Australian Independent
Baptist Newsletter
NOVEMBER 2003
Dr. David C. Bennett, Editor (DCB)
PO Box 1241 - Dubbo - NSW 2830
Phone/Fax 02-6884-2846
Email: Bennett@BibleForToday.org
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Purpose: To inform and warn God's people of religious, social, and
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Anglican Communion News Service (ACNS hereafter) ENGLAND - 25 OCTOBER
2003
RECLAIMING CHRISTIAN ORTHODOXY: ADDRESS BY BISHOP MICHAEL INGHAM AT
HALFWAY TO LAMBETH CONFERENCE (Edited by DCB) The Bishop began by saying
the Anglican Church "…is re-thinking its traditional stance on
homosexuality. We have become aware in the last several years that gay and
lesbian Christians have been starved and denied the spiritual food of
acceptance and love they have a right to expect as baptised members of the
Body of Christ."
Ingham said "...we here today, believe that God is calling the church
to end discrimination and prejudice based on sexual orientation. We
believe that the continued exclusion of people through the misuse of
Scripture, and the repetition of inherited and unexamined prejudices
against minorities, is a sin against the love of God."
Then Ingham had the audacity to say the actions concerning sodomites in
the ministry "have been guided by the Holy Spirit, which is the Spirit of
freedom and of truth. They were taken in response to changes in the
sciences and social sciences that affect our understanding of human
sexuality."
Editor’s Comment: Ingham spoke of the guiding of the Holy Spirit but
John writes in 1 John 4: 1 "Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the
spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out
into the world."
JOHN SHELBY SPONG INTERVIEW 16 October 2003 – This is a transcript of
the SBS programme INSIGHT. (Edited by DCB) The transcript begins with the
question "Should homosexuals be welcomed into the Anglican Church and
allowed to become bishops?" Jenny Brockie is the interviewer.
BROCKIE: "…fundamentalists would argue that…the scriptures…support
their argument that homosexuality is inappropriate, that it is
unacceptable in the church."
SPONG: That's correct. The Bible was written between 1000 B.C. and 135
A.D. How many people would go to a doctor who practised medicine out of a
textbook that had that mentality in it?" "We used the Bible to condemn
Galileo in the 17th century because Galileo thought the sun rotated around
the earth and we quoted the story from Joshua where God stops the sun in
the sky to allow Joshua to kill more Amorites and they said we, you know,
if God can stop the sun, that's clear proof the sun rotates around the
earth, well the Bible was wrong."
BROCKIE: "I wonder why you think fundamentalism is so prominent at the
moment across religions. We hear of it in Islam, we see a lot of it in
Christianity. Why do you think that is?"
SPONG: "Human beings are animals who are chronically anxious." "Human
beings are chronically anxious about death. Religion speaks to the deep
anxiety of the human soul and unfortunately distorts the human soul."
BROCKIE: "You refer to there being no external God, for example, you
challenge the value of prayer, the meaning of the Bible, the
appropriateness of the 10 commandments and so on. Why do you continue to
call yourself a Christian?"
SPONG: "I am very, very deeply committed to the Christian faith and to
the Christian story. Jesus, to me, is the very centre of all that I am.
He's the life through whom I see the meaning of God and I want to walk
into that meaning." "I think Christianity is a system that human beings
have created to enable us to walk into the mystery and wonder of God…"
BROCKIE: "I wonder if you can disprove an external God scientifically,
how is it that you can't equally disprove an internal God?"
SPONG: "I think God is a transcendent reality that we can experience."
"So I'm not sure that external or internal or any other human word is
going to be particularly adequate. I am convinced of the reality of God, I
am convinced that life has a transcendent dimension that permeates our
consciousness periodically and that sustains us."
BROCKIE: "How are you convinced of that?"
SPONG: "I believe divinity and humanity are not two separate categories
and I think if you want to be defined, if we want to use that language,
that the doorway into divinity is to be as totally and completely human as
you can."
ALSO ON SPONG’S VISIT: The Uniting Church in Australia Web site:
"October 17 Bishop Spong, will speak at Pitt St Uniting Church 264 Pitt St
Sydney. During worship 10 am Sunday 10 October (free entry) and again at
7.30 pm. Friday 17 October for which entry will be $10 or $5 concession.
Pre-booking strongly advised for Friday night to avoid disappointment."
Editor’s Comment: I cannot imagine anyone being disappointed if they
did not hear this apostate let alone pay to hear him! The Uniting Church
once again shows forth its apostasy. 1Timothy 4:1 "Now the Spirit speaketh
expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith,
giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils."
WorldNetDaily.com, October 22, 2003- GLOBAL 'GAY' EVENT TARGETS
JERUSALEM
"A massive, international "gay pride" event previously held in Rome, at
the doorstep of the Vatican, has chosen Jerusalem as its next venue." A
sodomite website said "The InterPride celebration attracted about a
quarter of a million homosexuals in 2000 and expects to host the largest
‘gay’ event ever in the Holy Land in 2005."
The executive director of Jerusalem Gay and Lesbian Center said "An
event of this magnitude has never occurred before anywhere in Israel."
Editor’s Comment: Romans 1: 26, 27 "For this cause God gave them up
unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into
that which is against nature: 27 And likewise also the men, leaving the
natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men
with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that
recompence of their error which was meet."
THE FEDERALIST BRIEF 13 October 2003 CULTURE- "In a public school in
St. Louis, a teacher spotted the suspect, fourth-grader Raymond Raines,
bowing his head in prayer before lunch. The teacher stormed to
Raymond's table, ordered him to stop immediately and sent him to the
principal's office. The principal informed the young malefactor that
praying was not allowed in school. When Raymond was again caught
praying before meals on three separate occasions, he was segregated from
other students, ridiculed in front of his classmates, and finally
sentenced to a week's detention. ... In another display of tolerance at
Lynn Lucas Middle School, school administrators snatched three students'
books with covers displaying the Ten Commandments, ripped the covers off,
threw them in the garbage, and told the students that the Ten Commandments
constituted 'hate speech.' (Also, it would be insensitive to expose the
Ten Commandments to students who had never been taught to count to 10.)"
(Ann Coulter)
Editor’s Comment: Psalm 33:12 "Blessed is the nation whose God is the
LORD…"
Yours against apostasy and for Biblical truth,
David C. Bennett, Titus 2:13
