News and Prophecy Staff

Last week, an apparently Russia-based ransomware gang held U.S.-based Colonial Pipeline electronically hostage until it paid $4.4 million in untraceable cryptocurrency (New York Times, May 14, 2021). Colonial Pipeline handles half of the gasoline and jet fuel used on the east coast of the United States.

For the last couple weeks, an intense fight has raged in the Holy Land. Following an Israeli court case to evict several Palestinian families from their homes in Jerusalem and Israeli police action on the Temple Mount, Hamas began barraging Israeli border cities with thousands of rockets launched from Gaza (Reuters, May 17, 2021). Israel responded with its own targeted attacks on suspected rocket launch sites within Gaza.

While it might seem preposterous, in nations that once composed “Christendom,” believing in and preaching from the Bible is now subject to persecution and threats of criminal charges. Recently, a 71-year-old preacher in London was arrested, hand-cuffed, and jailed for publicly preaching from the book of Genesis that marriage was between one man and one woman (Newsweek.com, May 2, 2021).

As a country, Israel is quite small—smaller than Belgium, about half the size of Costa Rica, and roughly the same size as the state of New Jersey. But as small as it is, Israel is experiencing drastic differences in precipitation across the country (Times of Israel, April 5, 2021).

New research by Shanna Swan, an epidemiologist with Mount Sinai Medical Center, projects that “by 2045 most men may no longer be able to reproduce because of the impact of hormone-altering chemicals” in their environment (Politico, March 10, 2021). This research also suggests that female fertility rates are falling by about 1 percent each year.