Carol Singers Urge MPs to Commit to #turnupsavelives Initiative

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Carol Singers Urge MPs to Commit to #turnupsavelives Initiative

Singing campaigners have taken to the streets outside Parliament to urge MPs to vote yes to the International Development Bill.

The Bill is looking to enshrine in law a commitment to give 0.7 per cent of the annual budget to countries overseas who are struggling.

The Conservative, Liberal Democrat and Labour manifestos for the 2010 General Election all included the pledge but four years on and nothing has happened.

The legislation gets its third reading in the House of Commons this Friday before moving on to the Lords. However it’ll only pass if enough MPs turn up to vote.

The singers from the Turn Up Save Lives campaign, which included staff from the Catholic charity Progression, adapted lyrics to the East 17 Christmas hit ‘Stay Another Day’ asking MPs not to ‘leave it to chance’ but to ‘stay another day’ to vote in parliament. Extra verses were also added to ‘We wish you a Merry Christmas’ with alternative lyrics setting figgy pudding aside and instead urging MPs to vote, saying: ‘We won’t go until you’ve promised point seven per cent!’

Progressio’s Activism Officer Jenny Vaughan was one of the singers.

Speaking to Premier she explained the importance of this Bill passing: “Successfully passing this Bill does not even mean additional commitment or spending from the British government.

“We have already hit the internationally agreed 0.7 per cent target for overseas aid. What the law will do is increase the quality and predictability of our aid spending.

“Turning the 0.7 per cent aid target into law is a game-changing step that will protect the aid budget, save many lives and make an enormous difference to people living in poverty.”

You can check whether or not your MP will be there on www.turnupsavelives.org.uk and you can follow the progress of the campaign and of the campaign singers on Twitter using the hashtag #turnupsavelives.

Source and Original Content by Premier Christian News

Church Christmas Ad Goes Viral

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Church Christmas Ad Goes Viral

A church in Norwich’s alternative version of this year’s most talked about Christmas advert has gone viral with St Thomas’ ‘Tommy the Tiger’ taking on the role of the ‘Penguin’.

The last scene is filmed in St Thomas’ Norwich, with Zac Lloyd, 3, playing the part of the little boy.

#TommyTheTiger has already received over 14,100 hits on You Tube since Thursday.

Beej Harris who produced the alternative version for St Thomas’ told Premier they decided to make their own ad because they felt the true Christmas message was somewhat lacking in the original, he said:”There was a lot of satisfaction in presents and toys, but we actually wanted to kind of take it back and say that Christmas is about so much more than that.

“The presents and toys and all that stuff is great but actually the real meaning is about Christ and the little boy at the end, he just sees Christ and realises that it’s better than everything else.”

Beej Harris, St. Thomas’, Norwich:

Watch the Ad:

Source and Original Content by Premier Christian Radio

Sudanese Authority Destroy Evangelical Church, Arrest Young People

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Sudanese Authority Destroy Evangelical Church, Arrest Young People

An evangelical church in Sudan’s capital, Khartoum, was raided by police yesterday and 37 young members of the congregation were detained.

The episode marked an escalation of attacks on the church by the authorities, which had already demolished parts of the building.

Church leaders believe that the move is part of a concerted campaign against churches in the country, though the authorities say that the land is owned by investors who want to build a shopping centre.

According to the minister of the evangelical church in Khartoum North, Pastor Yahya Abdelrahim Falo, the police arrived in nine vehicles at around 6am yesterday. He told Radio Dabanga that some of them started to demolish the outer walls of the building while others arrested the young Christians praying and fasting inside.

Falo said that the 37 detainees were divided into three groups. Two groups were taken to separate criminal courts and each member was fined the equivalent of $35 for “public disturbance and the obstruction of an official in the performance of his duties”. The remaining 15 youngsters were tried at a different court, where the judge acquitted them.

Falo said that what had happened was “a blatant infringement of Christian sanctities, and a humiliation of all Sudanese Christians”. He demanded an immediate halt to the current demolition of the church.

Yesterday’s event was not the first time the church had been targeted. On November 19, the house of its senior pastor was confiscated and the ‘youth house’ was demolished.

In response, leaders from Khartoum churches, students and church members staged protests, and prayed in the adjacent church for a peaceful resolution.

The secretary-general of the Sudan Council of Churches, Rev Kodi El Ramli, told Radio Dabanga early September this year that the Council has received many complaints about harassment and discrimination of Christians. “They are systematically obstructed to visit their churches,” he said.

Among churches to have been closed or destroyed are the Sudan Pentecostal Church building in Khartoum and the Sudanese Church of Christ. Sudan has banned the construction of new churches.

Sudan’s president, Omar al-Bashir, has instituted a strict version of Islamic law since the separation from the mainly Christian South Sudan in 2011. A Christian woman, Meriam Ibrahim, was imprisoned on the grounds of apostasy and became the focus of a huge international outcry leading to her eventual release earlier this year.

Bashir is the first sitting president to be indicted by the International Criminal Court for war crimes and crimes against humanity, following Sudanese atrocities in Darfur.

Source and Original Content by CT

Hong Kong Christian Teenager Goes on Hunger Strike in Protests

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Hong Kong Christian Teenager Goes on Hunger Strike in Protests

The Christian student leader of the pro-democracy protests has begun a hunger strike, defying calls from other protest leaders to retreat.

Joshua Wong, 18, leads the student activist movement Scholarism, and is joined by two other members of the movement in a last-ditch attempt to make themselves heard, the Times reports.

The protests, which are calling for more democratic elections without interference from Beijing, have been going on since September, in Admiralty, Hong Kong.

But the demonstrations have taken a turn for the worse in recent days, as protestors surrounding the government buildings clashed with police on Sunday, leading to 40 arrests and numerous casualties.

Some protesters are now beginning to admit that they have failed, particularly following Sunday’s more violent demonstration.

Leader of the Federation of Students, Alex Chow Yong-kang, told the South China Moring Post: “…as a whole, it was a failure. The whole plan did not achieve its objective of paralysing government.” He admitted that there was a difference of opinion on strategy between the various groups.

Three leaders of the Occupy Central movement have today handed themselves into the police in a show of commitment to the rule of law, and encouraged the students to withdraw amid fears of further violence.

Benny Tai, Chan Kin-man and Reverend Chu Yiu-ming were accompanied by Cardinal Joseph Zen, the former Catholic Bisho of Hong Kong as they went to the police station this morning. They were permitted to leave without any charges.

“I hope we can show others the meaning of the surrender. We urge the occupation to end soon and more citizens will carry out the basic responsibility of civil disobedience, which is to surrender,” said Benny Tai, the most prominent Occupy leader, after he left the police station, Reuters reports.

Defending his position, Wong and his fellow strikers wrote on Facebook: “Living in these troubled times, there is a duty. Today we are willing to pay the price, we are willing to take the responsibility. Our future, we will take it back.”

The protests, which are focussed on the 2017 election of Hong Kong’s chief executive, have been branded illegal by the Chinese government.

Wong was charged last week with obstructing a public officer, and has been released on bail awaiting his trial in January.

Source and Original Content by Christian Today

R&B Artist Recounts Divine Wake-Up Call

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R&B Artist Recounts Divine Wake-Up Call

Marcus Stanley is a talented pianist, playing for some of the biggest names in the music industry.

His career almost came to a tragic end when he was shot eight times at close range. Thanks to divine intervention, he’s now playing music set to a different tune.

Music has flowed through Stanley’s blood for as long as he can remember. He learned to play the piano with little training—something he calls a gift from above.

“I would really hear stuff on the radio and I would play things that I heard other people do,” he told CBN News. “It was all God-given because I hadn’t had the training or anything. It was because I really wanted to play.”

His Big Break

He started out in church but longed for a bigger stage. That big break came after dropping out of high school.

“I got discovered just being at a concert and I actually filled in for someone,” Stanley recalled. “The guy was a music director for the group and he gave me a card and told me to call him, so I started touring really at the age of 16 and went around actually about 42 states out of the 50.”

Stanley played for some of the biggest names in the music industry, including R&B singer Chris Brown.

He later began traveling with gospel artists such as Donnie McClurkin, but he said he wasn’t interested in the message in their music at that time.

“I was not focused on the people,” he explained. “I was not focused on the message. I was not focused on Christ. I was really focused on just making it—being a musician, being a popular musician and playing for a great artist

“Oh yeah, the money too,” he added. “That would probably be No. 1 ’cause it was fast money.”

Enjoying success, Stanley lived extravagantly, traveling the country with well-known musicians.

All of that changed the night of April 2, 2004.

“We got in late every night,” Stanely said. “I was actually walking to the store. I realized I didn’t have my wallet and hadn’t reached the store yet, but I turned around and started walking back to go get my wallet and I saw these guys standing on the corner that night and they were watching.”

One of the men then approached him.

“When he said, ‘What are you doing out here?’ I said, ‘I’m just chillin,'” Stanely recalled. “He said, ‘Well, you gotta roll out.’ That’s when he pulled out a gun from his jacket. He had a leather jacket on and a hoodie, and he pulled it out and pointed at me, shot it one time.”

After falling to the ground, he was shot seven more times—up close.

‘I Saw an Angel’

“When I first saw the flash I didn’t know I got shot,” Stanley said. “I just remember hitting the ground and then when he stood over top of me that’s when I saw an angel get in front of me. And I remember it because I didn’t have time to think about that. It was an instantaneous thing.”

He continued to describe what he saw.

“It was probably—I mean I’m 6-foot-7—and the angel was probably like 7-foot-something,” he said. “It was just a transparent figure. I couldn’t tell if it was a male or female. I didn’t see wings or anything like that. I saw it was clear, transparent and it was in front of me.”

“I knew it was an angel just because the protection,” he continued. “It got into a position like this [arms crossed] in front of me and I remember seeing that.”

The men stood over Stanley, laughing, thinking they had just killed him.

Still barely alive, he managed to dial 911. By the time paramedics arrived, they offered little hope he would survive.

“I was like ‘God help me. Help me make it,'” Stanley recalled. “I just remember trying to stay awake. I thought that would be the key.”

“It was like a movie. You see that stuff in a movie. You see the light up. You see people see their life flashing before their eyes. It was like that for me except that I started thinking what would happen if I did die. And I was like nobody’s going to know what happened to me,” he said.

At the hospital, Stanley went immediately into surgery where he recalled seeing a familiar face.

“Saw a lot of doctors and nurses kind of standing and I remember looking as I’m getting ready for surgery, I remember looking and seeing the same angel that was on the street and the angel was just kind of like arms crossed. … It didn’t do anything or say anything. It was kind of like nodding its head,” he said.

Doctors faced a major challenge while operating.

“I had my colon reattached, half my stomach got removed, my spleen got removed completely, half of my pancreas,” Stanley told CBN News. “I had some very intensive surgery. There are certain things about my body that are not the same.”

That meant months in rehab, including learning to walk again. Another major change—nerve damage in his right arm left him without feeling in his hand…Read More

Source and Original Content by Charisma

Dr Myles Munroe, His Influence and Memory

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Dr Myles Munroe, His Influence and Memory

I am not a religious person; I want to be very clear about that. Nevertheless, I have had a full exposure to the Christian church – the Anglican church, to be specific.

My beloved, late uncle was a priest and one of my many father figures. As a child, I went to two or three different churches each week for any number of occasions.
I attended an Anglican school – primary and secondary. And, like most other Anglican school students, I went to mass at school once during the week and again at church on Sundays. My paternal relatives are devout Catholics.

But, today, I do not subscribe to Christianity or religion the way I may have done so before.
If you ever have a chance to make it beyond the confines of this island or this country, at least in spirit, you will find that there is a whole world of religion out there. Christianity is not the only religion, and it is not the oldest religion. But the way the Christian doctrine is taught in our country does not allow for the open and honest discussion of this fact.

I won’t deny that Christianity has done some good things in helping to create fine citizens with sound upbringings, teaching the “straight and narrow way”. For the most part, it seems the Christian belief system works to keep people fairly decent and out of trouble. But so do many other religions and systems of faith. Religion is a stabiliser.

I get it; people have religion because people need to believe in something, a greater purpose for being that helps them through the pains of human life. What I don’t get and can’t accept is that people will hate each other to the death for believing in different things. Even within the parameters of one religion, there is so much discord. There’s good and bad in everyone, yet people can be so hateful when they disagree, even to their own.

Life is difficult enough without fighting to be right about something that is a belief, something that no one knows for a fact is “right” or “wrong”. And my question is “why”? Why can’t we all just respect one another’s beliefs and rights to believe whatsoever we choose, without the hostility?

It’s been thousands of years since religion has been documented amongst humans, but still we’re fighting about whose is best or most right. Some are even fighting in favour of principles which have no root whatsoever in the practice of the very religion to which they subscribe.

It’s too much turmoil. I’d rather be on the outside and watch it and write about it, and so I do.
To my sight, religion is the worst thing to happen to humanity. It is the most divisive thing on the face of this earth; nothing separates people more, nothing stirs up more hatred, and nothing causes more death and destruction in too many countries of the world. As a result, I want nothing to do with claiming one faith over another.

What I do want, however, is that people should practice real love as their first religion, press pause on the religious theory and scripture and embrace each other as human beings. Real love for one another gives rise to genuine respect for one another. And from there everything else flows.

But human beings are obsessed with being the most right and the best (at worshipping), that they remove respect from the equation altogether. Even though my own beliefs will likely serve as my religion to the end of time, I recognise that others will continue to believe as they do. I just wish they would believe in themselves first, before looking to the outside for something to believe in.

Undoubtedly, out of many religions there will come good and bad things; I hope for the best from all of them.
There are many leaders of the world, of the Bahamas, who have arisen from the (Christian) church and many of them have been outstanding in reaching people with positive messages which serve to elevate and not diminish.

At varying times in my life, I have benefitted from these messages and this outreach. And I respect the messengers enough to know that they can have their faiths and I can disagree in part or whole with their religious theories, but at the end of the day how much good do they do, how many people’s lives they influence to make better, I think is most important.

I may not agree with all of Dr Myles Munroe’s beliefs or methods, but I appreciate his ability to rise above making a mockery of other religions the way many do…Read More

Source and Original Content by Tribune 242

Libyan Christian War Memorial at risk from Islamist militants

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Libyan Christian War Memorial at risk from Islamist militants

Recent territorial gains by the Libyan arm of Islamic State (IS) has caused concern that a Christian War memorial on the Libyan coast will be at risk from Islamist militants, the Times reports.

The graves of more than 3,600 British and Commonwealth soldiers who died fighting against the Germans and Italians in World War Two are marked at the Knightsbridge War Cemetery in Tobruk.

The cemetery is on the road to Derna, the eastern city where Islamist fighters took control in October. Over the last month local militants have also pledged allegiance to IS leader Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi.

The escalating Islamist violence has led to fears that they will attack the obviously Christian memorial, designated by a large white crucifix at one end of the graveyard.

The deteriorating stability of the region has meant that the Commonwealth War Graves Commission is no longer able to maintain the memorial. Instead, the task has fallen to Mohamed Hanish, a 60-year-old Libyan.

Hanish’s father was among the many Libyans who helped to recover the bodies from the battlefield, and their family has continued to protect them. He told the Times that he wouldn’t let the militants attack the site on his watch.

“We are doing this for Libya – this is our history too. It is an honour to protect that,” Hanish said.

“I’m the only person who looks at their final resting place every day,” he added. “These men fought in a country that wasn’t even their own for humanitarian reasons and peace. I consider them heroes.”

Source and Original Content by CT

Inter Faith Prayer Vigil takes Place Ahead of UN Climate Change Summit

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Inter Faith Prayer Vigil takes Place Ahead of UN Climate Change Summit

Catholics have taken part in an interfaith candlelight march and prayer vigil on the eve of the United Nations climate summit in Lima, Peru.

The 12-day summit, which began on Monday, is seen as a crucial last step on the road to a new international treaty to curb emission of greenhouse gases, which a new UN study says could push global temperatures to dangerous levels by the end of this century.

“We don’t just want promises – we want them to be put into action,” Elias Szczytnicki, general secretary of the Latin American and Caribbean Council of Religious Leaders of the World Conference of Religions for Peace, told the marchers.

The vigil came at the end of a series of nine monthly interfaith days of fasting for the climate.

“We want to pray and to show publicly that religious communities are aware of what is happening and are committed to the idea that we must reduce emissions and we must pressure our leaders,” said Laura Vargas, former executive secretary of the Peruvian bishops’ social action commission and one of the organisers of the fasts.

“Underlying all religious traditions are two basic principles,” she said. “The first is caring for others and the second is stewardship of nature.”

Religious groups must become “green congregations” and educate the faithful about “the urgent obligation to address climate change,” said Mr Szczytnicki.

Thanking the vigil-goers for bringing “the light of hope” to the negotiations he said: “In this lies the future of the world.

Source and Original Content by Catholic Herald

Indian Christians Feared Targets of Violence Campaign

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Indian Christians Feared Targets of Violence Campaign

An arson attack on a church in the Indian state of New Delhi has raised worries that the country’s Christians could be the target of a new campaign of violence.

The interior of St. Sebastian church was destroyed by the fire on December 1 after police took 10 hours to respond to calls.

Initially officers said the blaze was caused by faulty wiring but agreed to open an investigation after cans of kerosene were found.

Cardinal Oswald Gracias, Archbishop of Mumbai, told Asia News the attack must be ‘strongly condemned’.

“I’m completely shocked and deeply saddened at this arson attack,” he said.

“While I do not want to attribute communal motives, but this act of deliberate torching of a Sacred Place of worship, is completely unacceptable and cannot be condoned.

“People are revolted and feel vulnerable, whenever the miniscule Christian community is targeted”.

When the fire was out Christians took the streets to protest and call for better protection for Christians.

Cardinal Garcias added: “I request the authorities to significantly speed up apprehending those responsible and charge them under stringent sections of the law.

“All Places of worship in India must be respected in our multi-religious society and the authorities must remain on the watch to prevent the recurrence of such traumatic incidents, which are sources of division and destabilization of the society and detrimental to national integrity and the harmony of the nation.

“This attack on the Place of worship goes against the very progress and development of the nation.”

Source and Original Content by Premier Christian Radio

Bodies of the Munroes to lie in Repose

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Bodies of the Munroes to lie in Repose

The bodies of world renowned evangelical pastor Dr Myles Munroe and his wife are to lie in repose today ahead of a memorial service tonight.

The couple died in a plane crash near Grand Bahama International Airport earlier this month.

He was with his wife Ruth when the plane they were travelling in crashed near Grand Bahama International Airport earlier this month.

It happened late on Sunday 9 November and also killed another seven people on board. It’s reported the aircraft hit a crane and exploded.

Dr Richard H Pinder, a Senior Vice President and Pastor of Bahamas Faith Ministries Fellowship Church, also died in the crash.

It’s thought they were on their way to a Global Leadership Forum, which was organised by Dr Munroe.

A memorial service for Dr Munroe and his wife will be attended by hundreds at the Thomas A. Robinson Stadium- Oaks Field Sporting Complex.

A funeral service will be held at Bahamas Faith Ministries tomorrow.

Source and Original Content by Premier Christian Radio

DID MYLES MUNROE FORSEE HIS DEATH

The unexpected demise of internationally renowned author, speaker and founder of Bahamas Faith Ministries International, the late Dr. Myles Munroe along with his wife came as an unexpected shock to the entire body of Christendom, the tragic loss had a lot of religious faithfuls in pains wondering why a good man such as him had to die.

His death which took place on the 9th of November 2014 via a plane crash might have been unexpected but legacies left behind by the great man of God tend to point otherwise. Recordings of some of his final messages and records seem to point to the fact that the deceased knew and had foreknowledge of his death anytime soon.

[youtube]http://youtu.be/Vi8TFQ2H4Xk[/youtube]

The evidence for this line of reasoning point to the fact that Recorded Videos and Messages went viral immediately after his death which portrayed the Speaker illustrating extensively the concept of Death. In the video he spoke at length on how death was the common equalizer of man, how it could not be stopped and how man was to prepare for death’s eventuality.

Through this teaching it was obvious from his demeanor that he had foreseen it and already made his peace with God’s Will, the late speaker apart from the video recording also had a vision of death in which there was an illustration of the passing of the significant baton from one individual to another which signified a process of succession.

Hence, it might be an appropriate line of thought to say that the signs had been revealed to him to enable him prepare himself for his journey to the glorious home; Heaven.

May his Soul Rest in Peace

Myles Munroe : 20 April 1954 – 9 November 2014

 

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