.
FRIDAY CHURCH NEWS NOTES
NOVEMBER 23, 2012, VOLUME 13, ISSUE 47
(David Cloud, Fundamental Baptist Information Service, P.O. Box 610368,
Port Huron, MI 48061, 866-295-4143, fbns@wayoflife.org; for
instructions about subscribing and unsubscribing or changing addresses,
see the information paragraph at the end of the article) –
FRANKLIN GRAHAM REFUSES TO CALL A CULT A CULT (Friday
Church News Notes, November 23, 2012, www.wayoflife.org,
fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - Franklin Graham recently told CNN
that he was shocked when he learned that there was an article at the
Billy Graham Evangelistic Association’s web site naming Mormonism as a
cult. The article was removed soon after Billy and Franklin met with
Mormon presidential candidate Mitt Romney. Franklin said, “We have
10,000 pages and I don’t write the 10,000 pages. Other people have
written it. There was a discussion as to what a cult was and they had a
definition of a cult and then they gave some examples and when I found
out there were examples they took them off. But I was shocked that we
even had that on there” (“Franklin Graham Was Shocked,” Christian Post,
Nov. 15, 2012). Claiming that this is “name-calling,” Franklin said,
“If I want to win a person to Christ, how can I call that person a name?
That’s what shocked me, that we were calling people names. ... I’m an
evangelist and I want to reach as many people as I can. If I’m calling
them names, it doesn’t work.” No one has done more to build the apostate
one-world church than Billy Graham through pursuing humanistic
pragmatism instead of being faithful to God’s Word, and Franklin is
following in his footsteps. Both hide their compromise under the shadow
of being an “evangelist,” but where does the Bible say that an
evangelist is exempt from earnestly contending for the faith once
delivered to the saints (Jude 3), a faith that includes the whole body
of New Testament truth and not just salvation by grace alone? And where
does the Bible say that an evangelist is exempt from marking and
avoiding those who teach contrary to apostolic doctrine (Romans
16:17), or from turning away from those who have a form of godliness but
deny the power thereof (2 Timothy 3:5), or from identifying and
rebuking false teachers and compromisers plainly as Jesus and the
apostles did (Matthew 23:13-33; 2 Corinthians 11:12-15; Galatians 1:6-9;
Philippians 3:18-19; 1 Timothy 1:19-20; 2 Timothy 1:15; 2:16-18; 4:10,
14; 2 Peter 2; 2 John 2:7-11; Jude 4-19)?
Jesus is the Evangelist of evangelists, yet He denounced false teachers
publicly as hypocrites, blind guides, children of hell, fools and
blind, serpents, and vipers. Paul called them vain babblers, vessels
unto dishonor, enemies of the cross of Christ, accursed, false apostles.
Peter called them presumptuous, selfwilled, as natural brute beasts,
beguiling unstable souls, cursed children, wells without water. John
called them deceivers. Jude called them filthy dreamers, clouds without
water, twice dead, raging waves of the sea, foaming out their own shame,
wandering stars, to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness for
ever, murmurers. By not plainly condemning false teachers, the Grahams
are brazenly, presumptuously disobeying the Bible and demonstrating that
they are not true Bible preachers. When measured by the standard of
popular “evangelicalism” the Grahams are greatly acclaimed, but when
measured by the infallible and unchangeable Word of God, they are found
to be enemies of the very cross that they profess to love, because it is
impossible to preach the truth and hold hands with the enemies of the
truth without destroying the truth. “And Jehoshaphat the king of Judah
returned to his house in peace to Jerusalem. And Jehu the son of Hanani
the seer went out to meet him, and said to king Jehoshaphat, Shouldest
thou help the ungodly, and love them that hate the LORD? therefore is
wrath upon thee from before the LORD” (2 Ch. 19:1-2).
Jehoshaphat’s
compromise with Jehu was not a small thing. It resulted in the spiritual
corruption of Israel at the hands of Jehoshaphat’s son and grandson
Jehoram and Ahaziah, who brought idolatry into Judea through their
relationship with Ahab’s family, the bridge to which was foolishly
built by Jehoshaphat, the pragmatist. (For more on this see
Billy Graham’s Sad Disobedience, a free eBook available from www.wayoflife.org.)
REPLY TO A DEMOCRAT
(Friday Church News Notes, November 23, 2012, www.wayoflife.org,
fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - Last week I received the following
note. The capitalization was in the original. “I am sorry, but I HAVE
HAD ENOUGH! I am a 66 year old retired Steel Worker. I have been a
Christian since I was 15. I have followed your website for the last 3
years. My Grandparents, parents, & all my family have been and are
DEMOCRATS! WE VOTE THE WAY WE WANT! AND WE ARE SICK OF THOSE WHO
CONDEMN US FOR VOTING THE WAY WE DO!! THERE ARE MILLIONS OF CHRISTIANS
WHO ARE DEMOCRATS! YOU MENTION ONLY TWO ISSUES, BOTH OF WHICH WOULD NOT
CHANGE EVEN UNDER REPUBLICAN RULE! AS OF NOW I AM DROPPING YOU AND NO
LONGER WISH TO RECEIVE ANY EMAILS FROM YOU. GOOD RIDDANCE.” REPLY FROM
BROTHER CLOUD: You have every right to test my preaching by God’s Word,
but your carnal anger is not righteous. It is also terribly misguided.
When did I ever say that the Republicans are good? I have condemned both
the Democrats and the Republicans. America has never been a righteous
nation, and it is more wicked today than ever. That is what I preach.
But that is no excuse to vote for a political party that has the murder
of unborn babies and the “marriage” of homosexuals as an official part
of its platform, a party that has brazenly shaken its silly fist in
God’s face. You are dead wrong, friend, and you will give account to
God. If I were you, I would be preparing myself to stand before Almighty
God instead of criticizing a preacher who preaches God’s righteous Word
in an unrighteous age, criticizing him on the basis of your own
thinking. If you have been saved for 51 years, it certainly doesn’t show
in your e-mail. I say little about politics, but when I do I base my
comments on God’s Word. If you can show me where I preach something
contrary to God’s Word, do it. Otherwise, you need to repent of your
attitude and your ways. “Whoso is partner with a thief hateth his own
soul: he heareth cursing, and bewrayeth it not" (Prov. 29:24).
ABORTION DESTROYING BLACKS IN AMERICA
(Friday Church News Notes, November 23, 2012, www.wayoflife.org,
fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The following is excerpted from
“White People Don’t Like Abortion,” TownHall.com, Nov. 12, 2012:
“Planned Parenthood founder Margaret Sanger believed in using abortion
to rid the world of the ‘unfit.’ In Sanger's world, the unfit included
blacks and she hoped they would be eliminated with the help of her
organization. As she wrote in her autobiography, Sanger founded Planned
Parenthood in 1916 ‘to stop the multiplication of the unfit.’ This, she
boasted, would be ‘the most important and greatest step towards race
betterment.’ While she oversaw the mass murder of black babies, Sanger
cynically recruited minority activists to front her death racket. She
conspired with eugenics financier and businessman Clarence Gamble to
‘hire three or four colored ministers, preferably with social-service
backgrounds, and with engaging personalities’ to sell their genocidal
policies as community health and welfare services. Outright murder
wouldn’t sell. But wrapping it under the egalitarian cloak of ‘women's
health’--and adorning it with the moral authority of black
churches--would. Sanger and Gamble called their deadly campaign ‘The
Negro Project.’ ... Planned Parenthood receives $500 million from the
government each year and funded millions of dollars worth of
advertisements this year to get Barack Obama reelected. Sanger’s dream
is coming true today as Planned Parenthood clinics are purposely placed
in minority neighborhoods to target pregnant women. Fast forward: Five
decades and 16 million aborted black babies later, Planned Parenthood’s
insidious agenda has migrated from inner-city ‘birth control bureaus’ to
public school-based health clinics to the White House--forcibly funded
with taxpayer dollars just as Sanger championed. ... 28 percent of the
black race has been wiped out by abortion. More than 1400 black babies
are aborted every day. Though blacks make up 12% of the population, they
make up 36% of abortions.”
MORE BRIDGE BUILDING FROM IFB TO THE DANGEROUS WATERS OF EVANGELICALISM
(Friday Church News Notes, November 23, 2012, www.wayoflife.org,
fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The Minnesota Baptist Association
has announced that Phil Johnson will be the featured speaker at its
men’s fellowship in September 2013. Johnson is the executive director of
John MacArthur’s broadcast ministry Grace to You. The announcement
says, “Phil is known as a faithful proclaimer and expositor of the Word
of God” (“Men’s Fellowship to be Held,” Minnesota Baptist Association,
Nov. 9, 2012). These are dangerous waters. MacArthur, who used to
condemn “cultural liberalism” and the worldly “new Calvinists,” in
recent years is moving rapidly into that very camp. The Master’s
College, which is headed by MacArthur, hosted a hip-hop concert in
December 2011 featuring Lecrae, Trip Lee, Tadashii, Sho Baraka, DJ
Official, and THI’SL. The Master’s College students produce
pop/rap/country rock videos with full blown dance routines and covers of
secular rock songs. They host a Fall Thing event that is extremely
worldly. In 2011 the theme was ‘Unrestricted Reality,’ and the students
donned costumes imitating characters from Star Wars, sci-fi fantasy,
super heroes, and the pop culture in general. This plays right into the
hands of the culture’s fascination with fantasy and the devil’s use of
it to corrupt men’s minds. The young people wouldn’t want to dress up
this way unless their minds and hearts were already in love with
Hollywood. The Master’s College’s annual Week of Welcome features beach
activities and pool parties complete with girls in tight and very skimpy
bathing suits. (This is not “hearsay.” All of it is evident from the
photos placed at the Flickr pages owned by the camp and school and from
YouTube clips. See http://www.pccmonroe.org/2011/10.htm.)
TWILIGHT LEADING TEENS TO VAMPIRISM
(Friday Church News Notes, November 23, 2012, www.wayoflife.org,
fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The following is excerpted from
“‘Twilight Break Dawn’ Leading Teens to Bloodletting,” Christian Post, Nov. 12, 2012: “The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 2,
which opens in theaters on Friday, is the last chapter of the popular
‘Twilight’ movie series, but a Christian producer and author has warned
that it is just the beginning when it comes to leading teenagers into
occult practices. ... In his interview with Christian Post, Steve
Wohlberg said he has been watching the trend of teenagers getting
involved in the occult for a long time--starting with the ‘Harry Potter’
books and movies, which the producer says led many curious teens to
inquire about the Wiccan religion. ‘When the Twilight series came out, I knew that just like Harry Potter contributed to interest in Wicca, Twilight
will increase interest in vampirism,’ he shared. ‘There is a whole
network of organizations that are promoting vampirism, and it is very
easy to go on the Internet an type in teenage vampire, and you will find
websites that are teaching kids how to get involved in drinking blood,
how to find a donor, how to get involved in vampirism, and the evidence
is so overwhelming that kids are getting involved in occultism and
vampirism left and right.’ Wohlberg noted that the problem is not just
limited to American teenagers--there are ‘clans’ reportedly popping up
all over Australia that are actually involved in drinking blood. ...
‘The reality is that teens who are involved in mesmerizing entertainment
that are saturated with occultism an making occultism look positive,
there is just a lot of people who are getting lured into the real
things, and that is a very dangerous trip,’ Wohlberg added. ‘The biggest
danger is that kids will try to emulate the heroes (in movies like Twilight) and when they check out real occultism, they can be invaded by demonic forces.’”
SUFFICIENCY OF THE EVIDENCE FOR THE BIBLE’S DIVINE INSPIRATION
(Friday Church News Notes, November 23, 2012, www.wayoflife.org,
fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - For the unbiased, God gives enough
evidence to prove that the Bible is divinely inspired, but enough is
left unproven and enough questions remain to give the willful unbeliever
rope to hang himself. As the renowned Harvard law professor Simon
Greenleaf stated: ‘Christianity does not profess to convince the
perverse and head-strong, to bring irresistible evidence to the daring
and profane, to vanquish the proud scorner, and afford evidences from
which the careless and perverse cannot possibly escape. This might go to
destroy man’s responsibility. All that Christianity professes, is to
propose such evidences as may satisfy the meek, the tractable, the
candid, the serious inquirer’ (The Testimony of the Evangelists Examined by the Rules of Evidence).
In His story of the rich man and Lazarus in Luke 16, Jesus warned that
no amount of evidence will convince a committed skeptic. The Word of God
itself is the ultimate evidence, and men are required to believe it. A
committed skeptic would not be convinced if he saw Noah’s ark with his
own eyes and if Noah himself rose from the dead to tell the story. “Then
he said, I pray thee therefore, father, that thou wouldest send him to
my father's house: For I have five brethren; that he may testify unto
them, lest they also come into this place of torment. Abraham saith unto
him, They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them. And he said,
Nay, father Abraham: but if one went unto them from the dead, they will
repent. And he said unto him, If they hear not Moses and the prophets,
neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead” (Luke
16:27-31).
SHARIA LAW OPERATING IN ENGLAND
(Friday Church News Notes, November 23, 2012, www.wayoflife.org
fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The following is excerpted from
“Islamic Sharia Law Comes to Great Britain,” CBN News, Nov. 15,
2012: “Stoning for adultery. Amputations for theft. Death for apostates.
And second-class status for Christians and Jews. This is life under
Sharia law, the Islamic system practiced in countries like Iran, Saudi
Arabia, and Great Britain. Yes, Great Britain. There are reportedly some
85 Sharia courts now operating there, with Islamic judges ruling on
cases ranging from financial to marital disputes among British Muslims.
‘We went into some proceedings and there were a couple of Islamic judges
sitting up above the rest,’ said Alan Craig, who recently stepped down
as leader of the Christian Peoples Alliance party. ... Craig is a former
city councilor in East London, home to several Sharia courts where
women face open discrimination. ‘A woman's witness value is half that of
a man,’ Craig told CBN News. ‘So [the courts] will tend, therefore, to
take the man's position in a divorce.’ ... Muslim women in Great Britain
often face intimidation within their communities to settle things the
Sharia way. ... The courts have popped up in several British cities with
large Muslim populations, including Birmingham, Bradford, Manchester,
and London. The Tower Hamlets section of East London is arguably the
epicenter of the Sharia movement in Great Britain. The impoverished
borough has been dubbed ‘The Islamic Republic of Tower Hamlets.’ Its
first elected mayor is a Muslim who critics say has ties to extremist
groups. His office declined CBN News's request for an interview.”
A MAN LIKE JONAH
(Friday Church News Notes, November 23, 2012, www.wayoflife.org
fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The following is from John Phillips’
commentary on Jonah: “God can use a man like Jonah far more than He can
use a spineless, compromising one. ‘I would thou wert cold or hot,’ the
Lord said to the Laodiceans (Revelation 3: 15). In spite of his many
faults, Jonah was just the man for Nineveh. Nobody else would do.
Likewise God can use us, no matter what our temperamental strengths and
weaknesses might be. He has a place for all of us in His plan, whether
we are impetuous like Peter, crafty like Jacob, meek like Moses, or
headstrong like Jonah. But first He must extinguish our passions, which
are too often set on fire by Hell, and then rekindle them with fire from
on high. God does not try to make a Peter out of a Paul, a Samson out
of a Samuel, or a Moses out of a Joshua. God takes people as He finds
them, changes them, and then uses them. Jonah is the classic Biblical
example of how God does His perfect work with an imperfect instrument.”
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.
WAY OF LIFE LITERATURE SHARING POLICY: Much
of our material is available for free, such as the hundreds of articles
at the Way of Life web site. Other items we sell to help fund our
expensive literature, video, and foreign church planting ministry. Way
of Life’s content falls into two categories: sharable and non-sharable.
Things that we encourage you to share include the audio sermons, O
Timothy magazine, FBIS articles, and the free eVideos and free eBooks.
You are welcome to make copies of these at your own expense and share
them with friends and family, but they cannot be posted to web sites.
You are also welcome to use excerpts from the articles in your own
writings, in sermons, in church bulletins, etc. All we ask is that you
give proper credit. Things we do not want copied and distributed freely
are items like the Fundamental Baptist Digital Library, print edition of
our books, PDFs and other electronic editions of the books that we
sell, the eVideos that we sell, etc. The items have taken years to
produce at enormous expense in time and money, and we need the income
from sales to help fund the ministry. We trust that your Christian
honesty will preserve the integrity of this policy. “For the scripture
saith, Thou shalt not muzzle the ox that treadeth out the corn. And, The
labourer is worthy of his reward” (1 Timothy 5:18).
RELATED POST:
Is It Right: To Judge, To Expose Error andTo Name Names? By Pastor E.L. Bynum...
...
...
...
Indeed! Subtle and insidious is the promoting of such a disgrace as this most unscriptural video! The Sabbath was given to the Jew as a sign! The commandments were given to Moses for the benefit of the Jews, who were under the LAW!
.
Christians, and that does not include any papist, were given their "directives" through Paul, from Romans to Philemon, and nowhere there is mention of sabbath-keeping! Christians are under GRACE, and NOT OT LAW!
.
Christ ROSE on the first day of the week!
Christ ROSE on the first day of the week!
The disciples were ASSEMBLING TO BREAK BREAD ON THE FIRST DAY OF THE WEEK!
Look up John 20:19; Acts 20:7;
1 Corinthians 16:2
The very best sermon I have ever heard on the subject, is by Pastor Lordson Roch: Sabbath Keeping-What saith the Scripture?! by - Lordson Roch
It is well worth hearing!
16 Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink,
or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon,
OR OF THE SABBATH DAYS:
17 Which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ.
Colossians 2:16-17 (King James Bible)
Anyone want to know what that last verse means,
listen to Dr. Douglas Stauffer's videos on:
One Book Rightly Divided, uploaded by BereanBeacon
I have the whole playlist on my blog: True Christianity vs Roman Catholicism