The governor of Alabama called on the people of his state who believe in Christ to lift up the state’s students in prayer.
The “Day of Prayer Over Students Across Alabama” was held on Friday, March 28th.
“Whereas Alabama students face extreme challenges, such as peer pressure to abuse drugs and alcohol, negative influences in the media, school violence and gang activities, and low self-esteem,” Governor Robert Bentley’s proclamation reads, “… Alabamians are encouraged to pray for God’s protection, guidance and peace, and for opportunities and blessings on the students of Alabama.”
The proclamation marked the 9th time the governor has made the request of his state’s citizens to cover the students as they try to learn and grow. First Priority of Alabama, who coordinates Christian clubs within schools, initiated the movement for the first statewide prayer day in 2006.
“Praying for students is not just a privilege, it’s a necessity. They face an enormous amount of peer pressure to become part of what is considered normal by the world’s standards,” Matthew Wilson, Executive Director of First Priority of Greater Birmingham, said. “Without prayer, these students will not be able to stand against the insurmountable odds they will face from childhood until they leave this world.”
A Maryland county commissioner says she’s ready to go to jail for her faith in Christ.
Robin Bartlett Frazier, a Carroll County commissioner, said that she will refuse to acknowledge a federal judge’s order that the county’s meetings no longer open with prayers that mention Jesus Christ or any deity.
“If we cease to believe that our rights come from God, we cease to be America,” Robin Bartlett Frazier told CBS. “We’ve been told to be careful. But we’re going to be careful all the way to Communism if we don’t start standing up and saying ‘no.’”
The anti-Christian group American Humanist Association had filed a lawsuit in 2012 on behalf of what they claimed were three residents of the county. Judge William Quarles Jr. ruled on Wednesday the board must stop opening meetings with sectarian prayers.
The Supreme Court is currently considering a similar case.
Over the years, one thing that has troubled me deeply and that I’ve asked Jim and our show guests about is, “Where were the Christians when they took prayer out of school?” Of course, many, like Jim, were doing everything they could to stop this travesty. But once it started, it was like a snowball rolling downhill, gaining momentum and strength. Though there were individuals who were preaching, teaching and proclaiming that taking prayer out of schools would lead to all kinds of moral decay, the resistance lacked unity and the result was a dismal failure. They succeeded in taking prayer out of schools, and it was because Christians of all denominations couldn’t get it together enough to stand in one accord and say, “oh no you don’t!”
America’s moral decline rapidly accelerated following this one event – the U.S. Supreme Court’s removal of prayer from our nation’s schools. On June 25, 1962, 39 million students were prohibited from doing what they and their parents before them had been doing since we became a nation – publicly calling upon the name of the Lord at the beginning of each school day. Continue reading →
Global evangelist and Southern California pastor Bayless Conley was critically injured in a boating accident on Catalina Island Monday night.
Conley has undergone surgery that his doctors termed as “successful.” He remains in critical condition along with one of the other passengers on the boat. A third person suffered minor injuries.
Local emergency staff says Conley and the others were on a boat that crashed full speed into The Isthmus near Two Harbors on Catalina Island. The report did not say who was piloting the craft or where the victims were on the boat at the time of the accident.
“Please join us as we pray and trust God for a full and speedy recovery for Pastor Bayless and his friends,” Cottonwood Church said in a statement. The church asked for people to pray for comfort for them and their families at this time.
A post on his television ministry’s website said Conley was responsive to doctors but that “the next 24-48 hours are critical” for his recovery.
We really are living in such a prophetic time! This is a time like never before or ever again. It’s such a worldly time and there’s hardly anything on television worth watching. Jim and I have become news junkies because of this fact!
It breaks my heart to see some of the things the kids are now subjected to on television, and they’re watching it because that’s all there is! What troubles me is that we are losing all of our values, not just in this nation but in the world! This isn’t just a cliché – it’s a fact – a fact that anyone who loves God should be alarmed about.
For my generation, even in the crazy times we didn’t lose our values. We still knew right from wrong but now, there isn’t any such thing! It’s considered hateful now to even voice your opinion of what is right and wrong. Everybody is doing what they think is right in their own eyes! The Bible talks about that! (Judges 17:6, 21:25, Proverbs 14:12) Continue reading →
A former Israeli Prime Minister who is one of the nation’s most revered generals is reported to be near death.
A spokesman for Sheba Hospital in Tel Hashomer said Ariel Sharon has shown a significant decline in health during recent days. The family has been called to his bedside with doctors estimating less than a week to live for the Israeli hero.
Sharon has been in a coma since a major stroke in 2006.
Sharon, called “the Bulldozer” by his political opponents, was known as a man who found a way to get things done during his time in Israeli leadership. He was Defense Minister during the nation’s 1982 invasion of Lebanon. He was elected Prime Minister in 2001 and was on the way to massive landslide re-election when he was felled by a stroke in January 2006.
His deputy, Ehud Olmert, was elected Prime Minister a few months after Sharon’s illness.
Israeli leaders have called for prayers for Sharon and his family.
A new study says that prayer helps people stay in control of emotions and behavior.
The researchers say prayer as a method to cope with “high demads in life” provided people with increased strength and the ability to resist temptation. The results come along a previous study that shows when people just “tried hard to control emotions and thoughts” they risked aggressive outbursts and binge drinking or eating.
A similar study a year earlier showed people who believed in God showed more improvement in treatment for depression than those without faith.
The German researchers behind the study said that “a brief period of personal prayer buffered the self-control depletion effect according to the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology online.
The study said those who prayed and tried to suppress their emotions showed more overall energy without losing stamina than those who did not pray and attempted the same emotional suppression.
Billy Graham returned home from a two-day stay at Mission Hospital in Asheville, North Carolina.
Doctors say the 95-year-old Graham had been hospitalized for pulmonary-related issues and underwent tests. The two-day stay for observation was mostly precautionary.
“Mr. Graham was alert and in good spirits during his stay,” said William R. Hathaway, MD, Chief Medical Officer at Mission Hospital. “We are pleased with the results of Mr. Graham’s evaluation.”
Graham’s family thanked supporters for their prayers.
The social media site Twitter was deluged with statements from Graham’s supporters and admirers using the #PrayingForBillyGraham hashtag.
Billy Graham has been admitted to a hospital suffering from respiratory congestion.
A spokesman for the Billy Graham Evangelical Association said that Graham has been hospitalized for similar issues over the past few years and they expect him to return home in a few days.
Graham has curtailed his public appearances after suffering from macular degeneration and hearing loss related to his advanced age. The 95-year-old Graham made an appearance as a star-studded celebration of his birthday that also celebrated the release of his new book “The Reason for Hope: Salvation.”
The BGEA asked everyone to join them in prayer for Dr. Graham.
A rare Jewish prayer book has been discovered by researchers connected to The Green Collection and has been shown to pre-date the earliest known copy of the Torah.
The researchers say scholars dated the prayer book and Carbon-14 tests also showed the book to have been created around 840 A.D. The 50-page book was 4.3 inches tall and 4 inches wide. The researchers said the printing is in an “archaic” form of Hebrew.
“This Hebrew prayer book helps fill the gap between the Dead Sea Scrolls and other discoveries of Jewish texts from the ninth and 10th centuries,” Dr. Jerry Pattengale, Green Scholars Initiative executive director, said in a press release.
The book includes Jewish blessings and covers the Passover Seder, poems on Song of Songs and the end times and a section called “Salvation in Zion.”
Steve Green, president of Hobby Lobby who funds The Green Collection, said the book will be available to the public when their group opens a Bible museum in Washington, D.C. in spring 2017.
