Leaders of Syrain church group visits U.S to ask government to stop supporting rebels

Armenian Orthodox Christians gather at their church of St Sarkis in Old Damascus || BCCN1

The stories told by five top Syrian Christian leaders about the horrors their churches are experiencing at the hands of Islamist extremists are biblical in their brutality.

Bishop Elias Toumeh, representative of the Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Antioch and All the East, tells of the funeral he led ten days ago for the headless body of one of his parishioners in Marmarita. Rev. Adeeb Awad, vice moderator of the National Evangelical Synod of Syria and Lebanon, explains how the rebels blew up his church and then pointed the finger at the regime. Bishop Armash Nalbandian, primate of the Armenian Church of Damascus, says he received word on facebook from a fellow bishop in Aleppo that two congregants were traveling when opposition fighters stopped their bus, made them present their Armenian IDs, and then took them away. The fighters, Nalbandian recounts, returned to the fellow passengers a few hours later with a box, which they said were cakes. Inside were the two Armenian heads.

The bishops’ stories are difficult to independently verify, and the war’s death toll goes far beyond just Christian communities in Syria–more than 130,000 people have been killed since the fighting began, and at least two million others have fled the country. But they are emerging as part of a concerted push by Syrian Christians to get the U.S. to stop its support for rebel groups fighting Syrian president Bashar al Assad. “The US must change its politics and must choose the way of diplomacy and dialogue, not supporting rebels and calling them freedom fighters,” says Nalbandian.

The group is the first delegation of its kind to visit Washington since the crisis began three years ago, and its five members represent key different Christian communities in the country. Awad, Toumeh, and Nalbandian were joined by Rev. Riad Jarjour, Presbyterian pastor from Homs, and Bishop Dionysius Jean Kawak, Metropolitan of the Syrian Orthodox Church. more brief

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A Califonia pastor has been arrested for having sex with one of the teenage girls he took into custody, injuring his dog too

BCCN1 A California pastor was arrested for allegedly injuring his dog and having sex with one of the two teenage girls he had taken under his wing.33-year-old Hyo Bin Im, known in San Ramon as Pastor John, was charged with child concealment, unlawful sexual intercourse and animal cruelty on Tuesday. The bizarre list of charges were a shock for members of Im’s Contra Costa Korean Presbyterian Church. The youth pastor announced his resignation on Sunday, but didn’t explain why he was leaving. He told the police that he was the founder of The Living Well Ministries, a Christian non-profit that allegedly helped widows, homeless, and orphans.But he apparently never brought these high-minded goals home. The Police also found two 17-year-old runaways living in the youth pastor’s house, BBCN1 reports.

After Retiring from Ministry in 2010, Pastor Dennis Leonard Is Back and Will Open Heritage Christian Center Church in Colorado

Bishop Dennis Leonard preaches the prosperity gospel during a Sunday morning worship service at the Heritage Christian Center in Denver in 2006|| BCCN1 Dennis Leonard built Heritage Christian Center into a flourishing multiracial church by connecting with hurting people.From the pulpit, the preacher mined his past life frequenting nightclubs and recovering from divorce. Members volunteered at a church food bank and fed the homeless. The choir was top-notch. Leonard also preached a gospel of prosperity suggesting a bountiful return for those who gave generously to the church — that has been criticized for preying on the vulnerable.Then he walked away, retiring in 2010 and moving to California. Leonard is about to embark on a second act in Colorado, announcing plans to open a Heritage Christian Center in Aurora with a 1,500-seat sanctuary in a former sporting goods store the church bought.“I want you to know we are coming back for you,” Leonard said during a Friday night guest appear...

Weeping Virgin Mary Statue In Tarshiha, Israel, Draws Hundreds To See 'Miracle'

Hundreds of people have flocked to a small town in northern Israel to view a statue of the Virgin Mary that residents say "weeps" oil. Members of a Christian family from Tarshiha, near the Lebanon border, say they have witnessed a miracle in their living room. Osama Khoury said Tuesday that his wife Amira found the statue "covered with oil" recently. Amira said the statue "spoke to her" and told her not to be afraid. After a neighbor witnessed the oil, word soon spread.Parts of the statue appear to be slick with moisture, even after it is wiped off.The family says it is most striking when a "tear" seems to roll down the statue's cheek.. more brief more image below: courtesy: huffpost

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