A ministry of HCJB World Radio

Today’s News Headlines:

MUSLIM RIOTERS IN NIGERIA KILL PROMINENT PASTOR, 2 FAMILY MEMBERS UKRAINIAN COURT ORDERS CLOSURE OF PENTECOSTAL CHURCH FILIPINO PASTOR RELEASED FROM CUSTODY IN UNITED ARAB EMIRATES ETHIOPIAN AUTHORITIES REFUSE TO RELEASE 2 EVANGELICAL LEADERS EGYPTIAN PRESIDENT DECLARES CHRISTMAS DAY NATIONAL HOLIDAY CHRISTIAN IRANIAN FAMILY BEGINS NEW LIFE IN CANADA

Today’s News Stories:

MUSLIM RIOTERS IN NIGERIA KILL PROMINENT PASTOR, 2 FAMILY MEMBERS Rioting in Nigeria’s Plateau state last week has claimed the life of a prominent pastor and two members of his family. Bitrus Manjang, vice president of the Church of Christ, Nigeria was murdered on Dec. 12 in his hometown of Riyom, about 30 miles from Jos. Manjang, 69, was gunned down by a rioting Muslim mob as he stepped from his car after parking in his garage. Also killed in the attack were his daughter-in-law and 6-year-old grandson. Manjang had just returned from a series of church meetings in Jos when a mob of Islamic militants entered his village at 5 p.m. Five other people were killed, and at least a dozen were hospitalized with injuries. Gary Lane of Voice of the Martyrs (VOM) said the attack is indicative of a pattern that is likely to continue. “Radical Muslims in Nigeria want to impose sharia (Islamic law), not only on the 12 states of Nigeria that have already enacted it, but they want to impose it on the other states, and these are Christian areas. The one state that they are particularly targeting at this time is Plateau state.” In spite of the dangers, believers are continuing their work. “Church buildings are being destroyed, and Christians and their pastors . . . are being targeted and gunned down, but that isn’t stopping the growth of the church,” Land said. “The church in Nigeria is growing more than ever. But we’re losing some good people. We’re losing some strong leaders — those who are standing up to the imposition of sharia law.” (Mission Network News/VOM)

* HCJB World Radio, together with partners In Touch Ministries, SIM and the Evangelical Church of West Africa, began airing weekly half-hour programs in the Igbo language in 2000. The programs air via shortwave to Nigeria’s 15 million Igbo speakers.

UKRAINIAN COURT ORDERS CLOSURE OF PENTECOSTAL CHURCH A Pentecostal church in the southern Ukrainian town of Kherson has been ordered closed by a local court for conducting public services without prior consent from municipal authorities. The Church of Christ, led by pastor Pavel Kudashev, was ordered to halt its activity by the court in the town’s Suvorov district on Dec. 10, reported the religious news website RISU.org.ua, citing the All-Ukrainian Center of Religious Security and Assistance to Victims of Destructive Sects. The court ruling declared that public events organized by the church were “repeatedly held in June and July 2002 without permission from and agreement with local authorities.” Ukrainian law requires such permission for public religious events. (Keston News Service)

FILIPINO PASTOR RELEASED FROM CUSTODY IN UNITED ARAB EMIRATES Rev. Fernando Alconga, a Filipino pastor in the United Arab Emirates who was arrested Nov. 12 for allegedly distributing Christian materials, has been released from police custody. The charges against him, however, have not been dropped. It is unclear what legal procedures will ensue in this matter. Alconga was arrested after undercover police agents approached him asking for Christian materials in Arabic. The previous day he had handed out a package of information to an Egyptian Arab outside the same building. When he told them he had no materials in Arabic, they asked to see what he had in other languages. After showing them cassette tapes, tracts and New Testaments, he was arrested. (Voice of the Martyrs)

ETHIOPIAN AUTHORITIES REFUSE TO RELEASE 2 EVANGELICAL LEADERS Two evangelical Christians who have been jailed in northern Ethiopia for more than eight months remain in police detention without charges. Under apparent pressure, the presiding judge has given local police an ultimatum to produce solid evidence against the two Pentecostal church elders, or she will order them released. Kiros Meles and Abebayeh Desalegn were arrested following a two-day rampage last April that left five evangelical churches in shambles at the hands of a mob of Orthodox extremists. Both are suspects in the death of an Orthodox Church member shot dead during the last day of the riots. An off-duty policeman was also taken into custody over the incident. “All the postponements were because the police were trying to cover up their guilt and asked for more time to investigate,” a local source said. Recently the prisoners’ families have taken on the care of two young men who met Meles and Desalegn while serving four months in jail for robbery and became Christians through the elders’ influence. (Compass)

* Staff members at HCJB World Radio-Australia’s studios record Oromo language programs that are aired to 28 million speakers in Ethiopia and Kenya via shortwave from partner FEBA Radio.

EGYPTIAN PRESIDENT DECLARES CHRISTMAS DAY NATIONAL HOLIDAY Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt has declared Christmas Day a National holiday for the first time in the country’s history. Coptic Christians celebrate Christmas on Jan. 7, and starting in 2003, this date will be an official public holiday. In the past, Christian religious festivals have not been designated as public holidays even though Christians represent more than 10 percent of Egypt’s population. Mamdouh Nakhla, general manager of the Cairo-based Word Center for Human Rights, first requested the government to make Christmas Day an official holiday in 1995. “We welcome President Mubarak’s decision to consider Jan. 7 an official holiday for all Egyptians,” he said. “There is no doubt that this is a wise decision putting things on the right track and strengthening national unity.” Nakhla is also urging the government to stop requiring that religious affiliation be listed on people’s identification cards. (Christian Solidarity Worldwide)

CHRISTIAN IRANIAN FAMILY BEGINS NEW LIFE IN CANADA Relatives and church representatives made up a joyful airport welcoming committee for the Mahmoud Erfani family, 31/2 years after the former Muslims fled persecution in Iran. “The Erfanis arrived safely in Toronto amid smiles, tears and wonderment,” said Gail Holland, refugee coordinator for their sponsoring church in Canada. The family was reportedly exhausted from 48 hours of continuous travel from central Turkey to Istanbul and then to Toronto via Amsterdam. As “apostates” who had left Islam to become Christians, the Erfanis had been evicted from their home on a former church compound in Mashhad and faced growing harassment by secret police in the months before they fled to Turkey. After months of petitioning the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, the Canadian Embassy granted them residence visas last August. Among those welcoming the family to Canada were relatives and friends from their native Mashhad who are also converts from Islam to Christianity. (Compass)

* * * * * * * * * * * * * James A. Ferrier HCJB World Radio U.S. Ministries Communications Director E-mail: Phone: 1-719-590-9800 Fax: 1-719-590-9801 Web: http://www.hcjb.org http://www.beyondthecall.org * * * * * * * * * * * * *

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