Displaying items by tag: USA

Philadelphia is critical to next week's presidential election. This week hundreds of protesters have been marching through the city demanding racial justice after police killed Walter Wallace, a black man suffering a mental health crisis. Police shot him because he wouldn't drop a knife. A police spokeswoman said that Wallace advanced towards them and they fired fourteen shots, hitting Mr Wallace in the shoulder and chest. She added, ‘One of the officers drove him to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead’. This statement is contradicted by bystanders and Mr Wallace's family lawyer, who said that the family called for an ambulance because of his bipolar disorder. Mr Wallace’s father said, ‘Why didn't they use a taser?’ The marches began peacefully but became more confrontational as the evening drew on. Protesters are looting and ransacking businesses. The National Guard has been deployed with officers in riot gear.

Louisiana and Mississippi were hit by two hurricanes and two tropical storms already this year; before recovering they are being hit again, by Hurricane Zeta, which is intensifying into a stronger-category storm as it moves north. Pray for five million residents preparing for the eye of the storm and the repair of damaged voting sites with the election days away. Across Indonesia high tides caused by the La Nina phenomenon in the Pacific has caused dozens of landslides and widespread flooding across most of 17,000 islands where millions of people live who are also bracing for further monsoon floods. Pray for emergency workers and residents, already battling the new coronavirus. May God assist them in responding to crises. A landslide at a coal mine on Sumatra killed 11 miners. After heavy rainfall over Vietnam a landslide killed 14 at an army barracks, burying many more. Typhoon Molave has now made landfall in Vietnam. 

Practising Christian Joe Biden, the Democratic presidential candidate, has been endorsed by the largest group of clergy in modern history. His endorsements mainly come from Catholics, evangelicals and mainline Protestants, including Billy Graham’s granddaughter Jerushah Duford, former US ambassador for religious freedom Susan Johnson Cook, Michael Kinnamon, former general secretary of the National Council of Churches, and former gay episcopal Bishop Gene Robinson. ‘This record-breaking group of endorsers shows that President Trump’s lack of kindness and decency is energising faith communities and will cost him this election’, said the director of the Christian campaign organisation Vote Common Good, which compiled the endorsements. Anti-abortion Republicans defecting from Trump are voting for Biden this year. Four years ago, religious voters looked the other way to give Trump a chance, but after witnessing his cruelty and corruption, a growing number are turning away from him. Biden has frequently spoken of how his faith has sustained him through challenging times.

Following the terrorist attacks of 9/11 and the Taliban Government refusing the USA’s demand for them to surrender Osama bin Laden, the longest war in US history began, killing 3,500 coalition soldiers and 110,000 Afghans. A Taliban insurgency continues, and its forces now control nearly 20% of Afghan territory. Almost half the land is ‘contested’, and the Taliban is stronger today than at any time since the war began. A large-scale US effort to defeat the Taliban would prove costlier than the American public (and therefore any president) is willing to bear. In February 2020 the Taliban agreed to stop their attacks on coalition forces and Afghan civilians, and the USA and NATO agreed to remove their forces by May 2021.  Once that happens, there will be nothing to prevent civil war because Pakistan, India, Russia, Iran and others will back their own proxies. Nobody wants a vacuum of power in the country.

Dr Jerome Adams grew up poor in rural Maryland on a family farm. Government assistance sustained the family. His mother recently had a major stroke. His brother struggles with substance abuse. All four grandparents died prematurely of chronic disease. An uncomfortable childhood prepared him for an ‘uncomfortable’ tenure as US surgeon general. He said, ‘I’m a Christian and I believe God doesn’t put you where you’ll be comfortable, He puts you where He needs you.’ He has been criticised for recommending the use of masks and for working with a president who some believe is ‘insensitive to people of colour’, saying, ‘Our issues as people of colour are too important to go four years without representation in the highest levels of government. I personally have faith that I am put where I am most needed. I spent my life fighting and will keep fighting for the poor, the disadvantaged, the people of colour.’

Donald Trump took off his face mask to enter the White House after being hospitalised with coronavirus. This dismissive message - 'don't be afraid of Covid, don't let it dominate your life' - immediately met with angry statements saying he was putting Americans at risk. The American Medical Association warned that 'the only thing we have to fear is complacency'. Meanwhile the 74-year-old tweeted that he was feeling 'better than I did 20 years ago!' On 7 October Trump described his Covid-19 illness as a blessing from God. He wants all Americans to have access to the treatment he was given, even though the drug has not been approved by federal regulators and its use is known to carry a risk affecting behaviour and judgment.  Coronavirus has claimed over 210,000 American lives, and many are saying his message was 'a slap in the face' to bereaved families. He has refused to take part in a TV debate with Joe Biden because it would have to take place virtually.

On 6 October Louisiana’s governor warned, ‘It is time to prepare for Hurricane Delta as it intensifies in the Caribbean. It is common for people to experience hurricane fatigue during a busy season, but we need everyone to take this threat seriously.’ Delta is the 10th named storm in America this season. After tearing down trees and power lines across Mexico’s Yucatan peninsula, Delta grew in size as it approached the northern Gulf Coast on 9 October. Life-threatening storm surges and hurricane-force winds are expected in the Louisiana coast, with as much as 12 inches of rain in places. State and local officials are shoring up levees, sandbagging and taking other protection measures in areas still recovering from Hurricane Laura, which roared ashore in August. Over 6,600 Laura evacuees remain in hotels around the state, mainly in New Orleans, because their homes are too heavily damaged to return. Pray for their peace of mind.

A New York Times investigation of Donald Trump’s taxes show chronic losses and years of tax avoidance. He paid $750 in federal income taxes the year he won the presidency, and the same amount in his first year in the White House. He paid no income taxes at all in ten years - because he reported losing more money than he made (see) Trump’s hair styling for television was claimed as $70,000 expenses, and $95,464 was the total sum that nine of Trump’s companies have paid to style his wife’s hair. Also $210,000 was written off as expenses to hire a photographer to take photographs at the Mar-a-Lago club. These are just a few of the expenses claimed. In total he paid no taxes in 11 of the 18 years the paper examined. A judge has ruled that his son, Eric Trump, must testify in the tax probe: see

A Louisville nurse, Breonna Taylor, was asleep with her partner Kenneth Walker III, when they heard a noise. They got up and went to the door shouting ‘Who is it?’ and got no reply. Plainclothes police entered the home without knocking, mistakenly thinking they would find drugs. Walker said he couldn't see but he fired one shot at the intruders, thinking they were burglars, hitting an officer in the leg. Next, the police fired over 30 rounds and killed Breonna. Their trial for murder was this week, but only one of the officers was indicted, on the charge of first-degree wanton endangerment. No-one was charged with murder. People are protesting nationally, saying that the message of this indictment is, ‘We don't care about you, especially if you are black, and even more if you are a woman.’ Police are using violence and pepper spray as the situation escalates in Philadelphia, Portland, Seattle, and elsewhere.

More than 1.8 million people tuned into Greg Laurie's new outreach film A Rush of Hope during the Labour Day weekend (4-7 September). It broke all attendance records in Harvest Crusades' thirty-year history as it aired on dozens of online streaming and on-demand channels and over 600 radio stations. It will also air on TV in major markets across the US and on cable networks; then it will be released to streaming platforms and on DVD in November. In a year of unending bad news the Harvest team heard from over 17,000 people who came to faith after they watched the film. Harvest’s founder said the film is a reminder that God is greater than a pandemic or any other challenge we are facing. He can do above and beyond anything we can dream, and He is still transforming lives. Watch the film’s trailer here