Friday Church News Notes
June 20, 2025 - Volume 26, Issue 25
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.
Rick Warren
RICK WARREN EXHORTS ROMAN CATHOLICS TO FULFILL CHRIST’S GREAT COMMISSION (Friday Church News Notes, June 20, 2025, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - Rick Warren, founder of Saddleback Church and author of The Purpose Driven Life and The Purpose Driven Church, spoke at a Roman Catholic evangelism event in Rome last week. Global 2033 is a “worldwide movement to unite Catholic believers in fulfilling the Great Commission.” The year 2033 refers to the 2000th anniversary of Pentecost. Rick Warren is a second generation Southern Baptist pastor who, after Billy Graham, has probably done more than any other one man in this generation to build a one-world “church.” Warren has long called for unity with the Roman Catholic Church. In 2005, he said, “I am looking to build bridges with the Orthodox Church, looking to build bridges with the Catholic Church, with the Anglican church” (“Pastor Urges Anglicans to Unite and Care for Poor,” Pittsburg Post-Gazette, Nov. 12, 2005). In 2007, Warren said, “The Church, in all its expressions--Catholic, Evangelical, Pentecostal, Protestant and many others--has 2.3 billion followers” (Warren, “The Power of Parishioners,” Forbes, May 7, 2007). In 2013, Warren endorsed Tom Peterson’s Catholics Come Home, which promotes the program of bringing “lapsed” Catholics back into the arms of Rome. In truth, Catholic evangelization is not about bringing souls to Jesus; it is about bringing them into the bondage of a false gospel and a false christ. This is why the term “evangelization” is used rather than “evangelism.” The Catholics Come Home web site says that salvation is by baptism. In an interview with the Roman Catholic news organization EWTN in Rome last week, Warren said Jesus’ prayer in John 17 “is still unanswered,” which is ridiculous. John 17 is Christ’s high priestly prayer to the Father, not a command to professing Christians, and it was answered as all of Christ’s prayers were answered. It was answered in the divine unity that exists among born again believers. John 17 has nothing to do with nominal Christians who are Christians by mere profession, by baptism, by sacraments, by charismatic experiences, etc. Warren told EWTN, “We’re never going to have unity in doctrine, but we can all agree on one thing. Every Christian understands we’re called to go [and evangelize]” (“Pastor Rick Warren: Christian unity is ‘still the unanswered prayer,’” EWTN, June 9, 2025). Rick Warren is apparently grossly ignorant of the Catholic gospel, which is a gospel of works, beginning with baptism, as they have stated without reservation in their councils and catechisms. The Baptist pastor went beyond that, though. He said that when his son committed suicide in 2013, “One of the things that helped me through was on EWTN, they were praying the Chaplet of Divine Mercy. And the Chaplet of Divine Mercy ministered to me and to my wife. It was a healing balm in my heart.” The Chaplet of Divine Mercy is a repetitive rosary prayer that blasphemously intermingles prayers to Mary with prayers to God. One of the prayers is “Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death, Amen.” After Rick Warren’s retirement in 2022, the Southern Baptists kicked Saddleback Church out of the Convention for ordaining women pastors, but they have turned a blind eye to his radical ecumenism, just as they did toward Billy Graham. The Southern Baptist Convention is a one-world church convention. It has the one-world church carelessness in dealing with souls about salvation and receiving church members, the one-world church philosophy of “judge not,” the one-world church sound track which is Christian rock, the one-world church fashion catalog, which is whatever the world is wearing, the one-world church contemplative prayer program, the one-world church love for heretics such as C.S. Lewis, the one-world church youth party program, etc. (For more on this see the free eBook Purpose Driven or Scripture Driven? at the Way of Life web site.)
IRAN’S LONG MEMORY AND LONG HAND (Friday Church News Notes, June 20, 2025, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - According to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Iran has vowed to kill U.S. President Donald Trump. “They want to kill him. He’s enemy number one” (Bret Baier’s Special Report, Fox News, June 15, 2025). “The Biden Administration had warned Trump of ‘real and specific threats’ of an assassination plot by Iran, part of a larger campaign to ‘sow chaos’” (World Israel News, June 16, 2025). Iran has murdered large numbers of people. In February 1989, Iran’s Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini issued a death fatwa against Salmon Rushdie, author of The Satanic Verses, and set a bounty of $3 million on his head, claiming that his book contains blasphemies against Mohammed. That August, a Lebanese man attempted to kill Rushdie with a bomb, but it exploded prematurely in a London hotel. “Bookstores that sold The Satanic Verses were fire-bombed in the United States, the United Kingdom, Norway, and Australia. A Japanese translator of the book was murdered in 1991; an Italian translator and a Norwegian publisher were fortunate to survive murder attempts. Although Iran’s government claimed in 1998 that the fatwa no longer would be enforced, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who succeeded Khomeini as Iran’s supreme leader, repeatedly has insisted that the fatwa had not been rescinded” (“Was Iran Behind Attempt,” Aug. 18, 2022, Heritage Foundation). On August 12, 2022, Rushie was attacked by Hadi Matar during a public lecture in Chautauqua, New York, and stabbed 15 times, nearly killing him. He lost the sight of one eye and the use of one hand. At Matar’s federal trial, Attorney General Merrick Garland said Matar’s attempted murder of Rushdie “was an act of terrorism in the name of Hezbollah” and that Matar was intent on carrying out the Iranian fatwa (“Man charged in Rushdie Stabbing,” New York Times, July 24, 2024).
THE CANCER OF EFFEMINATE WORSHIP (Friday Church News Notes, June 20, 2025, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The following is excerpted from “The Cancer,” Disntr, Feb. 25, 2025: “[Contemporary worship] doesn’t feel like church--it feels like a junior high dance, complete with ambient lighting and emotionally charged whisper-singing. And yet, week after week, the masses lap it up, never questioning why the worship of an all-powerful God has been reduced to something that could easily be mistaken for a prom ballad. How did we get here? How did Christian worship, once defined by deep theological truths, by men singing boldly of God’s sovereignty, become a production that barely differs from a Taylor Swift concert? It wasn’t overnight. This descent into this effeminate style of worship was slow, methodical, and lucrative. It began with the sentimentalism of the Jesus Movement in the 60s and 70s, where good theology took a backseat to feelings. Then came the worship industrial complex, now dominated by bands like Hillsong, Bethel, and Elevation Worship—organizations that realized there was real money to be made in turning worship into a brand rather than a biblical act of reverence. ... Churches across the country gobble it up, unaware (or maybe they are aware) that they’re not participating in worship but in a billion-dollar industry. Licensing royalties, concert tickets, album sales--all driven by music that is scarcely distinguishable from secular love songs. The congregation, meanwhile, loves it. Why? Because they don’t worship Christ--they worship their own emotions. ... Most people have been conditioned to believe that true worship must feel intimate, that unless they feel personally swept into a dreamy spiritual embrace, they haven’t ‘experienced’ God. The most glaring reality in all of this is that this movement is powered by women. Walk into any Southern Baptist church today and who is leading the worship? More often than not, it’s women, standing center stage, hands lifted, voices ornamented with dramatic vibratos and breathy embellishments. ... Even the men who do lead the singing are hardly men at all. They have adopted the soft, emotional delivery of their female counterparts ... Michael W. Smith, Matt Maher, Hillsong’s endless rotation of male sopranos--they all seem to have misconstrued worship for a competition in who can sound the most emotionally fragile. ... And in this sea of passivity, the true purpose of worship is drowned out. Gone are the days when the congregation lifted their voices in robust, doctrinally sound hymns, where men sang with the confidence of warriors declaring allegiance to their King. Now, the voices are lost beneath waves of instrumentation--drums, electric guitars, overproduced synth pads that smother the congregation rather than support it. The point of worship is no longer the collective voices of the saints praising the Lord in unison--it’s the performance of the band, the manipulation of the atmosphere.”
TRUTH AND FREE DISCUSSION (Friday Church News Notes, June 27, 2025, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - “Jack-in-office is often peculiarly anxious that the consciences of others should not be injured by hearing views different from his own. ... Truth suffers nothing from free discussion, it is indeed the element in which it most freely exerts its power” (Charles Spurgeon, The Metropolitan Tabernacle: Its History and Work).
BLIND SPOTS (Friday Church News Notes, June 20, 2025, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The following is from CreationMoments.com, August 14, 2024: “There is a blind spot where the optic nerve enters the retina of your eye. Yet, we don’t see a hole in our field of vision. Scientists always thought that this was because our brain simply ignores the ever-present blind spot. Research has shown that an even more complex system erases that blind spot. Researchers used computer-generated images to create artificial blind spots in volunteers’ field of vision. These blind spots – sometimes round, sometimes square --were shown against various moving backgrounds. Different shapes and backgrounds were mixed with different colors and sometimes moved slightly in the hope of learning whether the eye, the brain or both process that blind spot out of our vision. Studies are continuing to test researchers’ conclusions. However, they believe that cells in the brain fill in our blind spot by duplicating the information immediately surrounding it. Separate mechanisms fill in color and texture. These separate mechanisms may even be in different parts of the brain. Strangely enough, though apparently invisible, objects completely in the blind spot seem to be perceived in some unknown way. Just as the brain and eye work together to make us blind to a true blind spot, sometimes the world, the devil and our flesh work together to make us blind to our own faults. How reassuring to know that we can confidently believe that Jesus Christ carried our sins for our justification rather than permitting us to justify ourselves. Notes: B. Bower, ‘Vision System Puts Eyesight in Blind Spots,’ Science News, Vol. 139, p. 262.”
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; Mt. 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” (Ro. 13:11-14).
IRAN’S LONG MEMORY AND LONG HAND (Friday Church News Notes, June 20, 2025, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - According to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Iran has vowed to kill U.S. President Donald Trump. “They want to kill him. He’s enemy number one” (Bret Baier’s Special Report, Fox News, June 15, 2025). “The Biden Administration had warned Trump of ‘real and specific threats’ of an assassination plot by Iran, part of a larger campaign to ‘sow chaos’” (World Israel News, June 16, 2025). Iran has murdered large numbers of people. In February 1989, Iran’s Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini issued a death fatwa against Salmon Rushdie, author of The Satanic Verses, and set a bounty of $3 million on his head, claiming that his book contains blasphemies against Mohammed. That August, a Lebanese man attempted to kill Rushdie with a bomb, but it exploded prematurely in a London hotel. “Bookstores that sold The Satanic Verses were fire-bombed in the United States, the United Kingdom, Norway, and Australia. A Japanese translator of the book was murdered in 1991; an Italian translator and a Norwegian publisher were fortunate to survive murder attempts. Although Iran’s government claimed in 1998 that the fatwa no longer would be enforced, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who succeeded Khomeini as Iran’s supreme leader, repeatedly has insisted that the fatwa had not been rescinded” (“Was Iran Behind Attempt,” Aug. 18, 2022, Heritage Foundation). On August 12, 2022, Rushie was attacked by Hadi Matar during a public lecture in Chautauqua, New York, and stabbed 15 times, nearly killing him. He lost the sight of one eye and the use of one hand. At Matar’s federal trial, Attorney General Merrick Garland said Matar’s attempted murder of Rushdie “was an act of terrorism in the name of Hezbollah” and that Matar was intent on carrying out the Iranian fatwa (“Man charged in Rushdie Stabbing,” New York Times, July 24, 2024).
THE CANCER OF EFFEMINATE WORSHIP (Friday Church News Notes, June 20, 2025, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The following is excerpted from “The Cancer,” Disntr, Feb. 25, 2025: “[Contemporary worship] doesn’t feel like church--it feels like a junior high dance, complete with ambient lighting and emotionally charged whisper-singing. And yet, week after week, the masses lap it up, never questioning why the worship of an all-powerful God has been reduced to something that could easily be mistaken for a prom ballad. How did we get here? How did Christian worship, once defined by deep theological truths, by men singing boldly of God’s sovereignty, become a production that barely differs from a Taylor Swift concert? It wasn’t overnight. This descent into this effeminate style of worship was slow, methodical, and lucrative. It began with the sentimentalism of the Jesus Movement in the 60s and 70s, where good theology took a backseat to feelings. Then came the worship industrial complex, now dominated by bands like Hillsong, Bethel, and Elevation Worship—organizations that realized there was real money to be made in turning worship into a brand rather than a biblical act of reverence. ... Churches across the country gobble it up, unaware (or maybe they are aware) that they’re not participating in worship but in a billion-dollar industry. Licensing royalties, concert tickets, album sales--all driven by music that is scarcely distinguishable from secular love songs. The congregation, meanwhile, loves it. Why? Because they don’t worship Christ--they worship their own emotions. ... Most people have been conditioned to believe that true worship must feel intimate, that unless they feel personally swept into a dreamy spiritual embrace, they haven’t ‘experienced’ God. The most glaring reality in all of this is that this movement is powered by women. Walk into any Southern Baptist church today and who is leading the worship? More often than not, it’s women, standing center stage, hands lifted, voices ornamented with dramatic vibratos and breathy embellishments. ... Even the men who do lead the singing are hardly men at all. They have adopted the soft, emotional delivery of their female counterparts ... Michael W. Smith, Matt Maher, Hillsong’s endless rotation of male sopranos--they all seem to have misconstrued worship for a competition in who can sound the most emotionally fragile. ... And in this sea of passivity, the true purpose of worship is drowned out. Gone are the days when the congregation lifted their voices in robust, doctrinally sound hymns, where men sang with the confidence of warriors declaring allegiance to their King. Now, the voices are lost beneath waves of instrumentation--drums, electric guitars, overproduced synth pads that smother the congregation rather than support it. The point of worship is no longer the collective voices of the saints praising the Lord in unison--it’s the performance of the band, the manipulation of the atmosphere.”
TRUTH AND FREE DISCUSSION (Friday Church News Notes, June 27, 2025, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - “Jack-in-office is often peculiarly anxious that the consciences of others should not be injured by hearing views different from his own. ... Truth suffers nothing from free discussion, it is indeed the element in which it most freely exerts its power” (Charles Spurgeon, The Metropolitan Tabernacle: Its History and Work).
BLIND SPOTS (Friday Church News Notes, June 20, 2025, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The following is from CreationMoments.com, August 14, 2024: “There is a blind spot where the optic nerve enters the retina of your eye. Yet, we don’t see a hole in our field of vision. Scientists always thought that this was because our brain simply ignores the ever-present blind spot. Research has shown that an even more complex system erases that blind spot. Researchers used computer-generated images to create artificial blind spots in volunteers’ field of vision. These blind spots – sometimes round, sometimes square --were shown against various moving backgrounds. Different shapes and backgrounds were mixed with different colors and sometimes moved slightly in the hope of learning whether the eye, the brain or both process that blind spot out of our vision. Studies are continuing to test researchers’ conclusions. However, they believe that cells in the brain fill in our blind spot by duplicating the information immediately surrounding it. Separate mechanisms fill in color and texture. These separate mechanisms may even be in different parts of the brain. Strangely enough, though apparently invisible, objects completely in the blind spot seem to be perceived in some unknown way. Just as the brain and eye work together to make us blind to a true blind spot, sometimes the world, the devil and our flesh work together to make us blind to our own faults. How reassuring to know that we can confidently believe that Jesus Christ carried our sins for our justification rather than permitting us to justify ourselves. Notes: B. Bower, ‘Vision System Puts Eyesight in Blind Spots,’ Science News, Vol. 139, p. 262.”
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; Mt. 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” (Ro. 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, BUT 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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