Ian Sleeper, a Christian street preacher, was arrested and held for thirteen hours in a police cell after displaying placards depicting love for Muslims and criticising the ideology of Islam. He was released on bail as the CPS could not decide whether to charge him. Strict conditions were imposed, preventing him from going into Southwark. He was on bail for six weeks before the police finally decided to take no further action. He said, ‘It is reassuring that I have not been charged for seeking to expose the truth about Islam. Truth cannot be taken for granted in our modern world, so I will be back out on the street soon.’

On 6 August Patriarch Louis Sako, head of the Chaldean Catholic church, called on Iraqi Christians to unite under one banner and work past their various political affiliations and differing doctrines. In his statement, issued after two armed Christian factions clashed in the Nineveh plains, he said that Christian political parties and armed factions are ‘responsible to a great extent for the suffering and disorder in which Christians live.’ He added, ‘We believe that a huge part of this ordeal is self-inflicted and caused by parties' divisions, their subordination (to Shi’ite and Kurdish groups), and their failure to unite efforts and ranks and make a unified decision.’ Internal Christian divisions have existed for a long time, but they deepened when a number of armed Christian factions formed after IS took over Christian territories in the Nineveh plains.

Each year, two to three million Muslims complete the Hajj to Mecca. Those who have done so add the title ‘hajji’ to their names. Jesus told people, ‘Your sins are forgiven.’ The same desire for forgiveness of sins is found on many blog sites, where Muslims ask if the Hajj will cleanse them of small common sins and big serious sins. They are told that their desire for forgiveness will be granted by Allah if they perform Hajj sincerely and properly. John the Baptist promised that Jesus takes away the sins of the world. God appointed Jesus to be judge of the living and the dead. Pray that the Muslims seeking to stay up all night to pray will have dreams and visions of the Lord Jesus Christ. Pray for them to have supernatural revelation of the truth that all who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ receive forgiveness of sins.

The annual monsoons in India, Bangladesh, Nepal and Sierra Leone have caused hundreds of deaths, while thousands have fled flash floods and mudslides. In Nepal’s southern plains, the home to much of its agriculture, huge swathes of land and 48,000 homes have been totally submerged by floods. Pray for those stranded on higher ground taking shelter in sheds, unable to move until the water recedes. Pray for the Bangladesh troops shoring up embankments, in places where such severe flooding has not been seen for thirty years. Authorities suggest the flooding is man-made, caused by the dams built on the India-Nepal border. Pray also for those grieving for the many hundreds who were killed by mudslides and floods in Sierra Leone’s capital, Freetown. Many were buried alive as they slept. Pray for governments and NGOs as they work to support those who have lost not only homes but paddy fields, vegetable plantations, and fish farms. See: http://edition.cnn.com/2017/08/17/africa/sierra-leone-mudslide/index.html

In 1966 an Igbo leader, in south-east Nigeria, said that only one thing would prevent a civil war - ‘that Nigeria be split, with all southerners in the north repatriated to the south and northerners in the south repatriated to the north’. This demand was followed by the Biafra civil war. In June 2017, irked by renewed secessionist calls from the same Igbo ethnic group, a coalition of northern groups demanded that ‘all Igbo currently residing in northern Nigeria relocate within three months, and all northerners residing in the east are advised likewise’. Pray for peace. Meanwhile on 6 August, masked gunmen stormed into the early morning service at a church in the southeast and opened fire, killing 35 Christians. On Tuesday a woman suicide bomber blew herself up and killed 27 others at a market in the northeast. See http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2017/08/dead-nigeria-church-shooting-170806153758051.html and https://www.reuters.com/article/us-nigeria-security-idUSKCN1AV25K

When locusts descended on the American Midwest in 1875, they didn’t just devour crops and forests. They destroyed years of hard-earned progress from settlers struggling to build a better life. In the same way, everyday violence is destroying the efforts of millions trying to rise out of poverty today and, because they are unsafe, the poor cannot benefit from the world’s best efforts to help them thrive. There is an undercover plague that the world is ignoring or has failed to see. The violence crisis is silently undermining the fight against poverty. For the poor, violence is as much a part of life as hunger, illness or unemployment - but it is less visible. Without effective justice systems to protect them from violence (like rape, trafficking and police brutality), the world’s poor live in a state of constant fear.

Ecclesiastes 9:17,18 says, ‘The quiet words of the wise are more to be heeded than the shouts of a ruler of fools. Wisdom is better than weapons of war, but one sinner destroys much good.’ Tensions around Donald Trump and Kim Jong-un are dangerous. No one is backing down in their war of words. Yesterday Trump implied in a tweet that he had North Korea to back down over its threat to Guam. It is a dangerous misperception that could cause the crisis to escalate. Trump could miss the best chance he will have to halt the missile tests that threaten the American homeland. Anxious about annual US-South Korea military exercises that begin next week, Pyongyang has presented the US with clear choices: reduce tensions or face a destabilising missile strike to the waters around Guam. Kim Jong-un is waiting to see what the ‘foolish Yankees’ do next. Pray for God's protection over Korea, Japan, Guam, and the USA.

Tony Fayez is a freelance singer-songwriter who performs for SAT-7, a media outlet broadcasting in Arabic, Turkish and Farsi. He writes lyrics and composes hip-hop worship songs, to reach out to young people and help young Christians worship in a language they feel belongs to them. ‘The fast rhythm of rap reflects the passion, energy and speed of teenagers’, he says. ‘That’s the music they listen to when they are together. It’s a good way to reach them, using Christian lyrics that they can remember and sing along to.’ Traditional churches and some parents say the language degrades Christian values and encourages poor vocabulary. Tony believes in giving youth freedom to express their faith in ways that are meaningful to them. ‘They can listen to whatever music they choose so instead of trying to fit them into a rigid form, we can reach out to them and speak their language.’

The UK Government has said it does not want any border posts between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland after Brexit. Northern Ireland secretary James Brokenshire insists the proposals are realistic because of the trade involved for all sides. The UK stresses there should be no physical infrastructure, such as customs posts, at the border, which has almost 300 crossing points. Instead, the Government is arguing for a wide-ranging exemption under which small- and medium-sized businesses will not have to comply with any new customs tariffs. If the proposals are accepted, customs officials envisage using a mix of technology and physical checks to monitor the compliance of bigger businesses engaged in international trade. Critics are concerned that an open border might prove to be a ‘back door’ for EU citizens who wish to enter the UK without proper checks.

A mass murder in Barcelona on 17th August by a van driving into a crowd outside a metro station and continuing along Las Ramblas for 500 metres killed thirteen and injuring one hundred. The driver fled on foot. Later, five suspected terrorists were shot dead at Cambrils. The terrorism began on the 16th with an explosion at Alcanar, killing one and wounding sixteen when they were attempting to ‘prepare an explosive device’. The Las Ramblas attack suspect, Driss Oukabir, was arrested after turning himself in. Josep Lluis Trapero, was arrested in Alcanar. Islamic State claimed responsibility. God desires all men to live in peace, pray for peace in the hearts of all affected by these attacks. May God strategically position police and security services across Spain, so that they will be at the right place at the right time to catch all the perpetrators and prevent further attacks.