Villagers hostile toward Christians in northern India falsely accused a pastor of an illicit relationship with a woman and, in another village, burned a church building, sources said.
Source: Hard-Line Sikhs, Hindus Persecute Christians in Northern India
Author and pastor Francis Chan revealed on Wednesday that after praying for his best friend for 30 years, he has decided to dedicate his life to Christ.
Source: Pastor Francis Chan Baptizes His Best Friend after 30 Years of Persistent Prayer
High-caste Hindus who have been harassing a church in Nepal forced it to shut down last week, sources said.
Source: Church in Nepal Forced to Shut Down
It has been seven years since Tamara Breeden and three other disabled adults were found locked in a Philadelphia basement, but she has not forgotten how her faith sustained her throughout the nearly decade-long experience.
Source: Woman Held in Captivity for Ten Years Says, “I Kept Praying to Jesus”
The Young and The Restless star Brenda Epperson reminding Christians of the power of prayer amid disaster.
Source: The Young and The Restless Star Brenda Epperson Shares How Prayer Saved Her Family from the Wildfires
Manhattan DA’s case involving the former heads of Newsweek and the Christian Post expands to include Olivet University.
The case against the ex-publisher of the Christian Post and the affiliated Christian Media Group has expanded to an alleged $35 million money laundering scheme involving a California-based Bible college.
The Manhattan District Attorney’s office on Thursday charged Olivet University with making up a fake accountant to make its financial standing look better than it actually was so it could obtain funding to support day-to-day operations. An indictment filed last month accused Christian Media Group and former Newsweek owner IBT Media of similar activity.
The case naming Olivet—founded by controversial Korean pastor David Jang (not to be confused with Olivet Nazarene University in Illinois or Olivet College in Michigan) —brings about a dozen more charges against William C. Anderson, who led the Christian Post from 2010 until last summer, IBT CEO Etienne Uzac, and their companies. They were indicted by the DA on an initial $10 million fraud in October, as CT reported.
Though all have denied the alleged wrongdoing and pled not guilty, the district attorney’s case legally brings together several entities suspected to be working together under the influence of Jang’s network, but have long denied any official or financial connection to one another.
The defendants see the case as, essentially, a victimless crime, since the loans they allegedly obtained through fraudulent means have all been repaid.
“Olivet University denies the charges announced [Thursday] by the District Attorney’s Office and will vigorously defend itself against these unsupported allegations — including the puzzling claim that lenders who have suffered no loss were somehow victimized,” Olivet spokesman Ronn Torossian …
Source: David Jang’s Christian University Charged in Million Fraud Scheme
New amendments could halt training, foreign funding, and missionary outreach by evangelicals.
A controversial new law before the Bulgarian Parliament would keep Protestants and other minority faiths from freely worshiping, teaching, evangelizing, and tithing in the southeastern European nation.
Today’s vote marks the legislature’s second hearing for amendments to Bulgaria’s religious denominations act, which were initially approved October 4.
Over the past month, leaders from all faith groups in the former communist country have condemned the proposed additions, which prevent minority religions from offering clergy training, restrict worship services to designated sites, and place new regulations on international missionaries and giving.
“Should the law pass, existing theological seminaries are at risk of shutting down, evangelical church pastors may no longer be able to conduct worship services, and the acceptance and use of donations will be subject to government approval and limitations,” stated the World Evangelical Alliance, which has joined with the Bulgarian Evangelical Alliance to oppose the legislation.
About 2,000 Christians gathered at the Bulgarian capital, Sofia, on Sunday to pray and protest against the proposed amendments, The Baptist Standard reported, and they have continued smaller demonstrations in hopes that the law will be rejected.
Evangelical Protestants make up less than 1 percent of the population in Bulgaria, where about 85 percent of citizens consider themselves Eastern Orthodox and about 10 percent are Muslim. Because of their small size, Protestants—along with Catholics, Jews, and others—fail to meet the threshold for certain government recognition under the draft law, which legislators say is meant to protect against foreign threats but religious …
Source: Bulgaria Considers Controversial Restrictions on Church Activity
California pastor opens up about the most difficult sermon of his career—and the prospects for resurrecting ministry from the ashes.
The wildfire that left Paradise, California, in grim, dusty ruins this week destroyed more than half of about two dozen houses of worsip in the town, along with thousands of homes and other structures.
From safer ground in nearby Chico, pastors have worked to coordinate physical and spiritual relief for their now far-flung congregants. They’ve also been tasked with delivering updates on their church buildings, as Paradise residents hope for any indication that their homes, schools, or sanctuaries may have been spared from the worst.
“Though the physical attributes of our earthly Paradise are destroyed, the spirit of Paradise has spread across the country and around the world, as people are moved to volunteer resources to help,” wrote leaders from Paradise Adventist Church, whose building was burned in the Camp Fire, the deadliest in California history.
In the community of around 27,000 people, most congregations lost buildings, including Our Savior Lutheran Church (LCMS), Ridge Presbyterian Church (PCA), Paradise Church of Christ, First Assembly of God, Craig Memorial Congregational Church, Paradise Foursquare, New Life Apostolic Church, Paradise Pentecostal Church of God, Community Church of the Brethren, and Hope Christian Church. A Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (LDS) meetinghouse and a Center for Spiritual Living were also destroyed.
“Building was burnt down, but cross and rock still standing,” wrote Hope Christian’s lead pastor Stan Freitas. “The church is still alive.”
Freitas and church members had constructed a new worship space just this year, building a tall wooden cross in front of the new structure. This week, he shared a picture of the hand-carved cross, …
Source: Paradise Fire Burned Most Church Buildings, But ‘the Church Is Still Alive’
A pro-life male member of Australia’s Senate discovered a unique way this week to rebut a common argument by pro-choice politicians: He declared himself to be a woman.
Source: Pro-Life Politician Declares He’s a Woman to Rebut Pro-Choice Argument
The widow of a missionary who was killed last month says she forgives the man who shot her husband.
Source: Widow of Missionary Killed in Cameroon Forgives Her Husband's Killer