Showing posts with label Paul Strand. Show all posts

Tuesday, May 1, 2018

'I Saw the Wave and It's Full of Faces': A Last-Days Vision of a 'Tsunami' Revival - PAUL STRAND/CBN NEWS

'I Saw the Wave and It's Full of Faces': A Last-Days Vision of a 'Tsunami' Revival

4/30/2018 PAUL STRAND/CBN NEWS

Join us on our podcast each weekday for an interesting story, well told, from Charisma News. Listen at charismapodcastnetwork.com.

Many Christian leaders are predicting the greatest harvest of souls in history is upon us, or will soon be. Several thousand people gathered in Toronto this past week to ask God how can they best prepare to take part in this great revival. And they heard how every believer can help bring it about.

The location was the church where the revival known as the Toronto Blessing started in 1994.

Some say this next revival will be like a huge wave that washes over the whole world. Among them is John Arnott, who headed up the church where the Toronto Blessing began. Arnott, who helps lead Partners in Harvest, saw a vision of a wave so big he called it a tsunami in the book Preparing for the Glory.

"All these little boats on top of it," Arnott said of the wave in the vision he received. "And then this wave crested and came crashing to shore and it was just a sudden, wonderful outpouring of God that was just sweeping."

A Revival Wave Full of Faces

Heidi Baker has helped start thousands of churches and fellowships in Mozambique and around the world. The Iris Global leader told CBN News she, too, has had a vision of such a wave, and she said it's a hlory wave.

"I saw the wave and it's full of faces. And I thought, 'Lord, what is that? Are those the ones coming home or the ones going out?' And I saw they were the faces of these radical lovers of God, every tribe, tongue and nation, who are going to go to the ends of the earth, carrying the glory," she stated.

Some may feel that such a revival is impossible in this dark, immoral age. But theology professor Michael Brown, host of the broadcast "Line of Fire," told CBN News he's studied several times in American history where the most learned men thought Christianity was dying out in the land.

There've Been Dark Times Before

"Everyone counted the church out, counted God out, and then awakening came," Brown stated. "So I truly believe, as much as my mind says it's impossible, I truly believe that the greatest awakening for America and certainly outpouring for the world is yet ahead."

Brown has often encountered controversy for insisting on biblical truth no matter how politically incorrect it may be, such as about gay marriage. But he insists Christians can stand for such truth and still win over the worldly, even the ones who may despise that truth.

"We need a fresh baptism of love for a sinful world and a fresh baptism of the image of Jesus in us so that we can really be like Him to this world. If we really care, the right words will follow. But we also have to recognize that the darkness always hates the light," Brown argued. "We have to quit trying to please people and be accepted. We must speak the truth in love. It's not either/or. It's both/and."

Jesus at the Center

Revivals are known for burning brightly but then always burning out. But there are those saying if the next one will put Jesus Christ right at the center, it never has to die.

So that's a part of preparing for revival.

"We can up our prayer lives; we can re-prioritize how we spend our day, how we spend our money. He needs to be number one," Arnott said of God.

Baker said of Jesus Christ, "He's our Lord, our Savior, our king, our bridegroom king. We want to lift Him up and lift Him up. 'As He be lifted up, all men will be drawn to Him.' "

Jeri Hill is the president of Steve Hill Ministries and widow of Steve Hill, the evangelist at the center of the 1995 Brownsville Revival.

'Get a Picture of God'

"At one point he was going to be put on Time Magazine," Hill said of her deceased husband. "And he said, 'You know what? I think you need to put God —get a picture of God—because it's really all about Him. I am only a vessel that He fixed."

She pointed out that her husband preached the truth that a revival couldn't super-saturate the whole world till every believer becomes an evangelist to those around them.

"And when Steve and I would go out, we'd talk to people in the supermarket, in an antique store, in a restaurant. You take it out," Hill insisted.

Arnott spoke of other ways to prepare for revival, saying, "You keep your heart right, keep short accounts with people that have offended you or hurt you, and you just get rooted and grounded in the love of God and get ready for more."

Baker recommended, "Have little gatherings at your company. Have little gatherings at your school. Just come together and love Jesus. And then shine. Don't be afraid to share your testimony."

Friday, March 30, 2018

The Hidden Science That Proves Jesus Definitely Died on the Cross - PAUL STRAND/CBN

When atheists find evidence of Jesus' Resurrection and become believers, you know there must be more than just faith that it happened. — When atheists find evidence of Jesus' resurrection and become believers, you know there must be more than just faith that it happened. (congerdesign / pixabay)

The Hidden Science That Proves Jesus Definitely Died on the Cross

3/29/2018 PAUL STRAND/CBN

Join us on our podcast each weekday for an interesting story, well told, from Charisma News. Listen at charismapodcastnetwork.com.

When atheists find evidence of Jesus' resurrection and become believers, you know there must be more than just faith that it happened. Two of the most famous former atheists came to a recent Truth for a New Generation conference outside this North Carolina city to talk about how they ended up strong defenders of the fact Christ really did rise from the dead.

As a successful cold case detective, J. Warner Wallace became so well known at solving decades-old murders, he ended up as the foremost expert on national TV true crime shows.

But as an atheist, he decided to turn his superior detective skills on disproving the resurrection of Jesus Christ... or even proving it if the evidence should somehow take him there.

He remembered telling himself, "I'm going to have to figure out how to evaluate that for its truthfulness given this skill set that I had as a cold case detective."

CBN News talked to him at this crowded conference where many hundreds gathered to hear Wallace and others tell their stories and learn how their faith in Christ rests on solid evidence.

Tackling Theories Against the Resurrection

For years some doubters clung to one theory that Jesus didn't actually die on the cross but was just nearly dead and revived later.

Wallace points out when you work with dead bodies all the time like he has and people in Christ's time did, you can definitely tell "dead" from "nearly dead."

"As a homicide detective, I'm thinking 'I've seen a lot of dead people, and I know what dead people look like,'" he said, and then talked about something called "the mortis triad."

"That hot blood's going to stop circulating, you're going to cool down. That's called algor mortis," he stated. "You'll be cool to the touch. And we can actually judge time of death based on how cool."

Jesus Really Was Dead

This author of Cold-Case Christianity moved on, saying, "This is something I've seen my entire career: There's the thing called rigor mortis. It's the second of the mortis triad. And you'll see that kind of stiffness. You won't be as flexible as you would be if you were just unconscious."

And Warner finds in the Gospel of John a key point of proof that Jesus wasn't faking it and that He really did die: a line about blood and water coming out of Jesus' body on the cross when a Roman soldier pierced him with a spear.

"Water will collect in your lungs," he explained. "Now if that happens, if you pierce that cavity, you will see a separation of blood and water."

It struck Wallace powerfully that John wrote of this, saying, "He was either so clever that he included some little-known biological fact that nobody would discover for 1800 years or he just reported what he saw. And as a result we have a good piece of hidden science that confirms that Jesus actually died of cardiac arrest and was dead at the point of the body being taken off the cross."

As a young atheist, Josh McDowell set off to write Evidence That Demands a Verdict to show the evidence about Christ, including His resurrection, was so weak, the verdict would be "Not True."

"The resurrection was one of several things I knew I had to refute as a non-believer," McDowell recalled.

How Could He Move? Or Roll Away the Stone?

But instead of refuting, he became so convinced it happened, he spends dozens of pages in Evidence That Demands a Verdict knocking down false theories, like the one suggesting Christ didn't really die but woke up and escaped from the tomb.

"There were a hundred and some pounds of encasement of aromatic spices and gumming of cement consistency around His body, wrapped tightly in three separate linen cloths weighing about 117 pounds," McDowell told CBN News.

He continued, "Christ was encased in that, and it becomes hardened. Second, how would He be able to move in such a state like that a one-and-a-half to two-ton stone away from the entrance?"

Did the Disciples Steal the Body?

As for the theory His disciples stole the body, the Jewish leaders opposed to Jesus were so worried about that exact thing happening, they talked the Romans into putting a massive guard group—as many as 16 soldiers—outside the tomb.

McDowell scoffed, "The impossibility of that! That they could have climbed through there, tiptoed around all the guards and become invisible to the guards in front of the tomb, rolled a one-and-a-half to two-ton stone that in that day that they said 20 men couldn't move it."

Wallace can't accept this was all just a conspiracy, because detectives know those often fall apart when there are too many conspirators and the people involved face real threats if they don't recant.

He pointed out, "And we don't have a single, ancient record of any of the disciples ever recanting, when that was often the goal of the people who were persecuting Christians."

Wallace pointed out courts don't expect the law to prove absolutely no possible doubt. Only no reasonable doubt.

"So is it possible that they conspired for 60 years, at 500 plus people, under immense pressure with not enough family relationships to hold it together?" Wallace asked. "Yeah, it's possible. It's just not reasonable."

Jesus Appeared to All Sorts of People

Debunkers say Jesus in the biblical accounts only showed up to his closest followers, those most likely to lie about His resurrection. But McDowell said the opposite is true.

"He appeared to the Apostle Paul, Saul of Tarsus, who was anything but a follower of Christ. He despised Christ as a false Messiah," McDowell said.

He also pointed out Jesus appeared to James, saying, "You take James, His brother. James was not a follower of Jesus Christ. He was embarrassed by Christ, his brother, going out and doing these things and claiming these things. But James ended up coming to Christ and became a leader of the Jerusalem church."

No Two People—Much Less 500—Have the Same Hallucination

The Bible talks about Christ after His Resurrection showing up before 500 people. Some debunkers say that was likely just a mass hallucination. Neither Wallace or McDowell buy that.

McDowell interviewed five experts and learned, "No two people ever have the same hallucination because there's no external reference to it. It's all internal."

Wallace added, "There's just no history of kind of group hallucinations with the kind of detail that we see in the gospels. So I was never fond of that explanation."

Worshipping Jesus

McDowell stated, "In my research to refute Christianity, I became convinced the Church would never have been founded without the resurrection. Everything that they did pointed back to that."

One huge thing they did: break the Sabbath and worship Jesus as they did it. Remember: all the early believers were fervent Jews who had believed they faced dire danger if they broke the Sabbath.

Alex McFarland—who organized this Truth for a New Generation conference—points out how that changed right after Jesus' resurrection.

"Pious Jews whose very relationship with God is contingent on keeping a Sabbath that they've observed for centuries, suddenly overnight begin to worship on Sunday. Why? Something must have happened. Well, Sunday was resurrection day."

"Now you have to understand what it meant to the Jew if they ever broke the Sabbath," McDowell explained. "It could mean death."

The Resurrection Proves It All

But the resurrection on a Sunday had been the proof positive that Jesus was indeed the Risen Lord, worthy of worship on that day of the week.

"If Christ physically rose from the grave, then that proves His identity, message and credentials," McFarland pointed out. "What was His identity? God Incarnate. What was His message? Salvation by faith in what He did on the cross. His credentials? Virgin born, sinless life, rose from the dead, i.e.: He is the Savior."

McDowell told CBN News the meaning of it all is so powerful and overwhelming, it still touches him deeply more than half a century after he first came to believe Jesus was indeed the resurrected Son of God, able to conquer death.

"It gives me hope that as Christ was raised from the dead, I shall be, too. Because of that," he stated.

McFarland added, "In the empty tomb, we have it all, ironclad, guaranteed. I tell people the tomb was left empty so that your life could be made full."

Sunday, February 25, 2018

Dutch Sheets Says Turnaround's Coming That Will Save Billions of Souls - CBN News Paul Strand

Dutch Sheets Says Turnaround's Coming That Will Save Billions of Souls

02-24-2018

CBN News Paul Strand

WASHINGTON—Internationally-known evangelist Dutch Sheets is bringing word to the nation’s capital that a turnaround is coming that will lead to a worldwide harvest of billions of souls.

“We are about to see the greatest influx of souls in history,” Sheets told CBN News in an exclusive interview.

Just before the February 22-24 Turnaround Conference began at the Trump International Hotel in Washington, Sheets explained what's led to such an audacious prediction.

10 Months of Turmoil, 3 Years of Turnaround

He said his frequent ministry partner Chuck Pierce prophesied back in April, “10 months of turmoil before breakthrough came. And then it’d be three years of turnaround for America.”

These last 10 months certainly have seen all sorts of turmoil — political upheaval, hurricanes, fires, floods and more. But Sheets said now’s the time for God’s people to push for the promised turnaround.

“There’s another level of intercession, prophetic declaration, kingly intercession, making decrees for Him that is going to now launch us into what we’ve been asking for for 25, 30 years: a Third Great Awakening in America, another great awakening around the world. And I believe the greatest harvest in history begins now,” Sheets asserted.

Time to Fly the “Appeal To Heaven” Flag Again

He spoke about the need to reignite the Appeal to Heaven movement: a time when the Founding Fathers acknowledged they couldn’t break away from Britain and become a free nation without God’s aid. So they flew flags saying “Appeal to Heaven” during the Revolutionary War.

Sheets explained, “Our founders knew there was no way they could defeat the British unless God intervened: ‘if He’s in this, we can win. If He’s not, this is laughable.’ So they said ‘we’re going to appeal to heaven.’ They actually put the phrase in the Declaration at the end. They laid out their case and said ’so we appeal to the Supreme Judge of the universe.’”

And during the war, Sheets said, “They put this flag — ‘Appeal to Heaven’ — over the battlefields, over the ships. People don’t know it, but our nation was born under a prayer movement — Appeal to Heaven. And, of course, we prevailed by the grace of God.”

Sheets believes God is now saying to the nation, “'I need to use what I used to birth you to re-birth you. Because America needs a re-birth.’ We have to have an awakening and a restoration. And I think He’s saying to us, ‘What I used then is what I’ll use now: prayer. If you’ll appeal to me, you can turn this nation around.”

Well-known Christian leader Cindy Jacobs prophesied to Sheets it should start on Washington ’s Birthday in the city named after him.

Sheets recalled Jacobs said to him, “Holy Spirit said, ‘tell Dutch re-launch on 2-22 in Washington D.C.’ And she said it will re-launch the worldwide prayer movement.”

‘We Are an Apostate Nation’

Many people believe America certainly needs a spiritual re-birth.

“The turnaround is a reversal of the turning away from God in this nation. We are an apostate nation. We have rejected Him,” Sheets asserted.

He continued, “Something has to happen in the hearts of people to where they will say internally and outwardly ‘what does God think about this?’ It’s a return to Him, it’s a return to His Word, it’s a return to His ways. That’s what I think is coming."

Such a turn in enough American hearts can lead to change that permeates all society.

How to Rejuvenate a Whole Country

“Scriptures say ‘righteousness exalts a nation,” Sheets explained. “It’s the inevitable law of sowing and reaping. If we sow seeds of righteousness, we receive the blessing of heaven. That means physically and spiritually. Marriages are healed. Lives get put back together. Drug addiction goes down. Disease is eradicated. To me, once you turn to God, blessing comes at every level."

The evangelist told CBN News this certainly isn’t political.

“To me, the turnaround is not just prosperity, it’s not just ‘the conservatives win.’ The turnaround is spiritual. It’s not Democrat. It’s not Republican. It’s a heart issue. It’s a turning back to God. And I think that’s about to happen."

Salvation for Billions

And Sheets expects from a re-born America, God will change the world.

“This is all about what God wants to do around the world. I believe we’ll see more people saved in the next 20 years than we have in the previous 2, 000,” Sheets predicted. "I think it’ll be in the billions. Not the ‘m,’ but the ‘b.’ The billions. I think Asia is about to get hit with a tidal wave of revival. And I think it’s going right into the Middle East.”

He concluded, “I believe it’s this incredible harvest that has been prophesied for so long, we’re moving into now. The best days of the Church are not behind us. They are ahead of us.”

If you think all of this has nothing to do with you, Sheets wants you to know, if you can pray and intercede for your nation and your world, you can have a part in this turnaround.

Watch here: Dutch Sheets interview

Thursday, February 15, 2018

Vice President Pence Blasts ABC's 'The View': Christianity Is NOT a Mental Illness - CBN News Paul Strand

Vice President Pence Blasts ABC's 'The View': Christianity Is NOT a Mental Illness

02-14-2018

CBN News Paul Strand

Vice President Mike Pence hit back Wednesday at comments made on ABC's "The View" comparing his hearing from Jesus Christ to mental illness.

On Tuesday, the panelists on the talk show discussed former White House staffer Omarosa Manigault Newman's recent comment on the reality TV show "Celebrity Big Brother" about Pence's faith. She said, "I am Christian, I love Jesus, but he thinks Jesus tells him to say things."

On "The View," Joy Behar commented, "It's one thing to talk to Jesus. It's another thing when Jesus talks to you. That's called mental illness, if I'm not correct, hearing voices."

Pence said during a broadcast with Axios journalist Mike Allen, "I actually heard that ABC has a program that compared my Christianity to mental illness. And I'd like to laugh about it, but I really can't."

"It's just wrong," Pence continued. "And it's an insult not to me, but to the vast majority of the American people who, like me, cherish their faith. My Christianity is the most important thing in my life."

ANALYSIS: Omarosa and 'The View' Demonstrate Why Evangelicals Continue to Support Trump/Pence

Also on "The View," Behar went on to joke, "My question is, can he talk to Mary Magdalene without his wife in the room?"

Another member of "The View" team, Sunny Hostin, said of Pence's faith, "I'm Catholic, I'm a faithful person, but I don't know that I want my vice president speaking in tongues."

Pence also stated during the Axios interview, "I try to start every day by opening the Good Book. My wife and I try to have a prayer together before I leave every morning. I can honestly tell you my faith sustains me in all that I do and it's just a regular part of our lives. But I'm not unusual. I think I'm a very typical American, whatever your faith tradition, people understand that."

Get THE CHRISTIAN PERSPECTIVE on Today's Headlines: Click Here for Morning and Afternoon Email UPDATES

"But I just think it demonstrates just how out of touch some in the mainstream media are with the faith and values of the American people that you could have a major network like ABC permit a forum for invective against religion like that," Pence continued. "And I call them out on it. Not because of what was said about me. But it's just simply wrong for ABC to have a television program that expresses that kind of religious intolerance."

"We're better than that. Our country's better than that," Pence concluded. "I'd like to be light about it, but I really can't. Not for my sake, but for the tens of millions of Americans who cherish their faith, I can't be silent."

Watch here: VP Mike Pence

EXCLUSIVE 'President Trump Is a Believer and so Am I': Pence Confirms Trump’s Christian Faith to CBN News

Tuesday, February 13, 2018

'It Is Abnormal to Sift Through Body Parts of Babies': Why 419 Abortion Workers Have Quit - CBN News Paul Strand

'It Is Abnormal to Sift Through Body Parts of Babies': Why 419 Abortion Workers Have Quit

02-13-2018

CBN News Paul Strand

WASHINGTON – So many workers in the abortion industry are quitting, a group that formed to get them out is stunned at its own success.

Abby Johnson, head of the organization And Then There Were None, is out to end abortions by leaving no one to perform them.

At a recent gathering in which the nation's capital was flooded with pro-lifers participating in the annual March for Life, Johnson talked of wanting to depopulate the abortion industry after she left her job as a Planned Parenthood manager and became a pro-life advocate.

Expected a Dozen, Got 419

She expected only 10 to 12 workers a year to actually quit.

"Because it is a hard sell," she said, "trying to convince people who work in the abortion industry to leave and come to the pro-life side."

Johnson can hardly believe how high the resignation numbers really are.

"We are up to 419 abortion workers who have left the abortion industry and who have come through And Then There Were None," she told CBN News. "And we also have had seven full-time abortion doctors leave the abortion industry."

'Don't Want to Participate in One More Abortion'

Registered nurse Shelley Guillory of Lafayette, Louisiana admitted she had to fight her own beliefs to assist in the many abortions she aided.

"Internally it was a conflict. And it just began to fester and fester till I just couldn't be there anymore," she recounted.

A sudden family tragedy – the death of her 20-year-old son – gave her three months away from the clinic. A pro-life protestor and sidewalk counselor showed her compassion when she returned.

Guillory told CBN News he said, "'What are you doing back here? We thought you quit.' And it was like no, my son passed away, so I was out briefly. And he was like, 'oh, I'm sorry to hear that.' He said, 'I wish you wouldn't have come back.'"

"I remember walking back into the clinic and thinking a little while and saying, 'I really don't want to be here and I don't want to even participate in one more abortion,'" she recalled.

She quit that day. And Then There Were None rushed to her aid.

"They assisted me with finances temporarily until I was able to find another job, and gave me emotional support. Helped me redo resumes," Guillory explained.

'Guilt Gets You in the Gut'

She really needed that emotional support after taking part in all those abortions.

"Guilt gets you in the gut where you least expect it," she revealed. "How could I have ever participated when it's not something that I would have chosen for myself or my daughters?"

Johnson understands that guilt over what those abortion workers do every day.

"It is abnormal to convince a woman to take the life of her child," she said. "It is abnormal to pit women against their children. It is abnormal to sift through body parts of babies."

Abortion Job Might Have Killed Her

Annette Lancaster was so wounded in her soul doing what she did at the Chapel Hill, North Carolina Planned Parenthood, she isn't sure she would have survived without And Then There Were None backing her up.

"If I wasn't in this organization, I don't think I would be here today," she said.

"When women would ask me 'do you think God is going to forgive me?' And trying to answer that question in a roundabout way, started affecting me. I was just in a very dark place in my life while working there," Lancaster revealed.

Lancaster knew about And Then Were None because of its business card popping up. In fact, a whole pile of them popping up.

"I actually received some cards that were put on my car," she recalled. "Not just one or two, but they were actually all around my car. And then my director was there and she said 'you're going to throw those away, right?' But I took one and I kept it in my pocket."

How She Came to Be 'Quit/Fired'

Her spiral downward on-the-job continued until she wrote up a letter of resignation and one particular day prepared to hand it in and quit. But then came a sudden surprise on the same day.

"I was called in that day into the office and was told 'you just don't fit in here anymore. And so I 'quit/fired,'" she said with a laugh. "I think they could tell the abortion numbers were going down tremendously when I was the manager there. So they could tell that I was not encouraging women to do the procedures, but rather discouraging them."

A Shady and Shoddy Reputation

A problem that some have getting out of the abortion business is that it has such a shady and shoddy reputation, many people don't want to hire those who worked in it. So Johnson is pleading with businesses, especially medical ones, to get over that prejudice and contact her organization and start working with it.

"Because we want to be able to have placements all over the country where we can say, 'Hey, you leave, I have a job for you today,'" she said.

Johnson doesn't just appreciate those workplaces that have partnered with her organization, but desperately-needed donors as well.

'Go With Your Heart and Listen to God'

"We don't have a Warren Buffett who's giving us millions of dollars," Johnson said with a smile.

CBN News asked Johnson if she was one of the family members who own the company, Johnson & Johnson.

"No, I'm not the Johnson & Johnson Johnson," she replied. "I don't have the money to fund it myself. It's just generous people – ordinary people –giving this extraordinary gift. And it's literally changing and saving lives."

As for those doctors, nurses and other workers who may be doubting if they should be in the abortion world, Lancaster has this message.

"I would tell them 'definitely go with your heart. Listen to God," she told CBN News.

Watch here: Leaving Abortion Jobs

Friday, December 29, 2017

Charismatic Renewal Pioneer Larry Christenson Dies from Icy Fall - CBN News Paul Strand

Charismatic Renewal Pioneer Larry Christenson Dies from Icy Fall

12-29-2017

CBN News Paul Strand

Rev. Larry Christenson, a leader of the charismatic renewal in mainline denominations, passed away Tuesday, five days after a fall on ice put the 89-year-old in a coma.

In his early 30s, Christenson was a Lutheran pastor in San Pedro, California, who came to believe at the start of the 1960s that Jesus Christ still heals the sick today as He did 2,000 years ago.

That belief led Christenson to accept that the other gifts of the Holy Spirit were also still available.

He himself was baptized in the Spirit and began to speak in tongues at a local Assemblies of God church he visited in 1961.

Christenson decided to stay in his Lutheran denomination, where he became a major advocate for and leader of the charismatic renewal sweeping through mainline churches.

His own San Pedro church became so popular that it could well have become a mega-church as Lutherans curious about the baptism in the Holy Spirit flocked there. But he always encouraged them to return to their own congregations to be a strength and light.

Christenson's books, "Speaking in Tongues" (1968) and "The Christian Family (1970)," became bestsellers.

Where detractors criticized the charismatic movement as being too based in shallow emotionalism, Christenson's own sharp and quiet intellect contradicted the stereotype.

After decades pastoring in California, he returned to his home state of Minnesota. At age 89, he was attending the same church in Northfield, Minnesota, where he was baptized at the start of his life.

Christenson had memorized the entire Book of Ephesians, and praying from that book was a major part of the four-hour prayer walks he did daily. It was on such a walk two months away from his 90th birthday that he slipped on ice Dec. 21, the fall that led to his five-day coma and then death.

He was married to his wife, Nordis, for 66 years and is survived by her, four children, 18 grandchildren and five great-grandchildren.

Tuesday, December 19, 2017

Through Pain, Suffering, and Loss: Meet Christians Who Survived ISIS - CBN News Paul Strand

Through Pain, Suffering, and Loss: Meet Christians Who Survived ISIS

Dec. 19, 2017 CBN News Paul Strand

Christianity came to Iraq's Nineveh Plain shortly after Christ's death and resurrection. But ISIS did its best to wipe the modern-day descendants of those ancient Christians off the face of the earth. Now a father and son who survived that genocide have come to America to put a face on those who've been terrorized and persecuted.

Imagine you're a pre-teen and ISIS troops are about to invade your town. You're well aware they'll likely kill you and most everyone you know. That's just the situation eight members of the Binoo family faced one night in 2014.

"We were all afraid as we heard that ISIS was heading toward our town," Noeh Binoo recalled. "We were all scared."

Priests Risked All to Warn Everyone

Kristin Wright, director of advocacy for the ministry Open Doors USA told CBN News the Iraqi troops who'd been protecting Noeh's town of Karamles hurriedly retreated before ISIS. But as they fled, they didn't warn the townspeople they were deserting them. Christians there survived only because priests in the town's Chaldean church went door to door and warned everyone in the night to quickly evacuate.

"Of course we were very scared as I grabbed all my family together, try to put them all quickly in the car and head outside the town,' Noeh's father, Haitam Binoo, told CBN News.

As the town's residents raced away in whatever transportation they could find, the priests were the last to leave Karamles as the ISIS invaders arrived.

Gunfire crackled around them and bullets flew as the Christians raced through the night.

The Binoo family then faced three years in a refugee camp just a few dozen miles from where ISIS was on its genocidal rampage, terrorizing, torturing, enslaving and murdering just about anyone who did not believe or submit to their particular radical brand of Islam.

Now with ISIS' recent defeat, the Binoo family has been able to return, but only to find most of their home ransacked and gutted by flames.

"We were very happy as we returned to our hometown," Haitam Binoo said. "But at the same time, it's hard to see our house burned along with other people's."

In fact, almost 100 homes in Karamles were burned to the ground.

"I was going back to my home and I saw it all burned," Noeh said. "I felt very sad because it was brand-new; we'd just built it. And it's all burned."

Noeh's Small Gift

All the toys, games and gadgets of his youth were destroyed or lay charred on the floor of what had been Noeh's room. As he's been touring America, he's given some people a small gift of burned marbles from what had been his prized marble collection. It's a poignant symbol of the lost innocence of youth, stolen away by cruel ISIS fighters.

The Binoo family could have lost their lives. They did lose most of their worldly possessions and spent years in a refugee camp.

"It makes us stronger in our faith," the elder Binoo said.

That's the message father and son have brought during their time in America, which included a visit to the White House, meeting with Vice President Mike Pence.

Wright says American Christians could learn a thing or two from their persecuted brothers and sisters in Christ she's met all over the world.

"I've absolutely had my heart broken at seeing the pain of what Christians have endured," she said. "But I've also been absolutely stunned at the joy that they have in the midst of it and the strength that they have found."

"So I think that there is hope in the midst of despair, even for Christians in the Middle East right now," Wright continued. "And that's why they need our prayers and action more than ever before."

Critics sometimes call out Christians meeting every crisis with prayer, but Wright says prayers really matter.

"Personally when I've been to Iraq. I've met with church leaders who told me they could feel the prayers of Christians around the world," she recalled.

"So prayer is definitely important," Wright added. "But I wouldn't stop there."

She said giving to help people like Noeh through ministries like Open Doors is always appreciated. The costs are high, because the work is immense.

"We're currently rebuilding homes along the Nineveh Plain as Christians are moving back," Wright explained.

Noeh told CBN News he'd like Christians outside of Iraq to keep praying for his family and his people.

"And we as well pray for them to live in peace in their homes," he said.

Noeh is ready to restart life in his hometown upon the Nineveh Plain. It's a region where Christians still speak Aramaic, the same language Jesus spoke.

He's still deciding on his future profession there.

"Either a soccer player or a teacher," Noeh said with a big smile.

Watch here: Christians who survived ISIS

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Tuesday, May 1, 2018