Friday Church News Notes
Volume 20, Issue 51 - December 20, 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.
Daniel Cameron
HERESY AT MOODY CHURCH/MOODY BIBLE INSTITUTE (Friday Church News Notes, December 20, 2019, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - Daniel Cameron, who has taught theology at Moody Bible Institute (MBI) since 2017, holds the heresy that Jesus shared man’s fallen nature. He had an epiphany of this doctrine at a Chris Tomlin Christian rock concert while listening to the words of “Jesus Messiah” -- “He became sin, who knew no sin. That we might become His righteousness.” This is an inaccurate translation that allows for the heresy that Christ partook of human fallenness, which is what Cameron believes. (He was ordained by Moody Church and works with youth there.) In Christianity Today this month, Cameron wrote, “Theologians such as Karl Barth and T.F. Torrance argue in the spirit of Gregory of Nazianzus that ‘the unassumed is the unhealed.’ In order for Jesus to bring healing to our sinful natures and provide a new way to be human, in the incarnation Jesus must vicariously assume a fallen human nature into union with his divine nature and divine person. In the words of 20th-century Scottish theologian T.F. Torrance, Jesus ‘entered into our condemned state under divine judgment and made it his own, suffered the Eli, Eli, lama sabacthani, and yielded up the Ghost under the burden of sin and judgment and wrath.’ ... Because sin is a corruption of nature, it is that fallen nature that Jesus assumed into union within His person” (“What It Means that Jesus Was ‘Without Sin’?” Christianity Today, Dec. 5, 2019). In true Barthian fashion, Cameron uses human logic as an authority and employs double speak to claim that Jesus “assumed fallen nature” but also that Jesus was sinless. Cameron makes non-critical reference to three heretics in this one article: Karl Barth, T.F. Torrance, and Gregory of Nazianzus, a disciple of Origen and a publisher of his works. These are the dangerous waters of contemporary evangelicalism. Since the days of Harold Ockenga, they have renounced “separatism,” so there is no protection from heresy.
A WISE AND COURAGEOUS VOICE AT MOODY FOUNDER’S WEEK 1961 (Friday Church News Notes, December 20, 2019, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - Probably the last clear warning against New Evangelicalism at Moody Bible Institute was given by Charles Woodbridge at Moody Founder’s Week in 1961. Though the warning was ignored by most, it was heeded by a young preacher named Rolland Starr of Massachusetts, who later pastored Cornerstone Baptist Church in Belmont. In 1998, he wrote the following reminiscence: “When I entered the ministry 40 years ago [1958], I sensed some things did not seem altogether right in the church circles where I fellowshipped, but I could never put my finger on it. The language always seemed right and yet Bible believers (pastors, leaders, etc.) seemed to be leaning toward those who were not in the mainstream of Fundamentalism. I did notice Billy Graham’s change. However, things really came into focus in 1961 when someone paid my way to attend Moody Founder’s Week at Moody Bible Institute--once a Fundamental institution but now deeply imbedded in the Evangelical camp. Though unknown to me, even when I was there, seeds of this new philosophy were well developed at Moody. Dr. Charles Woodbridge was one of the speakers and it was announced that one afternoon he would hold a special session for pastors, evangelists, missionaries, etc. After hearing what he had to say about this new mood, I marvel that he was asked to speak there. Probably 200 or more were present. I remember it almost as if it were yesterday since it was such an eye-opener. I still remember his outline. He said there were some changes going on among the Evangelicals-Fundamentalists. First, he noted that there was a new mood among them. It was a mood of compromise and accommodation. Then, there was a new method in evangelical circles and he particularly mentioned the new method in evangelism: ecumenical evangelism which Billy Graham had entered into some five years previously. Lastly, he warned that there would follow a new message. Anyone who says that Billy Graham, and the rest of the Evangelical crowd, preaches the old-time Gospel, the one he preached 45 or 50 years ago, does not know what he is talking about. My eyes were really opened. Dr. Woodbridge had certainly turned on the light. I came home a different man. I soon lost a good many of my former friends in and out of the ministry. I was too narrow, too bigoted. I have no regrets for, though it has not always been easy, it is wonderful just to stand on God’s Holy Word. I bless God for that man who had the courage to warn God’s servants of this deviant Christianity” (Starr, The New Evangelical Experiment, 1998, p. 4).
JUDE THE RIP-ROARING FUNDAMENTALIST (Friday Church News Notes, December 20, 2019, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - “Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints. For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ” (Jude 1:3-4). The overall theme of the little epistle of Jude is apostasy from the New Testament faith and how to deal with it. Jude is a warrior for the truth, and he teaches every believer and every family and every church to be the same. He is a rip-roaring fundamentalist! He is compassionate toward the saints (“mercy unto you, and peace, and love, be multiplied. Beloved ... beloved...”). But he is fierce toward heretics. He isn’t content with preaching “positive truth.” He cares nothing for avoiding controversy. Like the Psalmist, he doesn’t merely love truth, he hates error (Psalm 119:128). He is a contender, a warner, a reprover, a sharp rebuker, plain spoken, even severe in his denunciations. He is in the middle of the fray, just like the prophets of old, like Enoch, John the Baptist, Jesus, Paul, Peter, James, and John the apostle. When I was a young preacher, in about 1980, I wrote to noted evangelical author Warren Wiersbe and asked how he could be associated with Christianity Today and its non-critical promotion of heretics. He replied that I should “take off the gloves and pick up a towel.” That’s not Jude type of counsel. With Jude, fighting and serving is not either/or, it is both! Jude was definitely not a New Evangelical, and for the Bible lover, that is all he needs to know about whether or not New Evangelicalism is the right path.
KIM KARDASHIAN RESOLVES TO DRESS MORE MODESTLY (Friday Church News Notes, December 20, 2019, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - Kim Kardashian, one of the queens of the me-centered pop culture, says her New Year’s resolutions include dressing more modestly. Following on the heels of her rapper husband Kanye West’s professed Christian conversion, earlier this year Kim journeyed to her homeland of Armenia to be “baptized” in an Orthodox church. A few weeks ago, Kanye asked Kim to dress more modestly, and though she wasn’t in agreement at the time, now she says, “I don’t know if it’s the fact that my husband has voiced that sometimes too sexy is just overkill, and he’s not comfortable with that. … But I have kind of had this awakening myself. I realized I could not even scroll through Instagram in front of my kids without full nudity coming up on my feed pretty much all the time” (“Kim Kardashian Resolves,” Christian Headlines, Dec. 2, 2019). This is a good decision, as far as it might go, but it is more along the lines of a mid-life moral adjustment than biblical repentance. Biblical confession of sin is to agree unequivocally with God that a particular act is sin, and public sin must be confessed publicly. True repentance on the part of a Hollywood movie star, a supermodel, or a pop music diva would consist of a public confession that the indecent flaunting of herself is illicit by God’s holy standards and that her actions have contributed to an adulterous generation that is shaking its fist at Almighty God. God’s Word condemns “the attire of an harlot” and warns “that whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart” (Proverbs 7:10; Matthew 5:28). True repentance is a change of mind about God that results in a change of life. It is the Prodigal Son saying, “I will arise and go to my father, and will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and before thee, And am no more worthy to be called thy son: make me as one of thy hired servants” (Luke 15:18-19). Biblical salvation by grace teaches “that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world” (Titus 2:12), and, “have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them” (Ephesians 5:11). Biblical regeneration will reprove pop culture evils. Kim’s first marriage, which began with a multi-million dollar wedding, ended 72 days later. Her 2014 book featuring 2,000 selfies was titled Selfish. Our earnest prayer is that all of the Kardashians of this lost world would find true peace in Jesus Christ and be lights in an evil generation.
BOY BORN WITH ‘NO BRAIN” MAKING GOOD PROGRESS (Friday Church News Notes, December 20, 2019, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The following is excerpted from “Boy with ‘No Brain’ Continues to Defy Expectations,” Right to Life UK, Dec. 8, 2019: “A seven-year-old from Cumbria has moved his foot for the first time after undergoing pioneering therapy after his parents rejected pressure from doctors to abort him. Doctors did not expect Noah Wall, who was born with spina bifida, only 2 per cent of his brain and is paralysed from the waist down, to live more than a few days. They advised his parents, Shelley and Rob Wall, to consider abortion on five separate occasions. But they refused, and now Noah continues to defy expectations. At the age of three, his brain had grown to a remarkable 80 percent of what it should be and is now nearly fully-functional, leaving medical professionals stunned. He is now undergoing specialised treatment--designed to alter the way the brain sends messages to his limbs. ‘We were offered termination five times,’ Rob told documentary, The Boy Without a Brain. ‘It was never an option for us. To me, we wanted to give Noah that chance of life. To hear his brain’s almost back to normal is beyond belief,’ Shelly Wall said. ‘Rob and I broke down when we heard the news. It was like a dream. I’ve never known anything like it. Even the consultants were in tears. Every time we see the doctors, they just shake their head. They’re just amazed at what he can do.’”
PRAY FOR AMERICA (Friday Church News Notes, December 20, 2019, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - Prayer is the only thing that will have a significant effect on America’s terrible spiritual and moral condition. Almighty God, who is in control of all earthly authorities, has specifically instructed His people to pray for their governments. Surely, we can pray such a prayer in perfect faith that He will answer and help us. “I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men; For kings, and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty” (1 Timothy 2:1-2).
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).
A WISE AND COURAGEOUS VOICE AT MOODY FOUNDER’S WEEK 1961 (Friday Church News Notes, December 20, 2019, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - Probably the last clear warning against New Evangelicalism at Moody Bible Institute was given by Charles Woodbridge at Moody Founder’s Week in 1961. Though the warning was ignored by most, it was heeded by a young preacher named Rolland Starr of Massachusetts, who later pastored Cornerstone Baptist Church in Belmont. In 1998, he wrote the following reminiscence: “When I entered the ministry 40 years ago [1958], I sensed some things did not seem altogether right in the church circles where I fellowshipped, but I could never put my finger on it. The language always seemed right and yet Bible believers (pastors, leaders, etc.) seemed to be leaning toward those who were not in the mainstream of Fundamentalism. I did notice Billy Graham’s change. However, things really came into focus in 1961 when someone paid my way to attend Moody Founder’s Week at Moody Bible Institute--once a Fundamental institution but now deeply imbedded in the Evangelical camp. Though unknown to me, even when I was there, seeds of this new philosophy were well developed at Moody. Dr. Charles Woodbridge was one of the speakers and it was announced that one afternoon he would hold a special session for pastors, evangelists, missionaries, etc. After hearing what he had to say about this new mood, I marvel that he was asked to speak there. Probably 200 or more were present. I remember it almost as if it were yesterday since it was such an eye-opener. I still remember his outline. He said there were some changes going on among the Evangelicals-Fundamentalists. First, he noted that there was a new mood among them. It was a mood of compromise and accommodation. Then, there was a new method in evangelical circles and he particularly mentioned the new method in evangelism: ecumenical evangelism which Billy Graham had entered into some five years previously. Lastly, he warned that there would follow a new message. Anyone who says that Billy Graham, and the rest of the Evangelical crowd, preaches the old-time Gospel, the one he preached 45 or 50 years ago, does not know what he is talking about. My eyes were really opened. Dr. Woodbridge had certainly turned on the light. I came home a different man. I soon lost a good many of my former friends in and out of the ministry. I was too narrow, too bigoted. I have no regrets for, though it has not always been easy, it is wonderful just to stand on God’s Holy Word. I bless God for that man who had the courage to warn God’s servants of this deviant Christianity” (Starr, The New Evangelical Experiment, 1998, p. 4).
JUDE THE RIP-ROARING FUNDAMENTALIST (Friday Church News Notes, December 20, 2019, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - “Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints. For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ” (Jude 1:3-4). The overall theme of the little epistle of Jude is apostasy from the New Testament faith and how to deal with it. Jude is a warrior for the truth, and he teaches every believer and every family and every church to be the same. He is a rip-roaring fundamentalist! He is compassionate toward the saints (“mercy unto you, and peace, and love, be multiplied. Beloved ... beloved...”). But he is fierce toward heretics. He isn’t content with preaching “positive truth.” He cares nothing for avoiding controversy. Like the Psalmist, he doesn’t merely love truth, he hates error (Psalm 119:128). He is a contender, a warner, a reprover, a sharp rebuker, plain spoken, even severe in his denunciations. He is in the middle of the fray, just like the prophets of old, like Enoch, John the Baptist, Jesus, Paul, Peter, James, and John the apostle. When I was a young preacher, in about 1980, I wrote to noted evangelical author Warren Wiersbe and asked how he could be associated with Christianity Today and its non-critical promotion of heretics. He replied that I should “take off the gloves and pick up a towel.” That’s not Jude type of counsel. With Jude, fighting and serving is not either/or, it is both! Jude was definitely not a New Evangelical, and for the Bible lover, that is all he needs to know about whether or not New Evangelicalism is the right path.
KIM KARDASHIAN RESOLVES TO DRESS MORE MODESTLY (Friday Church News Notes, December 20, 2019, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - Kim Kardashian, one of the queens of the me-centered pop culture, says her New Year’s resolutions include dressing more modestly. Following on the heels of her rapper husband Kanye West’s professed Christian conversion, earlier this year Kim journeyed to her homeland of Armenia to be “baptized” in an Orthodox church. A few weeks ago, Kanye asked Kim to dress more modestly, and though she wasn’t in agreement at the time, now she says, “I don’t know if it’s the fact that my husband has voiced that sometimes too sexy is just overkill, and he’s not comfortable with that. … But I have kind of had this awakening myself. I realized I could not even scroll through Instagram in front of my kids without full nudity coming up on my feed pretty much all the time” (“Kim Kardashian Resolves,” Christian Headlines, Dec. 2, 2019). This is a good decision, as far as it might go, but it is more along the lines of a mid-life moral adjustment than biblical repentance. Biblical confession of sin is to agree unequivocally with God that a particular act is sin, and public sin must be confessed publicly. True repentance on the part of a Hollywood movie star, a supermodel, or a pop music diva would consist of a public confession that the indecent flaunting of herself is illicit by God’s holy standards and that her actions have contributed to an adulterous generation that is shaking its fist at Almighty God. God’s Word condemns “the attire of an harlot” and warns “that whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart” (Proverbs 7:10; Matthew 5:28). True repentance is a change of mind about God that results in a change of life. It is the Prodigal Son saying, “I will arise and go to my father, and will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and before thee, And am no more worthy to be called thy son: make me as one of thy hired servants” (Luke 15:18-19). Biblical salvation by grace teaches “that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world” (Titus 2:12), and, “have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them” (Ephesians 5:11). Biblical regeneration will reprove pop culture evils. Kim’s first marriage, which began with a multi-million dollar wedding, ended 72 days later. Her 2014 book featuring 2,000 selfies was titled Selfish. Our earnest prayer is that all of the Kardashians of this lost world would find true peace in Jesus Christ and be lights in an evil generation.
BOY BORN WITH ‘NO BRAIN” MAKING GOOD PROGRESS (Friday Church News Notes, December 20, 2019, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The following is excerpted from “Boy with ‘No Brain’ Continues to Defy Expectations,” Right to Life UK, Dec. 8, 2019: “A seven-year-old from Cumbria has moved his foot for the first time after undergoing pioneering therapy after his parents rejected pressure from doctors to abort him. Doctors did not expect Noah Wall, who was born with spina bifida, only 2 per cent of his brain and is paralysed from the waist down, to live more than a few days. They advised his parents, Shelley and Rob Wall, to consider abortion on five separate occasions. But they refused, and now Noah continues to defy expectations. At the age of three, his brain had grown to a remarkable 80 percent of what it should be and is now nearly fully-functional, leaving medical professionals stunned. He is now undergoing specialised treatment--designed to alter the way the brain sends messages to his limbs. ‘We were offered termination five times,’ Rob told documentary, The Boy Without a Brain. ‘It was never an option for us. To me, we wanted to give Noah that chance of life. To hear his brain’s almost back to normal is beyond belief,’ Shelly Wall said. ‘Rob and I broke down when we heard the news. It was like a dream. I’ve never known anything like it. Even the consultants were in tears. Every time we see the doctors, they just shake their head. They’re just amazed at what he can do.’”
PRAY FOR AMERICA (Friday Church News Notes, December 20, 2019, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - Prayer is the only thing that will have a significant effect on America’s terrible spiritual and moral condition. Almighty God, who is in control of all earthly authorities, has specifically instructed His people to pray for their governments. Surely, we can pray such a prayer in perfect faith that He will answer and help us. “I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men; For kings, and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty” (1 Timothy 2:1-2).
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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