Displaying items by tag: North America

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.’

On 1 June Donald Trump declared himself the ‘law and order president’, vowing to use military might to remove people demonstrating against George Floyd’s murder and the persecution of black people. Tear gas, flash grenades, and rubber bullets were used against peaceful protesters. Then Trump visited a church and held up a Bible. The Bishop of Washington said the president ‘raised the most sacred text of the Judeo-Christian tradition outside a church in my diocese, without permission, as a backdrop for a message opposing the teachings of Jesus’. Jesuit James Martin tweeted, ‘This is revolting. The Bible is not a prop. A church is not a photo op. Religion is not a political tool. God is not your plaything.’ Rabbi Moline said, ‘Seeing President Trump in front of a Church holding the Bible in response to calls for racial justice - right after using military force to clear peaceful protesters - is the most flagrant misuse of religion that I have ever seen.’

On 1 June 1921, in Tulsa, the US experienced the worst race riots in its history. A prosperous African-American community, dubbed ‘Black Wall Street’, was eradicated by rioting white people. Within hours luxury shops, homes, restaurants and food stores belonging to black families disappeared. An unknown number of people died - many when planes dropped bombs, others when mobs burnt down the remaining neighbourhood. Racism’s root of division that began with killing native Indians and using black slaves is still active 99 years later. Entire groups of people accuse and hate each other over everything from government policy to religion. God never intended this. His purpose is explained in Revelation 7:9: ‘After this I looked, and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb.’

A white Minneapolis police officer pinned down George Floyd with his knee, while he yelled, ‘I cannot breathe’. Later he died, causing community outrage and the dismissal of four officers. Ben Crump, a prominent civil rights lawyer, has been retained by the victim’s family. A video of the incident shows Floyd crying out, ‘My stomach hurts. My neck hurts. Please, please. I can't breathe,’ while moaning and trying to cough. Floyd was eventually motionless under the officer's knee. People watching can be heard begging police to move off him. Many are drawing comparisons with Eric Garner, an unarmed black man, who in 2014 died after being choked by police, sparking nationwide protests. African Americans are nearly six times more likely to be imprisoned or jailed than white Americans. These racial disparities have given rise to Black Lives Matter.

Professor Francis Collins, the Christian geneticist who famously led the ‘human genome project’, has said he is hopeful about developing a successful vaccine to protect people against Covid-19. He has recently been asked to join the White House coronavirus task force to help the government combat the disease. As the head of the NIH - a government agency responsible for biomedical and public health research - Collins said that he was prepared to ‘say the truth’ to President Trump even if he disagreed with it. This followed the repudiation experience of leading immunologist and government adviser, Dr Tony Fauci. A prominent public figure in the fight against coronavirus, Dr Fauci is a ‘truth-teller who is incapable of doing anything except saying exactly what we do and don't know’. Collins added, ‘If there is one thing more infectious than virus, it is hope.’