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Today’s Headlines:

CANADA’S SUPREME COURT DEALS NEW BLOW TO TRADITIONAL MARRIAGE AFGHAN BORDER OFFICIALS TEMPORARILY IMPOUND MISSION VEHICLES SECURITY PACT IN SUDAN COULD OPEN UNPRECEDENTED DOORS FOR GOSPEL MISSION TEAMS BRING HOPE TO LIBERIAN REFUGEES IN SIERRA LEONE JEHOVAH’S WITNESSES’ LAWYER RELEASED EARLY FROM TURKMEN PRISON 3,000 EVANGELICALS GATHER IN JERUSALEM FOR FEAST OF TABERNACLES

Today’s News Stories:

CANADA’S SUPREME COURT DEALS NEW BLOW TO TRADITIONAL MARRIAGE The Supreme Court of Canada has again dealt a blow to traditional marriage. The court has refused to hear an appeal from the Evangelical Fellowship of Canada (EFC) in the Ontario marriage case, Halpern vs. Ontario. The appeal was submitted by the Interfaith Coalition for Marriage and Family. The EFC is the main partner in the Interfaith Coalition. “We have lost an important opportunity to express the concerns of millions of Canadians,” said EFC President Bruce Clemenger. “When the challenges to the definition of marriage were started in 2000, it was expected that they would eventually be decided by the Supreme Court of Canada.” Clemenger said the Supreme Court “indicated that our concerns about the definition of marriage can be addressed in the federal government’s reference.” He indicated that EFC will be intervening in the reference to ensure the court addresses these issues. Janet Epp Buckingham, EFC’s director of law and public policy, said the group is “very concerned about religious freedom for clergy and churches that do not recognize same-sex marriages because more than 97 percent of marriages in Ontario are solemnized by clergy.” Buckingham said the constitutionality of marriage could still be appealed to the Supreme Court of Canada. (Assist News Service)

AFGHAN BORDER OFFICIALS TEMPORARILY IMPOUND MISSION VEHICLES Christians are experiencing problems in their quest to help Noor Eye Hospital, a ministry in rural Afghanistan. A team from Interserve International, an organization that serves people in central and eastern Asia, recently encountered problems driving Landrovers across the border into Afghanistan, said ministry spokesperson Joanna Smith. “Unfortunately, they crossed over having to leave their Landrovers at the border because they were impounded by the authorities,” she said. “Team members also had some sickness, and the vehicles had two flat tires and a broken window.” The vehicles have since been returned, and they’re back on their way, Smith said, adding that serving in rural areas has opened up opportunities for the gospel. “Because the people from Noor Eye Hospital are so willing to come and help people, they really show the love of Christ to the people in the remote locations who really desperately need this care.” (Mission Network News)

* HCJB World Radio is bringing words of hope and encouragement to people across Afghanistan via radio. Together with partners, Christian broadcasts go out via AM in four of the country’s major languages, Dari, Hazaragi, Turkmen and Uzbek.

SECURITY PACT IN SUDAN COULD OPEN UNPRECEDENTED DOORS FOR GOSPEL A security pact signed by Sudan’s government and the Sudan People’s Liberation Army is a “significant step toward peace in that country,” says World Relief President Clive Calver. The new accord could give Americans unprecedented opportunity to reach out to Christians in the war-torn, poverty-stricken country. The pact comes at a critical time for many Sudanese who are suffering from hunger and health issues caused by a combination of war and natural disasters. But Calver said the opportunities for spreading the gospel in that country have never been greater. “There’s been almost no transportation — there are no telephones or radios, so it’s been a huge problem for the spreading of the gospel. And yet, southern Sudan is home to one of the fastest growing churches on earth. People are so ready for Jesus.” The security pact has important implications for the relief and development community. “The message from the church in Sudan to the believers in the West is, ‘We’re going to get peace; now we’ve got a chance to share Jesus and change our country,'” Calver added. (Agape Press/Religion Today)

MISSION TEAMS BRING HOPE TO LIBERIAN REFUGEES IN SIERRA LEONE Security remains tenuous in Liberia despite the growing presence of peacekeepers. The fighting has forced hundreds of thousands across the border into Sierra Leone. “I expect this is going to cause quite a bit of conflict, just for those people who are there simply to survive, but now, they’ve been displaced again,” says Tom Dudenhoffer of Audio Scripture Ministries (ASM). “We really don’t know the future of these people. Some will be trying to go back to Liberia . . . but many plan to stay. They have no other options.” Staff members with ASM followed the fleeing people to Sierra Leone and began ministering to them in the refugee camps. “They began a distribution program using ASM’s Tape-Talk2 players,” Dudenhoffer says. “Pray that God would work powerfully as His Word is presented, and that in the midst of these really tough times physically, people would see the real significance of knowing Jesus Christ and be willing to trust Him.” (Mission Network News)

* ELWA, a partner ministry founded by SIM in Monrovia in 1954, continues to air a message of hope and encouragement across Liberia and West Africa. The station is broadcasting on a limited schedule, depending on the availability of diesel fuel to operate the generators. ELWA was destroyed twice by civil war, first in 1990 and again in 1996. The station went back on the air in 1997 with a small FM transmitter. Then in 2000 HCJB World Radio provided a low-power shortwave transmitter, again enabling the station to cover the region. ELWA broadcasts the gospel in 10 languages and plans to add more as resources become available.

JEHOVAH’S WITNESSES’ LAWYER RELEASED EARLY FROM TURKMEN PRISON Oguljan Jumanazarova, 41, a Jehovah’s Witness lawyer serving a four-year sentence in the women’s labor camp in the northern Turkmenistan town of Tashauz, was freed Sept. 20, nearly two years early. Jumanazarova, from the town of Seydi, was sentenced in July 2001 on fraud charges that the Jehovah’s Witnesses say were imposed in retaliation for helping fellow believers with their legal problems. “Nothing more is known about the terms of her release — only that she has been freed,” said a spokesman for the group. The Jehovah’s Witnesses — like all non-Sunni Muslim and non-Russian Orthodox communities — have been denied registration and are treated as illegal. Jumanazarova, who became a Jehovah’s Witness in 1999, worked for a public attorneys’ association in Seydi near Turkmenistan’s northeastern border with Uzbekistan. She began to face pressure after helping fellow believers with their legal problems. In 1999 authorities tried to confine her in a psychiatric hospital which she managed to avoid by temporarily fleeing from the town. Jehovah’s Witnesses say that her sentence was based on fabricated evidence. (Forum 18 News Service)

3,000 EVANGELICALS GATHER IN JERUSALEM FOR FEAST OF TABERNACLES At a time when most tourists are avoiding Israel due to the ongoing violence between Palestinians and Israelis, more than 3,000 evangelical Christians from 80 countries have descended in Jerusalem for the 24th annual “Christian Feast of Tabernacles” Oct. 11-17. They will be joined by 3,000 local Christians and non-Christians. The event — organized by the International Christian Embassy Jerusalem (ICEJ), an organization of Christian supporters of Israel — coincides with the biblical feast of Succot when Jews commemorate the Israelites’ exodus from Egypt and their sojourn in the desert. “Christians are coming from all around the world for this event to demonstrate their sincere love and concern for Israel,” said ICEJ Executive Director Malcolm Hedding in a statement preceding the conference. Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon is scheduled to present the conference’s keynote address, and many other prominent Israelis will also take part in the celebration. (Religion News Service/ICEJ)

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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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