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Today’s News Headlines:

MUSLIM EXTREMISTS IN NIGERIA STEP UP PRESSURE ON CHRISTIANS ANTI-CONVERSION LAW IN INDIAN STATE BEING CHALLENGED IN HIGH COURT FUTURE OF BAPTIST HOSPITAL IN YEMEN UNCERTAIN AFTER SHOOTING UNREST IN VENEZUELA THREATENS TO INTERRUPT AVIATION MINISTRY 3-MONTH PRAYER EFFORT FOCUSES ON COMBATING TERRORISM EVANGELIST LUIS PALAU TO BRING NEW MEANING TO SPRING BREAK

Today’s News Stories:

MUSLIM EXTREMISTS IN NIGERIA STEP UP PRESSURE ON CHRISTIANS Muslim militants armed with guns, clubs, machetes and bows and arrows attacked Christian residential areas in the city of Bauchi on Dec. 26 as Christmas celebrations in the city were concluding. Attackers chanted “Allahu Akbar” (God is great) as they set fire to the Celestial Church of Christ and scores of private residences. Police eventually intervened to stop the attacks. Hundreds of Christians have since taken refuge in police and army barracks in the city or fled the city for fear of more violence. Meanwhile, leaders of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) have denounced incessant attacks by Muslim extremists on churches in the southwestern part of the country. “The clergy and Christians in the Ikota Estate area are increasingly under harassment and terrorism by Muslim fanatics. They have put the churches under taxation,” said Rev. Henry Ogbuechi, CAN area chairman. Harassment surfaced in the nearby state of Ondo when Muslim fundamentalists invaded the Adeyemi College of Education to protest the expulsion of four Muslim students who insisted on wearing veils on campus, a practice prohibited to guard against cheating on examinations. Protesters abducted the college’s Christian provost, Dr. Rueben Adeboyeje. In another incident, Muslim leaders in the city of Sokoto demanded that a Christian church built by Nigerian policemen in their barracks be demolished. Assistant Inspector General of Police Mike Okuo, a Christian, insisted that the church building will remain, pointing out that Muslim policemen have built a mosque in the barracks. (Compass/Religion Today)

* 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.

ANTI-CONVERSION LAW IN INDIAN STATE BEING CHALLENGED IN HIGH COURT The controversial
anti-conversion law in southeastern India’s Tamil Nadu state is being challenged
in the country’s High Court. Bibles for the World says there is growing
pressure to throw the law out. “The Christians are really protesting right
now,” he says. “Even the newspapers are protesting, and the leader of the Dalits
[people outside of the caste system] has been calling this the most undemocratic
law that has ever been passed. He has been really protesting against it too.
So let’s pray and join with them, that by the grace of God, the law would be
reversed.” They said the atmosphere has forced Christian ministries to scale
back. “In the law, even providing Bibles is to be considered as inducement.
We are working very circumspectly and not doing as much as we had been doing.
But I think the law will be overturned, and we will be able to do a much bigger
job than we’ve ever done before.” (Mission Network News)

FUTURE OF BAPTIST HOSPITAL IN YEMEN UNCERTAIN AFTER SHOOTING For awhile it looked as if the Muslim extremist who attacked Jibla Baptist Hospital in Yemen Dec. 30 was successful in his efforts to get rid of the country’s most prominent Christian ministry. Two days after the gunman killed three American mission workers, the 35-year-old hospital was handed to the Muslim government of Yemen, and the facility has been closed since the shooting. Most of the 13 American mission workers and their families have left Jibla, and many won’t return. Despite appearances, those leading the hospital say the Christian ministry will survive. “There will still be as much ministry here [as before],” said Al Lindholm, who is overseeing the transfer of the hospital from its founder and owner, the Southern Baptist International Mission Board (IMB), to the Yemeni government. In fact, the hospital’s recovery since the shooting has been “miraculous,” said Lindholm. “God has given all of us strength. We have been able to do amazing things.” Since the shooting, Lindholm and the five other Baptist workers who remained in Jibla have focused on transferring the 45-bed hospital while reassuring local Yemenis, who have long supported the hospital, that it will indeed reopen. The government has appointed a hospital administrator, is securing funding and is discussing which staff members to keep — and that could include some IMB mission doctors. As the only full-service hospital in the poor area around Jibla, treating 40,000 patients a year, the facility was considered the most prominent Christian ministry in Yemen — but also something of an easy target for terrorists. (Associated Baptist Press)

UNREST IN VENEZUELA THREATENS TO INTERRUPT AVIATION MINISTRY Mission Aviation Fellowship’s operations in Venezuela continue to face the threat of interruption. The group has operated in the country since 1958, but with the political instability, many missionaries have been evacuated. Even through the risk of kidnappings by rebels remains high, MAF staff members are working cautiously. However, the lack of missionary influence may force MAF to cut back its work, hindering village-to-village evangelism. (Mission Network News)

* HCJB World Radio worked with local partners to establish a Christian station in La Morita, Venezuela, in 2000. Partner stations in two additional Venezuelan cities are also affiliated with the ALAS Latin American satellite radio network, operated jointly by HCJB World Radio and Trans World Radio. More than 107 radio outlets in 16 countries carry Spanish programming from the network.

3-MONTH PRAYER EFFORT FOCUSES ON COMBATING TERRORISM Prayer movements across the country are rallying support for a major prayer effort intended to keep the U.S. safe from terrorist attack, reported Charisma News. The Homeland Security Prayer Initiative is urging Christians to unite in 91 days of concerted prayer through April 1. Launched by Ministry to the Nations, the effort has been endorsed by a wide range of groups, including Intercessors for America, Aglow International, the Messianic Jewish Alliance and Global Advance. “Since the tragic events of 9/11, the increase of terrorist activity worldwide and the possibility of war, it’s time for churches in the U.S. and beyond to sound the alarm,” said Ministry to the Nations founder Jim Goll. The aim was to “call forth a Holy Spirit Border Patrol Guard of angelic protection all around the entrances of our nation – our seaports, airports, landmarks, large public gatherings, waterways and sources, military installations,” he said. Participants are being asked to use Psalm 91 as a prayer guide each day during the three-month watch, and follow seven daily prayer points — “praise to God, penitence for our sins, petition for those in authority, proclamation of the names of God, protection for our land, pronouncement of judgment on the powers of darkness, and prophesying life.” (Religion Today)

EVANGELIST LUIS PALAU TO BRING NEW MEANING TO SPRING BREAK Evangelist Luis Palau is out to change the “Spring Break mentality.” It’s still about youth. It’s still about parties. But this year it’s about reaching a generation for Jesus Christ. Palau and more than 800 churches are bringing an evangelistic music festival called Beachfest to the Fort Lauderdale, Fla., area March 22-23. The event will also be aired to hundreds of churches via satellite and carried on more than 500 radio stations. “Young people are searching, they are open,” says Palau. “Some of them are turned off by institutional church. They’re full of problems and questions, but sincere. We’ve got to put biblical concepts and facts before them in a language they understand so they can see that the Bible truly is contemporary.” The event will incorporate non-stop concerts by leading Christian music artists along with demonstrations and testimonies by world-class professional skateboarders and players from the Miami Dolphins All this will be punctuated by evangelistic messages by Palau. (Luis Palau Evangelistic Association)

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