A ministry of HCJB World Radio

Today’s News Headlines:

HAITIANS TO CELEBRATE NATIONAL DAY WITH VOODOO SACRIFICES UGANDAN REBEL GROUP LEADER ORDERS KILLING OF CHRISTIANS CHRISTIAN LEADER APPEALS FOR END TO TRIBAL CONFLICT IN INDIA LAWSUIT CHALLENGES FIRST HOMOSEXUAL PUBLIC SCHOOL IN U.S. CHRISTIAN YOUTH CLEAN UP U.K. NEIGHBORHOOD MINISTRY SAYS DOORS ARE OPENING FOR GOSPEL MESSAGE IN ASIA

Today’s News Stories:

HAITIANS TO CELEBRATE NATIONAL DAY WITH VOODOO SACRIFICES Today while Haitians celebrate their National Day with sacrifices to Voodoo demons, Christians will mount a National Day of Prayer in the name of Jesus Christ. The National Day hearkens back to August 14, 1804, when a black slave named Boukman sacrificed a pig and drank its blood to form a pact with the devil. The Haitians agreed to give their land to the devil for 200 years in exchange for freedom from the French (which they obtained). Traditionally on this anniversary date a child is sacrificed by Voodoo ritual. Last week, a baby was stolen from a local hospital, presumably to be sacrificed. President Jean Bertrand Aristide made Voodoo an “official” religion, giving it equal footing with Christianity, and has twice publicly recommitted the country to Voodoo. (Missions Insider)

UGANDAN REBEL GROUP LEADER ORDERS KILLING OF CHRISTIANS The Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA), a brutal rebel group that has terrorized northern Uganda for seventeen years, has begun specifically directing its attack against Christians. Their leader, Joseph Kony, (who claims to be guided by messages from angels) has ordered the killing of Christian leaders across the denominations. Barbaric and terrifying attacks against civilians now occur on an almost daily basis as part of a new wave of violence launched by the group. Refugees and local church leaders reported that from the end of last year the Islamic extremist government of Sudan once again began to back the LRA. Ammunition, guns, military equipment and supplies provided by Sudan have enabled the LRA to unleash its latest wave of terror. The LRA is fighting to overthrow the Ugandan government. The group is notorious for its widespread use of child soldiers. It is believed that some 20,000 Ugandan children have been kidnapped and cruelly abused by the group. Children are severely beaten and systematically raped, forced to fight and kill for the LRA and to savagely discipline (even murder) other children. Many are mutilated, having hands, noses, ears and lips amputated. (Barnabus Fund)

* HCJB World Radio, together with the Evangelical Churches of Kampala and FEBA Radio, broadcasts the gospel locally in Uganda on two FM transmitters. HCJB World Radio also worked with Jesus Focus Ministries to put a 500-watt FM station on the air in Masaka. Programs air in English and Luganda.

CHRISTIAN LEADER APPEALS FOR END TO TRIBAL CONFLICT IN INDIA Dr. Rochunga Pudaite, the founder of Bibles for the World and an Hmar Christian leader, called on both sides of the violent struggle in northeast India between the Hmars and the mainly Hindu Dimasas to end their fight. In an interview from his office in the United States, Dr. Pudaite said troubles started on March 3, when what he called “Naga political revolutionaries” started the violence “by kidnapping three people from a neighboring Dimasa village and demanding ransom.” He went on to say, “Apparently one of the kidnappers wore a Hmar cloth. As a result, the Dimasa people accused the Hmars of being involved in the kidnapping.” Dr. Pudaite said that several Christian Hmar villages were set on fire. “Twenty-one Christians were burned alive in their homes because there was no time to escape in the night. Unfortunately, some angry Hmar young men took matters in their own hands and retaliated by burning three Dimasa villages, which resulted in the death of 11 Dimasas. The latest news we have is that a total of 669 houses were burned to the ground and 16 villages destroyed,” he said. (Assist News Service)

LAWSUIT CHALLENGES FIRST HOMOSEXUAL PUBLIC SCHOOL IN U.S. New York City announced it would soon be opening the first public high school devoted to gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender students in the United States. By September, Harvey Milk High School (named after San Francisco’s first openly gay city supervisor who was assassinated in 1978) expects to enroll 100 students. A lawsuit has now been filed in the New York Supreme Court to challenge the validity of the new public school. Mathew D. Staver, a Liberty Counsel attorney representing the Plaintiffs in the lawsuit, said New York regulations prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation. “Thus the School, which discriminates against heterosexuals, violates the Regulation.” According to Staver, 84% of the children served by the New York School System are racial minorities, and as many as 95% of the students fail basic competence evaluations. “The city took 3.2 million dollars away from these minority student schools and diverted the money to fund a school that discriminates based on sexual preferences where heterosexuals are not welcome.” (Maranatha Christian Journal)

CHRISTIAN YOUTH CLEAN UP U.K. NEIGHBORHOOD “How do you reach a zero crime rate in one of England’s most run-down neighborhoods, and that during a period of ten days? You bring 1,000 young Christians to the area!” That was the summary given by a Manchester police officer of the Soul Survivor outreach to crime-plagued Swinton Valley in Greater Manchester. The Christian youths tidied up three hundred gardens, collected over 200 tons of refuse and renovated a public hall and a park. Eighteen months later the youth crime rate had dropped by almost half, so that even the British Home Secretary Jack Straw traveled to Manchester to present the police with a medal. Soul Survivor is planning a similar outreach in London in August 2004. (Compass)

MINISTRY SAYS DOORS ARE OPENING FOR GOSPEL MESSAGE IN ASIA Ron Pritz with OC International reported recently that many people in Asia are just waiting to hear the gospel. OCI is working side-by-side with national church leaders to help grow the church. Pritz says because Asia is already very ‘religious’, the gospel message is tolerated. “There’s a wide open door to work in those communities. Generally speaking, we find openness to the gospel. We find people turning to Christ and tremendous church explosion in some (Asian) countries today.” While short-term workers have increased recently, long term commitments haven’t. “To go for the incarnational ministry–where you actually go into a country long enough to learn the language, the culture, to come along side the people, to get into their homes and become friends–it’s more difficult to find people willing to invest that kind of time in kingdom work.” (Mission Network News)

Web: http://www.hcjb.org