Author Archives: Mark Ellis

About Mark Ellis

Mark Ellis is a writer for ASSIST News and the founder of Godreports, a website devoted to promoting Christian missions. Godreports provides a place for ministries and missionaries to share their stories, testimonies, photos, and video
May 15, 2013

Son of Imam becomes underground pastor

By Corey Bailey

Hope in the darkness

Hope in the darkness

Masud grew up in a strict Muslim home in a remote part of Bangladesh. Not only was his family strict, but his father was also an Imam.

Masud grew up with full knowledge of the Quran and considered himself to be a radical Muslim. As he grew, however, he began to wonder about the Jesus he read about in the Quran and asked his father many questions: “Who is Jesus? Is the Quran true? Is the Bible true? The Quran says we must study all the books that came before the Torah.  Why don’t we study these?

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May 14, 2013

The rise of antichrist

By Mark Ellis

Willem Dafoe in the film, "Antichrist"

Willem Dafoe in the film, “Antichrist”

Do you believe he is a real person? Could he be alive today? Some may doubt his existence, but the prophet Daniel, the Apostles Paul and John — and Jesus Himself — all taught about the coming of this dynamic, powerful, evil personality who will rule the world at the time of the end.

The Book of Daniel covers a giant sweep of history, from Daniel’s era, about 500 years before Jesus, all the way up to and beyond our present time, prophesying about things that will be coming to planet earth in the future, perhaps sooner than we expect.

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May 11, 2013

Identical twin studies prove homosexuality is not genetic

By Mark Ellis

Dr. Neil Whitehead

Dr. Neil Whitehead

Eight major studies of identical twins in Australia, the U.S., and Scandinavia during the last two decades all arrive at the same conclusion: gays were not born that way.

“At best genetics is a minor factor,” says Dr. Neil Whitehead, PhD. Whitehead worked for the New Zealand government as a scientific researcher for 24 years, then spent four years working for the United Nations and International Atomic Energy Agency. Most recently, he serves as a consultant to Japanese universities about the effects of radiation exposure. His PhD is in biochemistry and statistics.

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May 7, 2013

Former Dodger found Jesus with help from beach-combing Waikiki pastor

By Mark EllisWerhas baseball card

Gifted in several sports, John Werhas graduated from USC as an All-American and had the opportunity to play for the L.A. Dodgers or Lakers. He chose baseball, but later — as his athletic career began to wind down — an emptiness inside led him to ponder life’s greatest questions.

“Athletics was everything to me,” says Werhas. “Since I was a little boy, all I dreamed about was playing baseball in the big leagues.” When Werhas first ran on the field in Chavez Ravine as a Dodger third baseman in 1964, the team was coming off a phenomenal year when they beat the Yankees in the ’63 World Series.

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May 2, 2013

God moving in the mountains of Oaxaca

By Mario Cordoba

Man in Oaxaca

Man in Oaxaca

I never, ever could have imagined that after driving hours and hours up and down mountains on dusty, narrow roads full of rocks and holes we would arrive to a little piece of paradise. A small congregation meets in San Agustin next to a beautiful river of crystal-clear water. Upriver grow bananas, mangos and mamey trees. The people were waiting for us. They had walked for hours to hear the word of God, yet many were not Christians.

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April 30, 2013

Hollywood stuntman looked for contradictions in the Bible, came away a believer

By Dan Wooding

Bob Yerkes (left) with the Flying Alexanders

Bob Yerkes (left) with the Flying Alexanders

This legendary American stuntman began a life of acrobatics in the circus as a teenager and went on to work as a stuntman in such films as Back to the Future, Star Wars: Episode VI – Return of the Jedi, and Hook.

“I started tumbling down at Santa Monica Muscle Beach, which they now call Venice Muscle Beach, when I was 11, and then I ran away and joined the Clyde Beatty Circus at 15 and joined an acrobatic act,” says Bob Yerkes.

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April 29, 2013

Putting the ‘happily’ into your ever after

By Mark Ellis

Ed & Angie Wright

Ed & Angie Wright

Ed and Angie Wright founded a successful faith-based real estate company in Orange County, California. But their efforts to grow and sustain Christ-centered marriages through counseling programs they developed provides even deeper satisfaction for the couple.

“When we got involved in premarital counseling, our marriage became so much better,” says Ed Wright, who founded “Marriage by God Ministries” with Angie. In 2000, they volunteered to help with a new premarital couple-to-couple counseling program at Saddleback Church.

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April 26, 2013

Woman stumbles over ‘demon’ in Arabic class

By Mark EllisArabic-textbook

In an unnamed Middle East country, Sue has been studying Arabic four days a week with one of her husband’s friends. A silly misspelling during one of her sessions launched a thought-provoking spiritual conversation.

As Sue practiced writing her name under her instructor’s watchful eye, she stopped when it became clear she made a mistake.

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April 25, 2013

Christian apologist and cult expert Dave Hunt passes to his reward

By Sally Oppliger

Dave Hunt

Dave Hunt

Internationally esteemed defender of the faith and pioneering biblical discernment author Dave Hunt drew his final breath and entered into the presence of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ on Friday, April 5, 2013 with his beloved wife, Ruth, at his side. He was 87.

Noted for his ground-breaking research on cults, the occult, and New Age doctrines that began creeping into the church during the 1980s, Dave Hunt was most renowned for his controversial 1985 best seller, “The Seduction of Christianity”, co-authored with T.A. McMahon.

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April 25, 2013

Amazon Indians suffer ill effects from pollution

By Mark Ellis

Shipibo woman in her home

Shipibo woman in her home

The Shipibo people once lived in a pristine environment in the heart of the Amazon rainforest, with clean drinking water from fresh water streams, abundant fish in their rivers, and fertile soil for planting. But recently, mysterious ailments have been plaguing their people that may be related to environmental concerns.

“Oil pipelines in their territory have broken several times, so they have oil all around,” says Dr. Dale Kietzman, founder of Latin American Indian Ministries (LAIM). “There is also mercury in the rivers from gold mining.”

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