When you think of the worst time in history for Christian persecution, perhaps you think of the Roman Coliseum or the Middle Ages and Reformation when Christians were burned at the stake for translating the Bible into the common language.

There are countless time periods in history when Christians have faced persecution for their faith. Jesus warned that persecution would come (John 15:20). We know this as Christians.

What may surprise you, however, (especially if you are a Christian living in the West), is that a new report has shown that Christian persecution is actually worse today than ever before in history.

According to Relevant Magazine, this report comes from Aid to the Church in Need, a Catholic persecution charity that “provides pastoral and humanitarian assistance to the persecuted Church around the world.”

This increase in Christian persecution is in large part due to terrorist groups like ISIS in the Middle East and Boko Haram in Nigeria. These groups particularly target Christians.

Of the 13 countries where Christian persecution has been most severe, none of them have shown improvement in the past year except Saudi Arabia, where, the report says, “the situation was already so bad, it could scarcely get worse.”

Persecuted Christians from Iran to Indonesia to North Korea often feel forgotten by those in the West, especially because Western governments…

At nearly 100 years old, famed evangelist Billy Graham has a difficult time hearing, seeing, and moving around — yet his mind is still clear as ever, his daughter Anne Graham Lotz has revealed.

The 69-year-old Lotz, the founder of AnGeL Ministries, gave an update on the health of her legendary father during a devotional delivered at Founder’s Week, a week-long Bible conference on Moody Bible Institute’s Chicago campus.

“I’d be remiss if I didn’t bring you greetings from my father,” she said. “I’m not sure he knows that I’m here. He doesn’t track like he used to, but his mind is still clear.”

“He can’t see; he has a hard time seeing because of macular degeneration,” she continued. “He’s fairly deaf, I have to use a microphone and he wears a headset for me to speak to him. He’s not mobile.”

Despite his physical limitations, Lotz said her father is still “gorgeous” with white hair and blue eyes.

“He’s just gotten quieter,” she said. “It’s as though he’s said everything he wants to say and he’s tired. And so, he listens, very precious, and it’s wonderful to be in his presence.”

Team USA figure skater Adam Rippon seems to have brought some extra baggage to his Olympic debut in South Korea — a feud with Vice President Mike Pence.

As Pence arrived in Pyeongchang Thursday (Feb. 8), news outlets as varied as USA Today and Vogue reported Rippon, who had criticized Pence for his support of gay conversion therapy, turned down an offer to meet with the vice president in South Korea.

The vice president, who is leading the U.S. delegation to the Winter Olympics, denied such an offer was made and tweeted that it was “fake news.” But several news outlets say they confirmed the offer with the vice president’s office.

The team event in figure skating began on Thursday (Feb. 8).

At 28, the Los Angeles-based Rippon is the oldest American skater to make the Olympic team in 80 years. He is also the first openly gay athlete to represent the U.S. at the Winter Olympics, joined there by Gus Kenworthy, an openly gay snowboarder, who qualified a few days after Rippon.

After Rippon qualified for Team USA, a reporter asked what he thought of the appointment of Pence as the head of the U.S. delegation to the Winter Games.

“You mean Mike Pence, the same Mike Pence that funded gay conversion therapy?” Rippon said. “I’m not buying it.”

Rippon was referring to Pence’s 2000 campaign for U.S. Senate when he supported funding “institutions which…

The 2018 Winter Olympic Games officially opened on Friday in PyeongChang, South Korea. In attendance were several world leaders, including Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, South Korean President Moon Jae-in, and US Vice President Mike Pence. But the most surprising world leader in attendance was undoubtedly North Korea’s Kim Yo-jong, the sister of the country’s brutal dictator, Kim Jong-un.

What was perhaps just as surprising as Kim Yo-jong’s attendance at the opening ceremony was the way several US news outlets’ covered her presence there.

CNN seemed to give a glowing review of Kim Yo-jong:

“If ‘diplomatic dance’ were an event at the Winter Olympics, Kim Jong Un’s younger sister would be favored to win gold. With a smile, a handshake and a warm message in South Korea’s presidential guest book, Kim Yo Jong has struck a chord with the public just one day into the PyeongChang Games.”

The New York Times even went so far as to say that Kim Yo-jong was a better force of diplomacy than Mike Pence:

“Flashing a sphinx-like smile and without ever speaking in public, Ms. Kim managed to outflank Mr. Trump’s envoy to the Olympics, Vice President Mike Pence, in the game of diplomatic image-making.”

The backlash against these glowing representations of Kim Yo-jong were swift. Other news organizations and private citizens voiced their concerns…