Catholic Culture ^ | August 21, 2014 | Assisted by US airstrikes, forces of the autonomous Iraqi region of Kurdistan have retaken the historically Christian towns of Tel Isqof (or…
Dear friends & family in Christ, The annual March for the Babies is this Saturday 11 October in Melbourne. This march for life is held on this date to mark the…
By Lea Speyer September 30, 2014
“For Zion’s sake I will not keep silent, for Jerusalem’s sake I will not remain quiet, till her vindication shines out like the dawn, her salvation like a blazing torch.” (Isaiah 62:1)
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressing the UN General Assembly, September 29, 2014. (Photo: Avi Ohayon/ GPO)
(Click here to see how Netanyahu invokes Biblical prophecy in past UN addresses.)
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressed the annual gathering of world leaders at the UN General Assembly on Monday, warning the international community of the growing threat of militant Islam.
The prime minister jumped right in to tackling the issue of the increasing visibility and violence wrought by Islamist terrorists across the globe.
“Our hopes and the world’s hope for peace are in danger. Because everywhere we look, militant Islam is on the march,” Netanyahu said. “It’s not militants. It’s not Islam. It’s militant Islam.”
Robert Spencer Aug 19, 2014 – Jihad Watch
“Why aren’t the moderate Muslims doing more to stop the extremists in their midst? Do they agree with their ideology and extremism? We saw hundreds of thousands of protesters on the streets against the abuses of the regime, so why are we not now seeing those thousands of protesters against what IS is doing?”
Fair questions. But no answers will be forthcoming from Muslim leaders in Syria or anywhere else. In the U.S., Hamas-linked CAIR can point to its condemnation of the Islamic State as if that settled the matter — yet neither CAIR nor any other Muslim group is doing anything to teach Muslims to reject the Islamic State’s understanding of Islam.
“Aleppo’s forgotten Christians,” by Edward Dark, Al-Monitor, August 11, 2014 (thanks to Paul):
ALEPPO, Syria — Walking through the largely Christian neighborhoods of Aleppo city — Azizieh, Siryan, Sulaimaniyah and Midan — you can still see the posters of the two bishops kidnapped by Islamist militants last year hanging on shop windows, walls and even cars. The people here haven’t forgotten them; the event is still as painful and fresh as if it had happened just yesterday. The bishops’ kidnapping was a symbolic event, indicative of the larger collapse of interfaith communal relations in a country under the strain of a sectarian civil war, and marked the end of a long era of relative peace and safety for the Christians of Syria.
9/25/2014- Charisma News
Fatima, an Iraqi woman who had fled atrocities committed by the Islamic State (ISIS), was drawn to the sound of singing in a tent in a refugee camp in Dohuk, a city in the Kurdish region of Iraq. She approached cautiously.
Though embarrassed when the Christians worshipping inside saw her, she came closer and asked if she could enter and listen to what they were saying. By the time the meeting finished at 4 a.m., she was on her way to embracing Christ as her Savior and asked if she could bring friends and family to the next meeting.
Fatima, her husband and three daughters put their trust in Jesus for their salvation, and within a few weeks her involvement led to another 60 families making the same commitment, according to an area ministry leader supported by Christian Aid Mission.
“Tent churches are going on everywhere,” said the ministry leader. “Last week we had 68 families openly surrender their lives to the Lord. With all their large needs and difficult situations that they are going through, they thank God for the indwelling of Christ in their hearts. Twelve of those families were Muslim.”
In addition, 200 children who received Bibles and coloring materials prayed to accept Jesus into their hearts.
Broken Hearts
Near Amerli, which Islamic State fighters besieged for more than two months before Kurdish and Iraqi forces aided by U.S. warplanes drove them out on Sept. 1, the ministry leader’s team encountered people in need of water, food and medicine. In a visit with a group of families able to escape before the ISIS siege, the team found opportunities to meet both spiritual and physical needs.
Dear friends & family in Christ, 1) Pr Daniel will be speaking at CTFM in Hallam at the 9:30am service this Sunday 5th October. Please note that this service will…
By Jessica Martinez , CP Reporter – July 19, 2014
Americans feel warm toward Jews, Catholics and Evangelicals but they are colder toward Muslims and atheists, according to a new Pew Research Survey.
Respondents were asked to rate each faith group according to a “feeling thermometer” ranging from 0 to 100, 0 reflecting the coldest and most negative rating and 100 being the warmest, most positive. The outcome concluded that U.S. adults are more fond of individuals who share their same or similar faith.
“In a society like the United States, where religion is such an important part of life, of how people view the world, how people approach politics — it’s one of the things that drives some of the very serious cultural disagreements we see in American society. It’s important to know how religious groups see one another, relate to one another,” said Greg Smith, associate director of research at the Pew Research Center, reports Washington Post.
Jews, Catholics and Evangelical groups received a rating of 63, 62 and 61, respectively. Buddhists, Hindus and Mormons received neutral ratings ranging from 48 to 53 while atheists and Muslims were rated 41 and 40 on the thermometer.
While there were varying factors for the results, the fact that Catholics and Evangelical Christians are part of the most favorably viewed groups is because the survey comprised of 20 percent Catholics and 32 percent Evangelicals. (more…)
11th July 2014 Daniel K. Norris
Not being able to use the oven as an 8-year-old, I became quite skilled at cooking meals for myself in the microwave oven. Nearly every morning I would make a full breakfast complete with scrambled eggs, bacon and grits buttered to southern perfection. My mom was amused by her little chef and let me enjoy my little space of independence—even if it meant a little extra work for her cleaning up my messes.
One day I found a recipe for microwaved chocolate cake. For this preteen kid I might as well have discovered gold. I was incredibly anxious to try this one afternoon after school. I could already taste the sweet warm soft cake in my mouth with a tall glass of milk. When I arrived home that day I dropped my bags and headed straight for the kitchen and began rummaging through the cupboards looking for the ingredients.
The recipe called for cocoa powder (sweetened). We only had unsweetened but I figured cocoa is cocoa so what difference does it make? Next I needed baking powder. To this day I’m not sure I can tell the difference between a box of baking soda and baking powder. They look the same, so I put a little baking soda in. I couldn’t reach the sugar, but salt looks a lot like sugar and it was conveniently sitting on the table.
I mixed everything up, with the rest of the ingredients and popped it into the microwave, punched in 10 minutes and went to pour my milk as I waited for my fresh cake to come straight out of the (microwave) oven.
You can imagine my expectation quickly became disappointment as I put in my spoon and took a big bite. It was awful! It tasted like a mouthful of dirt. That afternoon I learned a valuable lesson—change the recipe, change the outcome!
Thirty years later I hunger for something different. Not for a natural meal that can be prepared in an earthly kitchen, but for a supernatural move than only comes from the fires of a heavenly altar in answer to fervent prayers. Our nation is in desperate need of such a move. No doubt, the days have grown dark and continue to grow darker. The only hope we have is found in revival!
Thankfully God has provided us a recipe for revival within his word. Like a family recipe passed down from generation to generation it is a favorite passage of scripture that is often quoted in times prayer. But I wonder… is it possible we are guilty of changing that recipe and thus changing the outcome? Are we trying to rush what requires time and patience? Are we substituting our ideas for his proven ingredients?
The late revivalist, Leonard Ravenhill said often, “We will live without revival, as long as we are content to remain without it.”
I see a divine discontent coming back to the body of Christ and hear fresh calls for revival. If we want to see God’s results then we must return to God’s ways. To truly experience revival, we must look to the pattern the Lord gave us in 2 Chronicles 7:14 and throw the following on to the fires of his altar. (more…)
June 14, 2014 – By Dan Wooding – Founder of ASSIST Ministries
BEVERLY HILLS, CA (ANS) — When Joseph Nasrallah was locked up in prison cell in Egypt, he could never have dreamed that one day, he would move to America, and launch “The Way TV,” an Arabic Christian satellite network that is reaching the Middle East, and his homeland of Egypt, with the Good News of Jesus Christ.
I met up with Nasrallah at the Beverly Hills Hilton on June 1, 2014, where he was attending Pat Boone’s 80th Birthday “Celebrity Roast,” and he was certainly a most unlikely guest with many Hollywood stars attending like Larry King, Jon Voight, Billy Davis Jr., and his wife, Marilyn McCoo, Susan Stafford, Wink Martindale, and many others.
The sparkling gathering was to benefit Ryan’s Reach, a charity set up in honor of Pat and Shirley Boone’s grandson, Ryan Corbin, who was making an amazing recovery and even attended the event. His mother, Lindy Boone Michaelis, helped to set up the group to help others with similar Traumatic Brain Injuries to Ryan. For more information, please go to www.ryansreach.com.
As the camera light bulbs popped on the nearby Red Carpet, I found a quiet spot and asked Joseph about the time he was imprisoned in a stark Egyptian cell, and also about his early life.
“I started as a singer and composer in Egypt,” he began. “I have cut ten albums up to now, and then the ‘media dream’ came to me when I was in jail in Egypt.” (more…)
Dear friends, You may click the following link to listen to RUAP National President Daniel Nalliah’s recent interview on 2CC Canberra. http://www.2cc.net.au/podcasts/1863-is-the-islamic-council-of-victoria-a-terrorist-organisation.html You may also watch this weekend’s special surprise…
Dear family and friends in Christ,
I am sure you would have heard by now that the Australian Police shot dead an Islamic fundamentalist (18 years old) in Endeavour Hills in the Melbourne South Eastern Suburbs a few days ago, as he was planning to kill behead two police officers and then post a photo on social media with the ISIL flag draped over their bodies.
Fortunately one of the police officers, even though he had been stabbed repeatedly, opened fire and killed this man. Both officers never expected this young Islamist to attack them.
What is most interesting is that this 18 year old Islamist worshipped in a Mosque in Hallam, the same suburb where CTFM & RUAP headquarters are located, just five minutes down the road ten minutes from where he lived.
Yesterday, RUAP carried out a campaign to visit six shopping centers to campaign for the upcoming Victorian State Election on 29th November. Teams of 5-7 people wearing RUAP t-shirts walked through the shopping centres in Dandenong, Cranbourne, Fountain Gate, Frankston and Endeavour Hills and talked to people.
Pr Daniel and six others were at the Endeavour Hills shopping center, which is right next to the police station where the incident happened.
There was a very heavy police presence in the area as we believe that the body of the dead man was still lying there from the night before.
As Pr Daniel sat down at a cafe to have lunch with the team, many media outlets came to get a comment from him as they recognized him.
But what was most interesting was that three heavily armed police officers walked up to the table and started talking to him about whether Islam and Christianity are the same and whether Jesus was after Mohammed or before.
Media Release - For Immediate Release - 23rd Sept 2014 Last week on Channel 7, John Howard, a true statesman, and one of Australia’s best ever PM’s, stated that he…
Dear friends, The campaign meetings held in Frankston, Victoria last Saturday the 20th September and in the Melbourne Western Suburbs on Sunday 21st September were a great success. Around 80…
7/11/2014 Rob Hoskins
It’s amazing to me how the Internet is heightening our awareness of what is going on in the world to a whole new level. Things all around the globe that have been cloaked in obscurity for hundreds of years are now coming to light, many of them taking center stage in mainstream media. Take for instance the case of Meriam Ibrahim, a Sudanese woman who had been sentenced to death for her Christian faith widely covered in media, like the May 16 CNN news report below. The struggle between Islam and Christianity has been going on for a very long time. Both faiths are “exclusive and expansionary”, often causing them to clash.
Little do we, as Westerners, know that to be Muslim and choose Christianity in some nations and contexts means giving up everything. There is a vast difference of interpretation between how I read this verse and the meaning it holds for a born Muslim who has chosen to follow Christ and is counting the cost of that decision: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me” (Matthew 16:24).
By David French, CP Guest Contributor – June 26, 2014|
As Iraq burns, and the hard-won gains of American arms are thrown away in a bloodbath of severed heads and mass executions, more than 1,500 miles away from Baghdad a smaller, but also heartbreaking drama is playing out before the eyes of a watching world.
And just as in Iraq, the United States is humiliated, with lives hanging in the balance.
On Monday, there was a rare burst of good news from the jihadist reaches of the Muslim world, as a Sudanese court overturned the death sentence imposed on Meriam Ibrahim, a Sudanese Christian convicted of “apostasy” – of converting from Islam to Christianity. Married to an American, Meriam was imprisoned with her two young American children, sentenced to be flogged and then hung. She was free to leave Sudan, and it appeared our State Department was even working diligently to bring Meriam and her American family home, to free soil.
Yesterday, everything changed. According to multiple reports, just as Meriam and her family were poised to board their flight to freedom, Sudanese secret police emerged and re-arrested Meriam, detaining her and her American husband and American children after an “angry” airport confrontation. Our sources on Capitol Hill (and Sudanese media) indicate that they were snatched away with American officials literally present at the airport.