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Covid-19 fourth wave in France: Health pass system to be introduced in the country
Paris: French cinemas, museums and sports venues began asking visitors Wednesday to furnish proof of Covid-19 vaccination or a negative test as the country, which is in the throes of a fourth wave of infections, rolled out a controversial vaccine passport system.
The so-called “health pass” is required for all events or places with more than 50 people before being extended to restaurants, cafes and shopping centres in August.
Prime Minister Jean Castex defended the policy, noting that nearly all new infections are in people who have not been immunised.
The number of new infections over 24 hours shot up to 21,000 on Wednesday, the highest level since early May.
“We’re in the fourth wave,” Castex told TF1 television, adding that the goal of the health pass is to avoid a fourth nationwide lockdown.
Health Minister Olivier Veran lashed out at vaccine refuseniks, who have accused the government of flouting their freedom of choice.
“Freedom is not about dodging taxes, or driving the wrong way up the motorway, or smoking in a restaurant or refusing a vaccine that protects me as much as it protects others,” he told parliament.
50-million target
The Louvre museum and Eiffel Tower were among the sites that began implementing the vaccine checks on Wednesday.
But whereas most tourists had their vaccine certificates at hand, having shown them on arrival in the country, some French people were wrong-footed by the new rules.
In the Paris suburb of Rosny-sous-Bois, 28-year-old Marie-Ange Rodrigues was surprised to be barred from a cinema screening after having received her second vaccine shot.
“It’s rubbish!” she said of the requirement to have been fully vaccinated for at least a week.
Nearly 38 million people, representing 56 percent of the French population, have received at least one dose of a vaccine, according to data by the covidtracker.fr website.
Nearly 46 percent, have been fully vaccinated.
The government aims to have given at least one shot to 50 million people by the end of the summer.
‘Fracture our country’
Tens of thousands of vaccine sceptics took to the streets in protest over the new vaccine rules last week, accusing President Emmanuel Macron of running a vaccine “dictatorship”.
The restrictions have even faced criticism from some lawmakers in Macron’s Republic on the Move (LREM) party, who see it as a threat to civil liberties.
“Protecting public health has been our priority since March 2020, but it has not threatened the cohesion of our country because the rules were the same for everyone,” LREM lawmaker Pacome Rupin said on Tuesday.
“The health pass is going to fracture our country,” he said.
Restaurant owners in particular are up in arms at the requirement to vet their customers’ vaccination status before serving them.
In a concession Thursday, Castex said that they would not have to check customers’ ID and that the government would not punish venues during the first week of the new rules.
After that, they face fines of up to 1,500 euros ($1,700) for a first-time offence, and more for subsequent violations.
Children aged 12 to 17, who only became eligible for vaccination in mid-June, will not need the pass in August nor have to show one when heading back to school in September.
Masks return outdoors
The changes introduced Wednesday were implemented by decree, but lawmakers also began debating a bill that will extend the rules next month to restaurants, as well as trains or planes for long-distance travel.
From September, vaccinations will also be mandatory for healthcare and retirement home workers, many of whom remain sceptical of the shots.
Left-wing parties particularly have slammed the health pass as an infringement of personal freedoms and said the government should be trying to convince rather than coerce people to get vaccinated.
Other measures to contain the surge in new cases include the reintroduction of rules requiring masks to be worn outdoors in hotspots such as the western coastal area around Bordeaux, a popular holiday destination.
Popular Bible app YouVersion says it has seen more people engage with the Bible this year than ever before, drawing closer to God through His Word and through prayer features on the app.
Developers of the Bible app point out the most popular verse from 2024 reveals that people have been seeking God’s comfort in tumultuous times.
This year, the most searched scripture was Philippians 4:6. It reads: “Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.”
YouVersion Founder and CEO Bobby Gruenewald believes it shows that people are more likely to turn to God when they face anxiety and daily struggles.
“In many cases, our anxiety comes from holding onto worries that we aren’t meant to carry,” said Gruenewald. “To me, this verse being sought out the most this year is an illustration that our community is seeking God in prayer and choosing to trust Him to carry their burdens—and we’re seeing that supported in the data.”
The YouVersion app was designed to encourage and challenge people to seek God throughout each day. It offers a free Bible experience in more than 2,170 languages and has been installed on more than 875 million unique devices.
“I was just trying to figure out how to use technology to help people read the Bible more consistently. And just had enough faith to start, to try something, and of course, what we’ve seen God do is incredible. Our faith has grown, but in the very beginning had no idea what it was going to become,” Gruenewald previously told CBN News.
Praying for Peace
Seeking peace through God’s Word is not the only thing that has increased this year.
YouVersion also saw increased interest in prayer around the world.
The words “prayer” and “peace” were among the top in-app search terms this year and the app’s YouVersion Prayer features went up by 46% this year compared to last year.
The YouVersion’s Prayer Team volunteers responded to prayer requests in 20 languages and prayed for concerns involving finances, healing, family, marriage, and anxiety.
The group has partnered with 24-7 Prayer International to facilitate “an unbroken chain of prayer, every hour of the day and night” among churches in more than 65 countries.
This year, they saw a 37% increase in the number of 24-7 Prayer Rooms they’re supporting.
“Throughout 2024, we have seen a rise in the number of people dedicating themselves to night and day prayer in different nations around the world,” said Carla Harding, International Director of Products for 24-7 Prayer International. “Our hope is that through continual prayer, the global church would be ignited in the presence of God and carry His love with greater compassion and power to the communities around them.”
Global Trends
It was a good year for YouVersion for another reason–more people engaged with the scriptures through their smartphones and tablets than ever before.
Every month of 2024 became the highest month in YouVersion for both app installs and daily use.
Across its Family of Apps—which includes Bible App, Bible App Lite, and Bible App for Kids—YouVersion saw an average of 11.2 million new device installs per month and about 14 million people engaging in the Bible every day.
Regional Momentum
YouVersion has also had a major impact in many countries around the world.
Bible engagement is growing at a fast rate in Central Africa (54%) and Eastern Africa (56%), compared to last year.
Countries like South Sudan (82%), Angola (68%), Mozambique (55%), Guinea (50%), Nigeria (35%), and Algeria (35%), saw a rise in daily Bible use in 2024.
YouVersion’s Bible App for Kids has also seen a big boost.
Nigeria, Senegal, and Cote d’Ivoire experienced the biggest engagement spikes among kids in Africa this year.
YouVersion is also seeing sustained growth in Latin America.
Many countries across the region saw a surge in daily Bible use, including growth in Nicaragua (107%), Venezuela (74%), Bolivia (52%), Honduras (50%), Cuba (45%), and Argentina (30%).
The Bible app is moving forward with plans to launch its first-ever Regional Hub in Belo Horizonte, Brazil in support of the roughly one million Brazilians opening the Bible App every day.
YouVersion’s goal for its Regional Hubs is to have a local team recruit content partners and churches to create a more authentic and regionally relevant Bible experience that helps people better connect with God’s Word on a personal level.
“It’s encouraging to see people throughout the YouVersion Community, in every region of the world, engage with the Bible at such high levels,” said Gruenewald. “These Bible engagement trends highlight the commonalities that can be found throughout the global Church—in the struggles we face and in our need for God.”
As CBN News reported, sales of physical, paper Bibles are also up 22% this year.
According to The Wall Street Journal,13.7 million copies were sold in the first 10 months of this year, compared to 14.2 million for all of 2023. Experts expect the total number to outpace last year once they tabulate November and December Bible sales.
Dr. John Plake, chief program officer at the American Bible Society, told CBN News why he thinks so many people, especially Gen Z, are engaging with the Word of God.
“They’re leaning into the Bible,” he shared. “They’re really trying to engage in their faith and they are kind of a bright hope for us as a young generation of American adults.”
Sources:CBN News
വാഷിംഗ്ടണ് ഡിസി: കഴിഞ്ഞ വർഷത്തെ അപേക്ഷിച്ച് ബൈബിൾ വിൽപ്പനയിൽ 22% വർദ്ധനവുണ്ടായതായി പ്രമുഖ മാധ്യമമായ ‘വാള് സ്ട്രീറ്റ് ജേണല്’. 2023ലെ വിൽപ്പനയുമായി താരതമ്യം ചെയ്യുമ്പോൾ ഒക്ടോബർ അവസാനം വരെയുള്ള ബൈബിൾ വിൽപ്പനയിൽ 22% വർദ്ധനവാണ് രേഖപ്പെടുത്തിയിരിക്കുന്നതെന്ന് ബുക്ക് സെയിൽ ട്രാക്കർ എന്നറിയപ്പെടുന്ന ‘ബുക്ക്സ്കാൻ’ പുറത്തുവിട്ട കണക്കുകളെ ഉദ്ധരിച്ചുള്ള റിപ്പോര്ട്ടില് പറയുന്നു.
2022-നെ അപേക്ഷിച്ച് കഴിഞ്ഞ വർഷം ഒക്ടോബർ അവസാനത്തോടെ, ബൈബിൾ വിൽപ്പന 1% ഉയർന്നിട്ടുണ്ടെന്നും കണക്കില് പറയുന്നു. ആദ്യമായി ബൈബിൾ വാങ്ങുന്നവരാണ് ഇതില് ഭൂരിഭാഗമെന്നതു ശ്രദ്ധേയമാണ്. അമേരിക്കയില് ബൈബിൾ വിൽപ്പന 22% വർദ്ധിച്ചപ്പോള് മൊത്തം യു.എസ് പ്രിൻ്റ് ബുക്ക് വിൽപ്പന 1% ൽ താഴെ മാത്രമാണെന്നും റിപ്പോര്ട്ടില് സൂചിപ്പിക്കുന്നുണ്ട്.
ആളുകൾ സ്വയം ഉത്കണ്ഠ അനുഭവിക്കുന്നുണ്ടെന്നും മക്കളെയും പേരക്കുട്ടികളെയും കുറിച്ച് അവർ ആശങ്കാകുലരാണെന്നും ഇവാഞ്ചലിക്കൽ ക്രിസ്ത്യൻ പബ്ലിഷേഴ്സ് അസോസിയേഷൻ്റെ പ്രസിഡൻ്റായി സേവനമനുഷ്ഠിക്കുന്ന ജെഫ് ക്രോസ്ബി ബൈബിള് വില്പ്പനയിലെ വര്ദ്ധവിനെ ചൂണ്ടിക്കാട്ടി പ്രസ്താവിച്ചു. 2019-ൽ, ബൈബിൾ വിൽപ്പന 9.7 ദശലക്ഷത്തിലെത്തിയിരിന്നു. 2024-ൻ്റെ ആദ്യ 10 മാസങ്ങളിൽ 13.7 ദശലക്ഷത്തിലധികം ബൈബിളാണ് ദശലക്ഷങ്ങളിലേക്ക് എത്തിയതെന്നും കണക്കില് ചൂണ്ടിക്കാട്ടുന്നുണ്ട്.
Bible sales in the US have surged 22% this year, driven by first-time buyers and innovative designs. Publishers attribute the rise to anxiety, a search for hope, and targeted marketing. Despite growing secularization, 13.7 million Bibles were sold in the first 10 months of 2024. Gen Z and younger demographics are increasingly drawn to Bibles for guidance and stability.
കടപ്പാട് :പ്രവാചക ശബ്ദം
One pastor from California is extra thankful this year for his training in mixed martial arts.
Pastor Nick Neves of Family First Church in Antioch, a city in the greater San Francisco Bay Area, confronted a would-be thief carrying an ax on Thanksgiving morning last Thursday, after the unnamed intruder broke into the church’s building.
“I shouted at him to stop, and that the police were on their way, and he ran and I grabbed ahold of him and we ended up wrestling in the parking lot of the church,”
When he was first approached by Neves, the unnamed attempted burglar tried fighting the preacher — but he was not very successful.
“I like to stay fit, and I studied in some jujitsu and kickboxing and I have a mixed martial arts background,” said Neves. “So it was very helpful to be able to grapple with this gentleman without having to do much harm to him.”
The pair wrestled for about 15 minutes before the would-be thief gave up until police arrived. Neves said he was able to pin the man to the ground and, although he got up and tried to get away a few times, the pastor never seriously injured the intruder.
“I knew I could outlast him,” the pastor said.
One of the church’s longtime attenders, Jeff Strawther, said the ordeal “could’ve gone in a totally different direction and we thank God that it didn’t,” calling Neves a “very tough” man the church is “grateful” to have as their pastor.
The preacher said it’s “ironic” the burglar attempted to break in to steal things from the church on Thanksgiving Day, especially since his congregation prides itself on providing meals to those in need in their community.
In fact, churchgoers had just given away groceries to 130 families in need earlier in the week.
“If he had come a couple of days earlier, he would have been blessed and get some food and be cared for,” Neves said. “But he decided instead to smash windows and desecrate property and do something that’s going to hurt the ministries.”
The pastor said he hopes this incident serves as a wakeup call to the criminal.
Sources:faithwire
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