Friday Church News Notes

EVANGELICAL MEGACHURCH PASTOR SAYS GLENN BECK IS “SAVED” (Friday Church News Notes, September 3, 2010, www.wayoflife.org, fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - Jim Garlow, pastor of Skyline Wesleyan Church in La Mesa, California, says that Glenn Beck is “saved” because he claims to rely “unequivocally” on “the atonement of Jesus on the cross for forgiveness for his sins” (“Evangelical Megachurch Pastor,” Christian Post, Aug. 27, 2010). Garlow says that he has interviewed persons who have talked with Beck about his salvation and they have affirmed that “Glenn is saved; he understands receiving Christ as Savior.” For this reason, Garlow said he was proud to stand with Beck in last week’s Divine Destiny or Restoring Honor rally. Garlow said that “everyone’s theological understanding is off” and that “only the most arrogant would say that it’s 100 percent perfect.” These statements demonstrate a serious lack of spiritual discernment. The question is not whether Beck believes in “Jesus” or the “gospel” or the “atonement”; the question is whether he believes in these things biblically as opposed to what Mormonism teaches. And if Beck does believe in the biblical gospel--that Jesus is the only eternal God and Saviour and that salvation is by grace without works through faith in Christ’s blood--why does he identify himself as a Mormon? Why does he not rather warn of Mormonism’s false gospel of works and its false christ and its false god? As for Garlow’s statement that every Christian is off on theology, this might be true in some minor sense, but we are not talking here about minor theological issues. If you get the Gospel and Christ and God wrong, you will spend eternity in hell. Further, there is the issue of final authority. Mormonism exalts its writings to equal authority with the Bible thus destroying the divine authority of Scripture. I believe that Glenn Beck is a sincere man who cares deeply for his country, and that is commendable. But he is part of the problem rather than the solution. He says, “America is in its most dangerous hour, and there is only one answer.” He is probably right in his appraisal of America’s condition and the answer is indeed only in God. But what God? The Mormon god is an idol. So is the god of Catholicism, Islam, Hinduism, and Buddhism. They don’t exist. The eternal God has revealed Himself in the Bible and in the Christ of the Bible. If He is the true God, then all other gods are false. And the God of the Bible forbids His people to yoke together in spiritual activities (such as Divine Destiny) with unbelievers and idolators and heretics (e.g., Romans 16:17; 2 Corinthians 6:14-15; 2 Timothy 3:5; 2 John 6-8). This is not rocket science. Politics are important. Politics affect our lives. God’s people should vote and do what they can to affect politics within the bounds of Scripture, but we cannot disobey the Bible and expect God’s blessing. A Bible-believing Christian can do much to bring God’s blessing on the nation. He can live a godly life in Christ and be faithful to a good church and proclaim the gospel and pray every day for his political leaders (1 Timothy 2:1-2). God’s people do not have to be a majority to have a vast influence if they are in the place of God’s blessing. “If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land” (2 Chronicles 7:14).

THE TWO MILLION DOLLAR MENORAH FOR THE THIRD TEMPLE (Friday Church News Notes, September 3, 2010, www.wayoflife.org, fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - Fervent preparations are being made for the building of the Third Temple by several groups of orthodox Jews in Israel. One of these is the the Temple Institute, which was founded in 1986 with the goal to “see Israel rebuild the Holy Temple on Mount Moriah in Jerusalem.” At much expense (at least $20 million has been donated so far), and based on extensive research, they have fashioned priestly garments, the high priest’s golden crown costing $30,000, the high priest’s breastplate with its 12 precious stones inscribed with the names of the tribes of Israel, a copper laver, an incense altar, silver trumpets, gold- and silver-plated shofars, harps, and many other things. Of special interest is the menorah that has been fashioned from 95 pounds of gold, valued at $2 million. In December 2007 the menorah was moved to an outside location on the Western Wall Plaza across from the Temple Mount. Prior to that it had stood in the old Roman Cardo. The plan ultimately is to place it in the Third Temple. The Temple Institute compared the 2007 dedication of the menorah in its new location to the dedication of the Arch of Titus in Rome 1,900 years ago. Then, the menorah was moving away from the Temple, whereas today it is moving back toward the Temple. The Third Temple is always mentioned in Bible prophecy in the context of the Antichrist. He will probably prepare the way for its building through his deceptive peace program, and he will desecrate it by his idolatrous presence (e.g., Daniel 9:27; Mat. 25:15; 2 Thess. 2:3-4; Rev. 11:1-7).

SKEPTIC SOCIETY SAYS PRAYER DOESN’T WORK (Friday Church News Notes, September 3, 2010, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - In a 2006 article, Michael Shermer of eSkeptic claimed that a new study proves that prayer is of no effect for patients undergoing coronary bypass surgery. Shermer was commenting on a decade-long study funded by the Templeton Foundation in which strangers prayed for 1,802 heart patients. The prayers, which began the night before surgery and continued daily for two weeks after, had no apparent effect. In fact, those who were prayed for seemed to fare worse than those who were not the subject of prayer. The Skeptics Society thinks this is evidence that prayer is ineffectual, but this is only due to their gross ignorance of the Bible’s teaching and their willful unbelief. To understand this issue we must consider two important biblical truths. First, answered prayer requires salvation. Jesus emphasized that an individual must be born again before he or she can have a right relationship with God (John 3). Those who are not born again are estranged from God because of sin, and their prayers are not efficacious, not being offered through the only Saviour Jesus Christ. Consider the “prayer warriors” in this Templeton study. Most were members of two Roman Catholic communities: St. Paul’s Monastery in St. Paul, Minnesota, and the Community of Teresian Carmelites in Worcester, Massachusetts. The Roman Catholic Church does not believe in the biblical new birth, having replaced personal repentance and faith in Christ with a sacramental-works salvation that begins with baptism. The Carmelites are more devoted to Mary than to Christ. The community’s web site says, “Carmelites have always thought of Mary as the Patron of the Order, its Mother and Splendour; she is constantly before their eyes and in their hearts as ‘the Virgin Most Pure.’ Looking to her, and living in spiritual intimacy with her, we learn to stand before God, and with one another, as the Lord's brothers. Mary lives among us, as mother and sister, attentive to our needs; along with us she waits and hopes, suffers and rejoices.” This is heresy, apostasy, and blasphemy. Even Mother Teresa, another great devotee of Rome’s mythical Mary, called herself “the saint of darkness” because of the terrible deadness of her prayer life. The second biblical truth that the Skeptics have overlooked is that God is always sovereign in the answer of prayer, even the prayers of His most devoted born-again servants. The apostle Paul prayed three times for healing, but God answered with a “no,” because it was not His will (2 Corinthians 12:7-10).

RICHARD DAWKINS: THE BLIND BOOKMAKER (Friday Church News Notes, September 3, 2010, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - Richard Dawkins, the atheistic author of The Blind Watchmaker, claims that there is no evidence for intelligent design in nature. He ridicules the argument from design, claiming that design in the world, though “apparent,” is not real, because Darwinian naturalism can explain everything. He says that atheists should be proud about their position because it is superior to and more reasonable than the doctrine of a Creator God. The Bible says, “For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world ARE CLEARLY SEEN, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse” (Romans 1:20). If the invisible things of God are clearly seen in creation, why can’t Richard Dawkins see them? The answer is that he is spiritually blind. I have a blind preacher friend who lives in the Himalayan Mountains. If he were to say to me, “Brother Cloud, I have heard that there are beautiful snow-covered mountains nearby, but I don’t believe it because I haven’t seen them,” I would say to him, “Prem, you can’t see them because you are blind. I can describe them to you, but you still wouldn’t be able to see them.” Prem won’t be able to see until he has his resurrection body, and Dawkins won’t be able to see unless he humbles himself before the Almighty Creator God, admits his fallen condition and rebellion against God’s Law and God’s just judgment, and casts himself upon God’s mercy in Jesus Christ. Dawkins is the poor blind bookmaker. Before the watchmaker argument, he can only huff and puff with Darwinian myths, but he cannot refute it. In fact, it is irrefutable. The mind-boggling complexity and design we find in nature--the wing, the eye, the heart, the brain, the butterfly, DNA, pollination, human intelligence--cannot be explained by “natural selection” or “chance mutations,” nor can it be refuted by Darwinian “just so” stories.

RICHARD DAWKINS’ ANSWER TO THE QUESTION “WHAT IF YOU ARE WRONG?” (Friday Church News Notes, September 3, 2010, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - Mocking and personal attacks tend to be tactics used by those who can’t refute another man’s argument. Consider, for example, the answer that the atheist Richard Dawkins gave to the question, “What if you are wrong?” This was asked by a young woman during the Q&A session following Dawkin’s reading of excerpts from his book The God Delusion at Randolph-Macon Woman’s College, Lynchburg, Virginia, October 23, 2006. Dawkins said: “Anybody could be wrong. We could all be wrong about the flying spaghetti monster and the pink unicorn and the flying teapot. You happen to be brought up, I presume, in the Christian faith. You know what it is like not to believe in a particular faith, because you are not a Muslim, you are not a Hindu. Why aren’t you a Hindu? Because you happen to have been brought up in America not in India. If you were brought up in India you would be a Hindu. If you were brought up in Denmark in the time of the Vikings, you would be believing in Thor. If you were brought up classical Greece, you would be believing in Zeus. If you were brought up central Africa, you would be believing in the great JuJu of the mountain. There is no particular reason to pick on the Judea-Christian God in which by the sheerest accident you happen to have been brought up, and ask me the question what if I’m wrong. Well, what if you’re wrong about the great JuJu at the bottom of the sea” (Richard Dawkins). CONCLUDING COMMENT FROM BROTHER CLOUD: I am not surprised that Dawkins would want to huff and puff his way out of answering that question. The real answer is that if Dawkins is wrong and the Bible is right, he is going to be punished in the lake of fire forever because of his rebellion against God and His rejection of God’s offer of salvation in Jesus Christ. On the other hand, if Dawkins is right and the Bible is wrong, nothing matters, because everything is the product of blind chance and there is no eternal life. If Dawkins is right, the Bible-believing Christian has lost nothing of substance by living for Jesus Christ. He has a better quality of life in this world even if death were the end. Compared to the life I lived before I was a Christian, the only thing I have lost in following Jesus Christ are the hangovers, the drug haze, the guilt, and the fear of death, the spiritual blindness, the relationships broken by sin and selfishness, and the consequences of being a scofflaw.

DOES EVERYONE GET A CHANCE TO PLAY?  (Friday Church News Notes, September 3, 2010, www.wayoflife.org, fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The following is by Brian Snider : “In many cases, Baptist churches tend to use one church pianist to the exclusion of anyone else who might be able to play an instrument. Having had long experience in independent and Southern Baptist churches, we have seen where this can cause friction and unnecessarily exclude someone from using their talents and abilities for the service of the Lord. One way that this can overcome is by rotating musicians so that everyone has an opportunity to play their instruments in church. One large independent Baptist church in Alabama, for instance, has a head pianist who is in charge of scheduling and music selection for the various instrumentalists. Musicians of any age are allowed to play as long as they meet certain standards of ability and as long as their musical selections are appropriate. They can play offertories, specials or fill in other areas as needed. By using all the musicians in a church who want to play, you give the younger musicians experience playing before an audience, and this practice can eliminate jealousies and other issues that arise when only one person does most or all of the music.” 

THE MUSSEL’S FOOT (Friday Church News Notes, September 3, 2010, www.wayoflife.org, fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The following is from A Closer Look at the Evidence by Richard & Tina Kleiss. This daily devotional, which is packed with interesting scientific facts, is available in a KJV version from Bethel Print Ministry, www.bethelbaptist.ca. “One of the toughest environments in which to maintain adhesion is underwater. ... Much to a shipbuilder’s chagrin, the mussel is God’s champion of underwater adhesive systems. When a mussel wants to attach to a surface, it uses its plunger-shaped foot to find the spot that will make the best bond. The foot cleans the point where glue will be attached and then presses down upon the surface, forcing all of the water out. Next the mussel lifts the center section of its plunger-like foot, forming a vacuum to hold itself tightly in place. The final step is for the mussel to pump a chemical adhesive down through its foot, depositing the glue into the vacuum area. This adhesive forms a foamy, shock-absorbing foundation, bonded together with individual threads of glue. The glue itself is made from several different proteins which are mixed in the correct proportions to provide the optimum combination of strength, flexibility, and compressibility for the selected anchor spot. Scientists believe that the specific proteins used change properties as conditions change. This has recently been coined a ‘smart’ material.”

CONCLUSION: The Friday Church News Notes is designed for use in churches and is published by Way of Life Literature’s Fundamental Baptist Information Service. Unless otherwise stated, the Notes are written by David Cloud. Of necessity we quote from a wide variety of sources, but this obviously does not imply an endorsement. We trust that our readers will not be discouraged. 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. The News Notes remind us that the hour is very late, and we need to be ready for the Lord’s coming. Are you sure that you are born again? Are you living for Christ? “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). This material is sent only to those who personally subscribe to the Fundamental Baptist Information Service mailing list. To SUBSCRIBE, go to http://www.wayoflife.org/wayoflife/subscribe.html. TO UNSUBSCRIBE OR CHANGE ADDRESSES, go to the very bottom of any email received from us and click "Manage My Subscription." Way of Life Literature, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061, 866-295-4143, fbns@wayoflife.org.