Benny Hinn says he is done with the prosperity gospel. Since the 1980s, he has taught that God rewards active faith with health and wealth. But on 2 September, during his weekly broadcast,  he told his studio audience and those watching online, ‘I am correcting my own theology and you all need to know it. The blessings of God are not for sale; miracles are not for sale; and prosperity is not for sale.’ Hinn said he now believes ‘give-to-get theology’ is offensive to God. He specifically repudiated the practice of asking for ‘seed money’, where evangelists tell people that God will bless them if they give a specific amount. He himself has done this numerous times, promising God will give material blessings in exchange for a gift of $1,000. He said he would not do it any more. Many are praying he will be true to his word.

According to Indian news outlets the nationalist ruling party is preparing a bill which would make all conversion, not just forced conversions, illegal in all of India’s 29 states. The bill will be presented at the next session of parliament. One Indian Christian leader said that the proposal of a national law that prevents religious conversion sounds like a Hindu Rastra. This is similar to Hitler’s Aryan Reich, calling for the protection of Hindu people and culture and emphasising that political and economic systems should be based on native thought, not concepts borrowed from the West. With media reporting this proposal, radicals are becoming more aggressive. Eight Indian states have already enacted anti-conversion laws, under the heading of ‘freedom of religion’, which in practice serve as a justification for violence against Christians and other non-Hindus. Pray for a thriving Indian society, including journalists, religious figures, government and non-governmental organisations to work for tolerance and goodwill towards all people.

More than a month after a video which implied that kidnapped Christian teenager Leah Sharibu had been killed, a presidential spokesman, citing intelligence from security agencies, released a statement stating that the government is negotiating with terrorists for the release of Leah and other captives. He said that lines of communication remain open with Boko Haram kidnappers, now called the Islamic State in West Africa Province (ISWAP), to secure their release. The government understands how difficult these times are for the family and friends of the kidnapped girls, and is pursuing many options to ensure their safe return. However, the administration does not encourage payment of ransom to secure the release of captives. For this reason, he said, the government has not rushed to yield to the demands of the terrorist group. However, many no longer believe that the government is genuinely working to free the captives.

The seventh and youngest child of Lezia Nakayiza, a widow, didn’t know that his family was keeping their Christianity a secret. The 8-year-old boy didn’t realise that telling his Muslim relatives how much he enjoyed a church choir would cause them to attack his family. ‘I could not share my faith with the brothers of my husband as well as the relatives who are radical Muslims’, said Nakayiza. ‘In June my son told one of the relatives of the wonderful choir at church, and that we have been attending the church since March. This was the beginning of our persecution.’ A Christian neighbour told her that the relatives were planning to punish her for leaving Islam, so when she saw many people approaching her house with weapons and shouts of ‘Away with this infidel’, she and her children escaped through the back door. The family is now living at an undisclosed location that is not sustainable.