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Way of Life Literature

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Way of Life Literature

Publisher of Bible Study Materials

Way of Life Bible College
Friday Church News Notes
Volume 20, Issue 14 - April 5, 2019
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.
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ANOTHER SPECTACULAR ARCHAEOLOGICAL FIND IN ISRAEL (Friday Church News Notes, April 5, 2019, www.wayoflife.org, fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - Since Israel’s return to the land at the turn of the 20th century, a slew of artifacts have been unearthed that support the biblical record. The latest, announced this week, is a seal impression (bulla) that reads “Belonging to Nathan-Melech, servant of the king” (“2,600 Year Old Seal Discovered in City of David,” Jerusalem Post, Apr. 1, 2019). This name is mentioned in 2 Kings 23:11 in connection with King Josiah’s revival. “And he took away the horses that the kings of Judah had given to the sun, at the entering in of the house of the LORD, by the chamber of Nathanmelech the chamberlain, which was in the suburbs, and burned the chariots of the sun with fire.” We aren’t told specifically that Nathanmelech was complicit with the worship of the sun, but it seems probable since he apparently had allowed this idolatry to be carried out by his own chamber. The Greeks and Romans worshipped the sun god Helios, whose chariot was supposedly drawn by four horses. This image has been found on the mosaic floors of two ancient synagogues in Israel (Tiberias and Zippori). “Jarchi says, that those who adored the sun had horses, which they mounted every morning, to go out to meet him at his rising. The kings of Judah had imitated these idolatrous customs, and kept the horses of the sun even at the entrance of the temple of the Lord! (Treasury of Scripture Knowledge). The prophet Jeremiah, whose ministry began in the days of Josiah, would have been a witness to these things (Jer. 1:3). The Nathanmelech seal impression, which is dated to the 7th century BC, was found on the western slope of the City of David south of the Temple Mount in a building that shows evidence of having been destroyed by the Babylonians in the 6th century. Thus it is exactly the right time and place for a direct connection with the individual named in Scripture. The seal joins others that have been discovered in the area of David’s palace bearing the names of people mentioned in the books of Jeremiah, Kings, and Chronicles who lived or worked in the palace just before it was burned by Nebuchadnezzar. These include Jehucal the son of Shelemiah (Jer. 37:3), Gedaliah, son of Pashur (Jer. 38:1), Gemariah the son of Shaphan (Jer. 36:10), and Azariah the son of Hilkiah (1 Ch. 9:11). Some of these are in the Israel Museum. (For more on this see, “Great Archaeological Discoveries in Israel,” www.wayoflife.org.)

DEBUNKING STEPHEN ANDERSON (Friday Church News Notes, April 5, 2019, www.wayoflife.org, fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - Brian Snider has published a video presentation “Debunking Steven Anderson” in two parts. Following are the links:
https://vimeo.com/315765512
https://vimeo.com/326329545
See also What About Steven Anderson? a free eBook available for viewing and download from https://www.wayoflife.org/free_ebooks/what_about_steven_anderson.php

HIGH SCHOOL GIRLS PROTEST BIOLOGICAL MALES BEING ALLOWED TO CHANGE IN THEIR LOCKER ROOMS (Friday Church News Notes, April 5, 2019, www.wayoflife.org, fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The following is excerpted from “High School Girls,” The Stream, Mar. 21, 2019: “There are at least 787 students at Pennsylvania’s Honesdale High School—but only one of them seemed to know about a major change in the school’s rules. The others found out the most traumatic way possible—when they walked into the girls’ locker room and found a teenage boy in women’s underwear. … Turns out, the students weren’t the only ones who’d never been notified about the policy. Still in shock, the parents called the principal and Wayne County superintendent. Neither was particularly sorry about the girls’ experience. And to prove it, they refused to lift a finger to help. The girls’ only option was to wait outside the locker room—a place designated for them—until the boy inside was finished. … Just to the south, in Boyertown, Alexis Lightcap ran into the same situation. ‘No one prepared us, warned us, or counseled us’ about the boys they’d find in their restrooms and locker rooms. And they were just as unsympathetic when the girls complained about it. Like this sophomore, Alexis thought the adults’ job was to protect students. Instead, she got the same cold shoulder from administrators, who seem to be more concerned about looking politically incorrect than guarding their girls’ privacy. Because of that, these girls are being put in an impossible position, lawyer Andrea Shaw argues in her formal complaint to the U.S. Department of Education. ‘Given the culture’s treatment of LGBT issues, [she] has to choose between her privacy and ostracism.’ Now that Wayne County is taking the boy’s side, girls are ‘unbearably uncomfortable’—and not just her client. Other students have come forward from the cross-country team and said they object to changing in front of him. Parents are worried about ‘overnight trips and whether the male will be assigned the same hotel room.’ Girls aren’t using the restroom during school because they’re worried they’ll run into male classmates. And others are concerned that ‘the teachers will retaliate’ if they bring up how uneasy they are. … congressional Democrats … want to open up everyone’s locker rooms, showers, and bathrooms to men under the so-called Equality Act.” “This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves … unholy … without natural affection … incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good … heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God” (2 Timothy 3:1-4).

PRINCE HARRY AND WIFE TO RAISE BABY “WITHOUT GENDER STEREOTYPES” (Friday Church News Notes, April 5, 2019, www.wayoflife.org, fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The following is excerpted from “Meghan Markle and Prince Harry,” Yahoo.com/lifestyle, Mar. 1, 2019: “Despite reports surfacing that Meghan Markle and Prince Harry have learned they are having a boy, the royal pair don’t plan to let that change how they will raise their child. A source recently revealed to Vanity Fair, that Meghan has expressed wanting to raise her baby without gender stereotypes. ‘Meghan has been talking to some of her friends about the birth and how she and Harry plan to raise their baby. Her exact word was fluid,’ the source said. ‘She said they plan to raise their child with a fluid approach to gender and they won’t be imposing any stereotypes.’ While there are many definitions of fluid, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex may choose not to restrict what toys they buy their child or what sports they play based on sex. They may also go for a gender-neutral approach when dressing their child, avoiding pinks and blues. This is also the approach the parents-to-be are taking for the baby’s nursery. One of the major renovations happening at the couple’s new home of Frogmore Cottage is a neutral nursery. … A source told VF in February that Meghan is planning for a natural, at-home delivery. ‘Meg wants a natural birth if she can have one,’ they said. ‘Her mother is very into anything that is holistic and natural, and having been brought up with yoga and mindfulness, it’s all very much part of Meghan’s birth plan.’”

MASSIVE STUDY CONFIRMS THAT VACCINES DON’T CAUSE AUTISM (Friday Church News Notes, April 5, 2019, www.wayoflife.org, fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The following is excerpted from “Massive Study” Futurism.com, Mar. 5, 2019: “More than two decades ago, a doctor published a study claiming that vaccines can cause autism. Despite the fact that that study was later completely discredited and debunked—and the doctor behind it barred from practicing medicine—the belief continues to persist throughout society. Now, a massive study of more than half a million children has confirmed what those in the medical community have been saying for two decades: vaccines don’t cause autism. But in an era when fringe theories can continue to spread online in spite of overwhelming counter-evidence, some worry that studies alone won’t be enough to effectively address the world’s vaccine crisis. In a paper published on Tuesday in the journal Annals of Internal Medicine, researchers from Denmark’s Statens Serum Institut describe how they analyzed data about 657,461 children born in Denmark between 1999 and 2010, with regular checkups on the kids’ health. Of all the children, 6,517 were diagnosed with autism. The researchers then compared the mumps, measles, and rubella (MMR)-vaccinated children in that group with the MMR-unvaccinated children. Their conclusion: ‘The study strongly supports that MMR vaccination does not increase the risk for autism, does not trigger autism in susceptible children, and is not associated with clustering of autism cases after vaccination.’ Of course, this isn’t the first study to conclude that vaccines almost certainly don’t cause autism. However, it is one of the largest and longest, and it arrives at a time when vaccine fears are leading to measles outbreaks across the globe.”

WORLD’S SMALLEST BABY BOY TO SURVIVE (Friday Church News Notes, April 5, 2019, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The following is excerpted from “World’s Smallest Baby,” ChristianHeadlines.com, Feb. 28, 2019: “A baby boy born in Tokyo is believed to be the world’s smallest recorded preemie. He has recently been discharged from the hospital in good health, having survived delivery at 24 weeks. Weighing ‘the same as a large onion’ at 268 grams, the baby was so small he fit into an adult’s cupped hands. He was delivered by emergency C-section in Keio University Hospital after he reportedly stopped growing in the womb. He spent 5 months in the hospital for treatment in intensive care. When released last week, two months after his initial due date, he had grown to a weight of 3.2 kg, and is ‘now feeding normally,’ BBC News reports. … The doctor who treated the infant, Doctor Takeshi Arimitsu, told the BBC that according to a database compiled by the University of Iowa of the world’s smallest surviving babies, the boy was the littlest infant born on record to be released from a hospital. The doctor said he wanted people to know that ‘there is a possibility that babies will be able to leave the hospital in good health even though they are born small.’ … Before this latest record, the smallest surviving baby boy was in Germany, weighing 274 grams. The smallest surviving baby girl was born in 2015 in Germany and weighed 252 grams.”

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).

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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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