Religion Today Summaries -- July 27, 2004

GFA Missionaries Forcibly Abducted
Gospel For Asia

On Sunday, GFA native missionaries Lokesh, Yesuraj, Kumar, Anil and Ramesh were abducted and wrongfully accused of robbery. The Lord had blessed their evangelistic outreach in an area of Karnataka, India, but their ministry did not go unnoticed by anti-Christian elements in the community. Twice these native evangelists had received threats, but they nonetheless continued sharing their faith with needy people. As their ministry grew, their opposers watched them, looking for an opportunity to hinder their work. Meanwhile a robbery took place in the community. Yesterday a group of anti-Christians forcibly abducted the five missionaries, accusing them of committing the robbery. Increasingly, false accusations -- one of Satan’s devices -- are being used to harass our missionaries in India and Nepal. By God's provision, one of the brothers -- Ramesh -- managed to escape and relate the urgent news to GFA staff. The other four missionaries suffered beatings, and their Gospel literature was torn up. "Kindly pray for these brothers," a GFA leader asks, "that no harm will be done to them and that the authorities will come to know the truth." (http://www.gfa.org/gfa/latestnews)

Bible Ministry Makes Scriptures in Arabic Available Online
Allie Martin, AgapePress

The Internet is proving to be a valuable tool for people in Muslim nations to download and read God's word. The International Bible Society (IBS) has placed recorded portions of scripture in Arabic on its Web site. IBS officials say people in Muslim countries are downloading the word of God at record rates. Dwight Anderson is a spokesman for IBS. "If people hear the word in their own language and their own dialect, I think it has more impact," he says. And, he adds, it gives Muslim believers a fine tool for sharing the gospel with others, since a person who is "very technically literate" can take a CD with an MP3 file on it, and "play it to a number of other friends or associates that don't have the technical capability or the literacy to do that." The IBS spokesman, who made his comments on Mission Network News, says there are more than 20 hours of Arabic resources online. He noted that the accessibility of these scriptures via the Internet is having a major impact on Arab-speaking communities. "We make these resources available so they can be downloaded and copied onto a computer, and then people can print them off or listen to them without having to go back online," Anderson says. "It's our hope and prayer that people would know where these resources are and that they would be able to use them and make them available to people they run into."

Indonesian Pastor Gunned Down
Eric Tiansay, Charisma News

A pastor who finished her sermon after a Sunday evening service earlier this month was shot to death. Susianty Tinulele, 26, was killed by unidentified gunmen at the Central Sulawesi Christian Church (CSCC) in Efatah on July 18, Compass Direct reported. A man wearing a black mask appeared at the door and sprayed the congregation with machine gun fire. Choir member Desrianti Tengkede, 17, was also killed, while four other worshipers received non-fatal bullet wounds. Eyewitnesses said three other men waited on motorbikes outside the church and all fled the scene with the gunman immediately after the shooting. Local Christians believe the murders and the stabbing death two days earlier of Helmy Tombiling, a Christian, were committed in retaliation for the murder of a 25-year-old Muslim motorcyclist on July 16. Since March, seven Christians have been injured and three killed in shooting or stabbing attacks in Sulawesi. According to the Australian organization Cry Indonesia, Tinulele was an active supporter of Rev. Rinaldy Damanik, another CSCC minister who is currently imprisoned on what many believe are bogus charges. Damanik is a key signatory of the Malino Peace Accord, signed by Christian and Muslim representatives in December 2001 as an effort to end sectarian violence that began in Sulawesi in 1998. Tinulele had visited Damanik in prison on July 16, two days before she was shot. (www.charismanow.com)

Police and Pastors Team Up in California
Mary Rettig, Agape Press

Lately when residents of Pasadena, California, see police cars drive by, they are not only seeing police officers. Pasadena pastors are riding on patrol with the police so the clergy can see what the law enforcers encounter on the street. The program was started after the fatal shooting of Maurice Clark by a police officer last April. The police say many members of the community do not believe Clark shot at the pursuing officer before he was killed, and they asked the clergy to act as liaisons between them and the community. When they ride along, the pastors have the choice of either riding with a regular patrol officer or with the gang unit, which has been accused of using excessive force. One cleric who rode with an officer earlier this month says he sees police in a new light and appreciates their risking their lives every night.