Noteworthy News
How a Slave Became a Black Founding Father of America — 2020
Excerpts from an article on cbn.com
From his young years, Richard Allen knew the humiliating and dehumanizing pain of being a slave. Born in 1760, his entire family was sold from his first master to another. And when that second master fell on financial hard-times, he divided the family by selling Richard’s mother and three of his siblings to another plantation.
Then the teenager known as “Negro Richard” went on in toil and drudgery with just one of his brothers and sisters still with him. That’s when he met the Lord Jesus Christ when listening to the preaching of an abolitionist pastor. He and his brother decided their best Christian witness would be to serve their master all the more and with excellence.
Richard then got his slave master to listen to that preacher too, and his master also came to know the Lord. One of his Christian deeds was to offer Richard his freedom within five years if Richard could pay for that freedom. Throwing himself into odd jobs for cash, Richard managed to buy his way out of slavery in just one and a half years.
He educated himself and became an itinerant preacher in the mid-Atlantic states, changing his name from Negro Richard to Richard Allen. He thought soul-saving would now be the major mission of his life. But he also frequently advocated for an end to the enslavement of the colonies’ 700,000 black people, even as America was fighting for its liberty from Britain.
The popular pastor had earlier purchased land in 1787 with the help of George Washington and Declaration of Independence signer Dr. Benjamin Rush.
Allen eventually bought a blacksmith’s shop, and in 1794 had it dragged by horses to this property, which has become the piece of land continually in the possession of African Americans longer than any other real estate in the US. He turned that blacksmith shop into a church, meant to be for blacks only so they wouldn’t have to deal with the degrading prejudice of whites and being pushed around by them in the holy space of a church.
But white Methodist leadership in Philadelphia fought back and demanded control over aspects of Allen’s church. He finally took them to court and what’s come to be known as Old Mother Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church won its independence.
Those weren’t Allen’s only firsts. He was the first black activist invited into a US president’s home. He was the first African American to write a copyrighted pamphlet; the first black to write a eulogy for George Washington (and the only person at that time to write of Washington emancipating slaves).
“If you love the God of love,” he wrote in 1794, “clear your hands from slaves, burden not your children or country with them.”
Frederick Douglass went so far as to say that what Allen preached about freedom and equality for his fellow African Americans formed “a new Declaration of Independence.”
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Religious exemptions will continue in NJ — 2020
The following screenshot from Facebook was submitted by a member showing that our Thursday, January 2nd, 2020 Unity Watch on vaccines has achieved immediate results:
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Leaving the Gang Life and Finding a Higher Purpose — 2020
Excerpts from an article on cbn.com
After Diaz’s initiation into the gang, the leader took the 11-year-old Diaz to a rival gang where they jumped a rival gang member and stabbed him with a screwdriver. Diaz quickly found himself in and out of juvenile hall. By age 16, Diaz was arrested and convicted for a gang-related murder.
When Diaz turned 18, he was transferred to state prison where he spent three years in solitary confinement. On his third year of solitary, a woman from a bible study fellowship began stopping by his cell once a month.
The two would only speak for two to four minutes. However, the woman always left him with one phrase.
“I’m still praying for you, and Jesus is going to use you,” Diaz remembers the woman telling him.
After a year and a half, Diaz found Jesus Christ in his cell by himself. The religious moment of clarity was undeniable for Diaz, and it brought him to his knees. He repented for his sins, and he stepped down from his leadership position in the gang.
On July 3, 1995 Diaz was released at age 24. Eventually, he found a gentlemen in a barbershop who led him to his church. Soon after that, Diaz began working two minimum wage jobs and attending every available bible study.
After serving as a youth pastor for eight and a half years, Diaz left that church. He had started to see that church had become more theatrical and entertaining instead of religious, and started and became the pastor of his own church in 2007. In February 2017, he merged his church with a Foursquare church.
Part of his responsibilities as a pastor includes counseling parents on how to keep their children out of the gang culture. He gets to know the kids one on one, and becomes a mentor instead of coming at them as an authority figure.
Diaz believes there is so much talent in our youth, and he hopes to help kids find it and use it for good. Diaz has recently published a book entitled “The Shot Caller,” which recounts his life and transformation. He is also now married and the father of three children.
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The Greatest Christian Missionary in the History of Iran — 2019
Excerpts from an article on cbn.com
What if I told you that the greatest Christian missionary in the history of Iran was a devout Muslim? You’d think I was crazy, right? Or, at the very least, a liar.
But I’ve heard from more than one Iranian Christian over the past 20 years that the greatest missionary in the history of Iran — a history that predates Daniel in the Lions’ Den — is the Grand Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, leader of the 1979 Islamic Revolution that ended 2,500 years of Persian monarchy in Iran.
How is it, you may ask, that a radical Shiite Muslim would be Iran’s greatest missionary for Christ?
The Islamic government promised, and still claims, to run the country according to Islamic principles. The Supreme Leader says he gets instructions directly from Allah. But after 40 years, Iranians can see very clearly that the government Khomeini established doesn’t work. So it’s no great leap for Iranians to move from “Islamic government doesn’t work” to a correlated truth: Islam doesn’t work.
By some estimates, 70 percent of Iran’s people have rejected Islam. If following the rules laid out by Muhammad doesn’t work for a country, why would it work for an individual? Why should anyone continue to follow his teachings? Many Iranians have become atheists, rejecting the idea of any god. And thousands have tried to fill the void with drugs, sex or money.
The spiritual hunger in Iran has not been satisfied by 40 years of following Khomeini’s path. And yet Khomeini prepared the way for the current revival. The Lord’s promise in Jeremiah 49, that He would “set my throne in Elam,” is coming true in our day.
Our Persian Christian brothers and sisters have found a Bread of Life that truly satisfies, and they are determined to share Him with their countrymen. The cost of their work is high, but the need is great. And so they continue to reach out, to share their faith, to pray for healing in Jesus’ name or offer a Bible to a curious coworker.
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Interview of witnesses of the Azusa street revival — 2019
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America, We’ve Been Warned — 2019
Excerpts from an article on cbn.com
(Referenced in the Sunday, November 17th, 2019 Roundtable)
When God warns, it’s real, and we’d better sit up and take notice. In the Bible, the word “woe” or warning is used nearly 100 times — 98 to be exact. The Old Testament prophets used it. Christ used it many times Himself. The word occurs in the Book of Revelation in final judgment. In nearly every case where a woe is given, the warning of judgment is certain, and God’s punishment imminent.
For example, Noah warned the people for 100 years of a coming flood. The people heard. They considered. They rejected. They died. God gives us warnings so that we might live.
Then in Isaiah Chapter 5, God’s prophet pronounced six specific warnings of imminent judgment against identified national sins. These woes were sobering, the sins specific and God’s judgment certain. The message was to Israel, but the application is for America.
The first woe identified the sin of materialism. After God blessed the nation with security, wealth, houses and productive land, the people turned their back on Him. The result? God withheld His blessings, removed His protection, allowed rebellion within and threats of attack from without. Does this sound anything like America today?
The second woe is found in Isaiah 5:11, identified the sin of hedonism. Consumed with an intoxicating addiction to alcohol, drugs, entertainment and partying, the nation willfully rejected God and the consequences of evil choices. Again, sound like America?
Thirdly, Isaiah 5:18 identifies the horrible practice of literally promoting sin and evil. Without regard for God or moral truth, the nation dreamed of evil, sinned without remorse and even belittled God by profaning His name and His truth.
Isaiah 5:20 tells of the fourth woe — the sin of moral relativism. Even more dangerous is when a nation redefines moral truth into moral evil. This is accomplished by discarding the Ten Commandments as dangerous…
The fifth woe outlined in Isaiah 5:21 is the sin of arrogance and corruption. God hates pride because it embodies the sin of satanic defiance against God. Through pride, mankind pronounces himself to be God, which results in the rejection of God and eternal life.
Lastly, Isaiah pronounced the sixth woe by identifying the sin of corrupted leadership that is fueled by dependence on alcohol and drug addictions. He warned: Woe unto the political and military leaders who through addiction become bribed and incapable of sound judgment.
What is the result of continually ignoring God’s true warnings? Isaiah 5:24 says that God’s love will be turned to anger, His blessings will turn to judgment, murder and death of the people will increase, enemy nations will threaten to attack — suddenly and overwhelmingly — and all trusted defenses will fail.
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Coach Disarms then Embraces Student, Preventing Potential School Shooting — 2019
Excerpts from an article on cbn.com
The heroic act was caught on surveillance video at Parkrose High School. Keanon Lowe, a track and football coach, is seen on the video walking into a classroom and then is dramatically seen emerging out of the classroom with a shotgun which he took from a student.
While backing away from the student another teacher runs over and takes the shotgun away from Keanon Lowe who then hugs the student, Angel Granados-Diaz. Angel tries to break free but Keanon continues holding the student.
Keanon said, “Then it was just me and that student. It was a real emotional time. It was emotional for him, it was emotional for me. In that time, I felt compassion for him. A lot of times, especially when you’re young, you don’t realize what you’re doing until it’s over.”
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Can Prayer Make a Difference in California, as It Has in Newark, New Jersey? — 2019
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Chinese Christians are Memorizing Scripture Because Communist Gov ‘Can’t Take What’s Hidden in Your Heart’ — 2019
Excerpts from an article on cbn.com
“If we get caught what will happen to me?” Cordeiro began by asking.
“Well you will get deported in 24 hours, and we will go to prison for three years,” the Chinese Christians responded.
He followed up by asking how many had spent time in prison, and out of the twenty-two, eighteen shared that they had been imprisoned for their faith.
“I said turn to 2 Peter 1, we are going to read it. Just then one lady handed hers to the person next to her, and I thought ‘hmm interesting,’” he shared.
Once they began reading, he quickly realized why she had given her Bible away, she had memorized the whole book.
She shared while they indeed confiscate any Christian material, people smuggle in scripture written on paper and hide it from the prison guards.
“That’s why we memorize it as fast as we can because even though they can take the paper away, they can’t take what’s hidden in your heart,” she shared with him.
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US Missionaries Ambushed, Saved by Mysterious Man on Motorcycle — 2019
Excerpts from an article on cbn.com
“About four hours or three and a half hours outside of Port-Au-Prince, we came upon a gang of people that were stopping traffic,” Chalker said. “We were the first ones to hit it because we were the only ones there.”
“The truck was just totally swarmed with men with guns and weapons. And they were pounding on the windows trying to break all the windows to get in,” said team member Jackie Brandon.
“One man’s standing there with his gun and he has two white lines down his cheek and to his chin. And it reminded me of voodoo,” she said.
“It was when I saw a rifle come around the side. We thought they were going to execute everybody. So I started reversing and Doug’s yelling, ‘go, go go!’ and as I’m reversing that’s when we started hearing the guns firing that were pointed at us.”
Pasler said, “Maybe thirty seconds later after they’d taken my cell phone, I could see that they had my bag out of the truck, a man on a motorcycle just kind of pulled out of nowhere in front of me. And he looked at me and said ‘it’s okay, it’s going to be okay.’ in perfect English.”
“Not even yelling,” Pasler continued. “Just kind of a regular talking voice. He said something in Creole, two to three words, and everybody around us that had the guns just kind of stopped.”
“Everything changed,” Brandon said. “The whole demeanor of the crowd just stood back. I don’t know what they saw, but they stepped back and the tension was gone.”
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‘Everybody Should Have God in Their Life’: This ‘Hidden Figure’ Was Key to the Space Race, and Even Made GPS Possible — 2019
Excerpts from an article on cbn.com
The space race was just taking off, and computers were the wave of the future.
“It was really an excitement, you know? They promised us that they would teach us, you know, how to communicate with this computer and all this stuff, you know,” Gladys recalled. “So, and knowing me, I was ready to work hard with it.”
And work hard she did. With the success of the space program, NASA was beginning to place satellites into orbit. Gladys was tasked to help write and program code needed to process the enormous amount of data coming in.
“I think everybody should have God in their life,” Gladys says. “I can just about see the complete circle and I can go back and I can look and see what He did and where He put me and where all along. And I would think it’s amazing that I didn’t understand it at the time, exactly what was happening, but He was there and He was doing it.”
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Florida teens stranded in ocean saved by boat named ‘Amen’ after desperate prayer for help — 2019
Excerpts from an article on foxnews.com
Weak and tired from fighting the waves for two hours and two miles offshore, the 17-year-old soccer players told Fox News they started praying to God and crying out for help.
“I cried out: ‘If you really do have a plan for us, like, come on. Just bring something,’” Tyler recalled…
“From us crying out to God, for Him to send someone for us to keep living and a boat named ‘Amen,’ there’s no way that it wasn’t Him,”
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PA School Board Decrees ‘In God We Trust’ Can Be Displayed in Local Schools — 2019
Excerpts from an article on newsweek.com
The Greencastle-Antrim School Board in Greencastle, PA has voted unanimously to allow the national motto “In God We Trust” and other documents from US history to be displayed in foyers and other public areas of the district’s primary, elementary, middle and high schools.
Teachers can also place the motto in their classrooms, as well, along with copies of the US Constitution, Bill of Rights, and the Declaration of Independence.
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Is There a Christian Revival Going On In Europe? — 2019
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Missouri House Passes Bill Allowing Public Schools to Teach Bible Courses — 2019
Excerpts from an article on newsweek.com
The Missouri House this week passed a bill that would allow public schools in the state to teach elective social studies courses on the Bible.
The bill, sponsored by state Representative Ben Baker was passed by the Republican-led House with a 95-52 vote on Monday, according to The Associated Press, and awaits passage by the Senate.
The bill would allow Missouri public schools to offer Bible classes to their students as an elective, although institutions cannot make the courses mandatory. It also requires state education officials to set clear guidelines and standards if they chose to offer classes on the Old and New Testament.
Baker, a minister and dean of students at Ozark Bible College, said the proposal was intended to clarify existing law, which had been inconsistently interpreted across the state to signal that Bible classes were prohibited.
“The Bible is simply a part of the fabric of life,” Baker told the Missouri House Special Committee on Student Accountability last month, before they voted to advance the bill. Baker did not immediately respond to Newsweek’s request for comment.
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Former ‘Prince of ISIS’ Turns to Christ – I Saw a Love That Didn’t Exist in Islam — 2019
Excerpts from an article on cbn.com
Because of his regular meetings with Peter, this so-called ‘Prince of ISIS’ accepted Jesus Christ into his life and began his journey as a Christian.
“The true book, in my opinion, is the Bible,” declared Mohammad. “I found the truth in Jesus Christ. And because I have surrendered my life to the Lord, I am certain He will never forsake me.
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Prayer reaches MS-13 and 18th street gangs in El Salvadore prison — 2019
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Christians in Chicago seek social and political change through prayer and unity — 2019
Excerpts from an article on cbn.com
“… we’re seeing God bring people from the north side, the south side, the west side, as well as from various ethnic groups, socio-economic groups and denominational groups to cross those boundaries, to set aside those labels and to come together as one body of Christ to pray together,” he continued.
“And out of that prayer, we began seeing people asking well ‘What can we do besides prayer?'” he said. “And that’s how Together Chicago was born, in terms of saying in addition to our prayers, ‘let’s seek God to be the answers to those prayers to cooperate together for collective impact across our city.'”
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Multiplication of Clothing for Children in Africa — 2019
“A Table in the Wilderness” – Food for 50 Children in Uganda Feeds Over 200 — 2019
Excerpts from an article on breakingchristiannews.com
We organized a feeding for 50 orphaned and desperately poor children in Kaliti Village, Uganda where our Field of Dreams project is located. Over 200 children showed up hungry! Several of our team members were crying because they knew there was not enough food for all of the kids and some would have to be sent away hungry. We began to pray that God would multiply the food.
EVERY child ate and was full…over 200 were fed an abundant feast!! Not only that, but every adult ate as well. There was so much food left over that they packed it up to take it home with them.
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Jeff Foxworthy on the Bible — 2018
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Incurable tumor disappears from Texas girl’s brain after community lifts her in prayers — 2018
Excerpt from hellochristian.com. See links below for full story.
The doctor explained that the 11-year-old had gone through weeks of radiation treatment but there was no expectation that the tumor would just disappear. Roxli’s recovery she said is “unbelievable.”
“Her diagnosis has broken the hearts of our entire community. We have been taken to our knees and called to battle by storming the gates of heaven with our faith filled prayers. We know the one thing the doctors didn’t factor in was our God, and He is in the business of miracles!” the group said.
And on Monday, as word spread of Roxli’s unexpected recovery, the group gave God all the praise and thanked everyone who prayed.
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Ex-Gang Member Now Brings The Gospel To Florida — 2018
Excerpt from hellochristian.com. See links below for full story.
For Martinez, life started out hard not just socially, but spiritually. “My mom was into Santeria,” he added, “which is like a form of witchcraft, sacrificing animals all over me as a kid, and I started seeing demons. They haunted me my whole life.”
Before even entering high school, Martinez had already embarked on a life of crime, and by 1990, he’d been initiated into Florida’s gang scene.
“We had almost like 300 members and feds were investigating us,” he said of the gang he started in 1990, known as the Latin Syndicate. “Half of my homies are in prison. Half of them are dead.”
Still, God wasn’t done allowing Level to experience the depths of depravity gang life can offer, and his life was to be threatened, and miraculously spared, several more times.
“I just got on my knees. I started crying out to God. And when He spoke to me, I knew that if I didn’t surrender, I felt like I was going to die.”
Now, just over two years later, Level is back on the streets, but not as a thug spreading violence and fear. Now, he’s “giving them life…”
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Home and horses saved from California wildfires through praying the 91st Psalm — 2018
Excerpt from CBN.com. See links below for full story.
CBN News spoke with actress Brenda Epperson who lives in the region affected by the fires.
She once starred in the daytime drama The Young and The Restless. She has been posting videos on Facebook about the flames and the destruction, how God spared her home miraculously, and what she’s doing to help others in the aftermath.
Epperson says in a Facebook video that she prayed Psalm 91 over her home, and the fire miraculously stopped right at the border of her property.
“I just kept praying Psalms 91 over our home, ‘whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High will find rest in his mighty shadow. I will say of the Lord he is my refuge and my God in whom I trust. Surely, he will save you from the fowler’s snare and the deadly pestilence. A thousand may fall at your side, ten thousand at your right hand but it will not come near you.”
Epperson’s home is an oasis of green and life in the midst of her scorched neighborhood. Even the horses from other farms took refuge at her home during the fire.
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Prayer stops a school shooting in Georgia — 2013
Excerpt from beliefnet.com. See links below for full story.
When a disturbed young man marched into a Georgia grade school with an AK-47 and about 500 rounds of ammo, the quick thinking and warmth of school secretary Antoinette Tuff helped ensure his surrender before anyone got hurt. She says she prayed the entire time, shared her faith with the disturbed young man, then encouraged him to do the right thing. …
“My pastor, he just started this teaching on anchoring, and how you anchor yourself in the Lord,” Tuff told the Post. “I just sat there and started praying. I just remembered the teaching and how he taught us how to consult people when they’re bereaving and all that.”
“I realized at that time that it was bigger than me,” she added. “He was really a hurting young man so I just started praying for him. I just started talking to him and allowing him to know some of my life stories and what was going on with me, and that it was going to be OK and he could just give himself up.”
When asked for her thoughts on why Hill was so compliant, Tuff told a local news station, “I have no idea. That was nobody but God. I can’t even put that on myself. I was praying hard.”
“I give it all to God,” she repeated when a reporter suggested that she was a hero. Tuff insisted that she was no hero, and that it was “through God’s grace and mercy” that she was able to maintain her composure.
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