Pastors Draw Close to God as Tribal Churches Are Attacked in India
When Hindu extremists in India told pastor Karma Oraon they would not stop beating him until he worshipped the monkey god, he felt Christ close to him, he said.
When Hindu extremists in India told pastor Karma Oraon they would not stop beating him until he worshipped the monkey god, he felt Christ close to him, he said.
The deaths of nearly 150 Christians have been reported in targeted attacks on religious minorities in Nigeria, Cairo and India during the 2017 Christmas season, according to various reports from religious liberty advocates and news agencies.
International Christian Concern (ICC) has learned that at least 23 religiously-motivated attacks took place during the 2017 Christmas season, including attacks on carolers and open threats against Christian celebrations. The attacks have led to several Christians’ hospitalization and imprisonment. The persecution created such fear among the Christian community that many Christians did not celebrate Christmas this year.
A group which monitors Christian persecution around the world has released a new report listing countries where attacks and restrictions on Christians are likely to increase. These include China, India and Nigeria.
Christians and others in India celebrated Christmas despite fears of an anti-Christian backlash in some parts of the predominantly Hindu country.
Seven Christians in India have been booked on charges of hurting religious feelings after Hindu extremists savagely beat them when they gathered to pray for a sick man at his home, sources said.
The Senate confirmed President Trump’s 19th federal judge Thursday, approving James Ho for a seat on the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals and further bolstering the judicial army that conservatives wanted to build.
Foreign ministers from India, Russia and China notably refrained from recognizing East Jerusalem as the capital of Palestine at their annual meeting in New Delhi this week – seven days after the US recognized the holy city as the capital of Israel.
Berating and slapping two pastors into signing an apology letter before police, Hindu extremists stopped a planned three-day gospel meeting in Chhattisgarh state, India minutes before it was to begin, sources said.
Saudi Arabia’s powerful crown prince vowed to ‘pursue terrorists until they are wiped from the face of the earth’ as officials from 40 Muslim countries gathered Sunday in the first meeting of an Islamic counter-terrorism alliance.
The largest seen aerial exercise in Israel began on Thursday and is to continue for the next two weeks. 1,000 highly-trained fighter pilots from eight different countries opened the “Blue Flag” exercise, which includes roughly 100 of fighter jets, helicopters and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). It is the most immense military drill to take place so far this year.
Weeks after a pastor led five families to faith in Christ in southern India, masked men on motorbikes intercepted him on his way home from worship and tried to kill him, sources said.
Officials and police in Tamil Nadu state, India, have ordered 10 churches to discontinue worship services, sources said.
US Navy F/A-18 fighter jets were dispatched from the aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan and escorted two Russian TU-95 bombers that were approaching the ship on Sunday, according to two US defense officials.
Facebook shut down two Christian ministry pages this month, without warning or explanation, renewing fears about the social media giant’s ability to control access to an important corner of today’s public square.
A Christian teenager in northern India was jailed for 12 days after anti-Hindu comments appeared on a fake Facebook account in his name, sources said.
On September 17, 2017, suspected Hindu radicals attacked an Assembly of God church in India’s Karnataka state. After the attack, church attendance has plummeted as Christians in the area fear another attack. It is not surprising that attacks are increasing in Karnataka as state elections are scheduled to occur early next year. Hindu hardline groups want to silence Christians and ensure that they are unable to practice their faith.
North Korea illegally exported coal, iron and other commodities worth at least $270 million to China and other countries including India, Malaysia and Sri Lanka in the six-month period ending in early August in violation of U.N. sanctions, U.N. experts say.
A band of Hindu extremists who had snuck into a house-church service beat a pastor with steel rods and sticks, one of them yelling that they would stop if he shouted, ‘Hail, Lord Ram [Jai Sri Ram]!’
More than 1,200 people have been killed and hundreds of thousands of homes destroyed in monsoon floods sweeping across South Asia.