IS AMERICA ON THE CUSP OF A SPIRITUAL AWAKENING?

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David Closson, director of the Centre for Biblical Worldview at Family Research Council, thinks that the measurable rise in popularity of religious and Bible apps is a sign that America may be on the cusp of a spiritual awakening.

At the same time, America is deeply divided, yet there is no single conflict at the core of the discord. Instead, an ideological divide is widening at an alarming pace. We have seen “cancel culture,” which initially aimed to suppress opposing voices, evolve into an “assassination culture,” where some openly call for the violent elimination of adversaries. Perhaps this is the reason why young people are looking for something better: hope in a world consumed with hate.

“I’m encouraged by the growing popularity of faith-based apps like YouVersion and Hallow,” Closson told TWS. “As someone who works closely on cultivating a biblical worldview in the next generation, I see this as more than a digital trend — it could be a sign that something deeper is stirring. The political and cultural ‘vibe shift’ we’ve all sensed might actually point to a spiritual awakening. People are looking for clarity, truth, and hope in a confusing world, and many are turning — or returning — to faith as the foundation for that. I believe this hunger for meaning could very well be connected to a deeper worldview shift that could signal the beginning of revival in our nation.”

The surge in religious app popularity is coinciding with a marked rise in the sales of print Bibles, with sales up 22% as of last fall (compared to the same period the previous year), which is being partially attributed to a jump in first-time buyers.

Observers say the resurgence in faith can be partially attributed to — of all things — the ubiquity of phones and the increasing popularity of religious apps like Hallow. In a profile on the explosive growth of the Catholic app published Saturday on The Free Press, 39-year-old “Sarah,” a fallen away Catholic, says she had hit rock bottom after she embarked on an affair and found herself estranged from her husband and three children. Alone in a Chicago hotel room after binging on drugs and alcohol, she offered a desperate prayer to God for help. Days later, she happened upon an Instagram ad for Hallow featuring Hollywood actor Mark Wahlberg, inviting people to pray the rosary. After downloading the app and listening to morning prayer routines, short sermons, a guided “examination of conscience,” and a multitude of other resources, she sensed a change beginning to happen in her.

Months later, Sarah had moved back in with her family and began therapy with her husband. Sarah is now a cantor at her church and regularly goes to confession. “She is convinced God used Hallow to save her soul, her marriage, her career — perhaps even her life.”

As of now, Hallow has been downloaded 23 million times since its creation in 2018. In February of last year on Ash Wednesday, Hallow became the first religious app to ever reach the number one spot in Apple’s App Store. The app once again reached number one on Ash Wednesday this year. Sarah told The Free Press that the reason for the app’s massive growth is because there are a multitude of people like her who are “starved for connection, for meaning” and “starved for God.”

Hallow is far from the only religious app to see unprecedented growth over the last year. Bible Chat, “an AI chatbot trained exclusively on the Bible,” has been downloaded seven million times since 2023 and was second only behind Google Translate in the Reference category. On January 5, the first Sunday of this year, almost 800,000 people installed the Bible app YouVersion, with 18.2 million people opening the app that same day.

It will be interesting to see how this plays out as persecution of Christians increases as we enter the tribulation and extreme tribulation of the last seven years before Jesus returns to restore righteousness.

THIS EASTER SHARE THE GOSPEL

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HOW TO SHARE THE GOSPEL IN 15 SECONDS, 30 SECONDS AND 60 SECONDS

15 Seconds: “My Train is here!!” “God made everything perfect, but we broke His moral law—lied, stolen, blasphemed. The punishment is hell, but Jesus took our punishment on the cross, died and rose again. Turn from your sin and trust Him to be saved.”

30 Seconds: “My rides about to arrive to pick me up!” “God created a perfect world and gave us a conscience to know right from wrong. But we’ve all sinned—lied, stolen, used His name in vain. Sin separates us from God, and the just punishment is eternity in hell. Yet, God loved us so much He sent Jesus to live the perfect life we couldn’t, take our punishment on the cross, and rise from the dead. If you turn from sin and trust Him, God forgives you, gives you a new heart, and offers eternal life instead of hell.”

60 Seconds: “I have an appointment I have to leave in a minute!” “God created the world perfect, but we’ve all broken His moral law—lied, stolen, blasphemed, hated in our hearts. Sin is not a minor thing; it’s rebellion against a holy God, and His justice demands that sin be punished. The Bible says the punishment is eternity in hell, completely separated from God’s goodness. But in His love, God sent Jesus Christ, who lived perfectly and willingly took our punishment by dying on the cross. He rose again, proving His victory over sin and death. If you turn from your sin and trust in Jesus, you’ll receive forgiveness, escape hell, and gain eternal life with God.”

HARD QUESTION: “CAN YOU GIVE ME EVIDENCE FOR GOD?” YES! Imagine you’re walking down the street, and you see a fully assembled, functioning car parked on the side of the road. It’s sleek, well-designed, with intricate engineering — from the engine to the electronics, everything works together perfectly. Would you ever assume that car just appeared out of nowhere, assembled by time and chance? Of course not. You’d immediately know it had a manufacturer — someone who designed it, engineered it, and built it.

Prepared by Answers in Genesis (AIG) http://www.answersingenesis.org

THE FRENCH CATHOLIC CHURCH TO BAPTISE OVER 10K ON EASTER, A 45% INCREASE FROM LAST YEAR

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France’s Roman Catholic Church is scheduled to baptize more than 10,000 adults on Easter Sunday, the highest number of new members reported in over 20 years.

The Catholic Church in France recently reported that 10,384 adults will be baptized on Easter night, along with approximately 7,400 individuals aged 11 to 17.

This marks a 45% increase in adult catechumens compared to last year, and is the largest reported number since 2002, when the Catholic Church created the annual survey.

The restored Notre Dame Cathedral lit up at night. The restoration of the cathedral involved more than $888 million (€846 million) being donated by approximately 340,000 supporters from around 150 countries.

The report also noted an apparent rise in “the growing, and now majority, proportion of young people among all catechumens.”

“Among newly baptized adults, the 18-25-year-old group, made up of students and ‘young professionals,’ now represents 42% of catechumens, and has therefore surpassed the 26-40-year-old group,” stated the report, as rendered by Google translate.

“The number of adolescent catechumens has increased sharply again this year. We are seeing a 33% increase in the dioceses for which we have figures for the two consecutive years of 2024 and 2025.”

Last month, the French Catholic weekly Famille Chrétienne reported an apparent surge in attendance for Ash Wednesday services at the start of Lent, which is the liturgical calendar season before Easter.

“We shattered attendance records,” said Father Benoist de Sinety, parish priest of St. Eubert Church in Lille, in comments given to Famille Chrétienne.

“Across the three Masses we offered, we had larger congregations than ever before. Nearly a thousand faithful gathered at Saint-Maurice Church in the evening — many of them young people attending for the first time.”

France has had a long, complicated history with Catholicism. For centuries, it was a bulwark of the Church, providing large numbers of soldiers for the Crusades and constructing many notable churches.

However, beginning with the violent secularism of the French Revolution in 1789, the nation has also made the occasional effort to limit Catholic influence on politics and society.

Last December, the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris reopened after more than five years of closure due to a severe fire in April 2019 that destroyed much of the interior. Many public officials and world leaders attended the opening, with French President Emmanuel Macron championing efforts to have the national symbol rebuilt in five years.

“You have transformed ashes into art,” Macron told those present for a tour of the completed cathedral last November. “The blaze at Notre Dame was a national wound, and you have been its remedy through will, through work, through commitment.”

COURAGE AND CONSEQUENCES: A WHISTLEBLOWER’S HARROWING EXPERIENCE WITH BIDEN’S DEPARTMENT OF (IN)JUSTICE

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Eithan Haim’s vindication after very nearly facing prison time on spurious charges was only reversed after Trump was elected President.

Thankfully, the sham legal prosecution against Eithan Haim is over for good. After Haim blew the whistle on Texas Children’s Hospital (TCH) for secretly providing gender transition procedures to minors in violation of state law, the Biden administration Department of Justice (DOJ) set out to ruin Haim’s life and career. More than 18 months and $1 million in legal fees later, Haim is finally free and clear.

GOD ENSURED THAT THE TRUTH WON OUT. It only took four days into the Trump administration for the Biden administration’s phony case to get crumpled up and thrown in the wastebasket. On Friday afternoon, the DOJ and Haim’s attorneys (the Burke Law Group) jointly moved “for an order dismissing the Second Superseding Indictment and all open counts with prejudice.”

The sparse motion gave little to analyze, except what it did not say. “The joint motion to dismiss the indictment offers no details,” mused Eugene Volokh. “But presumably the Trump Administration had a different view on the matter than did the Biden Administration.”

That same afternoon, Judge David Hittner responded, “As the direct and only result of a joint motion of the parties, the United States Attorneys Office of the Southern District of Texas, and legal counsel for the Defendant, Eithan David Haim, the Second Superseding Indictment and all open counts in the above-listed criminal case are hereby DISMISSED with prejudice.”

Dismissing charges with prejudice “means that the plaintiff cannot refile the same claim again in that court,” explains the Legal Information Institute. “The reason that dismissal with prejudice prevents subsequent refiling is because this type of dismissal is considered an ‘adjudication on the merits.’”

In other words, at the request of Trump’s DOJ, the judge decided that the charges brought against Haim by Biden’s DOJ were bogus, and that they could never be brought again.

For 18 months, beginning on the day he graduated from surgical training, the threat of criminal prosecution and financial disaster has hung over his head like the sword of Damocles.

SOCIETIES BUILT ON THE PREMISE THAT LIFE IS AN ACCIDENT

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Extreme cruelty, gross injustice, and disregard for the life of individuals characterise regimes that believe life is an accident.  Examples include Hitler’s National Socialism, Stalin’s Soviet Socialism, and their nauseatingly numerous socialist offspring.  Many socialists mistakenly believe that science can show that life evolved by accident.

Sadly, universities and schools teach our children that evolution is fact and that this cosmos came about by a Big Bang and random chance evolution. As a result, lavishly funded TV spectaculars portray the evolution of life as “scientific”, but it is not.  It cannot be subjected to the scientific method as its assumed processes are not observable.  Darwin insisted his theory could not explain the origin of life but claimed it did explain the lesser problem of how species could have become increasingly complex.  Since Darwin’s time, however, the expected mass of transitions to more and more complex species has been absent from the fossil record.  More importantly, Dr Michael Behe recently discovered organelles driving the flagellum of a bacterium that meet Darwin’s own criteria for falsifying his theory.  Mainstream media has hardly mentioned this, and the educational establishment has ignored it because they will not consider the supernatural. Regardless of the evidence, if it is not natural/materialistic, it is not science.

Fake news also disparages those who accept the scientific evidence for intelligent design of life.  Yet they include science luminary Sir Fred Hoyle and Dr Paul Davies who discovered the fine tuning of the universe, renowned microbiologist Dr Dean Kenyon who renounced his celebrated evolutionary work “Biochemical Predestination” to accept intelligent design, Dr Michael Behe who wrote the landmark work “Darwin’s Black Box”, notorious Oxford Professor Anthony Flew who renounced atheism in his book “There is a God”, the brilliant Oxford mathematician Professor John Lennox, mathematician Dr William Dembski who authored “The Design Inference”, and information scientists Dr Lee Spetner and Dr Michael Hasofar who were the first to publish quantified evidence against evolution of species in the world’s leading peer-reviewed “Journal of Theoretical Biology”.

Evolution has been our enemy, Satan’s best strategy, but he realises that its time is over, and he already has his final strategy in place: Aliens. Richard Dawkins, one of the atheists’ most celebrated authors, when argued into a corner on intelligent design, blurted out, “Well, if it’s intelligent design, it must have come from outer space.” Demons are already representing themselves to gullible people as aliens, as good guys, come to save us. These stories are coming to us from people who have experience with UFOs. According to an ABC News poll conducted in 2000, “nearly half of all Americans and millions more globally believe we’re not alone […] 40 million Americans say they have seen or know someone who has seen an unidentified flying object, or UFO,

Look at the many movies and games that feature aliens. Young people are being set up to embrace demons when they manifest as good aliens.

In Gary Bates’s book on Aliens, he provides evidence that these creatures posing as aliens are, in fact, demons. Whenever a person commanded them to go in the name of Jesus, they immediately departed.

Are you ready for all that will proceed Jesus’s return to restore righteousness? The bible gives us a lot of information on the last seven years before Jesus returns to defeat the Antichrist at the battle of Armageddon. If you are new to this blog, then you can go back over previous posts to find out where we are at in terms of Biblical end times prophecy.

END TIMES – LAWLESSNESS WILL ABOUND

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‘Assassination Culture’: Half of Left-leaning Americans say assassinating Trump, Musk is justified

The Network Contagion Research Institute and Rutgers University’s Social Perception Lab released a report Monday titled “Assassination Culture: How Burning Teslas and Killing Billionaires Became a Meme Aesthetic for Political Violence.” The data included in the report is based on responses collected from 1,264 U.S. adults. The main takeaway from the report is that, “A broader ‘assassination culture’ appears to be emerging within segments of the U.S. public on the extreme left.”

“This report points to disturbingly high levels of support for political violence, particularly targeting President Donald Trump and Elon Musk. Across survey responses, nearly one-third of respondents — and a significantly higher share of left-leaning respondents — expressed some degree of justification for acts of lethal violence,” the report stated. 

“Unless political and cultural leadership explicitly confronts and condemns this trend, [a] growing probability of real-world escalation” exists, the report added. “Given the current economic volatility and institutional distrust, the online normalization of political violence may increasingly translate into offline action.” 

“Taken together, the findings underscore the erosion of democratic norms and the growing acceptability of political violence in American discourse, particularly among ideologically extreme communities online,” the report warned. “Continued monitoring and broader measurement efforts are urgently needed.” 

Fortunately for Christians, God has revealed how this story plays out, and we know it is both good news and bad news. The good news is that Jesus’s return is imminent, but the bad news is that God allows Satan to refine His church and to do his utmost to deceive the world. The following Scripture is Jesus’s response to the disciples’ question about what it will be like in the end times before He returns to restore righteousness.

“Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and put you to death, and you will be hated by all nations for my name’s sake. And then many will fall away and betray one another and hate one another. And many false prophets will arise and lead many astray. And because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold. But the one who endures to the end will be saved.” Matthew 24:9-13

We cannot say that Jesus did not warn us. It is time to draw close to God to ensure we do what He has called and prepared us to do.

GROK 3 ON IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL

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Does the Bible teach that a human soul is immortal? If so, which scriptures?

The Bible does not explicitly teach that the human soul is inherently immortal. Instead, its teachings on the soul and immortality are nuanced and depend on interpretation. Let’s explore this:

The Old Testament uses the Hebrew word nephesh (often translated as “soul”) to refer to a living being—both humans and animals—emphasizing life or breath rather than an immortal essence. For example, Genesis 2:7 says, “And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul” (KJV). Here, nephesh suggests a living creature, not an eternal entity separate from the body.

In the New Testament, the Greek word psyche (also translated as “soul”) similarly refers to life or the self, not necessarily an immortal component. The idea of immortality is more closely tied to God’s nature and the gift of eternal life through Christ, rather than an innate quality of the soul. For instance, 1 Timothy 6:16 describes God as the one “who alone has immortality” (ESV), implying that immortality is not inherent to humans but granted by God.

A key scripture often cited in discussions of eternal life is John 3:16: “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life” (NIV). This suggests that immortality (eternal life) is conditional, received through faith, rather than a default state of the soul. Similarly, 1 Corinthians 15:53-54 speaks of a future transformation: “For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality” (NIV), indicating that humans are mortal by nature and only gain immortality at the resurrection.

Some Christian traditions interpret these and other passages (like Matthew 10:28, “Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul“) to argue for an immortal soul that persists after death. But it goes on to say, ” Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell.” Others, such as those who hold to “soul sleep” or conditional immortality, argue that the soul is not naturally immortal and that eternal life is a divine gift, not an intrinsic property.

In short, the Bible does not explicitly state that the human soul is immortal on its own. Scriptures like 1 Timothy 6:16 and John 3:16 suggest immortality is a gift from God, not an inherent trait, though interpretations vary widely among theologians.

YOUNG MAN (17) WINS PLATINUM TICKET SINGING “I NEED YOUR GLORY

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Platinum ticket winner Canaan James Hill has Lionel Richie pacing and PREACHING after his spectacular rendition of “I Need Your Glory” by Earnest Pugh! The 17-year-old gospel singer with buttery velvet vocals will get to bypass the first round of Hollywood Week on American Idol!

It is encouraging that young men like Canaan are more interested in witnessing for God than winning the contest. In this instance, it motivated Lionel Ritchie to join in and start preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ. For one, it will be a great encouragement to other Christians, and we can pray that God will use it to challenge unbelievers to reconsider where they stand with regard to their Creator.

REVIVAL IN THE USA IS A REALITY

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Suárez, founder of Revivalmakers Ministries and vice president of the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference (NHCLC), said he’s seeing hunger for God expanding across denominational and cultural lines, sparking what he believes is a spiritual revival in the United States.

“These are the days our parents prayed for,” he said. “Our grandparents prophesied that there would be one last great awakening before Christ’s return, and I believe we’re living it out right now.” I believe Suárez is right. This is the fifth article I have posted on revival in the USA, especially among university students.

While some headlines highlight concerns over dwindling church attendance and cultural disengagement among young people, Suárez said he’s seeing something vastly different.

“Young people are hungry for the real things of God,” Suárez said, stressing that young people are seeing an “authentic” worship experience. “What they don’t want is smoke machines and a concert. My own kids say, ‘If I want a concert, I’ll go to one. But when I go to church, I want it to be church.’”

With five children between the ages of 15 and 21, Suárez sees firsthand what he calls a craving for authentic, Spirit-led worship. His ministry regularly emphasizes a clear message: “Revival is not coming. Revival is here.”

Suárez said while some may contend they haven’t seen it, the spiritual climate in the churches he visits suggests otherwise. “I don’t have concern for the church right now,” he said. “I have a lot of optimism.”

Central to Suárez’s vision for revival is the growing role of the Hispanic church in the United States. According to the NHCLC, Hispanic and Asian Pacific communities represent the fastest-growing segments of nearly every denomination in the country.

“The Hispanic church is pro-life, pro-marriage, and committed to the authority of Scripture,” he said. “There’s a reverence not just for God but for the people of God.”

According to Suárez, this demographic growth is one of the most hopeful signs for the future of American Christianity. “It’s one of those glimmering moments of hope that we’re seeing again within the Church,” he said.

In 2024, Suárez helped lead a series of revival events along the U.S.-Mexico border, hosting large gatherings in Texas, Arizona and California that drew thousands of attendees, including migrants, law enforcement officials and local residents.

“There is an invasion at the southern border,” Suárez said. “But it’s not a political invasion, it’s a spiritual one.”

During the two-week campaign, his team documented more than 10,000 spiritual encounters, including salvations, baptisms and testimonies of healing.

“One of the beautiful things about Christianity is that it’s a gathering place for anyone who wants to drink from the fountain of God,” he said. “We had migrants, Border Patrol agents and residents all worshiping together. Nobody cared who was who. We just wanted people to be legal for Heaven.”

According to Suárez, the movement will continue in 2025, with plans to bring revival events deeper into Mexico.

In addition to his evangelistic work, Suarez advocates with politicians for immigration reform that prioritizes border enforcement, assimilation and a non-amnesty path to legal status. 

The pastor, who served as a member of Donald Trump’s Evangelical Advisory Board and My Faith Votes, acknowledged that fear has gripped many in the Hispanic community in recent months, especially around immigration enforcement.

“After President Trump’s inauguration, Hispanic church attendance fell by nearly 30%,” he said. “There was real fear about mass deportations and raids on churches, something that was never actually proposed but was spread in Spanish-language media.”

Suárez urged people to seek accurate information and encourage their Hispanic friends. “There’s a lot of fear-mongering, and we need to be messengers of truth and hope,” he said.

Born to a Colombian family with deep missionary roots, Suárez has been a longtime advocate for comprehensive immigration reform. He has served on national policy committees and regularly meets with lawmakers through his work with the NHCLC.

“We haven’t had real immigration reform since Ronald Reagan,” Suárez, who was named by Newsmax as one of the 50 most influential Republican Latinos in the United States, said. “That was when I was in kindergarten.”

The pastor stressed he supports border security but believes it must be paired with realistic immigration solutions for the estimated 14 to 20 million undocumented immigrants already in the U.S.

“You can’t deport that many people,” he said. “They’re part of our economy—milking cows picking crops, building homes. We need to remove the criminal element, yes, but we also need to offer a path for others to come out of the shadows.”

He advocated for measures such as background checks, fines, pledges of allegiance and English proficiency. While not all may qualify for full citizenship, he said, a form of legal residency is essential, both for the economy and for national security.

GROK 3 PROVIDES THE NAMES OF THE REBELLIOUS ANGELS THAT PRODUCED THE NEPHILIM

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I am amazed at the Biblical and extra biblical information that Grok 3 comes up with instantaneously.

According to 1 Enoch 6:7, the ringleaders of the angelic revolt, often referred to as the “Watchers,” are named as follows (note that translations and transliterations may vary slightly):

  • Semyaza (or Samyaza): Typically identified as the chief leader of the rebellious angels.
  • Araqeel (or Arakiel)
  • Rameel (or Ramiel)
  • Kokabeel (or Kokabiel)
  • Tameel (or Tamiel)
  • Ramyel (or Rumael)
  • Danyal (or Daniel)
  • Ezeqeel (or Chazaqiel)
  • Baraqyal (or Baraqiel)
  • Asael (or Azazel): Often a prominent figure in this narrative, sometimes equated with or distinguished from Semyaza in different traditions.
  • Armaros
  • Bataryal (or Batarrel)
  • Busaseyal (or Bezaliel)
  • Ananel
  • Turyal (or Turiel)
  • Simapiseel (or Yomyael)
  • Yetarel (or Jethael)
  • Tumael
  • Tarel (or Tariel)
  • Rumyal (or Rumael)
  • Azazel (sometimes listed separately or as a variant of Asael).

This list comes from the Ethiopic text of 1 Enoch, part of the pseudepigraphal Book of Enoch, which details the fall of these angels who descended to Earth, taught humanity forbidden knowledge, and took human wives, leading to divine punishment. Semyaza and Azazel are often highlighted as the most significant figures in this rebellion across various interpretations.

We know that angel/human hybrids existed before Noah’s flood and were a major reason for the flood but what about after the flood? Is there Biblical evidence for Nephilim after the flood?

The Anakim show up in Numbers 13:32-33, where the Israelite spies describe the inhabitants of Canaan as so large that “we seemed like grasshoppers in our own eyes, and we looked the same to them.” This passage directly links the Anakim to the Nephilim, saying, “We saw the Nephilim there (the descendants of Anak come from the Nephilim).” Similarly, Deuteronomy 2:10-11 and Joshua 11:21-22 portray them as a towering people driven out by Joshua, with remnants lingering in Philistine cities like Gaza and Gath (notably, Goliath’s hometown). Their name comes from Anak, their ancestor, per Numbers 13:22.