A Hindu seer, chief cleric of the Sriguru Ashram in east India, was berated by a crowd of 15,000, for failing to die after having declared that his soul would leave his body between 6 am and noon on Wednesday, in a “‘death by will’” miracle. When asked what had happened, the seer apologized: “‘Perhaps the will of God was somewhat different. I am very shocked to have given you so much pain. I wanted to leave my mortal body, but I could not. Please forgive me.'”

Via Open Book: Catholic school priest tells kids there is no Santa Claus.

Billy Graham began his “last crusade” yesterday in Los Angeles, the site of his breakthrough, eight-week tent revival in 1949, which led to 3,000 conversions and launched Graham’s evangelical career. Last night, 45,000 people showed up to L.A.’s Rose Bowl staduim to see the 86-year old Graham, who suffers from Parkinson’s disease and was brought to the stage by an electric golf cart, deliver some of the same sermons he used 55 years ago. Organizers of the event trained approximately 12,000 volunteers in 19 language to counsel new converts at the crusade, of which there were 2,500 last night.

The Bishops of the U.S. Roman Catholic Church have decided to join the broadest alliance of Christian churches in the country, the ecumenical coalition, Christian Churches TogetherU.S.A. (CCT). CCT, which was created with the help of the National Council of Churches (the current largest ecumenical body), has been under discussion since 2001. When it is completed this spring, CCT could have triple the membership of NCC, representing five loosly-defined segments of U.S. Christianity: “Evangelical/Pentecostal, Historic Protestant, Orthodox, Racial/Ethnic and Roman Catholic.” In the beginning, CCT will focus mostly on discussion and worship, though as it evolves, the organization plans to become more active, and “‘[speak] to society with a common voice'” on specific issues.

19 November 2004
The Grand Prairie-based Messianic Jewish Bible Institute — a “leadership training school for Jewish and non-Jewish followers of Jesus” — gathered last night for their third annual banquet, and an evening of singer Ricky Skaggs, televangelist Pat Robertson, and a slide-show presentation of Jews who have accepted Jesus. “‘Jews are waking up to the reality that Jesus is their Messiah,'” said Robertson, telling Christians they must embrace Jews and Israel as a fulfillment of biblical prophesy. “‘I think there’s going to be a lot more of that because the evangelicals love Israel, and they love the Jewish people. The fact that there are so many Jewish people coming to Israel right now, we haven’t looked at it that way until this point, but I’m just so thrilled to see it.'”

Ansar al-Sunna, an Iraqi Islamic group, posted a statement online warning Muslims not to vote in the upcoming elections, lest they “be branded as an infidel and ‘punished in the name of God.'” The statement also threatened attacks against polls, candidates and voters who take part in the January election.