Author: Shayla Papik

By Shayla Papik — The more the Islamic clerics in power pushed for full and complete submission to make the Islamic utopia, the more the Iranian people became disenchanted and disengaged. A new leaked Iranian government report found that a astonishing 73% of Iranians now support the separation of religion from state, a significant leap from less than 31% in 2015. Only 11% regularly engage in congregational prayers, while 45% have never attended Friday prayers. “On a government-led poll, that is insane,” says Armin Navabi, of Atheist Republic. “In one of the last theocracies on the planet, in a religious…

By Shayla Papik — People are devouring the Bible. In 2025, the United Bible Societies distributed around the world 22.4 million complete Bibles, 10 million New Testaments, 115.9 million Scripture portions and selections — such as individual biblical books, Gospels and smaller selections, UBS reported in April. Those are just the hardcopies. Bible Society resources were downloaded 26.4 million times, with Bible chapters viewed 32.2 billion times — a 13.8% increase compared with the previous year. Audio Scripture was played 1.4 billion times. “These figures demonstrate that people are increasingly engaging with the Bible through mobile devices and digital platforms,…

By Shayla Papik — The latest champion of women empowerment, winning the British Citizen Award for emancipating young girls, is Khadija Patel. Patel, a devout Muslim, showed up to the Palace of Westminister fully covered in black garb, including the niqab that leaves only the eyes to be seen. “This can’t be true,” one user of X commented. “Does she look empowered?” asked Christopher Talbot also on X. Out of respect for her religion, hosts ingenuously ignored her garb. Or maybe they genuinely ignore the implications behind the utter covering of women in Islam, which portrays men as uncontrollable and…

By Shayla Papik — Aim for the moon, and you might become… a country singer. Anne Wilson wanted to be an astronaut. But the Lexington, Kentucky, girl changed course when her brother, Jacob, died at 23 from a car crash. “I realized how short these years on earth are, that heaven is the final destination, Heaven is where I want to work towards,” Anne says. “I want to tell people about Jesus. I want to work as hard as I can to introduce Jesus to as many people as I can.” She now has 2B global streams. Her three albums…

By Shayla Papik — When Stephanie entered the Navy, the night terrors increased. “The whole reason why I was drinking so much is because I just wanted to forget,” she says. “I wanted to drink to black out so I wouldn’t remember any of my dreams at all because these dreams were more real than the physical world.” Born on a Native American reservation in New Mexico, Stephanie participated in rituals to a host of gods that brought torments and astral projection. “These night terrors were so demonic. Getting my spirit yanked out of my body every night. These dog…

By Shayla Papik — Want your partner back? A relationship repair spell, sold on Etsy (originally $158, but if you act now only $39.52), may do the trick. “Luna and her grandmother exceeded my expectations,” one review crows. “They gifted me a protection shield as well. I began to see results just hours later after the ritual was completed. My partner showed up after not seeing him for over 30 days.” Welcome to the world of Etsy Witches. Etsy is a platform selling unique, handcrafted goods. You can find perfect Valentine’s Day pendant. For whatever reason, it’s also the platform…

By Shayla Papik — The best police could do for a 12-year-old victim was offer her language lessons in Urdu and Punjabi, the language of her rapists. Meaning, they couldn’t investigate or arrest her abusers; they couldn’t protect her. Over the course of two decades, an estimated 250,000 girls got taken advantage of by coordinated groups of men, many of whom were Pakistani, and the authorities did nothing to stop it. “The police and council had turned a blind eye to the abuse or even blamed the raped girls,” says Charlie Peters of GB News. “Several survivors described how, when…

By Shayla Papik — Danielle Pulu, at 17, saw the offering plate circulate — and nobody put in more than $5. “I remember seeing everybody pass and nobody drop anything in. Maybe a dollar, maybe two, maybe five at the most,” she recalls. “I myself had nothing to give. I remember praying, Lord, I want to be able to be a solution. I want to be able to write a check and fix the car and provide the house and pay the rent and be the answer to someone else’s prayer, Lord, to be able to help. God, I want…

By Shayla Papik — When Jimmy Papik quit pastoring in 2015, he was burned out. Rent was skyrocketing for his storefront church, relational conflicts among members were swirling, his business had suffered from som measure of neglect due to the demands of ministry. Something had to give. But once he was out of ministry, he wondered if he might ever return. Despite the maelstrom of difficulties of a startup church, the emotional rewards were great. Last year, God spoke to the Venice Beach man: Your ministry is not over. In 2025, the pastor/plumber/surfer coalesced his passions and profession to surf,…

By Shayla Papik – Because he’s a Christian, an 18-year-old Chick-fil-A employee returned $10,000 he found in the bathroom to its rightful owner. Why didn’t he pocket it? “That’s not what Jesus would have done. That’s not what God would have wanted,” says Jaydon Cintron of Kinston, North Carolina. “Money is useless without character.” Cintron restores faith in humanity. Over the Good Friday weekend, he found two white envelopes next to the toilet while on his break, one with around $5,000 that was labeled First Citizens Bank and one with $4,333 labeled Truist Bank. Immediately he thought of “how devastating…