HANAU, Germany (AP) — Eight people were killed in shootings in the German city of Hanau late Wednesday, authorities said. Two hookah lounges reportedly were targeted.

Authorities were searching for the perpetrators early Thursday, three hours after the shootings at about 10 p.m. (2100 GMT), which police said also left five people wounded.

A heavy police presence was in place in central Hanau, with officers cordoning off the scene of one of the shootings as a helicopter hovered overhead. A car covered in thermal foil also could be seen with shattered glass.

Forensic experts in white overalls collected evidence from the scene.

A short police statement gave no information on the victims. It said the motive is not immediately clear.

Police said a dark vehicle was seen leaving the scene of the first shooting, and another shooting was reported at a second site.

Regional public broadcaster Hessischer Rundfunk said, without citing sources, that an attack took place in a hookah lounge in the center of the city. It said witnesses reported hearing eight or nine shots and seeing at least one person lying on the ground.

The perpetrator or perpetrators then apparently went to another part of the city, where shots were fired in another hookah lounge, the broadcaster said.

Hanau is in southwestern Germany, about 20 kilometers (12 miles) east of Frankfurt. It has about 100,000 inhabitants.

Copyright 2020 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. 

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Welcome to Episode #59 of Preparing for the Inevitable – A Podcast on How to Handle Trouble, Suffering, Pain, and Death.

I am your host, Daniel Whyte III, president of Gospel Light Society International. This podcast will help you get ready to face the inevitable unpleasant things that will happen in your life — things like trouble, suffering, sickness, and death — the death of people you love and your own death. Trouble, suffering, and death are common threads that run throughout all of humanity. They are inescapable. You will never meet a person who has not, is not, or will not experience these terrible things in life. Yet, we attempt to hide from these inevitabilities, to pretend they don’t exist or that they won’t happen to us. Our world is filled with news of people dying, children suffering, entire government systems and organizations enduring trouble and turmoil, but we tend to see these as things that only happen to “other people” and never to us. Trouble, suffering, and death come equally to all people, of all races, from every socio-economic status, of every religion, in every country of the world. It makes us all equal. This podcast will show you how to accept these realities of life, and not just cope, but face trouble, suffering, and death in your own life and in the world with confidence, courage, class, and most of all, with faith, hope, and charity.

The Bible says in Psalm 23:4: “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.”

The featured quote for this episode is from C.S. Lewis. He said, “I thought I could describe a state; make a map of sorrow. Sorrow, however, turns out to be not a state but a process.”

Our topic for today is titled “Grief and Mourning, Part 11: No Road Map” from the book, “The Art of Dying: Living Fully into the Life to Come” by Rob Moll.

“Grief just is. There aren’t necessarily rights and wrongs,” says Rob Bugh, pastor of Wheaton Bible Church in Wheaton, Illinois. A trim and energetic man, Bugh is still holding back the depth of his pain.

Despite years as a pastor, Rob discovered grief anew when, three months after a close friend died, Rob’s wife, Carol, was diagnosed with cancer. Grief, Rob said nine months after Carol’s death, is an “emotional, visceral response to pain, suffering, tragedy and death.”

Carol’s death came just eleven months after her diagnosis, and that time was filled with doctor’s visits, hospital stays, long- distance travel to specialists, and trips to the emergency room.

Rob says he was unprepared for the turn his life was taking. “One of my closest friends and my wife, they’re both getting horrific news. Their cancers are different, but they’re ravaging their bodies. And they’re brutal. How do you wrap your mind around that?”

“I’m in ministry,” Rob says. “I take care of people going through this, but I really never thought this would happen to us.”

Carol had turned fifty, and on a regular doctor visit she asked about some bleeding in her stool. Doctors performed tests, and the diagnosis was a rare form of rectal cancer. It was aggressive, and the Bughs fought it aggressively. But, as Rob says, they never received good news. Eventually they started running out of options. They continued trying new treatments, visiting doctors, seeking and hoping for a cure.

“Early on,” Rob says, “you’re 100 percent fighting.” But slowly, “There’s a growing awareness that God may be up to something else than bringing about healing.” They didn’t stop treatments, they continued hoping for a cure, yet gradually the realization dawned that there may be none. “There’s this resignation that comes,” Rob says. “Now you know what the gospel describes at Gethsemane when Jesus says, ‘Take this cup from me.’ That was a passage I prayed over and over, ‘God take this from us. Take this cancer from us, but not my will but thy will be done.’ ”

The final three months were hectic and incredibly stressful, and the couple had little time to talk about Carol’s death. And the end came much quicker than they had expected. Two days before Carol died, the family took her home and brought in hospice. And then, “all of a sudden it was all over.”

If the Lord tarries His Coming and we live, we will continue looking at “Grief and Mourning” in our next podcast.

Let’s Pray —

Dear friend, please understand that after you die, you will be ushered into one of two places to spend eternity, Heaven or Hell. Here’s how you can be sure that you will not go to hell and suffer eternal damnation forever and rather have a home in Heaven when you die. The Bible says, ”Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved.” Here’s how you can be saved from sin and hell and have a home in Heaven when you die in more detail.

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.”

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Hundreds of college students are joining a nationwide movement to forgo Spring Break partying and instead use the week off to address the global water crisis. Students with Cru’s U.S. Campus Ministry, representing 50 universities from around the country, will spend time abroad this spring helping to bring clean water to some of the world’s most impoverished communities in places such as Cuba, Belize, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Panama and Nicaragua.

As students tackle this vital physical need, they will also address the emotional and spiritual needs of the community, using water as an analogy to share the life-transforming hope that comes through Jesus, known in the Bible as the “living water.”

The Cru-led trips are in partnership with Filter of Hope, a nonprofit that has developed a revolutionary household water filter specifically designed to bring clean water to families living in abject poverty, or on only $2 per day. During the trips, students will be inspired and challenged as they work alongside Filter of Hope’s local partner churches and missionaries to provide families with life-saving clean water solutions.

“Year after year, students come back from these trips completely changed,” said Mark Gauthier, executive director of Cru’s U.S. Campus Ministry. “Participating in Filter of Hope not only gives students a chance to experience a new culture and meet amazing people, but also the opportunity to transform a community and truly be the hands and feet of Jesus.”

Today more than 778 million people around the world are living without clean drinking water. For the past five years, Cru and Filter of Hope have worked hand-in-hand to combat this global water crisis, sending thousands of students to high-need countries, changing the spiritual and physical lives of families one water filter at a time. Currently, there are 61,500 Filter of Hope filters being used around the world in 49 countries, making more than 9.2 million gallons of clean water available each day.

To learn more about Filter of Hope trips and other Cru campus initiatives, visit Cru.org/Campus.

SOURCE: Charisma News

Cru

Cru is a caring community that has been helping students thrive in college since 1951. Nationally, Cru has 2,300 campus ministries engaging more than 101,000 students and faculty in ministry on U.S. college campuses.

Cru’s campus ministry is committed to offering students and faculty a chance to know Jesus and take the gospel to the campus, community and world. Cru serves as a resource on high school and college campuses through educational, social and spiritual programs that range from large, campus-wide events and conferences to small, intimate Bible studies and accountability groups.

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The Holy Land Experience, a Christian theme park in Orlando, Florida, will lay off most of its staff as it restructures on a corporate level, according to reports.

Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBN) announced in a notice that this transition would eliminate 118 jobs as of April 18. Each will receive a severance package plan. Positions that will be eliminated include dancers, actors, media specialists, musicians, guest service associates and food servers.

The Holy Land Experience is known for its daily reenactments of biblical moments, including the crucifixion, the Last Supper and more. In January, TBN announced that the focus of the theme park would shift to be more educational as it retains the Scriptorium—its biblical museum—and other exhibits that highlight religious figures. In doing so, it will end its regular theatrical performances and entertainment.

According to the Orlando Sentinel, tickets to the Holy Land Experience cost $50, and the theme park will no longer offer annual passes or group rates.

SOURCE: Charisma News

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The plague of locusts that is marching through Africa is now invading other continents as well.

While billions of the locusts are ravaging East Africa and devastating crops, massive groups of the insects are also swarming through the Middle East.

There have been reports in countries like Yemen, Iran and Pakistan, even India, as well as new reports of locusts crossing into China.

That could lead to deadly threats of hunger for millions of people in the regions. The United Nations has warned of the risk of a catastrophic famine.

CBN News’ Senior International Correspondent George Thomas explained on The 700 Club Tuesday that officials from the Food and Agricultural Organization recently warned the Chinese authorities about the swarm of locusts arriving in Xinjiang Province in western China.

“China told the United Nations that they have been tracking this particular swarm coming into the western part of China so they are not concerned,” he said.

“This is the winter season in Xinjiang so Chinese authorities told the national media in the last 24 to 48 hours that they are not concerned of any threat from these locusts because it is wintertime,” Thomas said. “They say it is very unlikely that these locusts will travel further inland into China.”

SOURCE: CBN News

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The Southern Baptist Convention’s Executive Committee will launch a task force to examine the activities of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, the convention’s public policy organization headed by the theologian and author Russell Moore.

Southern Baptist leaders fear controversy over Moore could lead to a drop in donations.

Moore, 48, who has been president of the ERLC since 2013, has been an outspoken critic of Donald Trump since the president began campaigning for the White House. In 2016, Moore called Trump “an arrogant huckster” and wrote an essay for the National Review citing “Trump’s vitriolic—and often racist and sexist—language about immigrants, women, the disabled and others.”

In response, Trump attacked Moore on Twitter, calling him “a terrible representative of Evangelicals and all of the good they stand for.” The same tweet called Moore a “nasty guy with no heart!”

The request for an inquiry came from the Cooperative Program Committee, an SBC body that deals with giving from churches to the convention’s national ministries.

Mike Stone, chair of the Executive Committee, said in a news conference Tuesday (Feb. 18) that committee members have heard anecdotal accounts of churches withholding money or reducing giving because of concerns about the ERLC. He said that local church leaders and state Baptist leaders have expressed concerns in private but not on the record. The task force will give them a place to officially lodge their concerns.

Stone added that the Executive Committee does not know if concerns about the ERLC have indeed caused giving to drop. He also said that there is a lot of “fake news” about the convention and about the ERLC and that the task force will try to find the truth.

In early February, Baptist Press, the official news service of the SBC, reported that giving to the Cooperative Program was up about 3% from last year. Last year Baptists had given $64.5 million by the end of January. This year, giving totaled just under $66.5 million by the same point in the year.

Similar complaints were raised against ERLC in 2017 over Moore’s anti-Trump comments. At that time, Moore met with Frank Page, the former president of the Executive Committee, and the two agreed to work together for the good of the convention.

Stone said the task force is not an attempt to remove Moore from office.

“I am fully aware that we may find, as we did in 2017, that what we’re hearing is not as significant in fact as it is in perception,” Stone said. “And what we want to find is just where the facts would lead us.”

He added, “Southern Baptists can joyfully and in a unified manner resolve this question so that it does not continue to be a potential source of discussion that distracts us from our mission, which is to take the Gospel of Christ to the ends of the earth.”

Moore does not report directly to the committee. However, the committee does oversee the funds from the denomination’s Cooperative Program, which in turn awards funding to the ERLC. Stone said that while ERLC’s trustees govern the commission’s activities, the Executive Committee has a responsibility to act when giving is affected.

Moore is the second ERLC president in a row to face controversy. Longtime ERLC President Richard Land was censured in 2012 by the commission’s trustees for plagiarism and insensitive comments about race on his radio show. He retired the following year.

Given the controversy the organization has generated, Stone was asked if the ERLC had outlived its usefulness and whether funding the commission was still a good use of Cooperative Program funds.

He said he expects the task force will look into that question.

The task force will “review the past and present activities” of the ERLC, said Stone, and “assess whether the actions of the commission and its leadership are affecting Cooperative Program giving or the further advancement of the Cooperative Program.”

Elizabeth Bristow, ERLC press secretary, told RNS in a statement that the commission relies on the “sacrificial giving of churches.”

“We hear from our churches every single day with questions about some of the most complicated issues imaginable,” she said. “In every case, we work to serve our churches with gospel-focused answers.”

The statement added that the ERLC occasionally gets questions about its work from churches.

“Thankfully those questions are easier to answer,” Bristow said in the statement. “That’s because, every day the men and women serving at the ERLC stand for the unborn, advocate for religious liberty, work to address the crisis of sexual abuse, and labor to equip men and women to answer ever-changing questions in light of the everlasting promises of our Lord.”

SOURCE: Charisma News

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Pastor Carter Conlon is stepping down as senior pastor of Times Square Church to focus on his prayer ministry, according to a recent post on his Facebook page.

Conlon, who has served at the church for 26 years, will transition to a new position: chairman of the board and general overseer of Times Square Church.

Conlon asked the church to consider Pastor Tim Dilena as his successor. His nomination was approved, and on May 5, Dilena will assume the role of senior pastor.

According to the post, Conlon has felt the Lord lead him to call the nation to pray for the last decade. His Time to Pray ministry includes a nationwide radio ministry, conferences, various leaders and a book, It’s Time to Pray, published by Charisma House.

David Wilkerson, founder of Teen Challenge and author of The Cross and the Switchblade, started Times Square Church in 1987 in New York City. Since then, the church has grown to be an interdenominational congregation of more than 8,000 people representing over 100 nationalities.

Conlon joined the church staff in 1994 and was appointed senior pastor in 2001.

SOURCE: Charisma News

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