News and Prophecy Staff

Social media was designed to “connect” people through the Internet. However, we are witnessing the rise of a new phenomenon: social media-inspired violence (Deutsche Welle, November 11, 2018). Social media platforms are now being used by individuals and governments to spread false or intentionally misleading content in order to promote violence and unrest.

A newly released report by the bipartisan National Defense Strategy Commission noted that America’s military is in dire condition (Defense News, November 14, 2018). The Commission warned “The U.S. military could suffer unacceptably high casualties and loss of major capital assets in its next conflict…. It might struggle to win, or perhaps lose, a war against China or Russia.

During a small ceremony on December 10, the last day of the Jewish Hanukkah festival, temple activists dedicated a portable altar just outside the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. The dedication ceremony involved priests in traditional dress and a slaughtered lamb as an offering, although the sheep was slaughtered off-site.

As the United States moves forward with plans to exit from the INF arms control treaty with Russia and also discusses placing more missiles in Europe, Russian leaders are voicing growing concerns. Recently, the Russian ambassador to the EU warned that “the US risks triggering ‘dramatic events’ if it stations missiles in Europe” (Financial Times, November 21, 2018).

The title of a recent New York Times Magazine article read like a stark announcement: “The Insect Apocalypse Is Here” (November 27, 2018). The article describes the devastating loss of insect populations around the globe in recent decades. According to research cited in the article, Monarch butterfly populations in the U.S. have declined by 90 percent in the last 20 years. The rusty-patched bumblebee has declined by 87 percent during the same period.