Amid massive protests in Kiev, believers prayed, sang and demanded an end to corruption
While Ukraine teetered on the edge of political chaos in late 2004, thousands of evangelical Christians gathered in Kiev, the capital, for several weeks beginning in late November to ask God to intervene in the country’s bitter presidential contest. Their peaceful demonstration–and the election of pro-Western candidate Viktor Yushchenko in the Dec. 26 runoff–proved to Moscow and the world that faith has triggered major changes in this former Soviet republic.

Yushchenko’s win could signal the end of mafia control of Ukraine–a goal that was at the top of the list of prayer concerns when Christians gathered in prayer tents and open-air rallies in Kiev’s Independence Square.

After an Oct. 31 election and a Nov. 21 runoff, pro-Moscow candidate Viktor Yanukovych was declared the winner. But angry protesters hit the streets when international monitoring organizations confirmed that the election had been rigged. Parliament then ordered a new vote and mandated strict reforms to prevent ballot stuffing.

The contest between Yanukovych, 54, the current prime minister, and pro-Westerner Yushchenko, 50, divided the country into two factions–those who favor maintaining ties to the old Soviet way of life and those who want a progressive democracy with more economic freedoms.

Yet despite these sharp divisions, the nation’s Christians stood together. In unison they backed Yushchenko and the freedoms he promised.

“What is happening here is an answer to prayer,” said Sunday Adelaja, pastor of the 25,000-member Embassy of God Church in Kiev. “It is unbelievable. The Christians are in unity. The Baptists are standing beside the Orthodox people–which is amazing because the Orthodox hated us before.”

Religious tension has been high in Ukraine since the nation gained independence from the former Soviet Union in 1991. Then there were only 250,000 evangelical Christians in a country dominated by nominal Orthodox Church adherents. Today there are 3 million evangelicals.

“That is 1,000 percent growth in a decade,” noted Pentecostal theologian Gary Kellner, who helped found a seminary in Kiev in 2001. “What God is doing in Ukraine is unprecedented.”

Adelaja’s church, which meets in 34 locations in Kiev on Sundays, is considered Europe’s largest. What is more unique is the pastor’s story: He is a Nigerian who studied at a communist university in the former Soviet Union.

Old-regime politicians in Ukraine–many of them under the influence of the underground mafia, or bratva–don’t appreciate Adelaja’s influence and have tried several times to deport him. When Charisma visited the Embassy of God’s massive Sunday celebration at a sports arena in Kiev, city officials turned off the church’s electricity to intimidate members.

“They claim that I use ‘black magic’ to win converts,” Adelaja said. “They say it is a disgrace that a black man is teaching Ukrainians.”

Because of the size of Adelaja’s congregation, and because of his race, he has borne the brunt of resistance from government forces. KGB surveillance officers have stalked him, and he was forbidden to travel out of the country from 1997 to 2000. He has been told he does not have the right to preach and that his members have become “zombies.”

“They tell me it is impossible to see a drug addict delivered. So I invite them to come to see 1,000 people who are free from drugs,” Adelaja said.

Adelaja keeps a scrapbook of newspaper articles that have been written about him by the government-controlled media. One headline reads: “Will This Black Man Be President of Ukraine?” A Yanukovych campaign pamphlet warned that a vote for Yushchenko might give more power to “the Negro sect” in Kiev–an apparent reference to Adelaja’s church.

Adelaja is not the only African leading a church in this predominantly white nation. Henry Madava, a Pentecostal from Zimbabwe, pastors the second-largest congregation in Kiev. During the historic prayer vigils held on Independence Square, members of his 8,000-member Victory Church operated two feeding centers and provided a medical team.

Some of the pastors in Madava’s satellite congregations were threatened or forced out of their buildings because they would not support Yanukovych. “The newspapers promised to do away with our churches as soon as [Yanukovych] won the election,” Madava told Charisma.

Valeriy Reshetinskiy, pastor of Christian Hope Church in Kiev, said his congregation was kicked out of its rented building after some government agents told him he must support Yanukovych. Meanwhile a pastor in Reshetinskiy’s network of churches suffered worse.

“One of our pastors from the Lugansk region was beaten,” Reshetinskiy said. “He was found a day later, barely alive.”

Yushchenko believes the power of the mafia in Ukraine became obvious in September when he says he was poisoned during a campaign event. His face was badly disfigured, and sympathy for him may have been a determining factor in his election victory.

Then again, Christian leaders say prayer was the real determining factor. Many of the protesters who camped out on the city square were fasting. Government agents reportedly told their superiors that the mood at the demonstrations was “like a revival service,” Adelaja said.

Kellner, who bluntly described Yanukovych as “a stooge of the mafia,” said Yushchenko’s victory shows that evangelical churches have become a powerful force in Ukraine.

Madava, meanwhile, says he saw the direct intervention of God in the election. “God is totally removing the corruption that has ruled this country for 13 years,” he said. “God is bringing an awareness in the people of their freedom.”

Reshetinskiy said leaders of the political opposition were surprised that so many people engaged in protests.

“Thousands of people came out in the streets and were full of love and patience–that was the amazing thing,” said Reshetinskiy. “And a church that was non-political suddenly was swept by an urge to pray for change.”

Adelaja said Ukraine’s Christians are no longer intimidated by government coercion. And they intend to run for political office too, he noted.

Already, one of his staff pastors, Sofia Jukotanskaya, has created a Christian political party. She paid a high price for her activism during the presidential campaign last July, however, when her adult son was assassinated–in an apparent attempt to intimidate her.

She says she will not be stopped. “If my only son will be sacrificed in order to see this nation saved, then I am going all the way,” Jukotanskaya told Charisma.

Adelaja says he intends to press forward for a national transformation.

“It used to be that Christians here were passive and intimidated. No more,” the pastor said. “Every Christian leader has been in the streets. Now Christians know they have authority.”
J. Lee Grady

Dozens of Christian relief organizations rushed to aid survivors of the giant tsunami that devastated southern Asia in late December. Sri Lanka, Indonesia, India and Thailand were among the worst hit by the Dec. 26 tidal wave, which swept thousands of people out to sea.

The death toll from the catastrophe, which rocked 12 countries, had soared beyond 150,000 at press time. Millions were homeless from the disaster, with many more still missing.

World Relief, World Vision and Gospel for Asia were just a few of the many groups that organized large relief efforts. Smaller ministries also launched aid projects immediately.

Paul Tan, who pastors five Indonesian churches in the Los Angeles area, said his ministry sent a team of 55 doctors, pastors and leaders to Banda Aceh, Indonesia, where thousands were killed by the rushing waves.

“This is the time to extend our hands and hearts to minister the compassion of Christ to those in need in Asia,” Tan told Charisma. Tan’s Indonesian Relief Fund is partnering with a Christian group in Indonesia to distribute food, clothing and medical supplies in the predominantly Muslim nation.

Christopher Alam is the founder of Dynamis World Ministries, a charismatic ministry that oversees 76 churches in Burma. Alam said communication glitches have prevented him from getting information from contacts in Burma. “I was planning on going to Burma, but now I want to send every single penny so they can get the maximum help,” Alam said.

Evangelist K.A. Paul, founder and president of Houston-based Global Peace Initiative, said within days of the tragedy his ministry’s Boeing 747 was slated to transport 76,000 pounds of medicine, food and supplies to the disaster region, along with a medical team.

Paul proceeded with plans to hold a crusade Jan. 8-9 in the Indian state Andhra Pradesh, which suffered casualties. “It’s an incredible opportunity to preach the gospel,” he said. “God can use this situation to bring more people from these countries into His kingdom than ever before.”
Eric Tiansay

Mother Ann Smith’s House of Refuge has given former drug addicts, prostitutes and prisoners a second chance at life
When Tiffany Henderson was released from prison after serving a nine-year sentence, she struggled to find employment and make ends meet. Then she met “Mother Ann,” a Pentecostal missionary who specializes in helping people in transition. Before long, 29-year-old Henderson had landed a job at a restaurant and was an active church member.

Ann Smith–known as Mother Ann Smith within her denomination, the Church of God in Christ–is credited with helping hundreds of people turn their lives around through a string of transitional homes called the House of Refuge.

The faith-based residential facilities in Orlando, Fla., reach drug addicts, prostitutes, ex-prisoners and others. Some residents are HIV-positive. Others struggle with mental illness. “We help anybody who wants our help,” said Smith, stressing that the individual must want help.

Henderson, who lived at The Refuge, as the homes are known, while saving money for an apartment, was 19 when she was convicted of second-degree murder for stabbing and killing a woman in the heat of an argument. After rededicating her life to Christ while completing a reduced sentence at the New Jersey Correctional Facility, Henderson took the advice of a pastor and moved to The Refuge after her release.

“I am sorry for my past actions,” Henderson said, “but I am grateful for another chance.”

Mother Ann, 72, isn’t deterred by her residents’ sordid pasts. That’s because the former jail chaplain spent 30 years as a licensed practical nurse in Orlando-area correctional facilities, providing medical care for murderers, rapists, white-collar criminals and a host of others. “I don’t judge these people,” Smith said. “I just try to help them do better in life.”

According to the Florida Department of Corrections, roughly 40 out of 100 inmates released from prison in 2001 were convicted of a new crime within three years and approximately 26 of 100 returned to jail.

The House of Refuge helps residents avoid re-incarceration by offering a low program fee that includes housing and meals. Participants receive job training or work toward a high school diploma or GED. Some enroll in drug-prevention classes, and others go to work.

But all who live at The Refuge have an opportunity to get to know Jesus Christ through daily prayer and Bible study, which Smith and other local pastors and missionaries lead.

Brenda Straub, 54, knows the benefits of living at The Refuge. Straub was a substance abuser for years before she accepted Christ. With His help, she says, she managed to get off drugs and in 1998 worked as a volunteer on Homer Hartage’s campaign for county commissioner.

When the commissioner learned Straub had no place to live, he sent her to the House of Refuge and gave the ministry a donation to pay for her first month’s fees.

“All churches should collaborate with centers such as The Refuge and support them,” Hartage said. “We all have family members who have drug, alcohol and other problems to contend with.”

Today Straub is a licensed minister and on The Refuge’s board of directors. In 2003 she earned a real estate license from the state of Florida.

“I am extremely thankful for what God has done in my life,” Straub said. “Now I want to help others get their lives together at The Refuge.”

Mother Ann operated six transitional facilities before she sold five of her state-certified homes in 2003 to purchase a 20-bed home for men on three acres of land. A five-bed facility for women is located three miles away.

Mother Ann’s efforts have not gone unnoticed. Last year, the local NBC affiliate named Smith “Town Hero.” And Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer declared March 25 Ann Smith Day during a banquet that honored her for outstanding community service.

“Over 30 years ago, God called me to this area of ministry,” Smith said. “And when people ask me how I do it, I tell them, Whom God commissions He also conditions to do the work.”
Valerie G. Lowe in Orlando, Fla.

Released by China Aid Association, the document outlines a plan to promote ‘atheism research, propaganda, and education’
Despite China’s rhetoric concerning religious tolerance, recent arrests and raids reveal an ongoing nationwide crackdown on believers.

In October, Chinese government officials spoke of a willingness to loosen restrictions on religious worship and to reopen dialogue concerning religious freedom and other human rights. However, a secret directive recently released by China Aid Association President Bob Fu directly contradicts such statements and outlines a chilling plan to promote “atheism research, propaganda, and education” in order to combat Christianity.

Fu revealed the secret directive, dated May 27, 2004, during a press conference held in November on Capitol Hill. He was in Washington to testify before the Congressional-Executive Commission on China.

According to China Aid, the directive is responsible for a slew of recent extra-judicial killings and arrests. Along with the directive, the Midland, Texas-based ministry published a partial list of Christian prisoners that names 42 who have been arrested and five who have been martyred.

Among them is Jiang Zongxiu, who was arrested in June for distributing Bibles in a marketplace. Officially charged with “spreading a superstitious message,” she was beaten to death while being interrogated at the Public Security Office.

“The truth is, there is a systematic persecution of the house church and their leaders,” said Deborah Fikes, spokeswoman for the Ministerial Alliance of Midland, Texas, which co-sponsored the press conference. The alliance has made religious freedom in China a top priority.

News reports verify the overarching nature of the persecution. Compass Direct, a Christian news service, recently released details on three additional directives that were issued in August. These orders indicate the Communist Party’s intent to combat religious “infiltration” of the government and universities and the spread of religion and religious organizations.

China currently contains an estimated 100 million Christians, with more than 86 million belonging to illegal house churches, China Aid reported. For these Christians, religious persecution is not a recent phenomenon. In the last four years alone, more than 6,000 members of the South China Church have been arrested, harassed or imprisoned.

Observers are concerned that the recent crackdown represents a pre-emptive strike against religious dissidence in light of the upcoming 2008 Olympics. With the event being hosted in Beijing, religious-liberty advocates say Chinese officials may be concerned about a repeat of the South East Asian Games held in December 2003 in Hanoi, where protests by persecuted Vietnamese Christians generated international attention.

“The arrest and imprisonment of Christian leaders is one symptom of an overall aversion to religious belief that includes practitioners of Falun Gong, Tibetan Buddhists and the Muslim Uighur community in western China,” said Joseph K. Grieboski, president of the Institute on Religion and Public Policy, which also co-sponsored the press conference. “We are only asking that China respect religious freedom as stated in their own constitution and the various international agreements to which they are signatories.”

In the meantime, numerous Web sites have been shut down and certain publications banned in the last few months. In one case, pastor Cai Zhuohua was picked up by officers from the Department of National Security in Beijing, China Aid reported. Cai, a well-known house-church leader, was charged with publishing “illegal religious literature,” including Bibles and a Christian magazine. His wife was also arrested, effectively orphaning their 4-year-old son. Both Cai and his wife face possible life sentences.

Of primary concern to Chinese Christians such as Fu is the impact these directives have on potential reform in the communist country. “As a result of these secret policies, free belief means only in your heart or in the bedroom,” Fu said. “We want not only to talk about freedom of religious belief but to make it so that every person can implement their beliefs.”
David Mundy in Washington, D.C.

Opponents of pro-gay moves hope the church’s top leaders will take more decisive action against bishops promoting that agenda
The top leaders in the worldwide Anglican Communion are to meet this month in Ireland, where conservative leaders within the church hope strong disciplinary action will be taken against the Canadian and U.S. churches for their support of homosexuality.

Congregations in North America have been steadily leaving the 70 million-member communion since 2003, when the diocese of New Westminster in Vancouver, B.C., sanctioned the blessing of same-sex unions and the head of the Episcopal Church USA consecrated V. Gene Robinson, an openly gay man, as bishop of New Hampshire.

Observers say the trend toward a liberal theology has been ongoing for years. In October, the Episcopal Church’s Web site offered articles on paganism written by two priests who allegedly are also Druids, the Institute on Religion and Democracy reported. The group said one article called for Episcopal women to participate in a ritual for the “queen of heaven.”

In the churches in the West, there “has been over time a stepping back from the central tenets of faith that the church has held to for 2,000 years,” said Jay Greener, spokesman for the Anglican Mission in America, a network for churches that want to leave the Episcopal Church. “This is really not about homosexuality; this is really about the central doctrines of Christianity,” he added, noting that since 2000, the group has helped 72 churches align themselves with the diocese in Rwanda.

Canadian Bishop Donald Harvey said churches in his nation are not leaving at the same pace as U.S. parishes, but he acknowledged that many conservative ministers there are being treated harshly by their bishops. “They’re getting a terrible backlash by the diocese in New Westminster,” said Harvey, moderator of the newly formed Anglican Network in Canada, a fellowship for conservative churches in Canada. “There have been threats to remove licenses, threats to close churches, threats to sell their property, all of these things.”

Conservative ministers such as those in Harvey’s group, who chose to stay within the Anglican Communion, hoped the Windsor Report, released in October in response to the pro-gay moves by U.S. and Canadian dioceses, would offer them an alternative to submitting to leaders who they believe are deviating from Scripture. But most observers say the report fell flat, extending only an invitation for the offending churches to “express regret,” but not to repent and make changes.

Both the bishops of New Westminster and the Episcopal Church refused to stop blessing same-sex unions or ordaining gay clergy, as the report encouraged.

John Guernsey, dean of the mid-Atlantic conference of the Anglican Communion Network, a fellowship of conservative churches that have stayed in the Episcopal Church, said he hopes the primates, as the top leaders are known, will draw a clear line in the sand during their meeting Feb. 20-26.

“If strong and decisive action were to take place, it might open the door for biblically faithful Episcopalians to be acknowledged and given some structural way to remain,” Guernsey said. “While we earnestly hope and pray for that we also realize the actions of the primates may fall far short of that, even to the point of the communion coming apart.”

Last summer, three prominent Episcopal congregations in Los Angeles left the U.S. church to join the Anglican diocese in Uganda, and two in the Washington, D.C., area connected with the diocese in Recife, Brazil. Other congregations are gaining oversight from the bishop of Nigeria.

Observers say the trend is part of a global shift in leadership. They cite Penn State University religion professor Philip Jenkins’ 2002 book, The Next Christendom, which predicted that the center of gravity within the church would shift from the West to the “global south”: Africa, Latin America and Asia, where churches are growing at a much more rapid pace.

As they await the primates’ meeting this month, Anglicans in the United States and Canada are unsure whether church unity can be salvaged. “I don’t see the liberal revisionists backing off on their agenda of promoting the gay lifestyle,” said the Rev. Canon David C. Anderson, president of the American Anglican Council. “And hundreds of thousands of solid, orthodox Christians in the Episcopal Church cannot stomach that, so they’re going to be looking for places to go.”
Adrienne S. Gaines

Critics say Stan Telchin’s recent book is unbiblical and may cause unfounded distrust of Messianic congregations
An author’s claim that Messianic Judaism is unbiblical and causing division in the body of Christ has sparked controversy in the Messianic community and led some of its leaders to protest his book.

Stan Telchin, a Messianic Jew and author of Messianic Judaism Is Not Christianity (Chosen Books), says those within the movement think Messianic Judaism is superior to Christianity, which he says impedes the Bible’s call to unity.

The 80-year-old Jews for Jesus missionary adds that Messianic congregations appeal largely to Gentile Christians who enjoy traditional Jewish customs such as wearing yarmulkes and prayer shawls. Telchin says this offends and angers the Jewish community, which holds such practices in high regard and reserves them only for observant Jews. He says the Messianic movement may, in effect, alienate the very people it is trying to win to Christ.

“The Bible calls us to provoke Israel to jealousy,” Telchin told Charisma. “What Messianic Judaism is doing is provoking the Jewish community to outrage.” Telchin said this is because Messianic congregations make “a caricature, a charade” of what happens in synagogues.

Author of the best-selling book Betrayed, in which he shares his testimony, Telchin says his intent is to “reveal and to help heal the division that is occurring among brothers and sisters in the Messiah–a division being fostered by those who insist that Messianic Judaism is not Christianity.”

Barry Rubin, president of Messianic Jewish Publications and rabbi of a Messianic congregation in Columbia, Md., says the book, subtitled A Loving Call to Unity, does anything but promote unity. “In his interest toward unity, he has actually done the antithesis,” Rubin told Charisma. “He has not really come to Messianic Jews with his concerns. Instead he published a book that, for the most part, is going to Christians.”

The book has been surrounded by controversy since it released in August. The confusing title drew a negative reaction, prompting its publisher–Chosen Books, a division of Baker Book House–to issue a press release explaining that people needed to read the book’s lead-in line, title and subtitle: Some Messianic Jews Say, “Messianic Judaism Is Not Christianity”: A Loving Call to Unity.

Rubin says Telchin’s book focuses on minute issues that are in no way normative in Messianic Judaism. “Stan Telchin is not a theologian, he is not a leader of any Messianic congregation, and he is [in] no way a spokesman for Messianic Judaism, and yet he has chosen to act as if he were,” Rubin said.

Rubin joined Joel Chernoff, president of the Messianic Jewish Alliance of America; Jamie Cowen, president of the Union of Messianic Jewish Congregations, and other leaders in writing an open “letter to the editor” to trade publications that advertised Telchin’s book, including Charisma’s sister publication Christian Retailing.

“Telchin presents a skewed picture of the Messianic Jewish movement,” the letter stated. “By not presenting a balanced picture of today’s Messianic congregations, in effect Telchin portrays exceptions as the rule, characterizing them as standard fare.”

The letter went on to say the book might cause Christians to “shy away from standing with Messianic Jews in Israel at a time of their greatest need, and avoid connecting with us here in the States.”

Telchin, who was pastor of a nondenominational charismatic church in the Washington, D.C., area for 14 years, says he knew the book would draw criticism. “I want Jewish people to get saved,” he said, “but you’re not going to reach the Jewish people through Messianic Judaism–it’s not working.”

Moishe Rosen, founder of Jews for Jesus, writes in the book’s foreword that through the years Telchin has grown uneasy and troubled “by such terms as ‘Gentile Church’ when he knew that the Messiah established only one Church.” Rosen added that “questions should arise [from the book] and much discussion should be the result.”

Rubin estimates there are about 300 Messianic congregations in the United States. Telchin said the claims in his book do not apply to all Messianic congregations. Originally intended to be a vehicle to attract Jewish people, Messianic congregations appeal mostly to Gentiles, Telchin said. “About 80 percent, of those who attend Messianic synagogues are not Jewish,” he said.

In his ministry’s November newsletter, Rubin admitted that most Messianic congregations “consist of at least 50 percent non-Jews,” but added that most of these ministries have an excellent relationship with local Christian churches. He said the problems Telchin refers to in his book “barely exist, if at all” and that “by being so visible to the Jewish community, Messianic congregations are a strong witness of the faith.”
Nancy Justice

Through his stage shows and book, Rob Lacey presents the Scriptures in the language of popular culture
Rob Lacey didn’t receive a sudden revelation to rewrite the Bible. But in his personal study of Scripture, the 42-year-old Welshman discovered that rephrasing passages to fit modern language connected with believers and nonbelievers alike.

So the 16-year theater veteran set out to take the Word to the street–literally–by paraphrasing the Bible in a way today’s postmodern culture would understand. The project started off as a book, releasing as The Street Bible in Britain in 2003 and capturing the 2004 Book of the Year award at the United Kingdom Christian Booksellers Convention. In September, it released as The Word on the Street in the United States.

“It’s an overview of the Bible that’s perfect for non-Christians, and Christians love it because it gives a fresh angle to something they know very well,” Lacey told Charisma. “But I’m very passionate that everyone realizes it’s not the Bible. It’s an intro and advertisement for the Bible.”

In sometimes gritty and oftentimes witty language, Lacey presents Old Testament law as an instructional manual, the wisdom books as rock opera, the Gospels as one story with four narrators, the epistles as e-mails, and Revelation as virtual images. With a vocabulary and structure designed primarily for 18- to 34-year-olds, the passages reflect God’s eternal truth and wisdom.

The book also is performed as one-hour and 20-minute stage shows.

Accompanied by Bill and Rachel Beales on guitar, keyboard and vocals, Lacey opens the show by reviewing the entire Bible in two minutes. “The show is the Bible as performance art,” Lacey said. “It’s comedy, it’s theater, it’s performance poetry.”

Lacey gave dozens of performances last summer alone, but the ministry concept almost never got off the ground. Two weeks after inking the book contract in March 2000, Lacey was diagnosed with cancer in his bladder.

He underwent painful chemical treatments, but the disease continued to spread, and eventually Lacey had to undergo surgery to remove his bladder.

“I was a hermit in my own house, and the only positive thing in my life at that stage was writing,” he said. “It was my lifeline creatively, emotionally and certainly spiritually to be soaked in the Bible. It was the only thing that kept me sane.”

During the operation, doctors discovered a tumor and found cancer cells in Lacey’s bones. Lacey said if his physicians had known how much the cancer had spread, they would not have performed the surgery. Afterward, Lacey’s medical team told him he had less than a year to live.

“I had just finished the first draft of The Word on the Street, but it was nowhere near ready,” he said. “If that had been the end, the book would not have been completed.”

Rather than accept the doctors’ report, Lacey underwent alternative treatment in Mexico. A member of Glenwood Church, a Free Evangelical congregation in Cardiff, Wales, he also visited Toronto Airport Christian Fellowship to receive prayer for healing. But his condition worsened, and in December 2001, friends and family began visiting Lacey to pay their last respects.

Still determined to finish the project, Lacey began editing his book. The work proved both therapeutic and fruitful. “Because I had seen a lot more, I had a lot more authority and courage and a right to talk about the big issues,” he said. “I had looked death in the face, but because of what Christ had done, death blinked first.

“I had two very good options. I could either die and go to heaven and be pain-free, or God would heal me, and I could see my little boy grow up. It was totally dark at times, and at other times, it was glimpses of real intimacy with God, a very beautiful time.”

During the summer of 2002, Lacey began to improve. In August, no cancer could be detected in his lymph nodes, and by October he not only could walk without assistance, he also began swimming to regain his strength.

Today he is in good health, and tours the country with his stage show. Lacey said he has revised the format some to allow the audience to draw their own biblical insights from the presentation.

“I was preaching through drama and wasn’t just telling the stories,” he told Charisma. “I realized that was rather arrogant to an unchurched person, especially in this postmodern society. I began using Jesus’ model of parables and leaving it to the Holy Spirit and the listener to work things out.”

Last fall, Lacey opened the Gates Arts and Training Center with his wife, Sandra, in Cardiff. The center holds acting and dancing classes and produces plays for the community.
John Hillman

Critics say using Islam’s holy book to prove Christianity can blur the differences between the two faiths
Many Christians denounce the Quran’s teachings, but some believers have taken the controversial approach of using Islam’s holy book to bring Muslims to Jesus. They say by communicating the gospel in a manner Islamists can understand, many receive Christ. Their converts are called “Messianic Muslims,” partly because they are encouraged not to abandon some Islamic traditions

“I use their own book of precepts to validate the authenticity of Christ,” said Patricia Bailey, who has ministered in many Arabic nations. “If Muslims embrace the Quran as their holy book, then it is the ultimate tool to reach them and at least to provoke them to question what is written in their own book of the law. The Quran makes references to the Bible. The Bible never refers to the Quran for truth or authenticity.”

The founder of Georgia-based Master’s Touch Ministries, Bailey said more than 4,000 Muslims have been converted via one-on-one ministry, her TV appearances, and leadership-training centers and conferences in countries such as Kuwait, Egypt, Sudan and Turkey.

Bailey is not alone in her provocative way of reaching Muslims. John Taimoor is an itinerant preacher and founder of Crossbearers, a California-based ministry that presents Christianity within an Islamic context. Born and raised a Muslim in an area near Pakistan and southern Afghanistan, Taimoor seeks to establish new communities of Messianic Muslims throughout the Middle East.

A Messianic Muslim is an Islamist who has accepted Jesus but refuses to be referred to as a Christian and chooses to stay within the Arab community.

“Ethnically I am a Pushtun or Pathan who never had a church among them, and I was probably the first-known convert to Christ in the last 50 years,” Taimoor, 46, explained. “Christ visited me supernaturally while reading the Quran in a mosque, and later the New Testament changed me into a new person.”

Jeremiah Cummings, who studied Islam with Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan, is now on a mission to bring the gospel to Muslims. He does not use the term Messianic Muslims, but Cummings, 53, said more than 40,000 Islamists have converted to Christianity through his appearances on Christian television, including Daystar and the Trinity Broadcasting Network.

However, some leaders of Arabic missions organizations question the way Bailey, Taimoor and Cummings evangelize Muslims, especially when it comes to using the Quran.

“I teach courses on Islam in various parts of the world. I do not believe the Quran is the Word of God,” said Don McCurry, president of Colorado-based Ministries to Muslims who served for 18 years in Pakistan as a missionary. “In fact, at every cardinal point of the gospel, it contradicts the Word of God.”

David Goldmann, missions consultant with Frontiers, an organization that plants churches among Muslims in more than 40 countries, agreed.

“Using the Quran to prove Christianity can emphasize Quranic authority over the Bible,” said Goldmann, 73, who spent 24 years ministering to Muslims in North Africa.

“Emphasizing the similarities between the Bible and the Quran can confirm to Muslims that the Quran is truly the final part of progressive revelation,” he added. “Pointing out the differences between the Bible and the Quran can bolster Muslims’ belief that the Bible has been corrupted.”

McCurry, 77, said he has “a big problem” with the name Messianic Muslims. “In the dictionary, ‘Muslim’ simply means someone who is submitted,” he said. “Muslims will tell you that it means someone submitted to God. But the bottom line is that ‘Muslim,’ in a Muslim’s eyes, means someone submitted to Muhammad and his version of God.”

Goldmann concurred, noting that “a Christian who calls himself a Messianic Muslim will only confuse people.”

“The biblical approach is for a Christian to associate himself with Jesus Christ of Christianity,” he said, referring to Acts 11:26.

Taimoor admitted that some Christians do not understand his strategy. “If some do accuse me of compromise or heresy, it is because they do not understand the linguistic and cultural significance, or they expect the gospel to be Westernized before it is preached,” he said.

“Unless we become boldly creative, we will keep doing what others have done before and failed,” he added. “Muslims are desperate to find the truth. They pray to God five times a day to find it. Christians must be like Paul, who became a Roman with the Romans and a Jew with the Jews without compromising the gospel.”

Bailey echoed his point. “Though I do not condone or embrace the religion philosophy or doctrine of Islam, I do passionately love the people,” she said. “You will never aggressively reach out to a people that you don’t have an affinity toward. You cannot see all Arabic or Islamic people as your enemy.”
Eric Tiansay

Conservative Groups Oppose Arlen Specter

Despite attempts by conservatives to block the appointment of Sen. Arlen Specter as chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, the Republican from Pennsylvania was unanimously nominated to the judiciary panel Nov. 18, the New York Times reported. Pro-life and pro-family groups had opposed Specter because of his support for abortion. Though further confirmation is still required, Specter is likely to assume the role when Congress reconvenes this month. Specter said he would not use a “litmus test” to block judges who oppose abortion from being confirmed to the Supreme Court and promised to give the president’s nominees quick consideration. Still, pro-family leaders were wary of Specter’s confirmation and said they would be watching him closely.

John Ashcroft Resigns

Attorney General John Ashcroft resigned Nov. 10, saying the “objective of securing the safety of Americans from crime and terror has been achieved,” the Associated Press (AP) reported. A longtime member of the Assemblies of God, Ashcroft said he believed his “energies and talents should be directed toward other, more challenging horizons,” the AP said. Focus on the Family founder James Dobson and Prison Fellowship founder Chuck Colson welcomed President Bush’s nomination of Alberto Gonzales as Ashcroft’s replacement.

Jerry Falwell Launches New Organization

To maintain the momentum gained by social conservatives Nov. 2, the Rev. Jerry Falwell has launched a 21st century version of the Moral Majority, which he is calling the Faith and Values Coalition. Falwell said the group, based in Lynchburg, Va., will focus on seeing pro-life, “strict constructionist” judges–or those who interpret the Constitution based on what they believe was the authors’ original intent–confirmed to the Supreme Court and lower courts; passage of a federal amendment banning gay marriages; and the election of another “socially, fiscally and politically conservative president in 2008.” The 71-year-old will lead the organization with his son, Jonathan, and Liberty Counsel founder Mathew Staver.

Organizer Bishop John Gimenez says the call to champion righteousness did not end with the presidential election
Thousands gathered on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., days before the November election to fast and pray that righteousness would prevail in the United States. But in the wake of President Bush’s re-election, Bishop John Gimenez said the task is still far from over.

Quoting an old Spanish proverb–“Tell me who you walk with, and I’ll tell you who you are”–Gimenez, organizer of the Oct. 22 America for Jesus (AFJ) rally in Washington, D.C., said he hopes Christians will continue to walk together as “watchmen” in prayer, and then work together to reclaim American culture.

He says in order for the nation to be healthy, prayer needs to be returned to schools, a marriage amendment must be passed and Christians must gain more influence in such secular strongholds as the media. At the AFJ rally, Gimenez gathered evangelical and charismatic leaders from across the country, as well as nationally known musicians, including pastor Donnie McClurkin, entertainer Pat Boone and the worship band Starfield.

AFJ leaders reported some 25,000 attendees, but said thousands more in the United States, Europe, Asia, Africa, South America and Australia joined in prayer while watching satellite broadcasts.

“We were few, but we were committed,” Gimenez told Charisma. “We prayed in dozens of languages and we prayed: ‘Lord, save our nation. Bring righteousness back to the forefront.'”

Gimenez said the focus of the event was not on promoting a particular candidate but on encouraging Christians to seek righteousness and to pray that God would “exalt [His] name and the one [He] wants to rule.” He’s already looking toward the 2008 presidential election, when he may organize another rally urging Christians to cross denominational and racial lines to support the candidate who promotes righteousness.

“We have a problem in the church, and that is division, but little by little we are coming together,” said Gimenez, who founded The Rock Church in Virginia Beach, Va., with his wife, Anne, and organized three previous prayer rallies. The couple’s 1988 Washington for Jesus rally is said to have drawn more than 1 million participants.

“If we can be one, we can bring healing to the nation, we can turn things around, we can have a bright future for our children,” he added.

It is a point that was echoed by nearly everyone in attendance. Ted Haggard, president of the National Association of Evangelicals and a speaker at the AFJ rally, said the church is more united than it has been in several years.

“Evangelicals are more united than ever before,” he said. “We fragmented with the Protestant Reformation and continue to fragment … which gives us different flavors in the body. Now there is a high degree of relational camaraderie between the leaders of evangelicalism, and so you look at the platform here at America for Jesus you see every ethnic group imaginable here praying together, and that’s a wonderful thing.”

Emphasizing the importance of unity, McClurkin gave a stirring rendition of songwriter Rich Mullins’ classic “Awesome God,” singing its popular chorus in German and Russian.

“Our nation was built on godly principles, godly intention–that’s how our founders structured the framework of this country,” McClurkin said.

“My prayer for this nation is that [we] would go back to God, the true and living God, and that we would come to grips with the fact that you cannot extract God from the very fabric of the society that He built. Stop running from the very one that calls us into being as a nation. Turn back to God and allow Him to bring about change.”
Chris Pettit in Washington, D.C.