U.S.

Christians Rally to Defend Prayers in Jesus’ Name

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A former military chaplain who battled the U.S. Navy over the right to pray in Jesus’ name is waging a similar fight in Lodi, Calif., where the City Council in May temporarily banned sectarian prayers before meetings.

Chaplain Gordon James Klingenschmitt expects several hundred people-some from out of state-to join him tonight at 6 p.m. for a “Stand Up for Jesus” prayer rally protesting a city policy requiring all prayers to be “non-sectarian and non-denominational.”

World

Al-Qaida-Tied Groups Suspected of Anti-Christian Attacks in Pakistan

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Mob violence that killed at least eight Christians in Pakistan on Saturday is being linked to Islamic extremists from groups tied to al-Qaida and the Taliban.

A senior government official told Reuters news service on Tuesday that Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan (SSP), an outlawed pro-Taliban Sunni Muslim group, and its al-Qaida-linked offshoot, Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ), were believed to be behind the weekend riot in Gorja, located in the central province of Punjab.


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Christians Burned to Death in Islamist Attacks in Pakistan

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Islamic extremists on Saturday set ablaze more than 50 houses and a church in Gorja, a town in northeastern Pakistan following an accusation of “blasphemy” of the Quran, leaving at least 14 Christians dead, sources said.

The dead include women and children, with several other burn victims unable to reach hospitals for medical care, according to the Centre for Legal Aid Assistance and Settlement (CLAAS). The attack came amid a protest by thousands of Muslim Islamists – including members of banned militant groups – that resulted in another six people dying when participants shot at police and officers responded with tear gas and gunfire.

U.S.

New Tribes Mission Co-Founder Dies at 98

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Robert “Borneo Bob” Williams, co-founder of Florida-based New Tribes Mission, which plants indigenous churches in remote areas worldwide, died Wednesday in Fresno, Calif., at the age of 98.

Through his 70-year ministry, Williams planted hundreds of churches in Indonesia, where he and his late wife, Rena, began their missionary career in 1939. During the next six decades, he established schools, clinics, a small boat ministry and a seminary that has trained and sent out hundreds of native Indonesian pastors, teachers and evangelists.

U.S.

Christian Coach Sues Over Dismissal by Muslim Principal

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A veteran high school coach in Michigan has filed a federal lawsuit claiming he was fired by a Muslim principal because of his Christian faith and his association with a Pentecostal minister who helped lead a Muslim student to Christ.

In a lawsuit filed Monday, Gerald Marszalek, a  wrestling coach for 35 years at Fordson High School in Dearborn, accused Dearborn schools and Fordson Principal Imad Fadlallah of violating his constitutional rights to free speech and exercise of religion, as well as Michigan laws against religious discrimination.

U.S.

Prosperity Preacher Rev. Ike Dies at 74

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The minister known as Reverend Ike, who preached a gospel of prosperity that stretched the limits of biblical orthodoxy, died on Tuesday at age 74.

The Rev. Frederick J. Eikerenkoetter II suffered a stroke in 2007 and never fully recovered, the New York Times reported. He died in Los Angeles, where he moved two years ago.

Although he began preaching in his father’s Baptist church, the South Carolina native was best known for teaching what he called “positive self-image psychology” to his 5,000-member church, the United Church Science of Living Institute in New York.

U.S.

WWJD Lawsuit Dropped

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A Minnesota couple has dropped its class action lawsuit against a Christian-owned collection agency that used the acronym “WWJD” in its business correspondence.

Mark and Sara Neill on Tuesday dropped the lawsuit they filed against Minnesota-based Bullseye Collection Agency in November after receiving letters to recover an $88 debt.

U.S.

Christians Ramp Up Opposition to Health Care Bill

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Conservative Christian leaders are ramping up their opposition to a health care reform bill that they say opens the door to government-funded abortion.

Family Research Council President Tony Perkins hosted a press conference today on Capitol Hill calling on Congress to oppose the reform measure that he said amounts to a government takeover of health care.

World

Dozens Die in Nigeria Violence

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Dozens of people have died in Nigeria since Sunday in violent clashes involving Muslim militants who burned churches and a police station, and set off bombs near residential areas in the northern city of Maiduguri.

The violence began in Bauchi state on Sunday after the arrest of some members of a Muslim group called Boko Haram, which opposes Western education and wants Islam’s strict Sharia law adapted across Nigeria, Reuters reported.

U.S.

Christians Surround Gay Pride Event With Prayer, Evangelism

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In what is being called the largest outreach of its kind in Charlotte, N.C., more than 1,000 Christians are expected to pray and evangelize at the city’s annual gay pride event Saturday to proclaim that “God has a better way.”

“Our statement is that God has a better way,” said organizer Michael L. Brown, a former Brownsville Revival leader and president of the FIRE School of Ministry, which relocated to the Charlotte area in 2004.

“We won’t be yelling at people through loudspeakers,” added Brown, who leads the citywide Coalition of Conscience that is behind Saturday’s outreach. “We’ll be praying, worshiping, believing that the presence of God will touch hearts and will make a difference in the city.”


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