The Acts of the Apostle Thaddeus

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The Acts of the Apostle Thaddeus

Thaddeus, one of the Twelve Apostles, embarks on an impossible quest of brutality, danger, and temptation as he seeks to save millions.

“The Acts of the Apostle Thaddeus” tells the story of the Apostle Thaddeus evangelizing Mesopotamia and founding the Assyrian Church of the East and the Armenian Church.

The story is based on the writings of the early church fathers and traditions of Assyrian Christians, who are the indigenous people of Mesopotamia. Along with Lorenzo Lamas and Walker Cable Productions, the production crew will include three Assyrian Americans, and at least six Assyrian Americans will be cast in major roles. This will enable these Assyrian Americans to learn about the art of film-making and perhaps launch their careers in either film production or acting. Being people who’s heritage the film is depicting, they bring with them an additional layer of accuracy and authenticity. The Assyrian American production team are from Strategic Entertainment.

This film will dramatize the story of one of the Twelve Apostles of Jesus Christ. The script is derived from the Bible and other ancient sources, such as the writings of the Early Church Fathers. The film is anticipated to be produced by WalkerCable, Productions of Conroe, Texas.

In this movie, Pastor Missick will be telling the story of the Apostle Thaddeus. According to early Church Historians, Thaddeus evangelized and established Churches in what are today Iraq, Iran and southern Turkey. The movie “The Acts of the Apostle Thaddeus” is about the Apostle Thaddeus, known among Assyrian Christians as Mar Addai, and the founding of the Assyrian Church of the East. The movie will be based on ancient Assyrian Christian literature, namely “The Doctrine of Addai” and “The Acts of the Apostle Mari.” It is also based on other ancient sources, such as the writings of the early church historian Eusebius.

According to Pastor Missick, “The Acts of Thaddeus” tells the story of the origin of the Assyrian Church of the East and the Armenian Church. Pastor Missick describes the story of Thaddeus as a very fascinating one: “According to Church historians, Thaddeus was the groom at the marriage of Cana in Galilee, where Jesus turned the water into wine. There is also a connection between Thaddeus and the Shroud of Turin.”

The Shroud of Turin is an Icon kept in Turin, Italy that is believed to be the burial shroud of Jesus, and it bears an impression of the body of a crucified man. Many Shroud experts believe that the Shroud of Turin was known as originally known as the Image of Edessa, or the Mandylion. It said to have been brought to the Syriac king Abgar as a gift by Thaddeus. Missick says, “Many of those who believe that the Shroud of Turin is authentic, also believe that there is a connection between the Shroud and the Apostle Thaddeus. The Shroud will be featured in the movie.”

Source and Original Content by CFDb

Video: Winds of Revival Turning Muslims to Christ

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Video: Winds of Revival Turning Muslims to Christ

When it comes to persecution of Christians, Islamic nations top the charts but there’s another trend moving through those nations.

Something extraordinary is happening in the Islamic world that is challenging the hold that Islam exercises over its adherents. Muslim movements to Jesus Christ are taking place in numbers never before seen.

David Garrison, author of new book A Wind Blows Through the House of Islam, talks more about what’s happening in the Islamic world with CBN News Sr. Reporter George Thomas.

Source and Original Content by Charisma News

Family Gives Thanks to God after missing AirAsia flight QZ8501

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Family Gives Thanks to God after missing AirAsia flight QZ8501

Two families expressed gratitude this week after missing their flights on AirAsia QZ8501 on Sunday.

The Susanto and Cahyono families were scheduled to be onboard the doomed flight, but last minute changes spared their lives.

AirAsia QZ8501 was scheduled to depart from Juanda International Airport in Surabaya, Indonesia at 7:30am local time, but the flight was moved to 5:20am. Ari Putro Cahyono and nine of his family members were supposed to be on the flight, but Cahyono did not read the email notifying him of the departure change.

He and his family arrived at the airport at 5:30am, just missing their flight. They were offered seats on the next plane to Singapore, but news of QZ8501’s disappearance had already begun to spread.

“Me and my family then decided to cancel the trip,” he told Kompas.com.

Flight QZ8501 disappeared about one hour into its trip to Singapore while flying over the Java Sea. Officials lost contact as the plane travelled between Belitung and Kalimantan, Indonesia with 162 people on board.

A husband and father of three thanked God that his family was not among that number, and explained that his sick father was the reason they were spared.

Chandra Susanto, his wife, Inge, and their three children, Christopher, 10, Nadine, 7, and Felix, 5, planned to fly from Indonesia to visit Susanto’s father when they received disappointing news.

“My father became ill so we had to cancel our flight,” Susanto told Daily Mail Australia. “We had been planning our holiday to Singapore since March 2014 so it was a great surprise for us when we canceled our holiday yesterday.”

Susanto’s sister phoned to check on him after learning of Flight QZ8501’s loss. It was then that the man learned of his family’s good fortune.

“I am very thankful to God for his mercy for me and my family,” he shared. “But I am so sad and very sorry for the people on the plane.

“They were just travelling to Singapore, maybe with their family, maybe for a holiday. And now they are lost,” he continued. “Our lives have changed. We are so grateful. We have an opportunity to be the best people we can and to help others. We are so thankful to God.”

Two oil slicks were spotted in the search for the missing plane, but no other evidence or debris from a crash have been discovered. Search and rescue agency chief Bambang Soelistyo stated that the plane most likely rests at the bottom of the sea.

Source and Original Content by CT

Palestinian Authorities Claim Jesus as One of Their Own

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Palestinian Authorities Claim Jesus as One of Their Own

As has become custom, Palestinian Authority last week made a show of claiming Jesus as one of their own in the run-up to Christmas.

Here are some of the more egregious examples (translations provided by Palestinian Media Watch):

We celebrate the birth of Jesus, a Palestinian messenger of love,justice and peace. – Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas, as quoted by the Wafa news agency on December 22.

Christmas is also a Palestinian holiday, because Jesus, peace be upon him, was Palestinian. He was born in Palestine; lived and was sent [as prophet] to Palestine. Therefore, Christmas has a special Palestinian flavor. – Mahmoud Al-Habbash, the PA’s Supreme Sharia Judge, Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, December 22, 2014.

We are standing here, Muslims and Christians, in Yasser Arafat Square, [named after] the symbol of our cause, to celebrate Christmas. So too we will stand united to celebrate victory, far off as it may be. Merry Christmas, let’s celebrate and be merry; Jesus the Messiah is Palestinian, and we are Palestinians and will continue to hold our heads high. – Ramallah Governor Laila Ghannam, Palestinian Authority TV, December 7, 2014.

Saeb Erekat, the chief PA peace negotiator who has become notorious for his outlandish historical revisions, stated during the Christmas tree lighting in his hometown of Jericho that Jesus is “the first Martyr, the first Palestinian.”

Sadly, it is not only extremists and fringe elements that are promoting this historical fallacy, but the very leaders whose example most Palestinians look to and follow. As such, the belief that Jesus was a Palestinian, just like the belief that the Jews have no history in this region, has become accepted truth among many local Arabs.

Source and Original Content by Israeli Today

Indian Christians Forced to Choose Between Faith and Government Benefits

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Indian Christians Forced to Choose Between Faith and Government Benefits

Millions of Christians in India from the lowest caste system, known as “dalit,” are being forced to choose between their faith and receiving government benefits available only to “untouchables,” a report has said.

The International Christian Concern noted on Sunday that there are close to 25 million Dalits across India who’ve converted to Christianity, but now must make the choice between maintaining their faith or benefiting from a government program that only helps them if they identify with their Hindu background.

“This choice has significantly affected the constitutional right India’s citizens have to freely choose a religion for themselves,” the ICC reported.

“It also has left millions of Dalits to have to decide between choosing to follow Jesus as their Lord and Savior and receiving government benefits that have the ability to take their families out of poverty. All added up, this discrimination has affected the official appearance of India’s religious landscape.”

The government benefits program in question concerned the Scheduled Caste Order of 1950, which is a way of determining who can receive government benefits and who cannot.

Dalits, also referred to as “untouchables,” make up India’s lowest caste.

Rev. Madhu Chandra Singh, an elder from a Baptist church, explained that although the Indian Supreme Court denies the situation, Christians from the Dalit caste suffer oppression both before and after their conversion.

“After their conversion, Dalit Christians begin to suffer religious persecution from religious fanatics but also a denial of Scheduled Caste benefits because of the Schedule Caste Order of 1950, which I term a double discrimination of Dalit Christians,” Singh said.

Several Christian Indians speak out in the report, noting that the government is forcing them to “lie” about who they are in order to receive the much needed benefits.

Franklin Caesar, a Christian rights activists, added: “This system is against the fundamental rights provided to all India’s citizens in the Constitution. The Presidential Order of 1950 has destroyed fundamental and constitutional rights of Dalits from Christian and Muslim backgrounds; the benefits must be delink from religion.”

The report noted that it is rumored that many millions more Dalits privately consider themselves Christians, but do not identify publicly as such, in fear of losing the government benefits.

Christians from various backgrounds face discrimination because of their faith in India. Earlier in December, a group of 30 Hindu radicals attacked a Christian pastor and 15 of his flock that had been singing Christmas carols in the city of Hyderabad.

The attack left the pastor and four other Christians several injured, and was reportedly carried out because the radicals believed the Christians were attempting to forcefully convert people.

Source and Original Content by CP

International Fellowship of Christians and Jews Bring Refugees From War-Torn Ukraine to Israel

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International Fellowship of Christians and Jews Bring Refugees From War-Torn Ukraine to Israel

Rabbi Yechiel Eckstein, Founder and President of the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews (The Fellowship): “The Fellowship will continue to ensure that any Jew who is in danger or who faces hardship from the violence and unrest in Ukraine will receive shelter and a home in Israel. The first Fellowship flights have opened a new chapter in our already vital and significant contribution to immigration and absorption in Israel. We thank our partners in this effort and we promise to help the immigrants in their swift and successful absorption in Israel.”

As an effort to support the embattled Jewish community of eastern Ukraine, where fighting between Ukrainian forces and Russian separatists has led to widespread violence and chaos, on December 22 The Fellowship organized a flight to Israel for 226 new olim (immigrants). This flight is the first of many which will bring thousands of Jews to Israel in the future, and is being organized in conjunction with Israel’s Ministry of Immigration and Absorption, the Jewish Agency for Israel, the global Ezra movement and Nativ.

Since many of the new olim are refugees from Ukraine and have suffered from the dire conditions in the country, The Fellowship is also giving grants of $1,000 to every adult and $500 to every child in addition to funding their immigration. The Fellowship support has led to a greater than expected immediate demand to come to Israel, and therefore The Fellowship has arranged for a second flight on December 30.

The new olim on the initial flight were received in a formal ceremony held at Terminal 1 of Ben Gurion Airport on Monday, December 22, attended by such dignitaries as: Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman; Minister of Immigration and Absorption Sofa Landver; Fellowship Founder and President, Rabbi Yechiel Eckstein; Chairman of the Jewish Agency, Mr. Natan Sharansky; and Director of the global Ezra movement, Mr. Danny Elinson.

Chairman of the Jewish Agency for Israel, Mr. Natan Sharansky, said, “We shall continue to help any Jew who needs our assistance. The important work of promoting aliyah is done thanks to the generosity of important donors, chief among them The Fellowship, headed by Rabbi Yechiel Eckstein, which has placed aliyah at the top of its priorities, and is acting in cooperation with the Jewish Agency to enable us to bring the immigrants to Israel in a concentrated manner…Read More

Source and Original Content by BCN

Persecution Charity Sounds Warning of Pressing Threat of Islamist Groups in Africa

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Persecution Charity Sounds Warning of Pressing Threat of Islamist Groups in Africa

There is a “pressing threat” to Christians in Kenya and Tanzania as a result of “Islamic groups determined to establish their brutal version of Sharia law,” a leading persecution charity said today.

“Islamist groups are gaining ground in Africa,’ said Chief Executive of Release International, Paul Robinson.

“There is evidence to suggest they will become a growing force for instability in East Africa in 2015. The greatest risk to freedom of faith in the New Year comes from Islamic groups determined to establish their brutal version of Sharia law – whatever the cost to human life.”

Robinson said that Iraq, where militant group Islamic State has been gaining ground, was one of the worst places in the world to be a Christian in 2014. “Faced with the stark choice of conversion or beheading, most left everything and fled,” he said, adding: “Intolerant extremism poses the greatest threat to Christians in 2015.”

Looking ahead to the next year, Kenya and Tanzania in particular have been identified as areas of increasing concern for Christians. Islamists in Somalia are extending their reach and “threaten to destabilise surrounding nations,” a statement from Release said, noting that Christians there are “experiencing a new and brutal wave of violence.”

Despite Christianity being the majority religion in Kenya, and Christians making up almost a third of the population in Tanzania, they are coming under increasing attack by extremists. Violence is also increasing in Nigeria, where Boko Haram has destroyed 185 churches in the northeast of the country, and killed an estimated 5,000 people since 2009…Read More

Source and Original Content by CT

Pastor Jailed after Preaching at Church

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Pastor Jailed after Preaching at Church

Security personnel in Sudan have held a pastor from South Sudan since Dec. 21 after he delivered a sermon at an embattled North Khartoum church.

Agents from Sudan’s National Intelligence and Security Services (NISS) arrested the Rev. Yat Michael of the South Sudan Presbyterian Evangelical Church after Sunday worship concluded at Khartoum Bahri Evangelical Church on Dec. 21, a source told Morning Star News. At press time he remained in jail without charges.

Police in North Khartoum on Dec. 2 beat, arrested and fined 38 Christians from the church after nearly two weeks of raiding and demolishing church property. They were released later that night.

Pastor Michael had been invited to encourage the congregation to stand firm amid persecution. Besides arrests, the North Khartoum church compound has been subject to demolition of buildings and part of its worship center as Muslim investors seek to take it over.

NISS is empowered to arrest Christians, South Sudanese and others considered undesirable in the Islamist state without charging them with any crime. After church leaders had given thanks to God for His Word, NISS agents entered the church compound and took Pastor Michael to their office in North Khartoum.

“We tried to visit him, but it was not possible as the security prevented us from doing so,” a church leader told Morning Star News, adding that NISS personnel confiscated the pastor’s mobile phone.

Authorities have tried to take a part of church compound, but the worship center remains open.

“The level of persecution has become too much for us in Sudan,” a church leader said. “But God is good all the time; He will help His church face this persecution.”

Police on Dec. 2 arrested members of the Sudan Presbyterian Evangelical Church (SPEC)-affiliated congregation under Article 77 of the notorious Public Order Law of 1991, which gives police broad powers to arrest Christians and other lowly regarded people without cause, for creating a public disturbance. The Christians were released after being sentenced to pay a fine of $250 each, sources said…Read More

Source and Original Content by Christian Headlines

VIDEO: Giving, A Social Experiment

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VIDEO: Giving, A Social Experiment

In this social experiment, these men set out to see if strangers would share their food. The results they got were what they expected. Then they decide to share a pizza with a homeless man and what he does in return is thought provoking and moving. How true the saying, “Never look down on anybody unless you are helping them up.”

” Hollywood Hates Christianity “, Producer of Left Behind

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” Hollywood Hates Christianity “, Producer of Left Behind

Paul Lalonde, the producer and co-writer of the 2014 Left Behind film starring Nicolas Cage, chats with Adam McManus in this Sneak Peek podcast.

With refreshing candor, Lalonde talks honestly about the challenge of producing a top-quality Christian film with A-list actors. While he had big offers from major studios who wanted creative control, he was unwilling to dilute the Christian message which is why he chose to raise the $16 million budget himself. At times, he found it difficult to convince Hollywood agents to even show his script to their clients.

Without a doubt, according to Lalonde, Hollywood hates Christianity. “If the rapture was a Mayan prophecy there would be 20 Hollywood movies by now for $100 million each. But because it’s Bible prophecy, it hasn’t been touched,” said Lalonde.

Unlike the first Left Behind film starring Kirk Cameron which was released straight to DVD in 2000 where the rapture only got three minutes of screen time since they attempted to cover the entire first book’s plot, the new Left Behind film is singularly devoted to the rapture, taking the time to flesh out the characters…Read More

Source and Original Content by Christian Cinemas

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