Friday Church News Notes
Volume 19, Issue 27 - July 6, 2018
Graphical Edition
The Friday Church News Notes is designed for use in churches and is published by Way of Life Literature. Unless otherwise stated, the Notes are written by David Cloud. Of necessity we quote from a wide variety of sources, though this does not imply an endorsement.
Separation
REJECTION OF BIBLE SEPARATION A SLIPPERY SLOPE (Friday Church News Notes, July 6, 2018, www.wayoflife.org, fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The rejection of Bible separation is a slippery slope. It begins in “small” ways with “a little leaven” and takes incremental steps, always moving farther away from the Bible’s teaching on separation. The rejection of separation begins softly and quietly. It is something that can be difficult to put one’s finger on, something not easy to identify. It is a change of mood as much as anything. The rejection of separation begins with a mere change in mood toward a more positive emphasis. It is characterized by a greater tolerance of error. It is a gradual loss of militant zeal in the defense of the faith. The first step in the rejection of separation can be identified not so much by what a preacher or a church or a Bible college does or says as by what it fails to do and what it neglects to say. Typically, those who are at the outset of rejecting separatism are offended when someone challenges them that this might be happening. They still want to be known as separatists because they are still associated with separatists or with those who want to be known as separatists. The following questions can help identify whether or not a church is going soft on separation: Do clear warnings go out from the pulpit? Are the people who sit under the church’s ministry well educated about influential compromisers and heretics? Does the church invite strong separatist preachers to blow the trumpet against compromise in a plain way? Does the church warn more about disunity and “fragmentation” than it does about compromise? Does the church dislike men who give plain public warnings about compromise? Does the church ever host a conference on separation and give clear warning on issues? Does the church publicly and unhesitatingly identify itself with forthright separatists? Does the church recommend literature on separation to its members? What is in the bookstore? Is separation something that was once preached, talked about, and practiced but now left out of the agenda? Is the church affiliating with those who are careless in their affiliations? Is the church warming up to “conservative evangelicals”? Does the church routinely recommend books by New Evangelicals? Is the church affiliating with those who use CCM and contemporary Southern Gospel and perhaps moving toward adopting this music itself? CCM is not just music; it is a philosophy of Christianity that is diametrically opposed to separatism and CCM and a separatist stance cannot and will not live in harmony for long.

ANOTHER TESTIMONY ABOUT THE DANGERS OF QUACKERY (Friday Church News Notes, July 6, 2018, www.wayoflife.org, fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - “Thank you for your research on diet plans. You are showing logic and wisdom in something that my wife and I have been fighting for years. We have had to separate from many, many of our friends in the ministry because of their outrageous stances on diet. We cannot be around them without being persecuted for our ‘lack of concern’ for our wellbeing. In ———— church in ————, there are dozens of these families who literally worship their bodies through these diet plans. … One couple in that church, whom I am very good friends with, had children who had serious allergies. They are now ‘experts’ in dietary lifestyle. She is a mid-wife. And they cut out everything processed (to the extreme), will only eat 'organic' vegetables and meats (to the extreme), and even have filtered all drinking fluids (to the extreme). They were the leaders in all of this. Then, they decided to have another child. That child is 10 times more allergic to everything, and has other serious health problems, which they used to claim were linked to diet. Interesting….. I wonder how much money this market is stealing away from missions giving? … Thank you and Amen to your research on this topic.” (For the studies about quack diets, see the book The Bible and Diet, which is available for free reading at www.wayoflife.org/free_ebooks/.)

A CHRISTIAN WOMAN’S TESTIMONY ABOUT DRESS (Friday Church News Notes, July 6, 2018, www.wayoflife.org, fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - “I really want to thank you for writing your book, Dressing for the Lord. It was a great help in my Bible study and coming to the conclusion that I did about dress and God has really changed my heart and humbled me through this. ... What really pierced me with truth was when I saw two men during the time I was studying and they were in the same store but on different days when I was shopping and they were dressed and acting like women. … to be perfectly honest, my first reaction inside was the disgust and offense I felt as a woman. These men were making a complete mockery of what it means to be a woman. They were also throwing out the wonderful manhood God designed them for. It both disgusted and saddened me. As I was retelling this to some friends and explaining my feelings on this, I slipped out that I wondered if this is how men felt back when women first started putting on pants. I stopped there and realized that God had just convicted me out of my own mouth. That was the day I decided I was going to get rid of my pants and make some major changes and grow my hair out and keep it grown out. Also here in Ireland we recently watched the feminists win once again in a major landslide vote to bring abortion into this country. The feminist movement is the same group that started putting pants on women, pushing for androgyny and homosexuality in a very major and vocal manner, marched around in Washington DC with vulgar and disgusting costumes when trying to push abortion there, and are pushing for abortion around the whole world. If the same people who are for mass murder of innocent children as well as gender confusion and turning around what God designed are the same ones who started cutting women’s hair short and putting pants on us, then I want to make it clear to anyone who looks at me that I have no part whatsoever in this wickedness. After making the decision to stop wearing pants, God has shown me that modesty and dressing as a woman is about something even more in the heart. It is a symbol of humility. It is about learning to have a meek and quiet spirit. It is about recognizing and honoring God-given authority in our lives and being content to be who God made us to be which is the best thing we can be. When I put on a long, loose skirt, and I am covered where I need to be covered, I am humbly submitting to God and to my God-given authority. I have learned that in that submission I am protected, spiritually and physically.”

THE SPIRIT OF FEAR (Friday Church News Notes, July 6, 2018, www.wayoflife.org, fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - 2 Timothy 1:7 - “For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.” Consider some lessons from this wonderful verse of Scripture: First, we see that there are fears. Timothy had them and needed to be exhorted about them. Paul had them (2 Co. 7:5). I have them (e.g., thinking about the future of the work, thinking about my inability and weakness, fear of man, fear of dangers). The bravest soldiers have fears. A battle-experienced Army Ranger said, “Courage is not being fearless, but courage is moving forward in spite of the fear” (The Warfighters). Second, we see that fears do not come from God. You can be sure that your fear is not of God. The only fear that comes from God is the fear of God and the fear of sinning against God. Third, we see that in God there is victory over fear. We can overcome fear by faith in God. He gives power, love, and a sound mind, but we must seek these things from Him day by day. Seek power every time you are weak; seek love every time you are selfish; seek a sound mind every time your heart is disturbed. Fourth, the promises of God are mighty weapons for conquering fear and every other issue that pertains to the mind (2 Co. 10:4-5). Unbelievers don’t have these powerful resources. They aren’t found in psychology, religion, alcohol, drugs, not even in the closest friends and relatives. There are two great promises that have often helped me to overcome fear: Psalm 138:3; 1 Peter 5:7. Both of these address the way of victory over problems in the present time.

BLOOD CLOTTING (Friday Church News Notes, July 6, 2018, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The following is excerpted from Seeing the Non-existent: Evolution’s Myths and Hoaxes, David Cloud, copyright 2011: “Blood clotting is an example of a wonderful biological system that could not have evolved in stages. The clotting mechanism is necessary for survival in animals and humans, because the blood circulation system is pressurized, and a simple cut or wound would prove fatal if the bleeding were not stopped. Hemophilia is a life-threatening disease in which part of the clotting apparatus is crippled. When a cut occurs, molecular signals cause various proteins to activate to create a complex meshwork that entraps the blood cells, forming the initial clot. Clotting involves over 30 distinct individual reactions, each of which is vital to heal a wound and each of which is exceedingly complex. The coordination, order, timing, and rate of action must be exact. Omitting even one of the reactions, inserting an unwanted step, or altering the timing of a step would result in death. This is why the blood clotting system is called ‘a cascade, a system where one component activates another component’ (Alan Gillen, Body by Design, p. 74). Consider some aspects of this intricate “cascade”: First, the clot must form quickly. Second, it must form the full length of the wound with sufficient coverage to stop the bleeding. Third, it must form only in the precise location of a wound and only enough to close the wound but not close down the blood vessels (otherwise it could block circulation, which is what causes heart attacks and strokes). Fourth, the wound must be cleansed of germs and damaged cellular tissues. This is accomplished by an increase in the flow of blood enriched with white blood cells. Fifth, the clotting process must not only stop the flow of blood but also develop a new skin cover for permanent healing. The surrounding skin cells increase the rate of reproduction to create a bridge of new skin. Sixth, at the precise time when healing is completed, other protein machinery must remove the clot. The blood clotting process begins with the creation of a protein mesh to close the wound and trap the blood. It is composed of a protein called fibrinogen that is carried in the blood plasma. Another protein, thrombin, slices pieces of fibrinogen to create fibrin and connect them together to form a network. Long threads criss-cross the fibrin to entrap the blood cells. Think of the amazing intelligence and communication that is involved throughout this process at the cellular level! How ridiculous to think that such a thing could ‘evolve’ gradually and blindly!”

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).

_____


Distributed by Way of Life Literature., publisher of Bible Study Materials and reports for Fundamental Baptists and other fundamentalist, Bible-believing Christians. Established in 1974, Way of Life Literature is a fundamental Baptist preaching and publishing ministry based in Bethel Baptist Church, London, Ontario, of which Wilbert Unger is the founding Pastor. Brother Cloud lives in South Asia where he has been a church planting missionary since 1979. OUR GOAL IN THIS PARTICULAR ASPECT OF OUR MINISTRY (REPORTS AND FRIDAY NEWS) IS NOT DEVOTIONAL. IS TO PROVIDE INFORMATION TO ASSIST PREACHERS IN THE PROTECTION OF THE CHURCHES IN THIS APOSTATE HOUR.

David Cloud, Way of Life Literature, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061, 866-295-4143, fbns@wayoflife.org

The Way of Life Literature preaching and publishing ministry is based at Bethel Baptist Church, London, Ontario, of which Wilbert Unger is the founding Pastor. A mail stop is maintained in Port Huron, Michigan.

Way of Life Literature - www.wayoflife.org
copyright 2018 - Way of Life Literature