NEW DELHI, July 13, 2020 (Morning Star News) – Maoists in Maharashtra state killed a church pastor on Friday (July 10), the fourth death of a Christian for their faith in India since late May, sources said.

In Bhatpar village, Gadchiroli District in the western peninsular state, pastor Munshi Devu Tado was leading a worship service on his property for about 15 village families from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. when three armed men and three women escorted him away, said his wife, Jaini Munshi Tado.

“They shook hands with him at first, then took him by his hand and, after few steps, they tied his hands at his back with a rope,” she told Morning Star News. “I, my father-in-law and brother-in-law followed after them, pleading and enquiring as to why they are taking him. They said they just want to talk to him and that we need not worry, they will send him back in a little while.”

Family members continued to follow until the Maoists forcibly stopped them and pushed them away, throwing them to the ground, Jaini Munshi Tado said.

“Hardly five to seven minutes later, we heard a gunshot,” she said, weeping. “We immediately ran in the direction only to find the body of my husband in the pool of his blood, and the Maoists had gone. I wept bitterly, my husband was gone.”

Pastor Tado was estimated to be in his mid-thirties. He leaves behind four children, ages 6, 5, 4 and 1.

Villagers upset with the growth…

On July 10, Dr. Morris Cerullo, a well-known evangelist and Christian author, died from pneumonia complications at the age of 88.

Just one day before his passing, a prayer request for the international evangelist was posted to Cerrullo’s official Facebook page, CBN News reports.

The post noted that the evangelist was undergoing treatment for pneumonia at a hospital in San Diego, California. He would later pass away on Friday evening.

 A tribute to the evangelist was posted on his ministry’s website page, Morris Cerullo World Evangelism.

“Dr. Cerullo, affectionately known as “Papa” to millions across the globe who were touched by his decades of personal ministry, is known for his outreaches to people in more than 400 cities, 150 nations, and on 6 continents, in over 72 years of ministry.”

Cerullo was born on October 2, 1931 in Passaic New Jersey. Orphaned at 2 years old, the late evangelist was raised alongside his four siblings at a Jewish orphanage in Clifton, New Jersey.

Cerrullo lived at the orphanage until he was kicked out at 15 because of his conversion to Christianity.

Upon his newfound faith, Cerullo began preaching throughout local churches. Inspiration TV noted that Cerrullo pastored a 15-member congregation at age 21 while also serving as its janitor, maintenance man and landscaper.

God would later call Cerullo into international ministry leading him to found the Morris Cerullo…

Football commentator and well-known Christian Tony Dungy defended the sinlessness of Christ in a series of tweets last week after CNN’s Don Lemon said Jesus was not perfect. 

Lemon made the comment while discussing statues and monuments of the Founding Fathers.

“Jesus Christ, admittedly, was not perfect when He was here on this earth, so why are we deifying the Founders of this country?” Lemon said in a comment that sparked both debate and confusion.

Dungy, though gracious, pushed back on Lemon’s remark in a tweet. 

“I’m sorry Mr. Lemon but just who ‘admitted’ that Jesus Christ was not perfect here on earth? Not anyone who believes the Bible,” Dungy wrote. “Not anyone who trusts in Jesus as their savior. I’m not sure the point you’re making but your premise is dead wrong. That was the point in Jesus coming!”

I’m sorry Mr Lemon but just who “admitted” that Jesus Christ was not perfect here on earth? Not anyone who believes the Bible. Not anyone who trusts in Jesus as their savior. I’m not sure the point you’re making but your premise is dead wrong. That was the point in Jesus coming! https://t.co/KXUS9Z0GLA

— Tony Dungy (@TonyDungy) July 9, 2020

Dungy then defended the doctrine of Christ’s sinlessness in follow-up tweets with those on Twitter.  

When one person alleged that “a lot of stuff didn’t make it into the Bible due to…

A survey from Barna shows that one-third of practicing Christians have not been tuning into their church’s online worship service or another church’s streaming service during the coronavirus pandemic.

According to The Christian Post, the survey identified churchgoers as Christians who streamed their home church online, Christians who streamed another church’s service and Christians who have stopped “attending” church.

Half of practicing Christians millennials said they had not “attended” church in the past four weeks. In comparison, 35 percent of Gen X Christians and 26 percent of Baby Boomer Christians also said they were not streaming online worship services.

“Though younger generations might be more accustomed to digital routines and innovations, their tenuous relationship with institutions seems to persist during this era of digital church,” the Barna report said.

“These trends highlight the importance of churches continuing to reach out to and disciple the next generation, especially those who are seemingly falling away during the pandemic.”

The survey also looked at the impact the worship services seem to be making on Christians during the uncertainty of the pandemic.

“Respondents who have stopped attending church during COVID-19 are less likely than their peers who are still attending the same church during the pandemic to agree with the…

The American Civil Liberties Union is pressuring presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden to stick with his pledge to require taxpayer funding of abortion – and to act in the first 100 days if elected president.

The ACLU ran newspaper ads in the Washington Post and the Philadelphia Inquirer Sunday urging Biden to follow through with his promise to end the Hyde Amendment, according to the Huffington Post. The ads ask, “Vice President Biden, will you lead on reproductive rights?”

Biden formerly opposed the Hyde Amendment but changed his position last year under intense pressure from other Democrats during the campaign. The amendment is a congressional provision dating back to 1977 that prevents federal funds from being used to fund most abortions. The 2016 Democratic Platform opposed the amendment, but Biden voted for it during his time in the Senate.

“I can’t justify leaving millions of women without access to the care they need and the ability to … exercise their constitutionally protected right,” Biden said in 2019 in changing positions.

The ACLU also wrote the Biden campaign a letter this month, according to the Huffington Post. It called on him to end the Hyde Amendment and also the Weldon Amendment, which protects the conscience rights of hospitals and health care workers from forced involvement in abortion. It was first passed in 2004.

“After decades of…

(RNS) — For years, Donald Trump and administration officials have championed protecting religious freedom abroad — including for Christians persecuted for their faith — as a key foreign policy goal.

But according to a new report released Friday (July 10) from two Christian groups, the president is falling short of that goal when it comes to Christian refugees.

“The number of persecuted Christians to whom protection is available through the U.S. refugee resettlement program and the application of asylum laws has still been dramatically curtailed,” the report reads.

Entitled “Closed Doors: Persecuted Christians and the U.S. Refugee Resettlement and Asylum Processes,” the report was prepared by World Relief and Open Doors USA — both organizations that work on issues of immigration and religious persecution.

Their findings focus on the Trump administration’s drastic cuts to the refugee resettlement program, which has long been run in partnership with several religious organizations — including World Relief, an evangelical Christian group. According to the report, there has been a 90% reduction since 2015 in the number of persecuted Christians resettled in the United States.

During former President Barack Obama’s last year in office, the annual limit on refugee resettlement was set at 110,000 people. That number was slashed to 45,000 shortly after Trump took up…

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, former presidential candidate Julian Castro and other prominent Democratic leaders are calling for a boycott of Goya Foods after its CEO appeared at the White House last week and said America is “blessed” to “have a leader like President Trump.”

Goya’s products are a staple in many Hispanic homes, although their popularity is broader than a single ethnicity.

Ocasio-Cortez promoted a boycott in multiple tweets and even posted a recipe for adobo.

Oh look, it’s the sound of me Googling “how to make your own Adobo” https://t.co/YOScAcyAnC

— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) July 10, 2020

Castro, who served in the Obama administration, re-tweeted several tweets critical of Goya and wrote in his own tweet, “@GoyaFoods has been a staple of so many Latino households for generations. Now their CEO, Bob Unanue, is praising a president who villainizes and maliciously attacks Latinos for political gain. Americans should think twice before buying their products.”

.@GoyaFoods has been a staple of so many Latino households for generations.

Now their CEO, Bob Unanue, is praising a president who villainizes and maliciously attacks Latinos for political gain. Americans should think twice before buying their products. #Goyaway https://t.co/lZDQlK6TcU

— Julián Castro (@JulianCastro) July 9, 2020

Goya CEO Robert Unanue appeared in the White House…

The Satanic Temple is threatening to sue the state of Mississippi if the state chooses to include the national motto, “In God We Trust,” on the flag.

As Christian Headlines previously reported, Mississippi legislators voted to remove the Confederate symbol from the state flag in late June. A new flag will be redesigned to potentially include the phrase “In God We Trust” instead of the Confederate battle emblem.

The Satanic Temple, however, is expressing opposition to the court ruling because of its decision to include the faith-centric phrase, a letter sent to Attorney General Lynn Fitch by representative Marc Randazza of Randazza Legal Group says.

“We understand that your state is planning to take the very positive step of removing the Confederate battle flag from the Mississippi state flag,” Randazza wrote in the letter. “However, it is our understanding that the proposal calls for it to be replaced with “In God we Trust”, a proposal you seem to endorse.

“While the Satanic Temple supports the removal of the Confederate flag, removing one divisive symbol of exclusion only to replace it with a divisive phrase of exclusion does not eliminate exclusion, but rather moves it from one group to a collection of others,” Randazza wrote.

The letter went on to suggest that Mississippi “should include a reference to Satan” if the state “is going to use a…