NewsWatch

The Power of Good Fathers

In today’s world, many children grow up with limited support from their fathers—or without fathers entirely. A growing body of research suggests that fathers play a profound role in the emotional support of their children (Wall Street Journal, March 4, 2023). One recent study of families with two intact parents discovered that closeness with fathers powerfully impacted children and resulted in “fewer weight concerns, higher self-esteem and fewer depression symptoms for both boys and girls.” Some researchers call this the “good father effect.” Mothers play a key role, too. With mothers also present, the compounding effect of engaged fathers had a highly influential impact on children.

The research provides further insight into what appears to be a world where boys show less emotional connection to people in general. The Apostle Paul warned that men in the end-times would become “unloving” and “brutal” (2 Timothy 3:3), and, interestingly, researchers found that if the mother is the sole provider of emotional caregiving and support, boys mistakenly learn the false lesson that only women can aptly express such traits. This “further entrenches the idea that the expression of vulnerable feelings belongs in the domain of women.” One researcher makes the case that boys need to see emotion and compassion rightly expressed by men in order to learn that it is acceptable for men, as well, to show and express these characteristics.

As our societies fracture and the historical family is dismantled and rebuilt in opposition to biblical guidelines, the suffering of our children grows. However, the biblical structure for the family, known and practiced for thousands of years, holds a key to raising physically and emotionally healthy children, though so many elements of society that claim to prioritize concern for children actively and passionately struggle against this proven structure. As the Bible warns, many will call evil good, and good evil, at the end of the age (Isaiah 5:20), even as our children suffer for it (Deuteronomy 28:18).

43,000 Drought Deaths in Somalia in 2022

Last year, over 43,000 people died in Somalia as a direct result of its regional drought (Wall Street Journal, March 20, 2023). Nearly half of these deaths were among children five years old and younger! Thousands more are expected to die in the first six months of 2023, at a rate of about 135 people per day, all due to the continued drought in the Horn of Africa and the rising cost of food. While food prices may see some welcome relief, hope is fleeting in these war-torn and drought-ravaged regions.

By some estimates, 43,000 represents an entire quarter of the number of deaths for any cause that Somalia would experience in a normal year—all of them attributable directly to famine alone. If this number of people died due to famine in one year in a European or other Western nation, the world would be moved to act—especially given the number of very young children being affected.

Sadly, these deaths due to famine and hunger are just the tip of the iceberg. Bible prophecy reveals that as the end of the age approaches, famine, pestilence, and wars will cause far more catastrophic deaths, on a scale previously unknown. Revelation 6 shows that a quarter of the earth’s population will fall under the power of such forces of death and destruction: “And power was given to them over a fourth of the earth, to kill with sword, with hunger, with death, and by the beasts of the earth” (v. 8). Using today’s world population numbers, this translates into roughly two billion people! Times are going to get more harrowing and many more will die. However, this terrible time will pass relatively quickly, and then Jesus Christ will finally return and usher in true, lasting world peace.

Ambitious China Raising Concerns

China and Russia are growing closer. In February, China proposed a twelve-point plan to end the war in Ukraine. In March, Chinese President Xi met with President Putin in Russia. President Xi commented that his country was prepared to work with Russia “to stand guard over the world order based on international law” (The Guardian, March 20, 2023).

In another part of the world, China recently “brokered a rapprochement between Saudi Arabia and Iran, in the process upending U.S. calculus in the Gulf and beyond” (CNN, March 15, 2023). Analysts know that as China’s ambitions continue to grow, it will need more oil. Shoring up relations between Iran and Saudi Arabia and building up its own credibility with both nations bodes well for China’s future oil needs. However, the country’s recent diplomatic coup in the Middle East and its pledge to work with Russia as a protector of international norms serves China’s plan to further push the waning United States out of the role of global hegemon. As the U.S. declines and further alienates other nations, it leaves a global leadership vacuum that must be filled. China appears to be working to fill that void. As analyst Nic Robertson noted, what the U.S. has long feared is now happening, regardless of the ultimate result of the war in Ukraine: the creation of an alternative world order that is not centered on the United States.

British and U.S. decline was prophesied long ago in the pages of the Bible, as was the rise of other nations to take their place as the end of the age approaches. Interestingly, the leading international power will ultimately not be China. While China will likely play a major role in end-time events, eyes should be on Germany!

Czech President Calls for Germany to Lead Europe

On a recent visit to Berlin, the Czech president “called on Germany to take on a leadership role in European security efforts that would inspire other countries” (Euractiv, March 22, 2023). Speaking further, President Petr Pavel proposed, “We are beginning to write a new chapter in European history, and I am convinced that a country like Germany can play a decisive role in this phase.” He went on to suggest that Germany has a responsibility to lead Europe, beginning with the economy, defense, and security.

The words of one new European president may not have a great deal of influence on other nations, but from a biblical perspective, President Pavel’s comments are particularly meaningful. Bible prophecy is clear that Germany will play a lead role in Europe militarily and financially. The German-led “beast” power will receive power from a bloc of European nations who will “give their power and authority” to it for a short time (Revelation 17:13). It will also wield power over Jerusalem and even fight against a Muslim-led “king of the south” (Daniel 11). For this to take place, Germany must first rise above European bickering and begin to take a strong leadership role in Europe—a role that will motivate other nations to follow it, just as the Czech president is suggesting. As world events speed up, students of Bible prophecy need to watch Germany. This nation will play a powerful role in end-time events, and even a leading role after the return of Christ!

Galactic Structures Puzzle Scientists

According to the cosmological principle, a central tenet of the study of the universe, “on a large scale, the Universe should look roughly the same everywhere, no matter your position or the direction in which you are looking. There should be no giant structures, rather space should be smooth and uniform” (BBC, March 3, 2023). However, recent findings reveal a massive, arc-shaped ribbon of galaxies that span roughly one-fifteenth the radius of the observable universe—a distance of 3.3 billion light-years. This “Giant Arc” has thrown into question some of the most fundamental assumptions about the universe and how it formed. Plus, the Giant Arc is not the only structure of its kind. Such arrangements in the cosmos are forcing scientists to reevaluate their theories about the formation of the universe.

The probability that this arc-shaped structure formed by chance has been estimated to be 0.0003 percent. And to add insult to injury, “according to the standard model, structures like the Giant Arc simply wouldn’t have had time to form” as a result of any known natural processes. According to one author, “if more structures like the Giant Arc and Hercules-Corona Borealis Great Wall [another of these giant structures] are proven to exist, astronomers will be forced to rewrite—or at least revise—the standard model of cosmology.”

According to current scientific theories, these massive, clearly distinguishable galactic structures should not be able to exist. Because of this, one scientist posited that they “may have formed due to something in the natural physics of the Universe that we currently don’t account for.” Indeed, there is much in the formation of the universe many scientists do not account for, including an Intelligent Architect of the heavens! As the Apostle Paul noted, “Since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse” (Romans 1:20). When one assumes that creation is an accident subject only to observable, mindless laws of physics and chemistry, one must assume that things will only occur without purpose, intention, or design. But, when you consider that “creation demands a Creator,” you remain open to possibility. Scientists back themselves into a corner when they reject facts that point to a Creator.