Good morning,

More than a quarter of American adults are estranged from a relative, according to a national survey by Cornell sociologist Karl Pillemer. In her new book, No Contact (summarized in this American Spectator piece from yesterday), Noelle Mering of the Ethics and Public Policy Center argues that much of this is the result of a toxic ideology.

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Mering identifies five factors causing this breakdown. They all grow from a new idea of what it means to be human, built on “two opposing principles: the exaltation of autonomy and the incentivization of victimhood.” Each takes something God designed to bind families together and turns it into a reason to walk away.

• The family is demoted: The ideology recasts God’s command to honor father and mother as an unjust special loyalty that exists only to hide abuse and protect power. Better to prioritize yourself.
• Disagreement becomes contamination. The ideology emphasizes identity politics, judging a person not by his character but by his political tribe. Combine that with intolerance for differing convictions, and a young progressive concludes that a conservative parent is not just wrong but morally unclean.
• Everything is trauma. Whereas trauma once applied only to victims of war or abuse, now it applies to a 12-year-old told to do laundry. Many of the estranged parents Mering spoke with had made mistakes—but ordinary ones, the kind earlier generations dealt with and forgave. Therapists and social media influencers teach young adults to search their pasts for trauma until they find it.
• The child is always right. Influencers with this ideology prod and coach people on breaking away from members of their family. When a parent objects, that is presented as proof of toxicity. Online, estranged parents are mocked while estranged children are applauded.
• Narcissism is everywhere. Mering points to data showing self-focus rising and empathy falling over decades, with the sharpest shift among the young. Self-preoccupation tends to make a person less agreeable, yet this ideology promotes such “self-actualization.”

The parents taught the lesson first. Decades of casual divorce taught children that family members are replaceable. Mering asks how a culture that shrugs at divorce can condemn young people for “divorcing” their parents.

Critics of the Trumpet’s sponsor organization might say this sounds familiar. The Philadelphia Church of God does instruct members to cut off contact with family members who turn away from God, a doctrine Gerald Flurry explains at length in Chapter 8 of The Father’s Love. That deserves a direct answer.

The difference is who sets the standard.

• The no-contact movement makes the self the judge: my feelings, my politics, my peace.
• Biblical separation (e.g. Romans 16:17; 1 Corinthians 5:11; 2 Thessalonians 3:6; 1 Timothy 6:5; Titus 3:10-11; 2 John 10-11) makes God the judge, and it cuts against the self. No one obeys it for comfort. It is painful, and it is perhaps the most criticized doctrine the Church holds.
• Its goal is not a break but a return: “that he may be ashamed” and repent (2 Thessalonians 3:14). When a disfellowshiped man in Corinth repented, Paul told the congregation to forgive and comfort him (2 Corinthians 2:6-8). The door stays open for the prodigal son.

Christ foresaw households divided over God’s truth (Matthew 10:34-37). Today’s America divides families over the self.

The Apostle Paul saw it coming. He prophesied that “in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves … disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, Without natural affection …” (2 Timothy 3:1-3).

• Notice what came first: self-love. That prophecy, written nearly 2,000 years ago, foretells exactly what Mering has diagnosed.

Modern secularist progressivism says: shift blame, love self, hate family. That exposes its satanic origins. It is antithetical to God, who says: take responsibility, master self, love family. The reason family is under such vicious attack in Satan’s world is that it is at the heart of God’s beautiful plan for human beings.

Houthis Strike Yemen Presidential Palace

Yesterday, the Iran-allied Houthi rebel group struck the official Yemeni government’s presidential palace in Aden with five missiles, causing five deaths and 16 injuries. This ongoing war against the internationally recognized Yemeni government could have major regional and prophetic effects.

• Yemeni Prime Minister Shaja Mohsen was present but survived uninjured.
• Three of the missiles struck a Yemeni command center while two struck the headquarters of Saudi Arabia’s military efforts in Yemen. Houthi spokesman Jahja Saree claimed Saudi Arabian military assets are a “legitimate target.”
• The strikes follow a Houthi attack last weekend, which killed 13 and injured 300, on Saudi Arabia’s King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh.

Early last month, the Houthis took effective control of the Bab al-Mandeb strait, a choke point for oil into Europe, by capturing Yemen’s coast along the Red Sea. That prompted Saudi Arabia to launch a new, more intensive offensive against them, which is ongoing.

Saudi Arabia recognizes it needs help fighting the Houthis. It asked for extra U.S. support last month—a request that was largely denied. But Europe is a natural partner for Saudi Arabia because of its reliance on oil from the region. The two powers have shared interests.

This conflict could help drive Saudi Arabia into an alliance with Germany. The Bible prophesies in Psalm 83 that Germany and Gulf nations will join together in a confederation. Though Iran will not be their primary target, its provocations are causing some shared interests among these nations.

Hero Stops Oregon School Shooter

Yesterday, a teenager shot through the doors of Silver Rail Elementary School in Bend, Oregon, and opened fire, murdering a 5-year-old, an 8-year-old and an 11-year-old as well as a teacher.

The teenager had first fired at a pickup truck in the school parking lot. A community member, believed to be a student’s father, saw him enter the building carrying a long gun, immediately followed him in, confronted him, and shot him dead before police officers arrived nearly three minutes later.

• Authorities have not released the hero’s name, but Oregon Governor Tina Kotek thanked him for stopping further loss of life.
• A fifth-grade teacher also praised him, saying he saw the danger and acted with real courage to protect others.

This was America’s 436th mass shooting this year, according to Mass Shooting Tracker, which counts any gun violence where four or more people are shot.

The man who stopped more people from being murdered shows the positive impact that courageous male leaders can have on society. Armed civilians only stop about 4 percent of the crimes the fbi tracks. Yet without this man’s intervention, many more schoolchildren and teachers would be dead today.

IN OTHER NEWS

Russia and India flex military muscle in major war games: Russia and India began the “Indra 2026” joint military drills on Wednesday, deploying forces across Russia’s Ural region and Far East, with naval drills in the Sea of Japan. Running through October 23, the exercises will train troops in tactical maneuvers, command and control, artillery strikes against air and sea targets, and operations to retake vessels seized by terrorists. The war games underscore the deepening military partnership between Russia and India as the two powers continue laying the groundwork for a prophesied alliance.