For the first time in two decades, the church is building again. Federal data reveals that spending on new construction of houses of worship increased by 17 percent from June 2024 to June 2025, even as overall construction spending dropped by 3 percent nationwide. This remarkable reversal—after spending collapsed from $8.8 billion in 2001 to just $3.1 billion in 2021—marks the fourth consecutive year of growth in sacred architecture. The reasons behind this renaissance merit careful reflection, for Scripture reminds us that where God's people gather, there His presence dwells.
Yet even as physical sanctuaries multiply across America, a parallel infrastructure of a very different kind expands with equal vigor. Japan's Minister for Digital Transformation Matsumoto Hisashi announced this week that more than 100 million My Number Cards have now been issued to Japanese citizens, marking a milestone in the nation's digital identity rollout. Meanwhile, Ethiopia's Government Communication Service declared the Fayda ID system central to its 2030 digital strategy, describing it as part of a 'global movement in which digital identity is influencing the economic development paths taken by nations.' From Tokyo to Addis Ababa, governments are constructing invisible architectures that will shape how citizens access services, conduct commerce, and prove their very existence.
The juxtaposition is striking: brick-and-mortar temples rising alongside digital frameworks that promise—or threaten, depending on one's perspective—to mediate every transaction of daily life. Open source platform Nextcloud raised pointed questions this week about the wisdom of entrusting identity and access management to major cloud platforms, warning that 'dependence on proprietary cloud infrastructures can mean limited control.' For those who recall Revelation's warnings about systems that control buying and selling, such developments warrant watchful discernment rather than alarm.
In the Middle East, the ancient tensions continue their relentless churn. The IDF conducted airstrikes in southern Lebanon, killing Hezbollah operatives from the group's 127th Aerial Unit who were reportedly rebuilding terror infrastructure in violation of ceasefire understandings. In Gaza, Israeli forces targeted a senior Hamas militant over alleged cease-fire violations. Iran's judiciary, meanwhile, announced the execution of another man convicted of spying for Israel, as nationwide protests enter their eleventh day and Tehran's top judge warned there would be 'no leniency for those who help the enemy against the Islamic Republic.'
Jerusalem itself remains a cauldron of competing claims. Israeli police are investigating an East Jerusalem bus driver on murder charges after a Haredi protester was fatally struck during demonstrations—though initial findings suggest the driver was attacked before the incident. Likud MKs quickly labeled it 'a clear terror attack,' while the investigation continues amid the city's ever-present tensions between communities who share sacred geography but little else.
On the great power stage, the United States seized a Russian-flagged oil tanker in the North Atlantic, prompting sharp protests from Moscow in what observers see as another step toward direct confrontation. The seizure underscores how energy resources remain central to geopolitical maneuvering, even as Gulf tensions simmer with heated online feuds erupting between pro-Saudi and pro-UAE accounts amid a growing rift between erstwhile allies.
Perhaps most telling is what the Vatican reported this week: 33.5 million pilgrims visited Rome in 2025 for the Jubilee year, passing through the Holy Doors of St. Peter's Basilica in numbers that officials say justified the 3.7 billion euros spent on preparations. 'The whole world has come to Rome,' Archbishop Rino Fisichella declared. The hunger for the sacred, it seems, has not diminished—even as the systems that may one day regulate access to daily bread grow ever more sophisticated. Wise believers will continue building their houses of worship while keeping watchful eyes on the digital architectures rising alongside them.