News and Prophecy Staff

For forty years, the United Methodist Church (UMC) has banned the ordination of homosexual clergy. However, in April, the church overwhelmingly voted to overturn the ban by a landslide vote, 692 to 51 (BBC, May 2, 2024). As one UMC clergy member proudly observed following the vote, “With the approvals and acceptance of the things today...

With the Arctic on its northern border, Canada is looking into options to protect “the longest coastline in the world” (The Canadian Press, April 10, 2024). The Canadian defense strategy that originally called for conventionally powered submarines has led to further discussions centering on nuclear-powered submarines.

Continuing research is demonstrating that farmers in the Great Plains of the United States—America’s “bread basket”—are losing the battle against weeds (Reuters, January 16, 2024). Once-powerful herbicides are increasingly less effective. Twenty-one weed species globally are already “showing resistance to dicamba, the most recent major U.S.

What would happen if nations of the globe stopped fighting wars? How would this change the world, economies, and societies? Most people on earth long for a time when there will be no more war, but will that ever happen? The biblical prophet Isaiah wrote about such a future: “They shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore” (Isaiah 2:4). According to the Bible, a time of no more war will eventually come.

In recent decades, school curricula have been deliberately changed to be more girl friendly. These major efforts have aimed at narrowing the supposed “pay gap” between men and women. Scholarships have been established to boost female university participation. Women’s health is often prioritized in policymaking. Some governments, like that of Great Britain, even have a “Minister for Women.” Yet, one of the big casualties of this one-sided effort is that boys and men are failing abysmally.