Friday Church News Notes
Volume 20, Issue 47 - November 22, 2019
Volume 20, Issue 47 - November 23, 2019
Correction - Host Church for Worship Conference 2020
Correction - Host Church for Worship Conference 2020
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.
BBC TEACHING BRITISH SCHOOL CHILDREN THERE ARE “MORE THAN 100 GENDERS” (Friday Church News Notes, November 22, 2019, www.wayoflife.org, fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The following is excerpted from “The BBC teaching British school children,” Creation.com, Nov. 14, 2019: “The BBC have released nine online videos titled ‘The Big Talk’ for use in British schools as part of the UK’s new Relationships and Sexuality Education (RSE) curriculum, which came into force in September 2019. In these films, typically running to four minutes, children are taught that sex is unrelated to gender, that people can go to prison for ‘being disrespectful or hateful’ (to others with different sexual orientations), and that there are ‘over 100 different gender identities.’ ... To question this ideology is now considered rank heresy. However, the BBC’s teaching will only sow further confusion in our society. The unpalatable truth is that a radical, dangerous philosophy is now being forced upon the young and vulnerable as part of the advancement of an extreme political ideology. It is of grave concern that the BBC is preaching this new ‘all-inclusive doctrine’ to children as young as 9–12 years of age. ... The material in the BBC videos should concern any parent or teacher who cares about the mental well-being of children, especially those seeking to raise children in accordance with biblical standards. Genesis 1:26-28 reveals that God created people as male and female in His image. Adam and Eve were the first married couple in Scripture, and Jesus Himself affirmed the Bible’s definition of marriage as one woman for one man for life (Matthew 19:4-6; Mark 10:6-8). ... However, in the BBC videos, school children are encouraged to transgress the clear standards of God’s Word and to celebrate this behaviour. This is to light the fuse of a cultural and moral time-bomb. ... Recently, Canadian academic Christopher Dummitt, a leader in the field of historical gender studies, bluntly admitted: ‘Everyone was (and is) making it up. That’s how the gender-studies field works.’ Dummit confesses that his field is driven by the underlying, unproven, ideological belief that gender is socially constructed, that it is non-binary (i.e. not restricted to male and female), and that traditional masculinity empowers men to oppress women. Such thinking has dominated the liberal arts in Western academic institutions since the 1990s. But such an ideology Dummit admits is ‘bankrupt’, not based on biological fact.”
COLONIAL HILLS BAPTIST CHURCH, INDIANAPOLIS, ANNOUNCES WORSHIP CONFERENCE 2020 (Friday Church News Notes, November 22, 2019, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - Colonial Hills Baptist Church of Indianapolis, Indiana, has announced “Worship Conference 2020: A Traditional Look at Contemporary Music” to be held in January. Speakers include Seth Custer and Greg Steikes of Bob Jones University, Adam Morgan of Majesty Music, Mark Herbster of Maranatha Baptist University, and Tim Fisher of Sacred Music Services. It is described as “a contemporary look at traditional worship.” The problem is that Bob Jones and Majesty Music have capitulated to using Getty Townend Music (GTM) in their hymnals, so they are facing two ways. They have changed their former stand of accepting no contemporary Christian music to one of accepting some contemporary Christian music. This is a major turning point if there is such a thing as a slippery slope in this issue, and there most definitely is such a thing. Getty-Townend are out-and-out contemporary rockers with no boundaries either in musical styles or associations. Townend is a “gibberish tongues-speaking, prophecies are for today, apostles are among us, kingdom now” charismatic. The Gettys partner with Roman Catholics such as Matt Maher, Margaret Becker, and Máire Brennan. GTM is a bridge to the one world church as surely as Hillsong. We have documented this extensively in the report “The Gettys - Pied Pipers of Contemporary Worship Music.” Men who are defending the use of contemporary praise music to any degree instead of warning against it without equivocation will answer to God for the souls that cross the bridges they are building to the dangerous world that is represented by this music. In the Internet age, to recommend some select GTM songs is, in effect, to point people to Stuart Townend and the Gettys online and to their influence. I hope to hear in January that Worship Conference 2020 publicly renounces the use of Getty-Townend Music, repents of any former support for this music, and that GTM will be removed entirely from future editions of hymnbooks published by Majesty Music and Bob Jones University.
SPRITE’S COMMERCIAL PROMOTING YOUTH TRANSSEXUALISM (Friday Church News Notes, November 22, 2019, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The following is excerpted from “Sprite Puts Out Disgusting Commercial,” ReformationCharlotte.com, Nov. 15, 2019: “When you think the big corporate push for a sexual revolution couldn’t get any worse, think again. The LGBTQ mafia which is controlled by the corporate elites has continued to stay on the bleeding edge of sexual immorality and Sprite is at the front of the line. Sprite recently released a commercial in Argentina depicting a teenage boy bundling up and transitioning into a girl. The commercial shows graphic images of the child’s body while he changes into girl’s clothes, puts on a wig, and paints himself up. ... Ten years ago, this commercial would have sparked outrage across the world and would not have been allowed, but now, this is celebrated like it’s the greatest thing to happen to the world since sliced bread. It is clearly an indication that the world is being given over to sin and under the judgment of God.”
OCEAN PLASTICS (Friday Church News Notes, November 22, 2019, www.wayoflife.org, fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The following is excerpted from “Ocean Plastics” Liberty Nation, Nov. 14, 2019: “[For] years, scientists have been puzzled by the discrepancy between the released and measured ocean plastic. More than 98% goes missing every year, causing researchers to wonder where it goes. A new study may have an answer: It is dissolved by the sun. Scientists from Florida Atlantic University’s Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute, East China Normal University, and Northeastern University conducted a lab experiment to study how plastic responds to direct sunlight while floating in ocean water. Published in the Journal of Hazardous Materials, the study exposed various plastic polymers commonly found in ocean garbage to simulated sunlight while immersed in ocean water for two months. It observed degradation and dissolution at a far higher rate than anyone previously thought possible. The consensus has been that plastic survives in nature for thousands of years. This study showed that, when exposed to sunlight, the half-life--the time it takes for half of the material to disappear--of common types of plastic was reduced to only 2.7 years. The most robust plastic had an estimated half-life of 49 years, which is still orders of magnitude faster than previously believed. ... In the West, news of sea creatures trapped in plastic typically is met with more demands to ban plastic straws. This is a classic example of narcissistic altruism, the misplaced belief that anything wrong in the world is to be blamed on America. Yet 95% of the plastic garbage in the ocean comes from only ten rivers in the world, most of them in Asia, and all of them in the Third World. According to The Wall Street Journal, China alone accounts for 8.8 million tons annually, whereas America releases only 0.3 million tons. The United States accounts for only about 1% of the combined world pollution. ... Until now, Third World countries have been given a free pass by the West. They get to produce as much CO2 as they want, cheat on intellectual property, subsidize their national industry while tolling and strictly regulating foreign competitors, treat their workers in a way that would never be allowed in the West, and release most of the garbage that pollutes the world’s oceans to the detriment of all. The main culprit is China.”
HAS THE SPIRIT OF PRAYER DEPARTED? (Friday Church News Notes, November 22, 2019, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - Metropolitan Tabernacle of London, England, during Charles Spurgeon’s pastorate (1854-1882) is an example of a praying church. The preaching was effectual and the church was aggressive in evangelism (e.g., street preaching, aggressive tract distribution, 27 Sunday Schools ministering to over 8,000 children with 612 teachers). Thousands were saved with changed lives as evidence, and Spurgeon attributed this largely to prayer. “Spurgeon regarded the prayer meeting as ‘the most important meeting of the week.’ He often said that it was not surprising if churches did not prosper, when they regarded the prayer meeting as of so little value that one evening in the week was made to suffice for a feeble combination of service and prayer meeting. ... A.T. Pierson, who ministered at the Tabernacle during Spurgeon’s last illness, said, ‘This Metropolitan Tabernacle is a house of prayer most emphatically ... prayer is almost ceaselessly going up. When one meeting is not in progress, another is. ... There are prayer meetings before preaching, and others after preaching. ... No marvel that Mr. Spurgeon’s preaching has been so blessed. He himself attributes it mainly to the prevailing prayers of his people’” (Wonders of Grace: Original testimonies of converts during Spurgeon’s early years, p. 14). Spurgeon warned about the prayerlessness that characterized many of the Baptist churches of his day. He attributed the “downgrade” in doctrine in the Baptist Union to the weak spiritual condition of the churches. He wrote, “Are churches in a right condition when they have only one meeting for prayer in a week, and that a mere skeleton? Churches which have prayer-meetings several times on the Lord’s-day, and very frequently during the week, yet feel their need of more prayer; but what can be said of those who very seldom practice united supplication? Are there few conversions? Do the congregations dwindle? Who wonders that this is the case when the spirit of prayer has departed?” (The Sword and the Trowel, Aug. 1887).
SIGNET RING POSSIBLY BELONGING TO PILATE (Friday Church News Notes, November 22, 2019, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - A copper alloy ring found at the Herodium in southern Israel was discovered to bear the name “Pilatus,” possibly referring to Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor who condemned Jesus to death. The ring was found 50 years ago in Herod’s palace, but only in late 2018 was it cleaned up properly and subjected to scientific tests (“2,000-year-old ‘Pilate’ ring,” The Times of Israel, Nov. 29, 2018). This is the second reference to Pilate found in Israel. In 1961, a stone was found at Caesarea Maritima inscribed with the words “[Po]ntius Pilate … [Pref]ect of Juda[ea].” According to the International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, while Pontius was a common name, Pilate was “extremely rare.”
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).
COLONIAL HILLS BAPTIST CHURCH, INDIANAPOLIS, ANNOUNCES WORSHIP CONFERENCE 2020 (Friday Church News Notes, November 22, 2019, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - Colonial Hills Baptist Church of Indianapolis, Indiana, has announced “Worship Conference 2020: A Traditional Look at Contemporary Music” to be held in January. Speakers include Seth Custer and Greg Steikes of Bob Jones University, Adam Morgan of Majesty Music, Mark Herbster of Maranatha Baptist University, and Tim Fisher of Sacred Music Services. It is described as “a contemporary look at traditional worship.” The problem is that Bob Jones and Majesty Music have capitulated to using Getty Townend Music (GTM) in their hymnals, so they are facing two ways. They have changed their former stand of accepting no contemporary Christian music to one of accepting some contemporary Christian music. This is a major turning point if there is such a thing as a slippery slope in this issue, and there most definitely is such a thing. Getty-Townend are out-and-out contemporary rockers with no boundaries either in musical styles or associations. Townend is a “gibberish tongues-speaking, prophecies are for today, apostles are among us, kingdom now” charismatic. The Gettys partner with Roman Catholics such as Matt Maher, Margaret Becker, and Máire Brennan. GTM is a bridge to the one world church as surely as Hillsong. We have documented this extensively in the report “The Gettys - Pied Pipers of Contemporary Worship Music.” Men who are defending the use of contemporary praise music to any degree instead of warning against it without equivocation will answer to God for the souls that cross the bridges they are building to the dangerous world that is represented by this music. In the Internet age, to recommend some select GTM songs is, in effect, to point people to Stuart Townend and the Gettys online and to their influence. I hope to hear in January that Worship Conference 2020 publicly renounces the use of Getty-Townend Music, repents of any former support for this music, and that GTM will be removed entirely from future editions of hymnbooks published by Majesty Music and Bob Jones University.
SPRITE’S COMMERCIAL PROMOTING YOUTH TRANSSEXUALISM (Friday Church News Notes, November 22, 2019, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The following is excerpted from “Sprite Puts Out Disgusting Commercial,” ReformationCharlotte.com, Nov. 15, 2019: “When you think the big corporate push for a sexual revolution couldn’t get any worse, think again. The LGBTQ mafia which is controlled by the corporate elites has continued to stay on the bleeding edge of sexual immorality and Sprite is at the front of the line. Sprite recently released a commercial in Argentina depicting a teenage boy bundling up and transitioning into a girl. The commercial shows graphic images of the child’s body while he changes into girl’s clothes, puts on a wig, and paints himself up. ... Ten years ago, this commercial would have sparked outrage across the world and would not have been allowed, but now, this is celebrated like it’s the greatest thing to happen to the world since sliced bread. It is clearly an indication that the world is being given over to sin and under the judgment of God.”
OCEAN PLASTICS (Friday Church News Notes, November 22, 2019, www.wayoflife.org, fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The following is excerpted from “Ocean Plastics” Liberty Nation, Nov. 14, 2019: “[For] years, scientists have been puzzled by the discrepancy between the released and measured ocean plastic. More than 98% goes missing every year, causing researchers to wonder where it goes. A new study may have an answer: It is dissolved by the sun. Scientists from Florida Atlantic University’s Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute, East China Normal University, and Northeastern University conducted a lab experiment to study how plastic responds to direct sunlight while floating in ocean water. Published in the Journal of Hazardous Materials, the study exposed various plastic polymers commonly found in ocean garbage to simulated sunlight while immersed in ocean water for two months. It observed degradation and dissolution at a far higher rate than anyone previously thought possible. The consensus has been that plastic survives in nature for thousands of years. This study showed that, when exposed to sunlight, the half-life--the time it takes for half of the material to disappear--of common types of plastic was reduced to only 2.7 years. The most robust plastic had an estimated half-life of 49 years, which is still orders of magnitude faster than previously believed. ... In the West, news of sea creatures trapped in plastic typically is met with more demands to ban plastic straws. This is a classic example of narcissistic altruism, the misplaced belief that anything wrong in the world is to be blamed on America. Yet 95% of the plastic garbage in the ocean comes from only ten rivers in the world, most of them in Asia, and all of them in the Third World. According to The Wall Street Journal, China alone accounts for 8.8 million tons annually, whereas America releases only 0.3 million tons. The United States accounts for only about 1% of the combined world pollution. ... Until now, Third World countries have been given a free pass by the West. They get to produce as much CO2 as they want, cheat on intellectual property, subsidize their national industry while tolling and strictly regulating foreign competitors, treat their workers in a way that would never be allowed in the West, and release most of the garbage that pollutes the world’s oceans to the detriment of all. The main culprit is China.”
HAS THE SPIRIT OF PRAYER DEPARTED? (Friday Church News Notes, November 22, 2019, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - Metropolitan Tabernacle of London, England, during Charles Spurgeon’s pastorate (1854-1882) is an example of a praying church. The preaching was effectual and the church was aggressive in evangelism (e.g., street preaching, aggressive tract distribution, 27 Sunday Schools ministering to over 8,000 children with 612 teachers). Thousands were saved with changed lives as evidence, and Spurgeon attributed this largely to prayer. “Spurgeon regarded the prayer meeting as ‘the most important meeting of the week.’ He often said that it was not surprising if churches did not prosper, when they regarded the prayer meeting as of so little value that one evening in the week was made to suffice for a feeble combination of service and prayer meeting. ... A.T. Pierson, who ministered at the Tabernacle during Spurgeon’s last illness, said, ‘This Metropolitan Tabernacle is a house of prayer most emphatically ... prayer is almost ceaselessly going up. When one meeting is not in progress, another is. ... There are prayer meetings before preaching, and others after preaching. ... No marvel that Mr. Spurgeon’s preaching has been so blessed. He himself attributes it mainly to the prevailing prayers of his people’” (Wonders of Grace: Original testimonies of converts during Spurgeon’s early years, p. 14). Spurgeon warned about the prayerlessness that characterized many of the Baptist churches of his day. He attributed the “downgrade” in doctrine in the Baptist Union to the weak spiritual condition of the churches. He wrote, “Are churches in a right condition when they have only one meeting for prayer in a week, and that a mere skeleton? Churches which have prayer-meetings several times on the Lord’s-day, and very frequently during the week, yet feel their need of more prayer; but what can be said of those who very seldom practice united supplication? Are there few conversions? Do the congregations dwindle? Who wonders that this is the case when the spirit of prayer has departed?” (The Sword and the Trowel, Aug. 1887).
SIGNET RING POSSIBLY BELONGING TO PILATE (Friday Church News Notes, November 22, 2019, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - A copper alloy ring found at the Herodium in southern Israel was discovered to bear the name “Pilatus,” possibly referring to Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor who condemned Jesus to death. The ring was found 50 years ago in Herod’s palace, but only in late 2018 was it cleaned up properly and subjected to scientific tests (“2,000-year-old ‘Pilate’ ring,” The Times of Israel, Nov. 29, 2018). This is the second reference to Pilate found in Israel. In 1961, a stone was found at Caesarea Maritima inscribed with the words “[Po]ntius Pilate … [Pref]ect of Juda[ea].” According to the International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, while Pontius was a common name, Pilate was “extremely rare.”
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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