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Today’s News Headlines:

CHRISTIAN BROADCASTS HELP CALM INDONESIAN CITY AFTER BOMBING EVANGELIST’S MURDER SPARKS RIOTING IN NIGERIA BOY BORN IN THE MUD IN INDIA NOW OPERATES ORPHANAGE BELIEVER MURDERED, PASTOR CLUBBED IN SOUTH INDIA ASSEMBLIES OF GOD OKs ‘DIVORCED MARRIAGE’

Today’s News Stories:

CHRISTIAN BROADCASTS HELP CALM INDONESIAN CITY AFTER BOMBING A radical Islamic group has claimed responsibility in the explosion outside the Marriot Hotel this week in the Indonesian city of Jakarta. That explosion claimed the lives of 14 people. Far East Broadcasting Company (FEBC) broadcasts Christian programming in Jakarta and other cities in the region. FEBC’s President Jim Bowman says situations like these help broadcasters share a message of hope. “The thing that Christian radio can do is calm people down and keep reminding them about mortality and about the things that really matter. The fact is, people are always more open to the gospel when these kinds of things occur.” (Mission Network News)

EVANGELIST’S MURDER SPARKS RIOTING IN NIGERIA Up to fifteen people have been killed in the town of Numan, northeastern Nigeria, after a Muslim man stabbed a woman evangelist to death. According to the UK-based Barnabas Fund, Mrs. Esther Ethan was killed June 9th after she had been engaged in street evangelism. Reports said that after Mrs. Ethan finished her evangelistic activities she walked the short distance to her home with the man following close behind. Her children saw him emerge from the house moments later carrying a knife dripping with blood and said they believe their mother’s killing was religiously motivated. “An enraged Christian mob chased the killer, who took refuge in a police station,” said a spokesman. “Thwarted in their attempts to catch him, they directed their anger against Muslim individuals and property.” The Muslim community, a minority in Numan, responded to this violence in a like manner. After at least two days of total disorder, during which many citizens fled the town, up to 15 people were killed and four mosques and three churches razed to the ground.” Since the establishment of sharia (Islamic law) in twelve states of northern Nigeria, relations between Christians and Muslims in the country have become very tense. Numan is in the state of Adamawa, which does not have sharia, but the Muslim population is growing with an influx from further north. It is not inconceivable that Adamawa may eventually adopt sharia. (Assist News Service)

* 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.

BOY BORN IN THE MUD IN INDIA NOW OPERATES ORPHANAGE Thanks to the faithful giving of a loving sponsor, a poor Banjara tribal boy who was literally “born in the mud” was raised in a Christian orphanage. Today that man and his wife operate their own orphanage for 400 Banjara tribal orphans, and needy children. They also field 69 missionaries they have trained from the Banjara tribe. The Banjaras are a 32 million people group despised and considered “untouchable” by upper caste Hindus. Of Roma Gypsy origin, they came from Rajasthan and were nomadic herders under the Moguls. They later became burden bearers during the British occupation of India, and were legally set free from slavery as recently as 1975. Now many hear the gospel on the radio or preached in person by one of the missionaries trained by this leader. (Missions Insider)

BELIEVER MURDERED, PASTOR CLUBBED IN SOUTH INDIA According to the leader of a ministry based in Tamil Nadu, in India, radical Hindu extremists barged into the house of one believer in Karnataka state recently, clubbed him to death, then strung a rope around his neck and tied his body to the roof to feign a suicide. Local Hindus insisted on giving the body a Hindu funeral. The mission leader also said a pastor converted from the ranks of the Gypsies was attacked in Tamil Nadu state in late May. Hoodlums came to the village and clubbed the pastor with a log until he lay unconscious. When the pastor opened his eyes they were beating his son “like savages.” The attackers then forced the two men to go to the police station, where authorities warned them to stop converting people to Christianity. Local authorities said the pastor could preach inside his own house to his own family, but not to others. Under the ruling radical Hindu party, reported violence against Christians seems to be on the increase. Even though Karnataka does not yet have an anti-conversion law, the presence of an anti-conversion law adopted last fall in neighboring Tamil Nadu-and similar laws in four northern states is thought to have lent a permissive atmosphere for such violence. Several families have quit coming to the local church worship meetings and have chosen to worship privately at home because of the animosity towards Christians. (Missions Insider)

* 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.

ASSEMBLIES OF GOD OKs ‘DIVORCED MARRIAGE’ The Assemblies of God (AG) Church General Council has approved a controversial resolution giving its 33,000 ministers more authority to officiate at weddings of people who have been divorced. Last Thursday, a resolution was approved with a show of hands by the 3,734 delegates to the denomination’s biennial convention in Washington, D.C. “This is not a statement in favor of divorce,” said Michael Jackson, a pastor from Wisconsin, who sponsored the resolution. Instead, Jackson said, the resolution empowers pastors to make their own decisions about who should marry for the 2.7 million-member Pentecostal denomination. Under current church law, ministers can only officiate at the weddings of church members who were divorced because of adultery or abandonment. Phil Nissley, a pastor from Taylor, Michigan, unsuccessfully urged the general council, composed of delegates and pastors, to reject the change. “It’s time to uphold traditional values, godly values,” said Nissley. (Charisma News Service)

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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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