The Pew Research Center periodically issues valuable studies on religious movements, trends and often speculates on what present tendencies tell us about the future. The Pew Center recently published its Global Religious Futures, which gives focus to eight major global religious groups and speculates on what present tendencies tell us about these groups through 2050. What follows is a summary of the Center?s salient findings:

Dr. Eckman leads discussion of the Tower of Babel & the beginnings of the Lord’s Redemptive Plan, by His calling of Abraham.

Senior columnist for the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, Ari Shavit, has written that the 20th century was ?the most dramatic century in the dramatic history of the Jews. In its first half, we lost a third of our people. But the second half of the century was miraculous. In North America, we created the perfect diaspora, while in the land of Israel we established modern Jewish sovereignty. The Jews of the 21st century have today what their great-grandparents could only dream of: equality, freedom, prosperity, dignity. The persecuted people are now emancipated. The pitiful people are now proud and independent . . . [Israel] is the demography of hope: an almost extinguished people renewing itself.?

Sin re-enters the world through the actions of Noah & his son Ham, but God’s plan to re-populate the Earth continues with Noah’s sons & their offspring spreading out across the world.

I recently came across a noteworthy article that summarizes Google searches among Americans seeking answers to religious questions. The results are curious and reveal much about American culture in the early 21st century. Here is a brief summary of some of the salient findings:

The number one Google question in America is ?who created God?? Second is why does God allow suffering? If God is all powerful and all good, how can He allow suffering? The third most-asked question is, ?why does God hate me?? The fourth is, ?why does God need so much praise??

The floodwaters over the Earth recede, and God establishes His New Order through Noah & his family.

The term evangelical used to be a meaningful term. It normally meant someone who holds that the Bible is the final source of authority; that the Gospel transforms lives; that personal piety is an important quality of life; and that the values, virtues and ethical standards found in Scripture reflect the character of God. But, in 2016, the term ?evangelical? carries little substantive meaning. Generally speaking, today?s ?evangelical? seems to worship the ?moralistic, therapeutic, deistic? god that sociologist Christian Smith has identified in his research. And several American evangelical leaders are embracing a raw, pragmatic ethic in their presidential endorsements.

As humanity oversteps His boundaries & rules, God determines to destroy all life on Earth with a great flood; Noah & his family are spared from this judgment by building an Ark.

On Friday, 22 April 2016, representatives from 167 nations gathered in New York City to sign the Paris Climate Accord, negotiated in December 2015. Among other things, the signers agreed to slow greenhouse gas emissions. It has been hailed as a pivotal agreement to combat climate change, and President Obama regards it as one of his most important achievements. How should we think about this agreement and will it actually make a difference?

The family of Cain altered God’s ordinances for marriage & the value of human life, and God preserved worship & obedience to His laws through the line of Seth.