Watchman on the Wall

Southwest Radio Ministries Announcer: Welcome to Watchman on the Wall, a daily outreach of Southwest Radio Ministries and swrc.com. Today, Josh Davis will share the latest headlines from the end times. But first, all of us at Watchman on the Wall and Southwest Radio Ministries want to say thank you to everyone who has been donating this week.

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The Pope's recent visit to Africa and further apostasy among liberal denominations set the stage for the end-time system of worship. Plus, a prison system crisis in the UK has led the government to spend millions on a new biometric system. Meta's creation of an AI Mark Zuckerberg gives new insight into what the image of the beast might be like. Join Josh Davis on today's headlines from the end times as we explore these stunning stories.

Josh Davis: Greetings, fellow Watchmen on the Wall, and welcome to another Headlines from the End Times. We begin today's episode by examining some spiritual signs of the times as we see how the stage is being set for the biblical end times scenario. Recently, Pope Leo visited Africa, and along the way, he went to Algeria, marking the first papal visit to Algeria. While there, he visited the world's third-largest mosque and called it a space property to God. While he was there, he removed his shoes, as is customary, stepped into that mosque, and paused in several minutes of silent prayer along with the imam.

During his last journey in Istanbul, Turkey, he did not pray in the Blue Mosque, marking a change in his protocol and a change in his decision-making attitude towards these mosque visits. This led some Catholics to be dazed and confused by what he's doing, not just with this particular event, but looking at some of the decisions that he's made recently.

Guest (Male): Trump also knows that Leo sent the three cardinals of America off to 60 Minutes to do a special. It's all about bashing Trump, all about bashing the Republican.

Josh Davis: More traditional Catholics are concerned over other actions from Pope Leo, including his Palm Sunday sermon rejecting war and implying that God refuses prayers from those with bloody hands. They are also concerned with his promotion of ecumenism with Muslims while downplaying threats, and that includes some of the Catholics in Africa who have been targets of persecution from extremist Muslims. He has not mentioned hardly anything at all about that kind of thing, and he's a very strong advocate for open borders. All of these are positions that critics say abandon traditional Catholic social teaching in favor of progressive causes.

There are photos circulating online of the Pope at an event many years ago as a young man that was led by Communists, and that's caused even more concern. Some say no, he was just there petitioning for peace, representing his protest for peace, and he wasn't engaging with what the directors were saying, and that could be the case. We don't want to read too much into those things, but it is interesting to see these patterns and trends we're seeing and some of the pushback that is coming along the way.

I believe that what we're seeing with extremist Islam, the war in Iran, and all these kinds of things, there are definite enemies of Israel out there. Ezekiel 38 and 39 describe this war that'll take place soon after the rapture of the church. I believe that coalition will come against Israel to fight against her. God will destroy those enemies, as Ezekiel 38 and 39 so vividly describe. With this extremist Islam threat removed, could groups like what we're seeing with more moderate Muslims and more people like the Pope come together to form this one-world system of worship that would be part of the hallmark of the tribulation period? It's interesting to think about how that could be part of the scenario.

We also understand that many churches are falling into further and further apostasy, which is also a spiritual sign of the times, including in the ELCA. This is a liberal branch of the Lutheran church. Recently in the Saint Paul, Minnesota area, the synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America hosted its highly anticipated "Meet the Candidates" forum for the next bishop, according to reports. This Saint Paul area synod serves about 106 ELCA congregations in the Twin Cities region. It was not merely a routine leadership event. It was a revealing snapshot of where this denomination stands today and, perhaps more importantly, where it is headed.

Out of the five candidates represented, three are in openly same-sex relationships, and all are aligned with this gender-affirming theology. That reality is not incidental; it is central to the decisions that this church is making. The future leadership of this synod is being drawn from a pool that already reflects a decisive shift away from traditional biblical doctrine on sexuality and identity. We understand that there is a push to also silence Christian voices around the world as we move from spiritual signs to moral and government signs of the times.

In Germany, a pair of Christian YouTubers are being investigated for blasphemy after criticizing antisemitism and Islamic extremism. You can bash Christianity all you want in Europe. You can make fun of Jesus, the church, the Bible, or anything related to Christianity all day long. But the second you speak out against Islam, the second you speak out against Muhammad, or the second that you criticize some of the woke kinds of things as well, then you are crossing a line and you've got to be arrested and shut down. Your voice has to be silenced. It's crazy how Europe is moving in this direction.

Two Christian YouTubers in Germany are reportedly under criminal investigation after publishing a video addressing antisemitism and Islamic extremism, raising renewed concerns over religious freedom and free speech in Europe. According to news outlets, the YouTubers operate a channel where they regularly share the gospel and engage people in public conversations about the Bible. Their content typically focuses on Christian evangelism, but a 2024 video shifted attention toward the growing tensions in Germany following the October 7th Hamas attack and the subsequent pro-Palestinian demonstrations. This video was later flagged by YouTube as dangerous, and then YouTube removed the video.

In the footage, the pair reportedly warned that antisemitism had become increasingly normalized in Germany amid protests that erupted after the Hamas attack. They strongly condemned hatred towards Jewish people, stating that hatred of Jews and the belief that Jews should be killed is a demonic spirit and does not come from God. The German government has acknowledged and rebuked antisemitic rhetoric during some of these demonstrations. That's good. But prosecutors in Hamburg, Germany launched an investigation into these two Christian YouTubers in February of 2024 under Article 166 of the criminal code. Article 166 is a blasphemy law that criminalizes insults against religious beliefs if they are deemed capable of disturbing the peace.

This is something that we need to be praying for. I know that I've shared many similar stories from across the world that show how free speech is really under attack in the Western world and in some of the more advanced nations. It's interesting to see the steps that we are taking back. I want to encourage you to join us. I'm in Wichita, Kansas today for Prophecy in the News Live. If you're anywhere near the area, maybe you want to come on over and join us for two full days, all day Friday and all day Saturday.

We would love to have you be our guest at Prophecy in the News Live, happening at the Sunrise Christian Academy in Bel Aire, Kansas, just outside of Wichita. We want you to be our guest all day today and all day tomorrow, Friday and Saturday, May 1st and 2nd. Don't forget we've got other great conferences planned, including going to Minnesota in September and going to Tri-Cities, Tennessee-Virginia in October. Check that out at swrc.com. Click on events, and you'll see those list of events.

A big event that we have coming up is our trip back to Israel. We have people signed up and registered to go with us, and we are excited to head back to Israel in November of this year, November 1st through the 12th. Unlike some of the other tours, we spend 10 whole days in the land of Israel, seeing dozens of sites. We are excited to head back to Israel this November, Lord willing. If you're interested, find more information on our website swrc.com, or reach out to us by phone at 1-800-652-1144.

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We're going to talk about technology and some of the ways that technology is being used to move us toward the biblical end times scenario. For instance, in the UK, they are seeking to deploy biometric IDs in prisons after 179 inmates were released in error. Sometimes these crises create the opportunity to change things very rapidly. We saw that so very well in 2020 with the COVID crisis and how quickly our world was changed forever after that moment.

There seems to be some level of incompetence going on if 179 inmates are released in error. I'm not suggesting that this is a manufactured crisis; I don't have any knowledge that it is. At least it seems to be a great incompetence if this many prisoners are released in error. People have been able to keep better records and better track of these kinds of things up to this point, but they're saying biometrics is the solution. They are pushing towards instituting fingerprint and facial scans as soon as possible to verify inmates at key stages as the government seeks to fix fragmented prison records.

According to reports, the UK government has announced the digitalization of the prison system with a new biometric ID system aimed at preventing errors such as mistaken releases. Fingerprints and facial scans are going to be used to verify the identities of prisoners at key points, including upon release from custody. Trials of the Justice ID system will begin within six months, and they expect a full rollout before the end of this parliament, according to Justice Minister David Lammy.

David Lammy: We are rolling out biometrics and a new Justice ID and spending up to 82 million pounds in US dollars—that's over 110 million dollars—to bear down on these errors and keep the public safe after years of chaos.

Josh Davis: This is crazy, friends. Again, total incompetence, it seems. This announcement comes after 179 prisoners were found to have been released in error in England and Wales between April of 2025 and March of 2026 within roughly a 12-month period. Another 262 prisoners were mistakenly released in 2024, making it a record year. Among them was the high-profile case of a sex offender who was released from prison in October of last year, resulting in a manhunt that cost the police over 200,000 US dollars. He was jailed for sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl and another woman.

Minister Lammy has blamed the incidents on a broken system caused by 14 years of underinvestment and overcrowding in prisons and in courts in the UK. So what is the solution that they propose that's going to fix all of these problems? It's biometrics. The new digital ID system will allow staff to access information on individuals, eliminating duplicate entries and fragmented paper-based processes. Biometric identification is being used across the UK jail and prison systems.

The plan may not be that simple to execute in spite of their biometric dreams. The UK criminal justice system is, according to one expert, a cumbersome arrangement of disconnected legacy apparatus. I'll explain what this expert is really hinting at and pointing at. He says a systematic solution would require all the data from the courts, probation service, police, and prisons to be joined in one place. Currently in the UK, it's all fragmented in clusters, but they're not really sharing that data.

Part of this biometric solution is to bring together a database where everything is going to be joined into one place. All the data, all the paperwork, all the decisions, and all the biometric information is all going to be combined into one centralized database in the UK. The experts are calling for an integrated system across the criminal justice sector. They say that it's going to take some serious groundwork converting records into a comprehensive, accessible database. Some experts go on to say it will need compatible infrastructure across the estate to allow for basic biometric verification so that decision-makers are equipped with all the details.

The reason that I went into great detail on this particular story is to show you the mindset emerging in the Western world: that we need a centralized database of everyone in the world. We need to bring all the information together and not just have it fragmented out between various departments within a department. We need it all to be together so that it can be easily accessed to curb releasing dangerous criminals back onto the street. We want to curb people coming across national borders who are committing crimes or wanting to hurt people.

In the name of safety and security, the world is moving towards a centralized database. I know this story is focused on the UK and what they're doing in their prison systems, but again, there are other stories that I've shared with you here on Headlines from the End Times that make it easy to put these pieces of the puzzle together and understand the direction the world is moving in. If we have another worldwide crisis, there's going to be swift calls for these kinds of things, and people will be so willing to jump on board with that kind of system when they realize what could happen.

I'm not predicting when that will happen, but we know that some kind of global shock will occur that is going to push people to give up more freedoms and to bring in these kinds of technological solutions. Here is another interesting story about technology that I want to share with you. This story comes from Prophecy News Watch, and they ask the question: Are we building a prototype of the image that speaks straight out of the book of Revelation? Meta is reportedly developing an AI version of its founder Mark Zuckerberg, and they have reignited an unusual but increasingly persistent conversation at the intersection of technology, identity, and ancient prophecy.

According to reporting, the company is building a photo-realistic, interactive digital version of Mark Zuckerberg that is capable of engaging employees in real time. This AI bot is going to be trained in his voice. That is pretty interesting in and of itself, but it goes way beyond that. It is also being trained in his mannerisms and his strategic thinking. This AI bot will be trained to think like Zuckerberg thinks, to talk like Zuckerberg talks, and to act like Zuckerberg acts.

What might sound like a corporate innovation to some is to others a striking echo of imagery found in the book of Revelation. Revelation 13:15 describes this image of the beast and talks about the false prophet: "And he, the false prophet, had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed." The image of the beast is going to be an object of worship. It's going to be a recipient of worship during the tribulation period.

This image of the beast is going to speak, and it is interesting to see some of these kinds of things. Also, as you study through the book of Revelation, you notice that there is never a judgment mentioned against this image of the beast. In Revelation 19, it specifically describes when Christ returns that the Antichrist and the false prophet are both cast into the lake of fire, but there's never a judgment mentioned on the image of the beast. This hints that this image of the beast is not a human or spiritual entity, although it is certainly under the influence of evil entities.

It's created and empowered by evil entities, but it is not in and of itself seemingly a living being. Otherwise, there would be some judgment mentioned specifically against it in the book of Revelation. That one piece of evidence leads me to think it could be some kind of technological component. I know some would disagree with me, and there's room for disagreement here, but it certainly seems to be a plausible scenario. For centuries, such language was interpreted symbolically. How could a stone statue start to talk?

We understand with some of these kinds of avatars and synthetic voices how these could be a plausible scenario. Meta's initiative is not science fiction. The company is reportedly building AI-generated 3D characters that users can interact with in real time, with Zuckerberg's own digital likeness serving as the prototype. This system is designed not just to respond, but to emulate his personality, drawing from public statements, his leadership philosophy, and his behavioral patterns.

In essence, it's not merely a chatbot, but it's a living simulation of his authority. It's like a digital proxy that can speak as Zuckerberg speaks, think as he thinks, and guide decisions in his absence. That is the really head-scratching, scary part of all this. It's very unsettling, at the least. What happens when authority is no longer tied to physical presence? The theological concept of this image in Revelation was never just about a sculpture or statue. It is about agency: something that appears lifeless but is made to act, speak, and command.

In a world of artificial intelligence, that distinction becomes blurred. According to Prophecy News Watch, a system like Meta's proposed personal superintelligence could theoretically exist simultaneously across millions of devices in workplaces, in homes, and in public spaces. It could speak in real time, adapt its tone to each user, and maintain the illusion of presence everywhere at once. What makes Meta's experiment particularly significant is its focus on personality replication.

This Zuckerberg AI is not just a tool; it's being trained to reflect a specific human identity, down to tone, philosophy, and decision-making style. If you extend that out broadly, this technology could allow leaders, influencers, and institutions to maintain continuous presence beyond physical limitations. In essence, a CEO could be "present" in every meeting, every office, and every conversation simultaneously. It will have the appearance of omniscience. That is a crazy thing about the direction this is headed.

This just expands the horizon on what the image of the beast could actually be and how it could be replicated. It's not just one image stationary set up in a certain place in the world, but it could be replicated across the world. In essence, the Antichrist and this image of the beast could be present in many, many places at once, giving the Antichrist the appearance of omniscience. People could approach him and talk to this kind of a living bot, and it could act and think and respond like the Antichrist would do.

The technology is here and it is available now to make these kinds of things very realistic. It's amazing to think about where the world is on the timeline and how the literal understanding of Bible prophecy can more easily be seen with the emerging technologies of our world. But friends, I don't want to leave you in fear. I want to leave you in faith, reminding you that God is still on the throne and prayer changes things. I want to encourage you with the words of Prophecy in the News founder J.R. Church: Keep looking up.

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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. Watchman on the Wall is a production of Southwest Radio Ministries and is supported by faithful friends just like you. Visit swrc.com. That's swrc.com.