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Churches are closing and religion is declining in America and other Western countries. Mainline Protestant denominations are now under 11 percent of the U.S. population and down 40 percent since 2007.

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Yet a counter trend is happening simultaneously: Religion is growing—particularly Pentecostalism and traditional forms like Catholicism and Orthodoxy—among young men and the highly educated, according to a major RealClearInvestigations report drawing on decades of data from Pew Research, Cooperative Election Study, Barna Group, Bible Society UK, Harvard’s Social Capital Atlas and other sources.

Both trends align with Bible prophecy. This report underscores our recent Trumpet issue about America’s religious revival. It shows the resiliency of religion even in highly secularized Europe, a deeply prophetic trend. But the concurrent rise in no religious affiliation and overt paganism shows the polarization of society.

Some major findings from authors Joel Kotkin and Bheki Mahlobo:

In America and Britain:

• Last year, men reported higher church attendance than women for the first time in 25 years. Gen Z men (ages 14-29) are adopting religion faster than their female peers, often drawn to traditional Christianity’s emphasis on responsibility and hierarchy. “This growing divide may continue to separate men and women, with grave implications at a time when rates of marriage and parenthood are declining,” the authors wrote.
• UK church attendance among 18-to-24-year-olds rose from 4 percent in 2018 to 16 percent recently. Among young men, it’s now 21 percent.
• Religious schools gained 300,000 students between 2019 and 2023, while public schools lost 1.2 million.
• The more schooling you have, the more religious you tend to be: 30 percent of graduate degree holders attend church weekly, compared to 23 percent of high school graduates.
• “[C]ontrary to past assertions, today the faithful are not poor and ignorant but increasingly from the educated upper middle class. … Indeed, in a rebuke of the aggressive New Atheism of the early 2000s advanced by thought leaders such as Richard Dawkins and Christopher Hitchens, a counter-movement appears to be growing among scientists, philosophers and public intellectuals who view religious tradition not as a delusion to be eradicated but as a sustainable civilizational operating system” (ibid). Among scientists, younger ones (under 35) are more likely to attend religious services than baby boomers.

Globally:

• The fastest-growing religion is Pentecostalism. It has over 600 million adherents now and is projected to reach 1 billion by 2050.
• Orthodox Judaism now represents 1 in 7 Jews and is projected to grow to 1 in 5 by 2040.
• Greek Orthodox parishes saw a 78 percent increase in converts in 2022 compared to 2019, with more men joining since 2020. The average age of attendees is 42; 62 percent are ages 18 to 45.
• Adult baptisms in France increased 45 percent last year.
• In Taiwan, Hong Kong and India, scientists are often more religious than the general public, viewing science and religion as overlapping or independent.
• Religiously engaged groups outperform atheists/agnostics in income and education levels. Inner-city boys in religious schools are twice as likely to graduate from college as their public school peers. Low-income religious people are more likely to form meaningful friendships with high-income ones at church than in schools or workplaces. Exposure to wealthier peers in congregations increases lifetime earnings by 20 percent for low-income individuals.

Religion is prophesied to be a powerful driving force in end-time events, within and among nations. It will spark a confrontation within America, rally violent radicals in the Middle East, unify a fierce European empire, and catalyze a civilizational clash that will escalate into World War iii.

Iran Temporarily Shuts Hormuz

Iran closed the Strait of Hormuz for several hours on Tuesday as its Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps performed live-fire naval exercises. Along with belligerent rhetoric, the exercises are meant to threaten the United States.

• The move shows Iran’s fearlessness in the face of America sending more than 50 fighter jets to the region in addition to about 180 fighters on two aircraft carrier strike groups in the Arabian Sea and the Mediterranean Sea.

This strait, only 21 miles at its narrowest, connects the Persian Gulf to the Indian Ocean and the wider world. A long-term closure would be catastrophic for the global economy, leading to astronomically high energy prices. More than 80 percent of Middle Eastern oil and natural gas exports transit this passage. Most Middle Eastern economies, including Iran, rely heavily on free passage through the strait.

• The same day, both the U.S. and Iran claimed to have made progress in nuclear negotiations in Switzerland. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said the two sides reached “a general understanding on a set of guiding principles.” The Wall Street Journal reported that Iran expressed willingness to move its enriched uranium offshore, potentially to Russia.

Daniel 11:40 records a prophecy for “the time of the end” describing a power bloc called “the king of the south” pushing at “the king of the north” and provoking a global conflict. As Trumpet editor in chief Gerald Flurry explains in The King of the South, this bloc is radical Islam, led by Iran. The king of the north is a united European empire. Much of Iran’s “push” comes from its ability to threaten oil shipping routes. Mr. Flurry writes:

Controlling the Suez Canal, however, is not enough. Egypt tried that in 1956, when Britain, France and Israel kicked it out in one attack. But the situation is altogether different if this sea trade route is lined with radical Islamic nations possessing real airpower, including missiles and drones! This could give Iran virtual control of the trade through those seas. Radical Islam could stop the flow of essential oil to the U.S. and Europe!

The Strait of Hormuz is the one maritime choke point Iran controls directly. This week, it has threatened to cut the world off from it. This won’t be the last time Iran threatens to use its leverage over world trade routes, not to mention its influence over radical Islamic terrorism, against the West. Bible prophecy says Iran is just getting started.

Carney Plans to Unite Europe and the Indo-Pacific

Yesterday, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney confirmed that he is spearheading discussions to connect the European Union to the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership.

Responding to questions from reporters about a Politico report published on February 12, Carney said that Canada, which is a member of the cptpp agreement and has a trade agreement with the EU, is in a unique political and geographic position for brokering an economic alliance between Europe and the Indo-Pacific.

• The cptpp is a 2018 trade agreement between Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, the United Kingdom and Vietnam. It has been correctly described as an anti-Trump, anti-U.S. trade bloc.

Positioning Canada as a bridge between these two blocs would connect a massive trade zone encompassing 1.5 billion people and around a third of the entire globe’s gdp.

• At the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Carney gave a January 20 speech imploring “middle power” countries to unite and counterbalance the influence of superpowers. He didn’t explicitly mention the United States, but the clear indication is that Carney wants to assemble a critical mass of nations to oppose both the U.S. and China.

Background: The cptpp evolved from a much smaller 2006 Trans-Pacific Strategic Economic Partnership and the still modest 2016 Trans-Pacific Partnership. President Barack Obama enthusiastically supported U.S. membership, which was agreed in 2016 but never ratified. This was withdrawn in 2017 shortly after President Trump began his first term. Nevertheless, the cptpp has grown in significance and is seen by Carney as perhaps the best way to isolate the U.S.

The Bible on trade blocs: Bible prophecies in Deuteronomy 28, Isaiah 23 and Ezekiel 27 indicate that Europe will indeed establish economic alliances with many Asian nations to economically besiege North America.

In a tragic irony, Canada will be one of the victims of the siege.

• The late Herbert W. Armstrong proved in his book The United States and Britain in Prophecy that the Anglo-Saxon nations (Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United States, and the United Kingdom) descended from the ancient Israelite tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh. This means that these five countries, together with the little nation called Israel in the Middle East, will be the primary victims of a Eurasian trade siege.

The Philadelphia Trumpet’s predecessor, the Plain Truth, considered the possibility that French-speaking Quebec may ultimately ally with America’s enemies, yet English-speaking Canada will ultimately suffer the same economic siege as the United States unless its people repent and turn to God. Prime Minister Carney’s attempts to unite “middle power” countries against the U.S. will not change this fact.

IN OTHER NEWS

Many Europeans want a strongman: A survey of citizens in France, Greece, Romania, Sweden and the United Kingdom found that 26 percent of respondents agree with the statement, “If there was a capable and effective leader in my country, I wouldn’t mind if they limited democratic rights and were not accountable to the citizens for their actions,” Politico reported yesterday. The survey was commissioned by the Progressive Lab think tank and conducted by the Greek polling firm AboutPeople. In every country except Sweden and the UK, most were dissatisfied with how democracy functions within their country. Though the minority, the percentage of Europeans who admit they could support a dictatorship is significant. Bible prophecy says they will soon get their wish.

Can America remotely control its foreign F-35s? “I’m going to say something I should never say, but I will anyway: You can jailbreak an F-35 just like an iPhone,” Dutch Defense Secretary Gijs Tuinman told bnr in a podcast posted on Saturday. The Netherlands is one of 19 nations that have purchased the fifth-generation stealth multirole fighter from America. Purchasing the F-35 was widely debated in Europe, with some expressing concerns that the U.S. could remotely disable the aircraft. In this context, “jailbreaking” refers to bypassing a manufacturer’s software restrictions. The U.S. denies that it can remotely shut down the F-35, but Europeans want to be sure they can use the F-35, which can carry nuclear weapons, for whatever they want. The controversy shows how sharp the divide between America and Europe has grown and how foolish it is for the U.S. to trust Europe with such weapons platforms.

Report: White House wants organized crime to police Gaza: “Multiple Western officials” told the Telegraph that the United States plans to use gangs of criminals to help govern Gaza if and when Hamas is removed from power. In the past, Israel has supported similarly suspect groups, such as the Popular Forces, as a way to counter the “greater evil” of Hamas; Hamas has killed many members of these groups. Removing Hamas and empowering these “lesser evils” appears to be the Trump administration’s plan, despite the gangs’ possible links to drug smuggling and other crimes, the Islamic State and terrorism. This is another sign that the Gaza “peace deal” will produce even more bloodshed.