News and Prophecy Staff

Conditions are deteriorating in the CAR, foreign governments are evacuating their citizens, and African Union and French forces are being sent to quell the violence which is mostly Muslim vs. Christian (BBC, December 31, 2013). There are more than 6,000 child soldiers in CAR, and factions are murdering and beheading children in “atrocious revenge attacks,” in a clear violation of international humanitarian law (ibid.).

For centuries, Jews have been forbidden to pray on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem—a site that is only open to Muslim worship (The Times, December 23, 2013). However, there is a growing movement in Israel for Jews to be able to pray where the ancient Temple stood.

At the fall meeting of the American Geophysical Union, University of Utah researchers reported new results of their study of the Yellowstone caldera. Dr. Bob Smith stated in a BBC interview, “We’ve been working there for a long time, and we’ve always thought it would be bigger… but this finding is astounding” (New York Post, December 12, 2013).

“A senior High Court judge is stepping down after being reprimanded by the Lord Chief Justice and Lord Chancellor for speaking out on the problems of marriage breakdown” (The Times, December 18, 2013). Last December, the judge, Sir Paul Coleridge, wrote an article that criticized “the Government’s plans to allow gay marriage and accused ministers of wasting effort on an issue that affects ‘0.1 per cent’ of the population.

Africa’s newest nation, South Sudan, is on the verge of civil war as two factions fight for power (Agence France-Presse [AFP], December 19, 2013). “Hundreds of people have been killed and thousands more terrified civilians have fled their homes” (ibid.).