Today’s Headlines:

SAUDI RELIGIOUS POLICE IMPRISON CONVERT TO CHRISTIANITY

HIV INFECTION RATES SOAR IN WAR-TORN REGION OF UGANDA

CHURCH-BASED CLINICS IN IRAQ EXPAND DESPITE CONTINUING UNREST

SURVEY CONFIRMS CZECHS’ COOLNESS TOWARD ANY RELIGION

CHRISTMAS LIGHTS REMIND BELIEVERS TO PRAY FOR IMPRISONED PASTORS

35 NEW AGERS FIND CHRIST AT SPIRITUAL HEALING FAIR IN SWITZERLAND

Today’s News Stories:

SAUDI RELIGIOUS POLICE IMPRISON CONVERT TO CHRISTIANITY Saudi religious police have arrested a 30-year-old citizen who converted from Islam to Christianity. Emad Alaabadi, who has a wife and four children, is in prison in Jeddah after his Nov. 29 arrest in the town of Hufus, reported International Christian Concern (ICC), a Washington, D.C.-based human-rights group. Alaabadi was driving his children home from school Monday, Nov. 29, when he was intercepted by police. The police escorted him home to drop off the children then took him to prison in Hufus before being transferred to Jeddah. The Saudi man made contact Dec. 4 with his mother in Australia, who said he sounded “very weak.” ICC reported that if Alaabadi’s case is like others, he “probably has been tortured as the religious police attempt to reconvert him to Islam.” Saudis are forbidden by law from converting to another religion. (WorldWide Religious News/WorldNetDaily)

HIV INFECTION RATES SOAR IN WAR-TORN REGION OF UGANDA Uganda is held as the model country for reducing the HIV infection rate, but the 18-year civil war in the northern part of the country threatens that success. A report from World Vision report states that in parts of the north where the war is more concentrated, HIV rates have increased to 11.9 percent, nearly double the rest of the country. The war has displaced many families from their homes in the northern region. Many women, especially those in the refugee camps, find that they can only get food, soap or money in exchange for sex. Girls are often abducted by the rebel army and given to commanders as “wives” and sex slaves. Churches and relief groups such as World Vision are working to bring relief to those affected by war and AIDS. (Mission Network News)

CHURCH-BASED CLINICS IN IRAQ EXPAND DESPITE CONTINUING UNREST While political unrest and violent attacks continue in Iraq, International Aid’s Sonny Enriquez says the ministry recently launched four church-based clinics in the country. He recently contacted a partner in Baghdad who gave an encouraging report. “The situation in the city has been very difficult, but what was exciting was when I asked him, ‘How’s the clinic?’ He said, ‘The clinic is still doing well.’ In fact, they’ve expanded; they’ve added on three doctors.” Enriquez says the church-based clinics create an opportunity for ministry, but the association with churches can carry risks. “People are not going to the churches anymore [because they have become] a target of terrorist attacks,” he said. “Fortunately, for this particular partner, their church is kind of in an inside alley, so you can’t just go in through the church, you have to go through a certain set of roadblocks, so that . . . protects them.” (Mission Network News)

SURVEY CONFIRMS CZECHS’ COOLNESS TOWARD ANY RELIGION Katerina Zdarska is in the minority in the Czech Republic — she believes there is a God. A recently released Wall Street Journal survey found that her nation is the only one of 18 surveyed in Europe where more people identified themselves as nonbelievers than believers. Only 32 percent of Czechs surveyed said they believe in God, compared with an average of 70 percent in other European countries. “We (Czechs) don’t really have a strong relationship to religion,” said Zdarska, 32, a European Union official who specializes in Eastern European affairs. Religious leaders and scholars say that a series of twists and turns in religious and political history in the past five centuries have combined to cast the church as a symbol of repression in the minds of many Czechs. “From my research and experience, the Czechs are the most atheistic people in Europe,” says Daniel Di Domizio, professor of theology at Cardinal Stritch University in Milwaukee, Wis. “In the Czech Republic, what accounts for nonreligion is almost anti-religion.” The survey polled more than 16,000 Europeans in September and October. (WorldWide Religious News/Wall Street Journal)

* Czech programs recorded by HCJB World Radio producers in the Czech Republic and the U.S. air on seven local stations throughout the Czech Republic and Slovakia. Programs also air via Trans World Radio (TWR) in Europe. Staff are working with TWR to put Czech and Slovak programs on a 24-hour satellite service starting in September 2003. A weekly 15-minute program will begin broadcasting on an FM station in Slovakia in April. Programs also available on the Internet. The staff also publishes a magazine that is available in both Czech and Slovak.

CHRISTMAS LIGHTS REMIND BELIEVERS TO PRAY FOR IMPRISONED PASTORS Christmas lights are more than just decorations to WorldServe Ministries. They’re a reminder to pray for the plight of imprisoned pastors and their families in China. WorldServe has launched its “Lights of Christmas” initiative, urging believers everywhere to pray every time they notice the “Made in China” tag that is often attached to strands of Christmas lights. The lights may have been fabricated by persecuted prisoners, many of whom are Christian pastors, as a way to boost the Chinese economy. The more than 1,000 imprisoned Christians in China can be subject to severe conditions and brutal beatings. Rather than calling for a boycott of the Christmas lights, WorldServe wants the lights to remind people to pray for underground churches and support the families of inmates. “Prisoners say that their biggest burden is not the torture of prison itself, but the concern they have for their families,” says Tom Henry, minister-at-large for WorldServe Ministries. He said pastors in China are not given salaries, but typically live with host families who provide food and shelter and open their homes to serve as a church meeting places. If an underground church is discovered, both the pastor and the head of the home are arrested. Their families are forced to live on the street, and their work cards are taken away. (Religion Today)

35 NEW AGERS FIND CHRIST AT SPIRITUAL HEALING FAIR IN SWITZERLAND About 35 New Agers found Jesus during a spiritual healing fair in Basel, Switzerland, in late November 2004, reported Pastor Daniel Hari who helped man a booth at the event. The PSI fair, also known as the World Congress for Spiritual Healing, claims to be the world’s largest event of its kind. Hari and Stefan Driess of Manchester, U.K., rented a stand in the exhibition hall with the title, “Christocentric Healing,” at which they held demonstrations every hour. Hari said that Jesus Christ can still heal today and invited the visitors to experience this for themselves. “After a simple prayer, we saw a whole series of healings,” he said. “People felt a sudden warmth, symptoms vanished and a large number were interested in learning more about Jesus, including many who wanted to get to know Jesus.” The stand became the most visited section of the exhibition. (Friday Fax)

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