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.
CHARLES DARWIN’S FRIGHTFUL VISION OF THE FUTURE (Friday Church News Notes, October 30, 2009, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) – Charles Darwin believed that man evolved from the animal kingdom largely by the process of natural selection or survival of the fittest, and he predicted that this struggle would result in the annihilation of less evolved “races” of men. In his 1871 book The Descent of Man, Darwin wrote, “At some future period, not very distant as measured by centuries, the civilised races of man will almost certainly exterminate, and replace, the savage races throughout the world. At the same time the anthropomorphous apes, as Professor Schaaffhausen has remarked, will no doubt be exterminated. The break between man and his nearest allies will then be wider, for it will intervene between man in a more civilised state, as we may hope, even than the Caucasian, and some ape as low as a baboon, instead of as now between the neg ro or Australian and the gorilla” (chapter vi). Thus, Darwin believed that Negros and Australian aborigines are lower on the evolutionary scale than Caucasians, and these “savage races” will soon be exterminated to make the way for a an evolved man “even” superior to Caucasians. That is racism of the most wretched kind, and this “science,” which was the product of the anti-God skepticism in which Darwin was reared, led directly to Hitler’s murder camps. The word “eugenics” was coined by Darwin’s cousin Francis Galton. It refers to the attempt to improve the human “race” by such means as birth control, abortion, and euthanasia. In his book Hereditary Genius, Galton looked forward to a time “when the population of the earth shall be kept as strictly within the bounds of number and suitability of race, as the sheep on a well-ordered moor.” Charles Darwin’s daughter Henrietta and her husband Robert Litchfield were fervent eugenicists. Charles’ son Leonard was the president of the First International Congress of Eugenics. He bemoaned the fact that “the unfit” are no longer killed off by hunger and disease, but “are cherished with care, thus being able to reproduce their kind.” Another son, George Darwin, called for easy divorce and contraception to encourage the survival of the fittest, predating the sexual revolution of the 1960s. A grandson, Charles Galton Darwin, a major figure in the Manhattan Project, was president of the Eugenics Society from 1953-59. Margaret Sanger, the atheist founder of Planned Parenthood, was a fervent eugenicist. Hitler praised eugenics in Mein Kampf, but as Dr. Benjamin Wiker, in his book The Darwin Myth, rightly observes, “The fundamental problem with Darwinism is not that it leads to Nazism, but that it can lead to anything” (p. 147). Darwinism destroys the basis of any true moral code.
EMERGING CHURCH LEADER SAYS OSAMA BEN LADEN HAS “DIVINE SPARK” (Friday Church News Notes, October 30, 2009, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) – Shane Hipps, Rob Bell’s co-pastor at Mars Hill Bible Church in Grandville, Michigan, made the following statement on October 5, 2008, in the first of a series of sermons on the Gospel of John: “Jesus is the ultimate unifier of these various diverse ways of looking at the world. Having a distinct religious identity marked by some boundaries, knowing how you are different from other religions, isn’t a problem. John isn’t trying to get rid of that. He is trying to point beyond it. To lose your religious identity is like losing a sail at sea. The sail is like religion. The wind is the spirit. You need a sail to catch the wind, to harness the wind. But you gotta realize that the sail isn’t the wind. … Just because we claim Jesus as the center of our religion does not make us one and the same with the wind of God. It just means we have another sail. … This is what John is doing, and it is extremely innovative, and it’s very unsettling, that he’s inviting us beneath and beyond the things that make distinctions between us. … That’s why it says it [Logos, the Word] was the light and life of all people. It didn’t say it was the light and life of people who believe in Jesus. This Logos affects everybody, including Osama Ben Laden. As long as he’s got breath, in him is the spark of the divine” (http://trinitymennonite.com/audio/TMC-Sermon-2008-10-05.mp3). NOTE FROM BROTHER CLOUD: Hipps quotes some strange “translation” of John 1:9 or makes up his own, changing the wording from “That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world,” to “it was the light and life of all people.” In truth, Jesus gives light to every man through creation (Rom. 1:20) conscience (Rom. 2:14 -15), and Scripture (Mark 16:15), but this does not add up to the gross emergent heresies of there being “a divine spark” in every man or every religion being a “sail” for God’s Spirit. (For more about this see “What Is the Emerging Church?” which is available in a book, an e-book, and a DVD series at the Way of Life Literature web site.)
ST. LOUIS PAYS $80,000 FOR CENSORING CHRISTIANS (Friday Church News Notes, October 30, 2009, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) – The following is excerpted from WorldNetDaily, Oct. 23, 2009: “The city of St. Louis has agreed to pay $80,000 for censoring the speech of Christians during a ‘gay’ pride festival on city property, according to the Alliance Defense Fund. The law organization represented the plaintiffs in a case brought over the censorship, and it announced yesterday it had voluntarily sought dismissal of the lawsuit after the city’s offending policy had been struck down and the city agreed to pay damages and costs of the case. ‘Christian groups shouldn’t be banned from public areas for expressing their beliefs,’ said Rick Nelson of the American Liberties Institute, who served as lead counsel in the case and is allied with the ADF. ‘We are pleased that the city of St. Louis now recognizes the First Ame ndment rights of ministries who wish to share their viewpoint on important social and moral issues at events taking place at public locations,’ he said. The city policy had been used to prohibit members of a Christian ministry from distributing literature and speaking about their religious viewpoint at an annual ‘PrideFest’ celebrating homosexual behavior. … The ADF said the order protects the ministry’s distribution of literature at all public parks, public squares and other public locations in St. Louis, including public sidewalks.”
HOMOSEXUAL TOURISM (Friday Church News Notes, October 30, 2009, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) – There is a worldwide push to promote homosexual tourism. Even Nepal is gearing up toward this. A report in the Kathmandu Post states, “Almost three years after the Supreme Court established gay rights in Nepal, the country is awaiting to host ‘one of the most extravagant groups of tourists in the world’– the sexual minorities consisting of lesbians, gays,. bi-sexuals and transgenders (LGBTs)” (“Nepal Eyes Sexual Minorities for Tourism,” Oct. 22, 2009). The country is hosting a “historic international conference” in February to “explore opportunities for gay tourism in Nepal.” The United Nations pushes “gay rights” and tolerance toward moral perversion and wants to see international laws passed forbidding “discrimination.” The world, having traded the holy Creator God for a lie , is rushing pell-mell toward eternal destruction. Jesus likened the last days to the days of Lot when wicked Sodom and Gomorrah were given over to homosexuality (Luke 17:28-30), and the major cities of the world are looking more like Sodom with each passing decade.
CNN LAST PLACE AMONG U.S. CABLE NEWS NETWORKS (Friday Church News Notes, October 30, 2009, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) – According to newly-released prime time viewing ratings (between 7 and 11 p.m.), CNN came in dead last among cable news networks. CNN averaged 202,000 viewers between the ages of 25 and 54, while Fox News averaged 689,000, MSNBC averaged 250,000, and HLN (formerly Headline News) averaged 221,000. In spite of CNN’s lack of popularity in U.S. homes, it is typically the network playing 24 hours a day on airport consoles and available in hotels in other parts of the world, whereas America’s favorite cable news network, Fox, is rarely seen in these venues. The reason is not difficult to fathom. Fox News is more conservative, somewhat less a voice for big government, and more patriotic than CNN (which is not saying much). That said, Fox News is no friend of the truth, and its objective is more to entertain and make money than it is to provide substantive news.
ROME OPENS DOOR TO “DISAFFECTED ANGLICANS” (Friday Church News Notes, October 30, 2009, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) – The Vatican has announced a new program that makes it easier for Anglicans to convert to the Roman Catholic Church. The objective is to entice “traditionalists opposed to women priests, openly gay clergy and the blessing of same-sex unions” (“Vatican Seeks to Lure Disaffected,” Denver Post, Oct. 20, 2009). The program allows Anglicans to join the Catholic Church while keeping some of their practices, including a married priesthood. They can also convert in groups rather than on an individual basis. Rowan Williams, Archbishop of Canterbury, was informed of the program only hours before its announcement. (So much for ecumenical respect and good will!) Catholic Cardinal William Levada said that 30 to 40 Anglican bishops who are in touch with the Vatican are considering bringing their parishes into the Ro man fold. John Hind, bishop of Chichester, said that he would be “happy” to become a Catholic priest (Daily Mail, Oct. 26, 2009). John Broadhurst, bishop of Fulham, said “the Anglican experiment is over,” and Martyn Jarrett, bishop of Beverley warned that the Church of England’s very survival is in question.
AN ATTEMPTED ISLAMIC HONOR KILLING IN AMERICA (Friday Church News Notes, October 30, 2009, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) – According to police in Peoria, Arizona, Faleh Hassan Almaleki allegedly ran over his daughter on October 20 because she was becoming too “westernized” (“Police: Strict Iraqi Father Ran Daughter Down,” myfoxphoenix.com, Oct. 22, 2009). The twenty-year-old woman, Noor, was hospitalized with life-threatening injuries. This appears to be an attempted “honor killing,” which the Human Rights Watch defines as “acts of violence, usually murder, committed by male family members against female family members, who are held to have brought dishonor upon the family.” These are very common in the Middle East and Turkey. According to the United Nations, 5,000 females are murdered every year (“Murder in the Family,” Fox News, July 26, 2008). The perpetrators usually get off scot free or with a light sentence. Islamic apologists pretend that honor killings are “cultural” rather than a product of Islam, but Jihad Watch reports that in 2003 the Jordanian Parliament voted down ON ISLAMIC GROUNDS a provision designed to stiffen penalties for honor killings, and Al-Jazeera reported that “Islamists and conservatives said the laws violated religious traditions and would destroy families and values” (“Muslim Ran Down Daughter,” Jihad Watch, Oct. 22, 2009). Honor killings are on the rise in the United States. The first documented case was in November 1989, when Zein Isa, a Palestinian terrorist living in St. Louis, murdered his 16-year-old daughter, Tina, for having a boyfriend, going to a school dance, and applying to work at Wendy’s restaurant. Her mother held her down while her father plunged a 9-inch knife into her chest 13 times, the mother shouting “Shut up!” in response to the girl’s pleas for help (Ellen H arris, Guarding the Secrets: Palestinian Terrorism and a Father’s Murder of His Too-American Daughter, 1995). In April 2004, Ismail Peltek of Rochester, Minnesota, murdered his wife and fractured the skulls of his daughters because he was “concerned that my family’s honor was taken” (Rochester Democrat & Chronicle, April 24, 2004). In January 2008, when teenage sisters Amina and Sarah Said were shot to death in Irving, Texas, by their father, Yaser Abdel Said, their great aunt Gail Gartrell told reporters, “This was an honor killing” (“Honor Killing in Texas,” Human Events, Jan. 8, 2008). In July 2008, Chaudhry Rashid strangled his daughter to death in Jonesboro, Georgia, “to restore the family’s honor” after she wanted to end her arranged marriage. That same month, in upper state New York, 22-year-old Waheed Mohammad attempted to murder his sister for wearing western clothing. He explained the stabbing by s aying that she was “a bad Muslim girl” (“An American Honor Killing,” New York Post, July 23, 2008). In February 2009, Muzzammil Hassan beheaded his wife, Aasiya, in upstate New York after she filed for divorce. Phyllis Chesler, author of “Are Honor Killings Simply Domestic Violence,” said, “The fierce and gruesome nature of this murder signals it’s an honor killing” (“Beheading Appears to Be Honor Killing, Experts Say,” Fox News, Feb. 17, 2009). Recently a judge in Florida ordered 17-year-old Fathima Rifga Bary to be returned to Ohio in spite of her statement that her father has threatened to kill her because she converted to Christianity.
UNITED KINGDOM: RELIGIOUS LIBERTY FADING FAST (Friday Church News Notes, October 30, 2009, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) – The following is excerpted from AssistNews.net, Oct. 21, 2009: “All Nations Church in Kennington, South London, was recently ordered not to use its sound system for its sermons or music so as to avoid offending its (Muslim) neighbours. A Christian office worker from South London, Denise Haye (25), was recently sacked for expressing her disapproval of homosexuality. A Christian nurse from Exeter, Shirley Chaplin (54), was recently threatened with disciplinary action after she refused to remove the cross from her necklace that she had worn without a complaint throughout 30 years of nursing. A Deputy Registrar with Islington Borough Council, Theresa Davies (59), was demoted because she refused to preside over same-sex civil partnership ceremonies. A Christian nurse with 40 years’ experience, Anand Rao (71), was sacked after he sug gested to a training seminar that distressed palliative care patients could try going to church. A Christian community nurse and professional foster mother (with 80 children’s-worth of experience) was recently struck off the register for failing to prevent a 16-year-old Muslim girl converting to Christianity. A Christian homelessness prevention officer with 18 years’ experience, Duke Amachree (53), was sacked by Wandsworth Council for sharing his faith with a client who had lost hope. Revd Noble Samuel of Heston United Reformed Church, West London, who debates Muslims on his TV Gospel program, was hijacked in his car by three Urdu-speaking assailants who grabbed him by the hair, ripped off his cross and threatened to break his legs if he continued broadcasting. These cases (all in 2009) are just the tip of the iceberg. If the Equality Bill that is now making its way through parliament passes (as expected), then persecution will increase dramatically. While Christians are being silen ced, Islamisation is advancing, with Islamic fundamentalists appeased at every turn by short-sighted politicians who lack political courage and hanker after political gain.”
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.
