Friday Church News Notes
Volume 25, Issue 03 - January 19, 2024
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.
EXHORTATION TO SOME WHO ARE IN TROUBLE BECAUSE OF JANUARY 6 (Friday Church News Notes, January 19, 2024, www.wayoflife.org, fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - I sent the following to a relative recently about some acquaintances who are in prison or facing prison because of their participation in January 6. “I am very sorry to hear about the continuing trouble to -----------. They are sheep without a shepherd. This is not the 18th century; it is the 21st century, and it is an entirely different time. We know that the government is becoming increasingly wicked and anti-God; we know that the January 6 crowd is being treated severely and not with true justice. But our wicked government is merely a reflection of the people, even the vast majority of Christians so-called, and its evil character and stupidity is a judgment of God on the nation. I believe it is very possible that both Trump and Biden are judgments of God. The terrible division of the nation is a judgment of God. We must step back and view the situation biblically. It is the very end of the end times. The mystery of iniquity is coming into full bloom. The Rapture is doubtless near. It is not time to focus on politics; it is time to obey Christ’s command while we still have opportunity (Matthew 28:18-20). And we still have great opportunity. Our own church work is more fruitful and blessed than ever. This is Christ’s marching orders to the very end. See verse 20, “and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world.” This is the business that Christ taught His disciples in the 40 days between His resurrection and ascension. It is repeated in Mark 16, Luke 24, and Acts 1. Had our friends devoted their thoughts and deeds to obeying Christ, they would not be in trouble now for a vain cause. We must be careful that we do not fight against God, all the while thinking we are on His side. When godly king Josiah went out against Pharaoh Neco, he was told that he was actually fighting against God and it turned out to be so (2 Chronicles 35:20-25). By acting wrongly (even as a righteous man), Josiah died in a goofy venture and ended the revival he had started and hastened the end of the nation. Poor Jeremiah was left without a friend on the throne and had to stand nearly alone against Israel’s wickedness to the very end. We must know the times. There was a time to fight the pharaoh, and there was a time to leave the pharaoh alone. There is a time to disobey the government, but Paul shows us how to do that. He disobeyed the government when the government told him not to preach the gospel. He did not engage in any other policy. He focused his attention on obeying Christ’s Commission. He spent a lot of time in jail, but never as a riotous man. The best thing God’s people can do for America is obey Christ and live holy, obedient lives and build godly homes and churches and keep raising a godly seed until the trumpet and the shout (Malachi 2:15). I might very well go to jail before I die, but it will be for preaching the truth of Scripture in a wicked age, not for going off on a wild goose chase through unscriptural counsel. The only true help for America is found in God’s house, not the White House.
ATHEIST CHURCHES PROLIFERATING (Friday Church News Notes, January 19, 2024, www.wayoflife.org, fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - According to a report on Yahoo News, “Church without God,” Jan. 11, 2024, atheist churches or secular churches are growing. They mimic Christian churches in many ways, with singing (i.e., “Imagine” by John Lennon and “Livin’ on a Prayer” by Bon Jovi), preaching (lectures), testimonies, ceremonies for major life transitions such as births, funerals, and weddings, etc. The Sunday Assembly and the Oasis are networks with dozens of chapters, some of them with hundreds of attendees. The Sunday Assembly is called “the first atheist megachurch.” There are also regional organizations such as the Seattle Atheist Church and the North Texas Church of Freethought. Lectures might include an astronomer giving a talk about the New Horizons spacecraft’s mission to Pluto. They “extol values like rational thinking and materialist philosophies, which promote the idea that only physical matter exists.” Some have “debaptism” ceremonies “in which they renounce their former religion.” They are whistling in the dark. What atheist churches don’t preach is the actual implication of what they believe, which is that you came from nowhere, you are nothing, your life means nothing, and you are going nowhere. No matter how they try to copy a church format, they are left with the atheist gospel, which is that life is a big, stupid accident. The vast universe is the product of an explosion; life sprang from non-life; intelligence arose from non-intelligence; man is an evolved ameba; human life has no ultimate purpose; and when you’re dead you’re dead. As for ourselves, we don’t advocate atheism or religion. We believe in Jesus Christ, the Son of God who became a man by the virgin birth, lived a sinless life, suffered and bled as a vicarious atonement for the sins of the world, rose from the dead, and ascended to the right hand of God, who offers eternal salvation to those who believe. Because we are sinners and God is holy, we instinctively want to hide from God as Adam and Eve did, but they learned that the holy God loved them and wanted to redeem them to Himself, as He does every son and daughter of Adam.
THE UNITED NATION’S TRANSGENDER HEALTH COMMITTEE (Friday Church News Notes, January 19, 2024, www.wayoflife.org, fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The following is excerpted from “Half of the WHO’s transgender health committee members,” Daily Mail, Jan. 9, 2024: “The WHO last month published the biographies of 21 experts who have been invited to help formulate guidelines that will shape how countries treat gender dysphoria. Of the a 21-member panel who have been invited to help formulate guidelines that will shape how countries treat gender dysphoria, 11 have no formal medical training. ... Ashley--a trans woman who uses the pronouns ‘they/them [and a curse word]’--is the committee’s most controversial and outspoken member. They have [the Daily Mail kowtows to transgender nuttiness by using their ‘preferred pronouns’] a significant TikTok following where they express hardline views on trans issues, calling for mental health checks on trans children to be scrapped before they are given puberty blockers and hormone drugs. Seven are trans themselves, ten have a medical background and of those, eight are doctors. The rest are a mixture of activists, social justice advocates, human rights lawyers, STD researchers, and policy advisors. ... Ashley ... has a ‘be gay, do crimes’ tattoo ... In a statement, Reed Alsalem, now the executive director of the LGBT Courage Coalition, a campaign group, called the WHO panelists a group of ‘agenda-driven activists with little or no scientific expertise.’ ‘Some are well-known, radical activists who promote experimental medical interventions and stigmatize exploratory therapy,’ said Reed. The panel should include ‘experts with a diversity of perspectives,’ she added. ‘Stakeholders whose views differ from those held by transgender activist organisations do not appear to have been invited. ... The WHO group will set global guidelines for the ways that healthcare workers around the world can increase access ‘and utilisation of quality and respectful health services by trans and gender-diverse people.’”
THE LONGWINDED PREACHER (Friday Church News Notes, January 19, 2024, www.wayoflife.org, fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The following is excerpted from Feed the Flock: Expository Bible Preaching, one of the Bible courses available from Way of Life Literature -. Don’t presume on people and preach long just because you can. “Better to leave the audience longing rather than loathing.” Charles Spurgeon advised his preacher boys to preach no longer than 45 minutes. “If a fellow cannot say all he has to say in that time, when will he say it?” This is especially true for young preachers. They think that they should preach longer, but they need to learn to preach a good message in 45 minutes or less (usually less!). If you are a visiting preacher, make sure to ask how much time you have and stay by that schedule. It is a matter of obedience to authority (Heb. 13:17). It is a matter of being a good example to other preachers. If the host preacher says, “Preach as long as you want,” still be aware of the situation and don’t wear the people out. Martin Luther complained about a preacher named Johannes Bugenhagen who was famous for “astonishingly long sermons.” After one sermon Luther remarked, “Bugenhagen sacrifices his hearers with long sermons, for we are his victims. And today he sacrificed us in an exceptional manner” (Nick Needham, 2000 Years of Christ’s Power). In John Rippon’s Baptist Register we hear of a pastor named Thomas Mabbott. “As a preacher he was much too loud and too long, a habit rarely attended with such desirable effects as ministers are ready to expect; but it is ruinous to themselves, and often creates a disgust in the minds of even a serious audience, and mars the whole service.” Remember that life is short and people have many other responsibilities. One farmer complained to Spurgeon when one of his preacher boys visited his church and preached a half hour longer than allotted, which meant the cows could not be milked on time. This practical-minded man said, “How would he have liked it if he had been a cow?” It is not unspiritual for a preacher to think about cows that need milking and meals that need cooking and children that need attending. One of our own Bible college students, after he graduated, preached for two hours to a little Bible study group consisting of a handful of simple people at a farm. He preached until 11:30 at night! And he is a boring preacher who has a difficult time making his points clear. I was extremely discouraged when I heard that, because it was obvious that the young man did not take to heart the things he was taught. He has since been rejected from the ministry, not for preaching long but for general lack of wisdom and humility and a servant spirit. The long preaching was a reflection of those character flaws. If you are a truly excellent preacher and teacher, and if the situation allows for a long sermon, that is a different story. D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones observed, “Ten minutes from some men seems like an age, while an hour from another passes like a few minutes.”
NINE CHILDREN AND NINE COWS (Friday Church News Notes, January 19, 2024, www.wayoflife.org, fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - Recently I asked a newly married unsaved couple if they were looking forward to children, and they told me it was too expensive. But God’s people do not have to fear having as many children as God gives, because He owns them and He will provide for them. About 45 years ago, a pastor’s wife, who had an extra large van full of children, told me that I need never worry about having as many children as God gives, because He is faithful. We are reminded of a deacon who is mentioned in John Rippon’s Baptist Register. “Mr. Davey, a deacon of Chard, had nine children; and at, or near the birth of each child he was favoured with an additional cow to his worldly substance; so that he had as many cows as children, and no more!”
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).
ATHEIST CHURCHES PROLIFERATING (Friday Church News Notes, January 19, 2024, www.wayoflife.org, fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - According to a report on Yahoo News, “Church without God,” Jan. 11, 2024, atheist churches or secular churches are growing. They mimic Christian churches in many ways, with singing (i.e., “Imagine” by John Lennon and “Livin’ on a Prayer” by Bon Jovi), preaching (lectures), testimonies, ceremonies for major life transitions such as births, funerals, and weddings, etc. The Sunday Assembly and the Oasis are networks with dozens of chapters, some of them with hundreds of attendees. The Sunday Assembly is called “the first atheist megachurch.” There are also regional organizations such as the Seattle Atheist Church and the North Texas Church of Freethought. Lectures might include an astronomer giving a talk about the New Horizons spacecraft’s mission to Pluto. They “extol values like rational thinking and materialist philosophies, which promote the idea that only physical matter exists.” Some have “debaptism” ceremonies “in which they renounce their former religion.” They are whistling in the dark. What atheist churches don’t preach is the actual implication of what they believe, which is that you came from nowhere, you are nothing, your life means nothing, and you are going nowhere. No matter how they try to copy a church format, they are left with the atheist gospel, which is that life is a big, stupid accident. The vast universe is the product of an explosion; life sprang from non-life; intelligence arose from non-intelligence; man is an evolved ameba; human life has no ultimate purpose; and when you’re dead you’re dead. As for ourselves, we don’t advocate atheism or religion. We believe in Jesus Christ, the Son of God who became a man by the virgin birth, lived a sinless life, suffered and bled as a vicarious atonement for the sins of the world, rose from the dead, and ascended to the right hand of God, who offers eternal salvation to those who believe. Because we are sinners and God is holy, we instinctively want to hide from God as Adam and Eve did, but they learned that the holy God loved them and wanted to redeem them to Himself, as He does every son and daughter of Adam.
THE UNITED NATION’S TRANSGENDER HEALTH COMMITTEE (Friday Church News Notes, January 19, 2024, www.wayoflife.org, fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The following is excerpted from “Half of the WHO’s transgender health committee members,” Daily Mail, Jan. 9, 2024: “The WHO last month published the biographies of 21 experts who have been invited to help formulate guidelines that will shape how countries treat gender dysphoria. Of the a 21-member panel who have been invited to help formulate guidelines that will shape how countries treat gender dysphoria, 11 have no formal medical training. ... Ashley--a trans woman who uses the pronouns ‘they/them [and a curse word]’--is the committee’s most controversial and outspoken member. They have [the Daily Mail kowtows to transgender nuttiness by using their ‘preferred pronouns’] a significant TikTok following where they express hardline views on trans issues, calling for mental health checks on trans children to be scrapped before they are given puberty blockers and hormone drugs. Seven are trans themselves, ten have a medical background and of those, eight are doctors. The rest are a mixture of activists, social justice advocates, human rights lawyers, STD researchers, and policy advisors. ... Ashley ... has a ‘be gay, do crimes’ tattoo ... In a statement, Reed Alsalem, now the executive director of the LGBT Courage Coalition, a campaign group, called the WHO panelists a group of ‘agenda-driven activists with little or no scientific expertise.’ ‘Some are well-known, radical activists who promote experimental medical interventions and stigmatize exploratory therapy,’ said Reed. The panel should include ‘experts with a diversity of perspectives,’ she added. ‘Stakeholders whose views differ from those held by transgender activist organisations do not appear to have been invited. ... The WHO group will set global guidelines for the ways that healthcare workers around the world can increase access ‘and utilisation of quality and respectful health services by trans and gender-diverse people.’”
THE LONGWINDED PREACHER (Friday Church News Notes, January 19, 2024, www.wayoflife.org, fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The following is excerpted from Feed the Flock: Expository Bible Preaching, one of the Bible courses available from Way of Life Literature -. Don’t presume on people and preach long just because you can. “Better to leave the audience longing rather than loathing.” Charles Spurgeon advised his preacher boys to preach no longer than 45 minutes. “If a fellow cannot say all he has to say in that time, when will he say it?” This is especially true for young preachers. They think that they should preach longer, but they need to learn to preach a good message in 45 minutes or less (usually less!). If you are a visiting preacher, make sure to ask how much time you have and stay by that schedule. It is a matter of obedience to authority (Heb. 13:17). It is a matter of being a good example to other preachers. If the host preacher says, “Preach as long as you want,” still be aware of the situation and don’t wear the people out. Martin Luther complained about a preacher named Johannes Bugenhagen who was famous for “astonishingly long sermons.” After one sermon Luther remarked, “Bugenhagen sacrifices his hearers with long sermons, for we are his victims. And today he sacrificed us in an exceptional manner” (Nick Needham, 2000 Years of Christ’s Power). In John Rippon’s Baptist Register we hear of a pastor named Thomas Mabbott. “As a preacher he was much too loud and too long, a habit rarely attended with such desirable effects as ministers are ready to expect; but it is ruinous to themselves, and often creates a disgust in the minds of even a serious audience, and mars the whole service.” Remember that life is short and people have many other responsibilities. One farmer complained to Spurgeon when one of his preacher boys visited his church and preached a half hour longer than allotted, which meant the cows could not be milked on time. This practical-minded man said, “How would he have liked it if he had been a cow?” It is not unspiritual for a preacher to think about cows that need milking and meals that need cooking and children that need attending. One of our own Bible college students, after he graduated, preached for two hours to a little Bible study group consisting of a handful of simple people at a farm. He preached until 11:30 at night! And he is a boring preacher who has a difficult time making his points clear. I was extremely discouraged when I heard that, because it was obvious that the young man did not take to heart the things he was taught. He has since been rejected from the ministry, not for preaching long but for general lack of wisdom and humility and a servant spirit. The long preaching was a reflection of those character flaws. If you are a truly excellent preacher and teacher, and if the situation allows for a long sermon, that is a different story. D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones observed, “Ten minutes from some men seems like an age, while an hour from another passes like a few minutes.”
NINE CHILDREN AND NINE COWS (Friday Church News Notes, January 19, 2024, www.wayoflife.org, fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - Recently I asked a newly married unsaved couple if they were looking forward to children, and they told me it was too expensive. But God’s people do not have to fear having as many children as God gives, because He owns them and He will provide for them. About 45 years ago, a pastor’s wife, who had an extra large van full of children, told me that I need never worry about having as many children as God gives, because He is faithful. We are reminded of a deacon who is mentioned in John Rippon’s Baptist Register. “Mr. Davey, a deacon of Chard, had nine children; and at, or near the birth of each child he was favoured with an additional cow to his worldly substance; so that he had as many cows as children, and no more!”
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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