Pastor Roshan Mahesen also spoke of his commitment to continue the church’s mission. 

Speaking in London this week Pastor Roshan said: “We are hurt. We are angry also, but still, as the senior pastor of Zion Church Batticaloa, the whole congregation and every family affected, we say to the suicide bomber, and also to the group that sent the suicide bomber, that we love you and we forgive you, no matter what you have done to us, we love you, because we believe in the Lord Jesus Christ.

“Jesus Christ on the Cross, he said father forgive them for they do not know what they are doing. We also, who follow the footsteps of Jesus Christ, we say, for the Lord forgive these people.”

In the video shared by Sri Lankan Christian ministry ‘The Life’, Pastor Roshan said: “I want to take this opportunity to thank every church around the world, every believer, every person known to me and unknown to me who has contacted me, calling me, sending messages of condolences, and then words of encouragement.

“I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart, every word you speak brings such comfort and strength. We will stand and continue what the lord has purposed in our life and we are ready, and we will continue to fulfil the mission the Lord has given us.” 

Pastor Roshan was interviewed by Pastor Chrishanthy Sathiyaraj, a leader of a Sri Lankan church with…

Bombers targeted churches and hotels on Easter Sunday, killing around 250 people and injuring hundreds more. 

Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith, the current Catholic Archbishop of Colombo, has appealed to priests not to conduct mass at churches until further notice.

Dr KP Yohannan, director of the evangelistic charity Gospel For Asia told Premier: “Sri Lanka has experienced years and years of civil war and tens of thousands being murdered, yet this one incident overshadows everything.

“In terms of the the shock and the magnitude of the day it happened, the church was packed with people and the suicide bomber ended up having these two huge blasts and 360 people died and tens of hundreds were injured. It’s shaken the island like never before.”

He was speaking before the death toll was revised down due to parts of the same body being counted separately. 

Dr KP explained that Gospel for Asia lost a couple of people in the incident and that the bombers had planted two bombs right in front of their office and church “by God’s grace that was discovered and didn’t go off. 

“I was doing the Easter service while this news broke out and you can imagine what a shock it was for everybody. And all we can do is, and we don’t understand all of this, pray for this nation and the people and this suffering and what we can do is give some hope and help in the midst of pain.” 

Dr KP…

James Mildred from Christian Action, Research and Education (CARE) told Premier, “this move hugely welcome and long overdue.

“Making punters more aware of the risks associated with gambling is a key way of protecting people from the harms caused by gambling addiction.”

The proposal for health warnings is part of a three-year strategy announced by the Gambling Commission which will treat problem gambling as a public health issue.

The National Strategy to Reduce Gambling Harms aims to co-ordinate work to tackle the problems caused by the betting industry.

As a first step, Public Health England will publish its first review of evidence on health harms relating to gambling in spring next year.

Claire Murdoch, national director for mental health at NHS England, said: “There is increasing evidence of a link between problem gambling and stress, depression and other mental health issues and this is an important step in the battle to reduce the harm caused.

“The NHS is playing its part with the Long Term Plan committing to an increase in mental health services for patients with a gambling problem, but gambling addiction is not just the NHS’s problem – it is an issue for the whole of society affecting people of all ages and backgrounds which is why it is everyone’s responsibility to act.”

The strategy aims to create a partnership of health bodies, charities, regulators and…