Friday Church News Notes
August 1, 2025 - Volume 26, Issue 31
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.
Ozzy Osbourne
OZZY OSBOURNE THUMBED HIS NOSE AT GOD YET BELIEVED EVERYTHING WOULD BE FINE (Friday Church News Notes, August 1, 2025, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - Ozzy Osbourne, original frontman for the Black Sabbath rock band, has been all over the news since his death on Tuesday, July 22, at age 76. He has been eulogized on a vast number of news outlets and on social media by a whose-who of media personalities, rock idols, and Hollywood stars. Osbourne was a founding member of Black Sabbath in 1968. Known as “the Beatles of heavy metal,” the band screamed out dark lyrics of rebellion, nihilism, and moral filth accompanied by relentless, grinding, depressing noise posing as music. Drummer Bill Ward said, “We were rebelling and we were rebelling against just about everything” (Mike Stark, Black Sabbath An Oral History, p. 9). That has been the heart and soul of rock & roll since it slithered out of the world of blues/jazz in the 1950s and 1960s. No other one entity has done more to destroy the moral fiber of western nations than rock & roll in all its aspects. Osbourne was a drug-crazed wild man in his Black Sabbath days. He dressed in women’s garments, stripped off his clothes during concerts, chopped down every door in his house with an axe, and dragged his first wife, Thelma, around by the hair. By 1979, he was so incoherent from drug and alcohol abuse he could not function. He had used LSD every day for years and was spending $1,000 a day on drugs. He was rescued from certain destruction when Sharon Arden visited him, talked him into accompanying her back to England, got him back on his feet, and managed him in a solo rock career. He divorced his first wife, married Arden, and maintained some semblance of doddering normalcy by means of self-help psychology and Prozak. Osbourne thumbed his nose at the God of the Bible, mocked God’s holy laws, and defiled the very air he breathed by a constant stream of cursing, blasphemy, and incredibly filthy language, and yet figured everything would be fine. That is the rock & roll way, but it is a delusion. Alice Cooper dedicated a concert to Osbourne and said, “Rest easy Ozzy and we’ll see you on the other side!” But the Bible says, “The Father loveth the Son, and hath given all things into his hand. He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him” (John 3:35-36). God and Jesus Christ, angels and demons, heaven and hell, judgment and salvation are not theater.
OZZY OSBOURNE’S FAITH IN GOD (Friday Church News Notes, August 1, 2025, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - Ozzy Osbourne, the late founding member of Black Sabbath, claimed to believe in some sort of God, but whatever religious faith he had was that of his own devising and empty of saving power. It was a rock & roll type of “faith” and “spirituality.” He prayed before his concerts; he talked about God; he talked about being christened as a boy; he said he was not a Satan worshipper; he wore a cross; he prayed “the serenity prayer”; he had a Bible on his nightstand. Ozzy said, “Today I believe in a higher power; you can call it ‘God’ if you like” (X, @watchchad). The rest of his reply was too filthy to print. He said, “My idea of heaven is feeling good” (“Ozzy Osbourne Revealed If He Believed in God,” MSN, July 26, 2025). There are countless evidences that the Bible is God’s Word to man, and according to the Bible there is one almighty, all-wise Creator and one way of salvation. All men have sinned against God, and all sin will be punished with the second death, which is eternal suffering in the lake of fire. It is impossible for man to save himself, but God loves man and at great expense and effort has purchased salvation through the sacrifice of His Son Jesus Christ. Religion is man trying to come to God, man doing things for God, but biblical salvation is God coming to man, God doing things for man. The Bible says salvation is received by “repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ” (Acts 20:21). “And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent: Because he hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead” (Acts 17:30-31). Repentance is to turn to God, to surrender to God, to stop fighting God, to stop living in rebellion to God. It is to renounce false religion and false gods and false gospels. Had Ozzy Osbourne repented and put his faith in Jesus Christ, he would have found a way to publicly renounce his wicked life and false thinking and would have urged his followers to do the same. The Lord Jesus Christ said, “Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven. But whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven” (Matthew 10:32-33). It’s too late for Ozzy Osbourne one way or the other, but it is not yet too late for those who are reading this report.
BLACK SABBATH’S BLACKNESS (Friday Church News Notes, August 1, 2025, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - Of his occult imagery, Ozzy Osbourne said, “It’s theater. It’s just a role I’m playing.” The surviving members of Black Sabbath echo this sentiment, but the reality is that the band has spewed forth a constant stream of hatred toward God, Jesus Christ, and Bible-believing Christians and praise for the devil, and God is not laughing. See Proverbs 1:24-33. One of their albums was titled “We Sold Our Soul to Rock ‘n’ Roll,” and that is exactly what they did. You don’t have to be a Satanist for that; you simply have to buy into rock & roll’s anti-God philosophy that I can live as I please. Ozzy Osbourne called himself “the Prince of Darkness” and sat on a black throne decorated with skulls for his final concert just a few days before his death. That’s not entertainment, that’s self-destruction. The “prince of the power of the air” is Satan (Ephesians 2:1-2). He is a fallen angel. He is also called the devil, the god of this world, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience, and that old serpent. He’s no joke. He led one-third of the angels in rebellion, and currently deceives the world (Revelation 12:9). Hell was made for him (Matthew 25:41), and those who serve him will have their part in his terrible destruction. Black Sabbath’s 1990 tour was called the Headless Cross, which is blasphemy against Jesus Christ. Tony Martin, Black Sabbath's lead singer at the time, said, “With Headless Cross I went as far to the dark side as I could possibly get away with...” (Mike Stark, Black Sabbath: An Oral History, p. 84). Black Sabbath had inverted crosses on the platform during concerts. (Witchcraft uses inverted crosses to symbolize blasphemy against Christ and rejection of His saving atonement.) At a concert in Ontario, Black Sabbath gave an altar call to Lucifer, inviting the audience to commit their lives to Satan (H.T. Spence, Confronting Contemporary Christian Music, p. 99). In the Black Sabbath song “Master of Reality,” Satan sings, “You made me master of the world where you exist/ The soul I took from you was not even missed/ Lord of this world ... Evil possessor ... He’s your confessor now!” In the Black Sabbath song “N.I.B.,” Satan sings, “[M]y name is Lucifer/ Please take my hand.” The 1981 album, Mob Rules, depicted Lucifer etched in blood. Ozzy Osbourne’s song “Mr. Crowley” glorifies the filthy Satanist Aleister Crowley. Osbourne said he dedicated The Blizzard of Oz album to Crowley (Eric Barger, From Rock to Rock, p. 133). Black Sabbath guitarist Tony Iommi “was fascinated with black magic and ... an avid reader of occult literature, along with being obsessed with Nostradamus, reincarnation, past lives, meditation, and acupuncture” (John Muncy, The Role of Rock, p. 360). Black Sabbath bassist Geezer Butler gave the following testimony in 1996: “What sparked my interest was when I was in London around 1966-67. There was a whole new culture happening and this one guy used to sell these black magic magazines. I read a magazine and thought, ‘Oh yea, I never thought of it like that’—Satan’s point of view. I just started reading more and more. ... I found out Satanism was around before any of it and was putting upside-down crosses on my wall and pictures of Satan all over. I painted my apartment black. I was getting really involved in it and all these horrible things started happening to me” (Geezer Butler, interview with Steve Blush, Seconds magazine, 1996, Issue 39, p. 64). Butler said he gave up the occult out of fear of what was happening, but you wouldn’t know that from his music. Ronnie James Dio, Black Sabbath lead singer after Ozzy, gave the satanic salute at their concerts, and at that moment a cross onstage would burst into flames. He blasphemously named himself Dio (his real name was Padavana), which means “God.” On his albums, he spelled Dio upside down, referring to the devil (Creem, Oct. 1985, p. 8). He said he studied the occult and attempted to contact the spirit world via seances (Birmingham News, Sept. 26, 1985; Hit Parader, Feb. 1985, p. 17; Faces, Feb, 1985, p. 17). The stage for Dio’s Sacred Heart album tour featured a leering, red-eyed creature symbolizing Satan. The cover to Dio’s album Holy Diver depicted a priest or a preacher in chains being thrust into the sea by the devil. Of course, none of these rockers make a distinction between true and false Christianity.
WHAT EVERY CHRISTIAN SHOULD KNOW ABOUT ROCK MUSIC (Friday Church News Notes, August 1, 2025, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - About 50 years ago, we published Mom and Dad Sleep While the Children Rock in Satan’s Cradle to exhort parents and pastors to educate and protect their young people from the great spiritual enemy of rock & roll. Since then, churches have grown strangely quiet about this danger. It must be the “frog in the pot” phenomenon. Rock permeates society, and we have grown accustomed to it, even though the music and the culture it has helped create have grown ever more wicked. Today our warning about rock is just as fervent as it was 50 years ago. The power of rock to produce rebels and to build the one-world church has not lessened. Homes and churches that don’t give clear, effectual, and persistent warnings about rock music in all of its forms should not be surprised if their young people are worldly and tend toward evangelical and emerging church thinking. This book lays out nine things that every Christian should know about rock music. 1. It represents a moral revolution. 2. It preaches a philosophy of narcissism and licentiousness. 3. It is permeated with blasphemy. 4. It is the music of false christs. 5. It is condemned by the Bible. 6. It is a fulfillment of Bible prophecy. 7. It is at the heart of the one-world “church.” 8. It is addictive. 9. The only sure protection is to avoid it. What Every Christian Should Know about Rock Music is available as a free eBook from www.wayoflife.org. 61 pages.
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).
OZZY OSBOURNE’S FAITH IN GOD (Friday Church News Notes, August 1, 2025, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - Ozzy Osbourne, the late founding member of Black Sabbath, claimed to believe in some sort of God, but whatever religious faith he had was that of his own devising and empty of saving power. It was a rock & roll type of “faith” and “spirituality.” He prayed before his concerts; he talked about God; he talked about being christened as a boy; he said he was not a Satan worshipper; he wore a cross; he prayed “the serenity prayer”; he had a Bible on his nightstand. Ozzy said, “Today I believe in a higher power; you can call it ‘God’ if you like” (X, @watchchad). The rest of his reply was too filthy to print. He said, “My idea of heaven is feeling good” (“Ozzy Osbourne Revealed If He Believed in God,” MSN, July 26, 2025). There are countless evidences that the Bible is God’s Word to man, and according to the Bible there is one almighty, all-wise Creator and one way of salvation. All men have sinned against God, and all sin will be punished with the second death, which is eternal suffering in the lake of fire. It is impossible for man to save himself, but God loves man and at great expense and effort has purchased salvation through the sacrifice of His Son Jesus Christ. Religion is man trying to come to God, man doing things for God, but biblical salvation is God coming to man, God doing things for man. The Bible says salvation is received by “repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ” (Acts 20:21). “And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent: Because he hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead” (Acts 17:30-31). Repentance is to turn to God, to surrender to God, to stop fighting God, to stop living in rebellion to God. It is to renounce false religion and false gods and false gospels. Had Ozzy Osbourne repented and put his faith in Jesus Christ, he would have found a way to publicly renounce his wicked life and false thinking and would have urged his followers to do the same. The Lord Jesus Christ said, “Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven. But whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven” (Matthew 10:32-33). It’s too late for Ozzy Osbourne one way or the other, but it is not yet too late for those who are reading this report.
BLACK SABBATH’S BLACKNESS (Friday Church News Notes, August 1, 2025, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - Of his occult imagery, Ozzy Osbourne said, “It’s theater. It’s just a role I’m playing.” The surviving members of Black Sabbath echo this sentiment, but the reality is that the band has spewed forth a constant stream of hatred toward God, Jesus Christ, and Bible-believing Christians and praise for the devil, and God is not laughing. See Proverbs 1:24-33. One of their albums was titled “We Sold Our Soul to Rock ‘n’ Roll,” and that is exactly what they did. You don’t have to be a Satanist for that; you simply have to buy into rock & roll’s anti-God philosophy that I can live as I please. Ozzy Osbourne called himself “the Prince of Darkness” and sat on a black throne decorated with skulls for his final concert just a few days before his death. That’s not entertainment, that’s self-destruction. The “prince of the power of the air” is Satan (Ephesians 2:1-2). He is a fallen angel. He is also called the devil, the god of this world, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience, and that old serpent. He’s no joke. He led one-third of the angels in rebellion, and currently deceives the world (Revelation 12:9). Hell was made for him (Matthew 25:41), and those who serve him will have their part in his terrible destruction. Black Sabbath’s 1990 tour was called the Headless Cross, which is blasphemy against Jesus Christ. Tony Martin, Black Sabbath's lead singer at the time, said, “With Headless Cross I went as far to the dark side as I could possibly get away with...” (Mike Stark, Black Sabbath: An Oral History, p. 84). Black Sabbath had inverted crosses on the platform during concerts. (Witchcraft uses inverted crosses to symbolize blasphemy against Christ and rejection of His saving atonement.) At a concert in Ontario, Black Sabbath gave an altar call to Lucifer, inviting the audience to commit their lives to Satan (H.T. Spence, Confronting Contemporary Christian Music, p. 99). In the Black Sabbath song “Master of Reality,” Satan sings, “You made me master of the world where you exist/ The soul I took from you was not even missed/ Lord of this world ... Evil possessor ... He’s your confessor now!” In the Black Sabbath song “N.I.B.,” Satan sings, “[M]y name is Lucifer/ Please take my hand.” The 1981 album, Mob Rules, depicted Lucifer etched in blood. Ozzy Osbourne’s song “Mr. Crowley” glorifies the filthy Satanist Aleister Crowley. Osbourne said he dedicated The Blizzard of Oz album to Crowley (Eric Barger, From Rock to Rock, p. 133). Black Sabbath guitarist Tony Iommi “was fascinated with black magic and ... an avid reader of occult literature, along with being obsessed with Nostradamus, reincarnation, past lives, meditation, and acupuncture” (John Muncy, The Role of Rock, p. 360). Black Sabbath bassist Geezer Butler gave the following testimony in 1996: “What sparked my interest was when I was in London around 1966-67. There was a whole new culture happening and this one guy used to sell these black magic magazines. I read a magazine and thought, ‘Oh yea, I never thought of it like that’—Satan’s point of view. I just started reading more and more. ... I found out Satanism was around before any of it and was putting upside-down crosses on my wall and pictures of Satan all over. I painted my apartment black. I was getting really involved in it and all these horrible things started happening to me” (Geezer Butler, interview with Steve Blush, Seconds magazine, 1996, Issue 39, p. 64). Butler said he gave up the occult out of fear of what was happening, but you wouldn’t know that from his music. Ronnie James Dio, Black Sabbath lead singer after Ozzy, gave the satanic salute at their concerts, and at that moment a cross onstage would burst into flames. He blasphemously named himself Dio (his real name was Padavana), which means “God.” On his albums, he spelled Dio upside down, referring to the devil (Creem, Oct. 1985, p. 8). He said he studied the occult and attempted to contact the spirit world via seances (Birmingham News, Sept. 26, 1985; Hit Parader, Feb. 1985, p. 17; Faces, Feb, 1985, p. 17). The stage for Dio’s Sacred Heart album tour featured a leering, red-eyed creature symbolizing Satan. The cover to Dio’s album Holy Diver depicted a priest or a preacher in chains being thrust into the sea by the devil. Of course, none of these rockers make a distinction between true and false Christianity.
WHAT EVERY CHRISTIAN SHOULD KNOW ABOUT ROCK MUSIC (Friday Church News Notes, August 1, 2025, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - About 50 years ago, we published Mom and Dad Sleep While the Children Rock in Satan’s Cradle to exhort parents and pastors to educate and protect their young people from the great spiritual enemy of rock & roll. Since then, churches have grown strangely quiet about this danger. It must be the “frog in the pot” phenomenon. Rock permeates society, and we have grown accustomed to it, even though the music and the culture it has helped create have grown ever more wicked. Today our warning about rock is just as fervent as it was 50 years ago. The power of rock to produce rebels and to build the one-world church has not lessened. Homes and churches that don’t give clear, effectual, and persistent warnings about rock music in all of its forms should not be surprised if their young people are worldly and tend toward evangelical and emerging church thinking. This book lays out nine things that every Christian should know about rock music. 1. It represents a moral revolution. 2. It preaches a philosophy of narcissism and licentiousness. 3. It is permeated with blasphemy. 4. It is the music of false christs. 5. It is condemned by the Bible. 6. It is a fulfillment of Bible prophecy. 7. It is at the heart of the one-world “church.” 8. It is addictive. 9. The only sure protection is to avoid it. What Every Christian Should Know about Rock Music is available as a free eBook from www.wayoflife.org. 61 pages.
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).
_____
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.
Way of Life Literature - www.wayoflife.org
copyright 2025 - Way of Life Literature
