A marketplace bomb blast in Palu, Indonesia, killed eight people and injured 56 others on New Year’s Eve, reported Glenn Penner of Voice of the Martyrs Canada. Authorities say two shrapnel bombs were placed in key areas meant to target a specific group of people. The bomb exploded in a marketplace in a Christian area at 6:30 a.m. as residents were buying pork for their festive meals. Pork is offensive to Muslims, and the bombing of what locals call a “Christian market” where the meat is sold may point to Islamic terrorists. Indonesian authorities have widely condemned the attack, and there have been a series of arrests. Despite the attack, Christians are “continuing to move forward,” Penner said. “They’re continuing to try to reach their neighbors for Christ.” There was concern that the surrounding communities would retaliate against local Muslims, but so far that hasn’t happened. Human rights groups immediately called for an independent investigation, but the government responded with the new Security Operation Command with plans to send 1,100 police reinforcements and an unspecified number of soldiers to Poso and Palu. (Mission Network News/Compass)

* HCJB World Radio has worked with local partners to establish more than 14 local Christian radio stations across Indonesia since 2004. Broadcasts from HCJB World Radio-Australia’s shortwave station in Kununurra also encourage listeners nationwide. In addition, HCJB World Radio has helped with relief efforts since the Dec. 26, 2004, earthquake/tsunami and subsequent quakes that devastated parts of Indonesia.

ERITREAN SECURITY POLICE ARREST LEADERS FROM 5 ‘BANNED’ CHURCHES

At least 40 pastors, elders and leading laymen from five banned Protestant churches in the East African country of Eritrea were arrested in their homes or offices in late 2005 and early 2006. Starting early on the morning of Tuesday, Dec. 22, security police began tracking down leaders of the Church of the Living God along with clergymen and elders in the Full Gospel, Rema, Hallelujah and Philadelphia churches. One Church of the Living God pastor escaped shortly after his arrest, and police have arrested a member of his church board and one of his parishioners. Police also raided a music shop run by members of the Philadelphia Church, jailed all 15 people present and shut down the store. The music shop was the main source of Christian materials, music tapes and books for Protestant evangelicals in Asmara. (Compass)

MOB ATTACKS CHRISTMAS DAY SERVICE IN SRI LANKA, INJURING 4 PEOPLE

On Christmas Day a mob of about 30 people accosted members of the King’s Revival Church in Alawwa in west-central Sri Lanka’s Kurunegala district. They threatened the pastor and warned the congregation not to attend the service. They told the pastor not to hold a Christmas service and warned they would attack again on New Year’s Eve.

Many worshipers fled in fear, reported the National Christian Evangelical Alliance of Sri Lanka. Those who continued on their way to church were beaten up. One man and three women were injured, and the man was taken to a hospital for treatment. One of the women was pregnant.

The incident was reported to local police that day and again on Wednesday, Dec. 28, but no action was taken to apprehend the attackers until the following day when police detained some people for questioning.

In a separate incident on Tuesday, Dec. 20, the family members of Mr. Karunaratne, a deceased Christian, were refused permission to bury their relative in a local public cemetery. Local Buddhists told the family, from Hopton in the southeastern Uva province, that they could not bury the dead man in the cemetery because he was a Christian. Local police and authorities eventually intervened, and the burial went ahead. (Christian Solidarity Worldwide)

VIETNAMESE OFFICIALS DETAIN, DEPORT PASTOR VISITING FROM U.S.

A Vietnamese pastor who spent 10 years in prison and re-education camps before being deported to the U.S. in 1999 was held at Tan-Son-Nhat Airport in Ho Chi Minh City on Tuesday, Dec. 27, when he tried to re-enter Vietnam to visit his elderly mother. Rev. Paul Ai, founder of Vietnamese Outreach International based in Hampton, Va., said that he had been ministering with his wife, Ruth, in Malaysia to Vietnamese contract workers, then flew to Vietnam to visit their elderly mothers “They held me for 24 hours and then deported me,” he said. “While I was being held, they described me as a ‘dangerous man’ and apparently were afraid that I would contact the underground church.” After 24 hours in the security area guarded by police, Ai was deported to Singapore. In the last three years Ai has planted scores of Vietnamese congregations in South Korea, Malaysia and Cambodia. (Assist News Service)

INCREASED AVAILABILITY OF PORNOGRAPHY POSES THREAT TO CHURCHES

Ted Haggard, president of the National Association of Evangelicals, says the availability of pornography on modern technological devices such as iPODs, MPDs and PDAs is an increasing threat to today’s churches. “We are all continually amazed at the newest and greatest electronic devices that come out on the market,” he said in a statement released Wednesday, Dec. 21. “One of the latest innovations is wireless handheld devices with video capabilities. What you may not know is that all the pornography on the Internet may be available on these devices without effective monitoring or filtering options. Our already sexualized culture is about to be inundated with yet another avenue for corrupting the innocent and ensnaring our children to the bonds of pornography. We need to do something. The technology itself is wonderful but until the appropriate safeguards can be implemented we need to educate and inform evangelicals of the dangers to which they may be unknowingly exposing their young people.” (Assist News Service)

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