With the building demolished, the mob began to beat the pastor, his mother and church members, who were able to flee and went into hiding for the night. The extent of their injuries is not known. No deaths were reported. "It is our desire that these who are persecuting will know the love of God for them," said K. P. Yohannan, Gospel for Asia (GFA) founder and president.
Shouting religious slogans, a mob estimated at 1,000 people has destroyed a Christian church under construction in northern India, according to a report received from church leaders in the region. The attack occurred Aug. 25.
With the building demolished, the mob began to beat the pastor, his mother and church members, who were able to flee and went into hiding for the night. The extent of their injuries is not known. No deaths were reported. "It is our desire that these who are persecuting will know the love of God for them," said K. P. Yohannan, Gospel for Asia (GFA) founder and president.
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Last week’s gospel festival in Makassar, Indonesia, was planned as an outreach to the 2.6 million-strong Makassar people with less than 500 believers. No one could have predicted the outcome—capacity crowds, amazing healings, death threats and on the last day Peter Youngren being called to the police headquarters to be interrogated for ‘blasphemy against Islam,’ a crime that carries a five-year prison sentence. After pressure from Muslim extremists and with only one day to go until the festival, the city mayor canceled the permit for the event to be held on the huge open grounds in the center of the city. It seemed that all was lost, but God had other plans. “In spite of everything that happened, this has been one of the most amazing weeks in 30 years of gospel ministry because of how God turned this around,” Youngren says. The Youngren ministry has conducted 26 gospel festivals in Indonesia since the year 2000, and only twice has a stadium or outdoor venue been canceled due to security reasons. Church leader Li Shuangping, a leader at Linfen church, was beaten and threatened by unknown assailants on the night of 13 August, according to reports from China Aid. Li had been driving to his home in Shanxi Province and was forced to stop his car when a man who seemed to be intoxicated staggered into the road. He was then dragged into a black car which had pulled up alongside his car, tied up, blindfolded, and pinned down while three men beat him around his head and body. One man also threatened to kill Li and his family members, including his children. Li was then thrown out of the car. The United Nations is being asked to take action against family-planning policies in China that harm women and children. A formal complaint has been lodged with the UN body that deals with women's rights by Reggie Littlejohn of Women's Rights Without Frontiers. The complaint lists many violent incidents related to enforcement of the one-child policy, as well as abortions performed on the basis of gender. Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW) is concerned about a crackdown on unregistered Christian meetings in Xinjiang, northwest China, in the last five months, amidst high levels of tension and outbreaks of violence in the region. According to reports from China Aid Association, a number of unregistered Christian groups have been closed down, fined or had their members detained by police in Xinjiang in the last five months. A shallow earthquake struck a dry, hilly farming area in western China early Monday, killing at least 54 people, injuring nearly 300, and destroying thousands of homes, the local government said. The quake hit near the city of Dingxi in Gansu province, a hilly region of mountains, desert and pastureland about 1,233 kilometers (766 miles) west of Beijing. Residents described shaking windows and swinging lights but there was relatively little major damage or panic in the city itself. Tremors were felt in the provincial capital of Lanzhou 177 kilometers (110 miles) north, and as far away as Xi'an, 400 kilometers (250 miles) to the east. In April of 2013, an estranged husband, who converted from Hinduism to Islam in prison, secretly took his two children (aged 5 and 8) to an Islamic Centre where they were officially converted to Islam and given Islamic names. When their Hindu mother sought redress, she was told that because her children were now Muslims, she would have to go through the Sharia courts. Believing that to be futile and possibly even dangerous, she opted instead to lodge a complaint with the police in early June. This case triggered an outcry when it was exposed in the media. Imprisoned Chinese housing rights activist Ni Yulan has been denied medical parole despite suffering from a number of serious health problems including an untreated thyroid tumor, her daughter has said. Ni, who is a Christian, is serving a two-and-a-half-year sentence for “causing a disturbance”. Ni began practicing law in 1986. She worked on a variety of rights-related cases, including a number relating to religious freedom. From 2001 onwards she specialized in housing rights. In 2002, she was beaten and tortured for more than 50 hours while in police detention. As a result, she has been left permanently disabled and is unable to walk without crutches. Dany Dias, 44, and Janine Jalbert, 59, of Ontario, Canada, made their first skydive July 1 in their "Leap of Faith" campaign that raised more than $8,000 to purchase bicycles to enable South Asian pastors to reach remote areas of ministry. Their original goal of funding one bicycle quickly grew when their "Leap of Faith" sparked wider attention on www.MyGFA.org/leap. At the time of their jump Monday morning, pledges had already funded more than 73 bicycles, and they anticipate receiving more donations to reach their goal of 100 bicycles. |
Walter Blackwood
Associate Pastor with The Bridge Community of Faith in Kelowna BC Canada. Archives
May 2017
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