Displaying items by tag: Praise

A landmark ruling in Malaysia has recognised state involvement in the disappearance of Pastor Raymond Koh, who was abducted in broad daylight in February 2017 and has not been seen since. The high court has ordered the government and police to pay RM 37 million (about £6.8 million) in compensation for wrongful acts. Justice Su Tiang Joo allocated RM 33 million for the enforced disappearance and a further RM 4 million in damages to Pastor Koh’s wife, Susanna Liew, with RM 250,000 awarded for costs. Importantly, the funds must be held in trust until Koh’s whereabouts are known, highlighting the ongoing search for truth. Koh’s abduction, which was captured on camera, involved three SUVs and fifteen men and was completed within forty seconds. While the ruling offers a measure of closure and vindication, his wife expressed deep concern that authorities have failed to act on the findings of previous inquiries or take any action against police officers who are confirmed as taking part in the abduction. Calling on the government to hold an enquiry about what happened to Pastor Koh and his present whereabouts, CSW’s president Mervyn Thomas said, ‘This is a landmark decision which demonstrates the judiciary’s independence by holding state actors accountable, and setting a legal precedent for cases involving enforced disappearance’.

A Christian street preacher in Swindon has been acquitted of charges related to comments he made in a public space, a case which sparked wider debate about free speech and the policing of perceived hate incidents. Shaun O’Sullivan, 36, was accused of religiously aggravated intentional harassment after a Muslim family claimed his remarks about Jews and Palestine were directed personally at them because they wore hijabs. However, the prosecution case rested largely on their testimony, and CCTV footage showed only a very brief encounter with no sustained confrontation. In court, one complainant acknowledged she had not heard the full message and that her perceptions were influenced by distress over the Gaza conflict. The defence argued O’Sullivan was preaching a general Christian message - not using abusive language - and warned that criminalising public evangelism threatens long-standing freedoms. Supporters described the verdict as a vital affirmation of the right to share Christian beliefs openly in the public square.

The twentieth Mitzvah Day in the UK demonstrated the power of shared service to strengthen interfaith relationships at a time when tensions have risen nationwide. Volunteers from Jewish, Christian and Muslim communities joined together in more than 200 projects, including preparing food for night shelters and refugee support at Alyth Synagogue in Golders Green. Organisers emphasised that practical cooperation builds trust where dialogue alone can struggle, particularly following strained relations linked to conflict in the Middle East. Founder Laura Marks, who also co-created the Nisa-Nashim network for Jewish and Muslim women, celebrated ongoing friendships and urged continued collaboration beyond the annual event. Leaders, including Rabbi Josh Levy and Bishop Anderson Jeremiah, noted that initiatives like Mitzvah Day help to deepen community bonds and provide resilient foundations for future peacebuilding. Participants said that acts of kindness reflect religious responsibility to seek the good of others, even amid political or social division.

Kelvin Burke’s life was for ever changed at age 23 when a tragic accident in the Lake District left him a paraplegic, ending his promising hockey career and dreams of the Olympics. Raised in a strong Christian family in Northern Ireland, he had already seen the devastating effects of IRA violence on others, including his beloved hockey teacher. After the crash, Kelvin fought for survival in hospital while believers around the world prayed. Though his physical future seemed bleak, he experienced deep encounters with God, including a vision of Christ sharing his tears and suffering which renewed his hope. He went on to lead youth ministry, train for ordained ministry, and later serve as a hospital chaplain, where he saw many come to faith and find healing. Though still longing for physical restoration, he gratefully testifies to God’s daily sustaining grace, a loving marriage, and a life used for God’s glory, echoing Jesus’ own prayer: ‘Not my will, but yours be done’.

The decision by a Dorset almshouse to sell a rare 15th-century Flemish altarpiece has opened an unexpected path toward expanding its longstanding mission of caring for those in need. The Almshouse of Saint John the Evangelist and John the Baptist in Sherborne discovered the artwork’s extraordinary value only after asking Sotheby’s to store it during building work. Expert analysis revealed that the oak triptych, depicting five miracles of Christ including the raising of Lazarus, was crafted in late-medieval Brussels and could fetch £2.5–£3.5 million at auction. The trustees unanimously agreed that selling the piece would best serve the local community, noting that the costs of securing, conserving, and insuring such a valuable object would be unsustainable for a small charity. Proceeds from the sale are expected to fund the remodelling of the almshouse to create six new independent-living homes and support ongoing maintenance of the Grade I listed building, furthering its 600-year-old mission.

Juman al Qawasmi, once married to a Hamas member and raised in a culture of deep hostility toward Israel and Christianity, experienced a dramatic encounter with Jesus that transformed her life. During the 2014 Gaza conflict, after praying desperately for God to reveal Himself, she dreamed of Jesus standing before her, telling her, 'You are my daughter; don’t be afraid’. She described an overwhelming peace she had never known in Islam, where she felt she could never do enough. Juman had already begun questioning a belief system marked by violence, yet she had never heard the name Yeshua before this encounter. Born in Qatar to a father who was among Hamas’s founders, she once voted for Hamas but now openly rejects its agenda of hatred, corruption, and control. Discovering more about Christ through an Egyptian Christian website, she was deeply moved by His teaching to love one’s enemies and amazed to learn that many Muslims are meeting Jesus through dreams. With radiant joy, she now urges others: 'Cast your eyes on Jesus; He is the way!'

Todd Nettleton of Voice of the Martyrs is urging believers worldwide to pray earnestly for persecuted Christians, especially during the International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church. He explained that this initiative was not created as a campaign but simply answers the persecuted church’s first and most urgent request: 'Pray for us’. He described how deeply suffering believers understand the power of prayer, having seen God intervene when all earthly help failed. He recently heard testimonies firsthand, including a remarkable account from an Indian pastor arrested under an anti-conversion law. Determined to keep preaching the Gospel, the pastor was imprisoned and brutally beaten for seven days - hung upside down and struck by guards until they were exhausted. Yet he felt no pain, describing God’s supernatural protection. In an astonishing turn, the same warden who ordered the beatings invited him to speak about Good Friday and later granted him freedom inside the prison to share Christ. The pastor even prayed for the warden’s sick son, who recovered miraculously.

More than twenty years after the vision was first received, plans for the Eternal Wall of Answered Prayer in Warwickshire are finally moving forward. The 169-foot-high monument, almost three times the size of the Angel of the North, will be made from a million bricks, each digitally linked to a unique story of answered prayer. Its creator, Richard Gamble, a former chaplain to Leicester City Football Club and the 2012 Olympics, describes it as 'a monument to make hope visible’. Designed as a Mobius strip symbolising eternity and God’s unending faithfulness, the project has faced years of financial and engineering challenges. But a £30 million gift from a Christian Tory peer has now transformed its future, covering the majority of the £45 million cost. Gamble says the vision has always been about glorifying Jesus through the testimonies of His people. When completed, the wall will stand as a national landmark of faith, thanksgiving, and answered prayer.

On 17 October India’s supreme court of India rejected a religious conversion case against officials of a noted agricultural university in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh, after a protracted legal battle which started in April 2022. The officials, and also staff of a mission hospital, had been accused by a Hindu nationalist of coercing a woman into converting to Christianity and then forcing her to bring nearly sixty other women for a conversion meeting. The court found no credible evidence to substantiate the allegations, and stated that the complainant did not have the legal right to file the complaint. It also recognised serious procedural deficiencies and violations of due process. Delighted Christian community leaders have claimed the ruling as a historic victory which strengthens faith in the justice system and affirms the constitutional promise of religious freedom. It provides a crucial precedent for cases under similar state-level anti-conversion laws, and stands as a reminder that even in cases involving sensitive socio-religious issues, the principles of due process and statutory integrity remain paramount.

In her first interview since the tragic assassination of her husband, Christian commentator Charlie Kirk, Erika Kirk said that her faith in Christ has overcome all fear. When asked if she felt safe, she replied, 'What are they going to threaten me with - going to heaven sooner to be with my husband?' She explained that her confidence is not recklessness but a trust in God’s sovereignty: 'It’s a fearlessness rooted in the understanding that I will have my day and my time whenever that is - when the Lord knows I’ve completed my mission.' She added that neither she nor her husband ever lived in fear, saying, 'If we did, we would never get anything done’. Her response has moved many believers worldwide, standing as a bold witness to courage in grief and unwavering hope in eternal life. Her peace in suffering testifies to the power of faith over fear.