Displaying items by tag: Praise

‘I recently returned from an incredibly fruitful trip to Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, where God opened the door for me to preach the Gospel during the Spring Love Festival. It is very unusual for an evangelistic event to be held in Vietnam. What a blessing it was to watch thousands come forward at the invitation to repent of their sins and receive Jesus Christ as Lord of their lives. There is so much ministry under way right now, and none of it would be possible without prayerful support.’

After more than six years in captivity in West Africa, longtime Christian aid worker Jeff Woodke has been released. His wife Els was told that he was in good condition and expressed her profound thanks to the many people in governments and others around the world who have worked so hard to see this result and praised God for answering the prayers of Christians everywhere who have prayed for this outcome. No ransom or other conditions were part of the release.

Two and a half years after being arrested, eight Christians accused of kidnapping and the forced conversion of 60 children were acquitted in Madhya Pradesh. The two men and six women were arrested while travelling with the children to a Bible camp in Nagpur. Even though the parents, from a tribal background, had given consent for their children to go, the group’s leaders were detained and charged with illegal religious conversion of the children. The ‘anti-conversion law’ in Madhya Pradesh requires a person to obtain government permission before changing religion.

What started as a four-day revival event on October 16, 2022, at the Old Zion Baptist Church in Hammond Louisiana has blossomed into 19 weeks of revival, and it shows no signs of stopping. On the first night of the revival, there were only about 125 people in attendance. But 34 people gave their hearts to Jesus Christ. By the fourth night, the gymnasium was packed. Then evangelist David R. Harrison of Voice of Hope Ministries set up his 2,500-seater tent in Hammond in order to help accommodate the large crowd. Brian Lester, Harrison's assistant, said there are signs of the revival continuing. ‘It's only gaining momentum.’ Lester reported, ‘in 19 weeks, over 1,300 have been saved, and countless other lives have been changed.’ He also credits the Asbury Awakening for making even more people want to experience a local revival. Hammond’s services are also live-streamed on Facebook.

Despite birthing many of the earliest Christian churches, the Middle East and North Africa have endured centuries with little or no access to the Gospel. Today 20% of the world has never heard of Jesus Christ, and between 1% and 10% of missionaries work among Muslims. That’s one missionary for every 1 million Muslims. Nevertheless, recent decades have seen an unprecedented Christian witness. More Muslims have become Christians in the last 25 years than in the previous 1,250 years as Jesus has revealed Himself through visions, dreams, and miracles, and 350 ministries work together to disciple new believers; an amazing movement of the Holy Spirit is taking place. Families and marriages are being healed. A divine Spirit of love and freedom is taking root and bringing redemption and hope for the first time. Hundreds of former sheikhs and imams - now Christ followers - are leading many out of Islam, with multiple cases of entire mosques coming to faith in Jesus.

The state of New York has agreed to pay $250,000 to a Christian adoption agency after trying to shut it down for its religious beliefs. The settlement ensures that New Hope Family Services can no longer be targeted for its faith-based policies of placing children solely with married, heterosexual couples. New Hope is a private religious ministry that doesn’t receive any government funding, their faith-guided services don’t coerce anyone, and do nothing to interfere with other adoption providers who have different beliefs about family and the best interests of children.

‘I woke up with excruciating pain at the back of my head and felt like if a person were to pop my head with a pin, it would explode. I couldn’t even lay my head down without bolting back up in pain. I partook of holy Communion and confessed my healing. The next day, the pain was more unbearable. I curled up in a ball, crying in pain. I told the Lord I really needed the pain to go! While crying, I continued to feed my spirit healing scriptures. I tuned on YouTube and listened to a sermon on Healing soaking up every word. Then he began to pray after saying ‘You don’t have to pray. Let me pray for you. God wants you to receive. Rest and believe He loves you and is healing you!’  I did as he said with tears streaming down my face. God’s healing came. I haven't had any pain since.’

The new faith-based film Jesus Revolution opened last weekend and brought in $15.5 million - more than double the original estimate. The film tells the true story behind the Jesus Movement of the 1970s, including how Pastor Chuck Smith welcomed hippies looking for truth at his church. It gave birth to one of the greatest spiritual awakenings in American history and birthed the Harvest Christian Fellowship, in Riverside, California, which is now one of the largest churches in America. The church has sponsored its local SoCal Harvest event for three decades, making it one of the longest-running evangelistic events in the nation, attended by millions of people. Despite mixed critical reviews, the film has a remarkable 99% audience rating on the review aggregator and has earned a rare A+ CinemaScore from opening day audiences.

Mehdi Rokhparvar, who was serving a five-year sentence for ‘acting against national security’ by ‘forming an illegal evangelical Christian group’, was released from Tehran’s Evin Prison in the same week as fellow convert Saheb Fadaie as part of a wider amnesty of prisoners on the occasion of the 44th anniversary of the Islamic Republic. However, such pardons, while welcome, do not address the original injustice of their sentencing and imprisonment as the government continues to regard rights and freedoms guaranteed in international law as crimes; including the right to freely adopt a religion of one’s choice, and manifest one’s faith in community with others.

Aftershocks are still shaking the eastern Mediterranean as far as Iraq, following on from the severe earthquakes in southern Turkey and northern Syria which left over 50,000 dead and millions homeless. Amidst all the misery, death and destruction, we are hearing testimonies from people who were buried alive and rescued from the rubble after more than a week. They all experienced a bright figure in white who came towards them and gave them something to drink.