Iranian Attorney Sentenced to 38 Years, 148 Lashes for Defending Women Who Removed Their Head Scarves

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Iranian Attorney Sentenced to 38 Years, 148 Lashes for Defending Women Who Removed Their Head Scarves


Iranian Attorney Sentenced to 38 Years, 148 Lashes for Defending Women Who Removed Their Head Scarves


The husband of a human rights attorney in Iran recently announced that his wife has been sentenced to 38 years in prison and 148 lashes. 


55-year-old Nasrin Sotoudeh faces spending most of the rest of her life in prison and an excruciating lashing simply because she defended seven women who had been arrested for protesting Iran’s hijab law by removing their head coverings in public. 


Sotoudeh’s husband, Reza Kahndan, said that she faced charges of “assembly and collusion against national security,” “propaganda against the state,” “encouraging corruption and prostitution,” “appearing at the judiciary without Islamic hijab,” “disturbing public peace and order,” and “publishing falsehoods with the intent to disturb public opinion.” The Revolutionary Court in Tehran tried her in absentia when she refused to appear because she could not choose her own attorney. She told her husband that she has not received the length of her sentences in writing, but that she faces 5 years for one case and 33 for another.


This was not the first time Sotoudeh’s human rights work drew the ire of Iranian authorities. She was arrested in 2010 and sentenced to six years in prison for “activities against national security” and “propaganda against the regime.” She served some time before being released along with 10 other…

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School Board Scolds Parents for Opposing Drag Queen’s Makeup Lesson

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School Board Scolds Parents for Opposing Drag Queen’s Makeup Lesson


School Board Scolds Parents for Opposing Drag Queen’s Makeup Lesson


Concerned parents opposed to California’s new sex-ed curriculum and the use of drag queens in school functions were labeled “liars” and “fear-mongers” during a jam-packed school board meeting in Santa Ana last week.


“All these people were asking for was a say, a chance to be involved, to be heard and to be active participants in the education of their children,” wrote Townhall’s Kira Davis, who attended the meeting. 


Instead, they received “contempt and disrespect,” she wrote.


At issue is California’s new sex-ed curriculum, which covers gay, lesbian and transgender issues. The parents packed the main room and the overflow room. Most were Hispanic. 


“One mother said she only learned about the school’s ‘LGBT Fair’ after it had happened,” Davis wrote. “She was shocked to learn that a local drag performer had been offering make-up application lessons to the students during the fair and did not feel it was appropriate for any school-approved activity to include make-up lessons for 11-14-year-olds regardless of LGBT issues. 


“She had not even been given the opportunity to opt her child out of such a thing,” Davis added.


The proposed curriculum, parents said, had not been made available in Spanish as required by state law.


“Some parents complained that they were purposefully being left in the dark because the school…

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Christian MP Fiona Onasanya pleads her innocence in online video

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Christian MP Fiona Onasanya pleads her innocence in online video

Now independent MP Fiona Onasanya has begged voters to let her continue as their representative in Parliament in a video. 

In the piece to camera, recorded in front of an image of the New York skyline and posted on her social media pages the day before the start of a six-week recall petition, she claims she is innocent of perverting the course of justice.

The Peterborough MP was found guilty by a jury at the Old Bailey and was sentenced to three months in prison.

The 35-year-old, who was elected as a Labour MP, served 28 days of her sentence for lying about who was driving her car when it was caught speeding in July 2017.

She was released on 26th February and voted in the Brexit vote on May’s withdrawal deal last week. 

In the video, posted on Monday, she says: “I am telling you I am innocent and will continue to pursue avenues to clear my name.

“If you wish for me to continue as your independent Member of Parliament I am willing and able to do so but the choice is now in your hands.

“I would like to say I have a deep gratitude to all who have offered prayers, support and love during this difficult period of time over the past few months and also say to you all, thank you.

“I will continue to be your voice of change in Parliament for as long as you wish me to do so and if you do wish me to do so I can tell you I will continue to lobby Government, I will continue to…

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Physician-Assisted Suicide Bills Fail in New Mexico and Arkansas

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Physician-Assisted Suicide Bills Fail in New Mexico and Arkansas


Physician-Assisted Suicide Bills Fail in New Mexico and Arkansas


Two bills allowing physician-assisted suicide failed in New Mexico and Arkansas last week. 


According to the Santa Fe New Mexican, Rep. Deborah Armstrong (D-Albuquerque) of New Mexico requested to table the HB 90 bill for the 2019 legislative session. “At the time, we are just a few votes shy to pass the bill,” she said. She and Sen. Elizabeth Stefanics (D-Cerrillos) sponsored the bill. 


HB 90 would allow patients to end their lives after authorization from two medical providers and a 48 hour waiting period once life-ending drugs had been prescribed, as reported by the Las Cruces Sun News. The Santa Fe New Mexican also included other stipulations of the bill: Patients who had six months or less to live would be required to get two witnesses’ signatures on the request; doctors must discuss alternatives, such as hospice care; and, a patient must acquire a second opinion. 


Opponents of this bill include Rep. Gregg Schmedes (R-Tijeras), who believed this bill could allow for abuse from predatory family heirs or others. “It allows for the perfect crime,” he said. 


Alex Schadenberg, executive director of the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition, claimed the HB 90 bill was the most extreme assisted suicide bill she’d ever seen, according to Life News, because it allowed euthanasia.


Death with Dignity, an organization that promotes dignity laws for dying…

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A History of Recent Attacks Linked to White Supremacy – Urban Christian News

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A History of Recent Attacks Linked to White Supremacy – Urban Christian News

People arrive for Sunday services at the Mother Emanuel AME church in Charleston, South Carolina after a shooting. Photograph: John Taggart/EPA

Mosques. Synagogues. Black churches. Leftwing politicians.

In the past eight years, across continents, white supremacists have repeatedly chosen the same targets for shootings, stabbings, bombings and car attacks.

The mass shootings on Friday targeting two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand, killing 49 people, appear to be the latest in a drumbeat of attacks motivated by the belief that the white race is endangered. The perceived threats include Jews, Muslims, immigrants, refugees, feminists and leftist politicians.

The attackers have not been part of a single white supremacist group. But they are steeped in the same global racist propaganda, fluent in the same memes and conspiracies, and the perpetrator of one attack often references the names of the killers who came before.

In less than a decade, these attacks have included:

July 2011

77 people killed in attacks on Utøya island and in Oslo, Norway

A bomb attack, followed by a shooting that targeted the island summer youth camp of Norway’s Labor party. The shooter, Anders Breivik, wanted to prevent an “invasion of Muslims” and deliberately targeted politically active young people who he saw as “cultural Marxists” and proponents of multiculturalism. More than half of the dead were teenagers.

August 2012

Six worshippers killed in a shooting targeting a Sikh temple in Oak Creek, Wisconsin, US

A memorial to the six victims.
 A memorial to the six victims. Photograph: John Gress/Reuters

The dead included the…

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‘I pray every day for an answer’, mother of missing Claudia Lawrence reveals ten-year anguish

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‘I pray every day for an answer’, mother of missing Claudia Lawrence reveals ten-year anguish

Joan Lawrence spoke ahead of a service at York Minister on Monday to remember the University of York chef, who was 35 years old at the time she vanished.

She said: “I think we will get an answer. I pray every day that I will get one.

 

“When it was her birthday, I would think back to when she was born. There’s no card to send, now. There’s no present to buy. One thing that’s very, very difficult is that there’s no grave to visit.”

Friends of Claudia are due to light ten candles in her memory inside the Lady Chapel of York Minister on Monday afternoon.

She was last seen on 18th March 2009. No body has ever been found but police launched a suspected murder investigation.

PA

 

At first, officers focused their attention on the route between Miss Lawrence’s home on Heworth Road and her workplace.

Nine people have been arrested or interviewed under caution in connection with the disappearance. Files were submitted by officers to the Crown Prosecution Service but there was insufficient evidence to bring charges.

Google

 

Hundreds of officers were initially drafted in to help with the investigation. The probe has since been scaled back.

North Yorkshire Police has warned that the withholding of vital information could be hampering their efforts.

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Judge Blocks Kentucky Law Banning Abortions When Heartbeat Detected

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Judge Blocks Kentucky Law Banning Abortions When Heartbeat Detected


Judge Blocks Kentucky Law Banning Abortions When Heartbeat Detected


A federal judge Friday blocked a Kentucky law that would ban abortions when a heartbeat is detected, ruling that the plaintiffs in the case had “shown a strong likelihood of success.”


The injunction by U.S. District Judge David Hale blocks a law that bans such abortions unless they are required to save a woman’s life or to prevent “substantial and irreversible impairment of a major bodily function” of the woman.


It passed the state Senate, 31-6, and the House, 71-19. Both are controlled by Republicans. GOP Gov. Matt Bevin signed it Friday. The ACLU sued on behalf of Louisville’s EMW Women’s Surgical Center, which performs abortions. 


“The fundamental right to privacy contained in the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment includes the right to choose to have an abortion, subject to certain limitations,” wrote Hale, who was nominated by President Obama. 


“The Supreme Court,” Hale wrote, “has stated in no uncertain terms that ‘[r]egardless of whether exceptions are made for particular circumstances, a State may not prohibit any woman from making the ultimate decision to terminate her pregnancy before viability.’”


The temporary injunction expires 14 days from the date it was issued, although Hale by then could release a permanent injunction. Other states, including Arkansas, North Dakota and Iowa, have passed heartbeat bills,…

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Muslim in Pakistan Bursts into Christian’s Home Alleging He Overheard Blasphemous Comment

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Muslim in Pakistan Bursts into Christian’s Home Alleging He Overheard Blasphemous Comment


Muslim in Pakistan Bursts into Christian’s Home Alleging He Overheard Blasphemous Comment


LAHORE, Pakistan, March 18, 2019 (Morning Star News) – A Christian with a mental disability in Pakistan has been arrested under the country’s blasphemy law after a Muslim neighbor outside his home overheard him arguing inside, sources said. 


Francis Masih, older brother of 42-year-old Stephen Masih, said that Muslim neighbor Hafiz Mudassir on March 11 burst into their home in Imranpura, Wadiala, Sialkot District, beat the younger brother and accused him of speaking ill of the prophet of Islam after overhearing an argument. 


At about 7 a.m. Stephen Masih, who belongs to a Pentecostal church, had become embroiled in a heated discussion with a Christian brother-in-law over fasting and praying during Lent when he lost his temper and started shouting loudly, Francis Masih said. 


“This is when Mudassir barged into our house and started beating Stephen without any reason,” he told Morning Star News. “We told Mudassir that it was not right for him to intervene in our family issue, but he took offense and raised hue and cry in the street, alleging that Stephen had committed blasphemy.” 


Soon a mob gathered outside their house, he said. 


“Mudassir and Mohammad Rafiq, another neighbor, provoked them to attack Stephen,” Masih said. “They not only beat him up mercilessly but also attacked other family members who tried to save…

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A farmer who died for a stranger: How to find good news in bad news

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A farmer who died for a stranger: How to find good news in bad news

There is good news in the bad news making news today.

First, the bad news: Large parts of Nebraska and the US Central Plains were underwater over the weekend after a late-winter “bomb cyclone” storm triggered historic flooding. Forecasters warn that more rain is coming tomorrow.

A farmer named James Wilke got a call to assist a stranger during the storm and drove his tractor over a bridge that collapsed. Wilke and his tractor went into the floodwater; he did not survive.

Meanwhile, last week’s shooting in New Zealand continues to dominate headlines as authorities rush to identify the fifty victims and the prime minister promises changes to gun laws. And ceremonies were held in Kenya and Ethiopia for the 157 victims of last week’s Ethiopian Airlines plane crash.

While man-made tragedies deservedly generate headlines and global sympathy, natural disasters affect millions across the country. The global annual death rate from natural disasters has fallen significantly over the years, but such tragedies affect 218 million people each year and claim 68,000 lives.

However, there is a principle here that promises to liberate us with hope that transcends all hardships.

Theology from a crocodile

The book of Job is not usually considered an uplifting work of literature. Much of it is dominated by Job’s understandable complaints to God about the horrific suffering he endured.

Toward the end of the book, the Lord answers him—not by explaining Job’s pain, but by declaring his own omnipotence and omniscience.

For instance, God asks Job, “Can you draw out Leviathan with a fishhook or press down his tongue with a cord?” (Job 41:1). Most scholars believe that “Leviathan” in this context is a giant crocodile.

The creature’s creator warns Job: “Lay your hands on him; remember the battle—you will not do it again!” (v. 8). By comparison to this mighty beast, “The hope of a man is false; he is laid low…

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Gaining Spiritual Command for Dominion! By David Oyedepo

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Gaining Spiritual Command for Dominion! By Bishop David Oyedepo

Topic: Gaining Spiritual Command for Dominion!

Welcome to another impactful week! I believe you were blessed by the last teaching. Today, we shall focus on: Gaining Spiritual Command for Dominion!

From Scriptures, we understand that every child of God has a great destiny in Christ. We are not redeemed to be pitied but to be envied by the world. As it is written: For I will give you a mouth and wisdom, which all your adversaries shall not be able to gainsay nor resist (Luke 21:15). However, the devil raises several oppositions to deny us access to our glorious destinies in Christ; hence, as great as our destinies are, so are the oppositions against them. The only way to deal with this adversary is to take command of the outcome of our lives. We must understand that God does not only want us to have spiritual turnarounds but also to be physically, mentally, psychologically, financially and emotionally sound. Therefore, we must know how to deal with the adversary or our colourful destinies may remain shut. We need to understand that we cannot gain or give out command without authority. The word “command” connotes exercise of authority, and except we walk in the steps of giants, we cannot command results after their order.

The Centurion met Jesus and said: …speak the word only, and my servant shall be healed. For I am a man under authority, having soldiers under me: and I say to this man, Go, and he goeth; and to another, Come, and he cometh; and to my servant, Do this and he doeth it. And Jesus said unto the centurion, Go thy way; and as thou hast believed, so be it done unto thee. And his servant was healed in the selfsame hour (Matthew 8:8-9/13). In the above scripture, there was an instant turnaround in operation and that came from a source of authority. We must understand that we have authority, but we cannot exercise it without being under the superior authority of the One that gives all things. That means, as believers, we have authority in Christ, but to command authority we must subject and submit ourselves to the Source, which is God. Also, as heirs of the Kingdom of God, we are redeemed to be kings and to reign on the earth (Revelation 5:9-10).

How then, Can We Gain Spiritual Command for Dominion?

1. Take the Sword of the Word: Authority cannot be acquired or attained; it can only be conferred. In Matthew 21:23, the Jews questioned the authority of Jesus saying: …By what authority doest thou these things? And who gave thee this authority? Authority is exercised by the word coming from the Source of the authority. Jesus gave His disciples power and authority over all devils and to cure all diseases. He gave them power, but that power became effectual by the authority He conferred on them. One may crave, thirst and fast for power, but authority is only conferred. We cannot fast or pray for it; it can only be received by the sent Word. Hence, the authority that gives us command over all circumstances and situations can only be conferred on us by the Holy Ghost.

Also Read: Engaging the Power of Praise for Fearful Blessings! By David Oyedepo

2. Possess a True Knowledge of Your Identity: A discovery of our actual identity in Christ empowers us to exercise authority. We need to know who we are, or we will never gain command. Our level of authority is a function of our depth of understanding about our position in Christ. As believers, we must seek to have access to the mysteries of God’s Word, because the clarity of our picture from the Word determines our clarity of command in the supernatural. If we can see our worth through the Scriptures and activate ourselves into the flow from the Word, we will begin to command authority for definite turnarounds after the order of Abraham (John 8:39; Isaiah 51:2).

3. Know the Source of Command: Knowing the source of our command helps to boost our confidence. Jesus is always on key and ever in control. He said, “As I hear,” meaning He worked as directed by the Father. Jesus said in John 5:26-27: For as the Father hath life in himself; so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself; And hath given him authority….Even though by redemption, we are positioned to take charge, it takes a word from the Lord to gain command. “As I hear”, not “as I read”, or “as they said.” “As I hear from the Father, so I determine and decide what happens and I am always in charge.”Therefore, our source of command is a word from the Lord, which will terminate every struggle of life and empower us to take charge of our situations.

4. Engage the Holy Spirit: He is the Carrier, Communicator and Transmitter of the power of God. He is the power from on high and whatever is from above is above all. Therefore, when confronted with any issue of concern, we can always engage the invincible force of the Holy Spirit. Therefore, nothing is permitted to resist our progress, success, accomplishments, exploits or breakthroughs, when the Holy Spirit is at work. For it is written: Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you (Luke 10:19). The Holy Ghost is the person behind the mystery of the Word that gives us mastery. He is called the Teacher! He teaches and gives us understanding of every scripture that makes us capture our future in the Scriptures, because He will remind us of our sent Word so we can war with it (John 14:26).

In conclusion, new birth is not a religious experience; it is a spiritual transformation into divinity. It is the importation of divine nature into the human vessel. It is not enough to be born again, we must be conscious of the worth of our salvation. This is what distinguishes us from others who claim to be believers. Are you born again? If you are not, this is an opportunity to do so. Simply say the following prayer:

Lord Jesus, I come to You today. I am a sinner. Forgive me my sins. Cleanse me with Your precious Blood. Today, I accept You as my Lord and personal Saviour. Thank You Jesus for saving me! Now, I know I am born again!” For further reading, please get my books: Turnaround Power of the Word, The Force of Freedom, Walking in Dominion, Satan Get Lost, Born to Win and Fulfilling your Days.

I invite you to fellowship with us at the Faith Tabernacle, Canaanland, Ota, the covenant home of Winners. We have four services on Sundays, holding at 6:00 a.m., 7:50 a.m., 9:40 a.m., and 11:30 a.m. respectively. I know this teaching has blessed you. Write and share your testimony with me through: Faith Tabernacle, Canaanland, Ota, P.M.B. 21688, Ikeja, Lagos, Nigeria; or call 01-4548070, 01-4548280; or E-mail:[email protected]; Face book: www.facebook.com/davidoyedepoministries/; Twitter: @DavidOyedepoMin

Please click HERE to read other inspiring MESSAGES by Bishop David Oyedepo

David O. Oyedepo is a Nigerian Christian author, architect, preacher, and the founder and presiding bishop of the mega church, Living Faith Church Worldwide, also known as Winners’ Chapel

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