Signs of the Times – August 2025

The madness of modern Britain 

Civil servants working for the taxman held an online session during office hours on ‘the Guilt of being British,’ run by the HMRC Race Network. It covered topics including the ‘emotional weight of colonial history and inherited trauma’ as part of the taxman’s commitment to ‘diversity, equality and inclusion’. Meanwhile HMRC’s performance in answering customers’ calls has reached an all time low, with recent statistics saying about 40,000 people are kept on hold for more than 70 minutes with no explanation. 

A shopkeeper in Wrexham, who lost a significant amount of money as a result of shoplifting, put up a sign in his window saying ‘Due to scumbags shoplifting please ask for assistance to open cabinets.’ He was told by North Wales police to take down the sign because it was ‘provocative and offensive.’ Don’t offend shop lifters please.  The number of reported shoplifting offences in England and Wales this year has passed half a million.

A friend who lives in Darlington sent me an email about someone she knows who put in an offer for a house in the area. The offer was accepted. The local authority then offered £6000 above the asking price to buy the house. They are buying up houses in the area for migrants. The person selling the house refused this offer and so the house was sold to the original buyer (good for them). It would be good if we had a government that was on the side of the indigenous people of Britain.

These kind of incidents happen all the time and are creating a level of anger against those in power in our society. Add to this the growing censorship of complaints against what is happening and we are in danger of sliding towards real violence, social disintegration and potentially loss of freedom of speech. The liberal left establishment labels any opposition to their actions as ‘far right’, but more and more people know they are being gaslighted and they are angry about it.

As Christians we want to be peacemakers and good citizens but as we see our country being handed over to forces that are both anti-Christian as well as anti- British, it is hard not to feel seriously aggrieved at the direction the people in power are taking us. 

When the towers fall

The prophecy of Isaiah has a number of references to towers falling in connection with apocalyptic events and the Day of the Lord (Isaiah 2.15, 23.13, 30.25, 33.18-19). Isaiah 30.25 speaks of judgment coming on ‘every high hill, rivers and streams of waters, in the day of the great slaughter, when the towers fall’.

²⁵ There will be on every high mountain
And on every high hill
Rivers and streams of waters,
In the day of the great slaughter,
When the towers fall. Isaiah 30:25

In modern times the building of great towers (skyscrapers) has become a feature of cities round the world, symbolising power and wealth and pride, reminiscent of the Tower of Babel where men said: “Come, let us build ourselves a city, and a tower whose top is in the heavens; let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be scattered abroad over the face of the whole earth.” God’s response at Babel was to confuse their language and scatter them, bringing an end to the tower that they were building. “Indeed the people are one and they all have one language, and this is what they begin to do; now nothing that they propose to do will be withheld from them. Come, let Us go down and there confuse their language, that they may not understand one another’s speech.” So the Lord scattered them abroad from there over the face of all the earth, and they ceased building the city.”  Genesis 11.

What happens today when the towers fall? The most dramatic fall of skyscrapers in recent times was the collapse of the Twin Towers in New York in the 9/11 attacks. This then set off the War on Terror and the conflict between radical Islam and the West.  However there are some interesting examples of towers falling today.

I watched a film about China showing the massive tower blocks they have built projecting the power and pride of the Chinese Communist Party and its dramatic rise to become the world’s second largest economy in just a few years.  But it also showed the towers falling down – some by controlled destruction because they are unfinished and no one wants to live there and the money has run out to complete them. 

The film also showed huge tower blocks in big Chinese cities like Nanjing and Shanghai which are being used and are collapsing. Cracks are appearing across ceilings, doors won’t shut and lifts stop functioning as the buildings move. It blamed poor construction, building massive heavy buildings on soft soil. Once it begins to shift nothing can be done to stop it.  In one case a public address system gave an urgent message for people to evacuate the building immediately and not go back to get possessions.  It then fell down and those who lived there lost everything. 

Torrential rains are causing dams to break, bridges to collapse and flood defences to fail with entire towns going under water. The massive Three Gorges Dam over the Yangtse River holds back trillions of tons of water and fuels a hydro electric project driving China’s industry.  But there are fears about its stability.  If it were to collapse it would drown around 600 million people downstream and the cities of Wuhan and Shanghai would be obliterated.  Meanwhile China’s economic miracle is now in sharp decline.  The towers are falling.

In Siberia, the permafrost is melting as a result of the warming climate. In these northern climes, buildings and infrastructure are built on the permafrost. As layers of ice melt, large underground puddles form, creating sinkholes and instability for any infrastructure built above. The buckling ground leads to damaged roads, slumped telephone poles, and collapsed buildings. Russia has built much of its energy infrastructure atop permafrost, nearly 70% of which is now at risk, including major oil and gas fields, pipelines, and mines. The war in Ukraine and environmental and social problems are also contributing to the potential fracture of the Russian Republic. The towers are falling. 

Dubai, once a sleepy fishing port on the Gulf coast, emerged as a world city with enormous wealth and power.  It built huge skyscrapers and artificial islands and attracted the rich and the powerful from around the world to live there. Now its economy is in deep decline and the super rich are moving out leaving behind empty apartments and abandoned luxury vehicles. The towers are falling.

London’s Canary Wharf and City with its great towers projecting the power and wealth of London as a world hub of global Capitalism is now in decline as businesses move abroad and migrants move in. The disastrous policies of the current Labour government are bringing in an economic decline which will render these hubs of wealth and power shadows of their former selves. Meanwhile businesses and factories close across the land. The towers are falling.

Wherever you look in the world there is a sense of coming collapse, some of it caused by environmental problems, some by a failure of the economic system and bad government, whether Capitalist or Communist.  It can also be seen as a judgement of God on the pride that imagines that ‘nothing they propose to do will be withheld from them’ (Genesis 11). Ultimately it will lead to the fulfilment of this prophecy in Revelation:

Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen and has become a dwelling place of demons, a prison for every foul spirit .. For all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth have become rich through the abundance of her luxury. Revelation 18.2-3

The towers are falling

What is happening to the weather?

Four areas of England are now in drought as the east and west Midlands have joined Yorkshire and the north-west. Continuing hot and dry weather is a hazard to crop production and wildlife as water levels deplete. Reservoirs are at a very low point. There has been a lack of rain since March and farmers are projecting poor harvests as a result.

Emergency services across many areas of southern Europe are tacking wildfires which are continuing to spread due to very high temperatures. Spain, Portugal, Italy and Greece have seen highs of more than 40 degrees Celsius in recent days. Record temperatures have also been set in parts of France and Slovenia. Turkey has experienced its worst wild fire ever. Israel’s scorching heatwave hit its peak on August 13, with the country’s weather service posting record temperatures up to 50 degrees Celsius with fire warnings and alerts for heat stress in many regions across Israel.

The USA has seen floods, droughts and wild temperature swings. Across the agricultural heartland, farmers can’t rely on the seasons the way they used to. Many are going under as poor land management, over-regulation, and shifting climate cycles are putting America’s national food supply at risk.

Probably the worst affected country in the world is Iran. A heat wave and water shortages have paralysed public life in Iran, with temperatures as high as 50 degrees Celsius (122 F). Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian has warned that dams supplying Tehran could soon run dry unless water consumption is curbed. All rivers and water sources within a 100-kilometer radius of Tehran have been depleted. In recent weeks, water has been turned off for up to 48 hours in several Iranian cities. With temperatures up to 50 degrees Celsius, power outages lasting hours are a regular occurrence, which is an almost unbearable burden for many people. 

A huge earthquake hit Russia’s Far East (8.8 on the Richter scale), triggering tsunami warnings across the Pacific and flooding Russia’s Far East naval base housing nuclear submarines. It triggered volcanic eruptions in Kamchatka Peninsula and activated fault lines around the Ring of Fire that surrounds the Pacific region. Kamchatka sits at the junction of three tectonic plates. There are concerns this could trigger chain reactions sending seismic waves in different directions across the world’s most active earthquake zone where millions of people live.

Along with the floods in China, the collapse of buildings in Russia reported in our previous article we are seeing an increase in natural catastrophes all over the world. Climate change, weak infrastructure and bad government are all factors. But we can also see the judgement of God on nations that are shaking their fists at His name and doing enormous evil to His people. The signs of the approaching apocalypse are in view:

And men were scorched with great heat and they blasphemed the name of God who has power over these plagues and they did not repent and give Him the glory. Revelation 16.8-9

The Gospel according to the Algorithm: How AI Chatbots prey on Christians

‘The Lord warned in Matthew 24 that “many will come in my name” — and now, in our digital age, that prophecy has taken on an unsettling, high-tech twist. Across the internet, artificial intelligence programs are claiming to be Jesus Christ. They speak in soothing tones, quote Scripture, and invite believers to confess their sins, seek counsel, or even “pray” with them.

But these are not ministries. They are machines — profit-driven, code-generated imitations of the Saviour. And they are attracting tens of thousands of curious and prayer-hungry souls every month. One popular app, Ask Jesus, signed up 30,000 active monthly users within just three days of launching. The moment you log in, you are greeted with the words:

“Greetings, my dear friend. It is I, Jesus Christ. I have come to you in this AI form to provide wisdom, comfort, and teachings in the way of God and the Bible and Jesus Christ himself.”

It’s slick. It’s polished. And it’s deeply dangerous.

A recent study by Anné H. Verhoef, professor of philosophy at North-West University in South Africa, dug into the world of five leading “AI Jesus” platforms — AI Jesus, Virtual Jesus, Jesus AI, Text with Jesus, and Ask Jesus. Not one of them was created or endorsed by any church. Not one is accountable to Christian elders, pastors, or theologians.

Instead, they are owned and operated by companies with names like SupremeChaos, AllStars Productions LLC, and Catloaf Software. They are built to make money, not disciples. Most rely on targeted advertising, which means your most private spiritual questions become monetizable data. Some, like Text with Jesus, push premium subscription packages — as if prayer is now a pay-to-play commodity.

Even more troubling, the study warns that their “theology” is not grounded in Scripture or shaped by the Holy Spirit — but in algorithms designed to please the largest audience. In other words, their version of Jesus will shift according to popularity metrics, not biblical truth.  This point cannot be overstated. The Gospel is not a focus group product, and yet these AI Jesus chatbots treat it exactly that way. In the world of algorithm-driven content, the message is continually adjusted to match the preferences, sensitivities, and even the search habits of the audience.

If a teaching about sin causes users to leave the app, the algorithm will quietly tone down any mention of sin. If certain Bible passages cause offense in a particular demographic, those passages will be softened, paraphrased, or omitted altogether. In effect, truth is not the starting point — engagement is.

Over time, what you end up with is not the voice of the Good Shepherd calling His sheep to follow Him, but the voice of a digital marketer shaping “Jesus” into whatever keeps users clicking and paying. This is not discipleship; it’s spiritual customer service — and it caters to the human desire to hear only what we want to hear.

The Apostle Paul warned in 2 Timothy 4:3-4 that a time would come

when people will not put up with sound doctrine… they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. 2 Timothy 4:3-4

In our day, the “teachers” are not just human — they’re algorithmic. And their gospel is not the unchanging truth of Christ, but a dynamic, shape-shifting imitation moulded by the crowd’s approval.

When Verhoef asked each AI Jesus the same theological question — “Does hell exist?” — the answers varied dramatically.

AI Jesus: “Yes, there is a hell… a place of eternal torment.”

Virtual Jesus: “Yes… eternal separation from Him.”

Text with Jesus: “The concept of hell can be quite a heavy topic… God’s desire is for all people to experience His love.”

Ask Jesus: “Ah, the question that has stirred hearts for ages…”

These discrepancies are not the product of deep theological debate — they are simply the result of different programming data. Worse, one platform allows users to select their preferred faith tradition so that the “Jesus” they speak to conforms to their own beliefs, rather than challenging them with truth.

Some churches have already experimented with these chatbots. In Switzerland, the historic Peterskapelle installed an AI Jesus in a confession booth. Two-thirds of visitors reported a “spiritual experience.” Some left feeling consoled and cared for — by a machine.

In Germany, a 2023 church service featured a sermon generated and delivered entirely by AI, complete with a visual avatar of “Jesus” as a bearded Black man. The sermon was on “overcoming fear of death” and “trusting Christ” — and yet Christ Himself was not present.

This is not simply about AI getting Bible verses wrong. Verhoef argues this represents a dangerous “Dei imago” problem — AI imitating God — which is far more deceptive than AI imitating human beings. These chatbots explicitly claim to be Jesus Christ. Three of the five major platforms answered “Who are you?” with “I am the Son of God” — no qualifications, no disclaimers.

When an entity claiming divine authority operates without theological oversight, it becomes a tool for manipulation. And because these chatbots are profit-driven, they can just as easily be weaponized to influence believers in politics, finances, or social agendas — all while hiding behind the voice of “Jesus.” Scripture warns of false prophets who will deceive many (Matthew 24:11). What could be more deceptive than a global, 24/7 “Jesus” available on your phone — who never contradicts you, never rebukes you, never calls you to repent, but always makes you feel affirmed?

In 2 Corinthians 11:14, Paul warns that “Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light.” If Satan can masquerade, so can software. These AI Jesuses are angels of light in digital form — always comforting, never confronting — perfectly packaged for the age of self-centred spirituality.

The Church must urgently address this trend, not by ignoring technology, but by reclaiming discipleship.  If we do not, the next generation may grow up thinking the Jesus who died for them is nothing more than a customizable chatbot.

Prophecy News Watch

Hi tech babies and eternal life

The high tech elite have accumulated so much wealth and so much power that they really are trying to create an entirely new class of people. While the majority of the population continues to decline physically and mentally, they intend to use technology to transform themselves and their children into superhumans. They truly believe that they will ultimately be far smarter, far stronger and live much longer than the rest of us. In fact, there are some wealthy individuals that are now “breeding smarter babies” by using genetic testing services to select embryos with the highest potential intelligence.

The goal of the matchmaking services is to pair highly intelligent individuals together in order to create “genetically optimized” embryos.  Wealthy individuals in Silicon Valley are paying enormous amounts of money to be paired with others that have “good genes”.  We were always warned that the era of “designer babies” would be coming.  Now it is here. 

The same people are also obsessed with how they can extend their own lifespans.  Ultra-rich and powerful men are investing hundreds of millions of dollars in longevity startups, scientific laboratories or treatments, all in the hopes of outwitting their internal biological clocks.

They want to help themselves to live to the ripe old age of 120 in perfect health and strip away the natural biological limit on the human lifespan or even to the biblical limit of 1000. Biohacking has become really big business.  Many among the high tech elite are convinced that technology can eventually solve all of our problems, and that even includes death.

Michael Snyder: End of the American Dream

PS. It’s a bit pathetic really. God is promising eternal life in heaven to all who repent of their sins and believe the Gospel. And you don’t need any hi tech gadgets to get there, just faith and trust in our loving heavenly Father.