‘She will live on forever within Iver’: Canadian ‘brain dead’ woman gives birth to healthy son

Dylan and Iver Benson enjoy a hug after his birth Saturday.by Peter Baklinski – Feb 11, 2014

VICTORIA, British Columbia, February 11, 2014 (LifeSiteNews.com) – A Canadian father and husband is experiencing an impossible mix of emotions at the birth of his first child followed by the passing of his wife, who was declared ‘brain dead’ by doctors in December.

Baby Iver Cohen Benson, who shot to international fame after his father Dylan requested that doctors keep his wife Robyn on life support to give his unborn son what he called a “chance of survival,” was born Saturday at a Victoria hospital.

“On Saturday evening, my beautiful and amazing son, Iver Cohen Benson, was born. Iver is healthy and is the cutest and most precious person I have ever met,” Benson wrote on his blog.

Doctors had declared Robyn Benson, 32, “brain dead” at the end of December, one day after suddenly suffering a massive blood leak to her brain. She was 22 weeks pregnant with the couple’s first child.

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Beauty from Ashes: Thousands of Syrians are Coming to Christ Reports Middle East Ministries Assisted by U.S. Non-Profit Christian Aid Mission

A Syrian refugee steps outside her makeshift housing. Syrian refugees are finding hope in the midst of suffering as they seek answers to their questions about Christ, the cross, and forgiveness.January 29, 2014 – CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA (ANS)

Are the conversions real?

That was the question posed by Cynthia Finley, president of Christian Aid Mission, after staff received another round of encouraging, if not glowing, reports from Middle East ministries that stated “thousands” of Syrians have committed their hearts to Jesus Christ.

Christian Aid Mission is a U.S. non-profit organization that assists hundreds of ministries overseas that have tens of thousands of indigenous missionaries in the field. These ministries are currently engaging more than 1,000 unreached people groups in over 100 countries around the world. Christian Aid Mission is a 60-year-old organization and one of the first to support native missionary ministries overseas

Challenged to dig deeper, Christian Aid Mission staff contacted ministries they assist in the region, ministries that have invested wholeheartedly in outreach to war-weary Syrians through personal interaction.

Their gospel workers have done far more than hand out blankets and bags of groceries. They listened as a young widow with children described the day a stray bullet flew through their kitchen window in Syria and struck her husband in the head. They consoled a 15-year-old orphan and helped him find safe passage into Eastern Europe, where he can receive an education. Others have sat shivering with refugee families in their threadbare tents as they offered prayers for God to restore their once beautiful country.

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Great presence of God in Sydney / Passover dinner

Speaking in PenrithMinistering in BlaxlandDear family & friends in Christ,

1) We thank and praise God for a wonderful time of ministry in Sydney over the past weekend. Pr Daniel along with a team from CTFM ministered in Plumpton, Penrith and Blaxland in Sydney at YWAM, also in a Brethren church and a Full Gospel church.  People who came for the meetings were mightily touched by God’s word and the powerful testimonies of what God is doing in Australia in this hour.

One lady stated, “I was wondering whether or not to come for one of the meetings, but thank God I ended up coming for all 3 meetings. I was challenged and now I feel so uplifted up and encouraged.” Many young people who were at the meetings were also greatly impacted.

There was two main high lights of the meeting:

Passover dinner at CTFMWorshipping the Lord at Passover1) A young girl shared with us that her mother had wanted to abort her, but because someone was willing to adopt her, praise God she was not aborted and lived. This young girl was so happy that Pr Daniel has been advocating for people to be given greater access for adoption.  This should encourage people not to abort in Australia. She also told us that her adoptive parents went through a very hard time to get the rights to adopt her.

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Rick Warren Speaks about His Son: “Matthew had a Tender Heart and a Tortured Mind; He was a Brilliant Kid”

Rick Warren & son MatthewDan Wooding (Apr 1, 2014)

The megachurch pastor, and his wife, Kay, share memories of their youngest son, Matthew, who at the age of 27, committed suicide a year ago.

(Lake Forest, CA)—It was almost a year ago when Rick and Kay Warren received the unimaginable news that Matthew Warren, 27, the youngest of their three children, had killed himself with a self-inflicted shotgun wound at his Mission Viejo, California, residence. (Photo via ANS)

Matthew had bought the gun illegally over the Internet and used it to shoot himself and yet, rather amazingly, the pastor, was able to forgive the person who sold Matthew the gun.

“Someone on the Internet sold Matthew an unregistered gun,” Pastor Rick, the senior pastor of Saddleback Church, Lake Forest, California, tweeted to his nearly one million followers shortly after he received the terrible news. “I pray he seeks God’s forgiveness. I forgive him.”

Warren then linked to Matthew 6:15, which says, “But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.”—NIV

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Jesus Appears in a Dream to Suicidal Buddhist Woman

Filled with despair, a Russian Buddhist woman attempted to take her own life. But Jesus appeared to her in a dream offering new hope and peace, and the beginning of a new life in Christ.Mark Ellis, Dr. Claus Hecht (Apr 1, 2014)

In the dream, Jesus looked deeply into her soul and said, “Believe in Me and pray, Yulia, and I will save you.”

Filled with despair, a Russian Buddhist woman attempted to take her own life. But Jesus appeared to her in a dream offering new hope and peace, and the beginning of a new life in Christ. (Photo via God Reports)

According to a report by SEND International, Yulia was raised by educated Buddhist parents living in Russia. By local standards, they were making it. Her family regularly visited the local shrine to worship and pay their respects to Buddha. Although her father was an engineer and her mother a biochemist, Yulia failed to get an education and did not enjoy her job cleaning houses.

When her father died suddenly, her mother slid into a spiral of depression, alcoholism, and abuse. Day after day, fights and arguments ensued and there were more and more problems. One day, when Yulia was 21, her mother—in a fit of drunken rage—told her to leave. Her mother’s last hateful words were, “Just leave. I don’t even care. And if you die, I won’t even cry.”

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Stop the ‘gay rights’ charade: Russia is only protecting its children

by CarolynRussia Moynihan – Feb 11, 2014

Let’s face it, Russians are different: Tsarism, Stalinism, Putinism all set Russia apart and have given the West a superiority complex. But, like the rest of us, Russians like to boast about the high points of their culture and history – Tolstoy, the Bolshoi, Sputnik and all that – which they did to awesome effect in the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympics at the weekend.

Not even the most expensive – and possibly most impressive — Olympic extravaganza to date, however, could obliterate the carping about gay rights that has accompanied the Sochi games. Everyone from UN boss Ban Ki Moon to a little old grandmother in Berlin has been wagging the finger or waving placards at Russia’s terrible homophobic laws.

“More than 200 leading international authors including Salman Rushdie, Margaret Atwood and Jonathan Franzen criticised the anti-gay law as well as blasphemy legislation as a ‘chokehold’ on creativity, in an open letter published in Britain’s Guardian newspaper,” according to one report.

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Australia: Muslim who married 13-year-old girl has bail refused over child sex charges

Australia Muslim who married 13-year-old girl has bail refused over child sex chargesRobert Spencer Feb 7, 2014 – www.jihadwatch.org

Despite the abundant attestation for child marriage in Islamic law, most non-Muslims remain completely ignorant of it, because Islamic apologists in the West routinely deny that it exists, insisting that Aisha was 18 when Muhammad married her, and claiming that the incidence of child marriage in Muslim countries is due solely to cultural factors (they hope you don’t notice that those cultures are Islamic).

Those who point out that child marriage will come West with Muslim immigrants receive in response only ridicule and scorn as “bigots” and “Islamophobes.” But note that this story is from Australia, not Yemen or Iran or Saudi Arabia. And while Ahmad Chamma has been prosecuted, watch for pressure to amount to lower the legal marriage age, on the grounds of “multiculturalism” and “tolerance.”

Few things are more abundantly attested in Islamic law than the permissibility of child marriage. Islamic tradition records that Muhammad’s favorite wife, Aisha, was six when Muhammad wedded her and nine when he consummated the marriage:

“The Prophet wrote the (marriage contract) with Aisha while she was six years old and consummated his marriage with her while she was nine years old and she remained with him for nine years (i.e. till his death)” (Bukhari 7.62.88).

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MLK: Homosexuality a ‘Problem’ With a ‘Solution’

Matt Barber1/27/2014 – Clarion Call by Matt Barber

This past week America honored both the life and noble work of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., a Bible-believing Christian minister who did more to advance the cause of race-based civil rights than perhaps any other person in recent history.

Regrettably–and as they do each year–the same flock of opportunist “LGBT”-activist vultures quickly swooped in, picking the live flesh from MLK’s character-based “dream,” to advance their own behavior-based nightmare.

In what amounts to a sort of soft racism, this mostly white left-wing faction has, over the years, disingenuously and ignobly hitched its little pink wagon to a civil rights movement that, by contrast, is built upon the genuine and noble precepts of racial equality and humanitarian justice.

What was MLK’s position on the homosexual lifestyle and so-called “gay rights”? While he said little in public on the issue, what he did say made his viewpoint abundantly clear. Unlike the “LGBT” lobby, I’ll let Dr. King speak for himself.

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LISTEN: Rev. Bill Owens and the Coalition of African-American Pastors Call for the Impeachment of Attorney General Eric Holder for Trying to ‘Coerce States to Fall in Line with the Same-Sex Marriage Agenda’

U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder Jr.February 25, 2014 – CBS DC

A coalition of African-American civil rights leaders and pastors announced a campaign to gather 1 million signatures to impeach Attorney General Eric Holder for attempting to undermine states’ authority to “coerce states to fall in line with same-sex marriage.”

Speaking at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. on Tuesday, the Coalition of African-American Pastors (CAAP) is calling for Holder’s impeachment for “attempting to impose ‘same-sex marriage’ throughout the nation despite federal law, rulings by the U.S. Supreme Court, and state constitutional amendments to the contrary,” reads the online petition.

“What we have in Attorney General Holder is a man so political in his zeal to redefine marriage that he is willing to run roughshod over the rulings of the Supreme Court, binging federal law, and the United States Constitution along with the constitutions of a majority of states,” the Rev. Bill Owens, founder and president of CAAP, said in a statement.

This comes as Holder announced on Tuesday that state attorney generals are not obligated to defend laws in their states that ban same-sex marriage if they do not believe in such legislation.

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6 Ways to Prevent an Embarrassing Ministry Scandal

Is the next generation prepared to avoid ministry scandals2/26/2014 J. Lee Grady

The recent sentencing of Dr. Yonggi Cho of South Korea is a reminder that we need a fresh commitment to integrity.

I was devastated to learn last week that South Korean megachurch pastor David Yonggi Cho was found guilty of embezzling $12 million in church funds. I was aware that the famous hero of faith was struggling with problems at his massive congregation, Yoido Full Gospel Church, which is in Seoul. Cho’s 56-year effort to build what is now the world’s largest church made him one of the most respected spiritual fathers in the Pentecostal movement.

Some American leaders knew that Cho’s problems were linked to his son Cho Hee-jun, who was also convicted and sentenced to three years in prison for his role in an elaborate stock scheme that involved millions of dollars of church money. Hee-jun was immediately jailed. Thankfully, the elder Cho will not have to serve his prison sentence (it was suspended), but he will have to pay a $4.7 million fine.

I still respect Dr. Cho. A former Buddhist, he had a dramatic conversion to Jesus and was used by the Holy Spirit to bring the gospel to a nation that for centuries was closed to Christianity. Cho remains a legend. But the events of last week serve to remind us that even the greatest spiritual giants have feet of clay, and even the biggest ministries can fall into scandal if principles of integrity are not practiced.

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Report: Entire Families Coming to Christ in Saudi Arabia

Greg Kernaghan/OM International

We’re hearing of women and whole families coming to Christ, which is significant. Normally we would know of individual men but, as the culture places such importance on the family unit, this is a major step forward.

One girl is writing hymns and posting them on the Internet. That was where she learned of Christ and has “met” workers, although she has yet to meet other Christians face to face. Two of her sisters also believe in Christ. A Bahraini across the country is gifted in playing local Arabic instruments. He puts her hymns to music and posts them on YouTube.

Media Makes a Difference

Another young girl came to Christ through media. When her parents found out, they were incensed and made attempts to marry her to a fanatical Muslim. People began to pray for her, and their prayers were answered when the wedding to this man was canceled. The family’s emotional abuse ceased, and her sister, having seen her bear up under suffering, has come to Christ.

One brother, Yazid*, was introduced to Christ through visions and dreams. Bored, he was surfing the Internet at work when the Holy Spirit spoke clearly to him to read the Injil and learn about Christ. He downloaded it and began to read the Scriptures. Every time he returned to his desk, God told him to read more. At first it was like a dark cloud, as he began at Genesis, but he read through until the Gospels when the darkness lifted and he understood.

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Russia retaliates: New report says EU’s promotion of homosexuality ignores real human rights issues

Russia retaliates New report says EU’s promotion of homosexuality ignores real human rights issuesby Hilary White, Rome Correspondent – Jan 16, 2014

MOSCOW, January 16, 2014 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Far from backing down on its national ban on homosexual propaganda, the Russian government is going on the offensive, saying the European Union’s promotion of homosexuality has led it to ignore real human rights violations, including the growth of ultra-nationalist and neo-Nazi groups.

Since the bill was signed into law, Russia has been the target of a massive international campaign, spearheaded by the European Union and homosexual campaigners at the EU, to overturn it.

A report on human rights to the EU by the Russian government, accuses the EU of “the dissemination of their neo-liberal values as a universal lifestyle for all other members of the international community.”

“This is particularly evident in their aggressive promotion of the sexual minorities’ rights,” the report said. “Attempts have been made to enforce on other countries an alien view of homosexuality and same-sex marriages as a norm of life and some kind of a natural social phenomenon that deserves support at the state level.” (more…)

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Gendercide in Britain: UK missing 1,400-4,700 girls, report finds

Gendercide in Britain UK missing 1400-4700 girls report findsby Thaddeus Baklinski  Jan 16, 2014

LONDON, January 16, 2014 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Sex-selective abortion is so common a practice among minorities in Great Britain that the nation is “missing” an estimated 1,400-4,700 girls, according to a new report.

An analysis of census data by the UK’s The Independent newspaper found that a growing imbalance in the ratio of boys to girls in some ethnic minorities points to a rise in sex-selective abortions targeting girls in these groups.

The newspaper claims that the sex ratio in certain Asian populations in the UK is so skewed toward boys that it “can only easily be explained” by sex-selective abortions.

The Independent said it looked at 2011 census data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) to investigate whether having a daughter as a first child raised the probability of a family’s second-born child being a boy.

“We found that the sex ratio of second-born children was heavily boy-biased in the families of mothers born in Pakistan and Afghanistan, and that there was some evidence of this being the case in families of mothers born in Bangladesh,” the investigators said.

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Does Fatherlessness Produce Faithless Atheists?

A Catholic psychologist says absentee fathers can damage ability to form a relationship with a heavenly father. (Sara K Flickr Creative Commons) 1/14/2014 Kimberly Winston/RNS

A once-popular book that links atheism with shoddy fathering is getting a second life with a new publisher, thanks, in part, to the rise of nonbelief in the United States.

Faith of the Fatherless: The Psychology of Atheism by Catholic psychologist Paul C.Vitz posits that “intense atheists” throughout history—Nietzsche, Voltaire and Madalyn Murray O’Hair—had absent or rotten fathers. This, he argues, damaged their ability to form a relationship with a heavenly father.

Vitz also holds that many notable believers—Renaissance man Blaise Pascal, anti-slavery activist William Wilberforce and Nazi martyr Dietrich Bonhoeffer, among others—had great relationships with their dads, and were therefore more able to build relationships with God.

“We need to understand atheism has a lot to do with our emotional attitudes towards life, other people and a lot of other things,” Vitz said from his office at the Institute for the Psychological Sciences, a Catholic graduate school in Arlington, Va. “I think that is an important thing for atheists and believers alike to take into consideration.”

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Study: Obama Helped Sway Americans in Favor of Gay Marriage; Used LGBT Terms More Than Any Other President

U.S. President Barack Obama addresses his year-end news conference in the White House briefing room in Washington, December 20, 2013.By Stoyan Zaimov, Christian Post Reporter – January 25, 2014

President Barack Obama has helped sway Americans in support of same-sex marriage, according to a newly released study by the Human Rights Campaign, which notes that he used the word “gay” 272 times in public speeches, more than any of his predecessors.

“Words matter an enormous amount, and when President Obama uses his platform to declare that LGBT people are just as American as anyone else, it has a huge and historic effect. President Obama has helped the American people get to know LGBT people on a personal level, and evidence suggests that when people know us, they don’t want to discriminate against us,” said HRC President Chad Griffin.

“President Obama has worked tirelessly to improve the lives of LGBT people, and the power of his rhetoric has been an essential part of that legacy.”

The report noted that American support for gay marriage has risen from 40 percent in 2008, when Obama took office, to 53 percent in 2013, pointing to Gallup poll statistics. It added that Obama used words like “lesbian,” “gay,” “bisexual” and “transgender” in his public statements more than former Presidents George W. Bush, Bill Clinton, George H.W. Bush and Ronald Reagan did.

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