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Elderly man beaten and arrested for preaching the gospel on the street: London
A Christian pastor who was arrested after he preached from the Bible said yesterday he had been treated ‘shamefully’.
John Sherwood, 71, was led away in handcuffs, questioned in a police station and held overnight after being accused of making homophobic comments outside Uxbridge Station in west London.
The grandfather claimed he was left bruised after police pulled him from a mini-stepladder he was using and cuffed his hands behind his back.
Police said they had received complaints the man had been making ‘allegedly homophobic comments’ and arrested him under the Public Order Act, which can be used under the vague proviso that someone is using ‘abusive or insulting words’ that cause ‘harm’ to someone else. He was later released without charge.
Mr Sherwood, a pastor for 35 years, said: ‘I wasn’t making any homophobic comments, I was just defining marriage as a relationship between a man and a woman. I was only saying what the Bible says – I wasn’t wanting to hurt anyone or cause offence.
‘I was doing what my job description says, which is to preach the gospel in open air as well as in a church building.
‘When the police approached me, I explained that I was exercising my religious liberty and my conscience. I was forcibly pulled down from the steps and suffered some injury to my wrist and to my elbow. I do believe I was treated shamefully. It should never have happened.’
Mr Sherwood, who preaches at an independent evangelical church in north London, was arrested under the Public Order Act for allegedly causing alarm or distress. He was released without charge but a file has now been passed to the Crown Prosecution Service for review.
The Metropolitan Police said a member of the public flagged down patrol officers and alleged Mr Sherwood had made homophobic comments.
Mobile phone footage of Friday’s arrest shows Mr Sherwood standing on the stepladder with a Bible in his hand outside a Tube station in Uxbridge, west London. Officers can be heard telling him to get off his steps before they appear to grasp his hands and pull him down.
Onlookers can be heard shouting, ‘He’s an elderly man – take it easy with him’, before officers put Mr Sherwood in handcuffs and take him to a police car.
Mr Sherwood said officers grilled him over his attitude to gay people. He was even asked what he would do if his children were gay. The married father-of-two said: ‘The question was irrelevant to the allegation against me. I said I would seek to bring them to Christ, but of course I would love them no matter what, because they’re my children.’
Andrea Williams, of campaign group Christian Concern, said police needed greater understanding of the law surrounding freedom of speech and religion.
She added: ‘There is an idea that if people are offended you should arrest someone, but in this country we also have freedom of speech.’
A Met Police spokesman said its directorate of professional standards had assessed video footage of Mr Sherwood’s arrest and had found no evidence of misconduct by officers.
A statement posted to a Christian Facebook his supporters read: ‘Whilst he was preaching, he expounded the final verses of Genesis 1, declaring that God’s purpose in creating mankind was to set human beings in families, headed by a father and a mother, not by two fathers, or by two mothers.
‘The distinction within mankind of just two genders, male and female, made in the image of God, constitutes the essence of God’s created order.’
Earlier in the footage, filmed on Friday, two officers can be seen urging the man to step down from the footstool telling him: ‘You’re under arrest.’
The pastor repeatedly refuses, prompting both officers to take him by the hands and guide him down from the steps.
A struggle then ensues as the older man appears to free himself from the police officers’ grip.
Several onlookers, including an older woman and a barking dog jumping into the fray.
The two police officers then struggle to cuff the man as one tells him: ‘I don’t want you getting hurt.’
He is then marched away from the crowd by one of the cops as several onlookers can be seen with their mobile phones out.
A woman behind the camera says: ‘For a man preaching about Christianity, look at how he’s ripping him.’
Pastor Peter Simpson, Minister of Penn Free Methodist Church in Buckinghamshire, who was preaching with Pastor Sherwood before the arrest, said: ‘Everything he said was bible based. He was not saying anything abusive; he is a Christian minister. There did not seem to be any recognition from the police that Christian ministers and such views exist.
‘If there was a Pride parade in Uxbridge, the police would support it even if Christians were offended.
‘You don’t have to be an evangelical Christian to be shocked by this. Anyone who cares about liberty should be concerned about what happened in Uxbridge.
‘This is about defending our Christian civilisation, or what is left of it. The belief in Genesis 1:27 is fundamental to Christian belief.
‘This arrest of a faithful minister for doing nothing other than declaring what the Bible teaches about one of the important moral issues of our time reveals a dangerous assault upon freedom of speech and, not least, upon the freedom of Christian pastors to declare in public all that the Bible teaches. The State has no right to designate that some parts of God’s word are no-go areas.
‘Whatever one’s personal views on homosexuality might be, it is surely pertinent to ask what kind of nation have we become that the minister of a Christian church is arrested for upholding in the public square the very truths which Her Majesty the Queen promised to uphold in her Coronation Oath in 1953, with a Bible in her hand?’
Andrea Williams, chief executive of the Christian Legal Centre, said: ‘Street preaching has a long and honoured history in the UK. In many ways it is symbolic of the kind of freedoms we have treasured in this nation. So to see a 75-year-old pastor arrested in such a manner for preaching the gospel in London is deeply concerning.
‘The laws to protect the freedom to preach in public are very strong. Sadly what we are seeing all too often is police officers who are quick to arrest at the first suggestion that a member of the public is offended, because of the prevailing cancel culture. The Christian Legal Centre has defended dozens of Christian preachers for over a decade and have a 100% success rate on this issue.’
A Met Police spokesman said: ‘At 1.35pm on Friday, April 23, officers on patrol were flagged down by a member of the public who made them aware of a man allegedly making homophobic comments close to Uxbridge Underground Station.
‘A number of other people also approached the officers with concerns about the man’s language.
‘Officers spoke with the 71-year-old man and he was subsequently arrested on suspicion of an offence under Section 5 of the Public Order Act.
‘He was taken to a west London police station and later released under investigation.
‘A file has been passed to the Crown Prosecution Service for review and consideration.
‘The Met’s Directorate of Professional Standards [DPS] have since assessed the footage and found no indication of misconduct. The arrest will not be subject to a full DPS review.’
The statement on the Christian page continued: ‘Police officer also spoke to [a second pastor] about homophobic speech.
‘The minister explained that to uphold God’s moral law and speak about the dangers of sin in respect of LGBT issues implies absolutely no hatred or unpleasantness towards any individual or group of people.
‘Nevertheless, the Bible’s condemnation of homosexuality is plain.
‘To this the policeman responded that some matters simply cannot be referred to in public places, implying that homosexuality is one of them.
‘The officer also stated that there is no freedom to make statements in public which offend people.
‘[The second pastor] responded that the Police would have no objection whatsoever to a Pride parade being held in Uxbridge, yet that is highly offensive to Bible-believing Christians.’
The statement concludes: ‘This arrest of a faithful preacher for doing nothing other than declaring what the Bible teaches about one of the important moral issues of our time reveals a dangerous assault taking place in modern Britain upon freedom of speech, and not least, upon the freedom of Christian pastors to proclaim in public all that the Bible teaches (see Acts 20:27).’
The pastor has been contacted for comment.
It comes after police recorded a ‘hate incident’ against a retired teacher who wrote a ‘polite’ letter to a campaigner defending a mother’s right to abort a baby with Down’s syndrome.
Douglas Kedge, 85, penned a letter to a woman protesting about an episode of Emmerdale in which a couple decided to terminate a pregnancy after the baby was diagnosed with the genetic disorder.
He wrote that although he understood some may regard having a child with Down’s syndrome as a ‘great privilege and joy’, there are other ‘perfectly decent people’ who may wish to avoid ‘what could well be for them an appalling change in their lives’.
According to the Times, he added: ‘You disgracefully suggest that the reason for the inclusion of this situation in the script is a deliberate attempt to perpetuate prejudice against Down’s syndrome children.’
Former parish council chairman Mr Kedge later received a call from Thames Valley Police to inform him that a record had been made of his involvement in a ‘non-crime hate incident’.
Despite this, officers accepted that the letter was ‘very politely written’.
It followed a complaint by Rachel Mewes, from Northumberland, who had received Mr Kedge’s letter in response to a comment she made in the Times last November.
httpss://videos.dailymail.co.uk/preview/mol/2021/04/28/8451390682370753019/636x382_MP4_8451390682370753019.mp4
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മതസ്വാതന്ത്ര്യ അംബാസഡറായി സിസ്സി ഗ്രഹാം ലിഞ്ചിനെ ട്രംപ് നാമനിർദേശം ചെയ്തു
വാഷിങ്ടൺ: പ്രമുഖ സുവിശേഷകൻ ഫ്രാങ്ക്ലിൻ ഗ്രഹാമിന്റെ മകളും അന്തരിച്ച സുവിശേഷകൻ ബില്ലി ഗ്രഹാമിന്റെ കൊച്ചുമകളുമായ സിസ്സി ഗ്രഹാം ലിഞ്ചിനെ യുഎസ് അംബാസഡർ അറ്റ് ലാർജ് ഫോർ ഇന്റർനാഷണൽ റിലീജിയസ് ഫ്രീഡം സ്ഥാനത്തേക്ക് പ്രസിഡന്റ് ഡൊണാൾഡ് ട്രംപ് നാമനിർദേശം ചെയ്തു.
സെനറ്റിന്റെ അംഗീകാരം ലഭിച്ചാൽ ലോകമെമ്പാടുമുള്ള മതസ്വാതന്ത്ര്യ സംരക്ഷണവുമായി ബന്ധപ്പെട്ട യുഎസ് വിദേശനയ പ്രവർത്തനങ്ങളിൽ ലിഞ്ച് പ്രധാന ചുമതല വഹിക്കും. നാമനിർദേശം വലിയ ബഹുമതിയായി കാണുന്നതായും മതസ്വാതന്ത്ര്യം സംരക്ഷിക്കുന്നതിനായി മികച്ച രീതിയിൽ സേവിക്കാൻ പ്രാർത്ഥിക്കണമെന്നും ലിഞ്ച് അഭ്യർഥിച്ചു.
2010 മുതൽ Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, Samaritan’s Purse എന്നിവയുമായി പ്രവർത്തിക്കുന്ന ലിഞ്ച് നിലവിൽ സീനിയർ അഡ്വൈസറും മിനിസ്ട്രി വക്താവുമാണ്. മകളുടെ നാമനിർദേശത്തെ സ്വാഗതം ചെയ്ത ഫ്രാങ്ക്ലിൻ ഗ്രഹാം, പുതിയ ഉത്തരവാദിത്വത്തിനായി അവൾക്ക് ജ്ഞാനവും ശക്തിയും ലഭിക്കാൻ പ്രാർത്ഥിക്കണമെന്നും അഭ്യർഥിച്ചു.
Sources:globalindiannews
Cissie Graham Lynch, the granddaughter of famed late Southern Baptist evangelist Billy Graham, said this week that President Donald Trump asked her to take up a key religious freedom position in his administration.
Lynch, whose father, Franklin Graham, leads the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, revealed the news on X on Sept. 15, saying Trump had asked her to serve as U.S. ambassador-at-large for international religious freedom.
The role helps lead the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom. Lynch on X said it would be “a great honor and privilege” to serve in the role.
“If confirmed by the Senate, please pray that I would serve with excellence and make the most of every opportunity to protect our most precious and fundamental right—and one that far too many people around the world still live without—freedom of religion,” she wrote.
Lynch has remained active in the religious advocacy and aid networks started by her grandfather and continue to be run by her family.
She has served as an adviser to the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association and at Samaritan’s Purse, an international Christian aid organization also led by Franklin Graham.
On Sept. 15 Franklin Graham said his daughter is “uniquely” qualified for the role, the duties of which include promoting religious freedom abroad and advising the U.S. government when that right is violated internationally.
The government says the religious freedom ambassador serves as “a principal adviser to the president and the principal adviser to the secretary of state regarding matters affecting religious freedom abroad.” The ambassador‑at‑large also has served as a nonvoting member of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, which has three vacancies yet to be appointed by the president.
Franklin Graham said his daughter has “traveled the world and been a student of this issue for many years” and has “a broad worldview and knowledge of the issues facing religious freedom today.”
“I couldn’t be more proud of her, and I ask you to pray that God would give her wisdom and strength,” Graham wrote.
http://theendtimeradio.com
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മെസ്ക്വിറ്റ് ഷാരോണ് ഫെലോഷിപ്പ് ചര്ച്ചില് സെപ്റ്റംബര് 19, 20 തീയതികളില് പ്രത്യേക യോഗം
മെസ്ക്വിറ്റ്: ഷാരോണ് ഫെലോഷിപ്പ് ചര്ച്ചിന്റെ ആഭിമുഖ്യത്തില് സെപ്റ്റംബര് 19, 20 തീയതികളില് പ്രത്യേക യോഗം നടത്തപ്പെടുന്നു. പാസ്റ്റര് അനീഷ് ഏലപ്പാറ ദൈവവചന ശുശ്രൂഷ നിര്വഹിക്കും.സെപ്റ്റംബര് 19 ശനിയാഴ്ച വൈകിട്ട് 7 മണിക്കും, സെപ്റ്റംബര് 20 ഞായറാഴ്ച രാവിലെ 9:30-നും യോഗങ്ങള് നടക്കും.
വേദി: Sharon Fellowship Church, 940 Barnes Bridge Rd, Mesquite, Texas.
കൂടുതല് വിവരങ്ങള്ക്ക് പാസ്റ്റര് സാബു സാമുവല് – 201-960-0427, ബ്രദര് റോയ് എബ്രഹാം – 214-738-3976 എന്നീ നമ്പറുകളില് ബന്ധപ്പെടാം.
സംഘാടകര് ഏവരെയും ഈ പ്രത്യേക ആത്മീയ യോഗങ്ങളിലേക്ക് സ്നേഹപൂര്വ്വം സ്വാഗതം ചെയ്യുന്നു.
Sources:nerkazhcha
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ഈ നൂറ്റാണ്ടിൽ ലാറ്റിൻ അമേരിക്കയിൽ രക്തസാക്ഷിത്വം വരിച്ചത് 304 ക്രൈസ്തവര്
വത്തിക്കാൻ സിറ്റി: 21-ാം നൂറ്റാണ്ടിൽ ലാറ്റിൻ അമേരിക്കയിൽ മാത്രം ക്രൈസ്തവ വിശ്വാസത്തിനും സാമൂഹിക നീതിക്കും വേണ്ടി ജീവൻ ബലി കഴിച്ചത് 304 ക്രൈസ്തവരെന്ന് ഔദ്യോഗിക കണക്ക്. വത്തിക്കാൻ സമാഹരിച്ചുകൊണ്ടിരിക്കുന്ന പുതിയ നൂറ്റാണ്ടിലെ രക്തസാക്ഷികളുടെ ആഗോള പട്ടികയിലാണ് കണക്കുകളുള്ളത്. വിശ്വാസം ഏറ്റുപറഞ്ഞതിന്റെ പേരിലും പാവപ്പെട്ടവർക്കായി നിലകൊണ്ടതിനും, സംഘടിത കുറ്റകൃത്യങ്ങൾക്കെതിരെ ശബ്ദമുയർത്തിയതിനും, പ്രകൃതി ചൂഷണങ്ങൾക്കെതിരെ പോരാടിയതിനുമാണ് ഇവര് കൊല്ലപ്പെട്ടതെന്ന് റിപ്പോർട്ട് ചൂണ്ടിക്കാട്ടുന്നു.
മിഷ്ണറിമാർക്ക് പുറമെ സാധാരണക്കാരായ അല്മായരും ജീവൻ വെടിഞ്ഞവരുടെ പട്ടികയിലുണ്ട്. വിശുദ്ധരുടെ നാമകരണത്തിനായുള്ള വത്തിക്കാൻ ഡിക്കാസ്റ്ററിയുടെ പ്രീഫെക്റ്റ് കർദിനാൾ മാർസെല്ലോ സെമെരാരോയാണ് ഇതുസംബന്ധിച്ച വിശദാംശങ്ങൾ വ്യക്തമാക്കിയത്. ക്രിസ്തു വിശ്വാസം ഏറ്റുപറഞ്ഞതിന് പുറമെ, മയക്കുമരുന്ന് മാഫിയകൾ, വനനശീകരണം, പ്രകൃതിവിഭവങ്ങളുടെ നിയമവിരുദ്ധമായ ചൂഷണം എന്നിവയ്ക്കെതിരെ ശബ്ദമുയര്ത്തിയതിനും അനേകര് കൊല്ലപ്പെട്ടു.
ഗോത്രവർഗ്ഗ മേഖലകളിലെ വനനശീകരണത്തിനെതിരെയും അനധികൃത ഖനനങ്ങൾക്കെതിരെയും സുവിശേഷമൂല്യങ്ങൾ മുറുകെപ്പിടിച്ച് ഇവർ നിലകൊണ്ടപ്പോൾ, അത് ക്രിമിനൽ-സാമ്പത്തിക താല്പര്യങ്ങൾക്ക് തടസ്സമായി മാറുകയായിരിന്നുവെന്നും അങ്ങനെയാണ് നരഹത്യ നടന്നതെന്നും കർദ്ദിനാൾ മാർസെല്ലോ സെമെരാരോ പറഞ്ഞു. ഈ നൂറ്റാണ്ടിൽ ലോകമെമ്പാടുമായി രക്തസാക്ഷിത്വം വരിച്ച 1,700-ലധികം പേരുടെ വിവരങ്ങള് വത്തിക്കാന് ഔദ്യോഗികമായി രേഖപ്പെടുത്തിയിട്ടുണ്ട്.
കടപ്പാട് :പ്രവാചക ശബ്ദം
The Catholic Church has documented 304 martyrs in Latin America so far this century. These are men and women killed not only for professing their faith but also for defending the poor, confronting organized crime, and protecting creation.
Their stories are part of a global catalog of martyrs promoted by the Vatican that already exceeds 1,700 documented cases.
“Many were murdered for reasons related to drug trafficking, deforestation, or for opposing the exploitation of natural resources,” explained Cardinal Marcello Semeraro, prefect of the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints.
The cardinal noted that while many were missionaries, the group also included lay faithful who gave their lives defending the Gospel and denouncing drug traffickers, protecting Indigenous territories from deforestation, or fighting the illegal exploitation of natural resources.
As he explained, the common thread in these cases is that these individuals became “inconvenient” to those controlling illicit activities. Their Gospel witness clashed directly with economic interests and criminal structures.
A conference to reflect on the new martyrs
Semeraro offered these reflections while presenting the international conference “The 21st Century: A New Era of Martyrs?” at the Vatican, a day of study and reflection dedicated to exploring the witness of Christians who have lost their lives for the sake of the Gospel in various parts of the world.
The gathering, organized by the Commission for New Martyrs — Witnesses to the Faith, was scheduled to take place Sept. 15 at the Pontifical Augustinianum Institute in Rome.
The international congress will bring together some of the most prominent voices from the Church, academia, and journalism in Rome to reflect on Christian witness in the contemporary world.
Participants include Cardinal Fridolin Ambongo, archbishop of Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo; Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, Latin patriarch of Jerusalem; and Andrea Riccardi, founder of the Community of Sant’Egidio. Experts will also speak, such as Archbishop Fabio Fabene, president of the Commission for New Martyrs; journalist Lucia Capuzzi; historian Father Roberto Regoli; and South Sudanese religious sister Alice Jurugo Drajea, who will share about Christian life amid the war ravaging her country.
The initiative comes a year after the commemoration of the martyrs and witnesses of the faith of the 21st century, presided over on Sept. 14, 2025, by Pope Leo XIV together with representatives of other Christian churches and communities at the Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls.
Pope Leo XIV celebrate Mass for the commemoration of the martyrs and witnesses of the faith of the 21st century on Sept. 14, 2025, at the Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls in Rome. The commemoration was an ecumenical event that also brought together representatives from Eastern Orthodox churches, Oriental Orthodox churches, various Christian communities as well as ecumenical institutions and officials from Vatican dicasteries.
The commission continues to gather testimonies and information regarding Christians killed for their faith, aiming to preserve their memory and document the various forms of persecution and Christian witness in contemporary times.
According to data released by the organization last year, 1,624 martyrs worldwide had been documented between 2000 and 2025. Of these, 304 were from the Americas, a figure that reflects the specific nature of martyrdom in this region today.
The commission also noted that the record now exceeds 1,700 documented cases and that between 100 and 150 new testimonies were added in the last year alone, confirming that the phenomenon remains very much ongoing.
Holiness goes beyond canonization
In his remarks, Semeraro emphasized that holiness in the Church is not limited to those officially canonized.
“The grace of holiness in the Church is represented by canonization, but it is not exhausted by them. Obviously, this does not rule out the possibility that, provided the necessary conditions are met, the corresponding processes of beatification and canonization could be initiated for some of those listed in the catalogue,” he noted.
This is the case, for example, of Floribert Bwana Chui, a young Congolese man from the Community of Sant’Egidio who was murdered in 2007 for refusing to accept bribes and who was beatified in 2025.
However, he noted that the primary goal is to highlight the “high standard of ordinary Christian living” spoken of by St. John Paul II in Novo Millennio Ineunte, which Pope Francis later referred to as that of “the saints next door.”
The anthropological value of holiness
The cardinal also highlighted the deeply human dimension of Christian holiness.
“We need witnesses, martyrs, who have given themselves completely to demonstrate this to us day after day. We need them so that, even in the small choices of daily life, we may choose the good over comfort, knowing that this is precisely how we truly live life,” he explained, citing Pope Benedict XVI’s encyclical Spe Salvi.
Semeraro also highlighted the ecumenical value of this project, a characteristic that he noted St. John Paul II had sought to instill in the commission from its very inception.
Martyrdom continues to grow in the 21st century
During the presentation of the conference, historian Riccardi, vice chair of the commission, maintained that the Church is truly experiencing a “new era of martyrdom.”
He recalled that St. John Paul II promoted the gathering of testimonies from 20th-century martyrs for the jubilee of the year 2000, an initiative deeply shaped by his personal experience under the Nazi and communist regimes. In Riccardi’s view, that insight has proven even more relevant today.
For this reason, he explained, Pope Francis decided to reactivate and consolidate the Commission for New Martyrs, convinced that “the time of martyrdom continues.”
The Churchʼs response has been extensive. Dioceses, religious congregations, lay movements, episcopal conferences, and apostolic nunciatures have sent hundreds of testimonies to the Vatican.
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