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Today’s Headlines:

AMERICAN MISSIONARY DIES IN PLANE CRASH IN HONDURAS 3 CHINESE CHURCH LEADERS IMPRISONED FOR ‘LEAKING STATE SECRETS’ COURT DROPS ‘HATE CRIME’ CHARGES AGAINST BRAZILIAN EVANGELISTS NIGERIAN POLICE DISCOVER 50+ BODIES IN CULT SHRINES SECTARIAN VIOLENCE IN INDONESIA FAILS TO QUELL CHRISTIANS U.S. PASTOR’S SERMON ON STEALING GENERATES SURPRISING RESULTS

Today’s News Stories:

AMERICAN MISSIONARY DIES IN PLANE CRASH IN HONDURAS The body of American missionary Mike Hines, 66, has been found near the wreckage of his small plane that crashed in the mountains of Honduras last weekend, reported his daughter, Mary Ann N º ±ez. Hines was an Assemblies of God missionary who ministered in Latin America for more than 40 years. N º ±ez says he was beloved in Central America for flying low and slow above remote villages and preaching the gospel from the air via his plane’s built-in sound system. Hines, who grew up in Washington state, spent the past 17 years in Honduras and helped that nation recover from Hurricane Mitch which killed thousands of people in 1998. N º ±ez says this is how her father wanted to die — “doing God’s work until the end.” (AgapePress)

* Staff members from the HCJB World Radio Engineering Center in Elkhart, Ind., have worked with local partners to establish radio ministries in three cities of Honduras, Roatan, San Pedro Sula and Siguatepeque.

3 CHINESE CHURCH LEADERS IMPRISONED FOR ‘LEAKING STATE SECRETS’ A Chinese court sentenced three leaders of China’s rapidly growing independent house church movement to up to three years in prison Friday, Aug. 6, on charges of “leaking state secrets” to overseas organizations, human rights watchers said. In a statement to the Associated Press, the China Aid Association (CAA) reported that the Intermediate Peoples Court of Hangzhou City in Zhejiang found Liu Fenggang, Xu Yonghai and Zhang Shengqi “guilty of passing on information to an overseas magazine” about a court case involving another house church member. Liu received three years for passing on information about the destruction of unofficial churches outside Hangzhou in a crackdown last year. Xu received two years, and Zhang one year, the group said. The prison terms were less severe than expected as CAA had warned that under Chinese Criminal Law, the Christians could face up to 10 years or even life in prison if convicted. The men reportedly attempted to publicize last year’s crackdown on hundreds of ministers and worshipers who human rights watchers say were detained in sweeps by police. Dozens of churches were also destroyed. Similar attacks have continued this year. Recently hundreds of evangelical believers were detained, and Christians have been tortured and even killed. (Assist News Service)

COURT DROPS ‘HATE CRIME’ CHARGES AGAINST BRAZILIAN EVANGELISTS A court in Sao Paulo, Brazil, has ruled in favor of two Christian evangelists who appealed their conviction last year of violating Brazil’s “hate crime” law. The landmark case involving the distribution of gospel tracts to Afro-Brazilian spiritists is the first to test a federal law declaring it a crime to “practice, induce, or incite discrimination” against members of another religion. Christians in Brazil hailed the decision as upholding freedom of speech and their right to conduct personal evangelism in public places. “We can certainly continue evangelistic work on the beaches, in the streets, in plazas and through all communications media in Brazil,” said Baptist pastor Joaquim de Andrade, one of the defendants in the case. “They also recognized that we have the right to give our testimony.” (Religion Today/Compass)

NIGERIAN POLICE DISCOVER 50+ BODIES IN CULT SHRINES Police in eastern Nigeria discovered skulls and corpses of more than 50 people in shrines where a secretive cult was believed to have carried out traditional ritual killings, said police spokesman Kolapo Shofoluwe on Thursday, Aug. 5. Two religious leaders and 28 others were arrested in connection with the Wednesday discovery of bleached skulls, fresh corpses and others partly mummified at 20 shrines in forests near the town of Okija in the eastern state of Anambra. Police believed some of the victims — businessmen, civil servants and others — may have been poisoned as part of a shadowy ritual justice system, he said. The group reportedly practices a ritual in which parties involved in a personal dispute — often over business deals — are made to drink a potion that they are told will kill only the guilty party. Residents held the religious group, known locally as Alusi Okija, in “respect and fear,” Shofoluwe said. (WorldWide Religious News/Associated Press)

SECTARIAN VIOLENCE IN INDONESIA FAILS TO QUELL CHRISTIANS Violence against Christians continues in parts of Indonesia despite the government’s attempt to downplay “jihad,” says Rody Rodeheaver of Inter-National Needs Network (INN). National believers often see the problems as opportunities to share the gospel. “Sometimes the harvest is even more effective during these periods of upheaval,” he says. “No one wants these periods of upheaval, but God is capable of working in spite of it. Sectarian violence is an awful thing because it tears at the very fabric of countries.” Rodeheaver says the ministry’s seminary remains open in spite of the dangers. Mission Aviation Fellowship (MAF) also continues to operate in the country, providing aviation services to missionaries in remote areas. MAF spokesman Larry Whiting is coordinating an effort to staff and fund a new hospital in Malinau, East Kalimantan. He says the local regent responsible for the hospital is a believer. “This will be a great opportunity for outreach,” Whiting says. “There are several unreached people groups within the area of the hospital. We’re hopeful that we can have some influence from outside to come and help in the hospital to train and to help reach some of these unreached areas.” (Mission Network News)

* HCJB World Radio worked with local Indonesian partners to establish local Christian stations in Sumba Island and Kupang, West Timor, with help from the HCJB World Radio Engineering Center in Elkhart, Ind. Plans are also being made to establish a station on Roti Island later this year.

U.S. PASTOR’S SERMON ON STEALING GENERATES SURPRISING RESULTS A pastor’s sermon on stealing has produced some surprising returns with his Minneapolis suburb congregation. Last week Derek Rust put up special “amnesty bins” in the aisles of the Hosanna Lutheran Church in Lakeville, encouraging sticky-fingered parishioners to return anything they had swiped. Prompted by his sermon based on the Ten Commandments, Rust was amazed at the response. In the vast 2,000-seat sanctuary, thieves have been coming in to return stolen loot — not during worship, but during the week, when they could slink in unnoticed. Items left in the bins include men’s shirts, a rubber toy eagle, a soldering iron, CDs, a broom, power drill, Bubble Yum gum, baby clothes and towels pinched from hotels and motels. “The Ten Commandments should be lived,” Rust said. “That’s what sermons should be about, applying truth to our lives.” (Religion Today/Charisma News Service)

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