Friday Church News Notes
January 16, 2026 - Volume 27, Issue 03
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.
Amy Grant, Kennedy Center
AMY GRANT’S LOVE FOR THE VILE ‘60S ROCK & ROLL CULTURE (Friday Church News Notes, January 16, 2026, www.wayoflife.org, fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - Nothing in my lifetime has done more to produce the apostasy of 2 Timothy 4:3-4 than Contemporary Christian Music, and Amy Grant is one of the most influential figures in the field. In the 1980s, she was one of the first CCM artists to achieve crossover pop success in the secular field by producing “Christian” music without the Christianity. “The Queen of Christian Pop” has achieved wealth and fame, having sold more than 30 million records and won dozens of Grammy and Dove awards. In 2003, she was inducted into the Gospel Music Hall of Fame, and in 2005 she was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. In a new song for 2026, she expressed longing for the 1960s rock & roll culture with its anti-God moral relativism. The song “6th of January (Yasgur’s Farm)” refers to the pro-Trump U.S. Capitol demonstration in January 2021 and to the farm on which the Woodstock music festival took place in August 1969. She expresses nostalgia for the spirit of the 1960s, claiming that we have “lost our way.” She mentions Marvin Gaye, Martin Luther King Jr., John Lennon’s “Imagine,” and Woodstock, with zero warning about the vile sensuality and vulgarity of Gaye’s lifestyle and music or King’s theological liberalism, communist sympathies, and serial adultery or Lennon’s anti-law atheism or Woodstock’s shameful live-as-you-please immorality. Lennon’s “Imagine” has become an anthem for globalism, atheism, and communism. It is the latter-day theme song of the Mystery of Iniquity. Grant’s non-critical reference to it is clear evidence of a fearful spiritual condition. Crooning to hypnotic music, Lennon said, “Imagine there’s no heaven / It’s easy if you try / No hell below us / Above us only sky.” Imagining won’t turn this lie into reality, even if the whole world imagines together. This is nothing new for Amy Grant. She was a ground breaker in dissolving the wall of separation between the flesh and Spirit, the world and Christ, in Christian music. In 1985 she said, “I’m trying to look sexy to sell a record” (Rolling Stone, June 6, 1985, p. 10). She has also been at the forefront of dissolving doctrinal walls of separation with her radical “one-world church” ecumenism and close relationship with Rome. In 1999, Grant divorced her husband of 16 years, Gary Chapman, and in 2000 married country singer Vince Gill. Chapman testified that Amy came to him in late 1994 and said, “I don’t love you anymore. ... I’ve given my heart to another man” (CCM Magazine, January 2000, p. 36). Grant has justified foul language, marijuana, and secular rock, and practices empty-minded yoga (Tulsa World, November 20, 2011). In an interview with Apple Music’s LGBT-themed Proud Radio in 2021, she said, “None of us are a surprise to God. ... I was invited to a table where someone said ‘don’t be afraid, you’re loved.’ ... Gay ... Straight. It does not matter. It doesn’t matter how we behave. It doesn’t matter how we’re wired” (“CCM Icon Amy Grant,” Relevant Magazine, July 12, 2021). Amy’s philosophy is a dangerous error that ignores repentance and the new birth. God does love every sinner, but He doesn’t accept sinners on their own terms. The Bible plainly says that homosexuality is a sin against the God who made man “male and female.” Jesus Christ said, “I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish” (Luke 13:3). The apostle Paul said, “God now commandeth all men every where to repent” (Acts 17:30). The members of the early churches came from every type of sinful background, including homosexuality, but they had repented of their sins and been converted by God’s Spirit. Paul was very clear on this matter. See 1 Corinthians 6:9-11. (For more about Marvin Gaye and John Lennon and Amy Grant see The Directory of Contemporary Worship Music (650 pages) and Rock and Roll’s War Against God (425 pages) available as free eBooks at the Books section of www.wayoflife.org.)
MINNESOTA 1930s (Friday Church News Notes, January 16, 2026, www.wayoflife.org, fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - Minnesota is a bottomless pit of corruption today, but the corruption has existed there for more than a hundred years. Consider the following testimony from the early 1930s: “With a population of 275,000, St. Paul was a graceful, beautiful city on the outside, dotted with European-style cathedrals and handsome stone mansions. But its old-world charm masked a world of police corruption and criminal skullduggery. For decades, it had been one of several ‘wide-open’ American cities where criminals were unmolested by the authorities as long as they spent their stolen money there on booze, brothels, and gambling; paid off the local police and politicians; and refrained from committing crimes within the city limits” (John Oiler, Gangster Hunters: How Hoover’s G-men Vanquished America’s Deadliest Public Enemies, p. 11). Now that light is shining into the dark crevices of 21st century Minnesota, it is probable that the money trail will find out plenty of corrupt government officials whose hands are stained by the multi-billion dollar theft. “For the love of money is the root of all evil” (1 Timothy 6:10).
BEWARE OF THE BIBLICAL ARCHAEOLOGY SOCIETY (Friday Church News Notes, January 16, 2026, www.wayoflife.org, fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The Biblical Archaeology Society (BAS) was founded in 1974 as a “nondenominational, educational organization dedicated to the dissemination of information about archaeology in the Bible lands.” The society and its Biblical Archaeology Review (BAR) have large influence, but these are not Bible-believing people. The BAS Library Explorer recently asked, “Where Did the Early Israelites Come From?” (Jan. 11, 2026). The answer is simple if you accept the authority of Jesus Christ, who cited every major part of the Old Testament and authenticated it as God’s Word which cannot be broken, the very jots and tittles of which cannot pass away (John 10:35; Matthew 5:18), and who proved beyond doubt that He is the eternal Son of God by His bodily resurrection which Luke said was accompanied by “many infallible proofs” (Acts 1:1-3). That being the case, the answer to the Biblical Archaeology Society’s question is simple, but not for the “scholars” that the BAS panders to. They say, “In this collection, you’ll discover the outlines of all three theories about the origin of the Israelite nation. Did the early Israelites enter Canaan as the books of Joshua and Judges recount based on the newest archaeological evidence? If the Israelites did enter Canaan, was it through conquest or peaceful settlement? Or were the Israelites already in place--a disaffected population that moved from the Canaanite urban centers into the hills? In this special collection of articles, handpicked by BAS editors, explore the central arguments in this debate, and learn how archaeology is constantly contributing to our understanding of biblical history” (BAS, Jan. 11, 2026). The only correct answer is No. 1, but it is not a theory; it is solid Bible fact. The real question is will you believe Jesus Christ and the apostles who were eyewitnesses to His miraculous life, death, and resurrection, and who had sign gifts to authenticate their calling, or will you believe the “scholars” who have seen nothing? I love true biblical scholarship and despise ignorance in the ministry, but I also despise wanna be intellectuals who practice what Princeton-educated David Otis Fuller called “scholarolatry.” Peter’s prophecy exposes their hearts’ condition and the motivation for their skepticism. “Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts” (2 Peter. 3:3). They do not believe God’s Word because they are determined not to obey God’s laws.
GIRL TESTIFIES THAT SHE WAS MANIPULATED INTO “SEX CHANGE” (Friday Church News Notes, January 16, 2026, www.wayoflife.org, fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The following very sad testimony is excerpted from “I was told I was a boy,” Fox News, Jan. 12, 2026. “Can a young boy or a girl actually change genders? I asked this question myself, starting at age 12. I gave the wrong answer. I was a classic tomboy--a girl who didn’t act and dress the way other girls did. I never felt like I fit in. But instead of realizing that I was in a normal phase of life, I got sucked into the world of social media and video games. That’s where I met people who told me that no, I wasn’t actually a girl. They told me I was a boy. That I should change my body to reflect who I ‘really was inside.’ I believed them. I went to doctors who gave me puberty blockers, blocking my normal development. Soon after, they started me on cross-sex hormones, so that I’d start to look more like a boy. Then, at age 15, the doctors gave me a double mastectomy. ... By age 16, I realized how wrong I was. But I couldn’t go back. ... I know the truth now: I’m a girl. I always have been. I always will be. I can’t change that--because it’s scientifically and biologically impossible. No matter how many drugs or surgeries they get, kids who think they’re transgender really aren’t. They’re just confused. And in their confusion, doctors and activists are pushing them down a road of even more confusion. It’s also a road of unspeakable grief, worse than anything I ever experienced when I was 12 and felt like I didn’t fit in. ... Sex-change treatments just cover up the truth under a veneer of self-deception and socially acceptable lies. ... The [Supreme Court] justices must see through it all. No doubt, the lawyers on the transgender side will try to trick them with arguments about equal treatment and human rights. But this isn’t about rights--it’s about the deep and profound wrong that is child transgenderism. ... at the end of the day, this isn’t just about law. It’s about science and truth. And that’s why the Supreme Court must reject the transgender lie.” CONCLUSION: May this abused young woman find peace in Jesus Christ. He who will never disappoint or manipulate or abuse made the sacrificial atonement for man’s sin that men and women might be reconciled to God. He said, “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light” (Matthew 11:28-30).
THE LONG, DREARY NIGHT WILL END (Friday Church News Notes, January 16, 2026, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - “What a long, dreary night with what frightful disturbing nightmares, if I may so speak, has this world known since sin, with all of its attendant evils, came in to wreck man’s hopes of joy and gladness! But how precious to know that evil shall not always have the upper hand; that a time is coming, aye, and is very near, when the curse will be lifted, the desert shall rejoice and blossom like the rose; even the lower creation will be changed and revert to former habits before sin entered, ‘the lion shall eat straw like the ox’ (Isa. 11:7); the little child need not fear the most savage of beasts because they shall not hurt nor destroy in that day. Then government will be righteously regulated; abuses of every kind will be stopped, and for a thousand glorious years [and forever after] our Lord Himself shall reign in righteousness” (Harry A. Ironside).
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).
MINNESOTA 1930s (Friday Church News Notes, January 16, 2026, www.wayoflife.org, fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - Minnesota is a bottomless pit of corruption today, but the corruption has existed there for more than a hundred years. Consider the following testimony from the early 1930s: “With a population of 275,000, St. Paul was a graceful, beautiful city on the outside, dotted with European-style cathedrals and handsome stone mansions. But its old-world charm masked a world of police corruption and criminal skullduggery. For decades, it had been one of several ‘wide-open’ American cities where criminals were unmolested by the authorities as long as they spent their stolen money there on booze, brothels, and gambling; paid off the local police and politicians; and refrained from committing crimes within the city limits” (John Oiler, Gangster Hunters: How Hoover’s G-men Vanquished America’s Deadliest Public Enemies, p. 11). Now that light is shining into the dark crevices of 21st century Minnesota, it is probable that the money trail will find out plenty of corrupt government officials whose hands are stained by the multi-billion dollar theft. “For the love of money is the root of all evil” (1 Timothy 6:10).
BEWARE OF THE BIBLICAL ARCHAEOLOGY SOCIETY (Friday Church News Notes, January 16, 2026, www.wayoflife.org, fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The Biblical Archaeology Society (BAS) was founded in 1974 as a “nondenominational, educational organization dedicated to the dissemination of information about archaeology in the Bible lands.” The society and its Biblical Archaeology Review (BAR) have large influence, but these are not Bible-believing people. The BAS Library Explorer recently asked, “Where Did the Early Israelites Come From?” (Jan. 11, 2026). The answer is simple if you accept the authority of Jesus Christ, who cited every major part of the Old Testament and authenticated it as God’s Word which cannot be broken, the very jots and tittles of which cannot pass away (John 10:35; Matthew 5:18), and who proved beyond doubt that He is the eternal Son of God by His bodily resurrection which Luke said was accompanied by “many infallible proofs” (Acts 1:1-3). That being the case, the answer to the Biblical Archaeology Society’s question is simple, but not for the “scholars” that the BAS panders to. They say, “In this collection, you’ll discover the outlines of all three theories about the origin of the Israelite nation. Did the early Israelites enter Canaan as the books of Joshua and Judges recount based on the newest archaeological evidence? If the Israelites did enter Canaan, was it through conquest or peaceful settlement? Or were the Israelites already in place--a disaffected population that moved from the Canaanite urban centers into the hills? In this special collection of articles, handpicked by BAS editors, explore the central arguments in this debate, and learn how archaeology is constantly contributing to our understanding of biblical history” (BAS, Jan. 11, 2026). The only correct answer is No. 1, but it is not a theory; it is solid Bible fact. The real question is will you believe Jesus Christ and the apostles who were eyewitnesses to His miraculous life, death, and resurrection, and who had sign gifts to authenticate their calling, or will you believe the “scholars” who have seen nothing? I love true biblical scholarship and despise ignorance in the ministry, but I also despise wanna be intellectuals who practice what Princeton-educated David Otis Fuller called “scholarolatry.” Peter’s prophecy exposes their hearts’ condition and the motivation for their skepticism. “Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts” (2 Peter. 3:3). They do not believe God’s Word because they are determined not to obey God’s laws.
GIRL TESTIFIES THAT SHE WAS MANIPULATED INTO “SEX CHANGE” (Friday Church News Notes, January 16, 2026, www.wayoflife.org, fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The following very sad testimony is excerpted from “I was told I was a boy,” Fox News, Jan. 12, 2026. “Can a young boy or a girl actually change genders? I asked this question myself, starting at age 12. I gave the wrong answer. I was a classic tomboy--a girl who didn’t act and dress the way other girls did. I never felt like I fit in. But instead of realizing that I was in a normal phase of life, I got sucked into the world of social media and video games. That’s where I met people who told me that no, I wasn’t actually a girl. They told me I was a boy. That I should change my body to reflect who I ‘really was inside.’ I believed them. I went to doctors who gave me puberty blockers, blocking my normal development. Soon after, they started me on cross-sex hormones, so that I’d start to look more like a boy. Then, at age 15, the doctors gave me a double mastectomy. ... By age 16, I realized how wrong I was. But I couldn’t go back. ... I know the truth now: I’m a girl. I always have been. I always will be. I can’t change that--because it’s scientifically and biologically impossible. No matter how many drugs or surgeries they get, kids who think they’re transgender really aren’t. They’re just confused. And in their confusion, doctors and activists are pushing them down a road of even more confusion. It’s also a road of unspeakable grief, worse than anything I ever experienced when I was 12 and felt like I didn’t fit in. ... Sex-change treatments just cover up the truth under a veneer of self-deception and socially acceptable lies. ... The [Supreme Court] justices must see through it all. No doubt, the lawyers on the transgender side will try to trick them with arguments about equal treatment and human rights. But this isn’t about rights--it’s about the deep and profound wrong that is child transgenderism. ... at the end of the day, this isn’t just about law. It’s about science and truth. And that’s why the Supreme Court must reject the transgender lie.” CONCLUSION: May this abused young woman find peace in Jesus Christ. He who will never disappoint or manipulate or abuse made the sacrificial atonement for man’s sin that men and women might be reconciled to God. He said, “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light” (Matthew 11:28-30).
THE LONG, DREARY NIGHT WILL END (Friday Church News Notes, January 16, 2026, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - “What a long, dreary night with what frightful disturbing nightmares, if I may so speak, has this world known since sin, with all of its attendant evils, came in to wreck man’s hopes of joy and gladness! But how precious to know that evil shall not always have the upper hand; that a time is coming, aye, and is very near, when the curse will be lifted, the desert shall rejoice and blossom like the rose; even the lower creation will be changed and revert to former habits before sin entered, ‘the lion shall eat straw like the ox’ (Isa. 11:7); the little child need not fear the most savage of beasts because they shall not hurt nor destroy in that day. Then government will be righteously regulated; abuses of every kind will be stopped, and for a thousand glorious years [and forever after] our Lord Himself shall reign in righteousness” (Harry A. Ironside).
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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