There is 1 message in this issue.

 Topics in today's digest:

      1. Adventist Word News Update
           From: "Mashudu Ravhengani" <Ravhenmj@xxxxx.xxxx


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Message: 1
   Date: Wed, 11 Aug 1999 09:27:33 -0400
   From: "Mashudu Ravhengani" <Ravhenmj@xxxxx.xxxx
Subject: Adventist Word News Update

News collected from the WWW,

IN NEWS:
Atlantic College won't close
Coca-Cola award 
Adventist pastor stays in jail 
Court rules against SDA pastor
Adventists Declared Innocent of Church Desecration Charges 

Atlantic College won't close 
Atlantic Union College is prospering, according to its president Sylvan Lashley. Ashley was responding to a newspaper report which said the College does not have enough funds to operate beyond the end of August. The Atlantic Union Conference president responded to the claims by saying that the College is now it better shape than it was. "The college is going full steam ahead. We are anticipating a very good school year for the fall and going into 2000 and beyond. We have no plans for any shutdown," he said

Coca-Cola award 
A student at Southwestern Adventist University will receive a $20,000 scholarship from the Coca-Cola Foundation. One scholarship has been awarded for every independent college in Texas. Ironically, many Adventists object to Coca-Cola because of its caffine content.

Adventist pastor stays in jail 
An Adventist pastor jailed without trial in Sri Lanka will remain in jail until at least September 22. Pr Anthony Alexander was jailed in March last year on suspicion of assisting Tamil Tiger rebels. His lawers have petitioned Sri Lanka's High Court to either force the Government to take his case to trial, or to release him. This appeal will be heard on September 22. Latest information on Pastor Alexander is that he was severely tortured while in jail and apparently forced to sign a "confession." However, the confession is in a language he cannot read. The pastor is making the most of his time in jail. He currently is giving Bible studies to 50 of his fellow prisoners. 

Court rules against SDA pastor 
A New Orleans court has ruled that an elderly Adventist pastor accused of being involved in a massacre in Rwanda must be turned over to a war crimes tribunal The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld an earlier ruling by a federal judge stating there is probable cause that Elizaphan Ntakirutimana, 75, committed genocide and crimes against humanity. Ntakirutimana can still appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court. In the 1994 Rwanda massacres, Ntakirutimana was pastor of a Seventh-day Adventist Church. Witnesses claim he urged a large group of men, women and children to seek refuge in a church and hospital complex -- then took part in a daylong gun and machete attack against them. He was arrested in September 1996 in America, where his son lives, while there legally on a permanent resident visa. His lawyer Former U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark argued that the tribunal was formed in violation of the U.N. charter, and that evidence was not sufficient to warrant the pastor's extradition. 

Adventists Declared Innocent of Church Desecration Charges
Three Seventh-day Adventist Church members in the Cape Verde islands charged by police with vandalizing and desecrating several Catholic churches are now free after a long jail ordeal. 
Brought to trial after being held in prison for more than a year, José Maria Monteiro Rodrigues, Jorge Adalberto Ramos Tavares, and Benvindo da Cruz Ramos were found innocent of all charges on July 26. The presiding judge, Dr. Helena Barreto, in an hour-long verdict, said that no proof had been presented by the prosecution and added "the only crime which the three Adventists had committed, if that constitutes a crime, was to be Seventh-day Adventists." 
The judge then commended the Adventists for their conduct and behavior during the trial, as well as the church members who had attended all the sessions of the trial. She emphasized that never in her career as a magistrate had she presided over a case with such positive characteristics. She also added that she did not normally make such comments, but in this case her conviction of the innocence of the accused was so strong she felt it was important to declare this publicly. 
"Her words were like a gospel message to our three brothers to encourage them to take positive lessons from this experience," commented Felix Monteiro, leader of the Adventist Church in Cape Verde. 
At the conclusion of the trial, church members sang their praises before the court. 
"This was a very emotional moment," said Monteiro. "We then moved to the central church and held a service of thanksgiving, attended by several judges and civic leaders. We want to thank the members of the world church for all their prayers and the Lord for answering these prayers." 


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