Zprávy HCJB 2.5.2008

 Bývalý severokorejský agent popisuje infiltraci místní církve
   Bývalý důstojník severokorejské policie a státní bezpečnosti sdělil úředníkovi americké vlády, že jejich nadřízení jim nařizovali hrát si na křesťany a pronikat do „podzemních“ shromáždění, aby usvědčovali, zatýkali, věznili a někdy i popravovali věřící v Severní Koreji. Při rozhovoru, jehož obsah byl publikován ve zprávě v úterý 15. dubna Americkou Komisí pro mezinárodní náboženskou svobodu uvedlo šest důstojníků, že – předtím, než uprchli ze Severní Koreje – dostali za úkol odhalovat a eliminovat malé skupiny křesťanů. „Když je v Severní Koreji zadržen nábožensky smýšlející člověk, není žádný předběžný výslech,“ řekl jeden z agentů. „Jsou to protirevoluční elementy. Když je takový delikvent v Severní Koreji chycen, agenti Národního bezpečnostního úřadu (NSA) ho především ještě před výslechem důkladně zbijí.“ Jiný agent řekl: „Nejdůležitější otázkou, která je kladena navrátilcům do vlasti je, zda se setkali s jihokorejskými misionáři nebo evangelisty, nebo jsou-li členy nějaké církve. Když přisvědčí, že se s misionářem někdy setkali … pak bez dalšího dotazování putují k NSA a jsou již vlastně mrtví.“ Zdroj: Compass Direct News
 
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   FEBC PARTNER STATION IN MONGOLIA MAKES SPIRITUAL INROADS

Source: Mission Network News
In Mongolia, a country of 2.6 million steeped in atheism, Buddhism and shamanism, Far East Broadcasting Co. (FEBC) has been working with local partner station Wind FM since 2000 to broadcast Christian radio programs. Today there are more than 40,000 Christians and 400 churches in the country. But Wind FM Director Bat Tuvshintsengel said this creates an obvious challenge. “The church has been wide in evangelism, but in terms of discipleship we’re lacking a lot of capacity like leadership,” he explained. “That’s why the churches have a goal to make 10 percent of our population disciples of Jesus Christ by the year 2020.” Wind FM has plans to be on the air in all 21 provinces in Mongolia. But the vision doesn’t end there. “We have 6 million Mongolians living in China who have no chance of exposure to the gospel,” Tuvshintsengel said. “So we want to reach out to these people via shortwave. Today shortwave is still very, very prominent.”

VIOLENCE AGAINST CHRISTIANS CONTINUES IN ORISSA, INDIA

Source: Christian Newswire
What started as an intense spurt of violence around Christmastime has stretched into a streak of atrocities against Christians in eastern India’s Orissa state. A Gospel for Asia (GFA) field correspondent reported that more than 1,000 homes were burned with more than 12 people killed in the state in the three weeks following Christmas. Reports of persecution continue to pour in. The latest attack came on Monday, April 14, when seven women from a GFA Bible college were forcibly confined to a room for nearly four hours. Nine days earlier, two GFA Bible college students were attacked by anti-Christian extremists. The students, Dileshi Sahu and Reban Tamag, were handing out tracts and Bibles when the extremists accused them of forcing people to convert to Christianity. The attackers stripped the men and beat them severely. Despite the increasing pressure on believers with missionaries knowing they could face beatings or death any day, GFA President K.P. Yohannan called this a “time when more people are coming to know the Lord than ever before.” The areas where these missionaries work are some of the least reached in India.

* 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.

FORMER NORTH KOREAN AGENTS TELL OF INFILTRATING CHRISTIANS

Source: Compass Direct News
Former police and security officers in North Korea told a U.S. government body that their superiors had instructed them to play the role of Christians and infiltrate “underground” prayer meetings in order to incriminate, arrest, imprison and sometimes execute believers in North Korea. Interviewed for a report issued on Tuesday, April 15, by the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, the six officers were tasked -- before they fled North Korea -- with finding and eliminating small groups of Christians. “There are no preliminary hearings when religious people get caught,” one agent said. “[We] regard them as anti-revolutionary elements. When such an offender is caught in North Korea, agents with the National Security Agency (NSA) surround the person and kick and beat the person severely before interrogating.” Another agent said, “The most important question asked to the repatriated is whether they have met South Korean missionaries or evangelists or encountered or experienced religion. If they confess that they have met missionaries or deacons . . . then without any further questions, they will be sent to the NSA and they are as good as dead.”

FRANCE UNABLE TO SAVE THOUSANDS OF CRUMBLING CHURCHES

Source: Religion Today
The dilemma of what to do with tens of thousands of churches that have fallen out of favor -- and into disrepair -- is facing towns and villages across France and other European countries, reported the Associated Press. Some have converted old churches into housing while other churches deemed too expensive to maintain were torn down. In France, less than 5 percent of the nation’s 62 million people attend mass every week, down from 27 percent a half-century ago. One village, at a cost of $2.13 million -- less than half the cost of a restoration -- is building a new church built around the bell tower of the existing structure. Even in communities where there is still a churchgoing presence, the old cathedrals are too large and lack intimacy. “It’s five times too big for the congregation that usually comes. People prefer a more modern church, that’s more cheerful and warm, instead of a huge one where they get lost in all the space,” said one mayor. Famous cathedrals that are viewed as jewels of religious architecture are not in danger as they have funding from the national government.

STUDY CONFIRMS LINK BETWEEN CHRONIC STRESS, HEALTH PROBLEMS

Source: Christian Newswire
Almost 50 percent of Americans believe their stress has increased significantly in the past five years, reports the American Psychological Association (APA) in a recent study. And while 79 percent of respondents listed stress as a natural part of life, the medical world continues to confirm the link between chronic stress and health complications. “The No. 1 major factor in aging today is stress,” said Dr. Mehmet Oz, vice chairman of surgery at New York Presbyterian/Columbia University. Oz confirmed the APA’s findings by emphasizing the increase in stress he’s witnessed in patients in the last five years. Author, life coach and counselor Susanne Sweeny sees a clear path to reverse the debilitating cycle of chronic stress, unrelenting time pressures, and a lack of purpose to instill personal strength and power. In her new book, Transform Stress into Strength, she recommends a four-strep process to overcoming chronic stress: defining the root causes of your stress, creating a value-based life plan, eliminating mental roadblocks to progress, and reallocating time to the truly important.

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