April 30, 2009 (David Cloud, Fundamental Baptist Information Service, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061, 866-295-4143)

The following is excerpted from ROME AND THE BIBLE: TRACING THE HISTORY OF THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH AND ITS PERSECUTION OF THE BIBLE AND OF BIBLE BELIEVERS by D.W. Cloud.

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It was not until 1582 that the Roman Catholic Church published its first English translation of the Bible. This was two hundred years after John Wycliffe had provided the English-speaking world with a Bible, and almost a half century after William Tyndale produced the first printed English New Testament. Both men were mercilessly hounded by Catholic authorities.

When Rome finally did produce its own edition of the English Bible, it was an attempt to counter the powerful influence of the Protestant English Bibles that were flooding the English-speaking world with spiritual light. Rome’s attempt to quash this light had been unsuccessful, so it would use a second tactic, that of setting up a competing translation in English in an attempt to keep its people from reading the Tyndale versions. By having their own English translation, the Catholic authorities could insert their heretical notes and thereby obscure the plain meaning of Scripture to the undiscerning.

April 29, 2009 (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 is excerpted from the book CONTEMPLATIVE MYSTICISM: A POWERFUL ECUMENICAL BOND, which is available from Way of Life Literature.

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BRENNAN MANNING’S (b. 1934) birth name was Richard Francis Xavier Manning. In 1963 he was ordained to the Franciscan priesthood. In the late 1960s he joined the Little Brothers of Jesus of Charles de Foucauld in Spain. This Order spends its days in manual labor serving poor communities and its nights “wrapped in silence and prayer.” He spent six months in solitary contemplation in a remote cave in a desert. In the 1970s he returned to the United States and eventually entered a six month treatment program for alcoholism at the Hazelden treatment center in Minnesota. In 1982 he got married and left the priesthood.

Manning’s foundational error is his false gospel.

His web site features his biography, and what is glaringly absent is any scriptural testimony of salvation. Instead, we find the following statement:

“In February 1956, while Brennan was meditating on the Stations of the Cross, a powerful experience of the personal love of Jesus Christ sealed the call of God on his life.”

April 28, 2009 (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 is by Pastor Buddy Smith, Grace Baptist Church, Malanda, Queensland, Australia

Forty years ago one of my old Bible college teachers died in the pulpit, in the middle of his sermon. He paused, sat down, laid aside his earthly tabernacle, and was ushered by the angels into Heaven's gates. I often reflect on the things he taught us. In fact, as I write, I realise that I am still being molded by his life. I am teaching one of my Scripture classes in the public school two new choruses and just realised today that I learned them from that dear old preacher, all those years ago. In the photo album of my heart, his page is especially precious to me, with the corners of the page well worn from turning. The memory that moves me most is not one I saw for myself. A friend gave it to me. The old preacher spoke in chapel one week, and my friend told me he peeked during the prayer before the sermon. To his surprise, the old preacher was kissing the pages of his Bible. That touched me so deeply that I never forgot it. Kissing the pages of his Bible!

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. For instructions on how to unsubscribe to this list or to change mailing addresses, please consult the information paragraph at the end.

COLUMBINE MAYHEM REVISITED (Friday Church News Notes, April 24, 2009, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - Ten years ago this week, two high school seniors filled with occultic hatred murdered 12 of their fellow students and a 47-year-old teacher at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado, before taking their own lives. The shooters, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, also wounded another 20 students. Witnesses reported that “they were just hooting and hollering, having the time of their lives.” They had planned to kill hundreds, but by God’s grace none of their larger bombs exploded. This carnage was perpetrated by self-centered, hateful, vengeful, foul-mouthed students. Early reports speculated that the boys lashed out at athletes and other popular teens because they had experienced constant bullying and social ostracism. In fact, both boys had a fairly wide circle of friends and were the bullies rather than the bullied, and they did not target athletes or any other particular group. They hated everybody! Early reports speculated that the murderers were driven by a lack of self-esteem, when in fact they were exceedingly proud and thought that they were better than others. Dylan wrote, “I am GOD compared to some of these un-existable brainless zombies.” Eric said, “I am higher than almost anyone in the ****** world in terms of universal intelligence” (Columbine, p. 234). This is not an isolated problem. Modern American culture is producing many such young people. Between 1992 and 2006 there were 330 murders committed by students on school property in the United States, and in many other cases plans were thwarted. The Bible teaches that murder is in the heart of every fallen sinner (Mark 7:21-23). If the natural propensities of the fallen heart are encouraged and not restrained, there is no evil that man is not capable of perpetrating. The battleground lies particularly with the imagination. If evil and darkness is entertained continually, the heart grows increasingly perverse. The Bible describes this downward process in Romans 1:21-28. Dave Cullen’s book Columbine, which was published this year after a decade of research, delves deeply into the teen’s lives. It is obvious that pride, anger, hatred, murderous revenge, and other natural lusts of the flesh were fueled by Western pop culture (violent video games, vicious Hollywood movies, and raging rock music), encouraged by godless philosophy (evolution, moral relativism, and Nazism), and enflamed by alcohol and drugs (the boys drank hard liquor and used marijuana). The Bible plainly warns that “evil communications corrupt good manners” (1 Cor. 15:33) and “whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap” (Gal. 6:7). What young people put into their hearts and minds will bear fruit in their lives. At the very least, it will be manifest in an improper attitude toward their parents, teachers, the police, and other forms of authority.

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A WARNING ABOUT CALVINISTIC HOME SCHOOLING MATERIALS (Friday Church News Notes, April 17, 2009, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - One of the ways that Reformed Calvinist theology is spreading through independent Baptist circles is home schooling curriculums. Consider three examples. These organizations hold to TULIP theology and reject the literal interpretation of prophecy and the pretribulational return of Jesus Christ. They hold to a heretical replacement position which sees the church as the fulfillment of God’s promises to Israel. VISION FORUM’s statement of faith includes the following: “All who were chosen in Christ from eternity past are born again by the Holy Spirit, respond from their new hearts with repentance and faith in Jesus, are justified on the basis of the shed blood of Christ, become children of God, and are indwelt, sanctified, and sealed by the Holy Spirit until they are glorified at Christ’s return.” Vision Forum’s books include the following: John Calvin: Man of the Millennium, The Story of the English Puritans, The World’s Greatest Reformation History Library, The Geneva Bible Calvin Legacy Edition, Children’s Stories of the Reformation, Stories of the Covenanters in Scotland, Reformation Heroes, Famous Women of the Reformed Church, Puritan Fathers Classics Library, and Gill’s Body of Doctrinal Divinity (hyper, hyper Calvinism). VERITAS PRESS heavily promotes the writings of Douglas Wilson and R.C. Sproul. One lady wrote to me recently and said, “My husband has a cousin who now believes in infant baptism because they are using a curriculum [Veritas] based on classical education including Latin and Reform theology/doctrine that leans on the ‘early church fathers.’” CHRISTIAN LIBERTY PRESS is a ministry of the Church of Christian Liberty in Arlington Heights, Illinois, which subscribes to the Presbyterian Westminster Confession of Faith. They believe in the five points of TULIP, including “the sovereign unconditional election of God, the particular redemption wrought by the death of Jesus Christ, and the irresistible grace of God.” Christian Liberty supports the Greenville Presbyterian Theological Seminary and the Middle East Reformed Fellowship. They also promote the writings of Reconstructionists/Dominionists Gary North and Gary DeMar. One reader wrote, “When we started homeschooling we used Christian Liberty Press. They have some good material, but they also come from a Reformed perspective.”

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FRIDAY CHURCH NEWS NOTES
April 10, 2009, Volume 10, Issue 15

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. For instructions on how to unsubscribe to this list or to change mailing addresses, please consult the information paragraph at the end.

PAUL MCCARTNEY SAYS TRANSCENDENTAL MEDITATION WILL TAKE OVER THE WORLD (Friday Church News Notes, April 10, 2009, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - Performing at a “Change Begins Within” concert in New York City on April 5, Paul McCartney exalted Transcendental Meditation (TM). He said, “It started for us when we met the Maharishi in India and it’s going to get bigger and bigger and rule the world” (“McCartney and Starr Reunite for Meditation,” Reuters, April 5, 2009). The two surviving Beatles headlined the concert, which aimed to promote TM among one million children. The sponsoring organization, the David Lynch Foundation, is dedicated “consciousness-based education and world peace.” Joining Ringo Starr and Paul McCartney were Sheryl Crow, Donovan, Eddie Vedder of Pearl Jam, and others. Though some deny it, TM is a Hindu practice and is based on the concept that the universe is God and man can tap into God through mysticism. The TM practitioner uses a mantra to put himself into an altered state of consciousness. One page of the David Lynch Foundation’s web site has a young girl saying, “It is quiet and comfortable and I feel connected to everything and everyone.” The practice was brought to America by the Hindu guru Maharishi Mahesh Yogi in the 1950s and popularized by the Beatles when they visited his lectures in Wales in 1967 and his ashram in India the next year. Beatle George Harrison joined the Hare Krishnas and died in the Hindu faith. His ashes were scattered on the Ganges River. Maharishi developed TM from the Hindu Vedas. He called TM “a path to God” and “the spontaneous flow of knowledge.” The Beatles have influenced an entire generation to commune with demons, and it is a shameful thing for Contemporary Christian musicians to exalt the Beatles as they do. “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour” (1 Peter 5:8).

THE IMPORTANCE OF BIBLE DOCTRINE

April 8, 2009 (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 is excerpted from the Advanced Bible Studies Series course “Give Attendance to Doctrine,” which is available from Way of Life Literature.
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The word “doctrine” simply means teaching. Bible doctrine, therefore, refers to the teaching of the Scriptures. Since the days of the apostles, Bible-believing people have had an emphasis upon sound doctrine, but today doctrine is often downplayed in favor of ecumenical unity. The following statement by popular singer Pat Boone, a charismatic, typifies the attitude that is common among ecumenists: “Doctrine divides, experience unites. We don’t all have our doctrine all completely correct, but God doesn’t judge us on our understanding of doctrine.” (August 17, 2001).

FRIDAY CHURCH NEWS NOTES
April 3, 2009, Volume 10, Issue 14

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. For instructions on how to unsubscribe to this list or to change mailing addresses, please consult the information paragraph at the end.

THE ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY’S UNBELIEF (Friday Church News Notes, April 3, 2009, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury, claims that God will not intervene to save the world. After describing possible doomsday scenarios caused by such things as global warming or bioterrorism, the head of the global Anglican Communion said that “to suggest that God might intervene to protect us from the corporate folly of our practices is as un-Christian and un-biblical as to suggest that he protects us from the results of our individual folly or sin” (“God Won’t Rescue World from Stupidity,” USA Today, March 27, 2009). The spiritually blind church leader added that there “will not be a safety net that guarantees us a happy ending in this world.” In fact, we do not know anything about the future for certain except what God has revealed in Scripture, and there we find that the world will not end by any man-made catastrophe. Rather, Jesus Christ will return in power and glory and establish the global kingdom of God, ruling over it with a rod of iron. “Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts, and saying, Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation” (2 Peter 3:3-4).