Displaying items by tag: North America

Last week you prayed for South Asia’s humanitarian crisis with 9.6 million people affected by monsoon floods (three times more deaths than last year). This week floods took a turn for the worse in Nepal. In China relentless heavy rains have pummelled areas for a month. Yangtze River areas are overwhelmed, causing anxiety along the world's largest hydroelectric power plant, the 2.3-km Three Gorges Dam Already, 40 million people have been uprooted and 400+ rivers have overflowed. The dam, 300 km west of Wuhan, threatens to flood the first city to have been hit by coronavirus. In Texas, Hurricane Hanna has left some areas ‘totally under water’ and knocked out power across a region already reeling from a surge in coronavirus cases. Pray for communities with strained health care systems caused by coronavirus now airlifting patients to larger cities or areas away from floods.

Florida’s hurricane season also has the complication of coronavirus this year. Two million residents live in evacuation zones with 82 permanent shelters provided, but after months of instructions to stay home and observe social distancing, will residents evacuate and risk an atmosphere conducive for virus transferral? Tropical Storm Isaias is approaching, so coronavirus testing centres have closed. When the mayor puts out the evacuation order, will the risk of catching coronavirus keep people from leaving homes in areas where they should get out? Pray for successful distancing preparations in shelters, and for the spirit of fear to be replaced with serenity. In Paraguay, violent protests broke out after the government put part of the country back into lockdown. Shops were looted and lorries set on fire, and a number of police were injured. Paraguay borders Brazil, the country with the second-highest number of infections worldwide, and is heavily reliant on cross-border trade. Pray for Latin Americans facing poverty violence and sickness.

In response to US parents not knowing what to do with their children who had been sent home from closed schools, Verses for Zion (VfZ)was born, a biblically-rooted project connecting Christian children to Israel, as an opportunity to engage them in a multigenerational project with parents and grandparents. Now, as summer is starting and schools that had opened are closing again, it offers parents a way to add meaning and substance to their children's extended vacation. VfZ, the brainchild of an Orthodox Israeli Jew and an evangelical Christian pastor in Texas, aims to give children the opportunity to learn more about God, His Word and His people. One mother said, ‘It entrenches children’s faith and deepens their understanding of God, the Bible and how that relates to us today through Israel.’

November 2020 will be the 400th anniversary of the arrival of the Pilgrim Fathers from Plymouth, England, to Plymouth, Massachusetts. They left England to escape religious persecution and establish the freedom of self-government, in the New World. The Declaration of Independence and the constitution were laid down by the founding fathers. The USA became a blessing to desperate and hopeful people from the nations, because of the culture of freedom and faith in God. American missionaries invested their lives in the spiritual restoration of the Old Continent, and until now have continued to impact the nations of Europe with the Kingdom of God. However, the strategy of the enemy is to destabilise, create conflicts in society, and gain control of governments. In 2020 the tragic death of George Floyd, BLM riots, and an out-of-control pandemic are threatening a divided electorate prior to November’s elections and the 400th anniversary of God’s freedom in the new world.

45 days before the first coronavirus case was announced, a global health security index was published, showing how prepared countries were to tackle a serious pandemic outbreak. The USA was ranked best out of 195 nations. Days before Trump’s inauguration, the Obama administration urged his team to get ready for a pandemic that could be the worst since 1918. Warning of possible ventilator shortages, it stressed the importance of a coordinated response. However, the Trump team, ignoring the advice, shut down the White House office devoted to pandemic preparedness set up by Obama. On 18 January health secretary Alex Azar, a practising Christian, warned Trump of potential danger from the virus, but Trump called him an ‘alarmist’, saying it was just one person coming in from China. See

A Venezuelan activist has warned Americans that torching and toppling historical statues could be dangerous. She noted that destructive behaviour toward significant figures such as George Washington, Christopher Columbus, and Abraham Lincoln, is an effort to destroy a national identity. When she was a teenager in Venezuela statues came down because Chavez didn't want Venezuela’s history displayed. Then he changed the street names, school curriculum and some movies couldn't be shown on TV. Meanwhile, the USA’s top infectious disease expert warned, ‘Over recent days we've seen a pandemic spike well beyond the worst previous ones. We’ve got to get that under control or we risk an even greater outbreak.’

Leaders of a megachurch in Phoenix installed air-purifying machines that they claimed ‘kill 99.9% of Covid-19 within ten minutes’ before hosting Donald Trump’s campaign rally on 23 June. They then backtracked shortly before he spoke, causing confusion Senior pastor Barnett said the alleged virus-killing technology, developed by members of their church, ‘ionised the air’ by ‘taking particulates out’ to create a pandemic-free atmosphere. Potential Trump supporters were told, ‘When you come into our auditorium, 99% of Covid is gone, you'll be safe and protected. Thank God for great technology.’ A university professor said the ‘technology’ was not going to do anything to protect people in that space: ‘We’re in the midst of a serious pandemic and health situation; the last thing people need is false information about air cleaning technology.’ May God’s hand direct scientists and academics to end the pandemic with a successful vaccine. 

Intercessors for America (IFA) have asked for intercessors to take a few minutes to pray for America’s elected officials and then send a message to them to let them know that prayer is critical for America at this time. They want to encourage their leaders to seek God for answers to the chaos in the streets, the bitter divide between citizens, and the struggling economy. IFA want the nation to cry out to God in a wave of prayer, and are inviting intercessors far and wide to join them; saying, ‘We have the answer that many are seeking in our nation - it is God. Remember that this battle is spiritual at its root, and we must continue to press in to Him as well as take action. Thank you for being faithful to do just that.’

One under-reported story in the Los Angeles race riots is the targeting of synagogues, Molotov cocktails thrown at Jewish businesses and looting in the cities Jewish area. Among the vandalised synagogues was the Congregation Beth Israel which was covered with graffiti that read ‘Free Palestine, F— Israel’. The Conference of Jewish affairs says much of the destruction and defacement of Jewish synagogues and stores is deliberate - targeted acts of anti-Semitism. A law professor said, ‘At least one African-American rights movement has been accused of anti-Semitism in the past. We have known for years that a movement affiliated with Black Lives Matter is anti-Jewish. In 2016 they used the word ‘genocide’ to describe Israel’s treatment of the Palestinians. It is a tragedy that Black Lives Matter - which has done such good raising awareness of police abuses - has moved from its central mission and declared war against the Jewish people.’

Eight minutes of phone footage captured his last breath, but in Houston they know George Floyd as a mentor to a generation of young men. Before moving to Minneapolis for a job opportunity through a Christian work programme, he spent almost his entire life in the black Third Ward, where he was called ‘Big Floyd’ and regarded as a community leader and elder statesmen. He wanted to break the cycle of violence he saw among young people, and used his influence to bring outside ministries to the area to do discipleship and outreach. The pastor of Resurrection Houston said, ‘George Floyd was a person of peace sent from the Lord, who helped the gospel go forward in that place. He wanted to see young men put their guns down and have Jesus instead of the streets.’