faith news:Baptist leaders fined for street evangelism in Russia

Baptist leaders fined for street evangelism in Russia

by Gretta Curtis, Christian Post
Posted: Thursday, October 8, 2009, 8:56 (BST)

Norway-based Forum 18 News service reported that the two preachers - Mikhail Alentyev and Aleksandr Legotin were fined on 25 September by magistrate at Gusev Municipal court for holding a public demonstration.

Legotin insisted that because the Baptists had held a religious service and not a demonstration, the legal requirement to notify the authorities in advance should not have applied. “We follow the law very carefully,” he told Forum 18.

“And under the Universal Declaration [of Human Rights] we have the right to freedom of conscience – the law should be doing the opposite, protecting us from such arbitrariness,” he said.

All public gatherings – whether political or religious – must be sanctioned by the municipal authorities in advance, a Kaliningrad police source speaking on condition of anonymity told Forum 18 on 1 October.

“But they didn't have permission and they had no intention of getting it!” he remarked, clearly irritated by the Baptists' actions, while admitting they had not disturbed public order.

Asked why permission is necessary, the source replied, “That's the law in Russia!” and pointed to Article 20.2 of the Administrative Violations Code. Forum 18 said the policeman declined to comment further.

Mr Alentyev commented to Forum 18 that his 30-strong Gusev congregation “knows from experience” that the local authorities will block its public evangelism even if they do submit advance notification.

The community belongs to the Baptist Council of Churches, which broke away from the Soviet-recognised Baptist Union in 1961 in protest at regulations preventing missionary activity and religious instruction to children. Its communities refuse on principle to register with the authorities in post-Soviet countries.

As the Gusev Baptists preached, sang, played musical instruments and handed out gospels in the town's centre during their end of August evangelism week, they were disrupted by police four times.

"They said, 'What right do you have to do this? Permission? No? Then down to the police station!'" recalled Alentyev, who was detained there for an hour on 3 September.

Faith news:Pope Laments 'Dying' Churches in West

Vatican City, July 28 - Pope Benedict XVI lamented the seemingly "dying" church in Europe and the United States and raised questions about the soaring number of priests in Asia and Africa in a lengthy, off-the-cuff speech to Italian priests.

Benedict also expressed sadness at the plight of divorced Roman Catholics who remarry without getting an annulment, reaffirming that they cannot receive Communion but stressing they should feel they still belong to the church.
The pope made the remarks to priests from the northern Valle d'Aosta region in a two-hour closed meeting Monday in Introd, near where he has been vacationing. The Vatican newspaper, L'Osservatore Romano, published a transcript of the remarks Wednesday.

The pope began his remarks, which touched on Marx, the upheavals in Europe of 1968 and other topics, by stressing that a pope isn't an "oracle" and "is infallible only in rare situations." Benedict previously has stressed that he intends to listen to others and not do only his will as pope.

He then delved into the issues raised by the Aosta bishop on the concerns of priests, noting that he was recently visited by bishops from Africa and Sri Lanka, where the number of priests is skyrocketing. In Europe and elsewhere, the number of priests has fallen sharply.

Benedict he said the "joy" at the growing numbers of churchmen in the developing world is accompanied by "a certain bitterness" because some would-be priests were only looking for a better life.

"Becoming a priest, they become almost like a head of a tribe, they are naturally privileged and have another type of life," he said. "So the wheat and the chaff go together in this beautiful growth of vocations.

"Bishops have to be very attentive to discern (among the candidates) and not just be happy to have many future priests, but to see which ones really are the true vocations - discern between the wheat and the chaff," he said.

Benedict also touched on another his favorite themes: the state of the church in Europe. He said in contrast to the developing world, where there is a "springtime of faith," the West was "a world that is tired of its own culture, a world that has arrived at a time in which there's no more evidence of the need for God, much less Christ, and in which it seems that man alone can make himself.

"This is certainly a suffering linked, I'd say, to our time, in which generally one sees that the great churches appear to be dying," he said, mentioning Australia, Europe and the United States.

Benedict also responded to a question about giving the Eucharist to divorcees who remarry without getting a church annulment. The church says divorcees who remarry civally cannot receive Communion, arguing they are in a state that "contrasts with God's law."

The pope reaffirmed the teaching, although he acknowledged the suffering it has caused and said further study is needed. He mentioned in particular the case of when someone gets married in a church without being a true believer, is divorced, remarries and discovers his or her faith, but isn't allowed to receive Communion.

In reaffirming the policy, he said the church had to respect "the good of the community and the good of the sacrament" as well as help those who are suffering. He said priests should teach that suffering is necessary "and this is a noble form of suffering."

Some Italian media reports have suggested the pope was reconsidering the ban, and that the issue would come up at a bishops' meeting in October dedicated to the Eucharist. The question has long been a concern for Benedict; in the 1990s, bishops from his native Germany asked for flexibility on the matter.

The 78-year-old Benedict marked his 100th full day as pope Thursday, a papacy already far longer than the 33-day term of John Paul I. Benedict's immediate predecessor, John Paul II, was pope for more than 26 years.

13/10/2009 BY: Associated Press

Daily odb devotion

daily odb
The Measure Of Love
READ: John 15:9-17
Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends. —John 15:13

On October 2, 1954, First Lieutenant James O. Conway was taking off from Boston Logan Airport, flying a plane that carried a load of munitions. When his plane became airborne, he suddenly lost power over Boston’s bay. In an instant, Conway faced a brutal choice—eject from the plane and save his own life, or crash the plane into the bay causing his own death.

If he ejected, however, the plane would crash into an East Boston neighborhood filled with homes and families. Amazingly, Conway chose to crash the plane into the bay—giving his life for the lives of others.

In John 15:13, Jesus said, “Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends.” The willingness to make the ultimate sacrifice to protect others shows a heart that cares more about the needs of others than the needs of one’s self. Someone once said that “the measure of love is what one is willing to give up for it.” God the Father loved so much that He gave up His Son. Christ loved so much that He gave up His life—even taking our sins on Himself and dying in our place.
The measure of God’s love for you is great. Have you accepted His love personally? — Bill Crowder
When Jesus gave His life for me,
Enduring all the agony
Upon the cross of Calvary,
He showed the love of God. —Sper

Nothing speaks more clearly of God’s love than the cross of Christ.
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