Volume 44         Issue Five         May 2025

Last Trumpet Ministries · PO Box 806 · Beaver Dam, WI 53916

Phone: 920-887-2626   Internet: http://www.lasttrumpetministries.org

“For if the trumpet give an uncertain sound, who shall prepare himself to the battle?” I Cor. 14:8

Is This Real Life?

 

“Lo, this only have I found, that God hath made man upright; but they have sought out many inventions.”

 

Ecclesiastes 7:29

 

The world is changing in profound ways. Lines are being crossed and blurred even as science and technology bring astonishing breakthroughs in this modern age. This issue will reveal that we are living in remarkable times when news today often resembles science fiction stories of the past. At the outset of this newsletter, I want to assure every reader that the sources for the stories you are about to read have been carefully vetted, and we have every reason to believe that they are true. We invite you to verify the sources for yourself if you doubt their veracity, which would certainly be understandable, given that what is happening in the world right now would have seemed completely impossible twenty or thirty years ago. As humanity marches onward, will the incredible innovation of our time lead to a better world or humanity’s undoing?

 

Hello, Dolly

 

On July 5, 1996, a historic sheep named Dolly was born at the Roslin Institute of the University of Edinburgh in Scotland. Although she looked like a normal sheep, Dolly was unlike any that had ever existed before. Dolly was the first mammal ever cloned with DNA from an adult cell, and thus, was genetically identical to her DNA donor. (1) Although I was a teenager at the time, I still remember the considerable uproar that ensued when the story broke. I remember my father, Pastor David J. Meyer, being particularly perturbed by this development as he, along with many others, worried and suspected that this scientific breakthrough could one day lead to human cloning. Nearly three decades have passed since Dolly had her time in the spotlight, and since then, many other animals, including cattle, sheep, cats, deer, dogs, horses, mules, oxen, rabbits, rats, and monkeys have been cloned. (2) The technology has advanced so much that these days, anyone can have a cat or dog cloned. That is, if you can spare $50,000. (3)

 

While cloning is not talked about nearly as much as it used to be, the research that led to the birth of Dolly paved the way for new technologies that are widely used today, including gene editing techniques and stem cell research. Professor Bruce Whitelaw, who is the director of the Roslin Institute, insists that Dolly’s arrival was transformative. “It changed how the public looked at — and accelerated interest of the media in — this type of biology. And we've never gone back. That high interest in genetics, biology, and reproduction technologies has stayed on since. As a society, we owe an awful lot to Dolly, allowing for the sort of awareness which has certainly sparked many debates. It generated a huge amount of chat and dialogue between the different types of sciences.”

 

Remarkably, reports broke in November 2018 that Chinese scientist He Jiankui had used the CRISPR gene-editing technique to produce the first genetically altered human infants, two girls named Lula and Nana. The scientist in question modified the CCR5 gene in the two girls in an attempt to make them less susceptible to the HIV virus. (4) He Jiankui would go on to serve three years in a Chinese prison for “illegal medical practices.” As for the young girls, the long-term ramifications of their edited genes remain unknown, though it was reported in 2023 that they were both doing well. “Well, what I can tell you is they are living a normal, peaceful, nondisturbed life,” He said. (5) The experiments, though unauthorized, proved that human gene editing is possible. Therefore, it is not far-fetched that in the future, those with the financial means might pay to have genetically modified designer babies.

 

The De-Extinction Protocol

 

Over the years, many animals have gone extinct. Yet, efforts are now underway to bring some of these creatures back. On March 4, 2025, a company known as Colossal Biosciences revealed that it had used a gene editing process to produce a new species of mouse. Known as the woolly mouse, this new creature was designed as one of the first stepping stones that could eventually lead to the de-extinction of the ancient woolly mammoth. The genes in these mice have been manipulated to produce long, fluffy fur and increase their tolerance to cold weather. (6)

 

Why was this done? When the time comes to resurrect the wooly mammoth, scientists are planning to accomplish this feat by editing the genes of elephants. However, elephants are highly intelligent animals and are also endangered in these modern times. As such, scientists believe that conducting early gene editing experiments on elephants would be unethical. Their solution? The woolly mouse. 

 

Colossal’s founder, Ben Lamm, explained the motivation for their research. “It’s forecast that we’re going to lose up to 50 percent of all biodiversity between now and 2050. So we are in the sixth mass extinction, that has been driven by man.” In other words, mankind’s activities are rapidly destroying many species, but Colossal Biosciences believes it can bring those species back. “We’ve proven our ability to recreate complex genetic combinations that took nature millions of years to create,” Lamm boasted. Genetics professor George Church, who is the co-founder of Colossal, also hailed the arrival of the woolly mouse. “The Colossal Woolly Mouse demonstrates remarkable progress we’ve made in precise genome engineering, including optimized delivery methods, innovative multiplexing and combinations of gene targeting strategies,” he explained. He then went on to say, “We are showing that we can now rationally design and construct complex genetic adaptations, with profound implications for the future of multi-gene de-extinction and engineering.” (7)

 

Herein we find a stark revelation: Professor Church admits and even brags that their woolly mouse is “rationally designed.” Thus, it must be true that mice, and all other creatures for that matter, as they occur in nature, are also intelligently designed. After all, if there is a design, there must be a designer, and we know Him to be God Almighty, the Creator of the universe!

 

Colossal Biosciences made headlines again in April 2025 when it was revealed that the company successfully recreated the long-extinct dire wolf. To date, three pups have been born, including two males, Romulus and Remus, and a female named Khaleesi. “Our team took DNA from a 13,000-year-old tooth and a 72,000-year-old skull and made healthy dire wolf puppies,” Lamm gushed. He then continued, “It was once said, 'any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.' Today, our team gets to unveil some of the magic they are working on and its broader impact on conservation.” (8) However, the assertion that these creatures are truly dire wolves is heavily disputed. Why? The genetic material used to produce the young pups was taken from gray wolves. However, twenty of the gray wolves’ genes were edited to produce traits similar to those of dire wolves. “Dire wolves were a distinct species, genetically distant from gray wolves. You can't 'bring back' a species just by making another animal look vaguely similar,” insisted Maarten Larmuseau, a professor of genetic genealogy at KU Leuven in Belgium. (9)

 

Regardless of whether you consider Romulus, Remus, and Khaleesi to be genuine dire wolves or simply genetically modified gray wolves, it is still a remarkable achievement. Scientists are, quite literally, designing animals in laboratories. Assuming the world survives for another fifty years, it might someday be common to see genetically modified animals roaming the earth. It also seems inevitable that genetically modified humans will follow. The concept is already proven, and we know it can be done. How long will humanity resist the urge to edit out undesirable genetic traits and replace them with more ideal characteristics? More importantly, will humans still be human? What will the consequences be for man playing God?

 

Genetically Modified Organs

 

According to a report published in December 2024, there are more than 100,000 people in the United States waiting for an organ transplant. A new person is added to the waitlist every eight minutes, and an estimated seventeen people die every day while awaiting an organ. (10) Given the severe shortage, researchers are now exploring alternative ways to meet this tremendous need. One such initiative is underway at a facility in Blacksburg, Virginia, where a company called Revicor is raising highly unusual pigs. Not only are these pigs genetically modified, but the company also utilizes gene editing to delete specific pig genes and insert human genes, making them suitable for human transplants. “If you were to put an unmodified farm pig organ, whether it's a kidney or a heart, into us, we would reject it in a matter of minutes," said Dr. David Ayares, the president of Revicor. "So we're actually adding a gene that inhibits the immune system right to the organ. And so ultimately now we've knocked out or deleted four pig genes and added six human genes.” (11) These pigs are not just pigs. They are custom-designed pigs with human genes!

 

These hybrid organs, which are mostly pig but slightly human, are already being used for transplant. An article by ABC News quotes one woman who received a kidney transplant as saying, “My God. The energy, the blood flow. I could feel the blood flow through my veins, just how strong the kidney was for me." She then continued, “It's just like getting a second chance in life.” (12) The aforementioned Dr. Ayares believes that xenotransplantation, or the use of animal organs for human transplant, will become increasingly common in the coming years. “I think ten years from now, it's going to be a completely different paradigm. We'll be able to custom design the organs for, you know, these advanced diseases as we learn about them,” he predicted. (13)

 

Meanwhile, a report published on March 12, 2025, indicates that an unnamed man from Australia was able to survive for one hundred days with an artificial heart while awaiting a real donor heart to become available. The device, developed by a company called BiVACOR, is being heralded as a tremendous achievement. (Indeed, some might find this option preferable to a pig heart.) “The entire BiVACOR team is deeply grateful to the patient and his family for placing their trust in our Total Artificial Heart. Their bravery will pave the way for countless more patients to receive this lifesaving technology,” remarked BiVACOR’s founder, Daniel Timms. (14) Chris Hayward, a professor at the Victor Chang Cardiac Research Institute, expects this new technology to become widely used in the coming years. “Within the next decade, we will see the artificial heart becoming the alternative for patients who are unable to wait for a donor heart or when a donor heart is simply not available,” Hayward declared.  (15)

 

Clearly, scientists are willing to take drastic measures to address the organ transplant shortage. Yet the most shocking idea yet was recently proposed by researchers at Stanford University. Researchers have suggested that it may be possible to make human bodyoids. What is a bodyoid, you ask? It is a human body without a brain, grown from stem cells in a laboratory. These bodies would be used for spare parts and provide a steady supply of organs for transplants. It is believed that since these bodies would be grown without brains, they would feel no pain; therefore, harvesting them for parts would not be considered unethical. “Recent advances in biotechnology now provide a pathway to producing living human bodies without the neural components that allow us to think, be aware, or feel pain,” states an article published by MIT Technology Review. (16) It should be noted that no bodyoids have been grown at this time, but the fact that this idea has even been suggested indicates that the line between science fiction and reality is rapidly fading in these astonishing times.

 

The Future Of Food

 

The American food supply has long been subject to genetic manipulation. In 1994, the very first genetically modified food, the Flavr Savr tomato, was sold to American consumers for the first time. (17) Since then, the use of genetically modified foods has skyrocketed in the United States and around the world. By 2015, genetically modified crops were grown in twenty-eight countries on over 10 percent of the world’s arable land. Common genetically modified foods include potatoes, squash, pumpkins, sugar beets, papayas, corn, and soybeans. (18) While some Americans have had reservations about eating genetically modified organisms (GMOs) for years, given how ubiquitous they have become, it is tremendously difficult and costly to avoid them. If a product contains soy, corn, sugar, or canola oil, it is likely to include genetically modified ingredients. A piece published by The Washington Post on March 3, 2025, insists “there’s nothing inherently unsafe about genetically modified crops.” However, the piece then goes on to inform that GMO crops, especially corn and soybeans, are often genetically modified to tolerate herbicides such as glyphosate. The report then noted that the International Agency for Research on Cancer has labeled glyphosate as a “probable human carcinogen.” (19) It would be prudent to say a prayer before you eat!

 

The development of genetically modified foods continues to progress. According to a recent report from Johns Hopkins University, scientists have successfully mapped the genomes of nightshade crops, including tomatoes and eggplants. Through their efforts, they have identified key genes that affect the size and quality of the crops. Researchers believe they will be able to use the CRISPR gene-editing technique to develop new varieties of crops that could result in “bigger and better tomatoes and eggplants.” “Once you’ve done the gene editing, all it takes is one seed to start a revolution. With the right approvals, we could mail an engineered seed to Africa or anywhere it’s needed and open up entirely new agricultural markets. There’s huge potential to translate these advances into real-world impact,” said Michael Schatz, a geneticist at Johns Hopkins University. (20) Remarkably, the same technology that enables the development of designer wolves and woolly mice can also be used to alter the size, color, and quality of our fruits and vegetables. As such, the foods consumed by humans could be dramatically different from what we are accustomed to in the near future. Will the food be better, though?

Traditionally, fruits and vegetables have been grown in fields, greenhouses, and gardens, while livestock is bred, fed, and raised on farms and ranches. However, the meat of the future could be quite different from the meat derived from animals since the dawn of time. Around the world, various companies are hard at work developing “cultured” or “cultivated” meat—meat that is synthetically grown from stem cells in a laboratory. Not only does this meat already exist, but some countries have already approved it for sale to the general public.

 

In December 2020, Singapore became the first country to approve cell-based meat for resale. At the time, a company called Eat Just began selling its cultured chicken bites at a local restaurant. In 2024, the company announced plans to begin offering its products in stores. (21)

In June 2023, government regulators approved cell-based chicken products produced by two companies, Upside Foods and Good Meat, for sale in the United States. However, these products have yet to become widely available and have faced considerable pushback in some states. In May 2024, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed legislation banning the sale of cultured meat in his state. At the time, Governor DeSantis said his state was “fighting back against the global elite’s plan to force the world to eat meat grown in a petri dish or bugs to achieve their authoritarian goals.” (22) The state of Nebraska enacted a similar ban later that same year. (23)

 

While many may feel disinclined to consume meat grown in a laboratory, efforts to perfect the technology continue. More recently, researchers in Japan have developed a technique to grow larger chunks of meat that more closely mimic the size and texture of real meat derived from animals. “While small-scale or minced cultured meat is easier to produce, it may not fully capture the fibrous structure and mouth-feel that consumers associate with conventional cuts,” explained Professor Shoji Takeuchi from the University of Tokyo. The scientists achieved this breakthrough by utilizing an artificial circulatory system consisting of fine, hollow fibers to transport nutrients to the meat as it grows. “This looks like a transformative step; it’s a really elegant solution. They’ve created something of a size and scale that people are hardwired to eat: it’s the chicken nugget model,” said Professor Derek Stewart of the James Hutton Institute in Dundee, Scotland. (24) In the future, cultured meat grown in a laboratory may be almost indistinguishable from the real thing.

 

First, we had genetically modified foods, then we had cultured meat. Soon, you might be able to pour yourself a tall glass of lab-grown milk. Brown Foods, based in Boston, Massachusetts, has developed a product it calls UnReal Milk. The product is produced using mammalian cell culture and is designed to replicate the taste, texture, and nutritional profile of natural milk. The product can even be used to make cheese, butter, and ice cream. According to the company, the main motivation for developing the product is to fight climate change. “The future of food faces significant challenges,” remarked Sohail Gupta, Co-founder and CEO of Brown Foods. “When it comes to dairy, cattle farming accounts for 30 percent of global methane emissions, while supply chain adulteration remains a major problem. Additionally, cattle farming depends on optimal climatic conditions, and milk production cannot be easily regulated, as seen during COVID-19, when supply chain disruptions made it impossible to simply pause milk production. UnReal Milk aims to address these challenges by providing a scalable, animal-free, and sustainable alternative, leveraging technology to offer a safer and more controllable dairy solution.” (25)

 

What do all of these endeavors of man have in common? Whether it be cloning, de-extinction, genetically modified organs, or lab grown meat, humanity is attempting to correct perceived flaws in the natural order of the world. Yet, the flaws that exist in nature and society exist because sin entered the world when humanity fell into disobedience against God. As such, we should note that you cannot fix all of the problems that permeate our world until the problem of sin is addressed and remedied first. Humanity certainly cannot fix anything without God’s help. Psalm 127:1 declares, “Except the LORD build the house, they labour in vain that build it: except the LORD keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain.” Jesus further taught in John 15:5, “I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.” Furthermore, when man attempts to fix what is broken, the solution is sometimes worse than the problem. I encourage every reader of this newsletter to put their full trust and confidence in God. If you have not yet repented of your sins and dedicated your life to God, I urge you to do so now.

 

Thank you for your kind support of this ministry. If you have any prayer needs, we invite you to send us your requests. We always give each request individual attention. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen.

 

Samuel David Meyer

 

This newsletter is made possible by the kind donations of our supporters. If you would like to help us, you may send your contribution to our postal address or donate online at http://lasttrumpetnewsletter.org/donate.

 

References

 

01.Understanding Animal Research, January 6, 2022, By Mia Rozenbaum, understandinganimalresearch.org.uk.

02. Ibid.

03. Viagen, https://www.viagenpets.com/product/initiate-cloning/

04. Understanding Animal Research, January 6, 2022, By Mia Rozenbaum, understandinganimalresearch.org.uk.

05. National Public Radio, June 8, 2023, By John Ruwitch, npr.org.

06. ARS Technica, March 4, 2025, By John Timmer, arstechnica.com.

07. Metro, March 4, 2025, By Jen Mills, metro.co.uk.

08. National Public Radio, April 8, 2025, By Joe Hernandez and Rob Stein, npr.org.

09. Ibid.

10. ABC News, December 20, 2024, By Morgan Norwood, Osej Serratos, Milan Miller, and Sean Keane, abcnews.go.com.

11. Ibid.

12. Ibid.

13. Ibid.

14. CNN, March 12, 2025, By Hilary Whiteman, cnn.com.

15. Ibid.

16. Daily Galaxy, April 3, 2025, By Arezki Amiri, dailygalaxy.com.

17. The Royal Society, May 2016, By The Royal Society, royalsociety.org.

18. Ibid.

19. The Washington Post, March 3, 2025, By Trisha Pasricha, MD, washingtonpost.com.

20. SciTechDaily, March 5, 2025, By Johns Hopkins University, scitechdaily.com.

21. Just Food, March 10, 2025, By Andy Coyne, just-food.com.

22. Ibid.

23. Ibid.

24. The Guardian, April 16, 2025, By Ian Sample, theguardian.com.

25. Forbes, February 24, 2025, By Daphne Ewing-Chow, forbes.com.