Police are investigating Päivi Räsänen, a Christian Parliament Member in Finland, for a 2019 tweet of Romans 24-27, which questioned her church for supporting a LGBT event.

According to The Christian Post, Räsänen has been a member of Parliament since 1995 and chaired the Christian Democrat Party. Police are looking into interviews she also gave to a television program and radio station on her beliefs.

The Alliance Defending Freedom, a US-based international law firm, is representing Räsänen and says this is not the first time she’s been investigated for alleged “hate speech.”

“The Prosecutor General initiated a second, third, and fourth investigation,” said ADF. “These concerned a pamphlet that Räsänen wrote more than 16 years ago outlining the official teaching of her own church on human sexuality, a television interview, and a radio interview. Despite the police previously concluding that no crime had been committed, the Prosecutor General re-opened the file.”

In 2018, Räsänen was interviewed on TV and discussed religious beliefs with the presenter. The next year, Räsänen answered the question, “What would Jesus think about homosexuals?” in a radio interview that stirred controversy.

Source: Christian Headlines

All Content & Images are provided by the acknowledged source

YANGON, Burma, March 11, 2020 (Morning Star News) – A rights group has confirmed reports that suspected Muslim, ethnic Rohingya beat and kidnapped Rohingya Christians on Jan. 26-27 in a refugee camp in Bangladesh.

At least 12 Rohingya Christians were hospitalized with injuries from an attack in Kutupalong refugee camp in Cox’s Bazar District on the evening of Jan. 26, according to a March 6 report from international human rights group Fortify Rights. Citing survivors who said they were attacked because the assailants thought the Christians were converting Muslims, Fortify Rights also documented the destruction of the Rohingya Christian refugees’ makeshift church building.

“More than 50 people destroyed the church. They are Rohingya from different areas,” a Rohingya refugee woman told Fortify Rights.

She said the attackers claimed Christians were trying to convert Rohingya Muslims. The predominantly Muslim Rohingya themselves are severely persecuted in Burma (Myanmar), resulting in mass refugee flows to Bangladesh and other countries. Fortify Rights estimates there are 1.1 million Rohingya refugees from Burma in Bangladesh, most Muslims except for “at least several hundred” Christians.

Another Rohingya woman said a group of Rohingya men entered her shelter near the church the night of Jan. 26 and stabbed her husband, according to Fortify Rights.

“They had long swords,” she told the rights group. “I couldn’t see clearly how many of them there were. They all had masks on…My door was kicked in and broken. They entered into my home. They first stabbed my husband with a sword, and my husband fell unconscious.”

Her husband and other Rohingya Christian refugees were hospitalized.

Fortify Rights also found that Bangladesh authorities threatened and beat a Rohingya Christian for recording the attack using a mobile phone.

“If security forces beat a Rohingya for collecting video evidence, we have concerns about the seriousness of their investigation and their continued use of excessive force,” Matthew Smith, chief executive officer of Fortify Rights, said in the statement. “As part of an investigation, Bangladesh authorities should take appropriate measures against officers found to have beaten Rohingya bystanders. Dhaka should not tolerate excessive and unnecessary use of force against refugees.”

The group corroborated findings by Human Rights Watch (HRW), which last month reported the abduction of a pastor identified only as Taher and his 14-year-old daughter from their shelter at the Kutupalong camp on Jan. 27.

A witness also told Fortify Rights that a Rohingya group used sticks, knives and guns in the abduction of 53-year-old Pastor Taher and his daughter from their shelter in Kutupalong refugee camp in the morning of Jan. 27.

“He [Pastor Taher] was beaten so badly with sticks,” the unidentified witness told Fortify Rights. “He was beaten and kicked with their fists and legs. They put a mask on his face and tied his hands. He was abducted because he is a Christian leader, and they will try to make him Muslim.”

HRW reported on Feb. 13 that Taher’s wife feared her husband has been killed.

“No one can give me any clear information, but my relatives told me that my daughter has been forced to convert to Islam and marry,” she told HRW.

The attacked families were reportedly relocated to a United Nations transit center and filed a police case against 59 alleged assailants. Refugees in the camp suspect the assailants were linked to the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA), but a representative of the armed group denied and condemned the attacks.

HRW estimates there are about 1,500 Rohingya Christians among more than 700,000 predominantly Muslim Rohingya who were forced to flee to Bangladesh due to the Burma military’s 2017 ethnic cleansing campaign.

Source: Christian Headlines

All Content & Images are provided by the acknowledged source

The Rev. Thomas J. Reese, a Jesuit priest, is a Senior Analyst at RNS. Previously he was a columnist at the National Catholic Reporter (2015-17) and an associate editor (1978-85) and editor in chief (1998-2005) at America magazine. He was also a senior fellow at the Woodstock Theological Center at Georgetown University (1985-98 & 2006-15) where he wrote Archbishop, A Flock of Shepherds, and Inside the Vatican. Earlier he worked as a lobbyist for tax reform. He has a doctorate in political science from the University of California Berkeley. He entered the Jesuits in 1962 and was ordained a priest in 1974 after receiving a M.Div from the Jesuit School of Theology at Berkeley.

The Christian faith is not just a personal commitment, it is also a communal experience. From the very beginning, Christians have gathered to share the Word of God and break bread in confined spaces. They drank from the same cup and shared a holy kiss. They also cared for the poor and the sick.

All of these Christian practices are now seen as ways that the coronavirus can spread through populations. That is why the coronavirus is so threatening, not only physically but also spiritually.

In a pre-scientific age, we might carry on and ask God to protect us. Many saints died caring for plague victims. Aloysius Gonzaga, patron saint of the Jesuit high school where I live, died in 1591 at the age of 23 while caring for victims of the plague in Rome.

Today, public health officials recommend that we put distance between ourselves and others so as not to spread the virus. At first blush, this “social distancing” sounds un-Christian, but we need to listen to medical experts. As with doctors, the first rule of a Christian at this time is “Do no harm.” That means not doing anything that might spread the virus to others.

In the time before germs and viruses were understood, people blamed strangers, Jews and witches for sickness. Anyone who was different could be the target of people’s fear. The public was also offered potions that often caused more harm than good. Even today, conspiracy theories abound and fake cures are sold to the gullible. Again, we need to listen to medical experts and not to conspiracy theorists who use any crisis to make money or stir up hatred and division.

The experts tell us that the best ways to avoid the virus are truly simple:

Like Naaman, the Aramean general we read about in the Bible’s Second Book of Kings, who scoffed when the Prophet Elisha told him to wash seven times in the Jordan to cure his illness, we don’t take simple solutions seriously. But we need to listen to Naaman’s servants, who challenged him by saying, “If the prophet told you to do something extraordinary, would you not do it? All the more since he told you, ‘Wash, and be clean’?”

Since Catholics gather to celebrate the Eucharist every Sunday, they have had to take preventive measures to avoid the spread of the virus. In China and Italy, services have been canceled and churches have been closed at the advice of public health officials.

Source: Religion News Service

All Content & Images are provided by the acknowledged source

A proposed plan to split the United Methodist Church is on its way to the denomination’s top court to decide whether the legislation that would implement it is constitutional.

If the Judicial Council rules the plan is constitutional, delegates could take up the proposal, called “A Protocol of Reconciliation and Grace Through Separation,” at the United Methodist General Conference May 5-15 in Minneapolis.

The protocol was announced in January and later written into legislation — after the deadline had passed to submit legislation for consideration by the General Conference.

But the denomination’s rulebook, the Book of Discipline, allows legislation to be submitted later if it originated at an annual conference session held between 230 and 45 days before General Conference. Other petitions also can be allowed at the discretion of the Committee on Reference, it says.

Over the past month, three regional United Methodist annual conferences have approved measures to send the protocol to the General Conference for a vote.

Members of the unofficial group of United Methodist bishops and advocacy group leaders who negotiated a proposal to split the denomination spoke about the process Monday, Jan. 13, 2020, on a live-streamed panel hosted by United Methodist News Service. Video screengrab via UMNS

Over the weekend, annual conferences in Michigan and Sierra Leone voted to pass along the protocol. The Philippines Annual Conference Cavite previously had approved sending the protocol to the General Conference.

Both the conferences in the Philippines and Sierra Leone also endorsed the proposal to split.

“It is significant in our global church that this legislation is being sent to the General Conference by conferences in Africa, Asia, and the United States,” Michigan Bishop David Bard told the Michigan Annual Conference.

On Wednesday (March 11), the United Methodist Church’s Council of Bishops announced it had asked the Judicial Council to decide whether proposed legislation implementing the protocol is constitutional. The court’s spring meeting runs April 29-May 2, just before the start of the General Conference.

Source: Religion News Service

All Content & Images are provided by the acknowledged source

Normally, there wouldn’t be anything noteworthy about Jane* and her family having other local believers over for dinner. But recently, life has been anything but normal. As the coronavirus (COVID-19) has spread throughout East Asia and other parts of the world, many cities including Jane’s have imposed restrictions on travel and suspended group gatherings, making fellowship and community difficult.

So when Jane heard a few days ago that a local pastor and his wife were bringing their daughter over for dinner, she was excited. They’d not been able to have anyone over to their house for more than a month.

Jane is a nurse, and as the virus spread, she knew it would affect her and her family in some way. She just never expected how extensive restrictions in their city would become. The day she heard that their neighborhood wouldn’t allow visitors, she remembers feeling discouraged and lonely.

Because the coronavirus fell right during the biggest holiday in East Asian culture, many people in Jane’s church and in her neighborhood were already away. She felt isolated.

“That was a really lonely week, because there was no end date [to the restrictions],” she said. “That was hard, just emotionally and spiritually feeling alone. But it also became a time of just being with the Lord and remembering we’re not alone.”

Though the last few weeks have been challenging, Jane says she has seen God continue to work in and through the challenges those in East Asia are facing.

Her background as a nurse, for example, has helped her encourage friends around her who are fearful. The couple that came over for dinner has a young daughter, and they’ve been too scared to let her even go outside to play. Having them over gave Jane and her husband a chance to encourage them not to live in fear.

“We’ve been able to help people see, especially believers, with an eternal perspective. The Father’s hand is still in this. He’s still good, and we’re still under His hand,” she said.

Source: Baptist Press

All Content & Images are provided by the acknowledged source

… Read More

Click here to read the rest of the story from our content source/partners – Christian Headlines.

قالب وردپرس

Lebanon continues to suffer a severe financial crisis, and citizens have been protesting the new government, which has strong backing of Hezbollah from Iran.

Still, the new government won a confidence vote, sparking riots. Tom Atema of Heart For Lebanon says, “They found a Christian to run for prime minister, and he said yes. But he was appointed by Hezbollah. So, he’s really a Hezbollah person. Remember, when we talk about Christians in the Near East, we’re talking cultural Christians.”

The International Monetary Fund is in Lebanon ready to give money, but Hezbollah is unwilling to receive it. Atema says, “Iran wants people to be indebted to Hezbollah and Hezbollah to be indebted to Iran.”

Atema recalls a conversation he had with a higher ranking Lebanese official, who said, “’We’ve tried everything to fix our economy and our systems, to get rid of the corruption. We’ve done all this stuff and where we ended is it a deep, dark, black hole. And there’s no hope… but I’ve come to the conclusion that we’ve had hope all along. And that’s found in Jesus Christ.’”

Atema says Lebanon is at a crossroads. On one hand, they could falter even farther and become a failed state. “Or they’re going to become a state built on biblical principles and on Jesus Christ.”

SOURCE: Mission Network News, Kevin Zeller

All Content & Images are provided by the acknowledged source

Sometimes, emergencies and crises present witness and ministry opportunities that might not exist in normal circumstances.  Many people tend to be more open to spiritual matters during troubling times.  At a medical center, I asked a man if there was anything I could pray with him about.  It turned out that his wife was in surgery, and he was very receptive and appreciative of my offer.  Almost no one is opposed to being prayed for.  Prayer is a common theme in all religious traditions and a great way to connect for spiritual conversations.

The Power of Showing Appreciation

A grocery store employee was surprised and encouraged when I complimented her on the good job she was doing.  I simply told her how much we appreciated the way they arranged the products on the shelves.  That simple gesture opened up a brief conversation about the Lord.  The lady had recently moved to Houston from Detroit.  I asked her how she would describe the difference in the spiritual climate in the two cities.  That created a connection and a new relationship.  It is encouraging how one new friend can open up a whole new relational network for kingdom impact.

Prayer and Ministry Connections

My wife and I often do prayer walking in a nearby shopping mall.  Of course, it’s more than prayer, and more than walking.  We are observing people and watching for points of connection.  It’s often a comment, a question or a compliment that results in making new friends and experiencing ministry opportunities.  Many times people are more receptive than we might imagine.  During times of crises, emergencies or difficulties, people are even more open to receive prayer and words of encouragement.

SOURCE: Assist News

All Content & Images are provided by the acknowledged source

A Christian member of the Finnish Parliament is facing new police investigations for citing Bible verses on social media to object to the Lutheran church’s participation in an LGBT pride event, according to a U.S.-based international law firm.

Päivi Räsänen, a Member of Parliament since 1995 and former chair of the Christian Democrat Party, wrote a tweet last year questioning the leadership of her church for sponsorship the LGBT event “Pride 2019,” accompanied by an image of a Bible text, according to Alliance Defending Freedom.

Accused of “hate speech” as a result, Räsänen was interrogated by the police at the time.

“The Prosecutor General then initiated a second, third, and fourth investigation,” ADF said. “These concerned a pamphlet that Räsänen wrote more than 16 years ago outlining the official teaching of her own church on human sexuality, a television interview, and a radio interview. Despite the police previously concluding that no crime had been committed, the Prosecutor General re-opened the file.”

The prosecutor last week opened two additional investigations about interviews she gave to a television program and a radio station.

One concerns her comments on a TV show in 2018 in which the presenter came to Räsänen’s home and stayed overnight. In the program, they discussed religious matters, including Räsänen’s personal beliefs. The fourth investigation focuses on a radio interview last year, in which Räsänen commented on the show’s topic of discussion, “What would Jesus think about homosexuals?”

Last week, the police interviewed Räsänen, who was the minister of the Interior from 2011 to 2015, during which she held responsibility for church affairs in Finland.

SOURCE: Christian Post, Anugrah Kumar

All Content & Images are provided by the acknowledged source

The Global Congress of Empowered21, a worldwide gathering of Pentecostal Christians, will now take place as an online event after the Israeli government imposed a complete ban on foreign travelers due to the new coronavirus pandemic.

Empowered21 announced in a release Thursday that instead of the in-person event scheduled for the week of Pentecost 2020 in Jerusalem, Israel, they will be shifting to an online event that will stream from the campus of Oral Roberts University from May 31 to June 2.

The announcement came on the heels of a decision by Israeli authorities to shut their borders to all foreigners this week to clamp down on the spread of the new coronavirus which has infected at least 109 people in that country as of Thursday.

Israel is also limiting public events in enclosed areas to 100 people as part of their efforts to contain the new coronavirus.

“We find comfort in knowing that God is not surprised by this turn of events,” Billy Wilson, president of ORU and global co-chair for Empowered21, said in a statement Thursday. “We hold fast to our mission to see every individual on earth have an authentic encounter with Jesus through the presence and power of the Holy Spirit by Pentecost 2033. We believe that this adjustment to an online event will actually help us accelerate the mission that God has given us.”

The online event hosted by ORU is expected to begin with a live Pentecost Sunday celebration with special guests and worship teams.

SOURCE: Christian Post, Leonardo Blair

All Content & Images are provided by the acknowledged source