CHRISTIAN COUPLE ARRESTED FOR ANTI-MUSLIM BOOKLETS IN SINGAPORE

SINGAPORE — A Christian Singaporean couple were found guilty of sedition on Thursday for distributing evangelical publications that cast Islam in a negative light, court officials said.
Ong Kian Cheong and his wife Dorothy Chan had been charged with distributing a seditious publication to two Muslims in October and March 2007 and sending a second such booklet to another Muslim in December that same year, a district court official told.
The publications were found to have promoted feelings of ill-will and hostility between Christians and Muslims, the Straits Times said on its website.
A hearing was set for June 4 for mitigation pleas and sentencing.
The sedition charge carries a jail term of up to three years or a fine of up to 5,000 Singapore dollars (3,437 US) or both.
Singapore, a multi-racial island nation, clamps down hard on anyone seen to be inciting communal tensions.
In 2005, two ethnic Chinese men were jailed for anti-Muslim blogs.
The following year, a Singaporean blogger received a stern warning after posting cartoons mocking Jesus Christ on his online journal.
Ethnic Chinese make up a majority of the city-state's resident population but there are significant numbers of Malay Muslims, ethnic Indians and other groups.

MANDATORY ' GAY DAY ' FOR K-5 STUDENTS IN CALIFORNIA: BOARD IMPOSES HOMOSEXUAL CURRICULUM ON CLASSES

A California school district has approved a mandatory homosexual curriculum for children as young as 5 – and parents will not be allowed to remove their children from the lessons.
The mandatory program, officially titled "LGBT Lesson #9," was approved May 26 by the Alameda County Board of Education by a vote of 3-2. Students from kindergarten through fifth grade will learn about "tolerance" for the homosexual lifestyle beginning next year.
The curriculum is in addition to the school's current anti-bullying program and is estimated to cost $8,000 for curriculum and training.
Parents will not be given an opportunity to opt-out of lessons that go against their religious beliefs. Some parents are threatening to sue the school board and mount a recall. Opponents presented a petition with 468 signatures from people who don't want the homosexual lessons in the curriculum.
At the board meeting, parent Julie Kim said, "The topics covered in this curriculum for all the grades should be left up to the parent to discuss with their children."
The district's legal counsel recommended against giving parents an opportunity to opt out of the lessons, claiming only health or sex education topics require opt-out provisions:

[T]he most prudent course of action for Alameda Unified School District's Board of Education in regards to the proposed lesson is to recommend providing notice to parents, not to allow an opt out of the instruction.
The school district claims it will re-assess the curriculum, but only after it has been in place for a full year.
According to the Island of Alameda, trustee Tracy Jensen addressed a crowd at City Hall following the vote.
"We are not telling anyone what to think," Jensen said. "We are letting children know that gay people exist and they deserve to be treated with respect, regardless of whether or not you believe that homosexuality is acceptable."
But Capitol Resource Institute's Karen England explored the curriculum and released a statement condemning the program before the board's vote.
"This curriculum ignores the fact that every child has a mom and a dad, to redefine ideas like 'family.' School absolutely should be a safe place, but this isn't just about safety. Students have to embrace highly controversial social values or risk being labeled as bigots," she warned. "Five year old kids aren't ready to think on their own about sexuality – and their families' values will be dismissed. That's not an education in critical thinking. It's social activism."

In kindergarten, children will be introduced to "The New Girl … And Me" by Jacqui Robins. The book is about a young girl who is new at a school and strikes up a friendship with another girl after a popular boy refuses to play with her.

In first grade, students will read "Who is in a Family?" By Robert Skutch. It explores different types of families. One page states, " … Robin's family is made up of her dad, Clifford, her dad's partner, Henry, and Robin's cat, Sassy."

"If a student responds that one family in the book is made up of a mother, a father and two children and a cat, you may acknowledge that some families look like this," the curriculum states, "but also ask students for other examples of what a family can look like."
Teachers are told to reflect and "reinforce to students that in our school and our community there are many different types of families that provide love and care to each other. Remind the students that all family structures are equally important."
Second grade students will read about two homosexual penguins that raise a young chick in the book "And Tango Makes Three" by J. Richardson and P. Parnell.
The two male penguins, Roy and Silo, are described as being "a little bit different."
"They didn't spend much time with the girl penguins, and the girl penguins didn't spend much time with them," the text states.
When the male penguins nurture an egg, it soon hatches. "We'll call her Tango," it states, "because it takes two to make a Tango."
The book declares, "Tango was the very first penguin in the zoo to have two daddies."
In the third grade, students will watch a film called "That's a Family," featuring some homosexual couples in addition to traditional families.
According to the lesson plan, it aims to "assist students in developing sensitivity to gay and lesbian family structures" and teach "respect and tolerance for every type of family."
Fourth graders will be required to read an essay titled, "My School is Accepting – but Things Could be Better" by Robert, an 11-year-old who has two lesbian mothers.
They are introduced to terms such as "ally," "gay," "lesbian" and "LGBT."
Teachers are instructed to ask, "How do you think Robert feels when he hears people say things like, 'this is gay' or 'You're so gay'?"
By fifth grade, students learn to "identify stereotypes about lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people." They are told that "LGBT people have made important contributions within the United States and beyond."
Teachers are asked to write the acronym LGBT and ask students the meaning of each letter. Students discuss why stereotypes are "incorrect and hurtful" to LGBT people and people with LGBT family members.
The children are provided with a list of famous LGBT people, including novelist James Baldwin, singer Elton John, comedian Ellen Degeneres, pop singer Christina Aguilera, Rep. Tammy Baldwin, poet Walt Whitman, singer Lance Bass, figure skater Rudy Galindo, homosexual politician Harvey Milk, Army veteran Jose Zuniga and basketball player Sheryl Swoopes.

Teachers then ask if students are surprised to learn that those famous people are members of the LGBT community. The curriculum also provides a list of LGBT vocabulary words for students, including the following: bisexual, transgender, gay, LGBT and lesbian.

WHILE NORTH KOREA LAUNCHES NUCLEAR MISSILES, CHRISTIANS LAUNCHES PRAYER CAMPAIGN

N. Korea ― North Korea remained defiant in the face of international community condemnation by firing two more short-range missiles Tuesday after launching three on Monday, according to Reuters. More test launches are expected
Spokesman for Open Doors USA Jerry Dykstra says this aggression emphasizes North Korea's importance on the military. "Right now there are 1.2 million people in the army of North Korea and a back-up force of 5 million of their population of 26-million." He says they're on a war footing right now.
Even though North Korea is focused on the outside, Christians aren't getting a pass. Dykstra says, "The average Christian now is under even more danger, if that's possible. There are spies everywhere. If they even see a Bible with a Christian, they are imprisoned."
The spread of Christianity is one of the greatest fears of North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il. "He feels that the fall of Eastern Europe, the fall of communism, was caused by Christians and that this could also happen in North Korea. That's why there's an increase in surveillance of house churches and Christians."
Meanwhile, North Korean church leaders have started a prayer campaign. "They're praying they can evangelize inside North Korea. And they really feel something is going to happen in North Korea. It may be the fall of the current regime, and they have to be ready," says Dykstra.
The North Korean society is extremely unstable. Believers see this as an opportunity to develop and reinforce their church organization.Open Doors' World Watch List has ranked North Korea as the Number One persecutor of Christians for seven years in a row. Last month, North Korea was re-designated by the U.S. State Department as one of eight "Countries of Particular Concern" for their severe religious freedom violations.North Korean believers are asking the church in the West to support them and keep them in special prayer because of their difficult situation. They are also spending additional time in prayer for each other. They are sensing that the day of opening of North Korea is near. They are actively getting ready for the changes the North Korean churches will face in the future, according to the report."Christians in North Korea are suffering terribly for their faith. Of the estimated 200,000 in political prison camps, an estimated 40,000 to 60,000 are Christians," says Open Doors USA President/CEO Carl Moeller. "Now with the firing of several missiles and the war footing, the scrutiny of believers has increased. "What an awesome testimony that Christians inside North Korea have started a prayer campaign for evangelizing the entire country. We need to keep them in our prayers as they risk their lives for their faith."A pastor inside North Korea writes: "We thank God there are so many people who are praying for our country. Your prayers strengthen the Christians in North Korea."

PAKISTAN: PASTORS ARRESTED FOR USE OF LOUD SPEAKERS,POLICE CLAIM AMPLIFIED EASTER SUNDAY SERVICE DEFAMED ISLAM

ISTANBUL– Nine pastors from two neighboring villages in Pakistan could face prison time for using loudspeakers to broadcast prayers and sermons from their churches on Easter Sunday.
Martinpur and Youngsnabad, 150 kilometers (93 miles) east of Lahore, are majority Christian villages. The nine pastors who lead congregations there say that local Muslim security forces have twisted the law to solicit a bribe.
Police arrested and detained Hafeez Gill, Fahim John, Maksud Ulkaq, and a catechist from the Catholic Church in Youngsnabad identified only as Saqab at 10 a.m. on May 16. While en route to the police station, the officers told them they would be released if they offered a bribe, according to the Centre for Legal Aid Assistance and Settlement (CLAAS). The pastors refused and were detained, but following a public outcry from their parishioners they were released at 2:30 p.m.
Reports indicate the arrest was premeditated. A leader in the village council invited the pastors to his house for a meeting, but when they arrived in the morning local police were waiting for them.
They were taken to the police station, where Station House Officer Mirza Latif showed them two First Instance Reports (FIR) registered on May 11 claiming they had misused their speakers. The FIRs, however, state the pastors misused the speakers on Easter Sunday, which happened nearly a month earlier.
The FIRs accused the pastors of misusing their loudspeakers under Section 3/4 of the Amplifier Act. Their attorney said the reasons for their arrest were both religiously and financially motivated.
Police claimed that the church leaders had used their loudspeakers to amplify messages defaming Islam. The FIRs, however, make no mention of the content of their remarks.
“The police wanted to cause humiliation to the pastors and were also asking for money,” said CLAAS attorney Akhbar Durrani.
The case was registered by a special branch of local police forces charging the four Youngsnabad pastors. On the same day, they filed charges against the five pastors in Martinpur: Shahazad Kamarul-Zaman, Mumbarab Kuhram, Hanuk Daniel, Amar Sohail, and a fifth pastor unnamed in the police report.
Nasir Bahatti, president of the Youth Welfare Association in Youngsnabad, a Christian social organization, said the church had permission to amplify the service and that the arrests were religiously motivated.
“There is no reason to ban the loudspeaker,” he said. “They are banning our worship and prayer. But we have permission [to use them] on particular days such as Christmas and Easter.”
If the FIRs are not withdrawn, the pastors will go to court over the alleged loudspeaker violation. Police released them from jail on May 16 under the condition that they obtain bail at an upcoming hearing.
The church loudspeakers broadcasted the church prayers and sermon for villagers unable to attend the service, as is custom in some Christian villages. Pakistani law limits the use of loudspeakers in Christian worship services to a specific time allotment (and usually to villages and towns with a small Muslim population), but these restrictions were not enforced in the almost-entirely Christian villages of Youngsnabad and Martinpur.
Few such restrictions, however, are placed on Pakistani mosques. The five daily calls to prayer, Friday sermons, and Quran recitations on Islamic holidays are frequently amplified on loudspeakers. The double standard follows a traditional Islamic dictum in which church bells were not allowed to ring in areas under Islamic rule.
“The Muslims in this nation can worship according to their prayer method, so why can’t we if we are all given equal rights?” Bahatti said.
The standard of living is relatively high in these villages due to a well-educated population. There are longstanding missionary schools in the villages, and much of the population has lived abroad. English missionaries founded Youngsnabad and Martinpur 120 years ago during British colonial occupation.
Some rights groups worry that the harassment of Pakistani Christians in villages such as Martinpur and Youngsnabad could mean deteriorating conditions for religious minorities in areas once considered secure.
CLAAS reported that vandals completely ransacked a church in Bannu Cantt, in the North West Frontier Province, on May 12. They destroyed the altar, burned Bibles, and broke pews. Although the city is located in a province that borders Afghanistan, where Taliban rebels have been active, it was thought to be a relatively secure area, according to the report.
Pakistan remains in turmoil as the military moves into Swat Valley to uproot the Taliban, which has established Islamic law (sharia) in the embattled area. An estimated 2 million Pakistanis have become refugees by fleeing the area after a government evacuation order.

LONGTIME PENTECOSTAL CHURCH LEADER ROLF.K.MCPHERSON DIES AT 96

Rolf K. McPherson, a major figure in the Pentecostal movement who for 44 years guided the International Church of the Foursquare Gospel founded by his mother, charismatic evangelist Aimee Semple McPherson, died of natural causes May 21 at his Los Feliz home, according to a church spokesman.

He was 96.After his mother's death in 1944, McPherson became the leader of the church and the pastor of Angelus Temple, the domed landmark in Echo Park where his mother delivered fire-and-brimstone sermons with Hollywood pageantry during the 1920s and '30s.

McPherson lacked his mother's flamboyance but brought a steady hand to the management of the finances and day-to-day operations of the church, which now claims 8.4 million members in 144 countries.

"His most important legacy was laying the foundation for the explosive growth of the church in the second half of the 20th century," said Washington State University historian Matthew Avery Sutton, who wrote a 2007 biography of McPherson's mother. "He never had his mom's charisma, energy or excitement, but he was very sharp, a savvy and brilliant administrator" who guided the denomination into "the mainstream of American evangelicalism.

"As president of the church, McPherson oversaw its LIFE Bible College (now called Life Pacific College) in San Dimas and radio station KFSG-FM, which his mother founded in 1924. KFSG was one of the first radio stations in Los Angeles and was among the oldest continuously operating Christian radio stations until it went off the air in 2003.
McPherson was one of two children of the famous evangelist. He was born in Providence, R.I., on March 23, 1913, two years after his half-sister, Roberta Semple Salter. His father was Harold S. McPherson, a businessman who wanted his wife to stay home and take care of their son and Roberta, but she chafed at the constraints the role placed on her. They were divorced after a few years, freeing her to hit the revival circuit in a stylish sedan she called the "Gospel Car.

" In 1918 the itinerant evangelist settled in Los Angeles, where she eventually built a grand, 5,000-seat temple across from the lake in Echo Park north of downtown. For many followers, the highlight of her worship services was the altar call, when the sick and infirm surged forward to ask for healing. Young Rolf witnessed many of the sessions."They used to bring ambulances and stretchers, and they left empty," McPherson recalled in a 1996 interview with Charisma magazine.

"Often Mother would . . . go down and pray for someone on a stretcher. They would get up off the stretcher and the stretcher would be carried off empty."By the time he was 13, he and his half-sister were leading children's services at the temple. According to Sutton's book "Aimee Semple McPherson and the Resurrection of Christian America," the services regularly attracted "about a thousand of the smallest worshipers" in the Foursquare movement.Although his mother and half-sister displayed more talent in the pulpit, McPherson "was a good preacher," said author Daniel Mark Epstein, who spoke to McPherson numerous times while writing "Sister Aimee," a biography published in 1994.

"He didn't have that sort of star power, but in his own quiet way he was very articulate," Epstein said Wednesday. "His faith was very deep and authentic and he spoke from the heart."Because his mother was often traveling, McPherson lived with other church families during much of his childhood, Sutton said. He had been staying in Yolo County when his mother mysteriously disappeared in 1926 after going swimming near Venice Beach. The incident turned scandalous after she resurfaced a month later in Mexico, claiming she had been the victim of a kidnapping. Authorities suggested she had made up the kidnapping to cover up an affair with a church employee, but she stuck to her story and was embraced by her flock upon her return.McPherson had studied engineering but shifted his focus to the church after his mother became seriously ill in 1930. In 1936 he took her side in a management dispute with his half-sister. Salter lost the dispute and was removed from the church's leadership in 1937. She died in 2007 at 96.He became church president in 1944 when Aimee McPherson died of an accidental overdose of barbiturates. Under McPherson's stewardship, the Foursquare movement grew from 29,000 members in 410 churches and meeting places in 1944 to 1.2 million members in 19,000 churches and meeting places worldwide in 1988, when he retired. "He laid a foundation that made it possible for the Foursquare Church to move forward around the world," Pastor Jack Hayford, the current church president, said in a statement after McPherson's death.McPherson is survived by his second wife, Evangeline Carmichael McPherson; a daughter, Alicia McPherson Santacroce, from his marriage to Lorna De Smith that ended with her death; a stepdaughter, Carol Parks; three grandchildren; two step-grandchildren; and a niece.A memorial service will be held at 11 a.m. Saturday at Angelus Temple, 1100 Glendale Blvd., Los Angeles.

For more information on the services and memorial donations, go to www.foursquare.org/articles/841,1.html.

JESUS FILM TO TRAGET MORE SOPHISTICATED COUNTRIES

Nearly 30 years after "The Jesus Film’s" debut, the ministry that created the most translated movie in history is working to develop more sophisticated tools to reach western and highly developed countries.

“We are going to make probably more effort because we don’t have the equipment, tools and resources that are really speaking well to the first world and the media sophisticated, the U.S. and Europe,” said Greg Gregoire, senior associate at The Jesus Film Project, to The Christian Post.
“So we are going to spend a little more focus on developing tools that work there,” he said, noting countries and cities such as Berlin, Singapore, and Los Angeles.
Since "The Jesus Film" debuted in English on Oct. 19, 1979, it has been translated into 1,055 languages and has been seen by more than 6 billion people from every country in the world. Out of the billions of people that have seen the film, there are a recorded 225 million that have indicated a decision for Christ.
The Jesus Film Project is a ministry of Campus Crusade for Christ, International, one of the world’s largest nonprofit, interdenominational organizations. Although the film began as a ministry tool for CCC, it has now been accepted by many groups in the body of Christ as their primary evangelistic tool, Gregoire pointed out. More than 1,500 Christian organizations are using the film to share the Gospel.
In addition to "The Jesus Film," the ministry in recent years has created derivative products from the film to respond to the need of churches. Some of the products include a film made for children that answers questions only kids would ask, and a movie about Jesus told through the eyes of Mary Magdalena.
The film "Magdalena: Released from Shame," released last year, has received strong positive support from women around the world. It has been shown in parts of the world where women face discrimination because of their gender to communicate to oppressed women that there is a man who cares for them and wants to extend dignity to them.
In the short time since it debuted, Magdalena has been translated into over 40 languages with another 50 translations in progress.
The ministry is also currently working with other groups to produce a new version of "The Jesus Film." Gregoire noted that the film is 30 years old and does not “compete” well in the market place.
Furthermore, the ministry has recently produced several short films to reach out to youths who are not interested in watching or talking about Jesus, but are typically interested in discussing films. The short six- to seven-minute films are meant to initiate conversations about spirituality.
There are also plans for an anime version of "The Jesus Film."
The ministry does not plan to hold any special events to mark the 30th anniversary of the film’s debut, according to Gregoire. Instead, staffs will gather for the biannual meeting this summer to pray and remember what God has used the ministry for over the years.

GODTUBE FOUNDER BUYS AMERICANLIFE TV NETWORK: NETWORK REACHES 13 MILLION SUBSCRIBERS,TO BE TURNED INTO "FAMILY VALUES" CHANNEL

Dr. Robert Schuller, former pastor of Crystal Cathedral Ministries, and Chris Wyatt, the founder of religious video site GodTube, have acquired baby boomer targeted cable network AmericanLife TV.
ComStar Media Fund, for which Wyatt currently serves as CEO, will purchase the cabler, which reaches nearly 13 million subscribers, for an undisclosed sum. The plan is to turn the network into a “family values” channel, though they claim it will not become a religious network per se. The on-air look will change, as will the syndicated programs the network seeks to acquire.

“We are not creating another religious network but rather a family-values channel,” Wyatt said. “We’ve tapped into a huge underserved market and have the opportunity over time to increase distribution to exceed 40 million homes. As the founder and former CEO of GodTube.com, one of the fastest growing website’s of 2007, I have experience to apply to achieve this type of growth in cable and satellite distribution.”
Schuller is no stranger to television, having hosted global religious program The Hour of Power for many years. He will host a show on the reworked network, though the details are still being worked out.

“Having been on television for 32 years, I’ve witnessed first-hand the decline of family-values programming in America,” Schuller said. “I’m looking forward to pioneering a new definition of ‘family-values’ programming that speaks to all generations. “