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.

AMERICA’S MASS SCHOOL SHOOTINGS – The latest mass school shooting in America occurred on May 24, when 18-year-old Salvador Ramos killed 19 elementary school students and two teachers in Uvalde, Texas. While there were isolated incidences of gun violence in America’s public schools prior to the 1960s, there were no mass murders. The first was in August 1966, when 25-year-old Charles Whitman killed 16 and wounded 31 at the University of Texas-Austin. Since then, there have been 13 or more mass school shootings, depending on how they are counted (“13 Mass School Shootings,” May 26, 2022, Reason.com). For example, in April 1999, 18-year-old Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold murdered 12 students and a teacher at Columbine High School near Denver, then killed themselves. In March 2005, 16-year-old Jeffrey Weise killed seven students and staff at Red Lake High School in Minnesota. In April 2007, 23-year-old Seung-Hui Cho killed 32 students and faculty at Virginia Tech. After each of these highly publicized events, new laws have been proposed, but for the most part they are political knee-jerk things that don’t address the fundamental issues. (Putting more guns into the hands of the right people would provide better protection.) America has always had a gun culture, but America has not always been as violent prone as today. A larger percentage of the American population owned guns in the first half of the 20th century and a larger percentage had military and other martial experience, but there were zero mass school shootings. The thing that has changed is America’s moral character and prevailing culture. We would list three of the fundamentals underlying this change. The first is the apostasy of America’s churches. The 20th century witnessed a great downgrade in the character of evangelical Protestant and Baptist churches. There was a large scale disappearance of such basics as a regenerate membership, forthright preaching, church discipline, separation and a pilgrim lifestyle, fathers as spiritual heads of the home and overseers of the children’s education, and mothers as keepers of the home. A light-hearted party atmosphere replaced a holy atmosphere. The churches walked in lockstep with the world. The second fundamental was the rise of a vile, antichrist pop culture and entertainment industry. The music-driven youth culture blasted on the scene in the 1950s (preceded by the smaller jazz culture) and exploded in influence in the 1960s. With the self-centered theme, “It’s your life; do what you want,” it is in open rebellion to God and His holy laws and is a recipe for moral disaster. The pop culture and entertainment industry have grown progressively more corrupt and violent-prone with each passing decade, and the internet, smart phone, and social media have amplified the influence. A third fundamental was the philosophical corruption of the public school system. This began at the turn of the 20th century and spread slowly, gaining ground more dramatically as the century progressed toward the halfway mark. Major turning points were the replacement of creationism with evolution and the rejection of the biblical view of God and man and absolute morals. The result has been evident for all to see. The moral difference between the America into which I was born in 1949 and the America that exists today is breathtaking. Mass school shootings are only one small element. The top two things that would bring real moral change to America are these: The first thing is spiritual revival in Bible-believing churches. The churches hold the key to this if they are willing to pay the price. Pastors must stop following and start leading. The second thing that could bring real moral change in America is the dismantling of the public educational system, including government-supported colleges and universities. At the very least, all of God’s redeemed people should stop supporting the public schools.

HOMOSEXUAL AGENDA TURNING AMERICA’S LIBRARIES INTO HOMOSEXUAL PROPAGANDA CENTERS  – The following is excerpted from Joy Pullmann, “The Left has Effectively Banned Christian Kids from Public Pools, Libraries, and Summer Camps,” The Federalist, May 23, 2022: “I cannot take my children to the public library anymore, either, because the shelves are so full of pornographic and hostile books that it’s not a safe place for them. There, too, self-righteous LGBT activism has resulted in effectively banning my children from yet another public place and weaponizing my own tax dollars against my children’s safety. The shelves and displays in our library are full of books telling my children lies such as that ‘men can become women’ and ‘some boys have girl brains’ and ‘gender is a social construct.’ I’m happy to have these conversations with my children when they are ready, but I know my six-year-old, and he is not ready. My eight-year-old is not ready, and neither are my 10- and 11-year-old, frankly. It’s grotesque and evil to put books at their eye level that deliberately aim to confuse them about something so deep and important. To do this is to usurp not only my parental wisdom and authority over my own children but to usurp my children’s right to an innocent, emotionally secure childhood. These all prove that rapidly rewriting American laws to ignore sexual differences has effectively banned Christian families from equal participation in public facilities and activities. It’s not just Christian families, it’s any family that thinks it imprudent to lodge their sometimes undressed daughters with an emotionally traumatized male at summer camp or to obtain swimming lessons at a public pool. This all descends from the massive bait and switch inherent to the LGBT policy agenda. We were told it was only about extending government sanction to what consenting adults do behind closed doors. We were told it was about allowing people to visit loved ones in hospice and inherit without legal difficulties. It wasn’t going to affect our families, remember? Anyone who raised concerns about how calling sexual activities that cannot create a family ‘marriage’ would affect children, faith, and families was smeared as a know-nothing bigot. Anyone who wanted to logically think through how legally equating men to women in the social keystone of marriage would have a domino effect on many other laws and social arrangements was also smeared as a hateful bigot, all the way up to highly intelligent and reasoned Supreme Court dissents. It’s the same toxic play we’ve seen work ever since: Anyone with a contrary opinion or even unanswered questions is not engaged, but simply smeared.”

OKLAHOMA GOV. SIGNS AMERICA’S MOST RESTRICTIVE ABORTION BAN INTO LAW– The following is excerpted from “Life Begins at Conception,” Christian Headlines, May 26, 2022: “Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt signed the nation’s strictest abortion ban into law on Wednesday, banning the procedure from the moment of conception. House Bill 4327 went into effect immediately after Stitt signed it on Wednesday. It is considered the strictest abortion law in the nation because it restricts physicians from performing abortions at any point in the pregnancy except for cases of rape, incest or a medical emergency. ‘I promised Oklahomans that as governor, I would sign every piece of pro-life legislation that came across my desk, and I am proud to keep that promise today. From the moment life begins at conception is when we have a responsibility as human beings to do everything we can to protect that baby’s life and the life of the mother,’ Stitt said in a statement. ‘That is what I believe, and that is what the majority of Oklahomans believe. If other states want to pass different laws, that is their right, but in Oklahoma, we will always stand up for life.’ The new law also allows citizens to file civil lawsuits for up to $10,000 against anyone who performs an abortion or assists a woman in obtaining one.”

JEWS IN FIGHTER JETS  Jews in Fighter Jews: Israel Past, Present, and Future covers the past 2,500 years of the history of the most important and amazing nation on earth, the only nation directly created by God and called by God “my people,” the nation to whom “were committed the oracles of God” and “of whom, as concerning the flesh Christ came” (Romans 3:2; 9:5). The author has visited Israel multiple times, traveling from the Red Sea to Mt. Hermon, looking into nooks and crannies and places off the beaten paths. Israel is still in apostasy, but her conversion is on the horizon. When I visit Israel, I feel as if the whole place is vibrating, as it were, in the anticipation of the fulfillment of prophecy. The stage is set! Jews in Fighter Jets is divided into three major sections: I. Israel Past: 2,500 Years of Fulfilled Prophecy. II. Israel Present: The Modern State of Israel. III. Israel Future: A Prophetic View. Jews in Fighter Jets is a package consisting of a book and a series of PowerPoint presentations. It is designed to be studied privately or to be used as a training course for Sunday School, home schooling, Bible Institute, and any other setting. The 16 PowerPoint presentations are packed with more than 2,650 high quality color photos, drawings, historic recreations, and video clips. A majority were taken by the author on location in Israel and other countries and in museums. Presentations available as an eDownload from www.wayoflife.org.

BATS WHO FEED TREES – The following is from CreationMoments.com, April 4, 2022: “The surface of the Earth 50 to 150 feet below the great living canopy of the rainforest is a dark, humid, still world dominated by great columns of tree trunks. Within those trunks and some of the giant hollow branches extending from them lie the secret of the life of the canopy itself. A rainforest typically receives 12 or more feet of rain per year. That much rain washes out of the soil most of the nitrates needed by the trees for growth. What the trees need is a rich source of nitrates that is constantly being replenished. And that’s where the bats come in. Typically, these huge trees are hollow inside. Many different kinds of creatures, including fruit bats, enter the hollow trees through various openings. Fruit bats find ideal daytime sleeping rooms inside the great hollow branches that extend like caverns from the hollow tree trunk. The accumulating layer of bat guano inside the tree itself is one of the richest sources of nitrates known. So the bats provide the tree with the nitrates it needs in exchange for a protected home during the day! In a very real sense, the fruit bats are the collection and transport system for the raw materials that make possible the tropical rain forest canopy with its millions of residents. The Creator has devised an ingenious way to provide for the needs of many creatures. Truly, the Lord does provide all living things with their food in precisely the way they need it! Author: Paul A. Bartz. Ref.: Science Digest, October, 1978, page 30.”

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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