In nations across the world, radicalism is on the march, problems are proliferating, and many, many people are frustrated and fed up. Maybe you are one of them.

There are leaders who offer solutions and give people hope. Let me tell you: You must be careful about where you place your hope. Many of those “solutions” are illusions!

But there is real hope in genuine solutions to this world’s problems. And if you understand them, today’s world events point to that hope in a wonderful way.

Look at one example. In several countries, leftists pushing multiculturalism and lax border policies have invited mass immigration. They say diversity is strength. But in fact, their policies have burdened welfare programs, created no-go policing areas and enflamed serious social disruption. High-profile cases of migrants robbing, looting, raping and killing citizens are filling headlines. Many people are angry and demanding solutions.

Examples of leftists pushing radical reforms and transforming society abound. Their fiscal policies are undermining currencies. Inflation is rampant. Their immoral positions are growing more extreme. Educators are pushing sexual immorality and lgbtq propaganda on even young children. Politicians and bureaucrats are enforcing “woke” regulations that criminalize normal behavior. Free speech is under attack.

This is creating a backlash. In country after country, citizens are speaking out and protesting. They are demanding that their leaders make changes, and they are voting for change. This is disrupting politics throughout the Western world—in Germany, France, Italy, throughout Eastern Europe, in Britain, in America.

Will new leaders be able to solve these problems? This is an important question we explore in this issue of the Trumpet.

In some cases, people looking for relief from failed and dysfunctional politics are adopting ideas and supporting leaders or political parties that have serious problems of their own. Some are embracing doubtful, even dangerous political extremes.

Are These the Answers?

Thanks to mass migration parts of Old Europe now resemble cities in the Middle East and the Third World. There is, understandably, a growing movement to reclaim and reassert traditional European heritage and culture. Europeans are becoming more outspoken about the need to return the Continent to its Christian roots.

What few are considering is that these roots include the history of the Holy Roman Empire, a church-state alliance that has caused untold suffering throughout history! And Bible prophecy shows this empire will rise again in our day to wreak terrible destruction! Our free book The Holy Roman Empire in Prophecy will explain both this history and prophecy to you. You must understand this as you watch this trend in Europe.

In a related example: Within Germany, fed-up voters are awarding election victories to the Alternative für Deutschland. In parts of the country, the AfD is now the most popular party. It is easy to see why so many frustrated Germans are looking to a party that appears anti-leftist, pro-family, pro-church. But they are supporting a party that has literal Nazi sympathizers in its upper ranks. When you understand Bible prophecy, you know this is an extremely alarming trend in Germany! It is clearing the way for far more dangerous developments for Europe and the world! (article, page 12).

Another example: More and more people, weary of political chaos, are longing for strongman leadership. Russia’s Vladimir Putin is receiving praise as he poses as a heroic defender of traditional values like family and religion. But thinking that such a man is the champion for civilization ignores a lot of grisly facts about this murderous tyrant! (article, page 16). Support for him is an embarrassing measure of Western leaders’ moral bankruptcy.

Yet another example: America is preparing to hold a presidential election, and the country is deeply divided. Even after two assassination attempts against Donald Trump, leftists keep insisting that he poses as great a threat to democracy as Adolf Hitler. Some Republicans despise Trump so much that they are endorsing Kamala Harris as the “less dangerous” candidate—despite her being the most radical presidential candidate in America’s history! Can you imagine the damage brought on this country under four years of a Harris presidency? On the other side, a great many people are convinced that one man, President Trump, can singlehandedly reverse the flood of curses besieging the nation. Based on Bible prophecy, I am absolutely confident that Donald Trump will be back in the presidency. But only God can save this country, and it must be to Him that we look, not to any man (article, page 3).

Often, leaders are promoting themselves and offering answers that provide temporary relief at best—and end up burdening their peoples with even more crushing crises.

Time will prove that in each of these cases, and many more, people who are trying to escape from the frying pan are not jumping to safety but straight into the fire.

There is a fundamental lesson here that we must learn.

Whom to Trust

Jeremiah 17:5 has this sage advice from God Himself: “Thus saith the Lord; Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the Lord.”

This one verse explains why our world faces so many mountainous disasters: People are not trusting in God but in man. That “man” may be a leader, or it may even be their own Satan-influenced human nature; most people trust themselves and follow their own mind.

Here is a fundamental lesson man has not learned for 6,000 years: We are cursed if we follow a man. In fact, unless repented of, this terrible mistake leads to eternal death!

Now, it is also important to realize that God does work through men. He always works through one man, like He did the Prophet Jeremiah, to lead His people. God plainly says we are cursed if we follow a man. But we are also cursed if we fail to follow the man God is using.

Most people rebel against God because they trust a man—yet they refuse to trust God and follow His man, His leader. We must learn this gigantic lesson or be cursed. We are cursed if we follow a man—and cursed if we fail to follow God’s man!

How will we be cursed? “For he shall be like the heath in the desert, and shall not see when good cometh; but shall inhabit the parched places in the wilderness, in a salt land and not inhabited” (verse 6). Trust in men, and you will not see when good comes.

God is actually sending His message to this world—warning of escalating curses people are bringing on themselves, and of the mind-splitting suffering and world war that is about to overtake the nations! He is also sending a message of shining hope—revealing how Jesus Christ Himself is going to intervene to solve these problems. We are in the very last days of man’s rule on Earth. Soon the kingdoms of this world will become the kingdoms of Jesus Christ, and He shall reign forever and ever! (Revelation 11:15). There is no greater good than that!

When we look at the crises facing our world today, we ought to see plainly that these are much bigger than any man can solve! Do not be seduced by human beings promising salvation! They cannot save you or anybody else!

If you want to be blessed, here is what you must do: “Blessed is the man that trusteth in the Lord, and whose hope the Lord is. For he shall be as a tree planted by the waters, and that spreadeth out her roots by the river, and shall not see when heat cometh, but her leaf shall be green; and shall not be careful in the year of drought, neither shall cease from yielding fruit” (Jeremiah 17:7-8). Trust in God! Those who do are like a tree planted by the waters, with deep, strong roots that can survive drought and still bear fruit.

Find the Church that trusts God, and you will find abundant fruit. They will have God’s revealed prophecy. They will be doing a powerful work, delivering that revealed prophecy.

Jeremiah discusses one tree with green leaves and fruit in the midst of spiritual drought. It is easy to see for those who have spiritual vision. The fruitful tree stands out spectacularly, alone in the midst of a scorching drought. Those who cannot see that tree are focused on a man!

Is your life like this beautiful, fruit-producing tree in the midst of drought? Are you always producing fruit in a world afflicted with spiritual drought?

God is going to let mankind reach the point where people will know there is no hope in man and they are willing to heed God’s Word, the Bible. The experiment of human government will prove itself a grandiose failure, and people will begin to recognize that they truly need God’s help.

What a world that will be! When human arrogance has been leveled, people will become humble and childlike, and they will be ready to be taught by God!

Sadly, to reach that stage, mankind must experience destruction just short of destroying all humanity—every man, woman and child.

I challenge you to learn this towering lesson now, before that global tribulation strikes. Events are rapidly approaching that conflagration. You need God’s direction, His correction and His protection! And God will protect you and cause your life to blossom and bear bountiful fruit—if you learn to trust Him. Receive His word as He reveals the way of life and the way of death, obey Him, and trust in Him.