2 months ago
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PULSE POINTS:
❓What Happened: An American pastor, Josh Sullivan, was kidnapped at gunpoint in South Africa while conducting a prayer service.
👥 Who’s Involved: Josh Sullivan, the South African Police Service’s Hawks unit, and Sullivan’s family.
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📍 Where & When: Last Thursday, Motherwell, South Africa.
💬 Key Quote: “Please pray for Josh Sullivan,” the Fellowship Baptist Church in Tennessee posted on Facebook.
⚠️ Impact: Concerns for his safety have led to an ongoing search and calls for information from the public.
IN FULL:
Authorities are combing South Africa for a missing American missionary, Josh Sullivan, who was reportedly abducted last week during a prayer service in the town of Motherwell. Sullivan, 35, from Tennessee, has been living with his family in South Africa since 2018, connected to the Fellowship Baptist Church.
Local police stated that armed individuals entered the church, capturing Sullivan and forcibly transporting him in his vehicle, which was soon found deserted in the vicinity. The South African Police Service’s special unit, Hawks, confirmed their active investigation into this incident, emphasizing their commitment to securing his safe return.
The U.S. State Department has acknowledged the situation, but Sullivan’s location remains unknown as of Tuesday. His family, back in the United States, has taken to social media requesting prayers and support. “My heart is breaking,” his mother, Tonya Rinker, expressed on Facebook, urging continuous prayers for her family and describing Sullivan as a devoted and God-serving individual.
“Please pray for Josh Sullivan,” the Fellowship Baptist Church in Tennessee posted. They also mentioned receiving derogatory remarks about their missionary activities.
Sullivan’s case comes as the United States and South Africa have seen a fraying in their diplomatic relations. This is partially due to the South African government looking to seize land from white farmers without compensation.
A similar move was enacted by Zimbabwe decades ago and led to deaths, a collapse in food production, and massive economic problems. Now, after the fall of the late dictator Robert Mugabe, the government of Zimbabwe has decided to enact some measures to compensate those who had their land seized.
PULSE POINTS:
❓What Happened: Tulip Siddiq, a Member of Parliament (MP) for Britain’s governing Labour Party, now facing corruption charges in Bangladesh, campaigned to ban President Donald J. Trump from Britain in 2016, and campaigned for Barack Obama in 2008.
👥 Who’s Involved: Tulip Siddiq, President Donald J. Trump, former President Barack Obama, and Bangladesh’s Anti-Corruption Commission.
Your free, daily feed from The National Pulse.
📍 Where & When: British Parliament debate in January 2016; arrest warrant issued in Bangladesh, April 2025.
💬 Key Quote: “The United Kingdom should not be held to ransom by corrosive billionaire politicians,” Siddiq said of Trump in 2016.
⚠️ Impact: Siddiq’s corruption charges undermine her past criticisms of Trump, exposing contradictions in her political stance.
IN FULL:
Tulip Siddiq, a Member of Parliament (MP) for Britain’s governing Labour Party and, until recently, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer’s Anti-Corruption Minister, is now wanted in Bangladesh on corruption charges. Raheem Kassam, Editor-in-Chief of The National Pulse, previously covered her efforts to ban President Donald J. Trump from the United Kingdom and her campaign work for Barack Obama in 2008.
In January 2016, Siddiq took a prominent role in a parliamentary push to bar Trump from entering Britain. Speaking to the British press, Siddiq called Trump “corrosive,” dismissing contemporary reports he could pull a proposed £700 million investment in Scotland if he was banned from the country. “The United Kingdom should not be held to ransom by corrosive billionaire politicians,” she stated. “Donald Trump’s threats about withholding investment from the UK is another desperate attempt to get in the headlines, and anyone seeing his comments should reject his bigotry.”
At the time, Trump was under fire for proposing a so-called “Muslim ban” to stem Islamist terror attacks—later manifested as a ban on travel from certain known hotbeds of jihadism with insecure vetting for outbound travelers.
Not coincidentally, Bangladesh—where Siddiq’s now-ousted aunt Sheikh Hasina was Prime Minister—is overwhelmingly Muslim in composition. Siddiq’s corruption charges are linked to allegations she and her family profited from misused public funds in the country during her aunt’s 15-year rule.
In addition to campaigning against Trump traveling to Britain, Siddiq traveled to the U.S. to campaign for Barack Obama during his 2008 U.S. presidential run, according to the ‘British Bangladeshi Who’s Who’ magazine.
She backed the bid by hard-left former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn—expelled by Starmer amid an anti-Semitism scandal—but maintained a high profile following his ouster, being appointed as Economic Secretary to the Treasury and City Minister, or Anti-Corruption Minister, when Labour regained power last July.
Bangladesh’s Anti-Corruption Commission accuses her of illegally obtaining a 7,200-square-foot plot in Dhaka’s diplomatic zone through abuse of power. The commission alleges she used forged signatures to secure a flat, qualifying her for the land deal, as part of broader investigations into her family’s dealings during Hasina’s government.
In 2016, when I ran Breitbart’s London bureau, we reported extensively on the case of Member of Parliament Tulip Siddiq, who campaigned to have Donald Trump banned from the UK.
No one else would touch it critically.
Fast forward almost a decade, and look who the law is finally… pic.twitter.com/aAVKz1zOWa
— Raheem. (@RaheemKassam) April 14, 2025
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