Tag Archives: Death

Influential Christian Filmmaker Joins Jesus In Heaven

Russell Wolfe, the co-founder of Pure Flix flims and the man behind the extremely impactful Christian film “God’s Not Dead” has died.

Wolfe, who was diagnosed with ALS in December 2013, was 50.

“As one of the founding partners of Pure Flix, Russell always represented the vision to make a positive impact in our culture for Christ,” Pure Flix co-founder David A.R. White said in a statement. “He did this consistently through his work, life, and relationships.”

Wolfe was working until the time of his death, helping produce the sequel to God’s Not Dead due in Spring 2016.

Wolfe was very visible in his battle against the disease.  Earlier this year he released a video on Facebook talking about his struggle and asking for the prayers of those around the world for healing.  The video showed him in a chair holding signs that gave the words he wanted to say to the world.

“One thing I have not lost is my faith. It’s stronger than ever before,” he said. “I believe in miracles. I believe for complete healing. I believe in the power of prayer. I believe that God’s not dead.”

He leaves wife Alysoun and two children.

More Texas Flooding; Death Toll Climbs

The Brazos River in Texas is continuing to swell, driving more families out of their homes with local officials saying that it might not crest until Friday at the earliest.

Parker County Judge Mark Riley ordered a community of RVs and trailers along the river to be evacuated after predictions the river could rise another nine feet before cresting.  Other low-lying neighborhoods in the areas around the river were also placed under mandatory evacuation.

The National Weather Service reports thunderstorms, hail and tornadoes are possible throughout the flooded regions on Thursday.  Meteorologist Steve Goss said the storms will be “intense and slow moving.”

The town of Wharton, around 8,000 residents, is being evacuated along the Colorado River due to fears of a massive rise over the banks.  Flood stage is 39 feet, with the river already at 36 feet.  Predictions of a 46 foot crest on Friday night would not only flood the homes along the river but also wash away a school.

Houston continues to be hammered by flooding.  Another victim of the flood, a 73-year-old woman, was identified Wednesday.  The San Jacinto River was three feet over flood stage and officials say that some subdivisions could be cut off for up to a week because of flood waters.

The death toll in the U.S. is now at 21 people.

The storms on Wednesday left three workers at a gas drilling rig in the Texas Panhandle wounded when a tornado destroyed the rig.

Two Pastors Face Death Penalty In Sudan

Two pastors in Sudan are facing the death penalty as their trial begins on charges of espionage and blasphemy.  Sudan, a Muslim-dominated and controlled nation, regularly charges pastors with charges of blasphemy.

“This is not ‘something new’ for our church,” says the Rev. Tut Kony, pastor of the South Sudan Presbyterian Evangelical Church. “Almost all pastors have gone to jail under the government of Sudan. We have been stoned and beaten. This is their habit to pull down the church. We are not surprised. This is the way they deal with the church.”

Rev. Yat Michael and Rev. Peter Yen Reith were detained illegally in December 2014, released, and then recaptured in January.

David Curry of Open Doors USA said both pastors are married and have children.

“I’m fearful that they will execute these pastors for practicing their faith,” Curry said, according to Fox News.

Sudan is ranked sixth on the Open Doors list of the worst nations for persecution of Christians.

Sudan is known for the death sentence given to mother Miriam Ibrahim and forcing her to give birth while her legs were chained to the wall.

Heat Wave Kills Over 1,100 In India

A heat wave in India has left over 1,100 dead in the last month according to local officials.

Over 850 of the dead are in Andhra Pradesh state during the last two weeks.  The temperatures in both states have topped 113 degrees fahrenheit and the forecasts continue to have temperatures hovering in that range.

Government officials are running announcements on radio and television asking people to drink water and to avoid going outdoors during the hottest parts of the day.

AccuWeather says the heat wave is the most intense in years.  High peaks were as much as 10 degrees higher than the average.  High, hot, dry winds are causing dust storms that are causing problems on top of the high temperatures.

The heat has been so intense that it has melted roadways in New Delhi.

The country’s power grid has been challenged by the heat wave as people attempt to use fans and air conditioners.  Poorly maintained transmission lines contribute to overloaded grids with he massive use.

The country could see relief in a few weeks when monsoon rains are expected to begin.

Storm Death Toll Reaches 19; Dam Break Less Likely

Rains continue to fall across Texas, increasing the massive flood from major weekend storms that have left 19 people confirmed dead.

Meanwhile, engineers believe a dam on the verge of collapse because of the rising waters will be able to hold after pumping out lake water to ease pressure.  A re-evaluation found the dam more stable than believed.

“The previous reports of an imminent breech have now been… we’re standing down basically,” said Captain John Spann with the Midlothian Police Department.

A dam collapse would flood Highway 287 and likely destroy 25 homes according to local officials.

Two more bodies were found in Houston on Wednesday which raised the official death toll to 19.

The flooding in Houston continues to cause major problems.  A waste treatment plant in the city was overrun by flood waters, sending 100,000 gallons of wastewater into the flood water.  Over 700 homes have sustained some kind of damage from the rushing water.

Firefighters have reported over 500 water rescues and over 2,500 stranded vehicles.

Meanwhile, eight people in a family whose vacation home was swept away by the flood waters remain missing.  Local residents say the authorities were neglectful in their alerting residents to the problem of the Blanco river.

“Nobody was saying, ‘Get out; get out; get out,'” said Brenda Morton of Wimberley, who lives three houses down from the home that was swept away. “We’re pretty trained, so we were calculating. We knew the flood plain. People who were visiting or had summer homes, you have company from out of town, you don’t know. You don’t know when that instant is.”

Hays County Emergency Management says phone calls went out to residents and that in some areas law enforcement officers made direct notifications.

Deadly Storms Rage Through Texas and Oklahoma

Officials in Texas and Oklahoma say that at least 11 people are dead and over a dozen missing following a massive storm front that roared through the two states.

Record rainfall fell in many communities and flooding caused mass devastation.

Houston officials say that two people were found Tuesday and that they likely drowned in the massive flooding in the area.  Authorities were telling residents to not leave their homes.   Over 70,000 customers are without power in the Houston area.

The National Weather Service reported 11 inches of rain in six hours throughout southwest Houston.  Over 130 water rescues had to be conducted throughout the city.  The weather was so severe that the Houston Rockets NBA team told the people who came to their playoff game to stay inside the arena in their seats until the passing of the storm.

“We’ve seen flooding before, but not nearly to this extreme,” said Gage Mueller, a Houston resident for the past 40 years and Houston Rockets employee who stayed overnight at the Toyota Center because it wasn’t safe to go home. “It rains and it rains and it rains, and there’s really nowhere for the water to go. … It’s ridiculous.”

Texas Governor Greg Abbott declared disasters in 37 counties.

“You cannot candy coat it. It’s absolutely massive,” Abbott told reporters after he viewed the devastation in the region.

One of the storm’s victims was 18-year-old Alyssa Ramirez, president of the student council at Devine High School who was driving home from her senior prom.  She called 911, she called her father and then the flood waters rose too fast for her to be rescued.

The flooding was so strong that a vacation house next to the Blanco River was pushed off the foundation and rushed downriver into a bridge.  Only parts of the home have been found.  At least one person was killed by the flooding of the Blanco river.

A dam near Highway 71 broke causing the highway to be blocked.

Anti-Terror Court Indicts 106 For Burning of Christian Couple in Pakistan

A Pakistani anti-terrorism court has indicted 106 people in connection with the brutal murder of a Christian couple in November 2014.

The mob had falsely accused the couple of burning a Quran.

“The challan (charge-sheet) states that Maulvi Muhammad Hussain, Maulvi Arshad Baloch and Maulvi Noorul Hassan were involved in persistent provocative speeches against the couple which led to the assembly of 400 people as a mob who then burned Shama and Shahzad alive,” the Pakistan Daily Times reported .

“After the challan was presented at the hearing, the court also held Yousaf Gujjar, the owner of the brick kiln where the couple was beaten to death, responsible.”

Guijar had been angry that the couple had not repaid him money that he claimed the couple owned and set them up for blasphemy charges.  He placed a few pages of a Quran in their trash singed as if the book had been burned.

An official with the International Christian Concern said that the incident shows the danger Christians in Pakistan face every day.

“The brutal killing of Shahzad and Shama once again highlights the extreme danger of religious fanaticism that Christians in Pakistan face on a regular basis. The accusation of blasphemy can be used for any dispute and can often prove deadly as it did today, inciting a mob to brutally murder this young couple.”

“Miracle” Baby Survives Deadly Mudslide

Rescuers working in Salgar, Columbia were stunned to find an 11-month-old baby alive after a landslide that left 78 people, including the baby’s mother, dead.

The infant, Jhosep Diaz, was in a padded crib.  The water and mud slide picked up the baby’s crib which flowed like a raft and traveled more than half a mile.  Doctors who treated the boy say that he was cold but basically unharmed by his adventure.

“He was unconscious and didn’t open his little eyes but was breathing,” Dr Jesus Antonio Guisao told the AP news agency.

The boy’s mother was found dead along with 11 other family members by rescue personnel.  The baby will go to the custody of his grandfather, who said that he lost a total of 16 family members in the disaster.

“Amid so much bad news concerning the death of 16 of our relatives, my grandson’s survival is a miracle,” he said.

Officials say the landslide is the worst natural disaster in Columbia since 1999.  The landslide struck around 3 a.m. local time and stretches 25 miles along the Liboriana River.

Eleven Christians Killed Every Hour, Says Catholic Bishop

The chair of the council for Justice & Peace of the Irish Catholic Bishop’s conference is speaking out about Christian persecution around the world, saying that 11 Christians are killed every hour for their faith in Christ.

Bishop John McAreavey cited a Pew Research survey showing Christianity is the most prosecuted religion around the world with persecution against them reported in 110 countries.

“Many of these countries have significant trade links with Ireland. Persecution is increasing in China. In North Korea a quarter of the country’s Christians live in forced labour camps. Saudi Arabia, Yemen, and the Maldives all feature in the 10 worst places to be Christian,” McAreavey said.  “According to the International Society for Human Rights, a non-religious organization, 80 percent of all acts of religious discrimination in the world today are directed against Christians.”

McAreavey said that the persecution of Christians in the Middle East is “a threat to our common humanity” and that the stability of the entire planet is at risk because of the violence in the region.  He also condemned Western leaders who are not taking steps to help persecuted Christians.

“Perhaps because of a fear of being seen as less than aggressively secular in their own country,” he said, many governments of majority Christian countries in the West seem reluctant to give direct aid to churches and religious minorities.”

McAreavey defined the loss of religious freedom and persecution as something that “can run from subtle cultural exclusion of the religious voice from the public square and refusal to accommodate reasonable differences of conscience to active discrimination, forced displacement, exploitation and loss of life.”

Nepal Quake Death Toll Highest In Nation’s History

The death toll from the massive earthquakes and aftershocks in Nepal has become the largest in the country’s history.

Officials confirmed the death toll has passed 8,500.

The official count of 8,583 passed the previous record of 8,519 set in 1934.  The 1934 quake also led to the deaths of thousands in neighboring India which was spared the same level of devastation in the dual quakes.

Officials also reported over 250,000 homes confirmed destroyed by the quake or resulting landslides.

Hundreds are still missing including 112 foreigners, although officials said those foreigners could have simply left the country without informing officials they were survivors of the quake.

United Nations officials say the death toll in the region could go higher in the coming months as refugees who lost their homes and belongings have to face disease, starvation and the upcoming monsoon season.  The UN reports impassable roads and the country’s looming monsoon season are hampering relief efforts.

The UN is attempting to raise $423 million from countries around the world for relief in Nepal but only 16% of that goal has been raised.

The rescue efforts have also been hampered by ongoing aftershocks.  A 5.7 magnitude aftershock struck the region Saturday.