Millions are expected to hear the gospel message this Sunday as St Cuthbert’s Fulwood in Preston broadcast their Pentecost celebration live to the nation on BBC One.

The day of Pentecost, which is celebrated on the seventh Sunday after Easter marks the coming of the Holy Spirit on the disciples of Jesus Christ after his Ascension.

Sunday 9th June also marks the end of ‘Thy Kingdom Come’, a ten day ecumenical prayer movement launched by the Archbishop of Canterbury to encourage Christians around the world to pray for salvation for others. 

Rev. Mark Bradford, vicar at St Cuthbert’s spoke about how the church were continuing to be motivated by the same things as the man their church was named after: “It was said of St Cuthbert that above all else, he was fired by the love of God. At St Cuthbert’s Fulwood we are seeking for this to be true of our church today and what better Sunday to celebrate being fired by God’s love in Jesus Christ than Pentecost Sunday!”

Rt Rev. Dr Jill Duff, Bishop of Lancaster, will be speaking at the service and said: “Lancashire is known for being a county of beacons and on Pentecost Sunday at St Cuthbert’s my prayer is for men, women and children to be on fire with the Spirit of God and to spread that fire, through the televised broadcast, so people across the whole of the UK might hear the Gospel in their own languages.”

Mr Roosevelt originally delivered the prayer to the US nation when he was president on the evening of D-Day – 6th June 1944.

Donald Trump joined the Queen and other members of the royal family, world leaders and hundreds of veterans to honour those who took part in the D-Day landings 75 years ago.

Mr Trump stood on the stage on Southsea Common next to the Portsmouth Naval Memorial and read: “Almighty God: Our sons, pride of our nation, this day have set upon a mighty endeavour, a struggle to preserve our republic, our religion, and our civilisation, and to set free a suffering humanity.

“They will need Thy blessings. For the enemy is strong.

“He may hurl back our forces but we shall return again and again and we know that by Thy grace, and by the righteous of our cause, our sons will triumph.

“Some will never return. Embrace these, Father, and receive them, Thy heroic servants, into Thy kingdom.

“And, O Lord, give us faith. Give us faith in Thee; faith in our sons; faith in each other and faith in our united crusade.

“Thy will be done, Almighty God. Amen.”

D-Day veteran John Jenkins, 99, during the commemorations for the 75th Anniversary of the D-Day landings at Southsea Common in Portsmouth.

More than 150,000 troops from the UK, the US, Canada, and France attacked German forces on the coast of…

Nigel Farage told ITV’s Good Morning Britain that “many, many” Muslims had more extreme views on homosexuality than Widdecombe.

“These things are matters of conscience, I don’t think they are matters for party leaders to support or condemn,” Farage said.

“Ann Widdecombe is a devout Christian and there is nothing wrong with that in my opinion.”

Ms Widdecombe (below) was accused of running a “sick” anti-LGBT campaign by Labour’s Luke Pollard after she said, “The fact that we think it is now quite impossible for people to switch sexuality doesn’t mean that science might not be able to produce an answer at some stage”.

Mr Farage warned against criticising people for their faith.

“If we start to attack and condemn people because of religious conscience we are going to cause all sorts of problems, not just with Roman Catholics but with many, many others of Muslim faith who have even stronger feelings on this subject than Ann Widdecombe,” he explained.

“What’s intolerant is when the pack mentality decides that a certain group of people have a view that is not acceptable in the mainstream and they should be hounded out of public office for having a different point of view.”

He added: “Let’s have more people in public life who’ve got their own views on things rather than being told what they should think by mainstream media or…

On 23rd May 2017 hundreds of Islamic militants began a five-month siege that left 1,000 people dead and more than 300,000 displaced.

The clearing of undetonated bombs and landmines has delayed more than 2,000 families from returning.

There are also more than 11,000 families still living with relatives and friends.

Religious freedom charity Open Doors has been providing food, water, and clothing to people in evacuation centres since the siege began.

A fieldworker from the charity said: “I’m still sad that until now some of the believers are still in the temporary shelter.

“They are continuously praying that the LGU (local government unit) will allow them to go back to their area and rebuild their houses again.

“By God’s grace they were able to face the discomfort and thrive amidst difficulties, but they still long to go back to their community.

“Many of the believers were scattered in different communities in Marawi and far from the church, but I am encouraged that during fellowship meetings and worship they took time to come together and strengthen each other.”

Since liberation was declared on 22nd October 2017, Open Doors has worked through local contacts to provide financial support to Christians to help them to rebuild their homes or start small businesses.

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Cardinal George Pell, 77, wore a black suit and black shirt with a cleric’s collar when he appeared for the Victoria state Court of Appeal hearing before three judges.

He came and went from the court as the sole occupant of a prison van, and said nothing during the hearing.

Pell’s lawyer Bret Walker argued for more than five hours that the five verdicts against Pell were “unsafe and unsatisfactory” and should be overturned.

The lawyers cited former High Court Justice Michael McHugh, who said “juries are likely to be affected by the prejudices and even the hysterias that from time to time are found in the community”.

The prosecution will argue on Thursday why the verdicts were sound and should stand. Whoever wins, the case could reach the High Court, Australia’s ultimate arbiter.

A jury unanimously convicted Pell in December of orally raping a 13-year-old choirboy and indecently dealing with the boy and his 13-year-old friend in Melbourne’s
St Patrick’s Cathedral in the late 1990s. Pell had become archbishop of Melbourne only months before.

Court orders had for months prevented publication of the details of that trial and an earlier trial on similar charges that had ended in September with a deadlocked jury.

Pell was sentenced in March to six years in prison, and is held in special protective custody.

While Pell remains Australia’s highest-ranking Catholic, the…