World events are pointing China towards the Middle East and the fulfillment of ancient Bible prophecies. As an emerging power with global connections, China’s future is linked to transport routes. More than 80 percent of China’s trade exports and energy imports—including vital shipments of Middle East oil—travel by sea lanes policed by U.S. naval forces (Stratfor.com, September 27, 2013). However, as the U.S.

Since taking office, Pope Francis’ comments on tradition and doctrine have unnerved conservative Catholics. In a July interview, the Pope was asked about homosexual priests. His response was, “Who am I to judge?” (New York Post, September 19, 2013). When asked about issues of abortion, homosexuality, and contraception, the Pope commented “The dogmatic and moral teachings of the church are not all equivalent.

As the U.S. government shutdown continues, world leaders are shaking their heads in disbelief. “Germans have found it hard to understand American lawmakers’ inability to resolve their budget disagreements in time to prevent a shutdown” and are left wondering “how things could have been allowed to get to this point and why there is so much poison in the system” (Der Spiegel, October 2, 2013).

The political maneuvering over how to deal with Syria’s chemical weapons reveals the growing weakness of the West—especially the U.K. and the U.S. With David Cameron’s failure to convince Parliament to support military action against Syria and Russia’s opportunity to “save” President Obama from an embarrassing congressional refusal to take action against Syria, “it suddenly became clear just how far the influence of the West has ebbed” (The Economist, September 21, 2013).

Throughout history, many millions of people have lived in nations where a state religion was enforced. Some of these religions have been relatively mild in their influence, while others have been severe. Even today, despite the trend toward secularism, dozens of nations have at least a nominal state religion. Modern generations have grown up during a period of secularism in Western nations, and many may be tempted to think that the country in which they live will never be under a state religion.