Christian Converts in Iran Sentenced to 80 Lashes for Drinking Communion Wine

Three Christian converts in Iran are appealing their sentences after they were charged earlier this month with "acting against national security" and consuming alcohol during Holy Communion.
 

According to World Watch Monitor, Yasser Mossayebzadeh, Saheb Fadaie and Mohammad Reza Omidi, all from Muslim backgrounds, were arrested back in May after participating in Communion and sentenced to 80 lashes. The outlet notes that non-Muslims are permitted to drink alcohol in Iran, but leaving Islam is forbidden, so any such conversions are not recognized.

Mossayebzadeh, Fadaie and Omidi have also been arrested before, according to The Christian Times. The police once raided their homes in February 2015 and confiscated Christian CDs, Bibles, laptops and other literature. Omidi was one of four Christians sentenced to 80 lashes in 2013 for drinking alcohol during Holy Communion, and could face the death penalty if convicted again.

The Christian men are appealing their convictions later this month. However, all three could face up to six years in prison, as they were also charged with "acting against national security", alongside Youcef Nadarkhani, a pastor once sentenced to death for apostasy.

WWM says the harsh sentencing of the Christians is just one example of the Iranian government's' brutal treatment of believers in the country. More than 200 Christians have been detained by Iranian authorities since 2015, and many remain in jail, while others have been released conditionally, pending sentencing or an appeal.

Iran is ranked by Open Doors USA as the ninth worst country in the world when it comes to Christian persecution. Authorities in the Shia nation are widely known for their hostility towards Christians, prompting thousands of believers to worship secretly in house churches across the country. 

At least 43 Christians were arrested in August alone, according to Middle East Concern's Rob Duncan: "The Iranian regime is conducting a very active campaign against house churches at the moment and leaders of house churches are harassed and put under pressure," he said.

Despite such persecution, the number of believers in Iran grew by a staggering 19.6 percent in 2015, and there are believed to be anywhere from 450,000 to 1 million Christians living in the country.

 

"The Islamic Republic of Iran is actually the place in the world where the Church is growing the fastest, something that would be pretty surprising to most Christians," said Todd Nettleton from The Voice of the Martyrs.

"So it is a country that has worked very hard to eliminate Christianity, and particularly to eliminate Muslim conversion to Christianity. But it's the place in the world where the Church is growing the fastest."

Source

Franklin Graham Says America is Experiencing 'Great Deception' Thanks to Hollywood, Liberal Media

Franklin Graham has warned that Americans today are living through the "Great Deception" as Hollywood and the liberal media continue to celebrate and promote sin - the consequence of which is death.
 

In a Facebook post shared on Sunday, Graham, the leader of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association and the Christian relief charity Samaritan's Purse, lamented the downward spiral of today's culture.

"In the 1930's America had The Great Depression. Now we have The Great Deception," he wrote. "Hollywood and media moguls want you to think sin is okay, even something to celebrate. It's not. Sin has a price, and the price is death--spiritual death."

The evangelist warned that God does not take sin lightly: "God is the righteous judge and the Bible says He is 'standing at the door,'" he continued. "One day 'says the Lord, Every knee shall bow to Me, and every tongue shall confess' (Romans 14:11)."

Billy Graham's son, who recently finished the last leg of his Decision America Tour in North Carolina with a crowd of over 14,200, frequently warns that the moral and spiritual trajectory of our nation will not change unless Americans elect God-fearing politicians to office.

"'If a ruler listens to falsehood, all his officials will be wicked' (Proverbs 29:12)," Graham wrote in a recent issue of Decision magazine. "When the president of the United States and those around him actively adopt and promote iniquity, then that evil becomes systemic, spreading through the courts, schools, businesses, and state and local governments, infecting virtually every level of public life."

"This is why November's elections-local, state and national-are so critical...[We] must do what we can to make our voices heard through the electoral process," he said. "We must examine the issues and the candidates and vote for those we feel best fit our Christian worldview."

He urged Christians to study the candidates' stand on important issues that affect marriage, family, the sanctity of life and religious liberty, among others, and to evaluate these based on Biblical teachings.

Graham has previously insisted he will not endorse any candidate, as he believes America's hope is in God alone.

"I have absolutely zero hope in the Democratic Party," Graham told the crowd during the Indiana leg of his "Decision America" tour. "Now, before you Republicans start high-fiving each other, I have absolutely zero hope in the Republican Party. The only hope for this country is Almighty God."

However, he has also repeatedly emphasized the need to exercise one's right to vote.
he said: "I'm grateful for those who have been steadfast in their convictions, but they are too few. Ultimately, while doing all we can this fall to fulfill our civic responsibilities, our hope must remain in Almighty God alone."

Source: The Gospel Herald Ministries

Forced Transgender Boy Quickly Returns To Normal After Removal From Mother’s Care

A seven-year-old boy has been removed from his mother’s care by the high court, after he was found to be suffering “significant emotional harm” due to his mother raising him as a girl.

The judge in the case slammed social services who had simply accepted that the boy should be treated as a girl.
The High Court judge hearing the case, Mr Justice Hayden, told the court that he believed the mother had been “absolutely convinced” that the boy “perceived himself as a girl” and was therefore determined to treat him as a girl, according to reports.

However, the boy, who cannot be named and is now living with his father, has naturally reverted to having masculine interests since leaving the care of his mother, the court heard.

Family court proceedings began about three years ago after the father raised a complaint that he was not allowed access to his son. A lower-ranking judge authorised a “wide ranging” inquiry forcing local authority social services staff to begin investigations.

Justice Hayden said “flares of concern” for the boy’s wellbeing had been raised by a “whole raft of multi-disciplinary agencies”, and that he couldn’t understand why social services had “disregarded so summarily” those concerns.

He said social services staff had “moved into wholesale acceptance that [the boy] should be regarded as a girl”. He called on council to undertake a review of the “social work response” to the case; a council spokesperson said a review was already underway.
The judge considered evidence from boy’s parents, local authority social workers and a psychologist to make his ruling.

In his ruling, Justice Hayden said that the boy’s mother “told me that [he] was ‘living in stealth’ by which was meant, she explained, that he was living life entirely as a girl.
“He dressed, at all times, like a girl and, it transpired, had been registered at a new general practitioner’s as a girl.
“I was also left in no doubt that [the mother] was absolutely convinced that [the boy] perceived himself as a girl.”

Justice Hayden added that his “overwhelming impression” was that the mother “believes herself to be to fighting for [her son’s] right to express himself as a girl”.
The woman had told him that the boy “expressed disdain for his penis”, he said, adding: “I consider that [the mother] has caused significant emotional harm to [her son] in her active determination that he should be a girl.”

Justice Hayden commented upon the fact that the boy had settled in well with his father and his father’s partner, actively choosing, with no pressure from either adult, to pursue interests typically seen as masculine.
“I have been told that [the father] and his partner were shocked when they first saw [the boy] by the extent to which he appeared to be a girl, both in appearance and in mannerism,” said the judge. “However, what is striking is how well [the boy] has settled down.
“I have noted from reports that [the boy] has become interested in Power Rangers, SpongeBob, superheroes and is constantly finding new interests … It is striking that most of [the boy’s] interests are male-oriented.

He concluded: “I am entirely satisfied, both on the basis of the reports and [the father’s] evidence at this hearing, that he has brought no pressure on [the boy] to pursue masculine interests. [The boy’s] interests and energy are entirely self-motivated.”

Source: Here

Islam originally recognized Jews as owners of Israel

Israel National News reports: “In the wake of the latest UNESCO decision, Prof. Nissim Dana of the Middle Eastern Affairs Department at Ariel University discussed in an Arutz Sheva interview the early Islamic attitude towards the connection between Jerusalem and Israel and Judaism.

Dana stated that he had investigated the early Islamic sources and had even published a book on the subject entitled To Whom Does This Land Belong?: New Insights into the Koran, revealing that Islam absolutely does not have a claim on the Land of Israel – even by its own standards – as it recognizes the Jews as the owners of this country and of Jerusalem.

Nowadays, however, he explained, Muslims seem to be following the maxim ‘Don’t confuse us with the facts’ and it is impossible to change beliefs which they have assimilated over the last few generations even by presenting them with facts from their own sources.

Dana said that ‘Islam was born in the seventh century C.E. and the Jewish Temple existed many years before that so that it is impossible to mistake those historical facts. Hundreds of years before Islam there was a connection between Jews and Jerusalem.’…”

Source: JVIM

Hamas: The unity of ‘Palestine’ is holy

Israel National News reports: “Mahmoud Al-Zahar, a senior official in the political branch of Hamas, said at an Islamic Jihad event on Friday in Gaza that Hamas would extend its hand to anyone who helps to ‘liberate Palestine.’
‘We will not accept compromise or any international conception, unless it serves the Palestinian interest,’ he said.
In an apparent appropriation, for the purposes of Palestinian ideology, of the Jewish belief in the sanctity of the entire Land of Israel, Al-Zahar erased Israel from the map in his address, and referred to its geographical space as the Arab land of ‘Palestine.’
‘We emphasize the unity of the land, the people, the struggle, and the history, and we do not recognize the terminology of ‘The [West] Bank and Gaza’ as an expression of Palestine; rather Palestine borders on Lebanon and Egypt, and extends from the [Jordan] River to the [Mediterranean] Sea,’ Zahar said, adding that the unity of the land was holy, permanent and unchanging…”

Source: JVIM