News and Prophecy Staff

Pope Francis visited Sweden this week during the celebration of the Reformation’s 500th year to promote “efforts to heal the 500-year-old rift between Catholics and Protestants” (Wall Street Journal, October 30, 2016). While the Pope praised some of Martin Luther’s actions (which led to the split between Catholics and Protestants), he focused on “moving beyond the controversies and disagreements” and illustrated the need for unification.

As Germany stations tanks in Lithuania to “reinforce the Baltic states” against potential Russian aggression (Deutsche Welle, October 27, 2016), and Russia unveils its newest ICBM, the Satan 2, “capable of wiping out parts of the earth the size of Texas or France” (CNN, October 26, 2016), a new poll reveals that 32 percent of Germans “believe it is possible that war could bre

Last week, “a rapid succession of small earthquakes—three measuring above magnitude 4.0—began rupturing near Bombay Beach [California], continuing for more than 24 hours. Before the swarm started to fade, more than 200 earthquakes had been recorded… The temblors were not felt over a very large area, but they have garnered intense interest—and concern—among seismologists.

“Since the dawn of the Internet, the world wide web has been controlled by the U.S. government’s Commerce Department. As of Saturday [October 1, 2016], the American government is no longer in charge” (International Business Times, October 3, 2016).

Despite the seemingly troubled relationship between Israel and Washington, America continues to provide 15-20 percent of Israel’s military budget. U.S. military gifts to Israel include the highly advanced F-35 fighter jet (Deutsche Welle, September 14, 2016). Some wonder why America is so supportive of Israel. Is it because Israel is a lone democracy in the Middle East, or because of a strong pro-Israel lobby in Washington?