Current Events & Trends: March/April 2025

When things are going well, watch out!

As society in some ways may seem to be returning to a period of restored liberties, common sense and opportunities for prosperity, we find ourselves at a pivotal moment. While we may feel hopeful about the future, this is also a time of great danger. One of the risks is the ever-present possibility of sudden change. History shows us that things can shift in an instant, and today's stability could give way to chaos at any moment. The Bible warns us in 1 Thessalonians 5:3: "For when they say, ‘Peace and safety!' then sudden destruction comes upon them, as labor pains upon a pregnant woman. And they shall not escape." These words remind us that, despite appearances, the calm we experience today may be short-lived. And we are living in the end time, which will ultimately see great calamity before Christ returns.

On the other hand, things may continue to go well for a good while. Yet there is great spiritual danger in times of prosperity. When times are hard, we are more apt to draw nearer to God. But when life is going well, it's easy to forget our dependence on Him. This is a trap many fall into, as self-sufficiency can lead us to believe we no longer need God's guidance and provision. In Deuteronomy 8:11-14, we are warned not to become complacent or forget the God who has blessed us. Prosperity can cause us to drift away from our spiritual roots, focusing on the things of this world instead of seeking God's will.

No matter what is happening, now is the time to draw near to God and make good use of the time we have. As Ephesians 5:16 urges us, in this age we should be "redeeming the time, because the days are evil." The spiritual dangers of complacency and self-reliance are ever-present, and we must be vigilant in walking with God, especially during times of stability and prosperity.

It's crucial to stay spiritually awake and aware. For a deeper understanding of the events unfolding around us, request or download our free study guide Are We Living in the Time of the End?

Turkey's President Erdogan envisions return of the Ottoman Empire

In December 2024, Turkish President Erdogan, upset over Israel's suppression of Hamas and incursions into Syria following the overthrow of the Assad regime, made a bold announcement: "The Syrian cities that we call Aleppo, Idlib, Damascus and Raqqa will become our provinces very soon." Moreover, Turkey, which is supposed to be a NATO ally, has been funding Hamas in Gaza.

Turkey heads up the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), fostering unity among its 57 countries and promoting Islam. Erdogan at a speech shortly before at the Seventh Religious Council in Ankara "vilified the West's progress as built on blood and exploitation, while championing the rise of a so-called divine Islamic civilization-a bitter irony given the Islamic Caliphate's own legacy of conquest, subjugation, and brutality etched into history" ("NATO Member Erdogan Denounces Western Civilization, Advocates for the Rise of an Islamic World Order," RAIR Foundation, Dec. 6, 2024).

A commentary by a former CIA officer and senior analyst with the American Security Council Foundation states: "Turkey is embarked on resurrecting the Ottoman Empire under the rule of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Now, under Erdogan, secular Turkey is becoming an autocratic Islamic state. Erdogan is fostering Islamic (Sharia) law and persecuting Christians, Shiites, Alevis, and Kurds. Freedoms of speech and press are curtailed, with journalists and intellectuals jailed. Hijabs on women are now common.

"Erdogan is modeling himself after Sultan Selim, who died in 1520 and grew the Ottoman Empire from a regional power to a world power with Islam as the cultural base. Selim was also Caliph or leader of the Muslim community in the Ottoman Empire which covered most of the Middle East and North Africa" (Laurence Sandord, "Meanwhile in Turkey, Erdogan Envisions Return of the Ottoman Empire," WorldTribune, Feb. 9, 2025).

He also points out: "Turkey is expanding its reach into the Turkic and Arabic-speaking Sunni Muslim countries of Asia and Africa. Turkey's military is asserting itself in Syria, Cyprus, Iraq, Yemen, Libya, and Sudan. It is threatening an Islamic takeover of Jerusalem. Turkish military jets routinely fly over Greek islands off Turkiye's coast. Kurds in Syria, Iraq, and Turkiye are under constant Turkish military attacks.

"Erdogan is redefining Turkey's role in the world. He is cultivating relationships with Russia . . . despite being a NATO member and by acting as a middleman in aiding Russia [to] circumvent Western sanctions due to the Ukraine War."

There are serious concerns to watch out here for. Both Turkey and the Palestinian people evidently share roots in the ancient people of Edom-which figures into a number of Bible prophecies. To learn more, request or download our free study guide The Middle East in Bible Prophecy.

Nearly a billion people have an incurable STI, study says

Shockingly, "a whopping 900 million people have an incurable STI [Sexually Transmitted Infection], a new study claims. According to a team led by epidemiologist Manale Harfouche from the Weill Cornell Medicine-Qatar, genital herpes is the most common incurable sexually transmitted infection contracted around the world. A staggering 24% of people aged under 50 worldwide have been struck by it" ("‘Incurable STI' Is Ravaging Nearly One Billion People as Experts Issue Urgent Warning," Daily Star, Dec. 11, 2024).

"They also found that around 520 million of those with it have the HSV-2 strain, which can cause painful blisters or ulcers on private areas and is spread by skin-to-skin contact. The group also found that 129 million cases of chlamydia were reported in 2020-although that is curable" (ibid.).

These staggering numbers are an indictment of the waywardness of mankind. If people followed God's rules for sexuality, they would not suffer from such maladies. To learn more, request or download our free study guide Marriage and Family: The Missing Dimension.

Normalization of homosexuality and same-sex marriage

In the United States and many other countries, the normalization and acceptance of sexual behavior prohibited in Scripture continues.

As the New York Post points out favorably, "President Trump is assembling an administration stocked with prominent gay and lesbian Americans" ("Trump Is Tapping Members of the LGBT Community for Top Spots in His Administration . . ." Jan. 18, 2025). For instance, the new treasury secretary is a man who is "married" to another man, the two raising children.

Trump's focus is apparently on those who can do their job well, regardless of these other factors. We can certainly appreciate people being elevated according to ability and merit. However, there is likely also a factor of increasing the size of the perceived "Republican tent" to attract more people.

It should be noted that the president has taken a position against the transgender and nonbinary agenda and upholds the reality of there being only two genders. There are many gay and lesbian allies to this stand, as the denial of male and female opposes not only heterosexuality but also homosexuality. And Trump has welcomed such allies into his administration. Yet this serves to further normalize and promote the acceptance of homosexuality and same-sex marriage.

Things were of course already headed in this direction. As reported last year, "More than two in three Americans continue to believe that marriage between same-sex couples should be legal (69%), and nearly as many say gay or lesbian relations are morally acceptable (64%). Both readings have been consistently above the 50% mark since the early 2010s and above 60% since 2017" ("Same-Sex Relations, Marriage Still Supported by Most in U.S.," Gallup, June 24, 2024). Yet it should be noted that among Republicans, support for legalizing same-sex unions dipped back below 50 percent. Now we might expect it to climb again.

Sadly there is such utter confusion over God's purpose for marriage and family and what He requires-and blatant disregard.

To better understand, be sure to request or download our free study guide Marriage and Family: The Missing Dimension.

Asteroid threat-wealth potential and coming calamity

According to NASA's Center for Near Earth Object Studies, the odds of an asteroid named 2024 YR striking the earth in 2032 were calculated in early February 2025 to be 2.3 percent-a 1 in 43 chance-double the odds given the previous week ("Asteroid's Chances of Hitting Earth in 2032 Just Got Higher-but Don't Panic," The Guardian, Feb. 6). It's about the size of a football field, as was the Tunguska asteroid that flatted more than 800 square miles of remote Siberia when it exploded in 1908. Yet astronomers are urging people not to panic, as chances of asteroid impacts are often revised.

Some see untold resources and wealth in asteroids. In October 2023, NASA and SpaceX launched a mission to examine the massive, 173-mile-wide asteroid 16 Psyche ("SpaceX Falcon Heavy Rocket Launches NASA's Psyche Probe to Bizarre Metal Asteroid," Space.com, Oct. 13, 2023), valued for its gold, iron and nickel ore at $10 quintillion ("NASA Sending Ship to Asteroid Worth 70,000 Times More Than the Global Economy," Daily Star, Jan. 30, 2023). The spacecraft will reach the asteroid in the Main Asteroid Belt between Mars and Jupiter in 2029, followed by nearly two years of analysis. Some imagine mining asteroids, even dragging smaller ones or fragments closer to earth.

Other exploration has focused on the feasibility of diverting asteroids. In October 2022, a milestone was reached when NASA sent a probe to strike the 525-foot-wide asteroid Dimorphos and shifted its orbit a bit ("NASA Reports Smashing Success With Asteroid Redirection Test," Washington Post, Oct. 11, 2022). Yet it's admitted that diverting an asteroid isn't something that could be done at the last minute to save the world. There would have to be a lot of warning time.

The threat posed by large objects colliding with us is a real one. Large meteors have hit the planet in the past, and they could do so again. "A collision with a larger rock, measuring at least 0.6 miles wide (1 km wide), would ‘probably trigger the end of civilization'" ("Could an Asteroid Destroy Earth?" Live Science, Sept. 30, 2022).

Thankfully, mankind will not be wiped out by such an asteroid. But the Bible does foretell vast destruction from the heavens around the time of Christ's return. Revelation 6:13 speaks of stars falling followed by the sky receding as a scroll. Revelation 8:8-9 speaks of a great burning mountain thrown into the sea and destroying a third of the ships-which could perhaps refer to either a supervolcano or a meteor. Revelation 8:10-11 describe a great star falling from heaven, burning like a torch, polluting the fresh water-perhaps an asteroid or comet impact. Revelation 16:21 speaks of heavy hailstones falling from heaven-possibly smaller asteroid or comet debris. In any event, there will be great natural disasters throughout the world, including from the sky.

Of course, real protection lies not in asteroid-diverting space missions, but in repentance and drawing close to God. Send for our free study guide The Book of Revelation Unveiled to better understand the times ahead.

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Keywords: Turkey sexual diseases homosexuality asteroids

Sexually transmitted diseases:

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