China’s Imprisonment of Christian Leader Prompts FreePastorBike.com

Voice of the Martyrs and China Aid Association have launched a campaign to publicize human rights violations by China.

Just two days before the Olympics began, Pastor Zhang “Bike” Mingxuan was arrested, along with his wife and a coworker. In response to these arrests, the two organizations are hosting a petition drive to free these three Christians and to let the Chinese government know that the world is aware that these Christians are being detained.

To read more and sign the online petition – click here!

UPDATE: Pastor Bike has been freed!

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Lucado: God’s Poetry

Max Lucado writes that scripture calls the church a poem. “We are His workmanship” (Eph. 2:10). Workmanship descends from the Greek word poeo or poetry. We are God’s poetry! What Longfellow did with pen and paper, our Maker does with us. We express his creativity best.

Read more in Alexander.

Saudi Arabia: Don’t Be Walking the Dog!

This from Answers for the Faith blog:

Here’s another one of those fascinating stories that seem almost surreal to most Westerners – stories that can’t possibly be true! Saudi Arabia has given us a lot of them lately.

Like the American lady executive who was arrested and went to jail for being at ‘Starbucks’ with a business associate – or the Saudi woman who was raped and sentenced to prison for being in the company of strange men — or making Valentine’s Day and red flowers illegal, or worse yet – the Saudi religious leader who said it was ok for 1 year old baby girls to marry. You just can’t make up stories like this and have any credibility.

Yet, here it is – the Saudi religious police have actually outlawed selling dogs and cats and even walking them in public—because they say that men make passes at woman in the process. LOL – and some people think we live in a ‘nanny state? See what you’re missing without sharia!

Christians won’t leave airport until China returns bibles

This from NY Daily News:

A group of American Christians who had more than 300 Bibles confiscated by Chinese officials when they arrived in China is refusing to leave the airport until they get the books back, their leader said Monday.

Read More/NYDailyNews.com

UPDATE

This from AP:

BEIJING – A group of American Christians who had more than 300 Bibles confiscated by Chinese customs officials left the airport Monday after a 26-hour standoff, saying they realized officials would not change their stance.

Members of Vision Beyond Borders, who arrived in the southwestern city of Kunming on Sunday while the Olympic Games were being staged in Beijing, had previously said they would not leave the airport until the communist authorities returned the 315 Bibles, taken from their checked luggage.

But the group said Monday that the U.S. Embassy told them the Chinese would abide by a law that forbids bringing religious products into the communist nation for more than personal use.

Read More/MSNBC

Obama dodges question on when life begins

Finally, some meat for Barack Obama’s opposition to chew on. As I’ve said before, all the shallow name calling and innuendo about Obama would only hurt McCain supporters. Now, Obama’s pro legal abortion stance thinly veiled recently by saying he “wants to reduce abortions” will boost McCainites.

The moderator of Saturday night’s presidential forum on faith — Pastor Rick Warren — says Barack Obama failed to adequately address the question of when life begins.

John McCain, Rick Warren, and Barack Obama at Saddleback Church

This from OneNewsNow.com:

Warren went on to suggest Obama’s non-answer will not sit well with many Christians. As Warren puts it: “If an evangelical really believes that the Bible is literal — in other word[s], in Psalm 139 God says ‘I formed you in your mother’s womb and before you were born I planned every day of your life’ — if they believe that’s literally true, then they can’t just walk away from that. They can add other issues, but they can’t walk away from the belief that at conception God planned that child, and to abort it would be to short circuit the purpose.”

Read more at OneNewsNow.com

ADD

From CNN:

Obama said that although he’s pro-choice and supports Roe v. Wade, his goal is to reduce the number of abortions in America.

“On this particular issue, if you believe that life begins at conception … and you are consistent, then I can’t argue with you on that,” he said. “What I can do is say, are there ways we can work together to reduce the number of unwanted pregnancies?”

Read more at CNN