Jesus Appears to Group of 72 Christians About to be Killed. The Miracle that Followed is Right out of the Acts of the Apostles

These Believers met Christ face-to-face and heard Him speak; they have experienced His miraculous deliverance.

Michael Ireland 
Assist News

Northern Nigeria is a dangerous place for Christians—especially for those who have left Islam to follow Christ. (Image: Displaced Nigerian Christians /via Aid to the Church in Need-Canada)

But BarnabasAid says God intervened in power to save 72 converts and their children from Boko Haram militants.

According to BarnabasAid, these Believers excel in courageous faith, they have met Christ face-to-face and heard Him speak, they have experienced His miraculous deliverance.

They cannot build themselves up by daily study of His Word—because they cannot read. Or they do not have a New Testament.

Christ Appears 

Their story begins with a group of 500 Nigerian Christian converts from Islam and their children.

It is not normal for this tribe to gather in such large numbers, but all of them had already been attacked by Boko Haram Islamist militants and they hoped that a larger group would give them a measure of security.

Boko Haram were not deterred. They attacked the group and captured 76, taking them back to their camp.

At the Boko Haram camp, the Christians were tortured, and their four male leaders were told they must deny Christ and return to Islam or they would be shot.

The four refused and were duly shot dead, in full view of the rest of the group.

A week later the four widows of the dead men were told they must renounce their Christian faith or their children would be shot. They were given time to think over this dreadful choice.

As they agonized together that evening, their excited children came running in, telling their mothers that Jesus had appeared to them and told them all would be well.

Jesus then appeared to the whole group of 72, and told them not to fear for He would protect them. He said they should not renounce Him but should stay strong, and that He was the Way, the Truth and the Life.

Deliverance from Evil

The next day, the four mothers gave their decision to the militants—they would not deny Christ.

The militants prepared to shoot the children, who were already lined up against a wall. The youngest was a little girl of four. Suddenly the militants began screaming and clawing at their own heads. Shouting "Snakes!" they fled the scene, and some of them dropped dead.

One of the Christian men reached for the gun of a dead militant but the four-year-old put her hand on his arm to stop him. 

"You don't need to do that," she said, "Can't you see the men in white fighting for us?" 

View Assist News story here

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Christian Doctor Faces Losing Medical License for Praying With Patients

"The fact is that prayer makes a difference" 

                                                               NHS in London, England. | Reuters/Toby Melville

By Samuel Smith

Christian Post

A Christian doctor is under investigation after a complaint was filed accusing him of praying and "evangelizing" to patients. 

Dr. Richard Scott, 58, a general practitioner at the Bethesda Medical Centre in Margate, Kent, England, is the subject of a fitness to practice inquiry launched by the General Medical Council after a complaint was filed by the National Secular Society. 

He is also reportedly being investigated by the National Health Service in England, according to The Telegraph. 

The National Secular Society said in the complaint filed in May that Scott, who has worked as a doctor for more than 20 years, made a “vulnerable” patient feel “discomfort at the use of prayer.” The allegation was made to the NSS by an acquaintance of the patient. 

"The acquaintance told the NSS that the patient felt unable to express discomfort and was not able to raise the matter formally or change GP practice,” the NSS contends in a news release. “The NSS wrote to the GMC and the local clinical commissioning group to highlight the case and ask how the bodies intended to protect patients' right to access health care free from evangelism.”

Scott received written notice on June 7 from the GMC saying that it had received “some information” from the NSS and that an investigation was underway.

GMC issued Scott a warning in 2012 after Scott was accused by the NSS of telling a patient "the devil haunts people who do not turn to Jesus.” Scott was also accused of expressing his religious beliefs in a manner that distressed a “psychologically troubled” patient. 

The head of the GMC at the time declared that Scott’s actions constituted “a significant departure from the principles in Good Medical Practice.” 

The NSS notes that Scott could have been fired if there was another complaint issued against him in the ensuing five years. But no complaints were made in that time. The NSS contends that there have been three informal complaints and one minor written complaint filed against Scott since 2017. 

NSS’ most recent complaint to the GMC also included comments Scott made on BBC's Radio 4earlier this year, in which he declared drug addiction to be a “relevant circumstance" for using faith in his work.

Christian Post article continues

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7,000 Churches Fasting, Praying Over Terrifying New Persecution Law

"Russia is closing down in an awful way. The new law is in total conflict with the purpose and the task given to the church by the Lord. The law will send the church back into Soviet era Communist persecution," Hanny Haukka, Great Commission Ministries Chairman

                                                                             Vladimir Putin: Reuters

By Jessilyn Lancaster
Charisma News

Note: This article was originally published by Charisma News on July 8, 2016

Russian President Vladimir Putin signed an anti-terrorism law, but for the country's many churches, the signature sparked a demand for prayer and fasting.

The bill toughens punishment for acts deemed to be terrorism and for the organization of "mass unrest," according to the Los Angeles Times. It would also introduce prison sentences of up to a year for those who fail to report such crimes.

• Furthermore, Great Commission Ministries Chairman Hanny Haukka tells Charisma News the law entails:Foreign guests are not permitted to speak in churches unless they have a "work permit" from Russian authorities
• If a friend or relative from outside Russia wishes to share his/her faith in your home the guest will be fined and expelled from Russia.
• Any discussion of God with non-believers is considered missionary activity and will be punishable.
• Missionary activity will be permitted by special government permission. Example: If one traveling on a train shares his faith without written permission the offender will be taken into police custody for the duration of the journey and will be fined 50,000 rubles ($1,000).
• Offenders from the age of 14-years-old will be subject to prosecution
• Religious activity is no longer permitted in private homes. Most churches in Russia meet in homes.
• Every citizen is obligated to report religious activity of neighbors to the authorities. Failure to be an informant is punishable by law.
• One may pray and read the Bible at home but not in the presence of a non-believing person. You will be breaking the law and be punished.
• If the church has purchased property it cannot be converted into a place of worship.
• In church buildings, it is not permitted to invite people to turn to God. Worship services are permitted but making a non-believer a follower of Christ is against the law.

In response, thousands of churches across the country have come together to cry out to God.

"The church is appalled at the news of the new law. About 7,000 evangelical/protestant churches are in fasting and prayer at the moment over the news," Haukka tells Charisma News via email.

Continue reading Charisma News article

Persecution Unveiled has been called to prick the consciences of this nation and all free people to pray for, speak up and act on behalf of those who are persecuted for their faith. 

Christian School Raided by California Gov't as Religious Freedom Concerns Cloud Future

“This armed incursion on a faith-based school shows that the State wants nothing less than to take jurisdictional control over Christian education in California. This is rooted in its disagreement with millennia-old religious values.” Kevin Snider, Lead Attorney 

                                                        Photo: Unsplash/Jeffrey Hamilton

By Samuel Smith

Christian Post Reporter

A Christian boarding school run by Teen Rescue in Northern California faces the possibility of closing after it was raided by state investigators earlier this year. The head of the school claims that its First Amendment rights, as well as parental rights, are being violated.

River View Christian Academy (RVCA), which serves to help troubled teens from across the U.S., has faced pressure from the Department of Social Services for over a decade over claims that it operates as an “unlicensed community care facility.”

Although the school had maintained through the years that schools are exempt from community care facility regulations, a law passed in 2016 requires many alternative boarding schools in the state to attain Community Care Licensing.

But in order to attain that licensing, the school fears that it would not be able to uphold its rules reflecting traditional Christian teaching on marriage and sexuality. Additionally, the school says that the state requires licensed facilities to allow students to have the right to engage in spiritual and sexual exploration.

Additionally, the law does not allow for religious exemptions in cases where a religious school would be forced to violate its moral convictions.

“We have been kind of harassed by the state of California Department of Social Services. Specifically, it's called Community Care Licensing,” RVCA CEO Phil Ludwig told The Christian Post, arguing that state investigators seem to have a political “agenda.”

According to Ludwig, DSS investigators have investigated the school on a number of occasions through the years to ensure that it was not operating in any way that would make it classified as a community care facility.

The school contends that it falls under the jurisdiction of the California Department of Education and files an affidavit every year that it is an accredited private boarding school.

According to a lawsuit filed against DSS, a team of 16 armed law enforcement from the California Highway Patrol (CHP), 2 canine units, and 17 social workers searched the school on Jan. 18.

According to the lawsuit, the state later admitted that the raid was prompted by an article online from a left-leaning tabloid that made the investigators think that the school was housing illegal drugs and stockpiling weapons to prepare for an end-times apocalypse.

Although the raid did not result in the discovery of drugs or guns, the school says that DSS began imposing daily fines of about $200 for operating as an “unlicensed community care facility” under the Community Care Facilities Act of 2016.

“Until 2016, River View Christian Academy was exempt from licensure under the Community Care Facilities Act,” the lawsuit reads. “The religious practices of River View Christian Academy violate portions of the Community Care Facilities Act. This regulation poses an existential threat to religious schools such as River View Christian Academy.”

Among other things, the school stresses that it could be forced to accommodate religious rituals that are inconsistent with the Christian faith and could even be forced to teach all religions from a neutral standpoint.

The lawsuit also lists a class of parents and guardians who had joined onto the school’s lawsuit.

“The Parent Class specifically sends their children to River View Christian Academy because of the spiritual guidance provided,” the lawsuit reads. “Thus, it would be a profound interference with the free exercise of religion of both River View Christian Academy and the Parent Class to place River View Christian Academy under the Community Care Facilities Act.”

The lawsuit stresses that the Community Care Facilities Act would give students the right “[t]o be free from acts that seek to change his or her sexual orientation, including efforts to change his or her gender expressions or to eliminate or reduce sexual or romantic attractions or feelings toward individuals of the same sex.”

“River View Christian Academy holds the religious convictions that sexual activities are proper only between a man and a woman who are married to each other,” the lawsuit states. “Moreover, River View Christian Academy does not allow any sexual or romantic encounters or entanglements between students of any kind.”

Continue Reading Christian Post article here
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China Forces Churches to Sing Communist Anthems, Bans Christian Hymns

A local resident rides a bicycle past a church in Xiaoshan,
a commercial suburb of Hangzhou, the capital of China's east
Zhejiang province December 21, 2006. | Reuters/Lang Lang/Files

By Leah MarieAnn Klett  

Christian Post Reporter

China’s Communist government is forcing churches to replace traditional hymns with songs praising the regime. 

Religious liberty magazine Bitter Winter reports that earlier this year, multiple Three-Self churches in Qingdao city in the eastern province of Shandong received an order from the Religious Affairs Bureau prohibiting churchgoers from singing songs from the Worship Songs or Spiritual Song Collection. Instead, Christians were ordered to sing the Newly Compiled Hymns published by China’s Two National Christian Councils.

The director of a government-approved Three-Self church told Bitter Winter that the hymns in Worship Songs is mainly Bible chapters, while Spiritual Song Collection contains testimonies of experiences written by Christians.

But the Newly Compiled Hymns only feature themes about loving China, respecting the aged and parents, and celebrating birthdays and funerals.

“The hymns published by the government only promote political, secularized content. All believers are unwilling to sing them,” the director said, citing the chorus of one of the hymns as an example: “China is beautiful; China is great; the sons and daughters of China love China. … Bless China, O Lord.”

“Such hymns aren’t praising the Lord at all. They are entirely praising the country, and are no different from secular songs. Isn’t the government engaging in dishonesty and deceit?” the director said.

The censoring of Christian hymns has also been seen in other provinces and cities. In January, officials confiscated Canaan Hymns from some Three-Self churches in Chengde, Tangshan, and other cities in the northern province of Hebei.

Party members also prohibited the circulation and singing of Canaan Hymns and allowed only Christian hymns with Chinese characteristics.

Also in January, Christians in the central Henan Province complained that the government is forcefully turning churches into theaters, game rooms, and other types of entertainment venues.

Photos and clips circulated on the internet showed how pulpits across the country once meant to preach the Gospel have since been covered with Communist Party propaganda or turned into activity or entertainment centers.

“Traditional culture and drama shows have entered churches. Doesn’t that keep believers away from the Bible?” one Christian told Bitter Winter. “Churches have turned into theaters. The churches exist in name but no longer in reality.”

Christian Post report continues here 

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