Good morning!

The Iranian regime has reportedly killed nearly 500 protesters as the country enters a third week of nationwide protests. Authorities have blacked out communications for days, obscuring an accurate picture of the unrest and raising fears that the regime’s crackdown is even bloodier than has been reported.

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Will the regime fall? The mob’s anger is fierce. But in every prior uprising, the regime’s brutality has been fiercer.

The last couple of years have weakened Iran. One by one it has lost its influence in Gaza, in Lebanon, and in Syria. Yet all these developments were prophesied in the Bible, and those prophecies actually foretell that Iran will build different alliances. Iran’s nuclear program suffered blows from Israeli and American attacks, but they were not fatal, and Iran’s regime remains combative.

Venezuela was a crucial Iranian partner, and America deposing Nicolás Maduro is an economic and strategic upset for Iran. That impressive operation may have also made the ayatollah nervous: President Trump says the Iranians “called to negotiate.” Iran’s foreign minister said Iran remains “prepared for war” but is prepared to negotiate with Trump based on “mutual respect and interests.” This is a development the Trumpet watches closely.

The prophecies of Iran’s radical and belligerent role in end-time events are clear. We will not see a moderate, Western-friendly state emerge from this unrest, nor a fundamental restructuring of Middle Eastern power with a regime change in Tehran.

Still, exactly how Iran will rise further to fulfill the role of “king of the south” is unknown. Ali Khamenei has led Iran for 36 years and is 86 years old; reports say his health is deteriorating. Perhaps another firebrand Bonaparte-like figure will grab the baton of the Islamic Revolution and race toward its blazing conclusion.

The outcome of this rebellion within this consequential nation is truly worth watching closely. It will prove that Bible prophecy is alive!

Russia’s war in Ukraine longer than Soviet fight against Nazi Germany: Today marks 1,419 days since Russia launched a war on Ukraine with the goal of capturing Kyiv and forcing a quick regime change. Almost four years later, Russia is nowhere near achieving that goal.

In contrast, it took the Soviets (in alliance with the U.S. and Britain) 1,418 days to rebuff a Nazi invasion and seize Berlin. Germany’s n-TV.de wrote that the comparison “reveals just how weak the Russian Army is.” It’s hard to disagree.

Compare that embarrassment with recent Western military interventions.

• On January 3, the U.S. neutralized Venezuelan defense systems from Iran, Russia and China and seized Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro overnight. The nation is now effectively at the mercy of the U.S.
• Last June, Israel conducted coordinated strikes on dozens of Iranian military installations and established air superiority within days.

These comparisons are doubly humiliating for Russia. Not only has it failed to achieve a similar feat in Ukraine, but Venezuela and Iran were its allies, using its military technology.

Despite these realities, however, Europe is responding to Russia as though it were a civilizational threat, using this as a pretext for significant military buildup.

• Just three days after Russia’s invasion, Germany announced a €100 billion special fund to bolster the country’s military capabilities. (Meanwhile, it blocked meaningful sanctions and weapons deliveries to Ukraine.)
• Three years later, Germany is spending hundreds of billions more to arm, yet its support for Ukraine remains limited.

Germany purchases most of its military technology from the U.S., Israel and German or European arms manufacturers. It also houses U.S. nuclear bombs. One would think that it need not fear a Russian invasion anytime soon. Why then the urgency to militarize?

“Germany’s duplicitous behavior is easy to understand,” Gerald Flurry wrote in 2022, explaining that Germany and Russia are working together “to empower themselves and each other at the expense of Europe and the U.S.-led world order. Both want to tear down that order and build themselves into great empires!”

That is exactly what is happening.

President Vladimir Putin has transformed his country into a war machine, developed new military strategies and technology, and gained the support of China and India in its war effort. The brutality of the war proves once more that Putin is the prophesied prince of Russia spoken of in Ezekiel 38.

Meanwhile, Germany has been building its own military empire, as prophesied in Revelation 17.

Neither of these nations has yet reached the power they are prophesied to have, but the war in Ukraine has brought them much closer.

Will soaring gold and silver ever come down? After reaching record highs in 2025, the price of both gold and silver has continued to rise significantly in the early days of 2026. Last year gold rose 65 percent to more than $4,500 an ounce, and it is now over $4,600. Silver has been even more explosive, rising more than 180 percent last year by some metrics, and now trading over $85.

• These were the sharpest increases since the rampant inflation, dollar devaluation and Soviet and Iranian crises of 1979.
• Rising U.S. federal debt, protectionist policies, and economic and geopolitical uncertainties, including fears of a U.S. invasion of Venezuela, increased demand for these and other assets seen as safe havens in times of crisis—and reduced demand for the dollar.

How long will the precious metals keep rocketing skyward? Continued instability could boost them still higher in the short term. But Bible prophecy has a bearish long-term prognosis. It warns of economic collapse and massive wars coming that get so bad that even gold will no longer be a safe haven.

• Ezekiel 7:19 prophesies that people who refuse to repent of their evil and then suffer the violent consequences “shall cast their silver in the streets, and their gold shall be removed: their silver and their gold shall not be able to deliver them in the day of the wrath of the Lord ….”

Good news: However, this devastating crisis has a purpose. Once the Americans, British, Israelis and other descendants of ancient Israel—and all nations—finally recognize their sins and what they have caused, they will finally repent.

The Bible forecasts that Jesus Christ will return to stop the economic and physical carnage, establish God’s government on Earth, and enforce just laws that, among other things, will produce a new, stable economic system.

“A fixed standard will be set up, and values will never change,” Herbert W. Armstrong wrote in Mystery of the Ages, basing his forecast on Bible prophecy. “No more speculating or gambling on other people’s ability. Never again will any person become rich from investing in the labors and creative ability of another person. No more stock markets, world banks, financing centers, insurance companies, mortgage companies, loan agencies or time payments.”

To learn more about God’s economic system, soon to be established, request your free copy of The Wonderful World Tomorrow—What It Will Be Like, by Herbert W. Armstrong.

IN OTHER NEWS

Israel and Germany signed a major counterterrorism and cyberwarfare agreement in Jerusalem on Sunday. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said cybersecurity “is one of the main threats to our internal security, and in many ways also our infrastructure and other threats.” Netanyahu said Israel and Germany “are natural partners” in countering cyberthreats, citing Israel’s recent sale of its Arrow 3 missile defense system to Germany. That sale was announced on the same day it was expanded by another $3.1 billion. Israel may see Germany as a close strategic partner it can depend on for intimate security, but Bible prophecy warns that such cooperation is actually setting Israel up for a heinous betrayal.

Europe moves on the Middle East: European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and European Council President António Costa visited Syria and Lebanon on Friday, meeting with Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa to discuss economic issues and the return of many Syrian refugees residing in Europe, then meeting with Lebanese President Joseph Aoun to discuss regional stability and the disarmament of the Hezbollah terrorist organization. Earlier in the week, Costa visited Paris for a meeting on the Ukraine war, Cyprus for its opening ceremony for the European Council presidency, and Jordan for the first EU summit in Amman, which was also attended by von der Leyen. Watch Europe’s involvement: Iran once dominated Syria and Lebanon, but Bible prophecy says they will soon be dominated by a European superpower.

Germany reaches out to India: German Chancellor Friedrich Merz arrived in India on Sunday to help bolster relations between the two nations. Europe is working to replace its past economic reliance on the U.S. with other nations, including India. The two nations have even planned a sale of German submarines to India. Bible prophecy forecasts that if Americans, who descended from the ancient Israelites, continue to rebel against God, they will suffer the same types of devastating consequences as their predecessors. It even specifies that much of this suffering will come from Europe, along with other nations disconnecting from and besieging the economy of the U.S., weakening it prior to a devastating military attack.

Canada: a change in the trade winds: Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney will arrive in China tomorrow to meet with Chinese General Secretary Xi Jinping, the first such visit by a Canadian prime minister in over eight years. Carney intends to reduce Canada’s dependence on the U.S., which has purchased about 75 percent of Canadian exports for decades. “We’re forging new partnerships around the world,” he said on Wednesday, “to transform our economy from one that has been reliant on a single trade partner, to one that is stronger and more resilient to global shock.” The Bible prophesies that global shocks are coming and that China and Europe will wage economic war on the U.S. Canada could provide a devastating vector for attack in this coming conflict.

Mississippi synagogue burns: Early Saturday morning, a fire blazed through the Beth Israel Synagogue in Jackson, Mississippi, the city’s only synagogue and the target of a 1967 bombing by the Ku Klux Klan. Local and federal authorities arrested a suspect by the end of the day, but have not yet publicly identified the individual. The attack, which is being treated by the fbi as a hate crime, is the latest demonstration of anti-Semitism, as brazen attacks against Jews increase worldwide.