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Today’s Headlines:

POLICE DEFUSE MORE THAN 15 BOMBS AT CHURCH IN INDONESIA AUSTRALIAN CHRISTIAN CHANNEL EXPANDS TV BROADCASTS NATIONWIDE WEEKEND ACTIVITIES TO MARK 100TH ANNIVERSARY OF WELSH REVIVAL AFRICAN ANGLICANS OPPOSE CONSECRATING HOMOSEXUAL BISHOPS CHANGES TO FEDERAL LAW MAY RESTRICT CHRISTIAN GROUPS IN RUSSIA VENEZUELAN COUPLE ARRESTED, 2 WOMEN CONVICTED IN U.S. CHURCH SCAMS

Today’s News Stories:

POLICE DEFUSE MORE THAN 15 BOMBS AT CHURCH IN INDONESIA At 15 least homemade, low-explosive bombs were found in a suitcase at Maranatha Protestant Church in Ambon City, capital of eastern Indonesia’s Molucca province late Friday, Oct. 22. At the end of a religious gathering, people noticed a suitcase. Since no one claimed ownership, the people became suspicious and called police. Authorities discovered that the suspicious suitcase contained bombs which they defused. Similar explosive devices were found two days earlier in the Silo church, the oldest Protestant church and home to the largest Protestant congregation in Ambon City. Both churches have seen fighting between Christians and Muslims in a bloody conflict in the Moluccas since 1999, resulting in the deaths of more than 5,000 people and forcing another 500,000 to flee their homes. In 2002 local Christians and Muslims signed a peace accord; however, hostilities have never fully stopped. (WorldWide Religious News/AsiaNews)

* 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.

AUSTRALIAN CHRISTIAN CHANNEL EXPANDS TV BROADCASTS NATIONWIDE More than 1,600 people poured into the National Convention Centre in Canberra, Australia, the evening of Friday, Oct. 15, to celebrate the launch of the Australian Christian Channel (ACC) on a nationwide basis. The vision for a 24-hour Christian TV channel dates back to 1987 when Mike Jeffs “began to believe that it was not only possible, but necessary for Australia.” In 1999 after 12 years of praying and developing contacts, Optus Vision added the ACC to its basic package. Austar has agreed to add the format to its package beginning on Dec. 1, and Canberra’s TransAct Digital Network will begin offering the channel on a trial basis in the “near future,” Jeffs said. “By launching in . . . Canberra, we’re driving a stake into the heart of this nation for the kingdom of heaven,” he explained. “The tide is turning. At the beginning of the year we were the smallest channel on Pay TV, and by year’s end we hope to have the largest audience viewing potential. God takes ordinary people and plants in them extraordinary dreams. My prayer has always been that God would bring the people and the resources to make this happen, and He’s been faithful.” (Australian Christian Channel)

WEEKEND ACTIVITIES TO MARK 100TH ANNIVERSARY OF WELSH REVIVAL Exactly 100 years ago this weekend, Wales experienced a dramatic Christian revival that transformed the life and landscape of the nation. More than 100,000 people came to Christ in a year, and Wales became known as a land of revival. Crime levels plummeted, and courts were closed because there were no cases to hear. Families were reunited and marriages were restored. Epidemic levels of drunkenness and violence in towns were dramatically reduced. Prayer meetings broke out on street corners, in mines, in police stations and on rugby fields. To commemorate the centennial of the 1904 revival, a series of events will be held at the Cardiff International Arena in Wales this weekend. The events will be broadcast live by UCBTV. Among the many speakers will be evangelist Luis Palau and author/preacher Selwyn Hughes who grew up in the mining village of Fochriw near Dowlais in South Wales. Hughes founded an organization called Crusade for World Revival that aims to make the message of revival known worldwide. For details on this weekend’s events visit http://www.04theCity.co.uk. (Assist News Service)

AFRICAN ANGLICANS OPPOSE CONSECRATING HOMOSEXUAL BISHOPS African Anglican bishops are rejecting last week’s church report on reconciling divisions over the U.S. Episcopal Church’s consecration of an openly homosexual bishop. The bishops are attending a conference hosted by Nigerian Archbishop Peter Akinola, who said, “The Western world is embroiled in a new religion which we cannot associate ourselves with.” He says the African Anglican bishops will discuss building their own seminaries to train priests in a biblical theology that is consistent with African culture. Akinola added that in the U.S. Episcopal Church, “Men and men are cohabiting which is taboo in African culture.” He recently visited the U.S. where he offered alternative oversight to Episcopalians alienated by their church’s consecration of New Hampshire Bishop V. Gene Robinson. Africa accounts for about half of the world’s 77 million Anglicans. (AgapePress)

CHANGES TO FEDERAL LAW MAY RESTRICT CHRISTIAN GROUPS IN RUSSIA Time may be running out for non-traditional religious groups in Russia to carry out church meetings in stadiums, cinemas and other cultural buildings. The Russian Federation State Duma is preparing a series of amendments to the federal law, “On freedom of conscience,” reported the official news agency Interfax. Amendments to the law would prohibit churches from performing religious services in sport and cultural buildings in Russia. Other proposed amendments could affect use of land for religious organizations, issues of taxation, education and missionary activities. The Duma is expected to consider the amendments during this fall’s session. Protestant churches in Russia are concerned that the amendments could put additional pressure on Christians. In many cities, churches are already prohibited from renting cultural buildings under the pretext of the fight against terrorism, says a press release from the Association of Christian Churches in Russia in St. Petersburg. Meanwhile, Bishop Nikolay Epishin said persecution against believers in Russia continues to rise. “Throughout the country evangelical Christian ministers are in danger of attacks and beating, acts of vandalism and burning their church buildings,” he said. “Leaflets are being spread calling to use violence against Protestant believers, and the mass media publishes [slanderous reports], inflaming interdenominational enmity. At the same time local authorities don’t react to these acts.” (Assist News Service)

* HCJB World Radio reaches across Russia with a variety of radio ministries. The mission has been sending gospel broadcasts across the country via shortwave since 1941, first from Quito, Ecuador, and in recent years from the U.K. In the early 1990s the ministry began “planting” local radio ministries in Russia and now works with partners across the nation. In 2000 HCJB World Radio helped launch New Life Radio, the first Christian Russian radio satellite network. Nearly 50 downlinks have been placed in more than 35 cities in Russia and neighboring countries.

VENEZUELAN COUPLE ARRESTED, 2 WOMEN CONVICTED IN U.S. CHURCH SCAMS A Venezuelan couple has been arrested in Ohio on charges of scamming churches across the U.S. Ohio detectives say the couple pilfered hundreds of thousands of dollars from unsuspecting churches, but eventually a paper trail of the crimes led authorities to the couple. In one case, an Indiana pastor had wired $800 to help a woman who claimed she and her five children were stranded, only to find out later that he was a victim of a scam. Meanwhile, in New York, a jury has found two women guilty of bilking more than 1,000 investors out of almost $2 million. The Associated Press reported that Roberta Dupre and Beverly Stambaugh have been convicted of cheating investors with a faith-based scam. The wire fraud trial is unusual because many victims still believe Dupre’s claim that she was using their money to free billions of dollars from a secret bank account belonging to late Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos. However, prosecutors say the bank account does not exist, and Dupre was living in a posh Manhattan hotel and using the investors “like a personal ATM machine.” The two women will be sentenced in January and could face up to 20 years in prison. (AgapePress)

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