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Today’s News Headlines:

MINNESOTA PASTOR, 2 JOURNALISTS GET 15-YEAR JAIL TERMS IN LAOS BISHOP CALLS FOR END TO PERSECUTION OF EVANGELICALS IN CHIAPAS CHRISTIAN FINANCIAL LEADER LARRY BURKETT DIES OF ILLNESS RUSSIAN OFFICIALS AGAIN DENY VISA FOR U.S. CHURCH WORKER CHRISTIAN GROUPS IN U.K. WARN AGAINST ‘GAY MARRIAGE’ PROPOSALS PRE-TEENS CATCH MISSIONS VISION THROUGH ‘PEANUT BOOT CAMP’

Today’s News Stories:

MINNESOTA PASTOR, 2 JOURNALISTS GET 15-YEAR JAIL TERMS IN LAOS A Laotian court convicted Rev. Naw-Karl Mua of Light of Life Lutheran Church, St. Paul, Minn., and two European journalists on charges of “use of warfare items or ordnance” and “obstructing an official in the performance of his duty” in a June 30 trial in Phonesavan. They each received 15-year prison sentences and $1,100 fines. “I am appalled,” said Rev. Peter Rogness, bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America’s St. Paul-area synod in a statement. “Those of us who work with pastor Mua know him to be a quiet, religious man who cares deeply about the dignity of each individual.” The government of Laos detained Mua on June 3 after he was reported to have accompanied the two European journalists into the Xieng Khouang province of Laos to help them research a story on human rights violations and persecution of Hmong people by the communist government in Laos. Mua, a native of Laos, lived in a refugee camp in Thailand for one year before moving to France in 1978 and immigrating to the U.S. in 1985. He is now a U.S. citizen. U.S. State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said, “We don’t believe that this trial and its outcome have served the cause of justice. The trial has fallen well short of international standards of jurisprudence.” (Evangelical Lutheran Church in America)

BISHOP CALLS FOR END TO PERSECUTION OF EVANGELICALS IN CHIAPAS The Catholic bishop of San Crist ³bal de las Casas, Chiapas, Mexico’s southernmost state, has appealed for an end to the violent and prolonged persecution of evangelical Christians by “traditionalist” Catholics. Bishop Felipe Arizmendi Esquivel, speaking to the Chiapas newspaper Cuarto Poder following a visit to a village in San Juan Chamula to consecrate an indigenous priest, called for “no more expulsions or divisions on the basis of religion.” He asked that “there be no more destruction nor house-burnings, nor skirmishes, nor the shedding of blood due to religious, political, cultural or economic differences.” For the past 30 years, native Tzotzil- and Tzeltal-speaking Indians who have embraced evangelical Christianity have faced great opposition. Religious intolerance has triggered the forced expulsion of some 35,000 evangelicals from ancestral lands in Chamula and other districts. Despite the unrelenting pressure, evangelical Christianity has grown steadily throughout the Chiapas highlands as more than 35 percent of the state population adheres to evangelicalism, up from 16 percent in 1991. (Open Doors)

CHRISTIAN FINANCIAL LEADER LARRY BURKETT DIES OF ILLNESS Larry Burkett, well-known Christian author and radio personality, died Friday, July 4, following a long battle with cancer and heart disease. He was 64. During the past 27 years, Burkett used seminars, as well as books, newsletters, and four radio programs to share the Bible’s message on finances with readers and listeners in the U.S. and abroad. He published more than 70 books, including several national bestsellers. The four radio programs, “Money Matters,” “How to Manage Your Money,” “Money Watch” and “A Money Minute” are carried on more than 1,000 radio stations worldwide. In 1976 Burkett left Campus Crusade for Crusade for Christ where he served as a financial counselor for three years to form Christian Financial Concepts (CFC), a nonprofit organization dedicated to teaching the biblical principles of handling money. In September 2000, CFC merged with Crown Ministries to form Crown Financial Ministries based in Gainesville, Fla. Burkett was also instrumental in the founding of other Christian organizations, including the Alliance Defense Fund, Fellowship of Companies for Christ and the National Christian Foundation. As a former cancer survivor, he was a pioneer in the area of alternative cancer treatments and influenced the Georgia legislature to pass a bill providing access to alternative treatments for terminally ill patients. Burkett is survived by his wife Judy, four grown children, and nine grandchildren. Judy has asked that memorial gifts be given to Crown Financial Ministries in lieu of flowers. The memorial service will be at 1 p.m. Friday, July 11, at Church of the Apostles in Atlanta, Ga. (Crown Financial Ministries)

RUSSIAN OFFICIALS AGAIN DENY VISA FOR U.S. CHURCH WORKER A year after five U.S. citizens working with the evangelical Kostroma Christian Church in Kostroma, Russia, were denied visas, another U.S. citizen working in the city with the Christian humanitarian aid organization, Children’s HopeChest, has been denied a visa. American preacher Bill Norton, who used to visit Kostroma’s Family of God Pentecostal Church twice a year, has been barred entry three times since last summer, making Kostroma the Russian city with the greatest number of known foreign church worker expulsions. Family of God pastor Andrei Danilov said the Russian Foreign Ministry had barred Norton “in connection with a threat to national security.” However, government officials refused to explain why they consider him to be a threat. (Forum 18 News Service)

CHRISTIAN GROUPS IN U.K. WARN AGAINST ‘GAY MARRIAGE’ PROPOSALS Government proposals in the U.K. to give homosexual couples the same legal rights as married couples are tantamount to “gay marriage,” say leaders of the Evangelical Alliance and Christian Action Research and Education (CARE). The evangelical Christian groups are “deeply concerned” about the proposals which include pension and property entitlements if gay and lesbian couples register their commitment in a civil ceremony. The moves will give next-of-kin rights in hospitals, allow gay couples to benefit from a dead partner’s pension, and exempt them from inheritance tax on a partner’s home. While recognizing that there are valid justice issues to be considered for homosexual couples, such as next-of-kin rights in hospitals, the Evangelical Alliance and CARE believe that these should be considered on a case-by-case basis. “The answer is not to simply transfer all the benefits married couples enjoy. Marriage involves the union of one man to one woman, to the exclusion of all others for life. There are no such obligations placed on gay couples in these proposals,” said Roger Smith, head of public policy at CARE. Don Horrocks, public affairs manager of the Evangelical Alliance, agreed that marriage is a “unique institution which the state acknowledges as providing the best foundation for a stable society.” Government representative deny that the proposals amount to gay marriage. (Evangelical Alliance)

PRE-TEENS CATCH MISSIONS VISION THROUGH ‘PEANUT BOOT CAMP’ Children in the U.S. between the ages of 7 and 9 are catching the vision for evangelistic outreach. Teen Missions International recently held a ministry called the “Peanut Boot Camp” with the goal of introducing pre-teens to missions. The young people did construction, ministered at a nursing home and baked cookies for a local police station. Teen Missions officials said one young girl shared the gospel with a sheriff’s deputy. (Mission Network News)

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

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