Brazil’s Amazon forest is burning at an alarming rate.

According to CNBC, the Latin American rainforest has seen an 84% increase in wildfires this year. Using satellites, the National Institute for Space Research (INPE) indicated the uptick with more than 70,000 fires this year. This is the highest number since records began in 2013.

Many experts estimate that more than 1 1/2 soccer fields of rainforest are burning every minute of every day. The rainforest provides 20% of the oxygen for the Earth’s atmosphere and is seen as key weapon in the fight against global warming, CNN reports.

People all the way in Sao Paulo, more than 1,700 miles away from the rainforest, are feeling the effects. Earlier this week, the sky turned back in the middle of the afternoon, covering the sun with smoke and ash.

“Just a little alert to the world: the sky randomly turned dark today in Sao Paulo, and meteorologists believe it’s smoke form the fires burning *thousands* of kilometers away, in Rondonia or Paraguay. Imagine how much has to be burning to create that much smoke(!)” New York Times reporter Shannon Sims tweeted.

She continued her tweets with a photo of a bottle filled with black liquid: “There’s more: some Sao Paulo residents collected rain yesterday when the sky turned dark (from a combination of a cold front & forest fires thousands of miles away). This is what it…

Francis Myles, pastor of the Lovefest Church in Arizona, says he had a vision that the “demonic world” has a strategy to make President Donald Trump a “scapegoat for every bloodshed that happens in America until 2020.”

According to the Christian Post, Myles told “The Jim Bakker Show” that God told him that the “demonic world” has made a sacrifice to stop Trump from winning the 2020 Presidential Election.

“I had a vision that shook me, pastor Jim, to the core of my being,” Myles said. “I had this vision before the mass shootings, it was about maybe seven days ago. I was in prayer in my house and spending time with the Lord when all of a sudden, I had a clear cut, open vision.”

He said in his vision he saw a bloody, innocent goat, and God told him that the vision was about the “battle for 2020.”

“The Lord said to me, this strategy that the enemy is about to use against Trump to stop him from having another four years is a double-edged strategy. This time it’s coming from the underworld and the political establishment,” he said.

“A sacrifice has been made in the demonic world and the new strategy is going to be to make Donald Trump bloody, the bloodiest president in American history,” he added. “They are going to make him the scapegoat for every bloodshed that happens in America until…

Tennessee lawmakers are considering a restrictive fetal “heartbeat” abortion bill that some pro-life advocates fear will not survive a legal challenge and could set the movement back for years.

Both sides shared their thoughts during an Aug. 12 state Senate Judiciary Committee working session called a “summer study.” The session was called after the measure stalled earlier this year because advocates failed to garner support from prominent pro-life leaders.

“Tennessee Right to Life continues to express sincere concerns at the proposed passage of this legislation,” Brian Harris, president of the group, said during the gathering. “There is not a single state where a heartbeat bill has been upheld or enforced. Not a single child has been saved or a mother helped as a result of this legislation.”

The session centered on a proposed amendment introduced by state Sen. Mark Pody, R-Lebanon, who hopes to redefine fetal viability from when a fetus can survive outside the womb to the moment of conception.

“Our bill is trying to do things in a different way,” Pody told The Tennessean. “A baby is a live human being and should be entitled to any of the constitutional rights as any other person.”

Randy C. Davis, president and executive director of the Tennessee Baptist Mission Board, brought thousands of petitions supporting the measure…

Actor Cameron Arnett is one of the more well-known names in faith-based and family-friendly entertainment – he’s starring in the new Christian movie Overcomer– but his career nearly took a different turn two decades ago. 

Arnett was climbing the Hollywood ladder in the 1980s and 90s, landing roles in Star Trek: The Next Generation, Doogie Howser M.D., Miami Vice and China Beach.

“I was in California and things were going well. And I thought that was going to be my path,” Arnett said this month after a red-carpet premiere for Overcomer. 

Then he was asked to do something that conflicted with his faith: partial nudity. 

“They brought me in, and I auditioned… and I got the role,” Arnett said. “… They were happy [and] the money was going to be really nice. For the first time, things are happening. And right before I signed, they said to me, ‘Oh by the way. We need you to do partial body nudity.’ And so it kind of like put a halt on everything. And I felt God tap me on the shoulder and say, ‘You know, it’s time to get out of the system.’”

He told the crew about his hesitancy, and they countered with an offer he thought would fix the problem: A body double would be used for the scene.

Arnett, though, felt God pointing him to a Bible verse: “Abstain from all appearance of evil” (1 Thessalonians 5:22). 

“People are going to think…

After being detained for eight months, an elder at the Early Rain Covenant Church in China was released from prison this week.

According to the Pray for Early Rain Covenant Church Facebook page, Li Yingqiang was arrested with 160 other church members – including the church’s pastor Wang Yi – some eight months ago. The government had raided the Early Rain Covenant house church near the end of 2018, but it wasn’t until Sunday that Li was let out on bail and reunited with his family, the Christian Post reports.

“Yesterday, Elder Li Yingqiang was released from jail after eight months in criminal detention. He was sent back to his hometown, where he was reunited with his wife and children,” the Facebook post read.

Pastor Wang Yi and his wife, Jiang Rong were also arrested in a December 11 raid – just days before Li would be imprisoned. 

Jiang was released on bail after being held for six months, but Wang’s whereabouts are still unknown, Asia News reports.

The Chinese government’s raid on the church is just one incident among many following 2018 legislation that placed stricter regulations on religious freedom.

This was particularly damaging for Early Rain members as, according to BBC, the church members worship very openly and publicly. 

Pastor Wang has also publicly criticized the Chinese government’s interference in religion, the Christian…