A Free Online Resource Connects People to the Message of Jesus

3/23/2015 Steve Strang

Imagine nearly everyone in the world holding a “gospel tract” that they check several times a day.

That’s what technology provides for believers who want to share their faith. With most of the modern world referring to their mobile devices, there’s an app that tells about Jesus in a fresh, winsome way—often using the testimonies of celebrities.

It’s a website and an app called “yesHeis,” the brainchild of a wealthy British businessman with a heart for ministry.

Lord Robert Edmiston has done charitable work since the late 1980s through an amazing ministry called Christian Vision, now called CV. To spread the gospel, CV utilizes many means, including shortwave radio, which was especially effective for many years in areas that have little to no religious freedom like that in Muslim-dominated countries.

I first heard about this at an international networking meeting of business and ministry leaders. I was so impressed that I downloaded the free app and later interviewed Lord Edmiston about it.

New content is posted daily on yesHEis.com. It’s easy to find videos from celebrities like Bono who give a very clear Christian witness. Material is arranged by topic for people who have a particular interest or who is grappling with a big problem.

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Millions Watch Testimony of Jewish Believer in Yeshua

Sunday, June 07, 2015 |  Ryan Jones

An online evangelism effort by local Israeli Messianic Jews has become something of an Internet sensation over the past month after the video testimony of an Jewish man who came to faith in Yeshua (Jesus) went viral.

Mottel Baleston’s was just one of the latest in a series of video testimonies titled “I Met Messiah” produced by the Israeli Messianic group One For Israel in cooperation with Chosen People Ministries.

But Baleston’s testimony apparently touched a nerve, and by the first week of June well over five million people had viewed the brief video explanation of how he had many years earlier come to faith as a young man in Brooklyn.

Growing up, Baleeston was acquainted with a large number of Italian Catholics, leading him to believe that Jesus must be Italian. In the video he explains how “the understanding that [Yeshua is] actually Jewish was a shock. And then to hear that the New Testament was written by Jews, I couldn’t believe it. …when I open it, I’m reading a story written by Jews about Jewish people.”

What followed as a natural progression for a young man seeking spiritual truth. “As I came to faith that Yeshua – that Jesus was the Messiah, it was clear that that was the most Jewish thing I could do,” he recalled. “This is the One who was promised in our Bible.”

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Baylor University Scholars Say Reports About Imminent Death of Religion Have Been Greatly Exaggerated; Faith Is Growing, Not Dying, In America and Around the World

May 11, 2015 – Baptist News Global – Ken Camp

Conference speakers highlight statistics and trends showing that in the U.S. and around the world, faith is on the rise.

Reports about the imminent death of religion, the rise of secularization and the growth of atheism largely ignore facts or rely on faulty research, scholars from Baylor University’s Institute for Studies of Religion said during a recent conference.

Reports emphasizing the rise of “nones” and the massive flight of Millennials from organized religion greatly exaggerate — and sometimes misinterpret — hard data, said Byron Johnson, distinguished professor of the social sciences at Baylor and founding director of the Institute for Studies of Religion.

“There’s a story some people want to report — that religion is on life support — but it’s just not true,” he asserted.

Surveys that report Millennials have left the faith of their parents often really mean they have stopped attending church for a few years or identify with a nondenominational church rather than a Mainline denomination — not that they have abandoned Christianity, he said, pointing to findings from the Baylor Religion Survey.

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From Monnica to Susanna Wesley: Remembering Great Mothers In Church History

May 09, 2015 – Baptist Press – David Roach

Augustine of Hippo is known by Christians the world over for standing against heresy in the fifth century and laying a foundation for the Protestant Reformation a thousand years later.

Lesser known is the fact that Augustine might never have become a Christian if not for his mother Monnica, who prayed for his salvation for years before eventually sailing from North Africa to Italy to beg her son to attend church. He honored her wishes and was saved when he heard the Gospel under the preaching of Ambrose of Milan.

Monnica — as her name is spelled on her tomb despite commonly being rendered as “Monica” — is one of many noteworthy mothers in church history.

“Some of Christian history’s greatest preachers, theologians and missionaries owe the first fruits of their ministries not to their exegetical insights, homiletic abilities or spiritual zeal, but instead to the faithful prayers of their godly mothers,” Christian George, assistant professor of historical theology at Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, told Baptist Press in written comments. “In the lives of countless Christians throughout the ages, God has often granted second births as a result of those who gave them their first.”

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Persecuted Christians in Middle East send Powerful Salvation Letter to ISIS

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q5O6Fyl_-Bc

Bethany Blankley : May 4, 2015 : Charisma News

“Love is coming after you! …An army comes, with no tanks or soldiers. But an army of martyrs faithful unto death.

The world is talking about you. Your apocalyptic dreams and spectacular sins are now awakening the Middle East. In your holy war, come to holy ground.

Come, children of Abraham, come. The people of the cross gather at your gates with a message:

Love is coming after you!
Like a rush of wind grazing over the Pacific,
From hills of the Mount of Olives to the desert winds of Jordan,
From the cedars of Lebanon to the silk roads of the East,
An army comes. With no tanks or soldiers,
But an army of martyrs faithful unto death,
Carrying a message of life.
The People of the Cross
Come to die at your gates.
If you won’t hear our message with words,
Then we will show you with our lives
Laid down.

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Doing Church on the Streets of Baltimore

May 05, 2015 – The New York Times – Ron Nixon and Scott Shane

The Rev. Warren Savage, a former gang member, is trying to persuade members of several gangs to direct their energy away from violence. (Gabriella Demczuk for The New York Times)

For the past few days, as a rare national media spotlight has shined on this city’s troubles, the Rev. Warren Savage has taken the opportunity to meet with self-described members of the gangs that many residents blame for some of those woes: the Crips, the Bloods and the Black Guerrilla Family.

He has found them on the streets, sat down with them in churches, and talked to them about their anger and their aspirations, urging them to redirect their energy from crime and violent feuding to more productive ends — including tamping down unrest that followed the death of a young black man, Freddie Gray, who suffered fatal injuries in police custody two weeks ago.

In Ferguson, Mo., community leaders seemed unable to come together to stem the violence after the police killing of Michael Brown in August. But in Baltimore, an array of pastors, politicians, community leaders and even gang members have repeatedly taken to the streets to calm crowds, effectively helping the police impose a curfew so far.

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After Devastation and Death, Nepali Church Returns to Worship

May 06, 2015 – Baptist Press – Susie Rain

Members of a small Kathmandu church gather at an alternate place of worship one week after their building was damaged in the 7.8-magnitude earthquake in Nepal on April 25. IMB Photo

The small Nepali congregation started worship Saturday (May 2) right where they left off the previous week — singing.

Two dozen voices gained momentum, clapping hands, dancing and raising their faces to heaven in song: “Still I will love You and spread Your love to the people.”

The congregation breaks into prayer, for this is the moment when the song was interrupted by Nepal’s 7.8-magnitude earthquake a week earlier, on April 25.

They shed tears and cry in reliving the moment together: … The congregation grabbed hands and crouched against an inner wall of their fourth-floor room. Someone prayed aloud and others joined. The pastor, Rajaan Tamang*, looked up and saw the outer wall shaking. He looked over his shoulder and saw a crack form across the wall where they had sought shelter. He knew that if they didn’t get off the fourth floor, they all might die. They lurched down the stairs and gathered in the field outside. A few moments later, a building across the street crumbled and killed seven people. They were safe and together….

A lone voice gently leads the Kathmandu congregation back to the present by finishing the song: “Heaven has seen me. The cloud of testimony is surrounding me. Soak me with Your anointing power.”

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Ex-Muslim: Qur’an revealed a religion I did not like

May 1, 2015 – By Robert Spencer – Jihad Watch

Mona Walter grew up a Muslim in Somalia. When she moved to Sweden, she started studying Islam, and found that she did not like what she was learning. Now she has left Islam and is called an “Islamophobe” and worse.

What should she have done? Stayed in a religion she disliked and believed to be false so as to avoid threats and opprobrium? What should she do now? Stay silent for fear of charges of “Islamophobia” that inevitably come to everyone who dares utter a critical word about Islam and jihad?

In the West today one must like Islam, or is considered to have some kind of moral defect. One need not like Christianity or Judaism, or socialism or capitalism or democracy or communism, but one must like and respect Islam, or you will be considered to be “hateful,” “bigoted,” and “racist,” as well as “Islamophobic.”

This is one reason why AFDI and Jihad Watch are co-sponsoring the Muhammad Art Exhibit and Cartoon Contest in the Dallas area Sunday. The point is not mockery of Islam. The point is not poking religious people in the eye. The point is defending the principles of free speech and free inquiry, without which society and human beings are not free, but are slaves to the people in power. Those who wield the real power are not necessarily those who hold office. Those who wield the real power are those whom one dares not criticize, to say nothing of mocking, on pain of violent reprisal: if they’re allowed to frighten people into silence, then essentially they can do whatever they wish, knowing that no one will dare to cross them.

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Reinhard Bonnke, Evangelist Who Clashed With Muslims in Africa to Win Millions of Converts for Christ to Get Lifetime Award for Global Ministry

The Christian Post – 4 May 2015

Reinhard Bonnke, a longtime and once hardline global evangelist who clashed with Muslims in Africa to win millions of converts for Christ on the continent, is set to get a Lifetime Global Impact award at the Global Congress of Empowered21 in Jerusalem for his trailblazing ministry next month.

Bonnke will be honored alongside other veteran evangelists Morris Cerullo, Jack Hayford, Marilyn Hickey, David Manise, and Vinson Synan at the 2015 Global Congress to be held May 20-25. Empowered21 seeks to push a “Global Spirit-empowered movement throughout the world by focusing on crucial issues facing the movement and connecting generations for intergenerational blessing and impartation,” according to the organization’s website. This is the first time the organization will hand out lifetime awards.

All have served the Lord in various avenues and were chosen because they are “Spirit-empowered ministry leaders who have made a huge impact in the world. They have also shown a desire to invest in the next generation or implement a ministry succession plan,” Jeremy Burton of Empowered21 told The Christian Post.

“Reinhard Bonnke has totally dedicated himself to soul-winning for 50 years now. He has a laser-sharp focus on winning souls. Through his ministry, Christ for All Nations, over 73 million people have made registered decisions to follow Jesus Christ. To be recognized and honored by the Christian community for this service is an honor for which we give the glory to God,” a Christ for All Nations spokeswoman told CP.

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With Islamic terrorism in our backyard, can we still love the Muslims?

Dear friends & family in Christ, You may click the following link to watch a seven minute video by Rise Up Australia Party National President Daniel Nalliah titled ‘With Islamic…

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Deep Repentance & Healing as Holy Spirit touches hearts / Pastor’s healing testimony

Dear family and friends in Christ,

1) This past weekend Pastor Daniel and a team from CTFM ministered in Bendigo, VIC where there was much prayer and preparing for these meetings by the local church.  We praise God He did not let them down as the Holy Spirit moved most wonderfully touching many hearts.

Ps Daniel spoke on “Standing in the gap in Intercession” on Saturday night and “Who holds your Legal Right” on Sunday morning. At both meetings many people were healed from hurts, offences, anger and un-forgiveness, etc. as people responded to the word of God by coming to the altar, asking forgiveness and repenting publicly. Then people started going to each other and saying “I am sorry if I have offended you”. This was absolutely amazing as many were in tears hugging each other.

The first to come forward was the Pastor and his wife. We take our hats off to them both as they had the guts to stand up and say “I am sorry”. By the end of the day the Pastor of the church said, “several people in my congregation have told me that they feel so free and as if a big weight had been lifted off their shoulder.” Glory to God.

The Pastor testified, “I was having severe back pains, but praise God over night the pain has just disappeared. I thank God for my healing.”

Two weekends ago Ps Daniel ministered in Townsville & Ingham, QLD. Here too the Lord Jesus powerfully touched many lives.

2) Pr Daniel will be speaking at CTFM in Hallam at the 9:30am & 6:30pm services this Sunday 17th May.

Please note that this service will be live webcast at www.reformationharvestfire.com beginning at 10.30am (AEDT).

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In 35 Years, Majority of Christians will be in Africa & South America

4, April 2015 – DAVID MASCI  – Pew Research Center, FactTank

The global Christian population has been shifting southward for at least a century and is expected to continue to do so over the next four decades, according to new demographic projections from the Pew Research Center. Overall, the share of Christians in the world is expected to remain flat. But Europe’s share of the the world’s Christians will continue to decline while sub-Saharan Africa’s will increase dramatically.

Nearly half of the world’s Christians already reside in Africa and the Latin America-Caribbean region. By 2050, according to the Pew Research study, those two regions will be home to more than six-in-ten of the world’s followers of Jesus, with just a quarter of Christians living in Europe and North America.

This was not always the case. In 1910, for instance, Europe was home to roughly two-thirds (66%) of the world’s Christians, with North America a distant second with 15%.

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Can This Be True? 2 Million Indonesian Muslims Find Jesus Per Year

4/3/2015 Steve Strang

Amid all the news about Islam’s gains around the world, here is some startling news you’ve probably never heard: In Indonesia—the most populous Muslim nation—2 million Muslims are converting to Christianity per year. That’s right. That’s one new convert every 15 seconds. At this rate, Indonesia will be mostly Christian by 2035.

Some Muslims are so alarmed they’ve created a video on YouTube to alert other Muslims to this menace and are trying to raise $2 million to start a TV station aimed at Muslim youth to keep them in Islam.

Called “Save Maryam,” it depicts a young teen named Maryam representative of all disillusioned Muslim youth who have responded to invitations to gospel events or someone handing them a tract that says “Jesus Loves You.” Watch the 4-minute, 45-second video yourself if you don’t believe me. It’s from Muslims in their own words, alarmed at the rate of conversions to Christianity.

It ends by urging Muslims to stop this trend (thereby “Saving Maryam”) by alerting other Muslims to the threat by forwarding the video on social media.

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