Friday Church News Notes
January 30, 2026 - Volume 27, Issue 05
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.
TRUMP OFFERS THE POPE A SEAT ON THE BOARD OF PEACE (Friday Church News Notes, January 30, 2026, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - In yet another misguided peace pursuit by a U.S. President, Donald Trump founded the Board of Peace (BoP) earlier this month to bring peace to Gaza in the short term and to all nations ultimately. The BoP is an evolving, nebulous entity, but the White House official website stated, “Today, the first steps toward a brighter day for the Middle East and a much safer future for the world are unfolding right before your very eyes” (“President Trump Ratifies,” WhiteHouse.gov, Jan. 22, 2026). Invitation letters to 60 or so potential members stated that the BoP will “embark on a bold new approach to resolving global conflict.” Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner said, “If we believe that peace is possible than peace really can be possible” (Ibid.). This is New Age power of positive confession. At the announcement of the formation of the BoP on his own social media forum, Trump called the BoP board “the Greatest and most Prestigious ever assembled at any time, any place” (Truth Social, Jan. 15, 2026). Trump is lifetime Chairman of the BoP, with sole power to appoint and dismiss members, set agendas, break vote ties, issue resolutions, and nominate his successor. He has already withdrawn the BoP invitation to Canada. Permanent member nations must pay $1 billion; others are limited to a three-year term. In the short term, the BoP aims to establish a multi-national rule in Gaza. So far, 20 nations have signed on, including Argentina, Bulgaria, Hungary, and Islamic majority nations Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Egypt, Morocco, Pakistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey. Major European nations have declined the invitation or are adopting a wait and see approach. Trump has also offered a seat to the Roman Catholic Pope, again revealing a gross lack of spiritual discernment. The Vatican secretary of state announced that Pope Leo XIV (the first American pope) is “currently evaluating” the invitation” (“Pope evaluating,” Catholic Standard, Jan. 22, 2026). Bible prophecy is clear that the BoP will fail. “For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night. 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 5:2-3).
JEWS PRAYING FOR THE THIRD TEMPLE ON THE TEMPLE MOUNT ITSELF (Friday Church News Notes, January 30, 2026, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - As the fervor to build the third temple in Jerusalem continues to grow, there is increasing liberty for Jews to pray on the Temple Mount where the first and second temples once stood. This liberty is driven by Itamar Ben-Gvir, National Security Minister under Benjamin Netanyahu, and Maj. Gen. Avshalom Peled, the new commander of the Jerusalem District of the Israeli Police. In November 2025, three Levites sang on the Temple Mount for the first time in nearly 2,000 years. Since early January of this year, Jews have been allowed to bring an approved prayer page containing the Amidah (standing prayer, pronounced am-mee’-dah) (“Israel police loosen Temple Mount prayer restrictions,” World Israel News, Jan. 21, 2026). In the Amidah, a long prayer that is to be repeated three times daily, God is beseeched to restore the throne of David, the temple, and the sacrifices. The third temple is mentioned twice. (In its vain tradition, rabbinical Judaism does not use the names of God, though His names are clearly revealed in Scripture to be known by all men.) The Amidah is accompanied by repetitious rituals, including taking three steps back and three steps forward at the beginning of the prayer. Following is the relevant part of the Amidah from an English translation by the Kehot Publication Society at chabad.org: “Return in mercy to Jerusalem Your city and dwell therein as You have promised; speedily establish therein the throne of David Your servant, and rebuild it, soon in our days, as an everlasting edifice. ... Look with favor, L-rd our G‑d, on Your people Israel and pay heed to their prayer; restore the service to YOUR SANCTUARY and accept with love and favor ISRAEL’S FIRE-OFFERINGS and prayer ... May our eyes behold Your return to Zion in mercy. Blessed are You L-rd, who restores his divine presence to Zion. ... May it be Your will, L-rd our G‑d and G‑d of our fathers, that the BET HAMIKDASH [Hebrew for ‘house of holiness’] be speedily rebuilt in our days...” (excerpted from the Amidah). The third temple is mentioned in four passages of Bible prophecy (Daniel 9:27; Matthew 24:15; 2 Thessalonians 2:3-4; Revelation 11:1-2). Revelation 11 indicates that it will be built at the beginning of the reign of the Antichrist when the two witnesses prophesy in Jerusalem.
AMERICA ON CANADA’S DANGEROUS PATH WITH EUTHANASIA (Friday Church News Notes, January 30, 2026, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The following is excerpted from “Kiano Vafaeian’s Physician-Assisted Killing,” Standing for Freedom, Jan. 20, 2026: “[O]n December 30, 2025, Kiano Vafaeian was euthanized in Vancouver after being approved by Dr. Ellen Wiebe, a physician who has ended over 400 lives through Canada’s Medical Assistance in Dying (MAID) program. Kiano suffered from diabetes, had lost vision in his left eye, and struggled with depression. [His mother, who tried unsuccessfully to save him, said of the government action,] ‘No compassion. No protection. No effort to save a life, only to end it.’ ... This isn’t just happening in Canada. Right now, 12 U.S. states have legalized assisted suicide: California, Colorado, Delaware, Hawaii, Maine, Montana, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, Vermont, Washington, and the District of Columbia. ... Illinois just passed its End-of-Life Options Act and awaits a Senate vote ... Maryland, Delaware, and New Hampshire are all advancing bills. In Oregon, where assisted suicide has been legal since 1997, the state is now working to expand who can prescribe lethal drugs--from physicians only to include nurse practitioners and physician assistants. Vermont and Washington are pursuing similar expansions. The trend is clear: What starts as ‘compassionate care for the terminally ill’ inevitably expands to include the depressed, the disabled, and even the poor.”
SLAVERY’S UGLY HISTORY FROM ANCIENT TIMES (Friday Church News Notes, January 30, 2026, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - We are pleased to announce the publication of another free eBook, Slavery’s Ugly History from Ancient Times, 100 pages. Slavery has been practiced since the fall of man. It is not a product of “racism”; it is not an issue of skin color; it is a product of man’s sinful heart, which is described in Scripture as “desperately wicked” (Jeremiah 17:9). Man’s history can be summarized as “hateful, and hating one another” (Titus 3:3), and that innate hatred has often taken the form of enslavement of one’s fellow man. This book documents the fact that slavery has been practiced by the white man, the black man, the red man, the yellow man, and every other kind of man, all of whom are children of Adam, the first man. Slavery was practiced by the Babylonians, the Hittites, the Assyrians, the Egyptians, the Greeks, the Persians, the ancient Brits, the Danes, the Romans, the African kingdoms, the South American kingdoms (e.g., Mayan, Aztec, Inca), the Chinese, Indians, Mongols, Mughals, Burmese, Native North Americans, Muslim kingdoms, Spanish, Portuguese, Mexicans, British, and Americans. It is still practiced in some places (e.g., North Korea, Sudan). Today, international slavery is called “human trafficking.” The new book also deals with the abolition of slavery in England and America as a product of biblical influence. The final chapter is “Slavery and the Bible.” Slavery’s Ugly History from Ancient Times is available from the Books section of www.wayoflife.org.
PAUL, THE RIP-ROARING FUNDAMENTALIST TRUTH WARRIOR (Friday Church News Notes, January 30, 2026, www.wayoflife.org, fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - We live in an hour when evangelicalism, the dominant brand of Bible Christianity, is soft, feminized, non-judgmental, positive, but that is not the type of Christianity we see in Scripture. At the end of his life, Paul said, “I have fought a good fight” (2 Ti. 4:7). Paul was happy to be known as a fighter. Paul was a gentle man, but when it came to defending the faith, he was not gentle. He called false teachers “dogs” and “evil workers” (Php. 3:2). Of those who pervert the gospel he said, “Let them be accursed” (Ga. 1:8, 9). He called them “evil men and seducers” (2 Ti. 3:13), “men of corrupt minds, reprobate concerning the faith” (2 Ti. 3:8), “false apostles, deceitful workers” (2 Co. 11:13). He called their teaching “vain babblings” (2 Ti. 2:16, 17). He warned about “philosophy and vain deceit” (Col. 2:8). He spoke of their “cunning craftiness” (Eph. 4:14). When Elymas tried to turn men away from the gospel, Paul wasted no time with dialogue, skipped the soft approach, and made no effort to avoid offense, saying, “O full of all subtilty and all mischief, thou child of the devil, thou enemy of all righteousness, wilt thou not cease to pervert the right ways of the Lord?” (Ac. 13:10). Paul warned about false teachers who would come into the churches, calling them “grievous wolves” (Ac. 20:29) and labeling their teaching “perverse things” (Ac. 20:30). He warned about false christs, false spirits, false gospels (2 Co. 11:1-4). He labeled false teaching “doctrines of devils” (1 Ti. 4:1) and said that those who deny the bodily resurrection are “fools” (1 Co. 15:35-36). In the fight for the faith, Paul did not deal in generalities and he pulled no punches. In the Pastoral Epistles he warned of false teachers and worldly compromisers by name 10 times. This is the example that the Spirit of God has left for the churches. Any preacher that doesn’t follow Paul is disobedient to God. By the way, Paul would not be welcome in most fundamental Baptist preacher’s fellowship meetings today, because of his passion for warning and reproving and for his emphasis on the necessity of repentance for salvation. He preached both repentance and faith (Ac. 20:21); he demanded repentance (Ac. 17:30); and he defined repentance as to “turn to God, and do works meet for repentance” (Ac. 26:20), which a lot of very ignorant preachers today would reject as a “works salvation.”
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).
JEWS PRAYING FOR THE THIRD TEMPLE ON THE TEMPLE MOUNT ITSELF (Friday Church News Notes, January 30, 2026, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - As the fervor to build the third temple in Jerusalem continues to grow, there is increasing liberty for Jews to pray on the Temple Mount where the first and second temples once stood. This liberty is driven by Itamar Ben-Gvir, National Security Minister under Benjamin Netanyahu, and Maj. Gen. Avshalom Peled, the new commander of the Jerusalem District of the Israeli Police. In November 2025, three Levites sang on the Temple Mount for the first time in nearly 2,000 years. Since early January of this year, Jews have been allowed to bring an approved prayer page containing the Amidah (standing prayer, pronounced am-mee’-dah) (“Israel police loosen Temple Mount prayer restrictions,” World Israel News, Jan. 21, 2026). In the Amidah, a long prayer that is to be repeated three times daily, God is beseeched to restore the throne of David, the temple, and the sacrifices. The third temple is mentioned twice. (In its vain tradition, rabbinical Judaism does not use the names of God, though His names are clearly revealed in Scripture to be known by all men.) The Amidah is accompanied by repetitious rituals, including taking three steps back and three steps forward at the beginning of the prayer. Following is the relevant part of the Amidah from an English translation by the Kehot Publication Society at chabad.org: “Return in mercy to Jerusalem Your city and dwell therein as You have promised; speedily establish therein the throne of David Your servant, and rebuild it, soon in our days, as an everlasting edifice. ... Look with favor, L-rd our G‑d, on Your people Israel and pay heed to their prayer; restore the service to YOUR SANCTUARY and accept with love and favor ISRAEL’S FIRE-OFFERINGS and prayer ... May our eyes behold Your return to Zion in mercy. Blessed are You L-rd, who restores his divine presence to Zion. ... May it be Your will, L-rd our G‑d and G‑d of our fathers, that the BET HAMIKDASH [Hebrew for ‘house of holiness’] be speedily rebuilt in our days...” (excerpted from the Amidah). The third temple is mentioned in four passages of Bible prophecy (Daniel 9:27; Matthew 24:15; 2 Thessalonians 2:3-4; Revelation 11:1-2). Revelation 11 indicates that it will be built at the beginning of the reign of the Antichrist when the two witnesses prophesy in Jerusalem.
AMERICA ON CANADA’S DANGEROUS PATH WITH EUTHANASIA (Friday Church News Notes, January 30, 2026, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The following is excerpted from “Kiano Vafaeian’s Physician-Assisted Killing,” Standing for Freedom, Jan. 20, 2026: “[O]n December 30, 2025, Kiano Vafaeian was euthanized in Vancouver after being approved by Dr. Ellen Wiebe, a physician who has ended over 400 lives through Canada’s Medical Assistance in Dying (MAID) program. Kiano suffered from diabetes, had lost vision in his left eye, and struggled with depression. [His mother, who tried unsuccessfully to save him, said of the government action,] ‘No compassion. No protection. No effort to save a life, only to end it.’ ... This isn’t just happening in Canada. Right now, 12 U.S. states have legalized assisted suicide: California, Colorado, Delaware, Hawaii, Maine, Montana, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, Vermont, Washington, and the District of Columbia. ... Illinois just passed its End-of-Life Options Act and awaits a Senate vote ... Maryland, Delaware, and New Hampshire are all advancing bills. In Oregon, where assisted suicide has been legal since 1997, the state is now working to expand who can prescribe lethal drugs--from physicians only to include nurse practitioners and physician assistants. Vermont and Washington are pursuing similar expansions. The trend is clear: What starts as ‘compassionate care for the terminally ill’ inevitably expands to include the depressed, the disabled, and even the poor.”
SLAVERY’S UGLY HISTORY FROM ANCIENT TIMES (Friday Church News Notes, January 30, 2026, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - We are pleased to announce the publication of another free eBook, Slavery’s Ugly History from Ancient Times, 100 pages. Slavery has been practiced since the fall of man. It is not a product of “racism”; it is not an issue of skin color; it is a product of man’s sinful heart, which is described in Scripture as “desperately wicked” (Jeremiah 17:9). Man’s history can be summarized as “hateful, and hating one another” (Titus 3:3), and that innate hatred has often taken the form of enslavement of one’s fellow man. This book documents the fact that slavery has been practiced by the white man, the black man, the red man, the yellow man, and every other kind of man, all of whom are children of Adam, the first man. Slavery was practiced by the Babylonians, the Hittites, the Assyrians, the Egyptians, the Greeks, the Persians, the ancient Brits, the Danes, the Romans, the African kingdoms, the South American kingdoms (e.g., Mayan, Aztec, Inca), the Chinese, Indians, Mongols, Mughals, Burmese, Native North Americans, Muslim kingdoms, Spanish, Portuguese, Mexicans, British, and Americans. It is still practiced in some places (e.g., North Korea, Sudan). Today, international slavery is called “human trafficking.” The new book also deals with the abolition of slavery in England and America as a product of biblical influence. The final chapter is “Slavery and the Bible.” Slavery’s Ugly History from Ancient Times is available from the Books section of www.wayoflife.org.
PAUL, THE RIP-ROARING FUNDAMENTALIST TRUTH WARRIOR (Friday Church News Notes, January 30, 2026, www.wayoflife.org, fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - We live in an hour when evangelicalism, the dominant brand of Bible Christianity, is soft, feminized, non-judgmental, positive, but that is not the type of Christianity we see in Scripture. At the end of his life, Paul said, “I have fought a good fight” (2 Ti. 4:7). Paul was happy to be known as a fighter. Paul was a gentle man, but when it came to defending the faith, he was not gentle. He called false teachers “dogs” and “evil workers” (Php. 3:2). Of those who pervert the gospel he said, “Let them be accursed” (Ga. 1:8, 9). He called them “evil men and seducers” (2 Ti. 3:13), “men of corrupt minds, reprobate concerning the faith” (2 Ti. 3:8), “false apostles, deceitful workers” (2 Co. 11:13). He called their teaching “vain babblings” (2 Ti. 2:16, 17). He warned about “philosophy and vain deceit” (Col. 2:8). He spoke of their “cunning craftiness” (Eph. 4:14). When Elymas tried to turn men away from the gospel, Paul wasted no time with dialogue, skipped the soft approach, and made no effort to avoid offense, saying, “O full of all subtilty and all mischief, thou child of the devil, thou enemy of all righteousness, wilt thou not cease to pervert the right ways of the Lord?” (Ac. 13:10). Paul warned about false teachers who would come into the churches, calling them “grievous wolves” (Ac. 20:29) and labeling their teaching “perverse things” (Ac. 20:30). He warned about false christs, false spirits, false gospels (2 Co. 11:1-4). He labeled false teaching “doctrines of devils” (1 Ti. 4:1) and said that those who deny the bodily resurrection are “fools” (1 Co. 15:35-36). In the fight for the faith, Paul did not deal in generalities and he pulled no punches. In the Pastoral Epistles he warned of false teachers and worldly compromisers by name 10 times. This is the example that the Spirit of God has left for the churches. Any preacher that doesn’t follow Paul is disobedient to God. By the way, Paul would not be welcome in most fundamental Baptist preacher’s fellowship meetings today, because of his passion for warning and reproving and for his emphasis on the necessity of repentance for salvation. He preached both repentance and faith (Ac. 20:21); he demanded repentance (Ac. 17:30); and he defined repentance as to “turn to God, and do works meet for repentance” (Ac. 26:20), which a lot of very ignorant preachers today would reject as a “works salvation.”
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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