Appeals Court Refuses To Reopen Roe v. Wade

The 5th U.S. District Court of Appeals rejected a move to reopen Roe v. Wade on the grounds that the motion did not “represent a live case or controversy,” the Houston Chronicle reported. The case stems from a motion filed in June 2003 by Norma McCorvey, “Jane Roe” in the 1973 case. McCorvey asked the federal courts to overturn the landmark abortion ruling, saying it is unjust and destroys a woman’s physical and mental health, the newspaper said. Two of the three judges ruled that the case was moot because Texas’ laws criminalizing abortion had been “repealed by implication.” McCorvey’s attorney said they will likely attempt to take the case to the Supreme Court, the Chronicle said.

Pro-Family Groups Urge Boycott of Tide, Crest

The American Family Association (AFA) and Focus on the Family have called for a boycott of Proctor & Gamble (P&G) products. The Ohio-based company recently extended its support for a 1993 Cincinnati law that excludes gays and lesbians from seeking protection from discrimination based on their sexual orientation to be repealed. Saying P&G tacitly supports gay marriage, the AFA has asked its supporters not to buy Tide detergent and Crest toothpaste, replacing them with non-P&G products; to call the company’s chairman; and to sign a boycott posted on AFA’s Web site.

California Domestic Partner Bill Condemned

Pro-family groups are decrying the passage of a California domestic partners bill that will require companies to extend health, life, homeowners and auto insurance to cover unmarried domestic partners. In early September, California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed into law AB 2208, a bill that pro-family groups say undermines marriage. The Campaign for California Families is asking California residents to contact the governor and urge him not to sign a slew of other “anti-family” bills on his desk, including a controversial hate crimes bill that some pro-family groups say could be used to punish Christians who condemn homosexuality.

Jonathan Maracle, a Mohawk from Canada, is breaking musical ground with his Christian recordings
Jonathan Maracle used to gyrate his hips and strut across concert stages singing the AC/DC song “Highway to Hell.” Hooked on drugs and alcohol, he almost permanently ruined his voice during the early 1980s by screaming his lyrics while high on cocaine.

But one night Maracle remembered something his evangelist father told him: “Son, when your back is against the wall, call on Jesus.”

That’s exactly what he did in 1985. After losing a record deal in Los Angeles, Maracle considered suicide but instead prayed and gave his heart to Christ. Two weeks later he reconciled with his parents and eventually began a unique ministry that is touching hundreds of Native people in the United States, Canada and beyond.

“Native people have been given a gospel tainted by man’s opinions,” Maracle said. “It’s my job to change that.”

Maracle sings for Jesus today, but his music doesn’t fit in the typical contemporary Christian mold. He uses Native drums, flutes and rattles as well as guitars, and his colorful beads, feathers and fringed shirts complement his Mohawk hairstyle. Some of his songs are in Native languages and include piercing yelps and war cries.

Maracle’s message is pure gospel–yet the popularity of his band, Broken Walls, is growing as more Native people hear about its new sound. Based in Tyendinaga Territory in Ontario, near Toronto, Broken Walls has performed in churches, schools and other venues on dozens of reservations, including among the Onondaga, Navajo, Salish, Mi’kmaq, Apache, Kiowa, Ojibwa and Iroquois tribes.

What makes Maracle’s music so unique is that he is not afraid to blend the gospel with the rich cultural heritage of Native life.

“There’s nothing that reaches a Native person more than for them to know that God loves them the way they are,” he said, noting that in the past many white missionaries told Indians they had to get rid of their Native clothing and jewelry in order to be Christians. This stripped Native people of their dignity, he maintained.

“Native people have been given such a bad example of the church of Jesus Christ that they call it a white man’s religion,” he added.

Maracle, 49, has big shoes to fill as an evangelist. His father, Andrew Maracle, who died in 1999, was a pioneer in Native ministry for the Assemblies of God. His brother, Ross, started the National Native Bible College in Ontario. Their cousin, John Maracle, is active in Native evangelism as well.

But Jonathan Maracle’s decision to embrace Native culture and musical styles has set him apart from his family and stirred controversy within the Native Christian community. Some Native church leaders don’t allow drums or other instruments to be used in worship–a position that upsets Maracle.

“Some folks won’t allow a Native drum in a church, but they will allow a set of Japanese drums with the name ‘Yamaha’ on them,” he said during a recent concert in North Dakota. “So ‘Buddhist’ drums are OK?”

Some critics have even accused Maracle of syncretism–claiming that he mixes Christianity with paganism. But Maracle stands his ground and says there is nothing inherently evil about feathers, wooden flutes or the large drum he beats during concerts with two other musicians, Kris DeLorenzi and Jeremy Radawiec.

“The drum transcends words,” said Radawiec, 22, who is part Cree. “A Native person is deeply touched by the drum because it touches their core identity.”

The drum is so important, in fact, that Broken Walls released a new recording in October that contains only drum solos. Besides 2004 Broken Walls Drum: Created to Worship, Maracle has released five other recordings and sells them on his Web site, www.brokenwalls.com.

Drums are especially effective when Maracle brings a Native dance team with him. Dressed in colorful tribal outfits, the dancers lift their hands and praise Jesus while using typical Native movements. Such performances attract unchurched Native people and sometimes result in conversions.

At one church on a Hopi reservation in Arizona, 50 people made professions of faith in Christ at a Broken Walls concert. Maracle also regularly takes his message to Pikangikum, a remote Native village in Ontario that has the highest per capita suicide rate in the world.

“I can’t stand to see the funerals of all these Native young people who have killed themselves,” said Maracle, lamenting the fact that reservations have chronic problems with alcoholism, drug abuse and suicide. “They are precious people who haven’t been given a chance.”

Maracle intends to give them that chance. And when they give their lives to Christ he will not force them to renounce their ethnic identity.
J. Lee Grady in Devil’s Lake, N.D.

MUSIC

Made Me Glad
By Michael Neale, Integrity Music.

Serving as worship leader for Christ Fellowship in West Palm Beach, Florida, places Michael Neale in front of a fast-growing congregation of 18,000 every week. Though he has released independent recordings, Made Me Glad is an Integrity Music debut. Recorded live at Dayspring Church in Mobile, Alabama, the disc begins with a rousing celebration of God’s goodness and moves into a passionate time of dedication.

“Only a God Like You” is high-energy worship, featuring infectious music and the inspiring message that “Only a God like You deserves my praise.” Neale breathes new life into the classic “Blessed Be the Lord God Almighty.”

The title cut is a popular modern worship tune, but Neale does a great job of making it his own. “All That I Am” is a touching new track of dedication: “I am broken at Your feet, O God / Father, take everything in me.”

Neale ably leads the worship team and congregation through the praise journey and projects an excitement about the material he’s using. The upbeat spirit of Made Me Glad, along with a great collection of songs, will give listeners plenty to smile about.
Dewayne Hamby

Out the Box
By Tonéx, Verity Records.

Tonéx, one of gospel’s most talented, versatile and eccentric characters, recently released the two-disc, 36-track CD set Out the Box. Although he now presents a toned-down image, he still pushes the musical envelope with a diverse collection of inspirational and groundbreaking music.

His flexibility is highlighted on such cuts as the rock-oriented, guitar-driven “The Trust Theory” and the catchy “Doesn’t Really Matter.” Tonéx incorporates mainstream sampling such as The Jackson 5’s “Dance Machine” on “Alive,” the theme to Family Feud on the track “Games,” and the theme to the sitcom Taxi on the song “Taxi.”

Other standout tracks include the ragtime-colored “Work on Me,” the rock-driven “The Children’s Bread,” the smooth jazz-tinged “Why?” and the horn-textured “Believer.” The Latin festive “Todos Juntos,” the worshipful tracks “God Is Love” and “Your Word” are just a few of the strong cuts included in this set.

Not afraid to tackle real-life issues, Tonéx touches on financial woes, religious freedom and homosexuality. Not only does this set include music, but throughout the collection the artist also includes his own sermonic selections.

Fans will appreciate the artist’s live renditions of hits such as “Personal Jesus,” “God Has Not 4Got” and “Real With U.” He also brings in Yolanda Adams, Kirk Franklin and Sheila E. as featured guests. Tonéx is undoubtedly one of gospel’s most exciting players, and this project seals him as more than a fly-by-night sensation.
René Williams

For All You’ve Done
By Hillsong Music, Integrity Music.

With millions of units sold in the United States as well as the songs’ integration into worship in churches around the country, the Hillsong worship series has become known for original and engaging worship tunes. The newest release, For All You’ve Done, is a double-disc set that features more of their polished praise in a live setting.

Fifteen tracks are spread out on the double discs, which allows the songs a little more breathing room. While worship leader Darlene Zschech and others are featured on the release, the sound of a 500-voice choir joining in conveys a more congregational worship feel for the listener.

As in previous releases, the group mixes traditional praise with rock and pop leanings on songs such as the upbeat “One Way,” the celebration of the title track and the infectious “Forever and a Day.” More melodic tunes such as “Hallelujah,” “Glorify Your Name” and “With All That I Am” round out the experience.

If Hillsong’s 13th live album is any indication, the worship team shows no signs of slowing down in delivering the best in modern worship music.
Dewayne Hamby

BOOKS

My Spiritual Inheritance
By Juanita Bynum, Charisma House,
Hardcover, 256 pages, $19.99.

Best-selling author of Matters of the Heart and No More Sheets, Juanita Bynum delivers a strong call to walk in obedience to God and submit to spiritual authority in her latest release, My Spiritual Inheritance.

Her language is personal and specific in pointing out the tangible sides by which we come to know our spiritual authority. Readers will appreciate the detail of coverage and close scriptural support for realizing our spiritual destiny through walking obediently with God. As a result, Bynum helps us see that the moral and spiritual decline of the church and society will be counteracted.

She writes boldly, “God wants us to walk us through the process of inheriting morality, stability, integrity, and right standing with God and man from our spiritual parents.” She witnesses that too many babies in Christ are missing out on the portions that God has set aside for them by failing to find their spiritual authority. Her intention in this book is to map out the means for recognizing and submitting to one’s spiritual parents.

One thing that sets this book apart is that Bynum addresses her remarks specifically to a charismatic audience of believers. A gifted prophetess, she leads the reader on the journey to spiritual inheritance with wisdom, and Bynum herself becomes a spiritual parent. It is a must-have for those seeking a right relationship with God in the here and now–thus enjoying heaven’s abundance right here on Earth.

Pamela Robinson

Muslims Next Door
By Shirin Taber, Zondervan,
Softcover, 144 pages, $9.99.

This is a vitally important book for Christians. Zeal without wisdom is detrimental and this book will impart the necessary wisdom to help Christians have a more fruitful outreach to Muslim friends, neighbors and co-workers.

Author Shirin Taber has a unique perspective because her father is an Iranian Muslim and her mother was an American Catholic. Her mother died during Taber’s teens, and her mother’s Christian friend and neighbor reached out to help during the time of crisis. Needless to say the neighbor made an eternal impact on Taber’s life and was instrumental in introducing her to Christ.

Taber understands firsthand what it means to grow up in America with a Middle Eastern heritage in the shadow of September 11. She gives helpful insight into matters of hospitality, dress, courtship, education and conversation.

She also warns against stereotypes and paints a broader picture of what it means to be a Muslim in Western counties. She states that books pointing out the differences between Islam and Christianity are important. But she reminds us that it’s vital to know what we have in common and how we can relate respectfully to the Muslim next door.
Deborah L. Delk

Under God
By Toby Mac and Michael Tait
Bethany House Publishers, softcover,

384 pages, $16.99.

Did you know that Benjamin Franklin petitioned the first U.S. Congress to abolish slavery? Or that Thomas Jefferson’s similar proposal fell one vote short of passage and left slavery to wreak its venom another 63 years? Did you know that the “under God” phrase was first introduced by Abraham Lincoln at Gettysburg in 1863?

Maybe you did know these things, but a new, easy-to-read volume contains fascinating accounts of heroes and heroines who aren’t so well-known.

Under God, by dc Talk’s Toby Mac and Michael Tait, is the Book of Virtues for “His-story” enthusiasts desiring a deeper understanding of America’s enduring faith and triumphal liberty. The 60 stories compiled (each can be read in less than five minutes) reveal that the story of America is the story of Americans who reached heights and shined the light and, at other times, ceded to darkness and stumbled.
J. James Estrada

NEWS

T.D. Jakes Releases
Mainstream Movie

Bishop T.D. Jakes, best-selling author, pastor and the force behind the recent Mega Fest conference in Atlanta, adapted his popular book Woman, Thou Art Loosed! to a stage play, conference and, most recently, for the big screen.
In October, Woman, Thou Art Loosed: The Movie was scheduled to open on more than 500 screens.

The film (www.wtalthemovie.com) centers on Michelle Jordan (Kimberly Elise, The Manchurian Candidate). Bad decisions, addiction, poverty and an apathetic mother land Jordan on death row. While incarcerated, Jordan asks Jakes (played by himself) to visit her. Through their conversation Jordan’s real story unfolds–one of sexual abuse, pain, healing and forgiveness.

Recognizable actors such as Loretta Devine (The Preacher’s Wife), Debbi Morgan (All My Children), Clifton Powell (Rush Hour) and others make the story realistic and riveting. The message of Christ is woven throughout, yet it is a movie unchurched people would feel comfortable viewing.

Though the film is rated R, the language and violence are not vulgar or overbearing. Jakes defends the film’s rating. “The Bible is violent when Amnon rapes his sister Tamar,” he says.

“The woman caught in the very act of adultery and dragged before Jesus is R-rated. … Too often, Christian films fail in the court of the world’s opinion because they fall short of what the world knows to be true, and audiences reject them as idealistic and preachy.”

Jakes says the church is the perfect place to promote such a film because “abuse statistics don’t stop or even drop at the church door. This movie has a mission to and through the church. When we turn the light on things that happen in the dark, we must also be ready to face the heinous realities among us and minister to both victims and perpetrators.”
René Williams

Since his days as co-host of Entertainment Tonight John Tesh has been hosting his radio show, leading worship at the church he and his wife, actress Connie Selleca, attend and making Christian music. Tesh returned to Red Rocks in Denver to record his latest release, Worship at Red Rocks. He calls his debut Red Rocks album “his first true intimate worship experience with the Holy Spirit.”

“We never should have been able to get it taped [because of rain], and it never should have become a PBS special. … But it did all those things. When God has His hand on something, it just jumps through hoops. … I wanted to go back and be even more honest by doing worship music there.”

Growing up Methodist, it wasn’t until Tesh met Selleca, who invited him to her church, that he got to know Jesus personally. He realized life isn’t about being popular but “about having an afterlife; and it’s only going to happen with your faith in Jesus.”

Tesh wants his music to encourage people to live a worshipful life all the time, not just on Sundays, so they can reach others. He says: “Christians have to be careful not to get trapped in their churches. … We’re hiding in these megachurches, and people from the outside world are seeing Christians meeting together and closing everybody out.

“Church is a training ground for you to go out into the world. … Take what you learn in that church, go out and be wisdom, salt and light in the areas where you’re needed.”
Mark Weber

Christians must have the highest standards of righteousness.
To anyone who has read the recent press reports, it’s obvious that Paul Crouch is the victim of attempted extortion. A convicted felon with a history of child molestation and drug abuse accused Crouch of sexual harassment in 1996. I believe the charge is bogus.

First, the alleged incident had no witnesses. Second, the accuser has zero credibility, whereas Crouch has a lifetime of ministry achievements to his credit. Third, Crouch has never been accused of sexual misconduct at any other time, and since this accusation was made public, no one has come forward with other charges. Finally, he has denied this charge in the strongest way possible in court and to other Christian leaders.

So if Crouch is innocent, why did he pay his accuser $425,000? Crouch says it was to avoid embarrassment to the ministry he founded and loves, and because he believed the man would “go away.”

Sadly, the man didn’t. After receiving the huge settlement, he threatened to sell a biography he wrote to a publisher unless Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBN) paid him $10 million.

If that isn’t extortion, what is?

I believe Christians should rally around Crouch and TBN. If Crouch says he’s innocent, that’s good enough for me. He has years of credibility as a man of God.

It’s too early to tell what kind of long-term damage these charges will bring to TBN. Some Christians are quick to throw a brother in the pit at the first allegation. Yet it’s possible the man lied about what he says happened with Crouch.

God is the judge. If there was wrongdoing, He will expose it.

Meanwhile, each of us must judge ourselves. What is in our lives that is not pleasing to God? Self-assessment is especially important for large ministries with high visibility that often become a laughingstock for their showmanship and extravagance. That’s because what they do affects the rest of us in the body of Christ.

Long before the Los Angeles Times reported on the charges against Crouch, prophetic voices had been warning that a new season of judgment is coming to ministry leaders who don’t walk in righteousness. We’ve raised concerns in previous issues about ministries with a haphazard attitude toward divorce, remarriage and other lifestyle issues. Immorality in leadership is more common than any of us wants to admit.

God has brought down ministries before that lacked integrity. Consider Robert Tilton, Larry Lea and Praise the Lord (PTL)–the ministries they had no longer exist.

If anything, the media buzz over the accusations against Crouch should be a warning to other ministries in which unrighteousness exists. Surely the media realize the attack against Crouch is extortion. But they seem to take great delight in rehashing reports of extravagant living, well-stocked wine cellars and behavior unbecoming to Christians–especially those in leadership.

I know Satan would like to bring down an effective ministry such as TBN that is beaming the gospel into places not otherwise reached. But I also believe God is judging His church. The fact that a ministry is big and successful doesn’t mean it is blessed by God–and success is not a license to do whatever the leadership wants to do regarding money, morality, pride or arrogance.

This is a time for humility and repentance. All ministries are subject to media attention and attack. If it’s unwarranted, it will backfire on the media, just as the unfounded charges against President Bush backfired on CBS and Dan Rather.

But there is another side too. The Christian community must have the highest standards of righteousness among its leadership. At a time when there are so few values in the culture and a plethora of failed leaders in government and corporate America, we must live by a higher standard. Otherwise, how can the world look to Christians for answers?

If the unthinkable is true and Crouch did what his accuser says, then for the good of TBN and the larger body of Christ, Paul must step down. Otherwise, God cannot bless that ministry.

Let’s support Crouch and pray for him during what must be the most difficult time in his life. And let’s pray he discerns God’s will.

Churches and missions organizations have been reaching out to victims of the recent storms

Since a recent wave of hurricanes swept through the southeast United States and much of the Caribbean, Christians have been reaching out to their communities, sharing hot meals, water, ice and other relief. Leaders say church attendance has gone up as a result.

Covenant Centre International church in Palm Beach Springs, Fla., lost the roof and much of the interior of the building, forcing the church to rebuild from the ground up, pastor Norman Benz said.

“Florida has been hit hard, but I believe God is in control and this will result in a real move of God in our state and even nationwide,” he said. “Buildings are clothing for the ministry, but it’s really what God is doing in the lives of people that matters.”

Steve Lyons, a hurricane expert with The Weather Channel, told Charisma the 2004 season–which saw hurricanes Charley, Frances, Ivan and Jeanne rip through Florida from mid-August to September–is just slightly above normal. In a typical season, hurricanes form and then dissipate at sea, but this year storms are making landfall in the United States, primarily Florida, at an alarming rate.

In Pensacola, where Hurricane Ivan made landfall, churches have been rallying. Pastor Jody Herrington, assistant to the president at the Brownsville Revival School of Ministry, is leading relief efforts for Brownsville Assembly of God.

“God has used this [hurricane] to open the eyes and hearts of the community toward this church,” she said. “This is a moment for us to reach out to the community. The loudest gospel we can preach to them is to serve them.”

Herrington said scout teams are assessing damages in neighborhoods and then reporting back to the church so needed supplies and services can be provided. “We want them to see Jesus with skin on,” Herrington said.

Perdido Bay United Methodist Church, also in Pensacola, helped about 1,000 people per day after the storm hit Sept. 15, leaving many without food or a roof over their heads. “We’ve been able to offer security for people who have lost their security,” associate minister Rusty Glasgow said.

The church cared for two brothers who lost their homes, cars and jobs to Ivan. The young men packed their wives and children into their mother’s small house.

Central Chapel Worship Center joined with the American Red Cross to feed people and distribute supplies, even though the back of the church’s sanctuary was torn off by the storm. Senior pastor Tim Nail said at one point they were nearly out of food when a woman on the serving line prayed for God to provide. The next morning, five big trucks arrived loaded with food.

Pace Assembly of God became a key distribution point for aid, partnering with U.S. Army troops and federal relief agencies. As church members worked to help others, tragedy struck. Four key members–Bill Walther, Traves Neff, Cristy King and Daniel Wesley–died in a plane crash a week after Ivan hit.

Neff, who at the age of 26 was Continental Airlines’ youngest commercial pilot, wanted to perform an aerial assessment to help remote areas hurt by Ivan. The small, single-engine, four-seat Cessna crashed shortly after takeoff. Walther was a Pace Assembly staff member described as pastor Glyn Lowery Jr.’s “right-hand man.” King and Wesley, both 20, were raised in the church and due to be married in January.

Lowery was supposed to be on the flight but opted out at the last minute. He has been shaken by the tragedy but is comforted knowing his friends are in heaven. “I know they were doing what they wanted to do, and I know they wouldn’t come back for anything in this world,” he told Charisma.

Pensacola Mayor John Fogg, a committed Christian, told Charisma he’s encouraged by the outreach of area churches–many of them greatly affected themselves–and the strong sense of community that has developed in post-Ivan Pensacola. “I’m extremely optimistic that at the end of the day–and the end of the day may be a year or two down the road–we are going to be a better community because of this,” he said.

The four storms have taken a heavy toll. In addition to battering Pensacola, Hurricane Ivan ravaged Jamaica, killing 50 people and destroying more than 8,000 homes. In Haiti, the death toll was staggering–more than 3,000 dead and 200,000 homeless after Jeanne, then a tropical storm, ripped through the nation Sept. 17.

According to ASSIST News Service, an American Youth With A Mission (YWAM) staff member in Haiti said groups of needy people turned into angry mobs as relief aid was distributed. YWAM staff encountered one man who said the storm killed six people in his house. The man said he slept in a tree for two days, waiting for help.

Ann Briere, spokeswoman for Food for the Poor (www.food
forthepoor.com) based in Deerfield Beach, Fla., said the aid organization has been involved in hurricane relief in Jamaica, Granada, Grand Bahamas and Haiti.

In Granada, Briere said, 90 percent of the population of only 100,000 had their homes either destroyed or badly damaged. She said both Granada’s spice tree and tourism industries were critically damaged, crippling the economy.

Though the United States has suffered billions of dollars in damage, there are means to gain help from relief agencies, she said, unlike in Caribbean and Latin nations. “Those who haven’t traveled in the Third World don’t fully appreciate the lack of resources there,” she said.

Food for the Poor partners with local churches and organizations to distribute aid, helping pastors help their people, she said. “We believe we see Christ in all of the faces of the poor,” Briere said.

Springfield, Mo.-based Convoy of Hope (www.convoyofhope.org) sent out quick-strike response teams to bring food, water and supplies immediately, sometimes the day after the hurricane. Randy Rich, vice president of administration and disaster response, said the organization delivered 169 semitrailer-loads of food and supplies weighing more than 6 million pounds to some 300,000 hurricane victims. “Our heart is to be a resource for churches reaching out to their neighborhoods,” Rich said.

Florida children, many still recovering from their own losses, are joining others from across the United States to provide shoe boxes filled with school supplies, candy and letters of encouragement to 7 million children worldwide, including many in Haiti and Granada.

“I know what it feels like to see just about everything you have swept away by a storm,” said 11-year-old Connor of Melbourne, Fla., which felt the impact of Charley, Frances and Jeanne. “I hope my shoe box gift makes another kid who’s lost a lot in the hurricanes feel better.”
Richard Daigle in Pensacola, Fla

These Swedish cases are said to be part of a larger trend in Europe toward stifling religious freedom

In June a Swedish Pentecostal pastor was sentenced to a month in prison for preaching against homosexuality.

Pastor Ake Green of Borgholm Pentecostal Church in eastern Sweden told his congregation in a 2003 sermon that “abnormal sexual practices are like a cancerous growth on the body of society.” Finding Green guilty of offending homosexuals, a Swedish court sentenced him to jail in the first-ever application of a unique Swedish law passed in 2002 in the face of severe criticism not only by Christians, but also by legal experts.

Drawing on the laws adopted in many European countries after the Nazi era to protect Jews and Gypsies against hate speech, the new law defines homosexuals as a people group in need of collective safeguarding.

The government claimed that the law was targeting neo-Nazis and not churches, but Prime Minister Göran Persson said in an interview with Swedish media that he “expected” pastors branding homosexuality as a sin during church sermons to be tried under the new law.

Johan Candelin, executive director of the Religious Liberties Commission of the World Evangelical Alliance and the group’s spokesman to the United Nations, said the law placed Sweden “on level with China,” with the government deciding “which theology is permissible.”

The Slovakian Christian Democrat Party protested Green’s sentence, which the pastor planned to appeal, and two U.S. TV stations–the Christian Broadcasting Network and Progressive Vision–were to cover the case. But Christians in the nation say this is part of a more alarming trend toward stifling religious freedom in Europe.

In August prominent charismatic pastor Ulf Ekman was sued for “hate speech against homosexuals.” After only a few days, authorities decided not to prosecute the high-profile founder of Uppsala Word of Life Church, but the incident further inflamed the already heated debate on the future of religious liberties in the northern European country.

“There is a deliberate political move in all of Europe toward restricting the freedom of religion, with Sweden serving as a sort of European Union pilot project,” Ekman told Charisma. “Unless we now claim the freedom to preach the gospel in all of its facets and consequences, we soon will not be allowed to preach it at all.”

Though defending Green’s right to preach freely, most Pentecostal, charismatic and evangelical church leaders in Sweden have been reluctant to take a strong stand for their elderly colleague. His sermon, many said, was “too unwisely phrased.”

Speaking to 5,000 believers at a conference in the Uppsala Word of Life Church that he founded in 1983, Ekman criticized his fellow church leaders. “I, too, would have chosen other words [than pastor Green],” Ekman told Charisma, “but that is not the issue. The freedom of religion and of speech are interrelated. We must stand up for the right of all citizens to believe and speak without government censorship.”

Willy Fautre, founding director of Human Rights Without Frontiers in Brussels, Belgium, the leading European secular nongovernmental organization focusing on religious liberties, told Charisma that since the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, European governments and strong lobbies are quick to restrict religious groups.

“Governments and human-rights organizations that used to keep a watchful eye on the freedom of religion now focus exclusively on the war on terrorism and offer little resistance,” Fautre said. “Many terrorists are religiously motivated, and this has created an atmosphere in which it is easier to restrict all ‘politically incorrect’ religious groups–not only Islamists, but also Christians questioning modern-day views on homosexuality or on Islam.”

In recent years the window of religious freedom that opened up in Europe in the early part of the 20th century has started closing again. Historically the European governments always claimed a monopoly for one state church–the Orthodox Church in Eastern Europe, the Catholic Church in the south and the Lutheran State Church in northern Europe.

When the revivals hit in the 19th century they were, in consequence, illegal. In Sweden the citizens were not even allowed to attend the Lutheran State Church in a parish other than their own. Gathering in private homes for worship was forbidden.

Fautre, Ekman and others say the principle of the government having the last word on religion was never totally abandoned in Europe, and it is again gaining ground.

In post-Communist Eastern Europe the Orthodox Church has been reinstalled as the “most favored” church. In the predominantly Catholic countries in southern and central Europe, Pentecostal and charismatic churches are generally “unrecognized” by the government, rendering them ineligible for the tax exemption granted to “recognized” churches, as well as other privileges. Also, because these churches are “unrecognized,” they are commonly branded as cults.

In France a recent law criminalizing the “persuading of the weak” to “change religions” can potentially be used to forbid “evangelism among the sick, the young and the elderly,” Fautre explained. He also mentioned that the French tax authority, applying a long-neglected but still valid law from 1905, has started collecting 60 percent in taxes on offerings in “unrecognized” churches.

In northern Europe the freedom of organization has not yet been challenged, but, Fautre pointed out, some lobbies, especially the gay lobby, and the governments seek to outlaw opinions that are considered “undemocratic” or “in disagreement with human rights.” He said “human rights”–as defined by secular humanists–is about to replace Christianity as the “state religion” of northern Europe.

Candelin of the World Evangelical Alliance called these developments “alarming,” and said the Protestant churches “must wake up and realize where Europe is heading.”

Ekman urged the European church to “lay aside its timidity, its policies of silence and compromise, and raise its voice now, or [the believers] will soon be facing very dangerous times indeed. The agenda of the political left in Europe–socialists and liberals–is by no means secretive. The church must get involved politically, too, forming a counter-lobby.”

Now residing in Jerusalem and committed to international missions, Ekman added: “We must preach the gospel unashamedly. I firmly believe that revival can turn a country around, but revival does not come without our preaching a supernatural gospel.”
Tomas Dixon in Sweden

Thousands of Christians have fled Iraq in the wake of a series of church bombings Aug. 1 that left at least 11 dead and dozens more wounded.

Pascale Isho Warda, Iraq’s displacement and migration minister, was quoted in the Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper as saying 40,000 Christians had left Iraq, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported. The only Christian member of Iraq’s interim government, Warda attributed the emigration to “insecurity and the attacks on the churches in Baghdad and Mosul.”

The flight, largely to Syria, is what Christians working in Iraq feared would happen after the attack, which authorities have blamed on the al-Qaida terrorist network. The exodus “could harm Iraq’s chances of becoming a pluralistic, tolerant society,” said Middle East Concern, a coalition of Christians working to assist persecuted believers in the Middle East. “Many in Iraq believe one objective of the insurgency is to divide the population on religious lines as a means of preventing the new government from operating successfully.”

The series of car bombings that exploded outside five churches in Mosul and Baghdad was the first coordinated terrorist assault aimed at Iraqi Christians since the U.S.-led war in Iraq began. An Assyrian Catholic church, an Armenian fellowship and Chaldean Christian congregations in the two cities were targeted, Reuters news service reported.

Attackers timed some of the blasts for maximum effect, during evening services that attracted hundreds of faithful, the Los Angeles Times reported. “I was praying inside the church with all these people when all the windows shattered,” said Rafael Kutaimi, pastor of an Assyrian Catholic church in Baghdad’s Karada neighborhood, where at least a dozen worshipers were wounded. “We’re all Iraqis, innocent people. I don’t know what their goal is.”

Christians are said to total about 800,000, or roughly 3 percent of Iraq’s population of 24 million, and live mainly in Baghdad. Some groups estimate the number to have been as high as 2.5 million under Saddam Hussein, who officially preached religious tolerance and allowed Christians to worship freely.

Though many of the visitors have pledged themselves to false gods, at ExWitch.org the conversations center around Jesus
Kathi Sharpe once offered incantations as a witch and her soul to false deities. Now she offers Jesus to many of her former cohorts of the occult through her Internet-based ministry, www.ExWitch.org.

The ministry’s site is comprised of a series of public and private message board forums. Since its March 2002 inception, ExWitch has processed more than 100,000 postings, Sharpe said.

“It’s amazing to me that witches come on and talk all day long about Jesus,” said Sharpe, 34, of Greensboro, N.C. “It’s just phenomenal.”

Mark Bishop of Denton, Texas, one of five site administrators, said what is different about ExWitch is that people listen to the visitors. “We don’t throw them out,” said Bishop, a former pagan. “We don’t water down the gospel. But we present it in truth and love. … I don’t know of many ministries trying to reach [witches]. There are many out there that have written them off.”

Sharpe’s evangelism efforts go beyond the Internet. She also has invited witches and pagans to her church, Calvary Church, an Assemblies of God congregation in Greensboro. Her pastor, David Crabtree, said he usually counsels a new Christian not to have any contact with his or her occult past because that has caused many to be lured back into it.

But Sharpe has been the exception, he said. “Kathi had an absolute break,” Crabtree said. “She didn’t hold on to the old life. She was so radicalized.”

Sharpe said some of the witches and pagans that attend services try to go unnoticed, showing no problem talking about Christ and reading a Bible. Those individuals, according to another former occultist known simply as Lottie, are strong-willed and are not seeking Christ.

Then there are some who can’t sit through a service, leaving frantically when they encounter the reality of God. “Most people do not cope well when their view of the world is tipped over,” said Lottie, another of ExWitch’s site administrators.

She went on to describe a personal experience that occurred in England, where she lives. She said the spirit of forgiveness and reconciliation was so strong in Coventry Cathedral–out of which an international reconciliation ministry is based–that it repelled her from the place.

“I got only 100 yards into the place before I felt I would be crushed to the floor if I did not leave,” she said. “Me, the occultist, found myself forced right back out of that building by the presence of God. … It was one of the unnerving experiences of my life, and [it] took a lot of coffee to recover from.”

Sharpe, a former Web designer, said her conversion to Christianity was initiated by a dream she had of Jesus, but she remained hesitant to acknowledge it.

Curious, she asked God to prove to her that she wasn’t hallucinating. One week, she asked God to work out a software problem for her. She posted a question on a Web site, and the next day she received an e-mail with the answer. The sender was “[email protected].”

Sharpe said she sent “Rich” an e-mail expressing her gratitude. Early on, she told him that she was a witch, and that she had questions about Christianity. By the end of that week, Sharpe was convinced that Christianity was for real, and she prayed the sinner’s prayer at her desk.

“The transformation was like God flipped a light switch in my personality,” she said. “It was incredible. My husband noticed. My kids noticed it.”

Sharpe went on to say her departure from the occult came with some resistance. As a witch, Sharpe said, she invoked many deities within her. She thought they were her gods and that they were benevolent. She quickly realized just how much she had been deceived.

“I ended up extremely ill [and] hallucinating. I was being told I needed to throw myself into the ocean. … [The deities] were not the loving, benevolent beings I had come to know,” she said. “I felt betrayed.”

Although she did not have much Bible knowledge, Sharpe said Someone even more powerful than the deities intervened. “I asked them, I begged them, and then something spoke to me again, the Holy Spirit, telling me if [I] have a problem and [I] can’t get rid of it in another way, tell [them] in the name of Jesus they have to leave,” she said.

“They couldn’t stay in spite of my having given my life to them. This isn’t the kind of thing that happens on your church pew on any Sunday morning. I have absolutely no doubt that I was delivered that day.”
Cedric Harmon

Christian ministries are offering humanitarian assistance for the victims of what many believers say is a Muslim-led holy war
Like the eye of a storm, an uneasy calm has settled over northern Nigeria in the wake of religious violence that has claimed thousands of lives. But Christian observers fear that without intervention, Nigeria could become another Sudan, where 2 million Christians died in a religious conflict that spanned two decades.

Christians comprise nearly half of Nigeria’s 139 million people. Many of the country’s 36 states, including the recently troubled Plateau state, are predominantly Christian though others, such as Kaduna state, have large Muslim populations.

Though Nigerian Christians and Muslims have lived in peace for decades, the communities recently have become more polarized. In 2000, for example, 12 northern states imposed Sharia law, the Islamic legal code.

Moreover, religious violence has steadily increased in the last few years. According to Compass Direct, a Christian news service that highlights religious persecution, violence in the last three years has claimed at least 10,000 lives. More than 300 churches have been destroyed and at least 10 pastors and their families killed.

Nigeria has sustained millions of dollars in property damage, and hundreds of thousands have been displaced. In May President Olusegun Obasanjo declared a state of emergency in Plateau state after nearly 1,000 people died in interreligious violence. But the fighting has continued.

A May 11 rally in Kano state–protesting violence against Muslims– turned into a riot. The Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), based in Kano, put the death toll at 3,000 believers, including three pastors.

Meanwhile, coordinated attacks by Muslim militia in the Quanpan area and in Langtang have left dozens dead and thousands displaced. On June 9, violent clashes between Muslims and Christians in Numan killed at least nine people and destroyed several places of worship.

Some reports attribute the violence to land disputes between Christian farmers and Muslim herders. Others speculate that opportunistic leaders are instigating the violence in order to cement a power base within their respective communities.

Local Christians, meanwhile, say the true motive behind the violence is jihad, or a Muslim holy war. With the recent 200th anniversary of the Sokoto caliphate, established by a Muslim leader who Islamized much of northern Nigeria, they are concerned that militant Muslims are using violence to restore Islamic rule to a nation that has received international attention for a Christian revival.

“The ultimate aim … is to Islamize the entire country,” said a CAN leader and pastor in Kano state who asked not to be identified for fear of reprisal. “They are trying everything to take over the Plateau state in the form of jihad.”

Nigeria’s desperate situation has not gone unnoticed by international leaders. David Alton, an independent member of the House of Lords and co-founder of the human-rights group Jubilee Campaign, recently contacted President Obasanjo. Alton said the president told him that his government “has zero tolerance for any acts that have the potential of threatening the nation’s peace and stability.”

Obasanjo, a Christian who in 1998 became the nation’s first democratically elected president after 15 years of military rule, also called for international help in dealing with what he called “the consequences of decades of misrule and structural as well as systematic dislocation.”

“We should do all we can to support this … approach,” Alton said. “If we fail, then Nigeria could easily suffer the same fate as Sudan, where 2 million died in two decades and where Christian communities have led terrorized lives.”

Christian leaders in Nigeria reiterate the call for support. “We need to speak out and warn people that terrorism is everywhere, not only in the Middle East,” the CAN leader told Charisma. “We have people ready to pay the price [for evangelism] and are not afraid, but we need international support.”

Many Christian groups are already responding to the crisis. Texas-based Gospel Revival Ministries (GRM) has long supported indigenous pastors. Now, in addition to the support it sends for pastoral salaries and training, the ministry has begun coordinating relief efforts. Area churches provide humanitarian aid and religious materials.

“We feel blessed to be able to aid the church in Nigeria,” said John Musser, president of GRM (www.gogoodnews.com). “Their response to the daily threat of violence has been humbling. This is a people who understands that the only way to achieve reconciliation is to reach out with the gospel, in love.”
David Mundy

As Living Water Teaching prepares for its 25th anniversary this month, co-founder Marion Zirkle says the best is yet to come
A Central American charismatic ministry is flourishing six years after a tragic accident killed its founder and leaders.

This month, Living Water Teaching (LWT) celebrates its 25th anniversary of ministry in Guatemala. Jim and Marion Zirkle relocated to Guatemala from the United States in October 1979 to start LWT (www.lwtusa.org), focusing on Bible schools and medical and evangelistic campaigns in Central America.

But on Nov. 1, 1998, in thick fog and torrential downpours, an LWT plane crashed in southwestern Guatemala, killing 11, including Marion’s 56-year-old husband.

The crash also claimed the lives of the couple’s son, James L. Zirkle II, who was LWT director in Guatemala; Chris Hamberger, the Zirkles’ son-in-law; LWT staff members and six American medical-team members. Seven passengers survived.

“For two to three years, I had to fight the good fight of faith so that this ministry would not fall,” said Marion Zirkle, LWT president and co-founder. “The devil fought me in every way through my emotions and my mind. …

“The Word of God brought me through and told me that, ‘I was more than a conqueror through Him,'” the 60-year-old ordained minister added. “I dared to believe it. God is a restorer, and He can make it better than it has ever been.”

This year, the ministry had its largest Bible-school enrollment, with 92 students studying to be ministers at LWT’s 22-acre campus in Quetzaltenango, Guatemala.

LWT has Bible schools in Costa Rica, El Salvador, Honduras, Panama, Nicaragua and Paraguay, as well as Guatemalan Bible graduates teaching in Cuba. The ministry also has worked in Mexico, Africa, Germany and Japan.

Through its various ministries, LWT has recorded more than 600,000 salvations and 20,000 graduates from its Bible schools.

LWT has also provided more than 250,000 people with medical and dental care and distributed more than 500 tons of medical supplies. In addition, Zirkle launched Operation Shoebox, an annual Christmas outreach that is similar to Samaritan’s Purse’s shoebox ministry. Last December LWT helped more than 15,000 children through the outreach.

LWT is still a Zirkle family affair. Zirkle’s youngest daughter, Debbie, and her husband, Keith Spanberger, are the executive directors of the ministry, working at LWT’s U.S. headquarters in Caddo Mills, Texas.

Zirkle’s daughter-in-law, Laura Zirkle Sarti, is a missionary in Guatemala, along with her husband, Manuel. Zirkle’s oldest daughter, Kimberly Hamberger, whose husband died in the plane crash, is also a Guatemalan missionary.

Barry Tubbs, an associate minister with Kenneth Copeland Ministries, which has supported LWT for 20 years, noted that “the anointing and calling on Jim Zirkle’s life is definitely on [Marion Zirkle’s] life.”

“The thing that impresses me the most is her tenacity,” Tubbs said. “Despite going through the tragedy, the ministry is just as strong if not stronger.”

Zirkle said she began praying about remarrying more than three years after Jim’s death. “I asked the Lord to bring the right man into my life who would be willing to move to Guatemala and walk this vision with me, a man that would have to recognize that I was in leadership,” she said.

Mr. Right turned out to be Clarence Wright, a 64-year-old former Baptist minister who went on three LWT missions trips starting in 2001 after attending Victory Christian Center in Tulsa, Okla. The two were married in July 2003.

“God is a God of new beginnings,” said Wright, who serves as LWT’s vice president and teaches in its Bible school. “This is so true in my life here at Living Water Teaching.”

Zirkle said future plans include expanding LWT’s aviation department in order to better serve and oversee the ministry’s work in other countries. “I have no doubt that the best days are right ahead of us,” Zirkle said. “There is an expectation and an excitement in my spirit that I can’t explain but know that it is of God.”
Eric Tiansay