Ebola virus

As the Ebola epidemic continues to spread throughout West Africa, the faithful are joining together in heartfelt prayer to God to intervene in checking the spread of the deadly virus.

With a death toll now reaching over 800, the faithful are looking heavenward for help in the fight to check the spread of the virus which is currently claiming the lives of 60 percent of its victims. The latest death toll stands at over 800 with no end in sight.

In addition to many Catholic churches where prayers for Ebola victims and an end to the spread of the virus are being prayed for daily, the Associated Press is reporting that more than 100 women from the Liberian capital of Monrovia have initiated a time of fasting and prayer for an end to the outbreak.

Dolphine Morris told the AP that prayer goes hand-in-hand with other preventative measures: "We Christian and Muslim women see this as a national venture — to pray and ask God to rid Liberia of Ebola."

Shout Africa is reporting on the efforts of Sierra Leonean born Mustapha Wai and his colleagues, who organized a Sierra Leone Diaspora Prayer Teleconference Vigil to End Ebola on August 2. Wai, a certified public accountant and management consultant living in Washington DC, organized a worldwide prayer conference for Sierra Leoneons living outside the country in places such as the UK, Argentina, Australia and North America.

The prayer conference included an update on the Ebola crisis in Sierra Leone where 472 confirmed cases of Ebola have claimed the lives of 346 people. This was followed by 25 minutes of Christian prayer and Scripture reading. Another 25 minutes was devoted to Muslim prayer with the last 10 minutes of the call given to all other religions to pray together in silence.

"We want to pray for our people and educate them on how to prevent the spread," Wai said, adding that they are putting together resources for Sierra Leoneons living in infected areas.

Punchng.com is reporting that the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) is urging Christians in that nation to draw closer to God in prayer and repentance of sin "for the good of the nation and the world."

Nigeria is currently on alert after news broke last week that a U.S. man named Patrick Sawyer died from Ebola in a Lagos hospital shortly after flying into the country. Reuters is reporting that the doctor who treated Sawyer has tested positive for the disease.

The Vice Chairman of CAN, Bishop Gabriel Dunia of the Auchi Diocese, told Punch that CAN put out "A Call to Repentance" during its 2014 Intercessory Prayers for Nigeria which was held in Benin. The bishop said the association deemed it necessary to "use the event to mobilize Christians all over the state to pray for both the state and the nation, in the face of numerous challenges."

He went on to say that Nigerians were yet to appreciate the love of God sufficiently, through communal living irrespective of tribe, tongue or religion. He hoped the event would reassure them of God's love and unfailing intervention to save the country if they rejected evil and embraced repentance.

“Certainly the country and the entire world are facing trying times. But these trying times are not above the power of God. God can change the situation for better any time from now," the bishop said. "We should live in the love of God; as a people who have been chosen to work for God in the good services they render to their nation. We believe that what we have asked for in goodness of heart, after we have confessed our sins and begged for forgiveness, God will grant to us and change our situation for better.”

Meanwhile, Americans from all over the country are praying for two fellow citizens who contracted the disease while doing missionary work in affected areas of Africa.

Dr. Kent Brantly, a 33 year old doctor who contracted the disease while treating patients in Liberia, was transferred to Emory University Hospital in Atlanta, Georgia this weekend where he is currently being treated in a special isolation ward.

A second American missionary who also contracted the disease in Liberia, Nancy Writebol, is expected to arrive at Emory tomorrow.

Both victims are said to be improving.

Even though there is no known cure for the Ebola virus, the National Institutes of Health announced on July 31 that it will begin testing an experimental Ebola vaccine in people as early as September. The vaccine has been in the works for several years and showed promise when testing on primates.

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