EU-DIGEST

The Cordoba Great Mosque

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Europe's Muslim Legacy

In a fascinating book, God's Crucible: Islam and the making of Modern Day Europe, by David Levering Lewis one will quickly agree with the author that it took two ingredients to make Europeans believe in themselves as the center of civilization. One was the creation of the vast Holy Roman Empire by Charlemagne. The other was the development of the Muslim culture in what is now known as the region of Andalusia, Spain. The Arabs called it al-Andalus with the Great Mosque as the most striking physical example of this Muslim foothold in Europe. What probably was even more impressive, leaving a lasting mark on Europe were the Muslims intellectual and cultural achievements. Hundreds of mosques, thousands of palaces, scores of libraries were build in Córdoba alone. Towards the end of the ninth century, those libraries had acquired hundreds of thousands of manuscripts. Nothing else on the continent of Europe could compare. Just imagine the university of Córdoba was established more than one hundred years before the one in Bologna, Italy, considered today as the first European university.

Al-Andalus was already a truly regional cosmopolitan agglomeration of cities, when the rest of Europe was still a feuding environment of country estates and small towns. Towards the end of the millennium, Córdoba had a population of more than 90,000, many times the size of any town in the territories occupied by Charlemagne. Those Andalusian cities also became a great ethnic melting pot of Jews, Muslims, Christians, Arabs, Berbers, Germanic, Slavs, and countless other cultures. These eventually spread throughout the continent and transformed a barbaric Europe into a more enlightened and modern European society.

Maybe Europe's far right politicians, including Geert Wilders in the Netherlands, French "Front National" leader Jean-Marie le Pen and Belgian far-right politician Filip Dewinte should take the time to read God's Crucible: Islam and the making of Modern Day Europe, by David Levering Lewis. Who knows, they might realize al-Andalus showed Europe that what must empower man should always be compassion not hate.

Labels: Andalusia, Christianity, Cordoba, EU, Europe, Filip Fewinte, Geert Wilders, Islam, Jean-Marie le Pen, Spain

"Pentecostalism is the largest self-organized movement of urban poor in the world," according to the U.S. urban specialist Mike Davis. His opinions on this religious movement tend to be rejected outright by many leftist intellectuals. However, Davis is convinced that "many people on the left have made the mistake of assuming that Pentecostalism is a reactionary force—and it's not." "Pentecostals not only get many people away from alcohol, but also occasionally get them to give up drug trafficking and delinquency. And they do it without pressure. However, Pentecostals are also a social and political force, not just religious. In an historical irony, the largest left party on the Latin American continent, the Workers Party (PT), created by the Catholic Church and other entities, came into power with a Pentecostal vice president, José Alencar.

The vice president's Brazilian Republican Party (PRB), created in 2005 and linked to the Universal Church, is the fastest growing political force in the country. The Universal Church of the Kingdom of God to which he belongs controls 70 television and 50-plus radio stations, a bank, several newspapers, and has 3,500 temples. Its Record TV Network vies for the largest audience against the legendary Globo Network and earns a billion dollars a year.

"It's a question of giving people alternatives and hopes for a better future". Of the 550 total legislative representatives in Brazil, 61 are Pentecostals, and 91 call themselves militant Catholics. "Anyone living in the urban peripheries of today's Brazil, can confirm that this is an important phenomenon. Many participants in the Homeless Workers Movement are also members of the local Pentecostal church. We cannot forget that religion played an important role in the formation of our left," says Marco Fernandes, an historian and social psychologist who participates in the Homeless Workers Movement (Movimento dos Trabalhadores Sem Teto, MTST).

Labels: Christianity, Economy, Latin America, Pentacostals, Political

Reformation, Renewal and Revival - Greatest Christian Revival in Church History Happening in China - by David W.Virtue

The greatest revival in the history of the Christian Church has been going on for the last 50 years in China, making it perhaps the greatest in the history of Christianity, a Chinese Christian leader told 600 Episcopalians at Church of the Good Samaritan in Paoli, PA recently. "Under Mao Tse Tung there were 800,000 Christians. Unofficially today there are more than 130 million," Brother Yun, known as "The Heavenly Man" said through an interpreter."A powerful missions movement is growing in China. The Underground Church is growing. We are taking the gospel into the darkness of Asia all the way back to Jerusalem. The movement is called 'Back to Jerusalem'. We are reaching into the strongholds of Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism and Judaism, breaking through with the power of the Gospel of Christ." www.backtojerusalem.com

"There are two billion unreached peoples in five countries between China and Israel that has 50 million unevangelized Christians." Yun said that what is happening in China is that one million people a month come into the Kingdom of God. "Americans will not be the majority in heaven. The serious message God has given the church is to pack heaven with people. It is not enough just to sign a fire insurance policy. "There are 8,000 vested missionaries in China. They are preaching the gospel, feeding the hungry, improving the health care system and building new schools. God never intended his church to be a bunker but a lighthouse."

Labels: China, Christianity

Labels: Christianity, Islam

Christians and sex - One preacher's message: Have hotter sex - by Brian Alexander

"Beam, a portly, silver-haired basso profundo dressed in khaki slacks, a sweater vest and brown tasseled loafers that make him look like a retired country-club golf pro, walks to the front of the room and proceeds to tell the men in the audience how to make their semen taste better. Sweet stuff works, he says, which provides a built-in excuse because "then you can say, 'I'm eating this cake for you, baby!'"

The San Diego Church of Christ is Beam’s sponsoring group today, but as far as he is concerned it could be any conservative Christian denomination. The message would be the same: Married Christians ought to be having more — and hotter — sex. Welcome to the world of hot Christian love".

Labels: Christianity, Christians, Sex

Armenian, Greek worshipers come to blows at Jesus' tomb

Dozens of Greek and Armenian priests and worshipers exchanged blows in Christianity's holiest shrine on Palm Sunday, and pummeled police with palm fronds when they tried to break up the brawl. The fight is part of a growing rivalry over religious rights at Jerusalem's Church of the Holy Sepulcher, built over the site where tradition says Jesus was buried and resurrected. A fist-fight broke out after Armenian clergy kicked out a Greek priest from their midst, pushed him to the ground and kicked him, according to witnesses. The Holy Sepulcher is shared by several Christian denominations according to a centuries-old arrangement known as the status quo. Each denomination jealously guards its share of the basilica, and fights over rights of worship at the church have intensified in recent years, particularly between the Armenians and Greeks.

Note EU-Digest:These unacceptable acts by Armenians and Greeks are a disgrace to Christianity and its holy places. Israel should consider banning these two factions from worshiping at the Church of the Holy Sepulcher.

Labels: Armenia, Christianity, EU, Greece, Israel

German Catholic Church "exploited" slaves for Nazis

A new history of the Catholic Church in Germany reveals that the Church exploited people as slaves for the Nazis. The report says 1,000 prisoners of war, and nearly 5,000 civilians laboured in Catholic hospitals and monestaries to boost the Nazi war effort. Cardinal Karl Lehmann said the Church must face up to its past. "For too long the Catholic Church turned a blind eye to the fate and suffering of men, women and children from across Europe, who were sent to Germany as slave laborers," he said. The German Catholic Church admitted the dark chapter in its history eight years ago, and paid one and a half million euros in compensation. The final number of slaves may never be known.

Most of them came from Poland and the then-Soviet Union, and their work was vital for Hitler's regime. By the end of the war, forced labor made up more than a quarter of the workforce as Germany collapsed.

Note EU-Digest: this once again shows the dangers of mingling religion with politics. It also shows that there is a major, often misunderstood difference between the world-wide Christian Church Community, which is part of the 1517 Reformation Movement of Martin Luther, and the Catholic Church with its secretive autocratic orthodox structure, which has been linked to many historical and present day atrocities, including the Crusades. The Pope is seen by Catholics as the sole representative of Christ in this world. The Christian Reformist Community does not recognize the Pope as the Worlds Christian spiritual leader.

Labels: Catholic Church, Christianity

Chinese Christian believers to print Olympic Bible in China

As Tibetan Monks continue to protest against the Chinese government, Chinese believers are excited about the possibility of outreach during the Olympics games in Beijing this year. China Partner works with the registered church in the country. China Partner's Erik Burklin says, "The China Christian Council is right now working with the Olympic committee to print a New Testament of the Bible both in English and Chinese. It will be handed out as a gift to incoming athletes and foreigners attending the Olympics this summer in Beijing and for the media personnel that are coming in."Some 20,000 Bibles will be printed. Burklin says the Bibles will also be placed in local hotels.

Labels: China, Christianity, Olympics

Tension between Christianity and science exists only for propagandists-by Richard Lucas

The myth of "tension" between science and Christianity rests on just two episodes. The Catholic Church's rejection of Galileo's heliocentrism was a mistake by the Church leaders of the time. The dispute over the sufficiency of undirected natural processes to produce the startling complexity and diversity of life is ongoing, and is a genuine academic debate (although some evolutionists behave more like inquisitors than scientists). Huge numbers of scientists were and are Christians, experiencing no tension at all, and I have never met a Christian who does not hold science in high regard. The "myth" is propagated as common knowledge by secularists and scientists rejecting the moral guidance of the Church. If the Catholic Church has blundered in scientific matters on occasion, how many times have scientists blundered in scientific matters?

Labels: Christianity, Religion, Science

Tolerance in Turkey: Catholics Want to Reclaim St. Paul's Birthplace - by Peter Wensierski

The Catholic Church is pushing for the construction of a Christian meeting center at the birthplace of the Apostle Paul in Turkey. German bishops are demanding tolerance for Christians in Turkey in exchange for their support for mosques in Germany.There is little left from the days when the town of Tarsus was not Turkish but part of the Roman Empire: a handful of columns, a few old walls -- and a house where, about 2,000 years ago, a man who would become a central figure in Christianity was born.

"I am a Jew from Tarsus," the Bible reads. The man who was quoted as saying these words went down in history as the Apostle Paul, who brought the Christian faith into the world.

Every year, thousands of visitors travel to Tarsus, which is near the Turkish-Syrian border. But Christians who wish to worship in the Church of St. Paul, built several centuries ago, must overcome bizarre hurdles to do so. A permit is required from the local authorities to celebrate mass in the church. In addition, worshippers are charged an entry fee and required to bring along the essentials -- from the altar crucifix to candles -- and then promptly remove them after the service. The church was used as a military depot for several decades, before the Turkish government suddenly declared it a museum in the 1990s.this year, which Pope Benedict XVI has declared the "Year of St. Paul," it will become a topic of public debate. In June, Cardinal Walter Kasper, the president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, will celebrate a mass in Tarsus. A number of German bishops also plan to travel to Turkey.

The Catholics are pursuing a politically explosive plan. Roughly 2,000 years after the birth of St. Paul, they want to get a Christian meeting center constructed in Tarsus. They have chosen an auspicious moment for the scheme. With Turkey vying for European Union membership, the government of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan can hardly afford to turn down a Christian project. In addition, the Church, especially the German bishops, is offering something in return. The Germans have often taken a benevolent stance toward the construction of mosques in Germany, a policy they intend to continue. In return, they are demanding tolerance for Christians in Turkey.

Labels: Christianity, Turkey

Christianity - Easter: Pope Baptizes Prominent Italian Muslim

Italy's most prominent Muslim, an iconoclastic writer who condemned Islamic extremism and defended Israel, converted to Catholicism Saturday in a baptism by the pope at a Vatican Easter service. An Egyptian-born, non-practicing Muslim who is married to a Catholic, Magdi Allam infuriated some Muslims with his books and columns in the newspaper Corriere della Sera newspaper, where he is a deputy editor. He titled one book ``Long Live Israel.''

As a choir sang, Pope Benedict XVI poured holy water over Allam's head and said a brief prayer in Latin.``We no longer stand alongside or in opposition to one another,'' Benedict said in a homily reflecting on the meaning of baptism. ``Thus faith is a force for peace and reconciliation in the world: distances between people are overcome, in the Lord we have become close.''

Labels: Christianity, EU, Islam

Europe idle as US battles meltdown - by Ambrose Evans - Pritchard

It is the first time since the Great Depression that the US Fed has stepped in directly to absorb credit losses, crossing a line deemed unthinkable just months ago. The dramatic late-night move on Sunday required dredging up Article 13 (3) of the Federal Reserve Act, which allows the Fed to shower money on almost anybody it wishes by a vote of five governors in "unusual and exigent circumstances".Jean-Michel Six, chief Europe economist at Standard & Poor's, said the Europeans were in no mood to rescue America. "There is monetary war going on. The ECB view is that Fed is a victim of its own mistakes and should pay for its past crimes. Frankly, they don't see why they should be cutting rates when inflation (3.3pc) is accelerating," he said.

There are now echoes of October 1987 when the German Bundesbank (and therefore Europe) refused to ease monetary policy, even though the dollar was in freefall and Wall Street was fragile. The spat was the backdrop to the Black Monday crash.

Note EU-Digest: The ECB is on the right track, the problems of the US economy are of the US her own making. If the ECB cuts the interest rates in Europe, inflation would rise and Europe's economy would also spiral into disaster.

Labels: Britain, Christianity, Energy, EU, EU Economy, euro, France, Gas Supplies, Healthcare, Iraq war, Islam, Italy, Romance, Russia, Sarkozy, Sex Appeal, Turkey, US, US Economy

Christian Turks Fear Discrimination

Christians in Turkey are living under a shadow of fear and insecurity due to a violent backlash by nationalist hardliners. The minority group consists of around 120,000 practising Christians, and while they are legally free to practise their religion, many say they suffer discrimination and persecution. Orhan Picaklar, a Christian pastor, says he has faced the ire of the hardliners for his missionary preachings.
Towns like Samsun, in the Black Sea region, where Picalkar practises Christianity, have traditionally been conservative, nationalistic, religious and filled with a core of angry young men who have a deep-seated aversion to being told to change their ways.

Picaklar was kidnapped recently by members of a conservative youth body who told him they wanted him to stop his missionary teachings."Our church was stoned, they tried to kidnap my son, they did kidnap me, they put our pictures on YouTube, they spoke to all our friends, bosses and relatives of everyone who come to our church, so as to distance them from us," Picalkar said. "They say we have prostitutes in the church, they blame us for being subversive elements."

Labels: Christianity, Turkey

Tourism - Europe's Can't-Miss Cathedrals - by Rebecca Ruiz

Upon entering the dimly lit Notre Dame for the first time, the 19th-century architecture critic Eugène Emmanuel Viollet-le-Duc heard organ music and thought it was emanating from the sky framed by the Parisian cathedral's rose stained glass windows.While today's visitors may not experience the same reaction, the towering spires, impressive arches and historic relics of many European cathedrals are nothing short of awe-inspiring. And since there are thousands of them, it's often difficult to determine which are must-sees.

Labels: Christianity, EU, Europe, European Culture, European Tourism, Religion

Is the Catholic Church a cult?

To many Christians, the Roman Catholic Church is an enigma -- a mysterious ecclesiastical system of laws, rituals, and religious orders. For centuries there have been angry denouncements from Roman Catholics against Protestantism for the schism created by the Reformation, and from Protestants against Roman Catholicism for its theological errors and its claim to be the only one true church. Out of this controversy, charges have arisen that Roman Catholicism is not truly Christian, but is in fact, the largest and oldest "Christian" cult in the world.

The Christian Research Institute, (CRI), founded by the late Dr. Walter Martin, is regarded by many as the foremost authority on cults and the occult. The also see themselves as experts on what constitutes Biblical theology. CRI has produced position papers on Roman Catholicism, addressing some of the doctrines with which they are in disagreement. They have stopped short, however, of acknowledging Roman Catholicism as a cult. They are, in fact, adamant in their defense of Roman Catholicism as an orthodox Christian religion. In this regard, they have come against others for their insistence that Roman Catholicism meets the criteria of a cult. The Roman Catholic Church claims that salvation is by grace through the shed blood of Christ on the cross. But in practice and other teachings, how true is their affirmation of that crucial doctrine?

Historically, Roman Catholicism has maintained that Jesus merely made the way open for salvation. But to enter into that salvation, one must live in obedience to the authority of the papacy. In addition, Jesus' provision for salvation not being complete, the Church offers other means to assure one's salvation. It is through the Roman Catholic Church alone that salvation in its fullest sense can be attained.

Another sign of a cult is its exclusivity and insistence that it alone holds the authority as God's only true church. Rather than acknowledge that the true Church is comprised of individuals bound to God the Father through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, a cult looks upon the organization itself -- that is, the hierarchical structure -- as the Church. This is true of Romanism.

Although the Roman Catholic Church admits today that God's grace is active in non-Catholic Christians, non catholics are referred to as "separated brethren" (which the Roman Church, through its ecumenical movement, hopes to some day bring into fellowship under its authority). According to Romanism, unless we acquiesce to this movement toward "unity," we remain outside the graces of the Church, regardless of how much in God's grace we live. "For it is through Christ's Catholic Church alone, which is the universal help towards salvation, that the fullness of the means of salvation can be obtained. It was to the apostolic college alone, of which Peter is the head, that we believe that Our Lord entrusted all the blessings of the New Covenant, in order to establish on earth the one Body of Christ into which all those should be fully incorporated who belong in any way to the people of God" (Vatican Council II, p. 456). "Whatever way we look at the Catholic Church the only thing one can conclude: they are a cult."

Labels: Catholics, Christianity, Cults, EU, Religion

Many Americans switch religious denominations, study finds- by Jane Lampman

Almost half of Americans have moved to a different religious denomination from that in which they were raised, and 28 percent have switched to a different major tradition or to no religion (i.e., from Roman Catholic to Protestant, Jewish to unaffiliated). The fluidity is combining with immigration to spur dramatic changes in the religious landscape. Protestantism appears on the verge of losing its majority status. The number of "unaffiliated" Americans has doubled, to 16 percent. One-third of Catholics are now Latino and the religion is depending on immigration to maintain its share of the population. These shifts are captured in a survey released Monday by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life.

Labels: Christianity, US

Christians Wrong About Heaven, Says Bishop - by David van Biema

"Tom" Wright is one of the most formidable figures in the world of Christian thought. As Bishop of Durham, he is the fourth most senior cleric in the Church of England and a major player in the strife-riven global Anglican Communion; as a much-read theologian and Biblical scholar he has taught at Cambridge and is a hero to conservative Christians worldwide for his 2003 book The Resurrection of the Son of God, which argued forcefully for a literal interpretation of that event.

It therefore comes as a something of a shock that Wright doesn't believe in heaven — at least, not in the way that millions of Christians understand the term. In his new book, Surprised by Hope (HarperOne), Wright quotes a children's book by California first lady Maria Shriver called What's Heaven, which describes it as "a beautiful place where you can sit on soft clouds and talk... If you're good throughout your life, then you get to go [there]... When your life is finished here on earth, God sends angels down to take you to heaven to be with him." That, says Wright is a good example of "what not to say." The Biblical truth, he continues, "is very, very different."

Labels: Christianity, EU, Evangelism, Heaven

Cinema: The Golden Compass - Christians Lose Their Compass: A Closer Look At Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials Trilogy

Weeks before the film adaptation of the Philip Pullman book The Golden Compass was scheduled to open, Christian groups began plastering newspapers and in-boxes with dire warnings of a hidden anti-Christian agenda. Editorials began appearing in newspapers encouraging boycotts and FOX News picked up the drumbeat, dovetailing neatly as it did into their annual War Against The War On Christmas. Before the film even opened, the controversy drifted into schools and libraries, with a flurry of challenges against the books and some groups organizing boycotts against Scholastic, the books' publishing company.

The truth is that Pullman never once in the three books says that there is no God. Nor, as has been erroneously interpreted, does he portray the killing or the death of God. In the story that unfolds in the last two books, there are two fallen angels who have placed themselves in the position of God. It is specifically stated that neither of these beings is God or the Creator of the Universe. They are "false prophets" who have set themselves up as the ultimate power and wish to enslave mankind using various tools including The Magisterium. When the Catholic Church spends time and resources trying to discredit Hollywood fantasies like DaVinci Code or Golden Compass while, at the same time, evicting nuns onto the street to pay for their child abuse crimes, they reveal how dangerously out whack their priorities are.

Labels: Christianity, Cinema, Phillip Pullman, The Golden Compass

Why Christ was removed from Christmas by Merchants: "The naughty truth about Christmas" - by Sandro Contenta

When the Three Wise Men visited baby Jesus, they brought luxury goods: gold, frankincense and myrrh. Loaded with symbolism, perhaps, but certainly superfluous when a blanket would have done just fine. Some 2,000 years later, devout readers of the New Testament story lament the loss of the piety and Christian values the wise men embodied. All that remains, according to the often-heard refrain, is excess. You don't have to be religious to recognize the supremacy of consumerism, particularly at this time of year. The facts speak for themselves: In Canada last December, Canadians spent $28.7 billion shopping, excluding purchases in the automotive sector. Per capita, that's $874 for each consumer, well above the monthly average of $630 for the rest of the year, according to Statistics Canada.
You will also find the same exorbitant figures the US and Europe. By comparison, church attendance in Canada and much of the Western world has plummeted. Shopping malls, as everyone knows, are the new temples. An Angus Reid poll last week found 85 per cent of Canadians surveyed believe Christmas has lost its "spiritual meaning." "Christmas is the quintessential celebration of our entitlement to abundance. So how are you going to fight that?" says University of Illinois marketing professor Cele Otnes, who has researched Christmas gift buying.Merchants have jumped on the Christmas bandwagon in Japan, Hong Kong, and northern India, and are increasingly catering to the holiday in Beijing, says Russell Belk, a marketing professor at York University. The results are sometimes curious, like the Tokyo department store that decorated its Christmas tree with red women's panties or the one that displayed a crucified Santa Claus.

And yet, despite the righteous doom and gloom, the excessive behaviour feels right. What would Christmas be without the binge eating and the maxing out of credit cards? Certainly not the kind of feast it has been for millennia. "I don't think Christmas has ever been primarily celebrated as a Christian holiday," says historian Stephen Nissenbaum, author of the acclaimed book, The Battle for Christmas. "Christmas has never been controlled by Christians. It has never been Christianized. They didn't control it when it was carnival and misrule, and they don't control it now that it's corporate capitalism," he says. To a certain extent, some Christian churches have only themselves to blame for complaints of how Christmas is celebrated. The trouble began early in the 4th century, when the Roman church picked Dec. 25 as the day to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ, although nothing in the Bible suggests that date. The church was piggybacking on a well-established festive period. The pagan midwinter festival in ancient Roman times, Saturnalia, celebrated a time of abundance. The harvest was in, the new wine and beer was ready to drink, and the air was cold enough for animals to be slaughtered and meat preserved, "What you've got is a combination of an unusual amount of leisure time, because the men had finished their work, and plenty of food and drink. That's a very combustible mix – and it combusted," says Nissenbaum, a professor at the University of Massachusetts. The result was several days of wild outdoor partying in late December, what Nissenbaum says might today strike us as a sexually charged blend of Mardi Gras, Halloween and New Year's Eve.

Labels: Christianity, Religion

From Born Again To Muslim in Under Twenty Years - by Jeff Gibbs

"I’m not sure I will ever go much deeper into Islam. Like many Americans my age and younger, I tend to play in religions. I’ve done Buddhist meditations, Tibetan and Thai. I’ve attended Quaker services and Russian Orthodox, read the Bhagavad Gita and Vedas. And so my ablutions in the ocean that day on Cape Ann, I think, was not so much a ritual to remember God, as a ritual in the face of the awful power of time and a struggle to preserve a friendship.

My time in Turkey had been magical, and already, my memories of it came in fits and starts, breaking into pieces–the emotions I’d felt praying next to him in the Mosque of Suleiman the Magnificent, the tears that came to my eyes when once, standing on one of the red cliffs of Cappodocia, we heard the call to prayer drift out from village after village over the long, quiet valleys of red stone. One day soon, Turkey would perhaps just be another set of pictures I ran across sometimes and Ekrem and his family less and less vivid until all I could remember were the photos. And so this ablution was to him as well. A space set aside to revere that memory and his continued living presence, and to remember and bring to life all that I had lost and stood to lose and wanted to feel again." Note EU-Digest: "Maybe we can also get the viewpoint of someone out there in the "Cyber World" who went from Muslim to Born Again."

Labels: Christianity, EU, Musllim

The Book of Revelation--The Untold Good News- by Bruce A. Ritter

Cataclysmic environmental changes—a nuclear World War—the rise and fall of governments—food shortages and pestilences run amok! These and other nightmarish events are foretold in the final book of the Bible. Yet few understand the good news contained within it.Imagine the typical Hollywood “doomsday” film: The hero awakens to a post-World War III apocalyptic nightmare of decimated cities, defunct governments and tiny pockets of desperate survivors struggling to stay alive. Millions view the book of Revelation the same way. Even those who have never read Revelation are, to varying degrees, aware of the horrific future it depicts.As with all Scripture in the bible, this prophetic book has long been hidden under a mysterious fog, clouding the thinking of most—especially when it comes to the good news it announces.

People have long believed that a future World War III will arrive that will be a “winner take all” face-off between the U.S.-led democratic nations of the West (including Europe) and Russia, and perhaps China, all ending in “Armageddon”—the end of civilization. But Armageddon is not a battle. Rather, it is a place—the Valley of Megiddo—where forces from the East will gather to clash with the military might of the North (Rev. 9:16; Dan. 11:44).

Labels: Christianity, Europe, Prophecy, US, World War III

The Inside story on the war against Christianity

When Jordanian Khalid Saad abandoned Islam and became a Christian, his family set out to kill him. But he escaped repeated attempts on his life, held up in prayer by thousands of Christians around the world who learned of his needs through the newsletter of Voice of the Martyrs. Voice of the Martyrs is a non-profit, interdenominational ministry working worldwide to help Christians who are persecuted for their faith, and to educate the world about that persecution. Its headquarters are in Bartlesville, Okla., USA and it has 30 affiliated international offices. It was launched by the late Richard and Sabina Wurmbrand, who started smuggling Russian Gospels into Russia in 1947, just months before Richard was abducted and imprisoned in Romania where he was tortured for his refusal to recant.

To receive your free copy of Voice of the Martyrs click on this link

Labels: Christianity, Persecution

Dar es Salaam Meeting Nov 5 - 9: Church consultation to address ethics of economic growth

The consultation is a continuation of a process which was started at the World Council of Churches' (WCC) 8th assembly in Harare in 1998 and became known as Alternative Globalization Addressing People and Earth (AGAPE) since the 9th assembly in Porto Alegre. Ten years later, the issue of socio-economic justice is no less pressing, said the WCC. Especially in Africa, the gap between the rich and the poor has widened, with destructive consequences for peace and for the environment.

Discussions in Dar es Salaam will help to draw a "greed line" as practical guidance to Christians regarding sources of growth - such as speculation or expropriation - and the level or ratio of wealth accumulation that are unethical.

Labels: Christianity, Economics, Tanzania

Christians have nothing to fear from Islam, says Europe Evangelical leader - by Maria Mackay

The General Secretary of the European Evangelical Alliance, Gordon Showell-Rogers, has reassured delegates at the EEA’s annual Assembly in Greece this week that Christians have nothing to fear from Islam in Europe.In a powerful address on day two of the assembly, Showell-Rogers reminded Christians that Muslims in Europe still make up only a very small percentage of Europe’s population – around 4.5 per cent – and that while migration has brought in Muslims, it has also brought in large numbers of Christians to the continent. Rather than being intimidated by Islam’s growth in Europe, Showell-Rogers encouraged delegates to see the evangelistic potential.

“Evangelicals have nothing at all to fear from any form of Islam. Christ is greater than even the greatest of world religions,” he stated. “Instead of being afraid and ‘demonising’ people, we should see the presence of Muslim communities in Europe as a great evangelistic opportunity.

”He went on to reaffirm the power of Jesus Christ to change Europe as well as the mandate of the European Evangelical Alliance to bring the Good News to those who still live without Christ.

Labels: Christianity, EU

Europe's de-Christianization : Who Is Allah? - by Soeren Kern

Europeans love to mock the salience of religion in American society, but they won't be laughing for very long. The de-Christianization of Europe in the name of "tolerance" is rapidly driving the spiritually shiftless continent into the arms of Islam. And now, amidst the postmodern theological confusion that defines contemporary Europe, even Catholic clergy are jumping on the Islamomania bandwagon.

Indeed, just because Christianity, Judaism and Islam are called "monotheistic" faiths, it does not follow that Christians, Jews and Muslims pray to the same God. So for those pre-postmoderns who believe that words still mean something, a quick survey of archaeology, history and theology-accompanied by a dose of common sense-can answer the question of whether the Allah of Islam is really the God of the Bible.

The irony is that the real danger from Islam stems not so much from ordinary Muslims as it does from sickly Europeans who have subverted their Judeo-Christian heritage in search of secular hedonism. Because they live only for the moment, they are willing submit to anything, including Islam, as long as it doesn't interfere with the pursuit of pleasure today. It has been more than 50 years since the late Christian apologist C.S. Lewis first warned about Western Civilization's disastrous lurch into post-Christianity. But even he would be surprised to see how quickly Islam is filling the religious and cultural vacuum that is post-Christian Europe. It's not that Europeans haven't been forewarned. It's that they couldn't care less.

Labels: Christianity, EU, Islam

"A Strange Feeling" - by by Michael P.F. van der Galiën

"During my stay in Turkey, I have visited several mosques. Last week Friday and today I did not just visit mosques: I went there with a Muslim and joined the men in prayer. Some of my Christian brethren might be shocked by this, but I did not have a big problem with praying with Muslims and praying like they do. In fact, I found the praying to be… comforting. I obviously prayed to God as in the Christian God, and I did not silently pray the same prayer the Muslims prayed: I prayed to the Christian concept of God and chose my own words / thoughts… But it was comforting nonetheless. When praying, I was - today and last week friday as well - overwhelmed by a very positive, peaceful feeling. Or perhaps peaceful or positive energy is the best word to describe this feeling."

Labels: Christianity, EU, Islam, Religion, Turkey

Terrorism and Religion - by Peter Sedgwick, Dean of the Faculty of Religious and Theological Studies, Cardiff University

In an Islamic state there is no law other than shari'a, yet this is not something that a western democracy can accept. This is for two reasons. First in shari'a law there is no distinction between sin and a crime. Christianity has learnt painfully that sexuality is not to be governed by law, and the prescription of homosexual relations as a crime is one that the churches were slow to accept. But the distinction between sin and crime - whatever one's view on sexuality - is one that churches have learnt to accept. Secondly the nature of shari'a law is that it is intolerant of all alternatives to its scope. There can be no freedom of speech that blasphemes religion, no alternatives to its power. All of this makes shari'a law (as promoted by Muslim fundamentalists) as something to be feared. None of this is to pretend that Christians have a good track record on these issues. Christian intolerance has prevented the development of dissent for many centuries. Sins and crimes were held to be synonymous, and it took great efforts to break free from this yoke. What is needed is a dialogue with Islam, and a respect for the law. Western societies lose moral authority if they turn law and civil power into an instrument of vengeance against terrorism, as seems to have happened at times in the United States at Guantanamo Bay. The law is one of God's instruments to restrain human wickedness, as Luther knew well. However once the law becomes a means of vengeance, as in the war against terror, it leads to despair.

Labels: Christianity, Islam, Shari'a Law

Foreign Missionaries Find Fertile Ground in Europe - by Kevin Sullivan

"The Danish church is boring," said Johansen, 45, who left the state-run Danish Evangelical Lutheran Church three years ago and joined this high-octane interdenominational church run by a missionary pastor from Singapore. "I feel energized when I leave one of these services."The International Christian Community (ICC) is one of about 150 churches in Denmark that are run by foreigners, many from Africa, Asia and Latin America, part of a growing trend of preachers from developing nations coming to Western Europe to set up new churches or to try to reinvigorate old ones.

Labels: Christianity, Europe

FIRST TURKISH MARTYRS SINCE 1923: German Seminary investigates Malatya murders of Necati Aydin, Ugur Yuksel, and Tilmann Geske - by Elizabeth Kendal

Necati Aydin and Ugur Yuksel are the first known Muslim converts to Christianity to be martyred, since the founding of the Turkish Republic in 1923. Ugur Yuksel was buried according to Islamic/Alevitic rituals at the orders of his family which vehemently denies his Christian faith. The German victim was buried on 20 April in the Armenian cemetery in Malatya, following the wishes of his widow. This occurred after a bitter fight with the local authorities who unconditionally wanted to prevent Geske's burial in their city. Because of pressure applied by the German government, his burial was only delayed by three hours. Necati Aydin, who was pastor of the local Protestant church in addition to his work in the Zirve Publishing House, was laid to rest on Saturday, 21 April, in his home town of Izmir.

At a press conference a day after the attack, Pastor Ihsan Ozbek (from Ankara), President of the Association of Protestant Churches in Turkey, said "Turkey was buried in the darkness of the Middle East." He compared the common, country-wide, widely hawked conspiracy theories which accuse Christians of conspiring against Muslims with the medieval witch hunts in Europe.

Labels: Christianity, Turkey

Christians Who Don't Celebrate Easter: What Do They Know? - by Jerold Aust

Easter is considered the most important religious festival in today's Christianity. "The Easter feast has been and still is regarded as the greatest in the Christian church, since it commemorates the most important event in the life of its Founder" (The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, 1986, Vol. 2, "Easter"). Every spring, the anticipation and excitement of Easter is electrifying for many people. Churches prepare elaborate Easter programs that illustrate the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Parents take time to color Easter eggs and hide them so their children can hunt for them. Given its popularity, one would think that surely this observance is found in God's Word. Television advertisements and commercial businesses also get very involved with Easter as they offer colorful Easter baskets, Easter costumes and chocolate rabbits to celebrate this great religious event. Many churches advertise outdoor Easter sunrise services, with any and all invited. But what do bunnies and colored eggs have to do with Jesus' resurrection? So where exactly did Easter and its customs come from? Why do hundreds of millions of people celebrate the holiday today? Some cite Acts 12:4 in the bible as authority for celebrating Easter. But there's a problem in that Easter isn't really mentioned there at all. The King James Bible translators substituted "Easter" for the Greek word Pascha, which means "Passover." "The word [Easter] does not properly occur in Scripture, although [the King James Version] has it in Acts 12:4 where it stands for Passover.

The name Easter, comes not from the Bible. Instead its roots go far back to the ancient pre-Christian Mesopotamian goddess Ishtar, known in the Bible as Astarte or Ashtoreth. The desire to bring heathens into the Catholic Church without forcing them to surrender their idolatrous celebrations "may have led the ecclesiastical authorities in the past to assimilate the Easter festival of the death and resurrection of their Lord to the festival of the death and resurrection of another Asiatic god which fell at the same season . . . the Catholic Church probably consciously adapted the new festival [of Easter] to its heathen predecessor for the sake of winning souls to Christ. "As the Catechism of the Catholic Church explains in the section titled the Liturgical Year: "at the Council of Nicaea in 325, all the Churches agreed that Easter . . . should be celebrated on the Sunday following the first full moon . . . after the vernal equinox".

Surprisingly, the celebration of Easter didn't finally win out until A.D. 325, nearly 300 years after Jesus Christ's death and resurrection! Up until this time, many believers had continued to commemorate Jesus' death through the biblical Passover as Jesus and the apostles had instructed (Luke 22:19-20; 1 Corinthians 11:23-26). Now, however, with the power of the Roman Empire behind it, the Catholic Church enforced its preference for Easter. Those who wished to continue to observe the biblical Passover had to go underground to avoid persecution.

If Jesus were in the flesh today, would He celebrate Easter? The simple answer is No. He does not change. "Jesus Christ is the same, yesterday, today, and forever," as Hebrews 13:8 tells us. Jesus never observed Easter, never sanctioned it and never taught His disciples to celebrate it. Nor did the apostles teach the Church to do so. Today, Jesus would observe the biblical Passover and Days of Unleavened Bread as Scripture teaches and as He practiced and taught (John 13:15-17; 1 Corinthians 5:7-8). In fact, He specifically said that He anticipated observing the Passover with His true followers "in My Father's kingdom" after His return (Matthew 26:26-29)."

Labels: Christianity, Easter, Europe, Religion

Pope Slams EU for Excluding God - by Maria Mackay

Pope Benedict has come down hard on the EU for excluding any reference to God and the Christian heritage of Europe in a declaration to mark the 50th anniversary of its founding treaty on Sunday. The “Berlin Declaration” was issued by German Chancellor Angela Merkel, current holder of the rotating EU presidency, to mark 50 years since the founding of the union in Rome in 1957.

The declaration highlights European values such as democracy and outlines a vision for the future which includes fighting climate change. It contains, however, no reference to God or to Europe’s Christian roots.

“If on the 50th anniversary of the Treaty of Rome the governments of the union want to get closer to their citizens, how can they exclude an element as essential to the identity of Europe as Christianity, in which the vast majority of its people continue to identify," he said in a Reuters report.

Labels: Christianity, EU 50, Political, Vatican

The American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research: Islam and Europe - by Bernard Lewis

"Where do we stand now? The Muslims have certain advantages. They have fervor and conviction, which in most Western countries are either weak or lacking. They are self-assured of the rightness of their cause, whereas we spend most of our time in self-denigration and self-abasement. They have loyalty and discipline, and perhaps most important, they have demography, the combination of natural increase and migration leading to major population changes which could lead within the foreseeable future to significant majorities in some European countries. But we also have some advantages, the most important of which are knowledge and freedom. The appeal of genuine modern knowledge to a society which, in the more distant past, had a long record of scientific and scholarly achievement, is obvious. They are keenly and painfully aware of their relative backwardness and welcome the opportunity to rectify it.

Less obvious but also powerful is the appeal of freedom. In the past, in the Islamic world the word “freedom” was not used in a political sense. Freedom was a legal concept, not a political concept as in the West. But the idea of freedom in its Western interpretation is making headway. It is becoming more and more understood, more and more appreciated, and more and more desired. It is perhaps in the long run our best hope--perhaps even our only hope--of surviving this developing struggle." Bernard Lewis, the legendary historian of the Middle East, delivered the Irving Kristol Lecture at AEI’s Annual Dinner - for the complete text of this speech click on this link

Labels: Christianity, Europe, Islam

Europe is focus of global churches' peacemaking initiative

St Francis of Assisi's prayer, 'Make me a channel of your peace', was the theme for a celebration of common commitment to overcome violence at a gathering of Orthodox, Catholic, Anglican and Protestant church representatives on 17 February 2007 in Wittenberg, Germany. Sharing of experiences, reflection and common prayer welcomed this year's focus on Europe from the global ecumenical initiative 'Decade to Overcome Violence (DOV) - Churches Seeking Reconciliation and Peace,'.

The Rev Dr Geiko Müller-Fahrenholz explained that the theme of the European focus is taken from a famous Christian prayer that stands in opposition to a world-weary "realism that no longer perceives it is being used to allow the continuation of violence everywhere". The annual foci of preceding years were Palestine/Israel, Sudan, the United States, Asia and Latin America.

Labels: Christianity