Charisma News

As the world’s newest country, South Sudan has held the headline spotlight since its July 9 secession from the North. Amid the excitement and concerns over what’s to come for the new nation, however, Carl Moeller with Open Doors believes one group has been forgotten.

Moeller explains, “We are rejoicing that there are increased freedoms (and of course more challenges) in the South, but we have to ask the question: What about the Christians in the North?”

Christians have already been fleeing back to the South for fear of what is to come in the North. Open Doors reports that although many Christians are said to have returned to the South voluntarily, some observers have pointed out that they had departed because they could not be assured of their safety.

A trio of explosions rocked India’s commercial capital. According to Reuters, three blasts shook Mumbai on Wednesday. Indian media are … Read More

Police in Bangladesh have charged two Christians and their four Muslim friends with “hurting religious sensibility” just three days after they were cleared of any wrongdoing.

The accused will appear in court tomorrow to face the charges, which were filed against them three days after they were exonerated on April 10. They had been arrested on March 24 in Damurhuda, Chuadanga district, some 210 kilometers (126 miles) northwest of Dhaka, under Section 54 of the penal code, which provides a special power to police to arrest anyone on any suspicion. They were released on bail three days later.

Mannan Mridha, a pastor in the Way of Peace movement of 490 house churches in northwest Bangladesh, told Compass that the second case was filed only to stop Christian activities in the area.

After repeated beatings and malnutrition suffered in house detention, blind pro-life activist Chen Guangcheng’s health is deteriorating quickly. Now, human rights organizations are pushing harder than ever for his freedom.

Women’s Rights Without Frontiers and China Aid Association on Tuesday called for urgent action on Guangcheng’s behalf. In order to drive more attention to the international cause, Women’s Rights Without Frontiers released a new video demanding freedom for Chen and his family. (You can view the video at the end of this story.)

Guangcheng was arrested in 2006 for exposing evidence that 130,000 forced abortions and involuntary sterilizations were performed on women in Linyi County, Shandong Province in a single year. Time Magazine named him one of “2006’s Top 100 People Who Shape Our World” and he was given the 2007 Magsaysay award, known as Asia’s Nobel Peace Prize.

“The abuse of Chen Guangcheng is unconscionable and contrary to the rule of law,” says Bob Fu, president of China Aid. “His mistreatment under house arrest is deplorable, including beatings, constant surveillance, as well as confiscation of his computer, cell phone, books, his blind cane and the toys of his young daughter.”

The rains kept coming. Will Graham kept preaching.

And God kept moving in Kenya.

By the time Sunday night’s final invitation was over, giant puddles were about the only thing remaining at the Mama Scrape Grounds where the Will Graham Celebration of Peace Nakuru had taken place for three straight nights.

But on that soggy field, hundreds upon hundreds had made life-changing decisions to accept Christ as their personal Savior in this city of Nakuru, a two-hour drive from Nairobi, and a place where over a quarter million people call home.

More than 14,000 braved the sketchy weather conditions to hear what the grandson of Billy Graham had to say.

A Lao pastor imprisoned six months ago for holding a “secret meeting” has lost weight under harsh prison conditions and is extremely weak, according to his family.

Police arrested Wanna and fellow pastor and inmate Yohan, both identified only by a single name, on Jan. 4, along with several other Christians in central Laos’s Khammouan Province.

Prison authorities have repeatedly told the men that they will “walk free” as soon as they sign documents renouncing their faith, advocacy group Human Rights Watch for Lao Religious Freedom said.

The dirt road is hilly, pocked with mud puddles and strewn with pebbles. But the sky on this day is blue, the sun bright, and a gentle breeze carries the scent of the sea just a few miles away.

The Haitian mother and her two daughters who travel the road each week on their way to First Eglise Evangelique Baptiste de Saintard enjoy the walk. Dressed in their Sunday best—Mama in a crisp red suit and wide-brimmed black hat, daughters in white lace and pink satin respectively—the three join arms and sing a little chorus of praise.

In this remote area of Haiti, the scars of the 2010 earthquake aren’t visible on the landscape, only in the souls of its people. But tell-tale signs of poverty haunt every corner—in the form of emaciated dogs and hungry children looking for scraps of food.

The church is a haven, tucked behind a security wall.

Christians working in remote Pakistani communities are facing extreme pressure, according to a Voice of the Martyrs Canada report. A … Read More

Israel intends to expel 81 pro-Palestinian activists in coming days who arrived at Ben-Gurion International Airport last week, reported local media.

The activists are the last batch of over a hundred people who landed at Ben-Gurion as part of the “fly-in,” an event led by the “Welcome Palestine” organization.

The event’s organizers originally planned to fly upwards of 1,000 international activists to Israel, in order to stage Palestinian solidarity events in the West Bank and Jerusalem.

Gospel for Asia-supported missionary, Gobesh Manranman, was arrested July 3 on his way to church. He is in jail, charged with being a member of a murderous rebel group that is the target of a government crackdown.

Gobesh, who is pastor of a small congregation in a village near a large city center, was taken into custody while walking to church Sunday morning.

Pastors are often charged with being associated with this rebel group because they openly minister to individuals who are part of the group. They do not condone their rebel activities.

Rather, they want to introduce them to the Savior. Other times, local people who are angry becuase many in their village choose to leave their traditional faith to embrace Christ, make false allegations against them.

Saturday (July 9) will be Independence Day for the citizens of South Sudan. 

A 2005 peace deal brought an end to the civil war, while promising Southerners the chance to vote for independence. That referendum vote came in January when an overwhelming majority chose to split from Khartoum.

In preparation to become Africa’s newest sovereign state, the legislative assembly on Thursday ratified the new constitution for the nation-in-waiting. There’s a lot of hope riding on the actual secession.

God’s Word is breaking through in a country that Luis Palau says has resisted gospel preaching for hundreds of years—southern France.

Palau led an evangelistic campaign in southern France last week. The campaign, which targeted the cities of Istres, Aix-en-Provence and Marignane, ended with a three-day gospel festival on Marseille’s crowded Plage du Prado beach. The festival reached 16,000 with the gospel of Jesus Christ. It was the first time a gospel event was allowed in an open venue.

Franklin Graham will be a witness to South Sudan history this weekend.

The CEO and president of both Samaritan’s Purse and the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association will be on hand to celebrate South Sudan’s first weekend of Independence from Sudan.

Saturday marks South Sudan’s official Independence Day.

“Americans just celebrated the birth of the United States, so it is with special appreciation that we now turn to another nation preparing to start its own journey of independence,” Franklin Graham said in a Samaritan’s Purse statement. “Saturday, July 9, will be the day that South Sudan will officially become the youngest country on earth.”