Jan 2010

January 29, 2010, Volume 11, Issue 5

29/01/10 08:15

AVERAGE AGE OF CHURCH OF ENGLAND ATTENDEES IS 61 (Friday Church News Notes, January 29, 2010, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - According to a new study, the average age of attendees in the Church of England is 61. That’s the average! Lyda Barley, head of research and statistics for the Anglican Church, blamed the situation on general societal trends (“Average age of churchgoer now 61,” The Telegraph, Jan. 22, 2010). The real problem is wretched apostasy. Why should people attend “church” when even the leaders don’t believe their own Scriptures and are confused about the most basic tenets of the Christian faith? When I was in London in 1982, I read an interview by John Mortiner of the Sunday Times with Archbishop of Canterbury Robert Runcie. It was Easter, and the interviewer asked Runcie if he understood why Christ had to suffer. The Archbishop replied, “As to that I am an agnostic.” He did not know why Christ died on the cross! The interviewer asked, “Is God a judge?” Runcie was more dogmatic on that one. He replied, “No.” The interviewer then said, “So you don’t see God as celestial Lord Chief Justice?” Runcie answered, “Not at all. I had an old landlady when we were at Oxford. And when we got into any sort of trouble, she’d say: ‘There’s one above who seeth all’. I can’t think of God like that.” Runcie’s wretched unbelief is typical of the Church of England today. (For evidence see “Fifty Years of Anglican Liberalism” at the Way of Life web site. There is a search engine.)

UNITED NATIONS REPORT REPRODUCES MYTH ABOUT HIMALAYAN GLACIAL MELTING (Friday Church News Notes, January 29, 2010, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The following is excerpted from “World misled over Himalayan glacier meltdown,” The Times, London, Jan. 17, 2010: “A warning that climate change will melt most of the Himalayan glaciers by 2035 is likely to be retracted after a series of scientific blunders by the United Nations body that issued it. Two years ago the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) issued a benchmark report that was claimed to incorporate the latest and most detailed research into the impact of global warming. A central claim was the world’s glaciers were melting so fast that those in the Himalayas could vanish by 2035. In the past few days the scientists behind the warning have admitted that it was based on a news story in the New Scientist, a popular science journal, published eight years before the IPCC’s 2007 report. It has also emerged that the New Scientist report was itself based on a short telephone interview with Syed Hasnain, a little-known Indian scientist then based at Jawaharlal Nehru University in Delhi. Hasnain has since admitted that the claim was ‘speculation’ and was not supported by any formal research. ... glaciologists find such figures inherently ludicrous, pointing out that most Himalayan glaciers are hundreds of feet thick and could not melt fast enough to vanish by 2035 unless there was a huge global temperature rise. The maximum rate of decline in thickness seen in glaciers at the moment is 2-3 feet a year and most are far lower. Professor Julian Dowdeswell, director of the Scott Polar Research Institute at Cambridge University, said: ‘Even a small glacier such as the Dokriani glacier is up to 120 metres [394ft] thick. A big one would be several hundred metres thick and tens of kilometres long. The average is 300 metres thick so to melt one even at 5 metres a year would take 60 years. That is a lot faster than anything we are seeing now so the idea of losing it all by 2035 is unrealistically high.’” [CONCLUDING NOTE: On January 20, the UN apologized for the misleading data by labeling it “poorly substantiated.” Actually, the data was entirely unsubstantiated, but the global warming Nazis aren’t about to back away from their money-making, power-grabbing myth.]

VISITING EVANGELICALS SILENT ON CHINA’S PERSECUTED HOUSE CHURCHES (Friday Church News Notes, January 29, 2010, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The following is excerpted from Christian Newswire, January 14, 2010: “The Institute on Religion & Democracy (IRD) is dismayed at the World Evangelical Alliance (WEA)'s having ignored religious persecution in China during its recent visit. Instead, it spoke only of cooperation with the government-registered church while disregarding restrictions by the communist regime on unofficial churches. The vast majority of Chinese Christians, conservatively estimated at 80 million in number, worship in unregistered congregations that meet in homes and other settings. In the past week alone, leaders of the Chinese House Church Alliance were detained by the authorities in Hebei province according to China Aid. House churches in both Beijing and Shanghai have also been closed recently by the police. In Shanxi province, authorities demolished the Fushan House Church's building, giving church leaders long prison sentences. In December, a Ugyhur Christian convert from Islam was sentenced to fifteen years in prison for his faith.”

BRITISH METEORIGICAL OFFICE PREDICTED MILD WINTER (Friday Church News Notes, January 29, 2010, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The British Met (formerly called Meteorological) Office’s prediction for a mild winter was grossly wrong. In fact, it has been bitterly cold, with temperatures plunging to as low as -22C in places. A BBC weatherman, Paul Hudson, suggested that the Met Office’s computer simulations might have “developed a warm bias” that caused the wrong forecast. (“Met Office computer accused of ‘warm bias,’” Daily Mail, Jan. 17, 2010). Be that as it may, one thing is certain, and that is that modern scientists cannot predict the weather three months from now, not to speak of three years or three decades. (The Met Office’s prediction of a “barbeque summer” last year was just as wrong as its winter forecast.) The “computer models” that are used to predict long-term global warming are a joke. Man, even with his vaunted modern scientific expertise, simply does not have enough knowledge to make such predictions accurately. Pompous ignorance seasoned with a good measure of outright deception and a heaping dose of greed are the ingredients of the man-made global warming stew.

MUSIC AT TRINITY BAPTIST, JACKSONVILLE, FLORIDA (Friday Church News Notes, January 29, 2010, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The following is by Jeff Royal -- “I visited Trinity Baptist Church in Jacksonville several weeks ago where Pastor Tom Messer is pastor. What concerned me was the music. They opened with a jazzed up version of ‘To God Be the Glory’ and I could not follow the worship leader Jason Cross although I tried. It was sung very fast and choppy and had a whole new chorus inserted in the song that supposedly made it more meaningful. They next led with the celebration choir and worship team in ‘Let the Worshippers Arise’ by the Pentecostal group Philips, Craig, and Dean. They followed that with ‘Lord, I Offer My Life to You’ by Don Moen of Integrity music. In my opinion, Trinity has succumbed to and completely bought into CCM as part of their worship services. Of course, this change has been going on for several years now. They just didn’t decide a few weeks ago to embrace CCM. The people in general are very friendly at Trinity. Something I’m sad to say is lacking at many fundamental IB churches today. Please pray for Pastor Messer and the leadership at Trinity Baptist. In my opinion, they are headed down a dangerous road. While introducing a choir performance, Jason Cross mentioned Lou Giglio in no less than glowing terms. Giglio in my opinion is from the ‘emerging’ church camp and Pastor Messer should know better even if his worship leader doesn’t. I’m reminded of the wise words of the late evangelist Gordon Sears who said, ‘When the standard of music is lowered, then the standard of dress is also lowered. When the standard of dress is lowered, then the standard of conduct is also lowered. When the standard of conduct is lowered, then the sense of value in God’s truth is lowered’ (Songfest newsletter, April 2001).”

THE QUIBBLING OF EVOLUTIONARY SCIENCE (Friday Church News Notes, January 29, 2010, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - To quibble means “to evade the truth or importance of an issue by raising trivial distinctions and objections, to find fault or criticize for petty reasons.” That is exactly how evolutionists typically treat the arguments for creation and intelligent design. For example, when I referred to Isaac Asimov and Carl Sagan as “evolutionary scientists” in a report about atheistic evolution’s influence on the field of science fiction, many berated me mercilessly because of my “gross mistake” in applying “evolutionary scientist” to anyone other than a biologist. This is a quibble. Evolution has permeated every field of “science” and the term “evolutionary science” is used today to reflect this fact. A quick search of the Internet will demonstrate this. By using the term “evolutionary scientist” I was simply describing them as scientists committed to Darwinian evolution. That was the only point, and it was accurate. Evolutionists quibble because they cannot prove their theories with scientific facts; they cannot answer the substantive arguments leveled against them. They quibble because they have no truth. The quibble might be some mistake in documentation, some minor error in logic, some outdated figure, some perceived less than ideal use of a term, the failure to cite the very latest research. Typically, evolutionists do not engage the creationist’s major arguments. Every man makes mistakes, of course, but a mistake does not necessarily disprove his arguments. In a topic as complicated, far-reaching, and quickly changing as the evolution-creation-intelligent design debate, mistakes will be made on all sides. When someone purports to give a reply to a man’s substantive arguments but actually ignores the arguments and quibbles about minor things, he is dodging the truth.

738 PROFESSIONS OF FAITH AND 25 BAPTISMS (Friday Church News Notes, January 29, 2010, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The following is excerpted and slightly adapted from The Technique Catastrophe: An Explanation of the Multitudes of False Professions in the Independent Baptist Movement by Bob Creel (865-712-4537): “When numbers become so important to us that they outweigh the truth, it’s time that we admit to a crisis! When we receive missionary reports similar to the one recently sent to the church where I am now attending, it’s time we take stock of our methodology. This missionary brother was rejoicing over the results that he had experienced in his first full year on the mission field. He boasted of 738 professions of faith with 25 following in believer’s baptism. How could you even pen those words without asking yourself if there isn’t something wrong with that picture? I seem to remember 3,000 saved at Pentecost, and 3,000 baptized! The most refreshing missionary that I have heard in a long time gave his update to our church recently. He has been in Poland for 14 years and to date knows of only five people who have been saved under his ministry. Just like at Pentecost, he only counts the ones who have been saved, baptized, and are in the church. Most of our ‘one, two, three, pray after me’ fellows would have dropped his support a long time ago! Myself, I would drop the guy with 738 saved and 25 baptized and shift the support to the fellow from Poland!”

PARENTS SHOULD FILL THE HOME WITH SPIRITUAL MUSIC (Friday Church News Notes, January 29, 2010, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The late Pastor J.B. Buffington said, “Worldly music produces a worldly environment and creates worldly attitudes. On the other hand, you can program temperament and stability and peace and quietness in your home if you get good sacred Christian music. You can play Bible stories in a room where a little baby is sleeping, and you are programming Bible stories into his little mind. Kids don’t have to learn things formally; you just put it there and they are like a blotter. They absorb it. Put soothing, Christ-honoring, soul-stirring Christian music on and just let it play in your home, and you are programming something of security and tranquility and peace into the children’s hearts” (“How to Lose a Child Before He Is Five Years Old”). An extensive list of “Suggested Sacred Music Recordings” can be found at the Way of Life Literature web site.

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.

January 22, 2010, Volume 11, Issue 4

22/01/10 08:26

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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.

NEANDERTHAL JEWELRY (Friday Church News Notes, January 22, 2010, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - Neanderthal fossils have long been used to bolster the evolutionary myth, but a new discovery should finally put the lid on the idea that Neanderthals were sub-human half-wits. Painted, perforated shells have been found in Neanderthal sites in southern Spain. The jewelry, which likely adorned the necks of Neanderthals, features red, yellow, orange, and black pigments composed of “complex recipes.” The expedition, which was led by Professor Joao Zilhao of Bristol University in the UK, concluded that the find buries “the view of Neanderthals as half-wits” (“Neanderthal ‘Make-up’ Containers,” BBC News, Jan. 9, 2010). Some of the shells are also thought to have been containers for make-up. An editorial in The Guardian said, “It seems we have all been guilty of defaming Neanderthal man” (“In Praise of ... Neanderthal Man,” Jan. 13, 2010). That is an understatement. After the discovery in 1908 of a nearly complete Neanderthal skeleton in La Chapell-aux-Saints in France, French paleontologist Marcellin Boule declared it Homo neanderthalensis, a supposed ancestor to modern man. Boule reported to the Academy of Sciences that Neanderthal was ape-like in many characteristics, including the skull and “a divergent great toe.” He believed that Neanderthal did not walk erect but pigeon-toed like an ape and with a bent-knee gait. It was also supposed that the Neanderthal Man couldn’t speak, but only grunted. In 1930, Frederick Blaschke modeled a Neanderthal family in a cave setting based on Boule’s interpretation. They were stooped, half-clothed, clutching bones, and had very unintelligent expressions. This was set up as a permanent display in the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago and was copied in countless textbooks, encyclopedias, journals, popular magazines and newspapers, and museums. In 1919 H.G. Wells wrote, “[Neanderthal] was, indeed, not quite of the human species” (The Outline of History). This is the myth that prevailed for nearly half a century and was disseminated to the ends of the earth by the evolutionary propaganda machine. It has since been admitted that Neanderthals made tools and weapons, buried their dead, used fire, constructed complex shelters, skinned animals, made musical instruments, talked, and left other evidence of being “real” human beings. It should have been obvious from the beginning that these were not dumb ape-men, because there were “stone age” tribes during the first half of the twentieth century that lived primitive lives but were obviously fully human, and there were living humans that looked like Neanderthals in stature and in the structure of the skull. The fact is that the paleoanthropologists involved were blinded by their evolutionary zeal. They saw what they wanted to see.

POPE SAYS THE ULTIMATE AIM OF ECUMENISM IS FOR PROTESTANTS TO JOIN ROME (Friday Church News Notes, January 22, 2010, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - In defending his recent decision to expedite and simplify the process for Anglicans to join the Roman Catholic Church, Pope Benedict XVI said that this, after all, the “ultimate aim” of ecumenism. He told the Vatican’s Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith (formerly called the Office of the Inquisition) that the objective is to bring about “full and visible communion” of all Christians (“Pope Defends Invitation to Anglicans,” AP via Richmond Times-Dispatch, Jan. 15, 2010). This “visible communion” is the one with the pope as its head, of course! That the “separated brethren” are perpetually surprised when Rome says that the pope is Chief Injun never ceases to amaze me. The Roman Catholic Church has never backed down from its claim to headship and supremacy. The Second Vatican Council stated, “the sole Church of Christ ... subsists in the Catholic Church, which is governed by the successor of Peter and by the bishops in communion with him” (Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, chap. 1, 8, p. 329), and, “it is through Christ’s Catholic Church alone ... that the fulness of the means of salvation can be obtained” (Decree on Ecumenism, chap. 1, 3, p. 415), and, “the Roman Pontiff, by reason of his office as Vicar of Christ ... has full, supreme, and universal power over the whole Church, a power which he can always exercise unhindered” (Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, chap. 3, 22, p. 344). Which part of “full” and “supreme” and “universal” do gullible ecumenists not understand?

RUNAWAY CHRISTIAN CONVERT ALLOWED TO LIVE APART FROM PARENTS (Friday Church News Notes, January 22, 2010, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The following is excerpted from the Christian Post, Jan. 20, 2010: “A teenage girl from Ohio who ran away from home after she became Christian can remain free from her Muslim parents, according to the terms of a court settlement. Though Rifqa Bary’s parents have been fighting to regain custody of her since last August, under the agreement Tuesday, the 17-year-old teen can stay in a foster home under state custody in Columbus until she turns 18. After legally becoming an adult in August, Bary will be free to live where she chooses. ... Since last August, Bary has been involved in a legal battle with her parents, claiming that her father had said, ‘If you have this Jesus in your heart, you are dead to me!’ and also added some time later, ‘I will kill you!’ Last July, Bary ran away from her home near Columbus by boarding a Greyhound bus and heading to Orlando, where she was taken in by an evangelical pastor couple in Orlando that she met through a Facebook prayer group. Bary stayed with the pastors for two weeks until Florida authorities discovered her parents had filed her as missing. She has since been living in foster homes – first in Florida and later in Ohio, where judges from both states eventually agreed jurisdiction in the custody case belonged.”

SOUTHERN BAPTISTS USING THE EMERGING APPROACH TO MUSLIM EVANGELISM (Friday Church News Notes, January 22, 2010, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - Southern Baptist missionary Kevin Greeson says that the way to reach Muslims is to sneak up on them by using the Koran rather than the Bible and to de-emphasize church. It is called the “camel method.” Greeson says, “Our generation can’t afford to be satisfied or happy with winning one lost person to Christ. There are so many lost people, we can’t be happy with that” (“Use the Quran,” Baptist Standard, Dec. 31, 2009). Any believer that is busy preaching the gospel wants to see more people saved rather than less, but the fact is that Jesus taught that the road to destruction is broad (Matthew 7:13-14). Greeson claims that many thousands of Muslims are converting on the Arab Peninsula and in Iran, Pakistan, India, Bangladesh and Indonesia. Since Muslims don’t accept the Bible’s authority, “quoting Scripture is useless,” we are told, and the key is to use the Koran (even though it presents a false Christ). The camel method “doesn’t teach or lecture” and avoids trying to get the “converts” into churches. He says, “When you find a person of peace, don’t make him join your church, comb his hair different and make him like you. Don’t try to clean them up.” But Jesus commanded us to teach converts to “observe ALL things whatsoever I have taught you” (Matthew 28:18-20). And we are taught in God’s Word that the church is the pillar and ground of the truth and are warned not to neglect it (1 Timothy 3:15; Hebrews 10:25). Greeson’s reference to a “person of peace” is straight from Rick Warren’s P.E.A.C.E. program. Warren says, “When you find the man of peace, if he’s open and he’s willing to work with you, you bless him and you start your work there. ... The man of peace is open and influential. ... The man of peace does not have to be a Christian believer. Could be a Muslim. Could be Jewish” (Warren interview with Charlie Rose, Aug. 17, 2006). Warren’s ecumenical approach is forbidden by Holy Scripture (e.g., Romans 16:17; 2 Corinthians 6:14-18). We are commanded to preach the gospel, and the gospel is the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ “according to the Scripture” (1 Corinthians 15:3-4). The Scripture is the quick and powerful Word of God that “works” regardless of whether someone accepts its authority. The devil doesn’t accept its authority, but the Lord Jesus quoted it to him anyway! The apostles didn’t try to sneak the gospel up on people by giving them the false impression that their false religions teach the truth. They didn’t try to start impressive “people’s movements” by means of half-converted, half-discipled, unchurched “men of peace.” The Southern Baptist Convention is heading pell-mell into the emerging church, and a lot of independent Baptists are so blind and ignorant and impressed with “success” that they are yoking together with them.

PRAISE FOR HEROIC LANDING GIVEN TO JESUS CHRIST (Friday Church News Notes, January 22, 2010, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The following is by Brian Snider -- “Whatever else he might have been thinking of in the moment of crisis, United Airlines Captain Dale Nordausen said that many Scriptures have come to mind since making a treacherous landing in Newark on January 10th. He said that he has thought about Psalm 107, ‘Then they cried unto THE LORD in their trouble, and he delivered them out of their distresses.’ And James 1:17, ‘Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.’ And he’s thought much about the 52 lives that were in his care that morning. Nordhausen became something of a hero January 10th when he safely landed United Flight 634 with only two of the three sets of wheels down. According to the New Jersey Real Time News website (www.nj.com), ‘Some of the passengers on the flight from Chicago compared Nordhausen to Capt. Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger, who was able to splash land a distressed Airbus A320 in the Hudson River a year ago tomorrow. In the incident, Nordhausen landed the jet on only its nose and left landing gear. The right engine provided the third landing point, and slid along the runway until the jet came to a stop. Passengers said afterward that the touchdown was smoother than landings they’ve had at Newark when all of the landing gear deployed. Because of the efforts of Captain Nordhausen, First Officer Eskuri and the crew of Flight 634, none of the 48 passengers or five crew members were seriously injured,’ the United Master Executive Council of the Air Line Pilots Association in Illinois said in a statement. We’ve taken a particular interest in this hero because Capt. Nordhausen is also Brother Nordhausen, a friend and supporter of Way of Life Literature. Nordhausen is a faithful member of a Bible-believing church and has recently been leading a men’s Bible using Way of Life Literature’s Advanced Bible Study materials. We would like to congratulate Capt. Nordhausen on the quick-thinking response that put his malfunctioning aircraft safely on the ground, but Nordhausen says that thanks have to go higher than him. ‘All the glory for the outcome of the landing goes to the grace of my Captain Jesus Christ; The King of kings and Lord of lords.’”

APOSTATE PRESBYTERIANS DON’T BELIEVE THAT JESUS IS ONLY WAY OF SALVATION (Friday Church News Notes, January 22, 2010, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - A new survey has found that only about one-third of the pastors in the Presbyterian Church USA believe that Jesus is the only way of salvation. When confronted with the statement “only followers of Jesus Christ can be saved,” only 35% of pastors and 39% of church members agreed (Christian Post, Jan. 13, 2010). The survey, “Religious and Demographic Profile of Presbyterians,” was taken by the denomination itself. This is evidence of wretched apostasy. There should not be even one pastor or church member that would hesitate to agree with that simple statement. Apostasy is discouraging in one sense, but it is evidence of the truth of the Bible and reminds us that time is short and Jesus is coming! “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).

DUTCH LAWMAKER MUST GO TO TRIAL FOR HATE SPEECH AGAINST MUSLIMS (Friday Church News Notes, January 22, 2010, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The following is excerpted from “Dutch Lawmaker Fails to Avoid Hate Speech Charges,” OneNewsNow.com, Jan. 14, 2010: “Dutch lawmaker Geert Wilders has failed in his bid to have judges drop or reduce charges of criminal incitement against him, despite arguing that his anti-Islam message falls within the boundaries of freedom of speech. Wilders, one of the Netherlands’ most popular politicians, is due to go on trial in March for allegedly insulting Muslims as a group and inciting hatred and discrimination against them. The charges stem from Wilders' 2008 short film ‘Fitna,’ which offended many Muslims by juxtaposing Quranic verses with images of terrorism by Islamic radicals.”

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.

January 15, 2010, Volume 11, Issue 3

15/01/10 06:36

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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.

MOVIE VIEWERS DON’T WANT TO LEAVE IMAGINARY WORLD (Friday Church News Notes, January 15, 2010, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - It is reported that some fans of the movie Avatar are experiencing potent withdrawal symptoms because they don’t want to leave the film’s imaginary world. Avatar, which is on track possibly to become the highest grossing film of all time, is a science fiction movie about a world called Pandora populated by a race of “humanoids” called Na’vi. Its powerful 3D graphics immerse the viewer in this fictional world where the peace-loving citizens commune with nature. The writers even developed a Na’vi language consisting of 1,000 words. The fan forum site has received more than 1,000 posts pertaining to people experiencing obsessive thoughts about the film (“Audiences Experience ‘Avatar’ Blues,” CNN, Jan. 11, 2010). One said, “I can’t force myself to think that it’s just a movie, and to get over it.” Another, “Ever since I went to see ‘Avatar’ I have been depressed. Watching the wonderful world of Pandora and all the Na’vi made me want to be one of them. I can’t stop thinking about all the things that happened in the film and all of the tears and shivers I got from it. I even contemplate suicide thinking that if I do it I will be rebirthed in a world similar to Pandora.” The human imagination is a great spiritual battleground and must be guarded jealously. The Bible admonishes, “Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ” (2 Corinthians 10:5). The modern entertainment industry aims its heavy guns at man’s imagination. Satanic-influenced entertainment creators (Ephesians 2:1-2) want to corrupt the imagination through sensuality and turn it from the living God through the creation of vain worlds. There is particular danger for believers in the genres of science fiction and horror, which are typically devoid of truth and reality. Pandora does not exist, but Heaven and Hell do. No one will ever be rebirthed into Pandora, but Jesus promised that men can be born again to eternal life through repentance and faith in Him and live forever in a place that is exceedingly more beautiful than any Hollywood script writer or graphics guru can ever imagine.

THE LABYRINTH: NEW AGE MYSTICISM (Friday Church News Notes, January 15, 2010, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The labyrinth continues to grow in popularity both in secular and “Christian” society. The labyrinth is a circular pattern with a path that winds its way to the center and that is used as a tool for prayer and meditation. The labyrinth was borrowed from paganism and “Christianized” by the Roman Catholic Church as part of its desperate search for spirituality apart from the new birth and commitment to Scripture. Today it is a mystical tool for unity, both secular and “Christian.” The modern resurgence of labyrinth practice has positioned them in Episcopalian, Lutheran, Presbyterian, Emerging, even Baptist churches (e.g., Millbrook Baptist in Raleigh, NC, and Weatherly Heights Baptist in Huntsville, Alabama). Lauren Artress, a priestess at Episcopalian Grace Cathedral in San Francisco and a major promoter of labyrinth, says the goal is “to facilitate the transformation of the Human Spirit.” Observe that Human Spirit is capitalized, testifying to the New Age view that man finds divinity within himself. Artress says that she discovered the labyrinth in 1991 through Jean Houston’s Mystery School, a New Age organization. Recently Artress said that the labyrinth assists the individual in drawing wisdom from himself. “We’re always told what to believe, what to do. We’re told. We’re told. We’re told. The labyrinth evokes our own deep intuitive wisdom about ourselves” (“Ancient Labyrinths Enjoying a Resurgence,” The Denver Post, Jan. 9, 2010). Notice the rebellion toward absolutely authority that literally drips from the lips of this New Age Episcopalian priestess. The Bible says man cannot find wisdom in himself because “the heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked” (Jeremiah 17:9). The mystery of iniquity, which is the devil’s program to put the antichrist on the throne of this world, is operating at full steam today, but we must not forget that there is one who is restraining this program and will continue to restrain until he is taken out of the way (2 Thessalonians 2:7-8). That One is the Holy Spirit, and the reason that Christ is waiting is the salvation of souls (2 Peter 3:9).

BAPTIST WORLD ALLIANCE AND ROMAN CATHOLIC DIALOGUE (Friday Church News Notes, January 15, 2010, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - Since 2006 the Baptist World Alliance has been conducting annual dialogues with the Roman Catholic Church. The representatives have considered the subjects of Scripture, tradition, Mary, and the papacy, and this year they intend to publish a joint document. Doubtless it will whitewash and misrepresent the differences and call for further steps toward “unity.” Beth Newman, a professor at the Baptist Theological Seminary and a member of the dialogue team, claims that Jesus desires unity between Baptists and Catholics (Associated Baptist Press, Jan. 5, 2010), and she bases this on John 17:21. “That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me.” In the context, though, Jesus was not giving a commandment for men to follow; He was praying to the Father and His prayer was answered. Those who are born again are one in Christ because they have been adopted into God’s family and made partakers of the Holy Spirit. This has nothing to do Roman Catholics, who believe that baptism and sacraments are necessary for salvation, or with unregenerate liberal Baptists who do not believe the Bible is the verbally-inspired Word of God. The “unity in diversity” promoted by the ecumenical movement is based on human thinking rather than God’s Word. True Christian unity is to “be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment” (1 Corinthians 1:10), and this is only possible among those who are born again and who are committed absolutely to the infallible Scriptures.

SCHOOLCHILDREN TOLD TO AVOID WIKIPEDIA (Friday Church News Notes, January 15, 2010, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The official educational qualifications and testing organization in England has warned students to avoid Wikipedia because of its lack of accuracy. Ofqual (the Office of the Qualifications and Examinations Regulator), warned that Wikipedia is not “authoritative or accurate” and in some cases “may be completely untrue” (“Schoolchildren Told to Avoid,” London Telegraph, Jan. 6, 2010). We have warned about Wikipedia in the past. The articles on creation science are invariably biased in the extreme, and in December a report was published exposing the fact that a Wikipedia administrator rewrote climate history by editing more than 5,000 articles to hide facts that discredit the man-made global warming hypothesis.

THE EINSTEIN GULF (Friday Church News Notes, January 15, 2010, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The following is excerpted from John Baumgardner, Ph.D. in geophysics, chapter 24 of In Six Days: Why Fifty Scientists Choose to Believe in Creation: “Einstein pointed to the nature and origin of symbolic information as one of the profound questions about the world as we know it. He could identify no means by which matter could bestow meaning to symbols. The clear implication is that symbolic information, or language, represents a category of reality distinct from matter and energy. Linguists today, therefore, speak of this gap between matter and meaning-bearing symbol sets as the ‘Einstein gulf.’ ... From whence, then, does linguistic information originate? In our human experience we immediately connect the language we create and process with our minds. But what is the ultimate nature of the human mind? If something as real as linguistic information has existence independent of matter and energy, from causal considerations it is not unreasonable to suspect that an entity capable of originating linguistic information is also ultimately non-material in its essential nature. ... The evolutionary assumption that the exceedingly complex linguistic structures which comprise the construction blueprints and operating manuals for all the complicated chemical nano-machinery and sophisticated feedback control mechanisms in even the simplest living organism--that these structures must have a materialistic explanation--is fundamentally wrong. But how, then, does one account for symbolic language as the crucial ingredient from which all living organisms develop and function and manifest such amazing capabilities? The answer should be obvious: an intelligent Creator is unmistakably required.”

PAT ROBERTSON MAKES ANOTHER PROPHECY (Friday Church News Notes, January 15, 2010, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - In spite of a long string of false prophecies, Charismatic preacher Pat Robertson has made another prediction, that America will become bankrupt in 2010. Actually, he fudged the timing by saying, “it’s coming, and it’s a question of how fast.” Anyone can make a prediction, and that one might be a pretty safe bet somewhere down the road, but Robertson’s error is in claiming that God tells him these things. He proved long ago that he is deceived in this. He prophesied for 2007 that America would suffer a “mass killing” at the hands of terrorists. He prophesied for 2006 that major storms would hit the American east coast and possibly a tsunami in the Pacific Northwest, but no major storm hit either coast that year for the first time in over a decade. For 2005 he predicted that President Bush would experience victory after victory in his second term, when in fact it was a disaster. For 2004 he prophesied that Bush would win the presidential election “like a blowout,” when in fact he squeaked by with 51% of the vote. For 1988 he prophesied that he would be the next president of the United States; for 1985, a worldwide economic collapse; for 1982, that Russia would invade Israel; for 1980, an economic depression and a major war in the Middle East. None of this happened. The Charismatic movement perpetually discredits itself. It is as much ridiculous as it is heretical, but with truth and eternal souls at stake it must be taken seriously. The Bible says, “When a prophet speaketh in the name of the LORD, if the thing follow not, nor come to pass, that is the thing which the LORD hath not spoken, but the prophet hath spoken it presumptuously: thou shalt not be afraid of him” (Deuteronomy 18:22).

JUSTIFYING 95% FALSE PROFESSIONS (Friday Church News Notes, January 15, 2010, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The following is excerpted from The Technique Catastrophe: An Explanation of the Multitudes of False Professions in the Independent Baptist Movement by Bob Creel (865-712-4537): “Many years ago, in order to answer the criticism of the mounting number of false professions, I heard a brother say, ‘I would rather lead 100 souls to Christ, knowing that 95 of them were false professions, and see five of them go to heaven, than to not attempt to be a soul-winner.’ The first tragedy of that statement is assuming that those are the only two options: either to rack up false professions while winning a few, or to not witness at all. How about the option of being a witness within the guidelines of scriptural teaching, which produces very few false professions! The second tragedy is the flippant attitude about the 95 people to whom you gave assurance of salvation that will one day wake up in hell! Most of them will not allow a genuine witness to approach them about their souls, because they’re banking on that false assurance that you gave them.”

THE MANIFOLD BENEFIT OF THE WAY OF LIFE ADVANCED BIBLE STUDIES SERIES (Friday Church News Notes, January 15, 2010, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - Way of Life’s Advanced Bible Studies Series is a serious set of Bible studies, equivalent to a complete Bible College curriculum. We don’t believe that you will find better quality, more truly life-changing Bible courses from any other source. We are continually revising the courses, and with each new edition they become more mature. There are currently 20 volumes averaging 265 pages each. The subjects are Acts, Bible History and Geography, The Bible Version Issue, Defense of the Faith, First Corinthians, The Four Gospels, Genesis, Give Attendance to Doctrine, Hebrews, A History of the Churches from a Baptist Perspective, How to Study the Bible, James, Job, The New Testament Church, Pastoral Epistles, Proverbs, Psalms, Revelation, Romans, and Understanding Bible Prophecy. (We recommend students to start with “How to Study the Bible.) The courses are based upon the King James Bible and the powerful word studies assist in the understanding of the KJV but do not cast doubt upon it. They are thorough and comprehensive, yet they are laid out in outlines that are easily comprehended and taught. They are very practical and have the objective of producing well-equipped Christian soldiers that have a solid understanding of the Bible and God’s perfect will. They stress holy and obedient Christian living and separation from worldliness and error. They magnify evangelism and the New Testament church and promote world missions. They emphasize the essential differences between law and grace, the church and Israel, positional and practical sanctification, and they continually fortify the student’s understanding of life-changing doctrines such as justification by grace, substitutionary atonement, and eternal security. The courses are non-Calvinistic and interpret Bible prophecy from a literal pre-tribulational perspective. The diligent student can be prepared to stand against the wiles of the Devil and to refute the major theological heresies of our day. One pastor said the books “are extremely helpful for any Christian, no matter where they are spiritually; the practical application is extremely helpful and edifying.” For more information see the online catalog at the Way of Life Literature web site, http://www.wayoflife.org

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.

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.

January 1, 2010, Volume 11, Issue 1

02/01/10 05:50

PDF VERSION

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.

RICK WARREN CONFERENCE TO FEATURE MARK DRISCOLL, THE ULTRA-COOL PASTOR (Friday Church News Notes, January 1, 2010, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - Mark Driscoll is scheduled to speak at Rick Warren’s Radicalis conference in February. The goal is “how to develop emotionally healthy leadership.” The conference also features Pete Scazzero, founder of Emotionally Healthy Spirituality, a ministry that promotes emotional health through Catholic contemplative mysticism. Driscoll is the ultra-cool senior pastor of Mars Hill Church in Seattle, Washington. He claims to be “THEOLOGICALLY CONSERVATIVE AND CULTURALLY LIBERAL” (“Pastor Provocateur,” Christianity Today, Sept. 21, 2007) and criticizes “hardcore fundamentalism that throws rocks at culture.” He defines himself as “relevant,” “contextual,” and “cool” (“Conference examines the emerging church,” Baptist Press, Sept. 25, 2007). Mark Driscoll’s church sets up a “champagne bar” at its New Year’s Eve parties. Members have to bring their IDs. They have “beer-brewing lessons” for men, show R-rated movies, and operate the Paradox Theater to host secular rock concerts. Scott Thomas, director of Acts 29, a church planting network associated with Driscoll, says, “We won’t water down our theology to reach more people and we won’t attack the culture in the name of Christianity” (http://www.acts29network.org/about/welcome/). These are contradictory statements. You can’t be faithful to the Bible (having rock-solid theology) if you “contextualize the gospel” and refuse to attack the sinful and satanic side of culture, which is a very large side of it in a world in which the devil is god! God’s Word commands, “And have NO fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, BUT RATHER REPROVE THEM” (Eph. 5:11). John the Baptist lost his head for rebuking a political leader for his immorality. Too bad he did not have one of Driscoll’s books to help him learn how to be culturally liberal. The emerging John would have been so much cooler.

HOLLYWOOD CULTURE CREATES “INSANE SELF-IMAGE ISSUES” (Friday Church News Notes, January 1, 2010, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The following is by Brian Snider -- “Investing a lot of money, time and worry on this body is a hopeless dead end. Sadly, that’s what Hollywood culture demands from those who worship at its altar. Actress Brittany Murphy, who mysteriously died of ‘natural causes’ two weeks ago, apparently spent an inordinate amount of time worrying about a body that would only carry her to 32 years of age. ‘She had insane self-image issues,’ said one of her friends. ‘Her weight, her hair, her clothes, her skin, her teeth, everything. She was always so self-conscious.’ Adds another: ‘A lot of her problems were due to poor self image. She wore extraordinary amounts of makeup, tons of fake eyelashes, got her teeth capped, dyed her hair blonde, lost weight--she wanted to be a beauty. She didn’t want to be the fat girl from Clueless.’ The things she spent so much time worrying about--body, eyes, teeth and hair are now lying in a grave, though her spirit has passed on into eternity. And with all the worrying she did about things that will pass away, we wonder how much time she spent worrying about the state of her soul. This young actress was sold a false bill of goods by the Satanic machinery of the movie industry, which convinces people that looks, prestige and glamour are great things to be sought. There is a permanence to death that is stunning in its seriousness and scope. Better to have the perspective of Scripture now than the perspective of Hollywood, which can only lead to eternal misery. ‘Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever’ (1 John 2:15-17). ‘It is better to go to the house of mourning, than to go to the house of feasting: for that is the end of all men; and the living will lay it to his heart. Sorrow is better than laughter: for by the sadness of the countenance the heart is made better. The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning; but the heart of fools is in the house of mirth’ (Ecclesiastes 7:2-4).”

SCIENTIST SAYS ANGELS DEPICTED IN RELIGIOUS ART CAN’T FLY (Friday Church News Notes, January 1, 2010, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - Roger Wotton, a professor at University College London, says that angels depicted in religious art can’t fly. “Even a cursory examination of the evidence in representational arts shows that angels and cherubs cannot take off and cannot use powered flight” (“Angels Can’t Fly,” London Telegraph, Dec. 22, 2009). In fact, Wotton is right, but only because religious art is notoriously lacking in conformity to Scripture. The Jesus of the Bible didn’t look like the effeminate long-haired man typical to religious art, so it is not surprising that the artistic renderings of angels are wrong as well. There are at least three types of angels described in the Bible, and only two have wings. Those are the seraphims (Isaiah 6:2) and the cherubims (Exodus 25:20; Ezekiel 10:5). In appearance, the seraphims and cherubims are unlike humans. On the other hand, the angels that appear to men and bring messages from God are described as human-like in appearance and are never said to have wings. In fact, they were often mistaken for men (e.g., Judges 6:22; 13:6). Though Wotton is right about the flying ability of artistic angels, he is wrong in his humanistic, evolutionary thinking. He is wrong that angels can’t fly unless they have wings patterned after flying creatures on earth. The angel Gabriel is said “to fly swiftly” (Daniel 9:21), but he is never said to have any sort of wings. The evolutionary agnostic is blinded by his willful refusal to recognize the existence of Almighty God. (In an article entitled “The Ten Plagues of Egypt,” Wotton calls the miraculous judgments described in Exodus “myths.”) The One who made the known laws of nature can make any other laws He pleases--or break them as He pleases. Wotton is also wrong that angels are mythical figments of man’s imagination. He says, “Looking at these things teaches us something about what we believe and what is concrete. Angels are very powerful religious icons for people with faith.” In fact, angels are not merely icons; they are powerful creatures that were formed by God before man and are intimately involved with life on earth. They are “ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation” (Hebrews 1:14). Believers are admonished, “Be not forgetful to entertain strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unawares” (Hebrews 13:2).

THANK THE LORD FOR TRUE SCIENCE (Friday Church News Notes, January 1, 2010, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - Modern science is a wonderful thing in many ways. To the extent that it reflects truth and reality, it is God’s gift, for “he giveth wisdom unto the wise, and knowledge to them that know understanding: He revealeth the deep and secret things” (Daniel 2:21-22). Modern inventions in such fields as medicine, travel, communication, energy, food preservation, man-made materials, and mass production have changed our lives for the better. At the same time, that which the Bible calls “science falsely so called,” with its overweening pride and its pretense to know things it does not know, is a curse. As Dr. Marvin Lubenow says, “The failure of the scientific community to recognize the high degree of subjectivity in its interpretations of past events is the major cause of the ‘warfare’ between the Bible and this area of science. ... Believing that we have a reliable historical record of two crucial past events, creation and the flood, we Christians accept with gratitude and thanksgiving the contributions of science in our lives today while we challenge the authority of science to make dogmatic statements about the past” (Bones of Contention: A Creationist Assessment of Human Fossils, 2004, p. 259).

WIKIPEDIA EDITOR USES ONLINE ENCYCLOPEDIA TO PROMOTE GLOBAL WARMING MYTH (Friday Church News Notes, January 1, 2010, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The following is excerpted from “History of Climate Gets ‘Erased’ Online,” WorldNetDaily, Dec. 21, 2009: “A new report reveals a British scientist and Wikipedia administrator rewrote climate history, editing more than 5,000 unique articles in the online encyclopedia to cover traces of a medieval warming period--something Climategate scientists saw as a major roadblock in the effort to spread the global warming message. Recently hacked e-mails from the University of East Anglia’s Climate Research Unit expose a plot to eliminate the Medieval Warm Period, a 400-year era that began around A.D. 1000, the Financial Post’s Lawrence Solomon reports. ... The warming period is said to have improved agriculture and increased life spans, but scientists at the center of the Climategate e-mail scandal believed the era undermined their goal of spreading concern about global warming as it pertains to today’s climate. ... A 1995 e-mail predating the recent Climate Research Unit scandal was sent to geophysicist David Deming. A major climate-change researcher told Deming, ‘We have to get rid of the Medieval Warm Period.’ ... Solomon revealed that William Connolley, one man in the nine-member [RealClimate] team who is a U.K. scientist, a software engineer and Green Party activist, took control of Wikipedia’s entries to see that any trace of the true climate history would be erased. Beginning in February 2003, Connolley rewrote Wikipedia entries on global warming, the greenhouse effect, the instrumental temperature record, the urban heat island, on climate models and on global cooling, the Little Ice Age, the Medieval Warm Period, and the hockey-stick chart. ... Through his role as a Wikipedia administrator, Connolley is said to have created or rewritten 5,428 unique Wikipedia entries. ‘When Connolley didn’t like the subject of a certain article, he removed it--more than 500 articles of various descriptions disappeared at his hand,’ Solomon wrote. ‘When he disapproved of the arguments that others were making, he often had them barred--over 2,000 Wikipedia contributors who ran afoul of him found themselves blocked from making further contributions.’ ... Through his control of the Wikipedia pages, Connolley is said to have ‘turned Wikipedia into the missionary wing of the global warming movement.’”

LIBERAL PROTESTANT DENOMINATIONS CONTINUE THEIR DECLINE (Friday Church News Notes, January 1, 2010, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The liberal “mainstream” Protestant denominations in the United States continue their numerical decline. According to the latest Barna poll, the six largest of these denominations have lost more than one-quarter of their membership in the past 50 years. These are the American Baptist Church, the Episcopal Church, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, the Presbyterian Church USA, the United Church of Christ, and the United Methodist Church. The membership of these “churches” is also graying dramatically. Only 2% of the members are 25 years old or younger, while one-third are 60 and over. In spite of the decline in numbers, these denominations remain wealthy, generating more than $15 billion in donations, epitomizing the Laodicean age in every particular. “I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot. So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth. Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked: I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see” (Revelation 3:15-18).

ANGLICAN PRIEST RECOMMENDS SHOPLIFTING (Friday Church News Notes, January 1, 2010, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - In his Sunday sermon on December 20, Anglican priest Tim Jones recommended that poor people shoplift from major stores. He claims that this is not breaking the eighth commandment, since “it is permissible for those who are in desperate situations to take food that they might not starve” (“Thou Shalt Shoplift,” Daily Mail, Dec. 22, 2009). This Church of England heretic, who pastors at St. Lawrence and St. Hilda in York, England. has apparently read Karl Marx more than the Bible. No wonder that a recent survey found that 93% of people in England had no plan to attend church this Christmas. Anglican leaders blame “secularism” on the decline in church attendance, but the real culprit is wretched, soul-damning apostasy. The Word of God says that even if a man steals “to satisfy his soul when he is hungry,” he is guilty of a crime and “shall restore sevenfold; he shall give all the substance of his house” (Proverbs 6:30-31). The law of God says that if a man is caught stealing and “have nothing,” meaning he is too poor to repay what he has stolen, “then he shall be sold for his theft” (Ex. 22:3).

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.