NEWS NOTES 12/31/2004

The following is another installment of the Friday Church News Notes designed especially for use in churches. It is published by Way of Life Literature’s Fundamental Baptist Information Service. For instructions on how to unsubscribe to this list or to change mailing addresses, please consult the information paragraph at the end.

Download and Print Friday News with Full Graphics for your church in
PDF format:
http://www.wayoflife.org/fbns/fridaynews/pdf/2004/20041231.pdf

EARTHQUAKES: TESTIFYING TO THE AUTHENTICITY OF SCRIPTURE. Friday Church News Notes, December 31, 2004 (David W. Cloud, Fundamental Baptist Information Service, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061, fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The year 2003 ended with the death of an estimated 26,000 in Iran, and the year 2004 ended with the death of an estimated 120,000 (and still rising) in South Asia. Both tragedies resulted from earthquakes and both remind us that God’s Word is true. The Lord Jesus warned that the Great Tribulation at the end of the church age would be preceded by “earthquakes in divers places” (Mt. 24:7; Mk. 13:8; Lk. 21:11). Enzo Boschi, head of Italy’s National Geophysics Institute, said the recent earthquake was so strong that “All the planet is vibrating” (“Disaster compared to scene from Bible,” WorldNetDaily, Dec. 26). Washington Post reporter Michael Dobbs compared it to “a scene from the Bible.” In fact, this is only a gentle warning of what lies ahead. At the very opening of the seven-year Tribulation one-fourth of the earth’s population will die from war and famine (Rev. 6:7-8). A third of all the ships in the seas will be destroyed (Rev. 8:9). A third of the waters on the earth will be poisoned (Rev. 8:10-11). A swarm of demonic locusts will torment men with stings so fearful that they will seek death but “shall not find it” (Rev. 9:1-6). A third of the world’s inhabitants will die when an army of 200 million men marches from the east (Rev. 9:15-18). The antichrist will rule and require that all men bow to his image and take his mark or die (Rev. 13:11-18). The sun will become so hot that men will be “scorched with great heat” (Rev. 16:8-9). A terrible shaking of the earth will cause every island to sink and the mountains to fall (Rev. 16:20). Hailstones weighing 75-95 pounds will fall from heaven (Rev. 16:21). Men’s hearts will fail “for looking after those things which are coming on the earth” (Lk. 21:26). No person living today has to go through these horrible judgments. We are still living in the era of “good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people” (Lk. 2:10), which is the gospel of Jesus Christ, that He died for our sins, was buried, and rose the third day to offer eternal salvation to whosoever will believe in Him as Lord and Saviour. The Bible says God has no pleasure in the death of the wicked (Ezek. 33:11); it is His will, rather, that all men be saved (1 Tim. 2:3-4; 1 Pet. 3:9).

WHY THE WORLD LOVES U2. Friday Church News Notes, December 31, 2004 (David W. Cloud, Fundamental Baptist Information Service, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061, fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The rock band U2 was featured this month on the cover of the special “People of the Year” issue of the wicked Rolling Stone magazine. As picked up from the Internet, writer David Fricke enthused, “If there was any doubt that U2 is the biggest band in the world, there’s none now.” U2 is still one of the world’s favorite bands almost 20 years after first appearing on the cover of the March 1985 issue of Rolling Stone under the headline, “Our Choice: Band of the Eighties.” How can this be, when it is claimed that three of the members are Christians and when Christianity Today loves them as much as Rolling Stone? The world loves U2 because U2 is of the world, and the world recognizes its own. Jesus Christ said, “If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you” (John 15:19). The vague Christianity that Bono preaches is one of his own devising. I have read many U2 interviews but not once have I heard them preach the Gospel of the new birth through repentance and faith in the blood of Jesus Christ or warn the unsaved of eternal hell. U2 does not rebuke wickedness and immorality. The love that Bono sings about is the world’s love. U2’s philosophy is the world’s philosophy. Consider this line from the song “Vertigo” from their new album How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb: “A feeling is so much stronger than a thought.” This summarizes the rock & roll philosophy. The Bible says we are to live by God’s laws, but rock & roll says, “Live by your feelings.” The Bible says the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked, but rock & roll says, “Just follow your heart.” The Bible says we can only know God through the sound doctrine of His revelation in the Scriptures, through right thinking that comes by the right understanding of God’s word; but rock & roll says, “Feelings are more important than thoughts.” This is why the world loves U2. And this is also why New Evangelicals and Charismatics love U2 (2 Tim. 4:3-4).

CELL PHONE-SIZED PREMATURE BABY READY TO GO HOME. Friday Church News Notes, December 31, 2004 (David W. Cloud, Fundamental Baptist Information Service, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061, fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - When Rumaisa Rahman was born three months premature on Sept. 19 she weighed only 8.6 ounces (.24 kilos) and “was no bigger than a cell phone.” Deemed the world’s tiniest surviving baby (the previous record holder, who is a teenager now, was 36 grams or 1.3 ounces heavier), Rumaisa has progressed well at Loyola University Medical Center in Maywood, Illinois. Currently weighing 2 pounds 10 ounces, she is expected to go home in January. Her parents are originally from India. Babies much older and more viable than Rumaisa was at her birth are murdered every day by abortion.

ROCK SINGER’S WIFE REGRETS ABORTION. Friday Church News Notes, December 31, 2004 (David W. Cloud, Fundamental Baptist Information Service, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061, fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - Sharon Osbourne, wife of rock singer Ozzy, regrets her decision to get an abortion at age 17. “The greatest regret of my life is the abortion after my awful first sexual encounter. Later, I had three miscarriages before giving birth to my three kids. In life . . . you pay somewhere down the line” (Daily Mail, Dec. 19). Though Sharon makes no profession to be born again, she understands (though only dimly) that sin has consequences and her sad testimony should be an example to young people. A Bible believer is reminded that sex before marriage is sinful and foolish and a moment of pleasure can reap a lifetime of regret. And abortion is never the right solution to an unwanted pregnancy. There are always couples waiting to adopt unwanted babies and provide them with caring homes. No matter how much the rock world denies God and flaunts His laws, sooner or later they have to come to terms with both. The Bible says every man will bow the knee to Jesus Christ, either in this life by submitting to Him as Lord and Saviour and receiving His merciful salvation, or in the next life at the Great White Throne and receiving His just condemnation.

SOUTHERN BAPTIST FALSE TEACHER DIES. Friday Church News Notes, December 31, 2004 (David W. Cloud, Fundamental Baptist Information Service, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061, fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - Roy Honeycutt, who was president of the Southern Baptist Convention’s main seminary in Louisville, Kentucky, from 1982-1993, and chancellor until 1997, has died at age 78. While a professor at Midwestern Baptist Seminary, Honeycutt contributed to Is the Bible a Human Book (Broadman Press, 1970), which was an all out attack upon the verbal inspiration of Scripture. Honeycutt also served on the editorial board for the liberal Broadman Bible Commentary, which promoted theistic evolution and the historic-critical view of the Pentateuch and even questioned the reality of angels. Honeycutt contributed commentaries on Exodus and 2 Kings, and in the latter he wrote that accounts such as Elijah raising the woman’s boy from the dead might be “wonder stories in the category of saga and legend.” Speaking at an SBC Christian Life Commission seminar in 1986, Honeycutt spoke heretical mumbo-jumbo when he said the Bible “is a witness of what God has done and is a product of the gospel, not the source of the gospel” (Indiana Baptist, April 1, 1986). The Bible warns that those who abide not in the doctrine of Christ have not God (2 John 9), and Christ’s doctrine was that the Scripture cannot be broken and is therefore inerrant in all places (Jn. 10:35). Yet this unbeliever was never disciplined out of Southern Baptist churches and when he died he was eulogized by conservative Southern Baptist leaders, such as R. Albert Mohler, Jr., current head of Southern Seminary, who praised Honeycutt for his commitment to the convention. It appears that denominational loyalty goes a long way with even the most conservative of denominationalists. Mohler served as the assistant to Honeycutt from 1983-89, so he knows first hand about Honeycutt’s unbelieving views of the Word of God. Personally, I do not believe that Southern Seminary has been cleaned up entirely of theological liberalism to this day. I challenge the school’s leaders to allow me to interview the professors face to face with a recorder running. The same goes for the other SBC seminaries. There is something deeply suspicious about this conservative renaissance.

BRIAN LITTRELL OF THE FILTHY BACKSTREET BOYS PUTTING OUT A “CHRISTIAN” RECORD. Friday Church News Notes, December 31, 2004 (David W. Cloud, Fundamental Baptist Information Service, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061, fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - Brian Littrell of the morally filthy Backstreet Boys rock group has signed with Reunion Records to make a “Christian” record. Littrell claims to have been a Christian since he was eight years old, but his music and influence has been anything but Christian. The Backstreet Boys, who have sold more than 55 million albums in their 10-year career, have polluted the hearts of countless young people. Entertainment Weekly describes them as an adolescent “sexual awakening” and many of their songs call upon youth to “do what feels good” regardless of its morality or legality. Their song “I Need You Tonight” says, “I need you ... And I know, deep within my heart/ It doesn’t matter of its wrong or right.” And who are the prime fans of the Backstreet Boys? Young girls from ages 8 to 15. Rock & roll has been filthy and ungodly since its inception, and every rock & roller has a lot to answer for before Almighty God. Every rock & roller. This also reminds us of how deeply worldly the Contemporary Christian Music scene really is, as there will probably not be even one prominent voice raised against this moral and spiritual confusion.

CONCLUSION: Friends in Christ, do not be discouraged by any of this. It is God’s will that we know the times (1 Ch. 12:32; Mat. 16:3) and that we be as wise as serpents and harmless as doves. These things remind us that the hour is very late, and we need to be ready for the coming of the Lord. Are you sure that you are born again? Are you living for Christ day by day? Are you in the perfect will of God for your life and bearing fruit for His glory? “And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed. The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light. Let us walk honestly, as in the day; not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying. But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof” (Rom. 13:11-14).