"Broken Things"

by: Jeremiah Dodoy

Being broken is God's way of showing you that His plans are still the best. Think, if you were able to carry out your own plans and purpose, you will not be the best of what you are today. No effective Christian has not been broken.

I once was lost, but God made the way home for me. I ones was blind, but then God openend my eyes. I ones was poor but God gave His all for me. I ones was full of anger but God thought me how to love. I worry a lot before but God gave my peace beyond understanding. From the inside out I ones was broken, broken like to be useless, but God made me whole again! Truly, only Him can satisfy our hunger and yearning.

China Closes ‘House Church’ Law Firm

Monday, March 9, 2009 (9:38 am)

Stefan J. Bos, Worthy News Chief International Correspondent with reporting from China

BEIJING, CHINA (Worthy News) -- One of China's prominent law firms, known for defending house churches and other human rights cases, was weighing its legal options Monday, March 9, after it was forced to shut down for six months for "illegally" hiring a Christian attorney.

The Beijing-based Yitong Law Firm said it has appealed against the ruling by a local Justice Department in Beijing suspending its practice, but was still awaiting a decision following
last week's appeals hearing.

Only the firm's director, Li Jisong, was reportedly allowed to attend the public hearing on March 3 at the Haidian District People's Government of Beijing Municipality. All other seats were apparently reserved for local officials.

The six month suspension would "kill the firm," said Li in published remarks. "They are distorting facts ... to get revenge" for the way the firm's lawyers have criticized or defied government agencies, he said in an interview.

CHRISTIAN ATTORNEY

Chinese officials say the firm has been suspended for allowing Christian attorney Li Subin to practice law without a license. However, the firm claims that Li, who worked as deputy director, served only in administrative duties and acted as a legal adviser.

Li is a qualified attorney since 1991, but the government has refused to renew his license after he after he filed, and won, a case against Henan Province’s Judicial Bureau for overcharging legal fees following 391 days of detention.

Last year, Li and several other lawyers in Yitong Law Office also launched a campaign to call for direct elections in the Communist-controlled Beijing Lawyer’s Association.

Advocacy groups say the closure of the firm is part of a series of government tactics to fight against human rights lawyers.

CONTROVERSIAL CASES

Li told reporters he believes the reason behind the closure order is his firm's involvement in several high profile trials, ranging from defending house church Christians to the case of Hu Jia, an AIDS activist and winner of the European Parliament’s top human rights award in 2008. Hu is now serving a three-and-a-half year sentence for supposedly “inciting subversion.”

Yitong also defended Chen Guangcheng, a blind activist sentenced to four years imprisonment in 2006 after starting a campaign against the Chinese Communist Party's infamous “one child” policy of forced abortion and sterilization in several parts of the country.

Chinese officials have refused to comment, saying they first want to await the final ruling in the appeals case launched by the law firm.

Pakistan Academy Dismisses Christian Teacher, Students Over Bible Row

Friday, March 13, 2009 (2:23 pm)

By Jawad Mazhar, Worthy News Special Correspondent reporting from Pakistan with reporting by Worthy News' Stefan J. Bos

SARGODHA, PAKISTAN (Worthy News)-- A Christian teacher says he has been dismissed and two students suspended from an academy in Pakistan's Punjab province over allegations they "humiliated Islam" and "blessed the Jewish descendants" of Abraham, the Biblical arch-father of the people of Israel.

Javed Raza, who is also an evangelist, told Worthy News that he was sacked from the Bright Future Academy in the city of Sargodha this month because the institute's Muslim principle and "radical Muslim students" objected to his interpretation of the Bible. Officials of the academy were not available for comment Friday, March 13.

Raza said tensions began March 2, following a lecture, when he answered questions about Abraham and his sons Ishmael and Isaac. "I explained that Isaac was the son promised by God" although Abraham's wife was already very old, Raza recalled, apparently raising eyebrows among students.

The teacher said some Muslim students were also upset that he spoke of God's other promises to Abraham and his Israeli descendants, as mentioned in several Bible verses.

They include Genesis 12:3: "I will bless those who bless you and him who curses you I will curse; and by you all the families of the earth shall be blessed" and Genesis 22:17-18: "Abraham's descendants will take possession of the cities of their enemies and through his offspring all nations on earth will be blessed."

RADICAL MUSLIMS

Some of "the radical Muslim students made it an issue and started chanting slogans against me and against two Christian students, Abid Bhatti and Zahid Kamal, who agreed with me," Raza explained.

He said the angry students walked out of the class room, shouting "anti-Christianity slogans" and soon "crammed into the office of Principal Muhammad Zulfiqar to demand stringent action against me and the Christian students."

Raza claimed Zulfiqar fired him from the academy "without a thorough investigation" and suspended the students. "None of us meant to humiliate Islam, I was just trying to share information to all my young students," he said.

Javed Raza, now an unemployed Christian man after two years of working at the academy, stressed that "superficial thinking and narrow mindedness of my Muslim students and the principal has deprived me of my teaching job."

SUSPENDED STUDENTS

He said he is also concerned about the plight of the two suspended students. Raza accused the academy’s leadership of inflicting "an irrecoverable lose to the future of both Christian students by ruining their educational career."

Raza made clear he would continue to preach the Gospel as an evangelist for the Pakistan Campus Crusade for Christ group and show the film 'Jesus', on the birth, life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, in Sargodha and surrounding areas.

The teacher and students are among the latest Christians reportedly forced to leave educational institutions and student hostels in Pakistan, Worthy News and its partner news agency BosNewsLife established, following similar incidents in Punjab province and other regions in recent weeks.

Pakistan's government is under pressure from advocacy groups to tackle Islamic extremism and improve protection for minority Christians and other religious groups.

US Pledges $900 Million To Palestinians (Israel-Palestinian Conflict)

Monday, March 16, 2009 (10:42 am)

By Rodney Drinnen Worthy News International Correspondent

WASHINGTON/GAZA CITY (Worthy News)--Palestinians in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip and the West Bank were awaiting Monday, March 16, the arrival of $900 million pledged by U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton despite an economic crisis at home, to help achieve a Palestinian state "that is peaceful" and "responsible".

In comments monitored by Worthy News, Clinton said she made the promise at the international donors conference for rebuilding the Gaza Strip, in the Egyptian Red Sea resort town of Sharm el-Sheikh, on March 2.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said $300 million of the total aid package will go to help rebuild Gaza following the recent fighting with Israel, but stressed that none of the money will benefit Hamas militants, who do not recognize Israel's right to exist.

Critics have said however it will be difficult to monitor whether tax payers money will not end up in the hand of militants. The United States was among 71 states attending the Egypt gathering along with 16 regional, international, and financial organizations who raised billions of dollars to boost the Palestinian Authority, which controls the West Bank, and help rebuild Gaza.

They raised $4.5 billion dollars on top of $700 million already previously pledged by the international community, nearly twice as much than planned.

A delighted Egyptian foreign minister called the amount "beyond our expectations".

Britain's International Development Secretary Douglas Alexander, pledged £30 million to rebuild houses, schools, and hospitals in Gaza. "There is a desperate need for tough restrictions on the supply of goods to be relaxed," he said, demanding next that "Israel must do the right thing and allow much-needed goods to get through to those men, women and children who continue to suffer."

The Gulf Cooperation Council, a Middle East aid fund, vowed to contribute $1.65 billion over the next five years to ease Gaza's humanitarian situation and help its social and economic reconstruction. Among other nations, Saudi Arabia has pledged $1 billion for the Palestinians, Qatar $250 million and Algeria $100 million.

Last year, Saudi Arabia already pledged to pay for the reconstruction of all buildings demolished in Gaza by previous deadly Israeli incursions.

Health Minister Hamad Al-Manie had said that King Abdullah had ordered the reconstruction as part of the kingdom's support for the Palestinian people and their cause.

"The king has ordered the reconstruction of Palestinian houses at the expense of the Saudi government," Al-Manie said during a press conference in Egypt on Thursday, quoted Arabic daily Al-Jaz.

Americans become less Christian: survey

WASHINGTON (Xinhua) -- Americans have become less Christian than they were 20 years ago due to a growing rejection of religions, a survey published yesterday found.

Three out of four Americans now call themselves Christians, according to the American Religious Identification Survey by Trinity College in Connecticut.

In 1990, the figure was closer to nine out of 10 -- 86 percent.

At the same time there has been an increase in the number of people expressing no religious affiliation.

In the survey, one in five Americans said they have no religious identity or refused to answer the question on their religious belief, while more than 25 percent do not expect to have a religious funeral.

In comparison, less than 10 percent said they have no religious belief in 1990.

The survey also finds:

The percentage of Catholics in the United States has remained steady at about one in four since 1990, while the percentage of other Christians has plummeted from 60 percent to 50 percent.

The percentage of Muslims has doubled since 1990, but remains statistically very small, at 0.6 percent of the population.

The survey polled 54,461 Americans between February and November of last year.

The survey is the third in a series, following polls in 1990 and 2001.

SURVEY SAYS: 70% Filipino youth DO NOT OWN A BIBLE! This is a shocking revelation!

It is indeed a sad fact that 60% of the Philippine population do not own a Bible! This is an alarming result from a survey conducted by A.C. Nielsen to measure how many Filipinos are reached by God's Word. Imagine our shock when we learned that 70% of this 60% population are teenagers and young professionals. And to think, the Philippines is called the only "Christian nation in Southeast Asia".

Nowadays, the youth no longer find God's Word relevant to their lives so they don't even bother to open a Bible. And this is something to ponder on....

Kung ang kabataan ang pag-asa ng bayan at hindi sila bilib sa Biblia--anong kinabukasan meron ang Pilipinas?

It is in response to this realization that notable Christian organizations and churches united to rally the Y generation for God's Word. This birthed the--

YOUTH EXPLODE SERIES:

THE BIBLE ADVENTURE BEGINS!

A FREE event for all the youth, young at heart and young once. Join the battle cry of this generation as they own, read and live God's Word.

So we ask you...

...WHY DO YOU LOVE GOD'S WORD?

Bakit ka b'lib sa Biblia mo? Share your testimony, declare why you love the Bible. Blog about it, leave a comment here or there or even suggest crazy brilliant ideas how to encourage the youth--like you--to be Bible lovers.

Leave us a link to your blog posts and we'll link you back. Help the Bible Society promote God's Word among the Filipino youth.

Be there at the Youth Explode event in the Bulwagan ng Panginoon (formerly Folk Arts Theatre) and enjoy a whole day affair of fun and interesting activities that will surely make you love your Bibles more! Read here for more information.

We love to hear (read) from you. C'mon help spread the love... spread the Word!