Trump Urges Americans to Pray: ‘With God’s Help, We Will Overcome This Threat’

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Trump Urges Americans to Pray: ‘With God’s Help, We Will Overcome This Threat’


Trump Urges Americans to Pray: ‘With God’s Help, We Will Overcome This Threat’

President Trump on Saturday asked Americans to pray for God’s protection and healing during the coronavirus pandemic, borrowing words from Scripture and saying in a proclamation, “For with God nothing shall be impossible.”

“In our times of greatest need, Americans have always turned to prayer to help guide us through trials and periods of uncertainty. As we continue to face the unique challenges posed by the coronavirus pandemic, millions of Americans are unable to gather in their churches, temples, synagogues, mosques, and other houses of worship,” the proclamation said.

“But in this time, we must not cease asking God for added wisdom, comfort, and strength, and we must especially pray for those who have suffered harm or who have lost loved ones. I ask you to join me in a day of prayer for all people who have been affected by the coronavirus pandemic and to pray for God’s healing hand to be placed on the people of our Nation.”

Trump named Sunday (March 15) a “National Day of Prayer” and urged Americans to pray for the “health and well-being of your fellow Americans and to remember that no problem is too big for God to handle.”

“Let us pray that all those affected by the virus will feel the presence of our Lord’s protection and love during this time,” Trump wrote. “With God’s help, we will overcome this threat.”

The proclamation quoted 1 Peter…

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White Evangelicals Say Trump Fights for Their Beliefs, Pew Survey Finds

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White Evangelicals Say Trump Fights for Their Beliefs, Pew Survey Finds


White Evangelicals Say Trump Fights for Their Beliefs, Pew Survey Finds

As progressive Americans continue to express bewilderment about white evangelical Protestants’ support of President Donald Trump, a new Pew Research Center survey offers findings that help explain this important electoral community’s commitment.

As the 2020 presidential election cycle accelerates, Pew released results Thursday about its recent research which explores the links between religion and politics, including perceptions of evangelical Protestants and other faith groups’ views of Trump.

“White evangelicals largely see Trump as fighting for their beliefs and advancing their interests …,” the Pew report said, “… and they feel their side generally has been winning recently on political matters important to them.”

However, the report continued, “when it comes to Trump’s personal qualities and conduct, many express mixed feelings.” Most of those “among this strongly supportive constituency … do not view Trump as a very religious, honest or morally upstanding person (though many white evangelicals say he is somewhat religious, fairly honest or fairly morally upstanding).”

Overall, Pew said it found that “Americans care more about having a president who stands up for their religious beliefs than having one who personally shares those beliefs.” Almost seven out of ten “say it is either very (38 percent) or somewhat (31 percent) important to have a…

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Pastor Miles McPherson Urges Christians to Have Faith, Not Fear, on Coronavirus in Online Service

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Pastor Miles McPherson Urges Christians to Have Faith, Not Fear, on Coronavirus in Online Service

California’s Rock Church went solely online for its Sunday worship services due to the coronavirus scare, and the megachurch’s pastor, Miles McPherson, said in his sermon that carefulness was needed, but with faith and not fear. He also interviewed a health official and two mayors about the pandemic.

We have to be careful in the wake of the novel coronavirus crisis, which is “serious and real,” McPherson stressed in his sermon.

In California alone, there are so far 335 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and six deaths.

But “God doesn’t want you to be filled with fear,” he said. “He wants you to be filled with faith.”

He cited 2 Timothy 1:7, which reads, “For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind” and explained each key term.

“Fear” means having “a heart filled with dread and panic.” Power means “the ability to exert the spiritual force necessary for change.” Love means “affection towards God and others.” And having a sound mind means making “sensible, intelligent and reasonable decisions.”

We need to walk around with the faith that God can not only keep us safe but also help us to help others, the pastor said.

We don’t need to pray for the coronavirus to go away, but for God’s presence, he added.

He asked one of the special guests, Dr. Wilma Wooten from San Diego County Health and Human Services, about the symptoms of COVID-19.

Wooten said the symptoms include fever, cough and an acute respiratory syndrome that could include pneumonia. Additionally, doctors would also ask if the person showing these symptoms has been to one of the affected regions like Wuhan in China or Italy or Iran, or has been in contact with someone who has the disease.

If you don’t have the symptoms, she noted, that means “you cannot transmit it to other individuals.”

Pastor McPherson said he had heard that you could transmit the virus even before you develop symptoms. The health official called it a rumor.

“That makes me feel good,” he said.

But, she added, that’s what’s known as of now, as the research is still going on.

Source: The Christian Post

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Barbara Harris, First Female Bishop in the Anglican Communion, Dies at 89

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Barbara Harris, First Female Bishop in the Anglican Communion, Dies at 89

Retired Bishop Barbara Harris, the first woman to be ordained and consecrated as a bishop in the worldwide Anglican Communion, died on Friday (March 13).

She was 89.

Harris died at a hospice house after a recent hospitalization.

“Our hearts are truly heavy at the loss of one who has been a faithful and altogether irrepressible companion, pastor and inspiration to us in the Diocese of Massachusetts for 31 years,” said Bishop Alan M. Gates, leader of the Episcopal Diocese of Massachusetts, in an announcement.

“At the same time our hearts are truly buoyed by the hope which she preached and the conviction she embodied for us throughout all these years,” he said.

Harris, who was known for quoting the words “Hallelujah anyhow” from a gospel song, served as a suffragan, or assisting, bishop in the diocese from 1989 until she retired in 2002. She later served as assisting bishop in the Diocese of Washington from 2003 to 2007.

“Bishop Barbara Harris was not large of physical stature,” said Episcopal Church Presiding Bishop Michael Curry in a tweeted statement. “In fact, the opposite. But she was larger than life. She was larger than life because she lived it fully with her God and with us. She did it by actually living the love of God that Jesus taught us about.”

The great-granddaughter of a woman born into slavery, she described herself as a “fiercely independent” child, and she grew up to take a nontraditional path to the episcopacy, according to a remembrance posted on the website of the Massachusetts diocese. The Philadelphia native joined the Selma-to-Montgomery civil rights march, became president of a black-owned public relations firm, and was ordained a priest at age 50 in 1980, four years after the Episcopal Church began officially recognizing women in that role.

She broke numerous stereotypes as she became the first woman Anglican bishop, being an African American, a divorcée and a person who had not graduated from seminary.

“The temptation we have,” she said in her first sermon as bishop, “is to play it safe, don’t make waves.

“But if Jesus had played it safe, we would not be saved,” she continued, according to 1989 coverage in the Los Angeles Times. “If the Diocese of Massachusetts had played it safe, I would not be standing here clothed in rochet and chimere and wearing a pectoral cross.”

In a 2004 sermon, “A Circle of Concern,” she urged not only that congregants pray for people with AIDS and those who were hungry or homeless but that they act on those prayers.

“Our circle of concern must enlarge itself over and over and over again to include all of God’s people — especially those who seem hard to love,” she said in a sermon cited in the anthology “Preaching with Sacred Fire.” “For when we love those who seem hard to love, we may be loving ourselves as well.”

The Rev. Kelly Brown Douglas — who edited Harris’ memoir titled “Hallelujah, Anyhow!” — tweeted that she was saddened to learn of her colleague’s death.

“There are truly no words that can adequately reflect the greatness of her life & witness or the gravity of her loss,” wrote Douglas, dean of the Episcopal Divinity School at Union in New York City.

Gates noted that Harris will be honored in the future with a public funeral that will be held at Washington National Cathedral as well as a memorial service at the Cathedral Church of St. Paul in Boston.

“Because of the coronavirus pandemic and current restrictions on travel and group gatherings, we will delay setting service dates for now,” he said.

In his announcement, the Massachusetts bishop also quoted Harris’ hopeful words about death:

“If we can believe that Jesus, who died, rose again from the dead, … then we can, in peace, give over those who have died — known and unknown — to a loving, compassionate and ever-merciful God who has prepared for us a better home than this Good Friday world.”

Source: Religion News Service

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The National Black Church Initiative Urges All African-Americans Aged 60 and Over With Underlying Conditions Not to Attend Church for the Foreseeable Future

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The National Black Church Initiative Urges All African-Americans Aged 60 and Over With Underlying Conditions Not to Attend Church for the Foreseeable Future

Washington, DC – The National Black Church Initiative (NBCI), a faith-based coalition of 34,000 churches comprised of 37 denominations and 26.7 million African Americans with an additional 116,000 sister churches, is urging all of our church leaders to respect the science regarding COVID-19 and allow and encourage all of its members who are at least 60 years old and have underlying conditions to forgo church for the foreseeable future. This extraordinary moral move by NBCI is to protect us all from this extraordinarily dangerous virus and is in accordance with guidelines released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Dr. Anthony Fauci, of the National Institute of Health, expressed that COVID-19 (coronavirus) “… is 10 times more lethal than the seasonal flu.” Additionally, health experts have expressed that those with underlying conditions who are age 60 and over are particularly vulnerable to this disease.

The Reverend Anthony Evans, President of the National Black Church Initiative, strongly urges “We must follow all of the CDC’s guidelines pertaining to those who are at least 60, especially those with underlying health conditions and compromised immunities. We are taking this extraordinary action in light of the fact that we must show moral leadership here in order to get everyone singing the same song – God will take care of us if we listen and obey those who he was empowered to help us protect ourselves, our families, and our communities.”

Ministers are not doctors. I know that there are some churches and ministers who are going to defy this moral declaration. If you do so, you must be willing to institute the principles of social distancing as an extra measure to protect all those in your congregation.

The Bible is clear about using sound, moral judgment in light of our faith in Christ Jesus. In this case, both the scripture and God want us to heed the sound judgment of scientists, doctors, and government officials who are trying to keep us safe. Our faith in Christ relies not only on our faith in God, but also those individuals who God has empowered as scientists, doctors, and those who are in the government at this time.

The Black community should step away from the politics of the hour and focus on those who are trying to keep us safe.

About NBCI

The National Black Church Initiative (NBCI) is a coalition of 34,000 African American and Latino Churches working to eradicate racial disparities in healthcare, technology, education, housing, and the environment. NBCI’s mission is to provide critical wellness information to all of its members, congregants, Churches and the public. Our methodology is utilizing faith and sound health science.

NBCI’s purpose is to partner with major organizations and officials whose main mission is to reduce racial disparities in the variety of areas cited above. NBCI offers faith-based, out-of-the-box and cutting-edge solutions to stubborn economic and social issues. NBCI’s programs are governed by credible statistical analysis, science-based strategies and techniques, and methods that work. Visit our website at www.naltBlackChurch.com.

Contents of all communications sent to or from NBCI or staff, contractors or employees of NBCI containing information provided by NBCI including but not limited to email address, personal information and other data shall be the exclusive property of NBCI. Any misuse of this data which is not authorized by NBCI shall be prohibited. NBCI reserve the right to pursue legal action against any individual, member church, authorized or unauthorized who use or appropriate this property without consent of NBCI.

National Black Church Initiative

P.O. Box 65177
Washington, DC 20035
202-744-0184

Contact:
Rev. Anthony Evans
202-744-0184

March 14, 2020
For Immediate Release

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Academy of Country Music postpones awards show amid virus

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Academy of Country Music postpones awards show amid virus

The show won’t go on for the Academy of Country Music, after all.

The academy said Sunday that it was postponing its annual awards show, which was to be held April 5 at the MGM Garden Arena in Las Vegas and televised on CBS, because of the coronavirus pandemic.

The plan now is to hold the show in September, at a date and venue to be determined.

The academy “went to great lengths to find a safe solution for the show to go on,” said Damon Whiteside, academy CEO. The decision to postpone came after “constant conversations” with everyone involved, he said.

It’s the latest in a wave of events that were due to draw big audiences to fall by the wayside, given health advice for people to keep their social distance to avoid transmission.

Keith Urban, Miranda Lambert, Elle King and Ashley McBryde were among the artists scheduled to perform on the show.

While the coronavirus causes only mild symptoms such as fever or cough for most people, in can cause more severe illnesses, particularly among older adults and people with existing health problems.

The South By Southwest festival in Austin, Texas, was canceled over concerns of spreading the coronavirus, and the California-based music festivals Coachella and the country-themed Stagecoach are being postponed until the fall.

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Source: Associated Press

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Ticket sales plunged to their lowest at North American movie theaters as the coronavirus pandemic led to one of Hollywood’s worst weekends at the box office

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Ticket sales plunged to their lowest at North American movie theaters as the coronavirus pandemic led to one of Hollywood’s worst weekends at the box office

Ticket sales plunged to their lowest levels in at least 20 years at North American movie theaters as the coronavirus pandemic led to one of Hollywood’s worst weekends at the box office.

Receipts totaled about $55.3 million in U.S. and Canada theaters, according to studio estimates Sunday. Not since 2000 has weekend box office revenue been so low, according to data firm Comscore, when $54.5 million in tickets were sold on a quiet September weekend. More people went to the movies the weekend after Sept. 11, 2001.

Disney’s latest release from Pixar, “Onward,” remained the top film, earning $10.5 million in its second weekend. The Christian romance “I Still Believe” from Lionsgate brought in $9.5 million. Sony’s comic-book adaptation “Bloodshot,” with Vin Diesel, grossed an estimated $9.3 million in its debut. The Blumhouse horror satire “The Hunt” opened with $5.3 million.

All of those totals were notably below expectations. Most films last week had aimed to do 25% to 50% better. The weekend’s sales overall were down 45% from the weekend before, according to Comscore.

While this weekend’s crop of films weren’t expected to compete with the same timeframe last year, when “Captain Marvel” was in release, revenue was down 60% from the same weekend last year.

Pixar films virtually always hold well for weeks, but “Onward” dropped 73% from its opening weekend. “The Hunt,” which remounted its release after its debut was canceled last fall following a wave of deadly shootings, had hoped to do twice as well.

Most of Europe’s cinemas have shuttered in recent days, as have theaters in China, India, Lebanon and Kuwait. Those closures have already slashed international grosses. Health officials are urging for those who can stay home to do so, to help stymie the spread of the virus.

But the wide majority of North American theaters remained open for business over the weekend. The continent’s two largest chains, AMC Theaters and Regal Cinemas, said they wouldn’t fill theaters to more than 50% capacity to facilitate social distancing. Others asked moviegoers to leave empty seats around them. All pledged to clean theaters in between screenings.

Other theaters opted to close completely, including many in New York. Of the roughly 5,800 theaters in the United States, about 100 were closed over the weekend.

Jim Orr, Universal’s distribution chief, said the industry was doing its best to navigate the unknown.

“We’re still all working through it. The circuits are doing a great job of taking government mandates and applying it to their businesses the best they possibly can,” Orr said. “This is a unique point in time in our industry and maybe in our nation. But we’ll get to the other side of it, and the box office will come back very healthy. It’s just a matter of when that might be.”

Health officials urged people to stay home and minimize social interaction, especially in states that have instituted bans on larger gatherings. California put a limit on gatherings of 250 people; New York set its ban at 500 people; Ohio banned gatherings of 100 people or more.

“With the worldwide coronavirus epidemic causing many domestic theater chains to go to reduced seating and many international territories to either completely or partially close all theaters, as well as creating uncertainty about going to crowded spaces, all titles have seen larger than expected drops,” Disney said in a statement.

Much of the entertainment world has shut down. Broadway theaters, major museums and theme parks have closed their doors. Concerts have been called off. Festivals including South by Southwest in Austin, Texas, and the Tribeca Film Festival in New York have been canceled or delayed. Most live-action film and TV production has been put on hiatus.

Hollywood also has postponed most of its upcoming releases. Next week’s most anticipated movie, “A Quiet Place Part 2,” has been removed from the schedule. Other major releases, including Disney’s “Mulan” and the James Bond film “Die Another Day” have been put off.

That means that even if movie theaters remain open in the coming weeks, they will have little to play. Theaters could potentially play older films to help them get by.

“It’s so hard to predict how this will play out,” said Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst for Comscore. “It’s an ever-changing, ever-evolving situation that the entire world is trying to wrap their minds around. For the short term, obviously there’s an impact.”

For now, it’s likely more theaters will soon close their doors. Over the weekend, cinemas were shuttered in both New Jersey’s Bergen County and Pennsylvania’s Montgomery County after local governments advised closing all entertainment venues.

Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Comscore. Where available, the latest international numbers for Friday through Sunday are also included.

1. “Onward,” $10.5 million ($6.8 million international).

2. “I Still Believe,” $9.5 million.

3. “Bloodshot,” $9.3 million ($13 million international)

4. “The Invisible Man,” $6 million ($6.2 million international).

5. “The Hunt,” $5.3 million ($700,000 international)

6. “Sonic the Hedgehog,” $2.6 million ($2.9 million international).

7. “The Way Back,” $2.4 million.

8. “The Call of the Wild,” $2.2 million ($1.1 million international).

9. “Emma,” $1.4 million.

10. “Bad Boys for Life,” $1.1 million.

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Source: Associated Press – JAKE COYLE

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US Starts Clinical Trial for Coronavirus Vaccine Monday

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US Starts Clinical Trial for Coronavirus Vaccine Monday

WASHINGTON (AP) – The first participant in a clinical trial for a vaccine to protect against the new coronavirus will receive an experimental dose on Monday, according to a government official.

The National Institutes of Health is funding the trial, which is taking place at the Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute in Seattle. The official who disclosed plans for the first participant spoke on condition of anonymity because the move has not been publicly announced.

Public health officials say it will take a year to 18 months to fully validate any potential vaccine. 

Testing will begin with 45 young, healthy volunteers with different doses of shots co-developed by NIH and Moderna Inc. There’s no chance participants could get infected from the shots, because they don’t contain the virus itself. The goal is purely to check that the vaccines show no worrisome side effects, setting the stage for larger tests.

Dozens of research groups around the world are racing to create a vaccine as COVID-19 cases continue to grow. Importantly, they’re pursuing different types of vaccines – shots developed from new technologies that not only are faster to produce than traditional inoculations but might prove more potent. Some researchers even aim for temporary vaccines, such as shots that might guard people’s health a month or two at a time while longer-lasting protection is developed.

Also in the works: Inovio Pharmaceuticals aims to begin safety tests of its vaccine candidate next month in a few dozen volunteers at the University of Pennsylvania and a testing center in Kansas City, Missouri, followed by a similar study in China and South Korea.

Even if initial safety tests go well, “you’re talking about a year to a year and a half” before any vaccine could be ready for widespread use, according to Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of NIH’s National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.

That still would be a record-setting pace. But manufacturers know the wait – required because it takes additional studies of thousands of people to tell if a vaccine truly protects and does no harm – is hard for a frightened public.

President Donald Trump has been pushing for swift action on a vaccine, saying in recent days that the work is “moving along very quickly” and he hopes to see a vaccine “relatively soon.”

Today, there are no proven treatments. In China, scientists have been testing a combination of HIV drugs against the new coronavirus, as well as an experimental drug named remdesivir that was in development to fight Ebola. In the U.S., the University of Nebraska Medical Center also began testing remdesivir in some Americans who were found to have COVID-19 after being evacuated from a cruise ship in Japan.

For most people, the new coronavirus causes only mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough. For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia. The worldwide outbreak has sickened more than 156,000 people and left more than 5,800 dead. The death toll in the United States is more than 50, while infections neared 3,000 across 49 states and the District of Columbia. 

The vast majority of people recover. According to the World Health Organization, people with mild illness recover in about two weeks, while those with more severe illness may take three weeks to six weeks to recover.

Copyright 2020. The Associated Press. All rights reserved. 

Source CBN

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Rita Wilson’s ‘Quarantunes’ and a ‘Prayer for a Pandemic’: Reframing sacrifice as service

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Rita Wilson’s ‘Quarantunes’ and a ‘Prayer for a Pandemic’: Reframing sacrifice as service

Since we can all use some encouragement these days, we’ll begin this morning with Rita Wilson’s “Quarantunes.”

As you know, she and her husband, Tom Hanks, are in isolation after testing positive for coronavirus. To help pass the time, she has made a playlist for those dealing with social distancing. Her song choices include “All By Myself,” “Lonely People,” “So Far Away,” and “Right Here Waiting.” But it also includes “I Will Survive” and “Amazing Grace.” 

In other news, the CDC announced last night that it is advising against gatherings of fifty people or more for the next eight weeks. New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo stated that New York City’s public school system will be shutting down this week. Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders engaged in a presidential debate last night without a live audience. And churches across the country held worship services online rather than in person. 

These are all responses to social distancing, an imperative that is more urgent than ever. 

Knifing a man over toilet paper 

According to the nation’s top infectious disease expert, Dr. Anthony Fauci, we need a “dramatic” reduction in social activity to fight the spread of coronavirus. He warned yesterday that America’s death toll from the disease depends on our response. 

As statistical models show, the sooner we take steps to end public gatherings, close workplaces and some schools, engage in mass testing, and fortify hospitals, the better. Without such intervention, one model predicts that a third of Americans—more than one hundred million people—could become infected and one million could die. 

Tragically, crises such as this can bring out the worst in humanity. A woman at an Australian supermarket allegedly knifed a man in a confrontation over toilet paper. A student of Chinese ethnicity was beaten on the streets of London and left with a fractured face. Protesters welcomed returning cruise passengers…

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Joyce DiDonato and Piotr Beczala, making sure the show goes on, performed from the living room of DiDonato’s New York City apartment

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Joyce DiDonato and Piotr Beczala, making sure the show goes on, performed from the living room of DiDonato’s New York City apartment

Joyce DiDonato and Piotr Beczala made sure the show went on, albeit in an unusual format and venue — from the living room of DiDonato’s New York City apartment.

 

The American mezzo-soprano and Polish tenor had been scheduled to star in Massenet’s “Werther” at the Metropolitan Opera starting Monday. The Met’s shutdown because of the coronavirus outbreak caused the cancellation of the first five of six scheduled performances through March 31.

Accompanied by Met assistant conductor Howard Watkins at the piano and principal harp Emmanuel Ceysson, the pair performed excerpts for nearly 90 minutes Sunday that were streamed live on DiDonato’s Facebook and Instagram pages.

Given that many artists have lost at least two months of income because of force majeure provisions in their contracts, they used the livestream to ask for donations for the American Guild of Musical Artists relief fund and Artist Relief Tree.

Beczala, singing the title role, was in a suit and open collar shirt, and DiDonato, as Charlotte, wore a black dress.

“Since we can’t sing on Monday night, we thought let’s get together in this salon, like they used to do in the old days, which we might have to do in the new days, too,” she said.

“Just two of us,” Beczala interjected.

“Who needs baritones and sopranos?” she added.

He grabbed a flower from a vase atop the upright piano, and they danced in the first act.

“Technically, this is not a Metropolitan Opera live in HD,” she said. “This is literally an iPhone and a laptop.”

Judging from the thousands of comments, the stream was watched by people around the world. One even wrote it was nice to hear no applause interrupting the third act following Werther’s big aria, “Pourquoi me reveiller (Why do you awaken me)?”

“Everybody should have the chance to have a harp in their house at one time,” she said, adding, “and a tenor — I meant Piotr.”

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Source: Associated Press – RONALD BLUM

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