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Today’s Headlines:

RWANDA’S PRESIDENT REQUESTS 500,000 BIBLES FOR PEOPLE DYING OF AIDS MASKED GUNMEN KILL 3 IN ATTACK ON EVANGELICAL CHURCH IN COLOMBIA SECOND PAKISTANI CHRISTIAN TORTURED TO DEATH BY POLICE 5 CHRISTIAN CHILDREN STILL MISSING AFTER RUSSIAN HOSTAGE CRISIS NEPAL’S WORSENING POLITICAL SITUATION DISRUPTS MISSION WORK CHRISTIAN TV PROGRAMS BRING MESSAGE OF HOPE TO IRAQI BELIEVERS

Today’s News Stories:

RWANDA’S PRESIDENT REQUESTS 500,000 BIBLES FOR PEOPLE DYING OF AIDS As HIV/AIDS spreads in the African country of Rwanda, the government is concerned not only about people’s physical problems, but also their spiritual needs, says Rochunga Pudaite, founder and president of Bibles for the World. “Almost 60 percent of the population in that country is infected with HIV,” he says. “We met with the president [Paul Kagame], and he made a very strong appeal that these people are going to die. He asked, ‘Would you be so kind enough to provide Bibles?'” Pudaite says the people are more open to the gospel because they know they’re dying. “They’re suffering with AIDS. They do not have a Bible. The president is appealing that we provide half a million Bibles right away so that these HIV-infected people will have a chance to read the Bible at least once in their lifetime before they die.” (Mission Network News)

MASKED GUNMEN KILL 3 IN ATTACK ON EVANGELICAL CHURCH IN COLOMBIA Three people were killed and 14 seriously injured Saturday, Sept. 4, when masked men opened fire on a church in southern Colombia during a prayer service. The gunmen attacked the Christian and Missionary Alliance church of about 45 people in Obrero, Puerto Asis, with automatic weapons. Pastor Francisco Sevillano told the Bogota newspaper, El Tiempo, “Three men wearing black hoods came in shooting. People started running around everywhere, not knowing what to do.” Two children, ages 7 and 11, were among those injured. News reports offer conflicting explanations as to who was responsible or why they attacked the church. Some indicate that right-wing paramilitaries were likely to have been responsible, but others say the left-wing guerrilla group, FARC, had declared a new offensive in the region. The reason behind the attack is also unclear. (Christian Solidarity Worldwide)

* Together with local partners, HCJB World Radio broadcasts the gospel on FM stations in four Colombian cities. The ministry also continues to air Spanish programs across the country and all of Latin America via shortwave from Quito.

SECOND PAKISTANI CHRISTIAN TORTURED TO DEATH BY POLICE Another Christian has died in Pakistan as a result of severe torture at the hands of the police, reported Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW) Monday, Sept. 6. Nasir Masih, 26, was arrested on “false charges of theft” on Aug. 16, and died three days later after sustaining multiple injuries. This was the third murder of a Pakistani Christian this year, and the second carried out by police. Nasir’s father, Mukhtar Masih, said the troubles began when Nasir was taken from his home in Baldia, Siekhupura, 30 miles from Lahore, by a group of Muslims. “A few hours later police informed his family that he had been arrested and charged with theft. The accusation had been made by one of the group which took Nasir from his home,” reported CSW. A case has been registered against 10 people, including six policemen, for allegedly torturing Nasir Masih to death during his detention on the orders of District Police Officer Shahid Iqbal. No arrests have yet been made. Hundreds of Christians reportedly protested Masih’s murder by blocking the road from Siekhupura to Lahore on Aug. 20. Pakistani authorities have warned local Christians not to pursue the case against the police. (BosNewsLife)

5 CHRISTIAN CHILDREN STILL MISSING AFTER RUSSIAN HOSTAGE CRISIS Prayer and memorial services were underway in Russia and the U.S. after Russian President Vladimir Putin declared Monday and Tuesday as national days of mourning for the hundreds of people who died in the three-day hostage drama at a middle school in Beslan in the Russian republic of North Ossetia. Russian Ministries, a U.S.-backed Christian aid organization working in the devastated region, said two of its Russian pastors who lost children in the tragedy would lead a group memorial service in Beslan today. Pastors Sergey and Taymuraz Totiev, two brothers, “had eight children” among the hostages. “Of the eight children, two are injured, one has died (8-year-old Anna) and five remain unaccounted for,” Russian Ministries reported. It was not immediately clear if the Totievs had managed to reach a nearby hospital to search for these children. (BosNewsLife/Assist News Service)

NEPAL’S WORSENING POLITICAL SITUATION DISRUPTS MISSION WORK Native missionaries in Nepal report that their evangelistic work has been inhibited due to the tense political situation following the murder of 12 Nepali hostages in Iraq. On August 31, an Islamic militant group released video footage of the executions of 12 Nepali men. Contracted by a Jordanian business to do work in Iraq, the men had been held hostage for a little more than a week. The incident has sparked outrage among Nepalis in recent days, exacerbating an already tense situation that began recently with Maoist rebel attacks within Kathmandu. Protesters have vandalized and gutted the agency offices that sent Nepali workers to Iraq. They blocked off roads with burning tires and other debris, causing a virtual shutdown of the capital city. Mission leaders said that gospel work has been slowed in recent days. Numerous meetings had to be canceled. Students were unable to attend a Bible college. A training session for mission workers had to be called off. One missionary wrote, “A country once known as peaceful is just a dream now.” (Missions Insider)

CHRISTIAN TV PROGRAMS BRING MESSAGE OF HOPE TO IRAQI BELIEVERS The recent departure of an estimated 40,000 Christians from Iraq in areas where fierce battles rage between coalition forces and terrorist supporters could lead to a “very disastrous situation,” says Glen Hartson of SAT-7 which beams Christian programming to the Middle East and Egypt. If the exodus continues, evangelism will be affected, further exacerbating the situation. The broadcasts are playing a key role in helping the church “grow and be strengthened,” he says. Ironically, the mass departure of Iraqi Christians has resulted indirectly from the liberation of Iraq and is largely due to the tension and fighting between the coalition forces and terrorists. Iraqi Christians have gone from living in relative security to living in constant danger, Hartson explains. While Iraqi Christians are caught in the middle of a tense political situation, the ministry is urging believers to maintain a presence and witness in the troubled country. (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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