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Way of Life Literature

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Way of Life Literature

Publisher of Bible Study Materials

Way of Life Bible College
Friday Church News Notes
Volume 22, Issue 9 - February 26, 2021
Graphical Edition
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.
Pastor Jim Conrad

Pastor Jim Conrad, Towne View Baptist Church, Cobb County, Ga.

COBB COUNTY, GEORGIA, A CASE STUDY IN THE PRIORITY OF CHURCHES OVER POLITICS (Friday Church News Notes, February 26, 2021, www.wayoflife.org, fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - Cobb County, Georgia, demonstrates that religion and morality are fundamental to politics and proves the necessity of focusing on the spiritual condition of the churches rather than on politics. Cobb County was ground center for the 2020 U.S. presidential election. It was Cobb County that threw the state to the Democrats in November and elected two Democrats to the Senate in January to guarantee Democratic control of Congress. Cobb County is Southern Baptist territory, and as the churches have, decade after decade, become more worldly and liberal, the politics has become more liberal, changing from limited-government Republican (“once the heart of Newt Gingrich’s GOP revolution of the 1990s”) to big-government Democrat, from pro-life to pro-abortion, from pro-traditional marriage to pro-homosexual rights, from pro-American to woke leftism and critical racism. It is in Cobb County that Towne View Baptist Church in Kennesaw, a Southern Baptist congregation, accepted a homosexual couple as members in 2019. When contacted by the couple (John and John Reynolds) about the possibility of joining the church, Pastor Jim Conrad was affirmative. He “felt that God might be leading him in a different direction, consistent with his understanding of Scriptures and a gospel message that was not available to a select few, but to all” (“Georgia SBC church faces banishment,” Religion News Service, Feb. 19, 2021). This illustrates the change in the character of churches, which, in turn, has changed the political climate of the area. It is the church that is the pillar and ground of the truth, not politics. America is a nation of churches, and as the churches go so goes the nation. It is time for Bible-believing Baptists and fundamentalists to stop focusing on politics and secessionism and revolution, to let the peace of God rule in their hearts instead of carnal frustration and anger, and to focus on what God has told His people to focus on, which is building sound, life-changing New Testament churches. We can’t change the public education system, the universities, the bloated monstrosity of a government, the military, or the mainstream media, but we can, by God’s grace and as His co-laborers, build New Testament churches (1 Co. 3:5-12), and a New Testament church has more power than all of the teeth-gnashing mechanisms of conservative politics. Here is a description of a New Testament church from Philippians: “Do all things without murmurings and disputings: That ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world; Holding forth the word of life; that I may rejoice in the day of Christ, that I have not run in vain, neither laboured in vain” (Php. 2:14-16).

TO UNDERSTAND THE U.S. 2020 ELECTION, GOD’S PEOPLE MUST LISTEN TO THE HOLY PROPHETS (Friday Church News Notes, February 26, 2021, www.wayoflife.org, fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - DANIEL - “Blessed be the name of God for ever and ever: for wisdom and might are his: And he changeth the times and the seasons: he removeth kings, and setteth up kings: he giveth wisdom unto the wise, and knowledge to them that know understanding” (Da. 2:20-21). DAVID - “Thine, O LORD, is the greatness, and the power, and the glory, and the victory, and the majesty: for all that is in the heaven and in the earth is thine; thine is the kingdom, O LORD, and thou art exalted as head above all” (1 Ch. 29:11). ASAPH - “Lift not up your horn on high: speak not with a stiff neck. For promotion cometh neither from the east, nor from the west, nor from the south. But God is the judge: he putteth down one, and setteth up another” (Ps. 75:5-7). SOLOMON - “The lot is cast into the lap; but the whole disposing thereof is of the LORD” (Pr. 16:33). JEHOSHAPHAT - “O LORD God of our fathers, art not thou God in heaven? and rulest not thou over all the kingdoms of the heathen? and in thine hand is there not power and might, so that none is able to withstand thee?” (2 Ch. 20:6). JEREMIAH - “Who is he that saith, and it cometh to pass, when the Lord commandeth it not?” (La. 3:37). PAUL - “... he is Lord of heaven and earth, ... And hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation” (Ac. 17:24, 26). “For there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God” (Ro. 13:1).

WIKIPEDIA CO-FOUNDER SAYS LEFTIST BIAS HAS BROKEN THE PLATFORM (Friday Church News Notes, February 26, 2021, www.wayoflife.org, fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - We have long observed the consistently liberal slant of Wikipedia. Anything pertaining to the Bible is biased toward unbelief. The following statement focuses on Wikipedia’s political bias: “Wikipedia co-founder Larry Sanger is criticizing the site’s left-wing bias, saying the popular online encyclopedia has become an irretrievably broken platform for socialism. ‘The days of Wikipedia’s robust commitment to neutrality are long gone,’ Mr. Sanger told Fox News in a new interview. ‘Wikipedia’s ideological and religious bias is real and troubling, particularly in a resource that continues to be treated by many as an unbiased reference work.’ Mr. Sanger, 52, co-founded the site with Jimmy Wales in January 2001. ... The Fox analysis cited the two main pages for ‘Socialism’ and ‘Communism’ that span 28,000 words but lack any discussion of the genocides committed by socialist and communist regimes, in which tens of millions of people were murdered and starved. ... In a blog post, Mr. Sanger said examples of bias on Wikipedia ‘have become embarrassingly easy to find,’ pointing to the entries for former Presidents Barack Obama and Donald Trump. ‘The Barack Obama article completely fails to mention many well-known scandals’ ... the entry about Mr. Trump shows that Wikipedia’s neutrality ‘is a joke’” (“Co-founder says Wikipedia’s neutrality ‘long gone,’” The Washington Times, Feb. 21, 2021).

SLANG-WHANGING (Friday Church News Notes, February 26, 2021, www.wayoflife.org, fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - Slang-whanging was the name for a style of newspaper editorializing popular in the early 1800s when some of America’s Founding Fathers were still alive. It was “intensely partisan and often laced with personal invective” and “provided an invigorating spectacle for their readers” (Henry Mayer, All on Fire: William Lloyd Garrison and the Abolition of Slavery, p. 40). It referred to “a newspaper columnist who expressed his personal opinions with great energy and notorious political partisanship.” A slang-whanger was “a noisy, turbulent fellow” (Bucks County Gazette, Sep. 24, 1891). William Lloyd Garrison, famous for his abolitionist activities, was skilled in slang-whanging. He “deliberately created for his readers the editorial personality of a tiger who loved nothing more than a good fight. ... from the outset he seemed instinctively to know how to pick an editorial quarrel, how to annoy, to agitate...” He engaged in this type of thing long before he founded his abolitionist paper The Liberator in 1831. The internet and social media have given millions of slang-whangers a voice never before conceived of, but God’s people should know better. “Let your speech be alway with grace, seasoned with salt, that ye may know how ye ought to answer every man” (Colossians 4:6). “A good man out of the good treasure of the heart bringeth forth good things: and an evil man out of the evil treasure bringeth forth evil things” (Matthew 12:35).

ISRAEL’S COVID PASSPORT (Friday Church News Notes, February 26, 2021, www.wayoflife.org, fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The following is excerpted from “How Israel plans to operate a Covid ‘green pass,’” The Times of Israel, Feb. 16, 2021: “As the country begins to reopen stores, gyms, hotels, and other venues starting next week, Israelis will need to show proof that they have been vaccinated against, or recovered from, COVID-19 before being allowed to enter some events and places. Street-front shops, malls, markets, museums, and libraries will be open to all Israelis. But only those who have been vaccinated or have recovered from COVID-19 will be able to use gyms, and enter sporting and culture events, hotels, and swimming pools, showing ‘green pass’ proof to gain access. The coronavirus czar, Nachman Ash, said Monday that Israelis will have to use an app as proof, or print out barcoded certificates to prove their status. ... Almost 4 million Israelis have now had at least one vaccination dose and 2.5 million--over a quarter of the population--have received both shots.”

NASA’S PERSEVERANCE ROVER A SIGN OF THE TIMES (Friday Church News Notes, February 26, 2021, www.wayoflife.org, fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - NASA’S Perseverance rover made a perfect landing on Mars on February 18 after a six-month, 293 million mile journey. The fifth rover to land on Mars, the $2.7 billion vehicle is about 10 feet long, 9 feet wide, 7 feet tall, and weighs 2,260 pounds. Powered by a nuclear generator, it has a slew of scientific instruments, including a camera with a zoom telephoto lens that can take high-definition video, panoramic color, and 3D images. The rover also carries a little helicopter drone called Ingenuity with which NASA will attempt to scout the planet’s landscape. Perseverance is a sign of the times biblically in two ways. First, its technological ingenuity is a fulfillment of the prophecy of the increase in knowledge in the end times (Daniel 12:4). Second, the evolutionary mythology that drives NASA today is a fulfillment of the prophecy of end-time skepticism (2 Peter 3:3-6). Chris Carbery, CEO of Explore Mars, said, “Perseverance is attempting to answer one of the biggest questions in the history of humanity: Is there life elsewhere in the solar system?” This objective is based on evolutionary presuppositions that deny the Creator in spite of overwhelming evidence that the universe did not create itself. Evolution is based on the ridiculous idea that everything came from nothing, life came from non-life, intelligence arose from non-intelligence, and incredible complexity was an accident. “Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts, And saying, Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation. For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water: Whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished: But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men” (2 Peter 3:3-7).


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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