Wednesday, March 2, 2016

Christian student expelled from university for quoting Bible on homosexuality




ChristianToday.com reports: “A married Christian student with four children has been expelled from his university because he wrote a post on Facebook opposing gay marriage.

Felix Ngole, aged 38, was asked to leave the University of Sheffield [UK], where he was in the second year of a Masters in social work.

He is to appeal against the decision, which came after members of the faculty decided he might have ‘caused offence’ to some people for expressing support for Kim Davis, the Kentucky clerk jailed after refusing to issue same-sex marriage licences.

In the comments on Facebook profile, which were not visible to anyone outside his circle of friends, he quoted Leviticus in support of biblical teaching on marriage and sexual ethics.
The post was brought to the attention of the faculty at Sheffield. Following a Faculty of Social Sciences ‘fitness to practise’ committee hearing, he was advised he has been ‘excluded from further study on a programme leading to a professional qualification’ and is ‘no longer recognised as a University student’.

This was because the committee believed that he ‘may have caused offence to some individuals’ and had ‘transgressed boundaries which are not deemed appropriate for someone entering the social work profession.’ His action would have an effect on his ‘ability to carry out a role as a social worker,’ the committee said…”

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China will become the most Christian nation in the world


February 25, 2016 By Chad Dou and Mark Ellis

Megachurch in China
Megachurch in China

Within 15 years, China should become the country with the most Christians in the world, according to a study.

Fenggang Yang, of Purdue University, predicts that China will reach 224 million Christians by the year 2030, as quoted in the UK Financial Times.

“By my calculations China is destined to become the largest Christian country in the world very soon,” said Yang, an expert in sociology and author of Religion in China: Survival and Revival under Communist Rule, in the UK Telegraph. “It is going to be less than a generation. Not many people are prepared for this dramatic change.”

The explosion of Christianity in China will upend the traditional Christian powerhouses of the world. In 2010, the U.S. had around 159 million Protestants, and many observers say congregations are in decline.
As part of a possible passing of the baton, China is now sending missionaries – especially to North Korea.

A6ADG3 Various Age Worshippers Celebrating Christmas Eve during Christmas Mass at Beijing Xishiku Catholic Church 2005-12-24
Celebrating Christmas Eve in Beijing

“The number of Christians is extremely underestimated (in China) intentionally because the increase of religion would reflect negatively on government officials.” said Yang.
Currently, there are about 100 million Christians in the world’s most populous nation, which eclipses the 86.7 million-strong membership of the ruling Communist party, according to the Financial Times.

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When girls get raped at 14 by tribal custom, there is an urgency for the Gospel in these remote Peruvian villages

By Mark Ellis

The Evangelista arrives at Santa Elise
The Evangelista arrives at Santa Elise

It is still warm in the early evening as Pastor Ricardo Hidalgo Rojas edges his aging, flat-bottom boat “Evangelista” into the tiny village of Santa Elise. Children crowd the banks of the Yucayali River, a tributary of the Amazon, a five-hour boat ride from Pucallpa.

Of the 350 Shipibo people inhabiting this primitive village of thatched roof, single room houses, 60 are now followers of Jesus thanks to Pastor Ricardo. In the next four days, he and a team of high school students from Laguna Beach, California will complete the construction of a simple church to accommodate the growing ranks of Shipibo believers.


Pastor Ricardo (right) with two new Shipibo pastors
Pastor Ricardo (right) with two new Shipibo pastors

The need for the Gospel is great in the smaller, more remote villages in the Amazon River basin that follow animistic tribal customs. One of those traditions includes men raping young women when they reach 14-years-old as an initiation into womanhood. In the cities, the perpetrators would get arrested for this, but these villages are beyond the reach of government laws.

Pastor Ricardo says his mother’s prayers inspired his call to this ministry. “Since I was little, she prayed, ‘God, I don’t want a place for my children in this world; I want a place for my children in your kingdom.”

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Muslim sees Jesus in dream, finds a peace beyond ‘morphine’


 Muslim sees Jesus in dream, finds a peace beyond ‘morphine’
March 1, 2016
 By Mark Ellisyazd-persian-architecture

 Husain* grew up in a region with some of the hardest spiritual ground in the world for Christianity to penetrate – yet God always finds ways to soften stony hearts and bring deeply satisfying peace to his children.
It seems this young Muslim man had become dissatisfied with Islam, according to a blog post on the Frontiers USA website. After a Christian TV program got Husain’s attention, he contacted the network for more information.

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