A team from CBN’s Operation Blessing (OB) just traveled to Vietnam to help an area under a 14-day quarantine. It includes a dorm that currently houses more than 4,000 people.  

Local officials told members of the OB team they expect another 5,000 people will have to move into the same dorm. 

OB is providing masks, hand gels, gloves, soaps, milk, instant noodle soup, and medical suits for the frontline team helping others through the COVID-19 pandemic.  

Vietnam is now encouraging its citizens to shelter in place and not travel to other villages, towns or cities.  The communist country has said it wants to stop the spread of the coronavirus by April 15. 

FOR CBN NEWS CONTINUING COVERAGE ON COVID-19, CLICK HERE. 

COVID-19 has swept the globe with sickness, fear, and economic fallout. Many healthcare workers, first responders, and ordinary families are left susceptible to infection from the coronavirus pandemic. But thanks to YOU, Operation Blessing is able to protect the most vulnerable all over the world.

In Vietnam, you are providing gallons of chlorine, N95 masks, and other critical resources to health workers in their desperate time of need.

To learn more about how you can bless those fighting for their health, visit www.ob.org/covid19.

Do You Know About Blessings Magazine? 

Blessings is a monthly publication sharing timely, inspiring stories of Operation Blessing’s humanitarian relief efforts for families in the United States and around the globe. These stories share the hope families receive thanks to the compassion and generosity of Operation Blessing partners.

Operation Blessing provides strategic relief in dozens of countries around the world. Through core programs of disaster relief, medical care, hunger relief, and clean water, OB is dedicated to demonstrating God’s love by alleviating human need and suffering in the United States and around the world.

Read how your gift helps others in the US and around the world.  Read past issues from the Blessings Magazine archives here. 

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World Vision U.S. President Edgar Sandoval Sr., like many Americans, has been working from home in recent weeks. But he continues his mission to help vulnerable children and families across the globe during the coronavirus epidemic.

World Vision staff are working with church volunteers — responding simultaneously for the first time in this country and globally — to provide needed food and supplies and help faith leaders train local communities on ways to reduce the spread of COVID-19.

The evangelical Christian humanitarian organization estimated it has helped about 4.3 million people worldwide with coronavirus preparations. It plans to reach 5 times that number in the next six months.

In the U.S., staff and volunteers have helped more than 2,700 children and adults with emergency aid since March 20. They’ve also provided much-in-demand health supplies — tens of thousands of masks, gloves and gowns — to U.S. health care workers.

Sandoval, who describes himself as a “Bible-based Christian” who attends nondenominational churches, spoke with Religion News Service on Wednesday (April 1) about the challenges ahead.

The interview has been edited for length and clarity.

This is probably the most uncertain and concerning situation that World Vision has faced in our 70-year history. But just like other challenging emergencies of the past, in these uncertain times, World Vision is bringing prayer, kindness and action to combat fear, aimlessness, loneliness.

We believe that every small act of courage and love does more than just stop the spread of fear. We actually replace it with hope, and that’s why, from the onset, we have been responding across the world and right here in the U.S.

Internationally, we started responding from the outset in China. We declared — the very first time in our history — the first global emergency response. We’re responding in every region that we operate at the same time. We are scaling our response to 17 priority countries.

Day-to-day life in the Ebola-affected community of
Moyamba, Sierra Leone, in 2014. Photo courtesy of
World Vision

We are particularly concerned about vulnerable children, such as refugees, displaced children and those living in communities where infrastructure and access to health systems are weak.

We’re aiming to reach 22.5 million people in the next six months, and, while that’s a huge challenge, what I can tell you emphatically is our long history has prepared us for such a time as this. We’re drawing on the lessons that we’ve learned in responses to things like HIV pandemics, Zika, Ebola outbreaks.

And one of the core learnings is that vulnerable communities need to be mobilized and the faith leaders, they make all the difference. They can be a powerful force in stopping the spread of COVID-19, just like they were in previous pandemics.

In Sierra Leone in 2014, World Vision worked with faith leaders to help with things like how to bury people the appropriate way — safe burial practices and other ways to protect the family. They helped to mobilize entire communities.

Despite being in the epicenter of the outbreak, not one, not one of 59,000 World Vision-supported children and their families died during that outbreak. And today those same faith leaders that we trained back in 2014, they’re already mobilizing on their own, and we continue to train more to be prepared for the crisis.

I tell you what’s on my mind: the tightly built, overcrowded and sanitarily weak places like refugee settlements, slums, shantytowns, barrios.

And here’s the thing: While you and I can choose not to travel or go to music recitals or sporting events, those ultra-vulnerable folks are being asked to go home to those overcrowded sanitarily weak places. I think they’re much more at risk than we are.

Source: Religion News Service

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The FBI released a warning last week about a potential surge in hate crimes against Asian Americans amid the spread of the novel coronavirus.

Michelle Ami Reyes was not surprised.

Reyes told Religion News Service that she knows people from her church in Austin, Texas, who have been spit on. She also knows people who have been chased down the street to shouts of “coronavirus.”

“A lot of what ministry on the ground lately has looked like is caring for people who are experiencing racism and the grief and the pain and the trauma that comes from that,” said Reyes, who planted Hope Community Church in Austin with her husband.

Reyes, who is Indian American, said she’s experienced that kind of racism herself.

Jeff M. Liou has experienced it, too.

Liou, national director of theological formation for InterVarsity Christian Fellowship, said racist graffiti recently was painted near the church he attends.

“We know it’s affecting the people that we care about, and it’s affecting us directly,” Liou said.

“Many of us have been speaking out against this kind of stuff for a long time and have felt the need to call our leaders to account and invite them to join us. The way things are going right now just reached a breaking point for some of us.”

That’s why Reyes, Liou and other Asian American Christian leaders recently published the “Statement on Anti-Asian Racism in the Time of COVID-19.”

The statement already had gathered about 6,800 signatures online as of Thursday (April 2) morning.

Raymond Chang, a campus minister at Wheaton College outside Chicago, said he began messaging with Liou and Pastor Gabriel J. Catanus late last week, sharing instances of anti-Asian racism they’d seen and experienced in recent weeks.

After the campus minister added Reyes and others to his group chat with Catanus and Liou, it blew up, Chang said. In a matter of days, they had a statement, something Chang suggested they write because, he said, “the church has been silent on this.”

“As Christians, we felt like it was kind of like our duty to stand in the gap for other people and to intercede and to advocate as Christ advocated for us,” he said.

They also had launched the Asian American Christian Collaborative, which organizers hope will be a home for Asian American Christians and continue to equip the church long after the statement makes its impact.

“There hasn’t been a home for a biblically informed and grounded space for Asian American Christians,” Chang said. “It’s been something that’s on my heart for a couple of years, and so this just seemed to be a galvanizing point for something like that to take shape.”

Source: Religion News Service

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Click here to read the rest of the story from our content source/partners – Christian Headlines.

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It was a culture clash waiting to happen.

Almost as soon as Samaritan’s Purse assembled a 68-bed field hospital in Central Park’s famed East Meadow,  New Yorkers sounded the alarm about the evangelical humanitarian relief organization headed by Franklin Graham.

Pointing to the conservative Christian organization’s statement of faith, which all its health care specialists are expected to sign, they wondered if LGBTQ patients would be treated equally.

The 11-point statement of faith declares, “we believe that marriage is exclusively the union of one genetic male and one genetic female.”

Many New Yorkers were outraged. City Council Speaker Corey Johnson said he found it “extremely troubling” that Graham’s organization was involved in the city’s relief effort, and Mayor Bill De Blasio, a champion of LGBTQ rights, was immediately pressed to ensure the relief organization was “truly consistent with the values and the laws in New York City.”

Franklin Graham has a long history of spewing anti-LGBTQ hate speech and I find it extremely troubling that he and his organization are involved in our relief efforts in any way. I will be monitoring this situation closely.

My full statement: pic.twitter.com/2cg6dHYHwA

— NYC Council Speaker Corey Johnson (@NYCSpeakerCoJo) April 1, 2020

Graham, a vocal opponent of same-sex marriage and a fierce supporter of President Donald Trump, immediately set out to clarify the matter. Although all Samaritan’s Purse heath care workers (doctors, nurses, pharmacists, lab technicians) must sign the statement, he told Religion News Service: “We don’t discriminate against anybody we help.”

“We provide our services to everyone regardless of race, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation. We don’t discriminate. Period.”

The field hospital housed in a series of white tents is intended as a Christian mission. The idea is to treat overflow patients from Mount Sinai Hospital as it grapples with a surge of coronavirus cases. The prestigious medical center on Fifth Avenue and 98th Street does not have oversight over the field hospital.

Some 391 people in New York state died of the coronavirus Tuesday (March 31) alone. That brings the total number of people in the state infected with the virus to 47,349, with about 12,226 hospitalized.

De Blasio said he would send people over from the mayor’s office to monitor the Central Park hospital. New York Attorney General Letitia James added in a statement, “We will remain vigilant to ensure discrimination does not occur at this — or any other — facility.”

New York City is regarded as one of the most LGBTQ-friendly cities in the United States. Last year, the city passed an ordinance that allows a third gender option, “X,” on birth certificates, giving transgender and gender-nonconforming city residents new recognition.

Samaritan’s Purse, the 50-year-old organization founded by Graham, who is also the head of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, is used to working in more socially conservative developing countries. It is based in Boone, North Carolina, and hews to conservative evangelical beliefs.

The organization may best be known for its “shoebox ministry” that sends Christmastime packages filled with personal care items and small toys to needy children all over the world. But Samaritan’s Purse is equally as active in its disaster relief efforts.

Source: Religion News Service

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Hobby Lobby says it does allow employees to take paid time off if sick amid the pandemic caused by the novel coronavirus, despite criticism to the contrary, and will offer some pay to employees in the event of a store closure.

However, it remains to be seen whether the company will amend its policies to provide additional relief for workers who contract COVID-19, as some other companies have done.

The retail giant told Religion New Service in a statement that it provides both “vacation benefits and personal paid time off benefits to employees.”

“Personal paid time off benefits can generally be used for sick leave or other needs,” a statement from the company said.

Claims that the company was denying employees sick leave sparked frustration among some religious communities. The advocacy group Faithful America launched an online petition criticizing Hobby Lobby CEO David Green for “refusing to show the same decency” as other companies that have offered “employees enough paid sick leave for coronavirus treatment.”

As of Tuesday afternoon (March 31), the petition had accrued more than 15,000 signatures.

On March 23, Randy Betts, Hobby Lobby’s vice president of store operations, reportedly wrote an internal memo in which he stated that the company “is going to make every effort to continue working the employees” and that sick workers would either need to exhaust all paid time off and vacation time, or take an “unpaid leave of absence until further notice.”

The memo, which was first reported by Business Insider, followed a separate letter addressed to employees by Green, who founded the company.

In the letter, Green, who is an evangelical Christian, reportedly stated that God offered guidance to his wife during prayer and that while Hobby Lobby employees may need to “tighten our belts” in the near future, “God is in control” and “will guide us through this storm.”

Source: Religion News Service

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Please turn in your Bibles to Luke chapter 19, verse 28, and we will read to verse 40.

And when he had thus spoken, he went before, ascending up to Jerusalem.

And it came to pass, when he was come nigh to Bethphage and Bethany, at the mount called the mount of Olives, he sent two of his disciples,

Saying, Go ye into the village over against you; in the which at your entering ye shall find a colt tied, whereon yet never man sat: loose him, and bring him hither.

And if any man ask you, Why do ye loose him? thus shall ye say unto him, Because the Lord hath need of him.

And they that were sent went their way, and found even as he had said unto them.

And as they were loosing the colt, the owners thereof said unto them, Why loose ye the colt?

And they said, The Lord hath need of him.

And they brought him to Jesus: and they cast their garments upon the colt, and they set Jesus thereon.

And as he went, they spread their clothes in the way.

And when he was come nigh, even now at the descent of the mount of Olives, the whole multitude of the disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works that they had seen;

Saying, Blessed be the King that cometh in the name of the Lord: peace in heaven, and glory in the highest.

And some of the Pharisees from among the multitude said unto him, Master, rebuke thy disciples.

And he answered and said unto them, I tell you that, if these should hold their peace, the stones would immediately cry out.

_________________________________________________________________________________________

If you want to be delivered from your sin and the eternal punishment of sin, allow me to share with you from God’s Word how you can accept the free gift of salvation that Jesus Christ died and rose from the dead to give to you.

John 3:16 reads, “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.”

“For God so loved the world” means that if you are in the world, God loves you. No matter who you are, where you are, or what you have done, God loves you.

God loves you more than you love yourself. He loves you so much “that He gave His only begotten Son.” His only begotten son is Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ died on the cross for your sins and for mine, He was buried, and on the third day, He rose from the dead.

“that whosoever believeth in Him”, whosoever means anybody at anytime, and of any race, any color, or any socio-economic status can believe on Jesus Christ.

“should not perish, but have everlasting life.” if you believe on Jesus Christ as your Saviour, you will not perish in hell, instead you will have everlasting life in heaven with God.

The Bible also says in Romans 10:9 and 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.”

If you accepted Jesus Christ as your Savior today, please email me at [email protected] and let us know. There is some free material that we want to send you. If you have a prayer request, please e-mail that to us as well, and we will pray for you until you tell us to stop.

God loves you. We love you. And may God bless you.

TEXT: Luke 19:28-40.

And when he had thus spoken, he went before, ascending up to Jerusalem.

And it came to pass, when he was come nigh to Bethphage and Bethany, at the mount called the mount of Olives, he sent two of his disciples,

Saying, Go ye into the village over against you; in the which at your entering ye shall find a colt tied, whereon yet never man sat: loose him, and bring him hither.

And if any man ask you, Why do ye loose him? thus shall ye say unto him, Because the Lord hath need of him.

And they that were sent went their way, and found even as he had said unto them.

And as they were loosing the colt, the owners thereof said unto them, Why loose ye the colt?

And they said, The Lord hath need of him.

And they brought him to Jesus: and they cast their garments upon the colt, and they set Jesus thereon.

And as he went, they spread their clothes in the way.

And when he was come nigh, even now at the descent of the mount of Olives, the whole multitude of the disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works that they had seen;

Saying, Blessed be the King that cometh in the name of the Lord: peace in heaven, and glory in the highest.

And some of the Pharisees from among the multitude said unto him, Master, rebuke thy disciples.

And he answered and said unto them, I tell you that, if these should hold their peace, the stones would immediately cry out.

My friend, let me strongly urge you not to make the mistake of rejecting Jesus Christ – the King of glory. Don’t let the King pass by without you responding to him properly. If you have never responded to Jesus Christ, if you have never opened your heart to His gift of salvation, then you are still on your way to hell because somebody has to pay for your sins. Either you can pay for your sins in hell or you can receive the free gift of salvation through Jesus Christ who died on the cross for your sins.

If you want to be delivered from your sin and the eternal punishment of sin, allow me to share with you from God’s Word how you can accept the free gift of salvation that Jesus Christ died and rose from the dead to give to you.

John 3:16 reads, “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.”

“For God so loved the world” means that if you are in the world, God loves you. No matter who you are, where you are, or what you have done, God loves you.

God loves you more than you love yourself. He loves you so much “that He gave His only begotten Son.” His only begotten son is Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ died on the cross for your sins and for mine, He was buried, and on the third day, He rose from the dead.

“that whosoever believeth in Him”, whosoever means anybody at anytime, and of any race, any color, or any socio-economic status can believe on Jesus Christ.

“should not perish, but have everlasting life.” if you believe on Jesus Christ as your Saviour, you will not perish in hell, instead you will have everlasting life in heaven with God.

The Bible also says in Romans 10:9 and 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.”

If you accepted Jesus Christ as your Savior today, please email me at [email protected] and let us know. There is some free material that we want to send you. If you have a prayer request, please e-mail that to us as well, and we will pray for you until you tell us to stop.

God loves you. We love you. And may God bless you.

Daniel Whyte III has spoken in meetings across the United States and in over twenty-five foreign countries. He is the author of over forty books including the Essence Magazine, Dallas Morning News, and Amazon.com national bestseller, Letters to Young Black Men. He is also the president of Gospel Light Society International, a worldwide evangelistic ministry that reaches thousands with the Gospel each week, as well as president of Torch Ministries International, a Christian literature ministry.

He is heard by thousands each week on his radio broadcasts/podcasts, which include: The Prayer Motivator Devotional, The Prayer Motivator Minute, as well as Gospel Light Minute X, the Gospel Light Minute, the Sunday Evening Evangelistic Message, the Prophet Daniel’s Report, the Second Coming Watch Update and the Soul-Winning Motivator, among others.

He holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Theology from Bethany Divinity College, a Bachelor’s degree in Religion from Texas Wesleyan University, a Master’s degree in Religion, a Master of Divinity degree, and a Master of Theology degree from Liberty University’s Rawlings School of Divinity (formerly Liberty Baptist Theological Seminary). He is currently a candidate for the Doctor of Ministry degree.

He has been married to the former Meriqua Althea Dixon, of Christiana, Jamaica since 1987. God has blessed their union with seven children.

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At least three more pastors have lost their lives to the new coronavirus in just over a week, leaving more churches across the nation mourning in the fallout from the pandemic.

Bishop Timothy Titus Scott, Sr., 88, of St. James Temple Church of God in Christ in Clarksdale, Mississippi; Pastor Alvin Charles McElroy, 79, of Friendship Baptist Church in Riverhead, New York; and Father Gioacchino Basile, 60, a priest of the Archdiocese of Newark, who had been leading Saint Gabriel Church in East Elmhurst, New York City, all died as a result of the coronavirus.

Scott, who died last Friday, had been the pastor of St. James Temple Church of God in Christ in Clarksdale since 1972, according to the city of Clarkdale’s website. He also served as prelate of the Northern Mississippi Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction of the Church of God in Christ and prior to his death was the longest serving Jurisdictional Prelate in the Church Of God In Christ.

“Bishop T. T. Scott is an icon of fatherly leadership, humble servitude, and unwavering faith,” Bishop Robert G. Rudolph, Jr., adjutant general in the Church Of God In Christ, Inc., wrote in a statement on Scotts passing.

Both Scott and his wife tested positive for the virus after attending a funeral on March 7, WREG-TV reported. One of the attendees at the funeral from New Orleans had tested positive for the virus.

Prior to his diagnosis, Scott may have also unknowingly exposed about 300 people to the virus at a funeral held at his church on March 14, WREG-TV said. Due to restrictions on gatherings due to the ongoing pandemic, COGIC said they will wait until after the restrictions have been lifted to celebrate Scott’s life.

“During the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic resulting in local and state restrictions on public gatherings to achieve social distancing, the Terry family will hold a private memorial service for this valiant soldier of the Gospel. When the restrictions are lifted, a date will be set for a Jurisdictional Memorial Service that will appropriately recognize the godly life and notable achievements of Bishop Timothy Titus Scott, Sr,” Rudolph wrote. “During this time of uncertainty, we request the continued prayers as well as acts of emotional and spiritual support for the family. It is with great honor that the National Adjutancy will assist the Scott family and the Northern Mississippi Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction during this most difficult time.”

SOURCE: Christian Post, Leonardo Blair

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