But this week, he found himself in the uncomfortable position of trying to convince an Indonesian police chief to loan him a helicopter.

“I was filming at an Operation Blessing medical outreach when an earthquake survivor told me there was a village close to the epicenter that had not yet been reached by aid workers,” Sitorus said.

The location was remote and all the roads leading to the village had been destroyed in the quake.

“I went to the local police chief and asked if we could use his helicopter to go to this village and check for survivors,” Sitorus added. “He looked at me as if I was crazy and said it was not possible.”

But Sitorus would not take no for an answer. Finally, the police chief agreed, but reluctantly.

Uncovering Remote Village

So on Thursday morning, Sitorus, several Operation Blessing doctors, and a couple of Indonesian police officers, set out for the village of Ambacang Gadang. What they saw as they approached the village was shocking: several massive landslides had engulfed the village.

“I didn’t think anyone could have survived this kind of devastation,” he said

Miraculously, dozens of people had survived and Sitorus began to document what he saw and heard.

“We’ve had no water, no rice, nothing to eat,” one earthquake survivor said. “We’ve been living on coconut juice for the last five days.”

Everywhere Sitorus pointed the camera, there was devastation. Homes were completely flattened, and roads were split in half.

Seventeen-year-old Zaino Abiu was caught in one of the landslides.

“I was hit by a huge wall of mud,” Abiu said. “I was tumbling down this mountain completely buried. I could not breath. I thought I was going to die.”

Incredibly he survived, but two of his friends who were standing next to him are still missing.

Sitorus met another survivor, 49-year-old Emira. She too had an amazing story.

“In seconds (my home) was all gone,” she said. “Flattened by the earthquake.”

The police officer asked the villagers what they needed.

“We need blankets, we need rice, tents, food, water, clothes,” one survivor said. “Some of our people are also sick with fever, cough and pains.”

Operation Blessing Steps In

That’s when the Indonesian police chief, who had been so reluctant to help, turned to Sitorus and the Operation Blessing team and smiled.

Minutes later the helicopter was making the return flight to base. An hour later it was back in the village with boxes of relief supplies from Operation Blessing.

“Today is the first time that I will have a meal because of you,” Emira told Operation Blessing workers.

The Operation Blessing doctors immediately setup camp and began to examine each villager.

For the man behind the camera documenting the moment, there was a sense of personal satisfaction. But he refused to take credit.

“The real heroes are the men and women who volunteer for Operation Blessing and those who make it possible to help my people who are suffering,” Sitorus said.

Operation Blessing had favor, not just with villagers, but also with the Indonesian police force.

“The police chief told me that whenever we need to ferry supplies we can count on them and they will let us use the helicopter for free,” Sitorus said.

*Originally published October 9, 2009

JERUSALEM — The sudden downturn in Israeli-Turkish relations is a sign that Turkey is moving closer to the Islamic world, an Israeli expert said here on Thursday.

Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman summoned the Turkish Ambassador to a meeting on Thursday to protest the broadcasting of a television series which incites against Israel on Turkish state television.

In the first episode which aired on Tuesday the television program portrayed Israeli soldiers killing a baby and a young girl and lining up Palestinians to shoot them in a firing squad, reports said.

“This series, which has absolutely no connection to reality, and which presents IDF soldiers as murderers of innocent children, is not fit to be broadcast even in the most hostile countries, and certainly not in a country that has full diplomatic relations with Israel,” Lieberman said in a statement.

The airing of the program followed several recent unsettling incidents: earlier this week Turkey’s refusal to allow Israel to participate in a military excercise, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s accusations of the Israeli killing of children in Gaza, and Ankara’s announcement of joint military maneuvers with Syria.

Turkey, which has a long history of secularism, has for the last few years been ruled by an Islamic-oriented government.

Prof. Efraim Inbar, from the BESA Center for Strategic Studies near Tel Aviv, told CBN News that all these moves indicate that Turkey is moving closer to the Islamic world and distancing itself from the West.

Israel has had strong strategic ties with Turkey for years but that may now be ending, said Inbar. Israel has upgraded airplanes and tanks for the Turks and sold them missiles and other military equipment, he said.

Relations with Israel are the “litmus test” of secularism, said Inbar. Turkey is going in the Muslim direction and their foreign policy has a “greater Muslim coloration”, he said.

They have deviated from the West. They accepted Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the Sudanese leadership and the Palestinian terrorist organization Hamas, he said.

They seem to prefer the Syrian and Iranian dictatorships to Israel’s democracy, he added.

A devastating typhoon that hit the Philippines recently, has left massive flooding, and is being compared to America’s Hurricane Katrina.

Reports say at least 140 have been killed, while 100,000 survivors await help from international relief groups. (Photo: AP)

And relief is on the way, as an undertaking to bring aid has already begun. Christian organizations, such as World Vision and Catholic Relief Services are at the forefront of the effort.

Boy Bersales, World Vision Philippines Humanitarian and Emergency Affairs Director said, “Thousands of people have lost all they owned—their food, their clothing, bedding, school items, and kitchen equipment. But their immediate needs are for food and water. Many have gone without either for hours and hours and the children are especially vulnerable having been trapped in flooded conditions for several days. The city is only now waking up to the massive extent of the devastation.”

Source: Aaron J. Leichman – Christian Post

by Teresa Neumann : Sep 23, 2009 : Staff – WorldNetDaily

Event organizers from Time Square Church had expected about 15,000 to attend but their expectations “were far exceeded at the third event of its kind in the last three years.”

(New York, N.Y.)—You may not have heard about this on CNN or MSNBC, but you’ll “hear” it here on BCN: On Sunday, September 20, 60,000 people gathered in Times Square to pray for one hour at a Christian rally dubbed “Prayer in the Square.” (Photo: NYCprayer.org)

According to a WorldNetDaily report, event organizers from Time Square Church had expected about 15,000 to attend but their expectations “were far exceeded at the third event of its kind in the last three years.”

Said Carter Conlon, pastor of the Times Square Church: “The Lord called us to host, fund and organize this event for the last three years. He told us that the first year would establish credibility with the city, and we have received positive feedback from various city agencies, including the office of the Mayor himself, commending us for honesty, order, and keeping our word. The second year confirmed to local churches that this was not the beginning of some new ministry but rather a gathering for the sole purpose of one hour of prayer, in humility, with all denominations represented and no personalities or ministry showcased. Those who have attended can attest to the fact that this has been so. Everything has unfolded exactly as the Lord impressed upon our hearts it would.”

“The tradition of offering prayer in America has become so interwoven into our nation’s spiritual heritage, that to charge someone criminally for engaging in such an innocent practice would astonish the men who founded this country on religious freedom.”

(Santa Rosa County, Florida)—On September 17, Liberty Counsel successfully cleared Pace High School Principal Frank Lay and Athletic Director Robert Freeman of criminal contempt charges that arose out of a simple blessing of a meal. The criminal contempt hearing began when the ACLU asked that Lay and Freeman be held in contempt for offering a prayer over a meal at a luncheon where they honored donors to the athletic Field House project.

The federal courtroom in Pensacola, Florida, was packed with people supporting Lay and Freeman. The Pace High School students made T-shirts with the image of a potato chip that read: “Lay’s Supportive Patriots.” Busloads of people jammed the steps of the courthouse to cheer and show their support.

Members of Congress made speeches on the House floor in support of Lay and Freeman, including Cong. Randy Forbes, the Chair of the bipartisan Congressional Prayer Caucus. In his speech Forbes warned that this case represents what might be coming as a result of the ACLU’s agenda: “Make no mistake, there will come a day when the speaker of this house will be hauled into federal court and threatened with jail because she dares to stand at that podium where you stand tonight and ask the chaplain to start our day with the prayer.” (transcript)

Other members, including Cong. Mike McIntyre, Co-Chair, and Cong. Jeff Miller, whose district includes Santa Rosa County, along with more than 61 members of Congress, sent a letter of support to Lay, Freeman and Michele Winkler, whom Liberty Counsel successfully defended two weeks ago on civil contempt charges. The letter concludes: “The tradition of offering prayer in America has become so interwoven into our nation’s spiritual heritage, that to charge someone criminally for engaging in such an innocent practice would astonish the men who founded this country on religious freedom.”

Mathew D. Staver, Founder of Liberty Counsel and Dean of Liberty University School of Law, commented: “It is ridiculous that these men even had to think twice about blessing a meal. To criminalize the prayer conflicts with our Nation’s founding and guiding principles and goes directly against our constitutionally protected rights. It is fitting that on National Constitution Day, our religious freedoms are preserved so that people—regardless of their employment—are free to say a meal blessing. The Constitution was birthed in the bosom of prayer. When the Constitutional Convention had fractured and the dream of the United States began to fade, Benjamin Franklin delivered his famous speech where he called his colleagues to prayer. After recessing for a three-day prayer meeting, they convened and the Constitution was born. Prayer remains alive and well in America, but we cannot take it for granted.”

Source: Christian Newswire/Liberty Counsel

“Jayden, born at 21 weeks and five days gestation, was refused intensive care because he was two days under the limit set by the British government’s National Health Service (NHS) rationing guidelines.”

(United Kingdom)—A young British mother has criticized medical guidelines that, she said, resulted in doctors refusing treatment and leaving her newborn premature son to die. 23 year-old Sarah Capewell told media that her son Jayden, born at 21 weeks and five days gestation, was refused intensive care because he was two days under the limit set by the British government’s National Health Service (NHS) rationing guidelines.

Capewell said that her son Jayden cried and lived for two hours before dying in her arms. During that time, his mother took photos of him and pleaded with doctors that he be admitted to the special baby unit at James Paget University Hospital (JPH). Staff at the hospital, in Gorleston, Norfolk, told her that had Jayden been born two days later they would have helped him.

Since her son’s death, Capewell has launched an internet campaign to change the guidelines and says that she has received messages of support from around the world.

Health care rationing guidelines set down by the Nuffield Council on Bioethics in 2006 say that intensive care should never be given to babies below 22 weeks gestation, and rarely to those below 23 weeks. In secular bioethics, this is called Futile Care Theory, which holds that in cases where there is no hope for improvement of an incapacitating condition, such as extreme prematurity, no treatment should be offered.

In the case of Sarah Capewell’ son, the Nuffeld Council guidance that staff reportedly cited was backed up by advice published by the British Association of Perinatal Medicine (BAPM) last year. The BAPM paper itself, however, does not mandate the refusal of treatment, saying only, “This is not a set of instructions, but a framework to highlight the range of evidence and opinion that needs to be considered by staff and parents.”

“The care of the mother, her fetus and the baby, will always need to be individualized and should be led by senior staff in all disciplines. The parents’ hopes and expectations need to be explored with honesty and compassion in a realistic way, drawing upon the available evidence.”

The BAPM paper says that in cases where children are born before 23 weeks gestation, “it would be considered in the best interests of the baby, and standard practice, for resuscitation not to be carried out.” It continues, however, “If the parents wish they should have the opportunity to discuss outcomes with a second senior member of the Perinatal team.”

But Capewell reports that her wishes were ignored by hospital staff. “When I asked about my baby’s human rights,” she said, “the attitude of the doctors seemed to be that he did not have any. They said before 22 weeks he was just a fetus.”

Under British criminal law, an unborn child can be killed by abortion up to 24 weeks gestation without any cause being stated and up to the time of full gestation if he is suspected of suffering from some disability.

The British national health care rationing body, the National Institute of Health and Clinical Excellence (N.I.C.E.), has plainly stated that such guidelines are based on financial motives, in consideration of how expensive a treatment will be compared to the “quality of life years” it can provide. This is an expression of a new utilitarian trend in the philosophy of medical care that has replaced classical medical ethics in recent decades.

In traditional medical ethics, the governing principle, according to the ancient Hippocratic Oath, is to “do no harm” to the patient. In modern utilitarian bioethics, the guiding principle is to produce “the greatest good for the greatest number,” whether that good benefits the patient or not.

Under this principle, which has swept the medical world in most western countries that have adopted government socialized medical care; it is increasingly common for medical guidelines to allow doctors to decide, against a patient’s wishes or those of his family, that further medical treatment is “futile” and can be discontinued. In countries such as Britain and Canada, where the provision of food and water are considered “medical treatment,” this can mean that a patient can be legally dehydrated to death, often while being placed in permanent sedation.

“Research—search for the facts and dig for the truth—just keep that in mind.”

In the past, Breaking Christian News (BCN) has not focused very much on political news stories, but we have always championed life, and articles or subjects that pertain to life. The issue heading every media’s coverage at this time affects American citizens—on very much a “life” level: health care reform. (Photo: BCN/Young person interviewed at a town hall meeting)

Among just the general debate on whether or not government should be providing health care for Americans, there are the life (and death) aspects to this bill, some of which include…

-Will care for the elderly be rationed according to their age and health prognosis?
-Will the elderly be forced to receive “end of life counseling?”
-Will this bill direct taxpayer money to pay for abortions?
-Will the “conscience clause” be retracted in this measure?

From presidential press briefings to debating interview guests to each state’s town halls, strong opinions and sincere concerns have been voiced; sometimes heatedly. Some of those heated debates between ordinary citizens and congressmen and women have been called both grass roots uprising and organized disruptions.

Partly because of those accusations, and mostly because of the “life” issues at hand, we at BCN felt it behooved us to send a team to a health care town hall meeting near us.

Joined by my cameraperson, Willow, I attended one of Oregon Representative Pete DeFazio’s town hall meetings in Cottage Grove, Oregon.

When we first arrived with less than an hour to go before the meeting, there were about 40 people there waiting in line. But, by the time Congressman DeFazio arrived, there were so many who had come to the meeting—probably at least 300—that it had to be moved outside the rather small community building.

Congressman DeFazio began by assuring the crowd that he had read the entire bill (H.R. 3200), and mentioned some of the aspects that concerned him, as well as some of the revisions already in the works.

“[H.R. 3200] has gone through three committees in the House and each of those committees has made changes,” said DeFazio, adding that “it will continue to evolve.”

Actually this is only the House version, there will be another bill written which will be the Senate version, and debate will most assuredly continue with that legislation.

At the meeting I saw many different kinds of people, who must have run the gamut of backgrounds, but all with a concern regarding their own and their loved one’s care. Some had read the bill—loaded with legalese—and had written down the particular section numbers with which they had an issue.

Most likely, the majority had not read the entire legislation, but was just as involved in the discussion; each citing their own experiences with health care, the lack thereof, and unease over what this bill might or might not do. With the exception of one person bent on “being heard above all else,” the people raised their hands and very passionately voiced what disturbed them about the bill, or why they felt it was a good idea.

Rather than go through each point of the meeting, I want to focus on a point brought up by one of those attending whom I interviewed. This young man was just 16, but already had strong opinions on politics, and the meeting he’d attended.

At one point, I asked him if he felt other young people were as informed as he, and if he’d noticed an interest among youth regarding the health care debate.

“Unfortunately,” he answered, “I don’t really think a lot of young people are. And, when they do start to try to look into it, they often don’t have reliable sources, or they don’t know where to go [for accurate information]. There’s the internet and there’s media. But, often the media just tells one side of the story.”

I asked him if he had a message for people his age. He replied, “…If you have a dream, pursue it with your heart and mind… and don’t go pointing fingers all the time. Research—search for the facts and dig for the truth—just keep that in mind.”

So where do we (young people included) go to read and study those facts regarding this important measure? Where do we find the truthful answers to those questions raised in the beginning of this article?

As this young man stated, we must research, dig and hunt down the true facts ourselves—each of us. Ask your doctor where they stand; talk to those who currently have healthcare and those who don’t. Attend a town hall health care reform meeting in your area. Visit websites on both sides of the political spectrum. Here are some links that may help in that endeavor—they are both pro and against the current health care reform legislation:

Read H.B. 3200 (or try to)

Family Research Council

Official White House information

American Family Association

American Medical Association

Ask your legislators about the health care reform bill, Family Research Council has provided a list of questions to aid in receiving direct answers. Click Here:

And of course, as Believers, we must pray. It is the most important action we can take, and the information above can help us know what and how to pray about this issue.

All in all, I was very glad to have attended the town hall meeting, as I was able to—with the rest of the world that looks on—witness democracy in action, one of the core elements, and a foundation of this great country.

Visit Breaking Christian News’ new YouTube channel and watch a video from the town hall meeting. Follow the link provided.

Source: BCN

As Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, President of Iran, took the podium at the opening of the international anti-racism conference, he accused Israel of having a “racist government” and committing genocide. As he continued his speech, members of the European Union left the room. British and Spanish delegations also walked out.

Read more at http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/europe/04/20/racism.conference/index.html.

“We’re pleased to have Nigeria’s largest-circulation newspaper recognize the importance of the Abuja conference—aimed at giving the Nigerian perspective to a troubled world lurching from one moral crisis to another—and the role World Congress of Families is playing in strengthening the pro-family movement in Africa.”
(Abuja, Nigeria)—The Sun, Nigeria’s largest-circulation newspaper, was fulsome in its praise of World Congress of Families for helping to organize the conference, “The World Congress of Families Dialogue of Civilizations,” in Abuja, Nigeria’s federal capital, June 4-7.
The “Dialogue of Civilizations,” hosted by the Foundation for African Cultural Heritage, brought more than 400 participants to the Musa Yar’Adua Centre, for what The Sun called “the first pro-family conference in Africa.”
The paper described the event as “aimed at giving the Nigerian perspective to a troubled world lurching from one moral crisis to another.”
The Sun noted that addresses included: “A Plan of Action on the Family in Africa,” “A Christian View on Sexuality and Family,” “Population Decline of the Developed World—A Lesson for Africa,” “Pornography and the Family,” and “A Plan to Defend the Family at the United Nations.” Besides Nigeria, participants came from Cameroon, Ghana, Uganda, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Netherlands and the United States.
WCF Communications Director Don Feder, who represented the Congress at the event, said, “We’re pleased to have Nigeria’s largest-circulation newspaper recognize the importance of the Abuja conference and the role World Congress of Families is playing in strengthening the pro-family movement in Africa.”
The Abuja Conference was a preparatory-conference for the upcoming World Congress of Families V in Amsterdam, Holland, August 10-12.
Source: Staff – Christian Newswire, The Sun

“This is a very meaningful project for millions of Christians around the world, and it can attract more support for Israel and the Jewish people, because people who know the Bible become closer to Judaism and Israel.”
(Israel)—There is currently a world-wide interfaith effort, initiated by the Bible Valley Society, to handwrite 100 Bibles in various native languages and display them at the Bible Lands Museum in Jerusalem. As reported in The Jerusalem Post, the project—which so far has involved thousands of people from about 31 different countries—is meant to “create bridges between cultures and faiths united by love and reverence for the Bible.” (Photo: Kfir Meor/Jpost)
“This project is a leap into the future,” said Amanda Weiss, managing director of the Bible Lands Museum Jerusalem. “It will bring people more in touch with the Bible, whether they are religious or secular, Christian, Muslim or Jewish.”

“This is a very meaningful project for millions of Christians around the world, and it can attract more support for Israel and the Jewish people, because people who know the Bible become closer to Judaism and Israel,” said Terry G.C. Ting, Taiwan’s representative to Israel. “I believe that the Bible is a bridge of sorts.”

Noting that he believes the Bibles “should eventually form a traveling exhibition around the globe similar to how Christianity was spread from Jerusalem two millennia ago,” Ting added, “Christians are an important asset for Israel.”
Source: Etgar Lefkovits – Jerusalem Post