The Boy Who Came Back From Heaven

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 Messianic Jewish Church Won’t Appeal Israeli Court Ruling

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Report from: Compass Direct NEWS

A congregation of Messianic Jews in Israel, who recently lost a lawsuit against an ultra-orthodox Jewish group, that allegedly incited a riot against them, has decided not to appeal their case, the church’s pastor said.  

After meeting with his congregation and members of the Messianic community in Israel, Howard Bass, pastor of Yeshua’s Inheritance church in Be'er Sheva, said, "Even though there is good legal basis ... we don’t feel it’s the Lord’s will to appeal,” later adding he felt the verdict was “totally distorted.”

In 2007, Bass filed suit against Yehuda Deri, chief Sephardic rabbi in the city of Beer Sheva, and Yad L’Achim, an organization that fights against Messianic Jews in Israel, for allegedly inciting a riot at a December 2005 service that Bass was leading.

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The Boy Who Came Back From Heaven

Kevin Malarkey's short drive home in November, 2004 with his son, Alex, turned out to be an unexpected road trip to heaven and back.  

Alex's story of the time he spent in heaven while in a coma is fully told by both him and his father, in a new Tyndale House book, "The Boy Who Came Back From Heaven," a remarkable account of miracles, angels, and life beyond this world.

Alex was presumed dead at the scene of the accident. He survived, but his skull was almost completely detached from his spinal column. His parents were told that injuries involving this extent of spinal alignment virtually always result in death. If Alex were to survive, he would be a quadriplegic, never breathe independently, swallow food, or speak.

Alex's family and friends started a round-the-clock prayer vigil in the ICU, which quickly spread across the country. In a matter of weeks, Alex's most severe spinal injuries were healed without medical intervention leading stunned doctors to cancel a critical spinal alignment surgery.

Sealed Church in Bogor, Indonesia Appeals to UN

Report from: Compass Direct NEWS

The Gereja Kristen Indonesia (GKI) Taman Yasmin Church in Bogor, West Java, has filed a religious discrimination appeal with the United Nations Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief, church leaders said.  

Since April 11 the congregation has held services on the roadside in front of the sealed church in stifling heat. The church pastor, the Rev. Ujang Tanusaputra, told Compass that the congregation has held Sunday services six times in front of the building that the mayor of Bogor sealed.  “We are going to continue worshipping by the roadside as part of the struggle to remove the seal,” he told Compass.

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'Stunning Discovery' in Ethiopia—The Garima Gospels

Report from: Breaking Christian News

The "incredible" Garima Gospels - supposedly the world's earliest illustrated Christian book - has been saved by the British charity, Ethiopian Heritage Fund, which located it at a remote Ethiopian monastery near Adway, in the Tigray region, at about 7,000 ft. elevation.

As reported in The Daily Mail, the book is named after Abba (Father) Garima, a monk who arrived in Ethiopia from Constantinople in 494 AD.  The book was reportedly written on goat skin in the early Ethiopian language of Ge'ez, and experts believe it is also the earliest example of book binding still attached to the original pages.

New study links breast cancer to the "A" word ... Is anyone listening??

Report from: The Coalition on Abortion/Breast Cancer

A study in the journal, Cancer Epidemiology, reports that Sri Lankan women with abortions more than tripled their breast cancer risk  (3.42 odds ratio).  Abortion was the most significant factor in the study.  

Researchers found a significantly reduced risk associated with prolonged duration of breastfeeding and a nearly tripled increased risk from exposure to passive smoking. The study entitled, "Prolonged breastfeeding reduces risk of breast cancer in Sri Lankan women: A case-control study," was led by Malintha De Silva and colleagues from the University of Colombo.

Among women who breastfed between 12-23 months, researchers found a 66.3% risk reduction, in comparison to those who had never breastfed and those who had breastfed between 0 and 11 months. The risk reduction climbed to 87.4% for the 24-35 months group and 94% for the 36-47 months group.

"Obviously, women who abort forfeit the protective effect of breastfeeding," said Karen Malec, president of the Coalition. "The loss of that protective effect is incurred in addition to the effect of abortion leaving the breasts with more places for cancers to start.

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Palestinian Zionist Organization is Born

Yet another Palestinian believer in Yeshua finds he really does love the Jewish state

Report from: Ryan Jones, Israel Today

Not all Palestinians hate Israel. In fact, a surprising number either have no problem with Israel at all or even love the Jewish state.

Some of these brave Palestinians are coming out of the closet, rejecting the charges of their brethren that Israel is a repressive entity that has stolen their land. One Arab supporter of Israel, Elias Issa, went so far as to mark the nation’s 62nd Independence Day by launching the Palestinian Zionist Organization (PZO).

Report from Breaking Christian News:

According to a report from the UN Human Rights Council (HRC) proceedings, 11 countries called for the country of Nicaragua to legalize abortion.

The Christian Telegraph reports, however, that delegate Carlos Robelo “flatly refused to bow under pressure” and his country remains one of the few left in the world that maintains a total ban on abortion.

Robelo reportedly told the HRC that Nicaragua would continue to stay pro-life in its policies, and would not allow “therapeutic abortions.”  He stated that his nation’s current legislation “expresses the will of the country’s people.”

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Report from Eurovision:

"In the week before our evangelism in Armenia, our advertising campaign flooded the nation.  This caused a great commotion," said Eurovision director, David Hathaway.  "Seeing that people would be coming from every part of the country, pressure was put upon the government to overturn our legal contract with the stadium.  Armenia has the same anti-evangelical laws as Russia.  The director was afraid and cancelled the contract."

 In the following days the directors of the three other stadiums in Yerevan, the capital city, after first agreeing, then also being intimidated, withdrew the contracts.  David continues, "Our organisers were also called in for interrogation.  Then the authorities mounted a great counter-campaign against our 'evil meetings' - on TV and in the newspapers - giving incredible national publicity to the challenge of the gospel!  As a result, the whole nation was shaken by the power of God.  And I still spoke to 4,000 people in Yerevan, before the crusade began!"

Report from Compass Direct NEWS:

Rasha Samir was sure her husband, Ephraim Shehata, was dead. He was covered with blood, had two bullets inside him and was lying facedown in the dust of a dirt road.

Seconds before, Samir could hear her husband mumbling Bible verses. But one bullet had pierced his neck, and now he wasn’t moving. In a blind terror, Samir tried desperately to stop her panicked breathing and convincingly lie still, hoping the gunmen would go away. Finally, the gunfire stopped and one of the men spoke. “Let’s go. They’re dead.”

On Feb. 27, lay pastor Shehata and his wife Samir were ambushed on a desolate street by a group of Islamic gunmen, outside the village of Teleda in Upper Egypt. One of the attackers pushed him off his motorcycle and told him he was going to teach him a lesson about “running around”, or being an active Christian. The attack was meant to “break the hearts of the Christians” in the area, Samir said.

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Report from the New York Post:

Two new genome studies of Jews worldwide prove that the Jewish people — are, indeed, a people after all.

The first study, by researchers at New York’s Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University, found that Jews across the globe share distinct genetic traits that are different from other groups and that trace back to the ancient Middle East.  Researchers say the study, published in the American Journal of Human Genetics, puts to rest age-old questions about whether Jews are a group of unrelated people who share a religious ideology or a distinct ethnicity with common ancestry.

“The debate is over,” said Dr. Edward R. Burns, one of the lead authors of the study. “The Jewish people are one people with a common genetic thread that evolved in the second or third century BC.”

Nepal Churches Growing Despite Persecution & Tensions

Report from Worthy News Asia Service:

Advocacy group - U.S.-based International Christian Concern - said that Nepal's churches are experiencing "unprecedented growth" despite reported political turmoil and persecution.  ICC reported that an increasing number of people turn to Christianity in Nepal at a time when the Asian nation faces turmoil, including a strike by the Maoist party.

The organisation cited research from mission group, Build International Ministries (BIM), as proof that the Nepali churches grew from a handful in the 1950’s to denominations with over 100,000 active members today.  "Churches are growing by leaps and bounds everywhere," amid difficulties, added BIM President, Sandy Anderson, who spent the last 25 years working with Christians in Nepal.  "We have had a heavy transition in Nepal, but despite the difficult situation the church continues to thrive."

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Thousands of Aboriginal People Converge on Ottawa, Canada

Report from Forgiven (http://www.i4give.ca):

Thousands of Aboriginal individuals assembled in Ottawa recently to release the forgiveness that Prime Minister Stephen Harper requested in 2008.  The Prime Minister concluded his apology for Indian Residential Schools by requesting "the forgiveness of the aboriginal peoples of this   country for failing them so profoundly."

"At that moment," says Chief Kenny Blacksmith, "the onus was placed on our people as individuals to respond. The only way to come into our full healing as the First Peoples of Canada is to forgive. Forgiveness is not political; it cannot be bought or sold; it cannot be legislated. It is an individual choice that can break the generational cycle of victimization and accusation."

'Ray of Hope' as Iraqi Parliament Approves Five Christian Seats

Report from Breaking Christian News:

Assyrian International News Agency (AINA) reports that the Christian community in Iraq "may see a ray of hope" as Iraq's Federal Supreme Court has approved the results of the March election which include five Christian seats in the Iraqi parliament.

According to the report, the five Christian seats comprise part of 14 seats in the Iraqi parliament that are held by non-Muslims. The legislature has a total of 325 seats. Last term, Christians only held two seats.

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It's True: Israel Was the 'Land of Milk and Honey'

Report from Breaking Christian News:

The Bible often refers to Israel as the "land of milk and honey," but until recently most scholars assumed the "honey" referred to a fruit nectar. Now, since the discovery of a 3,000-year-old apiary in the Jordan Valley three years ago, and the theory that the bees were actually from Turkey, researchers believe the Bible was referring to the "real thing."

"This is a very special discovery…because there is no evidence from before for bringing any kind of animals from such a distance, especially bees, which represent a quite complicated, sophisticated type of agriculture," said archaeologist Amihai Mazar of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. "This throws new light on the economy of the Biblical period." 

Second Wave of Deportations Hits Foreign Christians in Morocco

Report from Compass Direct News:

In a second wave of deportations from Morocco, officials of the majority-Muslim country have expelled 26 foreign Christians in the last 10 days without due process.

Following the expulsion of more than 40 foreign Christians in March, the deportations were apparently the result of Muslim hardliners pressuring the nation’s royalty to show Islamic solidarity.

The latest deportations bring the number of Christians who have had to leave Morocco to about 105 since early March. Christians and expert observers are calling this a calculated effort to purge the historically moderate country, known for its progressive policies, of all Christian elements – both foreign and national. 

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An Iranian has a vision of Jesus

Report from morethandreams.org

Even as a small child, Khosrow questioned the “meaning of life.”  Everything around him raised questions.  Why do flowers have color?  What’s beyond the stars?  Where do we go when we die?  When no one could answer his many questions satisfactorily, his sensitive nature gave way to a growing depression.

One day as a young man, he passed by an Assyrian Christian church and decided to go inside, thinking he might find answers to some of his “questions.”  There were only a few elderly women there and an elderly pastor who gave him a box of books.  The books were all in Farsi and among them was a copy of the New Testament, which Khosrow read from cover to cover.  But the experience of reading alone was not enough to satisfy his search for answers.  He threw the book across his room in despair.  

Just then, the form of a man came to him in a vision.  This man extended his hands toward Khosrow and told him:  “Take my hands and everything will change forever.” 

Israel Gas Field Is Now Twice the Size of Previous Estimates

By George Whitten, Worthy News, Jerusalem

Israel's discovery of the one of the world's largest natural gas fields is much larger than previously estimated, according to a new report obtained by Worthy News.

The Tamar Gas field, offshore from Haifa, is now worth $8 billion, nearly double previous estimates of local analysts, said a report prepared by Wood Mackenzie Research and Consulting.

Tamar is the world's second largest natural gas discovery over the past 18 months. Natural gas will be flowing into Israel by 2012, officials said.

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Saudi Forces Free Kidnapped Christian Girls In Yemen

Report from Worthy News' Stefan J. Bos:

Saudi Arabia's security forces freed two German Christian girls kidnapped nearly a year ago in neighboring Yemen but the fate of their abducted parents, their infant brother and a British engineer remained unknown, officials and Christians said on May 18.

Anna Hentschel, 3, and Lydia Hentschel, 5, were reportedly rescued in an operation targeting the hideout of their abductors in Yemen. The raid, in which Saudi military helicopters took part, happened in the Shada district of the north-western Yemeni province of Saada, Monday afternoon, May 17, officials said.

The girls, who were part of a group of Christians kidnapped in Saada in mid-June last year, were transferred to Saudi authorities, the Saudi interior ministry confirmed.

Jesus Was a Gypsy

Report from Wycliffe.org:

“When a Gypsy becomes a Christian, the change is extraordinary”, says Rudi Walter.  He should know.  Once in the grip of a drug and gambling addiction, he is a living example of a Sinte who has been powerfully transformed by an encounter with Christ. Now, as Scripture-use specialist on the Sinte Romani Bible translation project, he is eager to see God’s Word change the lives of many more Gypsies. “Jesus speaks Romani, and this touches our hearts”, Rudi explains. “It is our language, and He speaks in Romani—into our  problems.”

Release say, 'Step up security in Nigeria and defend reporting freedom'

Report from Release 

Release International is warning that unless Nigeria steps up security to prevent violence against Christians in Jos, the situation could spiral out of control.  Following the murder of three reporters, Christian human rights organisation, Release, is also calling for journalists to be protected so the truth can be openly reported. 

A reporter from Nigeria’s The Nation daily newspaper was shot dead at his home in Lagos at the weekend, and Christians have been mourning the death of two journalists working for the religious press and five others, who were murdered by suspected Islamist extremists.

Nigeria’s opposition party, the Action Congress, warns that journalists are ‘becoming an endangered species’, and fears the security situation is worsening.  Hundreds have been killed in religious violence in Jos this year.

By decoding the inscription on a 3,000-year-old piece of pottery, an Israeli professor has concluded that parts of the bible were written hundreds of years earlier than suspected.

The pottery shard was discovered at excavations at Khirbet Qeiyafa near the Elah Valley in Israel -- about 18 miles west of Jerusalem.  Carbon-dating places it in the 10th century BC, making the shard about 1,000 years older than the Dead Sea scrolls.

Disillusioned with Hindu nationalists, the leader of a militant Hindu extremist group told Compass that contact with Christians in prison had led him to repent of bombing a Catholic church here in May 2008.

Ram Prasad Mainali, the 37-year-old chief of the Nepal Defense Army (NDA), was arrested on Sept. 5 for exploding a bomb in the Church of Our Lady of the Assumption, in the Lalitpur area of Kathmandu on May 23. The explosion killed a teenager and a newly-married woman from India’s Bihar state and injured more than a dozen others.

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Flying in the face of conventional wisdom, a psychologist has concluded that preschoolers who were spanked by their parents are more likely to grow up happier and be more successful than kids who have never been spanked, the National Post reported.

Dr. Marjorie Gunnoe, a professor of psychology at Calvin College in Grand Rapids, Michigan, believes there is not enough evidence to prove that getting spanked harms most children. She presented her findings at a conference of the Society for Research in Child Development. 

“The claims that are made for not spanking children fail to hold up,” Gunnoe told the Daily Mail (UK). But neither does she advocate that parents resort to it indiscriminately. “I think of spanking as a dangerous tool,” she said, “but then there are times when there is a job big enough for a dangerous tool. You don’t use it for all your jobs.” 

Fresh lemon grass fields in Israel become a mecca for cancer patients

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A Lebanese woman tells the truth!

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Brigitte Gabriel was raised in Lebanon, where she was taught that the Jews are evil, Israel is the devil, o 'the only time we will have peace in the Middle East is when we kill all the Jews and drive them into the sea.'

In a speech made at Duke University, Maryland, USA, she declared, “I’m proud and honored to stand here today as a Lebanese, speaking for Israel, the only democracy in the Middle East. As someone who was raised in an Arabic country, I want to give you a glimpse into the heart of the Arabic world.

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Fresh lemon grass fields in Israel become a mecca for cancer patients

from Israel 21c correspondent, Allison Kaplan Sommer:

A drink with as little as one gram of lemon grass contains enough citral to prompt cancer cells to commit suicide in the test tube, according to new Israeli research. 

At first, Benny Zabidov, an Israeli agriculturalist who grows greenhouses full of lush spices in the Sharon region, couldn't understand why so many cancer patients were showing up on his doorstep asking for fresh lemon grass.

It turned out that their doctors had sent them.

"They had been told to drink eight glasses of hot water with fresh lemon grass steeped in it on the days that they went for their radiation and chemotherapy treatments," Zabidov told ISRAEL21c.  "And this is the place you go to in Israel for fresh lemon grass." 

Road to the Temple Mount uncovered;

Monsanto 'Terminator Technology'

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Haiti Christians 'Miracle' Survival

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Slumdog inspired us to set up Indian orphanage

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A Church that is truly 'on Fire' in the City of Jericho

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In a report from the International Christian Embassy in J erusalem, Lena Kachinsky states that:

'the world's oldest and lowest city,  Jericho in recent years has become a 'sleepy' enclave isolated from the terror hotbeds in the West Bank.  It's hot, dusty and poor, to be sure, but this desert oasis is showing signs of life again thanks to a courageous woman pastor driven by a calling to "win the city for God."Karen Dunham was living comfortably as a single mom and an assistant pastor and had just been offered her own show on a Christian television network in San Diego. Instead, she felt an overwhelming desire to travel to Israel and pray.

A Catholic priest stopped her on the street in the Old City with an unexpected message: "If you go to Jericho and feed the people, you can win the city for Christ," he told her.  Dunham and her son opened their home to the Arabs, handing out bags of rice with tracts inside to those ho came for prayer and Bible teachings. She also regularly played the 'Jesus Video' in her garage.   

After its 'home' in the refugee camp was burned down, Living Bread Church relocated to a restaurant owned by traditional Arab Christians.  The dire poverty in Jericho is enough to intimidate even the most well-meaning person. "We realize that hungry neighbors are angry neighbors," says Dunham. "If we feed Palestinians, they will experience love from Christians and then Israel will have happy neighbors."

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A County Armagh, N. Ireland couple have been so moved by the multi-Oscar winning film, Slumdog Millionaire, that they are setting up their own orphanage in south-east India.Janet and Nelson Thomas-Raja have given themselves an 18-month timetable to uproot themselves from their cosy life in Portadown and create an orphanage for at least 10 street children and raise them as their own.

“We aren’t going out blind by any means,” said Janet. “We’ve been toying with the idea of our very own orphanage, and when we saw Slumdog Millionaire, which highlights the plight of the street children in India, that was the catalyst we needed to go and do it.  “Children in India are often purposely blinded by adults and have their limbs broken and then banished to the streets to beg. It’s almost impossible to believe to us westerners, but it happens.”