Winter Olympics: Russia launches Sochi security clampdown
Russia has launched one of the biggest security operations in Olympic history, a month before the start of the winter games in the Black Sea resort of Sochi. The authorities are deploying more than 30,000 police and interior ministry troops and limiting access to the area. The main concern is the threat of attack by Islamist militants from the restive North Caucasus region. Russia's most wanted man, Chechen rebel leader Doku Umarov, has urged his fighters to target the Winter Olympics. The BBC's Steven Rosenberg in Moscow says recent deadly bombings in Volgograd have intensified those worries. President Vladimir Putin was in Sochi on Monday night to celebrate the Orthodox Christmas, appearing at a church service. ‘Starting 7 January, all divisions responsible for ensuring the guests' security at the Games are being put on combat alert,’ Emergency Situations Minister Vladimir Puchkov said.
Europe's young Christians encouraged to have missional lifestyle
Between December 28 and January 2, more than 2,700 young people from across Europe met in Offenburg, Germany, for the bi-annual Mission-Net conference. Primarily aimed at people ages between 16 and 30, the conference and its network encourage a Christian missional lifestyle that links spiritual expressions of faith with practical outworkings. Mission-Net is commissioned and supported by the European Evangelical Mission Association and the European Evangelical Alliance. The theme of the five-day conference was 'Work in Progress'. Around 75 theologians and speakers shared their thoughts on the topic through large-scale meetings as well as interactive seminars. Main speaker Karin Ramachandra spoke from the book of Nehemiah on the opening night, in which she stressed that all things are possible with God, regardless of how large our own shortcomings are.
Winter Olympics: Russia launches Sochi security clampdown
Russia has launched one of the biggest security operations in Olympic history, a month before the start of the winter games in the Black Sea resort of Sochi. The authorities are deploying more than 30,000 police and interior ministry troops and limiting access to the area. The main concern is the threat of attack by Islamist militants from the restive North Caucasus region. Russia's most wanted man, Chechen rebel leader Doku Umarov, has urged his fighters to target the Winter Olympics. The BBC's Steven Rosenberg in Moscow says recent deadly bombings in Volgograd have intensified those worries. President Vladimir Putin was in Sochi on Monday night to celebrate the Orthodox Christmas, appearing at a church service. ‘Starting 7 January, all divisions responsible for ensuring the guests' security at the Games are being put on combat alert,’ Emergency Situations Minister Vladimir Puchkov said.
Israel: Miraculous healing stuns Israelis
Israeli news stations are reporting a miracle that’s impossible to explain. - When Therese Daoud arrived at Tel Aviv's Ichilov Hospital with a malignant tumour the size, of orange doctors said her only chance of survival would be to amputate the leg. However Therese said the surgery was postponed three times due to unforeseen incidents and ‘This was a clear sign to me from Heaven that I should not have the surgery.’ Israeli TV showed images of Therese praying in a church and three months later they reported the killer growth had receded dramatically. ’This just does not happen’ stammered a professor. ‘A growth of this kind cannot recede like this.’ Hospital staff and reporters traveled to Therese's home to look for other explanations. They tasted the food she eats and checked the water she drinks, but there was no physical explanation. They left contemplating one undeniable, unavoidable and very uncomfortable option—that prayer in Yeshua, the Messiah of Israel, still heals today.
Pakistan: An encouraging story
A brother who had participated in a prayer seminar last year wrote to the conference facilitators recently and shared the following, ‘You gave me a verse and said God was going to change me and use me as an evangelist. The power of God came on me like never before. I began to go out witnessing. I have just come back from X city (known as a hard satanic place) where I have made several trips. Five non-Christian families have come to Christ. You taught us to first teach them to pray. Now we have a small prayer group there. We are praying against satanic strongholds and seeing God answer.’ He went on to say he lives in a city on the edge of the desert where there are 40 born-again Christian families. They have organized themselves into 24/7 prayer throughout the week. During Saturdays and Sunday afternoons they send evangelistic teams into the area and are seeing lives changed all around them.
Israel: Miraculous healing stuns Israelis
Israeli news stations are reporting a miracle that’s impossible to explain. - When Therese Daoud arrived at Tel Aviv's Ichilov Hospital with a malignant tumour the size, of orange doctors said her only chance of survival would be to amputate the leg. However Therese said the surgery was postponed three times due to unforeseen incidents and ‘This was a clear sign to me from Heaven that I should not have the surgery.’ Israeli TV showed images of Therese praying in a church and three months later they reported the killer growth had receded dramatically. ’This just does not happen’ stammered a professor. ‘A growth of this kind cannot recede like this.’ Hospital staff and reporters traveled to Therese's home to look for other explanations. They tasted the food she eats and checked the water she drinks, but there was no physical explanation. They left contemplating one undeniable, unavoidable and very uncomfortable option—that prayer in Yeshua, the Messiah of Israel, still heals today.
Pakistan: An encouraging story
A brother who had participated in a prayer seminar last year wrote to the conference facilitators recently and shared the following, ‘You gave me a verse and said God was going to change me and use me as an evangelist. The power of God came on me like never before. I began to go out witnessing. I have just come back from X city (known as a hard satanic place) where I have made several trips. Five non-Christian families have come to Christ. You taught us to first teach them to pray. Now we have a small prayer group there. We are praying against satanic strongholds and seeing God answer.’ He went on to say he lives in a city on the edge of the desert where there are 40 born-again Christian families. They have organized themselves into 24/7 prayer throughout the week. During Saturdays and Sunday afternoons they send evangelistic teams into the area and are seeing lives changed all around them.
'Speak up for Jesus', Lord Carey urges Christians
Former Archbishop of Canterbury, Lord Carey, has urged Christians in the UK to be more public about their faith in Jesus Christ. Writing in the Telegraph, he also highlighted the reluctance of Western governments to acknowledge the suffering endured by Christians in many parts of the world and called upon the UK Government to take action. His encouragement to Christians came in the closing paragraphs of his Christmas article: ‘Closer to home, I admit I am worried about the future of faith in the West. Many Christians I meet say there is a pressure on them to be silent about their faith. Though there can be no question of a comparison with the powerlessness and weakness of the Church in the Middle East, there is an increasing timidity on the part of churchgoers in the West – about even admitting that they have a faith in the workplace’.
Giving vulnerable children a Home For Good
Home for Good is a church-based fostering and adoption campaign. A joint initiative of the Evangelical Alliance, Care for the Family, and CCPAS, the campaign is using a network of churches across the UK to encourage and support Christian families to consider adoption. There are currently 4,600 children waiting to be adopted in England alone, something the Evangelical Alliance's mission director Krish Kandiah calls a "scandal". Having fostered a total of 16 children, one of whom he and his wife eventually adopted, Krish is passionate about the Home for Good campaign and hopes that through it, more Christians will be encouraged to open up their homes to children who don't have a family of their own. "The Bible is really clear that God cares about vulnerable children. He describes himself many times as a Father to the fatherless and protector of widows and orphans," Krish notes. "That's what drives our campaign."
Scottish sex ed guidance ignores traditional marriage
Parents who believe in traditional marriage are being sidelined by draft sex education guidance, Scotland for Marriage has warned. The pro-marriage group said under the proposals, teaching about marriage will be downgraded in sex education. Scotland for Marriage also warned that teachers who have concerns about the issue will not be protected. ‘The new draft sex education guidance is a real shocker, and shows where things are heading’, the group said. The organisation also voiced concerns that the new guidance undermines parental rights. It said children could be taught certain aspects of sex education in other classes despite parents removing them from formal lessons on the topic. The draft Government guidance on Relationships, Sexual Health and Parenthood (RSHP) education has been released following the Bill to redefine marriage in Scotland. The guidance removes reference to children learning about ‘the value placed on marriage by religious groups and others in Scottish society’.