Watchman on the Wall

Host: Welcome to Watchman on the Wall, a daily outreach of Southwest Radio Ministries and swrc.com. Today, Josh Davis will help us properly discern the signs of the times with his headlines from the End Times report.

Friends, we are exactly one week away from our next Prophecy in the News live event, next Friday and Saturday, May 1st and 2nd, at Sunrise Christian Academy in Bel Aire, Kansas. You are invited to this free event featuring top Bible scholars, teachers, and researchers covering current events and End Times prophecy.

Registration is open right now for this free two-day event. Visit swrc.com to sign up, or simply call 1-800-652-1144. Prophecy in the News Live at Sunrise Christian Academy in Bel Aire, Kansas, Friday and Saturday, May 1st and 2nd.

Properly discerning the signs of the times begins with a proper understanding of scripture. Josh Davis begins today's headlines from the End Times episode by exploring six key categories of prophetic signs. He highlights recent stories, including growing customer trust in palm payment technology, the arrest of a UK pastor for commenting on Islam and transgenderism, and a bill that could bring Sharia law to Uganda. With the latest headlines from the End Times, here is Josh Davis.

Josh Davis: Greetings, fellow Watchmen on the Wall, and welcome to another headlines from the End Times. Before we jump right into today's headlines, I want to take a step back and let you know that properly discerning the signs of the times begins with properly interpreting scripture. We must start with the right interpretation of scripture.

We don't just go looking at the news trying to solve some kind of prophetic puzzle. If we begin with flawed biblical interpretation, we're going to end up misreading signs of the times and making a mountain out of a molehill or misreading things that are happening and considering them to be prophetic in nature when, in fact, they are not.

The only legitimate signs are those that line up with a proper interpretation and understanding of God's word. There are six big categories of signs that we can look for. These are all based on things that God has included in His word that He's told us to watch for.

For instance, one of the six is Israel. We understand that the Antichrist, according to Daniel chapter nine, will stand in the temple and commit the abomination of desolation. If he's standing in the temple, and if there are other passages in prophetic scripture that talk about the temple being in place during the tribulation period, logically we understand that there will be a temple rebuilt.

If that's logically correct according to scriptures, then we can look for that sign. We have brought forth to you on headlines from the End Times some of the fervor that is there and how the pieces are coming into place for that to happen. Ezekiel 36 speaks about the regathering into the land and the rebirth of the nation. We saw that in 1948. Some refer to that as the super sign.

Another category is moral signs. In the last days, perilous times will come, Paul writes in 2 Timothy chapter three, for men shall be lovers of their own selves. Then it goes on to list almost 20 characteristics of someone who is a lover of themselves. We see that in the last days, that will be an increased attitude. Some of the stories I'm going to share with you today show how that is the case.

There are also spiritual signs. When you see false prophets, false teachers, false apostles, increased apostasy, and false Christs, even Jesus warned about that in Matthew 24. There will also be technological signs. We see that technology will aid these kinds of things coming onto the scene.

In the book of Revelation, it talks about the two witnesses being seen by the whole world. Obviously, technology makes that very easy. Broadcast television, smartphones, the internet—it's very easy for us to see how the whole world could see the two witnesses lie dead in the street for three and a half days as described in the book of Revelation.

There are also signs of nature. The Bible talks about signs with the sun, the moon, and the stars. We have to be very careful reading into those kinds of things too much. I'm not saying that everyone who says, "Look, here's a sign, there's a sign," is correct in their analysis. We must base all of it in a proper understanding of scripture in its natural context.

The last sign is geopolitical: the alignment of nations to fulfill Bible prophecy. Daniel speaks about a coalition of ten rulers. If we see the world starting to break up into ten different kingdoms, we are on the verge of some prophetic events. We are seeing lead-ups to that very thing.

Also, when you look at passages like Ezekiel 38, it talks about the coalition of nations that will come against Israel. That's been very much in the news with the war with Iran recently. People are saying, "Look, Iran is going to be involved with the Ezekiel 38 coalition." We understand that there are those signs as well.

Let me run through all six of these again: Israel, moral, spiritual, technological, natural, and geopolitical. Those are the six big categories of signs that we are looking to. Again, it starts and stops with scripture. As I'm sharing these stories with you, keep in mind that they come back to one of these six categories. We believe they are helping to prepare the world for the biblical End Times scenario in some way, shape, or form.

Our first story shows that technologically, the world is moving towards a cashless society. I believe that this could be part of the hallmark of the Antichrist's Mark of the Beast. Keep in mind, the Mark of the Beast won't be here until halfway through the tribulation period according to Revelation chapter 13.

We are not there yet. The Rapture of the church will take place before the tribulation begins, but our world is being conditioned to move in this direction. According to a recent survey, about 50% of US consumers would use palm biometrics payments.

Palm biometrics is basically hovering your palm over a payment device. It scans the veins in your palms. It's highly distinctive. Researchers say the veins in your palm are even more distinctive than a fingerprint scan. You don't have to touch your fingers to a screen, making it more hygienic and even quicker.

Amazon famously released a payment device along these lines, but they dialed it back for retail applications because it wasn't really gaining a whole lot of steam. Now, they still use it in healthcare applications. When you go to a certain hospital or certain doctor's office, you can hover your palm there at the registration desk, and it connects automatically with your account.

It's the correct account and solves some of the mix-ups while making things quicker for people as they check in at hospitals and doctors' offices. These systems are being used not just for financial payments, but also for medical applications.

Getting back to this particular survey of about 2,000 American adults, about 50% of them said that they would be willing to use this kind of palm payment technology. One of the big hurdles is trust. How is the data going to be used? Is it going to be kept and handled securely, or is it going to be hacked? That's really the big question a lot of consumers still have.

There is a generational split in the United States. Younger people are more willing to use this technology. Some 46% of adults 25 to 34 years old say that they would trust this kind of biometric recognition like facial scans and fingerprint scans to authenticate payments. Adults over 55 in the US only 28% responded positively to this particular survey.

Across all age groups, just under 50% say they would be willing to use palm payment technology if they trusted how the data was handled. Some of the reasons for wanting to use this payment method were speed and convenience. Hygiene also played an interesting and high priority for people.

Could some future crisis propel people to get on board with this kind of payment system much faster? I'm not trying to indicate that people will nefariously bring in some kind of pandemic to get people on board, but we know that crises can create these kinds of opportunities to change the way people do business.

Many of the things that we do now were changed so quickly back in 2020 when COVID first hit. That's just an example. When the tribulation hits, there will be a lot of chaos. That tribulation chaos could propel people to get on board with that Mark of the Beast payment system midway through the tribulation period.

Here's another interesting use of technology. There's a company that is working in Sweden with an unnamed European police authority. They're developing this smart eye technology that will help police departments detect impaired people. They received about a $4 million contract to work on this for the next four years.

The technology would scan the eye movements and pupil responses and other behavioral signals and allow police to decide whether or not someone is under the influence. That's an interesting use of technology that's coming out.

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Don't forget about the upcoming conference May 1st and 2nd in Wichita, Kansas. I'm so looking forward to being there with many of you. We'll be bringing some headlines from the End Times live there in Wichita, Kansas, next weekend, May 1st and 2nd. We look forward to seeing you there.

Also, we're going to be in Minnesota in September, and in October in the tri-cities of Tennessee and Virginia. We invite you to join us and you can register today for any and all of those upcoming conferences at swrc.com.

Don't forget also about our upcoming Israel tour, November 1st through the 12th, 2026. I'm excited to lead this tour again. It is such a rich blessing. We are keeping our eyes on current events and we'll make those decisions as time comes. Last year, it was in June that they had the 12-day war and many people said, "Are you going to go?" In November, it was beautiful weather and wonderful safety. We had a tremendous tour.

Prayerfully we're proceeding with this, and of course, if something happens, we'll update people, but you can sign up today to join us in Israel on this awesome tour, November 1st through the 12th, 2026, Lord willing.

Back to more headlines from the End Times. A UK police department interrogated a Christian pastor for commenting on Islam and transgender ideology. If you say things that rock the boat, especially when it comes to Islam or transgenderism, you could be facing arrest in certain parts of the world, including now, it seems, in the UK.

This was in Bristol, England. Police interrogated a Bristol-based pastor who was arrested for commenting on Islam and transgender ideology while peacefully street preaching as part of an ongoing four-month criminal investigation. The pastor was arrested in November for his Christian speech in a public area of Bristol.

According to the pastor, the police asked why he was preaching in an area where he knew Muslims would be present, suggesting that there is no right to free speech in such an area. In reality, the pastor was preaching to all people present in the city center of Bristol.

According to the pastor, most of the police questions focused on his comments on transgender ideology, and police asked whether he should criticize the ideology as a Christian—a totally secular mindset, as is clearly seen, dear friends.

The pastor was originally arrested back on November 22nd of 2025. This is what they charged him with: suspicion of committing a religiously aggravated public order offense and inciting religious hatred under the Public Order Act 1986. This is all despite the fact that he had merely shared his views in the public square.

This is the second time that this particular police department has arrested this pastor for peaceful speech. In March of 2024, he was arrested for the same reason, commenting on Islam and transgender ideology while street preaching. The police investigation was later dropped.

The pastor said, "My experience as a Christian pastor, including the police questioning why I preached in an area where I supposedly knew Muslims would be present, undoubtedly shows there's a real risk of authorities allowing Christianity to be pushed out of public spaces in the UK in favor of allowing Islam or other beliefs to dominate.

I did not target anyone with my speech. I merely preached the gospel to all people out of love for God and love for my neighbor. For the police to suggest I cannot do this in the areas where Muslims are present sets a very dangerous precedent for free speech.

This police department has subjected me to an arrest, eight hours in a police cell, and a four-month-long ongoing criminal investigation for peacefully expressing my views in the public square. During an interview under caution, which I only attended because of the risk of further arrest if I did not, the police's line of questioning showed a clear two-tier bias in favor of Muslim and progressive beliefs and against my Christian speech."

He went on to say, "I consider public preaching to be an essential part of my worship, which the police have de facto inhibited due to their investigation. There are no Islamic or progressive blasphemy laws in this country, and yet time and time and again the police have censored me as if there are. The police should drop this investigation and refrain from censoring me again in the future."

It shows you the growing animosity towards Christian beliefs. What he's doing is not illegal, but the police there are treating it as if it is or as if they want it to be.

Other restrictions are concerning around the world. In Uganda, for instance, there is a bill to establish Sharia courts and it sparks urgent religious freedom concerns. This would be a two-court system where Muslim citizens could go before the Sharia court in Uganda, and it could be established as early as today.

This is an important study to keep our eyes on. It would radically change the Ugandan court system according to reports. Under this bill, a parallel system of Sharia courts would have mandatory and exclusive jurisdiction over personal law matters like marriage, divorce, custody, and inheritance for all Muslim marriages, as well as drawing in Christians and other non-Muslims in some circumstances.

The bill is expected to be formally introduced and moved into committee very soon. They want to pass it as soon as even today. This bill raises some serious concerns that Ugandans will be forced to adjudicate cases in a court system that does not recognize their faith or legal rights. This is a major story that we need to keep an eye on.

According to some of the legal experts, Uganda's proposed Sharia courts bill would subject Christians and other non-Muslims to Islamic law while undermining fundamental rights, especially for women, children, and religious converts. The Ugandan courts bill should not proceed within the parliament, and it is imperative that both international and Ugandan actors oppose it.

The proposed bill's passage would represent a dangerous expansion of Sharia law into sub-Saharan Africa at a time when Christian persecution is growing. We understand that countries like Nigeria have moved in this direction, although not quite to this particular extent, but the battle between the Muslims and Christians and that clash that continues and the persecution against the Christians continues in that country.

There are some restrictions on conversion and other violations that we need to be concerned about. Because of this proposed court system, it does not recognize conversion from Islam to another religion. Muslim individuals who seek to convert to Christianity or another religion would likely be prevented from doing so.

Furthermore, this mandatory and exclusive nature of this court's jurisdiction in this proposed bill would eliminate the ability of a Christian or other non-Muslim to seek justice in the civil court system when they have a family member or a custody battle or some kind of inheritance dispute involving a Muslim family member or spouse, and that person decides to pursue a lawsuit within this Sharia-based court system.

There's a lot of ramifications and questions to these kinds of things. It seems to create a superior advantage for those who follow Sharia Islam in Uganda. Although the proposed bill would allow decisions of this court to be appealed to the High Court of Uganda, it requires any kind of appeal to be heard by a Muslim judge and four Muslim scholars with no further appeals available. It seems to create some kind of a double standard.

The mandatory application of Sharia law would legally disadvantage Christian women and girls. The experience of Nigeria highlights this issue. In spite of Nigerian law demanding 18 years as the minimum age for marrying, many Sharia courts permit and recognize underage marriage. This has led to the kidnapping, forced conversions, and involuntary marriages of minor Christian girls in Nigeria.

The proposed Uganda courts bill does not have any provisions addressing such conflicts of law, introducing immense uncertainty and few checks on these courts. What a shame that this is if this would be passed and how it would impact these Christian women and girls, some of whom could be forcibly married and forcibly converted just so that they could become the bride of one of these men.

How sad and drastic it is. We understand that anytime Satan comes in and brings his evil schemes into place, oftentimes women and children are the victims. Bad ideas always have consequences and bad ideas always have victims. We're praying that this bill would be rejected and that religious freedoms would be protected in Uganda.

It would create a paradigm shift for that country and for Africa as a whole. It would markedly increase the risk of religious freedom violation and religious persecution against our Christian brothers and sisters. Friends, we see the growing deception all around the world to say that God's word and God's authority is not true and that some man-made authority and man-made agenda is actually true. How backwards it is. This plays right into the devil's End Times schemes and plans, but we know that God is still on the throne.

Prayer changes things and the story of Bible prophecy is a story of God's triumph over evil, not of Satan's triumph, not of the Antichrist's victory, but of Jesus' great victory. We serve Him and we keep looking to Him and we keep seeking His face in these days that we live. Friends, keep looking up.

Host: All this month, we are celebrating 93 years of ministry and outreach. April 1933, this program went on the air for the very first time. Thanks to the generosity of many over the years, we are still here proclaiming the Good News and bringing clarity to the chaos.

We are asking this week that you would give a $93 gift in honor of our 93rd year of ministry. Please give your best gift today. Visit swrc.com and give your gift, or call 1-800-652-1144 with your gift. 1-800-652-1144 and swrc.com.

Thank you, friends, and know that your gifts today are greatly appreciated. Lord willing, we'll be back here Monday, ready to once again bring clarity to the chaos. So head into the weekend with the encouragement that God is still on the throne and prayer changes things.

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