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.

JOHN MACARTHUR SAYS GOD DOES NOT LOVE EVERY PERSON. Friday Church News Notes, December 16, 2005 (Fundamental Baptist Information Service, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - In his commentary on 2 Peter and Jude, which was published this year, John MacArthur denies that God loves every person and that Jesus died to make it possible every person to be saved. He denies the “popular notion ... that God loves everyone, wants everyone saved, so Christ died for everyone” (p. 73). He denies that “Christ died to pay in full the penalty for everyone’s sins” (p. 73). I, for one, would be very fearful of telling sinners that God might not love them and that Jesus might not have died for them, because the following Scriptures just might mean exactly what they say. According to the Bible, the sovereign Almighty God loves every sinner and it is His sovereign will to save every sinner who trusts Jesus Christ as his Lord and Saviour. “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life” (Jn. 3:16). “For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour; Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth” (1 Tim. 2:3-4). “The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance” (2 Pet. 3:9). “And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely” (Rev. 22:17).

WORSHIP AT SADDLEBACK: ANY WORLDLY WAY YOU WANT IT. Friday Church News Notes, December 16, 2005 (Fundamental Baptist Information Service, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - Saddleback Church in southern California, where Rick Warren is senior pastor, features nine different “worship venues.” There is a worship style to suit every worldly taste. The Overdrive venue is “for those who like guitar-driven rock band worship in a concert-like setting that you can FEEL.” The Ohana venue comes “complete with hula and island-style music,” and on the first Saturday of every month you can take hula lessons during the potluck following the service. The Country venue features line dancing. I didn’t make this up, folks. It is right from Saddleback’s web site. “Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever” (1 John 2:15-17).

RICK WARREN LIKENS BIBLICAL FUNDAMENTALISTS TO MUSLIM EXTREMISTS AND ATHEISTIC SECULARISTS. Friday Church News Notes, December 16, 2005 (Fundamental Baptist Information Service, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - In his interview on Larry King Live on December 2, 2006, Rick Warren of Purpose Driven Life fame likened biblical fundamentalists to Muslim extremists and atheistic secularists. He said: “There are all kinds of fundamentalists, Larry, and they’re all based on fear. There are Christian fundamentalists. There are Muslim fundamentalists. I’ve met some Jewish fundamentalists. You know that there are secular fundamentalists. They’re all based on fear. Secular fundamentalists are afraid of God.” This statement is a vicious libel against Christian fundamentalists. George Dollar, in his history of fundamentalism, defined it in this way: “Historic fundamentalism is the literal interpretation of all the affirmations and attitudes of the Bible and the militant exposure of all non-biblical affirmations and attitudes” (Dollar, A History of Fundamentalism in America, 1973). Looking back over the fundamentalist movement since the 1930s, John Ashbrook defined it as follows: “Fundamentalism is the militant belief and proclamation of the basic doctrines of Christianity leading to a Scriptural separation from those who reject them” (John Ashbrook, Axioms of Separation, nd., p. 10). That is the type of fundamentalism that tens of thousands of churches throughout the world seek to emulate. Rick Warren has set himself up against this scriptural position and has likened it to Islamic terrorism and secular atheism. If fear is a central aspect of biblical fundamentalism it is the fear of God that leads to strict obedience to His Word, and that is scriptural and right. That was exactly how Paul instructed the believers at Corinth to live: “Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God” (2 Cor. 7:1). Paul instructed the church at Philippi to “work out your own salvation with fear and trembling” (Phil. 2:12). Hebrews 12:28 says we are to “serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear.” If Rick Warren does not have this fear, he is not a true Christian, and if he does, let him apologize publicly for saying that fear is a wrong thing and for likening those who practice it to dangerous extremists. I won’t hold my breath, though. Friends in Christ, beware of Rick Warren. This popular Southern Baptist preacher is an extremely dangerous man.

POPE URGES METHODISTS TO SIGN DECLARATION ON JUSTIFICATION. Friday Church News Notes, December 16, 2005 (Fundamental Baptist Information Service, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - Pope Benedict XVI is urging the World Methodist Council to sign the Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification that was adopted by the Lutheran World Federation in 1999. The Pope met with a delegation of Methodists at the Vatican on Dec. 9 and said that signing the declaration would “assist in contributing to the healing and reconciliation we ardently desire” and would be a significant step towards “visible unity.” In fact, the only type of unity that Rome understands and cares about is unity with herself. Engraved on the front façade of the Lateran Church in Rome, which was the home of the popes until the late 14th century and which is still one of the basilicas in which the popes are enthroned, are the words translated from Latin, “MOST HOLY LATERAN CHURCH, MOTHER AND MISTRESS OF ALL CHURCHES OF THE CITY AND THE WORLD.” That is Rome’s claim and she has never backed down from it. The Joint Declaration on Justification is a very cleverly worded document that defends Rome’s false sacramental gospel in every point. The Roman Catholic Church is changing absolutely nothing it has professed to believe about justification. The 16th-century Council of Trent cursed anyone who would dare to say that justification is by faith alone through grace alone by Christ’s completed atonement alone, and this ecumenical declaration does not teach anything contrary to Trent. The Joint Declaration teaches exactly what the Roman Catholic Church has always taught on the doctrine of salvation, that justification is a PROCESS which begins with baptism and requires good works and participation in the sacraments. For more about the Joint Declaration on Justification see “Liberal Lutherans and Roman Catholics Agree to Deny the Gospel” at http://www.wayoflife.org/fbns/jointdeclaration.htm.

ONLY ONE-THIRD OF “CLERGY” IN SCOTLAND BELIEVE IN HELL. Friday Church News Notes, December 16, 2005 (Fundamental Baptist Information Service, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - According to a recent survey, only 37% of “clergy” in various denominations in Scotland believe in the existence of Hell. The survey, conducted by Eric Stoddart of St. Andrews University, examined the views of 750 randomly selected pastors and priests. In some parts of the country, the number of “clergy” who believe in hell was less than 10%. Stoddart further observed that even among those who still believe in Hell, “the doctrine is downplayed” because “it isn’t viewed as very politically correct even by a new generation of more theologically conservative ministers.” An eternal fiery hell has never been politically correct, yet the Lord Jesus Christ preached on it often and in great detail. “And if thy hand offend thee, cut it off: it is better for thee to enter into life maimed, than having two hands to go into hell, into the fire that never shall be quenched: Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched. And if thy foot offend thee, cut it off: it is better for thee to enter halt into life, than having two feet to be cast into hell, into the fire that never shall be quenched: Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched. And if thine eye offend thee, pluck it out: it is better for thee to enter into the kingdom of God with one eye, than having two eyes to be cast into hell fire: Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched” (Mark 9:43-48).

HOMOSEXUAL “MARRIAGES” BECOME LEGAL IN THE UNITED KINGDOM. Friday Church News Notes, December 16, 2005 (Fundamental Baptist Information Service, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - Homosexual couples in the United Kingdom can become legally “married” later this month. Hundreds of same-sex couples are flocking to registry offices across the country, including the rock star Elton John and his “long-term partner” David Furnish. The new civil partnerships law allows homosexuals to “marry” and grants them largely the same rights as heterosexual couples. Up to 22,000 couples are expected to register in the next five years. The London Times has begun including notices of homosexual wedding ceremonies and the Church of Scotland and Church of England allow ministers to conduct them.

THE NECESSITY OF THE HOLY SPIRIT IN THE BIBLE TEXT ISSUE. Friday Church News Notes, December 16, 2005 (Fundamental Baptist Information Service, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - Apart from the Holy Spirit, nothing about the Bible can be properly understood (1 John 2:20, 27). Unregenerate men who do not have the Spirit are not qualified for this field (1 Cor. 2:14). The book From the Mind of God to the Mind of Man, written by fundamentalists associated with Bob Jones University, claims that it doesn’t matter if modern textual critics are modernists, but men of God in former times understood the gross error of such thinking. In 1857 Joseph Philpot, Fellow of Worcester College, Oxford, and editor of The Gospel Standard, gave six reasons against a revision of the KJV. The first was that the biblical scholars of that day “are notoriously either tainted with popery or infidelity” (Joseph Charles Philpot, “The Authorized Version of 1611,” The Gospel Standard, April 1857). He then made this crucial observation: “And can erroneous men, dead in trespasses and sins, carnal, worldly, ungodly persons, spiritually translate a book written by the blessed Spirit?” The biblical answer is NO!

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? “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).