CALIFORNIA GOVERNOR SIGNS HOMOSEXUAL INDOCTRINATION LAW (Friday Church News Notes, October 19, 2007, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has signed a new bill (SB777) into law that turns that state’s schools into homosexual indoctrination centers and forbids anything that could be interpreted as being negative toward homosexuality, bisexuality, transexuality and other moral perversions (“Schwarzenegger Signs Law Banning Anything Perceived as Negative to ‘Gays,’” WorldNetDaily, Oct. 13, 2007). The law will doubtless affect public schools across America, because California is the largest purchaser of textbooks and it is unlikely that publishers will go to the expense of printing separate editions for other states. It is now officially illegal for students or teachers in California to say that homosexuality is a sin or that marriage is only for a man and a woman or that people are born male or female (and not in between) or to criticize cross-dressing, sex changes, or any other “alternative lifestyle.” The new law requires that students be allowed to use the restroom and locker room of their choice. A boy can use the girls’ restroom as long as he “identifies” with the female sex. Another bill signed by Schwarzenegger, AB14, prohibits state funding of any program that does not support homosexual practices. This includes day care and preschool centers, senior services, anti-gang programs, and even hospitals. Schwarzenegger, a Hollywood movie star who has played in some of the most trashy and violent movies, is a Republican, which reminds us that politics is not the answer to America’s moral crisis. The root of the problem is the apostasy and compromise and worldliness in the nation’s churches, and until that is addressed and there is repentance and revival among professing Christians and the fear of God is boldly proclaimed from the pulpits, all of the political activity in the world will not slow the moral slide to destruction. “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).

MODERN LANGUAGE BIBLES HAVE NOT INCREASED BIBLICAL LITERACY (Friday Church News Notes, October 19, 2007, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - A river of new “easy to read” Bibles has poured from the presses over the past 50 years and yet biblical literacy has diminished dramatically during this time. A recent article observed: “According to estimates, never have so many Bibles been published and distributed, yet never has biblical literacy been so low. (Americans know the names of the four Beatles better than the four Gospels and more about the ingredients of a Big Mac than the Ten Commandments.) Gone are the days when Scripture--namely the King James Version--supplied a common vocabulary for daily speech, public morality and national literature. Today, hundreds of colorful translations and editions feed the market (a $600 million business, some say)...” (“Bible Would Still Be Life Guide Today If People Actually Read It,” The Tennessean, Oct. 6, 2007). The multiplication of “easy to read” Bibles has been accompanied by the rise of the “seeker friendly” church philosophy, but the result has been a decrease in church attendance and Bible reading. When the old “antiquated” King James Bible was the standard and when the churches were “old-fashioned” and conservative in their approach to evangelism and worship, the effect on society was much greater. “Thus saith the LORD, Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls. But they said, We will not walk therein” (Jeremiah 6:16).

AL GORE AWARDED NOBEL PEACE PRIZE IN SPITE OF PROVEN ERRORS IN HIS THEORY (Friday Church News Notes, October 19, 2007, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - It was announced on October 12 Al Gore is the co-recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize along with the United Nation’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change “for their efforts to spread awareness of man-made climate change and to lay the foundations for fighting it” (“Think Tank: Withdraw Gore Film’s Oscar,” WorldNetDaily, Oct. 12, 2007). Two days earlier British High Court judge Michael Burton ruled that Gore’s documentary on global warming (“An Inconvenient Truth”) can only be shown in British schools if the teachers point out 11 serious factual errors in the film. The decision was made in response to a lawsuit by a father, Stewart Dimmock, who claimed that the film contains “serious scientific inaccuracies, political propaganda and sentimental mush” and who protested the decision by Britain’s Environment Secretary to send Gore’s film to all British schools. The judge sided with Dimmock and required that teachers make it clear that the film is a political work that promotes only one side of the argument and that they draw the children’s attention to 11 inaccuracies, such as saying that the melting snows on Mount Kilimanjaro is proof of global warming, that polar bears have drowned due to disappearing arctic ice, that global warming could stop the Gulf Stream, that the Greenland ice covering could melt, that the Antarctic ice covering is melting, that sea levels could rise by seven meters, and that rising sea levels had caused the evacuation of certain Pacific islands. Myths are rewarded in this present world because it is dark and its god is the devil (2 Corinthians 4:4).

INFLUENTIAL METEOROLOGIST SAYS GLOBAL WARMING IS “FOOLISH” (Friday Church News Notes, October 19, 2007, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - Dr. William Gray, a pioneer in the science of hurricane forecasts, says the current warming trend is cyclical and that humans are not responsible for it. Speaking to a packed lecture hall at the University of North Carolina Charlotte, Gray called global warming education “brainwashing” and said the approach promoted by Al Gore’s movie An Inconvenient Truth is “ridiculous” and “foolish” (“Gore’s Climate Theory Savaged,” Agence France-Presse, Oct. 12, 2007). Gray spoke at the university on the same day that the announcement was made that Al Gore was co-recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize. He said there is a natural cycle of warming and cooling because of changes in the salinity of ocean water and that “we’ll look back on all of this in 10 or 15 years and realise how foolish it was.” He cited statistics, showing there were 101 hurricanes from 1900-1949, in a period of cooler global temperatures, compared to 83 from 1957-2006, when the earth warmed. Gray’s views have made him an outsider in popular science, and he says that many scientists are afraid to speak out against the global warming craze because “they know that they’d never get any grants if they spoke out.” An editorial cartoon in the very liberal and humanistic Toronto Globe and Mail a few days ago depicted a man asking, “But what about all of the scientists who doubt global warming,” and a very cool and modern young woman replying, “Name one.” The point was that no reputable scientist doubts Al Gorism. Well, Dr. Gray is one who does and we have listed many others in previous editions of the Friday Church News Notes.

EUROPEAN COUNCIL WARNS ABOUT CREATIONISM (Friday Church News Notes, October 19, 2007, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - On October 4 the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe passed a resolution entitled “The Dangers of Creationism in Education,” urging governments to “firmly oppose” creationism (“Europe’s Resolution on Creationism Indicative of Secularized Society,” Christian Post, Oct. 10, 2007). The resolution warned that creationism is promoted by religious extremists who want “to impose religious dogma” on children. In fact, it is the secular humanists that are imposing their religious dogma on children every day in the public school systems. Evolution is not a science; it is a faith. To say that our complex universe is the product of an explosion combined with mere chance is the blindest sort of faith. The resolution stated: “... the Parliamentary Assembly is worried about the possible ill-effects of the spread of creationist ideas within our education systems and about the consequences for our democracies. If we are not careful, creationism could become a threat to human rights which are a key concern of the Council of Europe.” They did not give any examples of creationists that are trying to overthrow democracy or that have threatened human rights. This is a non-existent boogeyman invented for the purpose of making people afraid of Bible-believing Christians. 

MUSLIMS TORTURE AND MURDER CHRISTIAN BOOKSTORE OWNER (Friday Church News Notes, October 19, 2007, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - On the weekend of October 6-7 Muslims kidnapped the owner of a Christian bookstore in Gaza, publicly tortured him, and then stabbed and shot him to death. The victim, Rami Ayyad, who left behind a pregnant wife and two young children, was the Baptist manager of the only Christian bookstore in Gaza (“Baptist Publicly Tortured for ‘Spreading Christianity,’” WorldNetDaily, Oct. 10, 2007). The bookstore was firebombed in April and Ayyad had received numerous death threats. Witnesses saw Ayyad murdered by men who were shouting accusations that he was spreading Christianity. Since Hamas seized control of the Gaza Strip in June, attacks upon Christians have increased.

THE AMAZING SPLASH FISH (Friday Church News Notes, October 19, 2007, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - There is an interesting fish that lives in South America called the splash tetra (Copella arnoldi). It is a small elongated fish about 3 inches long and lives near the banks of slow-moving rivers with heavy vegetation. The male finds a suitable leaf hanging over the water and waits for a female to join him. They then position themselves side by side and leap out of the water at exactly the same time and stick to the leaf. The female lays 6 to 8 eggs and the male fertilizes them, and they drop back into the water. This process continues until they have laid and fertilized about 200 eggs. The female then leaves, but the male stays there for three days using his tail to splash water onto the eggs every 10 or 15 minutes so they won’t dry out. He does this until the fry hatch and fall into the water. There is only one fish in the world that does this neat trick. I would like someone to explain how this amazing process could have evolved. First of all you would have to evolve a male and female tetra fish with the amazing capabilities of breathing underwater and reproducing offspring and such, all of the incredible complexity of the fish at the genetic level. Then you would have to evolve the splashing business. Assuming one fish learned to jump out of the water and stick to a leaf, how did two of them learn this at exactly the same time? It would have been necessary that they perfect the trick the very first time or it would have been meaningless. If only the male jumped or if only the female jumped or if they both jumped but did not lay eggs and fertilize them or if they jumped and laid and fertilized eggs but the male didn’t keep them wet -- nothing would have happened. And how did that incredibly clever and gymnastic pair then pass this amazing process along to their offspring who were not around to observe it?

CCM ARTIST SAYS BEATLES INFLUENCED NEW ALBUM (Friday Church News Notes, October 19, 2007, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - In an interview published on CMCentral.com, September 27, 2007, the interviewer of John Ellis of Tree63 commented that their new album (Sunday and Everyday) has a psychedelic feel to it and some tracks are reminiscent of John Lennon. Ellis replied: “Did you say psychedelic? It’s funny, I’ve been doing a lot of reading recently about the 40th anniversary of Monterrey, and the Summer of Love this year. So I’ve been reading a lot about Sgt. Pepper, the whole psychedelic culture of 40 years ago. My dad brought me up on the Beatles and by the time I was twelve I was a complete Beatle addict. I have a lot of deep roots in that culture, and most of the music I buy these days is 40 years old.” I believe it is unconscionable for Christian musicians to encourage an appetite for Beatles’ music in young people. No rock group has had a more spiritually destructive influence than the Beatles. They were certainly controlled by demons as they captured the affection of an entire generation with their “magical mystery” music and carried millions of people along on their journey to eastern religion, atheism, drug abuse, and rebellion against established order. Lennon’s extremely popular song “Imagine” (1971) promotes atheism. The lyrics say: “Imagine there’s no heaven … No hell below us, above us only sky … no religion too...” The Beatles continue to exercise a vast influence, and young people need to be warned to stay away from them and from the world of licentious rock and roll that they helped to create. “And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them” (Ephesians 5:11).