U.S. pastor Andrew Brunson visited President Trump Saturday and prayed for him in the Oval Office, less than a day after Brunson was released from a Turkish prison.

Trump called it a “bipartisan” effort to free Brunson.

“We’ve been negotiating long and hard,” Trump told reporters. “We do not pay ransom in this country… Otherwise you have big problems.”

Brunson’s family joined him in the Oval Office. He was accused of spying and aiding terrorists in Turkey but denied all charges. 

On Friday he was sentenced to three years in prison yet was released because he had been detained for two years, Reuters reported. Brunson’s release could improve relations between the two countries. 

“You really fought for us,” Brunson told Trump.

Trump said he and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo spoke about Brunson’s situation “at least once a day.” 

Brunson knelt on one knee, put his hand on Trump’s shoulder, and prayed for the president.

“Father God I ask that you’d pour out your Holy Spirit on President Trump, that you give him supernatural wisdom to accomplish all the plans you have for this country,” Brunson said. “I ask that you give him wisdom to lead this country into righteousness. I ask that you’d give him perseverance and endurance and courage to stand for truth. I ask that you protect him from slander…

While admitting that he thought about taking his own life when he experienced despair and guilt, Tullian Tchividjian suggested that Christians aren’t damned directly because of suicide.

Tchividjian, a former megachurch pastor who resigned from Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church in 2015 following an extramarital affair, said on Facebook that he constantly gets asked:

“If someone commits suicide, do they go to Heaven?”

The grandson of late evangelist Billy Graham responded: “We are not saved based on whether or not we commit suicide. We are saved by grace alone, through faith alone, in the finished work of Christ alone.”

Offering a more detailed response, addressed to one person in particular who asked if killing himself would send him to Hell, Tchividjian said:

“I’m so sorry to hear you’re struggling. I know that pain and it can be excruciating and debilitating. You are most emphatically not alone. Justification (our salvation) is not based on anything we do or fail to do. It is based solely on the finished work of Christ. You are and will forever be firmly gripped by him and him alone,” Tchividjian wrote to the unidentified individual.

“That being said, I strongly encourage you to seek help at whatever cost….

A Toronto children’s hospital proposed policy says that in some cases for physician-assisted suicide for children, parents may not be notified until after the child has died.

“Usually, the family is intimately involved in this (end-of-life) decision-making process,” according to the British Medical Journal’s J Medical Ethics paper from doctors at Toronto’s Hospital for Sick Children.

“If, however, a capable patient explicitly indicates that they do not want their family members involved in their decision-making, although health care providers may encourage the patient to reconsider and involve their family, ultimately the wishes of capable patients with respect to confidentiality must be respected,” the doctors said.

The doctors created a flowchart of scenarios showing how medically induced death could occur at the Toronto hospital.

The province of Ontario does not require parents to sign off if a “capable” minor decides to refuse treatment. The proposed policy says because minors can refuse treatment there is “no legal reason” for parent involvement in assisted suicide.

“The fact is medical assistance in dying is now legal, and it’s legal in many places around the world,” said bioethicist Bridget Campion. “Now that it is legal, many practitioners are saying, ‘How do we do this?’”

A…

Eugene Peterson, a beloved pastor best known to many for his award-winning book The Message: The Bible in Contemporary Language, may have just months left to live, according to his son, Eric.

The 85-year-old pastor was hospitalized last Tuesday, according to an email from Eric sent Oct. 12. The email was shared shared in a Facebook post by Robert Creech, a professor of Christian ministries at Baylor University’s Truett Seminary.

“As many of you know Eugene was hospitalized on Tuesday when he took a sudden and dramatic turn in his health caused by an infection. He is now being treated for pneumonia and is responding well to the IV antibiotics. He is eating again, and went for a very short walk this afternoon. He is much improved as of today,” Eric wrote.

After speaking with the medical team that cared for his father, however, Eric said they informed him his father was battling heart failure and dementia, both of which are advanced and progressing.

“Based on their recommendation, he will come under the care of hospice and his medical care will be primarily palliative. As of now it looks like it will be 1-3 more days before he returns home, depending on when all the support systems are in place,” he…

A violent incident happened during a Canadian Toronto Against Abortion protest earlier this month and police are now investigating. 

During a peaceful protest in Toronto, members of Toronto Against Abortion were standing on a street corner at Ryerson University holding up pro-life signs and seemingly having productive conversations with other pro-lifers as well as pro-choicers. 

Then suddenly, a woman who has been identified as Gabriela Skwarko, referred to as Gabby in the video that Toronto Against Abortion uploaded on YouTube on October 5, violently attacked two of the protesters.  

Skwarko, who, according to Christian News Net, is a member of an abortion “rights” group called Ryerson Reproductive Justice Collective, approached Toronto Against Abortion member Blaise Alleyne and kicked his sign out of his hands and then threw a metal dolly and clamp at Toronto Against Abortion member Katie Somers, who was trying to walk away from the altercation. Skwarko is then seen following Somers, shoving her, taking a metal item, presumably a water bottle, out of Somers backpack and aggressively throwing it on the ground before kicking it.  Skwarko then shoved Somers again, as Somers called out, “Get away from me!”

By-standers can be heard telling Skwarko to “Chill out!” and “Relax!” Another man positioned himself between the women…

If depression does not relent, a pastor will cease to be a benefit his congregation, John Piper says. But another pastor who has lived through serious depression says what is needed is to destigmatize mental illness.

In an AskPastorJohn podcast on Desiring God Wednesday, the Reformed theologian and former pastor of Bethlehem Baptist Church in St. Paul, Minnesota, explained that Scripture suggests that a depressed pastor or elder will not benefit the people of God, stopping short of saying it disqualifies a person from ministry.

He explained that “Hebrews 13:17 says, ‘Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls, as those who will have to give an account. Let them do this with joy’ — so let your leaders, your pastor and elders, lead with joy — ‘and not with groaning, for that would be of no advantage to you.'”

“In other words,” Piper continued, “a chronically joyless pastor is of no advantage, no benefit, to his people, which means there comes a point when, for the sake of the people, he should step down or step back.”

He went on to explain that the Apostle Paul’s…

According to the Associated Press, Israel’s prime minister has suggested that he would like to appoint an envoy to the Christian world. Some people are calling this a sign of Israel’s efforts to create closer ties with its Christian allies.

On Sunday, Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke at a meeting with visiting Christian media journalists in Jerusalem, when one journalist suggested that he appoint an ambassador to the Christian world. 

Netanyahu responded to the suggestion saying that it was “a great idea.”

The attendees at the summit welcomed each other kindly illustrating growth in the ties between Israel and the evangelical Christian world. 

CBN News reports, in recent years, evangelicals have offered vast support to Israel, support that Israel has come to rely on. Though this support and reliance has been cause for concern for members of the local and world Jewish community, Netanyahu appears to find the relationship to be symbiotic.

In a statement Netanyahu said, “A great alliance with the evangelicals is something we do not apologize for.” He continued, “We have no better friends in the world.”

Photo courtesy: Ricardo Resende/Unsplash