January 8, 2010, Volume 11, Issue 2
08/01/10 09:09
PDF VERSION
CAMPING SETS ANOTHER DATE FOR SECOND COMING (Friday Church News Notes, January 8, 2010, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The very confused Harold Camping, head of Family Radio Network, is claiming that Christ will return on May 21, 2011. This is the second time that Camping has made a nutty prediction. In the last decade he predicted that Christ would return on September 6, 1994, and I don’t have to tell you that it didn’t happen. You would think that this world-class blunder would have ended his prophesying and Bible teaching career, but in these days of apostasy there are enough gullible, biblically-ignorant people out there to keep such heretics afloat. Camping’s heresies are heard on 55 radio stations in America and via shortwave overseas, and his program is translated into 48 languages. Camping believes the church age ended in 1988, and that God has turned from churches to Family Radio as His means of preaching the gospel. His followers meet in homes to listen to Camping’s messages. There is no baptism, no Lord’s Supper, no pastor. In late 2001, Baptist Pastor Jim Barker of Elmont, New York, was banned from preaching messages on the church on WFME radio that broadcasts from West Orange, New Jersey. Though he had preached on that station for many years, he was told that he could no longer identify himself as a pastor or mention the church. Barker warns, “Camping says sinners can no longer be saved in churches and if Christians defy him and continue to attend church services their children cannot be saved.” Camping also believes in “sovereign election,” that you can only hope that you have been chosen and that “a baby can be saved as readily as a mature adult” (Time Has an End: A Biblical History of the World, 2005, p. 17). As for life’s most important question, “What must I do to be saved?” Camping says, “You cannot do anything.” Happily, the Bible has already given the answer to that question and it is “believe on the Lord Jesus Christ” (Acts 16:31). As for Jesus’ coming, there is no doubt that He is coming again, but we don’t know when. We only know that it is imminent. We are instructed to expect Him at any time. There is one thing we do know, though, and that is that Jesus will NOT return on May 21, 2011, for Jesus said, “Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh” (Matthew 25:13).
U.K.’S “DRINKING CULTURE” A DRAIN ON HEALTH CARE (Friday Church News Notes, January 8, 2010, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - A new report warns that the United Kingdom’s “notorious drinking culture” is putting a serious strain on the taxpayer-funded medical system. It is costing $4.4 billion a year to treat patients for drink-related problems, which is double the amount five years ago (“U.K. Drinking Culture Strains Health System,” USA Today, Jan. 2, 2010). The study, co-published by the Royal College of Physicians, says that 10.5 million adults in Britain “drink above sensible limits.” A study at a hospital in Leeds found that one-fifth of emergency room admissions were for alcohol-related conditions. Alcohol-related deaths have doubled in the last 15 years. In January 2005 the Royal College of Physicians warned that Britain’s epidemic of alcohol addiction is fuelling violence and illness throughout the country (The Telegraph, Jan. 3, 2005). Nothing good comes out of an alcoholic bottle, but having read about 80 books by emergent church writers, I have been impressed with the fact that they, too, love to drink. The book Listening to the Beliefs of Emerging Churches: Five Perspectives, for example, contains probably a dozen references to the joys of drinking. The contributors are Karen Ward, Mark Driscoll, John Burke, Dan Kimball, and Doug Pagitt. They meet in bars and taverns for theological discussions and exchange beer-making techniques. Mars Hill Church in Seattle sets up a “champagne bar” at their New Year’s Eve parties and attendees are reminded to bring their IDs so they can enjoy the bubbly. It is true that some of the Protestant Reformers drank alcoholic beverages, but they are not our authority. They also “baptized” babies and drowned Baptists! It is also true that there are instances in the Old Testament in which God allowed His people Israel to drink alcoholic wine, but there are many things in the O.T. that we do not practice today. I believe that Christians today should not drink alcoholic beverages for the following three reasons, among others. First, the Bible warns that wine is a mocker and deceives men (Prov. 20:1). Second, the Bible instructs the believer not to give offense in anything (1 Corinthians 10:32-33). Three, the Bible commands the believer to abstain from all appearance of evil (1 Thessalonians 5:22). If anything has the appearance of evil today, it is alcoholic beverages, and abstaining from all appearance of evil is not a mere suggestion; it is a commandment! (For more on this see “Emerging Church Loves to Drink” at the Way of Life web site.)
“I’M FREE TO DO WHAT I WANT” ROCKERS REACT TO BONO’S CRITICISM OF MUSIC THEFT (Friday Church News Notes, January 8, 2010, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - In an op-ed piece for the New York Times, rock star Bono called Internet providers “reverse Robin Hoods” who benefit from the music industry’s lost profits. He suggested that governments should crack down in illegal downloading of commercial music and video. His comments were met with ridicule from rock & roll lovers who have learned their lessons well at the feet of their gods (“Bono Net Policing Idea Draws Fire,” BBC News, Jan. 4, 2010). It is humorous to see the rock gods rail against the monster they created. Doesn’t the rock philosophy preach, “We are free to do what we want any old time!” (“I’m Free,” Rolling Stones, 1965), and, “It’s my life and I’ll do what I want” (The Animals, 1965), and, “You got to go where you want to go/ Do what you want to do” (Mamas and Papas, 1965), and, “It’s your thing/ do what you want to do” (Isley Brothers, 1969)? U2 represents end-time apostate Christianity. Bono and two other band members claim to be Christians, but their Christianity was described 2,000 years ago in Bible prophecy. They refuse sound Bible doctrine and live according to their own lusts, preaching a grace that is redefined licentiousness. “For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables” (2 Timothy 4:3-4). (For more on this see the article “The Rock Group U2” at the Way of Life web site.)
JEWS THWARTED GENTILE SALVATIONS (Friday Church News Notes, January 8, 2010, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The following is from Hughie Seaborn, one of our friends from Down Under -- “In my Bible devotions this morning I was reading in first Thessalonians and came across verse 16 of chapter 2 and wondered how it was that Paul could lay blame at the feet of the religious Jews for being the cause of a number of Gentiles remaining unsaved. If Calvinism is true, how could the religious Jews possibly thwart God in saving any Gentiles if they were of the elect? I would have read this passage of Scripture many times since becoming aware of the inconsistencies of Calvinism, but this morning is the first time I remember verse 16 speaking to me specifically refuting the ‘I’ of ‘TULIP.’ Obviously, the Apostle Paul thought it possible that people who could (might) be saved (if given the opportunity to hear the message of salvation) wouldn’t be saved if that message was somehow blocked from their hearing. Obviously also, Paul knew nothing of people being irresistibly regenerated and imparted with faith previous to hearing and believing the Gospel. 1 Thessalonians 2:14-16 reads, ‘For ye, brethren, became followers of the churches of God which in Judaea are in Christ Jesus: for ye also have suffered like things of your own countrymen, even as they have of the Jews: Who both killed the Lord Jesus, and their own prophets, and have persecuted us; and they please not God, and are contrary to all men: Forbidding us to speak to the Gentiles that they might be saved...’”
SCIENTISTS LEARN ADVANCED ENGINEERING SKILLS FROM THE LOWLY BEE (Friday Church News Notes, January 8, 2010, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - Scientists studying the bee’s amazing landing ability are learning lessons that might help engineers design a new generation of automated aircraft. Bees, who have never attended flight school and with a tiny brain only the size of a sesame seed, can perform all sorts of complex maneuvers, smoothly and flawlessly landing on surfaces from right side up to vertical to upside-down. The bee waits until it is only about a half inch away from the surface and then instantly performs its landing acrobatic magic which begins with a hover. A neuroscientist at the Queensland Brain Institute, where the bee’s flight is being studied, observed, “This is something an engineer would not think of while sitting in an armchair and thinking about how to land an aircraft. This is something we wouldn’t have thought of if we hadn’t watched bees do their landings” (“Why Bees Always Have a Safe Landing,” MSNBC, Dec. 23, 2009). In conclusion we quote from Andrew McIntosh, who has a Ph.D. in combustion theory from the Cranfield Institute of Technology and a D.Sc. in mathematics from the University of Wales. “It is not scientific to argue, on the one hand, for the obvious design of a Boeing 747, and then rule design ‘out of court’ when considering the far more versatile flight of an eagle, falcon, or the remarkable hummingbird [or a bee]. Modern minds within the secular media are presenting an unscientific duality of thought when praising engineering complexity in man-made machines, glorying in the great creative advances of mankind, but presenting the complexity in the world around us (so often far greater intricacy than man-made machines) as due to a gigantic unplanned cosmic experiment, with no Creator” (In Six Days: Why Fifty Scientists Choose to Believe in Creation, edited by John Ashton, 2001, p. 166).
A WARNING ABOUT PETER RUCKMAN (Friday Church News Notes, January 8, 2010, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - There are a large number of independent Baptist churches that are a great blessing to this dark world, but the fact remains that some of them are cultic. And one of those is Bible Baptist Church of Pensacola, Florida, founded by Peter Ruckman. This twice-divorced, thrice-married pastor exalts the King James Bible as “advanced revelation” superior to the Greek and Hebrew from which it was translated. He claims that God shut the door of revelation in 1611 (The Monarch of Books, p. 9). In the books The Salient Verses and The Unknown Bible, Ruckman claims to have discovered hundreds of advanced revelations in the Bible that no other man has found. He says on page 347 of The Unknown Bible, “Do you realize that in these last two chapters, you have learned a dozen things that were unknown to the greatest Bible teachers in the world?” These new revelations include the idea that angels are 33-year-old males, that all believing women will receive 33-year-old male bodies at the Rapture, that when the believer is born again his soul is literally cut loose from the inside of his fleshly body, that demons are winged creatures ranging in size from that of flies to eagles, and that the soul is an invisible bodily shape. In his tract Millions Disappear: Fact or Fiction? Ruckman claims that men were are saved in different ways in different ages, by faith plus works in the Old Testament and in the Tribulation and by works alone in the Millennium. In his book Black Is Beautiful, Ruckman describes his belief in space aliens. He suggests that some of the medieval plagues in Europe were caused by UFOs, that a B-52 bomber was downed by a UFO and that aliens disemboweled the crew members, that a crew member of a US Navy ship was transported into the future, that the CIA operates underground alien breeding facilities (p. 256), that there are web footed aliens, blue aliens with blue blood (pp. 85, 86), black aliens with green blood (p. 244), grey aliens with clear blood (pp. 310-11), and that Adam originally had water in his veins instead of blood (p. 185). We aren’t sure what is in the veins of Peter Ruckman.
TELEVISION IS A SLIPPERY SLOPE (Friday Church News Notes, January 8, 2010, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - Television is a slippery slope. It is getting progressively worse, and the majority of Christian homes are succumbing to Hollywood’s siren song. Like the frog in the gradually-heated pot, God’s people who are careless about separating from Hollywood’s filthy fare become desensitized by it. A missionary friend was eating a meal with a fundamental Baptist pastor and his wife some years ago when the topic of the movie Titanic (rated PG-13) came up. When the missionary expressed his opinion that the movie is ungodly, the pastor’s wife said that they had seen it and had enjoyed it. The missionary asked what they thought of the nudity in the movie, and the pastor’s wife said it was “tastefully done.” This illustrates how worldly many fundamental Baptist churches have become. If pastors and their wives are enjoying movies featuring premarital affairs and partial nudity, what are the other members of the church watching! The Bible says the pastor is to be the example to the flock (1 Peter 5:3). Woe unto those multitudes of worldly pastors and deacons and Sunday School teachers who are comfortable with Hollywood’s cesspool and who do not teach their people the fear of God and separation from the world.
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.
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.
U.K.’S “DRINKING CULTURE” A DRAIN ON HEALTH CARE (Friday Church News Notes, January 8, 2010, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - A new report warns that the United Kingdom’s “notorious drinking culture” is putting a serious strain on the taxpayer-funded medical system. It is costing $4.4 billion a year to treat patients for drink-related problems, which is double the amount five years ago (“U.K. Drinking Culture Strains Health System,” USA Today, Jan. 2, 2010). The study, co-published by the Royal College of Physicians, says that 10.5 million adults in Britain “drink above sensible limits.” A study at a hospital in Leeds found that one-fifth of emergency room admissions were for alcohol-related conditions. Alcohol-related deaths have doubled in the last 15 years. In January 2005 the Royal College of Physicians warned that Britain’s epidemic of alcohol addiction is fuelling violence and illness throughout the country (The Telegraph, Jan. 3, 2005). Nothing good comes out of an alcoholic bottle, but having read about 80 books by emergent church writers, I have been impressed with the fact that they, too, love to drink. The book Listening to the Beliefs of Emerging Churches: Five Perspectives, for example, contains probably a dozen references to the joys of drinking. The contributors are Karen Ward, Mark Driscoll, John Burke, Dan Kimball, and Doug Pagitt. They meet in bars and taverns for theological discussions and exchange beer-making techniques. Mars Hill Church in Seattle sets up a “champagne bar” at their New Year’s Eve parties and attendees are reminded to bring their IDs so they can enjoy the bubbly. It is true that some of the Protestant Reformers drank alcoholic beverages, but they are not our authority. They also “baptized” babies and drowned Baptists! It is also true that there are instances in the Old Testament in which God allowed His people Israel to drink alcoholic wine, but there are many things in the O.T. that we do not practice today. I believe that Christians today should not drink alcoholic beverages for the following three reasons, among others. First, the Bible warns that wine is a mocker and deceives men (Prov. 20:1). Second, the Bible instructs the believer not to give offense in anything (1 Corinthians 10:32-33). Three, the Bible commands the believer to abstain from all appearance of evil (1 Thessalonians 5:22). If anything has the appearance of evil today, it is alcoholic beverages, and abstaining from all appearance of evil is not a mere suggestion; it is a commandment! (For more on this see “Emerging Church Loves to Drink” at the Way of Life web site.)
“I’M FREE TO DO WHAT I WANT” ROCKERS REACT TO BONO’S CRITICISM OF MUSIC THEFT (Friday Church News Notes, January 8, 2010, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - In an op-ed piece for the New York Times, rock star Bono called Internet providers “reverse Robin Hoods” who benefit from the music industry’s lost profits. He suggested that governments should crack down in illegal downloading of commercial music and video. His comments were met with ridicule from rock & roll lovers who have learned their lessons well at the feet of their gods (“Bono Net Policing Idea Draws Fire,” BBC News, Jan. 4, 2010). It is humorous to see the rock gods rail against the monster they created. Doesn’t the rock philosophy preach, “We are free to do what we want any old time!” (“I’m Free,” Rolling Stones, 1965), and, “It’s my life and I’ll do what I want” (The Animals, 1965), and, “You got to go where you want to go/ Do what you want to do” (Mamas and Papas, 1965), and, “It’s your thing/ do what you want to do” (Isley Brothers, 1969)? U2 represents end-time apostate Christianity. Bono and two other band members claim to be Christians, but their Christianity was described 2,000 years ago in Bible prophecy. They refuse sound Bible doctrine and live according to their own lusts, preaching a grace that is redefined licentiousness. “For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables” (2 Timothy 4:3-4). (For more on this see the article “The Rock Group U2” at the Way of Life web site.)
JEWS THWARTED GENTILE SALVATIONS (Friday Church News Notes, January 8, 2010, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The following is from Hughie Seaborn, one of our friends from Down Under
A WARNING ABOUT PETER RUCKMAN (Friday Church News Notes, January 8, 2010, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - There are a large number of independent Baptist churches that are a great blessing to this dark world, but the fact remains that some of them are cultic. And one of those is Bible Baptist Church of Pensacola, Florida, founded by Peter Ruckman. This twice-divorced, thrice-married pastor exalts the King James Bible as “advanced revelation” superior to the Greek and Hebrew from which it was translated. He claims that God shut the door of revelation in 1611 (The Monarch of Books, p. 9). In the books The Salient Verses and The Unknown Bible, Ruckman claims to have discovered hundreds of advanced revelations in the Bible that no other man has found. He says on page 347 of The Unknown Bible, “Do you realize that in these last two chapters, you have learned a dozen things that were unknown to the greatest Bible teachers in the world?” These new revelations include the idea that angels are 33-year-old males, that all believing women will receive 33-year-old male bodies at the Rapture, that when the believer is born again his soul is literally cut loose from the inside of his fleshly body, that demons are winged creatures ranging in size from that of flies to eagles, and that the soul is an invisible bodily shape. In his tract Millions Disappear: Fact or Fiction? Ruckman claims that men were are saved in different ways in different ages, by faith plus works in the Old Testament and in the Tribulation and by works alone in the Millennium. In his book Black Is Beautiful, Ruckman describes his belief in space aliens. He suggests that some of the medieval plagues in Europe were caused by UFOs, that a B-52 bomber was downed by a UFO and that aliens disemboweled the crew members, that a crew member of a US Navy ship was transported into the future, that the CIA operates underground alien breeding facilities (p. 256), that there are web footed aliens, blue aliens with blue blood (pp. 85, 86), black aliens with green blood (p. 244), grey aliens with clear blood (pp. 310-11), and that Adam originally had water in his veins instead of blood (p. 185). We aren’t sure what is in the veins of Peter Ruckman.
TELEVISION IS A SLIPPERY SLOPE (Friday Church News Notes, January 8, 2010, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - Television is a slippery slope. It is getting progressively worse, and the majority of Christian homes are succumbing to Hollywood’s siren song. Like the frog in the gradually-heated pot, God’s people who are careless about separating from Hollywood’s filthy fare become desensitized by it. A missionary friend was eating a meal with a fundamental Baptist pastor and his wife some years ago when the topic of the movie Titanic (rated PG-13) came up. When the missionary expressed his opinion that the movie is ungodly, the pastor’s wife said that they had seen it and had enjoyed it. The missionary asked what they thought of the nudity in the movie, and the pastor’s wife said it was “tastefully done.” This illustrates how worldly many fundamental Baptist churches have become. If pastors and their wives are enjoying movies featuring premarital affairs and partial nudity, what are the other members of the church watching! The Bible says the pastor is to be the example to the flock (1 Peter 5:3). Woe unto those multitudes of worldly pastors and deacons and Sunday School teachers who are comfortable with Hollywood’s cesspool and who do not teach their people the fear of God and separation from the world.
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.