At least once a year, Christians are reminded of Jesus’ prayer for his disciples that “they may be one so that the world may believe” (see John 17.21). Hearts are touched and Christians come together to pray for their unity. Congregations and parishes all over the world exchange preachers or arrange special ecumenical celebrations and prayer services. The event that touches off this special experience is the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity.
Iranian-American Pastor Reza Safa, a former radical Muslim and founder of the Farsi-language Christian network TBN Nejat Television, has issued an urgent request for Christians around the world to pray for Iran and its people as political unrest rages in the Muslim controlled nation. Since December 28th tens of thousands of Iranian citizens have taken to the streets of the northern city of Mashhad and elsewhere to protest political oppression, with at least 20 individuals killed in violence.
January 4, 2018–Cleveland, Tennessee–Tennessee State Representative Kevin Brooks, R-Cleveland, has announced he will not seek a seventh term in the Tennessee House of Representatives in 2018.
For the sixth consecutive year the Church of God is offering a daily Bible reading program which advances the reader through the entire Bible in one year.
I look forward to the beginning of each year because I set aside some days for special prayer. I don’t like to finish one year and start another without taking time to thank Jesus for the ways He blessed me during the past 12 months and to ask Him for supernatural strength for the next season.
The Knesset, Israel’s unicameral legislature, voted 64 to 51 on Tuesday to pass a law that was designed to prevent the government from entering into any agreement to divide the city of Jerusalem in future peace negotiations.
