David A. Noebel

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David A. Noebel (born 1937[1]) is an American religious leader. He is the current director of Summit Ministries, in Manitou Springs, Colorado in the United States. Since the 1960s, he has written widely on the relationship between religion and popular culture, and is an outspoken critic of secular humanism,[2] which he describes as a religion.[3]

Noebel was a member of the Council for National Policy beginning in 1984, and a candidate for Congress against Rep. Robert Kastenmeier, and was a former Associate Evangelist of Billy James Hargis's Christian Crusade.[4]

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[edit] Life

Noebel was educated at the Milwaukee Bible College, Hope College (Holland, Michigan, B.A.), and the University of Tulsa (M.A.). He studied philosophy at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and although he did not complete his doctorate there, he has an honorary doctorate from American Christian College[5]. He was ordained a minister in 1961.[6] He was pastor of Grace Bible Church, Madison, Wisconsin; president and professor of Biblical Studies, American Christian College, Tulsa, Oklahoma. He is a member of the American Philosophical Association and the Southwestern Philosophical Society.

In 1962 he founded Summit Ministries, a Christian leadership training organization designed as an educational Christian ministry whose very existence is a response to our current post-Christian culture. Today, countless Christian youth have fallen victim to the popular ideas of our modern world. Most have adopted these ideas into their own worldview, while still others go on to renounce their Christian faith altogether.

Summit views its role as a catalyst to enable youth to stand strong in their faith and defend truth, while having a positive influence on the society in which they live. He has directed the Summit Youth Ministries since 1964. The ministry grew in size considerably after being mentioned on James Dobson's radio show.[6] He saw contemporary popular music as a Soviet plot to brainwash American youth. Unlike other religious critics of popular music, he backed up his analysis with references outside the Bible, using scholarly footnotes and quotations. His work was influential and widely adopted by later critics of rock music.[7]

At the same time as a spoken word album, The Marxist Minstrels, was released. The back cover of the album promotes the book, which is said to describe "how the American Reds are using music to destroy our youth...Morally and Patriotically!" According to the blurb, Noebel spent two years writing the book and discussed it nationally in the media, including a feature in Newsweek.[8] The book The Marxist Mistrels, published in 1973, expands on his theory of the communist intentions of rock music.[7]

In 1977, he published The Homosexual Revolution, which was dedicated to Anita Bryant. In this book he describes how "homosexuality rapidly is becoming one of America's most serious social problems."[9] He later co-authored AIDS: Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome: A Special Report', and contributed frequent articles against homosexuality to The Journal.

In 1991 he authored the 900-page Understanding the Times: The Religious Worldviews of our Day and the Search for Truth, a textbook interpreting current intellectual movements, from Biblical Christianity, Secular Humanism, Marxism/Leninism, the New Age Movement, Islam, and Postmodernism. It is widely used among Christian schools, churches and colleges, either in its unabridged or abridged formats. Ministry Watch described it as his most notable book.[6] It was cited by DJ Grothe as changing his life, inadvertently, by introducing him to humanism.[10]

In 2001, Noebel co-authored with Tim LaHaye Mind Siege, which was a New York Times best-seller.[10] He has also produced a number of educational materials, including textbooks (with teacher's guides) and video curricula.

[edit] Works

[edit] Books

  • Communism, hypnotism and the Beatles: An analysis of the Communist use of music, the Communist master music plan, 1965
  • Rhythm, riots, and revolution;: An analysis of the Communist use of music, the Communist master music plan, 1966
  • Does the National Council of Churches speak for you?, 1969
  • The Beatles: A Study in Drugs, Sex, & Revolution, 1969 (pamphlet)
  • The Marxist Minstrels: A Handbook on Communist Subversion of Music, 1974
  • The Homosexual Revolution, 1977
  • The Slaughter of the Innocent, 1979
  • The Legacy of John Lennon: Charming or Harming a Generation?, 1982
  • AIDS: Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome, 1986 (with Wayne C. Lutton and Paul Cameron)
  • Understanding the Times Harvest House, 1991; 2nd ed. 2006
  • Clergy in the Classroom: The Religion of Secular Humanism, 1995 (with J. F. Baldwin and Kevin J. Bywater)
  • The Battle for Truth, 2001; republished as Worldviews in Collision, Harvest House, 2008
  • Mind Siege - The Battle For Truth In The New Millennium, 2001 (with Tim Lahaye)
  • Thinking Like a Christian: Understanding and Living a Biblical Worldview B&H, 2002

[edit] Sound recordings

  • The Marxist Minstrels. Tulsa: Christian Crusade Recordings, 1968.

[edit] Video recordings

  • Countering Culture: Arming Yourself to Confront Non-Biblical Worldviews (with Chuck Edwards)
  • Mind Siege: The Battle for the Truth (with Tim LaHaye)

[edit] References

  1. ^ A Summit Reader: Essays and Lectures in Honor of David Noebel's 70th Birthday (Summit Ministries) was published in 2007.
  2. ^ Paul Kurtz. "Another Assault from the Religious Right." Free Inquiry 21:3, 2001.
  3. ^ Noebel and LaHaye. Mind Siege. Nashville: Word Publishing, 2000, Pages 155-172 are a chapter entitled "Humanism Is a Religion."
  4. ^ Member biographies for the Council for National Policy, accessed 2008-02-21
  5. ^ Summit Ministries: Resources - The Christian Worldview Radio Program
  6. ^ a b c Andy Presler. He is editor of their monthly journal, The Journal. In 1965 he wrote a pamphlet, "Communism, Hypnotism And The Beatles." It was followed in 1966 by Rhythm, Riots, and Revolution, which inflamed the debate about the presence of Communism in music, especially folk and folk-rock. <ref> D. Lankford, Jr., Ronald (2005). Folk Music USA: The Changing Voice of Protest. New York: Schirmer Trade Books. ISBN 0825673003. Page 129.</li> <li id="cite_note-Marr-6">^ [[#cite_ref-Marr_6-0|<sup>'''''a'''''</sup>]]&#32;[[#cite_ref-Marr_6-1|<sup>'''''b'''''</sup>]] [[Johnny Marr]]. "[http://www.wfmu.org/LCD/18/antirock.html Christ, Communists, and Rock'n'Roll: Anti-Rock and Roll Books]." [[WFMU]], 1997. Accessed 2007-02-21.</li> <li id="cite_note-7">'''[[#cite_ref-7|^]]''' CONELRAD. "[http://conelrad.com/media/atomicmusic/sh_boom.php?platter=22 The Marxist Minstrels]" on Atomic Platters.</li> <li id="cite_note-Hardisty-8">'''[[#cite_ref-Hardisty_8-0|^]]''' Jean Hardisty. "[http://www.publiceye.org/magazine/v07n1/conshomo.html Constructing Homophobia: Colorado's Right-Wing Attack on Homosexuals]" Public Eye magazine, March 1993.</li> <li id="cite_note-Grothe-9">^ [[#cite_ref-Grothe_9-0|<sup>'''''a'''''</sup>]]&#32;[[#cite_ref-Grothe_9-1|<sup>'''''b'''''</sup>]] DJ Grothe. "[http://www.secularhumanism.org/library/fi/grothe_22_3.htm Responding to the Religious Right]. [[Free Inquiry]] 22:3.</li></ol></ref>

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