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.

MOTHER TERESA BEATIFIED. Friday Church News Notes, October 24, 2003 (David W. Cloud, Fundamental Baptist Information Service, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061, fbns@wayoflife.org, http://www.wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - On October 19, before a massive crowd in St. Peter’ Square, Pope John Paul II beatified the late Mother Teresa. An estimated 300,000 packed into the Square to view the event. The pope has streamlined the Catholic sainthood process for the popular nun. Beatification is the final step before complete canonization as a saint, and Catholics are now allowed to pray to Mother Teresa. A photo in the Korea Times for Oct. 15 showed statues of Mother Teresa for sale alongside those of Mary and other Catholic “saints.” A relic of the late nun’s blood (a piece of blood-soaked cotton) was placed on display in one of Rome’s cathedrals. We praise the Lord that we do not have to approach God through some weak, fallen sinner, but we come boldly unto the throne of grace through Jesus Christ, the only Mediator between God and men (1 Tim. 2:5). The term “saint” in the Bible means one who is set apart for God. The words “saint,” “holy,” and “sanctify” are from the same Hebrew and Greek words. In the New Testament, the term “saint” is applied to all born again Christians, not to a special class of deceased Christians (Acts 9:13, 32, 41; Rom. 16:2,15, etc.). Even the carnal Christians at Corinth were called saints (2 Cor. 1:1). Born again believers are not saints because they are achieve a state of sinlessness or because they do some sort of extra-special spiritual exploit; they are saints because they have a sinless Savior and He has removed their sin before God (Rev. 1:5,6; 1 Pet. 2:9,10). In the sight of God, through Jesus Christ, the believer is “holy and unblameable and unreproveable” (Col. 1:22). Hallelujah!

MAGICIAN TRIES TO FIND TRUTH THROUGH FASTING EXPLOIT. Friday Church News Notes, October 24, 2003 (David W. Cloud, Fundamental Baptist Information Service, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061, fbns@wayoflife.org, http://www.wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - Magician David Blaine recently spent 44 days cooped up in a plastic box on a public fast in London. The box, which was 7 foot high by 7 foot long by 3 foot wide, was suspended 40-feet in the air near Tower Bridge. It contained only a quilt, a pillow, a journal, a change of clothes and a photo of Blaine’s mother. Water was supplied through a pipe. Toward the end of the vigil Blaine was occasionally incoherent and exhibiting signs of delusion. Blain said he hoped the test would help him find his “truths” (“Magician Blaine nears stunt’s end,” AP, Oct. 18). In fact, truth is a free gift in Jesus Christ and cannot be attained through religious or shamanistic exercises. “Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me” (Jn. 14:6).

MONKEYS TRAINED TO MOVE ROBOT ARM WITH THEIR THOUGHTS. Friday Church News Notes, October 24, 2003 (David W. Cloud, Fundamental Baptist Information Service, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061, fbns@wayoflife.org, http://www.wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - In experiments at Duke University, two monkeys have been trained to move a robot arm with their thoughts alone through implants in their brains. Thus the merger of mind and machine moves one step closer. Previous experiments had allowed monkeys to move robot arms by making a motion with their own arms, but this goes beyond that by achieving the movement of the robot with thought alone. The research was done by a team led by Dr. Miguel Nicolelis at the Center for Neuroengineering at Duke, in Durham, North Carolina. “But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end: many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased” (Dan. 12:4).

CBS NEWS’ “HIT PIECE” AGAINST HOME SCHOOLING. Friday Church News Notes, October 24, 2003 (David W. Cloud, Fundamental Baptist Information Service, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061, fbns@wayoflife.org, http://www.wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - On October 13, CBS Evening News ran an “Eye on America” investigation on the alleged “dark side of home schooling.” The report focused on a family in North Carolina in which one teenage child killed his brother and sister, then himself. This tragic story was blamed on home schooling and CBS is calling for increased government regulation of home schoolers. The fact is that this tragedy had nothing to do with home schooling. The parents had not been in compliance with North Carolina’s home school laws for years. They had been convicted of child abuse in the early 1990s. More laws and regulation would not have changed this situation. This is another example of the gross liberal bias in the mainstream media. The CBS story was written by Vince Gonzales and was heavily promoted by news anchor Dan Rather.

75% OF PALESTINIANS SUPPORT SUICIDE BOMBING AGAINST ISRAEL. Friday Church News Notes, October 24, 2003 (David W. Cloud, Fundamental Baptist Information Service, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061, fbns@wayoflife.org, http://www.wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - A new poll has found that 75% of Palestinians support the suicide bombing in Haifa two weeks ago that killed 21 people, including four children (Reuters, Oct. 19). The poll, which was conducted by the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research, also found that 95% of the respondents do not believe the United States is sincere in its support for a Palestinian state.

PASTOR WARNS THAT AMERICANS ARE ADDICTED TO ENTERTAINMENT. Friday Church News Notes, October 24, 2003 (David W. Cloud, Fundamental Baptist Information Service, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061, fbns@wayoflife.org, http://www.wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The following is from AgapePress for Oct. 7: “A Southern Baptist preacher says America has developed an addiction to entertainment -- and that addiction has even found its way into churches. Kelly Boggs says there is little in American society that has not been tainted by what he calls ‘the insatiable desire to be amused.’ ... Boggs, a pastor in Oregon, tells Baptist Press there was a time when a church was evaluated by its commitment to biblical truth, but not anymore. Now, he contends, the audience demands services with flawless musical presentations and sermons ‘peppered with humor.’ Conviction, Boggs says, is forced to compete with amusement.” Concluding note from Brother Cloud: Boggs is right, but what he does not say is that Southern Baptist pastors have been as guilty as any group of catering to the itching ears of worldly church members. The Bible Belt of America, where there is a Southern Baptist church on almost every corner, is as wicked, if not more so, than those areas where few churches exist. With great sadness in our heart, we must admit that independent Baptists today aren’t far behind. Pastors need to remember that they are solemnly accountable to God and not to the people for their message (2 Timothy 4:1-2) and that if they modify the message because of the people they are identifying themselves with the prophecy of 2 Timothy 4:3-4.

STUDY SHOWS THAT HOMOSEXUALS CAN CHANGE. Friday Church News Notes, October 24, 2003 (David W. Cloud, Fundamental Baptist Information Service, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061, fbns@wayoflife.org, http://www.wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The following is from Narth.com for October 9: “The results of a study conducted by Dr. Robert L. Spitzer have just been published in the Archives of Sexual Behavior, Vol. 32, No. 5, October 2003, pp. 403-417. Spitzer’s findings challenge the widely-held assumption that a homosexual orientation is ‘who one is’ -- an intrinsic part of a person’s identity that can never be changed. The study has attracted particularly attention because its author, a prominent psychiatrist, is viewed as a historic champion of gay activism. Spitzer played a pivotal role in 1973 in removing homosexuality from the psychiatric manual of mental disorders. Testing the hypothesis that a predominantly homosexual orientation will, in some individuals, respond to therapy were some 200 respondents of both genders (143 males, 57 females) who reported changes from homosexual to heterosexual orientation lasting 5 years or more. The study’s structured telephone interviews assessed a number of aspects same-sex attraction, with the year prior to the interview used as the comparative base.” Concluding Note from Brother Cloud: This study looks only at the effectiveness of psychological therapy and does not take into account the power of the new birth and spiritual “therapy.”