Australian Independent Baptist Newsletter

www.Bennett.BibleForToday.org

JULY, 2004

Dr. David C. Bennett, Editor (DCB)

PO Box 1241 - Dubbo - NSW 2830

Phone/Fax 02-6884-2846

Email: Bennett@BibleForToday.org

Permission is given to forward material contained in the AIB Newsletter.

Purpose: To inform and warn God's people of religious, social, and political events in today's world.

Baptist World Alliance Website 20 February, 2004 SOUTHERN BAPTISTS VOTE TO SEVER TIES WITH BAPTIST WORLD ALLIANCE (Edited by DCB) "Indianapolis, IN (BWA) – Messengers to the Southern Baptist Convention’s annual meeting voted today to sever their longstanding ties with the Baptist World Alliance, the global organization of Baptists they helped start in 1905 in London, England."

In June, 2004 the Southern Baptist Convention meeting in Indianapolis, Indiana "overwhelmingly" passed the recommendation to leave the BWA. Denton Lotz, BWA General Secretary said ""We do not really understand why in spite of many words."

Reasons the Southern Baptists used to leave the BWA were that the BWA "holds aberrant theological views, is anti-American and anti-capitalist and did not follow proper procedures when it admitted the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship (CBF) into its membership" which the BWA rejects.

Editor’s Comment: The BWA has been from its inception a "mixed multitude" from Egypt.

Baptist World Alliance Web Site June, 2004 RICK WARREN AND JIMMY CARTER HEADLINE OUTSTANDING GLOBAL LIST OF SPEAKERS FOR BAPTIST WORLD CONGRESS (Edited by DCB) "Rick Warren, pastor of the Saddleback Baptist Church in Lake Forest, California, and best selling author of ‘ThePurpose-Driven Life’ and the

‘Purpose-DrivenChurch’ and former US President Jimmy Carter will headline the 100th birthday celebration of the Baptist World Alliance, at the Baptist World Centenary Congress in Birmingham, England, July 27-31, 2005."

"Warren told the BWA, ‘my Saddleback pastors will be happy to serve in any capacity and especially in the areas of worship, discipleship, fellowship, ministry and evangelism mission.’"

"Former President Carter will teach an international Sunday school class on Sunday morning at the meeting. Carter, Nobel Peace Prize winner and the first recipient of the BWA Human Rights Award, is expected to challenge Christians everywhere in the work for the poor and for justice."

Editor’s Comment: "Then said I, Lord, how long?" Isaiah 6:11a

Yahoo News 21 June, 2004 ACLU FINDS POT OF GOLD AT THE FOOT OF THE CROSS (Edited by DCB) "Los Angeles County Supervisors decided to turn tail and run rather than fight a lawsuit threatened by the American Civil Liberties Union. Why such weak-kneed response? Because lawyers for the county ominously warned that the county might lose the case and have to pay the ACLU's attorney's fees. The ACLU is demanding that the county remove a tiny cross from its seal, one of nearly a dozen symbols it portrays."

"A third of the seal and the centerpiece is the Greek goddess Pomona standing on the shore of the Pacific Ocean. The ACLU doesn't object to her; portrayals of pagan goddesses are OK.

Six side sections of the seal depict historical motifs: the Spanish galleon San Salvador, a tuna fish, a cow, the Hollywood Bowl, two stars representing the movie and television industries, oil derricks and a couple of engineering instruments that signify industrial construction and space exploration. The cross is so tiny that it doesn't even have its own section and consumes maybe 2 percent of the seal's space."

"The reason that the Los Angeles County seal is such a big deal is not because it is a violation of the First Amendment. It is because there is a pot of gold hidden under it attracting the ACLU like honey attracts bees. A little-known 1976 federal law called the Civil Rights Attorney's Fees Awards Act enables the ACLU to collect attorneys' fees for its suits against crosses, the Pledge of Allegiance, and the Ten Commandments. This law was designed to help plaintiffs in civil rights cases. But the ACLU is using it for First Amendment cases, asserting that it is a civil right NOT to see a cross or the Ten Commandments. The financial lure created by this law is the engine that drives dozens of similar cases nationwide. Every state, county, city, public park or school that has a cross, a Ten Commandments monument, or recites the Pledge of Allegiance, has become a target for ACLU fundraising."

Greens NSW Website 23 June, 2004 (Australia) LESBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL AND TRANSGENDER (Edited by DCB)

"4.7 With the prospect of additional Green MPs in State Parliament after the 2003 election, the NSW Greens' priorities will be:

4.7.2 legislation to prevent the use of a non-violent homosexual advance as a basis for the defence of 'provocation' in cases of violent crime;

4.7.3 a parliamentary inquiry into legislative and other mechanisms for the reduction and prevention of hate-based crime, including school and public media based education, counselling, and focused offender rehabilitation programmes."

Editor’s Comment: Note the statements the Greens make here; "non-violent homosexual advance" and "focused offender rehabilitation programmes". I emailed the Greens concerning both these statements and received the following concerning the first but waiting for their answer on the second. Here is their answer dated 22 June, 2004 to "a non-violent homosexual advance."

"Dear Dr Bennett

Thank you for your enquiry regarding unwanted homosexual advances.

Please note the context in which the policy is constructed - "non-violent homosexual advance". While it may be sexual harassment, it still does not justify a violent response. In the same way that a man may rebuff an advance from a woman in a non-violent manner (ie; rebuff without resorting to assaulting the person), and is constrained from assaulting or reacting in a violent manner, it should also apply to an unwanted advance from another man. The key here is that currently one basis for defense is that such as an advance is a 'provocation' and therefore violence is justified. Only if such an advance became violent would reciprocator action be justified."

Sadly Australia will be heading the way of Canada in being more Sodomy friendly if the Greens have their way and unfortunately the Greens are gaining seats both in the New South Wales State Parliament and in the Federal Parliament. The day may be soon upon us when we will be imprisoned for preaching Bible truth!

In closing I found this on the net somewhere and because I am originally from Iowa and an election is near in the USA I thought it was worth repeating. "ABC News reports Hillary Clinton may give the Jefferson-Jackson Dinner keynote speech in Iowa this fall. The locals hate to see the presidential campaign end. When the candidates return home, Iowans have to go back to fertilizing the crops themselves.

Yours against apostasy and for Biblical truth, David C. Bennett, Titus 2:13