Briefly Volume 33, Number 4 Allan Boesak is sent to prison for theft, fraud The Presbyterian Layman Posted August 4, 2000 EAST LONDON, South Africa – Allan Boesak, once highly favored by the leadership of the Presbyterian Church (USA), has begun a three-year jail sentence for theft and fraud. Boesak was convicted on March 17, 1999, and sentenced to six years in prison for stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars donated to his Foundation for Peace and Justice. He remained free on bail until a recent appeal hearing, when his sentence was reduced to three years. A leading anti-apartheid activist in South Africa, Boesak was once the moderator of the Dutch Reformed Mission Church and was twice elected president of the World Alliance of Reformed Churches, to which the PCUSA belongs. He was frequently called upon by the PCUSA to play a prominent role in major Presbyterian events. He was the 1988 dedication service preacher at the Presbyterian Center in Louisville, the daily preacher at the 1984 General Assembly in Phoenix, and the 1996-97 “theologian in residence” at the PCUSA’s Stony Point Conference Center. Boesak resigned as president of the World Alliance of Reformed Churches in 1990 after news broke that he was having an extramarital affair. Named South Africa’s ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva, he resigned that post in 1994 when the fraud charges were filed against him. Billy Graham vows to preach despite age, health Baptist Press Posted August 4, 2000 NASHVILLE, Tenn. – A vow to continue preaching until health concerns force him to stop was voiced by the nation’s most prominent evangelist on the eve of the recent Middle Tennessee Billy Graham Crusade in Nashville’s Adelphia Coliseum. During a news conference, Graham, 81, addressed a report in The Tennessean newspaper that indicated he would soon end his crusades. “When The Tennessean quoted me last week as saying this could possibly be my last year holding crusades, that was the medical patient in me speaking,” Graham said. “But I went on to say that I would never stop preaching, which was the evangelist in me talking.” Graham, who has been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease, said he also has a hydrocephalus-like condition of too much fluid on his brain, causing some forgetfulness when fluid presses on certain parts of his brain. At times appearing deliberate, Graham quickened his responses when asked about spiritual matters relating to the middle Tennessee crusade. “At times there are things that I forget, but I can still quote most of the Scriptures” he has quoted over the years, Graham said. “The future belongs to the Lord and I intend to keep on preaching until the end.” The middle Tennessee crusade marks Graham’s third crusade appearance in Nashville and the evangelist said that while the city has changed somewhat, his message remains the same. “I’m going to deliver the same message I gave the last two times I was here,” Graham said. “God is a God of love and he loves everyone. ... [Jesus] is alive and he’s coming back again,” and each person needs to “repent of your sins and receive him as Lord and Savior by faith.” “I’m preaching the same message because the gospel is still the same, man’s heart is the same and people are doing the same old things,” he added. Minister of largest Presbyterian Church dies The Presbyterian Layman Posted August 4, 2000 Dr. Kyung Chik Han, pastor emeritus of the largest Presbyterian congregation in the world, whose ministry has had a major impact on Presbyterians in the United States as well as Korea, died recently in Seoul, Korea at the age of 97. Han was the founder of Youngnak Presbyterian Church in Seoul, which today has 60,000 members. His influence on Korean-American Presbyterians, one of the strongest and fastest-growing segments of the Presbyterian Church (USA), was enormous. In a memorial service at Korean First Presbyterian Church in Greensboro, N.C., Han was described as a minister who was “guided by the whole of Scripture in general and the incarnate Word in particular.” A winner of the international Templeton Prize in Religion, Han was considered one of the world’s greatest preachers. His sermons, books and articles are widely distributed. He was a leader in international ministry, having served as chairman of the trustees of World Vision. In 1985, he was Princeton Theological Seminary’s Distinguished Alumnus of the Year. In 1970, Han was presented the Rose of Sharon Award, his nation’s highest civilian award. Former Radio Church turns to orthodoxy Religion Today Posted August 4, 2000 The Worldwide Church of God, once considered a cult, is stabilizing since losing much of its membership five years ago. It was founded in 1934 as the Radio Church of God by the late Herbert W. Armstrong and widely shunned in orthodox Christian circles. Armstrong rejected the Trinity while insisting that tithing and observance of the Old Testament Sabbath were necessary for salvation. After Armstrong’s death, the church went through dramatic theological changes when its new leaders announced that many teachings were in error, the Los Angeles Times reported. By 1995 the church had declared itself to be a mainstream Christian evangelical denomination, and has become a member of the National Association of Evangelicals. The move toward orthodoxy was welcomed by other churches, but led to a dramatic loss of income and membership. The Pasadena, Calif.-based church has 30,000 members in the United States, and 30,000 overseas, a spokesman said. When the changes began, it reported 104,000 members. Between 10 percent and 15 percent of its 400 congregations in the United States worship on Sunday instead of Saturday, and most observe Christmas and Easter. Those practices were condemned by founders of the church, spokesman Greg Albrecht said. Leaders cite right to share Gospel The Presbyterian Layman Posted August 4, 2000 Stung by assertions that preaching the Gospel can lead to hate crimes, some of the country’s most prominent Christian leaders are reasserting the constitutional right to evangelize. Eighty-four scholars, theologians, and church leaders have endorsed a document called “The Chicago Declaration on Religious Freedom: Sharing Jesus Christ in a Pluralistic Society.” They include Charles Colson of Prison Fellowship, theologians Carl F. H. Henry, J.I. Packer, R.C. Sproul, and Franklin Graham, son of evangelist Billy Graham. The leaders rejected the notion that evangelism undermines “a peaceful, pluralistic society and may lead to intolerance, bigotry, and even violence,” and said that only a society that permits free discourse “can safeguard the true liberty, freedom, and human dignity we all pursue.” The declaration also “acknowledges with shame that some Christian churches have failed to exercise proper respect for the rights and dignity of others,” and rejects the use of “coercive techniques, dishonest appeals, or any form of deception.” Boy Scouts win; pro-lifers lose Religion Today Posted August 4, 2000 The U.S. Supreme Court has ended its 1999-2000 term with rulings that will profoundly affect American life. The cases deal with partial-birth abortion, aid to religious schools, and homosexual leaders in the Boy Scouts. The justices ruled that the Boy Scouts of America can bar homosexuals from serving as troop leaders, and rejected a state law that made it a crime to perform partial-birth abortions, without an exception for the health of the mother. In the Boy Scouts case, the court ruled 5-4 that forcing the Boy Scouts of America to accept gay scoutmasters would “significantly burden” its right to instill its values. The court reversed the New Jersey Supreme Court, which had ruled that the Scouts were wrong in firing an assistant scoutmaster when they found out he is a homosexual. The court struck down a Nebraska law that prohibited partial-birth abortions. The court upheld a federal law that allows public aid to private schools. It ruled that taxpayer money can be spent to buy computers and other instructional materials that are then shared with private schools, including religious institutions, as long as the aid was administered under neutral principles.

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