Persecution @ MindSay

I received this today.  Our national leader in India is concerned about what is happening in India and wants to wait until the April elections before we deploy.  Now I understand why.

This is a request for prayer for YWAM missionaries and their churches in Orissa, India.  Please read and make this a matter of urgent prayer.

Dear beloved sponsors and friends of Good News India,

We have never seen anything like this. We knew that Orissa was the most resistant and hostile State in India as far as the Gospel is concerned.  And we brushed off the continuous threats and   harassment we faced as we went about His work. But none of our staff imagined that they would see this kind of carnage.  And it seems to be totally under the radar of the Western Media.  Let me explain.  A militant Hindu priest and 4 of his attendants, who were zealously going around the villages of Orissa and re-converting people back to Hinduism, were gunned down by unknown assailant Orissa last weekend. Immediately the Christians were blamed. The cry roseup: Kill the Christians!' And the horror began....

In the past 4 days, we have first hand witness to hundreds of churches being blown up or burned and many, many dozens of Christian tribals have been slaughtered. For no other reason than they bear the name of Christ.  Night and day I have been in touch with our Good News India Directors spread across 14 Dream Centers in Orissa.  They are right in the middle of all this chaos. In Tihidi, just after the police came to offer protection, a group of 70 blood-thirsty militants came to kill our staff and destroy the home. They were not allowed to get in, but they did a lot of damage to our Dream Center by throwing rocks and bricks and smashing our gate, etc.  They have promised to come back and 'finish the job'. Our kids and staff are locked inside and have stayed that way with doors and windows shut for the past 3 days. It has been a time of desperately calling on the Lord in prayer.

More police have come to offer protection.  In Kalahandi, the police and some local sympathizers got to our dream center and gave our staff and kids about 3 minutes notice to vacate. No one had time to even grab a change of clothes or any personal belongings. As they fled, the bloodthirsty mob came into the building. We would have had a mass funeral there, but for His grace. In Phulbani, the mob came looking for Christian homes and missions. The local Hindu people, our neighbors turned them away by saying that there were no Christians in this area. So they left. We had favor. The same thing happened in Balasore.

All our Dream Centers are under lock down with the kids and staff huddled inside and police outside. The fanatics are circling outside waiting for a chance to kill. Others were not so fortunate. In a nearby Catholic orphanage, the mob allowed the kids to leave and locked up a Priest and a computer teacher in house and burned them to death. Many believers have been killed and hacked into pieces and left on the road, even women and children. At another orphanage run by another organization, when this began, the Director and his wife jumped on their motorbike and simply fled, leaving all the children and staff behind. Every one of our GNI directors that I have spoken to said: 'We stay with our kids.  We live together or die together, but we will never abandon what God has called us to do.'

More than 5000 Christian families have had their homes burned or destroyed. They have fled into the jungles and are living in great fear waiting for the authorities to bring about peace. But so far, no peace is foreseen. This will continue for another 10 days, supposedly the 14 day mourning period for the slain Hindu priest. Many more Christians will die and their houses destroyed. Many more churches will be smashed down. The Federal government is trying to restore order and perhaps things will calm down.  We ask for your prayers.  Only the Hand of God can calm this storm.  None of us know the meaning of persecution. But now our kids and staff know what that means. So many of our kids coming from Hindu backgrounds are confused and totally bewildered at what is happening around them.  So many of their guardians have fled into the jungles and are unable to come and get them during these trying times. Through all this, I am more determined than ever to continue with our goal:  the transformation of a community by transforming its children.  Orissa will be saved—that is our heart's cry. If we can take these thousands of throw-away children and help them to become disciples of Jesus, they will transform an entire region. It is a long term goal, but it is strategic thinking in terms of the Great Commission.

What can you do? First, please uphold all this in fervent prayer. We are literally fighting the devil in order to live for His Kingdom. The next 10 days are crucial. We pray for peace and calm to pervade across Orissa. Thank you for taking the time to read this.

Blessings, Chip & Sandy Wanner

Facilitators to YWAM frontlines

For those Mindsayers who care about the persecution of Christians, please pray for your brothers and sisters in the Indian state of Orissa.  As you will read, most of the victims are Dalits, formerly known as untouchables.  Our friend, who lives in India, sent us this:

“In the aftermath of the murder of a Hindu swami by unknown assailants on August 23, 2008, mobs attacked the Christian community across the eastern state of Orissa. On Monday, a 12-hour strike called by hardliner Hindu nationalist organizations resulted in spreading violence. Media reports and eye witness accounts indicate about a dozen Christians were killed and thousands of Christian properties burnt. See dedicated webpage at: http://indianchristians.in/news/content/view/2332/45/

The Christian leaders across denominations are calling for Christian educational institutions to peacefully protest by closing schools on Friday.

‘Some people have called the violence “Hindu-Christian clashes.” But this is not accurate. Innocent Christians – mostly of Dalit origin – continue to be attacked by communal organizations which are mocking the rule of law. Governance in Orissa state appears to have disintegrated,’ said Dr. Joseph D’souza, President of the All India Christian Council.

• Pray for the government to take strong action in order for peace to be restored.
• Pray for protection over all: Christians, Hindus, Muslims, Buddhists, and others.
• Pray for the Christian community to not retaliate in like manner.
• Pray for physical and spiritual healing and for forgiveness and reconciliation.
• Pray that the name of Jesus would be lifted up in this situation – that all may see HIM.”

Yes, boys and girls it's really really official now.

We are a banana republic!

Top leaders get involved in oil for food scandals, depriving the poor hungry Iraqi women and children of valuable resources which could be used for the purchase of food and medication. But at the same time pretending to be so holy and pious back home. Holy hypocrisy!

Top leaders get involved in sex and murders scandals and shamelessly deny the link, when all the evidence is pointing a particular way. "I don't know who she is..but I only met her in P---s for dinner"....."and she likes to do what I have falsely accused my political opponent of doing". Wink Wink

Normal protests by the general public is put down with unprovoked violence by the police; going for a walk on Sunday morning in a group of more than 5 is illegal in this country. It's an "illegal gathering."

Print and broadcast media is stifled and told to toe the govt line, villifying all opponents of the govt. Bloggers, who due to the inherently free nature of the internet, are able to give the public the truth they crave, are targetted for one silly reason or the other. Read : Sedition charge against our Yang Mulia.

Online newspapers have their offices raided. No news is credible other than that which we get on the internet through the efforts of a few brave individuals. May they prosper and may their numbers grow. My special salute to Malaysiakini at www.malaysiakini.com for their courage in keeping to the noble aims of journalism, i.e. the reporting of the unembellished truth, even in these difficult and dangerous times.

People are more afraid of the law enforces than they are of the thieves because, as they say, they have a licence to plunder and pillage unrestrained, whereas the thieves have to do it under the cover of darkness and with their faces covered. Govt-sponsored armed forces are are being formed, independent of the police or the military, and  being armed and  given the authority to enter any premise without a warrant. Allegedly to look for illegal foreign workers. Know who I'm talking about? So what's the role of the immigration and the police? Oh, so they're understaffed eh? Well here a hint! Why not employ more police and immigration officers rather than forming what efectively amounts to a paramilitary force?  Good!!! As we slide further down the scale of a civiled country ...to Banana Republic status!

The public is put in fear of attending public gatherings by the threat that the army will be brought in to control the "mobs" and patrol the streets. Army patrolling the streets? Are we in Palestine or Zimbabwe or Myanmar? Loss of faith in the police, knowing that even the "underlings of the govt" cannot now stomach the corruption and deception practised by the top leaders.

Poltical opponents are arrested or charged with trumped up charges for a crime which would be an impossibility to commit. A frail five-footer with a spine problem manages to overpower a strapping 23 year-old six-footer, flips him over and gives him the old shebang? Stretching the limits of credibility, init?

People fighting for justice in their homeland are imprisoned under preventive detentions laws, denied medical treatment and just left to die, all because they were of a different clour and they prayed to a different God. And he (you know who) would have died if the new PR govt had not made a big fuss over it. The immense loss of support the Bloody Nasty govt would face if he died sobered them up. A little....

A cry for fair elections is a crime in this banana republic. Again be prepared to face the wrath of the water canons, gleefully bought with our tax money ( with a massive commission thrown in, of course), to be gleefully used against us. Against women, children and old people who ask for nothing more than a right to air their views and grievances. I guess they forgot : WE'RE A BANANA REPUBLIC.

All we need to complete the picture is our dear dear "anak lelaki Sik----r Kutty" going around the country preaching the preservation of the purity of the race. Which race?...has he forgotten that he's a South Asian and only a first generation Malaysian? So which race is it that he's fighting to preserve the purity of ... and which bloody party was so stupid to allow the bloody south asian to lead them thinking he was one of them. Many a time this South Asian Keralite's son must have laughed to himself , thinking how he managed to gain control of a race-based party when he wasn't even a member of that particular race. And now he goes around stirring up racial propaganda all around the country..."no jail time for me, no matter that bloody drunk indian lawyer said". Get the picture?

The Inspector General of Police and the Attorney General having been accused of covering up evidence at a criminal trial. And the police are going to investigate!!! Kind of like asking the fox to count the chickens!!!

First World public transportation system in our country exists in the unilateral wet dream of some govt politician, drooling over the money to made from the award of contracts to their cronies.  

Politians treating their development funds as their very own piggy banks. Wonderful!!

Now the top dog says there is no problem, everthing is okay, country is peaceful. But bring on the army, just in case!!!!

I received this email a couple of days ago.  I was especially moved by Mr. Rubesh’s final request. 

“The attached photos just came in this morning.  They are pictures of the Talahena Calvary Church in Colombo that was attacked by a mob of Buddhist monks and supporters just last Sunday.  Pastor Roshan (shown in one photo) is the younger brother of the pastor of our little church in Kandy.  He and his father were hospitalized in the attack.  The attack came while morning worship service was in progress, and the photos tell the rest of the story.  Please do keep these dear people in your prayers.  There is normally very little legal recourse available through the police as the government is hesitant to challenge Buddhist clergy who are involved in these things.  Pray that through such times (and numbers of churches in Sri Lanka are experiencing this sort of thing), God’s people will demonstrate the gracious aroma of Christ in the midst of suffering for His sake.

Thanks in advance for your prayers.

Ted Rubesh”

One of my brothers was killed a couple of days ago.  Lord, please provide for his family.  Please protect Christians in the Gaza Strip.

The body of a Christian official who was kidnapped over the weekend was discovered in Gaza City early Sunday, Palestinian sources said.

The man was identified as Rami Ayyad, 31, director of The Teacher's Bookshop, which is operated by the Palestinian Bible Society.

Although no group claimed responsibility for the murder, a number of Christians in Gaza City told The Jerusalem Post that Ayyad had received several death threats in the past from radical Muslims who accused him of conducting missionary activities.

His bookshop and the Palestinian Bible Society had been the target of repeated attacks over the past two years.

They noted that attacks on members of the 2,500-strong Christian community in the Gaza Strip had increased in recent months, especially since Hamas took full control over the area.

Two weeks ago, an elderly Christian woman living in Gaza City was beaten and robbed by a masked man who accused her of being an "infidel."

In Bethlehem, Palestinian Authority police are investigating last week's stabbing of a 27-year-old Christian man, who was seriously injured.

Shortly after the Hamas takeover, a local Christian school and a monastery were looted and set on fire.

News of Ayyad's murder shocked members of his family and friends and raised fears that the Hamas government, despite repeated promises, was not able to protect the local Christian community.

From the Jerusalem Post. 

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1191257240876&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull