LAST UPDATED 10:05pm CT in Minneapolis – Jan 2, 2008
LONDON 04:05am 3 Jan – JOHANNESBURG 06:05am 3 Jan – MANILA 12:05pm 3 Jan – SYDNEY 03:05pm 3 Jan

“Keep alert, stand firm in your faith, be courageous, be strong.”
(1 Cor. 16:13 NIV)

By Gloriscope staff

GLOBAL ANGLICANISM | Church of England rejects unauthorized interventions between Anglican provinces. – The Church of England says in the draft of its response to the proposed worldwide Anglican Covenant that intervention in other provinces of the Anglican Communion “should not normally take place,” but that “properly authorised schemes of pastoral oversight involving bishops from other churches” should be allowed in extraordinary circumstances when “specifically authorised by the relevant instruments of Communion.” The draft will be considered later this month by a Church of England working group.

KENYA MASSACRE | Kenyan Pentecostals and Swedish missionaries are in the dangerous area. – An international outrage has followed a massacre last Tuesday of about 30 people, including women, who took refuge in a Pentecostal church in Eldoret in western Kenya. Four Swedish Pentecostal missionaries from the Trosgnistan mission are in the Eldoret-Kitale area. Trosgnistan calls on Christians to pray for the security of its sister church in that area of Kenya. About 300 people have been killed in Kenya in ethnic violence in the past days.

CATHOLIC-MUSLIM RELATIONS | Vatican confirms planned dialogue with Muslims. – Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, Vatican’s Secretary of State, confirms that plans exist for a larger meeting between the Vatican and a group of Islamic clerics and scholars. The meeting could take place in mid-June.

MURDERED MISSIONARIES | 21 Catholic missionaries died as witnesses for Christ in 2007. – FIDES, the news agency of Vatican’s worldwide Congregation for Evangelization, released a report with the names and profiles of 21 Roman Catholic missionaries who had been murdered in 2007 while on mission. The largest number of murders were in Asia (eight) and Latin America (seven). Among individual countries, it s worth noting that a parish priest and three deacons were murdered in Iraq, three priests were murdered in Mexico, two priests were murdered in each of three countries: Colombia, the Philippines, and Spain. In its report, FIDES says that each of the murdered pastoral workers “without a doubt made a radical decision: to be witnesses of God’s Love.” FIDES quotes the words of Pope Benedict XVI of September 23, 2007: “If loving Christ and one’s brethren is not to be considered as something incidental and superficial but, rather, the true and ultimate purpose of our whole existence, it will be necessary to know how to make basic choices, to be prepared to make radical renouncements, if necessary even to the point of martyrdom.”

ITALY ABORTION | Italian government rules out changes in abortion law. – In a reaction to a revival of the Italian and European public debate about abortion on demand, the Italian Minister of Health, Livia Turco, welcomed public discussion about abortion. But she ruled out any changes in the Italian Act 194 of 1978 (Legge 194/78), which legalized “voluntary interruption of pregnancy” during the first 90 days. The Roman Catholic Cardinal Vicar of Rome, Camillo Ruini, has demanded a moratorium on abortion “to wake up the conscience of all people” about what he called “the suppression of a human being” in every abortion.

U.S. POLITICS | National voter registration Sundays for all churches – Priests for Life, a prominent Catholic pro-life organization in New York City, is urging churches of all denominations to make voter registration forms available to their parishioners and visitors. It suggests the Sundays of January 20, April 20, June 29, and September 7 as opportunities for voter registration in churches.

U.S. CHRISTIAN MUSIC | Music video awards by Gospel Music Channel. – The Video of the Year Award 2007, awarded by the U.S. television network Gospel Music Channel, was won by tobyMac for “Boomin’ Beyond Measure” from his latest album “Portable Sounds.” The 2007 video award winners in the six genres were: the Best Rock Video was “Must Have Done Something Right” by Relient K, the Best Country Video was “Watching You” by Rodney Atkins, the best Soul Video was “Yesterday” by Mary Mary, the best Hip Hop Video was “Who Am I” by Da T.R.U.T.H. featuring Tye Tribbett, the Best Contemporary Video was “Amazing Grace” by Chris Tomlin, and the Best Latin Video was “Que Puedo Darte” by Face 2 Face.

The winning videos will be broadcast on Gospel Music Channel Jan. 3, 2008 at 2:00 pm, 8:00 pm and 11:00 pm (all times ET), Jan. 5, 2008 at 2:00 pm ET, Sunday, Jan. 6 at 4:00 pm ET, Wednesday, Jan. 9 at 10:00 am ET and Jan. 10 at 9:00 pm ET.

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TO GOD BE ALL THE GLORY!

Published in the U.S.A. Copyright © 4T4C News Corp. 2008. All rights reserved.