Bishop Speaks Out On Neglect Faced By Liberians

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Bishop Speaks Out On Neglect Faced By Liberians

A Catholic Bishop in Liberia says his people are being treated like “scum” in a world gripped by the Ebola crisis.

Bishop Anthony Borwah, 48, of the GBarnga diocese in central Liberia, has been unable to travel to Rome for the extraordinary synod on the family because of the crisis in Liberia, where his diocese is among those areas worst affected.

The issues facing Liberian families are not just Ebola, but include polygamy, migration, unemployment, lack of father figures, domestic violence, child trafficking and sexual tourism, he says.

In an interview in the latest Time magazine, he reveals that the dead include his spiritual director, Father Miguel from Spain, his mentor and medical doctor Abraham Borbor, and his prayer partner Tidi Dogba. Other relatives and friends have also succumbed to the virus. “As Bishop of my people I carry within my heart their wounds and pains every moment of life here,” he tells Time.

Although he is not at the synod, Borwah has submitted a paper which will form part of the final record. It reads: “Existential questions from the poor, prevalently during the Civil war, are been asked again: Where is God? What wrong have we (Liberians) done again? How come we have once again become the abandoned and scum of the earth?” More than eight in ten people in Liberia live below the poverty line.

Even when a person survives the virus they are pursued by other demons. “Recently one of the survivors — my kinsman — committed suicide when people avoided him and he felt that he was unworthy of love anymore,” Borwah tells Time. He appeals for more help from the West. “We need more support to feed the thousand whom are hungry and angry and to care and counsel the Ebola survivors who carry the stigma.”

He was speaking as divisions deepened in Rome between conservatives and liberals over the direction the synod is taking. The mid-way report released a few days ago shows moves towards more liberal attitudes on homosexuality, cohabitation, contraception and civil marriage after divorce…Read More

Source and Original Content by Christian Post

Christian Homes Raided By Police In Uzbekistan

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Christian Homes Raided By Police In Uzbekistan

TOSHKENT (Worthy News)– A Christian in Uzbekistan has been fined and threatened with further punishment after religious literature was seized from his home during a raid by Uzbek police in August, according to Barnabas Aid.

Artur Alpayev was fined 50 times Uzbekistan’s minimum monthly wage for storing religious literature at his home in Navoi.

During sentencing, Judge Oltinbek Mansurov said: “We will continue fining you unless you stop storing religious literature in your home.”

The judge said that the literature should have been stored in a building belonging to a registered religious organization, but Alpayev is a member of a Christian denomination that refuses on principle to seek state registration.

That same month police also raided Maksim and Tatyana Kostin’s home in Tashkent; Christian books and materials were seized, including childrens’ Bibles. The Kostin’s were singled-out despite being members of an officially registered religious denomination.

The raid on the Kostin’s followed an earlier search at the home of Aleksei and Diana Meshkov in Samarkand; among the items confiscated were 21 Christian books — including two Bibles in Braille — and 132 biblical broadsides.

Confiscated items are often ordered destroyed by the court.

In Uzbekistan, all religious literature is subject to censorship by the government before it can be privately owned, but there is no law per se that bans individuals from owning religious literature. The only personal prohibition applies to materials that encourage people to change their beliefs or that “distort religious canons”.

Source and Original Content by Worthy News

City Of Houston Subpoenas Pastors Over Homosexual Sermons

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City Of Houston Subpoenas Pastors Over Homosexual Sermons

A group of pastors in Houston have been ordered to turn their sermons that address homosexuality over to the city or be held in contempt of the court. Sermons that mention gender identity or Annise Parker, Houston’s first openly gay mayor, have also been subpoenaed.

Five Houston pastors have filed suit in Harris County court, arguing that the subpoenas are “overbroad, unduly burdensome, harassing and vexatious.” Attorneys from Alliance Defending Freedom are representing the pastors in the case.

Attorney Christina Holcomb said, “The city’s subpoena of sermons and other pastoral communications is both needless and unprecedented. The city council and its attorneys are engaging in an inquisition designed to stifle any critique of its actions.”

She continued, “Political and social commentary is not a crime. It is protected by the First Amendment.”

The pastors and their attorneys believe that Houston’s demands, which are under the city’s new non-discrimination ordinance, are really an attempt to “out” the pastors as anti-gay.

Steve Riggle, senior pastor of Grace Community Church, is one of the pastors served with a subpoena. He said, “This is an attempt to chill pastors from speaking to the cultural issues of the day. The mayor would like to silence our voice. She’s a bully.”

Source and Original Content by Christian Headlines

Truth Lasts; Lies are Here today, Gone Tomorrow.

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Truth Lasts; Lies are Here today, Gone Tomorrow.

Truth lasts Forever;
lies are here today, gone tomorrow.

Wise People Take Advice

13 The gossip of bad people gets them in trouble;
    the conversation of good people keeps them out of it.

14 Well-spoken words bring satisfaction;
    well-done work has its own reward.

15 Fools are headstrong and do what they like;
    wise people take advice.

16 Fools have short fuses and explode all too quickly;
    the prudent quietly shrug off insults.

17 Truthful witness by a good person clears the air,
    but liars lay down a smoke screen of deceit.

18 Rash language cuts and maims,
    but there is healing in the words of the wise.

19 Truth lasts;
    lies are here today, gone tomorrow.

20 Evil scheming distorts the schemer;
    peace-planning brings joy to the planner.

21 No evil can overwhelm a good person,
    but the wicked have their hands full of it.

22 God can’t stomach liars;
    he loves the company of those who keep their word.

23 Prudent people don’t flaunt their knowledge;
    talkative fools broadcast their silliness.

24 The diligent find freedom in their work;
    the lazy are oppressed by work.

25 Worry weighs us down;
    a cheerful word picks us up.

26 A good person survives misfortune,
    but a wicked life invites disaster.

27 A lazy life is an empty life,
    but “early to rise” gets the job done.

28 Good men and women travel right into life;
    sin’s detours take you straight to hell

Proverbs 12 : 13-28

Second health care worker tests positive for Ebola at Dallas hospital

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Second health care worker tests positive for Ebola at Dallas hospital

(CNN) — A second health care worker who cared for an Ebola patient at a Dallas hospital has contracted the virus herself.

The worker, a woman who lives alone, was quickly moved into isolation at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital, authorities said Wednesday.

The news cast further doubt on the hospital’s ability to handle Ebola and protect employees. It’s the same hospital that initially sent Thomas Eric Duncan home, even though he had a fever and had traveled from West Africa. By the time he returned to the hospital, his symptoms had worsened. He died while being treated by medical staff, including the two women who have now contracted the disease.

“I don’t think we have a systematic institutional problem,” Dr. Daniel Varga, chief clinical officer of Texas Health Resources, told reporters Wednesday, facing questions about the hospital’s actions. … Read More

Source and Original Content by : CNN

Wendy Alec says husband Rory has left her for another woman, no longer wishes to be part of ministry; ‘The devil got in very, very easily’

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Wendy Alec says husband Rory has left her for another woman, no longer wishes to be part of ministry; ‘The devil got in very, very easily’

GOD TV co-founder Wendy Alec has made an emotional live broadcast today in which she disclosed that her husband and ministry partner of over 20 years, Rory Alec, has left her for another woman.

Her comments on Oct. 8 were made after the TV channel confirmed last week that Rory would be stepping aside as chairman and chief executive with immediate effect following an undisclosed “moral failure”.

Rory said in a statement on October 2: “After 20 years of service, I have had a moral failure this year. For this reason, I am stepping down. Please forgive me for the disappointment I’ve caused, but I know your eyes are on Jesus who is the author and finisher of your faith and not on me, an imperfect man.

“It is with a heavy heart that I confirm my season with GOD TV is over for now.”

In a lengthy statement broadcast live on GOD TV today, Wendy said Rory had been having an affair with a divorced woman in Austria and that he is currently staying on the farm belonging to the woman’s father in South Africa.

Wendy also stated that he no longer wishes to be involved in the GOD TV ministry, which they founded together in 1995.

She was frequently tearful as she explained Rory’s decision, which she described as a “satanic assault on God TV and Rory and I”.

Wendy said problems first appeared in March this year when Rory returned home from a visit to South Africa and announced his intention to go to Germany for some “space”.

“My whole world started turning upside down and the next morning he just went,” Wendy said.

“It started to be extremely traumatic for me because suddenly my husband just started to change in a pattern and a way I had never seen him act before.”

She shared the situation with trusted friends and they initially kept it quiet because they were believing God for a breakthrough, but “it got worse”, she says, and Rory “just started to go off”.

She alleges he told her to keep his behaviour quiet for the sake of the ministry and the staff, and that she started to feel “very manipulated and intimidated”.

Wendy said she and the board of GOD TV asked Rory to go for counselling because they thought he might be suffering from burnout as a result of carrying the financial burden of the ministry for so many years, but she says he was not able to trust anyone enough to go for counselling and refused.

As the year went on, he “started going away for weeks at a time” but rather than making things better, it “seemed like every time he had more space it got worse and worse for our marriage”, she alleged.

“To live like that for me was really, really hard.”

She described one time when she had emergency hospital treatment for gall bladder on the Global Day of Prayer and while she was in hospital, Rory “just flew off to Austria”.

Wendy said he only returned home when her brother, who is a doctor, told him how serious it was, but she says he left again just a few days after she came out of the hospital.

She also said that she had at one point asked him if there was another woman and that he had denied there was.

It was following a night of prayer with friends for the situation on August 15 she says she discovered he had been having an affair with a divorced woman in Austria that he had apparently come to know as a result of working with her on her jazz album in the studio.

“The devil got in very, very easily,” said Wendy.

She said the unnamed woman supposedly heard a voice from God telling her that Rory was her Mr Right and her husband.

Wendy continued: “That landed up in adultery.  The [GOD TV] board talked to him and it was just too far gone and Rory said ‘I won’t be controlled’.  He went upstairs, packed his bags and he went to Austria.”

Rory did then return and he and Wendy headed out to South Africa for what she anticipated would be a time of counselling but during the stay, he “turned around to me and said our marriage is over”.

While Wendy says she wants her marriage to be restored, she told viewers Rory does not feel the same way.

“Today I have to tell you guys it’s not like that,” she insisted.

“Rory is on this lady’s father’s farm in South Africa.  He doesn’t want to be involved in the ministry anymore and as far as he’s concerned, the marriage is finished. He doesn’t want restoration, he doesn’t want counselling, he doesn’t want anything to do with it.  He wants a new life.”

Wendy said that in spite of the breakdown of her marriage, God has been faithful to her and “been healing my heart where it couldn’t be healed”.

“It is traumatic because it’s like your life is over, all our memories,” she said.

“I don’t know what the outcome will be but I know this with all my heart … I’ve got absolute trust in my Father God.  He is beautiful and he is always good.  I have absolute faith in incredible restoration and incredible restitution in our lives ahead.”

…Read More

Source and Original Content by:  Christianity Today

Palestinian Riot Foiled By Israeli Police

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Palestinian Riot Foiled By Israeli Police

Israeli police have prevented an attack by Palestinian rioters at the Temple Mount in Jerusalem.

A police spokesman says they got a tip about a planned violent demonstration and found firebombs at the scene.

Video of the confrontation shows Israeli forces in riot gear confronting the rioters amid explosions believed to be fireworks launched by the Palestinians. The police were also assaulted with rocks.

Eventually, the demonstrators barricaded themselves inside the Al-Aqsa mosque.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said he was “deeply concerned by repeated provocations at the holy sites in Jerusalem. These only inflame tensions and must stop..Read More

Source and Original Content by CBN NEWS

Ebola: Infected Dallas Nurse Gets Blood Donation From US Survivor

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Ebola: Infected Dallas Nurse Gets Blood Donation From US Survivor

A U.N. medical worker who was infected with Ebola in Liberia has died, according to a hospital in Germany.

The 56-year-old man tested positive for the virus last Monday, Oct. 6., prompting Liberia’s U.N. peacekeeping mission to place dozens of staff members who may have come into contact with him under close medical observation.

The news comes as the World Health Organization is warning there could be up to 10,000 new cases of Ebola per week over the next two months.

Meanwhile, the second Ebola case in the U.S. is raising questions about hospital protocols for identifying and treating the disease.

Twenty-six-year-old Nina Pham was one of about 70 staff members who helped care for Thomas Eric Duncan who died from the virus last week.

The size of the medical team reflects the hospital’s intense effort to save Duncan’s life, but it also suggests that many other people could have been exposed to the virus during Duncan’s time in an isolation unit.

Pham remains isolated in stable condition at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital in Dallas. One of Pham’s close friends and her dog have also been placed in quarantine.

Ebola survivor Dr. Kent Brantly traveled to Dallas on Sunday to donate blood to help treat Pham…Read More

ISIS: Escapees Recount Their Experiences

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ISIS: Escapees Recount Their Experiences

Since ISIS launched its Islamic jihad, horror stories of atrocities have been pouring out of Iraq and Syria. Now several young girls, sold by the Islamic fighters, have escaped and are sharing their stories.

None of the stories could be independently verified, but all of them reflected circumstances reported by the United Nations last month. According to the U.N., as many as 1,000 women and children were abducted by the jihadist army.

The Islamic State does nothing to hide their targeting of all non-Muslims. In fact, from their videotaped beheadings to their bombings of religious sites, they’ve publicly displayed their gruesome acts.

Married by Force

ISIS considers the Yazidis a heretical sect and gave many of them the ultimatum to convert to Islam, flee their homes or be killed.

They don’t even give mercy to women and children.

“I have been sold in Syria. I stayed about five days with my two sisters, then one of my sisters was sold and taken to Mosul and I remained in Syria,” one 15-year-old Yazidi girl said. Her identity has been kept secret out of concern for the safety of her family, who remains captive by the ISIS terrorists.

The militants had seized Sinjar, her hometown, killing hundreds and causing thousands more to flee to survive.

For weeks, the girl and two of her sisters were shifted from one place to another.

“Those who didn’t want to get married were married by force, whether they became a Muslim or not. They insisted on marrying us, even offering to live together then get married,” she added.

She claimed she shot the Palestinian man she was married off to in an attempt to escape, but then a Saudi fighter bought her for $1,000 and took her to his home as his new wife.

“He told me, ‘I’m going to change your name to Abeer so your mother doesn’t recognize you. You’ll become Muslim; then I will marry you. But I refused to become a Muslim and that’s why I fled,” she said.

Again, she planned an escape. She said she found a powdery narcotic substance in the Saudi man’s home and poured it in tea she served to him and the other fighters living in the house. The powder caused them to sleep heavily.

She said she then found a man who would drive her to Turkey to meet her brother and a smuggler who would bring them to Iraq.

‘Nothing Can Be Worse Than This’

Amsha Ali, a 19-year-old Yazidi woman, and her 20-month-old son Muayed were taken from Sinjar in early August and held for 25 days by ISIS terrorists along with other women.

“By God, when they took girls and women it was a very sad feeling for me. I saw a lot of murders, murders of Yazidis, but the killing was not the hardest thing for me. Even when they (ISIS) forced my husband, brother-in-law, and my father-in-law on the ground to be murdered – it was painful, but marrying (them) was the worst. It was hardest thing for me.”

Amsha was forced into a marriage with an ISIS militant after her husband was taken and presumably killed.

“I told them (other abducted Yazidi girls) that there is nothing worse than this. Nothing can be worse than this and nothing worse than this can happen to us. I was telling them that they killed our men and they destroyed our homes and if we stay in their hands, they are going to marry us and we will only be able to live married, but they were afraid. I kept telling them ‘let’s run,’ but nobody listened. Being so terrified has left them in this situation and now I know nothing about what happened to them,” Amsha, who is eight months pregnant with her Yazidi husband’s child, said.

During her captivity her captors threatened to murder her 20-month-old son if she did not convert to Islam and accept the Muslim name of Sara.

She managed to escape from Mosul by fleeing through a bathroom window at night. Amsha now lives with 27 relatives in an unfinished building in the Yazidi town of Sharia. Her husband is still missing…Read More

Source and Original Content by CBN NEWS

Conservatives React To Vatican’s Stand on Homosexuality

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Conservatives React To Vatican’s Stand on Homosexuality

A Vatican report issued Monday (Oct. 13) demonstrates what observers described as a dramatic shift — even an “earthquake” — regarding homosexuals, asking if the Roman Catholic Church can value “their sexual orientation, without compromising” its teachings.

The report, delivered in Pope Francis’ presence halfway through a two-week meeting of nearly 200 bishops at the Vatican, offered a markedly different tone in its approach to homosexuals, cohabiting couples and the divorced. The document is not a final report on the synod of bishops, who will continue their meeting this week. A more definitive report is expected after a final synod next year.

In a section titled “Welcoming homosexual persons,” the report says, “Homosexuals have gifts and qualities to offer to the Christian community: are we capable of welcoming these people, guaranteeing to them a fraternal space in our communities? Often they wish to encounter a Church that offers them a welcoming home. Are our communities capable of providing that, accepting and valuing their sexual orientation, without compromising Catholic doctrine on the family and matrimony?”

The document says helping people mature regarding “the sexual dimension” is an “important educative challenge” to the Catholic Church. The statement does not support same-sex marriage, saying the Catholic Church “affirms that unions between people of the same sex cannot be considered on the same footing as matrimony between man and woman.”

The report also says, “Without denying the moral problems connected to homosexual unions it has to be noted that there are cases in which mutual aid to the point of sacrifice constitutes a precious support in the life of the partners.”

Close observers of the Catholic Church depicted the report as startling in its language.

The document “represents an earthquake, the ‘big one’ that hit after months of smaller tremors,” wrote John Thavis, who reported from Rome with Catholic News Service for nearly 30 years and continues to blog about the Vatican.

James Martin, editor at large of America (a national Catholic magazine), said the report depicts “a stunning change in the way that the Catholic church speaks about the [lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender] community.”

Describing homosexuals as people with “gifts and talents to offer the Christian community . . . is something that even a few years ago would have been unthinkable, from even the most open-minded of prelates — that is, a statement of outright praise for the contribution of gays and lesbians, with no caveat and no reflexive mention of sin.”

Russell D. Moore, president of the Southern Baptist Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, addressed the Catholic Church’s view of “gradualism, the idea that sinners do not immediately give up their sins, and often move gradually toward the grace of redemption…Read More

Source and Original Content by BCNN1

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