INSURGENT GROUP IN INDIA THREATENS TO KILL MISSION LEADERS

2 AMERICAN MISSIONARIES BACK HOME AFTER DETENTION IN DUBAI

PAKISTANI MAN SEVERELY BEATS HIS WIFE FOR REFUSING TO EMBRACE ISLAM

UKRAINIAN CHRISTIANS UPBEAT 4 MONTHS AFTER PRESIDENT’S ELECTION

MINISTRY LAUNCHES SUNDAY SCHOOL PROGRAM IN POOR AREA OF MEXICO

DONKEYS BECOME BIBLE COURIERS IN SOME MIDDLE EAST COUNTRIES

Today’s News Stories:

INSURGENT GROUP IN INDIA THREATENS TO KILL MISSION LEADERS An insurgent group in the northeastern India’s Assam state has threatened to kill Gospel for Asia’s leaders in the area unless the ministry pays an extortion demand of 8 million rupees (US$183,465) by Thursday, March 10. GFA President K.P. Yohannan said the ministry received an official letter from the group’s commander last week warning local Christian leaders, “If you do not respect our organization or if you approach the [government], you will be calling for your total destruction.” Yohannan said that such threats are not uncommon in the state “where even the government is not in total control. We have already had pastors killed by the insurgents, and most other Christian missions have pulled out because of these threats. Some Christian ministries have urged us to leave as well, but our leaders on the scene say that if we pull out, no one will be there to share the gospel and minister to the people. In all of our years in Assam, this is the worst and most severe problem we have faced.” GFA has five Bible colleges, 70 Bridge of Hope schools, and more than 750 congregations in Assam. “These insurgents admitted in their threat letter that we are doing good work among the people, and even commended GFA for our ministry. But they want money and will kill to get it,” Yohannan said. (Gospel for Asia)

2 AMERICAN MISSIONARIES BACK HOME AFTER DETENTION IN DUBAI Two short-term missionaries who were arrested in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, Saturday, Feb. 19, for distributing Bibles and other Christian literature, are safely home in the U.S. after being deported from the country late last week. Both had been held under house arrest for about two weeks after police caught them handing out Bibles at a large international market as part of a mission trip with Tom Cox World Ministries. Marie Bush, 55, of Waxahachie, Texas, and Vivian Gilmer, 72, of Myrtle Beach, S.C., have been reunited with their families. “God was in total control,” Bush said in an interview with Baptist Press. “God will reveal His purpose, and nothing was by accident. Everything is in God’s hands.” Although the oil-rich nation on the coast of the Persian Gulf prohibits the distribution of religious tracts, Bush and other members of the team had been told that Bibles could be passed out as gifts from Americans. While the two women won’t be allowed to return to United Arab Emirates, they said they are willing to go wherever God leads them. Gilmer, a veteran missionary, is planning a vacation trip to Hawaii and other religious work. She said the past two weeks have not swayed her faith, although she did have a little jet lag. “I’d be willing to go back, if the Lord is willing,” Gilmer said. “This wouldn’t stop me from working for God.” (WorldWide Religious News/Sun News/Religion Today/Baptist Press)

PAKISTANI MAN SEVERELY BEATS HIS WIFE FOR REFUSING TO EMBRACE ISLAM A Christian Pakistani woman named Honey is fighting for her life in a local hospital after her Muslim husband severely beat her for refusing to embrace Islam, The Pakistan Christian Post reported. Her husband, Faisal Raees, broke a number of her bones as well as her nose and teeth with an iron rod and damaged parts of her body that will leave her unable to bear children if she survives. Honey, a Christian from Karachi, Pakistan, ran away from home and married Faisal Raees, the “man of her dreams” and a Muslim, against her parents’ wishes. But the dream began to evaporate when Raees started exerting pressure on his wife to become a Muslim. The pressure peaked on Sunday, Feb. 20, when Honey’s older brother, Richard, came to see her. When Richard tried to stop the man from hurting his sister, Raees hit him and threatened him with a gun. Then he bound Richard with tape and began beating Honey with an iron rod until she lost consciousness in a pool of blood. When some neighbors finally intervened, Raees fled, and they took his wife to a local hospital. Honey’s family is in hiding while her husband remains free. Police have yet to put together a case against Raees. Her brothers have received threats that all the members of the family would be killed and their younger sisters abducted and raped if they report the matter to police. Dr. Fazia, the hospital’s medical examiner, said in an interview with The Daily Naya Akhbar that she had never encountered such extreme violence to a woman. (Assist News Service)

UKRAINIAN CHRISTIANS UPBEAT 4 MONTHS AFTER PRESIDENT’S ELECTION Christians in Ukraine continue to be optimistic four months after voters elected President Victor Yushchenko, says Todd Marshall of Kiev-based CB International. In an interview with radio station WBNH, Marshall said the new president is doing more than giving “lip service” to religious freedom. “He has been working to eliminate the Ministry of Religion which has kept so many churches and ministries under its thumb for so many years. And when asked why, he said, ‘The state has no business in the affairs of the church, and the church has one head and that is Jesus Christ the Lord.'” Marshall said these changes could have a historic spiritual impact on the country. “What’s happening in Ukraine now will affect the future of Eurasia as much as the Reformation affected Europe,” he said. “The revolution was the easy part. Now the hard part is to work day by day and fight corruption in society and challenge believers to take their faith outside the walls of the church.” Meanwhile, Ukrainian believers are ready to take advantage of their newfound religious freedom. SEND International and a new Ukraine-based ministry, Gospel to the Nations, will work with local partners to help evangelize Central Asia and the Balkan region. SEND will provide training, encouragement and some start-up assistance for Gospel to the Nations. Gospel to the Nations expects to have candidates ready by January. (Mission Network News)

MINISTRY LAUNCHES SUNDAY SCHOOL PROGRAM IN POOR AREA OF MEXICO While Sunday school is something that North American churches may take for granted, that isn’t the case for many churches in Oaxaca, Mexico. A team from Floresta, a Christian organization that works to reverse deforestation and poverty by transforming the lives of the rural poor, recently returned from southern Mexico. Ministry spokesman Armando Osorio said people walked for miles to attend the ministry’s outreach because the need is so great. “Most of these areas have never had a children’s ministry,” he said. “We want to change the local culture in how they reach the children and it’s really reaping great results.” Osorio added that people in Oaxaca, one of the poorest states in Mexico, are open to any help they can get. “A lot of them are hopeless, so they’re very open to new things,” he said. “As far as the gospel, they’re very open. Throughout the summer we have missions teams go down to do Sunday school programs, to work with the youth, even to work with adults. God is definitely doing a mighty work.” (Mission Network News)

DONKEYS BECOME BIBLE COURIERS IN SOME MIDDLE EAST COUNTRIES In many closed Arab countries, all Christian literature and distribution outlets have been banned. Despite such restrictions, believers in some of these countries number in the thousands. Few have access to Bibles, and those who do are forced to use smuggled copies. Native missionaries are helping provide them with these in creative ways. Christian workers based in neighboring, less restrictive countries are using animals such as donkeys as secret Bible couriers. Workers attach bundles of Christian literature to the beasts and send them across the border where waiting accomplices secretly unload the literature and send the animals back. This simple procedure has put Bibles into the hands of hundreds of Christians. A growing number of these believers come from Muslim backgrounds. Wearied or disillusioned by their oppressive environments, many Arab Muslims have shown openness to Christ. (Christian Aid Mission) * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Web: http://www.hcjb.org http://www.beyondthecall.org * * * * * * * * * * * * *

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