German Roofer Hailed As Hero For Saving Norwegian Teens From Shooting

 

 

 

In the wake of last week’s devastating shooting attack on the Norwegian island of Utøya, several tales of individual heroism and survival are now starting to emerge.

One 32-year-old roofer from Germany, for example, sped on his boat to the island, and helped guide many young people who had tried to swim away from the massacre back safely to shore.

“I just did it on instinct,” Marcel Gleffe told The Telegraph. “You don’t get scared in a situation like that, you just do what it takes. I know the difference between fireworks and gunfire. I knew what it was about, and that it wasn’t just nonsense.”

Gleffe was camping with his parents on the mainland directly across from Utøya. The three were discussing the recent bombing in Oslo when Gleffe heard some shots and then saw a teenager swimming to shore, yelling “help,” he told Der Spiegel. He immediately realized that the shooting he heard was connected to the Oslo bombing, and he jumped in a small boat his family had rented for the trip and began speeding to the island.

 

Gleffe says he helped at least 20 teens get to shore, throwing out life jackets and making several trips in his boat to the island and back to the mainland. Some of the fleeing teenagers were frightened to accept his help, since the accused gunman was dressed as a policemen and told his victims to come closer before he opened fire. “It was unbelievable to see how strong they were,” he told Der Spiegel of the campers. At least 150 people were pulled out of the water after the massacre, and psychologists told the German paper that many of them are suffering from crushing survivors’ guilt.

One survivor, 16-year-old Ingvild Stensrud, told Ann Curry on the Today Show that after she’d been shot in the leg, she played dead in order to survive. She lay under the body of a dead woman until the shooter left the building.

 

The accused mass murderer, Anders Behring Breivik, wrote a 1,500-page manifesto railing against multiculturalism and Muslim immigration, among other things. He attacked a political camp for young people run by the country’s ruling Labour party.  ”I think it’s horrible, and it’s horrible that my friends were killed, that I was shot, because I believe in a multicultural Norway; for my beliefs,” Stensrud said. A Ugandan man at the camp said he hid in a tree to escape the shooting.

 

 

Even Norway’s royal family has been personally affected by the tragedy: the stepbrother of the Crown Princess of Norway, Mette Marit, was gunned down by the assassin. Trond Berntsen was an off-duty police officer who was hired as security for the island, and was one of the first people whom Breivik killed, according to The Daily Mail.

At least 100,000 people gathered today in an anti-violence rally in Oslo, Reuters reported. Both Princess Metter Marit and her husband, Crown Prince Haakon, were in attendance. “Tonight the streets are filled with love,” Crown Prince Haakon said.

 

 

 

Thomas Nelson to release new BILLY GRAHAM book NEARING HOME: Life, Faith, and Finishing Well

 

Thomas Nelson Publishers announced that in October 2011, renowned and iconic preacher and evangelist Billy Graham will release his first major trade book in more than five years: Nearing Home: Life, Faith, and Finishing Well.

“Billy Graham, by the grace of God, has singlehandedly guided millions to faith,” says Matt Baugher, VP and publisher at Thomas Nelson, Inc. “His legacy as an evangelist is unmatched. Now in his nineties, he is reaching out to help all of us again by picking up the pen one more time, and we at Thomas Nelson could not be more honored to play a part in this eternal message. Nearing Home is hands down one of the most important works that Mr. Graham has ever written and one of his most vulnerable. Time catches up to all of us. At his age, with all that has come before, he is in a unique position to guide all of us on what it means to finish well in this life. God bless Billy Graham.”

In this moving narrative, Billy Graham shares his personal experience of growing older, but also teaches some important lessons on how to view our time here on Earth. He says that the Bible makes it clear that God has a specific reason for keeping us here. So what is His purpose for these years, and how can we align our lives with it? How can we not only learn to cope with the fears and struggles and growing limitations we face but actually grow stronger inwardly in the midst of these difficulties?

“The best way to meet the challenges of old age is to prepare for them now, before they arrive,” says Dr. Graham. “I invite you to explore with me not only the realities of life as we grow older but also the hope and fulfillment—and even joy—that can be ours once we learn to look at these years from God’s point of view and discover His strength to sustain us every day.”

“We have worked with Dr. Graham on the creation of this project for several years. As the content developed, we had a growing sense that this book would be destined to impact literally generations of people. It is perhaps the best guide available on living every day to the fullest,” says SVP and group publisher for Thomas Nelson, David Moberg. Thomas Nelson, Inc., (through its acquisition of Word Publishing in 1992) has been Dr. Graham’s trade book publisher since 1975, and has enjoyed numerous million-copy bestsellers with Dr. Graham over those 35 years.

This major trade release, with a hard street date of Oct. 18, 2011, will be supported by an extensive national marketing campaign. The campaign will include national advertising, multiple retailer merchandising options, and advance reader’s copy distribution. Nearing Home will be simultaneously released internationally, and in Spanish through Thomas Nelson’s division, Grupo Nelson.