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.

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National Debt Interest Now Consumes $1 Trillion+ – With interest on the National Debt reaching $1.05 Trillion in the 2026 federal budget, more than one-third of all tax revenues are being consumed to pay for spending the government couldn’t afford but spent anyway.
https://washingtonstand.com/article/national-debt-interest-now-consumes-1-trillion-as-polls-show-conflicting-midterm-outlooks

When does a religious belief become “hate speech”? Gov. Gavin Newsom signed Assembly Bill 1803 on September 27. Beginning Jan. 1, 2028, employers covered by California’s harassment-training law must teach workers to recognize, report, and confront certain workplace remarks. The legislation gives employers a new assignment but leaves a contentious phrase open to interpretation.
https://pjmedia.com/david-manney/2026/10/18/when-does-religious-belief-become-hate-speech-in-california-n4958449

The inspiring story of St Luke – 18 October [was] St Luke’s Day. This year’s observance has particular significance, marking the 500th anniversary of the first printed publication of Luke’s Gospel in English. This is the story …
https://www.christiantoday.com/news/the-inspiring-story-of-st-luke-the-man-who-wrote-a-quarter-of-the-new-testament

Retracing The Steps of Frontier Missionary Johnny Appleseed – Among all that is debated, it is well agreed upon that [real name John] Chapman followed the teachings of a new sect of Christianity called Swedenborgianism, which among other beliefs, deviates from historical Christianity in its denial of the trinity. Chapman is often seen as having been a missionary for the cause, spreading his faith as wide as his appleseeds.
https://religionunplugged.com/news/2026/10/20/johnny-appleseed-missionary-of-the-frontier

ChatGPT gets 70M requests about religion weekly; [half] are about Islam – Of the 70 million religion-related requests ChatGPT receives each week, nearly half are about Islam and just over a third are about Christianity, according to a recent analysis by OpenAI, the company that created the artificial intelligence chatbot.
https://www.christianpost.com/news/chatgpt-gets-70m-requests-about-religion-weekly-most-about-islam.html

School district ordered to apologize, pay $275k for forcing kids to hide Bibles – A Washington state school district must publicly apologize, pay $275,000 in attorney’s fees, and undergo religious liberty training after a lawsuit challenged policies that required elementary school students to hide their Bibles in sealed envelopes while at school and new policies made attending Bible study off campus a laborious task.
https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/school-district-ordered-to-apologize-pay-275k-for-forcing-kids-to-hide-bibles/

Dodgers player calls on MLB to ban ‘soft porn’ commercials – Los Angeles Dodgers outfielder Alex Call took to social media to urge Major League Baseball (MLB) and the TV networks carrying this year’s postseason games to ban what amounts to “soft porn” commercials during their broadcasts. Call was referring to MLB commercials featuring nearly nude women, including Megan Fox and Sydney Sweeney.
https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/dodgers-player-calls-on-mlb-to-ban-soft-porn-commercials/

Australian Politician Promises Free Abortions – A second Australian politician is promising free abortions – essentially killing babies for votes. Victorian Premier Ben Carroll’s Labor government and the Liberal-National Coalition have now both committed to using taxpayer money to cover the full cost of killing babies in abortions up to 16 weeks’ gestation, ensuring the abortions are free no matter who wins the November state election. The move, announced Thursday [10/15] by the Labor government and matched within hours by Opposition Leader Jess Wilson, is designed to eliminate out-of-pocket expenses that can exceed $1,000.
https://www.lifenews.com/2026/10/15/australian-politician-promises-free-abortions-killing-babies-for-votes/

Ancient Toilets, Timeless Troubles – Gastrointestinal issues in the biblical world
https://www.biblicalarchaeology.org/daily/ancient-cultures/ancient-israel/ancient-toilets-timeless-troubles/

Scientists Discover Exercise Changes the Body in Ways We Never Fully Understood – “Exercise doesn’t just change our muscles, it changes many of our organs and cells at different levels—some short-term, some long-term,” says co-first and co-corresponding author Geraldine Maier, PhD, a staff scientist at Salk. “Our experimental setup allows us to capture that detail across tissues, and sexes, and in muscle, down to the individual cell types.”
https://scitechdaily.com/scientists-discover-exercise-changes-the-body-in-ways-we-never-fully-understood/