News from a Fundamentalist Christian Viewpoint

FRIDAY CHURCH NEWS NOTES
November 27, 2009, Volume 10, Issue 48

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.

NEW PRESIDENT OF EUROPE SAYS CLIMATE CHANGE CONFERENCE A STEP TOWARD GLOBAL GOVERNANCE (Friday Church News Notes, November 27, 2009, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) – Speaking at a press conference following his election as the first president of the European Union, Herman Van Rompuy called 2009 “the first year of global governance.” He said this was true for two reasons, first, because of the establishment of the G20 due to the financial crisis, second, because of the climate conference in Copenhagen. He called the latter “another step toward global management of our planet” (“EU Presidency,” BBC News, Nov. 21, 2009). Rompuy is currently the Prime Minister of Belgium, but he will step down to assume the new position on January 1. The mythical “man-made global warming” crisis is one of the largest international power grabs in recent history, and it is another step toward the one-world government prophesied in Scripture. At the same time, the Bible says that the Holy Spirit is restraining the “mystery of iniquity” until God’s plan for the church age is complete. The Devil is not in control. “For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way. And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming” (2 Thessalonians 2:7-8).

TEMPLE INSTITUTE LOOKING FOR THE MESSIAH (Friday Church News Notes, November 27, 2009, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) – The Temple Institute in Jerusalem has spent $27 million preparing for the coming of the Messiah. They have manufactured utensils including silver trumpets, golden candlesticks, harps, and garments for the High Priest woven from golden thread. When asked when the Messiah will come, Temple Institute director Yehuda Glick replies, “All that we know is that we are now living in the age of miracles and all of those miracles are predicted in the Book as happening on the eve of the end of days. It could well be tomorrow, but it might be another 100 years, or even 400 years” (“Jews Raise Millions to Be Ready for Coming of the Messiah,” Sydney Morning Herald, Nov. 14, 2009). The Institute has engaged two architects to design the Third Temple, “a modern building, with car parks and elevators, but which will look like the Second Temple.” Many “evangelicals” have contributed to the Temple Institute, but it is a donation to the cause of the Antichrist more than to the cause of Christ. It is the Antichrist that will use the temple built by Christ-rejecting Jews. The modern state of Israel is a fulfillment of the first half of the prophecy of the dry bones in Ezekiel 37. They have returned to the land, but there is “no breath in them” (Ezek. 37:8). They are still in rebellion to God’s Law. During the Great Tribulation, the Jews will be deceived by the Antichrist’s promise of peace and will make a covenant with him. The temple will be rebuilt, but it will become the Antichrist’s sanctuary when he presents himself as God (Dan. 9:27; Mat. 24:15; 2 Thess. 2:3-4).

TELEVISION CONTINUES ITS DESCENT INTO THE MORAL SEWER (Friday Church News Notes, November 27, 2009, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) – Since its inception, commercial cinema and television has pushed the moral envelope, and there is no end in sight. Man’s heart is “deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked” and “the eyes of man are never satisfied” (Jer. 17:9; Prov. 27:20). The New York Times recently reported that profanity has increased 100 fold in prime time television in just four years. “Ever since George Carlin laid out the ‘Seven Words You Can Never Say on Television’ in 1972, television writers and broadcasters have been digging more deeply into the thesaurus, seizing on new ways to titillate, if not offend. … As a result, words that previously were rarely heard on television suddenly turn up everywhere, while once unspeakable slurs become passé from overuse. … It is not simply that the language is becoming more raw on broadcast networks but that the language, violence and sex that formerly was restricted to the 10 p.m. hour has migrated to earlier time slots” (“More Than Ever, You Can Say That on Television,” New York Times, Nov. 13, 2009). You would think that this testimony alone would be sufficient to warn Christian parents to toss the television, but too many are like the frog that stayed in the slowly-heating pot until it was too late to jump.

JESUS SEMINAR LOOKING FOR THE NEW AGE (Friday Church News Notes, November 27, 2009, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) – The following is excerpted from the Australian Independent Baptist Newsletter, <bennettdubbo@aapt.net.au>: “Most readers of this newsletter already are aware that the Jesus Seminar is apostate but it is sometimes informative to see what they are doing to further promote apostasy. The latest book by Lloyd Geering is one of those which encourages the furtherance of this departure from ‘the faith which was once delivered unto the saints’ (Jude 1:3). The endorsement of Geering’s book on the Jesus Seminar website says, ‘The mainline churches in the Western world are declining … because they are all out of step with the modern secular world. … the churches reveal a lack of faith by insisting on an infallible Bible and a set of unchangeable doctrines tailored to an obsolete worldview” (jesusseminar.org, November 6, 2009). In Coming Back to Earth, Geering ‘calls upon us to complete the work of the Second Axial Age.’ This refers to a New Age that will allegedly achieve ‘a global consciousness.’ The Second Axial [Pivotal] Age ‘is about understanding ourselves as part of an interrelated whole, with a global network … and a growing awareness that God is present in us, in others, the earth, and in life itself. This second Axial Age is a bringing together of the east and the west’ (http://www.christ-community.net/sermons/sermon03_04_07.htm). Brethren, apostasy and unbelief is widespread and it seems the world is rushing recklessly toward its demise, so ‘… abide in him; that, when he shall appear, we may have confidence, and not be ashamed before him at his coming’ (1 John 2:28).”

WAS THE NEW TESTAMENT WRITTEN IN ARAMAIC? (Friday Church News Notes, November 27, 2009, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) – Recently I received the following question: “One of my friends claims that the New Testament was originally written in Aramaic and not Greek. He also says that most Jews at that time spoke Aramaic and none of them spoke Greek.” REPLY FROM BROTHER CLOUD: There is a lot of noise on the Internet about this “Aramaic supremacy,” but I consider this indefensible. It is true that Aramaic was spoken by Jews in Israel in Christ’s day, and Christ Himself spoke Aramaic and is quoted as such in some places (e.g., “Talitha cumi” in Mark 5:41 and “Ephphatha” in Mark 7:34). But the New Testament was written in Greek, because that was the international and commercial language of the Roman Empire. There are extant Greek manuscripts of portions of the N.T. dating to the first century, whereas the oldest extant Aramaic manuscripts are nowhere near that ancient (though we do know that the Aramaic Peshitta is an ancient translation). Jesus doubtless spoke Aramaic, Greek, and Hebrew. He read the Jewish Torah in the synagogue, which was written in Hebrew, and He spoke of jots and tittles (Mat. 5:18), which pertain to Hebrew. As for the claim that Jews did not speak Greek, that is not true. There were at least portions of the Old Testament in Greek before Christ was born. Greek and Latin were the official international languages of the Roman Empire of Christ’s day. Greek had become the trade and commerce language of the eastern Mediterranean region through the conquests of Alexander the Greek three centuries before Christ. The title on the cross was written in Greek, Latin, and Hebrew (Lk. 23:38). Paul, who wrote a large portion of the New Testament, certainly spoke Greek (Acts 21:37).

CELLULAR PIT BULLS (Friday Church News Notes, November 27, 2009, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) – The following is excerpted from What Darwin Didn’t Know by Geoffrey Simmons, M.D.: “Every cell has tiny packets of enzymes called lysosomes, which can be likened to vicious pit bulls living in cages inside your house. Because they can destroy most organic compounds, they can, if set loose, be very dangerous. At the cellular level, their cages are vesicles, and they are handled very carefully. Lysosomes have many uses; one purpose is defense. After a white cell has engulfed a bacterium, the germ is locked in a vesicle and taken to one of these pit bull cages, where it is torn apart limb by limb. The pieces are then placed in another vesicle and carried to the cell’s periphery to be dumped into the bloodstream. When a cell dies, the cages break open, and the same mechanism destroys the cell” (p. 51). I wonder if Richard Dawkins can tell us how the lysosomes came into existence by Darwinian processes?

ROCK MUSICIANS AS MEDIUMS (Friday Church News Notes, November 27, 2009, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) – In the following statements, rock musicians testify of an outside power that has taken over them while writing and performing rock music.
JIMI HENDRIX’ girlfriend, Fayne Pridgon, said: “He used to always talk about some devil or something was in him, you know” (Heartbeat of the Dragon, p. 50). Robert Plant and Jimmy Page of LED ZEPPELIN claim that they don’t know who wrote their occultic song Stairway to Heaven. After Page wrote the chords, Plant said, “All of a sudden my hand was writing out words. I just sat there and looked at the words and then I almost leaped out of my seat” (Stephen Davis, Hammer of the Gods, p. 164). Bill Ward of BLACK SABBATH said, “I’ve always considered that there was some way where we were able to channel energy, and that energy was able to be, from another source, if you like, like a higher power or something, that was actually doing the work. I’ve often thought of us just being actually just the earthly beings that played the music because it was uncanny. Some of this music came out extremely uncanny” (Black Sabbath An Oral History, p. 7). Stevie Nicks of FLEETWOOD MAC said, “It’s amazing, ’cause sometimes when we’re on stage, I feel like somebody’s just moving the pieces. … I’m just going, ‘God, we don’t have any control over this.’ And that’s magic” (Circus, April 14, 1971). Angus Young, lead guitarist for AC-DC, said, “… it’s like I’m on automatic pilot. By the time we’re halfway through the first number someone else is steering me. I’m just along for the ride. I become possessed when I get on stage” (Hit Parader, July 1985, p. 60). Keith Richards of ROLLING STONES said, “We receive our songs by inspiration, like at a séance” (Rolling Stone, May 5, 1977, p. 55). Richards said that he received the opening riff to the wicked song “I Can’t Get No Satisfaction” in a dream. He woke up and sang it into a tape recorder. Marc Storace of KROKUS said, “You can’t describe it [playing rock music] except to say it’s like a mysterious energy that comes from the metaphysical plane and into my body. It’s almost like being a medium…” (Circus, January 31, 1984, p. 70). Yoko Ono said of THE BEATLES, “They were like mediums. They weren’t conscious of all they were saying, but it was coming through them” (The Playboy Interviews with John Lennon and Yoko Ono, 1982, p. 106.). CARLOS SANTANA “keeps a yellow legal pad handy to record the music when it comes to him ‘just like a fax machine’” (Rolling Stone, March 16, 2000, p. 41). (For more examples of this see the article “Rock Musicians as Mediums” at the Way of Life web site.)

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.