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.

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.

ANGLICAN CATHEDRAL PEALS OUT LENNON’S ATHEISTIC SONG (Friday Church News Notes, May 22, 2009, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The bells of the Anglican Cathedral of Liverpool pealed out John Lennon’s atheistic song “Imagine” three times on May 16. A spokesperson for the cathedral said, “We feel this performance has inspired many people to think about their relationship with God in their lives” (“Imagine That,” The Daily Mail, May 17, 2009). Indeed, many members of the Anglican Church have no problem imagining with Lennon that there is no heaven or hell. In 1994, it was reported by the Sunday Times (July 31) that at least 100 Anglican priests are atheists who do not believe in “an external, supernatural God.” In 1996, the doctrinal commission of the Church of England said hell is not a place of fire and eternal torment, and Episcopal Bishop John Spong wrote in his paper that the image of God in the Bible is “no longer operative” (ENI, Dec. 6, 1996). In September 2008, the Church of England officially apologized to Charles Darwin for rejecting his theory of evolution (“Church Makes ‘Ludicrous’ Apology,” The Daily Mail, Sept. 13, 2008). John Lennon was anti-christ. His book A Spaniard in the Works portrayed Jesus as El Pifico, a “garlic eating, stinking little yellow, greasy fascist ****** Catholic Spaniard.” In this wicked book, Lennon further blasphemed the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. In the song “I Found Out,” Lennon sang, “There ain’t no Jesus gonna come from the sky,” and in his song “God,” he said, “I don’t believe in Bible. I don’t believe in Jesus. I just believe in me.” In an interview with a British newspaper Lennon defined God in these words: “All the energy is God. Your own energy and their energy, whether doing god-like things or ungodly things” (The Daily Sketch, Oct. 9, 1967). Lennon and Yoko Ono were heavily involved in occultism. The books Hellhounds on Their Trail by Gary Patterson, Nowhere Man: The Final Days of John Lennon by Robert Rosen, and Lennon in America by Geoffrey Giuliano describe how the Lennons purchased entire sections of occult literature in bookstores, consulted tarot cards, astrologers, and psychics, learned how to cast spells, sought magical power from Egyptian artifacts, and believed in reincarnation.

COUNTRY MUSIC: SINGING ABOUT THE LIGHT BUT NOT SUBMITTING TO IT (Friday Church News Notes, May 22, 2009, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The following report on the life and death of the country music giant Hank Williams, Sr. is excerpted from “Dead in the Back Seat of His Cadillac from Drug Overdose!” by Don Boys, Preacher Helps, May 2009, DBoysphd@aol.com: “Country singer Hank Williams, Sr. held the world in his grasp then lost it all in the back seat of his Cadillac dying from a drug overdose on New Year’s Day, 1953. He was age 29. His long-time manager Merle Kilgore called him, ‘the most cocky, confident man I ever met in my life.’ ... He was often drunk or drugged. ... His song ‘How Can You Refuse Him Now?’ reveals his knowledge of salvation. The chorus asked, ‘... how can you turn away from His side/ with tears in His eyes on the cross there He died/ How can you refuse Jesus now?’ Hank evidently refused Him. He wrote his famous ‘I Saw the Light’ in 1948 [and] often sang the song as if he was a man facing the end, desperate to believe in a salvation that he didn’t think existed. Was he trying to convince himself of the reality of the Gospel? He sang: ‘I wandered so aimless, life filled with sin; I wouldn’t ask my dear Saviour in. Then Jesus came like a stranger in the night; Praise the Lord, I saw the light!’ ... Near the end of his life, he was doing a show in San Diego but stumbled off stage drunk after only two songs. His friend, country performer Minnie Pearl ... got him to join her in singing ‘I Saw the Light,’ thinking it might help sober him, but after one verse Hank put his head in his hands and said, ‘O Minnie, Minnie, I don’t see no light. There ain’t no light.’ ... On Jan. 1, 1953, Williams died in the back seat of his car on the way to a concert in Charleston, WV. ... More than 20,000 people attended his funeral on Jan. 4 at Montgomery’s (AL) Municipal Auditorium where an overflow crowd listened via loudspeakers. Roy Acuff sang ‘I Saw the Light’ as Hank’s body lay in front of him in its casket. Acuff was joined by Bill Monroe, Little Jimmie Dickens, Carl Smith, Red Foley, Webb Pierce and others. ... Williams is buried in Montgomery, AL, and across the front of his huge tombstone are the words, ‘Praise the Lord, I Saw the Light.’ What a tragedy that a man could talk, write, and sing about seeing the light, and never see it and apparently die in darkness.” “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new” (2 Corinthians 5:17).

SPENDING REAL MONEY IN AN IMAGINERY WORLD (Friday Church News Notes, May 22, 2009, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - It has been reported that $5 billion was spent in 2008 on “virtual goods” in Asia such as subscriptions to gaming services and the purchase of virtual property in online worlds similar to Second Life. The amount spent in the U.S. is less but is increasing quickly. Several Chinese online game companies are listed on NASDAQ and the New York Stock Exchange, and they have profit margins between 30% to 70% (“Virtual Goods in Asia,” Plus8Star.com, April 8, 2009). The incredible amount of money spent on the pursuit of pleasure and escapism in modern society is a sign of the times. The Bible says that men in the last days will be “lovers of pleasures” (2 Timothy 3:4). God’s people must not follow this foolish pattern.

JIMMY CARTER SAYS DISHARMONY AMONG CHRISTIANS IS “LIKE A CANCER” (Friday Church News Notes, May 22, 2009, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - Speaking at a New Baptist Covenant regional meeting in April, former U.S. president Jimmy Carter likened disharmony among Christians to “a cancer metastasizing in the body of Christ.” He said it is enough to believe that salvation is “by the grace of God through faith in Jesus Christ,” and that other issues should be “put aside” (“Jimmy Carter,” The Christian Post, April 27, 2009). It makes us wonder why the Lord gave us such a large Bible, if most of it is of little or no consequence! The April 25-26 meeting at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, was one of a series of regional conferences that were launched out of the January 2008 New Baptist Covenant Celebration in Atlanta that brought together 15,000 Baptists representing more than 30 denominations and organizations. Jimmy Carter is a deeply confused man who does not believe the Bible. The only thing that is likened to a cancer in the New Testament Scriptures is false teaching. The Apostle Paul sounded the following warning: “But shun profane and vain babblings: for they will increase unto more ungodliness. And their word will eat as doth a canker: of whom is Hymenaeus and Philetus; Who concerning the truth have erred, saying that the resurrection is past already; and overthrow the faith of some” (2 Timothy 2:16-18). In fact, the apostle could have been referring to men like Jimmy Carter who have spiritualized the return of Christ through allegorical interpretation of Bible prophecy. For our eye-witness report of the New Baptist Covenant Celebration see “The New Baptist Covenant: A Celebration in Liberalism” at the Way of Life web site.

EMERGING CHURCH LEADER WANTS END-TIME BELIEVING CHRISTIANS “ROBUSTLY CONFRONTED” (Friday Church News Notes, May 22, 2009, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The following is excerpted from Lighthouse Trails, May 4, 2009: “If you are a Christian who believes that the Bible is God's inspired Word and believe that Jesus Christ will be coming again, you are being marginalized. And you might not even know it. It may surprise you to know where this marginalization is coming from. We’re not speaking of the world today . . . we are talking about people who say they are Christians and who happen to be very influential. In fact, one of them, Rick Warren, was just named by Time magazine as one of the 100 most influential people in the entire world. In an April 2009 article in Sojourner’s magazine emerging church leader Brian McLaren clearly has targeted Christians who believe Jesus Christ is coming back again, suggesting that this type of Christian is the reason there is no peace in the Middle East. He says what these end-time believing Christians are doing is ‘terrible,’ ‘deadly,’ and ‘distorted.’ McLaren says that he grew up with a dispensational view (the belief that Jesus Christ will return and establish his kingdom on earth) but has come to realize this view is ‘morally and ethically harmful.’ He likens this belief system to racism in the 50s and 60s. ... Others have joined McLaren in this effort to silence and marginalize biblical Christians. Rick Warren’s chief apologist (and we were told a staff member at Saddleback) recently posted an article on the Internet that said ministries that defend the faith (he referenced Lighthouse Trails) were like mentally unstable cultists, ‘who are not normal people, average complainers, critics and typical dissidents who are generally unhappy about life itself ... they are deadly.’ (Please contact Saddleback Church to verify this: 949-609-8000.) ... Tony Campolo, in his book Speaking My Mind, says that ‘rigid Christians who believe in the possibility of Jesus’ soon return’ are ‘the real problem for the whole world.’ .. In his book Vintage Jesus, Mark Driscoll ridicules Christians who believe there will be an Armageddon and a rapture (pp. 44, 157).”

PREACHING NO MATTER WHAT THE RESPONSE (Friday Church News Notes, May 22, 2009, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - “Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season...” (2 Timothy 4:2). We are to proclaim God’s Word no matter how the people respond, and the prophets of old were a great example in this matter. God told Isaiah, Ezekiel, Jeremiah, and others that Israel would not listen to them, but they preached anyway. Oftentimes in the church age, as well, God’s people have proclaimed the gospel with little results. Adoniram Judson preached in Burma for six years before he had his first Burmese convert and after 12 years had only 18 converts. William Carey proclaimed the gospel for seven years in India, Robert Morrison for seven years in China, and Henry Richard for seven years in the Congo before they saw their first converts. Robert Moffatt labored for eight years in Kuruman (the northern cape of South Africa) before he saw his first convert. The first American Congregational missionaries preached in Thailand from 1831 to 1849 without one convert, and American Presbyterians labored in the same country for another 18 years before they saw their first convert. “And thou shalt speak my words unto them, whether they will hear, or whether they will forbear: for they are most rebellious. But thou, son of man, hear what I say unto thee; be not thou rebellious like that rebellious house: open thy mouth, and eat that I give thee” (Ezekiel 2:7-8).

BEWARE OF THE FALSE TEACHER HENRY WRIGHT AND HIS TOTAL HEALTH PROGRAM (Friday Church News Notes, May 22, 2009, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - Henry Wright, pastor of Pleasant Valley Church, Thomaston, Georgia, and head of a ministry called Be In Health, claims that all sickness has a spiritual root. Such things such as aneurysms, strokes, hemorrhoids, and varicose veins, for example, are supposedly caused by fear and anxiety. He misuses both Scripture and medical science to “prove” his points. His web site says, “We are dedicated to the eradication and prevention of all spiritual, psychological, and biological disease,” and, “God’s perfect will is that you don’t get sick.” To the contrary, the apostle Paul himself had a sickness that God refused to remove (2 Cor. 12:7-10). The wise apostle concluded, “Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ’s sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong” (2 Cor. 12:10). The word “infirmities” is the Greek word “astheneia,” which is elsewhere translated “disease” (Acts 28:9) and “sickness” (Jn. 11:4). The faithful preacher Timothy was physically weak and often sick, and Paul did not offer him a perfect health program (1 Tim. 5:23). Paul had to leave his co-worker Trophimus behind in Miletum because he was sick and God did not heal him (2 Tim. 4:20). One distraught wife wrote to Rick Miesel of Biblical Discernment Ministries in November 2002 and explained how that her husband had attended Wright’s seminar and had come home “saying that sin is a demon, cancer is bitterness, diseases mostly have spiritual roots, anything less than 70 years on this planet is a curse, etc.” Wright said at the seminar, “Beware when you get home because Satan will try and use the person closest to you to make you doubt what we have taught you.” There was no warning at the seminar to test everything by God’s Word, to “prove all things” and to hold fast only to that which is good (1 Thess. 5:21; Acts 17:21). To the contrary, the man was taught to receive the teaching without criticism. When his wife called him and asked if he was using biblical discernment, he gave the very foolish and dangerous reply, “I will not slander these people by disagreeing with them.”

BEWARE OF AMUSING CHILDREN WITH TV/VIDEOS (Friday Church News Notes, May 22, 2009, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The following is excerpted from Training Your Children to Turn out Right, an excellent book by David Sorenson (Northstar Ministries, 1820 W. Morgan St., Duluth, MN 55811, 218-726-0209, www.northstarministries.com, dhs.northstar@charter.net) -- “I am convinced that discipline of the mind itself is a major key to learning. ... Parents are guilty on two scores here. First, many a parent errs by encouraging shallow habits of entertainment. Children are allowed and even encouraged to sit and watch TV entertainment. Let us assume that what they watch is not spiritually and morally harmful (though often it is). Yet, they are allowed to essentially place their minds in neutral. They are tacitly encouraged to just sit there and be entertained. The word ‘amuse’ is made u of the basic word ‘muse’ which means to think and the alpha prefix ‘a’ which means to negate or ‘not.’ Therefore, to ‘amuse’ one’s self essentially means too not think. And that is exactly what an entire generation of American children are doing. Whether it is cartoons, or videos, or other video entertainment, many children are tacitly encouraged to seek to be amused. Children are conditioned to be mentally lazy and pursue only what entertains their little minds. When it comes to buckling down and actually concentrating, they just shift gears mentally back into neutral and seek something to entertain themselves again. Secondly, parents are guilty of not taking the initiative and [training the children] themselves, sitting them down and training their minds to concentrate on things which may not be interesting to them but are things which they ought to learn” (Training Your Children to Turn Out Right, 1995, pp. 53, 54).

VACUUM CLEANER LUNGS (Friday Church News Notes, May 22, 2009, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The following is from Creation Moments, http://www.creationmoments.com/radio/transcript.php?t=2441: The air we breathe has always been filled with dust particles. And whether it is dust blown off the ground, smoke particles, or tiny particles of fabric or even paper in the house, these particles find their way deep into our lungs. In His wisdom, our Creator has provided us with tiny, but effective ‘vacuum cleaners’ in our lungs that collect and remove the particles that enter the lungs. These "vacuum cleaner" cells are actually a specific type of macrophage. They work in the deepest part of the lung, reaching out with tubular extensions to engulf any particle in much the same way that an amoeba eats. This ‘vacuum cleaner’ essentially eats the particles it finds, and every one of these ‘vacuum cleaner’ cells can clean an area forty times its own size. Scientists say that they still do not fully understand whether certain particles, like poisonous heavy metals, affect the working of these cells. They suspect that certain particles may prevent these ‘vacuum cleaners’ from effectively doing their work.”

WHEN THE DESERT SHALL BLOSSOM AS THE ROSE (Friday Church News Notes, May 22, 2009, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - “The wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad for them; and the desert shall rejoice, and blossom as the rose. It shall blossom abundantly, and rejoice even with joy and singing: the glory of Lebanon shall be given unto it, the excellency of Carmel and Sharon, they shall see the glory of the LORD, and the excellency of our God. Strengthen ye the weak hands, and confirm the feeble knees. Say to them that are of a fearful heart, Be strong, fear not: behold, your God will come with vengeance, even God with a recompence; he will come and save you. Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped. Then shall the lame man leap as an hart, and the tongue of the dumb sing: for in the wilderness shall waters break out, and streams in the desert. And the parched ground shall become a pool, and the thirsty land springs of water: in the habitation of dragons, where each lay, shall be grass with reeds and rushes. And an highway shall be there, and a way, and it shall be called The way of holiness; the unclean shall not pass over it; but it shall be for those: the wayfaring men, though fools, shall not err therein. No lion shall be there, nor any ravenous beast shall go up thereon, it shall not be found there; but the redeemed shall walk there: And the ransomed of the LORD shall return, and come to Zion with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads: they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away” (Isaiah 35:1-10).

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.

CLICK HERE FOR GRAPHICAL VERSION OF FRIDAY NEWS NOTES

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.

A NEW AMERICAN REVOLUTION? (Friday Church News Notes, May 15, 2009, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - Some are calling for a new American revolution, but I would observe that there is a great difference between the last half of the eighteenth century and the first half of the twenty-first. In the 18th century, there existed enough moral character among American citizens to bring about a great, far-reaching revolution based (among other things) on biblical principles, and in hindsight it is obvious that the American revolution was God’s will for that time. No such moral fiber exists today. In the eighteenth century children learned how to read from the King James Bible and from moralistic texts which urged such qualities as honesty, thrift, and industry. The citizens, whether truly Christian or not and whether godly or not, generally believed in an Almighty God, in divine creation, in moral absolutes, in heaven and hell. On the other hand, twenty-first century children learn to read in a context of atheistic evolution and moral relativity, in a public school system in which the Bible has been renounced. God’s people need to understand the times. America today is not “one nation under God” in any sense of the term and it cannot be brought back to God through politics or demonstrations or alternative media or tax revolts or stockpiling weapons. The only hope for America is genuine spiritual revival in the churches, and that is what God’s people need to focus on. The end of the age is fast approaching. We need to look up. We need to be found faithful in fulfilling Christ’s Great Commission (Matthew 28:18-20) rather than having become sidetracked to some extra-biblical objective. We need to imitate the early Christians who “turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God; and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, even Jesus, which delivered us from the wrath to come” (1 Thessalonians 1:9-10). There is a saying, “When the outlook is bleak, try the uplook!”

U.S. MILITARY DESTROYS BIBLES (Friday Church News Notes, May 15, 2009, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The following is excerpted from OneNewsNow.com, May 5, 2009: “The U.S. military is confirming that it has destroyed some Bibles belonging to an American soldier serving in Afghanistan. Reuters News says the Bibles were confiscated and destroyed after Qatar-based Al Jazeer television showed soldiers at a Bible class on a base with a stack of Bibles translated into the local Pashto and Dari languages. The U.S. military forbids its members on active duty--including those based in places like Afghanistan--from trying to convert people to another religion. Reuters quotes Maj. Jennifer Willis at the Bagram Air Base, north of Kabul, who said, ‘I can now confirm that the Bibles shown on Al Jazeera’s clip were, in fact, collected by the chaplains and later destroyed. They were never distributed.’ According to the military officials, the Bibles were sent through private mail to an evangelical Christian soldier by his church back home. Reuters says the soldier brought them to the Bible study class where they were filmed. The Chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Mike Mullen, told a Pentagon briefing Monday that the military’s position is that it will never ‘push any specific religion.’” CONCLUDING NOTE FROM BROTHER CLOUD: No one expects the military to push religion. We also don’t expect them to destroy religious books, and most especially the very Book upon which our presidents take their solemn vows. How many Korans have you destroyed, Admiral Mullen? The military brass should remember this foolish act the next time they need divine intervention. There is no doubt that the U.S. military has won many battles through the power of prayer. I have read extensively into the history of America’s military battles, and many victories can be explained only by blind chance or divine intervention. And no doubt many losses can be explained by a lack of the same. In fact, World War II itself could easily have been concluded differently. I am not saying the U.S. military has ever been godly; I am saying, simply, that many godly people have prayed and their prayers were answered. My mother’s Baptist congregation in Lakeland, Florida, had someone praying daily for their men serving overseas during the last world war, and every one of them came home safely. If you think that is a result of the breathtaking wisdom of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, you need your head examined! “Except the LORD build the house, they labour in vain that build it: except the LORD keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain” (Psalms 127:1).

MAINE BECOMES FIFTH STATE TO APPROVE “GAY MARRIAGE” (Friday Church News Notes, May 15, 2009, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The following is excerpted from The Christian Post, May 6, 2009: “Maine has become the fifth state to allow gay marriage after Gov. John Baldacci signed a bill legalizing the practice. His signature went on to the bill within an hour after the Senate passed it Wednesday. ‘In the past, I opposed gay marriage while supporting the idea of civil unions,’ said Baldacci. ‘I have come to believe that this is a question of fairness and of equal protection under the law, and that a civil union is not equal to civil marriage.’ A similar gay marriage bill could reach the New Hampshire governor on Wednesday as the state House is set to vote on the legislation in the afternoon. Massachusetts, Connecticut, Iowa and Vermont currently allow same-sex marriage. ... The legislation repealed a provision under the state’s 1997 Defense of Marriage Act that limited marriage between one man and one woman and replaced it with one that allows marriage between any two persons that meet the requirement of Maine law. The bill also affirmed the right of religious institutions and ministers to refuse solemnizing gay marriage without facing any penalties or fines.”

CHRISTIANS IMPRISONED IN CHINA (Friday Church News Notes, May 15, 2009, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The following is excerpted from “18 Christians Arrested,” Christian Newswire, May 4, 2009: “On April 30, 2009, a group of house church Christians and leaders from the house church group China Gospel Fellowship (CGF) were gathered for a communion service at a house church in Xinye city, Henan province, when they were raided by a dozen PSB officers. Eighteen Christians were taken to the Public Security Bureau (PSB) office of Xinye city. They were each forced to pay a 1000 yuan (about $150) fine. At the time of this press release, 16 Christians are still being held by the PSB, including 10 preachers from Hubei province.”

PEOPLE DIE AFTER BEING “HEALED” IN THE LAKELAND OUTPOURING (Friday Church News Notes, May 15, 2009, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - An investigation by World magazine has discovered that at least two of the people “healed” during Todd Bentley’s healing crusade in Lakeland, Florida, have died of their diseases. Following is an excerpt: “Christopher Fogle, of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, loved to fish. It was a break from his fast-paced, 25-year career with the Perkins Restaurant chain. But when Fogle got severe cancer, his relaxing fishing trips, which he sometimes took with his children, ended. It was a devastating blow for the active 45-year-old. But for Todd Bentley, television preacher and self-proclaimed healer, the cancer represented an opportunity to ‘proclaim the glory of God.’ ... At the height of what many called a revival, WORLD asked Bentley to talk about the healings, like Fogle’s, and asked for a list of people who had been healed at the services. His associates told me Bentley was out of the country and a list could not be produced. But six weeks and more than a dozen requests later, the ministry eventually sent a list of 13 names. Fogle was No. 12 on the list, along with this note: ‘Healed through the Outpouring and is back to fishing.’ That was on Aug. 8, 2008. There was just one problem. Two weeks earlier, on July 22, Christopher A. Fogle--according to his obituary in the Keokuk (Iowa) Daily Gate City, ‘left this life . . . after a courageous battle with cancer.’ A review of the list nearly one year later reveals that Fogle is not the only person ‘healed’ who is now dead. When I called Phyllis Mills, of Trinity, N.C., on April 22, to hear the testimony of her healing, a polite family member said, ‘Phyllis passed away a few days ago. In fact, we’re on our way to her funeral now.’ Mills, 66 at the time of her death, had lung cancer and was undergoing aggressive treatments when she was, according to the list, ‘healed at the revival.’ Mills ‘was taking radiation, but was sent home,’ according to notes on Bentley’s list, with ‘no trace of cancer in her body’” (“Heal or Heel,” World, May 23, 2009). The Bentley crusade ended in scandal in August 2008 after Bentley announced that he was separating from his wife. In November 2008, Bentley’s Fresh Fire ministry said that he was guilty of adultery with a “former employee,” and on March 9, 2009, Rick Joyner announced that Bentley had married the same employee. My friends, God has given us clear instructions in Scripture about healing, and James 5 does not describe a raucous “healing crusade.” We believe in divine healing for today through prayer, but we don’t believe in Pentecostal showmen who pretend to apostolic healing gifts that they clearly do not possess. See “I Believe in Miracles” at the Way of Life web site.

PERSECUTION AGAINST CHRISTIANS INCREASES IN GREAT BRITAIN (Friday Church News Notes, May 15, 2009, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The following is excerpted from “Enforced ‘Diversity Will Make Britain First Modern Soft Totalitarian State,” LifeSiteNews.com, May 6, 2009: “A deliberate campaign to enforce ‘diversity’ and political correctness by ‘unelected or quasi-governmental bodies’ is turning Britain into the ‘the first modern soft totalitarian state’, an Australian political science expert and author says. Hal Gibson Pateshall Colebatch, an Australian historian, author, poet, lecturer, journalist, editor, and lawyer, has warned in an editorial in The Australian that while there may as yet be no concentration camps or gulags in Britain, ‘there are thought police with unprecedented powers to dictate ways of thinking and sniff out heresy, and there can be harsh punishments for dissent.’ He points to the dozens of cases over the last ten years in which Christians and others who hold traditional moral views, have been targeted by police and other governmental agencies for their beliefs. Colebatch warned of legislation that is currently being pushed through Parliament that will outlaw the telling of racist, ‘homophobic’ or politically incorrect jokes, with a potential sentence upon conviction of seven years in prison. An attempt in the House of Lords to insert a freedom of speech clause was shot down by Labour Justice Minister Jack Straw. Colebatch cited ‘innumerable cases’ over the last decade in which public employees such as nurses, policemen, teachers, marriage commissioners and others have been threatened with the sack or suspension or disciplinary measures for sharing, or even privately revealing, their religious beliefs. Colebatch also mentioned arrests of school children for allegedly uttering racist remarks, and police warnings to a bishop who had failed sufficiently to ‘celebrate diversity’ in his ministry. In many cases, the threats, firings, suspensions and arrests have targeted Christians who hold traditional social and moral beliefs about sexuality. ... In an editorial last week in The Church of England Newspaper, Martin Beckford (religious affairs correspondent for the Daily Telegraph) wrote that the public sector in Britain is engaging in an all-out campaign against Christianity.”

TEACHER IN ENGLAND SUSPENDED AFTER BUCKING HOMOSEXUAL BRAINWASHING SESSIONS (Friday Church News Notes, May 15, 2009, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The following is excerpted from “Teacher Bucks Homosexual Training,” OneNewsNow, May 6, 2009: “A Christian teacher in England has been suspended after complaining about the use of classroom time to promote homosexuality as an acceptable lifestyle. Kwabena Peat was one of several teachers who walked out of the school's compulsory indoctrination and training day, and he did so based on his Christian beliefs. LifeSiteNews.com reports Peat wrote a letter to three staff members who organized the session at Park View Academy, disagreeing with featured speaker and co-founder of Schools Out pro-homosexual program Sue Sanders, who said in her "aggressive" presentation that people who believe homosexuality is abnormal need to sort out their ‘issues.’ Following the letter, Peat was suspended with pay until the school decides his fate as an employee. Matt Barber, director of cultural affairs at Liberty Counsel, says the incident is representative of the homosexual activist movement. ‘They are not interested in just being left alone, as one of their most influential leaders in the homosexual community recently said,’ he points out. ‘What they’re really after is silencing any opposition to the homosexual lifestyle--even if it's rooted in seriously held religious belief--and they are willing to do anything to do that.’”

WHEN SWORDS SHALL BE BEATEN INTO PLOWSHARES (Friday Church News Notes, May 15, 2009, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - “And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the LORD’S house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it. And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem. And he shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people: and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more” (Isaiah 2:2-4).

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.

PDF VERSION

May 8, 2009, Volume 10, Issue 19

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.

WHY ARE THE FOOLISH IN CHARGE OF AMERICA? (Friday Church News Notes, May 8, 2009, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - Conservative web journalists and radio talk show hosts are beside themselves at the stupidity of the Obama administration, and rightly so. We, too, bewail the squander of America’s wealth, the weakening of her military, the traitorous, despicable mishandling of the CIA, the celebration of moral wickedness, the encroachment of constitutional liberties, the blind commitment to environmental myths, and so much more. While Bush conducted a war on terrorism (though he didn’t really take off the gloves), Obama appears to be conducting a war on the war on terrorism. All of these things, though, are mere symptoms of a deeper problem, one that very few of the conservative pundits understand. America’s root problem is the apostasy and compromise of her churches. The problem is not in the White House; it is in God’s house. America is not a Christian nation, but America was founded largely by church-going, God-fearing people and the majority of her citizens are still professing Christians. The root of America’s woes is spiritual. The people don’t fear God because the churches don’t preach the fear of God. For that reason the issue can’t be solved by political action and moralistic crusades and Republican or Libertarian rants. I am thankful for the watchdog role of the conservative media and for the fact that there is a viable alternative media today, but the best thing Bible-believing Christians can do to help America is to seek God’s face and purify our individual lives and congregations and keep our focus on Christ’s Great Commission (Matthew 28:18-20). A man that has not submitted himself to the gospel of Jesus Christ but who follows false religion such as Catholicism (Sean Hannity, Bill O’Reilly, Laura Ingraham, Michael Reagan), Judaism (Michael Medved, Mark Levin, and Dennis Prager), and Mormonism (Glenn Beck), or who believes the Bible contains myths and denies Christ’s blood atonement (Rush Limbaugh and Neal Boortz) does not have the spiritual wisdom necessary to understand the times, and Bible believers would be wise not to drink deeply of such wells. “Woe unto the wicked! it shall be ill with him: for the reward of his hands shall be given him. As for my people, children are their oppressors, and women rule over them. O my people, they which lead thee cause thee to err, and destroy the way of thy paths” (Isaiah 3:11-12). If the biblical churches in America would take this matter seriously and call for some special prayer meetings, for fasting and earnest prayer, falling on their faces and confessing their sins, God would probably hear and turn back the tide of wickedness and give us more years. Instead, though, for the most part it is business as usual, and if anything at all is being done it is a misguided attempt to address the situation according to the flesh rather than the spirit, by politics and rantings and anger and fear and frustration and worldly demonstrations and unscriptural associations. “For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds” (2 Corinthians 10:4).

THE U.S. SENATE’S MOST DANGEROUS PROGRAM (Friday Church News Notes, May 8, 2009, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The Democrat majority in the U.S. Congress aims to pass a federal “hate crimes” law that will give special protection to homosexuals and “leave Christian ministers and pastors open to prosecution should their teachings be linked to any subsequent offense, by anyone, against a “gay” (“House Agrees to Muzzle Pastors,” WorldNetDaily, April 30, 2009). On April 30, the House of Representatives approved hate crimes legislation by a vote of 249-175. The bill adds “sexual orientation” and “gender identity” to the current classes protected from hate crimes. Such laws have brought persecution wherever they have been enacted, including Canada, Australia, and Sweden. The House Republicans were unable to hold back the hate crimes tidal wave, though some of them tried. Virginia Foxx, R-N.C., said H.R. 1913 will create “thought crimes.” Trent Franks, R-Ariz., said it will end equality in the United States, and Louie Gohmert, R-Texas, said it will divide America into groups of more favored versus less. Gohmert cited USC Title 18, Section 2a, the foundation of the legislation, which says anyone who through speech “induces” commission of a violent hate crime “will be tried as a principal” alongside the active offender. The legislation now goes to the Senate, where it is being pushed by Sens. Edward Kennedy and Patrick Leahy. President Bush vowed to veto the bill had it passed under his watch, but Obama will doubtless sign it. He has urged Congress to act “this important civil rights issue.” This is a serious matter, and God’s people need to be in earnest prayer. The House rejected an amendment that pedophilia was not covered in the bill, so who knows what moral perversion will gain special protection under this wicked law. Once homosexuality is protected by law, the biblical concept of morality is finished as a legal force in the land and there is nothing left but the fearful judgment of Almighty God. “I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men; For kings, and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty” (1 Timothy 2:1-2).

BRITISH AIRLINE REMOVES ISRAEL FROM MAP (Friday Church News Notes, May 8, 2009, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The British Airline BMI removed Israel from the electronic map displayed to passengers in some of its planes on route to Middle Eastern countries (IsraelNationalNews.com, April 30, 2009). The objective was to avoid offending Muslim passengers. The same maps showed the direction of Mecca. After being confronted with the issue, the airline claimed that it was the result of a “logistical problem” and the maps in question were removed.

ROME PUTS MARY ON THE ARK OF THE COVENANT (Friday Church News Notes, May 8, 2009, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - A monstrance* created for the St. Stanislaus Kostka Church in Chicago depicts Mary on top of the Ark of the Covenant. Her hands are outstretched and two angels are kneeling before her. The monstrance, called “Our Lady of the Shrine, Ark of Mercy,” was dedicated on May 31, 2008 (Catholic News Service, June 10, 2008). This is pure blasphemy. The Ark of the Covenant was located in the Holy of Holies in the Old Testament Tabernacle and was the place where God’s presence dwelt (Exodus 25:22). Angels do not worship creatures (Acts 14:11-15; Rev. 19:10). (* In the Catholic mass, the consecrated wafer, which is said to be the very body and blood of Jesus, is placed in a monstrance and lifted up to be worshipped by the people. This is called “Eucharistic adoration.”) This monstrance depicts Rome’s dogma that Mary is the co-redemptress with Christ and that she intercedes for men from heaven and aids in their salvation. Note the following quotations from the Second Vatican Council: “As St. Irenaeus says, she being obedient, became the cause of salvation for herself and for the whole human race. Hence not a few of the early Fathers gladly assert with him in their preaching ... ‘death through Eve, LIFE THROUGH MARY.’ This UNION OF THE MOTHER WITH THE SON IN THE WORK OF SALVATION is made manifest from the time of Christ’s virginal conception up to his death” (Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, chap. 8, II, 56, pp. 380-381). “Taken up to heaven she did not lay aside this saving office but BY HER MANIFOLD INTERCESSION CONTINUES TO BRING US THE GIFTS OF ETERNAL SALVATION. ... Therefore the Blessed Virgin is invoked in the Church under the titles of ADVOCATE, HELPER, BENEFACTRESS, and MEDIATRIX” (Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, chap. 8, II, 62, pp. 382-383).

ENTITLED TO A PRESIDENT (Friday Church News Notes, May 8, 2009, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The socialistic entitlement mentality that has been fed by corrupt politicians has spread beyond the supposed right to such things as food, housing, education, and medicine. Now some think they are entitled to the president of their choice regardless of the outcome of an election. In an interview with Etihad Airlines’ in-flight magazine, pop singer Alicia Keys said that the night of the November election: “I just sat back and took it all in. I was bracing myself for the fact that it wouldn’t happen and that there would have been a revolt. So I was glad I didn’t have to revolt and now we’re good” (Etihadinflight, January 2009). She expected a revolt if Barack Obama had not been elected. The United States is becoming a nation under mob rule.

WHAT ROBOTS TEACH US ABOUT LIFE (Friday Church News Notes, May 8, 2009, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The field of robotics is making great strides, and some claim that robots are “getting smarter, more capable, more like flesh-and-flood people” (Robert Boyd, “Robots Are Narrowing the Gap with Humans,” Taiwan News, April 26, 2009). In a talk in 2008 entitled “Crossing the Chasm between Humans and Machines,” Justin Rattner, chief technology officer for Intel, said that it is conceivable that “machines could even overtake humans in their ability to reason in the no-so-distant future.” Rodney Brooks, a robot designer at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, says, “One day we will create a human-level artificial intelligence.” Futurist Ray Kurzweil claims that robots will match human intelligence by 2029. All of this is nonsense. What does robotics actually teach us? First, it teaches that evolution is fantasy. Design requires an intelligent designer. Not even the tiniest aspect of robotics has evolved. Every advance has been carefully planned and carried out by a superior intelligence. Second, it teaches us that human beings are bewilderingly complex. Not only can Artificial Intelligence (AI) researchers not imitate the complexity of man’s brain, they cannot even begin to imitate the complexity of the brain of a creature as lowly as the fruit fly. Third, it teaches us that man is more than a powerful computer. Man can intelligently process facts, but he is much more than a mega computation machine. He has self-awareness, a conscience, a will, a heart, imagination. He is inventive. He is a living creature that can reproduce. If great intelligence is required to create a machine that can imitate some aspects of man’s processing ability, how much greater intelligence is required to create man himself! The Bible does not try to prove the existence of God for the very reason that the creation itself proves God’s existence and man’s conscience answers to it, unless perverted by sin. “For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse” (Romans 1:20). “The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God. They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none that doeth good.” (Psalms 14:1).

AMERICA IS NOT A CHRISTIAN NATION, BUT IT WAS ONCE A BIBLICALLY-INFLUENCED NATION (Friday Church News Notes, May 8, 2009, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The following is excerpted from “America Has Never Been a Christian Nation” by Reb Bradley, WorldNetDaily, April 17, 2009: “The New Testament Scriptures clearly delineate a church’s governmental framework and establish its standards, programs, practices and elements of its liturgy. However, there is no biblical precedent for a Christian nation. Israel, of course, was a nation conceived by God, and whose foundations were laid out in the Bible, but all other nations--including America--are of manmade origin. ... America was founded by Christians, deists and others who embraced virtue and biblical morality, and who understood the importance of humility before the Creator. Hence, early documents such as the Declaration of Independence made so many references to God and His Providence. That is why so many of our laws and governmental practices were originally adapted from biblical precepts and standards. Without a doubt America was founded on biblical principles, but lacking a New Testament mandate, and given its manmade origin, the nation our founders created can never be called ‘Christian.’ ... It is important to note that although our nation was not originally a ‘Christian’ nation, our Founding Fathers understood the wisdom of Christian morality and the necessity of acknowledging God's supreme authority. They communicated in their writings that if our nation, with its unique vision for self-government and personal liberty, were to persevere in greatness, its individual citizens would need to embrace the morality and Christian worldview upon which it was founded. Benjamin Franklin said, ‘Only a virtuous people are capable of freedom. As nations become corrupt and vicious, they have more need of masters.’ ... John Adams said, ‘Our constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.’ ... the founders built our nation upon Christian principles and ethics, and warned that America would morally disintegrate if it forsook its ‘religious’ roots.”

THE BLESSED MAN (Friday Church News Notes, May 8, 2009, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - “Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is in the law of the LORD; and in his law doth he meditate day and night. And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper” (Psalms 1:1-3).

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.

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 obviously 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.

THE NEW Y2K (Friday Church News Notes, May 1, 2009, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - In 1999 there was near hysteria by many in regard to the Y2K computer bug. Prophetic speculators and doomsayers called upon people to stockpile food and guns and to otherwise prepare for a major catastrophe. Lots of money was made on the sale of fear-mongering books and survival gear. On October 11, 1998, I made the following statement: “The Year 2000 Bug will cause problems but not severe ones. There should be no hysteria about this. I have no survivalist plans. I do not believe planes will fall out of the sky or the electric grid will fail or the water system will cease to flow or the banking system will collapse or the military will dissolve into confusion. ... Many of those who are sounding the Y2K hysteria are the same scaremongers, the same prophetic speculators that have been proven wrong before.” (See “The Y2K Hysteria” and “A Reasoned Response to Y2K Hysteria” at the Way of Life web site.) As it turned out, the Y2K hysteria made many Christians look foolish. Now A NEW Y2K HYSTERIA is building steam. There are advertisements for emergency seed gardens; the sale of guns and ammunition, gold and silver is up dramatically. One influential fundamental Baptist preacher announced recently that “The Total Collapse of the Economy Will Result in Anarchy.” He predicted “the slide into massive national and international chaos” and said, “Every family will plant a garden or starve!” I wrote to this respected brother in Christ and said, “Have Baptist preachers started giving out prophecies now? We don’t know the future any more than David Wilkerson does. These are unsettled times, no doubt, and we know that the Bible says the last days equals perilous times, so we should always be ready for peril. But our business is fulfilling the Great Commission, and as we pursue that the Lord has promised, ‘Lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the world.’ There is nothing unwise about planting a garden and holding some gold and silver, but there is not a lot more we can do and not a lot more that needs to be done. We plan to keep our focus on preaching the Word of God and planting churches and trust the Lord with the rest. My godly maternal grandmother told me many wonderful stories of how the Lord took care of them through the darkest days of the Great Depression. In Christ, Bro. Cloud.” My friends, God’s people should not be characterized by panic. The apostle Paul lived under a far more brutal, unjust government than that of the Obama administration, and he didn’t panic or hide in a survival cave. When Abraham panicked and relocated to Egypt and Naomi and her husband fled to Moab, they lost a great deal because they were not living by faith. The imminent return of Christ is intended to cause us to lift up our eyes, to keep our focus on God’s business, and to provide comfort in this present evil world (Philippians 4:5; 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18; James 5:8-9; 1 Peter 4:7).

CALVIN COLLEGE ON THE EMERGING PATH (Friday Church News Notes, May 1, 2009, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - In April, Calvin College of Grand Rapids, Michigan, held a Festival of Faith & Music that celebrated the emerging church philosophy. A “few hundred artists, musicians, critics, thinkers and listeners” convened to “discuss and discern the ways grace, love, compassion and the Christian faith are expressed in the world of popular music” (“Figuring It Out,” Christianity Today, April 21, 2009). Calvin College can probably say with Mark Driscoll of Mars Hills Church in Seattle, “We are theologically conservative and culturally liberal.” The school holds to a Reformed Calvinist theology, but it has jettisoned the Bible’s command to separate from the world. They have adopted the emerging philosophy of redeeming society by immersing oneself in the culture, of being a missionary to culture. Ken Heffner, Director of Student Activities at Calvin, said that Christians should “show up in the public square and do popular art and also partner with other people that are doing popular art.” The festival “operates from the assumption that popular culture is not the bad part of culture.” We wonder what pop culture they are talking about, because pop culture in North America is morally filthy and philosophically relativistic and exists in open defiance to God’s holy commands, and that is definitely BAD! Lupe Fiasco was a celebrated participant at the festival, even though “his own faith background is steeped in Islam,” his “spirituality is a smorgasbord,” and he uses profanity. Not surprisingly, one of the themes of the conference was reproving biblical fundamentalism. Heffner ridiculed Christians that have “a reputation as naysayers of pop culture” and “separate themselves from society’s creative heartbeat” and “try to dictate what is of God and what is not.” What a pathetically confused festival this was! The Bible tells us exactly what is of God and what is not and God’s people are responsible to delineate between the holy and the unholy. “And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them” (Ephesians 5:11). Our job is not to dialogue with culture but to preach the Word of God (2 Timothy 4:2). The Lord Jesus Christ was a friend of sinners, but he was holy at all times, never participated in anything sinful, preached repentance and warned about hell, and that will put a serious damper on any pop culture party! The apostle Paul was made all things to all men that he might win the more (1 Cor. 9:22; 10:33), but he also abstained from all appearance of evil, refused to be conformed to the world or unequally yoked together with unbelievers (1 Thess. 5:22; Rom. 12:1; 2 Cor. 6:14-17). Jesus and the apostles were not rock & roll party animals! James warned, “Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God” (James 4:4). Do you think James and his negative preaching would be welcome to Calvin College’s Festival of Music! For an extensive critique of the emerging church’s unscriptural philosophy of delving into culture to redeem the culture see the book What Is the Emerging Church, which is available from Way of Life Literature.

HOMOSEXUAL “MARRIAGE” COLLIDING WITH PARENTAL AND RELIGION RIGHTS (Friday Church News Notes, May 1, 2009, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The following is excerpted from “Gay Marriage Colliding,” Baptist Press, April 3, 2009: “Some say the sky hasn't fallen in the nearly five years since ‘gay marriage’ was legalized in Massachusetts, but Kris Mineau, a citizen and conservative activist in that state, begs to differ. Sure, he says, things may look the same on the surface, but if you dig a little deeper, you'll see dramatic cultural changes. Teachers are teaching children about homosexual families over the objections of parents. A major adoption agency has chosen to shut down rather than be forced to place children with homosexual couples. ‘The sky is falling in Massachusetts in two key areas: parental rights and religious liberty,’ Mineau, president of the Massachusetts Family Institute, told Baptist Press. ... ‘Religious liberties and the homosexual agenda are on a collision course,’ said Douglas Napier [an attorney with the Alliance Defense Fund], who grew up in Iowa and practiced law there for 16 years. ‘I don't think anybody should think this doesn't affect them. It will affect them, and it will affect them in a very deep way.’ [These cases are] but the tip of the iceberg in what has become a steady load of controversies putting religious freedom on the line in same-sex disputes. ... ‘The list goes on and on,’ Mathew Staver, chairman of Liberty Counsel, a religious liberty legal organization, told BP. ‘Whenever you have same-sex marriage or same-sex civil unions, you end up having a clash between the same-sex agenda and freedom of religion. The two are not compatible, because the same-sex agenda seeks to force by law acceptance of its view, and that will inevitably collide with Christian values. People really need to wake up, because this, I think, is the greatest threat to our liberty that we face today--bar none.’”

GLOBAL WARMING, AN ALL-CONSUMING SCAPEGOAT (Friday Church News Notes, May 1, 2009, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The following is excerpted from OneNewsNow.co, April 9, 2009: “The author of a new book and the host of a popular website that debunks global warming science says the green agenda is all about control. Steve Milloy, the author of Green Hell and the host of JunkScience.com, notes his new book describes how environmentalists plan to control all aspects of life. ‘They really are trying to implement a social and political agenda, which I don't think most Americans want,’ he contends. Milloy describes that agenda. ‘Global warming has just, for whatever reason, been the most successful scheme the greens have ever implemented....[T]hrough global warming they can reach all of what, you know, population control has now become a global warming issue,’ he contends. ‘Meat production has become a global-warming issue. What color your car is? Global warming. What kind of community you can live in? ... Every aspect of our lives becomes a global-warming issue.’”

THE MANIFOLD BENEFIT OF THE ADVANCED BIBLE STUDIES SERIES (Friday Church News Notes, May 1, 2009, 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 course. 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 don’t believe that you will find better quality, more life-changing Bible courses from any other source. They are based strictly upon the King James Bible and the powerful word studies assist in the understanding of the KJV but never cast doubt upon it. They are thorough and comprehensive. They are very practical and have the objective of producing well-equipped Christian soldiers that have a solid understanding of the Bible. They stress holy and obedient Christian living and separation from worldliness and error, exalt evangelism and the New Testament church, and promote world missions. They emphasize the essential differences between law and grace and positional and practical sanctification, and they continually fortify the student’s understanding of the life-changing doctrines such as justification, substitutionary atonement, and eternal security. The courses are non-Calvinistic and interpret Bible prophecy literally. The student will 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 about the Advanced Bible Studies Series see the online catalog at the Way of Life web site.

THE FLOWER THAT FAVORS BUMBLEBEES (Friday Church News Notes, May 1, 2009, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The following is from Creation Moments, http://www.creationmoments.com/radio/transcript.php?t=2346 -- “The tropical looking flower Virginia Meadow Beauty offers some rare tricks for those who would pollinate it. A honeybee can poke around the flower all day and never get any pollen from the gaudy pink flowers. In fact, researchers report that honeybees don’t seem to know what to do with the flowers. Rather, the Virginia Meadow Beauty is pollinated by bumblebees, not honeybees. The pollen of a newly opened pink flower is good only for that day. But the flowers stay open for several days. It signals the bumblebees that the pollen in old flowers are not good by changing colors. Yet, the spent flowers are serving one more purpose. Researchers report that large displays, even if mostly spent flowers, attract more bumblebees than small displays of all fresh flowers. How is it that the bumblebee can get the pollen and the honeybees can’t? They just buzz. And when a bumblebee buzzes, the flower ejects its pollen at 30 times the force of gravity--a force greater than any astronaut must endure! It’s not that the bumblebee gets the pollen because it is larger than a honeybee; no, even bumblebees no larger than the honeybee’s head can get the pollen. It’s the frequency of buzzing. The Lord has abundantly provided for the Meadow Beauty. And He has provided for your forgiveness and salvation in His Son, Jesus Christ.”

THE LAW OF THE LORD IS PERFECT (Friday Church News Notes, May 1, 2009, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - “The law of the LORD is perfect, converting the soul: the testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple. The statutes of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart: the commandment of the LORD is pure, enlightening the eyes. The fear of the LORD is clean, enduring for ever: the judgments of the LORD are true and righteous altogether. More to be desired are they than gold, yea, than much fine gold: sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb. Moreover by them is thy servant warned: and in keeping of them there is great reward” (Psalms 19:7-11).

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.