Friday Church News Notes Wayoflife.org

Vol 15, Issue 15 – April 11, 2014

The Friday Church News Notes is designed for use in churches and is published by Way of Life Literature’s Fundamental Baptist Information Service. Unless otherwise stated, the Notes are written by David Cloud. Of necessity we quote from a wide variety of sources, though this does not imply an endorsement.

IN OMINOUS MOVE, SUPREME COURT REFUSES TO REVIEW RULING AGAINST CHRISTIAN PHOTOGRAPHER (Friday Church News Notes, April 11, 2014, http://www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) – In an ominous move against First Amendment rights, the U.S. Supreme Court has refused to hear the appeal by a Christian photographer who was charged with human rights violation for refusing to photograph a private “commitment ceremony” for two lesbians. In 2006, Elane Photography was fined nearly $7000 by the New Mexico Human Rights Commission for refusing to photograph the ceremony. Owners Elaine and Jonathan Huguenin are Christians who believe that marriage is the union of one man and one woman. The Huguenins took the matter to court, but they have lost at every level. In August 2013, the New Mexico Supreme Court “ruled that Christian photographers cannot decline to participate in gay-marriage commitment ceremonies” (“New Mexico Court,” Breitbart, Aug, 22, 2013). The state’s highest judges went so far to say that forcing Christians to act contrary to their religious faith is the price of citizenship. Justice Richard Bosson said, “The Huguenins are free to … pray to the God of their choice … But there is a price, one that we all have to pay somewhere in our civic life.” Even though eight state attorneys general filed briefs before the U.S. Supreme Court in support of the Huguenins, the judges refused to hear the appeal, thus letting the lower court’s anti-First Amendment decision stand. Legal pundits say that it is probable that the Supreme Court will wait until a federal appeals court rules on this issue before taking it into consideration, but it is ominous that the judges had no interest in giving immediate relief to Christians who are being oppressed by homosexual activists and by a government bent on advancing a “new morality.” This will create a climate in which it will be nearly impossible for a Bible-believing Christian to own a business or hold a job, particularly in government and education, if he or she is not willing to accept the government’s view of morality.

LIBERTY UNIVERSITY JOINS HANDS WITH BENNY HINN (Friday Church News Notes, April 11, 2014, http://www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) – Benny Hinn recently announced that he is partnering with Liberty University to “form a powerful, worldwide ministry connection that will touch the world” (bennyhinn.org). The phony-baloney, Pentecostal Word-Faith heretic says, “Through this powerful alliance between Liberty University Institute of Biblical Studies and our ministry you can enroll in a Bible survey study course, earn a diploma from Liberty University, and receive your ministerial credentials, licensing, and ordination through World Healing Fellowship.” Appearing with Hinn to announce the program were Dan Reber, Director of Liberty University Institute of Biblical Studies, and Ronald Godwin, Liberty University Provost. Hinn has taught that Adam could fly like a bird and swim underwater like a fish. He claims that his “anointing” comes from visits to the graves of Kathryn Kuhlman and Aimee Semple McPherson. He alleges to have had multiple visions of Jesus, beginning at age 11, plus an eight-hour private conversation with the Holy Spirit. In a 1990 television appearance, Hinn said of his detractors, “Sometimes I wish God would give me a Holy Ghost machine gun, I’ll blow your head off!” Hinn tosses the “anointing of the Holy Spirit” like a baseball and “slays people in the spirit” by blowing on them. Hinn claims that physical healing is guaranteed and we must never say, “If it be thy will, Lord.” Though Hinn claims that thousands of people have been healed in his “miracle services,” repeated attempts by reputable researchers have failed to turn up genuine cases. (For documentation of these things see The Pentecostal-Charismatic Movements, available from http://www.wayoflife.org.) The yoke with Benny Hinn is the latest example of the slippery slide that Liberty University has been on since the late 1980s when Jerry Falwell renounced biblical separatism and began flirting with contemporary music, ecumenism, and charismaticism. We see the great change in thinking that can occur in just one generation.