Friday Church News Notes
Volume 21, Issue 4 - January 24, 2020
The Friday Church News Notes is designed for use in churches and is published by Way of Life Literature. Unless otherwise stated, the Notes are written by David Cloud. Of necessity we quote from a wide variety of sources, though this does not imply an endorsement.
FREEDOM OF RELIGION COMMUNIST CHINA STYLE (Friday Church News Notes, January 24, 2020, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The following is excerpted from “Pastor Imprisoned for Nine Years,” The Stream, Dec. 30, 2019: “A Chinese court sentenced a pastor to prison for nine years Monday after the pastor called the Chinese Communist Party ‘morally incompatible with the Christian faith.’ The court sentenced 46-year-old Pastor Wang Yi, who led Early Rain Covenant Church in the Chinese city of Chengdu, for incitement of subversion of state power and for illegal business operations, according to The Wall Street Journal. The Chinese government often uses those charges against religious leaders and against those who disagree politically with the government, according to the WSJ. Wang wrote a 2018 essay titled ‘Meditations on the Religious War’ in which he wrote that the ideology of the Chinese Communist Party is ‘morally incompatible with the Christian faith and with all those who uphold freedom of the mind and thought.’ Wang’s church had been one of the most politically active churches in China for years, holding a service every year commemorating the 1989 massacre at Tiananmen Square, even though the government severely restricts the observance of this massacre, the WSJ reports. But the church was closed in 2018 as the Chinese government cracked down on religious houses of worship.”
U.S. LEADS WORLD IN SINGLE-PARENT HOMES (Friday Church News Notes, January 24, 2020, www.wayoflife.org, fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The following is excerpted from “National Tragedy,” Christian Headlines, Dec. 17 2019: “A new study showing the United States has the world’s highest rate of children living in single-parent households is being called a ‘national tragedy’ by one sociologist. The Pew Research Center study of 130 countries and territories shows that 23 percent of U.S. children under the age of 18 live with one parent and no other adults--more than three times the global average of 7 percent. ... Children in European countries are generally more likely to live in single-parent homes than those in Asia, but still less likely than children in the U.S. The percentages for the United Kingdom (21 percent), France (16 percent) and Germany (12 percent) are all lower than the U.S.” CONCLUDING NOTE: The breakup of the American home is a product of the pop/hip-hop culture with its me first philosophy, no-fault divorce, and the welfare state, among other things. The most fundamental cause is the apostasy of America’s churches. Even the most “fundamentalist” typically are not building strong Christian homes through producing fathers who are the spiritual heads, mothers who are keepers, and children who are properly disciplined and discipled. (For more on this see Keeping the Kids: How to Keep the Children from Falling Prey to the World and The Discipling Church: The Church That Will Stand until Jesus Comes, available from www.wayoflife.org.)
SECOND TEMPLE ERA MARKETPLACE UNCOVERED IN JERUSALEM (Friday Church News Notes, January 24, 2020, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The following report describes the latest in a long series of archaeological discoveries confirming the accuracy of biblical history. While archaeology cannot prove that Jesus was born of a virgin or that He walked on the water or that His death was an atonement for sin or that He rose bodily from the dead, it can demonstrate that the Bible’s history is accurate and can thus give confidence that whatever the Bible says is true. The following is excerpted from “Second Temple era marketplace,” The Jerusalem Post, Jan. 6, 2020: “A rare tabletop used for measuring liquids is among the finds uncovered by archaeologists at a site they believe may have been the location of a major town square en route to the Second Temple 2,000 years ago. Excavations in the City of David National Park by the Israel Antiquities Authority have brought to light dozens of stone measurement weights of various sizes, in addition to the tabletop, indicating that the site was once a bustling marketplace in what was known as Jerusalem’s lower city. ... The agora (market) appears to have served as a focal point of trade and commerce along the Pilgrimage Road in Jerusalem, as well as housing the offices of the ‘Agoranomos,’ the official in charge of regulating weights and measurements in the city. The key find is a section of a ‘standard volume’ table featuring two deep cavities, each with a drain hole at the bottom. The hole could easily be plugged, the cavity filled to the brim giving a standard volume, and the plug then removed to allow the liquid to drain into a container, said Prof. Ronny Reich, who is researching the find. ... Meanwhile, Nahshon Szanton, Moran Hagbi and Meidad Shor of the Israel Antiquities Authority, who directed the excavations along the Pilgrimage Road, have uncovered a large open paved area on the street that led up to the Second Temple. The area appears to have served as the main square of the lower city, which would likely have attracted tradespeople and customers alike.” (See also “Great Archaeological Discoveries in Israel,” Jun. 4, 2019, www.wayoflife.org.)
MARIJUANA-INDUCED PSYCHOSIS ON RISE AMONG YOUNG PEOPLE (Friday Church News Notes, January 24, 2020, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The following is excerpted from “As marijuana-induced psychosis rises, parents say treatment for young people hard to find,” USA Today, Jan. 6, 2020: “When Garrett Rigg moved from a ‘transitional living program’ facility near Chicago last month into a group home, it was a major milestone for the 27-year-old, who traveled 1,000 miles from his home in Denver to get treatment after a cannabis-induced psychotic break five years ago. Rigg had to leave his hometown because it lacked suitable long-term treatment, according to his mother, Connie Kabrick. The three marijuana dispensaries at the intersection a half block from her home are the reason why she says he can't move back. As marijuana increasingly becomes legalized, parents of children who make up the mounting cases of cannabis-induced psychosis and other mental illness say treatment is far less available than the pot they say is linked to the conditions. ... Rutgers University opened an Adolescent Substance Evaluation Service in July at the Robert Wood Johnson Medical Center in New Brunswick, New Jersey. The staff includes fellows in child and adolescent psychiatry who refer patients to providers at the hospital or in the community. Wun Jung Kim, a child psychiatrist and professor at the Rutgers medical school, estimates at least half of young people come in because of marijuana-related conditions. ... [He says,] ‘I don’t think society takes use of marijuana seriously in kids.’ ... Parents struggle to convince their young adult children that marijuana led to or worsened their condition. Some, including Sharon Burns Southard, lost the battle. Her 24-year-old son started having ‘schizophrenic episodes’ six months before he died by suicide in July 2018.”
AUTO COMPANIES ARE SPYING ON YOU (Friday Church News Notes, January 24, 2020, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The following is excerpted from “Washington Post Hacks into Chevy,” The Daily Wire, Dec. 26, 2019: “The Washington Post hacked into a Chevy Volt several days ago with the help of a automotive technology expert to find out just how much automakers are spying on their owners and discovered that vehicles are recording their owners’ every move. The Post used a 2017 Chevy Volt for its experiment and learned that the car collected a wide range of highly precise data ranging from the vehicles location to information about the driver’s cell phone, including call records--noting that many vehicles copy over personal data the moment that a smart phone is plugged into the vehicle. ... The Post went to Jim Mason, who has a PhD in engineering and reconstructs car accidents for a living by hacking into vehicles, for help hacking into the Chevy Volt. ... The Post found that Chevy collected the following information: ‘There on a map was the precise location where I’d driven to take apart the Chevy. There were my other destinations, like the hardware store I’d stopped at to buy some tape. Among the trove of data points were ... a detailed log of phone calls from the previous week. There was a long list of contacts, right down to people’s address, emails and even photos. For a broader view, Mason also extracted the data from a Chevrolet infotainment computer that I bought used on eBay for $375. It contained enough data to reconstruct the Upstate New York travels and relationships of a total stranger. We know he or she frequently called someone listed as Sweetie, whose photo we also have. We could see the exact Gulf station where they bought gas, the restaurant where they ate (called Taste China) and the unique identifiers for their Samsung Galaxy Note phones.’”
“HUSBAND” OF DEMOCRAT PRESIDENTIAL CONTENDER WILL CALL HIMSELF “FIRST GENTLEMAN” IF PARTNER WINS (Friday Church News Notes, January 24, 2020, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The following is excerpted from “Peter Buttigieg’s Husband,” CNSNews, Dec. 27, 2019: “Chasten Buttigieg, the husband of South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg, currently refers to himself as the ‘First Gent of South Bend’ on Twitter and refers to himself as the ‘First Gentleman’ when he discusses what he will do if husband Pete becomes president of the United States. In the heading of his Twitter page, Chasten Buttigieg refers to himself as follows: ‘Teacher, First Gent of South Bend, husband to @Pete Buttigieg, doggo dad to @firstdogssb. All things theater, inclusion & education. Let hate sit alone. he/him.’”
THE BAT’S SPECIAL RADAR DESIGN (Friday Church News Notes, January 24, 2020, www.wayoflife.org, fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The following is from creationmoments.com, December 27, 2019: “If you wake up when it’s still dark, you know how overwhelming it can be to turn on the light. Your eyes may even hurt at first. If you’ve had this experience, you can understand one of the problems that had to be solved when radar was developed. Basically, radar is made up of two parts. The transmitter sends out a powerful beam of radar waves. But the other part of the radar system is a very sensitive receiver that cannot stand the powerful outgoing signal. One of the major technical problems to be overcome in developing modern radar involved sending out this powerful signal without overwhelming the sensitive receiver. What scientists finally developed was a fast switch that turns the sensitive receiver off every time a radar pulse is sent out. Bats, who have their own sonic radar, had this problem solved from the beginning. They have muscles in their ears that are the receivers for the echoes. These muscles close the ears for split seconds when the bats are sending out their high pitched signals. Without this feature, the bat’s navigational system would be useless. How could a bat figure out that it needed this ability and then decide to grow the muscles and related tissue to do the job? When one decides to say that creatures, instead of the Creator, have made themselves, one can end up with some very silly conclusions! Notes: Henson, O.W. 1971. Journal of Physiology, v. 180. p. 871.”
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).
U.S. LEADS WORLD IN SINGLE-PARENT HOMES (Friday Church News Notes, January 24, 2020, www.wayoflife.org, fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The following is excerpted from “National Tragedy,” Christian Headlines, Dec. 17 2019: “A new study showing the United States has the world’s highest rate of children living in single-parent households is being called a ‘national tragedy’ by one sociologist. The Pew Research Center study of 130 countries and territories shows that 23 percent of U.S. children under the age of 18 live with one parent and no other adults--more than three times the global average of 7 percent. ... Children in European countries are generally more likely to live in single-parent homes than those in Asia, but still less likely than children in the U.S. The percentages for the United Kingdom (21 percent), France (16 percent) and Germany (12 percent) are all lower than the U.S.” CONCLUDING NOTE: The breakup of the American home is a product of the pop/hip-hop culture with its me first philosophy, no-fault divorce, and the welfare state, among other things. The most fundamental cause is the apostasy of America’s churches. Even the most “fundamentalist” typically are not building strong Christian homes through producing fathers who are the spiritual heads, mothers who are keepers, and children who are properly disciplined and discipled. (For more on this see Keeping the Kids: How to Keep the Children from Falling Prey to the World and The Discipling Church: The Church That Will Stand until Jesus Comes, available from www.wayoflife.org.)
SECOND TEMPLE ERA MARKETPLACE UNCOVERED IN JERUSALEM (Friday Church News Notes, January 24, 2020, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The following report describes the latest in a long series of archaeological discoveries confirming the accuracy of biblical history. While archaeology cannot prove that Jesus was born of a virgin or that He walked on the water or that His death was an atonement for sin or that He rose bodily from the dead, it can demonstrate that the Bible’s history is accurate and can thus give confidence that whatever the Bible says is true. The following is excerpted from “Second Temple era marketplace,” The Jerusalem Post, Jan. 6, 2020: “A rare tabletop used for measuring liquids is among the finds uncovered by archaeologists at a site they believe may have been the location of a major town square en route to the Second Temple 2,000 years ago. Excavations in the City of David National Park by the Israel Antiquities Authority have brought to light dozens of stone measurement weights of various sizes, in addition to the tabletop, indicating that the site was once a bustling marketplace in what was known as Jerusalem’s lower city. ... The agora (market) appears to have served as a focal point of trade and commerce along the Pilgrimage Road in Jerusalem, as well as housing the offices of the ‘Agoranomos,’ the official in charge of regulating weights and measurements in the city. The key find is a section of a ‘standard volume’ table featuring two deep cavities, each with a drain hole at the bottom. The hole could easily be plugged, the cavity filled to the brim giving a standard volume, and the plug then removed to allow the liquid to drain into a container, said Prof. Ronny Reich, who is researching the find. ... Meanwhile, Nahshon Szanton, Moran Hagbi and Meidad Shor of the Israel Antiquities Authority, who directed the excavations along the Pilgrimage Road, have uncovered a large open paved area on the street that led up to the Second Temple. The area appears to have served as the main square of the lower city, which would likely have attracted tradespeople and customers alike.” (See also “Great Archaeological Discoveries in Israel,” Jun. 4, 2019, www.wayoflife.org.)
MARIJUANA-INDUCED PSYCHOSIS ON RISE AMONG YOUNG PEOPLE (Friday Church News Notes, January 24, 2020, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The following is excerpted from “As marijuana-induced psychosis rises, parents say treatment for young people hard to find,” USA Today, Jan. 6, 2020: “When Garrett Rigg moved from a ‘transitional living program’ facility near Chicago last month into a group home, it was a major milestone for the 27-year-old, who traveled 1,000 miles from his home in Denver to get treatment after a cannabis-induced psychotic break five years ago. Rigg had to leave his hometown because it lacked suitable long-term treatment, according to his mother, Connie Kabrick. The three marijuana dispensaries at the intersection a half block from her home are the reason why she says he can't move back. As marijuana increasingly becomes legalized, parents of children who make up the mounting cases of cannabis-induced psychosis and other mental illness say treatment is far less available than the pot they say is linked to the conditions. ... Rutgers University opened an Adolescent Substance Evaluation Service in July at the Robert Wood Johnson Medical Center in New Brunswick, New Jersey. The staff includes fellows in child and adolescent psychiatry who refer patients to providers at the hospital or in the community. Wun Jung Kim, a child psychiatrist and professor at the Rutgers medical school, estimates at least half of young people come in because of marijuana-related conditions. ... [He says,] ‘I don’t think society takes use of marijuana seriously in kids.’ ... Parents struggle to convince their young adult children that marijuana led to or worsened their condition. Some, including Sharon Burns Southard, lost the battle. Her 24-year-old son started having ‘schizophrenic episodes’ six months before he died by suicide in July 2018.”
AUTO COMPANIES ARE SPYING ON YOU (Friday Church News Notes, January 24, 2020, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The following is excerpted from “Washington Post Hacks into Chevy,” The Daily Wire, Dec. 26, 2019: “The Washington Post hacked into a Chevy Volt several days ago with the help of a automotive technology expert to find out just how much automakers are spying on their owners and discovered that vehicles are recording their owners’ every move. The Post used a 2017 Chevy Volt for its experiment and learned that the car collected a wide range of highly precise data ranging from the vehicles location to information about the driver’s cell phone, including call records--noting that many vehicles copy over personal data the moment that a smart phone is plugged into the vehicle. ... The Post went to Jim Mason, who has a PhD in engineering and reconstructs car accidents for a living by hacking into vehicles, for help hacking into the Chevy Volt. ... The Post found that Chevy collected the following information: ‘There on a map was the precise location where I’d driven to take apart the Chevy. There were my other destinations, like the hardware store I’d stopped at to buy some tape. Among the trove of data points were ... a detailed log of phone calls from the previous week. There was a long list of contacts, right down to people’s address, emails and even photos. For a broader view, Mason also extracted the data from a Chevrolet infotainment computer that I bought used on eBay for $375. It contained enough data to reconstruct the Upstate New York travels and relationships of a total stranger. We know he or she frequently called someone listed as Sweetie, whose photo we also have. We could see the exact Gulf station where they bought gas, the restaurant where they ate (called Taste China) and the unique identifiers for their Samsung Galaxy Note phones.’”
“HUSBAND” OF DEMOCRAT PRESIDENTIAL CONTENDER WILL CALL HIMSELF “FIRST GENTLEMAN” IF PARTNER WINS (Friday Church News Notes, January 24, 2020, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The following is excerpted from “Peter Buttigieg’s Husband,” CNSNews, Dec. 27, 2019: “Chasten Buttigieg, the husband of South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg, currently refers to himself as the ‘First Gent of South Bend’ on Twitter and refers to himself as the ‘First Gentleman’ when he discusses what he will do if husband Pete becomes president of the United States. In the heading of his Twitter page, Chasten Buttigieg refers to himself as follows: ‘Teacher, First Gent of South Bend, husband to @Pete Buttigieg, doggo dad to @firstdogssb. All things theater, inclusion & education. Let hate sit alone. he/him.’”
THE BAT’S SPECIAL RADAR DESIGN (Friday Church News Notes, January 24, 2020, www.wayoflife.org, fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The following is from creationmoments.com, December 27, 2019: “If you wake up when it’s still dark, you know how overwhelming it can be to turn on the light. Your eyes may even hurt at first. If you’ve had this experience, you can understand one of the problems that had to be solved when radar was developed. Basically, radar is made up of two parts. The transmitter sends out a powerful beam of radar waves. But the other part of the radar system is a very sensitive receiver that cannot stand the powerful outgoing signal. One of the major technical problems to be overcome in developing modern radar involved sending out this powerful signal without overwhelming the sensitive receiver. What scientists finally developed was a fast switch that turns the sensitive receiver off every time a radar pulse is sent out. Bats, who have their own sonic radar, had this problem solved from the beginning. They have muscles in their ears that are the receivers for the echoes. These muscles close the ears for split seconds when the bats are sending out their high pitched signals. Without this feature, the bat’s navigational system would be useless. How could a bat figure out that it needed this ability and then decide to grow the muscles and related tissue to do the job? When one decides to say that creatures, instead of the Creator, have made themselves, one can end up with some very silly conclusions! Notes: Henson, O.W. 1971. Journal of Physiology, v. 180. p. 871.”
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).
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Distributed by Way of Life Literature., publisher of Bible Study Materials and reports for Fundamental Baptists and other fundamentalist, Bible-believing Christians. Established in 1974, Way of Life Literature is a fundamental Baptist preaching and publishing ministry based in Bethel Baptist Church, London, Ontario, of which Wilbert Unger is the founding Pastor. Brother Cloud lives in South Asia where he has been a church planting missionary since 1979. OUR GOAL IN THIS PARTICULAR ASPECT OF OUR MINISTRY (REPORTS AND FRIDAY NEWS) IS NOT DEVOTIONAL. IS TO PROVIDE INFORMATION TO ASSIST PREACHERS IN THE PROTECTION OF THE CHURCHES IN THIS APOSTATE HOUR.
David Cloud, Way of Life Literature, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061, 866-295-4143, fbns@wayoflife.org
The Way of Life Literature preaching and publishing ministry is based at Bethel Baptist Church, London, Ontario, of which Wilbert Unger is the founding Pastor. A mail stop is maintained in Port Huron, Michigan.
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