JOS, Nigeria, September 22, 2020 (Morning Star News) – A church elder was shot as his daughters were kidnapped in northwest Nigeria on Friday (Sept. 18), days after a pastor and three other Christians in a north-central state were killed earlier this month.

Hassana and Hussaina Garba, teenaged Christian twin sisters, were kidnapped from their home beside their Evangelical Church Winning All (ECWA) worship building in Kwakware village, Kankara County in northwest Nigeria’s Katsina state, sources said. The kidnappers shot their father, ECWA elder Ibrahim Garba, in the stomach in the 10:30 p.m. assault, and sources said he was receiving hospital treatment.

Kidnappings by various criminal elements have become rampant in Katsina state the past few years, with the high number committed by predominantly Muslim Fulanis prompting Gov. Aminu Masari to warn last year that the tribe risks being targeted by vigilantes.

Kwakware area resident Charles Yahaya said kidnapping has long been a problem in Katsina state but has intensified.

“Testimonies and exhibits at the crime scene show that the kidnappers were very organized, very informed on their target and heavily armed,” Yahaya told Morning Star News by text message. “This is one incident among many. It is the sustained and targeted kidnapping of Christian girls in northern Nigeria, after which they are forcefully converted to Islam…

Since the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis and the later death of Jacob Blake in Kenosha, Wisconsin, Kenosha has become the epicenter of national unrest.

According to CBN News, protests erupted in 140 cities throughout the spring and summer. While some people wanted to make their voices be heard concerning racial injustice, others took it to another level as violence was carried out in several cities by rioters.

While people were having a tough time from the COVID-19 pandemic, others suffered tremendous losses as looters and arsonists ravaged their businesses, stores, and even churches.

Axios reports that the riots are the most expensive in insurance history, with costs amounting from one to two billion dollars.

Nevertheless, one Kenosha Church has a miraculous story to tell. Speaking to CBN News on The Prayer Link was Pastor David Montgomery and his wife Verne’t from Kingdom Word Global Impact Ministries.

The couple shared how their church was the only building left standing after rioters burned down the entire block of buildings on which the church is located.

“Several men were with me and we actually stood outside of the building while there was protesting and then it turned into rioting and you would have never thought that they would touch a church. We had a rock go through one of our windows and we were yelling ‘hey this is a church’,” Pastor Montgomery explained.

While the…

A prominent Washington, D.C. church filed suit against the city and its mayor Tuesday, seeking to overturn a ban on mass gatherings that prohibits congregations from meeting not only indoors but also outdoors during the pandemic.

The lawsuit by Capitol Hill Baptist Church (CHBC) against Mayor Muriel Bowser says the city’s current ban on in-person church gatherings of more than 100 people violates the church’s rights guaranteed under the U.S. Constitution’s First and Fifth Amendments, including its rights to assemble and worship without government interference. Prior to the pandemic, the church had around 1,000 attendees on a Sunday. Its pastor, Mark Dever, has authored several books.

According to the Washington Post, the suit, filed in federal court, requests an injunction against the city. Significantly, the suit says the church should be able to meet in D.C. “if conducted with appropriate social distancing practices.”

Under current D.C. rules, the church won’t be able to meet in the city until a vaccine is developed, according to the suit.

The mayor and the city “have specifically and explicitly targeted in-person religious gatherings,” the suit says. Because of that, the restrictions are “not neutral on their face.”

Capitol Hill has been meeting at locations outside the city.

“The Mayor’s orders prohibit gatherings of over 100 people for…

After nearly four decades, the complete Bible is now available in American Sign Language for the first time ever.

Deaf Missions, a ministry dedicated to communicating “the Gospel of Jesus with Deaf people through their heart language, culture and identity,” began the project in the early 1980s. 

In 2016, the mission partnered with Wycliffe USA, American Bible Society, Deaf Bible Society, Deaf Harbor, DOOR International, Pioneer Bible Translators, and Seed Company to complete the project, according to Mission Network News.

The final books needed — Isaiah, Jeremiah and Ezekiel — were completed this fall. Now, the entire Bible is available to the world’s 70 million people who are deaf for free online, through social media, and on a smartphone app. The translation was led by people who themselves are deaf and trained in the biblical languages.

“Roughly 98% of the worldwide population of Deaf people have never encountered the real Jesus,” notes the Deaf Missions website. “What is the number one issue Deaf people face when it comes to knowing Jesus? The answer boils…

Actor Jim Caviezel says he just received the third draft of The Passion of the Christ: Resurrection and told Breitbart News “it’s going to be the biggest film in world history.”

In an exclusive interview on Breitbart News Daily with Alex Marlow, Caviezel said he will once again play Jesus in the film that mainly focuses on Jesus’ resurrection. While Caviezel released these details on the new sequel, he also talked about his faith, its effects on his career, and his own upcoming film, Infidel.

Caviezel spoke about how he was blacklisted in Hollywood for playing Jesus but said he had “no choice” but to defend the film.

“I had no choice. I had to defend it. I had to fight to survive. The film exploded. It was off the charts. You’d think, ‘Oh, you’re going to work a lot.’ No, I didn’t. I was no longer on the studio list. That was gone. … Because of what I do as an actor — that’s my skill — it was given to me from God. I didn’t give it to myself, but it’s something in which I have a great range. … I really felt that faith was much bigger than the industry and Hollywood, and bigger than the Republican or Democratic Party or any of that,” Caviezel told Breitbart News.

Caviezel also insisted that The Passion’s sequel is especially important in today’s culture.

“It’s so imperative in this time. These films can’t be made now. The films they…

A regional body of the United Methodist Church has voted to approve a petition recommending that the mainline denomination change its insignia, claiming it is racially insensitive. 

Delegates at the UMC North Texas Conference approved the petition last Saturday during their business session in a vote of 558 in favor and 176 against. 

Sponsored by the Rev. Elden Cowley, the legislative item called on the denomination to create a new insignia to replace the cross and flame logo that has existed since the 1960s.

During the legislative session, which was mostly virtual in nature, one delegate inquired as to whether it would be better to wait until after next year’s general conference.

At the heart of this query was the expectation many have that the UMC will approve an amicable separation proposal in 2021 to resolve their long-standing debate over LGBT issues.

In response to the question sent online, Cowley said “we could” wait, but added that he would still “feel very confident with moving along with this now.”

Cowley lobbied in support of changing the logo in an…

Students around the world still gathered, both in-person and virtually, for Wednesday’s See You at the Pole event.

This year, the SYATP organization had a livestream video so that students could still participate. The Annual Global Day of Student Prayer is held on the fourth Wednesday of September each year.

This is the 30^th year of the annual student event and in the midst of a global pandemic. Organizers say the theme is “Return. Restore. Revive.”

The theme comes from 2 Kings 23:25, which says, “Before him, there was no king like him who turned to the Lord with all his heart and with all his soul and with all his might, according to all the law of Moses; nor did any like him arise after him.”

“As a nation, we need to return to the Lord and repent for present and past sins,” said First Priority Greater Birmingham Ministry Director Debi DeBoer. “Only then can relationships be restored and healing begin. Awaken our hearts, revive us or we can slumber and watch another generation be without hope,” DeBoer said.

In Wappingers Falls, New York, where schools are closed, students from a local high school gathered at a local park and spread out to pray in masks around a flagpole.

SYATP began in 1990 when a group of 10 students in Burleson, Texas drove to three different schools one night and prayed at the flagpoles. Later that year, youth leaders invited other students…

By Samuel Smith, U.S. Editor Follow | Wednesday, September 23, 2020

The 850-member Capitol Hill Baptist Church in Washington, D.C., is suing Mayor Murriel Bowser over her ban on outdoor church services of more than 100 people during the coronavirus pandemic, arguing that the gathering restriction has been applied unfairly. 

Represented by attorneys at the First Liberty Institute and WilmerHale, LLP, the church led by 9Marks co-founder Mark Dever filed a complaint in federal court on Tuesday arguing that the city has violated the First and Fifth Amendments to the U.S. Constitution and the Religious Freedom Restoration Act. 

“For CHBC, a weekly in-person worship gathering of the entire congregation is a religious conviction for which there is no substitute,” the legal document reads. “The Church does not offer virtual worship services, it does not utilize a multi-site model, and it does not offer multiple Sunday morning worship services.”

In March, Bowser issued an executive order that, among other things, barred CHBC and other churches from gathering for indoor and outdoor in-person worship. According to the lawsuit, the city is prohibiting worship gatherings of over 100…

A new report from the Center for Studies on New Religion’s publication Bitter Winter reveals China is spying on and censoring any religious teacher to make sure they don’t mention God.

The Center for Studies on New Religion, a human rights organization focusing on abuses by the Chinese Communist Party’s regime, published the report in an effort to help end the crackdown.

According to the report, Chinese authorities will monitor teachers and make sure they refrain from mentioning anything about democracy, freedom, religion or God.

The report also says that religious teachers are already considered a threat to the Chinese Communist Party simply because they are religious, regardless of what they have taught. The report cites complaints from multiple teachers in both colleges and elementary schools. The teachers were kept anonymous so the Chinese Communist Party cannot find and persecute them for speaking out about the regime’s treatment of its own citizens.

One teacher noted that they “were observed during every class.” Bitter Winter goes on to summarize the rest of what she stated, writing, “She added that the Chinese Ministry of Education adopted Opinions on Building and Improving a Long-term Effective Mechanism for College Teachers’ Ethics Construction in 2016, demanding teachers ‘not say or do anything against the Party line in their educational or teaching activities.’ Student informants planted in classes…