us news
In the US, Covid’s death exceeded 5 million, with Biden and Kamala Harris lighting candles in the White House; The White House flag was lowered in half
Washington —With sunset remarks and a national moment of silence, President Joe Biden on Monday confronted head-on the country’s once-unimaginable loss — half a million Americans in the COVID-19 pandemic — as he tried to strike a balance between mourning and hope.
Addressing the “grim, heartbreaking milestone” directly and publicly, Biden stepped to a lectern in the White House Cross Hall, unhooked his face mask and delivered an emotion-filled eulogy for 500,071 Americans he said he felt he knew.
“We often hear people described as ordinary Americans. There’s no such thing,” he said Monday evening. “There’s nothing ordinary about them. The people we lost were extraordinary.”
“Just like that,” he added, “so many of them took their last breath alone.”
A president whose own life has been marked by family tragedy, Biden spoke in deeply personal terms, referencing his own losses as he tried to comfort the huge number of Americans whose lives have been forever changed by the pandemic.
“I know all too well. I know what it’s like to not be there when it happens,” said Biden, who has long addressed grief more powerfully than perhaps any other American public figure. “I know what it’s like when you are there, holding their hands, as they look in your eye and they slip away. That black hole in your chest, you feel like you’re being sucked into it.”
The president, who lost his first wife and baby daughter in a car collision and later an adult son to brain cancer, leavened the grief with a message of hope.
“This nation will smile again. This nation will know sunny days again. This nation will know joy again. And as we do, we’ll remember each person we’ve lost, the lives they lived, the loved ones they left behind.”
He said, “We have to resist becoming numb to the sorrow. We have to resist viewing each life as a statistic or a blur or, on the news. We must do so to honor the dead. But, equally important, to care for the living.”
The president ordered flags on federal property lowered to half staff for five days and then led the moment of communal mourning for those lost to a virus that often prevents people from gathering to remember their loved ones. Monday’s bleak threshold of 500,000 deaths was playing out against contradictory crosscurrents: an encouraging drop in coronavirus cases and worries about the spread of more contagious variants.
Biden’s management of the pandemic will surely define at least the first year of his presidency, and his response has showcased the inherent tension between preparing the nation for dark weeks ahead while also offering optimism about pushing out vaccines that could, eventually, bring this American tragedy to a close.
After he spoke, the president along with first lady Jill Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris and her husband Doug Emhoff stood outside the White House for a moment of silence at sundown. Black bunting draped the doorway they walked through. Five hundred brilliantly lit candles — each standing for 1,000 people lost — illuminated the stairways on either side of them as the Marine Band played a mournful rendition of “Amazing Grace.”
The milestone comes just over a year after the first confirmed U.S. fatality from the coronavirus. The pandemic has since swept across the world and the U.S., stressing the nation’s health care system, rattling its economy and rewriting the rules of everyday society.
In one of his many symbolic breaks with his predecessor, Biden has not shied away from offering remembrances for the lives lost to the virus. His first stop after arriving in Washington on the eve of his inauguration was to attend a twilight ceremony at the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool to mourn the dead.
That somber moment on the eve of Biden’s inauguration — typically a celebratory time when America marks the democratic tradition of a peaceful transfer of power — was a measure of the enormity of loss for the nation.
The COVID-19 death total in the United States had just crossed 400,000 when Biden took the oath of office. An additional 100,000 have died in the past month.
Former President Donald Trump invariably looked to play down the total, initially claiming the virus would go away on its own and later locking into a prediction that America would suffer far fewer than 100,000 deaths. Once the total eclipsed that mark, Trump shifted gears again and said that scale of loss was actually a success story because it could have been much worse.
Outside of perfunctory tweets marking the milestones of 100,000 and 200,000 deaths, Trump oversaw no moment of national mourning, no memorial service. At the Republican National Convention, he made no mention of the suffering, leaving that to first lady Melania Trump.
And at campaign rallies across the nation, he erroneously predicted that the nation was “rounding the corner” on the virus while he disregarded safety measures such as masks and pushed governors to lift restrictions against public health advice. In audio tapes released last fall, it was revealed that Trump told journalist Bob Woodward in March that “I wanted to always play it down. I still like playing it down because I don’t want to create a panic.”
Biden, by contrast, has long drawn on his own personal tragedy as he comforts those who grieve. He has pledged to level with the American public on the severity of the crisis and has repeatedly warned that the nation was going through a “very dark winter,” one now challenged by the arrival of more contagious virus variants.
Biden also has deliberately set expectations low — particularly on vaccinations and when the nation can return to normal — knowing he could land a political win by exceeding them. He is on track to far exceed his initial promise to deliver 100 million vaccinations in his first 100 days, with some public health experts now urging him to set a far more ambitious goal. The administration says it expects to have enough vaccine available for every American by the end of July.
Biden’s reference to next Christmas for a possible return to normalcy raised eyebrows across a pandemic-weary nation and seemed less optimistic than projections made by others in his own administration, including Dr. Anthony Fauci, who has suggested a summer comeback.
Imagine growing up as the most digitally connected generation in human history.
“Generation Alpha has been completely formed by technology and screens and social media, meaning they’ve been on screens most of their life,” said Shane Pruitt author of the book Reaching Generation Alpha: A Ministry Guide for Discipling the Church Beyond the Screen.”
Pruitt points to research showing just how early digital tech enters the lives of today’s young people. “Even before their teen years, a majority have had regular access to devices like tablets and smartphones,” he said.
Fourteen-year-old Kaileb Lewis said he first got a smartphone at the age of five.
Tyiana Johnson, also 14, said she was seven or eight.
And for many in this generation, screen time adds up to multiple hours each day.
“Eight to 12 hours,” said 11-year-old Dallas Clark.
Sixteen-year-old Lela Clayton admitted to being on her phone five or six hours a day.
Pruitt said that much time online goes beyond entertainment. It can shape how young people think, what they value, and even who they become.
“I would even call it a discipleship war,” Pruitt told CBN News. “Meaning if they have a screen, if they have a tablet, if they have a smartphone, they’re being discipled by something or someone — an algorithm, entertainer, a cultural agenda.”
There is also growing concern about what impact this digital environment has on the mental health of today’s generation.
A recent study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that spending four or more hours daily on non-school screen time made teenagers more likely to report symptoms of anxiety and depression.
“A lot of young people struggle with just a lot of mental issues and just being depressed,” said Clayton. “And it’s really sad because sometimes there’s no one there to really help them.”
“I feel like my phone is my everything,” Johnson admitted. “I come to that when I feel depressed, down, anything.”
So how can churches reach this generation growing up in a world of smartphones, social media, and artificial intelligence? For Generation Alpha, it’s more than just getting their attention. It’s about building genuine relationships.
“I feel like building relationship is everything because you don’t know what somebody else going through,” said Johnson.
Fifteen-year-old Sophie Knox became a Christian at age seven. She said for young people to truly hear the gospel, they first need to know they can trust who’s sharing it.
“You have to build a relationship with a student as you’re preaching the gospel to them because you have to trust a person,” said Knox.
Sources:CBN News
ഫ്ളോറിഡ: ഇരുപത്തി ഒന്നാമത് ഐ.പി.സി ഫാമിലി കോൺഫ്രൻസിന്റെ നാഷണൽ ഭാരവാഹികളുടെയും വിവിധ സംസ്ഥാനങ്ങളിൽ നിന്നുമുള്ള പ്രതിനിധികളുടെയും യോഗം ഒർലാന്റോ ലേക്ക് ബ്യൂണ വിസ്റ്റ ഹിൽട്ടൺ ഹോട്ടൽ സമുച്ചയത്തിൽ ഒക്ടോബർ 17 ന് ശനിയാഴ്ച രാവിലെ 10.30 ന് നടത്തപ്പെടും. വിപുലമായ കോൺഫറൻസിന്റെ സുഗമമായ നടത്തിപ്പിനു വേണ്ടി ഭാരവാഹികൾ യോഗത്തിൽ രൂപരേഖകൾ തയ്യാറാക്കും.
തുടർന്ന് 12.30 ന് അമേരിക്കയുടെ വിവിധ സംസ്ഥാനങ്ങളിൽ നിന്നും കാനഡയിൽ നിന്നും കടന്നുവന്ന് സംബദ്ധിക്കുന്ന നാഷണൽ പ്രതിനിധികൾക്ക് ലോക്കൽ കമ്മറ്റിയുടെ നേതൃത്വത്തിൽ ഒർലാന്റോ ഐ.പി.സി സഭാ ഹാളിൽ പ്രാദേശിക ഭാരവാഹികൾ ഊഷ്മള സ്വീകരണം നൽകും .
നാഷണൽ ചെയർമാൻ പാസ്റ്റർ റോയി വാകത്താനം ദേശീയ കമ്മറ്റിയിൽ അധ്യക്ഷത വഹിക്കും. നാഷണൽ സെക്രട്ടറി രാജൻ ആര്യപ്പള്ളിൽ, നാഷണൽ ട്രഷറർ സാക് ചെറിയാൻ, നാഷണൽ യൂത്ത് കോർഡിനേറ്റർ ജോമി ജോർജ്, നാഷണൽ ലേഡീസ് കോർഡിനേറ്റർ കൊച്ചുമോൾ ജെയിംസ്, നാഷണൽ പ്രയർ കോർഡിനേറ്റർ പാസ്റ്റർ ഏബ്രഹാം മാത്യൂ, നാഷണൽ മീഡിയ കോർഡിനേറ്റർ നിബു വെള്ളവന്താനം തുടങ്ങിയവർ ദേശീയതലത്തിൽ ചെയ്തിട്ടുള്ള ക്രമീകരണങ്ങളുടെ വിലയിരുത്തലുകൾ നടത്തും. ലോക്കൽ കൺവീനേഴ്സായി പാസ്റ്റർ പി.എ കുര്യൻ, രാജു പൊന്നോലിൽ എന്നിവർ പ്രവർത്തിക്കുന്നു.
ഈവന്റ് കോർഡിനേറ്ററായി ബ്രദർ അലക്സാണ്ടർ ജോർജ്, ലോക്കൽ സെക്രട്ടറി റെജി വർഗീസ്, ട്രഷറർ ബിനു ലൂക്കോസ്, യൂത്ത് കോർഡിനേറ്റർ ജെഫ്രി മാത്യു, പ്രയർ കോർഡിനേറ്റർ പാസ്റ്റർ കെ.സി തോമസ്, യങ്ങ് അഡൽറ്റ് കോർഡിനേറ്റർ പാസ്റ്റർ ഫ്രാങ്ക്ളിൻ ഏബ്രഹാം, ലോക്കൽ ലേഡീസ് കോർഡിനേറ്റേഴ്സ് നാൻസി ഏബ്രഹാം, സുനി ജോൺസൺ, ബീന മത്തായി തുടങ്ങിയവർ പ്രാദേശിക കമ്മറ്റികളിൽ പ്രവർത്തിക്കുന്നു. ഇവരെ കൂടാതെ 50 പേരടങ്ങുന്ന വിശാലമായ കമ്മറ്റിയാണ് ദേശീയ കോൺഫ്രൻസ് വിജയകരമാക്കുന്നതിനുള്ള പ്രവർത്തനങ്ങൾക്ക് നേതൃത്വം നൽകുന്നത്.
ലോകോത്തര പ്രാസംഗികരായിരിക്കും 21-മത് കോൺഫറൻസിൽ മുഖ്യപ്രഭാഷണങ്ങൾ നടത്തുന്നത്. പ്രസിദ്ധ ക്രൈസ്തവ ഗായകർ ശുശ്രൂഷകളിൽ സംബന്ധിക്കും. “ആത്മ നിറവിൻ ജീവിതം” എന്നതാണ് കോൺഫറൻസിന്റെ മുഖ്യ ചിന്താവിഷയം.
സുവിശേഷീകരണത്തിനും പ്രാർത്ഥനക്കും ആണ് ഈ കോൺഫ്രൻസ് മുൻതൂക്കം കൊടുക്കുന്നത്. എന്തുകൊണ്ടും ശ്രദ്ധേയമായ കോൺഫ്രൻസായിരിക്കും 21 -മത് നോർത്ത് അമേരിക്കൻ ഇന്ത്യാ പെന്തക്കോസ്ത് ദൈവസഭ ഫാമിലി കോൺഫ്രൻസ് എന്ന് ഭാരവാഹികൾ പ്രതീക്ഷിക്കുന്നു.
എല്ലാ മാസവും 3-ാമത്തെ വ്യാഴാഴ്ച 9 PM EST / 8 PM CST സമയം സൂമിൽ (ID: 405 209 4084) “IP C” എന്ന പാസ് വേഡ് ഉപയോഗിച്ച് പ്രയർ ലൈനിൽ പ്രവേശിക്കാവുന്നതാണ്.
ipcfamilyconference.org എന്ന ഔദ്യോഗിക വെബ്സൈറ്റ് വഴി രജിസ്ട്രേഷൻ, സ്പോൺസർഷിപ്പ് തുടങ്ങിയവ സ്വീകരിക്കുന്നതാണെന്ന് ഭാരവാഹികൾ അറിയിച്ചു.
The 21st IPC Family Conference
The India Pentecostal Church of God gathers families from across North America for the 21st IPC Family Conference, held July 1st – 4th, 2027 at the Hilton Orlando Lake Buena Vista in Orlando, Florida.
The programme spans family and marriage seminars, dedicated tracks for youth, women and children, and sports and fellowship throughout the four days.
http://theendtimeradio.com
us news
Ex-Muslim Leads 100,000 to Jesus: ‘There Is Hunger in the Muslim World to Hear About Christ’
Harun Ibrahim was born in Israel to Arab-Muslim parents, studied in a Jewish school, and married a devout Christian woman. After years of examining these religions, he was faced with a choice: Judaism, Christianity, or Islam.
Ibrahim ultimately made a decision to follow Christ, thanks to his praying wife and a timely encounter with a random man on the street.
Ibrahim recalled the conversation during an appearance on The 700 Club. The man told him, “‘Well, you are not going to be in the kingdom of God because Jesus said that no one will come to the Father except through Him.'”
“And I really didn’t like that,” he recounted. “I said, ‘You are rude.'”
The man began to share the Gospel with the young Muslim and challenged him to actually read the Bible.
“He challenged me to read this Bible verse, and it was in the Gospel of John. And I read the Gospel of John seven times in a row. I just like really loved the person called Jesus. I couldn’t resist. I just had to accept him as my redeemer, as my Savior,” he shared.
Ibrahim began to burn with a desire to share the Gospel with Muslims and served many years as a missionary reaching Muslims in the Arab nations. He later started Al Hayat Ministries in 2003 to boldly preach the Gospel and challenge Islam. Since then, the ministry has seen more than 100,000 come to faith in Jesus Christ.
“Our vision extends to equipping believers who come from Muslim backgrounds with the necessary tools and knowledge to fulfill the Great Commission,” reads a statement on their website.
Ibrahim serves as the Director of Al Hayat Ministries, and recently told the Keeping It Real Israel podcast that they have reached millions of people with the Gospel in a short time.
“Just an example that [in] 2023 we received 109 million viewer reactions or responses and thousands of people accepting Christ,” he shared. “This means that there is hunger in the Muslim world to hear about Christ.”
Ibrahim explained that what makes his programming unique is that he is speaking to Muslims in the culture and language they understand.
“When Christian TV was first brought into the Arab world, it was programs that were made by Christians for Christians in the Christian language in the hopes that Muslims would watch the shows,” he told the 700 Club. ” When I started to produce TV programs, I was not happy to see that the whole year could be, maybe, 15 to 20 Muslims accepting Christ.”
His unique approach is giving many more people the opportunity to meet Jesus.
“I think that media, TV, internet are here to help us fulfill the Great Commission, and the Muslim world was [once] isolated. It was closed, and now through the satellite channels, internet, [and] social media, we can reach the Muslims.
“Many of them are finding the truth,” Ibrahim continued. “I do believe that a great revival is very soon to come to every single Muslim country.”
For many Muslims, accepting Christ means being rejected by family and potentially endangering their lives.
“Islam is a religion that does not allow people to change it, and if you reject Islam, you will be punished. You will be given three days as a chance to get back. If not, then you can be persecuted,” he told CBN News in 2020.
“In many of the countries, they don’t kill them, but in some of the countries, they do. Many people would lose their jobs, their families, their children, their wives, and then their families. Unfortunately, we can say that in some cases, they lose their lives,” Ibrahim explained.
He encouraged Christians who have a desire to reach Muslims to begin praying first.
“When you start praying for the Muslim world, God will guide you [in] what to do,” he explained.
Sources:CBN News
‘Get Into Their World’: How Can the Church Reach Gen Alpha for Jesus?
Imagine growing up as the most digitally connected generation in human history. “Generation Alpha has been completely formed by technology...
ഐപിസി ഫാമിലി കോൺഫറൻസ്- നാഷണൽ കമ്മറ്റി ഒക്ടോബർ 17 ന് ഒർലാന്റോയിൽ
ഫ്ളോറിഡ: ഇരുപത്തി ഒന്നാമത് ഐ.പി.സി ഫാമിലി കോൺഫ്രൻസിന്റെ നാഷണൽ ഭാരവാഹികളുടെയും വിവിധ സംസ്ഥാനങ്ങളിൽ നിന്നുമുള്ള പ്രതിനിധികളുടെയും യോഗം ഒർലാന്റോ ലേക്ക് ബ്യൂണ വിസ്റ്റ ഹിൽട്ടൺ ഹോട്ടൽ സമുച്ചയത്തിൽ...
മതം മാറാൻ നിര്ബന്ധിക്കുന്നത് മതവിശ്വാസത്തെ അവഹേളിക്കല് അല്ലെന്ന് ബോംബെ ഹൈക്കോടതി
നാഗ്പുർ: മതം മാറാൻ നിർബന്ധിക്കുന്നത് ഏതെങ്കിലും വിഭാഗത്തിന്റെ മതവിശ്വാസത്തെ അവഹേളിക്കല് അല്ലെന്നു ബോംബെ ഹൈക്കോടതി. ദമ്പതികളെ നിർബന്ധിച്ച് ക്രിസ്തുമതത്തിലേക്കു മാറ്റാൻ ശ്രമിച്ചെന്നാരോപിച്ച് നാലു പേർക്കെതിരേ രജിസ്റ്റർ ചെയ്ത...
വയോജനങ്ങളെ നടതള്ളിയാൽ മൂന്നുവർഷം തടവ്; വയോജനക്ഷേമ ബില് വരുന്നു
തിരുവനന്തപുരം: മുതിർന്ന പൗരരെ വീട്ടുകാർ ഉപേക്ഷിച്ചാൽ മൂന്നുവർഷംവരെ തടവും അൻപതിനായിരം രൂപ പിഴയും ശുപാർശചെയ്ത് വയോജനക്ഷേമബിൽ. ഉപേക്ഷിക്കണമെന്ന ലക്ഷ്യത്തോടെ മക്കൾ അടക്കമുള്ള കുടുംബാംഗങ്ങൾ, നിയമപരമായ അവകാശികൾ എന്നിവർ...
വിസ ചട്ടങ്ങൾ ലംഘിച്ചെന്നാരോപിച്ച് നേപ്പാളിൽ മതപഠന യോഗത്തിനിടെ 24 ദക്ഷിണ കൊറിയൻ ക്രിസ്ത്യാനികളെ അറസ്റ്റ് ചെയ്തു
നിയമവിരുദ്ധമായ മതപഠനവും മിഷനറി പ്രവർത്തനങ്ങളും നടത്തുന്നതായി ലഭിച്ച പരാതിയെത്തുടർന്ന്, കിഴക്കൻ നേപ്പാളിലെ ഒരു ക്രിസ്ത്യൻ മതപഠന കോളേജിൽ നടന്ന യോഗത്തിനിടെ 24 ദക്ഷിണ കൊറിയൻ ക്രിസ്ത്യാനികളെ പോലീസ്...
ഒക്ടോബർ 15 മുതൽ രണ്ടായിരം രൂപയ്ക്ക് മുകളിൽ യുപിഐ പേമന്റുകൾ സ്വീകരിക്കില്ല-ഹോട്ടലുടമകൾ
കൊച്ചി: ഒക്ടോബർ 15 മുതൽ സംസ്ഥാനത്തെ ഹോട്ടലുകളിലും, റസ്റ്ററന്റുകളിലും 2000 രൂപയ്ക്ക് മുകളിലുള്ള യു.പി.ഐ. പേമന്റുകൾ സ്വീകരിക്കില്ലെന്ന് കേരള ഹോട്ടൽ ആൻഡ് റസ്റ്ററന്റ് അസോസിയേഷൻ അറിയിച്ചു. രണ്ടായിരം...
-
us news5 months ago‘America Is Hungry’: Hundreds Born Again and Baptized as Jesus Tent Revival Sweeps the Nation
-
us news4 months agoMike Winger deletes YouVersion app over ‘The Passion Translation’ controversy, urges others to ‘use caution’
-
Movie11 months agoCBN’s Superbook Launches New Free Bible App for Kids: ‘The Power of God Is Released’
-
Movie8 months agoHollywood Actor Jen Lilley Launching New Ministry After ‘Vision’ From Holy Spirit
-
Movie12 months agoRoles Jaakko Ohtonen Played Before Taking on Jesus in Mel Gibson’s ‘The Resurrection of the Christ’
-
Movie12 months agoChristian Production ‘The Thorn’ Immerses Audiences in the Biblical Story of Jesus
-
National11 months agoഐ.പി.സി കേരള സ്റ്റേറ്റ് ഇലക്ഷൻ 2026 മാർച്ച് 9 മുതൽ
-
Sports12 months agoഐ സി സി വനിതാ ലോക കപ്പ് 2025 ക്രിക്കറ്റ് സെമി ഫൈനലിൽ പുറത്താകാതെ ജെമിമാ റോഡ്രിഗസ് മുംബൈയിലെ പാസ്റ്റർ ഇവാൻ റോഡ്രിഗസസിന്റെ മകൾ*