Boston Church Official Pleads Guilty in Looting Case

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Boston Church Official Pleads Guilty in Looting Case

A former Boston church official who claimed in an autobiography that he was an enforcer for gangster James “Whitey” Bulger pleaded guilty on Tuesday to federal charges that he looted his church’s assets.

Edward MacKenzie Jr. is the former director of operations at the Boston Society of the New Jerusalem Church, whose members belong to the Swedenborgian denomination.

The U.S. Attorney’s office said MacKenzie pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Dennis Saylor IV to 13 counts including racketeering conspiracy, racketeering, mail fraud, wire fraud and money laundering. He is to be sentenced Jan. 23.

Prosecutors said he joined the church in 2002, and in 2003 became its director of operations, a new position that paid more than $100,000 a year. They said he gradually gained control of the church’s assets, including an 18-story apartment building in downtown Boston, and cost the church millions of dollars. The church fired MacKenzie when he was arrested last year.

Prosecutors said MacKenzie voted himself and his associates into positions of authority, including changing the bylaws to his benefit, and was able to do so because the church had a small number of voting members, many of whom were elderly.

“The defendant preyed on the elderly and unsuspecting congregation of a well-established Boston church for more than a decade,” U.S. Attorney Carmen Ortiz said in a statement.

MacKenzie intimidated people, prosecutors said, by giving them signed copies of his 2003 autobiography, “Street Soldier: My Life as an Enforcer for Whitey Bulger and the Boston Irish Mob.”

Bulger is serving life in prison after being convicted last year on racketeering charges that tied him to 11 murders and other gangland crimes from the 1970s and ’80s. He was one of the FBI’s most wanted fugitives for 16 years until his 2011 arrest in Santa Monica, California.

Source and Original Content by BCNN 1

Abuse Sufferers In Zambia Receive Support From UK Churches

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Abuse Sufferers In Zambia Receive Support From UK Churches

Churches across the UK are supporting a campaign to end domestic violence in the African country of Zambia.

Us, a charity which works with Anglican churches across the world, has sent hundreds of friendship bracelets to churches to remind them to pray for women in Zambia who’ve experienced violence.

Hundreds of women have also sent messages to abuse sufferers in Zambia.

One woman wrote: “My prayers and thoughts are with you. I know how painful escaping from an abusive relationship can be. Stay the course, and God be with you.”

Another wrote: “You are not alone. Many all over the world understand what you are going through and how complicated your life is.”

The campaign is complementing the Anglican Church in Zambia’s work to stop violence against women. The church there is already working with the Zambian government and others to raise awareness of women’s legal rights.

They’re also running support groups for women and providing numeracy and literacy skills so women can be independent.

Grace Mazala Phiri, the National Programmes Director for the Anglican Church in Zambia, said: “We want women to feel empowered, but we don’t want men to feel worthless.

“We have to look at both the victim and the perpetrator to bring about healing.”

Rt Revd William Mchombo, the Bishop of Eastern Zambia, said: “The work we do is about showing people they are all equal, that women are valuable and girls are not inferior to boys.

“We’re trying to teach the next generation, who will be our future leaders. Part of this re-education involves pushing for women to have a greater role in the church.”

Up to 70% of women in the world experience violence at some point in their lifetime, according to the United Nations.

Source and Original Content by Premier Radio News

US Priests’ Dance- Off At Fundraiser

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US Priests’ Dance- Off At Fundraiser

A video of two American priests dancing has received hundreds of thousands of hits.

Revd David Rider, 29, and the Revd John Gibson, 28, were filmed during a fundraiser at US seminary back in April.

Fr Rider is seen dazzling the audience with his tap dancing before Fr Gibson wows the crowd with his Irish jig.

The pair then go head to head to impress those watching.

Most of those viewing the video on YouTube have been positive although some have claimed it was disrespectful to dance under a crucifix and a portrait of Pope Francis.

Have a watch for yourself:

Source and Original Content by Premier Radio News

Mark Driscoll Speaks On Death Threats

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Mark Driscoll Speaks On Death Threats

Mark Driscoll, the former pastor of American mega church Mars Hill, has said his family have received death threats and have moved house three times to ensure their safety.

He told a Christian conference that people have been arrested at their home, left rusty nails on their driveway, and thrown rocks at him and his children. Mr Driscoll also said his youngest child, an eight-year-old son, was experiencing night terrors.

According to the Christian Post, the father of five told the Gateway Conference: “We’ve had a very trying season and [I’m] just trying to figure out how to be a good pastor to my family first. We all know that’s the most important thing.”

“We’ve got five kids, three boys, two girls ages eight to seventeen. We’ve moved three times for safety issues: people arrested at our home, death threats, address posted online, all kinds of things and more recently it’s gotten more severe.”

“We were in the tent all night and woke up in the morning at about 6:30 or so and huge rocks about the size of baseballs come flying at my kids 8, 10 and 12 years of age. [We] call the police and flee into the house for their safety.”

“A few days later, I think it was, I don’t even remember, a member of the media flies overhead with a helicopter and is trying to flush us out for a story and that night we’re hiding in the house my eight-year-old son comes down and he’s wearing a military jacket, he’s loading up his Airsoft rifle and he looks at me and he says, ‘Hey dad, is this jacket bullet proof?’

Mark Driscoll was originally meant to speak at the event, but decided to come as an attendant instead. He was invited share on stage by the Gateway pastor.

The former minister of Mars Hill recently resigned after being accused of bullying and dominating other people.

He’s publicly apologised for comments he made under a false name in an online chatroom in 2000, which have been perceived as homophobic, sexist and judgemental.

Driscoll’s also been accused of plagiarism, and hiring a marketing company to help his book get on the New York Times bestseller list.”

Source and Original Content by Premier Radio News

Vicar Involved In Sham Marriage Trial Walks Free

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Vicar Involved In Sham Marriage Trial Walks Free

A vicar who was accused of conducting hundreds of bogus weddings has walked free after a judge said immigration officers had lied on oath.

Revd Nathan Ntege, 55, was investigated over his work at St Jude’s with St Aidan Church in Thornton Heath in South London.

The prosecution said immigration officers had become suspicious when the number of marriages there rose from six a year to six a day.

He was on trial at Inner London Crown Court on 14 counts of breaching immigration law and fraud.

However Judge Nic Madge ruled a number of witnesses acted unlawfully.

According to the BBC, he said: “I am satisfied that this is a case in which there has been both bad faith and serious misconduct on the part of the prosecution.

“I am satisfied that officers at the heart of this prosecution have deliberately concealed important evidence and lied on oath.”

The case against six people accused alongside Mr Ntege has also collapsed.

The Crown Prosecution Service says it accepts the judge’s ruling while the Home Office says it’s disappointed: “The collapse of this trial is an extremely disappointing end to a long investigation.

“We expect the highest standards from all our staff, and clearly we are treating the judge’s ruling that our officers acted in bad faith with the utmost seriousness.”

Source and Original Content by Premier Radio News

Death Penalty Condemned by Pope

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Death Penalty Condemned by Pope

The Pope has called for the abolition of capital punishment and declared life imprisonment “a hidden death penalty”.

In a meeting yesterday with representatives of the International Association of Penal Law, Pope Francis said: “All Christians and people of good will are thus called today to struggle not only for abolition of the death penalty, whether it be legal or illegal and in all its forms, but also to improve prison conditions, out of respect for the human dignity of persons deprived of their liberty.

“And this,” he continued, “I connect with life imprisonment. Life imprisonment is a hidden death penalty.”

Other aspects of the legal system which came under fire from the Pope were illegal uses of torture, the detention of prisoners without trial, stereotyping groups of people deemed to be “threatening” and maximum security practices which utilise isolation techniques.

This can lead to “psychic and physical sufferings such as paranoia, anxiety, depression and weight loss and significantly increase the chance of suicide,” he said, according to the Catholic News Service.

Pope Francis suggested that penalties given to elderly criminals should be limited, as older people “on the basis of their very errors can offer lessons to the rest of society.

“We don’t learn only from the virtues of saints but also from the failings and errors of sinners,” he added.

The Pope’s wide-ranging address also highlighted human trafficking, which he said could never be committed without the “complicity, whether active or passive, of public authorities”.

“Corruption is an evil greater than sin. More than forgiveness, this evil need to be cured,” he said.

Last year, Pope Francis gave one of his strongest sermons in which he denounced those who engage in corrupt practices and insisted they must be punished.

“Where there is deceit, the Spirit of God cannot be,” he said during a Mass in the Vatican’s Santa Marta.

Quoting a passage from chapter 17 of the Gospel of Luke, the Pontiff reminded his audience that Jesus says “It would be better for him if a millstone were put around his neck and he be thrown into the sea”

Source and Original Content by Christian Today

Christians Face The “Worst Persecution” in China

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Christians Face The “Worst Persecution” in China

China’s newly announced switch to a two-child population control policy does not resolve the coercive nature of the program, pro-life leaders say.

The disclosure of the change came even as the communist government imposes the most severe oppression in four decades, according to a leading advocate for the Chinese church.

Christians face the “worst persecution in China since the Cultural Revolution,” Bob Fu, president of ChinaAid, said in an article by Christian Today on Oct. 9.

That description is justified, Fu explained to BP in written comments in an email interview today (Oct. 22), due to “both the large scale and the severe degree of [the] violent crackdown” against not only the unregistered house churches but against the government-approved Three-Self Patriotic Movement congregations. About 300 churches have either been destroyed or had crosses forcibly removed recently in an ongoing campaign, and various believers have been arrested, Fu said.

Three-Self pastor Zhang Shaojie of Henan Province received a 12-year prison sentence in July, Fu noted, while Huang Yizi, a Three-Self pastor in Zhejiang Province, awaits trial after rallying prayer support for victims of the government crackdown.

Credible evidence exists, Fu told BP, that demonstrates Xi Jinping, who became China’s president in March 2013, instituted a “more hostile religious policy” last year. His goal is to “contain the over-heated growth of Christianity, according to confirmed and verified officially issued documents,” Fu said. Christianity is listed as a national security threat by the Chinese Communist Party, said Fu, who received the 2007 John Leland Religious Liberty Award from Southern Baptists’ Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission for his work on behalf of the persecuted church in China…Read More

Source and Original Content by Baptist Press

Court Order Forces Disgraced Alabama Pastor Out of Pulpit

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Court Order Forces Disgraced Alabama Pastor Out of Pulpit

Shell-shocked members of Shiloh Missionary Baptist Church in Montgomery, Alabama, are taking the first steps on a long road of recovery today as disgraced pastor, the Rev. Juan D. McFarland, finally left the church following a court order that he resign and cut all associations with the church. He cannot even attend services there.

The ruling earlier Thursday by Montgomery County Circuit Court Presiding Judge Charles Price brought some degree of closure to a dispute between McFarland and church leaders that erupted in late summer.

McFarland confessed that he not only had AIDS, but that he also had slept with several female church members without telling them he had the deadly disease. He also confessed to using illegal drugs and misappropriating church funds, according to a report on the Montgomery Advertiser newspaper’s website.

McFarland walked quietly out of the building Thursday after relinquishing his keys to the church, where he had ministered for 24 years.

“Who does this to people, and you are the leader? Who does this?” an unnamed church member asked rhetorically when the scandal first broke last month.

“I know a young lady who is a member of the church who says she has slept with him and that she didn’t want this to go public, and she is running out now trying to find out if there is anything wrong with her. And my heart goes out to her, because she’s been a wonderful church member, and then for something like this to happen. The fact that he didn’t tell them at all. That’s a crime in itself.”

Lee Sanford, chairman of the church’s board of trustees, said the meeting during which McFarland returned his keys was “tense” but not combative. Sanford said the church has always acted in a spirit of forgiveness toward McFarland.

“It was extremely reluctantly that we took the action that we did, but we have to look [out] for the spiritual welfare of the members of Shiloh Missionary Baptist in moving forward,” Sanford told the Advertiser.

Sanford said the church will move in “a studied fashion” to find a new pastor, but for now the Rev. Arthur Green, the church’s associate pastor, will lead services… Read More

Source and Original Content by Charisma News

Young Christians Say They Have Faith in Politics But Less Faith In Politicians

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Young Christians Say They Have Faith in Politics But Less Faith In Politicians

The Joint Public Issues Team (JPIT) of the Baptist Union of Great Britain, the Methodist Church and the United Reformed Church asked Christian young people about their attitudes to voting and politics. The young people were clear – they cared about politics, their faith had a major impact on how they voted – but they didn’t think their voices were heard or have faith that politicians would deliver positive change.

The online survey was conducted in preparation for the JPIT conference, ‘Love Your Neighbour: Think, Pray, Vote’, where Archbishop Justin Welby will be the keynote speaker. The aim of the conference is to enthuse and equip Christians to be active in the run up to the general election. The Churches believe that the online survey shows that while many young people care deeply there is a need to heed their concerns about the political process.

In the UK voter turnout amongst 18 to 23 year olds is extremely low. Research carried out by YouGov in April this year indicated that of the 3.3 million young people entitled to vote for the first time in next year’s general election, 7 May 2015, more than 2 million of them will not be voting.

Andrew Weston, Fellowship of the United Reformed Youth Moderator Elect, said: “It is a great shame that so many young people lack belief in the political system, fearing that their voices will be ignored.”

The young Christians asked by the Churches said they would be more likely to vote if politicians engage directly with them. They also said that they are not given sufficient information with regards to policies and key issues, and that one way of overcoming this could also be through better political education in schools.

“It is vitally important that young people take the opportunity to have their say next May,” Andrew continued, adding: “I’m really looking forward to the upcoming JPIT conference ‘Love Your Neighbour: Think, Pray, Vote’… To have a space for young Christians to engage with key issues, including poverty, climate change and international affairs, in the context of their faith and the upcoming General Election is so valuable.”

Tickets are available for Under 25s to attend the ‘Love your neighbour: Think, Pray, Vote’ conference, and workshops will cover issues that the survey revealed matter most to the young people – including poverty and social justice.

Rachel Allison, who co-ordinated the survey and worked with JPIT to help the team improve how churches talk about social justice to young people, said: “There are important questions to be asked about how politicians can engage with a seemingly untapped generation who could have a massive impact on the result of the election and the future of society.”

Megan Thomas, Methodist Youth President, said: “There are many issues facing our country today that specifically impact on children and young people. We live in a country where housing is unaffordable, child poverty is on the increase and where there are constant financial challenges in education.”

“Young people are passionate about politics and care about the key issues in our country, but it is important that we have all the facts. When voting we want to know that our voice will be heard and that our vote can make a difference. If you want to find out ways in which you can speak to politicians and how your vote can make a difference, don’t miss the ‘Love Your Neighbour: Think, Pray, Vote’ conference.”

Source and Original Content by Ekklesia

Christians In Egypt Feel Safer Under New Regime

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Christians In Egypt Feel Safer Under New Regime

While problems still exist, Christians in Egypt feel “much safer” under the presidency of Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, a former military officer who played a key role in the coup that ousted Mohammed Morsi of the Muslim Brotherhood in July 2013, a Catholic official said.

“The mood has improved considerably. The security situation is getting better. There is greater stability,” Father Rafik Greiche, press officer for the Egyptian bishops’ conference, told Aid to the Church in Need Oct. 21.

“Christians feel a lot safer. They are going to church without feeling threatened as they did under President Morsi … In all, a more peaceful atmosphere is being created.”

A 2011 revolution, part of the Arab Spring, had overthrown Hosni Mubarak, a military officer who had been Egypt’s president since 1981. The following year Morsi, of the Islamist movement the Muslim Brotherhood, became the first democratically elected Egyptian president.

“Under the Muslim Brotherhood Molotov cocktails were hurled at churches or graffiti was sprayed on the walls,” Fr. Greiche recounted.

On July 3, 2013, Egypt’s military ousted Morsi, and in August began a crackdown on the Muslim Brotherhood. Violence then spread across the country, with Islamists killing hundreds of people from August to October. Churches were vandalized, burned, and looted, as were the homes and businesses of Christians.

In January, the interim government approved a new constitution, and then el-Sisi won elections in May, which were boycotted by the Muslim Brotherhood as well as other political groups.

Three journalists from Al Jazeera have been imprisoned in the country since December 2013, accused of supporting the Muslim Brotherhood and of spreading false news; the three have an appeals hearing scheduled for Jan. 1, 2015.

“The number of acts of aggression has fallen to a low level, a minimum,” Fr. Greiche explained. “Sometimes there are still inter-religious tensions in some villages. It still happens that jihadists abduct Christian girls. But the situation has nevertheless improved considerably. The problems that exist are only a fraction of those that Christians experienced under Morsi… Read More

Source and Original Content by CNA

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