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.

“HORRORCORE” RAPPER CHARGED WITH MURDER (Friday Church News Notes, September 25, 2009, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - Richard McCroskey, a “horrorcore” rapper, has been charged with the first degree murder of a pastor. McCroskey, who performed under the very appropriate name of Syko Sam, sang of murder, mutilation, and mayhem to a brain-numbing backbeat. In a song called “My Dark Side,” McCroskey sang, “You’re not the first, just to let you know. I’ve killed many people and I kill them real slow. It’s the best feeling, watching their last breath. Stabbing and stabbing till there’s nothing left.” The rapper is charged with killing a Presbyterian pastor in Virginia, and authorities said he will probably be charged with the murder of three other people, including two children. Horrorcore rap music is influenced by popular but vicious movies such as Child’s Play and Halloween. It focuses on Satanism, cannibalism, murder, suicide, and rape. A 2004 BBC documentary entitled Underground USA said horrorcore rap “has a massive following across the US.” The annual horrorcore “supershow” is rightly called “Wickedstock.” In spite of the vile nature of their “art,” horrorcore promoters have the audacity to claim that it is innocent. Andres Shrim, owner of Serial Killin Records, said that people “shouldn’t judge McCroskey by what they see on his website or hear in his music” (“US Rapper Charged,” AP, Sept. 21, 2009). Sure, he is a really nice, pure-hearted guy who just happens to enjoy singing about torturing people to death. The “entertainment” industry will be held accountable by Almighty God for its vile influence on society. The genres of science fiction and horror carry the individual into fictitious worlds without God, and this is very dangerous. The mind is the great spiritual battleground. The devil is called “the prince of the power of the air” (Eph. 2:2) and the ruler “of the darkness of this world” (Eph. 6:12). He is walking about seeking whom he may devour (1 Peter 5:8). The believer finds the will of God by “renewing the mind” (Romans 12:2) and “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 Cor. 10:5). The Bible warns that those who do not “retain God in their knowledge” are given over to a reprobate mind (Romans 1:28), because anything that takes the place of God in man’s heart and life is an idol, and God hates idols (Exodus 20:3).

OBAMA APPOINTEE BELIEVES EMBRYO “JUST A HANDFUL OF CELLS” (Friday Church News Notes, September 25, 2009, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - Cass Sunstein, who was appointed by Barack Obama as a “regulatory czar,” believes that an embryo is “just a handful of cells” (WorldNetDaily, Sept. 14, 2009). On this basis he claims that cloning embryos at an early stage is just fine. Sunstein was recently confirmed by the U.S. Senate as the administrator of the White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs. Darwinian evolution opened the Pandora’s Box of seeing the human embryo as something other than a developing human life. Darwin’s promoter in Germany, Ernst Haeckel, depicted the human embryo as exactly the same as a fish, a turtle, a chicken, and a rabbit. Haeckel’s famous embryo chart has been exposed as a lying fabrication, yet it appeared in countless scientific textbooks and popular publications over the past century and was still being used in the 1990s. Haeckel’s myth that the human embryo develops through stages from animal to man (which Haeckel called “recapitulation”) has encouraged the modern abortion industry. Dr. Henry Morris wrote, “We can justifiably charge this evolutionary nonsense of recapitulation with responsibility for the slaughter of helpless, pre-natal children--or at least for giving it a pseudo-scientific rationale” (The Long War against God, 1989, p. 139).

DA VINCI CODE AUTHOR LED ASTRAY BY LIBERAL PASTOR (Friday Church News Notes, September 25, 2009, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The following is excerpted from a report published on September 16, 2009, by missionary Daryl Coats: “September 15, 2009, was the U.S. release date for the newest novel by Dan Brown, author of The Da Vinci Code. As part of the world’s efforts to publicize this event as much as possible, the September 13 issue of Parade featured a brief interview with Brown. In response to the question ‘Are you religious?’ Brown responded as follows: ‘I was raised Episcopalian, and I was very religious as a kid. Then, in eighth or ninth grade, I studied astronomy, cosmology, and the origins of the universe. I remember saying to a minister, “I don’t get it. I read a book that said there was an explosion known as the Big Bang, but here it says God created heaven and Earth and the animals in seven days. Which is right?” Unfortunately, the response I got was, ‘Nice boys don’t ask that question.’ A light went off, and I said, ‘The Bible doesn’t make sense. Science makes more sense to me.’ And I just gravitated away from religion. Several things stand out about Brown's testimony. First, Brown obviously regrets his decision to abandon the Bible. Notice the use of the word ‘unfortunately’ as a preface to the answer he got from a ‘minster.’ Second, the Bible says, ‘The entrance of thy words giveth light; it giveth understanding unto the simple’ (Psalm 119:130). God obviously brought some light to the young Brown, but (according to his own testimony) when the young Brown rejected the only true source of light, ‘a light went off’-not ON. Third, [how illogical and foolish it is to] claim that the plain words of Genesis 1 do not ‘make sense,’ but that the concept of an explosion that created order instead of producing chaos and disorder--‘makes more sense to me’? Fourth, how much harm has been done to the cause of God because of one bad answer. (The Da Vinci Code has sold 80 million copies and been seen by millions in movie form.) [W]hen I was in school, false answers from teachers and denominational literature almost derailed me spiritually. ‘There but for the grace of God go I.’”

MUSLIMS MURDERING CHRISTIANS IN SOMALIA (Friday Church News Notes, September 25, 2009, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The following is excerpted from “Muslim Militants Slay Long-Time Christian,” Compass Direct, Sept. 18, 2009: “The faith journey of a long-time underground Christian in Somalia ended in tragedy this week when Islamic militants controlling a security checkpoint killed him after finding Bibles in his possession. Militants from the Muslim extremist al Shabaab killed 69-year-old Omar Khalafe on Tuesday (Sept. 15) at a checkpoint they controlled 10 kilometers from Merca, a Christian source told Compass. ... Last month al Shabaab extremists seeking evidence that a Somali man had converted from Islam to Christianity shot him dead near the Somali border with Kenya. ... In Mahadday Weyne, 100 kilometers (62 miles) north of the Somali capital of Mogadishu, al Shabaab Islamists on July 20 shot to death another convert from Islam, Mohammed Sheikh Abdiraman, at 7 a.m., eyewitnesses told Compass. ... The militants reportedly beheaded seven Christians on July 10. Reuters reported that they were killed in Baidoa for being Christians and ‘spies.’ ... On Feb. 21 al shabaab militants beheaded two young boys in Somalia because their Christian father refused to divulge information about a church leader.”

NO-FAULT DIVORCE IS INSTITUTIONALIZED EVIL (Friday Church News Notes, September 25, 2009, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The following is excerpted from S. Michael Craven, Christian Post, September 11, 2009: “No fault-divorce has wrought untold human suffering and injustice since its establishment in 1969. It is an evil that exists in active opposition to the principles of God’s kingdom. ... the availability of no-fault divorce has served to increase family dissolution at a rate greater than ever before in history; furthermore, it undermines the institution of marriage itself, perhaps more so than any other single factor in history. We would not be standing on the brink of same-sex marriage were it not for the corrosive effect upon marriage-as-an-institution that followed the divorce revolution. Constitutional and family law attorney J. Shelby Sharpe says, “No-fault is national catastrophe. Anything which overturns the order or systems of things whereby families are destroyed and the whole of society adversely affected is by definition a catastrophe. You may be surprised to learn that the initial efforts to advance no-fault divorce legislation were underwritten by Hugh Hefner through the Playboy Foundation, which financed an army of young lawyers working to advance these antifamily policies. Let’s see…America’s largest pornographer working to rewrite public policy related to the family? There’s something seriously wrong with this picture! Alfred Kinsey also played an instrumental role in reducing these legal protections by falsely reporting that adultery was commonplace in most marriages. This reduced the stigma associated with adultery and ultimately served as the basis for eliminating all laws against adultery. Hefner and Kinsey both saw marriage as the final barrier to sexual freedom and thus determined to remove its inhibiting influence upon unrestrained sexual activity. .... Under the system prior to no-fault divorce, the state was limited in its actions and intrusion into the private affairs of the family except in those cases in which one of the parties committed a legally recognized offense against the other. In the wake of no-fault divorce, the state has been given unprecedented access into and unconstitutional authority over what was previously sacrosanct: the family. ... No-fault divorce has created an easy divorce culture, which, according to Maggie Gallagher, an affiliate scholar at the Institute for American Values and a nationally syndicated columnist, “demotes marriage from a binding relation into something best described as cohabitation with insurance benefits.”

PERCENTAGE OF FEMALE PASTORS DOUBLED OVER PAST 10 YEARS (Friday Church News Notes, September 25, 2009, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - A study by Barna has found that the percentage of “Protestant” women serving as senior pastors in the U.S. has doubled over the past decade (Christian Post, Sept. 15, 2009). The number of female pastors currently stands at 10%. The Bible settled this matter 2,000 years ago, but in this day of apostasy the Word of God is largely ignored in favor of human philosophy and tradition. The apostle Paul wrote under divine inspiration, “But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence” (1 Timothy 2:12).

INDEPENDENT BAPTIST ECUMENISM, PART I, ATTACKING SEPARATION (Friday Church News Notes, September 25, 2009, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - I am seeing a growing movement for an “independent Baptist ecumenism” or a “fundamentalist ecumenism.” According to this view, fundamentalists should separate from out-and-out heretics (those “out there”) but should promote only unity among ourselves. We should not be divided by issues such as dress, music, worship styles, Bible texts and versions, soul-winning methods, repentance, separation, etc. This is the philosophy that is promoted by Charles Keen in the book “Thinking Outside the Box” (First Bible International, 2003). Someone gave this to me on my last trip to the States, and I have decided to review it because Dr. Keen is an influential Independent Baptist leader and his philosophy is one that is spreading. In light of his work in pastoring First Baptist Church in Milford, Ohio, for 35 years and establishing the large Bearing Precious Seed ministry based there, I hesitate to do this, and I know from experience that considerable animosity will be aimed at me for such a critique and that I will be further labeled as “divisive”; but I believe the critique is necessary. Keen’s book has some good points. Independent Baptists do need to be challenged to throw away man-made tradition and think outside the box in that sense. The average Independent Baptist pastor is as tradition-bound as an Episcopalian. I wish I could continue in this vein and focus on the good things in this book, but there is a glaring problem. It contains clear New Evangelical thinking. In standard New Evangelical fashion, Keen takes many pot shots at separation. Though he says that he believes in separation he does not emphasize its importance nearly enough in this hour of raging apostasy and endless compromise. If anything, we need to preach more fervently on separation, not encourage men by any means to discount it. Consider the following excerpts: “Ecclesiastical separation can make our support group so small we have no meaningful impact worldwide” (p. 32). “... our good stand on separation has caused us to subconsciously withdraw from world evangelism” (p. 80). “Over-emphasizing separation causes us to turn inward, when in fact we are told to ‘go’ outward into all the world” (p. 81). “The world is dying and going to hell. God is losing worshippers at the rate of three a second. Are our differences sufficient to warrant that?” (p. 82). COMMENT BY BROTHER CLOUD: There is no need whatsoever to set separation over against world missions as if they were enemies. Both are necessary; both are commanded of God. I, for one, practice both. My wife and I have spent decades of our lives planting churches in the very heart of the so-called 10/40 Window. Dr. Keen talks about getting someone to do it. We have done it. We had the privilege of planting the first Baptist church in Nepal in the 1980s, and our present goal is to plant 100 new churches through personal evangelism and training preachers. Our married children are involved in this project. You don’t have to artificially divide truth into essential and non-essential and take pot shots at and muddy the waters of biblical separation and promote highly questionable evangelical missiology to obey Christ’s command for world evangelism. Biblical separation doesn’t hinder biblical missions; it protects it from the ravages of error.

BE HOLY (Friday Church News Notes, September 25, 2009, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - “Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ; As obedient children, not fashioning yourselves according to the former lusts in your ignorance: But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation; Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy. And if ye call on the Father, who without respect of persons judgeth according to every man's work, pass the time of your sojourning here in fear” (1 Peter 1:13-17).

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.

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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.

A WARNING ABOUT BIBLE TRANSLATION WORK TODAY (Friday Church News Notes, September 18, 2009, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The amount of Bible translation work that has occurred over the past 100 years appears impressive. In 1910, the Bible in whole or in part was available in 722 languages, whereas today the number is roughly 2,500. The problem is two-fold. First, the vast majority of the new translations are based on the exceedingly corrupt critical Greek text, which omits 2,886 words from the Greek Received Text upon which the old Reformation Bibles were based. This is equivalent to omitting the entire books of 1 and 2 Peter from the Bible. These omissions include 45 entire and 185 partial verses and have significant doctrinal implications (Everett Fowler, Evaluating Versions of the New Testament). Further, the modern translation methodology itself is corrupt. Created by Eugene Nida fifty years ago, it is called “dynamic equivalency.” By this method, the translator is allowed to take frightful liberties with the infallible words of God, modifying and adapting the Scripture to “the culture.” The dynamic equivalency methodology even adopts pagan names for God. For example, the United Bible Societies and Wycliffe Bible Translators have used the following names for God: In Samba of Africa they used Nyaama (the sun); in Lame in Chad they used Yafray (mother of the heavens); in Ga in Ghana they used Ataa Naa Nyonmo (the father mother God). Philip Noss of the American Bible Society says, “God reveals himself through his word and through each culture” (“Bible Translation in History and into the Future,” Lausanne World Pulse, September 2009). (For more on this see the report “Dynamic Equivalency: Its Influence and Errors” at the Way of Life web site.)

EPISCOPAL NUNS JOIN ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH (Friday Church News Notes, September 18, 2009, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - Ten nuns of the Episcopal Church in America joined the Roman Catholic Church this month. The nuns, from the All Saints Sisters of the Poor of Maryland, left the Episcopal Church because it has “become too liberal in its acceptance of homosexuality” (“Episcopal Nuns Leave,” USA Today, Sept. 9, 2009). The community’s chaplain, Warren Tanghe, also joined Rome. Christina Christie, the order’s superior, said, “We were drifting farther apart from the more liberal road the Episcopal Church is traveling. We are now more at home in the Roman Catholic Church.” In truth, they have jumped from the frying pan into the fire. The Roman Catholic Church is not only permeated with its own heresies (e.g., the papacy, a sacramental gospel, veneration of Mary, priests who allegedly stand in the place of Christ, the transubstantiation of the mass wafer), it is also filled with theological modernism. Pope John Paul II stated that the theory of evolution must be taken seriously by Christians (Vatican Information Service, October 23, 1996). Pope Benedict XVI calls Mary “Heaven’s Gate” (“All can enter eternal life, but the door is narrow,” Catholic News Agency, Aug. 27, 2007). As for homosexuality, it has been stated that 50% of Roman Catholic seminarians in America are homosexual (David France, “Gay and the Seminary,” Newsweek, April 20, 2002). This article describes “an aggressive gay ethos.” The total payout for sex abuse by the Roman Catholic Church in America is well over $2 billion. A conservative Catholic organization documented this wretched business in the fall/winter 2002 issue of the magazine Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam, observing, “… the overwhelming majority of sexual abuse cases in the Catholic Church--about 90%--involve homosexual priests preying on teenage boys.” By forbidding to marry (among other things), Rome has long identified itself as an institution that has departed from the faith and that is giving heed to doctrines of devils (1 Timothy 4:1-4).

DEATH-TOLL BY ABORTION GREATER THAN THAT OF WORLD WAR II (Friday Church News Notes, September 18, 2009, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The following is excerpted from LifeSiteNews, Sept. 9, 2009: “‘The death-toll of World War II was a tragic prelude to the far greater slaughter by abortion and euthanasia that has happened since,’ John Smeaton, Britain’s leading pro-life advocate, told a national pro-life conference last weekend. ‘Deaths of unborn children worldwide through abortion vastly outnumber the total of military and civilian war deaths,’ he added. In his address ‘The Pro-Life Battle Ahead,’ Smeaton, director of the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children (SPUC), told his audience, ‘We’re not fighting Nazi tyranny but the tyranny of politicians who promote legislation worldwide that destroys the lives of unborn children.’ Smeaton warned about the challenges ahead for Britain, including the so-called Liverpool Care Pathway (LCP), a protocol developed to help make health care rationing decisions in Britain’s nationalised health system that has resulted in effectively legalising euthanasia by dehydration. Smeaton said the LCP ‘is just the tip of the iceberg in relation to euthanasia practices in hospitals.’”

HOMOSEXUAL SUES BIBLE PUBLISHER FOR “MENTAL ANGUISH” (Friday Church News Notes, September 18, 2009, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The following is excerpted from WorldNetDaily, September 9, 2009: “A homosexual man is suing a third national Bible publisher for ‘mental anguish’ after he says the company published Bibles with a negative connotation toward homosexuals. Bradley LaShawn Fowler of Canton, Mich., alleges William Tyndale Publishing manipulated Scripture when it published Tyndale’s New Living Translation Holy Bible and the New Life Application Study Bible by using the term ‘homosexuals’ in a New Testament passage, 1 Corinthians 6:9. ... Fowler, who had a blog on Sen. Barack Obama’s campaign website last year, filed his initial complaint against Christian publishers Zondervan and Thomas Nelson Publishing. Fowler, who represented himself in both lawsuits, said in his complaint against Zondervan that the publisher intended to design a religious, sacred document to reflect an individual opinion or a group’s conclusion to cause ‘me or anyone who is a homosexual to endure verbal abuse, discrimination, episodes of hate, and physical violence ... including murder.’ He told the Grand Rapids’ WOOD-TV in 2008 that he wants to ‘compensate for the past 20 years of emotional duress and mental instability.’ ... When Fowler filed his initial claim against Zondervan, he alleged its Bibles’ references to homosexuality as a sin made him an outcast from his family and contributed to physical discomfort and periods of ‘demoralization, chaos and bewilderment.’”

SUPPORT FOR SUICIDE BOMBINGS AND BIN LADEN HIGH AMONG SOME MUSLIMS (Friday Church News Notes, September 18, 2009, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The following is excerpted from CNSNews, Sept. 11, 2009: “A new survey gauging Muslim attitudes indicates that backing for suicide bombings against civilians, while generally down from earlier years, remains significant in some Islamic countries--challenging the assertion that Muslims supporting terrorism constitute a ‘tiny minority.’ In the Pew Global Attitudes Project poll released on Thursday, 68 percent of Palestinian Muslim respondents said suicide bombings against civilians were justifiable ‘to defend Islam from its enemies.’ That view was shared by 43 percent of respondents in Nigeria and 38 percent in Lebanon, where 51 percent of Shi’ites held the view compared to 25 percent of Sunnis. ... Pakistan recorded the most striking drop: In 2004, 41 percent of respondents justified suicide terrorism, whereas the number recorded this year was five percent. ... The Pew survey also found although majorities in Nigeria (54 percent) and the Palestinian territories (52 percent) expressed “confidence in the al Qaeda leader [Osama bin Laden] to do the right thing regarding world affairs. ... The poll comes amid reports that the New York Police Department--after taking flak from Muslim organizations--has inserted into a key report on terrorism a ‘statement of clarification,’ saying among other things that ‘a tiny minority of Muslims … subscribe to al-Qaeda’s ideology of war and terror.’”

DEVELOPMENT AND THE CHARACTER ISSUE (Friday Church News Notes, September 18, 2009, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The following is reprinted from The Baptist Bookshelf: “The United Nations is deeply involved in ‘development.’ Countless dollars disappear down this rat hole with little visible results. The reason is that the UN doesn’t address one of the most basic causes of poverty, which is lack of moral character. Recently, for example, the 2009 edition of the Nepal Human Development Report was released. It measures the condition of Nepal by UN standards such as the Human Development Index, the Human Poverty Index, and the Gender Empowerment Measure. What these reports glaringly lack is a Character Index. Nepal is not poor because it doesn’t get enough foreign aid and is oppressed by some outside power. Typical for ‘Third World’ nations, it is poor because the people are lacking in character and discipline. Things such as lying, cheating, stealing, indolence, irresponsibility, bribing and taking bribes, are deeply ingrained at every level of society. Selfishness is endemic and there is no sense of civic pride or duty. These things hinder development more than the factors typically considered by the United Nations, and the lack of character is not the fault of the West. It is the fault of the people themselves, and until the character issue is faced, no amount of UN involvement and foreign aid will change things significantly. The UN doesn’t deal with the character issue, because character is largely the fruit of religion and philosophy, and the UN promotes the myth that all religions are of equal value.”

EVOLUTION IS A RELIGION (Friday Church News Notes, September 18, 2009, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - “Belief in evolution requires a vitally important element of faith. According to one of the most popular theories on the origin of the universe, all energy and matter of the universe was once contained in a plasma ball of electrons, protons, and neutrons and other subatomic particles (how it got there, no one has the faintest notion). This huge cosmic egg then exploded--and here we are today, several billion years later, human beings with a three-pound brain composed of twelve billion neurons each connected to about ten thousand other neurons in the most complicated arrangement of matter known to man. If this is true, then what we are and how we came to be were due solely to the properties inherent in electrons, protons, and neutrons. To believe this obviously requires a tremendous exercise of faith. Evolution theory is indeed no less religious nor more scientific than creation” (Duane Gish, Evolution: The Fossils Still Say No, pp. 19, 20; Gish has a Ph.D. in biochemistry from the University of California, Berkeley).

RICHARD DAWKINS’ ANSWER TO THE QUESTION “WHAT IF YOU ARE WRONG?” (Friday Church News Notes, September 18, 2009, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - Mocking and personal attacks tend to be tactics used by those who can’t refute another man’s argument. Consider, for example, the answer that the atheist Richard Dawkins gave to the question, “What if you are wrong?” This was asked by a young woman during the Q&A session following Dawkin’s reading of excerpts from his book The God Delusion at Randolph-Macon Woman’s College, Lynchburg, Virginia, October 23, 2006. Dawkins said: “Anybody could be wrong. We could all be wrong about the flying spaghetti monster and the pink unicorn and the flying teapot. You happen to be brought up, I presume, in the Christian faith. You know what it is like not to believe in a particular faith, because you are not a Muslim, you are not a Hindu. Why aren’t you a Hindu? Because you happen to have been brought up in America not in India. If you were brought up in India you would be a Hindu. If you were brought up in Denmark in the time of the Vikings, you would be believing in Thor. If you were brought up classical Greece, you would be believing in Zeus. If you were brought up central Africa, you would be believing in the great JuJu of the mountain. There is no particular reason to pick on the Judea-Christian God in which by the sheerest accident you happen to have been brought up, and ask me the question what if I’m wrong. Well, what if you’re wrong about the great JuJu at the bottom of the sea” (Richard Dawkins). CONCLUDING COMMENT FROM BROTHER CLOUD: I am not surprised that Dawkins would want to huff and puff his way out of answering that question. The real answer is that if Dawkins is wrong and the Bible is right, he is going to be punished in the lake of fire forever because of his rebellion against God and His rejection of God’s offer of salvation in Jesus Christ. On the other hand, if Dawkins is right and the Bible is wrong, nothing matters, because everything is the product of blind chance and there is no eternal life. If Dawkins is right, the Bible-believing Christian has lost nothing of substance by living for Jesus Christ. He has a better quality of life in this world even if death were the end. Compared to the life I lived before I was a Christian, the only thing I have lost in following Jesus Christ are the hangovers, the drug haze, the guilt, and the fear of death, the spiritual blindness, the relationships broken by sin and selfishness, and the consequences of being a scofflaw.

CONCLUSION: The Friday Church News Notes is designed for use in churches and is published by Way of Life Literature’s Fundamental Baptist Information Service. Unless otherwise stated, the Notes are written by David Cloud. Of necessity we quote from a wide variety of sources, but this obviously does not imply an endorsement. We trust that our readers will not be discouraged. It is God’s will that we know the times (1 Ch. 12:32; Mat. 16:3) and that we be as wise as serpents and harmless as doves. The News Notes remind us that the hour is very late, and we need to be ready for the Lord’s coming. Are you sure that you are born again? Are you living for Christ? “And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed. The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light. Let us walk honestly, as in the day; not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying. But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof” (Rom. 13:11-14). This material is sent only to those who personally subscribe to the Fundamental Baptist Information Service mailing list. To SUBSCRIBE, go to http://www.wayoflife.org/wayoflife/subscribe.html. TO UNSUBSCRIBE OR CHANGE ADDRESSES, go to the very bottom of any email received from us and click "Manage My Subscription." Way of Life Literature, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061, 866-295-4143, fbns@wayoflife.org.

The Friday Church News Notes is designed for use in churches and is published by Way of Life Literature’s Fundamental Baptist Information Service. Unless otherwise stated, the Notes are written by David Cloud. Of necessity we quote from a wide variety of sources, but this does not imply an endorsement. For instructions on how to unsubscribe to this list or to change mailing addresses, please consult the information paragraph at the end.

DAWKINS SAYS NO REPUTABLE SCIENTIST DISPUTES EVOLUTION (Friday Church News Notes, September 11, 2009, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - Richard Dawkins, the loud-mouthed anti-creationist, says in his recent book The Greatest Show in Earth, “Evolution is a fact. Beyond reasonable doubt, beyond serious doubt, beyond sane, informed, intelligent doubt, beyond doubt evolution is a fact. ... No reputable scientist disputes it, and no unbiased reader will close the book doubting it.” Thus, according to Dawkins, if you reject evolution, you are unintelligent and your sanity should be questioned, and no reputable scientist disputes it. In our report “Scientists Who Believe the Bible,” we listed about 40 Ph.D.s who believe in biblical creation. Consider A.E. Wilder-Smith (d. 1995), who had a Ph.D. in physical organic chemistry from Reading University, England, a Ph.D. in pharmacology from the University of Geneva, and a Ph.D. in pharmacological sciences from ETH, a premier science and technology university in Zurich. A Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry, Dr. Wilder-Smith was an expert on chemotherapy, pharmacology, organic chemistry, and biochemistry. Consider biophysicist Raymond Damadian, M.D., recipient of the Lemelson-MIT Achievement Award as “the man who invented the MRI scanner.” In 1989, he was inducted into the Inventors Hall of Fame, an honor he shares with Thomas Edison, Samuel Morse, and the Wright Brothers. The first MRI scanner that Dr. Damadian and his colleagues built in 1977 resides at the Smithsonian Institution. Damadian, a Bible-believing Christian who attends a Baptist church, has stated that “the highest purpose a man can find for his life is to serve the will of God.” Consider Richard Lumsden (1938-97), Ph.D., professor of parisitology and cell biology, who as dean of the graduate school at Tulane University, trained 30 Ph.D.s., published hundreds of scholarly papers, and was the winner of the highest award for parasitology. Consider Dr. Maciej Giertych, head of the Department of Genetics at the Institute of Dendrology of the Polish Academy of Sciences, who has published 90 papers in scientific journals, or Dr. Brian Stone, who has won a record number of awards for excellence in engineering teaching at Australian universities, or Duane Gish, who has a Ph.D. in biochemistry and worked for many years in pharmaceutical research at Cornell University, the University of California, and the Upjohn Company, or Dr. W. R. Thompson, world-famous biologist and former Director of the Commonwealth Institute of Biological Control of Canada, or Melvin A. Cook, Ph.D. in chemistry from Yale, winner of the Nitro Nobel Gold Medal for the invention of slurry explosives, or Dr. Walter Lammerts, geneticist and famous plant breeder, or the late Dr. J.J. Duyvene De Wit, Professor of Zoology at the University of the Orange Free State, South Africa, or James Allan, who has a Ph.D. in genetics from the University of Edinburgh and was a senior lecturer in genetics at the University of Stellenbosch in South Africa. There are hundreds of others, but Dawkins said there is NO reputable scientist who disputes evolution, so we have already more than demonstrated his gross error, his breath-taking arrogance, his astounding ignorance, and the fact that Dawkins himself is not a reputable scientist. Of course, even if NO reputable scientist disputed evolution, this does not mean it is correct. The Bible says, “let God be true, but every man a liar” (Romans 3:4), and Jesus said, “I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes” (Matthew 11:25).

MICHAEL JACKSON GLOVE SELLS FOR $48,000 (Friday Church News Notes, September 11, 2009, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - One of Michael Jackson’s bejeweled white gloves sold for more than $48,000 at an auction in Australia (“Michael Jackson’s Glove Auctioned,” Yahoo Music, Sept. 6, 2009). The glove was tossed to a fan more than a decade ago. This reminds us of how spiritually empty and lacking in wisdom the world is. Sitting on the brink of eternity, about to fall off into eternal hell, unsaved men play with toys that have no more value than and are as fleeting as a child’s bubbles. May God’s people not follow this foolish example and give their hearts to the vanities of this world. Jesus said, “For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also” (Luke 12:34).

SWEDEN OUTLAWS HOMESCHOOLING (Friday Church News Notes, September 11, 2009, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The following is excerpted from OneNewsNow, Aug. 19, 2009: “Mike Farris, founder of the Home School Legal Defense Association, says that Sweden will ban all home schooling except for children with medical exemptions and foreign workers with the appropriate work visas. ‘People who have religious convictions or are home schooling for religious reasons will not be given one of these very rare exemptions,’ he points out. ‘They’re following the German statute, following the German model.’ In Germany, parents face stiff penalties if they are caught illegally home schooling their children. The Romeike family recently left Germany and is seeking asylum in the U.S. after facing stiff fines and the potential loss of custody rights for home schooling their children.”

CANADA INTERNET HATE SPEECH LAW RULED UNCONSTITUTIONAL (Friday Church News Notes, September 11, 2009, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The following is excerpted from the National Post, Sept. 2, 2009: “The Canadian Human Rights Tribunal on Wednesday ruled that Section 13, Canada’s much maligned human rights hate speech law, violates the Charter right to free expression because it carries the threat of punitive fines. The shocking decision by Tribunal member Athanasios Hadjis leaves several hate speech cases in limbo, and appears to strip the Canadian Human Rights Commission of its controversial legal mandate to pursue hate on the Internet, which it has strenuously defended against complaints of censorship. It also marks the first major failure of Section 13(1) of the Canadian Human Rights Act, an anti-hate law that was conceived in the 1960s to target racist telephone hotlines, then expanded in 2001 to the include the entire Internet. ... All sides seem to agree, however, that the stage is set for pitched battle in federal court, where CHRT rulings can be appealed. Another less likely outcome is for Parliament itself to repeal or amend Section 13, a law that even supporters say needs updating in the age of the Internet.” CONCLUDING NOTE FROM BROTHER CLOUD: It is uncertain what effect this will have for Christians that are being harassed by homosexuals and others who are using Canada’s hate crimes laws against them.

BRITISH HEALTH CARE SYSTEM SENTENCING PATIENTS TO DIE (Friday Church News Notes, September 11, 2009, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The following is excerpted from “Sentenced to Death on the NHS,” The Daily Telegraph, Sept. 2009: “In a letter to The Daily Telegraph, a group of experts who care for the terminally ill claim that some patients are being wrongly judged as close to death. Under NHS guidance introduced across England to help doctors and medical staff deal with dying patients, they can then have fluid and drugs withdrawn and many are put on continuous sedation until they pass away. As a result the scheme is causing a ‘national crisis’ in patient care, the letter states. It has been signed palliative care experts including Professor Peter Millard, Emeritus Professor of Geriatrics, University of London, Dr Peter Hargreaves, a consultant in Palliative Medicine at St Luke's cancer centre in Guildford, and four others. ‘Forecasting death is an inexact science,’ they say. Patients are being diagnosed as being close to death ‘without regard to the fact that the diagnosis could be wrong. As a result a national wave of discontent is building up, as family and friends witness the denial of fluids and food to patients.’ The warning comes just a week after a report by the Patients Association estimated that up to one million patients had received poor or cruel care on the NHS. ... Under the guidelines the decision to diagnose that a patient is close to death is made by the entire medical team treating them, including a senior doctor. They look for signs that a patient is approaching their final hours, which can include if patients have lost consciousness or whether they are having difficulty swallowing medication. However, doctors warn that these signs can point to other medical problems. ... When a decision has been made to place a patient on the pathway doctors are then recommended to consider removing medication or invasive procedures, such as intravenous drips, which are no longer of benefit. ... Dr. Hargreaves added that some patients were being ‘wrongly’ put on the pathway, which created a ‘self-fulfilling prophecy’ that they would die. ... He said that he had personally taken patients off the pathway who went on to live for ‘significant’ amounts of time and warned that many doctors were not checking the progress of patients enough to notice improvement in their condition.”

THE LUCY HOAX (Friday Church News Notes, September 11, 2009, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - One of the alleged missing links in the ancestry between man and ape is Australopithecus, and the most famous set of bones from this creature is that of Lucy. The partial skeleton, which was discovered in 1974 in Ethiopia, has been widely hailed as an important link in man’s evolution. Though evolutionists admit that the creature had an ape’s head and brain and ape-like arms and hands and no speech capacity, it is alleged that it walked uprightly, which was “the first step toward becoming human.” A meeting of anthropologists gathered last month at the Institute of Human Origins in New York to consider Lucy, and a report in the New York Times made the following interesting conclusion: “The debate over whether the primate Lucy actually stood up on two feet three million years ago and walked--thus becoming one of mankind’s most important ancestors--has evolved into two interpretive viewpoints, three family trees, spats over four scientific techniques and too many personality clashes to count. ... The long and short of it is, according to a participant, that bipedality lies in the eye of the beholder” (“Did Lucy Actually Stand on Her Own Two Feet?” New York Times, Aug. 29, 2009). Thus, even evolutionary scientists can’t agree together that Lucy walked uprightly. As for Lucy’s feet, Dr. Randall Susman and Dr. Jack Stern of the State University of New York at Stony Brook, described them as “showing a retention of grasping tendencies with long and curved digits” (“Did Lucy Actually Stand on Her Own Two Feet?” New York Times, Aug. 29, 2009). That sounds like ape’s feet to me. Dr. Stern concluded that everything about Lucy, from her fingertips to her toes, suggests that “our ancestors, after they diverged from apes, inhabited the trees three to four million years ago.” The clear evidence that Lucy had ape-like hands and feet prove the existence of a hoax that is being perpetrated by evolutionists. Artistic renderings typically depict Lucy with human hands walking uprightly on human feet. This is true for the models at the New York Museum of Natural History, the American Museum of Natural Sciences, the Museum of Man in San Diego, the National Museum of Anthology in Mexico City, the St. Louis Zoo, the University of New Mexico, and Michigan State University. You can also find drawings of Lucy in science textbooks that depict her with human hands and feet. An example is Life: The Science of Biology by Purves, Orians, and Heller, 1992, p. 604. These models and drawings are not scientific; they are brainwashing tools. This is not education; it is propaganda.

WHERE DID CAIN GET HIS WIFE? (Friday Church News Notes, September 11, 2009, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - Where Did Cain get his wife? The answer is in Genesis 5:4. “And the days of Adam after he had begotten Seth were eight hundred years: and he begat sons and daughters.” Adam and Eve had many sons and daughters that are not named in Genesis, and Cain obviously married one of his sisters. This was not wrong in the early days of the human race, because the gene pool was not weakened as it is today. Dr. Duane Gish states: “Since Adam and Eve were genetically perfect when created, and harmful, crippling mutations had not yet had time to form, at least to a significant extent when such intermarriage was necessary, no harmful biological results would occur from such intermarriage. Today almost 3000 crippling conditions, such as juvenile diabetes, sickle cell anemia, and phenylketonuria, are caused by harmful mutant genes. Chances of inheriting such a mutant gene from both father and mother (which is usually necessary for expression of the defect) is increased by intermarriage with cousins or closer relatives. Thus came prohibition against such intermarriage” (Evolution: The Fossils Still Say No, p. 323).

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.

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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.

NEWSWEEK SAYS “WE ARE ALL HINDUS NOW” (Friday Church News Notes, September 4, 2009, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - In its August 31 issue, Newsweek magazine says, “We Are All Hindus Now.” The article reports, “[R]ecent poll data show that conceptually, at least, we are slowly becoming more like Hindus and less like traditional Christians in the ways we think about God, our selves, each other, and eternity. ... The Rig Veda, the most ancient Hindu scripture, says this: ‘Truth is One, but the sages speak of it by many names.’ A Hindu believes there are many paths to God. ... Americans are no longer buying [the Jesus is the only way] doctrine. According to a 2008 Pew Forum survey, 65 percent of us believe that ‘many religions can lead to eternal life’--including 37 percent of white evangelicals ... Stephen Prothero, religion professor at Boston University, has long framed the American propensity for ‘the divine-deli-cafeteria religion’ as ‘very much in the spirit of Hinduism. ... It’s about whatever works. If going to yoga works, great--and if going to Catholic mass works, great. And if going to Catholic mass plus the yoga plus the Buddhist retreat works, that’s great, too.’” NOTE FROM BROTHER CLOUD: In our estimation, this is a correct observation. Christianity in America is a mile wide and an inch thick. There is little biblical substance to it. At its heart is the judge not, rock & roll philosophy of live and let live, but this is covered with a thin veneer of Christianity and ill-defined “spirituality.” Typical American Christianity rejects the Bible’s absolute authority and exclusiveness. It is more akin to New Age than Bible, and in fact, New Age philosophy is essentially Hinduism.

BURY ME WITH MY CELL PHONE (Friday Church News Notes, September 4, 2009, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - There is a growing custom of people being buried with their cell phones. Noelle Potvin, a counselor for a funeral home in Hollywood, California, said, “It seems that everyone under 40 who dies takes their cell phone with them” (“Bury Me with My Cell Phone,” MSNBC.com, Dec. 16, 2008). The practice has been observed in other countries, as well. According to Frank Perman, owner of a funeral home in Pittsburg, the custom has grown over the past five years and is expected to increase exponentially. Some consider it a way to stay connected. Los Angeles funeral planner Pam Vetter says, “I’ve seen people leave cell phones on and tell me they’re going to call their loved one later.” The wife of John Jacobs continues to pay the monthly bill for the cell phone that was left in his casket in 2005. She had his cell number carved onto his tombstone. The desire to reach beyond death is in every man, and when men do not believe the Bible they grasp at other possibilities and techniques. When the famous escape artist Harry Houdini in 1926, he promised his wife, Bess, that he would try to contact her from beyond the grave. Each year she held a séance on Halloween night, the night of his death, seeking to contact her departed husband. In 1936, the disappointed Bess held the final Houdini séance. Thank the Lord that eternal life is possible, but it does not come through technology or occultism or blind faith. It is a reality for those who receive Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour. “These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God” (1 John 5:13).

PERCIVAL LOWELL, THE MAN WHO SAW CANALS ON MARS (Friday Church News Notes, September 4, 2009, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - One of the most interesting examples of how that man can see what he wants to see, how that a man’s will affects his mind and vision, is the case of Percival Lowell, who died in 1916. He was born into a wealthy, high-society family in Boston, graduated from Harvard, was a brilliant mathematician and successful businessman, traveled widely in the Far East, learned several languages, and kept company with many affluent, influential people. Charles Darwin’s “On the Origin of Species” was published a when Lowell was a boy, and he accepted the theory of evolution wholehearted. His imagination was stirred by Italian astronomer Giovanni Schiaparelli’s 1893 book “Life on Mars” and of the report of supposed existence of “channels.” Seeing this as proof that life existed on other planets and therefore that the Bible is wrong, Lowell set out to bring this “evidence” home for the evolutionary crowd. He used his wealth to construct an astronomical observatory with a 24-inch telescope in the American west near the Grand Canyon. It was completed in 1894, and from then until his death 22 years later he studied Mars and published his reports and books. Eventually he “saw” and named 700 canals on the red planet and came to believe that the Martians were building the canals in an attempt to save their planet. He deduced many fascinating details about the lives of the Martian aliens. Buried near his telescope, Lowell left his wealth for “the study of our Solar System and its evolution.” The one small problem with all of this is that there are no canals on Mars and no Martians. In the 1970s NASA’S Viking space vehicles orbited Mars and actually landed and roamed around on it, hunting for life, and found no clear evidence thereof of any kind, let alone canals. How could an intelligent, well-educated man see 700 canals that do not exist? He wanted to see them. It is the same phenomenon that allows any evolutionary atheist to see evidence for Darwinian evolution when none exists. The Bible explains it as the deceit of the fallen human heart and spiritual blindness. It is possible to believe a lie and to believe it with all of one’s heart. I am so thankful to the Lord for opening my blind eyes 36 years ago and showing me the truth in Jesus Christ. “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?” (Jeremiah 17:9). “In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them” (2 Corinthians 4:4).

STREET PREACHERS ARRESTED IN GEORGIA (Friday Church News Notes, September 4, 2009, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The following is excerpted from “Cops Versus Preachers on Public Sidewalk,” WorldNetDaily, August 27, 2009: “A street preacher is accusing police of violating his constitutional rights after officers arrested him for not having a parade permit while he spoke out against homosexuality on a public sidewalk in Manchester, Ga. Chris Pettigrew and Pastor Billy Ball and of Faith Baptist Church in Primrose, Ga., were arrested multiple times Aug 24 after they held signs on a public street corner telling people to repent and declaring homosexuality a sin. They held signs that stated: ‘Repent ye, and believe the gospel, Mark 1:15,’ and, ‘Three gay rights: AIDS, hell, salvation.’ ... Pettigrew said officers from the Manchester Police Department were initially cordial when they told him he must have a permit to stand on the sidewalk with his sign. ‘We simply said, We can't do that. It’s our constitutional right to free speech. We’re not impeding any kind of traffic. We’re peaceably assembled, so we’re going to do what we came to do, he said.’ At that moment, another officer arrived, joined the others and told the men they must obtain a permit to remain on the sidewalk. Displeased with their answer, Pettigrew said, ‘they handcuffed us and took us to the city jail in Manchester.’ Later, while Pettigrew and his comrades remained in jail, Pastor Ball and another man arrived at the street corner to share his message. So, police arrested Ball. ... ‘If I were holding a sign that said, Two large pizzas for $5, I don't think I would have gotten a second look from police. I firmly and adamantly believe we were singled out and arrested because of the content of our speech,’ Pettigrew said.”

UNITY REMAINS TOP PRIORITY FOR WCC (Friday Church News Notes, September 4, 2009, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - Olav Tveit, the newly elected general secretary of the World Council of Churches, says that ecumenical unity remains the organization’s primary task (“Church Unity,” Christian Post, Aug. 28, 2009). Citing Jesus’ prayer in John 17, Tveit called for “Christian solidarity in this world.” He said he is committed to fostering unity between Protestants, Roman Catholics, Pentecostals, and Evangelicals. He also called for closer relations between the WCC and Islam. Jesus’ prayer in John 17 has nothing to do with ecumenical unity. It is a prayer, not a command, and it was answered 2,000 years ago! Those who are born again and are committed to the truth of God’s Word possess a spiritual unity that cannot be created by man-made programs. Jesus prayed for those who receive and keep God’s Word (John 17:6, 8). That certainly does not apply to the grossly apostate World Council of Churches! See our report “The World Council of Churches” at the Way of Life web site.

PALESTINIAN CLERIC DENIES ISRAEL’S TEMPLE (Friday Church News Notes, September 4, 2009, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - Sheik Taysir Tamimi, one of the most influential Muslim leaders in Israel, denies that a Jewish temple existed in Jerusalem, claiming that Jerusalem has always been an Islamic city (“Chief Palestinian Justice Says Temples Never Existed,” WorldNetDaily, Aug. 27, 2009). The “Temple Denial” doctrine was invented about a decade ago by Israel’s enemies in Palestine and has spread throughout much of the Muslim world, but it is nonsense. The doctrine flies in the face of the Bible, and archaeological research has provided evidence of the first and second temples. Further, the oldest arch in Rome, the Arch of Titus, which was dedicated in 85 A.D., features actual depictions of the articles removed from the temple by Rome’s army in 70 A.D. The candlestick and silver trumpets are plainly visible to this day. Tamimi claims that descriptions of the Jewish temple in Roman writings are forged, but the Arch of Titus certainly was not forged. Its history is well known. (For more on this see “Temple Denial vs. Archaeology” at the Way of Life web site.)

THE WIKIPEDIA HIT PIECE ON HENRY MORRIS (Friday Church News Notes, September 4, 2009, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - Wikipedia is a “collaborative” internet encyclopedia that provides a forum for people to publish both truth and lies. From its inception in 2001, Wikipedia has grown to become a hugely influential publication. As of 2009, it receives 65 million visitors a month. The Wikipedia philosophy is that there is a great latent pool of knowledge in the world that should be tapped to create a wonderful public encyclopedia, but there is also a great latent pool of ignorance and bias, and Wikipedia taps the latter as often as the former. They even admit that “newer articles more frequently contain significant misinformation, unencyclopedic content, or vandalism,” but this is not only true for newer articles. Instead of assigning individuals of known expertise to write articles and attaching their names to the articles, as with reputable encyclopedias, Wikipedia lets every Tom, Dick, and Harry contribute, and the reader rarely knows who wrote what. The thing is an absolute mess, but its influence is vast because it is free and its returns are high on the search lists. Take, for example, the entry on the late Dr. Henry M. Morris. The analysis of his publications is nothing more than a cheap hit piece. His most vicious detractors are quoted. How would you like it if your biography was written by your enemies? This Wikipedia report contains not one line of positive credit to the massive amount of truly scientific work that Morris and his highly educated co-laborers did. Typical of the information found in the article is this comment on Morris’s book Evolution and the Modern Christian: “T.E. Fenton, Professor of Agronomy at Iowa State University, wrote ‘scientific value of the book is nil.’” As for Morris’ book The Long War against God, Wikipedia merely quotes a Randy Moore’s criticism of Morris for saying that evolution is satanic and responsible for racism, abortion, and a decline in morality. What Wikipedia omits is the fact that Morris extensively documented this very thing! Every person should read this important book, in fact. Wikipedia does not offer even one positive example of Morris’s devastating critiques of evolution. Instead, the readers are left with the false impression that the man was a careless crackpot and that it would be a complete waste of time to read his books. One thing Wikipedia gets right is its assertion that Morris was the father of modern Christian science. Thank God for that. Thirty years ago there was little in the way of material defending the Bible against the onslaught of evolutionary myths. Today there is a rapidly growing wealth of such material, and Henry Morris was at the forefront of this movement and bore the heat of the battle. Knowledgeable biblical creationists need to sign on as editors of Wikipedia and bring some semblance of “balance” to its incredibly biased reports.

A PERSONAL TESTIMONY ABOUT AA (Friday Church News Notes, September 4, 2009, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The following was sent to me from William H. Lavender, II, and is used by permission: “Great article on the roots of Alcoholics Anonymous (“AA: Christian or Occult Roots?” Aug. 20, 2009, Way of Life Literature). My Father was heavily involved in AA in the early to mid-1980's, my mother in Alanon. Both had rejected church attendance after we moved in 1979 from the town in which they were active church members. Dad went back to drinking which turned into weekend binges and my mother started smoking and using foul language. When their marriage relationship began to sour, Dad started going to AA instead of turning back to Christ. During that time, my late brother and I were encouraged to attend Ala-teen. After two sessions, I rejected it as nothing more than a platform that encouraged rebellion against one’s parents. It definitely not expounding any Christian faith, contrary to its advertisement. In short, AA and its auxiliaries were the final nail in the coffin (so-to-speak) in the disintegration of our family. Both of my parents claimed Christ as their Savior but were beguiled into thinking that they were part of something that could solve their problems, instead of returning to their first love--Christ and His Word. My brother, who passed on recently from an apparent overdose of prescription pain killers, became caught up in the AA program as an adult. My mother passed away in 1993, never seeing the inside of a church after 1982. My father and brother finally started going back to church regularly last year. Even though my brother has passed away, my Father is still attending church. I would hope that all the saints of God would realize that AA is not an acceptable substitute for Christ and His Word when needing answers to life’s problems and gaining victory in one’s personal battles with some vice.”

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.