Friday Church News Notes
Volume 19, Issue 38 - September 21, 2018
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.
Volunteers help rescue residents from their flooded homes during Hurricane Florence on Sept. 14, in New Bern, N.C. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
STORM DUMPS 18 TRILLION GALLONS OF WATER (Friday Church News Notes, September 21, 2018, www.wayoflife.org, fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - Hurricane Florence, which made landfall in North Carolina on September 14, had dumped 18 trillion gallons of water by September 16. “That’s enough to fill the Chesapeake Bay or cover the entire state of Texas with nearly 4 inches of water” (“Florence aftermath,” FoxNews, Sep. 16, 2018). In April 2018, 50 inches of rain fell in a 24 hour period on the Hawaiian island of Kauai. In January 1966, 1.825 meters (6 feet or 71.8 inches) of rain fell in 24 hours in Foc-Foc, La Réunion, an island in the southern Indian Ocean. That was equal to 7.5 tons of rain per acre. These were localized storms of brief endurance. The flood of Noah’s day involved the breaking up of the fountains of the deep and a global deluge of rainfall for 40 days and nights straight (Ge. 7:11-12). Two excellent books on the global flood are In the Beginning: Compelling Evidence for Creation and the Flood by Walt Brown and Earth’s Catastrophic Past by Andrew Snelling. These men have Ph.D.s in the earth sciences.
AMERICA’S “FREE LOVE” PHILOSOPHY PRODUCING A TSUNAMI OF SEXUAL DISEASES (Friday Church News Notes, September 21, 2018, www.wayoflife.org, fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The following is excerpted from “Rates of 3 STDs have reached a record high in the US,” Business Insider, Aug. 28, 2018: “There were 2.3 million new cases of chlamydia, gonorrhea, and syphilis diagnosed in the US last year, according to preliminary data released by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC). It marks a new record high for the country, and the fourth year in a row of ‘steep, sustained increases’ in these three infections, according to a CDC press release. The data was presented at the National STD Prevention Conference in Washington on Tuesday, CNN reported. Between 2013 and 2017, gonorrhea cases increased by 67% overall and nearly doubled in men, syphilis cases increased by 76%, and chlamydia remained the most common condition reported to the CDC. ... ‘We are sliding backward,’ Dr. Jonathan Mermin, director of the CDC's National Center for HIV/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, STD, and TB Prevention, said in the press release. ‘It is evident the systems that identify, treat, and ultimately prevent STDs are strained to near-breaking point.’ ... The CDC’s press release also notes the growing threat of antibiotic-resistant gonorrhea--sometimes called ‘super gonorrhea.’ The bugs that cause gonorrhea have become resistant to ‘nearly every class of antibiotics’ once used to treat them, the release said.”
TRAVIS CLARK ROCKING OUT (Friday Church News Notes, September 21, 2018, www.wayoflife.org, fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - In March 2017, we published “A Plea to the Clark Family” about the contemporary direction of the music and philosophy of the Clarks of Solid Rock Baptist Church in Berlin, New Jersey. The plea was public, because their music and ministry is public and influential far beyond their local church. The Clark Family music used to be a simple bluegrass-tinged style, but it is moving far beyond that, and a drift like this has no bottom. We have seen it time and time again. I see this progression everywhere among those who love Southern Gospel. Important lines are being erased. One reason is that even a little Southern Gospel creates an appetite for jazzed-up rhythms and sensual vocal styles (e.g., scooping, sliding, breathiness, improvisation, vocal rasping). Another reason is that the vast majority of Southern Gospel singers have moved into the “progressive/contemporary” sphere, probably because that is where the real money and prestige is, and even the most conservative people are being influenced by the contemporary Southern Gospel crowd because they are letting the guard down and aren’t being careful enough about biblical separation. After listening to many examples of the Clark Family music, it became obvious that they are performing a lot of music from the world of contemporary Southern Gospel. They are building bridges to contemporary people the likes of Brian Free, Ricky Free, Jeremy Johnson, Joel Lindsay, Tony Wood, Mike Schultz, Jody McBrayer, and Billy and Cynthia Foote. There isn’t any serious difference between the world of contemporary worship music represented by the Newsboys and Chris Tomlin and Hillsong and the world of contemporary Southern Gospel represented by Brian Free, etc. It is all fleshly music that gets people emotionally addicted to the world’s music. And like all addictions, it is never satisfied. Further, the world of contemporary Southern Gospel is as ecumenical as the world of CCM. All of the people in contemporary Southern Gospel hold a “judge not, loosen up and don’t be so strict” philosophy of Christianity. Contemporary Southern Gospel yokes church people into association with the likes of the Gaithers and the National Quartet Convention, and a more radically ecumenical crowd does not exist. They preach a “let’s all get together and not judge” message. Recently Travis Clark teamed up with Mark Rasmussen, a graduate of West Coast Baptist College and a former prominent member of the Lancaster Baptist Church (Lancaster, California) music program, to produce a Christian rock song called “Chain Breaker.” The video is found on YouTube HERE.
COURTS AGAIN RULE AGAINST ATHEISTS TRYING TO REMOVE “IN GOD WE TRUST” FROM AMERICA’S CURRENCY (Friday Church News Notes, September 21, 2018, www.wayoflife.org, fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The following is excerpted from “Atheists Fail to Remove,” The Christian Post, Aug. 29, 2018: “Atheists who failed to remove the national motto ‘In God We Trust’ from U.S. coins and bills following an appeals court defeat have called their loss ‘utterly revolting.’ The 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in St. Paul, Minnesota, upheld in a 3-0 decision on Tuesday a lower court ruling from December 2016 that found that the national motto on money did not violate First Amendment free speech and religious rights. As the New Doe Child # 1 v. The Congress of the United States case explains, 27 individuals who are atheists or children of atheists, along with two atheist organizations, declared that they ‘definitely do not trust in God.’ Circuit Judge Raymond Gruender explained that the motto did not constitute an establishment of religion, however, and rejected the argument that the atheists are being forced to uphold a message that goes against their beliefs by carrying money. Gruender agreed with the Seventh Circuit that the arguments that ‘In God We Trust’ on money transforms a constitutional practice into an unconstitutional establishment of religion is ‘too simplistic.’ ‘The Constitution does not prevent the Government from promoting and celebrat[ing] our tradition of religious freedom, even if the means of doing so--here, adding the national motto to U.S. money--was motivated in part because of religious sentiment.’ Placing In God We Trust on coins and currency is consistent with historical practices,’ he added. Michael Newdow, a lawyer representing the plaintiffs, told Reuters in an email that it is ‘utterly revolting…’”
THE NEW INDEPENDENT FUNDAMENTAL BAPTIST MOVEMENT (Friday Church News Notes, September 21, 2018, www.wayoflife.org, fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The New Fundamental Independent Baptist Movement (The New IFB) is a loose fellowship of Independent Baptist churches that are committed to a slew of heresies, including Replacement Theology, Pre-wrath Rapture, and no-repentance Quick Prayerism. There is a strong association with Steven Anderson, who is featured prominently at www.thenewifb.com and The New IFB Twitter page - https://twitter.com/thenewifb?lang=en. One of the videos posted there is of Anderson preaching that “9/11 Was an Inside Job.” For more on this see What About Steven Anderson?, which is available as a free eBook from www.wayoflife.org.
IN BETWEENITES (Friday Church News Notes, September 21, 2018, www.wayoflife.org, fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - James Henley Thornwell was a staunch Old School Presbyterian preacher who fought against theological modernism in the 19th century. The sixth president of South Carolina College (today the University of South Carolina), Thornwell was weary with the “in betweenites” of his day who said they loved the truth but were soft in their stance and refused to boldly withstand error. “To employ soft words and honeyed phrases in discussing questions of everlasting importance; to deal with errors that strike at the foundations of all human hope as if they were harmless and venial mistakes; to bless where God disapproves, and to make apologies where He calls us to stand up like men and assert, though it may be the aptest method of securing popular applause in a sophistical age, is cruelty to man and treachery to Heaven. Those who on such subjects attach more importance to the rules of courtesy than they do to the measures of truth do not defend the citadel, but betray it into the hands of its enemies. LOVE FOR CHRIST, AND FOR THE SOULS FOR WHOM HE DIED, WILL BE THE EXACT MEASURE OF OUR ZEAL IN EXPOSING THE DANGERS BY WHICH MEN’S SOULS ARE ENSNARED” (quoted in a sermon by George Sayles Bishop, author of The Doctrines of Grace and Kindred Themes, 1910).
GROWING INFORMATION (Friday Church News Notes, September 21, 2018, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The following is from CreationMoments.com, December 4, 2017: “Evolutionists assume that evolution happens by increases in genetic information. This, they claim, happens by mutations making more information. We should analyze how this might happen. It has often been said that the creation of information in organisms would be like having an explosion in a print factory producing a dictionary. However, the evolutionist argues that this is an unfair analogy because evolution is supposed to happen one step at a time, not by explosions. So how would a single step work? One well-known evolutionist in England appeared on a children’s program with a bag of Scrabble letters to show how it would work. He got children to take a letter tile each from the bag. Eventually, three consecutive children drew C-A-T. ‘Aha!’ he exclaimed. ‘We have a word--cat. Information has come about by chance.’ However, the letters CAT only spell a word in English. In French, the same word would have to be CHAT. The word CAT does not exist in French. So CAT only contains information if you already have the language ability to read it and understand it. Similarly, DNA information has to be ‘read’ by RNA molecules. So this information does not happen by chance. Even if new information were possible, it would only work if an organism had a pre-existing method of decoding that information. Information does not come from nowhere. It always comes from somewhere--or rather, Someone.”
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).
AMERICA’S “FREE LOVE” PHILOSOPHY PRODUCING A TSUNAMI OF SEXUAL DISEASES (Friday Church News Notes, September 21, 2018, www.wayoflife.org, fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The following is excerpted from “Rates of 3 STDs have reached a record high in the US,” Business Insider, Aug. 28, 2018: “There were 2.3 million new cases of chlamydia, gonorrhea, and syphilis diagnosed in the US last year, according to preliminary data released by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC). It marks a new record high for the country, and the fourth year in a row of ‘steep, sustained increases’ in these three infections, according to a CDC press release. The data was presented at the National STD Prevention Conference in Washington on Tuesday, CNN reported. Between 2013 and 2017, gonorrhea cases increased by 67% overall and nearly doubled in men, syphilis cases increased by 76%, and chlamydia remained the most common condition reported to the CDC. ... ‘We are sliding backward,’ Dr. Jonathan Mermin, director of the CDC's National Center for HIV/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, STD, and TB Prevention, said in the press release. ‘It is evident the systems that identify, treat, and ultimately prevent STDs are strained to near-breaking point.’ ... The CDC’s press release also notes the growing threat of antibiotic-resistant gonorrhea--sometimes called ‘super gonorrhea.’ The bugs that cause gonorrhea have become resistant to ‘nearly every class of antibiotics’ once used to treat them, the release said.”
TRAVIS CLARK ROCKING OUT (Friday Church News Notes, September 21, 2018, www.wayoflife.org, fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - In March 2017, we published “A Plea to the Clark Family” about the contemporary direction of the music and philosophy of the Clarks of Solid Rock Baptist Church in Berlin, New Jersey. The plea was public, because their music and ministry is public and influential far beyond their local church. The Clark Family music used to be a simple bluegrass-tinged style, but it is moving far beyond that, and a drift like this has no bottom. We have seen it time and time again. I see this progression everywhere among those who love Southern Gospel. Important lines are being erased. One reason is that even a little Southern Gospel creates an appetite for jazzed-up rhythms and sensual vocal styles (e.g., scooping, sliding, breathiness, improvisation, vocal rasping). Another reason is that the vast majority of Southern Gospel singers have moved into the “progressive/contemporary” sphere, probably because that is where the real money and prestige is, and even the most conservative people are being influenced by the contemporary Southern Gospel crowd because they are letting the guard down and aren’t being careful enough about biblical separation. After listening to many examples of the Clark Family music, it became obvious that they are performing a lot of music from the world of contemporary Southern Gospel. They are building bridges to contemporary people the likes of Brian Free, Ricky Free, Jeremy Johnson, Joel Lindsay, Tony Wood, Mike Schultz, Jody McBrayer, and Billy and Cynthia Foote. There isn’t any serious difference between the world of contemporary worship music represented by the Newsboys and Chris Tomlin and Hillsong and the world of contemporary Southern Gospel represented by Brian Free, etc. It is all fleshly music that gets people emotionally addicted to the world’s music. And like all addictions, it is never satisfied. Further, the world of contemporary Southern Gospel is as ecumenical as the world of CCM. All of the people in contemporary Southern Gospel hold a “judge not, loosen up and don’t be so strict” philosophy of Christianity. Contemporary Southern Gospel yokes church people into association with the likes of the Gaithers and the National Quartet Convention, and a more radically ecumenical crowd does not exist. They preach a “let’s all get together and not judge” message. Recently Travis Clark teamed up with Mark Rasmussen, a graduate of West Coast Baptist College and a former prominent member of the Lancaster Baptist Church (Lancaster, California) music program, to produce a Christian rock song called “Chain Breaker.” The video is found on YouTube HERE.
COURTS AGAIN RULE AGAINST ATHEISTS TRYING TO REMOVE “IN GOD WE TRUST” FROM AMERICA’S CURRENCY (Friday Church News Notes, September 21, 2018, www.wayoflife.org, fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The following is excerpted from “Atheists Fail to Remove,” The Christian Post, Aug. 29, 2018: “Atheists who failed to remove the national motto ‘In God We Trust’ from U.S. coins and bills following an appeals court defeat have called their loss ‘utterly revolting.’ The 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in St. Paul, Minnesota, upheld in a 3-0 decision on Tuesday a lower court ruling from December 2016 that found that the national motto on money did not violate First Amendment free speech and religious rights. As the New Doe Child # 1 v. The Congress of the United States case explains, 27 individuals who are atheists or children of atheists, along with two atheist organizations, declared that they ‘definitely do not trust in God.’ Circuit Judge Raymond Gruender explained that the motto did not constitute an establishment of religion, however, and rejected the argument that the atheists are being forced to uphold a message that goes against their beliefs by carrying money. Gruender agreed with the Seventh Circuit that the arguments that ‘In God We Trust’ on money transforms a constitutional practice into an unconstitutional establishment of religion is ‘too simplistic.’ ‘The Constitution does not prevent the Government from promoting and celebrat[ing] our tradition of religious freedom, even if the means of doing so--here, adding the national motto to U.S. money--was motivated in part because of religious sentiment.’ Placing In God We Trust on coins and currency is consistent with historical practices,’ he added. Michael Newdow, a lawyer representing the plaintiffs, told Reuters in an email that it is ‘utterly revolting…’”
THE NEW INDEPENDENT FUNDAMENTAL BAPTIST MOVEMENT (Friday Church News Notes, September 21, 2018, www.wayoflife.org, fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The New Fundamental Independent Baptist Movement (The New IFB) is a loose fellowship of Independent Baptist churches that are committed to a slew of heresies, including Replacement Theology, Pre-wrath Rapture, and no-repentance Quick Prayerism. There is a strong association with Steven Anderson, who is featured prominently at www.thenewifb.com and The New IFB Twitter page - https://twitter.com/thenewifb?lang=en. One of the videos posted there is of Anderson preaching that “9/11 Was an Inside Job.” For more on this see What About Steven Anderson?, which is available as a free eBook from www.wayoflife.org.
IN BETWEENITES (Friday Church News Notes, September 21, 2018, www.wayoflife.org, fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - James Henley Thornwell was a staunch Old School Presbyterian preacher who fought against theological modernism in the 19th century. The sixth president of South Carolina College (today the University of South Carolina), Thornwell was weary with the “in betweenites” of his day who said they loved the truth but were soft in their stance and refused to boldly withstand error. “To employ soft words and honeyed phrases in discussing questions of everlasting importance; to deal with errors that strike at the foundations of all human hope as if they were harmless and venial mistakes; to bless where God disapproves, and to make apologies where He calls us to stand up like men and assert, though it may be the aptest method of securing popular applause in a sophistical age, is cruelty to man and treachery to Heaven. Those who on such subjects attach more importance to the rules of courtesy than they do to the measures of truth do not defend the citadel, but betray it into the hands of its enemies. LOVE FOR CHRIST, AND FOR THE SOULS FOR WHOM HE DIED, WILL BE THE EXACT MEASURE OF OUR ZEAL IN EXPOSING THE DANGERS BY WHICH MEN’S SOULS ARE ENSNARED” (quoted in a sermon by George Sayles Bishop, author of The Doctrines of Grace and Kindred Themes, 1910).
GROWING INFORMATION (Friday Church News Notes, September 21, 2018, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The following is from CreationMoments.com, December 4, 2017: “Evolutionists assume that evolution happens by increases in genetic information. This, they claim, happens by mutations making more information. We should analyze how this might happen. It has often been said that the creation of information in organisms would be like having an explosion in a print factory producing a dictionary. However, the evolutionist argues that this is an unfair analogy because evolution is supposed to happen one step at a time, not by explosions. So how would a single step work? One well-known evolutionist in England appeared on a children’s program with a bag of Scrabble letters to show how it would work. He got children to take a letter tile each from the bag. Eventually, three consecutive children drew C-A-T. ‘Aha!’ he exclaimed. ‘We have a word--cat. Information has come about by chance.’ However, the letters CAT only spell a word in English. In French, the same word would have to be CHAT. The word CAT does not exist in French. So CAT only contains information if you already have the language ability to read it and understand it. Similarly, DNA information has to be ‘read’ by RNA molecules. So this information does not happen by chance. Even if new information were possible, it would only work if an organism had a pre-existing method of decoding that information. Information does not come from nowhere. It always comes from somewhere--or rather, Someone.”
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.
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