Note from Rowland Croucher:

This is the first of our daily prayer and news updates of happenings around the world. Please feel free to use this material for private intercession, pulpit prayers, and for your church bulletin notes!

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A ministry of HCJB World Radio

7th October 2002

Today’s News Headlines:

RELIGIOUS TENSIONS MOUNT IN PAKISTAN FOLLOWING 2 MORE ATTACKS NEW TRIAL ORDERED FOR 17 MEMBERS OF UNREGISTERED CHINESE CHURCH BUDDHISTS URGE SRI LANKAN LEADER TO RESCIND VISAS FOR MISSIONARIES THOUSANDS OF GERMANS COMMEMORATE REUNIFICATION WITH PRAYER CHRISTIAN TV NETWORK IN U.S. TO ADD SATELLITE CHANNEL ‘TRUE LOVE WAITS’ CAMPAIGN EXPANDS TO INCLUDE PARENTS

Today’s News Stories:

RELIGIOUS TENSIONS MOUNT IN PAKISTAN FOLLOWING 2 MORE ATTACKS Gunmen fired on an Islamic girls’ school Friday, Oct. 4, shattering windows, injuring a student and sending youngsters running for cover. Hours later two men on a motorcycle tossed grenades at a Christian hospital. Authorities said there was no indication that the attacks were linked. However, Pakistan has been wracked by religious violence in recent years, much of it between rival Sunni and Shiite Muslim sects, but also targeting Christians. A 12-year-old girl was hurt when bullets shattered the windows of the Jamia Mohammadia Binat-ul Islam school in Lahore. The Christian hospital in Bannu, located in a Muslim area in northwestern Pakistan near the Afghan border, suffered only minor damage when two men on a motorcycle tossed grenades at the facility. The attack drew criticism from Christian leaders already angered by deadly assaults on Christians in Pakistan. Todd Nettleton from Voice of the Martyrs said the attacks are further evidence of mounting religious tensions in the country. “The believers are discriminated against and held down in the society there, in the education system, in the employment system. What really creates problems for believers is those who come from a Muslim background. Muslim converts face a lot of difficulties and a lot of persecution.” The possibility of a U.S.-led war against Iraq has added to the hostilities against not only Christians, but Westerners. “The risks for Christians in Pakistan who live there every day are far greater than the risks for people who come and go,” Nettleton said. “Pray for the believers there will be strengthened and encouraged and that they’ll be bold in their witness.” (Associated Press/Mission Network News)

NEW TRIAL ORDERED FOR 17 MEMBERS OF UNREGISTERED CHINESE CHURCH A Chinese court has thrown out the criminal conviction of 17 members of the unregistered South China Church. On Sept. 22 the Hubei Provincial Supreme Court ordered a new trial for the Christians, including pastor Gong Shengliang and journalist Li Ying. Both are among five church members sentenced to death for their involvement in “illegal” church activities. Twelve others received sentences ranging from two years to life. The court said the facts in the trial against the South China Church members were “ambiguous” and the evidence “inadequate.” The court went on to say the procedures in the civil trial that led to conviction were illegal. The court sent the case back to the Jingmen City Intermediate People’s Court for retrial on Wednesday, Oct. 9. “While we applaud the court’s ruling, we are extremely concerned that the case is being sent back to the same court that allowed the ambiguous evidence and illegal procedures the first time around,” said Voice of the Martyrs spokesman Gary Lane. “These Christians have received inhumane and horrendous treatment while in prison. Instead of retrial, the 17 defendants should be freed.” (Voice of the Martyrs)

BUDDHISTS URGE SRI LANKAN LEADER TO RESCIND VISAS FOR MISSIONARIES Buddhist leaders and organizations in Sri Lanka are exerting pressure on the prime minister and the government to rescind the visas of Christian missionaries in the country and ban conversions to Christianity. Gospel for Asia reports that Buddhist leaders are also lobbying to keep foreign funds for Christian work from entering the country. The Buddhists say that village monks should be empowered to enforce the proposed laws and punish offenders. Gospel for Asia has planted more than 100 churches and operates two Bible schools in Sri Lanka. Most of the country’s 25,000 villages are still without a local church fellowship. (Assist News Service)

THOUSANDS OF GERMANS COMMEMORATE REUNIFICATION WITH PRAYER Thousands of Christians commemorated the 12th anniversary of the German reunification by praying for their nation. More than 600 believers gathered in the geographical center of the country the eastern German village of Neufrankenroda, on Reunification Day, Thursday, Oct. 3. It was the first time that a church bell rang in the 200-year-old village that has never had a church. The bell was transferred from the village of Doebeln which had been abandoned 20 years ago to make room for a lignite quarry. Other prayer meetings were held in Berlin, Hamburg, Augsburg and Magdeburg. Participants thanked God for reunification and offered prayers for the nearly 4 million unemployed Germans, the 300,000 unborn children killed each year by abortion, and the violent situation in the Holy Land. (IDEA)

CHRISTIAN TV NETWORK IN U.S. TO ADD SATELLITE CHANNEL Sky Angel will add a Christian channel in the U.S. called Guardian Television Network to its lineup in November. Guardian will be one of 20 television channels and 16 radio channels available nationwide through an 18-inch satellite dish that is available for a monthly subscription fee. Guardian Television Network is a Christian-family channel featuring popular Christian ministries and programs such as Joyce Meyer, James Robison, Greg Laurie, and “The 700 Club” as well as family-oriented game shows and programs such as “Touched by an Angel,” “Doc,” “Promised Land” and “Ponderosa.” (Sky Angel)

‘TRUE LOVE WAITS’ CAMPAIGN EXPANDS TO INCLUDE PARENTS “For the first time since the beginning of the True Love Waits campaign, parents will be invited to make a promise to sexual fidelity and purity,” says Jimmy Hester, senior director in LifeWay’s student ministry publishing. “We know that in many families the issue of purity is not just a teen issue. With the proliferation of pornography and divorce, purity has become an issue for a lot of parents.” The commitment for parents states: “Believing that true love is pure, I join [insert student’s name] in committing to a lifestyle of purity. I make a commitment to God, myself, my family and my community of faith to abstain from pornography, impure touching and conversations, and sex outside a biblical marriage relationship from this day forward.” (Religion Today)

James A. Ferrier HCJB World Radio Web: http://www.hcjb.org http://www.beyondthecall.org * * * * * * * * * * * * *

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