USA: black man dies after being pinned down
28 May 2020
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.
Christian geneticist is 'optimistic' about cure
28 May 2020
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.’
Dear Praying Friends,
A number of us in the prayer movement have strongly felt during this season between Passover and Pentecost, when the pandemic shutdown has also been occurring, that the Spirit of the Lord is moving over the face of the earth as never before. Many millions of us have been in prayer since the World Prayer Together online call and the launch of the Go 2020 prayer and mission effort on May 1st. Last week, many of us also prayed for the Muslim world during their Ramadan festival that many of them would wake up, possibly through dreams and visions, as well as through the bold witness of local Christians, to understand who Jesus really is and come to know Him.
Here attached are some of the wonderful prayer and mission initiatives that are happening now and during the next few days, leading up to Pentecost and the ongoing Go 2020 effort to mobilize 100 million believers to pray for and reach out to one billion who still need to come to Christ. The Global Voice of Prayer team, some of whom organized the Global Day of Prayer that many of us participated in years ago, has arranged this attached broadcast that we hope you will enjoy and circulate to others in your own networks during this week. If you have local Christian TV stations that would be open to airing it, please do pass it on to them as well as to churches that might want to use it during their services this weekend. We hope it will also be broadcast on major Christian satellite TV programs on Saturday and Sunday across the various world time zones.
Please pray for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon the Body of Christ and that tens of millions will hear the Gospel and come to know the Lord during this special season. Pray for amazing love and unity among brothers and sisters in Christ across denominations and movements to continue and increase, that we will all flow together like tributaries in HIs great river of eternal and abundant life so it will touch every person and every people group on earth. May we see great breakthroughs for the Gospel with loving witness (prayer, care and share) accompanied by signs and wonders, dreams and visions among Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus and agnostic secularists-- all who still do not know the Lord of life!
Thanks for your prayers and for getting the Word out as well as the broadcast and attachments below so they can go far and wide and have a multiplied impact for His Kingdom so that our world will never be the same.
Yours in Christ,
John
ipcprayer.org
worldprayertogether.com
From the Global Voice of Prayer Team
We are excited to announce that the Sound from Heaven Pentecost 2020 global broadcast is now LIVE and ready to distribute!
The broadcast can be viewed and shared via:
PraiseLive Facebook page: www.facebook.com/praiselivenow
Global Voice of Prayer on YouTube: https://youtu.be/A4P_lC3mkQA
The challenge now is to get the word out, and to collaborate with as many as possible to bring this message of hope to the Global Church in the next few days in the run up to Pentecost.
May we solicit your collaborative help? We are asking if as many of us as possible could join hands to bring this blessing to the Global Church before Pentecost on Sunday 31st.
Some ideas for getting the word out:
- Post the broadcast on your ministry’s social media platforms / schedule watch parties in the coming week
- Send the attached broadcasting proposal & info to media partners in your networks
- Encourage churches in your spheres of influence to broadcast the programme as part of their Pentecost Sunday celebrations
- Encourage believers around the world to use this as an outreach tool
- Post the attached flyers on your website
We have attached a few media items to help spread the word:
- Sound from Heaven Pentecost broadcast flyer – please feel free to share on social media, via Whatsapp, email etc
- Sound from Heaven events flyer – with key upcoming events
- A broadcast proposal template with more information on the programme, that can be adapted and sent to ministry partners, churches and media contacts in your networks
You will also find additional information and resources at www.globalvoiceofprayer, www.go2020.world and other partner sites.
We believe that this broadcast is going to bring hope to millions in the midst of the COVID-19 crisis. Let’s release the sound of hope!
Every blessing,
The GVOP team
On Friday 22 May & Saturday 23 May, the International Prayer Council’s regional representatives based in Jamaica will host their fourth Caribbean Prayer Summit Online.
It will consist of two days of prayer, worship and intercession led by representatives from across the region.
IPC family from around the world are invited to join the event online at which our Executive Coordinator, Dr Jason Hubbard will be taking part.
It will be streaming on the event’s Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/caribbeanprayersummit/?__tn__=%2Cd%3C-R&eid=ARCCQNZKmxgm1ruB4jE1NyFELAwqN5hwcxYPI1oR0bUlPX4-imuppJ4AkXyKRbeYohiss24BVXNJViUo and from YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCCii3zUjurcDyE8jfMgknlw
Kindly note that the Summit is free of cost, and is open to anyone who shares a burden for their country, and wants to join us in petitioning the Lord. Gifts can be sowed in here. https://caribbeanprayersummit.org/give/
Visit the website for full details at https://caribbeanprayersummit.org/ or contact Maria Harbajan, the Convener on 876-398-2299 if you have any queries.
Thanks for praying about the super cyclone that hit India and Bangladesh yesterday. The good news is that so far relatively few deaths have been reported, only about 80 in both countries. In 1970, 500,000 died in a less powerful storm and tidal wave, and in 1999 almost 10,000 died in India from such a storm, so this reduced death toll is something to be thankful for since it could have been much, much worse. The main reason is India’s east and Bangladesh’s south lie on the Bay of Bengal, an impoverished region of 500 million people that has seen 26 of the deadliest 35 cyclones ever recorded. However, at this time, hundreds of thousands have been displaced and billions of dollars of property damage has been caused that these two nations will now need to recover from. Both countries need to quickly restore electricity and telecommunications and deal with the agricultural harm that will may continue to plague the region. But to do that while fighting off a growing coronavirus outbreak will be “a herculean task” as one news source put it. Traumatized and needy people will now need to overcome their fears of the coronavirus to get the relief supplies they need. Let’s, therefore, pray for those who have lost their homes and livelihoods as well as for the relief and rebuilding activities that are getting underway. Pray that fear will be vanquished and that relief operations will be well coordinated and effective in getting help to those left suffering by this disaster. Again, may the Lord turn tragedy into hope and life more abundantly through many of those affected, largely Hindus and Muslims, coming to know Christ.
Burundi’s national election happened yesterday, but we will have to wait till early next week for results of the voting. Pray for patience by all and especially for honest counting of the votes so that there will be no fraud and that the election results will be accepted. In the 2015 election, 1200 people were killed in the accompanying violence, so let’s pray that this time God’s peace will be felt tangibly and that there will be no violence. Pray that He will clean house in the government, bringing in honest and good leaders. Also, may His people there stand in the gap in prayer and keep united, not allowing such ethnic or political divisiveness to affect their relationships as followers of Jesus.
The following articles will give you more background on the situation if you care to read them:
Burundi awaits poll results as opposition alleges fraud Africanews
Burundi vote stirs new violence, five years after bloody crackdown The New Humanitarian
Finally, let’s pray for all the nations recovering from the coronavirus shutdown- for national leaders to do what is right and wise and that all the 190 or so nations that have shut down businesses and confined people to their homes these past two months will be able to re-open quickly, wisely, and safely after this economically devastating lockdown. Pray for up to half the world’s work force, probably at least hundreds of millions, who have lost their jobs, businesses, and the means to support themselves and their families. Pray especially for the children who need to get back to resuming their education and attend school. What a huge catastrophe for our whole world...but God! “All things are possible” with Him. Let’s intercede and trust Him for a strong recovery in every nation by His grace and again may He turn this awful ordeal around for redemptive good for tens of millions to come to know the Savior even during this month of the Go 2020 paryer and mission effort to reach them!
Thanks so much for your prayers of faith that joined to those of many others He will use to move the mountains once again!
Yours in Christ,
John Robb
ipcprayer.org
go2020.world/prayer
Sea of Galilee's rise 'by the grace of God'
22 May 2020
One piece of good news is that for the first time in twenty years an unusually rainy winter has nearly filled the Sea of Galilee. Israelis consider rainy winters to be a blessing. ‘We are very excited because of this. It is very good for all of us around the Sea of Galilee: for agriculture, for farmers, for tourists, for everybody’, said the head of Kinneret Urban Union. After five years of drought, it has risen 18 feet in 2019 and 2020. The rise has been remarkable. Israelis are excited about it. ‘I am thrilled. We still treat it like our lifeline even though we do not drink the water any more. When I see a full lake, I want to sing, I want to cry out with joy. I am amazed by the grace of God,’ said tour guide Rachela Dotan.
He asked for a Bible, not for relief goods
22 May 2020
‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.’ (Matthew 4:4) The Philippines have been on lockdown for weeks, and many people are bringing aid to those struggling to meet daily needs. But one elderly man blessed the volunteers’ hearts when he asked for a new Bible instead of relief goods. His unusual request has been circling around social media. Dyn Nah shared her amazement on her Facebook page. She said that in a country full of citizens calling for relief aid, ‘here's to this man. May we be reminded that in this crisis, it is not only about the material things we need but also His Word as we walk through our everyday challenges.’
YouTube has decided to reintroduce John Piper's audiobook 'Coronavirus and Christ' after initially banning it. The audiobook saw a sudden uptick in views after being re-uploaded, jumping from 187,000 to over 200,000 and growing. It hit the spotlight after an atheist group urged the US secretary of defence to punish a military chaplain for sharing a copy of the publication with his colleagues. The book was written both to call for repentance and to bring people into a transformation of thinking, feeling and living in alignment with the infinite values of Jesus Christ.