Wednesday, September 17, 2008

An Urgent PRAYER Request 4 ORISSA

We just received this SMS.

Pls pray for Paul Thangaia in Bangalore. RSS planned to kill him. They burnt 20 churches yesterday night and planned to destroy 200 churches in ORISSA. BJP has planned to kill 200 pastors in the next 24 hrs.

Pls pray for at least 2 mins for our brothers and sisters and the dear pastors and church workers in ORISSA now.

Thanks to a reader who has given us this info.

Please click here to find out more: http://www.gfa.org/orissa-update

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Some more infor for you:
http://www.gfa.org/orissa-update

Anonymous said...

Got this email:

From missionaries in India -
Dear Families:

We just received this email from one of our Faith Promise Missionaries, Lata Lincoln. She and her husband Abraham minister to children, families and widows in India . Please give this email a careful read and pray for the Lincoln's and all believers in India as the Lord leads.
God bless you as you pray,
Sylvia Peterson

Children's Ministries Director
Belmont Church

URGENT PRAYER REQUEST!

We have never seen anything like this.

We knew that Orissa was the most resistant and hostile State in India as far as the Gospel is concerned. And we brushed off the continuous threats and
harassment we faced as we went about His work.

But none of our staff imagined that they would see this kind of carnage....And it seems to be totally under the radar of the Western Media .... Let me explain....

A militant Hindu priest and 4 of his attendants, who were zealously going around the villages of Orissa and "reconverting" people back to Hinduism, were gunned down by unknown assailants in Central Orissa last weekend.

Immediately the Christians were blamed. The cry rose up..."Kill the Christians!" And the horror began....

In the past 4 days, we have first hand witness to hundreds of churches being blown up or burned and many, many dozens of Christian tribals have been
slaughtered. For no other reason than that they bear the Name of Christ.

Night and day I have been in touch with our Good News India Directors spread across 14 Dream Centers in Orissa... they are right in the middle of all
this chaos. In Tihidi, just after the police came to offer protection, a group of 70 blood-thirsty militants came to kill our staff and destroy the home..
They were not allowed to get in, but they did a lot of damage to our Dream Center by throwing rocks and bricks and smashing our gate, etc. They have promised to come back and "finish the job." Our kids and staff are locked inside and have stayed that way with doors and windows shut for the past 3 days.
It has been a time of desperately calling on the Lord in prayer. More police have come to offer protection.

In Kalahandi, the police and some local sympathizers got to our dream center and gave our staff and kids about 3 minutes notice to vacate. No one had time to even grab a change of clothes or any personal belonging. As they fled, the blood thirsty mob came to kill everyone in the building. We would have had a mass funeral there, but for His grace.

In Phulbani, the mob came looking for Christian homes and missions. The local Hindu people, our neighbors turned them away by saying that there were no Christians in this area. So they left. We had favor. The same thing happened in Balasore.

All our dream centers are under lock down with the kids and staff huddled inside and police outside. The fanatics are circling outside waiting for a chance to kill.

Others were not so fortunate. In a nearby Catholic orphanage, the mob allowed the kids to leave and locked up a Priest and a computer teacher in a house and burned them to death. Many believers have been killed and hacked into pieces and left on the road.... even women and children.

At another orphanage run by another organization, when this began, the Director and his wife jumped on their motorbike and simply fled, leaving all the children and staff behind. Every one of our GNI directors that I
have spoken to said: "We stay with our kids.... we live together or die together, but we will never abandon what God has called us to do."

More than 5000 Christian families have had their homes burned or destroyed. They have fled into the jungles and are living in great fear waiting for the authorities to bring about peace. But so far, no peace is foreseen. This will continue for another 10 days.... supposedly the 14 day mourning period for the slain Hindu priest. Many more Christians will die and their houses
destroyed. Many more churches will be smashed down.

The Federal government is trying to restore order and perhaps things will calm down. We ask for your prayers. Only the Hand of God can calm this
storm. None of us know the meaning of persecution. But now our kids and staff know what that means. So many of our kids coming from Hindu backgrounds are confused and totally bewildered at what is happening
around them. So many of their guardians have fled into the jungles and are unable to come and get them during these trying times.

Through all this, I am more determined than ever to continue with our goal: the transformation of a community by transforming its children. Orissa
will be saved... that is our heart's cry. If we can take these thousands of throw away children and help them to become disciples of Jesus, they will transform an entire region. It is a long term goal, but it is strategic thinking in terms of the Great Commission.

What can you do?
First, please uphold all this in fervent prayer.
Second, pass this e-mail on to as many friends as you can. We must get the word out and increase our prayer base for this is spiritual warfare at its most basic meaning. We are literally fighting pricipalities in order to touch some lives and bring back hope and joy .

The next 10 days are crucial.. We pray for peace and calm to pervade across Orissa..

Thank you for taking the time to read this. Please pass it on and help us to get as many people to partner with us on this cutting edge effort to fulfill His mandate to heal the broken hearted and to restore hope where there is none........

lata and abraham
for perishing souls
our new web page
http://www.fwsindia.org/