Friday Church News Notes
Volume 22, Issue 51 – December 17, 2021
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.
RATIONAL SUICIDE (Friday Church News Notes, December 17, 2021, www.wayoflife.orgfbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) – A new euthanasia organization, Exit International, is promoting “rational suicide,” a concept that any adult has the “right to implement plans for the end of their life so that their death is reliable, peaceful and at a time of their choosing” (“Euthanasia advocates,” Right to Life News, Oct. 18, 2021). The founders are Philip Nitschke and Finoa Stewart. In England, Parliament has wisely rejected legalized euthanasia. “Earlier this year, 70 MPs and Peers signed an open letter in opposition to renewed pushes to introduce assisted suicide, in which they pointed out that in other jurisdictions that have introduced assisted suicide and/or euthanasia, the law may initially have applied to a select group but it slowly expanded to apply to others. The letter argued: ‘There are escalating numbers of deaths over time in every jurisdiction, and in almost all places the categories of those who qualify for assisted suicide or euthanasia has been expanded. In Oregon, which is the campaigners’ declared model for an assisted dying law, cases of assisted suicide have risen fifteen-fold since it was introduced in 1997. In Canada [t]he legislation itself proposes a review with the possibility of extending euthanasia to mature minors and those with solely mental health conditions.” The right-to-die movement is a product of atheism and rebellion against God. Man did not make himself and does not own himself. God says, “Behold, all souls are mine” (Ezekiel 18:4). He is “the God of the spirits of all flesh” (Numbers 27:16). He forms the spirit of man (Zechariah 12:1). “In whose hand is the soul of every living thing, and the breath of all mankind” (Job 12:10).
CHAMPION OF THE “GOOD DIVORCE” ENDS HER LIFE (Friday Church News Notes, December 17, 2021, www.wayoflife.orgfbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) – Psychologist Constance Ahrons, champion of the “good divorce,” ended her life by assisted suicide on Nov. 29 at age 84. Author of the bestselling The Good Divorce: Keeping Your Family Together When Your Marriage Comes Apart (1994), Ahrons coined the term “binuclear family” and was a divorce coach, mediator, and therapist. She defined the “good divorce” as “one which leaves no emotional scars on either the adults or children,” but that is a myth. If a divorce is sometimes necessary under such things as abandonment and physical abuse, divorce is never “good.” Ahrons wanted divorcees to consider the welfare of all parties concerned, but she left out a major one, which is God, the very Author of marriage. Her obituary in the Family Lawyer Magazine says that she “died as she lived: on her own terms.” Indeed, her theme song, and that of the culture she helped to create, was Sinatra’s “I Did It My Way.” But it is a sad, empty way in the end. She had a “partner” rather than a husband (divorced her husband in 1965); she celebrated sunsets with champaign and chocolate, worshiping the creation more than the Creator; and she committed assisted suicide. A member of the Hemlock Society, Ahrons believed “strongly in choosing how one lives and how one dies.” But man does not create himself and is not his own master. Life and death and marriage are God’s prerogatives. “And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul. … God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands; Neither is worshipped with men’s hands, as though he needed any thing, seeing he giveth to all life, and breath, and all things. … For in him we live, and move, and have our being” (Genesis 2:7, 24; Acts 17:24-25, 28).
NEW BLACK MAYOR SAYS NEW YORK CITY WILL NOT SURRENDER TO BLACK LIVES MATTER (Friday Church News Notes, December 17, 2021, www.wayoflife.orgfbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) – The philosophy of the mayor-elect of New York City is dramatically different from that of the outgoing mayor, Bill de Blasio, who in July 2020 banned all large gatherings in the city except Black Lives Matter protests. The following is excerpted from “NYC won’t surrender,” Fox News, Dec. 11, 2021: “New York City’s mayor-elect issued a stern warning Thursday night to those expecting to continue the riots and looting the nation’s largest city has seen over the past two years. ‘Not my city,’ Eric Adams, a former police captain who was elected in November to succeed termed-out Mayor Bill de Blasio, said at a Police Athletic League event at the Harvard Club, according to the New York Post. ‘We’re not going to surrender to those who are saying We’re going to burn down New York, Adams said. The message seemed squarely aimed at Hawk Newsome, a local leader of the Black Lives Matter movement who last month threatened ‘riots,’ ‘fire’ and ‘bloodshed’ if Adams tried to revive past anti-crime practices that were discarded during the de Blasio years. … ‘We’re not going to have a city where anarchists come from outside our city and go into a community such as Queens and destroy the community for their own selfish needs and desires,’ Adams said. Adams ran as a Democrat in the overwhelmingly blue [Democrat] city, but his Thursday comments seemed well-received by some notable local Republicans in the audience.” [Note: Such comments would be well-received by anyone who loves law and order, politics notwithstanding.]
SCOTTISH CHARITY TO PAY $26K FOR UNLAWFULLY CANCELLING BGEA CHURCH EVENT (Friday Church News Notes, December 17, 2021, www.wayoflife.orgfbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) – The following is excerpted from “Scottish Charity to Pay,” Christian Post, Dec. 12, 2021: “A Scottish charity, which had canceled bookings made by a local church and the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association for its conference center, has apologized for violating the United Kingdom’s Equality Act as part of a legal settlement. The Robertson Trust has apologized to the BGEA and Stirling Free Church for the cancellation of 2019 bookings to use its conference center in Stirling, Scotland, for religious events and agreed to pay both entities a total of £20,000 (about $26,500) towards legal expenses. … In a statement shared by the BGEA, Billy Graham’s son, Franklin Graham, said the resolution of the case ‘sends a clear message’ that ‘religious freedom isn’t dead.’ The Trust’s Barracks Conference Center was among several venues in the U.K. that had canceled events scheduled to start last May by Franklin Graham, who heads the BGEA. They cited objections to his views on homosexuality due to pressure from LGBT groups.”
REMAINS OF A CRUCIFIED MAN FOUND IN ENGLAND (Friday Church News Notes, December 17, 2021, www.wayoflife.org, fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) – The skeleton of a crucified man was found in a first century Roman-era cemetery recently in Cambridgeshire, England. The archaeologists said the victim’s feet were most likely “positioned on either side of the cross’s upright post, the feet fastened by horizontal nails through the heels” (“Crucified,” British Archaeology, Jan.-Feb. 2022). This is the second time a skeleton has been found with a spike through the heel. The first one was found near Jerusalem in 1968 and is on display in the Israel Museum. Thousands upon thousands were crucified in the Roman Empire for crimes such as murder, treason, and insurrection. The most infamous case of crucifixion was that of Jesus Christ who was falsely charged with insurrection and crucified on order of Pontus Pilate, Roman governor of Judea, at the instigation of the Jewish Sanhedrin. Christ’s crucifixion was prophesied in about 1000 BC by David in Psalm 22. It describes the piercing of His hands and feet, His bones out of joint, the terrible thirst, the mocking, staring crowd, the casting of lots for His cloak. “They gaped upon me with their mouths, as a ravening and a roaring lion. I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint: my heart is like wax; it is melted in the midst of my bowels. My strength is dried up like a potsherd; and my tongue cleaveth to my jaws; and thou hast brought me into the dust of death. For dogs have compassed me: the assembly of the wicked have enclosed me: they pierced my hands and my feet. I may tell all my bones: they look and stare upon me. They part my garments among them, and cast lots upon my vesture” (Psalm 22:14-18).
DRUIDS OF ANCIENT IRELAND (Friday Church News Notes, December 17, 2021, www.wayoflife.orgfbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) – The following is excerpted from Thomas Cahill, How the Irish Saved Civilization, Random House, 1995: “Romans, in their first encounters with these exposed, insane warriors, were shocked and frightened … They were howling and, it seemed, possessed by demons, so outrageous was their strength … featuring all the terrors of hell itself. … [Druids] sacrificed prisoners of war to the war gods and newborns to the harvest gods. Believing that the human head was the seat of the soul, they displayed proudly the heads of their enemies in their temples and on their palisades; they even hung them from their belts as ornaments, used them as footballs in victory celebrations, and were fond of employing skull tops as ceremonial drinking bowls. They also sculpted heads–both shrunken, decapitated.”
THE LOVING CROCODILE (Friday Church News Notes, December 17, 2021, www.wayoflife.orgfbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) – The following is from CreationMoments.com, November 2, 2021: “You might not think of the crocodile as a particularly loving creature. In reality, the crocodile is among the most gentle and loving of parents. Mama crocodile lays between 40 and 80 eggs in a large nest. For the 90 days they take to hatch, she will keep close watch over them, even foregoing food so as not to leave the nest unattended. Even the father stays close to guard the eggs that are a delicacy to many animals. At the end of this three-month watch the babies begin to chirp from within their eggs. Before long there may be dozens of babies chirping from the nest of buried eggs. This brings the mother who carefully uncovers the eggs, one by one. The young are only nine inches long and weigh just four ounces. Yet the gentle and loving mother picks up each one and with a flip of her head places them in a special pouch in her mouth. When some of the young have trouble breaking out of their shell, mama picks up the eggs and delicately works the eggs inside her mouth with her tongue, freeing the imprisoned baby. Once collected, all the young are taken to a special protected nursery where they will be just as carefully tended for months. Most amazing is that, should the mother not be present to tend to the hatchling chores, the father offers the hatchlings the very same help and care! God loves even the crocodile! And his acceptance of you and me, because of what Jesus Christ has done for us, is an even greater wonder than the loving crocodile! Author: Paul A. Bartz.”
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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