Police detain Mother Teresa Nuns on charges of attempted conversion

Hyderabad (UCAN) -- Police detained four Missionaries of Charity (MC) nuns on charges of attempting to convert people when the nuns visited a government-run hospital in the southern state of Andhra Pradesh.

The nuns were on a regular visit to Ruia hospital in Tirupati town, a popular Hindu pilgrimage center, 2,060 kilometers south of New Delhi.

Police detained the nuns in the hospital on June 25 evening and later took them to a police station, keeping them there until 10:30 p.m. Christian leaders say police acted at the request of a fanatic Hindu group.

Sister Rosaria, regional superior of the congregation, which Blessed Teresa of Kolkata founded, told UCA News the nuns have been visiting the hospital regularly for the past 20 years and provide medicine to poor patients who cannot afford it.

On June 25 evening, however, about 50 people, some with video cameras, approached the four nuns and accused them of trying to convert patients, Sister Rosaria said. The crowd swelled to about 300, and the nuns were kept in the hospital until around 8.30 p.m., after which they were taken to a police station

Sister Maria, another local MC nun, said the Hindu activists probably "have not understood who we are and what we do."

More here:
www.theindiancatholic.com

LOSS OF MIDEAST CHRISTIANS ADVERSELY AFFECTS ISLAMIC MODERATION

WASHINGTON – A Middle East Scholar living and teaching in Lebanon made an appearance at a senate office Tuesday to inform religious freedom experts, human rights advocates, and people interested in the Middle East situation about the accelerating population decline of Christians, Jews and other non-Muslims and the adverse affect of the lost on Islamic moderation.
Dr. Habib Malik, professor of history and cultural studies at the Lebanese American University in Beirut, shared his expertise about the situation of religious minorities in the Middle East during a briefing hosted by Freedom House’s Center for Religious Freedom and the Congressional Working Group on Religious Freedom.
Using terms such as “local punching bag” and “vulnerable,” the son of the internationally known Lebanese diplomat who was instrumental in the drafting of the U.N. Declaration on Human Rights described the precarious condition of Christians in the Middle East.

“The point is that Christians are vulnerable to these types of outbursts across the board in the Middle East,” said Malik after he listed recent examples of when Christians are blamed and attacked by militant Muslims including the Muhammad cartoon uproar earlier this year.

“There is a feeling, all over, that Christians are vulnerable and essentially sitting ducks for reprisals against all sorts of things, even if they happen thousands of miles away and they have nothing to do with them. So they are a convenient and easy pretext for attack.”

Malik, a Christian himself, spoke about the Sudanese government which has for years been attempting to impose Sharia (Islamic) laws on Christians and animists in the south and contrasted the general Islamic attitude in the Middle East with the more religiously accepting attitude of Christians in the region.

More here:
http://www.christianpost.com

Many Algerians Are Not Reconciled by Amnesty Law

ALGIERS — In the 1990's,Algeria was the Iraq of the Arab world, ripping out its own heart in a bloodbath that pitted a rising Islamist movement against military death squads, killing more than 100,000 people. It was a model of hell on earth.
More recently the country has offered itself as a very different kind of model, one of reconciliation after civil war. American officials have said that as Iraqis fashion their own national reconciliation effort, Algeria is worthy of close study.
But interviews with dozens of people affected by Algeria's approach suggest that its amnesty program is less a model than a cautionary tale. Few are happy, and the fighting is not over. Dozens of people are dying monthly, according to journalists here who follow the killing.
"We've reached a dangerous point when the criminals are out of prison and the people who don't agree with it are arrested," said Cherifa Kheddar, whose brother and sister were killed by Islamic extremists in 1996.
The Algerian approach is this: a national reconciliation law, approved by referendum in September and promulgated in March, set thousands of convicted Islamist fighters free while ordering silence from their victims. The law shelters government death squads from prosecution.
It provides money to some Islamist fighters to help them start new lives and even seeks to expunge the word terrorist from the national discourse. The people who cut throats and those whose throats were cut are now referred to as "victims of the national tragedy."
[To date, according to a government report issued on June 27, 40,000 people — 2,200 former Islamist fighters and 37,800 others — have applied for amnesty or compensation under the program, Reuters reported.]
It was a faster, more sweeping solution than the cathartic "truth and reconciliation commissions" that have operated in South Africa and elsewhere, creating a public forum in which victims could tell their stories and others could confess their crimes in return for amnesty.
But here in Algeria, people like Ms. Kheddar are frustrated and angry that the killers will never be judged.
But here in Algeria, people like Ms. Kheddar are frustrated and angry that the killers will never be judged.
................"We don't have the right to talk about these things anymore," said a woman in a bookshop on Didouche Mourad Street in downtown Algiers, referring to a black-and-white photograph of her friend Joachim Grau, a Portuguese man who once owned the shop and was gunned down in 1994. "They want people to forget."
At Notre Dame d'Afrique, a Roman Catholic basilica outside town, the police recently forced nuns to remove portraits of the seven monks beheaded in the failed bid to free Mr. Layada, because the display breached the reconciliation law.
Ms. Kheddar, who watched Islamists drag her brother and sister off to brutal deaths, spends every Sunday with other survivors of the violence in front of the governmental palace, displaying photos of women who were killed and demanding justice.

More here:
http://www.nytimes.com

FACING THE GIANTS --- IS TOO EVAMGELISTIC

PG ---- Parental guidance suggested; some material may not be suitable for children(swearing, violence, nudity etc.) BUT what else can make the movie to be rated PG?
Well...“Facing the Giants” is too evangelistic, that's why the movie is not suitable for children.
*I don't know if I should cry or laugh*

The Christian moviemakers behind a low-budget film called “Facing the Giants” were stunned when the MPAA pinned a PG rating on their gentle movie about a burned-out, depressed football coach whose life _ on and off the field _ takes a miraculous turn for the better. “What the MPAA said is that the movie contained strong ‘thematic elements’ that might disturb some parents,” said Kris Fuhr, vice president for marketing at Provident Films, which is owned by Sony Pictures. Provident plans to open the film next fall in 380 theaters nationwide with the help of Samuel Goldwyn Films, which has worked with Indie movies like “The Squid and the Whale.” Which “thematic elements” earned this squeaky-clean movie its PG? “Facing the Giants” is too evangelistic.

More here:
http://www.latimes.com

I'm going to go and see the movie :) I didn't waste my money for the "Da Vinci Code", but I'll be glad to support “Facing the Giants” even if I'm not a fan of football ;)

The official site of the movie "Facing The Giants"
http://www.facingthegiants.com/

EGYPT -- Christian Women are Kidnapped, Raped and Forced to Stay with their Captors

Coptic Christian girls and women have been the targets of kidnap, rape and forced marriages by Islamic Fundamentalists in Egypt. According to the research conducted by the American Coptic Union, over 500,000 Coptic females have become victims of this tragedy since 1981. These crimes are part of the silent genocide that is destroying Egypt’s once vibrant Coptic community.

Though concerned family members have reported kidnapping incidents, the US-supported Egyptian regime, led by Hosni Mubarak, ignores the kidnapping of Coptic females while participating in its spread. Many of the victims do not return to their grieving families. Those who do, suffer long-term psychological trauma.

At a New York Council of Churches press conference, held on June 28, 1999,Kees Hulsman , a senior correspondent in Egypt, announced that approximately 15,000 to 20,000 Coptic girls have been kidnapped each year since 1980.

In “Confessions of a Former Islamist ,” published by FrontPage Magazine in 2005, Ahmed Awny Shalakamy details his cruel work of drugging, kidnapping and raping Coptic females, and says he was paid by one of the Islamic proselytizing organizations to do this. Shalakamy’s account was first reported by Maria Sliwa of Freedom Now News, who says that the Egyptian Government’s silence in response to these crimes is deafening.

More here:

http://www.christiannewswire.com

OUR LADY OF MEDJUGORJR - 25th ANNIVERSARY MESSAGES

Since 1981, in a small village in Bosnia-Hercegovina named Medjugorje, the Blessed Virgin Mary has been appearing and giving messages to the world.

June 25, 2006 (Our Lady's 25th Anniversary Message)
"Dear children! With great joy in my heart I thank you for all the prayers that, in these days, you offered for my intentions. Know, little children, that you will not regret it, neither you nor your children. God will reward you with great graces and you will earn eternal life. I am near you and thank all those who, through these years, have accepted my messages, have poured them into their life and decided for holiness and peace. Thank you for having responded to my call."


Since June 25, 1981, Mary the Mother of God is reported to visit daily with several young adults in this Croatian village in Bosnia-Hercegovina, bringing messages on how to achieve peace in our hearts, homes and world.

Medjugorje has become an international center of prayer, devotion and conversion of the heart. Our Lady has told the visionaries that these are her last appearances on earth and it is for this reason her visits are so long and frequent. She has come to tell us "God exists". Before her last appearance she has promised to leave a visible sign on the mountain where the first apparition occurred so that all will believe.

While the Catholic Church has yet to approve any of the modern day apparitions, in 1986, The Holy Father said, "Let the people go to Medjugorje if they convert, pray, confess, do penance and fast." Some 30 million laity and clergy have visited and returned home spiritually renewed.

Despite the war in Bosnia, Medjugorje remains a center of peace and of profound spirituality.

The call from the Queen of Peace is:

PEACE! PEACE! PEACE! - is necessary to save humanity. We have to begin by creating peace first within our own hearts. This can be done in the following manner:

• COMMUNICATION WITH GOD - Open your heart to Him. Allow yourself to be guided by His will rather than the earthly desires upon which we base our lives in our world today.
• FAITH - Believe and trust in Him.
• PRAYER - specifically Our Lady has called for daily prayer consisting of 7 Our Fathers, 7 Hail Marys, 7 Glory to the Father and the Apostle's Creed. Then the whole Rosary, reading of the Scriptures, and personal communication with God.
• FASTING - on bread and water twice a week (Wednesdays and Fridays)if possible. This includes restraining oneself from personal cravings (smoking, drinking, etc).
• FREQUENTLY RECEIVING THE HOLY SACREMENT. She strongly encourages monthly confessions and receiving communion as often as possible.

MORE HERE:
http://www.medjugorje.org/

WOMAN RAPED FOR LEAVING ISLAM

June 23 (Compass Direct) – Attacked by her own family, one Muslim’s decision to convert to Christianity highlights the precarious situation of Muslims in Pakistan who leave their faith. Sehar Muhammad Shafi, 24, has fled her home city of Karachi with her husband and two young daughters after being attacked and raped for changing her faith. Shafi told Compass that her family lives with the fear of being discovered. "My husband is keen to get a marketing job," Shafi said. "But I don’t want him to do something that open, where he will be known." Though returning to Islam would seemingly solve many of Shafi’s problems, the Christian woman said that is not an option. "It is not a joke to change religions," she said. "We’ve fallen in love with Jesus, so how could we betray him?"

More here:
http://www.compassdirect.org/

DISCRIMINATION AGAINST CHRISTIANS IN THE UK

Muslim girls in the school can wear their headcovering - although that isn't part of the school uniform, Sikh girls can wear their bangle - although that isn't part of the uniform, but no way can a Christian girl wear a American-style 'purity ring' - increasingly worn by Christian teenagers to symbolise a pledge not to have sex before marriage.

More here:
http://www.hyscience.com/

GOOD NEWS FROM I RAQ

By Michael Ireland

MCLEAN, VIRGINIA (ANS) -- In spite of the continuous spate of bad news coming out of Iraq, unprecedented religious freedom has finally come to Iraq because of U.S. military action there, and more Iraqi Muslims are becoming followers of Jesus Christ today than at any other time in the history of the country. That was the message delivered by retired Iraqi General Georges Sada May 22 at a private dinner just outside of Washington, D.C., and then at McLean Bible Church in northern Virginia where Sada spoke to more than 1,000 people, according to Joel C. Rosenberg.

The Kurds in the north of Iraq, for example, are especially receptive to the gospel message and are converting to Christianity "by the hundreds," Sada reported.

One evangelical church recently started in Kurdistan now has more than 800 people worshipping there every week, most of whom are new converts from Islam, Sada told his audience.

Rosenberg adds: "Sada told me that some 5,000 Iraqis have publicly identified themselves as new followers of Christ since Iraq was liberated, and that an estimated eight out of ten Iraqi believers say they converted because Jesus appeared to them in dreams or visions."

Rosenberg writes that in a new and very positive development, Nechirvan Barzani, the prime minister of Kurdistan Regional Government in Irbil, has vowed to protect the ancient Assyrian Christian community there as well as new believers from persecution and violence.

Sada and Dr. Terry Law, president of World Compassion, a Christian relief organization based in Oklahoma, met with Barzani in May.

"I would rather see a Muslim become a Christian than a radical Muslim," Barzani told them, an absolutely remarkable statement by a Muslim leader in a land wracked by sectarian violence.

More Here:
http://www.assistnews.net

PRAISE GOD FOR HIS WORK IN IRAN

A brother from Iran is sharing about the nation of Iran and the way that God is working there. Seventy percent of Iranians are age 30 and younger, and there is a great hunger for the gospel. The church there has grown greatly, in spite of intense persecution.

One martyr stated: "We Christians are like a ball. The harder you bounce it, the higher it goes."

Our brother is now sharing about eight Iranian martyrs. Six of the eight were former Muslims. The first was stabbed to death in 1994; the last was killed in November, 2005.

More here:
http://www.persecutionblog.com

FLESH_EATING BACTERIA ----------WEIRD WAY TO DIE

Anything that can turn flesh to mush in a matter of hours demands respect. Necrotizing fasciitis, commonly called flesh-eating bacteria, can do just that and it can infect pretty much anybody at any time. Some have even caught the nasty bug after a bad paper cut.

Necrotizing fasciitis is a particularly insidious strain of the common Strep bacteria. It can enter your body through any minor injury: cut, bruise, scrape, or blister. It can also be contracted during surgery. Flesh-eating bacteria dines on the soft tissue of the subcutaneous level of the skin, killing skin and flesh, which simply rots away. It can be especially ravenous, consuming the flesh of whole limbs or large patches of skin.

Treatment usually involves surgically removing the infected flesh and plenty of antibiotics. Unfortunately, drugs aren’t usually strong enough to kill the bacteria.
Thankfully, cases of flesh-eating bacteria are relatively rare. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, between 500 and 1,500 cases are reported every year in the United States. About 20% of patients die from the infection.

More here:

http://ca.askmen.com/

HOPE RWANDA - 100 DAYS OF HOPE - April 7th– July 15th 2006

In 1994 for 100 days the streets of Rwanda ran red with rivers of blood. More than one million innocent men, women and children were systematically slaughtered by machete’s one at time. The speed and ferocity with which the violence took place is nothing short of 100 days of horror in the history of this great nation.

In April 2004 while Mark and Darlene Zschech and their family were on a missions trip to Africa, they learned the horrific recent history and current situation of the beautiful country of Rwanda and its people.

While Rwanda is moving forward from this dark moment of history, it's people still carry the physical, emotional and spiritual scars of being forgotten in their most desperate time of need. With this knowledge Mark and Darlene found it impossible to be passive about helping their Rwandan brothers and sisters. In 1 John 3:17 the Bible urges Christians to outwork the love of God by assisting those in need. The Rwandan people may have been forgotten in the past, but Hope Rwanda is a great opportunity for the Global Church to take action and bring hope in Christ.

Why Hope Rwanda?
The genocide has left an indelible imprint of suffering and pain that is still unresolved:

• Orphans: 15% of children are orphans because of the genocide
• Aids: 2% of the population are HIV orphans because of the genocide
• Women: 250,000 were raped during the genocide
• Life Expectancy: Is 39 years
• Income: 85% of the population live on less than $2 a day

How will we bring Hope to Rwanda?

• Building: Schools, homes, wells, orphanages
• Medical: Immunisation, open heart surgery, dental
• Supplies: Educational, building, medical, food, bicycles, bibles, every day essential items
• Education Aids: nutrition, hygiene, micro-enterprise development, leadership
• Training: Teachers, nurses, builders, Pastors, doctors, business leaders, youth workers, musicians
• Supporting: Churches and humanitarian groups already working in Rwanda
• Caring: For widows, orphans, prostitutes, prisoners and those without hope
• Co-ordinating: Individuals and organisations initiating projects within the 100 day focus

When is Hope Rwanda?
April 7th– July 15th 2006

More information here:
http://www.hoperwanda.org

De-Coding Da Vinci goes global !

Hmmm….????.. and why didn’t I know about this book?
Well, better to find out later than never ;)

http://www.amywelborn.com

The Da Vinci Code is a beach read for conspiracy theorists. But because Dan Brown claims that all descriptions of artwork, architecture, documents, and secret rituals in his novel are accurate, many readers greet even the book's dubious historical assertions with less skepticism than they otherwise might (as was demonstrated in this space March 11). What people forget is how narrow and clever Brown's defense actually is: one can describe a painting accurately without knowing the first thing about how to interpret it.

The pass given to The Da Vinci Code by people grateful for its entertainment is problematic because Dan Brown's interpretation of history beats Christianity into a pudding of pagan and feminine wonderfulness sprinkled with the moral teachings of a charismatic Jewish prophet. Scholars in Brown's novel believe that things went pear-shaped in the year 325, when the emperor Constantine allegedly appropriated the legacy of Jesus for his own cynical purposes.

The Da Vinci Code blames Constantine for promoting the divinity of Jesus as a means of consolidating his own power, and claims that Constantine's meddling -- ratified by a "close" vote at the Council of Nicaea -- distorted the New Testament, subverted the influence of Mary Magdalen, and wrote a blank check that Christianity's more patriarchal factions still use to justify their alleged fear of the "sacred feminine."

With a thesis like that down range, it's no wonder that taking shots at The Da Vinci Code has become a cottage industry among Christian writers. If Brown's revisionist reading of history were true, it would be even more astounding than the way that Jacques Cousteau went from being a legend in spear fishing to being an environmental activist. But almost everything Brown writes is bunk. Enter Amy Welborn, author of De-Coding Da Vinci, who fillets Brown's novel with the enthusiasm of a sushi chef on her first day of work at a waterfront restaurant.

As a former high school teacher and a lay Catholic theologian with several books to her credit, Welborn is admirably suited for the task she undertakes, which is to make epistemology accessible to the general public by exposing the termite-ridden foundations of Dan Brown's unwitting Gnosticism. Keenly aware of the critics who say, "relax, it's only a novel," Welborn explains that culture matters, and that "in The Da Vinci Code, imaginative detail and false historical assertions are presented as facts and the fruit of serious historical research, which they simply are not." Every chapter in De-Coding Da Vinci ends with suggestions for further reading and lists of questions for review and discussion.

More here:
http://www.spectator.org

PADRE PIO OF PIETRELCINA

Padre Pio believed that
"Love is the first ingredient in the relief of suffering"

Like the Apostle Paul, Padre Pio of Pietrelcina placed at the centre of his life and apostolic work the Cross of his Lord as his strength, his wisdom and his glory. Inflamed by love of Jesus Christ, he became like Him in the sacrifice of himself for the salvation of the world.

This worthy follower of Saint Francis of Assisi was born on May 25, 1887, at Pietrelcina, in the Archdiocese of Benevento, Italy, the son of Grazio Forgione and Maria Giuseppa De Nunzio. He was baptized the next day and given the name Francesco. At the age of twelve, he received the Sacrament of Confirmation and made his First Holy Communion.

On January 6, 1903, at the age of sixteen, he entered the novitiate of the Capuchin Friars at Morcone, where on January 22 he took the Franciscan habit and the name Brother Pio. At the end of his novitiate year, he took simple vows, and on January 27, 1907 made his solemn profession. After he was ordained a priest on August 10, 1910 at Benevento, he stayed at home with his family until 1916 for health reasons. In September of that year, he was sent to the friary of San Giovanni Rotondo, and remained there until his death, in 1968.

On June 16, 2002, Pope John Paul II canonized in Rome Padre Pio of Pietrelcina, one of the greatest saints of all times. There are saints who have been known for healing; there are saints who could "read" souls; there are saints who were known for levitation; there were saints who bore the stigmata, or were seen in apparition, or who had the “odor of sanctity.” There are saints who could understand languages they didn't know. But Padre Pio of Pietrelcina, who died on September 23, 1968, had all these charisms, and more. In fact, not since St. Francis of Assisi has there been such a miracle-worker.

On September 17, 1915 — the same date as St. Francis Assisi — that Padre Pio received the first invisible stigmata. These signs of the Passion of Our Lord gave him so cruel pains some days, and especially on Fridays.Three years later, in 1918, after his transfer from Foggia to San Giovanni Rotondo, the wounds of Christ appeared visibly on the hands and feet of Padre Pio, who was from now on no longer able to hide them. Padre Pio would bear the wounds for fifty years. A few minutes after his death, they mysteriously vanished.

Michael Brown, of Spirit Daily, wrote: “Pray to Pio for healing. Pray to him when seeking relief from the devil. And follow his standard of Mass. This was where his true colors became most pronounced. So intense was Padre Pio during Mass that many claimed his face transfigured into that of Christ's, especially during the Consecration. At times, St. Pio held the Host up for more than ten minutes, seeing a reality others could no see, feeling One with Jesus, realizing the Real Presence. So prolonged were such moments that his Mass typically lasted more than two hours (without a homily, which he rarely gave).”


“Whoever attended just one Mass of his, never forgot it,” noted a friend of his, Padre Alberto D'Apolito. “It produced such an impression that time and space between the altar and Calvary disappeared. The Mass of Padre Pio visibly reproduced the Passion of Christ, not only in a mystical form, but also physically, in his body. Waves of emotion made Padre Pio tremble at the altar as if the struggle with invisible persons filled him, time after time, with fear, joy, sadness, anguish, and pain. From the expression on his face, one could follow the mysterious dialogue.”

Pope John Paul II knew very well the Capuchine priest he officially declared a saint on June 16.

Karol Wojtyla (Pope Jone Paul II) met Padre Pio for the first time in 1947. It was not an ordinary meeting, like with other pilgrims. It is a meeting that lasted almost a week, during which young Father Wojytla had the opportunity to talk for a long time with Padre Pio, to assess his doctrine and have a precise conception of his spirituality.What did Padre Pio say to Father Wojtyla? We don't know. The Pope did not speak about it. But on the day of his election as a Pope, on October 16, 1978, curious things circulated in Rome about this meeting in 1947. People said that Padre Pio had foretold to young Wojtyla that he would become a Pope. An old Polish priest said to me that Karol Wojtyla, still young, often alluded to this prophecy, and joking, judged its realization impossible. But after he became Bishop, than Archbishop of Krakow, he no longer spoke about it, because he was starting to think that the prophecy might well come true.

More here:
http://www.michaeljournal.org/

THE SISTERS OF MOTHER TERESA MIGHT BE BACK IN VIETNAM

Ho Chi Minh City – The Sisters of Mother Teresa might be back in Vietnam to perform social and pastoral work after being banned for years, this after Sister Nirmala, superior of the Missionaries of Charity, recently made a visit to the diocese of Hanoi.

On June 8, officials responsible for the Vietnamese government’s religious policy asked the religieuse to prepare a plan of activities that her congregation might undertake. Once prepared it would go to the departments of Religious affairs and of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs for review.

Sister Maria François Ha Thanh Tinh, who heads the Charity of Jesus Congregation, a group active in Vietnam and inspired by Mother Teresa’s spirituality, told AsiaNews that after the meeting between the Superior and Dhang Tai Than, head of the Religious Affairs Committee in Hanoi, the latter said that his “government had the intention of backing the activities of the Missionaries of Charity in the country.”
MORE HERE: http://www.asianews

OUR LADY OF FATIMA

In 1952, Catholic Archbishop Fulton Sheen devoted a chapter in his book, “The World's First Love”, entitled “Mary and the Moslems”. In it, he wrote that it is his firm belief that Moslems will eventually be converted in Christianity, thanks to the devotion they already have to the Virgin Mary. In fact, God the Father seems to have a special plan to draw the Moslems to Jesus through His Mother, Mary.

Sheen wrote: “In the Koran, the Virgin Mary is mentioned thirty times. It believes in Her Immaculate Conception, and also, in Her Virgin Birth. It has also verses on the Annunciation, Visitation, and Nativity. Angels are pictured as accompanying the Blessed Mother and saying: ‘Oh, Mary, God has chosen you and purified you, and elected you above all the women of the earth.’ Mary, then, is for the Moslems the true Sayyida, or Lady. The only possible serious rival to her in their creed would be Fatima, the daughter of Mohammed himself. But after the death of Fatima, Mohammed wrote: ‘Thou shalt be the most blessed of all the women in Paradise, after Mary.’ In a variant of the text, Fatima is made to say, ‘I surpass all the women, except Mary.’
“This brings us to our second point: namely, why the Blessed Mother, in the 20th century should have revealed Herself in the significant little village of Fatima, Portugal, so that to all future generations she would be known as ‘Our Lady of Fatima.’ Since nothing ever happens out of Heaven except with a finesse of all details, I believe that the Blessed Virgin chose to be known as ‘Our Lady of Fatima’ as a pledge and a sign of hope to the Moslem people, and as an assurance that they, who show her so much respect, will one day accept her divine Son too. . . I believe the Blessed Virgin chose to be known by the name Fatima because she also came for the conversion of Islam, without which there cannot be an era of peace for mankind.
MORE HERE:
www.michaeljournal.org

Peace in the world

"If there is righteousness in the heart,

there will be beauty in the character,

If there is beauty in the character,

there will be harmony in the home.


If there is harmony in the home,

there will be order in the nation,

When there is order in each nation,

there will be peace in the world".


Lao - Tse - 6th century

PRAY FOR NORTH KOREA

The Global Week of Prayer for North Korea will run from 19th – 25th June 2006.
It has been called in order to galvanise prayer for the long-forgotten and unreached people of North Korea. The Week is an international inter-agency initiative, supported by a broad range of churches and agencies.

Breaking the Silence

North Korea has long been shrouded in a cloak of secrecy, due to its extreme isolationist policies. However, behind the wall of silence, the Communist regime has sought to decimate the Church and repression of Christianity has been ruthless and thorough. As a result of the lack of information, the situation of the Church has remained a mystery and the Church worldwide, outside Korea, has forgotten the need to pray for these most persecuted of its brothers and sisters.
More here:
http://www.prayfornorthkorea.org/

Paradise Lost: An African Island’s Dark Secret

By George Thomas
CWNews.com -- An African island paradise harbors a dark secret, and Christian children are suffering.

Across Africa, radical Muslim groups are pursuing their goal of creating the first Islamic continent. On the Indian Ocean Island of Zanzibar one such group is achieving this goal by kidnapping Christian girls and boys and forcing them to convert to Islam.

Zanzibar is anchored in the Indian Ocean 50 miles off Africa's eastern coast. It is one of the few places that can truly be called a paradise on Earth. But there is more to this tropical island than meets the eye.

Once, Zanzibar was East Africa's main slave-trading port. By the mid-1800's, 50,000 slaves were bought and sold each year. The dealers sailed here from across Asia and the Middle East. They returned with their boats filled with men, women, and children. The practice was eventually outlawed.

But two centuries later, the brutal trade has taken on a new dimension. Young Christian girls are being abducted, forced to convert to Islam and, in some cases, shipped to parts of the Islamic world.

Flora Davidson knows how it feels to have a child disappear. She told me, "I looked everywhere for her, but I could not find her. Even the police gave up looking for her," Flora said.

In July 2004, Flora's 14-year-old Christian daughter Joyce was kidnapped by members of UAMSHO, a radical Muslim group on the island.

Joyce said, "I was told that, from this day on, I would not be going back home to my family. You will become a Muslim [they told me]."

Her kidnapper was Mariam, a 45-year-old Muslim woman. Mariam refused to talk to CBN News on camera, but she insisted that Joyce had voluntarily become a Muslim.

Joyce and her mother Flora told CBN News about their experiences.

Joyce: First, they told me to change my religion.

CBN News: Did you want to become a Muslim?

Joyce: No.

CBN News: Were you forced?

Joyce: Yes.

CBN News: So, for three days your mother was looking for you?

Joyce: Yes. I was forced to wear Islamic dresses that covered my entire body.

CBN News: So they wanted to conceal your identity?

Joyce: Yes, so that my mother could not know [recognize] me.

For a while, it worked – until local police and Joyce's mother were tipped off that she had been shipped to the mainland city of Dar-es-Salaam. Authorities found Joyce there and sent her on a boat back home.

Flora recalled, "So I went with several police officers to the docks to find her. We waited, but there was no sign of Joyce. Almost everyone was off the boat. The police even got tired of looking and left. But then suddenly, I saw this small girl."

The small girl was completely veiled; at first glance her own mother did not recognize her. But then Flora saw something.

Flora described, "I noticed her legs and the way she walked, and immediately I knew that this was my daughter under that veil. I walked up to her and lifted her veil, and there she was! My daughter -- I had found her!"

Yet it was only the beginning of their nightmare.

Joyce: One of the other kidnappers, Mohammed, told me that wherever I will go, they would find me, and that I would eventually come back to their side, [their faith]. I will remember him forever, what he did to me.

CBN News: They would track you do down, anywhere, [while doing] anything?

Joyce: Yes.

Four days after Joyce was rescued, she was indeed kidnapped again by the same group. This time, she landed in the hands of Sheikh Azzani Khalid Hamdan.

Hamdan is a prominent radical Muslim who runs the group UAMSHO. He said, "We help educate the new converts and give them guidance on how to live as a good Muslim."

He wants to turn Zanzibar into what Afghanistan used to look like under the Taliban. The kind of island where sharia law – which includes punishments such as amputation, stoning, and beheading – would be the law of the land.

Hamdan explained, "Sharia law is the basis of all law. It allows us to render judgment based on the Koran against those who don't follow the laws of Allah."

The majority of Zanzibar's population, 97 percent, practices the Islamic faith. The remaining mix is a combination of Christian and Hindu. But Hamdan is not satisfied. He wants everyone on the island to convert to Islam.

Hamdan insisted, "We don't kidnap the Christian children and force them to convert to Islam. We only educate them on the ways of Islam once they have converted on their own."

Peter Ninja disagrees. For years, Ninja has tracked the activities of Hamdan. Today, he runs a ministry trying to rescue children like Joyce.

Ninja explained, "Their [UAMSHO] objective is to have as many good Muslims as possible who advocate the sharia. And, in doing so, they think they are doing a sacrifice to god, if they get as many of these children into their congregation [as they can]."

Several Christian girls have disappeared in recent years.

Flora said, "Many Christian parents are worried that what happened to Joyce could happen to their children."

After being kidnapped for the second time, Joyce spent the next several weeks in an Islamic school. Day after day, she was forced to memorize the verses of the Koran in Arabic. They even made her change her name.

CBN News: What was your new name?

Joyce: Yoha Suleiman Mohammed.

It is illegal under Zanzibari law to convert a Christian girl under the age of 18. Flora said the authorities showed complete disregard for this law and even threatened her.

Flora added, "I was warned that if I continued looking for my child they would arrest me. In fact, I met some police officers who were Muslims. And they said to me how happy they were that my daughter had become a Muslim. They don't care about what is going on to the Christian children on this island. They want to see more children converted to Islam."

In the meantime, Joyce's kidnappers were preparing to smuggle her out of the country. Flora said, “They got a passport for her and wanted to ship her to Saudi Arabia."

But After Flora hounded the kidnappers for weeks, Joyce was finally released. She told me, "My daughter's childhood has been robbed. I cannot take back what has happened to her. I wish I could. But I thank God that I have my daughter back!"

So far, no one has been charged with Joyce's kidnapping. Hamdan is awaiting trial for his alleged role in a string of bombings against churches on the island.

Although Joyce is still on the road to an emotional and psychological recovery, she says she has hope.

CBN News: What makes you so strong?

Joyce: Jesus.

CBN News: What have you learned from this entire experience?

Joyce: It has helped me to be strong and forget the things that have happened to me.

CBN News: Have you forgiven those that did this to you?

Joyce: Yes. I know that if I don't forgive them, God will not forgive me for leaving my Christian faith. But if I forgive them, God will forgive me.

Do Psychics Really Have Mystic Powers?

by Steve Lloyd

So-called “psychics” claim to have mystical powers, such as predicting what will eventually occur in one’s future. Do they really? Steve Lloyd, a respected minister of the gospel and student of “magic, ” discusses this theme in response to a reader’s question.

Question:
“Prior to my parents’ conversion to Christianity, they visited a psychic who predicted certain things that were supposed to happen in our family. The things predicted seemingly turned out to be true! For example, the psychic predicted that my mother would have two unplanned pregnancies in the future and would resort to two abortions. This happened. The psychic said my dad would have an affair; he did. The psychic also was able to cite certain events from the past. How are these things to be explained?”


Steve Lloyd’s Response:
The short answer to your question is this: psychics have no power, either to predict future events or to cause what they predict to come to pass. You are wise to avoid them.

To flesh out the answer further, let me direct your attention to Isaiah 40-48. In this entire section the Lord sets Himself apart from the idols of the people by affirming that He alone will tell them what will happen before it happens, so that when the event takes place they can know that He is God. A corollary point made is that because He can do this (among other things) He cannot be compared to anyone else (Isaiah 40:18,25). Yahweh [Jehovah] challenges the other gods:

“Let them bring forth, and declare unto us what shall happen: declare ye the former things, what they are, that we may consider them, and know the latter end of them; or show us things to come. Declare the things that are to come hereafter, that we may know that ye are gods: yea, do good, or do evil, that we may be dismayed, and behold it together” (Isaiah 41:22-23).

The ability to know the future is restricted to God. That’s the point of the text. It makes sense that if God is the only one with the ability to know the future, then only those with God’s help could foretell it – like Daniel (Daniel 2:26-28; cf. 2 Peter 1:20-21), and in foretelling it, God is the one extolled for the ability.

Modern-day psychics fit nowhere into the picture just painted.

I have studied sleight-of-hand as a hobby for nearly 40 years, and have had the opportunity to hear some of the world’s most proficient exponents lecture on the subject, and explain their secrets.

I visited a magic shop years ago and overheard one of the customers say something about his act. He was a professional “mind-reader.” I struck up a conversation with him long enough for him to say, “I don’t tell the people I read minds, but I don’t tell them I don’t either.”

I heard a professional performer lecture at a club for magic enthusiasts on how to make extra money at psychic fairs.

“You develop nine ‘lines’ to deliver to customers. When the first customer extends their palm to be read you deliver the first three lines. You deliver the second set of three lines to the next customer and the third set of three to the third. And then you recycle the lines for the fourth through sixth, and so on. You recycle the lines so no one is ever in earshot of what you said to the other customers.”

I am not suggesting that all “psychics” operate this way. I am simply offering you a case in point.

Much of what passes for psychic readings today is nothing more than what those “in the know” refer to as “cold readings.” You may be familiar with John Edward, a self-professed psychic. Edward’s psychic abilities were discussed August 2001 on a public Internet forum for magicians hosted by Genii Magazine.

Here are some of the comments made by some of the professionals that offered their two cents worth. (Doris Stokes, referred to below, was a famous medium.)

“John [Edward] basically does Doris Stokes’ old act. And, he does it brilliantly. There is no doubt, he is a brilliant cold-reader.”

“That is Doris Stokes’ old act, word for word!”

“I did cold reading at Caesars Resorts for about 2 years and I think John is doing a great job. I don’t really have an ethical problem with it. He’s not advising on investments or on how the spectators should live their lives. He’s just giving people a little piece of mind.”

Although I am no expert in “cold reading” (in that I’ve never performed one), the concept is simple enough to grasp. If the “psychic” wants to reveal something about a person’s past, he or she begins fishing for affirming nods or verbal agreements from the one on whom the “reading” is being conducted. They continue along these lines, making very general statements, until they are satisfied they have “revealed” something that would impress you, or at least earn them their money.

Danny Korem was hired by Mike Douglas [a popular talk show host of some years ago] to be a “plant” in his television audience. Korem is a magician. Douglas’ guest was a psychic. When Douglas asked for a volunteer from the audience, Korem volunteered. The psychic performed a “cold reading” on Korem. Douglas then introduced Korem as a magician, and produced a sealed envelope from his coat pocket. The envelope contained a “prediction” of things the psychic would say about Korem.

One man has described psychics as “terrorists of the mind.”

If it is the future they are foretelling, their predictions are vague enough to be “fulfilled” in any number of ways. One woman was told that her life would be filled with song. Her daughter became a song leader in high school. I have often wondered how many of the speculative predictions that fit in the realm of the fantastic, but have failed, are ever revisited.

I am persuaded that the reason psychics – or for that matter astrologers, fortune tellers, Ouiji boards, and such like – are an abomination to the Lord is that they encourage people to place their confidence in someone or something other than God and His will for their lives (Deuteronomy 18:11,12).

You wrote that you want to lead your life in freedom from the predictions made by a psychic. God sets us free in a variety of ways; in this case, it would be a freedom from fear over what a psychic has predicted.

Fear Him and you need not fear anyone else (Ecclesiastes 12:13; Matthew 10:28; 1 Peter 2:17).

FALLACI's TRIAL

PLEASE SIGN THE LETTER OF SOLIDARITY WITH ORIANA FALLACI.
Click here to Sign the letter


Prosecutor – Adel Smith, 43 year old, the president of Muslim Union of Italy.
Defendand – Oriana Fallaci

Many believe Smith to be the author of anonymous pamphlet “Islam will punish Fallaci”, calling Muslims to kill the journalist. 14th June 2005 Smith was sentenced by the court to six months in jail, after he had called Catholic Church “a criminal organization” and pope John Paul II “a deceiver” in TV broadcast.

He became known after he had demanded all the crosses from the walls of the kindergarten and the school in Antonio Silveri di Ofena, where his sons had attended, to be removed. The first sentence of a local court had been to banish all the crosses, but being inconsistent with Italian law, it was cancelled afterwards by the court in Aquila. As a sign of their disgust the inhabitants of the city raised a big concrete cross on the main square.

Italian law from 1920 allow hanging the crosses on the walls of the schools. The cross is more than a religious symbol, according to bishop Giuseppe Bettori, secretary-general of the Episcopal conference, it also expresses the roots of Italian civilization.

Adel Smith defiled the symbol of the cross once again – he threw the crucifix out of the hospital of l’Aquila’s window while visiting his mother. First he insisted on the hospital’s personnel to take the cross from the room, and as they refused, he casted it on the street himself.
MORE: http://orianafallacitrial.org/

THE LETTER OF SOLIDARITY WITH ORIANA FALLACI

Judge Armando Grasso of Bergamo acknowledged a suit against Oriana Fallaci filed by the president of Muslim Union of Italy. On June 6th the trial against a journalist and a publicist over insult of Islam by statements made in her book "The force of reason" will start. We want to express our concern about the decision made by the judge of Bergamo, since such practices can lead to restrictions of freedom of speech in the realm of European democracy with human rights being its largest achievement.

We believe that freedom of speech is a universal value and should not fall within political, cultural or religious interests. Oriana Fallaci has been fighting for the freedom of expression in her work as a journalist throughout her whole life. As we intend to protect the freedom of speech we want to express our solidarity with Oriana Fallaci. Being aware of contentiousness of her latest statements, we still stand against the trial which is infringing the freedom of expression.

So far, the letter was signed by: KS. ADAM BONIECKI, ZBIGNIEW BUJAK, PROF. JANUSZ DEGLER, RED. KAMIL DURCZOK, WŁADYSŁAW FRASYNIUK, PROF. BRONISŁAW GEREMEK, PROF. MARIA JANION, RED. KATARZYNA KOLENDA-ZALESKA, BOGDAN LIS, PROF. STEFAN MELLER, PRIME MINISTER TADEUSZ MAZOWIECKI, ADAM MICHNIK, PROF. JAN MIODEK, RED. PIOTR NAJSZTUB, JANUSZ ONYSZKIEWICZ PH.D., RED. JUSTYNA POCHANKE, PROF. ADAM ROTFELD, PROF. BARBARA SKARGA, PROF. MAGDALENA SRODA, PRESIDENT LECH WAŁĘSA.
MORE:
http://intl.orianafallacitrial.org/

One of the primary symbols of our faith is Jesus on the cross - a truly counter-cultural image of victory.

St. Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 12:27, "Now, you then are the body of Christ and each one of you a member of it." he was talking to every baptized Catholic. Too often, we think of the Church as a 3rd person pronoun - a they, a them. The reality is the Church is a 1st person pronoun - a we, an us.

If we are not teaching are children to pray, we cannot lament the fact that they have no faith. If we are not sending our children to Catholic schools, we cannot be upset that Catholic schools are closing. If we are not actively preparing for and participating in Mass, we should not complain that our liturgies are not vibrant.

The path to building a stronger Church is not an easy one. It will not gratify us all the time. It will not always parallel societal trends. But no one ever said faith was supposed to do any of those things. All we need to do is look to the example that started it all to see that. One of the primary symbols of our faith is Jesus on the cross - a truly counter-cultural image of victory. As Mother Teresa would remind us, Jesus never called us to be successful, He called us to be faithful.

Gods gift to us is our potential and what we do with it is our gift to God. Each of us is unique, each of us is willed, each of us is necessary, and each of us can make a differencein the context of this Churchin the context of this world.

To my brother and sister Catholics who are reading this, we are at a crossroads so let us walk forward with faith in Jesus Christ and faith in each other. Let us stand up and count ourselves Catholics, without qualification, embarrassment or excuse. Let us celebrate that which unites us and let us work lovingly and respectfully to resolve that which divides us. Let us go forth to love and serve the world and let the numbers speak for themselves. And let us always trust in Jesus' final promise to us, "I am with you always, until the end of time." (Matt 28:20)

Human Rights Group Urges Action on Behalf of Indonesia's Christians

The director of a Christian human rights group says persecution of Christians is on the rise throughout Indonesia. Ann Buwalda, director of the Virginia-based Jubilee Campaign, says recent developments in that country have heightened concerns for her and her staff.

Jubilee Campaign, which monitors countries known for persecuting Christians, reports that rapid growth of Christianity across Indonesia has caused Muslims to claim that Christianity must be resisted with force. In recent years the government of Indonesia has closed more than 150 churches in the capital city of Jakarta and throughout the island of Java, the country's most populous island.

Indonesia has the world's largest Muslim population, and that nation's government has been cited in the U.S. State Department's report on international religious freedom as among those nations that have enacted discriminatory legislation or policies prejudicial to certain religions.

Buwalda says Jubilee Campaign is asking Christians in America "to write their congressmen and their senators and encourage efforts to protect the Christian minorities."

Believers in the free world need to put pressure on their own government's leaders, Buwalda suggests, asking them to advocate on behalf of Indonesia's persecuted believers. U.S. leaders could urge that Southeast Asian country's leaders to let Christians in Indonesia "have churches to worship in and permit them to have religious freedom in the country," she says.

"The Indonesian government has given a lot of lip service to their minorities, yet there has not been a lot done to actually protect them," the Jubilee Campaign spokeswoman says. "There's legislation that is now enacted in Indonesia that could shut down hundreds of churches across the country. We would ask people to pray and write their congressmen and senators to take an interest in what's happening there."

A bill proposed by lawmakers in the Province of Aceh would impose Sharia law on all non-Muslims, and Buwalda notes that other legislation recently passed by the Indonesian government could be restrictive to Christians. She says government officials in Indonesia have not stood behind the state's promises of greater freedom for its religious minorities.

"Your children are born into Islam, but you and their mother take them away from Islam with your corrupt rearing."

By Clifford D. May

Nearly four years ago, Saudi dissident Ali al-Ahmed and author Stephen Schwartz conducted a study for the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies of textbooks and other publications distributed by the Saudi government and Saudi-funded organizations.
They found such messages as: "Judaism and Christianity are deviant religions." "The unbelievers, idolaters and others like them must be hated and despised." "We say to every Christian and every Jew and all those outside Islam, 'Your children are born into Islam, but you and their mother take them away from Islam with your corrupt rearing.' "
Saudi spokesmen, assisted by high-priced Washington public relations professionals, have since claimed such intolerant views were no longer promoted by the rulers of Arabia.
Saudi adviser Adel al-Jubeir, recently awarded an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters by the University of North Texas, said last year: "We have reviewed our educational curriculums. We have removed materials that are inciteful [sic] or intolerant towards people of other faiths." Prince Turki al-Faisal, the new Saudi ambassador to the United States, said recently: "Not only have we eliminated what might be perceived as intolerance from old textbooks that were in our system, we have implemented a comprehensive internal revision and moderation plan."
But these spokesmen are misinformed. Ali al-Ahmed, now head of the Washington-based Institute for Gulf Affairs, obtained a dozen textbooks used during the current academic year by the Saudi Education Ministry. He turned them over to Freedom House, which had the materials translated by two independent Arabic speakers. Among the messages:
"The apes are Jews, the people of the Sabbath; while the swine are the Christians, the infidels of the communion of Jesus." "The clash between this [Muslim] community and the Jews and Christians has endured, and it will continue as long as God wills." "Whoever obeys the Prophet and accepts the oneness of God cannot maintain a loyal friendship with those who oppose God and His Prophet, even if they are his closest relatives."
"This indoctrination," wrote Nina Shea, director of Freedom House's Center for Religious Freedom, "begins in a first-grade text and is reinforced and expanded each year. By the 12th grade, students following the Saudi curriculum will be instructed that their religious obligation includes waging jihad against the infidel to 'spread the faith.' "
What's more, such ideas are taught not only to Saudi students but also to children in Saudi-funded schools in Pakistan, Britain, France, Germany, Spain, Italy -- and the United States.
In response to the Freedom House study, Prince Turki issued a statement insisting the Saudi government "has worked diligently during the last five years to overhaul its education system." This is a "massive undertaking," he added, that "remains ongoing."
Yet even as the ambassador was making that argument, the Saudi-owned satellite television carrier, Arabsat, was broadcasting al-Manar, Hezbollah's television station. Al-Manar was recently named by the U.S. government as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist Entity. By the admission of its own officials, al-Manar attempts to "help people on the way to committing what you call in the West a suicide mission."
Prince Turki might let us know: How massive an undertaking would it require to turn off the switch on al-Manar's terrorist incitement?
The truth is that what is written in Saudi textbooks reflects the world view of Wahhabism, an extremist movement launched 250 years ago by Mohammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab. A grand bargain between the Wahhab family and the House of Sa'ud eventually gave rise to modern Saudi Arabia and established Wahhabism as its state religion.
In recent decades, oil revenues have extravagantly enriched the Saudi royal family, and much of that money has been spent in an attempt to make Wahhabism the dominant interpretation of Islam around the world. The growth of militant Islamism and catastrophic terrorism has been one result. If you preach that "infidels" are vermin, eventually volunteers will come forward to serve as exterminators.
For Wahhabis to embrace religious tolerance would represent a historic reform. So far, there is no evidence such change is seriously contemplated. If Saudi leaders truly believed in interfaith respect they would invite leaders of other religions to establish houses of worship on Saudi soil -- as mosques have been built from Washington to London to Tel Aviv.
To a devout Saudi Wahhabi, however, such a notion is unthinkable and repugnant. We fail to acknowledge this reality at our peril.
http://story.arabherald.com

Trail of Tears

Difficult to visit today because of poor infrastructure, tourism advocates say sites on the ‘Holy Family Trail’ could attract up to six million new visitors per year with a relatively low rate of investment.

Blessed be Egypt, my people ” (Isaiah 19:25) According to tradition, this Old Testament chapter foretold the flight of the Holy Family to Egypt, seeking refuge from King Herod of Judea. The Gospel of Matthew and other accounts in the New Testament and Apocrypha tell how the Holy Family spent between three to four years in Egypt, entering through Rafah and stopping at some 20 other locations on the way to Upper Egypt, including Farama (near Port Said), Zagazig, Minya, Wadi El-Natroun, Memphis (in Badrashein, Assiut), Mataria and Giza.

According to the teachings of the Coptic Church, their journey was fraught with hardships ranging from harsh weather to primitive living conditions.

Tourism professionals consider this lineup of sites — dubbed The Holy Family Trail — a major attraction for Christian religious tour groups, yet the country sees a very low volume of devoted pilgrims because, 2,000 years later, visitors to these locations still have to endure the same hardships (Roman persecution excepted, of course).
More:
http://www.businesstodayegypt.com
See photos:
http://www.holyfamilytravel.com/

Join with today's persecuted church in one of the most unique Bible distribution programs of our generation.

"Remember those in bonds as bound with them." -Hebrews 13:3

What if you could help persecuted Christians reach out to their own communities?

What if you could deliver Bibles to restricted nations right from your own home?

What if you could help win to Christ those opposed to the gospel?

Now you can do all of the above with The Voice of the Martyrs' Bibles Unbound program!

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Egypt

Though Christianity once flourished in Egypt, Islam is now the religion of the vast majority. Open conversion to Christianity is all but impossible; still, a look throughout the country shows the Bible is consistently one of the most sought after books. Perhaps as many as 10 percent of Egyptians are Coptic Christians. However, these Christians, as well as converts who become a part of other Christian denominations, are fiercely repressed by the government and subject to attacks by Islamic militants.

More Here

China

Persecution is harsh and repressive for ordinary Christians, but for those who seek to evangelize, the consequences can be even more severe. Evangelist Aiqing Zhu was sentenced to a 20-year prison term for witnessing for Jesus. Pastor Gong Shengliang, the founder of the South China Church, was beaten so severely he had to be hospitalized and is imprisoned under a sentence of death. These cases are only the tip of the iceberg, as Chinese Christians live their faith in an atmosphere of constant danger.

More Here

Colombia

About 81 percent of Colombians consider themselves Roman Catholic. “Christians” comprise about 10 percent, with around 3 percent specifying as “evangelical.” Marxist guerrilla groups persecute both Catholics and Protestants, demanding “war tax” money, kidnapping people, threatening missionaries and forcing Christian schools and churches to close. A cease and desist order for all evangelical pastors and churches was issued in the late 1990s, with the threat of harm if they continued to meet.

More Here

LET EVERYONE HAVE A BIBLE

By Lavinia Ngatoko in Challenge Weekly, New Zealand

AUCKLAND, NEW ZEALAND (ANS) -- Kevin Fuller would like nothing better then to see that every person on earth gets the opportunity to receive a Bible.

The international president of Gideons International has seen time and time again the remarkable changes that reading the Bible can bring to peoples’ lives.

In an interview at the Waipuna Hotel in Mt. Wellington, Auckland, where he joined more than 80 New Zealand Gideons for their 50th jubilee celebrations, Mr. Fuller spoke about his passion for this ministry.

This down-to-earth Aussie bloke lives in Pt Lonsdale, on the coast of Victoria, and is the first non-American to take the helm of the oldest Christian business and professional men's association in the United States, which boasts more than 250,000 members worldwide.
Mr. Fuller decided to join the Gideons after attending at one of their meetings in 1976. He heard a man, who had once been committed to a prison for the criminally insane, talk about how the Bible had completely turned his life around.

“Here was this man who had been drinking methylated spirits, had been involved in shootouts with police and was committed as criminally insane and there he was standing there ... I thought ‘if this is what it’s all about then I’m in.’”

As the administration and finance director of a big retail corporation, he was initially only able to become minimally involved in the group’s activities.

While on holiday with his wife, Anne, he began to ponder an invitation he had received from the Gideons to go on one of their extension action programmes.
“I told my wife, ‘I’m tired of making money for other people. I want to do something in my life that’s going to make a difference in the world. I’d love to go to one of these programmes’ and she said, ‘Why don’t you do it today?’.

“My wife had led me to the Lord when I was about 25, you see, so when she says something like that I listen.”

Mr. Fuller forthwith gave up his high-flying business career and flew off to Belgium and Portugal – a trip, he says, that changed his life.

“We gave out about 200,000 scriptures in two weeks. I’d never distributed scriptures on the street before. These people went crazy to get them. They were coming out of their houses and out of their schools - they just tore the boxes apart crying out for one.”
MORE:
http://www.assistnews.net/

Saudi textbooks contained inflammatory teaching against "Christians, Jews and infidels".

In Saudi Arabia, a first-grader learns in Monotheism and Jurisprudence class that Jews and Christians are destined for hellfire. Hating them becomes the foundation years later for 12th-grade textbooks that exhort him to wage militant jihad against infidels.

Ali Al-Ahmed, director of the Washington-based Gulf Institute, sums up the results of such indoctrination: "Five million students in 25,000 schools. Imagine if only 1 percent of them took to heart the content of these schools. That's 50,000 terrorists."

Mr. Al-Ahmed's group researched and provided passages from 12 textbooks for a May 24 Freedom House report on the progress of Saudi education reform. The report shows that, contrary to Saudi claims, little has changed in Saudi-funded textbooks and curriculum—which predominate at Islamic schools around the world—since 9/11, when it became evident that the kingdom's virulent brand of Islam, called Wahhabism, was fueling global terrorism.

The kingdom runs 19 schools worldwide in cities such as London, Rome, Paris, and Washington, D.C. One, a well-heeled private school called the Islamic Saudi Academy in Alexandria, Va., teaches a Saudi and American curriculum. Underscoring the results of the report is Ahmed Omar Abu Ali, a student at the academy who was valedictorian of his class. In March a Virginia court sentenced Mr. Abu Ali, now 25, to 30 years in prison after a jury convicted him on nine counts that included conspiring to assassinate President George Bush and providing material support to al-Qaeda.

The textbooks cited in the report, some of which are used by the Alexandria school, vilify Jews, Christians, and other "unbelievers," as well as non-Wahhabi Muslims. Some examples:

• A sixth-grade textbook on Monotheism, Hadith, Jurisprudence and Quranic Recitaton forbids a funeral mourner to "be angry upon bereavement, cry out loudly, tear one's clothes or beat one's cheeks . . . it is forbidden to pray at graves with the exception of the funeral prayer." The injunctions thus prohibit funeral customs of Shiites and other Muslims.

• An eighth-grade textbook on Monotheism describes non-Muslims thus: "The apes are Jews, the keepers of the Sabbath; while the swine are the Christian infidels of the communion of Jesus."

• A ninth-grade textbook on the Hadith, or sayings of the prophet Muhammad, emphasizes hostility toward Jews: "The hour [of judgment] will not come until the Muslims fight the Jews and kill them."

After the report's release, Saudi ambassador to the United States Turki Al-Faisal quickly began damage control. "Overhauling an educational system is a massive undertaking," he said in a statement. "There are hundreds of books that are being revised to comply with the new requirements, and the process remains ongoing."

But for the past year, he and other Saudi officials have claimed that intolerant content has been revised. Instead, inflammatory teachings remain in the textbooks, in some cases moved or added.

"It doesn't take anyone five years to remove the obvious material," Mr. Al-Ahmed, himself a Saudi who came through his country's schools, told WORLD. "At least they could stop using these textbooks outside [of Saudi Arabia]." The Ministry of Education, he said, is dominated by Wahhabi activists. He believes, overall, that the kingdom has little genuine interest in reform.

"Our public diplomacy is simply not going to work in the face of this indoctrination," said Nina Shea, who directs Freedom House's Center for Religious Freedom and co-authored the report. She said U.S. policy should begin focusing more on Saudi textbooks, since the kingdom distributes them and other religious materials to mosques, Islamic centers, and schools around the world. Mr.

Al-Ahmed also suggests pressing the kingdom to supply textbooks for experts to study and monitor. Until then, he gives Saudi Arabia a failing grade on reform.

http://www.worldmag.com/

WHO’S AFRAID OF THE CODE?

Mark my words: ten years later The Da Vinci Code would have lost its thrill but Christianity would still be there and many people like Mother Teresa in our life time would rise from nowhere and demonstrate the love of Jesus in action, says columnist Rajendra Prabhu.

Those who are going ga ga on the Dan Brown book are ignoring what the book itself says about the work as seen by the American Press: “exhilarating brainy thriller” (New York Times), “smart thrills” (People magazine), “thriller writing doesn’t get better than this” (Denver Post).

It is regrettable that even otherwise rational people are trying to substitute what this “thriller” says about Jesus and Christianity for what the Gospels declare and the Church has experienced over two thousand years. Haven’t we seen other thrillers and even so called spiritual movements –so famous in their time but soon going into oblivion? So many books were best sellers at one time or the other. But they haven’t retained that popularity over two millennia as the Bible has done- without anybody needing to advertise this book. Therefore to claim that just because the Code has sold over 45 million copies in three years it is more important than the Bible and that it eclipses the picture of Jesus in the Gospels is to be carried away by changing winds. Who would not like to read a thriller? Many still believe that Sherlock Holmes is a real character and he still lives in the Baker Street address. Had Sir Arthur Conan Doyle lived in the mass media era of the 21st century the Sherlock Holmes books would also have gone into millions of copies. So, there is nothing unique about another thriller catching the headlines in this era of mass media.
The comparison of the Code with the Bible in fact is odious and is like comparing the chalk and cheese.
The Code has been written for effect as a thriller. Naturally, there is exaggeration, guesswork, lot of theorization etc. Only the locale is authentic, like the Paris museum The Louvre, an awe-inspiring place; the characters are all imaginary. Only a warped mind would see in that great museum that is my favourite spot whenever I had a chance to be in Paris, hooded murderers and ghosts.
A Malayalam poet once wrote that even at the milk filled udder of a cow, the fly drinks only blood.
More:
http://www.theindiancatholic.com

Violence in Jijiga, Ethiopia

According to reports received by VOMC, on May 24, as many as one hundred Muslim youth rioted in the streets of the eastern Ethiopian city of Jijiga, throwing stones at the homes and businesses of Christians in the community. The riots apparently began after rumours that a Christian-run restaurant was using pages from the Quran to wrap food.

Three days later, three businesses owned by Ethiopian Orthodox Christians were bombed. Forty-two people were injured in simultaneous attacks on the Central Hotel, London Café and Family Café at around 8:00 p.m. The state-run Ethiopian News Agency referred to the attacks as "futile attempts to disrupt the ongoing development programs in the region." However, VOMC sources in the area report the arrests of a Somali evangelist Hussen Rahafa and two believers named Ishmael and Mohamed who work for a Christian radio station in Kenya. The prisoners are reportedly advising local believers not to visit them in jail for fear of further arrests. The authorities have searched their homes and confiscated tracts, Bible and other Christian literature to be used as evidence against them. The three men have not yet been charged and there is no indication how long they will remain in this legal limbo. In 2005, another evangelist was kept in jail in Jijiga for more than a year without being charged.
More:
http://www.persecution.net

Prayer Requests

• Pray for safety for evangelicals in Ethiopia.
• Pray that the authorities will be willing to oppose those who use violence in the name of religion.
• Pray for Christians facing various hardships as a result of this opposition.

INDIA : HINDU VILLAGERS GANG-RAPE TWO CHRISTIAN WOMEN

Sexual assaults follow one husband’s refusal to recant; BJP cries ‘forced conversion.’

June 2 (Compass Direct) – With the encouragement of a local chief and the apparent backing of a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader, villagers in the north-central state of Madhya Pradesh on Sunday (May 28) gang-raped two Christian women after the husband of one refused to deny Christ.

The incident took place at 10 p.m. at Nadia village in Khargone district’s Bhagwanpura block. The victims are converts who attend house prayer meetings of the Indian Evangelical Team (IET).

A Christian source requesting anonymity told Compass that villagers had beaten up Gokharya Barela, the husband of one of the victims, at 3 p.m. on Sunday and took him forcibly to Sirvil village, about two kilometers from Nadia, where the Panchayat (village court) gathered and asked him to forsake Christianity.

When he refused to give in to their demands, the village head, Pandya Patel, ordered that Barela be made to drink wine. Villagers forced him to drink about half a bottle, releasing him with a warning that he should move out of the village.

Patel had also told the villagers and they could feel free to rape Christian women, saying no one would save them.

“The five perpetrators and village head Patel are supported by a member of the state legislative assembly from the BJP, who lives in Pipal Jhopa village, about 50 kilometers (31 miles) from Nadia,” said the Christian source.

That night three men went to the house of Gokharya Barela, dragged his wife to nearby bushes and raped her. When her husband and his friend Gudia Gyansingh, also a Christian, tried to save her, other villagers accompanying the rapists beat them. They slapped and punched the two Christians numerous times and forced them to say “Ram-Ram,” a common greeting among certain Hindus.

Before Barela’s wife was raped, two other Hindu villagers went to the house of Garsia Barela, also a Christian, and dragged his wife onto the verandah and raped her, the source said.

Garsia Barela’s mother was the only one at home with the victim at the time of the attack, but she was unable to save her daughter-in-law because of her advanced years.

Superintendent of Police of Khargone district I.R.S. Borna told Compass that two women were raped by five men. “Our team is investigating,” he said, “but no one has been arrested yet.”

The women were able to name the alleged rapists, identified only as Lulla, Nandla, Kalu, Rewal Singh, and Sakaram – all from the same village.

After raping the two women, according to the source, the Hindu attackers threatened the victims and other Christians that they would be killed if they filed a police complaint.

More:
http://www.compassdirect.org

Azerbaijan 'flattened' sacred Armenian site

Fears that Azerbaijan has systematically destroyed hundreds of 500-year-old Christian artefacts have exploded into a diplomatic row, after Euro MPs were barred from inspecting an ancient Armenian burial site.

The predominantly Muslim country's government has been accused of "flagrant vandalism" similar to the Taliban's demolition of the Bamiyan Buddhas in Afghanistan.
http://news.independent.co.uk/europe/article621782.ece

In December 2005, Azerbaijanis destroyed 3 500 artefacts-crosses, and in 2006 on this ancient Armenian burial site ,Azerbaijanis made a military firing-ground.

More:
http://eurazja.org/?p=186