Friday Church News and Notes

The Friday Church News Notes is designed for use in churches and is published by Way of Life Literature. Unless otherwise stated, the Notes are written by David Cloud. Of necessity we quote from a wide variety of sources, though this does not imply an endorsement.

FEDERAL COURT RULES KANSAS TEACHER CAN SPEAK ACCORDING TO HER RELIGIOUS BELIEFS REGARDING TRANSGENDER STUDENTS (Friday Church News Notes, May 27, 2022, www.wayoflife.org, fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) – The following is excerpted from “Federal Court Rules,” Fox News, May 13, 2022: “A federal court ruled this week that a Kansas teacher is able to communicate honestly with parents of her transgender students using their preferred name, when different than their given name, in line with her Christian beliefs. School policy currently mandates teachers use preferred names and pronouns of students, and hide that information from parents unless the student consents. Fort Riley, Kansas, middle school teacher Pamela Ricard last year was reprimanded and suspended from school for ‘declining to use a name for a student that was inconsistent with the student’s biological sex.’ … After being reprimanded, Ricard sued the school, alleging that the policies violated her rights under the First and Fourteenth Amendments.  The court ruled this week that the school could not punish Ricard for communicating with parents using the preferred name of students, even if that name was different than the student’s legal name. Langhofer said they are working to get the school to adopt a new policy which would ‘respect the rights of students, parents and teachers.’”

VERDICT IN: BLACK LIVES MATTER A FRAUD (Friday Church News Notes, May 27, 2022, www.wayoflife.org, fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) – The following is excerpted from PowerlineBlog, May 17, 2022: “We have written several times about the fraud that has been perpetrated by the founders of the Black Lives Matter movement … Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation raised a reported $90 million, mostly from large corporations. In truth, however, no one knows how much money the operation pulled in, since it hasn’t filed its legally required reports. The whole thing has turned out to be a farce, with millions upon millions going to enrich BLM’s founders. On May 17, the Daily Mail Online revealed that BLM founder Patrisse Cullors paid her baby father $970,000 for ‘creative services.’ There is a lesson here. The major corporations that funneled money to BLM obviously didn’t know, or care, where their donations were actually going. They perceived that they were paying protection money: if they shoveled millions at BLMGNF, they wouldn’t be attacked by that group or its affiliates. What was actually done with the money was no concern of theirs, just as a business that pays protection money to the Mafia doesn’t inquire into what the criminals do with the money they extort.” CONCLUDING NOTE: In April 2021, the New York Post reported that BLM co-founder Patrisse Cullors had purchased more than $3 million worth of luxury real estate. In April 2022, the BLM Global Network Foundation purchased a $6 million house in California. BLM is being investigated at the national and state level for financial irregularities.

NEW BOOK CRITICAL RACE THEORY, SOUTHERN BAPTIST CONVENTION, AND A MARXIST “SOLUTION” THAT WILL NOT WORK (Friday Church News Notes, May 27, 2022, www.wayoflife.org, fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) – A new book Critical Race Theory, Southern Baptist Convention, and a Marxist “Solution” That Will Not Work is available from Lighthouse Trails. Following is an excerpt: “In an article titled ‘You Can Be a Christian, You Can Be a Marxist, But You Can’t Be Both,’ Christian journalist Joshua Lawson explains: ‘Whereas traditional garden-variety Marxism views history as a struggle between the wealthy and the working class proletariat, neo-Marxism [i.e., cultural Marxism] cranks up the heat and redefines the fight to incorporate biological sex, race, ethnicity, and a whole gambit of various identity badges. … The grand unifying principle for the Marxists behind the Black Lives Matter movement is that everything–and they mean everything–can be reduced to oppressors versus the oppressed. If you happen to be a member of one of the oppressor groups, then expect to see all sorts of punishments heading your way until the neo-Marxists are satisfied. Except they never are.’ When we begin to understand that Critical Theory is a Marxist/Leninist ideology that aspires to create a communistic society through revolution, we should also understand that the end result will eliminate freedom, justice, and democracy from all citizens. We should see that CT and CRT are not solutions to racism but rather are dangerous philosophies and vain deceits that will hurt people of all skin colors and where people of color are merely being used as pawns to promote a socialist agenda only to be later discarded.” Critical Race Theory, Southern Baptist Convention, and a Marxist “Solution” That Will Not Work is available from lighthousetrailsresearch.com.

COVID VACCINE PATHETICALLY INEFFECTIVE (Friday Church News Notes, May 27, 2022, www.wayoflife.org, fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) – The following is excerpted from “Vaccination Blues,” PowerLine, May 18, 2022: “It should be obvious to everyone by now that the covid vaccines have underperformed. After a few months, they provide only minimal protection. [Following is a summary of] the Minnesota numbers, and every other state is no doubt the same if the data can be extracted. Currently, 78% of covid cases are in fully vaccinated people, as are 67% of hospitalizations. There aren’t many deaths, but if we go back to the end of February, 70% of ‘covid deaths’ are fully vaccinated people. We have here, as Kevin Roche says, an epidemic of the vaxed. Yet the zombie march of vax mandates continues. Unvaccinated athletes are shunned and disqualified, as though they pose a risk to the vaccinated–which never did make any sense, still less given the current numbers. Four Air Force Academy cadets may not graduate because they have not been vaccinated, a procedure that reduces their risk of getting a serious case of covid–-let alone someone else’s risk!-–to no perceptible extent.”

MEGACHURCH PASTOR SAYS IT IS OK TO QUESTION GOD (Friday Church News Notes, May 27, 2022, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) – Michael Youssef, megachurch pastor, told his congregation that “questioning God is OK” (“Michael Youssef,” Christian Post, Jan. 26, 2022). This is emerging church heresy. Rob Bell says that God gives men “the invitation to follow Jesus with all our doubts and questions right there with us” (Velvet Elvis, p. 28). Brian McLaren says that we should welcome “the disillusioned and the doubters” (A Generous Orthodoxy, p. 172). While it is right to ask sincere questions in the honest search for the truth, it is evil to entertain questions that deny Bible truth. If the Bible says all unbelievers will suffer conscious eternal torment in fire, which it does, we must not entertain questions that speculate if this is a just punishment. If the Bible claims to be the infallible Word of God, which it does, we are not to question how this could be possible. If the Bible says we are not to love this world, which it does, we are not to question whether this might be a narrow, “legalistic” position. Our questions must be controlled by the Bible, not the Bible by our questions. If a church member asks a question about the deity of Christ or hell, etc., he should be instructed from Scripture. If, though, he refuses to accept the Bible’s teaching and persists in his doubt and unbelief and chooses heresy over the truth, he must be put out of the congregation. A qualification for church membership is to continue “steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine” (Acts 2:42). Further, the Bible exalts faith over doubt. “But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him” (Heb. 11:6). Jesus rebuked those who doubted (Mt. 6:30; 8:26; 14:31; 16:8) and praised those who had faith (Mt. 8:10; 15:28). The Bible teaches that doubt must be resolved. The Psalmist momentarily doubted in Psalm 73, but his doubt was resolved and he rightly saw himself as a foolish beast for doubting God.

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).

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