Sons of Issachar: May 20, 2026

Written By Justin Scaggs

"The LORD brings the counsel of the nations to nothing; he frustrates the plans of the peoples. The counsel of the LORD stands forever, the plans of his heart to all generations." Psalm 33:10-11, ESV
The past week was busy on every front the watchful Christian tracks. The Iran-Hormuz situation shifted between threats of fresh U.S. strikes and claims of diplomatic progress. Israel intercepted a Gaza-bound flotilla while strikes in southern Lebanon continued under a freshly extended ceasefire. A hate-crime shooting at a San Diego mosque left three guards dead. The White House signed two financial orders moving fintech and customer-identification toward a tighter regulatory frame, while the U.K. revived a national digital-ID push. Nothing about the week proves any single end-times schedule, but the pattern fits a season in which sober watchfulness, faithful prayer, and steady work are the right Christian posture. The Lord brings the counsel of the nations to nothing; our task is to know the times and act accordingly.
Headlines:

1. Gaza flotilla intercepted, Lebanon ceasefire holds and breaks at once

Israeli naval forces intercepted a Gaza-bound flotilla carrying hundreds of activists from dozens of countries this week. The activists were taken first to Ashdod and then to detention facilities while Israel confirmed it would continue to enforce the blockade. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu publicly rebuked Israeli security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir after taunting videos of the detained activists were released, supporting swift deportation but objecting to the mockery.
Civil life in Gaza stayed deeply constrained. Gazans were barred from Hajj travel and unable to carry out customary animal sacrifices for the third consecutive year because of border restrictions, livestock losses, and the broader humanitarian collapse around the war. The irony is hard to miss: Hamas named the prospect of Israel performing the red heifer sacrifice as a major reason for the war they launched, and now find themselves unable to carry out their own animal sacrifices.
On the northern border, Israel and Lebanon agreed to extend a U.S.-facilitated ceasefire by 45 days. Within the same week Israeli strikes in southern Lebanon killed 19, including women and children. A ceasefire extension and an active strike campaign can sit on the same page in the same week.
A diplomatic pause is not the same as healed hearts, and a paper-based ceasefire is not the same as peace. The church is right to honor Israel's security concerns and also right to grieve over Palestinian civilian suffering. Mockery of captives is not zeal for truth, even when the captives are wrong; they all need the same Saviour we need. Believers can pray for the peace of Jerusalem and weep for women and children in Lebanon in the same breath without ignoring either. We are called to seek peace with all, so far as it depends on us, and to remember the image of God in every detained activist, soldier, and grieving family.
"If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all." Romans 12:18, ESV
"Open your mouth for the mute, for the rights of all who are destitute. Open your mouth, judge righteously, defend the rights of the poor and needy." Proverbs 31:8-9, ESV
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2. Iran, Hormuz, and the nuclear file under both threat and talk

President Trump said this week that the United States could strike Iran again while also asserting that Tehran wanted a deal. Vice President Vance said negotiators had made 'a lot of progress' and described a framework aimed at preventing Iran from rebuilding nuclear weapons capacity.
Oil prices slumped on Trump's comments that the conflict could 'end very quickly,' even as analysts continued to flag supply-disruption risk tied to the Strait of Hormuz. U.S. and Iranian negotiators exchanged 'formulas' for Iran's nuclear program for the first time, alongside continuing concerns about mines reportedly planted in the strait.
Around the same window, Trump met Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing, with Iran featuring prominently. Xi offered to help broker peace; both sides expressed opposition to Iran obtaining nuclear weapons, while concrete breakthroughs on broader bilateral issues stayed limited. There were some vague promises to buy American food products and specific numbers of Boeing jets, but China has a history of not following through on these agreements, so the reality is that nothing concrete was established.
The language of threat and the language of progress are being spoken by the same officials in the same week. This is the ordinary shape of statecraft under pressure: peace is pursued under the shadow of weapons. The believer's response is not cynicism, which assumes diplomacy is theater, nor naivete, which assumes signed words can carry hearts. It is steady intercession for kings and all in authority, that they would be granted the wisdom to choose restraint, and steady trust that the king's heart is a stream of water in the hand of the Lord.
"The king's heart is a stream of water in the hand of the LORD; he turns it wherever he will." Proverbs 21:1, ESV
"a time to love, and a time to hate; a time for war, and a time for peace." Ecclesiastes 3:8, ESV
"The LORD brings the counsel of the nations to nothing; he frustrates the plans of the peoples. The counsel of the LORD stands forever, the plans of his heart to all generations. Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD, the people whom he has chosen as his heritage!" Psalm 33:10-12, ESV
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3. Tehran's arms demonstrations and a twelfth week without internet

Inside Iran, pressure was not only diplomatic. Weapons demonstrations in Tehran placed civilians around displays of rifles, drones, and weapons training as officials signaled readiness for further conflict. When governments stage arms displays in public squares, the audience is not only those abroad.
Iran's internet blackout has now entered its twelfth week. A 'class internet' has emerged in which preferred groups and approved users receive expanded access while ordinary citizens stay cut off from much of the global web. This parallels the system in China, and it is easy to see how it may morph into a system where government approval is needed for all aspects of daily life.
Tyranny does not always announce itself with prison bars. Sometimes it begins with throttled access, approved speech, and a quiet fear of saying what is true. The end of that road is self-censorship, the very pattern we watched at home during the 'dis-, mis-, and mal-information' phase of COVID, when ordinary people learned to keep certain sentences off the page out of fear of what speaking them aloud would cost. The pattern itself is old: Babylon's furnace and Rome's edicts both began as ordinary administration before they became persecution. The church should learn from this not to gloat over Iran but to hide the Word in our hearts while there is daylight, and to teach our children to read, memorize, and love Scripture in physical copies that no switch can revoke.
"I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you." Psalm 119:11, ESV
"Justice is turned back, and righteousness stands far away; for truth has stumbled in the public squares, and uprightness cannot enter. Truth is lacking, and he who departs from evil makes himself a prey. The LORD saw it, and it displeased him that there was no justice." Isaiah 59:14-15, ESV
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4. San Diego mosque attack, a national prayer rally, and tense election politics

The most grievous domestic news of the week was the attack at the Islamic Center of San Diego, where three men were killed defending the mosque while roughly 140 children were inside. Authorities are treating the shooting as a hate crime; writings tied to the suspects reflected a mix of racist, Islamophobic, antisemitic, and misogynistic beliefs. Much confusion still remains about the attackers themselves. Claims have circulated describing them variously as Hispanic, as neo-Nazi, and as trans-identifying men; some of those claims may turn out to be true and some are assuredly false. Regardless of who they were or what they thought, killing people who pose no threat is clearly sinful and illegal. From a Christian point of view, even those deluded into following Muhammed need the Gospel, not to be gunned down.
At the National Mall in Washington, thousands gathered on May 17 for an America-themed prayer event called Rededicate 250. Prayers focused on mercy on the land, and the turnout was large enough to draw national attention. It shows how far our culture has shifted that a gathering to highlight the Christian nature of the founding of our nation gets national attention precisely because of the Christianity aspect, as that is now unusual.
Election tension also remained visible. Trump called for a Justice Department probe into a Maryland mail-ballot dispute that state officials attributed to a vendor error and replacement ballots with duplicate-vote safeguards. In Kentucky, Representative Thomas Massie lost a Republican primary to a Trump-backed challenger after months of high-profile conflict. Massie has been one of the few Republicans who has stood up to all administrations on civil liberties, government overreach, and unbridled spending, which has made him unpopular with many who follow the president rather than their principles.
Christians can reject false religion and still grieve when worshipers are murdered. Hatred is not zeal for truth; murderous rage is not discernment. The same week we pray for revival on the National Mall, we should also pray for the families of three guards who died facing gunmen at a mosque door. A church shaped by the news cycle becomes anxious and reactive. A church shaped by the Word becomes steady, watchful, and useful. Pray for rulers without worshiping them; speak truth without becoming cruel; care about justice without surrendering to rage.
"Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God." Matthew 5:9, ESV
"For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there will be disorder and every vile practice. But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere. And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace." James 3:16-18, ESV
"But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the LORD on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare." Jeremiah 29:7, ESV
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5. Two White House orders and a Senate crypto bill move money and ID closer together

The White House issued a fact sheet on a new order integrating financial-technology innovation into federal regulatory frameworks, framed as promoting fintech, digital assets, electronic payments, and closer coordination between financial firms and federal regulators. Trump told the Federal Reserve to consider fintech access to payment accounts.
A second White House order moved in the direction of strengthened customer-identification requirements and closer attention to the citizenship status of bank clients. Critics warned the order could push undocumented residents and vulnerable people out of the banking system; supporters frame the move as financial-integrity and immigration enforcement.
On May 14, the Senate Banking Committee advanced a major crypto-market structure bill, moving digital assets another step toward formal U.S. regulatory architecture.
None of this is the mark of the beast and we should not speak carelessly. Regulation in itself is not evil; honest weights and measures matter, and a banking system that knows its customers is a system that can be held accountable. The pastoral concern is the direction of the gradient: money, identity, citizenship, and regulatory compliance are being woven into one increasingly interoperable mesh. The wise believer does not flee every tool, but does not sleepwalk into dependence on systems whose access rules can change without notice. Keep records. Keep some practical reserves. Do not let convenience become captivity.
"The prudent sees danger and hides himself, but the simple go on and suffer for it." Proverbs 22:3, ESV
"and those who deal with the world as though they had no dealings with it. For the present form of this world is passing away." 1 Corinthians 7:31, ESV
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6. UK digital-ID bill and AI's growing demand on the power grid

The 2026 King's Speech, delivered on May 14, placed a Digital Access to Services Bill in the U.K. government's program. The Local Government Association briefing described the bill as a way to modernize access to public services, with supporters emphasizing convenience and reduced reliance on physical documents.
On the same week, the U.S. PJM grid was confirmed to be able to curb data-center power usage in emergencies, and state-level battles continued over rising utility costs and grid pressure driven by AI data centers. There are data centers planned nationwide, some are absolutely massive in size and power requirements. One in Texas is projected to consume a significant percentage of all power generated in the state, which will require new expansions, which require capital, which will raise rates further. Many of these are being placed in areas with very rural populations, and the jobs largely go to those from other areas. The strain on water, small businesses, schools, and so on will likely drive many away and into cities, which seems to be either a goal or a happy side effect from the view of those in charge.
The two stories are part of one larger picture: societies are being trained to need digital permission before they can work, prove identity, or receive services, while the physical infrastructure underneath all of it strains under the weight of AI's appetite for energy.
Christians should not fear technology, but we should refuse technological salvation. The Lord gave us truth, not merely information. He gave us wisdom, not merely data. He gave us a Shepherd, not merely an algorithm. The pastoral counsel is concrete: possess physical Bibles, read them aloud in your home, mark them, and teach your children to use and know them. Digital Bibles are useful and convenient, but screens mediate almost everything else in modern life, and any text that lives only on a screen can be hidden, altered, or made unreachable by systems outside your control, or be unavailable during a power outage or natural disaster.
"Put not your trust in princes, in a son of man, in whom there is no salvation. When his breath departs, he returns to the earth; on that very day his plans perish. Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the LORD his God," Psalm 146:3-5, ESV
"Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path." Psalm 119:105, ESV
"See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ. For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily, and you have been filled in him, who is the head of all rule and authority." Colossians 2:8-10, ESV
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7. Birthpains by the numbers: what a century of records actually shows

For a few years now I've been keeping a side project that tracks the kinds of things Jesus mentioned in Matthew 24: wars, famines, earthquakes, plagues, floods, and a few others. Twelve indicators in all, going back about a century, longer where records are reliable. The question is honest. Are these things actually rising, and do they tend to happen together?
Three things from this past week's update are worth the church's attention.

Finding 1. The last few years really were unusual.

If you've felt that 2019 through 2022 was just one thing after another (COVID, the Ukraine war, the Israel-Hamas war, Sudan, Tigray, the Turkey-Syria earthquake), you weren't imagining it. By every measure the project tracks, that stretch is the most intense multi-year window since the records begin in 1900. No other window has had this many big things landing at once.
Multi-year contraction strength, 1900-2026
This does not tell us anything about the clock. It just confirms that the felt sense of "this season is heavier than usual" is matched by the actual count. The data agrees with the gut.

Finding 2. Wars and famines move together. Almost nothing else does.

I tested every possible pairing among the twelve indicators to see which ones tend to rise together. After being honest about the fact that running many tests will throw up false coincidences, exactly one pairing held up: wars and famine deaths. They rise and fall together, strongly enough that it cannot be chance. The reason is the obvious one Scripture has always known: armies cause hunger.
The popular pairings you may have heard pushed in prophecy media (solar flares causing earthquakes, the solar cycle driving wars, eclipses lining up with seismic activity, terrorism connected to anything) did not survive the test. They are not visible in the data. The pairing that is visible is the one the Bible itself draws, again and again from Jeremiah to Ezekiel to Revelation: war brings famine.
Wars vs famine deaths, yearly scatter

Finding 3. Ethnos rises. Basileia stays flat.

Jesus uses two different Greek words in Matthew 24:7. Ethnos against ethnos refers to people-groups, the kinds of conflicts we now call civil wars and internal ethnic conflicts inside a country. Basileia against basileia refers to kingdoms, the big country-versus-country wars between major powers.
A century of records shows the two moving very differently. Civil and ethnic conflict years (the ethnos side) are clearly rising. The big country-against-country wars (the basileia side) are not. They have stayed roughly flat across the whole period.
That fits the world we actually live in: more internal collapses, more civil wars, fewer classic peer-on-peer wars between major nations. The Greek of Jesus' sentence is doing real work; only half of what He named is on the move so far.
Intrastate (ethnos) vs interstate (basileia) war-years

What this means for the church.

The honest picture today is not a single end-of-the-world ramp where everything spikes at once. There are some specific indicators clearly rising, others staying flat, and one stretch of years standing out as the heaviest in over a century. That is not a reason for panic. It is also not a reason to wave Jesus' words away. It is a reason to do what He told us to do: stay awake, keep working, and pray that the day of the Lord finds us at our post.
For the underlying methods, datasets, and all of the supporting charts, see the project repository at github.com/Biblejustin/correlations.
"For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines and earthquakes in various places. All these are but the beginning of the birth pains." Matthew 24:7-8, ESV
"Therefore, stay awake, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming." Matthew 24:42, ESV
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Watch and Pray

Pray for the peace of Jerusalem and for mercy on every household in Gaza, southern Lebanon, and the wider region whose ordinary life is bent under the weight of war. Pray that Christian witness in this conflict would be neither partisan reflex nor evasive silence, but truth carried with tears.
"Pray for the peace of Jerusalem! May they be secure who love you!" Psalm 122:6, ESV
Pray for Iran, for its rulers, for its people, and for believers inside the country living under censorship and the threat of war. Ask the Lord to humble proud men, to keep ordinary negotiators honest, and to spare lives in any decision made over the Strait of Hormuz.
"First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way. This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth." 1 Timothy 2:1-4, ESV
Pray for Iranian believers who have lost twelve weeks of human connection to the wider church, and praise God we can't be isolated from His love. Ask the Lord to multiply house-fellowship, to protect printed Scripture in homes, and to shame the wicked devices of those who try to ration truth.
"Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you." Matthew 5:10-12, ESV
Pray for the families of the three men killed at the San Diego mosque, for the children who watched their guardians die, and for the church to be peacemakers in the cooling-down work no headline will photograph. Pray for our political life to be tempered by truth, not consumed by it.
"Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger; for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God." James 1:19-20, ESV
Pray for wisdom in the church as money, identity, and permission are increasingly bundled together. Pray that Christian families would steward what they have soberly, give generously, refuse to build lives on platforms that can be shut off, and remember that the fashion of this world is passing away.
"Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, 'I will never leave you nor forsake you.' So we can confidently say, 'The Lord is my helper; I will not fear; what can man do to me?'" Hebrews 13:5-6, ESV
Pray for Christian families to be unhurried in adopting digital convenience, to keep printed Scripture central in their homes, and to train their children with the kind of patient attention that algorithms cannot reproduce. Pray for engineers and policymakers shaping the new infrastructure to fear God in small decisions.
"And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates." Deuteronomy 6:6-9, ESV
Pray for honesty in how the church speaks about the times. Pray that we would neither inflate the headlines nor minimize them, but receive each week's signs as a call to faithful work, patient watching, and the kind of hope that does not need every prediction to be right.
"Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness, waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be set on fire and dissolved, and the heavenly bodies will melt as they burn! But according to his promise we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells." 2 Peter 3:11-13, ESV
Maranatha,
— Sims Corner Church

Justin Scaggs https://simscornerchurch.com
Next

Sons of Issachar Newsletter: May 13, 2026