Author Archives: Jim Bakker Show News

Tornadoes possible as strong thunderstorms set sights on Gulf Coast

Forecasts are calling for severe thunderstorms along the Gulf Coast later today, according to the National Weather Service, some of which could generate tornadoes and powerful wind gusts.

The service’s Storm Prediction Center says there is a moderate risk, the second-highest level on a five-tier system, of severe thunderstorms in parts of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and the Florida panhandle. It said the strongest storms could generate tornadoes, high winds and hail.

About 2.8 million people live in the “moderate risk” area, according to the center, a roughly 39,000-square-mile swath that includes cities like Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Montgomery, Alabama, and Hattiesburg, Mississippi. Other Southern states had lesser risks of severe weather, but areas from Texas to Tennessee and Georgia could see at least isolated storms.

The National Weather Service had not issued any watches or warnings for thunderstorms or tornadoes as of 9:30 a.m. CT on Tuesday. But wind advisories were issued in Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Louisiana Mississippi and Alabama, warning of gusts of up to 45 mph later today.

The storm is also expected to produce heavy rain, and flash flood watches were issued in parts of Mississippi, Georgia, Tennessee, South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia and West Virginia.

Residents of the affected states should monitor their local forecasts.

Seperately, the National Weather Service issued winter storm watches in parts of Illinois and Michigan, where between 4 and 11 inches of snow was expected to fall tomorrow and Thursday.

Winter weather advisories were also issued for parts of Pennsylvania, New York and New England, where a wintry mix was expected tonight and Wednesday morning.

Frontex: 68K migrants arrive in Europe last month, 38 times last January’s rate

Cold weather and rough seas did not deter the approximately 68,000 migrants who arrived in Greece last month, the European Union’s border protection agency announced Monday.

That number was 38 times higher than the number of migrants who made it to Greece last January, Frontex said in a news release, at the start of what was a record year for displacement.

Frontex has said more than 1 million migrants arrived in the European Union last year, nearly five times the 2014 total. Monthly arrivals topped 100,000 in July and remained at six-figure levels through December as refugees fled conflict-torn nations in the Middle East and Africa.

The U.N. Refugee Agency (UNHCR) says another 35,000 migrants traveled to Greece and Italy by sea during the first three weeks of February, bringing this year’s total arrivals above 100,000.

Only 13,000 people arrived in Greece and Italy in the first two months of 2015, the UNHCR said.

Frontex tried to place a positive spin on the migrant numbers released Monday, saying they represented a roughly 40 percent monthly drop from the 108,000 who arrived in Greece last December. The agency said winter weather contributed to the month-over-month decline.

But those who did arrive still added to a growing list of migrants who are seeking better lives in Europe, as nations face growing pressure as to how to cope with the massive inflow of people.

The vast majority of them arrive in Greece, the International Office for Migration (IOM) has said, as they are often shuttled on packed, unsafe boats across the Aegean Sea from Turkey.

Most of the migrants who arrived in Greece are from Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan, Frontex said.

Others arrive in Italy, a destination for sea routes that depart from Tunisia, Libya and Egypt.

Most of the migrants who arrived in Italy last month were from Nigeria, Frontex said.

The African nation is home to Boko Haram, which last year’s Global Terrorism Index dubbed the world’s deadliest terror group, and Fulani militants who have become increasingly deadly.

However, the migrants who are choosing to make the journey are also encountering some risks.

On Friday, The IOM, UNHCR and United Nations Children’s Emergency Fund on Friday warned of the increasing number of migrants who have drowned on their journeys to Europe.

Christian world mourns well-known tent crusade evangelist T.L Lowery

T.L. Lowery, the well-known evangelist who spent more than seven decades in ministry and helped win thousands to Christ, went to be with the Lord on Sunday, his family announced.

He was 87.

The Pentecostal icon celebrated his 70th year in ministry in 2014, according to the T.L. Lowery Global Foundation. He is perhaps best known for the 15-plus years he spent traveling the globe with a 10,000-seat tent, preaching the gospel in 115 countries and each of the United States.

During his tent crusades, Lowery’s name “was synonymous with spiritual power, fire-from-heaven sermons and miraculous healings,” according to the foundation, which lists testimonies from dozens of people who said they have been touched by Lowery’s ministry.

A woman identified as June Sandifer wrote she was born with crossed eyes, but she was healed after her mother brought her to one of Lowey’s tent services in Tifton, Georgia, in 1962.

“She took me through the pray line that night, and The Lord performed a miracle right there,” Sandifer wrote of the service. “I remember Bro. T.L. told me to walk across the front (of) the tent so everyone could see what The Lord had done. I was six years old. I still believe in miracles.”

According to the foundation, the Georgia-born Lowery accepted Christ in 1943, about two weeks before his 14th birthday. In the next 11 years, he pastored four churches, married his wife and welcomed the birth of his son. He became a full-time evangelist in 1954 and preached around the world until 1969, when he was named senior pastor at the North Cleveland Church of God.

Lowery served at that church until 1974, according to the foundation, and also served as the pastor of the National Church of God in the Washington, D.C. area from 1981 to 1996.

Lowery’s son, Stephen, is currently the bishop of the latter church. He announced the evangelist’s death on the foundation’s website.

“He has been an evangelist, pastor, author, friend, mentor, and father. But, most of all, he was an ambassador of the Kingdom of God,” he wrote. “We, of course, do not have arrangements in place. As soon as we do, they will be posted. Please pray for our strength and wisdom.”

News of Lowery’s passing quickly circulated through the Christian community, with several popular evangelists testifying about how Lowery has shaped their lives.

Perry Stone spoke about Lowery’s passing on Periscope, a video streaming service, on Sunday morning, calling the preacher “one of my great mentors.”

“The first miracle I ever saw was in his ministry,” Stone said.

According to the foundation, Lowery once said “As the fire of God burns within us, we will walk in His righteousness and power.”

It’s clear that the fire of God burnt within Lowery, as he had a significant impact on the Christian community. He will be missed here on Earth, but we at Morningside take comfort in knowing he now is able to walk in God’s righteousness and power for all of eternity.

More children, migrants drowning while trying to cross Mediterranean

More than 340 children have died while trying to cross the Mediterranean Sea in the past five and a half months, three agencies announced Friday, saying the death toll continues to climb.

The actual number of drownings could be higher, the International Organization for Migration (IOM), United Nations Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) and the U.N. Refugee Agency said in a joint statement, because authorities may not have been able to recover every child’s body.

Still, the agencies said the current number of deaths equates to an average of two children per day since September 2015, as more migrant families try to reach Europe in search of better lives.

The U.N. Refugee Agency has said that more than 1 million migrants and refugees traveled to Europe by sea alone last year, most of them fleeing war-torn countries. More than 3,700 died.

In Friday’s announcement, the three agencies said migrants often travel in overloaded, poor-quality boats that place them at a higher risk of capsizing, particularly in rough seas.

“Clearly, more efforts are needed to combat smuggling and trafficking,” U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi said in a statement.

The IOM says 90,756 adults and children have traveled across water to Italy and Greece during the first 49 days of 2016, and 411 of them have died. Some 7,461 have died since January 2014.

The agencies called for actions to ensure migrants travel safely, noting that many of them are currently trying to join relatives in Europe. They said some 36 percent of migrants are children.

“This is not only a Mediterranean problem, or even a European one,” IOM Director General William Lacy Swing said in a statement. “It is a humanitarian catastrophe in the making that demands the entire world’s engagement.”

Snyder: Middle East developments put world at risk of WWIII

Recent developments in the Middle East have placed the world dangerously close to an event that could potentially ignite another world war, Michael Snyder said on Thursday morning.

Snyder made the comments during a taping of The Jim Bakker Show.

He was referring to a potential ground invasion of Syria, which he wrote about earlier this week on his blog “The Economic Collapse.” Snyder’s post cited a Saudi Arabia state media report that stated 20 nations would participate in a “military exercise” in the northern part of kingdom.

The Saudi Press Agency said the exercise would include troops, fighter jets, artillery, tanks, naval forces, and air defense systems, according to the announcement. The agency called it “the largest and most important military maneuver in the history of the region” and said it showed the 20 nations “stand united to face all challenges and to maintain peace and stability in the region.”

Snyder, though, noted in his post that “military exercises” are sometimes used as an excuse if governments are planning to prepare for a ground invasion. He argued that Saudi Arabia and Turkey could both benefit from invading Syria, though noted an invasion may lead to backlash from Russia and other nations with conflicting interests in Syria’s nearly five-year civil war.

“We could literally be looking at the spark that sets off World War 3,” he wrote.

Snyder went into more detail about the political, religious and economic sides of the conflict in Syria and the potential fallout of any ground invasion during Thursday morning’s taping.

“With interlocking relationships and alliances, they could draw in the entire world eventually — including the United States,” he said.

The show is scheduled to air on Feb. 23, but viewers can get exclusive early access through the PTL Television Network on Roku or the Video on Demand section of jimbakkershow.com.

The United Nations says 250,000 people have been killed and another 12 million are currently displaced as a result of the Syrian violence. The nation is the world’s largest source of refugees.

At a meeting last week, the International Syria Support Group agreed to try to implement a “nationwide cessation of hostilities” in Syria by this Friday. But violence and airstrikes have continued this week, and a medical charity known as Doctors Without Borders said at least 25 doctors and patients were killed on Monday when missiles targeted a hospital in Idlib Province.

During Thursday’s taping, Pastor Zach Drew asked Snyder if people should expect to see an invasion within the next 18 days, a reference to the reported length of the military exercise.

“We’re certainly in the danger zone, Zach, because this unprecedented military force has gathered right now,” Snyder replied. “If we get past a few weeks, well then, presumably, they would start to go home and go back to their countries. But they’re gathered right now in northern Saudi Arabia. It’s a real, real potential.”

During the taping, Pastor Jim Bakker said headlines from around the world are “crying out” that a world war could start in a matter of weeks or days, yet they were being largely ignored.

“We are in a moment where suddenly things will happen, and we’re not going to be able to do anything about it,” Pastor Bakker said. “Most people are not prepared for the world to come apart. We’re not prepared at all.”

U.S. announces more restrictions to Visa Waiver Program

United States officials on Thursday announced new restrictions regarding the country’s Visa Waiver Program, an action designed to prevent foreign terrorists from entering the nation.

The Department of Homeland Security said it added Libya, Somalia and Yemen to its list of “countries of concern,” which means most people who have traveled to those nations since March 2011 will not be allowed to enter the United States through the Visa Waiver Program.

That program allows citizens and nationals of 38 countries to visit the United States without first securing a visa, so long as they stay for fewer than 90 days. But lawmakers sought to reform the program after the Nov. 13 Paris terrorist attacks, and the changes went into effect last month when officials announced similar travel restrictions concerning Iran, Iraq, Syria and Sudan.

The White House has said the 20 million people who enter the United States through the program every year were already being screened to prevent terrorists and other potential security threats from entering the country. But those who sought to reform the program spoke about its potential vulnerabilities, and the new rules add an extra layer to the vetting process.

In making Thursday’s announcement, the Department of Homeland Security said “many” foreign terrorists are nationals of the countries that participate in the Visa Waiver Program.

The State Department has issued active travel warnings for all seven aforementioned countries, in many cases citing terrorist or other extremist activities.

The new restrictions do not ban people who have traveled to the seven countries since March 2011 from entering the United States altogether. However, they are now required to first apply for a visa at a United States embassy. That process includes an in-person interview.

Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson can grant waivers on a case-by-case basis, and the department said such waivers may be available for people like journalists or humanitarian aid workers.

Snyder: World facing global economic meltdown

The global economy is on the brink of a meltdown, Michael Snyder says in a new blog post.

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Writing for his blog, “The Economic Collapse,” the frequent Jim Bakker Show guest on Tuesday published a list of 21 items he believes show “the global economy is coming apart at the seams.”

Snyder pointed to declining global trade figures, struggles in the energy sector and significant losses in global stock markets as indicators of an impending economic implosion.

“The truth is that we are in the early chapters of a brand new economic meltdown, and I believe that all of the signs indicate that it will continue to get worse in the months ahead,” he wrote.

Snyder is at Morningside today and is slated to discuss recent military developments in the Middle East, as well as their potential implications, during a taping of The Jim Bakker Show.

In Tuesday’s post, Snyder wrote he is “deeply concerned” that the recent military activity may possibly lead to the beginning of World War III, a topic he covered in another recent blog post.

“Without any outside influences, the global economy and the global financial system will continue to rapidly fall apart,” Snyder wrote in Tuesday’s post. “But if we do have a major ‘black swan event’ take place, that could cause the bottom to fall out at any moment.”

The show featuring Snyder is scheduled to air beginning Feb. 23, though viewers can obtain exclusive early access by visiting the PTL Television Network on Roku or the Video on Demand section of jimbakkershow.com.

El Niño leaves millions of Africans vulnerable to hunger, thirst, disease

A abnormally strong El Niño weather pattern and extreme droughts have left millions of Africans vulnerable to hunger, water shortages and disease, a United Nations agency warned on Wednesday, including about 1 million severely malnourished children who need treatment.

The U.N. Children’s Emergency Fund, or UNICEF, said those children are located in Eastern and Southern Africa, where the extreme weather has adversely affected food supplies. It said families there have skipped meals or sold some of their possessions to cope with rising prices.

In a statement, Leila Gharagozloo-Pakkala, the agency’s regional director for Eastern and Southern Africa, called the situation “unprecedented” and warned of a long-lasting effect.

“The El Niño weather phenomenon will wane, but the cost to children – many who were already living hand-to-mouth – will be felt for years to come,” Gharagozloo-Pakkala said.

Meteorologists have said this season’s El Niño is one of the strongest on record and its effects are likely to continue well into 2016. However, the U.N. Office for Humanitarian Affairs has estimated that areas affected by the El Niño-fueled drought will likely need two years to recover.

El Niño occurs when part of the Pacific Ocean is warmer than usual, setting off a ripple effect that brings atypical and often extreme weather throughout the world. It has been blamed for creating droughts in some nations and floods in others, both of which can destroy harvests.

Last week, four agencies issued a joint statement warning the weather pattern could devastate Southern Africa’s upcoming harvests. The World Food Programme, Food and Agricultural Organization, Famine Early Warning Systems Network and European Commission’s Joint Research Centre said parts of Southern Africa are in the midst of their driest season in 35 years, with Zimbabwe, Lesotho and many South African provinces declaring drought emergencies.

Other nations have implemented measures to reduce water consumption because of low levels.

Two of the harder-hit nations are South Africa and Malawi, and the agencies said maize prices surged to record-high levels in those countries. The agencies warned the window of opportunity to plant crops in Southern Africa had nearly closed, and forecasts point to another poor harvest.

“Over the coming year, humanitarian partners should prepare themselves for food insecurity levels and food insecure population numbers in southern Africa to be at their highest levels since the 2002-2003 food crisis,” the agencies warned, saying it was too early for an exact figure.

Any increase would add to the millions of people who currently need food aid.

That includes more than 10 million Ethiopians, a total UNICEF says could reach 18 million by December. The agency says children have skipped school because they have to search for water.

UNICEF says about 2.8 million people are at risk of going hungry in Malawi, while food insecurity poses an issue for 2.8 million Zimbabwe residents and 800,000 people in Angola.

El Niño has also brought heavy rains to Kenya, which UNICEF says is fueling cholera outbreaks.

The World Food Programme also recently said El Niño has hurt Haiti’s agriculture industry.

The weather isn’t the only the thing impacting people’s ability to secure food.

Violent conflicts have spurred food shortages in other nations, and the Famine Early Warning Systems Network says “emergency” conditions now exist in parts of South Sudan and Yemen.

Pastor released from Iranian prison thanks supporters, requests prayers for his marriage

The Christian pastor who was recently released after spending more than three years behind bars in an Iranian prison is asking people to pray for his relationship with his wife.

Saeed Abedini made the request in a Facebook post Sunday evening, which he said was his first since he was released last month in a prisoner exchange between the United States and Iran.

Abedini thanked the “Dear Saints” who sent “thousands of letters of encouragement and LOVE to the prison” since he was jailed in September 2012 on charges concerning his Christian beliefs.

He wrote he loved his supporters, adding their “prayers and support changed my situation.”

“You created a LOVE story that even Muslims in Iran talked about,” he wrote.

One of Abedini’s most vocal advocates during his imprisonment was his wife, Naghmeh, who actively campaigned for his release. But she wrote in a Facebook post last month that she took “temporary legal action” against the pastor, who she claimed abused her during their marriage.

“Three months ago Saeed told me things he demanded I must do to promote him in the eyes of the public that I simply could not do any longer. He threatened that if I did not the results would be the end of our marriage and the resulting pain this would bring to our children,” she wrote.

She added she hoped and prayed the couple’s marriage could be healed.

“In very difficult situations sometimes you have to establish boundaries while you work toward healing,” she wrote in the post, which also requested prayers and support.

The pastor issued his own prayer request in his post over the weekend, saying he has sought counseling.

“I am grateful for marriage counselors who have been helping me but my wife’s relationship with me is not good at this point, so we need prayer that she joins this counseling process with us,” he wrote.

The Iranian-born pastor became a United States citizen through his marriage.

Yemen city on the brink of famine, U.N. agency warns

Residents of one Yemen city are on the brink of famine, a United Nations agency warned Monday, as violent conflicts have prevented humanitarian workers from supplying food.

The World Food Programme (WFP) said it delivered food to Al Qahira, a besieged area of the Taiz governorate, on Saturday, bringing enough food to last 18,000 people for one month. But it said Taiz remains at an “emergency” level on the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification scale, one step below famine, and workers must be allowed to continue to deliver aid there.

The WFP said it has been delivering food to some parts of Taiz since December, though fighting between Houthi militants and government forces has complicated the agency’s efforts to move the supplies to the people in need. In a news release, it said about 20 percent of households in Taiz don’t have enough food, and many are facing “life-threatening rates of acute malnutrition.”

Taiz is far from the only Yemen city affected by fighting.

The UN says about 21.2 million of the country’s 26 million residents need some humanitarian aid, a 33 percent increase since violence erupted last March. The WFP says approximately 7.6 million Yemen residents are now “severely food insecure,” which requires urgent assistance.

Other countries are also in need of aid.

On Tuesday, the WFP said it was planning to deliver food this month to 35,000 people who have been affected by Boko Haram’s violent insurgency in Nigeria, Cameroon, Chad and Niger. In a statement, the agency said it recently supplied food to 5,000 people in Chad for the first time.

“We were told that people have been really struggling to survive. Some said that they have been surviving only on maize for weeks,” Mary-Ellen McGroarty, the WFP’s Country Director for Chad, said in a statement announcing the increased humanitarian efforts. “We have started distributions at five sites where the needs are most critical and we are working to reach others.”

The WFP said some 5.6 million people are facing hunger as a result of Boko Haram’s violence, which has prompted 2.8 million people to flee their homes — 400,000 since December alone.

Last week, the WFP issued warnings about the food situations in South Sudan and Haiti, saying that about 6 million people in those countries were facing food insecurity. That included 40,000 residents of war-torn South Sudan that UN agencies said were “on the brink of catastrophe.”