11 children, gunman killed in Brazil school shooting

(CNN) -- A gunman opened fired Thursday inside a school in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, killing 10 students before being fatally shot himself by police, the country's health minister said.
The student victims were nine girls and one boy, the health ministry told CNN. Eighteen others were injured, including 12 boys and six girls, the government said
Earlier reports erroneously stated that 13 had died at the Tasso da Silveira Municipal School.

According to CNN affiliate Record TV, a man entered the school in the morning armed with two handguns and began shooting at children and school personnel.
The man was identified as Wellington Menezes de Oliveira, 23, a former student at the school, the state-run Agencia Brasil news agency reported.

As the man fled, he ran into military police who were responding to the scene. There was a confrontation, and he was shot, Agencia Brasil reported. He died from his wounds, it said.
There were reports that he had left a letter behind that mentioned he had HIV, Agencia Brasil said.

The injured were transported to the Albert Schweitzer Hospital, where Agencia Brasil reported helicopters were waiting in an adjacent field, ready to transport the more seriously injured to other facilities.

Rio de Janeiro's Hematology Institute, which coordinates the distribution of blood for transfusions, put out a call via Twitter for donations to the hospital.

Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff said she was "shocked" by the attack and had "great concern" about the incident.

Last Days: Time of Deceit

After Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples addressed  to him privately and said, "Tell us, when will these things? And what will be the sign of your coming and the end times? " Jesus replied: "Beware that no man deceive you. For many will come in  my name, saying, 'I am the Christ,' and will deceive many. You will hear Speaking of wars and rumors of wars, but fear not. It is necessary all these things happen, but still not the end. Nation will  rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in several places. All this will be the beginning of sorrows. " Gospel of Matthew, chapter 24, verses 3-8
We live in evil days. In several places, several people  different, we hear that the end is near. The Mayans believed that the end of a great cycle of life would end in 2012. The history of  humanity reveals that all great civilizations have had their fall his moment of greatest height. For us, the 21st century with all its technologies and advances, it would be the pinnacle of modern civilization that live? As to the exact day and time, Jesus said that nobody can  say, however, as someone who looks to the sky, watching the clouds and  realizes that it will rain, all those who observe certain signs should prepare for the end. In the Gospel of Matthew, chapter 24,  several of these signs are revealed.
It is interesting to note what Jesus is saying. Shortly before this writing, in verse 1, Jesus is in the temple with his disciples. The Temple was a construction of reference for the people of that time, for many represented the place God would wave and was worshiped, the symbol of a religion. He was a very important building for life that religious people who still see Jews weeping at the Western Wall Lamentations, the only wall that still stands the ancient Temple. So as in those days, our churches are a reference to people of today. In a way, are the symbol of our religion. And Jesus said that all buildings that Temple would be torn down and there is not left "stone unturned". With that, Jesus was saying that the reference to religion would be destroyed. Today we understanding of it, because we know that God does not live more in construction made by people, now our bodies are sealed by the Holy Spirit the temple where God lives.
The destruction of reference of religion is a requirement to understand what would happen next. Realizing that something big was coming, the curious disciples ask: "Tell it to us when it will happen, and what are the signs of thy coming? "And he starts with a warning: "Beware, lest you be deceived." The first thing that comes to our mind is: "why or by whom they would deceived? ". The answer comes soon after, when he reveals that many come in the name of Jesus Christs are saying. For us to better understand what Jesus is saying, we must know what the word means Christ. Christ is the Greek translation for the word Messiah, which means Anointed. Porting, in "fully translated" what Jesus said is that the first sign of the end times is that many people appear doing things in the name of Jesus and claiming to be anointed. We take beware of false anointed, because Jesus said that in recent days they deceive many. God seeks worshipers who worship in Spirit and Truth. Jesus said that He is the Truth that sets people free, porting to worship God in Spirit and in truth is to worship Jesus as loved it. And he did it resigning oneself to the will of Father.
Before the start of Jesus' ministry, came a guy who had a very special role to prepare the people for things that were happen. He said that even if people attend the churches of his time, and they consider themselves religious good, they needed to repent of your sins because if God wanted him to raise stones as children of Abraham, good religious. The name of this guy was John Baptist, fully translated from Greek, his name would be more or less, "John, who plunges." The word baptism means "Plunge." John came to lift people out of religiosity that is surface dive to the people in the gospel message is that the repentance, renunciation and life based on God's will.
This message that John the Diver, announcing that Jesus is the same, the Anointed continued announcing, "Repent for the kingdom of God has arrived. " Increasingly we are sure that the time of the Kingdom of Man we live in, is ending. The rules of the Kingdom of Man, based on human will and controlled by the forces of evil will not work in the United of God. Who wants to enter the kingdom of God, who has arrived, you need learn the rules and goals that are recorded in the Bible, especially in the Gospels, and beware lest they be deceived by the false anointed.

Persecuted Church: Brazilian man is arrested in Egypt for carrying Bibles and religious material

Map of countries accused of persecution of the church in 2009

Originally published in the newspaper Folha de Sao Paulo on August 25, 2010 (in portuguease). 
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Brazil said the tour operator Dagnaldo Pinheiro Gomes, 36, arrested in Egypt, should be extradited. The information was passed by the Egyptian government to the Brazilian embassy in Cairo. The Brazilian was arrested on August 17, 2010, accused of religious proselytizing. The practice is prohibited in the African country, a secular state with a Muslim majority.
Preliminary information indicates that the Brazilian was caught with a Bible and a Christian religious material. He lived for seven years in Cairo and in Egypt is the representative of the tourism agency Orientur, located in the city of Guarulhos (Sao Paulo metropolitan region, southeastern Brazil), and accompanying groups of tourists visiting the country. According to the company Orientur Renata Freire, Gomes has a work visa in 2012 and was legally in the country.
The bride's Gomes, Mariângela Vale, said she received a call from him on the night of 18, he said he had been arrested the previous day. He did not say why he had been arrested.
"The reason for the arrest is unknown. That is our concern," said Mariângela, who lives in the city of Balsas (within the state of Maranhao, northeastern Brazil). For her the telephone call from Gibson was being monitored and he could not give details. She said he appeared to be quiet.
"We expected that everything could be resolved quickly because he speaks Arabic. But we are six days we have not heard from him," said the bride. According Mariângela, links to his cell phones are routed directly to voicemail and he came in closer contact.

Police investigating the action of skinheads against gays in Rio de Janeiro

Originally published in the newspaper Folha de Sao Paulo on 7/06/2010.

Counting points gangs as responsible for attacks in the south, in Nova Iguaçu and in Niteroi.

For police, the group may be linked to torture and murder of 14 year old boy in Sao Goncalo, two weeks ago.


ITALO NOGUEIRA
from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Posters in defense of the "straight pride" and pamphlets against the bill criminalizing homophobia were scattered around the outskirts of Rio de Janeiro by groups of skinheads.
For the Rio police, these gangs are responsible for a series of attacks on homosexuals in the south zone of Rio, in Nova Iguaçu, Niterói and São Gonçalo.
Police say they do not know how many gays were victims of skinheads, who organize the web. But if he determines Alexander Ivo, 14, tortured and killed two weeks ago in Saint Mary, was the victim of homophobic attack.
He and friends attending a party when he started an argument with another group. After the fight, with verbal and physical, the friends of Alexander went to the police station to register complaints and returned to the party.
Around 1:30 a.m., the boy left alone. Has not been seen. The next day his body was found in a vacant lot. He had been suffocated and had lesions in the skull, possibly caused by rocks and beatings with iron bars.
The police came to suspect by the Hotline. Determines whether the crime was motivated by homophobia or the fight. For the mother of Ivo, Ivo Angelica Vidal, 40, he "suffered the aggression being around homosexuals."
The three involved, Allan Siqueira de Freitas, 22, Andre Luiz Macola, 23, Eric DeBruim, 22, arrested preemptively deny the crime and links with skinheads.
The State Secretariat for Human Rights follows the investigations of Rio and NGOs organized march against crime. Ivo's friends say, however, who were threatened. "Someone called me and said it would kill me if I came," said one boy.
The Office for the Repression of Crimes Computers claims to systematic patrols to shut down sites that advocate homophobia.
"We got no defense when the clear assaults or murders, because it is incitement to crime. But a law against homophobia, as there is racism, it would facilitate our action," says Helen delegated Sardenberg.

HOMOSEXUALITY
By e-mail, a representative group of bald Rio Brazil (present in at least nine states) told Folha do not feel hatred for homosexuals, but "as much intolerance as any Catholic or evangelical." The group denies involvement in the death of Ivo.
"Our position is against homosexuality, not against homosexuals."

*-*-*-*

I, as an evangelical Christian, I have the same position that the Bible has on the subject. But I find it unacceptable that people are tortured and killed for being or having ideas different from ours.

In Brazil, the bill against homophobia, which makes homophobic attacks amounting to crimes of racism, a felony. But the project is controversial and a very large number of Christians are against it. While discussing the attacks motivated by victim's sexual orientation may be considered biased attacks framed the law of racism, young people are dying like this. This must end.

Gaza - Fight against the blockade

Image by Carlos Latuff 

Israel is making a blockade of the Gaza Strip.Yes, this is a political issue, which incidentally does not concern us. But stay tuned.

As reported by the BBC Brazil (in brazilian portuguease, for english click here) , the lock does not allow often for food and other essentials for survival. Live there no less than one million and  half people ... a lot of people. It is clear that Hamas, a terrorist group with even a little acceptable methods. But we're talking about innocent people, innocent civilians. This blockade was set to make medieval siege, where strikers blocked the military attacked the city until its inhabitants along with the army not bear hunger and thirst and asked for surrender.

We can not accept that.
Between you also the site of Avaaz , an international activist organization, and sign the petition asking for more explanations about this inhuman attack on Turkish ships! Click here and sign the petition .

"And ye shall begin to hear of wars, and reports of wars; see, be not troubled, for it behoveth all [these] to come to pass, but the end is not yet.." (Matthew 24:6)