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.

SOCIAL JUSTICE REPLACES GOSPEL PREACHING IN UNITED METHODIST CAMPAIGN (Friday Church News Notes, April 30, 2010, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The United Methodist Church conducted a Change the World campaign last weekend, with the objective of changing society rather than preaching the gospel. It is part of its “Rethink Church” program, which purports to “recover the message and mission of Jesus,” but which in fact covers His Mission (e.g., Mark 16:15; Luke 24:46-48; Acts 1:8) with a humanistic, short-sighted social-justice campaign. One of the objectives of Rethink Church is for Christians to “unite globally to eliminate” malaria. The ecumenical agenda aside, this is commendable as far as it goes, but it is far more important to preach the gospel. Even if malaria and cancer and heart disease were eliminated, every individual will still die physically and those without Christ will suffer the second death in the lake of fire. Thus, gospel preaching far exceeds social-justice work in importance and consequence, and since the work of gospel preaching always exceeds the number of workers and resources, it must have the pre-eminence in the heart and objective of the churches. The kingdom of God will not come to this sin-drunken world until the Prince of Peace returns and establishes it with His omnipotent power and omniscient wisdom.

WOMAN DISAPPOINTED AFTER FOLLOWING OPRAH’S GOSPEL FOR ONE YEAR (Friday Church News Notes, April 30, 2010, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - A new book entitled Living Oprah describes a 35-year-old woman’s attempt to live according to the gospel of Oprah Winfrey. Robyn Okrant determined to follow every piece of advice dished out on Oprah’s television show, web site, and magazine. She read the recommended books and watched the recommended movies, followed the recipes, completed the self-help quizzes, and purchased the cosmetics and tools and clothes and furniture to the tune of US $5000. Oprah purports to help women “live your best life” and though Okrant pursued this dream with gusto she found the reality disappointing. In an interview with the Sydney Morning Herald, she said that she felt that she was on a “woman-sized gerbil wheel,” frantically trying to complete the tasks. She concluded, “We can’t look to Oprah for our answers. Nothing fits so neatly in that ‘best life’ box” (“O, what a healing,” Sydney Morning Herald,” April 25, 2010). Okrant also witnessed the fanaticism of Oprah’s followers. She described the taping of an Oprah television show. When the talk-show host walked on stage, the women jumped to their feet and applauded and cheered louder and louder. Okrant says, “A woman near me yells, ‘Thank you, Jesus! Thank you, Jesus!’ I’m not even a Christian but it feels blasphemous.” Indeed, it is blasphemous. Oprah is opposed to the Bible’s teaching and despises Jesus Christ, and for a supposed Christian (like the woman shouting ‘Thank you, Jesus’) to revere her and to devote time and money to her is unconscionable. During a 1998 television show featuring New Agers Betty Eadie, Sophy Burnham, and Dannion Brinkley, Oprah said, “... one of the biggest mistakes humans make is to believe that there is only one way. Actually, there are many diverse paths leading to what you call God.” When an audience member disagreed, testifying that she believed that Jesus Christ is the only way to God, Winfrey got upset and said that she didn’t think that someone would go to hell because they don’t believe in Jesus. She stated emphatically, “THERE COULDN’T POSSIBLY BE ONLY ONE WAY.” On the same program Oprah said: “I was raised a Baptist and we were too hung up on traditional ways. I was sitting in church and heard that God is a jealous God. I asked ‘Why? Come on--let’s get over it!’ ... I believe in the FORCE--I call it God” (“The Gospel according to Oprah,” Vantage Point, July 1998).

AMERICANS FEEL CONNECTED TO JESUS (Friday Church News Notes, April 30, 2010, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - A new Barna study finds that most “Americans feel connected to Jesus.” Nearly seven in ten of those surveyed claim to have “a personal relationship” with Jesus that influences their lives (“Americans Feel Connected,” Barna.org, April 2010). These believe that Jesus communicates with them, and nearly 60% think that Jesus feels their pain and suffering. While it may sound encouraging that a majority of Americans feel connected to Jesus and are convinced that He speaks to them, we must ask, “What Jesus?” Since the Bible warns of “false christs” and “false spirits” (e.g., 2 Corinthians 11:3-4), this is an essential piece of information. The Barna report does mention that Americans have remade Jesus into their desired mold, but the study itself does not seek to ascertain the identity of the Jesus that is so popular in American imagination. I would make an educated guess and say that the most popular Jesus in America is “The Shack Jesus” portrayed in William Young’s hot-selling book. He is cool, non-judgmental, and loves rock & roll.

CLIMATE CHANGE: A TOTALITARIAN’S DREAM COME TRUE (Friday Church News Notes, April 30, 2010, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The following is excerpted from CNSNews.com, April 22, 2010: “For E. Calvin Beisner and his colleagues at the Cornwall Alliance for the Stewardship of Creation (CASC), every day is Earth Day because Christians are called by God to be good stewards of the planet and its inhabitants. Beisner believes that it is not carbon emissions but global warming activism and international climate treaties that are a threat to the nation’s future and the world’s poorest populations. ‘Climate change is the totalitarian’s dream come true,’ Beisner, founder of the CASC, said at a conference on Thursday at the Family Research Council in Washington. ‘It offers a rationale for government intrusion into every aspect of life for every person on Earth.’ Beisner painted a chilling picture of what would happen if the United States signed on to the kind of international climate-change treaty proposed at a United Nations conference in Copenhagen last year. ‘Global warming alarmists see each new human being in terms of his or her carbon footprint, and already many are saying that the best way to fight global warming is for everyone to have just one child so that the population will shrink,’ Beisner said. The enforcement of a U.N.-style treaty would mean a global government’s intrusion into how people live their private lives -- ‘everything from the temperature at which you keep your house to whether to drive a large, crash-worthy vehicle or a small car that conserves fuel but is a death trap in an accident,’ Beisner said. In his speech, Beisner said that Christians should be concerned about global warming policies because they affect myriad issues, such as the sanctity of human life, individual liberty, the survival of free enterprise and free markets in the United States, compassion for the poor around the world, and a sovereign America with the kind of limited government envisioned by the Founding Fathers.”

A LEGACY IN THE BIBLE (Friday Church News Notes, April 30, 2010, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The following is by Charles Spurgeon: “He who has once got fairly into the Scriptures can never leave them. The book holds you as a magnet holds a needle, or as a flower holds a bee. If you want great thoughts, read your Bible. If you want something simple, read your Bible. If you want the deepest and highest truth that ever was, read your Bible. The book talks to us in our own mother tongue. Why should I have to ask another what my Father says? ... The Bible to many is a dull book, as dry as an old will. But when you hear your own name read out in a will, you prick up your ears. What if there should be something in the Testament of our Lord Jesus for you. When I found my own name there my heart danced for joy. It was in these lines: ‘God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life’ ... Get your legacy at once!”

ARCHAEOLOGICAL SKEPTICISM (Friday Church News Notes, April 30, 2010, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The following is by archaeologist Dr. Bryant Wood: “Secular scholars are generally of the opinion that any aspect of the early history of Israel prior to the kingdom period cannot be taken at face value unless the veracity of the events described can be validated by means of independent witnesses. This approach is strongly biased and nonscientific. Other ancient documents are assumed to be accurate unless there is credible evidence to suggest otherwise. These documents are just as religious as the Bible, as the writers of ancient texts regularly mention their pagan gods and what the gods did on their behalf” (“Extra-Biblical Evidence for the Conquest,” Bible and Spade, Fall 2005). The “biased and nonscientific” skepticism on the part of most archaeologists is the product of the willful blindness described in 2 Peter 3. “Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days, scoffers, walking after their own lusts, and saying, Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continued as they were from the beginning of the creation. For this they willingly are ignorant of that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water: Whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished.” The Bible calls end-time skeptics “willingly ignorant.” That is an interesting use of words in light of how proud these men are of their knowledge. God doesn’t merely call them deceived; He calls them ignorant. Bible-believing friends, don’t be intimated by proud skeptics. There is more wisdom in one verse of the Bible than there is in the whole world of skeptical writings.

THE ARROGANCE OF MAN (Friday Church News Notes, April 30, 2010, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The following is by Brian Snider -- “‘And the loftiness of man shall be bowed down, and the haughtiness of men shall be made low: and THE LORD alone shall be exalted in that day’ (Isaiah 2:17). The year has been hard on man's arrogance. Man likes to think that he has completely conquered the sky, yet one little volcano in an out of the way place knocked a multi-billion dollar hole in international air traffic that is really only just now getting straightened out. Man likes to think that he has conquered the oceans, but a multi-million dollar drilling platform exploded, burned and sunk into the sea during routine activities, leaving a well spewing oil into the ocean and BP wondering how to cap it. Already this year, millions have been displaced and tens of thousands killed by earthquakes and their resultant destruction. And yet, for all the uncertainty of life, the lack of humility on the part of man continues unabated. No softening toward God. No willingness to hear his Word.  No looking for help outside of man’s own feeble strength. One of man’s great sins is his failure to recognize a Holy Creator. And for that reason, there is a day coming when God will humble every man on this earth. If man will not humble himself, God will do the humbling for him. What a dreadful day that will be for man. And yet what a glorious day that will be for our God. And THE LORD alone shall be exalted in that day.”

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.

DARWINIAN INQUISITION OPERATING WITHIN NASA (Friday Church News Notes, April 23, 2010, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - David Coppedge, an employee of NASA, has filed suit over action taken against him for discussing intelligent design with other employees. Coppedge, an information technology specialist and system administrator, was demoted from a high-level job because he distributed DVDs explaining intelligent design (“NASA Threatened by Talk of Intelligence,” OneNewsNow, April 22, 2010). He was accused of “creating a hostile work environment” for simply offering DVDs to fellow employees in a non-coercive manner. NASA claims the ID material is “religious,” which it isn’t, but even if Coppedge were promoting a six-day Biblical creation, NASA would be wrong and foolish in harassing him. There is nothing unscientific or non-intellectual about looking at the universe to see if it fits the Bible’s clear predictions. Further, NASA has a short memory. The head of its vaunted Apollo moon program stated publicly that the universe gives evidence of intelligent design. Wernher von Braun, director of the Marshall Space Flight Center and the chief architect of the Saturn V launch vehicle, considered it unscientific to rule out a Creator just because we can’t “test” him scientifically. Von Braun published an article entitled “My Faith: A Space-age Scientist Tells Why He Must Believe in God.” This appeared in the American Weekly, February 10, 1963, and was republished in many other newspapers. He wrote, “As we learn more and more about nature, we become more deeply impressed and humbled by its orderliness and unerring perfection.” In 1972 von Braun wrote to the California State Board of Education, urging the inclusion of intelligent design theories into the public school classrooms. He said, “... the scientific method does not allow us to exclude data which lead to the conclusion that the universe, life and man are based on design.  To be forced to believe only one conclusion--that everything in the universe happened by chance--would violate the very objectivity of science itself. ... We in NASA were often asked what the real reason was for the amazing string of successes we had with our Apollo flights to the Moon. I think the only honest answer we could give was that we tried to never overlook anything. It is in that same sense of scientific honesty that I endorse the presentation of alternative theories for the origin of the universe, life and man in the science classroom. It would be an error to overlook the possibility that the universe was planned rather than happened by chance (http://www.creationsafaris.com/wgcs_4vonbraun.htm). Because of Darwinism’s elitist mentality and fear of challenge, the wise counsel of the world’s top rocket scientist was ignored and “intelligent design” was banned. This is not science; it is an inquisition.

TEENAGER SUES MOTHER FOR “HACKING INTO HIS FACEBOOK ACCOUNT” (Friday Church News Notes, April 23, 2010, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - Denise New of Arkadelphia, Arkansas, is being sued by her 16-year-old son for allegedly “hacking his Facebook account” and posting slanderous information about his personal life. The mom says there was no “hacking,” because she browsed her son’s Facebook account when he left it open on her computer (“Son Files Harassment Charges,” KATV-TV, Little Rock, April 7, 2010). She was disturbed by the things he was posting, such as describing how he drove home recklessly one night at 95 mph because he was upset with a girl. The mom said the “slander” mentioned in the lawsuit was actually concerns that she posted and online conversations she had with her son and his friends. In spite of the silliness of the accusation, Mrs. New has been charged with “harassment” and will have to defend herself in court on May 12. She says that she is going to fight the charge because she was in her legal rights as a parent to monitor her son’s behavior. She told KATV-TV, “Oh yea, I’m going to fight it. If I have to go even higher up, I’m going to. I’m not gonna let this rest. I think this could be a precedent-setting moment for parents.” It is a sad day in America when a mother has to defend herself in court for disciplining a child. If the TV news report is correct, the “harassment” going on in this case is the harassment of a mother by a rebellious son and by a foolish prosecutor.

EX-MUSLIM GIRL FIGHTING DEPORTATION (Friday Church News Notes, April 23, 2010, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The following is excerpted from “Ohio Christian Convert Fights to Stay in US,” AP, April 5, 2010: “A teenage girl who converted to Christianity and ran away from home is being blocked by her Muslim parents from fighting the possibility of deportation, her attorney told a judge Monday in an ongoing custody dispute. Rifqa Bary, 17, who fled home last year and stayed with a Florida minister whom she met on Facebook, is an illegal immigrant and does not want to be returned to her native Sri Lanka because she fears being harmed or killed by Muslim extremists. Her attorney, Angela Lloyd, asked a judge to sign an order stating that reunification with her parents is not possible by her 18th birthday in August. The order would allow Bary, who is in foster care, to apply for special immigration status without her parents' consent. Omar Tarazi, an attorney for the parents, objected, telling the judge that he had been unaware of Bary's separate maneuver to apply to an immigration court. He said the parents previously filed an immigration application for the whole family. Franklin County Juvenile Court Judge Elizabeth Gill declined to issue the order without first holding a hearing next month. She also declined to remove a gag order that prevents attorneys from discussing the case publicly. Bary and her parents, Mohamed and Aysha Bary, have agreed to follow a counseling plan drawn up by a county child welfare agency to try to resolve the family's conflict. It requires both sides to work with individual counselors and to try to attend joint counseling. But a face-to-face meeting remains unlikely any time soon.”

COWS ABSOLVED OF CAUSING GLOBAL WARMING (Friday Church News Notes, April 23, 2010, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The global warming myth was taken to new heights of silliness with the doctrine that it is partly caused by cattle gas emissions. Vegetarian environmental activists such as former Beattle Paul McCartney urged people to stop eating meat in order to save the planet. A new study published in Nature magazine debunks this. The study of cattle grazing on the grasslands of China found that the balance of nature is maintained because grazed grass produces less nitrous oxide, another so-called “greenhouse gas.” Dr. Klaus Butterbach-Bahl, who carried out the study, says, “It’s been generally assumed that if you increase livestock numbers you get a rise in emissions of nitrous oxide. This is not the case.” He said the study shows that grazing livestock is “not always bad for global warming” (“Cows Absolved,” London Telegraph, April 8, 2010). God instructed Noah and his sons that they could eat meat (Genesis 9:1-3), and this divine law has never been abrogated. Modern science has accomplished some wonderful things, but scientists are not gods. There is far more that scientists do NOT know than that which they do know.

CORRUPTING THE NAZARITES (Friday Church News Notes, April 23, 2010, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The following is by Pastor Bobby Mitchell of Brunswick, Maine <bobbymjr@roadrunner.com> -- “Amos 2:11-12 could probably be applied to parents today.  ‘And I raised up of your sons for prophets, and of your young men for Nazarites. Is it not even thus, O ye children of Israel? saith the LORD. But ye gave the Nazarites wine to drink; and commanded the prophets, saying, Prophesy not.’ This is like the old prophet in 1 Kings 13 that discouraged the young man of God from obeying the Lord. This is so much like parents that influence their children away from living 100% for the Lord. By their criticism of the pastor and godly people, by their unscriptural thoughts and attitudes, by their perverted priorities, by their worldly ways they lead their children away from wholly following the Lord to lives of weak and anemic ‘Christianity’ and even apostasy.”

IT IS WELL WITH MY SOUL (Friday Church News Notes, April 23, 2010, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The following is by Brian Snider -- “Most people are familiar with the story behind the much-loved hymn ‘It Is Well With My Soul.’ As has been told many times, Horatio Spafford, a successful Chicago lawyer was taking his wife and three daughters overseas for some much needed rest and relaxation. At the last minute. business prevented him from going, so he sent his wife and children ahead, promising that he would follow as soon as he could. Spafford was a friend of D.L. Moody and supported his work and they were going to Europe because they knew Moody would be there that fall. In the middle of the ocean, their ship, the Ville Du Havre, was rammed by another ship and quickly sunk. All four of their daughters were lost and the wife was found unconscious floating on a piece of debris. She was rescued, and upon reaching the other side, cabled back to her husband, ‘Saved Alone.’ But what few know is that that is only the beginning of the heartaches suffered by the Spaffords and that their faith in Christ continued unwavering. The reason they were taking the trip in 1873 was because of the great Chicago fire of 1871. They lost a considerable fortune in real estate as a result of the fire and poured their lives into helping others through that difficult time. Emotionally and physically drained, they were to set sail for rest when they lost their children. They were beginning to rebuild their lives when they lost another son to pneumonia. At that point, the church they had helped build removed them from membership believing that secret sin was to blame for God’s heavy hand upon them. Having lost five children, their wealth, and now their church and friends, they decided to move to Jerusalem to begin life anew. In Jerusalem they founded what became known as the ‘American Colony.’ It was a haven for Christians to come and live a simple Christian life, having all things in common, and to minister to those around them. Their influence was responsible for Muslims and others turning to Christ in the forsaken city of Jerusalem of that day. Spafford wrote many other hymns and treatises including a booklet entitled ‘Twenty Reasons for Believing the Coming of the Lord is Nigh.’ Trusting in Christ carried the Spafford family through some of the darkest hours imaginable. Through their suffering, they have joined a great crowd of witnesses who testify that the Lord will never leave us or forsake us. ‘Though Satan should buffet, though trials should come/ Let this blest assurance control/ That Christ has regarded my helpless estate/ And hath shed His own blood for my soul.”

DO WE NEED TO FIND NOAH’S ARK? (Friday Church News Notes, April 23, 2010, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The following is excerpted from The World that Perished by John C. Whitcomb (Baker Book House, revised edition): “John Warwick Montgomery is convinced that world evangelism would be greatly simplified if we could just discover the Ark. ... But is not the Bible entirely trustworthy as it now stands, in its clear witness to the geographical universality of the Flood and the historical reality of Noah’s Ark? Did not our Lord explain that, ‘If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead” (Luke 16:31 KJV)? Would those who now reject the authority of God’s Word truly acknowledge it from their hearts if the remains of the Ark were to be discovered? Have relics from the Bible lands ever produced saving faith?” The answer, of course, is no, for the simple reason that “faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God” (Romans 10:17).

FAMOUS ATHEIST SAYS THE WORLD MIGHT HAVE BEEN DESIGNED BY ALIENS (Friday Church News Notes, April 23, 2010, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - In an interview with Ben Stein in the documentary Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed, the self-proclaimed atheist Richard Dawkins admits that there might be “intelligent design.” Dawkins, author of The God Delusion, is an atheist on a pathetic rampage against the Almighty. He calls the God of the Bible “the most unpleasant character in all fiction” and a “capriciously malevolent bully.” Ben Stein asked Dawkins, “Who did create the heavens and the earth? How did it start?” Dawkins replied, “No one knows how it started. We know the kind of event it must have been for the origin of life. It was the origin of the first self-replicating molecule.” Stein asked, “What do you think is the possibility that intelligent design might turn out to be the answer to some issues in genetics?” To this Dawkins gave the following amazing reply: “It could be that at some earlier time somewhere in the universe a civilization evolved by, probably some kind of Darwinian means, to a very, very high level of technology and designed the form of life they seeded on to this planet. That is a possibility and an intriguing possibility, and I suppose it is possible that you might find evidence for that if you look at the details of biochemistry and molecular biology you might find a signature of some sort of designer. And that designer could well be a higher intelligence from elsewhere in the universe. That higher intelligence would itself have had to have come about by some ultimately explicable process. It couldn’t have just jumped into existence spontaneously.” So Richard Dawkins admits that life couldn’t have just jumped into existence, that there is evidence for an intelligent designer, but since he has rejected the God of the Bible, he launches out into the never-never land of “aliens.” And this is the same man that mocks those who believe in God. No man is blinder than he who will not see. “Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts” (2 Peter 3:3).

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.

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.

PETER MASTERS WARNS ABOUT WORLDLY EMERGING CHURCH CALVINISTS (Friday Church News Notes, April 16, 2010, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - Dr. Peter Masters, pastor of the Metropolitan Tabernacle in London, England, has sounded a warning against the worldliness of American pop-Calvinists such as Mark Driscoll and John Piper. Driscoll calls himself “theologically conservative and culturally liberal” and his Mars Hills Church in Seattle has rock & roll champagne parties, watches R-rated movies, learns how to brew beer, and hosts secular rock concerts. In an article in The Sword and Trowel, 2009 No. 1, entitled “The Merger of Calvinism with Worldliness,” Dr. Masters says: “The new Calvinists constantly extol the Puritans, but they do not want to worship or live as they did. One of the vaunted new conferences is called Resolved, after Jonathan Edwards’ famous youthful Resolutions (seventy searching undertakings). But the culture of this conference would unquestionably have met with the outright condemnation of that great theologian. Resolved is the brainchild of a member of Dr John MacArthur’s pastoral staff, gathering thousands of young people annually, and featuring the usual mix of Calvinism and extreme charismatic-style worship. Young people are encouraged to feel the very same sensational nervous impact of loud rhythmic music on the body that they would experience in a large, worldly pop concert, complete with replicated lighting and atmosphere. At the same time they reflect on predestination and election. Worldly culture provides the bodily, emotional feelings, into which Christian thoughts are infused and floated. Biblical sentiments are harnessed to carnal entertainment. In times of disobedience the Jews of old syncretised by going to the Temple or the synagogue on the sabbath, and to idol temples on weekdays, but the new Calvinism has found a way of uniting spiritually incompatible things at the same time, in the same meeting. ... Truly proclaimed, the sovereignty of God must include consecration, reverence, sincere obedience to his will, and separation from the world.” CONCLUDING NOTE FROM BRO. CLOUD: While we do not agree with Dr. Masters’ sovereign election theology, we could not agree more with his reproof of worldliness and we are thankful for the stand he has taken against the contemporary philosophy. The Bible’s call to not be conformed to the world, to not love the world, and to come out from among them and be separate refutes the ridiculous philosophy of “cultural liberalism” (Romans 12:2; 2 Corinthians 6:17; Ephesians 5:11; James 4:4; 1 John 2:15-17).

INVENTOR OF LOW SLUNG JEANS COMMITS SUICIDE (Friday Church News Notes, April 16, 2010, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The following is excerpted from “The Dark Side of the Fashion Industry,” Fundamentalist Digest, April-May 2010. “In February, Alexander McQueen, the world’s most famed and prominent apparel designer, committed suicide at age 40.... From a career objective, McQueen had reached the top of the success ladder. One editor called him ‘the most brilliant designer of his generation,’ further saying that ‘his influence can be seen only in the way women dressed over the past 15 years.’ McQueen’s suicide, however, exposed an unseemly dark side of the fashion industry that elitists all know, but which rarely receives attention or publicity: that the industry is morally bankrupt and that it is based on wicked sensuality and sexual perversion. ... McQueen’s designs were deliberately sexually provocative, bizarre and outlandish. McQueen once wrote, ‘Sex is a big part of what I do.’ ... He was credited with being the inventor of low-slung jeans. A news release stated that McQueen’s clothes were ‘sensationally erotic, fantastical, often androgynous creations...’ Androgynous means ‘having the characteristic of both male and female.’ Although God has never changed the sexual distinctions, as witnessed both by the Old and New Testaments, the commercial fashion world long ago abandoned any pretense of traditional sexual roles. ... According to the media, McQueen ‘was extremely open about his homosexuality. ... In Summer 2000, he married his 24-year-old lover, George Forsyth, a documentary filmmaker. ... The union was dissolved several years later.’ ... McQueen also openly admitted that he was an atheist.” CONCLUDING NOTE FROM BROTHER CLOUD: The fashion industry is at war against God and His holy Word, and the Bible warns God’s people not to be conformed to the world (Romans 12:2).

DIGITS OF DOOM (Friday Church News Notes, April 16, 2010, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The following is by Brian Snider -- “It’s so young, and yet, we can hardly imagine a time without it. The internet is so pervasive and has so changed the way we do things, that it's hard to imagine when it wasn't here. But the last 20 years or so have been that way. Who would have thought 20 years ago that we would be living in a time when the Bell Phone System would be in danger of being obsolete. Or Kodak would be struggling for its survival.  Or that we’d carry every song we ever owned in our hands. Way of Life Literature started on the web in 1994, not even two decades ago. But since that time, almost everything has been completely transformed from analog to digital. Telephone communications, photography, movies and television, books--even the way we shop or find our way to an address in town. And the coming of the digital age is the doom of freedom and the ability to avoid the watchful eye of Big Brother. Every internet search we have ever performed is out there somewhere, telling someone who you really are. Every email you have ever sent is out there somewhere.  And every time we 'plug in,' we tell the system a little more about us.  Google uses search data for all sorts of things you probably never imagined. Google Flu Trends can tell the medical community where flu outbreaks are occurring because people tend to search 'flu symptoms' when they’re getting sick.   Harvesting search data for the common good is a wonderful thing, but we already know that it will not stop there.  Just this year we've seen the US Government take over whole industries. Medicine, automobiles, finance...and the US is traditionally one of the more conservative countries in the world. A time is coming in the not too distant future when all technologies will be linked to provide one person with everything they need to know to create a world after man's image and imagination.  What a dark day that will be. By God's grace, you can escape that day; not by unplugging your computer or holing up in Montana. The only answer for the dark days ahead is the light of Jesus Christ. 1 Thessalonians 5:9 ‘For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ.’ Do you know for certain that your sins are forgiven and that you have been born again by faith in Jesus Christ? Today is the day of salvation. Call upon the Lord while there is time.”

tenebrae: Churches Reaching Out to the Mystical (Friday Church News Notes, April 16, 2010, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The following is by Brian Snider -- “The rise of the Emerging Church movement may not be creating a move toward contemplative mysticism, as much as it is answering a demand that is already there.  Churches everywhere are experimenting with mystical practices that have replaced or diminished the gospel message of the finished work of Jesus Christ. This Easter, many churches jumped on a growing bandwagon and participated in the revival of Tenebrae services in the days prior to Easter Sunday. Tenebrae, which is Latin for ‘darkness,’ originated in the Roman Catholic Church during the dark ages.  It is traditionally a candlelit service, in which all of the candles are extinguished one by one, representing the darkness at the time of the crucifixion. When the room in almost completely dark, participants simulate the crucifixion earthquake by stomping or banging hymnals on the backs of pews. At the end of the service, the darkness remains and participants file out.  There are many variations on this basic premise, but the idea is to try to re-create the feelings and the mood surrounding the crucifixion.  To experience the despair and hopelessness. However, there is a great gulf between a Tenebrae service and the New Testament.  There is no example of Christians in the New Testament participating in any sort of practice designed to invoke despair or a dark mood or deep inward reflection. Instead, the believers proclaimed the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ as a hope to a dying world. Despair should be confined to the heart of someone who has never been born again. But believers have no need for ‘darkness’ services. Let us leave such things to babbling monks and cloistered heathenism. 1 Thessalonians 5:5-6 ‘Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness. Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober.’”

THINKING OUTSIDE THE BOX, OR INSIDE THE BOOK? (Friday Church News Notes, April 16, 2010, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The following is by Pastor Buddy Smith of Malenda, Queensland -- “Church growth experts tell us to "think outside the box”. They preach that we are to be so creative that we are no longer impeded by orthodox or conventional constraints. This term (outside the box) appeared in the late 60's/ early 70's in the business world, and is similar in meaning to “lateral thinking.” New Evangelicals quickly adopted this mindset, so now we read of megachurch pastors giving away new cars and wide screen TV’s and dropping Easter eggs from helicopters to draw the crowds to the beat of rock bands. Anything weird is cool. What they forget is that Aaron ‘thought outside the box’ when he fashioned the golden calf. So did the priests when they moved the ark on an oxcart. In both cases their creativity was not only ‘outside the box,’ it was ‘outside the Book!’ This is the essence of heresy and apostasy. Emerging church leaders pretend that Jesus’ ministry was post modern in nature, and that He ‘lived and thought outside the box.’ Their conclusion reveals their ignorance of the Bible and of Christ. He lived ‘inside the Book, the Bible,’ and proved once and for all that there is more creativity, ingenuity, and long term blessing in simple obedience to the Word of God than in the psychedelic mazes of business empires that call themselves churches. Inside the Book has always been better than Outside the Box.”
(Friday Church News Notes, April 16, 2010, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The author of “The Gospel According to Disney” says that Walt Disney preached a religious message through his cartoon characters, a message that “faith is an essential element--faith in yourself and, even more, faith in something greater than yourself, even if it is some vague, nonsectarian higher power” (Mark Pinsky, “Finding faith in the house of the mouse,” The Washington Post, Aug. 14, 2004, p. B7). Disney’s animated classics are filled with pagan things that are strongly denounced by the Scriptures, such as witches, sorcerers and spells, genies and goblins. Like Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings, the Disney cartoons present the damnable concept that there is good and bad magic. Disney often depicts witches and sorcerers as likeable heroes. Walt Disney did not attend church and there are no churches on Main Street in Disneyland or Disney World, yet Christian parents have allowed Disney’s cartoons and movies to influence their children. Pinsky observes that “few entertainment productions continue to have as profound an impact on young children as [Disney’s] animated features.” Some years back the Southern Baptist Convention called for a boycott of Disney, but that boycott was based on newer Disney productions and the homosexual days at Disney World while ignoring the false New Age gospel preached through Disney’s earlier movies, movies that are typically found in the homes of Southern Baptists! When Disneyland opened in California in 1954, Time magazine featured Walt Disney on its cover and called him “the poet of the new American humanism.” Indeed.

MERCY’S DAY WILL SOON BE GONE (Friday Church News Notes, April 16, 2010, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The following is from H.A. Ironside’s commentary on Revelation: “I would remind my hearers that time for us is flying by quickly. If any of you is unsaved, it is well for you to remember that mercy’s day is quickly gone. Gospel light already seems to be vanishing from the earth; the darkening apostasy is making rapid strides; a famine for hearing the Word of the Lord will soon be here. Oh, that now, in this day of grace, men would heed the testimony of the Scripture of truth, receive the virgin-born Son of God as Saviour and Lord, and spurn the lies of every Antichrist.”

BLESSED WITH ALL SPIRITUAL BLESSINGS IN CHRIST (Friday Church News Notes, April 16, 2010, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ: According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love: Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved. In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace” (Ephesians 1:3-7).

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.

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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.