The INFOGRAM
R961030 - B (continued from R961030 - A)
N E W S
SHOW THE TRUTH
Between Oct. 13th and Nov. 5th Operation Rescue West is on a 32-City tour confronting America with 100 large photo-signs of aborted babies. The troup arrived in the INFOGRAM'S home area of Kansas City on Oct. 15th. About 50 area pro-lifers joined with O/R to display the signs. The scene was a main thouroghfare leading from the downtown business district during rush hour traffic. The prolifers displayed their signs from the sidewalks on both sides of the trafficway. Thosands of motorists observed the truth about abortion in the slow-moving traffic. The event was also attended by approximately 30 abortion supporters and crews from all the local network television stations. 2-3 dozen policemen watched from nearby but no arrests were made.
The abortion supporters had a difficult challenge: What do you show to counter the graphic evidence the prolifer's photos present? They chose to do all that they could to prevent the evidence from being seen by the motorists. They waved benign signs which read "This is the face of pro-choice America" (referring, no doubt, to the sign-holder's face) and "Bad theology makes bad law". They attracted attention to themselves by jumping up and down like angry cheerleaders and shouted slogans such as "2, 4, 6, 8, you can't make me procreate!" But their most effective counter-demonstration technique was to intentionally stand in front of the prolifer's signs to block them from view. The prolife group did not respond in kind but maintained their picket from 4:00 - 6:00 p.m. Probably the most convincing evidence that such pickets are effective was the extreme measures abortion supporters took to keep people from seeing that abortion is not about "choice" but rather about murdered babies.
Response from motorists likewise provided a study of conflicting world views and the kind of people representative of each camp. Those who supported the efforts of the prolifers waved as they passed by. The typical response of motorists who support abortion was to extend their middle finger at the picketers and yell out vile epithets. Many others, possibly the uncommited, simply looked away, no doubt hoping to forget what they had just observed.
All of Kansas City's major television stations ran video footage and interviews on the evening new, bringing the plight of the pre-born into the living rooms of hundreds of thousands of additional people.
The remaining cities and locations are listed below. If you live near one of these cities you are invited to paticipate. Yes, the signs are unpleasant to look at but they bring to light what is being done in darkness to 1,400,000 children anually in America. If just one expectant mother sees the truth and changes her mind a life is saved from a brutal death. And if only one apathetic Christian decides to stand for justice, then all of the efforts will have been worthwhile.
Oct. 31 7-9 AM Memphis, TN Popular & Cleveland
Oct. 31 4-6 PM Little Rock Cantrell Road & Mississippi Avenue
Nov. 1 7-9 AM Oklahoma City North May & 63rd Street
Nov. 1 4-6 PM Dallas L.B.J. Frwy, Between Preston & Hillcrest
Nov. 2 7-9 AM Houston Post Oak & 610
Nov. 3 2-4 PM San Antonio 7400 San Pedro, 2 blocks north of 410
Nov. 4 4-6 PM El Paso Cordava Island (Free) Bridge US/Mexico
Nov. 5 12-2 PM San Bernardino County Courthouse, Arrowhead & Court
ROME BOWS TO DARWIN
The following is a press release from the Vatican giving official support to evolution theories.
TO ACADEMICIANS: TRUTH CANNOT CONTRADICT TRUTH
VATICAN CITY, OCT 23, 1996 (VIS) - In a Message made public today to the members of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences, meeting this week in the Vatican in plenary session, the Holy Father recalled that Pope Pius XI, who restored this academy in 1936, called this group of scholars "the Church's 'scientific senate'" and asked them "to serve the truth."
The Pope expressed delight on the plenary's theme on the origin of life and evolution, "a basic theme which greatly interests the Church, as Revelation contains, for its part, teachings concerning the nature and origins of man." If the scientifically-reached conclusions and those contained in Revelation on the origin of life seem to counter each other, he said, "in what direction should we seek their solution? We know in effect that truth cannot contradict truth."
John Paul II, noting the academy's "reflection on science at the dawn of the third millennium," observed that "in the domain of inanimate and animate nature, the evolution of science and its applications make new questions arise. The Church can grasp their scope all the better as she knows their basic aspects."
He pointed to the Church's magisterium on the question of the origin of life and evolution, citing in particular Pius XII's 1950 Encyclical "Humani Generis" and the conciliar Constitution "Gaudium et Spes."
The Pope drew the academicians' attention to "the need for a correct interpretation of the inspired word, of a rigorous hermeneutics. It is fitting to set forth well the limits of the meaning proper to Scripture, rejecting undue interpretations which make it say what it does not have the intention of saying."
"'Humani Generis'," he stated, "considered the doctrine of 'evolutionism' as a serious hypothesis, worthy of a more deeply studied investigation and reflection on a par with the opposite hypothesis. ... Today, more than a half century after this encyclical, new knowledge leads us to recognize in the theory of evolution more than a hypothesis. ... The convergence, neither sought nor induced, of results of work done independently one from the other, constitutes in itself a significant argument in favor of this theory."
He continued: "The elaboration of a theory such as that of evolution, while obeying the exigency of homogeneity with the data of observation, borrows certain ideas from the philosophy of nature. To tell the truth, more than the theory of evolution, one must speak of the theories of evolution. ... There are thus materialistic and reductionist readings and spiritual readings."
"The magisterium of the Church is directly interested in the question of evolution because this touches upon the concept of man, ... created in the image and likeness of God. ... Pius XII underlined this essential point: 'if the origin of the human body is sought in living matter which existed before it, the spiritual soul is directly created by God.' Consequently, the theories of evolution which, as a result of the philosophies which inspire them, consider the spirit as emerging from forces of living matter or as a simple epiphenomenon of this matter, are incompatible with the truth about man. They are moreover incapable of laying the foundation for the dignity of the person."
"Consideration of the method used in diverse orders of knowledge allows for the concordance of two points of view which seem irreconcilable. The sciences of observation describe and measure with ever greater precision the multiple manifestations of life and place them on a timeline. The moment of passing over to the spiritual is not the object of an observation of this type, which can nevertheless reveal, on an experimental level, a series of very useful signs about the specificity of the human being. But the experience of metaphysical knowledge, of the awareness of self and of its reflexive nature, that of the moral conscience, that of liberty, or still yet the aesthetic and religious experience, are within the competence of philosophical analysis and reflection, while theology extracts from it the final meaning according to the Creator's designs."
Fred Carpenter writes:
In the words of Ronald Reagan, "Well.....here we go again..." Looks like the Defense Department is planning a major anthrax vaccination program for all military personnel....they say no proof yet that the "immunizations" they received prior to going to the Gulf had anything to do with the sicknesses - except for those, of course, that were TOO SICK TO GO IN THE FIRST PLACE!! BTW, all this is being led by non-elected people. Spread the word to your family and friends, esp. those headed for military duty. Fred Carpenter, South Dakota (note: Fred sent us a detailed newspaper article which we will send to those who want more information)
Studies In The Scriptures
by A.W. Pink, January, 1933
DISPENSATIONALISM:
1. THE PROMISES OF GOD
The general policy which we have steadily sought to follow during the past eleven years has been that of seeking (by Divine aid) the spiritual edification of Christian readers. For this we have endeavored to set forth a well balanced constructive ministry. Poisons do not nourish, nor does the refutation of error build up the soul. Very occasionally have we departed from our rule, and only then against our spiritual inclinations, for we know full well it is difficult to handle pitch without being defiled. But once or twice we have felt forced to lift up our voice and sound an alarm. We feel constrained to do so again. While Paul was at Athens and saw the city wholly given up to idolatry "his spirit was stirred in him," and as we behold the reckless and irreverent handling of the Word of God by many who style themselves the teachers of "dispensational truth," and witness the pernicious effects it has produced in the minds and lives of many, we are moved by what is, we trust, a holy indignation.
It is not our present purpose to take up seriatim the various postulates of this modern school of prophetic interpretation, nor to examine in detail the wild conclusions which have been drawn from flimsy premises. Nor have we any expectation of converting from the error of their way any of the present-day leaders of this system which is growing in popularity. No, we would not waste valuable time on them, for it is our firm conviction that God has given them over to the spirit of delusion. If the Lord permits, we expect to deal with some other features of this "false doctrine" in later issues, but for the moment we confine our attention to one fearful evil which has been engendered by it, namely, the robbing of God's children of many "exceeding great and precious promises."
We are not unmindful of the subtle distinctions which have been drawn by the above-mentioned teachers between the interpretation and the application of Scripture, nor of their oft-repeated slogan that "All Scripture is for us, but it is not all to us, or about us." Whatever may be thought of such a statement this is clear and cannot be gainsaid, that there are now tens of thousands in Great Britain and the U.S.A. who say of large portions of God's Word, "This is not for me; this belongs to the Jews; this relates not to the present dispensation, this concerns those who will be on earth during the great tribulation or the millennium." And thus their souls are deprived of the present value of much which God Himself plainly declares is "profitable" for us (2 Tim. 3:16).
It may surprise some of our readers when we say that this limiting of so much of God's Word to the Jews is an ancient lie of the Devil's dressed up in a new garb.Yet such it is. Nor should any be surprised at this news, for Scripture declares that "There is no new thing under the sun" (Eccl 1:9). Two hundred and fifty years ago,in his work on "The Doctrine of the Saints' Perseverance explained and confirmed," J. Owen wrote, "Some labor much to rob believers of the consolation intended for them in the evangelical promises of the Old Testament, though made in the general to the Church on this account, (affirming) that they were made to the Jews, and being to them peculiar, our concernment lieth not now in them." Over three hundred years ago, when the Thirty-nine Articles of the Church of England (the "Episcopal Church") were drawn up, the 7th read as follows: "The Old Testament is not contradictory to the New; for both in the Old and New Testament everlasting life is offered to mankind by Christ, who is the only Mediator between God and men, being both God and Man. Wherefore they are not to be heard, which feign that the old fathers (OT saints) did look only for transitory promises."
Almost four hundred years ago Calvin, in his "Institutes" began his chapter on "The Similarity of the Old and New Testaments" by saying: "From the preceding observations it may now be evidenced, that all those persons, from the beginning of the world, whom God has adopted into the society of His people, have been federally connected with Him by the same law and the same doctrine which are in force among us: but because it is of no small importance that this point be established, I shall show, by way of appendix, since the fathers were partakers with us of the same inheritance, and hoped for the same salvation through the grace of our common Mediator, how far their condition in this connection was different from ours For though the testimonies we have collected from the law and the prophets in proof of this, render it sufficiently evident that the people of God have never had any other rule of religion and piety, yet because some writers have raised many disputes concerning the difference of the Old and New Testaments, which may occasion doubts in the mind of an undiscerning reader, we shall assign a particular chapter for the better and more accurate discussion of this subject. Moreover, what would otherwise have been very useful, has now been rendered necessary for us by Servetus and some madmen of the sect of the Anabaptists, who entertain no other ideas of the Israelitish nation than of a herd of swine, whom they pretend to have been pampered by the Lord, in this world without the least hope of future immortality in heaven."
One plain statement of Holy Writ is of infinitely more value than all the empty reasonings of carnal men. Such a statement we have concerning the promises of God in 2 Corinthians 1:20, "For all the promises of God in Him are yea, and in Him amen, unto the glory of God by us." The line of thought in the context is easily followed. First, the Apostle had intended to pay the Corinthians a second visit (vv. 15, 16), but he had been providentially hindered (vv. 8-10). Second, knowing that his enemies were likely to use his delay as a taunt that he was ignorant of the Lord's mind and fickle in the keeping of his word, the Apostle anticipates this charge (vv. 17, 18) -- there were Divine reasons why Paul had delayed his promised journey to them. Third, whether that satisfied the Corinthians or no, this could not be gainsaid, that, there was no uncertainty about his preaching: he had proclaimed Jesus Christ among them in a plain and positive way (v 19).
Having reminded the Corinthians that the message he had delivered in their hearing on his first visit was invariable and constant (2 Cor 1:19), the Apostle now gave proof of his assertion: Christ was the sum and substance of his preaching. he had known nothing among them save Jesus Christ and Him crucified (see 1 Cor. 2:2), and since Christ Himself is always "yea" or unchanging, then his message was always "yea" or the same. The manner in which he now supplied proof of this was by affirming. "For all the promises of God in Him (viz. Christ) are yea, and in Him (Christ), amen": therefore Christ cannot be "yea and nay." The plain meaning of 2 Corinthians 1:20 is, The promises which God has given His people are absolutely reliable, for they were made to them in Christ; they are absolutely certain of fulfullment, for they are accomplished in Him.
1. Since the Fall alienated the creature from the Creator there could be no intercourse between God and man but by some promise on His part. None can challenge anything from the Majesty on High without a warrant from Himself, nor could the conscience be satisfied unless it had a Divine promise for any good that we hope for from God. 2. God will have His people ruled by promises in all ages so as to exercise faith, hope, prayer, dependence upon Himself. God gives us promises to test whether or not we trust Him. 3. The ground of the promises is the God-man Mediator, Jesus Christ, for all intercourse between God and us can only be in and through the appointed Daysman. Christ must receive all good for us, and we must have it at second hand from Him. Hence "all the promises of God in Him (Christ) are yea and amen."
4. Let the Christian be ever on his guard never to contemplate any promise of God apart from Christ: whether the thing promised, the blessing desired, be temporal or spiritual, we cannot rightly or truly enjoy it except in and by Christ. Therefore did Paul remind the Galatians, "Now to Abraham and his seed was the promise made: he saith not to seeds, as of many, but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ" (3.16). about which (D.V.) we shall have more to say later. All the promises of good to us are made to Christ, the Surety of the everlasting covenant, and are conveyed from Christ to us -- both the promises, and the things promised. "This is the (all-inclusive) promise that He hath promised us, even eternal life" (John 2:25), and as I John 5:11 tells us "this life is in His Son" and so of "grace," and whatsoever is in Him. "If I read any of the promises I found that all and every one contained Christ in their bosom, He Himself being the one great Promise of the Bible. To Him they were all first given; from Him they derive all their efficacy, sweetness, value, and importance; by Him they are brought home to the heart, and in Him they are all yea and amen" (Robert Hawker, 1810)
5. All the promises of God are made in Christ, none of them can be of any good to those who are out of Christ, for a man out of Christ is out of the favor of God. God cannot look on such a man but as an object of His wrath, as fuel for His vengeance; there is no hope for any man till he be in Christ. But it may be asked, Does not God do many good things to them that are out of Christ, sending His rain on the just as well as the unjust and filling the bellies of the wicked with good things (Psa. 17:14)? Yes, He does indeed, But are those temporal mercies blessings? Indeed they are not: as God says in Malachi 2:2 "I will curse your blessings, yea, I have cursed them already, because ye do not lay it to heart" -- cf. Deuteronomy 28: 15-20. Unto the wicked, the temporal mercies of God are like the food given to bullocks -- they do but "prepare them for the day of slaughter" (Jer. 12:3 and cf. James 5:5)
Having presented above a brief outline of the subject of the Divine promises, let us now carefully observe the fact that 2 Corinthians I:20 plainly affirms "For all the promises of God in Him are yea, and in Him amen." How inexpressibly blessed is this to the humble-minded children of God -- yet a mystery hidden from those who are wise in their own conceits. "He that spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things" (Rom. 8:32). The promises of God are many, relating both to this life and also to that which is to come; concerning our temporal well being as well as our spiritual; covering the needs of the body as well as the soul; but, whatever be their character, not one of them could be made good unto us except in and through and by Him who died for us.
"Having these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit" (2 Cor. 7:1) What promises? Why, those mentioned in the closing verses of the preceding chapter, of course. There we read, "And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God: as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them: and I will be their God, and they shall be My people" (2 Cor 6:16). And where had God said this? Why, away back in Leviticus 26:12, "And I will walk among you, and will be your God, and ye shall be My people." That was a promise made to Israel in the days of Moses! Again, in 2 Corinthians 6:17, 18 we read, "Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing, and I will receive you: And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be My sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty" which words are a manifest reference unto Jeremiah 31:9 and Hosea 1:9, 10.
Now observe very particularly what the Holy Spirit says about these "promises" unto the New Testament saints. He makes no mention of His "applying" them; He says nothing about our "appropriating" them: instead, He assures us "Having these promises." Yes, "these" Old Testament "promises" are ours: ours to enjoy, ours to feed upon, ours to delight in, ours to give praise for. Since Christ is ours, all things are ours (1 Cor 3:22, 23). O my reader, allow no man, under the pretense of "rightly dividing" the Word of Truth, to cut you off from any of the "exceeding great and precious" promises of your Father. If he is determined to confine himself to a few Epistles in the New Testament, let him do so -- that is his loss; but suffer him not to confine you to so narrow a place.
One other passage shall engage our attention and we will close this article. Writing to the New Testament saints the Apostle Paul was moved by the Holy Spirit to say, "Let your conversation be without covetousness, be content with such things as ye have: for He hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee" (Heb 13:5). And to whom do you suppose this blessed "promise" was first given? Why, to Joshua -- see Joshua 1:5. Well did John Owen (following his reference to the religious thieves of his day, who sought to rob believers of the consolation intended for them in the evangelical promises of the Old Testament) say: --
"If this plea might be admitted, I know not any one promise that would more evidently fall under the power of it, than this we have now in consideration. It was made to a peculiar person. and that upon a peculiar occasion: made to a general or captain of armies, with respect to the great wars he had to undertake, upon the special command of God. May not a poor hungry believer say, What is this to me? I am not a general of an army, have no wars to make upon God's command, the virtue of this promise doubtless expired with the conquest of Canaan, and died with him to whom it was made. To manifest the sameness of love, that is in all the promises, with their establishment in one Mediator, and the general concernment of believers in every one of them, however, and on what occasion soever given to any, this promise to Joshua is here applied to the condition of the weakest, meanest, and poorest of the saints of God: to all, and every one of them, be their state and condition what it will. And doubtless, believers are not a little wanting in themselves, and their own consolation, that they do no more particularly close with those words of truth, grace, and faithfulness, which upon sundry occasions, and at divers times, have been given out unto the saints of old, even Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, David, and the residue of them, who walked with God in their generations: these things in an especial manner are recorded for our consolation, that we ‘through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope' (Rom. 15:4).
"Now the Holy Spirit knowing the weakness of our faith, and how apt we are to be beaten from closing with the promises, and from mixing them with faith, upon the least discouragement that may arise (as indeed this is none of the least -- the promise is not made to us, it was made to others, and they may reap the sweetness of it; God may be faithful in it, though we never enjoy the mercy intended in it; I say), in the next words He leads believers by the hand, to make the same conclusion with boldness and with confidence from this, and the like promises, as David did of old, upon the many gracious assurances that he had received of the presence of God with him: ‘So that (saith He, upon the account of that promise) we may say boldly (without staggering at it by unbelief) the Lord is my Helper.' This is a conclusion of faith, because God said to Joshua, a believer, ‘I will never leave thee nor forsake thee' -- though upon a particular occasion, and in reference to a particular employment -- every believer may say with boldness, 'He is my Helper'."
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