Mar/18/10 10:23 Filed in:
EvangelicalismMarch 18, 2010 (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) -
The New Evangelical philosophy is often stated by the dictum, “In essentials unity; in non-essentials liberty; in all things charity,” (commonly attributed to Augustine, but actually first stated by the 17th-century Lutheran Rupertus Meldenius (a.k.a. Peter Meiderlin).
This became the rallying cry of the Moravians, who did many good things but refused to reject the heresy of infant baptism and promoted unity above the absolute truth of God’s Word. The same dictum has been heartily adopted by modern New Evangelicals. They might stand for ten or twenty or thirty “cardinals,” but they refuse to make an issue of the WHOLE counsel of God.
Read More...Mar/17/10 09:12 Filed in:
EvolutionEnlarged March 17, 2010 (first published January 27, 2010) (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) -
The field of creation science has grown by leaps since the publication of The Genesis Flood in 1962 by Henry Morris and John Whitcomb. There are many organizations and publishers that promote the creationist viewpoint, including The Institute for Creation Research (1970) and Answers in Genesis (founded in Australia in the 1970s as the Creation Science Foundation).
Since the 1990s, the Intelligent Design (ID) movement has broadened the attack on Darwinism. Though ID proponents typically are not Bible believers and might even claim to be agnostic in regard to the identity of the Designer, they argue that the Darwinian mechanisms of natural selection and random mutations are insufficient to explain the facts that exist in life. William Dembski says that the basic claim of ID is that “there are natural systems that cannot be adequately explained in terms of undirected natural forces and that exhibit features which in any other circumstance we would attribute to intelligence” (The Design Revolution, p. 27). Intelligent Design proponents point to the intricate design that we see everywhere, from the DNA molecule and the living cell to the perfectly balanced conditions on earth that allow life to exist. Influential ID books include Michael Behe’s Of Panda’s and People (1989) and Darwin’s Black Box (1996), which argue the concept of “irreducible complexity,” Phillip Johnson’s Darwin on Trial (1991), William Dembski’s The Design Inference (1998), and Stephen Myer’s Signature in the Cell (2009).
BENEFITS OF CREATION SCIENCE MATERIALS
Today there are a vast number of books and DVDs, even entire school curriculums, that debunk Darwinian evolution from various perspectives, and there are many benefits that derive from the use of these materials. Read More... Mar/16/10 09:50 Filed in:
FamilyUpdated March 16, 2010 (first published June 20, 2007) (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) -
In the book Money for Nothing: One Man’s Journey through the Dark Side of Lottery Millions, Edward Ugle says the “broke or financially troubled lottery winners are the rule.”
In fact, the consequences of winning the lottery are often more frightful than mere financial trouble.
Evelyn Adams, who won the New Jersey lottery in 1985 and 1986 for a total of $5.4 million, gambled and gave away all her winnings and by 2001 was poor and living in a trailer.
Teresa Brunnings, who won $1.3 million in a lottery in 1985, says that she had a party then, but, “Of all the people who came, not one speaks to me now.”
Michael Carroll, who won about $17 million in a lottery in England in 2003, said he only had $3 million left in early 2006. He told the press, “I regret ever winning the lottery. I’ve spent $2 million on drugs and given $7 million to friends and family.”
Read More... Mar/12/10 07:55
March 12, 2010, Volume 11, Issue 11
PDF VERSION
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.
SADDLEBACK ROCKS OUT FOR EASTER (Friday Church News Notes, March 12, 2010, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - Rick Warren has announced that The Jonas Brothers rock group will be performing at Saddleback Church’s Easter celebration at Angel Stadium on April 4. It is also the megachurch’s 30th anniversary. The Jonas Brothers is a boy band with a following of thousands of carnally-infatuated young girl fans. The band members are professing Christians, but their music is worldly. Their song “Burnin’ Up” says, “Baby, who turned the temperature hotter? Cause I’m burnin up, burnin up for your baby. ... I fell so fast/ Can’t hold myself back/ High heels, red dress/ All by yourself, gotta catch my breath.” There is nothing biblical or wholesome about that type of thing. The Bible forbids God’s people to be conformed to the world (Romans 12:2) and warns that “the friendship of the world is enmity with God” and “whosoever will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God” (James 4:4). Those powerful words are ignored in the average church today. The modern explosion of conformity of churches to the world has walked hand-in-hand with the progress of contemporary Christian music, beginning in the 1960s. It was then that A. W. Tozer stated: “For centuries the Church stood solidly against every form of worldly entertainment, recognizing it for what it was. For this she was abused roundly by the sons of this world. But of late she has become tired of the abuse and has given over the struggle. If she cannot conquer the great god Entertainment, she may as well join forces with him and make whatever use she can of his powers. So today we have the astonishing spectacle of millions of dollars being poured into the unholy job of providing earthly entertainment for the so-called sons of heaven. Religious persons now carry on ‘services’ so carnal, so pagan that they can hardly be distinguished from the old vaudeville shows of earlier days. And for a preacher or writer to challenge this heresy is to invite ridicule and abuse from every quarter. When the Church joins up with the world, it is no longer the true church but a pitiful hybrid thing, an object of contempt to the world, and an abomination to the Lord. We must have a new reformation. There must come a violent break with that irresponsible, amusement-mad, paganized, pseudo-religion which passes today for the faith of Christ and which is being spread all over the world by unspiritual men employing unscriptural methods to achieve their ends.” If men of God were saying this 50 years ago, what should preachers be saying today! Read More... Mar/11/10 11:39 Filed in:
EvangelicalismUpdated March 11, 2010 (first published January 1995) (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) -
The following was first published in 1995 under the title of Fundamentalism, Modernism, and New-Evangelicalism.
I am convinced that few errors are as destructive to fundamentalist Bible-believing churches as New Evangelicalism. When people leave our churches, where do they go? Do they join the Roman Catholic Church? Do they join a modernistic Protestant church, such as the United Methodist, the Presbyterian Church U.S.A., or the United Church of Canada? Do they join a cult such as the Mormons? That seldom occurs. Most that leave fundamentalist Bible-believing churches join the positive-thinking, easy-going New Evangelical church down the street or across town. Read More... Mar/11/10 11:39 Filed in:
FundamentalismEnlarged March 8, 2010 (first published July 2, 2000) (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) -
From time to time I am asked if I follow the guidelines of Matthew 18 before I publish a report.
For example, when I published an open challenge to Clarence Sexton about the Friendship Conferences, I received the following:
“I am deeply upset at the private letter you posted on your website to Dr Sexton. Thanks for shooting your own and not calling Pastor Sexton personally to get all of the facts. I guess you don't read Matthew 18 all that often.”
The fact is that I did contact Pastor Sexton personally months before the publication of the article. As for Matthew 18, as we will see, it has nothing to do with the issue.
Read More...
