CBN on the Frontlines: ISIS Launches Gas Attack in Iraq

SINJAR, Northern Iraq -- The Iraqi Kurds have been fighting for almost two years to push the Islamic State out of northern Iraq. Recently they retook the city of Sinjar near the Syrian border in a bid to cut off ISIS supply lines to Mosul
But ISIS is fighting back, launching a chemical weapons attack against the Kurdish Peshmerga.

On Thursday, the jihadist army fired 19 chemical rockets into the front-line positions of Sinjar. Over 100 people - mostly Peshmerga - were sickened.
"This is why we can not come back," one man said. "ISIS is still close enough to kill us in many ways. And now they are using chemical weapons. Please help us push them back far away, please stop them."


Eliya, Karen FBR Medic helps Kurdish chemical casualty in Sinjar, Feb. 25. Chuck Holton, CBN News.

When the Islamic State pushed into northern Iraq in 2014, most of the ethnic Yazidi residents of the area were forced to flee. In November 2015, Kurdish Peshmerga forces were able to recapture a portion of what they'd lost, including Sinjar, a city that was once home to half a million people.

Continued: CBN News

'Risen’ Movie Raises Old Hollywood Trope — Unbeliever Meets Jesus

“Faithful Viewer” is an occasional feature in which RNS reporters plumb religion and spirituality in film, television, books, music and other forms of popular culture.

An unbeliever in the midst of an existential crisis meets Jesus and has a conversion experience. High-mindedness — not high jinks — ensues.

Audiences have seen this old Hollywood trope before: in “Quo Vadis,” (1951),  “The Robe,” (1953), “Ben Hur” (1959). And now in “Risen,” opening Friday (Feb. 19), a month before Easter.
And while a lot has changed in the nearly seven decades since the first of these “come to Jesus” movies, the core plot mechanism of “he-of-little-faith meeting the ultimate man of faith” remains.
Why the resurrection of such an old narrative device, minus the sequined costumes, wigs and Max Factor makeup, which have been replaced by whips, scourges and buckets of blood (thanks, Mel Gibson and “The Passion of the Christ”!)?

“I think the idea of being carried through the narrative of Christ, from his Crucifixion to the Resurrection and the Ascension, through the eyes of nonbeliever allows us to come at this from a soft angle,” said Joseph Fiennes, the British actor who plays unbeliever Clavius in “Risen.” “Clavius represents the everyman. We’re all on a hunt, theological or not. We’re all on some form of investigation or discovery.”

In “Risen,” Clavius is a high-ranking Roman soldier who, as the right-hand man of Pontius Pilate (an excellent Peter Firth), has a front-row seat at the Crucifixion. With his own eyes he sees Jesus dead and buried in a sealed tomb. So when the body is missing and reports of Jesus sightings come in, Clavius turns into the most skeptical of detectives, looking for the corpse.

Instead (SPOILER ALERT!) , he encounters a very much alive, very jolly Jesus (“Yeshua,” in this film, played by Cliff Curtis). From there, let’s just say Clavius makes some changes in his life.
The end.

Source

If 'The Bachelor' is a Strong Christian, Why is His Faith Hidden on the Show?

Ben Higgins is the most famous software salesman in America. The six-foot-five graduate of Indiana University loves children and the Chicago Cubs. He also stars on this season's The Bachelor. And he is a strong evangelical Christian.

 

You wouldn't know the last fact from watching the show, however. 

 

According to Slate's Ruth Graham, Higgins makes his faith clear—he blogs about Jesus, quotes Christians on his Instagram, and wears a tattoo of Proverbs 16:3. But the show's producers blur or minimize his commitment to Christ, so viewers get only a glimpse of generic religion as they follow his story. And they don't know that Ben plans to abstain from sex until he is married. 

 

Why is his faith so secret on the show? I could not find any information about the personal faith of Mike Fleiss, the show's producer. But his goal for The Bachelor is clear: to attract as many viewers as possible. Fleiss says the average Bachelor sleeps with three women each season. This is clearly part of the show's allure. 

 

Unfortunately, biblical morality doesn't draw an audience.

 

Continued.

How 'Miracles from Heaven' Transformed Jennifer Garner

Actress Jennifer Garner says her life was transformed while working on an upcoming movie called "Miracles from Heaven."

The movie tells the true story of Annabel Beam, a little girl with an incurable digestive disease, and the faith struggles of her parents as they dealt with the devastating impact on their daughter.
But as the title and trailer for the film reveal, something truly amazing happens, healing little Annabel.

Garner told CBN News that after she met Christy Beam, the mother of Annabel, Beam's faith had a profound impact on her personally.

And while preparing for the role, Garner wanted confirmation of Annabel's healing from the doctor who worked with Annabel.

Garner told CBN News the doctor confirmed to her that the little girl's amazing healing could truly be described as a miracle.

Through that series of events, and during the making of the film, God touched Garner's heart. She told an audience at T.D. Jakes' church The Potter's House that the Beam family's faith was a big part of that transformation.

CBN News Reporter Efrem Graham confirms, Garner was clearly engaged in Sunday worship during a visit to The Potter's House.

Garner says she has been taking her own daughters with her as she has started going back to church.
Those comments came during a question and answer session with members of The Potter's House, following a private screening of the film.

Source: CBN News

 

Radical Canadian Imam: ‘Rome Will Be Conquered’

 

 

A radical Canadian imam called for Muslims to “look forward” as “Rome will be conquered,” in a Friday sermon posted on the Internet on Feb. 16 and translated by the Middle East Monitoring Research Institute (MEMRI).

“The prophecies of the Prophet Muhammad came true. But some prophecies have not come true yet. Look forward to it, because the Prophet Muhammad said that Rome would be conquered! It will be conquered,” preached Imam Shaban Sherif Mady.

Mady, based in Edmonton, also spoke of restoring the “rightly-guided” Islamic Caliphate.
His reference to conquering Rome mirrors a similar call by Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.
“This is my advice to you. If you hold to it you will conquer Rome and own the world, if Allah wills,” Baghdadi preached in an attempt to garner more recruits to ISIS.
Mady’s Facebook page reveals the extent of his radicalism, boasting a cover photo featuring Muslim Brotherhood leaders including ousted Egyptian President Mohammad Morsi and Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan.




In one photo, Mady is shown signalling the infamous Muslim Brotherhood four-fingered salute.
On Tuesday, Mady shared a Hamas propaganda video on his Facebook page depicting terrorists sniping and killing Israeli soldiers, issuing threats to Israelis in Hebrew and Arabic. Mady captioned the video by writing: “Qassam (Hamas’ terrorist wing), the earth’s best soldiers.”

For more, see here.

North Korea Threatens ‘U.S. Mainland’ in Response to Largest-Ever Joint Drill on Borde

Breitbart.com reports: “‘The doom of the U.S. has been sealed.’ So reads a statement on North Korea’s official state media outlet, warning Pyongyang will attack the ‘U.S. Mainland’ if American and South Korean forces complete a military drill simulating the collapse of the Kim Jong-un regime in March.

‘All the service personnel and people of the DPRK are ready to immediately and mercilessly punish without slightest leniency, tolerance and patience anyone provoking the dignified supreme headquarters even a bit,’ a statement at the Korean Central News Agency’s (KCNA) website read Tuesday, in response to the news that the United States and South Korea are preparing for a military drill that will have 300,000 soldiers simulating an invasion of North Korea. Pyongyang did not limit their rhetoric to vague proposals for attacking both countries, instead highlighting specifically what their first and second targets of attack will be should the military drill occur.

‘Our primary target is the Chongwadae [the residence and office of South Korea’s president], the centre for hatching plots for confrontation with the fellow countrymen in the north, and reactionary ruling machines,’ the statement read. ‘The U.S. imperialist aggressor forces’ bases for invading the DPRK in the Asia-Pacific region and the U.S. mainland are its second striking target,’ it adds.
‘The U.S. is fated to be punished and perish in the flames due to the DPRK’s deadly strikes,’ the statement concludes…”

For more see, here. ( Via www.jvim.com )

The Bible and the New Flat Earth Theory

As you will see in the following video, the Bible talks about the Earth as being flat and stationary.
It is not revolving around the Sun and it does not look like a globe.

Before starting to think that I am losing it, I want you to humor me and entertain the possibility that there may be some truth to that.

When I first heard of this, I thought the same thing as many of you are thinking right now: this a stupid conspiracy, it is lunacy, it is pure rubbish.

So, as a Bible believing Christian, I decided to see for myself what it says in the word of God.
That is how I ran into Rob Skiba and his testingtheglobe.com site where the following video is from.

Duke Students Boycott 'Pornographic' Reading Assignment

A group of students at Duke University have refused to read a book assigned to all new students, saying the graphic novel's depictions of sexuality "compromised" their religious beliefs.

Fun Home was selected as "shared experience" reading for the Class of 2019 at the North Carolina university.

The novel is an autobiography of Alison Bechdel, a lesbian, whose father was a closeted gay man.

But some have taken issue with the novel's depiction of sex and nudity.

"I feel as if I would have to compromise my personal Christian moral beliefs to read it," student Brian Grasso wrote in a post to fellow students on Facebook.

Other students called the graphic novel, which inspired a Tony-winning musical, "pornographic".

The debate comes as US universities continue to grapple with students who disagree with assignments or lectures because of their religious or political beliefs.

Some activists have pushed for universities to use "trigger warnings" to alert students about provocative content.

Duke's Vice President for Public Affairs and Government Relations Michael Schoenfeld said the assignment is voluntary and the book was selected by a panel of students and staff members.

"Fun Home was ultimately chosen because it is a unique and moving book that transcends genres and explores issues that students are likely to confront," Mr Schoenfeld told the Daily Dot website. But he added that "with a class of 1,750 new students from around the world, it would be impossible to find a single book that that did not challenge someone's way of thinking".

Source

Flooding, Landslides Hit Vast Area of Burma; Christians Denied Aid

Many villagers in Burma are still afloat in boats ferrying vital supplies for survival amid floodwaters, while others are returning to homes and fields sealed in mud. 

The recent flooding has caused damage across a wider area than 2008's Cyclone Nargis, which killed more than 140,000 people and is regarded as the worst natural disaster in Burma's recorded history. 

"Despite Cyclone Nargis being the worse disaster ever in the nation, it was a localized event in that it only affected the Irrawaddy Delta," said the native director of a ministry based in Burma, David (surname withheld for security reasons). "There is a different face to this flood in that it is spread out almost across the entire western half of the nation. It covers three of the four regions known as the 'rice bowl' of Myanmar." 

Unlike Nargis, the flood from rains beginning in July has been gradual, giving residents time to escape, he said. At least 103 people have died. 

"There are surprisingly low casualties, but huge damage to farmland and animals and properties," he said. 

More monsoon rains are expected, and landslides continue to cut transportation routes and crush homes. Familiar with the submerged terrain and its inhabitants, indigenous missionaries sharing in their pain are in prime position to help. 

"Many of the worst affected regions are where we have worked for the past nine years," David said. "I know the region well, and several of the churches planted are in those areas. In one of our sister congregations, we have 28 families who lost their home either in part or whole." 

Heavy monsoon downpours began swelling rivers and creeks in Burma on July 16. A storm system in the Indian Ocean on July 30 was upgraded to a cyclone – a hurricane in the northern Indian Ocean – and dubbed Komen. Cyclone Komen tore into Burma the first week of August. Some 1.2 million acres of rice fields were destroyed as flooding hit all but two of Burma's 14 states and reportedly destroyed at least 17,000 homes. So far flooding has "critically affected" more than 1 million people, according to the United Nations, which in 2008 said Cyclone Nargis had "severely affected" 1.5 million people. 

Continued, here.

ISIS Enshrines a Theology of Rape

QADIYA, Iraq — In the moments before he raped the 12-year-old girl, the Islamic State fighter took the time to explain that what he was about to do was not a sin. Because the preteen girl practiced a religion other than Islam, the Quran not only gave him the right to rape her — it condoned and encouraged it, he insisted.

He bound her hands and gagged her. Then he knelt beside the bed and prostrated himself in prayer before getting on top of her.

When it was over, he knelt to pray again, bookending the rape with acts of religious devotion.

“I kept telling him it hurts — please stop,” said the girl, whose body is so small an adult could circle her waist with two hands. “He told me that according to Islam he is allowed to rape an unbeliever. He said that by raping me, he is drawing closer to God,” she said in an interview alongside her family in a refugee camp here, to which she escaped after 11 months of captivity.

The systematic rape of women and girls from the Yazidi religious minority has become deeply enmeshed in the organization and the radical theology of the Islamic State in the year since the group announced it was reviving slavery as an institution. Interviews with 21 women and girls who recently escaped the Islamic State, as well as an examination of the group’s official communications, illuminate how the practice has been enshrined in the group’s core tenets.

Continued