Today’s Headlines:

TURKEY ORDERS DEPORTATION OF IRANIAN CHRISTIAN FAMILY

MISSION GROUPS STEP UP AID EFFORTS IN KASHMIR AS DEATH TOLL MOUNTS

CHINESE OFFICIALS TORTURE, THREATEN CHRISTIAN BUSINESSMAN

CHRISTIAN RADIO BROADCASTS RESUME TO MEXICO’S TOTONAC PEOPLE

HUNDREDS OF BELIEVERS MEET IN DALLAS FOR 40 DAYS OF PRAYER, FASTING

Today’s Top Stories:

TURKEY ORDERS DEPORTATION OF CHRISTIAN IRANIAN FAMILY

A family of Iranian converts to Christianity could face jail time, the death sentence and the forced marriage of their daughter if Turkish authorities forcibly deport them back to Iran next week after nearly three years of failed attempts to obtain U.N. refugee status. A deportation order issued Wednesday, Oct. 5, by Turkish police in Kastamonu gives Zivar Khademian and her three adult children 15 days to leave Turkey or be forcibly repatriated back to Iran. Under the laws of Iran, apostasy from Islam is listed along with murder, armed robbery, rape and serious drug trafficking as a capital offense. The family lives in Kastamonu, 130 miles north of Ankara. With an Oct. 20 deadline hanging over them, the family of four has packed up to leave Kastamonu and is unsure where they will go. (Compass)

MISSION GROUPS STEP UP AID EFFORTS IN KASHMIR AS DEATH TOLL MOUNTS

Christian organizations are continuing to respond to the powerful earthquake that rattled India’s Kashmir region, resulting tens of thousands of fatalities while leaving thousands more injured and homeless.

International Aid’s Myles Fish says his ministry plans to work via Christian hospitals in the affected area. “We have not been able to reach them yet, but we believe that we will be able to work through not only those hospitals, but the groups of Christians that are there. We’ll know more when we get on the ground and when we can make firsthand observations. But, we anticipate that we will have the opportunity to work through the church and to be a very openly Christ-centered witness as we provide this relief support.”

Gospel for Asia President K.P. Yohannan said that while the quake “severely damaged” one of its 54 Bible colleges, students and missionaries are helping victims in the predominantly Muslim area. “As our people are going in there right now, they’re going very carefully, carrying God’s Word. Yet, they are sensitive. Each one is going there with prayer and commitment to share the solution — Jesus is the only hope even in the midst of all despair and hopelessness.”

Southern Baptists are also beginning to mount their response as field leaders with the denomination’s International Mission Board coordinate their efforts with the World Hunger and Relief Ministries team. Team members are looking for opportunities to meet people’s physical and spiritual needs.

Morning Star Development is supplying emergency food and blankets to more than 1,000 affected families. Food packages consist of beans, rice, flour, oil, sugar, salt and tea. This package can feed a small family for a few weeks. Morning Star staff member Asif Jamshaid, associate pastor of the Central Presbyterian Church in Faisalabad, Pakistan, will coordinate the distribution. (Mission Network News/Morning Star Development)

* Radio programs in 12 languages (English, Urdu, Hindi, Nepali, Chattisgarhi, Bangla, Bhojpuri, Tamil, Telegu, Marwari, Marathi and Santhali) air to India from HCJB World Radio-Australia’s shortwave station in Kununurra. The programs are produced at the ministry’s studios in New Delhi, India.

CHINESE OFFICIALS TORTURE, THREATEN CHRISTIAN BUSINESSMAN

While recovering in the hospital from a broken chest bone suffered while being tortured by local Chinese authorities, state security agents threatened Christian businessman Tong Qimiao on Friday, Sept. 30. The agents showed Tong a news release from the China Aid Association (CAA) regarding his case and forced him to write a statement that he was never beaten during interrogation. The officials of the Bureau of Industry and Commerce also showed up at the emergency room and threatened him that his license would be revoked unless he cooperated with the state security agents. Reliable sources told CAA that Tong and his family would not give in and they would file a lawsuit against the agents. “We are shocked by what happened to Mr. Tong, and it is even more inhumane and barbarian that this happened in the hospital,” said CAA President Bob Fu. “This kind of case happens as the Chinese government is ambitiously developing the Western region. We urge the Chinese government to take exact steps to protect people’s freedom of religion which is enshrined in the constitution of the People’s Republic of China.” (Voice of the Martyrs/China Aid Association)

CHRISTIAN RADIO BROADCASTS RESUME TO MEXICO’S TOTONAC PEOPLE

After nearly 20 years, the gospel is again being broadcast to Mexico’s indigenous Totonac people in their own language, says Dale Kietzman, president of Latin American Indian Ministries (LAIM). Totonac radio programmer Felipe Ramos is again producing programs in his native language. “For years we prayed about getting ‘The Totonac Cultural Hour’ back on the air,” Kietzman said. “During the late 1970s and 1980s, Felipe had a half-hour broadcast from a station in Poza Rica, Veracruz, for eight years. It had a tremendous impact, even though government regulations did not permit openly ‘gospel’ broadcasting.” The programs resulted in many Totonacs coming to Christ and the establishment of local churches in remote areas. “Now Felipe has been contacted by a new radio station in the city of Poza Rica which is central to all the Totonac-speaking areas,” he said, adding that the radio station owners are willing to accept religious programming and after telling them about the needs of the Totonac people, they lowered the cost of the programming. After one of the first broadcasts, there was a flood of calls from non-Christians, many requesting cassettes and New Testaments. (Assist News Service)

HUNDREDS OF BELIEVERS MEET IN DALLAS FOR 40 DAYS OF PRAYER, FASTING

Christians from around the world began gathering in Dallas, Texas, Thursday, Sept. 22, for a time of intercession and fasting to seek God. Hundreds of believers have congregated in the metroplex at Christ for the Nations Institute. “Forty Days of Prayer and Fasting,” an event that runs through Monday, Oct. 31, is sponsored by Generals International. Organizer Cindy Jacobs says the focus is on the nation’s need for true spiritual awakening. Generals International is an organization that helps train Christian leaders to make an impact on their cities and regions, and Jacobs says it is sponsoring the prayer initiative in the hopes of making an impact on America in many areas. “Many, many hundreds and hundreds of people are fasting,” Jacobs notes. Another focus is prayer for a “great revival” to sweep the land. Something God has laid on Jacobs’ heart particularly, she says, is prayer for the “homosexual community to see God’s power and for many homosexuals come to Christ.” (AgapePress)