched the modern- host — as was a custom under the
chief executive to host a White day “gay rights” movement — and Bush administration — a White House
House ceremony celebrating “gay also Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgen- event commemorating the National
pride” Monday, telling several hun- der Pride Month, which takes place Day of Prayer.
dred homosexual guests in the East each June and which was recognized Monday’s event was historic;
Room that America still has what he by an Obama proclamation at the even though former President Clinton
called “old attitudes” about homo- beginning of the month. signed “Gay Pride Month” proclama-
sexuality but that they have “an ally Conservative commentators were tions, he never hosted a White House
and a champion” in the Oval Office. quick to note that the White House ceremony celebrating it.
The June 29 ceremony marked ceremony came only a month and
Source: ©2009 Copyright Baptist Press, by
the 40th anniversary of the Stonewall a half after Obama chose not to
Michael Foust, June 30, 2009.
Worldwide numbers of internally
displaced persons Vatican officials temper
26 pope’s interpretation of
million total evidence from what is
belived to be the tomb
14.4 of Paul the Apostle
million
under U.N. care in 2008 When Pope Benedict XVI an-
nounced that a probe inserted
through a small hole in the tomb
13.7
believed to be that of the Apostle
million Paul revealed pieces of puple and
under U.N. care in 2007 blue material, incense grains and
small fragments of bone that were
16 carbon dated to the appropriate age,
million he followed it up by saying “This
refugees and asylum seekers seems to confirm the unanimous and
Source: United Nations via Al Jazeera uncontested tradition that these are
the mortal re-
mains of Paul
50 years ago...in the Baptist Bible Tribune
the apostle.”
Now, the
head of the Paul was here
Vatican Muse-
um’s diagnos-
tic laboratory
wants to make
sure that he’s
on the record
as saying that the analysis
of the materials “does not confirm or
exclude” that the relics in the tomb
belong to the Apostle Paul.
Vatican archaeologists uncovered
the tomb in 2006 in a crypt under
the basilica and said at the time that
the fact that it was positioned ex-
actly underneath the epigraph ‘Paulo
Apostolo Mart’ (Paul the Apostle and
Martyr) at the base of the cathedral’s
main altar was conclusive proof that
it was the apostle’s sarcophagus.
Source: www.ansa.it, July 3, 2009.
Story appeared in the July 24, 1959 edition of the Tribune.
Baptist Bible Tribune [ July/August 2009 ] 7
8 Baptist Bible Tribune [ July/August 2009 ]
SPEAKERS
Jerry Tracy Jonathan Jack
Thorpe Roby Falwell Baskin
Linzy Mark Lewis
Slayden Hodges McClendon
MISSIONARIES
Keith Chris Chris Charles
Gandy Pelletier Fulmer Coleman
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330.477.6267 x114.
Elmer Towns JoAnn Foltz
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Christianity
:
near the end?
By Keith Bassham
“… a cousin of mine was seriously ill two or three weeks ago in London, but is well now. The
report of my illness grew out of his illness. The report of my death was an exaggeration.”
Mark Twain, in a note to an inquiring reporter, May, 1897
Back around Easter, Editor Jon forms is an enemy that must not only of unaffiliated voters chose Barack
Meacham of Newsweek authored be discouraged but wiped out. And it Obama, a Christian.) Meanwhile,
a cover piece with the title “The appeared that Mr. Meacham was about the number of people willing to
End of Christian America.” One thing to declare their victory was in sight. describe themselves as atheist or
is certain — Mr. Meacham knows That is not the case, of course, and it agnostic has increased about four-
how not to bury the lead. (Pardon my was not even what Meacham had in fold from 1990 to 2009, from
excursus here, but “burying the lead” mind as it turns out. 1 million to about 3.6 million.
is journalism jargon for what happens What stirred the muse behind the
when the main point of an article is Newsweek article was a line buried On the surface, if you add the em-
nowhere to be found in the first few deep within a religious survey: pirical data to current anecdotal doom
sentences. One of my jobs as an editor and gloom, stir in the wishes of the
is to “unbury” leads when I rewrite According to the American Dawkinses and Harrises, and extrapo-
news submissions.) You can read the Religious Identification Survey…, late far enough into the future, I can
entire well-written article on the the percentage of self-identified see how some might think the obituary
Newsweek website. Christians has fallen 10 percent- of Christianity is nearly ready for proof-
The article, and the stark presen- age points since 1990, from 86 to ing. But read Mr. Meacham’s piece a
tation (the cover that issue carried 76 percent. The Jewish population little further:
the headline, “The Decline and Fall of is 1.2 percent; the Muslim, 0.6
Christian America” in red letters form- percent. A separate Pew Forum poll Let’s be clear: while the
ing a cross against a black background) echoed the ARIS finding, reporting percentage of Christians may be
was an eye-catcher, published as it that the percentage of people who shrinking, rumors of the death of
was nearly on the heels of a spate of say they are unaffiliated with any Christianity are greatly exagger-
anti-Christian bestselling books. Those particular faith has doubled in ated. Being less Christian does not
books, written by Richard Dawkins recent years, to 16 percent; in terms necessarily mean that America is
(The God Delusion), Christopher Hitch- of voting, this group grew from 5 post-Christian. A third of Ameri-
ens (God Is Not Great: How Religion percent in 1988 to 12 percent in cans say they are born again; this
Poisons Everything), Sam Harris (Let- 2008 —roughly the same percent- figure, along with the decline of
ter to a Christian Nation), and others age of the electorate as African- politically moderate-to liberal
lesser known, postulate that faith in all Americans. (Seventy-five percent mainline Protestants, led the ARIS
10 Baptist Bible Tribune [ July/August 2009 ]