World Impact Ministries / Peter Youngren

This article was published in the St.Catharines Standard.

Earlier this month, on a Thursday morning, Linda Gibbons arrived at a Toronto Morgentaler abortion clinic that is “protected” by law from pro-life activity within 500 feet. Linda, who believes women have the right to receive pro-life counsel before having an abortion, began walking back and forth on the sidewalk, quietly and without interfering with anyone, while carrying a sign depicting a baby and the words, “Why mom? When I have so much love to give?” It didn’t take long for two sheriffs and six police officers to surround Linda, and off she went in handcuffs.

This article was published in the St.Catharines Standard.

Evil incarnate is the term used by the head of Norwegian security police to describe the 32 year old confessed mass-murderer, Anders Breivik. Norway has rightfully been able to describe itself as a peace-loving nation. It has been a point of national pride that most of the police is unarmed, and even those who carry a gun, keep it locked and unloaded unless specially authorized.

July 22^nd changed Norway. First a bomb exploded in the heart of the government buildings in Oslo, killing eight and injuring many. While the police was busy securing the center of the city the perpetrator, disguised as a police officer, traveled to a nearby island, and went on a systematic killing spree with at least seventy-six fatalities among mostly young people, all members of the youth wing of the Norwegian governing Labor Party.

This article was published in the St.Catharines Standard.

Mayor Rob Ford is breaking with a 13-year tradition of Toronto mayors marching in the Gay Pride parade. He announced he was going to the cottage for the weekend, and neither Ford, nor his staff, have explained why he doesn’t plan to attend any of the Gay Week activities.

Tomorrow is the day. Billboards around the world have proclaimed “Judgment Day May 21, 2011”. The “prophet” making the prediction is 89 year-old Harold Camping, president of the California-based Family Radio with 150 broadcasting outlets. Camping’s last prediction for the end of the world was September 1994, and we all know how that one turned out.

This article was published in the St.Catharines Standard.

“Eternal life is found in a relationship with the Roman Catholic church”. That was talk show host Michael Coren’s message on a recent Oakley show on 6:40 AM. A shocking statement, not only for evangelical Christians, who have given Coren a platform, but also to many Roman Catholics, who believe salvation is in Jesus Christ, not in an institution. I kept listening as Coren promoted his book, Why Catholics are right? After reading it from cover to cover, it is crystal clear; Coren propagates salvation through Roman Catholicism, and Roman Catholicism alone.

Because I know many Catholics, who sincerely trust in Jesus Christ, and who wouldn’t agree with Coren’s assertions, I hesitate to say anything that could be misconstrued as bashing Catholics, but frankly Coren has crossed a line that demands a response.

This article was published in the St.Catharines Standard.

Religion is a lot about who is “in” and who is “out”, who “belongs” and who doesn’t. We have “catholic” and “protestant”, “saved” and “unsaved”. Some talk about people who have accepted or rejected Jesus, which causes me to wonder; which Jesus has been “accepted” and which one has been “rejected”?
There are a lot of Jesuses, his story has been told in so many ways. What does the real Jesus look like? Can we know?

While in Finland last week, I discovered the story of a Roman Catholic saint, Holy Henry, Bishop of Finland, allegedly murdered with an axe in 1156 AD. That’s long ago, and I imagine the reader asking “what does this have to do with today?” Hang on; we will get there in a moment.

Article for St. Catharines Standard newspaper by Peter Youngren.

The brutal killing last week of Pakistan’s only Christian government minister, Shahbaz Bhatti, for which the Pakistan Taliban has claimed responsibility, hit close to home. Bhatti, the Federal Minister for Minorities, was a friend and on several occasions he helped World Impact Ministries, the organization I lead, to obtain permission for Gospel Campaigns in a country where 97% are Muslims. A co-worker emailed, “This is the darkest day for freedom of religion in the history of Pakistan”.

Article for St. Catharines Standard newspaper by Peter Youngren.

“Who is a Christian?”, or “What is a Christian?”, or maybe more accurately, “Who decides?”

At the recent National Prayer Breakfast in Washington, D.C., President Obama said, “Jesus Christ is my personal Lord and Savior”, a statement that would normally be received with great joy in the evangelical community, but not necessarily so this time. While 18% of the U.S. population believes that Obama is a Muslim, that figure goes to 40% among Tea-party focus groups, top heavy with “born-again” Christians.

So, who really is a Christian?

Article for St. Catharines Standard newspaper by Peter Youngren.

One of the great success stories in publishing in recent years is the novel, The Shack, by Canadian author, William P. Young. Originally Young wrote the manuscript as a gift for his six children. Several friends read it and encouraged Young to get his book published, but no religious or secular publisher showed any interest. Young and an associate launched Wind Blown Media to publish this one book, and the marketing plan was simple; a $300 website and high hopes for word-of-mouth recommendations. The hopes were realized beyond expectation, as The Shack achieved number one Best Seller success in less than a year, with one million copies sold. It remained the number one paperback in spiritual fiction on the New York Times Best Seller list from June 2008 to early 2010, with 10 million copies in print, and translations either completed or slated for 15 languages.