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

Society & Politics

• Noah’s Ark docks in UK: The life-size replica of Noah’s Ark has arrived in Orwell Quay, Ipswich on its way from the Netherlands and will stay for three months, during which time it will be open to the public. Read more here.
  
• Catholic Lib Dem candidate de-selected: Ex-Labour MP Rob Flello was announced as a Lib Dem candidate on Monday, only to be swiftly deselected due to his pro-life tweets. Read more here and here. Last week, Labour MP of 27 years Roger Godsiff was deselected by Labour’s National Executive Committee after backing parents protesting pro-LGBTQ+ primary education.
  
• Schools should consult parents on Relationships Ed, says DfE: The Department for Education has put itself against the Equality and Human Rights Commission in encouraging schools to involve parents in developing their policy. Read more here. Also this week, the Christian Institute has published a new set of advisory resources for parents outlining what schools can and cannot do in the name of equality and human rights. Read more here.
  
• Rise in occult abuse of children: The Local Government Association has published new statistics showing that the number of children suffering abuse underlain by witchcraft has risen by 30% in the last three years. Read more here.
  
• Christian retailer refuses ‘Black Friday’ pressure: Online Christian bookshop Eden is refusing to participate in the upcoming Black Friday sales event because of the pressure it puts on people to buy what they can’t afford. Read more here.
  
• Dozens of media personalities denounce Corbyn’s anti-Semitism: Writing to The Guardian, 23 well-known actors, authors, TV and radio presenters and others have denounced Corbyn and the Labour Party over its anti-Semitism scandal. Read more here. The Campaign Against Anti-Semitism has announced this week that there will be another rally against anti-Semitism in Parliament Square on 8 December. Find out more here.

World Scene

• Thousands of Bible requests following Kanye album release: The hip hop artist’s new album ‘Jesus is King’, featuring songs testifying to his recent conversion, led the American Bible Society to offer 1,000 free Bibles to enquirers, only to receive 6,000 requests so far. Read more here.
  
• Pressure on Hollywood for more LGBTQ+ characters: LGBTQ+ pressure group GLAAD are calling for 1/5 of regular prime-time TV characters to be made LGBTQ+ in the next five years. Read more here.
• Turkey begins deporting ISIS militants: Turkey has more than a thousand foreign ISIS members in custody and is beginning the process of sending them back to their original countries. Read more here.
• New Zealand to vote on euthanasia: The Government’s bill to liberalise the country’s assisted dying laws will be put to the public in a binding referendum in 2020. The law on decriminalising abortion may also be put to a public vote. Read more here.
  

Israel & Middle East

• Shaky Gaza ceasefire after dramatic exchange: After as many as 450 rockets were fired by Islamic Jihad into civilian areas of southern Israel in 50 hours, a fragile ceasefire was brokered on Wednesday night. Read more here.

Events

• Mark van Niekerk in Kurdistan (18-30 November): The Simon Initiative evangelist will be encouraging believers and dispersing funds to Kurdish refugees from Syria and the families of Kurds who died fighting ISIS. Mark sends his thanks to all Prophecy Today UK readers who have supported him financially or in prayer up to now. Read our last report on his work here.
• Bringing Hope (23 November, Central London): 10am-4pm, Emmanuel Centre, Westminster. Join Christian Concern at their annual celebration and find out about their Gospel witness in the nation. £15, including lunch. Find out more and book tickets here.

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