Lottery Fever
In fact, the consequences of winning the lottery are often more frightful than mere financial trouble.
Evelyn Adams, who won the New Jersey lottery in 1985 and 1986 for a total of $5.4 million, gambled and gave away all her winnings and by 2001 was poor and living in a trailer.
Teresa Brunnings, who won $1.3 million in a lottery in 1985, says that she had a party then, but, “Of all the people who came, not one speaks to me now.”
Michael Carroll, who won about $17 million in a lottery in England in 2003, said he only had $3 million left in early 2006. He told the press, “I regret ever winning the lottery. I’ve spent $2 million on drugs and given $7 million to friends and family.”
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Friday Church News Notes
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The Friday Church News Notes is designed for use in churches and is published by Way of Life Literature’s Fundamental Baptist Information Service. Unless otherwise stated, the Notes are written by David Cloud. Of necessity we quote from a wide variety of sources, but this does not imply an endorsement. For instructions on how to unsubscribe to this list or to change mailing addresses, please consult the information paragraph at the end.
New Evangelicalism - Its History, Characteristics and Fruit
The following was first published in 1995 under the title of Fundamentalism, Modernism, and New-Evangelicalism.
I am convinced that few errors are as destructive to fundamentalist Bible-believing churches as New Evangelicalism. When people leave our churches, where do they go? Do they join the Roman Catholic Church? Do they join a modernistic Protestant church, such as the United Methodist, the Presbyterian Church U.S.A., or the United Church of Canada? Do they join a cult such as the Mormons? That seldom occurs. Most that leave fundamentalist Bible-believing churches join the positive-thinking, easy-going New Evangelical church down the street or across town. Read More...
Why Don't You Follow Matthew 18?
Enlarged March 8, 2010 (first published July 2, 2000) (David Cloud, Fundamental Baptist Information Service, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061, 866-295-4143, fbns@wayoflife.org; for instructions about subscribing and unsubscribing or changing addresses, see the information paragraph at the end of the article) -
From time to time I am asked if I follow the guidelines of Matthew 18 before I publish a report.
For example, when I published an open challenge to Clarence Sexton about the Friendship Conferences, I received the following:
“I am deeply upset at the private letter you posted on your website to Dr Sexton. Thanks for shooting your own and not calling Pastor Sexton personally to get all of the facts. I guess you don't read Matthew 18 all that often.”
The fact is that I did contact Pastor Sexton personally months before the publication of the article. As for Matthew 18, as we will see, it has nothing to do with the issue.
Shooting Their Own Wounded
Enlarged March 8, 2010 (first published June 30, 2000) (David Cloud, Fundamental Baptist Information Service, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061, 866-295-4143, fbns@wayoflife.org; for instructions about subscribing and unsubscribing or changing addresses, see the information paragraph at the end of the article) –
Through the years, I have frequently heard the accusation that preachers who give warnings about Christian leaders are guilty of “shooting their own wounded.”
Recently I received the following e-mail that charged me with doing this in regard to an open exhortation I published about Clarence Sexton’s Friendship Conferences.
“I am deeply upset at the private letter you posted on your website to Dr Sexton. Thanks for shooting your own and not calling Pastor Sexton personally to get all of the facts. I guess you don't read Matthew 18 all that often.”
The fact is that I sent that letter to Dr. Sexton via his own website months before I published it, and I received no reply. He says that he doesn’t use e-mail, and that is fine, but he could have dictated a reply to one of his co-workers or secretaries. As for Matthew 18, it has nothing to do with the issue. Dr. Sexton has not sinned against me personally and I am not a member of his church and could not therefore follow the procedure proscribed in Matthew 18. The issue of the Friendship Conference is not a private matter; it is a very public matter because Dr. Sexton has made it so via his public influence. Public stances should be critiqued publicly, or those concerned will not hear the challenge. What I had to say by way of warning was not just for Dr. Sexton. It is for all independent Baptists. I have nothing against Dr. Sexton personally and I have no animosity toward him. Why can’t men understand this very simple principle? I am convinced that it is because they don’t want to understand it. I have been an independent Baptist for 36 years, and one of the besetting sins of this movement in my estimation is the over exaltation of man. As a movement, it is more man-centered than Christ-centered, and that is idolatry. Read More...
Cremation, What Does God Think?
Updated March 9, 2010 (first published via the FBIS January 10, 1998) (David Cloud, Fundamental Baptist Information Service, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061, 866-295-4143, fbns@wayoflife.org; for instructions about subscribing and unsubscribing or changing addresses, see the information paragraph at the end of the article) –
“Personally, the minister may or may not approve of such proceedings. Privately, he is free to hold any opinion that he will. But officially he should keep an open mind. In the Christian religion there is nothing that frowns upon cremation or requires burial.”
Is this sound advice? Is cremation a matter of Christian liberty? In certain places land space is so crowded that burial plots are very expensive and in some cases there are efforts by the governments to discourage burial in preference to cremation. That this problem has become acute in Singapore is referred to in the following official statement made by the Bible Presbyterian Church of Singapore in May, 1987-- Read More...