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Today’s News Headlines:

Nigerian Court Sentences Trio to Death for Murder of Pastor Mob Destroys Church in Bolivia, Blaming Christians for Hailstorm Laotian Christians Threatened With Death for Refusing to Recant Vietnamese Churches Keep Growing Despite Persecution IBS Launches Modern Lingala New Testament in Dem. Rep. of Congo Southern Baptist Missionaries Record 500,000 Baptisms in 2003

Today’s News Stories:

NIGERIAN COURT SENTENCES TRIO TO DEATH FOR MURDER OF PASTOR On Saturday, Feb. 28, a Nigerian court sentenced three men to death for the December 1996 murder of Rev. Oluwatosin Olajide, pastor of the Baiyeku Apostolic Church in the Ikorodu district of Lagos. Idowu Shobowale, Kabiru Omolade and Olabisi Lasisi, adherents of a sect related to the traditional African religion Igunnuko, killed Olajide while the minister was preaching to his congregation, then attacked and injured several the members of the church. Prosecutors presented evidence showing that three leaders of the animist sect carried out the attack in order to dislodge the church and forcibly seize the property to build a shrine. Justice James Oduneye of the Ikeja High Court said the guilt of the defendants had been proven “beyond reasonable doubt” before sentencing Idowu, Kabiru and Olabisi to death by hanging. The rapid spread of Christianity in southern Nigeria displeases some followers of traditional African religions, often resulting in outbreaks of violence between animists and Christians. (Compass)

* HCJB World Radio, together with partners In Touch Ministries, SIM and the Evangelical Church of West Africa, began airing weekly half-hour programs to Nigeria in the Igbo language in 2000. In 2003, weekly broadcasts were added in two additional languages, Yoruba and Hausa.

MOB DESTROYS CHURCH IN BOLIVIA, BLAMING CHRISTIANS FOR HAILSTORM An angry mob of Quechua Indians destroyed the only evangelical church in the remote village of Chucarasi in the Bolivian Andes Saturday, Feb. 28, blaming the believers for a hailstorm that damaged local crops. Trouble began in this indigenous community — 100 miles southeast of Oruro in the province of Bustillos — during the annual Carnaval festival, celebrated to mark the beginning of Lent. Chucarasi observes the holiday with the veneration of Christian and pagan icons, ritual dances and excessive consumption of alcohol, believing such activities appease local deities and avoid natural disaster. Since converting to evangelical Christianity several years ago, the 30 families belonging to the Church of God in Chucarasi have declined to take part in Carnaval celebrations.

Two days after the festival ended, a severe hailstorm struck Chucarasi, damaging fields of potatoes and grain and fueling fears that evil spirits were punishing the community for the evangelicals’ refusal to participate in Carnaval. A village meeting was called, and the evangelicals were summoned. Only one came, Fortunato Bernal, who believed his elected position in the community would protect him. The rest of the church members gathered to pray on a mountainside. When he arrived, Bernal was beaten unconscious by the mob that had gathered. After the rest of the church members did not arrive, the irate mob, carrying picks, axes and wrecking bars, arrived at the church and proceeded to destroy Bibles and hymnals, smash the pulpit and pews and dismantle the windows, doors, roof and walls of the building.

Church leaders filed an official complaint, demanding reparations for the damage, but the sub-prefect of the province sided with the animists, refusing to arrest those responsible for the attack and setting the value of the building at a fraction of the actual cost of replacement. Community leaders insist that the evangelicals renounce their faith or leave the community. (Religion Today/Compass/Voice of the Martyrs)

* HCJB World Radio has worked with local radio partners to plant local AM and FM stations in the Bolivian cities of Santa Cruz, Tarija and Tupiza. Four stations with eight transmitters in four cities (La Paz, Caranavi, Santa Cruz and Sucre) are also affiliated with the ALAS, the ministry’s Latin American satellite radio network that makes Spanish programs available to local stations 24 hours a day.

LAOTIAN CHRISTIANS THREATENED WITH DEATH FOR REFUSING TO RECANT Christians in a Laotian village have been told they will be killed if they do not give up their faith or leave their village. A Laotian government official made the ultimatum at a meeting in Donthapad in the Sanamchai district of Attapeu province in southern Laos Thursday, Feb. 19. A Christian in the village wrote a plea for help, stating that the officials’ purpose is to eradicate Christianity from the area. “They are threatening to destroy our homes and to burn our homes,” he wrote. “We are not able to travel anywhere. We are kept in an area confinement. They keep watch on us. If we do not move from our village, they said they would kill us because the whole village agrees with them.” In another recent incident, Tong-luang, a Christian schoolteacher, was arrested on Thursday, March 4, at his home in Donphai (also in Sanamchai) because of his refusal to recant. He was arrested along with two others at a Christmas prayer meeting in Donphai on Dec. 28. All three were released the following month. Christians in Laos have been subject to a particularly harsh wave of persecution since 1998. Many have been imprisoned, and widespread pressure and persecution has been implemented across the country. Believers have been coerced and forced to sign forms abandoning their religion. Some have been forced to prove that they have given up their faith by participating in animist rituals, smoking, and drinking alcohol and blood. (Christian Solidarity Worldwide)

VIETNAMESE CHURCHES KEEP GROWING DESPITE PERSECUTION While persecution rages on in Vietnam, not all the news is bad for Christians in that country. “The negative reports of persecution are genuine,” said a source who asked to remain unnamed for security reasons. “There’s plenty out there in the media about arrests and persecution [especially among certain tribal groups that are viewed as anti-government]. But people are coming in from their various Bible studies, preaching points and outposts to the mother church. The mother churches are getting larger, and they’re really longing for the day when church planting, as we think of it here, can be legalized.” In order for a Christian group to congregate, erect a church and elect leaders, they must seek permission from the government. “Unfortunately, approved evangelical churches are few and far between,” the source said. For the majority of Vietnamese Christians, outward expressions of faith are both “criminal and extremely dangerous,” reported Voice of the Martyrs. The U.S. State Department reported in 2003 that Vietnamese Christian face countless beatings, jail time, and theft from local authorities. (Mission Network News)

IBS LAUNCHES MODERN LINGALA NEW TESTAMENT IN DEM. REP. OF CONGO The International Bible Society (IBS) released its contemporary-language Lingala New Testament with Psalms at a ceremony in the Democratic Republic of the Congo Saturday, Feb. 21. More than 450 people, including leaders of churches and Christian ministries, were on hand to receive the new Scripture edition in Lingala, a language spoken by about 20 million people in the country and neighboring Republic of Congo. The translation is the culmination of more than 10 years of work by the IBS’s translation team in D.R.C. “The prevailing Lingala translation, done by missionaries, was published in 1939 and is extremely academic and difficult to read,” said Solomon Kebede, associate executive director for IBS-Africa. “We are excited to have this new translation for Lingala-speaking people in the language they understand and speak every day.” Distribution of the Lingala New Testament will take place through IBS bookstores, Bible colleges, schools, churches, religious organizations and other Christian and secular bookstores. (International Bible Society)

SOUTHERN BAPTIST MISSIONARIES RECORD 500,000 BAPTISMS IN 2003 Southern Baptist missionaries witnessed a huge growth of evangelistic work in 2003. Trustees at the denomination’s International Mission Board heard details of last year’s work, highlighted by more than 500,000 baptisms. In spite of the excitement of this milestone, trustees also heard that more than 5,000 people groups still have little or no access to the gospel. In response, Southern Baptist missionaries and their overseas partners also opened work among 192 new people groups during 2003. Those new works included evangelistic encounters with 146 unreached people groups with a total population of more than 359 million. The year 2003 also saw overseas church membership jump 5 percent. Bible teaching enrolment also increased, and new believers in discipleship training grew by more than 40 percent. (Mission Network News)

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