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GOD TV co-founder Rory Alec, Steps Down
GOD TV co-founder Rory Alec has announced he is stepping down from leadership of the network after a “moral failure” in relation to his marriage.
He relinquishes his roles as chairman and chief executive with immediate effect, the network said in a statement on Thursday.
Mr Alec co-founded the network with his wife Wendy, its current director of television. She will continue to lead the network together with the senior management team.
In a statement, Mr Alec spoke of his regret but did not elaborate further on his failure.
“After 20 years of service, I have had a moral failure this year,” he said.
“For this reason, I am stepping down. Please forgive me for the disappointment I’ve caused, but I know your eyes are on Jesus who is the author and finisher of your faith and not on me, an imperfect man.
“It is with a heavy heart that I confirm my season with GOD TV is over for now.”
Mrs Alec said she would comment “with transparency and authenticity” on the situation on October 8, when she makes an appearance at GOD TV’s Jerusalem studio to host a series of live Revival Alert broadcasts.
The network’s statement was posted to its Facebook page, where the reaction from followers was sympathetic.
“Rory and Wendy we stand with you in prayer for restoration, reconciliation and forgiveness!” wrote Victoria Webster-West. “Rory thank you for stepping down in honesty during this time of God’s dealing with your heart. Wendy all of our love and support. You’ve both done so much to build God’s kingdom and our prayers cover you! Love of the Lord will win!!”
Another Facebook fan, Linda Ford wrote: “So sorry for you both. We are all vulnerable to temptation, but there is forgiveness and restoration? This is my prayer for you both and may you both know the love, comfort and Shalom peace of The Lord Jesus at this very sad and difficult time.”
Another wrote: “God’s Grace covers a multitude of sins – we are made of flesh and we fail but God’s grace heals all!”
Source: Christian Today
Tragic: Ebola ‘Could Become Airborne’
Ashoka Mukpu, an American cameraman covering the Ebola outbreak in Liberia for NBC News, is the latest U.S. citizen stricken with the deadly Ebola virus.
Mukpu and his news crew are being flown home to the United States, where they will be quarantined.
Meanwhile, as the outbreak continues to rage, the government response both in Africa and the United States has been slow and questionable.
The disease has already killed more than 3,000 people in Africa, and according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, there could be as many as 1.4 million cases of Ebola by January.
Save the Children reports that Ebola is spreading at the rate of five new cases an hour in Sierra Leone.
Anthony Banbury, chief of the United Nations Ebola mission, admits that the international community has been “a bit late” to respond to the epidemic.
There are also worries Ebola could become airborne and spread in the U.S. and around the world through travel and other means.
“The longer it moves around in human hosts in the virulent melting pot that is West Africa, the more chances increase that it could mutate,” Banbury told the Telegraph. “It is a nightmare scenario [that it could become airborne], and unlikely, but it can’t be ruled out.”
Meanwhile, health officials are investigating how many people Thomas Eric Duncan – the first ever confirmed case of Ebola on American soil — might have infected.
A Dallas emergency room nurse sent Duncan home despite showing symptoms and admitting that he had traveled from West Africa.
Duncan’s nephew called the CDC after he was turned away from the hospital.
“I was terrified, scared, worried,” Duncan’s nephew, Joe Weeks, said.
The CDC has issued a nationwide alert to all hospitals in the U.S. on how to appropriately respond to possible cases of the deadly virus.
But experts are confident that U.S. medical procedures will keep Ebola from running wild here.
“The only fatal part of it may be the guy whose treatment was delayed, but it is not likely to result in anything else that is catastrophic or fatal,” Dallas-based Dr. Joseph McCormick said.
Duncan’s family is being quarantined under armed guard in their Dallas apartment.
“They can’t come out. They are not even allowed to come on the porch,” property manager Sally Nuran said.
Meanwhile, CBN’s Operation Blessing remains on the ground in Liberia, providing supplies and working with area churches to teach people about prevention and treatment.
Source : CBN News
Isis:Pope Addresses Middle East Threat
Pope Francis is meeting with his ambassadors from across the Middle East to find ways to better protect Christians targeted by Islamic terrorists.
The pope hopes that over the course of the three-day conference they’ll come up with ways to show how the Church stands with persecuted believers.
Meanwhile, the Islamic State has seized a large part of Iraq and targeted religious minorities, killing hundreds and forcing hundreds of thousands to leave their homes.
The Vatican is pushing for military force to stop the jihadist army’s advance.
Source: CBN News
Ebola Outbreak: The Fight Continues
Politicians and health experts met in London yesterday to decide how to confront the Ebola epidemic in Sierra Leone, now on a scale that has overwhelmed the country’s medical resources.
Ahead of the Defeating Ebola conference at Lancaster House, the international development select committee said that the cut in the UK aid budget may have hindered the response to the outbreak.
The British government is now making efforts to combat that lack, ploughing millions into the fight against the virus in Sierra Leone. But will it be enough to prevent the daunting projections of a worst case scenario?
“We needed the international community yesterday,” said Allieu Bangura, national health advisor for World Vision in Sierra Leone. “The clock is ticking fast and we have to double our efforts if we are to catch up with the outbreak.”
Ebola has so far killed 3,338 out of the 7,178 who have been infected with the virus, according to the latest figures from the World Health Organisation, making it the worst outbreak on record by a significant margin. The WHO has warned that these figures may be an underestimate.
The outbreak began in Guinea, then spread to Liberia and Sierra Leone. Cases have since been recorded in Nigeria, where the spread has been controlled, and the first case was seen in the US on Tuesday.
Liberia has been the worst hit, with 1,998 deaths by September 28. Anthony Banbury, head of the new UN Ebola emergency response mission (UNMEER), has said that the number of cases was doubling every 20 days.
“The world has now realized that the risk to the three countries would also affect the sub-region, the continent of Africa and the world as a whole, with the potential of affecting international peace and security,” Banbury said in a statement on Tuesday.
At the request of the Sierra Leonean government, the UK is coordinating the international mission in Sierra Leone. The British government has committed an additional £20million to its original £100million plan to help stop the spread of Ebola in the country.
In addition, there are currently 40 British military personnel overseeing the relief effort, and more than 160 NHS staff are due to travel to Sierra Leone to help the struggling medical teams. The US, meanwhile, is focusing its efforts on Liberia, while the French concentrate on Guinea.
But the task for the international community is giant – and it’s growing. The Centers for Disease Control said in September that in a worst case scenario between 500,000 and 1.5 million people could be infected by mid-January.
“The projection of CDC is the worst case scenario and the slow pace of response from the international community, if not fast tracked, will certainly lead us to that,” Bangura said.
“We have a very narrow window of opportunity to act,” he added.
International investment and commitment within the next two weeks could make a big difference. Save the Children has said Ebola is spreading in Sierra Leone at a “terrifying rate”, with five people infected with the virus every hour – far exceeding the capacity of the medical staff and treatment centres available.
There were 765 new cases last week and only 327 hospital beds in the whole country. Dealing appropriately with those who have died from infection is an important part of containing Ebola as the virus can survive for up to three days after death, but it also presents another strain on resources.
“Dead bodies are not immediately taken away because of logistical problems, communication and lack of adequate coordination,” Bangura said.
The man diagnosed with Ebola in Dallas, Texas this week will undoubtedly receive expert care. But where the US has the necessary infection control units to make further spread unlikely, West African medical clinics were not at all prepared for the outbreak which has strained resources to breaking point.
Health facilities in Sierra Leone lack basic medical supplies for control, and the medical staff lack the training to respond to this kind of outbreak, especially one on such an unprecedented scale. Four Sierra Leonean doctors and more than 30 nurses have died having contracted Ebola while treating infected patients.
Those trying to combat the virus through education about sanitation have encountered a number of superstitious beliefs that have created an additional obstacle to disease control.
World Vision has been working with church pastors and imams to help educate their communities about ways to prevent Ebola spreading, but more needs to be come to override suspicion of preventative methods and the medical care that can help.
Before the virus is even under control, there are other consequences to consider. At least 3,700 children have been orphaned by the epidemic in the region, according to Unicef. And while other family members would usually take in orphaned children, many are being shunned as their communities fear infection.
With the prospect of an escalating crisis ahead, it is clear that a swift international support is needed to help communities struggling under the strain of sickness, death and fear. “We need more hands in this fight,” Bangura said.
Source: Christian Today
Palestinian Activists cancel Bethlehem Walk
Organizers of an event promoting peace in the region were forced to cancel what they had titled the “Bethlehem Walk” after local Palestinians strongly rejected the participation of Israeli Jews.The event, which was scheduled for Friday, was to be a quiet march through the streets of Bethlehem in an effort to encourage “change and acknowledge basic common grounds and sow the seeds of understanding and acceptance.
In their public invitation, the organizers suggested that by walking quietly through the streets of the historic city, participants would “develop calm, balance and confidence when faced with the challenges of reality.”
But Palestinian activists were outraged that Israeli Jews were actually going to be part of the march, and insisted that the Jewish presence would “desecrate our holy city and sites,” according to a report in The Jerusalem Post.
The Palestinian activists said the Bethlehem Walk had become a medium for “normalization” with Israel and the Jews, which they strongly oppose.The incident is a sad reminder that while there are some on both sides who truly seek peace and coexistence, the bulk of Palestinian youth have been educated to hate Israel and to view its Jewish citizens as bloodthirsty usurpers. As those youth reach adulthood, they have formed a new generation with which reaching a genuine peace will all but impossible.
Source: Christian News Today
Israel likely to Invade Gaza
Israeli political and military officials responded furiously on Tuesday to wounding of an Israeli army officer by a roadside bomb planted along the fence separating the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip from the rest of Israel.
The bomb was detonated against an Israeli army patrol near the Kissufim Crossing. The wounded officer suffered critical wounds to his face and limbs.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that while the violence had emanated from Gaza, its true source was Iran.
“Today we engaged in exchanges against terrorist aggression that comes from our southern border in Gaza, but it actually comes from Iran and a whole terror network that is supporting these attacks,” said Netanyahu.
Hamas and its allied terror groups are known to receive moral, logistical and material support from the Iranian regime.
Netanyahu vowed that the response to Tuesday’s attack and ongoing rocket fire against southern Israel would be severe.
“We will fight and we will hit them very, very hard,” said Netanyahu. “The way to fight terror is to fight terror, and that we shall do with great force.”
Just hours earlier, Col. Amir Baram, commander of one of Israel’s top paratrooper units, told Channel 2 News that the Israeli army will likely have to launch another ground invasion of Gaza in the near future.”I think there won’t be a choice. We’ll need to enter Gaza soon,” said Baram, noting that the only way to truly cripple the terrorists’ capabilities is to go house-to-house and destroy their weapons caches.
Israel last entered Gaza in force during the winter of 2008-2009. Despite the massive escalation in terrorist rocket fire that forced Israel to take action, the international community predictably blamed Israel for the conflict and its casualties.
Source: Christian News Today
Pope Francis, Bishops and Cardinals address divorce
Pope Francis faces the biggest test so far of his Pontificate over the next two weeks as bishops and cardinals from around the world meet in Rome to thrash out their differences over divorce and remarriage.
The extraordinary “Synod on the Family” will ostensibly look at many issues including contraception. But the biggest divide concerns the Church’s doctrine that a Catholic divorcee who remarries without obtaining an annulment cannot receive Holy Communion.
This doctrine is based on the biblical teaching that marriage is for life. Its effect however is often perceived unfair and cruel, especially in the Western Church where divorce has become more common.
It means a devout Catholic woman who is abandoned and divorced by her husband is unable to receive the sacrament at Mass if she remarries without the tortuous process of an annulment.
In the same church, meanwhile, convicted murderers, paedophiles and other criminals who have confessed and received absolution can receive the sacrament with impunity.
More than 250 people are attending the synod, mostly bishops but also 13 married couples.
Source: Christian Today
