Friday Church News Notes
Volume 22, Issue 11 - March 12, 2021
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.
CRITICAL RACE THEORY VS. THE BIBLE (Friday Church News Notes, March 12, 2021, www.wayoflife.org, fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - Critical race theory is a Marxist philosophy and program to tear down all existing biblically-influenced societal, political, and government structures and to replace them with the “new man,” a mythical ideal society. It is “critical” in that it aims to criticize all existing structures. It is a “race” theory in that it divides men into “races” and claims that certain races, particularly the white “race” and those who are aligned with the white “race,” are inherently evil. It is a theory in that it is not a fact. It should be called Critical Race Hypothesis, because a theory at least has some basis in fact, whereas Critical Race Theory has none. A chief tactic is divide and conquer, but it uses any tactic that is effective, including lies, slander, ridicule, theft, threat, repression, terrorism, and murder. It respects no law. It has no love. It takes many forms so as to infiltrate and deceive. It is Black Lives Matter. It is Antifa. It is the 1619 Project. It is leftist college courses. It is historical revisionism in the public schools. It seeks to pit females against males, blacks against whites, mothers against fathers, children against parents, teachers against parents, singles against married, Democrats against Republicans, young against old. It seeks to legalize and empower unrighteousness and moral filthiness. It hates the Bible. It seeks to destroy the traditional family, the New Testament church, home schooling and private education, the Bill of Rights, personal liberty, a stable government of law and order, Republicanism, capitalism, economic stability. Anything that corrupts, harms, or destroys these things is considered good, because that is the immediate goal. It is arrogant and domineering. Critical Race Theory is being taught in Southern Baptist seminaries (“Former ERLC Scholar Says,” Capstone Report, March 13, 2020). Yet Critical Race Theory is contrary to the Bible’s teaching and therefore must be rejected by every Bible believer. The Bible is not a theory; it is the infallible Word of God. Following are some of the biblical truths that contradict Critical Race Theory: All men have one father, Adam; there is only one “race” of men (Acts 17:26). All men are equally sinners before God; none are righteous; none are superior (Romans 3:10-18, 23). God made man male and female (Genesis 1:27). It is an unchangeable biological fact. Homosexuality is a perversion of God’s plan and is destructive to individuals and society (Romans 1:26-28). Men are to respect laws and obey authority (1 Peter 2:13-17). God forbids dishonor of parents, murder, adultery, stealing, lying, and covetousness (Exodus 20:1-17). Men are to love God and love other men as neighbors (Matthew 22:37-40).
MAINSTREAM MEDIA’S MONEY MOTIVE (Friday Church News Notes, March 12, 2021, www.wayoflife.org, fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The following is excerpted from “Media and Politics in the Age of Trump,” Origins: Current Events in Historical Perspective, Nov. 2016, Ohio State University and Miami University: “[T]he news organizations covering Trump, particularly television news, are reaping incredible amounts of money from their election coverage. Cable news organizations are expected to make a record-breaking $2.5 billion this election season. ... The news media’s obsession with Trump is symptomatic of a highly commercialized system. Profit-seeking is in the media’s very DNA and the always-controversial Trump is money in the bank for ratings-driven news media. ... Known as the ‘Big Six,’ these media conglomerates control 90% of the news media in the United States: Comcast Corporation, Walt Disney Company, Time Warner, 21st Century Fox, CBS Corporation, and Viacom. ... Profit-driven media in the United States began on a wide scale in the mid-19th century when technological changes and a growing readership produced the ‘penny press.’ As these cheap, mass-circulation newspapers commercialized and began to rely heavily on advertising revenue, sensationalistic reporting became more pronounced. What came to be called ‘yellow journalism’ in the late 19th century featured salaciousness, dishonest reporting, and sensationalism as a way to sell papers. ... Commercial radio developed in the 1920s ... American radio was quickly subsumed by the oligopoly of large networks. By the mid-1940s, the broadcast industry was dominated by four networks: the National Broadcasting Company (NBC), the Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS), the Mutual Broadcasting System (MBS), and the American Broadcasting Company (ABC) ... Most broadcasters viewed their primary role as selling airtime to advertisers who developed programs and promoted their products. ... Shows like soap operas, the term given to 1940s radio serials due to their frequent soap company sponsorship, gave sponsors free rein to air numerous commercials and even to influence actual programming.” The Bible says, “For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows” (1 Timothy 6:10).
LARGEST CHRISTIAN ADOPTION AGENCY IN AMERICA TO SUPPORT LGBT PARENTS (Friday Church News Notes, March 12, 2021, www.wayoflife.org, fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - Bethany Christian Services, the largest Christian adoption agency in America, has announced that it will now place children with same-sex parents. Four years ago, Bethany’s home state of Michigan demanded that the agency place children with LGBT parents for foster care and adoption. This was the result of a series of lawsuits filed in 2017 by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) to force “faith-based agencies” to serve LGBT families. Bethany decided to submit to the government rather than to God’s Word. Now the agency has expanded the decision to all 35 states in which it operates. President Chris Pulasky told employees that “Bethany remains steadfast in its Christian faith” (“Bethany Christian,” Christianity Today, Mar. 1, 2021). But that is impossible. In Romans 1:26-28, the Christian faith labels homosexuality an abomination before God, and in 1 Corinthians 6:9-11, labels it a sin that must be repented of for salvation. When given a choice as to whether to obey man’s law or God’s, Christ’s apostles “answered and said, We ought to obey God rather than man” (Acts 5:29). That is true faithfulness to “the Christian faith.”
BEWARE OF VILE IMAGINATIONS (Friday Church News Notes, March 12, 2021, www.wayoflife.org, fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - In Romans chapter 1, the apostle Paul describes the spiritual and moral downfall of the human race. It began with the rejection of God and centers on the wicked imaginations of the heart. “Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened” (Ro. 1:21). The result was idolatry and moral perversion (Ro. 1:23-28). The downward path centers on “vile affections” and “a reprobate mind” (Ro. 1:26, 28). These are the product of allowing the mind to dwell upon filthy and wicked things. When a person allows his mind to dwell upon evil, allows himself to entertain and pursue evil in the imagination, he opens the door to every evil thing. FBI profiler Robert Kessler, who has studied many serial killers, says, “My research convinced me that the key was not the early trauma but the development of perverse thought patterns. These men were motivated to murder by their fantasies. ‘It is a development,’ one killer reported, ‘Getting tired of a certain level of fantasy and then going even further and even more bizarre.’ ... All the murderers that we interviewed had compelling fantasies; they murdered to make happen in the real world what they had seen over and over again in their minds since childhood and adolescence. As adolescents, instead of developing normal peer-related interests and activities, where they couldn’t completely control what went on, the murderers retreated into sexually violent fantasies, where they could, in effect, control their world” (Kessler, Whoever Fights Monsters, p. 110). This is a very loud warning in the internet age and the video game age, when every type of vile imagination is available at the click of a mouse or the swipe of a finger. We cannot control what comes into the mind, but we can control what we willfully put into our minds, and we can control what we allow the mind to dwell upon. It has been said, “You cannot keep a bird from lighting on your head, but you can keep him from building a nest there.” It is far better to be too careful than not careful enough.
CHURCHES IN EUROPE UNDER ISLAM (Friday Church News Notes, March 12, 2021, www.wayoflife.org, fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The following is excerpted from “Churches in Europe,” PJMedia, Mar. 2, 2021: “A few days after Muslim migrants firebombed an 800-year-old Swedish church twice over the course of four days—once on Jan. 20, 2021, and another on Jan. 24—a Feb 4 report came out saying that 829 ‘hate crimes’ against churches in Sweden have been reported between just 2012-2018, or about 138 attacks on average every year. Thus the churches of Sweden join those of other Western European nations that have taken in sizable Muslim migrants. In France, for example, two churches are vandalized every day. According to a 2019 PI-News report, 1,063 attacks on Christian churches or symbols (crucifixes, icons, statues) were registered in France in 2018. This represents a 17 percent increase compared to the previous year (2017) when 878 attacks were registered—meaning such attacks are only going from bad to worse. ... Similar reports are coming from Germany. After reporting how four separate churches were vandalized and/or torched over the course of four weeks in 2019, PI-News, a German news site, explained: ‘In this country, there is a creeping war against everything that symbolizes Christianity: attacks on summit crosses, on holy figures on the way, on churches and recently also on cemeteries.’ Although mainstream media regularly claim that the vandals—who are seldom caught to verify their identities—are ‘mentally ill’ or part of ‘right-wing extremist’ groups, as the recent Swedish report states, PI-News offers a hint: ‘Crosses are broken, altars smashed, Bibles lit, baptismal fonts overturned, and the church doors smeared with Islamic expressions like ‘Allahu Akbar.’”
WHAT WILL NOT BE IN HELL (Friday Church News Notes, March 12, 2021, www.wayoflife.org, fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The following are a few of the things that will not be in hell: God, the Bible, hymns, fellowship with friends and loved ones, light, answered prayer, love, kindness, grace, mercy, comfort, leisurely walks, children’s laughter, sunsets, gentle breezes, streams and rivers, trees, grass, flowers, sweet smells, an ocean beach, television, movies, internet, social media, music, sports, games, news, water, rest, alcohol, drugs, pain killers, puppies, money, entertainment, freedom, choice, pity, kind words, smiles, respite, the preaching of the gospel, a way out, hope.
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).
MAINSTREAM MEDIA’S MONEY MOTIVE (Friday Church News Notes, March 12, 2021, www.wayoflife.org, fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The following is excerpted from “Media and Politics in the Age of Trump,” Origins: Current Events in Historical Perspective, Nov. 2016, Ohio State University and Miami University: “[T]he news organizations covering Trump, particularly television news, are reaping incredible amounts of money from their election coverage. Cable news organizations are expected to make a record-breaking $2.5 billion this election season. ... The news media’s obsession with Trump is symptomatic of a highly commercialized system. Profit-seeking is in the media’s very DNA and the always-controversial Trump is money in the bank for ratings-driven news media. ... Known as the ‘Big Six,’ these media conglomerates control 90% of the news media in the United States: Comcast Corporation, Walt Disney Company, Time Warner, 21st Century Fox, CBS Corporation, and Viacom. ... Profit-driven media in the United States began on a wide scale in the mid-19th century when technological changes and a growing readership produced the ‘penny press.’ As these cheap, mass-circulation newspapers commercialized and began to rely heavily on advertising revenue, sensationalistic reporting became more pronounced. What came to be called ‘yellow journalism’ in the late 19th century featured salaciousness, dishonest reporting, and sensationalism as a way to sell papers. ... Commercial radio developed in the 1920s ... American radio was quickly subsumed by the oligopoly of large networks. By the mid-1940s, the broadcast industry was dominated by four networks: the National Broadcasting Company (NBC), the Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS), the Mutual Broadcasting System (MBS), and the American Broadcasting Company (ABC) ... Most broadcasters viewed their primary role as selling airtime to advertisers who developed programs and promoted their products. ... Shows like soap operas, the term given to 1940s radio serials due to their frequent soap company sponsorship, gave sponsors free rein to air numerous commercials and even to influence actual programming.” The Bible says, “For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows” (1 Timothy 6:10).
LARGEST CHRISTIAN ADOPTION AGENCY IN AMERICA TO SUPPORT LGBT PARENTS (Friday Church News Notes, March 12, 2021, www.wayoflife.org, fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - Bethany Christian Services, the largest Christian adoption agency in America, has announced that it will now place children with same-sex parents. Four years ago, Bethany’s home state of Michigan demanded that the agency place children with LGBT parents for foster care and adoption. This was the result of a series of lawsuits filed in 2017 by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) to force “faith-based agencies” to serve LGBT families. Bethany decided to submit to the government rather than to God’s Word. Now the agency has expanded the decision to all 35 states in which it operates. President Chris Pulasky told employees that “Bethany remains steadfast in its Christian faith” (“Bethany Christian,” Christianity Today, Mar. 1, 2021). But that is impossible. In Romans 1:26-28, the Christian faith labels homosexuality an abomination before God, and in 1 Corinthians 6:9-11, labels it a sin that must be repented of for salvation. When given a choice as to whether to obey man’s law or God’s, Christ’s apostles “answered and said, We ought to obey God rather than man” (Acts 5:29). That is true faithfulness to “the Christian faith.”
BEWARE OF VILE IMAGINATIONS (Friday Church News Notes, March 12, 2021, www.wayoflife.org, fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - In Romans chapter 1, the apostle Paul describes the spiritual and moral downfall of the human race. It began with the rejection of God and centers on the wicked imaginations of the heart. “Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened” (Ro. 1:21). The result was idolatry and moral perversion (Ro. 1:23-28). The downward path centers on “vile affections” and “a reprobate mind” (Ro. 1:26, 28). These are the product of allowing the mind to dwell upon filthy and wicked things. When a person allows his mind to dwell upon evil, allows himself to entertain and pursue evil in the imagination, he opens the door to every evil thing. FBI profiler Robert Kessler, who has studied many serial killers, says, “My research convinced me that the key was not the early trauma but the development of perverse thought patterns. These men were motivated to murder by their fantasies. ‘It is a development,’ one killer reported, ‘Getting tired of a certain level of fantasy and then going even further and even more bizarre.’ ... All the murderers that we interviewed had compelling fantasies; they murdered to make happen in the real world what they had seen over and over again in their minds since childhood and adolescence. As adolescents, instead of developing normal peer-related interests and activities, where they couldn’t completely control what went on, the murderers retreated into sexually violent fantasies, where they could, in effect, control their world” (Kessler, Whoever Fights Monsters, p. 110). This is a very loud warning in the internet age and the video game age, when every type of vile imagination is available at the click of a mouse or the swipe of a finger. We cannot control what comes into the mind, but we can control what we willfully put into our minds, and we can control what we allow the mind to dwell upon. It has been said, “You cannot keep a bird from lighting on your head, but you can keep him from building a nest there.” It is far better to be too careful than not careful enough.
CHURCHES IN EUROPE UNDER ISLAM (Friday Church News Notes, March 12, 2021, www.wayoflife.org, fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The following is excerpted from “Churches in Europe,” PJMedia, Mar. 2, 2021: “A few days after Muslim migrants firebombed an 800-year-old Swedish church twice over the course of four days—once on Jan. 20, 2021, and another on Jan. 24—a Feb 4 report came out saying that 829 ‘hate crimes’ against churches in Sweden have been reported between just 2012-2018, or about 138 attacks on average every year. Thus the churches of Sweden join those of other Western European nations that have taken in sizable Muslim migrants. In France, for example, two churches are vandalized every day. According to a 2019 PI-News report, 1,063 attacks on Christian churches or symbols (crucifixes, icons, statues) were registered in France in 2018. This represents a 17 percent increase compared to the previous year (2017) when 878 attacks were registered—meaning such attacks are only going from bad to worse. ... Similar reports are coming from Germany. After reporting how four separate churches were vandalized and/or torched over the course of four weeks in 2019, PI-News, a German news site, explained: ‘In this country, there is a creeping war against everything that symbolizes Christianity: attacks on summit crosses, on holy figures on the way, on churches and recently also on cemeteries.’ Although mainstream media regularly claim that the vandals—who are seldom caught to verify their identities—are ‘mentally ill’ or part of ‘right-wing extremist’ groups, as the recent Swedish report states, PI-News offers a hint: ‘Crosses are broken, altars smashed, Bibles lit, baptismal fonts overturned, and the church doors smeared with Islamic expressions like ‘Allahu Akbar.’”
WHAT WILL NOT BE IN HELL (Friday Church News Notes, March 12, 2021, www.wayoflife.org, fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The following are a few of the things that will not be in hell: God, the Bible, hymns, fellowship with friends and loved ones, light, answered prayer, love, kindness, grace, mercy, comfort, leisurely walks, children’s laughter, sunsets, gentle breezes, streams and rivers, trees, grass, flowers, sweet smells, an ocean beach, television, movies, internet, social media, music, sports, games, news, water, rest, alcohol, drugs, pain killers, puppies, money, entertainment, freedom, choice, pity, kind words, smiles, respite, the preaching of the gospel, a way out, hope.
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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