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.

LUTHERANS VOTE NOT TO DISCIPLINE HOMOSEXUAL PASTORS (Friday Church News Notes, August 17, 2007, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The annual assembly of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) passed a resolution urging bishops to refrain from disciplining pastors who are in “faithful committed same-gender relationships” (Reuters, August 11, 2007). The resolution, which was made by Chicago’s Bishop Paul Landahl and was passed by a margin of 538-431, is contrary to the denomination’s own laws, which forbid practicing homosexuals to hold the office of a pastor. In typical liberal doublespeak, ELCA Presiding Bishop Mark Hanson said, “I interpret that as a way to reflect this journey of conversation, discussion, decision, seeking to be faithful to the authority of Scripture, the interpretation of our confession and mindful of the very context in which we are engaged in God’s mission” (“Lutherans Ask Bishops to Keep Gay Clergy,” Chicago Tribune, Aug. 12). He did not explain how it is possible to be faithful to Scripture and to the denomination’s confession by ignoring them or how it is possible to engage in God’s mission while disobeying His Word. The ELCA, with a reputed 4.8 million members, is the largest Lutheran denomination in America. “For when they speak great swelling words of vanity, they allure through the lusts of the flesh, through much wantonness, those that were clean escaped from them who live in error. While they promise them liberty, they themselves are the servants of corruption: for of whom a man is overcome, of the same is he brought in bondage” (2 Peter 2:18-19).

MANY OLDER AMERICANS BELIEVE IN REINCARNATION (Friday Church News Notes, August 17, 2007, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - According to a new survey 23% of Americans over 50 years old believe in reincarnation. The study, which was funded by the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP), also found that only 17% of older Americans believe that those who do not trust in Jesus Christ will go to hell (“Most of America’s Baby Boomers and Senior Citizens Believe in an Afterlife,” Christian Post, Aug. 7, 2007). While almost 90% said they believe in heaven, half of these think heaven is merely a “state of being.” America’s root problem is the apostasy of her churches.

FINE AGAINST STREET PREACHER UPHELD IN NORWAY (Friday Church News Notes, August 17, 2007, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - A $1,500 fine that was levied against street preacher Petar Keseljevic in Oslo, Norway, in June, has been upheld by an appeals court. Keseljevic was preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ on June 30 when he was arrested and given the heavy fine. Keseljevic said, “In these last days it is important that someone takes a stand and do what the message is meant for, share it” (“Preaching in Public Gets Minister Fined,” WorldNetDaily, Aug. 10, 2007). The International Human Rights Group (IHRG), based in Rome, Georgia, is assisting Keseljevic and plans to appeal the conviction to the European Court of Human Rights. Joel Thornton, president of the IHRG, said this case is not just a dispute between a street preacher and a police officer. “It is about the right of a Christian to share his faith in public without the fear of arrest. It is about stopping the implementation of a police state where citizens only have the rights granted to them by the local police department.”

WAKE FOREST DIVINITY SCHOOL PROFESSOR WARNS ABOUT NARROW MINDED CHRISTIANS (Friday Church News Notes, August 17, 2007, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - Charles Kimball, a professor at Wake Forest University Divinity School in North Carolina, warned recently that religion is evil and dangerous when it is “narrow” and refuses to appreciate different views. Speaking at a Community Prayer Breakfast at Harborside Event Center in Fort Myers, Florida, he also said that Christians and Muslims are “all talking about the same God” (“Author Cites Need for Understanding,” The Berean Call, July 31, 2007). Wake Forest was founded in the first half of the 19th century as a Baptist institution, but it has been theologically liberal since the early 20th century. Under the presidency of William Poteat (1905-1927) evolution began to be taught there and since then the Baptist State Convention has supported the school’s “right to academic freedom.” The convention continued to support the school financially, even under the SBC’s “conservative renaissance,” until recently. Kimball spoke at the annual Cooperative Baptist Fellowship convention in 2003 and said that Christians who say there is only one way of salvation are potentially dangerous (Baptist Press, July 2, 2003). It is strange how that Liberals and New Evangelicals condemn strict Biblicist preachers for “judgmentalism” but have no qualms about judging strict Biblicist preachers in the severest manner.

RETIRED NASA ENGINEER BELIEVES GENESIS ACCOUNT OF CREATION (Friday Church News Notes, August 17, 2007, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The following is excerpted from “Former NASA Engineer Touts Creationism,” Galveston Daily News, August 4, 2007: “Tom Henderson is not much of a watchmaker. He shakes a small glass jar containing a tiny metallic gear, a brass bezel, a scarred watch crystal and dozens of other nearly microscopic, shiny objects. But, no watch. He vigorously rattles the container again. Still, no watch. For Henderson, a retired NASA engineer and creationist speaker, that is the point. No watchmaker--no watch. He’s carried the somewhat-out-of favor message of special creation to nine foreign countries in the past several decades because he is convinced that how we believe the world came to be it is important. ... He has degrees in math, physics and science education and worked at the Johnson Space Center for 37 years. ... Why should the average person in the pew care? Henderson argues that societal decay, theological erosion and moral bankruptcy will ensue if the evolutionary model is embraced. ‘The basis for all Christian doctrines is found in the first 11 chapters of Genesis,’ he said. ‘If it is not true, then what is our basis for morality?’ He also said that the evidences he has found for creationism could remove barriers to faith. ‘For some people, evolution is a barrier to the good news of Jesus. They feel if evolution is true, Christianity can’t be--and they are right,’ he said. ‘But if evolution is a myth, then they can take that step to faith.’ ... Now retired from NASA, Henderson coordinates the Web site www.creationsuperlibrary.com from his home, where he answers questions from both believers, skeptics and the merely curious.”

CHINA’S MIND CONTROL (Friday Church News Notes, August 17, 2007, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The following is excerpted from “Former Office: China’s Perception Management Agenda Controls All Media,” WorldTribune.com, August 10, 2007: “China’s government controls virtually all media outlets to exercise ‘mind control’ and manipulate public opinion, according to testimony by a former state propagandist at a hearing of the U.S-China Economic Security Review Commission last week. ... China’s information control is carried out through controlling editors and reporters. All Chinese media, including newspapers, periodicals, news agencies, TV stations, broadcasting, the movie industry and art performances, are categorized and managed as ‘mouthpieces’ of the ruling Communist Party. ‘As part of China’s political institutions, information and mind control has been conducted for more than half century since the Chinese Communist Party took power in 1949,’ said Qinglian He, a former Chinese government propagandist and now a senior researcher at Human Rights in China. ‘Mind control’ includes ‘indoctrination from kindergarten to college through officially compiled textbooks, as all teachers are categorized as educators of CCP.’ These controls are exercised by the Party’s Central Department of Propaganda, she said. The government disinformation themes include that the United States is a ‘key enemy of China,’ that the U.S. intervenes and restrains China and backs independence forces in Taiwan and Tibet, she said. ... ‘Economic reform and Opening Policy from 1979 have never shaken or changed mechanism of the control,’ she said. Information control is crucial to communist rule and has been used by Beijing to ‘to mislead Chinese population from values of human rights and democracy, and from truth as well,’ she said.”

SAUDI ARABIA FORBIDS BIBLES (Friday Church News Notes, August 17, 2007, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - Saudi Arabia prohibits Christians from bringing Bibles into the country. The Saudi Arabian Airlines website declares: “Items and articles belonging to religions other than Islam are also prohibited. These may include Bibles, crucifixes, statues, carvings, items with religious symbols such as the Star of David, and others” (“Traveling Americans Threatened with Bible Confiscation,” WorldNetDaily, August 9, 2007). Muslims demand the liberty to practice their religion in non-Islamic nations, but they do not grant liberty to Christians in their own nations.

WARNING ABOUT HAROLD CAMPING (Friday Church News Notes, August 17, 2007, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The following is excerpted from The Berean Call, April 2007: “Harold Camping is a confused man who is leading many astray. He owns and controls everything that is said on Family Radio Network (40 + stations and 100 + translators). His unbiblical teaching goes out in 23 languages by short wave. Very little outside ministry is aired on his network. He believes that the church replaced Israel and that the Church Age ended in 1988; God is done with organized churches, we are to worship only in our homes, listen to Family Radio, and follow Camping. In these fellowships there is no authority except Camping’s teachings, no baptism, no breaking of bread. In 1992 he wrote and self-published 1994?, which predicted that the world would end September 6, 1994. When that didn’t happen, he decided .... that the date was right but the interpretation wrong. Then, in 2002, Camping published The End of the Church Age...and After. He says the Bible’s meaning is progressively revealed, and much that was previously unknown is now being revealed through him. The ‘end of the world’ will now be 2011. So says his 2005 book titled Time Has an End: A Biblical History of the World, 11,013 BC - 2011 AD. He’s way off on the ‘BC’ also. His background is Dutch Reformed and his Calvinism dominates the booklet aforementioned. According to Camping, you can’t know whether you are one of the elect for whom Christ died; you can hope you are, but there is nothing one can do about it. He says: ‘God ... can save an elect individual at any time... The only requirement is [to] be under the hearing of the Bible. At the moment of salvation, God gives that individual spiritual ears and a new eternal soul. Thus, a baby [as Calvin said] can be saved as readily as a mature adult. ... Under the heading on page 17, ‘What Must I Do to Become Saved?’ he responds: ‘I cannot do anything ... I must patiently wait upon the mercy of God. ... It is entirely possible that I, too ... could be one of those who are chosen by God to become saved.’ He says that verses such as, ‘Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved,’ don’t tell the sinner how to get saved, because, ‘When God is speaking to unsaved people, He is speaking to spiritual corpses.’”

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).