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.

CELEBRATING THE ME GENERATION (Friday Church News Notes, December 29, 2006, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The Time magazine Person of the Year for 2006 is “YOU.” The magazine cover features a sheet of Mylar that reflects the reader’s own image, and the feature article, entitled “Power to the People,” celebrates the new media age that focuses on individualism in the extreme. It has given us MySpace, YouTube, MyYahoo, MyWay, MyStuff, MyNews, and a myriad of other me-centered sites. And there is the Ipod on which to play MY music (which tells me “I can do anything I want any old time”). There is my fashion and even hamburgers my way. The pop culture today is all about me and anything-goes toleration of evil, and it is a sign of the times. The Bible prophesied this generation in 2 Timothy 3:1-5 -- “This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. For MEN SHALL BE LOVERS OF THEIR OWN SELVES, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away.” This is a miraculously perfect description of the content of MySpace or YouTube, and it was written 2,000 years ago. Jesus is coming to catch His Bride away before the Great Tribulation. Are you ready?

CHILDREN IN BRITAIN THINK CELEBRITY AND WEALTH THE BEST THINGS IN LIFE (Friday Church News Notes, December 29, 2006, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - Children under 10 in Britain think being a celebrity, “good looks,” and being rich are the top three best things in life. This is the finding of a survey of 1,500 children by the sponsors of National Kids’ Day. Heaven and God came in at number 10, after health, pop music, family, friends, nice food, and watching films. Our friend Hughie Seaborn in Australia, who was formerly a Pentecostal, commented: “This story only serves to prove the ability of the Scriptures to accurately foretell the perilous condition of mankind prior to the coming of the Lord. Unfortunately, the poor little kids get it from the adults, many of whom are professing Christians who have a form of godliness but deny the power thereof--mostly by running after the likes of Hillsong and Ricky Warren.”

WARNING ABOUT PLAYSTATION 3 (Friday Church News Notes, December 29, 2006, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - I received the following important warning from a reader: “After reading your article on Hollywood movies, I fully agree to everything said. As you may know, the hottest Christmas item this year is the Playstation 3. Without commenting on the amount of violence [and indecency] of the games, I would like to let you know of something even more dangerous on this new console. It has wireless internet. Many parents buying their kids this new console do so thinking it is merely a gaming machine. What they may not know is that the 60gig version (the most popular) has wireless internet to any local open connection. This can come through neighbors, apartments, etc. My house has three open local connections alone! Kids can go on-line and surf ANYTHING (including obviously porn) to their hearts’ content, while the parents think they are playing an ‘innocent’ video game. The only security parents have is a password, if they choose to use it, deep inside the menu, and IF they know it is an option to turn on (not likely). This just follows the philosophy of hooking them young, hooking them for life.”

HOMOSEXUAL WEDDING INDUSTRY BOOMING (Friday Church News Notes, December 29, 2006, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The homosexual wedding industry is growing quickly in America, according to a report in the Washington Post for December 25. Only one state, Massachusetts, has legalized homosexual marriage, but four others have approved some form of legal recognition of same-sex unions. Most recently the governor of New Jersey signed a law on December 21 giving homosexual couples all the rights and responsibilities of marriage, though not the title. The homosexual wedding industry is booming in some other states, as well, with the increased acceptance of homosexuality by society at large in recent decades. Kathryn Hamm, a wedding consultant, says there is no longer the shame and privacy associated with homosexual unions (“Despite Laws, Gay Wedding Industry Booms,” Washington Post, Dec. 25). In 2005, homosexuals spent $7.2 million on vendors who advertise with the Rainbow Wedding Network, an increase of more than 150% since 2002. Homosexuals in states such as Massachusetts and Vermont, that recognize homosexual unions, spend about $20,000 on ceremonies. All of this is a sign of the times. In Luke 21 the Lord Jesus Christ likened the conditions that exist prior to His return to the days of Lot who lived in the wicked city of Sodom. “Even as Sodom and Gomorrha, and the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire” (Jude 7).

YOGA FOR CHILDREN (Friday Church News Notes, December 29, 2006, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The following is excerpted from the Lighthouse Trails Research website: “Kids in public school are learning yoga. According to yoga instructor, Mark Blanchard, (of Progressive Power Yoga, he taught children at Colfax Elementary school in California this past November). On his blog, he states: ‘I will be introducing yoga to all of the kids at the school as I donate a full yoga program.’ Blanchard has been featured in many magazines such as Family Circle and Seventeen and has trained many actors and actresses (like Jennifer Lopez and Drew Barrymore). Blanchard plans to ‘bring Progressive Power Yoga to as many places as I can around the states (as well as the globe) in the coming year.’ Part of Blanchard's plans include working with Mini Yogis Yoga for Kids. ... Yoga for kids is on the rise, and if your child attends public school, you may want to check to see if they are teaching him or her yoga. A program called YogaEd provides yoga classes under the heading of ‘health/wellness’ programs for schools. Those programs take place in several states including California, Colorado, New York, Washington and Washington, DC. Parents whose kids are in Christian schools may need to be concerned too. More and more churches and Christian organizations are opening their doors to the practice of Yoga. And the biggest Christian publisher, Thomas Nelson, published a book titled Yoga for Christians earlier this year. It’s just a matter of time before kids in Christian schools will be learning Yoga and eventually the art of meditation.”

ANGRY ATHEISTS ON THE WAR PATH (Friday Church News Notes, December 29, 2006, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - In “The Big Story” on the Fox News web site for December 22 John Gibson reported on “Atheists’ War on Religion.” Following is an excerpt: “As for the larger issue of religiosity in America, I must say there has been a big push from the angry atheists this year and they want more than a simple ban on Santa. Books by Richard Dawkins and Sam Harris have been high on the best-seller list for weeks now, indicating tens of thousands of people have bought these books. Dawkins and Harris and others are arguing that religion is such a terrible influence on society that no reasonable person would continue to be a believer, and that atheists should shun even moderate or liberal religionists because they enable fundamentalists. The atheists take aim at all religion, but Christians are the big target because the largest group of people in this country self identify as Christian. Dawkins is even sponsoring something called ‘The Blasphemy Challenge’ in which young people renounce their belief in God or Jesus on camera and the renunciations are posted on the Internet for all to see. The new angry atheists believe you shouldn’t be allowed to teach your children religion because kids are impressionable and don’t know how to resist indoctrination.” CONCLUDING COMMENT FROM BROTHER CLOUD: The atheist is to be pitied. The Bible calls him a fool (Psalm 14:1; 53:1), for the simple reason that God’s existence is self-evident in the creation and is something that is written upon man’s very heart. Man has a conscience that tells him there is a God, but this conscience can be seared by rebellion. The Bible does not attempt to prove the existence of God. Instead, it opens with the following majestic declaration: “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth” (Genesis 1:1). No amount of blasphemy or sophistry can convince me that there is no God, because I know Him personally. With Paul I can say, “I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day” (2 Timothy 1:12). And if somehow I am wrong about God and Jesus Christ and the Bible, I have lost nothing. The Christian life that I have lived for the past 33 years is exceedingly superior to the non-Christian life I once lived, so even if there were no eternity I have lost nothing. But if the Bible is right, the atheist will lose everything, including his eternal soul. “He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him” (John 3:36).

THE DEVIL’S WATCHWORD: PROGRESS (Friday Church News Notes, December 29, 2006, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The following is excerpted from God’s Morning: or, Thoughts on Genesis by Horatius Bonar, 1875: “He comes as an angel of light, to mislead, yet pretending to lead; to blind, yet professing to open the eye; to obscure and bewilder, yet professing to illuminate and guide. He approaches us with fair words upon his lips: liberality, progress, culture, freedom, expansion, elevation, science, literature, benevolence,--nay, and religion too. ... He can deny the gospel; or he can dilute the gospel; or he can obscure the gospel; or he can neutralize the gospel;--just as suits his purpose ... He rages against the true God,--sometimes openly and coarsely, at other times, calmly and politely,--making men believe that he is the friend of the truth, but an enemy to its perversion. Progress, progress, progress, is his watchword now, by means of which he hopes to allure men away from the old anchorages, under the pretext of giving them wider, fuller, more genial teachings. He bids them soar above creeds, catechisms, dogmas, as the dregs of an inferior age, and a lower mental status. ... He rages against the divine accuracy of the Bible, and cunningly subverts its inspiration by elevating every true poet and philosopher to the same inspired position. So successfully has he wrought in disintegrating and undermining the truth, that there is hardly a portion of it left firm. The ground underneath us is hollow; and the crust on which we tread ready to give way, and precipitate us into the abyss of unbelief.”

EPHESIANS 5:3-13 (Friday Church News Notes, December 29, 2006, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - “But fornication, and all uncleanness, or covetousness, let it not be once named among you, as becometh saints; neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor jesting, which are not convenient: but rather giving of thanks. For this ye know, that no whoremonger, nor unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, hath any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God. Let no man deceive you with vain words: for because of these things cometh the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience. Be not ye therefore partakers with them. For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord: walk as children of light: (For the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and truth;) Proving what is acceptable unto the Lord. And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them. For it is a shame even to speak of those things which are done of them in secret. But all things that are reproved are made manifest by the light: for whatsoever doth make manifest is light.”