Justin Bieber’s Pastor Judah Smith Calls for Christians to Be Bridge-Builders After Racist Charleston Shooting

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Justin Bieber’s Pastor Judah Smith Calls for Christians to Be Bridge-Builders After Racist Charleston Shooting

Judah Smith, Seattle megachurch pastor and friend to pop star Justin Bieber, has called on Jesus’ followers to be bridge-builders weeks after a white supremacist murdered nine black Christians during Bible study at a South Carolina church.

Judah Smith (Photo: Catalyst/Phil Sanders)

Pastor Judah Smith encourages leaders to be ‘all in’ for Jesus at Catalyst conference in Atlanta, Oct. 3, 2013.

“Recently, the shooting in Charleston, South Carolina, had a very deep impact to me and in my heart and in my mind,” Smith said in a video message shared online. “Of course, at it’s core is the issue of race and racism and prejudice and hatred.”

Smith was referencing Dlyann Storm Roof, the 19-year-old who was charged with nine counts of murder and three counts of attempted murder for the shooting. Police say Roof entered Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston on June 17 and opened fire on a group he had been sitting with an hour prior for Bible study. Roof, who faces additional charges, reportedly confessed to targeting his victims because they are black.

Charleston (Photo: Reuters/Pool)

Dylann Storm Roof appears by closed-circuit televison at his bond hearing in Charleston, South Carolina, June 19, 2015, in a still image from video.

The nine Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church members allegedly killed by Dylann Storm Roof, 21, on Wednesday, June 17, 2015, during a Bible study in Charleston, South Carolina. (Photo: Inside Edition video still)

The nine Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church members allegedly killed by Dylann Storm Roof, 21, on Wednesday, June 17, 2015, during a Bible study in Charleston, South Carolina.

The City Church pastor, apparently emotionally rocked by the killings, said he wants to be “committed as a leader and more importantly as a fellow follower of Jesus” to helping bring about solutions to racial divisions affecting the country.

“I want to be committed to being part of the solution and not a part of the problem. And I think part of the problem is ignorance. Part of the problem is indifference,” Smith added.

“I want to encourage each and every one of us to be bridge-builders, to be those who are committed to reconciliation,” he said.

“We can’t fix this problem overnight. It is one of the core issues and problems that are paramount in the United States of America. And I’m praying and I want to urge you and your family to pray, that God by His spirit, the spirit of Jesus, would enable us and allow us to know where to go from here,” Smith added. “That we would be an agent of reconciliation and healing, first and foremost in our own neighborhoods, in our own cul-de-sacs and communities. In times like this, we’re obligated in a very beautiful and wonderful way, we have a responsibility, an extraordinary opportunity as Jesus followers to live, love and look like Jesus.”

Smith said he was challenging himself and extending that challenge to his audience, The City Church community, to take on the perspectives of other people, “to continually put ourself [sic] in another man’s world” and to learn from one another and “celebrate our differences.” That is the whole purpose of community, he insisted.

Smith also mentioned, though vaguely, Americans’ history of racism against blacks: “The African-American community in history in America is something as Americans, is embarrassing. It’s something that we need to continue to forge forward to restoring beauty where there has been hate and an ugly mark on our country.”

“I pray that we will be these people,” he said, returning to his desire for reconciliation. “I pray that we’ll be compassionate. I pray we’ll be prayerful. I pray that we’ll be considerate, in living, loving and looking like Jesus.”

Smith visibly choked up when he turned to the subject of his three children, who he said he wants to teach “to understand each and every culture and community.”

The megachurch pastor and author concluded his video remarks by inviting viewers to join him as he prayed for his church and for the United States.

Smith, 36, is lead pastor of The City Church, described as “a thriving multi-site church noted for its cultural relevance, commitment to biblical integrity and faith, and love for Jesus.” He is also author of Jesus Is: Find a New Way to Be Human and Love Like Jesus: Reaching Others with Passion and Purpose.

Watch Smith’s remarks in the video player below:

The City Church/YouTube
In light of the Charleston shootings and other recent events in America, what is our role and response regarding racism? Judah Smith shares his heart for the church and encourages us to live, love, and look like Jesus.
Email this CP reporter at nicola.menzie(at)christianpost.com | Follow this CP reporter on Twitter.

Source : Christian Post

Islam and Catholicism Are the Fastest Growing Religions Among Young Chinese, Religion Survey Reveals

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Islam and Catholicism Are the Fastest Growing Religions Among Young Chinese, Religion Survey Reveals

<b>Christian Post Report</b> – Worshippers pray during a mass at the Liuhe Catholic Church in Liuhe village on the outskirts of Qingxu county, northern China, in this undated photo.” title=”<b>Christian Post Report</b> – Worshippers pray during a mass at the Liuhe Catholic Church in Liuhe village on the outskirts of Qingxu county, northern China, in this undated photo.” name=”jpg” src=”http://images.christianpost.com/full/76549/worshippers-pray-during-a-mass-at-the-liuhe-catholic-church-in-liuhe-village-on-the-outskirts-of-qingxu-county-northern-china-in-this-undated-photo.jpg” class=”imgPhoto” width=”550″ height=”450″ /> <small class=(Photo: REUTERS)

Christian Post Report – Worshippers pray during a mass at the Liuhe Catholic Church in Liuhe village on the outskirts of Qingxu county, northern China, in this undated photo.

The China Religion Survey 2015, released earlier this week by the National Survey Research Center at Renmin University of China, has revealed that Islam and Catholicism are the two fastest rising religions among Chinese faithful under 30.

The survey showed that Islam has the largest number of young Chinese followers, at 22.4 percent, while Catholicism comes in second with a 22 percent share. Buddhism and Taoism remain overall the dominant religions of the world’s most populous nation, however.

“Islam tends to have a younger demographic. Most believers of Islam belong to ethnic minority groups and it is common for a woman to give birth to several children. The children would also become Muslims while it is very rare to have an adult converting to Islam,” Wei Dedong, a professor of Buddhist studies at the School of Philosophy at Renmin University of China, told the Global Times.

The Wall Street Journal added that reliable statistics on religion in China are hard to come by, as the atheistic Communist Party says that there are only around 100 million religious believers in the country. Other studies, however, such as 2007 research by professors at Shanghai’s East China Normal University, have said that there are close to 300 million followers of various faiths.

Several global surveys have found that China has one of the least religious populations overall, such as a WIN/Gallup International survey from April.

There has been a rise in both the Protestant and Catholic faith in China in the past few years, however, which has resulted in increasing levels of persecution. Chinese government authorities have been cracking down on what they deem illegal church buildings, and have removed nearly 400 crosses from the rooftops of churches since 2014.

In May, the province of Zhejiang said it was considering banning all such rooftop crosses, a move that some pastors called an attempt to suppress religious freedom.

“The authorities have attached great importance to this religious symbol,” pastor Zheng Leguo from Zhejiang told The Associated Press. “This means no more prominent manifestation of Christianity in the public sphere.”

Christians have also been arrested in large crackdowns, with nearly 100 believers, including children, arrested while attending a house church service in the Guangdong province in September.

Islam has been rising in terms of numbers on a global basis, and a major study by the Pew Research Center in April found that Muslims will come close to equaling the number of Christians worldwide by 2050.

Pew’s projections showed that by 2050 Muslims are expected to increase in numbers by 73 percent, and by that year will make up 2.8 billion, or 30 percent of the world’s population — only slightly less than Christianity’s expected 2.9 billion followers.

Source : Christian Post

Watch Bishop TD Jakes Comment On Supreme Court Same Sax Marriage Ruling

CM Editor
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Watch Bishop TD Jakes Comment On Supreme Court Same Sax Marriage Ruling

 

Texas, USA — A lot of reactions have trailed the controversial ruling of same sex marriage by the Supreme Court of America last week. Influential mega-church Pastor, bestselling author and film producer Bishop TD Jakes shared his thoughts and concerns with his Potter’s House congregation during worship service last Sunday.

Watch the video below.

 

ISIS Kills Four Children in Bombing of Historic Christian Church in Mosul

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ISIS Kills Four Children in Bombing of Historic Christian Church in Mosul

Iraq (Photo: Reuters/Stringer)

Christian Post Report – Displaced Iraqi children, who fled from Islamic State violence in Mosul, sit on the ground, on the outskirts of Najaf, south of Baghdad June 24, 2015.

Terror group ISIS has reportedly killed four children when it blew up a historic Christian church in Mosul, Iraq, that has stood for thousands of years.

The children were near the Mother of Aid church when the jihadists blew it up, revealed Saeed Mamuzini, media officer of the Mosul branch of the Kurdistan Democratic Party, in an interview with Rudaw.

The historic church had stood for thousands of year, Mamuzin said.

A city that once had a significant Christian population, Mosul has now been mostly emptied of followers of Christ following its fall in June 2014. The terror group has been seeking to eradicate all presence of Christianity, and has destroyed a number of churches and mosques in the city.

The Islamic militants have also been desecrating Christian graves and destroying entire cemeteries, seeking to eradicate what they call “pagan symbols.”

In April, several images were spread through the terror group’s social media websites of jihadists tearing down tombstones.

There have also been reports of ISIS destroying Christian statues, crosses, and other faith symbols across Iraq.

Analysts, like Steven Stalinsky, executive director of the Middle East Media Research Institute, have said that the effort is part of its ongoing campaign against Christianity.

“It is important to note that ISIS is documenting its destruction and desecration of Christian sites and its attacks on Christian communities, and on other minorities’ sites and communities, and is disseminating these images worldwide via social media,” Stalinksy said at the time.

“By doing this, ISIS is not only showcasing what it is doing, but is also mocking the West by demonstrating that it is doing so freely, with no one trying to stop it.”

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported last week that ISIS has executed more than 3,027 people since it began its attacks last year, among them being at least 86 women and 76 children.

Jasmine Opperman, the director of Southern Africa Operations at the Terrorism, Research & Analysis Consortium, told Fox News that such executions are part of an “apocalypse ideology of the final battle between the believers and the unbelievers.”

“ISIS is using executions to show its followers — and would-be followers — that the group is the only true representative of believers, not only in word, but action, which is why executions are featured so prominently,” Opperman added.

Source : Christian Post

Yazidi Women Describe Horrific Rapes at Hands of ISIS Jihadists Who Beat 1-Y-O Child Until Woman Gave in to Captor’s Demands

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Yazidi Women Describe Horrific Rapes at Hands of ISIS Jihadists Who Beat 1-Y-O Child Until Woman Gave in to Captor’s Demands

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  • A refugee woman from the minority Yazidi sect(Photo: Reuters/Rodi Said)
A refugee woman from the minority Yazidi sect, who fled the violence in the Iraqi town of Sinjar, sits with a child inside a tent at Nowruz refugee camp in Qamishli, northeastern Syria Aug. Christian Post Report – 17, 20Christian Post Report – 14. Proclaiming a caliphate straddling parts of Iraq and Syria, Islamic State militants have swept across northern Iraq, pushing back Kurdish regional forces and driving tens of thousands of Christians and members of the Yazidi religious minority from their homes.
  • Delal Sindy(Photo: Facebook/Delal Sindy)
    • Delal Sindy shared this photo along with her widely circulated post on Christian Post Report – 17-year-old Yazidi “Suzan,”
  • Iraq(Photo: Reuters/Ako Rasheed)
    • Members of the minority Yazidi sect who were newly released hug each other on the outskirts of Kirkuk, April 8, 20Christian Post Report – 15. More than 200 elderly and infirm Yazidis were freed on Wednesday by Islamic State militants who had been holding them captive since overrunning their villages in northwestern Iraq last summer.

    Two young Yazidi women have described the unimaginable cruelty and horrific rapes they endured while under the control of their ISIS captors, one of whom reportedly beat a woman’s Christian Post Report – 1-year-old child in front of her until all of his sexual demands were met.

    Reehan, Christian Post Report – 19, and Barfo, 25, last names not included to protect their identities, told their stories to the British MailOnline.  Raheen, married with a young son, was abducted from her home in Northwestern Iraq. She was auctioned off to a 50-year-old fighter whom she was able to fend off at first until the man started beating her Christian Post Report – 1-year-old son. She then said she was forced to give in to all of his demands to save the life of her son.

    “I agreed to everything that this man wanted for the sake of my son,” she declared. Reehan was subsequently locked up in the man’s home for the next Christian Post Report – 10 months. She further explained that she tried to stop the repeated rapes by appealing to her captor’s Islamic beliefs, but he said the sex trade among Yazidi women is permitted “according to Islam.”

    Reehan was sold into sexual slavery multiple times, all while being raped and beaten, but refused to commit suicide in fear of what might happen to her young son. She said she had to risk her life to flee her final captive once she saw a mother and daughter being raped together. She fled to another house in Syria, sought help, and a $Christian Post Report – 15,000 ransom was paid by her mother with the help of charities that raised some of the funds demanded by the Syrian man who offered to help her escape for a fee.

    The Christian Post previously reported on the torture of Yazidi girls and women at the hands of ISIS militants who bragged about releasing those who were raped after they converted to Islam. Raheen says her husband, father, and two sisters are still being held captive by ISIS and she fears they might already be dead.

    “I want to leave Iraq. But I have nothing, no husband. I have no hope in [this country],” she said.

    Raheen now lives in the Khanke refugee camp in Iraq.

    Barfo, too, was raped and tortured. She was sold at a slave auction to a 35-year-old ISIS fighter who injected her with morphine while he repeatedly raped her. “I tried to fight him, but I could not because he was too strong [and] he tied me to the bed and he injected me with morphine to make me silent,” she said.

    Barfo tried to commit suicide with a gun but was stopped by her captor. She explained that she was beaten so severely that she could not walk for two months. She was subsequently sold to four different ISIS fighters who all raped her; then she was thrown into a pitch dark cell for Christian Post Report – 10 days and was only able to escape when a Syrian neighbor of an ISIS militant took pity on her.

    Reehan and Barfo do not know how much they were sold for, virgins and what ISIS deems to be “the prettiest of girls” fetch the highest prices at auction. Barfow said her mother and brother are now with her in a refugee camp but the rest of her family has been captured by ISIS.

    The torture and rapes are so cruel that there are frequent reports from Amnesty International of Yazidi women and girls committing suicide. Yazidis are a Kurdish monotheistic community who primarily come from Northern Iraq, and have long been a favorite target of persecution by Muslims in the region.

    ISIS (Photo: Reuters/Asmaa Waguih)

    Ilham, a Yazidi woman, folds the curtain of the tent where she lives in a refugee camp near Duhok, February 26, 20Christian Post Report – 15. Reuters photographer Asmaa Waguih: Ilham was kidnapped by Islamic State in August last year and was transported to Tal Afar along with other girls and women. She was raped several times by one of the militants. When Ilham tried to escape, some people she asked for help handed her back to the militants. She managed to get away a few weeks later. At refugee camps in northern Iraq I met and photographed Yazidi women who had survived being kidnapped by Islamic State. I needed government approval to visit some of the camps. The camp officials wanted to protect the women and were wary of the fact that I had a camera. It took a while for the women to get used to me. But when they did, they were happy to share their stories, to tell me what had happened to them. It is very difficult for women living in a quiet, conservative area to admit they have faced sexual violence. In some cases, I heard from camp officials that a woman had been raped, but when I met her she would speak of the brutality of the militants and then mention knowing that some women had even been raped. In general, escapees would try to find a time when the militants were busy working and then seek help. Sometimes people would agree to hide them and then find cars to take them to other areas. At other times they would return the women to Islamic State. Some had managed to escape in groups. Others had family members still being held by the insurgents. It’s a disastrous situation for these families’ and it’s not over yet.

    Source : Christian Post