Have you heard the latest news? Have I?

Probably not.

We are living in a strange time in history, when large amounts of the ‘news’ is not known. In 2026, we have the largest human population in history, about 8.3 billion people. Some experts believe that governments in some crowded countries don’t count their populations accurately, and the actual population might be closer to nine or ten billion. 

Feel free to research that topic, on the Internet. I don’t have a strong opinion, but notice that there are many humans alive today, billions, and we all have opinions … about something.

Opinions, or ideas, form communities. For example, we have many religions and denominations within those religions, and political parties with factions in those parties. Also, we have friends, and when we talk to them, I try to remember to stay away from some topics.

I remember one family reunion where someone mentioned Donald Trump, and the battle started. I will skip the details, but there are other argument starters, like COVID vaccines and ….

If we belong to a group, or at least sympathize and approve of their ideas, we probably disapprove of the other people. The Bible tells us that we will know that the end is near because in the words of Jesus, “You will hear of wars and rumors of wars. Make sure that you are not alarmed, for this must happen, but the end is still to come.” (Matthew 24: 6)

I can imagine that some who read what I just wrote will disagree. You might have different loyalties and you might even be offended by a reference to the person of Jesus.

I suggest that we respect each others’ humanity enough to think about these things. The world is a better place when all those billions of people try to live together like good neighbors. 

And feel free to comment, neighbor.

And let me add one more wrinkle to our opinion problem; the Internet. Think about that as you read this. There has never been a time in history when billions of us could communicate so easily, around the world.

Of course, that includes miscommunication and even fraud, but the doors are wide open to some kind of communication. We have never seen anything like this in history; billions of people, and easy mass communication, or miscommunication.

We are living in amazing times.

It is likely that most of us don’t know some big things that are happening. For example, did you know that probably the fastest growing religious community is the Christians in Iran? Make that the Islamic Republic of Iran. 

I don’t want to shine the light on them in these troubled times. They are probably keeping their heads down during a time of war, and we know the old saying “The nail that stands up gets the hammer.”

Not far from Iran is India, and Greater India which includes smaller countries like Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka. India itself, has the largest population of any country, even more than China. Apparently, the Christian population is growing in large numbers, in the whole region. In many places, this expanding group is persecuted, or at least restricted by law.

On the north side of India is Nepal, where tourists go to see mount Everest. What the tourists probably don’t see, is the growing number of Christians, in this smaller member of the greater community. Apparently, the spread of Christian teaching cannot be easily controlled, in that country. The result is news that we can see. The number of Christians and their churches is increasing dramatically. 

This movement is quieter in other parts of greater India, but that part of the world is changing.

And then we have China, which has the second largest population, in the world, just short of the number of people in India. Asia has huge populations, in our modern world.

Some experts believe that PR (or Communist) China has the largest Christian population of any country, and the number is growing. Sometimes, we see news stories about opposition to and persecution of Christians in China, but this is not a common News item.

If you want to know more, the Internet has some interesting information: 

This is a picture of world News, that is not in the News.

There is a lesson here, for us all. We need to make careful decisions about our lives, and our futures, in a world we we can be easily misdirected. Millions of people are making decisions that change the direction of their lives, and we might never know. 

Some news is kept quiet.

This was a pattern in history: In the Roman Empire, roughly between the years 250 and 300, the number of Christians increased, probably from hundreds of thousands to millions. Persecution had happened, but it was mostly local and temporary. An Emperor named Diocletian, and most of his government, decided to get rid of all those followers of Jesus because they were becoming a threat. The ‘Great Persecution of Diocletian’ lasted about ten years, from 303 to 313. This was like the great Christian holocaust, and it was a terrible time for Christian believers. 

If you want to know more: 

If there is any good news, in this story, Diocletian retired and another Emperor named Constantine came to power, and in the year 313, he liberated the Christians, and the Roman persecution stopped.

Old news like this can teach us about the times that we are living in. Jesus gave us these words:

The Spirit is the one who gives life; human nature is of no help. The words that have spoken to you are spirit and are life. But there are some of you who do not believe.” (For Jesus had already known from the beginning who those were who did not believe, and who it was who would betray him.) (John 6: 53 and 64)