* TURKEY’S CHRISTIANS EMBOLDENED BY MARTYRDOM

* FAITH BASED ORGANISATIONS PLAN LONG TERM RECOVERY FOR
HAITI

* CHRISTIAN POPULATION IN IRAQ GREATLY DIMINISHED

* NEW PROGRAM TO PUT CHAPLAINS IN BRITISH PUBS

* LANDMARK RULING LEAVES CHRISTIANS WITH NO RIGHT TO
CONSCIENTIOUS OBJECTION

* SECULARISTS ATTEMPT TO OUTLAW PRAYERS AT LOCAL COUNCIL
MEETINGS

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TURKEY’S CHRISTIANS EMBOLDENED BY MARTYRDOM
Three years ago, the slaying of three Christians in Turkey, led
many believers to think that the murders would stop the gospel in the
Muslim nation. The Malatya incident was the most tragic and brutal
murder of Christians in modern-day Turkey. Tilman Geske, Necati
Aydin and Ugur Yuksel were tortured and stabbed to death, their
throats slit. Five suspects were put on trial. Pastor Carlos Madrigal
says many Turkish believers have received threats over the years, but
they never expected to see such an act of violence against fellow
believers.
But a small Christian community has worked to ensure that doesn ¢â‚¬â„¢t
happen. They are much more aware of the risks of being Christian in a
Muslim-dominated society. People today are taking their faith more
seriously which is helping to purify the church in Turkey.
Originally from Spain, Pastor Madrigal fought with the Turkish
government for years to win recognition for his church which was
finally granted registration in 2001. Most people who come to
Madrigal ¢â‚¬â„¢s church, are former Muslims. There are only about 5,000
Christians in Turkey in a nation of 70 million people.
Christian evangelists risk their lives to share their faith in
Turkey. Former Muslim Murat Aydin almost died while meeting with a
young Muslim soldier named Yasin Karasu. Karasu said he wanted to
know more about Jesus. But when they met at a church to study the
Bible Karasu put a knife to Aydin ¢â‚¬â„¢s throat. He dragged him into the
street threatening to kill him. He said  ¢â‚¬ËœThis man is a traitor. He ¢â‚¬â„¢s
a missionary dog and we ¢â‚¬â„¢re not going to allow him to do this stuff
and we ¢â‚¬â„¢re going to stop him. ¢â‚¬â„¢ Karasu finished up dropping the knife
and was arrested and sent to prison.
Another evangelist named Ali was an alcoholic. He was an abusive
husband and father. But all that changed when he joined some friends
on the Muslim pilgrimage to Mecca. That ¢â‚¬â„¢s where Ali had an encounter
with Jesus in a dream. After that, he set aside the alcohol and
started treating his family and others with respect. He eventually
started a church in Ankara right next to a mosque. He met a young
Muslim who was seeking to learn more about Christianity.
After about a month of prayer and instruction, the young Muslim put a
gun to Ali ¢â‚¬â„¢s head but started to wonder if he would go to Hell if he
pulled the trigger.  ¢â‚¬Å“I feel at that time, the Holy Spirit began to
settle upon him, ¢â‚¬  Ali said.  ¢â‚¬Å“I believe that the fact he did not kill
me comes from the seed of God ¢â‚¬â„¢s Word entering into his heart. ¢â‚¬  The
young assailant threw down the gun and ran. He ¢â‚¬â„¢s since accepted
Christ into his life. Ali and his family have received many threats
over the years, but he insists he won ¢â‚¬â„¢t stop.
So three years after the Malatya murders, Christians like Ali, Aydin
and Madrigal are boldly helping to move the Turkish church forward.
 ¢â‚¬Å“People are coming again to the church as they used to before, two
or three years ago with a renewed thirst for Christ, ¢â‚¬  Madrigal said.
 ¢â‚¬Å“I believe that the seeds planted through the martyrs will bring
great fruit in this country. ¢â‚¬  Pastor Madrigal asks Christians around
the world to pray for Turkey ¢â‚¬â„¢s small body of believers.
Source: Intercessors
Network

———————————————–

FAITH BASED ORGANISATIONS PLAN LONG TERM RECOVERY FOR HAITI
Haitian’s are rising above the devastating outcomes of the January
earthquake as faith based organizations work to assist those impacted
by the crisis, The earthquake claimed the lives of thousands and made
more than three million people homeless, hungry, and
unemployed. Faith organisations have committed to serve the quake ¢â‚¬â„¢s
victims, until the country is on its feet. In one community near
Port-au-Prince, an additional 900 transitional shelters for
earthquake survivors are being built. The shelters are earthquake
resistant and will provide safe housing for earthquake victims.

The shelters will be able to be added to in the future as the
family ¢â‚¬â„¢s needs and income allow. Work will soon begin on an
additional 720 permanent homes to replace those severely damaged or
destroyed by the disaster. The Episcopal Relief and Development (ERD)
have distributed more than 217 tons of food, including rice, beans,
pasta, sugar, canned milk, oatmeal, and much more. It continues to
provide daily meals for more than 800 people. The Church of the
Dominican Republic also assists by bringing in two truckloads
of supplies into Haiti each week.
ERD and its partners have secured clean water for the residents
of twelve communities. Pumps and cisterns have been repaired and are
now a reliable source of water. The ERD has also delivered water
purification systems to twelve communities throughout Haiti. Their
next goals include, cash-for-work programs for Haitians the
rebuilding of local infrastructure, construction of permanent
sanitation systems, provision of housing and shelter to those who
lost their homes to the quake, and stress and trauma counselling for
volunteers and those affected by the quake.
Roy Winter, from the Church of the Brethren said  ¢â‚¬Å“It is very evident
God is at work providing just what is needed” The Church of the
Brethren has set up feeding programs at six locations in
Port-au-Prince. Through these feeding programs, a daily hot meal is
made available to school children. About 20,000 meals have been
served in total. In March, Church of the Brethren built shelters
primarily for Brethren families. Church of the Brethren is also
distributing Kits which have critical supplies that enable families
to prepare their own food and take care of other needs.
In an address to a select audience of heads of state including the
Prime Minister of Spain, and other distinguished guests at the
National Prayer Breakfast in Washington, DC, President Barack Obama
praised the relief efforts launched by different religious
communities in Haiti. Obama said. “It’s inspiring. This is what we
do, as Americans, in times of trouble. We unite, recognizing that
such crises call on all of us to act … recognizing that life’s most
sacred responsibility is to sacrifice something of ourselves for a
person in need,” Obama said.
Source: Lutheran World
Federation

———————————————–

CHRISTIAN POPULATION IN IRAQ GREATLY DIMINISHED
Iraq’s census in 1987 counted 1.4 million indigenous Assyrian and
Chaldean Christians. As Islamic zeal and Arab nationalism rose in the
wake of Gulf War 1 (1991), Christians with means emigrated. By the
time of the March 2003 US invasion, the Christian population of Iraq
was estimated to be between 800,000 and 1.2 million. Today, after 7
years of war, sectarian conflict, and terrorism, a remnant of around
400,000 Christians remain. The Shi’ite south has been virtually
“cleansed” of Christians and few remain in the Sunni-dominated
centre.
Those displaced have mostly fled to the Assyrian homeland of the
Nineveh Plains in Northern Iraq. According to a new report from the
UN, the total number of internally displaced people in Mosul,
Nineveh, is 5,196 people as of 4 March 2010. However, the north of
Iraq is not secure either. The Nineveh Plains is a fault-line region
hotly-contested by Arabs and Kurds. Furthermore, terrorism targeting
Mosul’s churches and Christians has escalated ever since the US surge
forced al-Qaeda elements out of the central provinces of Anbar,
Baghdad and Diyala to relocate north.The BBC has described the
systematic persecution of Iraq’s religious minorities as “a campaign
of liquidation”.
Chaldean Catholic Archbishop Louis Sako, of Kirkuk in Northern Iraq,
contends that “200,000 Christians have fled Mosul alone, in fear of
their lives, and 1,000 have been murdered. And as the BBC notes:
“It’s not just Christians who suffer. Both Mandaeans, who speak
Aramaic  ¢â‚¬“ the language of Christ  ¢â‚¬“ and the Yazidis, goldsmiths with a
history going back further than Christianity or Islam, are fast
disappearing, too.
‘Does nobody care about what is going on here?’ asks Archbishop
Sako.” While Christians continue to flee Iraq, those who remain
report being harassed and intimidated with threatening phone calls
and letters. Many Christian women have taking wearing hijab to hide
their Christian identity. Despite the pleas of church leaders, Iraqi
Christian refugees are reluctant to return. One Christian refugee
said “It’s…impossible to turn back to Iraq. Our problem is not with
the Iraqi government. Our problem is with Iraqi people ¢â‚¬ ¦who want to
kill all the Christians.”
Source: Religious Liberty
Monitoring

———————————————–

NEW PROGRAM TO PUT CHAPLAINS IN BRITISH PUBS
Most British people do not expect to see at a pastor at a bar. But
for one city that’s about to change. Chuck Kish, a senior pastor at
the Bethel Assembly of God, is launching a program at the Market
Cross Pub to put chaplains in bars. Kish said he and the chaplains
will not be there to preach against what he called “the evils of
drinking.” Neither will they be there, he said, to evangelize. “We’re
simply going to be there to help anybody who wants it. Sometimes
people really just want somebody they can talk to who is not going to
be judgmental, but be sympathetic,”
Kish said “Some people may think this would be a strangeplace to find
a chaplain. But we need to go where the people are.”Kish said
chaplains will work in teams, one male and one female. He said he
believes that putting chaplains where people’s lives are under stress
can help.”Sometimes, just having a chaplain present can de-escalate
things,” he said.”Sometimes people come to a bar because they’re
really hurting about something. Bartenders and the owners are pretty
good about reading their customers, some of whom they’ve known for
years.”
“So on the first Friday of every month, from 9.00PM to midnight, we
plan to be here so somebody can say,  ¢â‚¬ËœYou know, there’s a chaplain
over there. Maybe you’d like to talk to him ¢â‚¬”or her.’ Kish is
reportedly starting out in one location to get a feel for what works
and what doesn’t. He then plans to expand the program to other venues
in the Carlisle region. Market Cross Pub owner Jeff Goss said he did
a “doubletake” when Kish approached him with the idea.
“I thought,  ¢â‚¬Ëœa chaplain in a restaurant and bar?’ And then I thought,
 ¢â‚¬Ëœthat makes sense,’ he said. “I have a lot of regulars, and they’ve
all probably had some tough times now and then.” Sometimes a bar is a
place where people go when they’re down. You can usually feel people
out, especially regulars.” Kish said, “You know, I’m not going to be
walking around getting into people’s spaces, handing out religious
tracts. It’s not that kind of operation. I’ll be there if people want
to talk to me. I’m there to help. We’ll be looking for people who are
over the edge.”
Source: Assist
News

———————————————–

LANDMARK RULING LEAVES CHRISTIANS WITH NO RIGHT TO CONSCIENTIOUS OBJECTION
A marriage guidance counsellor’s bid to appeal his sacking for
refusing to give sex therapy to homosexuals has been refused. In
dismissing the application to appeal, Lord Justice Laws ruled that
Christian beliefs have no place in the law and no right to protection
by the courts. Lord Justice Laws said that Britain would become a
religious dictatorship if the views of one faith were given a
priority over others in legal matters. The appeal judge told
relationship counsellor Gary McFarlane, that he had no right to
refuse to give sex therapy to homosexual couples.
Mr McFarlane said the ruling left him “disappointed and upset.”
“There should be allowances made whereby individuals like me can
actually avoid having to contradict their very strongly-held
Christian principles.” Andrea Williams, director of the Christian
Legal Centre, said: “Mr McFarlane simply wanted his religious beliefs
to be accommodated by his employer. “It seems that a religious bar
has been created, with Christians who wish to act on their Christian
beliefs no longer able to work in a great number of environments.”

Former Bishop of Rochester the Right Reverend Michael Nazir-Ali, said
the judgment allowed no room for people to act according to their
conscience. He told the BBC: ‘I think if we reach a stage where there
was a kind of tyranny of legislation without conscience it would be a
very sorry stage.’ Other Christians have run into trouble with the
courts or their employers when they stood up for their beliefs, but
some Muslims have fared better.”
Source: UK
Telegraph

———————————————–

SECULARISTS ATTEMPT TO OUTLAW PRAYERS AT LOCAL COUNCIL MEETINGS
Atheists are seeking to prevent local councils praying before
meetings arguing that it infringes the ‘human rights’ of
non-believers. The National Secular Society (NSS) is using
Bideford Council as a test case seeking a judicial review of the
practice. The NSS argues prayers breach the Human Rights Act which
guarantees freedom of thought, conscience and religion for
non-believers. The NSS said  ¢â‚¬Å“We are not interfering with councillors
freedom to manifest their religion. They are as able to go to church
or pray at home as anybody else.
Mike Judge from the Christian Institute says:  ¢â‚¬Å“In no way does holding
prayer discriminate against anybody. Nobody is obliged to take part
and nobody is obliged to listen to them.  ¢â‚¬Å“They are trying to go
through the courts in the hope that this will encourage town councils
to abolish these prayers, abolish a part of our national heritage.”
If the test case succeeds, Christian prayers – or those of any faith
– would become illegal at thousands of councils across Britain.

Source: Premier Christian
News

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