Tuesday 16 December 2008

CHRISTIAN MISSIONARIES STIR UNEASE IN NORTH AFRICA


RABAT - A new breed of undercover Christian missionary is turning to Muslim north Africa in the search for new converts, alarming Islamic leaders who say they prey on the weak and threaten public order.

Missionary groups say the number of Moroccan Christians has grown to 1,500 from 100 in a decade and that Algerian Christians number several thousand, although no official figures exist.

They say their message is reaching thousands more, thanks partly to satellite TV and the internet.

The Koran states no-one can be forced to follow one religion, but many Muslims believe that to abandon Islam is to shun family, tribe and nation and bring shame upon relatives.

"Many Muslims told me 'If I find you I will kill you'," said Amin, a young man from northern Morocco who did not want to give his full name for fear of reprisals.

Amin said he became aware of Jesus Christ after dreaming that a figure dressed in a white robe approached him in a forest and handed him a Bible.

"When I told my father I had become a Christian he just stared at me without speaking. Then he said: 'From now on, you are not my son. Go to those people, let them feed you and give you a home -- we'll see who cares for you'," said Amin.

He left town, stopped his studies and now lives from translation work offered by a Christian missionary group.

Mission groups in North Africa range from broad alliances such as Partners International and Cooperative Baptist Fellowship to small Baptist and Pentecostal churches based in the Americas and Europe, according to their Web sites.

Their activity is growing as churches turn their focus to places where the Christian message is rarely heard, said Dana Robert, world Christianity professor at Boston University.

"With the internet and the increase in travel, you have a democratization of missions where anyone who feels like it can go anywhere they want," said Robert. "The new breed of missionary doesn't have the same historical training as the older established denominations, nor necessarily the cultural training, so there's a bull-in-a-china-shop effect."

PERSECUTION, EXPLOITATION

Converts recount stories of persecution as evidence of the risks they run. These are impossible to verify, but one said he heard a newly converted Moroccan was thrown from a balcony in a shopping mall by two acquaintances, leaving him paralyzed.

Another said people of a town in eastern Morocco threatened to decapitate a convert unless he renounced his faith.

Islamic leaders say missionaries exploit people with a weak understanding of their religion, target the poor and the sick and try to win over north Africa's Berbers by telling them Islam was imposed on them by Arabs. Continued...

AT THE APOLLO,A THEATRE GETS RELIGION


APOLLO THEATRE - In a neighborhood with no shortage of places to worship, a new religious service may not draw much attention. But when the program is in one of the best-known venues in Harlem — the Apollo Theater— and focuses on realities like the economy, people take notice.


Led by a prominent local minister, the Rev. Dr. Suzan D. Johnson Cook, the nondenominational worship series, called Harlem Hallelujah, began on Sunday, drawing more than 800 people to the Apollo.
Until now, the closest event to a religious service hosted on the heralded stage may have been the funeral for James Brown. “It was inevitable that church would come to the Apollo,” said Nina Flowers, a spokeswoman for the Apollo.
To Dr. Cook, it is the season for change.
“It’s an idea whose time has come, just like our new president,” she said.
Known to many as Dr. Sujay, Dr. Cook was the first woman appointed chaplain of the New York City Police Department, the only religious leader appointed to President Bill Clinton’s Initiative on Race and the first black woman to be elected a senior pastor in the 200-year history of the American Baptist Church.
“She’s on the cutting edge of prophetic ministry,” the Rev. Johnnie G. McCann of St. Luke’s Baptist Church of Harlem told a congregation at the John Street United Methodist Church on Wednesday, where Dr. Cook has led “Wonderful Wall Street Wednesdays” services since 2001.
Her ministry combined an energetic punch and an elegant poise. At a recent Wall Street Wednesday service, chords trickled from the piano, the choir broke into another refrain, and syncopated claps from the crowd broke free of cadence as they swelled into a clamor, roaring through Dr. Cook’s encouragement: “We need to turn our 401(k)’s into 401(j)’s!” she said, with an emphasis on the “j,” for Jesus.
“People need spiritual translation — other than the King James Bible — that applies to their realities,” said Dr. Cook, who was an adviser to President-elect Barack Obama’s campaign. “Twenty-first century ministry has to have the same ‘change’ and relevancy that Obama’s campaign had. Both our finances and our faith need revival.”
To that end, Dr. Cook will host her hourlong services with no dress codes and no liturgical expectations in the Apollo, a celebrated New York landmark that has survived hardships of all kinds, including the 1968 riots and its own bankruptcy.
“Let us thank Dr. Sujay for bringing God into the Apollo Theater,” said Representative Charles B. Rangel, addressing the crowd on Sunday. “Although these are hard economic times, we have hope and prayer to keep us on.”
In the last five years, Harlem has seen a surge of private investment from firms like A.I.G. and Lehman Brothers, but the recent recession has had a serious impact, affecting even the Apollo’s long-running Amateur Night, a program that, while not in jeopardy, is currently sponsored in part by the failed Washington Mutual bank. And the tightening credit market has wounded brownstone makeovers in the neighborhood and small business openings along 125th Street.
The services on Sunday were a way for Harlem to help itself; some of the proceeds went to the Multi-Ethnic Youth Center, which is run by the Bronx Christian Fellowship Baptist Church, where Dr. Cook is the pastor. Future services will be offered free on Sundays at 11 a.m. through the spring at the theater on West 125th Street.

MESSIANIC JEWS DETAINED IN BEN-GURION


A director of the US Union of Messianic Jewish Congregations and his wife were detained Sunday at Ben-Gurion Airport by Interior Ministry officials amid allegations he is involved in illegal Christian missionary activity.
It is illegal in Israel to proselytize among minors. It is also prohibited to engage in missionary activities among adults when economic incentives are offered.
After over eight hours of detention, Jamie Cowen, a former president of the union, and his wife, Stacy, were permitted to enter Israel only after they agreed to sign a document that they would not engage in missionary activities during their stay.
The Cowens are in Israel to visit their two daughters, one of whom is an Israeli citizen. The other is in the process of obtaining citizenship after she and a group of other Messianic Jews won a Supreme Court case against the state.
The Cowens and their daughters all identify as Jews but believe that Jesus is the messiah.
"This type of religious discrimination would be expected of Iran, not Israel," said Jamie Cowen, a US immigration lawyer, a few hours after he was released by immigration police.

"In the US we imprison individuals suspected of terrorism. Here apparently one can be jailed for his religious convictions. This is a case of blatant discrimination against basic rights. It is a story of a bureaucracy run amok. Someone has to crack down and bring in people of integrity."
Cowen said he had visited Israel about 10 times, and had been active in social causes via the Knesset Social Lobby.
"I've brought $100,000 in humanitarian aid to Israel. We've provided lone IDF soldiers with about $50,000 in aid. This is unbelievable," he said.
The Interior Ministry, which directed the police to arrest the Cowens, said they had classified information regarding missionary activity.
"The Immigration and Population Authority has reliable information that the Cowens were involved in missionary activity prohibited by Israeli criminal law during their last visit to Israel," a ministry spokesman said.
"This is the reason they were detained. As soon as they agreed to refrain from any missionary activity they were allowed in."
The Cowens arrived in Israel on a flight from Frankfurt at 3 a.m. They were arrested at passport inspection and placed in detention at the airport.
"As an immigration lawyer I have visited many detention facilities for illegal immigrants. This one was particularly dirty, smelly and overcrowded," Cowen said.
According to Cowen, the Union of Messianic Jewish Congregations has 90 member congregations with membership ranging between 50 and 400 per congregation.
Calev Myers, founder and chief counsel of The Jerusalem Institute, which provides legal advice and representation to messianic Jews, said the Interior Ministry was filled will clerks who identified with a strictly Orthodox definition of who is a Jew.
"During the years that Shas controlled the ministry they made sure to appoint clerks who were willing to carry out their policies," Myers said.
"As a result, Israel is the only Western country where basic freedom of religion is denied. Today those who being discriminated against are messianic Jews. Tomorrow it will be Conservative and Reform Jews."
Myers said anti-missionary organizations such as Yad Le'achim often tipped off Interior Ministry officials regarding messianic Jews attempting to enter the country.
However, Meir Cohen, a Yad Le'Achim activist, said that while it was true that his organization did provide the ministry with information, they were not involved in the Cowens' case.
Cohen said the ministry had its own intelligence unit that gathered information on missionaries and on messianic Jews who were ineligible for Israeli citizenship due to their religious convictions.
The Supreme Court has ruled that Jews who embraced Christianity are not eligible for Israeli citizenship. However, the court has also ruled that people who are not Jews according to Orthodox standards, but who are eligible for Israeli citizenship under the Law of Return do not forfeit this right if they adopt Christian beliefs.

A MIRACLE IN EGYPT - A MUST READ INCIDENT


EGYPT - A Muslim man in Egypt killed his wife because she was reading the Bible andthen buried her with their infant baby and an 8-year old daughter.The girls were buried alive! He then reported to the police that an unclekilled the kids. 15 days later, another family member died. When they went tobury him,they found the 2 little girls under the sand - ALIVE!The country is outraged over the incident, and the man will be executed.The older girl was asked how she had survived and she says:- 'A man wearingshiny white clothes, with bleeding wounds in his hands, came every day to feed us. He woke up my mom so she could nurse my sister,' she said. She wasinterviewed on Egyptian national TV, by availed Muslim woman news anchor. Shesaid on public TV, 'This was none other than Jesus, because nobody else does things like this!'Muslims believe Isa (Jesus) would do this, but the wounds mean He really wascrucified, and it's clear also that He is alive! But, it's also clear that thechild could not make up a story like this, and there is no way these children could have survived without a true miracle. Muslim leaders are going to have ahard time to figure out what to do with this, and thepopularity of the Passion movie doesn't help! With Egypt at the centre of themedia and education in the Middle East , you can be sure this story willspread.Christ is still turning the world upside down! Please let this story be shared.
The Lord says, 'I will bless the person who puts his trust in me.(Jeremiah 17)