Volume 5 Issue 36

Reward you openly

While I was attending a Sunday Service in a Church, I saw the pastor introducing his assistant to the congregation, ‘he has finished his 40 days fasting’ I held him in high esteem.

Today while I was meditating the following verse only, I realised what all hypocrisies have crept into the Church system ! Jesus clearly said,

“…… So that you do not appear to men to fast, but to your Father in secret. And your Father who sees in secret shall reward you openly.” Mat 6: 16-18

Father is watching you in the hidden place. When you are alone in prayer, alone in streets, alone in the mall/shopping complex, alone in your bed, alone depressed, alone crying, He is watching you.

He is the one who rewards you.

Today there is a tendency in the Churches to please the pastor in everything you do. Believers are not taught to please the Father in heaven but to please the Church heads.

When the Lord said to Abraham,

“I am the Almighty God! Walk before Me and be perfect”. Gen. 17:1

the Lord meant this. Today since the believers are taught to walk before only men, they would like to please their Church leaders.

The Troop Church soldiers should take care always to walk before God and to seek always things pleasing to God.

When you do things pleasing to the Father in secret, He will reward you openly. Praying, fasting, giving alms, all these three things are to be done in secret. The heavenly reward will come openly.

Message for year 2017

Luke 24:47--49"And then repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed in His name to all the nations, beginning at Jerusalem".

Peace among men with whom God is pleased

The Lord has declared 2017 as the year of Forgiveness and Reconciliation

September 2017 - We pray for Forgiveness and Reconciliation between people of all castes and people groups.

Week 1

That no one in this world calls any man common or unclean as God has shown to Peter (Act 10: 28)
That in every nation everyone fears God, does what is right and be acceptable to Him. (Act 10: 35)
That everyone is respected and accepted as God’s creation that He may not stir up the spirit of a destroyer. (Jer 51: 1)
That people forget all the differences and love one another as God loves the sojourner, giving him food and clothing. (Dt 10: 18)
That all people observe God’s command to love the sojourner (Dt 10:19)

8^th September to 13^th September – Tamil - Pannaiyur,Chennai - Sol.Dinesh 9663362589 ,Office. 044-65453245

Please pray, attend and send participants for this course.

Please confirm your registration as early as possible.It's a unique Christ designed course, transforms souls, delivers people from bondage, enlightens people on true knowledge of Christ and the word of God, Anointing of the Holy Spirit is abundant all through the programme.

Come and be blessed and bless others.

Be Formed and Form is a 5 day short term course. This training is a challenge to the present Church. Because our Lord Jesus Christ (Head of the Church) wants the Church to be transformed according to Ephe 5:26,27. To make her holy, (cleansing her by the washing with water through the word), and to present her himself as a radiant Church. Today the Church is ignorant about the will of our Lord Jesus Christ. By this BFF training , the Church awakes and arises to shine in the world.

The educated as well as the uneducated can apply . Send your Resume, Recent Passport size Photograph (3 Copies), ID Proof and reference letters to

Email ID : heavenlyhostofjesus@gmail.com

Ph : 044-65453245, 9952040052

Total Students – 21

Male – 15, Female – 6, 8 took baptism.

Some of the Healings Deliverance that took place in the student’s life

1 sister wanted to commit suicide as she was suffering from severe infection in her body, her husband insisted that she go and attend this training, on the 3rd day she was completely healed and all the symptoms instantly disappeared from her body.
A lady who could not hear was healed and was able to hear from both ears.
1 brother who was unable to sleep straight since last 10 years was healed.
Witchcraft was performed on 1 sister as she was not able to conceive, due to which she suffered abnormal stomach pain, during deliverance all the pain and uneasiness in the stomach left her.
1 brother (just 8 days believer) was delivered from fear, depression, loneliness, anger and addiction of tobacco. After taking baptism he was filled with joy and started smiling.
1 lady was suffering since severe pain in the back for 7 years; she was delivered from that pain. Doctors had given up and said that you will not live, but Jesus gave her a new life.

Healings done by students in the name of Jesus

A man suffering with dengue fever was prayed upon and instantly he was healed from fever and weakness.
1 lady who was very weak also her child was in the incubator due to weakness, after praying the mother received strength and was filled with confidence that Jesus will give strength to her child as well.
A man was admitted due to snake bite, after prayer he received healing, all the pain disappeared.
Another man was badly hurt in his hand by glass pieces, he was scheduled for operation in some time, in spite of the medicines and pain killers given to reduce the pain, there was no effect, after prayer he was relieved from the pain and he was in confusion whether to go for the operation or not.

Lot more healings took place in the students life as well as in hospital.

Students were convinced with Troop Church and agreed to start new troop church as soon as they reach their homes.

They came with all the fear, unworthiness, rejection etc.. But went out as a true believer exercising their authority and the mark of a believer.

All glory and praise to God, for leading, guiding and using us.

This Month in NWC we are worshiping for “Andhra Pradesh”. Book your slot for worship. No doubt the nation is going to be shaken during our worship. Be ready and prepare for that.

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Email : worshipcentreindia@gmail.com

Mobile : 7708505152

National Worship Centre is a centre where the Lord of hosts, the Lord God Almighty will be worshipped in His majesty all the 24 hours.

Address :

Father’s House,

4/364 E, Anna Salai 1st Cross Street,

ECR, Palavakkam, Chennai – 600041.

Praise God for the successful completion of 14904 slots in National Worship Centre with a Non Stop Worship (24/7)

Proportions

Since the New Testament church met almost exclusively in private homes, the typical congregation of the apostolic era was relatively small.[15] No specific number is ever given in Scripture, but there were generally no more people than would fit into a wealthy person’s home (in the atrium or perhaps courtyard area). In general, the overall pattern is for smaller rather than larger congregations.

The Matthew 18 restoration process detailed by Jesus assumes more than two or three families in a church. Counting the various gifts dealt with in 1 Corinthians 14 reveals the presence of a healthy number of believers. That qualified widows and elders were supported by early house churches (1Ti 5:3-16) also required more than just a handful of believers. Having a plurality of elders in a single church is also unlikely in too small a setting (Acts 14:23).

The meeting room of the Lullingstone Villa house church in Kent, England (built during the Roman occupation) measured approximately 15’ x 21’.[16] Fuller seminary professor Robert Banks opined that “the entertaining room in a moderately well-to-do household could hold around 30 people comfortably — perhaps half as many again in an emergency . . . it is unlikely that a meeting of the “whole church” could have exceeded 40 to 45 people, and may well have been smaller . . . In any event we must not think of these as particularly large . . . Even the meetings of the ‘whole church’ were small enough for a relatively intimate relationship to develop between the members.”[17]Dr. Banks’ numbers may be too low. An examination of floor plans in Pompeii shows typical atriums measuring 20’ x 28’.[18] Jerome Murphy-O’Connor measured six homes in Pompeii and found the average atrium to be 797 square feet.[19] A house known to be a Christian meeting place at Dura-Europos (in Syria) could, according to the Yale archaeologists who excavated it, seat 65 to 70 people.[20] Acts 1:15 records 120 believers assembled in the upper room.

Progression

Some argue that the practice of churches small enough to meet in an atrium was merely an initiatory phase of the church’s early development, a transitory step toward later maturity. It was right and natural, it is argued, for the church to grow beyond these small sizes and develop ways that are far different than the practices of the apostles as recorded in Scripture: cathedrals, large spectator worship services, archbishops, the modern presbytery system and the merger of church and state after Constantine.

In answer, it should be noted that the apostles intended for churches to adhere to the specific patterns they originally established. For instance, the Corinthians were praised specifically for holding to the apostles’ traditions for church practice (1Co 11:2). Sweeping appeals to hold to various church practices were made based on the universal practices of all the other churches (1Co 11:16, 14:33b-34). The apostles were handpicked and personally trained by our Lord. If anyone ever understood the purpose of the church, it was these men. The practices they established for the church’s corporate activities would certainly have been in keeping with their understanding about the purpose of the church. Respect for the Spirit by whom they were led should lead us to prefer their modes of organization to any alternative that our own creative thinking might suggest.

Also telling is the total absence of any instruction in the New Testament regarding the construction of special buildings for worship. This is in contrast to old covenant Mosaic legislation, which contained very specific blueprints regarding the holy tabernacle. When the new covenant writers did touch upon this subject, they pointed out that believers themselves are the temple of the Holy Spirit, living stones that come together to make up a spiritual house with Jesus Christ as the chief corner stone.[21]In The Radical Christian, Arthur Wallis said, “In the Old Testament, God had a sanctuary for His people; in the New, God has His people as a sanctuary.”[22]Through Christ Jesus, we ourselves are God’s temple and God’s church (1Co 3:16, Ac 20:28). Let us give heed to the penetrating words of John Havlik: “The church is never a place, but always a people; never a fold but always a flock; never a sacred building but always a believing assembly. The church is you who pray, not where you pray. A structure of brick or marble can no more be the church than your clothes of serge or satin can be you. There is in this world nothing sacred but man, no sanctuary of man but the soul.”[23]

The real issue is not where a church meets, but how it can best do what God requires of it. The problem is that a major reason church buildings have been erected is in order to hold more people than would fit into a typical Roman home’s atrium or courtyard. We wonder at the aptness of building large church edifices since having too many people in attendance can serve to defeat the very purposes for holding a church meeting in the first place. Large crowds are great for worship services, evangelistic meetings or seminars, but the weekly church gathering is to be about something more: mutual edification, accountability, encouraging one another, the fellowship of the Holy Meal, strengthening relationships, building consensus, etc.

Proportions

Progression

by Steve Atkerson (To be Continued)

The Rise And Fall Of The Christian Bookstore

Starting in the 1950s with Bibles and Gospel tracks, the Christian bookstore would soon grow in popularity on into the 80s as Christian literature achieved mass marketing success. The end-times genre burst onto the scene in 1970 with Hal Lindsay's The Late Great Planet Earth that sold more than 30 million copies and paved way for the fictionalized Left Behind series of novels. Between 1973 and 1983, the market for Christian literature of all forms expanded by 25% and by the 1990s, the country was dotted with the Christian bookstores that many of us now remember.

For Christian bookstores, the 90s saw breakout successes such as The Prayer of Jabez, The Purpose Driven Life and a surge of Christian fiction that succeeded in crossing over into the secular world. Those were the days when you could walk in off the street to find shelves filled with thousands of carefully curated titles, an array of Bibles and enough educational material to equip a school. Many stores became a central point of their local communities, offering not only books but a rich literary and didactic experience. Sadly, those days are quickly drawing to a close. The revolution in online shopping and increasing competition from superstores such as Walmart ate into the bottom line of Christian bookstores. Slowly, these stores began to peddle what Christianity Today recently called "Jesus Junk". For many, the Christian bookstore had lost its way as it struggled to stay relevant. Desperate to stay profitable, quality literature began to be pushed out by trinkets, decorations, toys and shelves full of coloring books, self-help titles and joke books.

Early this year, author Jared Wilson tweeted a list of the top 100 best-sellers from the Evangelical Christian Publishers Association. Included in the top 20 were "three versions of Sarah Young's controversial Jesus Calling, two kids joke books, two adult coloring books, titles by HGTV stars and athletes, and, of course, the latest from Joel Osteen." Wilson called the list "proof American evangelicalism traffics mainly in superficiality, sentimentalism, and superstition."

In 2015, the largest chain of Christian bookstores, Family Christian Stores, declared bankruptcy. In an effort to keep the company afloat, a host of Christian publishers and other key creditors agreed to forgive $127 million of Family Christian Stores' debt and approved of a corporate reorganization. Now, it seems that the measures weren't enough to bring the company back from ruin and it is now forced to shut down. This will mean shuttering 240 locations across 36 states and leaving more than 3,000 employees without jobs.

The Christian Booksellers Association, which boasted nearly 4,000 retailers in the mid 1980s, had already shrunk to 2,800 stores by 2008. That rate of closure has only accelerated. In 2008, Christianity Today ran a cover story "How to Save the Christian Bookstore" which counseled offering something different that can't be bought online: a sense of community. Christian bookstores are often affiliated with a specific denomination, such as LifeWay, which is organized under the Southern Baptist Convention.This narrows the client base as the stores refuse to stock certain materials that may not line up with the denominations particular teaching on a subject, but it also provides a measure of identity that is lacking from a faceless mega-corporation like the aptly named Amazon. A Christian bookstore, if it is living up to its mission, can be expected to stock a carefully selected catalogue of titles that ensure the reader won't be served simply the most popular "flavor of the month".

Customers should be able to trust these stores to provide a level of education and guidance that would be wholly out of place in the vast churn of star ratings that online booksellers like Amazon have become. As Christian bookstores, the value-added benefit is curation to ensure that what they are promoting is theologically sound. Blogger, Christopher Williams, pointed out, "There has to be a balance between respecting differing doctrines, protecting orthodoxy, and promoting growth.

That said, I think stores professing to edify Christians need to take a stance on what material they choose to sell." Truly, Christian bookstores are caught between a rock and a hard place with their margins pressed thin by online retailers. According to Paul Wilkerson, a Christian bookstore owner in Ontario, "the problem isn't the filters the independent stores or chain stores are using. The problem is the part of the market that has been ceded to Amazon, which has no filters." Only the tyranny of public opinion. The fall of the Christian bookstore is being replaced by an ever-widening selection of literature. Rather than reinforce the doctrine of a single publisher or book vender, online bookstores provide the customer with exposure to countless other viewpoints.

However, as the religious literature landscape broadens, owing to hundreds of new authors and their varying perspectives, it becomes more of a challenge to sort out the chaff. Gone, too, are the days when a publisher could rely on its brand name or its relationship with bookstores to move lower quality material. Now Christian authors are competing on a more level playing field with all writers, including those that the big publishers had previously excluded. And those who complained that Christian bookstores had resorted to selling trinkets and "Jesus junk" just to survive are not likely to shed many tears either, provided that the literature itself can survive and thrive. In the end, the reality is that just as most secular bookstores and many large retail chains have closed their doors in the last decade, so too are Christian bookstores. How this tectonic shift affects Christian communities across the continent remains to be seen, but the results promise to be significant.

BY PNW STAFF

Nigerian Clergy Demand Compensation for Churches Destroyed by Boko Haram

Religious leaders in Nigeria are renewing and amplifying their call for the government to pay compensation for the destruction of churches by Boko Haram, even as the Islamist militants escalate attacks in the country’s northern states. Nigerian clergy say at least 1,000 churches have been destroyed in the six-year insurgency, which the government declared crushed last year.

Human rights groups say thousands more churches have been abandoned or closed in the conflict — in which schools, mosques, markets and military installations have also been targeted.

Clergy say the attacks on churches have compromised freedom of religion in the nation, as well as Nigerians’ right to live in peace. And while Boko Haram is the agent of the attacks, religious leaders also assign blame to the government.

“The church … is demanding compensation from the government for lives lost and properties destroyed by the (Boko Haram) criminals,” said the Rev. John Bakeni, secretary of the Maiduguri Roman Catholic diocese. “We believe the government should have provided security for lives and property.”

The Rev. Felix Omobude, national president of the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria, described the destruction of the churches as a breach of the freedom of worship guaranteed in the Nigerian Constitution. He also considers compensation a government responsibility. “Churches that have been destroyed should be rebuilt by the state governments … and appropriate compensation paid to the victims,” Omobude said in a recent statement.

Two religions predominate in Nigeria, Africa’s most populous nation: Christians in the south and Muslims in the north. In 2015, President Mahammadu Buhari promised to reconstruct churches and mosques destroyed in the conflict, and he later urged federal officials to help reconstruct schools and places of worship destroyed by the militants.

Some reconstruction work started in 2016 in the northern majority-Muslim state of Borno, with its governor, Kashim Shettima, ordering the rehabilitation of the biggest church in Lassa, which was destroyed by Boko Haram. Though pleased with the commencement of reconstruction work on churches in Borno state, Bakeni expressed dismay at what he described as the small number of churches in the north undergoing reconstruction compared with the number of mosques there that have been restored. He praised Shettima, though.

“This is a bold decision by a governor in northeastern Nigeria to listen to the Christians and render justice, against all odds and opposition,” said Bakeni. Boko Haram — whose name translates to “Western education is sin” — aims to create an Islamic state in the north. It has carried out a campaign of terror, attacking churches, schools and security installations. Its first attack on Christian minorities there occurred in 2010. The United Nations estimates that 20,000 people have died in the violence, which has also displaced 2 million people in the northern states of Yobe, Adamawa and Borno. The terrorist group has abducted women and girls and forced its victims, especially young women, to act as suicide bombers. In 2014, the group kidnapped 276 schoolgirls in Chibok town. The kidnapping sparked the solidarity campaign

Pastors Arrested in Sudan as Government Moves to Take Over Church

Police in Sudan arrested and int errogated seven church leaders last week in Omdurman, Sudan before releasing them on bail, sources said. The Christian leaders were jailed for six hours on Wednesday (Aug. 23) and charged with refusing to comply with an order to turn over leadership of their congregation to a government appointed-committee. Omdurman lies across the Nile River from Khartoum, the capital.

The Rev. Ayoub Mattan, Sudanese Church of Christ (SCOC) moderator, and Kwa Shamaal (also transliterated Kuwa Shamaal), head of missions at the SCOC, were among the church leaders arrested. Pastor Shamaal was previously arrested on Dec. 18, 2015 and acquitted on Jan. 2 this year of charges ranging from spying to inciting hatred against the government. Sudan’s Ministry of Guidance and Religious Endowments had written a letter dated Aug. 14 ordering them to hand over church leadership to the committee appointed by the government ministry, sources said. When they refused, police opened a case against them, though it was unclear under what law. “Police asked if we still maintain our stance on our refusal to acknowledge the committee appointed by the Ministry of Guidance and Religious Endowments, and we said yes, because it is not the work of the [government] ministry to appoint committees for the church,” Pastor Shamaal told Morning Star News.

Police said that in arresting them they were implementing orders from the Ministry of Guidance and Religious Endowments to impose its committee as new SCOC leadership, presumably to sell off the church property in Sudan’s bid to rid the country of Christianity. The pastors said the committee was contrary to SCOC's constitution, which calls for general elections every three years to appoint new leadership.

Pastors Mattan, Shamaal and the others are still members of the legitimate executive committee of the SCOC, sources said. The current leadership term expires in March 2018. Police also arrested the Rev. Yagoub Naway and pastor Musa Kodi, both from the SCOC. The four Christians were interrogated along with the three other church leaders, including SCOC Finance Secretary Abdulbagi Ali Abdulrahaman and SCOC Deputy Finance Secretary El-Amin Hassam Abdulrasool, before they were all released on bail. Six other SCOC members are in hiding after learning police were searching for them to arrest and interrogate them, sources said.

Another SCOC pastor, the Rev. Hassan Abdelrahim Tawor, had received a 12-year sentence earlier this year after being charged with spying and trying to tarnish Sudan’s image, but he was freed along with Abdulmonem Abdumawla of Darfur on May 11 after receiving a presidential pardon. He had been arrested along with Pastor Shamaal in December 2015. They were convicted on baseless charges of assisting Czech aid worker Petr Jasek – pardoned and released on Feb. 25– in alleged espionage, causing hatred among communities and spreading false information, according to their attorney.

Foreign diplomats and international rights activists took notice of the case after Morning Star News broke the story of the arrest of pastors Abdelrahim Tawor and Shamaal. Their arrests were seen as part of a recent upsurge in harassment of Christians. Most SCOC members have roots among the ethnic Nuba in the Nuba Mountains of Sudan’s South Kordofan state, where the government is fighting an insurgency. The Nuba along with other Christians in Sudan face discrimination and harassment, as Sudanese President Omar Al-Bashir has vowed to introduce a stricter version of sharia (Islamic law) and recognize only Islamic culture and Arabic language.

In its campaign to rid the country of Christianity, Sudan has designated 25 church buildings for destruction, and on Aug. 2 it demolished a Baptist church in Omdurman. On May 7 Khartoum state authorities in Sudan demolished a church building in the Khartoum suburb of Soba al Aradi, which began as a refugee camp for south Sudanese. A bulldozer sent by Jebel Aulia locality and the Ministry of Planning and Urban Development destroyed the SCOC building.

Authorities had notified church leaders of the impending demolition just a week prior. The government reportedly claimed the churches were built on land zoned for residential or other uses, or were on government land, but church leaders said it is part of wider crack-down on Christianity. Harassment, arrests and persecution of Christians have intensified since the secession of South Sudan in July 2011. The Sudanese Minister of Guidance and Endowments announced in April 2013 that no new licenses would be granted for building new churches in Sudan, citing a decrease in the South Sudanese population.

Sudan since 2012 has expelled foreign Christians and bulldozed church buildings on the pretext that they belonged to South Sudanese. Besides raiding Christian bookstores and arresting Christians, authorities threatened to kill South Sudanese Christians who do not leave or cooperate with them in their effort to find other Christians. Sudan fought a civil war with the south Sudanese from 1983 to 2005, and in June 2011, shortly before the secession of South Sudan the following month, the government began fighting a rebel group in the Nuba Mountains that has its roots in South Sudan.

Due to its treatment of Christians and other human rights violations, Sudan has been designated a Country of Particular Concern by the U.S. State Department since 1999, and the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom recommended the country remain on the list in its 2017 report.

Sudan ranked fifth on Christian support organization Open Doors’ 2017 World Watch List of countries where Christians face most persecution.

Hindu Leaders Blame Nepal’s Church Growth on Greed

The former Hindu monarchy of Nepal boasts one of the fastest growing Christian populations. Hindu critics claim money and greed are driving the growth, but Christians say the country’s caste system makes Christ’s message of equality especially appealing. Hindu shaman Purna Bahadur Praja told The Guardian that people in the Chepang region turned to Christianity for assistance after the 2015 earthquake that killed nearly 9,000 people and left thousands of others homeless. “[A]fter the earthquake, they got Bibles, rice, clothes, blankets, money to build churches. Pastors were getting motorbikes. … They spend the whole time emailing foreigners to ask for money,” Praja said.

Another Hindu priest told The Guardian that well-funded foreign organizations are “using money to promote Christianity,” helping sick church members and only providing post-earthquake aid to Christians. While the disaster certainly created a need for humanitarian assistance, it also increased opportunities to share the gospel. Christian groups say many conversions were sincere and most ministries helped everyone, regardless of their faith.

“Christians did some of the church reconstruction after the earthquake but they have done more for the general public, [from] emergency relief to reconstruction,” said pastor Tanka Subedi, co-chairman of the Nepal Christian Society and the leader of Nepal’s Religious Liberty Forum. The end of Nepal’s monarchy in 2008 and the establishment of a secular government allowed more freedom of religion in the country, although freedom is not absolute. By 2015, Christians numbered more than 1 million, about 3.8 percent of Nepal’s 28.5 million people, according to the World Christian Database. Conversions of low-caste Hindus, known as Dalits, are driving the growth, according to The Guardian. Dalits suffer discrimination, deprivation, and abuse in Hindu culture due to their lowly status. “It’s not surprising that Dalits are converting en masse, or that Christian groups would be doing work within this community,” said International Christian Concern’s William Stark, noting the Dalits are the most marginalized, least educated, and neediest people in the country.

The common “false narrative” of inducement or exchange for conversion to other religions pervades Southeast Asia, not just Nepal, Stark said, and Hindu nationalists often promote the idea. While he acknowledged instances of such behavior aren’t impossible, he insisted they are rare, noting that Dalits are drawn to Christianity because it validates their human worth. “The message of the gospel—that everyone is equal, everyone is loved by God, and God’s sacrifice was for everyone—is attractive especially to people of a Dalit background,” Stark said.

Chinese Theology Student and Aspiring Pastor Warns of Country's Increasing Persecution of Christians

Derek Lam, a Christian studying theology at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, says he will probably not be allowed to fulfill his dream of being a pastor. In a column for The New York Times, Lam says his democratic activism in Hong Kong could possibly lead to his imprisonment next month. Lam is a member of the democratic political party Demosisto.

Two of his friends were recently put in prison for peaceful protests the group organized in 2014, and more and more the government, under the leadership of General Secretary of the Community Party of China Xi Jinping, is taking control over Christian events. “During the last evening of one of this summer’s camps, the leaders of the camp told the campers that ‘God would make China prosperous’ and that Xi Jinping’s pet infrastructure project known as ‘One Belt, One Road’ was ‘the path that God had prepared,’” Lam said. “The organizers of the camp then had the audacity to claim that ‘One Belt, One Road’ would help spread the gospel.”

People in Hong Kong are being pushed to the side with the country’s communist views, Lam said. “Beijing is encroaching not only on Hong Kong’s political freedoms but also on the most personal ones, such as religious beliefs, as part of a larger strategy to shut down any kind of organizing outside of the (Communist) party,” he said. That’s led to the removal of crucifixes from churches and even razing some churches. Then last year, a pastor and wife were buried alive for trying to stop the destruction of their church.

Hong Kong’s bishop, Michael Yeung Ming-cheung said the churches were demolished because of “structural safety concerns.” Lam, however, says the bishop is looking to Xi Jinping and not God for “spiritual guidance.” “Although there is nothing I would love more than to become a pastor and preach the gospel in Hong Kong, I will never do so if it means making Jesus subservient to Xi Jinping. Instead, I will continue to fight for religious freedom in Hong Kong, even if I have to do it from behind bars,” he said.

Christians in India Mark 9th Anniversary of Country's Worst Anti-Christian Violence

International Christian Concern (ICC) and India's Christian community are marking the ninth anniversary of the 2008 anti-Christian Orissa riots, widely considered to be the worst incident of Christian persecution in India's independent history. Despite the passage of nine years, the lives of many Christians affected by the violence remain shattered by fear and injustice.

On August 24, 2008, anti-Christian mob violence swept across the Kandhamal District of India's Odisha State, then known as Orissa, after Christians were wrongly blamed for the assassination of Vishwa Hindu Parishad leader Lakshmanananda Saraswati. After three months of violence, at least 91 Christians were killed, many hacked to death by axes and machetes, and at least three Christian women were gang raped. Additionally, nearly 56,000 people were displaced, forced to flee into the forests, as mobs burned down more than 5,600 houses, 300 churches, and other Christian institutions. "We are still in terror, not feeling safe," Pastor Pradeep Nayak, a Christian survivor of the 2008 violence, told ICC. "At every corner of the market we feel something is going against Christians."

"It was [the] most terrifying day of my life," Pastor Raj Kishore, a Christian who survived the violence, told ICC. "I saw big flames and thick smoke coming out of a neighboring village. We had to run away knowing that the next target [was] our village. We walked 40 kilometers through the thickest forest in the dark night with my 20-days-old son and my wife to reach a town nearby." "Kandhamal is peaceful, but there is no peace in Kandhamal," Suranjan Nayak, General Secretary of the Christian Jankalyan Samiti Kandhamal, told ICC. "On the date Lakshmanananda was assassinated, all the churches were provided with security. This means there is still a threat to Christians."

Many Christians displaced by the violence have been unable to return to their home villages due to threats and a lack of government assistance. "So many people are not able to return to their own homes as they are not able to build back their houses," Suranjan Nayak explains. "During the government survey, many were still away from their villages and were not recorded, hence they were not able to get government compensation to reconstruct their houses."

William Stark, ICC's Regional Manager, said, "It has been nine years since Christians in India experienced the worst anti-Christian violence the country has seen in its independent history. Many of the victims of this terrible violence have yet to receive justice due to discrimination and poor police work following the riots. In many cases, Christians driven from their homes by mobs in 2008 are still unable to return to their villages unless they agree to convert to Hinduism. The Indian government must do more to provide justice to these victims and must take greater steps to rebuild the lives that were devastated by this violence nine years ago."

Category Archives: Volume 5 Issue 36

Let us bind and destroy the works of the devil in the name of Jesus Christ who has conquered sin, satan, curse and death on the cross

Mark 7:22 The spirit of theft

Message for reflection – Sr.Angelica

Reward you openly

Forgiveness and Reconciliation Programme (FRP)

Message for year 2017

FRP – Belapur

Upcoming Jeremiah School of Prophecy

Upcoming BFF

Be Formed and Form (BFF)

Email ID : heavenlyhostofjesus@gmail.com

Ph : 044-65453245, 9952040052

BFF Report – Batch no 3, Vasai Mumbai

National Worship Centre (NWC)