A KEY COMMONALITY IN SCHOOL SHOOTERS (Friday Church News Notes, March 23, 2018, www.wayoflife.org, fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The following is excerpted from “A Key Commonality,” DailyWire.com, Feb. 26, 2018: “In the wake of the tragic South Florida high school shooting [on Feb. 14] which ended with 17 deaths, Democrats and their allies in the mainstream media have launched a full-scale attack on the National Rife Association (NRA), Republican politicians, American gun owners, and the Second Amendment. And while there is chatter about so-called ‘toxic masculinity’ bubbling up on left-wing blogs, there is deafening silence regarding a glaring commonality among a majority of school shooters: fatherless homes. As noted by University of Virginia Professor Brad Wilcox in 2013, ‘nearly every shooting over the last year in Wikipedia’s list of U.S. school attacks involved a young man whose parents divorced or never married in the first place.’ Additionally, a study on older male shooters found similar connections to growing up fatherless. Writing at The Federalist in 2015, Peter Hasson highlighted the fact that of all the shootings on CNN's ‘27 Deadliest Mass Shootings in U.S. History’ list committed by young males, only one was raised by his biological father. The most recent Florida school shooter, too, had no father figure, as his adoptive father died when the suspect was just a boy. Hasson also distilled the jarring correlation between fatherless homes and general male violence: ‘Violence? There’s a direct correlation between fatherless children and teen violence. Suicide? Fatherless children are more than twice as likely to commit suicide. Dropping out of school? Seventy-one percent of high school dropouts came from a fatherless background. Drug use? According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, “Fatherless children are at a dramatically greater risk of drug and alcohol abuse.” How about guns? Two of the strongest correlations with gun homicides are growing up in a fatherless household and dropping out of school, which itself is directly related to lack of an active or present father.’ This clear connection is being lazily and intentionally addressed by the Left--if at all--as more evidence to further squash masculinity, which they’ve deemed ‘toxic.’”

LANCASTER’S EASTER EGG HUNT (Friday Church News Notes, March 23, 2018, www.wayoflife.org, fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - On April 1, Lancaster Baptist Church of Lancaster, California, is hosting a “Giant Egg Hunt” for children ages three to twelve. It is advertised as “the Antelope Valley’s largest Easter Egg hunt.” You can even get your photo taken with the Easter Bunny. So the Independent Baptists will exceed the Catholics and the Protestants with the mixing of paganism with Christianity. Though the exact details are lost in the mist of the dark ages when Rome ruled Europe with an iron fist, rabbits and eggs were used as spring fertility symbols in pagan religions in central Europe, and these things were “Christianized” to represent Christ’s resurrection. We had Easter egg hunts in Southern Baptist churches when I was growing up, but then again, we had pastors who were hirelings and did not educate the people biblically and solidly and did not protect the flocks from sin, the world, and error. Had they tried to warn in a plain way, they would have “lost their job.” That type of Christianity had zero spiritual impact in my life, and I was converted at age 23 in spite of it, not because of it. After I came to Christ and was studying the Bible and praying about what church to join, I found a little Independent Baptist church that had come out of the Southern Baptist Convention and was practicing biblical separation. But separation and plain warnings are being given up by Independent Baptists in this generation and replaced with “keep a positive face” New Evangelicalism. Most Independent Baptist churches today are no different in character than the Southern Baptist churches of my youth. They should put a smiley face on the church sign. Lancaster Baptist Church is also hosting a special Easter gospel presentation, but to mix the preaching of the gospel with an Easter egg hunt is heresy and confusion. The only good thing about Easter eggs is the after-Easter sale of chocolate eggs! “Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel?” (2 Corinthians 6:14-15).

LONDON POLICE “HATE CRIME” GUIDELINES DESTROY FREEDOM OF SPEECH AND RELIGION (Friday Church News Notes, March 23, 2018, www.wayoflife.org, fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The London Metropolitan Police’s new guidelines for what constitutes a “hate crime” has the potential to destroy freedom of speech and freedom of religion. Consider this guideline: “A hate crime is when someone commits a crime against you because of your disability, gender identity, race, sexual orientation, religion, or any other perceived difference. It doesn’t always include physical violence. Someone using offensive language towards you or harassing you because of who you are, or who they think you are, is also a crime. ... If someone does something that isn’t a criminal offence but the victim, or anyone else, believes it was motivated by prejudice or hate, we would class this as a ‘hate incident’. Though what the perpetrator has done may not be against the law, their reasons for doing it are. This means it may be possible to charge them with an offence” (“London Police,” DailyWire.com, Mar. 16, 2018). Under these chilling guidelines, if a homosexual or transsexual or abortionist or feminist, etc., believes that a Christian is motivated by hate when quoting the Bible, that Christian would be guilty of a hate crime and subject to punishment. Under these guidelines, the fundamental standard for “hate” is an individual’s perception, regardless of whether something is truly hateful by any reasonable definition. Apparently anyone who takes offense at another person’s speech can instigate a hate crime investigation. It’s impossible to apply such guidelines consistently. As a Christian, I am offended by all sorts of words that are spoken against God and the Bible and my religious faith, and I often perceive such words to be motivated by hate, but I doubt that my offense would be taken seriously under these guidelines.

ISAIAH SEAL DISCOVERED NEAR HEZEKIAH SEAL (Friday Church News Notes, March 23, 2018, www.wayoflife.org, fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - Excavations just below the Temple Mount have unearthed a bulla (clay seal) inscribed with the name “Isaiah” followed by a word that might be “prophet.” The second word is missing a letter, so the identification of the word is not 100% certain. But the date and location point to the biblical prophet Isaiah. The bulla was found only a few feet from another one inscribed with “of King Hezekiah of Judah” in an area thought to have been the ancient royal bakery. We know that Isaiah was intimate with the palace and was a close advisor to the king. During an excavation in 2009, 34 bullae were discovered, but the painstaking work of examining them under a microscope took years. The Hezekiah bulla was identified in 2014 and the Isaiah bulla was identified this month. The bullae were found under the direction of Eilat Mazar, granddaughter of Benjamin Mazar, the archaeologist who excavated the Western Wall and Southern Wall of the Temple Mount following Israel’s recovery of east Jerusalem at the end of the Six-Day War in 1967. Benjamin discovered such amazing things as the Titus Stones, the Trumpeting Stone, and the Southern Steps. Eilat has been excavating David’s Palace since 2005 and has found bullae inscribed with the names of high-ranking palace officials mentioned in the book of Jeremiah: Jehucal, son of Shelemiah (Jer. 37:3) and Gedaliah, son of Pashur (Jer. 38:1). An interview with Dr. Mazar can be seen at the following link - www.thetrumpet.com/16947-has-eilat-mazar-discovered-archaeological-evidence-of-isaiah-the-prophet.

LIMA BEAN SELF DEFENSE (Friday Church News Notes, March 23, 2018, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The following is from CreationMoments.com, March 1, 2018: “You may not think of plants as being intelligent on any level since it appears that they just sort of sit in the soil and grow. However, we have done a few Creation Moments programs on plants that try to poison or repel a predator. Now we will see that the lima bean employs an even more sophisticated defense strategy that not only warns surrounding lima beans of the attack, but also calls in defenders. Anyone who has ever worked with plants is familiar with spider mites. There are many varieties, but one of the most dangerous to the lima bean is the two spotted spider mite. These mites inject their saliva into a plant’s tissues, dissolving them. One of the mites’ biggest enemies is a carnivorous mite that feeds on these two spotted mites. These carnivorous mites are small and travel wherever the winds carry them. When two spotted mites attack a lima bean, the plant sends out a special chemical signal. When this distress signal reaches surrounding lima beans, they, too, begin to send the signal even though they are not under attack. The signal carries several messages to different species. Spider mites not on the plant being attacked are repelled from the area. On the other hand, any carnivorous mites that drift into the area will stay to feed on the two-spotted spider mites. As a result, the lima bean defends itself by sending specific messages to three different species! The lima bean's intelligent defense strategy is difficult for evolutionists to explain. It is easily accounted for by a Creator Who cares about all His creatures. Notes: Bombardier Beetles and Fever Trees, William Agosta, 1997, pp. 28-30.”

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).