Below are this week's Articles of Interest as compiled by Mr. Van Baker. This collection of articles is cultivated by Mr. Baker with the goal of highlighting some of the trends, upheavals, and things to watch for in our society. These articles are not necessarily the express views of the United Church of God, Mr. Baker, or me as the pastor, but they are informative of what is occurring in our nation and culture. In accordance with Christ's warning to correctly discern the times (Matthew 16:1-4), it is wise to be aware of what is going on around us. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Gary Smith retirement video – (11:51) Shared by Terri Cortelyou
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gR_Dt_riK20

Europe Is Canceling Christmas – Moves in France, Spain, the United Kingdom, and Germany are a worrying sign of the West’s renunciation of its Judeo-Christian identity. It is happening at all levels: from governments and city councils to schools and associations. As ever, it’s the secularists of the socialist left, behind the facade of “inclusivity.” In his 2004 epic Wall Street Journal essay “It’s the Demography, Stupid,” Mark Steyn warned: Much of what we loosely call the Western world will not survive this century, and much of it will effectively disappear within our lifetimes, including many if not most Western European countries.
https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/news/articles/europe-canceling-christmas

King Charles sends 'good wishes' to evangelistic campaign sharing the Good News as only 20% of UK citizens believe Jesus is Son of God – King Charles III has expressed his support for the “Shine Your Light” campaign that aims to galvanize 100,000 Christians in the U.K. to take part in pop-up carol singing, Nativity plays and other creative efforts to help people know Jesus is the King of Kings. In a letter sent to the organizers, the king expressed “warmest good wishes” and lauded the efforts to “bring many Christian denominations together, and share in faith this festive period.”
https://www.christianpost.com/news/shine-your-light-campaign-seeks-to-evangelize-this-christmas.html

Winter solstice is having a moment — in churches, too – PITTSBURGH (RNS) — In mainline Christian circles, winter solstice celebrations and "longest night" services are growing in popularity.
https://religionnews.com/2024/12/20/winter-solstice-is-having-a-moment-churches-included/

Scary / weird, but more ‘biblically accurate’ angels top some Christians’ Christmas trees – It was during the pandemic when the Rev. Kira Austin-Young and her puppet-maker husband, Michael Schupbach, were going a little stir-crazy that they came up with the idea. Instead of a star or some stylized humanoid angel to top their Christmas tree, why not create a biblically accurate angel? The result was a pink, blue and gold-feathered creature with six wings and dozens of eyes that went a little bit viral.
https://apnews.com/article/christmas-tree-toppers-biblically-accurate-angels-48d36bc871cfbfe5802afa5179ad349e

Wikipedia Bias on Religion: Creationism vs. Science— How Wikipedia Assumed the Role of Arbiter of Faith – The Wikipedia article on “Creationism” is a prime example of Wikipedia’s bias against and denigration of religious beliefs. It snidely describes “creationism” as “a literal or quasi-literal interpretation of the Book of Genesis.” It continues: “The term creationism most often refers to belief in special creation: the claim that the universe and lifeforms were created as they exist today by divine action and that the only true explanations are those which are compatible with a Christian fundamentalist literal interpretation of the creation myth found in the Bible‘s Genesis creation narrative,” going so far as to call the belief in intelligent design of the Young Creationists a pseudoscience.
https://www.worldreligionnews.com/wikipedia/wikipedia-bias-on-religion-creationism-vs-science-how-wikipedia-assumed-the-role-of-arbiter-of-faith/

Nuclear bunker sales increase, despite expert warnings they aren’t going to provide protection – Global security leaders are warning nuclear threats are growing as weapons spending surged to $91.4 billion last year. At the same time, private bunker sales are on the rise globally, from small metal boxes to crawl inside of to extravagant underground mansions. Critics warn these bunkers create a false perception that a nuclear war is survivable.
https://apnews.com/article/nuclear-bunkers-war-atomic-bombs-0356fa5b34067c138c64b9143f73c308

Euthanasia is now the fifth leading cause of death in Canada – Canada recently released its updated statistics for how many people died last year from physician-assisted suicide, and the numbers continue an alarming trend. The country’s Medical Assistance in Dying (MAID) program was used by roughly 15,300 people to end their own lives. That makes it the fifth leading cause of death in 2023 and represents a 16 percent increase over the previous year.
https://www.patheos.com/blogs/denisonforum/2024/12/euthanasia-is-now-the-fifth-leading-cause-of-death-in-canada/

Supreme Court to Decide Major Case About Defunding Planned Parenthood – The U.S. Supreme Court agreed on Wednesday [12/18] to hear a case that could decide whether pro-life states can direct Medicaid funds— which are intended to help low-income individuals obtain necessary medical assistance — AWAY from abortion providers like Planned Parenthood. The case, known as Kerr v. Planned Parenthood South Atlantic, stems from South Carolina's decision to designate Planned Parenthood and similar abortion providers as disqualified from receiving taxpayers' Medicaid funds. 
https://cbn.com/news/us/supreme-court-decide-major-case-about-defunding-planned-parenthood

Canadian gov’t budget report targets charitable status of pro-life groups, churches – A Pre-Budget Consultations in Advance of the 2025 Budget report recommends no longer providing charitable status to anti-abortion organizations and amending the Income Tax Act to remove the privileged status of 'advancement of religion' as a charitable purpose.
https://www.lifesitenews.com/blogs/canadian-govt-budget-report-targets-charitable-status-of-pro-life-groups-churches/

Having Your Tonsils Out as a Child May Have a Drastic Impact on Your Life – In the US alone, around 300,000 children each year have their tonsils surgically removed to improve breathing while sleeping or reduce recurrent infection. A study by an international team of researchers now suggests this relatively common procedure could increase a patient's risk of developing an anxiety-related disorder later in life.
https://www.sciencealert.com/having-your-tonsils-out-as-a-child-may-have-a-drastic-impact-on-your-life