Children of inmates receive Christmas hope

NEW ORLEANS — Franklin Avenue Baptist Church is making Christmas brighter for some 225 children whose parents are imprisoned.

“We recognize it as fulfilling a need and planting a seed,” said Elvira Brown, prison ministry director at the New Orleans church.

“The need is great on so many levels. Many of these children will not get any other gift for Christmas.”

In Louisiana, Franklin Avenue is among more than 100 churches committed to serve nearly 4,000 children whose incarcerated parents signed up for Angel Tree, a benevolent and evangelistic outreach coordinated by Prison Fellowship.

Nationally, Angel Tree networks with thousands of churches to give gifts to children, presented as given by the parents, along with Gospel tracts and the parents’ personal messages.

Brown said Angel Tree presents a positive image of Christianity to needy children and the families with whom they live, many of whom are not members of missions-minded congregations.

“They need to know that love is what we’re all about,” Brown said.

Louisiana houses about 3,000 federal inmates as well as about 38,000 state inmates, plus an uncounted number of local jail inmates. Children of imprisoned parents likely are impoverished, have emotional and behavioral problems and suffer sexual or physical abuse, according to the nonpartisan Council of State Governments Justice Center.

Churches develop relationships with the children and the families, ministering to them throughout the year, as Angel Tree encourages. Franklin Avenue distributed the gifts during a Christmas program Dec. 12, introducing the children to Christ through storytelling, a play and liturgical dance.

“We do have some families that do continue to come to church,” said Brown, who is working to develop a mentoring program through Franklin Avenue’s prison ministry. In addition to its Angel Tree outreach, the church plans to provide for an additional 20 children identified separately through the congregation.

Elsewhere in Louisiana, Trinity Baptist Church in Lake Charles, which has participated in Angel Tree nearly 20 years, distributed gifts to 90 children at a Dec. 5 Christmas musical and encouraged the families to continue to fellowship with the church.

“There are some who have come back and we have some families that have joined,” said Pam Ford, Trinity’s Angel Tree coordinator. “[These families] have become a part of the family and they are experiencing the ministry that is available at Trinity.”

Angel Tree provides an opportunity to foster evangelism and giving among Trinity members while showing love for the incarcerated, Ford said. “It’s a special opportunity for parents to teach their children and for the congregation as a family to express what the real reason of Christmas is,” she said.

“We wrap our arms around everyone who comes through those doors. They get filled with the love of Jesus,” Ford said of the outreach. “There’s a connection that takes place where it doesn’t matter about any differences that may appear outwardly. Our hearts are united as one.”

First Baptist Church in West Monroe, meanwhile, is delivering Angel Tree gifts along with Bibles to the homes of the 80 children, said Joy Regan, who coordinates the outreach along with her husband Ed.

“It’s a good ministry to serve or represent the person that’s incarcerated, to be able to do something for the children that [their parents] can’t do,” Regan said. “We also want them to experience God’s love in their lives.”

And the children certainly are responsive, Regan said. “We can tell in these kids’ eyes. They say, ‘This is from my daddy?’”

(Source: Baptist Press)

Christian captives set free after week behind bars

ERITREA - The Eritrean government has released 30 elderly Christian women who were arrested and detained without charges last week, according to a Christian ministry.

The women are members of the unregistered Faith Mission Church. WND reported last week on their arrests.

International Christian Concern’s Jonathan Racho said the release is a victory for Christians worldwide.

“Eritrean officials have been reluctant to listen to international pressure, but when there is news coverage, when there is pressure, when people call and pray, and put pressure on the government, this incident shows that some prisoners will be released,” Racho said.

He said, however, even with this victory, many Eritrean Christians are still being held.

“There are more than 3,000 Christians behind bars in Eritrean prisons and the conditions are still very bad. As soon as a Christian is arrested, some are taken to underground dungeons, some to Army barracks and some are held in shipping containers,” Racho said.

(Sources: WorldNet Daily, Christian Post, International Christian Concern)

Court rules prison can stop man’s kosher meals

DETROIT – A Michigan prison inmate who stopped getting special meals after he was caught with non-kosher snacks isn’t getting any sympathy from a federal appeals court.

“Prison officials have a legitimate … interest not only in controlling the cost of the kosher meal program and ensuring that only those with sincere beliefs participate in the program, but also in maintaining discipline,” a three-judge panel said this week.

Convicted killer Phillip Berryman, 66, sued after his kosher meals at the St. Louis Correctional Facility in mid-Michigan were suspended in 2005. He said the non-kosher snacks at the prison store — pizza sauce, soup, candy — were for another inmate.

That defense worked with one hearing officer but failed when prison officials asked for a second hearing.

(Soource:  Associated Press)

Third Christian this year dies in Eritrean military prison

Sources told Netherlands-based Open Doors that Yemane Kahasay Andom, 43, died Thursday (July 23) at Mitire Military Confinement Center. A member of the Kale-Hiwot church in Mendefera, Andom was said to be secretly buried in the camp.

Weakened by continuous torture, Andom was suffering from a severe case of malaria, Open Doors reported in a statement today.
“He was allegedly further weakened by continuous physical torture and solitary confinement in an underground cell the two weeks prior to his death for his refusal to sign a recantation form,” the organization said. “It is not clear what the contents of the recantation form were, but most Christians interpret the signing of such a form as the denouncement of their faith in Christ.”

Andom is the third known Christian to die this year at the Mitire camp, located in northeastern Eritrea. Mogos Hagos Kiflom, 37, was said to have died from torture at the same center in early January. On Jan. 16, Mehari Gebreneguse Asgedom, 42, died in solitary confinement at the Mitire camp from torture and complications from diabetes, according to Open Doors.

It was not immediately known whether Andom was married or how many family members survive him. He had spent the past 18 months at the Mitire camp.

Last October Open Doors learned of the death of another Christian, Teklesenbet Gebreab Kiflom, 36, who died while imprisoned for his faith at the Wi’a Military Confinement Center. He was reported to have died after prison commanders refused to give him medical attention for malaria.
In June 2008, 37-year-old Azib Simon died from untreated malaria as well. Weakened by torture, sources told Compass, Simon contracted malaria only a week before she died.

With the death of Andom last week, the number of Christians who have died while imprisoned for their faith in Eritrea now total nine. Along with the two Christians who died in January and Kiflom and Azib last year, Nigisti Haile, 33, tied from torture on Sept. 5, 2007; Magos Solomon Semere, 30, died from torture and pneumonia at Adi-Nefase Confinement Center, outside Assab, in February 2007; Immanuel Andegergesh, 23, died in Adi-Quala Confinement Center in October 2006 from torture and dehydration; and also at the Adi-Qaula center, Kibrom Firemichel, 30, died from torture and dehydration also in October 2006.

More than 2,800 Christians remain imprisoned for their faith in Eritrea, according to Open Doors.

The Eritrean government in May 2002 outlawed all religious groups except Islam and the Orthodox, Catholic and Lutheran churches. The government of President Isaias Afwerki has stepped up its campaign against churches it has outlawed, once again earning it a spot on the U.S. Department of State’s latest list of worst violators of religious freedom.

Incarcerated Christians from throughout Eritrea have been transferred to the Mitire prison. In April Open Doors learned that 27 Christian prisoners held at police stations in the Eritrean capital of Asmara had been transferred to the Mitire military camp for further punishment.

(Source: Compass Direct)

Activists claim Christian woman executed in North Korea

Seoul, South Korea – North Korea publicly executed a Christian woman last month for distributing the Bible, which is banned in the communist nation, South Korean activists said Friday.

Ri Hyon Ok, 33, was also accused of spying for South Korea and the United States and organizing dissidents. She was executed in the northwestern city of Ryongchon near the border with China on June 16, according to a report from an alliance of several dozen anti-North Korea groups.

Ri’s parents, husband and three children were sent to a political prison camp in the northeastern city of Hoeryong the following day, the report said, citing unidentified documents it says were obtained from North Korea. It showed a copy of Ri’s North Korean government-issued photo ID.

It is virtually impossible to verify such reports about secretive North Korea, where the government tightly controls the lives of its citizens and does not allow dissent.

On Thursday, an annual report from a state-run South Korean think tank on human rights in the North said that public executions, though dropping in number in recent years, were still carried out for crimes ranging from murder to circulating foreign movies.

North Korea claims to guarantee freedom of religion for its 24 million people but in reality severely restricts religious observances. The cult of personality surrounding national founder Kim Il Sung and his son, current leader Kim Jong Il, is a virtual state religion.

The government has authorized four state churches, one Catholic, two Protestant and one Russian Orthodox, but they cater to foreigners and ordinary North Koreans cannot attend. However, defectors and activists say more than 30,000 North Koreans are believed to practice Christianity secretly.

The U.S. State Department reported last year that “genuine religious freedom does not exist” in North Korea.

“North Korea appears to have judged that Christian forces could pose a threat to its regime,” Do Hee-youn, a leading activist, told reporters, claiming public executions, arrest and detention of North Koreans are prevalent.

The Investigative Commission On Crime Against Humanity also alleged in its report that in March, North Korean security agents arrested Seo Kum Ok, 30, another Christian, in a city near Ryongchon and tortured her. The agents alleged she was attempting to spy on a nuclear site and hand over the evidence to South Korea and the U.S.

The report said it remains unclear whether she survived. Her husband was also arrested and their two children disappeared, it said.

The commission said it was seeking to try to take North Korean leader Kim to the International Criminal Court over alleged crimes against humanity.

Activists claim that such atrocities — including murder, kidnap, rape, extermination of individuals in prison camps — cannot take place in North Korea without Kim’s knowledge or direction as he wields absolute power.
(Source: Associated Press)

Madoff Gets 150 Years in Scheme

NEW YORK -On Monday, June 29, Judge Denny Chin ignored Mr. Madoff’s personal pleas of remorse,  rejecting even the suggestion from his lawyers that there was a sense of “mob vengeance,” and sentenced Bernard Madoff to a long prison term – 150 years.  Some of his victims  included foundations, universities, organizations, charities and individuals, inlcuding some in Wisconsin – see Wall Street Journal for a list of victims   HERE.

“Objectively speaking, the fraud here was staggering,” the judge said. “It spanned more than 20 years.”

“I’m responsible for a great deal of suffering and pain, I understand that,” the 71-year-old financier told the court. “I live in a tormented state now, knowing all of the pain and suffering that I’ve created. I’ve left a legacy of shame, as some of my victims have pointed out, to my family and my grandchildren.”

Addressing his victims seated in the courtroom, he said: “I will turn and face you. I’m sorry. I know that doesn’t help you.”

Prosecutors called for the maximum sentence — representing a life sentence — for perpetrating one of the biggest frauds in Wall Street history -  $65 billion.   Madoff’s own lawyers said he should receive only 12 years.

In handing out the maximum sentence, Judge Chin noted that no friends, family or other supporters had submitted any letters on Mr. Madoff’s behalf, attesting to the strength of his character or good deeds he had done.

The steady returns on investment and monthly financial statements of the Madoff enterprise masked a scheme that attracted new money to pay existing investors and finance operating costs and a lavious lifestyle of greed and corruption.  As soon as the money ran out, the dream became a nightmare – the illusion became self-evident.

Prison Seminary Program Gives Inmates 2nd Chance

PARCHMAN, Miss – These graduates were convicted killers, rapists and drug dealers at Mississippi’s only maximum security prison.  The Parchman inmates received bachelor’s degrees in Christian ministry from the New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. The accredited Southern Baptist school first began offering prison courses in 1996 to Louisiana inmates at Angola prison. Along with expanding to Parchman, the seminary is working in Georgia and Florida prisons, said seminary provost Steve Lemke.

The path to graduation was dangerous for inmates at Parchman. Some were beaten out of prison gangs or mocked by the criminals they’ll soon attempt to counsel and lead to faith.  “The people are scared of you,” said the graduation speaker, Burl Cain, longtime warden at the Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola, who was at Parchman for the recent event. “Everybody’s watching you. They’re waiting for you to fail.” But Cain said they will be expected to help transform prison culture through their faith.

At the Parchman graduation, inmates draped caps and gowns over black-and-white prison stripes. The nearly two-hour commencement ceremony at the sprawling Mississippi Delta prison included guitar-heavy renditions of “Amazing Grace” and “Knocking on Heaven’s Door,” performed by the prison gospel band, L.I.F.E, an acronym for Living in Fellowship Everyday with God.