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. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Gamblers are betting millions of dollars on who will be the next pope – As online gambling continues to grow in the United States, mostly on sports and casino games, bookmakers have also opened betting markets for a variety of other contests, including the current papal conclave. Some Catholics have called into question the morality of betting on the papal conclave. Gambling on a papal conclave used to be expressly forbidden by the Vatican, but that rule is no longer in effect.
https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/263905/gamblers-are-betting-millions-of-dollars-on-who-will-be-the-next-pope

Multi-parent families, like 'throuples,' to be granted legal rights in Quebec – ["throuple" - when three people create a sexual trio] A recent court ruling in Quebec has granted [more than 2-parent] families in the province the same legal rights as any other unit. A Quebec Superior Court judge ruled on [April 25] that limiting the legal affiliation of children to one or two parents is unconstitutional. Rather, it applies to a situation where a family has multiple adults involved in a relationship before the child’s conception.
https://www.ctvnews.ca/montreal/article/multiparent-families-like-throuples-to-be-granted-legal-rights-in-quebec/

Netflix restores Isaiah quote to Passion of the Christ film – Netflix restored an Old Testament prophecy about the Messiah to Mel Gibson’s film (2004) The Passion of the Christ after heated backlash over its removal. The original version of the film opens with the display of the words of the prophet Isaiah, written 700 years before Christ: “He was wounded for our transgressions, crushed for our iniquities; by His wounds we are healed.” (Isaiah 53) Netflix had posted a film version that erased the Scripture passage, substituting the opening with a conspicuous 13-second display of a BLANK screen.
https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/netflix-restores-isaiah-quote-to-passion-of-the-christ-film-after-backlash-over-its-removal/

Clemson University removes online form offering 15 gender options – U.S. Rep Nancy Mace highlighted a screenshot obtained by watchdog account Libs of TikTok, showing what was initially described as a “student profile” with a drop-down menu giving students the following options: “Agender, Cis-Female, Cis-Male, Gender-nonconforming, Genderqueer, Intersex, Intersex Man, Intersex Woman, Non-binary, Other gender identity, Questioning, Trans Man, Trans Woman, Transgender, Two Spirit.”
https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/clemson-university-removes-online-form-offering-15-gender-options/

The Babies Money Can Buy – If you’re wondering how much two healthy babies, lab-conceived and gestated by surrogates, will set you back in this economy, the bill is $120,000 in Mexico. I know, that does sound rather high. But it’s really quite a bargain— after all, it is over double that stateside. Although you could just take out a loan. Simply add one more payment to your regular monthly bills—you know, don’t forget to pay your mortgage, water, gas, baby, car, electric. Shocked? Think it sounds crass and unethical to speak of human beings this way? I do too. And yet, we are living in a world where pricing human life happens on a daily basis, and the combination of IVF and surrogacy is just one example. In fact, the scenario I just described of purchasing two babies in Mexico is perfectly legal, as long as you can afford it. Yet we as a society, and Christians in particular, should be asking more questions about this process of buying and selling babies, especially as the ongoing scientific advancements in egg freezing, genome editing, embryo screening, and artificial wombs will only introduce further bioethical quandaries.
https://mereorthodoxy.com/the-babies-money-can-buy

Record 7,750 Baptized in California in Largest Water Baptism in U.S. History – More than 7,000 people were baptized Saturday [5/3] in the waters off Huntington Beach, Calif., in what organizers called the largest single-day baptism event in American history -- and a milestone leading up to an even larger gathering planned for June.
https://www.crosswalk.com/headlines/contributors/michael-foust/record-7750-baptized-in-california-in-largest-water-baptism-in-us-history.html

More churches embrace AI in ministry – More churches across the U.S. are embracing the use of Artificial Intelligence in their ministries, but pastors have stopped short of using the technology to prepare their sermons, data from the State of the Church Tech 2025 report shows. According to the report, the use of AI has increased by 80% across all ministries in churches, but only for specific tasks.
https://christiantoday.com/news/more-churches-embrace-ai-in-ministry-but-pastors-prefer-to-write-their-own-sermons-study

Cannabis Could Be Bad for Your Heart – A study published in March in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology: Advances examined electronic medical records to compare approximately 93,000 cannabis users with roughly 4.5 million non-users. It found that relatively healthy individuals under 50 who use cannabis are SIX times as likely to experience a heart attack, FOUR times as likely to experience a certain type of stroke, and two times as likely to experience heart failure, when compared with people who don’t use cannabis.
https://www.realclearscience.com/articles/2025/05/06/cannabis_could_be_bad_for_your_heart_1108366.html