Author: International Correspondent

Opinion: Susanne Maynes. I’ve never attended Bethel Church or their school of ministry, and I’ve only listened to a handful of sermons by Bill Johnson. However, as a lifelong Pentecostal/charismatic, I’m aware that Bethel’s influence has saturated charismatic culture for decades. One concept Bethel promotes is creating and maintaining a “culture of honor.” This sounds like a beautiful and biblical idea, since human beings should honor one another as image bearers of God — but what does it really mean? In Bethel’s view, current forms of church leadership should be discarded, and five-fold ministers (based on Ephesians 4:11) should be…

The drug cartel leader killed in Jalisco state on Sunday was responsible for the forced closure of more than 100 churches due to threats and extortion demands. The Mexican military operation in Tapalpa, Jalisco, wounded Rubén Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, “El Mencho,” leader of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG), who later died while being transported for medical care. The military operation resulted in the deaths of 30 members of the cartel and 70 arrests in seven states and took the lives of at least 25 members of Mexico’s military forces. The CJNG, active in 40 countries, including in the United States,…

OPINION:  Binoy Kampmark In a feat of enterprising delusion and sinister suppression, Australia’s second largest state has decided to deal with what it regards as an antisemitic problem. After last December’s attacks on Sydney’s Bondi Beach by two gunmen on attendees of a Hanukkah event that left 15 people dead, it has become modish to insist that a blight has gripped the continent. On February 8, the State government of Premier David Crisafulli announced it was “delivering strong, decisive action to combat antisemitism [and] address terrorist-motivated offending to make Queensland safer.” As with other parts of the country, antisemitism has been singled…

Story by Courtney Mares/National Catholic Reporter. Pope Leo XIV has urged priests to not to use artificial intelligence to write their homilies or to seek “likes” on social media platforms like TikTok. In a question-and-answer session with clergy from the Diocese of Rome, the pope said priests should resist “the temptation to prepare homilies with artificial intelligence.” “Like all the muscles in the body, if we do not use them, if we do not move them, they die. The brain needs to be used, so our intelligence must also be exercised a little so as not to lose this capacity,”…

Story by George Wright/BBC News An armed man has been shot dead after entering the secure perimeter of US President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida, the Secret Service has said. The man was carrying a shotgun and fuel can when he was stopped and shot by Secret Service agents and a Sheriff’s deputy, authorities said. The incident happened around 01:30 ET (06:30 GMT) on Sunday morning, when the president was in Washington DC. The suspect has been named as Austin T Martin of Cameron, North Carolina, according to the BBC’s US partner CBS. His family in North Carolina had…

Story by Jon Brown. The former chaplain to the late Queen Elizabeth II lamented what he described as the apostasy within the Church of England and noted that Anglicanism in the United Kingdom is swiftly dying. “It will become hollowed out with nothing at the center, and because they have 6 billion pounds investments and our buildings, they will keep a show going in the more dramatic places,” Gavin Ashenden, who left Anglicanism in 2019 to join the Roman Catholic Church after serving as the queen’s chaplain from 2008 to 2017, told EWTN. During the interview that marked the celebration…

Story By Thomas Christianson. In the midst of his work to combat institutional racism within the United States, Martin Luther King Jr. relied heavily on principles taught in Scripture. The wisdom and insights King gained as he helped lead the civil rights movement apply to us today, for injustice still exists among us in many forms and in many places. Jesus once said, “God blesses those who hunger and thirst for justice, for they will be satisfied” (Matthew 5:6). King clearly hungered and thirsted for justice in the course of his efforts. His words can help us to embrace the…

Story by Emily Mangiaracina/ Life Site News A “missionary” bishop made “Venerable” and green-lighted for the beatification process by Pope Leo XIV allowed indigenous youth to touch his genitals and shared a bed naked with a youth who had previously made “provocative homosexual attempts,” recently published reports show. In May 2025, Leo declared Msgr. Alejandro Labaka “Venerable” along with Sr. Inés Arango Velásquez, with whom he worked. InfoCatolica recently highlighted concerning passages in Labaka’s autobiographical writings in which the bishop recounted his observations of disordered sexual practices of the Huaorani people in the Amazon. Of particular concern is one time when he admittedly allowed the indigenous youth to arouse…

Story by Emily Brown Rev. Jesse Jackson, the fiery civil rights leader, presidential candidate and longtime Baptist minister who helped shape modern American political activism, has died at 84. His family confirmed the news in a brief statement. “We shared him with the world, and in return, the world became part of our extended family,” the statement said. “His unwavering belief in justice, equality and love uplifted millions, and we ask you to honor his memory by continuing the fight for the values he lived by.” For more than five decades, Jackson stood at the crossroads of faith and public life,…

Story by Erik Tryggestad Standing on the observation deck at Aegibong Peace Ecopark, holding cups of coffee from the brand new Starbucks behind them, visitors gaze across the Han River to the rolling hills of the world’s most isolated, enigmatic and repressive state. Photo by Erik Tryggestad North Korea’s “Peace Village” stands across the Han River from Aegibong Peace Ecopark near Gimpo, South Korea. Through digital binoculars they peer into North Korea’s “Peace Village,” a set of nondescript, multilevel buildings. There, a woman beats sheaves of rice on a stone threshing floor. A man in gray work clothes rides a bike…

Story: Emma De Ruiter & Aleksandar Brezar/Euronews Epibatidine, found in the Ecuadoran dart frog, causes muscle paralysis and eventual asphyxiation. Experts have said the toxin can also be produced synthetically, instead of extracting it directly from the frog itself. Analysis in European labs “conclusively confirmed” that Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny was poisoned by the Kremlin with a lethal dart frog toxin, the foreign ministries of five European countries stated over the weekend, bringing his 2024 death in an Arctic penal colony back into focus. Navalny died in the Polar Wolf maximum-security corrections facility near the western Siberian town of Kharp in February…

OPINION: Robin Schumacher, Love it or hate it, no book rocks the world like the Bible. The Guinness World Records organization says, “The best-selling book of all time is the Christian Bible. It is impossible to know exactly how many copies have been printed in the roughly 1,500 years since its contents were standardized, but research conducted by the British and Foreign Bible Society in 2021 suggests that the total number probably lies between 5 and 7 billion copies.” Around 80 million copies are sold each year, with it also being the most translated book in the world, available in hundreds…

Story by Leonardo Blair. The public perception of the honesty and ethical standards of clergy reached a record low over the last 50 years, according to Gallup’s annual honesty and ethics survey. Just 27% of the American public ranked clergy as high or very high on the scale. Six other professions reached record lows in their honesty and ethical standards rankings over the period, including pharmacists (53%), high school teachers (50%), police officers (37%), business executives (10%), stockbrokers (9%) and telemarketers (5%). Gallup, which has been gauging the public’s views of the honesty and ethical standards of a variety of…

Story by Todd Nettleton. Some years ago, in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, a Christian boarded a crowded bus. He carried a forbidden package: Bibles God called him to deliver into Vietnam’s remote interior, spiritual food for fellow believers who had little to no access to Scripture.  He knew the risk if his secret was discovered. The box of Bibles could cost him his freedom. He could be tortured. But he also knew the unstoppable power of God’s Word to change lives. He knew he must answer God’s call. Before the bus departed, he prayed quietly, asking for protection and…

Europe must be ready to fight against Russia as Putin continues his bombardment in Ukraine, Sir Keir Starmer told the Munich Security Conference. The Prime Minister said: ‘Now we feel the solidity of peace, the very ground that we stand on softening under our feet. ‘It’s the job of leaders to be ahead of these seismic shapes, yet that is against the grain of history.’ He said leaders must not dither as ‘Russia has proved its appetite for aggression’. He continued that after a peace deal for Ukraine, ‘Russia’s rearmament would only accelerate’ and ‘we must answer this threat in full’. ‘To break the convention…

OPINION: Joel Foster. “Christians cannot do without good reporters”, wrote Evert Van Vlastuin, director of Christian Network Europe, on the last day of 2025. This Dutch journalist shares with fellow writers the call to report from a very specific lens, that of the Christian faith. But why is it necessary to have journalists who have a clear Christian worldview? Of course, they are just as necessary as Christian doctors or Christian architects or Christian chefs in restaurants. Faith in God, if it is real and relevant, will permeate our working life. Drawing a dividing line between the sacred and the secular is a trap…

Story By Emma De Ruiter/Euronews. The Commission will support the rollout of an online safety app across European member states, enabling children and young people to easily report cyberbullying and receive concrete help. The European Commission outlined an action plan against cyberbullying at the European Parliament on Tuesday, aimed at helping young victims of online bullying to safely report abuse and receive help. Part of the plan is the rollout of an EU-wide app that should let children confidentially report bullying to a national helpline, safely store and send evidence, and receive help from law enforcement, education or child protection services.…

Story By Robert Williams/Gatestone Institute Globalist leaders are working at full speed to introduce central bank digital currencies (CBDCs). A CBDC is a digital currency that is issued directly by a central bank, such as the Federal Reserve in the US, the European Central Bank in the EU’s eurozone, and the Bank of England in the UK. A CBDC will be the final straw that ensures that every dream of suppression and control that the globalists nurture will come true. Several of those dreams are already a reality, including shutting down dissent and free speech, as in Europe, where people…

Story by Emily Mangiaracina The late exorcist Father Malachi Martin warned in 1990 that “we may have to face finally a false pope.” In a private talk in Detroit during which Fr. Martin discussed the corruption and loss of faith among Catholic clergy as well as the Third Secret of Fatima, the priest predicted that a “false pope” would arrive sometime after the death of Pope John Paul II. Fr. Martin said that at the time of his talk, 114 of the 140 voting-eligible cardinals were “liberal.”  “So if (John Paul II) is snuffed out, we’re facing … or we may have to face…

Story by Anugrah Kumar Gunmen massacred and executed dozens of people in two Muslim-majority villages in Nigeria’s western Kwara state after residents refused to accept their extremist preaching, according to reports. The violence began on Tuesday evening and lasted for about 10 hours, leaving bodies strewn across Woro and Nuku, residents told The Associated Press. The attack follows a letter sent weeks earlier to residents announcing the intention to spread a radical interpretation of Islam. Several villagers, including traditional leaders’ relatives, were killed or kidnapped. One survivor told AP the assailants entered a mosque, made the call to prayer, and then…

A Perth man who planned to abduct and abuse a child, having scoped out schools and childcare centres and researched restraint methods, has been jailed for seven years. Police found evidence of extensive preparation “consistent with planned child abduction and abuse” at his Baldivis home, the roof of which had been modified to create a restricted access attic space. Along with the structural modifications to his residence, police say the man had made “detailed written diagrams outlining an intended abduction process”, which indicated he was “actively planning to commit physical harm”. He had researched schools, kindergartens and early-learning centres and…

OPINION: Eduardo Verástegui There is only one God, one in essence and triune in Persons. One single truth, one single way, and one single Church founded by Christ: the Catholic Church. Salvation is personal, free, and non-transferable. Each soul will appear before God to answer for its own actions, not for the sins or virtues of others. Although the Church, in its human dimension, may be wounded, infiltrated, or even betrayed by some of its members, the ultimate responsibility before God remains strictly individual. No one is saved by mere external membership. No one is condemned for faults they did…

Israeli President Isaac Herzog has laid a wreath and stones at Bondi Pavilion as a tribute to the December 14 terror attack victims as part of his four-day Australian visit. The two stones from Jerusalem were placed on the memorial as part of a Jewish tradition, where people place rocks rather than flowers to represent the endurance of memory and the weight of loss. “These stones from Jerusalem, the Eternal City, the Eternal Capital of Israel, will remain here at Bondi for eternity, a sacred memory of the victims and as a reminder that between good of all faiths and…

Story by Barbara Miller/ABC News and Colin Ambler/cvnznews.com The Australian man who shot dead 51 people at two Christchurch mosques in March 2019 has appeared in a Wellington court as he seeks to vacate his guilty pleas. In a hearing set down for five days, the court is examining his claims that when he pleaded guilty in March 2020 to charges of murder, attempted murder and terrorism, he was incapable of making rational decisions because of the harsh conditions of his confinement. He has filed two applications, including one asking for more time to appeal his sentence and conviction, and…

Story by Fortunato Pinto & Giorgia Orlandi A demonstration took place in Milan on the first day of the 2026 Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics, with protesters lamenting the environmental and economic effect of the Games on the region. The spectacular 2026 Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics opening ceremony on Friday evening evening showcased Italian culture and placed a heavy emphasis on the theme of harmony. Nevertheless, there was no shortage of criticism, with boos directed at Israel’s Olympic team, as well as US Vice President JD Vance when he appeared on the San Siro stadium’s big screen. Outside the venue, the city of Milan took centre…

Story by Robbie Meredith/BBC Christianity will “remain central” to the Religious Education (RE) taught in Northern Irelands schools, the education minister has said. But the RE syllabus will change to include other main religions and philosophical traditions, Paul Givan added. He has appointed a new panel to review the syllabus, which means the four main Christian churches will not be solely responsible for deciding what is taught in RE. Givan said that the churches would “retain a unique role in respect of that.” “I would not be putting out to public consultation a curriculum which failed to have the necessary…

Story by Fred Pry. With so much online today and more and more becoming accessible through our phones, kids and cell phone addiction has become a common problem. Recent studies have cited digital addiction among youth as a global concern, with 60% between the ages of 5-16 exhibiting behaviors indicative of technology dependency. When not intentionally addressed, excessive digital engagement can negatively affect our children in profound ways without them even realizing it. Here are five bad habits cell phone addiction can cause in kids, and five biblical solutions to help them unplug. 1. Instant gratification Many kids today have instant access to their favorite…

Story by Jenny Rapson. Dear Son, I wish you knew. Thirteen years ago you made me a mom. And I wish you knew how much I loved that time. And now you’re taller than I am. How can this be? I know I’ve told you before that you were an easy baby, that your Daddy and I thought we were the BEST of parents. It’s not until your little sister arrived almost three years later that we realized, NOPE—we just had a really easy kid the first time around. Oops. But there are a few things I imagine I haven’t told you about…

Story by Lee Habeed. Today is International Holocaust Remembrance Day, a date chosen to align with the fateful day back in 1945 when Allied troops liberated the worst of the Nazi deathcamps: Aushwitz-Birkenau. Approximately 960,000 Jews were murdered there, and nearly 1.1 million lives were cut short in all. But amidst the tragedy and horror associated with the Nazi genocide, there were stories of hope and courage, too. One involved an American GI who helped save 200 Jewish-American GI’s from near certain death.  His name was Master Sergeant Roderick “Roddie” Edmonds, and the most remarkable part of his story wasn’t…

OPINION: Kaeley Harms Sometimes the conservative refrain, “there’s a war on men,” functions less as a diagnosis and more as a gatekeeper, one that prevents even the most measured, necessary criticism from entering the conversation at all. Any attempt to examine male failure, cultural rot, or institutional responsibility is waved away as feminist hysteria or cultural Marxism before it can even clear its throat. Earlier this week, I stumbled upon a Christian Post article titled “Is It Always the Women?” It immediately set off my internal alarms. In the article, the author argues that the recent decline of women in church attendance…

On January 18, 2026, a group of protesters entered Cities Church in St. Paul, Minnesota, during a Sunday worship service, chanting slogans against immigration enforcement and disrupting the congregation’s time of prayer and praise. Former CNN anchor Don Lemon, now an independent journalist, was present, livestreaming the event. Twelve days later, on January 30, federal authorities arrested Lemon in Los Angeles on charges including conspiracy to deprive individuals of their civil rights and interfering with freedom of religion under federal law known as the FACE Act (18 U.S.C. § 248), specifically for allegedly interfering by force or obstruction with someone’s First Amendment…

Story by Emily Belz Christian author Philip Yancey said in an emailed statement to CT that he had engaged in an affair with a married woman for eight years and would retire from writing and speaking. Yancey started his writing career in 1971 at Campus Life magazine, which became a part of CT a few years later. He wrote for CT for decades, reporting and later becoming a regular columnist and editor at large. His books, including What’s So Amazing About Grace?, have sold more than 15 million copies. He often wrote about faith in the face of pain and suffering. Yancey, 76, has been married to…

Story by Tré Goins-Phillips | CBN When she was just 16 years old, Fox Varian, a female, underwent “top surgery,” a transgender procedure in which her perfectly healthy breasts were removed. Now at 22 years old — and no longer identifying in contrast to her physiology — she has become the first detransitioner to successfully win her malpractice lawsuit against those who irrevocably altered her body. On Jan. 30, Varian was awarded $2 million, and a jury in Westchester, New York, held both her psychologist, Kenneth Einhorn, and plastic surgeon, Simon Chin, legally liable for the so-called “medical care” they gave…

OPINION: by Dr Lee Warren. I’ve spent more than 25 years operating on the human brain, changing lives by making precise, structural interventions in the nervous system. I’ve spent just as long coping with my own brain, which was reshaped by a series of life-altering events. While deployed as a combat surgeon during the Iraq War, I learned firsthand how trauma reshapes the brain under threat, and I returned home struggling with PTSD. Then, as a father, I learned what it means to grieve the loss of a child in ways no medical training can prepare you for. Those experiences…

Story by Surinder Kaur  India’s move from 11th to 12th place on an annual ranking of countries where it is most difficult to be a Christian may appear to signal marginal improvement, but church leaders and rights advocates say it masks historic highs of persecution in the country. In Open Doors’ World Watch List (WWL) 2026, which ranks the 50 countries where Christians face the most severe persecution, India slipped one place, but its overall persecution score remained unchanged at 84. Open Doors notes that rankings are relative and often change because conditions worsen elsewhere rather than because they improve in…

Story By Jessica Mouser A post from an X account explaining that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS) celebrates Eve’s decision to eat from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil has gone viral, with 1.9 million views as of this writing. The post has drawn strong criticism from some Christians, who say it represents Satan’s point of view. “In the LDS Church, we do not see Eve eating the forbidden fruit as a mistake or even a sin,” said a Jan. 27 post from the account Dem Saints. “To the contrary, we celebrate her courage and wisdom to…

Story By Samantha Kamman. Despite rumblings of a Christian resurgence among young adults in the United Kingdom, recent surveys purporting to find high levels of religiousness among youth may be misleading, according to the Pew Research Center. Pew, a nonpartisan fact tank, published an analysis on Jan. 23 concluding that most surveys indicating rising Christian identity and church attendance among young adults in the U.K. were opt-in surveys, typically commissioned by faith-based groups.  “Surveys using random samples of the population do not show clear evidence of a Christian resurgence,” the analysis stated. “In such surveys, you can only participate if the researchers randomly…

Story by Anugrah Kumar: The Taliban has codified slavery and formalized a class-based justice system in Afghanistan through a newly approved criminal procedure code signed by its supreme leader, Hibatullah Akhundzada. Legal experts and international rights groups say the new law strips away due process and institutionalizes privilege based on gender, religion and social status. “The Taliban has now approved the return of slavery in Afghanistan. We must defund the Taliban,” Jim Risch, R-Idaho, chairman of the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee, wrote on X. “Not only is it counter to US interests and an affront to all military members who…

Story By Joe Hawkins/Prophecy Recon. When most people imagine the Beast system, they picture something sudden–a dramatic flip of a switch where the Antichrist unveils a fully formed global control grid. Scripture gives a different impression: a system that already has scaffolding, already has “rails,” already has the plumbing installed–so that when the final authority arrives, the mechanism is ready. That’s why the most important question isn’t, “Has Revelation 13 happened yet?” but rather: Are the enabling systems being built now? In recent years, the world has accelerated into a new governance paradigm that increasingly treats human autonomy as a…

Story by Brent Buchanan/Daily Signal Texas has accounted for 25% of all ICE arrests since enforcement ramped up. The state has processed thousands upon thousands of deportations. No riots. No mob violence against federal officers. No churches stormed during worship services. Minnesota represents less than 1% of ICE arrests. And Minneapolis is on fire. How do you explain that gap? The answer has nothing to do with immigration policy and everything to do with where Americans get their information. What the Polling Actually Shows At Cygnal, we recently surveyed voters on whether the Trump administration’s deportation efforts have gone too…