Scots Council removes prayer from agenda after threatsof legal action
Highland Council has removed prayer from its formal meeting agenda after secularists threatened legal action. The decades-old tradition will now be held prior to the formal meeting, in a move criticised by one Councillor as a ‘manifestation of political correctness’. The National Secular Society (NSS) wrote to the Council in the summer calling for the saying of prayers to be dropped or face legal action. A note was then written to all 80 Councillors in the Highlands stating that,‘Time for Prayer and Reflection will be undertaken at 10.30am in the chamber in future for those who wish to attend. This will be preceded by the bell to signal commencement. A second bell will ring to inform Councillors the meeting is about to start, five minutes later than normal, at 10.35am’. But Inverness Councillor Roddy Balfour criticised the move although he said the authority’s hand had been forced. (See Prayer Alert 28-2012)
Pray: that despite the move by the Highland Council these developments will be reversed in answer to our prayers. (Ps.119:169-170)
More: http://www.christian.org.uk/news/scots-council-removes-prayer-from-agenda-after-legal-threats/
NHS kills 130,000 elderly patients every year
Assisted suicide is illegal in the UK, but on the 10th anniversary of the first British citizen visiting Dignitas a senior NHS consultant claimed doctors are prematurely ending the lives of thousands of elderly patients because they are difficult to manage or to free up beds. Professor Patrick Pullicino said hospitals use a controversial ‘death pathway’ (equivalent to euthanasia) when there was no clear evidence for initiating a method of care designed for use when death is imminent. ‘Far too often elderly patients who could live longer are placed on the pathway and it had now become an assisted death pathway rather than a care pathway.’ The professor revealed he had personally intervened to take a patient off the pathway to be successfully treated and then live a further 14 months.
Pray: that this issue will continue to be highlighted in the media until action is taken to implement more appropriate techniques of care for those terminally ill in NHS hospitals. (Mat.25:36)
Germany: Euro-gathering
Last weekend 300 people from 23 nations gathered on the banks of the river Maine in Frankfurt, Germany for Euro-gathering. In amongst the exciting times of prayer, worship and community were sessions of amazing teaching from members of the 24-7 family from around the world. The title of the prayer gathering this year was Aufstehen: (German Vb) Auf+ste.hen. To stand up. To rise (arise). To get up. Ian Nicholson the European Director of 24-7 Prayer said, ‘Our confidence is not in banks, governments or the job market but in the Father who shaped Europe; what He did in the past He can do again. We are a people of faith and hope. 'May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. (Ro.15:13) There was a sense of ' Hope is on the rise! Stand up and fix your eyes on Him. The vision is Jesus!’
Pray: for more European countries to experience God’s power as the Holy Spirit flows through God’s people interceding. (2 Ch.7:14)
Germany: Euro-gathering
Last weekend 300 people from 23 nations gathered on the banks of the river Maine in Frankfurt, Germany for Euro-gathering. In amongst the exciting times of prayer, worship and community were sessions of amazing teaching from members of the 24-7 family from around the world. The title of the prayer gathering this year was Aufstehen: (German Vb) Auf+ste.hen. To stand up. To rise (arise). To get up. Ian Nicholson the European Director of 24-7 Prayer said, ‘Our confidence is not in banks, governments or the job market but in the Father who shaped Europe; what He did in the past He can do again. We are a people of faith and hope. 'May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. (Ro.15:13) There was a sense of ' Hope is on the rise! Stand up and fix your eyes on Him. The vision is Jesus!’
Pray: for more European countries to experience God’s power as the Holy Spirit flows through God’s people interceding. (2 Ch.7:14)
