Today’s Headlines:

OFFICIALS RAZE HOMES OF 10+ TRIBAL CHRISTIAN FAMILIES IN VIETNAM

ANGRY HINDU CROWD STORMS CHRISTIAN COMPOUND IN INDIA

2 MILLION TEENS GEAR UP TO PRAY AT THEIR SCHOOLS’ FLAGPOLES

VETERAN CHRISTIAN BROADCASTER ED STEELE DIES OF ILLNESS

Today’s Top Stories:

Committed to a Vietnamese mental hospital in Ho Chi Minh City for nearly a year after being diagnosed as “delusional” for believing in God, Rev. Than Van Truong was released to his family on Saturday, Sept. 17. Prosecuting authorities had placed Truong in a high-security section of the Bien Hoa Mental Hospital in Dong Nai province on Sept. 30, 2004. A former officer in the Vietnamese People’s Army, Truong was arrested in May 2003 and imprisoned without charges for nine months. Arrested again in June 2004, he was placed in a mental hospital after authorities were unable to charge him with any crimes. Initially he was heavily injected with unknown drugs and became ill and lethargic. A doctor at the hospital had told his wife that he showed no signs of any mental disorder. (Compass)

OFFICIALS RAZE HOMES OF 10+ TRIBAL CHRISTIAN FAMILIES IN VIETNAM

Vietnamese government authorities recently burned down more than 10 homes of tribal Christians in Doi Sau village in Quang Ngai province. The affected families were forced to flee their village and are now looking for a new area in which to live, reported the Washington, D.C.-based human rights group, International Christian Concern (ICC). The homes, belonging to the Hre tribe, were destroyed on Sunday, Aug. 21, because the Christians refused to deny their faith. Among those who lost their homes was Vietnamese evangelist Dinh Van Hoang. The victims belonged to the Evangelical Church of Vietnam which is recognized by the Vietnamese government, ICC reported. Local communist authorities in Son Thuong publicly stated that the “Christian religion is America’s religion, and is not allowed here.” (Assist News Service/Compass)

ANGRY HINDU CROWD STORMS CHRISTIAN COMPOUND IN INDIA

Hundreds of Hindus surrounded a Christian compound in the village of Sikaria in Bihar, India, Wednesday, Aug. 31, demanding the arrest of Rev. Augustine Jebakumar, director of the Gospel Echoing Missionary Society compound. The crowds remained for three days until police succumbed to pressure and arrested Jebakumar. The incident began when a group of young people in a religious procession passed the compound and Jebakumar asked them to turn down the volume of their loudspeakers since students were studying inside. The young people then proceeded to attack Jebakumar and others who came to his rescue. Several Christians were injured and two required hospitalization. Someone in the mob managed to disconnect the power to the compound and, in the confusion and dark, an idol being carried in the Hindu procession was broken. The mob claimed that Jebakumar was responsible and demanded his arrest for “desecrating the idol.” As word of the incident spread, hundreds of Hindus joined in demanding his arrest. Police arrested Jebakumar on Saturday, Sept. 3, and held him for several hours before releasing him. (Voice of the Martyrs)

2 MILLION TEENS GEAR UP TO PRAY AT THEIR SCHOOLS’ FLAGPOLES

About 2 million Christian teenagers from all 50 states and in countries around the world will gather at their schools’ flagpoles to pray early Wednesday, Sept. 21, as part of the annual See You at the Pole (SYATP)

observance. Participants will intercede for their leaders, schools and families, asking God to bring moral and spiritual awakening to their campuses and countries. Paul Fleischmann, president of the National Network of Youth Ministries, said the event “serves as a springboard for continued unity and cooperation for teenagers to reach out to their campuses. We are thrilled with the ownership these young people have taken.” The theme of this year’s event is “Call 2 Me” which is based on Jeremiah 33:3, “Call to me, and I will answer you, and show you great and mighty things, which you do not know.” The movement, initiated and led by students, started in Burleson, Texas (suburb of Fort Worth), in 1990. It originated with a single youth group that met at night at several schools around Burleson during a weekend retreat. More than 20 countries have launched and “owned” SYATP movements with their own promotional efforts, including Australia (held on May 12 this year) and Canada. (http://www.syatp.org/AgapePress/AP)

VETERAN CHRISTIAN BROADCASTER ED STEELE DIES OF ILLNESS

Thomas “Ed” Steele, a veteran of Christian broadcasting in the U.S. and Ecuador, died the night of Monday, Sept. 12, in a hospital in Santa Ana, Calif. He and his wife, Mary Belle, served as missionaries with HCJB World Radio in Quito, Ecuador, for more than four years (1966-1970) as Ed was the ministry’s broadcasting director. President and founder of the Ed Steele Agency, he loved to visit Israel and was friends with many top Israeli leaders. Ed was deeply loved and respected by all who knew him. An ordained Baptist minister, he founded Creative Communications, Inc., a broadcast consultancy and full-service advertising agency, in 1977. He built, managed and owned radio stations in California and elsewhere. He worked with Radio Bible Class to develop the “Day of Discovery” TV program. A longtime member of National Religious Broadcasters (NRB), he attended his first convention in 1963 and had only missed one since then. He has served on the Board of Directors of NRB and as president of the Western Chapter since the 1980s. The Steeles also worked with Promise Publishing in Orange, Calif. In his later years, Ed played a leading role with “Hope for Today,” David Hocking’s radio ministry. (Assist News Service/HCJB World Radio)