On Thursday, Prosperity Preacher and Televangelist Kenneth Copeland called forth a “supernatural heatwave” to kill COVID-19 in New York City and “the rest of the world where it’s needed”, The Christian Post reports.

In the opening session of his “Virtual Victory Campaign” on Facebook Live, Copeland deemed the weather to be “God’s weapon” while sharing the revelation that he learned 45 years ago, “that we have command, authority over the weather.”

He supported his claim with past stories on his command over “tornadoes and other weather events to protect his property” and that the same can be done against COVID-19.

“All God needs to do to deliver us is a heatwave, a supernatural heatwave,” Copeland told his audience along with senior members of his ministry.

“You know, usually you get what they call the Easter spell. When you think everything is warming up and all of a sudden you get a cold front. Well now, this year it’s going to be a[n] Easter heatwave,” he continued.

“It’s going to get so hot in New York City. It’s going to get so hot and muggy, glory to God!” He believes that the temperatures will increase to “85 or 90 degrees” and “burn that virus.”

“It’s going to get hotter. It has to get there to kill that thing right now all over this nation and the rest of the world where it’s needed,” he said.

Then he had his…

(RNS) — Pastor Jorge García of Gracia y Paz Covenant Church said the church received its first set of offerings this past week since it started to exclusively offer worship services online about four Sundays ago.

The Chula Vista church in San Diego County has a PayPal account, but he said parishioners never used it since they would normally provide their tithes in person during Sunday service. Some are contributing through PayPal or going to the bank to make a deposit into the church account, but many are still not offering, he said. 

“Some have stopped working, and if they’re not working they don’t have money to offer,” García said. “I would hope our church could be in a position to help them.”

Gracia y Paz, which has a membership of about 50 people, including children, relies on offerings to stay afloat and pay its rent. The parish rents space from a sister Evangelical Covenant Church congregation, and Garcia recently learned their rent was forgiven for the next three months.

Rent is their biggest expenditure, and if they still had to pay for it as offerings dwindle, “we wouldn’t be able to continue,” he said.

With social distancing guidelines in place to prevent the spread of COVID-19, small churches across the United States may be struggling with declining weekly tithes and adapting to virtual services. Many small churches don’t have hefty savings accounts or large annual incomes and…

Churches and religious non-profit organizations are not immune to the difficult financial realities that the Coronavirus has caused on our country. In an exclusive interview with Christian Headlines, financial experts Ken Tan and Stan Reiff of the Capin Crouse financial firm discuss how churches and non-profit organizations can understand the Stimulus Package/CARES Act and how they can prepare for the financial futures of their organizations in this fast and ever-changing world.

This interview has been edited for clarity.

1. Can you please tell us who Capin Crouse is and what you guys do?

Stan: Absolutely! At Capin Crouse, our mission is to be professionals providing innovative services to organizations whose outcomes are measured in lives changed. We are a national CPA and consulting firm serving over 1,500 clients in 60 countries and through God’s favor, we have not deviated from specifically serving churches, nonprofit ministries, and faith-based educational institutions.

2. There are a lot of pastors/church leaders who are concerned about the economic situation of our country and how it will affect them. Should they be concerned?

Ken: It’s not an exaggeration to say that we are all experiencing a situation none of us have seen in our lifetime. When looking at history, nothing like this has happened in the U.S. in over a hundred years. People are…