Zprávy HCJB 7.10.2007 - 13.10.2007

	Významný křesťan a ředitel křesťanského nakladatelství zavražděn v pásmu Gaza.
	Ředitel jediného křesťanského nakladatelství v pásmu Gaza byl v neděli 7. října nalezen mrtev a zdá se, že je to dílo muslimů. 30 letý Rami Chader Ajjad, známý křesťan z Gazy, byl unesen den předtím - v sobotu kolem půl páté odpoledne. Měsíce předtím mu místní muslimové vyhrožovali smrtí. Jeho tělo nesoucí známky mučení bylo nalezeno druhý den ráno. Podle sdělení mluvčího nemocnice v Nemocnici Shifa v Gaze byl pobodán a v hlavě měl díru po kulce. Ajjad, který řídil Učitelské Nakladatelství a vedl Baptistický sbor v Gaze, byl místními muslimy obviňován z šíření evangelia. „Cítíme, že Rami byl zavražděn pro svou křesťanskou víru,“ řekl Simon Azazian, tiskový mluvčí Palestinské Biblické Společnosti, která provozuje křesťanské knihkupectví. Vedoucí Hamásu Ismail Haniyeh vraždu odsoudil a řekl, že islamistické hnutí „nikomu nedovolí sabotovat“ muslimsko-křesťanské vztahy. Křesťané, kterých v Gaze žije 2500 mezi 1.5 milionem muslimů se stále častěji stávají cílem muslimských útoků zvláště od června, kdy vedení oblasti převzal Hamás,. Minulý měsíc maskovaný muž zaútočil na starou křesťanku přímo v jejím domě a řekl jí, že je „nevěřící.“ Knihkupectví a ústředí Palestinské Biblické Společnosti jsou delší dobu cílem útoků, naposledy v dubnu. Tehdy šlo o zápalnou bombu nastraženou v období aktivity tajemné muslimské „skupiny proti nectnosti.“ Ajjad zanechal dvě děti a těhotnou manželku Pauline. Zdroj: Assist News Service, Compass News Direct, Open Doors, Religion Today
	UCB realizovala dohodu o rozšíření dostupnosti křesťanského vysílání ve Spojeném Království.
	Organizace United Christian Broadcasters (UCB) si zajistila přenosovou kapacitu v digitální rozhlasové síti DAB, která umožní pokrýt evangeliem pět velkých oblastí se 17,6 milionem obyvatel. UCB tak má zajištěno, že spolu s licencemi pro Londýn a Stoke budou skoro všechna velká města Anglie a Walesu schopna naslouchat křesťanskému vysílání, mnohá z nich vůbec poprvé. UCB zahájila vysílání do nových oblastí 1. října a počet jejích potenciálních posluchačů na síti DAB tak podle nezávislého regulačního úřadu Ofcom dosáhl 30 milionů dospělých. Ve zmíněných pěti oblastech UCB zařazuje dvě rozhlasové stanice – UCB UK a UCB Inspirational. Zdroj: Assist News Service
	Egyptští islamisté se ujímají obhajoby státu žalovaného ex-muslimem.
	Konzervativní islámští advokáti minulý týden vyrukovali na pomoc egyptské vládě při veřejném slyšení křesťana, který býval muslimem. Záležitost má velký ohlas na veřejnosti. Bývalý muslim Mohammed Ahmed Hegazy se žalobou na Egypt domáhá vyznačení nového vyznání – křesťanství - ve svém občanském průkazu. Islamističtí advokáti spojení s radikálním klerikem Youssefem al-Badry se dostavili k jednání v Káhiře 2. října, aby hájili žalovanou stranu, řekl Hegazy. Al-Badry ale byl jedním z kleriků, kteří v egyptských sdělovacích prostředcích žádali Hegazyho smrt. I když egyptské zákony nezakazují konverzi od islámu ke křesťanství, neposkytují žádnou zákonnou možnost tuto změnu uskutečnit. Konvertité ke křesťanství obvykle skrývají svou totožnost v obavách z mučení a nátlaku na odvolání víry ze strany rodiny a tajné policie. „Mé srdce je naplněno bolestí, že se má vlastní země a její společnost tak radikalizovaly, že ani nemám právo změnit svou víru.,“ řekl Hegazy. Zdroj: Compass Direct News
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	PROMINENT CHRISTIAN BOOKSTORE DIRECTOR KILLED IN GAZA STRIP Sources: Assist News Service, Compass News Direct, Open Doors, Religion Today The director of the only all-Christian bookstore in Israel’s Gaza Strip was found stabbed to death on Sunday, Oct. 7, in what appears to have been an act of Muslim aggression. Rami Khader Ayyad, 30, a prominent Gaza Christian, was kidnapped at about 4:30 p.m. Saturday following months of death threats from local Muslims. His body was found the next morning, bearing evidence that he had been tortured. His body had stab wounds and a visible gunshot wound to the head, said an official at Gaza’s Shifa Hospital. Ayyad, who ran the Teacher’s Bookshop and the Gaza Baptist Church, was accused by area Muslims of spreading the gospel. “We feel Rami was killed for his Christian faith,” said Simon Azazian, information officer of the Palestinian Bible Society which operates the bookstore. Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh condemned the killing and said the Islamist movement “would not allow anyone to sabotage” Muslim-Christian relations. Gaza’s 2,500 Christians, who live among 1.5 million Muslims, have increasingly become a target of Muslim aggression since Hamas gained control of Gaza last June. Last month an elderly Christian woman was attacked and her home robbed by a masked man who referred to her as an “infidel.” The bookstore and the Palestinian Bible Society’s headquarters have long been the targets of frequent attacks, including an incident last April when the building was firebombed during a wave of attacks by a shadowy Muslim “vice squad.” Ayyad is survived by two children and his pregnant wife, Pauline. LATIN AMERICA MISSION APPOINTS INTERIM PRESIDENT JACK VOELKEL Source: Assist News Service Veteran missionary Jack Voelkel has been appointed as the interim president of the Miami-based Latin America Mission (LAM). He began his tenure as leader of the 76-year-old evangelical ministry on Monday, Oct. 1. He replaces David Befus who had served as the president of LAM since 1999. Befus and his wife, Connie, have relocated to Colombia where they will are serving as LAM missionaries. Voelkel comes from a broad background in mission work. He joined LAM in 1965, serving in Costa Rica, Peru and Colombia. He taught missions at the Biblical Seminary of Colombia in Medellín from 1990 until 2000 before retiring from LAM in 2001. In retirement he has worked with InterVarsity Christian Fellowship, helping organize the organization’s triennial Urbana missions conference, last held in St. Louis, Mo., in December 2006. As LAM’s interim president, Voelkel will be working to continue various projects throughout Latin America and Spain and represent the mission before churches and mission agencies in North America. “The Lord has honored me greatly with this new appointment,” he said. “I will be preparing the mission as best I can for the coming of the next president.” TURKISH PROTESTANTS REPORT INCREASING ATTACKS, THREATS Source: Compass Direct News Turkish Protestants have reported increasing attacks and threats in recent months despite claims by President Abdullah Gul this week that Christians in Turkey are not targeted. The threats have increased since two Turkish Christian converts and a German Christian were tortured and killed at Zirve Publishing House in Malatya on April 18. Soner Tufan, director of Radio Shema, a Christian station in Ankara, said that since the Malatya murders, at least three times a month men have come to the station’s door and threatened workers. In Antalya, Antalya Bible Church pastor Ramazan Arkan said he is pursuing four court cases against a construction worker who began threatening church members in May, and one member of his flock was assaulted after a church service in August. In spite of the murder of Catholic priest Andrea Santoro in February 2006, the ritual slayings in Malatya and other incidents, Gul told a Council of Europe gathering in Strasbourg, France, this week, “There are no attacks targeting Christians in Turkey.” However, a recent report by the legal committee of the Turkish Alliance of Protestant Churches stated, “In the last year there have been scores of threats or attacks on congregations and church buildings.” Tufan added that “it’s not really possible for the government be completely unaware of this. There has been an increase of attacks since Malatya.” HINDU MOB ATTACKS PASTOR IN INDIA FOR ‘FORCEFUL CONVERSIONS’ Source: Assist News Service Pastor V. Paul, 30, was attacked and accused of conducting “forceful conversions” by Hindu radicals in Jhansi in northern India’s Uttar Pradesh state on Tuesday, Oct. 2, according to a website account by Global Council of Indian Christians (GCIC). Paul was conducting a special worship service with eight believers in a small hut in Nagara, when at approximately 5 p.m. about 10 activists from Bajrang Dal forcefully entered the hut and began shouting anti-Christian slogans. Then they dragged the pastor out and drove him to the nearest police station which was about 2.5 miles away. The pastor was “humiliated and abused all along the way to the police station,” stated the GCIC report. The perpetrators accused the itinerant preacher of making “forceful conversions,” and he was detained in the police station for about 48 hours. Eventually the matter was settled amicably by supporters of the pastor, and police released him from custody. For the last five years Paul has been ministering in an independent church called Masi Mandali (Jesus Abode) and in two house churches in Nagara, each with 30 to 40 believers. * Radio programs in 17 languages air to Asia and Southeast Asia from HCJB Global-Australia’s shortwave station in Kununurra. Most of the programs are produced at the ministry’s studios in New Delhi, India. © Copyright 2007 - HCJB Global - Colorado Springs, CO USA
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	UCB FINALIZES DEAL TO EXTEND REACH OF CHRISTIAN RADIO IN U.K. Source: Assist News Service United Christian Broadcasters (UCB) has secured DAB Digital radio capacity covering five major regions and potentially reaching another 17.6 million people across the U.K. with the gospel. UCB has extended its DAB Digital radio broadcasting reach across the country with the addition of five regions which, with its existing London and Stoke licenses, will mean that virtually all major cities in England and Wales will be able to hear Christian radio, most of them for the first time. UCB began broadcasting in the new regions on Oct. 1, taking UCB’s potential audience for its Christian radio output on the DAB Digital radio network to nearly 30 million adults, according to Ofcom, the independent regulator and competition authority for the U.K. communications industries. UCB is launching two radio stations in the five regions: UCB UK and UCB Inspirational. ANOTHER STATE IN INDIA INTRODUCES ‘ANTI-CONVERSION’ LAW Sources: Compass Direct News, BosNewsLife The Congress Party government in northern India’s Himachal Pradesh state has brought into force its “anti-conversion” law six months after the governor gave assent to the controversial bill regulating religious conversions. The move brings the number of states introducing anti-conversion laws in India to four, joining Madhya Pradesh, Orissa and Chhattisgarh, although in Chhattisgarh the governor is seeking the opinion of the attorney general of India before signing the legislation. Depending on the state, the penalty for violators could include fines of up to 100,000 rupees (US$2,300) and prison terms of up to three years. Lansinglu Rongmei of the Christian Legal Association said her organization may challenge the constitutional validity of the law in Himachal Pradesh which requires anyone wishing to convert to give at least 30 days’ notice and prohibits conversion by “force or by inducement or by any other fraudulent means.” Rongmei said the law “paves the way for extremists to indulge in reconversion programs with impunity.” The argument of “forced conversions” has been used to attack Christian church leaders and missionaries across India, according to the Global Council of Indian Christians, a major advocacy group. WATER RATIONING IN ZIMBABWE OPENS DOORS TO SHARE GOSPEL Source: Bible League Stringent water rationing in Bulawayo, one of Zimbabwe’s most populous cities, has Zimbabweans bracing for the outbreak of waterborne diseases after three of the city’s five dams dried up and have been decommissioned by government authorities. Many residents now suffer from diarrhea and dysentery. “Untold numbers of Zimbabweans are forced to use unclean water sources,” reported Mwaya Kitavi, Bible League’s associate director of Africa ministries. “This leads to the spread of many waterborne diseases, and people have resorted to producing furrows around their homes to use as toilets.” As water levels deteriorate, regular bathing is a luxury. Children leave for school without washing, and many in desperation dig shallow wells for water access, resulting in lower levels of hygiene. “But we must remain hopeful in the midst of this water crisis and continue offering living water to residents -- providing hope in what seems like a hopeless situation,” said Kitavi. “We need to keep providing God’s Word!” As a result, the doors are opening for Bible League ministry in Zimbabwe as people remain receptive to the gospel and see their lives transformed by God’s Word. In 2006 Bible League ministry partners reported more than 50,000 Bible study completions in Zimbabwe, and more than 150 new churches were established despite the economic hardships the country is facing. * HCJB Global Voice signed a partnership agreement with the Evangelical Fellowship of Zimbabwe in 2001. PLANE CRASHES IN DEM REP. OF CONGO COMPLICATE MINISTRY Sources: Mission Network News, CNN.com The government of the Democratic Republic of Congo has forbidden Russian-made commercial planes to carry passengers due to a rash of crashes. After another deadly crash on Thursday, Oct. 4, Congo fired its transport minister. There have been at least 24 plane crashes in the country in the last year, nearly half of them involving Russian-made Antonovs, according to the Aviation Safety Network. “The government put a ban on these planes which really are the lifeline into the interior,” said Sam Vinton of Grace Ministries International (GMI). Local airlines need passengers to make their flights profitable so all flights in the area have been stopped while the government and airlines work through this problem. Compounding the situation, Mission Aviation Fellowship (MAF) has been forced to evacuate its base in eastern Congo. “That is creating some real problems as to how we transport medicines and supplies into the interior, also the matter of the transportation of missionaries,” Vinton added. GMI has urgently needed medicine and other supplies stuck in Bukavu, waiting for the planes to start flying again. Meanwhile, GMI is looking into renting a plane from another company. * HCJB Global Voice works with local partners in the Democratic Republic of Congo to broadcast the gospel on Christian stations in Boma, Bukavu and Kinshasa. Programs go out in English, French, Kikongo Fioti, Lingala, Luba and Swahili. Weekly programs in the Songe and Kikongo San Salvador languages also air from local FM stations in the country. FEBC PROGRAM PROMPTS RUSSIAN BELIEVERS TO ACCEPT FOSTER KIDS Source: Mission Network News Far East Broadcasting Co. (FEBC) has created a program that encourages believers to accept orphan children into their own families. In Russia there are more than 1 million orphans -- children abandoned because their parents are consumed by drug addictions and alcoholism. As Russia tries to solve the orphan problem, its population is declining. “Many just don’t bother to build a family at all,” said FEBC’s Victor Akhterov. “They are trying to imitate Europe by not having children, so it’s a huge problem.” FEBC is trying to change the perceptions of foster families so orphans can have a more normal life outside of an institution. However, Akhterov said the challenge is that “foster parents are not really honored in Russian society. If you talk to good people, normal people, you know, a person on the street, and if you ask them about being a foster parent they would say, ‘Why would you do that if you can have your own children?’ And that’s the perception that we’re trying to change in Russia.” FEBC’s programs are designed to create dialogue about foster parenting. “We have a special weekly program now, and we are going to be expanding that program and creating a huge campaign talking about what foster parents do, what challenges they have, what rewards there are, and why this is a good thing to do,” said Akhterov. © Copyright 2007 - HCJB Global - Colorado Springs, CO USA
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	NEARLY 100,000 JOIN IN DAY OF PRAYER FOR THE PEACE OF JERUSALEM Sources: Evangelical News, Charisma News On Sunday, Oct. 7, an estimated 100,000 believers joined together in 100 nations for the fifth annual “Day of Prayer for the Peace of Jerusalem.” Sponsored by a ministry called Eagles Wings, the event brought believers together during the Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur for prayer services, teleconferences and personal intercession. The concerted prayer effort began at noon Sunday (EST) and continued for 24 hours. “We were excited to have such a diverse group join in on the call this year,” said Dana Simons of Greater Calling, a telephone ministry that hosted a special prayer conference call. A total of 700 believers from 14 nations such as Japan, Australia, China, Canada, Switzerland, Germany, Mexico and Uruguay took part in the conference call. The Eagles Wings website encourages believers to pray for Jerusalem year round, and the ministry plans to keep hosting a prayer day for Jerusalem every year until Christ returns. MUSLIM STUDENTS ATTACK CHRISTIANS, TORCH CHURCHES IN NIGERIA Source: Compass Direct News A Muslim rampage in the town of Tudun Wada Dankadai in northern Nigeria’s Kano state resulted in the deaths of 10 Christians and the destruction of nine churches, eyewitnesses said. Another 61 people were injured and some 500 displaced in the disturbance on Friday, Sept. 28, touched off when Muslim students at the high school, called Government College-Tudun Wada Dankadai, accused a Christian student of drawing a cartoon of the Islamic prophet Mohammed on the wall of the school’s mosque. The 14 Christian students in the school took refuge in the principal’s office until the Muslim students started throwing stones at them. Muslim students then poured into the streets of the town, joined in the mayhem. Rabiu Danbawa, pastor of a local Evangelical Church of West Africa (ECWA) congregation, said he stood about 1,500 feet from his church and parish home as it burned. “There was nothing I could do,” he said. “I did not know the fate of my wife and my children.” Danbawa said he went to the police station, only to find the police dispersing the many Christians who had run there to escape the attack. Afiniki Andy Luka, a Christian widow, added, “There is not a single church standing in this town as they have all been burned.” * HCJB Global Voice, together with SIM and the Evangelical Church of West Africa, began airing weekly half-hour programs to Nigeria in the Igbo language in 2000. HCJB Global Voice also has helped partners start local radio ministries in five Nigerian cities: Aba, Osun, Jos, Kaduna and Umuahia. NIGERIAN CHRISTIAN LOSES CUSTODY OF DAUGHTERS IN ISLAMIC COURT Source: Compass Direct News An Islamic court in Maiduguri, Nigeria, granted custody of the three daughters of Allabe Kaku Chibok to his deceased ex-wife’s relatives because he became a Christian. Paradoxically, he lost custody of them only after his ex-wife died. The chain of events began in November 2004 when he allowed his daughters to attend the funeral service of their mother who had divorced him when he left Islam. The girls stayed for a week with Muslim relatives at his former wife’s house, but when Chibok arrived there to take them to school, he found that a retired female police officer, Hajiya Maryam Aliyu, had helped his ex-wife’s Muslim relatives abduct them. On Aug. 4, 2006, the Borno Upper Sharia Court ruled that under Islamic law a non-Muslim father cannot be a custodian to his children if the mother of his children is Muslim -- or, in this case, if the deceased mother’s relatives are Muslim. COMPASSION GETS 4-STAR RATING FOR 6TH CONSECUTIVE YEAR Source: Assist News Service Compassion International, a Christian child development ministry, has received Charity Navigator’s four-star rating for sound financial management for the sixth consecutive year. “Compassion takes stewardship as a sacred trust with our sponsors and donors and that’s why it’s so important to us that we walk the talk in this critical area,” said David Dahlin, Compassion’s senior vice president and chief operating officer, in a news release. Chief Financial Officer Ed Anderson added, “Our audits on financial accountability have been rigorous. While we meet the legal requirements all U.S. charities must comply with, we have developed audit procedures and teams to provide fiscal scrutiny in the U.S. and in all 24 countries where Compassion’s ministries are implemented by local churches. Americans expect their charitable dollars to be wisely spent and fully accounted for.” In addition, Compassion has been recognized for financial integrity by publications and financial accountability groups, including the American Institute of Philanthropy. Compassion is also a founding member of the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability. UPDATE: EGYPTIAN ISLAMISTS JOIN CASE AGAINST EX-MUSLIM Source: Compass Direct News Conservative Islamic lawyers came out in support of the Egyptian government last week at the opening court hearing of a Muslim convert to Christianity. In a move that has caused a national uproar, former Muslim Mohammed Ahmed Hegazy is suing Egypt to change the religion listed on his identification papers to Christianity. Islamist lawyers associated with radical cleric Youssef al-Badry attended the hearing in Cairo on Tuesday, Oct. 2, and legally joined the case on the government’s side, Hegazy said. Al-Badry was one of several clerics who called for Hegazy’s death in Egypt’s national media. Though Egyptian law does not forbid conversion from Islam to Christianity, it provides no legal means to make the change. Converts to Christianity usually hide their identity to avoid torture and forced recantation at the hands of family members and security police. “I’m full of heartache that in my own country, society has been radicalized to such an extent that I can’t have the right to convert,” Hegazy said. © Copyright 2007 - HCJB Global - Colorado Springs, CO USA

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