God is building his church in India, despite increased persecution

Pastor Kumar Swamy of the All India Christian council told Premier: “One particular incident last week took place in the state of Pradesh where a church were having their prayer meeting, which was disrupted.

“Around 50 Hindu extremists were trying to stop the prayer meeting and harassed and manhandled the pastor.”

 

 

Pastor Swarmy, who is visiting the UK with religious freedom charity Release International, recalled the struggle of sharing the gospel in Indian villages and said: “I shared my testimony and a group of people started attacking me with stones, I got hurt and was bleeding. That’s the scene almost every day in the country as we share our faith.”

He continued: “But today in the same village, by God’s grace, we have around 15 churches planted.

“On one hand, there is attacks, threats and bloodshed but on the other hand, God is growing his church in the midst of this persecution and this will be the story of India.”

Christian leaders have joined together to raise their concerns for the safety of India’s Christian community following the recent election results.

Plans have been made to meet with the Prime Minister to request increased security for religious minorities.

Pastor Swarmy said: “The Christian Council is planning to lead a delegation of Christian leaders, to meet our Prime Minister, and our Home Minister, to give us protection and freedom.

“We feel it’s…

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‘Abortion Is Wrong,’ Says Democratic Legislator Who Opposes Roe

‘Abortion Is Wrong,’ Says Democratic Legislator Who Opposes Roe



A female pro-life Democrat who supported a Louisiana bill banning most abortions is speaking out, saying the party should change its stance on the contentious issue. 


“In Louisiana… a majority of Democrats in the legislature are pro-life,” Louisiana state Rep. Katrina Jackson told Fox News Monday. “We refer to ourselves as whole-life Democrats.”


Jackson was among the Democrats in the state legislature who voted for a Louisiana bill banning abortion once an unborn baby’s heartbeat is detected. 


Opposing abortion, she said, is “not difficult for us.”


“It’s our Christian value, our sincerely held belief that abortion is wrong so we fight for it but we are different in how we approach the issue,” Jackson said.


She’s not the only pro-life Democrat in Louisiana politics. For example, the bill was sponsored by a Democrat and signed into law by the state’s Democratic governor.  


“We talk to Democrats across the state that are pro-life,” she said. “We really aren’t distracted by those who believe that abortion is right. You are always going to have people that are pro-choice. You will have people that are pro-life. What we try to focus on is our issue. That is being whole-life. Of caring about the entire life. We sometimes say from the womb to the tomb.”


Unlike her national colleagues, Jackson wants to see Roe v Wade…

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Church communities make us happier, says Christian charity

A study for The Happiness Research Institute showed nearly three quarters of those who like where they live say they’re content with their lives.

Christian charity, Livability believe that this sense of home is best displayed within church community.

 

 

Livability’s wellbeing advisor, Andy Parnham told Premier: “Belonging, security, family, community, those are the things that make a place into a home.

“One of the greatest strengths of church community life is to provide that sense of security and belonging.”

Livability have created ‘The Happiness Course’ as a resource for local churches, to help them in caring for the well-being of local communities.

Mr Parnham said people need to realise the real things that make them happy: “We live in a very materially orientated society, you have this stuff and it will make you happy and it’s true to a degree, but there’s parts of our being that don’t get satisfied.”

He added: “Relationships and having a sense of meaning and purpose – those are the things that really make the well-being.”

 

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School Removes Cross from Yearbook: ‘It Was Not Sensitive’ to Students

School Removes Cross from Yearbook: ‘It Was Not Sensitive’ to Students



A Nebraska elementary school reprinted its newest yearbook before it was distributed to students because the cover included a cross.


The fifth graders at Manchester Elementary School in Elkhorn, Neb., voted for the 2018-19 yearbook’s original cover art – a white calligram of a cross comprised of 15 different words such as “love,” “learn,” “dream” and “faith,” the Omaha World Herald reported.


But the principal and the Parent Teacher Organization (PTO), which raises funds for the publication, did not approve it before it was printed.


PTO President Andrea Abrahamson said board members “voted unanimously to reprint the cover as it was not sensitive to our all-student agenda.”


“The yearbook cover in question was not distributed to students,” Abrahamson told the newspaper.


The reprinted yearbook cover includes a scene with clouds.


It is the second time in less than a year the school has received national attention. Last winter, then-principal Jennifer Sinclair issued a directive banning Christmas music, Christmas carols, Christmas trees, candy canes, Santa and the colors red and green, as Christian Headlines reported


Sinclair eventually stepped down, even though Liberty Counsel – the legal group that wanted the policy overturned – had said it wasn’t wanting her dismissed.  


Related:


School Bans Santa, Christmas Trees,…

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‘Don’t obsess over Trump’, Christians encouraged to share frustrations during other state visits

It comes as a series of demonstrations were held on Tuesday in the UK against the US president’s three-day state visit.

John Pontifex from Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need told Premier more attention should be given to issues concerning global persecution.

 

“The news media obsess over Donald Trump, and they have their reasons for doing that,” he said.

“But the fact remains that there’s a focus on him which does not apply with regard to other groups, other communities, other issues that don’t get the airtime that they deserve.”

A 20-foot orange inflatable – depicting the US President as a screaming baby was raised in Parliament Square.

The largest protest took place in London, which was supported by Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn.

While Mr Corbyn boycotted last night’s state banquet in honour of Donald Trump, he attended the state banquet for China’s Premier Xi Jinping, who is at the centre of churches being driven underground because of a government crackdown.

Stefan Rousseau/PA Wire

 

Pontifex said people should pay attention to all state visits.

“Whichever particular visitor is coming to this country who has a state visit or whatever is laid on to highlight the relationship that we have with that particular country, it behoves all of us to speak with one voice for those who are denied a voice,” he explained.

“By far the largest group of…

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Illinois’ Extreme Pro-Abortion Bill Passes the States’ Senate

Illinois’ Extreme Pro-Abortion Bill Passes the States’ Senate



Illinois’ abortion bill passed the state’s Senate on Friday with a vote of 34-20.


The bill, which many are calling more extreme than the pro-abortion law passed in New York earlier this year, will now head to the Democrat Governor J.B. Pritzker’s desk where he is expected to sign it. 


As Christian Headlines previously reported, Illinois’ “Reproductive Health Act,” in essence, strips all rights from the unborn. The bill proclaims, “A fertilized egg, embryo, or fetus does not have independent rights under the laws of this State.”


The bill also adds that abortion is a person’s “fundamental right” and can be conducted at any point during a pregnancy, including up to the moment of birth if the mothers “life or well-being” is at risk.


The bill states: “Every individual who becomes pregnant has a fundamental right to continue the pregnancy and give birth or to have an abortion.”


The bill will also require parents to pay for their minor child’s abortion even if the child has the procedure without the parent’s consent.


According to CBN NewsLiberty Counsel Founder and Chairman Mat Staver called the lawmakers decision to pass the bill a “crime against humanity.”


Staver wrote in a press release, “These are horrific days when Illinois lawmakers celebrate eliminating all protections for unborn children, allowing infanticide, removing…

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Jeremy Hunt writes 40 letters to persecuted Christians and their supporters

One of which was to Esther, a Nigerian who was abducted as a teenager by Boko Haram militants.

Jeremy Hunt’s letter to her stated: “I cannot begin to imagine the horrors of what you have suffered. I stand in awe of the great faith that has given you the strength to rebuild your life and dignity.

 

“I want you to know that you are not alone that British diplomats continue to raise your situation that we continue to fight your corner and that we stand with those who are being denied the basic rights to practice their faiths.”

Erin James from religious freedom charity Open Doors told Premier she was shocked to discover Mr Hunt had written the letters.

“I’ve certainly not heard about it before,” she said.

“So we are at Open Doors absolutely thrilled to see him engaging with Christians like this.”

She said Esther reacted similarly to the letter when the charity delivered it.

AP Photo/Amr Nabil, File

 

“Esther was completely shocked when this letter came through,” she explained.

“She couldn’t believe that he even knew who she was. So it’s so wonderful – at Open Doors we’re about family and we’re about supporting our persecuted family.

“So it’s so wonderful to see that girl realise how supported she is, how loved she is by Christians in the UK and around the world.”

The charity’s founder Brother Andrew also received a letter from Mr Hunt praising Open…

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Muslim Clerics Threaten Sudanese Christian in Egypt

Muslim Clerics Threaten Sudanese Christian in Egypt



JUBA, South Sudan, June 4, 2019 (Morning Star News) – Days after Muslim leaders in Egypt came to his apartment to warn him to return to Islam, a Sudanese Christian in Cairo received a death threat by phone last week, he said.


Having fled Sudan after authorities tortured and threatened to kill him if he refused to return to Islam, Al Hadi Izzalden Shareef Osman said he has had to change apartments once again in the face of fresh threats.


On May 27 he received a phone call from someone speaking in Sudanese Arabic threatening to kill him, he said.


“You are infidel and fuel for hell,” the called told him, according to Osman.


It was one of several threats he received in the past month. He recognized the voice as one of the Muslim clerics, both Sudanese and Egyptian, who knocked on his apartment door the previous week, Osman said.


Living in hiding after death threats began last year by radical Muslims monitoring his movements in Egypt, Osman said he was terrified when he opened the door to find the five Muslim clerics ordering him to renounce Christ and return to Islam or face consequences.


“They kept telling me to go mosque, but I refused,” Osman told Morning Star News. “I was afraid and had to relocate from the apartment to another location.”


In a country where at least 2 million Sudanese migrants, including thousands of refugees, already face racial discrimination…

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Israel Folau’s message preached God is a hateful God, says fellow Christian rugby star

Rugby Australia player had his four-year AU$4m contract terminated after posting on his Instagram account in April “Drunks, homosexuals, adulterers, liars, fornicators, thieves, atheists and idolators – Hell awaits you”.

Ulster and Ireland star Stockdale explained to the The Irish Times why he disagreed with Folau’s decision to share the post.

 

“He has a lot of followers out there so he has a certain responsibility, as do I, not to alienate certain people in the community, to not insult people,” Stockdale said.

Referring to the post, he added: “It preaches God is a spiteful God, a hateful God. You are going to hell. You are going to burn in hell.

Instagram/Israel Folau

 

“Realistically, God is an all-loving God. He’s a forgiving God.”

Folau hasn’t revealed if he will launch a legal challenge against Rugby Australia in the Supreme Court.

He has until 10th June to decide whether to take up the case with the Fair Work Commission by filing a complaint for unlawful dismissal on religious grounds.

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Christian Refugees Denied Asylum in Sweden for Failing Difficult Theological Quiz

Christian Refugees Denied Asylum in Sweden for Failing Difficult Theological Quiz



A number of Christian refugees have been denied asylum in Sweden after failing a difficult theology-based quiz which is administered by immigration authorities in order to determine the authenticity of their faith.


Tragically, without asylum into the western nation, the refugees will be left at grave risk of persecution upon returning to their home countries.


A damning new report from a Swedish Christian evangelical organization discovered that out of some 619 asylum cases involving Christian converts from Afghanistan, an astonishing 70 percent were rejected because the authorities deemed their declaration of faith to be phony.


Unbelievably, the only reason these desperate individuals are being rejected is because they failed an unnecessarily difficult theological test.


“A theology student may have to take another test if he or she fails,” Jacob Rudenstrand, deputy general secretary of the Swedish Evangelical Alliance, wrote at the Stream. “But if the asylum seeker fails the test, he or she will be deported to a country where he or she may be killed.”


Rudenstrand noted that the test contained questions which “not even experienced pastors have been able to answer.” Questions that regularly pop up in the test include: “Do you know what the Trinity is?” “What sacraments exist in Christianity?” “What other traditions apart from…

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