Friday Church News Notes
Volume 21, Issue 19 - May 8, 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.
LUTHERANS PRAY TO MOTHER GOD FOR HELP (Friday Church News Notes, May 8, 2020, www.wayoflife.org, fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - On April 28 the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America posted a prayer tweet addressed to “Mother God,” asking her to “raise us up to salvation ... so we may share the sweetness of your holy word with all the world.” This was one of the ELCA’s #Bread4theday Twitter posts. The ELCA is the largest Lutheran denomination in America, and it is obviously apostate. The ELCA Publishing House has printed countless volumes which promote unbelief. For example, in 1988 an ELCA book by Ragnar Leivestad, entitled Jesus in His Own Perspective, goofily claimed that Jesus never invoked for himself a special position and did not claim messianic titles. The World Council of Churches, of which the ELCA is a member, is filled with mother goddess worship. ELCA women participated in the WCC’S “Re-imagining Conference” in 1993 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The Star Tribune reported that “throughout the conference worship experiences will celebrate Sophia, the biblical goddess of creation” (Nov. 3, 1993). On Sunday morning, the conferees joined together in repeating a prayer to their female goddess, including these words, “Our maker Sophia, we are women in your image. ... With the honey of wisdom in our mouths, we prophesy a full humanity to all the peoples.” At the WCC’s Seventh Assembly in 1991 South Korean Presbyterian Chung Hyun-Kyung evoked a female Holy Spirit (Religious News Service, Mar. 5, 1991). The WCC publication No Longer Strangers, a joint project with the Lutheran World Federation, which includes the ELCA, suggested that God be addressed as “The Source, Lady of peace, Lady of wisdom, Lady of love, Lady of birth, Lord of stars, Lord of planets, Mother, Home, Presence, Power, Essence, Simplicity.” Consider the poem “Bakerwoman God,” which is to be used in church services: “Bakerwoman God, I am your living bread. Strong, brown, Bakerwoman God ... Put me in your fire, Bakerwoman God ... Break me, Bakerwoman God. ... Bakerwoman God, remake me.” The hour is very late, folks!
ONE MARIJUANA JOINT CAN CAUSE PSYCHOTIC SYMPTOMS (Friday Church News Notes, May 8, 2020, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The following is excerpted from “One Joint,” UPI, Mar. 18, 2020: “Smoking just one joint of marijuana is enough to trigger psychotic, depressive and anxiety symptoms in otherwise healthy people, British researchers report. The review of data involved 331 people with no prior history of psychotic or other major psychiatric disorders. It found that there's enough THC (tetrahydrocannabinol)--the main psychoactive ingredient in pot--in one joint to cause serious psychiatric symptoms. ‘Our finding that THC can temporarily induce psychiatric symptoms in healthy volunteers highlights the risks associated with the use of THC-containing cannabis products,’ said study leader Oliver Howes, of King's College London. ... Their conclusions were published March 17 in The Lancet Psychiatry and were based on data from 15 previously published studies. ... As Howes’ team pointed out, the link between marijuana and psychotic symptoms--such as hallucinations and paranoia--isn’t new. The first study to find such a connection was published more than 150 years ago. But the new review is one of the first systematic analyses of data collected since then. ... Symptoms such as depression, anxiety, apathy, delusions and hallucinations were included in the study. ... The study found an uptick in risk among marijuana users for all the psychiatric symptoms on their list. ... None of the findings came as a surprise to Dr. Scott Krakower, who specializes in substance abuse treatment for teens and young adults. Prior studies ‘have demonstrated that cannabis may be linked to future onset of psychotic and other mental health symptoms,’ said Krakower, who is assistant unit chief of psychiatry at Zucker Hillside Hospital in Glen Oaks, N.Y. He said the connection is especially strong for younger pot users, those who use the drug frequently, and people at genetic high risk for psychosis. ‘What is especially concerning are the psychotic symptoms, which are least transient in nature, and may be difficult to predict,’ Krakower said, and ‘patients may not realize that even a one-time use of marijuana may cause symptoms.’”
MAJORITY OF YOUNG AMERICANS FAVOR LEGALIZATION OF MARIJUANA (Friday Church News Notes, May 8, 2020, www.wayoflife.org, fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - According to a 2019 poll, 79% of Americans aged 25-44 support the legalization of marijuana. The poll was conducted by Investor’s Business Daily and TechnoMetrica. Overall, 63% favor legalization (“Americans Embrace Marijuana Legalization,” TechnoMetrica, Aug. 2019). Ten states and Washington, D.C. have legalized marijuana for recreational use for adults older than 21, while 33 states have legalized medical marijuana. Others states have decriminalized the possession of small amounts of the drug. The legalization of recreational marijuana in America began in in 2012 with Colorado and Washington setting the pace. In 2018, Canada became the second country to fully legalize recreational marijuana, after Uruguay. Proponents of recreational marijuana use typically ignore proven dangers such as addiction, psychosis, marijuana as a gate-way drug, long-term effects on learning, cognition, and personality, “amotivational syndrome” (lethargy and loss of interest in achievement), bronchitis and respiratory infections, and increased risk of cardiovascular disease. A study published in the Lancet in March 2019 found that “smoking high-potency cannabis, used daily, has been linked to diagnosis of conditions like schizophrenia, paranoia and other psychosis disorders” (UPI, Mar. 20, 2019). This is the latest in a long line of evidence that marijuana is not an innocent relaxation drug. We are convinced that the legalization of recreational marijuana is a foolish experiment that will have serious repercussions. I know this all too well, having been a drug user before I was saved, beginning with my Army tour in Vietnam in 1970-71. After I was discharged, I was immersed in the hippy culture. Marijuana is a psychoactive drug with hallucinogenic properties. It can mess with the depths of a man’s soul. It affects people differently, but depression, intense anxiety, and paranoia are common side effects, and acute psychosis is not infrequent, as the previously cited study proves. It was definitely a “gateway” drug for me and for a lot of my friends. And the marijuana of today is vastly more powerful than the marijuana of the 1960s and 1970s, typically containing 15-20% THC (the psychoactive ingredient), and going as high as 37%, compared to 3 and 4 percent in the past. The rush to legalize marijuana is the fruit of the rock & roll pop culture that has been taking shape since the jazz era and came into full bloom in the 1960s. At its heart is the licentious philosophy of live as you please. It is the product of a filthy entertainment industry, an educational system devoted to moral relativism, a society that celebrates unrestrained self-expression, and the gross lack of wisdom typically reflected in mainstream media reporting. God’s command that His people be “sober” is repeated 12 times in the New Testament Epistles. It means to be in control of one’s mind and spirit so that nothing but God is in charge. “Sober” is the opposite of being under the influence of alcohol or drugs or anything else.
THE BRAIN HAS MORE MEMORY THAN THE INTERNET (Friday Church News Notes, May 8, 2020, www.wayoflife.org, fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The human brain has about 1 quintillion (1,000 trillion) synapses and each synapse functions like a microprocessor (“What Is a Neuron?” faculty-washington.edu). That is about how many stars are in 10,000 Milky Way galaxies (each one containing 100 billion stars)! New research shows that the synapses don’t operate like a computer transistor, with a simple on or off function. Rather, they communicate by at least 26 levels of electrical signal strength so that they are vastly more complex than previously thought. The following is excerpted from “Your Brain Has More Memory” by Brian Thomas, Ph.D., Institute of Christian Research, icr.org, Feb. 4, 2016: “Synapses occur at junctions between nerve cells, like two people holding hands. EACH CELL CAN HAVE A THOUSAND ‘HANDS’ CONTACTING AS MANY NEIGHBORS TO FORM A DIZZYING 3-D ARRAY WITH BILLIONS OF CONNECTIONS AND PATHWAYS. Each junction transfers information between cells by passing along tiny chemicals called neurotransmitters. ... They store and transmit information not with the simplistic 0s and 1s of computer code, but with degrees of synapse strength. In other words, THEY DON'T TRANSFER INFORMATION WITH A SINGLE INPUT SPIKE, BUT RECOGNIZE 26 DISTINGUISHABLY DIFFERENT LEVELS OF SYNAPTIC STRENGTH (“Nanoconnectomic upper bound,” eLife, 2015). ... Terry Sejnowski, co-senior author of the eLife study, told the Salk Institute, ‘We discovered the key to unlocking the design principle for how hippocampal neurons function with low energy but high computation power. OUR NEW MEASUREMENTS OF THE BRAIN'S MEMORY CAPACITY INCREASE CONSERVATIVE ESTIMATES BY A FACTOR OF 10 TO AT LEAST A PETABYTE, IN THE SAME BALLPARK AS THE WORLD WIDE WEB (“Memory Capacity of Brian,” Salk News, Jan. 20, 2016). What’s a petabyte? 8,000,000,000,000,000 bits of information. The mind-boggling levels of organization and necessary regulatory protocols in synapses refute all notions that brains evolved from single cells through merely natural processes. The strategies, algorithms, and design principles brains employ could only have come from an otherworldly Architect whose genius mankind can only dream of copying.”
NEITHER CALVINIST NOR ARMINIAN (Friday Church News Notes, May 8, 2020, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - We are convinced that biblical theology is neither Calvinist nor Arminian. We refuse to be forced to make a choice between John Calvin or James Arminius. Both were fallible men who attempted to describe biblical truth in a systematic theology. Both believed in the gross heresy of infant baptism and rejected biblical baptism. Neither man understood the New Testament church. Neither understood Bible prophecy. We have no obligation to follow either of these men. The only infallible systematic theology is the Bible itself. We believe in the everlasting consolation of the born again believer because this is what the Bible teaches, not because it is what John Calvin believed. We believe that Christ died to make it possible for all men to be saved and that all men can be saved, because that is what the Bible teaches, not because it is what James Arminius taught. We believe that God is sovereign and “worketh all things after the counsel of his own will,” because the Bible teaches it, and we praise Him for it, and we believe in the wonderful doctrines of election and predestination, but we don’t believe what John Calvin taught as a disciple of the fifth century heretic Augustine. Calvinists claim for themselves the right to examine Calvinism and to define it in a multitude of ways. We claim for ourselves the same right, and we reject all of it.
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).
ONE MARIJUANA JOINT CAN CAUSE PSYCHOTIC SYMPTOMS (Friday Church News Notes, May 8, 2020, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The following is excerpted from “One Joint,” UPI, Mar. 18, 2020: “Smoking just one joint of marijuana is enough to trigger psychotic, depressive and anxiety symptoms in otherwise healthy people, British researchers report. The review of data involved 331 people with no prior history of psychotic or other major psychiatric disorders. It found that there's enough THC (tetrahydrocannabinol)--the main psychoactive ingredient in pot--in one joint to cause serious psychiatric symptoms. ‘Our finding that THC can temporarily induce psychiatric symptoms in healthy volunteers highlights the risks associated with the use of THC-containing cannabis products,’ said study leader Oliver Howes, of King's College London. ... Their conclusions were published March 17 in The Lancet Psychiatry and were based on data from 15 previously published studies. ... As Howes’ team pointed out, the link between marijuana and psychotic symptoms--such as hallucinations and paranoia--isn’t new. The first study to find such a connection was published more than 150 years ago. But the new review is one of the first systematic analyses of data collected since then. ... Symptoms such as depression, anxiety, apathy, delusions and hallucinations were included in the study. ... The study found an uptick in risk among marijuana users for all the psychiatric symptoms on their list. ... None of the findings came as a surprise to Dr. Scott Krakower, who specializes in substance abuse treatment for teens and young adults. Prior studies ‘have demonstrated that cannabis may be linked to future onset of psychotic and other mental health symptoms,’ said Krakower, who is assistant unit chief of psychiatry at Zucker Hillside Hospital in Glen Oaks, N.Y. He said the connection is especially strong for younger pot users, those who use the drug frequently, and people at genetic high risk for psychosis. ‘What is especially concerning are the psychotic symptoms, which are least transient in nature, and may be difficult to predict,’ Krakower said, and ‘patients may not realize that even a one-time use of marijuana may cause symptoms.’”
MAJORITY OF YOUNG AMERICANS FAVOR LEGALIZATION OF MARIJUANA (Friday Church News Notes, May 8, 2020, www.wayoflife.org, fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - According to a 2019 poll, 79% of Americans aged 25-44 support the legalization of marijuana. The poll was conducted by Investor’s Business Daily and TechnoMetrica. Overall, 63% favor legalization (“Americans Embrace Marijuana Legalization,” TechnoMetrica, Aug. 2019). Ten states and Washington, D.C. have legalized marijuana for recreational use for adults older than 21, while 33 states have legalized medical marijuana. Others states have decriminalized the possession of small amounts of the drug. The legalization of recreational marijuana in America began in in 2012 with Colorado and Washington setting the pace. In 2018, Canada became the second country to fully legalize recreational marijuana, after Uruguay. Proponents of recreational marijuana use typically ignore proven dangers such as addiction, psychosis, marijuana as a gate-way drug, long-term effects on learning, cognition, and personality, “amotivational syndrome” (lethargy and loss of interest in achievement), bronchitis and respiratory infections, and increased risk of cardiovascular disease. A study published in the Lancet in March 2019 found that “smoking high-potency cannabis, used daily, has been linked to diagnosis of conditions like schizophrenia, paranoia and other psychosis disorders” (UPI, Mar. 20, 2019). This is the latest in a long line of evidence that marijuana is not an innocent relaxation drug. We are convinced that the legalization of recreational marijuana is a foolish experiment that will have serious repercussions. I know this all too well, having been a drug user before I was saved, beginning with my Army tour in Vietnam in 1970-71. After I was discharged, I was immersed in the hippy culture. Marijuana is a psychoactive drug with hallucinogenic properties. It can mess with the depths of a man’s soul. It affects people differently, but depression, intense anxiety, and paranoia are common side effects, and acute psychosis is not infrequent, as the previously cited study proves. It was definitely a “gateway” drug for me and for a lot of my friends. And the marijuana of today is vastly more powerful than the marijuana of the 1960s and 1970s, typically containing 15-20% THC (the psychoactive ingredient), and going as high as 37%, compared to 3 and 4 percent in the past. The rush to legalize marijuana is the fruit of the rock & roll pop culture that has been taking shape since the jazz era and came into full bloom in the 1960s. At its heart is the licentious philosophy of live as you please. It is the product of a filthy entertainment industry, an educational system devoted to moral relativism, a society that celebrates unrestrained self-expression, and the gross lack of wisdom typically reflected in mainstream media reporting. God’s command that His people be “sober” is repeated 12 times in the New Testament Epistles. It means to be in control of one’s mind and spirit so that nothing but God is in charge. “Sober” is the opposite of being under the influence of alcohol or drugs or anything else.
THE BRAIN HAS MORE MEMORY THAN THE INTERNET (Friday Church News Notes, May 8, 2020, www.wayoflife.org, fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The human brain has about 1 quintillion (1,000 trillion) synapses and each synapse functions like a microprocessor (“What Is a Neuron?” faculty-washington.edu). That is about how many stars are in 10,000 Milky Way galaxies (each one containing 100 billion stars)! New research shows that the synapses don’t operate like a computer transistor, with a simple on or off function. Rather, they communicate by at least 26 levels of electrical signal strength so that they are vastly more complex than previously thought. The following is excerpted from “Your Brain Has More Memory” by Brian Thomas, Ph.D., Institute of Christian Research, icr.org, Feb. 4, 2016: “Synapses occur at junctions between nerve cells, like two people holding hands. EACH CELL CAN HAVE A THOUSAND ‘HANDS’ CONTACTING AS MANY NEIGHBORS TO FORM A DIZZYING 3-D ARRAY WITH BILLIONS OF CONNECTIONS AND PATHWAYS. Each junction transfers information between cells by passing along tiny chemicals called neurotransmitters. ... They store and transmit information not with the simplistic 0s and 1s of computer code, but with degrees of synapse strength. In other words, THEY DON'T TRANSFER INFORMATION WITH A SINGLE INPUT SPIKE, BUT RECOGNIZE 26 DISTINGUISHABLY DIFFERENT LEVELS OF SYNAPTIC STRENGTH (“Nanoconnectomic upper bound,” eLife, 2015). ... Terry Sejnowski, co-senior author of the eLife study, told the Salk Institute, ‘We discovered the key to unlocking the design principle for how hippocampal neurons function with low energy but high computation power. OUR NEW MEASUREMENTS OF THE BRAIN'S MEMORY CAPACITY INCREASE CONSERVATIVE ESTIMATES BY A FACTOR OF 10 TO AT LEAST A PETABYTE, IN THE SAME BALLPARK AS THE WORLD WIDE WEB (“Memory Capacity of Brian,” Salk News, Jan. 20, 2016). What’s a petabyte? 8,000,000,000,000,000 bits of information. The mind-boggling levels of organization and necessary regulatory protocols in synapses refute all notions that brains evolved from single cells through merely natural processes. The strategies, algorithms, and design principles brains employ could only have come from an otherworldly Architect whose genius mankind can only dream of copying.”
NEITHER CALVINIST NOR ARMINIAN (Friday Church News Notes, May 8, 2020, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - We are convinced that biblical theology is neither Calvinist nor Arminian. We refuse to be forced to make a choice between John Calvin or James Arminius. Both were fallible men who attempted to describe biblical truth in a systematic theology. Both believed in the gross heresy of infant baptism and rejected biblical baptism. Neither man understood the New Testament church. Neither understood Bible prophecy. We have no obligation to follow either of these men. The only infallible systematic theology is the Bible itself. We believe in the everlasting consolation of the born again believer because this is what the Bible teaches, not because it is what John Calvin believed. We believe that Christ died to make it possible for all men to be saved and that all men can be saved, because that is what the Bible teaches, not because it is what James Arminius taught. We believe that God is sovereign and “worketh all things after the counsel of his own will,” because the Bible teaches it, and we praise Him for it, and we believe in the wonderful doctrines of election and predestination, but we don’t believe what John Calvin taught as a disciple of the fifth century heretic Augustine. Calvinists claim for themselves the right to examine Calvinism and to define it in a multitude of ways. We claim for ourselves the same right, and we reject all of it.
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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