A New Ukrainian Peace Plan, Eliminating Mail-In Ballots and Voting Machines, Russian Defense Summit
Church attendance among young people has quadrupled over the last seven years. “Christianity undoubtedly has a new energy,” wrote the Times in its lengthy weekend essay on the revival. “Last Easter, the Catholic diocese of Westminster in London welcomed 500 adult converts and the Catholic Church in France baptized almost 18,000 adults and adolescents, the highest number ever recorded. In the U.S., the decline in church attendance seems to have leveled off.”
[BRIEF]
“Christianity’s status in public life is also much improved,” it wrote. “In recent years there has been a trickle of prominent converts: the U.S. Vice President, JD Vance; the former star of the new atheism movement, Ayaan Hirsi Ali; the philosopher and culture warrior Jordan Peterson is an ardent supporter of Christianity. Joe Rogan, the most popular broadcaster in the English-speaking world, announced to general surprise that ‘we need Jesus.’”
Is this revival real? What does it mean for the world and America? Our main story today focuses on America’s religious resurgence. “Are we coming under God?” asked Trumpet executive editor Stephen Flurry. “Or is it only a lifestyle trend? Jesus warned about fake Christianity. We can’t afford a fake!”
The outlines of a new Ukrainian peace plan are emerging after President Donald Trump met with Vladimir Putin in Alaska on Friday. The meeting ended without an agreement, though President Trump said, “We really made some great progress today.”
Over the weekend, President Trump encouraged Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to give up the Crimea Peninsula and the desire to join NATO in exchange for peace.
Realistically, Ukraine is never reconquering Crimea. And NATO membership is also never going to happen—Germany made that clear in 2007. Zelenskyy and EU leaders will meet in Washington today. Some kind of compromise where Ukraine gives up land but doesn’t permanently recognize Russian ownership of it could emerge. Meanwhile, the U.S. is talking about giving Ukraine some kind of security guarantee, where America or European allies promise to defend Ukraine if Russia tries to expand further. The trouble is, America, Britain and France gave Ukraine security guarantees decades ago and failed to fulfill their promises. How would a new piece of paper be any better?
The most immediate result of the meeting is that the pressure is off Putin for now. President Trump had been threatening dramatic sanctions if the Russian dictator did not agree to peace. That seems to be off the table, with President Trump focused now on Zelenskyy.
All of this could change very quickly. President Trump is working hard to bring peace. He spent almost 24 hours nonstop working on this on Friday and Saturday. But peace doesn’t come from hard work or good intentions. As Romans 3:17 warns, man does not know the way to peace. It doesn’t come from sitting around conference tables hammering out compromises.
The Bible tells us we live in “perilous times” (2 Timothy 3:1). The book of Daniel shows that world leaders, especially in this end time, have the heart of a beast. “Their minds and their passions were fixed on world conquest,” wrote Trumpet editor in chief Gerald Flurry. “It bothered them not at all to oppress and even kill millions of people in pursuit of that goal! …
“These men who became so brutal simply gave themselves over to an evil spirit. Such beastly thinking is inspired by Satan the devil!” (Trumpet, October 2023).
Adolf Hitler was one such leader. “When we are dealing with such a mind and fail to recognize it, that is deadly dangerous!” wrote Mr. Flurry. “Diplomacy does not work with such a man: He no longer has a man’s mind!”
Vladimir Putin is another beastly leader. President Trump is a savvy dealmaker. The left has spent years trying to paint him as a Russian stooge, and it’s simply untrue. But he needs more than hard work and savvy negotiations. “I can solve anything,” he said as he offered to mediate between India and Pakistan. In these “perilous times” with beastly leaders, that delusion is nation-destroying. It takes the mind of God to bring peace.
“We all must realize that no politician can save America,” wrote Mr. Flurry in January 2021, as he forecast Trump’s second term in office. “The Republicans cannot save this nation. President Trump cannot. Only God can!” This is not about President Trump selling out to Russia or being a foolish negotiator. No man, no matter how brilliant, can bring peace to the world by sitting down with Vladimir Putin. Only repentance, turning to God, can do that—and there is not much time left before Putin and other beastly leaders butcher the planet. For more, read Mr. Flurry’s article “World Leaders Who No Longer Have a Human Mind.”
IN OTHER NEWS
President Trump aims to eliminate mail-in ballots and voting machines, he posted on Truth Social this morning. “We are now the only country in the world that uses mail-in voting,” he wrote. “All others gave it up because of the MASSIVE VOTER FRAUD ENCOUNTERED.” He promised an executive order on this shortly.
Russia held its first defense summit with the Alliance of Sahel States last week. Russian Defense Minister Andrey Belousov met his counterpart from Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger. Russia’s influence in North Africa is another growing threat to Europe—expect Europe to pay close attention.
Karl Marx is the fourth most commonly assigned author in American universities, according to Open Syllabus. “Whether people like to admit it or not, Marxism is now the dominant model of history and society being taught in American universities,” wrote Andrew Miller in his In Brief.
The most disadvantaged minority group in Britain is … white British people—at least they’re the group least likely to get into a top university. As our previous story shows, that may be a good thing, but it also explodes the narrative of “white privilege”—at least in the UK. There are even bigger problems with the “white privilege” narrative, as Trumpet managing editor Joel Hilliker wrote: “It is the opposite of the way God thinks.” For more, see his article “Is ‘White Male Privilege’ a Thing?”