Poland's constitutional crisis
The limits of the EU’s integrationist ambitions are being exposed by a fight between Poland’s hard-line conservative government and the European Commission, because Poland is failing to maintain the ‘rule of law’. There has long been a simmering east-west split over migration, and fundamental values have burst into open warfare. Many believe this constitutional crisis could pull Europe apart. Poland is accused of reneging on the commitment it made to maintain ‘stable institutions guaranteeing democracy, the rule of law and human rights’. An Article 7 sanction procedure will be triggered against Poland if it fails to address concerns over judicial reforms or starts firing Supreme Court judges. On 26 July the European Commission set a one-month deadline for the Warsaw government to ‘solve all the problems identified’ in its judicial overhaul. The commission also set a red line for Poland, ‘if it decides to fire any of the Supreme Court judges’. Poland criticised the threats from the EU to halt their voting rights in the bloc as ‘blackmail’.
USA and UK aggression
‘A Study of War’ reports that from 1480 to 1940 England or the UK was involved in 77 of the 278 wars involving European countries. That percentage, 28%, is more than any other nation. The USA has been at war at home or somewhere in the world 219 years out of her 240 years of existence. On 24 July Donald Trump’s senior military officer warned, ‘A strike against North Korea is not unimaginable’. Pray for Donald Trump to be a man of peace facing down warmongers. Meanwhile, Theresa May has been urged to end arms sales to Saudi Arabia. An Independent survey found that an overwhelming majority of the public are against Britain supplying billions of pounds of weapons to the kingdom. Since bombing Yemen began in 2015, the UK has licensed £3.3bn worth of arms, including £1.1bn worth of ML4 licences, which relate to bombs, missiles, and other explosives. See
Canada: a call to prayer
Pray for Canadian young people to experience a true move of God, calling them to faith. Cry out for the new edition of Youth Alpha which will be launching this autumn; may the Lord use this tool and many like it to encounter a generation. Intercede also for businesses which are dedicated to kingdom purposes to have favour, breakthrough and supernatural activity. May they have divine strategies for wisdom and timing. It is vital that the Church becomes more Christ-centred. Pray for this summer to be a season of restoration, health, relationships, unity and faith. May whatever has been worn down over the past season receive supernatural restoration. It is time to see signs and wonders following and confirming gospel preaching. Cry out for these powerful, supernatural confirmations to be released from heaven. May healings be as common in the Canadian Church as they were in Jesus' day and the Book of Acts.
USA: fewer are identifying with denominations
Americans have become less likely to identify with an official or formal religion in recent decades, and nowhere is this more evident than in the dwindling percentage who identify with a specific Protestant denomination. In 2000, 50% of Americans identified with a specific denomination; by 2016 that figure had dropped to 30%. The result of the poll showed that ‘while many Americans remain religious in a broad sense and may continue to seek spiritual guidance and community experience, a formal structure in which to do so has become less important’.
