Nigeria: meningitis outbreak
31 Mar 2017
An outbreak of meningitis has been reported in six Nigerian states, infecting over a thousand and killing 140. Meningitis causes acute inflammation of the brain and spinal cord. The current outbreak is the worst since 2009, when over 150 people died. The disease is spreading; it could become out of control if refugee camps, prisons and police cells become affected through crowds. Vaccination is a way of preventing meningitis. However a new strain imported from a neighbouring country is now prevalent and requires a different vaccine. The outbreak, attributed to cold nights / dusty winds / dry weather, is aggravated by traditional beliefs, poor hygiene, and overpopulation.
Brexit process begins
30 Mar 2017
The 30th March 2017, the UK Government formally ‘triggered’ Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty, to start the process to leave the European Union. A new chapter in this nation’s history is being written.
Thousands of words have already been written about ‘Brexit’ since the Referendum on 23 June, and tens if not hundreds of thousands will no doubt be written in the days, weeks and months to come.
So today we do not wish to add to the deluge of comment. We simply ask the Church in Scotland – the ‘family of God’ – the ‘army of ordinary people’ – to stand together ‘As one!’ and to pray, crying out to Almighty God, to the One who holds the fate and the destiny of every nation in His hands, on behalf of Scotland and all parts of the UK – and for Europe.
We ask that from today - individually, in prayer groups, prayer assemblies and in our church meetings, we all commit, whatever our political views, to bringing our Governments and all those with any responsibility for the negotiations before God on a regular basis – for their protection and well-being - that His will may be done and that through it all His Kingdom may be advanced.
At this early stage in the process, please pray:
- for Theresa May, the UK Government and officials – especially those directly involved in the negotiations – for their protection, health and energy, and for wisdom and integrity in all they do;
- for those negotiating on behalf of the European Union, in the same way;
- that, despite all the predictions of how complex and difficult the negotiations will be, especially with 27 EU Governments plus EU institutions having to agree on their position as discussions proceed, the negotiations turn out to be surprisingly straightforward;
- that on both sides the negotiations would be carried out in a civil, positive manner – without harsh words or disruptive behaviour
- for Nicola Sturgeon and the Scottish Government – that notwithstanding the desire to hold a second independence referendum, they will contribute positively to the process for the benefit of all of Scotland, and through that for the UK as well.
Source: Pray for Scotland
In a recent phonce call, a number of U.S. prayer network leaders met for an encouraging time of sharing and prayer together. We praised God for what He has done through the growing unity of the U.S. prayer movement the last couple of years, leading up to the “divine turnaround” during the national election. We had an agreed sense that we need to keep going together, coordinating our efforts as much as possible to see God’s greater purpose in national transformation and even a widespread revival fulfilled.
We acknowledged that we are still in a battle mode in this war that we still need to fight together for our nation. “For waging war you need guidance and for victory many advisers” Proverbs 24:6. That is why such an ongoing roundtable of prayer network leaders is so important since no war has been won without a good and agreed on strategy by the generals who are prosecuting it.
A few of the concerns that were shared for prayer:
- As the “swamp is drained” in Washington, D.C., creatures emerge and it is going to get more vicious so we need to mobilize united prayer for the federal government in support.
- Key leaders on the President’s team are in their 30s and do not have enough experience. They have possibly 12-18 months of political capital as foundations, policies, and precedents are being put in place.This requires our special prayer during the first 100 days (40 days left now) and beyond.
- Children and youth need to be mobilized to pray. They are ready and enthusiastic to engage along with the adults in an intergenerational manner, but it is hard to get this going in the USA with the prevailing mindset of separating the generations. Children and youth and their prayers have been used to bring about great revivals and change the history of nations so we need to tap into this amazing resource!
- Keep focused on the upward call of God to love Him and be transformed by Him in the Church. This precedes the outward call to evangelize our fellow Americans. Restoration of the Church will lead to national restoration.
- The USA has escaped like a bird from a trap (Psalm 124:7). Time for us to join forces in a continental and global initiative. We need further understanding about a strategy to confront the enemy.
- We feel a sense of urgency and that timing is a key issue. 2017 is a year to build the spiritual infrastructure of our nation. May 4, the National Day of Prayer, could be a landmark day for the USA with an emphasis on repentance for our national sins and exalting Jesus Christ as Lord.
- Ask the Lord for a new spiritual awakening for the nation, for greater unity in His Body and prayer movement, and for strategies from Heaven. Continue to pray for the President, Vice-President and their administration to be characterized by God’s wisdom and protection. Pray that the prayer army would be stirred to press in.
- Pray for the National Day of Prayer on May 4 and their team that is so busy for His special favor and help from above as they and their coordinators in every state arrange up to 45,000 prayer gatherings that God will use it to propel the prayer movement and a process of national transformation. Also, for the fire of revival to hit every class of people and part of the nation, burning up the darkness and bringing about a deep hunger for God in our society.
John Robb, National Prayer Assembly
Conservative groups were stuck in bureaucratic red tape
Documents obtained by a government watchdog show that the originator of the “After School Satan Club” received speedy tax-exempt status while conservative groups were stuck in bureaucratic red tape under the Obama administration.
Treasury Department files obtained by Judicial Watch last week show Reason Alliance in Somerville, Mass., was given nonprofit status within 10 days of its application in October 2014. The group operates the Satanic Temple out of Washington state and planned an “After School Satan Club” initiative in 2016.
“While the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) makes conservative groups wait years for tax-exempt status an ‘After School Satan Club‘ launched to hinder Christian-based counterparts got its nonprofit ranking in just ten days,” Judicial Watch said in a statement released March 16. “The classification is offered to charitable, religious and educational organizations that operate as nonprofits. Under the Obama administration, IRS political appointees illegally targeted conservative groups, either making them wait up to seven years for tax-exempt status or denying their application altogether.”
The watchdog said that Reason Alliance’s application turned up after Freedom of Information Act Requests related to the IRS’s approval process.
“The fact that a satanic cult got [its application] granted in a week when it took conservative groups seven years to get approved should be pretty illustrative of a deeper problem here,” Brian Morgenstern, vice president of the Manhattan Republican Party, told Fox News on Monday.
Reason Alliance, which was started by directors Malcolm Jarry and Douglas Mesner, says that its mission is to “encourage reason and empathy, reject tyrannical authority, promote justice, and advocate pragmatic common sense.”
The group’s idea for “After School Satan Club” was billed as an alternative to an evangelical Christian group’s after-school program known as the Good News Club.
“If Good News Clubs would operate in churches rather than public schools, that need would disappear. But our point is that if you let one religion into the public schools, you have to let others, otherwise, it’s an establishment of religion,” the group told The Washington Post on July 30, 2016. “We’ve moved well beyond being a simple political ploy and into being a very sincere movement that seeks to separate religion from superstition.”
JudicialWatch.org
Witches seek to attack President Trump
WASHINGTON – Among the angry liberals who refuse to accept the 2016 presidential election results that put Donald Trump in the Oval Office are witches who will be gathering at midnight on Sunday to cast spells.
Again.
They already tried last month to conjure up magic to remove him from office.
Witches, exorcists and occultists say they again will cast a “binding spell” designed to “bind Donald Trump and all who abet him.”
Anti-Trump occultists performed the “mass spell” against the president last month under the hashtag #BindTrump. Witches nationwide shared photos and videos on Twitter of them placing their hex on Trump.
They say they will repeat the ritual on March 26 and on every crescent moon “until Donald Trump is removed from office,” according to the group’s Facebook page.
Read more at http://www.wnd.com/2017/03/witches-to-cast-spell-on-trump-again/#UHVJeIpdm4AccFkv.99
Pray with His authority for the overthrow and closing down of all such “After School Satan Clubs” and of every occult incantation and curse directed against President Trump and his administration. Let the evil one be bound in the USA in all he continues to do to destabilize the new government and let those involved in the satanic realm be set free to love and serve Jesus Christ!
Here is the latest version of the chart focusing prayer for laborers on the areas with the most unreached people groups and least help from workers. It looks much better than it actually is, because 90% of mission workers do not go out to work among unreached groups, but help Christians in those areas (regardless of whether we are talking about Africa, Europe or Asia).
Many church mission committees unwittingly compound this problem by insisting that their workers only work where they can partner with local churches overseas!! This practice consistently leaves the least engaged without help. I hope that the problem of laborers can be highlighted at the Herrnhut meeting.
Rebecca Lewis
Frontiers
Let’s pray the Lord of the Harvest to multiply and send forth adequate workers into this massive harvest in Asia so that movements of disciples who can share the Gospel within their own people groups will arise. May His salvation touch every people group on earth within the coming decade as we adopt these unreached peoples in prayer. The completion of the unfinished task of bearing witness to all the peoples of the earth is a key precursor to the return of Jesus Christ. For more good information about how to pray for unreached peoples and adopt them for the mission of your church or prayer group, please check out this website: https://joshuaproject.net
The world is facing its largest humanitarian crisis since 1945, according to the United Nations.
“We stand at a critical point in history. Already at the beginning of the year we are facing the largest humanitarian crisis since the creation of the UN,” UN Emergency Relief Coordinator Stephen O’Brien told the UN’s Security Council last week.
While many countries worldwide face food security crises, with large numbers of people hungry and unable to find enough food, only rarely do the conditions meet the humanitarian community’s formal criteria for a famine, says the UN.
The UN declares a famine only when the following measures of mortality, malnutrition and hunger are met: at least 20 percent of households in an area face extreme food shortages with a limited ability to cope; acute malnutrition rates exceed 30 percent; and the death rate exceeds two persons per day per 10,000 persons.
Other factors that may be considered include large-scale displacement, widespread destitution, disease outbreaks and social collapse.
Currently five countries are facing or are at risk of famine—Kenya, Yemen, South Sudan, Nigeria, and Somalia. Here is what you should know about each of these countries:
Yemen
Number of people facing severe food insecurity: 14.1 million
Cause of crisis: Famine caused by armed conflict
What’s preventing aid: Continuing fighting, lack of rule of law, poor governance, and under-development. As the BBC notes, a naval embargo imposed by the Saudi-led coalition, fighting around the government-controlled port of Aden and air strikes on the rebel-held port of Hudaydah, have severely reduced imports since 2015.
UN assessment: “I continue to reiterate the same message to all: only a political solution will ultimately end human suffering and bring stability to the region,” said O’Brien. He also noted that with access and funding, humanitarians will do more, but cautioned that relief-workers were “not the long-term solution to the growing crisis.”
South Sudan
Number of people facing severe food insecurity: 4.9 million
Cause of crisis: Famine caused by armed UN officials have suggested the conflict that borders on genocide.
What’s preventing aid: Some South Sudan government is blocking food aid to certain areas and that humanitarian convoys and warehouses have been attacked and being looted, either by government or rebel forces.
UN assessment: “The famine in the country is man-made. Parties to the conflict are parties to the famine – as are those not intervening to make the violence stop,” said Mr. O’Brien, who called on the South Sudanese authorities to translate their assurances of unconditional access into “action on the ground.”
Somalia
Number of people facing severe food insecurity: 2.9 million
Cause of crisis: Famine caused by armed conflict.
What’s preventing aid: According to BBC news reports, people are so busy trying to survive that they are unable to earn a living by going to work, farming or looking after their animals.
UN assessment: “The current indicators mirror the tragic picture of 2011, when Somalia last suffered a famine,” said O’Brian, who added that a famine could be averted with “strong national leadership and immediate and concerted support by the international community.”
Kenya
Number of people facing severe food insecurity: 2.7 million, but could soon increase to 4 million
Cause of crisis: Drought associated with the ongoing El Nino weather phenomena.
What’s preventing aid: Government incompetence and an inflow of refugees from Ethiopia.
UN assessment: “In collaboration with the Government [of Kenya], the UN will soon launch an appeal of $200 million to provide timely life-saving assistance and protection,” said O’Brian. But he adds that about $1.5 billion is required to provide the assistance needed across the region.
Nigeria
Number of people facing severe food insecurity: The estimated number of affected children is now 450,000, with 14 million people needing humanitarian assistance across the region.
Cause of crisis: Famine caused by armed conflict.
What’s preventing aid: Terror attacks byBoko Haram, lack of rule of law, under-development, and possible widespread aid theft.
UN assessment: The UN predicts Nigerians likely will suffer "catastrophic" famine-like conditions caused by Boko Haram's Islamic uprising.
The Weekly <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.>
Please pray for the United Nations and its aid efforts for these nations undergoing enormous suffering. Pray for the over 30 million people in these nations who are affected by severe food insecurity and for His provision of funding for food as well as for long-term solutions
A letter sent Tuesday asked for a probe into how U.S. funds are being used by agencies such as the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) to back left-wing political groups in other countries.
Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, one of the co-signers, even said foreign officials and political leaders have come to him with "reports of U.S. activity in their respective countries."
He said in a statement: "This includes reports of diplomats playing political favorites, USAID funds supporting extreme and sometimes violent political activists, and the US Government working to marginalize the moderates and conservatives in leadership roles. ... This sort of political favoritism from our missions around the world is unacceptable.”
The letter to Tillerson also was signed by Sens. James Inhofe, R-Okla.; Thom Tillis, R-N.C.; David Perdue, R-Ga.; Ted Cruz, R-Texas; and Bill Cassidy, R-La. It followed a letter in February from GOP lawmakers asking about whether U.S. tax dollars have been used in recent years to fund Soros-backed projects in the small, conservative-led country of Macedonia.
In particular, USAID funding to Soro’s Open Society Foundations in Macedonia sparked concern that the U.S. Embassy has been taking sides in the country’s fiery political fights. The group's stated goal is “to build vibrant and tolerant democracies whose governments are accountable to their citizens” but critics claim it's a front for Soros’ political maneuverings.
The USAID website shows that between 2012 and 2016, USAID gave almost $5 million in taxpayer cash to FOSM for “The Civil Society Project,” which “aims to empower Macedonian citizens to hold government accountable.” USAID’s website links to www.soros.org.mk, and says the project trained hundreds of young Macedonians “in youth activism and the use of new media instruments.”
The State Department told lawmakers that in addition to that project, USAID has recently funded a new Civic Engagement Project which partners with four organizations, including FOSM. The cost is believed to be around $9.5 million.
A citizen’s initiative called “Stop Operation Soros” has also published a white paper alleging U.S. money has been funding violent riots in the streets, as well as a Macedonian version of Saul Alinsky’s far-left handbook “Rules for Radicals.”
After being dissatisfied with responses to letters sent to the U.S. ambassador, the senators wrote to Tillerson, noting not only the situation in Macedonia, but also what they describe as “a pattern of alarming activity in this volatile region” -- pointing in particular to the nearby country of Albania.
CLICK HERE TO READ THE LETTER
“Respected leaders from Albania have made similar claims of U.S. diplomats and Soros-backed organizations pushing for certain political outcomes in their country,” the letter said, citing a FOSM-backed push for Albanian judicial reform, which opponents say are aimed to give the socialist government full control over the country’s judiciary.
“The destabilizing effects of such actions in a NATO country are clear and the threat for further escalation eminent as Albania anticipates parliamentary elections later this year,” the letter said.
The senators went on to say that they are also concerned about reports coming in from countries in Africa and Latin America.
“We respectfully ask that you use your authority to investigate all funds associated with promoting democracy and governance and review the programs, accounts, and multiplicity of U.S. entities involved in such activities,” the letter said.
Conservative Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban last month expressed concern about Soros meddling in his country’s political fights, and warned about Soros’ “trans-border empire.” Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó told Fox News last month that they hoped that with a change in administration in Washington, the Soros-led push against their government would decrease.
“I think it is no secret and everyone knows about the very close relationship between the Democrats and George Soros and his foundations. It is obvious that if Hillary Clinton had won then this pressure on us would be much stronger. With Donald Trump winning we have the hope that this pressure will be decreased on us,” he said.
Widely cited as an example of Soros’ influence during the Obama administration was a 2011 email (published by WikiLeaks) in which Soros urged Hillary Clinton to take action in Albania over recent demonstrations in the capital of Tirana.
Soros asked Clinton to “bring the full weight of the international community to bear on Prime Minister Berisha and opposition leader Edi Rama to forestall further public demonstrations and to tone down public pronouncements” and appoint a senior European official as mediator.
Within a few days, an envoy was dispatched.
Adam Shaw is a Politics Reporter and occasional Opinion writer for FoxNews.com. He can be reached here or on Twitter: @AdamShawNY
Let us continue to pray that George Soros and the organizations he sponsored with his vast wealth will not to be able to carry on with their agenda of destabilizing nations. Pray that his wicked, megalomaniacal schemes will be uncovered and foiled.
There are four major forces at war with Christ for the future of Australia:
- Militant Islam
- Militant Homosexuality
- Militant Atheism
- Hedonism.
At the moment, the church is losing. It is fragmented, compromised with pornography, implicated in child sexual abuse, pervasively lukewarm and fearful of the politically correct.
While this does not reflect some of the great things that are happening in the wider church... only Jesus knows the full scale of the collapse of mainstream denominational Christianity in this nation as typified, for example, by decommissioned churches functioning as restaurants and many elderly congregations just hanging on.
Yet over the next three years we have to fight four major battles that cannot be avoided. The following battles will define the future of Australia for decades to come...
- (un)Safe Schools in the WA State election next weekend where a diabolical confluence of Islam, the Greens and Labor are seeking to defeat our Judeo/Christian based Australian way of life;
- A coming battle over Euthanasia in Victoria that will have serious national implications;
- (un)Safe Schools, Radical Gender Theory and police-state controls over home-schooling that will be at the front lines of the culture wars in the VIC, SA and QLD state elections in 2018;
- War against man-woman marriage and unsustainable national debt that will be fought tooth and nail in the 2019 Federal election (unless it comes earlier).
Remember that if Daniel Andrews is re-elected in Victoria in 2018 he will make (un)Safe Schools compulsory - and remember that Bill Shorten will make Same Sex Marriage compulsory policy in the Labor Party from 2019.
So how do we successfully stand against evil?
So humble yourselves before God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you (James 4:7).
While this is true on a personal level, it is also true in how we fight for values and how we vote in elections. We must be a well-informed, praying and influential united federation of Christians who use the gift of our democratic voice and vote to defend our values and our freedoms... otherwise we will lose the nation to the enemy in the culture wars over the next three years.
This is a true reflection of the current reality in which we live. I wish it were not so.
But we can win!
By praying and working together we won the fight against the Religious Exceptions Bill and the iniquitous Birth Certificate Bill in the Victorian Parliament last year. Already this year an outrageous abortion bill has been defeated in the Queensland Parliament. And over the last decade some 20 attempts to implement Same Sex marriage have been defeated in the nation's parliaments through the prayers and hard work of the true ecclesia of the Kingdom of God.
This message is a word of encouragement to our WA brothers and sisters to choose candidates and parties who stand for the values of the Kingdom of God in their elections this coming weekend.
In the coming elections of Governments and Councils we now have to reject Labor, the Greens and Independents whose policies are to:
- enforce unbiblical sexuality and radical gender theory on our children in our schools
- implement assisted suicide through proposed euthanasia laws
- break down God's way of marriage as between a man and a woman.
Homosexuals are only around 1.5% of the population and they have the equality equivalent of civil unions. Marriage is purposely different. It celebrates the complementarity of men and women to produce children and raise families.
These are bedrock foundations of a civil society based on our identity in Christ. To deny God on these issues is as stupid as former follies such as a tax on windows and a tax on trees.
Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Let this be our guiding light in all things - and especially how we fight for values and how we vote in the coming elections.
In His service,
Peter Kentley <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.>
Please pray with our Australian brothers and sisters in Christ in their spiritual battle against the forces of Militant Islam, Homosexuality, and Atheism and also Hedonism and for the coming elections and councils to do what is right in the sight of God and for the nation.