Global Good News

It is against the teachings of God, and of the Holy Scripture, that other churches is built in other places, let's say in the US, or in England, or in Germany, or in Rome. They also claim that another church had also been founded in the Philippines. The truth is, God did not give any right to anybody to build his own church. It is indeed disgusting that today, a lot of ministers build churches of their own. They deliberately oppose and defy what the Bible said - that, the Gentiles, like us, must join or make ourselves a part of the body, or the Church, for us to be saved.

And what is the reason why we must abide by it? It is because, as far as God is concerned, He did not give anybody His consent to build a church right now in our time. This is what Psalms 127:1 says-

"Except the Lord build the house, they labour in vain that built it: except the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain."

The verse mentioned of a "house," which becomes useless if it is not built by the Lord. Let us now ask the Bible. What is being referred to as the "house," which only God has the right to build? In I Timothy 3:15, it says-

"But if I tarry long , that thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth."

If you have noticed, in the New Testament, the word house refers to the Church of God. This is, truly, the house of God because it was built by God, Himself. That is why, if, in our time, you come across churches, whose founders are also their ministers, you can be sure that they are NOT REAL!

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Bible Reading Marathon ends with prayer

With the reading of Revelation 22: 21 at 2:34 a.m. Thursday, the participants in the 2009 Bible Reading Marathon succeeded in reading the Holy Bible from beginning to end.

The reading began with Genesis 1:1 at 6 p.m. on Sunday, May 3 at the Gabezo on the square in downtown Troy and officially ended at noon on Thursday, the National Day of Prayer.

With time remaining before the official end of the Bible Reading Marathon, the readers began reading again from the New Testament with Matthew 1:1. Troy Mayor Jimmy Lunsford was the last to read and read from Acts 10.

At noon, the Rev. David Zorn, pastor of Goshen Baptist Church, spoke to those who gathered “in his name.”

Zorn quoted Alexis de Tocqueville, French historian and political scientist, who said “America is great because she is good. If America ceases to be good, America ceases to be great.”

“Alexis de Tocqueville also said that America’s fire is found in the pulpits of its churches,” Zorn said. “And, Psalms 33:12 says, ‘Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord.’ America was founded upon the principles we find in the Bible. We are blessed that we have the freedom to worship as we choose or not to worship if we so choose.”

Zorn said those who are saying that the United States is not a Christian nation and that God’s word is fiction are telling lies.

“We cannot ignore God’s word,” he said. “We love America, and we love the Constitution, but no manmade document can supercede God’s word. Thomas Jefferson made it clear that our Constitution was not written with the intention of keeping the church out of government. It was written with the intention of keep the government out of the church.”

Zorn said that, in spite of its flaws, America is still the greatest nation that God has allowed to stand.

“John F. Kennedy said that freedom has a high cost and the Americans have always paid the price,” he said.

“We have never chosen the path of surrender or submission. That should be the battle cry of Christians today—that we will not choose the path of surrender or submission. We should praise God today that we live in a country that allows us to gather here on this public square and worship. And, all God’s children said ‘Amen.’”

U.S. military says Afghan bibles have been destroyed

Bibles in Afghan languages at a U.S. base in Afghanistan have been destroyed in order to prevent American soldiers from trying to convert people in the region, according to a Reuters article.

Trying to convert Muslims to another faith is a crime in Afghanistan and would be breaking regulations. This article highlights the conflicts involving religion that can arise from the U.S. military’s position of not promoting any specific religion and the actions of individual soldiers.

The U.S. military has said its soldiers have not tried to convert Afghans to Christianity, but Al-Jazeera recently broadcast a story showing soldiers at a bible class on base with a stack of translated bibles. Military officials confirmed the bibles were sent through private mail to a Christian soldier from his church back home. They were confiscated and destroyed by chaplains.

Bible Related News

Models for all women abound in the Bible

Women are outnumbered by a ratio of more than six to one in biblical references. However, that doesn't mean women — especially mothers — weren't a very significant influence in early Christianity.

And this Mother's Day is a good time to look back and celebrate the matriarchs of scripture.

Almost 1,200 men are mentioned in the Bible, but fewer than 200 women. And some mothers in the Bible aren't even mentioned by their specific names, yet they played prominent roles in key events.

For example, Noah's wife. She is mentioned five times in Genesis Chapters 6 through 8 simply as "Noah's wife," though she obviously assisted Noah through his ordeal of preparing for the flood and afterward.

Without this supporting mother and grandmother, would man have survived the flood?

Other women also have important roles — though not starring roles — in scripture. The mother-in-law of Peter comes to mind, as does the mother of James and John.

Here is an alphabetized capsule look at 10 other prominent women in the Bible. Some are remembered for being matriarchs, others exhibited the kind of wisdom and care for people that have been traditionally associated with motherhood.

Mary Magdalene: She is the most prominent woman who accompanied Jesus from Galilee to Jerusalem. She was also present at Christ's crucifixion and met the resurrected Lord at his tomb.

Miriam: This sister of Moses and Aaron was the first biblical woman given the title of prophetess (Exodus 15:20). Perhaps prideful, she later rebelled against her brothers and was afflicted with leprosy. Much later in the Old Testament, she is described as an equal of her brothers (Micah 6:4).

Ruth: This is another woman with an entire book of scripture named after her. As the great-grandmother of King David, she was described as a gentle heroine. Ruth 1:16 tells of her steadfast conversion to Christianity. Her mother-in-law, Naomi, is also reverred as a matriarch who was wise, hard-working and devout.

Sarah: This wife of Abraham is mentioned in Genesis. At age 91, she gave birth to Isaac, and the Apostle Peter mentioned Sarah as a model wife (1 Peter 3:6).

References: King James Bible and "Who's Who in the Bible," by Reader's Digest.

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Holocaust Twins Survival: Faith & Forgiveness

Eva Mozes Kor and her twin sister, Miriam, grew up in a small village in Romania in the 1940s. Theirs was the only Jewish family in the region.

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"My father said as long as you say your prayers, did the good deeds that God wanted you to do, and lived so far away from the big city - that somehow we'd escape," Eva said. "The Nazis won't come here for six Jews."

But they did come. At the age of 10, Eva was loaded on to a crowded cattle car with her family and relocated to Auschwitz.

"The cattle car door's opened. We heard a lot of Germans yelling orders. My mother's holding on to Miriam and me. My father's standing right by us, with my two older sisters," Eva said. "Very unfriendly sight. Everything seemed to be dark gray. Tall, barbed wire. Strange. Very, very, menacing looking. I said to myself, 'If ever there was a hell on earth, this must be it.' My father and two older sisters disappeared into the crowd. Thirty minutes after we stepped down, Miriam and I no longer had a family. We were all alone in this place where there was nowhere to turn for help."

First Night in Auschwitz

Eva's experience - her first night in Auschwitz - prepared her for what she would face throughout her imprisonment.

"There were scattered naked corpses of three children. Their bodies were shriveled and this is when I realized, at age ten, that that could happen to Miriam and me also; unless I did something to prevent it," Eva said. "Why didn't they do something to stay alive? I will not let that happen to Miriam and me. The only thing I could think of was: I was going to make a silent pledge that I am going to do everything in my power to not end up like them on the latrine floor."

Eva's pledge would be tested, over and over again throughout her captivity, by Dr. Josef Mengele, the notorious 'Angel of Death' of Auschwitz.

We knew within the first week probably, that he murdered our families," Eva said. "We also knew we were alive only because he wanted us alive and as long as he wanted us alive."

Mengele performed horrific experiments on his victims, studying the effects of drugs and poisons on twins, using one as the human guinea pig, the other as the controlled.

"Doctor injected us three times a week with all kinds of germs and drugs and chemicals," Eva said. "After one of those injections I became unbelievably sick. So next morning, Dr. Mengele came in with four other doctors, and he said, 'She only has two weeks to live.' I refused to accept his verdict."

For the next two weeks, Eva was in and out of consciousness, often waking up on the floor, crawling to a water faucet - never making it, but somehow convincing herself to survive.

"I actually made a pledge that I refused to die, and I would do anything in my power to prove Dr. Mengele wrong; to survive, and to be reunited with my sister. Would I have died, she would have been rushed to Mengele's lab and killed," she said. "But I spoiled their experiment. I survived."

Liberated By Russian Troops

After nine months of experiments in captivity, Eva and her sister were liberated from the horrors of Auschwitz by Russian troops. Though free, Eva was held captive by a different kind of prison, one of bitterness and unforgiveness.

"If anybody asks me if I was angry with God, I was angry with everything, of God, the world, and everybody," she said.

She remained in her invisible cell until the 50th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz. While visiting the camp where so many horrible events shaped her life, Eva made another kind of pledge. She forgave.

"As I was standing by the ruins of the gas chamber I was remembering all the people I was forgiving. I was forgiving the Nazis. I was forgiving Mengele. I was forgiving the people that did the experiments," she said. "I was forgiving everybody because of the fact that I have the power to forgive. It gave me an emotional freedom that was so exhilarating, so beneficial to me, that I did not have to deal with who did what to me and why. Immediately, I felt that all the pain I was carrying on my little shoulders were lifted from me; that I was free. I was no longer a prisoner from my tragic past."

The Path to Forgiveness

Today, Eva runs her own Holocaust museum in Terra Haute, Indiana, in the memory of her sister Miriam, who died of cancer in the 90s. She also shares her experiences from her time at Auschwitz, and the lessons she learned on the path to forgiveness.

"God has a power to forgive, to forgive us, and forgive other people," Eva said.

Her message now is simple - forgive - even your worst enemies.

"I have personally experienced the act of forgiveness that gave me my emotional freedom. No human being can be free: emotionally free, and mentally free, without forgiving people who have wronged them," Eva said.