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Daniel Lewis Lee: United States executes first federal prisoner in 17 years
The United States government on Tuesday carried out the first federal execution in 17 years, putting to death a man who killed an Arkansas family in a 1990s plot to build a whites-only nation in the Pacific Northwest. The execution came despite the objection of the victims’ family.
Daniel Lewis Lee, 47, of Yukon, Oklahoma, died by lethal injection at the federal prison in Terre Haute, Indiana.
“I didn’t do it,” Lee said before he was executed. “I’ve made a lot of mistakes in my life, but I’m not a murderer … You’re killing an innocent man.”
The decision to move forward with the execution – the first by the Bureau of Prisons since 2003 – drew scrutiny from civil rights groups and the relatives of Lee’s victims, who had sued to try to halt it, citing concerns about the coronavirus pandemic.
Critics argued that the government was creating an unnecessary and manufactured urgency for political gain.
“The government has been trying to plough forward with these executions despite many unanswered questions about the legality of its new execution protocol,” said Shawn Nolan, one of the attorneys for the men facing federal execution.
The developments are likely to add a new front to the national conversation about criminal justice reform in the lead-up to the 2020 elections.
Lee’s execution took place after a series of legal volleys that ended when the Supreme Court stepped in early on Tuesday in a 5-4 ruling and allowed it to move forward.
Four scheduled federal executions had been suspended by Judge Tanya Chutkan of the US district court in Washington, DC, on Monday to allow for legal challenges to the lethal injection that was to be used.
Chutkan’s order came less than seven hours before the former white supremacist Lee, who was convicted along with another man of murdering a family of three during a robbery intended to help fund the founding of an “Aryan Peoples Republic”, was scheduled to be executed.
The prisoners “have not made the showing required to justify last-minute intervention by a Federal Court”, the Supreme Court said in a ruling released in the early hours of Tuesday.
“We vacate the District Court’s preliminary injunction so that the … executions may proceed as planned.”
Attorney General William Barr originally scheduled five executions for last December, but was ordered to delay them by Chutkan while long-running lawsuits challenging the government’s lethal-injection protocol played out.
In staying the executions, Chutkan ruled that the use of a single drug, pentobarbital, to carry out the executions could cause “extreme pain and needless suffering” and may violate a constitutional ban on cruel and unusual punishment.
Lee became the first federal inmate to be executed in the US since 2003 and the first since President Donald Trump announced plans to resume federal executions.
There have been just three federal executions since the death penalty was reinstated in 1988.
Lee and another man, Chevie Kehoe, were convicted in Arkansas in 1999 of the 1996 murders of gun dealer William Mueller, his wife, and her eight-year-old daughter.
Lee, who had since renounced his white supremacist beliefs according to his lawyers, was sentenced to death while Kehoe received three life sentences without the possibility of parole.
Earlene Peterson, 81, whose daughter and granddaughter were killed, has campaigned against Lee’s death sentence, saying she wants him to spend the rest of his life behind bars.
“It’s an easy way out,” Peterson told The New York Times. “He should have to live through this. Like I did.”
Peterson and relatives of other victims also filed a lawsuit seeking to delay the execution, arguing that it was dangerous for them to travel to Terre Haute to witness Lee’s execution because of the coronavirus pandemic.
An appeals court dismissed the suit on Sunday, but Baker Kurrus, a lawyer for the families, said he would take it to the Supreme Court.
“The federal government has put this family in the untenable position of choosing between their right to witness Danny Lee’s execution and their own health and safety,” Kurrus said.
The Supreme Court, however, denied their application.
The Bureau of Prisons said Sunday that a member of the Terre Haute prison staff had tested positive for COVID-19.
“There’s no reason for anybody to be carrying out executions right now because of the pandemic,” said Robert Dunham, executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center.
More than 1,000 US religious leaders urged Trump last week to abandon plans to resume federal executions and Dunham accused the president of “political use of the death penalty”.
Only a handful of US states, mainly in the conservative South, still carry out executions. In 2019, 22 people were put to death.
Most crimes are tried under state laws, but federal courts handle some of the most serious crimes, including terror attacks and hate crimes.
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Nearly 400 People Choose Christ at Mississippi State Fair
Thousands of people flock to the Mississippi State Fair each year to eat fun food, hear live music, and enjoy time with loved ones. This year, fairgoers also got the opportunity to hear the Gospel preached, and nearly 400 people gave their lives to the Lord as a result.
Churches like First Baptist Church in Senotobia make Mississippi Baptist fair evangelism effort possible.
“One of FBC’s members, who is named Mae, began praying that she would be able to tell someone about Jesus,” First Baptist Senotobia Pastor David Haynes told the Baptist Press. “Mae was able to talk and pray with a young man as he placed faith in Jesus. During our four-hour session at the state fair, we had 160 Gospel conversations and 15 of those resulted in salvation.”
Mae was one of 195 volunteers with the Mississippi Baptist Convention Board (MBCB) who attended the multi-day state fair earlier this month.
Last year, the MBCB had 2,524 recorded gospel conversations, and 269 people made a profession of faith in Jesus at the Mississippi Fairgrounds.
This year at the 165th Mississippi State Fair, volunteers had 2,824 Gospel conversations, resulting in 373 decisions for Christ, BP reports. But not all conversions were immediate.
“We had a young lady come in the tent with her family,” Don Lum, MBCB director of evangelism, told BP. “There were three teenagers and a mom and dad. This young lady was holding back. She was kind of not really engaged. I was talking to the guy that had shared with them, and he came back in the tent the next day and said, ‘Look, you’ll never guess what happened last night. At 1 a.m. this morning, the young lady got up, went into her mom and dad’s bedroom and said, ‘I need Jesus.'”
MBCB spokesperson Linda Burris recently shared that the experience also has an impact on the volunteers who gain confidence in sharing their faith.
“They discover that they can do it and it’s not that hard,” she told the Christian Post. “It is rewarding to hear the stories of other believers at the fair and to share with someone hungry to hear the good news of hope.”
Haynes shares how the experience often encourages the volunteers to grow in confidence in their faith.
“Once a person gains confidence in their ability to rely upon the Holy Spirit to guide them in Gospel conversations, then he or she will be more confident when talking with friends and family members about Jesus,” he said.
Burris says although people have made the decision to follow Christ in the tent at the fair, the work of ministry is far from over.
“Our volunteers are assigned a number that they put on the cards of those they share with. A copy of the cards of the ones who received Christ are mailed back to the volunteer who shared with them. They are then able to make contact with them,” she explained. “We sort the cards according to city and town and mail the information to a local pastor so that they can be contacted by a church in their area.”
Lum says the effort is bearing much fruit and that even for those who reject the Gospel a seed is planted.
“You’ve sowed the seed,” said Lum. “You told him about Jesus Christ, and then you’ve given him the opportunity to make the decision. And the decision’s always a personal one. We all get to make the choice to follow Him or not. And so I can’t feel bad about that because we did our part. I tell folks when they come to work, I said, you can’t miss. You can’t lose.”
Sources:CBN News
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വൈ എം ഇ എഫ് ഡാളസ് ഒരുക്കുന്ന ഗാനസന്ധ്യ നവംബർ മൂന്നിന്
കാരോൾട്ടൻ (ഡാളസ്): വൈ എം ഇ എഫ് ഒരുക്കുന്ന ഗാനസന്ധ്യ നവംബർ മൂന്നാം തീയതി ഞായറാഴ്ച ആറുമണിക്ക് കാരോൾട്ടൻ ബിലീവേഴ്സ് ബൈബിൾ ചാപ്പൽ വെച്ച് നടത്തപ്പെടുന്നു
ഭക്ത കവി റ്റി കെ ശാമുവൽ ഗാനങ്ങളും ഗാന പശ്ചാത്തലവും വിവരണം ആയുള്ള ഒരു അതുല്യ സംഗീത അനുഭവം ഗാനാസ്വാദകരിലേക്കു പകർന്നു നൽകുന്നത് ശ്രുതിലയ ഗാഭീര്യവുമായി കേരളത്തിൽ നിന്നും എത്തിച്ചേർന്നിരിക്കുന്ന പ്രിയഗായകൻ സ്വരാജാണ് . ബിജു ചെറിയാൻ ലാലു ജോയ് തോമസ് യുകെ എന്നിവരുടെ നേതൃത്വത്തിലാണ് പശ്ചാത്തലസംഗീതം ഒരുക്കപ്പെടുന്നത്. പ്രവേശം സൗജന്യമായ ഗാനസന്ധ്യയിലേക്ക് ഏ വരെയും സ്വാഗതം ചെയ്യുന്നതായി വൈ എം ഇ എഫ് ഭാരവാഹികൾ അറിയിച്ചു
Sources:globalindiannews
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വാറ്റ്ഫോർഡ് വേഡ് ഓഫ് ഹോപ് ബെഥേസ്ഥ പെന്തക്കോസ്തൽ ഫെലോഷിപ്പിന്റെ ആഭിമുഖ്യത്തിൽ ആനുവൽ കൺവൻഷൻ.
വാറ്റ്ഫോർഡ് : ഈ വർഷത്തെ ആനുവൽ കൺവൻഷൻ വെള്ളിയാഴ്ച നവംബർ 1 വൈകിട്ട് 6.30 മണി മുതൽ 9 മണി വരെയും, ശനിയാഴ്ച നവംബർ 2 വൈകിട്ട് 6:30 മണി മുതൽ 9 മണി വരെയും വാറ്റ്ഫോർഡിൽ ഹോളിവെൽ പ്രൈമറി സ്ക്കൂളിൽ ഐ പി സി യു കെ & അയർലണ്ട് റീജിയൻ പ്രസിഡന്റ് പാസ്റ്റർ ജേക്കബ് ജോർജ്ജ് ഈ യോഗം പ്രാർത്ഥിച്ച് ഉൽഘാടനം ചെയ്യും.
അനേക രാജ്യങ്ങളിൽ ശക്തമായി സുവിശേഷം പ്രസംഗിക്കുന്ന കോഴിക്കോട്ടുള്ള കിങ്ങ്സ് റിവൈവൽ ചർച്ചിന്റെ സീനിയർ പാസ്റ്റർ നോബിൾ പി തോമസ് ദൈവ വചനത്തിൽ നിന്നും ശ്രിശ്രൂഷിക്കുകയും പ്രതേക വിഷയങ്ങൾക്കായി പ്രാർത്ഥിക്കുകയും ചെയ്യും. വെള്ളിയാഴ്ച വർഷിപ്പിനു വാറ്റ്ഫോർഡ് ചർച്ചിനോടു ഒപ്പം നാട്ടിൽ നിന്നും വന്നിരിക്കുന്ന ബ്രദർ. സാംസൺ ചെങ്ങന്നുർ നേത്യത്വം നൽകും.
ശനിയാഴ്ച്ച ഉച്ചക്ക് 3 മണി മുതൽ 5.30 മണി വരെ യൂത്തിനുള്ള സെക്ഷനിൽ പാസ്റ്റർ ഏബൻ മാത്യു (യു കെ) വചനം പ്രസംഗിക്കുകയും ചോദ്യങ്ങൾക്കുള്ള ഉത്തരങ്ങൾ നൽകുന്നു.
ഞായറാഴ്ച ഡബ്ലയു ബി പി എഫ് സഭകളുടെ ഒരുമിച്ചുള്ള ആരാധനയും കർത്ത്യ മേശയും രാവിലെ 10 മണിക്ക് മുതൽ 1 മണി വരെ നടക്കും.
പാർക്കിംഗ് & റിഫ്രഷ്മന്റ് ഉണ്ടായിരിക്കും.
സ്ഥലം- HOLLYWELL PRIMARY SCHOOL, TOLPITS LANE, WD18 6LL, WATORD, HERTFORDSHIRE.
കുടുതൽ വിവരങ്ങൾക്ക് : പാസ്റ്റർ ജോൺസൺ ജോർജ് (07852304150) & പാസ്റ്റർ സാം ജോൺ (07435372899) www.wbpfwatford.co.uk
Sources:Middleeast Christian Youth Ministries
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