March 19, 2010, Volume 11, Issue 12
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 does not imply an endorsement. For instructions on how to unsubscribe to this list or to change mailing addresses, please consult the information paragraph at the end.
ANOTHER VAIN ATTEMPT AT IMMORTALITY (Friday Church News Notes, March 19, 2010, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - Men who die without Christ have been devising ways to speak from beyond the grave since ancient times. Harry Houdini promised his wife that he would try to communicate with her via spiritism and he left her a secret authentication code. More recently some have attempted to communicate from the grave via cell phones placed in the casket. So far none of those cell phones have made any calls before the batteries died. Now a company is marketing high-tech headstones that “let you speak from beyond the grave.” The “Personal RosettaStones,” marketed by Objecs, are iPod-sized stone tablets embedded with radio frequency ID tags that store 1,000 words and a picture. The information can be beamed to a properly equipped mobile phone in extreme close proximity to the headstone. Objecs claims the device can last up to 3,200 years. Christopher Hill, who plans to purchase the device, says, “I literally can speak to people forever; I can be seen forever” (“High-Tech Headstones,” ABC News/Technology, March 12, 2010). Jesus Christ said that every man will be raised from the dead, the saved to everlasting life, the unsaved to everlasting judgment. “Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice, and shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation” (John 5:28-29).
COUNTRY MUSIC’S CHEAP GRACE (Friday Church News Notes, March 19, 2010, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - Country music is very popular with many professing Christians, including some fundamentalists, but contemporary country music is nothing more than rock & roll covered with a veneer of cheap grace. The latest example of this is Billy Currington’s “People Are Crazy,” which received nominations at the annual Academy of Country Music Awards for Single of the Year and Song of the Year. It is about two men drinking in a bar and reminiscing about immoral escapades with women. They talk about “God’s grace” and raunchy living, then sing in the chorus, “God is great, beer is good, and people are crazy.” This is repeated five times, but the God of the Bible and filthy living don’t go together. God is great and His grace is wonderful, but Jesus didn’t pay the terrible price to die for man’s sins just so that we can continue to live as we please. That is not the Gospel of Jesus Christ. That is the cheap gospel of country western music, and it does not lead to a country western heaven but to the same eternal hell that is populated by every individual that dies without being born again. “For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world; looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ; Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works” (Titus 2:11-14).
ELTON JOHN BLAMES CHRISTIANITY FOR SUICIDE OF FORMER “LOVER” (Friday Church News Notes, March 19, 2010, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - Rock singer Elton John claims that a former homosexual partner committed suicide “because he could not reconcile his homosexuality with his Christian beliefs” (“Elton John’s lover committed suicide,” The Telegraph, March 13, 2010). David Furnish, who has been “married” to Elton John since 2005, said the man in question “was so tortured by the conflicting views between his sexuality and his strong religious beliefs that he chose to take his own life.” This public statement is all about pushing homosexual rights and criticizing “Christianity” for being judgmental. John and Furnish have produced a play entitled Next Fall to promote this agenda. The 62-year-old rocker said, “We all need love. We all have the same fears and insecurities. We should all be allowed to be free.” This has been the theme song of rock & roll from its inception. The love of God in Christ, on the other hand, requires repentance from self-worship and rejection of humanistic relativist “morality” and surrender to Almighty God and His holy ways. God offers man eternal salvation and that salvation was purchased at a great price, but man must receive it on God’s terms rather than his own terms. The average professing Christian, though, is nominal as opposed to genuine; he has never been born again through repentance and faith and thus does not have the power of God to live a changed life.
SCIENTISTS THEORIZE THAT WE ARE EVOLVING AWAY FROM BELIEF IN GOD (Friday Church News Notes, March 19, 2010, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The stupid prize of the week goes to seminar participants at Cambridge University who theorize that is God is a mere figment of human evolutionary processes. The annual Science and Religion seminar, sponsored by the Templeton Foundation, discussed the alleged evolution of morality and belief in God and considered the current status of such belief. Attendee Barbara Hagerty of National Public Radio asked, “Is God actually dying?” Michael Reiss, science professor at the Institute of Education University of London, replied that since human conceptions of God are different today than in the past, it would “not be surprising if they continued to change” (“‘Is God Dying?’ Questions on Morality, Evolution and the Mind,” USA Today, March 12, 2010). This crowd is following in the footsteps of Charles Darwin, who theorized that man’s fear of God is no different than a monkey’s fear of a snake. Well does the Bible say, “The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God” (Psalm 14:1), for the evidence for God is everywhere. This bewilderingly complex universe could not have come into existence by chance. The neo-Darwinian processes of mutation and natural selection explain absolutely nothing. The widespread unbelief in our day is further evidence that the Bible is true, for it was plainly prophesied in the pages of Scripture 2,000 years ago. “Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts, and saying, Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation” (2 Peter 3:3-4).
UZBEK BAPTIST GETS 10 YEARS IN JAIL (Friday Church News Notes, March 19, 2010, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The following is excerpted from Associated Baptist Press, March 11, 2010: “Uzbekistan has sentenced a Baptist arrested in January to 10 years in prison on drug charges that fellow Baptists insist are fabricated. Forum 18, a Norwegian news service that tracks stories about abuses of religious freedom, reported that Tohar Haydarov, 27, was sentenced March 9 for selling ‘large quantities’ of illicit drugs. He was arrested Jan. 18 in the region of Syrdarya in central Uzbekistan. Authorities accused him of producing and storing drugs. Fellow church members described Haydarov as ‘a man with a pure conscience and an honest Christian’ and claimed he was set up for arrest because of his religious convictions. Uzbekistan's 1998 religion law allows only registered religious organizations to worship. Haydarov belongs to the Baptist Council of Churches, a group that refuses to register its congregations within the former Soviet Union and advocates strict separation of church and state. Baptists who spoke to Forum 18 said after his arrest, Haydarov was taken to a police station and pressured to renounce his faith. When he refused, the Baptists said, police planted a matchbox containing drugs in his coat pocket and placed him under arrest. Church members reported that at his initial court appearance Haydarov's face appeared swollen as if he had been beaten and that he could hardly walk. Uzbekistan’s constitution officially guarantees religious freedom, but minority religious groups say the law has increasingly been used to suppress human rights and religious freedom in a country that is 84 percent Muslim, 15 percent non-religious and 1 percent Christian.”
CUSTODIAN OF U.S. MOSQUES PROMOTES SLAYING OF AMERICANS (Friday Church News Notes, March 19, 2010, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The following is excerpted from WorldNetDaily, March 7, 2010: “The custodian of most of the major mosques in America acts as a front for the radical Muslim Brotherhood in America, and publishes and distributes Islamic literature that exhorts Muslims to ‘kill’ any Westerners who get in the way of spreading Islam, WND has learned. ‘No political system or material power should put hindrances in the way of preaching Islam. If someone does this, then it is the duty of Islam to fight him until either he is killed or until he declares his submission,’ asserts an Islamic publication distributed by the North American Islamic Trust. NAIT holds title to more than 300 mosques in America--including the large Islamic center outside Washington where the Fort Hood terrorist and some of the 9/11 hijackers worshipped. NAIT also owns and controls the mosque in Orange County, Calif., that converted al-Qaida spokesman Adam Gadahn to Islam. Gadahn in a video released Sunday exhorted Muslims serving in the U.S. military to follow in the footsteps of accused Fort Hood terrorist Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan. He also called for attacks on mass transportation, along with assassinations or kidnappings of key figures in the government, industry and media. The Justice Department recently blacklisted NAIT as an unindicted co-conspirator in a scheme to funnel millions of dollars to Palestinian terrorists. NAIT Trustee Gaddoor Saidi was individually listed as an unindicted co-conspirator, as well, in the Holy Land Foundation case--the largest terror finance trial in U.S. history, which ended in guilty verdicts on all 108 counts. In addition, the government identified NAIT as a front for Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood in America. Hamas, which was designated a terrorist organization in 1995, has murdered 17 Americans and injured hundreds of other U.S. citizens.”
BATTLE FOR RELIGIOUS FREEDOM IN CALIFORNIA (Friday Church News Notes, March 19, 2010, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The following is excerpted from OneNewsNow, March 16, 2010: “A move is under way in California to protect the free-speech rights of Christians. According to Pastor Allan Esses of Yes Jesus Christ Is Lord Ministries, the amendments will allow Christians (1) to freely share their faith and (2) to publicly take a stand on issues of the day without fear of retribution from authorities. ‘I just pray that God’s people would see that there is a great spiritual battle before us,’ says the ministry spokesman. ‘That our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ said we should gird up our loins and be ready for the soon return of Jesus Christ for his church. And we need to understand the battle that is before us [and] the attack upon God's Word and Jesus Christ.’ Esses says the secretary of state's office must receive 694,000 signatures by the middle of April in order to get the initiatives on the ballot.”
LEGAL EUTHANASIA’S POTENTIAL FOR ABUSE (Friday Church News Notes, March 19, 2010, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The following is excerpted from OneNewsNow, March 16, 2010: “Assisted suicide has been legal for a year in Washington, and the state health department has issued its first report. During the first year, 63 people requested and received lethal prescriptions to kill themselves. 47 have since died, while 36 are confirmed to have used the poison to accomplish it. Although 79 percent suffered from cancer, few cited pain as the reason for seeking end of life treatment as the main concern was the cost for alternate treatment. ‘What is and has been the reality of this [is] that when you transform assisted suicide into a medical treatment, it makes it just like every other medical treatment, except it's lots cheaper. And people begin to see it as a benefit for the family,’ comments Rita Marker, attorney and president of the International Task Force on Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide. ... The report shows there are too many unknowns, and the possibility of murder is an example. ... There is an open chance for elder abuse, but no way to track it or prosecute those responsible since the law requires prosecutors to treat the death as natural.” NOTE FROM THE EDITOR OF FRIDAY NEWS: My wife and I know of a case in which some Christians starved their father to death to make his passing more convenient for their schedules. The old boy just wasn’t dying quickly enough! We know of another case in which a woman pressured her elderly mother to die rather than agree to a simple medical procedure that promised to prolong her life. As it turned out, another of the woman’s children urged her to have the procedure and she lived many more years. In fact, she outlived the daughter who urged her to die. Because of mankind’s selfish fallen nature there is indeed great potential for abuse with legal euthanasia.
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.