It's at least evidence of the hand of God

NASA's Chandra X-ray observatory, orbiting 580 kilometres above the earth, has photographed a ghostly blue cloud which seems to form a thumb and fingers grasping a ball of fire. The hand was created when a star (inside the white blob at the hand's wrist) exploded, creating a dust and gas cloud 150 light years wide. The red disc is a separate gas cloud. Some observers have called the image "the hand of God," similar to the Helix planetary nebula, a blue centre surrounded by white clouds which has been nicknamed "the eye of God."

Human trafficking should not be an Olympic event

The Evangelical Fellowship of Canada (EFC) has released a 30-page report entitled 'Human Trafficking: A Report on Modern Day Slavery in Canada.' The report reviews recent experience with human trafficking and recommends actions that may be taken by the Canadian, British Columbia and Vancouver governments to prevent human trafficking in relation to the 2010 Olympic Games.

Caught in the middle

The Religious Liberty Partnership, a consortium of 17 Christian groups including the World Evangelical Alliance, Open Doors International and the Voice of the Martyrs, met in Toronto in April and issued 'The Toronto Statement' on Sri Lanka. The statement calls on the worldwide Christian community to pray for a negotiated settlement to the country's civil war, humanitarian aid for civilian refugees and freedom of religion. Sri Lanka is a tropical island at the southern tip of India. About three-fourths of the population are Sinhalese and predominately Buddhist. About one-fifth are Tamil and mainly Hindu. Since 1983, a civil war has been going on between the Sri Lankan government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, who want an independent Tamil state in northeast Sri Lanka. Protestant Christians make up less than one percent of the population. Sri Lanka has a functioning but fragile democracy, and the government has so far resisted pressure from Buddhist extremists to pass an anti-conversion law. Nevertheless, the Sri Lankan church has been subjected to violence and harassment even while it tries to provide humanitarian assistance to displaced civilians. The Evangelical Fellowship of Canada's Religious Liberty Commission has endorsed 'The Toronto Statement.'

Women are write

For the first time, all of the finalists vying to be named Canada's Best New Christian Author are women. The finalists for 2009, chosen from 21 submissions from seven provinces, are: W. C. Heuvel of Iroquois, Ontario for her contemporary novel The Tales of Evergreen: The Dark Forest; Jayne Self of Orangeville, Ontario for her mystery novel Caught Dead: A Dean Constable Mystery; Kim Forrest of Brampton, Ontario for her contemporary novel Out of Sight; Sandee Yanke of Churchbridge, Saskatchewan for her contemporary novel Junk; Ruth Carter of Carnarvon, Ontario for her contemporary novel Not By Myself; and Frances M. Hudson of Calgary, Alberta for her non-fiction manuscript Special Angels: A Journey of Deliverance from the Nightmare of Familicide. The finalists were chosen by judges from The Word Guild, a national association of Canadian writers and editors who are Christian. The winner will be chosen by Castle Quay Books Canada and announced at the The Word Guild's Canadian Christian Writing Awards Gala in Mississauga, Ontario June 17. The winning author will be awarded a $1,000 prize or a $1,000 advance against royalties should Castle Quay Books Canada decide to publish the work. Four of the six previous Best New Canadian Christian Authors have also been women.

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Cross the street to impact your neighbour

'Cross the Street 2009: Engaging Your Community with Authentic Faith' is a "practical conference focused on how to show the gospel in creative ways to your neighbours, impacting a community through acts of Christ-like love," taking place at Centre Street Church in Calgary May 1 - 2. Keynote speakers are: Eric Swanson, author of Externally Focused Church and leadership community director for externally focused churches with Leadership Network; Henry Schorr, pastor of Centre Street Church; David Macfarlane, director of national initiatives for the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association of Canada; and Claude Houde, pastor of Nouvelle Vie near Montreal, the largest French-speaking evangelical church in the Western world.

Balancing prayer and election

PrayBC is an initiative to build a network of 10,000 people across British Columbia who will pray for five minutes a day for God's blessing on the May 12 provincial election. The campaign is a project of Leading Influence Ministries. Veteran pastor Tim Schindel founded the ministry in Victoria, BC in 2006 to offer a chaplaincy ministry to political leaders. The organization has added a volunteer chaplain in Ontario and is exploring expanding to other provinces. PrayBC election prayer rallies will take place at Central Christian Assembly in Burnaby April 26 and at Church of Our Lord in Victoria May 3.

An even bigger prayer

Millions of Christians in over 200 countries around the world will unite in prayer on Pentecost Sunday, which this year is May 31, as part of the Global Day of Prayer. The annual event was founded nine years ago by South African Christian businessman Graham Power, based on 2 Chronicles 7:14

Golden oldies

In the late 1960s, a Christian student asked Merv Watson, a music teacher at Birchmount Collegiate in Scarborough, Ontario to sponsor a Christian club. It grew from a classroom to become the Toronto Catacombs, filling the 3000-seat St. Paul's Cathedral in downtown Toronto on Thursday nights. At its peak, the ministry was baptizing over 700 new believers a year. A reel-to-reel recording of the Toronto Catacombs worship has now been transferred to a CD. Copies can be ordered for $15 plus shipping by emailing Merv and Merla Watson at music_3637@shaw.ca.

Galluping immorality

Gallup Values and Beliefs surveys from 2006 to 2008 reveal that Roman Catholics in the United States diverge from Catholic moral teachings more than non-Catholics, although regular church attenders in both groups were more moral than non-attenders. Sex between an unmarried man and an unmarried woman was acceptable to 67% of Catholics and 57% of non-Catholics (compared to 53% of Catholic attenders and 30% of non-Catholic attenders); divorce was acceptable to 71% of Catholics and 67% of non-Catholics (63% and 46% of attenders); having a baby outside marriage was acceptable to 61% of Catholics and 52% of non-Catholics (48% and 29%); gambling was acceptable to 72% of Catholics and 59% of non-Catholics (67% and 40%); homosexual relations were acceptable to 54% of Catholics and 45% of non-Catholics (44% and 21%); and embryonic stem cell research was acceptable to 63% of Catholics and 62% of non-Catholics (53% and 45%). However, Catholics were more moral on two issues. Abortion was acceptable to 40% of Catholics and 41% of non-Catholics (24% of Catholic church-goers and 19% of non-Catholic church-goers); and capital punishment was acceptable to 61% of Catholics and 68% of non-Catholics (52% and 69%). -- Catholic Register

April 23/2009