At a Berlin church, Muslim refugees converting in droves
By Kirsten Grieshaber September 5, 2015 BERLIN (AP) — Mohammed Ali Zonoobi bends his head as the priest pours holy water over his black hair. “Will you break away from…
Five reasons believers don’t walk in the power & authority of Christ
11/6/2014 Ché Ahn – Charisma News
- Sin. When we habitually sin, we come under Satan’s authority, and he has legal rights over us until we repent. That is why Jesus said, “‘The ruler of this world is coming, and has nothing on Me'” (John 14:30, NKJV). Jesus was without sin, so the devil could not get a foothold in His life.
James 5:16 declares, “The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.” This verse points out that authority is given to the righteous. Carlos Annacondia, an Argentine evangelist, once told me that he believes God gave him more authority when he became ruthless about his sin and the sin in his family’s life.
Along the same line, we have to be under authority before we can exercise authority. If we are rebellious toward our parents or the authority of our church, we won’t have much authority over the evil one.
- Ignorance. In Hosea 4:6, God declares, “‘My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.'” The Lord showed me that His people are being destroyed by the ignorance of their authority in Christ. Yet the Bible makes it clear that we are not powerless against the enemy.
Second Corinthians 10:3-5 states, “For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ.”
Pakistani court denies bail to Gujrat Christians accused of blasphemy
CLAAS Press Release – 3 August 2015
Gujranwala’s Anti-terrorist court has denied bail to all Christians’ bail but granted it to Muslim Zulfiqar who printed the posters.
On 1st September CLAAS lawyers Tahir Bashir appeared in the Anti-terrorist court of Gujranwala for the confirmation of bail, but the Judge, Bushra Zaman, rejected all of Christians’ bail but granted it bail to Muslim man Zulfiqar, who printed the posters in question.
These posters are said to have offended some local Muslims by using the word Rasool (Apostle) for late Pastor Fazal Masih, the founder of the Biblical Church of God.
They took this matter to the police, civil lines, where a case was registered against 14 people, including one Muslim, Zulfiqar.
How One Arab’s Hatred for Israel Turned to Love: All Things Are Possible!
Charles Gardner : Jul 16, 2015 : Israel Today
Even Christians in Egypt are encouraged to hate Jews. In writing essays, for example, the more vitriol you could express against them the higher marks you would get.
(Israel)—[Israel Today] An Egyptian church leader now based in West London has told how hatred for their ancient enemy Israel turned to love through reading the Bible. (Photo via Israel Today)
Sameh Metry leads a lively 100-strong Arabic congregation in Ealing while at the same time serving as vicar of an English-speaking church in nearby St Hugh’s, Northolt. And he showed his keyboard skills as he led a high-octane worship session during a conference in Manchester aimed at building bridges between Middle Eastern followers of Jesus.
He was born into a Coptic Orthodox family in Upper Egypt and became a born-again Christian at 15.
Muslims Who Watch This Spirit-Filled Preacher Are Turning to Christ
7/21/2015 Leading the Way
As the world responds to the latest series of Islamic extremist attacks, including a Tunisia attack that killed 30 people, one story that isn’t being covered in the media is that Muslims are turning to Christ.
Twenty-one-year-old Hafid* from Morocco believed in jihad and killing anyone who did not follow the laws of Islam.
However, his life was transformed when he started watching Leading The Way’s 24/7 satellite television channel, The Kingdom Sat. Leading The Way is a television broadcast from the ministry of Michael Youssef.
“I started comparing Islam with Christianity and found there to be a lot of contradictions between the Hadith (the prophets’ teaching) and the Quran. I studied the Bible online. I wanted to tell you that I have decided to follow Jesus.”
After receiving this message, Leading The Way’s follow-up team led him to Christ.
Megachurch Trend Sees Global Growth: World’s Largest Congregations Are Now in Africa and Asia
July 25, 2015 – Beatrice Gitau – Christian Science Monitor
While the United States may have started the trend of megachuches, a new study shows that the future of super-size congregations lies abroad.
A survey by the Leadership Network, a Christian nonprofit organization, reveals that the world’s biggest churches are not in the United States, but in Asia and Africa.
For example, the world’s largest megachurch, Yoido Full Gospel Church in Seoul, South Korea has an attendance of 480,000 people. India is now home to more Christians than at any time in its history.
According to a list compiled by the Leadership Network, attendance is high in western and eastern Africa, and at least 25 of Africa’s megachurches are in Nigeria. Lagos, the capital, ranks second in the world after Seoul, with a combined weekly attendance of 346,500 people.
WHAT A TRUE CHRISTAN REALLY LOOKS LIKE
4/29/2015 Bethany Blankley – Charisma News
It’s easy to understand why nearly all non-Christians, secularists and the media misunderstand Christianity. Today words and their definitions are nearly meaningless because the same words are used to support particular, even opposite agendas. Relativism and proof-texting are the means to this end, justifying the terms people use about themselves and others.
Division among denominations, churches, organizations, and even personalities advocating their own version of truth certainly hinders non-believers from understanding Christianity.
However, identifying real Christianity and the people of the Cross is straightforward.
Christianity is rooted in the historical person and work of Jesus Christ. Jesus’ words and actions communicate God’s unconditional, immeasurable love, expressing God’s unbending commitment to human redemption. To know Jesus is to know God; one’s belief about Jesus yields eternal consequences.
A true Christian believes Jesus is not only the Word of God but he is the key to understanding God’s revelation (John 1, 5, 8; Romans). Jesus made authoritative claims about His deity, the eternal co-existing relational nature of God, and the necessity for salvation, truth and life, all of which only He can provide. His claims got Him killed (John 10:29, 30, 8:24-27, 5:18, 3:35, 15:26, 19:10-11; Luke 2:49, 11:13; 1 John 4; 1 Pet. 1; Matt. 26:39).
Nigerian Native Christians Standing Firm against Boko Haram; Some Terror Members are Coming to Jesus
News Staff : Jul 6, 2015 : Christian Aid Mission
“In the midst of what is happening, we still thank God, because we are still alive; we are still working. If the Church is in hiding, who will know the Church? There must be missionaries who are so desperate for soul-winning that they’re ready to die.”
(Nigeria)—Far from allowing the Islamic extremist violence of Boko Haram to drive them out, native Christian workers in Nigeria’s northeast have expanded their church-planting ministry to meet the needs of displaced people. Their courage has contributed to several members of Boko Haram repenting and putting their faith in Christ.
Boko Haram rebels continue to lash out after losing ground to government forces earlier this year. Nigeria’s multinational military force, including troops and mercenaries from Chad and Cameroon, took back large swathes of territory in northeast Nigeria that Boko Haram had seized in its six-year crusade to impose sharia (Islamic law) throughout Nigeria. Despite the losses, Boko Haram has continued its campaign of terror, reportedly killing at least 2,700 people since the beginning of the year and some 300 in June alone.
UK: Muslim convert to Christianity persecuted for 19 years
July 2, 2015 – By Raymond Ibrahim
Nissar Hussain, a former Muslim from Pakistan who converted to Christianity in 1996, recently wrote a letter to his local MP recounting some of the violence, abuse, and other attacks that he and his wife and their six children have suffered at the hands of Muslims in the Bradford area where they live. Written to his MP—a Muslim, who did not respond—the letter follows:
Dear Naseem Shah MP,
Can I congratulate you on behalf of myself and family on your stunning victory and we can’t express our delight as our newly elected MP for the Ward of Manningham and wish you every success for the future. On a serious note can I express our utter misery and dire situation as Christian converts from a Mirpuri/Muslim background since 1996 [Mirpuri is a region in Pakistan].
We were forced out of our previous home after over several years of suffering as converts and in short my family and I endured ‘hell’ by my fellow Pakistani young men in the form of persecution which entailed assault, daily intimidation, criminal damage to property: smashing house windows and also 3 vehicles written off whilst the community looked on and even endorsed this. One of vehicles was torched outside my home. Despite witnessing another vehicle being rammed deliberately by a man who I knew, the Police did not even take a statement never mind an arrest. Finally after being threatened to be burnt out of my home these young men deliberately set the neighbours’ house (which was vacant) on fire in the hopes that our house would catch fire. When I had reported it to Police prior to this happening the Police sergeant’s response was: “Stop trying to be a crusader and move out!” In short the Police had wilfully failed us so as not to be labelled racists or seem to cause the Muslim community offence at our suffering and expense.
If Pastors Don’t Stand and Preach the Truth, America Will Fall
Shane Idleman – Christian Post – July 15, 2015
A paraphrase that is often attributed to Alexis De Tocqueville—a Frenchman who authored Democracy in America in the early 1800s, helps to open this letter: “I looked throughout America to find where her greatness originated. I looked for it in her harbors and on her shorelines, in her fertile fields and boundless prairies, and in her gold mines and vast world commerce, but it was not there.”
“It was not until I went to the churches of America and heard her pulpits aflame with righteousness did I understand the secret of her success. America is great because she is good, and if America ceases to be good, America will cease to be great.”
Over the last few decades, Americans have seen the destruction of the institution of marriage between a man and a woman, the removal of God’s Word in several areas, and the blatant murdering of millions of babies. This is an indictment against America and the pulpit is partially responsible – our silence speaks volumes.
The pulpit regulates the spiritual condition of God’s people which affects the nation. A lukewarm, sex-saturated culture (and church) simply reflects the lack of conviction in the pulpit as well as the pew.
Sadly, many pastors are exchanging truth for passivity, boldness for cowardliness, and conviction for comfort…they are not aflame with righteousness. We aim to be motivational speakers rather than preachers of righteousness.
Rifqa Bary details transformation from Islam to Christianity
By JoAnne Viviano – The Columbus Dispatch – May 19, 2015
A woman who said she feared for her life after she converted from Islam to Christianity as an Ohio teenager has written a book through which she hopes to inspire girls and women who are desperate for freedom.
Rifqa Bary, 22, gained national attention in 2009 when she ran away from her northeast Columbus home to Florida, saying her father had threatened to kill her.
The book Hiding in the Light: Why I Risked Everything to Leave Islam and Follow Jesus tells her story. It was released on Tuesday by the WaterBrook Press division of Penguin Random House.
“Writing this book was so painful. I wept so much reliving everything again, and my hope is to save others who read it, to shed hope and light, and that it would cause other people to see that you can leave, that there is hope,” Bary, an evangelical Christian, said on Tuesday in a telephone interview.
“Even though I’ve had so much loss in my life, I’ve experienced more joy and love than I ever dreamed of, and I found that to be in my faith in Jesus Christ.”
Power of Love: MSNBC Reporter Overcome by Charleston Crowd Singing Gospel Songs during Shooting Suspect’s Arraignment
Aimee Herd : Jun 22, 2015 : YouTube.com, MSNBC
…They’re singing a Gospel song?… and you heard from the family members …of those who were lost… You can see the outpouring of support for this community; it goes all the way down the street…”
EDITOR’S NOTE: What an incredibly powerful testimony of God’s love and forgiveness the people of Charleston are showing the world! It’s obviously having a great impact on secular media who expected the worst, and instead, found themselves covering the message of the Gospel being lived out in front of them. Thank you Charleston. -Aimee Herd, BCN.
(Charleston, SC)—While covering the arraignment for Charleston shooting suspect, Dylann Roof, MSNBC reporter Thomas Roberts suddenly choked up as he described the inspirational scene before him at a vigil which took place at the same time.
Roberts seemed astounded as he reported how the shooting victims’ family members had spoken one-by-one to the 21-year-old suspect, telling him they’d forgiven him for killing their loved ones.
Iranian Muslim Interrogator Surrenders Life to Jesus Christ Thanks To Witness of Christian Prisoner
By Leah Marieann Klett (news@gospelherald.com) Jun 09, 2015
Open Doors is encouraging Christians in Iran to be brave and continue their ministry work despite ongoing persecution. The organization is also urging Christians worldwide to pray for and support believers in Iran, and for the persecution to subside.
An Iranian interrogator known for persecuting religious minorities surrendered his life to Jesus Christ after a Christian woman locked in solitary confinement shared the Gospel with him, Open Doors USA reports.
Noushin, a house church leader in the predominantly Muslim country, was arrested for her faith and forced into solitary confinement for three days.
“I wasn’t ready to go to prison,” she told Open Doors. “I knew it was a dirty place, a place where people are tortured and locked up in solitary confinement. I was afraid that I would be so fearful that I would give up all the names of the members of house church. I even feared that I would deny my faith if they tortured me.”
China Sees an Explosive Growth In Christianity
June 14, 2015 – BreakPoint – Eric Metaxas
In 1992, Bei Cun, considered to be one of China’s leading avant-garde writers, did something that really shocked his readers and admirers: He converted to Christianity.
But given the explosive growth of Christianity in China, it shouldn’t be all that surprising.
If you haven’t heard of Bei Cun, that’s okay. Neither had I, probably because his work hasn’t been translated into English. I only learned of his story because my BreakPoint colleague and friend Roberto Rivera recently read Philip Jenkins book, “The New Faces of Christianity: Believing the Bible in the Global South,” which tells Bei’s story.
After becoming a Christian, Bei wrote what Jenkins calls a “Kafkaesque story” entitled “The Marriage of Zhang Sheng.” In it, the protagonist, a scholar, opens a Chinese-language Bible and happens upon Romans 1:18, “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men.”
The passage leaves Zhang’s “intellectual assumptions in ruins.” Bei, just like his literary creation and hopefully his readers, interprets it as pointing out “the failure of relying upon mere human ideologies that neglect God.”
As West Moves Toward Secularism and Irrelevance, Africa and Asia Embrace Christianity
By Isaiah Narciso Jun 06, 2015
Christianity’s stronghold was historically based in the United States and Europe. However, while many in the West embrace secular values at their own peril, countries in Africa and Asia have become to embrace Christianity.
According to Dr. Susan Berry of Breitbart, the church is thriving in Africa and Asia while its decline continues in the U.S. and many parts of Europe. John L. Allen Jr. of Crux reported back in October 2014 on that shift.
“[African bishops] no longer regard themselves as junior partners in Catholicism Inc.,” Allen wrote. “This time, they’re ready for the board room.”
Allen observed that when liberal German bishops tried to push their agenda, including a “more compassionate tone overall on sexual morality” and a more permissive position on “giving Communion to Catholics who divorce and remarry outside the Church,” the African bishops pushed back hard on those concepts.
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