Friday Church News Notes
Volume 20, Issue 20 - July 19, 2019
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.
A QUESTION FOR NON-HYPER CALVINISTS (Friday Church News Notes, July 19, 2019, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - Calvinism is on the march, but there are many varieties of Calvinism. Every Calvinist believes he has the liberty to decide what kind of Calvinist he will be. One list names nine types: total hyper-Calvinist, partial hyper-Calvinist, ultra-high Calvinist, regular high Calvinist, moderate Calvinist, lower moderate Calvinist, lower Calvinist, lowest Calvinist, and Amyraldism (4 point Calvinist). (To understand the difference, you must understand compatibilism, lapsarianism, supralapsarianism, infralapsarianism, active reprobation, common grace, non-salvific love, single and double predestination, and soft forms of double predestination.) The book Spurgeon vs. the Hyper Calvinists: The Battle for Gospel Preaching by Iain Murray contrasts Charles Spurgeon’s Calvinism with the Calvinism of his predecessor John Gill and others of Gill’s persuasion. Spurgeon was the type of Calvinist who believed in preaching the gospel to all sinners, telling them that God loves them and wants to save them, and calling upon them to believe and receive Christ. All of that is well and good, of course, because it is commanded by God. But I would make the observation that every type of Calvinist believes in sovereign election, meaning there is nothing in man, including his faith, that is the basis of election. Every type of Calvinist rejects the idea that election incorporates God’s knowledge of who will and will not believe the gospel. So any Calvinist who seeks to preach the gospel to all sinners, as Spurgeon did, is only looking for the elect, in practice. To get to the heart of the issue I would ask the non-hyper Calvinist this question: “Do you believe that any sinner can be saved? Can you discuss the fearful and amazing Book of Life with a sinner and tell him for sure that his name can be written there?” No one who believes in sovereign election can answer these questions in the affirmative in an unequivocal way, yet the Bible plainly says, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved” (John 3:16-17). For this reason, I have chosen to be no kind of Calvinist, and no kind of Arminian, too. I am under no divine obligation to make a choice between Calvinism and Arminianism. I only have to believe the Bible. While I can’t answer every question about the wonderful doctrine of election, one thing I know for sure, because of the clear teaching of Scripture, is that election is not “sovereign” after any Calvinist definition. I have met many Calvinists that I believe are saved and know Christ and I, therefore, love them in Christ, because I love the saints, but I emphatically reject their Calvinism. I also emphatically reject the Quick Prayerism program of evangelism whereby a sinner can pray “a sinner’s prayer” and be pronounced saved and given assurance when there is no clear evidence of repentance and regeneration. For the same Bible that says “whosoever believeth in him should not perish,” also says, “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are come new” (2 Corinthians 5:17), and, “He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him” (1 John 2:4).
HAMAS LEADER CALLS ON PALESTINIANS TO KILL JEWS IN ALL THE WORLD (Friday Church News Notes, July 19, 2019, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The following is excerpted from “Hamas Backtracks,” Arutz Sheva, Jul. 15, 2019: “A senior member of Gaza’s Islamist rulers Hamas has encouraged Palestinians across the globe to kill Jews, drawing outrage from both Israeli and Palestinian officials as well as a UN envoy. In video from a speech to participants of weekly protests on Friday, Fathi Hamad, a member of the movement’s top political body, can be seen calling on Palestinian Arabs across the globe to carry out attacks. ‘If this siege is not undone, we will explode in the face of our enemies, with God’s permission. The explosion is not only going to be in Gaza but also in the West Bank and abroad, God willing. ... Seven million Palestinians outside, enough warming up, you have Jews with you in every place. You should attack every Jew possible in all the world and kill them.’ ... Hamas is considered a terrorist organisation by the United States, European Union and others. Ofir Gendelman, a spokesman for Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, said on Twitter, ‘Now you know why we protect the border with Gaza from Hamas.’ ... In a statement Monday afternoon, Hamas distanced itself from Hamad’s words. ... The Hamas charter refers numerous times to the Muslims’ struggle against the Jews.”
HILLSONG ONLINE CAMPUS - GRAB A COOKIE AND A JUICE AND TAKE THE LORD’S SUPPER (Friday Church News Notes, July 19, 2019, www.wayoflife.org, fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - Last month, Hillsong Online Campus (Hillsong Sydney) encouraged the “online congregation” to take communion with them. Via the online campus Facebook page, the minister said, “We are excited because this weekend is communion weekend. So grab a cookie, grab a juice, whatever it is that is most convenient for you. We’d love to celebrate communion together.” This is the ultimate in me-centered Christianity. I can even have the Lord’s Supper “my way.” I don’t need a church; I just need Facebook. I don’t need to judge myself; that would be a very old-school, guilt trip thing. I don’t need unleavened bread to signify Christ’s sinless body; I can have my favorite cookie. I don’t need the fruit of the vine; I can have my favorite fruit juice or a smoothie or whatever suits my fancy. “This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves ... the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; and they shall turn their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables” (2 Timothy 3:1-2; 4:3-4).
ANDERSONITE PREACHER RELIEVED FROM HIS POLICE JOB IN KNOXVILLE (Friday Church News Notes, July 19, 2019, www.wayoflife.org, fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - Knox County Sheriff’s detective Grayson Fritts, who is also a pastor, has been put on sick leave because of sermons calling for the arrest and death of homosexuals. Earlier this year he applied for a voluntary early retirement, which apparently has been granted. He is the pastor of All Scripture Baptist Church (“KJV-Soul Winning”), a small storefront work in Knoxville. And in a sermon on June 2, he called for the government to send a riot team to the local Gay Pride parade, to arrest LGBT people (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transsexual), try them, and if convicted, execute them. The church’s web site says, “God said homosexuality should be punished with the death penalty, as set forth in Leviticus 20:13.” Not surprisingly, there is an influence from Steven Anderson, the pastor of Faithful Word Baptist Church of Tempe, Arizona, who preached at Fritts’ church on April 26. Anderson, too, preaches that Leviticus 20:13 should be enforced in America. “Because if you executed the homos, like God recommends, you wouldn’t have all this AIDS running rampant” (“Pastor Calls for Killing Gays,” USA Today, Dec. 6, 2014). Anderson says, “I do hate homosexuals and if hating homosexuals makes our church a hate group then that’s what we are” (cited from Schlatter, SPLC). Of the 2016 Orlando nightclub shooting Anderson said, “The good news is that there’s 50 less pedophiles in this world, because these homosexuals are just a bunch of disgusting perverts and pedophiles” (“Gay Hating Preacher,” Sunday Express, Sept. 16, 2016). Anderson preached “Why I Hate Barack Obama” and said he prayed for the president’s death. Anderson is a deeply confused individual who should not be in the ministry. When James and John wanted to call down fire upon those who rejected the Lord, Christ rebuked them and said they were of the wrong spirit (Luke 9:54-56). To try to put a Gentile nation under the law of Moses is dispensational confusion. Anderson denies the Holocaust, holds to Replacement Theology, believes that God is finished with Israel, rejects biblical repentance, believes that salvation doesn’t have evidence, and denies the imminency of the Rapture. All of this is documented in What about Steven Anderson? a free eBook available at www.wayoflife.org.
YE MUST BE BORN AGAIN (Friday Church News Notes, July 19, 2019, www.wayoflife.org, fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - “Our message is that every man ‘must be born again,’ and that whatever may happen to him short of that is of no value whatsoever from the standpoint of his relationship to God. The New Testament teaching is that the unbeliever is all wrong. It is not merely his ideas of art or drama that are wrong; everything about him is wrong. His particular views are wrong because his whole view is wrong, because he himself is wrong” (D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Preaching and Preachers, p. 141).
SCIENTISTS IMPROVING GAS TURBINES BY STUDYING A BEETLE (Friday Church News Notes, July 19, 2019, www.wayoflife.org, fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The following is excerpted from “Biomimicry: God’s Designs and Man’s Imitations,” Creation Worldview: “Various species of Bombardier Beetle are found around the world. They are about one-half inch long. Inside their bodies they have chambers and they produce various chemicals along with both reactant inhibitors and accelerants. When these beetles are attacked they initiate a chemical reaction that takes place just outside their bodies. The beetle has produced hydroquinones and hydrogen peroxide which is mixed to produce a series of violent explosions. The temperature reaches 212 degrees Fahrenheit (100 degrees Celsius) which turns the water left over from the reaction into steam; then at up to 500 times per second; and speeds that range from eight up to 43 m.p.h. (13 to 69 k.p.h.); through a twin set of spray nozzles whose direction can be controlled; these beetles spray hot toxic chemicals onto their attacker. The attackers have learned the hard way to stay away from the scalding irritating defense system. In essence, the Bombardier Beetle has a small rocket engine built into its body. The design of its internal chambers and defense mechanism has been used to improve the ignition systems of gas turbines and the inflation systems for automobile air bags.”
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).
HAMAS LEADER CALLS ON PALESTINIANS TO KILL JEWS IN ALL THE WORLD (Friday Church News Notes, July 19, 2019, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The following is excerpted from “Hamas Backtracks,” Arutz Sheva, Jul. 15, 2019: “A senior member of Gaza’s Islamist rulers Hamas has encouraged Palestinians across the globe to kill Jews, drawing outrage from both Israeli and Palestinian officials as well as a UN envoy. In video from a speech to participants of weekly protests on Friday, Fathi Hamad, a member of the movement’s top political body, can be seen calling on Palestinian Arabs across the globe to carry out attacks. ‘If this siege is not undone, we will explode in the face of our enemies, with God’s permission. The explosion is not only going to be in Gaza but also in the West Bank and abroad, God willing. ... Seven million Palestinians outside, enough warming up, you have Jews with you in every place. You should attack every Jew possible in all the world and kill them.’ ... Hamas is considered a terrorist organisation by the United States, European Union and others. Ofir Gendelman, a spokesman for Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, said on Twitter, ‘Now you know why we protect the border with Gaza from Hamas.’ ... In a statement Monday afternoon, Hamas distanced itself from Hamad’s words. ... The Hamas charter refers numerous times to the Muslims’ struggle against the Jews.”
HILLSONG ONLINE CAMPUS - GRAB A COOKIE AND A JUICE AND TAKE THE LORD’S SUPPER (Friday Church News Notes, July 19, 2019, www.wayoflife.org, fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - Last month, Hillsong Online Campus (Hillsong Sydney) encouraged the “online congregation” to take communion with them. Via the online campus Facebook page, the minister said, “We are excited because this weekend is communion weekend. So grab a cookie, grab a juice, whatever it is that is most convenient for you. We’d love to celebrate communion together.” This is the ultimate in me-centered Christianity. I can even have the Lord’s Supper “my way.” I don’t need a church; I just need Facebook. I don’t need to judge myself; that would be a very old-school, guilt trip thing. I don’t need unleavened bread to signify Christ’s sinless body; I can have my favorite cookie. I don’t need the fruit of the vine; I can have my favorite fruit juice or a smoothie or whatever suits my fancy. “This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves ... the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; and they shall turn their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables” (2 Timothy 3:1-2; 4:3-4).
ANDERSONITE PREACHER RELIEVED FROM HIS POLICE JOB IN KNOXVILLE (Friday Church News Notes, July 19, 2019, www.wayoflife.org, fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - Knox County Sheriff’s detective Grayson Fritts, who is also a pastor, has been put on sick leave because of sermons calling for the arrest and death of homosexuals. Earlier this year he applied for a voluntary early retirement, which apparently has been granted. He is the pastor of All Scripture Baptist Church (“KJV-Soul Winning”), a small storefront work in Knoxville. And in a sermon on June 2, he called for the government to send a riot team to the local Gay Pride parade, to arrest LGBT people (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transsexual), try them, and if convicted, execute them. The church’s web site says, “God said homosexuality should be punished with the death penalty, as set forth in Leviticus 20:13.” Not surprisingly, there is an influence from Steven Anderson, the pastor of Faithful Word Baptist Church of Tempe, Arizona, who preached at Fritts’ church on April 26. Anderson, too, preaches that Leviticus 20:13 should be enforced in America. “Because if you executed the homos, like God recommends, you wouldn’t have all this AIDS running rampant” (“Pastor Calls for Killing Gays,” USA Today, Dec. 6, 2014). Anderson says, “I do hate homosexuals and if hating homosexuals makes our church a hate group then that’s what we are” (cited from Schlatter, SPLC). Of the 2016 Orlando nightclub shooting Anderson said, “The good news is that there’s 50 less pedophiles in this world, because these homosexuals are just a bunch of disgusting perverts and pedophiles” (“Gay Hating Preacher,” Sunday Express, Sept. 16, 2016). Anderson preached “Why I Hate Barack Obama” and said he prayed for the president’s death. Anderson is a deeply confused individual who should not be in the ministry. When James and John wanted to call down fire upon those who rejected the Lord, Christ rebuked them and said they were of the wrong spirit (Luke 9:54-56). To try to put a Gentile nation under the law of Moses is dispensational confusion. Anderson denies the Holocaust, holds to Replacement Theology, believes that God is finished with Israel, rejects biblical repentance, believes that salvation doesn’t have evidence, and denies the imminency of the Rapture. All of this is documented in What about Steven Anderson? a free eBook available at www.wayoflife.org.
YE MUST BE BORN AGAIN (Friday Church News Notes, July 19, 2019, www.wayoflife.org, fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - “Our message is that every man ‘must be born again,’ and that whatever may happen to him short of that is of no value whatsoever from the standpoint of his relationship to God. The New Testament teaching is that the unbeliever is all wrong. It is not merely his ideas of art or drama that are wrong; everything about him is wrong. His particular views are wrong because his whole view is wrong, because he himself is wrong” (D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Preaching and Preachers, p. 141).
SCIENTISTS IMPROVING GAS TURBINES BY STUDYING A BEETLE (Friday Church News Notes, July 19, 2019, www.wayoflife.org, fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The following is excerpted from “Biomimicry: God’s Designs and Man’s Imitations,” Creation Worldview: “Various species of Bombardier Beetle are found around the world. They are about one-half inch long. Inside their bodies they have chambers and they produce various chemicals along with both reactant inhibitors and accelerants. When these beetles are attacked they initiate a chemical reaction that takes place just outside their bodies. The beetle has produced hydroquinones and hydrogen peroxide which is mixed to produce a series of violent explosions. The temperature reaches 212 degrees Fahrenheit (100 degrees Celsius) which turns the water left over from the reaction into steam; then at up to 500 times per second; and speeds that range from eight up to 43 m.p.h. (13 to 69 k.p.h.); through a twin set of spray nozzles whose direction can be controlled; these beetles spray hot toxic chemicals onto their attacker. The attackers have learned the hard way to stay away from the scalding irritating defense system. In essence, the Bombardier Beetle has a small rocket engine built into its body. The design of its internal chambers and defense mechanism has been used to improve the ignition systems of gas turbines and the inflation systems for automobile air bags.”
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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