Currently, abortion is illegal in this predominantly Catholic country except in cases of rape, incest, if the life of the mother is in danger, or in cases of severe foetal deformities. Polish legislators are considering a bill that would ban abortion and make getting or performing an abortion a punishable offence. Pro-abortion groups have raised support for a bill which would legalise abortion on demand up to twelve weeks’ gestation. They claim that restricting abortion and punishing doctors who perform abortions and women who get abortions force women to choose between giving birth to an unwanted baby or going to jail. Their pro-abortion bill has gained about 215,000 signatures. Meanwhile, this spring a pro-life bill was introduced. It is citizen-led, and has collected about 450,000 signatures of support. The new bill, if signed into law, would make abortion illegal in all cases except when the life of the mother is endangered.

Building work has begun on a wall in Calais to prevent migrants from stowing away on cars, trucks, ferries and trains bound for Britain. Dubbed ‘The Great Wall of Calais,’ the concrete barrier half a mile long and 13 feet high on both sides of the two-lane highway approaching the harbour will pass within a few hundred metres of ‘the Jungle’ housing more than 10,000 migrants from Africa, Asia and the Middle East trying to reach Britain. The wall is due to be completed by the end of 2016. Around 200 migrants from Calais are successfully smuggled into Britain each week according to police estimates. Migrants create roadblocks to slow trucks. When trucks stop, they climb aboard the vehicles heading to the Channel Tunnel or ferries. Many of the migrants who are turned away move to the Jungle and try over and over again. The image of Calais today in the media is very negative.

In Hebrew, ‘Rosh Hashanah’ means ‘Head of the Year’ and it's known as the Jewish New Year, celebrating the completion of creating the world and highlighting the relationship between God and humanity. This year Rosh Hashanah falls on 2 - 4 October. The shofar (horn) has been and is continuing to be sounded every morning (except Shabbat) in many Orthodox Jewish communities, stirring hearts to seek God and repent of sin. Maimonides, a respected Jewish sage of the Middle Ages, likened the sound of the shofar to an alarm call: ‘Sleepers, arise from your slumber, and those who are dozing, awake from your lethargy. Review your actions, repent from your sins, and remember your Creator!’ (Hilchot Teshuvah 3)

From north to south, east to west, Africa faces enormous challenges and presents equally enormous opportunities. In recent years leaders from the South Sea Islands have followed a vision to see the ‘Welcoming of the King of Glory’ into each continent; last year they came to Europe and combined their visit with the European Trumpet Call in Romania. This year brothers and sisters from several countries, together with representatives of the Khoi, the indigenous people of South Africa, went to the most southerly tip of Africa, Cape Agulhas, for Trumpet Call South Africa. They stood on the shore where the Indian Ocean meets the Atlantic Ocean. The roar of the wind and seas added to the stones on the prayer altar built there over the years as they declared the Sovereignty of Christ, laid a red carpet on the beach, broke bread and in worship and praise welcomed the King.

This Sunday is a special opportunity to focus prayer on regions of the world that are home to the majority of the world’s Muslims, Hindus and Buddhists; the majority of the world’s least-reached people groups; the poorest of the poor; 45 of the 50 nations where Christians are most persecuted. This happens every year on the first Sunday of October. People are invited to celebrate and pray in their homes, in small groups, large groups, at Church and anywhere where Christians gather to seek the Lord, because the 10/40 Window is the ‘final frontier’ of world missions in order to finish the task given to the Church. Pray for powerful intercession this weekend to inspire more people to continue praying beyond October using nation profiles and prayer points. Pray for more Christians to learn about how to get involved in reaching the people of the 10/40 Window.

Satanists from the Satanic Temple (TST) intend to open ‘After-School With Satan’ clubs. The Washington Post and other press outlets reported TST chapters petitioning nine school districts to allow them to preach Satanism in elementary school facilities after school by forming after-school Satan Clubs. They want to plant seeds of Satanism in children, to influence them to accept Satan and evil from an early age. The Satanists are focusing only on children aged 5-12. Satanism is held to be a religion by some US courts. Satanists are using wrong legality to attack the country’s most impressionable citizens, young children. Local residents are being asked to urge these nine school districts to do everything in their power to oppose and resist the satanic onslaught. In August the Tucson Arizona Area School District successfully rejected TST’s application for an After-School Satan Club; other school districts could also pass similar policies to reject the applications.

Both International Business Times and Russia Today have joined The Sun and Daily Mirror in reporting that British special forces are secretly training ‘New Syrian Army’ (NSA) rebels in Jordan. IB Times says the aim of the Marine commandos and SAS is to equip and empower the US-backed NSA to fight IS. Those who join the NSA are supposed to sign a pledge only to fight IS and not the Syrian Army. But the media are saying, ‘Don’t let us be surprised if they turn their fire on Syrian regular forces.’ Recently, US-led aircraft attacked a Syrian army unit, resulting in 62 deaths. According to the Independent, the Ministry of Defence confirmed British jets were involved in killing 62 sons, husbands and fathers. Previous attempts by the US to train Syrian rebels met with disaster. The Pentagon spent $500 million training just five men in 2015 and rebels handed vehicles and ammunition over to extremists. The programme was shut down.

The arrest of a Christian teenager in Pakistan for liking an ‘inappropriate’ photograph on Facebook has been widely condemned. The British Pakistani Christian Association said words cannot express the insanity, the depravity of this situation. Nabeel Masih, 16, is accused of blasphemy charges for clicking the ‘like’ button under an image of the Kaaba in Mecca, one of the holiest sites in Islam. A Muslim alerted officers to the post saying he found it insulting to his religion, police said. The teenager has been held in custody ahead of a trial. If found guilty, he could face the death penalty. The British Pakistani Christian Association chairman Wilson Chowdhry said, ‘If this kind of thing is sanctioned by the government then the Pakistani government has taken leave of all moral sense, and any semblance of protection for its Christian and minority citizens.’ See: