PRAYER FOR THE PERSECUTED CHURCH & WORLD AWARENESS April, 2015, Vol. 1 Items and issues to watch carefully in prayer and to ponder as to their implications in relation to the fellowship and increase in Christ. The purpose of Prayer Release is to keep you informed and mobilized in prayer and intercession for the needs of justice and religious liberty in the Church around the globe, so that we can stand together for the work of the Kingdom and the healing of the Nations. The Prayer Release is comprised on the basis of different credible resources. We request prayers that the church would continue to serve the nation and faithfully share the Gospel of Jesus Christ which brings about reconciliation with God and one another. HEADLINES Our Partner Pastor Nitin Accused & Questioned - Dinbandhu Man lost Job for Being a Christian in Haryana Christians Beaten up, meeting Stopped in Haryana Twin attacks against the Christians in West Bengal Christian Burial Stopped in Haryana Pastors Arrested in Madhya Pradesh Pastor Accused of Allurement in Madhya Pradesh BURMA: Civilians Murdered and Widespread Use of Air Strikes Despite High-Level Meetings DETAILS We request prayers that the church would continue to serve the nation and faithfully share the Gospel of Jesus Christ which brings about reconciliation with God and one another. Our Partner Pastor Nitin Accused & Questioned - Dinbandhu We would especially like you to pray today, for the ministry of Dinbandhu. A month ago, there was a false complaint made against Nitin. The complaint was made by an exparliament member, his wife and members of the RRS. The RSS are a hardcore Hindu nationalist party supported by the present Maharashtra State and the Central government. The complaint mentioned that Nitin was converting Hindus to Christianity by force and by bribery. He allegedly producing literature, blaspheming Hindu gods and goddesses. He was accused of being anti-national, working in an antinational movement. As soon as we heard, we went to authorities and submitted our stand. We sent a compliance in written form to the district authority of Yavatmal. When we sent that letter of compliance, at the same time, those who complained about us earlier went to the local parliament member and the cabinet minister with their complaint. These two submitted the complaint with their cover letters to the Home Minister. Therefore, in
Nitin's absence, the Home Minister initiated an inquiry. Three agencies came to Yavatmal to seek information about Nitin's whereabouts. On Friday, Nitin went to face three inquiries, in Yavatmal. Two inquiries were from the State government, and one was from the Home Minister of India. They requested information about everything from his childhood up until the present. They took information from all his identification records. They have details about Ruth and the children as well. All this took place in Nitin's home in Yavatmal, the Local police, state department and IB (Investigation Bureau) from Delhi, each did a separate investigation. The investigation is still going on and we do not know what the final report will be. After taking good counsel and hiring advocates, we requested a fair inquiry by non-biased officers. After the investigation and a check on records of whereabouts, through CDR (phone records), they found the incident which reportedly took place at four o'clock in the afternoon was false. The men were in Nagpur, 150 km away, at the time. The police had to withdraw the case and not send it in for prosecution. Repeatedly, they make such false accusations, and we have to face it. We are bearing loss of time, talent and money, all the while being defocused from Ministry. It took months to resolve the forementioned case. There continue to be frequent attempts to put us behind bars, threaten family- especially children, late night phone calls, and defaming in newspaper. We know God is in control. We have His peace. We will stand for Him. We will prayerfully taking each step. God will show us the way forward. We are just tired and need your prayer support. God is at work and He will expose cruelty and folly of Brahminism. In recent news, the rape of a 70-year old nun in Delhi, showed the symptoms of ugliness of this anti-christian element of our nation. Please pray for: 1) God's direction and protection will be upon our families, children, and co-workers. 2) God's greater revelation to people of India 3) Unity among the churches 4) Fear of the Lord upon investigative agency officers in Government. 5) The Kingdom of God will expand in spite of persecution and hardship. 60 More pray warriors for India and Dinbandhu ministries. 7) Mighty move of God, revival in the Church. Nitin is planning to go to Mumbai and Delhi in the next week to garner support from Parliament members (MPs) and members of Legislature Assembly of Maharashtra (MLAs) that are friends. Thank you for your fervent prayers, Nitin and the Dinbandhu team Man lost Job for Being a Christian in Haryana A Christian lost his job after alleged Hindu extremists submitted a complaint against him of forceful conversion in Farmana, Rohtak.
The incident took place on the morning of March 9 when the Hindu extremists' mob surrounded the Primary Health Center and accused a Christian, Mukesh, of forceful conversion, asked him to leave the area and later submitted a complaint against him to the Medical Officer. The mob further threatened to harm Mukesh if he shares his faith with others or if he continues to go to the church and asked him to choose between his 'job' or 'Jesus'. Subsequently, on the next day, the Medical Officer told Mukesh that he had been terminated from his job. Mukesh had been working as a cleaner on contractual basis in the local Primary Health Centre for over seven years. "I accepted Jesus seven years ago and I will not leave him for anything." He told EFI News. "People who were sick and troubled approached me for prayers and I prayed for them and I will continue to do it." He added. Kindly pray Mukesh that he will remain firm in faith amid persecution and that God will provide a suitable job for him. Christians Beaten up, meeting Stopped in Haryana Hindu fundamentalists allegedly disrupted a prayer meeting, threatened and beat up Christians on March 8 in Faridabad, Haryana. At about 9:30 a.m, when praise and worship was going on in Bethania Church, two boys entered into the house church and summoned pastor Virender Kumar to come out. However, the pastor told them that he will meet them after the meeting. The two boys, however, urged him to go out from the church and threatened him that they will start hurling stones at the gathering. "As there were plenty of children and women in the worship meeting, I decided to go out and meet them," Pastor Kumar told EFI NEWS. A large mob of Hindu extremists swelled up near the church and started accusing Pastor Kumar of forcefully converting Hindu people into Christianity and manhandled him. They brought in false witness who testified that the pastor lured him to convert to Christianity. However, the police did not file any case against the pastor after they investigated the matter but told the pastor not to conduct Sunday worship meeting in his house for the time being. "Some anti-christian people often threatened to harm me in the past if I continued to conduct worship meetings and even threatened to harm those who rented out rooms to us for our prayer meetings," Pastor Kumar said. The Christians are now joining other church services, about 25 kms far from the area, "Some church members go to the meeting regularly but some have shied away because of fear." he said.
Kindly pray for Pastor Virendar Kumar and his ministry. Twin attacks against the Christians in West Bengal The twin incidents against the Christians in Rayapara, Hoogly resulted in a pastor and church members being beaten up and one family forced to move out from their rented accommodation. The incident occurred on March 10 when an angry mob of allegedly Hindu extremists barged into the prayer meeting of Agape Action Church, dragged Pastor John and five women to the local Hindu temple. The extremists forced the Christians to perform Hindu rituals and later beat them up when the Christians refused to comply with their demands, reported our correspondent in West Bengal. Five days later, the angry Hindu extremists turned up again and ordered the 11 Christians to leave the area. Out of the 11 families, one was forced to vacate their rented house and the rest are still staying in their own houses. "The one family who vacated their rented house is taking shelter in the house of the pastor." reported our correspondent. Christian Burial Stopped in Haryana A mob of alleged Hindu fundamentalists on March 6 disrupted the funeral ceremony of a Christian, prohibited the burial of the deceased and chased the Christians away from the cemetery in Paali, near Faridabad, Haryana. About 80 Christians gathered at the Paali Christian cemetary when a group of Hindu fundamentalists in 12 bikes arrived at the site and maintained that "the land soil cannot be used to bury a Christian." Thereafter, the mob swelled up to 700 and started beating up the Christians with sticks, chased them from the spot and further damaged some vehicles of the Christians including the ambulance where the body of the deceased was laid. "The deceased was an old lady who was a faithful member of the church and we felt extremely sad that such thing happened to us" Pastor Mahipal who conducted the funeral told EFI News. The police reached the spot and escorted Pastor Mahipal and three church members to another cemetery to bury the body. The Christians, under police protection, completed the burial ceremony.
Pastors Arrested in Madhya Pradesh On March 4 in Haldad, Barwani, police arrested a pastor and one believer after the Hindu extremists accused them of forceful conversion. According to our correspondent in Madhya Pradesh, the extremists allegedly from the Vishwa Hindu Parishad and the Bajrang Dal stormed into the cottage meeting conducted by Pastor Lal Singh in the house of Indram Chauhan. The extremists manhandled the Christians, accused them of fraudulently converting poor tribal people into Christianity and took them to the Rajpur police station. However, after investigation, the police released the duo without filing any charges against them as the charge of conversion was found to be false reported The Indian Express. Pastor Accused of Allurement in Madhya Pradesh On March 1 in Rampura, Alirajur, Hindu extremists shouting anti- Christian slogans tried to break into the Sunday worship service and accused a pastor of luring people to convert to Christianity by offering them monetary benefit. Our correspondent reported that about 300 people were worshipping in Filadelphia's Church when about a dozen extremists shouting anti- Christian slogans entered the church premises. As the extremists shouted against the Christians and hovered around the church premises, some church members called up the police who later reached the spot. The police advised the believers to go back to the church and the Christians thereafter continued the worship. In the meantime, the police received a complaint from the extremists where three people have alleged that assistant Pastor Pratab Rawat gave them money to convert to Christianity. However, the church leaders told EFI News, "There is no case of allurement, we have never seen these three people before." Kindly pray for the pastors and members of Filadelphia's Church. Civilians Murdered and Widespread Use of Air Strikes Despite High-Level Meetings 01 April 2015 Kachin and northern Shan States, Burma Despite recent meetings between senior representatives of the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO), President Thein Sein and Burma Army military head Min Aung Hlaing to discuss a potential ceasefire
agreement, incidents of aggression by the Burma Army have increased to levels not seen since initial fighting in 2011. Civilians Murdered On 23 March, three civilians, a father, mother and their son, were shot to death by Burma Army soldiers of Infantry Battalion (IB) 10 and Light Infantry Battalion (LIB) 317 at Du Hku Village. Mr. Dama, his wife, and their son Dama La, were all killed while another son, Dama Naw, escaped with his wife to Mung Hkawng Village. Multiple Incidents of Air Strikes At 5:15 on the 22 March, two Burma Army air force fighter jets attacked Kachin Independence Army (KIA) positions around Mahtet, which is defended by the KIA s 1 st Battalion. Between 08:05 15:00 on 24 March major fighting erupted when an estimated 100 Burma Army soldiers of IB 10 attacked the KIA s Du Hku Post defended by the 27 th Battalion. Two Burmese aircraft bombed the KIA defenses more than ten times in three rounds of assaults that occurred between 13:10 13:25, 14:16 14:35 and between 15:45 16:02 times. A number of Burmese personnel were killed or wounded in this offensive and KIA troops recovered the dead bodies of a Burmese sergeant and two privates and a captain rank uniform, as well recovering ten Rocket-Propelled Grenade (RPG) projectiles, eight 60mm shells, 500.50 caliber machine gun rounds, a quantity of 5.56mm ammunition, operational maps and assorted other military equipment in the aftermath of the clash. On the 26 March between 14:50 15:20 air strikes launched from Bhamo struck the KIA s Du Hku, Nga Tu Kawng, Hpa Ra and Lun Ja Kawng posts. After launching a total of seven strikes with rockets and strafing runs with cannon the aircraft returned to Bhamo. Also on the 26 th between 17:20 17:40, Burma helicopters targeted the KIA s Hpa Ra, Mahtet and Sindi posts. Three strafing runs (when aircraft-mounted automatic weapons fire upon ground targets) were made in total with rockets and machine guns. God bless you, Free Burma Rangers
We request for the prayers that the church would continue to serve the nation in spite of innumerable suffering and pray also for those who are persecuting that they may experience the love of Christ.