Christian News

15 January 2001

* 4 FEBRUARY - SANCTITY LIFE SUNDAY, 1 FEBRUARY - DAY OF REPENTANCE - Africa Christian Action has sent out a call to all who support the right to life of pre-born babies to observe Thursday, 1 February, the 4th anniversary of the legalisation of abortion on demand in South Africa, as a day of repentance and prayer. A prayer vigil is to be held outside the main gates of Parliament Cape Town between 12:30 and 1:30pm. Since 1st February 1997, over 120 000 (this is a conservative estimate) have been killed in South Africa - by abortion - legally. Churches are encouraged to proclaim the message of the sanctity of life in their sermons on Sunday, 4 February. (For more information and literature orders contact Africa Christian Action, Tel (021) 689-4481; e-mail: acaction@intekom.co.za)

* ZAMBIA WITHDRAWS CONDOM ADVERTS -  Zambia's state-owned television has withdrawn all anti-Aids campaign advertisements on the use of condoms, following criticism that the campaign promotes immorality, a television spokesperson said yesterday. "We have suspended the condom advertisements after listening to the public outcry," said Ben Kangwa, head of public relations at the Zambia National Broadcasting Corporation. Education Minister Godfrey Miyanda has criticised condom commercials shown on TV, saying they promote promiscuity. Church leaders and the Muslim community also condemned the campaign. HIV/Aids affects about 20% of Zambia's adults, according to Sapa. (Star, 12 January 2001)

* VIRGINITY PLEDGES PROVE EFFECTIVE - A government study published in the American Journal of Sociology found that the public pledges teenagers make to remain virgin, seem to work, at least for a while. Adolescents who took the pledge delayed having sex one-third longer - an average of 18 months - than their peers. The pledge was more effective among 16- and 17-year-olds than 18-year-olds. ...About 2.5 million teen-agers made the pledges in the 1990s, according to the report, The National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health. The "virginity pledge" movement began among Christian ministries such as True Love Waits and now includes about 80 independent  organizations. The pledgers are not just the "far-right religious kids," study co-author Peter Bearman of Columbia University said, according to news reports. "These are the kids you see at the mall." ...But whether the goal of the pledge - abstinence until marriage - has been met is uncertain. "We are still talking about delaying the onset of intercourse," not waiting until marriage, Jacqueline Darroch of the Alan Guttmacher Institute said. Researchers said they did not know how many teens who took the pledge actually refrained from sex until marriage. ...Jimmy Hester, an official with True Love Waits, told Religion Today that the report shows that the pledges make a significant difference in the lives of teen-agers even though not all teens follow through. The ministry is sponsoring a pledge sign-up over the Internet on Valentine's Day, Feb. 14. (Religion Today, 5 January 2001)

* BILLY GRAHAM'S SON CONTINUES TRADITION - Franklin Graham has been chosen to give the invocation at President-elect Bush's swearing-in ceremony on Saturday 20 January. Graham, 48, will fill in for his father, 82-year-old evangelist Billy Graham, whom Bush had asked to give the opening prayer, inaugural officials said. The elder Graham, sometimes called "the nation's pastor" because of a 50-year ministry and close association with nearly a dozen presidents, is ill and unable to attend. "It's a great honor," Franklin Graham said yesterday in a telephone interview. "Not only is it a chance to focus our nation on almighty God, but in a sense much of the world is watching, too. We need God's help in this nation. We need His leadership, His hand in every level of society." The Grahams and Bushes share a long history. Billy and Ruth Graham have vacationed with George and Barbara Bush for three decades. It was during a summer outing at Kennebunkport, Maine, in 1985, that George W. Bush talked with Billy Graham about his spiritual life and decided to quit drinking. (Washington Post, 16 January)

* GARDEN OF EDEN IN TURKEY, SAYS SCHOLAR - A California-based Biblical scholar, who recently found what may be the remains of Sodom and Gomorrah at the bottom of the Dead Sea, claims to have used satellite photographs from the U.S. space agency to locate the Garden of Eden - in eastern Turkey. Michael Sanders, director of expeditions for the Mysteries of the Bible Research Foundation in Irvine, Calif., said careful study of satellite photographs taken by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration proves the Bible's description of the Garden of Eden is completely, and literally, accurate. The Book of Genesis in the Bible says: "A river went out of Eden to water the garden; and from thence it was parted, and became into four heads." It goes on to identify the four rivers as the Pison, the Gihon, the Hiddekel and the Euphrates. For years, Biblical scholars have debated the exact location and even the existence of Eden, a garden paradise from which Adam and Eve were expelled for eating the fruit of the tree of knowledge. (National Post)

* BRITAIN ORDERS CARIBBEAN ISLANDS TO LEGALIZE HOMOSEXUALITY - The British government has followed through with their threat to force the legalization of homosexuality on its Caribbean territories after having cajoled the Islands' legislators unsuccessfully. The Islands have devout Christian populations and their leaders have therefore refused to cave in to the foreign pressure but the British government decided to exert its imperial power over the Islands with an order from the British Privy Council decriminalizing homosexual acts. Nando Times reports that the order takes effect this week and applies to Anguilla, the Cayman Islands, the British Virgin Islands, Montserrat and the Turks and Caicos. Responding to the order, Rev. Nicholas Sykes, chief pastor of the Church of England in the Cayman Islands said, "This is totally unacceptable to the minds of the Christian community here." (Weekend News Today, 9 January 2001)

* TV STATION TO CLOSE FOR A DAY OVER POKEMON - (Ankara) Turkish broadcasting authorities have ordered private television station ATV to close for a day for airing the Japanese cult cartoon Pokemon, Anatolia news agency said. The council said it based its decision on a report from the health ministry, which said the programme incited child violence. The cartoon is a favourite of thousands of Turkish children. The scientific committee report said Pokemon "facilitated the indifference of children towards violence in an atmosphere of play," Anatolia said. The report stated that the cartoon "caused confusion between good and bad and reduced the perception of danger." It also said some children were creating serious economic problems for their parents by putting pressure on them to buy the numerous games and accessories based on the programme. The report advised television stations to consult psychologists before deciding to broadcast the cartoon. (Sapa-AFP 2000 News24, 7 December 2000)

* PRO-ABORTION GROUPS FACE CUT-OFF OF FUNDS FROM BUSH -President-elect George W. Bush has signaled he's likely to cut off federal funds for family planning groups that promote or perform abortions overseas. "Organizations that promote abortions are organizations I don't want to support" with American tax funds, Bush told The New York Times in an interview published 14 January. Bush can do that with an executive order, reversing a policy President Clinton put into effect two days after taking office. Clinton and the GOP-controlled Congress cut a deal in October providing $425 million in federal funds for such groups but delaying the spending until Feb. 15 so the new president could set the policy. Many pro-choice advocacy groups, like Planned Parenthood and the National Organization for Women, are actively involved in the fight to block Bush's choice for attorney general, right-to-lifer John Ashcroft. Ashcroft, President-elect Bush's nominee for attorney general, told a conservative South Carolina college two years ago that America was founded by deeply religious colonists and ``we have no king but Jesus.'' Ashcroft has come under criticism from liberal organizations who say his conservative ideology might interfere with the attorney general's duties to enforce civil rights and other federal protections. (Nypost.com, 14 January 2001; YahooNews, 12 January 2001)

* SALVATION ARMY LOSES OFFICIAL STATUS IN MOSCOW - The Moscow branch of the Salvation Army is since the first week of January an unregistered organization, its religious and charitable activities devoted to the city's neediest curtailed as the result of a court ruling late last year. A landlord has given notice on offices used by the Salvation Army, while another, whose venue the organization has rented for Sunday church services, has told it to get out, Colonel Kenneth Baillee, head of the organization in Russia, said. Meanwhile one of the charitable programs, the provision of hot meals three times a week to elderly, frail Muscovites in their homes, has come to a sudden halt. Baillee explained that the district social service office "gave us the names and addresses of the people most needy and we bought the food and organized the volunteers to deliver it. The district supervisor called up ... and said: 'We understand you're not going to be registered so we can't cooperate with you.' " The organization's other charity work includes helping prisoners, the lonely, drug and alcohol addicts, neglected children and people with Aids. Part of the problem seemed to relate to officials' concerns about the militaristic terminology used historically by the 135-year-old organization, which in one  court case in 2000 was described as "militarized" and "fascist." Numerous other religious groups, especially those considered foreign in origin, were also affected by the re-registration requirement.(CNSNews.com, 2 January 2001)                                                  

* TOUGHER STAND ON MARRIAGE AND MINISTRY QUALIFICATIONS NEEDED, SAYS HAYFORD - A senior church statesman has warned that a spate of high profile Christian divorces has brought the church to a point of crisis. Jack Hayford, founding pastor of The Church on the Way in Van Nuys, Calif.,  says that if churches do not take a tougher stand against divorce, especially among leaders, they are opening themselves to being led dangerously astray.  Hayford says that too many churches are unaware of the clear biblical qualifications for ministry leadership - which include marital commitment and moral fidelity - and many churches fail to apply biblical leadership standards - which might include a time away from ministry - when these standards are violated. "Our society lauds and pays its athletes, entertainers and persuasive leaders just as long as they 'keep the show on the road,' but that's not the measure God calls the church to apply. Character, not merely charisma, is the mark of a spiritual leader." Hayford warns that if churches continue to get marriage wrong, there "is reason to prophesy widespread deception on other issues" too. "The 'itching ears' characteristic forecast for the last days represents the mind-set of some of those in church leadership today. It's a setup for delusion with disastrous consequences."  (Charisma News)

* 'JERUSALEM SYNDROME' STRIKES MAN NEAR TEMPLE MOUNT - A man claiming to be the Messiah arrived at one of the gates near the Temple Mount earlier on 15 January. Dressed in white, he was riding a donkey and requested to enter the walled compound. The 37-year-old man said he was Jewish and told the police he had bathed in the Siloam Pool (Gihon stream), located just outside of the walls of the Old City in the City of David. Police took him into custody for questioning, according to an Army Radio report. (Jerusalem Post, 15 January)