In Colombia where government forces and rebels have been fighting for more than four decades, breakthroughs are being made for the gospel, says Bob Hoskins, founder of Book of Hope International. “A pastor made some contact with some of the rebel groups and actually led one of the rebel leaders to the Lord. He invited the pastor to come into the rebel-held territory, and God just worked miracles for him.”

Hoskins says the ministry is also having a profound impact on another group -- the military. “In fact, the military commander makes their helicopters available to fly our personnel and our books,” he adds. “Our goal is to give every member of the military a Book of Hope and a Book of Hope presentation.” At least one of the rebel groups, the 5,000-member National Liberation Army (ELN), recently held exploratory talks in Havana with the Colombian government with peace talks planned.

When asked if he attributes this to the many people on both sides coming to Christ, he replied, “Absolutely! I think we’ve distributed about 80,000 Books of Hope in that rebel-held territory -- to their rebel leaders, so, yeah, it is a work of the Lord for sure.”

Despite these advances, Colombia’s main leftist guerrilla group, the 17,000-member Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), says it will not deal with the current government. (Mission Network News)

* Together with local partners, HCJB World Radio broadcasts the gospel on FM stations in four Colombian cities. The ministry also continues to air Spanish programs across the country and all of Latin America via shortwave from Quito.

VIOLENCE AGAINST CHURCHES MARS EASTER WEEK IN 3 STATES OF INDIA

Easter in India was marred by violence throughout Holy Week. In the southern state of Karnataka Sunday, April 16, 15 Hindu extremists said to be from the extremist Bajrang Dal attacked a morning church service, assaulting Pastor V.P. Paulouse, injuring his head and fracturing both hands. His wife also was severely beaten. In Madhya Pradesh state, on Friday April 14, two Christian women in the Jabalpur district were arrested for “promoting conversion.” On Tuesday, April 11, near Mumbai, at least two pastors suffered serious injuries when about 50 Hindu extremists from the Vishwa Hindu Parishad barged into a prayer meeting of 500 Christians and assaulted them with chains and iron rods. (Compass Direct)

* Radio programs in 12 languages (English, Urdu, Hindi, Nepali, Chattisgarhi, Bangla, Bhojpuri, Tamil, Telegu, Marwari, Marathi and Santhali) air to India from HCJB World Radio-Australia’s shortwave station in Kununurra. The programs are produced at the ministry’s studios in New Delhi, India.

1,500 CHRISTIANS PROTEST BURNING OF SCRIPTURES BY MUSLIMS IN PAKISTAN

The burning of a Bible and other sacred texts by four Muslim men in the Tibba Shomali area of Tehsil Mian Channu, Pakistan, prompted more than 1,500 Christians to stage a protest against the incident that occurred on Tuesday, April 4. Four men were caught while burning the Bible, calendars carrying the picture of Jesus and other Christian booklets, reports the Pakistan-based Daily Times. “We caught four people -- Hafiz Islam, Hafiz Abid, Rana Abdul Ghaffar and Rana Abdul Jabbar -- burning our sacred books and literature on a heap of garbage,” the Daily Times quoted Pakistan Christian Writers Guild President A.D. Sahil as saying. An enraged Christian mob tried to attack the accused, but elders intervened. A former district councilor condemned the incident, but asked the Christians of the area not to take law into their hands. (Religion Today)

OFFICIALS BAR GERMAN CHRISTIAN FAMILY FROM RE-ENTERING TURKEY

Denied a work permit for being a “threat for the national security,” a German Christian believes that his family’s openly Christian activities prompted Turkey to label them missionaries and deny them entrance in February. Alex Eisele, his wife, Jutta, and their two children, Sarah and Joshua, were refused entry into Turkey in February after making a routine trip to northern Cyprus to renew their three-month tourist visas. The German family said that they have been singled out often for their Christian activities, even receiving several threatening text messages on their cell phones. (Compass Direct)

IDEAS IN GOSPEL OF JUDAS ‘FOREIGN TO NEW TESTAMENT TEACHINGS’

The recently published “Gospel of Judas” contains teaching that is foreign to the New Testament, according to several Bible scholars at Union University, a Baptist-affiliated school in Jackson, Tenn. “It presents a completely different cosmology and theology from what we find in the New Testament,” said Bible professor George Guthrie. Faculty members added that the document is unreliable as a source for the actual historical events in the life of Jesus and promotes the heresy of Gnosticism, an ancient teaching condemned by the early Christian church. Union University President David Dockery added that it ignores the death, burial and resurrection of Christ. Unveiled April 5, the Gospel of Judas was discovered in the 1970s, but its origins are unclear, according to the National Geographic website. Gnosticism held to the belief that salvation comes through “gnosis,” the Greek word for “knowledge,” Guthrie said. “The bottom line is that the modern world is enamored with anything that calls into question orthodox Christianity, whether it’s historically credible or not.” (Evangelical News/Baptist Press)

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