Today’s Headlines:

LOWER PAKISTANI COURT ACQUITS CHRISTIAN ACCUSED OF BLASPHEMY

POWERFUL BOMB FOUND INSIDE CATHOLIC CATHEDRAL IN PHILIPPINES

COURT TO HEAR APPEAL FROM 2 IMPRISONED VIETNAMESE MENNONITES

MINISTRY CONTINUES TO REACH OUT TO HAITI’S FORGOTTEN STORM VICTIMS

MEN FOR MISSIONS OUTREACH PLANS TO EXPAND WORK BEYOND HAITI

UKRAINIAN STREET CHILDREN FIND NEW LIFE DURING DEMONSTRATIONS

Today’s News Stories:

LOWER PAKISTANI COURT ACQUITS CHRISTIAN ACCUSED OF BLASPHEMY Anwer Masih has been acquitted of blasphemy in Lahore, Pakistan, making him the first Christian in the country to be acquitted of such charges in Pakistan’s lower courts. Judicial Magistrate Dr. Mohammed Anwar Gondal ruled on Dec. 17 that the accusations against Masih were based only on “hearsay evidence” and that the police report filed against Masih was nullified because it violated the criminal procedure code. Masih, 32, was arrested on Nov. 30, 2003. A neighbor who had converted from Christianity to Islam claimed that Masih had mocked his new beard and derided Islamic beliefs. Although cleared of blasphemy charges, Masih remains in hiding, unable to be reunited with his wife and four children because extremists from the Islamic Religious Army have vowed to kill him. He joins more than a dozen other Pakistani Christians who, despite their innocence, have been forced to apply for asylum abroad to live under new identities. (Compass)

POWERFUL BOMB FOUND INSIDE CATHOLIC CATHEDRAL IN PHILIPPINES A powerful bomb hidden in a lunchbox was found Friday, Jan. 14, inside a Roman Catholic cathedral in the predominantly Muslim southern Philippine city of Cotabato, about 545 miles south of Manila, police and church officials said. The improvised bomb, made from a 60 mm mortar shell with batteries and a timing device attached, had been delivered five days earlier by an old woman who left the lunchbox for one of the priests at the Cotabato Immaculate Concepci ³n Cathedral, said Rev. Jun Gumban. Local police Chief Superintendent Mipunod Maruhom said the bomb was powerful enough to kill and cause major damage. It was ready to explode except for one wire that wasn’t connected, said a police bomb expert. Maruhom said police had no suspects, and didn’t know why the church was targeted. (WorldWide Religious News/Associated Press)

COURT TO HEAR APPEAL FROM 2 IMPRISONED VIETNAMESE MENNONITES The People’s Supreme Court in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, will hear the appeals of Rev. Nguyen Hong Quang and evangelist Pham Ngoc Thach of the Mennonite Church on Wednesday, Feb. 2. Quang and Thach received three-year and two-year sentences respectively — the longest prison terms among six Mennonite workers sentenced on Nov. 12, 2004, for charges of “resisting persons doing official duty.” Meanwhile, codefendants Nguyen Thanh Nhan and Nguyen Hieu Nghia, both released in early December, have written accounts outlining the severe abuse they suffered while in prison. “These accounts . . . are heart-rending reports of nonstop beatings, deprivation and humiliation because of their Christian faith,” a source said. The higher court denied an appeal from evangelist Nguyen Van Phuong who is scheduled for release on March 2. An appeal was also denied for 21-year-old schoolteacher Le Thi Hong Lien whose one-year sentence ends June 30. She is reportedly unfit to stand trial. The torture and abuse that she has suffered has led to her “complete mental and physical breakdown.” (Compass)

MINISTRY CONTINUES TO REACH OUT TO HAITI’S FORGOTTEN STORM VICTIMS While worldwide relief efforts have been concentrating on survivors of the Dec. 26 tsunami in the Asia Pacific region, victims of disasters in other parts of the world have gone virtually unnoticed. Dean Yoder of Christian World Outreach (CWO) says this is the case for survivors of Tropical Storm Jeanne that flooded parts of Haiti last September. Hundreds are still homeless and hungry from the floods that killed at least 2,000 people and left the city of Gonaives in ruins. While the floods subsided months ago, “people’s personal belongings are gone — they lost their homes, their beds — anything they had was either destroyed by mud or washed away,” Yoder said. CWO continues to bring relief to the people in this forgotten part of the world. “Pray that we will see continued aid sent in to the country and that the churches will use this as an opportunity for evangelism,” Yoder said. (Mission Network News)

* Staff members from the HCJB World Radio Engineering Center in Elkhart, Ind., are working with OMS International to establish a satellite radio network based at 4VEH outside the city of Cap-Haitien that will deliver programs to FM stations nationwide. Downlinks have been installed in Tortue Island, Pignon and Beaumont, and at least two more are planned. HCJB World Radio also helped partner World Gospel Mission with a small station in Port-au-Prince.

MEN FOR MISSIONS OUTREACH PLANS TO EXPAND WORK BEYOND HAITI Despite poverty, natural disasters and the threat of violence, a group of men has been working to reach Haiti for Christ through thousands of small, fix-tuned, solar-powered radios. They also saw the beginnings of Christian radio stations and new ministry opportunities. Seeing that through to completion was a goal of Men for Missions’ Warren Hardig. “Our ‘Operation Saturation’ program officially ended on Dec. 31,” he said. “But we’re going to continue working in Haiti with radio distribution and completing two downlink stations that we didn’t get done during ‘Operation Saturation.'” Men for Missions is the laymen’s voice of OMS International. Hardig says the radio project hinged on a “circle of eight” prayer strategy. The combination was so strong that they want to expand their territory. “We want to take ‘Operation Saturation’ from Haiti to ‘Operation Saturation’ for the world. We want to get prayer champions for every one of the fields where OMS is working.” (Mission Network News)

UKRAINIAN STREET CHILDREN FIND NEW LIFE DURING DEMONSTRATIONS A tent erected by a Christian ministry in Kiev’s Independence Square during December protests has produced fruit in the lives of the street children it reached: 16 returned to their families, two were placed in hospitals for medical treatment, 20 were taken into children’s homes, and 20 gave their lives to Christ. Native gospel workers manned the tent during a week of protests, giving hot meals and warm clothing to teenagers and younger children. Games and sleeping areas were set up, as were television sets on which boys and girls could watch the historical election unfold. While giving care to homeless children, the outreach eased the minds of protesters in the square who were worried by the wandering boys and girls, knowing they often survive by stealing. Workers took about 50 children and teenagers to a local church service, at which 20 accepted Christ. They also took the homeless children to museums, an ice-skating rink and a movie theater. “During that week,” wrote a worker, “most of these children had more positive experiences than ever before in their lives. They learned what real childhood is.” Many of the children have decided to enter Christian homes operated by the ministry or return to their families. (Christian Aid Mission)

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