Daily briefs of the top news stories impacting Christians around the world.
In today's edition:
- Graham Undergoes Procedure to Update Shunt
- Top 10 Movies of 2007 Announced at 'Christian Oscars'
- True Love Waits Adds Bible Outreach
- Pakistani Muslim Prisoners Attempt to Convert Christian Inmates
Graham Undergoes Procedure to Update Shunt
According to ASSIST News Service, Dr. Billy Graham, 89, was listed Thursday in fair condition following an elective medical procedure to update the valve for a shunt which was implanted in 2000 to regulate pressure within his brain. The procedure, called an aproximal shunt revision, took 28 minutes and was completed without incident, said Asheville neurosurgeon Ralph C. Loomis, MD, who replaced the former valve with an externally programmable computer valve. “He was bright and alert and conscious immediately after surgery and called me by name,” Dr. Loomis said of the evangelist’s initial recovery. Mr. Graham’s procedure was performed at Mission Hospitals near his home in nearby Montreat, North Carolina. He asked the hospital to release information about the procedure and the hydrocephalus he suffers.
Top 10 Movies of 2007 Announced at 'Christian Oscars'
The Christian Post reports that "Ratatouille," "Bella" and "Amazing Grace" were among the top movies of 2007 named at a recent ceremony honoring films that increase people’s understanding and love of God. The best 10 movies in the families and mature audiences categories were announced Tuesday at the 16th Annual Faith & Values Awards Gala, held at the Beverly Hills Hotel. Winners were selected by the Christian Film & Television Commission, which awards movies based on Biblical principles and positive family values. "Amazing Grace," which tells the story of antislavery pioneer William Wilberforce and his long fight to abolish the slave trade in the British empire, won the Epiphany prize in the film category and was named the Most Inspiring Movie of 2007. "Ratatouille," the animated film from Walt Disney Pictures, was named number one on the list of the 10 best family films of 2007.
True Love Waits Adds Bible Outreach
True Love Waits has a new resource, Baptist Press reports: A special New Testament focused on the abstinence-until-marriage movement and other challenges young people face. The True Love Waits New Testament is a joint project of TLW and Holman Bible Outreach, both divisions of LifeWay Christian Resources of the Southern Baptist Convention. The TLW New Testament, which includes a salvation message, an introduction to True Love Waits and a commitment page, is being released to coincide with Valentine's Day, when many True Love Waits' abstinence-until-marriage commitment ceremonies are held in churches and other venues around the world. In Africa, thanks to a major donation to LifeWay's A Defining Moment philanthropic campaign, 100,000 copies of the TLW New Testament will be distributed for free in places where True Love Waits International has staff in place. More than 100 organizations and thousands of churches have adopted the use of True Love Waits throughout the world.
Pakistani Muslim Prisoners Attempt to Convert Christian Inmates
ASSIST News Service reports that Christian prisoners in several jails in the Punjab province of Pakistan have complained of alleged torture, discrimination and attempts by Muslim prisoners to convert them to Islam. The Christian prisoners apprised the Sharing Life Ministry Pakistan (SLMP), a prison ministry, of their problems to a ministry team who made visits to several jails in the province recently. Prisoners Saleem and Salamat, who are serving their sentences in the central jail in the industrial city of Sheikhupura, told the ministry that Muslim inmates are pressuring them to convert to Islam. Victor, another Christian inmate at the Sheikhupura jail alleged that the Muslim prisoners and the jail officials forced them to fast during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. Condemning these alleged attempts to convert the Christian prisoners to Islam, the Chief Coordinator of the Sharing Life Ministry Pakistan (SLMP) said it shocked him to learn from the Christian inmates that the jail officials were also forcing them to convert to Islam. He termed the attempts by the Muslim prisoners and the jail officials to convert the Christian prisoners to Islam as a “breach of their human rights.”
