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An international advocacy group urged the U.S. government to condemn Indian authorities for asking three American Christians to leave India because they allegedly participated in evangelism. ‘We urge the U.S. government to look into this matter and take appropriate measures to pressure India to respect the religious freedom of Christians and other religious minorities,’ explained an International Christian Concern (ICC) representative. Shelly Deeds, a nurse from Pennsylvania, her daughter Katelyn 15, and Diane Harrington a teacher at Wisconsin were ‘asked to leave’ the country after Hindu organizations complained they ‘tried to convert poor families in India's southern state of Kerala. Indian police acknowledged there was no evidence the Christian tourists participated in proselytizing, but said they asked them to leave because the women ‘violated’ visa regulations by trying to attend a prayer meeting. Pray: God’s protection for Christians and the Christian community in the sensitive areas of India. (Ps.17:1) More: http://www.bosnewslife.com/17201-india-asks-u-s-evangelists-to-leave
Tensions remained high on Wednesday, September 15, in several parts of India where reports of Qur'an burning in the United States sparked deadly attacks against Christian institutions. In the village of Tangmarg, in India's Kashmir region, at least 14 people were killed and scores injured over the weekend when thousands of angry Muslims took to the streets and torched a Christian school. ‘The students are not hurt, but the building has totally burnt down,’ said Bishop Pradeep Kumar Samantaroy of the Church of North India. He said officials were informed of a possible attack and that Christians requested protection, but that ‘no action was taken’. The demonstrations were fuelled by reports that although a Florida pastor called off his plans to burnthe Qur'an, Iran's state-run TV, which is widely available in India, showed footage of a different man destroying a Qur'an in Tennessee. (See also Prayer Alert 3710) Pray: that any further actions that would bring the Church into disrepute and cause outrage would be stopped at source. (2Pet.2:1-2) More: http://www.bosnewslife.com/13830-14-killed-as-anti-christian-violence-spreads-in-india
With Hindu extremists constantly perpetrating attacks against the church, Christians in the northern region of India find themselves in a very hostile environment. Persecution has also come through politics as some states have implemented laws against conversion to Christianity. One such law is ironically called the "Freedom of Religion Bill." Similar legislation has been approved by lawmakers in Madhya Pradesh. The bill, which now awaits the governor's signature, would make it a crime to convert to Christianity without government permission. But Pastor Abraham, who works everyday with average people in the region, says that not everyone is hostile toward Christians. "When you bring the salvation, the healing, the blessings from Jesus, the common people always respond to the Gospel," he said. "Otherwise we can't do the work." Despite the persecution and the challenges, God is moving and the church is growing, Abraham said.
Pray: for true freedom of religion and for those who do wish to convert to Christianity. ( Jn.10:28)
More: http://www.cbn.com/cbnnews/world/2013/September/India-Church-Growing-Stronger-Despite-Hostilities/
There has been a steep increase in persecution across the ‘10/40 window’ in the last decade, says Gospel for Asia. It warned that in India alone there had been a ‘400 per cent’ increase in persecution. The 10/40 window encompasses the countries that have been least reached with the Gospel. Gospel for Asia president K P Yohannan said that people who had not experienced persecution ‘do not fully understand what it means to have their lives threatened, homes destroyed, rights violated and loved ones imprisoned, all because of embracing faith in Jesus Christ’. Christians in the 10/40 region have had their homes destroyed or been imprisoned because of accusations against them, including accusations of forced conversions. Many have been killed because of their belief in Christ and others have been forced to go underground. ‘The increase of this kind of persecution should not be surprising where the gospel is going forth in unfriendly world areas,’ said Yohannan. ‘.
Pray: for all Christians ouround th World who find themselves persecuted for their faith. (2Ti.3:12 )
More: http://www.christiantoday.com/article/increase.in.persecution.across.1040.window/30949.htm
More than 320 people have died in the southern Philippines after Typhoon Bopha swept across the south of the country. The total number of fatalities, which stood at around 90 on Tuesday, jumped as rescuers on Wednesday reached remote mountain villages cut off by floods and landslides. A government spokeswoman, Fe Maestre, told the Associated Press news agency that at least 151 people died in the worst-hit province of Compostela Valley. That included 66 villagers and soldiers who died in a flash flood that swamped two emergency storm shelters and a military camp as Bopha devastated New Bataan town the day before. Maestre said an unspecified number of villagers remained missing in New Bataan. Bopha swept across the island of Mindanao, destroying homes with 210km per hour gusts on Tuesday before headed towards the South China Sea.
Pray: for the people of the Philippines, for those who are suffering and need relief. (Lam.3:56)
More: http://www.aljazeera.com/news/asia-pacific/2012/12/201212553732512410.htmlChibok
12 million people across the Horn of Africa are struggling from the worst drought in decades, with two regions in famine. At emergency talks between aid chiefs, charities and ministers last Monday discussions centred around ways to step up food supplies and deliver them to the epicentre of the famine in southern Somalia, much of which is under the control of Islamist militants. UN emergency official Cristina Amaral said the fact that children are dying of hunger is ‘immoral’, she has been warning about the crisis facing the drought-stricken region since November when the rainy season failed. Now she says it's not enough for donor countries to stump up some cash for immediate food aid - there needs to be long-term investment to help farmers resist droughts and international mediation to bring peace to war-torn Somalia. See http://www.canada.com/life/Famine+Somalia+immoral+ordinator/5151657/story.html
Pray: for herders killing livestock on which their lives depend before they die of starvation and for God’s wisdom to endow the authorities making decisions in the coming weeks. (Ps.123:2)
More: http://www.canada.com/news/famine+Somalis+flee+Mogadishu+UNHCR/5159452/story.html
A human rights' group in Honduras says a prominent lawyer who represented peasants in disputes with large land owners has been killed. Antonio Trejo was shot dead by unknown gunmen after walking outside the church, where he was attending a wedding, to answer a phone call. Mr Trejo represented lands rights groups in the Bajo Aguan, a fertile palm-oil-producing region. Dozens of people have been killed in land conflicts there in recent years. A statement by the Peasants Movement of the Valley of Bajo Aguan, known by its Spanish acronym, Marca, says he was shot five times outside a church in Tocontin, in the outskirts of the capital, Tegucigalpa. He was taken to a nearby hospital but died of his wounds. Human rights' groups have called on the Central American government to investigate the deaths of dozens of peasants and campaigners in the Bajo Aguan area, in Honduras' northern Colon department.
Pray: for all those who offer their services to the peasants in their fight against greed and corruption. (1Jn.3:12)
More: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-19695587
Christians in the evangelical church in Honduras fear they are being deliberately targeted following the murder of several pastors in recent months. Pastor Carlos Roberto Marroquín, the founding pastor of the Pentecostal Church of God and a prominent figure in other Christian organisations was shot last week as he walked his dogs near to his home. The police are treating the pastor as a victim of robbery. Some in the church fear he was deliberately targeted as part of a wider attack on the work of the church. A pastor of Harvest Ministry called the authorities to launch a full investigation saying, ‘There are already six pastors who have died in Honduras in recent months. There must be a project, the authorities must investigate who is behind everything.’ Pray: for God to provide a canopy of protection over His evangelists in Honduras. (Mk,16:20)
A federal court has upheld Hawaii’s definition of marriage as a union between one man and one woman. The court rejected a lawsuit that sought to tear down the state’s law defining marriage as the union of one man and one woman and Hawaii’s constitutional amendment that gives the legislature the power to maintain the timeless definition. Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) attorneys defended the law and the amendment on behalf of Hawaii Family Forum, which the court allowed to intervene in the case in April. ‘This ruling affirms that protecting and strengthening marriage as the union of one man and one woman is legitimate, reasonable, and good for society,’ says ADF legal counsel Dale Schowengerdt. ‘The people of Hawaii adopted a constitutional amendment to uphold marriage and the court rightly concluded that the democratic process shouldn’t be short-circuited by judicial decree.’
Pray: that the Hawaii Government will continue defending the current definition of marriage. (Ps.74:22)
More: http://www.charismanews.com/us/33936-federal-court-rules-on-traditional-marriage-in-hawaii
Some Haitians feel as if it happened just days ago, the Rev. Kerwin Delicat, a priest based in the city of Léogâne, said as people prepared to mark six months since the January earthquake. Some progress is discernible and eventually there will be a return to normal life, but it's like something that just happened. Many residents still mourn loved ones. For some, trauma is less palpable than immediately after the quake, but others are still struggling to resume their lives. Christian Aid staff had to relocate after their offices were destroyed and they are impatient at the slow pace of some recovery efforts, saying they want the Haitian government to be more forthright in finding better and ultimately permanent, housing for the tens of thousands still in displacement camps and living in tents. It will take a long time for many families to restart a normal life because the consequences have been so huge. Pray: for the mercy of God to flow, for the kingdom of God to advance, and the powers of witchcraft and voodoo to be broken over the nation, so a new day for the Haitian people will arise. (Ps.28:2)