Friday Church News Notes
March 8, 2024 - Volume 25, Issue 10
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.
John Sullivan, Donald Trump, Dan Medora at Mar-a-Lago estate in south Florida.
TRUMP’S MAR-A-LAGO HOSTS “GAY WEDDING”; TRUMP GIVES THUMBS UP IN PHOTO SHOOT (Friday Church News Notes, March 15, 2024, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - On Feb. 23, two homosexual men had a “marriage” ceremony at Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in south Florida. The men, dressed in matching black pants, white blazers, and bow ties, cut a three-tiered cake and danced the first dance. The forum featured multiple U.S. flags. One of the partners, John Sullivan, is an official in the Tennessee Log Cabin Republicans (pro-homosexual Republicans). The Log Cabin’s facebook page announced, “An amazing time was had by all at John Sullivan and Dan Medora’s unforgettable wedding at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, FL. A celebration of love and style that will be cherished forever.” We suspect that Trump is as much a judgment on America as Biden. There is no “Godly Party” in America. God’s redeemed people must guard their hearts and not allow themselves to care more about economics than morality. We must beware of being emotionally captured by wicked men parading as “conservatives.” “If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory” (Colossians 3:1-4).
FRANCE BECOMES FIRST COUNTRY TO ENSHRINE ABORTION IN CONSTITUTION; APPLAUDS MURDER OF THE UNBORN (Friday Church News Notes, March 8, 2024, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The following is excerpted from “France Becomes,” Christian Post, Mar. 5, 2024: “France became the first nation to enshrine abortion in its national constitution in an overwhelming vote that prompted a standing ovation from the French Parliament in Versailles on Monday. French lawmakers overwhelmingly voted 780-72 in favor of the bill to amend Article 34 of the French constitution. ... When the final vote was announced, the room in Versailles Palace erupted with sustained applause, and many who were gathered in Paris’ Trocadéro Square to watch the vote on a large screen also cheered as the amendment passed, according to The New York Times. On Monday evening, the Eiffel Tower was emblazoned with the words ‘My body, my choice.’” CONCLUSION: The legalization of abortion is a fulfillment of Bible prophecy. “This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves ... Without natural affection ... incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good ... lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God” (2 Timothy 3:1-4). What could better illustrate “without natural affection,” what could better illustrate incontinence and fierceness, what could better illustrate “lovers of pleasures” than a mother conceiving a child and killing it and a nation applauding the act? The hour is very late.
JEWISH RABBIS EXPECTING THE MESSIAH IMMINENTLY (Friday Church News Notes, March 8, 2024, www.wayoflife.org, fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - A report in 2022 stated that “biggest rabbis are afraid to leave the country lest they miss Messiah’s coming” (Israel Today, Sept. 29, 2022). Rabbi Chaim Kanievsky, one of two or three top rabbis of the ultra-orthodox, “claimed to be in direct contact with the Messiah and had been tasked with informing the public of the Messiah’s imminent arrival” (Ibid.). Rabbi Yaakov Zisholtz told Radio 2000, “The process of redemption is about to start happening very quickly and at a fast pace. It is important that people remain calm and steady to act properly in the right time. ... Getting the word out now that the Messiah is closer than ever is a matter of life and death. Haven’t you heard of Gog and Magog? That is what is going to happen very soon.” Decades ago, Rabbi Yitzhak Kaduri and Rabbi Menachem Schneerson predicted that Benjamin Netanyahu would be Israel’s last prime minister prior to the Messianic Age (“Netanyahu Holding the Keys for the Messiah,” Israel365News, Nov. 19, 2018). Rabbi Levi Sudri suggests that Netanyahu is the Jonathan who is preparing for the return of the house of David. He bases this on a rabbinical interpretation by Rabbi Shmuel Bornsztain from the early 1900s (“Netanyahu Will Hand Scepter to Messiah,” Israel365News, May 28, 2018). Rabbi Schneerson, who died in 1994, was considered the Messiah by hundreds of thousands of Jews in the 1980s and 1990s. Even since his death, many are waiting for his resurrection, and some don’t believe that he is dead. Schneerson was the seventh rebbe or rabbi leader of a kabbalistic ultra-orthodox Jewish sect called Lubavitch (also called Chabad and Habad), a sect that focuses on the return of the Messiah. Schneerson “transformed it from a small movement into the largest and most widespread Jewish movement in the world today.” Schneerson’s photo is plastered on signs and walls in many parts of Israel. It is often accompanied with a crown and the Hebrew word Mashiach (Messiah). According to ultra-Orthodox thinking, the Messiah is the man who will build the third temple. Rabbi Nachman of Breslov (1773-1810), who lived in Uman, Ukraine, taught a mantra based on his own name that is supposed to help bring the Messiah into the world. It is Na Nach Nachma Nachman MeUman. The movement that follows Nachman is called “Na Nach” after this mystical chant. Tens of thousands of Jews make an annual pilgrimage to Nachman’s gravesite, even in the midst of the Russian-Ukraine war (32,000 visited in 2023). The recital of certain psalms (Psalms 16, 32, 41, 42, 59, 77, 90, 105, 137, 150) at his gravesite is thought to bring “general remedy” for sins and damages and salvation from hell. What most Jews do not know, because their minds are blinded by rabbinical tradition, is that the next “messiah” is the anti-christ who will step forth as a man of extraordinary ability with an unprecedented peace plan. He will indeed build the third temple (we see it being measured in Revelation 11), but he will reveal his true character by entering it and declaring himself God. “... the son of perdition; Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshiped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God” (2 Thessalonians 2;3-4). See also Daniel 9:27; Matthew 24:15-22; Revelation 13:5-8.
ANOTHER ANCIENT SYNAGOGUE FOUND IN MAGDALA (Friday Church News Notes, March 8, 2024, www.wayoflife.org, fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - In 2009, the foundation of a large first century synagogue was discovered in ancient Magdala on the northwestern shore of the Sea of Galilee, about four miles north of Tiberius. Mary Magdalene got her name from this city and Jesus preached here. “And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues…” (Mt. 4:23). In one room of the synagogue a coin was discovered dating to AD 29, which was at or near the time of Jesus’ public ministry. The synagogue had pillars and mosaic floors. One of the surviving images depicts a Galilee fishing boat with a sail and three oars. Also found in the synagogue was a carved stone that appears to be a depiction of the temple in Jerusalem. On the front is the image of a seven-branched menorah. In December 2021, the announcement was made that a second synagogue had been discovered in Magdala about 100 meters west from the first one. It is smaller and less elaborate. “The newly excavated synagogue is a simple, square-shaped building, constructed out of basalt and limestone. It consisted of a central hall with a bench along one side and two small rooms. One room is thought to have been used to store scrolls. Each of the rooms and the bench were coated with plaster” (“Archaeologists Discover New First-century Synagogue,” Biblical Archaeology Society, Dec. 15, 2021). Josephus, the Jewish warrior leader turned historian, who operated out of Magdala, said the city had a population of 40,000 and a fishing fleet of 230 vessels.
FEDERAL COURT RULES BIDEN ADMIN CAN’T FORCE CHRISTIAN DOCTORS TO PERFORM TRANS SURGERIES (Friday Church News Notes, March 8, 2024, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The following is excerpted from “Biden can’t force,” Christian Post, Mar. 5, 2024: “A federal court has ruled that Christian healthcare workers cannot be forced to perform elective, body-disfiguring surgeries for individuals who identify as trans despite a mandate from the Biden administration. In an order released on Monday, the United States District Court of the District of North Dakota granted partial summary judgment in favor of the Christian Employers Alliance. At issue were two mandates from the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services that interpret Title VII antidiscrimination protections based on ‘sex’ to include sexual orientation and self-declared gender identity. It would require religious employers to provide health insurance that covers body-mutilating trans surgeries and force surgeons with religious objections to perform such procedures as castration for males and elective double mastectomies for females or face charges of discrimination based on gender identity. The court concluded that ‘CEA will succeed on the merits,’ adding that ‘if CEA had to comply with these mandates, its members would have to violate their sincerely held religious beliefs which is an impermissible exercise under the First Amendment and [the Religious Freedom Restoration Act].’ ‘CEA’s sincerely held religious belief is that male and female are immutable realities defined by biological sex and that gender reassignment is contrary to Christian Values,’ reads the order.”
THE SEA MONSTER WITH 24 ARMS AND 15,000 FEET (Friday Church News Notes, March 8, 2024, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The following is from CreationMoments.com, Feb. 21, 2024: “A real monster prowls the ocean floor from the Aleutian Islands to Southern California. It is a terror to even relatively large bottom dwellers. It eats many things, including hermit crabs, clams, sea cucumbers, sea urchins and even abalone. This monster goes by the seemingly innocent name of the Sunflower Star. It begins life as a microscopic larva, much like other sea stars. But as it grows, it surpasses anything that other sea stars can achieve. Its five arms become more arms as it grows until it finally has 24 arms. By this time it can be 39 inches across. But its size does not limit its speed. It uses 15,000 tube feet to move over 5 feet per minute. This is possible because, like other sea stars, the Sunflower Star’s skeleton is made up of just a few pieces of skeletal mesh, making it more flexible. It is such a terror to other creatures that when they sense its approach they flee at surprising speed. Even the Northern Abalone, which normally moves sluggishly, flees in the hope that the Sunflower Star will not capture it. The Bible urges vigilance on our part because our spiritual enemy is a monster who seeks to entrap us in sin. We can be thankful that Jesus Christ has provided both deliverance and protection from this monster. Ref: Royal British Columbia Museum, Victoria, British Columbia, ‘The Sunflower Star.’”
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).
FRANCE BECOMES FIRST COUNTRY TO ENSHRINE ABORTION IN CONSTITUTION; APPLAUDS MURDER OF THE UNBORN (Friday Church News Notes, March 8, 2024, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The following is excerpted from “France Becomes,” Christian Post, Mar. 5, 2024: “France became the first nation to enshrine abortion in its national constitution in an overwhelming vote that prompted a standing ovation from the French Parliament in Versailles on Monday. French lawmakers overwhelmingly voted 780-72 in favor of the bill to amend Article 34 of the French constitution. ... When the final vote was announced, the room in Versailles Palace erupted with sustained applause, and many who were gathered in Paris’ Trocadéro Square to watch the vote on a large screen also cheered as the amendment passed, according to The New York Times. On Monday evening, the Eiffel Tower was emblazoned with the words ‘My body, my choice.’” CONCLUSION: The legalization of abortion is a fulfillment of Bible prophecy. “This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves ... Without natural affection ... incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good ... lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God” (2 Timothy 3:1-4). What could better illustrate “without natural affection,” what could better illustrate incontinence and fierceness, what could better illustrate “lovers of pleasures” than a mother conceiving a child and killing it and a nation applauding the act? The hour is very late.
JEWISH RABBIS EXPECTING THE MESSIAH IMMINENTLY (Friday Church News Notes, March 8, 2024, www.wayoflife.org, fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - A report in 2022 stated that “biggest rabbis are afraid to leave the country lest they miss Messiah’s coming” (Israel Today, Sept. 29, 2022). Rabbi Chaim Kanievsky, one of two or three top rabbis of the ultra-orthodox, “claimed to be in direct contact with the Messiah and had been tasked with informing the public of the Messiah’s imminent arrival” (Ibid.). Rabbi Yaakov Zisholtz told Radio 2000, “The process of redemption is about to start happening very quickly and at a fast pace. It is important that people remain calm and steady to act properly in the right time. ... Getting the word out now that the Messiah is closer than ever is a matter of life and death. Haven’t you heard of Gog and Magog? That is what is going to happen very soon.” Decades ago, Rabbi Yitzhak Kaduri and Rabbi Menachem Schneerson predicted that Benjamin Netanyahu would be Israel’s last prime minister prior to the Messianic Age (“Netanyahu Holding the Keys for the Messiah,” Israel365News, Nov. 19, 2018). Rabbi Levi Sudri suggests that Netanyahu is the Jonathan who is preparing for the return of the house of David. He bases this on a rabbinical interpretation by Rabbi Shmuel Bornsztain from the early 1900s (“Netanyahu Will Hand Scepter to Messiah,” Israel365News, May 28, 2018). Rabbi Schneerson, who died in 1994, was considered the Messiah by hundreds of thousands of Jews in the 1980s and 1990s. Even since his death, many are waiting for his resurrection, and some don’t believe that he is dead. Schneerson was the seventh rebbe or rabbi leader of a kabbalistic ultra-orthodox Jewish sect called Lubavitch (also called Chabad and Habad), a sect that focuses on the return of the Messiah. Schneerson “transformed it from a small movement into the largest and most widespread Jewish movement in the world today.” Schneerson’s photo is plastered on signs and walls in many parts of Israel. It is often accompanied with a crown and the Hebrew word Mashiach (Messiah). According to ultra-Orthodox thinking, the Messiah is the man who will build the third temple. Rabbi Nachman of Breslov (1773-1810), who lived in Uman, Ukraine, taught a mantra based on his own name that is supposed to help bring the Messiah into the world. It is Na Nach Nachma Nachman MeUman. The movement that follows Nachman is called “Na Nach” after this mystical chant. Tens of thousands of Jews make an annual pilgrimage to Nachman’s gravesite, even in the midst of the Russian-Ukraine war (32,000 visited in 2023). The recital of certain psalms (Psalms 16, 32, 41, 42, 59, 77, 90, 105, 137, 150) at his gravesite is thought to bring “general remedy” for sins and damages and salvation from hell. What most Jews do not know, because their minds are blinded by rabbinical tradition, is that the next “messiah” is the anti-christ who will step forth as a man of extraordinary ability with an unprecedented peace plan. He will indeed build the third temple (we see it being measured in Revelation 11), but he will reveal his true character by entering it and declaring himself God. “... the son of perdition; Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshiped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God” (2 Thessalonians 2;3-4). See also Daniel 9:27; Matthew 24:15-22; Revelation 13:5-8.
ANOTHER ANCIENT SYNAGOGUE FOUND IN MAGDALA (Friday Church News Notes, March 8, 2024, www.wayoflife.org, fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - In 2009, the foundation of a large first century synagogue was discovered in ancient Magdala on the northwestern shore of the Sea of Galilee, about four miles north of Tiberius. Mary Magdalene got her name from this city and Jesus preached here. “And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues…” (Mt. 4:23). In one room of the synagogue a coin was discovered dating to AD 29, which was at or near the time of Jesus’ public ministry. The synagogue had pillars and mosaic floors. One of the surviving images depicts a Galilee fishing boat with a sail and three oars. Also found in the synagogue was a carved stone that appears to be a depiction of the temple in Jerusalem. On the front is the image of a seven-branched menorah. In December 2021, the announcement was made that a second synagogue had been discovered in Magdala about 100 meters west from the first one. It is smaller and less elaborate. “The newly excavated synagogue is a simple, square-shaped building, constructed out of basalt and limestone. It consisted of a central hall with a bench along one side and two small rooms. One room is thought to have been used to store scrolls. Each of the rooms and the bench were coated with plaster” (“Archaeologists Discover New First-century Synagogue,” Biblical Archaeology Society, Dec. 15, 2021). Josephus, the Jewish warrior leader turned historian, who operated out of Magdala, said the city had a population of 40,000 and a fishing fleet of 230 vessels.
FEDERAL COURT RULES BIDEN ADMIN CAN’T FORCE CHRISTIAN DOCTORS TO PERFORM TRANS SURGERIES (Friday Church News Notes, March 8, 2024, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The following is excerpted from “Biden can’t force,” Christian Post, Mar. 5, 2024: “A federal court has ruled that Christian healthcare workers cannot be forced to perform elective, body-disfiguring surgeries for individuals who identify as trans despite a mandate from the Biden administration. In an order released on Monday, the United States District Court of the District of North Dakota granted partial summary judgment in favor of the Christian Employers Alliance. At issue were two mandates from the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services that interpret Title VII antidiscrimination protections based on ‘sex’ to include sexual orientation and self-declared gender identity. It would require religious employers to provide health insurance that covers body-mutilating trans surgeries and force surgeons with religious objections to perform such procedures as castration for males and elective double mastectomies for females or face charges of discrimination based on gender identity. The court concluded that ‘CEA will succeed on the merits,’ adding that ‘if CEA had to comply with these mandates, its members would have to violate their sincerely held religious beliefs which is an impermissible exercise under the First Amendment and [the Religious Freedom Restoration Act].’ ‘CEA’s sincerely held religious belief is that male and female are immutable realities defined by biological sex and that gender reassignment is contrary to Christian Values,’ reads the order.”
THE SEA MONSTER WITH 24 ARMS AND 15,000 FEET (Friday Church News Notes, March 8, 2024, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The following is from CreationMoments.com, Feb. 21, 2024: “A real monster prowls the ocean floor from the Aleutian Islands to Southern California. It is a terror to even relatively large bottom dwellers. It eats many things, including hermit crabs, clams, sea cucumbers, sea urchins and even abalone. This monster goes by the seemingly innocent name of the Sunflower Star. It begins life as a microscopic larva, much like other sea stars. But as it grows, it surpasses anything that other sea stars can achieve. Its five arms become more arms as it grows until it finally has 24 arms. By this time it can be 39 inches across. But its size does not limit its speed. It uses 15,000 tube feet to move over 5 feet per minute. This is possible because, like other sea stars, the Sunflower Star’s skeleton is made up of just a few pieces of skeletal mesh, making it more flexible. It is such a terror to other creatures that when they sense its approach they flee at surprising speed. Even the Northern Abalone, which normally moves sluggishly, flees in the hope that the Sunflower Star will not capture it. The Bible urges vigilance on our part because our spiritual enemy is a monster who seeks to entrap us in sin. We can be thankful that Jesus Christ has provided both deliverance and protection from this monster. Ref: Royal British Columbia Museum, Victoria, British Columbia, ‘The Sunflower Star.’”
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.
Way of Life Literature - www.wayoflife.org
copyright 2018 - Way of Life Literature
