Author: Sophia

By Sophia Aguilar — Because she lived in the West, she didn’t want to wear the Muslim-compulsory hijab anymore, so her brothers and father drowned her in lake last year. This is called an “honor killing” in Islam. Now Dutch prosecutors are demanding the guilty men serve 25 years in prison for accusedly killing their family member, Ryan Al Najjar, who was 18, in a lake near Joure in northern Netherlands. Her body was found about six days after she went missing. “They saw Ryan as a burden that had to be removed,” the Public Prosecution Service said last week.…

By Sophia Aguilar — The Chinese Communist Party is cracking down on Christian churches, but this is only bringing church growth, say organizers who aid the church from outside China. “Last year we planted two more churches under the heaviest persecution,” says Bob Fu, of China Aid. “Many, many house churches have experienced revival.” Chinese authorities are facing unprecedented challenges to their totalitarian regime. With Trump’s tariffs affecting adversely the Chinese economy, university students are taking to the streets to demand democracy. The pressure and pain is the moment people also turn to Jesus, says Jeff King, of International Christian…

By Sophia Aguilar – Not even Shia LeBeouf’s mom would talk to him after his reputation was garbaged by a woman who alleged he recklessly gave her venereal disease. His public drunkenness and arrogance had cut him off from the movie industry. Then he was given one last chance to redeem himself and his career at a Capuchin monastery. “I felt totally depraved when I walked in,” Shia says. “My life was on fire. I was walking out of hell. I didn’t want to be an actor anymore and my life was a mess. I’d hurt a lot of people…

By Sophia Aguilar – At first, Maddy Edwards – who transitioned to a boy – was not allowed to see her brothers and sisters because “my parents didn’t want my siblings to see that. I understood because I knew their views. It hurt, but I didn’t hate them for it. I sacrificed my relationship with my family to try and be this person I thought I was supposed to be.” But then they changed, and Maddy – and her then fiancé, a girl – were welcomed into the home. “I started asking God, how did it go from them not…