News and Prophecy Staff

The tragic plight of hundreds of girls kidnapped by Boko Haram in Nigeria have been in the news for nearly two years, but there has been little mention of some 10,000 boys kidnapped by Boko Haram to use as child soldiers (Wall Street Journal, August 12, 2016). Boys as young as age five have been taught to fight and kill by teenage boys fearing for their own lives. Many of these boys have been sent into battle unarmed and often under the influence of opiates.

“One of the most important prelates in the Catholic Church in Hungary has warned that the enormous waves of migrants rolling into Europe are due in no small part to a Muslim ‘will to conquer,’ by expanding their territory into the continent. ‘Jihad is a principle for Muslims that means they must expand. The earth must become dar al-Islam, that is, Islamic territory, by introducing Shariah—Islamic law’” (Breitbart, August 3, 2016).

A German news source recently reported, “Ansbach, Munich, Würzburg, Nice, Brussels—in light of the many horrific news stories, many are asking: What’s the matter with 2016? Has the world gone mad?...

“China is challenging the balance of power in the Pacific with much greater determination… A symbolic moment was reached in 2014 when the IMF announced that, measured in terms of purchasing power, China is now the world’s largest economy… China’s rise is just part of a larger shift in economic power. According to the IMF, three of the world’s four largest economies are now in Asia” (Financial Times, August 5, 2016).

After decades of misrule that has destroyed his nation’s economy and caused widespread suffering, Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe is losing the support of his own military.