Today’s Headlines:

EXTREMISTS, POLICE IN INDIA BADLY INJURE 6 CHRISTIANS IN ATTACK

EFFORTS TO SUPPRESS CHRISTIANITY IN MIDDLE EAST OFTEN BACKFIRE

Today’s Top Stories:

EXTREMISTS, POLICE IN INDIA BADLY INJURE 6 CHRISTIANS IN ATTACK

Hindu extremists armed with sticks, rods and other sharp weapons attacked a Christian seminar being held in a private home in Bhopal in central India’s Madhya Pradesh state the morning of Saturday, Jan. 28. Six Christians were rushed to a hospital with serious injuries following the assault while at least 12 others, some of them children, suffered relatively minor injuries. The assault left Pastor Sam Francis, who had organized the seminar, with fractures in his hands and legs while guest speaker Kishore Sadhwani suffered a broken hand and a head injury requiring eight stitches. This was the fourth attack against Christians in the state in as many days. (Compass)

EFFORTS TO SUPPRESS CHRISTIANITY IN MIDDLE EAST OFTEN BACKFIRE

Throughout the Middle East, Christians are quietly and faithfully living for Christ despite opposition and persecution. In countries like Saudi Arabia and Iran, there is a growing phenomenon of interest in the gospel, and Lee DeYoung with Words of Hope says the interest is in response to efforts to promote hostility toward Christians. “Efforts to suppress and to vilify Christians, for some people, actually produce a reaction that increases their curiosity and their interest. And thankfully, we’ve heard accounts of people who quietly share — Christians sharing with Muslim neighbors who ask them about their faith and why they believe what they believe. Many Muslims really are seeking after God. They have a hunger to know Him . . . and many are finding Jesus.” DeYoung is encouraged by local response to the Christian broadcasts in Arabic and Farsi from Words of Hope. “These are times of great pressure. There is great risk, but also there is a growing hunger. And we praise God for that and pray that we and those in those countries will be faithful in pursuing that.” (Religion Today/Mission Network News)