Church Issues

• Bristol preacher abused while police watch: A street preacher from Bristol says he has been spat on and subjected to racist abuse while police have stood by watching, refusing to act. Read more here.
  
• Scottish church attendance capped at 50: Congregations in Scotland are now able to meet again, but with a suggested maximum number of 50 people – a cap which is not being levelled at cinemas or restaurants. Read more here and here.
  
• Sudan’s apostasy law abolished: Christians in Sudan are rejoicing after their government removed legislation which made leaving Islam punishable by death. Read more here and here.

World Scene

• Hagia Sophia to re-open as mosque: The former main cathedral of the Byzantine Empire has been turned from a museum into a mosque. President Erdogan has said that the move augurs well for the Islamic ‘liberation’ of Temple Mount. Read more here. Erdogan has been expelling foreign Christians from Turkey in efforts to Islamise the country. Read more here.
  
• US sanctions China for treatment of Hong Kong: President Trump has signed into law sanctions on Chinese entities due to its oppressive treatment of Hong Kong, and has ended the US’ preferential treatment of the city state. Read more here.
  
• Covid-19 increasing ‘deaths of despair’: Any advances in the war on drugs in the US appear to be being lost as Covid-19 fuels a spike in opioid deaths linked to depression and hopelessness. Read more here.

Israel & Middle East

• Sovereignty to go on the back burner? Even though an influential lobby in the Knesset put forward a bill this week to apply sovereignty to all Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria, the Knesset Speaker has suggested that a lack of US support will delay the plans significantly. Read more here.
  
• Iran suffers mysterious explosions at key sites: Important military and infrastructural sites in Iran have been subject to unexplained explosions and fires in the last weeks. Read more 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: