Christian Woman resigns job for Restriction of Freedom of Expression

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Christian Woman resigns job for Restriction of Freedom of Expression

A female Toll-taker is suing her boss after resigning from her job because,she was told not to say ‘God Bless You” to motorists.Cynthia Fernandez said her First Amendment rights were violated .She told CBS 2

‘As they leave, I said, ‘Have a good day, God bless you,’He told me he wanted to talk to me, that I couldn’t say, ‘God bless you,’ anymore to customers because somebody might get offended,It does say, ‘Provide customer service, smile’ – it does say all that,’But it does not say in any line, ‘Do not say, ‘God bless you.’

Her lawyer, Greg Noble, said…

By saying ‘God bless you,’ she’s expressing herself as a Christian,And if an employer is going to restrain her ability to express herself in that way, not say something based on her religious belief, not disrupting the workplace, that’s our concern.’

She is seeking back pay with benefits and a cash settlement from the authority .She said that she feels like she’s taking a stand for G0d

Source : Naijabadoo.com

US Ebola Patient May have had contact with nearly 100 People

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US Ebola Patient May have had contact with nearly 100 People

The Ebola patient who became the first person to be diagnosed with the deadly disease in the United States has been identified as Thomas Eric Duncan, a former chauffeur from Liberia whose family says they prayed with him on the phone Wednesday as he waits to be treated with the experimental serum Zmapp.

A CNN report noted Thursday that a federal official confirmed that health officials had reached out to as many as 100 people who might have had contact with Duncan since his arrival in the U.S. late last month.

Those people might have crossed paths with Duncan at the hospital, his apartment complex or the community where he lives and are still being questioned. Approximately 12 direct contacts have been identified so far, but according to the official: “By the end of the day we should have a pretty good idea of how many contacts there are.”

Dallas County Health and Human Services spokeswoman Erikka Neroes explained earlier on Thursday that 80 people were being monitored for Ebola in the Dallas area. This, according to CNN, means the monitored person is visited twice a day by a public health worker to check for symptoms of Ebola.

Duncan is being treated at the Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital in Dallas and his family told ABC that when they spoke with him on Wednesday, he hadn’t yet been treated with Zmapp, which was used to treat two U.S. Christian missionaries who contracted Ebola while they were working in Liberia.

“We talked today (with Duncan) and we prayed together with his mother and sister here,” said Joe Weeks, who lives with Duncan’s sister, Mai, in Charlotte, North Carolina, according to ABC.

He said the family is concerned that Duncan has not yet received Zmapp despite being at the hospital since Sunday.

“I don’t understand why he is not getting the Zmapp,” said Weeks.

The manufacturer said they ran out of the experimental treatment which the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention explained on its website is still being evaluated for its effectiveness.

“At this time, very few courses of this experimental treatment have been manufactured. The manufacturer has indicated that the available doses have been distributed. Since the product is still in an experimental stage, it is too early to know whether ZMapp is effective,” noted the CDC.

“The manufacturer of this experimental treatment continues to research and evaluate the product’s safety and effectiveness. It has not yet been tested in humans for safety or effectiveness and much more study is needed,” it continued.

It further noted that ZMapp is simply a therapeutic treatment for those who have been infected with Ebola. It doesn’t prevent infection as a vaccine would and the best defense against the deadly disease is strict infection control efforts.

Dallas County health officials legally ordered four of Duncan’s close relatives to stay home and not have any visitors until at least October 19, according to CNN.

“The family was having some challenges following the directions to stay home, so we’re taking every precaution,” Texas Department of Health spokeswoman Carrie Williams said on why the legal order was issued. “Food and other needs of the family are being worked out logistically today. Those needs will be specifically covered to allow them to stay in the house.”

Texas Gov. Rick Perry explained in an ABC report that five school-aged children are among the people being monitored and were sent home from school earlier in the week.

“Let me assure you, these children have been identified and are being monitored,” said Perry. “This is all hands on deck.”

The five children attended four different schools but officials say none of them had exhibited any symptoms of Ebola when they attended schools earlier in the week. The schools exposed include three elementary schools, a middle school and a high school. A Bloomberg News report said one of the exposed children attends Dan D. Rogers Elementary School in Dallas.

“The students didn’t have any symptoms so the odds of them passing on any sort of virus is very low,” Dallas Independent School District Superintendent Mike Miles told ABC Wednesday morning.

Parents, however, are worried.

“We had a variety of responses from parents, as you might expect in a case like this,” Andre Riley, a Dallas Independent School District spokesman, told Bloomberg News. “Some were very concerned about what is occurring and others just want to be informed.”

The Hawaii Health Department reported Wednesday that a patient who checked into a local hospital Wednesday is being tested for several conditions, including Ebola.

“We have not definitively said, we don’t know why this person is ill,” said Dr. Melissa Viray of the Department of Health in Hawaii in a Hawaii News Now report. “But because we have concerns regarding Ebola as a possibility, even as a distant one, [the hospital] is taking all the precautions necessary to keep people safe.”

Source: Christian Post

Stop Looking Around, the Kingdom of God is Within You

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Stop Looking Around, the Kingdom of God is Within You

Christian Attacks in East Jerusalem Increase

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Christian Attacks in East Jerusalem Increase

Attacks by violent Muslims have increased in intensity against a Christian congregation in East Jerusalem.

The leader of the congregation at Living Bread Church, Karen Dunham, told Morning Star News that the assaults were intended to stop the church’s ministry and force its congregation to abandon the property.

Living Bread’s congregation consists mostly of expatriates who came to Israel to implement social and spiritual projects; to that end, the church is strategically located in a commercial area on the main road that divides Arab East Jerusalem from an Orthodox Jewish neighborhood just outside the Damascus Gate of the Old City.

Dunham described the attacks as both a land grab and an act of religious persecution to punish the congregation for its work with the neighborhood.

Back In July when the IDF began bombing Gaza, criminal vandalism increased in the Palestinian neighborhood of East Jerusalem. During the night, parts of Living Bread’s building would actually disappear: the wrought iron security gate protecting the back porch was first to vanish, then the vandals removed the iron shutters that protected the building’s windows. There was even an attempt to steal one of the church doors!

When Dunham first complained to the police, she said they were indifferent to the vandalism. But when she kept complaining, the violence was redirected towards her congregation. In one incident, assailants threw urine at church members who were sitting just outside the church building.

The intimidation has increased to a point that video cameras have been installed in an attempt to identify the vandals.

Source: Worthy Christian News

Christians baptised in Iraq despite threats

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Christians baptised in Iraq despite threats

Canon Andrew White, known as the vicar of Baghdad, said yesterday that he had baptised a family of five, as Islamic State (IS) militants circle ever closer to Iraq’s capital.

In an update on Facebook, Canon White said “despite the tragedy all around us we are so aware of the presence a glory of G-d [sic].

“We had a great joyful event today as I baptised a mother and her four young children. What a joy it was when the 10-year-old came up to me after the Baptism and said ‘I feel all new now I am all different’ and he was.”

Canon White told Anglican News Service that “people really wanted to demonstrate their faith”, despite the danger of doing so.

“It was lovely baptising them and the children were so excited…In the midst of such a desperate situation it was wonderful to have something which was so nice.”

Reports stating the current location of IS militants as they close in on Baghdad have varied over the past few days.

The BBC’s Lyse Doucet reported on Monday that members of the terrorist group were less than 10km away from the city in the early hours of the morning.

The Foundation for Relief and Reconciliation in the Middle East then reported at around 6am GMT that IS militants were “less than 2km away from entering Baghdad”.

“The crisis here with ISIS/L continues but their movement toward Baghdad has been pushed back,” Canon White said yesterday.

“At one point yesterday they were said to be within a mile of Baghdad. Now the Intel tells us they are 20 miles away from the Capital.”

“So many people have asked how they can help us,” he continued.

“There are only two things we need. First and most importantly we need prayer that the presence and protection of G-d will remain with us and secondly we need funding to provide the needs of our people.”

Source : Christian Today

Nobel Peace Prize: Pope Francis picked

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Nobel Peace Prize: Pope Francis picked

Pope Francis is emerging as a favourite to win the Nobel Peace Prize next week.

No Pope has ever won the prize, criticised regularly since its foundation in 1901 for a number of omissions including Pope John II. President Barack Obama won it in 2009.

Pope Francis is one of 278 nominees for the prize this year, a record number. Most are individuals but the nominees include more than 40 organisations.

Others include Russian President Vladimir Putin, Edward Snowden, who leaked vast numbers of US secrets, and Malala Yousafzai, the teenager from the Swat valley Pakistan who was victim of an assassination attempt by the Taliban and who has gone on to achieve an international profile in her campaigns for women’s education and other rights. The $1.24 million award will be announced next Friday in Oslo.

Bookmakers Paddy Power have Pope Francis as the favourite at 9/4. He was nominated by the Argentine parliament because of his work in bringing peace to Syria. His sponsor Oscar Martinez said he was a man who had been “decisive in maintaining international peace through his clear position regarding the conflict in Syria.”

Kristian Berg Harpviken, director of the Peace Research Institute Oslo (Prio), an independent research institute, did not nominate anyone but each year publishes his own list of the shortlist.

This year he put Pope Francis at the top, followed by Snowden and Yousafzai. His fourth favourite is Denis Mukwege, a surgeon from Congo who has played a prominent international role in combating sexual violence. Mukwege is the second favourite at Paddy Power, at 5/1.

An article on the Prio website states: “Since taking over the Papacy on 13 March 2013, Pope Francis has brought attention to the fate of the poor, and the need for a new approach to development and economic redistribution.”

Prio notes that speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos in January 2014, the Pope called for a “renewed, profound and broadened sense of responsibility on the part of all” and that the need for a new approach also figured centrally in his Papal statement.

“Beyond his notable efforts for the poor, which in Harpviken’s opinion would be the main justification for awarding him the 2014 Peace Prize, Pope Francis has also instilled new hope for reform of the Catholic Church. He has himself adopted a more modest appearance than his predecessors, uses social media extensively, and signals accessibility for the common man and woman.”
Source: Christian Today

Syria: 41 Children Killed in Suicide Bomb Attack

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Syria: 41 Children Killed in Suicide Bomb Attack

At least 41 children and 48 people in total were killed by two heavy suicide bomb blasts near a school in Homs, Syria, several sources have reported.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which is monitoring the mounting number of casualties from the three-year-old Syrian civil war, said that the explosions occurred in the Ekrima neighborhood in Homs. It added that the death toll of 48 people is likely to go up, as there are also a number of seriously injured people.

Official Syrian sources said that a car bomb and a suicide bomber caused the explosions as the children were coming out of school. Fides News Agency said that the children were targeted because many of them belong to the same religious community as the family of President Bashar al-Assad. It added that the attack was one of the heaviest losses of life in terms of children since the beginning of the Syrian conflict.

There are a number of competing rebel factions that have targeted the government of Assad, including terror group ISIS, which has spread throughout Syria and Iraq.

Assad himself has been accused by the international community of severe human rights violations, such as using chemical weapons in an attack near Damascus in August 2013, which killed 1,429 people, including 426 children.

Assad later agreed to hand over all of Syria’s chemical weapons to be destroyed, but The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons found in an investigation in September evidence that chlorine gas had again been used as a weapon in northern Syria this year.

The U.N. high commissioner for human rights revealed in a report in August that the Syrian death toll has topped 191,000 people, and that over 9 million others, close to half of them children, are in need of humanitarian aid.

“It is a real indictment of the age we live in that not only has this been allowed to continue so long, with no end in sight, but is also now impacting horrendously on hundreds of thousands of other people across the border in northern Iraq, and the violence has also spilled over into Lebanon,” Commissioner Navi Pillay said at the time.

Over 3 million Syrian refugees have fled to neighboring countries seeking protection from the civil war, where they have faced various new challenges.

Kristin Wright, director of advocacy for Christian relief group Open Doors USA, told The Christian Post last week that children refugees are often the most affected in war, and spoke of the importance of the international community reaching out to help.

Wright told CP that “supporting the schools for refugee children is one of the most important things that we, as Americans, as people from all backgrounds around the world, can be doing for these children. Providing safe spaces for them to be nurtured, to be educated, to be supported after everything that they have been through.”

The Assyrian Human Rights Watch also announced on Wednesday that three Christians have been kidnapped from the city of Tel Tamar, in the north-eastern province of Hassaké. The kidnappers are believed to be a jihadist faction that has made its stronghold in the city of Raqqah.

Source: Christian Post

Seven Christians arrested in Laos for holding religious meeting

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Seven Christians arrested in Laos for holding religious meeting

Local authorities in Savannakhet province, Laos, arrested seven Protestant Christians after they held a religious meeting yesterday, 29 September.

According to the non-profit advocacy organisation Human Rights Watch for Lao Religious Freedom (HRWLRF), Pastor Sompong Supatto of Bouham village, Atsaphathong district and six Christians from villages in Palansai district met together for worship at Pastor Sompong’s home on the morning of 29 September. Afterwards, as they gathered together for lunch, the village chief, village security officers and village police arrested the seven Christians. A week before, on 21 September, village officials told the Christians they were not allowed to gather for worship in Boukham village, despite the fact that Christians have been meeting for worship in Boukham village for three to four years.

The seven Christians, aged 18 to 60 years old, are currently being detained at the Boukham village government headquarters. Pastor Sompong is reportedly handcuffed and held in leg stocks.

Also in Savannakhet, five Christians accused of the murder of a Christian convert in June this year remain in detention despite having been found “not guilty”. Savannakhet Office of Prosecutors ruled that Pastor Kaithong and four Christians detained since 23 June did not commit any criminal offence. However, they remain in detention as the authority to release the five detainees lies with the Atsaphangthong District Chief. No date has been set for their release. Recent reports claim that the five Christians’ health has deteriorated since their imprisonment.

Research by Christian Solidarity Worldwide 2012-2014 found Savannakhet to be one of the worst provinces for violations against Protestant Christians in Laos, which include forced eviction, arrest and detention, disruption of religious meetings and services, forced participation in animist ceremonies, and threats.

CSW’s Chief Executive Mervyn Thomas said: “We deplore the local authorities’ decision to ban Christian worship in Boukham village, and the arrest of the seven Christians on 29 September. Sadly, this kind of incident is still common in Savannakhet province and other parts of Laos, despite the government’s recognition of Protestant Christianity. We call on the central government to protect and promote the rights of people of all religions or belief, in all parts of the country. We further call on the local authorities in Savanaakhet province to release the seven Christians arrested in Boukham village, and the five Christians cleared of murder in August 2014.”

Source: Christ Solidarity Worldwide

Suit Against Pennsylvania Wedding Venue Unsuccessful

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Suit Against Pennsylvania Wedding Venue Unsuccessful

A Pennsylvania wedding venue will not have to refund a deposit to a straight couple wedding party that disagrees with the owner’s stance on same-sex weddings.

A lawsuit over a security deposit placed at the Inne was dismissed because the judge agreed that the suit was “improperly filed,” according to Liberty Counsel, which represents a banquet hall called the Inne of the Abingtons.”A Christian business owner should not have his contracts dishonored or be hauled into court because he operates his business according to conscience,” Liberty Counsel senior litigator Roger Gannam said. “This is a victory for religious liberty.”

In July, the Inne of the Abingtons, which is located 12 miles North of Scranton, Pennsylvania, declined the request of a lesbian couple wanting use their facility for their wedding. Hosting a same-sex wedding would conflict with venue owner John Antolick’s deeply held Christian beliefs.

Taking to Facebook to release her frustration about the venue’s rejection of her daughter’s wedding, a mother of one of the lesbian women caused a social media firestorm that was hard for the venue to avoid.

“I don’t want to discriminate against anyone, but my conscience will not allow me to use my business to endorse an event that contradicts God’s design for marriage,” Antolick said.

The news of the Inne’s refusal to host a same-sex wedding eventually got to Barb Giarratano, who just a few weeks earlier had placed a $1,000 deposit at the Inne for her daughter’s wedding reception to be held October of 2015. Giarratano was concerned. Although her daugher’s wedding would be a hetrosexual wedding, Giarratano told Citizens Voice that she is sure that there will be many homosexual friends at the wedding and decided cancel the 100-guest reservation.

“Discrimination goes against everything we believe in as a family,” Giarratano said. “Our conscience wouldn’t allow us to invite our gay and lesbian friends and family to a wedding at a place they know openly discriminates against them.”

However, Antolick was not going to fork over the $1,000 dollar security deposit with no legal or contractual obligation to do so. The Liberty Counsel claims that the non-refundable deposit is an industry standard when it comes to reception reservations.

The couple filed a lawsuit seeking three times the original deposit to cover damages. However, the Liberty Counsel claims that when it became apparent on the day of the trial that the judge was going to dismiss the case, the plaintiffs withdrew the lawsuit.

A spokeswoman for a Harrisburg based gay-rights lobbying group, Equality Pennsylvania, told The Times-Tribune that the homosexual couple that was refused service would have legal ground to sue the Inne if they want.

“The law would say any private business that offers services to the public cannot refuse service to someone on the basis of sexuality or gender identity,” Equality Pennsylvania spokeswoman Levana Layendecker said. “Just as a mixed-race couple turned away could today sue a wedding venue, under S.B./H.B. 300 a same-sex couple turned away would have the option to sue the Inne of the Abingtons.”

Although Antolick said his venue hosts all other events and parties open to homosexuals, a New York farm farmhouse wedding venue held a similar stance regarding homosexuals and was fined $13,000 in August as a result of a lawsuit.

Source: Samuel Smith Christian Post.

Synagogue Collapse Aftermath: Pastor gives Stern Warning

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Synagogue Collapse Aftermath: Pastor gives Stern Warning

The General Overseer of The Synagogue, Church Of All Nations Temitope Balogun popularly known as T. B. Joshua has issued a stern warning to the media and all individuals speaking foul against the recent building collapse of September 12th at the Synagogue Church of All Nations’ guest house in Ikotun area of Lagos state where over 115 people were feared dead and many injured. This is coming after series of back talks and moves of sueing the man of God to court.
The message which was uploaded on their Facebook account reads thus:

Good morning church and viewers all over the world. I want to thank you for your prayer and your love for the victims and relations of all those involved in the incident.

The battle is for the Lord. I really want to thank God. God has been doing so much. We need to know a thousand victories, all the way long. Glory and honour to God Almighty.

For those who are outside the Lord, they would not know. When you are outside God, you will not know what I am talking about. When you are outside the light, you can’t understand what I am talking about.

For the three weeks before the incident, if you heard my message and sat down, you would know I was giving you a vision and prophetic Word on how to handle the situation at hand. Trials and tests are meant for our belief. I go by the directives of God.

I salute the martyrs of faith and the victims. I also salute their relations. My love and my prayers are always with them. The martyrs, victims and their relations, what they would like to see is the work of God continue. That is what they died for, suffered for and are living for.

From your heart, commit the relations of the martyrs to God. Ask God to strengthen them and open their understanding more to know and understand what happened here. Ask God to give them the grace to continue in God. In Him we live; in Him we move. Ask God to give them the grace to continue the work of salvation.

Remember the victims in one way or the other and ask for God’s intervention. Ask God for His power of resurrection within them and outside them, in Jesus Christ’s name we pray.

Remain silent and give thanks to God, within you. I want you to change your confession and give thanks to God.

Listen to God, not men. Don’t let your faith be disturbed. If anyone wants to disturb your faith with their negative words and message, remember God. See the need of God the more. See the need of serving the Lord the more, the need of moving closer to Him.

Don’t be disturbed. Pray for the relations; pray for the victims. That is your assignment – your love and prayer for the victims and the relations of the martyrs. That is your duty at this time.

Don’t allow yourself to be used by satan. If you do, satan will use his people to run to you and disturb you the more. This is an opportunity for them to disturb your faith with their negative words. Those who hate you and those who want you to die will run after you because of this issue. It is not that they love you but they want to see your countenance, your appearance, how you look and whether you are worried. Never allow this. Remember Jesus. Don’t change your words in a moment. Jesus is Lord.

What you saw happen – God is aware. If God is aware, who else is aware does not matter. The martyrs, victims and relations want to see your faith grow; they want to see the work of salvation and the work of God in your life continue. They want to see you serve the Lord the more. The only way you can allow the work of God to continue is to be with yourself and God, not to allow intruders and people around you to advise you and tell you what to do when they could not stop what happened.

I pray the satanic agents should be the only ones to suffer this. I said, our God will get back to them. Warn your family and brothers about their talk. You will know I am a man of God this time. People who are looking for your downfall and run to disturb your spirit, warn them to be careful of their tongues and the people who come to them. God is a God of vengeance – anybody can go for it.

You cannot help me, only God. Don’t disturb me; please leave me with God. You will see the outcome. I am saying this so that only the people who did this will suffer for it and you will not in any way suffer for it. The people who are writing whatever they are saying – all of us will see the outcome of this. Leave it for God.

I have been on this journey for 27 years. Do you think God can close His eyes and rubbish everything here? They are asking God to bring more evidence of whether He is the One who called me. Warn everyone to be very careful. This issue at hand is a delicate issue.

People are using all this to gain money and friends. This is a warning. Whatever anybody wants to write, let them write it; they will be the ones to read it.

I said, our God will get back to them. He has started somewhere. He is coming. If your brother is involved, unless he can resurrect the people who died, he will join them. If you can resurrect the people who died, you can go free. The servants, the people who sent them, the people who heard the stories all around and those who want to use it for themselves and disturb my spirit, you may likely join them. Be careful. To be forewarned is to be forearmed. Let us be very careful of our tongue.

Your responsibility is to the victims and the relations of the victims and martyrs of faith. If you say you are born again, wherever the victims and their relations are, wherever the relations of the martyrs of faith are, look for them. Let them know you are praying for them. What you eat, let them eat it. What you wear, let them wear out of it. What you have on your table, let them have it on their table, too. Share what you have with them – your love, prayer, affection and strength. Share it with them at this time. This is what we call ‘born again’ – my pain is your pain. Your joy is my joy.

The multitudes of people who claim to be with T.B. Joshua in prayer – if the same people turn to the families of the victims and martyrs of faith, do you not think life would be better for them than before? Join them, look for them, as many others are doing now.

Source: https://www.facebook.com/tbjministries

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