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Násilí v Súdánu se může přiblížit genocidě ve Rwandě před deseti lety. Křesťané, kteří žijí v této oblasti, kde je khartoumská vláda hledá, jsou zabíjeni. Věřící tam ve svém osamění volají o podporu. Tom Dudenhoffer z Audio Scripture Ministries říká, „Byli jsme požádáni o pomoc při nahrávkách a distribuci několika projektů v Súdánu. Co je na tom skutečně zajímavé, je fakt, že neznám jejich jazyky, přesto reakce těch lidí byla fenomenální. Velice touží po Božím slově.“ Dudenhoffer říká, že když má materiály nahrané na kazetách, je to pro cestování snadnější. Dodává, že co se bezpečnosti týče, je samotný proces distribuce velmi netradiční. „Není žádná formální distribuce. Jsme v situaci, kdy se snažíme skrze své lidi šířit Písmo na kazetách. Ti lidé se pohybují po zemi a vypadá to, že zbytek dělá sám Bůh.“ Odhaduje se, že bylo během posledních dvou desetiletí bojů zabito v Súdánu na 2 miliony lidí. (Mission Network News) |
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TORTURED CHINESE CHURCH LEADERS TESTIFY AT U.N. FOR FIRST TIME
For the first time, persecuted Chinese house church leaders, including
tortured and sexually abused women, testified at the United Nations
Commission on Human Rights amid claims that the Beijing government is
increasing pressure on unregistered churches. The Christian Aid Association
(CAA), which investigates the plight of persecuted Christians, said the
two-hour hearing Friday, April 2, at the 60th annual meeting of the U.N.
Commission in Geneva was aimed at showing the suffering of some of the 9,000
Chinese believers who were arrested and detained in the last 10 years. Armed
with documents and a video recording of recently released female prisoners,
the CAA painted a grim picture of China’s attitude toward active Christians.
The revelations of the young women came as the U.N. prepared to investigate
torture in China. The investigation is expected to help the estimated 80
million house church Christians nationwide. The latest crackdown on
believers has been linked to concern among communist authorities about the
fast growth of Christianity in China -- but the Chinese government said it
is only acting against “dangerous cults.” (Assist News Service)
SLOW DISARMAMENT TAKES ITS TOLL ON LIBERIAN OUTREACHES
Following a four-month delay, a United Nations peacekeeping force is now
ready to proceed with the disarmament of Liberia's three armed factions.
However, rebels -- apparently frustrated at the slow pace of the money for
arms swap -- continue to make their ire known by staging raids and going on
shooting rampages. With the country's infrastructure in chaos, Liberians are
in desperate need of education and medical treatment. The Association of
Baptists for World Evangelism (ABWE) and AFBM have partnered to establish a
medical clinic in Gbarnga, which also assists Christian schools throughout
the country. ABWE's Africa Regional Director, Ron Washer, says the clinic
team is feeling the rebels' presence as well. “The instability has created
uncertainties and the hesitancy to move out and to really begin to continue
the ministries that God has given them in the interior. For instance, our
medical clinic is still not operating full time yet.” Urging prayer for
those involved in the clinic outreach, Washer explained that the rebel
activity strains staff members -- especially because they have struck the
clinic once, deroofing the building. “Our new location, our new building
that was just built, is going to allow us to go ahead and begin that kind of
full-time ministry. The dedication is going to be later this month,” Washer
said. “But all of this is just keeping everybody on edge, knowing that these
rebels could come in at any time, with their guns, and take whatever they
want.” (Mission Network News)
* HCJB World Radio works in partnership with ELWA, a ministry founded by SIM
in Monrovia in 1954, to air the gospel across the country and West Africa.
The radio station was destroyed twice by civil war, first in 1990 and again
in 1996. ELWA most recently went back on the air in 1997 with a small FM
transmitter. Then in 2000 HCJB World Radio provided a low-power shortwave
transmitter, again enabling the station to cover the entire region. ELWA
broadcasts the gospel in 10 languages and plans to add more as resources
become available.
PERSECUTED CHRISTIANS PLEAD FOR HELP IN SOUTHERN LAOS
Christians from the southern Laotian province of Attapeu have faced
increasing persecution in the past few weeks. However, due to the pressure
applied by international humanitarian organizations, persecution is now
occurring at the village level, rather than provincial levels. Christian
Solidarity Worldwide reported in the first few days of March that it had
received copies of letters from Christians in Attapeu pleading for help
following a renewed wave of persecution. One of the letters was signed by
several Christians from Donthapad village, Sanamchai district. “I am being
threatened, and therefore all of us are to be without our homes and without
a way of making any living because we are constantly being persecuted all
the time,” said the principal writer. Christians in Donthapad village were
called to a meeting with village officials on Feb. 19. At that meeting, the
Christian villagers were told, “If you do not give up your Christian faith,
leave the village or you will be punished by death.” Christians called to
this meeting and other meetings were also ordered to pay fines the
equivalent of $14 per meeting for “wasting the time” of village officials.
(Compass)
CHRISTIANS REACH OUT TO WAR VICTIMS IN SUDAN
Sudan’s violence may be approaching the scale of Rwanda’s genocide 10 years
ago. Christians, living in an area sought by the Khartoum government, are
being killed. In their isolation, believers cried out for support. Audio
Scripture Ministries’ Tom Dudenhoffer says, “We’ve been asked to help in the
recording and distribution of several translation projects in the Sudan.
What’s really interesting about this, is that I cannot give the languages
out, but the response of the people has been really phenomenal. They’re very
anxious to receive God’s Word.” Dudenhoffer says having the information on
cassette tapes makes it portable. He adds that security concerns make the
distribution process non-traditional. “There is no formal distribution. It’s
just a situation where we make the Scriptures available in audio through our
people who are there on the ground, and the rest just seems to be something
that God is doing.” An estimated 2 million people have been killed in Sudan
in two decades of fighting. (Mission Network News)
MOVIEGOERS FAVOR CONSERVATIVE, PATRIOTIC MOVIES
A new five-year study of the top movies released by Hollywood shows that
moviegoers prefer conservative, patriotic movies with positive moral values
rather than movies that push a left-wing agenda. “Movies that support
capitalist ideals, traditional moral values and patriotism do much better at
the box office than movies promoting socialism, communism, radical feminism,
left-wing political correctness, and atheism,” said Dr. Ted Baehr, chairman
of the Christian Film & Television Commission, the Christian advocacy group
in Hollywood that authored the study. The study compared the gross income of
movies with pro and anti-capitalist content, and found that, for example,
2003 movies promoting patriotism or American values earned $47.8 million per
movies, but movies with anti-patriotic or anti-American content averaged
only $38.6. “These differences also show up in our analysis of movies
released from 1999 through 2002,” Dr. Baehr said. “Our emphasis is on
religious and spiritual values, not political and economic concerns,” he
noted, “so these findings are particularly striking.” (Christian Film &
Television Commission)
* IMPACT OF RADIO OUTREACH IN MEXICAN PRISON KEEPS MULTIPLYING
When staff members from World Radio Network’s two FM stations in the border
city of Eagle Pass, Texas, held a “Festival Manantial” at a Mexican prison
nearly two years ago, they never dreamed of the event’s lasting spiritual
impact. The prison is across the Rio Grande River from Eagle Pass where the
network operates two stations: KEPX (Spanish) and KEPI (English).
Sixty inmates at the federal prison in Piedras Negras, Mexico, made the
decision to accept Jesus Christ as their personal Savior at the event on May
18, 2002. But the outreach didn’t stop there. KEPX began a two-fold ministry
to the inmates -- preaching within the prison and producing a weekly
one-hour radio program, “Free in Christ,” says Amado Rodríguez who manages
both stations. “The program has not only helped strengthen the faith of the
believing inmates, but also encourages their family members.”
Listeners played a key role when the ministry returned to the prison on Dec.
21, 2003 to follow up the earlier event. “We had asked our listeners to
participate in this project by bringing mountains of food and needed items
to the radio station,” Rodríguez said. Twenty inmates made the decision to
accept Christ as their Savior at this event.
“Those in authority at this prison, including the director, have made it
clear that they are completely available to work shoulder-to-shoulder with
KEPX on behalf of the inmates,” he added. “They are very supportive of our
ministry there.”
The program, “Free in Christ,” is produced by a local attorney who has had a
“lot of experience preaching about Christ in the prisons of Coahuila state
and also has the support of the state government in carrying out this task,”
Rodríguez adds.
WRN is a ministry of HCJB World Radio with 23 FM outlets in the U.S., most
near the Mexican border. All but five of the outlets broadcast in Spanish,
the rest in English. WRN also operates Radio Cadena Manantial, a satellite
network with four affiliate stations and many more pending. (HCJB World
Radio) |