Displaying items by tag: North America

US secretary of state Mike Pompeo has urged Iranians to continue sending messages exposing the Iranian regime’s brutal crackdown on recent widespread protests; by some estimates, over 200 people have been killed. He stated the USA would impose sanctions on those it could identify for perpetrating abuses. ‘The Iranian people are, once again, on the streets because of the regime’s poor economic management,’ he said. ‘Instead of addressing their grievances, Tehran has responded with violence and by blaming those outside the country.’ Despite the Iranian regime's shutdown of the internet last week, the United States received 20,000 messages, videos and pictures from Iranians through a messaging service. ‘The United States hears you,’ Pompeo said. ‘We will continue to sanction Iranian officials who are responsible for these human rights abuses, just like we did to Iran’s minister of communications.’

Kanye West's Jesus is King album has prompted the American Bible Society to offer 1,000 free Bibles. ABS said that curiosity about Christianity has soared since the US rapper released his first Christian album: ‘When we saw an influential cultural figure like Kanye inspiring young people to seek out answers to their faith questions, that was an opportunity to provide God's word and point people to it as a source for their questions about faith.’ Up to 1,000 copies of the Good News translation are available to fans who apply on the ABS website. According to Google Trends, online searches for ‘Jesus’ and ‘Christianity’ shot up significantly in the USA after West released his album on 25 October.

A group of pastors and faith leaders had an exclusive meeting with President Donald Trump at the White House on 29 October. During that meeting, Trump asked the pastors to lay hands on him and pray. The meeting, according to several pastors, involved discussions of the president's accomplishments on behalf of evangelical Christians, including defending religious freedom, battling opioid addiction, reducing abortion, and nominating conservative and pro-life supreme court judges. Soon afterwards, several leaders posted photos of the meeting and prayer. Some praised the president's pro-family and pro-biblical values, while others offered prayer against what they see as unjust impeachment hearings.

The ‘Fanning the Flames’ report published on 31 October said that corporations with global reach in the tech, finance, and media sectors have resourced anti-Muslim individuals and groups both domestically and internationally to create the infrastructure for biased messages and bigotry to spread and thrive. It added that Google, Amazon and Fidelity will promote white supremacy and anti-Muslim bigotry as long as they can make money out of it. Researchers found tech platforms have provided a space for unsafe actors, and their search and recommendation algorithms enabled white supremacist and bigoted propaganda to spread further. The report said, ‘It is concerning that these tech platforms have not created strategies to eliminate anti-Muslim bigotry from their sites.’ Also, Wall Street businesses have provided financial infrastructure and political cover to organisations promoting anti-Muslim prejudice, and financial institutions are investing hundreds of millions in gun manufacturers.

“When I shut up heaven and there is no rain, or command the locusts to devour the land, or send pestilence among My people, if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.”  2 Chronicles 7:13-14

God is calling us, the Body of Christ, to come together, fall on our knees and confess the sin of our nation, repenting corporately, with ONE VOICE before Him.  Once that is done, God says He will hear us, forgive us and heal our land! In order to do that, we must be convicted of our sin, and be willing to repent, not  just give lip service.

“These people draw near to Me with their mouth, and honor Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me.” Matthew 15:8

God is asking us if we are willing to receive the burden of “conviction of the sin of this nation” in our hearts. As we agree, we will be empowered to pray effectively in repentance for our nation!

We are engaged in a spiritual battle...a warfare of love! Many in the Body of Christ are deeply concerned about the extreme danger being posed by the anti-Christ spirit, which is operating against not only our President but the United States of America at this very hour, trying to undermine and destroy our very foundations. Americans are distracted by a never-ending stream of “urgent” matters, while the media floods the airwaves 24/7 with “fake news” in an attempt to control our minds and instill fear in our hearts! What is taking place is a battle, against not only our Government but against individuals, families, churches and communities. It is an all-out war against the American way of life...and it has already been launched! “We, The People” are under attack!

Unless the Body of Christ repents and then rises up in prayer, the United States will have no future.

“Even now,” declares the Lord, “return to me with all your heart, with fasting and weeping and mourning. Rend your heart and not your garments. Return to the Lord your God, for He is gracious and compassionate. Joel 2:12-13

Nothing is too far out of reach that God cannot revive it. Repentance does not happen spontaneously. It first takes place in individual hearts, is nurtured by prayer and fasting, and is then birthed into the larger arena, often through solemn assemblies. In Scripture, these solemn assemblies were often called by priests, prophets or kings, for the entire nation. Prior to every national awakening in the United States, there was an emphasis on repentance, with fasting and prayer. Throughout our history, 788 solemn assemblies for national repentance took place!

The blessing of national repentance is not only that God heals and blesses the nation, but also that a passion for His Presence is stirred up in the Body of Christ.

During the Civil War, as President Abraham Lincoln struggled to mend a divided and war-torn nation and re-center Americans around God and prayer, he issued a proclamation on March 30, 1863, calling for a “Day of National Humiliation, Fasting, and Prayer.” The text of Lincoln’s proclamation has pointed lessons for today, as our nation is once again deeply divided. It repeatedly references God, calls on Americans to turn back to prayer and acknowledges the importance that God plays in human affairs. It was indeed a “call to repent before God” which is appropriate for us today.  (CLICK HERE for the full text)

Today, October 3, 2019, we, the undersigned, call the Body of Christ to a DAY OF CORPORATE REPENTANCE for the United States of America, to take place on Sunday, November 3, 2019, as a step toward a NATIONAL DAY OF REPENTANCE!

More info on the Facebook Event Page: https://www.facebook.com/events/395409681133569/

John Robb, Founder, National Prayer Assembly (USA),
Chairman, International Prayer Council,
International Coordinator, World Prayer Assembly (2012)
(Co-signed by 121 others

The US national weather service has issued an ‘extreme red flag’ warning for wildfires in Los Angeles county, Ventura county and the Simi valley. ‘I don't know if I've ever seen us use this warning,’ forecaster Marc Chenard said. ‘It's pretty bad.’ Dangerous fire weather conditions cover over 34,000 square miles, and 21 million people have been warned they may need to leave ‘at a moment's notice’ as the 70 mph winds threaten to bring more devastation to areas already ravaged. Power cuts have left 1.5 million people without electricity.

Kanye West, a popular American singer, held a Sunday service in Salt Lake City to tell young people about the evils of the media. His event, held across the street from an international Mormon conference, attracted thousands of fans, and many took to the surrounding rooftops to join in. A large gospel choir sang throughout, as they hummed to the tune of ‘Jesus walks’. West said: ‘There is a spiritual war going on outside, from which no-one is safe. It is no longer a mystery, Jesus has already won the victory! Tell the devil his time is up!’ He said that Satan has been trying to control minds through social media: ‘No weapon formed against me shall prosper, no false validation, no Grammy, no Oscar. God, this is your nation. This is America.’

Ninety heads of state attended the annual UN general assembly this week. Every September kings, presidents and prime ministers fly to New York City and attend the UN headquarters. The top priority at its 74th General Assembly is the world's climate emergency. Country leaders were told not to speak without ‘concrete and transformative plans’ to halt rising global temperatures, achieve carbon neutrality and cut carbon emissions by 45%. But VIPs with proposals only had three minutes to speak. Then the UN will collate speeches and brainstorms into a report. Angela Merkel attended the climate summit, but skipped the rest of the week. Donald Trump skipped the climate summit and attended different sessions. How concrete the summit results will actually be is unclear. Meanwhile an angry Greta Thunberg told global leaders, ‘We are in the beginning of a mass extinction and all you can talk about is money and fairy tales of eternal economic growth. How dare you?’ See

This month a US court sentenced Anthony Schultz to 84 years in prison for filming rape and sharing the abuse online. The case dated back to 2016, when he was arrested for multiple counts of child pornography he created in the Philippines. US-based FBI investigators discovered Schultz would film himself abusing children and then sell the materials online. He also convinced a Filipino mother to sexually abuse her own daughter and sell the videos to him. Throughout 2017 the International Justice Mission (IJM) supported Philippine authorities as they used this intelligence to rescue three girls aged 10, 15 and 17 from Schultz’s videos. While we can praise and thank God for the success of this investigation, please pray for the release of thousands of other children in similar circumstances across the nations. Pray for the work of IJM as they work to end slavery in our lifetime.

A New York state trooper, Chris Mahoney, at a petrol station, noticed a man carrying several heavy bags. Striking up a conversation, the trooper learned the man was homeless and carried all his belongings on his back. When Mahoney asked him when he’d last eaten, he learned the man had only had a doughnut. When he offered to buy the man a meal, another customer took a photo of his kindness, which went viral. Now, Mahoney encourages more people to do kind things for others. Jesus said we are to ‘love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind and to love your neighbour as yourself.’