The following is another installment of the Friday Church News Notes:

PRESIDENT BUSH SAYS ISLAM BRINGS COMFORT AND HOPE. Friday Church News Notes, December 13, 2002 (David W. Cloud, Fundamental Baptist Information Service, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061-0368, fbns@wayoflife.org) - For the past year, President Bush has been going out of his way to placate Muslims and to see good in the Islamic religion, in spite of the fact that it is Muslims who are waging open war against America and they are basing their position on a standard reading of the Koran. We understand that the President does not want to conduct a religious war against all of the Muslims in the world and that he is trying to make a distinction between terrorist Muslims and non-terrorists, but as a professing born again Christian, he should understand that Islam is a false religion that leads people to eternal hell. On December 5, though, the President spoke at the Islamic Center in Washington, D.C. and praised Islam, saying that "Ramadan commemorates the revelation of God's Word in the holy Koran to the prophet Mohammad" (Office of the Press Secretary, White House, Dec. 5). He said that Muslims demonstrate "a spirit of tolerance" at Ramadan, but he cannot point to one country in the world that has an Islamic government that even gives basic freedom of religion to non-Muslims. Even more frightfully, he said, "Islam brings hope and comfort to more than a billion people worldwide." In truth, like all false religions, it brings spiritual death and eternal judgment. The Lord Jesus Christ said He is the only way, truth, and life (John 14:6), but Islam rejects the Christ of the Bible, the Christ who died on the cross and shed His blood for man's sin.

ATHEIST ALLOWED TO PROCEED WITH HIS LAWSUIT AGAINST PLEDGE. Friday Church News Notes, December 13, 2002 (David W. Cloud, Fundamental Baptist Information Service, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061-0368, fbns@wayoflife.org) - The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has determined that atheist Michael Newdow can proceed with his lawsuit to remove the words "one nation under God" from the Pledge of Allegiance. A three-member panel of judges made the ruling, that even though Newdow does not have custody of his daughter, he maintains standing as a parent and can challenge the recitation of the Pledge in public schools. The case will now be heard by the entire 11-member Ninth Circuit Court. In a sense, Newdow has a point, because America is definitely not one nation under the God of the Bible. At the same time, America's history gives support to the Pledge. Newdow was never married to Sandra Banning, the woman by whom he had a daughter, and today Banning is a Christian and a member of Calvary Chapel in Elk Grove, California. She and her daughter do not support Newdow's lawsuit.

LIBERALISM IN THE SBC AT STATE LEVEL. Friday Church News Notes, December 13, 2002 (David W. Cloud, Fundamental Baptist Information Service, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061-0368, fbns@wayoflife.org) - Many independent Baptists are joining hands with Southern Baptists, arguing that the Southern Baptist Convention has been "rescued from liberalism" over the past few decades. Two major independent Baptist groups featured Southern Baptist speakers at their annual conferences this year. These were the Bible Baptist Fellowship International and the Southwide Baptist Fellowship. Though progress has been made in rooting out liberalism from the national seminaries, liberalism remains a large problem within the SBC at the state and local level and the SBC is still yoked together with liberalism in its close relationship with the apostate Baptist World Alliance and the America Bible Society, as well as other ecumenical organizations. The liberalism at the state level can be witnessed in the state colleges. William Jewel College, for example, in Missouri, is promoting homosexual rights. The student senate is debating whether to add the phrase "sexual orientation" to the anti-discrimination portion of the student bill of rights. Some of the teachers, including Marc Cadd, are promoting homosexual rights, and students interviewed recently by KMBC television said the college should "embrace all people and not discriminate against anybody." Obviously they are not being taught the Bible at this school, even though it is supported by the Missouri Baptist Convention. On November 7, the school sponsored a movie that taught tolerance for homosexuals. I have been on the campus of William Jewel many times, doing research at the Spurgeon Library, which is housed in the basement of the school's library, and the students dress just like the world. Now we see that they also think like the world. William Jewel College is only one example of the many that could be given of the widespread liberalism within the SBC at the state level.

CANADA WORLD LEADER IN HOMOSEXUAL ADOPTIONS. Friday Church News Notes, December 13, 2002 (David W. Cloud, Fundamental Baptist Information Service, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061-0368, fbns@wayoflife.org) - The Toronto Star for Nov. 24 carried a front-page article titled "Canada becomes world leader in encouraging gay couples to adopt." The article states, "Canada has become one of the world's most progressive nations in recognizing the rights of gay and lesbian couples to adopt. In the United States, where traditional family values dominate politics, only New Jersey allows gays and lesbians to adopt as couples. And the socially open-minded countries of northern Europe--other than the Netherlands where same-sex adoption is already legal--are only now reviewing their laws." In 1997, the Canada Supreme Court foolishly ruled that a law in Ontario limiting spousal support to couples of the opposite sex was unconstitutional. Since then, the floodgate has been opened for children to be placed into the hands of moral perverts to be brainwashed into thinking that homosexuality is a natural and innocent condition. That is government sponsored child abuse.

WORLDLY CCM "PRAISE" GROUPS. Friday Church News Notes, December 13, 2002 (David W. Cloud, Fundamental Baptist Information Service, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061-0368, fbns@wayoflife.org) - The concept of praise and worship in Christian rock circles is becoming weirder with each passing year. The Baptist Press reviewed the Rock 'n' Roll Worship Circus on December 5 in these words: "Have you ever wondered what a worship service led by Pink Floyd, the Beatles, or David Bowie would sound like? One worship band from Washington dared to dream, and it is only appropriate that they call themselves Rock 'n' Roll Worship Circus." That is worldly foolishness. If the members of the Rock 'n' Roll Worship Circus think the thrice-holy God of the Bible is pleased with their imitation of wicked rock bands, they are greatly deceived. That God has commanded, "Love NOT the world" (1 John 2:15). If the music of Pink Floyd, the Beatles, and David Bowie is not "the world," nothing is.

UPROAR OVER POLICE CHAPLAIN WHO CALLED HOMOSEXUALITY A SIN. Friday Church News Notes, December 13, 2002 (David W. Cloud, Fundamental Baptist Information Service, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061-0368, fbns@wayoflife.org) - The following is from Religion Today, Dec. 5, 2002: "Officials in a Michigan community have decided not to fire a volunteer police chaplain for saying homosexuality is a sin, but ordered the police chief to bring in more chaplains to represent a wider religious viewpoint.Tom Hansen, who has been the Ferndale Police Department's lone chaplain for several years, has been under fire for comments he made earlier this year while opposing Motor City Pride, a gay pride event in the city located near Detroit, The Royal Oak Daily Tribune reported. In addition to characterizing homosexuality as sin, the pastor of Bethel Missionary Baptist Church said the gay lifestyle was an 'abomination to the Lord.' The city received more than 100 letters about Hansen's remarks after Soulforce took on the issue in July, when members of the pro-gay religious group met several times with Hansen, asking him to retract his statements, apologize or resign. Hansen refused.Several clergy members defended Hansen's right to speak out on issues, but some disagreed with his biblical interpretation that homosexuality is a sin.The Ferndale City Council recently passed a resolution that said Hansen's anti-gay remarks were 'callous, outdated and hostile' and an affront to its gay community."

PERSECUTION CONTINUES IN CUBA. Friday Church News Notes, December 13, 2002 (David W. Cloud, Fundamental Baptist Information Service, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061-0368, fbns@wayoflife.org) - The following is from CNSNews.com, October 8: "Cuban dictator Fidel Castro promised to allow Cubans more religious freedom after Pope John Paul's visit in 1998, but it hasn't happened. A State Department report released Monday says Cuba's government remains intolerant of religious freedom by restricting religious activity. The report covered respect for religious worship in approximately 190 countries, and it found 'no change' in Cuba's treatment of religious freedom in the past year. 'In general, unregistered religious groups [in Cuba] continued to experience varying degrees of official interference, harassment and repression,' the State Department said. The report accused the Castro government of sending security agents to spy on those who worship in churches; blocking construction of new churches; and limiting the number of foreign priests allowed into the country."