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

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.

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

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

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 Ellis

 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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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 )