Deported for owning a Bible

By Vishal Arora
 
NEW DELHI, October 21 (Compass Direct News- used with permission) – Police in the island nation of Maldives held a teacher from India for about 15 days before deporting him on Oct. 14 for having a Bible in his house, a source said.
 
Shijo Kokkattu, a 30-year-old Catholic and teacher at the Raafainu School in Raa Atoll, had been arrested in late September after police found a Bible and a rosary in his house during a raid, a foreign source in the capital city of Male told Compass by phone.

Reading the Bible aloud

As this story goes live at Eternity, the King James  New Testament  is being read aloud by Ashfield Baptist Church in inner west Sydney. The “Bible Relay” is expected to last 18 hours from 5am to 11pm.

The man who is preaching to the Queen

Joshua Maule

It will be a Sunday morning literally 'fit for the Queen' as St John's Anglican Church in Canberra hosts Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II this week.

As the Queen continues her Australian tour, she elected to attend a "normal worship service". "But when the Queen comes," says the Rev Paul Black, Rector of St John's, "there's no such thing as normal."

Tim Costello on a special Sunday

Sunday 20th November is Abolitionist Sunday. Two hundred years ago, Christians were at the very forefront of efforts to abolish the evil of slavery. I have spoken and written in this column previously of the work of William Wilberforce, the Quaker movement and other groups who worked for decades to rid the British Empire of slavery. But even beyond this instance of slavery, we see God working for freedom from oppression and slavery all throughout history.

Christians plan to shine at CHOGM

Perth 20 October 2011:   Queen Elizabeth’s arrival in Australia signals the start of CHOGM 2011, the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Perth.  To celebrate  CHOGM,   an historical King James Bible – brought over on the First Fleet in 1788, and signed by Elizabeth ll on earlier visits to Australia – has arrived in Perth from St Philip's York St Church, Sydney.

Elaine Nile passes away UPDATE

Elaine Blanche Nile (born 20th March 1936, passed away 18th October, 2011) was a former Australian politician. Born in Waterloo in Sydney, she was a comptometrist from 1951 to 1958 and a police matron at Darlinghurst Court from 1977 to 1981. From 1981 to 1986 she was manager of the Australian Christian Solidarity Paper. She was also an organiser and lecturer at Gardiner's Road High School in Mascot.

In 1958, she married Fred Nile, leader of the Call to Australia group (later the Christian Democratic Party) in the New South Wales Legislative Council from 1981. Elaine was elected to the Legislative Council for Call to Australia in 1988, and served until her retirement due to ill health in 2002.
(From Wiki)

Mine eyes do fail with tears

Roy Williams on the answers in the Bible to the problem of evil
Bad things happen in the world.  Ghastly, terrible things, like genocide, paedophilia and the carnage of war.  There are shocking natural calamities and the countless daily travails of individual human beings.
Perhaps worst of all is the creeping evil of apathy.  According to the World Hunger Education Service, the human race produces enough food to feed everyone on the planet, but 925 million people are undernourished.  Poor nutrition causes 5-6 million child deaths each year.

Family under pressure says ACL

John Sandeman at the Australian Christian Lobby National conference

Richard Eckersley, formerly of the Commission of the Future and a one time SMH science writer took aim at the idea that life is getting better for young people. He compared two competing views on young people.

“The ‘official view’ is this is the healthiest  current generation of young people  with mortality rates declining” said Eckersley. “In this view troubled youth are an island in a sea of happiness.”

“But there’s a ‘new story’. Those stats don’t reflect non-fatal chronic problems experienced by young people. Troubled youth, in this view are the tip of an iceberg.”

A miracle in Egypt

"Today was the third day of fasting and prayer. Many of our staff in the Diocese of Egypt, having this story in mind, were expecting a miracle to happen today or tomorrow; a miracle that can show how God will rescue His Church!"

How consumerism eats kids

Mark Hadley

It was the morning of my son’s seventh birthday when I first began to sense the true impact of consumerism on my kids. We’d woken up at the customary ungodly hour and were perched on the end of the bed watching him open his presents. Number Two son had made no secret of the thing he’d hoped to receive for the nine months preceding the big day. Happily we’d been able to both afford and locate that present, so we were anticipating some big smiles. We got them – he literally screamed with delight. Then just as quickly, he turned the box over to show his brother the pictures of the other things he wanted. What followed was an animated discussion about what they were looking forward to for Christmas, for their next birthday … The actual contents of the box had been forgotten. At the very moment they might have been celebrating what they had, an advertisement had moved them on to what they were yet to get.

Reaching a new youth tribe

Karen Mudge

A ‘Digital Native’ is someone who has grown up in a digital and web-connected world. How can Christians effectively share the gospel with and nurture faith in ‘Digital Natives’? 

This and other  stimulating topics were addressed at the National Youth Ministry Convention (NYMC) in Brisbane from 5^th-8^th October.

A call for Prayer from Egypt

Dr. Mouneer Hanna Anis, Anglican Bishop of Egypt, has issued a call for prayer after the riots in Cairo

Dear Friends,

Greetings in the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ!

I do request your urgent prayers as the situation here in Cairo is very inflamed. Many Christians demonstrated after the incident of the burning of a church building in Mari Nab near Aswan (Egypt). The demonstrations started peacefully as the people were requesting that investigations for the incidents of burning and demolishing churches would be completed and the new law for building churches, that was promised four months ago, would be passed.

As a new model NIV bible comes out, many churches face a choice

Sandy Grant writes a great review of the how a church might choose a new pew Bible now that a new version of the NIV has arrived.

"It’s fine to use a variety of English translations for our own private study and edification. Also in some small groups of sufficient experience and educational level, the use of multiple versions can bring additional insight. But the big question is this: how do you decide which translation to go with at church? It’s a big decision, which we must live with for a generation, as we can’t afford to change every few years."

He writes on the website of matthiasmedia which imported the ESV a few years ago. But he suggests the new NIV11 and the Holman Bible are the ones to choose from.

http://www.matthiasmedia.com/briefing/2011/10/after-the-niv-then-what/

Behind the Egyptian Riots

More than 20 people have died in riots in Egypt, as Coptic Christians protested in central Cairo.

Christian news agency Compass Direct News provided this description of the church burning that set off the riots.

Glad to be a Wog

From an Eternity special reporter

In a scene reminiscent of Acts chapter 2, representatives from dozens of Mediterranean nations (and a few skips) gathered for the inaugural 'Wogs For Christ' conference on Saturday 8 October.

Fittingly, the venue was Rooty Hill's Multicultural Bible Ministry in Western Sydney where senior pastor, Ray Galea shared his vision for the conference to grow to 1,000 delegates within five years. Why, because Jesus loves wogs. After all, how many of us can claim that St Paul visited our ancestral homelands!