INDIA - Persecution of Christians Alarming

Have you noticed that we've been focusing a lot on India this week?  It seems like the Lord is trying to get our attention about this country.  Even this morning when I was at my weekly prayer meeting with the leaders of my church one of the women who was there began talking about India and how hard it is for Christians there, and that's not really surprising when the population is overwhelmingly Hindu.  This is a great opportunity to pray for India and to ask the Lord to bring in more of a harvest for Him.

The following is from VOM Media sources:

Christians in India risk torture, beatings and death for believing in Jesus Christ.

During December 2006, The Voice of the Martyrs received information on more than five incidents where Christians faced persecution by Hindu extremists. During the Christmas season, a church was burnt, services were disrupted in several Indian states and a pastor and missionaries were beaten and arrested for singing Christmas carols. Christians were tortured and beaten for refusing to return to Hinduism. On other occasions, believers were accused of forced conversions, warned to stop attending church and sent death threats because they converted to Christianity.

Recently, Arun Pannalal, general secretary of the Chhattisgarh Christian Forum, told Compass News Direct that Hindu extremists had carried out several attacks during the week before Christmas.

“The public attacks are just another step in their campaign to rid the state of Christians,” Pannalal said.

VOM is helping Christians in India. We are supporting evangelists working to plant churches in hostile areas of India, and we are also providing several safe houses for Christians forced to flee their villages because of threats and attacks. Pray God will protect believers in India as they face numerous dangers because of their faith.