News From The Front – September 2004

Dear praying friends,

I am very grateful to those who prayed faithfully for the ministry visit to California in June. Every plan went smoothly and safely [driving the California freeways is a little bit more ‘challenging’ than driving the roads of Northern Ireland] and the feedback from the various meetings was most encouraging. In particular I drew attention to the efforts of the promoters of ‘The Alpha Course’ to extend its influence this year in the USA through a nationwide series of conferences. One church that I spoke at in San Diego has posted my talk to its website and it can be listened to on the following link > [Sorry Link is Broken]

Alternatively, for folks in America, an audiotape of the Alpha talk that I gave in a church in Ontario, CA can be obtained by contacting Richard McClendon whose telephone number is 909 234 9852. For folks closer to home, the tape of this Alpha talk and also the tape of another talk entitled ‘Are we living in days of Seducing Spirits’ can be obtained from myself [price £2.00 for each tape]. A video of a talk I gave earlier this year called ‘Alpha Assessed’ is now also available [price £7.50]. Whilst in America I was able to link up with Roger Oakland for lunch. Roger is very much looking forward to his ministry visit here [23 October–7 November DV] and enclosed with this newsletter is his schedule of meetings. Please pray and plan to attend if at all possible. Margaret and I once more send our thanks to all who so faithfully support “Take Heed”.

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Philip Yancey – “turning the grace of God into lasciviousness”

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When you go into any modern ‘Christian’ bookstore it will be virtually impossible not to be confronted at some point by books written by Philip Yancey. He is without doubt one of the best selling ‘Christian’ authors of this age and some of his best known works include ‘What’s So amazing About Grace’, ‘Where Is God When It Hurts’ and ‘Soul Survivor’. In March 2002 he was the Banquet Speaker at the Christian Booksellers Convention held in Doncaster.

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News From The Front – June 2004

Dear praying friends,

As there is so much that I want to include in this newsletter I’m launching straight into our opening article and my prayer is that all who read this entire newsletter will be much informed and warned.

Your servant for Christ

CECIL ANDREWS

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Operation Mobilisation purge MV Doulos of ‘Passion’ books promoting Roman Catholicism

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On 21 May I posted an article after I received a phone call from a very concerned Christian lady who had visited the MV Doulos [one of 2 ships that form O. M’s floating ‘book ministry’ fleet] that is currently visiting Londonderry. Whilst on board she noticed a book called – 

  • ‘A Guide To The Passion’ 
  • 100 Questions About 
  • The Passion of The Christ

and when she asked how much it would cost she was told that it was ‘free’ and she was given a copy. She subsequently rang me to express her horror at what was contained in the book.

For those who don’t know, this book is produced by an organisation called ‘Catholic Exchange’ and its purpose is to explain the Roman Catholic dimension and teachings depicted in Mel Gibson’s movie ‘The Passion of The Christ’. It’s aim and purpose is to promote the religion of Roman Catholicism. Let me quote a few sections from the ‘Introduction’ that was written by Tom Allen, Editor and President of Catholic Exchange. Mr Allen wrote –

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The hidden ‘agendas’ of CARE and Evangelical Alliance [NI]?

To fully understand the background to this article I believe it will be helpful for those who come to this article to first read the following articles that are posted elsewhere on our web site.

The articles and their links are as follows –

‘Evangelical Catholic’ suggestions for Belfast ‘Passion Café’ rejected?

The ‘leaven’ in ‘Power To Change’

Power To Change – Ecumenical or not Ecumenical?

In the article on the ‘Belfast Passion Café’ I referred to an ‘unnamed person’ in these terms – ‘One of the committee for the café’- and explained how this ‘unnamed person’ had sought guidance from the so-called ‘Evangelical Catholic’, Eugene Boyle. The rest of the article was an exposure of the devious suggestions put forward by Eugene Boyle and was not as some mistakenly thought a ‘condemnation’ of the planned café outreach to those who view ‘The Passion’ movie.

In the providence of God I have now been put in possession of further information that shows just how premeditated both this ‘unnamed person’ and Stephen Cave, General Secretary of Evangelical Alliance [NI] (this is the same Stephen Cave mentioned in the ‘Power to Change’ articles listed above) were to try and ensure that their solicitation of ‘Evangelical Catholic guidance and participation’ in the ‘Belfast Passion Café’ should not become public knowledge.

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Mel Gibson’s Passion Undermines The Deity of Christ

by Lorin Smith

In the midst of the furor that has accompanied the release of Mel Gibson’s movie, The Passion of the Christ, there is an important theological issue at stake that is surprisingly being overlooked by most Christians and critics of the film. The issue is this. If Jesus Christ is truly God, as Christians claim Him to be, how can He be portrayed in a motion picture when, as God, He expressly forbids the making of images of His person in Exodus 20:4? “Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.” (See Leviticus 19:4;Deuteronomy 5:8; 27:15; Isaiah 40:18-20; 42:8; 2 Corinthians 6:16) Furthermore, if Jesus Christ is at this very moment seated at the right hand of The Father in heaven (Psalm 110:1; Acts 2:34-36; Ephesians 1:3, 20; 2:6; Hebrews 1:3, 13; 8:1; 12:2; 1 Peter 3:22), then the making of an image of His person is again expressly forbidden. Webster’s Encyclopedic Unabridged Dictionary of the English Language defines an image as “a physical likeness or representation of a person, animal or thing, photographed, painted, sculptured, or otherwise made visible.” In addition, if Jesus is a member of the Godhead as 1 John 5:7 states “For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word and the Holy Ghost; and these three are one,” then any material representation of any member of the Godhead is forbidden.

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Passion Evangelism

by Roger Oakland and Jim Tetlow

On Ash Wednesday 2004, The Passion of the Christ premiered in North America. Never has a film on Christ’s passion garnered so much attention. In its first two weeks the movie grossed well over 200 million dollars and is poised to become the highest grossing R-rated movie in history. Its subsequent release around the world has the potential to influence multiplied millions of viewers. Though The Passion of the Christ was produced and directed by a devout Roman Catholic – Mel Gibson, Catholics are not alone in the endorsement of this monumental movie. Perhaps the greatest support for the movie comes from Evangelical Bible-believing Christians. In an effort to win souls to Christ, these Christians are sponsoring all types of evangelistic events that revolve around the movie.

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Idolatry: From Start To Finish

God Delivers His People From Idolatry

by J. Virgil Dunbar

Before God sent His Son into the world to be the Saviour, He prepared a people who would not make images of Him. God revealed Jesus to this prepared people so that they could tell the world about Him. Why did God wait two thousand years until the time when His chosen people would not make images of His Son? Because for many centuries the world’s people made images of what they thought God was like. Soon there were many concepts of God. False images of God corrupted mankind. (See Romans 1:22-32.)

How did God prepare a people who would not make false images of Him? God’s battle with idolatry is an important theme of the Bible and of church history.

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The ‘inaccuracies’ in Chuck Swindoll’s ‘amazingly accurate’ Passion Movie

Charles [Chuck] Swindoll is President of Dallas Theological seminary. In his ‘Insight for Living’ letter dated 23 February 2004 [the copy I have was issued by his UK office in Bath] he ‘sings the praises’ of Mel Gibson’s movie ‘The Passion of The Christ’. Amongst the many accolades he heaps on the movie is this one – ‘Amazingly accurate’. Later in the letter he writes ‘We saw a vivid portrayal of what Jesus endured from the garden to the grave. And we saw how and where the tortuous treatment took place…Why would anyone submit to such mistreatment?…Unable to get that out of my mind and realising the importance for everyone who sees the film of having that question answered, I decided to sit down and put together a book…I deliberately kept it short (only eight chapters)…By going back to an earlier and more thorough work I’d written ‘The Darkness and The Dawn’ I was able to recreate some of the details of Jesus’ passion, as set forth in the gospel accounts. The truth of these events, seen vividly in the film and explained clearly in the book, will fill you with wonder’. So, all in all, Mr Swindoll conveys a clear impression of a vividly accurate film portrayal of what happened to the Lord ‘from the garden to the grave’.

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