Newslinks 10/31/10
October 31, 2010 at 9:18 pm | Posted in Newslinks | Leave a commentTags: administration, Africa, AG, Alamo, algae, Alpha, America, Asia, assassination, ateasetees, atheist, Bible, billboard, biofuel, budget, cabinet, cartel, caste, CBO, China, Christian, church, Colorado, compromise, congressman, couple, courage, creator, Crystal Cathedral, Cuba, czar, Dallas, debt, Declaration of Independence, deficit, degree, democracy, Democrats, department, discrimination, education, election, EPA, episcopal, evangelism, evironmental justice, execution, faith, female, flag, flyer, Franklin Graham, friendly, future, God, gospel, government, grace, grass, guides, healthcare, hell, HHS, High Court, Hillary Clinton, holy, homosexual, hope, India, Iran, IRS, Islam, Israel, it gets better, Japan, Jesus, judgment, landmark, Lausanne, law, Lebanon, legal, LGBT, life, love, male, marijuana, marriage, materialism, megachurch, mercy, Mexico, Michigan, midterm, ministry, mission, money, murder, Muslim, Nancy Pelosi, National Day of Prayer, navy, Newslinks, North Carolina, Obama, Ohio, oil spill, one child, pastor, peace, prayer, pro-life, prosperity, protest, pulpit, religion, repent, salvation, Schuller, scripture, security, sin, statistics, stereotype, Tea Party, ten commandments, theologian, Tom Vilsack, trillion, truth, voter, White House, youth, zeal
Sunday’s Newslinks brought to you by At Ease Tees
Graham Festival in Japan Concludes with 1,765 Decisions for Christ
A three-day evangelistic festival in Japan headlined by U.S. preacher Franklin Graham concluded Sunday with 400 new commitments to Christ, bringing the weekend total to 1,765.
Male-Female Partnership Powerful for Mission, Says Ministry Couple
Africa is the Church of the Future, Says Lausanne Officer
Alpha – Reaching 100,000 People for Christ Without the Religion
High Court Asked to Review Scope of ‘Ministerial Exception’
Bible.com Sued for Not Being Profitable Enough
Debt Has Increased $5 Trillion Since Speaker Pelosi Vowed, ‘No New Deficit Spending’
(CNSNews.com) – Rep. Nancy Pelosi, the 60th speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, has added more to the national debt than the first 57 House speakers combined. Continue Reading Newslinks 10/31/10…
Persecution Fridays: Turkmenistan
October 29, 2010 at 9:59 pm | Posted in VOM Fridays | Leave a commentTags: addiction, ateasetees, charges, Christian, church, compromise, congregation, death, diabetes, drug, evangelism, faith, family, God, gospel, grace, health, hell, holy, hope, Ilmurad Nurliev, Islam, Jesus, judgment, law, life, Light to the World, love, mercy, murder, Muslim, pastor, peace, Pentecostal, persecution, prayer, repent, salvation, scripture, sentence, sin, swindling, ten commandments, treatment, truth, Turkmenistan, Voice of the Martyrs
For more news on what’s really happening to Christians around the world go to the Voice of the Martyrs website: www.persecution.com
Turkmenistan: Pastor Sentenced
On Oct. 21, Pastor Ilmurad Nurliev was sentenced to four years in prison after being convicted of large-scale swindling, according to Forum 18 News Service. Pastor Nurliev, who leads the Light to the World Pentecostal church in Mary, Turkmenistan, was arrested two months ago after being accused of swindling money from several people in his congregation. Pastor Nurliev’s wife and many church members have insisted that the charges were fabricated to punish the pastor for his work with the unregistered church. The court also ruled that Nurliev be treated for a drug addiction while in prison. Believers vigorously deny that Pastor Nurliev is a drug addict in need of treatment but stress that he is diabetic. Pastor Nurliev’s wife and congregation are very concerned about his health. Pray that God will protect him and that he will receive proper treatment for his diabetes. Also pray that Pastor Nurliev’s family and church members will be strengthened during this time, and pray that his sentence might be reduced.
Persecution Fridays: Iran
October 22, 2010 at 6:30 am | Posted in VOM Fridays | Leave a commentTags: abortion, America, Assize, ateasetees, believer, Bible, bold, children, Christian, church, compromise, death, evangelism, faith, Full Gospel, Gilan, God, gospel, government, grace, hell, holy, hope, Iran, Islam, Jesus, judgment, Lakan, law, life, love, marriage, martyr, mercy, money, murder, Muslim, pastor, peace, persecution, police, political, prayer, prison, Quran, repent, salvation, scripture, sin, ten commandments, thought crime, trial, truth, Youcef Nardarkhani
For more news on what’s really happening to Christians around the world go to the Voice of the Martyrs website: www.persecution.com
Iran: Pastor Sentenced to Death
Christians in Iran are reporting that Pastor Youcef Nardarkhani has been sentenced to death for what is called a “thought crime.” VOM contacts confirm that the pastor’s trial was held in recent weeks in the 11th Chamber of The Assize Court of the province of Gilan, but a formal verdict has not yet been delivered by the court.
Pastor Youcef, a leader in the Full Gospel “Church of Iran” network, is one of several members of his church who have been imprisoned. The Iranian government has also threatened his wife with life imprisonment and has threatened to take away their two children, who are currently being cared for by relatives. Pastor Youcef was arrested in October 2009 after protesting a decision by the government requiring that his son study the Quran.
Media reports suggest that Pastor Youcef was transferred to Lakan prison, which is supervised by the Political Police of the Islamic Republic. If a death sentence is officially handed down by the court and Pastor Youcef is executed, his would be the first judicial execution of a Christian in Iran in two decades.
This arrest is the latest in a series of arrests of believers in Iran in the past year. Eighty-three Christians are known to have been arrested in Iran since the beginning of 2010. Of those, 65 were subsequently released, but 18 are still believed to be in custody.
The Voice of the Martyrs stands with and supports persecuted believers in Iran. VOM encourages you to pray for Pastor Youcef, his family and other believers in prison. Ask God to protect them and to embolden them to proclaim his name in the face of great persecution.
Genesis 2:18-25
October 20, 2010 at 5:21 am | Posted in Bible Study | Leave a commentTags: abortion, Adam, America, ateasetees, beast, Bible, birds, cat, cattle, Christian, church, cling, compromise, creation, death, different, dinosaur, divorce, dog, evangelism, Eve, faith, Fall, Father, fidelity, God, gospel, grace, hell, helper, holy, homosexual, homosexuality, hope, horse, husband, image, immorality, Jesus, judgment, law, life, lifestyle, living, love, lust, marriage, mercy, military, monogamy, mother, naked, name, New Testament, pastor, peace, permanent, perverted, plain, power, prayer, procreate, pure, purity, rank, relationship, repent, rib, salvation, scripture, side, sin, speak, ten commandments, truth, unscriptural, wife, woman, Word of Faith
This week, we will take a closer look at the creation of woman. It is important to understand what happened here in Genesis because it frames the rest of the Bible. It also sets itself up as the standard for what Christians believe in the face of many of the social norms of today. Let’s look at our passage of scripture first:
Then the LORD God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone; I will make him a helper suitable for him.” Out of the ground the LORD God formed every beast of the field and every bird of the sky, and brought them to the man to see what he would call them; and whatever the man called a living creature, that was its name. The man gave names to all the cattle, and to the birds of the sky, and to every beast of the field, but for Adam there was not found a helper suitable for him. So the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and he slept; then He took one of his ribs and closed up the flesh at that place. The LORD God fashioned into a woman the rib which He had taken from the man, and brought her to the man. The man said, “This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of man.” For this reason shall a man leave his father and his mother, and be joined to his wife; and they shall become one flesh. And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed. Continue Reading Genesis 2:18-25…
Newslinks 10/17/10
October 17, 2010 at 7:44 pm | Posted in Newslinks | Leave a commentTags: abortion, abuse, African American, AIDS, alien, America, ateasetees, Bible, CAIR, Canada, Catholic, Chile, China, Christian, Christopher Hitchens, church, citizen, clinic, compensate, compromise, council, death, debate, defamation, DOMA, Don't Ask Don't Tell, embryo, evangelism, faith, farmers, freedoms, gallup, GAO, General Electric, glory, God, gospel, government, grace, healthcare, hell, HHS, holy, homosexual, homosexuality, hope, human rights, illegal, immigration, Indonesia, Iran, Islam, Islamophobia, Israel, Jesus, judgment, Lamar Smith, law, life, Liu Xiaobo, Los Angeles, love, marriage, mercy, miners, missions, money, murder, Muslim, NBC, New York City, Newslinks, Nobel, nuclear, Obama, pastor, PCUSA, peace, Peter Hitchens, Pittsburgh, pledge, prayer, pregnancy, prize, pro-life, Protestant, religious, repent, rights, Robert Gibbs, salvation, scripture, security, sin, stimulus, taxpayers, ten commandments, Texas, too big, tritium, truth, U.N., White House, worship
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Council on American-Islamic Relations Launches ‘Islamophobia’ Division
(CNSNews.com) – Spurred by the controversies over Quran-burning and the planned Ground Zero mosque, the most visible Islamic advocacy organization in the U.S. says it is launching a department to deal with “Islamophobia.” CAIR said the new “Islamophobia” department will produce an annual report tracking “trends in rhetorical attacks on Islam and Muslims,” and it will also “organize conferences, seminars, cultural exchanges, and other activities and events designed to provide opportunities for education and dialogue.”
Obama Administration Gave General Electric—Parent Company of NBC–$24.9 Million in ‘Stimulus’ Grants
(CNSNews.com) – The Obama administration gave corporate giant General Electric, the parent company of NBC, $24.9 million in grants from the $787-billion economic “stimulus” law President Barack Obama signed in February 2009, according to records posted by the administration at Recovery.gov. Despite getting $24.9 million from U.S. taxpayers, GE decreased its U.S.-based employees by 18,000 in 2009, according to the company’s 2009 annual report.
U.S. Spending At Least $18.6 Million A Day to Incarcerate Illegal Aliens
(CNSNews.com) – U.S. taxpayers are spending at least $18.6 million per day to house an estimated 300,000 to 450,000 illegal immigrants who are incarcerated and eligible for deportation from the United States, according to data from the Homeland Security and Justice Departments. The prisoners are foreign nationals who have come into the United States, committed a crime, been captured, and imprisoned. Half of the undocumented aliens who were removed from the United States in fiscal 2010 (which ended on Sept. 30) had been convicted of a crime in the United States. Continue Reading Newslinks 10/17/10…
Genesis 2:4-17
October 11, 2010 at 7:56 pm | Posted in Bible Study | Leave a commentTags: Adam, America, Assyria, ateasetees, Bible, breath, Christian, church, command, compromise, creation, cultivate, curse, Cush, Day, death, details, die, Eden, Euphrates, evangelism, Eve, evening, evil, faith, female, flood, formed, freedom, Garden, Genesis, Gihon, God, gold, good, gospel, grace, Havilah, hell, holy, hope, Israel, Jesus, judgment, knowledge, law, life, living, love, male, man, marriage, mercy, mist, money, morning, murder, night, onyx, pastor, peace, Pishon, plant, prayer, rain, repent, river, salvation, scripture, shrub, sin, study, ten commandments, Tigris, tree, truth, woman, work
This week, we continue our look at the details of the sixth day of Creation. In the second chapter of the book of Genesis, we see the seventh day (which we looked at last week). Today, we’re going to be looking at some of the specifics of the creation of man and woman:
This is the account of the heavens and the earth when they were created, in the day that the LORD God made earth and heaven. Now no shrub of the field was yet in the earth, and no plant of the field had yet sprouted, for the LORD God had not sent rain upon the earth, and there was no man to cultivate the ground. But a mist used to rise from the earth and water the whole surface of the ground. Then the LORD God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being. The LORD God planted a garden toward the east, in Eden; and there He placed the man whom He had formed. Out of the ground the LORD God caused to grow every tree that is pleasing to the sight and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Now a river flowed out of Eden to water the garden; and from there it divided and became four rivers. The name of the first is Pishon; it flows around the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold. The gold of that land is good; the bdellium and the onyx stone are there. The name of the second river is Gihon; it flows around the whole land of Cush. The name of the third river is Tigris; it flows east of Assyria. And the fourth river is the Euphrates. Then the LORD God took the man and put him into the garden of Eden to cultivate it and keep it. The LORD God commanded the man, saying, “From any tree of the garden you may eat freely; but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die.” Continue Reading Genesis 2:4-17…
Persecution Fridays: China
October 9, 2010 at 7:18 am | Posted in VOM Fridays | Leave a commentTags: America, ateasetees, Bible, building code, car, China, Christian, church, compromise, courage, death, demolished, evangelism, faith, faithfulness, God, gospel, grace, holy, homosexuality, hope, Jesus, judgment, law, life, love, marriage, mercy, money, murder, oppressor, pastor, peace, police, prayer, raid, repent, room, Russian, salvation, scripture, service, sin, Spirit, study, Taishan, ten commandments, training, truth, violation, witness
For more news on what’s really happening to Christians around the world go to the Voice of the Martyrs website: www.persecution.com
China: Christians Detained
On Sept. 21, nearly 200 police officers demolished a prayer room at Taishan Christian Church in Taizhou, Zhejiang province, citing a “building code violation,” according to China Aid Association.
After the demolition, dozens of church members held a church service and police officers tried to disperse them. A member of the church said a line of police prevented them from removing their belongings from the prayer room. This is the second such incident in less than a month. Authorities had previously raided the church on Aug. 30. “The last time they came here, they tore down six of the eight rooms,” the church’s pastor said. “About 200 people came again and surrounded the entire place. Then, they totally leveled the buildings, stating that the structures violated the building code.”
On Sept. 22, following the most recent demolition, police raided the Chen Pengyi Church in Wancheng district, Henan province, where several believers were gathered for a Bible study and training session. Police detained an American pastor and a Russian pastor as well as more than 30 attendees. One believer’s car was also confiscated.
Pray that God will continue to give these believers a steadfast spirit of courage and faithfulness amid these challenges. Pray that their witness will help awaken their oppressors to the saving knowledge of Christ, and pray that those detained will be released.
Ecumenism
October 6, 2010 at 6:30 am | Posted in Christianity | 5 CommentsTags: abortion, America, ateasetees, belief, Brahman, caste, Catholic, cause, charity, Christian, church, compromise, concept, conservative, danger, darkness, death, deity, ecumenism, egyptian, evangelical, evangelism, evil, faith, Glenn Beck, God, golden plates, good, gospel, grace, harmony, Heavenly Father, hell, Hinduism, holy, hope, illusion, India, Islam, Israel, Jesus, Jew, Joseph Smith, Judaism, judgment, karma, Kolob, law, life, light, Lincoln, Lucifer, Maroni, marriage, memorial, mercy, Messianic, money, Mormon, Muhammad, murder, Muslim, omnipotent, omnipresent, omniscient, orthodox, partnership, passion, pastor, peace, prayer, Protestant, Quran, rank, reform, reformed, reincarnation, religion, repent, salvation, scripture, sin, spirit babies, standard, suffering, ten commandments, tenet, truth, works, wrath
Everyone has a cause or number of causes that they are passionate about. We seek out others of like mind to band together and make our voices heard. Depending on the cause, we may or may not agree with everything said and we weigh the causes based on this. Recently, Glenn Beck held a rally on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial that drew 300,000 – 400,000 people. The rally was labeled as a religious one and not a political one. Among those gathered were Muslims, Mormons, Evangelicals, Catholics, and other faiths. Throughout the day, the group was encouraged to turn to God and to rule themselves. This brings me to a question that I think that the church needs to consider very carefully. Continue Reading Ecumenism…
Get the Word out! 