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.

ASSEMBLIES OF GOD COMPROMISES ITS POSITION ON CREATION (Friday Church News Notes, October 29, 2010, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The Assemblies of God (AG) has watered down its statement on “The Doctrine of Creation” in a newly adopted position paper. The 2010 statement claims that “the creation accounts do not give precise details as to how God went about His creative activity” nor “do these accounts provide us with complete chronologies that enable us to date with precision the time of the various stages of creation.” The statement goes on to say that “equally devout Christian believers have formed very different opinions about the age of the earth, the age of humankind, and the ways in which God went about the creative processes.” This is a complete capitulation to the heresy of “theistic evolution.” The Bible most definitely does give precise details as to how God went about His creative activity. Further, the Bible gives precise chronologies in the genealogies that allow us to date the creation within a thousand years or so. There is no possibility of evolution’s millions and billions of years anywhere within the biblical framework of creation. A man who does not believe the Bible might be ignorantly sincere, but he is not “devout.” Ken Ham published a blog exposing the AG’s misuse of terminology in its attempt to “explain” its new position. See “Assemblies of God Denomination Responds,” Sept. 15, 2010, blogs.answersingenesis.org/blogs/ken-ham/.

“And great multitudes came unto him, having with them those that were lame, blind, dumb, maimed, and many others, and cast them down at Jesus’ feet; and he healed them: Insomuch that the multitude wondered, when they saw the dumb to speak, the maimed to be whole, the lame to walk, and the blind to see; and they glorified the God of Israel.” Matthew 15:30-31

“And by the hands of the apostles were many signs and wonders wrought among the people; (and they were all with one accord in Solomon’s porch. ... Insomuch that they brought forth the sick into the streets, and laid them on beds and couches, that at the least the shadow of Peter passing by might overshadow some of them. There came also a multitude out of the cities round about unto Jerusalem, bringing sick folks, and them which were vexed with unclean spirits: and they were healed every one.” Acts 5:12,15-16

One teaching which seems to attract many to the Charismatic movement is the idea that physical healing is promised in Christ’s atonement. It is commonly taught by Pentecostal-Charismatic preachers that if a person is saved and right with God he never has to be sick. Healing is guaranteed, so to speak, for those who exercise faith. This doctrine has been closely connected with the Pentecostal movement throughout the twentieth century. The Dictionary of Pentecostal and Charismatic Movements notes: “The formative years of development for the classical Pentecostal churches were from 1907 to 1932. As the movement aggressively grew and spread, so the doctrine and practice of divine healing was extended since it was one of the movement’s cardinal doctrines” (emphasis added) (p. 370).

Enlarged October 27, 2010 (first published February 10, 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)-

Many people have spoiled their Christian lives because of bad decisions made apart from God’s will (e.g., wrong job, wrong friends, wrong marriage partner, mistakes in the pursuit of education, mistakes made in moving to another place). And it is not only young people who make unwise decisions; many older and even elderly people have committed this grave mistake.

Following are some foundational Bible principles for making wise decisions in God’s will:

1. Don’t trust your own understanding; trust in the Lord.

See Proverbs 3:5; 28:26; Jeremiah 17:9.

The individual that trusts his own understanding will make wrong decisions, because of the fallen nature. We must seek God and trust Him explicitly. Even though the believer has a new nature called the “new man,” the “old man” is still there and can still lead us astray.

We acknowledge God in all our ways through prayer. Instead of trusting in our own understanding, we beseech the Lord for wisdom and guidance in every major decision. He has promised to lead His people, but we must seek His guidance and not presume upon it. We must “acknowledge him” in all of our ways. It is tempting to think, “Well, the Lord already knows that I need His wisdom and help; surely He will automatically give it.” In fact, God has taught us in His Word to pray specifically and earnestly about all matters. To fail to do so is a recipe for making unwise decisions.

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.

“CHRISTIANS ARE JERKS” CAMPAIGN (Friday Church News Notes, October 22, 2010, www.wayoflife.org, fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - Christ Covenant Church of Beaumont, Texas, is kicking off a “What a Bunch of Jerks!” campaign to tell the community that Christians are typically jerks, whereas they are a different breed. The slogan is the title of an October sermon series and is broadcast through a large billboard. The church’s web site says that Christians are “guilty as charged” of being “prideful, hypocritical, selfish, judgmental jerks” who “fail to act like Jesus.” What they are referring to, of course, is an old-fashioned Biblicist church that loves the truth and hates sin and error (as well as loving sinners and proclaiming the free grace of Christ in the gospel) and is more concerned about saving souls than saving whales. According to the emerging church, to preach against sin and heresy is to be prideful, hypocritical, selfish, judgmental, and unchristlike, but the fact is that Christ and the apostles preached against sin and error in the strongest manner (e.g., Matthew 23:13-36; Acts 13:9-11; 17:29-31; Colossians 2:4-8; 2 Thessalonians 2:3-12; 1 Timothy 4:1-5; 2 Timothy 3:1-17; 4:1-4; Titus 2:11-14; 2 Peter 2:1-22; 3:3-10; James 4:4; 1 John 2:15-23; 2 John 4-11; Jude 3-23). The emerging church is clamoring to please the world, to have the world applaud their kind of Christianity. And they are getting some attention. The “Christians Are Jerks” billboard recently came under scrutiny by CNN in an interview with emerging voice Gabe Lyons, author of The New Christians. They gave Gabe a forum to spout his pathetic “I’m too cool to be a jerk” program. Gabe is a graduate of Liberty University, and though Liberty has largely renounced its early fundamentalist roots, it is still far too fundamentalist for Gabe. The more serious problem is that Gabe and his crowd are lying about fundamentalists and conservative evangelicals, pretending that all they have cared about is criticizing and judging. This is a strawman. Gabe told CNN, for example, that Falwell and the Moral Majority only cared about criticizing abortion, whereas the emergents are concerned about adoptions and a positive approach. The truth is that Falwell’s crowd spent a great deal of time and money toward finding homes for children that have been spared the abortionist’s knife and other “positive” approaches to the abortion problem. As for their attempt to gain the applause of the world, the emergents are in for a rude awakening. At the end of the day, the world doesn’t care about any sort of Christianity. In fact, I suspect that the world is more likely to respect a rock-ribbed Biblicist Christianity that flies its flag unashamedly than it does the soft, apologetic, jellyfish type. Be that as it may, God has not told us to please the world or to conform to the world or to love the world. The apostle John said, “And we know that we are of God, and the whole world lieth in wickedness” (1 John 5:19). The emergents claim to be thinking outside of the box, but in reality they are following the herd. They love the same music, wear the same clothing, fly the same hair styles, hold the same philosophy, have the same idolatrous love for modern pop culture and the same mocking hatred of “fundamentalism.” They attract the same youthful cool crowd. And they have the same campaigns. The “What a Bunch of Jerks” campaign is simply the latest in the “We Hate Church” series which have been so popular with emerging churches for the last couple of years. Emerging churches claim to be new, but it is the old social gospel warmed over for the 21st century. Emerging churches claim that they are “different,” but they aren’t. They are a dime a dozen today. They are mainstream. Today, it is the old-fashioned Biblicist church that is really different, the church that doesn’t need a rock & roll band to worship God, where they love the truth and hate evil, and where all the members use the same Bible. Now, that’s a church with a difference!

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Excerpts from The Innocents Abroad by Mark Twain (1867):

Of all the lands there are for dismal scenery, I think Palestine must be the prince. The hills are barren, they are dull of color, they are unpicturesque in shape. The valleys are unsightly deserts fringed with a feeble vegetation that has an expression about it of being sorrowful and despondent. ... It is a hopeless, dreary, heart-broken land.

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.

WHY CHRISTIAN ROCK SALVATION STATISTICS ARE SUSPECT (Friday Church News Notes, October 15, 2010, www.wayoflife.org, fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The 12th annual Rock of Ages Festival, held October 2 in Napa, California, reported 250 conversions (“Rock of Ages Festival,” AssistNews.net, Oct. 6, 2010). The festival is a boisterous rock concert interspersed with some preaching. While we thank the Lord for every individual that might have been born again in such a forum, we have good reason to doubt the statistics. In the book Contemporary Christian Music: Questions Answered and Warnings Given we document four of these. Following is a brief summary: FIRST, THE DECISIONS ARE SUSPECT BECAUSE OF THE MESSAGE. The gospel is rarely clear and sound in the context of an ecumenical-charismatic CCM concert. There are exceptions, of course, but even some men from within the CCM movement have admitted that this is generally true. Graham Kendrick said, “One of my criticisms of those of us who use music in evangelism is the nature and content of the ‘gospel’ which is preached. all too often, a superficial kind of believism is offered, along with promises of large helpings of love, joy and peace” (Pop Goes the Gospel, p. 142). Garth Hewitt says, “An analysis of the lyrics of most gospel songs indicates a very superficial view of salvation and of Christianity” (Ibid.).

The following is excerpted from “What is the Emerging Church.” 485 Pages. $19.95

Robert Webber (1933-2007) was a professor at Wheaton College for about 30 years and taught at Northern Seminary in Chicago the last seven years of his life.

He is one of the fathers of the contemplative movement and a very influential voice in the emerging church. In his book Common Roots (1978) he argued that the early church era of A.D. 100-500 has “insights which evangelicals need to recover.” Those “insights” include monastic “contemplative spirituality.”

Webber continued this line of thinking in Evangelicals on the Canterbury Trail: Why Evangelicals Are Attracted to the Liturgical Church (1985), Ancient-Future Faith: Rethinking Evangelicalism for a Postmodern World (1999), Younger Evangelicals: Facing the Challenges of the New World (2002), and The Divine Embrace: Recovering the Passionate Spiritual Life (2006).

Webber promoted a very broad ecumenism:

“Paradigm thinking sets us free to affirm the whole church in all its previous manifestations. ...This search for a common heritage allows for the emergence of a new understanding of unity and diversity. ... So while we are all Christians, some of us are Roman Catholic Christians, Eastern Orthodox Christians, Reformation Christians, twentieth-century Christians, or some other form of modern or postmodern Christians” (Ancient-Future Faith, pp. 16, 17).

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.

EARLY 12-STEP MANUSCRIPT REVEALS THE PROGRAM’S UNSCRIPTURAL NATURE (Friday Church News Notes, October 8, 2010, www.wayoflife.org, fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The 12-Step addiction recovery phenomenon, which began with Alcoholics Anonymous, has gone far to psychologize North America and wean it away from solid Biblical principles. Twenty-seven million copies of the AA manual have been published in more than 50 languages, and the psychobabble approach has been applied to everything from gamblers to “shopaholics.” It has been celebrated in countless movies and television programs. The first AA book appeared in 1939, and a working manuscript that was used to produce that first volume is being published this week in a format entitled “The Book that Started It All.” The manuscript reveals how that the founders of AA determined to avoid overtly “religious” terminology and any “preaching” that might offend the non-religious. Through AA’s influence, the biblical term “drunkenness” was traded for “alcoholism.” Sin became a disease. Sinners became victims. The power of spiritual regeneration through repentance and faith in Jesus Christ was traded for the power of self-will and (for those who need more) a non-defined “higher power.” The following marginal note from the working manuscript is telling: “We have said constantly the trouble with organized religion is that they try to dogmatically pour people into moulds. So why should we give specific instructions in the book such as saying do this and do that?” (“12-Step Manuscript Rare Glimpse into Early AA,” AP, Sept. 28, 2010). To reject religious dogmatism and specific instructions is to reject the Bible and the God revealed in the Bible, which is what Western society has been in the process of doing for a long time. Susan Cheever, who wrote a biography of AA co-founder Bill Wilson, says it was his “spiritual inclusiveness” that “struck the right tone in a chapter for atheists and agnostics.” The founders decided not to use words like “saved” and “instruct.” Most references to God were replaced with “faith” before the volume was first printed.

FOURTH SESSION: DECREE CONCERNING THE CANONICAL SCRIPTURES: “If anyone does not accept as sacred and canonical the aforesaid books in their entirety and with all their parts [the 66 books of the Bible plus 12 apocryphal books, being two of Paralipomenon, two of Esdras, Tobias, Judith, Wisdom, Ecclesiasticus, Baruch, Sophonias, two of Macabees], as they have been accustomed to be read in the Catholic Church and as they are contained in the old Latin Vulgate Edition, and knowingly and deliberately rejects the aforesaid traditions, LET HIM BE ANATHEMA.”

October 5, 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) -

“Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD: And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might. And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart: And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up. And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes. And thou shalt write them upon the posts of thy house, and on thy gate” (Deuteronomy 6:4-9).

The daily family altar is very important. It is a time when the family can meet regularly to worship God and study His Word. It is a time to read the Bible and discuss it. It is a time to memorize Scripture. And it is a time to pray together.

Pastor Gene Haymaker says,

“The day of family altars is disappearing as quickly as our youth. Families have relegated the teaching of biblical truth to their church and to their Christian schools. It is my belief that the number of homes having a family altar, where the entire family is involved, would directly correspond to the percentage of young people leaving the church. The primary agency for teaching children biblical truth is the home.”

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.

BILLY VS. PAUL (Friday Church News Notes, October 1, 2010, www.wayoflife.org, fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, which was founded in 1950, is celebrating its 60th anniversary this year. A year earlier, Graham conducted his first citywide crusade in Los Angeles. His web site announces, “Sixty-one years ago, a tall, earnest evangelist known as Billy Graham descended on Los Angeles with a fury. The city, the young man, and the course of American Christianity would never be the same” (“Celebrating Christ’s Work in the Canvas Cathedral,” BillyGraham.org, Sept. 24, 2010). This statement is true. Billy Graham’s unscriptural philosophy and deep compromise has dramatically changed Christianity in our time. I was born the same year that Graham conducted his Los Angeles crusade. Growing up in a Southern Baptist home, I heard nothing but praise for the evangelist. It was not until I was saved at age 23 that I formed a different opinion of Billy Graham. As a young Christian I learned that Jesus and the apostles warned that false teachers and compromise would increase among the churches throughout the church age and would explode at the end of the age. I learned, therefore, that I had to be very careful and test everything by the Scriptures. When Graham’s ministry is tested by God’s Word rather than by the principles of popular evangelism, it fails miserably. Let’s briefly compare Billy Graham with the apostle Paul, the premier evangelist of the first century.

First, Paul didn’t promote himself. He didn’t form a ministry named for himself and didn’t exalt himself (and allow others to exalt him) as something great.

Second, Paul didn’t praise heretics. Rather, he condemned and even cursed them (e.g., Galatians 1:6-7). Graham, on the other hand, has praised countless heretics, including theological modernists and Roman Catholic prelates. This was not done in a corner. Countless examples can be found in Graham’s autobiography “Just As I Am.”

Third, Paul didn’t join hands with heretics in ministry. Nowhere is there an example of Paul joining together with the Pharisees or Saducees or Judaizers in some evangelistic enterprise. But Billy has made this his working practice, and this damnable ecumenical philosophy has spread throughout evangelicalism.

Fourth, Paul didn’t turn converts over to heretics. He carefully nurtured them in sound churches. Billy, on the other hand, has turned countless seekers over to the hands of wolves in sheep’s clothing. As early as Sept. 21, 1957, Graham said in an interview with the San Francisco News, “Anyone who makes a decision at our meetings is seen later and referred to a local clergyman, Protestant, Catholic, or Jewish.”