Christian Group Calls for International Pressure to Stop Execution of Asia Bibi

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Christian Group Calls for International Pressure to Stop Execution of Asia Bibi

A group working to protect Christians from blasphemy laws has said that international pressure on Pakistan is needed to overturn the death penalty handed to Christian mother of five Asia Bibi. Christian leaders in Pakistan have vowed to continue appealing the case and fighting for the mother’s life.

“We continue to hope because, as Christians, our faith nourishes hope. We continue to pray for Asia Bibi and for her release, so that the Lord protects and comforts her. But there are many elements that are not conducive to optimism,” said Haroon Barkat, director of the Masihi Foundation, in an interview with Fides News Agency on Tuesday.

Barkat, whose group works in Pakistan to protect Christians falsely accused of blasphemy, added that “international pressures and mobilization can be useful” in influencing the case. He said that above all, “the political will of the government and of the highest authorities in Pakistan is needed” to put an end to the many false blasphemy cases where Christians in Pakistan are persecuted.

Barkat expressed hopes that the Supreme Court will decide to overturn the death sentence handed to Bibi in 2010, which was upheld by Pakistan’s second largest court last week.

Human rights and persecution watchdog groups have condemned Bibi’s death sentence. The Christian mother was accused of blaspheming against Islam in a 2009 incident where she got into an argument with a group of Muslim women who were offended that she drank from the same water bowl as them.

Catholic leaders in Pakistan declared that they will be appealing the ruling at the country’s Supreme Court, Catholic News Service reported.

“Like it or not, we have to accept the court order,” said Father Emmanuel Yousaf Mani, director of the National (Catholic) Commission for Justice and Peace.

“The only option before us now is to appeal against the verdict. We have applied for a certified copy of the verdict. We will appeal against it in the Supreme Court,” Mani said, adding Christians were praying for an acquittal.

Other groups, such as the Cecil & Iris Chaudhry Foundation, criticized the ruling for punishing Bibi on false charges.

“Bibi has wrongly been convicted of blasphemy. We remain optimistic that the rule of law will prevail and justice will be done (when the appeal is heard in the Supreme Court). For now that is our only hope,” the Catholic advocacy group said.

The statement echoed International Christian Concern’s comments that Bibi’s case is an example of how Christians and other religious minorities in Pakistan are abused by the harsh implication of the blasphemy laws, which are often used to settle personal scores.

“Sadly, the vast majority of blasphemy accusations brought against Christians and others are false. Unfortunately, pressure from Islamic radical groups and general discrimination against Christians in Pakistan has transformed trial courts and now appeals courts into little more than rubber stamps for blasphemy accusations brought against Christians, regardless of the evidence brought to bear in the case,” said ICC’s Regional Manager for South Asia, William Stark.

Christians remain a distinct minority in Pakistan, making up only 1.5 percent of the nation’s 180 million people, more than 96 percent of whom are Muslims.

International pressure, including petitions from several American politicians, such as Texas Republican Sen. Ted Cruz, helped free Christian mother Meriam Ibrahim earlier this year in Sudan. Ibrahim had initially been sentenced to death for refusing to identify as a Muslim and for marrying her Christian husband, which sparked an international campaign for her release.

Source and Original Content by Christian Post

US Churches Begin To Treat Immigration According to the Bible

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US Churches Begin To Treat Immigration According to the Bible

Seventy percent of Americans believe illegal immigrants threaten the country’s culture and economy. That can put the Church in a position of drawing the line on compassion.

The subject of immigration and the Church goes back to Bible times.

Scriptures talk about showing compassion to the “stranger” in your land, but what if that stranger breaks the law to get there?

Churches regularly face that question as thousands illegally cross the border, including women and children.

A Better Life

That includes 18-year-old Jose Maldonado, who’s waiting to see if the courts will allow him to stay in the U.S.

“Some of them say we just come here to take their jobs and behave badly,” Maldonado said. “I like this country a lot and you can have a better life. That’s why I came here: to have a better life and to help my family.”

Last year, Maldonado traveled from Honduras, up through Mexico, across the Chihuahua Desert and into Texas.

The three-month journey almost cost him his life.

Out of his group of 25, only three people made it through brutal desert conditions to reach America.

Maldonado had very little food or water and knew he couldn’t survive on his own strength. That’s when he said he cried out to God in the desert — literally.

“I always read the Bible and prayed, and I promised God since I left Honduras that if I made it to the U.S, well, I would dedicate myself to the things of the Lord,” he said.

Maldonado said his grandparents raised him from a young age after his parents abandoned him.

They passed away when he a was teenager, leaving him on his own. He said often the only place to turn is the gang life.

“I lived in San Pedro Sula for a while and there are a lot of gangs there,” Maldonado said. “I really like soccer and there was a group that rooted for the team I liked. And the group that rooted for them said I had to join their gang or else they would kill one of my family members… Read More

Source and Original Content by BCNN 1

Liberian Pastor Spreads The Word About The Dangers Of Ebola In Church

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Liberian Pastor Spreads The Word About The Dangers Of Ebola In Church

Night clubs have shut their doors. Soccer leagues have been suspended. And a strict curfew is keeping the streets empty at night.

But there’s one place in Monrovia where people continue to gather despite the threat of Ebola: Sunday church service.

Since Ebola broke out in Liberia’s capital city, more people have started coming to Sunday service at Trinity Cathedral, says the Very Rev. Herman Browne. And like many priests across Monrovia, Browne has been spreading the word about Ebola prevention through his sermons.

But Browne’s message this week was personal. It came from his family’s encounter with the virus.

For the past three Sundays, the reverend had been under a volunteer quarantine. This week he returned to the pulpit and explained to his congregation what happened.

It all began when his wife, Trokon Browne, went to see a close friend. “The friend … broke down, fell on the floor and started to cry,” Herman said. “Some illness had returned to her, and she was explaining it to Trokon.”

These were warning signs about Ebola. Trokon knew that. But her nurturing instincts kicked in. She embraced and fed her friend anyway.

“I cannot see my husband sick and not touch him. Or I cannot see my child sick. Ebola might as well kill us.

– Trokon Browne of Trinity Cathedral in Monrovia, Liberia

“I said that was a crazy thing to do,” Herman said to his congregation, “because the lady was vomiting and had diarrhea.”

Two days later, the Brownes learned that the friend had Ebola.

One of the reasons Ebola continues to spread in Liberia is that people who know they’ve been exposed to the virus often keep it a secret until they’re desperately ill and highly contagious. They fear the embarrassment, the stigma and the prospect of losing their income.

But the Brownes went public…Read More

Source and Original Content by BCNN1

Court Bars Alabama Pastor

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Court Bars Alabama Pastor

n Alabama pastor who shocked his congregation with admissions of drug-taking and having sex on church premises has been barred from his church by court order.

Rev Juan D McFarland is pastor of Shiloh Missionary Baptist Church in Montgomery. He made headlines when made a series of lurid confessions to his his congregation, including telling them that he had AIDS. He refused to accept an 80-2 vote calling for him to be dismissed and retained the support of many in the church: Shiloh’s missionary president said: “He’s a man of God, but he’s a human being. It’s not that we condone what our pastor has done, but we need to have compassion. We not supposed to assassinate our brothers and sisters. We’re not supposed to judge.”

However, Montgomery County Circuit Court Judge Charles Price was obliged to do just that. He barred McFarland from attending the church and even being on the premises in response to a suit filed by the church’s board of deacons and board of trustees. The suit accused the pastor of believing in “sexual ungodliness” and “engaging in such acts in the church building.”

It also said he had attempted to alter the church’s bylaws in January 2013 to prevent his termination “in the event the church members discovered his debauchery, sinfulness, hedonism, sexual misconduct, dishonesty, thievery and rejection of the Ten Commandments”.
He was also accused of changing the locks at the church and changing the names on church bank accounts.

Price said that the plaintiffs had “met their burden of showing an entitlement to a preliminary injunction”.
He ordered McFarland to return all church keys to Shiloh’s chairman of trustees, Lee Sanford, to return a Mercedes Benz that belongs to the church and change the names on the church bank accounts back to their original state: “The Defendant Juan D McFarland shall immediately inform the manager of the Adams Avenue branch of Regions Bank that all bank accounts of Shiloh Missionary Baptist Church shall be placed back in the names of the same individuals as they existed on October 1, 2014.”

“It was extremely reluctantly that we took the action that we did, but we have to look [out] for the spiritual welfare of the members of Shiloh Missionary Baptist in moving forward,” Sanford told the Montgomery Advertiser after the ruling. He said that the church has always acted in a spirit of forgiveness towards its former pastor.

The final hearing will be on December 1.

Source and Original Content by Christian Today

Chicago Pastor Urges Houston Mayor To Disengage from Subpoenas And Apologise to Pastors

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Chicago Pastor Urges Houston Mayor To Disengage from Subpoenas And Apologise to Pastors

New Life Covenant Church in Chicago and Alliance Defending Freedom severely criticized the subpoena of various pastors’ sermons in Houston, Texas, due to their objection to an LGBT discrimination city ordinance that was passed recently.

“It’s a sad day in the United States of America, in the land of the free, when the First Amendment rights of religious leaders are being trampled on by a mayor for political gain and/or exposure,” Wilfredo De Jesús, senior pastor of New Life Covenant Church in Chicago, Illinois, said in a statement.

Houston’s mayor, Annise Parker, has denied she knew about the city’s attempt to subpoena the sermons and correspondence with their congregations of five pastors. But one of those pastors, Dave Welch, who is the executive director of the Houston area U.S. Pastor Council, told The Christian Post earlier that the mayor herself initiated the action in response to a legal battle over the Houston Equal Rights Ordinance.

“As an evangelical pastor, I have the responsibility to my church and the body of Christ to share the Gospel,” De Jesús said. “These pastors have the same responsibility. I understand that what we preach may not be popular, it may not be politically relevant and it may offend people. Jesus is our example. He understood His call and proceeded to preach/teach the Good News until he was brutally crucified on the cross for His message.”

The subpoenas were issued by Houston’s city attorney in response to a lawsuit filed by opponents of the Houston Equal Rights Ordinance, that allow men and women who identify as transgender or opposite sex to use the facilities such as restrooms of their choice.

What is not acceptable is a government body deploying “bullying tactics that perpetuate an environment of hate toward Christians and bigotry toward our Christian beliefs,” Pastor De Jesús said, calling on all pastors to demand that the City of Houston and Mayor Parker “disengage from these frivolous subpoenas and issue a formal apology to help bring forth reconciliation… Read More

Source and Original Content by BCNN 1

Houston Petition Surpasses 10,000 Supporters Despite Twitter Block

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Houston Petition Surpasses 10,000 Supporters Despite Twitter Block

Faith Driven Consumer’s grassroots effort supporting Houston’s pastors-despite initially being blocked by Twitter after it launched last Thursday-continues to gain momentum as leaders around the nation call on city officials to reverse course

Faith Driven Consumer™, the group that emerged on the national stage last year with its #IStandWithPhil campaign that played a leading role in Phil Robertson’s return to Duck Dynasty, has surpassed 10,000 signatures for its latest petition campaign, despite being initially blocked by Twitter. The petition-#HoustonWeHaveAProblem at HoustonProblem.com-asks that the City of Houston immediately “cease and desist all bullying and other offensive actions” against a group of pastors who are victims of aggressive harassment efforts at the hands of the city government.

Last week, dozens of media outlets reported that the City of Houston had demanded that a group of pastors turn over any sermons-including personal correspondence such as emails-“dealing with homosexuality, gender identity or Annise Parker, the city’s first openly lesbian mayor.”

“Thousands of concerned citizens are signing up in support of this important cause-harnessing the power of social media and keeping the pressure on Houston’s governmental leaders. Faith Driven Consumers and people of conscience across the nation-including leaders at the local, state and national levels-are joining the call for the mayor and city officials to unequivocally reverse course and end their harassment of five respected area pastors and ultimately Christians throughout Houston,” said Chris Stone, founder of Faith Driven Consumer. “We will continue to rally greater levels of grassroots support until tolerance and equality for people of faith are restored in the nation’s fourth largest city.”

Faith Driven Consumer serves as an advocate for more than 41 million consumers-one in every six American adults-who spend $2 trillion annually. The #HoustonWeHaveAProblem petition campaign reminds everyone that “pastors have been at the very center of American society since even before our founding as a nation, and they remain an integral part of the lives of untold millions of Americans today,” that “our First Amendment protects freedom of speech and religion” and that “we…live in a society that values equality, including the notion that everyone has the right to publicly express deeply held beliefs without fear of persecution or reprisal.”

Signers at HoustonProblem.com express the desire that “the City of Houston, in its quest to provide protection for LGBT citizens, to equally and explicitly acknowledge and ensure the equal rights of people of faith to live and express openly their deeply held religious beliefs.”

Source and Original Content by BCNN 1

Book Review: Hell By Bill Wiese

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Book Review: Hell By Bill Wiese

I have asked the question and I know a lot of people would have asked themselves or their spiritual leaders “Why would a LOVING God send anybody to hell”? I believe God wouldn’t have thought of sending people to hell and still send His only son to die if He knows He will send them to hell because, I understood from this book ‘HELL’ by BILL WIESE that God has given us power of choice so that we can choose if we will go to heaven or hell by the kind of relationship we have with Him.

The author of the book liking this with our relationship with God, he said “Suppose you knocked on the door of the most expensive home in the country and told the owner, “I’m moving in with you.” What do you think they would say? Of course they would say no! And you wouldn’t expect them to welcome you. You have no relationship with them. So you, who questions God’s fairness, live your entire life having nothing to do with Him, even denying that Jesus is the Son of God; you then come knocking on God’s door at your death and say, “Excuse me, I’m moving in with you!”

When I saw the title of the book ‘HELL’ I laid back but reading it gave me this peace, insight, information and understanding about what God says about ‘HEAVEN and HELL’ reading this book will help you contact the grace you need to live in the eternity and the fear you have about what your stand will be after death will be removed. Fear (devil) is the only thing that will stop you from getting a copy of this book.

Source and Original Content by Tolubooks

Book Review: Call Upon Me By Bemigho Omayuku

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Book Review: Call Upon Me By Bemigho Omayuku

Recently, I remembered when I use to watch adult movie (a pornography video) ; I also remembered how I opened up myself to lots of junk programmes that contains nude pictures on TV and were not adding to my spiritual life. Then, there were lots of friends that I disengaged from because of their ill-mannered acts which was not an added value to my life. During that period, It got so bad that going to church and doing things that will up lift my spiritual life like reading my bible, praying were becoming very difficult for me.

Hmm, I hope I am not the only one who has faced issues like these and if you are struggling with such challenges , I believe your breakthrough has come as you are reading this review .You might be asking how I came out of it victoriously; I called upon Him for help in prayer and the most amazing thing was that He didn’t just only answer me; He said He missed our talk that He never left me but my sin made me felt so.

He is with you; connect yourself back to Him through prayer. I am presently reading a book by: BEMIGHO OMAYUKU titled ‘CALL UPON ME’. The title of the book is a message on its own, when anybody tells you to call upon them, it means they will be ready to help you at any time you call upon them. God is saying the same to you, that whenever you find yourself in any distress, disappointment, losses of loved ones, barriers and bitterness, He said you should ‘CALL UPON ME’.

While I was going through mine, I could not tell anyone, there was nobody to call and I know I needed help but the only person I knew that his network doesn’t fail is God and I ‘CALLED UPON HIM’ . Reading this book by BEMIGHO OMAYUKU is helping me to build the broken wall of relationship between me and my loving father ‘God’.

My friend, no matter how far you have gone in the wrong direction, thinking God does not love you any more, you can retrace your steps back to Him. Let Him help you fight that battles you are fighting in your marriage or relationship, let Him help you live a winning life, let this book ‘CALL UPON ME’ be the bridge, the connection, the link between you and Him.

What will make your relationship grow with Him is prayer. The author said “it is in digging deeper into Him that we build a stronger relationship through which we then acquire assurance and confidence in God. When we truly live and move in Him, we begin to have faith in Him” this is what is building my relationship back with God, His words are my saving grace.

I will strongly advise you to read this book ‘CALL UPON ME’ you will find the powerful words of God that will make you feel the love that is always there no matter what you are facing. I am still reading the book; it’s a fourteen chapter prayer book that I have which is helping me get connected back to my Source and my God.

Furthermore, another reason why I will not stop reading this book at least twice in a month is because there is every possibility that the devil will want to attack again because the only thing the devil want to remove from your life is your relationship with God. He knows that the more you are connected to God in prayer ,the more your loving father (God) shows you the good plans He has for you and devil does not want that.

With this book in my possession, I will be ready. Do all you can to get this book, if something in you says don’t get it, know that your spiritual life needs to be rebuilt. www.lettherebelightinourlives.com

Source and Original Content Tolubooks

Pope To Visit Christians Fleeing Islamic State Persecution

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Pope To Visit Christians Fleeing Islamic State Persecution

Pope Francis will travel to Turkey next month, the Vatican said today, his first visit to the predominantly Muslim country which has become a refuge for Christians fleeing persecution by Islamic State militants in neighbouring Syria and in Iraq.

During his three-day visit, the Pope will meet with Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan and Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu. He will also meet Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I, the Istanbul-based spiritual leader of the Orthodox churches that make up the second-largest Christian church family after Roman Catholicism.

“The Holy Father will visit Ankara and Istanbul from Nov 28 to 30,” Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi said in a statement

Islamic State militants have declared a “caliphate” in the territories they control and have killed or driven out large numbers of Christians, Shi’ite Muslims and others who do not subscribe to their hardline version of Sunni Islam.

Many have fled to Turkey, along with tens of thousands of Syrian Kurds who left as Islamic State forces seized dozens of their villages close to the border, where fighting continues.

A US-led coalition has been carrying out air strikes on the militants near the Syrian border town of Kobane which is being defended by Kurdish fighters. Turkey said earlier on Monday it would facilitate passage of Iraqi Kurdish fighters to reinforce fellow Kurds in Kobane.

On Monday, Pope Francis told cardinals at the Vatican that Islamic State had reached levels of terrorism “previously unimaginable”.

“Many of our brothers are persecuted and were forced to leave their homes … It seems that awareness of the value of human life has been lost, that people do not count and can be sacrificed for other interests,” he said.

The Turkey trip would be Francis’s third to a mainly Muslim nation after Jordan and Albania.

Source and Original Content by Christian Today

Asia Bibi; Death Penalty Battle Far From Over

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Asia Bibi; Death Penalty Battle Far From Over

The family of Asia Bibi, the Pakistani woman imprisoned on charges of blasphemy, is still praying she’ll be spared from death.

Late last week, a high court upheld a previous decision to execute her, but the battle is far from over. She has one remaining chance to be acquitted.

When CBN News met with Bibi’s family in late summer 2011, they were hoping and praying she would return home by Christmas. That was more than three years ago.

Now comes news the Pakistani High Court upheld her conviction and death sentence for alleged blasphemy against the Muslim prophet Mohammed.

And that has her family very upset.

Todd Nettleton with the Voice of the Martyrs said it was a very difficult day for Bibi, her husband and daughters.

“When this hearing was finally held, I think their hopes were ‘Finally, there’s going to be justice,'” Nettleton told CBN News. “I think of Asia’s daughters in particular [thinking] ‘Finally, our mom’s going to be free. She’s going to come home to us,’ and all of those hopes were dashed. This was a very difficult day for Asia, her husband, Ashiq, and for their daughters.”

Asia’s husband, Ashiq, he told CBN News he was very proud of his wife.

“Asia never left her faith. She’s faithful and she never denied her faith,” he said.

Nettleton says the evidence against her was tenuous. He believes the high court judges did not overturn her conviction because they were likely threatened by militant Islamists.

“There were about 25 mullahs that attended the hearing — that were sitting in the courtroom — and about 2,000 outside the courthouse bringing the message to bear to the judges, ‘Hey, we’re watching how you’ll rule on this case. We know who you are. We know where you live — that we know where you live [means] you’re not out of our reach,’ and I think that pressure was reflected in the fact that the verdict was upheld,” Nettleton said.

Ashiq said his wife’s imprisonment and conviction came as no surprise because Christians are a small, persecuted minority in Pakistan’s Muslim-dominated society.

“It’s written in the Bible, ‘In My name you will face persecution and people will blame you and curse you,’ and we are facing that,” he said.

Asia has one more chance for acquittal. Her case is now on appeal to the Pakistan Supreme Court.

Nettleton says even if the court eventually frees her from prison, her life will still be in danger.

“She’s not safe there,” he said. “There is a mullah who has already issued a death reward for killing her. She will need at the very minimum to relocate to a safe place within Pakistan and more likely she and her family will have to leave the country for their safety.”

So for now, there’s one last chance, but the final Supreme Court decision could take months if not years.

And just like they did three years ago, her daughters remain faithful to the Lord no matter what the eventual outcome.

“We know God is alive. We know He is with us. He will be with us forever!” her daughter said.

Source and Original Content by CBN NEWS

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