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Today’s Headlines:

ERITREAN POLICE RAID CHRISTIAN WEDDING, ARREST 30 PEOPLE FORMER HOSTAGE’S TESTIMONY LEAVES DOUBTS IN PHILIPPINE COURT HEAVY MONSOON FLOODING LEADS TO MINISTRY OPPORTUNITIES IN INDIA MINORITIES CALL SERBIA/MONTENEGRO RELIGION BILL ‘DISCRIMINATORY’ MISSIONARY IN THAILAND REACHES OUT TO PROSTITUTES VIA BAR VISITS CHURCHES ENCOURAGE FAMILIES OF PARAGUAYAN FIRE VICTIMS

Today’s News Stories:

ERITREAN POLICE RAID CHRISTIAN WEDDING, ARREST 30 PEOPLE Police disrupted a Christian marriage ceremony in the Eritrean town of Senafe Sunday, July 25, and arrested 30 guests and members of the wedding party. Charging in and demanding a halt to the ceremony, police officers ordered everyone who was not “Pentecostal” to leave the premises immediately. Many of the guests did so, but the 30 Christians who remained were hauled off to a police station and jailed. All but two of the prisoners were later released after signing a document promising not to participate in any evangelical Christian wedding in the future. Police continue to hold an evangelist, identified only as Michel, from the Kale Hiwot church and Teame Kibrom, a man in his 80s. Officials declared the two responsible for the wedding that allegedly defied a government ban on evangelical church activities. More than 400 evangelical Christians remain in Eritrean jails because of their faith, including prominent pastors Haile Naizgi, Kiflu Gebremeske and Tesfatsion Hagos. (Religion Today/Compass)

FORMER HOSTAGE’S TESTIMONY LEAVES DOUBTS IN PHILIPPINE COURT American missionary Gracia Burnham has returned to the U.S. from the Philippines after testifying against her former kidnappers — members of the Abu Sayyaf terror group — but her testimony left many lingering doubts about collusion between the Filipino military and her captors. Gracia and Martin Burnham were kidnapped while vacationing at Dos Palmas Resort on the island of Palawan in May 2001. The Philippines armed forces appeared unprepared and ill-equipped to deal with the crisis which ended a year later in a shoot-out that left her husband, Martin, and a Filipino hostage dead. In her book, In the Presence of My Enemies, Burnham describes second-hand information that she received about negotiations between terrorist leader Abu Sabaya and an unnamed Philippine general. Reporters were barred from the court, but government prosecutors told the media after her testimony that Burnham cleared the military of any collusion with her captors. Partial video footage of the proceedings that leaked to a local television network raised questions about the government’s version of her testimony. Acting Justice Secretary Merceditas Gutti ©rrez and the Department of Justice in the Philippines along with the FBI are also investigating a Filipino official who benefited from the ransom for the hostages and deposited the proceeds into a U.S. bank. (Assist News Service)

HEAVY MONSOON RAINS LEAD TO MINISTRY OPPORTUNITIES IN INDIA With monsoon rains destroying crops and leaving millions homeless in northeastern India, it is opening up opportunities for Christian outreach, says Mission India spokesman David DeGroot who works in hard-hit states of Assam and Bihar. “Our regional ministry people are trying to help the people. Our staff in India is putting together clothing supplies, medicines, food to distribute among the victims.” This is a difficult time for people living in this area, but DeGroot says the relief outreach helps tear down spiritual strongholds. “People were asking questions like, ‘Who are these Christians who are jumping in here to help us? Why are they so concerned about outcast, downtrodden people? Here they are, right in the middle of us, sharing our misery trying to help us.’ The Lord uses His people in these very difficult situations.” (Mission Network News)

MINORITIES CALL SERBIA/MONTENEGRO RELIGION BILL ‘DISCRIMINATORY’ Many of Serbia’s religious minorities and human rights activists have condemned a draft bill on Religious Freedoms, Churches, Religious Communities and Religious Associations as “discriminatory.” If passed, the bill would give full rights only to religious communities recognized by the Yugoslavian parliament between 1918 and 1941 — the Serbian Orthodox Church, Catholics, Muslims, Jews, Slovak, Hungarian/German Lutherans and the Hungarian Reformed Church. They will receive substantial state financial support and the right to perform marriages, burials and to maintain marriage registers. Other religious communities would be denied these rights and have strongly criticized the bill. Baptists pointed out that all the religious communities recognized by this bill are essentially mono-ethnic. This bill therefore discriminates against “multi-ethnic” religious communities and is thus unconstitutional. Milan Radulovic, the Minister of Religion, dismissed the criticisms. (Forum 18 News Service)

MISSIONARY IN THAILAND REACHES OUT TO PROSTITUTES VIA BAR VISITS Missionary Nella Davidse goes to bars and hangs out with prostitutes three nights a week in order to reach them for Christ. She lives in Pattaya, a popular resort town on Thailand’s coast where an estimated 20,000 women work as prostitutes. The promise of big money and the hopes of meeting a rich, foreign husband lure most of the women. Many are raising children in extreme poverty. Most loathe their jobs, but feel they have no choice. It’s not an easy place to be, but Davidse believes it’s where God wants her. “I needed perseverance,” said Davidse, 42, who left her native Holland to join Youth with a Mission in Thailand nine years ago. “For a long time we didn’t see much fruit. But I felt like I had my foot in the door, and if I pulled back, it would be smashed. I had to say, ‘God, I trust in you and not in people.'” In 1999 Davidse founded the Tamar Center, a downtown mission offering English lessons, job training and discipleship to the bar girls of Pattaya. “God told us we shouldn’t call this place Sodom anymore,” she said. “We should call it Nineveh because this is the city that will come to the Lord. We see girls coming to the Lord, and we’re really excited.” (Religion Today/Charisma News Service)

CHURCHES ENCOURAGE FAMILIES OF PARAGUAYAN FIRE VICTIMS With the death toll from a devastating supermarket fire rising, Paraguayan churches have swung into action, assisting families of those who were killed in the inferno. The blaze swept through the Ycua Bolanos market in the capital city of Asunci ³n Sunday, Aug. 1, when a gas tank exploded near a food court. Casualties multiplied in the packed store when the store management reportedly ordered guards to lock the building’s doors to prevent looting after the fire began. Paraguay’s attorney general’s office put the death toll at 464 with 130 still missing as of Tuesday, Aug. 3, and another 454 hospitalized, some in critical condition. Authorities have filed manslaughter charges against the store’s co-owner, Juan Pio Paiva, and five others.

The Christian Community of Asunci ³n Church, just half a block from the store, was finishing its Sunday-morning service at 11:30 a.m. when the blaze broke out. Members rushed to the scene to help rescue people from the burning building. “Many believers worked as volunteers,” said Karen N º ±ez de Miranda, editor of Panorama Cristiano Asunci ³n, a Christian newspaper. “Some helped in the rescue and others assisted families who were suffering, offering counseling.” The local pastors’ association has established a telephone hotline for families of victims and provided the government with a list of pastors who were willing to counsel victims.

Radio Obedira, a local Christian radio station, set up a network of Christian counselors and psychologists. Area congregations immediately began sending volunteers and supplies. “Many have gathered medicine, food and other goods to donate to those who need them,” N º ±ez said. The Assemblies of God denomination activated its social service ministry, providing food and counseling to grieving families. “They began responding immediately,” said missionary Sue Givens of Latin America Mission. “They sent members to the scene of the fire and to the makeshift morgues to pray with people.” Local Methodist churches provided medical supplies and sheets for hospital beds. (Latin America Mission News Service/Associated Press)

* HCJB World Radio has worked with partners to begin Christian radio ministries in four cities of Paraguay, including Radio Obedira in Asunci ³n. Programs air in Spanish, German, Portuguese and Guaran ­. Stations in two cities are also affiliated with ALAS, the ministry’s Latin American satellite radio network with 69 outlets in 13 countries. * * * * * * * * * * * * * 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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