Old Magazine Articles

Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark

A young woman is checking IDs on a Saturday night outside the Kitchen Club in Miami. In the glow of moonlight, her wan face radiates against the coal black of her lips, eyeliner, hair and clothing. Darkly accented patrons drift by her to be frisked before vanishing into this Goth club situated along a main street of the tropical city.

Everywhere inside the cave-like club there is black—on the floors, the walls, the ceilings. Jet black clothing shrouds hundreds of Gothic allies of the night who are here after midnight. They are adorned in capes, hoods, wings, spikes and chains or veiled with leather, lace, wool, fishnet, vinyl and velvet.

Suffering for Their Faith

A Special Report: We cannot remain silent about the plight of persecuted Christians. Believers in China, Indonesia, Pakistan and Sudan shared with Charisma their accounts of harassment, torture and imprisonment.

Ayub Masih.

I heard those words from the pastor of a small, oppressed underground church in Warsaw, Poland, in 1955. It was my first trip behind the Iron Curtain. At the time I didn’t know there was a persecuted church. Little did I realize then how often I would hear that sentiment expressed in various ways through­out the next 46 years of ministry in restricted-access areas.

Listen to the Children Crying

Millions of children worldwide make their homes on hard sidewalks and in cold alleys and urban garbage dumps. Who will tell them about Jesus?

Jesus stands high over Rio de Janeiro, His arms spread wide. His famous statue atop Corcovado mountain could be welcoming the thousands of tourists who travel to the “Marvelous City” from around the world for her beaches, nightlife and renowned Carnival.

Or He might be celebrating the growth of His church, hailing the thousands who have become Christians in the last decade or recognizing how the revival that has swept through South America has changed the spiritual landscape of Brazil.

A Continent in Crisis

AIDS kills more than 6,000 people a day in sub-Saharan Africa, leaving hopelessness and havoc in its wake. But pastors and intercessors are coming together to break this curse and bring healing.

Rose Mukantaganda lies on a makeshift bed in a tiny, borrowed room, waiting for her day to die. The 28-year-old learned she has AIDS nine months ago and has since sent her child, who also has AIDS, to die with her husband’s relatives.

The History America Chose to Forget

Racial Reconciliation

The lynching of black Americans has been an ugly, forgotten secret in our nation’s past. Now, a historic photo exhibit has exposed the magnitude of a horror we can no longer ignore.

Photos from the book Without Sanctuary courtesy of Twin Palms Publishing.

As morning dew settled on the almost unidentifiable remains of a Negro whose tragic fate had been sealed at the hands of an angry white mob, black undertaker J.B. Stone removed the ravaged body left hanging from a tree and prepared it for burial.

Out Where the Sinners Are

Recently while browsing through a Barnes & Noble bookstore with a friend, I struck up a conversation with the store manager. He seemed friendly and eager to know more about us, so halfway through our conversation I told him we were both pastors.

He was shocked—not because he doesn’t like ministers, but because he’d never really had a decent conversation with a Christian. “I normally only hear from Christians when they are mad,” he told me.

The three of us sat down at the coffee bar. The manager told tales about religious people who had called, written or walked in his store to inform him they would never do business with him because of objectionable books or ­Halloween displays.

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