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Today’s Headlines:

5 NATIVE MISSIONARIES IN INDIA ABDUCTED, FALSELY ACCUSED OF ROBBERY COLOMBIAN REBELS KIDNAP BISHOP TO ‘SEND MESSAGE TO AUTHORITIES’ DRAFT LAW COULD RESTRICT RELIGIOUS RIGHTS IN KAZAKHSTAN MINISTRIES, CHURCHES EXPAND IN AFGHANISTAN DESPITE INSTABILITY IBS MAKES ARABIC SCRIPTURE PORTIONS AVAILABLE ONLINE POLICE, PASTORS TEAM UP TO HELP FIGHT CRIME IN CALIFORNIA

Today’s News Stories:

5 NATIVE MISSIONARIES IN INDIA ABDUCTED, FALSELY ACCUSED OF ROBBERY Five native missionaries serving with Gospel for Asia (GFA) in India were abducted and wrongfully accused of robbery Saturday, July 24. The abduction came after the missionaries held a fruitful evangelistic outreach in the southern India state of Karnataka, catching the attention of anti-Christian elements in the area. Despite being threatened twice, the evangelists kept sharing their faith with needy people. As their ministry grew, their opponents observed, looking for an opportunity to hinder their work. When a robbery took place in the community, the opponents abducted the five missionaries and accused them of committing the crime. One of the Christians managed to escape and related the news to the GFA staff. The other four missionaries who remain in captivity have suffered beatings, and their gospel literature was torn up. (Gospel for Asia)

* “The Voice of the Great Southland,” the shortwave station operated by HCJB World Radio-Australia since January 2003, airs more than 59 hours of weekly Christian programming across South Asia. Programs go out in nine languages: English, Urdu, Hindi, Punjabi, Nepali, Tamil, Chattisgarhi, Hmar and Meeitei. Most of the programming in the Indian languages is produced at HCJB World Radio’s studio in New Delhi. Additional releases from Australia, primarily in English, reach the South Pacific, Southeast Asia and East Asia.

COLOMBIAN REBELS KIDNAP BISHOP TO ‘SEND MESSAGE TO AUTHORITIES’ Colombian Marxist guerrillas from the National Liberation Army kidnapped Roman Catholic Bishop Monsignor Misael Vacca and may use him to “send a message to the authorities,” church leaders said. Vacca was seized near the mountain town of Paya, 130 miles northeast of Bogota, on Sunday, July 25, reported Monsignor Fabian Marulanda, secretary general of the Episcopal Conference of Colombia. The rebels told other priests who were with Vacca that they planned to give him a message to deliver and then release him. “We hold firm to the hope that they will only keep him for a short time, maybe, as has been insinuated, in order to send a message. We request and demand the greatest respect for the bishop’s life,” Marulanda said. The Roman Catholic Church has occasionally acted as a mediator between the government, the National Liberation Army and the larger Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, although both guerrilla groups have kidnapped or even killed priests. (WorldWide Religious News/Reuters)

DRAFT LAW COULD RESTRICT RELIGIOUS RIGHTS IN KAZAKHSTAN Human rights groups have expressed concern about a draft law on “combating extremist activity” that is going through the lower chamber of Kazakhstan’s parliament, as well as a draft law to amend and supplement existing laws affecting the “battle against extremist activity.” The Kazakhstan International Bureau for Human Rights, the Almaty Helsinki Committee and the International Center for Not-for-Profit Law are among those criticizing these draft laws, saying they could restrict individuals’ religious rights. For example, Ninel Fokina, head of the Almaty Helsinki Committee, said she was alarmed that the word “religious” appears 10 times in the draft law on combating extremist activity even though religion and extremism are different concepts. The proposed law is open to being used against religious communities the authorities dislike — such as unregistered Baptists — as no clear definition of “extremism” is given. Authorities have raided more than five unregistered churches belonging to the International Council of Evangelical Christians/Baptists this year. In the most recent case, Vasili Kliver, pastor of a Baptist church in Aktobe in northern Kazakhstan, was found guilty on June 7 of breaking the law on religious organizations and refusing to appear to give evidence when summoned by authorities. Kliver was fined twice the minimum monthly wage. The judge also ordered the church to close for six months. (Forum 18 News Service)

MINISTRIES, CHURCHES EXPAND IN AFGHANISTAN DESPITE INSTABILITY While tensions and violent attacks are on the increase in Afghanistan as the country’s presidential election approaches in October, it isn’t stopping the growth of Christian ministries and churches. International Aid, for example, continues to operate a medical clinic in Kabul. “The clinic that we started there almost two years ago continues to function quite well, serving 80 to 100 patients every day,” says ministry spokesman Myles Fish. “Our [short-term] team there right now is exploring what additional opportunities there might be for us to expand our ministry. We’re quite optimistic about the opportunities the Lord is providing for us in Afghanistan.” Ministry teams also report “strong indications” that churches are growing in post-Taliban Afghanistan. “It’s not an easy place, but perhaps that means it’s the most important place for the message of Christ to be shared. The indications we have are that the message of Christ is indeed spreading, and people are responding to it.” (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 three of the country’s major languages, Turkmen, Uzbek and Southern Uzbek.

IBS MAKES ARABIC SCRIPTURE PORTIONS AVAILABLE ONLINE The Internet is proving to be a valuable tool for spurring people in Muslim nations to download and read the Bible. The International Bible Society (IBS) has placed recorded portions of Scripture in Arabic on its website. IBS officials say people in Muslim countries are downloading Scriptures at record rates. “If people hear God’s Word in their own language and their own dialect, it has more impact,” says IBS spokesman Dwight Anderson. Muslim believers who are technologically savvy can also download the recordings and “play them to a number of other friends or associates that don’t have the technical capability or the literacy to do that.” More than 20 hours of Arabic resources are now available online. “It’s our hope and prayer that people would know where these resources are and that they would be able to use them and make them available to people they run into,” Anderson said. (Religion Today/Agape Press)

POLICE, PASTORS TEAM UP TO HELP FIGHT CRIME IN CALIFORNIA Lately when residents of Pasadena, Calif., see police cars drive by, they’re seeing more than just police officers. Pasadena pastors are riding on patrol with the police so the clergy can see what the law enforcers encounter on the street. The program was started after the fatal shooting of Maurice Clark by a police officer last April. The police say many members of the community do not believe Clark shot at the pursuing officer before he was killed, and they asked the clergy to act as liaisons between them and the community. When they ride along, the pastors have the choice of either riding with a regular patrol officer or with the gang unit which has been accused of using excessive force. One cleric who rode with an officer earlier this month says he sees police in a new light and appreciates the risks they take every night. (Religion Today/Agape Press) * * * * * * * * * * * * * 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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