Friday Church News Notes
August 21, 2026 - Volume 27, Issue 34
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.
ISRAEL MISTAKENLY EXPECTS CLEANSING FROM A RED HEIFER (Friday Church News Notes, August 21, 2026, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - Orthodox Jews in Israel are trying to raise a red heifer that can be used for ritual cleansing according to Numbers 19. A third heifer was born the first week of August in Shiloh, Israel. Under the law of Moses, the heifer was to be slain outside the camp, its blood sprinkled before the tabernacle seven times, and it was to be burned together with cedar wood, hyssop, and scarlet. The ashes were to be used “for a water of separation: it is a purification for sin” (Nu. 10:9). The water was to ritually purify those who came into contact with a dead body or were in a tent where a dead body died. The Bible Believer’s Commentary notes, “The children of Israel had just rebelled against the Lord at Kadesh. They were now being sent out into the wilderness to die because of their unbelief. Over 600,000 people would die in a thirty-eight year period, or over forty people a day. One can see the need for the ashes of the red heifer, for who could avoid contact with death on such a journey?” The New Testament explains the Levitical sacrifices. They pointed to Jesus the Christ. They were shadows (Heb. 8:5) and figures (Heb. 9:9). Now that we have the reality, there is no more need of shadows. Jesus the Christ is both the High Priest and the sacrificial offering. He is the Passover Lamb and the Red Heifer, the Sin Offering and the Scapegoat. He made the perfect atonement for sin by His blood and death on Calvary, rose from the dead the third day, and ascended to the right hand of God the Father in perfect fulfillment of Scripture. His blood and death was the propitiation that perfectly satisfied God’s holy law. He suffered in the place of sinners in fulfillment of Isaiah 53. All of this is explained wonderfully in the amazing book of Hebrews. “But Christ being come an high priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building; Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us. For if the blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh: How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?” (Heb. 9:11-14).
MASSACHUSETTS BECOMES THE 11TH STATE WITH NO RESTRICTIONS ON ABORTION (Friday Church News Notes, August 21, 2026, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - On August 10, Massachusetts governor Maura Healey, surrounded by smiling supporters, signed into law a bill allowing unrestricted abortions at any point in pregnancy. This is irrefutable evidence of the moral wickedness that is permeating American society. In June 2022 the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade (1973), which had established a federal law protecting abortion rights, and returned the matter to the individual states. Eight states allow unrestricted abortion (Massachusetts, Alaska, Colorado, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, Vermont, plus the District of Columba). All have Democratic majority governments. The governors who signed these bills into law represent millions and millions of voters who support the terrible, wanton murder of unborn children. Thirty states allow abortion up to viability or to a certain number of weeks. Thirteen states have enacted a total ban on abortion with few exceptions (Encyclopedia Britannica). These are Alabama, Arkansas, Idaho, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, and West Virginia.
SLUGGARD MEN IN AMERICA (Friday Church News Notes, August 21, 2026, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - According to the latest Bureau of Labor Statistics report, 44 million of 132 million eligible men older than 15--or 33.2%--were not in the labor force last month. “That’s 9 million more out-of-work men than in 2012, when 29% were not in the workforce. ... Mr. Beaulier cited research showing that men who stay home in their 30s to play video games or seek social media fame find it ‘progressively harder’ to return to traditional work--and are more likely to end up incarcerated. ... The share of eligible men participating in the workforce dropped from 77.5% in 1976 to 66.8% last month, the lowest nonpandemic reading since 1948. Meanwhile, the share of eligible women in the workforce has climbed from 47.3% in 1976 to 56.4%” (“Millions of men are ditching the workforce,” The Washington Times, Aug. 12, 2026). These statistics reflect the ever-downgrading of the moral character of modern America. The “sluggard” is condemned in Proverbs, God’s book of practical wisdom. “How long wilt thou sleep, O sluggard? when wilt thou arise out of thy sleep? Yet a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep: So shall thy poverty come as one that travelleth, and thy want as an armed man” (Proverbs 6:9-11). “The soul of the sluggard desireth, and hath nothing: but the soul of the diligent shall be made fat” (Proverbs 13:4). “The sluggard will not plow by reason of the cold; therefore shall he beg in harvest, and have nothing” (Proverbs 10:4). Political activity cannot change America’s moral character. The greatest need is for an increase in the number of strong, fruitful New Testament churches patterned after biblical passages such as Acts 2:41-42 and Ephesians 4:11-16, and this is precisely what Christ has commanded His redeemed people to focus on. We recommend 21 Steps to a Stronger Church for the 21st Century, 122 pages, available as a free eBook at the Books section of wayoflife.org.
SUPREME COURT DENIES APPLICATION TO SAVE VICIOUS DOG FROM DEATH (Friday Church News Notes, August 21, 2026, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - This month the U.S. Supreme Court denied the application to save a vicious dog named Bruce from death. Ventura County Animal Services in California ordered him euthanized after four attack incidents, including biting a boy in the face, leaving “severe disfiguring lacerations,” and biting a woman on an arm, requiring surgery and skin grafts. The owner took Bruce’s case to court to stop the euthanasia but was rejected by a state court, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, and the U.S. Supreme Court. The county agency said, “We do not take the loss of an animal’s life lightly. We have compassion for Bruce and for those who care about him, just as we have compassion for those who were injured.” They don’t understand the vast difference between an animal and a human being and, the case being in California, probably don’t understand the vast difference between a man and a woman.
CHRISTIAN PHYSICIAN ASSISTANT WINS $410K SETTLEMENT AFTER FIRING FOR REFUSING TO USE TRANS PRONOUNS AND TO PARTICIPATE IN TRANS PROCEDURES (Friday Church News Notes, August 21, 2026, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The following is excerpted from “Christian PA wins,” Christian Post, July 30 2026: “University of Michigan Health-West, also known as Metropolitan Hospital, reached a settlement with Valerie Kloosterman, who worked at the hospital for 17 years with an exemplary record before she was fired in August 2021. ... Under its terms, the hospital agreed to pay $410,000 in damages and legal fees to Kloosterman and her attorneys, and to adopt a new policy allowing staff to opt out of participating in actions that conflict with their religious beliefs, such as participating in gender-transition procedures or using a person’s biologically incorrect chosen pronouns. ... Kloosterman, a member of the United Reformed Church, said the settlement vindicated what she had sought from the beginning. ‘All I wanted to do was provide the best care possible to my patients without being forced to violate my Christian beliefs.’ ... In August 2021, Kloosterman was fired for refusing to finish a training program that required her to use the chosen pronouns of patients and assist in cosmetic sex-change surgeries.”
ONE-YEAR DISCIPLESHIP COURSE IN SPANISH (Friday Church News Notes, August 21, 2026, www.wayoflife.org, fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - Way of Life Literature’s One-Year Discipleship Course is now available for free download in Spanish. This course features 52 lessons in Christian living. It can be broken into sections and used as a new converts’ course, a discipleship course, a Sunday School series, a home schooling or Bible Institute course, or for preaching outlines. The lessons are thorough and practical. There is a memory verse program built into the course, and each lesson features review questions. Following are some of the lesson titles: Repentance, Faith, the Gospel, Baptism, Eternal Security, Position and Practice, Law and Grace, Christian Growth and Spiritual Victory, Prayer, the Armor of God, the Church, the Bible, the Bible’s Proof, Daily Bible Study, Key Principles of Bible Interpretation, Foundational Bible Words, Knowing God’s Will, Making Wise Decisions, Christ’s Great Commission, Suffering in the Christian Life, the Judgment Seat of Christ, Separation - Moral, Separation - Doctrinal, Tests of Entertainment, Fasting, Miracles, a Biblical Testing Mindset, Tongues Speaking, the Rapture, How to Be Wise with Your Money, the Believer and Drinking, Abortion, Evolution, and Dressing for the Lord.
https://www.wayoflife.org/publications/foreign_language_books/index.php
DARWIN AND HIS PALS HATED THE BIBLE (Friday Church News Notes, August 21, 2026, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - No other one thing has transformed Western society more than Darwinian evolution, and that is because of its attack, both stated and unstated, upon the divine inspiration and authority of the Bible. Charles Darwin said that the Bible “was no more to be trusted than the sacred books of the Hindoos, or the beliefs of any barbarian” (Autobiography, p. 85). He called the doctrine of eternal torment a damnable doctrine (p. 87). Charles Lyell, the father of geological uniformitarianism who had a great influence on Darwin, hated the book of Genesis and hoped his doctrine would drive men “out of the Mosaic record” (Life, Letters, and Journals of Sir Charles Lyell, I, pp. 253, 256, 328). Thomas Huxley, “Darwin’s Bulldog,” called the Bible a myth and claimed that Jehovah God was an invention of man. In his correspondence Huxley viciously said of Bible believers who resisted Darwinism, “I should like to get my heel into their mouths and scr-r-unch it round” (Lord Ernie, “Victorian Memoirs and Memories,” The Quarterly Review, 1923; cited from Ian Taylor, In the Minds of Men, p. 363). Huxley’s grandson, Julian, said, “Darwin’s real achievement was to remove the whole idea of God as the Creator of organisms from the sphere of rational discussion” (Julian Huxley, keynote address, Darwin Centennial meeting, 1959). Ernst Haeckel, the most prominent Darwinian scientist in Germany, said, “For me the value of Darwin is that the human no longer needs to have a supernatural soul, and that one no longer needs purpose to explain creation” (cited from Richard Weikart, From Darwin to Hitler, p. 26). Haeckel looked forward to the day when the altars in churches would be replaced with statues of Urania or Venus.
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).
MASSACHUSETTS BECOMES THE 11TH STATE WITH NO RESTRICTIONS ON ABORTION (Friday Church News Notes, August 21, 2026, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - On August 10, Massachusetts governor Maura Healey, surrounded by smiling supporters, signed into law a bill allowing unrestricted abortions at any point in pregnancy. This is irrefutable evidence of the moral wickedness that is permeating American society. In June 2022 the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade (1973), which had established a federal law protecting abortion rights, and returned the matter to the individual states. Eight states allow unrestricted abortion (Massachusetts, Alaska, Colorado, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, Vermont, plus the District of Columba). All have Democratic majority governments. The governors who signed these bills into law represent millions and millions of voters who support the terrible, wanton murder of unborn children. Thirty states allow abortion up to viability or to a certain number of weeks. Thirteen states have enacted a total ban on abortion with few exceptions (Encyclopedia Britannica). These are Alabama, Arkansas, Idaho, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, and West Virginia.
SLUGGARD MEN IN AMERICA (Friday Church News Notes, August 21, 2026, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - According to the latest Bureau of Labor Statistics report, 44 million of 132 million eligible men older than 15--or 33.2%--were not in the labor force last month. “That’s 9 million more out-of-work men than in 2012, when 29% were not in the workforce. ... Mr. Beaulier cited research showing that men who stay home in their 30s to play video games or seek social media fame find it ‘progressively harder’ to return to traditional work--and are more likely to end up incarcerated. ... The share of eligible men participating in the workforce dropped from 77.5% in 1976 to 66.8% last month, the lowest nonpandemic reading since 1948. Meanwhile, the share of eligible women in the workforce has climbed from 47.3% in 1976 to 56.4%” (“Millions of men are ditching the workforce,” The Washington Times, Aug. 12, 2026). These statistics reflect the ever-downgrading of the moral character of modern America. The “sluggard” is condemned in Proverbs, God’s book of practical wisdom. “How long wilt thou sleep, O sluggard? when wilt thou arise out of thy sleep? Yet a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep: So shall thy poverty come as one that travelleth, and thy want as an armed man” (Proverbs 6:9-11). “The soul of the sluggard desireth, and hath nothing: but the soul of the diligent shall be made fat” (Proverbs 13:4). “The sluggard will not plow by reason of the cold; therefore shall he beg in harvest, and have nothing” (Proverbs 10:4). Political activity cannot change America’s moral character. The greatest need is for an increase in the number of strong, fruitful New Testament churches patterned after biblical passages such as Acts 2:41-42 and Ephesians 4:11-16, and this is precisely what Christ has commanded His redeemed people to focus on. We recommend 21 Steps to a Stronger Church for the 21st Century, 122 pages, available as a free eBook at the Books section of wayoflife.org.
SUPREME COURT DENIES APPLICATION TO SAVE VICIOUS DOG FROM DEATH (Friday Church News Notes, August 21, 2026, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - This month the U.S. Supreme Court denied the application to save a vicious dog named Bruce from death. Ventura County Animal Services in California ordered him euthanized after four attack incidents, including biting a boy in the face, leaving “severe disfiguring lacerations,” and biting a woman on an arm, requiring surgery and skin grafts. The owner took Bruce’s case to court to stop the euthanasia but was rejected by a state court, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, and the U.S. Supreme Court. The county agency said, “We do not take the loss of an animal’s life lightly. We have compassion for Bruce and for those who care about him, just as we have compassion for those who were injured.” They don’t understand the vast difference between an animal and a human being and, the case being in California, probably don’t understand the vast difference between a man and a woman.
CHRISTIAN PHYSICIAN ASSISTANT WINS $410K SETTLEMENT AFTER FIRING FOR REFUSING TO USE TRANS PRONOUNS AND TO PARTICIPATE IN TRANS PROCEDURES (Friday Church News Notes, August 21, 2026, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The following is excerpted from “Christian PA wins,” Christian Post, July 30 2026: “University of Michigan Health-West, also known as Metropolitan Hospital, reached a settlement with Valerie Kloosterman, who worked at the hospital for 17 years with an exemplary record before she was fired in August 2021. ... Under its terms, the hospital agreed to pay $410,000 in damages and legal fees to Kloosterman and her attorneys, and to adopt a new policy allowing staff to opt out of participating in actions that conflict with their religious beliefs, such as participating in gender-transition procedures or using a person’s biologically incorrect chosen pronouns. ... Kloosterman, a member of the United Reformed Church, said the settlement vindicated what she had sought from the beginning. ‘All I wanted to do was provide the best care possible to my patients without being forced to violate my Christian beliefs.’ ... In August 2021, Kloosterman was fired for refusing to finish a training program that required her to use the chosen pronouns of patients and assist in cosmetic sex-change surgeries.”
ONE-YEAR DISCIPLESHIP COURSE IN SPANISH (Friday Church News Notes, August 21, 2026, www.wayoflife.org, fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - Way of Life Literature’s One-Year Discipleship Course is now available for free download in Spanish. This course features 52 lessons in Christian living. It can be broken into sections and used as a new converts’ course, a discipleship course, a Sunday School series, a home schooling or Bible Institute course, or for preaching outlines. The lessons are thorough and practical. There is a memory verse program built into the course, and each lesson features review questions. Following are some of the lesson titles: Repentance, Faith, the Gospel, Baptism, Eternal Security, Position and Practice, Law and Grace, Christian Growth and Spiritual Victory, Prayer, the Armor of God, the Church, the Bible, the Bible’s Proof, Daily Bible Study, Key Principles of Bible Interpretation, Foundational Bible Words, Knowing God’s Will, Making Wise Decisions, Christ’s Great Commission, Suffering in the Christian Life, the Judgment Seat of Christ, Separation - Moral, Separation - Doctrinal, Tests of Entertainment, Fasting, Miracles, a Biblical Testing Mindset, Tongues Speaking, the Rapture, How to Be Wise with Your Money, the Believer and Drinking, Abortion, Evolution, and Dressing for the Lord.
https://www.wayoflife.org/publications/foreign_language_books/index.php
DARWIN AND HIS PALS HATED THE BIBLE (Friday Church News Notes, August 21, 2026, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - No other one thing has transformed Western society more than Darwinian evolution, and that is because of its attack, both stated and unstated, upon the divine inspiration and authority of the Bible. Charles Darwin said that the Bible “was no more to be trusted than the sacred books of the Hindoos, or the beliefs of any barbarian” (Autobiography, p. 85). He called the doctrine of eternal torment a damnable doctrine (p. 87). Charles Lyell, the father of geological uniformitarianism who had a great influence on Darwin, hated the book of Genesis and hoped his doctrine would drive men “out of the Mosaic record” (Life, Letters, and Journals of Sir Charles Lyell, I, pp. 253, 256, 328). Thomas Huxley, “Darwin’s Bulldog,” called the Bible a myth and claimed that Jehovah God was an invention of man. In his correspondence Huxley viciously said of Bible believers who resisted Darwinism, “I should like to get my heel into their mouths and scr-r-unch it round” (Lord Ernie, “Victorian Memoirs and Memories,” The Quarterly Review, 1923; cited from Ian Taylor, In the Minds of Men, p. 363). Huxley’s grandson, Julian, said, “Darwin’s real achievement was to remove the whole idea of God as the Creator of organisms from the sphere of rational discussion” (Julian Huxley, keynote address, Darwin Centennial meeting, 1959). Ernst Haeckel, the most prominent Darwinian scientist in Germany, said, “For me the value of Darwin is that the human no longer needs to have a supernatural soul, and that one no longer needs purpose to explain creation” (cited from Richard Weikart, From Darwin to Hitler, p. 26). Haeckel looked forward to the day when the altars in churches would be replaced with statues of Urania or Venus.
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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