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News in Brief, 31 August 2018

31 Aug 2018 General
News in Brief, 31 August 2018

A selection of the week's happenings to aid your prayers.

Society & Politics

  • Home abortion pills face legal challenge: Government plans to allow women to take abortion pills at home, without medical supervision, are being challenged as unlawful by the Society for the Protection of the Unborn Child. Read more here.
  • Women’s Minister expresses caution over gender transitioning: Victoria Atkins has said that such life-changing treatments should be approached with extreme care, especially where young people are concerned. Her comments in The Telegraph received an immediate backlash from the transgender lobby. Read more here.
  • Call for Corbyn to resign: Prominent watchdog Campaign Against Anti-Semitism has called for Jeremy Corbyn to step down. Read more here. CAA’s online petition calling for Corbyn’s resignation has garnered over 35,000 signatures since it started earlier this week. Meanwhile, Jewish Labour MPs will reportedly be given bodyguards at the upcoming Party Conference to protect them from Corbyn supporters.

Church Issues

  • Iranian Christians sentenced: 12 Iranian Christians have been sentenced to a year in prison (having already served three) for “propaganda activities…in favour of Zionist Christianity”. Read more here. Four other believers have also been sentenced to a total of 45 years in prison for “illegal church activities”. Iran remains one of the most dangerous places in the world to be a believer.
  • Christian girl abducted by Boko Haram still alive: 15-year-old Leah Sharibu remains in captivity after refusing to renounce her faith, according to her freed classmates. A recording of her appealing for help was released this week. Read more here.

World Scene

  • Canada’s Conservative Party vows to move embassy to Jerusalem: As a campaign promise, the Party has pledged to recognise Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and relocate the Canadian embassy. Read more here. The next election is in October and polls predict a close race between the Conservatives and Trudeau’s Liberal Party.
  • Australia’s new evangelical Christian PM: Scott Morrison is a Pentecostal who declared in his maiden speech to Parliament: “Our task is not to claim whether God is on our side but to pray earnestly that we are on His”. Morrison is likely to be a strong supporter of Israel. Read more here and here.
  • Iran sanctions latest: The EU announced last week a €50 million aid package for Iran and has been working to circumvent renewed US sanctions. In a snub to the US, Iran has signed a deal promising to help rebuild Syria’s military, while its legal case against the sanctions has come before the UN’s top court this week. The US has pushed back by putting Iran ‘on notice’. Read more here.

Israel & Middle East

  • Further US funding cuts in support of Israel: After a starter cut of $65 million in January, the USA will reportedly cut all its funding to UNWRA, the UN agency dedicated to Palestinian ‘refugees’, totalling $350 million per year. $200m in bilateral aid to the Palestinians will also be ‘redirected’. Read more here. Plans have been announced to cut US funding of the UNHRC in protest of its anti-Israel bias, and a bipartisan bill has been introduced which, if passed, would impose sanctions on terror groups like Hamas for using human shields. Palestinian leaders are reportedly betting their future on Trump being successfully impeached after November’s mid-term elections. Read more here.
  • US to reject ‘right of return’? The US appears to be preparing to reject the UN’s definition of Palestinian refugees (which applies refugee status to descendants as well as first-generation refugees) and drop the ‘right of return’ issue from the negotiating table. Read more here.
  • Russian naval build-up: As Assad prepares to attack the last rebel-held enclave of Idlib, a large Russian naval fleet have assembled in the Mediterranean off Syria. Read more here. Russian FM Sergei Lavrov has described Idlib as a ‘festering abscess’ that needs to be ‘liquidated’.

Upcoming Events

  • Day of Prayer for Britain: Brexit, Unity & Reformation (Central London): Saturday 8 September, 10am-6pm, Westminster Central Hall. “Until Britain, and the Church, turn back to the Truth of the Word of God, there is no hope for this nation.” Intercessions led by David Hathaway, Dennis Greenidge, Barry Segal and others. Tickets £10 + booking fee. Find out more by clicking here.
  • European Creation Conference (Central London): 21-22 September. Creation Ministries International’s two-day conference including fascinating presentations on a range of subjects from 16 speakers, as well as a youth programme. Emmanuel Centre, Westminster. Full price £20, day tickets £12, kids go free. Click here for full details and to book, or call 01162 848999 (normal office hours).
  • Foundations 10 (Devon): 29 October-2 November. Theme: Further into the Lion’s Den. Join David Andrew and Steve Maltz for Hebraic teaching and worship at the Sidholme Hotel, Sidmouth. From £280pp. Click here to find out more and for booking information.

 

Recommended Sources

At Prophecy Today UK we are aware that the world is moving very quickly and it is difficult to keep up with all the latest developments – especially when the material circulated by our mainstream media is increasingly far from reality and definitely not devoted to a biblical perspective!

Though we are not a news service, we want to help keep you informed by passing on updates and reports as we are led. This will be a selective, not an exhaustive, round-up, which we hope will be helpful for your prayers. Click here to browse our News archive.

We also recommend the following news services for regular updates from a Christian perspective: