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Today’s News Headlines:

ZIMBABWE CHURCHES APOLOGIZE FOR INACTION AMID INCREASING POVERTY VIETNAMESE CHURCH REBOUNDS AFTER NARROWLY AVOIDING DESTRUCTION PERSECUTION OF CHRISTIANS IN INDONESIA ON THE RISE AGAIN RELIGIOUS DIFFERENCES ADD TO RIFT IN U.S.-EUROPEAN RELATIONS RUSSIA’S GROWING DRUG PROBLEM OPENS DOORS TO DISTRIBUTE BIBLES PERUVIANS TESTIFY OF DELIVERANCE FROM WITCHCRAFT

Today’s News Stories:

ZIMBABWE CHURCHES APOLOGIZE FOR INACTION AMID INCREASING POVERTY In a stunning appeal for forgiveness, Zimbabwe’s Christian churches apologized Thursday for not doing enough to stop political violence, hunger and the economic collapse of the nation. Western governments and human rights groups blame the chaos embroiling the once-prosperous and stable southern African country on the increasingly autocratic and violent rule of President Robert Mugabe. The Zimbabwe Council of Churches, representing all denominations in the heavily Christian country, said it had watched passively as poverty worsened, leaving children begging on the streets. The council includes about a dozen denominations comprising more than half the population of about 12 million. The council also admitted that it stood by as the state health and education services collapsed, widening political divisions in the nation. “We have, with our own eyes, watched as violence, rape, intimidation, harassment and various forms of torture have ravaged the nation. Yet some perpetrators have been set free,” the council said in a statement. “We have been witness to and buried our people who have starved to death due to food shortages . . . while we have continued to pray, we have not been moved to action. We apologize to the people of Zimbabwe for not having done enough at a time when the nation looked to us for guidance.” The church leaders released the statement after their annual meeting which ended July 2. (Associated Press)

VIETNAMESE CHURCH REBOUNDS AFTER NARROWLY AVOIDING DESTRUCTION The Thu Thiem Church in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, appears to be returning to normal after government officials and church leaders reached an agreement, sparing the facility from being torn down. Some 160 Christians attended services on Sunday, July 13, up from 140 the previous week. In June, members of the congregation began reconstructing a building that had been torn down by authorities in July 2000. The new construction stopped after authorities confiscated the building materials. On Sunday, July 6, as church members gathered on the site for a worship service, 200 police officers surrounded them and demanded that all new construction be dismantled by July 12. However, the two sides reached a compromise after meeting on July 10, each admitting partial fault. Government authorities acknowledged taking too long to consider the application for the new building while the church leaders admitted their error in beginning construction on farmland before receiving a government permit. Pastor Truong Van Nganh also agreed to withdraw the letter of protest he had written. (Voice of the Martyrs)

PERSECUTION OF CHRISTIANS IN INDONESIA ON THE RISE AGAIN Violence against Christians in Indonesia has been increasing since Rinaldy Damanik, a pastor and human rights advocate, was sentenced June 16 to three years in prison on what his supporters call trumped-up illegal weapons charges. After receiving his sentence, Damanik’s legal team threatened to file an appeal to the Central Sulawesi high court. Meanwhile, on Thursday, July 10, Julius Ledo Pamini, a Torajan Christian, was shot to death in broad daylight at his plantation between the Sa’atu and Pinedapa villages, reported International Christian Concern. The same day a bomb destroyed a Kawua village restaurant owned by a Christian couple. Four people were seriously injured and hospitalized in the bombing. On Saturday, July 12, Christian policeman Petrian Malenge was shot in Lembomawo village while riding a motorcycle with his neighbor. Christians are also being targeted by a new bill that could force private Christian schools to teach classes on Islam. (Religion Today)

RELIGIOUS DIFFERENCES ADD TO RIFT IN U.S.-EUROPEAN RELATIONS As the European Union struggles about whether to reference God and Christianity in its constitution, experts on U.S.-European relations said stark differences between the U.S. and Europe on the importance of religion may contribute to the rift regarding foreign policy. At the July 10 conference, experts said conflicting opinions about the separation of church and state, the use of religious language by politicians, and the prominence of faith in the public sphere have accentuated the diplomatic split between Europe and America. While Americans equate freedom with the ability to practice religion openly, Europeans believe freedom is gained by confining religion to the private sphere. Experts also cited President Bush’s frequent invocations of God as a major source of diplomatic tension. The president’s use of religious rhetoric in articulating his administration’s policy toward Iraq, Iran and North Korea, shocked Europeans and reinforced the stereotype of America as a “religiously zealous nation.” The stereotype may be partially true as indicated in a study conducted by the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press. The study found that religion was important to nearly 60 percent of Americans compared to just 11 percent in France and 21 percent in Germany. (Religion Today)

RUSSIA’S GROWING DRUG PROBLEM OPENS DOORS TO DISTRIBUTE BIBLES Drug abuse prevention is opening new doors to distribute copies of the Scriptures in Russia, says Book of Hope’s Rob Hoskins. The organization recently entered into a strategic alliance with Teen Challenge international — a ministry fighting against drug addiction worldwide. Book of Hope had been receiving increasing resistance in Russia’s public schools, but that’s changing. “Russia now has the fastest growing drug problem in the world today,” Hoskins says. “So what we found is that by going to the schools and doing prevention programs, suddenly the doors to the schools opened wide open to us because that’s the felt need in the Russian school system.” Bill Everett of Teen Challenge adds that by working together, the two ministries can better reach the goal of putting a Bible into the hands of every child in the world. “We want to bring the message to the lost and the hopeless that there is a cure, and that cure is Jesus Christ.” The two ministries recently held a joint conference to train 180 national Christian workers. (Mission Network News)

* HCJB World Radio reaches across Russia with a variety of radio ministries. The mission has been sending gospel broadcasts across the country via shortwave since 1941, first from Quito, Ecuador, and now from the U.K. In the early 1990s the ministry began “planting” local radio ministries in Russia and now works with partners in more than a dozen cities. In 2000 HCJB World Radio helped launch the first Christian Russian radio satellite network (operated by Christian Radio for Russia), reaching across Euro-Asia. Downlinks have been installed with more than 26 partners in Russia alone.

PERUVIANS TESTIFY OF DELIVERANCE FROM WITCHCRAFT In a land where many tribal people are still steeped in satanic superstitions, a ministry is reaching out and claiming lives for Christ. This ministry told Christian Aid of the salvation of an entire family that had been involved in sorcery and witchcraft and actively opposed the gospel. One missionary, however, was faithful to share the message of Christ and pray with them. After six months, the mother came to the Lord. “She was convinced that God was the only one who can deliver her from the power of evil, and so it happened,” the missionary said. Soon after that, her husband also came to Jesus. Now the whole family preaches the gospel of salvation in their community. The ministry also told about a 54-year-old man who was held captive by witchcraft and alcoholism. Through this mission, he came to the Lord. Then he shared the gospel with his wife and daughter, and they were saved. Now he has donated some of his land to the ministry for a church building. The mission continues to hold evangelistic meetings at which 6,000 or more people hear the gospel. In the last six months alone, 600 people came to Christ. The ministry also has planted 300 churches across Peru. (Missions Insider)

* HCJB World Radio, together with local partners, has helped plant Christian radio stations in seven Peruvian cities. Affiliate stations in three cities also carry Spanish programming distributed by ALAS, the ministry’s Latin American satellite radio network. Radio programs in both Spanish and Quechua also air across Peru via shortwave from Quito, Ecuador.

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