Friday Church News Notes
July 12, 2024 - Volume 25, Issue 28
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.
TRUMP’S NEGATIVE INFLUENCE ON AN ALREADY WICKED NATION (Friday Church News Notes, July 12, 2024, www.wayoflife.org, fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - When it comes to politics and every other issue of life, God’s people must exercise a biblical mindset, not a “conservative” mindset. I refuse to be influenced by, or to follow the example of, or be a party with, unsaved “conservatives” who idolatrously live by man’s thinking rather than God’s (Psalm 1:1-3). They know society’s problems, but they don’t know the spiritual fundamentals, and their weapons are carnal rather than spiritual (2 Corinthians 10:4-5). Those who address symptoms rather than fundamentals aren’t wise and are not ultimately successful. Consider former President Donald Trump. He can’t Make America Great Again, because he doesn’t know what made America great in the first place, and second, he doesn’t have the power to do what would be necessary to Make America Great Again. It would require changing the character of America’s churches. The best that zealous political activity can do is get the Ten Commandments posted in public schools in one state, but what is really needed is for the Bible to be TAUGHT in every school in the entire nation, as it once was, and no amount of politics can bring that to pass. America has been thumbing her nose at God’s holy laws for a long time, and we are convinced that both Biden and Trump are God’s judgments on a wicked nation. There are some wise, moral men who could lead America fairly well, but those men weren’t on the recent debate stage. People say, “I’m voting for a president, not a pastor.” I have said that myself in decades past, but upon further consideration, it is not biblical thinking. God commands me to “prove all things; hold fast that which is good” (1 Thessalonians 5:21), and the only proper basis for proving, before God, is to “search the scriptures daily” (Acts 17:11). Using this standard, it is impossible to support the idea that morality is secondary to economics, the military, border security, supreme court justices, oil exploration, etc. By all counts, Trump is an arrogant man, which is very much a moral issue. Does it matter? The Bible says, “Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall” (Proverbs 16:18). Apparently arrogance is a fundamental issue of life, including political life. If God’s judgment is on a proud man, what will happen to a nation that elects a spectacularly proud man to its highest office? Could it be that Trump’s legal troubles are not fundamentally a political attack but rather a judgment of God? Could it be that he is not a victim? Trump has defied God’s law of holy matrimony by a playboy lifestyle and multiple divorces, fathering five children by three women. He supports the homosexual rights agenda, as we have documented elsewhere. He supports the murder of unborn children so long as they aren’t too old in the womb. His gross lack of morality has now influenced the entire Republican Party, which is supposed to be very “conservative.” Note this from the Washington Times: “The Republican National Committee took cues from presumptive presidential nominee Donald Trump on Monday and made a giant step toward passing a party platform that softens its stance on federal abortion limits. The RNC’s platform committee signed off on a Trump-inspired vision that omits the party’s embrace of a human life amendment to the Constitution and a 20-week federal ban on most abortions” (“RNC adopts Trump-inspired platform,” Washington Times, July 8, 2024). What motivates such a thing? Cheap, filthy politics with its love of money and power. God’s people can’t control what the world does, but if Bible-believing churches would spend as much time in serious intercessory prayer and serious Bible study and building holy churches and holy homes and holy children and holy youth and in aggressive evangelism as they do in messing around with politics, sports, vain activities on social media, selfies, empty chatter, etc., THAT would change things. At 74 years old, the Lord’s program for holy, biblically-educated, zealous New Testament churches is what I am focused on like a laser as long as God gives me health, and it is paying wonderful dividends even in this present life and apostate times. I wholeheartedly recommend it. The real answer is in God’s house, not the White House.
MUSIC SEMINAR - UNRESOLVING CHORDS (Friday Church News Notes, July 12, 2024, www.wayoflife.org, fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - Pastor Nathan Searle of Southern Cross Baptist Church, Engadine, New South Wales (near Sydney), has a five-part series on “A Biblical Philosophy of Music.” The titles of the series are #1 The Foundation, #2 The Great Deception, #3 The Apostasy and Worldliness of CCM, #4 Music That Honors the Lord, and #5 The Charge to Take a Stand. Part # 4 deals with unresolving chords which is a major characteristic of contemporary worship music. The resolution of chords produces finality to music. It resolves tension. Contemporary worship does not want resolution. It wants music that messes with the emotions. It wants to create a mystical, sensual experience. It is very, very important that God’s people be educated in this matter. Pastor David Moss, North Hills Bible Church, York, Pennsylvania, says, “If we use music in our churches or in our personal lives that is contaminated with harmful elements of unresolved tension, even in small doses, our ability to demonstrate the difference between holy and unholy, clean and unclean will be greatly inhibited” (“God’s Song”).
http://www.scbc.org.au/music-conference.aspx
JOHN 17 UNITY (Friday Church News Notes, July 12, 2024, www.wayoflife.org, fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - John 17:21 is used as a major proof text for Christian unity. “That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me.” The ecumenical interpretation is patently false and impossible. First, John 17 is not a commandment addressed to men; it is Christ’s High Priestly prayer addressed to God the Father, and the prayer was answered. It describes a spiritual unity that is created by God among born again saints. Second, John 17 is a unity based on salvation and truth and obedience and separation from the world. “I have manifested thy name unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world: thine they were, and thou gavest them me; and THEY HAVE KEPT THY WORD. ... For I HAVE GIVEN UNTO THEM THE WORDS WHICH THOU GAVEST ME; AND THEY HAVE RECEIVED THEM, and have known surely that I came out from thee, and they have believed that thou didst send me. ... I HAVE GIVEN THEM THY WORD; AND THE WORLD HATH HATED THEM, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. ... Sanctify them through THY TRUTH: thy word is TRUTH. ... And for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified THROUGH THE TRUTH” (John 17:6, 8, 14, 17, 19). John 17 is not a unity of true Christians with false, sound doctrine with heresy. It is not a “unity in diversity” that ignores doctrinal differences for the sake of an enlarged fellowship. It is not a unity of professing Christians who love the world. Third, to accept the ecumenical interpretation of John 17 requires disobedience to plain Scriptures such as the following: Romans 16:17; 2 Corinthians 6:14-18; 1 Timothy 6:20-21; 2 Timothy 2:16-18; 3:5; Jude 1:3.
BAD COUNSEL FROM PASTORS ON THE CONTEMPORARY SLIPPERY SLOPE (Friday Church News Notes, July 19, 2024, www.wayoflife.org, fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - Note from Bro. Cloud: The following testimony from a young preacher describes what is happening widely in fundamental Baptist churches. It describes what has become the majority thinking over the past 20 years. I pray that this young man will stand fast in the “strictness” of God’s Word and not follow a multitude to do wrong. “Dear Brother Cloud, I have been GREATLY encouraged by your writings because I had been struggling with the idea of holding to and preaching Christian standards when so many of the ‘good’ independent Baptist churches and pastors no longer do. I was getting to the place where I felt alone in desiring to preach and teach holiness from the pulpit, for I had asked many (at least 10) preachers if adapting CCM was ok and if we should preach hard on modesty and music and they ALL told me that if we love people and show them the love of the Lord they will eventually come around to creating their own standards. I was so discouraged because I had been convicted about the music/dress that I was listening to and allowing in my own life and family and was desiring to find a man who would say, ‘YES! TAKE A STAND!’ So thank you for doing right no matter the cost. I have been the youth pastor at an independent Baptist church, but I have been asked to leave by the pastor because he feels I am ‘too conservative/fundamental’ for his ministry (our church is adapting CCM praise music and giving up modesty for the sake of ‘keeping the unsaved in church’). I am in the process of seeking God’s face and will for where He wants us to go and what He wants us to do. The main purpose of this email is to let you know that as I seek to serve the Lord, my goal is to be what you laid out in O Timothy magazine. My desire is to be one of the 1,000 preachers that will not give up the faith and will hold to sound doctrine and Biblical standards. I do not expect a response, but I wanted you to know that your sound Biblical teaching has given me the Biblical foundation I had been praying for/searching for so that I could respond (both to others and in my own heart) with the Bible as to why I DO believe that holding Bible standards on music, dress, television, technology, etc., is VITAL to Christianity today.”
A TESTIMONY ABOUT THE PRE-TRIBULATION RAPTURE (Friday Church News Notes, July 12, 2024, www.wayoflife.org, fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - “You are right to take a strong stand on the pre-tribulation rapture position. This is our blessed hope and the encouragement that Jesus gave to His Church, as we fight the good fight. Sadly, I left that position for over twenty years, favoring the pre-wrath rapture and then, for a while, the seventh trumpet rapture position. Over time, I lost my joy in Christ. I often repented of my fear of the judgments to come, my fear that I wouldn’t be found worthy to escape, my fear that we hadn’t prepped enough, my fear that I would lose my salvation, etc. It wasn’t that I was afraid to die for my faith, but that those days are described as something far worse than any kind of tribulation ever experienced on earth. I wondered why God would allow His latter day Church to endure such horrible tribulation that could end with one of the weaker believers taking the mark of the beast?! I just prayed for strength, grace and courage to face the worst in that day. At the same time, there was also a pridefulness that had set in with me, as I had also noticed in others who held my anti-pre-tribulation view, and a disdain for those poor souls who held to such an easy escapist way out of tribulation. It was like we knew the truth and had some kind of deeper understanding of God’s Word. Thankfully, God led me to a pre-tribulation website back in 2016. I fought if off for a bit, and then decided to listen to the Holy Spirit. I can’t tell you how happy I am that I did. My joy was restored and I now believe it is absolutely the correct and Biblical rapture position and a very important doctrine. Thank you for all that you do. God bless.”
THE MIRACLE OF PHOTOSYNTHESIS (Friday Church News Notes, July 12, 2024, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The following is from CreationMoments.com, May 28, 2024: “All green plants, some algae, and even some bacteria are able to make food out of nothing more than air, water, light and a few minerals. The process is called photosynthesis, and without it we would run out of food to eat as well as oxygen to breathe. The green plant takes in the carbon dioxide that we and the animals exhale as waste and some water and, through photosynthesis, produces oxygen and a carbohydrate, and returns three fourths of the water it originally took in for future use. Chemically what happens is that the carbon atom in the carbon dioxide is removed from the oxygen and added to one water molecule, creating a carbohydrate, which is useful to us as food. While this all sounds simple, a more detailed summary of what happens each step of the way would fill a whole page with fine print. Evolutionists marvel at the great good luck involved in the fact that plants make useful things for us out of our waste products. We have grown in our appreciation of photosynthesis because scientists have tried to mimic the process in order to build a new kind of solar cell for use in space. While the plant converts nearly 100% of the light it receives into energy, our best human efforts have reached only 8% efficiency. So, creationists ask, if the best human minds have produced only an 8% efficiency after years of work, how could no mind at all come up with nearly 100% efficiency--no matter how much time was involved?”
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).
MUSIC SEMINAR - UNRESOLVING CHORDS (Friday Church News Notes, July 12, 2024, www.wayoflife.org, fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - Pastor Nathan Searle of Southern Cross Baptist Church, Engadine, New South Wales (near Sydney), has a five-part series on “A Biblical Philosophy of Music.” The titles of the series are #1 The Foundation, #2 The Great Deception, #3 The Apostasy and Worldliness of CCM, #4 Music That Honors the Lord, and #5 The Charge to Take a Stand. Part # 4 deals with unresolving chords which is a major characteristic of contemporary worship music. The resolution of chords produces finality to music. It resolves tension. Contemporary worship does not want resolution. It wants music that messes with the emotions. It wants to create a mystical, sensual experience. It is very, very important that God’s people be educated in this matter. Pastor David Moss, North Hills Bible Church, York, Pennsylvania, says, “If we use music in our churches or in our personal lives that is contaminated with harmful elements of unresolved tension, even in small doses, our ability to demonstrate the difference between holy and unholy, clean and unclean will be greatly inhibited” (“God’s Song”).
http://www.scbc.org.au/music-conference.aspx
JOHN 17 UNITY (Friday Church News Notes, July 12, 2024, www.wayoflife.org, fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - John 17:21 is used as a major proof text for Christian unity. “That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me.” The ecumenical interpretation is patently false and impossible. First, John 17 is not a commandment addressed to men; it is Christ’s High Priestly prayer addressed to God the Father, and the prayer was answered. It describes a spiritual unity that is created by God among born again saints. Second, John 17 is a unity based on salvation and truth and obedience and separation from the world. “I have manifested thy name unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world: thine they were, and thou gavest them me; and THEY HAVE KEPT THY WORD. ... For I HAVE GIVEN UNTO THEM THE WORDS WHICH THOU GAVEST ME; AND THEY HAVE RECEIVED THEM, and have known surely that I came out from thee, and they have believed that thou didst send me. ... I HAVE GIVEN THEM THY WORD; AND THE WORLD HATH HATED THEM, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. ... Sanctify them through THY TRUTH: thy word is TRUTH. ... And for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified THROUGH THE TRUTH” (John 17:6, 8, 14, 17, 19). John 17 is not a unity of true Christians with false, sound doctrine with heresy. It is not a “unity in diversity” that ignores doctrinal differences for the sake of an enlarged fellowship. It is not a unity of professing Christians who love the world. Third, to accept the ecumenical interpretation of John 17 requires disobedience to plain Scriptures such as the following: Romans 16:17; 2 Corinthians 6:14-18; 1 Timothy 6:20-21; 2 Timothy 2:16-18; 3:5; Jude 1:3.
BAD COUNSEL FROM PASTORS ON THE CONTEMPORARY SLIPPERY SLOPE (Friday Church News Notes, July 19, 2024, www.wayoflife.org, fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - Note from Bro. Cloud: The following testimony from a young preacher describes what is happening widely in fundamental Baptist churches. It describes what has become the majority thinking over the past 20 years. I pray that this young man will stand fast in the “strictness” of God’s Word and not follow a multitude to do wrong. “Dear Brother Cloud, I have been GREATLY encouraged by your writings because I had been struggling with the idea of holding to and preaching Christian standards when so many of the ‘good’ independent Baptist churches and pastors no longer do. I was getting to the place where I felt alone in desiring to preach and teach holiness from the pulpit, for I had asked many (at least 10) preachers if adapting CCM was ok and if we should preach hard on modesty and music and they ALL told me that if we love people and show them the love of the Lord they will eventually come around to creating their own standards. I was so discouraged because I had been convicted about the music/dress that I was listening to and allowing in my own life and family and was desiring to find a man who would say, ‘YES! TAKE A STAND!’ So thank you for doing right no matter the cost. I have been the youth pastor at an independent Baptist church, but I have been asked to leave by the pastor because he feels I am ‘too conservative/fundamental’ for his ministry (our church is adapting CCM praise music and giving up modesty for the sake of ‘keeping the unsaved in church’). I am in the process of seeking God’s face and will for where He wants us to go and what He wants us to do. The main purpose of this email is to let you know that as I seek to serve the Lord, my goal is to be what you laid out in O Timothy magazine. My desire is to be one of the 1,000 preachers that will not give up the faith and will hold to sound doctrine and Biblical standards. I do not expect a response, but I wanted you to know that your sound Biblical teaching has given me the Biblical foundation I had been praying for/searching for so that I could respond (both to others and in my own heart) with the Bible as to why I DO believe that holding Bible standards on music, dress, television, technology, etc., is VITAL to Christianity today.”
A TESTIMONY ABOUT THE PRE-TRIBULATION RAPTURE (Friday Church News Notes, July 12, 2024, www.wayoflife.org, fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - “You are right to take a strong stand on the pre-tribulation rapture position. This is our blessed hope and the encouragement that Jesus gave to His Church, as we fight the good fight. Sadly, I left that position for over twenty years, favoring the pre-wrath rapture and then, for a while, the seventh trumpet rapture position. Over time, I lost my joy in Christ. I often repented of my fear of the judgments to come, my fear that I wouldn’t be found worthy to escape, my fear that we hadn’t prepped enough, my fear that I would lose my salvation, etc. It wasn’t that I was afraid to die for my faith, but that those days are described as something far worse than any kind of tribulation ever experienced on earth. I wondered why God would allow His latter day Church to endure such horrible tribulation that could end with one of the weaker believers taking the mark of the beast?! I just prayed for strength, grace and courage to face the worst in that day. At the same time, there was also a pridefulness that had set in with me, as I had also noticed in others who held my anti-pre-tribulation view, and a disdain for those poor souls who held to such an easy escapist way out of tribulation. It was like we knew the truth and had some kind of deeper understanding of God’s Word. Thankfully, God led me to a pre-tribulation website back in 2016. I fought if off for a bit, and then decided to listen to the Holy Spirit. I can’t tell you how happy I am that I did. My joy was restored and I now believe it is absolutely the correct and Biblical rapture position and a very important doctrine. Thank you for all that you do. God bless.”
THE MIRACLE OF PHOTOSYNTHESIS (Friday Church News Notes, July 12, 2024, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The following is from CreationMoments.com, May 28, 2024: “All green plants, some algae, and even some bacteria are able to make food out of nothing more than air, water, light and a few minerals. The process is called photosynthesis, and without it we would run out of food to eat as well as oxygen to breathe. The green plant takes in the carbon dioxide that we and the animals exhale as waste and some water and, through photosynthesis, produces oxygen and a carbohydrate, and returns three fourths of the water it originally took in for future use. Chemically what happens is that the carbon atom in the carbon dioxide is removed from the oxygen and added to one water molecule, creating a carbohydrate, which is useful to us as food. While this all sounds simple, a more detailed summary of what happens each step of the way would fill a whole page with fine print. Evolutionists marvel at the great good luck involved in the fact that plants make useful things for us out of our waste products. We have grown in our appreciation of photosynthesis because scientists have tried to mimic the process in order to build a new kind of solar cell for use in space. While the plant converts nearly 100% of the light it receives into energy, our best human efforts have reached only 8% efficiency. So, creationists ask, if the best human minds have produced only an 8% efficiency after years of work, how could no mind at all come up with nearly 100% efficiency--no matter how much time was involved?”
CONCLUSION: The Friday Church News Notes is designed for use in churches and is published by Way of Life Literature’s Fundamental Baptist Information Service. Unless otherwise stated, the Notes are written by David Cloud. Of necessity we quote from a wide variety of sources, but this obviously does not imply an endorsement. We trust that our readers will not be discouraged. It is God’s will that we know the times (1 Ch. 12:32; Mat. 16:3) and that we be as wise as serpents and harmless as doves. The News Notes remind us that the hour is very late, and we need to be ready for the Lord’s coming. Are you sure that you are born again? Are you living for Christ? “And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed. The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light. Let us walk honestly, as in the day; not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying. But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof” (Rom. 13:11-14).
_____
Distributed by Way of Life Literature., publisher of Bible Study Materials and reports for Fundamental Baptists and other fundamentalist, Bible-believing Christians. Established in 1974, Way of Life Literature is a fundamental Baptist preaching and publishing ministry based in Bethel Baptist Church, London, Ontario, of which Wilbert Unger is the founding Pastor. Brother Cloud lives in South Asia where he has been a church planting missionary since 1979. OUR GOAL IN THIS PARTICULAR ASPECT OF OUR MINISTRY (REPORTS AND FRIDAY NEWS) IS NOT DEVOTIONAL. IS TO PROVIDE INFORMATION TO ASSIST PREACHERS IN THE PROTECTION OF THE CHURCHES IN THIS APOSTATE HOUR.
David Cloud, Way of Life Literature, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061, 866-295-4143, fbns@wayoflife.org
The Way of Life Literature preaching and publishing ministry is based at Bethel Baptist Church, London, Ontario, of which Wilbert Unger is the founding Pastor. A mail stop is maintained in Port Huron, Michigan.
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