November 19, 2010, Volume 11, Issue 47
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 does not imply an endorsement. For instructions on how to unsubscribe to this list or to change mailing addresses, please consult the information paragraph at the end.
NEW ATHEIST AD CAMPAIGN CRITICIZING THE BIBLE (Friday Church News Notes, November 12, 2010, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - A new atheist ad campaign criticizes the Bible’s morality. Sponsored by the American Humanist Association, the ads pretend that atheist morality is superior to the Bible’s. One ad criticizes the Bible’s teaching on women, contrasting it with that of 19th-century God-hater Robert Ingersoll. Not surprisingly, Richard Dawkins appears in the ad campaign. He claims to be an atheist, but strangely he talks about God more than most Christians do. He seems absolutely obsessed with God. Then, again, he has made a name for himself and a fortune criticizing God. According to the Bible, the atheist is a fool (Psalm 14:1), because the evidence for God is overwhelming. “For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse” (Romans 1:20). In fact, the atheist campaign is an absolute joke, because if life were a blind accident as the Humanists claim, if man is an evolved bacteria, there would be no basis for morality. The atheist ads have appeared as a television spot on NBC Dateline as well as in print in USA Today, the Seattle Times, the Atlanta Journal Constitution, and the San Francisco Chronicle.
AGNOSTIC SOUTHERN BAPTIST PREACHERS (Friday Church News Notes, November 19, 2010, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - An ABC World News report describes two Southern Baptist ministers who are agnostics. The preachers, who are identified only by their first names, Adam and Jack, are quoted as having lost their faith when confronted by the writings of atheists such as Richard Dawkins. The man identified as Adam says, “I realized that everything I’d been taught to believe was sort of sheltered, and never really looked at secular teaching or other philosophies ... I thought, ‘Oh my gosh. Am I believing the wrong things? Have I spent my entire life and my career promoting something that is not true?’” (“Atheist Ministers Struggle with Leading the Faithful,” ABC World News, Nov. 9, 2010). I have no idea who these “ministers” are or how ABC News found them, but I am not surprised that such men exist. The average Baptist church, whether Southern or Independent, is simply not preparing young people to face the skepticism of the hour. Young people are being entertained, but they are not being discipled. They are taught to be passionate about sports and the pop culture but not about the Lord and His Word. As a result, children growing up in Baptist churches are being devoured either by the world or the emerging church. The Biblical faith is not a blind leap in the dark. It is established upon solid historical evidence. Luke described these as “many infallible proofs” (Acts 1:3). It is not difficult to defend the Bible and the Gospel against the ignorant railings of the “new atheists,” but most churches aren’t even trying.
TWO-THIRDS OF BRITONS SUPPORT LEGAL EUTHANASIA (Friday Church News Notes, November 12, 2010, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - According to a new Angus Reid poll, 58 percent of adults in Britain believe that “people who help a person to commit suicide should not be prosecuted” (LifeSiteNews, Nov. 12, 2010). A whopping 77% believe that doctors should be given clear guidelines for dealing with end-of-life decisions, with the implication being that they should be allowed to practice euthanasia. This highlights the culture of death that characterizes the “new morality.” Already the national health care systems in the West kill people passively by rationing medical procedures. Doubtless, they will eventually practice active euthanasia if the Lord tarries. In fact, they already do. When health care professionals don’t fear God, they don’t fear ending the lives of creatures made in God’s image.
AFTER FATWA, PASTOR IN PAKISTAN BEATEN WITH BRICKS (Friday Church News Notes, November 19, 2010, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The following is excerpted from Compass Direct News, Nov 5, 2010: “Muslim extremists in Islamabad on Monday (Nov. 1) beat with bricks and hockey sticks a Christian clergyman who is the subject of a fatwa demanding his death. The Rev. Dr. Suleman Nasri Khan, a former fighter in Afghanistan before his conversion to Christianity in 2000, suffered a serious head injury, a hairline fracture in his arm and a broken bone in his left ankle in the assault by 10 Muslim extremists; he was able to identify two of them as Allama Atta-Ullah Attari and Allama Masaud Hussain. The attack in Chashma, near Iqbal Town in Islamabad, followed Islamic scholar Allama Nawazish Ali’s Oct. 25th fatwa (religious ruling) to kill Khan, pastor of Power of the Healing God’s Church in the Kalupura area of Gujrat city. A mufti (Islamic scholar) and member of Dawat-e-Islami, which organizes studies of the Quran and Sunnah (sayings and deeds of Muhammad), Ali is authorized to issue fatwas. Khan, 34, had relocated to a rented apartment in Islamabad after fleeing his home in Gujrat because of death threats against him and his family, he said. The fatwa, a religious order to be obeyed by all Muslims, was issued after Khan protested anti-Christian violence in Kalupura last month. Muslim extremists who learned of his conversion had first attacked Khan in 2008--killing his first child, 3-month old Sana Nasri Khan. He and wife Aster Nasri Khan escaped.”
QUESTION THE TSA AT YOUR OWN RISK (Friday Church News Notes, November 19, 2010, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The following is excerpted from “Question the TSA at Your Own Risk,” WeWontFly.com, Nov. 9, 2010: “The TSA chose Meg McLain for special screening. They wanted her to go through the new porno-scanners. When she opted out, TSA (Transportation Security Administration of the Department of Homeland Security, US federal government) agents raised an enormous ruckus. When she asked some question about what they planned to do to her, they flipped out. TSA agents yelled at her, handcuffed her to a chair, ripped up her ticket, called in 12 local Miami cops and finally escorted her out of the airport.”
CHRISTIANITY TODAY PROMOTING HERETIC AND CONTEMPLATIVE SILENCE (Friday Church News Notes, November 19, 2010, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - Christianity Today online is recommending a new book entitled Kierkegaard’s Spiritual Writings, a new translation of select writings by Soren Kierkegaard. The accompanying text promotes meeting God in the “silence.” “Praying is not listening to oneself speak but is about becoming silent and, in becoming silent, waiting, until the one who prays hears God.” This is not biblical prayer; it is Roman Catholic contemplative mysticism. Biblical prayer is talking with God, and God’s Voice is heard through His revealed Word. Christianity Today gave no hint of warning about Kierkegaard’s heresies. For one thing, he popularized existentialism in contrast to biblical absolutes. Robert Runcie, who was Archbishop of Canterbury from 1980 to 1990, said he was indebted to Kierkegaard’s idea “that religion had nothing to do with the rational part of your mind.” Runcie said this showed him “a way in which I could hold together a fundamental skepticism with religious devotion” (Humphrey Carpenter, Robert Runcie: The Reluctant Archbishop, p. 88). When Billy Graham founded Christianity Today in 1956, he said he wanted to “plant the evangelical flag in the middle-of-the-road, taking the conservative theological position but a definite liberal approach to social problems” (Christian Smith, American Evangelicalism: Embattled and Thriving). But compromise is a slippery slope that always takes one farther than first anticipated. Graham and other founders of the new evangelicalism renounced “separatism” in the late 1940s and as a result evangelicalism has been deeply influenced by the heretics and worldlings from which they have refused to separate. The emerging church is simply the latest progression of the renunciation of biblical separation.
GOVERNMENT-SPONSORED ABORTIONS (Friday Church News Notes, November 19, 2010, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The following is excerpted from CNSNews.com, Nov. 11, 2010: “Planned Parenthood received $349.6 million in tax dollars in its fiscal year that ended on June 30, 2008 and paid its president, Cecile Richards, $385,163, plus another $11,876 in benefits and deferred compensation. Also, according to a ‘fact sheet’ published by the organization, Planned Parenthood Affiliate Health Centers performed 324,008 abortions in 2008. Planned Parenthood’s fiscal year that ended on June 30, 2008 is the latest year for which the organization has publicly released an annual report and published the annual sum of grants and contracts it received from the government.”
DOES ROMANS 14 TEACH NON-SEPARATION OVER “NON-FUNDAMENTALS” (Friday Church News Notes, November 19, 2010, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - In an article entitled “Ecclesiastical Separation,” Clayton Reed, pastor of Southlake Baptist Church, Southlake, Texas, claims that separation should only pertain to cardinal doctrines such as the Gospel and that it is wrong to separate over “non-fundamentals” such as modes of baptism, tongues, postmillennialism, Arminianism and Calvinism, and affiliation with the Southern Baptist Convention. He concludes, “... we ought to join every willing, warm-hearted Christian in advancing our Lord’s kingdom while it is day.” As support for this position, Reed quotes Romans 14:4, ripping it entirely out of context. In fact, Romans 14 has nothing to do with the idea that there things in Scripture of secondary value in the sense of how we are to deal with them or whether we are to separate on the basis of them. Romans 14 is not dealing with “non-essential” doctrine. The examples given by the apostle are eating meats and keeping holy days. These are matters about which the Bible is silent. There are no divine requirements upon the New Testament Christian concerning these things. Thus, Romans 14 is discussing how we are to deal with matters NOT CLEARLY TAUGHT IN SCRIPTURE. In matters in which God has not plainly spoken, I am to give liberty. On the other hand, in matters in which God has plainly spoken, the only liberty is to obey. While not every teaching of Scripture has equal weight, there is not a hint anywhere that some doctrines are to be treated as “non-fundamentals” in the sense of whether or not we should take a stand for them. The only “non-fundamental” doctrine is one based on human opinion rather than God’s Word. Those who emphasize the “non-fundamentals” of the faith don’t tell us how to recognize such a doctrine, and once one buys into that philosophy the list of “non-fundamentals” tends to increase with time as associations are established on that basis. We are convinced that the “in essentials unity, in non-essentials liberty” philosophy is the path from fundamentalism to the emerging church.
DRAMATIC INCREASE IN FOUL LANGUAGE ON TV (Friday Church News Notes, November 19, 2010, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The following is excerpted from “A Habitat for Profanity,” Parents Television Council, Nov. 9, 2010: “The Parents Television Council has documented a sharp rise in the frequency and harshness of profanity being used on prime-time broadcast television in a special comparative analysis of the fall 2010 and 2005 seasons. The PTC’s report documents a 69.3 percent increase in just the past five years. The greatest increase in harsh profanity occurred during the 8:00 pm ET slot traditionally known as the family hour and the 9:00 pm ET hour. ‘After the Second Circuit Court of Appeals threw out the FCC’s congressionally-mandated authority to enforce the broadcast decency law, industry and media pundits predicted a sharp increase in the amount of profanity on television. Sadly, they were correct,’ said PTC President Tim Winter. ‘Our analysis of the first two weeks of this still-new fall television season shows a disturbing trend that shocked even us. Profanity is far more frequent and the profanity itself is far harsher than just five years ago. Even worse, the most egregious language is being aired during the timeslots when children are most likely to be in the audience. [There was a ten-fold increase in the use of one of the foulest swear words.] ... The Parents Television Council examined all prime-time entertainment programs on the major television networks (ABC, NBC, CBS, Fox, UPN and the WB in 2005, and ABC, NBC, CBS, Fox, and the CW in 2010) during the first full two weeks of the fall television premiere season, for a total number of 124 programming hours in 2005 and 128 programming hours in 2010.”
BILLIONAIRES FOR THE REMOVAL OF OTHERS (Friday Church News Notes, November 19, 2010, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The following is excerpted from “Life Is Not for Sale” Human Events, Nov. 13, 2010: “Let me introduce you to an organization I’ve labeled B.R.O.O.M.--Billionaires for the Removal of Others Other than Me. I think you know some of the cast of characters: George Soros, Michael Bloomberg, Oprah Winfrey, Bill and Melinda Gates, Warren Buffet, David Rockefeller, Ted Turner--you get the picture. These billionaires (and others not listed) plan to solve the world’s poverty and starvation issues by one simple means--elimination of the less desirable people. In fact, their official slogan could be ‘B.R.O.O.M.--Sweeping you off the planet, one poor slob at a time!’ With their concentrated wealth-backed policy-making efforts, they have financed and promoted (in developing and third-world countries) contraception, abortion, forced vaccinations--some of which produce the same outcomes as abortion--and euthanasia. According to their policies, if you can prevent people, you can prevent their potential illnesses and other problems. This isn’t news to most of us. Eugenics has been alive and well in Europe and in the US since the late 19th century. What is particularly noteworthy is the amount of funding that has gone into this madness in recent years. In May of 2009 members of B.R.O.O.M. met at NYU to discuss potential ‘philanthropic measures.’ According to an article from Lifenews.com, ‘Gates pushed the wealthy group into settling on population control as their “umbrella cause.’ … [H]e outlined an ambitious project in February [‘09] to reduce the world’s population by one billion, which would eliminate one of out every projected nine people on the planet, or 11 percent. ... They all have a history of promoting abortion and using their vast fortunes to benefit groups like Planned Parenthood, the nation’s largest abortion business.’ ... The poor of the world are obviously their target, many of whom, not surprisingly, live on the African continent. These are the same kind of people whom B.R.O.O.M.’s patron saint, Margaret Sanger, wanted to eliminate back in the 1930s. How is it that the ‘Race Card’ is never waved in front of their faces?”
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). This material is sent only to those who personally subscribe to the Fundamental Baptist Information Service mailing list. To SUBSCRIBE, go to http://www.wayoflife.org/wayoflife/subscribe.html. TO UNSUBSCRIBE OR CHANGE ADDRESSES, go to the very bottom of any email received from us and click "Manage My Subscription." Way of Life Literature, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061, 866-295-4143, fbns@wayoflife.org.
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