Friday Church News Notes
Volume 21, Issue 28 - July 10, 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.
WILL MINNEAPOLIS DEFUND ITS POLICE DEPARTMENT? (Friday Church News Notes, July 10, 2020, www.wayoflife.org, fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The following is excerpted from Scott Johnson, “Who Ya Gonna Call?” PowerLineBlog, June 29, 2020: “The city of Minneapolis is deep into the cultural revolution driving the Democratic Party ever further to the left. The city is run entirely by Democrats. ... Mayor Jacob Frey is a Democrat, as are 11 of 12 current members of the city council. The twelfth — Cam Gordon, Ward 2 — is a member of the Green Party. That’s diversity, Minneapolis style. ... The city council has taken up the charge to abolish/defund the police. The Minneapolis city charter actually requires the council to fund a police department at something approaching its current size. The council has thus undertaken the process necessary to amend the charter. Last week the council voted unanimously to advance a proposal that would substitute a new Department of Community Safety and Violence Prevention for the police department. ... The AP story conveys a more accurate sense of the ordinance than the Star Tribune story, although the Star Tribune story better conveys the madhouse that Minneapolis has become. The Star Tribune also reports, by the way, ‘Gun violence soars amid crises of health, public trust, officer reluctance.’ Funny how that works. Reality bites. ... [T]he state senate, under the control of a narrow Republican majority, is the sole remaining obstacle standing in the way of this crowd. ... One would think that the self-interest of voters would assert itself if the proposed charter amendment were put to a vote. I can’t see it passing. When your life and property are at risk, who ya gonna call? The proposed amendment has to jump through a few more hoops to make it onto the ballot in November.”
EIGHT RECENT ATTACKS UPON CHRISTIANS IN INDIA (Friday Church News Notes, July 10, 2020, www.wayoflife.org, fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The following is excerpted from “Incidents of Christian Persecution Spike,” International Christian Concern, June 26, 2020: “As India gradually emerges from its national lockdown, International Christian Concern (ICC) has documented a sudden spike in attacks on Christians across the country. Since the lockdown has lifted, ICC has recorded at least eight incidents of persecution in just two weeks. These incidents include physical assaults, damage to Christian properties, and threats issued by radical Hindu nationalists. ‘They kicked me like they would kick a football,’ Pastor Suresh Rao, a victim of this new wave of persecution, told ICC. ‘They dragged me into the street and pushed me to the ground. There, they started to trample on me. They tore my clothes, kicked me all over my body, and punched my left eye. I have sustained a serious eye injury as a result of a blood clot.’ ... During the attack, members of the mob claimed Pastor Rao was involved in illegal religious conversions, converting Hindus to Christianity. ‘They said that India is a Hindu nation, and there is no place for Christians,’ Rao explained. ‘I am prepared for this kind of eventuality,’ Pastor Rao, who has faced multiple encounters with radicals, told ICC. ‘I know the cost of serving Jesus in these remote villages, and I will continue to serve the people of this region.’ On June 11, an independent church in India’s Tamil Nadu state was burned to the ground by unknown individuals, leaving over 100 Christians with no place to worship. ... ‘I was so distressed and pained in my heart,’ Pastor Ramesh, head pastor of Real Peace Church, told ICC. ‘It was hard labor for 10 years to build the church. All the hard work and sacrificial donations from the poor congregants were brought down to the ground. All that is left is ash. In the last ten years, I have been told numerous times by radicals to close the church,’ Pastor Ramesh said. ‘By God’s grace, I was able to endure all these hardships and abuses, but this time it is total devastation.’”
CHINA BEGINS BRUTAL CRACKDOWN ON HONG KONG (Friday Church News Notes, July 10, 2020, www.wayoflife.org, fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The following is excerpted from “China Begins Brutal Crackdown,” The Daily Wire, July 1, 2020: “The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) began cracking down on Hong Kong protesters on Wednesday after China’s government imposed a new national security law that cemented Beijing’s control over the city. On Tuesday, Chinese President Xi Jinping signed into a law a bill banning acts of sedition, subversion, and terrorism, a bill passed by China’s top legislative body by a vote of 162-0. Violating the new law could result in a sentence of life in prison. ... The Hong Kong Police Force touted the first arrests under the new laws, tweeted out photographs and writing: ‘A man was arrested for holding a #HKIndependence flag in #CausewayBay, Hong Kong, violating the #NationalSecurityLaw. This is the first arrest made since the law has come into force.’ The man who was arrested appears to have simply been carrying a flag that stated: ‘Hong Kong Independence.’ The Hong Kong Police Force later announced a second arrest under the new national security law after a woman was caught carrying a sign that stated: ‘Hong Kong Independence.’ The Hong Kong Police Force later warned those who were waving a purple flag that warned others of the new draconian law that they may also be arrested. ... According to police, at least 70 protesters were arrested Wednesday. The New York Times highlighted how the new national security law allows China to suppress Hong Kong’s growing protest movement and to expand its national security apparatus ‘to pervade many layers of Hong Kong’s society.’ ... Numerous U.S. officials spoke out against the new Chinese law, including Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who wrote on Twitter: ‘The CCP’s draconian national security law ends free Hong Kong and exposes the Party’s greatest fear: the free will and free thinking of its own people.’”
PROMINENT CLIMATE CHANGE ACTIVIST APOLOGIZES (Friday Church News Notes, July 10, 2020, www.wayoflife.org, fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - Michael Shellenberger, prominent climate change activist, has apologized in a new book Apocalypse Never: Why Environmental Alarmism Hurts Us All. The following is an excerpt from his summary of the book: “On behalf of environmentalists everywhere, I would like to formally apologize for the climate scare we created over the last 30 years. Climate change is happening. It’s just not the end of the world. It’s not even our most serious environmental problem. I may seem like a strange person to be saying all of this. I have been a climate activist for 20 years and an environmentalist for 30. ... Here are some facts few people know: Humans are not causing a ‘sixth mass extinction’; the Amazon is not ‘the lungs of the world’; climate change is not making natural disasters worse; fires have declined 25% around the world since 2003 ... Carbon emissions are declining in most rich nations and have been declining in Britain, Germany, and France since the mid-1970s ... We produce 25% more food than we need and food surpluses will continue to rise as the world gets hotter ... the above facts come from the best-available scientific studies, including those conducted by or accepted by the IPCC, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and other leading scientific bodies. ... But until last year, I mostly avoided speaking out against the climate scare. Partly that’s because I was embarrassed. ... But mostly I was scared. I remained quiet about the climate disinformation campaign because I was afraid of losing friends and funding. ... Some highlights from the book: Factories and modern farming are the keys to human liberation and environmental progress; the most important thing for saving the environment is producing more food, particularly meat, on less land. ... Greenpeace didn’t save the whales, switching from whale oil to petroleum and palm oil did. ... Greenpeace dogmatism worsened forest fragmentation of the Amazon. ... In the final three chapters of Apocalypse Never I expose the financial, political, and ideological motivations. Environmental groups have accepted hundreds of millions of dollars from fossil fuel interests” (“On Behalf of Environmentalists, I Apologize for the Climate Scare,” Environmental Progress, Jun 29, 2020).
MICHAEL JACKSON’S DAUGHTER PORTRAYING “JESUS” AS A LESBIAN WOMAN (Friday Church News Notes, July 10, 2020, www.wayoflife.org, fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The following is excerpted from “Movieguide Launches Petition,” CBN News, June 17, 2020: “Movieguide reports Paris Jackson, daughter of the late pop icon Michael Jackson, is set to play Jesus in the film ‘Habit.’ Jackson’s portrayal of Christ will be as a lesbian ... According to Eonline.com, the film follows a ‘party girl with a Jesus fetish who gets mixed up in a violent drug deal and finds a possible way out by masquerading as a nun.’”
DNA TESTING ON DEAD SEA SCROLLS (Friday Church News Notes, July 10, 2020, www.wayoflife.org, fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The June issue of Cell describes a seven-year project to use DNA testing to trace the divergent sheep that were used to make the Dead Sea Scrolls. The research was done by a team from Tel Aviv university, joined by other scientists. The DNA testing is being used to piece together fragments, among other things. A report says, “The findings support the notion that for contemporaries, the most important aspects of the scriptural text were its content and meaning, not its precise wording and orthography (the conventional spelling system of a language)” (“DNA Extracted from Animal Skins,” Breaking Israel News, June 2, 2020). The Dead Sea Scrolls offer a very tiny, but fascinating window into the history of the Old Testament Scripture. But it is a wonderful thing that we aren’t dependent on 25,000 fragments to piece together the Word of God. The God who gave the Scripture has kept it. “Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth forever. For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away: But the word of the Lord endureth forever. And this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you” (1 Peter 1:23-25). (See “The Dead Sea Scrolls,” www.wayoflife.org.)
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).
EIGHT RECENT ATTACKS UPON CHRISTIANS IN INDIA (Friday Church News Notes, July 10, 2020, www.wayoflife.org, fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The following is excerpted from “Incidents of Christian Persecution Spike,” International Christian Concern, June 26, 2020: “As India gradually emerges from its national lockdown, International Christian Concern (ICC) has documented a sudden spike in attacks on Christians across the country. Since the lockdown has lifted, ICC has recorded at least eight incidents of persecution in just two weeks. These incidents include physical assaults, damage to Christian properties, and threats issued by radical Hindu nationalists. ‘They kicked me like they would kick a football,’ Pastor Suresh Rao, a victim of this new wave of persecution, told ICC. ‘They dragged me into the street and pushed me to the ground. There, they started to trample on me. They tore my clothes, kicked me all over my body, and punched my left eye. I have sustained a serious eye injury as a result of a blood clot.’ ... During the attack, members of the mob claimed Pastor Rao was involved in illegal religious conversions, converting Hindus to Christianity. ‘They said that India is a Hindu nation, and there is no place for Christians,’ Rao explained. ‘I am prepared for this kind of eventuality,’ Pastor Rao, who has faced multiple encounters with radicals, told ICC. ‘I know the cost of serving Jesus in these remote villages, and I will continue to serve the people of this region.’ On June 11, an independent church in India’s Tamil Nadu state was burned to the ground by unknown individuals, leaving over 100 Christians with no place to worship. ... ‘I was so distressed and pained in my heart,’ Pastor Ramesh, head pastor of Real Peace Church, told ICC. ‘It was hard labor for 10 years to build the church. All the hard work and sacrificial donations from the poor congregants were brought down to the ground. All that is left is ash. In the last ten years, I have been told numerous times by radicals to close the church,’ Pastor Ramesh said. ‘By God’s grace, I was able to endure all these hardships and abuses, but this time it is total devastation.’”
CHINA BEGINS BRUTAL CRACKDOWN ON HONG KONG (Friday Church News Notes, July 10, 2020, www.wayoflife.org, fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The following is excerpted from “China Begins Brutal Crackdown,” The Daily Wire, July 1, 2020: “The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) began cracking down on Hong Kong protesters on Wednesday after China’s government imposed a new national security law that cemented Beijing’s control over the city. On Tuesday, Chinese President Xi Jinping signed into a law a bill banning acts of sedition, subversion, and terrorism, a bill passed by China’s top legislative body by a vote of 162-0. Violating the new law could result in a sentence of life in prison. ... The Hong Kong Police Force touted the first arrests under the new laws, tweeted out photographs and writing: ‘A man was arrested for holding a #HKIndependence flag in #CausewayBay, Hong Kong, violating the #NationalSecurityLaw. This is the first arrest made since the law has come into force.’ The man who was arrested appears to have simply been carrying a flag that stated: ‘Hong Kong Independence.’ The Hong Kong Police Force later announced a second arrest under the new national security law after a woman was caught carrying a sign that stated: ‘Hong Kong Independence.’ The Hong Kong Police Force later warned those who were waving a purple flag that warned others of the new draconian law that they may also be arrested. ... According to police, at least 70 protesters were arrested Wednesday. The New York Times highlighted how the new national security law allows China to suppress Hong Kong’s growing protest movement and to expand its national security apparatus ‘to pervade many layers of Hong Kong’s society.’ ... Numerous U.S. officials spoke out against the new Chinese law, including Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who wrote on Twitter: ‘The CCP’s draconian national security law ends free Hong Kong and exposes the Party’s greatest fear: the free will and free thinking of its own people.’”
PROMINENT CLIMATE CHANGE ACTIVIST APOLOGIZES (Friday Church News Notes, July 10, 2020, www.wayoflife.org, fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - Michael Shellenberger, prominent climate change activist, has apologized in a new book Apocalypse Never: Why Environmental Alarmism Hurts Us All. The following is an excerpt from his summary of the book: “On behalf of environmentalists everywhere, I would like to formally apologize for the climate scare we created over the last 30 years. Climate change is happening. It’s just not the end of the world. It’s not even our most serious environmental problem. I may seem like a strange person to be saying all of this. I have been a climate activist for 20 years and an environmentalist for 30. ... Here are some facts few people know: Humans are not causing a ‘sixth mass extinction’; the Amazon is not ‘the lungs of the world’; climate change is not making natural disasters worse; fires have declined 25% around the world since 2003 ... Carbon emissions are declining in most rich nations and have been declining in Britain, Germany, and France since the mid-1970s ... We produce 25% more food than we need and food surpluses will continue to rise as the world gets hotter ... the above facts come from the best-available scientific studies, including those conducted by or accepted by the IPCC, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and other leading scientific bodies. ... But until last year, I mostly avoided speaking out against the climate scare. Partly that’s because I was embarrassed. ... But mostly I was scared. I remained quiet about the climate disinformation campaign because I was afraid of losing friends and funding. ... Some highlights from the book: Factories and modern farming are the keys to human liberation and environmental progress; the most important thing for saving the environment is producing more food, particularly meat, on less land. ... Greenpeace didn’t save the whales, switching from whale oil to petroleum and palm oil did. ... Greenpeace dogmatism worsened forest fragmentation of the Amazon. ... In the final three chapters of Apocalypse Never I expose the financial, political, and ideological motivations. Environmental groups have accepted hundreds of millions of dollars from fossil fuel interests” (“On Behalf of Environmentalists, I Apologize for the Climate Scare,” Environmental Progress, Jun 29, 2020).
MICHAEL JACKSON’S DAUGHTER PORTRAYING “JESUS” AS A LESBIAN WOMAN (Friday Church News Notes, July 10, 2020, www.wayoflife.org, fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The following is excerpted from “Movieguide Launches Petition,” CBN News, June 17, 2020: “Movieguide reports Paris Jackson, daughter of the late pop icon Michael Jackson, is set to play Jesus in the film ‘Habit.’ Jackson’s portrayal of Christ will be as a lesbian ... According to Eonline.com, the film follows a ‘party girl with a Jesus fetish who gets mixed up in a violent drug deal and finds a possible way out by masquerading as a nun.’”
DNA TESTING ON DEAD SEA SCROLLS (Friday Church News Notes, July 10, 2020, www.wayoflife.org, fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The June issue of Cell describes a seven-year project to use DNA testing to trace the divergent sheep that were used to make the Dead Sea Scrolls. The research was done by a team from Tel Aviv university, joined by other scientists. The DNA testing is being used to piece together fragments, among other things. A report says, “The findings support the notion that for contemporaries, the most important aspects of the scriptural text were its content and meaning, not its precise wording and orthography (the conventional spelling system of a language)” (“DNA Extracted from Animal Skins,” Breaking Israel News, June 2, 2020). The Dead Sea Scrolls offer a very tiny, but fascinating window into the history of the Old Testament Scripture. But it is a wonderful thing that we aren’t dependent on 25,000 fragments to piece together the Word of God. The God who gave the Scripture has kept it. “Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth forever. For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away: But the word of the Lord endureth forever. And this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you” (1 Peter 1:23-25). (See “The Dead Sea Scrolls,” www.wayoflife.org.)
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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