TIZI-OUZOU, Algeria, January 17, 2020 (Morning Star News) – An order to close a church building in the city of Oran, Algeria was issued last fall but was not conveyed to the pastor until last weekend, sources said.

Pastor Rachid Seighir did not receive the Nov. 10, 2019 closure order until Saturday (Jan. 11), he said.

“This official document was to be delivered by a bailiff appointed by the public prosecutor at the court of Oran [Province], but it wasn’t so,” Pastor Seighir said, adding that his attorney took the initiative to obtain the ruling. “This judgment dates from Nov. 10, 2019, and usually affected people have 10 days to appeal.”

The pastor’s lawyer notified the judge of the delay so that the church can still appeal within 10 days of Jan. 11, when he received the order, Pastor Seighir said.

The then-governor of Oran Province, Mouloud Cherifi, on Dec. 28, 2017, had sent notice that the “church is not in accordance with the laws in force,” namely registration under Law 03/06, which regulates non-Muslim worship. The 2006 law requires non-Muslim worship buildings to be licensed, but all applications to do so have remained unattended.

Cherifi gave the congregation three months to comply with Law 03/06 or it would be closed, he said. Before the three-month deadline, however, police arrived by order of the governor on Feb. 19, 2018, to seal the worship hall of…

Brazilian soccer player Roberto Firmino recently shared a touching video of himself being baptized to his Instagram page – the video has been viewed more than three million times.

Firmino – who now plays soccer for Liverpool – shared the video with his 12.4 million Instagram followers on Wednesday, noting in the caption that he was giving all of his failures and victories to the Lord.

He wrote in Portuguese, “I gave you my failures and my victories. My greatest title is Your love Jesus! Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old things have passed away; behold, new things have come!”

The video starts out featuring a woman singing Lauren Daigle’s award-winning song “You Say” in Portuguese. The camera then pans the room before landing on Firmino who is standing in a pool clad in a black t-shirt that says “Jesus equals love” in symbols. 

Firmino shares a few brief words with the dozens of people gathered around to witness the occasions before he his dunked under the water. 

According to Faithwire, he was then welcomed into his wife’s loving arms as tears of joy streamed down her face.

Also baptized that day was fellow Brazilian Liverpool soccer player Alisson Becker. While Becker did not share a video of his baptismal experience, he did post a carousel of photos from the event to his Instagram page Thursday, praising Jesus in the caption. He…

Christians in China experienced an unprecedented level of surveillance, control and restrictions of their beliefs within the past year, according to Open Doors’ 2020 World Watch List, which saw the Communist nation rise four spots in the annual ranking of countries that persecute Christians the most.

China jumped from 27 to 23 on the list, driven by the government’s desire to “Sinicize” Christianity and other religions – meaning to make religious beliefs “fall in line” with the government’s interpretation of Communism.

The World Watch List, released annually, lists the 50 most dangerous countries for Christians to live.  

North Korea remains No. 1 on the list, followed by Afghanistan, Somalia, Libya, Pakistan, Eritrea, Sudan, Yemen, Iran and India.

There were at least 5,576 government-approved attacks on churches last year in China, an increase from 171 the previous year. 

China is home to an estimated 97,200,000 Christians. They comprise about 6 percent of the population, according to Open Doors’ estimates.

Open Doors is calling China’s persecution of Christians a “human rights nightmare”

“The Chinese government is nearly single-handedly responsible for the steep increase in churches and Christian buildings attacked in 2019,” said David Curry, president and CEO of Open Doors. “Their newest policies are penalizing minority Christians in…

Liberty University President Jerry Falwell Jr. said Wednesday in a radio interview that civil disobedience may be in order if Virginia’s Democrat-controlled legislature passes a series of gun-restricting measures.

“I’m pretty sure I’m going to call for civil disobedience if the Democrats go through with this,” Falwell told the host on the Todd Starnes Radio Show.

A showdown over gun rights has been brewing since Democrats took control of the General Assembly in November for the first time in two decades. Gov. Ralph Northam—a Democrat who made headlines last year for saying he supported no restrictions on abortion—is reintroducing eight separate bills to restrict gun rights. Since Republicans have no way to stop the measures from passing out of the statehouse, gun rights advocates are urging citizens to exert pressure on Democrats. The NRA, for instance, has held numerous town hall meetings and thousands of people are expected to rally at the statehouse in Richmond.

The package of proposals include banning semi-automatic rifles or pistols with 10-plus magazine rounds, mandatory background checks on all firearms, reinstating a one-handgun-a-month law, implementing “red flag” rules that would temporarily remove weapons from those deemed a potential risk, and increasing penalties for loaded guns that are accessible to children. One of proposals…