Friday Church News Notes
Volume 23, Issue 32 - August 12, 2022
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.
INVENTOR OF THE MRI PASSES AWAY (Friday Church News Notes, August 12, 2022, www.wayoflife.org, fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - Noted Christian inventor Raymond Damadian passed away on Aug. 3. He was 86. Dr. Damadian, biophysicist, was the recipient of the Lemelson-MIT Achievement Award as “the man who invented the MRI scanner.” In 1988, he was awarded the National Medal of Technology, America’s highest award for applied science, and a year later, he was inducted into the Inventors Hall of Fame, an honor he shared with Thomas Edison, Samuel Morse, and the Wright Brothers. The first MRI scanner that Dr. Damadian and his colleagues built in 1977, “The Indomitable,” resides at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. In a 2012 interview, Dr. Damadian was asked, “Why do you believe that the Bible is true?” He replied, “If you take the trouble to examine the evidence supporting the Bible and contradicting alternative theories, from my perception, the evidence is overwhelmingly in support of the biblical record and vacates alternative thoughts such as evolution. The evidence for evolution is non-existent. In my opinion, evolution is science fiction.” Dr. Damadian was also asked, “How can you be sure of going to heaven?” He replied, “In John 3:3 and 5, Jesus makes this unequivocal. Jesus said, ‘Except that a man be born again, he shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.’ And John 3:16, ‘For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.’”
CONSPIRACY THEORIST ALEX JONES LOSES DEFAMATION TRIAL (Friday Church News Notes, August 12, 2022, www.wayoflife.org, fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - Alex Jones, head of the Infowars conspiracy/nutrition supplement/survival gear empire, has been ordered to pay a draconian $45.2 million in punitive damages for claiming that the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting was a government hoax orchestrated to tighten gun laws. Nineteen children and six staff members died in the massacre, but Jones claimed that no children died and the families were actors in a government hoax and were lying about the event. The current trial is a defamation suit brought by Neil Heslin and Scarlett Lewis, parents of a six-year-old who died at Sandy Hook. Separate suits have been filed against Jones by two other Sandy Hook parents. On August 3, Jones finally acknowledged that the Sandy Hook shooting was “100% real.” Jones has made a long list of conspiratorial claims, including these: the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing was staged by the FBI; the 2011 shooting of congresswoman Gabby Giffords was a government mind control operation; Hillary Clinton was part of a child sex trafficking ring that operated out of a pizza restaurant in Washington, DC; the September 11th attack on the New York Twin Towers was a U.S. government operation (“criminal elements in our government working with Saudi Arabia and others wanted to frame Iraq for it”); the 1995 bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, was a government job to “go after the states’ rights movement” and to “demonize the growing militia movement.” He has claimed that “thousands of astronauts have died.” Of course, the “mainstream media” is filled with lies and conspiracies of their own, and if they were to pay damages, they would be bankrupt. Our point, though, is to urge God’s redeemed people to beware of spending the fleeting minutes of their lives on conspiracy-oriented web sites and social media pages. Even if a conspiracy is true, there is nothing you can do about it. It creates endless anger, bitterness, and frustration, which is not the fruit of the Spirit. If you are saved, God has given your marching orders for this life. You are a priest of God (1 Pe. 2:5), an ambassador of Christ (2 Co. 5:20), a worker in the harvest (1 Co. 3:8), a soldier in spiritual warfare (Eph. 6:10-18), a minister of spiritual gifts (Ro. 5:3-8), a builder of the church body (Eph. 4:11-16), a builder of the home (Eph. 5:22 - 6:4; Tit. 2:3-5). Focus your attention on these things. Make sure you are in a strong New Testament church that understands these things and is giving its people a proper biblical education. Relocate, if you have to. It’s that important.
WHAT THE INFOWARS CROWD DOES NOT KNOW (Friday Church News Notes, August 12, 2022, www.wayoflife.org, fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - This is a dark world full of lies and wickedness, both secret and public, and the American government has more than its share, but the Bible pulls back the curtain so that we can see the fundamental realities and the real solutions and the way to live that pleases God. First, the conspiracies that really matter are spiritual ones. The devil is a real being, called “the god of this world,” and he is working out a plan called “the mystery of iniquity,” the goal of which is to put his man, the Antichrist, on the throne of the world. This was revealed to the apostle Paul and recorded in Holy Scripture in 2 Thessalonians 2. Paul said that it “doth already work” in his day, so it has been operating throughout the church age. The mystery of iniquity encompasses everything that is preparing the way for the Antichrist: false religion, false Christianity, cults, peace movements, spiritism, Satanism, globalism, cashless society, anarchy, humanism, atheism, evolution, Marxism, Maoism, dictatorships, socialism, humanistic abortion rights, psychology, unisexism, homosexual rights, transsexualism, Critical Race Theory, etc. The mystery of iniquity explains the commitment of international corporations and giant entertainment and social media companies to support such things as Marxism, socialism, atheism, abortion rights, and transsexualism when it would seem to make more business sense to stay away from them. Second, there is an Almighty God who is in ultimate control of human history, including the devil’s program. The prophet Daniel revealed this 2,500 years ago. “Daniel answered and said, 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” (Daniel 2:20-21). Third, God’s eternal plan is as follows: “That in the dispensation of the fulness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in him” (Ephesians 1:10). Man was created by God and sinned against God, plunging the world into chaos. God’s compassionate plan of redemption is through His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, who is the focus of Old Testament prophecy and who came 2,000 years ago to fulfill the prophecies. By His virgin birth, He became “God manifest in the flesh.” His death on Calvary was planned and accomplished by God as a sacrificial offering to satisfy God’s broken law. (Democrat-run cities show what happens when laws are not satisfied.) Christ rose from the dead the third day and ascended back to heaven in fulfillment of Bible prophecy. For 2,000 years, a time called the church age, the gospel of salvation through Jesus Christ has been published to the nations. The end of the church-age will be followed by seven years of judgment and unprecedented trouble and the brutal reign of the Antichrist. Christ will return to earth and establish God’s eternal kingdom on earth, the earth that He made and that He owns. Infowars has no gospel of salvation, no promise of victory, no future, only fear, worry, frustration, a sense of hopelessness, anger, railing, cursing, bitterness, and psychoactive self-medication. The Alex Jones’s need to be born again through repentance toward God and faith in Jesus Christ before it is too late.
WE MUST SEE AMERICA THROUGH GOD’S EYES (Friday Church News Notes, August 12, 2022, www.wayoflife.org, fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - America is in a mess, socially, politically, economically, educationally, by almost any standard. Patriots are perhaps more discouraged than since the darkest days of the War of Independence, and that’s saying a lot because the nation has been through many severe trials. What’s going on? We need to look at things in this world through God’s eyes, and we can do that by His Word. America is in a mess because of rebellion against God. It’s that simple. America’s problem today is not systemic racism; it is systemic wickedness. America is unique in that it has had more spiritual light than any nation in history (ancient Israel had only part of the Scriptures), yet America has sinned greatly and brazenly against that light. Her churches are in a most wretched condition. Most are entirely apostate, and most of the rest are lukewarm and worldly, Sardis at best. “I know thy works, that thou hast a name that thou livest, and art dead” (Revelation 3:1). Churches that are praying instead of partying are shockingly rare. God’s name is used everywhere in vain, and the holy name of Jesus Christ is a cheap curse word across vast swaths of society. Holy matrimony is despised and defiled. The Bible says, “Marriage is honourable in all, and the bed undefiled: but whoremongers and adulterers God will judge,” but most Americans think that is unreasonable. Science and mother nature receive the glory due to the Creator. The gospel is widely perverted. Babies are cut to pieces by the millions. The nation is besotted with drink and drugs. Moral abominations are accepted as “alternative lifestyles.” The justice system dispenses very little justice. Thugs, rapists, sexual predators, and murderers are released to continue their careers. Lying in politics is applauded. Atheism is on the march. Occultism is pervasive. The Bible says life is for God’s will, but most Americans think life is a party. The nation’s cities are moral cesspools. The entertainment industry would make ancient Corinth blush. Children are sexualized. Pornography is a national past-time. The public educational system is in flagrant rebellion to the Bible. The government confiscates the wealth of hard workers and redistributes it to bums. The highest judges thumb their noses at God’s Word. The Bible says “there is none that doeth good,” but most Americans think of themselves as good. God is allowed as a Saviour, but not as a Judge. Hell is denied. At funerals, everyone goes to heaven, which is a great deceit. The only surprise is that America is not in more of a mess than she currently is. That is God’s mercy, but the day of the Lord is fast approaching. “Righteousness exalteth a nation: but sin is a reproach to any people” (Proverbs 14:34). “The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God” (Psalm 9:17). “Woe unto the wicked! it shall be ill with him: for the reward of his hands shall be given him” (Isaiah 3:11).
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).
CONSPIRACY THEORIST ALEX JONES LOSES DEFAMATION TRIAL (Friday Church News Notes, August 12, 2022, www.wayoflife.org, fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - Alex Jones, head of the Infowars conspiracy/nutrition supplement/survival gear empire, has been ordered to pay a draconian $45.2 million in punitive damages for claiming that the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting was a government hoax orchestrated to tighten gun laws. Nineteen children and six staff members died in the massacre, but Jones claimed that no children died and the families were actors in a government hoax and were lying about the event. The current trial is a defamation suit brought by Neil Heslin and Scarlett Lewis, parents of a six-year-old who died at Sandy Hook. Separate suits have been filed against Jones by two other Sandy Hook parents. On August 3, Jones finally acknowledged that the Sandy Hook shooting was “100% real.” Jones has made a long list of conspiratorial claims, including these: the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing was staged by the FBI; the 2011 shooting of congresswoman Gabby Giffords was a government mind control operation; Hillary Clinton was part of a child sex trafficking ring that operated out of a pizza restaurant in Washington, DC; the September 11th attack on the New York Twin Towers was a U.S. government operation (“criminal elements in our government working with Saudi Arabia and others wanted to frame Iraq for it”); the 1995 bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, was a government job to “go after the states’ rights movement” and to “demonize the growing militia movement.” He has claimed that “thousands of astronauts have died.” Of course, the “mainstream media” is filled with lies and conspiracies of their own, and if they were to pay damages, they would be bankrupt. Our point, though, is to urge God’s redeemed people to beware of spending the fleeting minutes of their lives on conspiracy-oriented web sites and social media pages. Even if a conspiracy is true, there is nothing you can do about it. It creates endless anger, bitterness, and frustration, which is not the fruit of the Spirit. If you are saved, God has given your marching orders for this life. You are a priest of God (1 Pe. 2:5), an ambassador of Christ (2 Co. 5:20), a worker in the harvest (1 Co. 3:8), a soldier in spiritual warfare (Eph. 6:10-18), a minister of spiritual gifts (Ro. 5:3-8), a builder of the church body (Eph. 4:11-16), a builder of the home (Eph. 5:22 - 6:4; Tit. 2:3-5). Focus your attention on these things. Make sure you are in a strong New Testament church that understands these things and is giving its people a proper biblical education. Relocate, if you have to. It’s that important.
WHAT THE INFOWARS CROWD DOES NOT KNOW (Friday Church News Notes, August 12, 2022, www.wayoflife.org, fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - This is a dark world full of lies and wickedness, both secret and public, and the American government has more than its share, but the Bible pulls back the curtain so that we can see the fundamental realities and the real solutions and the way to live that pleases God. First, the conspiracies that really matter are spiritual ones. The devil is a real being, called “the god of this world,” and he is working out a plan called “the mystery of iniquity,” the goal of which is to put his man, the Antichrist, on the throne of the world. This was revealed to the apostle Paul and recorded in Holy Scripture in 2 Thessalonians 2. Paul said that it “doth already work” in his day, so it has been operating throughout the church age. The mystery of iniquity encompasses everything that is preparing the way for the Antichrist: false religion, false Christianity, cults, peace movements, spiritism, Satanism, globalism, cashless society, anarchy, humanism, atheism, evolution, Marxism, Maoism, dictatorships, socialism, humanistic abortion rights, psychology, unisexism, homosexual rights, transsexualism, Critical Race Theory, etc. The mystery of iniquity explains the commitment of international corporations and giant entertainment and social media companies to support such things as Marxism, socialism, atheism, abortion rights, and transsexualism when it would seem to make more business sense to stay away from them. Second, there is an Almighty God who is in ultimate control of human history, including the devil’s program. The prophet Daniel revealed this 2,500 years ago. “Daniel answered and said, 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” (Daniel 2:20-21). Third, God’s eternal plan is as follows: “That in the dispensation of the fulness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in him” (Ephesians 1:10). Man was created by God and sinned against God, plunging the world into chaos. God’s compassionate plan of redemption is through His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, who is the focus of Old Testament prophecy and who came 2,000 years ago to fulfill the prophecies. By His virgin birth, He became “God manifest in the flesh.” His death on Calvary was planned and accomplished by God as a sacrificial offering to satisfy God’s broken law. (Democrat-run cities show what happens when laws are not satisfied.) Christ rose from the dead the third day and ascended back to heaven in fulfillment of Bible prophecy. For 2,000 years, a time called the church age, the gospel of salvation through Jesus Christ has been published to the nations. The end of the church-age will be followed by seven years of judgment and unprecedented trouble and the brutal reign of the Antichrist. Christ will return to earth and establish God’s eternal kingdom on earth, the earth that He made and that He owns. Infowars has no gospel of salvation, no promise of victory, no future, only fear, worry, frustration, a sense of hopelessness, anger, railing, cursing, bitterness, and psychoactive self-medication. The Alex Jones’s need to be born again through repentance toward God and faith in Jesus Christ before it is too late.
WE MUST SEE AMERICA THROUGH GOD’S EYES (Friday Church News Notes, August 12, 2022, www.wayoflife.org, fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - America is in a mess, socially, politically, economically, educationally, by almost any standard. Patriots are perhaps more discouraged than since the darkest days of the War of Independence, and that’s saying a lot because the nation has been through many severe trials. What’s going on? We need to look at things in this world through God’s eyes, and we can do that by His Word. America is in a mess because of rebellion against God. It’s that simple. America’s problem today is not systemic racism; it is systemic wickedness. America is unique in that it has had more spiritual light than any nation in history (ancient Israel had only part of the Scriptures), yet America has sinned greatly and brazenly against that light. Her churches are in a most wretched condition. Most are entirely apostate, and most of the rest are lukewarm and worldly, Sardis at best. “I know thy works, that thou hast a name that thou livest, and art dead” (Revelation 3:1). Churches that are praying instead of partying are shockingly rare. God’s name is used everywhere in vain, and the holy name of Jesus Christ is a cheap curse word across vast swaths of society. Holy matrimony is despised and defiled. The Bible says, “Marriage is honourable in all, and the bed undefiled: but whoremongers and adulterers God will judge,” but most Americans think that is unreasonable. Science and mother nature receive the glory due to the Creator. The gospel is widely perverted. Babies are cut to pieces by the millions. The nation is besotted with drink and drugs. Moral abominations are accepted as “alternative lifestyles.” The justice system dispenses very little justice. Thugs, rapists, sexual predators, and murderers are released to continue their careers. Lying in politics is applauded. Atheism is on the march. Occultism is pervasive. The Bible says life is for God’s will, but most Americans think life is a party. The nation’s cities are moral cesspools. The entertainment industry would make ancient Corinth blush. Children are sexualized. Pornography is a national past-time. The public educational system is in flagrant rebellion to the Bible. The government confiscates the wealth of hard workers and redistributes it to bums. The highest judges thumb their noses at God’s Word. The Bible says “there is none that doeth good,” but most Americans think of themselves as good. God is allowed as a Saviour, but not as a Judge. Hell is denied. At funerals, everyone goes to heaven, which is a great deceit. The only surprise is that America is not in more of a mess than she currently is. That is God’s mercy, but the day of the Lord is fast approaching. “Righteousness exalteth a nation: but sin is a reproach to any people” (Proverbs 14:34). “The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God” (Psalm 9:17). “Woe unto the wicked! it shall be ill with him: for the reward of his hands shall be given him” (Isaiah 3:11).
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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