The 144,000 are God’s witnesses during the Tribulation, with the result that countless come to faith and their prayers are answered by the Trumpet judgments of God.

Planned Parenthood was founded in 1916 as a grassroots movement to provide family planning to poor women. The trouble for Planned Parenthood in 2025 stems from its dual and often dueling roles as both a national advocacy organization and a local healthcare provider, one inherently political and the other necessarily nonpartisan. [More about that later in this essay.] Planned Parenthood is actually 48 independently incorporated affiliates operating under the national organization’s umbrella.

Only the Lamb of God can open the 7 seals, which He does in chapter 6.

During one of my trips to Europe in 2005, I visited the St. Nicholas Church in Leipzig, Germany. I wanted to visit this church because in 1982 the pastor of that church, Christian Fuhrer, began Monday prayer meetings to pray for peace amid global violence and the oppressive East German regime. At first, the number attending these prayer meetings was small but attendance began to swell and spilled over to mass meetings outside the church gates.

John is in the throne room of heaven witnessing the concentric circles of worship and adoration of the father and the Son.

To fully understand the development of American civilization, one must come to terms with the strategic role revivals have played. Colonial America was shaped and transformed by the First Great Awakening of the 1740s and the Methodist revival that followed. America of the early national period (1815-1850) was profoundly impacted by the Second Great Awakening. You cannot understand the energy for the abolition of slavery, the passion for women’s rights, the temperance movement and other social reform movements without coming to terms with this revival.

Jesus, the Lord of the church, evaluates the church at Philadelphia and at Laodicea.

As many have observed over the last decade, competing world orders are emerging that center on Russia, China and Iran challenging the world order organized by the US. It is also a challenge that focuses on democracy versus authoritarian dictatorship. Putin, Xi and Khamenei argue that democracy does not work. People, they argue, are willing to surrender their rights in exchange of order and stability. The US is the only nation that can serve as a buffer against the forces of evil represented by Russia, China and Iran. Recently, it is in the Middle East where these competing world orders are being challenged.

The Lord of the Church evaluates the church at Thyatira and at Sardis.

It is now an axiom in 2025 American culture that America’s citizens do not trust their government; they have lost confidence in government and are skeptical of almost anything coming out of Washington or even state capitals. For a democracy to truly function well there must be a bond of trust between government and its citizens; a confidence that the state has its citizens’ best interests at heart. If there is an absence of trust, citizens will turn to someone or some form of government they can trust.