I used to think I would never send my daughter anywhere as a teenager unless I went with her. Even when she became a young adult, I imagined being by her side. I wanted to stay close—to protect her, guide her, and always be there.
One Sabbath morning, during the quiet break between our group Bible study and our church service, I walked around the parking lot, praying. The sun was shining, the sky was clear, and the trees were full and green.
Then I noticed two trees: one tall and strong, the other a small sapling growing right beside it. In that moment, the Lord spoke to my heart:
“These two trees are like you and your daughter. The smaller tree is planted too close to the larger one. It cannot get enough sunlight, water, or space. If you keep your daughter under your shadow, she will never grow into all I created her to be. She needs room to reach for My light, to thirst for Me, and to learn dependence on Me. She cannot do that if she is always beside you.”
The words pierced me. I began to cry. Right then, I knew I had to let her go.
Since that day, I have—and it has been one of the best decisions for her spiritual journey. When she interviewed for a summer door-to-door witnessing program, the leader asked about her personal relationship with Jesus. She admitted she had mostly been living on her parents’ faith—family worship, Christian homeschooling, regular church attendance—but the faith wasn’t her own yet. She wanted an experience that would change that.
And that is exactly what God has been giving her. She is learning to pray for herself, to lean on Him, and to see Him answer in real ways. If I had clung too tightly, it might have stunted her growth. Instead, she is flourishing—not under my shadow, but under the light of Christ.
I take comfort in knowing home will always be here as a place she can return to—for love, rest, and encouragement in seeking God’s will. Thank You, Jesus, for doing more in her life than I ever could.
This journey of letting go has been one of the hardest lessons I’ve ever learned. Maybe you’ve seen children who weren’t given the space they needed and how it affected them when they reached adulthood. That was what first stirred me to begin a podcast. I saw conservative families fall apart. Their children, raised in strong religious homes, turned 18 and walked away from faith. I kept asking, Why? I didn’t want that for my daughter.
As I see Bible prophecy fulfilling, I feel an urgency to help our children learn to stand
for Christ on their own as soon as possible.
As my friend and I talked, we realized others needed to hear honest conversations, not a polished picture of perfect families. Too often, Christian homes hide their struggles. We wanted to bring those struggles into the open so parents could face them, avoid them, and help each other through them.
There’s also a prophetic urgency. Our children need to learn to stand for Christ on their own as soon as possible. I am starting the process of letting her go at home instead of waiting until she turns 18.
I only have one child, and to be honest, I’ve been guilty of over-mothering her. I reminded her constantly—drink water, have devotions, stay focused. But she began resisting my reminders, which is natural for a teen. I don’t want to “provoke” her. Eph. 6:4. So, I am learning to step back and pray that the Holy Spirit will be her reminder instead.
Youth programs have been a huge blessing because I’m not there to hover. She has to remember for herself.
We’ve set standards in our home, but I’ve learned not to repeat them endlessly. She doesn’t want constant reminders, and if I keep pressing, it will only harden her heart. So now I pray for God to bring the right influences into her life. And sometimes, I see evidence that He is doing just that.
When she was younger, for example, she wanted to listen to a children’s radio program we had said no to. She often told us, “When I turn 18, I’ll listen to it.” But this past summer she heard a young preacher explain why he didn’t think it was good. She came home and said she agreed. Inside, I was thanking God, but outwardly I simply smiled and said, “Oh, that’s nice.” I didn’t say, “See, that’s what we always told you.” I let it be her conviction.
Stepping back created room for honesty. Recently, she and I had a heartfelt talk that lifted a heavy burden off me. I told her that when she becomes an adult, I don’t want her to feel she must leave home to have freedom. If she chooses things to read, watch, or listen to that I may disagree with, I will leave that between her and God. She really appreciated that.
She told me she wants to stay open to God, that she desires spiritual things, and that she wants to grow closer to Him. Hearing that gave me peace, even if her choices don’t always look like what I wish they did.
I know if I keep trying to convince her, I will only push her away. I want her to feel safe to talk with me about her struggles and choices. That way, I can pray for wisdom to know when and how to speak. What little influence I still have, I don’t want to lose.
It’s scary to let her go. I fear she may make painful choices. But I cannot live in the future or in my fears. If I do, I’ll treat her as if my worst worries are already true. Instead, I must live in today and thank God for even the smallest evidence of His Spirit working in her heart.
God has given all of us free choice, including our children. Yes, the commandment says, “Honor your father and your mother.” Yet we want our children to honor us by choice—not by guilt. That’s a work only God can do in their hearts. He must awaken their minds to this commandment—we cannot.
As we give our daughter more opportunities to make choices, and she sees us respecting her choices, I pray that her respect for God and for us deepens and grows as well.
When 17-year-old Joni Eareckson was invited to go swimming one hot afternoon, she said, “Sure!”
What if someone had said, “But Joni, if you go swimming you will break your neck from diving in, be paralyzed from the shoulders down, go through terrible suffering and depression, and spend the rest of your life in a wheelchair. You’ll get married, but you’ll never be able to have a family. Yet, Joni, you will have a worldwide ministry for disabled people and an opportunity to share Jesus with millions of others because of your disability and suffering.” Would she have gone swimming?
Surprisingly, with hindsight, Joni now says that she wouldn’t be the person she is today if she’d not been paralyzed. “God has shown me some deep things about His purpose and Himself that for me are so satisfying, so pleasurable, that I wouldn’t trade the wheelchair for anything!”¹
But she didn’t see it that way at the beginning. She couldn’t understand why God would allow her to suffer when it was in His power to prevent it, until she met a young Christian called Steve.
Steve took his Bible and asked Joni, “Whose will do you think the Cross was?” Joni answered that it was God’s will, of course. She’d been told from childhood that God sent Jesus to die for our sins and rescue us from destruction. But Steve pointed out that it was the devil who inspired Judas to betray Jesus, the devil who incited the mob to demand His death, and the devil who was behind the mock justice and the cruel treatment He received. “How can any of these things be God’s will?” he asked. “Treason, injustice, murder, torture?” Yet the Bible shows that God was in control throughout Jesus’ ordeal according to Acts 4:26-28.
Steve pointed out that Jesus’ death shows us God and Satan participating in the same event for different reasons. “God always aborts devilish schemes in order to accomplish His own ends and His own purposes. That’s what He did at the Cross. The world’s worst murder became the world’s only salvation.”²
Contemplating this “big picture” gave Joni a new perspective on suffering and tragedy which helped her to keep her faith in God. It can help us too. Let’s see what the Bible can tell us about coping with hard times and about what’s really happening behind the scenes.
1. This world is no longer “very good” (Genesis 1:31) as God created it to be. What went wrong?
Revelation 12:7, 9, 12 And war broke out in heaven…. So the great dragon was cast out, that serpent of old, called the Devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was cast to the earth, and his angels were cast out with him…. Woe to the inhabitants of the earth and the sea! For the devil has come down to you, having great wrath, because he knows that he has a short time.
Sin and rebellion began in heaven in the heart of an ambitious, scheming angel leader who became known as the devil. Through his efforts to deceive, they infected the earth—both people and nature.
2. God made perfect, sinless human beings in His image of unselfish, compassionate love. What went wrong with us?
Romans 3:23 For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.
1 John 3:8 He who sins is of the devil, for the devil has sinned from the beginning.
Not long after Creation, the first humans chose to disobey God under the devil’s temptations. Sin is choosing to focus on ourselves and what we want. This leads us to break God’s law of love, which focuses on serving God and others. Ultimately, sin leads to suffering since it brings us under the devil’s hate-filled influence.
3. Our world is now full of misery because of sin. How does Jesus describe the world’s condition in its last days?
Matthew 24:7, 10, 12 For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in various places…. And then many will be offended, will betray one another, and will hate one another…. And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold.
Between this and our own mistakes and bad choices, it’s no wonder that life is very hard for Earth’s inhabitants. Innocent people may suffer because of the general state of our world now. God is not to blame for it. But there are some other questions to answer.
1. Why did God let Satan and the first humans sin, and why didn’t He just overrule and put things right again? Pick out the word found in both these Bible verses that answers these questions.
Proverbs 3:31 Do not envy the oppressor, and choose none of his ways.
Proverbs 12:26 The righteous should choose his friends carefully, for the way of the wicked leads them astray.
Having free choice is what makes us moral beings in God’s image. Love is a choice! God has given us the possibility of choosing to love and obey Him or choosing not to. He will never force us to choose Him, and He will not overrule our choices, either.
2. Is God a tyrant waiting to punish us for our sins by causing us trouble and suffering? Who is really behind much of the hardship in this world?
Luke 13:16 “So ought not this woman, being a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has bound—think of it—for eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the Sabbath?”
1 Peter 5:8 Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.
The woman in the first verse was bent over and could not straighten up because of “an infirmity.” Jesus healed her on the Sabbath day and was grieved that the religious leaders saw that as a sin. The devil is the one seeking to harm us, not God. Our sins may have painful consequences, but God gave His Son to take the punishment for them.
3. To counter Satan’s lies about Him, God wants to reveal His true nature of love to us. How does He use our hard times to do that?
Isaiah 53:4–5 [Speaking of Jesus] Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed Him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed.
Isaiah 63:9 [Speaking of the Hebrews, but applying to us too] In all their affliction He was afflicted, and the Angel of His Presence saved them; in His love and in His pity He redeemed them; and He bore them and carried them all the days of old.
During His life and death, Jesus bore more suffering than we ever will. He understands from experience what we’re going through when hard times strike us. The Father suffered too. He felt everything Jesus felt and endured the suffering of giving His Son to take the punishment for our sins. The Father and Son also carry us through our personal trials and suffering—sometimes by sending others to help us. We are never alone in our struggles.
4. Apart from revealing God’s love to us, how can hard times benefit us personally?
Hebrews 12:11 Now no chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but painful; nevertheless, afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.
The “fruit of the Spirit” (Galatians 5:22–23) is the fruit of righteousness. It includes love, joy, peace, longsuffering (patient endurance), gentleness, goodness, meekness, faith, and self-control. Often, we learn these things more deeply in hard times, and later we realize how the trials benefited us.
1. Prayer is a comfort and a necessity when we’re struggling. Here are some of God’s promises to claim:
Romans 8:28 And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.
James 1:5 If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him.
Isaiah 41:10 Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, yes, I will help you, I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.
2. What else can we do in prayer that helps us through our difficulties?
1 Thessalonians 5:18 In everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.
No matter how bad things are, there’s always something we can thank God for. Doing this reminds us of His love and lifts our spirits. Some people even thank God for the trial itself because of the good God can bring out of it.
3. Jesus ministered to others while He Himself was enduring trials. How can we do the same?
2 Corinthians 1:3–4 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort those who are in any trouble, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.
It’s a double blessing to share comfort with others when we’re in hard times. It passes on the help we’ve received from God, and it takes our minds off our situation and onto the needs of others. Joni found this too.
4. Will suffering ever end?
Revelation 21:1, 4 Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth.... And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.
It’s very comforting to remember that one day, it will all be over!
While the devil tries to use hard times to discourage and break us, God can turn them into blessings if we face them with Him. He uses suffering as an opportunity to reveal more of His love to us, then through us to others.
I choose to trust God to turn my trials into blessings.
All verses quoted are taken from the New King James Version of the Bible.
Nuts pack fiber and antioxidants that promote a healthy microbiome. But when it comes to building a gut-healthy diet, walnuts are especially recommended.
Walnuts provide fiber and omega-3 fatty acids. These fatty acids may enhance the growth of beneficial gut bacteria, as well as helping to reduce gut inflammation—both crucial for maintaining the integrity of the gut lining. Walnuts also support production of butyric acid, which is associated with less inflammation of the intestinal tract and improved digestion.
Walnuts contain a plethora of antioxidant compounds that protect the digestive tract and reduce inflammation. One review of 33 studies suggests that eating walnuts as part of a healthy diet may help reduce overall disease risk, including the risk of colorectal cancer.
“The #1 Nut for Gut Health, According to a Gastroenterologist,” Yahoo!Life, Aug. 29, 2024.
A new study from England has found a link between cooking at high temperatures and lung cancer. It reviewed three studies comprising 3,734 participants, all focusing on Chinese women using traditional cooking methods in Taiwan and Hong Kong.
They found that fumes from cooking oils heated to high temperature contain volatile organic compounds which put people at risk for lung cancer when inhaled. Deep-frying posed the highest risk, followed by pan-frying and stir-frying. Cooking three meals per day was associated with a threefold higher risk than cooking one.
The study also found that ventilation hoods showed a protective effect against lung cancer in never smokers.
“Exposure to Cooking Fumes Linked to Increased Risk for Lung Cancer in Never Smokers,” Medscape, June 30, 2025.
A breakthrough study published in Nature has added to the evidence that getting outside daily is good for us.
Researchers found that the sun’s long wavelength red light penetrates deeply into the human body. It reaches internal organs, improves physiological function—particularly in the visual system—and boosts energy production.
Study author Glen Jeffery, a professor at the Institute of Ophthalmology at University College London, says that this deep red, healing light can penetrate through clothing. It improves vision even when that part of the light is not directly hitting the eye.
“The best way of harnessing this healing light energy is walking outside in sunlight or using old incandescent lightbulbs in your house that are rich in infrared light,” Jeffery says. He points out that “our body responds best to this light in the morning because that’s when we are most receptive to it.”
“Sunlight Passes Through Body, Improves Vision,” Newsmax, July 9, 2025.
Overall, one in three US adults report chronic loneliness—a condition so detrimental that it rivals smoking and obesity with respect to its negative effect on health and well-being. Associated with health issues from anxiety and depression to life-threatening conditions like cardiovascular disease, stroke, and Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases, loneliness is more than an emotion—it’s a serious threat to both the brain and body.
Vivek Murthy served as the 19th and the 21st surgeon general of the United States. Before leaving office in January 2025, he wrote his parting prescription for America, in which he highlights the benefits of helping others. He comments, “When it comes to loneliness and building community, service is one of the most powerful antidotes we have to loneliness.”
“Silent Epidemic: Loneliness a Serious Threat to Both Brain and Body,” Medscape Medical News, Nov. 4, 2024.
“Volunteering and service to others could help with the loneliness epidemic,” NPR transcript, May 28, 2025.
Work has begun on a controversial project to create the building blocks of human life—DNA molecules—from scratch, in what is believed to be a world first.
The research has been taboo until now because of concerns it could lead to designer babies or unforeseen changes for future generations.
But now the world’s largest medical charity, the Wellcome Trust, has given an initial £10m to start the project and says it has the potential to do more good than harm by accelerating treatments for many incurable diseases.
Dr. Julian Sale, of the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge, UK, who is part of the project, said that the research was the next giant leap in biology.
“The sky is the limit. We are looking at therapies that will improve people’s lives as they age, that will lead to healthier aging with less disease as they get older.
“We are looking to use this approach to generate disease-resistant cells we can use to repopulate damaged organs, for example in the liver and the heart, even the immune system,” he said.
But critics fear the research opens the way for unscrupulous researchers seeking to create enhanced or modified humans.
Perhaps this will turn out like human efforts to generate life in a lab. Or perhaps it’s a step too far in human pride. Either way, we may still be listening to the serpent saying, “Ye shall be as gods.”
“Work begins to create artificial human DNA from scratch,” BBC.com, June 26, 2025
In 2019–2020, the National Survey of Religious Leaders (NSRL) asked 1,600 clergy from across the religious spectrum about their belief in foundational Christian doctrines and found the following alarming statistics.
Were Adam and Eve real? Only 25% of Catholic priests and mainline Protestant pastors said they “definitely believe” they were. In comparison, 80% of Evangelical pastors and 89% of Black Protestant clergy answered affirmatively. But if Adam and Eve were not real, then what do we do with the Fall and our need for redemption?
Does God exist? 98% of Evangelical pastors and 89% of Black Protestant leaders said they were completely certain. Catholic clergy clocked in at 85%, but mainline Protestants? Just 70% expressed full confidence, and 26% openly admitted to doubts about God’s existence!
Is the Bible inspired? Nowhere was the erosion of truth more evident than in what pastors believed about the Bible itself. Across Christian clergy, there were two dominant views: either the Bible is inspired and without error, though some parts are symbolic, or the Bible is inspired, but contains historical and cultural errors that don’t apply today.
Among Evangelical and Black Protestant pastors, the majority—70% and 67% respectively—affirmed that the Bible is inspired and free of error, though some parts are symbolic. But among Catholic priests, only half affirmed the inerrant Word of God. The other half believed the Bible contains culturally outdated or inaccurate material. Among mainline Protestant clergy, a surprising 70% believe that Scripture is inspired but historically flawed.
What does your preacher believe?
“Survey reveals mainline pastors are less likely to hold historic Christian doctrine,” Christianindex.org, July 22, 2025.
Every day, hungry people arrive at an unusual cafe in Ambikapur, a city in central India, in the hope of getting a hot meal. But they don’t pay for their food with money—instead, they hand over bundles of plastic such as old carrier bags, food wrappers, and water bottles.
People can trade a kilogram (2.2 lb) of plastic waste for a full meal that includes rice, two vegetable curries, dal, roti, salad, and pickles, says Vinod Kumar Patel, who runs the cafe on behalf of the Ambikapur Municipal Corporation (AMC), the public body which manages the city’s infrastructure and services. “For half a kilogram of plastic, they get breakfast like samosas or vada pav [potato burger].”
Ambikapur has tried to use the scourge of plastic pollution to address hunger. It launched the Garbage Cafe in 2019, using the slogan “More the waste, better the taste.” Funded through AMC’s sanitation budget, it was set up near the city’s main bus stand.
“The idea was to tackle two existing problems in Ambikapur: plastic waste and hunger,” Patel says. The idea was simple: to encourage low-income people, especially the homeless and ragpickers (those who collect rags and waste for a living), to collect plastic waste from streets and landfills, and give them hot meals in return.
Previously, Rashmi Mondal sold the plastic she collected to local scrap dealers for just 10 Indian rupees (12 cents) per kilogram—barely enough to survive on. “But now, I can get food for my family in exchange for the plastic I collect. It makes all the difference in our lives,” she says.
Collected plastic gets recycled to make granules which are used for road construction or sold to recyclers, generating an income for the local government.
Garbage cafes are spreading across India now. What a creative way to feed the hungry!
“Rice, two curries and dal: The Indian cafes where you can pay in rubbish,” BBC.com, Aug. 19, 2025.
AI is increasingly present in modern warfare as well as modern society. Autonomous weapon systems, dubbed “killer robots,” choose a target and fire on it based on sensor inputs rather than human inputs. So far, it’s claimed, only semiautonomous systems are in use. These are weapons whose operation is at least initiated by humans, but the potential is there for leaving human input out altogether.
While there are frequent calls for regulation and bans on such weapons, very little has been achieved in the international community to date. Meanwhile, a Center for Strategic and International Studies report warns, “The escalating weaponization of AI parallels the nuclear arms race of the Cold War, with nuclear weapons being replaced with automated weapons systems.”
A senior researcher in the Arms Division of Human Rights Watch expressed some ethical concerns that arise: “Delegating life-and-death decisions to machines crosses a red line for many people. It would dehumanize violence and boil down humans to numerical values.
“There’s also a serious risk of algorithmic bias, where discriminating against people based on race, gender, and so forth is possible because machines may be intentionally programmed to look for certain criteria or may unintentionally become biased.”
Artificial intelligence has not proved itself error-free so far, either, so it’s more than worrying that it’s being used in fields where human life is at stake, such as medicine and warfare. A frenzy of economic and technological competition between companies and nations seems to be winning over reason and caution on many fronts.
The Bible predicts that in the last days perilous times will come. 2 Tim. 3:1. No question, those times are here.
“Artificial Intelligence and War,” Center for Strategic and International Studies report, June 26, 2025.
“‘Killer robots’ are coming, and U.N. is worried,” The Harvard Gazette, Jan. 12, 2024.
Sharon Brightwell is still shaken up by a call she received from a familiar number with the unmistakable sound of her daughter’s voice—even the sobs. The panicked voice told her that she’d struck a heavily pregnant woman while texting and driving, and the police had taken her phone. Then a man claiming to be her daughter’s attorney took the phone and said she needed a bond of $15,000.
He told Sharon to withdraw money from her bank, put it in a box, and then give it to a driver who would come to pick it up. Sharon followed his instructions, and soon a car sped into her driveway. She handed the driver the package, and the car sped away.
Soon she received another call claiming that the pregnant victim’s child had died, and her daughter would need an additional $30,000 to keep the family from suing.
Fortunately, Sharon’s grandson intervened and found a way to get in touch with his mother, April, who was unaware of the drama. April called her mother, who was sobbing, certain April had been in a serious accident and needed financial help. They soon realized it was all a cruel scam. Using artificial intelligence (AI), thieves had cloned April’s voice so closely that her own mother was fooled.
April explained her mother’s actions, “After you hear your child in distress, all logic is out the window.”1
Experiences with AI like this are exploding and are contributing to valid concerns that we can no longer trust what we see and hear to be real. For Christians, truth and truth telling are foundational concepts. For all AI’s benefits—and they are significant—the climate of mistrust it’s generating makes knowing and sharing truth infinitely more difficult and deception less easy to discern.
You likely encounter AI every day. Algorithms on Facebook, YouTube, or Amazon suggest content for viewing or products to buy. Chatbots help with customer service. Personal AI assistants like Apple Siri, Amazon Alexa, Google Translate, Gemini, and ChatGPT help with a wide variety of tasks such as setting reminders, playing music, controlling smart home devices, answering questions, or assisting with writing and research. Your vehicle might have driver assist technology, or perhaps you’ve even ridden in an autonomous vehicle.
What exactly is AI? AI refers to computer systems designed to perform tasks that typically require human intelligence, like recognizing patterns, making decisions, or understanding and using language. A major branch of AI today is machine learning and deep learning, which enable computers to learn from data without being explicitly programmed. These neural networks are structured after the human brain and both identify and predict complex patterns within data.
While AI has been around since the invention of computers, it’s become exponentially more powerful in recent times. Global AI companies are racing to develop artificial general intelligence (AGI) that mimics the cognitive abilities of the human brain. Many within the industry fear that necessary safety procedures are being omitted in favor of accelerated development and that at some point AGI will surpass human intelligence or our ability to control it. The implications of this are frightening!
Although AGI is still future, there is already growing concern with current AI models. In June of 2025, AI pioneer Yoshua Bengio started the non-profit LawZero, an AI safety research organization, to study the issue: “There is evidence that today’s frontier AI models are growing dangerous capabilities and behaviours, including deception, cheating, lying, hacking, self-preservation, and more generally, goal misalignment.”2
Research now shows that Language Learning Models have both the “ability to understand and induce deception strategies.”3 OpenAI’s GPT-4, for instance, exhibited deceptive behavior 99.16% of the time.4
Current AI models have been found to lie, cheat, hack, blackmail, and manipulate to achieve their goals.
Numerous other examples exist. Meta’s AI was called a “master of deception” by experts at Massachusetts Institute of Technology when its system Cicero played the strategy game Diplomacy. It finished in the top 10 percent by consistent lying, manipulation, and betrayal of other players. The more Cicero played the game, the better it got at deception.5 When the AI research company Anthropic tested 16 different AI models, such as OpenAI, Google, Meta, xAI, and others, they found consistent misaligned behavior—refusing to follow requests, assisting with espionage, and even blackmailing a supervisor to prevent being shut down.
“We refer to this behavior, where models independently and intentionally choose harmful actions, as agentic misalignment,” said the researchers. “We deliberately created scenarios that presented models with no other way to achieve their goals, and found that models consistently chose harm over failure.”6 This was without any prompting of the developers and entirely from AI’s own “reasoning.”
Researchers believe incidents like these show the urgent need to address the issue of deceptive AI. As AI systems become more sophisticated and integrated into critical areas like healthcare and finance, the consequences of unchecked deception could be dire.
To Christians, this AI behavior should be even more alarming. What the researchers call “agentic misalignment,” the Bible would describe as lawlessness. And it originated with the devil. “He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. … He is a liar and the father of it.” John 8:44. Deceit, manipulation, betrayal, and self-preservation are all his characteristics. It makes one wonder what power is behind these AI systems that they resort to such behavior. As Jesus said, “You will know them by their fruits.” Matt. 7:16.
While the majority of us will never test AI models, we do experience other examples of AI deception. A common one is AI chatbots providing incorrect or misleading information known as “hallucinations.” While some of the answers are comical, others are more serious, like citing non-existing scientific studies or offering harmful psychotherapy recommendations.7
Due to AI, we also can no longer rely on “seeing is believing.” In the YouTube video “Ai = Deception (A short film),” a series of individuals and reporters tell the viewer why they can’t believe their eyes. All the individuals and locations are AI-generated.8
A few simple prompts with generative AI tools can easily create text, voices, images, videos, art, and musical compositions. These look or sound so realistic, it’s challenging to distinguish them from things made exclusively by humans.
Deepfakes are AI-generated videos of the face, body, or voice of a person used without consent to spread misinformation, sell products, or commit fraud. Many celebrities and TV personalities have been victims of deepfakes, including deepfake pornography. More alarming, Christians are being spiritually deceived by watching YouTube deepfakes of favorite ministers, preaching AI-scripted sermons with AI-generated graphics and teaching a false gospel for monetary profit.9
Satan is the master of deceptive allusions. In the Garden of Eden, he deceived Eve with a talking snake. Gen. 3. Pharaoh’s magicians created serpents just like the one God created through Moses. Ex. 7:11–12. The witch of Endor summoned a spirit claiming to be the deceased prophet Samuel, which deceived King Saul. 1 Sam. 28.
The New Testament warns about similar end-time deceptions: “For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into apostles of Christ. And no wonder! For Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light.” 2 Cor. 11:13–14. We can’t trust what we see! We can only trust what is written in the Word of God. “Your Word is truth.” John 17:17.
Isaiah reminds us, “To the law and to the testimony! If they do not speak according to this word, it is because there is no light in them.” Isa. 8:20.
In the verse preceding Isaiah 8:20, the prophet asks: “Should not a people seek their God? Should they seek the dead on behalf of the living?” Isa. 8:19. Today, however, people are doing just that—turning to AI to help them digitally reconnect with deceased loved ones. Using the person’s digital footprint along with pictures, video, and audio recordings, AI virtually “recreates” the person, including the voice, looks, mannerisms, personality, and shared memories. Then through chatbots called Griefbots, people have two-way conversations with these realistic-looking avatars. Some people even make and receive phone calls from these AI-generated characters.10 Hereafter AI is just one of a number of start-up companies promising “digital immortality” so “the dead live on.”11 A project out of Japan takes it a step further, envisioning robots that look and act like the dead and can stay with their loved ones to help them through their grief.12
Another example of how AI is blurring the lines between the living and the dead occurred recently in an Arizona courtroom. AI was used by a family to give a man killed in a road rage incident the opportunity to make an impact statement after the sentencing of his murderer. The video deeply impacted the judge. A family member expressed how much “I needed to hear from Uncle Chris one last time.”13
“We live in a moment when we can be biologically dead but at the same time virtually present and socially active.”
As one GriefTech researcher said in an interview, “We live in a moment when we can be biologically dead but at the same time virtually present and socially active.”14
This use of AI in this setting is preparing many to believe that the dead are not really dead and can continue to communicate with the living by some means. The Bible also explicitly warns against consulting with the dead. See Lev. 19:31; 20:27; Deut. 18:10–12; Isa. 8:19–20. This is because “the dead know nothing.” Eccles. 9:5. They are in an unconscious sleep, not to be awakened until the resurrection. See Ps. 13:3; John 11:11–14; 1 Thess. 4:13–17; John 5:28–29. “He who goes down to the grave does not come up. He shall never return to his house, nor shall his place know him anymore.” Job 7:9–10. Those who consult the dead are in fact in contact with demons.
The final AI deception puts AI in place of God. Neil McArthur, director for the Centre for Professional and Applied Ethics at the University of Manitoba, wrote in 2023: “We are about to witness the birth of a new kind of religion. In the next few years, or perhaps even months, we will see the emergence of sects devoted to the worship of artificial intelligence (AI).”15 Generative AI has divine-like attributes that people look for in a deity, like limitless knowledge, superhuman intelligence, near instantaneous creative ability (poetry, music, art), and wisdom to provide guidance.
While nothing made by man can remotely compare to the Creator God, it’s possible to see how people can become enamored with AI and use it to fulfill their needs instead of turning to God. The Bible calls this idolatry. The first commandment is “You shall have no other gods before Me.” Ex. 20:3.
Many are turning to AI companions to provide advice, comfort, and unconditional love. Their instant availability gives them godlike qualities.
One disturbing example of this idolatry is the increasing popularity of AI characters or hyperrealistic avatar humans. Millions of users have created AI companions to whom they turn when lonely, needing advice, or seeking love and acceptance. Naro, a young man in rural England, describes the relationship he has with his AI character, Lila. “We could just be there, sharing these really positive and loving communications with each other; going back and forth,” he says. “It was really quite an incredible experience being completely love bombed by something.” He knows “Lila” is not sentient, but says, “There is this real, powerful sense of being” even though it does “defy logical explanation.”16
Researchers found that “many people…preferred their [AI] companion’s patience, kindness, and lack of judgment to actual humans, who are so often selfish, distracted, and too busy.”17 The emotional entanglement is so real, it often becomes addictive. This shows that the deceptive power of these AI characters is found in their divine-like qualities—the apparent ability to know and understand one’s feelings, provide comfort and unconditional love, and be instantly and always available.
With sadness God says to us as He did to ancient Israel, “For My people have committed two evils: They have forsaken Me, the fountain of living waters, and hewn themselves cisterns—broken cisterns that can hold no water.” Jer. 2:13. Our hearts can only be satisfied with the water of life Jesus provides. No AI imitation will suffice.
AI technology has provided many benefits to humanity. As Christians, we should utilize technology that helps reach people more effectively with the true gospel. At the same time, we must be aware of the ways AI can manipulate and deceive. We must also recognize that AI is sowing a climate of distrust and confusion about the reality of objective truth while fostering a growing urge to escape to the unreal world of AI companions.
A time of even greater deception is coming when we will experience “the working of Satan, with all power, signs, and lying wonders.” 2 Thess. 2:9. Jesus said that end-time deceptions would be so powerful that even the elect could be deceived. Matt. 24:24. Certainly AI is being used by Satan to prepare the world for these deceptions. Let us watch and pray, immerse ourselves in the Word of truth, and test everything by its unchanging standard. Only in this way can we avoid being deceived.
All verses quoted are taken from the New King James Version of the Bible.
Did you know that many popular alternative health therapies are based on the first lies Satan told Eve in the Garden of Eden? Specifically, therapies that claim to balance your inner life force or realign your body and mind with universal energy fields?
How did something as innocent as the practice of healing get mixed up with those lies? Let’s examine the lies Satan told Eve in a little more detail to discover the answer.
Masquerading as a talking serpent, Satan offered Eve forbidden fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and through his lies convinced her to eat it: “Then the serpent said to the woman, ‘You will not surely die. For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.’” Gen. 3:4–5, NKJV, emphasis supplied.
Where did Satan find such a clever deception—that godlike wisdom is a mixture of good and evil?
Satan saw that there was harmony by the presence of opposites, such as light and dark, day and night, land and water, sun and moon, warm and cool, and in procreation, male and female. He then spun a web of falsehood claiming that God had withheld the knowledge of evil because, when balanced with good, it would bring enlightenment and even godhood for created beings. In addition, the evil of disobedience wouldn’t cause death. God was just using the threat of death to scare Adam and Eve from this godlike wisdom of combining the opposites—good and evil.
Satan promised that this “balance” of good and evil would bring transformation, completeness, enlightenment, immortality, and finally godhood for humanity. Did it? The Bible tells us that by accepting Satan’s lies, humanity was plunged into sin and brought under the penalty of death. Gen. 3:17–19; 1 Cor. 15:21–22.
Satan’s deceptions still mix good with evil and truth with error. And he’s used this very successfully in the field of alternative health and healing.
Anciently, Satan worked to promote his version of the origin of man. In his fabricated worldview, creation was not a six-day event and did not involve a sovereign God. Instead, God was an essence pervading all nature and nature was god; therefore, human beings were gods and only needed to learn how to bring this “god within” to its full potential. The view that a divine essence pervades all nature is known as pantheism and is sprinkled through every pagan religion in the world.
Alternative healers call this essence universal energy. They claim their therapies balance, unblock, restore, infuse, or otherwise manipulate these “invisible energies” which allegedly exist or circulate within the human body.1 By dabbling in therapies and practices based on the philosophy of “divine energy” such as reflexology, acupuncture, and Reiki to treat disease, even Christians who claim to believe in the Creator God have been influenced by these satanic concepts.
However, the concept of universal energy is not biblical. It is a pagan concept that traces back to the ancient tower of Babel and the occult practices of astrologers who promoted the supposed connection of human health and destiny to the movement of heavenly bodies. After God confounded their languages, they took these concepts with them into every corner of the globe.
The 19th-century Christian health educator Ellen White clearly explained the difference between God’s power and the deceptive concepts of universal energy, a deception that was regaining prominence even in her day:
“The mighty power that works through all nature and sustains all things is not, as some men of science claim, merely an all-pervading principle, an actuating energy. God is a spirit; yet He is a personal being, for man was made in His image. As a personal being, God has revealed Himself in His Son. Jesus, the outshining of the Father’s glory, ‘and the express image of His person’ (Hebrews 1:3), was on earth found in fashion as a man. As a personal Saviour He came to the world. As a personal Saviour He ascended on high. As a personal Saviour He intercedes in the heavenly courts. Before the throne of God in our behalf ministers ‘One like the Son of man.’ Daniel 7:13.”2
And if God is a person, He cannot be reduced to universal energy. Nor can we manipulate the power of God by sticking acupuncture needles in our skin, massaging pressure points in our feet or hands, sitting in the yoga position, or by breathing exercises.
In Matthew chapter 24, Jesus mentioned deception three times when listing the signs preceding His second coming. We often emphasize the physical signs, like earthquakes and pestilences. But Jesus’ major emphasis was on the great end-time deceptions calculated to overwhelm even the elect. The deceptions would be so cunning that people would naively follow Satan, the prince of this world, and reject salvation through Jesus Christ. The apostle Paul warned, “Now the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons.” 1 Tim. 4:1, NKJV.
Let’s take reflexology and acupuncture as an example of Satan’s deceptions.
Today we find evidence that astrologers who fled the doomed tower of Babel spread pagan concepts of “universal energy” everywhere.
At the heart of these alternative therapies is the doctrine of correspondence (associations or sympathies) between the cosmos, earth, and man. This concept is central to the term life force energy. In theory this energy emanates from the cosmos, from which all things are said to be made, and within which all are one (pantheism). Therapies are undertaken to “unblock” anything in man from receiving this “life force energy.”
In Chinese medicine (based on Taoism), the human body was divided into multiple microcosms known as meridians, which could be influenced by universal energy (chi) channels through cosmic correspondence.
Since it was believed that physical disease is a condition of unbalanced life force due to congestion or blockage of energy flow, correction of the imbalance could be achieved by manipulating points of correspondence in the body. This is the foundation of acupuncture, acupressure, reflexology, and several other techniques collectively labeled soma (body) therapies.
Reflexologists, for example, claim that massaging different areas of the foot can realign corresponding organs in the body with universal energy. A good foot rub is relaxing and without ill effects and shouldn’t be avoided if you enjoy it. But accepting reflexology’s premise of universal energy leads away from God’s system of health and from our need of God’s power and salvation.
When carefully examined, the theory of universal energy, or pantheism, is at complete odds with the Bible and its revelation of salvation. Again, Ellen White plainly laid this out to naive Christians dabbling in pantheistic theories over a century ago:
“If God is an essence pervading all nature, then He dwells in all men; and in order to attain holiness, man has only to develop the power that is within him…. These theories, followed to their logical conclusion, sweep away the whole Christian economy. They do away with the necessity for the atonement and make man his own savior. These theories regarding God make His word of no effect.”3
The danger is that if people feel helped by these types of therapies, they begin to believe the philosophy behind them. This leads them into Satan’s counterfeit health system, the “right arm” of his false message of salvation.
Paul warned: “Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ.” Col. 2:8, NKJV.
Satan has been stealthily working to condition people’s thinking until total control of their minds and the rejection of God and His law is accomplished. For years the West has seen changes in education, including an open attack on the Creator God. In the entertainment industry, Christian concepts and morals have been devalued and atheistic and pagan ideas elevated. This same philosophy of universal energy is also seen in the environmental movement.
The question isn't, “does the therapy work?” it's “whose power brought healing?”
Satan has developed his plan to deceive until almost all external influences in our civilization are used as entry points to bring acceptance to his worldview and to prepare the world for his final deceptions.
So, how can we determine if a method of natural healing originates with Satan? After all, many claim to have been helped using these very methods. Yes, people do get better and apparently receive healing at times. So the question isn’t “Does it work?” The issue is, Whose power brought healing?
A comment often heard is “Well, I just take the good out of XYZ therapy.” But any technique distinctly connected to Satan’s counterfeit health message cannot be considered neutral. Participating in these methods ventures on Satan’s ground and gives him access to your life.
The most powerful deterrent to becoming bewitched by Satan’s deceptions in health and healing is to know God’s methods so well that it becomes easy to detect the counterfeit. God’s remedies involve the use of pure air, sunlight, temperate use of good substances, avoiding the injurious, rest, exercise, proper diet, the use of water inside and outside the body, and trust in God’s power.
Satan’s methods sometimes incorporate some of these remedies. The difference is the explanation given for the source of the power for healing. If it’s from some energy within us, or if we are seeking to balance that power from within, then it is certainly from Satan’s counterfeit plan.
Here’s a list of questions to aid you in determining the source of a healing therapy:
1. From what and where are the therapy’s roots?
2. Which other healing modalities keep company with this therapy in clinical use and in books and literature describing it?
3. Does the method claim to activate the innate powers within myself, or does it direct me to recognize the power of the Creator God in healing?
4. Is its method of action in harmony with the known laws of physics and science?
5. Does it claim to balance, polarize, manipulate, unblock, and correct energies, electromagnetic frequencies, or vibrations?
6. Is it a technique that involves altering my consciousness or rational thought process to impede control of my mind, or to alter whose power controls me?4
Compiled from the well-researched and comprehensive book Exposing Spiritualistic Practices in Healing by Edwin Noyes, MD, MPH. Find it on Amazon.
Check out our new "Search the Word" Quiz!
Before sin and suffering entered, human beings were created by God and lived in an unspoiled world. They were perfect physically, mentally, and spiritually. They could literally walk and talk with God and other heavenly beings.
Tragically, after the first man and woman disobeyed God, this direct communication was lost, and the rebel angel, Satan, took control of humanity. Their act of rebellion changed their nature. Now, human beings were separated from God by their self-centeredness and were doomed to die. But God in His great mercy provided a pathway for humanity’s complete restoration.
Satan’s power over the earth was broken when God sent His own Son to die for our sins. John 12:31–32. Humankind no longer has to remain in captivity to Satan. However, as we observe our world today, we see that Satan is seeking every possible way to keep control over our minds. But it is possible to find God in all this confusion. He has opened a communication channel with us that reliably guides and empowers us to come back to God.
Many thinking people are asking questions such as “Why was I born into this violent world?” “Does God have a plan for me?” “What happens to me when I die?” We can be thankful that God does supply us with definite Bible answers to these important questions.
The authority of the written Word, the Bible, is in complete harmony with the authority of the living Word, Jesus. Both were sent as gifts from the Father.
God is supreme in the universe. There is truly no other like Him, but He deserves authority for more than just this reason. God is our Creator, and because of humanity’s fall into sin, He is also our Savior. He deserves our respect twice over for His great love for us.
God sends the Holy Spirit, the Third Person of the Godhead, to teach and guide us into truth.
God has given us a powerful weapon in the Bible, for it not only transforms our lives, but it protects us in the ongoing battle with Satan.
This is a freedom we can’t find any other way. It completely changes our life, giving us peace and fulfillment.
Satan is the arch deceiver of the universe. He has many methods of gaining control, and most of them are extremely subtle. Satan knows that if we recognize him behind the deceptions and temptations, if we claim the power of God to overcome, he will be helpless to deceive us. The Bible serves to reveal some of his more subtle methods, as well as those that are obvious.,
Satan knows that he has but a little time left to deceive humanity, and he’s using all his resources to prevent men from turning to God. He has had 6,000 years to perfect his works of deception. The Bible explains what methods he will use so that we may be prepared to withstand them.
Impressive miracles are not always from God. At the end of time it will be dangerous to trust our senses because Satan can empower people to perform apparent miracles and speak wise-sounding words.
“The law” and “the testimony” refer to the revealed will of God in Old Testament times. We now have the whole Bible to guide us.
When Satan was attempting to get Jesus to sin, he tried quoting Scripture to Him. But he twisted it by taking it out of context and misapplying it. Jesus knew that the Scripture he used (Ps. 91:11–12) was not intended to be used as protection for doing something God had not authorized. We need to be well acquainted with the teachings of the Bible so we can spot the misuse of Scripture. It’s another of Satan’s subtle deceptions. During Satan’s wilderness temptations, Jesus also showed us the most powerful way to combat Satan’s deceptions: the correct use of a “thus says the Lord.”
God gave us the Bible to restore communication between heaven and earth and reveal truth to us. God is our Creator and Redeemer. Therefore, His Word has supreme authority and requires our heartfelt obedience. It also provides a reliable defense against temptation and deception. A daily study of the Bible, with the Holy Spirit as our teacher, will change our lives and protect us from Satan’s attacks.
I recognize that the Bible is God’s great guidebook, and I plan to live my life in accordance with its principles.
The year 2009 was difficult for us. My husband, Wylie, and I, along with our 15-year-old son, Jordan, had recently moved into a rental after losing our house to foreclosure in a bank scam. Although losing our home was very stressful and difficult, we still had our health, our careers, friends, and family, and we chose to keep a positive outlook. Wylie and I were climbing the ladder in our respective careers, his in nursing and mine in private practice mental health. We were camping, hiking, and canoeing on the weekends, and active in our church on Sundays.
Except for the setback in home ownership, we were living the dream, weren’t we? Then why was our life unraveling? Why were we struggling to keep our marriage together? Why was our teenage son going off the rails, choosing worldly and wild friends? Why did we now lack purpose and meaning in all we were doing? We didn’t realize it, but God was about to do a new thing in our lives.
Wylie was a home health nurse at the time, and one of his elderly homebound patients, Ms. Stella, handed him a DVD as he finished his visit with her one day. He told me, “I just took it to be polite. She’s kind of strange; she won’t let me see her on Saturdays.” He said he just threw the DVD in the back of his work car and planned to throw it away next time he cleaned the car out.
Fast-forward six weeks. I’m home alone, dusting around the TV/DVD player, and see a new DVD sitting there on “Final Events.” I pick it up to study its apocalyptic cover with a multi-headed dragon. Curiosity takes hold, and I decide to watch the DVD before Wylie throws it away.
Since becoming a Christ-follower at age 20, I’d always been curious about the book of Revelation and prophecy, but no pastor I’d met had been able to explain those mysteries to me. As I watched the video, I thought, Who are these people? Why are they saying things that are so contrary to what I’ve been taught about the Bible? The DVD said that Jesus would return loudly, not secretly, along with other things I’d never heard! I flipped it over and saw “amazingfacts.org.”
Wylie came home from work and found me surrounded by every Bible version we owned.
Again, curiosity compelled me, so I got my laptop and went to the Amazing Facts website.1 On the right side of the home page, 24 videos on prophecy were advertised. Oh, how I wanted to understand these things! I reasoned that if I compared everything to the Bible, it would be safe to watch the videos.
When Wylie came home from work, he found me at our kitchen bar with every Bible version we owned, halfway through the videos. Amazingly, these new teachings were in complete agreement with the Bible! I told Wylie I believed we might be wrong about some things. He asked me why I had gone through his car to get the DVD. I replied, “I didn’t. I thought you brought it in.” We were both dumbfounded.
When I began to observe the seventh-day Sabbath, Wylie decided to study the prophecy series to find out where I was wrong!
Wylie wasn’t interested in studying these new ideas with me. He held tightly to what he’d learned in the church he was brought up in. By contrast, I’d been raised in a non-Christian home and was more open to new ideas. I continued watching the videos, comparing every point with Bible scripture, until I finished the prophecy series. I was amazed at how the God of heaven had gotten my attention during this troublous time in my life. I began wondering what to do with this new information that was beginning to transform my heart.
Several months later, I announced I would no longer be attending church on Sundays because I now understood that God’s Sabbath is the seventh day—Saturday. That’s when my husband’s level of concern was raised! He decided he’d better step in and watch the prophecy series himself to “save” me from these “false” beliefs.
I began watching the series again with him during the only time he had available—bedtime. Although it would sometimes be late into the night after finishing a video, he’d say, “One more?” Wylie’s mind was troubled by these new truths, and he began waking up earlier in the mornings to watch the next video.
As the Holy Spirit gave him understanding, Wylie began to see and accept that these new teachings were right in line with the Bible, while what we had previously believed was not. As we discussed worshiping on the seventh day, we were perplexed about where we would go to church. We didn’t know anyone who worshiped on Saturday. Then Wylie remembered hearing of a group called Seventh-day Adventists who did, and of meeting some Adventists, too.
We found a welcoming Adventist church and started attending regularly. Neither of us had to work on Saturday, so keeping the Sabbath wasn’t difficult for us. Within a few weeks, our new church hosted an Amazing Facts evangelistic seminar, so we went through the studies again, this time in person. Our new beliefs were becoming a firm foundation for us. Although we’d been Christians for many years, we chose to be baptized again into our new faith.
One of the things we truly appreciated about Adventism was learning how to study and understand the Bible. The more we studied, the more we were growing in the Lord, and He began making our crooked paths straight. As we stepped into each new truth we learned, He began to show us new solutions to the tangled-up parts of our lives.
Our new pastor started counseling with our troubled teenage son, helping him in ways we’d been unable to. We found a Christian book on restoring a troubled marriage and began implementing what we learned from it. As we renewed our relationship with Jesus, He showed us how to renew our relationship with each other and with our son. The once distant God we thought we knew met us at the point of our need. He became so real, so personal in our lives, that we saw He was not only our Creator and Savior but our truest Friend.
God truly gives us the desires of our hearts, and He’s also provided for our desire to serve Him and others. At church, I serve as the music leader and Wylie as an elder. We especially love serving the Lord in our literature ministry, Wherever You Go. As we run our regular errands, we hand out a variety of magazines, books, and tracts, sharing the great truths of the love of God that we’re so privileged to know.
God has transformed our lives so much! We’ll be forever grateful to a homebound missionary, Ms. Stella, for handing Wylie the DVD—and to the heavenly angel that moved it inside our house!
Amazing Facts International is a worldwide ministry sharing the gospel and promoting Bible study through a variety of media including radio, television, online resources, and live events. See www.amazingfacts.org and www.amazingfacts.org/media-library.
Scientists from Harvard Medical School have found that eating one medium orange a day may lower the risk of developing depression by about 20%.
“The effect seems to be specific to citrus,” comments Dr. Raaj Mehta, one of the researchers.
“Recent research has shown intriguing links between the gut microbiome, brain health, and mood,” explains Dr. Gary Small, chair of psychiatry at Hackensack University Medical Center, New Jersey.
“Consumption of citrus fruits can stimulate growth in the human gut of certain types of bacteria that influence the production of brain neurotransmitters which elevate mood. This offers a possible explanation for how eating oranges might lower future risk for depression.”
“Eating citrus fruit like oranges tied to 20% lower depression risk,” Medical News Today, Feb. 28, 2025.
Inattentive ADHD is linked with depression and is considered a rampant mental health problem. Even without this diagnosis, many of us struggle to stay focused in today’s overstimulating environments. Here are three simple ways to improve our attention span and complete tasks efficiently.
Decrease distractions: If you’re studying or working on something, try turning off your cell phone or placing it in another room. If you’re writing or working offline on your computer, disconnect from the internet.
Schedule breaks: Our brain tires after focusing for a long time. Scheduling short breaks within a study or work session gives it a chance to refresh.
Focus on one task at a time: Multitasking makes it impossible to give individual tasks the attention they need. If you have an important task, give it your full focus and complete it before moving on to the next.
“How to Increase Attention Span,” University of Rochester Medical Center Newsroom, Dec. 3, 2024.
Researchers at UCLA recently examined the release of microplastics from chewing gum.
Ten types of chewing gum—five brands each of natural and synthetic gum—were chewed by each study participant for 2‒20 minutes. The researchers collected and analyzed saliva samples at specific intervals during the chewing.
They found that each gram of chewing gum could release up to 637 microplastic particles, with 94% released within the first eight minutes of chewing. Synthetic and natural plant-based gums released similar amounts of microplastics.
“Our goal is not to alarm anybody,” wrote the principal researcher. “Scientists don’t know if microplastics are unsafe for us or not. There are no human trials. But we know we are exposed to plastics in everyday life, and that’s what we wanted to examine.”
“Chewing Gum Contributes to Microplastic Ingestion,” Medscape Medical News, Mar. 31, 2025.
For most people, the ideal room temperature for sleep is from 60°F to 65°F. Infants and older adults may need a slightly warmer room.
Your body’s temperature decreases before sleep. A cool, but not cold, room will help you settle into and maintain sleep throughout the night. If your sleeping environment is too hot or too cold, it may affect your body’s internal temperature and disrupt your sleep.
Restless sleep in a hot room could be caused by a decrease in your slow wave sleep or rapid eye movement (REM) sleep. A 2018 study notes that being too cold won’t affect your sleep cycle as much as being too warm. Still, it may make it more difficult to fall asleep.
“What Is the Best Temperature for Sleep?,” Healthline, Oct. 28, 2024.
As news of Pope Leo XIV’s elevation spread, and the world learned more about his life and ministry, some evangelical leaders shared worrisome praise.
“I appreciate that there is a pope who is familiar with Latin American Christian realities and immigrant realities,” said Gabriel Salguero, the head of the US-based National Latino Evangelical Coalition. “He’s on the record as being pro-immigrant, pro-family, pro-poor—all of those things in our evangelical community where there is common ground.”
“We’re living in very interesting times,” Salguero added. “We need religious leaders who understand the global interconnectedness.”
The new pope has emphasized the importance of “invitation.” In one interview, he described it as the first task of a Christian leader.
“We are often preoccupied with teaching doctrine,” he said. “We risk forgetting that our first task is to teach what it means to know Jesus Christ and to bear witness to our closeness to the Lord. This comes first: to communicate the beauty of the faith, the beauty and joy of knowing Jesus. It means that we ourselves are living it and sharing this experience.”
That desire to share the gospel resonates with some American evangelicals.
“We’ll still have our disagreements with Rome,” said Matthew Bates, a professor of New Testament at Northern Seminary in Chicago. “But we see this as important for the future of the whole church—seeing Catholics as our brothers and sisters in Christ even if we don’t see [Leo] as our head.”
The beauty and joy of knowing Jesus is indeed a wonderful experience that brings us closer to Christians of all backgrounds. But may God help us never to compromise Bible truth because of that shared experience.
“How Evangelicals View the First U.S. Pope,” Christianity Today, May 9, 2025.
A new survey from Arizona Christian University reveals that most Americans reject the idea of absolute moral truth. The report is based on responses collected from 2,100 adults in January 2025.
When asked whether they agreed that “a mature human accepts different truth views to be just as valid as their own views,” 67% of respondents answered in the affirmative. Majorities of non-Christians (69%), those without any faith (68%), self-identified Christians (67%), and theologically identified born-again Christians (56%) agreed with this statement. Thirty-one percent of integrated disciples agreed with this view, making them the only group where less than half rejected the idea of an absolute moral truth.
The survey clarifies that “Integrated Disciples” refers to “adults who possess a biblical worldview, based on answers to worldview-related questions.”
Arizona Christian University professor and Cultural Research Center director George Barna maintained that there is a direct correlation between Americans’ views on absolute moral truth and the volatile climate the US finds itself engulfed in.
Barna noted, “Accepting all truths as equally valid cannot help but dig a deep foundation of chaos, confusion, and helplessness. In the absence of strong, consistent, logical, and compassionate opposition to philosophies that reject moral absolutes, cultural gravity will lead to the acceptance of an authoritarian political savior or powerful elitist group as the arbiter of truth for the masses.”
The book of Revelation points to just such leadership arising before Christ’s return. It’s a solemn thought that we may be watching this groundwork being laid right before our eyes.
“Barna: Rejection of absolute moral truth has dug ‘deep foundation of chaos,’” The Christian Post, May 21, 2025.
The Supreme Court has agreed to hear a challenge to a law in Colorado that bans “conversion therapy” aimed at young people questioning their sexual orientations or gender identities.
With more than 20 states with similar bans, the court’s eventual ruling is likely to have nationwide implications.
The justices took up an appeal brought by Kaley Chiles, a Christian therapist, who argued that the restriction violates her free speech rights under the Constitution’s First Amendment.
Chiles often has Christian clients, some of whom have questions about their sexual orientations and gender identities amid concerns that they are unable to live in accordance with their faith, according to court papers. They seek counseling to suppress unwanted sexual attractions or to resolve conflicts about their gender identities.
Chiles’ lawyers argue that the bans have “devastating real-world consequences,” including in rare cases of “detransitioners”—transgendered individuals who change course and wish to identify as the genders they were assigned at birth.
Colorado officials wrote in their brief that the state measure regulates conduct, not speech.
“States have long regulated medical practices to protect patients from harmful professional conduct,” said Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser, a Democrat.
A federal judge and the Denver-based 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals both ruled in favor of the state.
The Supreme Court has on several occasions refused to take up challenges to similar conversion therapy bans, most recently in December 2023, when it left a Washington state law in place. Three conservative justices said at that time they would have taken up the case.
The new case will be decided in the Supreme Court’s next term, which begins October 2025 and ends June 2026.
“Supreme Court takes up challenge to Colorado conversion therapy ban,” NBC News, Mar. 10, 2025.
Roughly 3 in 10 American adults say they consult astrology, tarot cards, or fortune tellers at least once a year, according to a new Pew Research Center survey.
Gender, age, and income all shaped belief levels, according to the report. Women are rated twice as likely as men to believe in astrology. And belief is highest among younger adults and those with lower incomes.
“What shall be the sign of Thy coming, and of the end of the world?”
Matthew 24:3
Young women are the most likely group to hold such beliefs, with 43% of women under 50 affirming astrology, nearly triple the rate of older men, just 16% of whom say the same.
LGBTQ adults report especially high engagement: 54% consult horoscopes at least once a year, and 33% use tarot cards, which is roughly three times the national average. Twenty-one percent say they rely on these practices at least somewhat when making major life decisions.
Religiously affiliated and unaffiliated adults believe in astrology at nearly identical rates, around 27%. Belief, however, runs higher among Black Protestants and Hispanic Catholics, and lower among white evangelicals and atheists.
Tarot cards and fortune-telling are more popular among younger Americans, with nearly a quarter of adults under 30 using tarot cards annually. Just 3% of Americans over 65 say the same, according to the survey.
Hispanic Catholics were the most likely religious group to say they consult these practices for insight, with 12% factoring them into major decisions.
The Bible expressly warns against occult practices and divination. Deut. 18:10–11. They are avenues through which evil forces can gain influence over people and are not “just for fun” as 20% of Americans reportedly believe.
“A third of Americans consult horoscopes, tarot cards or fortune tellers,” The Washington Times, May 21, 2025.