St. Petersburg, FL - Mar 31, 2008 - Bill Keller, the world's leading Internet Evangelist and the founder of LivePrayer.com, has received numerous death threats from Muslims who want him dead for posting the controversial anti-Muslim movie trailer FITNA on his website. Fitna is a film by Dutch politician Geert Wilders, leader of the Party for Freedom (PVV) in the Dutch parliament. The movie offers his view on Islam and the Qur'an.
The film's title comes from the Arabic word fitna which is used to describe "disagreement and division among people", or a "test of faith in times of trial". The sixteen minute movie shows a selection of Suras from the Qur'an, interspersed with partial newspaper clippings and media clips. The movie is accompanied by music from the Peer Gynt suite by Edvard Grieg.
When asked why Liveprayer would put such a movie on their website Keller responded, "People have been lulled to sleep thinking that terror is caused by a handful of extremists. That is not the case. All Muslims read from the same book, and to obey "allah," are expected to obey what their holy book teaches. That includes death to all infidels, or those who won't covert to their false religion, and ruling the world. This film is very graphic, but people need to see and know what Islam is really about, converting the world to their false beliefs through terror and death!"
Live Leak, a British video-sharing website pulled the movie after the organization reported "serious" threats to its staff members. "Following threats to our staff of a very serious nature, and some ill informed reports from certain corners of the British media that could directly affect thesafety of some staff members, LiveLeak has been left with no other choice but to remove FINTA from our servers. This is a sad day for freedom of speech on the net but we have to place the safety and well being of our staff above all else." the organization said.
The movie can be viewed at: http://liveprayer.com/fitna.cfm
About Bill Keller
The press has crowned him the Dr. Phil of Prayer and the next big thing in mass media religion. Bill Keller is the host of Live Prayer with Bill Keller, the nation¹s only live call-in faith and values-based program airing exclusively on the internet. The program deals head-on with issues ranging from divorce, homosexuality, abortion, sexual abuse, pornography, drug addiction, radical Islam, race relations, spousal abuse, false prophets and more, from a conservative, biblical worldview. Live Prayer is unscripted and unedited, giving it a fresh and totally spontaneous approach to problem solving. The program can be seen live, Monday through Friday from 10PM to 12AM EST, and 24/7 through programs archived on LivePrayer.com. Live Prayer with Bill Keller is positioned to become the world¹s most-watched internet television broadcast. For information please visit www.liveprayer.com.
About Live Prayer.com
In 1999, Keller launched LivePrayer.com, which has become the most successful online faith outreach in history. Since its inception, LivePrayer.com has responded personally to more than 60 million online requests for prayer. Additionally, Keller¹s Live Prayer devotional is received daily by nearly 2.5 million email subscribers, making Keller devotional one of the most read e-communications in the world. For information on where to watch Live Prayer in your area, visit www.liveprayer.com
Media Contact:
Bill Keller
727-420-7005
bkeller@liveprayer.com
Posted by Walt as Ministries, News Events, Persecuted Church at 8:16 PM EDT
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Shootings in Colorado Highlight the Fact that Christians and Churches are the Overwhelming Target of Hate Crimes in America
MEDIA ADVISORY, Dec. 11 /Christian Newswire/ — The tragic shootings in Colorado highlight the fact that Christians and churches are the overwhelming target of hate crimes in America.
For example, between 1997 and 2007 there were 3,500 acts of either arson, attempted arson, bombings and suspicious fires at churches according to the National Coalition for Burned Churches.
The group also reports that 600 churches were subjected to arson alone between 2000 and 2006.
Commenting on the Christian faith being the number target for hate crimes and violence in America, Rev. Patrick J. Mahoney, Director of the Christian Defense Coalition, comments; Â
“First of all, our prayers and thoughts go out the families and friends that lost loved during the deadly shootings in Colorado during the past several days. These deaths in Colorado highlight the fact that Christians and churches are the overwhelming target of violent hate crimes in America. Â
For many Americans, the fact comes as a surprise. Most would believe that the groups or facilities most likely to be targets of hate crimes are persons of color, gays, Muslims or abortion clinics. The reason for that is the national press, media, elected officials and special interest groups focus, dramatize and over report when those groups and facilities are subjected to violent acts.
Imagine the media outrage if over 600 mosques, abortion clinics, gay night clubs or NAACP offices were burned to the ground over the past several years. It would be a major news story for weeks. Yet, when hundreds of churches are burned and Christians are killed there is a much more limited and lukewarm response.
We must all work for an America where violence has no place and people are not targeted for acts of hate because of their skin color, religious beliefs or gender. However, we must begin to recognize that the most serious problem regarding violent hate crimes America concerns churches and Christians.”
Posted by Walt as News Events, Persecuted Church at 6:32 AM EST
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WASHINGTON, DC — Attorneys for The Rutherford Institute have filed a First Amendment lawsuit in federal court in defense of a Navy chaplain’s right to offer sectarian prayers in Jesus’ name. The lawsuit, filed on behalf of Chaplain Gordon Klingenschmitt against the Department of the Navy, charges that the Navy’s current policy places limits on how Christian chaplains can publicly pray and forbids them from praying “in Jesus’ name.” Institute attorneys are asking the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to declare that the Navy’s practice of censoring Christian prayers violates the U.S. Constitution as well as Chaplain Klingenschmitt’s First and Fourteenth Amendment rights.
“The Constitution is clear about the fact that the government is prohibited from establishing a religion,” said John W. Whitehead, president of The Rutherford Institute. “However, by directing and controlling the content of prayers offered by military chaplains, the military is essentially establishing its own civic religion in violation of the Constitution’s Establishment Clause.”
In 1998, a memo issued by the Navy Chief of Chaplains discouraged chaplains from invoking the name of Jesus when they pray at public events. This instruction was later embodied in an instruction from the Secretary of the Navy which provided that “religious elements for a command function, absent extraordinary circumstances, should be non-sectarian in nature.” Chaplain Klingenschmitt resisted these directives on the basis of a federal statute providing that chaplains “may conduct public worship according to the manner and forms of the church of which he is a member.” The complaint alleges that Chaplain Klingenschmitt received adverse fitness reports, reprimands, and was brought up for court martial because of his objection to these directives. The complaint also alleges that the military’s recent attempt to separate Chaplain Klingenschmitt from the Navy is the latest in a recurring series of violations of his constitutional rights because of “his objection to Navy policies that seek to establish a civic religion for the Navy in violation of the Establishment Clause.” The Navy initiated the separation proceedings against Chaplain Klingenschmitt on the grounds that he had lost the church endorsement necessary to serve as a military chaplain. However, in the lawsuit, Rutherford Institute attorneys counter that the separation proceedings violate Navy and military regulations because Chaplain Klingenschmitt received a new church endorsement before the lapse of his previous endorsement and the separation is being considered by a chaplain review board that has no authority to consider such matters. Having spent more than 15 years in active duty in the U.S. military, Chaplain Gordon Klingenschmitt is currently on active duty in the Navy’s Chaplain Corps at Norfolk Naval Station.
Click here to view a copy of this brief.
Posted by Walt as Constitutional Issues, News Events, Persecuted Church at 9:26 PM EST
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(September 21, 2006) The Washington-DC based human rights group, International Christian Concern (ICC) www.persecution.org has just become informed that the three Christian men facing the death penalty in Indonesia have been executed by firing squad. The men were executed just after midnight on Friday, September 22, 2006, Indonesia time.
“Justice has once again been denied Indonesia’s Christians,” said Jeremy Sewall, ICC Policy Analyst. I am deeply saddened at this news, and ask all concerned Christians to pray for the families of these men. This is a tragedy. This is not justice.”
After their execution was stayed last month by the Attorney General for Central Sulawesi, Mohammad Yahya Sibe, he was suddenly replaced. He was the one who had to give the order for the executions to proceed. The Chief of Police was also suddenly replaced and sent to another department. The appeal for these men that should have lasted months or even a year to process was denied within weeks.
Tibo, Riwu, and Da Silva, all Christian, were the only men charged in the Poso conflict, even though the conflict started in 1998 and went till 2003. This is a glaring injustice and hints of a massive coverup by the Indonesian government. ICC has personally investigated the Poso conflict. Entire Christian villages were attacked with government munitions and burned down using Indonesian government fuel trucks. Christian adults and children were beheaded. The Muslim community initiated the attacks and there was every indication that local Muslim government leaders were involved. Why were no Muslims ever charged in any of the attacks?
“These men were sacrificed as scape-goats so that the Indonesian government could wash their hands and walk away from the Poso conflict of 1998 to 2003. But if Indonesia really wants to show the world they value truth, they should re-open the investigation into this conflict and find all those responsible for the violence,” stated Sewall.
Posted by Walt as Ministries, Persecuted Church at 3:52 PM EDT
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A special prayer request from K.P. Yohannan:
Dear Walter,
The freedom of millions of lost men, women and children to respond to the love and grace of Jesus Christ is in danger of being trampled down in the legislatures of two Indian states. I am writing to ask you to pray for this increasingly grave situation. Please read the full story.
Gospel for Asia regional leader M.A. Lalachan said the states of Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh have passed anti-conversion bills aimed at keeping people from responding to the Good News of Jesus Christ. He called for prayer for the hundreds of missionaries working in the two states, for the Bible college students there and for the hundreds of churches now under threat from anti-Christian state governments.
The laws, ironically called "Freedom of Religion" bills, require anyone wishing to change their religion to report it to the district collector 30 days in advance or face up to a year in jail and a 10,000-rupee (US$215) fine. It also gives the district collector the right to reject any application for conversion.
These laws, promoted by the fundamentalist BJP political party, are openly aimed at Christian missionaries and believers. Let us be in continuing prayer for our brothers and sisters in India, and ask God to defeat spiritual forces of evil that drive these desperate measures.
Be sure to read the complete story here.
May God continue to bless you.
Yours for the lost in Asia,
K.P. Yohannan
Founder & President
Gospel for Asia
Posted by Walt as Persecuted Church at 4:18 PM EDT
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I received the following emaiol from K.P. Yohannan, the Founder & President of Gospel for Asia. His email illustrates the fact that prayer will overcome the ruthless and relentless attacks against the persecuted Christians in Nepal of which he gives great thanks.
Dear Walter,
A revolution has taken place in Nepal, and it could have a major impact on the work of Gospel for Asia and other Christian ministries. I invite you to read the full story here:
http://www.gfa.org/gfa/newsupdate051906
On Thursday, the parliament of Nepal stripped the king of his powers and took the reins of government in the name of the Nepalese people. All of this came as a result of massive demonstrations on the part of the people, who expressed their unwillingness to either be ruled by a tyrant or intimidated by Maoist rebels, and after years of prayer by Christians.
One key provision of the new decrees is that instead of being known as "the world's only Hindu kingdom," the new Nepal will be a secular state. This could have major implications for Christians.
Please be in prayer for the people of Nepal, especially for our fellow believers and GFA leaders there.
Thank you for your prayers for Asia.
Yours for the unreached,
K.P. Yohannan
Founder & President
Posted by Walt as Persecuted Church at 9:55 PM EDT
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Heartbreaking True Stories inside China
By Rev. Bob Fu, President of China Aid Association
For the American people, practicing their faith regularly is a basic freedom taken for granted. However, they can hardly imagine that this basic right has been denied to Christian groups in China by the Chinese government.
The fact is, members of Christian house churches in China are constantly harassed, persecuted and even put behind bars by the Chinese government authority on the grounds of “illegal evil cult,” “illegal religious gathering or evangelizing,” and “non-registration with the relevant authority”.
The persecution against Protestant House Churches in China has been intensified. According to reliable reports by China Aid Association, from February to December 2005, at least 1317 confirmed arrests of house church pastors, leaders and believers occurred in over twenty provinces in China. 17 foreign missionaries including 11 Americans in about 10 different provinces were arrested at the same period of time. Most of the arrested were released after they were interrogated from 24 hours to several months. CAA confirmed reports with victims own testimonies showing inhumane torture against the arrested believers including coercion for evidence through drugging and other extremely inhumane abuse and torture by the interrogators from both Chinese Public Security officers and State Security agents. Religious groups which already have limited fundamental rights have been deemed a “cult” at any time and loose what legitimacy they previous held Foreigners were ordered to leave the country after hours of interrogation. On August 2, 2005, the two American theological students from Westminster Theological Seminary were treated brutally with handcuff after they were arrested at a bible study site in Zaoyang city, Hubei province. Both of them were denied rights to contact US Embassy as part of international consulate protection procedure guaranteed by US-China bilateral treaties.
Here are just a few examples:
On March 13, 2006, about 100 Public Security (police) officers raided a house church leadership meeting in Wenxian County, Henan Province in Central China, and took all 80 of the pastors into custody after searching them and confiscating any cash on them. According to interviews with several of the pastors who were later released, the police treated them very brutally. All were beaten with electric shock batons at police stations. Pastor Li Gongshe, 51, who is handicapped and showed the police his handicap certificate, was continuously beaten by a police officer named Wang in front of the police chief and the political director. Pastor Li was hospitalized for treatment of a broken rib caused by a police beating. One Christian lady, 21-year-old Ms. Shan Ailing, was forced by the police to strip during the interrogation at a local police station. The pastors were accused of holding an “illegal evil cult gathering” by the authorities; however, these pastors are believed to be part of the Henan Fangcheng Mother Church group which is known worldwide as an evangelical House Church group in China. Most of the released including a 15-year-old Christian girl Li Hongmin from Nanle County, Henan Province had experienced torture and abuse by interrogators during their 15 to 30 days detention time.
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Posted by Walt as Persecuted Church at 6:03 AM EDT
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For Soon Ok Lee a Christian survivor of North Koreaâs political prison
camps and author of âEyes of the Tailless Animals,â it certainly is. She still has the physical scars from her brutal treatment.
She writes: âThe prison camp that I was sent to is in Kae-Chon, which is in the southern province of Pyung-Yang. There are 6000 plus prisoners in there: 4000 plus males and 2000 plus females. Most of the prisoners are there for ridiculous reasons. Some are caught while traveling in places they didnât have the permits to go to in search of food. Some are mothers, who had complained that their children were starving to deathâŠthey wondered âwhy do I have to die like this? Why canât I eat till Iâm full, like people in other countriesâŠâ and people with these kinds of thoughts were considered to have bad ideology.
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Posted by Walt as Persecuted Church at 9:48 AM EDT
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According to CAA’s field investigators in China, 7 foreign evangelical church leaders including 5 Americans and 2 Taiwanese were interrogated for 5 hours on March 23, 2006. CAA issues heartbreaking true stories on persecution inside China.
At 9:30am, March 23, 2006, over 120 security officers from five different government agencies raided a conference building in the suburb of Kunming City, the capital of Yunnan Province. The government officers and military police came in two buses and 10 police cars.
Eighty Chinese house church leaders from 20 provinces were attending a fellowship meeting with Christian leaders from America. These 80 leaders represent 25 Chinese minority groups. The five Americans are from churches in Greensboro North Carolina. Among them two are white Americans and three are Chinese Americans. Since the two white American pastors are still inside China and some of the released Chinese pastors are still monitored by the Chinese security agents, their names are not available to the public according to one of the arrested pastors who came back to his home in the US.
CAA learned this raid was directly orchestrated by the director of the Public Security Bureau of Yunnan Province and carried out jointly by the officers from the provincial public security, national security, foreign affairs office, religious affairs bureau and military police officers. At 2 pm (Beijing Time), following a 5 hour marathon interrogation, all of those arrested were released and some are being followed back to their home provinces.
According to an eyewitness, the Chinese officers’ attitudes were very rude and they refused to show their IDs and even ate all of the food prepared for the pastors’ lunch. The foreign religious leaders were accused of being foreign religious infiltrators by their interrogators.
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Posted by Walt as Persecuted Church at 3:06 PM EDT
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When Christians seeking refuge in the Untied States and they are refused, there is something wrong with this picture. Especially since the UNHCR is part of the corrupt anti-Christian United Nations.
MAE HONG SONG, Thailand, April 3 /Christian Wire Service/ — Rie Htoo, 20, is ethnic Karen and was born in Burma. “My mother died when I was seven, my father died when I was 15,” Rie Htoo told Christian Freedom International. “I have two brothers and three sisters. I became a Christian when I was young.”
“In April 2002 we came to the refugee camp,” said Rie Htoo. “We had so many problems in Burma, our parents were dead. There was no future, no hope for us.”
Rie Htoo said, “Burmese soldiers would come to our village they would ask us to do things, they would point a gun at us and tell us to work. They would beat us. Life in Burma was very hard.”
After a long dangerous journey, Rie Htoo and her siblings arrived in a refugee camp in Thailand. “We lived with our uncle in the camp. Even though we don’t have parents we are happier in the camps,” said Rie Htoo.
As refugees Rie Htoo and her siblings are desperately trying to come to America. “We signed up with the UNHCR last December to be resettled to another country,” said Rie Htoo. “We can’t go back to Burma. The Burmese soldiers would kill us if we went back. There is no future in the refugee camps. I want to go to America to learn more so I can come back and help my people.”
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Posted by Walt as Persecuted Church at 7:06 AM EDT
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