Church Scene

• Foreign Secretary orders review of Christian persecution: Jeremy Hunt has ordered an independent, global review of the persecution of Christians, which will recommend things the British Government can do to help support victims. Read more here.
  
• Clergy backlash against CofE transgender services: Ten bishops and a number of clergy are retaliating against new Church of England guidance encouraging trans ‘celebration’ services, arguing that the services ‘misuse’ the concept of baptism. Read more here.
  
• Mass grave of Christian ISIS victims found: The bodies of 34 Ethiopian Christians have been discovered in a mass grave on a farm in Libya, in what was previously ISIS-held territory. They may be the believers whose beach executions were filmed and shared widely on social media in 2015. Read more here.

World Scene

• USA and Israel quit UNESCO: At the stroke of midnight on 31 December 2018, both Israel and the US quit the UN’s cultural agency on the grounds of its anti-Israel bias. Read more here. In 2018 the UN General Assembly passed 27 condemnatory resolutions, 21 of which were aimed at Israel. Read more here.
  
• Ethiopian Nile dam to start operating in 2020: Africa’s biggest hydro-electric dam project has been beset with delays. This week it was announced that operation will begin in 2020 and run to full capacity by 2022. There are fears that this will restrict water flowing into Egypt, whose fast-growing population depends on the Nile for almost all of its water. Read more here and here.
  
• ¼ of Holocaust victims killed in 100 days in 1942: A new study reveals that, contrary to previous estimates, 1.5 million Jews murdered during the Holocaust perished during an astonishingly intense killing spree in the autumn of 1942. This exceeds the intensity of the Rwandan genocide, previously thought to be the swiftest killing campaign of the 20^th Century. Read more here.

Israel & Middle East

• Israel to go to polls on 9 April: Before Christmas, PM Netanyahu announced an early general election, bringing the date forward from autumn 2019 to the spring. Since then, several parties have split and new ones have formed in a major shake-up of Israeli politics. Netanyahu is still predicted an easy win. Read more here.
  
• 2018 a ‘banner year’ for Israeli diplomacy: Israel enjoyed some major diplomatic successes last year, marking what some see as a sea-change in its international position. Tourism to Israel hit record levels and levels of Aliyah also increased in 2018. Meanwhile, Hamas fired 1,000 rockets on Israel during the course of the year, compared to just 35 in 2017, 15 in 2016 and 21 in 2015. Read more here.

Upcoming Events

• Next 'Moedim' meeting (London): Friday 11 January 2019, All Soul's Clubhouse, 141 Cleveland St, W1T 6QG. 'Head of the month' Hebraic meeting with worship and teaching. This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. for more information.
• A Day of Prayer and Fasting for God to Deliver our Nation from Chaos! Saturday 26 January 2019, The SSE Arena, Wembley, 10am-6pm. Organised by David Hathaway. Dr Clifford Hill will be speaking. Tickets now available. Click here for more information and to book.
  
• Issachar Ministries conference: Monday 18 – Wednesday 20 March. ‘Brexit: Hardship or Harvest?’. Swanwick, Derbyshire. Call the office for more details and to book: 01767 223270 (currently closed for Christmas - re-opens Wednesday 2 January).
  
• A Day of Prayer in Westminster: Friday 29 March (Brexit Day). The Emmanuel Centre. Organised by Issachar Ministries. With Dr Clifford Hill, David Hathaway and others. Click here for more information and to book tickets.

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:

• Christian Concern (UK)
• Christian Institute (UK)
• JNN News (Barry and Batya Segal, Israel)
• Worthy News (Israel)
• Family Watch International
• Barnabas Fund
• Kehila News (Israel)