The mother of a Missouri teen believed to have died in a lake says that God brought her child back from the dead.
John Smith, 14, was playing with two friends on frozen Lake Sainte Louise when they fell through the ice. While the other two boys were rescued, the initial rescuers couldn’t find Smith. It took 15 minutes for rescuers to find his body.
Doctors at St. Joseph Hospital performed CPR for almost half an hour without success. After being clinically dead for 45 minutes, the doctors called Smith’s mother into the room to break the bad news.
Dr. Ken Sutterer said that when Joyce Smith came into the room, she refused to accept that her son was dead and began loudly praying.
“I don’t remember what all I said,” Joyce Smith said. “But I remember, ‘Holy God, please send your Holy Spirit to save my son. I want my son, please save him.’”
Within minutes, hospital personnel were stunned. John’s pulse returned. He was rushed to Cardinal Glennon Children’s Medical Center where doctors were concerned that he would have permanent brain damage due to being without oxygen for at least 45 minutes.
Within 48 hours, Smith opened his eyes and responded perfectly to doctor’s questions.
“It’s a bonafide miracle,” said Dr. Jeremy Garrett, who tested Smith’s brain function.
The family of Redeemer Episcopal Church in Houston were still reeling from the news their pastor and his family had been murdered when they suffered a second blow.
The son of Pastor Israel Ahimbisbwe has been arrested in the murder of his father, mother and brother.
Houston police say that 19-year-old Isaac Tiharihondi has been charged with two counts of capital murder and was being held in custody in Mississippi where he fled after the killings. He covered the bodies with blankets and towels in the back bathroom of the apartment where the victims were found Monday.
A member of the church told a local TV station that she had lunch with the accused killer after police say he committed the crime.
“It’s devastating. It’s sad. It’s unexplainable,” Nancy Taylor, who attends Church of the Redeemer, told KHOU. “We had lunch, we sat, we chatted, we talked, we laughed. It was just a real enjoyable experience and time together. … Good kid, polite, nice, respectful, grateful.”
“While I am relieved authorities have found Isaac, I am heartbroken that he has been charged with capital murder. This only adds to the tragedy of their deaths and raises more questions than it answers,” Rt. Rev. C. Andrew Doyle, Episcopal Bishop of Texas said in a statement.
ISIS claimed Friday that an American hostage was killed during Jordanian airstrikes on the terrorist group.
“The failed Jordanian aircraft killed an American female hostage,” said the message released through a Jihadist watchdog website. “No mujahid (fighters) was injured in the bombardment, and all praise is due to Allah.”
“The criminal Crusader coalition aircraft bombarded a site outside the city of ar-Raqqah today at noon while the people were performing the Friday prayer,” ISIS said. “The air assaults were continuous on the same location for more than an hour.”
The woman, Kayla Mueller, was taken by the terrorists in 2013. The woman had moved to Syria to help children who were orphaned or separated from their families by the civil war.
She is the fourth American to die at the hands of ISIS. Sources say it’s very possible the terrorists actually executed her so they could blame her death on Jordan through social media outlets.
The White House said American intelligence officials are investigating the claim.
The extremist group Boko Haram has announced they are mimicking ISIS in declaring their own Islamic caliphate. The group aims to claim parts of Nigeria, Niger, Chad and Cameroon.
Dr. David Curry of Open Doors USA said during an event sponsored by the Family Research Council that people are underestimating the brutality of the terror group.
Curry said that in Nigeria alone, over 2,200 Christians were killed by the group in 2014 just for their faith in Christ. He also said the estimate is low because there are many other deaths at the hands of Boko Haram they have not been able to verify as being motivated by the Christian faith of the victim.
He said that Boko Haram already controls a part of Nigeria the size of Belgium.
“Nigeria has been experiencing attacks much like the Iraqis were facing just a few years ago,” Curry explained. “You have Boko Haram, which has a very similar Al-Qaeda, Islamic State ideology, they have been making attacks, bombings, like you have seen on churches. Now all of a sudden they are beginning to take territory.
“There is a common-path pattern here,” Curry added. “First, individual attacks, then bombings, then the conquering of territory and attacking of civilian sites like army bases and these sorts of things.”
The governments of Chad and Cameroon said Wednesday they have been actively using their military powers against Boko Haram and have killed 250 terrorists this week.
Islamic extremist group Boko Haram launched a major attack outside of Nigeria, shooting or burning to death dozens of civilians.
Cameroon Information Minister Issa Tchiroma Bakari told reporters that around 800 members of Boko Haram attacked the border town of Fotokol, “burning churches, mosques and villages.” The dead were youth that refused to join Boko Haram.
The terrorists also took livestock, food and vehicles.
The cell of terrorists reportedly crossed into Cameroon after fleeing from the Nigerian town of Gamboru. Chad and Nigerian Air Force planes drove them from the city after a series of air strikes.
The news of the attack comes on the heels of African Union officials saying they are going to fund a 7,500 strong force form Nigeria and surrounding countries to destroy Boko Haram.
The faith community of Houston, Texas is reeling from the news a popular pastor, his wife and 5 year old son were murdered in their home.
Police confirm that Israel Ahimbisibwe, Jr. was found in his apartment around 9:30 a.m. Monday. A welfare check had been made on the family after the pastor and his wife didn’t show up Sunday and didn’t return phone calls Monday morning.
“He didn’t show up for church yesterday afternoon, which is totally out of character for them not to let us know, and didn’t respond to text or phone calls,” church member Keever Wallace told the Christian Post.
Investigators say that there were no signs of forced entry into the apartment.
“I will say that they did suffer some type of unknown wounds,” Houston Police Department spokesman Victor Senties told FOX 26. “It is being investigated as a homicide.”
“This is a horrific and awful tragedy,” noted Bishop of Texas C. Andrew Doyle in a release from the Episcopal Diocese of Texas. “We are in touch with the police and Israel’s family here in Houston. Please keep the Ahimbisibwe and Redeemer families in your prayers.”
The pastor leaves behind two older sons.
Local officials say it’s a miracle anyone survived the crash of a TransAsia flight in Taiwan on Wednesday that left at least 26 people dead.
A man driving on Taiwan’s National Freeway No. 1 captured the crash on video which made it appear the engines failed causing the plane to fall out of the sky. The plane barely missed the main highway before clipping a taxi and the edge of a bridge on the way into a river.
Officials say that 18 people are still missing in the river but that 15 people were rescued and rushed to hospitals including a toddler. The driver of the taxi and passenger were also injured in the incident.
Local Taiwan broadcasters played a recording of the plane’s last contact with the control tower where the pilots repeat “Mayday” three times. The pilots offered to details as to what may have caused the crash.
TransAsia director Peter Chen told reporters that plane was one of the newest in their fleet and had been in service for less than a year. The pilot reportedly had 4,900 hours of flight experience, leading officials to say it’s likely mechanical failure was the cause over pilot error.
The brutal murder of a Jordanian pilot by Islamic extremist group ISIS has drawn an unusually sharp response from Jordan’s King Abdullah.
King Abdullah told security chiefs that the pilot’s death would not “be in vain” and that Jordan would strike quickly and harshly on the terrorists.
“The blood of martyr Moaz al-Kasasbeh will not be in vain and the response of Jordan and its army after what happened to our dear son will be severe,” King Abdullah reportedly said. “This evil can and should be defeated.”
The King cut short a visit to the United States after the posting of the video to return home to deal with the fallout of the murder.
Jordan immediately executed two ISIS terrorists held after a failed bombing.
The family of the slain pilot spoke with the King and with Jordan military officials and asked them to completely eliminate ISIS.
A report from a former vice chief of staff for the Army regarding ISIS that was mostly negative had one bright spot from a military standpoint: the top chemical weapons expert for the terror group was killed in an airstrike.
Retired General Jack Keane told new members of the Senate Armed Services Committee that Abu Malik was killed last Saturday in an airstrike near Mosul. Malik was a chemical weapons engineer for Saddam Hussein who joined al-Qaeda and then ISIS after the fall of Saddam.
“His death is expected to temporarily degrade and disrupt the terrorist network and diminish ISIL’s ability to potentially produce and use chemical weapons against innocent people,” US Central Command said in a statement.
But the news was tempered by Gen. Keane’s view that ISIS has begun to “dominate” in multiple countries.
“After U.S. troops pulled out of Iraq in 2011, ISIS emerged as a terrorist organization in Iraq, moved into Syria in 2012. Is it possible to look at that map in front of you and claim that the United States policy and strategy is working? Or that al-Qaeda is on the run? It is unmistakable that our policies have failed,” Gen. Keane said.
“In my view, we became paralyzed by the fear of adverse consequences in the Middle East after fighting two wars,” he added. “Moreover, as we sit here this morning, in the face of radical Islam, U.S. policymakers refuse to accurately name the movement as radical Islam. We further choose not to define it, nor explain its ideology, and most critical, we have no comprehensive strategy to stop it or defeat it.”
Islamic extremist group ISIS has killed a Jordanian pilot captured over Syria by burning him alive inside a cage.
The video posted online shows Lt. Moaz al-Kasasbeh inside a steel cage. He tries to cover his head before falling to his knees and being burned to ash. The 22 minute video shows the terrorists parading the captured man through the streets before the brutal killing.
Jordanian state television confirmed the man in the video is Lt. al-Kasasbeh and that the death happened a month ago. The terrorists had been sitting on the video while negotiating with the Jordanian government for millions of dollars for the pilot’s release.
President Obama told reporters that the video gives “one more indication” of the hate that comes from the terrorist group.
“I think it will redouble the vigilance and determination of the part of the global coalition to make sure they are degraded and ultimately defeated,” he added.
Public officials in Jordan say that the public is calling for the government to execute ISIS terrorists currently held in jails.