World’s Tallest Jesus Looms Over Poland

Soaring 36 metres towards the heavens, the Christ of Swiebodzin in Poland wears a crown of gold and, as of this weekend, has dethroned the landmark Jesus of Rio de Janeiro as the world’s tallest statue of Christ.

Pope Faces Homosexual Kiss-in Protest

Pope Benedict XVI on Sunday consecrated a world monument to family, the Sagrada Familia church, in Spain but faced a gay kiss-in protest before he attacked abortion and defended male-female marriage.

Hindu Fanatics Killing Campaign Against Christians Causes Them To Take Up Arms

Following a month  long reign of terror in the Indian state of Orissa, Christians there are not a happy bunch.

The Christians have been the subject of murders and gang rape, whilst their  homes and buildings were torched.  They decided it was time to defend themselves with arms. Even so as many as 50,000 are still forced to hide out in the jungle away from their tormentors.

As if that wasn’t bad enough, a throwback to the days of the Crusades where  persons where forced to convert to Catholicism with a sword held to their necks or forfeit their lives, Christians in Orissa are also forced to convert to Hinduism while axes are held to their throats.

FULL STORY

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• Website Allows Christians To Email Friends After Rapture 

Bush ‘May Convert To Catholicism’

First it was Tony Blair. Now President Bush may follow suit. The rumours are flying left, right and centre that President Bush may convert to Roman Catholicism from his Methodist roots.

The Independent  states that Bush was given the royal tour around the Vatican grounds by the pope instead of the usual greeting in the papal library. Also noted is the fact that President  Bush brother Jeb converted to Catholicism on marrying his wife Columba, a Mexican.

I wonder what the atheists have to say about that one.

Website Lets Christians E-mail Friends After Rapture

Christians who believe they might one day be physically swept up to heaven in the Rapture will be able to send e-mails to loved ones left behind on Earth nearly one week after the apocalyptic event takes place, thanks to a new website.

YouveBeenLeftBehind.com lets subscribers send an e-mail message to up to 62 people exactly six days after they’ve disappeared from the face of the Earth, Wired Magazine’s Threat Level reports.

The website, run by Mark Heard along with four other Christians, dispatches the e-mails when at least three staff members fail to log in for six consecutive days. Its main purpose is to give Christians one final shot at evangelism.

“You’ve Been Left Behind gives you one last opportunity to reach your lost family and friends for Christ,” states the website.

Muslim TV Channel Launches Britain’s First Interfaith Game Show

An interfaith television game show, believed to be the first in Britain, in which Buddhist, Christian, Hindu, Muslim and Sikh contestants compete against one another for cash prizes is to be broadcast weekly from the London studios of the Islam Channel from mid-June.

Pastor Confesses Porn Addiction

Pastor David Erik Jones remembers the morning he decided to reveal his pornography addiction to his church congregation at First Baptist Church in Jayton, Texas.  He knew there was a very good chance he would lose his job that day. But he also knew that his admission might bring others to face their own problems.  Either way, he was determined to tell the truth about his life.  

His congregation not only supported him, but encouraged him to continue to tell his story.  His new book entitled, My Struggle, Your Struggle: Breaking Free from Habitual Sin, details the beginnings of his battle with pornography that would find root in his childhood and follow him into marriage. 

 ”I felt that some of the members might not respect me or want me to continue as their pastor,” says Jones, “but I was willing to take that risk.  I talked about it with my family and they supported me all the way. I did believe there was a possibility that I could be asked to leave.  But I knew it was worth the risk, and I trusted God to take care of us either way.”

Islamists Burn Churches After Rescue Of Girls

Islamists under the auspices of a paramilitary force last week destroyed six churches to protest a police rescue of two teenage Christian girls kidnapped by Muslims in this Bauchi state town.

Police recovered the two Christian girls, Mary Chikwodi Okoye, 15, and Uche Edward, 14, on May 12 after Muslims in Ningi kidnapped them three weeks ago in an attempt to expand Islam by marrying them to Muslim men. Police took the two girls, who had been under foster care, to safety in southeastern Nigeria where their biological parents live.

The kidnappers had taken the girls to Wudil town in Kano state. Following the rescue of the girls, Muslims under the auspices of the Hisbah Command, a paramilitary arm of Kano state’s Sharia Commission, responsible for enforcing Islamic law, went on a rampage on Tuesday , attacking Christians and setting fire to the churches.

The destroyed churches were the Deeper Life Bible Church, St. Mary’s Catholic Church, All Souls Anglican Church, Church of Christ in Nigeria, Redeemed Christian Church of God, and the Redeemed Peoples Mission.

Joseph Abdu, pastor of Deeper Life Bible Church, told Compass that damages to his church property in the Muslim rampage of May 13 amounted to about 13 million naira – and that his congregation had shrunk to 40 people from the 130 who attended before the attack.

Abdu said the Christian foster parents of the two rescued girls, Kanayo Chukwu Osakwe and Robinson Ajolokwu Ozuagbunna, noticed the teenagers were missing three weeks ago and reported it to police and to Ningi’s Emirate Council.

“The Christian community in Ningi, having reported the matter to the police, organized a search team to search for the missing girls,” Abdu said. “Word eventually got to the search team that the girls were being held in the town of Wudil in Kano state by a Muslim leader in that town.”

The search team of Christians along with two policemen went to Wudil, only to be told that the Hisbah Command had returned the girls to Ningi to the Muslim leader of the town, the Emir of Ningi, Alhaji Muhammadu Yunusa Danyaya.

“The team returned to Ningi and confirmed that the girls were in the palace of the Muslim leader, but that they would not be released to their parents until the Emir, who was out of town, returned,” Abdu told Compass.

Kidnapping of teenage Christian girls by Muslims, the pastor said, has become a recurring practice in Ningi. Muslims have kidnapped at least 13 Christian girls in the town, Christian sources said.

“These girls are usually kidnapped, forcefully converted to Islam, and then married out to other Muslim men against the will of both the girls and their parents,” Abdu said.

Further reading – Rescue Of Girls Ignites Islamic Rampage

See other articles – Girl, 17, Killed In Iraq For Loving A British Solider

                               Saudi Arabia Women Denied Basic Human Rights

                              Ex-Muslim On The Run For Converting To Christianity

                               Turkish Wives Shot By Husbands – Part Of Culture That Denigrate Them

Admit Your Sins To The Lord, Priest Tells Gay Judge

Here’s is another interesting article in Sidney Morning Herald we came across to share with our readers.
A senior minister of a Sydney Anglican parish has made an extraordinary attack on the High Court judge Michael Kirby, warning he would face the wrath of God if he remained unrepentant as a gay man.

The rector of St Stephen’s Church in Bellevue Hill, the Reverend Richard Lane, denounced the judge for calling himself a Christian Anglican while living in an openly gay relationship and warned as a “messenger, watchman and steward of the Lord in the Anglican Church of Australia”, he faced God’s judgment.

To call himself a Christian Anglican was a “perversion of truth” and to continue to do so without changing his lifestyle would brand him, like Herod, a “coward, a liar, a deceiver” and a “lawless one”.

“I appeal to you to cast yourself on the mercy of Jesus … That is admit your sin, confess your wrongdoing and turn in humble repentance to the Lord Jesus, who alone can forgive you,” Mr Lane said.

The attack came in an exchange of letters between the priest and the judge which was cited during a forum organised by St James Institute on Tuesday night to encourage a “public conversation” about religious tolerance and homosexuality.

The letters prompted a complaint from Justice Kirby to the Anglican Archbishop of Sydney, Peter Jensen, who also asserts that homosexual practices are sinful.

“The archbishop’s injunction to me, which was quite sensible I thought, was we’ll give this person the benefit of the doubt,” Justice Kirby told the audience. “He probably thinks he’s doing you a favour and you should just see whether there is any truth in what he says, and think about it.”

Urging the judge to open himself to “God’s healing of homosexuality”, Mr Lane said Justice Kirby was a hypocrite for choosing to remain inside the church but claiming that homosexual practice “or any other sin” was in accordance with God’s will.

Mr Lane proposed circulating the written exchange with fellow clergy to ask the question: “Am I wrong?” Justice Kirby openly, gay and proud has agreed to this.

In reply he argued Mr Lane’s interpretation of biblical injunctions against homosexuality was not a universal one, and the biblical quotations used were unreliable mid-19th century translations. Mr Lane appeared to have turned a blind eye to the “central loving message of Jesus of the gospels”.

“To defy modern knowledge and to stick to uninformed interpretations is truly irrational. To do so selectively is specially so. It is a reason why the churches are losing rational adherents.”

Mr Lane declined to comment yesterday. Dr Jensen said correspondence between Mr Lane and Justice Kirby needed to be read fully and in context. “I have a long-standing personal relationship with Justice Kirby and he and I have communicated about these letters in confidence,” he said.

Christain Group Sues Google After Search Engine Refuses To Take It’s Abortion Adverts

Here’s an interesting article on the dailymail web site. It says that, “A Christian group is suing Google over the internet giant’s refusal to take its anti-abortion adverts.

The Christian Institute, a “non-denominational Christian charity”, wanted to pay Google so that whenever the word “abortion” was typed into the popular search engine, its link would appear on the side of the screen. The link would have read: “UK abortion law – news and views on abortion from the Christian Institute. http://www.christian.org.uk.”; But Google refused the advert because it said it had a policy of declining sites which mixed the issue of abortion with religious views. Its Dublin-based advertising team replied: “At this time, Google policy does not permit the advertisement of websites that contain ‘abortion and religion-related content’.”

Google does, however, accept adverts for abortion clinics, secular pro-abortion sites and secularist sites which attack religion.

The Christian Institute has now started legal proceedings against Google on the grounds that it is infringing the Equality Act 2006 by discriminating against Christian groups. It is seeking damages, costs and the permission to publish its advertisement. Mike Judge, Christian Institute spokesman, said: “For many people, Google is the doorway to the internet. “To say that religious sites with material on abortion are ‘unacceptable content’ (while) advertising pornography is ridiculous”.

Downright hypocrisy if you ask me.

Indonesia Block ‘Fitna’ Film On YouTube & MySpace

Five Indonesian internet companies have been ordered by the government to block the popular YouTube and MySpace sites to stop people watching a controversial anti-Islam film by a Dutch filmmaker.

The film was posted on the web by Geert Wider, an anti-immigration lawmaker, at the end of March. The government has said Wilders’ film “could disturb relations betwwen faiths.”

Indonesia has around 150 internet service providers and it was not immediately clear if the others would follow suit.

See previous articles – Greet Wilders Film ‘Fitna’ Posted On LeakLive.com

UPDATED – Muslim Protest Against Critic’s Film

Ex-Muslim On The Run For Converting To Christianity

Source – Gulfnews.com

Cult Members Leave Apocalypse Cave

       Had to do a little research here. Good, found it.  ‘ Take heed that no man deceive you. For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ and shall deceive many. ……….and many false prophets shall rise and shall deceive many. {Matt 24-4 & 11}.

On with the news story.

Skynews.com reports that 14 members of a Russian doomsday cult {out of 35} have emerged after 6 months  in an underground bunker {in the Penza region of central Russian}. This was a result of a landslide occurring inside the underground shelter. The group {including children} entered the cave last October awaiting the end of the world in May or April this year according to their leader. Seven left  the dugout over the weekend.

Now let me see if I understand this correctly. God through the leader predicted the end of the world in May or April. Hmmm. Apparently God did not know precisely which month beforehand it would be. Secondly, decided it was best to hide in a bunker. Again God did not know beforehand that the bunker would be prone to landslides. Thirdly then told the group to leave before they all die underground. I see.

To quote a famous line from a character on the Lenny Henry show,  ‘I DON’T THINK SO’.

Hah but that isn’t all folks. ‘The sect’s leader Pyotr Kuznetsov did not join his followers in the cave because {get this}, he told them God had different tasks for him. My, my, my, whatever could that be!!!!!!!.

Here’s how I see this. Cult leader told followers the world will end in 7 months time. Best way was to hide in a cave after you will be protected from everything above the surface. Did not join them because the poor chap DID NOT BELIEVE HIS OWN MESSAGE!!!!.

Now some may say God use the landslide to shake them out of their illusion. Apparently so, since nothing else work, even their leader fail in that attempt. Oh by the way did I  mention that Pyotr Kuznetsov is schizophrenic?. The article ends with ‘ the cult is said to be a splinter group of the Russian Orthodox Church that believes bar-codes are the work of satan.

I think the buzz word now is RFID tags.

Let’s hope the remaining 14 are alive as well.

Ex- Muslim On The Run For Converting To Christianity

This story is from an original broadcast in February from CBNNews.com.

 From the Gaza strip to neighbouring Egypt, his father is promising to kill him for becoming a believer. Now he’s on the run with his wife and little baby.

Mohammed Hijazi’s father always taught him to hate Christians. And yet Mohammed’s Christian neighbours in his home town in Egypt always treated him with love and kindness.

The more he learned about Islam, the more he began to feel distant from the “god of Islam.” That was the beginning of a quest to find out more about Jesus Christ. About 3 years ago, he found a loving father in the God of the Bible.

He wanted to publicly profess his conversion on his Egyptian national ID card that among other things, lists a person’s religion. He approached a lawyer to see if he could help him.

Somehow Hijazi’s story was leaked to the press and unleashed a fire storm of controversy that seems to have swept every major Arabic-speaking television station.

Adding fuel to the fire, Mohammed’s friends began appearing on different TV talk shows to damage his character, even going so far as to call him “disturbed.”

A few months ago, Mohammed’s highly publicized case went to court and the judge denied him the ability to change his religion from Islam to Christianity.

If Mohammed should attempt to go against the court, he could face three to 10 years in prison and a hefty fine.

Mohammed and his then pregnant wife Christina began running from the law. Just over a month ago, she gave birth to baby Miriam in hiding.

They’ve all sworn to kill her because she married a non-Muslim against the family’s wishes.

“I love my parents so much,” said Christina. “I want them to know that I am praying that the Lord will open their hearts and minds. That He would show them the way and that they would get the same blessings that I am getting.”

Mohammed’s family is just as angry. In a recent interview to the local papers, Mohammed’s father said, “I am going to try to talk to my son and convince him to return to Islam. If he refuses, I am going to kill him with my own hands.”

Shortly later, Mohammed released this response:

“I would like to send a message to my dad. I saw what you said in the newspapers. You say you want to kill me; to shed my blood in public. But I love you so much because you are my dad and because Jesus taught me to love….I accepted Jesus Christ willingly and nobody forced me….I forgive you. No matter what decision you make. No matter what you do. To my dad and mom, I say Jesus Christ died to save me.”

An Islamic council issued a Muslim edict called a “fatwa” back in 1978 that still stands today.

It condemns Mohammed and Christina to death for becoming believers.

Where does that leave their little daughter Miriam?

“I don’t think that God is asking you to make your granddaughter an orphan by killing her dad,” said Mohammed.

But under the same fatwa, Miriam will be killed anyway at the age of 10 if she does not choose Islam.

See article below and UDATED – Muslims Protest against Critic’s Film

Greert Wilders Film “Fitna” Posted On LeakLive.com

BBC News has reported on its website that Dutch MP Greet Wilders has posted his controversial film “Fitna” on the internet.

Determine to get the film out before the end of the month, Wilders’s film critical of Islam’s holy book, the Koran was posted on the video-sharing UK based website, leak-live. It was originally to be posted on Network Solutions but the site was shut down, in order to see if the film violated any terms of service.

The film, opening with verses from the Koran, shows graphic images from the London bomb attacks on July 2005 and Madrid in March 2004, including a child giving the answer what she thinks of Jews and Christians, a woman being stoned, muslims declaring the supremacy of Islam worldwide and demonstrators holding up placards saying “God bless Hitler.”

With all the noise level created about this film, there is nothing really provocative about it, just the usually insight of what Islam teaches about itself according their Koran.

Further reading – http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7317506.stm 

 Film                       http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=7d9_1206624103

See article  UPDATED – Muslims Protest Against Critic’s Film

Celebrate Because Jesus Is Alive

     As Christians around the world celebrate Resurrection Sunday, today Easter, we found this piece written by Helen Middlebrooke, a freelance writer over at Pacific Daily News.

Mom,” Audra said from the back seat, “how many days until Easter?”

I did some quick thinking and said, “Ten.” 

” Jesus rose from the dead on Easter, right?”

“That’s right.”"Then,” she said thoughtfully, “why does he have to rise again?”

“He doesn’t,” I said. “That’s the whole point. Jesus is alive. We just remember that he did it on Resurrection Sunday.”

“Oh,” she said. Then, having had enough theology for one ride, she diverted her attention to other things. But I continued thinking about her insightfulness.

Audra understood something that has mystified much of mankind for nearly 2000 years: Jesus is alive.

No other religion on earth can make that claim. Mohammed is dead. You can visit his grave. Buddha is dead; he was cremated and his ashes were distributed throughout Asia.

But Christians have no grave to visit, no bones to venerate.

All we have is an empty tomb, because the originator and object of our faith — Jesus Christ — is ALIVE!

And that makes all the difference in the world.

If Christ did not rise from the dead, the Christian faith is vain, because it rests on the fact that “Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures, and that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures. (1 Cor. 15:3-4)”

If he didn’t rise, those of us who believe in him are, as Paul pointed out, “of all men most miserable.” In other words, we would be believing in a human savior — a dead savior — who had lied about himself and the one he called his father. We would be as deluded as he apparently was.

If Christ did not rise, today is a sham. There’s no point in going to church this or any Sunday, because it will do you no good to worship a dead man. A dead man cannot answer your prayers or change your life.

But the good news is that Jesus did rise! The perfect, sinless, God-man, who died for the sins of the world, is alive, and he lives to give new life to all who believe in him.

“For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”