Charisma News

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.”

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The often unseen or unrecognized abuses suffered by Christians at Pakistan’s lowest level of society—street sweepers—have come into sharp focus this year.

While one Christian sanitation worker in Lahore has been suspended and criminal charges filed against him for objecting to discrimination against fellow workers, another was killed the same month for not tending to a shopkeeper’s command fast enough.

Anayat Masih Sahotra, who has worked as a street sweeper for Lahore’s Solid Waste Management department for 24 years, said he is facing baseless charges of forgery and fraud from his employers because of his work as a labor leader for area sweepers, who are nearly all Christians. He was suspended and accused of the crimes on May 14 after he asked SWM Managing Director Wasim Ajmal Chaudhry to fulfill a promise to make 400 Christian workers regular employees with full benefits, he said.

Open Doors says Eritrean military officials have rounded up another group of evangelical Christians this week.

Authorities arrested 35 believers on Sunday, on suspicion of gathering for worship in Assab, a port city. The group, which included 17 women, was taken to the Adi-Nefase military camp near Assab, a notoriously harsh detention center.  

Open Doors also reports that 25 Christian students from Mai-Nefhi Educational Institution (roughly 12 miles southwest of Asmara) have been released on bail in order to sit for their final exams. They may have been part of a group of students arrested at the beginning of June for “unpatriotic behavior.” Sources in the country expect the students to be taken back into custody as soon as their exams have been completed.

Will Graham is getting quite a welcome in Kenya.

Moments after arriving in Nakuru with his wife, Kendra, he was greeted with a parade through the city’s downtown quarters.

“Just arrived in Nakuru! What a reception,” Graham posted on his Twitter account, @TellaGraham. “I’ve never had a reception like that before.”

The grandson of Billy Graham and son of Franklin Graham will be preaching three nights at the Will Graham Celebration of Peace Nakuru from Friday to Sunday at Githma (Mama Scrape Grounds). All events are free.

Wednesday’s downtown parade was just a taste of the excitement that is brewing in Kenya, where Billy Graham preached at two crusades in Nairobi (1960, 1976) and Kisumu (1960).

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It may take months—even years—for the impact of Festival de Esperanza to fully develop in the Los Angeles area.

But almost 10 days after the first Spanish-speaking event in the United States was held by the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, ripples are still being felt after hundreds of decisions were made in each of three different services.

“It was quite an experience that a lot of people are still talking about,” Festival Director Galo Vasquez said from Los Angeles this morning. “People are very humbled with that experience.

“The leaders have made the comment that they are sensing something unique has happened here.”

Unique to say the least.

Hindu extremists in Pratapgarh, Rajasthan have threatened to kill a pastor after beating his family and violating an agreement to stop attacking them, the pastor said.

Pastor Shantilal Ninama of Believers Church told Compass that the Hindu extremists beat his 65-year-old father until he fell unconscious in one of the attacks last month.

On the evening of June 8, after agreeing to do no further harm to Pastor Ninama and his family in exchange for him dropping police charges he’d filed over a previous attack, the enraged Hindu extremists stormed into his home and began beating and stoning his father, sister, wife and three children, he said. As he sought police help, his father fell unconscious and his wife and two of his children ran out into the darkness. Another daughter hid beneath a bed, and his sister escaped and hid in a valley.

Two Gospel for Asia-supported missionaries in India were arrested over the weekend. One was released later that same day, but the other remains behind bars.

Pastor Accused of Being Member of Rebel Group
Rahul Akkunj was arrested on Saturday and is charged with being a member of a well-known rebel group. Rahul is not part of the group. Rather, he is the pastor of a church in the village where he was arrested.

The allegations came after a fasting and prayer meeting Rahul led at his church. Several villagers who heard about the event were distressed, saying that if Rahul’s church continues to grow at the rate it has been, their traditional religion will be wiped out.