Charisma Staff


U.S.

‘Excitement and Fervor for God’ Budding in Last Place You’d Expect

Charisma Staff

The Holy Spirit is on the move in prisons, and He is targeting the wounded hearts of women inmates. According to prison ministry Daughters of Destiny, in the last year, more than 20,000 inmates have attended evangelism events, and more than 7,500 have made decisions to follow Christ.

Daughters of Destiny is a prison ministry dedicated to spreading the gospel and seeing women inmates give their lives to Jesus Christ. They hold Bible meetings and evangelism events in 203 detention facilities in 25 states across America.

“There’s an excitement and fervor for God. In the past, 7 to 10 percent of the inmates at a facility might attend our meetings. Now we’re seeing 30 to 90 percent,” said Annie Goebel of Daughters of Destiny.

The Colorado Springs, Colo.-based ministry is run by founders Annie and husband Mel Goebel, and approximately 850 trained volunteer staff. They teach and nurture all the women who respond in faith and relationship with Jesus Christ through their ministry that begins while the women are incarcerated and continues after their release back into the community.

U.S.

Daystar’s Joni Lamb: The Holy Spirit Told Me My Husband is Worth The Fight

Charisma Staff

On a sober yet uplifting episode of the Celebration Tuesday, Marcus and Joni Lamb, the husband-wife founders of Daystar television network, discussed an “inappropriate” relationship Marcus Lamb had several years ago with another Christian woman.

The one-hour show included not only the Lambs’ admission of the affair, but also details about their marriage restoration process. They also described a blackmail scheme that contributed to the couple deciding to share their story on their international network.

According to Joni, three people–unaffected by the Lambs’ marital problems–had demanded Daystar pay them $7.5 million to keep this story out of the media.

World

Evangelists Labeled as ‘Black Hearts Under the Name of Angels’

Charisma Staff

Christians receive six and four years respectively for “undermining national unity.”

Two Christian evangelists, Ksor Y Du, 47, and Kpa Y Co, 30, were sentenced this month to six and four years in prison respectively for “undermining national unity.”

Ksor and Kpa, of the Vietnam Good News Mission (VGNM) church, received the harsh sentences on Nov. 15. House arrest of four and two years respectively also was added to the sentences, according to church sources and Vietnam’s Phap Luat (Law) newspaper. Both evangelists, who are of the Ede minority, live in Song Hinh district of Phu Yen Province, where there are some 20 VGNM congregations.

Ksor was one of many thousands of ethnic minority people in Vietnam’s Central Highland that participated in demonstrations in 2004 against religious oppression and illegal confiscation of their traditional lands. Many of the demonstrators were Christians. Along with hundreds of others, he was caught trying to flee to Cambodia following the harsh military crackdown after the demonstrations. He spent four years in prison and another year under house arrest.

U.S.

Is This the Most Appealing Bible?

Charisma Staff

$100,000 research project yields the Word of God, created by words of the public

 When B&H Publishing Group set out to create a study Bible utilizing the Holman Christian Standard Bible (HCSB), they knew there would be big expectations. Since it first launched in 2004, their cornerstone HCSB translation has sold more than 6 million copies.

Now, roughly six years, 35 scholars and tens of thousands of hours later, the HCSB Study Bible (October 2010) is hitting the market. To create it, B&H brought on the research team that works with America’s household names–Starbucks, McDonaldâ’s and Bridgestone Firestone–and now the best-selling book in history, the Bible.

World

This Course is Like Sitting at the Feet of Jesus

Charisma Staff

The language spoken by Christ, David and the prophets of old (ancient Hebrew) is now available to anyone with a computer and high-speed Internet access. This online language program, accredited by the prestigious Hebrew University in Israel, is available on e-Teacher Group’s website, www.eteacherbiblical.com.  It is designed for people who want to have a better understanding of the Bible and biblical text of the Old Testament. 

The eTeacherBiblical.com program includes weekly, live, online “meetings” in small groups of seven to eight students, and homework assignments that are sent by the teacher after each lesson. The curriculum consists of five levels with each composed of students only in that level. The five divisions range from beginners, with no prior experience with Hebrew, to highly advanced students. The course focuses on reading the Hebrew Bible in its original language.

In the process, students gain a comprehensive understanding of the language, including grammar, syntax and vocabulary. At the more advanced levels, the course deals with different textual and diachronic perspectives, and delves into a wider range of biblical texts, including poetry, prophecy and wisdom literature.

Culture

Survey Shows Christians Failing in This Area

Charisma Staff

There is very little accountability among Christians in the U.S., a new survey found.

Only 5 percent of Christian adults indicated that their church does anything to hold them accountable for integrating biblical beliefs and principles into their life, according to the Barna Group.

Evangelicals were most likely to have some form of church-centered accountability.

George Barna, director of the survey, stressed that mutual accountability is one of the cornerstones of the biblical concept of community.


World

Violent Muslim Mob Utterly Devastates Christian Community

Charisma Staff

 Christians in a small village in southern Egypt are rebuilding their lives and homes after hundreds of Muslims rampaged through their community firebombing houses and businesses over rumors of a romantic relationship between a Christian and a Muslim. 

At least 23 homes and numerous businesses, all Christian-owned, were damaged or destroyed in the village of Al-Nawahid in Qena Governorate, 454 kilometers (282 miles) south of Cairo. Five people were injured, two seriously.

World

This Biblical Prophecy Could Be Fulfilled by 2030

Charisma Staff

Mart Green, is backing a cooperative effort to digitize Bible content and speed up the translation process

The businessman whose family’s $70 million gift lifted Oral Roberts University (ORU) out of debt is backing a cooperative effort to digitize Bible content and speed the pace at which translations are completed.

Every Tribe Every Nation plans to initially put 160 existing texts into digital format, although Mart Green said the process for converting several thousand will likely take 20 to 25 years.

U.S.

Goodness, Gracious, the President Said What?

Charisma Staff

In the time-honored Presidential thanksgiving proclamation, President Barack Obama called on Americans to give thanks to our “gracious God.”

Despite the turbulent season the nation is facing, he encouraged Americans to look to the numerous blessings seen in the last year.

“As we stand at the close of one year and look to the promise of the next, we lift up our hearts in gratitude to God for our many blessings, for one another, and for our Nation,” he said this week.

Culture

The One Thing to Avoid Come Christmas

Charisma Staff

Don’t allow gift-giving expectations to put you deeper in debt and rob you of the true joy of the season 

I know what you’re thinking: Here they come. Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s; gifts to buy, meals to prepare, decorating, houseguests, parties to attend, church activities, neighborhood events, school productions–and a partridge in a pear tree.

It’s exhausting, isn’t it? Add the fact that the last few years have been financially disappointing for most of us, and it’s no wonder we get a heavy feeling in the pit of our stomachs when the calendar page flips over to November.

U.S.

Though it’s Haunting America, This is Having Little Effect on Churches

Charisma Staff

Megachurches across the country are holding their own during uncertain economic times, a new survey shows.

Most megachurches continue to see attendance and giving rise, and the bigger the church is, the more likely it is to experience increases, Leadership Network reported in its 2010 Large Church Economic Outlook Report.

According to the Christian Post, survey results indicate that the economic downturn is having little impact on America’s larger churches. A full 100 percent of churches with 8,000 or more attendees experienced growth in attendance and giving from 2009 to 2010. And all surveyed churches with attendance of 10,000 to 14,999 plan to reach this year’s budget projections.

Overall, 81 percent of megachurches’ congregations with attendance of 2,000 or more saw more attendees and only 9 percent reported lower attendance. Sixty-seven percent of megachurches increased their budget, with the average increase being 3 percent, and the same proportion said they expect to meet their 2010 budget.

World

ISIS Threatens ‘Rivers of Blood’ for Coptic Christians

Charisma Staff

As bombings and other attacks continue against Christians in Iraq, Christians in Egypt have gathered to pray and plan for their own safety.

When a group of Islamic extremists on Oct. 31 burst into Our Lady of Salvation church in Baghdad during evening mass and began spraying the sanctuary with gunfire, the militant organization that took responsibility said Christians in Egypt also would be targeted if its demands were not met. Taking more than 100 congregants hostage, the Islamic State of Iraq (ISI) called a television station and stated that the assault came in response to the Coptic Orthodox Church in Egypt allegedly holding two Coptic women against their will who, the ISI and some others believe, converted to Islam. 

The group issued a 48-hour deadline for the release of the women, and when the deadline passed it issued a statement that, “All Christian centers, organizations and institutions, leaders and followers are legitimate targets for the muhajedeen [Muslim fighters] wherever they can reach them.” The statement later added ominously, “We will open upon them the doors of destruction and rivers of blood.”

World

Booming International Ministry Fuels Church Growth

Charisma Staff

A Spokane, Wash.-based ministry is spawning healing rooms globally

Prayer for healing is hardly new, but in recent years healing rooms have been spreading worldwide in a ministry trend that isn’t expected to slow. 

Launched in 1999, the International Association of Healing Rooms (IAHR) now oversees some 1,900 rooms in 52 nations, with roughly 1,000 in India alone. In healing rooms across the U.S., Europe, Asia and Africa, people have been healed of blindness, brain tumors and even HIV, says IAHR founder Cal Pierce.

“What is so powerful is this work is done by ordinary people doing an extraordinary work through the power of the Holy Spirit,” Pierce says.

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