HO CHI MINH CITY, March 19 (Compass) — In what may be a small breakthrough for religious liberty, Vietnam’s religion authorities invited five leaders of Protestant house church organizations and non-denominational missions to Hanoi for “informal talks†in early March.
Miami (Compass – August 18, 2003) — In late April, Haiti’s President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, a former Catholic priest, declared voodoo an officially recognized religion. The decision means, among other things, that marriage ceremonies conducted by voodoo priests now have equal standing with Catholic ones.
WASHINGTON (BP)–Threatened by fines, residents of a small town in Indiana say they were forced to remove a monument displaying the Ten Commandments from the lawn of the local courthouse after a federal judge ruled on behalf of the state’s civil liberties union.
ACKSON, Miss. (BP)–Where there’s a will, there’s a way.
At least, that’s what the Mississippi Baptist Convention’s youth ministry team believes when it comes to getting the Ten Commandments into schools across the state.
PUNTA GORDA, FLORIDA (ANS) — Churches and Christian relief organizations stepped up efforts Monday, August 16, to prevent an outbreak of disease among over one million Americans, who were left without power and proper sanitation after Florida’s fiercest hurricane in 12 years, which killed at least 16 people.
LONDON (Compass) — Following last October’s bombing of a Bali nightclub, Christians and churches have made an effort to unite in their response to the tragedy.
ORLANDO, FL (ANS) — William R. “Bill” Bright, founder of Campus Crusade for Christ, the world’s largest Christian ministry, died July 19 from complications related to pulmonary fibrosis. He was 81, according to a news release from DeMossNewsPond.com.
Washington, DC, January 8, 2003–The nation’s largest organization of faith-based doctors today urged support for the bipartisan Human Cloning Prohibition Act, introduced this afternoon by Reps. Dave Weldon (R-Fla.) and Bart Stupak (D-Mich.).
CARROLLTON, Texas, Dec. 27, 2004 (Gospel for Asia) — Gospel for Asia workers are rushing food, clothing, medical supplies-and the love of God-to millions of Asians still in deep shock from a disaster spawned by the most powerful earthquake in 40 years.
Carrollton, TX— February 24, 2004 (GFA) — As The Passion of the Christ hits theaters, people have the opportunity to view perhaps the most riveting film ever made on the sacrifice of Christ. While we certainly pray for revival in this country, millions of people in remote Asian villages have yet to hear about Jesus for the first time.
January 7, 2004 (Christian Aid) — Following the disaster of December 26, native missionaries of Indonesia have been helping survivors on the northern tip of Sumatra Island, the single region with the most casualties.
DALLAS (BP)–A new missions partnership could accelerate by 100 years the translation of the Bible for the estimated 1 billion people who still do not have God’s Word in their own language.
(AgapePress) – The new Left Behind movie is on the way. Fans all over are holding their breath until October 29 when Left Behind II: Tribulation Force will hit store shelves in VHS and DVD formats. Natural disasters, terrorist-triggered tragedy, the turn of the century — no doubt all have contributed to heightened interest in spiritual themes and “end times” prophecies in the Bible. But nothing has done more to cultivate that interest than has the wildly popular Left Behind novel series by Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins.
KADUNA, Nigeria (BP)–Baptists in Nigeria are sifting through the ashes and counting the cost after the Baptist seminary in Kaduna was attacked during riots in late February.
(AgapePress) – A well-known Christian researcher says the church in America today is composed of many converts, but shockingly few disciples.
Part 1
by Berit Kjos
“I strongly urge the establishment of a Mission to Planet Earth, a worldwide monitoring system staffed by children…design to rescue the global environment.” -Al Gore
“…absolute behavior control is imminent…. The critical point of behavior control, in effect, is sneaking up on mankind without his self-conscious realization that a crisis is at hand. Man will… never self-consciously know that it has happened.” [1] Raymond Houghton, To Nurture Humaneness, ASCD (curriculum arm of the NEA), 1970
“The Protestant Ethic will atrophy as more and more enjoy varied leisure and guaranteed sustenance…. Most people will tend to be hedonistic…” [2] Feasibility Study, Behavioral Science Teacher Education Program (B-STEP), Department of Health, Education and Welfare, Bureau of Research, 1969
COLORADO SPRINGS, COLORADO (ANS) — After 12 years, several worldwide consultations, and a successful strategy in collaborating missions efforts around the globe, the International Office of AD2000 & Beyond Movement in Colorado Springs, Colorado, officially closed on March 31.
FRANKFORT, Ky. (BP)–A lawsuit to block a 7-foot-tall Ten Commandments monument from the Kentucky capitol grounds has been filed by the American Civil Liberties Union.
AMSTERDAM, The Netherlands (BP)–The “first task” of Christian leaders is “to preserve the biblical integrity of the proclamation of the church and serve as vision carriers of its evangelistic vocation,” according to an Amsterdam Declaration issued at the conclusion of the Billy Graham-sponsored Amsterdam 2000 conference, July 29-Aug. 6 in The Netherlands.
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA (ANS) — Earlier this year, Ron Barrier, the national spokesman for American Atheists, Inc. asked if author Ray Comfort had the courage to face him in a debate in front of 300 atheists in Orlando, Florida, at their national convention.
Comfort told him that he would be delighted, and said that he would even pay his own airfare from Los Angeles to Orlando. A short time later, Mr. Barrier said that he had read his book, “God Doesn’t Believe in Atheists,” and immediately withdrew the offer.