FACEBOOK CEO ADMITS HE WAS PART OF GOVERNMENT CENSORSHIP SCHEME (Friday Church News Notes, August 30, 2024, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The following important information is excerpted from Jonathan Turley, “Meta CEO Zuckerberg,” Fox News, Aug. 27, 2024): “‘I believe the government pressure was wrong, and I regret that we were not more outspoken about it.’ Those words from Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg came this week with an admission in a letter that his company, Facebook, did yield to pressure from the Biden-Harris administration to censor American citizens on a wide array of subjects. For those of us who have criticized Facebook for years for its role in the massive censorship system, Zuckerberg's belated contrition was more insulting than inspiring. It had all of the genuine regret as a stalker found hiding under the bed of a victim. Zuckerberg’s sudden regret only came after his company fought for years to conceal the evidence of its work with the government to censor opposing views. Zuckerberg was finally compelled to release the documents by House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, and the House Judiciary Committee. Now forced to admit what many of us have long alleged, Zuckerman is really, really sorry. In my book The Indispensable Right: Free Speech in an Age of Rage, I discuss Facebook’s record at length as a critical player in the anti-free speech alliance of government, corporate, academic, and media forces. In prior testimony before the House Judiciary Committee and other congressional committees, I noted that Zuckerberg continued to refuse to release this information after Elon Musk exposed this system in his release of the ‘Twitter Files.’ Zuckerberg stayed silent as Musk was viciously attacked by anti-free speech figures in Congress and the media. He was fully aware of his own company’s similar conduct but stayed silent. When the White House and President Joe Biden repeatedly claimed that the Hunter Biden laptop was Russian disinformation, Facebook continued to withhold evidence that they too were pressured to suppress the story before the election. ... While Zuckerberg now expresses ‘regret’ at not speaking out sooner, his company previously sought to sell Americans on censorship. In 2021, I wrote about the Facebook commercial campaign in which the company attempted to rally young people to embrace censorship. ... For years, young people have been taught that free speech is harmful and triggering. We are raising a generation of speech-phobics and Zuckerberg and Facebook wanted to tap into that generation to get people to stop fearing the censor and love ‘content modification.’ ... Now, Zuckerberg and Meta want people to know that they were ‘pressured’ to censor and really regret their role in silencing opposing voices. It is the feigned regret that comes with forced exposure.”
ANOTHER COMPANY DITCHES DEI (Friday Church News Notes, August 30, 2024, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The following is excerpted from “Harley-Davidson opts out,” Washington Times, Aug. 20, 2024: “American motorcycle powerhouse Harley-Davidson has kicked diversity, equity and inclusion to the curb, adding to the list of companies abandoning the initiative. The Milwaukee-based firm announced in a Monday post on X that the end of its DEI operation came months ago. ‘It is critical to our business that we hire and retain the best talent and that all employees feel welcome,’ the statement said. ‘That said, we have not operated a DEI function since April 2024, and we do not have a DEI function today. We do not have hiring quotas and we no longer have supplier diversity goals.’ ... Among other companies, tractor manufacturer John Deere said it would discontinue its DEI division after significant social media backlash. Tractor Supply Co. also slashed its DEI and climate goals after a conservative pressure campaign. DEI programs are intended to eliminate racist or sexist practices in the workplace. While the programs have existed for decades, private companies greatly increased the scope of their DEI initiatives in the wake of the George Floyd protests in 2020. Conservative activists and politicians say the programs increase division in the workplace and are fundamentally unfair.”
THE UNITED NATION’S INTERNATIONAL COURT OF JUSTICE DECLARES ISRAEL’S “OCCUPATION” OF JUDEA AND SAMARIA “UNLAWFUL” (Friday Church News Notes, August 30, 2024, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The following is excerpted from “Top UN court,” Israel365News, July 21, 2024: “The International Court of Justice, the principal judicial arm of the United Nations located in The Hague, issued a non-binding, 83-page opinion on Friday declaring Israeli ‘occupation’ of Judea and Samaria to be ‘unlawful.’ The U.N. high court stated that Israel is ‘obliged to bring an end to its presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory as rapidly as possible.’ ... Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu denounced the ruling on Friday. ‘The Jewish people are not occupiers in their own land, including in our eternal capital Jerusalem nor in Judea and Samaria, our historical homeland,’ he said. ‘No absurd opinion in The Hague can deny this historical truth or the legal right of Israelis to live in their own communities in our ancestral home.’ ... Israel Gantz, head of the Binyamin Regional Council and chairman of the Yesha Council, stated that the court’s opinion ‘deserves condemnation and denunciation from all countries around the world.’ ... ‘This decision is intended to bring Hamas terrorists closer to the beds of our children and women in the center of the country and to eliminate the State of Israel. ‘The Western Wall, the Cave of the Patriarchs, Jerusalem and all of Judea, Samaria, Binyamin and the Jordan Valley are the land of our ancestors,’ Gantz added. ‘No opinion will erase the historical truth or undermine the deep connection between the people of Israel and its country.’ ... Harriet Schleifer and William Daroff, chair and CEO respectively of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, condemned the court’s ruling ‘in the strongest terms.’ ‘The ICJ, like the entire United Nations’ system, is rife with antisemitism and anti-Israel bias--this verdict has given us simply more proof of what was already evident,’ the two leaders stated. ‘The accusations in the ruling amount to a modern-day blood libel.’”
OLD BAPTISTS AND REGENERATE CHURCH MEMBERSHIP (Friday Church News Notes, August 30, 2024, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The following is from a report from Baptist missionaries in China in 1877: “One hundred and nine men and sixty women have renounced idolatry, have given evidence of faith in Christ, and have been baptized into his name. None of all these have thus far given us reason to regret that we admitted them into the church. Fifteen of the numbers are seventy years old and upwards, the oldest being eighty-four years of age. ... Besides those received, a large number have been examined, who have been advised to wait until they should obtain more definite knowledge of the truth, or until there was more satisfactory proof of a change of heart” (Missionary Sketches: A Concise History of the Work of the American Baptist Missionary Union, 6th edition, 1879).
SYNCHRONIZED FIREFLIES (Friday Church News Notes, August 30, 2024, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The following is from CreationMoments.com, August 6, 2024: “Fireflies in southeast Asia regularly put on a show like that seldom seen from fireflies in the rest of the world. These fireflies have an ability found only among humans. As the evening darkness deepens along a riverbank, fireflies in the trees over the riverbank begin to flash. At first the flashing is familiar to anyone who has ever seen fireflies anywhere in the world. Flashes come randomly from different parts of the tree. Within a few minutes, something strange begins to happen. Instead of the flashes appearing randomly, they now appear in groups. Fireflies in one part of the tree flash in unison, then a group in another part of the tree flashes. In less than half an hour, the entire swarm, which may extend over more than one tree, is flashing once per second in perfect unison. This ability to pick up a rhythm to synchronize actions is found otherwise only in human beings. Scientists report that different species have different rates at which they synchronize. They have also discovered that fireflies of one species ignore the synchronized flashing of other species. Some firefly swarms even flash in waves, creating an especially eerie sight along riverbanks. One scientist, who has been trying to understand how fireflies do this, said that this behavior is so complex he has no idea how it works. Whether or not these scientists believe in the Creator, their wonderment is a tribute to His unsurpassed handiwork, even in the lowly firefly. Notes: Ivars Peterson, ‘Step in time,’ Science News, Vol. 140, August 31, 1991, pp. 136-137.”
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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