McCain to Meet with Secret Service
http://www.cbn.com/CBNnews/351533.aspx
MEMPHIS -- Sen. John McCain intends to meet with Secret Service officials in the next several days in preparation for accepting security protection for the final several months of his White House bid, campaign officials said Friday.
These officials said no meeting had yet been arranged.
They made the disclosure one day after the head of the Secret Service, Mark Sullivan, took the unusual step of discussing McCain's lack of government security at an open meeting with members of the House Appropriations Committee.
The campaign aides said they did not know precisely when McCain would agree to accept the protection. They spoke on condition of anonymity, saying they did not want to pre-empt events.
The Arizona senator has effectively wrapped up the Republican presidential nomination.
"Statutorily, he is not required to take protection," Sullivan said when asked about McCain's security during a hearing on the agency's budget. "As far as an actual request, we have not gotten one. We have no involvement at this point."
McCain has said previously he does not want Secret Service protection, fearing it would interfere with his brand of intimate campaigning with voters. McCain also has said he'll try to last as long as he can without it.
"I've never done it. After we won New Hampshire in 2000, they really tried to get us, but we said no," McCain said last November while campaigning in Concord, N.H. "It's an invasion of your ability to have contact with voters."
Bush, Putin at Odds Near End of Terms
http://www.cbn.com/CBNnews/351416.aspx
BUCHAREST, Romania - President Bush, fresh from securing full NATO support for his missile defense plans for Europe and a pledge to admit former Soviet republics, has plenty to discuss with Russia's Vladimir Putin.
Bush will see the outgoing Russian president face to face at least three times in the next three days, wrapping up a leader-to-leader relationship that has lasted nearly a decade. Putin leaves office next month.
In Bucharest on Friday and the Russian Black Sea resort of Sochi on Saturday and Sunday, Bush will meet Putin amid new tensions in U.S.-Russian relations, even as he, himself, prepares for post-government life next year.
Bush goes into the meetings having won NATO backing to install a missile shield in the former Soviet eastern European satellites of Poland and the Czech Republic over Russian objections.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice called it a "breakthrough agreement" for the military alliance, which was sugarcoated by the announcement of a U.S. deal with the Czech Republic, which will host a radar site vital to the missile defense system.
Yet at the same time, Bush will be seeing Putin after losing, at least for the moment, a highly public spat over opening the door to NATO membership to Ukraine and Georgia, which Putin vehemently opposes. Bush backed down on immediately starting that process.
Still, he has gotten a written commitment from the allies, including Germany and France, which shared Russian concerns, that the two nations eventually will become NATO members. Bush's administration plans to continue to press the matter before his second term expires in January.
So, the meetings over the next three days take place with both short-timers looking to burnish their legacies.
Rice said the two leaders were expected to produce "a strategic framework" to guide relations between Washington and Moscow under their successors. "Part of that has to be some discussion of missile defense," Rice said, but she stopped short of saying the two leaders would find agreement on the prickly subject.
Russia views the system as designed to weaken its military might and upset the balance of power in Europe. Bush argues that the shield is not aimed at Russia but at Mideast countries such as Iran.
In a series of concessions, the White House has offered to let Moscow monitor the sites and promised to delay activation of the shield until Iran or another adversary tests a missile capable of reaching Europe.
Rice said the Russians indicated that those measures were viewed as "useful and important" when she and Defense Secretary Robert Gates were in Moscow last month. "We hope that we can move beyond that to an understanding that we all have an interest in cooperation on missile defense. But we will see."
The NATO endorsement of the U.S. missile plan said "ballistic missile proliferation poses an increasing threat to allies' forces, territory and populations. Missile defense forms part of a broader response to counter this threat."
The statement called on NATO members to explore ways in which the planned U.S. project can be linked with future missile shields elsewhere. It said leaders should come up with recommendations to be considered at their next meeting in 2009.
Significantly, the document prodded Russia "to take advantage of United States missile defense cooperation proposals" and said NATO was "ready to explore the potential for linking United States, NATO and Russian missile defense systems at an appropriate time."
The United States still is moving to seal an agreement with Poland, where 10 interceptor rockets would be based.
Bush, Putin Winding Down Partnership
http://www.newsmax.com/international/bush/2008/04/04/85578.html
ZAGREB, Croatia -- President Bush and Russian President Vladimir Putin, winding down an uneasy partnership frayed by rising tensions, sought to put relations on a stronger footing Friday with mutual assurances there will be no new Cold War.
Known to admire each other's frankness and toughness even when they disagree, the two leaders emphasized cooperation as they began three days of farewell meetings at a gathering of NATO leaders in Bucharest, Romania. Bush referred to himself and Putin as "two old warhorses" nearing the end of their presidencies, a Bush aide said after the closed-door session.
Still, harsh differences divide Moscow and Washington, particularly on security issues.
For his part, Putin made clear he was unhappy about the eastward expansion of the Western military alliance toward Russia. But he summed up his message to Bush and NATO this way: "Let's be friends, guys, and engage in an honest dialogue."
It was a striking change from Russia's once-angry threats to target missiles on Western capitals and Putin's unrelenting drive to clamp down on democracy, expand control over the government and the economy and quash independent news media.
Finished with talks in Bucharest, Bush flew to Zagreb to celebrate NATO's membership invitations to the Balkan countries of Croatia and Albania and an expected offer for Macedonia to join some day.
In his toast at dinner to welcome Bush, Croatian President Stipe Mesic, a staunch opponent of the war in Iraq, appeared to take a slight jab at the president by insisting that problems like terrorism, global warming and environmental destruction must be addressed jointly.
Bush, in his toast, congratulated Croatia on its NATO membership and praised it for sending troops to Afghanistan.
At a square in downtown Zagreb _ far from the heavily guarded venues being used for the Bush visit _ about 250 people held an anti-war protest, holding banners reading "USA NATO imperialism" and "The United States of Aggression."
On Saturday, Bush will go to Russia for a social dinner with Putin at the Black Sea resort of Sochi. On Sunday they will meet one last time before the Russian leader steps down on May 7. Putin's handpicked successor, Dmitry Medvedev, will take part in some of the discussions. Putin is expected to continue to wield substantial power as Medvedev's prime minister.
It was seven years ago in June that Bush famously declared he had looked into Putin's soul at their first face-to-face meeting and found him to be honest, straightforward and trustworthy. Relations grew stronger when Putin stood with the United States after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. But the era of cooperation quickly began to unravel.
Putin on Friday urged NATO leaders to listen to Russia's concerns, particularly its objections to NATO's plans to admit ex-Soviet republics Ukraine and Georgia. The two countries were not allowed to start on the path to membership this week, but leaders made clear they would be eventually
"The emergence of the powerful military bloc at our borders will be seen as a direct threat to Russia's security," Putin said at a news conference after the meeting. "I heard them saying today that the expansion is not directed against Russia. But it's the potential, not intentions that matters."
"The efficiency of our cooperation will depend on whether NATO members take Russia's interests into account," he added. "We want to be heard, and we want see problems that divide us solved."
Still, he ruled out chances of a new Cold War and insisted that Moscow wants to be friends with NATO.
"None of the global players _ Europe, the United States or Russia _ is interested in returning to the past," Putin said. "And we have no ideological differences." He took note of Russia's agreement to facilitate transit of supplies for NATO forces in Afghanistan across Russian territory.
The White House said Bush repeated his frequent assurances that the Cold War is over and Russia is not the enemy.
Bush and Putin are expected to announce a "strategic framework" to guide relations beyond their time in office toward a less rocky future.
A major area of dispute is Bush's plan to build a missile defense shield in Europe to protect against what the United States sees as an emerging threat from Iran and other adversaries. Russia regards it as a move to undercut its nuclear deterrent.
Still, Putin praised Bush for trying to assuage Russia's concerns by offering to share information from the anti-missile system and to delay its activation until a nation like Iran tests a ballistic missile capable of reaching European cities.
"It's positive that they have heard our concerns," Putin said. He said the latest U.S. proposals show that "our U.S. partners are thinking about ensuring transparency and mutual trust."
Despite its strong rhetoric, Russia appears to accept that it is unlikely to stop the system. U.S. officials said missile defense will be part of the strategic framework but it remained an open question how far Putin was willing to go.
Putin criticized NATO nations for failing to ratify an amended version of the Cold War-era Conventional Forces in Europe treaty, which limits the deployment of aircraft, tanks and other heavy weapons on the continent. Russia last fall suspended its participation in the treaty, saying its old version became meaningless when nations in the former Soviet orbit joined NATO.
Putin said Russia wants to preserve the treaty, but that the West must ratify the new version signed in 1999. He dismissed NATO's claim that Russia needs to withdraw its troops from Georgia and Moldova, saying there is no link between the issues.
The King Assassination: 40 Years Later
http://www.cbn.com/CBNnews/351338.aspx
Forty years ago today, an assassin's bullet killed Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in Memphis Tennessee.
He was only 39-years-old and in the middle of a Civil Rights revolution.
King has been dead longer than he was alive, and as many celebrate his life and legacy, we ask where is the dream he worked so hard to fulfill?
Facing constant threats, Dr. Martin Luther King felt his destiny might include an early death but when it came, no one was prepared.
It happened at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis.
"I was in my room, and I was walking around and I heard what I thought was sure was a riffle shot," said Professor Earl Caldwell of Hampton University. Caldwell was the only journalist on the scene that day. He was a reporter for The New York Times.
"I ran out to where King was and I saw people jumping up and down. Those were King's men's Andrew Jackson, all his ministers, his inside group…when I got up there, the wound in his face was as big as your fist," Caldwell said.
But despite this tragic ending, King's message of Bible quotations and non-violence to end the evils of segregation and unfair treatment lived on.
But have things changed?
"It's a very complicated concept; obviously we've made tremendous progress," FOX News contributor Juan Williams said.
Influential African Americans lead many top companies, but blacks still earn substantially less. For example, Kenneth Chenault heads American Express, Clarence Otis heads Darden Restaurants and of course there's media mogul Oprah Winfrey.
And racism, while less overt, still rears its ugly head.
"One of the things that always surprises me is the level of denial in the white community, where people would say we've got good colored folk out there, we've got good relations," Williams said. "I don't know what you people are talking about, stirring up trouble."
Segregated schools still exist.
"We still haven't fixed them, 50 years after Brown v. Board of Education, and the inferior education they provided, then and now, helps explain the pervasive achievement gap between today's black and white students," presidential hopeful Barack Obama said during a speech on how racism
And the negative effects of slavery linger on.
"Descendants of slaves did not get much of a head start, and I think you continue to see some of the effects of that," Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said.
"That particular birth defect makes it hard for us to confront it, hard for us to talk about it, and hard for us to realize that it has continuing relevance for who we are today."
But many believe each new generation brings hope and change for the better.
"I believe we are getting better," said Caldwell.
"Look at the level of representation, participation in main stream America, politics, economics, every aspect of American life for better or worse," Williams said.
And King continues to be an inspiration…
"I am doing everything in my power to be a good person, an upstanding citizen, a great daughter, a great student," Tiara Carr, senior at Hampton University said. "I think that's basically what he wanted from us - to do the best of your ability in life."
Hampton University senior Ronald Clark agrees.
"The man did so much for so many people in a short amount of time that he has to be with you when you're doing what you're doing throughout the day. If you don't want to wake up and get going, you have to remember that people fought and died so that you would have the opportunity."
And the dream lives on.
Candidates Remember King
http://www.cbn.com/CBNnews/351755.aspx
MEMPHIS - Republican and Democrat, black and white, the three remaining presidential candidates summoned memories of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., 40 years after his death on Friday and gently sought to advance their own strivings as they found greatness in his.
"The quality of his character is only more apparent," said Sen. John McCain, a Republican who readily told a black audience that he had been wrong to vote against legislation making King's birthday a holiday.
"His good name will be honored for as long as the creed of America is honored. His message will be heard and understood for as long as the message of the gospels is heard and understood."
Like McCain, Democratic Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton traveled to Memphis to observe the day. But unlike him, she chose not to speak at ceremonies at the Lorraine Motel where King was shot.
Instead, she was in the church where he had delivered his final sermon on the day before his death. A college student 40 years ago, Clinton recalled, "I walked into my dorm room and took my book bag and hurled it across the room." Her voice breaking, she added, "It felt like everything had been shattered and we'd never be able to put the pieces together again."
In a glancing reference to the current campaign, she added that "because of him, after 219 years and 43 presidents who have all been white men, this generation will grow up taking for granted that a woman or an African-American could be president of the United States."
Alone among the three, Sen. Barack Obama decided against a personal pilgrimage to the city of King's death. The strongest black candidate in history, he campaigned in Indiana, where he said King's pleas have yet to be answered fully.
"You know, Dr. King once said that the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice. ... But here's the thing - it does not bend on its own. It bends because each of us in our own ways put our hand on that arc and we bend it in the direction of justice," said the Illinois senator.
"So on this day of all days let us each do our part to bend that arc. Let's bend it toward justice. Let's bend that arc toward opportunity. Let's bend that arc toward prosperity for all."
Race has been a constant, occasionally divisive companion to the Democratic campaign for the White House, and McCain's decision to speak at ceremonies held by the Southern Christian Leadership Conference was intended to demonstrate an eagerness to appeal to black voters who have long shunned Republicans.
For her part, Clinton has struggled to gain black votes in her competition with Obama. Additionally, some prominent black figures criticized her last winter for saying that it took a white man, President Lyndon B. Johnson, to finally win passage of the 1964 Civil Rights Act.
Obama's political imperative was different. He frequently recalls King's use of the phrase "the fierce urgency of now" as a motivation for his own candidacy for president. Yet particularly in the wake of controversy over his former pastor's rhetoric and his own major speech on race last month, he has sought to avoid narrowing his electoral appeal by being seen solely or even predominantly as a black candidate.
There was a scattering of boos as McCain spoke in front of the balcony where King was mortally wounded, but approving calls of "Amen" also floated up from a crowd huddled under umbrellas in a drenching rain.
"No good cause in this world - however right in principle or pure in heart - was ever advanced without sacrifice. And Dr. King knew this," McCain said.
"... He was a man accustomed to the nearness of danger. And when death came, it found him standing upright, in open air, unafraid."
McCain said King "was called an agitator, a troublemaker, a malcontent, and a disturber of the peace.
"These are often the terms applied to men and women of conscience who will not endure cruelty, nor abide injustice. We hear them to this day - in Darfur, Zimbabwe, Burma, Tibet, Iran and other lands - directed at every brave soul who dares to disturb the peace of tyrants."
And yet, he said, "We can be slow as well to give greatness its due, a mistake I made myself long ago when I voted against a federal holiday in memory of Dr. King. I was wrong and eventually realized that, in time to give full support for a state holiday in Arizona."
Clinton, who grew up the daughter of conservative Republicans, recalled once meeting King as a teenager.
"I stood in line for a very long time that night to shake his hand," she said. "He was gracious, he was kind to lean over to shake the hand of a 14-year-old girl from the suburbs of Chicago who went to an all-white church, an all-white school, and lived in an all-white suburb.
"But he didn't ask me as he reached out for my hand, 'Where do you live, what's your experience.' He just took it and looked in my face and thanked me for coming."
Obama, too, linked King's work to the present, saying the dream of economic justice is "still out of reach for too many Americans."
From his campaign platform in Fort Wayne, Ind., Obama also recalled the impact that Robert Kennedy, a white politician running for president, had on the night King was shot.
"It fell to him to inform a crowded park (in Indianapolis) that Dr. King had been killed," Obama said.
"And as the shock turned toward anger, Kennedy reminded them of Dr. King's compassion, and his love. And on a night when cities across the nation were alight with violence, all was quiet in Indianapolis."
In her remarks, Clinton pledged as president to appoint a high-level "poverty czar" - a job perhaps tailor-made for John Edwards, a former Democratic primary rival who stressed the eradication of poverty during his campaign. Both Obama and Clinton have sought Edwards's endorsement. "I believe we should appoint a cabinet level position that would be solely and fully devoted to ending poverty as we know it in America," Clinton said.
Alabama Mayor Fights Crime with Bibles
http://www.cbn.com/cbnnews/351522.aspx
One Alabama mayor is turning to God's Word to solve the skyrocketing murder rates in his city.
Birmingham Mayor Larry Langford has been accused of not doing enough to fight crime. But he argues the city doesn't need more police officers, but more of God.
Langford is holding a family summit April 4, where he will hand out 5,000 bibles in English and Spanish.
"I'm gonna give you something far better than a gun to protect yourself with. I'm gonna give you the word of God," Langford said. "He is the only source of protection you've got. I make no apologies for it. I serve a good God and I'm glad He found me."
Langford thanked The 700 Club and its partners for helping to provide the bibles.
He said that if the people of Birmingham and the nation would put Christ first, there wouldn't be all the troubled families and crime-ridden cities across America.
'Evangelicals who oppose 'peace process' are not Israel's friends'
http://www.jnewswire.com/article/2406
Evangelical Christians cannot be good for Israel because they oppose the US-led process aimed at creating Palestine in the historic heartland of the Jewish people.
This is the reasoning of Reform Judaism Rabbi Eric Yoffie, purported leader of the largest "branch of Judaism" in the United States.
Reform Judaism is liberal, anti-Zionist and historically rejectionist of the re-establishment of the State of Israel. It rejects the idea of a personal Messiah who will come to a rebuilt Temple in Jerusalem. It has an estimated 1.1 million adherents in America.
Yoffie adamantly declared Wednesday that Jews "cannot cooperate with Christian Zionists."
"What [Christian Zionists] mean by 'support of Israel' and what we mean by 'support of Israel' are two very different things," he said, according to The Jerusalem Post.
"Their vision of Israel rejects a two-state solution, rejects the possibility of a democratic Israel, and supports the permanent occupation of all Arab lands now controlled by Israel.
"If implemented, in fact, these views would mean disaster for Israel, and would lead to diplomatic isolation, increased violence, and the loss of Israel's Jewish majority."
Yoffie's starting point is so far removed from the foundational beliefs of Christian Zionists it is impossible to imagine reconciliation between the two.
Where Yoffie describes Judea and Samaria as "Arab" territory, Christian Zionists know these to be biblically, historically and prophetically exclusively Jewish lands.
Christian Zionists also believe firmly that the two-state solution will only lead to another version of Hitler's Final Solution, and it should therefore be categorically spurned by the Jewish state.
[Ed note: True Christian Zionists - like those who views are represented on Jerusalem Newswire - will be neither surprised nor disheartened by Yoffie's rejection. We know, and have the history of the last 200 years to back this up, that the land-for-peace process spells doom for Israel, and we could no more support it than we could have supported any other of the myriad efforts down the ages to annihilate the Jews. As for reformed Jews - or any other Jews - embracing or rejecting us; it makes not one iota of difference. We love all Jews, and stand in defense of Israel, not because Jews have asked us to, but because God commands us to. Our love is genuine, sincere and unconditional.]
Christians Rally Around Injured Israeli Boy
http://www.cbn.com/cbnnews/351650.aspx
A pastor's son who was injured by a terrorist bomb is recovering in Israel.
Last month CBN News reported about 15-year-old Ami Ortiz, who suffered massive injuries after being attacked in his own home.
A bomb had been delivered, disguised as a gift box. It blew up in his hands.
Doctors now say he'll regain the use of his eyes and is making remarkable progress in other areas of his body.
CBN's Chris Mitchell told us from Jerusalem today that Christians around the world are rallying around Ami's family.
"I think they can literally feel the prayers of the people, not only here in Israel, but around the world literally sustaning them," Mitchell said.
"Leah told me last week that she felt like some people were literally crying for her she's not crying quite so much now she feels like other people are literally crying for her so I think it's been a remarkable testimony of intercession and prayer around the world for the Ortiz family right now," he said.
There is still no official word on who was behind the attack.
Scripture Comes Alive in the City of David
http://www.cbn.com/cbnnews/350845.aspx
JERUSALEM, Israel - Within the ancient walls of the City of David, King David penned the Psalms. Here, the prophecies of Jeremiah and Isaiah first thundered, and Nehemiah returned from Babylon to rebuild the walls of this beloved city. Some 2,000 years ago, Jesus walked these very streets.
Today, a visit to the City of David brings the Bible alive.
"It's almost like we found the Bible for the very first time," said Doron Spielman, spokesman for the City of David Foundation (Ir David, in Hebrew). "You can go line by line in the Bible and place by place here and relive these scenes," he said.
Spielman describes the merging of antiquities and the Bible in the City of David as a revolution.
"Here is a revolution in which the archaeological world and the written world of the Bible have met…in a way that doesn't happen anywhere else in the world," he said.
One such revolutionary find may be the palace of King David.
Archaeologist Eilat Mazar and her colleague Gabi Barkai head up the excavation of David's palace.
"Its monumentality is obvious," Mazar told CBN News. "Everybody can see -- and also its date -- being constructed around 1000 B.C.," she said.
Recently, Mazar's team uncovered an ancient seal from First Temple times, which dates to the sixth century B.C.
Journey to Ancient Jerusalem
For Miriam Berkowitz, who guides tour groups through the City of David, it's a biblical journey.
"This is the original Jerusalem. This is where it all began," Berkowitz said.
Here you can see the Gihon Spring, ancient Jerusalem's main water supply, mentioned in the Book of 2 Chronicles.
You can walk through the tunnel built by King Hezekiah in the seventh century B.C, designed to protect the city's water supply from the siege of the Assyrian King Sennacherib.
You can touch the walls rebuilt under Nehemiah's stewardship, recorded in the books of Nehemiah and Ezra.
Pool of Siloam
Just a few years ago, archaeologists uncovered the Pool of Siloam, mentioned by Nehemiah and again in the miraculous healing of the man blind from birth, recorded in the ninth chapter of John's Gospel.
"We read in the Gospel of John the story of the healing of the blind man," said Haifa University Professor Ronnie Reich, who led the team that uncovered the Pool of Siloam and a nearby 2,000-year-old road.
The steps that Reich's team uncovered lead from the Pool of Siloam all the way up to the Temple Mount. These are the steps Jesus walked when he celebrated the feasts -- Pesach (Passover), Shavuot (Feast of Weeks, Pentecost), and Sukkot (Feast of Tabernacles).
"I simply can see that he walked this way. There is no other way from the Pool of Siloam to the Temple Mount. It's this road," Reich said.
Biblical Disney World
Like Disney World, people are flocking to the City of David.
"This is biblical Disney World that's actually real," Spielman said. "You can touch the stones. You can touch the texts. And you can [almost] see the people in front of you. [King] David walks with you through this tour," he said.
The number of visitors has grown exponentially, from 25,000 in 2000 to more than 350,000 in 2007.
And it's likely that more discoveries will draw more people as the pages of the Bible literally come alive.
"The voices in the City of David, we say, are the stones. If you sit and listen quietly with your Bible in your hand, you can hear 3,000 years of biblical history here," Spielman said.
Terrorists score hit on aide to Israeli minister
http://www.jnewswire.com/article/2407
Palestinian Arabs firing from the Gaza Strip Friday moderately wounded an advisor to Israeli Security Minister Avi Dichter who was touring the area with him.
Dichter was unhurt in the attack, which happened while he was showing a group of visiting Canadian Jews how close to Gaza is the Negev town of Sderot - which is regularly targeted by Arab rockets.
A gaggle of "Palestinian" terrorist organizations, who all work together in any case, rushed to take credit for the shooting.
One source said an Al-Qaeda group had been behind the shooting.
For its part Hamas claimed one of its snipers had been aiming for Dichter when it hit the aide, Matti Gill.
Gill, speaking on his way to the hospital, said the "Palestinians" can shoot at Jews all they want. "We'll respond by dedicating more new Torah scrolls," he reportedly said.
Episcopal Church Lawsuit Dropped
http://www.cbn.com/cbnnews/351669.aspx
Eleven conservative congregations that broke away from the U.S. Episcopal Church claimed victory Friday.
The Episcopal Church filed suit against them, contending that all church property belonged to it and that when a congregation breaks away, the property is considered "abandoned."
A Virginia judge, however, said that a state statute allows the churches to keep their property.
Two of the churches, Falls Church and Truro, sit on land near the nation's capitol worth $25 million.
CBN News spoke with Bishop Martyn Minns on the historical ruling.
He is the missionary bishop of the Convocation of Anglicans in North America that the churches involved belong to.
Serving persecuted Christians in the name of Jesus
http://www.christiantoday.com/article/serving.persecuted.christians.in.the.name.of.jesus/17699.htm
Release International serves Christians around the world who face persecution because of their faith in Jesus Christ.
Many people may think actual persecution of Christians ended with the Romans tossing Christians to the lions? Or perhaps even when the Communist Iron curtain fell, along with the Berlin Wall, in 1989? Many of the ‘old guard’ Communists in the former Soviet Union had been ruthless persecutors of the Christian church – which they saw as direct opposition to Communist ideology.
PASTOR RICHARD WURMBRAND
In fact RI was founded in 1968 by the remarkable Romanian pastor Richard Wurmbrand, who survived torture at the hands of the secret police, escaped with his family to the West, and then set up a network of Christian agencies, including the ministry that became RI, to provide support to the underground church throughout the Communist Eastern bloc.
Since then, the world has changed dramatically, but the targeting of Christians and churches because of their faith in Jesus Christ has not.
Every year millions of believers face varying forms of persecution and discrimination because of their religious beliefs. This persecution may come from their national government, or its agents, such as the secret police, military or judiciary, or, increasingly, from non-governmental groups, such as militant Islamic groups like Al Qaeda and others.
THE WORST PERSECUTORS
The countries with some of the worst records of persecution include North Korea, China, Vietnam, Laos, Burma, Pakistan, Indonesia, Iran, to name but a few - and even the tiny African nation of Eritrea which currently imprisons over 2,000 Christians, almost all without trial, for no other reason than their faith.
In these nations to be a Christian is to accept the radical call of Christ to ‘take up’ one’s cross daily. To choose to follow Christ can be a costly decision.
Believers may face harassment and intimidation; be discriminated against as ‘second-class citizens’ in education, the work place and the legal system. They may be detained by the police or security forces, have Bibles and Christian literature confiscated, churches closed, or razed to the ground.
In the worst cases, they may be tortured, murdered, executed. Christian women and young girls may face physical and emotional abuse, even rape.
FRONTLINE OF FAITH
RI serves these Christians on the frontline of faith through prayer, advocacy and practical support.
We work through a network of Christian partners providing Bibles and Christian literature in local languages; give essential support to Christian prisoners and their families; provide pastoral care and encouragement; as well as legal aid, sanctuary, and community development.
We stand with those who, at times, may feel forgotten, victimised, unfairly treated.
HIGHER CALLING
Yet from the testimony of these believers comes a truth that is uncomfortable for us to hear in the West: persecution of these faithful brothers and sisters in Christ is not a ‘mistake’ – but part of a special and higher calling from the Lord. God Himself has not been ‘caught out’ – these believers have not been forgotten, or abandoned. In fact the reverse.
In Tortured for Christ, the mind-wrenching account of his own imprisonment and torture by the Romanian secret police in the 1950s and 1960s, Richard Wurmbrand said this:
‘The life, the self-sacrifice, the blood that believers are ready to shed for their faith, is the greatest argument for Christianity presented by the underground church. It forms what the renowned missionary in Africa, Albert Schweitzer, called “the sacred fellowship of those who have the mark of pain”—the fellowship to which Jesus, the Man of Sorrows, belonged.’
Mysteriously, the persecuted church teaches the whole Christian church, and shows the wider world, that there is more to this world, and this life, than meets the eye. They have discovered something so precious, so valuable, and so life-enhancing in Christ, that they will not let go – even to the point of death.
ORDINARY PEOPLE
As part of my work at RI, I have met many persecuted believers, men and women, young and old, rich and poor. These are not ‘super-Christians’, but ordinary people, like you and me, in whom God has however done something extraordinary.
Often these believers choose, with God’s grace, to forgive those who have hurt them and their loved ones - even in the most excruciating and unbearable circumstances. This too is proof of the ultimate power of the gospel to transform lives.
Having received forgiveness in Christ themselves, these precious believers are able to extend mercy to even the perpetrators of the worst violence possible, just as Jesus Himself was able to do on the Cross of Calvary.
THE POWER OF FORGIVENESS
This profound truth of reconciliation and forgiveness, which lies at the heart of the Christian gospel, is also at the heart of RI’s ministry.
That’s why we’re delighted to present a remarkable and innovative dramatic presentation about the life of Jesus as part of this very special Pentecost Festival in London.
HIS STORY CELEBRATES THE GOSPEL
His Story is a unique multimedia musical, with a distinctively Asian feel. A cast of 50, the acclaimed Indian Christian musicians Anil and Reena Kant, bollywood-style dancers, and a 19-piece soul band combine to tell the gospel story through music, song, dance and multi-media.
It promises to be a vibrant visual and cultural experience. What’s more, before the performance you will be welcomed with a sumptuous Asian-style buffet. Don’t miss out!
Andy Dipper is CEO of Release International (www.releaseinternational.org).
Tickets for His Story cost £15 plus booking fee, and include an Asian-style buffet before the performance. His Story takes place in Westminster Central Hall on Friday May 9 (6pm) and Saturday May 10 (1pm and 6pm). Find out more at www.pentecostfestival.co.uk/release.
Prominent Chinese rights activist sentenced to jail
http://www.christiantoday.com/article/prominent.chinese.rights.activist.sentenced.to.jail/17694.htm
A Chinese court ruled Thursday that the writings and comments of one of the most prominent human rights activists in China amounted to inciting subversion, his lawyer said.
Hu Jia, a critic of the Chinese Communist government and its human rights violations, was arrested at his home in Beijing in December by Chinese police and sentenced Thursday to three and a half years in prison.
Although his lawyer, Li Fangping, noted the court showed leniency when they gave him less than the maximum five-year term, Li said the sentence also forbids Hu from issuing any public political statements for one year after his release from prison.
“Three and a half years is still unacceptable to us,” Li told reporters outside the courthouse, according to the New York Times. “There is a major disagreement between prosecutors and the defense over punishing someone for making peaceful speech. We still believe the charge does not stand.”
The sentence sparked international condemnation and further damaged China’s image as a respectable emerging power. China in recent weeks has been lambasted for its violent crackdown on anti-China demonstrators in Tibet.
“Mr Hu has consistently worked within China’s legal system to protect the rights of his fellow citizens,” said Diane Sovereign, a spokeswoman for the United States embassy in Beijing, to the New York Times. Hu’s work mainly focuses on the issues of democracy, environmental protection, and HIV/Aids prevention and care.
“These types of activities support China’s efforts to institute the rule of law and should be applauded, not suppressed or punished,” added Sovereign, who described the US government’s response to the verdict as “dismayed”.
The European Union has also criticised the subversion charge and called for Hu’s release.
China’s jailing of the activist and other dissidents is thought to be an effort to silent dissidents ahead of the Beijing Olympics in August.
Human rights groups have also strongly criticised China for its persecution of house church leaders and its treatment of North Korean refugees. Several Christian human rights groups have accused the Chinese Government of conducting a new persecution strategy aimed at house church leaders instead of regular members to suppress unregistered church activities ahead of the Olympics.
In 2007, the incidents of Christian persecution in China were higher than in 2006, according to the annual report by China Aid Association.
In December, 270 Protestant house church pastors were arrested during a Bible study.
According to reports, rights activist Hu has 10 days to decide if he will appeal Thursday’s verdict. The court has allowed Hu, who has Hepatitis B and a deteriorating liver condition, to apply for medical parole if he does not appeal.
Meanwhile, Hu’s wife, Zeng Jinyan, also a well-known rights activist, is under house arrest with their infant daughter in an apartment outside of Beijing.
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