The director of Trinidad and Tobago’s intelligence agency was allegedly planning to take over the country in a “Christian coup.” Roger Best was placed on leave in March and fired in May after police discovered he had hired multiple members of his church without putting them through the usual vetting process. He hired his pastor, Ian Ezekiel Brown, as a special reserve officer. Brown is reportedly an authoritarian leader who exercises extensive control over the lives of his congregation and preaches that Christians should be armed and control the government. Jerusalem Church has about 100 members, and 25 were in top administrative positions at the intelligence agency.
United States: Bible society museum shuttered
The American Bible Society has closed its $60 million museum. The Philadelphia tourist attraction, which opened in 2021, only got about 2 percent of the visitors the organization originally projected. This adds to the turmoil at the Bible society, which has seen five CEOs since 2022 and more than 50 percent turnover on the board. A director who left last year said there are systemic problems in the Bible society that have to be addressed but “magical thinking” makes that impossible.
United States: Some conservatives stayed with UMC in split
A study of the United Methodist Church (UMC) in North Carolina after its denominational division found that a notable number of conservatives remain. Nearly a quarter of the clergy who chose to stay oppose same-sex marriage. But most UMC clergy are liberal; about 60 percent say they tend to be to the political left of their congregations.
Kenya: Pastors planning international security mission for Haiti
Pastors are playing a key role in developing plans for a security mission that Kenyan president William Ruto hopes to send to gang-embattled Haiti. Kenya agreed last October to send 2,500 police officers to Haiti, but the force has been delayed by legal challenges. The pastors, who are part of a group organized by first lady Rachel Ruto, are praying that God will deliver from the “generational bondage and powers” of witchcraft and “flush out gangs and insurgents from their hiding places and deliver them into the hands of the police.” They are also leading the government’s fact-finding mission to work out the details necessary to restore order in Haiti.
For nearly a quarter-century, Christian crooner Bob Carlisle worked in relative obscurity. That changed dramatically June 28 when Butterfly Kisses, a recording featuring Carlisle’s sentimental song, cowritten with Randy Thomas about his 16-year-old daughter, Brooke Carlisle, reached the number-one spot on Billboard‘s top-200 album chart. It is the first contemporary Christian release to reach the pop pinnacle.Carlisle began his singing career in the early 1970s with the Maranatha! Music band Good News. By the mid-1990s he had no recording contract and was singing odes to sensitive male spirituality, such as “When a Grown Man Cries,” at Promise Keepers rallies.The single “Butterfly Kisses” had been a late addition to Shades of Grace, Carlisle’s 1996 solo album for the small Diadem label. Initially, the song became a Christian radio hit and won two Dove Awards, including Song of the Year. Then, early this year, the mainstream company Jive purchased Diadem and released the single “Butterfly Kisses” to adult contemporary and top-40 stations.The album has sold 2 million copies and has spawned a small industry. Word Publishing has released three book spinoffs, and mainstream children’s publishing giant Golden Books plans to release three more. Plus, there is talk of a television movie.Christian albums climbing the Billboard ladder may not be an aberration. Kirk Franklin’s gospel album God’s Property spent much of June, July, and August in the top 10. Anchored by the get-up-and-dance single “Stomp,” the recording rose as high as the third spot on the national charts for one week. “Stomp” has also been featured prominently on MTV.Copyright © 1997 Christianity Today. Click for reprint information.United Kingdom: Street preacher wins free-speech struggle
Police conceded they went too far when they told a street preacher he was not allowed to talk about atheism, Islam, or other religions. Dia Moodley, a South African immigrant who preaches atop a ladder, has been engaging in raucous question-and-answer sessions in a shopping district in Bristol. Law enforcement told him he was prohibited from saying anything that would “negatively affect public health and morals.” Alliance Defending Freedom took up his case, and the police backed down.
Germany: Long COVID forces WEA leader to resign
The head of the World Evangelical Alliance (WEA) has resigned for health reasons. Thomas Schirrmacher, who took the leadership position in 2020, is suffering from long COVID, a condition that can involve fatigue, shortness of breath, heart palpitations, headaches, and muscle pain. The head of the WEA is required to travel regularly while representing 600 million evangelicals on the world stage. The WEA plans to appoint a replacement by September.
Israel: “Voluntourists” show solidarity
Roughly 1,500 tourists arrived in Israel every day in March to volunteer in ways that would show support for the war in Gaza, according to the government tourism ministry. Many of the solidarity missions are organized by evangelical groups such as the International Christian Embassy Jerusalem. The “voluntourists” visit sites where the terrorist organization Hamas killed Israelis on October 7, 2023, and help harvest crops, cook meals, and sort donations for Israeli refugees. Before the war, roughly 15,000 tourists arrived daily.
Egypt: Pharaoh head returns home
A statue of the head of Ramses II, often identified as the pharaoh in Exodus who would not let the Israelites go free from slavery, has been returned to Egypt. The 3,400-year-old monument was stolen from the city of Abydos sometime in the 1980s or ’90s. The exact date is unknown. It was sold in London in 2013 and ended up in Switzerland. The statue is being restored for display.
Russia: Missionary accused of espionage
A South Korean missionary ministering to North Korean laborers in far eastern Russia has been arrested and charged with espionage. Baek Won-soon is accused of giving classified information to foreign intelligence agencies, according to a Russian state-run news agency, though there is no available evidence to support that charge. South Korea has advised its citizens not to travel to Russia amid increasing tensions over the war in Ukraine and Russia’s contribution to the North Korean dictatorship. Baek is being held in Moscow in the same prison as other foreigners—including Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich—who have been accused without evidence of being spies.
Pakistan: Presbyterians to reunify
Three groups that each claimed to be the real Presbyterian Church of Pakistan have agreed to reunify after six years of conflict. In 2018, a Presbyterian moderator pushed for the extension of a three-year leadership term to five years. Ministers who opposed the move were removed from their congregations, and the church divided into factions, each filing lawsuits and electing its own moderator. In March 2024, however, the groups agreed to come together and formed a committee to work on reunification. They hope to be finished by the end of the year.
