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.

SINGER SAYS GOD IS OKAY WITH SEXUALITY. Friday Church News Notes, December 12, 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) - R&B singer Beyonce Knowles says “God is okay with” her immodest dress and “saucy” dancing and music because it is only “entertainment” (new.blackvoices.com, Oct. 15, 2003). She says, “I honestly believe he wants people to celebrate their bodies, as long as you don’t compromise your Christianity in the process.” Sadly, it appears that she understands neither true Christianity nor compromise. She claims that what she does isn’t “dirty or nasty.” How the rock & roll generation has redefined morality so that they can think themselves righteous even when doing evil! Knowles is a member of the female trio Destiny’s Child. The members pray before their concerts and talk about their Christianity in interviews, but their music is totally licentious. Two of their popular songs are “Nasty Girl” and “Sexy Daddy.” Christian women are commanded to dress modestly and not flaunt their “sexuality,” except within the bounds of holy matrimony. The Bible says God clothed Adam and Eve after the fall because their minds had become sinful, and God did not clothe Eve in rock diva “hot pants”! The Lord Jesus Christ warned that adultery is first a matter of the heart, and that if men and women lust after one another they are committing adultery in God’s eyes, even if they do not have a physical relationship (Matt. 5:28). This one verse condemns the entire rock & roll industry.

BOSTON CATHOLIC ARCHDIOCESE MORTGAGES PROPERTIES. Friday Church News Notes, December 12, 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 Catholic Archdiocese of Boston has mortgaged its cathedral and seminary to finance a clergy sexual abuse settlement that has grown to nearly $90 million (Fox News, Dec. 9). Boston’s Cardinal Law resigned last year because of his involvement in a longstanding cover-up of these things. In June, the Catholic Archdiocese of Louisville, Kentucky, agreed to pay $25.7 million to settle cases filed by 243 people who claim they were sexually abused by priests. This is only a fraction of the cases pending against the Roman Catholic Church in the U.S.A. An estimated $1 billion has been paid out in the last 20 years, and the number of cases is increasing. A conservative Catholic organization documented this wretched business in the fall/winter 2002 issue of the magazine Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam. They observe: “the overwhelming majority of sexual abuse cases in the Catholic Church--about 90%--involve homosexual priests preying on teenage boys. The major media the U.S. culture at large want to deny or spin the homosexual factor out of the scandal.” They estimate that “somewhere between 2,500 and 6,500 priests [are involved in the moral abuse] and an estimated 100,000 victims.”

CONTEMPORARY PRAISE MUSICIANS BEING PRAISED. Friday Church News Notes, December 12, 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) - An online biography of Chris Tomlin, one of the influential contemporary worship song writers, describes him as “one of the premier songwriters of today” and as writing “classics-in-the-making” and as “shaping the language of worship for generations.” Former contemporary worship leader Dan Lucarini rightly observes, “Those are American idol-making phrases.” The following from our friend Jeff Royal in southern Florida is a timely warning: “Hudson Taylor was scheduled to speak at a Large Presbyterian church in Melbourne, Australia. The moderator of the service introduced him in the most eloquent and glowing terms. He told the large congregation all that Taylor had accomplished in China, and then presented him as ‘our illustrious guest.’ Taylor stood quietly for a moment, and then opened his message by saying, ‘Dear friends, I am the little servant of an illustrious Master.’ Oh, that those so caught up in the stranglehold of CCM/CCW would humble themselves; I believe many of their eyes would be opened to the truth of God’s Word. 2 Chronicles 34:27.”

CHRIST CANNOT BE WORSHIPPED WITH THE FLESH. Friday Church News Notes, December 12, 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 by the late Bruce Lackey, from his sermon on the manna in Exodus 16, preached in the 1970s: “The manna was small. God designed it that way so they would have to search for it. It was not impressive, and the Lord Jesus Christ is not impressive to the flesh. It’s not like Hollywood. It’s not like putting on a big, sensational display that’s really going to catch our attention and sweep us up into religious glory. That is not the way it is. The Lord Jesus Christ is totally unimpressive to the flesh, and He requires that we search for Him.”

FEDERAL JUDGE RULES AGAINST SCHOOL FOR NOT ALLOWING A STUDENT TO SPEAK AGAINST HOMOSEXUALITY. Friday Church News Notes, December 12, 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) - Federal judge Gerald Rosen has ruled against a public school that refused to allow a student to speak against homosexuality during a 2002 “Diversity Week” program. Officials at the Pioneer High School in Ann Arbor, Michigan, prevented Betsy Hansen from expressing her view that homosexuality is wrong. Instead, they brought in a group of liberal religious leaders who endorsed the school’s pro-homosexual agenda (WorldNetDaily, Dec. 7). Judge Rosen ruled that Ann Arbor Public Schools violated the student’s constitutional rights to freedom of speech and the equal protection of the law. The ruling stated, “This case presents the ironic, and unfortunate, paradox of a public high school celebrating ‘diversity’ by refusing to permit the presentation to students of an ‘unwelcomed’ viewpoint on the topic of homosexuality and religion, while actively promoting the competing view.”

CATHOLIC CHURCH CANCELS UNITY TALKS WITH ANGLICANS. Friday Church News Notes, December 12, 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 protest of the recent ordination of an Episcopal homosexual bishop, the Roman Catholic Church has canceled unity talks that were scheduled for February with the Anglican Church. The talks were part of the two-year-old International Anglican-Roman Catholic Commission for Unity and Mission. It is puzzling that the Roman Catholic Church would be opposed to homosexual ordinations, seeing that a large number of its own priests and bishops are homosexuals. The cancellation will doubtless be short lived.

MICK JAGGER TO BE KNIGHTED. Friday Church News Notes, December 12, 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) - Rolling Stones’ front man Mick Jagger is to be knighted by Queen Elizabeth on December 12. He will join fellow rockers Paul McCartney and Elton John as recipients of this honor. That the Queen of England has rewarded men who have done so much to tear down and destroy the nation’s moral fabric is very telling. In the song “Street Fighting Man,” Jagger sang, “Now is the time for violent revolution.” The chorus to “Gimme Shelter” says: “Rape! Murder! It’s just a shot away!” Mick Jagger was correct when he defined rock music in these terms: “Violence and energyand that’s really what rock & roll’s all about” (Night Beat, p. 87). The Rolling Stones 1986 album Dirty Work contained a vicious song with the following lyrics: “Gonna pulp you to a mess of bruises/ ‘Cause that’s what you’re lookin’ for/ There’s a hole where your nose used to be/ Gonna kick you out my door/ Gonna blow you to a million pieces/ blow you sky high/ Splatter matter on the bloody ceiling” The cover to Their Satanic Majesty’s Request shows the group posed as warlocks. The idea for their 1968 song “Sympathy for the Devil” came from Satanist Kenneth Anger, and the concept “was based on The Master and Margarita, a book which deals with satanic fantasy” (Hellhounds on Their Trail, p. 69). Jagger dressed up as the devil for his 1969 tour, which included the fateful concert at the Altamont Speedway near San Francisco in which at least four died and hundreds were injured.

PERSECUTION CONTINUES IN INDIA. Friday Church News Notes, December 12, 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) - Violence continues against Christians in the north Indian state of Orissa. The radical Hindu organization Bajrang Dal broke into a church in Deogarh in late November and vandalized the place and burned Bibles and other religious books. They also burned an effigy of Jesus. Gangs of Hindus regularly threaten Christians in that area. Bajrang Dal was implicated in the murder of Baptist missionary Graham Staines and his two sons in 1999. They were burned alive in their vehicle. By unofficial estimates, there have been more than 150 incidents of violence against Christians in India this year.

NEW CLERGY LEADERSHIP NETWORK TARGETS POLITICAL CONSERVATIVES. Friday Church News Notes, December 12, 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 the Baptist Press, Dec. 7, 2003: “A newly launched ‘Clergy Leadership Network’ is seeking to become, as the Associated Press described it, ‘the Christian Coalition of the left.’ The Washington-based network’s 24-member national committee includes a former president of the Southern Baptist Convention, Jimmy Allen, alongside a former president of the Unitarian Universalist Association, John A. Buehrens, and the National Council of Churches’ former general secretary, Joan Campbell Brown. The ‘CLN’ network is calling for ‘dramatically different’ direction for the United States. The network’s founding CEO, Albert M. Pennybacker, in a statement of the Clergy Leadership Network’s aims, stopped short of calling for President Bush’s defeat in next year’s election. But he said the organization will pursue ‘collaborative relationships with the Democratic Party, Republicans who seek change and other political groups who share these goals,’ such as countering ‘economic policies that favor the wealthy over the poor’ and an ‘us against the world’ approach to international relations.”

AFRICAN, ASIAN ANGLICANS BREAKING TIES WITH EPISCOPALIANS. Friday Church News Notes, December 12, 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 the Religious News Service, Dec. 7: “Two more Anglican provinces have severed ties with the Episcopal Church in the United States over its decision to consecrate an openly gay bishop. Archbishop Bernard Malango of Central Africa told top U.S. prelate Bishop Frank Griswold that he would no longer meet with Griswold as a fellow leader in the Anglican Communion. Griswold supported the election of Bishop V. Gene Robinson of New Hampshire and presided at his consecration service on Nov. 2. The Episcopal Church is the U.S. branch of the Anglican Communion. ‘Calling sin righteousness does not make it so,’ Malango said in a stern Nov. 12 letter. ‘It is leading people away from Christ. I can think of no greater betrayal for a bishop or an archbishop.’ Similar action has been taken by Anglicans in Nigeria and Uganda, which are the Anglican Communion’s second and third-largest churches. On Nov. 24, the Anglican bishops of Southeast Asia said they will not treat Robinson’s supporters as ‘brothers and sisters in Christ until and unless they repent of their action and return to embrace biblical truths.’”

FORMER MUSLIM SAYS BUSH ADMINISTRATION WRONG ABOUT ISLAM. Friday Church News Notes, December 12, 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 Religion Today, Oct. 22, 2003: “A Christian evangelist who was once a Muslim says National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice had no idea what she was talking about when she said this weekend that the war on terrorism is not a war between religions. The Bush Administration is apparently not happy with the comments of U.S. Army Lt. General William Boykin, who told a church group that he worships the real God, while a Muslim adversary worshipped an idol. From Thailand, Rice reacted to the Boykin comments by telling saying that no one should describe the war on terrorism as a war between religions. But former Muslim W. L. Cati had this reaction to Rice’s comment. ‘I have not just studied Islam for 15 years; I was a part of it,’ Cati says, ‘and I know the dark side -- the real side -- of Islam.’ She adds that ‘most people who are out there on their bandwagon saying that it is not a war between two religions have no clue what they’re talking about.’ Cati, who founded Zennah Ministries, says Ms. Rice and other members of the Administration simply do not understand Islam. The former Muslim says the ongoing war on terror is ‘a war between heaven and hell. It is a war between the Holy Spirit and the evil spirit,’ Cati says.”

THE DEATH OF CHRISTIANITY IN EUROPE. Friday Church News Notes, December 12, 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 predominant form of Christianity in Europe has always been apostate or compromised to a great degree, referring to Roman Catholicism and the Protestant state churches, and it is not therefore surprising that Europe’s Christianity is being replaced with Humanism and Atheism and every sort of other ism that is contrary to the Word of God. Apostate Christianity produces skepticism. In Italy about 15% attend church. In West Germany, 14%. In France, about 5% attend church, whereas 15% are interested in Buddhism. In Sweden, Iceland, and Finland, about 4% attend church. In Denmark, most people are members of the Lutheran state church, but only 20% believe in the resurrection, and that does not mean that they necessarily believe in a bodily resurrection. In Central Europe, 25% believe in reincarnation. In Sweden, Denmark, and Iceland, more than 50% of all children are illegitimate.

SORRY WE ATE YOUR GRANDDAD. Friday Church News Notes, December 12, 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 information from the Australian Independent Baptist Newsletter, Dec. 2003, was adapted from a story by Viti Levu, Fiji, which appeared in The Daily Telegraph, Nov. 15. “A tearful tribal chief stood humbly in a village clearing yesterday and said he was sorry that his ancestors had devoured a British missionary. The Reverend Thomas Baker ended up in a stone oven belonging to the Navatusila tribe high in the mountains of Fiji in 1867. The 65-year-old Grand Chief Ratu Filimone Nawawabalavu wept and begged Mr. Baker’s relatives for forgiveness. ‘Without it,’ he said, ‘the tribe would remain cursed forever.’ As the axe that ended Mr. Baker’s life was paraded before the gathered crowd. Anasa Tawake, speaking for the Fijian Assembly of Christian Churches, said that ever since Baker was murdered, ‘Nabutautau has had nothing but misfortune.’ The chief believes ‘change is coming.’ and that ‘Mr. Baker will smile down on us because I know that, through his relatives here today, he has also forgiven us.’ These Fijians need their spiritual eyes to be opened and to turn ‘from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins’ Acts 26:18.”

LIFE FOR MANY IN NORTH KOREA “A HELLISH NIGHTMARE.” Friday Church News Notes, December 12, 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) - Defectors from North Korea speaking recently at churches in Seattle, Washington, described the horror of living under communist dictator Kim Jong Il. They said that food is so scarce that some have been driven to cannibalism. The communist regime forces women to have abortions and murders unwanted children. The people’s lives are controlled from cradle to grave. When one citizen falls into political disfavor, his extended family is often arrested and tormented as well. When one defector’s father was arrested on unknown charges and executed, for example, ten other family members, including two toddler nephews, were sent away to a prison camp. Those who attempt to convert to Christianity or to communicate with someone in South Korea are severely punished. Defectors who are caught in China and returned home face torture and long, brutal imprisonments. Defector Hwang Jang Hyup, who was once chief of North Korea’s Parliament, warns: “Kim Jong Il is a dictator who has starved millions of North Korean(s) to death. He also made North Korea into a gigantic prison.” John Bolton, U.S. undersecretary for arms control and international security affairs, says, “For many in North Korea, life is a hellish nightmare” (Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Nov. 26). Let us not forget to pray for the North Korean people, that the door of their prison will be opened by God’s mercy and that they will be able to hear the gospel.

ONLINE PORT AFFECTING CHILDREN. Friday Church News Notes, December 12, 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 study in Australia has concluded that exposure to online pornography is a key factor in the rise of sexual aggression in children. The Canberra Hospital has seen a dramatic rise in the number of children younger than 10 committing sexual offences, rising from 3 per year in the mid 1990s, to 70 this year. “Of the 101 sexually-abusive children seen over the past three years, almost all had access to the Internet, and 90 percent admitted having seen sexually-explicit material online” (“Online Porn Driving Sexually Aggressive Children,” CNSNews.com, Nov. 26).

ISRAELI WOMEN NOT ASSIGNED TO COMBAT ROLES. Friday Church News Notes, December 12, 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 WorldNetDaily, Oct. 20: “A military study conducted by the Israeli army has concluded women are a weaker sex, which means they will continue to be barred from most combat duties. According to the study’s findings reported in the Washington Times, women safely can carry 40 percent of their body weight compared with 55 percent for men. Because military-age women weigh 33 pounds less than men on average, the total weight-lifting disparity between the sexes amounts to 44 pounds on average. In terms of endurance, the study found while men could handle 55-mile marches, any trek longer than 32 miles was found to be too arduous for women. Researchers attributed this to the fact that the amount of oxygen-carrying hemoglobin in women’s blood was more than 10 percent lower than in men’s blood. The Times reports Israeli army doctors assessing these limitations recommend women not serve in front-line infantry positions, artillery units or tank crews.”