Friday Church News Notes
Volume 22, Issue 27 - July 2, 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.
I’M NOT JOINING THE FRETTERS (Friday Church News Notes, July 2, 2021, www.wayoflife.org, fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The Bible instructs God’s people not to fret about the wicked. “Fret not thyself because of evildoers, neither be thou envious against the workers of iniquity. For they shall soon be cut down like the grass, and wither as the green herb. Trust in the LORD, and do good; so shalt thou dwell in the land, and verily thou shalt be fed. Delight thyself also in the LORD; and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart” (Ps. 27:1-4). This shows very plainly the error of America’s political conservative movement. Fretting permeates politically conservative talk radio, web sites, and social media. These days they are fretting about the border, Biden’s cognitive decline, Kamala Harris, gun control, oil pipelines, wokeness, Russian hackers, violence in the cities, inflation, and the infrastructure bill, among many other things. These are genuine concerns, of course, but fretting is not what the believer is to be doing. The questions for God’s people are, first, what can we do, and second, what should we do. Unsaved political conservatives fret because they have no true wisdom and don’t, therefore, understand the fundamental spiritual realities. They have no power (e.g., no political majority; there was no Moral Majority in the 1980s and there is no Wilkow Majority today). And they have no real hope since they aren’t born again and don’t believe Bible prophecy. Instead of fretting, God’s people, first, are to be trusting God (“Trust in the LORD”). The promises of God are myriad. He changes the times and seasons (Da. 2:21); my times are in His hands (Ps. 31:15); all things work together for good to those who love Him (Ro. 8:28), etc. Second, God’s people are to be obeying Christ’s Great Commission. After His resurrection, Christ gave the marching orders for this entire age and it is repeated in Scripture five times by way of emphasis (Matthew 28:18-20; Mark 16:15; Luke 24:44-48; John 20:21; Acts 1:8). It is a very, very big job. It entails preaching the gospel to every soul in every nation, building sound churches, discipling God’s people in “all things,” building the families, training up the children for Christ, discipling youth, educating preachers. When God’s people give their full attention to God’s business they have God’s power. We have been given a spiritual work, and for that business we have mighty spiritual power (2 Co. 10:4-5). If we turn aside to worldly programs, we have no power and we end up fretting. Third, God’s people are to be praying. Prayer is one of our mighty weapons. It is mentioned at least 550 times in the Bible, 174 times in the New Testament. Christ taught much about prayer (Mt. 5:44; 6:5-15; 9:38; 17:21; 21:22; 26:41; Mr. 13:33; Lu. 11:5-13; 18:1-6). Paul taught something about prayer in practically every epistle. How much are we to pray? “Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints” (Eph. 6:18). We are specifically instructed to pray for those who are in authority (1 Ti. 2:1-6). We need to pray more, probably 10 times more in most cases. We need more prayer in private, more prayer in the home, more prayer in the church, more prayer meetings and longer prayer meetings, unhurried prayer meetings. Fourth, God’s people are to be meditating in God’s Word day and night, and that gives them an entirely different worldview than the unsaved, even than the most conservative and religious unsaved. “Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is in the law of the LORD; and in his law doth he meditate day and night. And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper” (Psalm 1:1-3).
MORE EVIDENCE OF SYSTEMIC RACISM IN AMERICA (Friday Church News Notes, July 2, 2021, www.wayoflife.org, fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - Groups like Black Lives Matter and Antifa and their leftist pals in the educational system and beyond claim that America is systemically racist. There can be no doubt about it, as we have documented in the report “Evidence of Systemic Racism in America.” The latest evidence to make the news is the presence of great numbers of black athletes who rise to the professional and Olympic level in America and prosper economically and in many other ways. Gwen Berry is a perfect example. She has risen to national prominence as a track and field star, along the way enjoying America’s free public educational system, scholarships, and a great many other benefits available entirely without regard to race (further clear evidence of the nation’s systemic racism, of course). Since 2011, she has participated in U.S. national trials and championships. Soon thereafter she was invited to join the New York Athletic Club. She represented the U.S. at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Brazil. At the 2019 Pan American Games, she raised her fist at the playing of her home nation’s national anthem. She said, “I’m here to represent those who died due to systemic racism” (“Gwen Berry,” Wikipedia). During 2021 U.S. Olympic trials this past weekend, as a third-place winner, Berry continued her protest against America’s racism by turning her back on the U.S. flag during “The Star-Spangled Banner.” There can be no doubt that Berry illustrates what a terribly racist nation America is. Doubtless, too, she would be treated far better in the Marxist states of China, North Korea, Cuba, Laos, and Vietnam, and any number of other nations, but she has chosen to stay in awful America and suffer personal depravation while fighting for change.
FLORIDA GOVERNOR SIGNS LAW REQUIRING STUDENTS TO LEARN ‘EVILS OF COMMUNISM” (Friday Church News Notes, July 2, 2021, www.wayoflife.org, fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The following is excerpted from “DeSantis Signs Law,” The Daily Wire, June 22, 2021: “Republican Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed three bills into law Tuesday that boosted civics education in the public school system and specifically teaches students the horrors of communism. ‘The sad reality is that only two in five Americans can correctly name the three branches of government, and more than a third of Americans cannot name any of the rights guaranteed by the First Amendment,’ DeSantis said. ‘It is abundantly clear that we need to do a much better job of educating our students in civics to prepare them for the rest of their lives. The bill also expands our previous efforts in civics to add a requirement for the high school government class that students receive instruction on the evils of communism and totalitarian etiologies,’ DeSantis said. ‘We have a number of people in Florida, particularly southern Florida, who’ve escaped totalitarian regimes, who’ve escaped communist dictatorships to be able to come to America. We want all students to understand the difference, why would somebody flee across shark infested waters say, leaving from Cuba to come to southern Florida?’ ... The bills that DeSantis signed into law are the following: House Bill 5 requires the Florida Department of Education to create an integrated K-12 civic education curriculum that includes an understanding of citizens’ shared rights and responsibilities under the Constitution and Bill of Rights. It further expands required instruction in high school to include a comparative discussion of political ideologies that conflict with the principles of freedom and democracy essential to the founding principles of the United States, such as communism and totalitarianism. ... Senate Bill 1108 requires state college and state university students to take both a civic literacy course and a civic literacy assessment as a graduation requirement, bridging civics education between our high schools and postsecondary institutions.” House Bill 233 prohibits the governing boards of colleges and universities from shielding “students, faculty, or staff at state universities from free speech protected under the First Amendment to the United States Constitution.”
COVID DEATHS DOWN TO 300 PER DAY IN THE U.S., 99.2% ARE OF THE UNVACCINATED (Friday Church News Notes, July 2, 2021, www.wayoflife.org, fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The following is excerpted from “Nearly all,” Fox News, June 24, 2021: “Nearly all COVID-19 deaths in the U.S. now are in people who weren’t vaccinated, a staggering demonstration of how effective the shots have been and an indication that deaths per day--now down to under 300--could be practically zero if everyone eligible got the vaccine. An Associated Press analysis of available government data from May shows that ‘breakthrough’ infections in fully vaccinated people accounted for fewer than 1,200 of more than 853,000 COVID-19 hospitalizations. That’s about 0.1%. And only about 150 of the more than 18,000 COVID-19 deaths in May were in fully vaccinated people. That translates to about 0.8%, or five deaths per day on average. ... And CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said on Tuesday that the vaccine is so effective that ‘nearly every death, especially among adults, due to COVID-19, is, at this point, entirely preventable.’ She called such deaths ‘particularly tragic.’ Deaths in the U.S. have plummeted from a peak of more than 3,400 per day on average in mid-January, one month into the vaccination drive. About 63% of all vaccine-eligible Americans--those 12 and older--have received at least one dose, and 53% are fully vaccinated, according to the CDC.”
LIVING STONES AND FLYING FLOWERS (Friday Church News Notes, July 2, 2021, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The following is from CreationMoments.com, June 21, 2021: “If, of all the millions of living things on Earth, a few creatures happened to look like something they are not and this helped protect them, we might put it down to chance. However, the creation is filled with too many creatures who practice look-alike deception to put it down to chance. Africa’s southern deserts have a plant called living stones. In a desert, any vegetation can be a welcome source of food or moisture. In this setting, a plant that doesn’t look like a plant has an advantage. And living stones look like nothing more than just another rock in the sand. Wasps can be some of the nastiest insects in nature. An insect in Costa Rica called the mantispid looks very much like the feared wasp, even up close. Then again, the hover fly looks like a wasp and sounds like a wasp because the frequency of its wing beats is almost identical to a wasp. Treehoppers have a very odd body shape that comes to a point on top. Not only do they look like thorns, but they usually stay on bushes that have thorns, orienting their bodies on the branches just like true thorns. This effectively hides them from hungry birds. Larval plant hoppers use a different form of deception. They attach themselves in groups on branches, orienting their frilly and feathery bodies together so they look like a flower! The clever forethought and planning involved in nature’s deceptions rule out any thought that these creatures designed themselves. Author: Paul A. Bartz. Ref: ‘Four masters of deceit,’ National Geographic, Mar. 1980. p. 410.”
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).
MORE EVIDENCE OF SYSTEMIC RACISM IN AMERICA (Friday Church News Notes, July 2, 2021, www.wayoflife.org, fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - Groups like Black Lives Matter and Antifa and their leftist pals in the educational system and beyond claim that America is systemically racist. There can be no doubt about it, as we have documented in the report “Evidence of Systemic Racism in America.” The latest evidence to make the news is the presence of great numbers of black athletes who rise to the professional and Olympic level in America and prosper economically and in many other ways. Gwen Berry is a perfect example. She has risen to national prominence as a track and field star, along the way enjoying America’s free public educational system, scholarships, and a great many other benefits available entirely without regard to race (further clear evidence of the nation’s systemic racism, of course). Since 2011, she has participated in U.S. national trials and championships. Soon thereafter she was invited to join the New York Athletic Club. She represented the U.S. at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Brazil. At the 2019 Pan American Games, she raised her fist at the playing of her home nation’s national anthem. She said, “I’m here to represent those who died due to systemic racism” (“Gwen Berry,” Wikipedia). During 2021 U.S. Olympic trials this past weekend, as a third-place winner, Berry continued her protest against America’s racism by turning her back on the U.S. flag during “The Star-Spangled Banner.” There can be no doubt that Berry illustrates what a terribly racist nation America is. Doubtless, too, she would be treated far better in the Marxist states of China, North Korea, Cuba, Laos, and Vietnam, and any number of other nations, but she has chosen to stay in awful America and suffer personal depravation while fighting for change.
FLORIDA GOVERNOR SIGNS LAW REQUIRING STUDENTS TO LEARN ‘EVILS OF COMMUNISM” (Friday Church News Notes, July 2, 2021, www.wayoflife.org, fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The following is excerpted from “DeSantis Signs Law,” The Daily Wire, June 22, 2021: “Republican Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed three bills into law Tuesday that boosted civics education in the public school system and specifically teaches students the horrors of communism. ‘The sad reality is that only two in five Americans can correctly name the three branches of government, and more than a third of Americans cannot name any of the rights guaranteed by the First Amendment,’ DeSantis said. ‘It is abundantly clear that we need to do a much better job of educating our students in civics to prepare them for the rest of their lives. The bill also expands our previous efforts in civics to add a requirement for the high school government class that students receive instruction on the evils of communism and totalitarian etiologies,’ DeSantis said. ‘We have a number of people in Florida, particularly southern Florida, who’ve escaped totalitarian regimes, who’ve escaped communist dictatorships to be able to come to America. We want all students to understand the difference, why would somebody flee across shark infested waters say, leaving from Cuba to come to southern Florida?’ ... The bills that DeSantis signed into law are the following: House Bill 5 requires the Florida Department of Education to create an integrated K-12 civic education curriculum that includes an understanding of citizens’ shared rights and responsibilities under the Constitution and Bill of Rights. It further expands required instruction in high school to include a comparative discussion of political ideologies that conflict with the principles of freedom and democracy essential to the founding principles of the United States, such as communism and totalitarianism. ... Senate Bill 1108 requires state college and state university students to take both a civic literacy course and a civic literacy assessment as a graduation requirement, bridging civics education between our high schools and postsecondary institutions.” House Bill 233 prohibits the governing boards of colleges and universities from shielding “students, faculty, or staff at state universities from free speech protected under the First Amendment to the United States Constitution.”
COVID DEATHS DOWN TO 300 PER DAY IN THE U.S., 99.2% ARE OF THE UNVACCINATED (Friday Church News Notes, July 2, 2021, www.wayoflife.org, fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The following is excerpted from “Nearly all,” Fox News, June 24, 2021: “Nearly all COVID-19 deaths in the U.S. now are in people who weren’t vaccinated, a staggering demonstration of how effective the shots have been and an indication that deaths per day--now down to under 300--could be practically zero if everyone eligible got the vaccine. An Associated Press analysis of available government data from May shows that ‘breakthrough’ infections in fully vaccinated people accounted for fewer than 1,200 of more than 853,000 COVID-19 hospitalizations. That’s about 0.1%. And only about 150 of the more than 18,000 COVID-19 deaths in May were in fully vaccinated people. That translates to about 0.8%, or five deaths per day on average. ... And CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said on Tuesday that the vaccine is so effective that ‘nearly every death, especially among adults, due to COVID-19, is, at this point, entirely preventable.’ She called such deaths ‘particularly tragic.’ Deaths in the U.S. have plummeted from a peak of more than 3,400 per day on average in mid-January, one month into the vaccination drive. About 63% of all vaccine-eligible Americans--those 12 and older--have received at least one dose, and 53% are fully vaccinated, according to the CDC.”
LIVING STONES AND FLYING FLOWERS (Friday Church News Notes, July 2, 2021, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The following is from CreationMoments.com, June 21, 2021: “If, of all the millions of living things on Earth, a few creatures happened to look like something they are not and this helped protect them, we might put it down to chance. However, the creation is filled with too many creatures who practice look-alike deception to put it down to chance. Africa’s southern deserts have a plant called living stones. In a desert, any vegetation can be a welcome source of food or moisture. In this setting, a plant that doesn’t look like a plant has an advantage. And living stones look like nothing more than just another rock in the sand. Wasps can be some of the nastiest insects in nature. An insect in Costa Rica called the mantispid looks very much like the feared wasp, even up close. Then again, the hover fly looks like a wasp and sounds like a wasp because the frequency of its wing beats is almost identical to a wasp. Treehoppers have a very odd body shape that comes to a point on top. Not only do they look like thorns, but they usually stay on bushes that have thorns, orienting their bodies on the branches just like true thorns. This effectively hides them from hungry birds. Larval plant hoppers use a different form of deception. They attach themselves in groups on branches, orienting their frilly and feathery bodies together so they look like a flower! The clever forethought and planning involved in nature’s deceptions rule out any thought that these creatures designed themselves. Author: Paul A. Bartz. Ref: ‘Four masters of deceit,’ National Geographic, Mar. 1980. p. 410.”
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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