“As an AC student, it’s hard to find time for watching the news,” I said. I had just heard a powerful lecture on watching world events. I knew I needed to improve in this area, but I felt overwhelmed. It just didn’t seem I had the time. My instructor replied, “Well, it’s also hard to get around Christ’s command to watch and pray.”
That hit me straight between the eyes.
Keeping up with world events can be a struggle. If you’re like me, you might think you don’t have time. Maybe you’re not interested. Maybe you find geopolitics complicated or bewildering. You may feel overwhelmed by the sheer volume of media. Maybe you think, Well, I know the overview of prophecy. Do I really need to get into the details? Carnally, it’s easy to reason around watching the news.
But as my instructor said, it’s hard to get around a command from Christ.
In the Olivet prophecy, Jesus stated: “Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man” (Luke 21:36). This was one of Christ’s final admonitions. Like tithing or keeping the Sabbath, watching world events isn’t optional.
Watch Individually
Perhaps we reason, Christ commanded the Church as a whole to watch. As long as I support the Work, I’m doing my part. Is that what Christ meant? Is watching a collective responsibility, fulfilled through the Trumpet and The Key of David?
Mark’s account of the Olivet prophecy includes a parable not recorded in the other gospels: “For the Son of man is as a man taking a far journey, who left his house, and gave authority to his servants, and to every man his work, and commanded the porter to watch” (Mark 13:34). Here, each servant had a different job—perhaps things like managing finances, preparing food or looking after livestock. The porter, or doorkeeper, was given a special job: watching for the master’s return.
Christ has given each Christian a unique job in the household of God (1 Corinthians 12:18; Ephesians 2:19). Most fulfill specific roles in field congregations. Some are ministers. A few headquarters employees, like the doorkeeper, “watch” for a living! They comb through the news, looking for prophetic trends and signs of Christ’s coming. Watching is a big part of Pastor General Gerald Flurry’s job too.
Yet notice Christ’s words in Mark 13:37: “And what I say unto you I say unto all, Watch.” The doorkeeper’s only job was to watch, but Christ commanded all the other servants to watch too!
In the same way, all Christians today—not just the Church’s news bureau—must watch world events. Yes, the Trumpet is our most valuable guide to the news and should be the backbone of our news watching. But we can’t expect the news bureau to do the watching instead of us. As The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse states, “[Y]ou—individually—must watch, or you’ll end up in the lukewarm church and be plunged into the Tribulation.”
There is no way around it. “Watch ye therefore” is for all of us. But why?
Why Watch the News?
What’s the purpose of news watching? Is it to become a more impressive conversationalist? Is it to win debates? Is it to spin theories on how God might fulfill His prophecies?
The main purpose of watching is found in Luke 21:36: “Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man.” We watch to become worthy. Worthy to escape the Great Tribulation. Worthy to stand before Christ at His return. Is your news watching making you more worthy? If you’re like me, perhaps not as much as you would like.
Perhaps the following experience sounds familiar: You learn about a recent news event. As you learn the details, you realize its prophetic significance. Still, you don’t feel very impacted. What’s wrong with me? you think. Why am I not more excited? Repeat this experience often enough, and you may be inclined to give up on watching the news.
The truth is, being impacted by world events is hard. Strong’s Concordance says
the Greek word for “watch” in Luke 21:36 means “to be sleepless, keep awake … to exercise constant vigilance ….” It means staying awake through “some arousing effort,” or a state devoid of “any slumberous or beclouding influences”—guarding against “advances of drowsiness or bewilderment.” Being inspired by the news takes arousing effort! It is neither natural nor easy.
Thankfully, the Bible provides a lot of instruction on how
to watch.
Again, the overarching goal of watching is to become worthy. What does that mean, practically? Let’s break it down. We will look at five goals of watching and practical tips to help us accomplish them. Each goal is an essential aspect of worthiness. To watch effectively, you don’t have to follow every single tip—but these can spark ideas to develop a personalized strategy for watching world events.
Goal 1: Strengthen Your prayer life.
Jesus said, “Watch ye therefore, and pray always …” (Luke 21:36). There is a powerful relationship between watching and praying. We can’t pray effectively without watching, and we can’t watch effectively without praying. They are interdependent.
Ephesians 6:17-18 say, “And take … the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God: Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints.” Note: We should pray all the time, and “with all prayer”—in other words, with all different kinds of prayer. Christ’s prayer outline in Matthew 6:9-13 includes seven sections or categories of prayer. “All prayer” could mean all seven categories (see Chapter 4 of How to Pray for more detail). To pray at all times and with all kinds of prayer is a lot of prayer! To do that, we need an endless list of things to pray about.
That’s where the second part of Ephesians 6:18 comes in: “and watching thereunto,” meaning to this end or with this goal in mind. Watching should be done with the goal of praying always. We should watch for things to pray for. Of course, “watching” doesn’t refer only to news; we can also watch for things to pray about in our fellowship, Bible study and every area of life. However, “watching thereunto” certainly includes the news. As proof, the Greek word translated “watching” in Ephesians 6:18 is the same word used in Mark 13:33 and Luke 21:36. So watching should be done with the goal of praying. Watching should help us find things to pray about—in all seven sections of daily prayer.
Let’s get practical. In the May-June 2025 Trumpet issue, Joel Hilliker wrote an article titled “The Idiocy of the Tesla Attacks.” It exposes the real cause of the Tesla terrorism: Satan has been emotionally manipulating the attackers. It showed how the terrorists fail to admit wrong and acknowledge the government corruption exposed by the Department of Government Efficiency. Here are some ideas on how you could use this article in prayer.
First on the prayer outline is “Hallowed be thy name”—praising and thanking God. As you begin, you could thank God for the Spirit of a sound mind (2 Timothy 1:7), for His protection from Satan’s manipulation. You could praise His emotional control, contrasting it with our tendency to let satanic emotion rule. Next, as you pray “thy kingdom come,” you could imagine educating these vandals in the Kingdom. You could pray for Satan’s banishment, and for God’s perfect law and order. During “Thy will be done,” you could pray about how the Tesla attacks might affect God’s Work. Could some of the victims be ripe for receiving God’s truth? You could pray for the Trumpet’s
coverage to reach a wider audience. Next, as you focus on others’ needs with “Give us this day our daily bread,” you could think of friends or family members who struggle to control their emotions, asking God to help them overcome this weakness.
During the fifth section, “Forgive us our debts,” you could ask: Have I demonstrated emotional immaturity recently? Have I allowed Satan to work on my mind? In truth, we all have the same human nature as the unhinged hoodlum spray-painting swastikas on Cybertrucks. Sixth, “Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from [the] evil [one],” is your opportunity to pray for deliverance. The same being who stirred up those vandals is attacking you, your family, God’s Church and everyone else you know. Only God can protect us. Meditating on that should help you cry out for protection. Finally, as you close your prayer, you could again praise and thank God for His power, protection, forgiveness and emotional control.
Thus, one news article can inspire an entire prayer session—all seven sections! Obviously, with so many important things to pray about, we may never need to spend an hour on one news item. But it is possible. Watching the news expands our prayer list and can improve our prayers.
The reverse is also true: Prayer improves our watching. Colossians 4:2 says, “Continue in prayer, and watch in the same with thanksgiving.” We can pray even as we watch! We are, after all, to pray without ceasing. Bringing God into our news watching makes it far more profitable. Also, when we pray about world events, the Holy Spirit flows and God can inspire our thoughts and realizations. When you get up off your knees, you may understand the news better! That can increase your interest in the news and inspire you to watch more. Watching improves prayer; prayer improves watching. It’s a beautiful cycle!
Goal 2: Strengthen your grip on God’s truth.
In the first century, the Apostle Paul warned the ministers at Ephesus: “For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock. Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them” (Acts 20:29-30). This happened: The Christians of the Ephesus era fell away. And this history is a type of our day; the Ephesus apostasy foreshadowed the Laodicean rebellion. The Laodicean rebellion has already occurred, but deception is far from over. As we draw closer to Christ’s return, religious confusion will intensify (Revelation 6:1-2; Matthew 24:4-5).
How can we prepare? Paul told the ministers: “Therefore watch, and remember, that by the space of three years I ceased not to warn …” (Acts 20:31). There is a connection between watching
and resisting deception. Watching world events should strengthen our grip on God’s truth. It should make us more faithful, more convicted, harder to deceive.
How can we accomplish this goal in our watching? Primarily, while watching we must make connections. Mindlessly skimming the news does not fulfill the spirit of “watch and pray.” We must selah—stop and think. Make it mentally stimulating. How? Here are five ideas:
First, connect the news with past warnings from God’s apostles. Paul admonished, “Therefore watch, and remember, that by the space of three years I ceased not to warn ….” Watching and remembering go together. Herbert W. Armstrong and Mr. Flurry have warned for decades about trends like German militarism, America’s broken will, radical Islam and so on. As we comb the news, we can think: What has Mr. Flurry said about this? What did Mr. Armstrong say? Try to remember specific quotes, articles or tv programs. You might look those things up. Trumpet articles will typically reference
relevant quotes. Don’t skim. Stop and think! Take time to appreciate the accuracy of God’s prophets.
Second, connect the news with scriptures. For those well established in God’s truth, it’s relatively easy to connect world events with general prophetic trends. Seeing an article about German defense spending, we might connect it to rising German militarism. But try testing yourself: Can you connect that event with specific scriptures? Many passages prophesy the rise of German militarism (i.e. Isaiah 10:5-6; Habakkuk 1:6; Ezekiel 23). Can you identify and explain them? As you try, you may realize, I’ve heard this prophecy, but I don’t know where it is in the Bible. I don’t really know why we believe it. That’s good: You’ve identified a weakness in your understanding. Now you can do a deep dive. Open your Bible and dig out relevant Church literature. Prove the truth for yourself (Acts 17:11). As you do, your grip on God’s truth will strengthen. You will be more prepared to evade deception.
Third, connect the news with history. Jesus said, “But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be” (Matthew 24:37). This leads directly to Christ’s admonition in verse 42, “Watch therefore.” There is a logical connection: Understanding history, both biblical and secular, is a key to understand current events. For example, Mr. Flurry has often compared 1930s Germany to modern Germany. As we watch news, try to make such historical connections. If something piques your interest, go deeper. For example, study into “the days of Noah” or read a biography of Winston Churchill.
Fourth, meditate on Satan’s nature. The Apostle Peter wrote, “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour” (1 Peter 5:8). The Greek for “vigilant” here is the same word translated “watch” in Matthew 24:42. 1 Peter 5:8 could read, “Be sober, be watchful.” As you watch world events, strive to understand our adversary better. Think again about the Tesla attacks: Though these are now out of the news cycle, they can teach us timeless truths about Satan’s nature and human nature. What was Satan trying to accomplish here? Have I seen him use similar tactics in my life? What is his strategy? How can I equip myself better to resist him? Understanding Satan’s nature is an essential part of God’s truth.
Fifth, meditate on God’s nature. In Daniel Unlocks Revelation, Mr. Flurry writes, “Our focus must be on knowing God—not knowing prophecy!” Watching world events is important for knowing prophecy. But as we watch, our focus must be on knowing God. We must not let the materialistic views of worldly pundits rub off on us. God rules in the kingdom of men. Mr. Flurry writes, “We must see how God controls His master plan in a meticulous and detailed way.” God is involved in world events in detail. As we watch, we should strive to better understand His mind. Why is God allowing this? What is His goal? What is He trying to teach mankind? What is He trying to teach me? God allows men to make their own decisions, but ultimately, He rules. The world is a play, and God is the Playwriter. Think about that as the plot unfolds.
Goal 3: Strengthen your zeal for God’s Work.
Imagine a basketball player drafted to play in the nba. He’s a towering physical specimen, tall, fast, strong, athletic. He is talented and skilled. He loves many things about his job: the team camaraderie, the physical exercise, the media attention.
There’s only one thing he doesn’t love: basketball. It’s just a game to him. He doesn’t really care who wins or loses. For a time, this player gets by on talent, but as his team advances, he struggles. He won’t dive for loose balls. He won’t hustle to stop fast breaks. When his team trails late in the fourth quarter, he becomes discouraged and stops trying his hardest. After all, winning doesn’t really matter. Ultimately, this player lets the team down.
Now, imagine a Church member drafted to support God’s “prophesy again” Work (Revelation 10:11). God sees many valuable qualities in this man. He has the potential to be a great ruler and teacher in the kingdom. After coming to repentance, this man grows to love many things about his new profession (Hebrews 4:14). He loves the camaraderie; loves working to be a better husband and father; loves digging into Bible study.
There’s only one thing he doesn’t love: prophecy. He struggles to find the Trumpet engaging. Occasionally, he listens to the Trumpet Daily, but he isn’t really interested. Geopolitics is too complicated, he thinks. I don’t see how it applies to me. What’s the point? As long as I know the overview, I’ll be fine. As times get harder, this individual struggles. There are certain obstacles he cannot overcome, certain financial sacrifices he is unwilling to make, certain Church activities he isn’t interested in attending. As trials intensify, he becomes discouraged. Ultimately, he lets God’s Work down!
Just as a basketball player is drafted to play basketball, we are drafted to prophesy! Of course, we don’t do this individually: Mr. Flurry prophesies, and we support him. Still, we must love prophecy. If we don’t love prophecy, how can we be motivated to share it with the world? One primary way we demonstrate our love for prophecy is by watching world events. If we really love prophecy, we will be on the edge of our seats, watching God’s plan unfold.
Watching prophecy helps us get our hearts in the Work. After all, prophecy is the Work.
We can see the link between watching and working in the parable of the porter: “For the Son of man is as a man taking a far journey, who left his house, and gave authority to his servants, and to every man his work, and commanded the porter to watch” (Mark 13:34). Before departing, the master gave his servants jobs
to do. As they worked, they would have thought, I must get this done before my master returns. Likewise, Christ has given His Church a job: warning the world and the Laodiceans. Watching for Christ’s return should motivate us to work harder and faster.
Having our hearts in the Work should increase our motivation to give tithes and offerings, even striving to increase our earning potential to make that possible. Watching world events should grow our godly motivation and work ethic. It should influence the way we plan our offerings. It puts our pursuit of material things in perspective. Prophetic urgency should factor into our financial decisions.
My father has hosted the Trumpet Daily for over 10 years. Over the years, I have noticed that he loves talking to people who are enthusiastic about prophecy. When he talks to someone who is boiling over with thoughts and ideas on current events, it inspires him. He regularly gets good ideas from listeners through e-mail. Your thoughts, perspectives and opinions matter. Even sharing our ideas, thoughts and enthusiasm about prophecy will energize our fellowship and can be a real source of encouragement for other members. Indirectly, inspiring other members also encourages the ministry (e.g. 3 John 4). Ministers rejoice when their spiritual children are on fire for prophecy.
Goal 4: Strengthen your willpower.
Before He was crucified, Christ stayed up all night praying. He had wanted His disciples to stay awake too, but they were too tired. After praying an hour, Jesus found them asleep. He told Peter, “Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak” (Matthew 26:41). This establishes a connection between watching and resisting temptation.
The night of Christ’s crucifixion, the disciples faced a tough choice: Pray with Jesus, or sleep. We face similar choices daily. Finish Bible study, or watch tv? Stay and fellowship, or leave and take a nap? Confront this issue, or let it slide? Each question is just a different way of asking, Follow the Holy Spirit, or give in to temptation?
Making the right choice requires willpower. Remember, as Mr. Flurry writes in How to Be an Overcomer, the human will cannot develop character. However, it plays a role. We must set our will to follow the Holy Spirit and God’s will. Doing this consistently is difficult. We need every bit of instruction on resisting temptation. That’s why Christ’s statement is so valuable: He said watching helps us resist temptation. In fact, it helps us avoid temptation in the first place. It weakens the pulls of the flesh. If we are watching, certain sins just won’t appeal to us as much.
Furthermore, when we are tempted, we can use world events as a weapon. Just as watching can motivate us to work harder and overcome laziness, it is effective against countless other temptations. Combined with prayer, watching the news can be a powerful weapon against Satan.
Goal 5: Be spiritually consistent.
College students are notorious for putting off studying for finals until just before they happen—maybe even the night before. Though the date of the final is known from the beginning of the semester, but they tend to wait to begin studying because human nature procrastinates.
Imagine if finals weren’t scheduled and they could happen at any time. Students would probably study more regularly. It would become a constant habit, a way of life.
Jesus Christ’s return is our spiritual final exam. When He comes, each of us will stand before God and be judged, or examined (Romans 2:16; Ecclesiastes 12:14). Again, we must become worthy before Christ’s return: We must be praying, studying, doing God’s Work, and following the Holy Spirit. God will examine us in all these areas and more.
Unlike college finals, Christ’s return isn’t on the calendar (Matthew 24:36). God does not reveal the date of our spiritual finals! If He did, we probably wouldn’t make ourselves worthy until the last minute. God doesn’t want us to cram for finals. He wants us perpetually ready. He wants worthiness to be our way of life, our identity. Spiritually, He wants us to be consistent.
Naturally we are all inconsistent. We pray effectively for a few days, then lose momentum. We have a week of solid Bible study, then a lull of disinterest. Our excitement for God’s Work naturally rises and falls.
Thankfully, the Bible gives us a major tool for overcoming this problem: watching world events. Mark 13:35 reads, “Watch ye therefore: for ye know not when the master of the house cometh, at even, or at midnight, or at the cockcrowing, or in the morning: Lest coming suddenly he find you sleeping.” We should watch because we don’t know when Christ will return. Watching fixes our minds on the deadline. It ensures that no matter when Christ returns, we will be ready. In other words, it helps us be spiritually consistent. If you struggle with inconsistency, watching world events could be a solution!
One practical tip for watching is to watch consistently. Ephesians 6:18 commands us to watch “with all perseverance.” Perhaps you have tried to improve your news watching and you feel discouraged by lack of progress in building enthusiasm. This verse says to keep at it: Watch with perseverance.
In Matthew 24:43, Christ compared watching world events to a homeowner keeping watch over his home not knowing when the thief would come. To protect his home, he must keep watch all night. Surely the homeowner would not think, This is so exciting! I’ve been sitting here watching for 10 minutes, and it’s changed my life! I feel so inspired. I love keeping watch. Yet as boring as keeping watch may be at times, it pays off when a thief shows up!
We cannot expect news watching to be a nonstop thrill ride (though as we draw closer to Christ’s return, it often feels like one). It takes perseverance and self-discipline. And when something big happens, all the effort pays off! For example, President Donald Trump’s election victory was one of the biggest prophetic events of 2024. It galvanized God’s people. But would it have had the same impact had we not watched the news for years beforehand?
Watching the news is like an investment: We invest time and effort into watching. The payoff is excitement for Christ’s return. Like any investment, the payoff will not come right away. But it will come. If we watch consistently, we will see when seismic prophetic events happen, and they will galvanize us!
How to Examine Your Watching
At this point, you may feel overwhelmed. If we tried to mine the full depth of every news story every time, it would be a full-time job. (Indeed, for Trumpet employees,
it is a full-time job!) Thus it could be easy to think, No matter how hard I try, my news watching will never be good enough. Such thinking makes us likely to give up watching entirely, which is exactly what Satan wants.
That is why we must judge our news watching by God’s standard. God is not judging us by how many articles we read, how many podcasts we listen to, or how many deep thoughts we write down. God is judging by fruits (Matthew 7:16). Therefore, to examine our news watching, we must also judge by fruits.
Remember: The goal of watching is to become worthy. To examine our watching, we simply must ask: Am I becoming worthy? More specifically, we could ask questions about each of the five goals above: 1) Can I pray fervently about a significant news event for at least 10 minutes? (How to Pray recommends praying “Hallowed be thy name” and “Thy Kingdom come” for at least 10 minutes each. We could use this as a benchmark.) 2) Can I clearly explain key prophecies from Scripture? 3) Is my heart in God’s Work? 4) How often do I give in to temptation? 5) Am I spiritually consistent? If you notice weakness in any of these areas, improving your watching could be part of the solution!
Watching world news is hard—but it is worth it. God says, “Blessed is he that watcheth …” (Revelation 16:15). If we watch world events, God will bless us. That is a promise! Could that blessing include a happier marriage, better health, deeper relationships with others? What about prosperity, promotion or other exciting opportunities? Ultimately, eternal life is the greatest blessing of all, but God will bless us physically too. He promises to reward us even for providing a cool drink of water to one of His servants (Matthew 10:42). The same principle applies to watching. If we spend even five minutes watching the news, God will bless that! Let’s claim that promise. Let’s give God a wonderful excuse to bless us. Watch world events as never before.