International Fellowship of Christians and Jews Bring Refugees From War-Torn Ukraine to Israel

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International Fellowship of Christians and Jews Bring Refugees From War-Torn Ukraine to Israel

Rabbi Yechiel Eckstein, Founder and President of the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews (The Fellowship): “The Fellowship will continue to ensure that any Jew who is in danger or who faces hardship from the violence and unrest in Ukraine will receive shelter and a home in Israel. The first Fellowship flights have opened a new chapter in our already vital and significant contribution to immigration and absorption in Israel. We thank our partners in this effort and we promise to help the immigrants in their swift and successful absorption in Israel.”

As an effort to support the embattled Jewish community of eastern Ukraine, where fighting between Ukrainian forces and Russian separatists has led to widespread violence and chaos, on December 22 The Fellowship organized a flight to Israel for 226 new olim (immigrants). This flight is the first of many which will bring thousands of Jews to Israel in the future, and is being organized in conjunction with Israel’s Ministry of Immigration and Absorption, the Jewish Agency for Israel, the global Ezra movement and Nativ.

Since many of the new olim are refugees from Ukraine and have suffered from the dire conditions in the country, The Fellowship is also giving grants of $1,000 to every adult and $500 to every child in addition to funding their immigration. The Fellowship support has led to a greater than expected immediate demand to come to Israel, and therefore The Fellowship has arranged for a second flight on December 30.

The new olim on the initial flight were received in a formal ceremony held at Terminal 1 of Ben Gurion Airport on Monday, December 22, attended by such dignitaries as: Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman; Minister of Immigration and Absorption Sofa Landver; Fellowship Founder and President, Rabbi Yechiel Eckstein; Chairman of the Jewish Agency, Mr. Natan Sharansky; and Director of the global Ezra movement, Mr. Danny Elinson.

Chairman of the Jewish Agency for Israel, Mr. Natan Sharansky, said, “We shall continue to help any Jew who needs our assistance. The important work of promoting aliyah is done thanks to the generosity of important donors, chief among them The Fellowship, headed by Rabbi Yechiel Eckstein, which has placed aliyah at the top of its priorities, and is acting in cooperation with the Jewish Agency to enable us to bring the immigrants to Israel in a concentrated manner…Read More

Source and Original Content by BCN

Persecution Charity Sounds Warning of Pressing Threat of Islamist Groups in Africa

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Persecution Charity Sounds Warning of Pressing Threat of Islamist Groups in Africa

There is a “pressing threat” to Christians in Kenya and Tanzania as a result of “Islamic groups determined to establish their brutal version of Sharia law,” a leading persecution charity said today.

“Islamist groups are gaining ground in Africa,’ said Chief Executive of Release International, Paul Robinson.

“There is evidence to suggest they will become a growing force for instability in East Africa in 2015. The greatest risk to freedom of faith in the New Year comes from Islamic groups determined to establish their brutal version of Sharia law – whatever the cost to human life.”

Robinson said that Iraq, where militant group Islamic State has been gaining ground, was one of the worst places in the world to be a Christian in 2014. “Faced with the stark choice of conversion or beheading, most left everything and fled,” he said, adding: “Intolerant extremism poses the greatest threat to Christians in 2015.”

Looking ahead to the next year, Kenya and Tanzania in particular have been identified as areas of increasing concern for Christians. Islamists in Somalia are extending their reach and “threaten to destabilise surrounding nations,” a statement from Release said, noting that Christians there are “experiencing a new and brutal wave of violence.”

Despite Christianity being the majority religion in Kenya, and Christians making up almost a third of the population in Tanzania, they are coming under increasing attack by extremists. Violence is also increasing in Nigeria, where Boko Haram has destroyed 185 churches in the northeast of the country, and killed an estimated 5,000 people since 2009…Read More

Source and Original Content by CT

Pastor Jailed after Preaching at Church

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Pastor Jailed after Preaching at Church

Security personnel in Sudan have held a pastor from South Sudan since Dec. 21 after he delivered a sermon at an embattled North Khartoum church.

Agents from Sudan’s National Intelligence and Security Services (NISS) arrested the Rev. Yat Michael of the South Sudan Presbyterian Evangelical Church after Sunday worship concluded at Khartoum Bahri Evangelical Church on Dec. 21, a source told Morning Star News. At press time he remained in jail without charges.

Police in North Khartoum on Dec. 2 beat, arrested and fined 38 Christians from the church after nearly two weeks of raiding and demolishing church property. They were released later that night.

Pastor Michael had been invited to encourage the congregation to stand firm amid persecution. Besides arrests, the North Khartoum church compound has been subject to demolition of buildings and part of its worship center as Muslim investors seek to take it over.

NISS is empowered to arrest Christians, South Sudanese and others considered undesirable in the Islamist state without charging them with any crime. After church leaders had given thanks to God for His Word, NISS agents entered the church compound and took Pastor Michael to their office in North Khartoum.

“We tried to visit him, but it was not possible as the security prevented us from doing so,” a church leader told Morning Star News, adding that NISS personnel confiscated the pastor’s mobile phone.

Authorities have tried to take a part of church compound, but the worship center remains open.

“The level of persecution has become too much for us in Sudan,” a church leader said. “But God is good all the time; He will help His church face this persecution.”

Police on Dec. 2 arrested members of the Sudan Presbyterian Evangelical Church (SPEC)-affiliated congregation under Article 77 of the notorious Public Order Law of 1991, which gives police broad powers to arrest Christians and other lowly regarded people without cause, for creating a public disturbance. The Christians were released after being sentenced to pay a fine of $250 each, sources said…Read More

Source and Original Content by Christian Headlines

VIDEO: Giving, A Social Experiment

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VIDEO: Giving, A Social Experiment

In this social experiment, these men set out to see if strangers would share their food. The results they got were what they expected. Then they decide to share a pizza with a homeless man and what he does in return is thought provoking and moving. How true the saying, “Never look down on anybody unless you are helping them up.”

” Hollywood Hates Christianity “, Producer of Left Behind

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” Hollywood Hates Christianity “, Producer of Left Behind

Paul Lalonde, the producer and co-writer of the 2014 Left Behind film starring Nicolas Cage, chats with Adam McManus in this Sneak Peek podcast.

With refreshing candor, Lalonde talks honestly about the challenge of producing a top-quality Christian film with A-list actors. While he had big offers from major studios who wanted creative control, he was unwilling to dilute the Christian message which is why he chose to raise the $16 million budget himself. At times, he found it difficult to convince Hollywood agents to even show his script to their clients.

Without a doubt, according to Lalonde, Hollywood hates Christianity. “If the rapture was a Mayan prophecy there would be 20 Hollywood movies by now for $100 million each. But because it’s Bible prophecy, it hasn’t been touched,” said Lalonde.

Unlike the first Left Behind film starring Kirk Cameron which was released straight to DVD in 2000 where the rapture only got three minutes of screen time since they attempted to cover the entire first book’s plot, the new Left Behind film is singularly devoted to the rapture, taking the time to flesh out the characters…Read More

Source and Original Content by Christian Cinemas

Ridley Scott’s ‘Exodus’ banned in Morocco and Egypt

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Ridley Scott’s ‘Exodus’ banned in Morocco and Egypt

Ridley Scott’s biblical epic, “Exodus,” has been banned in Egypt and Morocco for historical inaccuracies, various outlets reported this week.

Morocco announced they were pulling the film just one day before its screening. “Exodus” was filmed in Morocco, as well as Spain and England, but it appears the studio recently fell out of favour with the state-run Moroccan Cinema Centre (CCM).

Cinema owners were told that the ban was nationwide, and at least one owner reported that his business was threatened with closure if he disobeyed the order.

“They phoned and threatened they would shut down the theatre if I did not take the film off the schedule,” Hassan Belkady of Cinema Rif in Casablanca told media24.

CCM Chief Sarim Fassi-Fihri declined to comment on the matter. However, the Egyptian culture minister stated on Friday that the censorship board banned the film for being historically inaccurate.

The minister, Gaber Asfour, took particular issue with the depiction of the Jews building the pyramids.

“This totally contradicts proven historical facts,” he said. “It is a Zionist film. It gives a Zionist view of history and contains historical inaccuracies and that’s why we have decided to ban it.”

Supreme Council of Culture head Mohammed Afifi, who also sits on the censorship board, disputed the accuracy of several scenes in “Exodus.” The climactic parting of the Red Sea was described as a “tidal phenomenon” instead of a miracle, he said, and Moses was shown holding a sword instead of a “stick.”

The biblical figure Moses was a Hebrew adopted by the Pharaoh’s daughter, who went on to free the Israelites from Egyptian slavery. The film was criticised in the US for casting white actors in the roles of the royal leads, and minorities as thieves and slaves in the film.

“Exodus: Gods and Kings” has received mixed reviews, and cost $140 million. The film has grossed $107 million internationally.

Source and Original Content by CT

Social Media and Behavioural Psychology Can Help Fight AIDS

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Social Media and Behavioural Psychology Can Help Fight AIDS

Social media such as Twitter and Facebook can be a valuable tool in the fight against HIV, a new study has found.
Researchers demonstrated social media can prompt high-risk populations to request at-home testing kits for the virus that causes AIDS, suggesting a way to potentially boost testing rates.

The study, conducted in Peru among men who have sex with men, found that participants in the intervention arm of a randomised controlled clinical trial were more than twice as likely to be tested for HIV than those who joined a social media group and were provided with traditional HIV prevention services.

The intervention, called Harnessing Online Peer Education (HOPE), combines social media with behavioural psychology to encourage people in high-risk populations to get tested, said Sean Young, from the University of California, Los Angeles.

“This shows that it’s not just social media that got people to test, but the HOPE social media interventions and the psychological ingredients it used for changing behaviour,” said Young.

“In other words, if you’re a public health organisation or worker, don’t just think that throwing something on Facebook or Twitter will be the solution and change people’s behaviours. Social media may be helpful, but the HOPE intervention was significantly more likely to change HIV testing behaviour compared to traditional care through social media,” Young said.

The study was conducted in greater Lima, which reflects the low- and middle-income countries where low-cost interventions such as HOPE could help stem the spread of AIDS.

The 556 Peruvian men who have sex with men were randomly assigned to join control groups or private intervention on Facebook for 12 weeks, with 278 assigned to each group.

The control group received an enhanced standard of care, which included standard offline HIV prevention and testing services offered by local clinics and organisations and participation in Facebook groups that provided study updates and HIV testing information.

The intervention group, by contrast, received the enhanced standard of care and also incorporated the HOPE intervention behaviour change model, which utilised peer leaders who sent messages, chats and wall posts and engaged the participants in general friendly conversation.

The peer leaders also communicated information about HIV prevention and testing to the participants.

Of the 278 participants in each group, 26 from the intervention group did not complete the follow-up survey and 32 were lost to follow-up on the control side.

Of the 252 from the intervention group who provided complete data, 43 (17 percent) went on to take an HIV test, compared with 16 (7 percent) of the controls. In the study, seven participants who tested positive were linked to care at a local clinic.

The study was published in the journal Lancet HIV.

Source and Original Content by Ndtv

Gospel Singer, Vanessa Bell Armstrong Thanks Supporters After Losing Only Son

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Gospel Singer, Vanessa Bell Armstrong Thanks Supporters After Losing Only Son

Seven-time GRAMMY® nominee and Gospel Hall of Famer Vanessa Bell Armstrong, 61, is sending heartfelt thanks to her supporters as she mourns the recent loss of her only son.

Terence Van Armstrong passed away Thursday, Dec. 4 at 38 years old.
His death came just weeks before Christmas and only nine months after Armstrong, a mother of five, lost her mother, Mildred Bell, in March.

“Thanks to everyone who prayed for me and for all the love that you have shown me and my family all the years that I’ve been out here,” the revered vocalist wrote in a social media message.

She continued, “…also for my loss of my wonderful mother and dearest son you really show me that you love me and I love you right back forever.”

While the cause of Terence’s death has not been publicly released, those with insider knowledge say he was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis…Read More

Source and Original Content by BCNN1

Top Nigerian Pastors Prophecy On Happenings in Ekiti State

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Top Nigerian Pastors Prophecy On Happenings in Ekiti State

Pastor Enoch Adeboye, the General Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God, and Pastor William Folorunso Kumuyi, the General Superintendent of Deeper Life Church, have prophesied what will occur in Ekiti State.

The men of God prophesied that there will be a brighter future for the state, saying God will intervene in the various problems confronting the state, otherwise known as the Fountain of Knowledge.

Pastor Adeboye and Pastor Kumuyi made the prediction when they visited the Governor’s Office at Ado Ekiti, on evangelical visit during the Christmas celebration.

They prayed that Ekiti State would witness a breakthrough and total transformation and also prayed for the state governor, Mr Ayo Fayose, and some members of his cabinet.

Adeboye, who was in Ekiti for a programme tilled ‘Let’s Go A-fishing’, revealed that it was not in his habit to visit governors in their offices, except on invitation.

He prayed that his visit to Ekiti State would usher in good tidings and bring rapid transformation in the coming years.

“Everything you propose to do for Ekiti State will succeed .God will take Ekiti to greater heights. You are the burden bearer, come and bear the burden of the governor in all areas of his life. As from now, we shall continue to hear good news from Ekiti State,” Adeboye said.

Meanwhile, Fayose, while speaking earlier, expressed his concern over the economic problems confronting the state and stated that only prayers can get the state out of its present predicament.

Source and Original Content by JustGospel

VIDEO: Nigerian Pastor who Prophesied Air Asia Crash

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VIDEO: Nigerian Pastor who Prophesied Air Asia Crash

During a live Sunday Service at The SCOAN, Prophet T.B. Joshua prophesied regarding the nation, Indonesia. He called on them to look into the geographical atmosphere as he revealed that he saw a crash that would cost many lives.

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