Understanding tragedy of the magnitude of China’s earthquake devastation is impossible. However, there is hope.

The Lord is my rock, my fortress, and my savior; my God is my rock, in whom I find protection. He is my shield, the strength of my salvation, and my stronghold. - Psalm 18:2

World Vision in China is looking to offer relief and rehabilitation to reach more than 107,000 survivors. Long-term rehabilitation activities will focus on shelter and school reconstruction. Right now they are setting up three child-friendly spaces.

Read more about The Rock and World Vision in Alexander

While many of the cultural battles centered on religion in the U.S. involve legal positioning on church and state issues, very real physical persecution of faith exists in many other parts of the world.

A few websites monitor and report on these atrocities, many of which go with little mention or unreported in the mainstream media. Two sites whose mission includes reporting on religious persecution are Compass Direct News and Persecution Blog

Here’s a recent example of persecution. This from Compass Direct News:

ALGIERS, Algeria, May 9 – An Algerian Christian detained five days for carrying a Bible and personal Bible study books was handed a 300-euro (US$460) fine and a one-year suspended prison sentence last week, an Algerian church leader said.

On April 29, a court in Djilfa, 150 miles south of Algiers, charged the 33-year-old Muslim convert to Christianity with “printing, storing and distributing” illegal religious material. A written copy of the verdict has yet to be issued.

The Protestant, who requested anonymity for security reasons, told fellow Christians in his home city of Tiaret that police pressured him to return to Islam while in custody.

The conviction is the latest in a wave of detentions and court cases against Algeria’s Protestants and Catholics. Since January police and provincial officials have ordered the closure of up to half of the country’s 50 estimated Protestant congregations.

Officials in several instances have cited a February 2006 law governing the worship of non-Muslims. Clarified by subsequent decrees in 2007, the law restricts most religious meetings to approved places of worship and forbids any attempt to “shake the faith of a Muslim.”

On the morning of April 25, the Tiaret resident and eight-year convert to Christianity was stopped at a police roadblock in the vicinity of Djilfa while riding in a shared taxi. Officials took the convert into custody upon finding a Bible and several religious study books in his luggage.

A Christian from Tiaret told Compass that Djilfa police appeared to have previous knowledge of the Protestant’s Christian connections. Officers refused to let the convert call friends to let them know of his detention, naming a church member in Tiaret whom they claimed he would contact.

“We will call your family for you,” the officials said, according to the Christian source from Tiaret.

According to one Algerian human rights lawyer, police violated the convert’s rights by refusing him the telephone call.

“Any detained person has the right to call his family,” said the lawyer, who requested anonymity.

A leader from the Protestant Church of Algeria, an umbrella association for mainline and evangelical congregations, said that Christians remained unaware of the detainee’s location for several days.

Precarious Position

The Christian source in Tiaret said that Djilfa police verbally attacked the convert because of his faith during his five-day detention at city’s police station.

“They did not hit him, but they tried to convert him back to Islam,” he said.

Under Algerian law, police can detain a suspect up to 48 hours before bringing him before a state prosecutor, the human rights lawyer told Compass.

“It is not legal for them to hold him for five days,” said the lawyer, who clarified that any detention between 24 and 48 hours had to be approved by a state prosecutor.

After five days in Djilfa’s main police station, the Christian was brought before a state prosecutor and then a Djilfa judge. According to the convert, the judge convicted him of “printing, storing and distributing” illegal religious literature, though the charge remains uncertain until a written verdict is issued.

Before releasing him, the judge told the convert he would be given a 300 euro fine and a one-year suspended sentence.

According to the Tiaret Christian, the convert received the “printing” charge because he was traveling with a computer printer in his possession. The convert has yet to receive a written copy of the verdict, though observers said this was common in Algeria, as court verdicts are normally sent by mail following a ruling.

Because the sentence is suspended, the convert will only have to do jail time if convicted of another crime. But the Tiaret Christian said that the verdict constituted an ongoing threat to the Christian.

“A policeman could bring false accusations against him, that he gave one of them a Bible, and he would be thrown in jail,” the friend said.

Christians in Tiaret reported two separate instances in which undercover police officers pretended to be interested in Christianity and then detained Protestants for giving them Bibles.

Charges were thrown out for the first incident in March. In the second case a Tiaret court handed a Christian a two-year suspended sentence and a 100,000-dinar (US$1,540) fine on April 2. The written verdict was delivered on April 9.

At least five Christians from Tiaret have been detained or tried for Christian activities since January 2008.

According to unconfirmed reports, Tiaret police detained six more Christians today.

Christians constitute a tiny minority of Algeria’s population of 33 million. Catholics count several thousand congregants, mostly expatriates, while numbers for Protestants are less certain.

Conservative estimates place the number of Protestants at 10,000, though evangelism via satellite TV has reportedly led to a large number of isolated conversions unaccounted for in church attendance figures.

Source: Compass Direct News

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DIGG Story

I often look back with a chuckle at a Seinfeld episode in which George’s dad, trying to pre-empt a tizzy fit, would look to the sky and shout, “Serenity now! Serenity now!” If only it were that simple!

I was reminded yesterday that it could be one of a number of things that could prompt me to be in a better mood… and even be at peace. It was a quick visit to a pastor friend of mine. In 20 minutes I was truly listened to, encouraged, uplifted, and ready to rock the world!

Read more in Alexander

Our schedules are over-booked and we’re frustrated. But, we are reminded what it’s really all about when we take a look at His Word.

In the past God spoke… many times and in many different ways. But now… God has spoken to us through his Son. - Hebrews 1:1-2

Too much to do. It seems like a disease these days…having too much to do in too little time. Arranging meetings, making deadlines, getting that gift for mom…it’s Friday and I need another day before the weekend to make things come together…

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People washed clothes next to their destroyed homes on the outskirts of Yangon on Wednesday. (Khin Maung Win/Agence France-Presse)
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World Vision is delivering emergency supplies to the children and families who’ve lost their homes in the cyclone.  Go to World Vision now!

…Blogroll mates, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were Dugg; not many were of noble ranking. But God chose the foolish posts of the blogosphere to shame the wise… - 1 Corinthians 1:26.27

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Giving aid to Myanmar is as easy as a couple of clicks

World Vision is airlifting emergency supplies to survivors of the devastating cyclone that struck Myanmar over the weekend. The death toll from cyclone that battered Myanmar has risen above 22,000, state radio reports. More than 41,000 are reported missing. Help now!

Read more in It’s About Giving

All right, guys, here’s the plan today. An army is out there, armed to the teeth. So, we are sending in the choir and the musicians.

In the Old Testament, we find an interesting story of how King Jehoshaphat took an uncommon approach when his enemies waged war against him. Instead of sending in his army first, he sent in the choir and musicians. - Greg Laurie

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Audit Reveals U.N.’s World Food Program Has More Than $1.22 Billion Stockpile

This Week’s Top Scrooge - May 2, 2008

By ALEXANDER

It’s been a while since I’ve published a This Week’s Top Scrooge, so I decided to resurrect the column upon hearing about yet, another World Food Program snafu.

Whether or not the WFP could use more money or not, it seems awfully suspect that the group’s tactics for fishing-in cash are sketchy at best.

This from FoxNews:

Just weeks before it announced the onset of a global food crisis and the urgent need for donors to provide at least $775 million in additional funding, the World Food Program (WFP) was sitting on a cash and near-cash stockpile of more than $1.22 billion.

The startling figure is contained in the latest audited statements of the WFP, which were endorsed by WFP’s executive director, Josette Sheeran, on March 31, 2008 — just a month before Sheeran announced at an international aid conference on April 22 that a “silent tsunami” in rising food prices demanded the huge infusion of cash for WFP’s latest budget.

In an op-ed article published in the International Herald Tribune on May 1, U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon further declared that the WFP had just “$18 million cash in hand” in the wake of its appeal for emergency funding. (more)

It’s hard to comprehend what it really takes to fuel such an ambitious group as the WFP. It seems corruption would be the last thing a humanitarian effort needs. Yet, the WFP is not immune to the corrupt world it tries to maneuver within.

We haven’t heard WFP’s side yet, but I suspect the spin doctors are working overtime. For calling out a “silent tsunami” while keeping quiet about its own monster funds, the WFP is This Week’s Top Scrooge.

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MORE FEATURE STORIES FROM: This Week’s Top Scrooge

When you talk, do not say harmful things, but say what people need—words that will help others become stronger. - Ephesians 4:29

Sticks and stones can break my bones, but names will never hurt me! It’s just a childhood chant, but although we can put up a good front about hurtful words not hurting, the truth is they can be damaging at any age…

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