Assamese Christian Convert Brutally Murdered

Guwahati, July 25, 2007: Assamese Christian convert, who belong to Guwahati Baptist Church was murdered on July 1.

Hemanta Das, 29, was beaten brutally by unidentified assailants, suspected to be the members of a religious fanatic group on June 28 and he was admitted to the hospital. He succumbed to death after four days of struggling between life and death.

On several occasions, he was cautioned by radical groups of the dire consequences that would follow if he tried to convert people to Christianity.

According the news reports, a murder case has been lodged in a local police station; but they failed to trace the culprits.

Hemanta Das was an active member of the Hindutva group known as Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) before he was converting to Christianity. He accepted Jesus as his personal saviour on 2002.

The Council of Baptist Churches in North East India declared that Hemanta Das was the first Assamese Christian Martyr.

Christians in lower Assam are the victims of these atrocities.

Pastor who led group from Korea killed by Taliban

Kandahar, July 25, 2007: Korean evangelism questioned as eight of 23 hostages are released while the Taliban set a deadline to execute the rest.

The minister who led a group of South Korean church volunteers on a summer mission trip to Afghanistan has been killed by the Taliban militants who kidnapped the group last week, according to Korean media reports.

Pastor Bae Hyeong-gyu, 42, was killed Wednesday, according to the JoongAng Daily and KBS, a South Korean broadcaster, quoting Taliban spokesman Yousuf Ahmadi.

The pastor’s body was tossed on a highway between Kabul and Kandahar in Ghazni Province, bringing a grizzly end to his mission ‑ along with his young parishioners ‑ to bring relief services to Afghanistan. Korea’s Yonhap news agency said the bullet-riddled body had been recovered along the highway. Ahmadi said the man had been killed because Taliban demands ‑ which include a prisoner release and withdrawal of South Korean troops from the country ‑ hadn't been met.

Ahmadi told CNN that the remaining hostages would be killed by 1 a.m. Thursday, local time, if the demands weren't met.

Bae’s death came as negotiations to secure the release of 23 Christian hostages, most of them women in their 20s and 30s, resulted in eight of the victims being freed. The eight have been transferred to an American air base and will be sent back to Korea as soon as possible, Korean government officials said.

The plight of the church workers – the largest group of kidnap victims ever from Korea – has focused attention on the evangelical fervor of Korean protestants, who often send mission workers into some of the toughest places in the world. They were snatched from a bus in largely lawless Ghazni Province last Friday.

Korean mission workers operate in Africa, the Middle East, China and North Korea, where they cross the border illegally and seek to convert their communist brethren in secret. The estimated 16,000 Korean missionaries abroad are the second largest group in the world, after the United States.

Saemmul Presbyterian Church, which sent the group to Afghanistan, has insisted that they were not doing religious work in Afghanistan, but were instead providing social services and aiding relief efforts.

On Monday, the pastor of the church, Reverend Park Eun-jo, apologized for creating difficulties by sending the church volunteers, most of them young women, to the region and said the church would suspend further relief efforts in Afghanistan.

“I am really sorry for causing serious concerns to the nation,” Park said. “Particularly, I apologize to the families of the 23 relief workers for causing them enormous pain.”

The church has been criticized for failing to understand the seriousness of the security situation in Afghanistan and for sending Christian missionaries to a devoutly Muslim country that might easily be offended by the gesture. “We love Afghanistan, and we respect Muslim culture,” Park said, insisting that the church workers were not in the country to try and convert the local population.

Nonetheless, some observers see the fervor of the Korean church as a problem in itself.

“Korean churches often follow the concept of aggressive modernization,” Song Jae-ryong, a professor of religion and sociology at Kyung Hee University in Seoul told the JoongAng Daily. “Appearances, such as how many believers does our church have, how much has our church collected and how large is our church building, are considered important. It is hard to deny that such a tendency is part of the background for Korean churches’ aggressive sending of missionaries abroad.”

Song urged the Korean church to rethink its approach to missions.

“Evangelical churches are engaged in fierce competition as to how many missionaries they send and how much time their missionaries spend in foreign countries,” the Hankyoreh newspaper in Seoul wrote after the church workers were abducted last Friday. “Competition is becoming so stiff that, in some cases, dozens or even hundreds of South Korea evangelists can be found in a single small city, with some even fighting one another over the work to be done.

“Korean missionaries, who have increasingly been sent to Islamic regions at a war, risk putting their lives on the line. They could especially be in danger due to the fact that they work in areas where the conflicts between Christian and Islamic fundamentalism are at their most extreme.”

The Korean government remains in a tough dilemma. Kabul has publicly ruled out a prisoner swap for hostages in any situation and officials here worry that if a large ransom is paid it could increase the risks to Koreans of becoming targets of terrorists elsewhere in the world.

-- Agencies

50 year old Christian stoned and beaten to death in Kerala

Idukki (Kerala in India), July 25, 2007: A group of seven hindu youth forced entered into a Christian house and killed the house owner on July 23 at Helibriya, near Elappara in the Highrange District called Idukki of Kerala state in India.

Paulraj, 50, was brutally murdered on Monday evening.

K.M. Raju, a neighboring hindu led the other people to Paulraj's house to kill him.

Few days ago Paulraj's cow entered Raju's cultivated land. Raju became angry and cruelly beaten the cow. And there was a quarrel going on in between two houses.

In connection with this incident, Prince, the younger son of Paulraj and Soman, the son of Raju had a fight on Monday evening. Suddenly Raju gathered his team and they entered the house of Paulraj to kill him.

Paulraj tried to escape when the attackers came to the house. But they stoned him and he was fallen down. Then the attackers beaten him to death with steel pipes and sticks. Prakash, the eldor son of Paulraj said to the Salem Voice Ministries (SVM) News Service.

Maria Selvi, wife of Paulraj was also severely beaten by the murderers.

The dead body of Paulraj was sent to Kottayam Medical College for the post mortem.

"Raju is fanatic and gathers hindu youths to give training against Christians," says a local christian, who afraid to tell the name.

P.K.G. Simon, the Deputy Superintendant of Police of Kattappana investigating the case. Raju, Balan, Anil Kumar, Pal, Sibin, Soman and Anish were arrested.

Rev. Paul Ciniraj, the President of the Christian Ministers of the Churches of India (CMCI) and the Director of the Salem Voice Ministries and condemned the incident. He visited the victim's house and prayed for the family members that they may be zealed by the precious blood of Jesus Christ for a mighty protection. He appreciated the police for the quick action of arresting murderers.

Source: Salem Voice Ministries

House churches are changing Christian worship

David Haldane, Staff Writer of Los Angeles Times
California, July 22, 2007

Jason Kilp had a short commute to church one recent Sunday. He walked about 15 feet from the bedroom of his Anaheim apartment to a small worship service in the living room.

"It's intimate," the 24-year-old graphic design student said. Unlike the gatherings he and his wife have attended at a 4,000-member mega-church in Irvine, Kilp said, "this is like a conversation. It's somebody talking to you."

The couple are part of a growing movement, mostly among evangelical and born-again Christians, that, depending on who's talking, represents either a second Protestant reformation or a sellout of biblical principles.

The trend goes by several names: house churches, living-room churches, the underground church, the organic church, the simple church, church without walls. Although they disagree on whether it's a good thing, proponents and detractors say that going to church in a home has the potential of forever changing the way Christians worship.

"We are at the initiation point of a transformational shift," said George Barna, author of the book "Revolution" about the changing nature of worship and founding director of the Barna Group, a Ventura-based research firm that tracks religious trends.

A 2006 survey by his firm — tracking developments for use by researchers and the media — concluded that 9% of U.S. adults attend house churches weekly, a ninefold increase from the previous decade, and that roughly 70 million Americans have experienced a home service.

Those most likely to attend house churches, according to phone interviews with more than 5,000 adults nationwide, are men, families that home-school their children, residents of the West and nonwhites, while those least likely to attend include women, people older than 60 and Midwesterners.

"We predict that by the year 2025, the market share of conventional churches will be cut in half," Barna said. "People are creating a new form of church, and it's really exciting."

Not everyone shares Barna's enthusiasm for the phenomenon, however. Some argue that the growth of home worship simply shows the failure of the mega-church, rather than a spiritual breakthrough. One of the harshest critics of house churches is David Wells, a professor at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary near Boston and the author of several books on modern Christianity. He describes the movement as "empty of biblical substance. This is not real Christianity."

Proponents counter that it's how the church began.

In Christianity's early years, Bible historians say, most worship services took place in homes. That was due to the church's small size, its lack of structure and, perhaps most significantly, that it evolved when religious gatherings had to be conducted away from the watchful eyes of repressive authorities.

"There were no church buildings in the first 300 years of church history," said Dan Hubbell, a former Southern Baptist minister in Winnsboro, Texas, who now "plants" nondenominational house churches worldwide. "The early church was basically a gathering from house to house."

As the church grew, so did its structure, evolving into the mega-churches of today. But somewhere along the way, adherents say, something valuable was lost.

The house church movement, they say, satisfies the craving for a more intimate worship experience lost in the mega-church maze.

"People can get a lot closer to each other than in a formal church setting where everyone sits with their heads facing forward," said Milt Rodriguez, 54, whose nondenominational ministry, the Rebuilders, has started five "first-century style" house churches in Colorado and Missouri since 2002. "It's not just one person preaching with everybody following. Everyone has a function, and everyone shares."

Barna believes the growing appeal of house churches stems from the heightened acceptance among U.S. churchgoers of what he describes as the "postmodern mind-set," which places primary value on relationships and shared experiences.

"We're finding, increasingly, that that's the case," he said, "particularly among young adults. People are feeling disconnected, and when they attend conventional church services, there's not much there to connect them to others present" and to God.

House churches, Barna said, regain this intimacy by meeting in groups of 10 to 20, usually weekly, in members' homes. Their tendency to depend on spontaneous leadership instead of formal clergy, he said, encourages fuller and more personal participation.

"All through his ministry," Barna said, "Jesus never asked anyone to go to church. He asked people to be the church."

Roger Finke, a professor of sociology and religious studies at Penn State University, says this grass-roots approach explains the phenomenon's primary appeal to nondenominational Christians.

Source: Los Angeles Times

Korean Evangelical Churches in Afghanistan in the Spotlight

SVM News Service
July 22, 2007

Kandahar (Afghanistan): The work of Korean evangelical churches in Afghanistan is in the spotlight again after 23 members of a church were kidnapped by Taliban insurgents on Thursday. Last August, Korean evangelical churches were prevented by the Korean and Afghan governments at the 11th hour from holding what they said was a ¡°peace march¡± of some 2,000 born-again Christians.

Churches say some 100 Korean missionaries from a dozen organizations and churches are in Afghanistan. Most are focusing on volunteer activities rather than openly preaching the gospel. The Rev. Kwon Sung-chan, who worked in Afghanistan before the Taliban took power, said, "In the past, foreigners could enter Afghanistan only through Pakistan. But I understand there are more routes into the country these days and it¡¯s much easier to get entry visas, so a lot of Korean Christians are working there."

According to Evangelicals who have been to Afghanistan, many go to Afghanistan despite the danger because there is so much to do. Choi Han-woo, the secretary general of the Institute of Asian Culture and Development who organized last year's rally, said, "The history of Afghanistan is reminiscent of Korea's modern history in that the country has been invaded by foreign forces many times and went through a civil war recently. There are many things we can do to help it in the postwar rehabilitation process." He said missionary work is challenging but rewarding at the same time.

Since the end of the U.S.-led war in 2002, 400 to 500 Korean evangelicals have visited the country every year for medical volunteer work and to offer education for children and youths, advice on information technology, and advice on agriculture. During the vacations, many go on short-term missions. Local missionaries help each church or organization locate the targets. The kidnapped members of the Saemmul church in Bundang, Gyeonggi Province were apparently on such a short-term mission.

In an interview with the Arabic satellite TV channel Al Jazeera on Saturday, Qari Yousuf Ahmadi, a purported spokesman for the Taliban insurgents in Afghanistan, said that the detained Koreans were carrying out "missionary activities." He added, "Afghanistan is an Islamic republic where conversion from Islam or attempting to convert Muslims is regarded as a serious crime in several areas." Islam experts say this is not based on hostility to Christianity itself but because Islam condemns apostasy.

Choi Jin-young, secretary general of the Korea Middle East Association, said, "Due to this rule, Islamic countries ban missionary work although they do not make an issue of faith, be it Christianity or Islam." Lee Hee-soo, a professor at Hanyang University, said, "The Taliban regard missionary work itself as a crime that threatens the foundation of their country and society."

Some Muslim countries even curb Islamic proselytizing beyond certain boundaries, citing a verse in the Koran that says, "There is no compulsion in religion." Last November, the Kazakh government punished an Islamic missionary organization for lecturing at a Mosque without government permission. Even in Turkey, a secular country, open missionary work by other religions is often held in check.

Source: The Chosen Ilbo

Baptist deacon who ministered to ex-cons in Houston murdered

HOUSTON, ABP News , July 17, 2007: Willie Scott, a Baptist deacon who turned his experiences as a crack addict and convict into tools for his ministry, was shot and killed July 10 at his clothing and shoe business in Houston.

Police are still searching for the shooters, who had attempted to rob the 42-year-old Scott.

A deacon at the Rose of Sharon Baptist Church, Scott founded Jails to Jobs, a nonprofit organization that trains ex-offenders to do construction work. Friends remember him as a “spiritual leader” who had helped get many former inmates on the road to a new life.

Elmo Johnson, pastor of Rose of Sharon Baptist Church, said Scott had attended a meeting July 9 where 35 pastors discussed how to help small churches get on their feet and how to help former inmates find work. Leaving the gathering late that night, Johnson said he told Scott, “See you tomorrow.” But the next day, Johnson received a call about the shooting.

He called Scott a “pillar of the community” who had earned the respect of those around him. “He came out of the drug scene and prison … and never faltered,” Johnson said.

Ira Antoine, a congregational strategist for the Baptist General Convention of Texas, called the apparent murder “a tragedy.”

“God was doing phenomenal work in his life,” Antoine said. “After his release from incarceration, he helped individuals in the community so they wouldn’t return back to a life of crime.”

Funeral services are set for 11 a.m. July 21 at Bible Way Fellowship Baptist Church in Houston.
Scott is survived by his wife and two-year-old son.

Lecturer Suspended from Catholic College by Muslim Pressure

Hyderabad (India), persecution4christ, July 17, 2007: Prashanti, woman lecturer of the St. Ann's Degree College for Women in Mehdipatnam in Hyderabad has resigned from the college on July 16 as a result of christian persecution. She was suspended by the management on July 16 by the pressure of Muslim organisations, accused insulting Islam by praising Salman Rushdi in one of her classes.

Some of the students of BA final year alleged that Prashanti during her lecture of political science made certain remarks against Islam on last Friday.

In fact, somebody argued with her about Rushdi and she freely said her openion. But it was a trap and certain students called for a strike.

Immediately Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (MIM) legislators Afsar Khan and Ahmed Pasha Khadri and his supporters rushed to the college, barged into the principal's room and demanded immediate action against the lecturer.

A heated argument ensued between the legislators and the college staff. Sensing the mood, Prashanti offered an apology but the protesters were not satisfied and continued to shout slogans like "Allah-o-Akbar" (God is great) and "arrest her". The protestors clad in burqas, gathered in front of the principal's office.

Legislator Habeeb Abdul Rehman of Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) also rushed to the college and lodged his protest with the college management.

Some of the lecturers said to the persecution for Christ that the students had misunderstood Prashanti. She did not make any insulting remarks against Islam. However, the protestors claimed that this was not the first time she had made such remarks.

"A criminal case was registered against Prashanti in the Asifnagar Police Station and she was arrested. A police picket also still continuing near the college," Mohammed Jameeluddin, the Inspector of Asifnagar Police Station told..

St. Ann's College is one of the biggest women's colleges in Hyderabad. It is owned by the Roman Catholic Church. And a majority of its 3,000 students are Muslims.

It seems that some outside powers played trick through some students to remove Prashanti from the college. A judicial enquiry is needed regarding her suspension.

SDA Church members attacked in Guyana

Corentyne (GUYANA), (Stabroek News), July 3, 2007: Bandits on Sunday night attacked and robbed two members of the Seventh Day Adventist Church at Eversham, Corentyne, just after the vehicle they were travelling in developed engine problems.

The robbers, one of whom was armed with a handgun also sexually assaulted the woman during their rampage.

The two, who were attending a religious function in the area, were left abandoned in their car, which the bandits managed to restart and drove some distance away.

Police in a press release said that around 22:00 hrs on Sunday, a man who hails from an East Bank Demerara village and a female member of the Seven Day Adventist Church, who were both attending a religious function at Eversham, Corentyne, were attacked and robbed by two men, one of whom was armed with a handgun.

Investigations revealed that the two victims were in a motor vehicle on their way to visit another church member when the vehicle developed engine problems.

While stranded on the road, they were attacked by the men who robbed them of two cell phones, their wristwatches and $15,000.

The release said it was further reported that the two bandits managed to get the vehicle started, after which they placed the victims in the trunk and took them to an area along the Corentyne where the female was sexually assaulted. They were later abandoned in the vehicle at Bloomfield, Corentyne.

The matter is being investigated, the release added.

Protestant Groups React to Bashing from Vatican
persecution4christ

Tuesday, the Vatican published a document that asserts that Protestant denominations are not true churches. The document, “Responses to Some Questions Regarding QCertain Aspects of the Doctrine on the Church,” reaffirmed Catholic teaching that the one true church of Christ is the Catholic Church.

This document from the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith has caused dismay with several Protestant groups. They are concerned with the text’s assertion that Protestant communities are not churches because there is no apostolic succession.

“Christ ‘established here on earth’ only one church,” said the document. The other communities “cannot be called ‘churches’ in the proper sense” because they do not have the ability to trace their bishops back to Christ’s original apostles.

The Rev. Setri Nyomi, general secretary of the World Alliance of Reformed Churches, in an open letter addressed to Cardinal Walter Kasper, president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, said, “An exclusivist claim that identifies the Roman Catholic Church as the one church of Jesus Christ … goes against the spirit of our Christian calling toward oneness in Christ. It makes us question the seriousness with which the Roman Catholic Church takes its dialogue with the Reformed family and other families of the church. It makes us question whether we are indeed praying together for Christian unity.”

Kasper responded that despite the initial “irritation among Protestant Christians,” a closer reading of the text would lead one to conclude “that the document does not say anything new.” He claims the text provides a synthesis of Catholic teaching.

“The document does not say that the Protestant churches are not churches, but that they are not churches in the precise sense, that is, they are not churches in the way that the Catholic Church uses the term ‘church,’” he said.

Thomas Wipf, president of the Community of Protestant Churches in Europe, sees things differently. He claims that preaching the Gospel and administering the sacraments is what defines the Church of Christ.

“That – and no more – is needed to be able to be seen as an authentic expression of the one church of Christ … We recognize the Roman Catholic Church as a church. It is and remains regrettable that this is not made possible the other way around,” he said.

Kasper asserts “that which unites us … is greater than what divides us. For that reason, one should not skim over what the declaration affirms in a positive way about the Protestant churches, and that is that Jesus Christ is effectively present in them for the salvation of their members. The document renders a service to clarity and, consequently, to progress in the dialogue.”

Senior High Court Advocate, Christian, Brutally murdered in Kerala

Kochi (Kerala in India), SVM News, July 14, 2007: Seniour High Court advocate, who is a christian, brutally murdered on 12th of July at Valanjambalam in Kochi of Kerala State in India.

"Advocate M.V. Abraham Mannancheril, 75, was found dead at his office near his residence at about 9 pm on Thursday. The advocate was pushing down by beaten at his head and was pressed at his neck to discontinue breathing. Also there was an attempt of electrocuting him," police officials told the Salem Voice Ministries (SVM) News Service.

The post-mortem examination was done at Alappuzha Medical College.

Fingerprint experts and the scientific investigation team members collected evidence from the spot on Friday. The police team got a brass bangle from the scene of the crime, which is suspected to have some relation to the crime.

The police dog, that was brought to the scene on Thursday, could not find any lead, as the scent trail was lost along the road towards the Ernakulam South Railway Station.

Sources said an examination of the body found minor injuries on the face and neck and a burn mark on the right hand, which is suspected to have been caused by an attempt to electrocute the victim.

No attempt of theft was detected from either the office or house of the deceased. Initial investigation showed that no money was taken from his person or office premises, because there was Rs.15,000 and a golden ring was in his table, which was seen opened . Only his wife Chinnamma was at the residence at the time of the murder.

No one was present at the commercial building complex at which his office was functioning at that time. The deceased owned the building complex.

Advocate Abraham has one son and four daughters. Son, Dr. M.A. Mathew and his wife Dr. Latha Mathew are the surgeons of Kolencherry MOC Medical College, owned by a Christian Church. Another son-in-law, Dr. Peter Zachariah, is a surgeon of Tiruvalla Medical Mission, owned by Brethren Christian Mission.

"Our pappa was a prayerful man and a good supporter of Christian activites. We, the children and our families also working in Christian institutions and supporting christian mission," Dr. Mathew told to Rev. Paul Ciniraj, the Director of the Salem Voice Ministries and the national President of the Christian Ministers of the Churches in India (CMCI).

Local people doubts that either his death is because of christian persecution or related with any of the cases.

P.M. Verghese, the Assistant Commissioner of police investigating the case.

The police also started collecting details of the cases that the deceased was working on at the time of his death. The police suspect more than one person was involved in the crime.

Christians Concerned over Illegally Held Pastor in Azerbaijan

July 13, 2007
Source: www.persecution.org (ICC)

A Baptist pastor is scheduled to appear for a preliminary hearing today for crimes that more than 25 eyewitnesses say he did not commit, reports persecution watchdog International Christian Concern.

Zaur Balaev, from Aliabad in Azerbaijan, has been accused of attacking five police officers, an accusation denied by the eyewitnesses.

The pastor has already been held for over a month prior to a charge being placed on him by police, which ICC says is “a blatant denial of his legal rights under Azerbaijani law”.

On May 20, Pastor Zaur Balaev was leading a worship service when government officials raided the service and arrested him. They initially accused him of resisting arrest by setting his dog on them, but have since changed their story to accuse him of physically attacking them and damaging a police car door as he was entering the vehicle.

Balaev has now been charged with using violence to resist arrest under Article 315 Part 1 of the country’s criminal code.The Head of the Azerbaijani Government's State Committee for Work with Religious Organizations, Idayat Orujev, denies that the case is about religion.

The prosecutor’s accusation, however, states that Balaev is a threat to society and the country’s security because he is a Christian.

“In addition, government officials have denied registration to Balaev’s church for 13 years. This is no doubt due to the fact that local officials are Muslim and insist that Balaev’s congregation is traitor to their ancestors’ Muslim faith.

Balaev has been in prison for two months and there is now concern that his health is deteriorating quickly.

No members of his family have been able to see him and they can only communicate by telephone.

Balaev should have been released after his first month of imprisonment because he had not been criminally charged yet.

Instead he was transferred to a prison hours away from his home.

His family has gone into debt from unsuccessfully trying to visit him in this new location and giving officials money so that Balaev can eat.”

No Lord, but Jesus: Protester's Voice at Hindu prayer in US Senate

Washington, SVM News, July 13, 2007: Christian religious activists briefly disrupted the Hindu prayer in the US Senate on Thursday, the 13th of July, branding his appearance an "abomination."

Invited by the Senate to offer Hindu prayers in place of the usual Christian invocation, Rajan Zed, a Hindu priest and also the director of Interfaith Relations at a Hindu temple in Reno, Nevada, had just stepped up to the podium for the landmark occasion, the protesters interrupted by loudly asking for God's forgiveness for allowing the ''false prayer'' of a Hindu in the Senate chamber.

"Lord Jesus, forgive us father for allowing a prayer of the wicked, which is an abomination in your sight," the first protester shouted. "This is an abomination. We shall have no other gods before you."

Democratic Senator Bob Casey, who was serving as the presiding officer for the morning, immediately asked the sergeant-at-arms to restore order. But they continued to protest as they were headed out the door by the marshals, shouting, "No Lord but Jesus Christ!" and "There's only one true God!"

Police officers quickly arrested them and charged them with disrupting Congress, a misdemeanor. The male protester told an Associated Press reporter, "we are Christians and patriots" before police handcuffed them and led them away.

"We identified the protesters as three and they are Ante Nedlko Pavkovic, Katherine Lynn Pavkovic and Christan Renee Sugar," officials said to the Salem Voice Ministries (SVM) News Service. "It seems they represent the Christian Right anti-abortion group named Operation Save America," official added to the SVM News.

The Mississippi-based American Family Association has been urging its members for several days to object to the prayer because Zed would be "seeking the invocation of a non-monotheistic god."

Rajan Zed, clad in saffron with a prominent tilak on his forehead, then nervously went through the invocation. "Let us pray," he began, "We meditate on the transcendental glory of the deity supreme, who is inside the heart of the earth, inside the life of the sky and inside the soul of heaven. May he stimulate and illuminate our minds."

He was invited by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid to give the day's opening prayer.

Abducted Christian Boy's body Found in Track in Kerala

Thiruvanandapuram (Kerala in India), SVM News, July 11, 2007: The dead body of a 14 year old Christian boy was found on the railway track today near All Saints College, Thiruvanandapuram, the capital city of Kerala. He was a tenth standard student of St Josephs Higher Secondary School.

It has been alleged that two persons, who abducted him yesterday night might have murdered him.

The boy identified as Nithin, was the only son of Napolean and Nirmala, residing behind G V Raja School. It was the local people who found the body today morning. His purse was found lying fifty meters away from the body.

"It was found from the body that the backside of the skull was broken. Also noticed the cause of the death is not by an accident of a train," police officials told to Rev. Paul Ciniraj, the national president of the Christian Ministers of the Churches of India (CMCI) and the Director of the Salem Voice Ministries. "It might be a beaten to death," they said.

His relatives alleged that two persons, who came in a car, took him saying that his father was not well. His father and their neighbour received calls from the boy saying that he has been kidnapped.

Immediately Napolean contacted Rev. Louis, the parish priest of Kannanthura St. Peter's Church and they have given complaint at Valiathura Police Station. The police have started investigation in the case.

The calls were made from a public booth near Karikakkam.

"Nithin was a cool person and also a cadet of National Cadet Corps (NCC). There is nothing for him to commit suicide, but it must be a well planned murder; probably a persecution," Nithin's father Napolean said.

Napolean is an employee of Canara Bank at Chirayinkil. Nithin's mother is Nirmala. His only sister Nimmi is a nursing student in Bangalore.

Napolean and family is a prayer fellowship member of the Salem Voice Ministries in Thiruvanandapuram. Paul Ciniraj visited them with deep mourning and said in the condolence message that Nithin was a beautiful flourishing flower in our Lord's garden and he was plucked by the Gardener Jesus Himself to decorate His table. No doubt he is with our Lord Jesus and we shall meet him face to face on that beautiful shore in our Lord's great and wonderful Day.

News at SVM site: http://salemvoice.org/news198.html

Pentecostal Church Pastors Murdered in Columbia

HUILA - Columbia, persecution4christ, Two Pentecostal pastors were killed lastweek in southern Colombia; it appears that the 17th Brigade of the leftist guerrilla group, FARC, is responsible.

Pastor Humberto Mendez, 63, and Pastor Joel Cruz Garcia, 27, were approached at around 8pm on July 5, as they preached at an open-air service in the village of El Dorado, located in the department of Huila in the southern part of the country, where FARC has a strong presence. According to church representatives a group of armed men wearing camouflage clothing called them by name and led them away. The bodies of the two men were found the next day 40 metres apart; both had been shot in the head.

While authorities and church leaders seem to agree that FARC committed the murders, the motive is unclear. The families of the pastors have said that they never received any warnings or threats from any group.

Church representatives in the area, however, also point to the ongoing risks that accompany preaching and teaching Christian principles in a region with a significant guerrilla presence. According to church leaders at the local and national levels, FARC has declared Protestant pastors to be legitimate military targets.

These two assassinations are representative of a wider problem for communities of faith, particularly those located in rural areas and conflict zones, across the country. Two church based NGOs, Justapaz and the Commission for Restoration, Life and Peace, have documented over 100 targeted assassinations of pastors and other church leaders across the country since 2000. Many are a response to a refusal on the part of the pastors to participate in or support the activities of the armed groups, including paying protection money or tolerating the recruitment of young people from their congregations into the armed groups.

While FARC is not responsible for all of these murders, they have been implicated in a significant percentage of them. Right-wing paramilitary groups and another leftist guerrilla group, the ELN, are believed to be responsible for the rest.

Pope says Catholic Church is Only True Church ?????

Pope says: Other Christian Denominations Not True Churches. There is no salvation outside the Catholic Church, says Pope.

(It is one of the severe persecutions towards Jesus Christ and His people who cleansed by His precious blood)

Tuesday, July 10, 2007.

persecution4christ

LORENZAGO DI CADORE, Italy — For the second time in a week, Pope Benedict XVI has reasserted the primacy of the Roman Catholic Church and saying other Christian communities were either defective or not true churches. (Translation: if you’re not a Roman Catholic, then you’re not a Christian).

Benedict approved a document released Tuesday from his old office, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, which repeated church teaching on Catholic relations with other Christians.

While there was nothing doctrinally new in the document (that other born again Christian have been ignoring for years), it nevertheless prompted swift criticism from Protestants, Lutherans and other Christian denominations spawned by the 16th century reformation.

"It makes us question the seriousness with which the Roman Catholic Church takes its dialogues with the Reformed family and other families of the church," said the World Alliance of Reformed Churches, which groups 75 million Reformed Christians in 214 churches in 107 countries. (Well, that’s the problem; these non-Catholic Christian Churches have been trying to become one with the false Church of Rome for too many years. Instead of continuing to denounce the false teaching of the Catholic Church they have been trying to become one brotherhood with the religion of Idols, the Catholic Church.)

"It makes us question whether we are indeed praying together for Christian unity," the alliance said in a letter to the Vatican's key ecumenical official, Cardinal Walter Kasper, charging that the document took ecumenical dialogue back to the pre-Vatican II era. (There it is clear as a bell, trying to unify with the Church of Rome; a church full of false doctrines like Purgatory- not found in the Bible.)

Another key change was the development of the New Mass in the vernacular, which essentially replaced the old Latin Mass. On Saturday, Benedict revived the old Latin Mass, saying it was wrong for bishops to deny it to the faithful because it had never been abolished. Traditional Catholics cheered the move, but more liberal ones called it a step back from Vatican II.

Benedict, who attended Vatican II as a young theologian, has long complained about what he considers the erroneous interpretation of the council by liberals, saying it was not a break from the past but rather a renewal of church tradition.

The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith said it was issuing the new document on ecumenism because some contemporary theological interpretations of Vatican II's ecumenical intent had been "erroneous or ambiguous" and had prompted confusion and doubt.

The new document -- formulated as five questions and answers -- restates key sections of a 2000 text the pope wrote when he was prefect of the congregation, "Dominus Iesus," which riled Protestant, Lutheran and other Christian denominations because it said they were not true churches but merely ecclesial communities and therefore did not have the "means of salvation." (There you have it folks: The Catholic Church has been very clear on this matter for centuries. They claim that salvation is only through the Catholic Church – basically not through only Jesus Christ.)

"Christ 'established here on earth' only one Church," said the document released as the pope vacations at a villa in Lorenzago di Cadore, in Italy's Dolomite mountains. (That means, to them, the Catholic Church is the only true church.)

The other communities "cannot be called 'churches' in the proper sense" because they do not have apostolic succession -- the ability to trace their bishops back to Christ's original apostles (Funny; neither can the Catholic Church)-- and therefore their priestly ordinations are not valid, it said. (The Bible says that all Christians are kings and priests in Christ Jesus.)

The document said some Orthodox churches (Russian Orthodox, Greek Ortholox) were indeed "churches" because they have apostolic succession and that they enjoyed "many elements of sanctification and of truth." But it said they lack something because they do not recognize the primacy of the pope -- a defect, or a "wound" that harmed them, it said.

"This is obviously not compatible with the doctrine of Primacy which, according to the Catholic faith, is an 'internal constitutive principle' of the very existence of a particular Church," said a commentary from the congregation which accompanied the text.

Despite the harsh tone of the documents, they stressed that Benedict remains committed to ecumenical dialogue.

"However, if such dialogue is to be truly constructive it must involve not just the mutual openness of the participants but also fidelity to the identity of the Catholic faith," the commentary said.

The top Protestant cleric in Benedict's homeland, Germany, complained that the Vatican apparently did not consider that "mutual respect for the church status" was required for any ecumenical progress. ECUMENISM (according to the Pope): Trying to get all churches together as one, under the Catholic Church.

In a statement headlined "Lost Chance," Lutheran Bishop Wolfgang Huber argued that "it would also be completely sufficient if it were to be said that the reforming churches are 'not churches in the sense required here' or that they are 'churches of another type' -- but none of these bridges is used in the 'answers."

The document, signed by the congregation prefect, American Cardinal William Levada, was approved by Benedict on June 29, the feast of Saints Peter and Paul -- a major ecumenical feast day.

There was no indication why the pope felt it necessary to release the document, particularly since his 2000 document summed up the same principles. Some analysts suggested it could be a question of internal church politics, or that the Congregation was sending a message to certain theologians it did not want to single out. Or, it could be an indication of Benedict using his office as pope to again stress key doctrinal issues from his time at the Congregation.

In fact, the only theologian cited by name in the document for having spawned erroneous interpretations of ecumenism was Leonardo Boff, the Brazilian who was a target of the former Cardinal Ratzinger's crackdown on liberation theology in the 1980s.

Myanmar Lutheran Pastor beheaded in Indo-Burma Border

Tonzang (Myanmar), SVM News: A Burmese pastor was abducted and beheaded by an unidentified group on July 4 at Tangnuam village near Churachanpur town in Manipur State of northeast India. He was buried in Cikha sub-town of Tonzang Township in Myanmar on July 5.

Pastor Pau Za Khen (62) of the Upper Myanmar Evangelical Lutheran Church was kidnapped in a car at about 5 in the evening on Wednesday by four men from his daughter's home.

The mutilated body was found the next day early in the morning in a paddy field at the outside of the town. The pastor's hands were tied at the back and his head had been separated from the torso and was blind-folded.

The body was taken to the Churachandpur District Hospital in India for post mortem and sent to Khen Maan village of Myanmar by car on Thursday itself for the burial.

He served as a pastor in Khen Maan village in Cikha sub-town of Tonzang Township in Chin state in Myanmar. He was the founder chief of the Khen Maan village, which is about three miles from the Indo-Burma border. Both the Indian Army and Manipuri rebels used to visit this village.

"Visitors and traders from Myanmar to Manipur are shocked on hearing the pastor was brutally murdered", a church member of the Upper Myanmar Evangelical Lutheran Church said to Rev. Paul Ciniraj, the Director of the Salem Voice Ministries and the SVM News Service by telephone.

The pastor used to come and trade in charcoal and wood in Churachandpur in India for his earnings. There are number of visitors and traders coming and going daily from Myanmar (Burma) to Churachandpur of Manipur in India.

"He was killed while he was staying in Churachandpur. There the killers are still at large. The Churachandpur police have so far been unable to identify them," an Indian man told to SVM News Service.

Source: SVM News

Iraqi Christian Couple of US Embassy Kidnapped and Murdered

Baghdad, persecution4christ: An elderly Christian couple of Iraq, who were the staff of US Embassy in Baghdad had been kidnapped and murdered at the end of May.

Mr. Ryan Crocker, the US Ambassador in Iraq confirmed it on July 8 that two of his staff members had been abducted and murdered in Baghdad.

"The two were an elderly couple, both Christian Iraqis. The man was kidnapped in May while coming out of his bank, and the kidnappers subsequently called his wife and demanded a ransom of 30,000 US Dollars."

"The woman raised the money on her own and attempted to deliver it to the kidnappers, but she herself was abducted in the process and both were murdered," embassy staff added.

On May 30, a radical Islamic insurgent group, the Islamic State of Iraq, posted a message on the jihadi website Al Firdos, claiming responsibility for the murders and saying that they were "executing God's judgment on two of the American Embassy employees."

They also warned that they would continue to kill "the crusaders, their employees, and those who lick their shoes."

Christians face uncertain future in anarchic Iraq
By Agence France Presse (AFP)

BAGHDAD: “For the sake of our country, that life may return to Iraq and all its sons enjoy safety, peace and stability, amen.” With this nervous prayer of hope, 59 Iraqi boys and girls became full members of Baghdad’s dwindling Christian flock.

Dressed in habits like novice monks and nuns, the youngsters came to the Our Lady of Salvation church to take first communion, a rare sight in a city where their minority is keeping an increasingly low profile.

As proud parents looked on, the latest generation of one of the world’s oldest Christian communities prayed for an end to the bitter civil war that threatens to drive them from their ancestral homeland.

“I prayed to God to keep my mom and dad and all the family safe. I asked Jesus Christ to keep everyone safe,” said 11-year-old Rita Sabah, as her brother Youssef nodded and said: “Amen.” Their playmate Matti had an even heavier burden to bear.

“I prayed that Jesus returns my father safe,” he said. Nine months ago, Matti’s dad was kidnapped by one of the many gangs that roam Baghdad. He has not been heard from since.

“O Christians, do not fret over the threats of the evil-doers,” intoned Archbishop Athanase Matti Matoka of the Syrian Catholic Church.

“Christians ought not to fear challenges as Jesus said: ‘I am with you until doomsday’,” he told the congregation. “Our Christian people are suffering from persecution in parts of Baghdad and some other cities,” he lamented.

Before the US-led invasion of March 2003, there were thought to be around 800,000 Christians in Iraq, around three percent of the otherwise largely Muslim population, living mainly in urban centers such as Baghdad.

However, perceived perhaps unfairly to be wealthy, many Christians fell prey to kidnap and ransom gangs and many - probably more than half - of them have fled the country or moved to the relative safety of Iraqi Kurdistan.http://www.dailystar.com.lb

Now, as the war rages on into a fifth year, views have hardened and some Muslim extremist groups have begun to persecute the Christians.

Militant groups such as Al-Qaeda and its front organization, the so-called Islamic State of Iraq, are targeting Christians on purely sectarian grounds, accusing them of siding with the “Crusader” US forces.

There are reports that in parts of Baghdad and Mosul, some imams have issued edicts ordering the death or conversion of Christians who refuse to flee.

Amid the danger, however, Baghdad’s remaining Christians continue to try to preserve the rituals that bind their community together.

“The children have been meeting here for more than a month, receiving Christian teachings to prepare to receive the communion despite these circumstances,” Archbishop Matoka told AFP at the church.

“In the past we used to collect the pupils in the church car but this year their parents have to bring them to the church because of the bad security situation,” he explained.

Several Baghdad Christian churches have cancelled their annual first communion ceremonies to avoid attracting danger, he said, but the Syrian Catholic Church decided to go ahead despite the risks.

“Our future is in the hands of God, but we know and see there is a hellish scheme to expel Christians from Iraq and the Middle East. I hope this will not happen. Christianity was born in these countries so how could we leave them? We have martyrs these days,” the archbishop said.

“Many priests have been kidnapped and slaughtered. Terrorists are compelling Christians to convert to Islam or be killed … Jesus told us: ‘I would send you as sheep among wolves. Don’t be afraid. I am with you.” - AFP

Militants told Pak Christians to convert or face death

Islamabad (Pakistan), SVM News: Islamist militants in Pakistan have threatened to kill 10 Christian clerics in Southern Punjab's Khanewal district if they did not "embrace Islam and stop preaching Christianity."

"We are feeling insecure and unsafe today because of these threatening letters from Muslim fanatics," said Provincial lawmaker Naveed Amer Jeeva, coordinator of the All Pakistan Minorities Alliance (APMA).

Ten Christian clerics have received threatening letters from unidentified people warning them to "embrace Islam, stop preaching Christianity and quit your faith otherwise the countdown of your life has begun".

A state of fear prevails in Khanewal district's Shanti Nagar because the authorities have failed to address their security needs, said Pastor Mehtab Masih at a press conference yesterday to highlight the issue.

Threatening letters have been received by Union Council Naib Nazim Fazal Masih, Councillor Kalim Dutt, Pastor Robin, Capt Irshad of the Salvation Army Church, Pastor Boez Enver, Pastor Lemuel Calavary and Joseph Daniel, The SVM News Service said.

Lawmaker Jeeva said Pastor Mukhtar Barkat had received such a threatening letter and was assassinated on January 5, 2004 in Khurrampura Khanewal.

On June 12 Christians in Shantinagar village had also received anonymous letters written in Urdu asking them convert to Islam or leave the area.

The letters were sent to 10 religious, political and social leaders of this mainly Christian village.

Shantinagar village, which has about 3,000 Christians and 500 Muslim residents, was formed by the Salvation Army Church before the Partition of ithe sub-continent in 1947.

Source: SVM News