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

Society & Politics

• Brexit withdrawal bill moves to Lords: Boris Johnson’s Withdrawal Agreement Bill passed its third reading in the Commons on Thursday 330 to 210 and now moves to the House of Lords. Read more here.
  
• NHS taken to court over trans kids: A former employee of the Tavistock Clinic together with the mother of a patient are taking the NHS’s flagship gender identity service to court over concerns about approach to the treatment of young people. Read more here. FOI requests regarding the Government’s inquiry into this issue have been denied. Read more here.
  
• Fresh scrutiny for Christian doctor: GP Richard Scott is facing fresh investigation from the General Medical Council for offering to pray with his patients, despite his case being dropped at the end of last year. Read more here.
  
• NSS takes aim at Parliament prayers: The National Secular Society is leading a new effort to have Christian prayers before Parliamentary sessions removed. Read more here.
  
• Mayor of Liverpool calls for honesty about slave trade: Mayor Joe Anderson has called for city buildings, streets and paintings with connections to the slave trade to have plaques explaining their history. Read more here.

Church Issues

• Wycliffe ready for 400 new translations: The Bible translation group has announced that translators representing over 400 language groups currently with no Bible translation are ready to begin work. Read more here. Also this week, two US ministries have announced plans to make a film about the life of Jesus for the deaf community, in which actors will use sign language.
  
• Boko Haram beheads bride en route to wedding: A spate of attacks over Christmas and New Year by the Nigerian Islamists and their affiliates have included a bride and two close friends being stopped on their way home for her wedding and beheaded by the side of the road. Read more here. Other incidents have included the beheading of 11 hostages on film, raids on Christian villages and the abduction of a senior Christian pastor, who appeals for help in this hostage video.

World Scene

• Pope calls for ‘Global Education Pact’: Pope Francis used his New Year address to renew his call for a global educational agreement in order to promote “universal solidarity and a new humanism”, with particular reference to climate change and multi-faith dialogue. The pact is expected to be signed in May. Read more here.
  
• Hollywood applauds abortion at Golden Globes: In her award acceptance speech, actress Michelle Williams paid tribute to her past abortion(s) for enabling her career, to audience applause. Read more here. Also this week, new statistics indicate that abortion remains the top global killer, claiming over 42 million lives globally during 2019. Read more here. 1 in 7 abortions in the USA are not wanted by the mother (e.g. are coercive), a new study claims.

Israel & Middle East

• Serious flooding in Israel: Seven people are dead and hundreds in hospital after heavy rains have caused extensive flooding in towns and cities across the country. Read more here. Since the record-breaking rains started the Sea of Galilee has risen by more than 17 inches, including 9 inches in 24 hours between Wednesday and Thursday of this week.

Events

• Moedim meeting (London): 17 January, All Souls Clubhouse. ‘Head of the month’ Hebraic meeting led by Steve Maltz and Paul Luckraft. Find out more here.
  
• Children of the Holocaust Exhibition (N. Wales): 26-29 January, Deeside. An exhibition focusing on the 1.5 million children who perished in the Holocaust. The young victims’ stories will be told by children, with Stephanie McMahon Kaye (a retired Holocaust educator from Yad Vashem, Jerusalem) as guest speaker. Father’s House Sabbath Congregation, Shotton. For more information, call 01244 823378.
  
• Our Kids Are Being Taught What?! Part 2 (London): 22 February. The second in a series of conferences on sex, gender, relationships and young people, with a particular focus on how parents can respond to popular messages being levelled at children and teens. St Luke’s Church, Wimbledon Park, 10:30am-5:30pm. Find out more and book tickets here.

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