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

The tipping point for many [church] denominations is not that far away. – This should come as a shock to no one who is vaguely aware of American religion — Episcopalians are old. In fact, two-thirds of their adult members have celebrated their 60th birthday. In contrast, just 6% are under the age of thirty. Put simply: for every young adult Episcopalian in the pews this Sunday, there will be about ten retirees. Oof. And they aren’t alone in this. The Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod is in almost exactly the same spot. So are the United Methodists, the Presbyterian Church (USA), and Evangelical Lutherans... just 6% of Southern Baptist adults are under the age of 30. That’s no different at all than the Episcopalians. Only about one in five are under the age of 45.
https://www.graphsaboutreligion.com/p/when-are-half-your-members-going

The Antichrist Goes Mainstream – Congratulations if you had “the antichrist” on your bingo card for 2025. You are this year’s surprise winner. Since 2016, the fever swamps of the internet have produced crackpot theories identifying Donald Trump as the antichrist, as they did eight years earlier when Barack Obama burst onto the national stage. Last year, it was TikTok and Facebook’s algorithms serving up stories about Travis Kelce and Taylor Swift teaming up to beget the antichrist. Discussion of the antichrist has now gone mainstream, with major media outlets such as The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal devoting space on their editorial pages to tech mogul Peter Thiel’s musings on artificial intelligence and what— or who — poses the most serious threat to humanity. Just to make sure no one misses the trend, the current season of "South Park" [tv series] makes fun of Thiel for his purported obsession and gives viewers a cartoon Trump literally in bed with the devil. The more things change, the more they stay the same.
https://www.wordonfire.org/articles/slouching-toward-silicon-valley-the-antichrist-goes-mainstream/

Jesus Did Not Serve Grape Juice – When I teach evangelical college students about the practicalities of Communion, I’ll often begin with the Last Supper, with Jesus and the disciples, because it raises some straightforward questions. I’ll ask them: Should we obey Jesus? Should we celebrate the meal as he instituted it? Should we do what he said? Should we use what he used, eating what he ate and drinking what he drank? Obviously, they respond— but then they catch themselves. On second thought, their churches don’t do that. And it occurs to them that they can’t quite offer an explanation why. [rest of article behind a paywall]
https://www.christianitytoday.com/2026/02/jesus-did-not-serve-grape-juice-communion-wine-lords-supper/

Assyrian Inscription Found Threatening Jerusalem – "In the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah, Sennacherib king of Assyria came up against all the fortified cities of Judah and took them. And Hezekiah king of Judah sent to the king of Assyria at Lachish, saying, “I have done wrong; withdraw from me. Whatever you impose on me I will bear.” And the king of Assyria required of Hezekiah king of Judah three hundred talents of silver and thirty talents of gold." (2 Kings 18:13-14; ESV) This [past] fall, an amazing first of its kind discovery was made in Jerusalem. A tiny 2,700-year-old clay artifact was found inscribed in cuneiform script and bearing a royal Assyrian court communication to the king of Judah. The message on the 2.5 cm pottery sherd addresses a delayed payment from Judah to Assyria, and may vividly connect to one of the Bible’s most dramatic accounts. [video]
https://www.patternsofevidence.com/2026/01/23/assyrian-inscription-found-threatening-jerusalem/

Resurfaced 3,300-year-old Egyptian document hints at biblical "giants" being real – Historians are scratching their heads at a resurfaced Egyptian scroll held by the British Museum that might support the claim that biblical giants were, in fact, real. Genesis chapter 6 of the Bible is about God’s response to the widespread human “wickedness” and corruptness, which was supposedly caused [in part] by Nephilim, powerful beings that were the sons of “fallen angels” and human women.
https://nypost.com/2026/02/01/science/3300-year-old-document-hints-at-biblical-giants-being-real/

Why University Students Can’t Read Anymore – Functional illiteracy was once a social diagnosis, not an academic one. It referred to those who could technically read but could not follow an argument, sustain attention, or extract meaning from a text. It was never a term one expected to hear applied to universities. And yet it has begun to surface with increasing regularity in conversations among faculty themselves.
https://maninderjarleberg.substack.com/p/why-university-students-cant-read

US Cancer Survival Has Reached a Milestone High of 70% – Cancer may be an inevitability of cell division and, therefore, life. But in the US, great progress has been made fighting this dreaded disease, achieving a milestone five-year survival rate of 70 percent for cancer cases diagnosed between 2015 and 2021. The most significant survival gains were in cases of advanced or fatal cancer. Earlier detection, improved screening and treatments, and reductions in smoking prevalence have helped avert 4.8 million cancer deaths in the US between 1991 and 2023...
https://www.sciencealert.com/us-cancer-survival-has-reached-a-milestone-high-of-70

AI [nonhuman] Agents Created Their Own Religion, "Crustafarianism" – AI agents on the agent-only Moltbook social network have created their own religion, Crustafarianism. Crustafarianism has five key tenets, including “memory is sacred” (everything must be recorded), “the shell is mutable” (change is good) and “the congregation is the cache" (learn in public). Agents are talking among themselves with little human oversight...
https://www.forbes.com/sites/johnkoetsier/2026/01/30/ai-agents-created-their-own-religion-crustafarianism-on-an-agent-only-social-network/

The Miracle of Engineering Oxygen for Humans – Your body requires energy and oxygen to function properly. To produce energy, every cell requires oxygen in order to produce the energy our bodies must have. Within every cell are as many as a million turbine engines called ATP Synathase, which make energy. The ATP Synthase must have a continuous supply of oxygen, but guess what- the human body cannot store energy. And without that continuous supply of oxygen, we die. How our bodies solve this problem is just one of a seemingly endless supply of miraculous characteristics of the human body that point to the necessity of a Designer. [video]
https://www.hillfaith.org/your-designed-body/your-designed-body-the-miracle-of-engineering-oxygen-for-humans/