In Luke 7, Jesus predicts that his encounter with a sinful woman will become famous throughout the world and throughout history. This woman washed His feet with an abundance of tears, anointed Him with embalming perfume and wiped it over His feet with her long hair. Jesus says in response, ‘Your sins are forgiven.’ Today that same desire, the desire for forgiveness of sins, is found on many blog sites, where men and women are asking if the Hajj will cleanse them not only of small common sins, but also of big serious sins. They are told that their desire will be granted by the Hajj, which if performed properly and sincerely for Allah, removes all sins. Muslims go on the Hajj to be cleansed of sin; we all desire to be clean of sin. Romans 6:23 states, ‘For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.’

Traditional healers and witchdoctors are contributing to the spread of Ebola. Terrified people from Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea have been handing over large sums of cash in return for spells, potions and advice from those claiming to have the antidote. A man in Nigeria going by the name of Dr Zack Balo says he can cure Ebola using animal parts providing he is given £200. Other suggestions include eating raw onions, using anointed water and bathing in salt water at certain times of day. Cases of people flocking to see these so-called healers has resulted in the disease spreading further, as the witchdoctors themselves often contract Ebola, which is spread through contact with the bodily fluids of an infected person. The first Ebola victim in Sierra Leone was a faith healer, whose funeral resulted in over 350 people contracting Ebola after touching her dead body.

A small but high-risk group of radicals in Australia are causing concern to Corrective Services by preaching a misrepresented Islam to Aboriginal inmates in prisons. Sheikh Omar Habbouche said Islam was taught face-to-face and knowledge needed to be properly explained. He cited British soldier Lee Rigby's murder as being due to a wildly misinterpreted sentence in the Koran ‘kill unbelievers wherever you see them’. On Monday IS called for Australian Muslims to kill Australians indiscriminately. On Tuesday Melbourne Police shot dead a ‘known terror suspect’ after he stabbed two officers in a chaotic scuffle. Last Thursday 800+ police were involved in a security operation in Sydney and Brisbane to thwart an IS plot to behead a member of the public. Two men recently photographed holding the severed heads of Syrian soldiers were Australian IS members. (The Aboriginal recruitment article was reported by the Australian Prayer Network.)

Japan has many of the world’s largest companies, the world’s third largest economy, and educated and peaceful population and is the second largest un-reached people group in the world. 1.5 million young people (mostly men) have Hikikiimoro (an extreme depression that exists only in Japan) They completely withdraw from society. Some have not spoken or seen anyone for over two years.It's like internal suicide or living like a corpse. Japan also has the world’s largest sex industry, a significant proportion involves underage girls. (It’s largely Japanese money funding sex industries in Thailand and Vietnam.) Many Japanese live with no hope and no desire to change. 35% of high school students feel they have no worth as a person. 0.22% of the population attend church. With 100% freedom of religion Japan still has the lowest rate of Christian workers in the world. The good news is when Japanese people visit the West, a high percentage of them become Christians.