This is the Black Christian News Network One podcast. Here are the top stories you need to know about today.
According to The Christian Post, A Florida-based Haitian pastor and his wife, who had returned to the island as missionaries to build a church and an orphanage about a month ago, have been found dead. Police say it was a home invasion-style robbery by an armed gang. Fifty-seven-year-old Pastor Jean Phillippe-Quetant and his wife, Erna Plancher-Quetant, 54, who once lived in Fort Myers, Florida, were shot to death in their home in Haiti, where they had been serving together for over a month, NBC2 reported. “They were in their house where the invader came in and I guess found mom and dad, and shot both of them,” their son, Kevin Quetant, was quoted as saying. The invaders ransacked their home and stole many of their belongings. “It just feels surreal,” Tabitha Quetant, their daughter, said. “They could have just taken everything and left them alone, they wouldn’t have done anything. “If I could speak to them now, I would just say mom and dad I love you and I thank you so much for the way you raised us.” The couple left behind five young children. The family started a GoFundMe page to raise funds for the couple’s funeral, saying they were “desperately working on ways to bring both of their bodies home to Florida so that the family and children can bury them properly and say their final goodbyes.”
According to The Christian Post, Notable Cornerstone Church Pastor and author John Hagee has tested positive for COVID-19, according to an announcement made by his son, Pastor Matt Hagee. During a livestreamed worship service on Sunday, Matt Hagee told those gathered in-person and online that his father was “diligent throughout this entire COVID pandemic to monitor his health.” Matt Hagee said that his 80-year-old father tested positive for COVID-19 last Friday, adding that the virus was “discovered very early” and that “his medical team has him under watchful care.” “He’s feeling well enough to be frustrated with everybody in a white coat and a stethoscope,” he said, getting applause and cheers from the in-person worshipers. “He wanted me to tell you personally that he covets your prayers and that he asks you to pray for him daily, not only that he make a speedy recovery, but that he looks forward to seeing you again here at Cornerstone very soon.” Matt Hagee then called upon the Cornerstone congregation to take time during the service to pray both for his father and for everyone battling the coronavirus. “As it is a reality in our lives, we also have a promise that we serve a God who is a healer,” he said. “So let’s pray for those individuals today right now.” In July, the Hagees and Cornerstone Christian Schools successfully filed a lawsuit to be allowed to hold in-person class instruction beginning in August despite a local government restriction.
According to Daily Mail, White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany has become the latest person in the President’s inner circle to test positive for COVID-19, three days after Trump confirmed he’d been infected. McEnany, 32, continued going to work at the White House despite Trump testing positive late on Thursday night and she took her mask off on Sunday to brief reporters. She had been in close contact with the President and others at the White House who have tested positive, but repeatedly tested negatively herself until Monday. Her assistant, Chad Gilmartin has also tested positive. ‘After testing negatively consistently, including every day since Thursday, I tested positive for COVID-19 on Monday morning while experiencing no symptoms,’ McEnany said in a statement posted to Twitter. ‘As an essential worker, I have worked diligently to provide needed information to the American people at this time. With my recent positive test, I will begin the quarantine process and continue working on behalf of the American people,’ she noted. The White House staff are tested every day with rapid testing kits and have been relying on those results to let people back into the building since Trump’s diagnosis last week, even though it is commonly known that it can take several days after someone becomes exposed for their viral load to be substantial enough to yield a positive result. After McEnany’s diagnosis on Monday, White House staffers were sent an email reminding them to stay home if they feel any symptoms. Vice President Mike Pence and his wife Karen were both tested again on Monday and tested negative.
According to Daily Mail, A South Carolina mother and daughter teaching duo were buried on Saturday after both contracted COVID-19 and died, weeks apart. Shirley Bannister, the 57-year-old chair of a nursing department, died on September 27. She tested positive on September 7 – the day her only child, Demetria Bannister, 28, an elementary school teacher, died. The pair were described as inseparable by Dennis Bell, Shirley’s brother, who paid tribute to the ‘loving and driven women’. As well as both being teachers they were avid scrapbookers, loved planning family gatherings, and were ‘the light of any room,’ he said, according to NBC. Demetria was a third grade teacher, starting her fifth year of teaching at Windsor Elementary School in Columbia. Her passion for teaching came from her mother, Bell said. ‘Demetria was almost a spitting image of Shirley — in her mannerisms and the way she carried herself. She loved mentoring kids and making learning fun. She wanted to transfer that energy and passion to younger people.’ Denise Quickel, the school’s principal, said she was ‘Windsor’s Songbird’ for her role leading the student choir, her participation in student shows, her hosting of a student club for aspiring singers, and her participation in talent shows. ‘Ms Bannister loved her students and never missed an opportunity to advocate for students and public education,’ Quickel said. Her mother, Shirley, the second youngest of six siblings, was described by Bell, her brother, as a ‘mother figure’ to all. Even as a child she would care for others, he said, and eventually ended up taking care of their aging mother. ‘She was a confidante, the kind of person you would go to with problems, and she would be like your own personal sounding board, a great listener,’ he said. Aged 19, she received a licensed practicing nurse degree from Midlands Technical College in Columbia. She continued working as a nurse in the gerontology department for 30 years before becoming head of the nursing department at Midlands, which she did for seven years. One former student, Kenyatta Hicks, wrote on Instagram that Shirley helped her through a tough time, providing her school books when she couldn’t afford them. ‘Truly my inspiration and now you’re my angel,’ she wrote. Shirley had diabetes and asthma before she reported COVID-19 symptoms. She was in hospital for a week before her death.
According to Fox News, Islamic State-affiliated terrorists have reportedly formed a base hub of operations in Northern Mozambique, killing more than 1,500 people, and displacing more than 250,000, according to the European Union. The militants intend to spread out from Mozambique’s Cabo Delgado province throughout Southern Africa unless stopped, according to analyst Jasmine Opperman of the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project. “It is Islamic State, seeking a footprint in Southern Africa,” she told Fox News. “Islamic State needs a platform in the region to operate, and Cabo Delgado presents that opportunity, and hence I am saying there is a regional threat.” Opperman believes South Africa, Zimbabwe, Angola, and Namibia are all at risk from ISIS, which started the insurgency three years ago. More than 1,000 homes have been torched by the militants, and entire villages are empty after residents fled. A top research analyst told Fox News villagers are given a choice: join ISIS or else. Some villagers have been tortured, raped, and murdered. Young girls have been kidnapped. “To put it bluntly, it’s spiraling out of control,” claims Opperman.
According to the Associated Press, Actor Thomas Jefferson Byrd, known for his roles in Spike Lee films, has been shot and killed in Atlanta, police said Sunday. Police responded to a call around 1:45 a.m. Saturday and found the 70-year-old Byrd unresponsive with multiple gunshot wounds in his back, police spokesman Officer Anthony Grant said in a statement. Responding paramedics pronounced him dead at the scene on the city’s southwest side, where he lived. Grant said homicide detectives were working to determine the circumstances surrounding the shooting and declined to provide further details. In an Instagram post Sunday, Lee said he was sad to announce Byrd’s death and recalled how the actor “did his thang” in his films including “Clockers,” “Chi-Raq,” “Bamboozled,” “He Got Game” and “Da Sweet Blood of Jesus,” among others. “May we all wish condolences and blessings to his family,” Lee wrote. “Rest in peace, Brother Byrd.” Lee also shared some of his favorite scenes with Byrd from “Clockers” and “Bamboozled.” Byrd, also a stage actor, was nominated in 2003 for a Tony for his performance in the Broadway revival of “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom,” co-starring Whoopi Goldberg and Charles S. Dutton. Oscar-winning actor Viola Davis tweeted: “Oh no!!! 2020! Whaaattt!!!” “Loved working with you Byrd,” she wrote. “What a fine actor you were. So sorry your life ended this way. Praying for your family.” Byrd was a “brilliant dancer, actor, and friend,” Elisabeth Omilami, a fellow actor and community activist, told WXIA-TV in Atlanta. “He was a special person whose personality filled up the whole room when he entered you knew he was there,” she said. “He fought his way through this very racist and difficult Hollywood system and was able to maintain a career through it all.” She said Byrd had just recently finished his last film, “Freedom’s Path,” with her husband, actor Afemo Omilami.
According to the Wall Street Journal, The NFL announced it would reschedule Sunday’s game between the New England Patriots and the Kansas City Chiefs for Monday evening after players on both teams tested positive for Covid-19. ESPN reported that one of the players to test positive for the virus was New England quarterback Cam Newton.
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In closing, remember, God loves you. He always has and He always will. John 3:16, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” If you don’t know Jesus as your Saviour, today is a good day to get to know Him. Just believe in your heart that Jesus Christ died, was buried, and rose from the dead for you. Pray and ask Him to come into your heart and He will. Romans 10:13 says, “For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.”
Thanks so much for listening and may God bless your day!
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