It’s been one year since Obamacare was signed into law. But the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, as it is officially called, is still largely unpopular.

In December 2010, U.S. District Court Judge Henry Hudson in Richmond ruled in favor of Virginia concluding the individual mandate provision “exceeds the constitutional boundaries of congressional power.” A Florida Supreme Court judge ruled Obamacare unconstitutional in January.

Now, the American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ) is making a bold move to declare the entire health care law unconstitutional.

Representing 49 members of Congress, the ACLJ filed court documents on Monday. House Speaker John Boehner and House Majority Leader Eric Cantor joined the ACLJ in the amicus brief filed in support of Virginia’s lawsuit challenging the Obamacare, which is now on appeal.

“As the legal challenges to Obamacare move forward, there’s one central argument that we’re confident will win the day—that the mandate forcing individuals to purchase health care insurance is unconstitutional,” says Jay Sekulow, Chief Counsel of the ACLJ.

“In the Virginia case, the federal district court got it right. Forcing someone to buy health insurance is not economic activity and Congress does not have that authority under the Commerce Clause. We believe the federal district court should have gone one step further in declaring entire health care law—not just the individual mandate—unconstitutional.  That’s what we’re asking the appeals court to do.”

The ACLJ is also pursuing its own legal challenge of Obamacare and has been granted expedited review of its appeal by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit after a federal district court dismissed its lawsuit.

Violence threatens next month’s elections in Nigeria.

Already, political violence has been disruptive to church activities. Police have warned church goers that places of worship are targets, and they have made note of several attacks on believers within the last week.  

On March 20, three would-be attackers in Jos were killed in a failed attempt to bomb the Evangelical Church Winning All (ECWA) and the nearby Church of Christ in Nigeria (COCIN). The same day, a bomb planted at the Mountain of Fire and Miracles Church failed to detonate.

The bombing attempts were preceded by Muslim Fulani tribesmen attacks on March 10, where more than 4,000 people were displaced. In the Tafawa Balewa area, 463 homes, 11 shops, and 13 churches were burned.

There are also rumors that extremists are trying to create a state of emergency ahead of the Presidential elections. Todd Nettleton with Voice of the Martyrs says, “They’re going to elect their National Assembly on April 2. They’re going to elect their new President on April 9, and then on April 16 they will elect their State Assemblies and their State Governors.” He adds that these reports are not unusual for the country: “It is a time of upheaval. At times in the past, that has meant trouble for Christians, and that’s one of the things we’re concerned about.”

The violence has taken a clear sectarian overtone. Nettleton explains that “there is an element of religion that comes into some of this campaigning, particularly in the Muslim areas where they say, ‘Hey, we’ve had a Christian as the president for these last couple of years. It’s time for a Muslim to be the president now.'”

Nigeria’s 2011 presidential race is squaring three Muslims: General Muhammadu Buhari of the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), Mallam Nuhu Ribadu of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), and Ibrahim Shekarau of the All Nigerian Peoples Party (ANPP) against incumbent Goodluck Jonathan from the Christian south.

Officials say the bloodshed won’t derail the polls. However, there’s a difference between polls proceeding and a peaceful election, Nettleton  notes: “It’s hard for me to imagine that the violence will completely stop; however, we hope that the government and the authorities there will at least tamp it down and provide some protection for the people.”

With so many attacks targeting ministries, churches, and believers, Nettleton goes on to say that the security issues could disrupt outreach. “It’s a challenge for the Christians there who want to do ministry, who want to do outreach,” Nettleton says. “Obviously, when everything is so polarized by the election and by the publicity surrounding the election, it is a difficult time for Christians to step forward and witness and be involved in ministry.”

Pray for peace. “When attacks are happening and some of them seem to be targeting Christians and ministries, it is a difficult time for our Christian brothers and sisters in Nigeria,” Nettleton says. “And it’s an important time for us to be praying for them.”

Somebody Cares about Japan. And that somebody is Doug Stringer.

Doug Stringer, the half-Japanese, half-American founder of Somebody Cares America, is leading a team that’s actively working on the ground in Japan. Stringer’s philosophy: teamwork across racial and denominational lines makes an impact.

“Crises draw people together, but some groups, even Christian groups, want to get their five-minute sound bite or 15 minutes of fame and they no longer really work together,” says Stringer, who is shipping 10 truckloads of water, food, hygiene items and medical supplies to Japan through partner organizations and groups. “It’s like a fishing pole catching one fish rather than a fishing net woven together to catch a lot. We need to work together.”

A Somebody Cares team landed in Japan three days after the earthquake to connect with partners in Sendai and Nagano and headed back to Japan on Monday. A large infusion of evacuees are expected to flee from some of the hardest-hit areas to Nagano, and Somebody Cares and its partners have been receiving them with physical and spiritual help.

“We’re going to be doing training and encouraging leaders to persevere in leadership through all these difficulties and traumas,” Stringer says. “We’re partnering with Victim Relief Ministries to teach pastors in Japan to how to deal with the stress level and to live life beyond the moment. Our desire to win must be greater in our moments of pain.”

Japan has been through moments of pain during its history—and rebuilt. After experiencing devastation in World War II, Japan rose to become an economic power and a U.S. ally. Stringer believes Japan, the nation in which he was born, will rise once again. In fact, he is believing the Land of the Rising Sun, a moniker for Japan, will meet the Hope of Glory through God’s people expressing the compassion and love of Christ—and become the Land of the Risen Son.

Japan has a population of about 130 million. The majority practice Shintoism and Buddhism. Only about one percent of Japan is Christian. But it wasn’t always that way. Portuguese missionaries brought Christianity to Japan in the mid-1500s. Because the Portuguese also brought gunpowder that opened foreign trade doors, the Japanese tolerated the missionaries, who won a large number of Japanese to Christ. But a change in rulership in the late 1500s banned Christianity.

“I believe we can turn it around again in Japan for Christ. This is our opportunity to go to that one percent,” Stringer says. “We can see a nation of very honorable, but proud people in a desperate situation receive the love of Christ through God’s people in a very tangible way. They will see the living Christ and meet the Hope of Glory because of it.”

Stringer has received personal prophecies over his life that he would reach the royal family and government of Japan; that he would minister to them and revival would break lose in the country. Although his natural mind doesn’t grasp it—he’s forgotten how to speak Japanese—he is beginning now to see the possibilities of reaching the nation by reaching missionaries and pastors in Japan who need encouragement in the wake of this tragedy.

“We must leave a lasting equity for churches, pastors and missionaries—the Christians in Japan—so that out of this tragedy we can see lasting transformation,” Stringer says. “I don’t know if I will have the opportunity to personally see those changes, but I want to empower believers in Japan to get past their differences and become part of something bigger than themselves—to see history in the making as hearts become open to the Gospel message.”

Stringer and his wife and daughter (who have been learning Japanese using the Rosetta Stone language instruction program) are considering moving to Japan long-term to be part of the anticipated transformation. He has purchased a two-year contract on a cell phone in Japan and is exploring other options for places to stay.

“This is going to be a long-term recovery,” Stringer says. “With the uncertainties of radiation on top of the destruction, it’s a long-term process.”

As violence, unrest and confusion heat up in predominantly-Muslim countries like Libya, Tunisia, Bahrain and Egypt, many believers are beginning to see the potential for outreach.

As Fouad Masri, president of Crescent Project, mentioned in a recent interview with MNN’s Greg Yoder, Muslims living in these countries have watched Islam fail as a political system. Devout Muslim leaders have been overrun by other Muslims in search of more rights. The tension has undoubtedly rubbed off on Muslims who live elsewhere around the globe.

Questions are stirring in the minds of many Muslims. In fact, in the last 10 years, more Muslims have come to faith in Christ than over the last 1,400 years combined. This exponential growth in interest toward Christianity presents the Christian world with an urgent responsibility.

“If we have the cure for sin, it is not right that we keep the cure,” says Masri.

There is clearly a need for believers to engage in conversations and friendships with Muslims. Crescent Project’s Paul Keller says when Muslims have come to Christ, “One of the overriding reasons was just the love and friendship of a believer in their lives. They saw that a Christian loved them and cared for them, and they got to see the Gospel in that context.”

Engaging in a dialogue-much less friendship-with a Muslim can be extremely intimidating, though, for believers who don’t know much about Muslim culture or have never had much of an opportunity to get to know a Muslim before. Plus, the wrong approach can be about as ineffective as the right approach can be effective. How can believers meet this alarming need to tell Muslims about their true Hope if they know little about how to approach the situation?

One simple answer? Sahara Challenge.??”It’s training on what Muslims believe, what they practice,” Keller says of the intensive week-long training. “We’ll be talking about how we can prepare ourselves spiritually and how to be an ambassador and really represent ourselves well as we talk to Muslims. We’ll be very well-equipped with tools in our toolbox on how to overcome common objections that Muslims have to the Gospel and to Christianity.”

The Sahara Challenge will prepare believers to ask the right questions, will debunk misconceptions about Islam, and expose misconceptions Muslims have about Christianity. These are all important components to healthy friendship and conversation.

The week-long conference will be held at Loyola University in Chicago, Illinois, just minutes away from a mostly Muslim Pakistani community. Participants will have the opportunity to practice what they have learned throughout the week by engaging in conversation with people in the community. For even more experience, those at Sahara Challenge will have the option to join a short-term trip in the U.S. or overseas as well.

Any believer could benefit from this training, but particularly believers who have a heart for or are in frequent contact with Muslims. Literally millions of people are waiting to hear the Good News and may never get the chance if believers are not intentional about reaching out to them.

Terry Jones is at it again. The Florida pastor who made international media headlines by planning to burn the Koran on 9/11 last year is heading to Detroit to protest against Islamic law and rule outside the Islamic Center of America.

The Detroit Free Press is reporting that a group of Christian and Muslim leaders are set to speak out today in a Detroit church against Jones. Rev. Charles Williams II, pastor of King Solomon Baptist Church in Detroit, told the Free Press that Jones is bringing “a message of hate.”

Jones was widely criticized for planning to burn 200 Korans on the ninth anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. President Obama said the move would be a “recruitment bonanza for al Qaeda.”

Christian leaders also widely denounced the plan, with Samaritan’s Purse founder Franklin Graham urging Jones to cancel the event and the Vatican calling Jones’ effort “outrageous and grave.”

Jones cancelled his “International Burn a Koran Day,” but that didn’t stop members of his Gainesville, Fla. church from leaving. Jones attributed the exodus to a disinterest in hearing the “truth” about radical Islam.

The controversy and the lost church members have not stopped Jones from his campaign. He has yet to burn the Koran, but continues to keep his name in media headlines with his quest to draw attention to radical Islam.

Adrienne Gaines contributed to this article.

Two quakes rattled Burma within seconds of each other late Thursday.

The temblors struck near the borders with China, Thailand and Laos but did not present an immediate tsunami risk. Initial readings from the U.S. Geological Survey showed the quake measuring at 6.8.

Dyann Romeijn with Vision Beyond Borders says, “Chiangrai and Chiangmai were the hardest-hit population centers, although we’re not hearing that there was extensive damage. They were still a ways from the epicenter; the quake, it sounds like, was more in some rural areas.”

VBB had a team on the ground in the region where the quake struck. “We actually have contacted our contacts inside Burma to see what the story is from inside [the country], but at this point, we have not heard anything back from them,” says Romeijn.

Vision Beyond Borders works in Karen refugee camps in Burma. “We work with local contacts there to try to bring food, we help build buildings,” Romeijn explains, “try to provide schooling for these children, work a lot with medical care, and just meet basic needs.”

Over the weekend, Burmese soldiers attacked the KT Children’s Home because they wanted to reclaim the territory belonging to the Karen National Union. “It sounds like they’re actually coming closer and closer to these refugee camps with the fighting and actually trying to get into the camps themselves,” Romeijn says.

On Sunday, fighting came close to the camp with the KT Home. By Tuesday, there were 100 Burmese soldiers about 20 minutes away from the Karen soldiers’ base across the river from the KT Children’s Home. Four hundred other Burmese soldiers are 25 kilometers away and were expected to meet up with the first unit.

A VBB team member summarizes it this way, “We need a major miracle. We have about 20-30 Karen soldiers defending their territory, and 500 Burmese soldiers are on the way to get it.”

The earthquake may actually have been an answer to prayer. Romeijn explains: “With the fighting that close to the camp, I would also hope that possibly it was something that God could use to send the army back, to protect the people. We’re just praying that God will use it to accomplish His purposes. “

The team member writes that “the children are very well aware of the dangers but are also trusting God that He will protect them. God has rescued these children already many times, and we know He will do it again and again.”

After what looked like good news earlier in the week, the Japanese government is signaling that the danger at Fukushima nuclear power plant is far from over.

In fact, Japanese authorities have called on residents who live within 19 miles of the plant to evacuate.

The concern is getting food and water into an area where the threat of radiation is persistent and growing. Radiation has already seeped into some food supplies and people there are being warned not to eat certain foods. The evacuation order is so far voluntary, but that could change if the crisis is not contained swiftly.

Naoto Kan, Japan’s Prime Minister, took to the airwaves to address the nation. The Washington Post reports that Kan said: “I ask the people in the devastated areas to summon the courage to keep moving forward. I encourage the Japanese public to strengthen our unity and to work with our hearts as one to overcome this disaster.”

According to the National Police Agency, the death toll in Japan has now climbed to more than 10,000 in the wake of the 9 magnitude earthquake and tsunami on March 11. More than 17,000 are still missing. Meanwhile, it’s possible that damage to nuclear reactor number 3 is worse than initially thought and radiation could be leaking into the air, the Post reports.

“The situation at the Fukushima Daiichi power plant is still very grave and serious,” Kan said. “We must remain vigilant. We’re trying to prevent a deterioration of the situation and we are still not in a position where we can be optimistic. We must treat every development with utmost care.”

Photo courtesy Samaritan’s Purse.

The United States strongly condemned the Syrian government’s brutal repression of demonstrations in the Middle Eastern nation. According to the AFP, more than 100 people were killed on Wednesday as security forces clashed with activists.

In particular, White House spokesman Jay Carney cited the violence and killings of civilians at the hands of security forces. 

“We reject the use of violence under any circumstances. We are also deeply troubled by the arbitrary arrests of human rights activists and others. 

“Those responsible for the violence must be held accountable. The United States stands for a set of universal rights, including the freedom of expression and peaceful assembly, and believes that governments must be responsive to the legitimate aspirations of their people. 

“We call on the Syrian government to exercise restraint and respect the rights of its people and call on all citizens to exercise their rights peacefully.”

The Alawite-controlled Baath party has ruled the nation of Syria for nearly five decades. Large protests there are demanding change.

The violence in Gaza is escalating. In the wake of a terrorist attack in Jerusalem on Wednesday, Palestinian militants continued firing rockets into southern Israel. Israel launched new airstrikes in Gaza.

Islamic Jihad, a Middle Eastern terrorist group, claimed responsibility for Thursday’s rocket fire. However, Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak said the nation holds Hamas, a Sunni Muslim extremist group that won free elections in the Gaza Strip in 2006, responsible. Hamas said it wants to “restore calm” and would not attack. And Israeli’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has made it clear that the nation will not be passive about terrorism.

Terrorism is nothing new to David Rubin, former mayor of Shiloh, Israel. Rubin was driving home from a dentist appointment with his three-year-old son, Ruby, when Palestinian terrorists opened fire on the vehicle just outside Ramallah many years ago. One tracer bullet hit Rubin in the leg. Another hit little Ruby in the back of the head. Doctors said surviving the drive-by shooting was a miracle.

Charisma magazine caught up with Rubin, author of the Islamic Tsunami, to get his perspectives on what these new attacks against Israel mean in light of the unrest in the Middle East and whether or not Israel should prepare for war.

Charisma: What’s your reaction to Wednesday’s terrorist attack in Jerusalem?

Rubin: It was bound to happen sooner or later. The Israeli army reserved the right to enter all of the Palestinian autonomous cities whenever necessary and has been doing that. Therefore, the Palestinian’s ability to create bomb and weapons factories has been greatly reduced. As far as launching terrorist attacks, that makes it a lot harder.

Charisma: But that has changed with the revolution in Egypt. The border between Egypt and Gaza is no longer as secure. So what’s the reality?

Rubin: Israel is a little country the size of Delaware. We can’t afford to look at situations through rose-colored glasses. We have to recognize the reality for what it is. What we see all around us is a continuation of the Islamic revolution. The question in the Islamic world is, who is going to head the Islamic tsunami? Will it be the Sunnis of Saudi Arabia or the Shiites as represented by Iran? That is really what is going on in the Middle East today.

Charisma: How much of the timing of the terrorist attack in Jerusalem is connected with the Egyptian revolution?

Rubin: It’s a continuation of the extremism in the Islamic world. The Islamic terrorist groups in the Islamic world gain popularity by how many terrorist attacks they are able to carry out. So the efforts are clearly going to be there more and more.

It didn’t make the news in a lot of places around the world, but there was an Israeli family in Samaria that a little over a week ago, on Sabbath night, had terrorists come into their home and kill three of the children—all under 11 years of age—and both the parents. There were three other children who survived the attack.  After the attack, their bodies were cut up into pieces. They were totally butchered.

This is very common in the Islamic world. People don’t like to face up to this barbarity because the implications are too unpleasant, but that is what we’re facing here. The so-called Palestinians, who are basically the Muslims of the land of Israel, look at the world very differently.  They don’t look at things through Western eyes.

For a while the terrorists were keeping kind of quiet partially because, as I said, the Israeli army was preventing it, but also because it was in their interest. They felt they were going to get an independent Palestinian state, which would be a terrorist state in the heartland of Israel.

Recently, it seems like those chances have been diminished. Israel is starting to wake up to the fact that there is no real partner for peace there and, as result, the terrorist groups are starting to compete again to see who can launch the most attacks.

I predict that there is going to be an increase in terrorist attacks against Israel in the days to come.

Charisma: Do you expect a war in the Middle East? 

Rubin: Absolutely. There is not a question. It’s certainly coming. There has been a pattern in recent years. It used to be that when terrorist launched attacks, Israel would respond—and respond disproportionately so the terrorists would know immediately that you just don’t do that. In the recent years since the so-called peace process started, Israel has been very wary about attacking and responding in a strong way. That’s a big problem because it’s hurt our deterrence. 

Instead of letting the Palestinians launch 50 mortar attacks and then just respond with a few rockets, Israel needs to respond twice as hard. Every time they attack, we attack twice as hard. It’s just basic common sense. But up to this point, it is not happening. And because of that, the terrorists are encouraged. They continue. They raise the ante. They increase the terrorism. As result of that, it’s going to lead to a war because ultimately we’re going to have to fight back and hit back hard.

Believers in Vietnam are passionate to reach their nation with the Gospel.

Evangelist Luis Palau says, “The churches in Vietnam are far more fired up, I’ll be honest with you, than the churches in the USA, with regards to training people, preparing them, and motivating them. They are eager to win people to Jesus Christ; they want to be trained.”

Although the church is good at winning souls one-on-one, they admittedly need help to train preaching evangelists and to gain unity between north and south Vietnam, as well as between unregistered and registered churches.

Out of their excitement to spread the gospel, unregistered and registered churches alike have asked Palau to come to Vietnam to help their people move forward in faith and in progress. Even governing officials have welcomed Palau to the country.

What could cause an atheistic country such eagerness for an evangelical believer? Palau entered Vietnam for the first time last year, revving people up with the reality of full-life transformation that should take place when someone accepts Christ. The concept is covered in Palau’s February 2011 release of the book, Changed by Faith.

“What we did with this book Changed by Faith is demonstrate what the Bible teaches: when you come to Christ, not only does your own mind change, your emotions change, and your spiritual life [changes],” Palau says. “It begins to change your relationship with your family and your attitudes at work. You begin to have an impact on society around you: in the neighborhood at first, then it spreads out through the local churches. It can even, in many cases, touch nations.”

This is the message Palau brought and will bring to Vietnam. Officials agreed that in order for the nation to move forward, people needed to hear Palau’s message.

This, of course, provides an unparalleled opportunity for the gospel to move ahead in the historically oppressed nation.

“Some of the ministry I’m going to have will be about the spiritual life of God’s leaders there. My son Andrew Palau [will] train people in mass evangelism and preaching evangelism,” Palau says. “Then we’ll speak to the nation that the presence of Jesus Christ is a source of blessing to the nation because it transforms individuals, it changes them by faith in Jesus Christ, and it makes them better citizens-respectful citizens, and by God’s mercy, I even believe prosperous citizens.”

The Vietnamese church has great expectations for Palau’s month-long visit to the country in April. They have told Palau, “We want 10 percent of the country converted by 2020.” Palau says the one million more the church hopes to welcome to the Kingdom by 2023 is doable with the Lord’s help, but prayer is certainly in order.

People are earnestly seeking truth in Vietnam. Pray that people will be changed by the power of the Spirit as they hear the Gospel for the first time. Pray that, in a country often riddled with persecution, believers would not be afraid to attend training. Pray that every government-promised permit would truly go through so that the Luis Palau Association might be free to train and reach out to Vietnam during the month of April.

Palau’s message for transformation is not just for Vietnam. People across the globe have already been transformed through Changed by Faith, and of course ultimately, Christ. Palau’s book encourages readers with amazing stories of transformation, including that of a woman who was planning to kill Palau when she came face-to-face with Jesus Christ.