Posted on 11/12/2005 3:21:12 PM PST by MSCASEY
JMM Urgent Prayer] November 12, 2005 Dear Friend in Christ,
I am asking you today to pray for an extremely critical situation. More than 60 new believers in the Indian state of Himachal Pradesh are being threatened with death if they do not convert back to Hinduism! It is not enough that they escaped the spiritual bondage that has oppressed their people for centuries, but now radical Hindus have threatened to burn alive any Christians who do not return to their former slavery.
Here is what happened: On November 4, a pastor was attacked and severely beaten by a group of militants who threatened his life. Now the same group says they will conduct a puja (ritual) on November 20 to forcefully convert the Christians in his church to Hinduism--and burn alive any who do not renounce their new faith.
The pastor has filed a complaint with local police, but the area is dominated by a large temple to the Hindu god Shiva. Thousands of pilgrims come to the temple, so Hinduism is important to the local economy. It is not clear if the police will take any action to protect the Christians.
What is most important now is that we pray for this situation. I urge you to pray for the protection of the men, women and children in that place who have committed their lives to Christ. Pray that God will surround them with His angels and turn back any violence. Please also pray for their attackers, that their hearts will be softened and that God will work a miracle in their lives.
Imagine what a powerful force for good they could become if they surrendered their lives to the Living God instead of gods that do not hear them!
Please share this request with your church and your friends. This is a spiritual battle, and only through prayer and fasting will the enemy be defeated in this stronghold.
I thank you for being a part of what God is doing in Asia. Thank you, most of all, for standing with us and with our brothers and sisters in Himachal Pradesh during this challenging time.
Yours for the lost of Asia,
Pastor.Johnson Mathews
Thank You!
Ms.Casey's Daughter
Prayers being sent.
It seems that Christian martyrs are not a thing of the past.
The want the cast system to stay in India.
BTW, I think, as far as I know, the caste system was never really part of Hinduism. I hope the Indian government will intervene to stop this, as I'm sure they will!
I think that's why Christianity is so successful - people adopted it's faith, while retaining native traditions that are compatible with Christianity. Think about it - why is Christmas close to the Winter solstice? Why is All Hallows set in the traditional harvest season? Here in Ireland we burn bonfires on the Eve of St. John, which is the 23rd of June - near the Summer solstice!!
Christianity laid the foundations of Western Civilization - freedom tempered with morality!
Mixing of religions was not something that was ever encouraged by Christians all the way back to St. Paul...If anything, the evidence of the little mixing there was (similar feast dates etc that you mention) were just a small bone the pagans got out of it. IMO, the progressive 'idea of mixing' is not something to be encouraged now or in the future. And if there is a pure form of litergy/practice that already exists in places like Africa and India, we should protect it from external attempts to gain control and influence in our churches/religion.
When it comes to actual mixing (e.g. Christianity + Voodoo), you are correct.
Prayers continue
I guess the tolerance of Christians is only of Catholics (due to the work of the late Mother Theresa and the Sisters of Charity, primarily)....
btw, Ms. Casey's daughter, why don't you get your own name on here?
Yeah, in the original post above I was talking about the 'actual mixing' of practices that some African and Indian priests recently proposed. (The story was mentioned in a article on a previous thread)
IMO - Ecumenism is highly overated these days...It's just used as an excuse to destroy. And the Truth needs no debate. We hearest Him or we don't.
Please let him know we are praying for him. This is just so sad. It reminds me of how they got mad at Paul when he preached back then... they were making so much money from selling all the little silver gods and goddesses that they were threatened economically by those who would convert to Christianity. How little things have changed!
We know nothing of the persecution of the Church - we know nothing. I listen to the Mission News Networka and have also received news over the years from VOM, and unless people pay attention to these organizations, there is little to no media attention to these despicable acts on Christians.
Christ have mercy.
yeah - it's the payoff for providing daughter a husband.
Not sure if others are replying to your question but I guess the way I'd see it is once you made a good case and you were turned away, perhaps that is when you leave and go on to the next town. If you spend all your time just trying to hammer on one guy, you are going to be held back from the many others you could be talking to... just my thoughts.
I've gotten comments suggesting that if there's ANYONE in a city or country that doesn't reject a missionary, then it's not outright rejection.
That makes some sense, but it still bothers me that if a missionary spends a year in a country where one person accepts Christ, when he could have gone somewhere where acceptance would have been much higher, then the overall effect is Satan wins more souls.
So is it more important to allocate missionaries evenly throughout the world, or is it more important to put them where they win the most souls? Tough question if you're a Christian.
How do I get a list? I would do that.
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