Voice of the Martyrs sends one millionth New Testament

In the last few years, BU has sent copies of the New Testament to several restricted countries, including Colombia, North Korea and Egypt. The one millionth Bible was sent on August 5 to a persecuted believer in China.

Bibles Unbound was launched in 2006 to enable Christians to send New Testaments into countries where Christians are not able to go to a bookshop and buy their own Bible.

The inspiration for the ministry is 2 Timothy 2.9 in which Paul writes that the word of God is not bound.

Christians submit the names and addresses of persecuted believers in need of Scriptures to Bibles Unbound, which then sends a New Testament in the appropriate language directly to the believer.

Contact details are submitted by people living in democratic as well as persecuted countries.

"We are thankful to the faithful Christians living inside these restricted and hostile nations who take great risks to supply names and addresses of those needing God's Word," said VOM Executive Director Tom White.Readmore

Indian Christians Attacked, Police Arrests 8 Pastors

Two Hindu fundamentalist groups attacked Tuesday night the attendees of Christian Teachers' Training Program in South Indian State of Karnataka, seriously injuring four pastors; when complained, police instead arrested eight pastors.

According to GCICI, about 74 people had gathered together for a Teacher's Training Program that was organized by the Seva Bharath Mission India in Patil Sabha Bhavan (House) in Annigere, Nalagund Taluk in Dharwad District in northern Karnataka between 11 and 14 August. The group consisted of 50 male pastors and 24 young women from various districts of Northern Karnataka.

"On Tuesday night, while the group was asleep after attending a day-long training program; the Hindutva activists broke into the building premises and started beating up the male pastors at 11:30 p.m.," stated GCIC. "Pastors Madan Kumar, Francis, Jayraj and Prakash were seriously injured while other pastors incurred minor injuries."

The report said, "Even the young women were not spared. Most of the women are aged between 17-23 years. They were humiliated with verbal abuses and man-handled by the attackers." All their Bibles and mobile phones were confiscated. The attack lasted about one and a half hours.Readmore

Indian Christian Council Condemns Attack on Kerala Church

The All India Christian Council (aicc) has condemned an attack at a church in Pathanamthitta district of south Indian state of Kerala by Hindu activists alleging large-scale conversion activities in the area.

The activists, numbering around 20, attacked the church at Kozhencherry Pulladu Junction in Pathanamthitta district on 2 August 2010.

They came armed with lethal weapons and attacked Joe Kaithavana, the Pastor of the church, and Deepu, one of his believers late in the evening while they having their supper, according to the aicc.

"The culprits first used abusive words and beat them up, leaving them badly injured. They also caused extensive damage to the church building. Later both the victims have been admitted to the district hospital at Kozencherry," reported aicc.

The Christian council condemned the attack and sought action against the culprits. In another incident, a mob of about 40 Hindu extremists allegedly from Dharam Sena attacked Sneh Sadan Institute (Home of Love) on July 26, 2010, in Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh.Readmore

Pentecostal leader paints bright future for Assemblies of God

The head of one of the largest Pentecostal denominations in the US encouraged struggling leaders not to be weary in their ministry work even if the harvest may not come in their lifetime.

"The breakthrough will come," general superintendent of the Assemblies of God George O Wood told thousands of Pentecostals in Orlando, Florida, on Tuesday. "God will not forget your work."

Relaying the story of an Old Testament character many could relate to, Wood spoke of Leah whose life circumstances seemed unfair but whose legacy has played out beyond her earthly life.?

Without Leah, he pointed out, there would be no Moses and ultimately no Christmas story.

"Her circumstances may have brought her misery ... but her view of God continued to be one of trust," Wood said, noting that she never failed to look to the Lord and praise Him.Readmore

Serving in the IDF, 'for the sake of God and Jesus'

Jesus supports the IDF and he wants his believers to be the best soldiers they can be.

That was the message conveyed by members of the local Messianic Jewish community via sacred texts, prayer and talks, to a group of 18-year-olds who took part this week in a premilitary program called Netsor.

"I am a soldier of God," said Boris, an intense redhead accepted to an elite combat unit, who is one of the 28 young men and women who participated in Netsor.

"I will do my best during my service in the IDF to serve God spiritually and physically. Not for the sake of state authorities but for the sake of God and Jesus," added Boris, as we sat in the dining room of a guest house that overlooks Lake Kinneret on Wednesday.

Not far from here, according to Christian tradition, Jesus walked on water, healed the sick and preached. Now, nearly two millennia later, young "believers," as they call themselves, convinced they are walking in Jesus's footsteps, hope to become the next fighter pilots, reconnaissance soldiers, paratroopers, tank commanders and sailors. Readmore

Maccabiah 09 Ami Ortiz carried the flag in the opening ceremony.

Ami Ortiz, the Messianic Jewish teen who survived a terrorist bomb planted in a holiday gift package last year, accompanied the athlete carrying Puerto Rico's flag in the opening ceremonies.

The Maccabiah, which has been held every four years since 1932, includes 31 different sports.

Sports, they say, are more about participating than winning. This has never been more true than at the Maccabiah Games and now you too can be part of the largest sporting event in Israel's history: The 18th edition of the 'Jewish Olympics' includes several mass-participation events, dubbed The Popular Maccabiah, and is designed to bring Israelis closer to the international athletes.

The Lord God of Israel keeps on blessing Ami in amazing ways! As if last week wasn't miraculous enough, with the honor of the Maccabiah, the newspaper article and then the TV interview - which by the way was shown again as they do a recap of the most interesting interviews of the week.Readmore

"Mind Blowing"- Surviving Bible a Sign and a Wonder

::By BCN :: "When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze." -Isaiah 43:2

(Lindale, Georgia)-Rome Newswire has published an amazing report on an untouched family Bible that survived a massive fire that broke out in an historic Lindale home on July 11.

The fire was so bad, it reportedly took firefighters about 30 minutes just to get a knockdown on the flames, and they had to stay on the scene until the following morning putting out hotspots. The fire was so hot, noted the report that firefighters also feared for the safety of their fire trucks.

The home was vacant at the time of the fire.

Sam Brannon, brother-in-law of owner Les Groves, was quoted as saying through all of the heat and fire that left the structure in ruins, he was able to "dig out an old family Bible from the charred mess that was miraculously undamaged."

"Seeing that Bible was completely untouched, it just blows my mind," Brannon said, noting that it just gave him "chills."Readmore

G8 Climate Change Progress 'Painfully Slow,' Say Christian Agencies

::By The Christian Post:: International Christian aid agencies say that while there are a few commendable aspects about the G8 summit, progress for the climate change issue has been "painfully slow."

G8 leaders meeting in Italy this week agreed for the first time to "reduce our emissions by 80 percent" by 2050. However, the leaders failed to agree on using the 1990 baseline to determine the exact goal of the emission cuts. Aid agencies say establishing a baseline is critical to making the commitment meaningful.

In another step of progress, the world's richest countries for the first time agreed that the average global temperatures should not rise above 2 degrees - the level scientists say going above would be dangerous.

The G8 representatives, however, were criticized for not providing leadership on financing the efforts to achieve this goal.

"When the language of the communiqué is so heavily infused with enthusiasm rather than solid action, we have to be skeptical," commented Joanne Green, head of policy at Catholic Agency for Overseas Development (CAFOD).Readmore

Hillsong Conference to broadcast on God TV

Each year, the Hillsong Conference brings world-renowned speakers and worship leaders together for one of Australia's largest and most influential Christian events.

This year Joel Osteen will be featured at Hillsong for the first time. The conference will be broadcast by GOD TV will worldwide for five days from July 8-12.

Joel is the pastor of Lakewood Church in Houston, Texas, with more than 40 000 people regularly attending services. He will be featured direct from the Acer Arena in Sydney on Friday 10 July at 21.30 BST along with his wife, Victoria, and the Lakewood ministry team, including worship leader Israel Houghton.

Joel's weekly half-hour programme 'Joel' is already part of GOD TV's international line-up of programming, but this is the first time he will be appearing live on the network.Readmore

Pastor Rick Warren addresses US Muslims

WASHINGTON - Defying some of his fellow conservative Christian critics, one of the most prominent religious leaders in the country told several thousand American Muslims on Saturday that "the two largest faiths on the planet" must work together to combat stereotypes and solve global problems.

"Some problems are so big you have to team tackle them," evangelical megachurch pastor Rick Warren addressed the annual convention of the Islamic Society of North America.

Warren said Muslims and Christians should be partners in working to end what he calls "the five global giants" of war, poverty, corruption, disease and illiteracy.

Warren, founder of Saddleback Community Church in Orange County, Calif., is the author of "The Purpose Driven Life," which has sold more than 30 million copies worldwide. His willingness to show support for U.S. Muslims is a huge gain for the community, which has endured intense scrutiny since 9/11.Readmore