Oct 2008
31/10/08 14:11
OBAMA MENTOR HONORED LUCIFER (Friday Church News Notes, October 31, 2008, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - Saul Alinsky, a mentor of Barack Obama, honored Lucifer in his book Rules for Radicals. In the front of the book he says, “Lest we forget at least an over-the-shoulder acknowledgement to the very first radical ... the first radical known to man who rebelled against the establishment and did it so effectively that he at least won his own kingdom.” This book has been called “the bible of the far left.” Alinsky, who died 1972, was the father of liberal political grassroots organizing in America. While working for the Developing Communities Project in south Chicago, Obama learned and taught Alinsky’s methods (“A Common Ideological Touchstone,” The Washington Post, March 25, 2007). There Obama learned how to stir the pot of discontent and train the “have-nots” to take from the “haves.” Obama learned his lessons so well that he has been called “the master of bloodless socialist revolution” (“Obama’s Alinsky Jujitsu,” American Thinker, Jan. 8, 2008). Alinsky was an atheist who taught moral relativism, saying that “moral standards must be elastic to stretch with the times” and urging his students to “detest dogma and defy any finite definition of morality” (Rules for Radicals, pp. 30, 73). He taught that the end justifies the means and praised mass-murderers Lenin and Mao as “great world leaders.” Since his student years, Barack Obama has associated intimately with Marxists and anarchists and terrorists and Black racists, and if he wins the U.S. presidency it will be a judgment on America for the apostasy of her churches.
PASTOR CHARGED WITH FELONY FOR SPANKING HIS SON (Friday Church News Notes, October 31, 2008, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - A Wisconsin pastor and father of nine children has been charged with a felony and must face a court trial for spanking his 12-year-old son (“Pastor Paddling Case Begins,” Portage Daily Register, Oct. 16, 2008). After Barry Barnett, Jr., of Lighthouse Family Ministries spanked his son in June, it came to the attention of the social services after another of Barnett’s children mentioned it to a teacher. Even though the examining doctor has testified that the incident did not constitute child abuse and called the case a “social services fiasco,” the agency has pursued it and the district attorney brought charges of felony physical abuse. The 43-year-old pastor is out of jail on a $10,000 bond and is forbidden have “any disciplinary physical contact” with any child under the terms of bail. If convicted, he could face three years in prison and/or $10,000 in fines. A judge recently determined that the case will go before a jury. Barnett’s son told the authorities that he understands why he was disciplined, saying, “He gave me a chance to tell him the truth, and I just kept lying to him. You should not lie to your parents and you should not go to places (where you are not allowed).” The state of Wisconsin allows “reasonable discipline,” but it does not define “reasonable.” Barnett’s family and friends have supported him. His 20-year-old daughter Amy stood in front of the courthouse holding a sign reading, “Thank you for spanking me, Dad.” The wife of the town’s mayor, Marilyn Jahn, held a sign saying, “Our children, not government’s children.” To that we say, Amen! “He that spareth his rod hateth his son: but he that loveth him chasteneth him betimes” (Proverbs 13:24).
ATHEIST CAMPAIGN IN LONDON, ENGLAND (Friday Church News Notes, October 31, 2008, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The British Humanist Association is funding an atheist campaign in London. The association is placing advertisements on buses that say, “There’s probably no God. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life.” They are following in the footsteps of Britain’s most famous atheist, John Lennon, who sang, “Imagine there’s no heaven, it’s easy if you try/ No hell below us, above only sky/ Imagine all the people living for today” (Imagine, 1971). In summarizing Lennon’s influence, rock researcher David Noebel stated: “The present rock ‘n’ roll scene, Lennon’s legacy, is one giant, multi-media portrait of degradation--a sleazy world of immorality, venereal disease, anarchy, nihilism, cocaine, heroin, marijuana, death, Satanism, perversion, and orgies” (The Legacy of John Lennon, 1982, p. 15). If the British Humanists are right, it makes absolutely no difference how you live or what you believe, because man is the product of pure chance and death is annihilation, but if the Bible is true, man is a created being who has sinned against God and death is a journey either to heaven or to hell, depending on what the individual does with the Saviour Jesus Christ. “He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him” (John 3:36).
ANGLICAN BISHOP SAYS BEATLES MORE EFFECTIVE THAN BIBLE IN ANSWERING “LIFE’S BIG QUESTIONS” (Friday Church News Notes, October 31, 2008, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - Nick Baines, Anglican bishop of Croydon, says rock music is more effective than the Bible in communicating deep theological concepts (“Beatles Songs as Effective as the Bible,” newkerala.com, Oct. 19, 2008). In his book Finding Faith, Baines says the Bible has become “banal” and rock music gets “more into the soul than simply reading an ancient book.” Baines recommends Eric Clapton, Bob Dylan, and John Lennon, among others, and recommends using Beatles’ songs in church services. Rowan Williams, Archbishop of Canterbury, recommends Baines’ book, calling it “profound and challenging.” No wonder there are so many atheists in England, with a state church that is so wretchedly apostate.
REDISTRIBUTION OF WEALTH (Friday Church News Notes, October 31, 2008, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The following was forwarded to me by a friend. I would like to give credit for it, but there was no name attached. “Today on my way to the Waffle House for breakfast I passed a homeless guy with a sign that read ‘Vote Obama, I need the money.’ I laughed. Once in the restaurant my server had on an ‘Obama 08’ pin; again I laughed as she had given away her political preference--just imagine the coincidence. When the bill came I decided not to tip the server and explained to her that I was exploring the Obama redistribution of wealth concept. She stood there in disbelief while I told her that I was going to redistribute her tip to someone who I deemed more in need--the homeless guy outside. The server angrily stormed from my sight. I went outside, gave the homeless guy $10 and told him to thank the server inside as I’d decided he could use the money more. The homeless guy was grateful. At the end of my rather unscientific redistribution experiment I realized the homeless guy was grateful for the money he did not earn, but the waitress was very angry that I gave away the money she did earn even though the actual recipient [apparently needed] the money more. I guess redistribution of wealth is an easier thing to swallow in concept than in practical application.”
WHY THE WORLD LOVES U2 (Friday Church News Notes, October 31, 2008, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The rock band U2 remains one of the world’s favorite bands more than 20 years after first appearing on the cover of the March 1985 issue of Rolling Stone under the headline, “Our Choice: Band of the Eighties.” How can this be, when it is claimed that three of the members are Christians and when Christianity Today loves them as much as Rolling Stone? The world loves U2 because U2 is of the world, and the world recognizes its own. Recently Fox News reported that Bono partied with teenage girls on a yacht in St. Tropez. The report, which was accompanied by a photo of Bono holding two bikini-clad teenagers on his lap at a bar, said, “Bono, Carmody and the girls partied into the night on the yacht” (“Facebook Pictures Show Married U2 Singer Bono’s Rendezvous with Sexy Teens,” Fox News, Oct. 27, 2008). Jesus Christ said, “If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you” (John 15:19). The vague Christianity that Bono preaches is one of his own devising. I have read many U2 interviews but not once have I heard them preach the Gospel of the new birth through repentance and faith in the blood of Jesus Christ or warn the unsaved of eternal hell. U2 does not rebuke wickedness and immorality. The love that Bono sings about is the world’s love. U2’s philosophy is the world’s philosophy. Consider this line from the song “Vertigo” from their album How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb: “A feeling is so much stronger than a thought.” This summarizes the rock & roll philosophy. The Bible says we are to live by God’s laws, but rock & roll says, “Live by your feelings.” The Bible says the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked, but rock & roll says, “Follow your heart.” The Bible says we can only know God through the sound doctrine of His revelation in the Scriptures, through right thinking that comes by the right understanding of God’s word; but rock & roll says, “Feelings are more important than thoughts.” This is why the world loves U2, and this is also why New Evangelicals and Charismatics love U2. See 2 Timothy 4:3-4.
DOES GRACE ONLY LIBERATE OR DOES IT ALSO DISCIPLINE? Friday Church News Notes, October 31, 2008, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The following is from “Are Fundamentalists Legalists: A Reply to Charles Swindoll” by Ernest Pickering, late director of the Baptist World Mission: “The impression given by Chuck Swindoll [in the book Grace Awakening] is that the sole function of grace is to liberate. He celebrates continually the believer’s ‘freedom,’ ‘liberation,’ and ‘deliverance’ from restrictions either real or imagined. Grace gives us ‘permission to be free’ (p. 5). We have ‘liberating grace’ (p. 8). ‘All who embrace grace become “free indeed”’ (p. 46). ‘You will be free’ (p. 53). You should be ‘enjoying your liberty’ (p. 132). These are but a few examples. In authoring his book, our brother seems to be obsessed with the great bondage under which believers seem to labor. After reading his book, I could not help but ask myself, ‘Why have you never felt this great burden of “bondage” about which he writes?’ I was raised in a strict ‘holiness’ home. I attended a Christian college, which would be viewed as having restrictive rules. I have ministered in and been pastor of churches that maintained high standards of conduct for their members and leaders. In the years of my ministry, I have never felt I was in bondage to or misused by any human. I have never felt restive under rules or restrictions. It is interesting that in recent years this seems to have become a problem for some. Why? I believe it is because of the tremendous pressure of the wicked age in which we live. Holy, godly, and separated living is no longer ‘in style.’ It is viewed as an anachronism and a ‘bother.’ God’s grace is being used by some as a way by which to allow Christians to do things they have not done before with the idea that it is perfectly acceptable. Some Christian leaders and their followers are ‘caving in’ to the spirit of the age. While it is certainly true that grace liberates us, it is equally true that grace enslaves us. If this is not so, then James was terribly mistaken when he introduced himself as ‘James, a servant [slave] of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ’ (Jam. 1:1). The New Testament is not all about what we can do, but it is also about what we cannot do. The ‘grace awakening’ emphasis neglects this aspect of grace. Grace was fully revealed in Jesus Christ. The word ‘appeared’ (Tit. 2:11) focuses on Christ’s incarnation. Paul is arguing in Titus that godly living is mandated by God’s truth. He gives us an important lesson on grace that must not be forgotten: ‘For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world’ (Tit. 2:11-12). This is what we might call the ‘restraint’ or the ‘control’ of grace. Grace does not merely allow us to ‘run wild,’ to ‘do our own thing,’ but rather it enables us to ‘say no’ to the ungodliness around us and to live self-controlled lives. Grace, in other words, is not merely liberating but also controlling. A Christian walking in grace is liberated from the power of sin but is under the control and restrictions of the Master.”
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)
24/10/08 14:11
PRAYER AND FASTING FOR AMERICA (Friday Church News Notes, October 24, 2008, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - Some churches are praying and fasting for America in this time of uncertainty and turmoil. Madison Baptist Church in Madison, Alabama, has called for an all-night prayer meeting and fast for Friday, October 25. One pastor who is urging his people to have a day of fasting and prayer said, “Let us seek the Lord and His mercy, seek a turning of the hearts of our nation, and seek that we be given leaders that bend the knee to the One that rules and overrules in the affairs of men and nations.” The Bible says, “If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land” (2 Chron. 7:14). “But thou, when thou fastest, anoint thine head, and wash thy face; That thou appear not unto men to fast, but unto thy Father which is in secret: and thy Father, which seeth in secret, shall reward thee openly” (Mat. 6:17-18).
POPE AND PATRIARCH JOIN VOICES AGAINST FUNDAMENTALISM (Friday Church News Notes, October 24, 2008, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - In a meeting at the Vatican, Pope Benedict XVI and Patriarch Bartholomew I, leaders of the Roman Catholic and Greek Orthodox churches, condemned fundamentalism and called for religious tolerance (“Pope and Orthodox Christian,” USA Today, Oct. 18, 2008). The joint condemnation of “fundamentalism” is very instructive. These two heretics would stop evangelism and church planting by Bible believers if they could, just like their predecessors have done in the past. In fact, there is persecution against fundamentalists in some Orthodox and Catholic areas even today. The two religious leaders prayed together in the Sistine Chapel, which is where the cardinals hold the conclave to select new popes. It is famous for the painting by Michelangelo that covers the barrel vaulted ceiling and depicts scenes from the creation of man to the last judgment. Interspersed between the Old Testament prophets are pagan prophetesses called sibyls, thus reminding us that Catholicism and Orthodoxy are Christianized paganism. (See also http://www.wayoflife.org/fbns/in-thefootsteps-bibletrans/Page-4.htm.)
A NEW GLOBAL FINANCIAL ORDER (Friday Church News Notes, October 24, 2008, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - At a meeting with President Bush at a Camp David retreat last weekend, European Union Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said, “We need a new global financial order” (“Bush Will Host World Leaders,” AP, Oct. 18, 2008). After meeting with Barroso and French President Nicolas Sarkozy, Bush announced that he will host an international summit to seek ways to fix the world financial system. Some want to explore the possibility of creating a world currency. Since October 9, the stock market has lost more than $8 trillion, and one worlders see this as an opportunity to push the nations toward further globalism. The devil is working to place his man on the world’s throne, but the Lord is restraining that program until He has finished creating the bride of Christ. “For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way. And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming” (2 Thessalonians 2:7-8).
COUNTRY MUSIC CHRISTIANITY (Friday Church News Notes, October 24, 2008, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - We have often warned that the Christianity of country music is a mile wide and an inch thick. The latest evidence of that is Reba McEntire’s recent statement that she believes in reincarnation. McEntire, who has sold 55 million records and has recorded gospel and Christmas songs, told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: “I believe in reincarnation. I believe I’ve gone both ways--that I have been here before as a man. I will get flak from Christians who will say I can’t be a Christian if I believe this. That’s true, and I’m sorry, but this is how I live my life, this is what I believe. I believe I have spent time with my son Shelby before. I believe I have spent time with other people in my life before. Who knows? Maybe I’m part Buddhist” (“Reba Talks Tour,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Oct. 16, 2008). Those who have given Reba “flak” are right, and it is sad that she has confused biblical reproof with persecution. The Bible teaches resurrection, not reincarnation. “And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment” (Hebrews 9:27). This type of confusion is typical of the Christianity represented by country music singers. Consider Dolly Parton. She says, “God isn’t the monster in the sky that I grew up with [in the Church of God]. He’s a feelin’ within you” (Parade, Nov. 2, 1980). Beware of country music. It is of the world, the flesh, and the devil, but its thin veneer of “God and country” makes it palatable to some backsliders. “Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul” (1 Peter 2:11).
QUEBEC USURPS PARENTAL RIGHT TO CHOOSE RELIGIOUS EDUCATION (Friday Church News Notes, October 24, 2008, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The government of Quebec in Canada has taken away the right of parents to choose the religious education of their children and now requires that all students take an Ethics and Religious Culture program that promotes religious tolerance. The Education Minister has refused to allow exemptions for private Christian schools. One parent, Sylvain Lamontagne, referred to the new course as religious fast food (“Quebec Kills Parents’ Rights to Choose,” LifeSiteNews, Oct. 17, 2008).
VIOLENCE AGAINST CHRISTIANS IN INDIA CONTINUES (Friday Church News Notes, October 24, 2008, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The following is excerpted from “Violence against Christians Continues Unabated,” Barnabas Fund News, Oct. 15, 2008: “Hindu extremist violence against the Christian community in Orissa State, India, which started on August 24, has continued almost unabated since then. At least 50 Christians have been murdered, some cut to pieces and others burnt alive. Many fear that the death toll is even higher, with one estimate suggesting that 120 Christians have been killed. About 18,000 people have been injured, many of them severely; numerous Christian women have been raped; some 4,400 homes have been destroyed; 300 villages have been cleansed of all Christians; and several orphanages and hundreds of churches and church buildings have been torched and razed. Relief camps, where Christians have fled for safety and shelter, have been attacked and drinking water has been poisoned. Over 50,000 Christians are thought to be homeless, and around 30,000, more than half of them children, are hiding in the jungle, many without any food and water. Starvation is a very real danger for many of them, especially for the children, the elderly and the sick. Christians wanting to return to their homes have been told by the Hindu extremists: ‘Come back as Hindu or don’t come back at all.’ Many who dare to return to their villages are forcibly converted to Hinduism. Sometimes the Hindu extremists pour petrol over the Christians and then ask them to convert; if they refuse they will be burnt. And still the government shows itself reluctant to act. Although there has been talk of banning the Bajrang Dal, one of the Hindu nationalist groups responsible for the gruesome acts, and of imposing presidential rule over Orissa, no action has been taken. Additional police and a helicopter have been sent to the area, which has helped to improve conditions in at least some districts, but officials still advise journalists and members of NGOs (non-governmental organizations) not to go into the affected areas as they cannot provide protection.”
PETER RUCKMAN TEACHES THAT ABORTION IS NOT MURDER (Friday Church News Notes, October 24, 2008, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - Peter Ruckman, who teaches a wide assortment of heresies and strange private doctrines (e.g., every woman will have a 30-year-old male body in heaven), claims that abortion is not murder. The following is excerpted from an undated sermon on Genesis 2: “I teach that a baby is not a living soul until it breathes. I’m considered a great heretic for teaching that, but then again if a man goes by the King James Bible he’s bound to be a heretic these days. And so I don’t teach that abortion is murder like the brethren do. ... Some of the brethren get to harping on these things. They say, ‘Abortion is murder; abortion is murder.’ They show you pictures. They are trying to prove that the thing looks like a person and therefore it is a person. That’s what Darwin taught. You gotta watch that business. You can take an embryo of an animal and prove that it looks like an embryo of a person. That doesn’t make it a person. ... Now I’ll grant you that the child is an organism. I’ll grant you that it may be alive and have animal life. But if you are talking about a living soul, I read my Bible and there is no living soul there until the Lord breathed into his nostrils the breath of life. If you ever start teaching the other, you are going to have some real problems. When all of those Indians and Hindus came into Bangladesh and Pakistan and raped about 2,000 women and left them with about 800 illegitimate children, the good Catholic nuns in order to increase the membership in the church decided it would be a terrible sin to have any abortions. So they taught that it was the will of God for 800 women who were abused against their will to bear children for the Roman Catholic Church. I don’t believe it” (Peter Ruckman, http://sites.google.com/site/ruckmantruth/). CONCLUSION: Contrary to Ruckman’s doctrine, the Bible says God forms children in the womb (Job 31:5; Psalm 139:15). Could it be right to kill a unique individual person that God is forming? God knew the prophet Jeremiah before he was born and John the Baptist was filled with the Spirit before his birth (Jer. 1:5; Luke 1:15, 41). Whether or not the unborn child can be called a soul is irrelevant to the issue and is not something the Bible addresses. That the first man did not become a living soul until God breathed into his nostrils does not mean that this is true for those formed in the womb.
DOES GRACE NEVER CAUSE SHAME? (Friday Church News Notes, October 24, 2008, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The following is from “Are Fundamentalists Legalists: A Reply to Charles Swindoll” by Ernest Pickering, late director of the Baptist World Mission: “Is a violation of a grace ministry to make people feel ashamed of their actions? Note [Chuck] Swindoll’s statements: ‘Grace releases people, not only from their sin but from shame’ (Grace Awakening, 1990, p. 231); ‘Shame is a classic grace killer’ (p. 231); we ought not to make people ‘ashamed of their wrongs’ (p. 231). Having positioned himself in this manner, Swindoll goes on to criticize what he calls a ‘shame-based spirituality’ (p. 232). He includes a number of items under this; we will look at two examples. He says shame-based spirituality believes that ‘having fun is sinful’ (p. 232). In all of my years in the ministry, I do not recall any responsible Christian leader saying such a thing. I suspect the problem centers around the question, How would one define ‘having fun’? Many pursuits the world would classify as ‘fun’ would (or should) be out-of-bounds for the believer. In line with the general thrust of his book, one gets the impression that even if a believer is engaged in the kind of ‘fun’ contrary to God’s Word, other believers have no right to challenge that person and seek to ‘bring guilt upon them.’ ... On the list of items characterizing ‘shame-based spirituality’ is ‘sexuality = sin’ (p. 231). Again, we know of no fundamental leader who would say such a thing. Sexuality is a gift of God as is plainly taught in Scripture. However, we must ask the question, What is meant by the term ‘sexuality’? Skimpy attire is a prominent part of what is called ‘sexuality’ today, but is it proper for a Christian? There is certain ‘body language’ denominated by some as a display of ‘sexuality.’ Should a child of God be involved in such? ... Frankly, there are some ‘fun’ pursuits about which believers ought to feel a sense of shame. God sometimes causes people to feel shame in order to bring them back into fellowship with Himself. ... God does shame people at times and, furthermore He uses human instruments to do it. The prophet Ezekiel did not mince words when speaking to Israel: ‘thou also ... bear thine own shame for thy sins that thou hast committed ... be thou confounded also, and bear thy shame...’ (Ezek. 16:52). Paul, in seeking to correct certain wrong attitudes and practices in the church at Corinth, wrote, ‘Awake to righteousness and sin not; for some have not the knowledge of God. I speak this to your shame’ (1 Cor. 15:34). ... Grace does not rid us of all legitimate feelings of shame. When we have grieved the Spirit and have sinned against the Lord, we should be shameful. This is not to say the major ministry of a Bible-teacher is to cause people to feel shame. However, it is part of their ministry. ‘Preach the word ... reprove, rebuke [which may cause shame], exhort [which is the positive balance]’ (2 Tim. 4:2). We believe the ‘grace awakening’ emphasis is warped.”
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)
17/10/08 14:11
NEW AGE PAGANISM IN U.S. PUBLIC SCHOOLS (Friday Church News Notes, October 17, 2008, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - This month Julia Reagan, president of the Board of Education in Massena, New York, said that one hundred schools in 26 states are using yoga in the classroom (“Critics Say Yoga at N.Y. High School Tries to Spread Hinduism,” USA Today, Oct. 6, 2008). Since the 1970s New Age paganism has deeply infiltrated public education. Humanists and New Agers have long recognized the power of the public school system as a means of indoctrination. When Marilyn Ferguson did her sympathetic research for the 1987 book The Aquarian Conspiracy, she observed that more New Agers are involved in education than in any other field. Many New Age principles and practices have been introduced into the public school system, including evolution, reincarnation, yoga, visualization and guided imagery, values clarification, new ethics, sex education, consciousness raising, religious syncretism, anti-nationalism, global disarmament, socialism, feminism, self-esteemism, the divinity of man, and environmentalism. New Age buzz words include global citizenship, global society, global village, new world order, transformation, transcendence, transpersonal, paradigm shift (a shift from the old thinking to the new), interconnectedness, harmony with self, non-violence, higher order skills (New Age thinking), empowerment (New Age human potential techniques), multicultural, multiethnic, transnational, transcultural, cultural awareness, community, holistic perspective, planetary synthesis, cooperative existence, interdependence, world order perspective, earth spirituality, self-awareness, social-awareness, sustainable development (development restricted by the myths of global warming and limited resources), and planetary environment. Of course, woven throughout is an attack upon the Bible and biblical Christianity. This attack began in 1933 with the Humanist Manifesto, co-authored by influential educator John Dewey. It boldly rejected the Bible’s doctrine of creation and said, “Man is at last becoming aware that he alone is responsible for the realization of the world of his dreams, that he has within himself the power for its achievement.” The Bible says, “Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD, and against his anointed, saying, Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us” (Psalm 2:1-3).
CALIFORNIA ALLOWS BRIDE AND GROOM ON MARRIAGE LICENSES (Friday Church News Notes, October 17, 2008, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - Backing down to pressure from those who support traditional marriage, the state of California is restoring the terms “bride” and “groom” to marriage licenses. When homosexual “marriage” became legal in that state on June 16, new marriage forms were issued replacing “bride” and “groom” with the words “Party A” and “Party B.” When a couple in Roseville, California, wrote the words “bride” and “groom” next to “Party A” and “Party B” because they wanted to be legally recognized as husband and wife, the county clerk turned them down, saying it “does not comply with California State regulations” (WorldNetDaily, Sept. 8, 2008). But beginning on November 17, the license will be revised to read “First Person Data” and “Second Person Data,” with optional boxes for checking “bride” and “groom” (“Bride and Groom to Be Restores,” AP, Oct. 7, 2008). Since these boxes appear next to both data fields, homosexual couples can mark two brides or two grooms. Three pompous and deluded judges on the California Supreme Court ruled that the definition of marriage as a union between a man and woman is unconstitutional, but it wasn’t unconstitutional for the first 150 years of the state’s history.
A CONVERSATION WITH THE WORLD’S TWO RICHEST MEN (Friday Church News Notes, October 17, 2008, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - On an international flight recently I watched a 2006 question-answer session between two of the world’s richest men, Bill Gates and Warren Buffett, and students at the University of Nebraska School of Business. Their answers were interesting and entertaining (Buffett has a great sense of humor). But in spite of the fact that the questions dealt with many non-business things (such as, “How do you define success in life?” and, “If you could have a superpower what would it be?” and, “What responsibility do you have to the world”), I was struck at how totally focused these men are on this present life. They said things such as, “Pursue your own passion,” and, “Know how to say no,” and, “It is good to encourage your friends and advisors to correct your blind spots,” and, “You are a success if you get to be old and you have lots of people who love you.” But what most interested me was what these two immensely wealthy and influential men did not say. They said nothing about such things as salvation, man’s relationship with God, the purpose of life, or preparation for eternity. When asked, “Where do you envision yourself in 10 years?” neither of them mentioned heaven or hell. Rather, both talked as if they will be doing the same thing then as now. It reminds me of the words of Jesus, “For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?” (Mark 8:36).
MORE EPISCOPAL CHURCHES PULLING OUT (Friday Church News Notes, October 17, 2008, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - A majority of pastors and lay members of the Episcopal diocese of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, voted on October 4 to leave the Episcopal Church of America over its liberalism and the ordination of homosexuals (“Pittsburgh Episcopal Diocese Votes to Split,” New York Times, Oct. 4, 2008). The move was led by Robert Duncan, who was removed as the diocese’s bishop in September because of his support for secession. After the churches align with the more conservative Anglican Province of the Southern Cone, which is based in Argentina, Duncan is expected to be reinstated. This shows just how wretchedly liberal the Episcopal Church is. To say that Episcopalians are not separatists is a vast understatement, and the pastors who secede will lose retirement and other benefits while the churches are in danger of losing their property. This move is a major step in an attempt to obey the Bible, which we salute. Now all they need to do is follow the Bible in all points and become good Baptists!
VIOLENCE CONTINUES AGAINST CHRISTIANS IN INDIA (Friday Church News Notes, October 17, 2008, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The violence that was poured out against Christians in the Indian state of Orissa in August and September has slowed but not ceased and has continued to spread. Falsely blaming Christians for the murder of a Hindu priest and for buying converts, Hindus went on a rampage and destroyed hundreds of homes and dozens of churches. As many as 50 people have been killed. One pastor was beaten unconscious and then thrown into the flames of his own burning church building. Thousands were forced to flee for their lives into the jungles. In early October, three more Christians were killed in Orissa (“Waves of Anti-Christian Violence Continue,” MNN, Oct. 6, 2008). Christians have also been attacked in the states of Karnataka and Uttar Pradesh.
AMERICAN BIBLE SOCIETY PRESENTS BIBLES TO THE POPE (Friday Church News Notes, October 17, 2008, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - At the Vatican on October 7 delegates from the American Bible Society (ABS) presented Pope Benedict XVI with a special Polyglot Bible. The 3,200-page Bible was created “in honor of the XII Ordinary General Assembly of the Catholic Bishops,” which is currently in session at the Vatican (“American Bible Society,” Christian Post, Oct. 7, 2008). Consisting of the Bible’s text in five languages--Hebrew, Greek, Latin, English, and Spanish--the Polyglot Bible bears the seals of the Vatican and the American Bible Society. Dennis Dickerson, chairman of the board of trustees of the ABS, said, “It is with great pleasure and happiness we return to the Bible again and again to deepen our understanding of the Word of God and rekindle our love for it.” In fact, they don’t love the Bible at all, or they would cease to disobey it by affiliating with and blessing those who have exalted their own false tradition to the same level of authority as God’s Word (Romans 16:17-18). Further, if they loved the Bible they would cease to pervert it through discredited Egyptian manuscripts and the fearfully unfaithful translation methodology of dynamic equivalency. (See also “The United Bible Societies and Rome” and “Dynamic Equivalency: Its Influence and Error” at the Way of Life web site.)
A HOUSE CHURCH? (Friday Church News Notes, October 17, 2008, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The “house church” movement is large and growing. Is it Scriptural? This depends on one’s definition of it. A proper New Testament church can meet in a house or in its own building or in the forest; the location is irrelevant. What is required for a church to be scriptural is that it be organized along biblical lines. This requires the ordination of qualified leaders (Acts 14:23), a strong biblical doctrinal foundation (1 Timothy 1:3), a biblical disciplinary system (1 Corinthians 5), and a proper biblical objective, which is the fulfillment of Christ’s Great Commission (Matthew 28:18-20; Mark 16:15; Luke 24:44-48; Acts 1:8). Paul wrote to Titus and said, “For this cause left I thee in Crete, that thou shouldest set in order the things that are wanting, and ordain elders in every city, as I had appointed thee” (Titus 1:5). There were believers in Crete and doubtless there were Christian families there, but something was lacking. The believers needed to be organized into proper churches and pastors ordained. Today, though, there is widespread resistance to pastoral authority. We realize that some pastors have abused their authority, and we are 100% opposed to such abuse, but that is no excuse to reject the biblical pattern. “But if I tarry long, that thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth” (1 Timothy 3:15). “Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching” (Hebrews 10:25). “Obey them that have the rule over you, and submit yourselves: for they watch for your souls, as they that must give account, that they may do it with joy, and not with grief: for that is unprofitable for you” (Hebrews 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)
10/10/08 14:11
BILL MAHER’S ATTACK ON THE BIBLE (Friday Church News Notes, October 10, 2008, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - Television personality and comedian Bill Maher continues his attack on the Bible in a new documentary entitled Religulous. Maher, of the TV show Politically Incorrect, takes aim at Christianity, Judaism, and Islam, pretending that all three are based on religious myth. There is plenty to rightly and wisely reject in man-made religions, but Maher’s folly is in attacking the Bible itself. He mocks such biblical teachings as Methuselah living 969 years and Noah building an ark to save humanity and the animals from the flood. Maher wants to make people laugh at religion and to encourage nonbelievers to talk more openly of their lack of faith (“Maher vs. God,” AP, Sept. 30, 2008). Maher says, “When you’re talking about a man living to 900 years old ... it’s just a pile of comedy that was waiting for someone to exploit.” All Maher has to offer a needy world is empty laughter and scoffing. He doesn’t know the answer to any of life’s big questions, such as how did this amazing universe come to be; what is the purpose of man’s life; what is man’s mind and spirit; why does man have a conscience; why is man so vastly different from the animal kingdom from which he supposedly evolved; why there is such incredible order and apparent design in a world that allegedly evolved by chance; why is man so intrinsically evil; is there a God and if so how can man know him; if there is an Almighty God, why should the miracles recorded in the Bible be thought impossible; who is Jesus Christ; did he rise from the dead; what did he mean when he said, “ye must be born again”; and where does man go when he dies. Maher can do nothing more than offer vague guesses about the most important questions in life, but he ridicules the Bible’s satisfying answers, even though there are many objective reasons for believing that the Bible is what it claims to be. As for the evolutionist’s idea that the universe originated from a big explosion, THAT is indeed a line worthy of a comedian. Very funny, Maher, but the joke is on you and God will have the last laugh. “Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts” (2 Peter 3:3). “He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh: the Lord shall have them in derision” (Psalm 2:4).
RICK WARREN SAYS HE IS NOT INTERESTED IN CHANGING THE DOCTRINE OF HERETICS (Friday Church News Notes, October 10, 2008, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - In a recent interview with Christianity Today, Rick Warren said: “We need to mobilize a billion Catholics and Orthodox. I’m not really that interested in interfaith dialogue. I am interested in interfaith projects. Let’s do something together. You are probably not going to change your doctrinal distinctives, and I’m probably not going to change my doctrinal distinctives. We have different beliefs. But the fact is, we do serve the same Lord. Let’s work on the things we can agree on” (“After the Aloha Shirts,” Christianity Today, Oct. 1, 2008). To the contrary, the apostle Paul said that those who pervert the gospel of the grace of Christ are cursed of God (Galatians 1:6-9). Obviously, then, those who preach the true gospel and those who preach a false one do not serve the same Lord. Christ told the Jewish leaders who denied salvation by grace that their father was the devil (John 8:44). Beware of Rick Warren. He is the blind leading the blind and is building the devil’s harlot rather than Christ’s bride. (See http://www.wayoflife.org/fbns/howrome.htm.) The prophet Amos wisely asked, “Can two walk together, except they be agreed?” (Amos 3:3), and Warren replies, “Who cares if they agree or disagree; let’s just walk together.”
EVOLUTIONARY SCIENTISTS LEARN FROM NATURE’S DESIGN WHILE DENYING THAT IT WAS DESIGNED (Friday Church News Notes, October 10, 2008, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The following is excerpted from “As Engineers Turn to Marine Biology to Improve Wing, Turbine, and Armor Designs, the Media Tries to Quash Intelligent Design Overtones,” Evolution News, Sept. 2008: “According to a Science Daily news release, engineers are turning to marine biology for insight into building better turbine blades and wings. The article reports that ‘[t]he shape of whale flippers with one bumpy edge has inspired the creation of a completely novel design for wind turbine blades. This design has been shown to be more efficient and also quieter, but defies traditional engineering theories.’ Apparently small bumps on the leading edge of the flippers create vortices as the whale moves through the water, and this uneven flow ‘help[s] to generate more lift without the occurrence of stall, as well as enhancing manoeuvrability and agility.’ The authors of the article seem cognizant of the unwanted design overtones, and thus lead off the article with an otherwise superfluous evolutionary spin: ‘Sea creatures have evolved over millions of years to maximise efficiency of movement through water.’ Yet one scientist was quoted saying, ‘The lesson from biomimicry is that unsteady flow and complex shapes can increase lift, reduce drag and delay stall, a dramatic and abrupt loss of lift, beyond what existing engineered systems can accomplish.’ The alternative view, of course, is that ‘existing engineered systems’ already contained this innovation before humans discovered it. ... Blind and unguided processes created ‘exactly what we need today’? Well, aren’t we all just that lucky.”
A COFFIN FOR THE STATE OF ISRAEL (Friday Church News Notes, October 10, 2008, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - At the International Exhibition of the Koran at the Imam Khomeini Grand Mosque in Tehran last month, a coffin was on display for the state of Israel (“A Coffin in Tehran,” National Review, Sept. 18, 2008). Israel is living in rebellion to her God today, but she is still the seed of Abraham, to whom God said, “I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee ... And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee...” (Genesis 12:3). Israel will not be destroyed, because God’s covenants with her are certain (i.e., Jeremiah 31-33), but she will go through the “time of Jacob’s trouble” to bring her to repentance (Jeremiah 30:7). When Israel repents and her Messiah returns, her enemies will be destroyed (Zechariah 12:6-9). “For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in. And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob: For this is my covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins” (Romans 11:25-27).
SCIENTIST WARNS OF LACK OF EVIDENCE FOR GLOBAL WARMING THEORY (Friday Church News Notes, October 10, 2008, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - A scientist who worked for six years with the Australian government building models on global warming now says that there is no evidence to support the theory that carbon emissions are the culprit. David Evans, who has a Ph.D. from Stanford, says: “I devoted six years to carbon accounting, building models for the Australian Greenhouse Office. I am the rocket scientist who wrote the carbon accounting model (FullCAM) that measures Australia’s compliance with the Kyoto Protocol, in the land use change and forestry sector. ... When I started that job in 1999 the evidence that carbon emissions caused global warming seemed pretty good: CO2 is a greenhouse gas, the old ice core data, no other suspects. ... But since 1999 new evidence has seriously weakened the case that carbon emissions are the main cause of global warming, and by 2007 the evidence was pretty conclusive that carbon played only a minor role and was not the main cause of the recent global warming. As Lord Keynes famously said, ‘When the facts change, I change my mind. What do you do, sir?’” (“No Smoking Hot Spot,” The Australian, July 18, 2008).
BARACK OBAMA’S SPIRITUALITY (Friday Church News Notes, October 10, 2008, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The following is excerpted from “Obama Grew up with the Bible and the Koran,” Lighthouse Trails, Sept. 2, 2008: “Recently, when Barack Obama was interviewed by Rick Warren, Obama told Warren that Jesus Christ was his Lord and Savior. Yet this ‘banner’ Obama raises is one that has an interspiritual foundation, representing a new kind of ‘Christianity,’ one that looks more like Brian McLaren’s spirituality than traditional, biblical Christianity. Stephen Mansfield’s book [The Faith of Barack Obama, Thomas Nelson publishers] addresses the concern many have that Obama may be a closet Muslim, but he dismisses the possibility in the book, saying he was too young to be a ‘full convert to Islam’ (p. 18). But what emerges from this book is a man who is New Age in philosophy, believing that all religions are legitimate paths to God, and all humanity is connected together (spiritually speaking - i.e., God is in all). Obama does clearly believe that the form of Christianity that he committed to at Trinity Church in 1985 is not the only path to God. ‘I am rooted in the Christian tradition,’ he has said. Nevertheless he asserts, ‘I believe there are many paths to the same place and that is a belief there is a higher power, a belief that we are connected as a people.’ He first saw his broad embrace of faith modeled by his mother. ‘In our household,’ he has explained, ‘The Bible, [t]he Koran, and the Bhagavad Gita sat on the shelf ... on Easter or Christmas Day my mother might drag me to a church, just as she dragged me to the Buddhist temple, the Chinese New Year celebration, the Shinto shrine, and ancient Hawaiian burial sites’ (p. 55 of Mansfield’s book, quoting from Audacity of Hope, Obama, p. 203). After his interspiritually-based upbringing, Obama later spent twenty years in a church, which promotes the panenthestic (God in all), interspiritual approach. In a 2006 article in United Church News, Obama stated that the teachings of the UCC (United Church of Christ), of which he was a member (Trinity United Church of Christ) until recently, are ‘foundation stones for his political work.’ Just what are those ‘teachings’ comprised of? On Trinity's website, on the Yoga page, the following statement is highlighted: ‘Within each [of] us is the seed of Divinity. Each Soul is divine. I bow to the divinity in us all!’ This is classic Hinduism that teaches that divinity resides in every human being. It is also the message of the New Age movement--man’s divinity! ... Obama insists that to base national ‘policy’ on biblical truths ‘would be a dangerous thing’ to do (Audacity of Hope, p. 220). There is one sentence in Audacity of Hope that sums up Barack Obama’s spirituality. He states: ‘When I read the Bible, I do so with the belief that it is not a static (stable) text but the Living Word and that I must be continually open to new revelations’ (p. 224).”
THE AMAZING SCIENTIFIC ACCURACY OF THE BIBLE’S OLDEST BOOK (Friday Church News Notes, October 10, 2008, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - Job is thought to be the oldest book in the Bible, having been written at least 3,500 years ago. Yet its many statements about the earth and its inhabitants and processes are scientifically accurate in every amazing detail. The late scientist Henry Morris said: “These references are modern in perspective, with never a hint of the mythical exaggerations and errors characteristic of other ancient writings ... perhaps of even greater significance is the fact that in a 4000-year-old book filled with numerous references to natural phenomena, there are no scientific mistakes or fallacies” (The Remarkable Record of Job). Of the many examples we could give of this, we have selected one. Job describes the amazing process of cloud formation and rain making. First, he describes how that water can be transported in the air when water weighs more than air (Job 36:27-28). “Water is converted by solar energy into the vapor state. Since water vapor is lighter than air, the winds can first elevate, then transport the water from the oceans to the lands where it is needed. There, under the right conditions, the vapor can condense around dust particles, salt particles, or other nuclei of condensation. When this happens, clouds are formed. Water vapor is invisible, whereas clouds are aggregations of liquid water droplets” (Morris). Job also describes how the clouds can stay aloft, how they can be balanced in the sky (Job 37:16) and how water can be bound up in a cloud and not rent (Job 26:8). The answer is in Job 36:27, “For he maketh small the drops of water....” “The water droplets are indeed very small, and their weight is sustained by the drag force of the uprushing winds, as the air is pushed skyward due to temperature decrease with elevation” (Morris). Next, Job describes how the clouds are rent so that rain comes forth (“by watering he wearieth the thick cloud,” Job 37:11). “That is, the water droplets coalesce to form larger and larger drops, which finally become so large that their weight is greater than the drag forces of the uprushing atmospheric turbulence, causing them to fall to the ground as rain or snow” (Morris). Finally, Job describes the role that lightning plays in the creation of rain (“he made a decree for the rain, and a way for the lightning of the thunder,” Job 28:26; “a way for the lightning of thunder; to cause it to rain on the earth,” Job 38:25-26). “These violent electrical current, in some complex energy exchange not yet fully understood, cause the small water droplets to bind together with others to form larger drops. Finally, this remarkable series of events delivers the rain to the thirsty ground” (Morris). What other 3,500-year-old book is scientifically accurate?
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)
03/10/08 14:11
TWO MORE CHRISTIAN MUSICIANS “COME OUT” (Friday Church News Notes, October 3, 2008, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - Clay Aiken, a Southern Baptist who was a runner-up on the American Idol contest in 2003 and has gone on to become a multiplatinum recording artist, has admitted publicly that he is homosexual. In the last week of September he appeared on the cover of People magazine under the headline, “Yes, I’m Gay.” A Baptist Press article about him in May 14, 2003, was entitled, “A Baptist Lauded for Work with Youth,” and the Biblical Recorder, the North Carolina Baptist Association’s paper, reported that Aiken’s church, Leesville Baptist in Raleigh, gathered together to watch the very worldly American Idol after their Wednesday night Bible studies. (We wonder how much attention they gave in those studies to passages such as Romans 12:2; Ephesians 5:11; James 4:4, and 1 John 2:15-17?) In People magazine, Aiken, referring to his baby boy that was conceived through in-vitro fertilization, said, “I cannot raise a child to lie or to hide things.” What, though, is commendable about rejecting one sin (lying) for another (sodomy)? Earlier in September, popular Contemporary Christian Musician Ray Boltz also revealed that he is homosexual. Both Aiken and Boltz say that they revealed their homosexuality privately to their families about four years ago. Boltz told the homosexual magazine The Washington Blade that he has been a homosexual since he was a kid (though he was married for 33 years before his divorce and has four children). He said: “If this is the way God made me, then this is the way I’m going to live. It’s not like God made me this way and he’ll send me to hell if I am who he created me to be” (“Ray Boltz Comes Out,” Christianity Today, Sept. 12, 2008). This is a great deception. The only sure word from God is found in the Bible, and the Bible calls the male to male sexual relationship (“men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another”) “vile affections,” “against nature,” “unseemly,” “error,” and “reprobate” (Romans 1:26-28). It is obvious, then, that God did not make Ray Boltz a homosexual and that he could renounce it if he really wanted to. The fact is that every individual is born a sinner, but God is not the author of sin, and He offers redemption through repentance and faith in Jesus’ atonement. Ten years ago, Kirk Franklin, a big name in Contemporary Christian Music, said in his autobiography, “... homosexuality is ... a problem today in Gospel music--a major concern--and everybody knows it” (Church Boy, p. 39). Obviously, then, we have seen only the tip of the iceberg in regard to this matter.
THE ROCK & ROLL PHILOSOPHY (Friday Church News Notes, October 3, 2008, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The rock & roll philosophy is all about me and what I want. Pop Machine put it this way: “Rock & roll is about striking out independently, not caring about your parents’ disapproval” (“Metallica? OK, But We Still Don’t Like the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame,” Chicago Tribune, Sept. 23, 2008). The Rolling Stones said: “I’m free to do what I want any old time.” Ted Nugent said, “Rock is the total celebration of the physical” (Rolling Stone, Aug. 25, 1977). Punk rock manager Malcolm McLaren said, “Rock ‘n’ roll is pagan and primitive, and very jungle” (Rock, August 1983, p. 60). Time magazine said, “In a sense all rock is revolutionary. By its very beat and sound it has always implicitly rejected restraints and has celebrated freedom and sexuality” (Jan. 3, 1969). Ellen Willis said, “The basic appeal of rock and roll [is] its irreverent, nose-thumbing quality” (TV Guide, January 1979, p. 15). Michael Moynihan says, “Rock music has always held seeds of the forbidden” (Lord’s of Chaos, p. x). Irwin Silber said, “The great strength of rock ‘n’ roll lies in its beat … it is a music which is basically sexual, un-Puritan … and a threat to established patterns and values” (Sing Out, May 1965, p. 63). Martin Perlich said, “Rock radicalized teenagers, because it estranges them from the traditional virtues which they no longer see as relevant” (The Cleveland Press, July 25, 1969, p. 1N). Daryl Hall of Hall and Oates said, “The main purpose of rock and roll is celebration of the self” (Interview with Timothy White, 1987, Rock Lives, p. 594). David Brinkley said, “Elvis changed our hairstyles, dress styles, our attitudes toward sex” (NBC News, cited by Larry Nager, Memphis Beat, p. 216). Robert Palmer said, “Rock and roll challenged the dominant norms and values with a genuinely Dionysian fervor” (Rock & Roll an Unruly History, p. 150). (Dionysius, or Bacchus, was the ancient god of wine and debauchery.) Johnny Thunders says that “rock and roll is simply an attitude,” and Tina Turner says that “it is naughty” (cited in Rock Facts, Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and Museum, pp. 12, 14). Oh, I have an idea. Why don’t we take rock music and use it to glorify the thrice holy, only-righteous Lord Jesus Christ?
DIALOGUING WITH EVIL (Friday Church News Notes, October 3, 2008, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - When Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, a rabid enemy of Israel, came to New York to speak to the United Nations, a group of “Christian” organizations met him for a meal and “dialogue.” These were the World Council of Churches, the Mennonite Central Committee, the American Friends Service Committee, and the Quaker United Nations Office. They described the dialogue as “a bridge-building and reconciliation effort.” Dialogue seems like a reasonable thing from a human perspective, but God’s Word forbids dialogue with heretics and those who are committed to demonic philosophies. “And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you” (2 Corinthians 6:16-17). See also Romans 16:17-18; 2 Timothy 3:5; Titus 3:9-11; 2 John 9-11. Ahmadinejad is committed to Islam’s false god and has called repeatedly for the destruction of Israel. Earlier this year Ahmadinejad called Israel a “dirty microbe” and warned that it will be defeated and uprooted (“Israel Will Be ‘Uprooted,’” The Australian, March 2, 2008). Israel is living in rebellion to her God today, but she is still the seed of Abraham, to whom God said, “I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee ... And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee...” (Genesis 12:3). Israel will not be destroyed, because God’s covenants with her are certain (i.e., Jeremiah 31-33), but she will go through the “time of Jacob’s trouble” to bring her to repentance (Jeremiah 30:7). The book of Revelation describes this in great detail, beginning in chapter six. When Israel repents and her Messiah returns, her enemies will be destroyed (Zechariah 12:6-9). “For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in. And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob: For this is my covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins” (Romans 11:25-27). At that time, Islamic terrorists will be gone, because the Bible says, “In righteousness shalt thou be established: thou shalt be far from oppression; for thou shalt not fear: and from terror; for it shall not come near thee” (Isaiah 54:14).
VIOLENCE CONTINUES AGAINST CHRISTIANS IN INDIA (Friday Church News Notes, October 3, 2008, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The violence that was poured out against Christians in the Indian state of Orissa in August has slowed but not ceased and has spread to other states. Falsely blaming Christians for the murder of a Hindu priest and for buying converts, Hindus went on a rampage and destroyed hundreds of homes and dozens of churches. As many as 50 people have been killed. One pastor was burned to death. Thousands were forced to flee for their lives into the jungles. Since then the violence in Orissa has quieted down after a belated government crackdown, but it has spread to other states. Roughly two dozen churches in Karnataka have been attacked, including three on the outskirts of the modern city of Bangalore (“Churches Attacked,” AFP, Sept. 11, 2008).
ANOTHER STUDY FINDS THAT MOVIES AFFECT PEOPLE (Friday Church News Notes, October 3, 2008, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - Yet another study has demonstrated that the content of movies and television affects the viewers. A new study by professors at Brigham Young University has found that watching meanness in movies affects people as much as watching violence. After watching clips from the movie Mean Girls, the test subjects evidenced the same hostile, aggressive attitude as those that watched a knife fight from the movie Kill Bill (“Meanness Appears to Rub Off on Viewers,” USA Today, Sept. 16, 2008). Sarah Coyne, who led the study, observed that TV shows are loaded with instances of relationship aggression and that it’s “almost always portrayed as justified, almost always portrayed as rewarded.” For a Bible believer there is nothing surprising about this study. God warns that “evil communications corrupt good manners” (1 Cor. 15:33). We are dramatically influenced by what we see and hear. That is why it is so important to be exceedingly careful about anything we might watch on television or that is produced by Hollywood. I know many Christians that have thrown away the television, and I have never heard of one that regretted it. “Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life. Put away from thee a froward mouth, and perverse lips put far from thee. Let thine eyes look right on, and let thine eyelids look straight before thee” (Proverbs 4:23-25).
DEATH OF A MOVIE STAR (Friday Church News Notes, October 3, 2008, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The following is by Brian Snider
OH MAMMON, HEAR US! (Friday Church News Notes, October 3, 2008, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The following is by Pastor Buddy Smith
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)