PRESIDENT TRUMP ANNOUNCES “DAWN OF A NEW MIDDLE EAST” AND “LOVE AND PEACE FOR ETERNITY” (Friday Church News Notes, October 17, 2025, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - President Donald Trump was given a hero’s welcome on October 13 at Israel’s Knesset before his speech on the occasion of the release of the remaining Hamas hostages. The standing ovation lasted several minutes. Trump said, “After so many years of unceasing war and endless danger, today the skies are calm, the guns are silent, the sirens are still, and the sun rises on a Holy Land that is finally at peace. This is the historic dawn of a new Middle East. It is an incredible triumph for Israel and the world to have all these nations working together as partners in peace. Generations from now, this will be remembered as the moment that everything began to change” (“Trump declares dawn,” The Washington Post, Oct. 13, 2025). Later, speaking to roughly 20 heads of state in Egypt, Trump said, “Together, we have achieved what everybody said was impossible. At long last, we have peace in the Middle East.” Aboard Air Force One, Trump said, “I am good at solving wars. I’m good at making peace” (“I’m good at making peace,” The Washington Post, Oct. 13, 2025). He also said the theme for his message at Israel’s Knesset would be “love and peace for eternity” (“Trump declares the Gaza war ‘is over,’” World Israel News, Oct. 13, 2025). Sadly, the President doesn’t know what he is talking about. Any Middle East peace program is an ignorant pipe dream that flies in the face of the holy Bible’s clear teaching. Twice God said through the prophet Isaiah, “There is no peace unto the wicked” (Isa. 48:22; 57:21). And the apostle Paul prophesied, “For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape” (1 Thessalonians 5:3). Peace comes only through “repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ” (Ac. 20:21), and this is lacking by all parties to the current program. Israel’s future is plainly described in Bible prophecy. Deuteronomy 28, a 3,400 year old prophecy, is an exact description of Israel’s history under God’s judgment for her stubborn sin, proving that the Bible is the infallible Word of God. “And thou shalt become an astonishment, a proverb, and a byword, among all nations whither the LORD shall lead thee. ... And among these nations shalt thou find no ease, neither shall the sole of thy foot have rest: but the LORD shall give thee there a trembling heart, and failing of eyes, and sorrow of mind: And thy life shall hang in doubt before thee; and thou shalt fear day and night, and shalt have none assurance of thy life” (De. 28:37, 65, 66). The return to the land in the 20th century is not the promised return in God’s blessing that is the subject of dozens of prophecies. Rather, it is the return to prepare for the fulfillment of Daniel 9:27, which is the covenant with the Antichrist, the building and desecration of the Third Temple, and the desolations of the day of the Lord. Deuteronomy 30 describes Israel’s conversion, which is obviously yet future. “And the LORD thy God will bring thee into the land which thy fathers possessed, and thou shalt possess it; and he will do thee good, and multiply thee above thy fathers. And the LORD thy God will circumcise thine heart, and the heart of thy seed, to love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, that thou mayest live. And the LORD thy God will put all these curses upon thine enemies, and on them that hate thee, which persecuted thee. And thou shalt return and obey the voice of the LORD, and do all his commandments which I command thee this day” (De. 30:5-8).

ISRAEL’S REAL PROBLEM AND THE REAL SOLUTION (Friday Church News Notes, October 17, 2025, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - Israel’s real problem is her relationship with God. She’s been in rebellion for a very long time, and that’s the root of her endless troubles. That’s why her neighbors are perpetual, irreconcilable, insanely hateful enemies. Israel’s real problem is not Hamas or Hezbollah or Iran (Persia). The problem and the solution are described in Psalm 80, which is a prophecy that looks beyond the days of Asaph to our time. It is a prayer for God to save Israel from the destruction that has been visited upon her. For 2,000 years, Israel has prayed for restoration, but the prayer has not been in true repentance. We see this even in the psalm. Instead of, “We are suffering because we have sinned,” the psalmist asks, “Why hast thou then broken down her hedges?” The psalm ends with a Messianic prophecy and with Israel turning to God, calling on God, being made alive (quickened), and saved (Ps. 80:17-19). When Israel repents and calls out to God, the Palestinian problem will be solved forever. “Turn us again, O God, and cause thy face to shine; and we shall be saved. O LORD God of hosts, how long wilt thou be angry against the prayer of thy people? Thou feedest them with the bread of tears; and givest them tears to drink in great measure. Thou makest us a strife unto our neighbours: and our enemies laugh among themselves. Turn us again, O God of hosts, and cause thy face to shine; and we shall be saved. ... Let thy hand be upon the man of thy right hand, upon the son of man whom thou madest strong for thyself. So will not we go back from thee: quicken us, and we will call upon thy name. Turn us again, O LORD God of hosts, cause thy face to shine; and we shall be saved.” (Psalm 80:3-7, 17-19).

HAMAS’S HUDNA (Friday Church News Notes, October 17, 2025, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The following is excerpted from “Hudna,” PowerLine, Oct. 9, 2025: “Roger Simon has a Substack piece on the cease fire announcement in Gaza, to which he has added this sobering update: ‘This is a time when I don’t particularly like being prescient. Just a few days ago, I posted Gaza--Genuine Peace or a Hudna? A hudna, for those who missed it, is a tactical pause to allow Islamic forces to regroup. Minutes ago ... Hamas published, ‘God, let the ceasefire be like the Treaty of Hudaybiyyah--followed by conquest, like the conquest of Mecca.’ ... Context: The Treaty of Hudaybiyyah was a temporary peace agreement signed by Mohammed with the Quraysh tribe, which he later broke before conquering Mecca. The statement implies that Hamas views the ceasefire as a tactical pause before a future ‘victory’ or takeover. No one who pays attention will be surprised. The cease fire agreement contemplates that the remainder of President Trump’s peace plan, which calls for an end to Hamas rule and an international coalition to supervise Gaza on an interim basis, will be negotiated in good faith. But of course Hamas has never done anything in good faith, and it is hard to imagine that the remainder of the peace plan will actually be implemented.”

THE PRICE OF THE DEAL - PART 1 (Friday Church News Notes, October 17, 2025, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The following is excerpted from “Israel’s Hostages,” World Israel News, Oct. 9, 2025: “[E]ven as the world celebrates the return of Israeli hostages, we must ask: at what price? And more critically: what comes next? The arithmetic of this exchange should give everyone pause. Israel will release [2,000] Palestinian prisoners, including 250 serving life sentences for the most heinous acts of terrorism. These aren’t stone-throwers or protesters. These are the architects of the Park Hotel Passover massacre, the planners of the Sbarro pizzeria bombing, the orchestrators of attacks that turned school buses into crime scenes. They have blood on their hands and expertise in their heads. ... Every released prisoner returns to Gaza or Judea and Samaria as a hero, a symbol of resistance, armed with years of additional training and burning with renewed purpose. History provides a grim preview of what comes next. Yahya Sinwar, the architect of October 7, spent 22 years in an Israeli prison studying Hebrew, analyzing Israeli society, planning his revenge. Released in the 2011 Shalit deal among 1,026 other prisoners, he used his freedom to orchestrate the deadliest day in Israel’s history [note from D. Cloud - not the deadliest day, by far]. Today, Israel is releasing another generation of potential Sinwars.”

THE PRICE OF THE DEAL - PART 2 (Friday Church News Notes, October 17, 2025, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The following is excerpted from “The Price,” PowerLine, Oct, 12, 2025: “As part of the phase one deal brokered by President Trump between Israel and Hamas, Israel is to receive 20 living hostages taken by Hamas and 28 corpses of hostages killed by Hamas. Hamas gets 2,000 prisoners released from Israeli detention, 250 of whom are terrorists sentenced to life in prison for murdering Israelis. In his It’s Noon In Israel newsletter this morning, Amit Segal provides details on three of them: ‘Hilmi Abdul Karim Muhammad Hammash, who coordinated a 2004 suicide bombing on a bus in Jerusalem, killing 11 Israelis and wounding 50. Morad Bader Abdullah Adais. In 2016, he stabbed to death Dafna Meir, a 38-year-old mother of six, in front of her teenage daughter, at the entrance to their home in Otniel. Jihad A-Karim Azziz Rom. 25 years ago today, IDF reservists Vadim Norzhich and Yosef Avrahami accidentally drove into Ramallah, and were detained by Palestinian Authority police. Once word got out that two Israeli soldiers were at the police station, a crowd gathered outside the station, before eventually breaking in, where they beat and stabbed Norzhich and Avrahami to death. Azziz Rom participated in the lynching, as well as the kidnapping and murder of 18-year-old Yuri Gushchin in 2001. Few, if any, Palestinian terror attacks are seared into the Israeli psyche as deeply as the Ramallah lynching, thanks to a TV crew capturing the moment Aziz Salha ran out to proudly show his blood-soaked hands to the Palestinian crowd outside the police station. (An IDF airstrike in Gaza late last year killed Salha.)’”

THE JELLY FISH THAT SAILS AGAINST THE WIND (Friday Church News Notes, October 17, 2025, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The following is from CreationMoments.com, Sept. 22, 2025: “Do you know how to handle a sailboat? If you had to sail to a destination that was not exactly downwind, would you be able to do it? Unlike most jellyfish, velella does not merely drift with the wind. Velella has a triangular sail. [This is called a latine sail on ships; it was invented by man in the 15th century at the dawn of the Age of Discovery.] However, unlike some jellyfish with sails, velella’s sail doesn’t simply catch the wind and move velella along with it. Velella's triangular sail has an S-shaped base so that it can stand up to winds from any direction. The sail is set on top of velella’s body at an angle to its length. This makes velella a biological oddity--because its body is not symmetrical. This asymmetry is not without purpose. The unusual body design of this jellyfish allows it to sail as much as 60 degrees off the direction of the wind. This is what sailors call a broad reach. Some velellas have their sails tilted to the right, allowing them to sail up to 60 degrees to the right of downwind. Others have their sails tilted to the left, allowing them to sail up to 60 degrees left of downwind. What’s more, velellas can change their angle of sailing by extending or retracting their tentacles in the water. When scientists noticed that velella’s body was asymmetrical, they immediately looked for a purpose behind the design. Even though many scientists will not recognize the Creator, they understand enough to realize that nothing in the creation is without purpose or design. So while many deny the Creator, they still recognize the pattern of His handiwork! Ref: ‘The by-the-wind sailor: a masterpiece of natural design.’ Discover. Velella, Wilson44691, CC0, Wikimedia Commons.”

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).