250 Christians Attend Grand Opening of ‘Beautiful Gate’ Orphanage in Mexico’s Baja

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250 Christians Attend Grand Opening of ‘Beautiful Gate’ Orphanage in Mexico’s Baja

Christian Post Report – Christians from Southern California traveled by tour buses to a suburb of Ensenada, Mexico, to join 150 local missionaries and believers to attend the grand opening of Puerta Hermosa (Beautiful Gate) Orphanage that serves as the home for abandoned and severely ill special needs children of Baja, January 2016.MANEADERO, Baja California, Mexico — Christians from Southern California traveled by tour buses to a suburb of Ensenada, Mexico, to join 150 local missionaries and believers recently to attend the grand opening of Puerta Hermosa (Beautiful Gate) Orphanage, a complex that serves as the home for abandoned and severely ill special needs children of Baja.

It is the incredibly heart-wrenching stories of the children who come to Puerta Hermosa, and the call for Christians to take care of “the least of these” that motivated groups such as Strong Tower Ministries based in Orange County to build the complex, and for others, including 100 people from the U.S., to be a part of the grand opening.

A couple of days before the ceremony on Saturday, Beautiful Gate Orphanage and Genesis Diez (umbrella ministry) founder Greg Amstutz told this reporter the story of two children who were the first taken in for care, resulting in the start of the Beautiful Gate Orphanage 10 years ago.

Amstutz said he was told by one of the residents in the area he was serving that a mother of four was so distraught about her two severely sick children that “she was either going to dump them on the curb because she could not deal with it anymore or she was going to kill them.”

Puerta Hermosa (Beautiful Gate) Orphanage

“That night, on a rainy, cold night in Baja we were taken to her home by the man who told us about the situation and we were taken to a very low income apartment complex,” Amstutz explained. “She and two of the children were over in one corner sitting on a cardboard that was her mattress resting on a concrete floor. The three of them were huddled together in a blanket in a place full of cockroaches. There were mice, and it was ugly. But the other two girls were nowhere to be seen.

“We asked where the other two girls were, and their names were Maria and Margarita, and she said they were here. I asked where, and over in the corner there was a pile of trash, but when you looked, the pile was shaking and underneath this pile of trash she had already thrown away both of her little girls for I’m not sure how many days. … The mother agreed that we could take them to the hospital.”

The two girls were in a hospital for a month before they were released. Amstutz and his ministry tried to help the mother with daycare and the administration of medicines, but realized after a year of efforts that she was not going to be able to handle the children and the procedure involved with the medicine.

“We prayed about the situation and it was obvious that God was calling us to start an orphanage for disabled children,” Amstutz said. The girls came under the ministry’s care, but a diagnosis for the girls was never really found. A woman that served on a short-term missionary trip hosted by the ministry was told about the symptoms and said the children may have Huntington’s disease, something rare for their ages. The care for the two girls became a hospice care situation, and the children died within a four-year period, he said.

He added, “Beautiful Gate is out of Act 3:2 which is where Peter did the healing of the disabled man before that beautiful gate of the temple in Jerusalem. And not only was that healing representative of what we want for our kids, to bring them to their fullest potential, but at that time as written in the Bible, a huge amount of people accepted Christ. It’s not only to be a help to the disabled, but to be a light to Jesus Christ.”

In addition to providing 24/7 medical care and a home for up to eight children, Puerta Hermosa serves as the offices for Genesis Diez — a ministry that has been without a permanent home since its start 22 years ago.

Genesis Diez serves as the umbrella ministry for three other ministries besides Beautiful Gate Orphanage.

“After I accepted Jesus into my life in 1991 I asked for God’s will in my life and He showed me that I should take care of children in Baja,” said Amstutz. “The very first projects were Rancho Genesis orphan summer camps. That ministry still exists today.”

Another ministry, “Footprints” under Genesis Diez serves children of the migrant farm working families in the area. The ministry is “very relational,” including Bible study, food baskets with prayer in the families’ homes and English classes. “Our emphasis for the children is attending public school education which creates independence and a future rather than dependency,” he said.

From leukemia cases to severe heart and brain problems, Beautiful Gate Orphanage takes care of these orphaned children “by embracing them into our family as our own sons and daughters,” say the ministry leaders. “Our prayer is to model and advocate compassion, justice, and proper care systems for these children with the parents of special need children, orphanages and all of the people of Mexico.”

“The Lord provided us with a beautiful base and home where He wants us,” Amstutz said. “It’s been an awesome blessing.”

The four ministries under Genesis Diez

Rancho Genesis: Spring and Summer camps for week-long church camps for orphans, relationally paired with Mission Teams from the states.

Beautiful Gate Orphanage (Puerta Hermosa): Full time care for special needs children with brain damage and severe illnesses.

Footprints: English and Bible teaching for the indigenous children of the area.

Koinonia:  Helping other ministries in the area to “further the Kingdom.”

Alex Murashko is currently working with One Ten Pictures as an associate producer, developing and working on projects that include stories about people and organizations making a difference in this world as ambassadors for Christ. He previously was a Church & Ministry Editor/Reporter for The Christian Post. He also worked at the Los Angeles Times Orange County Edition and at the Press Enterprise in its Southwest Riverside County bureau.
Website: AlexMurashko.com

Source : Christian Post

‘The Pastor’: Actor Arturo Muyshondt on Creating a New Hero for Youth Targeted by Gangs (Interview)

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‘The Pastor’: Actor Arturo Muyshondt on Creating a New Hero for Youth Targeted by Gangs (Interview)
Christian Post Report – Actor Arturo Muyshondt believes his role as a modern day hero in “The Pastor” can spearhead positive social change in communities throughout the world that are overwhelmed by criminal gang activity.

“I was really shocked with what I found,” said Muyshondt, who was born in El Salvador, to The Christian Post. “I found that these kids are joining these gangs as young as 9, 10, 11-years-old because they go looking for the same elements — for identity, brotherhood, community and protection.”

Set in Brooklyn, New York, Muyshondt plays a former gang leader who discovers Christ in prison. When he’s released, he seeks out underprivileged youth in his neighborhood to mentor and direct them toward a life that doesn’t involve drugs and crime.

“My personal aspiration is for that character to inspire these kids to think, ‘Wow, look at this guy, he used to be a gang member, he used to be a gang leader, a very strong, bad man. But now he’s a very strong, good man, and he’s a new kind of hero. He’s simple, he’s honest and his desire is to protect the kids of the community,”‘ Muyshondt continued. “How does he do it? Where does he get his power, his strength? From God, from the Bible.”

“The primordial thing to do, which deals with the basic human needs of our community, is to go out there and start speaking to these kids about God,” he told CP. “These kids are looking for very simple yet strong elements.”

“The Pastor’ has a predominately Latino cast starring Muyshondt (“The Two Lives of Maxi Kaplan”), Franky G (“Power”), Angelic Zambrana (“Precious”), Victoria Cartagena (“Salt” and “Gotham”), Pastor Carlos Ortiz and Micah Hauptman (“Everest” and “Homeland”).

According to Muyshondt, identity, brotherhood, community and protection are four elements most people who join gangs are looking for, and he believes that all four are prevalent in any church, in any community in the world.

Muyshondt, who interviewed interviewed incarcerated youth who were behind bars for committing gang-related crimes, says his goals and vision for the film progressed as he embarked on his own faith journey.

“I’ve been a man of God from my upbringing in South America, but I must also tell you that it wasn’t until about two years ago when I had a very strong re-encounter with God, where I was at the lowest of the lowest point of my life — desperate, alone, on my knees, and He spoke to me very clearly and that’s how this story came to be.”

“I realized God wants me to be a voice for social change,” he declared. “To use this movie as a vehicle, as education, inspiration and transformation. That’s really what my new mission in life is.”

Muyshondt has been doing just that, and recently spoke at the United Nations about his efforts with the Christian Church mission known as The Dream Center.

Social change, however, is not the only thing he has set out to do. He also hopes to inspire the Latino community as a whole.

The Pastor (Photos: thepastorfilm.com)

Arturo Muyshondt acting as a prisoner and then as a pastor on the set of “The Pastor”, 2016.

“This is the first of many (movies) to come! I’m a very proud Latino and I realize that my kids can have this sort of story to look up to,” he added. “They have batman and all these American heroes, but of course, this is not a superman story. This is a story of the anti-hero, the guy who reluctantly became a hero in his own community.”

“I’ve alway been very much in awe of epic characters like  El Cid, another spanish character that we had, but we haven’t seen a movie about him in 50 years, since Charlton Heston played that role. So I thought, how can I contribute to the Latino community, the Latino culture, the Latino history in this country?”

Muyshondt says he realized that, as a Christian, the one thing that unites the Latinos, other than the World Cup, is not music or media, but religion.

“I think that one of the missions I have as a Latino filmmaker in the United States is to also share our stories with the world. If we can do that in a way that is not only educational and entertaining but also inspiring, I think we are making sure that our next generation has these role models to look up to.”

“I now find myself on a very clear path and I’m going to try and stay loyal to making this type of film that’s socially relevant, that’s culturally relevant, [with a] cross-cultural audience as we experience in the U.S. today. By that I mean the Latino component will always be present in the story and also the redeeming quality of the story,” he concluded.

Muyshondt says that his next film will tackle immigration and the dangers of human trafficking and sexual slavery.

“The Pastor,” is now in 400 movie theaters nationwide this week. For more information on”The Pastor” visit ThePastorFilm.com, for tickets go to www.FathomEvents.com or at participating theater box offices.

Source : Christian Post

Actor Cliff Curtis Shuts Himself Off From Family for 30 Days to Prepare for Role as Jesus in ‘Risen’

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Actor Cliff Curtis Shuts Himself Off From Family for 30 Days to Prepare for Role as Jesus in ‘Risen’

Christian Post Report – A scene from the 2016 film “Risen.”To become Jesus Christ, Cliff Curtis shut out his wife and family to live alone for 30 days.

In the upcoming film “Risen,” Curtis plays Jesus in the story about the events that took place after the Messiah’s resurrection. The film is told from the perspective of a fictional Roman military official named Clavius who is charged with the task of disproving the fact that Jesus rose from the dead.

To prepare for the film, Curtis did more than just read the script.

“For a month I lived on my own in Malta and it was a really beautiful experience. I had very humble meals and I lived monastically pretty much,” Curtis told Wenn, according to Scout. ” I could not not speak to my wife because she’s my other connection to the Divine. I didn’t speak to anybody and I spent a lot of time in meditation and silence and would sit for hours alone.”

The 47-year-old New Zealander considers it a miracle that he was cast as Jesus Christ, considering he has played villainous characters in “Live Free or Die Hard” and “The Last Airbender.” Other than the fact that he has been typecast in many films, Curtis was surprised that he landed the role that Hollywood usually granted to younger actors with fairer skin complexions.

“Jesus was crucified by age 33 and I’m in my late 40s. And when you look at my work, what makes you think that I’m right for this role?” he asked. “It was a miracle. just thought I wasn’t fair complexioned enough to get the role and I needed blue eyes.”

For Curtis, gaining the opportunity to play Jesus was a pleasant surprise, since the former altar boy once dreamed about doing so.

“I was a devout Catholic as a child and I was an altar boy and served mass, and I did the whole thing and had the crucifix next to my bed, everything,” he revealed. “So when I became an actor and the question would arise, ‘What roles do you want to play?’ I’d say, ‘Jesus,’ and it had become a running joke.”

Aside from Curtis, the film stars Joseph Fiennes (“Shakespeare in Love”) as Clavius, Tom Felton (“Harry Potter”) as Clavius’ aide Lucius, and Peter Firth (“Pearl Harbor”) as Pontius Pilate.

When Curtis interacted with his fellow castmates on set, he continued to stay in character.

“My first encounter that I wanted to have with them is I wanted to wash their feet without words, because that’s what Jesus would do. It was lunch break and they didn’t know what was going on,” he revealed. “I wouldn’t say anything. They were just eating their lunch and I’d just point to them to come to me and I’d point to a seat and wash their feet.”

While the film centers around the foundational character of Christianity, Fiennes points out that the film is told from the eyes of a nonbeliever.

“Risen is an incredible noir detective tale. That’s the angle that appealed to me,” he previously told USA Today. “That’s where the detective work comes in. This is an extraordinary story and well-known to everyone. But it takes us on this journey through the eyes of a nonbeliever.”

Source : Christian Post

Pope Francis Answers Children’s Top Questions About God in New Book

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Pope Francis Answers Children’s Top Questions About God in New Book

Christian Post Report – Pope Francis reaches for a child during a papal parade in Washington, September 23, 2015. Pope Francis is making his first visit to the United States.Pope Francis will provide answers to a number of challenging questions posed by children from around the world in an upcoming book, titled Dear Pope Francis.

“These are tough,” the pope said, regarding the Dear Pope Francis book, as reported by Catholic News Service.

Some of the questions asked by the children, aged 6 to 13, include “What did God do before the world was made?” and “Do bad people have a guardian angel too?”

Francis’ responses to the questions are included in the book, published by Loyola Press, with the Roman Catholic Church leader suggesting for the former: “Think of it this way: Before creating anything, God loved. That’s what God was doing: God was loving.”

Jesuit Father Antonio Spadaro, who assisted Francis in going through the questions, said that they were “simple, but not silly,” and admitted that he was stumped at a number of them.

“This is important,” Spadaro said. “It says a lot about the magisterium of Pope Francis; he knows his ministry can reach children.”

A description for the book, due to go out on March 1, notes that children are rarely given the chance to ask the big questions they have in their hearts and be taken seriously.

“Pope Francis gives them that chance and celebrates their spiritual depth by directly answering questions from children around the world. Some are fun. Some are serious. And some will quietly break your heart. But all of them are from children who deserve to know and feel God’s unconditional love,” the description reads.

CNS noted that Francis agreed in May to do the book, which then prompted Loyola Press to reach out to dozens of Jesuits and collaborators around the world, asking them to collect questions and drawings from children. As many as 259 children from 26 different countries, coming from all sorts of different backgrounds, submitted questions.

Spadaro revealed that Francis answered the questions in August, but also encouraged discussion on the points they brought up.

“I was not just taking dictation,” Spadaro said. “The pope enjoys a conversation; for the book, that meant the pope would sometimes discuss the questions and potential answers with the Jesuit scribe and, often, would return to add something to an answer after they had already moved on to other letters.”

Francis has not been afraid to engage with children and listen to some of the tough questions they have, such as an instance last January when a 12-year-old girl approached the Vatican leader following mass and asked him to explain why God allows children to suffer and experience horrible things like drugs and prostitution.

Francis reportedly comforted the girl and gave her a hug, before telling the Vatican audience:

“She is the only one who has put a question for which there is no answer and she wasn’t even able to express it in words but in tears,” the pope said.

“The nucleus of your question … almost doesn’t have a reply.”

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Source : Christian Post

Are These Iranian ‘Moderates’ Really Moderate?

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Are These Iranian ‘Moderates’ Really Moderate?

Christian Post Report –  Everyone loves to deal with moderates, especially when they represent a rare shift toward moderation for a rogue state. The trouble is that the concept of a moderate is relative. In dealing with the former Soviet Union we heard the term “Politburo moderates” over and over. Reaching out to this fabricated species was an excuse for being nice to despicable governments.

In the case of the Islamic Republic of Iran, reaching out to “moderates” among the ayatollahs’ inner circles has been a constant dream of American officials for the past 30 years. These moderates are supposed to be the cure to the Iranian enigma, which has been a unique problem for every US administration for the past three decades.

 

Source : Christian Post

A Religious Liberty Challenge at the Citrus Bowl

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A Religious Liberty Challenge at the Citrus Bowl

Christian Post Report – A private Christian school is now crying foul after the Florida High School Athletic Association blocked its football team from offering a pre-game prayer over loudspeakers at the Citrus Bowl in Orlando last month.

Liberty Institute, the largest legal organization dedicated solely to defending and restoring religious liberty in the U.S., announced in a statement Tuesday that it sent a demand letter on behalf of Cambridge Christian School, a private Christian school in Tampa, Florida, over what the organization says is a violation of religious freedom. The organization is also threatening legal action if the FHSAA does not apologize.

“We require the FHSAA to issue a written apology to CCS for this gross violation along with written assurances that, in the future, the FHSAA will abide by the U.S. Constitution. If the FHSAA refuses to meet these simple demands by Feb. 25, our clients are prepared to seek redress in federal court, inclusive of our client’s attorney’s fees and costs,” wrote the organization in the demand letter.

Source : Christian Post

Candace Cameron Bure 100% Open to Same-Sex Topics on ‘Fuller House’

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Candace Cameron Bure 100% Open to Same-Sex Topics on ‘Fuller House’

Christian Post Report – Candace Cameron-Bure arrives at the Teen Choice Awards 2014 in Los Angeles, California, August 10, 2014.

“Fuller House” star Candace Cameron Bure says she’s open to having LGBT topics featured on the new show.

During a Television Critics Association panel discussion held in Los Angeles earlier this month, Bure, along with co-stars Jodie Sweetin and Andrea Barber, and executive producers Jeff Franklin and Robert Boyett, talked about the possibility of integrating LGBT-related issues into the plotlines. Franklin said, however, that the series would first feature an episode about same-sex marriage, according to Deadline.com.

Being an outspoken Christian, Bure was pressed by reporters about her support for religious freedom following two televised disagreement she had with “The View” co-host Raven-Symoné over Christians’ right not to participate in gay weddings by providing wedding cakes and flowers, and in defense of a public high school football coach’s right to pray with student-athletes after games.

“I’m always defending religious freedom, and that’s what I was talking about on “The View,” I didn’t describe my personal feelings about that.”

“I’m an actress on a television show, and I support all things that we go through as human beings and would love all our characters to explore whatever issues that are current in our culture and our society today,” she added. “And I’m 100 percent on board with that.”

People are perhaps shocked at Bure’s welcoming response because when she’s not on the set of “Fuller House” in Los Angeles, Bure is on the East Coast as a voice for conservatives on “The View.”

The Christian Post reported on Bure and Symoné’s debate back in July in which the former argued in defense of Oregon bakers Aaron and Melissa Klein who were ordered to pay $135,000 to a lesbian couple for refusing to bake a cake for wedding ceremony.

“[The bakery] didn’t refuse to bake the cake because of [the couple’s] sexual orientation,” she said. “In fact, they baked cakes for them previously. They had a problem with the actual ceremony because that — the ceremony — is what conflicted with their religious beliefs. They are saying that they stand for marriage between a man and a woman.”

Although Bure did not make it clear what her specific beliefs were concerning same-sex marriage, her brother, Kirk Cameron, has publicly stated that he is not in support of it.

Source : Christian Post