News

Zambian Christians celebrate The Bible Being translated Into Their Native Tongue

In yet another sign we are living in the last days, Christians in Zambia, Africa, are celebrating the latest milestone in Bible translation, the creation of Bibles written in their native tongues. by Wycliffe Associates, an organization that offers Bible translations in countless languages. Currently, over 5,000 people are working in Zambia to translate the Bible into 20 native languages. Believers in Mansa, Zambia, were reportedly dancing after they got to read and listen to the reading of the New Testament in Aushi, their native language, for the first time. Read more about the translation here.

Christian School Apologizes For Baptizing 100 Children Without Notifying Parents

Northwood Temple Academy, a Christian school in Fayetteville, North Carolina, baptized 100 students last week without telling parents what was happening. The head of the school, Renee McLamb, apologized to parents via an email later that night. She said that students were involved in “Spiritual Emphasis Week,” which basically involved a few short chapel services. However three scheduled baptisms turned into 100. McLamb said that most of the parents that contacted her were glad, but some were unhappy with the move because some of the children were already baptized. Read more about the controversial action here.

Christian teacher Jailed For Refusing To Use Gender Neutral Pronoun

A teacher in Ireland was jailed this week for violating a court order forbidding him from going to the school where he works, after he was put on administrative leave during disciplinary proceedings over his refusal to use a student’s new name and gender-neutral pronouns. When a student at a secondary school in County Westmeath said they wanted to transition, Enoch Burke, who teaches German, history, politics and debate, reportedly refused to use their name and pronouns, saying it went against his Christian beliefs. When Burke kept showing up at work anyway, police were called and Burke arrested. Read more about the arrest here.

Archeologists Dig up Ivory Referenced In 1 Kings And Amos

Archaeologists have found evidence of a luxury item mentioned in the Bible: tiny ivory panels that would have been embedded on wooden furniture of the high and mighty during the First Temple period in ancient Jerusalem, the Israel Antiquities Authority announced on Monday. The panels were likely used on a reclining couch, the archaeologists suggest. The ivory panels were found in the archaeological site formerly known as the Givati parking lot, next to the Old City of Jerusalem,  in a monumental building that had apparently been destroyed during the Babylonian conquest of Jerusalem in the year 586 B.C.E. Read more about the discovery here. 

Kansas Teacher Receives $95,000 Payout After Refusing To Use Transgender Pronouns

A Kansas school district has agreed to pay $95,000 to settle a lawsuit filed by a former teacher who refused to use a student’s preferred name and pronouns. Pamela Ricard, a former math teacher at Fort Riley Middle School, sued the district in March, alleging she was reprimanded and suspended for three days in April 2021 for addressing a student by their “legal and enrolled last name” instead of their preferred one. Alliance Defending Freedom represented Ricard. Attorneys for Ricard called the settlement with Geary County Schools “a victory for free speech at public schools.” Read more about the lawsuit here.

Former Prison Chaplain Sentenced For Sexually Abusing Inmate

A  former prison chaplain with the Federal Bureau of Prisons was sentenced to seven years in prison for repeatedly sexually abusing a female inmate and then denying the abuse when questioned by federal agents. 50-year-old James Theodore Highhouse, also received a consecutive sentence of five years of supervised release following the completion of his prison sentence. Highhouse was a chaplain at a federal prison for female inmates. In his role, he provided spiritual counseling and oversaw worship services and religious study. In May of 2018, Highhouse began abusing a female inmate. The abuse lasted until February 2019. Read more about the charges here.

Christian Prayer And Meditation App Celebrating Reaching 100 Million Prayer Mark

Christian prayer and meditation app Hallow has just celebrated the milestone achievement of facilitating over 100 million prayers. Hallow, created by 29-year-old Alex Jones, has been downloaded over 3.75 million times from users in around 150 countries since it launched in 2018. The app also has prayers, meditations and reflections from prominent Christian celebrities like actor Mark Wahlberg, former NFL quarterback Brett Favre and Notre Dame football coach Lou Holtz. Hallow is an app that gives the tools for people to slow down and put God in their daily lives, and learn what real prayer is, being in the presence of God, listening and talking with Him. Read more about the app here.

83 year Old Kidnapped Nun Released After 5 Months In Captivity

Sister Suellen Tennyson, a missionary nun from Louisianna, of the Marianites of Holy Cross, was abducted by armed radicals in the west African country Burkina Faso on April 4. According to the BBC, Tennyson was taken from a local parish in the middle of the night, leaving behind her glasses, shoes and blood pressure medication. Nearly five months later, Tennyson has been released. t is unclear what group may have abducted the nun, but several militant groups allied to al-Qaeda and Islamic State operate in the region. “We are grateful to God for the safety of Sr Suellen,” Archbishop Gregory Aymond said in a Facebook post on Wednesday. Read more about the kidnapping and release here.

Calvary Chapel Pastor Accused Of Running Persecution Themed Boot Camp

Calvary Chapel pastor Chet Lowe is being accused of running a Christian boot camp in California where adult students were subjected to “simulated torture.” The students said the boot camp, Patmos: Reality Discipleship, pushed them beyond their breaking point. Students went on to say Patmos used firing squads and middle-of-the-night chases by “Muslims” to make them rely on God, leaving some traumatized and some questioning their faith. One said she left the camp in a wheelchair. Another said he was forced to survive alone outside in the snowy mountains for four days with only communion crackers and grape juice. Read more about the boot camp here.

Texas Law Requires Public Schools To Display “In God We Trust” Signs 

A new Texas law requires schools to hang posters of the national motto, “In God We Trust,” in every building on their campuses, as long as the posters are donated. The bill, SB 797, was passed last year by the Texas legislature and states that campuses must display “a durable poster or framed copy of the United States national motto” in a “conspicuous place in each building of the school or institution.” It also requires that each poster have an American flag “centered under the motto” as well as the state flag of Texas. Read more about the law here.

Hundreds Of Churches Lost In Ukraine War

About 400 of Ukraine’s 2,300 Baptist churches have been lost during the war with Russia, according to Yaroslav Pyzh, president of the Ukrainian Baptist Theological Seminary. Pyzh also said that as Western attention has been less focused on Ukraine, “donations are dropping down big time, not like we had two or three months ago. People are just tired of the war, but I see a tremendous decrease in donations.” Ukraine had the largest Baptist population in continental Europe before the war, with over 100,000 believers. Pyzh is focused on rebuilding, with Nehemiah as his guide. Read more about the losses here.

Micro Preemie With 50% Survival Rate Finally Goes Home

A baby girl born four months premature was finally cleared to go home last week after spending more than 500 days in the hospital. Tyler Robinson was forced to deliver her daughter Autumn after she suffered a uterine rupture at the end of 2021. Autumn was just 23 weeks old and weighed 1.1 pounds at the time of her birth. The preemie faced severe health complications, including an inconsistent heart rate and underdeveloped lungs, which caused a chronic lung disease known as bronchopulmonary dysplasia. Last week, Robinson was finally able to take her daughter home after spending 524 days in the hospital. Read more about this little miracle here.

Pastor Curses Out Congregation For Not buying Him A Luxury Watch

A Missouri pastor berated his ‘poor’ congregation for not honoring him with a new expensive watch he asked for a year ago while reportedly delivering a sermon about taking care of God’s shepherd. Pastor Carlton Funderburke called his congregation “poor, broke, busted, and disgusted” after they still hadn’t bought him an expensive Movado watch, which ranges in price from $395 to $3,295. ‘”‘I’m not worth your McDonald’s money? I’m not worth your Red Lobster money?”, he asked the Church at the Well congregation. Funderburke has since apologized. Read about his tantrum here. 

Church’s Food Pantry Destroyed By Firebombing

A church food pantry storing non-perishable items for a ministry serving the poor has been firebombed in what the pastor describes as an act of “pure evil.” Pastor Curtiss Ostosh of the Detroit-area Harvest Time Christian Church in Warren, Michigan, announced that someone “firebombed” or “set on fire” the church’s food storage container holding “countless tons” of food distributed daily to those in need. He added that the firebombing caused thousands of dollars in damage and resulted in a “total loss.”  Harvest Time Christian Church will continue serving the community despite the firebombing, Ostosh said, thanks to “a number of other partner pantries in our area that have stepped up.” Read more about the firebombing here.

Pastor John Gray Returns to Pulpit After Hospitalization

South Carolina megachurch Pastor John Gray returned to the pulpit Sunday after he was hospitalized for a pulmonary embolism last month, thanking God for keeping him from a death that had been “scheduled in Hell.” Gray suffered a rare and very severe saddle pulmonary embolism, a term used to describe when a blood clot gets lodged at the intersection where the main pulmonary artery branches into the lungs. After pray from his his congregatio, Gray was released from the hospital after over a week. This past Sunday, as the pastor took to the stage at his church to preach a sermon for the first time since his sick leave. Read more about his return here.

Archeologists Uncover Mosaic With Inscription To Peter

Archaeologists have uncovered a 1,500-year-old mosaic with an inscription to the apostle Peter. They believe the discovery is further evidence that the site at El-Araj in Israel is the location of the house of Peter and the town of Bethsaida recorded in the Bible. The large Greek inscription was found during excavations at a Byzantine-era basilica known as the “Church of the Apostles” because it is traditionally believed to have been built over the house of the Apostles Peter and Andrew. The mosaic was found within a larger mosaic on the floor of the church’s sacristy and is partly decorated with floral patterns. Read more about the discovery here.

Pastor’s Wife and Accomplice Arrested For His Murder

An Oklahoma woman was sentenced on Wednesday to life in prison with the possibility of parole for urging her lover to fatally shoot her husband. Defendant Kristie Dawnell Evans, 49, testified at the hearing that the victim, her Baptist pastor husband David Evans, subjected her to abuse throughout their 30-year marriage. She estimated he forced her to have sex with 50 to 100 other men. “I was desperate,” she reportedly testified Tuesday. “I wanted to be free from that. I knew of no other way.” Evans is charged with conspiring with her lover,  Kahlil Deamie Square, 27 to shoot and kill her husband. Read more about the case here,

18 Children Among Others Dead In Church Fire In Egypt

Christian Schools Will Be Granted Automatic Title IX Exemption

In a major victory for religious liberty, the Biden administration on Friday agreed to automatically exempt religious schools from a new interpretation of Title IX that had threatened to halt funding for lunch programs if schools held to biblical standards on sexuality and marriage. At issue is the Biden administration’s interpterion of Title IX, a 1972 law that prohibits discrimination in education facilities on the basis of sex. The Biden administration interprets Title IX as also prohibiting discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. the agreement stems from a lawsuit brought against the Biden administration saying the new rule violates federal law and school’s religious liberty rights under the U.S. Constitution. Read more about the victory here.

Eating Grapes May Add Years To Life Of Fast Food Eaters

New research suggests that snacking on grapes might combat the effects of consuming a junk food diet—flushing out the refined fats and sugars of processed food. Eating the grapes led to “unique gene expression patterns, reduced fatty liver, and extension of lifespan” for animals consuming the high-fat diet, said Dr. John Pezzuto who led the team at Western New England University. Pezzuto, who has authored over 600 studies, called it “truly remarkable.” “It adds an entirely new dimension to the old saying ‘you are what you eat.’” In a series of experiments, mice gorged on a high fat diet, similar to those consumed in western countries. They also received over a cup of daily powdered grape supplement. These lab rodents had less fatty liver—and lived longer than those who didn’t. Read more about the study here.

Colorado Youth Pastor Arrested For Storming The Capital On January 6th

33-year-old Tyler Earl Ethridge, was arrested in Colorado on charges of felony civil disorder and other misdemeanors. The FBI became aware of Ethridge’s alleged involvement in the attack after someone he knew from Charis Bible College in Woodland Park, Colorado, sent a tip into the organization. In a video Ethridge released on social media he said, “Don’t be afraid of what they sentence you with. I’m not. I’m ready for whatever I’ll be charged with. America is still primed and ready.” He has since lost his job as a youth pastor at a Florida church. Read more about the case here. 

77 People Who Were Forced To Wait For The Rapture Rescued From Basement

Nigerian police reported they rescued at least 77 people, including 23 children, from a church basement, where pastors told them to stay and to wait for the Second Coming of Jesus Christ. Authorities raided the basement of the Whole Bible Believers Church, following a tip by a parent who told authorities her children were missing. Police arrested two church leaders after the raid., who have denied the allegations of kidnapping. The pastors still claim that they were having a seven-day program, with one stating God told him that Jesus was to come by September. Read more about the rescue here.

Televangelist Creflo Dollar Admits Teachings On Tithing Were Wrong But Refuses To Apologize

Multimillion-dollar American prosperity preacher, Creflo Dollar, has made a U-turn on tithing, saying he misled his congregation on the topic for many years. He publicly retracted his views on tithing, confessing these teachings were wrong, stating that it was not biblical to tithe but up to individuals to offer according to their heart and ability. Dollar also added that he will not apologize for his past teachings on tithing. The pastor has long been criticized for living a lavish lifestyle. Read more about his retraction here.

Mr. T Makes Plea For Prayers For Unity In America

Beloved actor and former professional wrestle, Mr. T, issued a heartfelt message on social media calling for prayer for unity across the nation. In several posts he tweeted, “Happy Birthday America and Happy Independence Day! The Land of the Free and home of the Brave. The Red, the White, and the Blue. In God we Trust! My home sweet home, The Land that I Love! I am so very Grateful to be a citizen of the United States of America, Thank God! We the people; together we stand, divided we fall! Black and white together, we shall overcome someday! The Nation that prays together, stays together!” Read more about his heartfelt request here.

Go Fund Me For Two Year Old Who Lost Both Parents In Mass Shooting Reaches Over $2 Million

A fundraiser for a 2-year-old orphan whose parents were killed during the Highland Park, Ill., mass shooting has reached over $2 million dollars, after a concerned citizen set up the charity. The GoFundMe fundraiser for 2-year-old Aiden McCarthy was launched after Aiden’s two parents – Kevin, 37, and Irina, 35 – were killed while attending the Fourth of July parade. The father shielded Aiden with his body, according to local media reports. The McCarthys are immigrants from Russia, and the mother was Jewish. Aiden’s grandparents are taking care of him. His grandfather, Misha Levberg, picked Aiden up from the police station. Read more about the tragedy here.

Parents Of Child On Life Support Getting Chance To Appeal Court Decision Allowing Doctors To Stop Treatment

Archie Battersbee, 12, was found unconscious with a ligature around his neck at his home in Southend, Essex, England, on April 7. He was later declared brain-dead at the hospital. The High Court that had previously decided to end all lifesaving care, has now been told to reconsider its decision to allow doctors to switch off the life support of the brain-damaged boy. Archie’s mother, Hollie Dance, who is fighting to keep her son on life support said, “Until God decides, then I will continue to fight for him and I will continue to be his voice.” Read more about the case here.

Two Faith leaders to be Awarded the Presidential Medal Of Freedom

Two faith leaders, a Catholic nun and a Greek Orthodox Christian priest, will receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian honor in the United States. Sister Simone Campbell, former executive director of the lobbying group NETWORK, and the Rev. Alexander Karloutsos, the former vicar general of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America, will be among the 17 Americans recognized in a ceremony at the White House. The medal is given to “individuals who have made exemplary contributions to the prosperity, values, or security of the United States, world peace, or other significant societal, public or private endeavors. Read more about the recipients here.

Pope Francis Condemns Abortion Compares It To Hiring A Hitman

Pope Francis has reaffirmed his opposition to abortion after the repeal of Roe v Wade by the U.S. Supreme Court. He is quoted as saying, “I ask: ‘Is it licit, is it right, to eliminate a human life to resolve a problem? It’s a human life – that’s science. The moral question is whether it is right to take a human life to solve a problem. Indeed, is it right to hire a hit man to solve a problem?” adding, “a human being is never incompatible with life. The Pope has also refuted recent claims that he intends to retire soon. Read more of his opinion here.

Firefighters Rescue Kitten Stuck In Vending Machine

A Tennessee Walmart employee was on her break when she heard cries coming from the Pepsi vending machine. There she found a small grey kitten lodged inside. When all attempts to free the feline failed, the employees called the local fire department. Arriving firefighters unplugged the vending machine and removed the back cover, but still could not see the crying kitten, according to the post. Eventually, firefighters found another opening where they could see the kitten and coaxed it out. The kitten was fine and found a new home in the employee who originally heard her cries. Read more about the heart warming rescue here.

Pastor Held By Mexican Cartel Released

Baptist pastor Lorenzo Ortiz, who operates five shelters for migrants in northern Mexico, was released unharmed after being held hostage by a Mexican cartel for about 29 hours. When Ortiz began ministering to migrants in Nuevo Laredo several years ago, he was aware of the cartel activity in the region. He said he knew he was working as “a lamb among wolves,” but he felt assured “God was going to be there.” In the end, the cartel not only released him unharmed and without making any ransom payment, but also replaced two slashed tires on his van. Read more about his incredible story here.

Church Burns to The Ground Leaving Only a Wooden Cross Standing

A Texas community was left in awe after a devastating fire ravished a Bridgeport church on Friday bringing everything to the ground but a wooden cross. “A devastating loss to our community, but a sight to behold. The fire took the structure, but not the cross,” the Wise County Emergency Services Department No. 2 / Boonsville-Balsora Volunteer Fire Department posted on Facebook. “A symbol that the building was just that, a building. The Church is the congregation, and where 2 or more gather, there He shall be also.” The Wise County Emergency Services Department said the cause of the fire is still under investigation. Read more about the fire here.

Russian Journalist Auctions Off Nobel Prize To Aid Ukrainians