“The Bibles are the size of pill boxes and have a display. They require no electricity, but work on their own,” the church’s mission director Christian Åkerhielm told Swedish broadcaster SVT, according to the newspaper The Local.
“Our ambition is to pass on the hope and love of the Christian gospel to a population living in closed areas where they are being denied human rights,” the Livets Ord said on its Swedish homepage.
The church said that another organisation in the area would be carrying out the operation, but did not name the other group. “We start our project in a few weeks and hope to drop thousands of bibles,” it said.
A representative of the church confirmed to Christian Today that the plan will go ahead.
Livets Ord is the leading charismatic church in Sweden, and seen as in line with the Pentecostal movement in the US. It was founded in the 1980s, and is often criticised in secular Swedish society for being like a “cult”. It runs a series of evangelical schools for children. The current leader of the Christian Democrat party, Ebba Busch Thor, who is from Uppsala, attended one until she turned 16. Another criticism levelled in the Swedish press has been that the church has made donations to Israel that have gone towards building illegal settlements in the West Bank.
The church’s founders, Ulf and Birgitta Ekman, leftin 2014 to convert to Catholicism.
The church says on its website: “We believe in an unfailing and never-ending love, given to us by God. And together we try to spread that love to as many people as possible. Both globally and closer to where our home is, here in Uppsala.”
Nigerian-born Ukraine MegaChurch Pastor Sunday Adelaja says he is going back to his home country, Nigeria.
The Embassy of God Church, Kiev Ukraine, founder, spoke exclusively with naijachurchnews on the planned relocation to his country of birth. Excerpts:
Is it true you plan to relocate to Africa?
Yes, in 2015 I had a two- week solitude with God at which God specifically gave me instructions to go back to Africa, including what he wants me to do there. There have since been several confirmations of the revelation.
Why the relocation and what part of Africa are you coming to?
The destination is Nigeria to be specific. I have a 25- point instruction on what I’m coming to do. It’s not about religious or church ministry. But it’s more on the transformation of Nigeria in all spheres of life
How soon will this materialise?
I’ll simply follow the Lord’s direction and guidance. Besides, I have a 30 year experience in Europe and ministry all over the world that will go a long way to help me fulfill the task ahead in Nigeria
Russian Union of Christians Evangelical Faith alleged you confessed to having adulterous affairs with at least 20 women in your church. How true is this?
I never once was invited to a meeting with any Russian Union of churches. Neither did I ever spoke to them either by telephone or any other way. So there is no way I could confess to people I never spoke to or met
Your spiritual father, Apostle Toff Ulissis, also attested to this allegation, stating you need “psychiatric help”. What is your reaction to this?
Apostle Tuff is not my spiritual father but I had a relationship with him. But I actually was saved under W.F Kumuyi. Besides, even this Apostle Tuff denies ever making any such statements to the press or any media house
You hinted the allegation was an old fabrication cooked by disgruntled leaders in your church over power tussle. Let us in into what really transpired?
We have over 40 churches in the capital of Ukraine Kiev, about 400 other churches in the country, plus over a 1000 churches worldwide. When I got the revelation about moving to Africa I wanted to totally go and leave a local leadership of the entire ministry while I go back to Africa to start all afresh.
My thought was that I’ll be so busy with the enormous task of Nigeria transformation that I won’t have the time to be managing the church in Ukraine. That is when all hell broke loose. As usual some wanted the buildings; others wanted the budget while some wanted the crowd. The rest is history…
The allegation has raised global concern and uproar. What will you tell those who still believe in you and look up to you?
As ministers we don’t defend ourselves. We all have the God who called us and who is our only defense so at the end of the day the only thing that matters is that God is pleased and happy with you. If He is on your side, you are in the majority. If on the other hand people are on your side, but God isn’t then you are in trouble. We are not movie or sports stars that need a fan base. We on the other hand only have one audience; we are actors performing to only please the Master. When the Master is pleased, he will even reconcile your enemies with you.
What happens to the church in Ukraine if you leave?
That is the more reason why I’m actually happy all the rebellion happened. Thanks to it I was able to clean house. So we are establishing a new structure in the church now. Top of which is that I must remain the senior pastor of the church even when I’m in Africa. That is a major point of stability moving forward.
There are insinuations that the Nigerian media latched on to the story because some powerful forces in the Christian community are desperate to dent your image ahead of your relocation. Are you aware of this and what will you say to that?
It could be especially since I’m a straightforward person, a frank person who shares his opinions openly anywhere, anytime. In short I’m a straight taker. No doubt many people might not like my style. Others might have been outright incensed and offended by me or some of my past publications.
I guess they have the right to react anyway they see right in their eyes. We are all living in a free society so I don’t mind if any of them is a part to this. On the other hand I too have the right to freely express my opinion on the issues going on in my fatherland
Can you recall your past struggles with sexual addictions and how you overcame?
Oh yes, like every man I too had hand my own share of sexual struggles, to which I publicly attest to in my publications. I wrote a book on the subject allied “Living Sexually Free” and recently I posted an article on 20 ways to overcome masturbation on my blog, www.sundayadelajablog.com so anyone interested in more details of my journey on this matter could consult those sources
In one of your popular series, Ask Pastor Sunday, you hinted that a Christian cannot commit adultery. Can you clarify this?
I never said such a thing. Of course both Christians and non Christians can commit adultery, or fornication. What I was saying in that particular program mentioned is that Christians shouldn’t be sin conscious, they need to be more conscious about their relationship with God rather than be thinking only about one sin or the other from morning till evening.
students who were concerned about such topic. The whole gist is be more particular about your personal relationship with God, that’s you are particular about sin, whatever it’s called
Is this allegation not taking a toll on your wife and children?
Not at all, that is the easy part. They know me. Secondly, they know the truth. There is a saying that you should never explain yourself because those who know you don’t need it, they know and love you anyway. Those who don’t know nor love you, you’ll never be able to convince at any rate. So the conclusion is to simply walk before God and let your conscience be clean before him
sunday-adelaja-and-family
Why are you always reeling from one allegation to the other?
There is no person who is in the limelight that is not being accused of one thing or the other on regular basis. If you want to be nothing, do nothing. Maybe then people won’t accuse you of anything. Look at any popular person in Nigeria or the world, from President Obama to Buhari all of them are being accused regularly of one thing or the other.
Controversy is the fuel of popularity. So better get used to it. Even Jesus could not escape this law of nature. If he couldn’t avoid it, how can I avoid it? Better to start enjoying it!!!
The sharia council creates harm to women, children and others.
More than 300 Muslims— mostly women— say they are against being ruled over by any religious body and are working to try to gain independence from Sharia courts and religious bodies.
“We oppose any religious body—whether presided over by men or women— that seeks to rule over us,” the Muslims said in a statement published by Open Democracy.
Most of the people involved in the statement have “witnessed, experienced or fled from the horrors and degradations of “honour” killings, domestic violence, child and ritual abuse, forced marriage, polygamy, rape and sexual assaults,” says Pragna Patel in an opinion column for The Guardian.
“These women remind us of the inherent dangers faced by all vulnerable minority women when religious fundamentalists masquerade as ‘guardians of faith’ in order to take control of personal and family relationships,” Patel writes.
Patel says the sharia council creates harm to women, children and others.
“Those of us who try to challenge religious laws – on the basis of long-established secular feminist principles, international human rights and gender equality laws – are increasingly labelled ‘anti-faith,’ ‘unrepresentative’ or ‘Islamophobic,’ she said.
“But we work to help the most marginalised women – like those who signed today’s statement – to build feminist cultures based on common and universal values of human rights, citizenship and the rule of law,” she added.
A 24-year-old woman has given birth in London after doctors restored her fertility using frozen ovary tissue removed when she was 9 years old.
Moaza Al Matrooshi, whose son was delivered on Tuesday, told the BBC: “It’s like a miracle. We’ve been waiting so long for this result — a healthy baby.”
She is believed to be the first woman in the world to have a baby after having an ovary frozen before the onset of puberty.
Matrooshi was born with an inherited blood disorder called beta thalassaemia, which is fatal if not treated. The condition required a bone marrow transplant and chemotherapy, which damages the ovaries.
Before the procedure, when she was just 9, doctors removed her right ovary and froze the tissue.
Last year, surgeons in Denmark transplanted several small pieces of the ovarian tissue back into Matrooshi’s body.
To maximize the chance of conceiving, Matrooshi and her husband underwent IVFtreatment.
Three embryos were produced, two of which were implanted earlier this year.
Matrooshi said that through it all, she never gave up hope that she would have this baby. “I always believed that I would be a mum and that I would have a baby,” she said. “I didn’t stop hoping and now I have this baby — it is a perfect feeling.”
Her doctor, Sara Matthews, a consultant in gynecology and fertility, said she is overjoyed for the family and said the success of the procedure will give hope to other girls and young women who risk losing the chance of motherhood as a result of treatment for cancer, blood or immune disorders.
“This is a huge step forward,” she told the BBC. “We know that ovarian tissue transplantation works for older women, but we’ve never known if we could take tissue from a child, freeze it and make it work again.”
Sarah Kuteh, a Christian nurse, is suing for unfair dismissal after she was sacked by a hospital trust for offering to pray with patients before operations.
Patients complained about Sarah Kuteh, who has 15 years of nursing experience, to the Dartford and Gravesham NHS Trust.
She was dismissed for breaching guidelines about discussing religion at work.
In a video about her case posted on the Facebook page of Christian Concern, she asks: “How could telling anyone about Jesus Christ really be harmful to any patient?”
Kuteh was responsible for pre-operation assessments of patients, which required them to fill in a form that included a question about their religion.
She said: “I discuss my religion with the patient and how I have found Jesus Christ and how much peace I have – especially when patients come to me feeling really, really devastated sometimes.
“I reassure them on the basis of the joy and peace I have found in the Lord.”
After previous complaints from patients about inappropriate conversations about religion, she was warned about her behaviour. “The next day I got a letter and it stated I could have discussions with the patient or if the patient asks for it,” she says, adding: “I’d always ask the patient if they were comfortable – and most of them were.”
Kuteh was suspended in June and sacked in August following an investigation that heard a patient had complained she had given her a Bible she did not want and said she would pray for her. Another said she thought Kuteh was “preaching” at her.
A spokesman for Dartford and Gravesham NHS Trust said in a statement: “We have a duty to our patients to ensure that when they are at their most vulnerable, they are not exposed to the unsolicited beliefs and/or views of others, religious or otherwise.
“Following several complaints from patients and a warning which did not result in any change in behaviour, we feel we have acted appropriately in the management of this case.”
The Prime Minister, Teresa May, said recently that Christians should feel free to speak about their faith at work.
Donnie McClurkin (Ministers In Nigerian Worship Songs) @ Experience 2015 Lagos. Be blessed.
Convened and hosted by Pastor Paul Adefarasin, The Experience is an Interdenominational Gospel concert that features some of the best-known musical talents of our time. The Event, which debuted in December 2006 with over 70,000 persons in attendance rapidly gained momentum at its second outing with a quantum leap in attendance of well over 700,000 people. The Experience has now become known as Africa’s biggest worship concert – The Experience Lagos, holds every December.
Premier News reports that Pope Francis has met with the Colombian president and his main political opponent to discuss the country’s peace deal.
The pontiff invited President Juan Manuel Santos and his right-wing rival, former President Alvaro Uribe, to discuss the country’s peace accord with rebels.
The Vatican has released pictures of the trio talking together in the Pope’s office. President Santos presented the Pope with a pen made out of a bullet used in the civil war that was engraved with the words “The bullets have written our past, education will write our future”.
Uribe led the campaign against Santos’s deal with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia that resulted in a shock rejection by Colombians in an October referendum.
Santos then introduced several changes to the deal to appease his critics and signed the deal with the rebels on 25 November despite the referendum outcome … read more
Premier News report that, Street pastors are set to save the NHS millions of pounds as they divert drunks away from A&E during the festive period.
On most British high streets a group of Christians will patrol the night time economy providing support and help for people who have had too much to drink.
Premier has calculated that street pastors will save the health service around £13million in the month of December.
Across the UK there are 300 teams of street pastors in towns and cities and each group helps, on average, 100 people on a Friday and Saturday night.
According to NHS Digital the NHS treated 67,730 people in December 2015 who had been admitted to hospital partly because of alcohol at an average cost of £4296 each.
If each group of street pastors stops just one person from ending up in A&E the NHS will save £12,888,000 over the ten Fridays and Saturdays in December.
Street Pastors “bring added value, not only to the individuals and the community, but they bring added value to the NHS,” said Rev Les Isaac OBE, the CEO of Ascension Trust, which runs the Street Pastor network.
He told Premier that in one local authority the council leader told him Street Pastors saved £6,000 in one night alone.
“When you think about that around the country, street pastors and the work that they do are saving the NHS millions of pounds every year,” he added.
According to the think tank 2020 health out of every ten patients attending A&E at the weekend up to seven are there because of alcohol.
Ailments included broken bones, alcohol poisoning and cuts and scratches.
Figures also show that a fifth of all violent incidents in the country in 2013 and 2014 took place in or around a pub or nightclub. Police figures show that over two thirds of violent incidents take place in the evening or night.
In most towns and cities the street pastors will operate between 10pm and 4am and they will have undertaken extensive training in their own free time.
At least 42 hours of training is provided to make sure local churches and Christians are equipped with the skills to deal with heavily intoxicated people.
When you include everyone involved in the movement, including those who don’t work on the streets, there are over 20,000 volunteers … read more
Leading British Baptists have joined together to issue a statement aimed at achieving denominational unity on the issue of same-sex marriage.
ChristianToday.com reports that the statement, entitled The Courage to be Baptist: A Statement on Baptist Ecclesiology and Human Sexuality, aims to rally Baptists around their common faith rather than allow differences to cause division.
The Baptist Union of Great Britain prevents Baptist ministers from entering into same-sex marriages and discourages them from performing ceremonies for same-sex couples, although it does not actually forbid them from doing the latter.
Most Baptist churches tend to take a conservative stance on issues of same-sex marriage, but the issue has still been a controversial one in recent years.
“This Baptist way of being church allows us to maintain unity even when we disagree about certain issues. We believe this is a gift of God, allowing us to witness to our true unity in Christ even when we disagree about serious matters,” says The Courage to be Baptist website.
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