This Week: Five Events You Need to Know (October 29)

This Week: Five Events You Need to Know (October 29)

Xinhua/Lan Hongguang via Getty Images; Damon Coulter/Barcroft Images/Barcroft Media via Getty Images; JOE KLAMAR/AFP/Getty Images; MICHAL CIZEK/AFP/Getty Images; ANDREAS SOLARO/AFP/Getty Images

Strongmen in China, Japan, Austria, the Czech Republic, the Vatican, and more

October 29

Here are five of the most important news stories this week, as well as relevant links to the full articles and videos here on theTrumpet.com.
Xi Jinping: A Strongman Now Poised to Rule China for Decades

The Chinese Communist Party etched Xi Jinping’s name and personal ideology into the party constitution on October 24, effectively lifting his status to the same level as the late authoritarian Mao Zedong.

Xi’s tightening grip on power is significant because Bible prophecy reveals that as America’s influence on the international stage continues to decline, two power blocs will emerge in its place: one, a European entity functioning in the tradition of the Holy Roman Empire; the other, an Asian conglomerate called in Scripture “the kings of the east” and headed by Russia, with China in a second-tier leadership position.
Shinzō Abe Gains Two-Thirds Majority in Snap Elections

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzō Abe won a two-thirds majority in the lower house of the Japanese Diet in snap elections on October 22. Abe’s Liberal Democratic Party and other parties in favor of changing Japan’s pacifist Constitution now hold 80 percent of the seats in the lower house, to add to the two-thirds majority they already controlled in the upper house.

This victory could give Abe the mandate he needs to press forward in his “long-cherished dream” of revising the Constitution and remilitarizing the nation.
Austria’s New King

Sebastian Kurz, Austria’s new, far-right chancellor, has been called the “shooting star” of European politics, and is being greeted “like a king” all around Europe. Bild described Kurz as a combination of Germany’s Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg, Canada’s Justin Trudeau and France’s Emmanuel Macron. His vision for solving the refugee crisis and reforming and unifying the European Union makes him a prophetically significant figure worth watching.
Czech Republic’s New Strongman: Yet Another King Rising?

Andrej Babiš, the Czech Republic’s new anti-establishment prime minister, has been compared to United States President Donald Trump and former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi. He is Czech’s second-richest man and, now, the most powerful man in the Czech Republic government. While some call him a threat to democracy, he sees himself as the country’s only hope for a stronger, more assertive country that will play a much bigger role in the world. He is yet another prophetically significant European figure worth watching.
Is the Papacy Becoming More Authoritarian?

Pope Francis has been weakening the Roman Curia by circumventing the Vatican’s bureaucratic offices and dealing directly with regional episcopal conferences. While some cardinals have warned that granting too much authority to regional conferences threatens to decentralize the Catholic Church, the reality is that giving more authority to these local bishops also strengthens the pope himself by weakening the main check on his power—the Curia.

“This Week” appears every Sunday. To get these same top stories in your inbox ahead of time every Friday afternoon (plus a letter from one of the Trumpet’s editors), subscribe to the Trumpet Brief daily e-mail. Sign up by clicking here or by visiting theTrumpet.com home page.