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.

POPE’S SWISS GUARD COMMEMORATES 505 YEARS OF HISTORY (Friday Church News Notes, January 28, 2011, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - On January 22, the Vatican’s Swiss Guard commemorated 505 years of service to the pope, thus becoming the oldest standing army in the world (EWTN News, Jan. 23, 2011). In 1506, the first 150 Swiss soldiers entered the Vatican by request of Pope Julius II to form the Pontifical Swiss Guard. Julius, who bribed his way to the papacy, was called the “Fearsome Pope” for instigating wars against Venice and France and leading troops in battle. He ordered the Dominicans in Germany to sell indulgences to pay for his military adventures and the building of St. Peter’s Basilica. The term “pope” means father, and Julius lived up to his name by fathering three illegitimate daughters. Currently there are 110 guards who are charged with ensuring the pope’s personal safety. Peter, the alleged first pope, didn’t have an army, a palace, a throne, a crown, a chapel painted by Michelangelo, or a bank, but he did have a wife.

Charles Darwin did not offer any scientifically-proven evidence for his theory. The book On the Origin of Species did not prove that species arise from the process of natural selection. It only proved that species adapt through various processes. A century and a half has passed since Darwin published his thesis, and the scientific proof remains elusive. In fact, remove the evolutionary assumptions, and the “evidence” disappears.

Consider the following testimonies from Ph.D. scientists, most of whom once believed in evolution:

“Despite all the millions of pages of evolutionist publications--from journal articles to textbooks to popular magazine stories--which assume and imply that material processes are entirely adequate to accomplish macroevolutionary miracles, there is in reality no rational basis for such belief” (John Baumgardner, Ph.D. in geophysics and space physics from UCLA, In Six Days, p. 230).

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.

RICK WARREN LAUNCHES NEW AGE HEALTH CARE PROGRAM (Friday Church News Notes, January 21, 2011, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - Rick Warren has announced a church-wide, year-long health care program that was created by men whose thinking is permeated with New Age principles. Called the “Daniel Plan,” the program was written by Mehmet Oz, Daniel Amen, and Mark Hyman. Oz is a follower of Emanuel Swedenborg, who entertained spirit guides and was deeply involved with Eastern mysticism (“Special Report,” Lighthouse Trails, Jan. 11, 2011). Amen, a professor of psychiatry and founder of Amen Clinics, teaches Eastern meditation and deals in pop psychology and self-help. Both Oz and Amen promote Reiki, which is an occultic practice that allegedly channels “universal healing energy.” Amen told Warren that he intends to help Saddleback church members to have good “brain health.” What is this? Amen has written several books on this subject. The Brain in Love promotes Hindu Tantra, which is the pagan concept of combining yogic medication with sex. Making a Good Brain Great promotes Hindu-style meditation through the vain repetition of the alleged primal sounds saa, taa, naa, maa, aa. We wonder if Amen will be teaching Hindu tantric yoga at Saddleback. This would go right along with the current emphasis on good sex programs in emerging churches (and some fundamental Baptist ones, as well). Even if these actual demonic practices are not part of the Saddleback health program, Rick Warren has brought his people into potential contact with such things by his unhesitating recommendation of these men. Mark Hyman also promotes meditation based on Buddhist principles. He clams that “diseases don’t exist; their symptoms are related to effects” (“Rick Warren’s Celebrity Health Plan Draws Thousands,” The Orange County Register, Jan. 16, 2011). To say that disease doesn’t exist apart from human causes is New Age nonsense. While it is true that diet and exercise can affect one’s health, all diseases are not the result of lifestyle. We are fallen sinners who live in a sin-cursed world, and disease and death are realities that affect every individual regardless of what type of “healthy lifestyle” he pursues. In our book The New Age Tower of Babel, we warn that the alternative health care field is permeated with New Age. A friend observed that health food stores are New Age chapels. Beware, friends. Though we know that health is important, the Bible itself doesn’t have much to say about it. What the Bible does have a lot to say about is spiritual health in general and not associating with paganism in particular! “Ye cannot drink the cup of the Lord, and the cup of devils: ye cannot be partakers of the Lord's table, and of the table of devils” (1 Corinthians 10:21).

We recently received the following feedback after publishing a warning (“An Imaginative Christmas,” Friday News, Dec. 24, 2010) about how that Jack Schaap, pastor of First Baptist Church of Hammond, Indiana, twists and adds to the Word of God:

“Why are you such haters on jack schaap? why not stop focusing stupid details. get out and lead someone to the lord. ... Do something better like soulwinning or preaching from the Bible and not having a book review for a church service. Does this guy have nothing better to do than trash on Schaap? This guy needs to get a life. Stop focusing on what other people are doing, and focus on winning those lost souls to Christ!”

______________________

Reply from Brother Cloud:

We don’t hate Jack Schaap, but we are disgusted with his pomposity and we’re not going to ignore his heresies.

The man who wrote this e-mail is spouting standard Hyles theology (Hyles is dead but his influence continues): ignore sin and error in the pew and pulpit and just do “soul-winning.” This supposedly covers a multitude of sins.

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.

POPE SAYS GOD BEHIND THE BIG BANG (Friday Church News Notes, January 14, 2011, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The Roman Catholic Church, which once put Erasmus Darwin’s evolutionary book Zoonomia on its index of forbidden books, has long since capitulated to a similar doctrine. Pope Benedict XVI recently said that while evolution is true, God is is its author. He said that the scientific theories on the origin of the universe are not in conflict with “faith” but they cannot explain “the beauty of the world, in its mystery, in its greatness and in its rationality” (“God was behind Big Bang,” Reuters, Jan. 6, 2011). The pope “sees no reason why God would not have used a natural evolutionary process in the forming of the human species.” This is because the pope doesn’t believe the Bible. Not only is Genesis 1-11 plainly written as history rather than poetry or allegory, but Jesus and the apostles authenticated it as history. In Luke 17:26-32, for example, Jesus mentions Noah, the Ark, the Flood, Lot, the destruction of Sodom by fire, and Lot’s wife. Elsewhere Jesus mentions the Creation (Mk. 13:19), Adam and Eve (Mat. 19:4-6; Mk. 10:6-7), Cain and Abel (Mat. 23:35; Lk. 11:50-51), and Abraham (John 8:39-40). Christ always treats Genesis as history, and it is impossible to honor Him as Lord and Saviour and disregard His teaching. In Matthew 19:4-5, Christ mentions both “accounts” of creation in Genesis 1 and 2 and treats them as history. Charles Darwin’s grandfather, Erasmus, preached evolution in his two-volume Zoonomia; or, the Laws of Organic Life (1794-96). He believed that an intelligence created the first “living filament,” from which all life evolved.

Yancey also promotes the non-judgmental attitude toward homosexuality. In a 2004 interview with Candace Chellew-Hodge for Whosoever, a homosexual publication, Yancey said,

“When it gets to particular matters of policy, like ordaining gay and lesbian ministers, I’m confused, like a lot of people (“Amazed by Grace,” Whosoever online magazine).

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.

RICK WARREN FEATURES ROMAN CATHOLIC MARY DEVOTEE AT HIS “APOLOGETICS” CONFERENCE (Friday Church News Notes, January 7, 2011, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - Southern Baptist pastor Rick Warren’s 2010 Apologetics Weekend featured Roman Catholic Peter Kreeft. He is an apologist, for sure: an apologist for Rome. In his book Ecumenical Jihad: Ecumenism and the Culture War, Kreeft says it is “very likely” that there is a “hidden Christ” in pagan religions, so that Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, etc., will be saved “through Christ and His grace” even though they do not consciously know or worship Him (pp. 156, 157). Kreeft urges his readers to dedicate themselves “to the Immaculate Heart of Mary,” because Mary “is the one who will win this [culture] war” and is the one “who triumphs over Satan” (p. 169). Kreeft says, “Allah is not another God ... we worship the same God” (p. 160). Kreeft worships the wafer of the Catholic Mass “because it is Christ” (p. 162). He thinks that God prefers to work through the intercession of Mary and the saints (p. 154). Kreeft says that he will follow the pope “everywhere he leads” (“Hauled Aboard the Ark by Peter,” http://www.peterkreeft.com/topics/hauled-aboard.htm). Kreeft is a heavy promoter of Catholic contemplation, which is sweeping through evangelicalism. He attributes his conversion to Rome partly to the writings of the mystic John of the Cross.

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