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the suffering
body of christ |
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CHRISTIAN BOOK STORE VANDALIZED AGAIN
Istanbul (Turkey): On February 12, 2009 a
Turkish Bible Society bookstore in the city of Adana was
vandalized by Muslim extremists for the second time in a
week.
Security cameras showed two Muslim Youth vandalizing the
storefront of the Soz Kitapevi bookstore. They were
kicking and smashing glass in both the window and the
door. The door frame was also damaged. Earlier, on
February 7, the glass of the front door was smashed and
the security camera mangled. The bookstore had in the
past received threats from Muslim extremists. Last
November, a man reportedly entered the bookstore and
began making accusations that the bookstore was linked
to the Unites States Intelligence Agency and said, “You
work with them killing people in Muslim countries,
harming Muslim countries.”
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CHRISTIAN STUDENTS AND WARDEN TERMINATED
Islamabad (Pakistan): Two female Christian
nursing students and a Christian hostel warden have been
terminated from college over a blasphemy accusation that
was leveled against the students by their Muslim
roommates on February 13, 2009.
Trouble for the Christian nursing students, Amara and
Sitara, began when they hung a picture of Jesus Christ
in a shared hostel room. Islamic tradition explicitly
prohibits images of Allah, Muhammad and all the major
figures of the Christian and Jewish traditions.
Muslim students desecrated the picture by tearing it up
and hurling it down after the Christian students refused
to remove it voluntarily.
The administration of the nursing college allegedly took
no action against the Muslim students, who committed the
alleged incident. Christian-Muslim tension among
students at the nursing college escalated after Muslim
students accused their Christian roommates, Amara and
Sitara, of desecrating Quranic verses on February 13.
Their Muslim accusers and some staff of the hospital
have threatened legal action against the Christian
students. Martha, the hostel warden, told the Sharing
Life Ministry Pakistan that she had served Fatima
Memorial Hospital for 15 years. She said: “I would stay
at the hostel even on my day-offs and give very little
time to my family. “The nursing students and hospital
administration gave me due respect before this
incident,” the terminated Christian warden told.
ANS has learnt that the Muslim students allegedly turned
against Martha when she asked them to restrain from
blowing a trivial matter out of proportion. The Medical
Superintendent, Ayesha Nouman did not take any action
against the Muslim students, who spoke harshly to
Martha.
Instead of taking some disciplinary action against the
Muslim students the medical superintendent terminated
her.
Martha told media: “I am ready to face any sort of
persecution for Christ. “This is just a termination. I
don't care about my career. I can sacrifice my life for
Christ because He died for me.
“I am not afraid of persecution rather I feel honoured
to be persecuted for Christ. I also encouraged Amara and
Sitara to remain strong in Christ.”
Muslim students still want legal action be taken against
the terminated Christian nursing students.
According to the reports situation at the nursing
college remains tense and they received reports which
said Muslim students allegedly thrashed Christian
nursing students at the college.
The Ministry alleged that Pakistan TV Geo News and
Channel 5 did partial reporting on the incident.
A Christian organisation urged Christians across the
world to pray for protection of Amara, Sitara and Sister
Martha.
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CHRISTIANS CONCERNED ABOUT POPE'S VISIT TO ISRAEL
Palestine: A group of Palestinian
Christians has asked Pope Benedict XVI to call off his
planned visit to Israel and the West Bank this coming
May. The 40 community activists wrote to the pope that
his visit would "help boost Israel's image and
inadvertently minimize Palestinian suffering under
Israeli occupation." The group urged the pope to link
his visit to a series of Israeli measures, including
improved access to Christian places of worship and
halting taxation of church properties.
Christians from the West Bank, like their Muslim
counterparts, need special permits to reach Jerusalem
and its holy places. The pontiff is to visit the Holy
Land May 8-15, including stops in Jordan, the West Bank
and Israel.
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert last week confirmed the
pope's spring pilgrimage, avoiding any mention of tense
Catholic-Jewish relations over the pontiff's
rehabilitation of a Holocaust-denying bishop. This will
be first by a pope to the Holy Land since John Paul
visited in 2000. Catholic-Jewish relations have been
extremely tense since January 24, 2009 when Benedict
lifted excommunications of four renegade traditionalist
bishops in an attempt to heal a schism that began in
1988 when they were ordained without Vatican permission.
One of the bishops, Richard Williamson, denies the full
extent of the Holocaust and says there were no gas
chambers. The Vatican has ordered him to recant but he
so far has not done so, saying he needs more time to
review the evidence. Faced with Jewish anger over
Williamson's remarks on the Holocaust, the pope said
during a meeting with American Jewish leaders on
Thursday that "any denial or minimization of this
terrible crime is intolerable."
A detailed itinerary of the pope's visit is not yet
available. It would be the third visit of a reigning
pontiff to Israel since the state was created in 1948.
Pope Paul VI made a one-day stopover from Jordan in
1964, but since the Vatican and Israel did not yet have
diplomatic relations, he avoided any statement or act
that could be interpreted as even indirect recognition
of the Jewish state. In March 2000, Pope John Paul II
made a five-day pilgrimage to Israel and the Palestinian
territories, during which he visited Christian and
Jewish holy sites.
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COUNSELLOR SUSPENDED FOR PLAYING CHRISTIAN MUSIC TO
FOSTER CHILDREN
New York (USA):
A Southern California counsellor with nearly two decades
of experience with foster children is challenging a
decision that she be punished after four teens she took
on an approved day-long outing encountered a beach
festival and heard Christian music.
The 18-year employee, according to the lawsuit, took
four teen girls from the Orangewood Children's Home,
which was launched as a private facility but now is
owned and run by Orange County. "What happened to this counsellor was insane and unjust," said Brad Dacus,
president of the Pacific Justice Institute, who is
defending the counselor.
"Allowing teenagers to overhear a few minutes of
Christian music while at the beach should not result in
a six-week suspension," insisted Dacus, who said the
counselor's name is not being released.
A county spokeswoman said officials had not seen the
ourse of "administrative remedies" proved
fruitless.complaint. But it was a personnel issue, they
said, so there would be no comment. Pacific Justice said
the lawsuit was filed after an extensive course of
"administrative remedies" proved fruitless.
The complaint explains the counselor took the four teen
girls on the field trip during the summer of 2006, first
to a 5 kilometer run and then to the beach. " At the
beach, the group encountered a 'Surf Jam' taking place
at the Huntington Beach Pier. The group also overheard
Christian music for about 10 minutes while they were
eating," the institute said.
After the outing, the counselor was ordered into a
"disciplinary meeting" that focused on the
inappropriateness of Christian music. No punishment was
imposed immediately, but weeks later after another
meeting at which the same subject was reviewed, the
counselor was suspended six weeks for "exposing children
to unapproved religious activities."
The lawsuit was filed in Orange County Superior Court
seeking to recover the financial losses from the
suspension and vindicate her constitutional rights, the
institute said. Dacus told WND the circumstances were
disturbing. "It just goes to show how anti-faith some
[people] are," he said.
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This page is
updated on March 15, 2009 |
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PRAISE THE ALMIGHTY
10 YEARS CELEBRATION
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