Church Issues

• Thousands respond to virtual outreach: A US digital outreach programme claims to have seen 132,000 respond to a call to follow Jesus during its Good Friday event. Read more here. Also this week, a new worship phone line offering hymns, prayers and reflections from the Church of England received 6,000 calls in its first two days.
  
• Upsurge in violence against Mozambique Christians: Islamic fundamentalists murdered at least 57 believers in the first part of April in the country’s Muslim-majority northern province. Read more here.

World Scene

• Germany outlaws Hezbollah: Formerly maintaining a distinction between Hezbollah’s ‘political’ and ‘military’ wings, Germany has now consented to a full ban on support for the Lebanese terror group. Read more here.
  
• Women’s groups try to save women-only sports: Dozens of women’s rights groups from around the world are supporting a petition to the International Olympic Committee to prevent men who identify as women from competing in women’s sporting events. Read more here.
  
• Half of world’s workers to lose livelihoods? A UN agency is warning that nearly half the world’s working population stand to lose jobs or income due to the coronavirus pandemic. Read more here. The US economy shrank 4.8% in the first quarter of 2020 – the biggest decline since the recession of the late 2000s. Read more here.
  
• Wuhan lab ‘most likely’ origin of Covid-19: A US Government report suggests that though there is no hard proof, circumstantial evidence supports the theory of laboratory origin, while other explanations are less credible. Read more here and here.

Israel & Middle East

• US, Arabs respond to annexation plans: The US has said that it will support Israel annexing parts of the West Bank, so long as it is done within the parameters laid out in Trump’s Middle East peace plan. Read more here. The Arab League has also been meeting virtually this week to galvanise opposition to the proposed annexation. Read more here.

Events

• ‘Why is the UK Church declining?’ Presentation and live Q&A (Monday 4 May, 8pm): Join Dr Clifford and Monica Hill as they take part in Christian Concern’s ‘Gospel Issues’ seminar series. Watch here.
  
• ‘Why Israel? Now and Then’ webinar (Tuesday 5 May, 3pm): Experts from the ‘Whose Land?’ documentary discuss Israel and international law. With Col Richard Kemp, Prof Avi Bell, Hugh Kitson and others. Hosted by The Hetz. Register here.
  
• Family Watch Worldwide Webinar (Tuesday 12 May, 5pm): ‘UN Women Exposed: When Women’s Rights Become Women’s Wrongs’. For more information, to register and to watch previous webinars, go to www.familywatch.org/webinars.

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: