FRIDAY CHURCH NEWS NOTES - Way of Life Literature

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VOLUME 13, ISSUE 42 WAY OF LIFE OCTOBER 19, 2012 A new television show entitled “Nashville” will glorify country music and spread the country-music lifestyle and philosophy. The late country superstar Conway Twitty, who was called the “High Priest of Country Music,” made the following bold admission in 1979: “As a country artist, I’m not proud of a lot of the things in my field. There is no doubt in my mind that we are contributing to the moral decline in America” (Conway Twitty, People magazine, Sept. 3, 1979, p 82). Twitty was right then and country music is even more sordid today. One reason it has contributed to the moral decline of the nation is its party down philosophy coated by a thin veneer of religiosity to quiet the conscience. According to country music, I can have Jesus and the world, too! Consider the song “No Hurry” by the Zac Brown Band. It says the car needs washing, the yard needs cleaning, the boss needs me, and many other obligations are pressing in, but “I ain’t in no hurry today. ... Heaven knows that I ain’t perfect/ I’ve raised a little cain/ And I plan to raise a whole lot more/ Before I hear those angels sing/ (Gonna get right with the lord)/ But there’ll be hell to pay/ But I ain’t in no hurry...” This is the country music philosophy in a nutshell. “Laze around and party as much as possible; kick up your feet; rebel a little; don’t worry; don’t be responsible when you can get out of it. Sure, there’s a God, a heaven, and a hell, and you believe in all of that and you love ‘Jesus’ and go to church once in awhile; but you also know that God is a big Party Pooper, and you can get things right after the partying is over.” This is a lie from the pit of hell. The Bible says that today is the day of salvation and there is absolutely no promise of tomorrow. Jesus warned that those who are not radically converted and born again will never see God’s heaven, and those who continue to live the old life are not saved. Obedience to God is not the path of bondage but of true liberty and joy. “He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. ... By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God, and keep his commandments. For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous” (1 John 2:4; 5:2-3). The following is excerpted from “University Draws Fire,” Christian Post, Oct. 12, 2012: “A federally chartered university’s decision to place its chief diversity officer on paid leave over her support for a referendum challenging Maryland’s same-sex marriage law is drawing fire. Both conservatives, who are seeking to strike down the law that was passed earlier this year legalizing same-sex marriage, and LGBT groups have denounced Gallaudet University’s decision. ‘I join an evergrowing number of Marylanders in expressing my complete dismay over Gallaudet University’s decision to place Dr. Angela McCaskill on administrative leave for signing the marriage referendum petition,’ said Derek McCoy, chairman of The Maryland Marriage Alliance, in a statement. ‘Quite simply, it was well within her rights to sign the petition.’ Also defending McCaskill, Josh Levin of Marylanders for Marriage Equality commented, ‘We strongly disagree with the decision to put the chief diversity officer on leave and hope she is reinstated immediately. Everyone is entitled to free speech and to their own opinion about Question 6, which is about treating everyone fairly and equally under the law.’ ... A Gallaudet faculty member, who remains anonymous, discovered McCaskill’s name on the petition and filed a complaint with the university. ... McCaskill was the first deaf African-American female to earn a Ph.D. from Gallaudet, according to her university profile. She has worked at Gallaudet for 23 years and in 2011 was name deputy to the president and associate provost of diversity and inclusion.” ! PAGE 2
VOLUME 13, ISSUE 42 WAY OF LIFE OCTOBER 19, 2012 Several have asked for my opinion in regard to hymnals. I recently examined Living Hymns (second edition) and find a lot to like. It was first published by Al Smith in 1972 and is still copyrighted by Al Smith Ministries. The latest edition is distributed by Striving Together Ministries and Paul Chappell and Cary Schmidt were on the editorial team. It has a large selection, with 887 songs and hymns, which I appreciate. There is no author index, but I have looked at the author of every song. There are two by the Gaithers but none by any of the contemporary worship artists, as far as I can tell. It has hymns that are rarely seen, such as Charles Weigle’s “No One Ever Cared for Me Like Jesus.” There are some little-known hymns by old-time fundamentalists such as R.A. Torrey, James Gray, and Lewis Sperry Chafer. Thousands upon thousands of sound sacred songs and hymns have been written just in the last couple of centuries, so any hymnal is just a sampling, and no one hymnal will meet every church’s needs, but Living Hymns seems to be a good all-around English hymnal. It’s too bad that Lancaster Baptist Church isn’t content with the nearly 900 psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs in their own hymnal and feel the need to mess around with contemporary worship. The following is excerpted from LifeNews, Oct. 12, 2012: “Deaths from ‘voluntary euthanasia’ in Belgium are approximated at 2 percent – 2,000 annually. At a recent conference in Brussels, a Belgian doctor reported that organ transplants are being done on euthanized patients and that Belgium leads in this practice. ... Families of hospitalized patients in Belgium should take notice of this practice. In 2010 a study revealed that nurses in Belgium admitted to terminating patients without their consent. ‘The researchers found that a fifth of nurses admitted being involved in the assisted suicide of a patient. But nearly half of these – 120 of 248 – also said there was no consent.’” E d m u n d M a z z a , o r g a n i z e r o f a n ecumenical c o n f e r e n c e h e l d O c t o b e r 4 - 5 i n Rome, says, “No Mary, no Jesus; know Mary, know Jesus.” The event was a twoday symposium entitled Edmund Mazza “Mary, Sign of Faith (and Only Hope),” held at the Centro Russia Ecumenica in Rome in response to Pope Benedict XVI’s call for Marian conferences. Mazza, who is history professor at Azusa Pacific University in Los Angeles, California, also said, “It's very important that we turn to Mary because as Louis de Montfort, the great doctor of the Church once said, it’s through Mary that Jesus came into the world, and it’s through Mary that Jesus will reign in the world. ... Whenever God wants to renew the world, He does it through Mary” (“International Symposium on Mary,” Zenit, Oct. 4, 2012). Mary is seen as central to Rome’s New Evangelization program, which seeks to recover lapsed Catholics and foster interfaith unity. The late John Paul II was a great Mary venerator. He had the words “Totus Tuus” (totally yours) embroidered on his robes to signify his complete devotion to Mary, and he credited Mary with saving his life when he was shot in St. Peter’s Square in 1981. Centro Russia Ecumenica in Rome ! PAGE 3
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