For many faith groups, spring is one of the most important times of the year.

Early spring coincides with at least three major religious holidays — Easter, Passover and, this year, the beginning of Ramadan.

All three — or at least public events surrounding them — could be disrupted by the outbreak of the COVID-19 virus. Over the weekend, the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention asked Americans to cancel or reschedule any meeting of more than 50 people. President Donald Trump asked Americans on Monday (March 16) to further limit gatherings, to no more than 10 people.

Data from the National Congregations Study shows that would include 60 percent of houses of worship — and 90 percent of all people who attend worship services.

The Rev. Laura Everett. Courtesy photo

We asked religious leaders for their thoughts on what happens if these central holidays are canceled.

Here’s what they told us:

Easter cannot be canceled. We may not gather in the same way, but Easter will not cease. The Resurrection continues. I think churches are wisely considering how to best keep people safe, and that may include not gathering in person on Easter Sunday.

On Passover, we ask the question: “Why is this night different from all other nights?” This year the answer is self-evident. We will celebrate on that night amidst a world devastated — physically and psychologically — by a pandemic.

Does Passover have a message for these trying times? Yes. In addition to the Ten Plagues and the miracles of the splitting of the Sea, what saved the Jewish people in Egypt was their unity. They did not despair when Pharaoh refused to Moses’s initial pleas. They did not despair when their enslavement grew more onerous. They listened to God and to one another. They never lose hope.

Neither can we.

The writer Alice Walker said hard times require some serious dancing. While we should not dance too closely right now, may our spirits and souls of hope sustain us.

Easter is an important marker in church life in which we remember and celebrate Jesus Christ’s resurrection. It would, of course, be incredibly disappointing not to celebrate that as we are accustomed to, but we are also reminded during this season how Jesus served us and how we are to serve others.

The Rev. Walter Kim speaks during his inauguration as the new president of the National Association of Evangelicals at the Capital Turnaround venue in Washington on March 4, 2020. RNS photo by Adelle M. Banks

The church can rise and shine in these times. The church can be creative in the ways we’re in contact with one another. We can offer worship on virtual platforms. We can help older people in various ways. There are lots of ways the church can engage in mission, not unlike what happens after a hurricane or tornado or some other unexpected and unprecedented occurrence in a community. It calls for generosity in new ways and connections in new ways. Suspending worship for two weeks is not suspending ministry. In fact, it’s inviting ministry in new and proactive ways and creative ways.

Given CDC recommendations, Easter — Resurrection Sunday — may preclude churches from being able to gather corporately.

However, it provides an opportunity to remind believers that the true church was never about buildings and sanctuaries. The true church remains unified by the Resurrection message of victory, triumph and hope over death, hell and the grave.

Omar Suleiman. Courtesy photo

That message remains unchanged and is needed today now more than ever. May this crisis challenge the Church to explore new and innovative ways to exalt Christ over Corona by any means necessary!

I’m planning to do my weekly sermon virtually (which had over 200k views this week between Facebook and Instagram), a daily series summarizing one chapter of the Quran every day in Ramadan (30 chapters in 30 days), and several other fireside chats.

The key is comfort and enabling people to recognize the unique opportunities for good in these times of isolation and desperation.

I think it’s important for us to realize that yeah, we need to take wise precautions and we’ve got to keep people safe and think prudently. But we also know that historically, biblically, in a time of crisis, the body of Christ runs toward tragedy, not from it. We don’t retreat back in fear; we go forward in faith. This is a unique opportunity for us to be able to demonstrate the love and generosity of Christ.

I would encourage you to check out what’s happening in your community.  Maybe just walk down the street and see those who are particularly vulnerable. There are opportunities for us to serve.

J.D. Greear prays in a recent video that he made with his son outside a grocery store in North Carolina. Video screengrab via The Summit Church

I will admit that we are in the very beginning of brainstorming about how to celebrate Easter when we are unable to physically gather together. And yet, it feels like we have an opportunity to really focus on what Easter is all about — life coming out of death; God’s best work being done in the dark when no one knows it is happening. We will certainly miss all of the celebration, the trumpets, the energy in the sanctuary, etc. But regardless if we are together in person or not, Easter happens.

No matter what, Easter always rises. And so we will celebrate God’s ability to make a way out of no way and hold on to that promise with our fingernails. We are Easter people and a pandemic does not change that truth.

This past Sunday, March 15, a few of my staff and some of our musicians gathered in our Manhattan sanctuary to broadcast worship, live, at 11:15 a.m. We won’t gather again for at least 8 weeks, as we seek to follow CDC guidelines regarding COVID-19 social distancing.

I can tell you God is in the suffering, in the healing, in the praying, in the living, and in the dying. God is in the worry, as in the whirlwind and whisper. … God is also in the incarcerated man, making hand sanitizer for $.86 an hour and in the woman hoarding sanitizer in her garage. God is in a cage on the border, and in the cruel person pouring water out so folks can’t drink it. God is in the governor shutting it down and in POTUS pretending it’s going to be OK. (That one is super hard for me to write.) There is some little bit of the Divine in each of us, hungry, thirsty for clean water, living on the streets or in a Penthouse. If we could feel the horrible power of that — each one a little like God — we’d also feel the truth of the Ubuntu philosophy: I am who I am because we are who we are. Your survival and mine are linked. When you are standing right in front of me (or behind me in line in the grocery store, or on a Zoom conference call) God is right there. In you and in me. We are inextricably connected in a web of humanity, is the way Dr. King described it. We can survive this virus, as a people, as a species, with that in mind.

As people of faith, we certainly grieve the loss of routine in our lives and in our churches, but the church calendar is an expression of our faith in a spiritual reality. It is not the spiritual reality itself. Easter represents our belief that there is a truth that illness, fear, pandemic, economic distress and even death cannot touch. That truth is God’s incredible love for us.

Once a year, we come together on Easter Sunday to celebrate that reality in all its fullness with trumpets, flowers, baskets, brunches, and words of great joy. This year, we most likely won’t be able to celebrate that love with those symbolic expressions on the designated day, but our faith in God’s love abides.

We will be relying on it in the days ahead and trusting that there will be a day when we can join together as a community in person again. The first thing we will celebrate is the power of God’s love, the power of love over pandemic and death.

That day, whenever it comes, will be Easter Sunday!

Adelle M. Banks, Yonat Shimron, Emily McFarlan Miller and Bob Smietana contributed to this report.

Source: Religion News Service

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A DC-8 aircraft carrying an emergency field hospital and a team of 32 technicians and medical personnel took off from Greensboro, North Carolina, on Tuesday (March 17) for Cremona, Italy, to set up a triage operation outside a hospital there.

The massive shipment is a donation from Samaritan’s Purse, the evangelical humanitarian relief organization headed by Franklin Graham, who is also CEO of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association. When assembled, the modular, tentlike field hospital will help Italian medical staff, whose local medical infrastructure has been overwhelmed with a coronavirus outbreak that has killed more than 2,500 people.

The donation represents one of the largest faith-based responses to the COVID-19 outbreak. In America, many U.S.-based religious groups are working on a smaller scale to provide resources to congregations wanting to help vulnerable people cope with quarantine or social distancing.

“Their hospital (in Cremona) is still functional, but it’s overrun and overwhelmed,” said Kaitlyn Lahm, a spokesperson for Samaritan’s Purse. “So we’re setting up our emergency field hospital adjacent to an existing hospital so we can provide surge capacity.”

It will take a team about three days to set up the 68-bed hospital, hook into the water system and electrical grid and assemble the medical equipment, said Melanie Wubs, medical response coordinator for Samaritan’s Purse. Once completed, it will have a laboratory and a respiratory care unit with beds outfitted with ventilators.

In all, Samaritan’s Purse expects to have a staff of 60 technicians, doctors, nurses and pharmacists.

On March 17, 2020, Samaritan’s Purse airlifted a 68-bed emergency field hospital and 32 disaster response specialists, including respiratory therapists, doctors and nurses, to aid those affected by the coronavirus in northern Italy. Photo courtesy of Samaritan’s Purse

But the main purpose of the field hospital is to serve as an overflow center for people needing emergency care in Italy’s hardest-hit Lombardy region. Italy is second only to China in the number of coronavirus infections. The country of 60 million people is under a tight lockdown, with shops and churches shuttered and restrictions on gatherings.

This is not the first time Samaritan’s Purse has assembled an emergency field hospital. The organization, known for its “shoebox ministry” that sends Christmastime packages filled with personal care items and small toys to needy children all over the world, is equally well known for its disaster relief efforts.

Its first field hospital was deployed in 2016 in response to the earthquake in Ecuador. It also set up an emergency field hospital about 12 miles from Mosul, Iraq, during the 2016-17 battle for the city. Last year, it installed a field hospital in the Bahamas in response to Hurricane Dorian.

Lahm said Samaritan’s Purse was working closely with the Italian government and its public health ministry. “We are talking to the key players on the ground to make sure this is something they need and want,” she said.

Other religious groups are also galvanizing to provide help.

More than 20 tons of medical equipment are loaded onto the Samaritan’s Purse DC-8 cargo plane to be sent to northern Italy on March 17, 2020, in Greensboro, North Carolina. Equipment included a specialized respiratory care unit developed specifically in response to COVID-19, and 32 disaster response specialists, including respiratory therapists, doctors and nurses. Photo courtesy of Samaritan’s Purse

As most religious congregations in the U.S. have curtailed services or canceled them altogether, some congregations and denominations are beginning to think not only about safeguarding their own, but reaching out to help others.

Among the initial forays, nonprofit soup kitchens, such as Miriam’s Kitchen in Washington, D.C., have retooled to provide carry-out containers rather than a dining room to prevent the spread of the disease. Hillel International launched [email protected] to provide Jewish college students an opportunity for online meetups.

Southern Baptist disaster relief groups such North Carolina’s Baptists on Mission have provided resources to churches wanting to respond to the coronavirus but unsure how to go about doing it without endangering the health of church members and volunteers.

“This is a unique opportunity for us to be able to demonstrate the love and generosity of Christ,” said J.D. Greear, president of the Southern Baptist Convention and a pastor of a North Carolina megachurch, in a video message. “I would encourage you to check out what’s happening in your community.”

Baptists on Mission is collecting names of churches that have kitchens and can cook for others as well as churches that can make deliveries of canned goods to shut-ins.

“The best response is going to be helping facilitate neighbor helping neighbor,” said Richard Brunson, director of North Carolina Baptists on Mission. “It’s knowing who the people are in your community who are isolated and at higher risk, not hurting them but encouraging them and providing in a way that doesn’t risk them being infected.”

Source: Religion News Service

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LOS ANGELES (RNS) — Catholics seeking standard Sunday services were met with something new this past weekend.

At the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels, the mother church of LA’s Archdiocese, church bells tolled over deserted streets and an empty plaza on Sunday (March 15).

In lieu of the typical door greeter, visitors were met with health advisory signs and a stack of flyers titled, “Prayer in the Time of the Coronavirus.”

Inside the sanctuary, fewer than 100 people gathered in a space that can fit 3,000. Before the Mass began, an usher walked the aisles and whispered that the offertory bowl would not be passed around in an effort to avoid the spread of germs. In its place, a lonely basket sat in the center of the aisle for people who wished to drop their gifts.

After Mass began, the church’s pastor, the Rev. David Gallardo, wasted little time before addressing the unease.

“Health is on everyone’s minds during this pandemic,” he said, his voice echoing through the mostly empty church. “Health is important, but as Christians, we cannot forget that we are truly children of God destined for eternal life. This is why Jesus reminds us over and over again in the Gospels: Do not be afraid.”

The typically bustling plaza at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels sat empty ahead of Sunday morning Mass, March 15, 2020, in Los Angeles. Photo by Hayley Smith

But people are afraid.

News reports of the deadly virus have occupied the media for days on end. The WHO’s latest numbers declared 118,000 diagnoses across 114 countries and 4,291 dead. In Italy, home of the Vatican, the disease has spread so quickly that there is a national quarantine, and Catholics seeking reassurance from the Pope have instead found announcements of closures and cancellations.

Like most people across the world, the parishioners at Our Lady of Angels were looking for answers at a time when few answers exist.

“I never lived through 9/11 or polio or any of those things,” said 17-year-old David Boneta after the 8 a.m. Mass. “Those aren’t things that ever even occurred to me. Coronavirus is the only real thing, and it’s scary.”

Across town at Our Mother of Good Counsel in Los Feliz, the atmosphere before the 10 a.m. Mass was similarly unsettled. Ushers collected offerings while wearing face masks, and parishioners pumped hand sanitizer into their palms from dispensers in the aisles.

Like Gallardo, the Rev. Mark Menegatti began his service by addressing the concerns of the crowd.

“Archbishop José Gomez has granted dispensation to all Catholics in the Archdiocese from the obligation of attending Mass this week, next week, or the week of March 28 and 29,” he said, referencing a letter published by Gomez on Friday.

“Anyone who is ill, or who knows someone who is ill, should stay home,” Menegatti said.

Only roughly one hundred people attended Mass at the 3,000-capacity Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels in downtown Los Angeles, Sunday, March 15, 2020. Photo by Hayley Smith

Almost all churches in Los Angeles are following Gomez’s orders, which include eliminating the communal chalice and avoiding any direct bodily contact. When Menegatti’s Mass reached the moment of communion, parishioners lined up and cupped their hands to catch the hosts instead of taking them on their tongues.

“It feels apocalyptic,” said parishioner Sal Lopez after the service at Good Counsel. “It was so empty in there.”

His friend, Tomás Olmos, said he hasn’t felt this way in years.

“Every generation has their apocalyptic challenge,” Olmos said. “The atomic bomb, the AIDS scare, the swine flu, the Cuban missile crisis — there has always been some catastrophic thing threatening each generation. The best thing we can do at this time is pray and keep the faith.”

The Bible is rich with passages about sickness and compassion, including directives to “heal the sick” (Matthew 10:8) and provide for those who are suffering. “Is anyone among you sick?” reads James 5:14. “Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him.”

Still, the highly contagious nature of the virus has left many people grappling with questions of obligation and faith. How does one help the sick when it might mean endangering the lives of others?

Lopez said he thinks that instead of isolating people, the virus could help bring people together.

“Spiritually, it’s kind of nice for all of us to take this moment to pause,” he said.

His wife, Urbanie, agreed.

“If you go down by the (Silver Lake) reservoir, you’ll see a lot of families together,” she said. “The whole tribe. Students are coming home from college, and people are gathering and spending time with their families because there’s nowhere else to go.”

Parishioners at Our Mother of Good Counsel cupped their hands to catch the hosts without making physical contact, Sunday, March 15, 2020, in Los Angeles. Photo by Hayley Smith

At Our Lady of Angels, Gallardo also searched for deeper meaning. He read a passage from the Gospel of John in which Jesus asks for water from a stranger.

He used the story to remind parishioners of both their humanity and their glory.

“The real human needs that we have — thirst, food, shelter, education, a job, leisure — all of these things are important,” he said, “and we feel them when we don’t have them. The problem comes when we let these worldly concerns overwhelm and blind us to the deeper thirst, to the need for God.”

Flyers with the “Prayer in the Time of the
Coronavirus” were handed out at the
Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels in Los
Angeles. Photo by Hayley Smith

Gallardo then led the room in a recitation of “Prayer in the Time of the Coronavirus,” which was written by Archbishop Gomez.

“In this time of trial and testing, teach all of us in the church to love one another and to be patient and kind,” the prayer said. But the room felt quiet, even as one hundred voices spoke.

After the service, people shuffled out quickly and quietly. Most didn’t linger or stop to chat, but one couple moved slowly and appeared shell-shocked.

“That was so empty,” said Frank Masterson. “There are usually many, many more people in there.”

His wife, Caren, said it’s a frightening and confusing time. She’s struggling with the question of what can be done for the sick and how far people of faith should go to help them. One of her friends relies on an oxygen tank, and just yesterday he told them he thinks he has the virus.

“We weren’t sure what the right thing to do was,” she said.

The couple debated about whether to offer to drive their friend to the hospital, which could mean putting themselves or others at risk of getting sick. Ultimately, they decided against it.

“I think the best thing we can do for him is pray,” she said.

Source: Religion News Service

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Save the Persecuted Christians (STPC), which advocates on behalf of hundreds of millions of Christians facing heavy persecution worldwide, is addressing the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

“Situations such as these create an opportunity for persecutors to exploit the crisis at hand and operate with a greater sense of impunity, which is why it is imperative for each of us to also continue our prayers for those who are at risk of anti-Christian violence,” said Dede Laugesen, executive director of Save the Persecuted Christians.

“[Sunday’s] National Day of Prayer gave each of us an opportunity to come together in the midst of the seeming chaos and believe our God is greater than any outbreak. Although it is often easy to get swept up in the mass frenzy, we encourage you to remember that through prayer and faith we, as followers of Christ, can overcome every obstacle.

“There is no difficulty too great for God to overcome if His people cry out to Him and believe in His almighty power and ability. In Isaiah 43, God tells us that we are never alone and that He will always get us to the other side of any barrier. ‘When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee: when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned; neither shall the flame kindle upon thee’ (Isa. 43:2, KJV).

SOURCE: Charisma News

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TEXT: Hebrews 4:14-16

14 Seeing then that we have a great high priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession.

15 For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.

16 Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.

——–

Robert Kendall said, “Prayer can no more be divorced from worship than life can be divorced from breathing.”

In its early days, Dallas Theological Seminary was in critical need of $10,000 to keep the work going. During a prayer meeting, renowned Bible teacher Harry Ironside, a lecturer at the school, prayed, “Lord, you own the cattle on a thousand hills. Please sell some of those cattle to help us meet this need.” Shortly after the prayer meeting, a check for $10,000 arrived at the school, sent days earlier by a friend who had no idea of the urgent need or of Ironside’s prayer. The man simply said the money came from the sale of some of his cattle!

In our last message in this series we looked at how we can approach the throne of grace boldly and with humble confidence because our high priest is none other than the son of God Jesus Christ. Because Jesus is the only priest who knows God directly, and is our only gateway to knowing God, we can have confidence in addressing our prayers to God in the name of Christ Jesus.

Second, we can approach the throne of grace boldly because we have a high priest who knows us. Hebrews 4:15 reads, “For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.” While also being God, Jesus lived as a man while he was here on earth. While he was here he experienced all the struggles that are natural to the human experience – hunger, thirst, weariness, and the temptation to sin against God. Jesus, being God, of course could not have committed a sin, but he understands the struggle that we go through in our lives. John MacArthur said, “He knows the gamut of temptation yet He can stand apart in absolute pure moral evaluation and be a fair judge. All our temptations Christ felt, and He didn’t feel them with our blunted perception but He felt them with His infinite sensitivity. Mark this thought, sinlessness alone can estimate sin, did you get that? It is sinlessness alone that can estimate sin. And so Jesus Christ didn’t sin. He couldn’t sin, He had no capacity to sin. But that doesn’t minimize His temptations they were all the more terrible because He would not fall, He could not fall, He endured them to the extreme. And He’s a good one to stand back and evaluate us because being sinless He has a sensitivity to sin, and He can see it for what it is where we always cannot. I like what it says in Hebrews 12:8 it says, “For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds. Ye have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin.” You want to talk to somebody who knows what sin is about you talk to Jesus Christ, you don’t even know what that’s about in the fullest sense you haven’t been able resist to the point of blood. Jesus Christ knows sin, and He knows your weakness and He understands it. You say, well what does this have to do with me? This just simply means that after you’ve come to Jesus Christ you have one that you can go to who completely understands in every way, in every capacity. In fact the Apostle paul put it this way in First Corinthians 10 he said in verse 18, and this of course is a classic statement, “But there hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not tempt you above that you are able, but will, with the temptation, make a way of escape, that you may be able to bear it.” Jesus Christ knows the path. Someone has well said, In a trackless wood the one who goes first blazes the way or breaks twigs so others may follow. When Jesus passed through this world He gathered up so many thorns in His own feet that by this we may know the way for us to take.” When someone is charged with a crime, if they do not have the means to hire a defense lawyer, they are assigned one by the government. These defense attorneys usually do not know their client, and do not care about the outcome of the case on a personal level. They are just doing the job they have been assigned. But Jesus knows and cares about us personally. He understands our struggle with sin. So we can approach God’s throne of grace boldly because we know that our defense attorney, if you will, knows us on a personal level and is ready to defend us before God.

– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –

Now, if you are with us today, and you do not know the Lord Jesus Christ as your Saviour, your first prayer needs to be what we call the Sinner’s Prayer. First, please understand that you are a sinner, just as I am, and that you have broken God’s laws. The Bible says in Romans 3:23: “For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.”

Second, accept the fact that there is a penalty for sin. The Bible states in Romans 6:23: “For the wages of sin is death…”

Third, accept the fact that you are on the road to hell. Jesus Christ said in Matthew 10:28: “And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.” Also, the Bible states in Revelation 21:8: “But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.”

Now this is bad news, but here’s the good news. Jesus Christ said in John 3:16: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”

Just believe in your heart that Jesus Christ died for your sins, was buried, and rose from the dead by the power of God for you so that you can live eternally with Him. Pray and ask Him to come into your heart today, and He will.

Romans 10:9 & 13 says, “That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved… For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.”

If you believe that Jesus Christ died on the Cross for your sins, was buried, and rose from the dead, and you want to trust Him for your Salvation today, please pray with me this simple prayer: Holy Father God, I realize that I am a sinner and that I have done some bad things in my life. For Jesus Christ sake, please forgive me of my sins. I now believe with all of my heart that Jesus Christ died for me, was buried, and rose again. Lord Jesus, please come into my heart and save my soul and change my life today. Amen.

If you just trusted Jesus Christ as your Saviour, and you prayed that prayer and meant it from your heart, I declare to you that based upon the Word of God, you are now saved from Hell and you are on your way to Heaven. Welcome to the family of God! Congratulations on trusting Jesus Christ as your Lord and Saviour. You have done the most important thing in life. For more information to help you grow in your newfound faith in Christ, go to Gospel Light Society.com and read “What To Do After You Enter Through the Door”. Jesus Christ said in John 10:9, “I am the door, by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture.”

God loves you. We love you. And may God bless you.

Daniel Whyte III has spoken in meetings across the United States and in over twenty-five foreign countries. He is the author of over forty books including the Essence Magazine, Dallas Morning News, and Amazon.com national bestseller, Letters to Young Black Men. He is also the president of Gospel Light Society International, a worldwide evangelistic ministry that reaches thousands with the Gospel each week, as well as president of Torch Ministries International, a Christian literature ministry.

He is heard by thousands each week on his radio broadcasts/podcasts, which include: The Prayer Motivator Devotional, The Prayer Motivator Minute, as well as Gospel Light Minute X, the Gospel Light Minute, the Sunday Evening Evangelistic Message, the Prophet Daniel’s Report, the Second Coming Watch Update and the Soul-Winning Motivator, among others.

He holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Theology from Bethany Divinity College, a Bachelor’s degree in Religion from Texas Wesleyan University, a Master’s degree in Religion, a Master of Divinity degree, and a Master of Theology degree from Liberty University’s Rawlings School of Divinity (formerly Liberty Baptist Theological Seminary). He is currently a candidate for the Doctor of Ministry degree.

He has been married to the former Meriqua Althea Dixon, of Christiana, Jamaica since 1987. God has blessed their union with seven children.

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As the threat of COVID-19 evolves, the needs continue to as well, and the Los Angeles Dream Center is responding to these needs while complying with all advice and regulations from the CDC, Gov. Gavin Newsom and LA Mayor Eric Garcetti. Since schools are closed, throughout this week, the Dream Center will be open to provide meals for families from 7:30 am to 6:30 pm.

Mealtimes are not specified, and food will be served all throughout the time frame of 7:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. where anyone can show up at any time. The Dream Center also has a drive-thru option implemented. For those who are simply walking in, it is a pick-up-and-go system. There is no congregating on the Dream Center campus. To get an inside look at what this process looks like, click here to see the Dream Center in action from March 16, 2020.

The elderly and seniors 65-plus are finding it particularly necessary to practice social distancing, and so the LA Dream Center is also putting together care packages for the elderly this week, including a large load of hygiene and cleaning products and food to Parkview Senior Living Apartments located across the street from Angelus Temple, and also to the Dream Center’s existing outreach sites.

SOURCE: Charisma News

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Gospel Light Minute – No Malice (#266)

He is a platinum-selling hip hop recording artist from Virginia Beach, Virginia widely known by his stage name No Malice (formerly Malicious and later Malice). He is best known for being one half of Southern hip hop duo Clipse, which he formed in 1992 alongside his brother and fellow rapper Pusha T. No Malice has also released two studio albums as a solo artist: Hear Ye Him, in August 2013, and Let the Dead Bury the Dead, in August 2017.

In a recent feature from God Reports, the hip-hop artist documented his dramatic testimony of transformation:

Deep down, No Malice, then known as Malice, always knew that staying in his platinum-selling worldly music group would lead to his demise.

But Malice found a new reason to live in 2010—Jesus Christ. He changed his stage name to No Malice and gave up millions of dollars by going solo.

“I was just letting the wind carry me left, right, swing either which way in my life,” No Malice said in a HipHopDX video.

“I wasn’t fulfilled. To have achieved the American Dream and still not be fulfilled only frustrated me more,” he told CBN. “I wasn’t having a good time. And when I did have a good time, it was only to find out afterwards, I was in more misery.”

Born in 1972 in the Bronx and raised in Virginia Beach, No Malice was drawn to hip hop and R&B as a child. Unlike many kids in his neighborhood, his mother and father took him to church. Still, he managed to get into all kinds of trouble.

“Even with a foundation and having a good head on your shoulders, you can still make some pretty decent mistakes,” he said.

He and his brother, who went under the stage name Pusha T, formed the group Clipse, which brass-knuckled its way into the rap game. At the time hip hop was just beginning to compete against pop with choruses and anthems, but Clipse broached untouchable topics, introducing a sub genre dubbed coke rap, filled with chilling hood depictions of trafficking and addiction.

It caused a sensation and opened new terrain for hip hop. Running and gunning, killing and cursing became the new trend. Lord Willin’ in 2002 debuted at #1 on Billboard’s Top R&B/Hip Hop album chart. XXL magazine gave its coveted and rare 5-star rating to Clipse’s 2006 album Hell Hath No Fury. They toured and collaborated with several top artists, some of their tracks being produced by Pharrell Williams.

“Clipse blew my brain open in 2006,” wrote Nathan Slavik on DJBooth Net.

In 2009, when he hit the cusp of notoriety, riches and ever growing celebrity, No Malice suddenly pulled the plug and quit secular rap. How could he? How could he leave his brother, leave the fame, leave the riches, leave his fans?

“You can have it,” No Malice told DJ Vlad, declaring in no uncertain terms that he had no regrets and no remorse about leaving his former path. “I knew that I had to get out of the group before I ended up dead or in jai.”

Behind the veneer and trappings of renown, there was a sinner gripped with fear over his own mortality. The wild life of women, alcohol and drugs left him paranoid that he would contract AIDS.

At the same time, federal agents were circling like sharks because the raps about trafficking were based on reality. His manager got locked up for 34 years. One friend was coming out of the hospital after his wife had just given birth and was arrested. When his brother came late to a flight, No Malice thought he had been arrested. He wanted out.

While the world viewed him with envy, he saw the condition of his soul as “wretched, pitiful, poor, blind, and naked,” to the extent that he titled his autobiography with those very words.

He was drinking and getting high in a cul-de-sac with a couple friends, one of whom was under house arrest, when a lady named Miss Alberta drove up. She got out of the car and started to witness very earnestly to them about Jesus.

“We were definitely not trying to hear none of that,” he remembers. “This woman came out in the dark and saw three guys drinking, she could have been intimidated. But she was very bold and adamant. She relied very heavily on her faith. She didn’t see three dudes and be like, ‘Oh they’re never going to be nothing.’ No, she came and she took the time and gave us a life-changing message: ‘You don’t have some other time! You might die tonight! The Almighty is calling you now. Shall you not answer when God calls?’”

That night, three drunk guys clasped hands and prayed to receive Jesus into their hearts. No Malice followed up his prayer with more decisions to really live the born-again life.

On March 6, 2012, he announced that he changed his name from Malice to No Malice. In a video posted to Twitter announcing the change, No Malice linked to a video that shows him entering a funeral parlor in a dress shirt and bow tie, staring down at himself in a casket before shaking his head and walking away. The video, which he directed, opens with multiple quotes from the Bible: first, from Ephesians 4:31, “Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice;” then, from 1 Peter 2:1, “Wherefore laying aside all malice, and all guile, and hypocrisies, and envies, and all evil speakings;” Romans 1:29, “Being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity; whisperers;” and Colossians 3:8, “But now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth.”

“I changed my name from ‘Malice’ to ‘No Malice’ simply because everything that I read in the Bible was to do away with all malice,” he says. “I don’t have malice in my heart. It was time for that change. I was absolutely born-again. I gave my life to Jesus Christ. There’s no other way I can say it.”

He dropped out of Clipse and produced a Christian album in 2013 called Hear Ye Him. He collaborated with Lecrae on the Grammy-winning rapper’s Church Clothes in 2012 and then dropped Let the Dead Bury the Dead in 2017. Then Kanye West featured him and his brother, Pusha T, on his song “Use the Gospel for Protection” from his album Jesus is King following his own monumental return to the Christian faith.

No Malice doesn’t make nearly as much money now that he’s not pushing thug life, but he has a clear conscience. “How many people went to jail because of things I said? How many times people got pulled over and went to jail while my record was playing in the car. Think about how many times somebody’s head was blown out, and my music was playing. You create that vibe. It’s that old question: Does art imitate life or does life imitate art?”

His name is Gene Elliott Thornton Jr., formerly known as Malicious and Malice, now known as No Malice.

This is the “Chief of Sinners,” Daniel Whyte III, president of Gospel Light Society International, reminding you of what the Bible says, that “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners” like you and me. Just as Gene Thornton Jr. a.k.a. No Malice trusts Jesus Christ as his Saviour, may I encourage you to do the same. Here is how:

1. Accept the fact that you are a sinner, and that you have broken God’s law. The Bible says in Ecclesiastes 7:20: “For there is not a just man upon earth that doeth good, and sinneth not.” Romans 3:23 reads: “For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.” In fact, I am the chief of sinners, so don’t think that you’re alone.

2. Accept the fact that there is a penalty for sin. The Bible states in Romans 6:23: “For the wages of sin is death…”

3. Accept the fact that you are on the road to hell. Jesus Christ said in Matthew 10:28: “And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.” The Bible says in Revelation 21:8: “But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.”

4. Accept the fact that you cannot do anything to save yourself! The Bible states in Ephesians 2: 8, 9: “For by grace are ye saved through faith: and that not of yourselves: it is a gift of God. Not of works, lest any man should boast.”

5. Accept the fact that God loves you more than you love yourself, and that He wants to save you from hell. Jesus Christ said in John 3:16, “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”

6. With these facts in mind, please repent of your sins, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and pray and ask Him to come into your heart and save you this very moment. The Bible states in the book of Romans 10:9, 13: “That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.”

“For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.”

Dear friend, if you are willing to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation, please pray with me this simple prayer: Heavenly Father, I realize that I am a sinner and that I have done some bad things in my life. For Jesus Christ sake, please forgive me of my sins. I now believe with all of my heart that Jesus Christ died for me, was buried, and rose again. Lord Jesus, please come into my heart and save my soul and change my life today. Amen.

If you believed in your heart that Jesus Christ died on the cross, was buried, and rose again, allow me to say, congratulations on doing the most important thing in life and that is accepting Jesus Christ as your Lord and Saviour! For more information to help you grow in your newfound faith in Christ, go to Gospel Light Society.com and read “What To Do After You Enter Through the Door”. Jesus Christ said in John 10:9, “I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture.”

Remember, friend, Believe by faith. Share the faith. and Keep the faith!

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A DC-8 aircraft carrying an emergency field hospital and a team of 32 technicians and medical personnel took off from Greensboro, North Carolina, on Tuesday (March 17) for Cremona, Italy, to set up a triage operation outside a hospital there.

The massive shipment is a donation from Samaritan’s Purse, the evangelical humanitarian relief organization headed by Franklin Graham, who is also CEO of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association. When assembled, the modular, tent-like field hospital will help Italian medical staff, whose local medical infrastructure has been overwhelmed with a coronavirus outbreak that has killed more than 2,500 people.

The donation represents one of the largest faith-based responses to the COVID-19 outbreak. In America, many U.S.-based religious groups are working on a smaller scale to provide resources to congregations wanting to help vulnerable people cope with quarantine or social distancing.

“Their hospital (in Cremona) is still functional, but it’s overrun and overwhelmed,” said Kaitlyn Lahm, a spokesperson for Samaritan’s Purse. “So we’re setting up our emergency field hospital adjacent to an existing hospital so we can provide surge capacity.”

It will take a team about three days to set up the 68-bed hospital, hook into the water system and electrical grid and assemble the medical equipment, said Melanie Wubs, medical response coordinator for Samaritan’s Purse. Once completed, it will have a laboratory and a respiratory care unit with beds outfitted with ventilators.

In all, Samaritan’s Purse expects to have a staff of 60 technicians, doctors, nurses and pharmacists.

But the main purpose of the field hospital is to serve as an overflow center for people needing emergency care in Italy’s hardest-hit Lombardy region. Italy is second only to China in the number of coronavirus infections. The country of 60 million people is under a tight lockdown, with shops and churches shuttered and restrictions on gatherings.

This is not the first time Samaritan’s Purse has assembled an emergency field hospital. The organization, known for its “shoebox ministry” that sends Christmastime packages filled with personal care items and small toys to needy children all over the world, is equally well known for its disaster relief efforts.

Its first field hospital was deployed in 2016 in response to the earthquake in Ecuador. It also set up an emergency field hospital about 12 miles from Mosul, Iraq, during the 2016-17 battle for the city. Last year, it installed a field hospital in the Bahamas in response to Hurricane Dorian.

Lahm said Samaritan’s Purse was working closely with the Italian government and its public health ministry. “We are talking to the key players on the ground to make sure this is something they need and want,” she said.

Other religious groups are also galvanizing to provide help.

As most religious congregations in the U.S. have curtailed services or canceled them altogether, some congregations and denominations are beginning to think not only about safeguarding their own, but reaching out to help others.

Among the initial forays, nonprofit soup kitchens, such as Miriam’s Kitchen in Washington, D.C., have retooled to provide carry-out containers rather than a dining room to prevent the spread of the disease. Hillel International launched [email protected] to provide Jewish college students an opportunity for online meetups.

Southern Baptist disaster relief groups such North Carolina’s Baptists on Mission have provided resources to churches wanting to respond to the coronavirus but unsure how to go about doing it without endangering the health of church members and volunteers.

“This is a unique opportunity for us to be able to demonstrate the love and generosity of Christ,” said J.D. Greear, president of the Southern Baptist Convention and a pastor of a North Carolina megachurch, in a video message. “I would encourage you to check out what’s happening in your community.”

Baptists on Mission is collecting names of churches that have kitchens and can cook for others as well as churches that can make deliveries of canned goods to shut-ins.

“The best response is going to be helping facilitate neighbor helping neighbor,” said Richard Brunson, director of North Carolina Baptists on Mission. “It’s knowing who the people are in your community who are isolated and at higher risk, not hurting them but encouraging them and providing in a way that doesn’t risk them being infected.”

SOURCE: Religion News Service

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U.S. President Donald Trump and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau have agreed to close the border between the United States and Canada to slow the spread of COVID-19.

The border will be closed to all non-essential traffic, reports CNBC. Ongoing discussions will determine what vehicles and people will still be allowed to travel, according to CNN. The U.S.-Canada border is the longest dividing line between two countries.

President Trump announced the news on Twitter:

We will be, by mutual consent, temporarily closing our Northern Border with Canada to non-essential traffic. Trade will not be affected. Details to follow!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 18, 2020

SOURCE: Charisma News

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