Over the last decade, the West has seen China emerge as a formidable economic power; its GDP is second only to the United States. When Western leaders welcomed China into the world trading system in 2001, many believed that China would automatically become freer as it became richer. When that did not occur, the Trump administration believed that coercion, high tariffs and sanctions would change China’s behavior. That has not worked either. Few doubt that the greatest foreign policy and economic challenge facing the US is China. How should we think about the growing economic powerhouse, which also seeks military domination of Asia as well?

The Equality Act of 2021 has passed the House of Representatives. At this point it is highly doubtful it will pass the Senate. What is this proposed law? What is its potential impact and should Christians be concerned about this proposed law?

Over the last year, the COVID-19 pandemic has created disruption and chaos in American civilization. It fostered an economic recession but also a new way of communicating (e.g., Zoom). But certain expectations have also has been proven to be wrong. For example, many social science specialists predicted a boom in the American birthrate. Apparently, it has had the opposite effect. For a number of years, America’s birthrate has been declining and the pandemic has not reversed that trend. Furthermore, technology has fostered novel ways to become pregnant, with devastating consequences. I will argue that both of these trends provide further evidence of a civilization that has lost its way.

In mid-February, conservative talk radio personality Rush Limbaugh died of lung cancer; he was 70 years old. Ross Douthat captures his importance: He “was probably the most influential figure among the men who defined conservatism after Ronald Reagan. He was the presiding genius of a media revolution that still reverberates today—on your podcast as much as talk radio.” But Limbaugh as a cultural phenomenon needs to be placed in a historical context.

A major premise of Scripture is that leaders are always called to a higher standard. Indeed, spiritual leaders in the church and in ministry are called to be “above reproach” (1 Timothy 3:2). Leaders in ministry are to be servant leaders, modeling the biblical truths they espouse (see Philippians 2:5-11, Luke 22:21-30 and John 13:1-17). Leaders are to avoid even the “appearance of evil” in their lifestyles and in their words (1 Thessalonians 5:22). For that reason, when a spiritual leader falls its effect is catastrophic.

After the insurrection of 6 January 2021 fostered by the incendiary words of President Trump, his son and the president’s attorney Rudy Giuliani, various social media giants (e.g., Twitter, Facebook, Snapchat and YouTube) responded by permanently banning or suspending the president for violation of their respective “glorification of violence” policies. These actions have raised questions about free speech, the First Amendment and the power of these social media giants.

January 22 is always a dark day in American history, for in 1973 Roe v. Wade legalized abortion across America. The case denied the rights of the unborn and instead gave women the “right” to decide to end her pregnancy. It established the precedent that a woman’s right to choose is more important than a child’s right to live. It therefore demeaned life in the womb as unworthy in comparison to the mother and it established the false ideology that one human is more important than another.

Most of us were ready to say goodbye to 2020, a year filled with so much darkness: The disruptive, deadly COVID pandemic; toxic politics; wildfires in the West; a record number of hurricanes; and worldwide economic and financial disarray. This darkness is intensified by the utter confusion that plagues our Postmodern culture, a confusion marked by a seeming inability to answer two simple questions—“what is right” and “who am I?”

The COVID-19 pandemic has upended and disrupted almost every facet of our lives. Since the pandemic began in early 2020, medical and political leaders have declared that only a widely used vaccine will check this pandemic. Amazingly, months after the COVID-19 virus was detected and entered into our vocabulary, a successful vaccine has now been developed. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has provided emergency authorization for the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines against the coronavirus.

On the traditional church calendar, January 6 is called the Feast of Epiphany, “when Christians celebrate how the light of Christ spreads to all nations. The season of Epiphany—also called Theophany in the East—focuses on Jesus’ revelation of his true identity to all the world.” In the West, it centers on the Magi finding Jesus. “In the weeks ahead, the Epiphany season recalls the baptism of Christ and the wedding at Cana, Jesus’ first miracle.”