When a Father Becomes a Predator

Two days ago, the deadliest mass shooting in America in over two years occurred. And most people have already forgotten about it.

On Sunday morning in Shreveport, Louisiana, a man shot eight children to death, most of them while they slept. Seven were his own children, the other his nephew. The oldest was 11 years old; the youngest was 3.

[BRIEF]

• Shamar Elkins, 31, went room to room and executed them. Some of the children tried to escape, crawling out a window onto the roof. Police believe he shot at least one child while that child clung to the rooftop trying to survive.
• After the murders, Elkins carjacked a vehicle at gunpoint, led officers on a long chase, and was shot dead when he exited the car with a weapon.

What would possess a man to do this? Just two weeks ago, Elkins posted a photo with his children captioned: “All my kids. What a blessed day.”

• Weeks before the murders, he called his family and admitted: “I’ve got some demons that I’m wrestling with.” He told them: “Some people don’t come back from their demons.”

The Bible warns plainly that demonic forces are active—invisible but unmistakably real. Satan and his demons are not myths. The Bible reveals that he is, in fact, “the god of this world” and that he broadcasts evil attitudes and emotions.

• If we listen, Satan can inspire us to commit horrific atrocities. And almost the entirety of God’s human creation is listening without realizing it, as we live in passive or active rebellion against our Creator.
• Bible prophecy gives us the warnings we need to escape that deception, but it also foretells that most human beings in our generation will succumb to it and fill the world with violence.

Paul warned in 2 Timothy 3:1–3 that the last days would be plagued by men “without natural affection.”

• What could describe Elkins’s act more precisely? Family dysfunction, marital collapse, separation proceedings, a court date the following Monday—then a father, the person most naturally obligated to protect his children, became their executioner. This is wreckage in a civilization that has abandoned God’s laws for family and opened itself up to demonic attack.

The story should have dominated headlines. Instead, it was buried. The news cycle moved on. We moved on. That indifference may be the most prophetic detail of all.

Shouldn’t such a horrific tragedy prod us to examine ourselves? Shouldn’t it shock the nation into moral reckoning?

• We need to strengthen our families. We need to strengthen our relationship with God. We need protection from evil. “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour” (1 Peter 5:8).

This world is dying. And the cure is not a policy or a program. It is repentance, and the law of God, and the love He commands.

Germany Is Working Around the Clock to Rearm

“Germany Is Reinventing Itself as a Weapons Factory” was the headline in the Wall Street Journal on Sunday.

Germany’s civilian manufacturing base is in free fall. The data is stark:

• 15,000 manufacturing jobs vanish every month, including from the once dominant auto sector.
• Mercedes-Benz posted a 49 percent profit drop in 2025.
• Volkswagen, the world’s second-largest carmaker, reported a 44 percent profit drop and plans to cut 50,000 German jobs by 2030.
• Porsche’s operating profit collapsed 98 percent compared with 2024, itself already a historic low.
• Nearly 90 percent of all European venture capital in defense technology is now being invested in German companies.

“Berlin’s approach isn’t to revive the old economy, but to replace it,” the Wall Street Journal wrote.

Idle factory floors and pools of laid-off skilled workers are being redirected, not into new civilian industries but into the only sector still expanding: weapons.

• Companies are adding third shifts to run production lines 24 hours a day, seven days a week, turning out arms and ammunition. Schaeffler, founded during the postwar reconstruction, is now making drone engines, systems for armored vehicles and military aviation components.

The press calls this “reinvention.” It is nothing of the kind. It is reversion, a return to the deep, historic pattern of a people who have launched the two most destructive wars in human history.

• Churchill knew it. Roosevelt knew it. The leaders who emerged from the rubble of World War ii said with absolute conviction that a militarized Germany must never happen again.

Beneath the economic story runs a geopolitical one. Under President Donald Trump, the United States has signaled it can no longer be relied upon to carry Europe’s defense burden. European leaders have responded by declaring that they will go it alone. Germany is positioning itself as the backbone of that independent European military force.

America retreating; a German-led Europe rearming in the vacuum. Students of Bible prophecy have been reading about this exact scenario for decades. It is the predicted rise of a European power bloc, and the Bible has always prophesied that its core would be the Assyrians: Germany.

• This is the pattern. The 1930s did not announce themselves as a catastrophe. They announced themselves as necessities—economic revival, national pride, collective defense. The camouflage looked reasonable, right up until it didn’t.

Daniel 11 and Revelation 17 describe a great European power rising in the last days. Ezekiel 5 and 7 warn of the catastrophic consequences when God removes His hand of protection from nations that have abandoned Him.

Weapons Exports Speed Japan’s Militarization

Japan approved a sweeping legal overhaul today, lifting a decades-old ban on selling lethal weaponry to other nations, a move that highlights its rise as a major global military force.

• The decision comes as Japan hastens its military buildup amid escalating security threats across Asia. It clears the way for Japan to export domestically built fighter jets, warships, missiles, drones and other advanced weaponry.

How big is its sales market? Last week, Japan received visits from 30 nato envoys, reflecting the country’s expanding cooperation with fellow democracies.

“No single country can now protect its own peace and security alone, and partner countries that support each other in terms of defense equipment are necessary.”
—Sanae Takaichi, Japan’s prime minister

Sayonara to pacifism: Following Japan’s ruthless wartime conduct and ultimate defeat in World War ii, the United States occupied the nation and enshrined Article 9 in its new Constitution. This clause was designed to prevent a resurgence of Japanese militarism and banned war as a means for Japan to settle international disputes.

• Japan’s postwar pacifist posture included a ban on most arms exports.

In recent years, however, Japan had eased the restrictions to help nations such as Ukraine, but it still limited such sales to five categories: alert, minesweeping, rescue, surveillance and transport.

• Today’s change scraps those limits, allowing Japan to export cutting-edge, lethal weaponry to any country that signs defense transfer deals with it.
• The move comes as Japan abandons all other restraints of its pacifist posture and advances toward full military normalization.

Japan’s increasingly militaristic posture may appear reassuring given its alliance with the United States, but Bible prophecy warns of a coming shift that will align Japan with Russia and China—against America. To understand, read “Japan’s Coming Betrayal of America.”

EU’s Age Verification Disaster

The EU released a new age verification app on April 15, and it went the same way the EU’s IT projects usually go. It was a disaster.

• The app is designed to help governments block teens from using social media. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said it was “technically ready” and available for government use soon. “It is fully open source,” she said. “Everyone can check the code.”

Some did. Security researcher Paul Moore said it took him just 2 minutes to hack the app.

The next day, the EU backtracked, saying it was a “demo version” released for “testing and development purposes.”

• The EU is clearly in a hurry to get this technology out. Why?

The danger to teens from social media is clear. The EU is right to be worried.

But the EU is also using its regulatory power to try to police the global Internet. Germany has arrested people for sharing memes, criticizing politicians and even disagreeing with their leaders.

• No wonder people suspect the EU of not acting in good faith. Age verification laws can be used to force everyone to upload ID, making it much easier for governments to censor or even arrest them.

“Germany’s ambitions for the Internet should concern everyone, even those who don’t have a computer,” wrote Trumpet editor in chief Gerald Flurry in 2019. “The EU’s behavior on this issue exposes the dictatorial nature of this German-dominated entity. Really, we are witnessing the manifestation of the spirit of the Holy Roman Empire in the tech world. The biblically prophesied seventh and final resurrection of this empire wants to control the Internet!”

IN OTHER NEWS

France to extend nuclear umbrella over Poland? On Monday, French President Emmanuel Macron and Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk discussed defense cooperation including the extension of France’s nuclear deterrence to Poland, joint exercises and intelligence sharing. Tusk stated the two countries’ cooperation “whether in the nuclear domain or in joint exercises … knows no bounds.” These serious ongoing discussions are designed to separate European strategic defense from reliance on the United States military.

North Korea again tests cluster bombs: North Korea announced on Monday that it test-launched ballistic missiles equipped with cluster bomb warheads on Sunday. This follows a similar test from earlier this month. Cluster munitions are banned by more than 100 nations due to their massive and indiscriminate destructive yields. North Korea’s growing military capabilities will complement the Asian superpower prophesied by the Bible.

Israel, Argentina launch Isaac Accords: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Argentinian President Javier Milei signed the Isaac Accords in Jerusalem on Sunday. The agreements are designed to stop Iran’s expansion by strengthening relations between Western Hemisphere nations and Israel. However, Bible prophecy reveals South American nations like Argentina will soon ally against Israel.

78 percent of French Jews do not feel safe at home, the Jewish News Syndicate reported yesterday. The report cites an April survey conducted by Ipsos that questioned 1,428 Jews worldwide and found that 55 percent felt unsafe in Europe and 43 percent had experienced anti-Semitic acts personally or against family members in the past year. The highest numbers of those who have experienced these incidents were in Germany and Austria. To learn why rising anti-Semitism is an ominous trend for more than just the Jewish people, read “The One Minority Society Loves to Hate.”

A U.S. State Department delegation visited Cuba on April 10, the first American government plane to land there (outside of Naval Station Guantanamo Bay) since President Barack Obama’s 2016 trip. The visit advances President Donald Trump’s strategy of increasing economic pressure on Cuba to secure a new agreement. The U.S. team warned Cuban officials that time is running out and demanded urgent reforms: expanding private businesses, attracting foreign investment, improving governance, releasing political prisoners, and granting greater freedoms to the Cuban people. Officials also raised concerns over Cuba hosting foreign military and intelligence operations just 90 miles from U.S. shores. While President Trump has hinted at possible military options, he is prioritizing an embargo to compel negotiations. It remains to be seen how this will advance prophecy about this strategically crucial island nation in America’s backyard.