Palestinian evangelical in “propaganda tour” of Brazil

Christian leader questions group's sponsorship of 'anti-Israel' message

Michael Carl

A Christian leader in Brazil says he’s alarmed by what he regards as a campaign by evangelicals to spread pro-Palestinian and anti-Israeli propaganda.

Julio Severo, a pro-family activist and blogger, told WND he’s concerned about a speaking tour in Brazil that features Bethlehem Bible College President Emeritus Bishara Awad in support of Open Doors, International.

Severo told WND that at an event in Brazil, Awad spoke of “the Palestinian plight provoked by Israel.”

“He did not mention anything about Muslim violence against Christians,” Severo said.

Severo worries that the tour will gain credibility because of the sponsorship.

“I am only a very small Christian, and to expose Open Doors for opening doors to such anti-Israel, Christian Palestinianism is a big challenge,” Severo said.

He said his concerns are both political and theological.

“In the speech, he repeatedly mentioned that he and his people are under occupation,” Severo said. “As a Christian, he didn’t give the Israeli point of view.”

Bethlehem Bible College is the host of the controversial Christ at the Checkpoint Conference. The Jerusalem Post quoted Awad as being critical of American evangelicals’ support of Israel.

“Many Christians support Israel whether it is right or wrong, but don’t look into the issues of peace and justice,” Awad said. “If that’s being political then fine, but unfortunately, some people, instead of coming and listening and participating, just attack us. We want to have serious engagement with Zionist groups, and have open forum for ongoing dialogue.”

Awad told WND in an interview that his ethnic background is an important factor in how he sees the Palestinian-Israeli issue.

Bishara Awad

“I am an Arab and my people are under occupation. But I am also a Christian and love the Lord Jesus,” Awad said. “My people are suffering greatly under the occupation. The economy is terrible and my people are under great economic stress.

“We aren’t suffering at the hands of the Muslims in Palestine,” Awad said. “Some people don’t want to believe this and that is their right.”

Severo is skeptical and he points to a report by the Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America. In that report, Awad is quoted as saying an Israeli-built wall completely encircles Bethlehem.

“We have many problems in this land. We are under military occupation. The Israelis built a wall around us and this wall goes around Bethlehem,” Awad said.

But the committee report points out that a map shows that the wall doesn’t completely encircle Bethlehem.

However, Awad added that he knows the situation would only be more severe for his people if Bethlehem and the Palestinian Authority territory were under the control of the surrounding nations.

“Looking at the countries around us, like in Syria and in Lebanon, there certainly is persecution of Christians, and Christians are leaving. The people here are leaving because they don’t like to be under occupation,” Awad said.

“However, if the tables were turned (and an Arab neighbor controlled the territory), I would be very scared because of what I see around those countries,” Awad said. “I see how the Muslims are treating people and how they’re ever treating their own people. They’re killing their own people. There’s no mercy; there’s no love.

“It’s becoming more and more extreme with extreme Muslims. Even some moderate Muslims are happy about what’s going on in Syria with Muslims killing Muslims,” Awad said.

“The Middle East is in an uproar altogether, and I’m afraid the table will be turned around one of these days and the Palestinians will be under a worse regime than right now under Israel,” Awad said.

But Awad emphasized, “I don’t want my people to be under anyone’s control, under anyone else’s guns.”

Open Doors spokesman Paul Estabrooks said neither Open Doors nor Bethlehem Bible College is anti-Israel.

“Bishara thoroughly enjoyed his trip to Brazil celebrating OD-Brazil’s 30th anniversary. He was there to promote OD, not to promote his school or Palestinian causes.

“I spent one week at BBC and heard not one word of negativity toward Israel,” Estabrooks said.

Estabrooks explained that there is a significant theological debate surrounding the Arab-Israeli conflict and even whether Israel has a right to the land the modern state of Israel occupies.

Awad said he and Bethlehem Bible College reject what is termed by critics as “replacement theology,” the belief that the Christian church has taken Israel’s place as the inheritor of God’s covenant blessings and promises.

“I do not believe in replacement theology, and I believe in the right of Israel to exist,” Awad said.

Estabrooks confirmed Awad’s claim.

“He expressed that he does accept Israel as a nation and he does not personally, nor does the Bible college, hold to replacement theology. In recall, he thought that his emphasis at the meeting was just on the New Covenant, not on anti-Israel propaganda as charged,” Estabrooks said.

In a search of the Bethlehem Bible College website, the college’s “FAQ” page has this comment about the relationship between the college and Israel: “Due to Israeli occupation, Bethlehem residents have lost thousands of dunums of land for the purposes of Israeli settlement construction and the building of the separation wall.”

The site says, “Political violence during the 2nd Intifada and the continual loss of land have created a desperate economic situation in the city of Bethlehem, which has an unemployment rate of 22.4 percent, the highest in the West Bank.”

The college has not responded to WND’s requests for comment.

Estabrooks said: “Let me assure you that Open Doors also does not endorse or propagate replacement theology nor are we in any way anti-Israel as a nation of God’s chosen people. Neither have I heard this expressed or taught in my many experiences at Bethlehem Bible College over a 20-year period.’

Estabrooks explained Palestinian Christians have a different view of Israel, because they are both Palestinian and Christian.

“Furthermore, Christians I have met in Palestinian Israel are far more aggrieved at the mistreatment they receive from Israelis than the minimal challenges presented by Palestinian Muslims against them. Is it not understandable then that Palestinian Christians might express publicly the frustrations under which they live each day?” Estabrooks asked.

Estabrooks said that Open Doors subscribes to Christian author and pastor John Piper’s views of Israel. Piper’s seven points are as follows:

1 God chose Israel from all the peoples of the world to be his own possession.

2 The land was part of the inheritance he promised to Abraham and his descendants forever.

3 The promises made to Abraham, including the promise of the land, will be inherited as an everlasting gift only by true, spiritual Israel, not disobedient, unbelieving Israel.

4 Jesus Christ has come into the world as the Jewish Messiah, and his own people rejected him and broke covenant with their God.

5 Therefore, the secular state of Israel today may not claim a present divine right to the land, but they and we should seek a peaceful settlement not based on present divine rights, but on international principles of justice, mercy, and practical feasibility.

6 By faith in Jesus Christ, the Jewish Messiah, Gentiles become heirs of the promise of Abraham, including the promise of the land.

7 Finally, this inheritance of Christ’s people will happen fully at the Second Coming of Christ to establish His kingdom, not before; and till then, we Christians must not take up arms to claim our inheritance; but rather lay down our lives to share our inheritance with as many as we can.

Portuguese version of this article: Evangélico palestino em “turnê de propaganda” no Brasil

Spanish version of this article: Evangélico palestino en “tour de propaganda” en Brasil

Source: WND, via Last Days Watchman

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Beware: You Are Being Monitored!

By Julio Severo

By far, the biggest scandal this week is the revelation by a former CIA analyst showing how the US intelligence has been monitoring in Facebook, Google, Apple, Microsoft, Skype and other internet channels extensively used by the world population.

Edward Snowden

The man responsible for the most serious denunciations is Edward Snowden, who leaked the data on the US government espionage on the citizens around world. It was the biggest leak in the US history.

If Snowden had revealed his secrets directly to the public, they would have seen him as crazy or an adherent of conspiracy theories. A paranoid thinking today there is some kind of government imagined by George Orwell in his work “1984.”

Nevertheless, everything that he leaked not was published, because the newspapers that he sought were “careful” to filter and limit the denunciations, in order not to draw the US government’s wrath.

The excuse for the aggressive surveillance by the US is the war against terror, which should limit itself to the ideology responsible for the 9/11 attack. This attack was motivated exclusively by the Islamic ideology.

But instead of focusing on that ideology, the US government has bowed down before Muslims. It seems to be, since 9/11, obsessed by the Islamic promotion around the world. The terrorist attack 12 years ago was the best thing that has already happened to Islam, which is now spreading as a wildfire.

The war against terror, which should focus on Islamists, has become a terror war for the non-Islamic world.

I understand the reasons for the US government to turn away from the necessary focus. Saudi Arabia, Turkey and other Islamic nations are the origin of significant investments in the western countries, especially America.

While the populations of those countries live mostly in poverty, their leaders accumulate money in western banks, especially in American banks. They are also great shareholders in great American and European companies.

Therefore, Americans and Europeans are always in a hurry to support the fights of their Islamic investors. If Saudi Arabia and Turkey oppose Syria, America will accompany their investors’ desires, although this means for America direct support for al-Qaida and the systematic slaughter of Syrian Christians.

America cannot turn against their investors. The money of the oppressors is more important than the blood of the oppressed ones

Most of the terrorists who attacked America on 9/11 were Muslims from Saudi Arabia and, according to information that I received from my friend Don Hank, they had received visas for America through a CIA agent.

CIA, which has been monitoring the whole world, grants visas to terrorists, and does the rest of the world have to pay for its “negligence?”

It is a fact that the current US administration is engaged, since its beginning, in the espionage of pro-life and conservative groups. I have myself been under such surveillance, in a case that became headline on WND, in this link: http://www.wnd.com/2011/07/327769/

Everything that I do is to fight the gay and abortion agenda. And I carry out my ministry in a time when the top US foreign policy priority is to promote the gay, abortion and Islamic agenda.

What would the US government be willing to do on behalf of such politics? I don’t know. But the fact is that when you are using the services of Facebook, Google, Apple and Microsoft, you are not alone. It is now proven that the US intelligence is watching you and recording your stances on abortion, homosexuality and possibly even if you oppose the Islamic ideology.

Could these intrusive records be used against Christians opposed to the world government? God knows.

The tragedy is that people like me and you can be monitored by the US government, but Islamists not. Small wonder: the current White House occupier has a totally Islamic name: Barack Hussein Obama.

True to his ideology, Obama chose a Muslim as a CIA director.

The nation founded by persecuted Christians today serves the biggest persecutors of Christians. Islamists believe that, with Obama in the White House, their prayers were heard.

I believe that our prayers are also being heard. Since the Old Testament times, the people of God pray according God’s will. And the Bible makes clear that it is the will of God to frustrate the plans of the nations: “The LORD brings the counsel of the nations to nothing; He makes the plans of the peoples of no effect.” (Psalms 33:10 NKJV)

Is it a coincidence that plans of CIA and other US agencies of espionage against innocent citizens around the world are being exposed and frustrated? It is an answer to many prayers. Let us pray for Edward Snowden, for him to have an encounter with Christ.

Let us also pray for God to rise up similar men in Brazil, able to expose for the public the most sinister plans of the Brazilian government.

There is Somebody bigger, above America, watching and monitoring. Somebody that one day will make them give an account for their exemption for the Islamic ideology, and their active intrusive roles in the lives and activities of conservative Christians. Somebody that will make them give an account because instead of using their power to protect the weak and oppressed, they chose to side with their wicked investors, who oppress innocent Christian populations.

There is a minority, a remnant who truly follows Christ, in the US who laments over the wicked direction that their nation has chosen to follow. It is because of these supplications directed to the Almighty God that we see the most secret and impious plans of the most powerful nation in the world being repeatedly frustrated.

We need to join our prayers to the supplications of the American remnant, because the homosexualist, abortion and Islamic politics of the US government are speeding up the establishment of the Antichrist’s world government and putting innocent citizens around the world under the spying eyes of that government.

Portuguese version of this article: Cuidado: Você está sendo monitorado pela nação mais poderosa do mundo!

Source: Julio Severo in English: www.lastdayswatchman.blogspot.com

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Homeland Security surveillance detected on Julio Severo website

United States: between Gayland and Mohammedland

How to share the gospel with homosexuals

Exclusive: Ray Comfort turns to couple on airplane and says …

Ray Comfort

I was flying from Los Angeles to Miami when I found myself sitting next to two women. Sarah was sitting closest to me. She was 29, inappropriately dressed, with a ring through her nose, and she wasn’t the friendliest person I have sat next to on a plane.

After we took off I couldn’t help but notice that her friend kept kissing her on the cheek, holding her hand and rubbing her shoulder. They were “gay,” and that little revelation lifted my planned witnessing encounter up a big notch on the awkward meter. I really didn’t want an angry homosexual couple complaining to the airline (and the media) that I was a homophobic fundamentalist, imposing my “hate speech” by saying that they were going to hell because they were gay.

I waited until she had eaten, finished her movie, and simply said, “Sarah. I have a question for you. Do you think there’s an afterlife?”

She wasn’t sure, so I asked, “If heaven exists, are you going there? Are you a good person?”

She predictably said she was, so I took her through three of the Ten Commandments – had she lied, stolen and taken God’s name in vain? She had broken all three, so we then looked at whether or not she would be guilty on Judgment Day and whether she would go to heaven or hell. I then shared the cross and the necessity for repentance and faith in Jesus.

I didn’t mention her sexual orientation; I didn’t need to, nor did I want to. I simply shared the moral law (the Ten Commandments), because the Bible says that the law was “made” for homosexuals – see 1 Timothy 1:8-10. She wasn’t offended, and I kept her friendship and stayed out of jail.

What about a woman planning an abortion?

Trying to witness to someone who is about to take the life of her child is also high on the awkward list. It’s awkward, mainly because the mind of this person is preoccupied with what she is about to do and therefore it’s difficult to get her attention.

However, if she would stop and talk, I would handle the situation similarly to my conversation with Sarah. The reason for that is that I don’t want to reform people. I didn’t want Sarah to stop being gay and end up in hell for her lying, theft and blasphemy. I don’t want to just stop a woman from killing her child and have her go to hell for her other sins. With God’s help I want to see more than a change of mind. I want to see a change of heart.

Contrary to popular opinion, most who take the life of their child through abortion believe in God. Even the staunchest fundamentalist atheist believes in God. I know because I have an inside source. I have a “whistleblower” – “For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse, because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools” (Romans 1:20-22).

Those who abort the life of their children are “idolaters,” illustrated in the fact that their god condones the taking of a human life. They have no fear of God before their eyes. So your agenda, with the help of God, is to stir her God-given conscience to do its duty and put the fear of God within her, and you can do that as I did with Sarah and her homosexuality, without even mentioning the elephant in the room – the impending abortion.

To put the fear of God in someone means that you will have to stay with the biblical gospel. Do not use the “God has a wonderful plan” message, because it is both unbiblical and will do more damage than good. If you really believe that that message is biblical, think for a few moments about how the first eleven disciples were murdered for their faith. If you know Church history, you will know that the foundation of the church is founded in the blood of the saints. Jesus warned that people would kill Christians thinking that they are doing God a favor.

Imagine you have been asked to preach the gospel to 1,000 people on the 100th floor of the World Trade Center the night before 9/11. You know that within 24 hours every person looking at you will die a death so horrific it defies human imagination. Many will be burned alive. Others will jump 100 stories to their deaths on the unforgiving sidewalks of New York. Others will fall with the building and be so crushed that their bodies will never be recovered. What are you going to tell them – that God has a wonderful plan for their lives? You can’t say that to people who are about to die!

Instead you would soberly tell them that it’s appointed to man once to die and after this, the judgment. You would tell them that God is holy, that He will judge them by His perfect law, that hell is very real and that they desperately need a Savior. You would tell them that they could die within 24 hours, and plead with them to repent and trust alone in Jesus.

If you have to change the message you normally preach, then you are not preaching the biblical gospel. Why would you have a different message for people who are walking the streets of this world and are about to die? Every day 150,000 people throughout this world pass into death, many of whom will die in terrible ways – through horrific car accidents and through the suffering of cancer.

Think of David and Nathan the prophet. David had coveted his neighbor’s wife, stolen her, lived a lie, committed adultery and murdered her husband. He had violated the Ten Commandments, but he wasn’t too worried. His conscience wasn’t doing its duty.

God had commissioned Nathan to expose the king’s terrible sin. So what did Nathan say? Did he say, “David, God has a wonderful plan for your life”? What has that got to do with anything?

David was a criminal, and Nathan was there to expose his crimes, not speak of some wonderful plan. The faithful preacher began in the natural realm with a story about the theft and slaughter of a poor man’s lamb, and when David became indignant about that man’s sin, Nathan said, “YOU are that man. Why have you despised the Commandment of the Lord!”

And that’s when David cried, “I have sinned against God.”

Think for a moment as to whether or not the “wonderful plan” message could ever have elicited that response. Why should it? It doesn’t bring any knowledge of sin or the fear of God. It doesn’t stir the conscience. But the law does. It made David tremble. The Law stirred the king’s seared conscience so that it would do its God-given duty, and we can see its result in the penitent prayer of Psalm 51. And that’s what we must do with those who see nothing wrong with the taking of the life of their unborn child. Their terrible sin must be made personal, so that the fear of the Lord causes them to depart from it. The instant someone is converted to Jesus Christ, they know that means no more lying, stealing, lust, pornography, homosexuality, fornication, adultery, idolatry and no murdering of your own children.

In Mark 10:17 we are told of the story of the rich young ruler who ran to Jesus, kneeled down and said, “Good master. What must I do to inherit eternal life?”

He ran (was earnest), he kneeled down (he was humble), and he asked the question we so wish the world would ask, “What must I do to inherit eternal life?”

But instead of leading him in a sinner’s prayer, Jesus reproved him of his use of the word “good.” Proverbs 20:6 says, “Most men will proclaim each his own goodness,” and they certainly do. Ask anyone if they think they are a good person and most will say that they are. So Jesus used the Ten Commandments to bring the knowledge of sin to show him that he wasn’t good at all. He, like Nathan, made sin personal.

Paul did this in Romans 2 when he said, “You who say you shall not steal; do you steal? You who say you shall not commit adultery, do you commit adultery?”

Such faithful talk will cause the sinner to tremble as Felix trembled when Paul reasoned with him – not about some wonderful plan, but of “sin, temperance and judgment.”

The stirring of the dormant conscience coupled with a knowledge that a holy God will hold her accountable should be enough to put the fear of God within someone who is about to commit the murder of her own offspring. May God help us to be faithful, courageous and give us wisdom and help us to stop such slaughter.

Source: WND, via Last Days Watchman

Liberation Theology and Neo-Pentecostalism: A Leading Challenge to the Evangelical Churches in Brazil

By Julio Severo

Traditionally, major theological trends — good or wicked — came from Europe and America.

The single major theological trend originating outside Europe and America is Liberation Theology, which is prevalent in Latin America, especially Brazil.

In this original and exclusive e-booklet, I trace this movement in Brazil and how its leaders recognized openly that the only force capable of challenging Liberation Theology was neo-Pentecostal churches.

In fact, the Brazilian Left admits today that neo-Pentecostal churches are the only hindrance to the advance of its leftist ideology.

My new e-booklet, “Theology of Liberation versus Theology of Prosperity,” will help you understand the challenges of the Brazilian evangelical churches in their relation to Liberation Theology and neo-Pentecostalism.

Theology of Liberation Versus Theology of Prosperity

Download right now — free of charge — my e-booklet, “Theology of Liberation versus Theology of Prosperity,” using this link: http://bit.ly/1a6brwP

Please spread the word about this e-booklet.

Send it to your friends.

Publish and distribute it.

Portuguese version of this article: Teologia da Libertação e neopentecostalismo: o grande desafio da igreja evangélica do Brasil.

Spanish versión of this article: Teología de la Liberación y neopentecostalismo: el gran desafío de la iglesia evangélica de Brasil.

Source: Julio Severo in English: www.lastdayswatchman.blogspot.com

Other article by Julio Severo

Theology of Integral Mission

Children who carry guns in Brazil: Shocking images that show drug gangs’ brutal grip on Brazil streets where hundreds of thousands will travel for next year’s World Cup

The largest city on Brazil’s north-east coast, Salvador is a major tourist destination and the site of a 56,500-seat stadium being readied for next year’s World Cup. It is also in the grip of an unprecedented wave of violence that has seen murder rates soar by more than 250 per cent.

The dense slums of the city, capital of Bahia state, are an impenetrable warren ruled by gangsters, who control the terrified and impoverished residents with intimidations, beatings and summary executions. Express kidnappings, where individuals are abducted and forced to withdraw funds from automated teller machines to secure their release, are common, as are muggings, robberies, pickpocketing, bag snatching and drug dealing.

Brazilian drug gangs regularly recruit minors to carry out their dirty work, because they go unpunished. They never get any prison sentences, meaning that the most innocent face can hide a deadly killer.

Underage rapists and killers get only “socio-educational” sentences and are freed after completing their 21-year-old birthday, with no criminal history, because Brazil is a signatory to the UN Children Rights Convention.

Compounding the problem, under aggressive anti-gun measures from the Brazilian government, most Brazilian citizens have no access to legal weapons to defend themselves, while their victimizers have plenty access to illegal heavy guns.

With just over 13 months until the start of the World Cup and an expected mass influx of football fans, police in Salvador face a battle to take control of their city. But in a force notorious for brutality and corruption, they face opposition not only from criminal gangs but also a skeptical populace. These pictures show the brutal reality of life in the streets of Salvador’s slums, which are not much different from Rio and other Brazilian cities.

Adapted by Julio Severo from the Daily Mail article: Children who carry guns through Salvador’s slums: Shocking images that show drug gangs’ brutal grip on Brazil streets where hundreds of thousands will travel for next year’s World Cup

Source: www.lastdayswatchman.blogspot.com

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Americans Warned: Home-Schoolers Stripped of Rights

Dale Hurd/CBN News

Recently, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder has said that homeschooling is not a parent's right. It is a statement some are saying should frighten American parents.

Uwe and Hannelore Romeike (right) began home schooling in Germany because they didn't want their children exposed to things like witchcraft and graphic sex education, which are taught in German schools. (CBN News)

Nations like Germany and Sweden show that when governments take away homeschooling rights, it's a slippery slope to no parental rights.

America the Refuge or Not

The Romeike family came to the United States from Germany five years ago hoping to find refuge. They wanted to homeschool their children in freedom and a federal judge granted them asylum.

But now the Obama administration has been trying to deport them, arguing that homeschooling is not a right. The case is currently before a federal appeals court.

Uwe and Hannelore Romeike began homeschooling in Germany because they didn't want their children exposed to things like witchcraft and graphic sex education that are taught in German schools. 

"There were stories where [school children] were encouraged to ask the devil for help instead of God and actually the devil would help (in the story)," Uwe said.

"When we found out what's in the textbooks, it's exactly the opposite from what the Bible tells us and teaches us, and we wanted to protect [our children]," his wife, Hannelore, added.

But homeschooling is illegal in Germany, except in rare cases. And many homeschooling parents are persecuted with fines, jail or the loss of their children.

Homeschoolers Going Into Exile?

Most homeschoolers in America are left alone. But what if state politicians and the federal government started to move against it?

Two of the worst nations for homeschoolers are Germany and Sweden. If you want to see what things might be like if homeschooling was banned in America, travel to Sweden, where the government controls education and the homeschooling movement has been crushed.

In fact, the head of the Swedish Homeschooling Association, Jonas Himmelstrand, had to take his family into exile. They fled to Finland.

"We're in exile. We were forced out of our country and that makes a stronger impact than I can imagine," he told CBN News. "This was our country. This was where we had our friends and business relationships and a whole lot of things and now we're pushed away from it."

Attorney Michael Donnelly, of the Homeschool Legal Defense Association, called the situation "incredible for a nation like Sweden that calls itself a free nation, a democracy, so to speak."

Ruby Harrold-Claesson, president of the Nordic Committee for Human Rights, went even further, branding Sweden a dictatorship where social workers tell parents what to do.

"Sweden claims to be a democracy but it's far from it. It's a dictatorship," he said. "You have the social workers dictating how people are to live. You're not supposed to be different. You're not supposed to be different from anyone else in Sweden. Everyone is supposed to be uniform. They want to have these cookie cutter children."

Claesson is also the lawyer representing Christer and Annie Johansson, who have lost custody of their son Domenic, because of homeschooling. After Domenic was abducted by Swedish officials, Annie's health began to fail.

Christer said the stress of the ordeal is killing his wife.

"If we cannot solve this issue soon, Domenic won't have a mother anymore," he said.

Russia, A Homeschooling Haven

Nations like Germany and Sweden could learn a thing or two about parent's rights from, of all places, Russia, which is one of the freest nations in which to homeschool.

"We have complete freedom of home education in Russia, in terms of legality," Pavel Parfentiev, a family rights advocate in Russia, said.

"The Russian Federation is sort of a champion of human rights in this particular area, so of course I think it is a good example for both Germany and Sweden where home educators are persecuted," he said.

Among the persecuted, German homeschooler Juergen Dudek has been taken to court every year for the past 10 years by the German Jugendamt, or Youth Office.

"The Youth Office, I used to call it the 'Gestapo for the Young.' As soon as they step in, as soon as they get hold of you, you've really got problems," Dudek said.

German homeschooler Dirk Wunderlich and his wife have lost custody of their children, although they are still allowed to live with them. He also told CBN News he expects to be sent to jail, but said he will never stop homeschooling.

"But I'm not afraid of this. I'm only sad for my family. I will go (to jail) laughing. You can do what you want but my children will not go to school," he said.

America Safe for Homeschoolers?

In America, a red flag went up earlier this year when the Justice Department argued in the Romeike case that homeschooling is not a fundamental human right.

A source close to the case said the White House cares more about relations with Germany than about a family seeking political asylum.

Asylum for the Romeikes might open a floodgate of refugees from Germany, further embarrassing the German government.

Uwe Roemike, who makes his living as a piano teacher, knows what to expect if they're deported.

"First they would fine us with increasingly higher fines and they would threaten to take away custody," he explained.

"There might be jail time, too, but the main threat is the aspect of custody because then, of course, the children are taken away from you completely and that's what no family wants," he said.

Uwe said the fact the White House would be willing to deny homeschooling freedom to his family, should make all American homeschoolers concerned.

Source: Charisma News, via Julio Severo in English: www.lastdayswatchman.blogspot.com

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Brazilian Evangelical Caucus Condemns Venezuelan Dictator for “Homophobia”

By Julio Severo

Rep. João Campos (PSDB-GO), who heads the Evangelical Parliamentary Caucus in the Brazilian Congress, introduced a proposition against Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro.

Nicolás Maduro

The proposition, which condemns the dictator for “homophobia,” was passed unanimously March 4 in the Human Rights Committee (HRC) of the Brazilian House of Representatives, where Pentecostal minister Marco Feliciano is the president.

As reported by GospelPrime, Campos’ proposition came in answer to the recent demonstrations against the permanence of Feliciano in the HRC presidency. The demonstrations have been provoked by the ruling Workers’ Party and other socialist parties that are favorable to the Maduro dictatorship.

“I think that this committee has the duty of manifesting its view by rejecting this prejudiced and bigoted behavior,” João Campos said.

The proposition condemns declarations by Maduro which, if made by Feliciano or Pentecostal televangelist Silas Malafaia, would have been unceremoniously condemned by the Workers’ Party and by the mainstream liberal media as blatantly “homophobic.”

Opportunistic Communist “Homophobia”

In a speech against candidate Henrique Capriles, the dictator hinted that his political opponent in the elections for the Venezuelan presidency was a homosexual. Last March 12, Maduro said in Caracas: “Yes, I do have a woman, did you listen? I like women.” Next, Maduro kissed his wife. The intention was clearly to indispose the opponent with the more conservative feelings of the voters.

Capriles, 40, is single. At that time, he responded, “I want to send a message rejecting the homophobic declarations of Maduro. It is not the first time. I believe in a society without exclusion, in which nobody is excluded by his views, his beliefs, his sexual orientation.”

The Workers’ Party and its allies did nothing to condemn the “homophobia” of Maduro. The Dilma Rousseff administration didn’t send any protest memo to the Venezuelan government.

The situation of Capriles is very similar to what Gilberto Kassab suffered in the mayorship election of São Paulo in 2008. His political opponent was Marta Suplicy, a Workers’ Party member, whose electoral TV show asked: “Is Kassab married? Does he have children?” The man responsible for the question—aimed at neutralizing the chances of candidate Kassab—was Workers’ Party political advisor João Santana.

According to Reinaldo Azevedo (columnist of Veja, the Brazilian counterpart of Time magazine), Santana is now an advisor for Maduro in Venezuela.

Woe to Marco Feliciano, Silas Malafaia or Yours Truly if any of us say that a candidate is disqualified on the basis of sodomy.

But Nicolás Maduro and Marta Suplicy, with Santana’s assistance, get away with attacking their political opponents with insinuations of homosexuality. Of course, they wouldn't think of confronting gay activists’ demonstrations disturbing their meetings and accusing them of “homophobic,” “fundamentalist,” “bigoted,” etc.

The Workers’ Party friends have carte blanche to trample homosexuals who get in their way. But if a Christian opens his mouth to say that in the Bible God condemns homosexuality, they crush him.

The gay movement, behaving like a group of dim witted sheep, only bleats angrily at the victims pointed out by the Workers’ Party. No bleating at the Venezuelan dictator. No bleating at Suplicy.

The only public figure in Brazil denounced Suplicy for her inconsistences and opportunism was the late Clodovil Hernandes, the most visible homosexual in the country. But he was hated by the Workers’ Party and by the dim witted sheep, because he openly opposed hate crimes bills and gay “marriage.”

Good Intentions of the Evangelical Caucus Backfire

The intention behind the proposition of the Evangelical Caucus is to instigate the Brazilian Congress to counter the inconsistency of the Workers’ Party and other socialists, who condemn Pentecostal ministers like Feliciano for any view opposing to homosexuality, but they turn a blind eye to socialists’ attitudes that sully sacred homosexuality.

The intention is good and merits congratulations. But the implementation of it may backfire, because if Maduro can be condemned for “homophobia” for expressing rejection (or for outwitting) of the political opponent’s homosexuality, who can protect the Evangelical Caucus from propositions that likewise condemn what the Workers’ Party and other socialists see as “homophobia” in Marco Feliciano, Silas Malafaia and Julio Severo?

The Evangelical Parliamentary Caucus (EPC) proposition against Maduro can legitimate similar propositions against everyone in the front lines of the fight against gay agenda tyranny.

The ideal field for the EPC to show this Workers’ Party inconsistency—condemnation of Feliciano, but cover for dictator Maduro, is a denunciation from the floor of the Congress.

Showing solidarity to the communist tyranny or its victims?

Does Maduro deserve a negative proposition coming from the Brazilian Congress? Of course he does! A proposition condemning the Venezuelan dictator for his connections with the murderous communist government in Cuba and his tyrannical control over Venezuela would be most welcome.

Years ago, Brazilian Protestant leader Ariovaldo Ramos traveled in an entourage of allies of the socialist Brazilian president Lula to show solidarity to dictator Hugo Chávez. After the death of Chávez, Ramos thanked God “for the privilege of having lived together with this personality of my generation.”

Ramos, a former World Vision president in Brazil, also said: “The best thing one can say of a man is that, because he passed through here, the world is a better place! One can say this of Hugo Chávez!”

That is the same Ramos who represents the Brazilian evangelical left very well and who signed a public manifesto against Feliciano. With Gilberto Carvalho, a Workers’ Party strong man, he also recently formed a partnership with the Workers’ Party government on behalf of the evangelical population.

In Ramos, the people of Venezuela saw an evangelical leader who represented Brazilian evangelicals in the support of the communist tyranny that took hold in Venezuela.

Up to now the Venezuelan people have seen no sign from Brazil that Brazilian evangelical leaders disagree with Ramos and his deplorable support of the Venezuelan tyranny. No Brazilian evangelical representative traveled to the oppressed Venezuelan nation to show solidarity to the victims of communism.

I look forward for the Evangelical Parliamentary Caucus, represented by its president Rep. João Campos, to launch a much needed, long-awaited campaign against this tyranny.

And I look forward for the Human Rights Committee under the presidency of Feliciano to do what it has never done when it was under the control of the Workers’ Party and accomplices: to condemn the systematic violations of human rights of Christians in Cuba, Iran and other nations ruled by tyrants friends of the Workers’ Party.

With information of Reinaldo Azevedo, UOL Notícias and GospelPrime.

Portuguese version of this article: Bancada evangélica condena ditador da Venezuela por “homofobia”

Source: www.lastdayswatchman.blogspot.com

Recommended Reading:

Article by Julio Severo published in the first issue of the official magazine of the Evangelical Parliamentary Caucus

“What does ANAJURE exist for?” The Marco Feliciano case