Today’s Headlines:

NORTH KOREAN OFFICIALS URGED TO CANCEL EXECUTION OF CHRISTIAN

PAKISTANI CHRISTIAN CLEARED OF ‘BLASPHEMY’ AFTER 5 YEARS IN JAIL

MUSLIM MOB SUSPECTED OF ATTACKING CHURCH LEADER’S HOME IN NIGERIA

ASSESSMENT TEAM VISITS INDONESIAN CITY 16 MONTHS AFTER TSUNAMI

HIGH-TECH OUTREACH HELPS PEOPLE ‘STAY IN TOUCH WITH THEIR FAITH’

* HCJB WORLD RADIO HONORS LATE MOODY BROADCASTING NETWORK HEAD

Today’s Top Stories:

NORTH KOREAN OFFICIALS URGED TO CANCEL EXECUTION OF CHRISTIAN

Family members and activists have appealed to the international community to intervene in the planned execution of Son Jong Nam, 48, a North Korean Christian who has been sentenced to public execution. Multiple agencies protested Saturday, April 22, outside the government complex in South Korea, calling for efforts to rescue Son Jong Nam. This is the first time that an appeal has been issued to prevent the known execution of a named individual in North Korea from taking place. The execution was expected to take place before the end of this month. Son is imprisoned in the basement of the National Security Agency in Pyongyang where he has been tortured. He is accused of betraying his country and sharing information with South Koreans. The charges apparently stem from his visit to China where he met with his brother and spoke about life in North Korea and his connection to Christianity. In 1997 Son, together with his wife, son and brother, defected to China where he became a Christian — both serious crimes in North Korea. (Christian Solidarity Worldwide)

PAKISTANI CHRISTIAN CLEARED OF ‘BLASPHEMY’ AFTER 5 YEARS IN JAIL

Local sources in Pakistan reported that Pakistani Christian Parvez Masih has been found not guilty of “blasphemy” and released after spending the last five years in prison. Masih was arrested in April 2001. As headmaster of a Christian school in Lahore, he was accused of blaspheming the Islamic prophet Mohammed after some of his students asked him about Mohammed’s 9-year-old wife Aisha. He simply mentioned her name and told them to look up more information in the Koran.

Todd Nettleton of Voice of the Martyrs says such cases are not unusual. “The blasphemy law in Pakistan often is used as a weapon if you have a dispute, if it’s a property dispute, if you have an argument,” he explained. “The police are open to locking up Christians. They’re open to hearing these charges. In the case of Parvez Masih, it then took five years to work through the court system to allow him to be released.”

Despite the situation being faced by Christians, outreach in the country continues to grow. “Christians obviously know they’re facing persecution, and they know that this law is out there,” Nettleton said. “They just have to be cautious and be graceful in the way they communicate while at the same time being very clear with the message of the gospel, being very clear about what they believe.” (Voice of the Martyrs/Mission Network News)

MUSLIM MOB SUSPECTED OF ATTACKING CHURCH LEADER’S HOME IN NIGERIA

The latest attack on Rev. Ali Buba Lamido, 47, the Anglican bishop of the Wusasa diocese in Nigeria’s Kaduna state, began as the past year’s previous three did. Armed men whom he believes were Muslim militants asked the guards at his home where he was, and announced that they were going to kill him. This time, on Friday, March 10, a guest of one of his guard was shot dead. The guard and another worker were seriously injured. The four attacks on his house in the last year never involved an attempted robbery. “It is difficult to believe that it was not religiously motivated because some bishops have been attacked and one priest was murdered in a similar way,” he said. “And the killers never stole any thing from their houses.” (Compass Direct)

ASSESSMENT TEAM VISITS INDONESIAN CITY 16 MONTHS AFTER TSUNAMI

One-third of the residents of the Indonesian city of Meulaboh were killed in the December 2004 tsunami and earthquake. In the 16 months since, Food for the Hungry has been in the region helping to rebuild Meulaboh together with the City of Phoenix in Arizona and others that formed the Phoenix Rising to Help partnership. This partnership has raised more than $350,000 to help rebuild Meulaboh. Phoenix Councilwoman Peggy Bilsten is part of a Food for the Hungry assessment team that is in Indonesia helping with the education system, creating and maintaining jobs in the area and meeting with leaders to assess how the redevelopment effort is going. Food for the Hungry is committed to meet not only people’s physical needs, but also their spiritual ones. (Mission Network News)

HIGH-TECH OUTREACH HELPS PEOPLE ‘STAY IN TOUCH WITH THEIR FAITH’

Rick Warren, senior pastor of Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, Calif., has announced that has partnered with Proteus, Inc., to bring faith-based content to wireless telephones through the company’s mobile storefront (pdlmobilestore.com). This month also marks the launch of a premium text-messaging service called “40 Days of Purpose Mobile.” The service presents two new ways for people to “stay in touch with their faith, no matter where they are.” The mobile storefront offers wireless users the ability to personalize their mobile phones with the “Verse to Remember” series of graphic wallpapers. Users can also sign up for the “Mobile Daily Devotional” service that sends inspirational text messages to users’ phones. “Today’s society is busier than ever, making it difficult for individuals to stay in touch with the things that matter to them,” said Guy Vidra, vice president of business development at Proteus. “We recognize how the mobile channel can help bridge this gap . . . giving people another way to connect to their faith.” (Evangelical News/Christian Communication Network)