Friday Church News Notes

EPISCOPALIANS ELECT LESBIAN “BISHOP” (Friday Church News Notes, December 11, 2009, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - On December 5, the Los Angeles diocese of the Episcopal Church in America voted to elect a lesbian as bishop. The appointment of Mary Glasspool, who lives with her female “partner” of 19 years, must be confirmed by a majority of the denomination’s 108 dioceses. The archbishop of Canterbury pathetically stated that the election “raises very serious questions not just for the Episcopal Church and its place in the Anglican Communion, but for the Communion as a whole” (“Los Angeles Episcopalians Elect Lesbian,” CNN, Dec. 6, 2009). The homosexual issue is tearing the Episcopal Church apart, with many congregations leaving.

PAUL MCCARTNEY CLAIMS TO BE IN TOUCH WITH DEAD BEATLES (Friday Church News Notes, December 11, 2009, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - Paul McCartney, one of the two surviving Beatles, told the media recently that when he plays Beatles songs he is in contact with his departed band mates again. “If I’m doing the song ‘Something,’ I’m thinking of George. It’s great. I really like it. In a way I’m revisiting them. In a way, you’re kind of in contact with them again. ... I still think I’m in the Beatles” (“Paul McCartney Says He’s in Touch with Dead Beatles,” IrishCentral.com, Dec. 4, 2009). It appears that McCartney is not claiming to be in touch with the dead Beatles in a spiritualistic way but in a mystical way. Rock music is a major part of the end-time mysticism that has permeated modern society. It’s about shutting down the critical apparatus of the mind and allowing one’s emotions to lead and rule. It is being “hooked on a feeling.” Atheists like Richard Dawkins and John Lennon criticize Bible believers for exercising “blind faith,” but in reality it is their “faith” that is utterly blind. Biblical faith is based upon many infallible proofs (Acts 1:3), such as the Bible’s prophecies and Christ’s resurrection. It is not called “faith” because it is blind, but because it believes in things that are presently unseen. It “is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen” (Hebrews 11:1).

FORMER DUTCH HEALTH MINISTER ADMITS ERROR OF LEGALIZING EUTHANASIA (Friday Church News Notes, December 11, 2009, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The following is excerpted from LifeSiteNews.com, Dec. 2, 2009: “The former Dutch minister who successfully promoted the legalization of euthanasia has now admitted that the government's move was a mistake, and says that they should have first focused on palliative care. Els Borst, who served as Health Minister for the Netherlands from 1994 to 2002, proposed the country’s infamous euthanasia bill. When it passed in 2001, the Netherlands became the first country in the world to legalize euthanasia. In 2008 alone, Dutch doctors reported 2,331 cases of euthanasia and assisted suicide. ... Borst’s regret over the situation in the Netherlands is particularly important given that that country has served as a model for euthanasia advocates in other countries. ... [Alex] Schadenberg [of the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition] went on to point out the ‘slippery slope’ occurring in the Netherlands, which the country’s politicians deny, he says, through ‘a systematic cover-up.’ He asked, ‘How can you say there is no slippery slope in the Netherlands--knowing that you now allow euthanasia for newborns, and you went from originally just the terminally ill, [and] now it’s also for those who are mentally ill?’”

AL-QAIDA KILLS MANY TIMES MORE MUSLIMS THAN NON-MUSLIMS (Friday Church News Notes, December 11, 2009, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The following is excerpted from “Surprising Study on Terrorism,” Spiegel Online, Dec. 3, 2009: “[A] new study by the Combating Terrorism Center in the US has shown that an overwhelming majority of al-Qaida victims are, in fact, co-religionists. In the battle against unbelievers, can one also kill Muslims? Even the terror network al-Qaida is troubled by this question. ... Between 2004 and 2008, for example, al-Qaida claimed responsibility for 313 attacks, resulting in the deaths of 3,010 people. And even though these attacks include terrorist incidents in the West--in Madrid in 2004 and in London in 2005--only 12 percent of those killed (371 deaths) were Westerners. ... Perhaps more significantly, if one only examines attacks in 2007 and disregards those having been perpetrated in Iraq and Afghanistan, the share of non-Westerners killed by al-Qaida rises to 99 percent. In 2008, it was 96 percent.”

PRAGMATISM AMONG CHARISMATICS AND INDEPENDENT BAPTISTS (Friday Church News Notes, December 11, 2009, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - An anonymous writer in Australia has been critiquing Hillsong Church, the largest church in the country, in a series of blogs. In the latest one he says, “Nothing frustrates a church-building pastor more than conflict of purpose or multiple agenda amongst their church members. Where there is divergence of opinion, or lengthy debate over a proposed course of action, pro-active pastors get understandably impatient. ... Pursuit of the vision is top priority, and so all other concerns are subordinated to the common drive to ‘build the church.’ ... This seems reasonable; after all, why get caught up with minor issues and neglect the bigger picture? But this reasoning sets up a false choice. Why is it assumed that we must decide between either the big picture, or minor issues? ... if we agree that there are at least ‘lesser concerns,’ why must these be ignored in favour of the bigger picture? ... Let us consider a hypothetical situation. Imagine an active church member who faithfully serves each weekend; someone who might be described as ‘committed to the house.’ After several weekends of questionable doctrine being preached, he decides to approach a pastor, to whom he outlines his concern: why does Brian [Houston, Hillsong’s senior pastor] teach one thing, when the Bible teaches quite the opposite? ... the pastor makes it clear that Brian’s preaching is building the church, and that the man’s ‘theologizing’ only serves to distract from the bigger picture. Perhaps, the pastor suggests, the man should decide whether he is ‘committed to the house,’ or should consider a different church. ... This is how the ‘unquestioning’ element of Hillsong’s culture is perpetuated. From a church-growth perspective, it’s very effective. People who disagree don’t last long enough to have their concerns properly heard and acted upon” (http://tttdiscussionforum.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default). COMMENT BY BROTHER CLOUD: This same philosophy is rampant among independent Baptists. I saw it at Highland Park Baptist Church and Tennessee Temple in the 1970s, and it characterized Jack Hyles’ ministry. This is why the students at Hyles-Anderson and other places cannot criticize “the man of God” or the institution. (While I don’t believe in a critical spirit, I do believe in proving all things by God’s Word and I do not believe that any man or church is beyond this.) Nothing must get in the way of the “program” of building the church and winning souls. This is why so many IB pastors consider my ministry “divisive.” In their minds it gets in the way of the things are “truly important.” If they loved the whole Word of God, they would delight in the preaching of the whole Word of God, let the chips fall where they will (Psalm 119:128), but they are pragmatists. Paul taught Timothy to respect even the spots of doctrine and practice commanded in the Bible (1 Timothy 6:13-14).

TIMES CHOOSES INTELLIGENT DESIGN BOOK OVER PRO-DARWIN WORKS (Friday Church News Notes, December 11, 2009, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The following is excerpted from “Pro-Intelligent Design Books Makes Times Literary Supplement’s Books of the Year,” Evolution News, Nov. 30, 2009: “Although this year has been widely touted as the ‘Year of Darwin’ because of its big Darwin-related anniversaries, the book reviewers at the Times Literary Supplement (TLS) in London seem less than enthralled with the year’s crop of pro-Darwin retreads from the publishing industry. Indeed, the TLS’s ‘Books of the Year’ issue just released last Friday fails to include any of the year’s big pro-Darwin tomes such as Jerry Coyne’s Why Evolution Is True or even Richard Dawkins’ The Greatest Show on Earth among its ‘Books of the Year.’ Instead, the only book so honored that focuses on the Darwin-ID debate is Stephen Meyer’s Signature in the Cell: DNA and the Evidence for Intelligent Design, which was selected by noted atheist philosopher Thomas Nagel. If I were a Darwinist, I’d be more than a bit concerned. Even many of those sympathetic to Darwinian materialism aren’t expressing much enthusiasm anymore for the tired arguments of the Neo-Darwinists.”

A WARNING ABOUT “HOLISTIC MEDICINE” (Friday Church News Notes, December 11, 2009, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - In response to our reports on homeopathy and other New Age health care practices I received the following testimony: “In your article on homeopathy it is noteworthy that the women were spreading the occult ‘medicine’ while a man warned against it. I have also, unfortunately, seen a significant amount of influence in favor of occultic and quackish ‘holistic’ remedies in some independent Baptist churches, and I have noticed that they are usually promoted by the women while the men who are supposed to protect them (1 Timothy 2:14), though they are not pushing the occultic ‘medicine,’ either do not even know what their women are into or are simply passive about it. I know one fundamental Baptist evangelist who, while he holds meetings, has his wife promote unscientific remedies in special meetings for ladies. They were influential in getting another lady who had a very easily curable form of cancer not to get surgery and chemo but to try ‘alternatives,’ some of which were occultic and none of which had any factual basis, and now cancer has spread through her whole body. Another woman I know promotes worthless supplement products and attacks legitimate medicine by an organization that is fraudulent (the Body Wise Corporation) and whose sole ‘scientist’ and ‘researcher’ is a homeopath who makes money from what the organization sells. This woman has tried to bypass me and influence my wife, something I did not appreciate (and so I contacted the husband of the woman, since he is responsible for her). I can think of numbers of other fundamental Baptist women in families that I know that are leading and passing along occult and quack remedies while men are failing in their responsibility to discern and protect their families. This ought not to be so.” (For more on this see the article “The New Age in Health Care” at the Way of Life web site.)

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.