HINDU GROUP IN INDIA TRAINING THOUSANDS TO FIGHT MISSIONARIES

FEARS GROW ABOUT POSSIBLE ‘TALIBANIZATION’ OF PAKISTANI PROVINCE

CHRISTIAN RELEASED FROM NORTH KOREAN PRISON TELLS HIS STORY

YOUNG CHINESE PASTORS SET FOUNDATION FOR NEW CHURCH GROWTH

BILLY GRAHAM DECLINES INVITATION TO HOLD LONDON CRUSADE

Today’s Top Stories:

HINDU GROUP IN INDIA TRAINING THOUSANDS TO FIGHT MISSIONARIES

Grace Ministries International is not able to send American missionaries to India because of government restrictions. This means the work of outreach depends on the national workers at the ministry’s six local churches in India. Meanwhile, opponents are stepping up efforts to discredit the Christian faith in India. As a result, the persecution of Christians has been on the rise and has been spreading rapidly throughout the country. The Hindu fundamentalist group, Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), announced that it has launched an initiative to train Hindu militants to fight Christians. A training camp has even been set up in Jeypore, a city in eastern India’s Orissa state. In the past there was more focus on the destruction of property and the oppression of local believers. Now the emphasis has been shifted to Christian leaders and pastors, accusing them of “bought” conversions from Hinduism to Christianity. The militants are planning to train thousands of young people within the next two years to fight Christian missionaries. (Mission Network News)

FEARS GROW ABOUT POSSIBLE ‘TALIBANIZATION’ OF PAKISTANI PROVINCE

A proposed law in Pakistan’s North West Frontier Province has heightened fears that the country could be moving towards a Taliban-style government in that region. The proposed Hasba Act would legislate for the creation of a department modeled on the repressive Department of Prevention of Vice and Promotion of Virtue in Afghanistan. This department led to religious police roaming Afghan streets, confronting men without beards of sufficient length and enforcing the universal wearing of the head-to-toe burkah dress. The province’s ruling Muttahida Majils-e-Amal Party is a coalition of Islamist radical parties said to have close links with the deposed Taliban regime. The party already enforces some policies reminiscent of the Taliban — music is banned on public transport, male doctors are forbidden from examining women, and male journalists are banned from covering women’s sports. Critics of the Hasba Act suspect that it is part of a strategy to impose a “Talibanization” of the province. Shahbaz Bhatti, chairman of the All Pakistan Minorities Alliance, fears that the act, if passed, would be a “hanging sword for religious minorities who would become a prime target for religious extremists.” (Christian Solidarity Worldwide)

CHRISTIAN RELEASED FROM NORTH KOREAN PRISON TELLS HIS STORY

A Korean-Chinese Christian, referred to only as “Lee” to protect his identity, has emerged from a North Korean jail to tell of his experience. He says a woman in his Chinese church gave him an identification number belonging to her cousin to use while traveling to North Korea. When authorities saw the ID number they immediately arrested Lee, who later discovered the woman was a North Korean spy. “Between March 5 and 19 I was interrogated daily,” he wrote. “Because of the beatings I began to have severe pains in my liver and kidney.” At one point authorities believed he was near death so they transferred him to another location and fed him well to make sure he stayed alive. “Within two weeks I had recovered, so they brought me back to the interrogation center where I was again beaten and tortured for another 54 days.” Lee said he was jailed and tortured for spreading the gospel in North Korea and bringing people to Christ for the past eight years. He says his heroes are those Christians who have endured hardship, torture and even death but never renounced their faith. (Crosswalk)

YOUNG CHINESE PASTORS SET FOUNDATION FOR NEW CHURCH GROWTH

Despite reports of increasing persecution of the unregistered house church, there is good news, says Erik Burklin of China Partner Ministries. He noticed on his last visit to China that much of the church leadership was no longer elderly. “What that means is that the younger generation is coming up. They have been trained to do ministry. Also, what that means is that the older generation is realizing that they can no longer keep up with the demands of the ministry of today, and they’re allowing the younger generation to take over.” Burklin says the new generation of church leaders has a clear vision for the future. “It’s one thing to build a church, it’s another thing to realize that not only is this church building used for Sunday-morning worship services and other ministry activities, but now they’re using that same facility for a Bible training center.” (Mission Network News)

BILLY GRAHAM DECLINES INVITATION TO HOLD LONDON CRUSADE

Billy Graham has declined an invitation to hold an evangelistic crusade in London, a decision he deferred until after his recent Greater New York Crusade, stated a news release from the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association. Church leaders in the U.K. had invited Graham to hold meetings in London later this year. Age and health concerns of the 86-year-old evangelist and his wife, Ruth, made the distance from home and logistical considerations a greater challenge than recent domestic crusades. “After much prayerful consideration, I determined I should not be that far from home,” Graham wrote in a letter notifying those who had invited him to London. “This was a difficult decision because London has played such a significant part in the life of my ministry.” Since making the decision in early July, Graham has been closely following events in London, including the city’s selection as the site to host the 2012 Olympic Games followed by the terrorist attack in London. The evangelist assured British church leaders of his continued prayers for the people of London, especially the victims and their families, and called on people of faith around the world to do likewise. (Baptist Press)