Brian ‘Head’ Welch Opens Series of Wellness Centers to Help Others Find Healing of ‘Body, MInd, and Spirit’

Evangelist and rock star Brian “Head” Welch announced the opening of a series of wellness centers to help others find healing. 

Named Zivel, the performance and recovery suites are designed to help people “function at their best.” Some of the services included at the facilities are saltwater floating, cryotherapy, infrared sauna, oxygen therapy and compression therapy.

Welch, who is a member of the popular rock band Korn, is a recovering drug addict who has found solace in his Christian faith and is receiving therapy similar to what he offers at his wellness centers.

“In 2005, I found healing after years of struggling with addiction, depression, and suicidal ideation,” Welch said in a statement. “I consider myself extremely blessed to have been made whole — body, mind and spirit — and I’ve devoted my life to help others find the healing they deserve.”

“The most exciting thing for me about Zivel is that our services can help revitalize every part of a person’s life, body, mind and spirit, which again, is what I feel is my life’s purpose.”

SOURCE: Christian Post, Jeannie Law

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TBN to Air Special Conversation on Race and the Church

TBN to Air Special Conversation on Race and the Church


The Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBN) will host a special conversation about race and church next week featuring gospel singer Kirk Franklin, according to CBN.

The announcement comes several months after Franklin boycotted the Gospel Music Association’s Dove Awards and TBN when comments he made about race and police shootings during the awards ceremony were edited out.

“Today, I feel like quitting. I am heartbroken that I even have to share this with you,” he said in an Instagram video posted in October after the awards. He detailed his speeches both in 2016 and 2019 where he highlighted black deaths by the hands of white police officers, as well as the five police officers shot and killed by a black man in Dallas. Both of those mentions were taken out of his speeches when aired, despite his protests in 2016.

Other artists, such as Lecrae, Tauren Wells, Jeremy Camp, and Mandisa joined the singer’s decision.

Earlier this week, Franklin posted another video announcing “a conversation…that was long overdue” about race and the church. The clip showed TBN president Matt Crouch, Pastor Tony Evans of Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship and Pastor Robert Morris of Gateway Church in Dallas with Franklin.

“I want to know the conversation that needs to happen. If I’m ignorant, would you help me?” Crouch asked in the video.

“It’s a conversation about race and the church. It was a painful but…

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Muslim Reformer Asra Nomani Explains How Communism and Islamism Are Similar

Speaking on a panel discussion at the 2020 Conservative Political Action Conference, Muslim reformer Asra Nomani offered her thoughts on the similarities between “communism” and “Islamism” as both ideologies try to squash religious freedom.

“So when you think of communism, it’s an ideology, right?” Nomani asked. “And so, from my vantage point, there is another ideology that we call ‘Islamism,’ which is the ideology of political Islam.”

“So what that means is many of you might have heard of organizations like the Muslim Brotherhood or a lot of the theocracies like in Iran that are running the state. Those are all not just about a religion of Islam, which my parents taught me was how to practice. [It] is about control over people. And that’s where I think communism and Islamism are very similar.”

Nomani, a founder of the Muslim Reform Movement who made headlines in 2016 when she announced she voted for Republican President Donald Trump despite being a liberal Muslim, was among several panelists who participated in a CPAC breakout session in late February titled “Without Religious Freedom, What’s Left?”

Joining her on the panel were U.S. Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom Sam Brownback, conservative commentator Todd Starnes, Epoch Times Senior Editor Jan Jekielek and Sander Gerber, a fellow at the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs.

With “America vs. Socialism” being the theme of CPAC 2020, much of the discussion focused on the threat to freedoms posed by communist China as the government has pushed the idea of “social transformation” to restrict the freedoms of different religious minority groups over the last several decades.

“It is deeply disturbing and I think the Chinese are probably the very best in the world at it,” Brownback, the former governor of Kansas, said. “They have started it in several places. In Christianity, for instance, in China, they want to rewrite the Bible to make it with Chinese characters.”

“They’re also taking crosses down on the front of churches, taking down a picture of Jesus and putting up a picture of Xi Jinping, taking down Scripture from the wall and putting up statements for the Communist Party. And then you gotta sing patriotic songs and not hymns,” he added. “That sounds like trying to change thinking behavior.”

Brownback contended that China’s war on faith “won’t work” because “these sorts of things have been tried throughout human history.”

“The Kingdom of man has often tried to take over the kingdom of God,” he said. “It’s never worked. It may be successful for a little while: tanks are stronger than somebody’s human flesh standing there. But ultimately the Roman Empire switched when they were killing Christians earlier.”

SOURCE: Christian Post, Samuel Smith

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Michigan Annual Conference of United Methodist Church Votes to Advance Proposal to Split Denomination

The Michigan Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church voted to send a proposal to split the denomination over the long-debated issue of homosexuality to the UMC’s top legislative body.

Last week, the Michigan conference became the third annual conference and the first based in the United States to support sending the Protocol of Reconciliation and Grace through Separation, which would allocate $25 million for Methodists who adhere to biblical sexual ethics to vote to leave the UMC and create their own denomination, to the UMC General Conference.

UMC bishops and activists had first announced support for the proposal in January.

At a special session held at Goodrich Chapel in Albion, Michigan conference delegates voted 927 to 92 in favor of sending the proposal for consideration.

The Michigan Conference reported that while many attendees of the session spoke in favor of the protocol, the approved did not officially endorse the separation proposal.

“Unlike the two international conferences that acted before the March 7 vote in Albion, The Michigan Conference did not endorse the Protocol,” explained the conference.

“The single motion brought by the delegation for action by the Special Session was ‘to send the petition entitled ‘Reconciliation and Grace Through Separation and Restructuring’ (BOD New ¶2556)’ to the 2020 General Conference.’”

SOURCE: Christian Post, Michael Gryboski

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Parents Push Back Against Washington State’s New Sex Education Curriculum for Public Schools

Despite considerable public pushback, Washington state lawmakers have approved a comprehensive sex education curriculum in legislation for public school students some parents say is tantamount to grooming.

According to MyNorthwest, Republicans in the Evergreen state strongly resisted the measure, at one point even attempting to add more than 200 amendments to impede the bill from advancing. Conservative legislators contended that the material was not age-appropriate and that it usurps the parent-child relationship.

“I’m not sure why we’re rushing to remove the innocence of our youth,” Rep. Mike Steele, R-Clehan, said in a house floor speech last week.

“We put so much on them. I don’t know why we think it’s appropriate to put more, to put such weight upon their backs at such young ages. This is heavy, heavy material.”

Democratic defenders of the legislation maintained that the bill is vital for children.

“The hard work that we put into this bill — in both the House and Senate — is well worth it because it will improve safety for children statewide,” said the bill’s sponsor, Democratic Sen. Claire Wilson.

“We must ensure that our kids have the tools and knowledge they need to recognize and resist inappropriate behavior.”

Around the country, particularly in politically liberal states, sex-ed curriculum and recommended resources that feature explicit descriptions of various sexual acts and cartoon images that appear pornographic have been contested by parents who do not want their children exposed to it, prompting activism, including sit-outs where children are withdrawn from school in protest of graphic sex ed. Also included in the controversial lessons is the promotion of the idea that some people might be born in the wrong body and that biological sex exists on a spectrum.

Beth Daranciang, a Seattle resident who was a Republican candidate for state senator and an activist for the protection of children and women, commented in an email to The Christian Post Monday that influential interest groups appear to be calling the shots.

“The Democrats in Washington are heavily funded by Planned Parenthood and their allies. Planned Parenthood helped develop the curriculum and is frequently mentioned in the curriculum as a resource,” Daranciang said.

SOURCE: Christian Post, Brandon Showalter

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LGBT Activists Push for Cancelation of Franklin Graham Event in Germany

LGBT Activists Push for Cancelation of Franklin Graham Event in Germany


Evangelist Franklin Graham, who earlier this year had all eight of his planned United Kingdom appearances canceled by the venues after pressure from the LGBT community, is now facing similar backlash in Germany.

Following in the footsteps of his late father, the Rev. Billy Graham, the younger evangelist was scheduled to bring the gospel to Germany at the Cologne Lanxess Arena on June 20. But Sven Lehmann, a member of the country’s federal parliament, the Bundestag, sent an open letter to the venue urging it “not to stage the hate preacher,” UK’s Premier Christian News reported.

“Graham has repeatedly been against homosexuals,” Lehmann wrote. “In 2015 he called for a boycott of an LGBTI-friendly company and explained a year later that Homosexuals are ‘enemies’ of Christians provided that they do not ‘regret’ their sexual orientation.”

Additionally, the Cologne Lesbian and Gay Day (KLUST) alleges Graham’s biblical view regarding “homosexuality as sin” creates a “breeding ground on which violence against lesbians and gays thrives.”

Several German churches, however, support the Billy Graham Evangelist Association’s Festival of Hope and are calling the claims against Franklin Graham “defamatory.” The Evangelical Free Church of Cologne said in a statement the intent of the gathering was solely to present the life-changing message of the gospel, which “resists radicalism…

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Hindu Radicals Have Jesus Statue Removed from Christian Cemetery in India

Hindu Radicals Have Jesus Statue Removed from Christian Cemetery in India


Hindus in India have removed a Jesus Christ statue from a Christian cemetery after the property owners received complaints.

According to CBN News, the 12-foot statue was removed March 3 from Mahima Betta cemetery in a town just 30 miles north of Bangalore, India.

“It is very sad, unfortunate and regrettable that the police, bowing to the pressure of a few outsiders, have forcefully removed the statue of Lord Jesus,” Archbishop Peter Machado wrote March 4 in an article for AsiaNews.

“It is a blow to the communal harmony of the people in our villages and also a violation of the religious freedom guaranteed to us by the Indian Constitution,” Machado said.

Machado told the Catholic News Agency that Christians have been visiting the statue at the cemetery for some 40 years “without any difficulty.”

“There is absolutely no problem from local people to our burials, nor our prayers and devotions on the hill,” he said.

Machado said recently, however, non-Christians from outside the community have been spreading rumors that the cemetery is being used for conversions.

“The local villagers have publicly said that the presence of Christians and their prayers are absolutely no problem for them and, this being the case, why should some outsiders come and disturb the harmony of the village?” the archbishop asked.

He added that he’s asked that the statue be reinstalled.

“The Christians of…

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PODCAST: Whyte House Daily Devotional Bible Reading Episode #104: Numbers 18, Psalm 144, and Romans 2 (with Daniel Whyte III)

This is Daniel Whyte III, president of Gospel Light Society International with the Whyte House Daily Devotional Bible Reading Episode #104. Where I read three chapters of the Holy Bible in the King James Version a day with my family as a part of our family devotions, to encourage you to read the Holy Bible in a year’s time. Today we are reading Numbers 18, Psalm 144 and Romans 2.

Dwight L. Moody said, The Bible was not given for our information but for our transformation.”

Harper Lee said, “The book to read is not the one which thinks for you, but the one which makes you think. No book in the world equals the Bible for that.”

Numbers 18
1 And the Lord said unto Aa’-ron, Thou and thy sons and thy father’s house with thee shall bear the iniquity of the sanctuary: and thou and thy sons with thee shall bear the iniquity of your priesthood.

2 And thy brethren also of the tribe of Le’-vi, the tribe of thy father, bring thou with thee, that they may be joined unto thee, and minister unto thee: but thou and thy sons with thee shall minister before the tabernacle of witness.

3 And they shall keep thy charge, and the charge of all the tabernacle: only they shall not come nigh the vessels of the sanctuary and the altar, that neither they, nor ye also, die.

4 And they shall be joined unto thee, and keep the charge of the tabernacle of the congregation, for all the service of the tabernacle: and a stranger shall not come nigh unto you.

5 And ye shall keep the charge of the sanctuary, and the charge of the altar: that there be no wrath any more upon the children of Is’-ra-el.

6 And I, behold, I have taken your brethren the Le’-vites from among the children of Is’-ra-el: to you they are given as a gift for the Lord, to do the service of the tabernacle of the congregation.

7 Therefore thou and thy sons with thee shall keep your priest’s office for everything of the altar, and within the vail; and ye shall serve: I have given your priest’s office unto you as a service of gift: and the stranger that cometh nigh shall be put to death.

8 And the Lord spake unto Aa’-ron, Behold, I also have given thee the charge of mine heave offerings of all the hallowed things of the children of Is’-ra-el; unto thee have I given them by reason of the anointing, and to thy sons, by an ordinance for ever.

9 This shall be thine of the most holy things, reserved from the fire: every oblation of their’s, every meat offering of their’s, and every sin offering of their’s, and every trespass offering of their’s which they shall render unto me, shall be most holy for thee and for thy sons.

10 In the most holy place shalt thou eat it; every male shall eat it: it shall be holy unto thee.

11 And this is thine; the heave offering of their gift, with all the wave offerings of the children of Is’-ra-el: I have given them unto thee, and to thy sons and to thy daughters with thee, by a statute for ever: every one that is clean in thy house shall eat of it.

12 All the best of the oil, and all the best of the wine, and of the wheat, the firstfruits of them which they shall offer unto the Lord, them have I given thee.

13 And whatsoever is first ripe in the land, which they shall bring unto the Lord, shall be thine; every one that is clean in thine house shall eat of it.

14 Every thing devoted in Is’-ra-el shall be thine.

15 Every thing that openeth the matrix in all flesh, which they bring unto the Lord, whether it be of men or beasts, shall be thine: nevertheless the firstborn of man shalt thou surely redeem, and the firstling of unclean beasts shalt thou redeem.

16 And those that are to be redeemed from a month old shalt thou redeem, according to thine estimation, for the money of five she’-kels, after the she’-kel of the sanctuary, which is twenty ge’-rahs.

17 But the firstling of a cow, or the firstling of a sheep, or the firstling of a goat, thou shalt not redeem; they are holy: thou shalt sprinkle their blood upon the altar, and shalt burn their fat for an offering made by fire, for a sweet savour unto the Lord.

18 And the flesh of them shall be thine, as the wave breast and as the right shoulder are thine.

19 All the heave offerings of the holy things, which the children of Is’-ra-el offer unto the Lord, have I given thee, and thy sons and thy daughters with thee, by a statute for ever: it is a covenant of salt for ever before the Lord unto thee and to thy seed with thee.

20 And the Lord spake unto Aa’-ron, Thou shalt have no inheritance in their land, neither shalt thou have any part among them: I am thy part and thine inheritance among the children of Is’-ra-el.

21 And, behold, I have given the children of Le’-vi all the tenth in Is’-ra-el for an inheritance, for their service which they serve, even the service of the tabernacle of the congregation.

22 Neither must the children of Is’-ra-el henceforth come nigh the tabernacle of the congregation, lest they bear sin, and die.

23 But the Le’-vites shall do the service of the tabernacle of the congregation, and they shall bear their iniquity: it shall be a statute for ever throughout your generations, that among the children of Is’-ra-el they have no inheritance.

24 But the tithes of the children of Is’-ra-el, which they offer as an heave offering unto the Lord, I have given to the Le’-vites to inherit: therefore I have said unto them, Among the children of Is’-ra-el they shall have no inheritance.

25 And the Lord spake unto Mo’-ses, saying,

26 Thus speak unto the Le’-vites, and say unto them, When ye take of the children of Is’-ra-el the tithes which I have given you from them for your inheritance, then ye shall offer up an heave offering of it for the Lord, even a tenth part of the tithe.

27 And this your heave offering shall be reckoned unto you, as though it were the corn of the threshingfloor, and as the fulness of the winepress.

28 Thus ye also shall offer an heave offering unto the Lord of all your tithes, which ye receive of the children of Is’-ra-el; and ye shall give thereof the Lord’s heave offering to Aa’-ron the priest.

29 Out of all your gifts ye shall offer every heave offering of the Lord, of all the best thereof, even the hallowed part thereof out of it.

30 Therefore thou shalt say unto them, When ye have heaved the best thereof from it, then it shall be counted unto the Le’-vites as the increase of the threshingfloor, and as the increase of the winepress.

31 And ye shall eat it in every place, ye and your households: for it is your reward for your service in the tabernacle of the congregation.

32 And ye shall bear no sin by reason of it, when ye have heaved from it the best of it: neither shall ye pollute the holy things of the children of Is’-ra-el, lest ye die.

Psalm 144
A Psalm of Da’-vid.
1 Blessed be the Lord my strength which teacheth my hands to war, and my fingers to fight:

2 My goodness, and my fortress; my high tower, and my deliverer; my shield, and he in whom I trust; who subdueth my people under me.

3 Lord, what is man, that thou takest knowledge of him! or the son of man, that thou makest account of him!

4 Man is like to vanity: his days are as a shadow that passeth away.

5 Bow thy heavens, O Lord, and come down: touch the mountains, and they shall smoke.

6 Cast forth lightning, and scatter them: shoot out thine arrows, and destroy them.

7 Send thine hand from above; rid me, and deliver me out of great waters, from the hand of strange children;

8 Whose mouth speaketh vanity, and their right hand is a right hand of falsehood.

9 I will sing a new song unto thee, O God: upon a psaltery and an instrument of ten strings will I sing praises unto thee.

10 It is he that giveth salvation unto kings: who delivereth Da’-vid his servant from the hurtful sword.

11 Rid me, and deliver me from the hand of strange children, whose mouth speaketh vanity, and their right hand is a right hand of falsehood:

12 That our sons may be as plants grown up in their youth; that our daughters may be as corner stones, polished after the similitude of a palace:

13 That our garners may be full, affording all manner of store: that our sheep may bring forth thousands and ten thousands in our streets:

14 That our oxen may be strong to labour; that there be no breaking in, nor going out; that there be no complaining in our streets.

15 Happy is that people, that is in such a case: yea, happy is that people, whose God is the Lord.

Romans 2
1 Therefore thou art inexcusable, O man, whosoever thou art that judgest: for wherein thou judgest another, thou condemnest thyself; for thou that judgest doest the same things.

2 But we are sure that the judgment of God is according to truth against them which commit such things.

3 And thinkest thou this, O man, that judgest them which do such things, and doest the same, that thou shalt escape the judgment of God?

4 Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering; not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance?

5 But after thy hardness and impenitent heart treasurest up unto thyself wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God;

6 Who will render to every man according to his deeds:

7 To them who by patient continuance in well doing seek for glory and honour and immortality, eternal life:

8 But unto them that are contentious, and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, indignation and wrath,

9 Tribulation and anguish, upon every soul of man that doeth evil, of the Jew first, and also of the Gen’-tile;

10 But glory, honour, and peace, to every man that worketh good, to the Jew first, and also to the Gen’-tile:

11 For there is no respect of persons with God.

12 For as many as have sinned without law shall also perish without law: and as many as have sinned in the law shall be judged by the law;

13 (For not the hearers of the law are just before God, but the doers of the law shall be justified.

14 For when the Gen’-tiles, which have not the law, do by nature the things contained in the law, these, having not the law, are a law unto themselves:

15 Which shew the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts the mean while accusing or else excusing one another;)

16 In the day when God shall judge the secrets of men by Je’-sus Christ according to my gospel.

17 Behold, thou art called a Jew, and restest in the law, and makest thy boast of God,

18 And knowest his will, and approvest the things that are more excellent, being instructed out of the law;

19 And art confident that thou thyself art a guide of the blind, a light of them which are in darkness,

20 An instructor of the foolish, a teacher of babes, which hast the form of knowledge and of the truth in the law.

21 Thou therefore which teachest another, teachest thou not thyself? thou that preachest a man should not steal, dost thou steal?

22 Thou that sayest a man should not commit adultery, dost thou commit adultery? thou that abhorrest idols, dost thou commit sacrilege?

23 Thou that makest thy boast of the law, through breaking the law dishonourest thou God?

24 For the name of God is blasphemed among the Gen’-tiles through you, as it is written.

25 For circumcision verily profiteth, if thou keep the law: but if thou be a breaker of the law, thy circumcision is made uncircumcision.

26 Therefore if the uncircumcision keep the righteousness of the law, shall not his uncircumcision be counted for circumcision?

27 And shall not uncircumcision which is by nature, if it fulfil the law, judge thee, who by the letter and circumcision dost transgress the law?

28 For he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly; neither is that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh:

29 But he is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God.

________

PRAY
________

When I was a teenager I wanted to get wisdom and knowledge, so I set out the read the big family Bible that many families had in those days. But I couldn’t get past Genesis 2 before I got bored with reading the Bible. I found out later in life that you have to believe on Christ and get saved before you can understand the Bible. So here is how I became a Christian and how you can too:

First, accept the fact that you are a sinner, and that you have broken God’s law. The Bible says in Romans 3:23: “For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.”

Second, accept the fact that there is a penalty for sin. The Bible states in Romans 6:23: “For the wages of sin is death…”

Third, accept the fact that you are on the road to hell. Jesus Christ said in Matthew 18:8: “Wherefore if thy hand or thy foot offend thee, cut them off, and cast them from thee: it is better for thee to enter into life halt or maimed, rather than having two hands or two feet to be cast into everlasting fire.” Also, the Bible states in Revelation 21:8: “But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.”

Now that is bad news, but here’s the good news. Jesus Christ said in John 3:16: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” Just believe in your heart that Jesus Christ died for your sins, was buried, and rose from the dead by the power of God for you so that you can live eternally with Him. Pray and ask Him to come into your heart today, and He will.

Romans 10:9 & 13 says, “That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved… For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.”

If you believe that Jesus Christ died on the Cross for your sins, was buried, and rose from the dead, and you want to trust Him for your Salvation today, please pray with me this simple prayer: Holy Father God, I realize that I am a sinner and that I have done some bad things in my life. I am sorry for my sins, and today I choose to turn from my sins. For Jesus Christ sake, please forgive me of my sins. I believe with all of my heart that Jesus Christ died for me, was buried, and rose again. I trust Jesus Christ as my Savior and I choose to follow Him as Lord from this day forward. Lord Jesus, please come into my heart and save my soul and change my life today. Amen.

If you believed in your heart that Jesus Christ died on the Cross, was buried, and rose again, allow me to say, congratulations on doing the most important thing in life and that is accepting Jesus Christ as your Lord and Saviour! For more information to help you grow in your newfound faith in Christ, go to Gospel Light Society.com and read “What To Do After You Enter Through the Door”. Jesus Christ said in John 10:9, “I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture.”

If you accepted Jesus Christ as your Savior today, please email me at [email protected] and let us know. There is some free material that we want to send you. If you have a prayer request, please e-mail that to us as well, and we will pray for you until you tell us to stop.

God loves you. We love you. And may God bless you.

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New Generation of Missionaries Floods the Earth with Gospel: 'Now is the Time for Harvest, Now is the Season for Revival'

In the early 1900s, the majority of Christians lived in the West. More than a century later, over a third of all Christians now live in Asia, Africa, and South America. The number of missionaries going to the four corners of the globe is also growing. 

Last month in Brazil, 140 thousand people met in three stadiums pledging to make the Great Commission their main ambition. 
 
Three million more watched online – promising to spread the gospel of Jesus Christ to every nation.

Worldwide Missions Push

“We declare today that now is the time for harvest, now is the season for revival and every nation on earth will be touched,” said Andy Byrd with Youth With a Mission.
  
Half a world away, Chinese Christians, under intense persecution, hold 24-hour a day secret prayer meetings, crying out for the nations.

“Lord, the number of Christians in China is increasing, What should we do, Lord?” asked a prominent leader of China’s underground church movement during a prayer meeting. “What’s our job? How should we expand Your Kingdom? Lord, we pray that you will place Your mission into each of our hearts.”

A similar scene plays out seven thousand miles away in North Africa. 
 
“God has put in our hearts to be able to send one thousand missionaries by the year 2025 and I really believe, maybe one day, America will end up with some Muslim convert missionaries coming to reach out to the Muslims there.” Youssef Qurahman, a North African pastor based in Algeria, told CBN News.

The Explosive Growth of Christianity Around the Globe

It’s a far cry from those early days when Western missionary legends like William Carey, Hudson Taylor, and David Livingstone labored decades before seeing the fruits of their labor.

Today, missionaries answer that same call. This new generation, however, comes from, among other places, the remote parts of Mongolia, desert sands of the Middle East and Southeast Asia. 
 
“And so before where you would think of a missionary in the 1900s as pale, white, British folks dressed in somewhat Victorian clothes, that is over now. We have missionaries that look like everyone,” said Dr. Corne Bekker, dean of Regent University’s school of divinity.

Their efforts, and those of countless others, helping fuel the explosive growth of Christianity.

“It is true that there is a shift taking place at the moment and there are [fewer] missionaries coming from the United States and Europe, but it doesn’t mean for a moment that there are [fewer] missionaries,” Bekker told CBN News.

While the U.S. still sends out the highest number of missionaries, more than half of those serving worldwide now come from Asia, Africa, and South America. 
 
(BOLD)
From Mission Fields to Mission Force

Bekker says regions that were once mission fields becoming the mission force.

“So, from countries that used to be the focus of mission, they have become the major players in mission.”

Among them the likes of Ukrainian Sergey Rakhuba, who is training hundreds of young people to be the next Christian generation spreading the gospel.

“The future of the countries of the former Soviet Union is not in the hands of political leaders in the Kremlin or in the presidential palaces of Ukraine, Moldova or Belarus,” Sergey Rakhuba, president of Tennessee-based Mission Eurasia, told CBN News. “It is in the hands of young Christians who, with a renewed heart, renewed vision and desire – are taking the gospel into contemporary society and influence it for eternity.”

For several years, Rakhuba’s group, Mission Eurasia, has been sending dozens of Russian missionary teams to Mongolia, holding camps for thousands of children, many of whom have never heard the name of Christ.

“We are in a remote western part of Mongolia and it is still one of the most unreached places in the world,” said Michael Cherenkov of Mission Eurasia. “Sometimes we think that people around the world know about Jesus but there are places like this that haven’t been touched by the gospel.”

To better appreciate the significance of these camps you have to understand the history of Christianity here in Mongolia. Shortly after the fall of Communism, there were only 10 believers in the entire country. 

Today, some 26 years later, some 60 thousand believers are spread across this vast nation.

17-year-old Elena said she got the call to missions at a young age. This was her third visit to Mongolia.

“When I was 9 years old I read a book about a missionary in a foreign country and since then I have had this burning desire to share God’s love with people,” Elena said.
  
“Dark Continent” No More

One place burning with missionary zeal is Africa. 
 
The prestigious Pew Research Center found that people who live south of the Sahara desert and stretching all the way to the tip of Africa are seeking God unlike any other part of the world. 
 
Pew predicts that by 2060 Africa will be the most Christian continent. 
  
Congregations like Grace Bible Church in Johannesburg, South Africa, taking advantage of the phenomenal growth, sending missionaries across the continent.

“We come from a history where things were done for us, people came to us, to tell us about Christ, we were the so-called ‘dark continent’ but we realize that history changes,” said Mosa Sona, senior pastor at Grace Bible Church.

Scores of missionaries now bringing the gospel back, to re-evangelize a secular and often irreligious West. 
 
“We are just getting a much more diverse missionary movement now where people are basically going from everywhere to everywhere,” author and missionary expert Dr. Robert Woodberry of Baylor University told CBN News. “You are even getting missionaries from Africa and Latin America who are going to Europe, who are going to North America.”
Some say America should warmly welcome to our shores these new missionaries from new lands. 

“The courage of the African and Asians coming into the West should really, number one, put us to shame, and then should motivate us that we, the ones who have taken the gospel to the east, now, should be not only welcoming but embracing them because these are our brothers and sisters in Christ,” said Dr. Michael Youseff, president and CEO of Leading the Way.

Growth of the Church in the Muslim World

Meanwhile, despite severe persecution, Chinese, Filipinos, South Koreans and Christians from other nationalities are secretly serving in some of the most dangerous places in the Muslim world.

“You’ve seen phenomenal growth of the church in the Muslim world, it’s just that people don’t want to talk about the details of it because they don’t want people to be killed, kicked out or punished,” Dr. Woodberry told CBN News.

He and others say the modern missions movement is thriving as countless from around the world take up the mantle of obeying Jesus’ command to make disciples of all nations.
“In some ways we are back really at that early vision that we find in the Book of Acts when the Holy Spirit is poured forth on men and women from every tribe, every tongue, every nation and they are sent forth to the ends of the earth to proclaim the gospel of Christ,” added Bekker.

Source CBN

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K.J. Apa: ‘God Really Anointed’ the New Faith Film I Still Believe

K.J. Apa: ‘God Really Anointed’ the New Faith Film I Still Believe


Actor K.J. Apa says he believes God “anointed” the new faith-based romantic film I Still Believe, which stars Apa and Britt Robertson and is based on a true story.

“The story itself is so powerful,” Apa told ABC’s The View.

The movie is based on the romance between Christian singer Jeremy Camp and his first wife, Melissa, who was diagnosed with ovarian cancer shortly after they met. Apa and Robertson play Jeremy and Melissa.

It was co-directed by Jon and Andrew Erwin, who also co-directed I Can Only Imagine and Woodlawn.

I Still Believe, which opens in theaters this week, is rated PG.

“It’s a story about, ultimately, love – two people who love each other so dearly and are willing to go through everything with each other, no matter what that it is or what that looks like,” Apa said. “… As soon as I read that first script and I spoke to the Erwin Brothers about it, I was pretty terrified of the story just because it was a huge responsibility to play a real-life person. I wanted to get it right and honor everyone in the film.

“But I feel like God really anointed this film, and I’ve never been so proud of anything in my entire life.”

Apa plays the guitar and sings in the film.

“Why I was kind of hesitant to play the character is because I’m not the most confident singer, but I feel confident with a guitar in my hand,” Apa said.

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