Breaking Christian News on The Gospel Herald

This week as Religious Freedom Day 2017 was observed and U.S. citizens prepare for a transition to a new president, Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council in Washington, D.C., offered some recommendations about what President-elect Donald Trump could do in the future about religious freedom.

Pop singer Ciara has shared why she and her husband-Seattle Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson-were so vocal about remaining abstinent until they were married and encouraged girls to never feel they need to "give away" their bodies to men.

Pastor Mark Driscoll of Trinity Church in Arizona has shared his thoughts on when parents should talk to their children about sex and offered tips on how to ensure children have a healthy, biblical view of sexuality before entering into marriage.

While many skeptics are interested in genuine dialogue with Christians, some are simply looking to pick a fight - or hoping to discredit the Bible. How, then, does a Christian know if they are "wasting time" talking to such individuals about Jesus?

Franklin Graham has criticized a lawmaker who hung a painting portraying cops as pigs at the Capitol, arguing that country leaders should be relieving racial tensions "rather than adding fuel to the fire" and pointing out that without police officers, society "would be as close as you could get to a hell on earth".

Sixteenth Street Baptist Church and other civil rights landmarks in Birmingham, Ala., were designated on Thursday as the Birmingham Civil Rights National Monument by President Barack Obama in one of his last official acts as U.S. leader. This church is where four girls died in 1963 after Ku Klux Klan members detonated more than a dozen sticks of dynamite outside the church basement. He also deemed two other new national monuments: Freedom Riders National Monument in Anniston, Ala., and the Reconstruction Era National Monument in South Carolina.

The nation's largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization has urged President-elect Donald Trump to drop Rev. Franklin Graham from the list of those invited to pray at the presidential inauguration due to the evangelical leader's continued criticism of Islam.

A church in the Netherlands was shocked and horrified after discovering that, unbeknownst to them, a porn film was shot in one of its confessionals.

Bill (S.54) was introduced in the U.S. Senate on Thursday to prohibit creation of immigration-related registry programs that classify people based on religion, race, age, gender, ethnicity, national origin or nationality. The Protect American Families Act of 2017 was introduced by Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ), in response to statements from then-candidate Donald Trump, indicating he would create a federal registry of Muslims, seek to deny Muslims entry to the United States, or otherwise add a religious test to American immigration procedures, if he became president.

On Friday, it was announced that the Gospel singer's radio show, "Bridging the Gap," had been cancelled amid backlash from LGBT activists over anti-gay comments she made in a sermon delivered at Love & Liberty Fellowship Pentecostal Church in Houston, Texas.

Christians are among the most persecuted religious groups in the world, with approximately 90,000 killed for their faith in 2016, stated representatives of a leading religious study group. Center for Studies on New Religions (CESNUR) director Massimo Introvigne told Vatican Radio that half a billion Christians around the globe are unable to express their faith completely freely, while estimates indicate one Christian died every 6 minutes for their faith during 2016.

Facebook creator Mark Zuckerberg has announced he is no longer an atheist, but in fact sees religion as "very important".

Turkish authorities detained six people prior to the assassination of the Russian ambassador to Turkey, Andrey Karlov, at an exhibition of Russian photography at Ankara. The ambassador was shot in the back while having a speech on a Tuesday morning in the art gallery.

ISIS claims the Berlin Christmas market attack, which killed 12 people and injured dozens of people, after 24 hours of the massacre through the Islamic State's Amaq News Agency. ISIS called the attacker "a lone wolf soldier of the Islamic State."

Conservative group American Family Association has criticized National Geographic after the magazine announced it will feature a 9-year-old transgender child on its January cover.

Naved B, a Pakistani asylum-seeker, is being investigated prior to his involvement with the Berlin Christmas Market attack which killed 12 people and injured 48. In the evening of December 19, a truck plows the Christmas market near Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church, which is one of the historical sites in Berlin.

Five buses that were to transport the trapped Syrians in Aleppo were set ablaze by armed men. The men forced the drivers out of the buses and shot the vehicles setting them on fire. The vehicles were meant to transport the injured and sick Syrians from two pro-government towns. The evacuation was said to be a mediation to free the remaining east Aleppo civilians that are stranded in exchange for the wounded people. This negotiation was halted because of the incident.

A reward of $20,000 will be given by Crime Stoppers for those who can offer information about the suspect who killed a 3-year-old boy in a road rage shooting at Arkansas. According to Little Rock Police Department the boy, Acen King, was with his grandmother, Kim King Macon, and another infant sibling for a shopping trip in a Saturday evening. The grandmother was parked at a stop sign in South-West Little Rock when a black Chevrolet Impala pulled back behind her car and honked at them.

Conservative author and commentator Charles Krauthammer said on Fox News Thursday the destruction in Aleppo, Syria, will be an often remembered part of U.S. President Barack Obama's legacy, rather than his foreign policy for the Iran deal or the death of Usama bin Laden. The chaos in Aleppo is the result of a years-long civil war between Syrian dictator Bashar Assad and rebel forces trying to overtake the government. Obama, during his final press conference on Friday, said he feels "responsible" for some of the suffering in Syria, but he defended his decision to avoid significant military action there. He said while military options short of invasion were tempting, it was "impossible to do this on the cheap."

A 12-year-old boy is placed in a juvenile care facility after attempting to bomb a Christmas market and town hall in Germany. According to officials, the boy, who is of Iraqi descent, has been highly radicalized and instructed by an ISIS member, who is yet to be recognized. Apparently, it is the boy's second attempt to bomb a public place in Germany. The first one was at a Christmas market place in Ludwigshafen on November 26. He failed his first operation and decided to try it out again near the town hall.

The evacuations of civilians in Aleppo, which include women, children, and injured people, has been ordered to stop on a Friday afternoon. Furthermore, fear and anxiety elevates as Russia released a statement claiming that all the refugees that are trapped in the afflicted city of Aleppo have been evacuated and only radical armed fighters are left to be 'liquidated' by Syrian government forces. The International Committee of the Red Cross disputed this claim stating that thousands are still left to be rescued.

The latest review of Google Search Trends shows that the week of Christmas brings a spike of porn related search traffic in the US every year.

While signing autographs at an Arizona Fall League game in October, Tim Tebow saw a fan having what appeared to be a seizure and, without hesitating, prayed over him until paramedics arrived. However, what the Christian athlete didn't know was that the fan, who suffers from frequent epileptic seizures, had rededicated his life to Christ just hours before his collapse.

Pope Francis appealed again to stop the endless loss of innocent lives in Aleppo through a letter sent to President Bashar al-Assad. The message from the Pope was given by new cardinal Archbishop Mario Zenari, apostolic nuncio to Syria, to the president of Syria which contained the Pope's desire for the civilians to be protected and the civil war to be stopped.

Evangelist Franklin Graham has said the "War on Christmas" is still raging on after the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) sued an Indiana town for having a lit cross atop their Christmas tree.