This Week: Five Events You Need to Know (August 4)

Here are five of the most important news stories this week, as well as relevant links to the full articles and videos here on theTrumpet.com.

China Expands Economic, Military Influence in Sri Lanka

“Sri Lanka has become a case study of how Chinese money and clout have the capability to buy favors and concessions,” wrote the Asia Times. Recently, China has donated 2 billion yuan (us$295 million) for “any project of the [Sri Lankan president’s] wish,” a frigate and “various training.”

China’s recent acquisition of Sri Lanka’s Hambantota Port in exchange for more relaxed terms for paying its debts to China is, according to the New York Times, “one of the most vivid examples of China’s ambitious use of loans and aid to gain influence around the world—and of its willingness to play hardball to collect.”

These aggressive actions square up with the Bible’s description of China in the end time.

Fentanyl: China’s Secret Weapon to Destabilize America

Americans purchased nearly $800 million worth of the synthetic opioid fentanyl directly from Chinese chemical labs over a two-year period, a Senate report released earlier this year said. Taking advantage of the anonymity provided by digital currencies like bitcoin, Chinese sellers mailed an estimated 500 packages of the drug, which is 50 times more powerful than heroin, through the U.S. Postal Service.

After the start of the civil war between the Nationalist Party of China and the Communist Party of China, revolutionary leader Mao Zedong instructed his subordinates to cultivate poppies, create opium and then traffic it into non-Communist regions of China. As the people in those areas used the readily available drugs, their societies, governments and militaries became weaker and more vulnerable to conquest by the Communists.

Chinese strategy today still lists “drug warfare” as part of its larger military strategy to destabilize rivals.

Iran Continues to Arm Houthi Rebels

A panel of United Nations experts presented a confidential report to the UN Security Council on Tuesday detailing Iran’s alleged weapons exports to Yemen. Houthi rebels there are using missiles and drones that “show characteristics similar” to Iranian weapons.

This is in violation of a 2015 arms embargo against the Yemeni rebels.

In his booklet Germany’s Secret Strategy to Destroy Iran, Trumpet editor in chief Gerald Flurry writes, “Yemen is one of the most strategically important countries in the world.” Iran knows it, and it’s working to exploitit—and fulfill Bible prophecy in the process.

Venezuela’s Inflation Rate Heads Toward 1 Million Percent

The Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela is suffering one of the worst hyperinflation crises in history. The country’s annual inflation rate hit 46,305 percent last June as food prices doubled every 16 days. It is projected to top 1 million percent by the end of the year. That is 500,000 times higher than the current United States inflation rate. It’s unsustainable—unless Venezuela is bailed out by a foreign economic and political powerhouse.

California’s Fiery Trials—The Real Cause

One of the most destructive fires in California’s history, the Carr Fire, is still blazing in Shasta County. It has destroyed over 1,200 buildings and killed six people. But it is just one of dozens of fires raging in the Golden State at the moment.

“Wildfires are bigger, burn longer, cause more damage, and kill more people than before,” according to research contributed to by Ray Rasker, the executive director of Headwaters Economics. According to this research, the number of acres burned per fire in California, as well as the length of time these fires burn, has doubled since the 1990s. The time period each year when the Western United States is more prone to wildfires has also increased. In the 1970s, wildfire season was approximately 140 days long. Now, it is about 220 days long. Insurance losses have risen from an average of millions of dollars per year before 2000 to over $1 billion after the turn of the century.

California’s increasingly dangerous and destructive wildfires coincide with the state’s drought. Why is there an increase in these natural disasters? Are these California fires really just the random results of the weather? Many people who claim to believe in God are angered, saddened or just plain confused. Why would an all-powerful, all-loving God allow such destruction and suffering? Is He really all-loving? Does He even exist?

Our literature promises to provide you with satisfying answers to these profound questions.

“This Week” appears every weekend. To receive an update on our latest stories in your inbox ahead of time every Friday afternoon, subscribe to the Trumpet Brief daily e-mail. Sign up by clicking here or by visiting theTrumpet.com home page. ▪