Friday Church News Notes
March 27, 2026 - Volume 27, Issue 13
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.
The "Violence Against Women and Girls" meeting, part of the 70th session of the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women in New York, on March 12, 2026.
U.S. ATTEMPT TO DEFINE GENDER ACCORDING TO BIOLOGY BLOCKED BY EU (Friday Church News Notes, March 27, 2026, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The U.S. standing alone for biological gender is a major sign of the lateness of the prophetic times. “Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD, and against his anointed, saying, Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us” (Psalm 2:1-3). The following is excerpted from “EU blocks US vote,” Fox News, Mar. 23, 2026: “The United States stood alone at the United Nations in early March after a European-led procedural move blocked a vote on defining gender in biological terms at one of the world’s leading forums on women’s rights. At the conclusion of the U.N. Commission on the Status of Women, the U.S. was the only country to oppose the body’s annual ‘Agreed Conclusions,’ citing concerns that the language departs from biological definitions of women and girls. No other member state voted with the United States. ... The U.S. introduced a resolution titled ‘Protection of women and girls through appropriate terminology,’ which sought to clarify how gender is understood across U.N. policy. The draft states that the term ‘gender’ should be interpreted ‘according to its ordinary, generally accepted usage, as referring to men and women.’ The proposal never reached a vote. Belgium, speaking on behalf of the European Union, introduced a ‘no action motion,’ a procedural tool that blocks debate and prevents a proposal from being considered. The motion passed, halting the U.S. resolution before it reached the floor.” “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them” (Genesis 1:27).
CHRISTIAN PARENTS LOSE APPEAL TO REUNITE WITH DAUGHTERS (Friday Church News Notes, March 27, 2026, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The following is excerpted from “Sweden’s Top Court Rejects,” Standing for Freedom, Mar. 19, 2026: “The European Court of Human Rights has declined to hear a case brought by a Christian couple seeking the return of their two daughters, who were taken into state custody by Swedish authorities in 2022 following allegations of abuse and concerns about religious extremism. Daniel and Bianca Samson have spent more than three years attempting to regain custody of their daughters, Sara, then 11, and Tiana, 10. According to the family’s legal representative, Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) International, the European Court of Human Rights ruled that the case was ‘inadmissible’ because the parents had not exhausted all available legal remedies in Sweden. ADF International disputed that conclusion, saying in a statement that ‘there were no further options for domestic recourse.’ ... The children were removed from the home after Sara told school officials that her parents had abused her. According to ADF International, she later withdrew the allegation, which the organization said stemmed from a dispute over her parents’ refusal to allow her to have a cell phone or to wear makeup. Authorities opened an investigation into the family but later closed it after finding no evidence of abuse. ... Despite that evaluation and the closure of the abuse investigation, Swedish officials declined to return the children, labeling the parents as ‘religious extremists’ based on their frequent church attendance and household rules that prohibit their young daughters from wearing makeup or having their own cell phones. ... According to ADF International, the girls have remained separated from their parents and from each other since December 2022, living in different foster homes. The arrangement has limited the family’s contact to just a single supervised visit each month. ... This is the outworking of the progressive secular ideology that has taken root in many Western countries. This belief system is rooted not in tolerance but in permissiveness, and that puts it in direct conflict with Christianity, which teaches restraint, duty, self-control, obedience, and yes, regular church attendance and fellowship with other Christians.”
TRANSFORMING CONGREGATIONAL SINGING FOR THE 21ST CENTURY (Friday Church News Notes, March 27, 2026, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - This new book deals with every aspect of congregational singing. It begins with a study of a prominent Baptist church of the 18th century, pastored by John Rippon, that was at the forefront of modern congregational singing and published the first influential Baptist hymnal. By comparing this church with Baptist churches of the 21st century, we can see how far the vast majority have moved from a truly biblical pattern. The book proceeds to a practical study on Ephesians 5:19 and Colossians 3:16 as the model of exactly what God says we are to be doing. There is an extensive history of congregational singing with lots of practical things, covering the Bohemian Brethren, Huguenots, Moravians, Luther, Calvin, Anabaptists, Welsh hymn singing, Scottish Presbyterians, old British Baptists, First Great Awakening, Second Great Awakening, Shape-note Singing, and the Fundamentalist-Revivalist era. There are chapters on weighing the music and weighing the lyrics. There is an extensive study on song leading. There are chapters on choosing hymnals and expanding the church’s hymn repertoire and analyzing hymns. There are sample statements on standards for music personnel and standards of church music for church constitutions or covenants. There is an extensive list of recommendations of little-known hymns. The book has biographical sketches on Cecil Francis Alexander, Charitie Bancroft, Frances Bevan, Philip Bliss, Horatius Bonar, William Bradbury, J. Wilbur Chapman, William Cowper, Fanny Crosby, James Deck, William Doane, Philip Doddridge, Charlotte Elliott, Charles Gabriel, Frances Havergal, Reginald Heber, Elisha Hoffman, Benjamin Keach, Thomas Kelly, John Leland, Robert Lowry, Martin Luther, Samuel Medley, John Rippon, John Roberts, Homer Rodeheaver, Ira Sankey, George Stebbins, Cecil Anne Stelle, Samuel Stennett, Will Thompson, Augustus Toplady, William Walford, Isaac Watts, Charles Weigle, Charles Wesley, Frances Williams, William Williams, Daniel Whittle, and Nicolaus Zinzindorf.
COTTON CANDY FAITH (Friday Church News Notes, September 19, 2025, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The following is excerpted from “Cotton Candy Faith: How Popular Women’s Bible Teachers Are Leading Many Astray,” The Disntr, Apr. 7, 2025: “It’s been said that if you want to see the theological temperature of the modern American church, you don’t go to the pulpit--you go to the fellowship hall, where a circle of women sit cradling pastel-covered workbooks with Beth Moore’s name stamped across the front like a branding iron. The giggles are warm, the tears are real, the coffee is mediocre, and the doctrine is nowhere to be found. But this is not Bible study. It’s emotional group therapy with a spiritual twist and a three-chord worship song humming in the background. And what passes for teaching in these circles is so syrupy and hollow, you’d think the goal was to disciple hummingbirds. Welcome to the world of Evangelical ladies’ Bible studies--where feelings are exegesis, self is savior, and God is little more than your best friend with benefits. At the center of this estrogen-fueled ecosystem are the usual suspects: Beth Moore, Priscilla Shirer, Christine Caine, Ann Voskamp, Kelly Minter, and a whole army of inspirational Pinterest prophets serving up spiritual soy lattes to a generation of theologically starved women. They call it empowering. We call it emasculating, effeminate, and utterly allergic to the sharp edge of truth. Yet, these women didn’t sneak into the spotlight--they were launched. Propped up by publishing houses like Lifeway and Christian conference circuits desperate to monetize female piety; they were gift-wrapped and shipped to churches with the promise of being ‘safe’ alternatives to dangerous, doctrinally robust theology. They were marketed as relatable, down-to-earth, and winsome--code, of course, for doctrinally neutered, emotionally indulgent, and conveniently soft on everything that matters. Their rise wasn’t organic. It was orchestrated. If Christian publishing were a dating app, these lady-preachers were the algorithm-approved matches for a generation of women who think discernment is a spiritual gift for mean people. At the heart of their collective teaching is a singular, unwavering false gospel: You are enough. Not Christ crucified. Not sin repented of. Just you—flawed, fabulous, fiercely loved, and in desperate need of absolutely nothing but a slightly more poetic journal entry. In fact, these women do not preach or teach the gospel at all. Instead, they preach therapeutic narcissism. And they do it with flair.” [Note from the Editor: The Distr is published by Reformed Calvinists and we absolutely do not support that theology. See The Calvinism Debate, a free eBook at the Books section of www.wayoflife.org.]
INSTANT FISH (Friday Church News Notes, March 27, 2026, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The following is from CreationMoments.com, March 3, 2026: “Imagine that you want to catch some fish, but all you see before you is dry sand. It hasn’t rained in some time, and there is no sign of life. Now imagine that you also have a large tanker truck of water. So you pump the water out of the tanker and let it run into a depression in the sand. Let’s say it takes you ten minutes to shut off the water and pull a net from the front seat. By the time you get to the small pool you’ve created, you can net fish. That’s exactly what researchers did. And they caught instant fish! These fish are called salamander fish. They live only in the on‑again, off‑again lakes and ponds of southwestern Australia. When there is plenty of rain the fish live in their ponds, feeding on insect larvae. But when the ponds dry up, the fish follow the water table underground, burrowing into the sand and entering a kind of dormant state, apparently breathing through their skin. The salamander fish has no living relatives, and doesn’t seem to be related to anything else in an evolutionary sense. Its skull is extra large and strong for its size, and its spinal bones are separated, providing extra power and mobility for digging in the sand. While millions of lakes and ponds with fish have dried up throughout history, there is no evidence that fish have ever learned to change their way of life so that they could continue to live during dry spells. The salamander fish was obviously created with this very special ability. Just as the Bible says, all creatures were created fully formed by God. REF.: Benowitz, Steve, ‘Of instant fish and pickled sharks,’ Ohio State Quest.”
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).
CHRISTIAN PARENTS LOSE APPEAL TO REUNITE WITH DAUGHTERS (Friday Church News Notes, March 27, 2026, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The following is excerpted from “Sweden’s Top Court Rejects,” Standing for Freedom, Mar. 19, 2026: “The European Court of Human Rights has declined to hear a case brought by a Christian couple seeking the return of their two daughters, who were taken into state custody by Swedish authorities in 2022 following allegations of abuse and concerns about religious extremism. Daniel and Bianca Samson have spent more than three years attempting to regain custody of their daughters, Sara, then 11, and Tiana, 10. According to the family’s legal representative, Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) International, the European Court of Human Rights ruled that the case was ‘inadmissible’ because the parents had not exhausted all available legal remedies in Sweden. ADF International disputed that conclusion, saying in a statement that ‘there were no further options for domestic recourse.’ ... The children were removed from the home after Sara told school officials that her parents had abused her. According to ADF International, she later withdrew the allegation, which the organization said stemmed from a dispute over her parents’ refusal to allow her to have a cell phone or to wear makeup. Authorities opened an investigation into the family but later closed it after finding no evidence of abuse. ... Despite that evaluation and the closure of the abuse investigation, Swedish officials declined to return the children, labeling the parents as ‘religious extremists’ based on their frequent church attendance and household rules that prohibit their young daughters from wearing makeup or having their own cell phones. ... According to ADF International, the girls have remained separated from their parents and from each other since December 2022, living in different foster homes. The arrangement has limited the family’s contact to just a single supervised visit each month. ... This is the outworking of the progressive secular ideology that has taken root in many Western countries. This belief system is rooted not in tolerance but in permissiveness, and that puts it in direct conflict with Christianity, which teaches restraint, duty, self-control, obedience, and yes, regular church attendance and fellowship with other Christians.”
TRANSFORMING CONGREGATIONAL SINGING FOR THE 21ST CENTURY (Friday Church News Notes, March 27, 2026, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - This new book deals with every aspect of congregational singing. It begins with a study of a prominent Baptist church of the 18th century, pastored by John Rippon, that was at the forefront of modern congregational singing and published the first influential Baptist hymnal. By comparing this church with Baptist churches of the 21st century, we can see how far the vast majority have moved from a truly biblical pattern. The book proceeds to a practical study on Ephesians 5:19 and Colossians 3:16 as the model of exactly what God says we are to be doing. There is an extensive history of congregational singing with lots of practical things, covering the Bohemian Brethren, Huguenots, Moravians, Luther, Calvin, Anabaptists, Welsh hymn singing, Scottish Presbyterians, old British Baptists, First Great Awakening, Second Great Awakening, Shape-note Singing, and the Fundamentalist-Revivalist era. There are chapters on weighing the music and weighing the lyrics. There is an extensive study on song leading. There are chapters on choosing hymnals and expanding the church’s hymn repertoire and analyzing hymns. There are sample statements on standards for music personnel and standards of church music for church constitutions or covenants. There is an extensive list of recommendations of little-known hymns. The book has biographical sketches on Cecil Francis Alexander, Charitie Bancroft, Frances Bevan, Philip Bliss, Horatius Bonar, William Bradbury, J. Wilbur Chapman, William Cowper, Fanny Crosby, James Deck, William Doane, Philip Doddridge, Charlotte Elliott, Charles Gabriel, Frances Havergal, Reginald Heber, Elisha Hoffman, Benjamin Keach, Thomas Kelly, John Leland, Robert Lowry, Martin Luther, Samuel Medley, John Rippon, John Roberts, Homer Rodeheaver, Ira Sankey, George Stebbins, Cecil Anne Stelle, Samuel Stennett, Will Thompson, Augustus Toplady, William Walford, Isaac Watts, Charles Weigle, Charles Wesley, Frances Williams, William Williams, Daniel Whittle, and Nicolaus Zinzindorf.
COTTON CANDY FAITH (Friday Church News Notes, September 19, 2025, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The following is excerpted from “Cotton Candy Faith: How Popular Women’s Bible Teachers Are Leading Many Astray,” The Disntr, Apr. 7, 2025: “It’s been said that if you want to see the theological temperature of the modern American church, you don’t go to the pulpit--you go to the fellowship hall, where a circle of women sit cradling pastel-covered workbooks with Beth Moore’s name stamped across the front like a branding iron. The giggles are warm, the tears are real, the coffee is mediocre, and the doctrine is nowhere to be found. But this is not Bible study. It’s emotional group therapy with a spiritual twist and a three-chord worship song humming in the background. And what passes for teaching in these circles is so syrupy and hollow, you’d think the goal was to disciple hummingbirds. Welcome to the world of Evangelical ladies’ Bible studies--where feelings are exegesis, self is savior, and God is little more than your best friend with benefits. At the center of this estrogen-fueled ecosystem are the usual suspects: Beth Moore, Priscilla Shirer, Christine Caine, Ann Voskamp, Kelly Minter, and a whole army of inspirational Pinterest prophets serving up spiritual soy lattes to a generation of theologically starved women. They call it empowering. We call it emasculating, effeminate, and utterly allergic to the sharp edge of truth. Yet, these women didn’t sneak into the spotlight--they were launched. Propped up by publishing houses like Lifeway and Christian conference circuits desperate to monetize female piety; they were gift-wrapped and shipped to churches with the promise of being ‘safe’ alternatives to dangerous, doctrinally robust theology. They were marketed as relatable, down-to-earth, and winsome--code, of course, for doctrinally neutered, emotionally indulgent, and conveniently soft on everything that matters. Their rise wasn’t organic. It was orchestrated. If Christian publishing were a dating app, these lady-preachers were the algorithm-approved matches for a generation of women who think discernment is a spiritual gift for mean people. At the heart of their collective teaching is a singular, unwavering false gospel: You are enough. Not Christ crucified. Not sin repented of. Just you—flawed, fabulous, fiercely loved, and in desperate need of absolutely nothing but a slightly more poetic journal entry. In fact, these women do not preach or teach the gospel at all. Instead, they preach therapeutic narcissism. And they do it with flair.” [Note from the Editor: The Distr is published by Reformed Calvinists and we absolutely do not support that theology. See The Calvinism Debate, a free eBook at the Books section of www.wayoflife.org.]
INSTANT FISH (Friday Church News Notes, March 27, 2026, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The following is from CreationMoments.com, March 3, 2026: “Imagine that you want to catch some fish, but all you see before you is dry sand. It hasn’t rained in some time, and there is no sign of life. Now imagine that you also have a large tanker truck of water. So you pump the water out of the tanker and let it run into a depression in the sand. Let’s say it takes you ten minutes to shut off the water and pull a net from the front seat. By the time you get to the small pool you’ve created, you can net fish. That’s exactly what researchers did. And they caught instant fish! These fish are called salamander fish. They live only in the on‑again, off‑again lakes and ponds of southwestern Australia. When there is plenty of rain the fish live in their ponds, feeding on insect larvae. But when the ponds dry up, the fish follow the water table underground, burrowing into the sand and entering a kind of dormant state, apparently breathing through their skin. The salamander fish has no living relatives, and doesn’t seem to be related to anything else in an evolutionary sense. Its skull is extra large and strong for its size, and its spinal bones are separated, providing extra power and mobility for digging in the sand. While millions of lakes and ponds with fish have dried up throughout history, there is no evidence that fish have ever learned to change their way of life so that they could continue to live during dry spells. The salamander fish was obviously created with this very special ability. Just as the Bible says, all creatures were created fully formed by God. REF.: Benowitz, Steve, ‘Of instant fish and pickled sharks,’ Ohio State Quest.”
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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