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Today’s News Headlines:

GOVERNMENT SURVEY OF WORSHIP PLACES CONCERNS CHRISTIANS IN INDIA PAKISTANI CHRISTIANS URGE PRAYER AMID ESCALATING VIOLENCE NIGERIAN GOVERNMENT COMPENSATES WORSHIP PLACES FOR DAMAGE OFFICIAL BIBLE PRINTING IN CHINA DROPS BY 23 PERCENT PRAYER HELPS PREVENT 16 SUICIDES AT ‘DEATH BRIDGE’ IN GERMANY BELIEVERS FOCUS PRAYER ON ISRAEL BY ‘ADOPTING’ COMMUNITIES

Today’s News Stories:

GOVERNMENT SURVEY OF WORSHIP PLACES CONCERNS CHRISTIANS IN INDIA Christians in southwestern India’s Kerala state say they will not cooperate with a new government survey. They want more clarification on why a census survey is aimed at the Christian-Muslim places of worship. Bibles for the World President Rochunga Pudaite says the survey is “creating quite a bit of confusion and fear because they’re wondering whether this survey is a means of identifying who is a Christian, who is an outstanding Christian who has been getting converts. Ultimately, they may be able to attack those individuals.” Pudaite says this also highlights the need for prayer. “Christians are being attacked everyday in one place or another right now,” he says. “We need to pray that No. 1, God will give them the courage, and there will be no fear in their hearts; No. 2, that God will protect them as He said in His Word; and No. 3, that the enemy will be defeated.” (Mission Network News)

* In partnership with FEBA Radio, HCJB World Radio airs weekly Christian programs to eastern India via shortwave in three languages: Bhojpuri, Chattisgarhi and Mundari. A five-hour block of English programs also beams across India from HCJB World Radio-Australia’s new shortwave site in Kununurra, Australia.

PAKISTANI CHRISTIANS URGE PRAYER AMID ESCALATING VIOLENCE After a bomb blasted a Shi’ite place of prayer and a Roman Catholic priest was murdered outside his home, Christians in Pakistan are requesting urgent prayer for their safety and continued ministry. A bomb blast in Quetta City near the Afghanistan border on Friday, July 4, targeted a Shi’ite place of prayer, but Christians feared they could be caught in the crossfire between two warring Muslim factions. The blast occurred when two militants entered the Imam Bargah where 500 Muslims had gathered for prayer. Official reports say 20 people were killed in the blast, but unconfirmed reports indicate that up to 140 may have died. Three weeks earlier 13 Muslims were killed while traveling in a van when two men on motorbikes fired on them. “The situation in our city is growing worse day after day,” said a confidential source. “Everything in the city is disrupted. There is a general curfew. All educational institutions are closed. All shops are closed except general grocery stores may open a few hours a day. Attendance at churches is only 10 percent of normal. . . . Uncertainty and insecurity affect everyone.” Religious extremists are also conducting strikes throughout the country. (Missions Insider)

NIGERIAN GOVERNMENT COMPENSATES WORSHIP PLACES FOR DAMAGE The government of northern Nigeria’s Kaduna state has released nearly $10 million in compensation for Christian churches and Muslim mosques destroyed in last year’s religious riots. A government spokesman said the money is to help finance the reconstruction of 119 churches and 39 mosques destroyed in violent clashes between Muslims and Christians. In a letter to Christian and Muslim leaders, Malam Ya’u Shehu, Kaduna state’s accountant-general, indicated that $8.9 million will be made available to rebuilt Christian churches, and about $1 million will go toward the reconstruction of mosques. Still, Muslim militants in Kano, a city in northern Nigeria, forcibly occupied a church building and threatened to “spill blood” if the state government does not close the church. Muslim militants also burned the Redeemed Christian Church of God in April. When church leaders decided to reconstruct the building last month, a mob of more than 200 Muslim militants stormed the premises and lay siege to it, threatening to kill any Christian who came to worship. State police authorities dispatched armed officers to the church, but police said they couldn’t guarantee the safety of church members. (Compass Direct)

* 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.

OFFICIAL BIBLE PRINTING IN CHINA DROPS BY 23 PERCENT Official Bible production in China has diminished by more than 20 percent in the past three years. The Amity Printing Company based in Nanjing, which prints an annual quota of Bibles, reported that 519,493 copies were printed in the first quarter of 2003. This number is on track to reach the target of 2 million copies “approved for this year.” However, from 1994 to 1999, the average number of Bibles printed each year was 2.6 million, indicating a drop of about 23 percent. There is no apparent reason for this decrease other than government policy. The United Bible Societies reported five years ago that “as many as 40 percent of the Christians in China, mostly in remote areas, still do not have their own Bibles.” More than 30 million Bibles were legally printed in China in the past two decades. This is a considerable achievement, but if supplies are limited to the 2 million official copies produced annually, most Christians will have to wait for years to receive a personal copy of the Scriptures. (Compass Direct)

PRAYER HELPS PREVENT 16 SUICIDES AT ‘DEATH BRIDGE’ IN GERMANY Three youths committed suicide by jumping from the 256-foot high G ¶ltzschtalbr ¼cke at the end of August 2001, starting a sad series of suicides in eastern Germany’s Vogtland region. More and more people began jumping in a form of “suicide tourism,” and the bridge became known as the “Death Bridge,” reported the Bild newspaper. In August 2002 local Christians started praying against this trend. They prayed nonstop for five months, asking that the bridge would no longer be a place where people sought death. “The Christians also prayed for the police and border guards performing their difficult jobs, and that God would position angels to prevent people jumping,” reported Joshua News. “Between May and September 2002, 16 people said they wanted to put an end to their life by jumping from the bridge — but were unable! Many of them said, ‘I had made up my mind to jump, but for some reason, I couldn’t do it!’ In August 2002 two more persons jumped, both believed to be Satanists, but local Christians were not discouraged. More people joined for prayer on the bridge than in the churches.” (Friday Fax)

BELIEVERS FOCUS PRAYER ON ISRAEL BY ‘ADOPTING’ COMMUNITIES Christian Friends of Israel is encouraging believers worldwide to pray for this imperiled nation by having them “adopt an Israeli city, town, kibbutz or village” regardless of the ethnic origin of the inhabitants. Interested persons who send an e-mail message to will be assigned a community and receive information on how to pray for that specific place. Prayer partners will also receive a map of Israel with the assigned location highlighted. (Intercessors for America)

FREE WORLD WALL MAP: Full-color, 22-inch by 34-inch world wall map. To order, e-mail your name and mailing address to or visit http://www.hcjb.org.

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