Friday Church News Notes
July 17, 2026 - Volume 27, Issue 29
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.
DEMOCRATIC SOCIALISTS OF AMERICA (Friday Church News Notes, July 17, 2026, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - We publish this information to challenge God’s people to do what Christ has commanded us to do, which is to pray for the nation (1 Timothy 2:1-6) and to fulfill the Great Commission that is repeated in Matthew 28:18-20; Mark 16:15; Luke 24:44-48; and Acts 1:8, at the heart of which is building New Testament churches as the pillar and ground of the truth (1 Timothy 3:15). Conservatives of all stripes can do politics, but only born again Bible believers can do the things Christ has commanded. The hour is very late. It’s time to focus like a laser on obeying Christ and calling upon Him to do great and mighty things, for He has promised to Great Commission churches, “Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world” (Mt 28:20). On America’s 250th birthday, July 4, 2026, the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) claimed 120,000 members, more than any socialist organization in U.S. history. They have won many seats at the state and local level and half a dozen in the House of Representatives, the most prominent being DSA cheerleader Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (AOC), who won a House seat in New York in 2018. In 2025, DSA candidate Zohran Mamdani was elected mayor of America’s largest city. The DSA’s agenda is as radical as Black Lives Matter. Contrary to false reports, it is a Marxist, anti-Christ, anti-Bible, anti-American organization. “Self-identified Marxist movements control a majority, 62%, of the DSA’s national leadership arm” (“A Marxist Majority,” Front Page Magazine, July 1, 2026). The DSA publicly espouses the abolition of police and prisons and the release of all people “from involuntary confinement”; the total elimination of conventional energy sources such as coal, petroleum, and natural gas; the replacement of capitalism with a centrally planned economy; forgiveness of foreign debt; forgiveness of all medical and student loan debt; reparations to “the survivors of colonization and their descendants”; open borders and the abolishment of ICE; free abortion on demand; nationalized healthcare; free “gender affirming care” for minors without parental consent; race-based reparations, abolishment of the criminal justice system; and the abolition of “white supremacy” (cited from “Democratic Socialists of America,” Influence Watch). “The DSA has a division called Trans Rights and Bodily Autonomy (TRBA) which claims it is the ‘largest hub for grassroots trans rights organizing in America.’” The DSA is hostile to Israel and friendly to Islamic terrorist groups like Hamas and the Houthis. The DSA has stated that “Zionism is racism” and “fascist mobs are the true face of Zionism and the representatives of the Israeli State’s objectives.” At the DSA’s annual convention in August 2025, members approved a resolution calling for a Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital and “all resistance” to the state of Israel. The DSA “calls for scrapping the U.S. Senate, replacing the president and Supreme Court with bodies chosen by and subordinate to Congress, drafting a new constitution, and creating a ‘democratic socialist republic.’ It seeks to abolish the separation of powers crafted by the Founders. The platform calls for ... sharply cutting military power” (“DSA Boasts,” AMAC, July 7, 2026, Association of Mature American Citizens). Michael Freund, visiting fellow at The Heritage Foundation, warns, “The DSA is not demanding different policies. It is demanding a different country.” Daily Signal senior contributor Victor Davis Hanson said, “We’re watching a modern-day French Revolutionary-like takeover of the Democratic Party” (“DSA Boasts,” AMAC, July 7, 2026). It’s not time to fret; it’s time to pray.
SPUDCELL: DID SCIENTISTS BUILD A LIVING CELL? (Friday Church News Notes, July 17, 2026, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - “A team of American scientists announced this week that they have built a cell from nonliving chemicals that can feed itself, grow, and replicate, a feat that pushes synthetic biology into territory once confined to science fiction. ... The creation, nicknamed SpudCell ... was assembled piece by piece in a laboratory at the University of Minnesota ... [I]ts creator is the first to admit it barely works. Kate Adamala described her creation as ‘an incredibly wimpy organism...’ The cell began as a liposome, a water-filled sphere enclosed by an oily membrane. Researchers inserted a genome of roughly 90,000 base pairs, encoded across seven separate DNA plasmids and borrowed in part from a virus and from Escherichia coli” (“Scientists build,” Israel365News, July 6, 2026). This is interesting, but it has nothing to do with the theory-destroying evolutionary problem of how life sprang from non-life. First, the SpudCell is almost nothing. It is not living; it is not conscious; it is mere chemicals; it has no longevity. Second, whatever SpudCell is, it was designed and constructed by intelligent scientists. It did not construct itself from inanimate material. ChatGPT has far more intelligence than SpudCell, but it is also intelligently designed by man. If man eventually makes a more complicated cell, it would only prove that cells require intelligent design, and a cell as complicated as a living cell requires super-intelligent design. Third, SpudCell borrows genome material from a virus and a bacterium, but the supposed first living cell could borrow DNA material from nothing since nothing existed!
LONGEVITY GURU HAS INCURABLE AUTOIMMUNE DISEASE (Friday Church News Notes, July 17, 2026, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - Byron Johnson, a “longevity guru” who aims to live to be 160 or longer, reports that he has been diagnosed with “autoimmune gastritis (AIG), a chronic autoimmune disease in which the immune system attacks the stomach’s acid-producing parietal cells, reducing stomach acid and impairing vitamin B12 absorption” (“Biohacker,” Fox News, July 6, 2026). Johnson is a multimillionaire who is devoted to reversing aging and defeating death. Following a program called “biohacking,” he is committed to a special diet, a regime of vitamins and supplements, hard training, sauna, hyperbaric oxygen, frequent medical testing, using AI to accelerate longevity research, etc. The goal is to reach “longevity escape velocity--in which medical advances would eventually extend lifespan faster than he ages.” In light of major advances in medical research in recent decades, Johnson’s program sounds a bit reasonable, but there is one devastating glitch: death is not ultimately the result of ill-health; it is the result of sin, and only God can fix the sin problem. If man could resolve the issue of death, the Bible would be disproven, but not one Bible teaching has ever been disproven. Johnson would do far, far better to study the Bible and come to understand and receive the gospel of Jesus Christ. “For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Romans 6:23).
ROCK & ROLL’S WAR AGAINST GOD. (Friday Church News Notes, July 17, 2026, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - This is an extensive examination of rock music and its evil influence on society. Chapters include “My Experience with Rock Music” (the author’s testimony), “What Every Christian Should Know about Rock,” “The History of Rock,” “The Roots of Rock” (blues, jazz, black spirituals, and Southern Gospel), “The Pioneers of Rock” (the lives of pioneer rockers, the influence of 50s and 60s rock on society, etc.), “The Character of Rock Music,” “Rock and the Occult,” “Rock and Spirituality,” “Rock and Violence,” “Rock and Love,” “Rock and Voodoo,” “Rock and Drugs,” “Rock and Suicide,” “Rock and Insanity,” “Rock Musicians as Mediums,” “Rock and Pagan Religion,” “Death Metal Rock,” and “How Rock Rebels Are Produced.” A reader said, “I want to share my gratitude for your book Rock & Roll’s War Against God. This book should be a mandatory read for any parent that is about to have, or already has children. It either should be read by children, or better yet read with the children. ALL forms of music listed in your book should be strictly banned from all Christian homes, and every child should be brought up to know its dangers.” 647 pages. Available as a free eBook from the Books section of www.wayoflife.org.
THE CROCODILE BIRD (Friday Church News Notes, July 17, 2026, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The following is from CreationMoments.com, November 10, 2025: “How would you like to be a dental hygienist for a crocodile? That’s how the crocodile bird makes his living. Of course you do need to know that the crocodile bird doesn’t show up to do his work with any drills or needles. He and the crocodile are on good terms with each other. After eating, the crocodile climbs the river bank and relaxes with his mouth open. The little crocodile bird enters the crocodile’s mouth to clean up the scraps that are left. While the crocodile bird makes most of his living as sort of a crocodile dental hygienist, he also helps keep the crocodile free of pesky insects that lodge in his skin. The crocodile also receives one other service from the crocodile bird. Whenever the bird senses approaching danger, he gives his sharp warning call and flies off. The crocodile, now warned, can quickly roll over into the water where virtually no animal can get the best of him. This is but one of many unlikely cooperative arrangements that we find in the plant and animal kingdoms. Every one of these relationships speaks for a Creator and against the idea that either these creatures, or their cooperation, evolved naturally. Evolutionists have written whole books on the subject. Yet they don’t seem satisfied that they have explained how these relationships could develop through evolution. We agree that they have no explanation. Nor are they likely to find one as long as they deny a Creator who cares for His creation.”
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).
SPUDCELL: DID SCIENTISTS BUILD A LIVING CELL? (Friday Church News Notes, July 17, 2026, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - “A team of American scientists announced this week that they have built a cell from nonliving chemicals that can feed itself, grow, and replicate, a feat that pushes synthetic biology into territory once confined to science fiction. ... The creation, nicknamed SpudCell ... was assembled piece by piece in a laboratory at the University of Minnesota ... [I]ts creator is the first to admit it barely works. Kate Adamala described her creation as ‘an incredibly wimpy organism...’ The cell began as a liposome, a water-filled sphere enclosed by an oily membrane. Researchers inserted a genome of roughly 90,000 base pairs, encoded across seven separate DNA plasmids and borrowed in part from a virus and from Escherichia coli” (“Scientists build,” Israel365News, July 6, 2026). This is interesting, but it has nothing to do with the theory-destroying evolutionary problem of how life sprang from non-life. First, the SpudCell is almost nothing. It is not living; it is not conscious; it is mere chemicals; it has no longevity. Second, whatever SpudCell is, it was designed and constructed by intelligent scientists. It did not construct itself from inanimate material. ChatGPT has far more intelligence than SpudCell, but it is also intelligently designed by man. If man eventually makes a more complicated cell, it would only prove that cells require intelligent design, and a cell as complicated as a living cell requires super-intelligent design. Third, SpudCell borrows genome material from a virus and a bacterium, but the supposed first living cell could borrow DNA material from nothing since nothing existed!
LONGEVITY GURU HAS INCURABLE AUTOIMMUNE DISEASE (Friday Church News Notes, July 17, 2026, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - Byron Johnson, a “longevity guru” who aims to live to be 160 or longer, reports that he has been diagnosed with “autoimmune gastritis (AIG), a chronic autoimmune disease in which the immune system attacks the stomach’s acid-producing parietal cells, reducing stomach acid and impairing vitamin B12 absorption” (“Biohacker,” Fox News, July 6, 2026). Johnson is a multimillionaire who is devoted to reversing aging and defeating death. Following a program called “biohacking,” he is committed to a special diet, a regime of vitamins and supplements, hard training, sauna, hyperbaric oxygen, frequent medical testing, using AI to accelerate longevity research, etc. The goal is to reach “longevity escape velocity--in which medical advances would eventually extend lifespan faster than he ages.” In light of major advances in medical research in recent decades, Johnson’s program sounds a bit reasonable, but there is one devastating glitch: death is not ultimately the result of ill-health; it is the result of sin, and only God can fix the sin problem. If man could resolve the issue of death, the Bible would be disproven, but not one Bible teaching has ever been disproven. Johnson would do far, far better to study the Bible and come to understand and receive the gospel of Jesus Christ. “For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Romans 6:23).
ROCK & ROLL’S WAR AGAINST GOD. (Friday Church News Notes, July 17, 2026, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - This is an extensive examination of rock music and its evil influence on society. Chapters include “My Experience with Rock Music” (the author’s testimony), “What Every Christian Should Know about Rock,” “The History of Rock,” “The Roots of Rock” (blues, jazz, black spirituals, and Southern Gospel), “The Pioneers of Rock” (the lives of pioneer rockers, the influence of 50s and 60s rock on society, etc.), “The Character of Rock Music,” “Rock and the Occult,” “Rock and Spirituality,” “Rock and Violence,” “Rock and Love,” “Rock and Voodoo,” “Rock and Drugs,” “Rock and Suicide,” “Rock and Insanity,” “Rock Musicians as Mediums,” “Rock and Pagan Religion,” “Death Metal Rock,” and “How Rock Rebels Are Produced.” A reader said, “I want to share my gratitude for your book Rock & Roll’s War Against God. This book should be a mandatory read for any parent that is about to have, or already has children. It either should be read by children, or better yet read with the children. ALL forms of music listed in your book should be strictly banned from all Christian homes, and every child should be brought up to know its dangers.” 647 pages. Available as a free eBook from the Books section of www.wayoflife.org.
THE CROCODILE BIRD (Friday Church News Notes, July 17, 2026, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The following is from CreationMoments.com, November 10, 2025: “How would you like to be a dental hygienist for a crocodile? That’s how the crocodile bird makes his living. Of course you do need to know that the crocodile bird doesn’t show up to do his work with any drills or needles. He and the crocodile are on good terms with each other. After eating, the crocodile climbs the river bank and relaxes with his mouth open. The little crocodile bird enters the crocodile’s mouth to clean up the scraps that are left. While the crocodile bird makes most of his living as sort of a crocodile dental hygienist, he also helps keep the crocodile free of pesky insects that lodge in his skin. The crocodile also receives one other service from the crocodile bird. Whenever the bird senses approaching danger, he gives his sharp warning call and flies off. The crocodile, now warned, can quickly roll over into the water where virtually no animal can get the best of him. This is but one of many unlikely cooperative arrangements that we find in the plant and animal kingdoms. Every one of these relationships speaks for a Creator and against the idea that either these creatures, or their cooperation, evolved naturally. Evolutionists have written whole books on the subject. Yet they don’t seem satisfied that they have explained how these relationships could develop through evolution. We agree that they have no explanation. Nor are they likely to find one as long as they deny a Creator who cares for His creation.”
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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