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Recently, a University of Oklahoma student wrote an essay articulating her conviction that God created two sexes, male and female. A transsexual teaching assistant gave her a zero. Many saw it as an example of religious persecution in America. Not the Bee saw a deeper lesson, and a profound one.

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Not the Bee is a sister website to the satirical Babylon Bee. The Bee makes up headlines to lampoon real-life events; Not the Bee reports real news so outrageous it should be satire. Its authors often cite the Bible in their news analysis. They saw the OU kerfuffle as sad evidence that the “vibe shift” in the Trump era away from wokeness toward sanity is illusory and that America “still serves the same old gods.” They editorialized:

Vibe shifts aren’t repentance. They’re intermissions.

Cultures don’t drift toward biblical fidelity on their own. Both reason and experience tell us that the history of the world proves the exact opposite. … Beneath the supposed “swing back to reason,” the same old gods still demand sacrifice.

It’s naive to believe in a deep cultural shift just because Trump was elected president, Not the Bee wrote.

We still live in a culture discipled by follow-your-heart theology. We still inhabit institutions that believe feelings create reality. We remain citizens of a society where the gospel of affirmation eclipses the authority of God’s Word.

So any “vibe shift” we experience is more like a breeze. The worldview underneath is bedrock. …

Christians must not mistake cultural fatigue for cultural repentance. The public may be tired of the excesses of gender ideology. They may be annoyed with activists. They may be rolling their eyes at the latest list of invented pronouns. But annoyance is not repentance.

It’s a crucial point of truth. Our most recent Trumpet issue asks, “Is America’s Religious Revival for Real?” It puts this “vibe shift” in context and challenges you to measure your beliefs against the Bible. Will you take up the challenge? Start by reading Gerald Flurry’s cover story “America at the Crossroads.”

D.C. killer: blackmailed by the Taliban?: The Afghan evacuee who shot two National Guard members in Washington, D.C., on November 26 may have been blackmailed by the Taliban to commit terror. The possibility raises fresh alarm regarding the 76,000 Afghan refugees brought into the U.S. under President Joe Biden’s Operation Allies Welcome.

• Citing “U.S. intelligence,” the Daily Beast reported on Tuesday that “a Taliban hit squad” may have “threatened to murder Rahmanullah Lakanwal’s family in Afghanistan unless he opened fire on American troops in the nation’s capital.”
• Regarding Afghan evacuees, one U.S. intelligence source told PJ Media: “People in this country have no idea about the level of stress these people are under. Most of them have families back home, and if the Taliban cannot get to them, they are making it very clear that they will go after their families.”

Lakanwal previously worked with the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency against the Taliban in Afghanistan. He had no criminal record and was vetted several times before being admitted into the United States.

“The troubling part of this theory is what it suggests about our security vulnerabilities,” PJ Media wrote. “Yet suppose the Taliban blackmail theory is correct. In that case, it exposes a nightmare scenario: even thoroughly screened allies with no ties to terrorism can be coerced through threats against family members still trapped under Taliban rule. Biden’s disastrous withdrawal didn’t just return Afghanistan to the Taliban. It created a pressure point that can turn trusted partners into potential weapons—and there’s no reliable way to screen for that kind of vulnerability.”

In 2021, Gerald Flurry called the Afghanistan withdrawal “the worst foreign-policy disaster in the nation’s history.” He said it would “mar our history, perhaps for the rest of time. Many people say it proves Joe Biden’s incompetence. But this catastrophe isn’t the result of bungling and bad judgement. It is a deliberate, planned effort to destroy America. And it has been terribly successful.”

The Washington shooting demonstrates what this means. Not only was America humiliated and ousted by the same rag-tag group it invaded Afghanistan to defeat, and not only have its promises to its allies proved worthless, but four years on, a murderous terror group has leverage against potentially tens of thousands of assets for attacks across America.

Mr. Flurry was right about the Afghan withdrawal, and the late Herbert W. Armstrong was right when he said—64 years ago—that America “has won its last war!”

Britain bereft of ‘capable leaders’: Britain is suffering a leadership drought worse than any in its long history, veteran journalist Conrad Black argued yesterday. His observation aligns perfectly with a very specific prophecy about end-time Britain.

Lord Black wrote, “The conduct of the great office of prime minister of the United Kingdom in the last 15 years has no precedent in the history of that position.” Great Britain has had 80 prime ministers since 1707, and the last seven since 2010 have all been failures.

The procession of conspicuous failures of five consecutive Conservative leaders between Brown and Starmer constitutes the near suicide of the great Tory party of Disraeli, Churchill and Thatcher. Now the Labour Party has fallen in with this inexplicable thirst for defeat and failure, and the betting is even that Starmer will survive for another six months as prime minister before being given the high-jump by his own M.P.s.

This must be an aberration; British institutions, developed over 800 years since Magna Carta, have not suddenly become ineffective. … But as long as the British political leadership is so feeble that no one appears capable of grappling with the need to manage immigration, reduce waiting lines in the health system, or restore significant economic growth, Britain cannot be considered a stable country, and this compromises the political coherence of Europe and of the West in general.

Isaiah 3 records a prophecy that “the Lord, the Lord of hosts, doth take away … The mighty man, and the man of war, the judge, and the prophet, and the prudent, and the ancient, The captain of fifty, and the honourable man, and the counsellor, and the cunning artificer, and the eloquent orator. And I will give children to be their princes, and babes shall rule over them” (verses 1-4). This prophecy’s fulfillment is now painfully obvious in London.

IN OTHER NEWS

Did U.S. energy sanctions hurt Russia? New data suggests that President Donald Trump’s October 22 sanctions on Rosneft and Lukoil did immediate damage, but the Russian energy giants have already recovered. Bloomberg’s “Oil Tracker” feature shows Russia is now exporting as much or more oil than it was prior to October 22. Goldman Sachs estimates that Russian exports via Rosneft and Lukoil have fallen by 1.1 million barrels per day, but exports by non-sanctioned companies have risen by roughly the same amount. Meanwhile, Russia’s war economy—and its war machine—grind on.

Germany sending jets to Poland: The German Air Force reported today that it is moving “several” Eurofighters from Nörvenich Air Base in Germany to Malbork Air Base in Poland, a response to recent Russian airspace violations. The deployment, which will last until March, includes about 150 personnel—pilots, technicians, logisticians, security guards and military police. Meanwhile, the Bundestag’s budget committee approved 11 additional rifle, ammunition, reconnaissance, drone and other armaments projects yesterday, worth about $3 billion. Germany is solidifying its military leadership of Europe.

French President Emmanuel Macron arrived in China today for a three-day visit and met with Chinese leader Xi Jinping. “China and France should demonstrate their sense of responsibility, raise high the banner of multilateralism … and firmly stand on the right side of history,” Xi said. China’s economy has recently suffered under U.S. tariffs, but representatives from French companies just signed 12 cooperation agreements with their Chinese counterparts. Based on Bible prophecy, the Trumpet warns that France will ally with China and betray the U.S.

Colossal Chinese consulate in London? China’s ruling Chinese Communist Party wants to build a “mega embassy” near the Tower of London. The site, formerly used by the Royal Mint, is located directly above data cables carrying sensitive British financial information. The Chinese are investing a huge sum of money into the project and applying pressure to Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s government to acquiesce. The UK will announce its decision on January 20. Once-mighty Britain’s diplomatic weakness in this situation illustrates that it is being cursed for disobedience to God, fulfilling prophecies laid out in the Bible.

Palestinian terrorists shot five Israeli soldiers in southern Gaza on Wednesday afternoon. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated, “Our policy is clear: Israel will not tolerate attacks on idf soldiers and will respond accordingly.” The idf conducted air strikes and artillery shelling in response. The U.S.-brokered ceasefire in Gaza is at risk, another reminder that man does not know the way to peace.

Big Tech headache—fewer workers are using AI: Data from several polls this year suggest that AI isn’t living up to its promise of transforming the workplace. Workers are using it less the more they have access to it, suggesting some measure of fatigue or disenchantment with the technology. “The data is nothing if not a major red flag for an industry which is expected to spend $5 trillion on AI infrastructure between now and 2030,” wrote Futurism. The exorbitant cash outlays going toward this energy-hungry technology are predicated on voracious and growing user demand, which simply isn’t materializing. “With a $600 billion gulf between AI revenue and AI spending, an immense amount is riding on whether the tech can start bringing home the bacon.” This could be the mother of all economic bubbles.