Charisma Staff

It may take months—even years—for the impact of Festival de Esperanza to fully develop in the Los Angeles area.

But almost 10 days after the first Spanish-speaking event in the United States was held by the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, ripples are still being felt after hundreds of decisions were made in each of three different services.

“It was quite an experience that a lot of people are still talking about,” Festival Director Galo Vasquez said from Los Angeles this morning. “People are very humbled with that experience.

“The leaders have made the comment that they are sensing something unique has happened here.”

Unique to say the least.

Hindu extremists in Pratapgarh, Rajasthan have threatened to kill a pastor after beating his family and violating an agreement to stop attacking them, the pastor said.

Pastor Shantilal Ninama of Believers Church told Compass that the Hindu extremists beat his 65-year-old father until he fell unconscious in one of the attacks last month.

On the evening of June 8, after agreeing to do no further harm to Pastor Ninama and his family in exchange for him dropping police charges he’d filed over a previous attack, the enraged Hindu extremists stormed into his home and began beating and stoning his father, sister, wife and three children, he said. As he sought police help, his father fell unconscious and his wife and two of his children ran out into the darkness. Another daughter hid beneath a bed, and his sister escaped and hid in a valley.

Two Gospel for Asia-supported missionaries in India were arrested over the weekend. One was released later that same day, but the other remains behind bars.

Pastor Accused of Being Member of Rebel Group
Rahul Akkunj was arrested on Saturday and is charged with being a member of a well-known rebel group. Rahul is not part of the group. Rather, he is the pastor of a church in the village where he was arrested.

The allegations came after a fasting and prayer meeting Rahul led at his church. Several villagers who heard about the event were distressed, saying that if Rahul’s church continues to grow at the rate it has been, their traditional religion will be wiped out.

As current threats develop in Israel, citizens of the Jewish State can expect support from Italian leaders.

Political leaders from the Italian Senate, along with representatives from civil society and faith communities, gathered in the Italian Senate building on Thursday to express their support for Israel in the midst of a new Gaza flotilla, a unilateral declaration of a Palestinian state in September and other forms of delegitimization of the Jewish State.

“Our Western democracies will not prevail unless we re-embrace our Judeo-Christian heritage,” said Marcello Pera, former president of the Italian Senate, as he expressed the Italian sentiment well. “Our support for Israel should not be based on guilt, but rather on pride in our common roots and values.

“This is a holy land—you have no business being here.” “You’re a bad man.” “You are dirty.” “You are a demon.”

I wish I could say that when I heard these words, my first response was to love the six men who were walking, just feet behind me, spitting the insults. But indignation and anger were welling up inside, and the biblical injunctions to pray for and bless those who persecute you offered only momentary comfort.

The men following a friend and me in the Jerusalem suburb of Mevasseret Zion were supporters of Yad L’Achim, a far right-wing group of ultra-Orthodox Jews who oppose Christians in Israel. The group is known for the aggressive and often questionable tactics they use against people who follow Christ, whom they derisively call “missionaries.” The six men had all attended a protest outside the home of a Jewish couple the group had so identified.

A hard-line Jewish ultra-Orthodox group in Israel is taking aim at a couple it claims is manipulating minors into becoming Christians. The group, Yad L’Achim, singles out Jewish Christians, known as Messianic Jews, for harassment and abuse.

Yad L’Achim this week placed leaflets around the home of Serge and Naama Kogen, 37 and 42 respectively, in Mevasseret Zion, a suburban community located just west of Jerusalem.

Someone took out a full-page ad in a local newspaper the same week, giving the couple’s address and telling residents they were part of a missionary group “targeting” the community. The Kogens are native Israelis and hence not part of any missionary group.

Leaders of the troubled Shouwang house church in Beijing have established a legal committee to assist church members facing arrest … Read More

In a disturbing new development in the 12-week long Shouwang Church clash with Chinese authorities, a church member who is employed by U.S.-based Christian humanitarian group World Vision is facing dismissal for her participation in Shouwang’s outdoor worship attempts, ChinaAid reports.

In the 12 weeks since Shouwang Church lost its meeting site and decided to hold its Sunday worship services outdoors, Chinese authorities have tried many different ways to try to get the church members to desist. These have included police detention, house arrest, eviction, loss of jobs, and being escorted out of Beijing and returned to one’s hometown.

The World Vision action was just one of at least four new cases in the past week of persecution against a Shouwang Church member.

Police handed over detained Shouwang Church member Chuan Liang to the Shandong Provincial Government, which has escorted him from Beijing to his hometown in coastal Shandong province.

Chinese authorities detained a member of one of Beijing’s largest unregistered churches on Monday and sent him to his hometown … Read More