A Twisted Crown of Thorns ®

This is a new development and may hopefully be a regular feature of this blog as we bring you news, mission reports, prayer concerns  and mundane pieces from around the world.

• Botswana clamps down on rogue charismatic and prosperity preachers. After seeing a rise in pastors promising miracles in the forms of successful marriages, work promotions, financial freedom, children for the barren –  the government of Botswana has decided to put up some drastic measures.Will these new measures affect genuine doctrinally sound preachers too?
• Cleansing of Iraq’s Christians reaches its end game. There is much to pray for as a nation descends into chaos.  The ruthlessness of ISIS, an offshoot of al-Qaeda, has been legendary. Its beheadings, crucifixions and other atrocities toward Christians and everyone else who fails to conform to its vision of a caliphate have been on full display. Will you continue to pray for this country?
• Scotland police drop charges against two Christian evangelists who were arrested for allegedly using “offensive language” in Dundee and Perth. Clearly there is a pressing need for the Police to work with street preachers to come up with guidelines on ‘best practice’ for police services to ensure that officers on the beat do not take away the fundamental freedom of Christians to do open air evangelism -reports Christian Concern.
• Reformation Montana starts on 19th June to 21 June 2014. Reformation Montana is an affiliation of like-minded churches and individuals that cooperate for the purpose of sending missionaries from Montana and the surrounding regions to the rest of the world.
• Indiana  church introduces speedier church services. Will this reach the unchurched? -asks Christian Post or better still will this feed the Christians?
• A pastors’ retreat in Yumbe (Uganda) ended on a high note. Yumbe is a place with very high numbers of fundamentalist muslims and hardly any Christians but there seems to be some untold  joy among the pastors who daily face machete attacks and death threats -reports Reaching Africa’s Unreached.