Friday Church News Notes
February 13, 2026 - Volume 27, Issue 07
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.
ISRAEL365NEWS CALLS ON ISRAEL’S KNESSET TO BUILD THE THIRD TEMPLE (Friday Church News Notes, February 13, 2026, www.wayoflife.org, fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The following is excerpted from “Why the Knesset must champion the Third Temple,” Israel365News, Feb. 2, 2026: “As the Parliament building marks its 60th anniversary on Tu B’Shevat [an archaeological exhibition of artifacts pertaining to the Sanhedrin] forces an unavoidable question: Can the Knesset truly claim to be the heir of the Sanhedrin while ignoring the institution that made the ancient court legitimate--the Temple in Jerusalem? ... The Sanhedrin derived its authority from sitting adjacent to the Divine presence in the Temple. If the modern Knesset wants to claim this heritage, it must confront the obvious gap: the Temple itself. ... Israel today has sovereignty over Jerusalem. It has the political and military capability to control the Temple Mount. The technological and architectural expertise to construct the Third Temple exists. What is missing is not ability but will, particularly the Knesset’s will to assert Jewish rights at the site. ... visitors [to the Knesset exhibition] should see more than historical artifacts. They should see a challenge to the current leadership to complete what the Sanhedrin in exile could only dream of--the restoration of full Jewish sovereignty over the Temple Mount and the rebuilding of the House that gives the Knesset its true legitimacy as heir to Israel’s ancient institutions of governance.” CONCLUSION: Israel is looking for a Messiah to bring peace and build the Third Temple, blind to the fact that she rejected her Messiah when He came 2,000 years ago and is now waiting for the coming of the Antichrist. The Jews in Israel are primed to accept a Messiah who comes from the Mount of Olives, establishes peace between Israel and her neighbors, and announces the rebuilding of the temple. The Antichrist described in Bible prophecy will fit this bill with perfection. 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. (The temple described in Ezekiel 40-48 is the Millennial Temple that Christ will build and occupy. That is when the glory will return to Israel.)
FUNDAMENTAL BAPTISTS: HISTORY, COLLAPSE, REVIVAL (Friday Church News Notes, February 13, 2026, www.wayoflife.org, fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - This new book is the product of more than a half century of study, experience, and discussions with preachers in many parts of the world, and it is what I would like to say to every fundamental Baptist church if I had the opportunity. The book begins with a brief history of fundamental Baptists, including the strengths and weaknesses as we see them. The next section describes the great collapse of fundamental Baptist churches over the past three decades, with large numbers of churches dying or capitulating to the contemporary evangelical philosophy and program. We look at the collapse of fundamentalism in general and of northern and southern fundamental Baptists, including the works associated with D.L. Moody, W.B. Riley’s Northwestern Bible and Missionary Training School, and a slew of others which were captured by New Evangelicalism then devoured by theological liberalism, the social gospel, humanism, Romanism, and other isms. In 1992, the old fundamentalist warrior John Ashbrook said, “The healthy fundamentalism which I knew as a student in 1948 has been almost destroyed by the infiltration of new evangelicalism. ... Wherever the explosion has reverberated, it has destroyed sound doctrine, reverent worship and holy living among the Lord’s people” (New Neutralism II: Exposing the Gray of Compromise, pp. vi, 3). We also consider Temple Baptist of Detroit, First Baptist of Ft. Worth, the GARBC, the BBFI, Trinity Baptist of Jacksonville, Highland Park Baptist of Chattanooga, Southwide Baptist Fellowship, Joyful Woman magazine, the church plants associated with West Coast Baptist College and Lancaster Baptist Church, and others. The last two sections of the book are devoted to revival and victory in the midst of collapse, which is to build thorough-going New Testament churches. There is victory for those churches that go back to the Bible alone for the pattern of the church, that stop following independent Baptist tradition, that stop lusting after numbers, and cease capitulating to American culture, which Baptist churches generally have done since the turn of 20th century. We examine nine key passages of Scripture to see what a true New Testament church should be. We must reject every tradition that is contrary to Scripture and add anything that has fallen aside. Every generation must go back to the touchstone, the true north, the perfect measure, which is the New Testament itself. On the subject of revival we examine 24 things that need to be emphasized if we are to have true New Testament churches today. We have no fear of testing any fundamental Baptist church with Scripture, for that is surely how they will be tested in the presence of Jesus Christ, the church’s one Head, Lord, and Great Shepherd. Pastors have real authority, but they are not lords and they are not to be followed blindly. We have a great respect for God-called, biblically-qualified men of God. We want to give men the honor and obedience due them by God’s Word (e.g., Ro. 13:7; 1 Th. 5:12-13; 1 Ti. 5:17-20; Heb. 13:7, 17; 1 Pe. 5:1-4), but we don’t want to fear man and follow man rather than Scripture. At the judgment seat of Christ we will be glad insofar as we have stood for God’s Word and God’s Word alone, regardless of the reproach that we might endure in this present brief life. If it is necessary to be in the extreme minority for truth’s sake like Jeremiah, we won’t be ashamed. Fundamental Baptists: History, Collapse, Revival.
MISSIONARIES BANNED FROM TURKEY (Friday Church News Notes, February 13, 2026, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The following is excerpted from “Missionaries banned,” Premier Christian News, Feb. 8, 2026: “Christian missionaries are reporting being inexplicably banned from entering Türkiye--despite many having lived in the country for decades. Christian legal charity Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) has brought 20 cases to the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR), arguing that the Turkish government’s actions amount to intimidation and discrimination against peaceful Christians. Since 2019, Turkish authorities have marked Christian’s passports with internal security codes such as ‘N-82’ and ‘G-87’--a memo typically reserved for terrorists. The codes have been applied to at least 160 foreign Christian workers and their families, with ADF suggesting the true number could be over 300. Affected individuals have found themselves denied re-entry to Türkiye after travelling abroad or refused residence permits, despite years of lawful residence and service in the country. ... ‘These are individuals who have built their lives in the country,’ Kelsey Zorzi, ADF’s Director of Advocacy for Global Religious Freedom, told Premier Christian News. ‘They’ve married Turkish citizens, and had children who are Turkish. They’re been uprooted from their entire families.’”
THE PSYCHEDELIC PANDEMIC (Friday Church News Notes, February 13, 2026, www.wayoflife.org, fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The following is excerpted from Psychedelic Seduction: Drugging the World and the Church by Richard and Linda Nathan, available from lighthousetrailsresearch.com: “Psychedelic drugs are integrating into our society at breakneck speed. ... Psychedelics are a huge rising star in the drug therapy industry, and ‘there’s almost no mental health condition right now that’s not being looked at.’ That’s because mental health issues currently are costing the global economy $1 trillion per year. Consequently, numerous large organizations, schools, and companies are studying the use of psychedelics for such conditions as mood and substance use disorders, PTSD, opioid addiction, alcohol and cancer issues, Alzheimer’s, end-of-life fears, anorexia nervosa, and major depression, among other areas. In 2019, Johns Hopkins University opened the first-of-its-kind Center for Psychedelic and Consciousness Research. They also have published ‘groundbreaking studies in more than 60 peer-reviewed articles in respected scientific journals. This makes Johns Hopkins the leading psychedelic research institution in the U.S., and among the few leading groups worldwide.’ The Center’s opening fortuitously corresponded with the FDA’s ‘breakthrough therapy’ classification for psilocybin. This new classification helps fast-track the approval of promising pharmaceuticals, of which psilocybin is major [one]. ... ‘The psychedelic pharma market is currently a little over $2 billion and is expected to be valued at more than $6.8 billion by 2027.’ ... ‘I believe that the future of psychiatry will find psychedelic medicine at its heart’ (Alex Belser, Ph.D.). ... While psychedelic ‘therapy’ focuses on non-directive support of a patient’s inner experience and is wrapped in psychological jargon, it’s the same method shamans and sorcerers use to contact spirits and gain supernatural power.”
WHALES WRITE SONGS (Friday Church News Notes, February 13, 2026, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The following is from CreationMoments.com, January 22, 2026: “Most of us have heard recordings of whales singing. Scientists have not yet learned to understand the whale’s language, but they have identified individual verses in whale song. Now they are more convinced than ever that whale song is a sophisticated language. Whale song is made up of complex and stylized compositions, many of them longer than the longest of human symphonies. A single whale song can last up to 22 hours! Scientists have learned that humpback whale songs change a lot from year to year. Yet each humpback in an entire ocean will always sing the same song as the others. Scientists wondered how whales could keep the verses straight since the song changes so often. Researchers have concluded that whales, like human beings, use rhyme to help remember their songs. Biologists studying whale song report that they have identified the same subphrases turning up in the same positions in verses that are next to each other. Whales apparently compose their long songs with rhymes, making them possibly the greatest poets on earth! Evolutionists tell us that language is such an advanced development that even the first human beings could do no more than grunt and growl. And yet the whale not only has a sophisticated language but also creates poetry. Christians can comfortably put evolution aside to realize that the Bible is right when it says that the whole creation praises God. And whales make it very clear that the Creator Himself is the author of language--not some caveman. Psalm 148:7 ‘Praise the LORD from the earth, You great sea creatures and all the depths.’ Science Frontiers; Newsweek.”
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).
FUNDAMENTAL BAPTISTS: HISTORY, COLLAPSE, REVIVAL (Friday Church News Notes, February 13, 2026, www.wayoflife.org, fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - This new book is the product of more than a half century of study, experience, and discussions with preachers in many parts of the world, and it is what I would like to say to every fundamental Baptist church if I had the opportunity. The book begins with a brief history of fundamental Baptists, including the strengths and weaknesses as we see them. The next section describes the great collapse of fundamental Baptist churches over the past three decades, with large numbers of churches dying or capitulating to the contemporary evangelical philosophy and program. We look at the collapse of fundamentalism in general and of northern and southern fundamental Baptists, including the works associated with D.L. Moody, W.B. Riley’s Northwestern Bible and Missionary Training School, and a slew of others which were captured by New Evangelicalism then devoured by theological liberalism, the social gospel, humanism, Romanism, and other isms. In 1992, the old fundamentalist warrior John Ashbrook said, “The healthy fundamentalism which I knew as a student in 1948 has been almost destroyed by the infiltration of new evangelicalism. ... Wherever the explosion has reverberated, it has destroyed sound doctrine, reverent worship and holy living among the Lord’s people” (New Neutralism II: Exposing the Gray of Compromise, pp. vi, 3). We also consider Temple Baptist of Detroit, First Baptist of Ft. Worth, the GARBC, the BBFI, Trinity Baptist of Jacksonville, Highland Park Baptist of Chattanooga, Southwide Baptist Fellowship, Joyful Woman magazine, the church plants associated with West Coast Baptist College and Lancaster Baptist Church, and others. The last two sections of the book are devoted to revival and victory in the midst of collapse, which is to build thorough-going New Testament churches. There is victory for those churches that go back to the Bible alone for the pattern of the church, that stop following independent Baptist tradition, that stop lusting after numbers, and cease capitulating to American culture, which Baptist churches generally have done since the turn of 20th century. We examine nine key passages of Scripture to see what a true New Testament church should be. We must reject every tradition that is contrary to Scripture and add anything that has fallen aside. Every generation must go back to the touchstone, the true north, the perfect measure, which is the New Testament itself. On the subject of revival we examine 24 things that need to be emphasized if we are to have true New Testament churches today. We have no fear of testing any fundamental Baptist church with Scripture, for that is surely how they will be tested in the presence of Jesus Christ, the church’s one Head, Lord, and Great Shepherd. Pastors have real authority, but they are not lords and they are not to be followed blindly. We have a great respect for God-called, biblically-qualified men of God. We want to give men the honor and obedience due them by God’s Word (e.g., Ro. 13:7; 1 Th. 5:12-13; 1 Ti. 5:17-20; Heb. 13:7, 17; 1 Pe. 5:1-4), but we don’t want to fear man and follow man rather than Scripture. At the judgment seat of Christ we will be glad insofar as we have stood for God’s Word and God’s Word alone, regardless of the reproach that we might endure in this present brief life. If it is necessary to be in the extreme minority for truth’s sake like Jeremiah, we won’t be ashamed. Fundamental Baptists: History, Collapse, Revival.
MISSIONARIES BANNED FROM TURKEY (Friday Church News Notes, February 13, 2026, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The following is excerpted from “Missionaries banned,” Premier Christian News, Feb. 8, 2026: “Christian missionaries are reporting being inexplicably banned from entering Türkiye--despite many having lived in the country for decades. Christian legal charity Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) has brought 20 cases to the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR), arguing that the Turkish government’s actions amount to intimidation and discrimination against peaceful Christians. Since 2019, Turkish authorities have marked Christian’s passports with internal security codes such as ‘N-82’ and ‘G-87’--a memo typically reserved for terrorists. The codes have been applied to at least 160 foreign Christian workers and their families, with ADF suggesting the true number could be over 300. Affected individuals have found themselves denied re-entry to Türkiye after travelling abroad or refused residence permits, despite years of lawful residence and service in the country. ... ‘These are individuals who have built their lives in the country,’ Kelsey Zorzi, ADF’s Director of Advocacy for Global Religious Freedom, told Premier Christian News. ‘They’ve married Turkish citizens, and had children who are Turkish. They’re been uprooted from their entire families.’”
THE PSYCHEDELIC PANDEMIC (Friday Church News Notes, February 13, 2026, www.wayoflife.org, fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The following is excerpted from Psychedelic Seduction: Drugging the World and the Church by Richard and Linda Nathan, available from lighthousetrailsresearch.com: “Psychedelic drugs are integrating into our society at breakneck speed. ... Psychedelics are a huge rising star in the drug therapy industry, and ‘there’s almost no mental health condition right now that’s not being looked at.’ That’s because mental health issues currently are costing the global economy $1 trillion per year. Consequently, numerous large organizations, schools, and companies are studying the use of psychedelics for such conditions as mood and substance use disorders, PTSD, opioid addiction, alcohol and cancer issues, Alzheimer’s, end-of-life fears, anorexia nervosa, and major depression, among other areas. In 2019, Johns Hopkins University opened the first-of-its-kind Center for Psychedelic and Consciousness Research. They also have published ‘groundbreaking studies in more than 60 peer-reviewed articles in respected scientific journals. This makes Johns Hopkins the leading psychedelic research institution in the U.S., and among the few leading groups worldwide.’ The Center’s opening fortuitously corresponded with the FDA’s ‘breakthrough therapy’ classification for psilocybin. This new classification helps fast-track the approval of promising pharmaceuticals, of which psilocybin is major [one]. ... ‘The psychedelic pharma market is currently a little over $2 billion and is expected to be valued at more than $6.8 billion by 2027.’ ... ‘I believe that the future of psychiatry will find psychedelic medicine at its heart’ (Alex Belser, Ph.D.). ... While psychedelic ‘therapy’ focuses on non-directive support of a patient’s inner experience and is wrapped in psychological jargon, it’s the same method shamans and sorcerers use to contact spirits and gain supernatural power.”
WHALES WRITE SONGS (Friday Church News Notes, February 13, 2026, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The following is from CreationMoments.com, January 22, 2026: “Most of us have heard recordings of whales singing. Scientists have not yet learned to understand the whale’s language, but they have identified individual verses in whale song. Now they are more convinced than ever that whale song is a sophisticated language. Whale song is made up of complex and stylized compositions, many of them longer than the longest of human symphonies. A single whale song can last up to 22 hours! Scientists have learned that humpback whale songs change a lot from year to year. Yet each humpback in an entire ocean will always sing the same song as the others. Scientists wondered how whales could keep the verses straight since the song changes so often. Researchers have concluded that whales, like human beings, use rhyme to help remember their songs. Biologists studying whale song report that they have identified the same subphrases turning up in the same positions in verses that are next to each other. Whales apparently compose their long songs with rhymes, making them possibly the greatest poets on earth! Evolutionists tell us that language is such an advanced development that even the first human beings could do no more than grunt and growl. And yet the whale not only has a sophisticated language but also creates poetry. Christians can comfortably put evolution aside to realize that the Bible is right when it says that the whole creation praises God. And whales make it very clear that the Creator Himself is the author of language--not some caveman. Psalm 148:7 ‘Praise the LORD from the earth, You great sea creatures and all the depths.’ Science Frontiers; Newsweek.”
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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