Professor Martin Siegert from the Grantham Institute at Imperial College London said that the last time CO2 levels were as high as they are now, there were trees at the South Pole, sea levels were 20 metres higher than they are now, and global temperatures were 3C-4C warmer. If we keep carbon emissions going at the current rate, by the end of the century we will have 1,000ppm, compared to the low 280ppm level of CO2 prior to the industrial revolution. The Bible says God created the light, land, sea, vegetation, fish, birds and every living creature and ‘saw that it was good’. The earth and everything on it reflect the wonder of God; our concern for creation should be rooted in our worship of the God who made it all.

Priests at a Catholic parish in northern Poland have burnt books, including the Harry Potter series, and other items that their owners said had evil forces. Images from the burning at Gdansk’s Mother of Church parish on Sunday were posted on Facebook by a Catholic foundation that uses unconventional ways of religious work. In the pictures, flames are consuming an African wooden mask, figurines of elephants, and books on personality and magic, as well as those by J K Rowling, all brought in by parishioners. A priest and altar boys watched the book-burning. The foundation said the book-burning was intended to alert parishioners to bad influences which it says come from magic and the occult. Comments under the post condemned the action, recalling that it also happened in Nazi Germany before World War II.

Archbishop Charles Scicluna delivered the message at the mass on George Vella’s swearing-in as Malta’s tenth president. Scicluna made the point that ‘the economic prosperity of a country is on solid foundations when its leaders embrace wisdom and righteousness’. He said the reputation of Malta’s strength and growth depends on whether the values of integrity, justice and solidarity are made a political priority. ‘If the first or only thing we seek is gain or profits, democracy becomes a kerdocracy - a society based on a rush for profit - and from there on it is easy to slide into a kleptocracy, a society where power is concentrated in the hands of the greediest.’ On the same day, the Council of Europe published its report on the effectiveness of Malta’s prevention of corruption, and called for more robust action in the government and police. See https://theshiftnews.com/2019/04/03/council-of-europe-calls-for-robust-action-against-government-corruption-in-malta/

International Prayer Connect write: ‘As worship and prayer have begun to rise across the Middle East, an unprecedented harvest is taking place among Muslim peoples. We hear the same testimony in multiple nations. “As soon as we started the House of Prayer, we saw more salvations, healings and deliverance than ever before.” “We have been doing 50- and 100-hour prayer and worship gatherings in Turkey and north Iraq.” In 2018 many Middle East nations joined our symphony of prayer and worship for 50 hours. From 11 to 13 April, Christians in Turkey, Jordan, Iraq, United Arab Emirates and Egypt will be praying for five promises that the Lord has been speaking to us over recent years. We invite you to join our intercessions for children/youth revival across the region, for the rebuilding of devastated Syrian cities, for joy and strength for pastors, leaders, and indigenous church planting movements, and for a great harvest among unreached peoples.’