… Read More

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

قالب وردپرس

A 65-year-old Iranian Christian convert who was sentenced to three years in prison for “insulting Islamic sacred beliefs” in January has been sentenced to two more years in prison while nine other converts lost appeals of their five-year sentences. 

Article 18, a nonprofit Christian persecution watchdog group, reports that convert Ismaeil Maghrebinejad was sentenced to the additional years on Feb. 27 for allegedly being a member of “a group hostile to the regime.”

Maghrebinejad, whose daughter and son-in-law live in the United States, was arrested in his home in January 2019 after he was accused of “apostasy” and “propaganda against the Islamic Republic.”

He was accused of being a part of a group that espoused “evangelical Zionist Christianity.”

Under Article 499 of the Islamic Penal Code, being a member of a group that stands against the regime is punishable by three months to five years in prison.

According to Article 18 Advocacy Director Mansour Borji, Maghrebinejad is a member of an Anglican church.

Borji said that the government’s labeling of Maghrebinejad as an evangelical shows that “blanket labeling is inaccurately applied to any Christian arrested for their religious activities.

The director also pointed out that the judge in Maghrebinejad’s case based his ruling off of a military intelligence report, noting that it is “odd and somewhat rare” for the military to be involved in a civilian case.

“[T]he revolutionary courts try to justify their violations of religious freedom,” Borji said in a statement.

Maghrebinejad has just shy of three weeks to appeal the ruling.

SOURCE: Christian Post, Samuel Smith

All Content & Images are provided by the acknowledged source

Award-winning artist Gawvi announced the release of his upcoming album, Heathen, last week and said he’s hoping to shake things up for people who don’t know the meaning of the word. 

Heathen will be released on April 10 and precedes the EDM artist’s debut album, We Belong, and sophomore project Panorama. Once again, Gawvi is aiming to push against the Christian music norm and pave a way for himself while sharing the message of Christ through his art.

“Heathen is the album I feel most confident and true to myself, especially with all the confusion going on in the world,” the Reach Records producer and singer said in a statement shared with The Christian Post.

“With this record, I wanted to say ‘hey world, I’ve been labeled as a heathen, not because I am a sinner or a bad person, but because I went against the Christian culture mold,”’ he added.

Gawvi said he wants to take back the word heathen by exposing its true meaning. The New York native said the word ethnos, which means heathen in the Greek language, stands for “ethnicity” which describes the word “gentiles.”

“When it’s used in the Bible, it’s described as a person who was not Jewish or someone with a different cultural background. So it got me thinking, how did this word get lost in translation? And I realized, this is what happens to us as humans,” he said.

“At the beginning, God designed us to be who we are meant to be, yet we let labels influence us and shape our identity. So I want to embrace the word ‘heathen,’ and do something different with the Christian culture, and let people know that it’s OK to live outside of the norm. When someone says to me ‘what you’re doing is not normal,’ my response is ‘thank you,’” he maintained.

SOURCE: Christian Post, Jeannie Law

All Content & Images are provided by the acknowledged source

Evangelist and rock star Brian “Head” Welch announced the opening of a series of wellness centers to help others find healing. 

Named Zivel, the performance and recovery suites are designed to help people “function at their best.” Some of the services included at the facilities are saltwater floating, cryotherapy, infrared sauna, oxygen therapy and compression therapy.

Welch, who is a member of the popular rock band Korn, is a recovering drug addict who has found solace in his Christian faith and is receiving therapy similar to what he offers at his wellness centers.

“In 2005, I found healing after years of struggling with addiction, depression, and suicidal ideation,” Welch said in a statement. “I consider myself extremely blessed to have been made whole — body, mind and spirit — and I’ve devoted my life to help others find the healing they deserve.”

“The most exciting thing for me about Zivel is that our services can help revitalize every part of a person’s life, body, mind and spirit, which again, is what I feel is my life’s purpose.”

SOURCE: Christian Post, Jeannie Law

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

Speaking on a panel discussion at the 2020 Conservative Political Action Conference, Muslim reformer Asra Nomani offered her thoughts on the similarities between “communism” and “Islamism” as both ideologies try to squash religious freedom.

“So when you think of communism, it’s an ideology, right?” Nomani asked. “And so, from my vantage point, there is another ideology that we call ‘Islamism,’ which is the ideology of political Islam.”

“So what that means is many of you might have heard of organizations like the Muslim Brotherhood or a lot of the theocracies like in Iran that are running the state. Those are all not just about a religion of Islam, which my parents taught me was how to practice. [It] is about control over people. And that’s where I think communism and Islamism are very similar.”

Nomani, a founder of the Muslim Reform Movement who made headlines in 2016 when she announced she voted for Republican President Donald Trump despite being a liberal Muslim, was among several panelists who participated in a CPAC breakout session in late February titled “Without Religious Freedom, What’s Left?”

Joining her on the panel were U.S. Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom Sam Brownback, conservative commentator Todd Starnes, Epoch Times Senior Editor Jan Jekielek and Sander Gerber, a fellow at the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs.

With “America vs. Socialism” being the theme of CPAC 2020, much of the discussion focused on the threat to freedoms posed by communist China as the government has pushed the idea of “social transformation” to restrict the freedoms of different religious minority groups over the last several decades.

“It is deeply disturbing and I think the Chinese are probably the very best in the world at it,” Brownback, the former governor of Kansas, said. “They have started it in several places. In Christianity, for instance, in China, they want to rewrite the Bible to make it with Chinese characters.”

“They’re also taking crosses down on the front of churches, taking down a picture of Jesus and putting up a picture of Xi Jinping, taking down Scripture from the wall and putting up statements for the Communist Party. And then you gotta sing patriotic songs and not hymns,” he added. “That sounds like trying to change thinking behavior.”

Brownback contended that China’s war on faith “won’t work” because “these sorts of things have been tried throughout human history.”

“The Kingdom of man has often tried to take over the kingdom of God,” he said. “It’s never worked. It may be successful for a little while: tanks are stronger than somebody’s human flesh standing there. But ultimately the Roman Empire switched when they were killing Christians earlier.”

SOURCE: Christian Post, Samuel Smith

All Content & Images are provided by the acknowledged source

The Michigan Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church voted to send a proposal to split the denomination over the long-debated issue of homosexuality to the UMC’s top legislative body.

Last week, the Michigan conference became the third annual conference and the first based in the United States to support sending the Protocol of Reconciliation and Grace through Separation, which would allocate $25 million for Methodists who adhere to biblical sexual ethics to vote to leave the UMC and create their own denomination, to the UMC General Conference.

UMC bishops and activists had first announced support for the proposal in January.

At a special session held at Goodrich Chapel in Albion, Michigan conference delegates voted 927 to 92 in favor of sending the proposal for consideration.

The Michigan Conference reported that while many attendees of the session spoke in favor of the protocol, the approved did not officially endorse the separation proposal.

“Unlike the two international conferences that acted before the March 7 vote in Albion, The Michigan Conference did not endorse the Protocol,” explained the conference.

“The single motion brought by the delegation for action by the Special Session was ‘to send the petition entitled ‘Reconciliation and Grace Through Separation and Restructuring’ (BOD New ¶2556)’ to the 2020 General Conference.’”

SOURCE: Christian Post, Michael Gryboski

All Content & Images are provided by the acknowledged source

Despite considerable public pushback, Washington state lawmakers have approved a comprehensive sex education curriculum in legislation for public school students some parents say is tantamount to grooming.

According to MyNorthwest, Republicans in the Evergreen state strongly resisted the measure, at one point even attempting to add more than 200 amendments to impede the bill from advancing. Conservative legislators contended that the material was not age-appropriate and that it usurps the parent-child relationship.

“I’m not sure why we’re rushing to remove the innocence of our youth,” Rep. Mike Steele, R-Clehan, said in a house floor speech last week.

“We put so much on them. I don’t know why we think it’s appropriate to put more, to put such weight upon their backs at such young ages. This is heavy, heavy material.”

Democratic defenders of the legislation maintained that the bill is vital for children.

“The hard work that we put into this bill — in both the House and Senate — is well worth it because it will improve safety for children statewide,” said the bill’s sponsor, Democratic Sen. Claire Wilson.

“We must ensure that our kids have the tools and knowledge they need to recognize and resist inappropriate behavior.”

Around the country, particularly in politically liberal states, sex-ed curriculum and recommended resources that feature explicit descriptions of various sexual acts and cartoon images that appear pornographic have been contested by parents who do not want their children exposed to it, prompting activism, including sit-outs where children are withdrawn from school in protest of graphic sex ed. Also included in the controversial lessons is the promotion of the idea that some people might be born in the wrong body and that biological sex exists on a spectrum.

Beth Daranciang, a Seattle resident who was a Republican candidate for state senator and an activist for the protection of children and women, commented in an email to The Christian Post Monday that influential interest groups appear to be calling the shots.

“The Democrats in Washington are heavily funded by Planned Parenthood and their allies. Planned Parenthood helped develop the curriculum and is frequently mentioned in the curriculum as a resource,” Daranciang said.

SOURCE: Christian Post, Brandon Showalter

All Content & Images are provided by the acknowledged source