church and its partners are responding to Thailand’s worst floods in decades in and around its capital, Bangkok, and asking for support for relief aid to the victims.

“Please remember the flood victims in Thailand and the work of the Church of Christ in Thailand (CCT) in your daily prayers,” said Prawate Khid-arn, acting manager of the Office of CCT Policy Management in Chiang Mai, Thailand. The CCT is a partner of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).

Reuters news agency reported on Oct. 25 that at least 366 people have been killed since heavy monsoon rains started in July. Flooding has affected 2.5 million people and could swamp more of densely populated Bangkok, if water flowing from the north and heavy rain causes canals to burst their banks.

Khid-arn reported that CCT teams have distributed 1,200 relief bags that include rice, water, dry food and some medicines, to victims in central Thailand and there are plans to return to the affected areas this week.

For long-term rehabilitation, he said, ecumenical organizations such as Church World Service, Norwegian Church Aid, and the Christian Conference of Asia met with the CCT in Chiang Mai on Oct. 14. Khid-arn then reported that the CCT had approved an additional 200,000 Baht, or about $6,000, for humanitarian assistance.

“What makes us happy is that various people ― office workers, students, artists, singers, teachers, medical doctors, nurses and volunteers ― express sympathy and do the best in solidarity with the victims,” Khid-arn said.

Tearfund reported that CCT has been distributing water and more than 1,000 cooked lunches and dinners to 500 people each day. At one house, food was delivered to the second floor, where as many as 23 people had taken refuge.

Church World Service, a U.S.-based Christian relief organization which is responding as a member of the ACT Alliance, said, that CWS-supported members of CCT’s team are also distributing food in Bangkok.

The PC(USA) is a member of both CWS and the ACT Alliance.

Bishop Robert Finn of Kansas City, Mo., has been charged with failing to report the suspected abuse of a child, making him the first active bishop in the United States to face criminal prosecution over the sexual abuse of children by a priest.

The Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph has been charged with the same offense, which is a Class A misdemeanor, Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker announced Oct. 14.

“The fact that this is a misdemeanor count should not diminish the significance of the case,” Peters Baker said in a statement.

“Now that the grand jury investigation has resulted in this indictment, my office will pursue this case vigorously because it is about protecting children,” she said. “I want to ensure there are no future failures to report resulting in other unsuspecting victims.”

Finn, 58, and the diocese both entered pleas of not guilty, according to diocesan spokeswoman Rebecca Summers. The misdemeanor is punishable by up to a year in prison and a $1,000 fine for an individual; the maximum fine for a corporation is $5,000.

“Bishop Finn denies any criminal wrongdoing and has cooperated at all stages with law enforcement, the grand jury, the prosecutor’s office,” Gerald Handley, the bishop’s attorney, said in a statement. “We will continue our efforts to resolve this matter.”

Finn said in a statement: “We will meet these announcements with a steady resolve and a vigorous defense.”

Finn is the highest-ranking Catholic official charged with covering up the sexual abuse of children since the scandal erupted in Boston in 2002.

“As far as we know this is the first time a bishop has been indicted on this type of charge,” said Mar Munoz-Visoso, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

Last February, Monsignor William Lynn, the former vicar for clergy in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, was charged with endangering the welfare of children for allowing “dangerous” priests to remain in parishes, according to a grand jury indictment.

The charges against Finn represent a major setback for efforts by the U.S. bishops and the Vatican to put the scandal behind them.

Instead of focusing on what the church has done to change its policies to protect children, church leaders will be forced to answer questions about how they police one of their own.

According to the indictment issued by a Jackson County grand jury on Oct. 6, Finn and the diocese had “reasonable cause” to suspect that the Rev. Shawn Ratigan had subjected children to abuse.

By Dec. 16, 2010, Catholic school officials had warned diocesan supervisors of concerns about Ratigan’s behavior with children, and diocesan officials had found hundreds of photographs of children — including sexual images — on his computer, according to Jackson County prosecutors. Ratigan had also violated restrictions placed on him by the diocese, according to the prosecutors.

Finn has acknowledged that he was told of the lewd photographs last year.

But the diocese did not report Ratigan to local police until May 2011, according to the prosecutors. That month, Ratigan was charged with possessing child pornography.

Earlier this year, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops declined to revise its sexual abuse guidelines, despite pressure from some groups who say they are ineffective.

The charges against Finn likely will force the bishops to again address the guidelines at their upcoming meeting in November in Baltimore.

Radio station owner Harold Camping said recently that he wasn’t wrong when he predicted that rapture would take place on May 21, but it just wasn’t obvious because the rapture took place in a spiritual sense.

Camping said on his radio program Open Forum that even though we hadn’t seen it, and nothing different seems to have taken place, God indeed bore judgment on the whole world last May 21, according to International Business Times.

Camping said, “On May 21, this last weekend, this is where the spiritual aspect of it really comes through. God again brought judgment on the world. We didn’t see any difference but God brought Judgment Day to bear upon the whole world,” International Business Times reported.

For months Camping had been predicting that 200 million Christians will be physically taken up to heaven on May 21, last Saturday. This would be followed by five months of tremendous suffering, also known as the Great Tribulation, The Washington Post said.

The suffering would end on Oct. 21, Camping said in his original prediction. Last Monday, he suggested that maybe God, in his mercy, decided to spare humanity of the five months of tribulation, The Washington Post said.

He also said he felt terrible and that last Saturday he and his wife took refuge in a motel, the AP said. But he also said that he is certain that the world will end on Oct. 21, 2011, and that his numerological timeline is accurate.

Camping said, “It won’t be spiritual on October 21^st. The world is going to be destroyed all together, but it will be very quick,” The Washington Post reported. Camping said that the globe would be taken up in a fireball, according to the AP.

Through Camping’s personal ministry, Family Radio International, millions were spent to set up to 5,000 billboards and for some 20 RVs to go around with signs announcing the May 21 apocalypse, the AP said.

Camping’s followers also put their personal funds into advertising the May 21 apocalypse. Jeff Hopkins, 52, told the AP that he spent on gas to drive his van back and forth between New York City and Long Island, so that people could see the warning sign on his van.

Hopkins, a former TV producer told the AP, “I’ve been mocked and scoffed and cursed at and I’ve been through a lot with this lighted sign on top of my car. I was doing what I’ve been instructed to do through the Bible, but now I’ve been stymied. It’s like getting slapped in the face.”

Followers Adrienne Martinez and her husband quit their jobs and spent all their savings so that they would leave nothing behind after May 21. She is pregnant with her second child, International Business Times said.

Christians believe, as the bible says, that the exact time of Jesus’ return cannot be prophesied. Tim LaHaye, a co-writer of the apocalyptic novel series “Left Behind” cited Matt. 24:36 which says, “[B]ut about that day or hour no one knows,” except God, AP said.

LaHaye wrote on his website, “While it may be in the near future, many signs of our times certainly indicate so, but anyone who thinks they ‘know’ the day and the hour is flat out wrong,” AP reported.

No responsibility

Camping said he feels no responsibility for those who left their jobs or spent their savings because of his prophecy. He said on his radio station, “They should have relied on God and not me. Family Radio is not in the business of financial advice,” International Business Times reported.

Camping implied that these people need to go on with their lives saying, “People cope,” according to International Business Times.

This is actually the second time that Camping predicted a doomsday and that failed. The first time he predicted the Apocalypse was in 1994. Camping later said that it was a mathematical error, according to the AP.

In 2009, Family Radio, which is a nonprofit endeavor, filed its IRS report stating it had assets of over $104 million (including $34 million in stocks and other securities), and received donations of $18.3 million, the AP said.

Iraq arrested recently the leader of a Muslim extremist group along with 11 others who are linked to the hostage taking and attack on a cathedral that left 44 Christians dead, including two priests last month.

General Ahmed Abu Ragheef of Iraq’s internal affairs Interior Ministry told Gulf News that Huthaifa Al Batawi, Al Qaeda’s Bagdad leader, was among those arrested.

This is the first time since the Oct. 31 cathedral attack that arrests were made linked to the incident that drew international outrage. The extremists were captured in raids that were conducted east and west of the capital, AFP said.

Batawi heads the Islamic State of Iraq. Senior ISI leader Ammar al-Najadi was killed in the raids, the AFP reported. According to CNN, Batawi was the “mastermind, direct supervisor and planner” of the Oct. 31 attack on Our Lady of Salvation Church in Baghdad.

The ISI, an umbrella organization, has several Sunni extremist groups under it, and is linked to al Qaeda. The church siege was followed by succeeding attacks against Christians in the weeks following, leaving scores dead and more wounded, CNN reported.

Batawi replaced Munaf Abdul Rahim al-Rawi, who was arrested on March 11 by Iraqi security, the AFP said. Rawi told CNN in a past interview that he supervised twin suicide bombings in August 2009 targeted at Iraq’s finance and foreign affairs ministries.

Rawi also told CNN that in October 2009 he planned attacks against Baghdad’s government and its’ Ministry of Justice. Rawi’s arrest led to crucial intelligence resulting in the killings of the extremist group’s political leader Abu Omar al-Baghdadi, and minister of war Abu Ayub al-Masri, the AFP said.

According to the AFP the 12 extremists were captured in Baghdad’s upscale Mansur neighborhood and on Palestine Street east of the capital. Six tons of toxic gas and explosives were taken during the raids.

The arrests prevented a number of attacks scheduled including one on Baghdad’s heavily protected Green Zone where several government buildings and embassies are situated, the AFP reported.

Pope Benedict XVI declared solidarity with Iraq’s Christians last Sunday at St. Peter’s Square saying, “Religious communities in Italy are praying today, at the request of their bishops, for the Christians who are suffering from persecution and discrimination, notably in Iraq,” according to AFP.

The wave of arrests took place one day after TV channel Al-Baghdadiya in Cairo shut down its Iraq operations for airing the demands of the extremists that attacked the cathedral, the AFP said.

Iraq’s Prime Minister-designate, Nuri Al Maliki told Gulf Daily News that the new government will be installed by mid-December adding, “The security agreement with what it included of dates and commitments will remain valid.”

Maliki said the agreement with the U.S. troops to completely withdraw by the end of 2011 stands, noting that Iraqi forces are capable of handling their country’s security. He told Gulf Daily News, “I do not feel the need for the presence of any other international forces to help Iraqis control the security situation.”

Vision Forum Ministries announced recently the holding of the sixth annual San Antonio Independent Christian Film Festival, slated to be held from Oct. 25-30 in San Antonio, Texas.

The SAICFF will be in two venues, namely the Municipal Auditorium and the Gonzalez Convention Center in San Antonio, according to its website. They will award the largest single grand prize in the world for a Christian film—a check of $101,000 for the Best of Festival Jubilee Award winning film.

The cash award was donated by a foundation that is committed to the development and growth of Christian filmmaking. SAICFF hopes to plant an excellent Christian alternative film body to compete with Hollywood, the website said.

Other winning categories include the Audience Choice Award, Best Feature Film, Best Film Short, Best Documentary, Best Commercial Advertisement, Best Film Treatment, Best Original Score and Best Young Filmmaker, the website reported.

From over 250 submissions, eight feature finalists and 53 semi-finalists were chosen based on theological accuracy, soundness of biblical worldview, acting, script, level of difficulty, editing, use of available technological resources and consistency with the film festival guidelines and objectives, the website said.

The films that were selected to be shown at the festival were arrived at after spending hundreds of hours viewing the films, and an enormous length of time for analysis and prayer, according to the website.

Eight culture-challenging feature finalist films were chosen, entitled “The Free Ride,” “Friday at Noon,” “Live to Forgive,” “No Greater Love,” “The Penny,” “The Runner From Ravenshead,” “Standing Firm,” and “Sybil Ludington,” the website reported.

Interested parties are encouraged to register. They may view the 53 semi-finalist films that will be viewed from four different screens. They can also join in talks and lectures from spiritual leaders who are experts in film, the website said.

Topics of discussion will revolve around the Christian world view with a purpose to equip people and challenge them, as well as enhance a biblical comprehension of film as a medium for entertainment and teaching, the website reported.

Participants may also meet with like-minded Christian families, individual culture changers; and intermingle with the actors and filmmakers of the various competing films, according to the website.

SAICFF is largely viewed as the premiere Christian film festival in the U.S. Sponsors include Samaritan Ministries, Foundation Entertainment, CollegePlus!, and ChristianFilmmakers.org.

The Christian film, “The Way Home” (formerly “Our Child is Missing”) will be released on DVD in October.

The Lions Gate Entertainment film which premiered over a year ago at the Fabulous Fox Theater in Atlanta is based on a real life experience of producer Randy Simpkins of Red Five Entertainment.

The story tells of the time Simpkins’ two-year-old son walked out of their house and could not be found for several hours.  Simpkins is played by Dean Cain of “Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman” television series.

It played to a sellout premier in Atlanta and was shown in a number of international film festivals including the London International Christian Film Festival and The International Family Film Festival in Hollywood.

The theme of the movie is about learning to set priorities in life and putting God first and family second. The DVD will first hit Christian stores on Oct. 6, then be available in secular outlets on Oct. 26.

On Aug. 15, Simpkins and his wife Cristal will attend an advanced film screening at Old Camp United Methodist at 6 p.m. and 8:30 p.m. They will talk about what the experience was like for them and what it had taught them, the Times-Georgian said.

Simpkins and his family will also take a publicity road tour and address several church groups to share how the experience brought them closer as a family. He said, “Every time we see the movie, we relive the whole experience. It’s tough, but I still learn from it,” the Times-Georgian said.

He added, “Our number-one priority in doing this is to inspire and see lives change. That’s what we’re most interested in.” Simpkins also said he hopes that the DVD release will touch a larger audience and that they will be encouraged to examine their own lives and see how God can work in their lives as well, the Times-Georgian said.