Friday Church News Notes
June 12, 2026 - Volume 27, Issue 24
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.
Turkey’s Interior Minister Mustafa Ciftci
TURKISH PRESIDENT CALLS ON ALLAH TO DESTROY ZIONIST ISRAEL (Friday Church News Notes, June 12, 2026, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The following is excerpted from “Turkey wants Jerusalem,” Israel365News, June 9, 2026: “When Turkey’s Interior Minister Mustafa Çiftçi declared last week that Jerusalem would one day return to Turkish sovereignty, ‘just as in the past,’ he was speaking as a senior official of a NATO member state, at a ruling party conference, invoking the name of Allah and the example of his president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. The Ottoman Empire, he promised the crowd, is not finished with Jerusalem. Israel’s Foreign Ministry responded directly. ‘The corrupt Ottoman Empire is gone. Forever. Jerusalem DC (David’s capital) shall remain the eternal capital of Israel. Jerusalem is not Constantinople, and the State of Israel is not a crumbling Crusader Empire.’ ... On March 30, 2025, at a prayer service marking the end of Ramadan, Turkish president Erdogan called on Allah to ‘destroy and devastate Zionist Israel.’ ... When the Gaza war erupted after Hamas’s October 7, 2023 massacre of Israeli civilians, Erdoğan used it as a platform for the most extreme rhetoric yet, comparing Israel to Nazi Germany, calling Prime Minister Netanyahu a new Hitler, praising Hamas terrorists as freedom fighters, and demanding the United Nations authorize military force against Israel.”
IRAN’S NEW SUPREME RULER PURSUES DEATH TO AMERICA AND ISRAEL (Friday Church News Notes, June 12, 2026, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The following is excerpted from “Chants of ‘Death to America’ and ‘Death to Israel,’” Israel Today, May 26, 2026: “Iran’s new supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, is clearly no more moderate than his slain father, and intends to press forward toward the goal of destroying Israel. In a written statement issued for the Hajj pilgrimage, Khamenei called on Muslims around the world to make ‘Death to America’ and ‘Death to Israel’ the common chants of the Islamic world, signaling that apocalyptic demagoguery continues to be the official state policy of the Islamic Republic. The language was familiar because the ideology is unchanged. Israel was described as a ‘cancerous tumor’ nearing the end of its existence. America was again cast as the ‘Great Satan.’ Hezbollah, Hamas, the Houthis and other Iranian-backed forces were praised as part of a victorious ‘resistance front.’ ... As the Trump administration continues diplomatic efforts with Tehran, Mojtaba Khamenei is telling the Muslim world exactly what the regime believes. The West may speak of frameworks, language, and documents. Tehran is speaking of destruction.”
ISRAELI COMPANY DEVELOPS ANTI-DRONE LASER SYSTEM (Friday Church News Notes, June 12, 2026, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The following is excerpted from “Thirty intercepts a minute,” The Jerusalem Post, June 4, 2026: “‘Globes’ now reveals another Israeli laser system for countering drones. This is Dronelight, developed by Omer-based Esh-Tech Systems, which up to now has operated below the radar. ... The system emits hundreds of tiny beams the size of a coin at the target. When one beam is seen to make a hit, additional beams are directed at the target, and the focused energy rapidly shoots it down. Esh-Tech’s laser is a pulse laser and is not fiber-based. This means that a hundredth of a second is sufficient for it to score a focused hit on a target. It has an output of four kilowatts, and can destroy a target at a range of up to one kilometer. ... With Dronelight’s ‘machine gun method’, it only takes a second or two to shoot down a drone, before moving on to the next threat. Thus 30 threats can be intercepted in a minute, instead of just four in the case of existing laser systems. The cost is also much lower, at about NIS 0.10 per minute of operation. Dronelight’s low output also helps to keep it small and portable. Esh-Tech is already working with armored vehicle manufacturers in Israel and around the world, and has orders worth millions from Europe and elsewhere. The company is also working on mounting the system onto a lightweight platform for Jeeps, and as a fixed system.”
FREE POWERPOINTS - CITIES AND PLACES OF THE BIBLE (Friday Church News Notes, June 12, 2026, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - This pictorial Bible course covers 54 major cities and places in the Bible. For each site, we cover the civil history, geography, geology, biblical facts, archaeology, and prophecy (if any). We look at Ai, Alexandria, Antioch of Syria, Ashkelon, Athens, Babylon, Beth Shean, Bethsaida, Caesarea Maritima, Caesarea Philippi, Capernaum, Carmel, Chorazin, Colosse, Corinth, Dan, Dead Sea, Eilat, Elah Valley, Engedi, Ephesus, Gath, Gerizim and Ebal, Gilboa, Hazor, Hierapolis, Jericho, Jerusalem, Jezreel, Joppa, Lachish, Laodicea, Magdala, Megiddo, Mount of Olives, Nazareth, Negev, Nineveh, Pergamos, Petra Philadelphia, Philippi, Samaria, Sardis, Sea of Galilee, Shechem, Shiloh, Shushan, Smyrna, Tabgha, Tarsus, Thessalonica, Thyatira, Tiberias, Tyre, and Ur of the Chaldees. The PowerPoint series contains more than 2,600 slides and employs maps, archaeological research, photos, paintings, reconstructive drawings, and Bible artwork. The PowerPoints (or Keynotes) can be used for Bible institutes, youth discipleship, Sunday Schools, home schooling, etc. They can also be used to prepare for Israel tours. See the PowerPoints section of www.wayoflife.org.
HITLER AND THE ROMAN EMPIRE (Friday Church News Notes, June 12, 2026, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The Roman Empire has continued in many forms, as prophesied by Daniel, who said it would continue to the time of the Antichrist. The ten toes of the feet of the image in Daniel 2 represent 10 rulers that will be associated with the rise of the Antichrist (Da. 7:7-8). The Roman Empire existed in the east as the Byzantine Empire headquartered in Constantinople until that city was conquered by the Muslims in 1453. The Empire continued in the Holy Roman Empire, which began with the coronation of Charlemagne by Pope Leo III in AD 800. Napoleon (1769-1821) aspired to restore the Roman Empire. When he was coronated by Pope Pius VII in Paris in 1804, he was crowned with two crowns: one made of a golden laurel wreath, recalling ancient Rome, and one a replica of Charlemagne’s (Andrew Roberts, Napoleon: A Life, p. 355). In Germany, the Roman Empire was called “reich,” and Adolph Hitler (1889-1945) intended to establish the Third Reich. He considered Charlemagne’s Holy Roman Empire the First Reich and the German Empire under the Hohenzollern royal family of 1871-1918 the Second Reich. Hitler, with his rabid hatred of the Jews, was a preview of the Antichrist. He had the Holy Roman imperial regalia (crown, sword, lance) moved from Vienna to Nuremberg, the unofficial capital of the medieval empire. It was here that the imperial diets (ruling councils) were held. (Over the centuries, many Jews were killed in pogroms in Nuremberg under the Holy Roman emperors, including in 1298 and 1349.) Hitler’s annual rallies in Nuremberg (between 1923 and 1938) imitated the triumph parades of Roman legions. The parade ground was named after Mars, Rome’s god of war. The Nazi standard carried by Hitler’s troops was modeled after the one carried by Roman legions, complete with a red and gold color scheme and a golden eagle on the top. The Nazi salute (“Heil Hitler”) was a copy of the Roman salute “Ave Caesar” (“Hail Caesar”).
PIETY MOST HEALTHFUL WHEN THERE IS LEAST SURFEIT OF EARTHLY PLEASURE (Friday Church News Notes, June 12, 2026, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The following is Thomas Fuller’s description of how papal Christianity entered England in the days of Austin. “He [Austin] found here a plain religion, (simplicity is the badge of antiquity), practiced by the Britons, living some of them in the contempt, and many more in the ignorance, of worldly vanities, in a barren country; and surely piety is most healthful in those places where it can least surfeit of earthly pleasure. He brought in a religion spun of a coarser thread, though guarded by a finer trimming, made luscious to the senses with pleasing ceremonies; so that many, who could not judge of the goodness, were courted with the gaudiness thereof. Indeed, the papists brag, that he was ‘the apostle to the English,’ but not one in the style of St. Paul” (Fuller, The Church History of Britain, vol. 1, p. 101). After that, Bible-believing churches in Britain were persecuted by the Catholic Church and had to meet in secret.
THE VINE THAT KEEPS PET BUTTERFLIES (Friday Church News Notes, June 12, 2026, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The following is from CreationMoments.com, December 4, 2025: “Two groups of tropical vines rely for reproduction on the world’s only known species of pollen-eating butterfly. Neither vine has very showy flowers, nor do their flowers have any scent. However, they don’t need to attract pollinators because the Heliconius butterfly depends on the pollen produced by the vines for its food. So the butterflies don’t go far from their food source. Since the butterfly depends on the pollen, the vines produce many more male flowers than female. This keeps its army of pollinators well fed. Being messy eaters, the butterflies end up with pollen all over them. But what would attract the butterfly to the female flower, which can be up to 20 feet away? Two tricks are used. First, a female flower usually grows close to where a male flower has just withered. Second, the female flower, while producing no pollen, looks just like the male flower to invite the butterfly’s attention. Did you see the intelligence in this arrangement? If only chance were involved, why would the only known species of pollen-eating butterfly be found with the only known vines that rely on their services? This is a very big planet! If there is no design in this arrangement, why should these vines offer female flowers that look like the males so that they will be pollinated? It is so clear that these butterflies were custom-made for these vines, and the vines were made for the butterflies. This is a witness to a personal Creator Who is personally involved in life on Earth! Ref: Batten, Mary, ‘Sex & plants,’ Science Digest.”
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).
IRAN’S NEW SUPREME RULER PURSUES DEATH TO AMERICA AND ISRAEL (Friday Church News Notes, June 12, 2026, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The following is excerpted from “Chants of ‘Death to America’ and ‘Death to Israel,’” Israel Today, May 26, 2026: “Iran’s new supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, is clearly no more moderate than his slain father, and intends to press forward toward the goal of destroying Israel. In a written statement issued for the Hajj pilgrimage, Khamenei called on Muslims around the world to make ‘Death to America’ and ‘Death to Israel’ the common chants of the Islamic world, signaling that apocalyptic demagoguery continues to be the official state policy of the Islamic Republic. The language was familiar because the ideology is unchanged. Israel was described as a ‘cancerous tumor’ nearing the end of its existence. America was again cast as the ‘Great Satan.’ Hezbollah, Hamas, the Houthis and other Iranian-backed forces were praised as part of a victorious ‘resistance front.’ ... As the Trump administration continues diplomatic efforts with Tehran, Mojtaba Khamenei is telling the Muslim world exactly what the regime believes. The West may speak of frameworks, language, and documents. Tehran is speaking of destruction.”
ISRAELI COMPANY DEVELOPS ANTI-DRONE LASER SYSTEM (Friday Church News Notes, June 12, 2026, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The following is excerpted from “Thirty intercepts a minute,” The Jerusalem Post, June 4, 2026: “‘Globes’ now reveals another Israeli laser system for countering drones. This is Dronelight, developed by Omer-based Esh-Tech Systems, which up to now has operated below the radar. ... The system emits hundreds of tiny beams the size of a coin at the target. When one beam is seen to make a hit, additional beams are directed at the target, and the focused energy rapidly shoots it down. Esh-Tech’s laser is a pulse laser and is not fiber-based. This means that a hundredth of a second is sufficient for it to score a focused hit on a target. It has an output of four kilowatts, and can destroy a target at a range of up to one kilometer. ... With Dronelight’s ‘machine gun method’, it only takes a second or two to shoot down a drone, before moving on to the next threat. Thus 30 threats can be intercepted in a minute, instead of just four in the case of existing laser systems. The cost is also much lower, at about NIS 0.10 per minute of operation. Dronelight’s low output also helps to keep it small and portable. Esh-Tech is already working with armored vehicle manufacturers in Israel and around the world, and has orders worth millions from Europe and elsewhere. The company is also working on mounting the system onto a lightweight platform for Jeeps, and as a fixed system.”
FREE POWERPOINTS - CITIES AND PLACES OF THE BIBLE (Friday Church News Notes, June 12, 2026, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - This pictorial Bible course covers 54 major cities and places in the Bible. For each site, we cover the civil history, geography, geology, biblical facts, archaeology, and prophecy (if any). We look at Ai, Alexandria, Antioch of Syria, Ashkelon, Athens, Babylon, Beth Shean, Bethsaida, Caesarea Maritima, Caesarea Philippi, Capernaum, Carmel, Chorazin, Colosse, Corinth, Dan, Dead Sea, Eilat, Elah Valley, Engedi, Ephesus, Gath, Gerizim and Ebal, Gilboa, Hazor, Hierapolis, Jericho, Jerusalem, Jezreel, Joppa, Lachish, Laodicea, Magdala, Megiddo, Mount of Olives, Nazareth, Negev, Nineveh, Pergamos, Petra Philadelphia, Philippi, Samaria, Sardis, Sea of Galilee, Shechem, Shiloh, Shushan, Smyrna, Tabgha, Tarsus, Thessalonica, Thyatira, Tiberias, Tyre, and Ur of the Chaldees. The PowerPoint series contains more than 2,600 slides and employs maps, archaeological research, photos, paintings, reconstructive drawings, and Bible artwork. The PowerPoints (or Keynotes) can be used for Bible institutes, youth discipleship, Sunday Schools, home schooling, etc. They can also be used to prepare for Israel tours. See the PowerPoints section of www.wayoflife.org.
HITLER AND THE ROMAN EMPIRE (Friday Church News Notes, June 12, 2026, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The Roman Empire has continued in many forms, as prophesied by Daniel, who said it would continue to the time of the Antichrist. The ten toes of the feet of the image in Daniel 2 represent 10 rulers that will be associated with the rise of the Antichrist (Da. 7:7-8). The Roman Empire existed in the east as the Byzantine Empire headquartered in Constantinople until that city was conquered by the Muslims in 1453. The Empire continued in the Holy Roman Empire, which began with the coronation of Charlemagne by Pope Leo III in AD 800. Napoleon (1769-1821) aspired to restore the Roman Empire. When he was coronated by Pope Pius VII in Paris in 1804, he was crowned with two crowns: one made of a golden laurel wreath, recalling ancient Rome, and one a replica of Charlemagne’s (Andrew Roberts, Napoleon: A Life, p. 355). In Germany, the Roman Empire was called “reich,” and Adolph Hitler (1889-1945) intended to establish the Third Reich. He considered Charlemagne’s Holy Roman Empire the First Reich and the German Empire under the Hohenzollern royal family of 1871-1918 the Second Reich. Hitler, with his rabid hatred of the Jews, was a preview of the Antichrist. He had the Holy Roman imperial regalia (crown, sword, lance) moved from Vienna to Nuremberg, the unofficial capital of the medieval empire. It was here that the imperial diets (ruling councils) were held. (Over the centuries, many Jews were killed in pogroms in Nuremberg under the Holy Roman emperors, including in 1298 and 1349.) Hitler’s annual rallies in Nuremberg (between 1923 and 1938) imitated the triumph parades of Roman legions. The parade ground was named after Mars, Rome’s god of war. The Nazi standard carried by Hitler’s troops was modeled after the one carried by Roman legions, complete with a red and gold color scheme and a golden eagle on the top. The Nazi salute (“Heil Hitler”) was a copy of the Roman salute “Ave Caesar” (“Hail Caesar”).
PIETY MOST HEALTHFUL WHEN THERE IS LEAST SURFEIT OF EARTHLY PLEASURE (Friday Church News Notes, June 12, 2026, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The following is Thomas Fuller’s description of how papal Christianity entered England in the days of Austin. “He [Austin] found here a plain religion, (simplicity is the badge of antiquity), practiced by the Britons, living some of them in the contempt, and many more in the ignorance, of worldly vanities, in a barren country; and surely piety is most healthful in those places where it can least surfeit of earthly pleasure. He brought in a religion spun of a coarser thread, though guarded by a finer trimming, made luscious to the senses with pleasing ceremonies; so that many, who could not judge of the goodness, were courted with the gaudiness thereof. Indeed, the papists brag, that he was ‘the apostle to the English,’ but not one in the style of St. Paul” (Fuller, The Church History of Britain, vol. 1, p. 101). After that, Bible-believing churches in Britain were persecuted by the Catholic Church and had to meet in secret.
THE VINE THAT KEEPS PET BUTTERFLIES (Friday Church News Notes, June 12, 2026, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The following is from CreationMoments.com, December 4, 2025: “Two groups of tropical vines rely for reproduction on the world’s only known species of pollen-eating butterfly. Neither vine has very showy flowers, nor do their flowers have any scent. However, they don’t need to attract pollinators because the Heliconius butterfly depends on the pollen produced by the vines for its food. So the butterflies don’t go far from their food source. Since the butterfly depends on the pollen, the vines produce many more male flowers than female. This keeps its army of pollinators well fed. Being messy eaters, the butterflies end up with pollen all over them. But what would attract the butterfly to the female flower, which can be up to 20 feet away? Two tricks are used. First, a female flower usually grows close to where a male flower has just withered. Second, the female flower, while producing no pollen, looks just like the male flower to invite the butterfly’s attention. Did you see the intelligence in this arrangement? If only chance were involved, why would the only known species of pollen-eating butterfly be found with the only known vines that rely on their services? This is a very big planet! If there is no design in this arrangement, why should these vines offer female flowers that look like the males so that they will be pollinated? It is so clear that these butterflies were custom-made for these vines, and the vines were made for the butterflies. This is a witness to a personal Creator Who is personally involved in life on Earth! Ref: Batten, Mary, ‘Sex & plants,’ Science Digest.”
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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