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Today’s News Headlines:

MILITANT MUSLIM ARRESTED IN SHOOTING OF 3 MISSIONARIES IN YEMEN 4 SUSPECTS IN CHRISTMAS DAY GRENADE ATTACK ARRESTED IN PAKISTAN CHRISTIAN WORKERS FREELY DISTRIBUTE NEW TESTAMENTS IN ISTANBUL VIOLENCE ESCALATES IN NIGERIA WITH MURDER OF PASTOR, 16 OTHERS ROMANIA’S ETHNIC HUNGARIANS GET FIRST CHRISTIAN RADIO STATION POLITICAL SITUATION IN INDIAN STATE RAISES CONCERNS FOR MISSIONARIES ‘POWER BASE OF CHRISTIANITY’ CONTINUES SHIFT TO SOUTHERN HEMISPHERE 381,000 COME TO CHRIST WORLDWIDE THROUGH BIBLE MINISTRY

Today’s News Stories:

MILITANT MUSLIM ARRESTED IN SHOOTING OF 3 MISSIONARIES IN YEMEN The Southern Baptist International Mission Board reported that it is “moving quickly” to assist family members of three missionaries who were killed and another who was wounded when a lone gunman attacked the ministry’s hospital in Jibla, Yemen, Monday, Dec. 30. “We are devastated by this news,” said spokesman Larry Cox. “But we’re grateful that God spared the lives of others and pray that His Spirit will meet the needs of everyone touched by this crisis.” Abed Abdul Razak Kamel, a 35-year-old Muslim militant, was arrested shortly after he fired the shots at the Jibla Baptist Hospital about 120 miles south of Yemen’s capital, San’a, reported the official Yemeni news agency Saba. Killed were hospital administrator William Koehn of Arlington, Texas, purchasing agent Kathleen Gariety of Wauwatosa, Wisc., and physician Martha Myers of Montgomery, Ala. Pharmacist Donald Caswell of Levelland, Texas, was shot twice, but was expected to recover from the early-morning attack. The attack came as a major setback for the mission board that has operated the hospital for 35 years. More than 40,000 patients a year are treated at the facility on property owned by the Yemeni government. The hospital provides free care and medicine to those who cannot afford it and has responded to relief needs during earthquakes and famine. No decision has been made about possibly relocating other Americans connected with the hospital. (Assist News Service)

4 SUSPECTS IN CHRISTMAS DAY GRENADE ATTACK ARRESTED IN PAKISTAN Four persons, including a Muslim cleric who allegedly urged his followers to murder Christians, were detained after a Christmas Day grenade attack at a church that killed three girls and injured a dozen others, reported the Voice of the Martyrs. Two assailants dressed in burqas, the traditional women’s garb, tossed a grenade at a Presbyterian church in a village about 160 miles south of Islamabad. Meanwhile, an attack in Islamabad was thwarted when police found two grenades and 20 bullets hidden in a shopping bag near St. Thomas Protestant Church where about 1,000 worshipers, including foreigners, attended a Christmas Day service. The Associated Press quoted the pastor as saying, “It was God who changed the plans of those people.” (Religion Today)

CHRISTIAN WORKERS FREELY DISTRIBUTE NEW TESTAMENTS IN ISTANBUL For the first time in 13 years of distributing New Testaments, Christian workers in Istanbul, Turkey, were given freedom to hand out the Scriptures on Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve without harassment from authorities. In the report, received at the U.S. office of Turkish World Outreach in Grand Junction, Colo., a Christian worker said it was an “exhilarating experience to distribute New Testaments even when the police came — to not be stopped, arrested or taken in by them. We had to be in a new mindset, realizing we had permission, authority and total freedom to distribute New Testaments on the street!” Fifteen workers distributed more than 3,200 New Testaments in six hours on the main street of Istanbul. “The street police came four times to check and were amazed that we had permission,” the worker said. “News reporters tried to stir up trouble by filming and interviewing people on the street to get them to complain that we were distributing New Testaments in an Islamic country. The Ulusal TV Channel came and filmed us. They scurried away only when I pretended to call Security on my cell phone. Two people came from another newspaper and took pictures of us. The commercial police came two times to check our permission. Someone angrily said he would send his friends to come and fight with us. Some of the on-duty street police took New Testaments. One said, ‘Islam has done nothing for us.'” (Assist News Service)

VIOLENCE ESCALATES IN NIGERIA WITH MURDER OF PASTOR, 16 OTHERS The recent murder of a Christian leader in Nigeria has led to widespread fears of further attacks by Muslim extremists on Christian communities in the country. Rev. Bitrus Manjang, 69, retired vice president of the Church of Christ in Nigeria, was shot dead in front of his home in Rim, Plateau state, Dec. 12, along with one of his sons, his daughter-in-law and a 6-month-old child. In all, 17 people were killed during the attack, supposedly in response to complaints from a farmer who said that Muslim Fulani herdsmen had trampled and destroyed her grain harvest. Many more were wounded, and at least 20 houses were burned down. Bishop Ben Kwashi of Jos described Manjang as a “peaceful man,” adding that “it is our belief that a subtle war on the church in Plateau state has been declared. The church is suffering a lot, and those in authority do not seem able to provide succor, help or protection.” Christians in Jos and Plateau states are concerned that further attacks will follow after reports of threats from extremist Muslims. Christians in Plateau, Taraba and Adamawa states have already experienced attacks in the aftermath of the holy Islamic month of Ramadan which ended on Dec. 5. (Christian Solidarity Worldwide)

* 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.

ROMANIA’S ETHNIC HUNGARIANS GET FIRST CHRISTIAN RADIO NETWORK Romania’s estimated 2 million Hungarians observed Christmas while listening to their own Christian radio network for the first time. Since Christmas Eve, the Hungarian-language radio network began broadcasting at the 88.3 FM frequency in Cluj, the main town of Romania’s Transylvania region, Hungarian Radio reported. Agnus Radio, owned by the Transylvanian Reformed Church diocese, broadcasts religious services, interviews, news and music, said Attila Sebesi Karen, the network’s editor-in-chief. “One-third of the daily eight-hour program schedule is about religious topics, and two-thirds of it is to transmit secular public service announcements.” The religious broadcasts include programs from the Reformed Church, Catholics, Unitarians, evangelicals and the Romanian Orthodox Church. (Assist News Service)

* HCJB World Radio broadcasts the gospel locally in six Romanian cities, including Cluj, via the Radio Voice of the Gospel network, a cooperative effort with the Evangelical Alliance of Romania and the Romanian Missionary Society. A broadcasting license has been awarded for a seventh station in Brasov. The station is expected to go on the air early this year.

POLITICAL SITUATION IN INDIAN STATE RAISES CONCERNS FOR MISSIONARIES The political situation in western India’s Gujarat state is causing concern for mission agencies. Ricky Gnakanan of International Needs Network in Bangalore says the state’s fiery new chief minister has reunited the Bharatiya Janata party under a banner that is causing concern for mission agencies. “This has been a very strong campaign, and very openly pro-Hindu state,” he said. “As a result, this could have a very serious impact on evangelistic activities in Gujarat.” As a result of this new dynamic in Indian politics, “the pressure is definitely on the Christians, so that wherever there are outreaches going on, there are open attacks on believers,” Gnakanan says. “Prayers are needed for those Christians who are actually involved in proclaiming the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.” (Mission Network News)

‘POWER BASE OF CHRISTIANITY’ CONTINUES SHIFT TO SOUTHERN HEMISPHERE Even as believers are becoming targets in many areas hostile to the gospel, the church is growing, says Dr. David Shibley of Global Advance. “I see two very strong trends for 2003,” he said. “First . . . the power base of Christianity shifting to the southern hemisphere with its newer, more vigorous churches in Africa, Asia and Latin America.” Shibley also points to a second movement in the U.S. that is equally exciting. “I expect an extreme youth revival,” he said. “I think we’ve seen remnants of that, and the beginnings of that in the last several years.” (Mission Network News)

381,000 COME TO CHRIST WORLDWIDE THROUGH BIBLE MINISTRY The Bible League reported that record numbers of people came to Christ in 2002 as a result of its ministries worldwide despite a downturn in the economy and the threat of war. An e-mail report from the organization stated that more than 381,000 people put faith in Christ with 3,544 new churches planted, many in areas without a local church. In addition, 2.6 million people completed Bible studies, 21 million Scriptures were distributed and more than 350,000 people were trained to share the salvation message with others. (The Bible League)

* * * * * * * * * * * * * 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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