Friday Church News Notes
June 27, 2025 - Volume 26, Issue 26
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.
RUSSIA SAYS IRAN’S NUCLEAR ARMAMENT WILL CONTINUE (Friday Church News Notes, June 27, 2025, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - After Israel and America bombed Iran’s nuclear facilities last week, Dimitry Medvedev, former Russian president, said, “The enrichment of nuclear material--and, now we can say it outright, the future production of nuclear weapons--will continue. A number of countries are ready to directly supply Iran with their own nuclear warheads” (“Russian leader claims,” Fox News, June 22, 2025). (Medvedev is currently the deputy chairman of the Security Council of Russia.) It would be very surprising, indeed, if “a number of countries” are ready to supply nuclear warheads to a jihad-raging, madhi-expecting, terror-sponsoring nation like Iran. We observe, that Israel’s enemies are now speaking outright about nuclear weapons, putting the lie to Iran’s previous claims, though there is no hint in Bible prophecy that Israel will be nuked. We do know that Iran (Persia) will be a major partner with Russia in the Gog/Magog attack on Israel in coming days (Ezekiel 38-39). It is essential to understand that this event is not imminent. The only imminent prophetic event is the Rapture of New Testament saints. It is “at hand” (Ro. 13:12; Php. 4:5; 1 Pe. 4:7). After that, the Antichrist will rise as a super impressive problem solver and man of peace. Israel will be deceived, the Jewish temple will be rebuilt, and the Two Witnesses will prophecy in Jerusalem, as described in Revelation 7. Israel will disarm, and sometime afterwards the Gog and Magog military coalition will attack from the north (Russia, Gomer, Togarmah), the south (Ethiopia, Libya), and the east (Persia) and meet their Waterloo on Israel’s mountains. Presently, it is not Gog/Magog time; it is Great Commission time. God is in perfect control of the devil’s mystery of iniquity program while He continues to work out His own program of worldwide gospel preaching, and no power on earth or in the heavenlies can hinder God’s hand or shorten His program. Beware of an addiction to politics which rob the child of God of time for building godly homes and fruitful churches. “But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:8-9).
MIRROR MIRROR ON THE WALL (Friday Church News Notes, June 27, 2025, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - A great many preachers are man-centered rather than Christ-centered and tradition-bound rather than Bible-bound. This is seen in their actions and thinking rather than in their professions. Consider the prevailing philosophy that it is wrong to critique fundamental Baptist leaders and the anger that is generated when such critiques are made. I was reminded of this after publishing “The No Criticism Doctrine” on June 4. It is an excerpt from my book The History and Heritage of Fundamentalism and Fundamental Baptists and deals with what I witnessed at Highland Park Baptist Church, Chattanooga, Tennessee, in the 1970s. I spend much time in that book describing Lee Roberson as a man of God and noting the great blessings that existed at Highland Park in its heyday. Yet a pastor called this “a hit piece” and said, “It must be real lonely at the top.” By his thinking, which he learned from fundamental Baptist tradition, to critique men like Lee Roberson or Jack Hyles or Paul Chappell could only be a matter of pride and jealousy. It is “touching the anointed” and “shooting the wounded” and “interfering with the local church,” concepts which have zero biblical basis as applied to critiquing preachers who have a public ministry. I replied to this pastor, “Independent Baptist churches are experiencing a great collapse. I am trying to help, but there are fundamental things that Ind. Baptists have inherited from their fathers that have made the churches weak and that must be re-evaluated, though very, very few are willing to do so. Most have been taught to treat gracious biblical warnings as ‘criticism.’ They react in knee jerk fashion rather than reading carefully and prayerfully and calmly considering the matter. ... Actually, pastor, you proved my point. A man cannot critique Dr. Roberson (et al) without being assaulted. It is a knee jerk thing that has been ingrained in men.” I asked him to disprove the statements I made in the report, but he could not. He simply told me he was helped by Lee Roberson, loved and benefited from Highland Park, and wept when the building burned. That, of course, is not the point. I was helped in a great many ways by my years at Highland Park and Tennessee Temple, as I have often testified, but that doesn’t mean the institution is beyond biblical critique, not then and not now. I tried to explain these things to the pastor in question, but he abruptly ended the conversation with this: “Mirror mirror on the wall.”
WHAT EVERY CHRISTIAN SHOULD KNOW ABOUT ROCK MUSIC (Friday Church News Notes, June 27, 2025, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - About fifty years ago, we published Mom and Dad Sleep While the Children Rock in Satan’s Cradle, our first exhortation to parents and pastors to protect their young people from the great spiritual enemy of rock & roll. (It is long out of print.) Since then, churches have grown strangely quiet about this danger. It must be the “frog in the pot” phenomenon. Rock music permeates society, and we have grown accustomed to it, even though the music and the culture it has helped create have grown ever more sensually wicked. The power of rock to produce rebels and to build the one-world church has not lessened. Homes and churches that don’t give clear and persistent warnings about rock music in all of its forms should not be surprised if their young people are worldly and tend toward evangelical thinking. What Every Christian Should Know about Rock Music lays out nine essential truths. 1. Rock music represents a moral revolution. 2. It preaches a philosophy of narcissism and licentiousness. 3. It is permeated with blasphemy. 4. It is the music of false christs. 5. It is condemned by the Bible. 6. It is a fulfillment of Bible prophecy. 7. It is at the heart of the one-world church. 8. It is addictive. 9. The only sure protection is to avoid it. 61 pages. It is necessary to understand rock music if one is to understand the Contemporary Christian Music issue. Available in print and free eBook editions from www.wayoflife.org.
ANOTHER WARNING ABOUT ALCOHOL CONSUMPTION AND CANCER (Friday Church News Notes, June 27, 2025, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The following is excerpted from “Your favorite alcoholic beverage,” Fox News, June 11, 2025: “Following the surgeon general’s January advisory linking alcohol consumption to seven types of cancer, a new study from the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) has revealed another possible risk. The research, recently published in the journal PLOS Medicine, classified alcohol as a carcinogen, highlighting a particular increased risk of pancreatic cancer. The surgeon general’s previous advisory named cancers of the breast (in women), colorectum, esophagus, voice box, liver, mouth and throat.... Senior study author Dr. Pietro Ferrari, head of the IARC Nutrition and Metabolism Branch, in a press release, [said,] ‘Our findings provide new evidence that pancreatic cancer may be another cancer type associated with alcohol consumption, a connection that has been underestimated until now.’ For the study, researchers recruited 2.5 million participants with a median age of 57, following them for about 16 years.” Scripture warns, “Wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging: and whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise” (Proverbs 20:1).
NEBRASKA BECOMES 29TH STATE TO BAN TRANSGENDER MEN FROM WOMEN’S ATHLETICS (Friday Church News Notes, June 27, 2025, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The following is excerpted from “Nebraska Becomes,” Christianity Daily, June 13, 2025: “Nebraska has become the latest state to enact legislation requiring athletes to compete on sports teams that align with their biological sex rather than their stated gender identity. Governor Jim Pillen signed Legislature Bill 89 (LB 89) into law Wednesday, following its passage in the state’s Legislature by a 33-16 vote last week. The law is also known as the Stand With Women Act and mandates that all public and private schools, as well as post-secondary institutions involved in athletic associations, designate sports teams as either for males or females based solely on biological sex. ... The law, which does not reference ‘gender’ or ‘gender identity,’ cites biological differences between males and females as the reason for prohibiting males from competing on women’s teams. ... Currently, Nebraska joins 28 other states--including Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, New Hampshire, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, West Virginia, and Wyoming--that have enacted similar bans on trans-identified males competing in women’s sports.” CONCLUDING NOTE: The feminist movement paved the way for the homosexual rights movement. Feminists demanded entrance into military fighting units, the Boy Scouts, and other formerly all male domains, claiming to be manly. Now men are claiming to be womanly and are dominating female sports because of the simple fact that men and women are different.
ROCK CLIMBING CATFISH (Friday Church News Notes, June 27, 2025, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The following is from CreationMoments.com, May 14, 2025: “It's not very pretty, nor is it graceful, but Colombia’s rock-climbing catfish has a unique ability among fish. Perhaps there are days when a salmon, trying to make it up a waterfall, wishes that it could simply climb the rocks. The rock-climbing catfish’s climbing equipment begins with a powerful sucker mouth. Once it attaches itself to a rock, it can stay stuck despite any torrent. The rock-climbing catfish also has a bony plate on its belly that helps it hold its place while it repositions its sucker a little further up the rocks. The plate has fins with tiny, backward-pointing teeth. These teeth dig into the rock and prevent slipping. The catfish’s third special feature is a set of powerful muscles to control the plate. Once the rock-climbing catfish has attached its sucker to the rock, it pulls up its stomach plate and anchors it. With its body anchored, it moves its sucker up the face of the rock and repeats the process. Following this method, the rock-climbing catfish can walk its way up a 20-foot rock wall against the torrent of a waterfall in about 30 minutes! Who gave the rock-climbing catfish that powerful sucker mouth? Who gave it such a clever bony stomach plate and the powerful muscles to control it? And who taught it to climb rocks? There are two opinions today. One opinion says that no one did it. The other says that it was the work of the Creator of worlds and stars and you and me. The Bible’s claim of a Creator is the only one that makes sense! Ref: Hanson, Jeanne K., and Deane Morrison, ‘The wonderful weird of flora and fauna,’ Star Tribune First Sunday.”
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; Mt. 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” (Ro. 13:11-14).
MIRROR MIRROR ON THE WALL (Friday Church News Notes, June 27, 2025, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - A great many preachers are man-centered rather than Christ-centered and tradition-bound rather than Bible-bound. This is seen in their actions and thinking rather than in their professions. Consider the prevailing philosophy that it is wrong to critique fundamental Baptist leaders and the anger that is generated when such critiques are made. I was reminded of this after publishing “The No Criticism Doctrine” on June 4. It is an excerpt from my book The History and Heritage of Fundamentalism and Fundamental Baptists and deals with what I witnessed at Highland Park Baptist Church, Chattanooga, Tennessee, in the 1970s. I spend much time in that book describing Lee Roberson as a man of God and noting the great blessings that existed at Highland Park in its heyday. Yet a pastor called this “a hit piece” and said, “It must be real lonely at the top.” By his thinking, which he learned from fundamental Baptist tradition, to critique men like Lee Roberson or Jack Hyles or Paul Chappell could only be a matter of pride and jealousy. It is “touching the anointed” and “shooting the wounded” and “interfering with the local church,” concepts which have zero biblical basis as applied to critiquing preachers who have a public ministry. I replied to this pastor, “Independent Baptist churches are experiencing a great collapse. I am trying to help, but there are fundamental things that Ind. Baptists have inherited from their fathers that have made the churches weak and that must be re-evaluated, though very, very few are willing to do so. Most have been taught to treat gracious biblical warnings as ‘criticism.’ They react in knee jerk fashion rather than reading carefully and prayerfully and calmly considering the matter. ... Actually, pastor, you proved my point. A man cannot critique Dr. Roberson (et al) without being assaulted. It is a knee jerk thing that has been ingrained in men.” I asked him to disprove the statements I made in the report, but he could not. He simply told me he was helped by Lee Roberson, loved and benefited from Highland Park, and wept when the building burned. That, of course, is not the point. I was helped in a great many ways by my years at Highland Park and Tennessee Temple, as I have often testified, but that doesn’t mean the institution is beyond biblical critique, not then and not now. I tried to explain these things to the pastor in question, but he abruptly ended the conversation with this: “Mirror mirror on the wall.”
WHAT EVERY CHRISTIAN SHOULD KNOW ABOUT ROCK MUSIC (Friday Church News Notes, June 27, 2025, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - About fifty years ago, we published Mom and Dad Sleep While the Children Rock in Satan’s Cradle, our first exhortation to parents and pastors to protect their young people from the great spiritual enemy of rock & roll. (It is long out of print.) Since then, churches have grown strangely quiet about this danger. It must be the “frog in the pot” phenomenon. Rock music permeates society, and we have grown accustomed to it, even though the music and the culture it has helped create have grown ever more sensually wicked. The power of rock to produce rebels and to build the one-world church has not lessened. Homes and churches that don’t give clear and persistent warnings about rock music in all of its forms should not be surprised if their young people are worldly and tend toward evangelical thinking. What Every Christian Should Know about Rock Music lays out nine essential truths. 1. Rock music represents a moral revolution. 2. It preaches a philosophy of narcissism and licentiousness. 3. It is permeated with blasphemy. 4. It is the music of false christs. 5. It is condemned by the Bible. 6. It is a fulfillment of Bible prophecy. 7. It is at the heart of the one-world church. 8. It is addictive. 9. The only sure protection is to avoid it. 61 pages. It is necessary to understand rock music if one is to understand the Contemporary Christian Music issue. Available in print and free eBook editions from www.wayoflife.org.
ANOTHER WARNING ABOUT ALCOHOL CONSUMPTION AND CANCER (Friday Church News Notes, June 27, 2025, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The following is excerpted from “Your favorite alcoholic beverage,” Fox News, June 11, 2025: “Following the surgeon general’s January advisory linking alcohol consumption to seven types of cancer, a new study from the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) has revealed another possible risk. The research, recently published in the journal PLOS Medicine, classified alcohol as a carcinogen, highlighting a particular increased risk of pancreatic cancer. The surgeon general’s previous advisory named cancers of the breast (in women), colorectum, esophagus, voice box, liver, mouth and throat.... Senior study author Dr. Pietro Ferrari, head of the IARC Nutrition and Metabolism Branch, in a press release, [said,] ‘Our findings provide new evidence that pancreatic cancer may be another cancer type associated with alcohol consumption, a connection that has been underestimated until now.’ For the study, researchers recruited 2.5 million participants with a median age of 57, following them for about 16 years.” Scripture warns, “Wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging: and whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise” (Proverbs 20:1).
NEBRASKA BECOMES 29TH STATE TO BAN TRANSGENDER MEN FROM WOMEN’S ATHLETICS (Friday Church News Notes, June 27, 2025, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The following is excerpted from “Nebraska Becomes,” Christianity Daily, June 13, 2025: “Nebraska has become the latest state to enact legislation requiring athletes to compete on sports teams that align with their biological sex rather than their stated gender identity. Governor Jim Pillen signed Legislature Bill 89 (LB 89) into law Wednesday, following its passage in the state’s Legislature by a 33-16 vote last week. The law is also known as the Stand With Women Act and mandates that all public and private schools, as well as post-secondary institutions involved in athletic associations, designate sports teams as either for males or females based solely on biological sex. ... The law, which does not reference ‘gender’ or ‘gender identity,’ cites biological differences between males and females as the reason for prohibiting males from competing on women’s teams. ... Currently, Nebraska joins 28 other states--including Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, New Hampshire, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, West Virginia, and Wyoming--that have enacted similar bans on trans-identified males competing in women’s sports.” CONCLUDING NOTE: The feminist movement paved the way for the homosexual rights movement. Feminists demanded entrance into military fighting units, the Boy Scouts, and other formerly all male domains, claiming to be manly. Now men are claiming to be womanly and are dominating female sports because of the simple fact that men and women are different.
ROCK CLIMBING CATFISH (Friday Church News Notes, June 27, 2025, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The following is from CreationMoments.com, May 14, 2025: “It's not very pretty, nor is it graceful, but Colombia’s rock-climbing catfish has a unique ability among fish. Perhaps there are days when a salmon, trying to make it up a waterfall, wishes that it could simply climb the rocks. The rock-climbing catfish’s climbing equipment begins with a powerful sucker mouth. Once it attaches itself to a rock, it can stay stuck despite any torrent. The rock-climbing catfish also has a bony plate on its belly that helps it hold its place while it repositions its sucker a little further up the rocks. The plate has fins with tiny, backward-pointing teeth. These teeth dig into the rock and prevent slipping. The catfish’s third special feature is a set of powerful muscles to control the plate. Once the rock-climbing catfish has attached its sucker to the rock, it pulls up its stomach plate and anchors it. With its body anchored, it moves its sucker up the face of the rock and repeats the process. Following this method, the rock-climbing catfish can walk its way up a 20-foot rock wall against the torrent of a waterfall in about 30 minutes! Who gave the rock-climbing catfish that powerful sucker mouth? Who gave it such a clever bony stomach plate and the powerful muscles to control it? And who taught it to climb rocks? There are two opinions today. One opinion says that no one did it. The other says that it was the work of the Creator of worlds and stars and you and me. The Bible’s claim of a Creator is the only one that makes sense! Ref: Hanson, Jeanne K., and Deane Morrison, ‘The wonderful weird of flora and fauna,’ Star Tribune First Sunday.”
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; Mt. 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” (Ro. 13:11-14).
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Distributed by Way of Life Literature, publisher of Bible Study Materials and reports for Fundamental Baptists and other fundamentalist, Bible-believing Christians. Established in 1974, Way of Life Literature is a fundamental Baptist preaching and publishing ministry based in Bethel Baptist Church, London, Ontario, of which Wilbert Unger is the founding Pastor. Brother Cloud lives in South Asia where he has been a church planting missionary since 1979. OUR GOAL IN THIS PARTICULAR ASPECT OF OUR MINISTRY (REPORTS AND FRIDAY NEWS) IS NOT DEVOTIONAL, BUT TO PROVIDE INFORMATION TO ASSIST PREACHERS IN THE PROTECTION OF THE CHURCHES IN THIS APOSTATE HOUR.
David Cloud, Way of Life Literature, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061, 866-295-4143, fbns@wayoflife.org
The Way of Life Literature preaching and publishing ministry is based at Bethel Baptist Church, London, Ontario, of which Wilbert Unger is the founding Pastor. A mail stop is maintained in Port Huron, Michigan.
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