Friday, November 17, 2000 (David W. Cloud, Fundamental Baptist Information Service, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061-0368, fbns@wayoflife.org) - The following is another installment of the Fundamental Baptist Information Service Friday News Notes:

MARILYN MANSONâS BLASPHEMOUS NEW ALBUM. Friday News Notes, November 17, 2000 (David W. Cloud, Fundamental Baptist Information Service, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061-0368, fbns@wayoflife.org) - The rock group Marilyn Mansonâs new album, Holy Wood (In the Shadow of the Valley of Death), is blasphemous and wicked. The album cover has a depiction of Manson crucified on a cross. Songs include ãGodeatgod,ä ãBorn Again,ä and ãThe Fall of Adam.ä On MTVâs Total Request Live, Nov. 15, 2000, Manson said: ãI look at the image of the cross and the story of Christ as somebody who was a revolutionary with dangerous ideas.ä Those who claim that rock music like this does not influence people to do evil things are living in a dream world.

INDIANAPOLIS BAPTIST TEMPLE MUST VACATE PROPERTY. Friday News Notes, November 17, 2000 (David W. Cloud, Fundamental Baptist Information Service, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061-0368, fbns@wayoflife.org) - The Indianapolis Baptist Temple of Indianapolis, Indiana, lost its final Supreme Court appeal and must vacate its property to satisfy an IRS judgment for back taxes and penalties. The Indianapolis Baptist Temple does not recognize the governmentâs authority to collect taxes from a church and since 1984 has refused to pay the amount demanded by the Internal Revenue Service. The church was sued by the IRS, and a federal appeals court ruled against the church in August of this year. Federal judge Sarah Barker ordered the church to vacate its property by November 14 and gave federal marshals authority to use force if necessary to complete the eviction. On November 13, Chief Justice William Rehnquist of the U.S. Supreme Court denied the churchâs request for a stay. This is thought to be the first time in U.S. history that the government has confiscated a churchâs property in a tax dispute.

MOST PEOPLE DO NOT ENJOY RELIGIOUS LIBERTY. Friday News Notes, November 17, 2000 (David W. Cloud, Fundamental Baptist Information Service, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061-0368, fbns@wayoflife.org) - A report issued recently by the Center for Religious Freedom observes that about 75 percent of the worldâs population is subject to restrictions and violations of their religious liberty. About 36% of people live in countries in which religious liberty is ãfundamentally violated.ä Another 39% practice their faith under constraints. Some of the worst offenders are Burma, Turkmenistan, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, North Korea, Vietnam, and China. Only 25% of the people in this troubled world enjoy broad religious liberty.

EASTERN RELIGIONS INCREASING IN AMERICA. Friday News Notes, November 17, 2000 (David W. Cloud, Fundamental Baptist Information Service, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061-0368, fbns@wayoflife.org) - Eastern religions are increasing rapidly in North America. An example is the Self-Realization Fellowship Society founded by Hindu guru Paramahansa Yogananda, who died in 1952, The Society was popularized by Yoganandaâs book The Autobiography of a Yogi. The group is dedicated to helping its followers discover god and truth within themselves through meditation and yoga. (This editor was a member of the Self-Realization Fellowship Society for a short time before I was saved in 1973. I had even traveled from Florida to California to visit the headquarters of the Society near Los Angeles.) An article in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution for Nov. 11, 2000 describes the growing influence of the Self-Realization Fellowship Society in Georgia. A leader in the Atlanta chapter of the Society is Randy Bundy, who was raised as a Southern Baptist but joined the Self-Realization Society in 1973. At first his Baptist mother was very concerned, but he alleges that before she died, she said to him, ãI have watched you for 20 years grow and change for the better; you are following a truth path.ä

SEPARATION IS A BIBLE COMMAND. Friday News Notes, November 17, 2000 (David W. Cloud, Fundamental Baptist Information Service, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061-0368, fbns@wayoflife.org) - Separation from doctrinal error and false teachers is not an option or suggestion; it is a command. It is the wall of protection God has given to His people to shelter them from the leaven of error. Following are some of the key passages on doctrinal separation: Rom. 16:17-18; 2 Cor. 6:14-17; 1 Tim. 6:5; 2 Tim. 2:16-18; 3:5; Titus 3:10; 2 John 7-11; Rev. 18:4. False teachers are to be marked and avoided (Rom. 16:17), withdrawn from (1 Tim. 6:5), shunned (2 Tim. 2:16), turned away from (2 Tim. 3:5), rejected (Titus 3:10), not received nor bid Goodspeed (2 John 10).

ROME SIGNS COVENANT WITH ISRAELâS ENEMY, THE PLO. Friday News Notes, November 17, 2000 (David W. Cloud, Fundamental Baptist Information Service, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061-0368, fbns@wayoflife.org) - In February of this year, the Vatican signed an agreement with the Palestinian Liberation Organization, the sworn enemy of Godâs chosen nation, Israel. The agreement declared that ãan equitable solution for the issue of Jerusalem, based on international resolutions, is fundamental for a just and lasting peace in the Middle East.ä This is a bold denial of Godâs ancient covenant with Israel and Jerusalem. On August 1, CBS reported that Pope John Paul II had repeated the Holy Seeâs insistence that Jerusalem come under international oversight.

VIETNAM OPPRESSING CHRISTIANS. Friday News Notes, November 17, 2000 (David W. Cloud, Fundamental Baptist Information Service, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061-0368, fbns@wayoflife.org) - The Center for Religious Freedom has published 50 pages of Vietnamese government documents detailing oppressive policies against Christians. The Washington Times notes: ãMost of the policies are aimed at restricting evangelical Protestants. They include closing churches and turning public opinion against Christians. Officials are particularly concerned about the growth of evangelical Christianity among tribal groups in the northwest.ä

MORE RESTRICTION ON FOREIGNERS IN CHINA. Friday News Notes, November 17, 2000 (David W. Cloud, Fundamental Baptist Information Service, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061-0368, fbns@wayoflife.org) - In September the Communist government of China issued new rules severely limiting the religious activities of foreigners. The rules in general are not new, but they are defined in greater detail than in the past. Foreigners are not allowed to set up religious organizations of any sort, and contact between foreigners and Chinese nationals for religious purposes is limited to that approved by the communist-controlled religious affairs bureaucracy.

CATHOLICS SEE MARY IN WINDOW. Friday News Notes, November 17, 2000 (David W. Cloud, Fundamental Baptist Information Service, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061-0368, fbns@wayoflife.org) - According to the Catholic Archdiocesan paper for Louisville, Kentucky, Catholics have seen the face of Mary in streaks on an apartment window in Perth Amboy, New Jersey. ãThe story is that in mid-September, streaks began forming on that window. From the outside, looking in, these streaks appeared to change colors, and people looking at these reported seeing the face of the mother of Jesus in the streaks. . . . It didnât take long for many to come and stare; then for the crowds to start arriving, with people demonstrating their faith, praying with devotion, convinced that they were experiencing something miraculousä (The Record, Nov. 9, 2000).