Displaying items by tag: North America

2,500 US stealth fighters and Philippine marines have blasted imaginary enemies in combat drills, mock amphibious assaults, and other coastal tactics. These drills were the first joint large-scale military exercise under the newly elected president. His predecessor was an outspoken critic who threatened to cut ties with Washington and was against military exercises which could offend Beijing. Held simultaneously with these drills were exercises between US and Japanese forces around Hokkaido island, involving 3,000 military personnel. The USA said the drills ensured that it was ‘prepared to respond rapidly to crises throughout the Indo-Pacific’. Japan’s Ground Self-Defence Force said they would strengthen response capabilities. These drills came as Washington and Beijing engage in heated rhetoric over the status of Taiwan and claims to islands and waters in the South China Sea. See the next article, Taiwan billionaire.

Samaritan’s Purse (SP) has disaster relief units in Florida, and volunteers are already working to help hurting homeowners after category 4 Hurricane Ian made landfall delivering 150-mph winds, torrential rain, and a massive storm surge that claimed dozens of lives. SP’s North American ministries responded and have quickly established volunteer bases with two partner churches, but they need an army of volunteers. Pray for thousands more to step forward and help the families who have damaged homes. They are urgently needed to serve as the hands and feet of Jesus to help those whose lives have been turned upside down. Teams are mudding-out flooded homes, removing downed trees and debris. Tractor trailers stocked with equipment and supplies are delivering to operation bases. The damage is incredible; people need prayers and support. Pray for all now hurting in Ian's wake, and for local churches facing their own losses while ministering to the suffering. 

During October Silk Wave church-planting teams will visit Turkey, Greece, and Egypt to restore worship and plant God’s Word. 37 people will participate from two US Korean churches, with second-term young missionaries working in Istanbul with partners from Istanbul Mission Centre. They will visit gateway churches of the region to hear about the ministry and vision while seeking God’s guidance on how each local church can work together evangelising and church-planting. In Greece the evangelism and church-planting is being pioneered through refugee ministries. In Cairo they will see the ministry of refugee children’s schools and study how they can work together with the missions to the Islamic world which are working in Egypt. Silk Wave asks us to pray for all participants in the field to receive and obey Holy Spirit guidance in every event.

On 27 September Florida’s governor told millions, ‘You must evacuate now’. By the 29th Hurricane Ian, the worst storm in US history, had devastated Florida with cars submerged, power lines downed, and rivers sweeping away homes. Storm surges of 18 feet are forcing water inland across 250 miles of coastline. At the time of writing a 140-mile wide system is crawling towards Orlando. 24 inches of rainfall is expected in the next 48 hours. The storm surge flooded Port Charlotte’s hospital emergency room, and fierce winds ripped away the intensive care roof. Pray for the evacuated 2.5 million people, the 30,000 search and rescue teams, the ambulance and medical teams, and the 7,000 National Guards ready to help once the weather clears. The hurricane knocked out Cuba’s entire electricity grid before reaching the USA.

On 14 September a tropical depression at the Leeward Islands became Hurricane Fiona, the first Category 4 hurricane of 2022. It triggered widespread flooding and mudslides across Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, and the Turks and Caicos, reaching Bermuda on the 22nd. Next it will pound Canada with damaging winds, flooding rain, storm surges, and coastal flooding. Serious threats are expected even if Fiona transitions into a non-tropical low: it could be one of the region's strongest storms in modern records. Pray for Puerto Rico, still without power and with over 450,000 still without water on 22 September. Pray for those repairing homes and infrastructure including collapsed highways, mudslides and blocked roads from uprooted trees and pylons. Pray for those preparing and delivering food rations, the injured, and those in mourning. May there be no diseases from standing stagnant water. Pray for farmers whose crops are ruined, and for all the rescue teams.

Cheaply-made fentanyl is made and distributed in rainbow colours by Mexican drug cartels to appeal to young children and teens. It is fuelling an addiction among American youth. The Drug Enforcement Administration says it is the deadliest drug America faces today. As Americans move further from biblical values, the effects are showing throughout the culture. Children are dying from fentanyl on school campuses while suicide, depression and anxiety rates are higher than ever before. 154 Americans die from fentanyl every day. Parents need to warn their children that fentanyl-laced pills are out there; more importantly, the youth of America need Jesus. They turn to drugs to fill voids and need to hear that God is the only one who can fill our voids and make us whole again. This is a growing national problem that will not be fixed until there are serious efforts to prevent drugs crossing the border.

US / Mexico border concerns are unaddressed; Americans are complaining. Judges and commissioners of 26 Texas counties have signed declarations of needing ‘protection from the influx of violent Mexicans’. They want constitutional authority to protect themselves from Mexican ‘paramilitary, narco-terrorist organisations that profit from trafficking people and drugs into the US and exploit insecure borders for their power and profit, harming local communities’. The counties say the Texas constitution allows them to 'defend themselves against invasion.’ Both the Republican Party and the Texas Public Policy Foundation want Texas to declare an invasion by unprecedented illegal immigration. They argue that Mexican cartels and their extensive criminal networks across US cities are threatening the lives of Texans and Americans. Meanwhile Governor Abbott has directed officials to apprehend illegal border crossers and return them to ports of entry. He is the only Texas governor to build a wall on Texas soil.

The Meeting House church in Oakville, Canada has had ‘substantiated’ sexual abuse allegations against its former leader, Bruxy Cavey. In June, he was charged with one count of sexual abuse after an internal investigation. Then the church announced two further investigations, as more accusations of sexual abuse against him and former pastor Tim Day were submitted: see In Australia the Charities and Not-for-Profits Commission launched an investigation into the Hillsong megachurch in March after a former employee alleged financial malpractice, including using tax-free money for ‘large cash gifts’ to former Hillsong global leader Brian Houston and his family. See also

The FBI search warrant of former president Donald Trump's Florida home authorised confiscation of every record he ever saw, read or created during his four years as commander-in-chief, right down to scribbles on a napkin. Democrats are asking for a damage assessment from the intelligence community on the eleven sets of classified documents recovered in the raid, including one marked ‘SCI’, a classification for some of the most sensitive national security information that is normally viewed in a highly secured location. A Trump lawyer signed a statement in June saying ‘all classified documents at Mar-a-Lago had been turned over to federal investigators’. On 14 August Trump’s lawyer claimed all investigations into ‘him will be dropped if he says he won’t run to be elected president in 2024. Later Trump’s office released a new defence statement: ‘As we can all relate to, everyone ends up having to bring home their work from time to time. American presidents are no different.'

Devastating flash floods have killed 37 people and hundreds are still missing in eastern Kentucky’s worst disaster for decades. The death toll will continue to rise. Hundreds of homes and businesses have been destroyed. People are sitting on their porches, hoping somebody is coming to save them. See  In July, Sydney in Australia was hit with a month’s worth of rain in five days; people are still cleaning up three feet of swirling mud. Pakistan has 7,000+ glaciers, but rising global temperatures are causing them to melt rapidly, creating thousands of glacial lakes that might burst and release millions of cubic metres of water and debris, flooding villages in just a few hours. Worsening Indian monsoons cause Mumbai residents to commute on Venetian gondolas and inflatable dinghies. This year residents are being asked to tweet details about floods in their neighbourhoods. The data is then used to issue immediate geographically-specific flood alerts.