QVO VADIS

Security Boosted at Churches in Indonesia Over Christmas

2006-12-18T18:29:00.000-05:00

JAKARTA, Indonesia — Tens of thousands of police officers will guard churches across the world's most populous Muslim country over the Christmas period, amid concerns that Al Qaeda-linked militants could carry out attacks, police said Monday.

The regional terror network Jemaah Islamiyah has been blamed for annual strikes in Indonesia since 2000, when a series of coordinated bombings killed 19 people on Christmas Eve. An attack on a Christian market last New Year's Eve killed seven.

More than 18,000 police will be posted at thousands of churches and religious sites in the capital, Jakarta, said police spokesman Col. Ketut Untung Yoga.

For Full Story go here:

O, Muslim Town Of Bethlehem

2006-12-18T17:57:00.000-05:00

By Dan Wooding
Founder of ASSIST Ministries

BETHLEHEM, WEST BANK (ANS) -- "All is quiet in Bethlehem. On Manger Square, the Church of the Nativity stands in the pale gloom of dusk, its doors open to passing pilgrims.

"But inside, the nave is empty of visitors and the collection boxes depleted of coins.

"In the candlelit grotto downstairs, a silver star marks the spot where Jesus is supposed to have been born.

"It is one of the most sacred sites in Christendom, but there are no tourists queuing to see it."

This is the start of a story carried on the UK website,

http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/home/

It goes on to say that just 500 yards down the road, Joseph Canawati is not looking forward to Christmas.
The expansive lobby of his 77-room Hotel Alexander is empty and he says: "There is no hope for the future of the Christian community.

"We don't think things are going to get better. For us, it is finished."
Read more :
www.assistnews.net/

CHURCH OPENING BLOCKED BY AUTHORITIES IN EGYPT.

2006-08-08T22:37:00.000-04:00

Pakistan Christian Post

Local authorities in Sheikh Zied City, 15 km north of Cairo are opposed to a newly built church and have gone to extreme lengths to disrupt the official opening.

Prayers of dedication for the church were due to be held in early July at an official celebration of the church's opening; however on that very day the authorities cut off the electricity and water to the building and even barricaded all the roads leading to the church. Each road had a deep trench dug across it with a correspondingly high bank alongside.

The congregation had decided to construct a building which looked like an office on the outside, though like a church on the inside. This decision had been reached because they were aware that it would be extremely difficult for them to get official authorisation through the correct channels.

In addition to the normal permission, Egyptian law requires presidential approval to build a new church. This comes from a nineteenth century Ottoman regulation, and is known as the Hamayouni Decree. It is a slow bureaucratic process, which can take many years, and does not always result in success. To repair or renovate a church permission must be sought from local governors.

Whilst this is less bureaucratic local governors are more prone to prejudice against Christians.

The Church in Egypt is often faced with the dilemma of either not applying for official permission, or having no building at all.

PRAY

Pray that the local authorities will have a change of heart and allow the building to function as a church.

Pray for a change in the restrictive law governing church buildings to enable Christians to erect the churches they need.

First communion in Mosul, where shots became “fireworks”

2006-08-07T16:02:00.000-04:00

The Chaldean parish priest of the Church of the Holy Spirit talks about the celebration of the first Holy Communion of 80 children while the city was struck by car bombs and shooting. “United, we pray for peace in Iraq and also in Lebanon and the rest of the world.”

IRAQ,Mosul (AsiaNews) – Joy and terror sometimes coexist in Iraq where the population is now resigned to daily life amid mortar shots and suicide bombs. This is how the Christians of Mosul, the city’s third largest country, will remember 4 August: as a day of “immense joy” and “terrible panic”. Violent clashes marked the Friday when 80 children of the Chaldean parish of the Holy Spirit received their first Holy Communion. The young parish priest, Fr Ragheed Ganni, told AsiaNews how he turned gunshots into fireworks not to spoil this special day of celebration.

“We started our celebration at 7.30am,” he said. “The church was packed and everybody was so happy. Suddenly we heard explosions and shots close to the church. Although people are used to it and remained reasonably calm, they started to wonder whether they were going to make it back to their homes or not. I was aware of the immense joy of the 80 children receiving their first Communion so I turned the subject into a joke and said to them: ‘Do not panic, these are fire works. The city is celebrating with us.’ And at the same time I gave them instructions to leave the church quietly and quickly.”

More...

Pakistan: bulldozers demolish church

2006-08-07T15:54:00.000-04:00

The Christian community of Multan has protested against the demolition of a church by a fertilizer industry that wants to “expand”. A nearby mosque was spared.

Multan (AsiaNews) – The Christian community of Multan in the central province of Punjab has protested against the allegedly illegal demolition of a church. According to local media, on 4 August, around 150 Christians protested against the Pak-Arab Fertilizers Limited factory that razed a Protestant church to the ground. The protesters blocked the Multan-Lahore road for a couple of hours after burning used tyres. They were demanding the opening of a judicial inquiry against the ‘culprits’.

Shahbaz Bhatti, chairman of the All Pakistan Minorities Alliance (APMA), condemned the “brutal” demolition of the church and demanded stern legal action against those responsible. Bhatti said the court was on the point of issuing an order not to go ahead with the demolition but the management of the factory went ahead: “They were not authorized to raze the church.”

The APMA chairman said a mosque standing close by the church was not even touched. “Only the church, a symbol of the vulnerability of the Christian minority, fell victim to the intolerance of these industrialists.”

More...

Christian Stone Mason Beaten For Drinking Water From Public Facility

2006-08-07T15:45:00.000-04:00

By Sheraz Khurram Khan

LAHORE, PAKISTAN (ANS) -- A Christian stone mason received critical injuries, including dislocation of his shoulder after he was seen drinking water from a public facility, by a Muslim man on June 6 (Tuesday) just outside the eastern city of Lahore, the Pakistan Christian Post (PCP) has reported.

Nasir Ashraf, the Christian mason was working at the construction site of a school. The trouble for him began while he was returning to the site. Confronting him with anger the Muslim man asked him as to why he drank water from the public facility by using a glass that was placed at the water tank.

“Why did you drink water from this glass since you are a Christian?” the PCP quoted the Muslim man as asking Nasir.

“The man accused the mason of polluting the glass and proceeded to destroy it. The Muslim man then summoned a crowd by shouting, “This Christian polluted our glass,” and encouraged them to beat him up”, the PCP report said.

“The crowd began beating Nasir, eventually pushing him off a ledge. The fall dislocated his shoulder, broke his collarbone in two places and knocked him unconscious,” it said.

A Growing Number of Iranian Women Are Being Prepared to Be Executed by Public Stoning

2006-08-03T04:04:00.000-04:00

A 37 year old woman by the name of Ashraf Kalhori is scheduled to be publicly stoned in two weeks.

More here:
www.news.faithfreedom.org

Lawyers and human rights organizations are pleading for the life of Asharf Kalhori, accused of adultery and condemned to be stoned. The regime aggravates cruel death penalties to create more tension with the west.

More here:
www.asianews.it

CLICK HERE TO SIGN THE PETITION TO SAVE ASHRAF'S LIFE

“Heart full of sorrow”, pope urges prayer and effective action in Middle East

2006-08-03T03:59:00.000-04:00

At a special audience for ministrants, Benedict XVI condemned the massacre in Qana and the “spilling of innocent blood from whichever part it comes”. He called on 35,000 altar servers to be “witnesses” of nearness to Jesus, and to heed calls to the priesthood.

Vatican City (AsiaNews) – With “a heart full of sorrow” and the “chilling images of mangled bodies of so many people, especially children,” before his eyes, Benedict XVI appealed once again for prayers “for the dear, martyred region of the Middle East”, for more effective commitment from the international community for an “immediate cessation of all hostilities” and for “conditions for a definitive political solution to the crisis”.

Recalling in particular the massacre in Qana in Lebanon, the pope said: “I wish to repeat that nothing can justify the spilling of innocent blood, no matter from which part it comes!”

Benedict XVI emphasized that only a “definitive political solution to the crisis” will be capable of “delivering a more serene and safe future for generations to come”.

For the full article go to : www.asianews.it

Korean evangelicals defy bans to march for peace in Kabul

2006-08-03T03:53:00.000-04:00

Despite objections from Seoul and the Afghan government, the march is set to take place from 5 to 8 August. The South Korean Foreign Affairs Ministry has dispatched an emergency team to Afghanistan.

Kabul (AsiaNews) – Around 1,000 South Korean evangelical Christians are currently in Afghanistan to take part in a “peace march” scheduled to be held from 5 to 8 August in Kabul. The event has been organized despite advice to the contrary and concern expressed by the Afghan and Korean governments.

The rally is being organized by the Institute of Asian Culture and Development (IACD), a religious-cultural umbrella organization of 900 Protestant denominations. This is the same group that held the “Jerusalem 2004” march in the holy city to call for “peace through prayer between Israelis and Palestinians”.

The Foreign Affairs Minister of Seoul has sought “in all ways” to convince the organizers to drop the rally. His Afghan counterpart even forbade visas to South Koreans asking to enter the country. An official of the Kabul government said: “This is a Muslim nation and the presence of Christian activists could offend many people. We have told the organizers but they are not listening to us.”

For the full article go to: www.asianews.it

Bangalore: Christians pray against religious persecution

2006-08-03T03:50:00.000-04:00

by Nirmala Carvalho

This meeting is the first of its kind in the country. Participants include seven widows whose lost their husbands to violent persecution and over 150 pastors who are victims of it now.

Bangalore (AsiaNews) – India’s “persecuted” Christians are meeting today in Bangalore for the first ecumenical meeting “of prayer and testimony” in the nation’s history. The participants include seven widows whose husbands were killed for their faith and over 150 pastors who have been, or still are, persecuted for their faith in Christianity. The theme of the meeting is: "Thorns…and a crown".

For the full article go to: www.asianews.it

A new regional conflict brews in the Horn of Africa.

2006-08-03T03:43:00.000-04:00

By Ed Beavan

AS THE crisis in the Middle East dominates the headlines it is easy to forget there are other regions in the world where tensions are close to boiling point that could easily escalate into full-blown war.

With daily updates on the conflict between Israel and Lebanon on our TV screens, you could be forgiven for not knowing that Somalia, a country situated in the Horn of Africa with a long history of internal strife and instability, is on the brink of war with its neighbour Ethiopia.

The route from independence
Somalia, which borders Ethiopia and Kenya, has a population of around 10 million people and has been blighted by years of civil war, famine and drought leading to the death of a million of its inhabitants.

Somalia became independent from British rule in 1960, but has been without an effective government for almost 15 years after the overthrow of President Siad Barre in 1991. Lawlessness has been rife during that period with rival clans waging war against one another, while in the early 1990s the north-west of the country declared itself the self-proclaimed the state of Somaliland, and has since enjoyed a period of relative stability.
Somalia is almost 99.9 per cent Muslim and the small number of Christians in Somalia have been heavily persecuted with many being killed.

Dr Khataza Gondwe, Advocacy Officer for Sub-Saharan Africa for the Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW) Group, is keeping a close eye on the situation in Somalia, and said: “I don’t think Somalia has been forgotten about as there is still the al-Qaeda angle which means it is always on the agenda, but it’s a place people don’t want to get involved in because there is so much lawlessness, and after the failure of the previous American intervention.
“At the moment is it extremely worrying, things are bubbling up and it’s hard to see a solution, as the Islamic Courts have such momentum and object to an EU or UN peace force, while the transitional government is so weak.”

Persecution widespread
Dr Gondwe also explained the horrific situation for Somalian Christians, many of whom have fled to Kenya because of the high levels of persecution. She said: “The situation for Christians is awful, the one thing Somalians agree on is ‘let’s kill Christians’.

“Any Somalian who claims to be a Christian is an apostate, and Christians face serious persecution or death. “ Only recently we heard about three Christians who were shot dead as they came back from an international prayer meeting in Mogadishu. “Meanwhile a Christian family had their house set on fire, with the mother and daughter who survived suffering serious burns.

For full article go to : www.churchnewspaper.com

Prayer Request for Persecuted Christians

2006-08-03T03:02:00.000-04:00

Mrs. Ratna, Mrs. Eti and Dr. Rebekka
Indonesia
Arrested: May 2005
Days Imprisoned: 443

"Remember those in prison as if you were their fellow prisners,and those who are mistreated as if you yourselves were suffering." ---Hebrews 13:3,NIV

Hundreds of men and women are in prison serving sentences that range from a few months to life. They are not criminals who have robbed or murdered other citizens but Christians who were put on trial for their faith in Christ and found guilty.

Through extreme pressure and threats against witnesses, the accused, the judges and the courts to ensure favorable verdicts, such as in the case against three ladies, Rebekka Zakaria, Eti Pangesti and Ratna Bangun, running a Sunday School called “Happy Sunday” where on September 1, 2005 , they were found guilty in the Indramayu Court, West Java, of “deceitful conduct, a series of lies and enticements to seduce children to change their religion against their wills”. Their crime was to run a Sunday School in an area infested with prostitution. The Sunday School began as part of the local church program for the Christian children.

One elderly Muslim women, a former prostitute whose daughter was also a prostitute, did not want her grandchildren to go down the same path, asked the three ladies to accept her grandchildren in their program. They accepted. These children told other children what a great time they were having. More Muslim children came. The three ladies told them they had to have family permission which they obtained.

Once the radical Islamic Council (MUI) heard about it they had the ladies put in prison.

Each court session they trucked in hundreds of young radicals, many who carried weapons into the court, even took over the court threatened witnesses, the accused and the judges. They even brought a coffin to the court and said that if they did not get a satisfactory verdict then they would take over, dispense Islamic justice and bury the women. They were duly convicted and have now begun a three year term of imprisonment. This is terrorism of the judicial process and a perversion of justice.
The irony of this case is that the women launched the “Happy Sunday” children’s program in September of 2003, in response to a request by a local elementary school for assistance to meet legal requirements to comply with the National Education System Bill.

TRIAL -VIDEO

Please pray for protection and spiritual strength for Mrs. Ratna, Mrs. Eti and Dr. Rebekka while they are in prison.

Over the last several years there have been over 150 churches destroyed or closed down in Jakarta and throughout the island of Java. From May to July ,2005 , there have been 60 churches closed down, mainly in West Java. This escalation is part of the process to implement Islamic Shariah Law. In this recent escalation, samurai wielding Islamic radicals, accompanied by Government officials and Police, and with letters of authority from the Mayor and Chief of Police have broken into churches in the middle of services, demanded the pastor stop preaching and ordering him and the congregation out of the church and forcing the pastor to sign a statement that the building would no longer be used for Church services.

Indonesian Province Embraces Islamic Law

2006-08-01T16:45:00.000-04:00

BANDA ACEH,(Indonesia) — Across this most religious of Indonesia’s provinces, brown uniformed policemen in black wagons enforce Shariah, or Islamic law. They haul unmarried couples into precincts and arrest people for drinking or gambling. Increasingly, many of the cases are pushed to the ultimate conclusion, public canings at mosques in front of pumped-up crowds.

In mid-July, a 27-year-old man sentenced to 40 lashes fainted on the seventh stroke of a rattan cane from a hooded man in the yard of a mosque here in the provincial capital.

The caning was televised nationally, with an announcer reporting that the man, who had been arrested for drinking at a beachside stall, would receive the remainder of his punishment once he had recovered.

Battered by the Asian tsunami 19 months ago, Aceh is undergoing a profound transformation that is likely to have considerable impact on the nature of Islam in Indonesia, the most populous Muslim country.
For full article go to: www.nytimes.com

Appeal for Mideast Peace

2006-08-01T16:08:00.000-04:00

"So That They Immediately Put Down Their Weapons"

CASTEL GANDOLFO, Italy, (Zenit.org.) - Here is a translation of the prepared text of the address Benedict XVI gave today before reciting the midday Angelus with the people who gathered at the summer papal residence in Castel Gandolfo.

Dear Brothers and Sisters!

Two days ago, my stay in the Aosta Valley finished, I came directly here to Castel Gandolfo, where I intend to remain until the end of the summer, with a brief interruption in September for the apostolic visit to Bavaria. I wish, first of all, to address my affectionate greetings to the ecclesial and civil community of this beautiful town, where I am always happy to come to.

I cordially thank the bishop of Albano, the parish and the priests, as well as the mayor and municipal administration and the other civil authorities. A special thought goes to the directorate and personnel of the pontifical villa, as well as to the police, whom I thank for their valuable service.

Moreover, I greet the many pilgrims who, with their warm presence, contribute to making evident, also in the homier atmosphere of this summer residence, the universal ecclesial dimension of this, our appointment for the Marian prayer.

In this moment I cannot help think of the situation, ever more grave and more tragic, that the Middle East is going through: hundreds of dead, many wounded, a huge number of the homeless and refugees; houses, towns and infrastructure destroyed; meanwhile, hatred and the desire for revenge grow in the hearts of many.

These facts demonstrate clearly that you cannot re-establish justice, establish a new order and build authentic peace when you resort to instruments of violence.

For full article go to ZENIT.ORG

Bombs Silence Catholic Radio in Lebanon

2006-08-01T15:55:00.000-04:00

BEIRUT, Lebanon, (Zenit.org.) - Radio MNS, an Arabic Catholic radio station, was one of the many means of communication recently silenced by Israeli bombs in Lebanon.

"The station functioned without interruption since its creation 12 years ago," said the radio's founder, Marie Sylvie Buisson, in statements to ZENIT.

Radio MNS was partially destroyed by bombs Sunday of last week, as were numerous Lebanese means of communication.

Buisson explained that the radio had broadcast prayer and the Mass in Arabic 14 hours a day, and "covered Lebanon, Syria, southern Turkey, eastern Iraq, northern Palestine and Jordan."

She said that she hopes that, after the current crisis in Lebanon ends, the radio will find financial support "to begin again its apostolate, which makes the Word of Christ present in this delicate region of the world."

The radio station, whose president is Melkite-Greek Archbishop Joseph Kallas of Beirut and Jbeil, has the approval of the Assembly of Catholic Patriarchs and Bishops of Lebanon.

IRAN: ANOTHER BELIEVER ARRESTED

2006-08-01T02:36:00.000-04:00

By Elizabeth Kendal
World Evangelical Alliance Religious Liberty Commission (WEA RLC)
Special to ASSIST News Service

AUSTRALIA (ANS) -- On 24 July, an Iranian Christian named Issa Motamadi was imprisoned on account of his faith. French internet news site VoxDei reports that Issa Motamadi, a resident of the north-western town of Resht, the capital of Gilan Province, will soon stand trial before a Revolutionary Tribunal. (Link 1)

Sources with knowledge of the situation request prayer for Issa, his wife Parvah – both converts to Christianity – and their young son. They also appeal to human rights and religious liberty organisations, and request that they intercede for Issa Motamadi to their Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

While Issa Motamadi has been accused of apostasy, it is likely that a non-religious charge will eventually be leveled against him in order to prevent accusations of religious persecution. Article 23 of Iran's Constitution states: "The investigation of individuals' beliefs is forbidden, and no one may be molested or taken to task simply for holding a certain belief." (Link 2)

Allegedly, Issa and Parvah came to the attention of the authorities around seven months ago when they decided to give their newborn son a Biblical, Christian name. Sources explain that this is interpreted as a sign of irrevocable rupture with Islam as it demonstrates that the child is born to Christian parents, to be identified as Christian from birth – he is one who cannot be accused of apostasy.

According to reports, Mr Baghani, a secret service official with responsibilities for minorities, advised that Issa should renounce his faith and return to Islam, for only then will he be free. He said the judge will not accept any other solution. He also intimated that it may take several executions before Iranians actually comprehend the reality of the consequences of apostasy.

There have been rumors that the authorities may also move to arrest Parvah and falsely accuse her of drug trafficking. Issa's mother, who is not a Christian, is deeply traumatised by these events. The family is in desperate need of a lawyer courageous enough to advocate with conviction for Issa and Parvah's constitutional religious rights.

There is great concern that President Ahmadinejad may escalate persecution of Christians, especially converts, while the conflict in the Levant absorbs the world's attention.

Those appealing for advocacy for the Motamadis would like Iran's leaders to be reminded that 14 centuries ago a group of fugitive Muslims fled persecution from the Quraysh in Mecca to seek refuge in Christian Abyssinia (Ethiopia). In Abyssinia the Muslim refugees appealed to the Negus (Emperor) for asylum and religious liberty on the grounds of what they said were the affinities between Islam and the Abrahamic religions. Their cause was heard and the Negus refused to hand the Muslims over to the Quraysh, even though the Quraysh offered prolific bribes and gifts. So the Muslims lived in Christian Abyssinia under the protection of the Christian Negus, in peace and with full religious liberty.

The Abyssinian experience is repeated widely around the world today. For example, multitudes of Shiite Muslims who fled persecution in Iraq during the rule of Saddam Hussein have found both refuge and religious liberty in the "Christian" West.

Yet today, Issa Motamadi is holed up in an Islamic prison in Rasht, wrongfully accused and separated from his family and loved ones simply on account of his devotion to the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the Creator of the world.

www.assistnews.net

Christians in Nigeria plan a 50 million people march

2006-08-01T02:25:00.000-04:00

JESUS DAY, instead of boxing day. This is how it should be!!! :)

By By Paul Okwuobi – Corresponding Assistant to Dr. Herbert Eze
Special for ASSIST News Service

LAGOS, NIGERIA (ANS) -- December 26, is known as boxing day all over the world. But that date may no longer be known by Christians in Nigeria as boxing day, rather it will be regarded as JESUS DAY, if the plan for a JESUS 50 Million People March every December 26 succeeds. This march is being organized by World Rescue Ministries International (WORMINT). It is hoped that every church that calls the name Jesus will participate in the nation wide marching.

This kind of event has some similarities in the past though not exactly in the form of marching. Another difference is that this time the anticipated number of participants has swelled, making the planning more elaborate and painstaking. Pictured: a cross- section of some Christians in Lagos during a special event.

In 1984, the visioner of WORMINT, Prince Ben Ukadike received a revelation from the Lord as to the power in the name JESUS. In response, he produced stickers inscribed with the name JESUS and also made several billboards bearing the name JESUS. Those were sited at strategic locations all over Lagos.

Speaking during a recent press briefing at the International Press Center, Lagos, Nigeria Ukadike enthusiastically revealed that he shared the vision with the late Rev. Dr. Odunaike, former General Overseer of Four Square Gospel Church in Nigeria. That led to the kick-starting of a project known as UNITED JESUS EASTER RALLY (UJER). The rally brought Christians of various chosen centers all over Nigeria. There were ten such centers in Lagos alone.

Christian bodies such as Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria (PFN) and prominent Christian leaders including the late Archbishop Benson Idahosa were involved with the rallies. It held on Easter Mondays, and culminated in the shouting of the name JESUS into the air at the various rally centers throughout the country at exactly 12 noon.

Christians in Nigeria are imagining and discussing what it would look like if 50 million people wear JESUS T-Shirts, JESUS caps and carry JESUS flag. The name JESUS would be inscribed in red color against a white background. In Lagos, former capital city of Nigeria, for example, cars and buses with the sticker – JESUS is fast becoming a common sight. To compliment these are the JESUS banners, JESUS vehicles, JESUS T.V. slots, JESUS radio shouts, JESUS newspaper slots and JESUS Internet pop ups. And this looks like evangelism strategy unprecedented, besides the unity that this development would definitely foster amongst the various church denominations in Nigeria.

Great Idea!!! :)

For full article go to:
www.assistnews.net

US ark builder hopes to visit Christchurch's ark

2006-08-01T01:49:00.000-04:00

By John McNeil of Challenge Weekly, New Zealand
Special to ASSIST News Service

CHRISTCHURCH, NZ (ANS) -- An American pastor who is building a full-scale Noah’s Ark at his church hopes to visit the Christchurch couple who have completed theirs.

Richard Greene began his project in 1976 in the small town of Frostburg, Maryland, after a series of dreams in which he saw a large ark located on a hillside and people coming from all over the world to visit it.

The ark is being built to the specifications of Noah’s original – 137m long, 23m wide, and 13m high. Once completed, it will house a Christian school, Bible college, 1500-seat auditorium, conference facilities, a Noah’s Ark historical room, counselling centre, and facilities for radio and television.

Two things Pastor Greene has in common with the original Noah is the length of time the project is occupying, and the mocking of passers-by.

More here: www.assistnews.net

One Ethiopian Man Found the Lord Through Music

2006-08-01T01:48:00.000-04:00

Mohamed* (26), his whole family and every member of his tribe used to belong to the Islamic religion. At the age of fifteen, Mohamed* was able to recite the Qur’an - that meant that he was not allowed to change to another religion.

Everyone he knew was proud of him, yet he could not rid himself of an empty feeling that he carried around within himself.

True to the Ethiopian culture, Mohamed* had great appreciation for all kinds of music and singing, but he found that the Islamic music bored him. Somehow Mohamed* came in contact with Christian music and his heart was touched by it. He secretly sneaked away on Sundays to attend Christian celebration services. The fellowship that accompanied the music moved Mohamed*.

None of the Christians who attended these celebration services paid much attention to Mohamed*, therefore none of them shared the Gospel with him. God merely touched Mohamed’s* heart through music.

During one of these services, the Holy Spirit moved him, an altar call was made and he got up to make the ultimate decision.

Mohamed* was one of seven children and the eldest son.

His family and friends noticed some changes in Mohamed’s* life and they confronted him. Once they learned that Mohamed* converted to Christ, they tried to kill him and he had to flee.

For the full article go to:
http://www.opendoorsusa.org/

Survey: Indonesians for religious violence

2006-08-01T01:10:00.000-04:00

An Indonesian survey indicates more than 40 percent of people in the country are ready to use violence against those seen as threatening Islam.
The results of the survey by the Center for Islamic and Social Studies, or PPIM, showed 0.1 percent of respondents admitted participating in attacking Christian churches operating without official license, while 1.3 percent had used "intimidation" against those they believed blasphemed Islam.
"The percentage looks very small, but it is very high in its real figure when you note that 85 percent, or 200 million, of the country's 230 million population are Muslims," The Jakarta Post Friday quoted PPIM researcher Jajat Burhanudin as saying.

The study involved 1,200 subjects in 30 of Indonesia's 33 provinces, and was conducted between 2001 and 2006.
According to the results, 43.5 percent were ready to wage war against threatening non-Muslims, 40 percent would use violence against blasphemers, while 14.7 percent said they would tear down churches without permits.
"This condition has helped terrorists easily recruit new comrades and makes the country a fertile ground for sectarian radiclism," Burhanudin said.
He said a study on the reasons for the attitudes found that Islamic teachings and Islamicism contributed significantly to domestic and public violence in Indonesia, something which other scholars denied.
"The more Muslims give their support for certain Islamic teachings legitimizing the use of violence, the more violence will happen," he said.
Burhanudin said that between 30 percent and 59 percent of respondents approved of the amputation of a hand as penalty for thievery, death by stoning for rapists and other features of traditional Islamic law, the newspaper reported.

http://washingtontimes.com

'United 93' and the religion of the sword

2006-07-26T02:23:00.000-04:00

July 23, 2006
Guy Adams
RenewAmerica Deputy Grassroots Director

Qur'an 9:73: "...make war on the unbelievers and the hypocrites and deal rigorously with them. Hell shall be their home: an evil fate."

Recently, I saw the movie United 93, and I will never view Islam the same. I also will never be the same.

n this article, I want to treat Islam with all due respect. But I'm troubled by disturbing words from the Qur'an like the verse above. Isn't Islamic terrorism — as we witnessed on 9/11 and as we've seen around the world — inspired by such verses from the Qur'an?

If Islam is committed to hostile verses like that above, wouldn't a reasonable person conclude that Islam poses a threat to our nation?

A look at Islamic intent

What follows is not a viewpoint you're going to hear in the mainstream media — but you should. I've heard all sorts of Muslim scholars try to dilute or dismiss the verses in the Qur'an that explicitly incite violence against all non-Muslims, but these verses are what they are, and I've listed some of them throughout this article.

Islam is, was, and always will be the "Religion of the Sword." If it's not, then Muslims around the world need to prove it to the rest of us by their peaceful actions. But for our part, we need to understand that just as appeasement did not work in 1939 with the Nazis, it won't work now with an even more determined threat.

By the Qur'an's own words, Islam is determined to be the antithesis of the West! I would frame the heart of the controversy this way: Islam asks its sons to die for Allah — while the Christian God sent His Son to die for all mankind. This fundamental theological difference leads to two virtually polar world views.

Let me say at the outset that there are many Muslims who might not wish us ill. Although many Islamic fundamentalists in places like Iran and Syria clearly see themselves as our foe, Islamic "secularists" in parts of Iraq and elsewhere do not feel this way. So, I agree that not all of Islam is intent on doing us in. The problem is the doctrine of hostility toward "unbelievers" found in the Qur'an, itself.

It's therefore vital that we wake up and realize that we are in a war with Islam — by virtue of Islam's own declarations — and that if we fail to realize this inevitable fact, we will lose this war.

Only Muslim extremists?

How can anyone say — as some do — that it's only "Muslim extremists" who are killing Americans? The truth is, the peaceful Muslim who ignores the verses in the Qur'an that instruct "all Muslims to kill non-Muslims" is violating his religion — just as surely as a Christian who refuses to treat others with Christ-like love, kindness, and respect is violating his. You can't simply throw out portions of the Bible that you don't like. Likewise, for a Muslim to disregard the "kill the infidel" verses in the Qur'an is to betray his god.

At least portions of the Qur'an would seem to confirm this comparison. A Muslim must either be a terrorist or a hypocrite — a terrorist if he believes all that is in the Qur'an, or a hypocrite if he doesn't. Make no mistake: Islam, according to the Qur'an, is a religion of the sword, and it seeks our demise by intimidation, coercion, and murder.

Our professed enemy

In order to effectively win this unconventional and inconvenient war, of course, we must definitively discern who the enemy is. Because Islam is the avowed "religion of the sword" — or more recently, of the bomb — we must be wary of those who would lull us into ignoring this reality.

Clearly, by its own militant rhetoric, Islam is the professed enemy of the West. Jeff King, Director of www.persecution.org and International Christian Concern, told me that:

"Western leaders are afraid to say we are at war with Islam for fear of inflaming the Islamic world. The truth is we are at war. In fact, Islam has been at war intermittently with the world since its founding. People need to wake up and realize that we have an enemy and that they are deadly-serious about bringing death and destruction to [our] doorstep."

Indeed. He also said that 75% of all references to Jihad have to do with war, political control, the violent expansion of the Islamic religion, and the forced subjugation of the conquered. Take these two verses, for example:

Qur'an 8:12: "I shall cast terror into the hearts of the infidels: Strike off their heads. Strike off the very tips of their fingers."

Qur'an 8:39: "Make war on them until idolatry shall cease and Allah's religion shall reign supreme everywhere."

That doesn't sound peaceful to me. Does it sound peaceful to you? How can Islam be deemed "peaceful" with verses that say "strike off the heads" of all infidels'?

Correct diagnosis

And recently, just what group was it that rioted and burned over 9,000 cars in France? Were they all just Muslim "extremists"? No, they weren't. By and large, they were average, everyday Muslims who have harbored a deep and long-held anger and hatred of the West and of Christianity and Judaism, even though France and much of Europe have long since departed — to their shame — from Christian and Judeo-Christian precepts.

The long-held idea that "The enemy of my enemy is my friend" is unfortunately true. We in the West must therefore unite, all other differences aside, against our apparent common enemy — Islam.

Go To Full Article :
www.renewamerica.us/

Australia: Accused cleric hoped to 'kill 1000'

2006-07-26T02:03:00.000-04:00

SUBURBAN Islamic cleric Abdul Nacer Benbrika wanted to kill 1000 Australians to "please Allah" and had the support of a blond recruit who had pledged violent jihad during a meeting with Osama bin Laden.

A Melbourne court heard yesterday that a witness would reveal that Shane Kent, 29, received weapons and explosives training at the Taliban-run al-Faruq training camp for foreign jihadis in Afghanistan.

And at a meeting with bin Laden in that country, Mr Kent, from Meadow Heights in Melbourne's north, allegedly committed himself to violent jihad. The alleged Melbourne terror cell's spiritual leader, Mr Benbrika embraced Mr Kent as part of his clique, the court heard, saying: "He's good, and he doesn't talk too much."

Mr Benbrika encouraged his devotees to plan a large-scale terrorist attack, which police foiled during its "developmental stages", the court heard during the opening day of the committal hearing of 13 suspects yesterday.

"If you kill, we kill here 1000," Mr Benbrika allegedly said in a conversation covertly taped by police. "Because if you get large numbers here, the government will listen."

Full article:
www.acage.org/

Broadcasting Love in a War Zone

2006-07-26T01:55:00.000-04:00

From Inside Lebanon, Christian Satellite Network SAT-7 Broadcasts Stories of Christians Responding to War
By Jeremy Reynalds
Special Correspondent for ASSIST News Service

EATON, MD (ANS) -- As explosions rattle their building, staff in a Beirut-based Christian are working to show the world how Christians are responding to the crisis in Lebanon.

In their first newscast, Christian-satellite network SAT-7’s staff are reporting some stories of hope in the midst of the horrors of violent conflict.

During a recent broadcast, SAT-7 reported on the situation, starting with an overview of the destruction followed by stories of how the Christian community in Lebanon is reaching out to help those in need.

In a news release, SAT-7 said the first report came from within the Beirut Baptist School that has opened its doors to strangers and is providing shelter and relief to 500 homeless refugees fleeing the fighting in southern Lebanon.

One woman sleeping on a classroom floor told SAT-7, “We fled with nothing, only the clothes we had on; we couldn’t even bring pots to cook in."
According to Sat-7 a young boy said, "I came because of the shooting. I was afraid. We left everything.”

”These positive messages stand in stark contrast to televised rage and political anger being shown on most channels in the Arab world,” said Terence Ascott, SAT-7 International CEO, in a news release. “This unique perspective helps the SAT-7 broadcasts stand out and bring hope to people in this troubled region.”

While the fear is very real, hope remains. SAT-7 interviewed its own Lebanese staff who spoke of their concerns. One director in a mobile video truck said, "Everything is in danger, even Christian organizations. Even the van I'm sitting in now is in danger because trucks have been targeted and destroyed. But we're relying on God to take care of us."

”This program, while made under duress in difficult circumstances, demonstrates what SAT-7 is all about; local Arab Christians making programs about how the local Arab Christian community is demonstrating Christ's love,” said Ascot in the news release. “It was difficult to get these stories out of Lebanon. I would ask you to continue to pray for our staff in Lebanon, for their protection, and that they will be able to continue to make programs that vividly demonstrate how Christ is with people who call upon him, even in the midst of the hardest trials.”

SAT-7 can be viewed via satellite in the Middle East, North Africa, Europe, and much of Central Asia. Programming can also be watched worldwide at www.SAT7.org.

TERRORISM THREATENS RELIGIOUS LIBERTY AND SECURITY

2006-07-26T01:43:00.000-04:00

By Elizabeth Kendal

MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA (ANS) -- Islamists are striving to 'liberate' and 'reclaim' 'Islamic lands' previously under Islamic rule, such as the former Ottoman Empire. Furthermore they are campaigning both politically and militarily to expand Islamic territory to bring the world ultimately under Islamic domination. Their strategy involves ideological indoctrination, dawa (Islamic proselytism), jihad (Islamic holy war) and international as well as domestic Islamic terrorism.

Islamic terrorism is one of the greatest threats to openness and religious liberty in the world today. Needless to say, not all Muslims are militant or Islamist. Whilst multitudes of Muslims do support the Islamist agenda, it is often only because the totalitarian Islamic regimes they live under secure their allegiance by removing their rights and liberties and imprisoning them in fear and ignorance. Moreover liberal and 'reformist' Muslims who genuinely promote secularism, peaceful co-existence, openness and religious liberty are regarded by fundamentalist Islamists as apostates and infidels, deserving of death.

Terrorism is a form of unconventional warfare using or threatening violence to generate fear, terror and hardship. Its ultimate aim is to achieve compliance with specific political, religious, ideological or personal demands. Its real target is not the victim of the terrorist act but the state or group to which that person belongs. Islamists employ terrorism when they know they cannot win politically or militarily, although sometimes it is purely for publicity or popularity. Through terrorism they aim to make resistance to Islamic demands politically or personally unsustainable. The act of terror triggers a battle of wills. There will be a winner and a loser – there can never be a tied result. Capitulating to terrorist demands may give temporary respite from terror but it actually delivers victory to the terrorists. Believing they have the group or state hostage or retreating, they are emboldened to simply move on to the next item on their agenda.

Islamic terrorism could not occur without ideological indoctrination (primarily through madrassahs and mosques), recruitment, military training, and logistics including funding and arming. Since the 1970s Saudi Arabia has been disseminating Wahhabist Islamic material through the Middle East, Asia, Africa and the West. This material is fundamentally Islamist: pro-Sharia, pro-jihad, and virulently anti-Semitic and anti-Christian. This has been a primary source worldwide of Wahhabist ideology and Islamic radicalisation. The Islamic Revolution in Iran (1979) further radicalised and militarised the Shiites, whilst the Afghan jihad against the Russians (ended 1992) did the same with the Sunnis. Altogether this has led to the weakening of Arab and Persian nationalism (which was largely secular and progressive in nature) and the global resurgence of militant Islamism.

All Christians who believe in the principle of religious liberty - that all people should be free to believe, practise their faith, and even change their religion (Universal Declaration of Human Rights article 18) – should pray that the ideology of militant Islamism will fail and that the path to jihad and terror will be disrupted at every level. May God frustrate the ways of the wicked (Psalm 146:9b).

Malaysia Islamists protest religious-freedom forum

2006-07-26T00:54:00.000-04:00

KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - A Malaysian forum on freedom of religion drew an angry protest by Muslims on Saturday, revealing a sharp divide in this mainly Muslim nation over the issue of renouncing Islam.

Malaysia's constitution enshrines freedom of religion but Muslims cannot officially renounce Islam. Those who convert to another faith can be jailed by a local Islamic court.

About 300 protesters, including members of opposition Islamist party PAS, rallied in the southern city of Johor Baru, local news Web site Malaysiakini said.

Surrounded by riot police, they gathered outside a hotel where a group known as Article 11, named after the constitutional provision on freedom of religion, held the latest in a series of forums on the issue, Malaysiakini said.

"Cancel it! Cancel it! Allahu akhbar! (God is great)," protesters chanted. "Down with the infidels! Don't meddle with Islam!"

The forum went ahead, Malaysiakini said, but in May a similar forum had been disrupted in the northwest state of Penang after a noisy protest by Islamists.

Full story
asia.news.yahoo.com

Pope calls for 'day of prayer'

2006-07-23T21:56:00.000-04:00

POPE Benedict XVI has called for a day of prayer for an immediate ceasefire in the Middle East conflict on Sunday, the Vatican said today.

A statement from the Vatican said the pontiff had expressed "great concern" over the continuing violence. The pope earmarked this Sunday as "a special day of prayer and penitence" to "implore God for the precious gift of peace", the statement said.

The pope called on the faithful of "all Churches" to offer prayers "for the immediate ceasfire between the parties, the immediate installation of humanitarian corridors to allow aid to be brought to the suffering populations and to then initiate reasonable and responsible negotiations."

"The Lebanese people have the right to see the integrity and sovereignty of their country respected, the Israelis have the right to live in peace in their state and the Palestinians have the right to have their own free and sovereign state," the statement said.

Pope Benedict XVI , also called on humanitarian and charitable organisations "to help all the populations hit by this pitiless conflict."

Former Muslim: Islam causes Middle East violence

2006-07-21T03:14:00.000-04:00

LIMA — Daniel Shayesteh knows firsthand of the fighting in the Middle East.
And he said he knows why Hezbollah militia is fighting Israel from Lebanon.
“Islam is not a peaceful religion,” Shayesteh said. “We see that Islam is fighting all nations. They blame America. No, look at the Quran. Quran is saying this.”
Shayesteh, 50, was born in Iran and was a self-proclaimed militant Muslim. He helped Ayatollah Khomeini rise to power and force the Shah of Iran into exile in 1979.
Israel and Lebanon have been fighting since July 12. Two Israeli soldiers were captured by Hezbollah guerillas and prompted an aggressive offensive response from the Jewish state.
“The current situation really is not the fighting of two groups of people. It’s the holy war of Islam against the Jews, and it stems from the pages of the Quran,” Shayesteh said. “The Quran is clearly written that Jews should be demolished, and tradition says there should not be a single Jew in Israel.”

If Shayesteh returns to Iran, he will be executed. His mother and brothers are still in Iran.
“It makes us realize our freedoms,” Ralph Miller said.
A violent ideology
The people in Iran cannot stand President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Shayesteh said. He said more than 95 percent of Iranians hate their government.
Iran fuels the fighting in Lebanon, and Shayesteh said Iran funds Hezbollah.
“This Iranian president is a suicide bomber,” Shayesteh said. “He is just ready to die for Islam and demolish Israel.”
Muslim ideology is cloaked in violence because of the status of its creator, Muhammad, Shayesteh said. He said because the prophet fought in ancient wars, the Muslim holy book seeps with violence.

“Osama bin Laden is the servant of Islam. Islam is the enemy of this country,” he said. “Osama bin Laden can be changed, but Islam cannot. Osama bin Laden is just a tool in the hand of Islam.”

Shayesteh was heavily involved in the Iranian Fundamentalist Revolution and taught Islamic and religious philosophy in Iran.
After Khomeini was in power, Shayesteh helped spread propaganda and gain support from other militant Muslims near his hometown of Talesh in northern Iran.

“Anyone who followed Ayatollah Khomeini must be a radical Muslim,” Shayesteh said. “We were eager to overthrow the kingdom in Iran, and to do that you have to be a militant and radical Muslim.”
Khomeini put Shayesteh in charge of a revolutionary army that had a primary goal of killing all Jews in Israel and recapturing the Holy Land for Arabs.
Shayesteh then began spreading propaganda and training young Muslims.
“That was our main goal to mobilize all the boys and girls of the country and to teach them the terrorist actions,” Shayesteh said. “You have to terrorize Christians and Jews by frightening them. By killing them, you can take Islam to the countries and to the rest of the world.

“Islam is a harsh religion. There is no why in Islam.”

“Islam does not believe in freedom and democracy. You have to blindly follow the leader,”

Shayesteh said. “If you criticize Islam and Muhammad, your fingers should be chopped first and then your head.”

Reluctant convert
Once in Turkey, Shayesteh began visiting a Christian church that was harboring Iranian refugees.
He only went there because there were people there in his situation. He was not interested in Christianity.
“We as Muslims were always taught, ‘Do not touch Christians. They were impure,’” Shayesteh said.
He returned to the church week after week and grew interested in its message. Christians preaching respect of their enemies amazed Shayesteh.

See story and video:
www.limaohio.com

Malawi church petrol-bomb attack

2006-07-21T01:28:00.000-04:00

Police in Malawi are investigating a petrol-bomb attack at a church service in the capital, Lilongwe, which injured some 20 people, two of them seriously.

A Roman Catholic church priest said the blast took place during a morning service attended by hundreds.

A young man attending the service set fire to petrol he had concealed in a plastic bag, eyewitnesses said.

Catholic radio station head Father Gabriel Jana said he had no idea why anyone would want to attack the church.

"This guy just entered the church with a five-litre jerry can of petrol and set it alight; nobody knows why," he told the BBC.

He said one person who sat next to the bomber had severe burns and was currently in the intensive care unit at the city's Kamuzu Central Hospital.

Another man, who was trampled during the stampede, is also in hospital.

Father Jana said the congregation managed to put out the fire before it spread too far.

"It's too early to assess the damage," he said.

The unknown assailant reportedly ran off and escaped after the explosion.

Police spokesman Willie Mwaluka told AFP news agency: "We have intensified our investigations to establish whatever happened."

The Catholic Church in Malawi is the largest single religious denomination, accounting for almost half of the country's 12 million population.

news.bbc.co.uk

Two Church Buildings Attacked in Ethiopia

2006-07-21T01:17:00.000-04:00

In the town of Yebu, Ethiopia, local Christians were able to obtain a piece of land for the purpose of constructing a building where they could meet to worship. Aware of the dangers facing them from Muslims in the community, they had delayed construction until they finally decided that they would begin at midnight on July 2. The construction project continued until the following day, when an angry mob heard about what they were doing and attacked the workers. The Muslims completely destroyed the building. They confiscated the materials and used them to construct a building of their own. Many of the Christians were injured in the attack and two, Yoseph Gebresadek and Terefe Jirga, were still in hospital at last report. Three of the Christian leaders were also accused of disturbing the peace and stability of the region. If found guilty, the leaders could face imprisonment.

In another incident, the Assembly of God church in the town of Alemaya was lit on fire in the middle of the night on June 30. Thankfully, believers were able to intervene and prevent the total destruction of the building. Alemaya is ninety-eight percent Muslim and the church had been threatened with violence several times to stop evangelizing.

For more information on Ethiopia and the persecution facing Christians there, click here

100,000 Christians Demand Release Eritrea Believers From Prison

2006-07-21T00:50:00.000-04:00

LONDON/ASMARA (BosNewsLife) -- Three major advocacy groups have given the Eritrean Embassy in London a petition signed by over 100,000 people demanding the release of Christians jailed for their faith, organizers said Wednesday, July 19.

The petition was handed over by officials from Open Doors, Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW) and Release International, BosNewsLife learned. The three organizations, who say they serve persecuted Christians around the world, wanted to "demonstrate the strength of concern of Christians in the United Kingdom," Open Doors said.

Up to 2,000 Christians are believed to be imprisoned in Eritrea. Some have been locked away in camps or metal shipping containers in the searing heat of the desert, investigators and other sources said.

At least around 1,800 Christians have been locked away by the military government in Eritrea which Open Doors said "mistakenly associates Evangelical Christianity with political dissent."

The group added that 109,653 people have signed the petition calling on Eritrea to set them free, and of these, 73,218 signatures were obtained from Open Doors supporters.

GOVERNMENT DENIES

Eritrea's government has denied human rights abuses saying that no groups or persons are persecuted in the country for their beliefs or religion.

President Isaias Afworki has been quoted as saying that several religious groups have been "duped by foreigners" who sought to "distract from the unity of the Eritrean people and distort the true meaning of religion." Critics say the government's version of religion often leads to tensions with especially Christians who actively express their faith in Christ.

CHURCHES BANNED

Since May of 2002, the Eritrean government banned all Christian churches independent of the Orthodox, Catholic and Lutheran communities, although rights watchers claim that even 'official' churches are increasingly persecuted.

"The fact that the Eritrean government denies the existence of religious persecution in their country is one of the main reasons for the petition," Lyle said.

"We want the Eritrean authorities to know that Christians in the UK are standing alongside their imprisoned brothers and sisters in Christ."

REFUGEE CAMP

Eritrean Christians who fled to a refugee camp in neighboring Ethiopia have described being beaten and tortured, news reports said. Some had been sentenced to hard labor or held underground in total darkness for days, according to investigators.

Eritrea has closed Evangelical churches and is keeping known Christians under close surveillance. Many have been ordered to sign a letter recanting their faith, Open Doors and other groups claim. In addition some Christian refugees were reportedly forced to leave their wives and children behind as the alternative would have been to face indefinite detention.

Read the whole article here:
www.worthynews.com

Father Werenfried van Straaten, man with an extraordinary mission

2006-07-20T01:02:00.000-04:00

"One venture led to the next. I lived only in the present, from day to day. I never had a long-range plan. Each time one project was achieved, God gave me a new one; what I had to do was always clear. I am no theorist;: I am a doer. I trust in divine Providence, in the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, and I try to do what God expects of me."

- Father Werenfried van Straaten

Father Werenfried van Straaten, founder of the international Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need, with headquarters in Königstein, near Frankfurt,
died on January 31,2003 at the age of 90.

A man who worked tirelessly to support the persecuted and menaced Church worldwide, Father Werenfried was known for his bold initiatives as well as compelling sermons and fund-raising skills as he undertook many an extraordinary mission.

What began as an initiative in 1947 to help starving German refugees from the East, grew into the largest Church aid organization of the post-war period that now raises some $70 million annually, distributed to more than 7,000 church projects in over 130 countries.

Under Father Werenfried's direction, the growing organization turned to providing support for Christians and Churches under Soviet domination. Father Werenfried traveled to raise awareness, provide material help and procure religious literature for what he referred to as the "Church of Silence" - Catholic communities suffering or banned under the Communist regimes of Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union.

His endeavors, as noted in The New York Times , at times involved "venturing, sometimes clandestinely, into the Soviet sphere to meet with Church leaders and judge the situation on the ground."

A newsletter titled the Mirror, begun in 1953 and now circulated in seven languages, documented instances of persecution of Churches and the faithful. As noted in the magazine Inside the Vatican, "In it, for half a century, Father Werenfried wrote his famous letters, challenging, inspiring, moving and uncompromising. Often he confronted the Church and moral issues which many others no longer dared address."

"The organization," as noted in The New York Times obituary, "gained papal recognition once it turned to providing support for Christians and Churches under Soviet domination." During the Second Vatican Council Father Werenfried met 60 Eastern European bishops, pledging his support for their hard-pressed faithful.

In 1960 ACN extended its aid beyond Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union, and initiated projects in Latin America, Africa and Asia.

Born in the Netherlands in 1917, Philipp van Straaten studied philosophy and classical studies at Utrecht University, where he was heavily involved in Christian political movements. Rejecting politics for the monastic life, he entered the Norbertine Order in 1934, taking the name Werenfried (Warrior for Peace). He was ordained a priest in 1940.

As a young Norbertine monk in Tongerlo, Belgium, he edited the abbey newsletter, Tower, in which at Christmas 1947 he wrote an article titled "Peace on Earth? No Room at the Inn," appealing for help for the 14 million Germans expelled from the Eastern territories, 6 million of whom were Catholics. As noted in the magazine Inside the Vatican, "His courageous and solitary call for love and forgiveness among his countrymen for their former enemies received an overwhelming response ... Knowing the people were more likely to have sides of cured bacon than money, ... he urged them to contribute as much of it as they could to help the starving refugees; the quantity he collected soon earned him the nickname by which he would be known to his dying day: 'the Bacon Priest.' "

Among his early projects was a program undertaken in Königstein, providing transport for the 3,000 "rucksack priests" - Catholic priests from among the displaced refugee population who ministered as best they could to their scattered flocks, resettled in mainly Protestant areas of Germany. By 1950 he was financing the first "chapel trucks" - converted buses used as mobile churches.

According to the London-based newspaper The Independent (Digital) , the campaign "marked the beginning of the organization Iron Curtain Church Relief which would, in 1969, become Aid to the Church in Need (after Pope Paul VI had bowed to pressure from [Yugoslavia's President Josip Broz] Tito to have it change its name)." Father Werenfried titled his 1965 history of the organization "They Call Me the Bacon Priest."

As noted in The Independent, Father Werenfried "was a strong supporter of those who refused to compromise with the Communist authorities, such as Cardinal Jozsef Mindszenty in Hungary and Cardinal Josyf Slipyj in Ukraine, both of whom suffered imprisonment, and later an unhappy exile where they felt boxed in by the dictates of the Vatican." Father Werenfried's "combative anti-Communism," as referred to in The New York Times notice, "at times left him at odds with official Vatican policy, and led liberal Church elements in England to stop donations, dismissing him as the 'last general of the Cold War.' "

The Independent refers to Father Werenfried first meeting with Cardinal Slipyj in Rome in 1963 after the latter was "expelled from the Soviet Union on Nikita Khrushchev's order."

In 1991, as noted by the London Times Online, ACN "financed the return of the exiled archbishop of Lviv and his retinue to Ukraine. Van Straaten flew with the cardinal [Lubachivsky] from Rome the day after Cardinal Lubachivsky took possession of his cathedral, only just returned to the Church by the authorities. Van Straaten himself was hailed as a hero by more than 100,000 people in the City Square before the Opera House."

Moreover, as noted by Felix Corley of The Independent, "In a far-sighted policy, ACN gave vital financial support to émigré Church institutions, such as the Ukrainian Catholic University in Rome, believing that, when communism eventually gave way to a more open system, the continued existence of Catholic intellectual life in those cultures would speed the recovery of the Church in their respective homelands."

With the collapse of communism and particularly the ascension of the Polish-born Pope John Paul II, ACN continued its drive to aid those in need. Referring to the close relationship between Father Werenfried and Pope John Paul, the London Times wrote - "Both interpreted world events in a spiritual light and believed that the secularized West needed re-evangelisation as much as the former Communist countries or those in the Third World."

ACN was active in supporting Arab refugees in the Middle East, as well as refugees from China, North Korea and North Vietnam. In 1962, at the encouragement of Pope John XXIII, Father Werenfried extended ACN's work to Latin America, making his first visit to the continent. He was visibly shocked by the poverty in the favelas (shanty towns) of Rio de Janeiro.

Referring to Father Werenfried as a "servant of God who was unafraid to wrestle with his Master," Inside the Vatican singled out his trip to Brazil, citing the incident during which he prayed before the huge statue of Christ in Rio de Janeiro: "Lord Jesus Christ, I have come from afar in order to speak to You on behalf of the poor. On the way I have seen with horror and taken into my heart the needs of the millions. Permit me to say to You that what I have seen on this continent is a scandal."

In 1965 he began work in Africa. As noted in The Independent, "during the genocide in Burundi in 1972 he was arrested, but managed to escape and gain sanctuary in the Vatican nunciature before being expelled." After his 1965 visit to Congo, he founded the Daughters of the Resurrection: a unique religious congregation, open to young African women with no formal education.

Among Father Werenfried's latest initiatives, as reported in both Inside the Vatican and The Independent, was the effort to overcome the mutual distrust between Catholics and the Russian Orthodox (in schism since 1054) as well as to end the schism in the Catholic Church in China - initiatives that proved to be controversial for some Catholics as well as Orthodox, and difficult for some underground bishops and priests to accept.

As noted in The Independent's obituary, "even in his 80s when he [Father Werenfried] had already given up day-to-day involvement in ACN's management, he continued to tour the world, visiting projects and drumming up support for the charity's work."

"His tricks of the trade seldom varied. His self-deprecatory humor and his carefully cultivated image of a simple man masked a peasant cunning. He never went anywhere without his famous begging hat, originally made by Dunn & Co. of London and long worn out." Often to be found at the back of the church or hall, after his countless sermons and appeals (up to 90 a month), Father Werenfried used the hat to collect millions of dollars in donations for the charity.

Read more about Fr. Werenfried van Straaten
and about Aid Tp The Church In Need
www.kirche-in-not.org/

Donations Increase to Aid to the Church in Need

2006-07-19T18:10:00.000-04:00

International Charity Supports Nearly 6,000 Projects in 2005

ROME, JULY 18, 2006 (Zenit.org)- Aid to the Church in Need received some 74.4 million euros (93 million dollars) in 2005, enabling them to finance 5,852 Church projects in 145 countries.

The 2005 balance sheet of the international charity reflects the contributions of benefactors in Europe, North and South America and Australia.

The figure reflects an increase of 6.5% over the previous year, stated a communiqué issued by the association's Italian press.

Again in 2005, Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) concentrated its support on the construction of religious buildings -- allocating 24.8% to the construction of churches, chapels, seminaries and convents -- and to theological formation, allocating approximately 21.4% of the funds to scholarships for 400 seminarians, novices, priests and nuns to study at Pontifical Universities.

The life of the Church in all the continents was also supported last year with particular pastoral aid (21.6%), Mass intentions for priests in difficulties (13.8%), biblical apostolate (5.6%), means of transportation for programs of pastoral care (4.4%), media apostolate (3.8%) and support of nuns (2.9%).

Extraordinary aid was allocated in 2005 for humanitarian emergencies (1.7%), among which was aid for people hit by the tsunami at the end of 2004.

Projects

ACN highlighted some of last year's projects, such as construction of the Greek-Catholic seminary of the Holy Spirit in Lviv, Ukraine, inaugurated last Aug. 27, where 250 seminarians can receive formation.

The association's press office in Australia reported that the Catholic Church in Russia was helped (with one million euros), as were inter-confessional projects (also about one million euros) and the Russian Orthodox Church (more than 720,000 euros), especially for the formation of priests.

The priority in Africa was for countries like Sudan and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, still suffering the consequences of prolonged civil wars.

ACN's Italian office also reported that 100,000 copies in the Tiv language of the child's Bible "God Speaks to His Children," one of the association's projects, helped to support the ecclesial pastoral program in Nigeria.

The communiqué noted as "extremely significant for the Church in Cuba," the support given by ACN to families of the country's eleven dioceses with the gift at Christmas of 500,000 images of the Child Jesus, an initiative to which Italian benefactors especially contributed.

In regard to information and sensitization activities vis-à-vis the persecuted Church, of note is the publication of the "Annual Report on Religious Freedom in the World," whose latest edition -- presented to the press last June 27 -- brought to light the substantial problems connected with the vulnerability of this human right in 2005.

Founded in 1947 by Dutch Premonstratensian priest Father Werenfried van Straaten (1913-2003), ACN supports poor and persecuted Churches -- not just Catholic but also of other Christian denominations -- with prayer, pastoral help and material aid.

ACN does not receive official contributions from the Church or public funds.

Its main headquarters are in the German city of Koenigstein; it has national offices in 17 countries.

Hitler’s Goddaughter Participates In Festival Of Life 2006 In Southern Poland

2006-07-19T17:38:00.000-04:00

She joins with 150 Americans and scores of Polish Christians to bring the Gospel to the people of Wisla

WISLA, POLAND (ANS) -- The goddaughter Rosemary of Adolph Hitler is participating in a unique outreach to Southern Poland so she can share her story of forgiveness in a country that suffered so much at the hands of her godfather.

Rosemary Claussen, whose own father was later executed by the Nazi’s for being sympathetic to the plight of Jewish people, is joining 150 Americans and scores of Polish Christians for the Festival of Life 2006 being held in Wisla (pronounced VEEZ-WA), led by San Diego pastor, Mike MacIntosh.

“Rosemarie is a friend of Pastor Mike and when she heard of the Festival, she said that she was goingo travel from her home in another part of Europe at her own expenses to share her story of forgiveness, said Mickey Stonier, assistant pastor at Horizon Christian Fellowship.

The festival, which ends on Sunday, July 23, includes several mini festivals throughout Southern Poland, which include music concerts, extreme sports demonstrations that feature BMX bike acrobatics, children’s ministries and lots of clowns.

Musicians and bands performing during the festival include Johnny and Sarah MacIntosh, Trevor Davis, Castle Door, and Polish bands, Chili My and Mateo.

Festival teams are also involved in community service projects such as visiting disabled orphans, children’s hospitals, and also an outreach to the local prison.

Understanding the needs of pastor’s wives, Mike and Sandy MacIntosh hosted a gathering on Tuesday for some 30 wives of Polish pastors. At the event, the wives heard practical messages of encouragement from Sandy and Karen Stonier.

Mike MacIntosh, who made his first trip to Poland in 1979, will address a large crowd tomorrow night (Thursday) in the town’s amphitheater and will then invite people to receive Christ as their savior. His Gospel message will be the climax of each day’s activities for the next few evenings.

A unique part of the festival is the cooperation between Catholics and Protestants. I asked Henry Kroll, a local Protestant leader who is helping to organize the festival to explain this.

“Poland is a Catholic country and if we would not like to cooperate with Catholics, the best thing for us to do is to emigrate,” he said. “The important thing for us to do as we organize this festival is to find some real connections and there are some real revival movements within the Catholic church and the priests responsible for these movements look on us as their allies. If we want crowds to attend the meetings, it should be done with the Catholic church because that is where the people are.”

Today, Wednesday, Mike MacIntosh hosted a meeting for the American and Polish organizers of Festival of Life 2006 and it was quite a sight to see Catholic charismatic priests enjoying a meal together with Baptist and Lutheran pastors, something that you would probably not see in any other country than Poland.

One of the attendees from San Diego told me, “Poland knows better than most countries that peace cannot be attained by ignoring evil. Neville Chamberlain taught that lesson well, but most of Europe and half of the U.S. is hoping that man’s current crisis can be wished away. But the Bible tells us to aim higher; that peace is a derivative of the pursuit of a higher goal. Seek God, and all these things will be added unto you. One of those ‘things’ will be peace, regardless of your outward circumstances.

“So, at the Festival of Life in Wisla, Poland, everything will be provided free to the public, as that is the policy of Horizon: Freely they have received; so freely they give. But you may still have a hesitancy. In some ways it may sound too good or too easy. There must be a catch. Why would hundreds of people fly at their own expense to Poland, spend their vacation time working very long hours in a country unfamiliar to most of them, and sharing their lives with people they will likely not see again? Such is the love that God has for Poland.”

Christians Urged to Unite in Prayer for Middle East Peace

2006-07-19T17:13:00.000-04:00

(CT)Major Middle East-focused charitable NGO, BibleLands, has appealed to UK Christians to pray for an end to the escalating conflicts in Lebanon and Gaza.

The Christian Charity, which works with disadvantaged and vulnerable people throughout the region, has received urgent prayer requests from its Project Partners on the ground.

Biblelands reveals it has been given first-hand accounts of the constant danger from air strikes and rocket attacks, and the blockades that threaten to sever vital supplies.

The Rev. Dr Riad Kassis, Principal of the Schneller School in Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley reported to Biblelands: “Every hour, the situation worsens. So far we are safe, but trapped due to the bombing of roads and bridges to Beirut.

“It is not safe to travel by car as civilian vehicles are also targeted. Please join with us in prayer at this difficult time.”

In Beirut itself, staff at one of BibleLands partner projects - a Home for disadvantaged and orphaned girls - have reported that they are trying to continue their normal routines as normal, but the young residents are terrified that there could be an attack on the power station close by.

Two medical facilities in Gaza, which are supported by the Christian charity, are also facing a huge burden of power and water shortages as well as dwindling supplies of essential drugs.

Biblelands reports that all communication has broken down and that its staff are increasingly concerned for their welfare.

BibleLands’ Director, Nigel Edward-Few, has urged churches and individuals to join in prayer for those of all faiths in the Middle East who are suffering.

He said, “This situation of destruction and terror calls for immediate prayer to back up BibleLands’ practical aid.

“I appeal to Christians to pray for those in danger in Gaza, Lebanon and the surrounding areas, and for wisdom that will recognise the futility of continuing this devastating conflict and that will bring it to a speedy end.”

Pope Benedict Completing New Book

2006-07-19T16:59:00.000-04:00

The Vatican has released a statement declaring that Pope Benedict XVI is currently writing a new book on Jesus, which is set to become the second major theological work since he was installed into his position.

The Vatican has released a statement declaring that Pope Benedict XVI is currently writing a new book on Jesus, which is set to become the second major theological work since he was installed into his position.

The Roman Catholic head is expected to complete his work on the book before the end of the summer.

The book is expected to focus centrally on Jesus, the human race and Christianity’s relationship with other prominent world faiths.

The Pope began the work prior to becoming Pope in April 2005, and its release now comes at a time when an urgent need has been identified by the Vatican to restore a stronger faith amongst Catholic followers across the world.

More here:
christiantoday.com

Interview: SAT-7 Founder on the Power of Christian Television in Middle-East

2006-07-17T02:33:00.000-04:00

The international CEO/Founder of the first Christian television network for the Middle East, Terry Ascott, spoke on Tuesday about SAT-7’s impact on Christians and Muslims in the Middle East.

The international CEO/Founder of the first Christian television network for the Middle East, Terry Ascott, spoke on Tuesday about SAT-7’s impact on Christians and Muslims in the Middle East.
The following are excerpts from the interview:

SAT-7 can be seen as a ministry or even a powerful evangelism tool. How is it that Islamic governments allow SAT-7 to remain on air?

Ascott: While Christians are a minority, they are allowed the freedom to worship and the freedom to share their faith in some areas. It is not totally unthinkable for Christians to have satellite TV.
We have programs that never attack other religions and they are not in the position of evangelising Muslims. Instead they are there foremost to support Christians.

There is growing divisions in Sudan between the Islamic government and Christians. Can you explain why this is occurring and what kind of effects this has on Christians?

Ascott: There has been ongoing conflict between the Muslim North and Christian South, but mostly this is an ethnic conflict between a Muslim North and a non-Muslim south. Darfur is more of an African-Arab conflict.
Christians have been suffering terribly from the conflict, including slavery and exile by the thousands into deprived social services. There has also been a lot of misery and forced conversion.
At the same time, the church in Southern Sudan is the fastest growing in Africa. So it’s like when the extremist Islamic groups have done their worst, often the result is growth in the church. .

Reports have indicated that there is an accelerating population decline of Christians in the Middle East. What is your take on this statement?

Ascott: This has been going on for the last century.
Many of the people who leave are doctors, engineers and they leave behind an improvised church which lacks leadership and resources. It is very tragic because the cream of the church is the first to leave – they have the means, they have the connection and all of this does not bode well for the future of Christians in the Middle East.

Do you think that SAT-7 has any role to play with the Christians remaining in the region?

Ascott: Certainly, because we can provide systematic, good, and sound teaching as well as encouraging Christian music. We can provide children programming for Christian families who live in isolated places where there isn’t even a church that they can attend.
For example, there are tens of thousands Coptic Christians working in Saudi Arabia. There are no places of worship in Saudi Arabia today for Christians or any non-Muslims to meet. There are fellowships and meeting at embassy compounds, but there are no places of worship for Christians, certainly not for Coptic Christians because liturgy can only be led by members of the clergy and members of the clergy are not allowed to take off their official garments of ecclesiastical wear so they are not allowed in Saudi Arabia wearing these garments.
So Christians living in places like Saudi Arabia never get to attend communion, Eucharist, or mass and their children don’t get Sunday school teaching and they don’t get Christian books, videos, and material. So SAT-7 provides these children the only source of [Christian] education apart from what their families will teach them.
Certainly, there is no worship service, no encouragement, no solid Christian biblical teaching and no Christian-based movie or inspiration story. Without SAT-7, they would have nothing.

What important role has SAT-7 play in Christian-Muslim relations?

Ascott: While we are in the position as a channel to strengthen and encourage the church, it is obvious that many non-Christians and Muslims are watching the channel. I think the real value of that is – obviously some of them become very sympathetic with the Christian faith – but the majority of them have negative stereotypes dispelled. I mean if you take a typical Muslim, his understanding of Christianity is based on what he learned at school about the crusades or what he saw on television. Let’s say, for example, that he watched Baywatch. [It is] an American show portraying what he believes to be normal Christian or America lifestyle and there is no separation between American and Christian in his mind.
And so portrayals of immorality, portrayals of violence, abuse and problems in society – these all are portrayals of Christianity and he rejects that kind of Christianity, in the same way that we would not in our society call much of what goes on in our society Christian; we call it pagan, heathen, hedonistic, and materialistic.
So SAT-7 has been able to dispel this misunderstanding about Christian and the Christian faith and that in itself has been able to create a much more positive climate for Christians in the Middle East.
They are no longer thought to be dishonest, immoral, worshipping three gods, having a corrupted Bible, etc. We have gotten some of these issues dealt with in the minds of Muslims so it makes the environment less hostile to them and it helps them to work, to witness, and provide a much better climate for Muslim-Christian relations.
Many Muslims in the Middle East hear the Gospel for the first time through SAT-7. In fact, we are going into millions of homes today, we have between five to six million viewers in the Middle East and North Africa and many of the people watching today have never even met a Christian in their life so this is a very unique and wonderful opportunity for them to hear the Christian message for the first time from other Arab Christians. It is not a foreign message. We are not subtitling Benny Hinn. We have Arab Christians speaking to Arab Muslims heart-to-heart and that is very powerful.

Is there anything you would like to add or say to Christians around the world?

Ascott: There are many exciting things that are going on in the Middle East and I think we only hear the bad news in the Middle East.
Also, we need to really pull together our resources. There are 160 different Arabic language television channels, even the American government has supported a channel called Alhura, with the view to win hearts and minds and yet Christians are very slow.
In this country last year, we spent 2.5 billion dollars on Christian television and radio for North America, and in the Middle East we spent about 10 million. It is a joke because in North America it is like a nice additional service for Christians, but in the Middle East it is the only way you are going to have an impact on people; it is the prime resource of information and entertainment in the Middle East. We really need to redeploy some of these resources from North America to the Middle East because this is a unique opportunity and a unique time to make a difference in the Middle East.

[Interview conducted by Michelle Vu, Christian Today Correspondent]

First-Ever Bible Commentary Entirely Written by African Theologians Published

2006-07-16T20:40:00.000-04:00

The very first Bible commentary authored by African theologians has been published in Kenya.

The very first Bible commentary authored by African theologians has been published in Kenya.

More than 70 contributors from 25 separate countries have put together the commentary, which aims to offer an insight to the Bible but with an African perspective.

Local proverbs and folklore have been provided to help readers interpret the Scripture in a more applicable light.

Also included in the commentary are contemporary issues such as HIV/Aids, female genital mutilation, refugees, ethnic conflict and witchcraft.

The commentary has been published by the evangelical publisher Zondervan, and has attempted to give a section-by-section interpretation of the Bible.

The editor of the book, Tokunboh Adeyemo, says it is not a replacement for the Bible at all, but simply tries to make the contents more clear and easy to understand for Christians in Africa.

The 70 African religious leaders were asked to remain faithful to their own cultures as well as the Bible in their commentaries. Adeyemo said, “It is a weaving of word of the Bible and the word of Africa,” according to the BBC.

More here:
www.christiantoday

Nigerian Pastor Forgives as Militants Burn Church, Attack Family

2006-07-16T20:14:00.000-04:00

A Nigerian pastor, whose church was torched by rioters, has described how a Muslim boy saved him from an angry mob.

A Nigerian pastor, whose church was torched by rioters, has described how a Muslim boy saved him from an angry mob. Pastor Augustine Aifuobhokhan’s family were threatened with murder and the pastor believes the Muslim militants have declared a religious war on Christians in the region. Yet he has declared that he forgives them.

The church, Amazing Grace Chapel in Maiduguri, Borno State, was one of 56 churches destroyed by militants during the latest wave of violent attacks against Christians.

In the attacks 50 Christians were killed, with 18 burnt to death, during violent protests against the Mohammed cartoons in Denmark, report Release International (RI).

RI report that: “A mob piled chairs to the ceiling of Amazing Grace chapel then poured in petrol and set the altar cloth alight. Picking his way through the rubble Pastor Augustine described the events of that day, February 18 2006.”

Pastor Aifuobhokhan said, “Churches were burnt and pastors and Christian houses were targets. In some houses the Muslims were removed and Christians beaten and burnt.

“We have no doubt that this is completely a war on Christians,” he said.

A team from Release International went to Maiduguri and uncovered clear evidence that the attacks against Christians were highly organised, with militants despatched to locations around the town and instructed over mobile phones which churches to destroy and whose homes to target.

Pastor Aifuobhokhan’s house was besieged by hundreds who eventually broke into the premises determined to kill the whole family. He testifies that it was only the power of prayer that saved him.

He described the ordeal: “They met me with daggers drawn and other dangerous weapons. I was asking them, ‘Why will you kill me? We have lived here together for over 18 years.’ And their leader walked up to me with his dagger hand up to strike. But as they got in front of me Almighty God intervened and he brought the hand of the leader down.”

Instead of murdering the pastor, the mob simply demanded money and left quickly. However, later in the day another group turned up, and then two more. Each time they came Pastor Aifuobhokhan confronted them and they left.

However, during the fourth attack a young man ran between the mob and the pastor and begged for his life.

He shouted at the mob, “If you want to kill them, you must kill me first.”

Pastor Ruth Aifuobhokhan describes the event: “This young boy stood between my husband and the crowd. He was begging and pleading that he should not be killed, that they should please spare his life, that he was his friend.”

Shocking to everyone there at the time, the young boy was a Muslim.
More here:
www.christiantoday

Two Montegnard Degar Christians Killed in Prison

2006-07-16T19:59:00.000-04:00

Wife Denied Body of Her Dead Husband by Vietnamese Authorities

SPARTANBURG, S.C. (ANS) -- A Christian man was denied food and water by Vietnamese authorities in Ha Nam prison and tortured to death.

According to a news release from the Montagnard Foundation, Siu Lul, 62, was denied food and water by Vietnamese authorities in Ha Nam prison and tortured to death. He was from the village of Ploi Kueng, Habong commune, Cu Se District, Gia Lai Province and had been incarcerated at the prison in Ha Nam since 2004. On April 24 2006 he died from the effects of torture and lack of water and food.

On the day that Siu Lul died, the Montagnard Foundation stated, his wife did not have money to transport her husband’s body back to her village, so she agreed that he could be buried in Ha Nam. But in May 2006, Siu Lul’s widow asked the Vietnamese authorities how she could retrieve her late husband’s body and return it to her village for a Christian funeral.

But, the authorities told her that she could not bring her husband’s body back to her village until the time for his prison sentence had passed. In this kind of attitude, the Vietnamese authorities really show their hatred toward Degar people.

Another Degar Prisoner Dies from Torture

In another case, a Christian man called Siu Dolel, from Ploi Oi village, Ia Ke commune, Ayun Pa district, Gialai province, was arrested, tortured and imprisoned in Ha Nam on Dec. 22, 2004.

According to our contacts, in May 2006, the prison authorities tortured him again by kicking, boxing and beating him with electric batons until his right and left rib cages were broken. On June 25 2006, Vietnamese officials came to his wife’s house and told her that her husband had died in prison and asked her if she wanted to see his body before burial. Unfortunately, his wife did not have money to go see him, and officials then confiscated his identification card from her and left.

Who are the Montagnard Degar People?

The indigenous Montagnard Degar People have suffered decades of persecution by the government of Vietnam. According to the Montagnard Foundation they have experienced confiscation of their ancestral lands, Christian religious repression, torture, killings and imprisonment. In July 2006 the U.S. State Department continued to keep Vietnam on the “watch list” of countries that are the worst violators of religious freedom.

According to the Montagnard Foundation, currently more than 350 Degar prisoners remain in Vietnamese prisons for charges that include standing up for human rights, spreading Christianity or for fleeing to Cambodia.

Montagnard Foundation Asks for Help from International Community
More here:
http://www.assistnews.net/Stories/s06070061.htm

EFI protests ouster of Catholic nuns from govt. leprosy hospital in Gujarat

2006-07-16T19:43:00.000-04:00

(in.christiantoday),The Evangelical Fellowship of India has condemned the Gujarat Government's decision to terminate the contract of five Catholic nuns belonging to Salesian Missionaries of Mary Immaculate in spite of their faithful service to the patients in the city's government leprosy hospital for over 57 years on the grounds that they were allegedly preaching Christianity to the patients.

According to the evangelical body, instead of recognizing the nuns' tireless service to leprosy patients, the state government of Gujarat used "conversion" and "preaching Christianity" as an excuse to terminate their employment.

Many leprosy patients, like Babban Sitapur, are also protesting the decision and have vowed that they will follow the sisters wherever they go. "They are everything for us," said Babban Sitapur. "Not even our family members take such care of us."

Another patient, Chinga Powar, recalled that in a Maharashtrian hospital, doctors would "not even come near us. The nurses would give out tablets in a plastic bag tied to a stick. The toilets were never cleaned, because lepers used it. We were treated worse than animals."

Eventually when someone reported to him about the Ahmedabad hospital and the Catholic nuns, Powar left the Maharashtra hospital. He covered all his wounds, using a shawl to hide his face and rode in the back of a bus to Ahmedabad.

According to news reports, Powar also helped two other patients from the hospital in Maharashtra to come to Ahmedabad. "[In the beginning] I didn't know the place, but I knew it was managed by Christian nuns, which was enough inspiration to come here," Powar recalled.

"It is clear that conversion is merely being used as ploy to carry out the Gujarat governments agenda to hamper the Christian community's service in public space," said Rev. Richard Howell, general secretary, EFI. "It is deeply regretted that the Gujarat Government in stead of recognizing the nuns' tireless service to leprosy patients has used the state machinery to disrupt and stop their work with total disregard of the consequences for the leprosy patients."

The EFI has urged the Christian community nationwide to pray for the persecuted Christians in Gurajat and petition to the concerned authorities on behalf of the Catholic nuns.

Surojit Chatterjee
surojit@christiantoday.co.in

Major Military Escalation in Lebanon Won’t Stop Christian Television

2006-07-15T15:28:00.000-04:00

BEIRUT, LEBANON (ANS) -- Despite the almost constant bombing of Beirut by Israeli planes, as they step up their offensive to free two Israeli soldiers seized by Hezbollah, Christian satellite television organization SAT-7's office in Beirut remains undamaged.

International CEO Terry Ascott said the toll can already be seen psychologically. The SAT-7 staff continues to broadcast the message of hope and peace, but "a cloud of depression is settling over Lebanon. The sounds of explosions rattle the streets, bringing back memories of the sectarian violence that plagued the region for nearly two decades," Ascott said.

"I would ask prayer for all the Christians in Lebanon," said Ascott, "that they would be beacons of light and hope and optimism, that they wouldn't be caught up in the national gloom, and that the love and the peace of Christ that is in their hearts would radiate through."

The strikes took out power stations, leaving much of the community without electricity, as well as air conditioners, refrigerators, or televisions. "The Lebanese are quite resourceful," Ascott said. "They have seen this before during 20 years of civil war and disturbances. Many of the areas do have backup generators so they can keep essential appliances working, and television is one of the essential appliances."

As their teams keep programming running, Ascott said, "We do ask for all supporters of SAT-7 to pray for the stability of Lebanon and the safety of our staff and operations."

SAT-7 can be viewed via satellite in the Middle East, North Africa, Europe, and much of Central Asia. Programming can also be watched worldwide at www.SAT7.org . Through locally-produced Arabic children's programming, talk shows, teaching programs, music, serial dramas, and documentaries, SAT-7 provides large audiences with a unique opportunity to hear an accurate presentation of Christian truths in their own language through programming created by their own people. Launched in 1996, SAT-7 is an Arabic Christian television service by and for the people of the Middle East and North Africa, and has its U.S. headquarters in Easton, Md.

http://www.assistnews.net

How an Egyptian-born couple have turned their home into America’s first 24/7 Arabic Christian TV channel

2006-07-15T15:19:00.000-04:00

Called Alkarma TV, it is now proving a hit with the millions of Arabic speakers in North America and many are finding Christ

Mona, Samuel and Michael Drzymkowski at KWVE studios after taping Dan Wooding's Front Page Radio show on a previous occasion.

LOS ANGELES, CA (ANS) -- Samuel and Mona, an Egyptian born couple now living in Southern California, are two of the most self-effacing people you could ever meet.

Both hail from Cairo in Egypt, but instead of settling for the American dream of having a home in the suburbs, they have decided instead to make history.

For this gentle husband and wife team has dug deep into their own pockets to launch the first 24/7 Arabic Christian television channel in America called Alkarma TV, which means “The Vineyard” in Arabic.

And they run it out of their own home and aim it to the estimated 12 million Arabic speaking people in the US, Canada, and Mexico.

In a recent interview for my Window on the World radio show, I asked them both to begin by outlining their early life in Egypt before they moved to America.

Samuel began by explaining, “My father was responsible for a church in Cairo, Egypt, and I grew up in this church but then the authorities closed it down. So he then moved to another church and I was responsible for running the Sunday school there from 1985 to 1995. Later, I was responsible also for a youth meeting at the church. I was also involved in counseling ministry until I came here to the United States.”

For those who would like to help Samuel and Mona continue this vital ministry, you can go to their website, which is www.alkarmatv.com/, or call their number which is: (714) 421 4019 and make a gift.

If you would like to listen to the four audio interviews with Samuel and Mona, please go to www.assistnews.net/audio/windowontheworldaudio.asp.

Please pray for this unique and dedicated couple.

More here:
www.assistnews.net/

Organization Teaches Web Evangelists How To Minister Online

2006-07-15T11:30:00.000-04:00

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (ANS) -- The Internet is proving to be a great tool for Christian evangelists.
For Christians from ministries as large as Campus Crusade for Christ to small local churches, as well as individuals working solo, those who begin sharing the gospel online are finding it rewarding and economical.

However, good training to help share the gospel more effectively in cyberspace is always helpful, and one group has stepped up to the plate to do just that.

According to an organizational news release, Cybermissions.Org is a website devoted to training people in Internet evangelism and Cybermissions (the cross-cultural aspect of online ministry).
Cybermissions.Org has three six-week courses which help Great Commission-minded Christians use the Internet to reach the world for Jesus.

Cybermissions 101 deals with theory, Cybermissions 102 deals with practical aspects of Internet evangelism, and Cybermissions 103 looks at how to set up an Internet cafe or computer center as a missions base.

The course lecturer is John Edmiston, an Australian missionary who has been familiar with the Internet since 1991. He is also a lecturer at the California-based Fuller Theological Seminary.

The next Cybermissions 101 course begins on Mon. July 17. Those interested can enroll online at www.cybermissions.org/training .

The Internet, the Cybermissions web site points out, may also be used for theological training, support of missionaries and counseling as well as pastor training and leadership development.

Gathering for Altar servers builds fellowship, strengthens faith

2006-07-15T02:48:00.000-04:00

Tegal, Indonesia (UCAN) -- Altar boys and girls serving in coastal parishes of a Central Java diocese found fellowship and spiritual enrichment at a recent gathering held especially for them.

About 450 altar servers from six parishes of Purwokerto diocese's North Deanery took part in the Grand Gathering of Altar Boys and Girls. It was held June 25 in the Sacred Heart of Jesus Church compound in Tegal, capital of Tegal district in Central Java province, 270 kilometers east of Jakarta.

Organized by the deanery's subcommission for liturgy, the gathering, the fourth of its kind, had the theme Promoting Creativity and Service.

Father Antonius Ary Setiawan, moderator of the subcommission, told UCA News after the gathering, "Altar servers are part of the Church, and this gathering aims to build friendship among them and to develop their creativity, skills and knowledge of their service."

He said the triennial event also is a good opportunity for young Catholics living in these coastal parishes to interact with one another.

Many children from these areas come from wealthy families, and living a relatively comfortable lifestyle could make them individualistic, he noted. But by becoming altar servers, "they learn to appreciate work and to care about others, and they get regular spiritual guidance." The gathering, he added, also helps provide a peer support group for them.

Frans de Sales Yuda Kusyanto, an 11-year-old altar boy from St. Luke Church in Pemalang, told UCA News the event helped build friendship among the altar servers. "I am happy to meet many other altar boys and girls," said Kusyanto, who became an altar boy this year.

He recalled being scolded by a priest for making a mistake during a service, but added that such an experience would not stop him from serving at Mass. "Being an altar boy brings me closer to God," he said.

Chaterine Maria Margareta, 10, said the gathering strengthened her faith. The altar girl from St. Joseph Mission Station told UCA News she also was happy that she made 15 new friends. Her mission station comes under Sacred Heart of Jesus Church in Tegal. She became an altar girl about 18 months ago with her parents' support, she said, adding that her three siblings also are altar servers.

According to Mariada Mei Novalia Sirait, a 21-year-old animator and former altar server from Mary Immaculate Church in Slawi, "The spiritual growth of children who become altar boys or girls is better" than with other children.

The June gathering also included lectures, games and competitions, opened with a kuda lumping (leather horse) dance by several elementary school students. A Mass celebrated by Jesuit Bishop Julianus Sunarka of Purwokerto concluded the gathering. Father Setiawan and two other priests concelebrated.
More here:
www.theindiancatholic

Human dignity is Pope’s theme for World Peace Day

2006-07-15T01:47:00.000-04:00

Pope Benedict XVI has chosen peace and human dignity as the theme for the World Peace Day for 2007.

In a statement, the Vatican said the theme for the 2007 World Peace Day that the Pope has chosen is: "The Human Person: The Heart of Peace."

The announcement said the theme reflects the Holy Father’s "conviction that respect for the dignity of the human person is an essential condition for peace in the human family.”

World Peace Day is celebrated Jan. 1 each year and the Pope’s message for the celebration is released in early December and sent to heads of state around the world.

Elaborating on the theme, the Vatican statement said human dignity is being "threatened by aberrant ideologies, attacked by a distorted use of science and technology, (and) contradicted by widespread incongruent lifestyles."

Human dignity must be promoted and defended, it said, because human dignity "is the seal of God," who created men and women in his likeness; it is "the sign of the common destiny of humanity (and) the foundation of love for God and for one's neighbor."

Peace is threatened when technology makes human life a commodity or "lifestyles that are disordered or contrary to human dignity" lead people to deny that the traditional family is the foundation of a strong society, it said.

"The church's mission is to announce 'The Gospel of Life,' the centrality of the human person in the universe and the love of God for humanity," it said, referring to Pope John Paul II's 1995 encyclical.

The church's mission includes proclaiming the dignity of each person, the obligation to work for the common good and the need for individual human actions to correspond to "the order impressed by God on the universe," the statement said.

Every offense against a person "is a threat to peace," the Vatican statement said adding: "Every threat to peace is an offense against the truth of the person and of God. The human person is the heart of peace."

Bringing Freedom To India’s ‘Untouchables’ Jesus is the Answer for their Future

2006-07-13T22:20:00.000-04:00

By Dan Wooding
Founder of ASSIST Ministries

DALLAS, TX (ANS) -- Simon John has a huge undertaking in his life; to bring freedom and dignity to the 250 million Dalits (doll-leets), or “Untouchables,” of India.

Indian-born Simon John, who is the Regional Overseer for Gospel for Asia in North India, agreed to talk about his mission in life, that has already seen extraordinary results, during the recent Gospel for Asia “Renewing Your Passion” missions conference in Dallas, Texas.

Simon John began by explaining that he is originally from South India but now spends most of his time in North India and is headquartered in the capital city of Delhi
When asked why North India was so important for his ministry, he replied: “It’s the most unreached place in the country, and it has been a great burden in my heart to go to this part of India and serve the Lord.

“There are many tribes there that have different names, but in general we call them Dalits. They are the daily laborers that work as scavengers, making shoes as cobblers, and doing different kinds of menial jobs that no one else will do.

“Because the North today is mainly dominated by the Dalits, God has put a great burden in my heart, along with all our GFA missionaries, to focus on these people.”

Lower than the Animals

Simon explained that the Dalits are at the bottom of the rung of the Indian Hindu caste system. They are despised by other castes and live lives that are often lower than the animals.

He went on to say that in recent years there has been a revolt from the Dalit leadership, who have decided that their people should leave the Hindu faith, and many have decided to follow Jesus Christ.

“There has always been an effort by the Dalit leadership to come out of this situation because the Dalits are always looked down upon and they have no position in Indian society,” Simon explained. “For instance, they are not allowed to draw water from the wells or even live with all the comforts of necessary for them in this part of this country.”

Jesus is the Answer for their Future

“The upper caste has treated them very badly over the years,” Simon added. “These people are physically abused and many times their ladies are raped and there is nobody to help them. Even the police and the government never come to their aid. Despite all these facts there has been a great hunger for the Word of God among these people. They are realizing that Jesus is their answer for the future.”

I then asked him about them leaving the Hindu religion en masse.

“Mostly, we don’t focus much on any particular religion,” Simon explained, “but we share about the love of Jesus with them and tell them why Jesus came into this world. That is bringing many of them to the knowledge of Christ and many of them have been experiencing the miracles of Jesus in their personal life. That’s what we hear quite often from the field and from our pastors; how they receive Jesus.”

I wondered if the Dalits were shocked that someone had finally begun to care for the plight.

“Yes, they are, especially because of their need,” said Simon John. “There have been so many incidents in their life that have not worked out for them. Like, if they are sick, they may have tried all the doctors but they remain sick. But when one of our pastors goes there and prays with them, many are miraculously healed. They have experienced a personal encounter with Jesus, and these miracles have really made them accept Christ.”

More here :
www.assistnews.net

Fear stalks Tamil village after killing of Christian family

2006-07-13T20:22:00.000-04:00

Allaipiddy, Sri Lanka (ENI). Fear is writ large on the face of the 350 families on the islet of Allaipiddy near Jaffna, the heartland of ethnic Tamils on the northern fringe of Sri Lanka.

The fishing village surrounded by Sri Lankan Navy camps is yet to recover from the 13 May massacre when four unidentified gunmen shot dead eight people in the house of the richest man on the island village.

Nobody in the village will speculate about who was responsible, but human rights activists assert that the Sri Lankan security forces were behind the shootings at the Christian household in an ongoing conflict that has pitted Tamil rebels against the Sri Lanka government.

"I will never forget the scene at the house," said Chelladurai, an elderly villager who like most residents did not want to give his full name and who rushed into the shop-cum-residence after hearing the shots and saw bodies lying in pools of blood.

Asked whether the villagers had any clue regarding the identity of the gunmen, Chelladurai replied: "We do not know why they were killed and who did that."

Septuagenarian Selvaraj, a Christian, survived the shooting spree in his two-storey house. The gunmen, however, unleashed bullets into his son, son-in-law, daughter and her two children and one of his workers along with a Christian neighbour who had come to his shop-cum-residence in the fateful evening. A family relative and a local Christian were also killed.

Except for his daughter's family who were Roman Catholics, Selvaraj and the other family members belonged to the Ceylon Pentecostal church.

More here:
www.eni.ch

Muslim Stopped From Attacking Christians in Egypt

2006-07-12T20:03:00.000-04:00

CAIRO (Reuters) -- Guards stopped a Muslim from carrying out a knife attack on Christians at a church in Egypt on Tuesday, security sources said. Police arrested Mohammed Masoud Khalil after he was stopped by guards at the door of St. George's church in the southern Egyptian town of Qous, the sources said.Police said he was mentally ill.

The authorities blamed mental illness for a knife attack by a Muslim on Christians in Alexandria in April. The attacker, who killed one Christian and wounded five others at two churches, has been committed to a mental hospital.

Those stabbings provoked three days of Christian-Muslim street violence in which one Muslim was killed. Many Christians say the government used mental illness to cover up sectarian motives behind the attack.

Coptic Christians comprise between 5 and 10 percent of Egypt's 73 million people. The majority are Sunni Muslim. Relations between the two communities are usually peaceful, but there are sporadic outbreaks of violence.

In 1999, 22 people were killed in sectarian strife in southern Egypt.

Papal Condolences Conveyed to Bombay

2006-07-12T19:45:00.000-04:00

Pope Calls Attacks "Senseless Acts Against Humanity"

VATICAN CITY, JULY 12, 2006 (ZENIT.org).- Benedict XVI describes Tuesday's terrorist attacks in India as "senseless acts against humanity."

Cardinal Angelo Sodano, Vatican secretary of state, sent a telegram to civil and ecclesiastical authorities, in which the Holy Father stated that he was "deeply saddened by the news of the terrorist attacks in Bombay."

The Pope "assures all affected of his spiritual closeness in prayer."

"While deploring these senseless acts against humanity, the Holy Father commends the many deceased to the loving mercy of the Almighty. Upon their grieving families and the numerous injured he invokes the divine gifts of strength, consolation and comfort," signed Cardinal Sodano.
More here:
www.zenit.org

PAKISTAN -- Christian kiln workers beaten

2006-07-12T19:40:00.000-04:00

Toba Tek Singh (AsiaNews) – Three Christian brick kiln workers and their families were beaten because they refused to put up with their employers’ abuse; their experience is not unique though. Most of their fellow workers have been subjected to violence and abuses by Muslim kiln owners. For this reason, a Catholic NGO is fighting for their rights.

Fr Bonnie Mendes, who won last year’s recipient of the Association for Communal Harmony in Asia Star Award, made the allegations public at a press conference on July 7.

In his statement, the clergyman said that Sajjad Masih, Amanat Masih and Mushtaq Masih from the diocese of Faisalabad but living in separate villages refused to put their thumb print on a form as demanded by their employers. The latter were trying to get workers to sign an affidavit that would have required workers to pay them money not due. When the workers refused, the kiln owners stormed their homes and beat them up as well as their wives and children.

Father Mendes slammed this inhuman and immoral treatment meted out to Christian workers. “Owners think they [the workers] are slaves who have worked in such conditions for many generations,” he said. But “they need everything: electricity, clean water, health care.”

More here:
www.asianews.it/

NIGERIA : ISLAMIC VIOLENCE PARALYZES TEENAGER, CHURCHES

2006-07-12T19:25:00.000-04:00

Machete cuts down 15-year-old boy in Kaduna state, nerve center of extremism.

July 10 (Compass Direct) – For two years Francis Yohanna Anche, 15, has been suffering from a brain injury he sustained when Muslim students in his high school in Zaria city attacked Christian students. His right hand and leg are still paralyzed from a machete cut to his head.

Muslim students at the Government Science Secondary School-Kufena, Anche told Compass, had written a letter on June 24, 2004 warning Christian students that they should stop worshipping in the school’s chapel or else face their wrath.

“Our school fellowship leaders took the letter to Mallam Nuhu, our principal, but nothing was done to stop the plan to attack us,” Anche said. That night around 1 a.m., sensing the Muslim students were bent on attacking, the school’s Christians gathered in the chapel to pray, he said.

Soon Muslim students began stoning the Christians inside the chapel, he said.
“There was pandemonium. Some of us jumped out of the chapel through the windows while others rushed for the door,” Anche said. “When I sensed that there was danger for me to remain in the chapel, I ran out as fast as I could, but I became tired and they caught up with me. All I can remember is that I received a cut on my head.”

Anche was in coma for two weeks at the Ahmadu Bello University Teaching Hospital, where he underwent surgery on his brain. He still suffers severe headaches from the injury, besides the paralysis of the right hand and leg. He said his father, Sgt. Yohanna Anche of the Nigeria
Police in Dankande, died on June 22 after his condition was weakened from bearing the burden of Francis’ pain and paralysis.

Anche has four siblings. He fears that his mother Grace, an elementary teacher in Dandimi village, may also become burdened by his incapacitation.

Seven other Christian students also sustained injuries in this attack. This was not the first such incident in the school, where Christians have endured periodic assaults.

Cradle of Militancy

The Rev. Joseph Hayap, secretary of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Kaduna chapter, confirmed the attack on Christian students at the school, adding that the Muslim students burned down the chapel.

Hayap, who raised some 200,000 naira (US$1,558) for Anche’s hospital treatment, said such attacks are one of many problems facing Christians in the northern Nigerian state of Kaduna. Christian leaders in the state describe it as the nerve center of Islamic extremism, where many religious conflicts in northern Nigeria originate and spread to other parts of Nigeria.

In some parts of the state, Christians are dragged before Islamic law (sharia) courts. The introduction of the Islamic legal system in 2000, they said, has contributed to the escalation of religious conflicts in some parts of the state.

Hayap, a Baptist pastor with the Nigerian Baptist Convention, has chronicled over 20 religious conflicts in Kaduna state from 1987 to 2006. These conflicts, he said, resulted in the killing of over 25,000 Christians and the destruction of about 500 churches in Makarfi, Kaduna, Kafanchan, Zangon Kataf, Kasuwa Magani, and Zaria.

“I was a witness to them, and I even participated in mass burials of the victims as the secretary of the Kaduna state chapter of CAN,” he said. “I know very well that these casualty figures of Christians that were killed are not fake, which is the impression that some people want to create. These Christians were indeed killed by Muslim fanatics.”

Hayap added that there have been unending religious conflicts in the state’s Ahmadu Bello University-Zaria, Kaduna Polytechnic, Federal College of Education-Zaria, and the Kaduna State Polytechnic-Zaria.

He noted that a pastor was recently set ablaze in his room by Muslims in Zaria city.

“All these attacks on Christians have made us realize that Christians are dealing with Muslims whose ways of promoting their religion is war,” he said. “Muslims like doing what they are doing, killing and burning churches.”

Above the Law

Hayap alludes to the constitutional crisis that has erupted over the imposition of sharia in 12 northern states when he locates the main cause of religious conflict in the Muslim desire to make the Quran supreme over the Nigerian constitution.

He believes that this attitude leads Muslims to believe they are above the law.

“The problem we have had in Nigeria is that there has been no rule of law,” he said. “They see Islam as a religion whose adherents cannot be subject to the rule of law.”

Kaduna state now operates with a dual legal system, sharia and the customary legal system. The Kaduna government claimed it was establishing the customary courts to serve Christians and animists.

Hayap, however, said the customary courts are run in accordance with traditional religious practices of animists and hence do not serve the interest of Christians. By allowing the dual system, the government was only trying to create the impression that it was addressing injustice done to Christians, he said.

“The truth is that the sharia law or the sharia courts in Kaduna state were given to the Muslims, but Christians were given none, because customary courts are not for Christians,” Hayap said.

Christians’ rejection of sharia has nothing to do with opposition to amputations or prohibition of prostitution and drunkenness, he said.

“Christians in Nigeria have rejected the sharia because it stops evangelism,” he said. “If sharia is in place, and if a Muslim after hearing the gospel makes a decision to receive Jesus, he is killed by Muslims for converting to Christianity.”

Diverted Social Funds

Another reason Christian leaders oppose sharia is that resources granted for social services can be diverted into propagating Islam.

In agreement on this point are Hayap; Anglican Bishop of Wusasa Diocese in Zaria Ali Buba Lamido; Secretary-General of the Northern Nigeria CAN chapter Deacon Saidu Dogo; and Dr. Bitrus Gani, chairman of the board of Governors of Hope for the Blind Centre in Zaria. These Christian leaders assert that resources meant for services such as hospitals, schools, roads, and utility services are now being diverted toward building Islamic institutions, payment of Muslim judges, and enticing poor Christian women and orphans into Islam.

They insist that innocent and largely illiterate Christians in the villages are dragged daily before Islamic courts. They cite numerous cases of Christians who have been tried in Islamic courts and are jailed, or are standing trial in these courts, while the Nigerian government seems helpless to intervene.

Dogo confirms the fact that innocent and the little educated rural Christians have become
victims of Islamic law.

“On a general note, what we discovered is that the introduction of sharia was purely to hoodwink people who are not educated enough to understand the implication,” Dogo said. “Muslim leaders implementing the sharia use it unjustly in punishing the less privileged in northern Nigeria, particularly Christians.”

Muslim-controlled governments have banned the teaching of Christian Religious Knowledge to Christian students in schools, and all media houses in these states have been banned from airing Christian programs, Dogo added.

He said town planning authorities have been denying churches approval to develop their properties, which has led to the demolition of church buildings.

“Churches have now become targets of town planning authorities,” he said. “These agencies of Islamic governments now boldly demolish churches at will, alleging that such churches are illegal structures.”

Furthermore, he said, whenever Christians build houses and convert them into churches because they have been denied approval for church buildings, these homes are then marked as illegal structures and demolished.

“Yet, Muslims everywhere build mosques and approvals for them are not required,” Dogo said. “That is what it means to be a Christian in Islamic states like Kaduna.”

More here:
www.compassdirect.org

The Dirty Dozen Religious Persecutor

2006-07-12T19:19:00.000-04:00

Americans take religious liberty for granted. Despite some hostile cultural currents, we are largely free to believe in God and worship together.

Unfortunately, people of faith, and particularly Christians, face far more restrictions abroad. In many nations religious persecution is the norm. The worst violators of this most basic human right tend to be Islamic states. Other significant oppressors are communist or simply authoritarian.

Many states actively suppress expressions of religious belief, especially by minority faiths. Others purport to be neutral but stand by when local authorities penalize and mobs brutalize religious believers.

A DIRTY DOZEN PERSECUTORS STAND OUT

Bangladesh - Religious freedom is nominally protected in this one-time secular state. But fundamentalist Islamic forces are rising and government agencies discriminate against minority faiths in employment. Foreign missionaries and religious activists are treated with suspicion and often watched.More serious is private discrimination and violence, which usually is ignored or abetted by the civil authorities. The State Department reported the existence of "killings, rapes, attacks on places of worship, and forced evictions."

Burma- Few nations so systematically brutalize so many of their citizens. Observes the State Department: "The government continued to engage in particularly severe violations of religious freedom." Probably the worst religious horrors are visited as part of the barbaric war practiced against ethnic groups, such as the Karen and Karenni, which have been struggling for autonomy for decades. More than 100,000 refugees have fled into neighboring Thailand and millions more people have been displaced within their own country.

China- Although the plight of religious believers in China is better today than it was 20 years ago, the situation remains bleak for many people of faith. The Beijing government has been particular unforgiving in dealing with beliefs that it perceives to be a political threat, such as the Falun Gong and Tibetan Buddhism.Antagonism towards Christianity is deeply embedded in China's history. Many church leaders are in prison and the authorities target home churches. Observes the State Department: "In some areas, security officials used threats, demolition of unregistered property, extortion, interrogation, detention, and at times beatings and torture to harass leaders of unauthorized groups and their followers."

Eritrea-Although birthed as part of a long independence struggle against Ethiopia, this relatively new nation is inhospitable to personal independence. Observed the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom: "Beset by internal political problems and violent confrontations with neighboring Ethiopia and Sudan, the ruling Popular Front for Democracy and Justice (PFDJ) has become increasingly repressive, targeting political opponents and members of religious groups undermining national unity."

In this majority Muslim nation religious groups are to register with the government, subjecting themselves to government control. Evangelical and Pentecostal churches have suffered particularly greatly. Nearly 2,000 Christians currently are imprisoned, a sharp increase over the previous year.

Indonesia- Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice cites Indonesia as a model of tolerance for the Muslim world, but that is true only in comparison with more oppressive states, such as Saudi Arabia. Minority faiths, most notably Christian, suffer greatly in the world's most populous Muslim nation.

The government is formally secular, but the law enshrines discrimination. In September 2005 three Sunday school teachers were convicted of proselytizing Muslim children in a trial marred by intimidation by Islamic radicals.

Private violence is a significant problem, with Islamic extremism on the rise. Hundreds of churches, Bible schools, and other religious facilities have been destroyed. Local authorities often have denied permission to rebuild in response to Islamist pressure. Governments in some areas have closed down house churches.

Iran- The Iranian government is formally an Islamic republic which recognizes no right of private belief, conscience, or worship. Observes the State Department: "The government engaged in particularly severe violations of religious freedom. Members of religious minorities--including Sunni Muslims, Baha'is, Jews, and Christians--reported imprisonment, harassment, intimidation, and discrimination based on their religious beliefs."

All faiths face official discrimination. Imprisonment is deployed most consistently against Baha'is, as well as Christians who proselytize. Converts are arrested and churches are closed. Evangelizing pastors have been murdered.

Laos- The communist government seeks to control anyone independent of the government. Religious groups are expected to register (and be controlled). Believers are subject to arrest and, notes the State Department, "Persons arrested for their religious activities were sometimes charged with exaggerated security or other criminal offenses."

Outright persecution tends to be most common at the local level. Believers have been arrested, evicted from their homes and villages, and pressured to recant.

Nigeria- The west African nation of Nigeria is divided along religious as well as tribal lines. Nigeria long has suffered from religious tensions and radical Islamic movements. State governments discriminate against Christians in public benefits, employment, and and land use. Twelve states have implemented sharia law.

Anti-American sentiment growing out of the aftermath of September 11 have fueled some local Islamic groups. Freedom House warns of "the Talibanization of Nigeria."

North Korea- No religious liberty exists in what is perhaps the most closed society on earth. Although some churches exist, they are effectively government-controlled. Independent religious activity is proscribed and severely punished. Allegations abound of arrest, torture, and execution of members of underground churches.

Pakistan- An Islamic republic, Pakistan formally allows the practice of minority faiths but discriminates against non- Muslims. Access to government jobs and public services are limited for Christians and others. Moreover, the blasphemy law has been applied against anyone who publicly questions Islam or speaks the truth about Muhammed's life.

Social and professional discrimination and, more important, violence are routinely employed against Christians. Churches have been destroyed and congregations have been attacked. In the aftermath of the publication of the caricatures of Muhammed mobs targeted Christian churches, schools, and businesses.

Saudi Arabia-In this essentially totalitarian state only Sunni Islam is officially allowed, leading to discrimination against Shi'a and non-Muslim faiths. People are not even always left alone at home to practice their faith. Any public display of another religion ensures official punishment.

Details the State Department: "non-Muslim worshippers risk arrest, imprisonment, lashing, deportation, and torture for engaging in religious activity that attracts official attention, especially of the Mutawwa'in (religious police)." Even the Soviet Union formally allowed churches to exist, if not prosper.

Sudan-Over the last two decades millions of people have died and been turned into refugees as a result of almost endless civil war. Discrimination is embedded within the system: For instance, Christian converts face arrest and possible death. Attempts have been made to forcibly convert Christians and impose sharia on Christians. Churches and other facilities have been destroyed.

While the military conflict is not strictly Muslim versus Christian, Christians and animists in the south are the most common victims of forces backed by the Muslim government. Atrocities by government forces and government-backed militias have been common, most recently in Darfur.

ASSESSING THE RELATIVE BRUTALITY of varying regimes isn't easy, and the level of repression sometimes changes over time. Unfortunately, many other nations have a claim to membership in the Dirty Dozen.

Cuba- is a traditional communist dictatorship which registers religious organizations, harasses congregants, prevents churches from building or repairing worship facilities, forbids the distribution of religious materials, and bars church provision of social welfare services.

The Egyptian government discriminates in the provision of public services and benefits, arrests those who proselytize, and often ignores violent attacks on members of other faiths, especially members of the Coptic Church. Private discrimination and violence are common.

In India sectarian violence is endemic, particularly among Hindus and Muslims. But Christians, constituting a much smaller minority, also are a common target. Attacks on Christians have been on the rise this year, yet the authorities often do little. Many states penalize religious minorities; some enforce anti- conversion laws, which even inhibit Christian social services.

In Sri Lanka Buddhism is dominant. The authorities often overlook private attacks on Christian churches. Efforts are underway to make Buddhism the state religion and to criminalize conversions.

In Turkmenistan the government registers religious groups and harasses believers, arresting and mistreating some. In Uzbekistan the authorities repress Islamic groups in the name of fighting terrorism and harass Christian churches through registration requirements and police repression.

Vietnam is another communist dictatorship where political authoritarianism persists long after Marxist-Leninism has lost any philosophical rigor. Churches must register; the government attempts to oversee religious organizations and activities. Believers reportedly have been detained and beaten.

More here:
www.spectator.org

Poland Priests in Demand to Fill Europe

2006-07-07T04:04:00.000-04:00

In the midst of a continent that suffers from priest-shortage, Poland is the only country in Europe that is overflowing with priests.

Although Poland has traditionally sent missionaries to countries in Africa, Latin America and Asia, Polish priests are increasingly in demand to fill in the rest of the continent, as a quarter of all young men train to become Roman Catholic priests in Europe are Polish.

There are already more than 100 Polish priests working in England and Wales.

Along with 7,131 other people in Poland, 171 young men are preparing for the priesthood at the seminary in Lublin in south-eastern Poland alone.

Although Spain’s population is similar to Poland, it had fewer than 1,800 seminarians in 2001.

As the most Catholic country in Europe, Poland is strongly influenced by the late Polish pope. A year after his death, John Paul's legacy still towers over the nation.

During his recent visit to Poland, Pope Benedict XVI addressed the Polish clergy at Warsaw Cathedral.

He told them: "Do not be afraid to leave your secure and familiar world, to go and serve in places where priests are lacking and where your generosity can bear abundant fruit."

http://www.christiantoday.com

“Don’t forget Javed Anjum, killed for refusing to deny Christ”

2006-07-07T03:12:00.000-04:00

The bishop of Faisalabad has urged the international community “not to forget the case of Javed Anjum, the youth who was killed for refusing to deny Christ”. He said “attention must remain focused on the trial, which is in danger of being suppressed because of threats and violence by Islamic integralists against the lawyer and the youth’s family”.

In March, 23 months after the homicide, the trial of two of his three murderers wound up and Ghulam Rasool and Muhammad Tayab were sentenced to 25 years in jail. Umar Hayat, the Islamic cleric and rector of the madrassa [Islamic school] where the crime took place, is the third presumed assassin. He was arrested in January after 22 months on the run, and the verdict against him is pending.

In April 2004, the three men tortured the boy for five whole days in a bid to force him to convert to Islam. When their persecution proved to be in vain, they handed Javed over to the police and made false accusations against him. His injuries were so severe that medical treatment was to no avail. The boy died on 2 May in a state hospital in Faisalabad: his medical report states that the Christian died “of 26 serious injuries resulting from torture”.

At this death bed, Javed identified one of his persecutors, Rasool, who was arrested immediately: under interrogation, he named Tayyab and Umar as his accomplices.

“The rector of the madrassa in Toba is being prosecuted as the man most responsible for the torture that killed Javed,” said Mgr Coutts. “Recently however, the prosecuting lawyer, who is being supported by our Church, has received threats against himself, his wife, and his three young children.” As a result of these threats, which have become increasingly frequent and dangerous, the lawyer’s family has fled to the southern part of the country.

More here: http://www.asianews.it/

Somali Muslims warned of deat

2006-07-07T01:51:00.000-04:00

Mogadishu - Somali Muslims who fail to perform daily prayers will be killed in accordance with Qur'anic law under a new edict issued by a leading cleric in the Islamic courts union that controlled the capital.

The requirement for Muslims to observe the five-times daily ritual under penalty of death was announced late on Wednesday and appeared to confirm the hardline nature of the increasingly powerful Sharia courts in Mogadishu.

Sheikh Abdalla Ali, a founder and high-ranking official in the Supreme Islamic Council of Somalia, said: "He who does not perform prayers will be considered as infidel and Sharia law orders that that person be killed."

Ali said: "Sharia law orders the killing of any Muslim person when he fails to perform prayers."

More here:
www.news24.com/

Egypt primes children for jihad

2006-07-07T00:22:00.000-04:00

I'm speechless ........

You can watch the vodeo here:
littlegreenfootballs.com
Read the article here:
www.ynetnews.com

Three Killed as Nigeria "Taliban" Fighters Attack Christian Village.

2006-07-07T00:16:00.000-04:00

Reports have emerged in Nigeria that so-called Taliban militia have attacked a Christian village in the Taraba State.

The militia attacked Kumutu village with sophisticated weapons. Release International, a Christian organisation supporting persecuted Christians worldwide, reported the attacks included the burning of houses, and the killing of three villagers and the injuring 30 others. In addition, four others were badly wounded.

A long-running series of attacks have occurred against Christian towns and villages in Nigeria, which have seen Christians being driven from their homes in several northern states to pave the way for strict Islamic law.

In Borno state earlier this year more than 60 Christians were slaughtered, and 57 separate churches destroyed in vicious attacks.
More here :
/www.christiantoday

MOB STONES WOMAN TO DEATH FOR EVANGELIZING

2006-07-06T23:47:00.000-04:00

Extremists overwhelm police to kill unidentified Christian for ‘insulting’ Muhammad.

July 6 (Compass Direct) – Local church leaders said Muslim extremists overwhelmed police officers providing refuge for an unidentified Christian woman in this town in Niger state on June 28 and stoned and clubbed her to death for doing street evangelism. David Atabo of the Roman Catholic Church in Izom said he witnessed the killing of the woman. He told Compass that she had met a group of Muslim youths, shared the gospel with them and gave them tracts. When nearby Muslim elders learned that the woman had preached to the youths, he said, they claimed she insulted the prophet of Islam, Muhammad, and ordered that she be killed. Police rescued her and took her into protective custody, but a mob stormed the police station. “The police, realizing that the Muslim crowd was overwhelming, smuggled the woman through a back door to escape with her, but the Muslims blocked all escaped routes, and at this point the police abandoned the woman to save their lives,” Atabo said. “She was clubbed to death.”
More here:
www.compassdirect.org

BENEDICT XVI HAILS HEROES OF '56 POZNAN UPRISING

2006-07-05T01:35:00.000-04:00

Polish Protest Against
Stalinist Regime Commemorated

VATICAN CITY - Benedict XVI sent a message on the 50th anniversary of the workers' revolt in Poznan, Poland, the first anti-Stalinist insurrection in a Soviet bloc country.

On June 28, 1956, about 100,000 workers protested on the city's streets against the reduction of their salaries, after the bureaucracy refused to negotiate. The demonstration was suppressed brutally, with 58 protesters killed and 700 arrested.

A commemorative ceremony, held last Wednesday in Poznan's Town Council, was attended by the presidents of Poland, Germany, Hungary, the Czech Republic and Slovakia.

Vatican Radio reported that Benedict XVI sent a message for the occasion, which was read by Archbishop Stanislaw Gadecki of Poznan.

In the letter, the Pope recalled that the peaceful protest of the Polish city, "against the terror and lies" of the Stalinist system, was transformed "spontaneously" into a general insurrection, when forces of the army and police began to shoot the protesters.

The Holy Father said that "the blood shed on the streets of Poznan not only by workers, but also by women, students and children, was not in vain. What is more, it sowed freedom whose fruit was gathered years later, with the fall of the Stalinist system and the nation's full sovereignty."

Finally, Benedict XVI expressed the hope that "the memory of the heroes of the Poznan insurrection will inspire all Poles to build" society "on eternal Christian values, on truth and authentic justice."

Priest Stabbed in Turkey

2006-07-05T01:31:00.000-04:00

Link to this story on David's blog.
http://italiancatholic.blogspot.com/

We face death in Egypt

2006-07-05T00:46:00.000-04:00

A terrified Egyptian family is fighting deportation from Canada claiming they'll be tortured and killed if removed for converting fzrom Islam to Christianity.

Joe Saleh and his wife Chris, both 25, are being deported with their Canadian-born son, Sam, 4, in three weeks, according to immigration officials.

The family came to Toronto from the U.S. in 2001 and filed refugee claims alleging they'll be persecuted for converting to Coptic Christianity.

SHARIA DEATH PENALTY

"We only wanted to go to church and pray," Saleh said yesterday. "We want to raise our son as a Christian."
More here:
www.torontosun.com/

Protestant Church attacked in Poso

2006-07-05T00:33:00.000-04:00

INDONESIA-Poso (AsiaNews) – Terror struck Christians in Poso in the Indonesian province of central Sulawesi on Saturday, 1 July, when a bomb hit the protestant Pentecost church of Eklesia. The loud explosion that took place in the late evening did not kill or injure anyone, but it kept residents awake around Pulau Seram street, the location of the religious building.
More here:
www.asianews.it

Madhya Pradesh: Hindu extremists burn down Pentecostal church

2006-07-05T00:25:00.000-04:00

INDIA-Bhopal (AsiaNews) – A group of fanatical Hindus have set a Pentecostal Church on fire in Madhya Pradesh, destroying bibles that were inside and threatening to kill the pastor. The incident took place during the afternoon on 30 June in Shivani, in the southern district of Harda.
The extremists broke into the place of worship with torches in hand and set fire to a table which had 150 bibles and hymn books on it. The pastor of the church, Jaidi Khan, escaped unharmed, but he was powerless to stop the razing of the church, which happened shortly afterwards.

More here:
www.asianews.it

Tragedy in Phillipines

2006-07-02T02:07:00.000-04:00

Pastor, Daughter Gunned Down After Threat

SANTA ANA, CA (June 30, 2006) -- While officiating at a wedding on June 3, Pastor Mocsin L. Hasim received a text message: “Pastor, you will die today.” The 47-year old pastor had been receiving death threats for months. He brushed it off. After the wedding, he and his 22-year-old daughter, Mercilyn, headed home by motorcycle.

Their bodies were later found near their motorcycle in an isolated area of Zamboanga Del Norte province in western Mindanao of the Philippines.

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

Police detain Mother Teresa Nuns on charges of attempted conversion

2006-06-29T13:28:00.000-04:00

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

2006-06-29T12:27:00.000-04:00

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

2006-06-28T15:37:00.000-04:00

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

2006-06-27T21:24:00.000-04:00

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

2006-06-27T03:33:00.000-04:00

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

2006-06-26T03:14:00.000-04:00

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

2006-06-25T04:22:00.000-04:00

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

2006-06-25T04:12:00.000-04:00

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

2006-06-25T01:47:00.000-04:00

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

2006-06-25T00:30:00.000-04:00

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

2006-06-24T23:14:00.000-04:00

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

2006-06-22T13:39:00.000-04:00

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 !

2006-06-22T12:14:00.000-04:00

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

2006-06-22T02:25:00.000-04:00

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

2006-06-20T11:19:00.000-04:00

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

2006-06-19T02:40:00.000-04:00

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

2006-06-17T00:56:00.000-04:00

"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

2006-06-15T00:33:00.000-04:00

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

2006-06-13T02:30:00.000-04:00

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?

2006-06-13T01:12:00.000-04:00

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

2006-06-10T11:21:00.000-04:00

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

2006-06-09T18:15:00.000-04:00

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.

2006-06-09T18:06:00.000-04:00

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

2006-06-08T00:48:00.000-04:00

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."

2006-06-07T23:54:00.000-04:00

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

2006-06-06T01:44:00.000-04:00

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.

2006-06-06T01:27:00.000-04:00

"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!

SPONSOR BIBLES

http://www.biblesunbound.com

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

2006-06-06T01:11:00.000-04:00

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".

2006-06-05T04:07:00.000-04:00

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?

2006-06-03T17:52:00.000-04:00

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.
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Violence in Jijiga, Ethiopia

2006-06-03T17:19:00.000-04:00

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

2006-06-03T16:56:00.000-04:00

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

2006-06-03T16:06:00.000-04:00

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

Call for prayer rooms for Christian prisoners in Pakistan

2006-06-03T15:24:00.000-04:00

By Sheraz Khurram Khan
Special Correspondent for Assist News Service in Pakistan.

LAHORE, PAKISTAN (ANS) -- The Coordinator of Sharing Life Ministry Pakistan (SLMP), Mr. Sohail Johnson, has moved forward in an application for construction of prayer rooms for Christian inmates in Punjab jails.

The Pakistan Christian Post has published a letter that Mr. Johnson wrote to the Home Secretary of Punjab Province in which he cited the problems being faced by Pakistani Christian inmates in Punjab jails.

The letter read: "In the central jail in Gujranwala, there is a big mosque situated in which about 2000 Muslim prisoners can offer prayer easily. Loud speakers are displayed so that Muslim prisoners listen the voice of ‘Azan’ (call for prayer); moreover rooms and small mosques are fixed in five different blocks for worship for Muslim prisoners. Just like it in [the] Faisalabad District Jail, there is a big mosque in the circle of the jail for the congregational prayer of the Muslim prisoners."

The letter maintained: "In the district jail in Lahore there are more than 17 mosques and two ‘Amam Bargahs’ (the place of worship for a Muslim sect) in which about all mosques the loud speakers are fixed…”

Mr. Johnson went on to say in his letter : "There is only one small prayer room in the central jail in Lahore out of all the jails of the province of Punjab, and in Faisalabad there is a small plot fixed for Christian prisoners for prayer. Moreover a small store is given to Christian prisoners for prayer in the District Jail -- Rawalpindi Adiala."

The letter added: "While in rest of 28 jails there is no place fixed where Christian prisoners could offer their prayer according to their faith respectfully. In Christianity there is an essential part of worship to sing praise songs by playing musical instruments. Christian prisoners are allowed to worship with playing musical instruments only in Central Jail Lahore out of 31 jails of the province of Punjab. Christian prisoners are detained separately in deferent cells and blocks and cannot offer prayer and worships together."

"…Usually Christian prisoners are compelled to worship at the stores, courtyards of the jails and hospitals, or in the different cells separately. Sometimes Christian prisoners offer their prayers at the wards of hospital, which are fixed for addicted prisoners; where the addicted prisoners disturb the atmosphere of worship by using filthy language and passing dirty sentences.

"Christian prisoners cannot pray in rainy, hot and cold days due to unavailability of prayer rooms and it causes them to involve in useless activities, which gives bitter results."

Most of the time, they are not allowed to worship according to their faith by playing musical instruments, which ceases their religious freedom," the letter said.

The SLMP coordinator in his letter added: "Being a citizen of Pakistan, the Christian Community also has the right to change and correct their lives. Therefore, a Prayer Room is a basic and essential need, where Christian prisoners can gather daily and think about their lives before God and can change their lives positively.

"Application here by seeks your kind order to build Prayer Rooms for Christian prisoners in all the Jails in the province of Punjab, so that, Christian prisoners can be released from inferiority complex and can be useful part of Pakistani society," the letter concludes.
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The writer is a freelance journalist based in Pakistan.

EGYPT-- Islamic Extremist Changed to Moderate Muslim by Words of Jesus

2006-06-03T14:44:00.000-04:00

Mark 8:36:
“For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?”

By Mark Ellis
Senior Correspondent, ASSIST News Service.

LOS ANGELES (ANS) -- As a medical student in Cairo he fell under the influence of one of radical Islam’s most wanted terrorist masterminds. Yet an encounter with the words of Jesus Christ completely altered his perspective—leading him to endorse a peaceful form of Islam and call for reformation of its teachings.

“I am an ex-Islamic extremist,” says Dr. Tawfik Hamid, a former member of Jamaha Islameia (JI), which is classified as a terrorist organization. As a medical student at the University of Cairo in the late ’70s he met Dr. Ayman al-Zawahiri, currently a chief lieutenant to Osama bin Laden and alleged to be one of the foremost masterminds of al-Queda attacks around the world. The U.S. Dept. of State is offering a $25 million reward for information leading to his capture.

When Dr. Hamid was in medical school, al-Zawahiri was doing post-graduate studies at the same school. “He was highly respected as a mentor for younger members of JI, including me,” Dr. Hamid notes. “He came every week to the school and I used to see him praying and giving short lectures after the prayers,” he recalls.

“His main message is that Islam—and the Islamic Sharia system—has to dominate and control the world,” Dr. Hamid notes. “He taught that Christians and Jews throughout the world should be subdued and subjugated to Islam. This is through jihad—violent forms of jihad.”

“They accept Islam as the only religion that can be practiced,” he adds.

In his first few years at medical school, Dr. Hamid was very fanatical. Yet he also harbored a few questions about the violent nature of the message he heard. “There were some remnants of conscience that told me this was wrong,” he says.

Surprisingly, it was the words of Jesus that completely altered his view of Islam. “There was a verse from the words of Jesus Christ that affected me a lot,” Dr. Hamid recalls. The life-changing verse for Dr. Hamid is Mark 8:36: “For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?”

“This verse helped me a lot and affected my way of thinking,” Dr. Hamid says. “It helped me to start to understand some Islamic verses in a totally different manner,” he says.

In the early 1980s Dr. Hamid broke away from his radical friends. “I changed my mind and decided to leave JI based on the words of Jesus Christ,” he says. As Dr. Hamid read the Bible, he began to see the Islamic texts differently. “I was softened by the words of Jesus Christ in my life and by the words of the psalms as well. It was strange, but that’s what happened.”

After this remarkable change in his perspective, he gravitated to a small sect called the ‘Quranics.’ “They didn’t believe in violent jihad,” Dr. Hamid notes. “They had some tolerance within them.” Later, Dr. Hamid began to develop his own beliefs within Islam and formed a group called ‘The people who want to live in God’s image.’

“This was a new understanding of the Islamic texts totally different from the violent form,” Dr. Hamid says. “We could pray with anyone—it was very open and liberal.”

Dr. Hamid began to speak out in his mosque against Islamic fundamentalism. On a small scale, he began to preach to his family and community. “Many people were impressed by the way I spoke, but the effect of Islamic fundamentalism was so powerful,” he recalls.

Harsh verbal attacks and threats against his life began to intensify. On one occasion when he spoke, several men ran behind him with large rocks and attempted to stone him. “There were continuous threats,” he says.

Dr. Hamid fled Egypt to Saudi Arabia, attracted by a financial opportunity. He found the conditions in Saudi Arabia, which sees itself as the custodian of Islam, even more oppressive to his views. “I kept silent for three years,” he says. “The moment they know you have a different version of Islam you can be killed. They just cut off your head after the Friday prayers.”

But after the attacks of September 11, Dr. Hamid felt compelled to argue his case publicly. “People who believe in freedom and democracy must speak out,” he maintains. “We must band together against this barbarism.”

Dr. Hamid agrees with the assessment that a smaller percentage of Muslims are more radical in their views. “About 10-15 percent or less are extremely aggressive,” Dr. Hamid notes. The problem is the radical elements manage to influence the majority of Muslims, so the majority has sympathy for their views, according to Dr. Hamid. These sympathies create “passive terrorists,” in his opinion.

“There will be a crisis is this continues,” Dr. Hamid warns. “As they become a majority in any country they will begin to implement the sharia system,” he says. “I expect civil wars in the western world.”

To counter this threat, Dr. Hamid supports military confrontation, removal of the financing of terror organizations, and ideological engagement. “There is not enough critique in the media, which makes the majority feel there is nothing wrong with their teaching,” he maintains. “There should be a major change in the teaching of Islam.”

While he supports interfaith dialogues, he also lends certain cautions. “These dialogues can’t happen unless all parties accept the basic tenets of humanity,” Dr. Hamid says. “I can’t sit next to someone in an interfaith dialogue if this person accepts killing Muslims who convert to Christianity, beating women, slavery, or declaring war on non-Muslims.”

“There is a need for reformation and a new understanding of Islam,” Dr. Hamid says. “I’m offering another way of teaching and understanding,” he says. “I want them to learn the meaning of love I learned from Jesus Christ.”

Floor Advertisements For Da Vinci Code Cause Local Uproar in Singapore

2006-06-02T02:00:00.000-04:00

SINGAPORE -- Neither the fictional liberties taken in the novel The Da Vinci Code, published in 2003, nor the recently released film version sparked a general outcry in Singapore, but walking on Jesus is another story.

Controversy arose after two giant advertisements for the movie that depicted Leonardo da Vinci's The Last Supper were plastered on the floors of a downtown subway station walked on by thousands of people everyday.
The famous painting, which depicts Jesus and the Apostles, figures prominently in the book's plot.
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