Charisma News

Years ago one ministry was working hard to help pick up the pieces of the Soviet Union by delivering aid to the many who were receiving only 10 percent of the income they had received in the past. As the ministry struggled to meet the numerous needs of those around them, their leader had a thought: Why can’t we mobilize people to come and bring humanitarian aid with them?

Eventually this ministry became the Global Aid Network (GAiN). And out of that one thought came GAiN’s Advocates program.

“[GAiN advocates] come on as official representatives of GAiN wherever they happen to live,” says Tom Miller, who works in Volunteer Opportunities at GAiN. “That saves the ministry massive amounts of money and provides the opportunity for many people to be involved in international ministry right where they are.”

Many Christians living in the southern belt of Pakistan’s Punjab Province who lost their houses in last year’s floods remain homeless despite a plan by the Punjab government to allocate land to residents in the area, area Christians said.

Hameed Masih, a resident of Kot Addu in Muzaffargarh district, said the provincial government has not set a quota for granting of land to members of minority communities left homeless by the devastating floods that began in late July 2010.

 The government has begun four plans in Kot Addu under which around 435 plots of five marlas (151 square yards) each were to be distributed among people who lost their property. Several people were allotted land last month, but so far no minority member has been given land, he said.

A new study suggests that government-controlled religion restrictions or social hostilities involving religion are getting worse in nearly one third of the world.

Of the world’s total population of 6.9 billion, more than 2.2 billion people—32 percent—live in countries where either government restrictions on religion or social hostilities involving religion rose substantially between mid-2006 and mid-2009, according to a new study on global restrictions on religion released Tuesday by the Pew Research Center’s Forum on Religion & Public Life. Government restrictions or social hostilities declined in only about 1 percent of the world’s population.

Islam has been in the spotlight via the news a great deal this year and in recent years. Especially during Ramadan, Muslims are on the hearts of believers. Many have joined in prayer efforts for the Muslim world this month, from Aug. 1 to Aug. 30.

But is it enough? Is the Muslim world a bigger mission field than we thought?

As Operation Mobilization celebrates 50 years of ministry in the Muslim world, Julyan Lidstone, the leader of OM’s ministry in Western and Central Asia, believes reaching this growing population is more vital now than ever.

Recently we told you about a grassroots effort to dedicate Haiti to Christ. According to those who participated, God moved.

Pastor Robert Ulysse, a minister in the northwest region of Haiti, says they prayed each day at a different crossroad in the region.

According to Ulysse, “After we closed the seventh crossroad event on Saturday, a Voodoo priest named Solivert Josep, came forward with his wife. They both declared that they wanted to renounce their Voodoo practices in favor of the ‘Living God.’ We filled three pickup trucks with Christians and drove to the Joseph’s home to remove and burn their Voodoo articles.”

People in one South Asian village accused Dhevan Das of forcefully converting people to Christianity—a serious allegation, which landed him in jail. But he didn’t sit in his cell grieving about the situation. Instead, he saw it as an opportunity to share God’s love with his fellow inmates.

The Charges against Him
The accusations came after a believer in his church expressed interest in attending a Bible college. Pastor Dhevan was helping her enroll in the college when villagers began accusing him of forcing her to become a Christian.

He was arrested July 28 and formally charged with forced conversion. Initially, the police were going to release him on bail until a group of 30–40 people gathered in front of the police station shouting, “Do not release him! He is destroying our religion.” They also filed a complaint against Dhevan.

Four months after a recent convert to Christianity from Islam in eastern India’s West Bengal state was stripped and beaten, about 50 Muslim extremists yesterday disrupted a prayer meeting held in her home, threatening to burn it down if she did not return to Islam, area Christians said.

The extremists warned Selina Bibi of Motijil village in Murshidabad district that if she did not return to Islam, then she must either leave the area or see her house burned down. At her baptism at Believers Church four kilometers from her home on March 29, a large crowd of Muslim extremists disrupted the service, said a pastor identified only as Bashir.

“I pleaded with them to let me at least finish the worship service before they attack us,” he told Compass.

In a rare move in Pakistan, a lower court in Punjab Province on Tuesday released on bail a young Christian man accused of blaspheming Islam.

The Magisterial Court of Chichawatni, Sahiwal district, granted bail to Babar Masih, who suffers from a psychiatric disorder that causes him to shout in fits of rage for as long as an hour without knowing what he is doing or saying. In the face of Islamic extremist threats, generally lower courts in Pakistan do not dare grant bail or acquit a Christian accused of blasphemy, leaving such decisions for higher court judges who enjoy greater security measures.

The complainant in the case, Zeeshan Arshad, states in the First Information Report (FIR) that Masih was “addressing the stars and calling names of Muslim sages and holy personages” when he made the alleged remarks blaspheming Islam. The FIR itself states that Masih never intended to hurt Arshad’s religious feelings, and that no sane person would draw the ire of area residents by talking in this way.