HINDU MOB BURNS DOWN LOCAL CHURCH IN INDIA, INJURES 4 CHRISTIANS

CHURCH WORKER AMONG 7,700+ VIETNAMESE INMATES TO GAIN AMNESTY

GERMAN AUTHORITIES STEP UP PRESSURE ON CHRISTIAN HOME-SCHOOLERS

MINISTRY URGES CHRISTIANS TO SEND EVANGELISTIC LETTERS TO TURKEY

GLOBAL CHRISTIAN NETWORK TO MOVE HEADQUARTERS TO ATLANTA AREA

DINOSAUR BONE DISCOVERY IN MONTANA CONFOUNDS EVOLUTIONISTS

Today’s News Stories:

HINDU MOB BURNS DOWN LOCAL CHURCH IN INDIA, INJURES 4 CHRISTIANS Christian leaders held an emergency meeting in the Thoubal district of northeastern India’s Manipur state Friday, April 22, to plan their response to an attack on a local church. Rev. S. Prim Vaiphei said a mob of 200 Hindus overpowered a police patrol and set fire to the Believer’s Church on Tuesday, April 19. Damage to the building, still under construction after previous attacks, was estimated at 445,000 rupees (US$10,350). Four Christians were also injured in the incident. Following a similar attack in November 2004, authorities ordered police protection for the church during the construction phase. The Sangai Express reported that police have arrested three suspects — Nahakpam Inao, Khumanthem Gojao and Laishram Ibomcha. The attack was the third on the church since the beginning of this year. Villagers have asked church members to abandon the premises or “face the consequences.” (Compass)

* Radio programs in nine languages (English, Urdu, Hindi, Punjabi, Nepali, Malayalam, Chattisgarhi, Hmar and Meeitei) are produced at HCJB World Radio’s studio in New Delhi. These are aired from the “Voice of the Great Southland,” the shortwave station operated by HCJB World Radio-Australia. Programs also air to India via FEBA Radio’s transmitters in three languages (Bhojpuri, Chattisgarhi and Mundari).

CHURCH WORKER AMONG 7,700+ VIETNAMESE PRISONERS TO GAIN AMNESTY Vietnam has promised to release Mennonite church worker Le Thi Hong Lien, 20, two months short of completing her one-year prison term. On Tuesday, April 26, Agence France-Presse quoted a European diplomat in Hanoi announcing that Lien is one of six “political prisoners” among a group of 7,751 inmates to be granted special amnesty on Saturday, April 30. This coincides with the 30th anniversary of the fall of Saigon. An American diplomat confirmed the news to a representative of the Vietnam Mennonite Church. Two months ago, Lien, who taught children’s Bible classes prior to her arrest, was transferred to the Bien Hoa Mental Hospital to receive treatment for the effects of prison torture. Visitors who visited her there said her body showed signs of “severe abuse,” and she had difficulty using her jaw which was broken in the beatings. There was no mention of two other Mennonite leaders, Rev. Nguyen Hong Quang and evangelist Pham Ngoc Thach, whose three- and two-year sentences on similar charges were upheld in an appeal on April 12. (Compass)

GERMAN AUTHORITIES STEP UP PRESSURE ON CHRISTIAN HOME-SCHOOLERS Pressure is mounting on Christians who home-school their children in Germany where it is illegal for parents to do so even for reasons of faith or conscience. A mother living near Guetersloh was recently imprisoned for six days because she and her husband refused to send their children to a state-registered school. They also refused to pay the fine, the equivalent of US$115. The conservative evangelicals object to sex education in public schools and regard the religious instruction as “too liberal.” The parents belong to a Baptist church comprised mostly of ethnic German immigrants from Russia. Local authorities in the federal state of North Rhine-Westphalia recently announced that they will pursue a hard line against home-schoolers. Since October, seven parents in Paderborn county have refused to send 15 children to public school for religious and ethical reasons. In addition, they were fined US$190 each. Authorities also threatened to take them to court, and they could lose custody of their children. A court in Bayreuth, Bavaria, ordered a couple to send their 8-year-old daughter to a state-registered school and fined the parents US$8,500. They may appeal the court order. Despite the legal requirements, about 500 children in Germany are home-schooled. (Assist News Service/IDEA)

MINISTRY URGES CHRISTIANS TO SEND EVANGELISTIC LETTERS TO TURKEY Steve Hagerman, director of Turkish World Outreach, is encouraging Christians to send “Gospel Letters” to residents of Turkey, a predominantly Muslim country where most people have never heard the salvation message. “The letters clearly explain the way of salvation in terms that Muslims understand,” he said. “A free New Testament and a video of the ‘Jesus’ film are offered. Those who respond will be followed up by dedicated Christian workers inside the country.” Volunteer correspondents will receive Gospel Letters with addresses and instructions along with a translation of the letter. The role of the volunteers is to supply envelopes for the letters, address them, affix postage and mail them. On a recent trip to Turkey, Hagerman returned with eight hard-to-obtain telephone books to use as a source for people’s addresses. So far 500 Christians have signed up to mail out Gospel Letters, he said. “This is an exciting opportunity for mission-minded individuals, congregations, Sunday school classes, youth groups and Christian schools.” (Assist News Service)

* HCJB World Radio worked with Words of Hope and local partners to help establish Radio Shema, an FM station in Ankara, Turkey, in 2003.

GLOBAL CHRISTIAN NETWORK TO MOVE HEADQUARTERS TO ATLANTA AREA The Global Christian Network (GCN) has announced plans to open its new headquarters offices in the metropolitan area of Atlanta, Ga., in June. GCN Executive Director Nestor Colombo says this is an exciting time for the ministry which will be joining television giants such as CNN, TNT, TBS Superstation and the Weather Channel in setting up production and launch facilities in the Atlanta area. The area is also home to Christian media ministry organizations such as Back to the Bible, Leading the Way and In Touch Ministries. “The new facilities are ideally suited to our needs,” Colombo said. “With the coming opening we can get to the real business of producing and broadcasting innovative and compelling Christian television.” GCN, a not-for-profit, charitable, religious and educational organization, works to produce, distribute and broadcast high-quality Christian and pro-family programming to local and regional affiliates worldwide in as many as five languages. (AgapePress)

DINOSAUR BONE DISCOVERY IN MONTANA CONFOUNDS EVOLUTIONISTS Evolutionists are trying to spin the latest archeological discovery to line up with their theories of the earth’s history, says Ken Ham, president of Answers in Genesis (AiG). Scientists in Montana recently discovered soft, flexible tissues inside the bones of a tyrannosaurus rex dinosaur. Forced to break up what they believe is a thigh bone of the dinosaur in order to fit it onto a helicopter for transport, the scientists were surprised to find soft tissue and complete blood cells inside the bone. Evolutionists estimate the fossil’s age at between 70 and 80 million years. However, Ham says the latest discovery poses a major problem for proponents of the theory of evolution as soft tissue could never survive millions of years. He believes the recently discovered bone negates the evolutionists’ archeological timeline which posits that dinosaurs roamed the earth and died out long before the appearance of “prehistoric” man. But creationists say there is plenty of evidence to the contrary, even apart from the Montana find. “In our modern world today, there have been lots of finds of what I call ‘living fossils.’ These are animals and plants living today that go back in evolutionary time to the time of the dinosaurs or even before,” Ham said. “Yet here we have them living today, and they haven’t changed. They’re living beside people.” (AgapePress)