Current Events & Trends: November/December 2024

The global totalitarian agenda advances

In late September 2024, dignitaries from around the world came together at the United Nations' headquarters in New York to sign the "Pact for the Future," pledging "allegiance to the UN as a central, unifying government" ("‘Pact for the Future': Nations Swear Fealty to UN," Activist Post, Sept. 12).

Yet, as one source comments, "beneath its glossy promises lies a dangerous move towards centralized, top-down control that could have devastating consequences for individual freedoms, national sovereignty, and democratic governance" (Jim Hoft, Gateway Pundit, Sept. 22).

The UN website called the four-day summit "a once-in-a-generation opportunity to reimagine the multilateral system and steer humanity on a new course"-which, as another commentator put it, "sounds just lovely and not at all creepy and hubristic" (Kit Knightly, "A Globalism of Ideas-Inside the UN's ‘Pact for the Future,'" Off-Guardian.org, Sept. 25).

The document is noted by this same commentator to be "81 pages of self-important waffle so crammed with meaningless political language it becomes near-unintelligible" (ibid.)-what another source labels "Globalese." It marches through climate change, conflict, food insecurity, poverty, misinformation and hate speech with nebulous solutions like respect for international law, expanded cooperation, an increased UN role and the buzzword "interoperability"-all with a great deal of money.

Yet "for many, this reads more like a manifesto for totalitarian governance than a collaborative effort to improve international cooperation. This grandiose Pact is being marketed as the solution to the problems of tomorrow, but critics are rightfully sounding alarms over its deeply troubling implications" (Hoft).

"The most blatantly authoritarian language is reserved for control of the internet (it almost always is)" (notes Knightly)-with the Global Digital Compact Annex seeking to "advance responsible, equitable and interoperable data government approaches," underlining the importance of "information integrity." It calls on tech companies to hand over private information to government researchers-effectively pressing for censorship and surveillance. And it further aims to "roll out digital media and information literacy curricula" to combat misinformation, shaping consensus-that is, indoctrination.

The same commentator laments over what's been passed: "Every country in the world (yes even the ones that raised objections [previously]) now formally agrees that hate speech and misinformation are the problem. Every country in the world (even the ones that raised objections) endorses an end to privacy and increased censorship as a solution. Every country in the world (all of them) agrees to spend at least $100 billion per year to pursue ‘sustainable development goals' in developing nations" (Knightly).

The conclusion this source reaches? "We may not have a formal global government yet, but we already have a globalism of ideas, even if there is some disagreement over implementation. That's how world government is being shaped, and how it will get finally born-through a creeping consensus of fictitious problems & needless and often insane ‘solutions' quietly endorsed by every nation of the world."

We are indeed creeping toward the biblically prophesied totalitarian Beast power of the last days. Be sure to request or download our free study guide The Final Superpower.

Pope says many paths to God while pursuing ecumenism

Since assuming the papacy with the prior pope still living, Pope Francis has routinely stirred up controversy. He has recently ruffled feathers in seeming to say that the diversity of religions offers many paths to God as part of his perceived final mission in life-increasing the influence of the Catholic church worldwide and building relationships with other faiths, even those that have been historical enemies.

In addressing Catholic Junior College in Singapore on Sept. 13, 2024, the pope said he was impressed with the capacity of the young people in the audience for interfaith dialogue. He noted that arguing one's religion was more important than another, or that it's true and the other isn't, was harmful, not helpful. Yet he went further in stating, per the Vatican's translation: "All religions are paths to God. I will use an analogy: they are like different languages that express the divine. But God is for everyone, and therefore, we are all God's children. ‘But my God is more important than yours!' Is this true? There is only one God, and religions are like languages, paths to reach God. Some Sikh, some Muslim, some Hindu, some Christian. Understood?" (emphasis added).

This is not correct. While various religions are different ways of people trying to reach God-there is in fact only one way to God, and it's through the biblical religion of true Christianity. As Jesus Christ said: "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me" (John 14:6; see also Acts 4:12).

The pope's statement was not the first time he's promoted such thinking. In February 2019 he signed a document on human fraternity along with a Muslim grand imam in Abu Dhabi claiming that "the pluralism and diversity of religions . . . are [along with other traits] willed by God in his wisdom." Yet in fact the wide variety of religion throughout the earth is not from God but is the product of Satan the devil, who has deceived the whole world (Revelation 12:9). The pope even recognizes the great division as a problem to be healed.

Earlier this year, the Vatican released a new statement on the role of the pope, which Francis approved. As reported: "The Vatican has made proposals for a new understanding and a different exercise of the papal office, according to which the Pope could in future be accepted by other Christian churches as an honorary head" ("Vatican Proposes New Understanding and Different Exercise of Papal Office," english.katholisch.de, June 13, 2024). It includes "the creation of a new global consultative level with regular meetings of church leaders from different denominations." It further involves stressing the papal role as patriarch of the West to recognize the Eastern Orthodox patriarchy, though in some matters holding the "primacy of unity in the communion of the Western and Eastern Churches."

Yet with the focus on many paths to God, one wonders if sights are set on bringing even non-Christian religions under an ecumenical umbrella.

We need to understand that the Bible foretells a great false Christianity of the end time in partnership with the tyrannical empire of the Beast. The ecumenical movement may help in bringing the religious system to its ultimate prominence ahead.

Continuing assassination attempts-a new normal?

In our previous Current Events & Trends section, in the September-October 2024 issue, we covered the attempted assassination on July 13 of former U.S. president and presidential candidate Donald Trump at a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. Who would have thought we would be following up with discussion of another attempt on his life in the next issue? Yet here we are. As Patrick Casey notes at The Blaze, "This raises a dreadful question: Are assassination attempts becoming the new normal for American politics?" (Sept. 29).

This later attempt came on Sept. 13 at Trump's West Palm Beach golf course. A man with a rifle and GoPro camera had positioned himself in some bushes next to a golf hole the former president would next be playing at. When the rifle muzzle was spotted protruding through the fence, a Secret Service agent fired shots there. The gunman fled but was soon apprehended.

As with the first assassination attempt, there are still many questions. The Secret Service is aware of such positions alongside the golf course and normally sweeps the area to make sure all is clear. But that didn't happen in this case. How was the would-be assassin able to sit in this sniper's nest for many hours before Trump's arrival and during his game?

The man evidently acted out of belief that Trump is a Hitlerian danger to democracy, as touted by many political opponents in the country. There have been calls to tone down the rhetoric, but to little avail.

Shockingly, a Rasmussen poll on Sept. 16-17 on behalf of Napolitan News found that 17 percent of voters believe America would have been better off if the former president had been killed in the attempted assassination. It's more disturbing when results are broken down by party affiliation, with 28 percent of the opposing side thinking the country would be better off and another 25 percent unsure-less than half saying it would not be better (John Nolte, Breitbart, Sept. 18). How low things have sunk!

Trump was not deterred by the second attempt to kill him, stating at a New York rally afterward, "God has now spared my life not once, but twice. These encounters with death have not broken my will-they've only hardened my resolve . . ." (Sept. 18). Surprisingly, Trump returned to Butler on Oct. 5 for a new rally in the same place he was shot.

In another poll, nearly two thirds of all likely voters thought it very likely there would be more assassination attempts (Casey Harper, Just the News, Sept. 24). In fact, there have reportedly been other plots that have been thwarted. One shudders to think about the harrowing conditions a successful attempt would lead to.

Of course, America is not the only place in the world dealing with such problems. Indonesian authorities thwarted a terror plot in September aimed against Pope Francis-the suspects all seen as linked to ISIS.

Israel's long year of fighting

Much has been happening with regard to the Jewish state of Israel's war against its enemies over the past year-really too much to adequately cover here. But we'll note a few things to take note of.

After Israel suffered the horrific attack from Hamas invaders from Gaza on Oct. 7, 2023, it set about wiping out Hamas and took out many thousands of operatives. Hamas was sadly still holding many Israeli hostages from the earlier invasion and killed a number over time, executing six of them in late August 2024 when they were on the verge of being rescued. Israel kept prosecuting the war and at the end of September assessed that Hamas as a military group had been defeated and was now regarded as a mere guerilla terrorist group.

Israel was also dealing with Hezbollah in Lebanon, which had joined in solidarity with the Palestinians after the initial Oct. 7 attack and sent many rocket attacks. Israel dealt a massive blow to Hezbollah's leadership and coordination through having sold them, over concerns of phone tracking, pagers and walkie talkies rigged with explosives and detonating them in two waves. These devices had been obtained with the aim of warring against Israel. There were complaints from around the world about other people being killed, which is always awful, but Israel was trying to use surgical precision-and this was perhaps the largest surgical strike ever conducted.

Iran, for whom Hamas and Hezbollah are proxies, issued many threats and ended up launching the largest missile attack against Israel to date, with 200 ballistic missiles. Most of these were intercepted with Israeli and U.S. defenses, a few struck, but no one was killed except a Palestinian man in the West Bank-this viewed by many in Israel as miraculous. Now there is the matter of Israel's response and possibly eradicating Iran's nuclear program.

Through all this, Israel has been the object of constant condemnation and antisemitism throughout the world-including in the United Nations. In fact, the UN passed a resolution on Sept. 18 that not just the West Bank area of Samaria and Judah but Jerusalem's Old City must be Jew-free within a year.

Why is this region the focus of so much news of war and chaos? The Bible said that Jerusalem would be a very heavy stone, with all nations gathered against it (Zechariah 12:1-3). To learn more about the background and where events are heading, request or download our free study guide The Middle East in Bible Prophecy.

Young people flourishing through Bible reading

The State of the Bible 2024 report from the American Bible Society "reveals that members of Generation Z [those now in their teens to mid-20s] have the highest stress level of any age group but that those who read their Bible regularly score higher on a happiness and mental health scale than Millennials [those now in mid-20s to early 40s] and members of Generation X [those now in early 40s to late 50s] . . .

"Members of Gen Z who are ‘Scripture engaged'-that is, they regularly read their Bible and say it impacts their lives-scored high on the report's ‘human flourishing index,' which gauges an individual's happiness, mental health and social relationships, among other factors" ("Daily Bible Reading Links to Higher Happiness and Mental Health Scores Among Gen Z," Crosswalk.com, July 9, 2024).

Overall, Gen Z-ers have the lowest flourishing numbers, but the Scripture-engaged subset has the highest number of all groups, suggesting "they are living with purpose, character, and happiness." The take away here: "Gen Zers who read the Bible say it has life-changing power."

The Bible helps everyone who is willing to accept what it has to say. But those in today's wayward generation, starved of truth and purpose, can experience dramatic change and fulfillment through studying God's Word (see Proverbs 3:13-18).

To help in grasping what it has to say, request or download our free study guide How to Understand the Bible.

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Keywords: totalitarians ecumenicism assassinations Hamas Bible reading

Ecumenism:

Israel, modern: