News and Prophecy Staff

“Marauding feral pigs have blighted a central suburb in New Zealand’s capital, killing kid goats at an urban farm, intimidating dogs and turning up in residents’ gardens” (The Guardian, September 26, 2022). One goat milk dairy farmer lost 60 goat kids to rampaging pigs, and the pigs ate everything but the large bones of the goats. The feral pigs are descendants of those brought to the island by colonists in the 1700s.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un recently vowed his nation would never abandon nuclear weapons (Wall Street Journal, September 9, 2022). His comments accompanied new North Korean legislation authorizing its military to launch a nuclear strike “if an imminent attack against the country’s strategic targets, including its leadership, is detected” and allowing for the future use of automated systems to launch such strikes. U.S.

Pakistan is experiencing wide-spread flooding, along with a host of other challenges (Reuters, September 22, 2022). Hundreds of thousands of people are now displaced and living in open plains, as floodwaters cover large swaths of land. Experts predict it could take two to six months for floodwaters to fully recede. As a result of the stagnant water, mosquitos are breeding rapidly and malaria is spreading.

The Caribbean island nation of Haiti is in chaos as fuel prices soar and the government threatens to cease fuel subsidies (New York Times, September 21, 2022). All this in a nation where poverty is rampant and governmental stability has been fleeting for many decades. One opposition leader has called on crowds to close down local banks. A well-known gang leader also called on crowds to depose the sitting prime minister and “overturn” the system.

Last week, five red heifers arrived by airplane in Israel (Israel365news, September 16, 2022). The one-year-old female calves were bred and raised on a ranch in Texas, solely for the purpose of producing red heifers that could be used in purification rituals in Jerusalem. To meet Jewish rabbinical standards, the cows must have no more than two non-red hairs, must not have been used for any work, and must have no blemishes—including no brands or ears punctured by tagging.