Friday Church News Notes
Volume 24, Issue 01 - January 6, 2023
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.
ELON MUSK ALLOWS SCIENTIFIC LIBERTY (Friday Church News Notes, January 6, 2023, www.wayoflife.org, fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - America has always been the land of liberty, until the totalitarian mindset raised its head in recent times, doubtless as a judgment for America’s wickedness. But there is still more liberty in America than in other nations. It is encouraging to see every glimmer of it in these strange times. Elon Musk purchased Twitter to make it a forum for free speech, and he is still pursuing that agenda in spite of unreasonable, vicious, widespread slander. On Dec. 29, he tweeted, “New Twitter policy is to follow the science, which necessarily includes reasoned questioning of the science.” He also said, “Anyone who says that questioning them is questioning science itself cannot be regarded as a scientist.” He is doubtless referring to the totalitarian policy of Dr. Anthony Fauci and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control during the Covid crisis, among other things. Eric Weinstein, managing director of Thiel Capital, commented, “This. Changes. Everything. If true. Is that a 100% commitment to biologists that they can stop *lying* about biological sex, healthy reproductive development, ‘herd immunity’, genetic differences between geographically separated populations, horse paste, Wuhan Inst. GoF, etc.?” Joshua Stevens, who works for NASA, tweeted, “This is fair and reasonable. And if any scientist tells you otherwise, never let them wax poetic about curiosity and wonder ever again.”
UPDATE ABOUT TIKTOK AND THE CHINESE COMMUNIST PARTY (Friday Church News Notes, January 6, 2023, www.wayoflife.org, fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - TikTok is the world’s third largest social network, after Facebook and Instagram. In June 2022, BuzzFeed News reported that TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, “is required under Chinese law to share its data with the Chinese Communist Party whenever requested.” “Audio obtained by BuzzFeed covering more than 80 internal meetings at TikTok between the months of September 2021 and January 2022 showed that U.S. employees were not permitted to access user data and instead relied on Chinese employees to do so” (“China accessed data of US TikTok users repeatedly,” Fox News, June 19, 2022). In December 2022, TikTok was banned on state devices in Texas, South Carolina, Maryland, and South Dakota. In January 2023, Congressman Mike Gallagher called on all Americans to delete TikTok from their phones, saying, “TikTok is owned by ByteDance, and ByteDance is effectively controlled by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). The editor-in-chief of ByteDance, for example, is a CCP Secretary” (Fox Business, Jan. 2, 2023). Gallagher said a large percentage of young Americans get their news from TikTok, and there is the danger of the Chinese government selectively editing their news. He said it would be like in 1958 if America allowed Russia’s propaganda organization Pravda to buy the New York Times, the Chicago Post, and other major news publications. Florida Congressman Mike Waltz agrees. He says, “We need to ban TikTok as a country. We can’t have a situation where hundreds of millions of Americans can be influenced by our greatest adversary” (Ibid.)
APPEALS COURT BACKS FLORIDA SCHOOL DISTRICT’S POLICY THAT SEPARATES BATHROOMS BY BIOLOGICAL SEX (Friday Church News Notes, January 6, 2023, www.wayoflife.org, fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The following is excerpted from “Federal appeals court,” Fox News, Dec. 31, 2022: “A federal appeals court has ruled in favor of a Florida school district’s policy that separates school bathrooms by biological sex. The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals announced its 7-4 decision on Friday, ruling that the St. Johns County School Board did not discriminate against transgender students based on sex, or violate federal civil rights law by requiring transgender students to use gender-neutral bathrooms or bathrooms matching their biological sex. The court’s decision was split down party lines, with seven justices appointed by Republican presidents siding with the school district and four justices appointed by Democratic presidents siding with Drew Adams, a biological female, who sued the district in 2017 after not being allowed to use the boys’ restroom. ... Judge Barbara Lagoa wrote in the majority opinion that the school board policy advances the important governmental objective of protecting students’ privacy in school bathrooms. She said the district’s policy does not violate the law because it’s based on biological sex, not gender identity. ... Two other federal appeals courts have ruled that transgender students can use bathrooms that accord with their identities. Friday’s decision increases the likelihood that the U.S. Supreme Court will take up the issue.”
ABORTION DESTROYING BLACKS IN AMERICA (Friday Church News Notes, January 6, 2023, www.wayoflife.org, fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The following is excerpted from “White People Don’t Like Abortion,” TownHall.com, Nov. 12, 2012: “Planned Parenthood founder Margaret Sanger believed in using abortion to rid the world of the ‘unfit.’ In Sanger’s world, the unfit included blacks and she hoped they would be eliminated with the help of her organization. As she wrote in her autobiography, Sanger founded Planned Parenthood in 1916 ‘to stop the multiplication of the unfit.’ This, she boasted, would be ‘the most important and greatest step towards race betterment.’ While she oversaw the mass murder of black babies, Sanger cynically recruited minority activists to front her death racket. She conspired with eugenics financier and businessman Clarence Gamble to ‘hire three or four colored ministers, preferably with social-service backgrounds, and with engaging personalities’ to sell their genocidal policies as community health and welfare services. Outright murder wouldn’t sell. But wrapping it under the egalitarian cloak of ‘women's health’--and adorning it with the moral authority of black churches--would. Sanger and Gamble called their deadly campaign ‘The Negro Project.’ ... Planned Parenthood receives $500 million from the government each year and funded millions of dollars’ worth of advertisements this year to get Barack Obama reelected. Sanger’s dream is coming true today as Planned Parenthood clinics are purposely placed in minority neighborhoods to target pregnant women. Fast forward: Five decades and 16 million aborted black babies later, Planned Parenthood’s insidious agenda has migrated from inner-city ‘birth control bureaus’ to public school-based health clinics to the White House--forcibly funded with taxpayer dollars just as Sanger championed. ... 28 percent of the black race has been wiped out by abortion. More than 1,400 black babies are aborted every day. Though blacks make up 12% of the population, they make up 36% of abortions.”
HOW COVID RESTRICTIONS AFFECTED RELIGIOUS GROUPS (Friday Church News Notes, January 6, 2023, www.wayoflife.org, fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The following is excerpted from “Key findings about Covid-19 restrictions that affected religious groups around the world in 2020,” Pewresearch.org, Nov. 29, 2022: “During the COVID-19 pandemic, countries around the world restricted large gatherings to reduce the spread of the virus. Religious events, including in-person worship services, were banned in many places. In every region of the globe, at least some religious groups protested these regulations. Pew Research Center’s 13th annual report on restrictions on religion in 2020 includes a new analysis of how public health measures related to the coronavirus affected religious groups the year the pandemic took hold globally. The report also shows that overall government restrictions and social hostilities relating to religion remained fairly stable from 2019 to 2020. ... In 69 countries (35% of the total analyzed), one or more religious groups defied public health measures that were imposed during the pandemic. ... Religious groups criticized government-mandated public health measures in 54 countries (27% of all analyzed), often stating the rules were a violation of religious freedom. ... In nearly a quarter of countries, governments used physical force, such as arrests and raids, to make religious groups comply with COVID-19 public health measures. ... In 18 countries, authorities linked religious groups or gatherings to the spread of COVID-19. And in 39 countries (20% of all studied) private individuals or groups attributed the spread of the virus to religious groups. ... Meanwhile, the number of countries with either ‘high’ or ‘very high’ levels of government restrictions remained the same, at 57 countries (29%) from 2019 to 2020, a peak number for the study.”
NASA LEARNING FROM THE ALBATROSS (Friday Church News Notes, January 6, 2023, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The following excerpted from David Coppedge, “Capabilities of Migrating Birds,” Evolution News & Science Today, Dec. 15, 2022: “Moving up to the heavyweight class, the wandering albatross is a fascinating bird that can travel thousands of miles without flapping its wings. With its 11-foot wingspan (the longest of any living bird), this iconic soaring champion of the southern oceans attracted the attention of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute. Researchers show maps of its wanderings, and describe how it tilts and swoops in clever ways to take advantage of the wind’s energy. Wandering albatrosses lack sufficient musculature to sustain continuous flapping flight for long periods of time; however they have a shoulder lock that mechanically holds their wings outstretched so that little energy is expended while soaring, according to the paper. The wandering albatross is so good at efficient use of wind energy, NASA has taken notice. The BBC News reported that an albatross-inspired glider has been designed for future flights on Mars. Unlike rovers or the highly successful Mars demonstration helicopter, a flyer designed like an albatross could fly for free on the Martian wind, swoop up the slopes of volcanoes, and stay aloft for long periods of time. A demonstration Mars sailplane has been designed at the University of Arizona. With looks similar in proportions to the albatross, it can pack a small camera, and temperature and gas sensors to reconnoiter much farther than its battery-powered explorers can. While these other forms of transport have been partly limited by power needs, the glider would use energy available in the atmosphere itself, explained Adrien Bouskela, an aerospace engineering doctoral student at the University of Arizona. ‘It’s kind of a leap forward in those methods of extending missions,’ he said.”
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).
UPDATE ABOUT TIKTOK AND THE CHINESE COMMUNIST PARTY (Friday Church News Notes, January 6, 2023, www.wayoflife.org, fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - TikTok is the world’s third largest social network, after Facebook and Instagram. In June 2022, BuzzFeed News reported that TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, “is required under Chinese law to share its data with the Chinese Communist Party whenever requested.” “Audio obtained by BuzzFeed covering more than 80 internal meetings at TikTok between the months of September 2021 and January 2022 showed that U.S. employees were not permitted to access user data and instead relied on Chinese employees to do so” (“China accessed data of US TikTok users repeatedly,” Fox News, June 19, 2022). In December 2022, TikTok was banned on state devices in Texas, South Carolina, Maryland, and South Dakota. In January 2023, Congressman Mike Gallagher called on all Americans to delete TikTok from their phones, saying, “TikTok is owned by ByteDance, and ByteDance is effectively controlled by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). The editor-in-chief of ByteDance, for example, is a CCP Secretary” (Fox Business, Jan. 2, 2023). Gallagher said a large percentage of young Americans get their news from TikTok, and there is the danger of the Chinese government selectively editing their news. He said it would be like in 1958 if America allowed Russia’s propaganda organization Pravda to buy the New York Times, the Chicago Post, and other major news publications. Florida Congressman Mike Waltz agrees. He says, “We need to ban TikTok as a country. We can’t have a situation where hundreds of millions of Americans can be influenced by our greatest adversary” (Ibid.)
APPEALS COURT BACKS FLORIDA SCHOOL DISTRICT’S POLICY THAT SEPARATES BATHROOMS BY BIOLOGICAL SEX (Friday Church News Notes, January 6, 2023, www.wayoflife.org, fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The following is excerpted from “Federal appeals court,” Fox News, Dec. 31, 2022: “A federal appeals court has ruled in favor of a Florida school district’s policy that separates school bathrooms by biological sex. The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals announced its 7-4 decision on Friday, ruling that the St. Johns County School Board did not discriminate against transgender students based on sex, or violate federal civil rights law by requiring transgender students to use gender-neutral bathrooms or bathrooms matching their biological sex. The court’s decision was split down party lines, with seven justices appointed by Republican presidents siding with the school district and four justices appointed by Democratic presidents siding with Drew Adams, a biological female, who sued the district in 2017 after not being allowed to use the boys’ restroom. ... Judge Barbara Lagoa wrote in the majority opinion that the school board policy advances the important governmental objective of protecting students’ privacy in school bathrooms. She said the district’s policy does not violate the law because it’s based on biological sex, not gender identity. ... Two other federal appeals courts have ruled that transgender students can use bathrooms that accord with their identities. Friday’s decision increases the likelihood that the U.S. Supreme Court will take up the issue.”
ABORTION DESTROYING BLACKS IN AMERICA (Friday Church News Notes, January 6, 2023, www.wayoflife.org, fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The following is excerpted from “White People Don’t Like Abortion,” TownHall.com, Nov. 12, 2012: “Planned Parenthood founder Margaret Sanger believed in using abortion to rid the world of the ‘unfit.’ In Sanger’s world, the unfit included blacks and she hoped they would be eliminated with the help of her organization. As she wrote in her autobiography, Sanger founded Planned Parenthood in 1916 ‘to stop the multiplication of the unfit.’ This, she boasted, would be ‘the most important and greatest step towards race betterment.’ While she oversaw the mass murder of black babies, Sanger cynically recruited minority activists to front her death racket. She conspired with eugenics financier and businessman Clarence Gamble to ‘hire three or four colored ministers, preferably with social-service backgrounds, and with engaging personalities’ to sell their genocidal policies as community health and welfare services. Outright murder wouldn’t sell. But wrapping it under the egalitarian cloak of ‘women's health’--and adorning it with the moral authority of black churches--would. Sanger and Gamble called their deadly campaign ‘The Negro Project.’ ... Planned Parenthood receives $500 million from the government each year and funded millions of dollars’ worth of advertisements this year to get Barack Obama reelected. Sanger’s dream is coming true today as Planned Parenthood clinics are purposely placed in minority neighborhoods to target pregnant women. Fast forward: Five decades and 16 million aborted black babies later, Planned Parenthood’s insidious agenda has migrated from inner-city ‘birth control bureaus’ to public school-based health clinics to the White House--forcibly funded with taxpayer dollars just as Sanger championed. ... 28 percent of the black race has been wiped out by abortion. More than 1,400 black babies are aborted every day. Though blacks make up 12% of the population, they make up 36% of abortions.”
HOW COVID RESTRICTIONS AFFECTED RELIGIOUS GROUPS (Friday Church News Notes, January 6, 2023, www.wayoflife.org, fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The following is excerpted from “Key findings about Covid-19 restrictions that affected religious groups around the world in 2020,” Pewresearch.org, Nov. 29, 2022: “During the COVID-19 pandemic, countries around the world restricted large gatherings to reduce the spread of the virus. Religious events, including in-person worship services, were banned in many places. In every region of the globe, at least some religious groups protested these regulations. Pew Research Center’s 13th annual report on restrictions on religion in 2020 includes a new analysis of how public health measures related to the coronavirus affected religious groups the year the pandemic took hold globally. The report also shows that overall government restrictions and social hostilities relating to religion remained fairly stable from 2019 to 2020. ... In 69 countries (35% of the total analyzed), one or more religious groups defied public health measures that were imposed during the pandemic. ... Religious groups criticized government-mandated public health measures in 54 countries (27% of all analyzed), often stating the rules were a violation of religious freedom. ... In nearly a quarter of countries, governments used physical force, such as arrests and raids, to make religious groups comply with COVID-19 public health measures. ... In 18 countries, authorities linked religious groups or gatherings to the spread of COVID-19. And in 39 countries (20% of all studied) private individuals or groups attributed the spread of the virus to religious groups. ... Meanwhile, the number of countries with either ‘high’ or ‘very high’ levels of government restrictions remained the same, at 57 countries (29%) from 2019 to 2020, a peak number for the study.”
NASA LEARNING FROM THE ALBATROSS (Friday Church News Notes, January 6, 2023, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The following excerpted from David Coppedge, “Capabilities of Migrating Birds,” Evolution News & Science Today, Dec. 15, 2022: “Moving up to the heavyweight class, the wandering albatross is a fascinating bird that can travel thousands of miles without flapping its wings. With its 11-foot wingspan (the longest of any living bird), this iconic soaring champion of the southern oceans attracted the attention of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute. Researchers show maps of its wanderings, and describe how it tilts and swoops in clever ways to take advantage of the wind’s energy. Wandering albatrosses lack sufficient musculature to sustain continuous flapping flight for long periods of time; however they have a shoulder lock that mechanically holds their wings outstretched so that little energy is expended while soaring, according to the paper. The wandering albatross is so good at efficient use of wind energy, NASA has taken notice. The BBC News reported that an albatross-inspired glider has been designed for future flights on Mars. Unlike rovers or the highly successful Mars demonstration helicopter, a flyer designed like an albatross could fly for free on the Martian wind, swoop up the slopes of volcanoes, and stay aloft for long periods of time. A demonstration Mars sailplane has been designed at the University of Arizona. With looks similar in proportions to the albatross, it can pack a small camera, and temperature and gas sensors to reconnoiter much farther than its battery-powered explorers can. While these other forms of transport have been partly limited by power needs, the glider would use energy available in the atmosphere itself, explained Adrien Bouskela, an aerospace engineering doctoral student at the University of Arizona. ‘It’s kind of a leap forward in those methods of extending missions,’ he said.”
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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