Friday Church News Notes
Volume 22, Issue 29 - July 16, 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.
Pastor Tim Stephens released from the Calgary Remand Centre being greeted by his children
ALBERTA PASTOR FREED FROM JAIL, CHURCH PROPERTIES UNCHAINED (Friday Church News Notes, July 16, 2021, www.wayoflife.org, fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The following is excerpted from “Pastor Tim Stephens Freed,” jccf.ca, July 1, 2021: “The Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms is pleased to announce that Pastor Timothy Stephens of Fairview Baptist Church was released from the Calgary Remand Centre earlier today. Pastor Stephens has been in jail since Monday, June 14. ... The Justice Centre also confirms that Fairview Baptist Church in Calgary, and Grace Life Church near Edmonton, have been unchained and released from government seizure and will be returned to their congregations effective today. Alberta’s public health orders are subject to Charter challenges in two separate court actions, both dating back to 2020. ... ‘While refusing to present any medical or scientific evidence in court to justify public health orders, the Alberta government has gained international notoriety by jailing three different pastors,’ states Jay Cameron, Justice Centre Litigation Director. ... On the afternoon of Monday, June 14, the Calgary Police Service (CPS) arrived at Pastor Stephens’ house and arrested him in front of his wife and eight distraught children. ... This June 14 arrest of Pastor Stephens relates to an alleged outdoor church service held on June 6, 2021 in Calgary, with about 200 congregants of Fairview Baptist church. A police helicopter was deployed to search for and detect this peaceful outdoor gathering, and to collect evidence against Pastor Stephens of non-compliance with public health restrictions. ... The Alberta government has failed to produce any evidence that outdoor services are a threat to public health. ... The Kenney government in Alberta, including Health Minister Tyler Shandro and Chief Medical Officer Dr. Deena Hinshaw, have engaged in a months-long systematic attack on peaceful worship, arresting and incarcerating three Christian pastors for the ‘offence’ of peacefully gathering to worship, and barricading the pastors’ churches with an intimidating show of police force of scores of officers. Pastors and congregants were issued tickets totalling tens of thousands of dollars, and churches had their locks changed and double and triple fencing erected around them. Health officials and police worked in consort to spy on congregants and church leadership. ... ‘The Alberta Crown has failed entirely to produce evidence to justify its tyrannical lockdowns, a prerequisite under the Charter to justify lockdowns measures that have inflicted much harm on Albertans in the past fifteen months,’ concludes Cameron.”
FREED CANADA PASTOR SAYS, “DON’T FEAR MAN, FEAR GOD” (Friday Church News Notes, July 16, 2021, www.wayoflife.org, fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The following is excerpted from “Canadian Pastor,” Christian Headlines, July 6, 2021: “A Canadian pastor who was released from jail last week told his congregation Sunday he was strengthened by the support and prayers of Christians around the world. Tim Stephens, the pastor of Fairview Baptist Church in Calgary, was released July 1, more than two weeks after he was arrested for holding church services in violation of provincial COVID-19 health restrictions. ... Tears in his eyes, Stephens told the congregation he was ‘encouraged that many of you were strengthened and emboldened in your faith.’ ... ‘Each day, He sustained me and each day I heard of His work among you and in the world,’ Stephens said. Stephens preached from Matthew 10, in which Jesus told the disciples they would face persecution. ... ‘The last 17 nights I’ve spent in jail,’ he said, ‘have given me opportunities to declare the glory of Christ, within and without. [There] never has been a time in my life when I’ve been so hated by people. But never has there been a time in my life when I felt so loved by people [at] the same time. Don’t fear men. Shout from the rooftops that Jesus Christ is King of all kings. ... Fear God. Jesus said [that] God is the one who is going to judge and God is the one who is going to care for you.’ In a blog this summer, Stephens acknowledged COVID-19 is ‘serious’ but argued the ‘cure should not be worse than the disease,’ pointing to problems of mental health and suicide. His church had not had a ‘single transmission’ of COVID-19, he wrote.”
POTTERY WITH THE NAME “JERUBBAAL” FOUND IN ISRAEL (Friday Church News Notes, July 16, 2021, www.wayoflife.org, fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The following is excerpted from “Israel Archaeologists Find Biblical Name,” Haaretz, July 12, 2021: “Archaeologists digging in southern Israel may have found the name of Jerubbaal, scourge of the Midianites, on a broken fragment of a Judges-era clay pot. The inscription in primitive alphabetic writing from the time of the biblical Judges was found in Khirbat er-Ra’i, near Kiryat Gat in southern Israel. ... The shard with the rare ancient writing was found in a subterranean storage pit that had been lined with stones. ... Khirbat er-Ra’i is being excavated under the direction of Prof. Yossi Garfinkel of the Hebrew University, Sa’ar Ganor at the Israel Antiquities Authority, and Dr. Kyle Keimer and Dr. Gil Davis of Macquarie University in Sydney, Australia. The writing was deciphered by epigraphic expert Christopher Rollston of George Washington University, who discerned the letters yod, resh, beit, ayin, lamed--YRBA’L, i.e., Jerubbaal. The original inscription had been longer but is lost ... based on time and location, the archaeologists surmise that he may have been none other than the biblical figure Gideon (also known as Jerubbaal), son of Joash, the Abiezrite, whose activities are described at length in the book of Judges. ... Sa’ar Ganor of the Israel Antiquities Authority tends to the theory that it [belonged to the biblical Jerubbaal], on the grounds of his interpretation that the syllables ‘Jeru’ stem from the ancient root of ‘rav’ in the sense of ‘fight’ (not rabbi); and who did he fight? Baal. ‘He broke Baal’s altar,’ Ganor points out, according to the biblical narrative.” CONCLUDING COMMENT: “Jerubbaal” was not a common name. It was a name given to Gideon because of the unique occasion when he broke Baal’s altar (Judges 6:28-32). A true worshiper of Baal would not have had that name, and no other Israelite would have had it.
CUBANS PROTESTING TO DEMAND END OF COMMUNISM (Friday Church News Notes, July 16, 2021, www.wayoflife.org, fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The following is excerpted from “Anti-Government Protests Erupt,” Daily Caller, July 11, 2021: “Thousands of protesters marched the streets throughout Cuba Sunday retaliating against the country’s communist regime. The Cuban Communist Party elected Miguel Diaz-Canel to replace Raul Castro as president during its April 19, 2018 election, Reuters reported. Cubans in over 32 cities protested in retaliation to the communist regime chanting ‘Freedom! Down with Communism!’ and ‘Patria y Vida’ (Homeland and Life) in a live Facebook video. The demonstrators demanded access to food, medicine, vaccines and the end to communism amid a massive Covid-19 outbreak. ... Footage showed a group of protesters marching in the Malecón waving the American flag while chanting ‘Libertad!’ (Liberty). ... A crowd of protesters gathered outside of the Communist Party headquarters chanting, ‘Cuba isn’t yours!’ ... Santiago de Cuba police joined the mass protests, marching alongside the demonstrators, footage showed.” Armando Simon, who was born in Cuba, says, “The Communist regime is bankrupt. It took a beautiful, prosperous country and, as with every country Communists control, ran it to the ground. Through the years, the government has taken out loans and in every case has defaulted” (The Federalist, June 2, 2017).
LIFE IN COMMUNIST CUBA (Friday Church News Notes, July 16, 2021, www.wayoflife.org, fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The following is excerpted from “Here’s What Life Is Like,” Daily Caller, Feb. 4, 2020: “Members of the student activist group Turning Point USA (TPUSA) traveled to Cuba to find out what a full generation of socialism has done for the once-thriving country. ‘Everything you’ve ever seen about Cuba is a lie,’ TPUSA’s Benny Johnson warned viewers in a video published Monday. ... the ‘effects of socialism are everywhere,’ as Johnson noted, and Cuba’s citizens are suffering ... Cuban citizens, the activists found, are forced to endure hours-long waits for groceries and gas; one option for each food product in grocery stores; no fresh fruit, fresh vegetables or fresh meat; ‘oppressive government surveillance’; streets covered in trash and reeking of filth; broken infrastructure and more. ... ‘These ideas [communism] have devastating consequences wherever they’re tried and the same would be true in our country [America] just as it was in Cuba,’ Kirk said. ‘It’s never been more important for Americans to see the truth with their owns eyes.’ ... Johnson said: ‘The effects of socialism are everywhere [in Cuba]--crumbling infrastructure and disgusting living conditions. That is what socialism has brought to Cuba. Maybe the socialists in America should take a short trip, a short 90 mile trip, and come here and say they want this in America,’ Johnson added.”
SMART SQUIRRELS AND MAPLE SUGAR (Friday Church News Notes, July 16, 2021, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The following is from CreationMoments.com, June 29, 2021: “Squirrels often seem to run about without any purpose. However, a naturalist in the State of Maine recently discovered that the squirrel’s activities are well planned and efficient. It was a cold January day when the naturalist was watching a red squirrel who seemed to be nibbling on a sugar maple. Then the squirrel would run to a tree where some of the sap had leaked out and lap at it with his tongue. The naturalist knew that conventional wisdom said it was too early to tap trees for sugar. He also knew that the sap from the trees is 98 percent water and could not provide enough energy to keep the squirrel going in cold weather. Becoming more curious, he decided to study the squirrels’ activity in detail. He discovered that the red squirrels were systematically tapping the sugar maples with a peculiar bite into the tree. Each bite went through the outer and inner bark and into the xylem where the sap runs. The squirrels were then allowing the running sap to dry until the sugar content was more than 55 percent. Not only were squirrels tapping just the maples, they only tapped them when the weather was right for the sap to run. The mad running up and down the trees actually followed a careful daily schedule of tree visitations that could include over 70 trees! Could it be that humans learned from squirrels to tap sugar maples? Whatever the answer to that question, we know that it was the Creator Himself Who taught the squirrel the processing and use of this sugary winter treat. Author: Paul A. Bartz. Ref: Heinrich, Brendt, 1991, ‘Nutcracker sweets,’ Natural History, Feb. p. 4.”
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).
FREED CANADA PASTOR SAYS, “DON’T FEAR MAN, FEAR GOD” (Friday Church News Notes, July 16, 2021, www.wayoflife.org, fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The following is excerpted from “Canadian Pastor,” Christian Headlines, July 6, 2021: “A Canadian pastor who was released from jail last week told his congregation Sunday he was strengthened by the support and prayers of Christians around the world. Tim Stephens, the pastor of Fairview Baptist Church in Calgary, was released July 1, more than two weeks after he was arrested for holding church services in violation of provincial COVID-19 health restrictions. ... Tears in his eyes, Stephens told the congregation he was ‘encouraged that many of you were strengthened and emboldened in your faith.’ ... ‘Each day, He sustained me and each day I heard of His work among you and in the world,’ Stephens said. Stephens preached from Matthew 10, in which Jesus told the disciples they would face persecution. ... ‘The last 17 nights I’ve spent in jail,’ he said, ‘have given me opportunities to declare the glory of Christ, within and without. [There] never has been a time in my life when I’ve been so hated by people. But never has there been a time in my life when I felt so loved by people [at] the same time. Don’t fear men. Shout from the rooftops that Jesus Christ is King of all kings. ... Fear God. Jesus said [that] God is the one who is going to judge and God is the one who is going to care for you.’ In a blog this summer, Stephens acknowledged COVID-19 is ‘serious’ but argued the ‘cure should not be worse than the disease,’ pointing to problems of mental health and suicide. His church had not had a ‘single transmission’ of COVID-19, he wrote.”
POTTERY WITH THE NAME “JERUBBAAL” FOUND IN ISRAEL (Friday Church News Notes, July 16, 2021, www.wayoflife.org, fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The following is excerpted from “Israel Archaeologists Find Biblical Name,” Haaretz, July 12, 2021: “Archaeologists digging in southern Israel may have found the name of Jerubbaal, scourge of the Midianites, on a broken fragment of a Judges-era clay pot. The inscription in primitive alphabetic writing from the time of the biblical Judges was found in Khirbat er-Ra’i, near Kiryat Gat in southern Israel. ... The shard with the rare ancient writing was found in a subterranean storage pit that had been lined with stones. ... Khirbat er-Ra’i is being excavated under the direction of Prof. Yossi Garfinkel of the Hebrew University, Sa’ar Ganor at the Israel Antiquities Authority, and Dr. Kyle Keimer and Dr. Gil Davis of Macquarie University in Sydney, Australia. The writing was deciphered by epigraphic expert Christopher Rollston of George Washington University, who discerned the letters yod, resh, beit, ayin, lamed--YRBA’L, i.e., Jerubbaal. The original inscription had been longer but is lost ... based on time and location, the archaeologists surmise that he may have been none other than the biblical figure Gideon (also known as Jerubbaal), son of Joash, the Abiezrite, whose activities are described at length in the book of Judges. ... Sa’ar Ganor of the Israel Antiquities Authority tends to the theory that it [belonged to the biblical Jerubbaal], on the grounds of his interpretation that the syllables ‘Jeru’ stem from the ancient root of ‘rav’ in the sense of ‘fight’ (not rabbi); and who did he fight? Baal. ‘He broke Baal’s altar,’ Ganor points out, according to the biblical narrative.” CONCLUDING COMMENT: “Jerubbaal” was not a common name. It was a name given to Gideon because of the unique occasion when he broke Baal’s altar (Judges 6:28-32). A true worshiper of Baal would not have had that name, and no other Israelite would have had it.
CUBANS PROTESTING TO DEMAND END OF COMMUNISM (Friday Church News Notes, July 16, 2021, www.wayoflife.org, fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The following is excerpted from “Anti-Government Protests Erupt,” Daily Caller, July 11, 2021: “Thousands of protesters marched the streets throughout Cuba Sunday retaliating against the country’s communist regime. The Cuban Communist Party elected Miguel Diaz-Canel to replace Raul Castro as president during its April 19, 2018 election, Reuters reported. Cubans in over 32 cities protested in retaliation to the communist regime chanting ‘Freedom! Down with Communism!’ and ‘Patria y Vida’ (Homeland and Life) in a live Facebook video. The demonstrators demanded access to food, medicine, vaccines and the end to communism amid a massive Covid-19 outbreak. ... Footage showed a group of protesters marching in the Malecón waving the American flag while chanting ‘Libertad!’ (Liberty). ... A crowd of protesters gathered outside of the Communist Party headquarters chanting, ‘Cuba isn’t yours!’ ... Santiago de Cuba police joined the mass protests, marching alongside the demonstrators, footage showed.” Armando Simon, who was born in Cuba, says, “The Communist regime is bankrupt. It took a beautiful, prosperous country and, as with every country Communists control, ran it to the ground. Through the years, the government has taken out loans and in every case has defaulted” (The Federalist, June 2, 2017).
LIFE IN COMMUNIST CUBA (Friday Church News Notes, July 16, 2021, www.wayoflife.org, fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The following is excerpted from “Here’s What Life Is Like,” Daily Caller, Feb. 4, 2020: “Members of the student activist group Turning Point USA (TPUSA) traveled to Cuba to find out what a full generation of socialism has done for the once-thriving country. ‘Everything you’ve ever seen about Cuba is a lie,’ TPUSA’s Benny Johnson warned viewers in a video published Monday. ... the ‘effects of socialism are everywhere,’ as Johnson noted, and Cuba’s citizens are suffering ... Cuban citizens, the activists found, are forced to endure hours-long waits for groceries and gas; one option for each food product in grocery stores; no fresh fruit, fresh vegetables or fresh meat; ‘oppressive government surveillance’; streets covered in trash and reeking of filth; broken infrastructure and more. ... ‘These ideas [communism] have devastating consequences wherever they’re tried and the same would be true in our country [America] just as it was in Cuba,’ Kirk said. ‘It’s never been more important for Americans to see the truth with their owns eyes.’ ... Johnson said: ‘The effects of socialism are everywhere [in Cuba]--crumbling infrastructure and disgusting living conditions. That is what socialism has brought to Cuba. Maybe the socialists in America should take a short trip, a short 90 mile trip, and come here and say they want this in America,’ Johnson added.”
SMART SQUIRRELS AND MAPLE SUGAR (Friday Church News Notes, July 16, 2021, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The following is from CreationMoments.com, June 29, 2021: “Squirrels often seem to run about without any purpose. However, a naturalist in the State of Maine recently discovered that the squirrel’s activities are well planned and efficient. It was a cold January day when the naturalist was watching a red squirrel who seemed to be nibbling on a sugar maple. Then the squirrel would run to a tree where some of the sap had leaked out and lap at it with his tongue. The naturalist knew that conventional wisdom said it was too early to tap trees for sugar. He also knew that the sap from the trees is 98 percent water and could not provide enough energy to keep the squirrel going in cold weather. Becoming more curious, he decided to study the squirrels’ activity in detail. He discovered that the red squirrels were systematically tapping the sugar maples with a peculiar bite into the tree. Each bite went through the outer and inner bark and into the xylem where the sap runs. The squirrels were then allowing the running sap to dry until the sugar content was more than 55 percent. Not only were squirrels tapping just the maples, they only tapped them when the weather was right for the sap to run. The mad running up and down the trees actually followed a careful daily schedule of tree visitations that could include over 70 trees! Could it be that humans learned from squirrels to tap sugar maples? Whatever the answer to that question, we know that it was the Creator Himself Who taught the squirrel the processing and use of this sugary winter treat. Author: Paul A. Bartz. Ref: Heinrich, Brendt, 1991, ‘Nutcracker sweets,’ Natural History, Feb. p. 4.”
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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