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).”
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