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Police Raid Chinese House Church Faith Issues/China Aid A house church in far west China’s region of Xinjiang that has been meeting for nearly two decades has been raided by police, who took more than 70 Christians into custody. The incident happened at around 10 PM March 18th in a house church in Aral Shehri’s 12th Agricultural Division of the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps, in Aksu prefecture. The house church has been meeting for nearly 20 years, and more than 70 Christians were gathered at Pastor He Enjun’s home when suddenly more than 10 policemen and Domestic Security Protection...

Creation Museum Announces Plans to Build a Full-Size Noah's Ark Faith Issues/Christian Telegraph Mark Looy, one of the co-founders of the Creation Museum, spoke in an exclusive interview with the Christian Telegraph about the Creation Museum in USA. He also spoke about plans to build a huge, full size Noah's Ark to explain creationism and present the Gospel to those who don't believe in the Bible. Tell me a little bit about the initiative of building the Creation Museum and the influence it has on people? The Creation Museum is one of the outcrops of Answers in Genesis. Answers in...

University Stops Closing School for Christian and Jewish Holidays American Center for Law and Justice The American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ), focusing on constitutional law, today urged the president of New York's Stony Brook University to reverse a troubling decision that ends a long-standing practice of closing school in observance of major Christian and Jewish holidays. The ACLJ calls the move "an unnecessary, ill-advised change that demonstrates hostility to members of all religious faiths." "This schedule change demonstrates hostility toward religion and departs from the American tradition of the government accommodation of religious practices," said Jordan Sekulow, Executive...

George Clooney Credits Christian Aid in Sudan, Tells of Unlikely Alliance with Pat Robertson by Mark Ellis, Faith Issues/Godreports Hollywood actor George Clooney put his body on the line for Sudan when he was arrested outside the Sudanese embassy in Washington March 16th. In recent statements he also credited the efforts of Christian aid groups to provide humanitarian aid and relief to those suffering what he described as “war crimes.” On March 14th, Clooney testified before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee stating the Sudanese government was killing its people and blocking aid to the Nuba mountains and other areas. He...

Old Issues Resurface for Benedict XVI, the Last Pope before the Prophesied "Petrus Romanus" Arrives by Steve Eastman, Raiders News Network Last week ended with the death of a Pope. No, it wasn’t Benedict XVI. 88 year-old Shenouda III was the 117th Pope of the Coptic Orthodox Church of Egypt. He had been suffering from kidney disease. Benedict XVI, the 111th Roman pontiff of St. Malachy’s Prophecy of the Popes, sent his condolences Sunday. It is likely the event reminded Benedict of his own impending death. He turns 85 next month and his health has been declining. Last November Cardinal...

Real or Not Real by Emily Faggion, Broken Pieces Whole "I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me." Galatians 2:20 "No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will...

Real or Not Real by Emily Faggion, Broken Pieces Whole "I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me." Galatians 2:20 "No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will...

Iran Claims Pastor Nadarkhani Won’t Be Executed by Michael Ireland, ASSIST News Service An Iranian official has refuted claims of plans to execute imprisoned pastor Youcef Nadarkhani, who has been imprisoned for almost three years on accusations of apostasy, a crime where one disaffiliates themselves from a religion, according to Huffington post www.huffingtonpost.com . The website says the refutation came after human rights investigator Ahmed Shaheed delivered a recent report to the United Nations. The UN report, in addition to citing Iran's "striking pattern of violations of fundamental human rights guaranteed under international law" and the country's "maltreatment of prisoners,...

ObamaCare’s Abortion Funding Rule Finalized American Center for Law and Justice We told you then that not only was an Executive Order insufficient to replace a strong statutory protection like the Pitts/Stupak Amendment, but also that the language of the Executive Order itself did nothing more than set up an accounting scheme to hide the federal subsidies that would flow to abortions. Sadly, these facts have now come to fruition. HHS, under the direction of President Obama and Secretary Kathleen Sebelius has issued its final rule for implementing the state exchanges created by the ObamaCare law. These final rules include...

Atheist Professor’s Near-Death Experience in Hell Left Him Changed by Mark Ellis, FaithIssues, Godreports In some near-death experiences, people report they were drawn toward “the light.” But in this horrifying near-death experience for an atheist art professor, he was drawn into the darkness of hell, which dramatically altered the course of his life. “I was a double atheist,” says Howard Storm, who became a tenured art professor at Northern Kentucky University by age 27. “I was a know-it-all college professor, and universities are some of the most closed-minded places there are,” he notes. On the last day of a three-week...

Last Schullers Leave Crystal Cathedral Leadership by Steve Eastman, Faith Issues It was a possibility Dr. Robert Schuller may never thought of until recently. This past weekend he and his wife Arvella announced they were stepping down from the church's board. She put it this way, "We cannot continue to serve on the Board in what has become an adversarial and negative atmosphere, especially since it now seems that it will not be ending anytime soon." The two had been disputing with the board over alleged copyright infringement and back pay for services, tied to bankruptcy issues. This puts the...

Tea Party Groups Fighting IRS Assault American Center for Law and Justice The American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ), focusing on constitutional law, said it is representing nearly 20 Tea Party organizations nationwide against what appears to be a coordinated attempt by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to intimidate and silence these organizations in this election year. The ACLJ says IRS information demands sent to Tea Party groups include probing questions that violate the free speech and freedom of association rights guaranteed by the First Amendment. "This appears to be a coordinated attempt to intimidate Tea Party organizations by...

Billy Graham Evangelistic Association Cuts Jobs While Revenues Rise by Steve Eastman, Faith Issues Employees of non-profit religious organizations usually pray for donations to increase. Staff of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association (BGEA) have seen those prayers answered recently, but close to 10 percent are losing their jobs anyway. According to a statement from the association, “This in no way reflects the financial health of the organization.” The most recent records show $91.6 million coming in last year. That’s compared to $85.7 million for 2010. The statement explains that BGEA “continues seeking ways to improve our effectiveness and incorporate advances...

Australian Ethicists Argue the Right to Kill Babies After They’re Born Liberty Counsel An article entitled “After-birth abortion: Why should the baby live?” was recently published in the London-based "Journal of Medical Ethics," advocating that if abortion is allowed, then society also has the right to kill a newborn child. This outrageous deduction by Alberto Giubilini and Francesca Minerva takes abortion to its logical conclusion. The abstract states: “By showing that (1) both fetuses and newborns do not have the same moral status as actual persons, (2) the fact that both are potential persons is morally irrelevant and (3) adoption...

Remembering Wade Taylor by Steve Eastman Wade Taylor passed away February 29th after a heart attack, but it was not his first trip to heaven. Although I had probably heard of him for many years, what really got my attention was a friend who considered Wade a mentor. I valued my friend’s intimacy with the Lord and wanted to meet the man who inspired him to seek more. I had my chance in 2009. I learned Wade Taylor would be at a conference near Greensboro, North Carolina. As I journalist, I was always looking for stories that would show what...

Remembering Hilton Sutton by Steve Eastman Hilton Sutton championed a take on Bible prophecy different from most. He added an unusually positive spin to the pre-trib rapture theory, making him a favorite with the Faith Movement. The 87 year-old prophecy teacher died this past weekend. In the words of his website, “Sunday, February 26, 2012 at 9:21 PM, Dr. Hilton Sutton boldly entered the presence of the Lord whom he faithfully served for more than 65 years. He was a true Bible teacher without apology or speculation, loving mentor and father in the faith and he will be profoundly missed."...

Christian Children’s Worker Who Was Forced to Resign Loses Case by Peter Wooding, ASSIST News The London-based Christian Legal Centre expressed disappointment when an employment tribunal ruled that 57 year-old children’s worker Celestina Mba was not constructively dismissed from her job after she was forced to resign in 2010. Ms. Mba worked for almost three years at the Brightwell Children’s Home in Morden, in London, a respite home for children with disabilities including autism. She has been a Christian since she was a young girl and has never worked on a Sunday. According to the Christian Legal Centre Ms. Mba...

Oliver Stone’s Son Converts to Islam, Defends Iranian Regime by Mark Ellis, Godreports The son of controversial filmmaker Oliver Stone converted to Islam in the Iranian city of Isfahan on Valentine’s Day, then met with Iran’s leaders and declared his solidarity with their nuclear ambitions. “I am a Jewish Christian Muslim,” Sean Stone told CNN’s Piers Morgan on February 23rd. “I want to be able to understand all three religions and have a dialog with people all across the board. We don’t need to fight each other because of the book.” Sean’s father won several Academy Awards for films such...

White House and State Department Appeal for Iranian Pastor’s Life by Steve Eastman No one outside the government of Iran knows for know for sure if Youcef Nadarkhani is still alive. It’s believed his execution order has already been signed. Despite pressure from Iranian officials, the 34 year-old pastor has refused to deny Christ and “accept the prophet Muhammad as his savior." He was first detained by the Islamic regime in 2009. This week the White House released this statement: “The United States condemns in the strongest possible terms reports that Iranian authorities’ reaffirmed a death sentence for Iranian Pastor...

Christian College Challenge Abortion-Drug Mandate Alliance Defense Fund Alliance Defense Fund attorneys filed a federal lawsuit against the Obama administration Tuesday on behalf of Geneva College. The lawsuit challenges the administration’s unconstitutional mandate that religious employers provide abortifacients (along with sterilization, and contraception) at no cost to employees regardless of religious or moral objections. ADF and Geneva College officials announced the lawsuit at a press conference Tuesday. The suit is the second ADF lawsuit filed against the mandate this week. “The state shouldn’t punish people of faith for making decisions in accordance with their faith,” said ADF Senior Counsel Gregory...