Friday Church News Notes
Volume 24, Issue 02 - January 13, 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.
Governor DeSantis and Family
A HURRAH FROM OLD AMERICA (Friday Church News Notes, January 13, 2023, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - Old America is the original, traditional America, characterized by such things as liberty, opportunity, equality, independence, property ownership, churches, sermons, the Bible, praying in Jesus’ name, patriotism, and benevolence. Old America is under siege by a New America, which is characterized by a totalitarian stance against everything Old America stands for. (See “Two Americas,” Jan. 5, 2022, www.wayoflife.org.) The New America breeds in the public school system and universities and is leavening every institution. The war between the Old America and the New is fierce, but the Old America is far from dead, thankfully. It was on display in all its glory at the inauguration ceremony for newly-elected Florida governor Ron DeSantis, who promoted unabashed Old American values during his first four-year term. The overflow crowd was massive and enthusiastic. The ceremony featured DeSantis’ traditional family of a wife, a boy that is obviously all boy, and two little girls that are obviously all girl, clothed sweetly in pretty dresses. American flags were everywhere. The U.S. military was on display, with a 21-shot artillery salute and a fighter jet flyover. There was a Sousa march and the Pledge of Allegiance and the “Star Spangled Banner,” and no one “took a knee.” There was a biblical prayer by a Baptist preacher addressed to “Our Father in heaven” and concluding with “in the strong name of your Son and our Saviour, Jesus Christ the Lord.” Hallelujah! DeSantis is a fearless warrior for Old America, and his policies have prospered the state of Florida greatly. In his inaugural speech, he said, “Over the past few years, as so many states in our country grinded their citizens down, we in Florida lifted our people up. When other states consigned their people’s freedom to the dust bin, Florida stood strongly as freedom’s lynch pin. When the world lost its mind, when common sense suddenly became an uncommon virtue, Florida was a refuge of sanity, a citadel of freedom for our fellow Americans and even for people around the world. In captaining the ship of state, we choose to navigate the boisterous sea of liberty, rather than cower in the calm docks of despotism. .. Florida is number one in these United States in net in-migration. We are number one in new business formations. We are number one in tourism. We are number one in economic freedom. We rank number one in education freedom, and we rank number one in parental involvement in education. Florida also ranks number one in public higher education. This is a record we can all be proud of!” He noted that the state operates in the black and has a budget surplus. He promised to make school districts more responsive to parents and to rededicate high education to the pursuit of knowledge and truth, not “trendy ideologies.” He said, “We will protect our children against those who seek to rob them of their innocence,” referring to the leftist agenda of promoting transgenderism. He said, “We seek normalcy, not philosophical lunacy! We will not allow reality, facts, and truth to become optional! We will never surrender to the woke mob! Florida is where woke goes to die!”
WILL POLITICAL CONSERVATIVISM SAVE AMERICA? (Friday Church News Notes, January 13, 2023, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - DeSantis and other Old America leaders are an answer to prayer. What has happened in Florida is too amazing not to be the handiwork of God. Florida is my home state. I know it well. It is a magnificent state, with 1,350 miles of coastline and 30,000 lakes and the most consistently spectacular sunsets I have seen anywhere. I grew up fishing and skiing in those lakes. Today, Florida is one of 24 states that is a Republican triplex, meaning Republicans control the offices of governor, secretary of state, attorney general, and both chambers of the state legislature. But until the late 1990s, Florida was a Democrat stronghold. Even in 2018, DeSantis won against his Democrat opponent by a razor thin margin (49.6% to 49.2%). This reminds us of how quickly these things can change. We have no faith in politics or in the steadfastness of the American people to pursue right. They are fickle and easily swayed by well-conceived deception. We must understand the fundamentals. The root problem in America is not Woke universities, it is Sleeping churches. We know that even with signs of encouragement such as DeSantis and other conservatives in power, wickedness and ungodly philosophies continue to leaven the nation day after day, everywhere, even in Florida. Overall, Old America is not winning. Trump’s idea to make America great again, is the misguided thinking of an unregenerate man. The New America would have to be pushed back into a closet as in former times for America to truly be great again. God could do that, of course, but there is no sign of it. At the same time, God is very merciful and is definitely helping His people and answering prayer. Americans still have great freedom, though totalitarianism is pressing in. Let’s use every bit of freedom for Christ’s glory! I am heartily thankful for every “conservative” who is fighting for the Old America on the political level, and I cheer them on. That is not my fight, though. God has given His people something far more important to fight for, which is Christ’s Great Commission and the New Testament church. I will continue to pound that key fiercely!
THE DESANTIS INAUGURATION PRAYER (Friday Church News Notes, January 13, 2023, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The following prayer was delivered by Tom Ascol, senior pastor of Grace Baptist Church, Cape Coral, Florida. Ascol is a conservative Southern Baptist who speaks out against theological liberalism, critical race theory, and other errors. “Our Father in heaven we bow to you today on this momentous occasion because you alone are God; you are the Creator and Sustainer of all things, visible and invisible; you are Sovereign; and through your Son Jesus Christ you rule and overrule in all the affairs of life. We thank you for your great love for people whom you have made in your own image. And we confess that we have not lived as we ought, and we have sinned against you. We also confess that with you there is mercy that you may be feared. Thank you for delivering up your Son to be the Saviour of the world. We also thank you for the provisions you have made for us to pursue liberty, joy, and justice in your world, and for instituting government and all governing authorities for our well-being. ... Grant Gov. DeSantis wisdom beyond his years, strength beyond his abilities, and courage to stand firm in every righteous conviction. Remind him that he occupies this office as your servant. Enable him to serve with joy, zeal, and in the fear of God. Father, grant our governor good counsel and the humility to heed it when it will serve the citizens of this state well. ... Help him to remember both the source and responsibility of his authority. Lord, we ask you to have mercy on our governor’s precious family. We pray for his wife Casey and his children, Madison, Mason, and Mamie. With all the demands that go with this office, grant him the love and strength to care for them. Watch over and bless this family as he gives himself to serve this state. So, Holy Father, hear our prayers for Gov. DeSantis. Receive our praise and answer our request, because we bring them to you in the strong name of your Son and our Saviour, Jesus Christ the Lord. Amen.”
DESANTIS, SOUTHERN BAPTISTS, REPUBLICANS, AND ROCK & ROLL (Friday Church News Notes, January 13, 2023, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is a political and social conservative, but he is also a good times rock & roller. This is confusion. The rock culture is one of the major things that has given America the Woke culture. The theme of rock & roll has always been, “I’m free to do what I want any old time.” That is rebellion to the Almighty, who says man is not free to do what he wants. The rock & roll philosophy is the fountain for every type of licentiousness and ungodly thinking: adultery, fornication, homosexuality, transsexualism, unisex fashion, radical feminism, gangsterism, serial theft, abortion, the generation gap, disrespect to authority, etc. Rock & roll is the soundtrack for all of these things. Whatever blessing Republicanism is to America today, the seeds of moral destruction reside in its beloved rock & roll. A Southern Baptist led in prayer at Desantis’ inauguration. Southern Baptists tend to be Republican (though that is changing), but the vast majority even of the most conservative Southern Baptists are worldly. Just check out the youth departments. Southern Baptist churches have been worldly since I was a boy in the 1950s. Southern Baptist churches are part of America’s fundamental problem and cannot therefore be its solution. The gradual spread of critical race theory and other heresies among Southern Baptist churches is merely a symptom of a much deeper problem, and that is unregeneracy, lukewarmness, worldliness, and biblical ignorance. The rock and roll culture has done more, probably, than any other one thing to destroy the holy, separated, pilgrim character of Bible-believing churches and to ruin the moral fiber of Old America. I was saved at age 23 out of a lifestyle driven by rock & roll, a lifestyle that nearly destroyed me, as it has destroyed multitudes of young people. See the free eBook What Every Christian Should Know about Rock Music, https://www.wayoflife.org/free_ebooks/free_ebooks_by_name.php
REVERSIBLE WINGS (Friday Church News Notes, January 13, 2023, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The following is from CreationMoments.com: “Sometimes incredible wonders pass right before our eyes, but we are not equipped to see them. Take the hummingbird, for an example. Did you know that like the woodpecker, the hummingbird has a tongue that wraps all the way around its head just under the skin? This feature is not really evident when you look at the hummingbird. Nor is the wonderful way in which its wings move, so that it can hover, fly forwards or fly backwards. High-speed photography has revealed some amazing secrets about the hummingbird’s wings that cannot be noticed by the eye. All birds, except the hummingbird, move their wings at the shoulder, elbow and wrist. Only the hummingbird is capable of turning his wings upside down, so that when he hovers, both strokes of his wings beat the air in order to support him. This demonstrates that the hummingbird is not a modification of the general bird design--as evolutionists tell us. Rather, the hummingbird was created with unique features that enable it to make its living. Ref: Time-Life, ‘Flight.’”
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).
WILL POLITICAL CONSERVATIVISM SAVE AMERICA? (Friday Church News Notes, January 13, 2023, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - DeSantis and other Old America leaders are an answer to prayer. What has happened in Florida is too amazing not to be the handiwork of God. Florida is my home state. I know it well. It is a magnificent state, with 1,350 miles of coastline and 30,000 lakes and the most consistently spectacular sunsets I have seen anywhere. I grew up fishing and skiing in those lakes. Today, Florida is one of 24 states that is a Republican triplex, meaning Republicans control the offices of governor, secretary of state, attorney general, and both chambers of the state legislature. But until the late 1990s, Florida was a Democrat stronghold. Even in 2018, DeSantis won against his Democrat opponent by a razor thin margin (49.6% to 49.2%). This reminds us of how quickly these things can change. We have no faith in politics or in the steadfastness of the American people to pursue right. They are fickle and easily swayed by well-conceived deception. We must understand the fundamentals. The root problem in America is not Woke universities, it is Sleeping churches. We know that even with signs of encouragement such as DeSantis and other conservatives in power, wickedness and ungodly philosophies continue to leaven the nation day after day, everywhere, even in Florida. Overall, Old America is not winning. Trump’s idea to make America great again, is the misguided thinking of an unregenerate man. The New America would have to be pushed back into a closet as in former times for America to truly be great again. God could do that, of course, but there is no sign of it. At the same time, God is very merciful and is definitely helping His people and answering prayer. Americans still have great freedom, though totalitarianism is pressing in. Let’s use every bit of freedom for Christ’s glory! I am heartily thankful for every “conservative” who is fighting for the Old America on the political level, and I cheer them on. That is not my fight, though. God has given His people something far more important to fight for, which is Christ’s Great Commission and the New Testament church. I will continue to pound that key fiercely!
THE DESANTIS INAUGURATION PRAYER (Friday Church News Notes, January 13, 2023, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The following prayer was delivered by Tom Ascol, senior pastor of Grace Baptist Church, Cape Coral, Florida. Ascol is a conservative Southern Baptist who speaks out against theological liberalism, critical race theory, and other errors. “Our Father in heaven we bow to you today on this momentous occasion because you alone are God; you are the Creator and Sustainer of all things, visible and invisible; you are Sovereign; and through your Son Jesus Christ you rule and overrule in all the affairs of life. We thank you for your great love for people whom you have made in your own image. And we confess that we have not lived as we ought, and we have sinned against you. We also confess that with you there is mercy that you may be feared. Thank you for delivering up your Son to be the Saviour of the world. We also thank you for the provisions you have made for us to pursue liberty, joy, and justice in your world, and for instituting government and all governing authorities for our well-being. ... Grant Gov. DeSantis wisdom beyond his years, strength beyond his abilities, and courage to stand firm in every righteous conviction. Remind him that he occupies this office as your servant. Enable him to serve with joy, zeal, and in the fear of God. Father, grant our governor good counsel and the humility to heed it when it will serve the citizens of this state well. ... Help him to remember both the source and responsibility of his authority. Lord, we ask you to have mercy on our governor’s precious family. We pray for his wife Casey and his children, Madison, Mason, and Mamie. With all the demands that go with this office, grant him the love and strength to care for them. Watch over and bless this family as he gives himself to serve this state. So, Holy Father, hear our prayers for Gov. DeSantis. Receive our praise and answer our request, because we bring them to you in the strong name of your Son and our Saviour, Jesus Christ the Lord. Amen.”
DESANTIS, SOUTHERN BAPTISTS, REPUBLICANS, AND ROCK & ROLL (Friday Church News Notes, January 13, 2023, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is a political and social conservative, but he is also a good times rock & roller. This is confusion. The rock culture is one of the major things that has given America the Woke culture. The theme of rock & roll has always been, “I’m free to do what I want any old time.” That is rebellion to the Almighty, who says man is not free to do what he wants. The rock & roll philosophy is the fountain for every type of licentiousness and ungodly thinking: adultery, fornication, homosexuality, transsexualism, unisex fashion, radical feminism, gangsterism, serial theft, abortion, the generation gap, disrespect to authority, etc. Rock & roll is the soundtrack for all of these things. Whatever blessing Republicanism is to America today, the seeds of moral destruction reside in its beloved rock & roll. A Southern Baptist led in prayer at Desantis’ inauguration. Southern Baptists tend to be Republican (though that is changing), but the vast majority even of the most conservative Southern Baptists are worldly. Just check out the youth departments. Southern Baptist churches have been worldly since I was a boy in the 1950s. Southern Baptist churches are part of America’s fundamental problem and cannot therefore be its solution. The gradual spread of critical race theory and other heresies among Southern Baptist churches is merely a symptom of a much deeper problem, and that is unregeneracy, lukewarmness, worldliness, and biblical ignorance. The rock and roll culture has done more, probably, than any other one thing to destroy the holy, separated, pilgrim character of Bible-believing churches and to ruin the moral fiber of Old America. I was saved at age 23 out of a lifestyle driven by rock & roll, a lifestyle that nearly destroyed me, as it has destroyed multitudes of young people. See the free eBook What Every Christian Should Know about Rock Music, https://www.wayoflife.org/free_ebooks/free_ebooks_by_name.php
REVERSIBLE WINGS (Friday Church News Notes, January 13, 2023, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The following is from CreationMoments.com: “Sometimes incredible wonders pass right before our eyes, but we are not equipped to see them. Take the hummingbird, for an example. Did you know that like the woodpecker, the hummingbird has a tongue that wraps all the way around its head just under the skin? This feature is not really evident when you look at the hummingbird. Nor is the wonderful way in which its wings move, so that it can hover, fly forwards or fly backwards. High-speed photography has revealed some amazing secrets about the hummingbird’s wings that cannot be noticed by the eye. All birds, except the hummingbird, move their wings at the shoulder, elbow and wrist. Only the hummingbird is capable of turning his wings upside down, so that when he hovers, both strokes of his wings beat the air in order to support him. This demonstrates that the hummingbird is not a modification of the general bird design--as evolutionists tell us. Rather, the hummingbird was created with unique features that enable it to make its living. Ref: Time-Life, ‘Flight.’”
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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