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Archive Religious News Items are provided for Christians all over the world.  This particular archive contains articles from the Vatican,  Freedom of Religion, Fundamental conferences,  American Psychological Association studies, to Chilean Children Stoning Santa Claus.  It's important for the Church to keep inform about world events.

The Vatican Officially Endorses Evolution

The Vatican has issued a strong defense of Charles Darwin humanistic faith in the origin of life, voicing stout criticism of Christian fundamentalists who reject his theory of evolution and interpret the biblical account of creation literally. Cardinal Paul Poupard, head of the Pontifical Council for Culture, said the Genesis description of how God created the universe and Darwin's theory of evolution were "perfectly compatible" if the Bible were read correctly. 

His statement was a clear attack on creationists in the US, who see evolution and the Genesis account as mutually exclusive.  "The fundamentalists want to give a scientific meaning to words that had no scientific aim," he said at a Vatican press conference. He said the real message in Genesis was that "the universe didn't make itself and had a creator".  This idea was part of theology, Cardinal Poupard emphasized, while the precise details of how creation and the development of the species came about belonged to a different realm - science.

 Cardinal Poupard said that it was important for Catholic believers to know how science saw things so as to "understand things better". His statements were interpreted in Italy as a rejection of the "intelligent design" view, which says the universe is so complex that some higher being must have designed every detail.  Pope John Paul II in 1996 addressed to the Pontifical Academy of Sciences. The Pope stated that “new knowledge has led to the recognition of the theory of evolution as something more than just a hypothesis.”

 

Russia Restricts Freedom of Religion

The door of religious freedom in Russia is beginning to close once again. With a passing of a new law which was created by the main religious establishment: The Russian Orthodox hierarchy and the Communists, makes all religious organizations less than 15 years old illegal. It strips these religious organizations all rights of basic public activities, and the presence of foreign missionaries which some already have been removed from the country.  This comes to no surprise as the communists and the Russian Orthodox hierarchy (which is controlled by the KGB) have persecuted Christians for many years.

A decade ago the world rejoiced in claiming communism is dead in the Soviet Union and it's allies. Russia and it's allies declared that they would grant religious freedom and some Christians around the world believed that communism was finally dead. But this is not the case.

Russia may be broke and experienced hyper-inflation because of the negative economic impact of socialism on it's economy.  But as far as trying to control it's population through the State, has not died out!  In fact, communism and it's regulations is alive and well...The purpose of Russia and it's allies making a claim that it would allow freedom of religion was to mislead the West for various reasons, one of which is getting money from the West, and it worked. Russia had no intention of keeping religious freedom forever. This law is only the beginning on what is to come in Russia concerning freedom of religion. I urge Christians to pray for the churches in Russia as well as the missionaries that still remain in that country.

 

 

French teenagers mug Santa Claus
 

(December 22, 2004)

A group of French teenagers have mugged Father Christmas, attempting to steal his sack of presents.
 

The man dressed as Santa Claus was handing out sweets in the southern town of Ales when things turned nasty.

One of the teenagers demanded extra sweets and, when the red-cloaked Santa refused, he and his friends started kicking and pummelling the man.

The teenager and his friends, all about 15 years of age, were eventually scared off by passers-by.

Father Christmas suffered multiple bruises and has lodged a criminal complaint.

Chilean Children Stone Santa Claus

 (December 23, 1999)

In northern Chile there was a group of children who stoned and then robbed a man posing as Santa Claus after he ignored their pleas to toss them candy from his truck as he drove past them. Santa-suited 300 pound, Cristian Parent, 28 was pelted with rocks by children as they ran alongside truck after he refused to give them candy. Las Ultimas reported. Some of the kids climbed aboard the moving truck and stole toys out of his sack before making their getaway. Parent was heading to a neighborhood in Tocopilla, 960 miles north of Santiago, to deliver boxes of candy that the local government planned to give out.

The unemployed father, hired by the city to play the part of Santa Claus, was hit twice in the head, in his chest, and in his eye, forcing him to seek medical attention for his injuries.

 


 

 

Pope Kisses The Quran

In May 1999, the Pope granted permission to see three Muslims at the Vatican. At this meeting, Pope John Paul II bowed to the Muslim's most holy book, the Quran, and kissed it (Christian News, Oct. 18, 1999). The three Muslims happen to be Shiite Imam of Khadum, the Sunni president of the Iraqi Bank, and a representative of the Iraqi ministry of religion.  Six months later Indonesian Muslims slaughtered Roman Catholics in East Timor who had voted for their independence from Indonesia.  The Pope of course is part of the system found in Revelation 17.

The religious system seeks to unite all religions, and churches that separated from her but is still part of her and true churches under the Pope who claims to be head of the church on earth ...The Scriptures plainly teach in 2Cor. 6:14-18, to be separated from unbelievers, which means not to try and unite with unbelievers, for the sake of power or otherwise. Clearly the belief in Islamic tradition which denies Jesus dying on the Cross, denies Jesus being the eternal Son Of God, and denies salvation by grace alone, is a sign of unbelief and should be separated from (Revelation 18:4).

 

 

The World Congress of Fundamentalism: July 5-8, 1999


A man spent a few days, holding up posters for people to read as they drove by concerning the Bible versions, and for Fundamentalists in particular to read as they entered and exited the Bob Jones University campus which was the site of the 1999, World Congress of Fundamentalism. By standing at the gates, the man was able to display his posters to mostly everyone at this gathering...The posters read as follows: "Can Fundamentalists PREACH from their infallible Bible? BJU does not have an infallible Bible." "How many mistakes are in your Bible?"

He got some interesting responses...There were some who would just wave and smile and hold their Bibles up with confidence. When responding to the question: "How many mistakes were in your Bible" they replied, "Zero!" More  interesting responses came about.  A man who was just totally angry about the questions, after reading the poster while he was driving,  suddenly stopped his car, blocking the rest of the cars behind him, which was right in front of the welcome center, and demanded the poster be given to him and almost assaulted the man with the poster. I guess he was a fighting fundamentalist. He was so mad because he thought that the man with the poster was trying to divide fundamentalists. He told the man with the poster to basically witness to the lost. The man with the poster replied, that he was and asked if he would burn him at the stake. The man finally backed off.

During the rest of the time, the man with the poster made news. He was interviewed in front of the school by a local news station. Were people disappointed in this guy's conduct? Yes they were...Here was a man who had a friend along with him, protesting the World Congress of Fundamentalism and now making tv news. A policemen stopped them, and asked what was going on. The man with the poster spent most of his time alone, speaking with people and got alot of opposition. A couple of guys from England and N. Ireland came out and spoke kindly to the man with the poster. They even took pictures with him and were in agreement with him about the decline in Fundamentalism on the Bible issue. They remarked sadly, how they just had a debate with a member of the BJU Bible faculty the day before, where he told them that he was bringing up his daughters in the NIV, his wife was on the NASB, and using another version for witnessing.

The man with the poster asked if Paisley would dare to preach a strong message Thursday evening on the preservation issue which by the way could split the fundamentalist camp at BJU. One of the nice gentlemen replied, he would not and he didn't.  One thing that was noticed, BJU young girls there were the most rude, proud, arrogant and disrespectful. A good number of older, visiting, well-dressed preachers were among the most polite and confident about their Bible.

BJU sounds more like a liberal bent school than a Christian one...They reject the ability of God to preserve His own word despite the many counterfeits. And accept error by using those counterfeits and downplaying obvious errors as though corrupting God's Word is no big deal as long as they are small errors. In rage they detest anyone who questions them, for the sake of so-called unity...The word of God makes it very clear that parts of God's word will never disappear forever, and corrupting God's Word in any degree is a sin...There will always be a complete Word of God somewhere in the world despite the massive confusion of the counterfeits...It stands forever and here's why:

"The words of the Lord are pure words: as silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times. Thou shalt keep them, O Lord, Thou shalt preserve them from this generation forever" (Psalm 12:6-7).

 

Northern Ireland's "Peace Accord"

A Danger to Christians

Christians all over the world especially in Northern Ireland should familiarize themselves with what has been happening there in recent years. Studying the latest developments in Northern Ireland, it is amazing to see similar things that has happened in South Africa in Northern Ireland. After South Africa fell, the international community switched it's attention to Northern Ireland...It's intentions were to put pressure on the country to cave in to it's demands.

First, here's a little background, so our readings can get a better feel of what's going on over there. The Republic of Ireland, or Eire, in the south is not part of the United Kingdom and is Roman Catholic in religion and in politics and population. Northern Ireland on the other hand, is part of the United Kingdom, and the population is mostly Protestant. The Vatican's main goal for that country is to gain control over Northern Ireland, to unite it with Papist South, to tear it from the clutches of the "Protestant" UK. And for many years had worked hard trying to obtain this goal. It uses the IRA which is a terrorist organization under Papal control, to strike fear in the hearts of the Northern Population, so as to force them to cave in on the demands of a united Ireland. The ultimate goal is England itself, for hundreds of years it's been viewed by the Papacy as one of the greatest strong holds of Protestantism in the world. Merging both north and south Ireland, it would mean a major threat to what is left of "Protestantism" in England.

In 1998, a new so-called "peace deal" was agreed to in troubled Northern Ireland. Signed in April, the deal was to create an Assembly, and to set up a structure in which ministers from this Assembly would meet with those of the Roman Catholic Republic of Ireland within a year. Supposedly, the Roman Catholic Republic of Ireland is then going to renounce it's claims on Northern Ireland. This is so similar to South Africa, first, brutal and intense terrorism, followed by capitulation on part of the government to the demands of the terrorists, with the establishment of a new structure of the government that would eventually run the country.

In terms of the deal, the decommissioning of paramilitary arms has to take place with in two years, and so called "political prisoners" released. Both parties would have to commit to a ceasefire and maintain it. Another part of the deal is that the Royal Ulster Constabulary, which Romanists claim is biased in favor of Protestants, will be subject to an internal commission! A commission we can be sure that will be heavy biased in favor of the Roman Catholic Republic Ireland. The same thing happened in South Africa, there security forces were said to be "illegitimate" biased in other words towards the white population and calls were made for them to come under control of outside forces. And so-called "political prisoners" (terrorist criminals) were released.

Obviously the Communist terrorist leaders in South Africa played a huge role in this so called "peace deal".

This peace deal is a major blow to Christians living in Ireland...We will continue to pray for true Christians there as Rome is making it's advances.

 

APA Study Claims No Great Harm in Adult-Child Sex

A well-known mainstream publication who wants to have it's published articles influence public policy, has started it's first step to try and sway the public into accepting adult-child sex. The American Psychological Association denies that their research does support the idea of "adult-child sex." In July of last year the Psychological Bulletin carried an article examining certain parts of evidence on a limited percentage. Sixty- percent of the data was based not on sexual relationships but normal affection within the family or family friends like hugging a child, and the smallest percentage came from abuse. Just by looking at the uneven data, it would not seem strange as the article does suggest that adult-child sex is not harmful, but rather in some cases is beneficial to a child...Nothing could be further from the truth!

We are dealing with a very wicked sin, and no Christian should be practicing this evil sin according to the Bible...Sex is only allowed according to God's Word, between a man and woman who are married to each other (1 Cor. 7). The American Psychological Association uses secular humanism as a means of describing human behavior (man's nature) and tries to use a slow progressive method to sway public opinion and attack Christian values...My hope is; If it's in the Will of God, may the Lord enlighten these people into realizing that they are lost creatures who are unable to please God in any way...May the Lord turn their hearts to live holy and proclaim holiness not perversion 8 and 9, also Romans 3:11,12.

 

South Africa's Religious Freedom

We have heard from Christian sources including my tv-programs on this subject, of the fact that the ANC which controls most of South Africa's government, is really not in favor of the fruits of religious freedom. There has been talk of the ANC supporting religious freedom, but what they say and what they do are totally different...In the end, they are only concerned about what suits their needs and goals.

There was a radio program which was Islamic, came under attack, because it refused to have women presenters, saying it was against Islamic tradition. South Africa's Commission on Gender Equality came out and lead the attack saying they are committed to ensuring religion not to justify "discrimination" against women. She went on to say that they recognized freedom of religious expression. My question would be; "To who standards?" The Islamic radio station was ordered, by the Broadcasting Monitoring and Committee to appoint women presenters, not only that but one-third of it's membership on all it's committees must be women! If the radio station doesn't comply it's license would be revoked and they would be taken off the air. They refused to comply and were taken off the air.

What does this have to do with Christians? After all, Islam is a false religion and all true Christians rejects it's pagan traditions and it's occultic origin. Nevertheless, this is an issue of religious freedom and expression not the deception of Islam. South Africa's constitution claims to support religions freedom and expression, but the enforcers do not believe in freedom of religion.

If a particular religion is teaching something or practicing something that is politically incorrect, they are silenced! As Christians the Bible makes it clear that women are not to be pastors or teach or even speak in the Church, as an authority over the man (1 Tim. 2:11-15; 1Cor. 14:34,35). The feminists cannot change the teachings to fit their beliefs. Christian churches in South Africa will be affected by government regulations that will be increasing over time, to a degree that will eventually outlaw the churches entirely.

One final word, let us hold to the wonderful and precious truths of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, and proclaim it.

 

 

Pennsylvania's New Law Gives Homosexuals Protective Status

 On November 26, 2002, Pennsylvania Lawmakers by a 118-79, margin passed a bill to add Homosexuals to it's protective status list which is known as the "Ethnic Intimidation law."  A former deacon in the Presbyterian Church of America helped guide this bill, as well as John Perzel,  helped clear the way for the bill's passage. He is known in the mainstream, but not necessarily to all Christians as a conservative, pro-family Republican.  By his endorsement of this bill it clearly shows, he is not a conservative who is pro-family.

Issues and concerns have surfaced over this new addition as well as the law in general...''We should be looking at the crime ... not trying to decide what the thoughts were of the perpetrator,'' said  Rep. Allan Egolf, R-Landisburg

Could Pastors who preach against Homosexuality, be affected by this new law?  Not only that but could this law be used to make a Pastor a criminal because of a person or person's offended by what was said at the pulpit? Could someone other than a Pastor be considered a criminal according to this law if they speak against homosexuality? I believe it's headed in that direction with more and more so-called; "hate crimes" being passed...We have seen in other places such as South Africa which remains very violent in other areas. It could be very possible in the future to see people taking Pastors or Christians to court claiming that their sermons are causing harm to them either physically or mentally. And I don't mean that Pastors or Christians will be beating up homosexuals, what I mean is they might sue claiming the so-called mental cruelty of being against homosexuality caused them physical damage.  Contrary to the bill's allies, it's against the law to be violent towards homosexuals before the bill was passed. In fact, it's against the law to do physical harm to anyone.  It's also against biblical principles to be violent against homosexuals, and not only that, but all people in general!  

Christians must pray on this issue, as God is control of all things!  For when they say social justice, they mean using the law to see it their way...The broad way is just as one sided as Christ who is the way the truth and the life...  

 


 

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