A ministry that works with Christians in North Korea says that those in that country who follow Christ do not believe that their country is the worst in the world for Christians.
The Reverend Eric Foley says that North Koreans actually embrace their sufferings as a means to show their love and dedication to Christ.
“If you are a Christian in a country where no Christians are suffering for Jesus you probably ought to be more concerned than if you are a Christian in a country where nearly every Christian is suffering for Jesus,” he said. “Christians are ambassadors. If one truly understands one’s identity as an ambassador, one glories in that identity rather than grumbling about the country where one got posted.”
North Korea has been listed at number one on the Open Doors list most oppressive countries for Christians for the last 12 straight years.
North Korean Christians have told Open Doors that despite the persecution, God is moving strongly in their country.
“Of course God is at work! Of course prayers help. I am such a weak person. I hardly had any Bible knowledge, but God used me to explain the Gospel to others. Sometimes, God sent me on the road. I clothed my six-month-old baby, fastened him on the back and I walked for miles and miles and miles,” a refugee identified only as Hana told Open Doors. “Until I saw some stranger and I knew this was the person I needed to talk to. Because of him or her God had sent me out on the road. I said what I needed to say and went home. Do you think that would be possible without God? Please, tell your friends that they need to continue to pray. God is answering their prayers.”
The Department of Homeland Security has stepped in and saved a Christian family from being deported to Germany where they likely would have lost custody of their children.
A spokesman for the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement told Fox News that they were going to allow the Romeike family to remain in the United States despite efforts by the Obama administration to have them deported.
Just days after a federal judge ruled the administration could deny the family’s request for asylum based on the grounds they were being discriminated against in Germany because of their Christian beliefs, DHS said that they would use “prosecutorial discretion” and officially drop any actions to deport the family.
Germany forced all children to attend state-approved schools and prohibits the homeschooling of children in an attempt to keep religious groups from being able to teach their faith to their children.
The family had initially been given asylum in 2010 on religious grounds but the Obama administration appealed that decision and won when the Supreme Court refused to hear the appeal on Monday.
In a Lenten message to the world, Pope Francis called for fair distribution of wealth and equal access to education and health care for the poor in the world.
He called on followers of Christ everywhere to make an effort to lessen “the poverty of our brothers.”
However, the Pope did not just focus on monetary poverty. The Pope also had harsh words for Christians that he termed as suffering from “moral poverty” such as alcohol abuse, drug use, pornography and gambling.
The Pope said that those who are caught in alcohol or drug abuse, pornography or gambling are in “slavery to vice and sin” and said that “in such cases, moral destitution can be considered impending suicide.”
The Pope said that while Lent was “a fitting time for self-denial” he was tired of what he called superficial acts by Christians to try and show they were sacrificing something of benefit.
“Our consciences…need to be converted to justice, equality, simplicity and sharing,” The Pope said.
A Christian apologist and university professor says that the church is in desperate need of churches who will prepare their members to address the tough questions about faith and God.
Dr. William Craig of the Talbot School of Theology says that Christians should be concerned about recent studies like the Pew survey that showed nearly 20 percent of Americans consider themselves “religious” but not affiliated with any religious group.
Dr. Craig alluded to social changes in the world that have removed the stigma of being an atheist and making them bolder in working to remove Christians from society and shouting down any Christian with hate speech when they defend the faith.
“I think that many Christians are intimidated because atheists are often very aggressive,” Dr. Craig told the Christian Post. “They will attack you personally, and they will do so in the name of reason and intellectual arguments. And many Christians feel utterly unprepared to give a defense of what they believe, and feel unprepared to answer the tough questions that their unbelieving friends will put to them.”
Dr. Craig has defended the faith in many venues with atheists and noted atheist author Richard Dawkins continues to be afraid to debate Dr. Craig in a one-on-one setting. Atheist author Sam Harris said in a recent article Dr. Craig has “put the fear of God into many of my fellow atheists.”
Pope Francis made a statement Thursday that the Catholic Church would not accept a Middle East that is devoid of Christians.
The Pope told reporters after a meeting with patriarchs in Syria, Iran and Iraq the church would not resign itself to a Christian-free Middle East. The Pope called for “the universal right to lead a dignified life and freely practice one’s own faith to be respected.”
“Syria, Iraq, Egypt and other areas of the Holy Land sometimes overflow with tears,” The Pope said.
The number of Christians in the Middle East continues to dwindle through oppression and civil war. Christians are just 10% of the Egyptian population, 5% in Syria, 2% in Iraq and 1.2% in Palestinian territories.
The Vatican said the population of Christians in the region has shrunk more than half since the 2003 invasion of Iraq.
Christian leaders in the city of Detroit are banding together in hopes of stemming the tide of violence that has broken out the last few weeks including a gun battle at a barbershop that left three people dead.
The leaders are plastering the city with “Thou shalt not kill” posters and billboards along with crafting messages for their congregations about combating violence with love.
“We all have to do what we can do, and right now we don’t have a respect in our communities for life; we don’t have a respect for many things,” Ovella Andreas, a Detroit area minister, told WWJ-TV. “But we still have to create a standard to hopefully have a consciousness about God …. because even our people have become apathetic.”
The group has worked with the city to have the 22nd day of each month declared “Stop the Violence Day” in Detroit.
“This is an emergency; this is a crisis, and we have to come together now to do what we can,” Andreas said. “I truly know if we do what we can, God will do what we cannot; but we’re not doing all that we can.”
A Kentucky teenager who refused to wear the number 666 in a regional cross country meet lost her chance to continue to chase a state championship.
Codie Thacker took a stand for her Christian beliefs and refused to wear the number even when she was told that she would not be able to run.
“I just don’t believe that 666 should be a number that’s anywhere on your body and I did not want that number associated with me. It kind of made me sick,” Thacker told reporters.
A representative for the Kentucky High School Athletic Association spokesman said that officials were not told Thacker’s objection was for religious reasons or they would have accommodated her. However, both Thacker and her coach told reporters they explicitly told the KHSAA officials she was objecting because of her Christian faith.
“I wouldn’t have been more proud of her if she won the entire meet. She stood on her principles; she stood for what she believed in,” Thacker’s coach Gina Croley said.
A new survey shows that 76 percent of America believes in the existence of a God and 38 percent of those surveyed said they do what God tells them to do.
Most of those who believe in God are also more likely to give credit or blame for weather and disasters to God rather than some excuse like man-made global warming.
The YouGov.com survey found that born again Christians are more likely to do something because God told them. Protestants were more likely to do something than Catholics by a result of 56 percent to 39 percent.
The survey was surprising in that the difference between Republicans and Democrats was not as wide as researchers had expected. The number of Republicans who complied with what they felt God say was 42 percent compared to 40 percent for Democrats.