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Today’s News Headlines:

EGYPTIAN FORCES CANCEL PLANS TO LEVEL WALL AROUND MONASTERY FOREST FIRE DAMAGES EVANGELICAL RETREAT CENTER IN SPAIN DEPORTED ERITREAN BELIEVER BANNED FROM SAUDI ARABIA FOR 5 YEARS HINDU OPPOSITION TO CHRISTIANS ESCALATES IN NORTHERN INDIA TRAINING CENTER IN SOUTH DAKOTA HELPS RESTORE INDIANS’ DIGNITY * WORLD RADIO NETWORK STATIONS ESCAPE DAMAGE FROM TROPICAL STORM

Today’s News Stories:

EGYPTIAN FORCES CANCEL PLANS TO LEVEL WALL AROUND MONASTERY More than 200 Egyptian security forces equipped with 18 bulldozers and heavy trucks surrounded a Coptic Orthodox monastery on Egypt’s Red Sea coast this morning, but withdrew later in the day after President Hosny Mubarak intervened, a human rights watchdog said. The Barnabas Fund, which supports persecuted Christians, said the breakthrough came just hours after police officers had surrounded the Coptic Orthodox Monastery of St Anthony’s hours earlier with the apparent intention to destroy its walls. Meanwhile, monks from the monastery were “protesting outside the building, trying desperately to protect their home,” The Barnabas Fund reported in a statement. Bishop H.G. Yustus, head of St. Anthony’s Monastery in El Zaaferana in the Red Sea governorate, said the monks used their bodies as human shields to prevent security forces from attacking the monastery itself. Police also began physically attacking the monks, arresting at least three and injuring one. The police officers were reportedly acting on orders from the Red Sea governorate in Hurghada. The crisis arose because the local governorate claimed the walls of the monastery have been constructed illegally and issued the police with orders to destroy them. However, official permission to construct the walls was obtained in 1992, and they were completed about four years ago. Barnabas Fund said the incident reflects the growing persecution of these and other Christian groups in Egypt. The monastery is one of the world’s oldest, founded in the 4th century by St. Anthony, regarded as the father of monasticism. (Assist/U.S. Copts Association)

FOREST FIRE DAMAGES EVANGELICAL RETREAT CENTER IN SPAIN An evangelical center in Spain recently suffered severe damage from forest fires. A large part of the retreat center, Pinos Reales, in wooded hills about 45 miles west of Madrid, was destroyed during Europe’s recent heat wave. The center is run by the Spanish mission, Evangelismo en Acci ³n (Evangelism in Action). One house with 70 beds was lost, and about 80 percent of the vegetation in the compound — bushes and trees — were destroyed. Several villages in the vicinity had to be evacuated before firefighters on the ground and in the air managed to extinguish the flames. No one was hurt as the fire occurred on Friday, Aug. 1, a transitional day between the departure of one group of guests and the arrival of another. Director Benjamin Martin estimates damage at US$110,000. Insurance does not cover forest fires since they are classified as “natural disasters.” Local evangelical Christians have volunteered to help repair the damage. (IDEA)

DEPORTED ERITREAN BELIEVER BANNED FROM SAUDI ARABIA FOR 5 YEARS A week after he was deported from Saudi Arabia, Eritrean Christian Girmaye Ambaye confirmed that he had been banned from returning to the Muslim country for the next five years. Ambaye, 42, had been jailed in Jeddah since March when he was arrested for witnessing about his Christian faith to Muslims. He is the 13th member of an Ethiopian-Eritrean Christian congregation to be jailed and deported from the Saudi port city over the past two years. Ambaye estimated he had explained the gospel to 600 cellmates during the 20 weeks he spent in a crowded group cell at the detention center, and that 42 of the prisoners indicated to him that they had decided to become Christians. Upon his arrival in Asmara, Eritrean immigration authorities took him into custody, interrogated him and confiscated his identity card and passport before releasing him. Ambaye said he did not know what he would do now that he has returned to Eritrea where he left 15 years ago to find work as a tailor in Saudi Arabia. “I will rest first, and then I will see what the Lord will show me,” he said. (Compass)

HINDU OPPOSITION TO CHRISTIANS ESCALATES IN NORTHERN INDIA Anti-Christian sentiment continues to rise with the growing Hindu nationalist movement in northern India, says Gospel for Asia (GFA) President K.P. Yohanon. He describes the obstacles believers face in areas such as Himachal Pradesh state. “Just the other day, our leader there reported that one of the students in our Bible school went on an outreach, and he was beaten up and abused without any mercy. They destroyed his tracts and booklets and threatened to kill him if he ever came back to that place again. This is something that continues to increase. All we can do is to pray and continue to encourage our brothers. We send them out saying, ‘You know, what Jesus promised is persecution and opposition. Be courageous and be willing to lay down your life for the Lord.'” GFA has established 36 churches and 80 mission stations in Himachal Pradesh. (Mission Network News)

TRAINING CENTER IN SOUTH DAKOTA HELPS RESTORE INDIANS’ DIGNITY While the high school dropout rate continues to climb on many native American reservations, Leon Matthews of the Lakota Training and Leadership Institute in South Dakota works at bringing in Christians to help his people make a better life for themselves. “We want to help develop our people, and we believe that it’s through Jesus Christ that dignity can be restored. It’s through the dignity of Jesus we can hope to build our community on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation.” Half of the residents on the reservation are less than 18 years of age, and the high school dropout rate is 75 percent. Matthews says the institute is working with Worldwide Christian Schools to develop an after-school program. “Our goal is to use the literacy programs as well as mentoring and discipleship to encourage youth to finish high school,” he says. “We’re excited that we can try to build the kingdom of God through this effort.” (Mission Network News)

* WORLD RADIO NETWORK STATIONS ESCAPE DAMAGE FROM TROPICAL STORM World Radio Network’s Gulf Coast installations were spared the full force of Tropical Storm Erika that swept through on the weekend. Radio facilities in Corpus Christi, Brownsville and McAllen, Texas, received limited amounts of wind and rain during the early-morning hours of Saturday, Aug. 16, but sustained “no damage,” said Dwight Lind, WRN’s public information director. “At the last moment, when making landfall, the storm veered toward the south into northern Mexico. There was heavy flooding in Matamoros and Reynosa, Mexico, but no lives were reported lost,” he said. “Thank you for praying for protection of the broadcasting installations of the network.” WRN is a ministry of HCJB World Radio with 23 FM outlets in the U.S. — many along the U.S.-Mexico border. (HCJB World Radio)

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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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