Famous hymn Onward Christian Soldiers manuscript to be sold

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Famous hymn Onward Christian Soldiers manuscript to be sold

A rare signed manuscript of the famous hymn Onward Christian Soldiers is to be sold today by a Boston-based auctioneer. Baring-Gould (1834-94) was an English clergyman and antiquarian who wrote copiously on mediaeval themes, including a well-regarded history of werewolves. He wrote the hymn for a children’s processional march in about 15 minutes, later apologising and saying: “It was written in great haste, and I am afraid that some of the lines are faulty.” However, though editors have made changes over the years it is his original version that is still most often sung.

The hymn rapidly became popular and was set to music in 1871 by Arthur Sullivan. The Salvation Army adopted it as a marching song and it was played at Dwight D Eisenhower’s funeral. The manuscript is described in the catalogue as “An exceptionally bold, scarce example of this beloved hymn of significant historic importance.” Online bidding before the live auction closed at $2,426. Source: Christian Today

Barack Obama said that the release of imprisoned pastor Saeed Abedini is now a ‘top priority’

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Barack Obama said that the release of imprisoned pastor Saeed Abedini is now a ‘top priority’

President Obama yesterday promised the family of imprisoned pastor Saeed Abedini that his release was a “top priority” for the Administration.

Following a private meeting with the President, Saeed’s wife, Naghmeh Abedini, said Obama was “focused and gracious – showing concern to me and my children”.

“I am extremely thankful the President took the time to meet with our family and told us that securing the release of my husband is a top priority,” she said.

“I know that this meeting could not have occurred without prayer and I am grateful to the many people around the country and world who continue to pray for Saeed’s release. The President repeated his desire to do all that he can to bring Saeed home. That means the world to me and my children and has given me a renewed sense of hope.”

Naghmeh told The Blaze that the 10-minute meeting was “emotional” and that she felt there was a real “heart connection” with the President as he heard her husband’s story.

“As much as I needed to see him to make it more personal, I think it had the effect where he saw us and we weren’t just a news story,” she said.

“We are a family torn apart. I could see compassion in his eyes.”

The Abedini’s two young children were also present, and 6-year-old Jacob asked Obama to bring his father home before his next birthday on March 17.

“I don’t know if I can do it that quick[ly]. I will try,” the President responded

“I could see in his eyes that he’s a dad and for him to see that that’s what Jacob wants – it was a really emotional moment,” Naghmeh said. She had fasted and prayed for three days prior to Obama’s visit to her hometown of Boise, Idaho, in the hopes that he would meet with her.

“[I told him] this meeting was set up by God and he smiled and he nodded,” she said. She is now planning, on the President’s recommendation, to meet with Ambassador-at-large for international religious freedom Rabbi David Saperstein.

“It’s definitely encouraged me more and made me more hopeful and at the same time…Let’s see what happens,” she said. “The sceptic in me is also watching to see where are they going to go after this meeting…How soon can they get him home?”

Executive Director of the American Center for Law and Justice, which represents the Abedini family, Jordan Sekulow has expressed his gratitude following the meeting.

“Pastor Saeed has been wrongly imprisoned for nearly two and a half years. He has been separated from his wife and children. The pain experienced by the Abedini family is impossible to imagine,” Sekulow said in a statement.

“The meeting between President Obama and the Abedini family is a very welcomed development. It demonstrates the President’s concern and compassion for this family. It also underscores the importance of Pastor Saeed’s case, a U.S. citizen imprisoned in Iran merely because of his Christian faith.

“The face-to-face meeting elevates Pastor Saeed’s plight on the world stage – and should send a powerful message to the Iranians – it is time to release Pastor Saeed so he can return home to his family.”

Pastor Saeed is currently serving an eight-year prison sentence in Iran for “threatening the security of the state”.

Naghmeh has repeatedly challenged the US government to speak up for her husband, and has criticised the administration’s failure to respond with the urgency called for by campaigners. “I thought I would have to fight the Iranian government. I never anticipated that I would have to battle my own government,” she said during a 2013 congressional hearing in Washington.

Source: Christian Today

Christian Concern wins apology after conference on same sex marriage was cancelled

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Christian Concern wins apology after conference on same sex marriage was cancelled

A long-running dispute between Christian Concern and the Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre has ended with victory for the Christian campaign group.

The centre was due to host a conference for Christian Concern in 2012 entitled “One Man, One Woman – Making the case for marriage for the good of society”. However, it cancelled the booking the night before, citing concerns over compatibility with the Centre’s diversity policy.

The conference had previously been due to take place at the Law Society, which had cancelled for the same reason. Following legal action the Law Society said that it recognised Christian Concern was “entitled to hold and express” its views and that the Society would organise a debate on the issue of same sex marriage in which a speaker from Christian Concern would take part.

Now the QEII Conference Centre has made a similar climb-down. The joint statement says: “The Centre regrets that its decision to cancel the contract caused Christian Concern, as well as its invited speakers and delegates, disappointment and inconvenience.

“The parties uphold the rights and freedoms of other members of society based on the principles of a democratic society.

“The Centre accepts that some people have deeply held views about the nature of marriage, and that every individual has the freedom to express these in accordance with the law. The Centre also respects Christian Concern’s view that marriage should be between a man and a woman, and that view is sincerely held.”

It concludes: “The Centre confirms that there was no intention to discriminate against Christian Concern. Going forward, the Centre is happy to work closely with Christian Concern to stage a future event about marriage or other issue of interest.”

The statement was issued in the name of Christian Concern, the QEII Conference Centre and the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, Eric Pickles, whose department owns the centre but does not run it. Pickles has been outspoken in his support for Britain’s Christian heritage and freedom of expression, intervening in the face of secularist challenges to make it possible for local councils to continue to hold prayers before their meetings. He is thought to have been unlikely to be sympathetic to the centre’s position.

Source: Christian Today

A Muslim Prisoner granted right to grow beard after court ruling

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A Muslim Prisoner granted right to grow beard after court ruling

A Muslim prisoner has been granted the right to grow a beard after a court ruled that his religious rights trumped security concerns.

The Arkansas Department of Correction had previously banned prisoners from growing beards, citing fears that weapons or contraband could be hidden within them. The state had also suggested that escaped prisoners could easily change their appearance by shaving.

However, in a unanimous vote yesterday, nine Justices dismissed this argument. “Hair on the head is a more plausible place to hide contraband than a half-inch beard, and the same is true of an inmate’s clothing and shoes,” Justice Samuel Alito said.

“Nevertheless, the department does not require inmates to go about bald, barefoot or naked.”

Alito added: “We readily agree that [the state] has a compelling interest in staunching the flow of contraband into and within its facilities. But the argument that this interest would be seriously compromised by allowing an inmate to grow a half-inch beard is hard to take seriously.”

Alito also said the state already searches clothing and hair and had not given a valid reason why it could not also search beards.

The prisoner in question, Gregory Holt – otherwise known as Abdul Maalik Muhammad – said his case was “a matter of grave importance, pitting the rights of Muslim inmates against a system that is hostile to these views”.

He argued that the state’s prison grooming policy prohibiting inmates from having facial hair other than a “neatly trimmed mustache” violated his religious rights under a 2000 federal law called the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act.

His lawyers noted that more than 40 states and the federal government  allow prison inmates to have similar beards.

Eric Rassbach, Deputy General Counsel for the Becket Fund for Religious Freedom labelled the ruling “a huge win for religious freedom and for all Americans”.

“What the Supreme Court said today was that government officials cannot impose arbitrary restrictions on religious liberty just because they think government knows best,” he said.

The court’s decision has been compared to last year’s judgement on the Hobby Lobby case, where it was made legal for closely-held businesses to uphold religious objections which allow them to opt out of contraceptive health law requirements.

Justice Ruth Balder Ginsburg yesterday distinguished between the two cases, however. “Unlike the exemption this court approved (in Hobby Lobby), accommodating petitioner’s religious belief in this case would not detrimentally affect others who do not share petitioner’s belief,” she said in a concurrence.

Holt, who wanted to grow a half-inch beard, is serving a life sentence for burglary and domestic battery at the Varner Supermax prison. In 2005, he pleaded guilty to separate charges of threatening the daughters of then-President George W Bush.

Source: Christian Today

Displaced Christians might return home(Iraq) this year, says Vatican diplomat

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Displaced Christians might return home(Iraq) this year, says Vatican diplomat

Christians driven out of northern Iraq by Islamic State might be able to return to their homes this year, according to the Vatican’s diplomatic representative in Iraq.

Archbishop Giorgio Lingua told a representative of Roman Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need that he was cautiously optimistic but that the process would be very challenging.

“If they do return it won’t be easy,” he said. “Besides the reconstruction of destroyed houses and infrastructure, such as schools, it will be necessary first and foremost to restore the trust in Muslim neighbours which has also been shattered.

“Many Christians feel their neighbours betrayed them, because they looted their [abandoned] houses. So it will not only be necessary to repair homes, but also relationships.”

He said the Iraq central government was working more effectively and was seeking to ensure that more parties were represented.

“Something has been put in motion; the new government is working well,” he said. “A fundamental factor is the greater involvement of all groups. The country will never be free of terrorism as long as some ethnic and religious components are barred from the governing process. If a group is excluded it must not be assumed that they will not rebel.”

The failure of former Shiite Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki to create a government that included both Sunnis and Shiites is widely regarded as the main reason for the alienation of Sunnis and the growth of Islamic State. His position became increasingly untenable and he lost power last August to Haider al-Abadi.

Archbishop Lingua said that the position of Christians in Iraq depended on how the Government handed the crisis in Mosul and the Nineveh Plain.

“If the government manages to regain control there and implements a campaign of national reconciliation, then there will be a place for Christians in Iraq. If clashes persist, however, the weakest will pay the price, and these are always the minorities. We therefore have to hope that peace will return. This is where the international community comes in.”

He stressed the need for humanitarian relief, saying that the cold winter was aggravating other difficulties. “At the present time the people mainly need heaters. There are reports that some of the children have perished in the cold.” The psychological strains were also telling, he said: “The people don’t know how long they still have to hold out as refugees. This hopeless situation is causing some people to consider emigration while they don’t actually want to leave.”

The archbishop also said that a visit to the region by Pope Francis was in consideration: “The Holy Father is expected in Iraq both by the Church and the political powers, and even by non-Christians such as the Shiite leadership. I am impressed how great the consensus is concerning the figure of the Pope.”

Foreign ministers from around the world are meeting in London to discuss how to take on Islamic State. Britain’s foreign secretary Philip Hammond told Radio 4’s Today programme that it would be “months” before the Iraqi army was ready to take on the jihadists. “We are renewing and regenerating the Iraqi security forces – re-equipping them, retraining them, reorganising them – but it will be months yet before they are ready to start significant combat operations against Isil.”

“They will be able to do it, the question is when they will be ready to start that process,” he added.

Referring to Islamic State by its Arabic acronym Daesh, Iraq’s Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi told David Cameron: “Iraq is facing a real crisis, a fiscal crisis and other crises in facing Daesh. We are waging a war in Iraq and war is very costly.

“We have soldiers’ boots on the ground – I think we are the only country who have boots on the ground to fight Daesh.

“Iraqi people have sacrificed their lives in facing Daesh. We have reversed, some time ago, the advances of Daesh and we are very keen to push them back from the whole of Iraq.

“But this is a fight of the world and Daesh must be eliminated from the region and from the whole of the world.”

Source: Christian Today

New bill to ban weapons in Alabama churches

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New bill to ban weapons in Alabama churches

Despite the expectation of strong opposition from Republicans, two congressmen from Alabama have filed a bill in the House of Representatives that seeks a gun ban on all churches in the state.

Reps. Thomas Jackson of Thomasville, and Rep. Darrio Melton of Selma have pre filed the bill for the March 3 session and expect the bill to raise a lot of questions and a lot of hackles in the Alabama House.

“I figured it wouldn’t go anywhere but at least it will get some conversation,” Jackson said.

House Bill 3 seeks to keep citizens from carrying guns in churches even if they are in possession of permits for concealed weapons.

In a report posted on Al.com, Melton said that he wants to pass the law because he believes that people in law enforcement should be the only ones allowed to carry weapons inside churches.

While Republicans are likely to try and block the measure, Melton said that their bill merely seeks to update the list of areas where guns are not allowed.

In 2013, a bill involving the regulation of firearms was passed but churches were not one of the areas where guns were prohibited.

If the bill is passed, violators could be penalised by as much as $500 and face jail time of up to three months.

Alabama is among the states that has comprehensive gun regulation laws as it upholds each citizen’s right to bear arms “in defense of himself and the State.”

The passage of the Safe Carry and Protections Act, more popularly known as the “Guns Everywhere” Law, allowed citizens to bear arms anywhere so long as they have their permit.

The court in Alabama has allowed certain establishments some discretion in choosing whether to restrict weapons from their facilities.

Among the areas allowed discretion over gun bans are churches, schools and government offices.  The bill would make the ban mandatory in churches.

Source: Christian Today

California Pastor regrets having aborted two of his babies

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California Pastor regrets having aborted two of his babies

A California pastor and two Christian men reveal ahead of March for Life week that one or more of their babies were aborted in a recent video, with the pastor saying the dream of seeing his aborted baby’s first step and hear it call him “daddy” “haunts” him every day.

“The pain of regret is one of the hardest pains to deal with. Because of the constant reminder that we let down God, we let down others and we let down our child,” says Shane Idleman, pastor of the non-denominational Westside Christian Fellowship church in Lancaster, California.

Two other men featured in the 46-minute video, titled “Lord Remove My Guilt and Shame,” are John Blandford of Online for Life, who says that he now leads a Christian pro-life home group, and Daniel Phillips, a Christian who admits he regrets having two of his babies aborted.

“I was 28. I didn’t know God. I called myself a Christian. I would go to church a couple times a month. I had just started dating this gal, and she got pregnant,” Blandford shared.

“I should have manned up and I should have fought for you,” Blandford adds, addressing his aborted child. “And I didn’t. I didn’t. I am so grateful that you are in Heaven with Jesus, the King of Kings, the Lord of Lords, and that you got to see him before I did. And I know you’re going to extend me grace, but I just—it would’ve been so cool to hang out with you here on earth.”

Idleman says that as a pastor, his decision to concede to an abortion “haunts” him every day.

“What would they look like? Would it be a boy? Would it be a girl? Their first step, saying ‘daddy.’ But those are just dreams, dreams that often haunt me,” he said.

Phillips also says that he missed the opportunity to speak out when he had the chance.

“We had a passive-aggressive stance,” Phillips explains. “I was neither here nor there, so I never even fought for the opportunity to save the child.”

After the men share their stories, the video features a sermon from Idleman that he delivered at his church on the subject of abortion. In his speech, the pastor talks about the difficulties believers face when living in two worlds – one as part of the church, and the other part of carnal, secular reality.

This week marks the 43rd anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade decision, which legalized abortion in America. Pro-life politicians and supporters have been attempting to reverse the decision ever since, and there have been numerous attempts to tighten abortion laws.

Rep. Ted Franks, R-Arizona, and Rep. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tennessee, have sponsored a bill seeking to ban abortions after 20 weeks after fertilization, which is to be voted on Thursday by the House of Representatives.

“More than 18,000 ‘very late term’ abortions are performed every year on perfectly healthy unborn babies in America,” Franks said. “These are innocent and defenseless children who can not only feel pain, but who can survive outside the womb in most cases, and who are torturously killed without even basic anesthesia.”

Source: Christian Post

PEGIDA leader resigns after calling asylum-seekers ‘scumbags’ and posing as Hitler

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PEGIDA leader resigns after calling asylum-seekers ‘scumbags’ and posing as Hitler

The leader of the fast-growing German anti-Muslim movement PEGIDA resigned on Wednesday after a photo of him posing as Hitler and reports that he called refugees “scumbags” prompted prosecutors to investigate him for inciting hatred.

Lutz Bachmann, a 41-year-old convicted burglar, had appeared on the front page of top-selling daily newspaper Bild on Wednesday sporting a Hitler moustache and haircut.

Bild and another paper said he had called asylum-seekers “animals” and “scumbags”.

The news came just as supporters of PEGIDA (Patriotic Europeans Against the Islamisation of the West), which is based in Dresden, staged a march in another east German city, Leipzig.

However, the so-called PEGIDA rally attracted only around 15,000 people – far fewer than the originally estimated 40,000 – and they were outnumbered by more than 20,000 people who joined several counter-demonstrations, officials said.

PEGIDA has forced itself onto the political agenda with its anti-immigrant slogans that have attracted tens of thousands to regular rallies in Dresden.

Bachmann, who denies he is a racist, had heard on Wednesday that he faces a criminal investigation for incitement to racial hatred. State prosecutors in Dresden said preliminary proceedings had been launched following the Bild report.

“IMPULSIVE”

Kathrin Oertel, another PEGIDA co-founder, said Bachmann’s resignation had nothing to do with the Hitler photo, but was linked to his comments on refugees posted on the internet.

“Yes, I can confirm that Lutz Bachmann has offered his resignation and it was accepted,” Oertel told Reuters.

She added: “PEGIDA will go on.”

Bild quoted Bachmann as saying the Hitler photo had been taken as a joke, prompted by a recent satirical book about the Nazi dictator called “Er ist wieder da” (“Look Who’s Back”).

The Dresdner Morgenpost newspaper also quoted what it said were Facebook messages from Bachmann saying asylum seekers acted like “scumbags” at the welfare office and that extra security was needed “to protect employees from the animals”.

Deputy Chancellor Sigmar Gabriel, the Social Democrat leader, said the real face of PEGIDA had been exposed: “Anyone who puts on a Hitler disguise is either an idiot or a Nazi.”

In an interview with Reuters last week, Bachmann played down a ribald comment made in 2013, seized on by the media, that “eco-terrorist” Greens, first and foremost former party leader Claudia Roth, should be “summarily executed”.

“I am an impulsive person … I regret I didn’t resist my impulsiveness.”

Source: Christian Today

 

Japanese Christian was caught by ISIS while attempting to save a friend

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Japanese Christian was caught by ISIS while attempting to save a friend

The Japanese Christian journalist Kenji Goto was captured by Islamic State militants when he returned to Syria to help find his friend Haruna Yukawa who had been taken earlier, it has been revealed.

IS has demanded a $200 million ransom for the pair.

Yukawa was captured in August outside the Syrian city of Aleppo. Goto, who had returned to Syria in late October to try to help his friend, has been missing since then.

For Yukawa, who dreamed of becoming a military contractor, traveling to Syria had been part of an effort to turn his life around after going bankrupt, losing his wife to cancer and attempting suicide, according to associates and his own accounts.

A unit at Japan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs had been seeking information on him since August, people involved in that effort said. Goto’s disappearance had not been reported until Tuesday’s video apparently showing him and Yukawa kneeling in orange t-shirts next to a masked Islamic State militant wielding a knife.

Yukawa first met Goto in Syria in April and asked him to take him to Iraq. He wanted to know how to operate in a conflict zone and they went together in June.

Yukawa returned to Syria in July on his own.

“He was hapless and didn’t know what he was doing. He needed someone with experience to help him,” Goto, 47, told Reuters in Tokyo in August.

Yukawa’s abduction that month haunted Goto, who felt he had to do something to help the man, a few years his junior.

“I need to go there at least once and see my fixers and ask them what the current situation is. I need to talk to them face to face. I think that’s necessary,” Goto said, referring to locals who work freelance for foreign correspondents, setting up meetings and helping with the language.

Goto began working as a full-time war correspondent in 1996 and had established a reputation as a careful and reliable operator for Japanese broadcasters, including NHK.

“He understood what he had to do and he was cautious,” said Naomi Toyoda, who reported with him from Jordan in the 1990s.

Goto, who converted to Christianity in 1997, also spoke of his faith in the context of his job.

“I have seen horrible places and have risked my life, but I know that somehow God will always save me,” he said in May. But he told the same publication that he never risked anything dangerous, citing a passage in the Bible, “Do not put the Lord your God to the test.”

In October, Goto’s wife had a baby, the couple’s second child. He has an older daughter from a previous marriage, people who know the family said.

Around the same time, he made plans to leave for Syria and uploaded several short video clips to his Twitter feed, one showing him with media credentials issued by anti-government rebels in Aleppo.

On October 22 he emailed an acquaintance, a high school teacher, to say he planned to be back in Japan at the end of the month.

Goto told a business partner with whom he was working to create an online news application that he expected to be able to travel in territory held by the Islamic State because of his nationality.

“He said that as a Japanese journalist he expected to be treated differently than American or British journalists,” Toshi Maeda said, recalling a conversation with Goto before his departure for Syria. “Japan has not participated in bombing and has only provided humanitarian aid. For that reason, he thought he could secure the cooperation of ISIS.”

Friends say Goto traveled from Tokyo to Istanbul and traveled from there to Syria, sending a message on October  25 that he had crossed the border and was safe.

“Whatever happens, this is my responsibility,” Goto said on a video recorded shortly before he set out for Raqqa, the capital of the Islamic State.

That was the last time he was seen before the IS video this week.

Source: Christian Today

Researchers claim to have found copy of text of ancient Gospel of Mark in mummy’s mask

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Researchers claim to have found copy of text of ancient Gospel of Mark in mummy’s mask

A group of scientists and researchers are set to publish their discovery of possibly the oldest copy of a text from the Gospel of Mark later this year.

The discovered text was dated all the way to the first century. The oldest surviving biblical copies today are dated only to the second century.

According to Live Science, the fragment text was written on a papyrus that was reused to create a mask worn by a mummy. Usually, ordinary Egyptians wore these types of masks that are made out of papyrus, paint, and glue. Papyrus was expensive at that time and people had to reuse sheets that already had writings on them.

In the recent years, scientists have developed a method of ungluing the masks without damaging the writings on the paper, making the text readable.

According to Craig Evans, a professor of New Testament studies at Acadia Divinity College in Wolfville, Nova Scotia. “The first-century gospel is one of hundreds of new texts that a team of about three-dozen scientists and scholars is working to uncover, and analyse, by using this technique of ungluing the masks.

“We’re recovering ancient documents from the first, second and third centuries. Not just Christian documents, not just biblical documents, but classical Greek texts, business papers, various mundane papers, personal letters. The documents include philosophical texts and copies of stories by the Greek poet Homer.”

Evan’s study on the first-century gospel text will give clues on how the Gospel of Mark has been changed over time. His research is mainly to analyse the texts in the mask to determine the length of time people held on to the sheets before reusing them, which could be the same period biblical texts were copied, Live Science further reports.

“We have every reason to believe that the original writings and their earliest copies would have been in circulation for a hundred years in most cases — in some cases much longer, even 200 years. This means, that a scribe making a copy of a script in the third century could actually have at his disposal (the) first-century originals, or first-century copies, as well as second-century copies,” Evans said.

The researchers will publish their first volume of texts later this year.

Source Christian Today

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