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Dr. Robert Sumner passed away in December 2016. The Biblical Evangelist newspaper is no longer being published and the ministry of Biblical Evangelism has ceased operation. The remaining inventory of his books and gospel tracts was transferred to The Baptist Tabernacle of Los Angeles and may be ordered here. Off the Cuff! (Part 2) FREE SPEECH OR FORCED SUBSERVIENCE? We salute Evangelist Franklin Graham for being “dis-invited” to the National Day of Prayer breakfast at the Pentagon since the dis-invitation was over telling the truth (about Islam). Mikey Weinstein (obviously not of Irish descent), founder of something called “Military Religious Freedom Foundation,” had written to Secretary of Defense Robert Gates demanding a more inclusive speaker be chosen. The amazing thing is that the dis-invited son of Evangelist Billy Graham is this year’s “honorary National Day of Prayer Task Force chairman” – yet he is not welcome to speak at one of the sessions. We are living in strange days. By the way, interviewed on Fox News, Graham said, "I love Muslim people, and I want Muslims everywhere to know what I know, that God loves us, that He sent His Son Jesus Christ into this world to take our sins and He died for our sins and rose from the grave and that Christ can come into their heart and change them and they can have the hope of eternal life, salvation … I want them to know that they don't have to die in a car bomb. They don't have to die in some kind of holy war to be accepted by God, but it's through faith in Jesus Christ and Christ alone." He added, "We're in war, and we need to pray for our military. We need to pray for our president and all of those in authority. That's what the National Day of Prayer is all about. It's not about Islam versus Christianity or whatever. It's about the nation coming together and praying for its leadership." Graham, of course, heads Samaritan’s Purse, that has “fed literally millions of men, women and children in Muslim countries," all absolutely without charge to them. He is a terrible man, isn’t he? In our last issue we reported that Tony Perkins, Marine veteran and head of the Family Research Council, was dis-invited as speaker at a National Prayer Breakfast at Andrews Air Force Base after he spoke out against Obama’s call to repeal the law on the books making it a crime for a Sodomite to be in the military. Perkins noted about Graham’s invitation not to come, "Under this administration's watch we are seeing the First Amendment, designed to protect the religious exercise of Americans, retooled into a sword to sever Richard Land, president of the Southern Baptist Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, said, "The people who serve our nation in uniform deserve better leadership than that which is responsible for this wrongheaded and sad decision. This is not the kind of religious freedom for which our servicemen are risking their lives to defend." Apparently in this administration, the “free speech” amendment to the Constitution is a worthless scrap of paper. The important thing is to drool, bow, scrape and salivate at the feet of the most arrogant, conceited leader we have ever had in the history of our country. We salute all who refuse, like the three Hebrew children, to bow and grovel. Or should I say “worship”? WINE DRINKING 101 What’s the first think you think of – after ‘socialism,’ that is – when you think of What’s the government’s solution to all the big bucks their #1 export commodity is losing, at least at home? Offering wine tasting classes in its college cafeterias at lunchtime! I kid you not. A plan hatched by the ex-director of Pitte explained, "We thought it was good to begin to instill a sense of responsibility in students, and teach them to how to appreciate good wine in great moderation" (French collegiate kids have been binge drinking in great numbers with non-wine spirits of late). Pitte and Coffe thought it would help make winos (my interpretation) of the kids if they showed them “it is pleasurable and healthy, and part of our national heritage." Hey, all youth want to be patriotic, don’t they? You would think the fact that in a short time (2004-2007) The president of the national student union Mouvement Des Etudiants, Rémi Martial, agrees, saying it “could serve to educate students about the joys of high quality, low volume drinking and ‘promote the French art de vivre’." A saner voice was offered by Jean-Baptiste Prévost, president of the National Union of Students of France, "Universities would do better to see they no longer finance events with open bars and dedicate greater means to awareness campaigns." “Comical” is how Alain Rigauld, president of the National Association for Prevention in Alcoholism and Addiction, described the idea. He opined it would make things far worse, explaining, "The alcohol in wine has soothing, tranquilizing effects, and with all these students stressed out and worried about their studies, we are going to help them discover a means to manage their stress that is as easy as it is harmful." Remember what God said about all this, “Wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging: and whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise” (Proverbs 20:1). And read David Brumbelow’s article in this issue. “HELP,” MR. PRESIDENT A Congressional bipartisan group sent a letter to President Obama saying “violence in the vicinity of the U.S.-Mexico border continues to increase at an alarming rate” and calling it a “serious threat to the national security of the United States” and to American citizens living along the 1,969-mile long border. They told the president it was “imperative” for him and his Administration to promptly take action. The signers said, “Without swift and decisive action, it is our fear that this violence will only increase in severity and scope. We urge you to deploy the National Guard to the U.S.-Mexico border, as has been requested by a number of border state Governors and Members of Congress. We ask that any National Guard troops that are deployed should be provided with very clear guidance of proper rules of engagement and should be armed and allowed to defend themselves if fired upon or attacked.” They pointed out that since the start of 2008 nearly 5,000 homicides have been committed in The letter closed, “We stand ready to work together with you and your Administration on these important issues to ensure the safety and security of all Americans in the border region and throughout our country.” This is a situation where the president’s glib speeches via teleprompter won’t suffice. So far, his ‘help’ has been to send some money (his answer to everything), offer a token 1,200 National Guard troops (who can’t get near the border, only keep books), and poke fun at Arizona’s new law, which mostly merely quotes verbatim from federal law already on the books, but not enforced. To end on a humorous note: Congressman Luis Guitierrez (IL-D) was arrested for illegally protesting outside the White House after the law was passed, chanting "Si se puede" (yes we can). I guess we shouldn’t look for him to enter an “English Only” bill in Congress. SODOMY IN THE FUNNIES Are they trying to destroy motherhood and apple pie? Baptist Press tells us Archie Comics, which has been around so long your ancient editor read it as a kid, is introducing a Sodomite character in its comic books – and doing it in one of the most ‘innocent’ of all the funnies in comic history. A ‘hunk,’ Kevin Keller, is arriving at Riverdale High and Veronica goes gaga over him. Alas for her, he rejects her flirtations, telling Jughead, "It's nothing against her. I'm gay." The sodomy story will fill the entire September issue. The CEO of the supposed ‘comic’ book company, Jon Goldwater, flippantly passed it off: "Archie's hometown of Riverdale has always been a safe world for everyone. It just makes sense to have an openly gay character in Archie comic books.” It just makes sense? Does Goldwater’s elevator go all the way to the top? The first part of his last name probably explains why they are doing it. And, after all, if the Sodomites are going to make their perversion appear normal, what better way to do it than indoctrinating the kiddies that it’s a fun thing? Our suggestion: simply boycott Archie Comics. Nothing hurts a business like a weak pocketbook. DR. JOHN MACARTHUR, JR. ON FUNDAMENTALISM Dr. John MacArthur came from a blessed line of Fundamentalists. His father, Dr. Jack MacArthur, was a Baptist Fundamentalist. His grandfather, Dr. Harry MacArthur, was a Baptist Fundamentalist. We have printed messages from both men in this magazine with great blessing. That is why some of the comments he made at his “Shepherd’s Conference” last March in his “Separating from Unbelievers” seems so strange and troubling. We are quoting from carefully transcribed notes his remarks: "I grew up in a Fundamentalist kind of environment. I grew up at a time when the word 'separation' was a big word on the Evangelical word list. A time when to be a Fundamentalist meant essentially that you drew really broad lines, you built very high walls in terms of church conduct and relationships and if anybody crossed those lines they were readily vilified and labeled and thrown out of the association. What happened to Fundamentalism was it was so cannibalistic that it consumed itself. It just ate itself alive and disappeared.” That’s the actions of grandpa, papa, their friends and fellow associates he is talking about. Since Dr. MacArthur was born the same month that I graduated from high school at age 16, we are pretty close to the same generation. I am proud (in a humble sort of a way, of course; that word is loaded with bad implications) of the Fundamentalism of my generation and make no apology for it. There were nuts at that time, of course, as in all groups – including MacArthur’s today I’m confident, but I don’t fault him for that. It was also the generation of J. Gresham Machen (while he died in 1937, his impact was still strong at the time), the scholarly Presbyterian from Princeton who felt so strongly about the issues he was willing to turn his back on his roots and his millennial belief (he was amillennial and most of his fellow fundamentalists were premillennial) and join with men whom he disagreed with strongly in several areas. Why? Because they were standing up for the Truth of the Word of God. While he turned his back on his roots because of his love for God and His Word, we wouldn’t call him cannibalistic. I am proud (there’s that word again) of men like H. A. Ironside, Robert E. Neighbour, A. C. Gaebelein (all of whom lived into my ministry), plus names still so prominent many probably think they are still alive; men like R. A. Torrey, Benjamin Warfield, A. T. Pierson, A. C. Dixon, Bishop Moule, and others too numerous to mention. We sharpened our spiritual and theological teeth on The Fundamentals these men wrote. Cannibals? Not even remotely. While they did indeed fight and oppose deniers of the faith, those deniers, as a friend of mine put it, “the true cannibals are the unbelieving liberals who destroy the souls of men.” MacArthur called his generation a “highly separatistic Fundamentalism.” There was, indeed, strong talk about separation from liberalism and purity of life, but was that bad? Doesn’t the New Testament talk the same way? While some Fundamentalists today are indeed radical – some became so bad we changed our front page heading to “A Voice for Historic Evangelical Fundamentalism” – why blame the old generations of Fundamentalism for them? Talking about his generation, MacArthur said, “The Fundamentalism that was unbiblical, the Fundamentalism that was cruel and critical and self-destructive needed to go away and it did.” MacArthur said he has been maligned by modern Fundamentalists (and so have we, but we haven’t quit the movement), saying, “And many of us at the time, if we didn't separate the way the establishment – the Fundamentalist establishment –thought we ought to separate, we were hammered pretty viciously. I endured a lot of that. Because there were people who perceived that I was a loyal Fundamentalist, that when I behaved in ways that they felt were outside their parameters, they saw me as a traitor. A kind of a Judas figure. And you know we were vilified on every front. I remember in one fell swoop we were stripped of about 55 radio stations in a day.” While we are not sure whereof he speaks regarding the radio stations, we are assuming it was over the unwise “blood of Christ” comments he made. If so, we are not sure Fundamentalists were to blame. When the late Bob Jones, Jr., put some of MacArthur’s comments about the blood of Christ in the BJU magazine, Faith for the Family (April, 1986), not only did eyebrows go up, but tempers as well. His remarks sounded suspiciously like what Mary Baker Eddy, founder of the Christian Science cult said in her Science and Health book, in her chapter on the atonement. The majority of ‘fighting fundamentalist’ papers immediately went into print invoking the anathema of the Almighty on MacArthur. We, instead, wrote for clarification (there were too many ellipses in the item’s quote to suit us). My letter to MacArthur said, “The quote itself is typical of Bob Thieme and his position. And it is not far from the familiar Mary Baker Eddy statement, either.” He responded promptly, admitting, “Sometimes I may express things in a way that seems unguarded.” After he explained his position on the blood I had no problem and defended him before others (which inclined to make me part of the enemy in the eyes of some of our brethren). Apparently this was the cause of the “55 radio stations” quitting “in a day.” Again, the problem seemed to be, at least partly if not mostly, MacArthur’s own fault for carelessly expressing himself. He admitted as much. Should the 55 radio stations be faulted? Of course! They should have done what I did before rushing to judgment. But MacArthur was not without blame, either. We will sum this up with a comment from one of today’s Fundamentalists: “Fundamentalists of the past have had, in certain cases, their extreme views, their flaws and their sins, but as I think back on Fundamentalism in He added by way of explanation, “Perhaps it is partly because I grew up in a liberal church. I know from firsthand experience how terrible liberalism is. I attended church regularly for 15 years and never heard the gospel! John MacArthur grew up in a Christian home and went to Bob Jones and Biola. I find it sad that he speaks so negatively about our fundamentalist forefathers … When I think of men such as [he named a number of men, heroes all, here], I rejoice that God has given us such a rich fundamentalist heritage. We are not worthy to even unlatch their sandals.” We are sorry MacArthur expressed himself about Fundamentalists in this way. In our judgment, he was throwing out the baby with the bath water. Both of us – including most reading this – agree that some do not express themselves wisely. All of us have been guilty, I’m confident. But we are sorry he had to malign his father, grandfather and all the other good men in that generation. To his credit, a friend who has been with him often to dine and fellowship, said he had never heard him criticize another minister. In that, he is a better Christian than the Apostle Paul, who let loose several blasts at both bad and good ministers by name (i.e., I Timothy 1:19, 20; II Timothy 4:14). In fact, he even criticized his fellow apostle to his face and told other Christians, naming the brother, when he erred (Galatians VITAL TO EDUCATORS! Dr. Thomas Benton, president of the American College of Pediatricians (ACP), sent an important letter to every single school superintendent in the Quit messing with young minds about sexual orientation! In fact, he recommend a website called FactsAboutYouth.com set up especially to provide information about sexual development for educators, parents and youth about sexual development. He said, "We feel like that's where the movement towards a safer school environment will occur is by parents being empowered to take action.” He urged educational leaders to STOP (as in right now) promoting this ridiculous “homosexual identity” on children. Since no scientific evidence supports the silly theory that people are born homosexuals, educators should neither teach nor imply it is “life-long and unchangeable.” He thinks it is a big mistake – unhealthy, in fact – that some school districts promote homo clubs so youth can “come out” (declare) abnormal sexual orientation. Most are too young to know what they are and are easily influenced by others. According to OneNewsNow, the ACP president explained, "There are medical and physiological harm[s] to declaring that as a teenager ... They don't have clubs for cigarette smokers – people who declare they want to be cigarette smokers – and that likewise is a harmful medical thing to do. So we just wanted to make sure that the school superintendents, and particularly the parents, were aware that that's happening in some school districts and, in our opinion, should not be happening." “GANGSTER GOVERNMENT” Columnist Michael Barone notes that Obama during the Chrysler bailout gave bondholders 33¢ on the dollar on their secured debts and his buddies in the UAW 50¢ on unsecured notes. (Secured creditors, in bankruptcy are normally paid in full before unsecured get a penny; Obama makes up his own rules as he goes along.) Barone called that gangsterism. At that time he said, "It is likely to be a continuing series." Indeed! Recently, the Securities and Exchange Commission, in timing that seemed amazing, filed a complaint against Goldman Sachs, claiming hanky panky by the bank. Hallelujah, the Obama administration said, and immediately used the issue to ram Senator Dodd’s banking reform bill through the Senate. It caused Barone to say again, “The SEC complaint looks a lot like Gangster Government to me.” He went on to lament that Dodd’s bill trumped it, adding, “Its provisions promise to give us one episode of Gangster Government after another.” And he listed a number of reasons for so saying, one of them being, "Labor gets 'proxy access' to bring its agenda items before shareholders as well as annual 'say on pay' for executives. Consumer activists get a brand new agency funded directly out of the seniorage the Fed earns. No oversight by the Federal Reserve Board or by Congress on how the money is spent." UPHOLD THE LAW! Richard Thompson, president and chief counsel of the He went on, “And in this case, the years of experience since the beginning of the continental Army back in the 1780s, we have had a policy that prohibits homosexual conduct." He even suggested the president is more concerned with “paying off” his Sodomite supporters than he is with the welfare of the troops. Thompson explained, "Once you remove that ineligibility, you will have plants coming into the armed forces stirring up trouble. You will have brigades of ACLU lawyers waiting to then file lawsuits and to push the homosexual agenda to the point where it will paralyze the ability of the military to perform its functions … So this would be a horrible position when they will irreversibly damage the national security merely to allow a president to fulfill a political promise." He feels so strongly about this that his law center has sent letters to every member of Congress, pleading with them to support – not repeal – the law on the books. We hope the dwellers on Capitol Hill are listening. FINANCIAL REFORM? President Obama: “Now, there is a legitimate debate taking place about how best to ensure taxpayers are held harmless in this process. But what is not legitimate is to suggest that we're enabling or encouraging future taxpayer bailouts, as some have claimed. That may make for a good sound bite, but it's not factually accurate. In fact, the system as it stands is what led to a series of massive, costly taxpayer bailouts. Only with reform can we avoid a similar outcome in the future. A vote for reform is a vote to put a stop to taxpayer-funded bailouts. That's the truth." Investor’s Business Daily: "[T]he bill institutionalizes the doctrine of 'too big to fail,' a major reason why American taxpayers will be paying off the $700 billion TARP bailout fund for decades to come. Under Dodd's bill, every financial institution that might have a 'systemic' impact if it failed would be given the too-big-to-fail treatment. This is an invitation to bailouts without end." Who would ultimately pay: look in the mirror when you rise tomorrow! ILLUSTRATION OF II CORINTHIANS 11:13-15: FAKE APOSTLES AND ANGELS! A Methodist pastor who “no longer believes God exists,” but hides it from his members (hey, he’s got to eat, you know). Alas, he’s not hiding much because he claims most of his members deny the virgin birth and Christ’s resurrection. Another one, this a pastor in the United Church of Christ, reported he didn’t even believe the doctrinal content of Christian faith when he first started, but he preaches as if he does (hey, he’s got to eat, you know). Then there is the Presbyterian who “rejects” most of the “tenets” of the faith, but preaches as he does because of financial considerations and to do otherwise would wipe out his "ability to earn a living" (hey, he’s got to eat, you know). Another BP admitted one of the rascals was in its own denomination, one who first got interested in Christianity as a religion of love but became an atheist. He said he’d walk away in a moment if someone would give him $200,000. Obviously, he is still in a “ministry of love” – love for money (see I Timothy The reference to “angels” above is: “For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ. And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works.” |
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