Zprávy HCJB 10.6.2003

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   KIDNAPPED MISSIONARY IN BANGLADESH ESCAPES FROM HIS CAPTORS

A Gospel for Asia (GFA) missionary who was kidnapped in Bangladesh three weeks ago escaped from his captors the night of Monday, June 9, says John Schwartz, GFA's web coordinator. The missionary, a native of India whose name has been withheld for security reasons, was kidnapped May 19 by a terrorist group in Bangladesh. "He escaped after all eight men guarding him fell asleep," said Schwartz in an e-mail report. "Even with his hands tied behind his back, he ran through the jungle. He does not know how many hours he ran before he came to a road. He kept running until he reached a town the next afternoon. There the Lord provided a safe place where he is now taking refuge until GFA leaders can reach him." Last week the missionary's brother traveled to talk with the kidnappers in the hopes of negotiating his release. The terrorists severely beat the brother and others, warning them not to return without money and renewing threats to kill the missionary. "We want to thank all of you who so faithfully interceded for the missionary," Schwartz said. "Please continue to pray for him. He suffers from a fever, and his whole body shivers from lack of food and being exposed to the elements while in captivity." (Gospel for Asia)

'ANTI-SECT' SCHOOL TEXTBOOK UPSETS CHRISTIAN LEADERS IN GEORGIA

Human rights activists and religious minority leaders are concerned about a textbook in Georgia that warns schoolchildren about the "dangers of religious sects." The textbook, called Security: Dangerous Situations and Civil Defense, was issued with Education Ministry approval last year. It is used for high school students in the compulsory subject, security. Emil Adelkhanov of the Tbilisi-based Caucasian Institute for Peace, Democracy and Development said that he regards the book as a further symptom of "religious hysteria" in Georgia. Baptists and Lutherans also have expressed concern. "I think the textbook encourages religious violence," said Malkhaz Songulashvili of the Baptist Union. "If the state is serious about religious freedom, it has to withdraw the book immediately and apologize for issuing it." (Forum 18 News Service)

* HCJB World Radio works with a local partner ministry to produce Christian programs in the Georgian language and broadcast them to the region each week. HCJB World Radio also worked with Hosanna and local partners to produce the dramatized New Testament in Georgian through a project called Faith Comes by Hearing.

ARCHBISHOP CALLS FOR EU CONSTITUTION TO RECOGNIZE CHRISTIANITY

The failure of the preamble to the draft constitution for the European Union (EU) to mention Europe's Christian heritage has been described as an "act of cultural vandalism" by a Roman Catholic Archbishop Mario Conti. Writing in The Herald, the Glasgow daily newspaper, the archbishop noted that the preamble referred to "the cultural, religious and humanist inheritance of Europe" nourished "first by the civilizations of Greece and Rome" and "later by philosophical currents of the enlightenment." It was what was missing that concerned Conti -- "the yawning historical and philosophical vacuum between the end of the Greco-Roman influence and the beginning of the Enlightenment." Conti joined a debate that has been raging fiercely across Europe as politicians seek to create a constitution for the EU, at times dividing erstwhile allies on other issues. "This is no minor omission," Conti wrote. "It is an extraordinary attempt to write the name of Christ and the Christian church out of the consciousness of the new Europe. As such it is a profoundly dishonest reworking of history." (Religion Today)

UZBEKISTAN JUDGE DEFENDS RULING TO DESTROY BAPTIST MAGAZINES

The judge who ordered the destruction of 211 copies of a Russian Baptist magazine confiscated from local Baptist Aleksei Yermolayev on his return to the country has defended his ruling. "He tried to bring the magazines into Uzbekistan illegally," said the judge, Marat Alimukhamedov, in Tashkent. Copies of the Russian-language Baptist magazine Vestnik Istiny (Herald of Truth) were confiscated from Yermolayev on April 2 and later burned by local authorities. Local Baptists have protested the court-ordered destruction of the magazines and the fine of 22,675 sums (US$23) that was handed down. They also complained that Yermolayev was not informed that the hearing was taking place. (Forum 18 News Service)

* HCJB World Radio airs weekly Uzbek broadcasts to Uzbekistan via shortwave. An estimated 15 million Uzbek-speaking people are within range of the broadcasts. Uzbek is also one of four languages that HCJB World Radio airs to Afghanistan from an AM station outside the country.

NEW TESTAMENT RECORDED IN MOZAMBIQUE'S LOMWE LANGUAGE

Lomwe speakers in Mozambique can now hear the New Testament in their heart language via cassette recordings. The Mozambique Bible Society launched a project May 25 in Molocue, Mozambique, to bring dramatized recordings of the New Testament within reach of Lomwe speakers. The Mozambique Bible Society worked in partnership with SIM in this translation project called Faith Comes by Hearing. The program involves an initial phase of inquiry in which 12 "motivators" look for persons interested in hearing the recordings. Their aim is to sign up groups of 25-30 people to commit to 30 minutes of listening together once a week followed by 30 minutes of discussion of the taped portion of the New Testament they have heard. Initial response from local residents has been positive. Lomwe is the first language spoken in Mozambique to receive the New Testament on tape. The only other language available at this initial stage is Mozambique's national language, Portuguese. Hosanna Ministries in the U.S. organized the recording, completed at a radio studio in Mocuba. (SIM)

INTERNATIONAL BIBLE SOCIETY ENCOURAGES VIETNAM'S IMPERILED CHURCH

While the human rights situation continues to deteriorate in Vietnam with the government maintaining its crackdown against political and religious dissidents, International Bible Society (IBS) spokesman Hans Lennart Raask has encouraging news. "Vietnam is not the easiest country to reach with the Bible," he says. "But we have it in print, and I know that it is in distribution in Vietnam today. We work mainly through partnerships where we are not involved with the actual distribution ourselves." Vietnamese believers share solidarity with other Christians who face persecution. Raask says the biggest danger is discouragement. "It's a very tough country, but we also get reports about a growing church, and we want to support the struggling church in this country in every way that we can." (Mission Network News)

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