#ourCOG Daily Brief [April 7, 2026]

Good evening, and welcome to #ourCOG Daily Brief for April 7, 2026.

In U.S. news today, President Trump has drastically reoriented the country’s refugee program, with almost all new arrivals now hailing from South Africa, prioritizing Afrikaners after a significant cut to the annual cap. The administration is also escalating its rhetoric against Iran, with President Trump issuing new threats to destroy the nation’s civilization as a deal deadline approaches. He has also dismissed concerns that bombing Iranian infrastructure could be a war crime. On a more celestial note, the Artemis II crew made history, reaching the farthest distance humans have ever traveled from Earth, with NASA and its partners hoping to boost a new lunar economy. Domestically, ICE is pushing to expand detention centers to hold more immigrants for deportation, though the move is facing resistance in various communities. Internationally, global efforts are ramping up to defuse the escalating conflict with Iran, as leaders worldwide grapple with the implications of President Trump’s threats and the very definition of a war crime. And in Hungary, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán is making the ongoing war in Ukraine a central theme in his re-election campaign.

Looking back at some of our archived content, the latest video titles available are the “Jan 13, 1988 Rex Taylor Prayer Conference,” the “Jan 11, 2000 pm Prayer and Praise Conference,” and “Feb 16, 1989 John D Nichols Fri AM.”

In faith news today, our RSS feed reports no recent updates.

Our prophecy news today includes updates from April 7th, where Ukrainian President Zelenskyy has proposed a conditional ceasefire on energy sector attacks, contingent on Russia ceasing similar strikes, a proposal reportedly submitted to American mediators. Moving back to April 6th, President Trump announced a daring special operations mission successfully rescued a U.S. pilot deep inside Iran after an F-15 shootdown. On April 5th, a Democratic congressional candidate, Sarah Trone Garriott, drew criticism for lambasting evangelicals, accusing them of creating a ‘white patriarchy.’ Finally, from April 4th, the Kremlin has downplayed President Trump’s threat to leave NATO, with former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev stating he prefers an American-led NATO over a new, ‘extremely hostile’ European military alliance.

And finally, in Jewish history, looking at April 8th through the lens of Mitchell A. and Kathryn Levin’s blog. On this day in 73 A.D., the Great Revolt tragically concluded with the defenders of Masada completing their mass murder-suicide pact. Later, in 217 A.D., Roman Emperor Caracalla was assassinated. Interestingly, Caracalla’s decision to extend Roman citizenship across the empire, primarily to raise taxes, had the unintended consequence of improving the status of Jews. While he showed no particular affection for his Jewish subjects, he generally refrained from imposing special disabilities or punishments on them, except for taxation, marking a period of relative improvement compared to many of his predecessors and successors.