Friday Church News Notes
Volume 21, Issue 50 - December 11, 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.
THE POPE ISSUES ANOTHER HERETICAL DOCUMENT CONTRADICTING GOD’S WORD (Friday Church News Notes, December 11, 2020, www.wayoflife.org, fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - Pope Francis issued the latest in a long line of papal letters that fly in the face of God’s Word, the Holy Bible. Entitled Fratelli Tutti (“Brothers All”), the encyclical letter calls for global unity. It builds on the Document on Human Fraternity that the Pope signed with Ahman al-Tayyeb, the Grand Imam of al-Azhar in Abu Dhabi, in February 2019. It teaches the heresy of the universal Fatherhood of God. It teaches the heresy that all beliefs bring richness to the human family. It teaches that “Jesus Christ is in those who are abandoned or excluded.” It calls for open borders. “Each country also belongs to the foreigner inasmuch as a territory’s goods must not be denied to a needy person coming from elsewhere.” It denounces capital punishment and calls for the “care of the whole planet.” It calls for the “subordination of all private property to the universal destination of the earth’s goods, and thus the right of all to their use,” which, of course, is communism. It rejects the concept of a “just war,” calls for disarmament, promotes the myth that disarmament would produce global peace, and makes the ridiculous claim that war can be stayed “with a word” and “peace can be maintained by peace.”
TRANSSEXUAL ELECTED BY REPUBLICANS (Friday Church News Notes, December 11, 2020, www.wayoflife.org, fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - A transsexual was elected president of the Republican Women Federated in Escondido, California, on Nov. 18. According to his Facebook page, Gina Roberts, a man who identifies as a woman, was sworn in by Congressman Darrell Issa. This is a reminder that Republicans are not the saviors of America. Politics is a dirty, compromising business at its best.
PARENTS LOSE CUSTODY OF TEEN DAUGHTER AFTER REFUSING TO COMMIT TO SEX CHANGE (Friday Church News Notes, December 11, 2020, www.wayoflife.org, fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The following is excerpted from “Parents Lose Custody,” Reformation Charlotte, Dec. 1, 2020: “The parents of a ‘transgender’ teenage girl--born a female, still a female, and will always be a female--has lost custody of their daughter after refusing to commit to hormone therapy to effect a sex change. According to The Australian, a judge ruled that the confused teenage girl who wants to ‘transition’ into a boy--an obviously impossible feat to any sane person--on the balance of probabilities, had suffered verbal abuse ‘related to his feelings and expression of gender identity’ (“Parents’ grieve as ‘trans teen’ taken into care,” The Australian, Nov. 29, 2020). [This is Australia’s first case of a child removed because parents resisted cross-sex hormone treatment.] ... [A]ctivist judges and politicians are on the prowl seeking to devour every last semblance of sanity and logical thought. In recent months, Australia has implemented a number of anti-conservative policies that seek to destroy Christianity and the Christian family. Conversion therapy has been banned in most of the country, and [by] the ‘Change or Suppression (Conversion) Practices Prohibition Bill 2020,’ practitioners face a $10,000 fine and up to 10 years in prison. These policies have been criticized by the Australian Christian Lobby which argues that parents are left vulnerable to criminalization for refusing to accept and allow their child’s ‘gender transition.’”
NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS’ SPEECH CONTROL (Friday Church News Notes, December 11, 2020, www.wayoflife.org, fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The following is excerpted from “National Association of Realtors,” Frontpage, Nov. 30, 2020: “The National Association of Realtors claims to have 1.4 million members. There will be fewer members before long as the association begins purging conservative real estate agents. At the center of the storm was an addition to Article 10 which covers various forms of discrimination. ... Even if you’re at home and you post something opposed to gay marriage or illegal migration, you can lose your business. ... When you’re a real estate agent, you no longer have the right to personal opinions. Article 10-5 immediately transformed 1.4 million people into subordinates at the mercy of NAR brass who have the authority to determine what political or religious views they can hold. ‘It means that we never take our hands off, no matter where we are, no matter what we do, we are always licensed and we are always a member of the National Association of Realtors,’ New York State Association of Realtors President Jennifer Stevenson warned. Never taking your ‘hands off’ is endemic to socialist tyrannies and has no place in America. ... Anyone can bring an ‘ethics’ complaint which will lead to a ‘hearing’ with ‘witnesses’ and ‘counsel.’ ... And if they lose that hearing, then not only will they be expelled from the NAR, but the state real estate licensing authority will be told that the agent violated the ‘public trust’ which can lead to the loss of their license. Say the wrong thing on Facebook and lose your license, your business, and your livelihood.”
LITTLE INTEREST IN BIBLE PROPHECY (Friday Church News Notes, December 11, 2020, www.wayoflife.org, fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - We received the following note recently about the situation in an independent Baptist church: “I’m using your The Future According to the Bible in my Sunday School adult class. I love studying future things because I believe it helps ground us in the present. It’s interesting, though, how few people attend that class. ... Christians, of all people, need to be aware of the times and understand what is coming. All too often though, they get too wrapped up in this world and the comforts of it. I wish our pastor would deal more with last days events, but that is why not many in our church see it as important. He ... says that’s not his ‘forte.’ ... Christians are not living with the imminent expectation of His return in the Rapture. ... I thoroughly believe that if Christians would simply take the time to discern what Scripture says about the last days/end times and learn to live with the information contained in Scripture in mind, we would be much better evangelists and not so concerned about the things happening in society that we cannot control.”
ECUMENISTS WARN OF “DANGEROUS” PRE-TRIBULATIONISTS (Friday Church News Notes, December 11, 2020, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The following is excerpted from “Evangelicals and Catholics Together and the Rejection of End-Time Christians” by Roger Oakland, Light House Trails, Dec. 7, 2009: “[A]nti-Christian sentiment is growing toward those who believe in a biblical last days/Book of Revelation scenario prior to Christ’s return. In a 2005 article, Bishop Mark Hanson of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America ‘called for Catholics, Eastern Orthodox, Anglican and Lutheran churches to come together to combat a fundamentalist-millenialist-apocalypticist reading of Scripture’ [‘Lutheran leader calls for an ecumenical council to address growing biblical fundamentalism,’ Religious News Service, Aug. 11, 2005]. ... Hanson believes that a global ecumenical group made up of Catholics, Eastern Orthodox, Anglicans, and Lutherans is the answer to the crisis he sees [‘The Church: Called to a Ministry of Reconciliation,’ Lutheran World, Sept. 2005]. Hanson says that those who believe in a biblical end times and a literal Bible interpretation are holding back the cause of Christ, which he suggests is to unite all of creation and produce a planetary utopia. ... Munib Younan, bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jerusalem, believes that those who adhere to an apocalyptic end-time scenario (with a focus on Israel) are spreading ‘heresy.’ ... He has requested that Lutherans ‘alert all Christians everywhere to its dangers and false teachings’ [‘Christian Zionism Is Heresy,’ The Lutheran, March 2003]. ... Tony Campolo says Christians that focus on end-time scenarios have been the cause of ‘extremely detrimental’ consequences. ... Brian McLaren writes, ‘An eschatology of abandonment, which is how I would characterize certain streams of the left-behind approach, has disastrous social consequences. ... Any project geared toward improving the world long term is seen as unfaithful, since we’re supposed to assume that the world is getting worse and worse’ [Interview by Planet Preterist with Brian McLaren, Jan. 30, 2006] ... In essence, McLaren is saying if you believe the Book of Revelation and Matthew 24 are yet to take place, you are a dangerous psychological misfit and are assumed to have no compassion for the suffering, no concern for the environment or the world in which we live.”
CYCLOPS EAR (Friday Church News Notes, December 11, 2020, www.wayoflife.org, fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The following is from creationmoments.com, November 27, 2020: “All insects that hear, except one, have two ears. Some insects have ears on their legs, thorax or abdomen. However, they all follow the same principle. Their ears are separated so that they can locate the source of the sound--except in one insect. Scientists always thought the praying mantis was deaf. The 1,700 species of mantises have no structure that looks like an ear. Only after a long process of detailed study and testing did scientists finally discover that the mantis can hear. Further investigation finally led to the discovery of one of the most bizarre methods of hearing anywhere in the animal kingdom. The mantis’s hearing organ is difficult to call an ear. Unlike any other insect, the mantis has only one hearing organ, located in a groove underneath its thorax. The teardrop‑shaped groove has a thinner cuticle than other parts of the body. Beneath the cuticle there is a relatively large air sac on each side of the groove. These sacs are connected to the insect’s respiratory system. Near the top of the sac are the nerves that carry the sensation of sound to the nervous system. Scientists say that this hearing organ senses ultrasonic frequencies. When researchers played a bat‑like sound to a mantis in flight, it immediately took an evasive flight path to escape the bat it thought it heard. There is no limit to God’s creativity or His ability to make whatever He can imagine. We should keep this in mind, especially when some human authority tells us the Bible has made a mistake. Ref: Miller, Julie Ann. 1986. ‘Sensory surprises in platypus, mantis.’ Science News, v. 129. p. 104.”
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).
TRANSSEXUAL ELECTED BY REPUBLICANS (Friday Church News Notes, December 11, 2020, www.wayoflife.org, fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - A transsexual was elected president of the Republican Women Federated in Escondido, California, on Nov. 18. According to his Facebook page, Gina Roberts, a man who identifies as a woman, was sworn in by Congressman Darrell Issa. This is a reminder that Republicans are not the saviors of America. Politics is a dirty, compromising business at its best.
PARENTS LOSE CUSTODY OF TEEN DAUGHTER AFTER REFUSING TO COMMIT TO SEX CHANGE (Friday Church News Notes, December 11, 2020, www.wayoflife.org, fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The following is excerpted from “Parents Lose Custody,” Reformation Charlotte, Dec. 1, 2020: “The parents of a ‘transgender’ teenage girl--born a female, still a female, and will always be a female--has lost custody of their daughter after refusing to commit to hormone therapy to effect a sex change. According to The Australian, a judge ruled that the confused teenage girl who wants to ‘transition’ into a boy--an obviously impossible feat to any sane person--on the balance of probabilities, had suffered verbal abuse ‘related to his feelings and expression of gender identity’ (“Parents’ grieve as ‘trans teen’ taken into care,” The Australian, Nov. 29, 2020). [This is Australia’s first case of a child removed because parents resisted cross-sex hormone treatment.] ... [A]ctivist judges and politicians are on the prowl seeking to devour every last semblance of sanity and logical thought. In recent months, Australia has implemented a number of anti-conservative policies that seek to destroy Christianity and the Christian family. Conversion therapy has been banned in most of the country, and [by] the ‘Change or Suppression (Conversion) Practices Prohibition Bill 2020,’ practitioners face a $10,000 fine and up to 10 years in prison. These policies have been criticized by the Australian Christian Lobby which argues that parents are left vulnerable to criminalization for refusing to accept and allow their child’s ‘gender transition.’”
NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS’ SPEECH CONTROL (Friday Church News Notes, December 11, 2020, www.wayoflife.org, fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The following is excerpted from “National Association of Realtors,” Frontpage, Nov. 30, 2020: “The National Association of Realtors claims to have 1.4 million members. There will be fewer members before long as the association begins purging conservative real estate agents. At the center of the storm was an addition to Article 10 which covers various forms of discrimination. ... Even if you’re at home and you post something opposed to gay marriage or illegal migration, you can lose your business. ... When you’re a real estate agent, you no longer have the right to personal opinions. Article 10-5 immediately transformed 1.4 million people into subordinates at the mercy of NAR brass who have the authority to determine what political or religious views they can hold. ‘It means that we never take our hands off, no matter where we are, no matter what we do, we are always licensed and we are always a member of the National Association of Realtors,’ New York State Association of Realtors President Jennifer Stevenson warned. Never taking your ‘hands off’ is endemic to socialist tyrannies and has no place in America. ... Anyone can bring an ‘ethics’ complaint which will lead to a ‘hearing’ with ‘witnesses’ and ‘counsel.’ ... And if they lose that hearing, then not only will they be expelled from the NAR, but the state real estate licensing authority will be told that the agent violated the ‘public trust’ which can lead to the loss of their license. Say the wrong thing on Facebook and lose your license, your business, and your livelihood.”
LITTLE INTEREST IN BIBLE PROPHECY (Friday Church News Notes, December 11, 2020, www.wayoflife.org, fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - We received the following note recently about the situation in an independent Baptist church: “I’m using your The Future According to the Bible in my Sunday School adult class. I love studying future things because I believe it helps ground us in the present. It’s interesting, though, how few people attend that class. ... Christians, of all people, need to be aware of the times and understand what is coming. All too often though, they get too wrapped up in this world and the comforts of it. I wish our pastor would deal more with last days events, but that is why not many in our church see it as important. He ... says that’s not his ‘forte.’ ... Christians are not living with the imminent expectation of His return in the Rapture. ... I thoroughly believe that if Christians would simply take the time to discern what Scripture says about the last days/end times and learn to live with the information contained in Scripture in mind, we would be much better evangelists and not so concerned about the things happening in society that we cannot control.”
ECUMENISTS WARN OF “DANGEROUS” PRE-TRIBULATIONISTS (Friday Church News Notes, December 11, 2020, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The following is excerpted from “Evangelicals and Catholics Together and the Rejection of End-Time Christians” by Roger Oakland, Light House Trails, Dec. 7, 2009: “[A]nti-Christian sentiment is growing toward those who believe in a biblical last days/Book of Revelation scenario prior to Christ’s return. In a 2005 article, Bishop Mark Hanson of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America ‘called for Catholics, Eastern Orthodox, Anglican and Lutheran churches to come together to combat a fundamentalist-millenialist-apocalypticist reading of Scripture’ [‘Lutheran leader calls for an ecumenical council to address growing biblical fundamentalism,’ Religious News Service, Aug. 11, 2005]. ... Hanson believes that a global ecumenical group made up of Catholics, Eastern Orthodox, Anglicans, and Lutherans is the answer to the crisis he sees [‘The Church: Called to a Ministry of Reconciliation,’ Lutheran World, Sept. 2005]. Hanson says that those who believe in a biblical end times and a literal Bible interpretation are holding back the cause of Christ, which he suggests is to unite all of creation and produce a planetary utopia. ... Munib Younan, bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jerusalem, believes that those who adhere to an apocalyptic end-time scenario (with a focus on Israel) are spreading ‘heresy.’ ... He has requested that Lutherans ‘alert all Christians everywhere to its dangers and false teachings’ [‘Christian Zionism Is Heresy,’ The Lutheran, March 2003]. ... Tony Campolo says Christians that focus on end-time scenarios have been the cause of ‘extremely detrimental’ consequences. ... Brian McLaren writes, ‘An eschatology of abandonment, which is how I would characterize certain streams of the left-behind approach, has disastrous social consequences. ... Any project geared toward improving the world long term is seen as unfaithful, since we’re supposed to assume that the world is getting worse and worse’ [Interview by Planet Preterist with Brian McLaren, Jan. 30, 2006] ... In essence, McLaren is saying if you believe the Book of Revelation and Matthew 24 are yet to take place, you are a dangerous psychological misfit and are assumed to have no compassion for the suffering, no concern for the environment or the world in which we live.”
CYCLOPS EAR (Friday Church News Notes, December 11, 2020, www.wayoflife.org, fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The following is from creationmoments.com, November 27, 2020: “All insects that hear, except one, have two ears. Some insects have ears on their legs, thorax or abdomen. However, they all follow the same principle. Their ears are separated so that they can locate the source of the sound--except in one insect. Scientists always thought the praying mantis was deaf. The 1,700 species of mantises have no structure that looks like an ear. Only after a long process of detailed study and testing did scientists finally discover that the mantis can hear. Further investigation finally led to the discovery of one of the most bizarre methods of hearing anywhere in the animal kingdom. The mantis’s hearing organ is difficult to call an ear. Unlike any other insect, the mantis has only one hearing organ, located in a groove underneath its thorax. The teardrop‑shaped groove has a thinner cuticle than other parts of the body. Beneath the cuticle there is a relatively large air sac on each side of the groove. These sacs are connected to the insect’s respiratory system. Near the top of the sac are the nerves that carry the sensation of sound to the nervous system. Scientists say that this hearing organ senses ultrasonic frequencies. When researchers played a bat‑like sound to a mantis in flight, it immediately took an evasive flight path to escape the bat it thought it heard. There is no limit to God’s creativity or His ability to make whatever He can imagine. We should keep this in mind, especially when some human authority tells us the Bible has made a mistake. Ref: Miller, Julie Ann. 1986. ‘Sensory surprises in platypus, mantis.’ Science News, v. 129. p. 104.”
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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