Today’s Headlines:

IRANIAN PASTOR KIDNAPPED, STABBED TO DEATH BY UNIDENTIFIED MEN

TERRORISTS BEGIN REBUILDING NETWORK AFTER QUAKE IN KASHMIR

MINISTRY PROVIDES VACCINATIONS FOR CHILDREN IN PAKISTAN, INDIA

Today’s Top Stories:

IRANIAN PASTOR KIDNAPPED, STABBED TO DEATH BY UNIDENTIFIED MEN

An Iranian convert to Christianity was kidnapped last week from his home in northeastern Iran and stabbed to death, his bleeding body thrown in front of his home a few hours later. Ghorban Tori, 50, was pastoring an independent house church of convert Christians in Gonbad-e-Kavus. Within hours of the murder on Tuesday, Nov. 22, local secret police arrived at the pastor’s home, searching for Bibles and other banned Christian books in the Farsi language. A former Muslim of Turkmen descent, Tori converted to Christianity more than 10 years ago while in Turkmenistan. After returning to his native Iran in 1998, he began to share his newfound faith with friends and relatives. Within two years, a small fellowship of 12 believers was meeting in his home. But not all welcomed his message. At least one relative attacked Tori, scarring his face. In the past year he received threats from Islamic extremists vowing to kill him if he did not stop sharing his Christian faith. He is the fifth Protestant pastor assassinated in Iran by unidentified killers in the past 11 years. (Compass)

Christian Freedom International (CFI) is urging the immediate release of three Indonesian Christian Sunday school teachers who have lost their first two appeals after being convicted of “attempting to coerce children to change their religion” under the country’s Child Protection Act. The women are serving their three-year prison sentences in the Indramayu district of West Java. A local Islamic group brought the charges against the three for violating the act. The women still have one appeal left under Indonesia’s law process system which has a three-phase law court level. A local pastor who visits the three women weekly told CFI, “We still need support from all of our brothers and sisters to continue with the legal process until the highest level, the third level, is complete — the last action for our law process system.” (Religion Today/Assist News Service)

TERRORISTS BEGIN REBUILDING NETWORK AFTER QUAKE IN KASHMIR

There have been reports that terrorists are again causing trouble in Pakistan’s Kashmir region that was devastated by a massive earthquake on Oct. 8. A partner with Interserve USA who asked to remain anonymous said the quake zone was a well-known recruiting ground for terrorists. “There has been a lot of damage done to the infrastructure for these people,” he said. “Whole villages have been swept away where these religious parties held sway. So they are back there now seeking to regroup, retrain people, especially trying to get a hold of the orphans so that they can brainwash them.” As for sharing their faith in Christ, the partner said, “Now is the time to show them the Christian way of handling things. Through our practice, through the way we conduct ourselves, through the way we meet with the people, talk to them, listen to their stories, this is a time of gaining a hearing — gaining the right to be heard later on.” (Mission Network News)

MINISTRY PROVIDES VACCINATIONS FOR CHILDREN IN PAKISTAN, INDIA

As winter weather bears down on thousands of people in Pakistan and India left homeless by the Oct. 8 earthquake, the threat of massive spread of fatal diseases increases. Public health officials and aid agencies have launched campaigns to immunize affected children in hopes of preventing another wave of deaths. Hopegivers International, a ministry that cares for both the physical and spiritual needs of almost 9,000 orphans across India, has responded to the need with more than 500 vaccines for children orphaned by the quake. By the end of this month the agency will have sent 50 truckloads of woolen clothing, blankets and tents into the area. A team will also be traveling to India in January to provide about 2,300 children with life-saving vaccines. In addition, the children are taught proper hygiene techniques and are given toothbrushes, vitamins and antibiotics. Registered nurse Bobbye Thomas said the ministry also addresses people’s spiritual needs. “It gives us . . . the privilege to share the saving knowledge of Christ to those children who have been left orphaned and abandoned on the streets of Pakistan, India and Africa,” she said. (Mission Network News)