Friday Church News Notes
Volume 23, Issue 52 - December 30, 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.
Joe Mills at His Wedding
SOUTHERN BAPTIST MEGACHURCH RECEIVES UNREPENTANT HOMOSEXUALS AS MEMBERS (Friday Church News Notes, December 30, 2022, www.wayoflife.org, fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - First Baptist Church of Orlando, Florida, a prominent Southern Baptist congregation, receives unrepentant homosexuals as members, including those with same-sex “marriage” partners. On Feb. 13, 2022, senior pastor David Uth said in a sermon that his church invited homosexuals to participate in its small groups, because “everyone needs a safe space to come to explore faith.” We agree with that, as far as it goes. Our church invites all sorts of unsaved people to attend services and other ministries open to visitors, so they can learn the gospel and see it lived out in Christian lives. Every church should be involved in this type of thing. Our job is to reach sinners with the gospel, every variety of sinner. In our main services, we have a good representation of Hindus, Buddhists, agnostics, adulterers, fornicators, thieves, drunkards, drug abusers, nominal Christians, etc. We urge them to come, so long as they don’t cause a disturbance. We want them to hear the preaching of God’s Word, the testimonies and the singing of hymns, and after the services, we urge them to stay around and take refreshment with us and talk about Christ, which many of them do. We invite them to house Bible studies. We want to get to know them and answer their questions. One of our main services each month is devoted to ministry to the unsaved, all varieties of them. In that service, everything is geared toward this purpose. At the same time, the visitors aren’t members. To be a member, one has to meet the biblical qualifications, which are repentance toward God and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and scriptural baptism (Acts 2:41-42; 20:21). They must be born again, converted, supernaturally changed, and by God’s grace we have seen every sort of sinner converted and go on to live fruitful Christian lives as new creatures in Christ. It is always wonderful to see the great change that God works. This is not what First Baptist of Orlando is doing. They are not preaching repentance to homosexuals and calling them to a new life in Christ. They are accepting homosexuals as they are, in their sin. That isn’t true Christian love. They are allowing homosexuals to deceive themselves into thinking that God accepts them as they are, which the Bible plainly says is not true. Research by Justin Peters found multiple cases of this. One member of First Baptist is Joe Mills, who was “married” to his male partner in December 2021. Mills is not only a member, he is the administrator of one of the church’s Gospel Gatherings, and he baptizes new members. This is not New Testament Christianity. Among the membership of the church at Corinth, which was founded by the apostle Paul, were all sorts of sinners, including fornicators, idolaters, adulterers, effeminate, abusers of themselves with mankind, thieves, covetous, drunkards, revilers, and extortioners. They were not received in their sin; they were received when they were born again and changed. “And such WERE some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God” (1 Corinthians 6:11).
For the evidence behind this report, see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GFdzHnJX_Qo
STANFORD’S SPEECH CONTROL (Friday Church News Notes, December 30, 2022, www.wayoflife.org, fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The following is excerpted from “The Stanford Guide to Acceptable Words,” Wall Street Journal, Dec. 19, 2022: “Parodists have it rough these days, since so much of modern life and culture resembles the Babylon Bee. The latest evidence is that Stanford University administrators in May published an index of forbidden words to be eliminated from the school’s websites and computer code, and provided inclusive replacements to help re-educate the benighted. Call yourself an ‘American’? Please don’t. Better to say ‘U.S. citizen,’ per the bias hunters, lest you slight the rest of the Americas. ‘Immigrant’ is also out, with ‘person who has immigrated’ as the approved alternative. It’s the iron law of academic writing: Why use one word when four will do? You can’t ‘master’ your subject at Stanford any longer; in case you hadn’t heard, the school instructs that ‘historically, masters enslaved people.’ And don’t dare design a ‘blind study,’ which ‘unintentionally perpetuates that disability is somehow abnormal or negative, furthering an ableist culture.’ ... ‘masked study’ is to be preferred. ... ’Gangbusters’ is banned because the index says it ‘invokes the notion of police action against gangs in a positive light, which may have racial undertones.’ Not to beat a dead horse (a phrase that the index says ‘normalizes violence against animals’), but you used to have to get a graduate degree in the humanities to write something that stupid. The Elimination of Harmful Language Initiative is a ‘multi-phase’ project of Stanford’s IT leaders. The list took ‘18 months of collaboration with stakeholder groups’ to produce, the university tells us. We can’t imagine what’s next, except that it will surely involve more make-work for more administrators, whose proliferation has driven much of the rise in college tuition and student debt. For 16,937 students, Stanford lists 2,288 faculty and 15,750 administrative staff.” One report on this observes, “As with Twitter, it would be interesting to fire half the admin and see what happens.”
SOME LIBRARIES BAN BIBLE-BASED CHILDREN’S BOOK (Friday Church News Notes, December 30, 2022, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The following is excerpted from “Kirk Cameron speaks out,” Fox News, Dec. 8, 2022: “Actor Kirk Cameron spoke out Wednesday following more than 50 libraries allegedly rejecting his attempts to visit and read his new faith-based book, while many have had no problem hosting drag queen story hours for children. The ‘Growing Pains’ star said a library in Alameda County, Calif., rejected a solicitation while instead continuing to schedule what he characterized as a ‘gender name-change clinic’ later in the week. ‘I’m thinking, Wow, if we’re so committed to diversity, why am I being excluded? Why can’t I use your facility to read my book? You’re a library.’ He said a Providence, R.I., library rejected another offer, with a worker telling publisher Brave Books they are a ‘very queer-friendly library; our messaging does not align.’ ‘My understanding of history is that the family and the church are two great pillars of Western civilization,’ Cameron said. ‘And those two things need to be removed and taken out of the way in order to fundamentally change the power structure and the moral value code of the nation.’ However, the actor added that since the news broke of his dozens of rejections, parents and other librarians are contacting him or his publisher to solicit appearances to read his book.”
THE RAPID, DESTRUCTIVE EFFECT OF DARWINISM ON SOCIETY (Friday Church News Notes, December 30, 2022, www.wayoflife.org, fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - Charles Darwin published On the Origin of Species in 1859. Though he gave zero evidence for how the species originated by naturalistic means, his atheistic philosophy received a sympathetic hearing in England, Europe, America, and beyond. It was a major event in the onslaught of end-time apostasy. Less than 30 years later, the following observation was given at the International Prophetic Conference in Chicago, 1886, the second of five such conferences: “A man is what he thinks. If he thinks mud he will be mud. That is why, under the reign of Huxley, Darwin and the prurient biologic school, reverence is dying away, the sacredness of womanhood dying away, dignities, titles, self-respect dying away, and London becomes like to Sodom and Paris like to Gomorrah.” This statement was made by George Sayles Bishop, a Reformed pastor. Already, Darwin’s wicked hypothesis had exercised a terrible effect on society. The prophetic conferences marked the dawn of the fundamentalist revival. (I see the fundamentalist movement in all of its broad aspects as one of America’s Great Awakenings.) The major themes of the conferences were the infallible inspiration of Scripture, end-time apostasy, the defense of the faith once delivered unto the saints, and the literal interpretation of Bible prophecy, with an emphasis on the return of the Jews to their homeland and the establishment of a Jewish state. At the time, this appeared to be impossible. The land of Israel was controlled by the Muslim Ottoman Turks, and they were dead set against a Jewish state in “Palestine.” But Bible believers knew that it would happen, because it is prophesied in Scripture. In 1864, Charles Spurgeon had preached on Ezekiel 37:1-10 at a gathering of the British Society for the Propagation of the Gospel among the Jews, saying, “The meaning of our text, as opened up by the context, is most evidently, if words mean anything, first, that there shall be a political restoration of the Jews to their own land and to their own nationality. And then, secondly, there is in the text and in the context a most plain declaration that there shall be a spiritual restoration--in fact a conversion--of the tribes of Israel.” The first part of this prophecy was fulfilled in 1948 with the founding of the modern state of Israel. This is a preparation (unknowingly on Israel’s part) for the coming of the Antichrist with his peace covenant as prophesied in Daniel 9:27. The second part of the Ezekiel 37 prophecy, the spiritual restoration of Israel, will occur during the time of Jacob’s trouble, which might be just around the corner (Jeremiah 30:7-24).
THE COMMON WHITETHROAT - A SUPER MIGRATOR (Friday Church News Notes, December 30, 2022, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The following is excerpted from David Coppedge, “Capabilities of Migrating Birds,” Evolution News & Science Today, Dec. 15, 2022: “The common whitethroat (Curruca communis) is a small dusky-colored warbler that summers in Europe and winters in Africa, Arabia, or Pakistan. Its low weight (14 grams), plain appearance, and scratchy voice belie its migratory prowess. Two ornithologists from the University of St. Andrews, with a colleague in Nigeria, outfitted 40 of the birds with geologgers weighing only half a gram and recorded their flight paths. These lightweight contenders were measured traveling 5,000 km in just 52 days, including 2,000 km nonstop across inhospitable barriers like the Sahara Desert and the Mediterranean Sea. How’s that for a home run? The scientists published the stats in PLOS ONE: ‘Departures from breeding grounds took place between July and August in a south-westerly direction. During spring migration individuals travelled longer distances at faster rates making its overall duration shorter than autumn migration. We suggest that, while Whitethroats can cross the Sahara Desert and Mediterranean Sea in a single flight, they are likely to refuel before and after crossing.’ [Emphasis added.] The small champions sometimes stop at the bases, but occasionally make home runs. ‘If under severe time constraints, however, individuals can successfully undergo a flight without making stopovers.’”
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).
For the evidence behind this report, see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GFdzHnJX_Qo
STANFORD’S SPEECH CONTROL (Friday Church News Notes, December 30, 2022, www.wayoflife.org, fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The following is excerpted from “The Stanford Guide to Acceptable Words,” Wall Street Journal, Dec. 19, 2022: “Parodists have it rough these days, since so much of modern life and culture resembles the Babylon Bee. The latest evidence is that Stanford University administrators in May published an index of forbidden words to be eliminated from the school’s websites and computer code, and provided inclusive replacements to help re-educate the benighted. Call yourself an ‘American’? Please don’t. Better to say ‘U.S. citizen,’ per the bias hunters, lest you slight the rest of the Americas. ‘Immigrant’ is also out, with ‘person who has immigrated’ as the approved alternative. It’s the iron law of academic writing: Why use one word when four will do? You can’t ‘master’ your subject at Stanford any longer; in case you hadn’t heard, the school instructs that ‘historically, masters enslaved people.’ And don’t dare design a ‘blind study,’ which ‘unintentionally perpetuates that disability is somehow abnormal or negative, furthering an ableist culture.’ ... ‘masked study’ is to be preferred. ... ’Gangbusters’ is banned because the index says it ‘invokes the notion of police action against gangs in a positive light, which may have racial undertones.’ Not to beat a dead horse (a phrase that the index says ‘normalizes violence against animals’), but you used to have to get a graduate degree in the humanities to write something that stupid. The Elimination of Harmful Language Initiative is a ‘multi-phase’ project of Stanford’s IT leaders. The list took ‘18 months of collaboration with stakeholder groups’ to produce, the university tells us. We can’t imagine what’s next, except that it will surely involve more make-work for more administrators, whose proliferation has driven much of the rise in college tuition and student debt. For 16,937 students, Stanford lists 2,288 faculty and 15,750 administrative staff.” One report on this observes, “As with Twitter, it would be interesting to fire half the admin and see what happens.”
SOME LIBRARIES BAN BIBLE-BASED CHILDREN’S BOOK (Friday Church News Notes, December 30, 2022, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The following is excerpted from “Kirk Cameron speaks out,” Fox News, Dec. 8, 2022: “Actor Kirk Cameron spoke out Wednesday following more than 50 libraries allegedly rejecting his attempts to visit and read his new faith-based book, while many have had no problem hosting drag queen story hours for children. The ‘Growing Pains’ star said a library in Alameda County, Calif., rejected a solicitation while instead continuing to schedule what he characterized as a ‘gender name-change clinic’ later in the week. ‘I’m thinking, Wow, if we’re so committed to diversity, why am I being excluded? Why can’t I use your facility to read my book? You’re a library.’ He said a Providence, R.I., library rejected another offer, with a worker telling publisher Brave Books they are a ‘very queer-friendly library; our messaging does not align.’ ‘My understanding of history is that the family and the church are two great pillars of Western civilization,’ Cameron said. ‘And those two things need to be removed and taken out of the way in order to fundamentally change the power structure and the moral value code of the nation.’ However, the actor added that since the news broke of his dozens of rejections, parents and other librarians are contacting him or his publisher to solicit appearances to read his book.”
THE RAPID, DESTRUCTIVE EFFECT OF DARWINISM ON SOCIETY (Friday Church News Notes, December 30, 2022, www.wayoflife.org, fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - Charles Darwin published On the Origin of Species in 1859. Though he gave zero evidence for how the species originated by naturalistic means, his atheistic philosophy received a sympathetic hearing in England, Europe, America, and beyond. It was a major event in the onslaught of end-time apostasy. Less than 30 years later, the following observation was given at the International Prophetic Conference in Chicago, 1886, the second of five such conferences: “A man is what he thinks. If he thinks mud he will be mud. That is why, under the reign of Huxley, Darwin and the prurient biologic school, reverence is dying away, the sacredness of womanhood dying away, dignities, titles, self-respect dying away, and London becomes like to Sodom and Paris like to Gomorrah.” This statement was made by George Sayles Bishop, a Reformed pastor. Already, Darwin’s wicked hypothesis had exercised a terrible effect on society. The prophetic conferences marked the dawn of the fundamentalist revival. (I see the fundamentalist movement in all of its broad aspects as one of America’s Great Awakenings.) The major themes of the conferences were the infallible inspiration of Scripture, end-time apostasy, the defense of the faith once delivered unto the saints, and the literal interpretation of Bible prophecy, with an emphasis on the return of the Jews to their homeland and the establishment of a Jewish state. At the time, this appeared to be impossible. The land of Israel was controlled by the Muslim Ottoman Turks, and they were dead set against a Jewish state in “Palestine.” But Bible believers knew that it would happen, because it is prophesied in Scripture. In 1864, Charles Spurgeon had preached on Ezekiel 37:1-10 at a gathering of the British Society for the Propagation of the Gospel among the Jews, saying, “The meaning of our text, as opened up by the context, is most evidently, if words mean anything, first, that there shall be a political restoration of the Jews to their own land and to their own nationality. And then, secondly, there is in the text and in the context a most plain declaration that there shall be a spiritual restoration--in fact a conversion--of the tribes of Israel.” The first part of this prophecy was fulfilled in 1948 with the founding of the modern state of Israel. This is a preparation (unknowingly on Israel’s part) for the coming of the Antichrist with his peace covenant as prophesied in Daniel 9:27. The second part of the Ezekiel 37 prophecy, the spiritual restoration of Israel, will occur during the time of Jacob’s trouble, which might be just around the corner (Jeremiah 30:7-24).
THE COMMON WHITETHROAT - A SUPER MIGRATOR (Friday Church News Notes, December 30, 2022, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The following is excerpted from David Coppedge, “Capabilities of Migrating Birds,” Evolution News & Science Today, Dec. 15, 2022: “The common whitethroat (Curruca communis) is a small dusky-colored warbler that summers in Europe and winters in Africa, Arabia, or Pakistan. Its low weight (14 grams), plain appearance, and scratchy voice belie its migratory prowess. Two ornithologists from the University of St. Andrews, with a colleague in Nigeria, outfitted 40 of the birds with geologgers weighing only half a gram and recorded their flight paths. These lightweight contenders were measured traveling 5,000 km in just 52 days, including 2,000 km nonstop across inhospitable barriers like the Sahara Desert and the Mediterranean Sea. How’s that for a home run? The scientists published the stats in PLOS ONE: ‘Departures from breeding grounds took place between July and August in a south-westerly direction. During spring migration individuals travelled longer distances at faster rates making its overall duration shorter than autumn migration. We suggest that, while Whitethroats can cross the Sahara Desert and Mediterranean Sea in a single flight, they are likely to refuel before and after crossing.’ [Emphasis added.] The small champions sometimes stop at the bases, but occasionally make home runs. ‘If under severe time constraints, however, individuals can successfully undergo a flight without making stopovers.’”
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).
_____
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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